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Zechariah 1:1–2. In the 8th month, the second summer, under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah Barachi, the son of Addo the prophet 1, saying: The Lord was angry with your fathers with great wrath. See how, by means of historical narratives, he arouses fear in them, and by telling the younger generation what happened to their ancestors, encourages them to a better life, as if threatening that they, having been subjected to the same or more severe calamities, will weep bitterly if they do not come to a prudent resolution to abstain from the deeds of their ancestors and apply all care and concern for what is pleasing to God. “With great wrath,” he says, becoming angry. God, who is sovereign over all, does not leave His words without irresistible proof, but shows from what they have already experienced and endured that He cannot speak a lie; for the proof of God’s considerable indignation was that He allowed the Babylonians to devastate all of Judea and with it Samaria, to set fire to the church itself and to destroy Jerusalem to the ground, and to make the chosen Israel an exile and a miserable and miserable slave in a foreign land, suffering intolerable distress, deprived of the opportunity to make sacrifices, to go inside the sacred court, to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving or tithes or firstfruits according to the law, and also as a result of need and fear, deprived of the opportunity to celebrate the holidays prescribed to him by law and very dear to him. So “the Lord was angry with their fathers with great wrath.” The same words would have been spoken to the Jewish people by those who wanted to lead them to knowledge of the mystery of Christ. For after they killed the prophets and crucified the Lord of glory Himself, they were subjected to captivity and destruction: even their famous church was destroyed and finally what was spoken by the mouth of Hosea was fulfilled on them: “For many days the children of Israel will sit; Hos.3:4). And that they, having offended God, are in captivity and under the dominion of the devil, that they are rejected and deprived of all heavenly care for them - who can doubt this. If they could once be delivered by accepting faith and recognizing Christ as God and King and Lord; Then, precisely and with all justice, one could turn to them with a wise admonition and it would be timely to say the following: “The Lord was angry with your fathers with great wrath.” Zechariah 1:3–4. And speak to them: Again the Lord Almighty says: Turn to me and I will turn to you, says the Lord Almighty 2. And do not wake up, as your fathers did, when the former prophets rebuked them, saying: Herein says the Lord Almighty: He will turn from your wicked ways and from your evil undertakings: 3 And you will not hearken to listen to Me, says the Lord. Having been called, as I said, from captivity and returning to Judea, they became lazy in doing what was pleasing to God, and although they no longer served idols and were not carried away by the ancient error, they were nevertheless convicted of angering God in other ways; for they, as it is written in the book of Ezra, mixed with foreign women and, bringing into their homes the daughters of neighboring nations, became fathers of children from foreign mothers, although the law forbade them such a thing as wicked. But at the same time, they did not care about celebrating holidays, about making sacrifices, just as they turned out to be insufficiently zealous for the construction of the divine church. Therefore, as it is written in Haggai, “smite them with barrenness, and with wind, and with hail, all the works of their hands.” “And the moisture in the skin of the barley was twenty saths, and the barley was ten saths,” and again: “they went into the pit to draw fifty measures, and there was twenty” (Hag. 2:16-17). Therefore, it is announced to them that if they decide to correct their lives and turn to Him, doing what is pleasing and pleasing to Him; then He will turn to them, that is, He will stop His anger against them and turn to mercy: He forbids them to imitate, as leading to destruction, the behavior of their ancestors, who were given from Him through the holy prophets so many admonitions and reminders, calling them to turn from shameful undertakings, but all this turned out to be completely useless for people inclined to disobedience. So, those who follow the foolishness of their fathers and point to the habits of their ancestors as their invincible defense are ridiculous, even if they are convicted of extreme lawlessness. And this is especially true of idolaters. Called to the knowledge of the truth, they always remind (those who convince them) of the error of their fathers and, valuing their ignorance as some paternal heritage, they remain blind. I think that if someone gave advice to those who have been circumcised to abandon shameful deeds and pay attention to useful things; then they too will begin to seek refuge in the habit of their fathers. That is why it was useful to proclaim to those who were in error: “Turn to me, and I will turn to you, says the Lord Almighty” and: “Do not be like your fathers,” obviously erring and stubbornly remaining in ignorance. Zechariah 1:5–6. Where are your fathers and prophets? food will live forever? Moreover, you accept my words and my laws, as I commanded in Dus my servants the prophet, who comprehended your fathers. And she answered and decided: as the Lord Almighty commanded to do for us according to our path and according to our undertaking, so do it to us. Before Judea was conquered and Jerusalem itself was taken, some, taking upon themselves the name of a prophet as if it were a disguise, spoke “from their hearts, and not from the mouth of the Lord,” as it is written (Jer. 23:16). Speaking lies, such people proclaimed that the holy city would never be taken by enemies and Israel would never be defeated by those who would desolate it, but would enjoy undisturbed prosperity and live in undisturbed pleasure, because God protects, honors and loves the chosen people. But in saying this, as I just said, they, pathetic ones, spoke a lie and made the careless Israel even more careless, whereas they should have convinced him to propitiate God, to evade as much as possible from what offends Him, and to turn to what pleases Him. But they neglected the words of truth and, carried away by insignificant and very shameful profits, misled Israel. That is why the prophet Jeremiah strongly accuses them, saying this: “O Lord God, behold their prophets prophesy and say: You will not see the sword, and there will be no famine for you, but I will give truth and peace on the earth and in this place.” God responded to this: “The prophets prophesy falsely in my name; I have not sent them, nor commanded them, nor spoken to them: for they prophesy to you lies, and fortune-telling, and sorcery, and the desires of their hearts” (Jer. 14:13-14). And in another place he says again: “the prophets did not send, but they taught: they did not speak to them, and they prophesied” (Jer. 23:21). So Israel, as I said, erred, foolishly carried away by the deception of false prophets. But Israel would never have been conquered by their enemies and would not have experienced such bitter and grievous slavery if they had listened to the prophets sent from God, who foretold them that this would happen to them, and clearly said that they would certainly experience disaster if they did not want to do what was pleasing to God. Therefore, he encourages them to remember the wicked prophets and those who were deceived by them, and says: “Where are your fathers and prophets? food will live forever? He seems to say this: your fathers died in a pitiful way, in captivity, and with them the false prophets, who led them into deception and traded in the name and work of the prophets. But if they (the fathers) were still alive, then perhaps they would make you better, constantly mourning the disasters that happened to them and not a little blaming the false prophets who were among them. But for their negligence and disobedience they received death as retribution along with their seducers. You, however, listen to the words of the holy prophets and treat with great respect what they proclaim: for they also said to your ancestors that “the Lord commanded to create”, obviously captivity and the disasters that would befall them, and they denounced them, directly saying: “according to your ways and your undertakings, so do it to you.” For God does not punish everyone in vain, and the divine, infallible and very fair court does not make a rash decision regarding anything: but only after excessive patience does it impose punishment on those who have sinned, which they fully deserve. So, good obedience is wise and will deliver us from all evil: obedience to the divine laws, respect for the prophecies of the saints and acceptance with faith of the broadcasts of the Spirit in the confidence that what was foretold will certainly be fulfilled - transforming ourselves for the better and turning to repentance. Zechariah 1:7–11. In the twenty-fourth first month, this is the month of Shebath, in the second summer, under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah (son) Barachiah the son of 4 Addo the prophet 5, saying: I saw at night, and behold, a man mounted on a red horse, and this one stood between 6 two shaded mountains, 7 and behind him the horses were red and gray, and mottled, and leucorrhoea And he said: what are these, Lord? And the Angel spoke to me in me: I will show you what this is. And the man answered, stood between the mountains, and said to me: these are the ones whom the Lord sent to embrace the earth. And he answered the Angel of the Lord standing between the mountains, and decided: the whole earth has died, and behold, the whole earth is inhabited and is silent. God revealed visions to the holy prophets in parts and at certain times. We do not claim that they were given a seemingly constant and never-interrupted grace of contemplation of God and revelation of future events; on the contrary, this was done at times appropriate to each event, and at the discretion of the One who revealed the hidden; and sometimes in this way, and sometimes in that way, in many and varied ways they were instructed. So sometimes, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they received simple knowledge, and sometimes, in addition to that, they even had visions of events, because God communicated to them and secretly revealed His secrets, sometimes under such, sometimes under other images. So blessed Isaiah says that he saw the Lord of hosts, “sitting on a throne, high and exalted,” and the seraphim stood around Him and praised Him, calling to each other (Is. 6). The divine Ezekiel says that he saw the throne above the firmament and the seraphim located under it. He later says that he saw Him sitting on the throne and having two natures, so that the lower part of the loins was clearly visible in the form of fire, and the upper in the form of an electrum (Ezek. 1:4). And if any one wished to inquire in detail into the reasons why God communicated to them visions in various forms; then the conversation about each could be deep and lengthy. So, blessed Zechariah, having clearly defined the time and days and month, says that he saw the Lord in an image similar to ours; for he says: “Behold, a man rides a red horse.” These words indicate someone who is experienced in war and knowledgeable in military science. For sitting on a horse, and a red one at that, with a bloody color, I think, indicates something similar. The God of all arms himself against those who oppose Him, and as if some enemy rises up against those who raise the rebellious and arrogant neck of their minds against Him. This is what the descendants of Israel did, and very boldly, who inhabited Judea and Jerusalem itself, as well as the inhabitants of the Samaritan country, that is, the ten tribes: for they turned to polytheism and, giving divine honors to those made with hands, exclaimed to the golden heifers: “Behold your gods for Israel, who brought me out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28): and moreover, showing complete disregard to the regulations of the legislator, they recklessly began to do what they wanted. Therefore, finally, the God of all secretly comes out against them, as if on a horse and in an image similar to ours. “Standing between two overshadowed mountains.” I think he calls the mountain of Judea, that is, Zion, and the mountain of Samaria, overshadowed mountains; for God nowhere said about them: “Be cruel to those who despise Zion, and to those who trust in Mount Samaria” ( Am. 6:1 ); both of them are called overshadowed, perhaps because they were densely populated by countless inhabitants and were likened to a dense and shady forest. Behind the one who sat on the red horse there were other horses, and not of the same color, for there were red, and gray, and motley, and white. They mean kings or peoples who love war and are very brave, who want to dominate not only in their native country, but as if spreading throughout the entire earth and trying to subjugate the whole of heaven to their power. Such were the kings of Babylon, and the first of them was Thula, who subjugated the tribes on the other side of the Jordan: then after him Shalmaneser, who devastated Samaria, and the third Sennacherib, who cruelly devastated the remnants of Samaria and set many cities of Judea on fire; fourth Nebuchadnezzar, who took Jerusalem itself and led Israel into captivity. This is probably indicated by the fact that the prophet contemplated horses of different colors, and if anyone in their diversity saw an indication of the difference in the aspirations and thoughts of each of them, he would be quite right. But the prophet is perplexed, asks for revelation and finds out that these are those whom the Lord sent to go around the whole earth. The messengers themselves say the same thing, claiming that they have gone around the whole earth, and that it is calm and is not able to resist their dominion and not of their own free will, but of necessity, bears the yoke imposed by them. Zechariah 1:12. And the Angel of the Lord answered and said: Lord Almighty, until you have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you have despised? this seventieth summer. When horses were sent, that is, nations and kings, who went around the whole earth, and when they clearly said that it was inhabited and silent and, of necessity, endured the yoke imposed on it: then the blessed Angel of Judea spoke, who could be appointed by God to lead the Jewish people. We know that when they fled from the land of Egypt, the mad Pharaoh brought them into great terror by arming himself against them and deciding to pursue them. And one hundred, he says, the angel of the Lord was in their midst, “and did not mingle with each other all night” (Is. 14:19–20); and Paul, versed in the law, said that the law itself was spoken through angels (Gal. 3:19). The content of the Gospel parable indicates something similar. Nowhere did Christ speak about the synagogue of Judea, secretly foreshadowing what was about to happen to it: “A certain man planted a fig tree in his field,” and since it was barren, he wanted to cut it down and ordered the gardener to do this, saying, “Is the seedlings of this tree and the land being cultivated?” He says the same to this; “Lord, I will leave her this summer, until I will dig around her and sprinkle her with pus; and if she produces fruit in the future, if not, you will cut her off” (Luke 13:6-9). In these words, what else does the gardener’s face point us to, if not to the intercessor Angel, appointed, as I said, to guide her? So, since God limited the time of captivity to the seventieth year and since this time had not yet ended; then it was necessary to remain silent so that there would be no opposition to the orders of the Lord. When was this time fulfilled? then he (the angel) begs the Lord and, after the danger of angering the Lord has passed, knowing that He never speaks a lie, the Angel wants to know whether the consequences of the divine wrath over those who have sinned have already ended in the seventieth year, in accordance with the ancient definition, or whether there will be some more delay due to the addition of their sins and their disasters will continue for some time? Therefore he says: “How long will you have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah,” which have already been despised for “the seventieth year?” So, those who honor God can have the good and undoubted hope that if they happened to anger Him through weakness, then they have before God persistent intercessors for themselves, not only people, but also the most holy Angels, who ask for mercy from God, with their purity, as if calming His anger and stopping the indignation of the Judge. But then an angel interceded before God for the Jewish synagogue, and we, who believed and were sanctified by the Spirit, “interceded as imams to the Father of Jesus Christ, and that cleansing is for our sins, not for ours specifically, but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2) and, as the divine Paul writes, God appointed Him to be the propitiator through faith (Rom. 3:25), so that He would deliver from sins coming to Him. Zechariah 1:13–15. And the Lord Almighty answered the Angel who spoke in me with good words and words of comfort. And the Angel spoke to me in me: He cried out, saying: To this says the Lord Almighty: I am zealous for Jerusalem and Zion with great zeal and great anger; It is an immutable truth that “the Lord is generous and merciful,” as the Psalmist says (Ps. 102:8), and the very events of real life cry out that this is exactly so and not otherwise. Pay attention to the fact that He immediately accepts prayers for those who have suffered and are crushed by sorrow in a foreign land and, delivering them from the yoke of slavery, as if he warns the petition of the intercessor for them and immediately answers with kind verbs and comforting words. He calls them comforting because they could revive and encourage the spirit of the oppressed. During the entire time of their captivity, he who did not say even a good word to them and did not reward them with anything that usually encourages him, (now) begins to speak kindly to them and lays the foundation for a meek treatment of them. And so, as a result of extraordinary joy, the divine Angel commanded the prophet to exclaim and bring to the attention of everyone the words of God. “I was jealous,” he says, “for Jerusalem with great zeal,” directing this zeal not against it, as before, because he was given over to unnatural idolatry, but for it, against its devastators, with whom, he says, he was angry not with ordinary and moderate anger, but with indomitable and uncontrollable rage; for, he says, I admonished Mine and did not want them to suffer beyond measure, but they, at their own discretion, treated them with terrible and unbridled cruelty, using all kinds of cruelty and inhumanity. This, I think, is what the words mean: “I was angry a little, but they are going to be evil.” The God of all punishes those who have sinned out of love for them and, subjecting us to moderate punishments, encourages us to reform, and those who are called to fulfill this sometimes pounce on those being punished like animals. But God is angry with them with great anger: for He wanted to correct them with punishment, like a father, but they attacked the suffering with uncontrollable swiftness. When the church suffered such suffering, her persecutors did not know that they would answer for their cruelty against her and would suffer severe punishment from God, who rules over everything. Zechariah 1:16. For this reason the Lord also says: I will turn to Jerusalem with generosity, and my church will be built in it, says the Lord Almighty, and the measure will continue to be extended in Jerusalem. He showed that, having been rejected by the One who is able to save, (Jerusalem) has reached a very pitiful and disastrous state: but it will, without difficulty and very easily, return to the state in which it was before, after the Angry One (obviously, almighty God) bows to pity and, as it were, returns to it, in order to again honor him with care and love and to forgive his guilt without remembrance. Thus he promises to build a house and make Jerusalem very extensive: for the church was burned, the very walls of the city were destroyed, so that it seemed completely insignificant and diminished and having a very small number of inhabitants. But, as I just said, he promises to return it to its previous state, which was fulfilled when Cyrus freed them from captivity, and Darius ordered the church itself to be restored, and allowed the city to be strengthened with walls. We also see that God, exercising the faith of the saints and the love of those devoted to Him, from time to time allows the church to be persecuted; but, having suffered a little, He immediately restores it and, with His help, again protects it and crowns His house with grace from above. But everyone who lives piously is both the city and the house of God. And he is often put to the test when the flesh and worldly cares incite him to evil, so that it seems that the soul of the victim is, as it were, consigned to flame and deprived of walls and security. But when God shows mercy and, through the prayers of the saints, inclines to mercy; then again it is built “into a holy church, into a habitation of God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21–22): and when it is freed from all uncleanness, it is protected by God and becomes the city of the great king, that is, Christ. Zechariah 1:17. And the Angel spoke to me in me: He cried again, saying: Herein saith the Lord Almighty: They shall yet be filled with good cities, and the Lord shall have mercy on Zion again, and shall choose Jerusalem again. When the time of captivity continued, the cities of Judea, as well as the cities of the Samaritans, fell into complete desolation; for the houses were burned and seemed to cry out about the cruelty of the Babylonians, and by their very appearance the cities seemed ugly and completely destroyed. And since they were very sparsely populated, it was impossible to find in them a famous man or in any other respect glorious, and not even one living in prosperity, but they were all imbued with despondency and were burdened with hunger and poverty. And now he announces that all this will come to an end: for “they will be reborn as good cities,” that is, they will be in the same prosperity. And since there will be an abundance of goods in them, they will change their appearance and again return to the state for which they prayed (to God), for “the Lord will have mercy on Zion and will choose Jerusalem.” Notice how the prophetic word skillfully warns us; for the promise is given that he (Jerusalem) will not be completely pardoned and will not be chosen forever: but he says: “yet,” thereby promising, as if by measure, a certain time of favor towards him; for after his passing he was subject to even worse calamities, condemned for his fury against Christ. So the expression: “yet” indicates, as it were, a time of goodwill determined by measure, which contains a secret threat of what was going to happen to him at the time of the Savior’s coming. Zechariah 1:18–21. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold four roses. And he said to the angel saying within me: What is this Lord? And he said to me: these roses have squandered Judah, and Israel, and Jerusalem. And showing 8 The Lord is four tree-makers. And reh: what are these things that are coming to do? And he said: these roses scattered Judah and crushed Israel, and none of them raised up their heads: and these roses came forth and I sharpened them in my hands 9 . Four roses, the heathen raising the horn on the land of the Lord, scatter the hedgehog. Following this, the prophet is given another vision, so that he would not receive knowledge of the future through words alone, but also, being in contemplation of the events that are about to take place, would be able to subtly and clearly understand the meaning of what he saw. So I will try to explain what exactly the meaning is in the vision that he had. In divinely inspired Scripture, the word horn is always taken as an image and expression of power or kingdom, but very often it also means pride, as can be seen from what blessed David says to some: “For those who sin, do not lift up horns” (Ps. 74:5). He sings nowhere about Christ: “his horn will be exalted in glory” (Ps. 111:9), that is, the kingdom, power and authority to rule over everything. So the prophet sees four horns, that is, four peoples who are cruel and very warlike, capable of easily devastating cities and countries. Some say that this is the kingdom of Assyria, then Babylon, and the third Macedonian: for Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, being from Macedonia, devastated Judea. This also includes the kingdom of Rome, which after the crucifixion of Christ took possession of Jerusalem by force. since the divine Angel, explaining the vision to the prophet, said about the horns that “these roses that wasted Judah and Israel crushed,” then I think that now it is necessary, leaving that, on the contrary, to move on to the nations that crushed Israel. And so there were four sovereigns about whom it is known that Judea was subjected to such disasters from them: the first was, as I have already said, Thula, who conquered the tribes of Israel living on the other side of the Jordan, then after him Shalmaneser, and the third Sennacherib and the last of them Nebuchadnezzar. So, it is most fitting to think about them that “these are the roses that wasted Judah and Israel.” Then, when God showed the Prophet the vision and explained it, “four tree-makers” appear in the vision. Again he asked where and why were they going? To this the angel speaking in him replied that they “went out to sharpen” the four horns that crushed and scattered Judah and Israel. But what exactly, we ask, is signified through this? Were those who had already devastated them encouraged against Israel, and did God make those whom He sent against them out of anger against them more cruel? But He commanded to cry out and say: “I am zealous for Jerusalem and Zion with great zeal, and I am angry with the attacking tongues; He who was not much and moderately angry and who showed jealousy against the devastators because they committed unspeakable cruelties against those captured by them, how could he give the order to sharpen his horns against them? So the horns will be sharpened, not against Israel, but against themselves: for they rebelled against each other, and the Persians and Medes fought against the Assyrians and Babylonians during the reign of Cyrus, as has already been said about this before. So, if the horns had not been sharpened and the country of the Babylonians had not been conquered, then Israel would not have been freed from slavery and would not have been delivered from bonds and unbearable disaster. So, by the four trees sharpening their horns in their hands, that is, those who have them, or conquerors (so that we understand the kings of Persia), can be meant the Angels, appointed to perfectly fulfill what is pleasing to God. But this consisted in the fact that the Babylonians were conquered and were under the dominion of the Persians and Medes, about which in another place the Lord of all says: “sanctify the essence: and I lead them, the giants come to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing, together and reproaching” (Is. 13: 3). Instead of ὑιον Ἀδδὼ - to the son of Adda, and ὑιον refers to Zechariah, and not to Varachia (as Cyrus. Al. Vat. Syn. Alex. Theodoret. Theod. Mops. LXX Hieron. etc.) Vulgate. Set and some codd. read ὑιοῦ Ἀδδὼ, and ὑιοῦ refers to Varachia and Zechariah is considered the grandson of Adda (Symmachus: πάπποος - grandfather, see Fielda). And instead of τοῦ προφήτου, i.e. Adda, as in St. Cyril, in all: τὸν προφήτην i.e. Zechariah. In Heb. perhaps both. The name of Addo (Heb. Iddo), a seer, as a compiler of Jewish chronicles, together with the prophet Samei, is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 12:15–13:22. Iddo, as one of the priestly ancestors - and Zechariah, as his descendant, is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:4, 16 - the prophet Zechariah is also called the son of Iddo in 1 Ezra 5:1, 6:14. So some, others and glory: strength. At St. Kirill, as in Alex. and some etc., omitted: καὶ οὐκ ειση κουσαν, read in Slavic, following most codes. St. Cyrus: ὐιοῦ Ἀδδώ, like some, for glory. and the majority: ὑιον. Wed. approx. to Art. 1–2. Here in Minya’s edition it says: τον προφὴτην, but in Aub. τοῦ προφὴτου, as in Art. 1. So in some and in LXX Jer., in others, like Slav., no: two. Heb.: between the myrtles, which are in the recess. St. Cyril omitted here: μοι – mi. After these words in glory. no punctuation. You might be interested in: