Глава 13

Zechariah 13:1. On the day every place will be opened to the house of David and to those who live in Jerusalem for movement and sprinkling 175 . Again he turns his speech to the subsequent future fate of those who loved the appearance of Christ. Those who are proud and disobedient will be besieged, he says, and will mourn their own misfortunes. On the contrary, in the spiritual and truly holy Jerusalem and in the house of David, that is, in the Church, with the appearance of Christ from the seed of David in the flesh, “every place will be opened,” that is, there will be a certain vast plain and, as it were, a free life, blessed and carefree. However, it should be noted that Jews again read this passage differently. Instead of: “every place will be opened,” they read: every fountain will be opened. It is very likely, however, that the purpose of the translation of the Seventy was aimed at the same thing, to express something similar, although (in it) a different way of reading the words. So, the rebellious and stubborn Jerusalem, the evil and apostate, “beating the prophets and stoning those who were sent” to her (Matthew 23:37), will receive retribution corresponding to his own daring deeds. It will be cut down like a pomegranate orchard. For those who inhabit the spiritual Jerusalem, or the house of Judah, that is, Christ, “every place will be opened,” or in every place there will be a spring flowing out the water of purification, obviously the water of holy baptism, to be useful for those who believe “both in moving and in sprinkling.” What does “advancement” mean? – The movement of the Jews from legal leadership to citizenship under the authority of Christ, from shadow to truth, from image and letter to spiritual service. What kind of movement will there be for the Hellenes? From unbelief they come to faith in Christ, from initial ignorance to pure knowledge of the truly Existing God, from darkness to light. The general movement, characteristic of everyone called by faith, both Jew and Greek, is from thinking about carnal things to choosing a holy and pure life, and to walking in the spirit, according to the word of Blessed Paul (Rom. 8: 4, 9), from reverence for what is in the world to love for the worldly. And that, by accepting divine and sacred baptism, we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ for the cleansing of sin, how can one doubt this? So, the path to movement and sprinkling for those living in the house of Judah is saving baptism, that is, every place that is opened, or every fountain that opens and pours out water of cleansing. Zechariah 13:2. And on that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will consume the names of idols from the earth, and no one will have their remembrance: and I will remove the lying prophets and the unclean spirit from the earth. Everything in Christ changed for the better and, casting aside the reproach of the original damage, became a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Before the time of the coming, before the incarnation of the Only Begotten and His illumination of everything with His divine light, there was still darkness and gloom in the hearts of the peoples. They served idols and reached such folly that they worshiped trees and stones, and gave unclean spirits the honors due to God. Such was the fault of the stupidity of those who were mistaken. On the other hand, Israel, who, although they were chosen, and “part of the Lord and already His inheritance,” according to Scripture (Deut. 32:9), had such a great weakening of morals and behavior that the law given to them to help and not useful for guidance in the matter of right life, they received insignificant attention, and were more inclined to be recklessly carried away by the errors of the pagans and follow the superstitions of their neighbors peoples Thus, they were very recklessly attached to the predictions of false prophets. Some servants of idols, sitting in unclean groves, were soothsayers and told lies. Others, having on their lips: the Lord lives, and taking on the appearance of piety, and as if hiding a wolf under the skin of a sheep, appropriating, pitiful, a prophetic name for themselves and wickedly stealing the glory inherent in Him, they spewed out whatever they wanted, and called the thoughts of their hearts the divine will. The prophet Jeremiah also spoke about those accustomed to such daring acts to the God who rules over all: “Behold the Lord, behold their prophets prophesy and say: You shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine for you, but I will give truth and peace on earth and in this place” (Jer. 14:13). And to this God: “The prophets prophesy falsely in My name; I have not sent them, nor commanded them, nor spoken unto them: for they prophesy to you lies, and fortune-telling, and sorcery, and the desires of their hearts” (Jer. 14:14). They spoke lies, as I said, and, prompted by shameful bribes, they spoke to their listeners, as it is written: “from their hearts, and not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16). Then: while the Jews should have been indignant at them, they, on the contrary, made them honorable and tried to crown them with the highest honors. After the Only Begotten Word of God appeared to us, the insensitive and childish toys of idolatry disappeared completely and completely perished, along with it the reckless and wicked activity of the false prophets was destroyed, who were filled with an evil and unclean spirit and, together with the servants of idols, could with all justice be convicted of the illness of a related and similar error: for one and the other is the teacher wickedness, that is, Satan. So, I will destroy, he says, from the earth the names of idols, and there will be no memory of them - on that day, that is, at the time when the divine and heavenly light shines, and “in the hearts of the erring the spiritual star will shine, according to what is written, and will illuminate the day” (2 Pet. 1:19), having driven away the previous night and the deeds during it, so that, with the removal of ancient impurity, the ascetics and the holy worshipers, having finally acquired for themselves the virtues of virtuous behavior, became zealots of life in Christ. Zechariah 13:3. And it shall come to pass, if a man prophesies again, and his father and mother, who gave birth to him, speak to him 176: You will not live, for you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father and his mother, who gave birth to him, caused him to never prophesy to him. Such, he says, will be the reverence of the people of that time for the divine, and such will be their concern for the highest good morals and a praiseworthy life, that even the parents themselves will be inflamed with jealousy for their children because these, speaking lies, imagine themselves to be prophets and speak from their hearts, as if God were speaking. “They will crush 177 him,” he says, that is, they will bind him as if he were mad and frantic, and without any hesitation they will sentence him to death if he persists stubbornly and shamelessly in this illness. They will agree to determine any punishment for the child for the fact that it utters lies in the name of the Lord. Notice how true this word is and how reliable the prediction is. Who among us today would tolerate such a prophet? Or will he not immediately consider such a person to be frantic and recognize the one who has such a mood as vile? What father would leave his child unpunished if he was exposed to such terrible sins? So, this, in my opinion, can serve as proof, and very clear, of piety towards God, when the essence of our affairs changes to a better one, with the help of God, applied to following His will and transforming it into a better state compared to the previous one. That is why what was once valued and considered honorable by many, now turns out to be vile, worthy of damnation, unbearable for the well-behaved and a chilling punishment. Zechariah 13:4–6. And on that day the prophets will be ashamed to prophesy to him every time because of their vision, and they will put on hair skin because they have lied. And he says: I am not a prophet, for I am a man who makes the earth; before I begat man from my youth. And I say to him: Why are these plagues in the midst of your hand? and he says: I was wounded by them in the house of my beloved. That we consider that which once aroused surprise to be worthy of punishment and condemnation, this can easily be seen from the passage cited. As I said, in Israel the liars and deceivers and those accustomed to deceive prophesied “for a handful of barley and a crust of bread” (Ezek. 13:19), according to what is written. Meanwhile, no one forbade them who dared to do this and did not want to stop them as wicked, but on the contrary, unfortunate ones, they crowned them with praises and the highest honors. Therefore, they too came to a worse state, suffering from an illness that seemed to be nourished through the frivolity of those who aroused surprise in them. At the present time, he says, they will be ashamed, obviously because not only is false prophecy not accepted, but on the contrary, it is forbidden, and even those who have reached such insolence are demanded punishment for this madness, so that, immediately convicted, they renounce this evil and “put on the skin of hair, because of the lier,” that is, they cry about evil and weep about sin, repenting that they had reached such foolishness in their thinking that they spoke lies against God, without any shame, they confess their sin and ask for forgiveness, saying clearly: “I am not a prophet, for I begat man from my youth,” that is: because I am a child of man. But (human) nature is very weak, very easily carried away to the wrong and readily inclined to sin. Such could be the speeches of the repentant. If, he says, I would like to ask him: what are these wounds or ulcers visible on the hands? then they will answer again: “They would have hurt me in the house of my beloved,” of course, the obstacle to him from his father and mother and the punishments that they demanded of him for his recklessness, for the house of the beloved for each of us is the house of the parents. So, look how great the difference is between the former and the present state of affairs. The false prophets aroused amazement among the people of that time, were in glory and in good opinion, and, while doing this, did not repent. At the present time, if anyone decides to follow their predictions, he is reproached and ashamed, even punished by the verdict of his parents, repents as a sinner, grieves and cries, confessing the weakness of human nature and inclination to sin, for the unclean spirit is taken away from the earth by the power and authority of our Savior Jesus Christ. Zechariah 13:7. To the sword, arise against my shepherd and against my citizen's husband, says the Lord Almighty: Smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered 178: and I will bring my hand against the shepherds. God and the Father gave His Son for us, economically allowing Him, although He is God and of Him by nature ineffably begotten, to come in the form of a servant, to become a man like us and to endure the cross, in order to save the world and remove the dominion of Satan over everyone, to also destroy vile idolatry and abolish prophecy, false prophets and deceptions from the heart, to take away the unclean spirit from the earth and, beyond this, to organize the heavenly realm, turning those who have gone astray to the knowledge of God and convincing them to choose pious and decent behavior and to be admirers of every kind of virtue. For this reason, he suffered death on the tree, although very inglorious, “carelessly for his shame” (Heb. 12:2), for it was so pleasing to God and the Father Himself. The Son Himself reveals this to us, saying, “For I came down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him that sent me, 179 and this is the will of him that sent me, 180 that I should not lose all that I have given, but will raise it up at the last day” (John 6:38–39), just as the divine Paul writes: “for this sake 181 Christ died and is alive, and possesses both the dead and the living” (Rom. 12:9). So, He voluntarily laid down His life for us (1 John 3:16), God and the Father, as it were, gave Him up as a man to His own will and, as I said, allowed Him, as I said, to redeem the lives of all with His blood. So the Savior, when Pilate thought that he had power over Him, answered him to this, saying: “Have no power over me, except it be given from above” (John 19:11). Having thus foreshadowed through the lips of the prophet that there will be a great transformation of human affairs for the better when He suffers death in the flesh, he then, as it were, hastens with the announcement of the time when this will happen, and commands the sacrament of suffering to be carried out, prompting the very sword and saying: “Arise against my shepherd and against his citizen’s husband, says the Lord Almighty.” The sword in these words, we believe, denotes temptation (acting) as if in the form of a sword, or even the very suffering inflicted on Emmanuel by the madness of the Jews. This is what righteous Simeon, it seems, understood and said when the Holy Mother of God offered the eight-day-old Jesus: “And a weapon will pierce your very soul” (Luke 2:35). After all, it was as if she had been slain with a sword when she saw Him who was born of her according to the flesh being crucified. So, “to the sword,” he says, rise up against my shepherd, that is: may the saving suffering finally be accomplished and may the time for the manifestation of good things come; for Christ is the archpastor over us and we who have all believed are under His command, although not outside the authority of God and the Father. He (God the Father rules over us in the Son, through Him and in Him we are saved and through Him “imams are brought” (Eph. 2:18). So the Savior said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they will come after me, and I will give them eternal life, and they will not perish forever, and no one will snatch them from my hand: My Father, who gave I am the greatest of all, and no one can snatch (them) from the hand of my Father. I and my Father are one” (John 10:27-30). So, the Son is God and the Father’s own Shepherd, shepherding not other people’s flocks, but His own and His Father’s, while hired shepherds cannot be considered His own, who slaughtered the sheep without any mercy and said, selling them: “Blessed is the Lord, and I will become rich” (Zechariah 11:5). Citizens, or those who are familiar to the Good Shepherd, are all those under His authority, and first of all the divine disciples, who scattered and ran away when the Shepherd was struck; for when the servants of the Jews came and with them a traitor with a detachment of soldiers 182, intending to take Jesus, then “(the disciples) all left him and fled” (Matthew 26:56), as the Gospel Scripture says. And that, having given His own Son to die for us, God and the Father, it is said, as if he struck Him, leaving Him to undergo all kinds of suffering, the Son Himself will confirm this with the voice of the one singing about those who disrespected Him, obviously the Jews: “For his sake you struck him down, driving them away, and adding to my disease the wounds” (Ps. 68:27). Voluntarily, as I said, He took up suffering so that it had redeeming power. And that the crucifiers will face destruction and those who led such a plan and enterprise (they were also the leaders of the people) will fall under the calamities of divine wrath, this is revealed in the words: “and I will bring my hand against the shepherds.” After all, they “rotten His grapes, according to the word of the prophet, giving the desired part of Him into the impassable wilderness” - it became “for the consumption of destruction” (Jer. 12:10-11). God directs His hand at the shepherds, as if stopping the sword and carrying out punishment for wickedness, not only because they themselves were furious against Christ, but also for others they became the beginning and path of uncontrollable fury against Christ. Thus, the blessed evangelist Matthew says that when Pilate offered Christ and Barabbas to the Jews and proclaimed: “Whoever you want I will release to you from both,” then the high priests and elders “told the people to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.” And besides, they encouraged him to shout: “Crucify, crucify Him” (Matthew 27:20–23 cf. John 19:6). Therefore, what was said in the voice of the prophet turns out to be true, that “the shepherds were bound and did not seek the Lord: for this reason the whole flock did not understand and was quickly scattered” (Jer. 10:21). Just as the vigil of good shepherds benefits the flock, so negligence destroys, and those under control completely follow in the footsteps of the shepherds. Zechariah 13:8–9. And in the day it will be over all the earth, says the Lord, two parts of it will be consumed and disappear, and the third will remain on it: and I will pass the third part through the fire, and I will kindle it as silver is liquefied, and I will tempt as gold is tempted: he will call on my name, and I will hear him and the river: these are my people: and they will say: The Lord is my God. When the hand of God overtakes the wicked false shepherds who destroyed the royal vineyard, then, he says, those who foolishly contributed to their wicked plans will not remain without punishment and retribution. Thus, the cities, together with their inhabitants, were destroyed by war and fell, undergoing complete destruction, and the remnant barely escaped (Is. 10:22; Rom. 9:27), which, of course, is in the third part of the entire multitude, for, by the mercy of God for the sake of the fathers, Israel is not completely destroyed. About this, blessed Isaiah himself says: “And if the Lord of hosts had not left us a seed, as Sodom would have been, and as Gomorrah would have been like” (Is. 1:9). However, the third part or remnant, that is, those who believed from the people of Israel, he says, will pass through the fire and crush them like silver and gold; for the life of the saints is not without hardships, but it is true that “those who want to live godly in Christ will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Yes, they are called to experience many sorrows and persecutions and are, as it were, kindled, tested through temptations, so that they can say with boldness: “As you have tempted us, O God, you have kindled us as silver is liquified” (Ps. 65:10). What is the use of this? or what will be the reward for those who have endured and been tried? – They became members of God, known and beloved, for they were counted as “a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people (taken) for a gain, that they might proclaim the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light; those who once were not a people became a people” (1 Pet. 2:9-10 cf. Hos. 2:24). They once heard: “When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn away mine eyes from you: and if you increase your prayer, I will not hear you” (Is. 1:15). Now he says that “he will call on my name and the river: these are my people.” Thus, they became the own portion of God and the Father, given to the Son, for He, together with Him who gave birth to Him, co-rules over everything, and they have a merciful and merciful Creator and Lord of all. Kirill Al., as a code. Alex., reads here ῤαντισμός (sprinkling). Slav. same with code. Wat. etc. has χωρισμός – division. Slav. like Alex. and some approx.: never prophesy to him. συμποδιοῦσι. proper: they will tie their legs, they will confuse them. Slav. as well as no. other approx. herds In Slav. as well as no. approx. Father. διὰ τοῦτο vm. vile εις τουτο - for this. You might be interested in: