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COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH, CHAPTER FOUR The angel speaking in me turned back and woke me in the way a person is woken from sleep, and said to me, What do you see? I replied, I see and, lo, a lampstand all of gold, on top of it the lamp, seven lights on top of it, seven spouts of the lights on top of it, and two olive trees above it, one on the right of its lamp and one on its left (vv.1–3). HE PHRASE turned back here we shall interpret not in a local sense, which would be very naïve; rather, we shall take it as an immediate movement from the present vision to another one related to it, namely, a spiritual one. Since there was need of unimpaired attention surpassing human understanding, however, in these matters in particular, God instills in the prophet a keen state of alertness, with the angel speaking in him as the means, so that he had the impression of waking from sleep. Such is our state of mind, in fact, far inferior to that (329) of the holy angels such that you could claim that whereas they are awake, we are asleep, as it were. Now, when the divinely inspired angel perceived that he was disposed in mind and will for the purpose of having a sufficiently clear understanding of the vision, he asked him what he thought was being shown to him. The prophet then gave an accurate account of the vision, saying he saw a lampstand, all of gold, on top of it a lamp, and actually seven lights and an equal number of spouts, and two olive trees, one on the right of its lamp and the other actually situated on its left. While the very clear explanation of what was shown would not differ from this, my view is that there is need to try very hard to look into its innermost purpose, and skillfully relate it to what was said above. The God of all had said, then, that he would both dig a pit and lay hold of all the iniquity of that land in one day, and he recommended others as well to invite one another under vine and under fig tree. In clarifying the purpose 127 128 CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA of the prophecy,1 we said that, for those who chose to disbelieve and ignorantly dishonor the salvation coming through Christ, a kind of pit had been dug that would convey them to destruction, namely, the folly having to do with the cross and the criminal murder of Christ. The wretches guilty of the unholy murder of the Lord did, in fact, perish, whereas to “those who have really longed for his coming”2 there was enjoyment and delight: what was actually not in store for such people? After all, they were in the churches as though under fig tree and vine. (330) But, lo, the prophet discerns the force of the mystery in another form as well; again we claim that the golden lampstand is the Church for the reason of its being honored throughout the world, conspicuous for virtue, and raised to the very heights by the teachings of the true knowledge of God. On it is the lamp, that is, Christ, of whom the God and Father says, “For Zion’s sake I shall not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I shall not rest, until my righteousness emerges like a light, and my salvation burns like a lamp.”3 This lamp, which enlightens everything under heaven, the God and Father placed on the lampstand “so that everyone on entering may see the light, and that it may shine on everyone in the house.”4 There were seven lights; instead of their having light of themselves, it comes to them from an outside source, and is fed by the supply of oil. These also refer to the holy apostles and to the evangelists as well, and to the Church’s teachers at various times, who receive illumination from Christ into their mind and heart like a kind of light and keep it fed with the Spirit as the source, which provides light to those in the house; they also illumine the believers with the lamp. Note that the seven lights had spouts through which oil was provided to them, whereas the lamp did not have a spout. For what reason? You see, the Son is the true light...

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