Глава 14

Zechariah 14:1–2. These days the Lord's will come, and your gain will be divided within you. And I will gather all the tongues to battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be taken captive, and the houses will be plundered, and the women will be defiled, and half the city will go into captivity. Pointing to the saving suffering on the cross, a little before this he said: “To the sword, arise against my shepherd and against the husband of my citizen, says the Lord Almighty: strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Then: that the Jewish people would rightly be subjected to terrible punishments, he taught this too, adding: “And I will bring my hand upon the shepherds, and on that day, saith the Lord, two parts will be consumed and will disappear, and the third I will pass through the fire, and I will kindle it, as gold is tempted.” And in what most natural way we should understand this, we also said this to the best of our ability. So the saying now cited refers to the unbridled ungodly Jerusalem and indicates to us an image of captivity. “Behold,” he says, “the days of the Lord,” that is, those which He brings with a just decision and righteous judgment, which is why what he says through another prophet is also true: “There is no evil in the city that the Lord has not created” (Am. 3:6); for there cannot be such a disaster for the entire city, which, we say, would not have happened with His permission and permission to impose punishment for the crimes of those who, with an uncontrollable attraction, rush towards evil. So he calls Him days because His wrath is announced (during their time), when they were already unbearably furious, beating the prophets, adding the Son to them. And what will happen in those days is revealed in the words: “your gain will be divided within you (obviously, all nations gathered together), and the houses will be plundered,” and the wives and children will be forcibly carried away, for then, he says, “half the city will go into captivity.” They say that the Romans, having taken the city and not paying attention to the shamelessness of those who fought with them, burned the church itself and the buildings of the fortress, but spared the inhabitants of the upper city and the church who turned to them (with prayer). Look at how bold the victors were, he says, so that, having plundered the houses, they did not immediately leave with the spoils and, having arrived at the tents, did not make a division there at their leisure. But they did this in the captured city itself, which would not have happened if there had been any defender of those subjected to such a disaster and a champion against the devastators. Wives, he says, will be defiled by being forcibly carried away by others and subjected to deprivation of honor, and, moreover, often in the sight of their legal partners. Such are the horrors of war and the disasters that befall those who are once captured and completely helpless. Zechariah 14:2. And the remains of my people will not be consumed by the hail. This, I think, is nothing else than what I just said, that some mercy was shown to the inhabitants of the upper city and part of the Jerusalemites were saved, since the Roman commanders stopped the fury of the combatants if they saw someone crying and submitting and unarmedly pleading with them. So, either he speaks about the remnant of His people in the saved part of the city, or it may be about those who believed in the Savior of all Christ, about whom he says that “they will not be consumed by the city,” for there will always be citizens of the Church and, even if they have lost the earthly and destroyed Jerusalem, they will have the one above (Jerusalem), about which the divine Paul writes: “but the Jerusalem above is freedom, which is our mother” (Gal. 4:26). Blessed David seems to be hinting at something similar, saying in one place like this: “it will not move in the living age in Jerusalem” (Ps. 125:1), for the Church is unshakable and “the gates of hell will not prevail against it,” according to the word of the Savior (Matthew 16:18), and therefore it is absolutely necessary for those who inhabit it, counted among the people of God and among her lawful children, to have the same firmness. Zechariah 14:3–5. And the Lord will come out and fight against their tongues, like the day of his host in the day of battle. And they will stand on his nose on the day of the Mount of Olives, which is directly east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will be divided: its side is towards the east, and its side is towards the sea; a great chasm is wide. And half the mountain will turn away to the north, and half of it to the south. And the wilds of my mountains will be filled up, and the wilds of the mountains will cling to even Asahel and will be filled, as the cowards were filled in the days of 183, in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah. We are talking about some brave leader who encourages his comrades to fight and restores the army to the enemy regiments. We remembered that the Gospel parables say something similar. The king, celebrating a wedding ceremony for his son, sent servants to gather those invited. They, having shamelessly insulted those who called and killed, finally killed their son as well. And then what does the parable say? - “The king became angry and sent out his howl, destroying these murderers and setting their city on fire” (Matthew 22:2-7). The same thing, he says, will happen to the enemies who resist and destroy on the day of the army. And this serves as proof of extreme anger and heavenly defeats, when God sends defeat corresponding (to atrocities) to those who raged against Him, for they killed, as I said, the Author of life (Acts 3:15). And since only the royal nature (of the Divine) is characterized by the power to perform deeds that exceed the word and amazement, he says that “they will become his nose, obviously Christ, on the day he is on the Mount of Olives.” It will undergo four tears - two to the east and to the west or to the sea (as the inspired Scripture usually calls the west side), and the other two - one facing the north, the other to the south. He said, even the very tops will be torn apart, so that the ditches in the middle will be filled, undergoing an unexpected earthquake until Asahel. This, they say, is a village lying on the very edge of the mountain. Thus, this strong earthquake is compared with the one that once happened under Uzziah or Azariah. Occupying the royal throne in Jerusalem, as coming from the tribe of Judah, he dared to illegally appropriate to himself the performance of priestly worship, but was immediately struck by leprosy, and was terribly shaken, with which God then showed His anger at this, the country of Judah and also Jerusalem itself (2 Chronicles 26:16-20). They also say that Mount Zion was subjected to such a vibration that it was torn into two parts and the peaks were piled up in the adjacent ditches. By this, it seems, the prophet shows us the earthquake that happened during the honest crucifixion, as the priests of the gospel preaching say. The prophet, in these words and at greater length, reminds us of what happened, and the wisest Matthew, shortening the story for us, says this: “Jesus, having cried with a great voice, gave up the Spirit. And behold, the veil of the church was torn in two, from the highest to the lowest: and the earth shook: and the stone was disintegrated: and the tombs were opened: and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised up” (Matthew 27:50–52). But since it is necessary to apply (find) a convincing (spiritual) basis to these events, then, in our opinion, the breaking of rocks and blocking of ditches indicates the petrification of the Jews and the transition of idolaters to the better. These, worshiping the creature instead of the Creator (Rom. 1:25), had, as it were, a heart of stone, cruel and stubborn, like completely barren rocks. But what did God say through the mouth of Ezekiel and about the Jews themselves: “And I will pluck out their heart of stone from their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,” so that they may know Me (Ezek. 11:19). So, the hearts of the erring were torn when God opened them to receive the word of the saving sermon. The voice of Jeremiah also points to something similar, saying: “The food of my words is not like burning fire, says the Lord, or like milk that shakes a stone” (Jer. 23:29), “for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper” (Heb. 4:12). So, the breaking of rocks, as I pointed out, can serve as a very clear sign of the transition of the lost to the better, and the blocking of ditches, as I said, indicates the petrification of the Jews. The divine Isaiah also said something like this: “And it will come to pass in that day that the Lord will block the river from the same age even as far as Rhinocur” (Is. 27:12), that is, the mind will be blocked throughout all of Judea, “so that with seeing they may not see, and with hearing they will not hear, nor understand” (Matthew 13 cf. Luke 8:10), for “a veil lies over their hearts,” as it is written, with reading the Old Testament (2 Cor. 3:15). The shaking of the earth, I believe, means a transition from one state to another, just as the divine David exclaims: “Sit on the Cherubim, let the earth move” (Ps. 99:3). We do not think that he is calling on the heavenly world to sensually and physically hesitate, for this is aimless and completely useless for us, but rather demands that the spirit-bearers, as it were, move the earth from serving idols to the knowledge of the true and essentially God, from carnal wisdom to the desire to live spiritually, in general from the earthly to the heavenly. And if he says that the very graves of the dead were opened, then, we think, this is because death itself should have been defeated when Christ, according to the dispensation for our sake, died in the flesh, “so that he has both the dead and the living” (Rom. 14:9). Zechariah 14:6–7. And the Lord God (my) 184 will come and all the saints with him. In 185 there will be no light, and 186 there will be one day of winter and filth, and we know that day 187 of the Lord, neither day nor night, and at evening there will be light. Having briefly spoken about the godless acts of the Jews against the Savior of us all, Christ and about the captivity of Judea and even Jerusalem itself, he then moves on to the very end of the present century and usefully tells about the descent of Emmanuel from heaven. He will descend with the holy Angels, in the glory of God and the Father, in order to “judge the world in righteousness” (Ps. 9:9), for, as the divine Paul writes: “it is fitting for us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what he deserves according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Yes, “He will come,” he says, “He will come, “and all the saints with Him,” that is, the purest multitude of holy angels surrounding Him and present with Him to serve Him, for Emmanuel is the Lord of all and is glorified by them as God and the Co-Chief of Him who gave birth to Him. But the one who says that the saints themselves will be present with Him, caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air, of course, after the resurrection from the dead, as the wise Paul thinks about this (1 Thess. 4:16). The divine Isaiah said something similar about them: “There the trees met together and saw each other’s faces: they outnumbered them, and one of them did not perish, nor did they seek each other, for the Lord commanded them, and I gathered his spirit” (Is. 34:15-16). The divine David also sings, foreshadowing the descent from heaven of the Savior of us all, Christ: “For the Lord will not reject his people, nor forsake his property, until righteousness is brought to judgment, and those who hold to it are all upright in their hearts” (Ps. 93:14-15). He calls Christ righteous, and He, he says, “will return to judgment.” Having suffered death, He ascended and ascended to the Father and God who is in heaven (John 20:17). But “one day he will return to judgment” and with Him “all who are upright in heart,” that is, the saints, as I just said. And that at the end of the world there will be some other state of visible creation and that it, renewed by Christ, will pass to a better existence, the prophet will attest to this, saying: “On that day there will be no light, and there will be winter and frost in one day, and we know that day of the Lord.” Now day and night are distinguished and, by the will of the Creator, they divide time, and the light of day rises, then night follows. When the Judge comes, transforming everything at His discretion, then the creation, as I said, will receive a different dispensation, for “there will no longer be light, and winter, and filth in one day.” Winter and frost denote night, and thus the day is turned into one day. This is as if he said: at the time when He, coming from heaven, will transform everything and change for the better, like the Creator, then there will be no night or daylight. The blessed prophet Isaiah says something similar: “You will not have the sun in the daylight, nor will the rising of the moon enlighten the night, but the Lord will be your eternal light and God your glory” (Is. 60:19). And that one day the very action of the elements will be abolished, Christ Himself will attest to this, saying: “But after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” (Matthew 24:29). Christ will serve as an eternal light for us and He will be a constant and everlasting day. And “that day,” he says, “we know the Lord,” for only God and the Father knows the day of death, as the Son Himself assures us, saying: “But no one knows about that day and hour, not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:46, cf. Mark 13:32). Since He (the Son) is thought of as a man similar to us, He could not know what is in the Father. But since He is by nature God and came from Him, He certainly knows the last day, although He said that He does not know by humanity. Explaining to us and presenting more clearly what he said, the prophet then added: “It will neither be day nor night, but in the evening there will be light,” that is, during the night, the light will again illuminate the heavenly places through Christ, when darkness will be completely destroyed and will no longer cover the eyes of the saints. There is also a basis for the idea that creation itself is being transformed for the better, about which the Savior’s disciple duly speaks, that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass by with a noise, and the elements that are burned will be destroyed, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be burned up ... but the heavens are new and the earths are new according to His promises” (2 Pet. 3:10-14). However, we must come to this thought and by the necessary conclusion, for if our state is in the renewal of life, then a new creation will be required for us, about which the divine Paul writes: one day “even the creation itself will be freed from work into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). Zechariah 14:8–9. On the day that water shall come out of Jerusalem, the first half of it will be in the sea, and the last half of it will be in the sea: both in the harvest and in the spring it will be like this. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. Again, it secretly reveals to us that the greatest and most abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be given to the saints, especially at the time when they move towards a holy and always continuing life, I mean in the next century. Now, as if as a deposit, we have received through faith in Christ the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit. After the resurrection from the dead, when sin is completely destroyed, the divine Spirit will no longer be in us as a deposit and measure, but, as I said, we will be endowed with gifts through Christ richly and abundantly and in a perfect manner. So, he calls the Spirit living water, which, he says, “will come out of Jerusalem on high.” since the God of all, as the inspired Scripture teaches, does not live in heaven, although He is everywhere and fills everything, therefore He says that the life-giving Spirit will come from heaven. And that the Holy Scriptures usually compare the divine Spirit to water, His Giver Himself, that is, the Son, will attest to this, saying: “Believe in me, as the scripture says, rivers of living waters will flow out of his belly” (John 7:38) - and, revealing this and presenting it clearly, the divine evangelist says: “This is speaking about Dus, whom those who believe will desire to receive” in Him (John 7:39). Since the Spirit gives life, He compares Him, and quite correctly, with the life-giving of sensory objects - water. And that those who are worthy of a holy life are richly given to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and, as it were, to carry life-giving waters within themselves, this is revealed in the words that one half of the water that is expected to flow from Jerusalem at a certain time will go to the first sea, and the other half to the last sea. What does this mean? Divine Scripture often likens many nations and an immeasurable number of people to seas and waters. So, through one of the holy prophets, he says nowhere: “For the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, just as the sea has been covered with abundant water” (Is. 11:9). The divine Daniel also said in one place, foreshadowing what was to happen in the last times with the inhabitants of the entire universe: “I saw Daniel... and behold, the four winds of heaven flowed on the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, distinguished among themselves” (Dan. 7: 2-3). Presenting the same thing more clearly, blessed David sings: “this sea is great and spacious: there are vermin, there are no number of them, small animals with great ones: there the ships swim, this serpent, you created it, and you curse at it” (Ps. 104:25-26). What kind of serpent, we ask, is there in the sensory sea, created by God, who rules over all, in order to “swear”? 188 But in the sacred scriptures the whole world is usually likened to the seas and sometimes a great multitude of people. So, that the grace of the Holy Spirit will be given from God in equal measure to those who believe, both from the Israelites and from the pagans, this reveals, speaking about life-giving water, that one half of it will come out to the last sea. He calls Israel the first sea, and the last the multitude of those who believed after him, that is, the pagans. At the same time, we do not affirm, of course, that the Holy Spirit will be divided and will be imperfect in one and the other part, precisely because it is said about half. Not at all. On the contrary, we must think that the prophet wanted to indicate that there would be an equal division of grace both to these and to these (Jews and Gentiles), for half and half would be a sign of complete and perfect equality. And that grace is constant and present at all times, it is not difficult to see from what the prophet says again: “both in harvest and in spring it will be like this.” You should know that instead of: “in spring” the Hebrew edition has: in winter - accordingly, there will be, he says, an absolutely identical outpouring of mental waters, both in winter and in summer, that is, at all times. But there is no obstacle to reading spring instead of winter, according to the scriptures of the Seventy; for it happens in the middle between winter and summer, so if someone attributes it to the time of winter, then they will not sin against the correctness of expression. If anyone wishes to understand in another way the saying about spiritual water, that “its field will come up into the first sea and its field into the last sea, and it will be like this in the harvest and in the spring,” he can accept this interpretation of this passage. The first sea, perhaps, is what lies to the east, I mean, beyond the boundaries of the whole earth, and the last is what is located at the very borders of the west. As if he defines the east as the face and beginning of the universe, and as harvest (summer), one might think, he calls the warm and southern countries of the universe, and spring again - the northern and cold ones. So the divine David, wanting to designate the four countries under heaven, cried out to God: “I have created the harvest and spring” (Ps. 73:17), and also: “Thou hast created the north and the sea” (Ps. 89:13). So, “I say, the living water will flow forth in equality and in equal grace into the first sea and into the last, that is, to the east and west, and into harvest and spring,” that is, again to the south and north. Through Christ the heavenly realm will be filled with gifts of grace, and the gift will certainly remain with those who receive it. Then “the Lord will become king over all the earth.” We will be under His sole authority and He will rule over everything, and the rulers of the world of this age and all the triumphant evil authorities and cruelty over us will be completely abolished, and Satan himself and the evil forces that are with him will be expelled. Zechariah 14:9–11. On the day he will be one Lord, and his name will be one, going around (the whole) 189 land and desert, from Hawaii to Remmon, south of Jerusalem. Rama 190 will remain in place, from the gates of Benjamin to the place of the first gates, even to the gates of coal and to the pillar of Anamuel 191. Until 192 the tsar's underwaters 193 will dwell in him, and no one will be anathema, and Jerusalem will dwell in confidence 194. The speech of the holy prophets is almost always unclear, and this, I think, happens according to the wise arrangement of God, so that the holy thing would not be thrown to the dogs and truly valuable pearls, carelessly cast down at the feet of pigs, would not be desecrated (Matthew 7:6). However, to those worthy, Christ in the spirit reveals knowledge and clearly presents the miracles of the future age. In sensory objects, the hidden and spiritual are almost always represented, and the visible becomes, as it were, the body of the invisible. So, he said that “on that day, that is, at the time when our state changes into a renewal of life and creation itself changes for the better than before, there will be one Lord, and his name will be one, going around the whole earth.” There always was and is and will be One Lord, by nature and truly the God of all, who translated into existence what was once non-existent (cf. Rom. 4:17). When the inventor of sin, that is, Satan, deceived the heavenly places, then we, the pitiful ones, found ourselves carried away to lies and unclean service and remained blind and insane in the world, calling the seducers masters and foolishly assigning the name of deity to unclean demons. However, when the present age has passed and already come to an end, then, with the removal of all mental harm from us and the casting of enemies under the feet of Christ (1 Cor. 15:25-27), the Lord will finally be one on all the earth, and no one will steal from Him the glory of dominion. And in another respect, Christ will be the only Lord, since every kingdom on earth will be abolished and to Him alone the universe will assume power over all. The wise Daniel said something similar. Explaining the vision, he says: “Just as you saw a stone cut off from a mountain without a hand, and it came out of clay, iron, copper, silver, gold. The great God will proclaim to the king, as it is fitting for him to continue to be: and the dream is true, and the word thereof is true” (Dan. 2:45). So, He alone will be and fill with His glory the holy city, that is, the spiritual Jerusalem, the width and length of which, again, as in a prototype, He shows in earthly Jerusalem. Remmon is a certain rock in the southern desert. Thus the width of Jerusalem is from Gava to Remmon. He also determines the length, saying this: “from the Benjamin gates to the first gates, even to the coal gates, and to the pillar of Anameel, to the king’s undercut.” A certain gate in Jerusalem was called the first and the corner gate, and Anameel was also the name of the tower, which was immediately followed by the king’s undercut: these places, as in the image, indicate the length of Jerusalem. As the blessed prophet Ezekiel, God commanded everyone to measure with a reed a house stretching here and there (Ezek. 40 seq.), pointing out that God has many mansions and countless dwellings of saints (John 14:2): so, it seems to me, here too, by means of prototypes, indicates the width and length and describes to us the spiritual Jerusalem, that is, the Church of Christ, to which (Jerusalem) and the divine Isaiah cried out, saying: “Expand the place of your tabernacle and your coverings, set them up, do not spare, extend your grass and strengthen your stake, spread it over your right hand and over your left” (Is. 54:2-3). Thus, the expanded holy city and, according to its width and length, will be inhabited by saints, “and no one will be anathema,” he says, that is, in no way will he be alienated from God, for he will be granted steadfast love and will no longer fall away to offend God, when, as I said, sin and the tempting Satan will be completely destroyed. There will be no lion there, and not one of the evil beasts will enter it or be found there (1 Pet. 5 cf. Gen. 3 dal.), for “they will dwell in confidence” (trustingly). since in the middle he inserts the words: “Rama will remain in place,” then to explain the meaning of these words, as much as we can, we will say the following again. Ramah is a certain town or village belonging to the tribe of Asher. But besides her there is another Rama in the tribe of Naphtali. The holy prophet mentions one or the other of these Ramas. It is said: “a voice was heard in Rama, and there was much weeping and mourning and much crying: Rachel weeping for her sons, and not wanting to be consoled, for they were not the essence” (Jer. 31:15). This, we say, happened in Bethlehem, when Herod ordered the infants in it to be killed (Matthew 2:16-18). Thus, Jerusalem is called Rama because there was great lamentation when it was taken. So the prophet Jeremiah depicts him as if weeping and weeping for his lost children, when he says: “Weeping in the night, and his tears on his cheeks” (Pl. 1:2). What kind of crying was that? - “My maidens and youths went into captivity, you beat them with sword and famine, you boiled them in the day of your wrath, you did not spare them” (Pl. 2:21). The speech of the one who wishes to apply this name to the spiritual Jerusalem, that is, to the Church and call it Rama, will be completely fair; for there are many in the churches who weep and have “sorrow for God, which repentance brings to salvation unrepentantly” (2 Cor. 7:10). Christ Himself approves of such, saying: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4), and again: “Blessed are those who mourn now, for they will laugh” (Luke 6:21) 195. So, if the Church is called Rama by the voice of the prophet, then even in this case the speech (of the prophet) will retain its credibility. In addition, “he says, he will remain in place,” that is, he will not be shaken, for, as I said, the Church of Christ is firmly established and unshakable. Zechariah 14:12. And this will be the fall by which the Lord will cut off all the people who fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of them who stand on their feet will melt away, and their hair will flow out from their sides, and their tongue will melt away in their mouth. “You will have tribulation in the world” (John 16:33), Christ declared to those who believed in Him. However, he encourages them, usefully adding: “but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), for he has given us “(power) to tread on the serpent, and on the scorpion, and on all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). What kind of scorpions are these and what kind of snakes are they? Obviously, these are not those vile and murderous hordes of destructive demons and saints who persecute, who became collaborators with the unbridled fury of spirits in (this) world, who (spirits) go around the universe, arranging various intrigues for the saints, although Christ triumphed over them, “nailing the handwriting on us on his own cross” (Col. 2:14), to deliver us from their cruelty? So, since he said that “Jerusalem will confidently dwell, even the Church of God lives” (1 Tim. 3:15), and it was, of course, very fair to expect this to be fulfilled, with the destruction of enemies and the destruction of those who had learned to persecute her; This is what gives us the necessary narrative about this: for “this, he says, will be the fall, by which the Lord will cut off all the people who fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will fade away, and their eyes will fail, and their tongue will also fade away.” Of course, this common and natural death destroys the flesh of everyone and destroys the eyes and tongue, but the most terrible and extreme disaster in justice will be the destruction of the flesh of the living and those still “standing (on their feet),” as well as the disappearance of the eyes and the taking away of tongues. This, he says, will certainly happen with all its might to those who have chosen a God-hating and cursed life. They will be punished not only for their crimes against the saints, but also for the love of the flesh that they had in this world and which became for them the guilt of rejection of faith and unwillingness to live piously and love the glory of life in Christ; for they, as I said, became unusually prone to obscene pleasures, developed a lust for every visible object, as if devouring them greedily. And they sharpened their tongue against Christ and made wicked accusations against the sacred dogmas of the Church. Therefore, they justly receive punishment in the flesh (bodies), eyes and tongues. Just as a woman who drank the water of reproof and transgressed her oath received punishment in the womb, in relation to which accusations of fornication are made - “her womb is lifted up, it is said, and her womb will fall away” (Num. 5:27), - in the same way, I think, those who persecute the holy city receive punishment in the flesh, and eyes, and tongues: for with them (prevails) the love of the flesh, and in addition lust, and deception through the eyes, and the speech of an unbridled tongue. Zechariah 14:13–14. And on that day the great terror of the Lord will be upon them. And each one is clasped by the hand of his neighbor, and his hand is woven into the hand of his neighbor. And Judah will take up arms in Jerusalem, and will gather the strength of all the people around, gold and silver and garments in abundance. Horror 196 in these words again refers to fear or amazement. So, at that time, he says, when the enemies of the Church, having been subjected to such terrible punishments, begin to gather each other, they will be struck with horror and, finally leaving the already daring pursuit of the holy city, will leave as fugitives and, uselessly seeking each other’s help, will find themselves pitiful, overthrown and trampled upon by the saints. And Judas, he says, that is, those justified through faith in Christ and bearing within themselves a spiritual Jew and enriched by circumcision in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 2:20) - will take up arms in Jerusalem, that is, they will defeat their enemies and overpower their opponents, trampling them like scorpions, “treading on the asp and the basilisk, the lion and the serpent” despising the act (Ps. 90:13 ). They will be glorious and praiseworthy, from such deeds amassing wealth for themselves like gold, silver and clothing, for how can anyone doubt that the meaning of this prophecy does not lie in sensual objects? After all, the wealth of the saints is not perishable and earthly, but spiritual, heavenly, permanent, which is collected for their souls by those who teach and are glorified in other ways in the Church. It is as if they are plundering the strength of all people, bringing the best peoples to Christ through faith. So Himself (Christ) said about Himself that He “plundered the vessels of the mighty man” (Matthew 12:29). If someone says that it is said about Judea, who collects the strength of all people around, gold, and silver, and clothing, so that we understand that those who collect worldly wisdom are glorified through it, striving for the dogmas of piety: then such an understanding can have a proper basis for itself. Thus, the wise wives of the Israelites once robbed the Egyptians, taking gold and silver vessels and clothing from their neighbors and co-inhabitants (Ex. 3:21–22, 11:2). So, both in sensory objects and as in visible things, the brilliance of spiritual goods is expressed. The primary wealth of teachers is their students. So the divine Paul proclaimed to those saved and believed through him, saying: “I am testified by your praise, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 15:31), and in another place calls them “a crown and joy” (Phil. 4:1). Zechariah 14:15. And this will be the fall of the horse, and the horse, and the camel, and the donkey, and all the livestock in half the herd, according to this fall. Having already defined (various) types of punishment, to which in due time those who took up arms against the holy city, and those who persecuted, the arrogant, the vile and those who love to accuse, will certainly be subjected, even those who spoke untruths against God and “lift up the horn on high,” but to the word of the psalmist (Ps. 75:6), he then helpfully adds that “this will be the fall of the horse, and the human (mulam), and the camel, and the donkey, and all the livestock.” By means of the jugular, it indicates those riding on them. The Jews and Jerusalem itself were attacked by both distant and neighboring nations. Of these, some, like the Babylonians and Syrians, as well as the Egyptians, were riders on horses, while others harnessed camels, donkeys and mules, such as the Moabites and the nomads of the desert, about whom the prophet Isaiah mentions, saying: “in sorrow and in cramped conditions there is a lion and lionesses: from there are asps and the tribe of soaring asps, like I carry my wealth on donkeys, and on camels my wealth” (Is. 30:6); - and in another place he says that he “saw a rider on a donkey and a rider on a camel” (Is. 21:7). So, in the person of the pagan peoples, who always fought against earthly Jerusalem, as in a prototype, he describes the enemies of the truth, so that by them we understand our visible and invisible enemies, with whom we are at war. If anyone wishes to take the properties of beasts as a prototype of the enemies of the Church, then there will be nothing unfair in saying or understanding this way. So some of them showed themselves to be impetuous and daring, like, perhaps, horses, to which lust and frenzy in relation to the female sex can with all justice be attributed, - others, like hinnies, turned out to be wild and cruel (Hellenic poets usually call them wild), - others, in their properties, were similar to camels, that is, unjust and arrogant and foolishly high-minded, - and others, no different from donkeys, suffered from the disease of extreme unreason, for the donkey is lazy and dull in sensation and serves as an example of extreme unreason. It should be noted that he does not compare those at war with the Church to any of the meek and pure animals, such as sheep and ox, but, on the contrary, compares them to the unclean and ungroomed, which were condemned by the law (of Moses) as worthless and unclean. Zechariah 14:16–17. And it will come to pass that if there are any left from all those who came to Jerusalem, they will rise up every summer to worship the King, the Lord Almighty God, 197 and to celebrate the feast of the tabernacle. And it shall come to pass that if not all the tribes of the earth go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty God, 198 and these will be added to them 199. Having said that those who fought against the churches and who were arrogant and exalted themselves over holy Jerusalem will be subjected to the punishments due to them, he then predicts the worship of those left behind them - obviously in Christ by faith, for He is “the hope of the tongues,” according to the word of the patriarch (Gen. 49:10). He was appointed both for the “light of the tongue” (Luke 2:32) and for the covenant of the generation (cf. Luke 1:50, 72), “to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring out those who are bound in chains, and from the prison house of those who sit in darkness” (Is. 42:7). So, that the pagans, leaving the blindness of idolatry and serving the devil and breaking the bonds of ignorance, will come to the light of truth and submit to the yoke of the Savior - this is revealed in the words that those who remain from those punished or who fought with the churches (and there are countless of them) “will rise every summer to worship the Lord Almighty God and celebrate the feast of the tabernacle.” The Law of Moses established that the feast of tabernacles (tabernacles) should be celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after the harvest from the fields was collected into the granaries, which is why it calls the feast the original (ἐξόδιον). He commanded “to take the branches of the date, and the fruit of the red tree, and the branches of the common tree, and the willows, and the branches of the 200 gram,” as well as to drink water from the stream and have fun (Lev. 23:39–43). The law established the reason for the holiday as Israel living in tents after their liberation from the cruelty of the Egyptians. This was a prototype of the sacrament of Christ. And we ourselves are freed from the cruelty of the devil and called, as I said, into freedom through Christ (Gal. 5:13) and submitted to the King of all things and Life Himself, neglecting the cruelty of our ancient rulers. And we celebrate the true feast of tabernacles, that is, the day of the resurrection of Christ, when the bodies of all are, as it were, firmly installed in Him, although subject to corruption and subject to death. He is the resurrection, He is life (John 11:25), as if the firstborn from the dead and “the firstfruits of those who died” (1 Cor. 15:20; cf. Acts 26:23; Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5), filling us with spiritual prosperity and giving us the opportunity, as if from the fields, to accumulate labors (fruits) gathered in the granaries of heaven. He will give us life in paradise and bliss, of course spiritual - to us who have overcome sin, who are fragrant spiritually, who have the wonderful and lovable fruit of the gospel life, who live holy and righteously. Finally, an indication of this can be the fact that they had a date branch and the fruit of the tree was red in combination with others (plants for tents). He is “the stream of sweetness with which God the Father has given us to drink” (Ps. 35:9). He is the source of life and the “river of peace” flowing down upon us, who are called from among the Gentiles (Is. 66:12) - about which we have an exact discussion elsewhere. So, those who ascend to worship God Almighty and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles are the justified through faith in Christ. And those who do not ascend are threatened with death and punishments corresponding to those to which persecutors and offenders must be subjected, for those who do not want to love are considered on a par with enemies, about which, I think, Christ Himself said: “Whatever is not with me is on me; and whoever does not gather with me, scatters” (Luke 11:23). Zechariah 14:18. If the tribe of Egypt does not rise up, it will not come there 201, and on these there will be a fall 202, and the Lord will smite all the tongues, unless the trees rise up to celebrate the feast of the tabernacle. In the person of one people, I mean the Egyptians, he points to those who have reached extreme error and have recklessly given themselves over to idolatry, for whom it will serve as a terrible, inevitable and destructive punishment that they do not want to honor the acceptable grace of salvation through Christ. They almost turned out to be the murderers of their own souls, if it is true that with the opportunity for them to achieve eternal life, when it was offered for assimilation to those who wished to accept heavenly mercy and remove their sins, they indulged in their delusions and left the filth of sin unwashed and remained in error, although the divine light shines on everyone and calls to the insight of those in darkness and darkness. I would say about each of these: “it is better for him than he, for he came in vanity, and in darkness he walks, and in darkness his name is covered” (Eccl. 6:3-4), - “it would have been good for him if he had not been born,” according to the word of the Savior (Matthew 26:24). And that we are not talking about the Egyptians alone, but this will happen to all the pagans, who will undoubtedly be punished as having neglected salvation through Christ and not honoring His celebrations, he will confirm this by saying further: Zechariah 14:19. This will be a sin for Egypt, and a sin for the entire tongue, if the people do not rise up to celebrate the feast of the tabernacle. Before the coming of the Savior, perhaps there was also, and partly decent, an apology among the pagans, who could say that no one preached to them. Therefore, the Savior in the Gospel parables, pointing us to this very thing, said that the workers, called around the eleventh hour, say: “No one has hired us” (Matthew 20:7). When Christ finally shone forth, bound the strong (Matthew 12:29), freed those who were subject to him from the cruelty of him (the devil), justified by faith those who came to Him, laid down His life for the lives of all (1 John 3:16): then those who did not accept such sacred grace will no longer find sufficient grounds for apology. Therefore, Christ speaks the truth about the pagans themselves when he says: “Unless he came and spoke to them, they had no sin: but now they have no guilt about their sin” (John 15:22). Zechariah 14:20. On the day he will be in the bridle of a horse, holy to the Lord Almighty. Since all war has already subsided, the battle has ceased, the enemies have been driven out and unceasing peace has finally crowned the holy city, that is, the Church, then the military, he says, the shells will turn out to be idle, like plaques and decorations on the bridles (of horses). What will a horseman need, distinguished in battle, if there is not a single opponent at all? So, sacred, he says, military armor will be vessels and dedication to God. Since He is the Ruler of the world, it is right that already superfluous and ineffective military shells are dedicated to Him. So the blessed prophet Isaiah said about some that “they will cleave their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and will not take up the tongue of the sword, nor will they learn how to fight” (Is. 2:4), when the times of peace seem to convince them to give up military armor for the needs of agriculture and move on to other peaceful pursuits, abandoning military exercises. Likewise, the divine Zechariah says that when permanent peace is finally given by God, the equipment needed for the warriors will be transformed into dedication to God, for the army will be completely abolished and there will be no concern for the horses, nor for the bridles or plaques on them, but on the contrary, everyone will be inclined to desire to excel in virtue and worship of God. But some think that the meaning of the prophecy can be defined in another way. They say that the tree of the cross was once found, which still had nails driven in, from which, taking one, the pious Constantine attached it to the bridle of his horse, being confident that through this he would receive a blessing from God. It cannot be called incredible if this were so, and it can rightly be recognized that the most pious king was remembered by God and honored as a prophetic prediction. After all, the word of the holy prophets once made mention and prediction about very many, as, of course, about Josiah 203 and about some others. And sometimes the calm and piety of times is indicated through the rulers of that time. Therefore, there is nothing incongruous if even now the prophet Zechariah mentions a memorable event, and about a God-loving, true and pious king, and about times dedicated to love for Christ; for the decoration of the royal horses with a nail taken from the honorable cross, what else can point us to if not the greatest and truly most glorious piety of the rulers? Zechariah 14:20. And the horses in the house of the Lord will be like bowls before the altar. Konobs (cauldrons) were in the holy tabernacle and in the church that was built later, in which (cauldrons) the meat of the victims was cooked, which the priests consumed in the holy place, which the law commanded to do so that the shrine was not taken out of the sacred places. since, with the cessation of these ancient rites, our sacraments passed to a different form of worship, and through faith we are taught to honor the God of all, no longer with the slaughter of sheep and incense, but, on the contrary, with bloodless sacrifices, spiritually performing sacred acts in churches and the Savior of all Christ Himself: then instead of conobs we use other sacred vessels, which the prophet here calls chalices. And these vessels are mainly used by drinkers, from where a wise listener will no doubt understand the meaning of what is signified, even if our speech about this was somewhat darker than it should be, because the story about the hidden must be shortened. So, then there were konobs, now “bowls before the altar.” Zechariah 14:21. And everyone in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty. And all those who eat will come and take from them and cook in them. Konobami, using ancient names, calls the mysterious 204 vessels, which are holy, revered and honorable both for those who are “in Jerusalem”, that is, in the church, obviously for the divine clergy, and for Judas himself, that is, again for those who have received circumcision in the spirit, who are also believers. No one takes the vessels of the holy altar for general use (at home), but, as I said, they are holy and kept for the glory of God and serve only for the needs of the holy meal, through them and in them the sacrifices of those who bring them (sacrifices) are made, and not everyone brings his own vessel, but everyone uses only the sacred vessels; for “every one will be holy,” he says, “to the Lord.” So, although the prophet speaks of sacrifices still under the law and uses the words konoba and boiled, we must understand this in relation to the times of Christ. We think that, out of discretion, the speech of the holy prophets was unclear and not easily accessible to everyone, so that the speech befitting (ordained) only for the saints would not be thrown to the dogs (Matthew 7:6) and would not be revealed to unclean and vile people. Zechariah 14:21. And there shall be no Canaanites in the church of the Lord Almighty on that day. The mind of the ancients, as you can see, is weak and fragile, and completely poor. The Israelites were freed by Moses from Egypt, threw off the yoke of unbearable slavery and, after performing numerous and miraculous signs, they finally came out, crossed the sea itself, ate bread that came down from heaven, and drank water that suddenly came out of a rock in the desert (Ex. 14:1, 16 f. Num. 20:1-13). What are they, pathetic? – In the absence of Moses, they made a calf (Ex. 32 seq.) and, as the prophet says, they took “the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of their god Rephan, the images they had made for themselves” for worship (Am. 5 cf. Acts 7:43). But they perished, for “their bones fell in the wilderness” (Heb. 3:17), as it is written. After this, their descendants, although they crossed the Jordan under the leadership of Jesus, but over time, when they were under the control of judges, again became servants of idols. But even in the times of the holy prophets, they sacrificed to golden heifers, which the cursed Jeroboam did for them (1 Kings 12:28–33). And besides, having erected churches and altars, they also worshiped Baal, Chemosh, Astarte, Beelphegor. And to top off these evils, it was not only the crowd of common people who were involved in this, but also among the priests themselves we will find many who evaded. Therefore, God spoke through the prophet: “The priests do not say: where is the Lord? and those who keep the law do not know me, and your shepherds dishonor me, and the prophets prophesy to Baal, and follow your idols” (Jer. 2:8). And the prophet Ezekiel saw about twenty-five men from the elders of Israel, only “having their backs towards the church of the Lord, and their faces straight (towards the east), and worshiping the sun towards the east” (Ezek. 8:16). It is not difficult to collect many other examples of this kind, but these, I think, will be sufficient to prove their inherent indifference to learning. So, the mind of the ancients wavered and was very unstable, which is why God said about them: “They loved to struggle with their noses and did not spare 205, and God did not take pleasure in 206 them” (Jer. 14:10). They were easily carried away into absurd idolatry and, being descendants of Israel, zealously imitated the foreign Canaanites. When the Only Begotten Word of God became like us and, having justified us by faith, sealed with the Holy Spirit those who came to the grace that comes from Him: then our mind became firm, constant and unshakable, strengthened in piety. No one will convince the sanctified to honor another, except by nature and truly existing, God, whom we knew in Christ, for He showed the Father in Himself, saying: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). So, “on the day he says, that is, at that time, there will be no Canaanites, that is, foreigners and idolaters, in the church of the Lord Almighty”; for we, as I have said, are established in the faith and crowned with the ornaments of steadfastness through Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. ἐν τηις ημέραις, like some, but Slav.: from the person, like א s. b. Eusebius, Jerome, Compl. Ald. and many more minuscules. Omits: mine, like very few. Omission. prev Sim: and will be like Alex. and some etc. και, like most, but Sin. With. A. and some αλλα, as Comp. and Slav. γνωστη, according to Slav as some. and Ald. γνωσθησεται - will be. ἐμπαίζειν - to play like with a child, cf. Matthew 2:16. In Heb. to play in it (the sea). Omission. πασαν, but in the interpretation it reads like other codes. and Heb. Glorious: and he will ascend (according to Heb.) in place and remain. So little, but Slav.: Anameil, as the author of the Greek. and Kir. further in explanation. Slav.: and to the point of undermining, like Alex. and some min. Slav.: and will move in, like many others. late πετοιθότως, like almost all Heb., but Slav.: hope, like Jer., Comp. and some min. At St. Kirill: as if they would laugh. Greek εκστασισ - frenzy. Arr. God is a very rare reading. In Slav. approx.: there will be no rain on them, like Ald. and some resp. Heb., but not in the most ancient authoritative codes. A flexible tree that grows in streams. εκεῖ as Alex., Evs., Hieron. and some handwritten, but Slav. no cheat acc. Vat., Sin. and many more etc. πτῶσις, like Sin., Vat., Alex. and more but Slav. ulcer πληγή, as some. some Used when performing the sacraments. You might be interested in: