Homilies on Isaiah 3–4

On the seven women (Isa 4). Seven women suffer reproach and go about seeking to receive one who can take away their reproach. These seven women promise that they will eat their own bread and be covered with their own clothing. They do not need his bread, but the name of him who can take away their reproach. They do not need the clothing of the man they take; they have better clothing than a man can provide them. They have more splendid food than the human condition can bestow. Whose, then, the seven women are, and what their reproach is, deserves consideration. The seven women are one, for they are the Spirit of God; and this one is seven. For the Spirit of God is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, the spirit of the fear of the Lord. This wisdom suffers reproach from many wisdoms rising up against it. This true understanding endures reproach from false understandings. This great counsel is reproached by many counsels that are not good. This strength is cursed by one which, though it is not strength, promises that it is strength. This knowledge suffers reproach from a knowledge falsely so called, which steals its name. This godliness is reproached by one which, though it calls itself godliness, is impiety and instructs the impious. This fear suffers reproach from what is thought to be fear; for many promise the divine fear, but do not fear with knowledge. Let us consider, then, how these seven suffer reproach. See the wisdom of this age, see the wisdom of the rulers of this world, how they reproach the wisdom of my Christ, and how they reproach the wisdom of true Judaism, according to which we are circumcised spiritually, while they are cut off. Understand, then, how the wisdom of this age and of the rulers of this world curse wisdom; and for this reason a man is sought to be with these seven spiritual ones as with women, to take away their reproach. Properly there is one man who takes away their reproach. Who is this man? Jesus, who came forth according to the flesh from the root of Jesse, made of the seed of David according to the flesh, predestined Son of God in power according to the spirit of justification. For a rod came forth from the root of Jesse. The rod is not the firstborn of all creation; the rod is not the God Word who was in the beginning with God; but the rod from the root of Jesse is he who was born according to the flesh. A rod, then, came forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower rose up from his root. Who is the flower, and what is the root? For both lie under one and the same thing; but the difference is in their functions. For if you are a sinner, there is no flower for you, nor will you see the flower which is from the root of Jesse. For the rod will come to you, as the disciple of the rod and the flower says. Of the rod he says: “What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod?” And of the flower: “Or in the love of God and a spirit of gentleness?” A rod of wisdom, then, came forth from the root of Jesse for one who is struck with punishments, a rod for one who needs rebuke, a rod for one who needs to be reproved; but a flower for one who is already instructed and does not need harsh correction, or at least does not need punishments, but is already able to begin to flower and come forth to perfect fruit. For first the flower is shown; then after the flower the rod comes forth to fruit. “A rod came forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will rise from his root,” and the seven women will rest upon him: “the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, will rest upon him.” For the spirit of wisdom did not rest on Moses, the spirit of wisdom did not rest on Joshua son of Nun, the spirit of wisdom did not rest on each of the prophets, on Isaiah, on Jeremiah. 2. Do not stone me as a blasphemer when I wish to glorify my Lord Jesus Christ; but bear with me, consider what is said, and you will see that the Spirit did not rest on any of them: not that it did not come to any of them, but that it rested on none. It came upon Moses, and Moses did not believe after the spirit of wisdom had come to him. For he says, “Hear, you rebels: Shall I bring water for you out of this rock?” It came upon all the righteous, it came also upon Isaiah; but what does he say? “Having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips.” The spirit of wisdom came after that tongs and fire; it came to one having unclean lips, but it did not rest. It used him as a minister, but it did not rest. Whatever man it comes to is afflicted; for every man sins, and “there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.” “No one is clean from filth, even if his life is one day; his months are numbered.” So it rests on no one. We can prove from the Gospel too that the Spirit came upon many and did not remain in them. A little while ago it was read: “My spirit shall not remain in these men for ever.” He does not say, “shall not be,” but, “shall not remain.” John saw one alone in whom it remained; and this was the sign: “He on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is the Son of God.” Someone has ministered to the word of God with the Spirit descending; after a little he sins, after a little he speaks an idle word; and I do not know whether he remains without sin. Do you think it is allowed to sin while the Spirit is present? So the Spirit of God rested on no one, according to what is written: “A rod came forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower rose from his root, and the Spirit of God rests upon him, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength.” For this reason he is the angel of great counsel; for this reason he prevailed, and, prevailing, ascended, and the powers wonder at him as he ascends, and say of him: “This is the Lord, strong and mighty in battle.” To him, then, as he ascends into heaven, or to his strength, I will say: “And the spirit of counsel and strength rested upon him. My strength and my praise is the Lord, and he has become my salvation.” The Spirit of God, then, rested upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord filled him. The women, then, seeking whom to take, will lay hold of one man, the seven of them. And this depends on what precedes, and we must first learn when the seven women receive one man. When the strong men of Jerusalem have been humbled, when the coffers of the ornaments of the daughters of Zion have mourned, when she has been left alone, when she has been dashed to the ground, then “seven women will lay hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread and be clothed with our own clothing; only let your name be called upon us.” Then seven women will lay hold of, and truly hold, one man, Jesus Christ our Lord, insofar as he is understood as man, insofar as he was born, insofar as he took a body. Seven women will lay hold of one man, saying: “We will eat our own bread.” Many men walk about, and the women lay hold of none; no man pleases them. For they do not lay hold of one man for lack of men, nor because a man such as they wanted is rare did they seek such a one; they found one man alone whom they laid hold of, to say to him: “We will eat our own bread and be clothed with our own clothing.” There is a certain food of wisdom; there is likewise a certain food of understanding and of the other spirits. What is this food? I am not afraid to say: the food is not something else outside them. Perhaps, as my food is the word of God, who says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven and give life to the world,” so the food of wisdom is the Father himself. Hence it is: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, to finish his work.” Nor must it be thought that wisdom and understanding and the other spirits need anything, because they have another food, since the one food of the whole dispensation is the nature of God. “We will eat our own bread and be clothed with our own clothing.” There is a certain adornment of wisdom by which it is decorated; wisdom is adorned with speech. Each of these women has ornaments. “Only let your name be called upon us; take away our reproach.” What is the name of wisdom? Jesus. What is, “Let your name be called upon us”? I am wisdom; I wish to be called by your name, so that I, wisdom, may be called Jesus; that understanding and great counsel and strength and knowledge and godliness and the fear of God may be named Jesus; that your name may be all in all. “Let your name be called upon us; take away our reproach.” Truly Jesus took away the reproach. Therefore let us rise and pray to God, who sent this man so that the spirit of the seven women might rest on him, that this man may grant us too fellowship with these women; that, taking them, we may become wise and understanding before God and men, adorning our soul with virtues in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the vision of God and the seraphim (Isa 6). It is impossible to find the beginning of God. You nowhere grasp the beginning of God's origin. I do not say you, but no one, nor anything else among the things that exist. Only the Savior and the Holy Spirit, who have always been with God, see his face; and perhaps the angels, who “always see the face of the Father who is in heaven,” also see the beginnings of things. So too the seraphim hide the feet from human beings; for the last things, as they are, cannot be told. “Who has declared concerning the last things?” says Scripture. The things we see (granting that we do see some things) are the middle things. What was before the world we do not know; yet some things were before the world. What will follow after the world we do not grasp with certainty; yet there will be other things after the world. What is written, then, “In the beginning God made heaven and earth; the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters,” is grasped. Those waters were pure, over which the Spirit of God brooded. But the darkness too that was over the abyss is not unbegotten; for both were created from nothing. Hear the Lord saying in Isaiah: “I am God, who formed the light and made darkness.” Hear Wisdom proclaiming in Proverbs: “Before all the abysses I was born.” These were not unbegotten; but when or how they were born, I do not know. For the former things of God's works, that is, the face of God, are veiled by the seraphim; and likewise also the feet. Who can expound the things that will be after the end of the age, for ages of ages? It belongs to chattering men to promise knowledge of these things, not knowing that man can grasp only the middle things, and the things that will be after the world until the consummation in the judgment, concerning punishments and retribution. And many of these too are hidden from us, so that for this reason it is written: “With two they covered the face.” And not only did they veil, but they covered completely, that is, they so veiled that nothing at all of the former things, I mean of the face, was seen, nor was anything of the last things, that is, of his feet, recognized. “With two they flew.” The middle things are open to contemplation. “And they cried one to the other.” Not one to many, but one to the other. For no one can hear, according to the dignity of the matter, the holiness of God which is proclaimed by the Savior except the Holy Spirit; just as, again, no one can receive the holiness of God which is proclaimed by the Holy Spirit except the Savior alone. Therefore they cried one to the other and said: “Holy, holy, holy.” It is not enough for them to cry “Holy” once, nor twice, but they take up the perfect number of the Trinity, to show the abundance of God's holiness, which is the repeated fellowship of a threefold holiness: the holiness of the Father, the holiness of the only-begotten Son, and of the Holy Spirit. For “he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one.” He who sanctifies is the Savior, insofar as he is man receiving holiness from God the Father. So they say: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.” Sabaoth is translated, as Aquila has rendered it, “Lord of armies.” “The whole earth is full of his glory.” Once the house was full of glory; but now it is prophesied by the seraphim of those who are upon the earth, that it will be that Christ will fill the whole earth with the glory of my God. For in all who glorify God by their way of life there is the glory of God, and so the whole earth is full of the glory of God. Once not the whole earth was full of the glory of God, but one corner of the earth, when it was said: “God is known in Judea; his name is great in Israel.” Glory to God, who sent his Son so that the whole earth might be full of his glory. But what does it profit you if the earth is full, because of the churches of the blessed, who wherever they are are the glory of God, while you are not a sharer in the glory of the fullness of God? You too, then, labor, and strive in all things to seek the glory of God, that it may dwell and find a place in you, and that you too, with the whole earth in which the glory of God is full, may be his glory. How does the fullness of God's glory come about through each of us? If what I do, what I say, is done to the glory of God, my word and deed become full of the glory of God. If my going out and coming in is to the glory of God, if my food, my drink, if all I do is done to the glory of God, I too am a sharer in that saying: “The earth is full of his glory.” When, then, I have done all these things, “the lintel was lifted up at the voice of the seraphim with which they cried.” Blessed, then, is each of us who so labors as to become a sharer of the door and of the lintel of the door, which, in the spiritual sense, is Christ God. For I think it not unfitting to say that the door is called the flesh and the lintel the Word. 3. “The lintel was lifted up at the voice with which they cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” This smoke is a gift from the glory of God. “And I said: O wretched me, for I am pierced!” Before you see the vision, do you not confess that you are wretched, O Isaiah? He does not say it. As long as Uzziah lived, it did not even come into my mind that I was wretched. But I begin to know that I am wretched when I see the vision, when the leprous King Uzziah dies in me, and I say: “O wretched me!” Now I too begin to confess to the Lord and to say of myself: “O wretched me!” As Isaiah says, “O wretched me,” so, close to him, the Apostle too says: “Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?” It is blessed, then, to confess myself wretched. If I humble myself and weep in repentance over my sins, God will hear me and give me a deliverer, and I will say: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But let us say from the heart: “I am wretched.” Let each recall the causes of his miseries and his sins, and as we rise to prayer let us say, remembering them as confessing them, forgetting them as no longer doing them: “Wretched am I, for I am pierced.” He was not pierced before he saw the vision, before Uzziah died; when he begins to repent, he at once says, “for I am pierced.” If someone is without feeling in the inner man, though he is a sinner, he is not pierced; but just as, if you apply a goad to the outer limbs, a dead body does not feel, so, if you apply the divine words to a sinner who has been put to death by sin and does not repent, he is neither sorrowful nor repentant, nor has he the sorrow that works confession, the sorrow that is according to God. But if someone wishes to be saved and hears the words of one who reproves and corrects him, he at once says, “O wretched me.” And it is not enough to say, “Wretched am I”; he must add, “for I am pierced.” Would that we were pierced more! For the more we are pierced, the more the chains of sins are loosened for us. This is why Ahab gained no great benefit, because he was not much pierced; he was pierced only once. Therefore it was said: “Have you seen how Ahab was pierced?” But if someone is such that he does not cease to be pierced, he says, like the Apostle: “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God”; and: “To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given”; and: “Faithful is God, that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the first.” Do you see that he was much pierced, and not once, but always, writing, speaking, and acting, he was pierced? Just as Isaiah too at present, who says: “O wretched am I, I am pierced, for being a man and having unclean lips, I dwell also in the midst of a people having unclean lips.” Let us note something else too: Isaiah's sins were not in deeds but only in words. That is why he says: “For being a man and having unclean lips.” But the people too had unclean lips. It was not fitting for him to accuse the people and say that there were more sins in them than those of unclean lips. 4. “And I have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, with my eyes.” If ever we think of God while we are still sinners, let us too say what the prophet now says: “And one of the seraphim was sent to me.” How good God is! “Because,” he says, “I hear Isaiah confessing,” for he said, “O wretched me”; “because I hear him repenting,” for he says, “I am pierced”; “because he has declared his own sins,” saying, “For being a man and having unclean lips, I dwell also in the midst of a people having unclean lips,” “even while he is still speaking I say: Here I am.” “And one of the seraphim was sent to me, and in his hand he had a coal.” A coal is brought to the prophet so that by the burning of fire his lips, which had once sinned, may be purged. Who is this one of the seraphim? My Lord Jesus Christ. He, according to the economy of the flesh, was sent, having a coal in his hand and saying: “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” “And one of the seraphim was sent to me, and in his hand he had a coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.” The prophet is purged not with just any chance fire, but with that which is from the altar of God. If you have not been purged by the fire of the altar, there remains for you that fire of which it was said: “Depart from me into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” Such a fire is not from the altar. All must be handed over to fire, but not all to one fire: the fire from the altar awaits some, the fire prepared for the devil and his angels awaits others. Let the word of correction, then, touch the lips of our mind and soul, so that we too may say, “and he touched my mouth.” If I cleanse my mouth, so that I speak nothing idle, nothing foolish, nothing shameful, nothing scurrilous (to name everything at once), nothing of what is forbidden, then we can say, “he touched my mouth.” But as long as I have unclean lips and do unclean things, because of the words of sin the fire from the altar does not touch my mouth, nor is one of the seraphim sent to me. “And he said: Behold, I have touched your lips, and have taken away your iniquities, and purged your sins all around.” Let the divine word bite us, let it burn our souls; let us say as we hear: “Was not our heart burning within us?” so that our iniquities and sins may be taken away, and, made clean, with clean mouth and clean heart and wholly clean conscience, we may give thanks to almighty God in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.