The Restoration of Worship and the Vision of God
We perform a divine festival, loving deep peace and with it the truth. For where there is tranquility of thoughts and a settled state of soul, the delight and beauty of truth appears. Truth is seen most when serenity leads through the following of virtues and peace presides, with those having attained such well-being rejoicing and being propitious.
It is reasonable to ask from where we estimated the seventh month according to the Hebrews, in which the four days and the others were arranged to be fasts until the tenth day, or from what is written at the end of the prophecy of Zechariah set out for examination: 'And you shall celebrate the feast of the tabernacles' (Zechariah 8:23); for this is lawfully performed not in any month other than the one mentioned, just as the feast of trumpets and the fast are. For it is clearly learned from the Psalm that even the new moon of the seventh month is a festival of celebration, having it thus: 'Sound a trumpet at the new moon, on a day of solemnity, our feast' (Psalm 81:3).
The Lord of Hosts says these things: 'Yet many nations and many people dwelling in many cities shall come, and they shall gather, dwelling in many cities, into one city, saying, Let us go up to entreat the face of the Lord and to seek the face of the Lord of Hosts; I also will go. And many nations and many peoples shall come to seek the face of the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to seek the atonement of the face of the Lord' (Zechariah 8:22-23).
As the prophet explicitly announces, following the word of the Lord of Hosts having come to him, the coming restoration shall be propitious and festive for the multitude of the Hebrews, for the cities of Judah, and for the mother-city, Jerusalem. God commanded through Moses all Israel to celebrate three days of the year to Him in the place from which He brought them out, which was not any other than Jerusalem, from which it happened to hasten immediately from all the cities and villages of Judah to the mother-city, in which all sanctities and important mystical festivals were performed, all of which reached an end in the time of the captivity, outside of the nourishment of almost all the Hebrews.
This most wretched and miserable...
The prophet Jeremiah, being utterly devastated, says in the book of Lamentations: 'The ways of Zion mourn because no one comes to the festival; all her gates are destroyed, and her priests groan' (Lam 1:4-5). For how could the ways of Zion not mourn, having been deprived of those walking, with no one still hurrying for the sake of celebrating and making a festival in Jerusalem, and the gates being destroyed, torn away by those who seized them tyrannically?
In this desolation, the priests necessarily followed with groaning, seeing the time when God, whom He chose, was being treated without all pleasing readiness. These unpleasant things cease to be, as Zechariah says before pronouncing it: 'Many peoples shall still come' (Zech 8:23), making it clear regarding Jerusalem; for the seventieth year of the captivity is already entering, as we learned clearly from Him saying to God: 'How long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, this seventieth year?' (Jer 29:70).
Immediately after the Lord of Hosts has relented, the peaceful leading of Jerusalem is revealed to the one who prayed, such that, just as before, many peoples will come seeking the face of the Lord of Hosts, beginning again the words: 'Three times in the year all your males shall appear before me' (Zech 8:23), and 'Nothing shall be absent before the Lord your God' (Zech 14:23), meaning bringing sacrifices for the liturgy and other gifts and the festive offerings.
For such a diligent holy assembly, an appropriate end exists: to seek the appearance of the Lord of Hosts through litanies and holy prayers, Him looking and revealing Himself to the one who is lucid in mind and partaking of holiness, according to what was said in the beatitudes by the Savior: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt 5:8). In agreement with this thought, the lawgiver Paul writes to the Hebrews to 'pursue peace and sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord' (Heb 12:14), appearing to those who do not disbelieve in Him and shining forth to those who keep His commandments.
In the Wisdom of Solomon, such a word is brought: 'Think about the Lord in...'
Greek
θείας πανηγύρεις ἐπιτελῶμεν, εἰρήνην βαθεῖαν καὶ σὺν αὐτῇ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀγαπῶντες. Ἔνθα γὰρ ἀταραξία λογισμῶν καὶ τεταγμένη κατάστασις ψυχῆς, τὸ τερπνὸν τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὸ κάλλος αὐτῆς ἐπιφαίνεται. Ὀπτάνεται δὲ ἡ ἀλήθεια μάλιστα ὅταν ἐκ τῆς ἀντακολουθήσεως τῶν ἀρετῶν γαλήνη ἀγάγῃ καὶ εἰρήνη πρυτανεύῃ, εὐφραινομένων καὶ ἱλαρίαν ἐχόντων τῶν τετυχηκότων τοσαύτης καὶ τοιαύτης εὐπαθείας. 3.36 Εἰκός τινα ἀπαιτήσειν πόθεν ἐστοχασάμεθα τὸν παρ' Ἑβραίους ἕβδομον εἶναι μῆνα, οὗ ἡ τετρὰς καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι ἕως τῆς δεκάτης ἡμέρας νηστεῖαι προσετάγησαν εἶναι, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ γεγραμμένου ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ εἰς ἐξέτασιν προκειμένου προφήτου Ζαχαρία· «Καὶ ἑορτάσατε ἑορτὴν σκηνοπηγίαν»· αὕτη γὰρ οὐκ ἐν ἄλλῳ ἢ τῷ εἰρημένῳ μηνὶ νομίμως ἐπιτελεῖται, ὥσπερ καὶ ἡ τῶν σαλπίγγων, καὶ ἡ νηστεία. Ὅτι γὰρ καὶ ἡ νουμηνία τοῦ ἑβδόμου μηνὸς πανηγύρεώς ἐστιν ἑορτὴ σαφῶς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ψαλμοῦ ἔστιν μαθεῖν, τοῦ οὕτω ἔχοντος· «Σαλπίσατε ἐν νεομηνίᾳ σάλπιγγι, ἐν εὐσήμῳ ἡμέρᾳ ἑορτῆς ἡμῶν.» 3.37 Zach. VIII, 20®22: Τάδε λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ· Ἔτι ἥξουσιν λαοὶ πολλοὶ καὶ κατοικοῦντες πόλεις πολλάς, καὶ συνελεύσονται κατοικοῦντες πόλεις εἰς μίαν πόλιν, λέγοντες· Πορευθῶμεν δεηθῆναι τοῦ προσώπου Κυρίου καὶ ἐκζητῆσαι τὸ πρόσωπον Κυρίου παντοκράτορος· πορεύσομαι κἀγώ. Καὶ ἥξουσιν λαοὶ πολλοὶ καὶ ἔθνη πολλὰ ἐκζητῆσαι τὸ πρόσωπον Κυρίου παντοκράτορος ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ, καὶ τοῦ ἐξιλάσκεσθαι τὸ πρόσωπον Κυρίου. 3.38 Ὡς πρὸς ῥητὸν προαναφωνεῖ ὁ προφήτης, λόγου Κυρίου παντοκράτορος γεναμένου πρὸς αὐτόν, τὴν ὑπάρξουσαν ἀποκατάστασιν ἱλαρὰν καὶ πανηγυρικὴν τῇ τῶν Ἑβραίων πληθύι καὶ ταῖς πόλεσι τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ μητροπόλει τῇ Ἰερουσαλήμ. Προσέταττε Θεὸς διὰ Μωϋσέως παντὶ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ τρεῖς ἡμέρας τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἑορτάζειν αὐτῷ ἐν ᾧ ἐξελέξατο τόπῳ, οὐχ ἑτέρῳ τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ὄντι, ἐξ οὗ συνέβαινεν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν πόλεων καὶ κωμῶν τῆς Ἰουδαίας συντόνως σπεύδειν ἐν τῇ μητροπόλει, ἐν ᾗ αἱ ἁγιστεῖαι πᾶσαι καὶ ἑορτάσιμαι μυστικαὶ σπουδαὶ ἐπετελοῦντο, ἅπερ πάντα τέλος ἔσχεν ἐν τῷ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας καιρῷ, ἔξω τῆς θρεψαμένης ἐκριφέντων σχεδὸν τῶν Ἑβραίων πάντων. 3.39 Ταύτην τὴν οἰκτίστην καὶ ἀνιαρὰν κατάστασιν ὀλοφυρόμενος, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ προφήτης Ἰερεμίας ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τῶν Θρήνων φησίν· «Ὁδοὶ Σιὼν πενθοῦσιν παρὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἐρχομένους εἰς ἑορτήν· πᾶσαι αἱ πύλαι αὐτῆς ἠφανισμέναι, οἱ ἱερεῖς αὐτῆς ἀναστενάζουσιν.» Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἐπένθουν αἱ ὁδοὶ τῆς Σιὼν στερηθεῖσαι τῶν βαδιζόντων, οὐδενὸς σπεύδοντος ἔτι τὴν σπουδὴν ἔχειν ἐπὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα τοῦ ἑορτάσαι καὶ πανηγυρίσαι χάριν, καὶ τῶν πυλῶν ἠφανισμένων, κατασπασθεισῶν ὑπὸ τῶν κρατησάντων τυραννικῶς. 3.40 Ταύτῃ τῇ ἐρημίᾳ τῶν καλῶν ἀναγκαίως ἠκολούθησεν τοὺς ἱερέας στενάζειν, ὁρῶντας τὸν καιρὸν ἐν ᾧ ἔδει θεραπεύειν τὸν ἐκλεξάμενον Θεὸν πάσης ἱλαρᾶς προθυμίας ἔκτος ὄντα. Ταῦτα τὰ ἀηδῆ πεπαύσεσθαι ὅσον οὔπω προαναφωνῶν ὁ Ζαχαρίας λέγει· «Ἔτι ἥξουσιν λαοὶ πολλοί», ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ δηλονότι· ἑβδομηκοστὸν γὰρ ἔτος ἤδη ἐνειστήκει τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, ὡς παρ' αὐτοῦ ἔγνωμεν εὐκτικῶς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν λέγοντος· «Ἕως τίνος οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσῃς τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὰς πόλεις τῆς Ἰουδαίας τοῦτο ἑβδομηκοστὸν ἔτος;» 3.41 Εὐθὺς ἐπινεύσαντος Κυρίου παντοκράτορος, πεφανέρωται τῷ εὐξαμένῳ ἡ εἰρηνικὴ ἀγωγὴ τῆς Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἔτι ὡς καὶ πρότερον ἐλεύσεσθαι λαοὺς πολλοὺς ἐκζητῆσαι τὸ πρόσωπον Κυρίου παντοκράτορος, ἀρχὴν λαμβάνοντος πάλιν τοῦ· «Τρεῖς καιροὺς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ 84 ὀφθήσεται πᾶν ἀρσενικόν σου ἐνώπιόν μου», καὶ τοῦ· «Οὐκ ὀφθήσει ἐνώπιον Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου κενός», προσφέρων δηλαδὴ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἱερουργίαν θύματα καὶ ἕτερα δῶρα καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἑορτάσιμον εὐωχίαν. 3.42 Τῆς οὕτω σπουδαζομένης ἱερᾶς συνελεύσεως τέλος κατάλληλον ὑπάρχει τὸ διὰ λιτῶν καὶ ἁγίων προσευχῶν ἐκζητεῖν ἐπιφάνειαν Κυρίου παντοκράτορος, ὀπτανομένου καὶ φανεροῦντος ἑαυτὸν νῷ διαυγεῖ καὶ ἁγιότητος μετέχοντι κατὰ τὸ ἐν μακαρισμοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος εἰρημένον· «Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται.» Ταύτῃ τῇ νοήσει συμφώνως ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος Ἑβραίοις ἐπιστέλλει «μεταδιώκειν εἰρήνην καὶ τὸν ἁγιασμόν, οὗ χωρὶς οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν Κύριον», ἐπείπερ ἐμφανίζεται τοῖς μὴ ἀπιστοῦσιν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπιφαίνεται τοῖς τηροῦσι τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ. 3.43 Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ Σαλομῶντος Σοφίᾳ φέρεται λέξις τοιαύτη· «Φρονήσατε περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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