Commentary on the book of the prophet Zechariah

Between 412 and 418 St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote a series of interpretations on the minor prophets - a total of 12 parts, according to the number of prophetic books. The preface to each book describes the historical setting and purpose of the prophecies. The beginning of the preface to the interpretation of the Book of the Prophet Hosea is an introduction to the entire corpus of interpretations. Interpretations of St. Kirill are reduced to the unity of typological (proto-educational), spiritual (anagogical) and literal (historical) methods. In his opinion, the books of the prophets do not need allegorical interpretation to clarify their Christological meaning, since by their nature they prophesy about Christ. For St. Cyril of Alexandria, there are only two meanings of Holy Scripture: literal and spiritual, which seem to penetrate each other. The area of ​​spiritual interpretation certainly includes the disclosure of moral meaning, examples of which are contained in these comments. Blessed Zechariah prophesies in Jerusalem at the same times, I think, in which Haggai prophesied 1. Upon returning from captivity, Israel no longer lived separately in Judea and Samaria; but they all gathered together in one city, Jerusalem, and settled throughout all Judea, when Zerubbabel of the tribe of Judah reigned over them, and the high priestly office was occupied by Jesus the son of Jozedek, the great priest. He composes prophetic words very skillfully. Since very many, taken into captivity from Judea or Samaria, returned to their homeland and knew all the violence that the Babylonians had once carried out over Jerusalem, and besides, they were not unaware of why God was angry with them, and those born in the country of the Persians and Medes did not know what Jerusalem had once been like, did not see either Judea or the disasters that befell their fathers as a result of the wrath of the divine, and also did not know about that they were subjected to such severe punishment, perhaps only from some stories: it is necessary that the God of all kinds should show them, having received freedom, some kind of educator and organizer in the person of blessed Zechariah, who came from priestly blood, that is, from the tribe of Levi, and was born from his father Barachiah according to the flesh, who prophesied by the inspiration of the Spirit, and the son of Addo the prophet. He was brought up, one must think, in the morals of this latter and became an imitator of the same feats of virtue. Therefore, should we not say what the meaning of his prophecy is and what events it concerns? He draws the attention of those released from captivity to the punishment they suffered because they neglected the divine commandment and were accustomed to not attaching importance to what was established through the wise Moses. Having brought them into considerable fear, he convinces them to resolve to acquire the favor of God through complete obedience and obedience to Him, and adds that if they are not good, submissive and obedient to the divine laws, then they too will be subject to disasters, even more severe than those that befell their fathers. Then, as if expanding the words of his instruction, he tries to show them what the ancient deeds of their fathers were and why divine wrath befell them and how they died: then: how they were delivered and freed from the yoke of captivity and were returned to Judea. And to this he adds that, as I just said, they will suffer an even worse fate if they try to follow in the footsteps of their fathers’ disobedience to God. But at the same time he constantly has in mind the deliverance that will once be accomplished through Christ and depicts His mystery to us in many ways. So, those who want to study each part of the prophecy should not consider its contents to be an unnecessary repetition and a narration only of what happened before; on the contrary, we must remember that he considers the narration of the events taking place to be very necessary for those who returned from captivity to Judea; for those who knew about the sufferings they had previously suffered, he corrected, reminding them of this, and he protected the young and those who did not know about ancient events from being subjected to the same disasters, having loved the unclean and most insane life. 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. You might be interested in: