Commentary on Zechariah 1 part 10/24

Rejoice that your names have been written in the heavens. This writing is the book of the living.

Concerning certain blessed ones, at any rate, the chosen vessel inscribes thus:

Together with Clement also and the rest, whose names are in the book of life.

Thus says the Lord Almighty:

Old men and old women shall yet sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, each holding his staff in his hand because of the multitude of days.

And the broad places of the city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in her broad places.

As regards the literal sense, the prophet's foretelling declares that Jerusalem is to be restored to deep peace and to a tranquil manner of civic life.

For thus, since there is freedom from disturbance and all enemies have been driven far off from the fair city, no fear whatsoever being any longer expected from foes, those who by reason of length of time and multitude of days have reached the age of the elderly, both males and females together, shall yet sit as before the captivity in the broad places, holding staffs in their hands — first and foremost the old men, but note whether the old women too —

and the staff is a symbol of honour.

With those advanced in age thus seated in the foremost places, the broad places shall be filled with boys and girls playing — the very young infants not sporting in the broad places while enemies press upon them and foes are expected.

The historical sense having been stated, the things pertaining to the deeper meaning must also be spoken of.

The spiritual city possessing broad places is the glorious Church, concerning which it is proclaimed to the King of all who rules over her:

Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. For how could she not be renowned and much-hymned, partaking of divine waterings from the river of God that is full of waters?

— the royal city, receiving of the gifts of grace from Him who rules over her in kingly fashion:

The streams of the river make glad the city of God;

the Most High has hallowed His dwelling-place. God is in her midst; she shall not be shaken. For dwelling in the midst of the city that enjoys peace, the Most High who hallowed His dwelling-place never comes to be outside her, but remains in her unshaken.

Now the broad places of this fair city are the virtues in their several kinds and the actions that spring from them, concerning which the wise man proverbially declares, inscribing these things about wisdom:

Wisdom is hymned in the ways of egress, and in the broad places she conducts herself with boldness;

and on the tops of the walls she is proclaimed. For how does the wisdom of God not conduct herself with boldness in the broad places of the spiritual city, when again another oracle says:

If you have desired wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will bestow her upon you — each commandment being called a broad place because of the breadth belonging to it, so that the hymn-singer says to God:

Thy commandment is exceedingly broad. One must consider whether it was according to this sense that it was said by the bride of Christ in the nuptial drama:

By night upon my bed I sought Him whom my soul loved, and I found Him not; I called Him, and He did not hearken to me.

I will arise now and go about the city, in the market-places and in the broad places, until I find Him. For at the time of resting and reposing together — which she allegorically called night — she who thought that the divine Bridegroom was present with her, having sought Him found Him not, and having called did not have Him hearkening, since for some useful purpose He was distanced from her, in order that she might be still more wounded by love toward Him;

for the yearning toward the beloved is the more aroused by the distancing of the one who is cherished.

Having then experienced this, she arose and roused herself, and indeed she seeks Him nowhere else than in the churches, which are the sacred market-places.

There the appointed apostles and prophets and teachers proclaim the sacred rites of the truth and the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

In addition to seeking Him in the market-places, she also earnestly strives, in the broad places already interpreted, to meet with Him whom she seeks, so that having found Him she may repose together with Him.

The wisdom that conducts herself with boldness in the broad places of the fair city — the wisdom in which the Creator brought all things into being — is proclaimed nowhere else than upon the tops of the walls by those who keep the night-watch and stand guard over the divine city, according to the utterance of Isaiah spoken thus in the person of the King of all:

Upon thy walls I have set watchmen day and night, who shall never be silent, making mention of the Lord. In the divine broad places, thus assigned, of the blessed city, there shall yet sit, as also before, diligent old men and old women, holding in their hands their own staffs — these being symbols now of kingship, now of priesthood, and moreover of instructive words.

But it is fitting to understand as 'old men' those who are grey with prudence, according to what is set forth in the all-virtuous Wisdom of Solomon thus:

For honourable old age is not that of long duration, nor is it measured by number of years;

but prudence is grey hair among men, and old age is an unspotted life. This spiritual age belonged to him who was designated the friend of God, whose faith was reckoned unto righteousness — Abraham.

For it was said by the hierophant Moses in the account of the Creation of the World:

Abraham expired and died, nurtured in a good old age, an old man and full of days. For these things were not said on account of a multitude of years measured by the cycles of the perceptible sun.

For though those born before him were of many more years, none of them was called an old man nor full of days.

For the father of Isaac was the first of men to be named an elder on account of the seniorities that come from virtue.

He calls him His own faithful servant:

Set apart with thyself seventy elders, whom thou thyself knowest that they are elders. From which it is evident that appointment and ordination do not make an elder of one who was not so before, but declares and makes manifest such a one.

For it was precisely commanded that those be ordained whom the one who advances them already knows to be such.

Of equal force also is what is commanded in Joel, one of the Twelve Prophets, to choose out elders who already are such — the choosing not being prior, but coming afterward for the sake of the declaration of those who already possess virtue and its seniorities.

Concerning those who possess this honour, it is written in Proverbs:

The glory of elders is grey hairs — those, that is, that come from prudence.

Of equal honour and equal strength with the elders thus commemorated are those also under the New Covenant.

Writing, at any rate, to Titus his own disciple, the Apostle, among other things, inscribed this also:

For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are lacking, as I directed thee, and shouldest appoint elders in every city. And he states the distinguishing marks of those who are advanced, of those who are ranked in the ecclesiastical degrees:

men who practise monogamy, the excellent rearing of children, and who are of good character in respect of the remaining virtues — men whom Scripture, by ancient usage, also calls bishops, as we have said elsewhere as well.

Thus at once in the Acts of the Apostles it is recorded how Paul summoned the presbyters of the Church, to whom he also says:

'The Holy Spirit has set you as overseers, to shepherd the Church, which He purchased with His own blood,' and what follows.

To those who hold this rank, Peter, the foremost of Christ's disciples, addresses himself in the epistle that bears his name:

'I exhort the presbyters among you.' And let us see what it is that he exhorts — namely, to shepherd Christ's flock, not by constraint, but willingly, so that, when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, they may receive the unfading crown of glory.

The presbyters set forth according to both Testaments are kings after the manner of Abraham, according to what was said by those who recognized his pre-eminence:

'You are a king from God among us.' But, moreover, since they serve in priestly fashion Him who has chosen them, sincerely, they bear the sceptres of the twofold pre-eminence that belongs to them, seated in the broad streets of the city just now described, each one holding his own rod, which serves both as a sceptre and as an instrument of corrective admonition.

For concerning the reproofs that in some way strike those who are answerable, it is written by Paul:

'What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love?' In agreement with these words the divine Scripture of Proverbs also declares, where in one place it says:

'He who brings forth wisdom from his lips strikes with a rod the man who is without heart';

'He who spares the staff hates his own son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.' In the honour of the presbyters women also share, having acquired the dignity of eldership through faith and practical virtue.

Describing such a manner of life, Paul, who speaks in Christ, writing to Timothy says:

'Honour widows who are truly widows,' signifying that such are those who are bereft of all human things, having works that bring praise: who have reared children as they ought, who have been generous in hospitality, who have ministered to God's servants, who have fed the poor, and who are adorned with all the like works of virtue.

The apostolic teaching contains matter concerning these things in these very words, beginning thus:

'not less than sixty years of age.'

Such, according to the narrative, was Anna the prophetess, who had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and had continued a widow for a long time, up to eighty-four years.

This number, too, is appropriate to the purity that belongs to widowhood, concerning which we have spoken elsewhere.

Women intent upon this resolve one may see also in the Old Testament.

Such was the most valiant Judith, who bore a name fitting to her character;

for 'Judith' is interpreted 'praise.'

Nor is it improbable to find yet many others adorned with dignity and honour, and especially those concerning whom it is said in the prophet, in the person of God:

'I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,' and what follows, down to:

'And even upon My menservants and upon My maidservants I will pour out of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy.' Reflecting within yourself, consider whether it is said of the presbyters alone that they hold rods in their hands, or also of the elder women.

It is admissible that it was written concerning both orders, yet it seems more probable that it concerns the men alone.

In the broad streets thus made clear, in which sit as presidents those grown grey in prudence and aged in an unspotted life, there are also boys and girls playing a praiseworthy play; adorned with which David, the man after God's own heart, doing all the will of Him who chose him, uttered more boldly:

'Before the Lord I will dance and play.' The boys sporting in the broad streets of the ever-praised city of God one may take to be those who from tender age have given themselves to self-control, so as to preserve incorruption together with the most unalloyed gravity and a sound, blameless word.

Such were the sons of the apostles, born anew not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God, who as newborn babes longed for the reasonable, guileless milk.

One will also opportunely make use of what is said in Proverbs:

'that it may give shrewdness to the simple, and to the young man knowledge and understanding.' And again in the same book the man wise in God said:

'Hear, children, the instruction of a father, and give heed to know understanding.' Yet these things are by no means said of males according to the body;

for there are also souls that are male in mind, though possessing a female body.

Consistently with the boys already spoken of, the girls playing are also to be understood.

And see whether it is of these that praise is sung in the forty-fourth Psalm, concerning the bride and the bridegroom, in what is there set to melody thus:

'Virgins shall be brought to the king after her' — that is, after the bride and queen, who stands at the right hand of Him who dwells with her — 'her companions shall be brought to you;'

'they shall be brought with joy and exultation.'

Virgins who shall be brought after the Church, led as a bride to one husband, Christ, are undefiled in spirit and body, keeping themselves pure in mind and deed.

As it was said that the boys are primarily male according to the soul, and not only according to the body, so likewise the virgins who have holiness in mind and deed do not of necessity possess a female body.

At any rate, in the Apocalypse of John the hundred and forty-four thousand virgins were not such according to the body;

'These are they who were not defiled with women;'

'for they are virgins, and in their mouth there was found no guile;'

'for they are without blemish.' Concerning all who dwell in the broad streets of the much-hymned city, as concerning one choir, it is recorded in one of the Psalms:

'Young men and virgins, old men with children, let them praise the name of the Lord.' Concerning the various ages according to the inner man, the disciple whom Jesus loved also writes in his epistle:

'I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning;'

'I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.' By 'little children' he means those who have just obtained forgiveness of sins, of whatever age they may be according to the outward man; by 'fathers' he names those who know that which is from the beginning of theology; and by 'young men' those who have strength, the word remaining in them which exhorts them to abide unconquered, even though their struggle be against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness.

For how should they not be strong who have received from the all-sovereign Saviour authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, being in no way harmed? For it is the same as this:

Thus at once, concerning him who has received authority to tread upon venomous creatures and all the power of the enemy, a victory-hymn is sent up, running word for word thus:

'You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, you shall trample down the lion and the dragon.' Since enough has been said with a view to the text before us, let us set forth what follows.

: Thus says the Lord Almighty:

'If it shall be impossible in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, shall it also be impossible in My sight? says the Lord Almighty.'

When the perceptible and lower Jerusalem had suffered demolition at the hands of enemies, so that its citizens underwent a great captivity, and disbelieved the promises concerning its restoration — seeing it become a ruin, and deeming it impossible that it should ever again be gloriously rebuilt as a city, so as to have the hill-country and the plain for its dwellers, and that the old men and old women should still sit in its broad streets, while boys and girls multiplied there at play —

But since all things are possible to God — to bring breadth out of narrowness, and abundance out of destitution — even though it seem impossible in the sight of the remnant of the people who yet survive to this day, many having died, yet that which appears impossible to them is not impossible to God.

Just as, then, when the mother-city of Judea was taken and endured utmost desolation, the men who had no elevation of soul deemed it impossible that it should be restored to its former glory and prosperity — although God had promised, and was able to bring to fulfilment the things foretold — so also the unbelieving and those poor in understanding, in the persecutions against the Christians, seeing the Church utterly ravaged, so that it seemed to have fallen a fall from which there is no rising, deemed it impossible that it should be restored, receiving deep peace from Him who said to His intimates:

'My peace I give to you, My peace I leave to you.' Instilling courage, therefore, in those to whom He promised to give stability and calm peace:

'Be of good cheer,' He said, 'I have overcome the world;'

'wherefore, even though you now have tribulation, take courage to look for relief.'

Those who set themselves against the Church and against Christianity were roused to such a pitch of savagery as to raze the places of assembly to the ground and to consume the sacred books with fire.

When so great a cruelty had prevailed for a little while, the mean-spirited surmised that it was impossible for her ever to return again to her glory.

But even if to them, too, what had befallen seemed hopeless and irremediable, yet that which had been despaired of has been shown to be possible and easy.

At any rate, one may see the places then razed reared up on high, more glorious than they were before, with gilded roofs, and distinguished by all the most sought-after adornments; and the books consumed by fire prepared anew, gilded and gold-illuminated, laid up in royal courts.

Christianity was oppressed, and it shone forth;

and I say this of them — not of the men, but of those who administered the same governance.

These matters have been treated more completely in the commentaries on Isaiah the prophet.

Furnishing assurance for the expectation of things that seemed to be despaired of, the word said that the Lord Almighty had promised to bring them to pass.

®: Thus says the Lord Almighty:

'Behold, I save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, and I will bring them in and cause them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be to Me a people, and I will be to them a God in truth and in righteousness.'

Just as he who worships and serves God is called a man of God, so he is designated His people who is made up of those who in each case fear God.

His people is that which He saves out of all the inhabited world and its uttermost parts:

'Behold, I save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, says the Lord Almighty.' And this is not only he who is of the circumcision, but is composed of all the nations that believe in the Saviour according to the Gospel.

For of old only one nation, that of the Hebrews, was the people, portion, and inheritance of Him who created all things, according to the testimony of the hierophant, who says:

'When the Most High divided the nations, when He scattered abroad the sons of Adam, He set the bounds according to the number of the angels of God; and Jacob became the Lord's portion, Israel the lot of His inheritance,' because of the beauty of their character and life, according to the testimony brought forth in the forty-sixth Psalm by the saints thus:

He chose for us His own inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which He loved. Closely akin to this is what is set forth in demonstrative fashion in the Mosaic teaching:

Behold, a wise and understanding people, this great nation, who fear God and abstain from sins, according to what is said in the all-virtuous Wisdom of Solomon:

For he who has no soul contriving evil, nor a body indebted to sin, receives the wisdom of God and the sacred knowledge that befits it.

In harmony with this understanding is what was said by a God-fearing man concerning God, addressing the true man:

Behold, the fear of God is wisdom, and to abstain from evils is understanding. Together with this wise and understanding nation, which is a royal priesthood, a people for God's own possession, all the nations rejoice, since the Saviour has become for them a good hope, according to the blessing of the Saviour who arose out of Judah, with which the passage in Isaiah, running thus, is also in harmony:

There shall be the root of Jesse, and He who rises up to rule the nations;

in Him shall the nations hope. Concerning the delight and gladness of all human beings together it is written:

Rejoice, O nations, together with His people — no longer one nation only, the Hebrew, but all together worshipping and serving God, according to what is proclaimed in the Psalms; where in one place it says:

All the nations shall serve Him;

All the nations that You have made shall come and worship before You, and shall glorify Your name, O Lord.

The ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before Him; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations. Concerning the calling of all people, both Jews and Greeks, as of one people, the foregoing declaration of the prophet is set forth, the Master of all things saying:

Behold, I am saving My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, says the Lord Almighty. Concerning the choir gathered from all the regions of the inhabited world, the Gospel also indicates this, saying that the Saviour declared:

The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken, and has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. And when did this calling take place, but when out of Zion the splendour of His beauty was made manifest, another prophecy being fulfilled, which runs thus:

There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer — or, for Zion's sake, as the chosen vessel writes, Paul who speaks in Christ.

And when did the God of gods speak and call from the rising of the sun even to its setting, but when the people of the circumcision was cast off, having denied the all-royal Saviour by saying:

We have no king but Caesar;

His blood be upon us and upon our children.

For having crucified the Saviour they were thrust away, and the worship according to shadow and letter came to its end, so that God says to them:

I have no pleasure in you, and I will not accept an offering from your hands; for from the rising of the sun even to its setting incense is offered to My name in every place, and a pure sacrifice. And what is the incense and the pure sacrifice offered in every place for the glorifying of God, the sweet singer makes clear, addressing the great King and saying:

Let my prayer be set forth as incense before You, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. For of old, when the shadowy worship held its place, in Jerusalem was the place where one had to worship, and to send up prayer, and to offer sacrifice.

But now that the true light has shone forth and illumined the whole world, in every place the incense here interpreted is offered, together with the sacrifice that harmonizes with it, since houses of prayer have by divine zeal been raised up everywhere on earth, that the name of God may be glorified among all the nations, both those of the east and those of the west.

According to another sense, those glorify God upon whom the Sun of righteousness has risen, and for whom the light of the ungodly has set — concerning which it is said in Proverbs:

The light of the ungodly shall be quenched. And when this comes about, the Lord Almighty saves His people from the land of the east and from that of the west, so that He may bring in the nations, not permitting them to remain outside like the crowds who in parables hear the perfect word, but that, entering into the mystical and spiritual court of Jesus, they may become hearers of the clear exposition and understanding of the parables, the mystagogue saying:

To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. And just as one who is outside, not by place but by disposition, hears words that are external, so also the hearer of the Old Covenant according to the letter and the shadow is culpable;

for it is said concerning such as hear the law in a veiled manner:

They read the law outside, and they invoked confessions — not reading outside the teaching of the life-giving Spirit which they had taken to themselves.

And this came to pass when the prayer was sent up which runs thus:

Open my eyes, and I shall perceive the wondrous things out of Your law. This veil which he asks to be taken away is the obscurity of the readings and the ignorance lying upon the understanding of the one who encounters them unfittingly.

For it is possible to learn about these matters with sure knowledge from the Apostle who writes:

For until this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon the reading;

but whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away;

and the Lord is the Spirit. And what shall come to pass, God granting the grace, when the nations are brought in in the aforesaid manner, but that the Lord shall make His dwelling in Jerusalem, the temple within her being filled with the glory of the Lord God Almighty in truth and in righteousness?

For not only here together with truth, but also in other Scriptures, is righteousness mentioned;

in the fourteenth Psalm, for instance, he who walks blameless is said to work righteousness and to speak truth in his heart;

Truth has sprung up out of the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven. And consider whether truth signifies the mystical and elevated contemplation of the doctrines of piety, while moral and practical virtue is called righteousness, according to what is said of it to those who have a longing for salvation:

Learn to do righteousness, you who dwell upon the earth. And what accompanies the aforementioned virtues must be contemplated.

Mercy meets with truth, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. For since the truth of God is something great and elevated, there is need to be shown mercy by God, who is a fountain of goodness, that it may be granted to human beings.

But righteousness too, dissolving all injustice — the mother of every strife and every war — proclaims peace and concord.

Even one of the sages among men has said that peace and righteousness have concord with one another;

for when all pursue what is just in a just manner, if it so happen, every strife and enmity will be done away, just as, when peace prevails, equality and righteousness reign as king.

These things being so, the Almighty Lord is the Lord of truth and of righteousness.

It is said accordingly in the thirtieth Psalm, by him who has the Lord as his hope, at the beginning of the ode:

You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth;

When I called upon You, You heard me, O God of my righteousness. In harmony with His being the God of truth, He is also the God of knowledge, as the blessed mother of holy Samuel said:

Let not arrogance come forth out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge. And when we are eager, through good works and true and pious knowledge of God, to be reckoned His people, then He too shall be our God, making us His own in truth and in righteousness.

Thus says the Lord Almighty:

Let your hands be strengthened, you who in these days hear these words from the mouth of the prophets, from the day on which the house of the Lord Almighty was founded, and the temple, from the time it was built.

The Almighty Lord commands that the hands of the people dedicated to the Lord Almighty be strengthened, according to the words of the Lord God Almighty from the time His house was founded, according to the former days, from the time the temple was built.

And those hands are strengthened which are joined with the piety and holiness of the truth, according to the words of what was spoken from the mouth of the prophets, from the time the house of the Lord was founded, and the holy temple was built.

And hands are strengthened in words whenever they turn the moral teachings into deeds.

For it is then, precisely then, that the active hands of the soul are turned into operation, whenever there is woven together with the words the works of virtue, the hearers being not hearers of the law only but doers of the work.

And when are these things pursued genuinely and in a God-fearing way, but when the people of God act and think together with the word of piety, while the divine house is founded and the temple is being built according to the former days?

And the house of the Lord is founded and the temple is built when what is said in Proverbs thus is fulfilled: