Ezekiel 3

Ezekiel 3:1

Gregory the Dialogist: When certain people read the writings of sacred Scripture, upon penetrating its more sublime passages, they tend to despise with a swelling sense of pride the lesser commandments that were given for the weaker ones, and they wish to change them into another meaning. If they rightly understood the lofty things in it, they would not hold even the smallest commandments in contempt, because the divine precepts speak in certain ways to the great, yet in other ways they are suited to the little ones, who through increases of understanding grow as if by certain steps of the mind, and arrive at comprehending greater things. Hence now it is said to the holy prophet: “Son of man, eat whatever you find.”

Whatever is found in sacred Scripture must be consumed, because both its small things compose a simple life, and its great things build up subtle understanding. It follows: “Eat this scroll, and go speak to the sons of Israel. And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that scroll.”

Holy Scripture is our food and drink. Hence even the Lord threatens through another prophet: “I will send a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.” He who says that we are worn down by hunger and thirst when his speech is withdrawn, demonstrates that his words are both our food and our drink. But it should be noted that they are sometimes food, sometimes drink. For in more obscure matters that cannot be understood unless they are explained, holy Scripture is food, because whatever is explained so that it may be understood is, as it were, chewed so that it may be swallowed. But in more open matters it is drink. For we swallow drink without chewing. Therefore we drink the more open things by command, because we are able to understand them even without explanation. But because the prophet Ezekiel was about to hear many obscure and perplexing things, he is by no means told concerning the sacred volume, “drink,” but “eat.” As if it were openly said: Work through it and understand it, that is, first chew, and then swallow. But in the words of sacred speech this order of our study must be observed, that we come to know these things so that, having been pierced with compunction for our iniquity, and recognizing the evils we have done, we may avoid doing others.

And when now from the great practice of tears there begins to be confidence concerning the remission of sins, through the words of God which we understand let us also draw others to life. For they are to be understood for this purpose, that they may both profit us and be conferred upon others with spiritual intention. Whence it is now well said: “Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the children of Israel.” As if it were said to him concerning the sacred food: Eat and feed, be filled and bring forth, receive and scatter, be strengthened and labor. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: In the scroll of Ezekiel, who is truly a type of the Savior, no other prophet (I mean of major prophets) is called “Son of man.” The title is given strictly to Ezekiel. In Ezekiel after almost every twenty or thirty verses it says regularly, “the word of the Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel.” Someone may ask, “Why is that so frequently repeated in the prophecy?” Because the Holy Spirit descended on the prophet but again withdrew from him. Whenever it says “the word came,” it indicates that the Holy Spirit departed from him and came back again to him. — HOMILIES ON Mark 75 (Mark 1:1-12)

Jerome: Unless we eat the open book first, we cannot teach the children of Israel. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.1

Jerome: (Chapter III, Verse 1) Eat this scroll, and go to the sons of Israel. Unless we eat the open scroll beforehand, we cannot teach the sons of Israel. Finally, even David, after he obtained mercy, said: I will teach the wicked your ways, and the impious will turn to you (Psalms 50:15). — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:2

Gregory the Dialogist: And it should be noted that the prophet adds, saying: “And I opened my mouth and he fed me with that scroll.” Another Prophet testifies that the mouth is in the heart, saying: “Deceitful lips in the heart, and with the heart they have spoken evil.” Therefore we open our mouth when we prepare our understanding for the comprehension of the sacred word. Thus at the voice of the Lord the prophet opens his mouth, because at the breath of the Lord’s command the desires of our heart yearn eagerly, so that they may receive something from the food of life. But nevertheless this very receiving is not within our own powers, unless he himself feeds us who commanded that he be eaten. For he is fed who cannot eat by himself. And because our weakness is not sufficient for grasping heavenly words, he himself feeds us, who measures out for us the portion of grain in due time, so that in the sacred word, while today we understand what yesterday we did not know, tomorrow also we may comprehend what today we do not know, and may be nourished by daily sustenance through the grace of divine dispensation. For Almighty God extends his hand to the mouth of our heart, as it were, as many times as he opens our understanding and places the food of sacred speech into our senses. Therefore he feeds us with the scroll, when by dispensing he opens to us the meaning of Sacred Scripture, and fills our thoughts with its sweetness. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: With an open mouth the Lord has provided bread, so that the beginnings of his will may be in us and that we may reach the perfection of blessedness that comes from God. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.2-3

Jerome: (Verse 2.) And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that scroll. And he said to me: Son of man. I, he said, opened my mouth, because I was told: Open your mouth, and eat. And, with my mouth open, the Lord bestowed food; so that the beginnings of the will are in us, and we attain the perfection of blessedness from the Lord. For it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of the merciful God (Rom. IX, 16). However, both to will and to run is of our own free will. For He opened, they translated it as ‘opened,’ so that God may be understood, because He Himself both opened the mouth of the prophet and fed him. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:3

Cassiodorus: Honey can be understood as the explicit teaching of wisdom, whereas the comb can represent that known to be stored in the depth, as it were, of the cells. Undoubtedly both are found in the divine Scriptures. They added “to my mouth,” for they were indeed proclaiming with their mouths the wisdom that they had swallowed with their throats. The prophet Ezekiel speaks in the same way of the Lord. — EXPOSITIONS OF THE Psalms 108:103

Gregory the Dialogist: “And he said to me: Son of man, your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll which I give to you.”

In the old translation it does not have “Your belly will eat,” but “Your mouth will eat, and your inward parts will be filled.” For our mouth eats when we read the word of God; but our inward parts are filled when we understand and keep those things in which we labor by reading. In the later translation, however, which we also believe to be more accurate, it is written: “Your belly will eat, and your inward parts will be filled.” In sacred Scripture, indeed, the belly is customarily put for the mind. Hence through Jeremiah it is said: “My belly, my belly, I am in pain.” Because he had spoken this of the spiritual and not the bodily belly, he added: “The senses of my heart are troubled.” For it would not have pertained to the salvation of the people if the prophet had proclaimed that his bodily belly was in pain. But he suffered pain in his belly who felt affliction of mind. But why do we bring forward the example of the prophet, when we have a clearer testimony of the Lord? And it is necessary that when Truth speaks through Himself, the prophet be silent, because a lamp has no brightness in the sun. For He says: “He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.” For since holy preachings flow from the mind of the faithful, rivers of living water, as it were, run down from the belly of believers. But what else are the inward parts of the belly except the interior things of the mind, that is, right intention, holy desire, a will humble toward God and dutiful toward neighbor? Hence it is now rightly said: “Your belly will eat, and your inward parts will be filled,” because when our mind has received the food of truth, our interior parts no longer remain empty, but are satisfied with the nourishment of life. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: Let us consider, my dearest brothers, how gracious is that promise by which it is said: “Your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll which I give you.” For many read, and from that very reading they remain hungry. Many hear the voice of preaching, but after the voice they depart empty. Though their belly eats, their bowels are not filled, because even if they perceive in their mind the understanding of the sacred word, by forgetting and not keeping what they have heard, they do not store these things in the bowels of their heart. Hence it is that through another prophet the Lord rebukes certain people, saying: “Set your hearts upon your ways. You have sown much, and brought in little; you have eaten, and have not been satisfied; you have drunk, and have not been inebriated.” He sows much in his heart but brings in little who learns many things about the heavenly commandments either by reading or even by hearing, but by working negligently produces little fruit. He eats and is not satisfied who, hearing the words of God, desires the profits or glory of the world. And rightly is he said not to be satisfied, because he chews one thing and hungers for another. He drinks and is not inebriated who inclines his ear to the voice of preaching but does not change his mind. For through the inebriation of those who drink, the senses are usually changed. Therefore, he who is devoted to knowing the word of God but desires to obtain the things of this world drinks and is not inebriated. For if he had been inebriated, he would without doubt have changed his mind, so that he would no longer seek earthly things, and would no longer love the vain and transitory things he had loved. For of the elect it is said through the Psalmist: “They shall be inebriated from the abundance of your house.” Because they are so filled with the love of almighty God that with changed minds they seem to be strangers to themselves, fulfilling what is written: “He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself.” He denies himself who is changed for the better and begins to be what he was not, and ceases to be what he was.

Often, however, we see certain people at the voice of preaching, as if compelled by conversion, change their habit but not their mind, so that they take up religious garb but do not trample down their former vices: they are savagely driven by the goads of anger, they burn with the pain of malice to injure their neighbor, they grow proud before human eyes over certain goods they have displayed, they greedily seek the profits of the present world, and they place their confidence of holiness solely in the outward habit they have assumed. What else should be said to them except what the excellent teacher says to certain people who observe the externals of the law, saying: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation”? For it is not a matter of great merit if something is done outwardly to us in the body, but what is done in the mind must be carefully weighed.

For to despise the present world, not to love transitory things, to lay the mind deeply in humility before God and neighbor, to preserve patience against insults inflicted, and, while guarding patience, to repel the pain of malice from the heart, to give one’s own goods to the needy, in no way to covet what belongs to others, to love a friend in God, to love even enemies for God’s sake, to grieve over a neighbor’s affliction, not to exult over the death of one who is an enemy—this is the new creature, which the same teacher of the Gentiles seeks among other disciples with a watchful eye, saying: “If therefore there is any new creature in Christ, the old things have passed away; behold, all things are made new.”

To seek the present world belongs indeed to the old man, to love transitory things from concupiscence, to raise the mind in pride, to have no patience, to think from the pain of malice about harming one’s neighbor, not to give one’s own goods to the needy, and to seek others’ goods in order to multiply one’s own, to love no one purely for God’s sake, to return enmities for enmities, to rejoice at the affliction of one’s neighbor. All these things belong to the old man, which indeed we draw from the root of corruption. But concerning the one who now overcomes these things and turns the mind to kindness according to the Lord’s precepts, it is rightly said: Because the old things have passed away, behold all things are made new.

Then therefore new things come about in our minds when the vices of the old man pass away from us; and the vices of the old man pass away when the belly eats the precept of the sacred word and the inmost parts are filled to the marrow. For we have often seen certain people devote themselves with their whole mind to the study of holy reading, and, recognizing amid the Lord’s words how greatly they had sinned, slaughter themselves in tears, be afflicted with continual grief, take delight in none of this world’s prosperities, so that the present life became a burden to them and the very light became wearisome; scarcely admit common conversation, and relax their mind from the rigor of discipline with difficulty, for love of their Creator rejoicing only in mourning and silence. Their belly ate the sacred volume, and their inmost parts were filled, because the precepts of life which the understanding was able to grasp the memory did not lose, but the mind, gathered in God, preserved these by always mourning and recalling them. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: And it often happens that such persons, through the gift of heavenly grace, also receive the word of doctrine, and from the food of truth which they themselves sweetly ruminate upon inwardly, they also sweetly feed their neighbors. From their mouth, indeed, preaching is sweet to their hearers insofar as their actions are not contrary to their preaching, because they draw from their own life what they bestow upon their neighbors through their tongue. Hence here too the prophet rightly adds: “And I ate it, and it became in my mouth sweet like honey.”

The book which filled his inward parts became sweet in his mouth like honey, because those who have learned to truly love the Almighty Lord in the depths of their heart know how to speak sweetly about Him. Indeed, Sacred Scripture is sweet in the mouth of one whose inward life is filled with His commandments, because it is pleasant to speak for one upon whom it has been inwardly impressed for living. For speech has no sweetness when a reprobate life gnaws at the conscience within. Hence it is necessary that whoever speaks the word of God should first attend to how he lives, so that he may afterwards gather from his life what he should say and how he should say it. For in preaching, the conscience of holy love builds up more than the exercise of speech, because by loving heavenly things the preacher reads within himself how he may persuade others that earthly things ought to be despised. For he who weighs his life inwardly and builds up others outwardly by admonishing them through his example, as it were dips the pen of his tongue in his heart, in that he writes externally to his neighbors with the hand of his word. Hence the admirable preacher, when he said many things in exhorting his disciples, because he bore no contradiction within himself from his conscience, confidently added: “If there is any virtue, if there is any praise of discipline, think on these things; what you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do these things, and the God of peace shall be with you.” — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: The eating of the book is the initial reading and the simple narrative. But when we have done some hard meditating on it and when we have laid it in the treasure store of the memory, our belly is spiritually filled and our inward parts are satiated, so that like the apostle Paul they are filled with compassion. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.3

Jerome: (Verse 3.) Your stomach will eat; and your bowels will be filled with that volume which I give to you. LXX: Your mouth will eat, and your stomach will be filled with that chapter given to you. The beginning of the reading, and of a simple story, is the essence of this volume. But when we have stored the book of the Lord in the treasure of our memory through constant meditation, our spiritual stomach is filled, and our bowels are satisfied, so that we may have, with the Apostle Paul, the bowels of mercy (Colossians 3), and that stomach may be filled of which Jeremiah speaks: My bowels, my bowels, I am pained at my very heart: my heart maketh a noise in me (Jeremiah 4).

And I ate it, and it was in my mouth like sweet honey. David also speaks: How sweet are your words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my mouth (Psalms 118:103). And elsewhere: The judgments of the Lord are true, desirable more than gold and many precious stones; and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb (Psalms 19:10, 11). And Samson found honeycomb in the mouth of a lion (Judges 14); and after the resurrection, the Lord ate a piece of fish and honeycomb (Luke 24). And in Proverbs it is said about the bee, although there are no Hebrew examples of this: Go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is and how she makes her work clean: by whose labors kings and ignorant people abuse their health (Prov. 6:8, LXX version): just as Moses and the prophets, and the evangelists and the apostles did; so that whoever becomes a king, whose heart is in the hand of God, may enjoy sweet foods. But whoever is simple and without the cunning of the serpent has the innocence of doves, let them believe in simple faith and be saved: because there are snares everywhere, and often the Devil disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 2): and honey drips from the lips of a prostituted woman, promising sweetness but spreading poison (Prov. 5). — Commentary on Ezekiel

Theodoret of Cyrus: Just as he contemplated that vision in spirit, so he now felt its taste in spirit. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3

Ezekiel 3:4

Augustine of Hippo: What does that show, if not that God was speaking through the prophet? Now it is we clergy who were above all terrified by the prophet’s words, that is, the leaders whom God appointed to speak to his people, and so we begin by seeing our own faces in those words. For as the reader intoned them we had a kind of mirror held up to us in which we could inspect ourselves, and inspect ourselves we did. Inspect yourselves, too, then. — SERMON 17:2

Gregory the Dialogist: “And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and you shall speak my words to them.”

In that the Lord says to the prophet, “You shall speak my words to them,” what else does He do but place a bridle of restraint upon his mouth, lest he presume to speak outwardly what he has not first heard inwardly? For false prophets spoke their own words and not God’s, of whom it is written: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you and deceive you; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.” And again: “I did not speak to them, and they themselves prophesied.” From this it must also be gathered that whoever as an expositor in the explanation of sacred Scripture composes something by lying, perhaps to please his hearers, speaks his own words and not the Lord’s—if indeed he lies from a desire to please or to seduce. For if one seeking the power in the Lord’s words should understand them differently than he through whom they were uttered understood them, even if under another interpretation he seeks the building up of charity, the words he relates are the Lord’s, because God speaks to us through all of sacred Scripture for this one purpose alone: that He may draw us to love of Him and of our neighbor. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: Why should I speak of only one people? If I send you to different nations, my authority and power will still overcome every difficulty. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.5-6

Theodoret of Cyrus: Here he clearly shows the distinction between apostolic and prophetic labors. Prophets have committed to them the responsibility of only one race, from which they were to have arisen and whose native language they knew. Apostles … have all the nations and peoples of the world entrusted to them, according to the command of the Lord. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3

Ezekiel 3:5

Gregory the Dialogist: “For you are not sent to a people of deep speech and unknown tongue, to the house of Israel; nor to many peoples of deep speech and unknown tongue whose words you cannot understand. And if you were sent to them, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to me.”

In the very beginning of the command by which the prophet is sent to preach, both the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Israelites are clearly indicated. For when it is said: “You are not being sent to many peoples of deep speech and unknown tongue whose words you cannot understand,” and immediately it is added: “And if you were sent to them, they would hear you,” the obedience of the Gentiles is clearly declared, who would one day follow the voices of the preachers without delay. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: (Verse 5, 6.) For you are not being sent to the people of deep and difficult (unknown in the Vulgate) language, to the house of Israel, nor to many people of unknown language, whose language you cannot understand. And if I were to send you to them, they would listen to you. Because they do not want to come to you, you go to them. For they do not have a need for a healthy doctor, but for ones who are sick (Luke 5:31 ). Nor can you say: I cannot speak to them, because they speak a different language, and we are barbarians to each other, and we cannot understand each other’s speech. What shall I speak of one people? If I were to send you to different nations, nevertheless my authority and power would conquer all difficulty. And if only the time were approaching, when I am going to send my apostles to all nations, to give thanks for the languages, so that they may preach and bring the whole world under my yoke with one faith and that the diversity of languages may be subordinate to me; it would be easier for those who are deep and high in speech to hear, and they would have nothing of the levity of the Jews, but they enter with a slow and steady step, and although the languages are unknown, the faith is familiar. And it is followed by: And if I were to send you to them, they would listen to you. Finally, he sent and all believed at the same time. Hence Paul and Barnabas speak to the Jews: It was necessary for the word of God to be preached to you, but since you did not want to receive the message, behold, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). And concerning the centurion, it is said: I have not found such great faith in Israel (Matthew 8:10). — Commentary on Ezekiel

Jerome: (V. 5) And he said to me: Son of man, go and enter (in Vulg. there is no ‘and enter’) the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. It is said to him: Go and enter the house of Israel, it is shown that he was not with the sinful people; although he seemed to dwell in the same place along the banks of the river Chebar. For it is written: And I was in the midst of the exile next to the river Chebar. Indeed, the prophet’s conversation was separate, and he was offended by the sight of the wicked. Moses also did this (Exod. 33), setting up the tabernacle far away from the camp: and when he entered, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance of the tabernacle. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:6

Gregory the Dialogist: “And if you were sent to them, they would listen to you.”

The obedience of the Gentiles is clearly declared, who would one day follow the voices of the preachers without delay. But the unknown tongue of the Gentiles caused no delay in obeying, although it was foreign to the speech of the law. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Ezekiel 3:7

Gregory the Dialogist: And when it is added: “But the house of Israel will not hear you, because they will not hear me,” the hardness of Judea is indicated, which both understood the words of the preachers and refused to follow them. And it is well said: “They will not hear you, because they will not hear me,” according to what is written: “He who despises you, despises me.” The reason why they do not hear is also added when it is said: “For the whole house of Israel is of hardened forehead and stubborn heart.”

When the house of Israel is said to have a hardened forehead, what else is to be understood, what else is to be thought, except that frequent sin hardens the forehead of the heart in shamelessness, so that the more often it is committed, the less the mind of the one committing it feels ashamed of it? And therefore the sinner sometimes arrives at such great hardness of heart that he is no longer sensitive to correction, because he who has become hardened by the habit of sinning in no way feels the word of one correcting him, that is, the hand of one touching him, just as it is also said to Judea, who sinned more frequently: “You have acquired the forehead of a prostitute; you refused to blush.” Or certainly a hardened forehead is one accustomed to the activities of this world, because just as there are some who prefer quiet to all the rewards and honors of the world, so there are some who, in order to appear to be something in this world, sweat at earthly labors, persist in lawsuits, and involve themselves in quarrels. And although they feel their body failing amid their labors, yet conquered by love of earthly things, they are delightfully wearied. To them it is said through the prophet: “Ephraim is a heifer trained to love threshing.” For a heifer accustomed to threshing on the threshing floor, even if released from labor, returns of its own accord. So for certain perverse minds nothing is more laborious than if they are commanded not to labor in the activities of this world. For often certain people, driven away from earthly activity, plead to return, ask to be burdened, and think they have incurred a grave danger in rest. Therefore those have a hardened forehead who not only do not flee labors, but are not even ashamed to appear importunate in seeking labors that are denied them. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: (Verse 7.) But the house of Israel does not want to listen to you, because they do not want to listen to me. For the entire house of Israel is stubborn and hard-hearted. Do not be dismayed, he says, if they do not want to listen to you. For this reason, they will not listen to you: because they will despise listening to me: as the Savior also said: Whoever does not receive you, does not receive me (Ibid., X, 40) . In which it is clearly shown that there is free will. And two reasons are given why they do not listen: because they are perverse in their will, and stubborn-hearted, or, as the Septuagint translates, they are contentious: and it is understood that often, when called to salvation, they did not want to listen. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:8

Gregory the Dialogist: “Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads.”

Just as shame is praiseworthy in evil, so it is blameworthy in good. For to be ashamed of evil is wisdom; but to be ashamed of good is foolishness. Hence it is written: There is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that brings glory. For he who is ashamed by repenting of the evils he has done arrives at the freedom of life. But he who is ashamed to do good falls from the state of righteousness and tends toward damnation, as it is said by the Redeemer: Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his majesty. And there are some who already conceive good things in their mind, but do not yet openly contradict evils. These indeed, because they are good in mind but have no authority in speech, are not suited for the defense of truth. For he ought to be a defender of truth who neither fears nor is ashamed to speak what he rightly perceives. Hence now it is promised to the prophet as a great gift: “Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads.” — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: (Verse 8, 9.) Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads. I have made your face like diamond and flint. Do not fear them or be afraid of their presence, for they are a rebellious house." And He said to me, “The house of Israel has a stubborn and defiant forehead, and their heart is as hard as scorpions. Therefore, I have given you an extremely firm countenance and a forehead that cannot be ashamed. From this, we learn that sometimes it is a grace of God to resist impudence, and when circumstances demand it, to confront face-to-face. This, however, is attributed so that our modesty and human decency do not fear the snares of adversaries. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Jerome: From this we learn now and then that it is a mark of the grace of God to resist shamelessness. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.8-10

Jerome: The Lord says to the prophets that he has made their face a brazen city and a stone of adamant and an iron pillar, so that they will not be afraid of the insults of the people but by their stern composure disarm the effrontery of those who sneer at them. A finely strung mind is more readily overcome by insult than by terror. — LETTER 66.6

Ezekiel 3:9

Gregory the Dialogist: But what is a sinner except one who is wounded? And what is a preacher except a physician? If therefore the sinner who lies in his wound is not ashamed, why should the physician be ashamed who provides healing through medicines? Often indeed it happens that a preacher is listened to reverently; but sometimes he is so despised by the perverse as if he were speaking nothing useful to them. Hence it is rightly said now: “I have made your face like adamant and like flint.”

Both diamond and flint are hard; but one of them is precious, the other worthless. The diamond is taken for adornment, the flint is trodden underfoot by travelers. And it often happens that when we observe those who receive our correction too humbly, we are ashamed to say certain things to them. But sometimes it happens that when we see those who disregard and hold in contempt our rebuke, we are afraid to bring them the word of preaching. But if we think rightly, we take up the authority of exhortation or rebuke both toward those by whom we observe ourselves to be honored, and toward those by whom we see ourselves to be despised, so that we ought neither to blush at the humility of the former, nor to fear the pride of the latter. Let it therefore be said: “I have made your face like diamond,” that is, if you are honored by your hearers; “I have made your face like flint,” if you are trampled upon and despised by your hearers, so that neither through honor conferred may the tongue be restrained by shame, nor through contempt may it be silent from weakness. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: “Fear them not, neither be afraid at their face, for they are a rebellious house.”

This has already been said above. But it should be noted how harsh a house is held to be, whose harshness is repeated so frequently. Therefore the sinner must be rebuked and never feared, because it is a provoking house. For a man ought to have been feared if he himself had feared the Author of all things as a man should. For he who did not have the sense of reason for fearing God is to be feared in nothing, inasmuch as he is not what he ought to have been. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Ezekiel 3:10

Gregory the Dialogist: “And he said to me: Son of man, receive in your heart all my words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears.”

We must carefully observe that by the voice of the Lord it is said to the Prophet that he should first hear His words, and afterward speak. For we hear the words of God if we do them. And then we rightly speak them to our neighbors when we ourselves have first done them. This Mark the Evangelist confirms well when he narrates a miracle performed by the Lord, saying: “They bring to Him one deaf and mute, and they besought Him to lay His hand upon him.” He indicates the order of the healing, adding: “He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him: Ephphetha, that is, be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke rightly.” For what does it mean that God, the Creator of all things, when He wished to heal the deaf and mute man, put His fingers into his ears and, spitting, touched his tongue? What is designated by the fingers of the Redeemer except the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Hence, when in another place He had cast out a demon, He said: “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has surely come upon you.” Concerning which matter He is described by another Evangelist as having said: “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” From both these passages it is gathered that the finger of God is called the Spirit. Therefore to put fingers into the ears is to open the mind of the deaf person to obedience through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But what does it mean that spitting He touched his tongue? The saliva received from the mouth of the Redeemer is for us wisdom in divine eloquence. For saliva flows down from the head into the mouth. Therefore when our tongue is touched by that wisdom which He Himself is, it is immediately formed for words of preaching. He looked up to heaven and sighed—not because He Himself had need of sighing, He who gave what He asked for, but He taught us to sigh to Him who presides over heaven, so that both our ears ought to be opened through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and our tongue ought to be loosed through the saliva of the mouth, that is, through knowledge of divine speech, for words of preaching. To whom immediately “Ephphetha,” that is, “be opened,” is said; and immediately his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed. In this matter it should be noted that “be opened” was said because of the closed ears. But for one whose ears of the heart have been opened to obedience, without doubt the bond of his tongue is also subsequently loosed, so that he may speak to others about the good things to be done which he himself has done. And here it is well added: “And he spoke rightly.” For he speaks rightly who has first done by obeying what he advises by speaking should be done. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: We must note that the teaching of God must first be fashioned in our heart and heard and understood carefully, and only then can it be laid before the people. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.10

Jerome: (Ver. 10.) Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you, and assume them in your heart, and listen with your ears. This is the food of the book, and these are the words by which it speaks to different listeners, either with lamentations, or with a song, or with a woe to mankind. And yet it should be noted that before the words of God are to be composed, heard, and understood in our hearts more diligently, and thus proclaimed to the people. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:11

Gregory the Dialogist: “And go, enter in to the captivity of the children of your people.”

But as for the fact that the prophet is sent to admonish the people concerning their transmigration, not only should that transmigration be understood which was of that people in body, but also that which had occurred in mind. For they had come from Jerusalem to Babylon. And what is Jerusalem called but “vision of peace,” what is Babylon called but “confusion”? But whoever falls from right works into perverse deeds, since he slips from good zeal into vices, comes as it were from Jerusalem to the city of Babylon. For he has abandoned the height of good contemplation and lies in the transmigration of confusion. This often tends to happen to those who, when they do good things, glory in their own virtue in these matters. Hence the Psalmist, lest he should migrate as a captive from the vision of peace, that is, from good deeds, to Babylon, supplicating the Lord, says: “My helper, I shall not migrate.” For if he had trusted in himself, he would have migrated by falling from works of righteousness.

But neither should those who have fallen from a state of righteousness into wicked action be despaired of, because behold, the prophet is sent to the captivity of Babylon. And through another prophet the Lord says: “And you shall come even to Babylon, and there you shall be delivered.” For often someone, after falling into the confusion of vices, blushing at the evils he has committed, returns to repentance and raises himself from his falls by living well. What then is this except that he came even to Babylon and was delivered there? He who, after committing perverse acts with a confused mind, blushing at those very evils he did, raises himself against himself and by working good returns to a state of righteousness. Therefore he was delivered in Babylon, who through divine grace is shown to have been saved even from confusion. The prophet therefore speaks to the captivity when he rebukes those who have fallen by migrating from a state of righteousness to the vices of error. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: “And you shall speak to them, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: if perhaps they may hear and be still.”

That the difficulty of hearing is repeated so many times in the divine words, so that it is said, “If perhaps they will hear,” what else is designated but the hardness of the exiled people? In these words there is great consolation for us, because if almighty God, sending a prophet, declares that His words are heard with difficulty by a perverse people, why should we wretches be saddened when we are often despised by our brothers in our admonition? For frequently we address those who transgress, often we rebuke them, frequently we deal with them with gentle words, and yet if one hears, another disdains to hear; one partially receives the word of exhortation, and partially refuses to accept it; so that we seem to see daily fulfilled what the Lord narrates through another prophet about what He did in anger, when He says: “I rained upon one city, and upon another I did not rain. One part was rained upon, and the part that was not rained upon dried up.” For when one mind receives the words of holy exhortation while another refuses to receive them, the Lord rains upon one city and does not rain upon another. But when even the same neighbor who hears corrects himself from some vices and disdains to amend himself from others, one and the same city is both partly rained upon and partly remains dry, in which it repels from itself the rain of preaching. For there are some who do not hear the words of exhortation at all; these completely refuse to receive the rain. And there are some who hear but nevertheless do not follow it from the depths of their heart, because they cut off some vices in themselves but persist gravely in others. For often we see some who through the word of preaching repel from themselves the heat of avarice, and not only no longer seize what belongs to others but also distribute their own possessions to the needy; yet they do not tame the stings of anger, nor preserve the restraints of patience through tranquility of mind. And often others, at the word of exhortation, now overcome in themselves the uncleanness of the flesh, guard the body in chastity, yet still do not incline their spirit toward their neighbors as they ought, but through the rigidity of pride they exalt themselves in their thoughts. In these, one part has been rained upon because it has borne fruit, and the part that was not rained upon has dried up, because not fully receiving the word of exhortation, it has remained barren of good work. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: (Verse 11.) Go, enter into the exile (or captivity), to the sons of your people, and speak to them, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: perhaps they will listen and be still. And our Lord came to the people of the Jews, sent by the Father, to proclaim remission to the captives, and to fulfill what is written: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive: he gave gifts to men (Psalms 67:19). — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:12

Gregory the Dialogist: “And the spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.”

What is this, that after the prophet is sent to the captivity of the sons of the people, he hears behind him a voice of great commotion, saying: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place”? For he had been turned toward the sinners of Babylon, and he was hearing the voice of the glory of the Lord from his place behind his back. For the place of God is Jerusalem, that is, the vision of peace, because indeed those hearts see the things that are of God which do not descend to the captivity of Babylon, that is, to the vices of confusion. For God dwells there where true peace is sought, where the glory of interior contemplation is loved. For those who flow down to perversity disdain to be the place of God. Therefore the place of the glory of God is either every holy soul, or each angelic spirit remaining in the heavens. And the glory of the Lord is blessed from his place, when eternal praise is sung to the author of all things either by elect men or by holy angels. Therefore in this, that the just think about converting sinners, because by considering their vices they direct their eye to carnal acts, they look toward Babylon, as it were. Yet because of the condition of their righteousness, since they never cease to consider the good things of the saints in praise of God, although they direct their thought elsewhere, they hear, as it were, behind them the voice of the glory of the Lord from Jerusalem, that is, from his place. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: But why do we linger on these matters, we who are able, by the Lord’s bounty, to understand these words of the prophet through another and more subtle sense, and to speak more clearly? For he says: “And the spirit took me up.” The spirit takes up a preacher when it renders his mind, elevated in love of almighty God, now estranged from earthly desires, so that nothing pleases him to do except those things by which he may gather spiritual gains and carry the fruit of his daily work to the heavenly kingdoms. Hence it is also commanded to us preachers: “Labor not for the food that perishes, but for that which endures unto eternal life.”

And it is well added: “And I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion.” The prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, narrates as past events what he foresees will happen, because in predestination those things are already done which still follow in their accomplishment. Hence also in the old translation it is said through Isaiah: “Who has done the things that are to come.” What is it therefore that the prophet heard behind him the voice of a great commotion, except that after the word of preaching, which is directed to the hearts of sinners, the lamentations of the penitent follow?

The perverse, indeed, while they do wicked things and do not hear right things from the righteous, do not know how grave are the things they commit, and from their very ignorance they are secure in their stupor; and lying in their faults, they rest as if softly, just as it is said of a certain sinful and secure people: “He has settled on his dregs,” because he lay secure in his sins.

When the perverse begin to hear the word of preaching—what the eternal punishments are, what the terror of judgment is, how subtle the examination of each and every sin—immediately they tremble, they are filled with groans, and they are distressed by sighs they cannot contain, and, shaken by great fear, they break forth into mourning and weeping. Therefore the voice of great commotion follows the prophet; because after the word of preaching, the mourning of the converted and penitent is heard. For those who previously lay quiet in their wound, afterward touched by the hand of medicine, return to health with pain. Concerning this commotion of the penitent it is said through another prophet: “His feet stood still, and the earth was moved,” because when the footsteps of truth are fixed in the mind of the hearers, the mind itself, disturbed in the consideration of itself, is moved. Hence the Psalmist prays for sinners, saying: “You who sit upon the cherubim, let the earth be moved.” Hence, praying for the afflicted and penitent, he says: “You have moved the earth and troubled it; heal its fractures, for it has been shaken.” For the earth moved and troubled is the sinner anxious from the knowledge of his guilt and brought to the lamentations of penance. For to the sinning man it was said: “You are earth, and into earth you shall go.” Let him therefore pray that the brokenness of the earth may be healed, because it has been moved, so that the sinner who is afflicted on account of his faults may be consoled by the joy of heavenly mercy. This therefore is the voice of great commotion, when each one, judging his own deeds, is disturbed in the affliction of penance. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: But let us hear what the voice itself says: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.” For the hearts of sinners had been the place of the malignant spirit; but when, angry with themselves, they return to life through repentance, they become a place for the glory of the Lord. For now they rise up against themselves, now they pursue with tears of repentance the evils they have committed. Therefore the blessing of glory in praise of the Lord is heard from the very place where previously the injury to the Creator resounded through love of the present age. And the hearts of the penitent, which formerly, set in sins, had been a foreign place, now become the Lord’s own place. Moreover, those who are converted from their sins to the Lord not only wash away with tears the perverse things they have done, but also advance to lofty heights through wonderful works, so that they become holy living creatures of almighty God, so that they fly up to the heights with signs and powers, so that they utterly forsake the earth, and having received gifts, suspend themselves toward heavenly things through desire. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: For the place of God is everywhere in which he finds hospitality, for surely the Son is the place of the Father as much as the Father is the place of the Son. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.12

Jerome: (Verse 12). And the spirit took me, and I heard behind me a voice of a great commotion: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. The God of whom it is written: The Lord lifts up the meek (Psalms 146:6), he Himself lifted up the prophet, who was not in the flesh but in the spirit, and walking in the spirit, he did not fulfill the works of the flesh; for the Spirit of God was in him. Therefore, despising earthly things, he is caught up by the spirit and hears behind him the voice of a great commotion, forgetting the past and extending himself into the future, leaving the snares of his enemies behind him. We read about this in Exodus (Exod. XXIV) when Pharaoh and all his army pursued Israel, and the angel in the pillar of cloud left the front of the camp; and he came behind them, and stood all night between Israel and the Egyptians: so as to frighten the enemies, and the Israelites might hear: Blessed be the glory of the Lord who came from his place. But the place of the Lord is wherever he finds hospitality. Or rather, the Son is the place of the Father, just as the Father is the place of the Son, as the Lord and Savior says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me (Joan. XIV, 11). This same thing also signifies Michael: Behold, the Lord shall come forth out of his place, and will come down upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be as wax melting before the fire, and as waters that run down into a steep place (Mich. I, 3, 4). For when the Lord, the Savior, came down and set forth from the Father, the high places of the earth and the mountains were moved, and the lower parts of the valleys were melted. The place can be the glory of the Lord and the inaccessible light, of which the Apostle speaks: Who alone has immortality and inhabits unapproachable light (I Tim. VI, 16). When we recall the past judgments of the Lord, we hear the voice of a great upheaval from behind. When we ponder the future in our hearts, a voice is heard from what came before, and from what is to come. — Commentary on Ezekiel

John Chrysostom: Did you see how great is the holy dread in heaven and how great the arrogant presumption here below? The angels in heaven give him glory; these heretics on earth carry on meddlesome investigations. In heaven they honor and praise him; on earth we find curious busybodies. In heaven they veil their eyes; on earth the busybodies are obstinate and shamelessly try to hold their eyes fixed on his ineffable glory. Who would not groan, who would not weep for them because of this ultimate madness and folly of theirs? — AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS 1:36

Ezekiel 3:13

Gregory the Dialogist: “And the sound of the wings of the living creatures striking one against another.”

The prophet hears behind him the sound of a great commotion, because, as has been said, the word of those preaching is followed by the lamentation of the penitent. He hears behind him the sound of the wings of the living creatures, because from that very lamentation of the penitent arise the virtues of the saints, so that they advance all the more in holy action, the more they remember having acted wickedly before their knowledge of life. But there is great uncertainty in these words, because it is not clearly stated by the prophet whether each living creature strikes its wings against itself, or whether these same holy living creatures beat one another in turn with their wings, so that the wing of one touches another, and the wing of another touches this living creature.

But because often in sacred Scripture something is said obscurely so that, by God’s wonderful dispensation, it may be explained in many ways, we ought by the Lord’s gift to explain both meanings to your charity. We have already often said that the wings of the living creatures are the virtues of the saints. How then does each living creature, spreading its wings, strike one wing against another, unless it is openly given to understand that, if we become holy living creatures, virtue in us stirs up virtue, while one strikes against another toward perfection? For behold, someone already has knowledge of the word of God; he learns to have also bowels of mercy. For through knowledge of the word of God he learns: “Give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you.” And when he has begun to be merciful in almsgiving, he reads the words of holy authority; and whatever is said in them about mercy, he understands more deeply through experience. For there it is written: “I was a father to the poor.” Perhaps before he read this and passed it by. But when mercy has begun in his heart to imitate nature, he reads and recognizes what it means to be a father to the poor, because returning inward, he understands in himself what he hears outwardly. For it is one thing to give alms from precept, and another from charity. To do good from precept belongs to beginners; but to do good from charity belongs to the perfect, who not only act because it is commanded, but also love what they do in fulfilling the command. Hence it is that it is said with great virtue through the Psalmist: “See that I have loved your commandments, O Lord; in your mercy give me life.” For to fulfill God’s commandments for the sake of the command belongs to one who serves and obeys, but to fulfill them lovingly belongs to one who obeys and loves. Therefore, because mercy is learned through knowledge of charity, and knowledge is multiplied through the charity of mercy in a contrite heart, wing strikes wing in us, because virtue stirs up virtue. So one who guards the good of chastity in his body is kindled with zeal against the lustful, that they may be cleansed from the stains of impurity. And often when he finds some in their falls, he subdues, afflicts, and restrains them to the purity of chastity. If perhaps his mind has been tempted by the impurity of lust, from that very zeal by which he corrected others he convicts himself, and is ashamed to think impure things which he recalls having corrected in others. In this, therefore, wing strikes wing, while virtue strikes virtue and guards against impurity. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: But if, as we have said, the living creatures in turn strike one another with their wings, and the wing of each strikes against the wing of another, the meaning of this description also lies open, with the Lord’s help. What does it mean, then, that these winged creatures in turn strike their wings one against another, except that all the saints mutually touch one another with their virtues, and rouse each other to advancement through the consideration of another’s virtue? For all things are not given to one person, lest being lifted up in pride he should fall, but to this one is given what is not given to you, and to you is given what is denied to him, so that while the former considers the good that you have and he does not have, he may set you before himself in his thought; and again, while you observe that he possesses what you yourself do not have, you may place yourself after him in your thought, and so it comes about as it is written: “Considering one another as superiors.” For to speak briefly of a few things out of many: to this one is granted the virtue of marvelous abstinence, and yet he does not have the word of knowledge. To that one, however, is given the word of knowledge; and yet he strives to attain the virtue of perfect abstinence, and cannot. To this one is granted freedom of speech, so that, providing the consolation of protection to all who are oppressed, he may speak freely in defense of justice; but yet, still possessing many things in this world, he wishes to leave all, and cannot. To that one, indeed, it has already been given to leave all earthly things, so that he desires to have nothing in this world; but yet he does not presume to exercise authority of speech against any who are sinning. And he who therefore ought to speak more freely, because he no longer has anything by which he might be held to the world, refuses to speak freely against others, lest he lose that very tranquility of his life. To this one the virtue of prophecy has been given; he already foresees many things that are to come; but yet, seeing and compassionating the sickness of his neighbor in the present, he is unable to cure it. To that one the grace of healing has been given, and by his prayers he drives away from a neighbor’s body the affliction that is present; but yet he does not know what will follow him a little later. By a wondrous dispensation, therefore, almighty God so distributes His gifts among His elect that He gives to one what He denies to another, and grants more to one what He grants less to another, so that while either this one observes that the other has what he himself does not have, or that one considers that this one has received more what he thinks is less present to himself, all may admire the gifts of God in one another, that is, in turn; and from this very admiration one may be humbled before another, and may think that he whom he sees to have what he does not have has been placed before him by divine judgment. Therefore, the living creatures in turn strike one another with their wings when holy minds touch each other with alternating virtues, and by touching rouse one another, and once roused, fly toward advancement. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: Let us see how Paul was touched by the wings of the apostles and stirred to repentance. Considering the evils of his past persecution and the innocent life of the apostles, he said: “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.” He considered indeed the innocence of the apostles, and because of his preceding wickedness, all the care he showed in the Church became worthless in his eyes; and he did not consider how many he surpassed by the understanding he had received, because, weighing their innocence, he grieved that he had once been a persecutor. But let us see if any of the apostles marvels at the understanding given to Paul. We must first consult the chief of the apostles himself, who, admonishing his disciples, says: “As also our most beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you; as in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which there are certain things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable distort.” Therefore Paul marvels at the innocence in all the apostles, and the chief of the apostles marvels at the wisdom in Paul. They therefore touch each other with their wings, mutually stirring one another to progress by that whereby they fly.

Therefore, Almighty God works in the hearts of men what He does in the regions of the earth. For He could have bestowed all fruits upon any single region; but if any one region did not need the fruits of another region, it would have had no communion with the other. Hence it happens that He grants to one an abundance of wine, to another an abundance of oil; He makes one abound in a multitude of flocks, another in a richness of crops, so that when one brings what the other does not have, and the other returns what the first did not bring, through the communion of grace the divided lands may be joined together as one. Therefore, just as the regions of the earth, so are the minds of the saints, who, while they mutually share with one another what they have received, as it were bestow their fruits as regions upon regions, so that all may be joined together in one charity.

But amid these things it must be known that just as all the elect always observe in others what they have received better from God than themselves, so that they may prefer them to themselves in thought and lay themselves beneath them in humility, so the mind of the reprobate never considers what good another has more than itself, but what good itself has more than another. For they do not weigh what good things of the spirit another has received that they themselves lack, but what good things they have and what evils are present in another. And while almighty God distributes virtues to individuals for this purpose, that He may humble one to another in thought, the reprobate drag down the good they have received to this end, that they may be destroyed by it through pride, since they always consider the good things that they have and others do not have, and never take care to weigh how many good things others have that they themselves do not have. Therefore what divine mercy arranges for the increase of humility, reprobate minds turn to the increase of pride; and from the diversity of gifts they fall away from good, whence they ought to have grown in the good of humility.

Therefore, for this reason, dearest brothers, it is necessary that you should always look upon what you have less of in yourselves, but in your neighbors look upon what they have received more than you, so that while you look upon them as above yourselves because of the good which they have and you do not have, you too may grow through humility to obtain this as well. For if you weigh the good things received in them, and they consider in you the gifts which you have, you touch one another with wings in turn, so that being stirred up you may always fly toward heavenly things. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: “And the sound of the wheels following the living creatures, and the sound of a great commotion.”

We said above that the Testaments are signified by the wheels of sacred Scripture. The voice of the wheels, therefore, is the word of the Testaments. Thus after the voice of the wings of the living creatures, the voice of the wheels is also heard, because when the preaching of the preachers is received, while the virtues of the saints fly upward to accomplish higher things and mutually urge one another toward advancement, the state of the holy Church is raised up, so that throughout the whole world the pages of the sacred Testaments may be read. For everywhere now the holy Gospel resounds, everywhere the words of the apostles, everywhere the law and the prophets. Therefore the voice of the wheels follows after the voice of the wings, because after the miracles of the saints, the words of sacred Scripture are freely and openly heard within the holy Church. The wheels follow the living creatures, because, as was said above, after the life of the saints came into honor, the words of the Testaments also appeared venerable to men.

Or certainly the living creatures follow, because in the life of the holy Fathers we recognize what we ought to understand in the volume of sacred Scripture. For their action opens to us what the page of the Testaments says in its proclamations. But we must ask why, after it was said above, “I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion,” after the voice of the wings and wheels there is added: “And the voice of a great commotion.” If this is carefully examined, it can be found that it is not repeated idly.

For indeed there are two great commotions by which our hearts are stirred. One commotion is from fear, the other from love; one arises from the grief of the penitent, the other from the fervor of those who love. After the word of preaching, therefore, the first commotion occurs when we bewail the evils we have done; but after the sound of the wings and wheels, there is a second commotion, when with great weeping we seek the heavenly goods that we hear about. For behold, because within holy Church we learn examples of virtues from many Fathers, we hear as it were the sound of wings daily; because sacred utterances resound everywhere, we are aroused as if by the voices of wheels. And because through these same sacred utterances we are kindled to love of our Creator, burning with the fires of great fervor, we lament that we are still far from the face of almighty God. After the first sound of great commotion, therefore, at the end there also comes a sound of great commotion, because we who by knowing God began to bewail our sins, now loving him whom we have known, do not cease to desire him with weeping. After the sound of the wheels, therefore, follows the sound of great commotion, because when the Testaments of God have begun to sound in the ear of the heart, the spirit of those who hear, pierced with compunction from love, is moved to lamentation. For this is why the words of sacred Scripture become savory in the heart of readers; this is why they are often read by those who love them in silence, as it were secretly and quietly. Whence it is also said through another prophet: “You have cut off in alienation the heads of the mighty; nations shall be moved in it; they shall open their mouths like a poor man eating in secret.” For almighty God has cut off the heads of the mighty in alienation, because he repelled the pride of the Jews by alienating them from himself. In which alienation the nations were moved, because while the Jews fell from the faith, the hearts of the Gentiles ran to the knowledge of faith. These nations indeed open the mouth of the heart in the nourishment of sacred reading, and eat in secret like a poor man, because with haste and silence they take in the words of life as they read. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: It is better and truer to have understood the voice that one has heard than one that one has seen. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.13

Jerome: (Verse 13.) And the sound of the wings of the living creatures striking against one another, and the sound of the wheels following the creatures, and the sound of a great commotion. Because it is understood, ‘I heard behind me the sound of a great commotion, and I heard the sound of the wings of the living creatures, and the sound of the wheels,’ the Septuagint added: ‘And I saw the sound of the wings of the living creatures striking against one another,’ and the rest according to what is written in Exodus: ‘And all the people saw the voice of God’ (Exodus 20:18): so that the prophet may have heard the voice that was coming from behind, and seen what was before him. But it is better and truer to have understood a heard voice rather than a seen one, as well as the striking of wings against each other and the sound of wheels, which we mentioned above, and the great commotion which showed that God’s wrath was going to come upon the people of Israel. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:14

Gregory the Dialogist: But it should be known that the more hearers advance in charity and understanding, the greater grace of the Spirit is given to the holy preachers. Hence, when the prophet had first said: “The spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion,” after the voice of the great commotion of wings and wheels, and again of a great commotion, he immediately adds: “The spirit also lifted me up and took me.”

Why does he who had said he was already taken up by the spirit narrate that he was again elevated and taken up? But the mind of preachers advances to higher things when through them the senses of their hearers are moved to desire for almighty God. These holy preachers advance for this reason: that through their ministry the gifts of grace may be multiplied in holy Church, as it is written of this same holy Church: “Making its channels drunk, multiply its generations; in its drops it shall rejoice when it springs forth.” For the channels of the Church are the holy preachers, who water the earth of our heart. But when the channels are made drunk, the generations of the Church are multiplied, because when preachers receive a more abundant grace of the spirit, the number of the faithful increases. Holy Church rejoices in its drops. For in a drop, water falls from the roof to the earth, which had fallen from heaven onto the roof. Now the roof of the Church is the holy preachers, who protect us by interceding and fortifying us with admonitions. But because their heart is divinely poured upon in preaching, water comes, as it were, from heaven onto the roof. Because we are watered by their words, water flows down, as it were, from the roof to the earth. Therefore holy Church, when it springs forth, rejoices in its drops, because when it is born in faith and good works, it considers the gifts it has received and exults in the words of preachers. Therefore, because grace is also multiplied for their preachers when hearers rise to better things, the prophet says: “The spirit also elevated me and took me up.” For the preacher is elevated and taken up more and more from the very source by which the hearer is changed to a better life. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: But we must ask, since the spirit does not elevate the mind unless it has taken hold of it, why did it first elevate and afterward is said to have taken hold? But in this place “taken hold” means “held firmly.” For there are some whom it elevates but does not take hold of, whose understanding indeed flashes forth to spiritual things, yet whose life, remaining in carnal deeds, does not accord with their understanding. For Balaam was elevated by the spirit of prophecy, but was not taken hold of, because he was able to foresee truly things far in the future, and yet was unwilling to separate his mind from earthly desires. But because the holy prophet was elevated in knowledge and likewise taken hold of in his life, let us now hear in what manner he proceeds to preach: “And I went away bitter in the indignation of my spirit.”

Ponder, dearest brothers, for whom the gifts of the Holy Spirit had increased, why he departed embittered? Does every heart which the same Spirit takes up become embittered in the indignation of his spirit? Hence it must be known that for one to whom the present life is still sweet, even if he seems to speak the word of God, he is not an elevated and taken-up preacher. For the mind which the Holy Spirit fills, He moves into bitterness toward temporal things through delight in eternal things. For it is sweet to be among human affairs, but only for one who has not yet tasted any joys from heavenly things, because the less one understands eternal things, the more pleasantly one rests in temporal things. But if anyone has already tasted with the mouth of the heart what that sweetness of heavenly rewards is, what those hymn-singing choirs of angels are, what the incomprehensible vision of the Holy Trinity is, for this one the sweeter that becomes which he sees within, the more everything he endures outwardly turns to bitterness. He quarrels with himself about those things which he recalls having done wrongly, and he becomes displeasing to himself, when He who created all things has already begun to please him. He rebukes himself for his thoughts, pursues himself for his words, and punishes himself by weeping for his deeds. He yearns for things above, and now tramples all earthly things through contempt of mind. And as long as he does not yet have by direct sight what he desires, he finds weeping sweet, and afflicting himself with continual lamentations. And because he does not yet see himself to be in the homeland for which he was created, in the exile of this life nothing else pleases him more than his own bitterness. For he disdains to be subject to temporal things, and ardently sighs for eternal things. Hence it is also rightly said through Solomon: “Because in much wisdom there is much indignation, and whoever adds knowledge adds sorrow.” For knowing heavenly things, we disdain to subject our mind to earthly things. And when we begin to understand more about those things we have done wrongly, we become angry at ourselves, and in much wisdom there is much indignation, because the more we advance in knowledge, the more we are indignant at ourselves for perverse deeds. And sorrow increases with knowledge, because the more we know eternal things, the more we grieve that we are in the misery of this exile. Or as it is said in another translation: “And whoever adds knowledge adds labor.” For to the degree that we begin to know what heavenly joys are, to that degree we labor by weeping so that we may escape the snares of our errors. In much wisdom, therefore, there is much indignation, because if we now have wisdom of eternal things, we disdain to desire temporal things. If we now have wisdom of eternal things, we despise ourselves for having done what could separate us from the love of eternity. Conscience rebukes itself, accuses what it has done, condemns through penitence what it accuses; strife arises in the soul, giving birth to peace with God. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: So Ahab, that wicked king, when rebuked by the prophet and hearing the divine sentence against himself, was terrified and weighed down with great grief, so that the Lord said to his prophet: “Have you not seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because therefore he has humbled himself for my sake, I will not bring evil in his days.” In these words of the Lord we must consider how pleasing to him is the grief of bitterness in his elect who fear to lose the Lord, if repentance so pleased him even in a reprobate who feared to lose the present world? Or how pleasing to him is voluntary affliction for sins in those who please him, if this pleased him even temporarily in one who displeased him? But we must know that no one can do these things from the whole heart out of love for the almighty Lord except one whose soul the Holy Spirit has taken hold of. For when is a man able by his own strength to despise earthly things, to love heavenly things, to seek peace with God, to engage in strife with himself, to reprove himself in thought, and to punish himself with groans? No one can do these things except one whom divine grace has strengthened. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Gregory the Dialogist: “For the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me.”

We cannot perfectly rise to good things unless the Spirit both lifts us up by going before and strengthens us by following after. But we must ask, since it was written above concerning the scroll that he had received: “And it became in my mouth sweet like honey,” for what reason is it said afterwards: “I went away bitter in the indignation of my spirit”? For it is indeed very strange if sweetness and bitterness should come together. But according to the sense given above, we must understand that when the word of God has begun to be sweet in the mouth of someone’s heart, without doubt his soul becomes bitter against himself. For the more subtly he learns in it how he ought to reproach himself, the more harshly he chastises himself through the bitterness of repentance, since he displeases himself all the more, the more he sees in the sacred volume about almighty God that he should love. But because man cannot advance to these things by his own strength, it is rightly now said: “The hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me.” For the hand of the Lord in sacred Scripture is sometimes also called the only-begotten Son, because all things were made through him. And concerning his ascension the almighty Father speaks through Moses, saying: “I will raise my hand to heaven.” This hand, which strengthens the hearts of his elect, said to the disciples: “Without me you can do nothing.” In everything therefore that we think, in everything that we do, we must always pray that we may think by his inspiration and act by his help, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 10

Jerome: For the hand of the Lord was on the prophet, strengthening him, so that he could take the name of a sentinel and teach what he taught. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.14-15

Jerome: Ver. 14. The Spirit also lifted me up, and took me away, and I went embittered in the indignation of my spirit. LXX: And the spirit lifted me up, and took me, and I went up in the impetuosity of my spirit. After being lifted up by the spirit, and taken by it, then he went in the indignation and bitterness of his spirit, understanding the indignation of God, and what the vision signified, pondering in his mind. Whether he was carried up on the heights by the impetuosity of his own spirit, desiring to go where the Lord commanded. But by ‘his spirit’ we understand not the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of man, of which it is said in many places, as in Isaiah: At night my spirit rises within me, O God (Isa. XXVI, 9). And the prophet is transported (not, as some think, in spirit, but) in his own body, as we read of Habakkuk according to Theodotion (Dan. XIV). — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:15

Gregory the Dialogist: Among the other miracles of prophecy, the books of the prophets also have this wonder: that just as in them things are explained by words, so sometimes words are explained by things, so that not only their sayings but also their deeds are prophecy. Hence it is now said: “I came to the captivity, to the heap of new fruits, to those who dwelt by the river Chobar.” When the occasion required that he should have indicated that he was coming to the captivity, what necessity of speaking was there to express the place also through fruits, saying “to the heap of new fruits,” unless it is that often causes are signified through things and places? For many years of captivity had already passed while Ezekiel was prophesying, and of those who had been led into captivity, many had already died in the death of the flesh, to whose children the prophet was coming to speak. Hence it is also said to him above: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to apostate nations who have departed from me. Their fathers transgressed my covenant until this day, and the children are of stiff neck and indomitable heart, to whom I am sending you.” Because many of these were going to believe and through obedience were going to arrive at the fertility of good work, they are called a heap of fruits. For that good souls are called the fruits of God, another prophet testifies, saying: “Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his fruits.” For the Gentiles converted to the faith also became the fruits of the Lord afterward. But because Israel first believed in the Lord, this prophet rightly called him the firstfruits of his fruits. Therefore, because the prophet was sent not to the earlier people but brought words to the children of that same people, he came to a heap of new fruits. But what is designated by the river Chobar, we have already said above; we do not repeat these things now, lest by repeating we generate tedium.

It should be noted with what great compassion the holy prophet joins himself to the captive people, and by sitting and grieving unites himself to their sorrows, because the root of the word is the power of the work. And that speech is willingly received by the hearer which is brought forth by the preacher with compassion of soul. Thus when iron is joined with iron, it is first liquefied, so that afterwards it may be held fast by itself in turn. For if it does not first become soft, it cannot afterwards hold firmly. Thus the prophet sat with the captive people, and stood grieving in their midst, so that while through the grace of charity he rendered himself softer to them by condescending, he might immediately hold them through the strength of the word. But if the Israelite people, who are called the house of exasperation, because they did not recognize their faults even amid scourges, did not depress their spirit with any grief, the prophet took care to sit grieving among those who were rejoicing, so that by being silent he might show what he had come to teach by speaking. And before he spoke words, in this that he was silent in grief he took on the form of words. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 11

Jerome: (Verse 15) For the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me. And I came to the exile at the heap of new fruits, to those who lived by the river Chebar. And I sat where they sat, and I stayed there for seven days mourning among them. LXX: And the hand of the Lord became strong upon me, and I entered into captivity exalted. And I went around the inhabitants of the river Chebar who were there, and I sat there for seven days dwelling among them. For the sense in which we translate, the translators Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion used the Hebrew words Thel Abib (): which the Seventy translated as sublime and I went around; believing it better to say something than to impose something that would cause the reader to question. However, we have learned from the Hebrews that Thel abib means, when new grains or barley are gathered, and after hunger and scarcity, before they are ground in the barn, they promise some hope of food. So too is Israel small and humble, who dwelt on the banks of the river Chobar, like one revived and rising from the earth, promising the seed of the Jewish people. But the hand of the Lord is upon the prophet, strengthening him, so that he may receive the name of a watchman, and teach what he has learned. And for seven days he moves among them, seeing all that they do, so that afterwards he may know what he should reprove. Yet he mourns, or dwells among them, seeing their wickedness, and the just judgment of God for the iniquity of their sins. For because we have said, grieving, and it is written in Hebrew Masmim (), Theodotion translated, marveling, in order to express the astonishment of the Prophets who saw their iniquities. But the second edition of Aquila, which the Hebrews call ‘according to accuracy,’ translated: being calm, that is, quiet, and being separate, to show that he was indeed among the captives, but separated from them in mind. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:16

Gregory the Dialogist: In that he sat mourning for seven days, and after the seventh day received the words of the Lord’s command that he ought to speak, he clearly indicates that during those same days he had been silent while mourning. Now he had been sent to preach, and yet sitting for seven days he was silent. What is it that the holy prophet suggests to us in this silence of his, except that he truly knows how to speak who has first learned how to be silent well? For the discipline of silence is, as it were, a kind of nourishment for speech. And rightly does he receive the gift of speaking through increasing grace, who first keeps silent in an orderly manner through humility. Hence it is said through Solomon: “A time to be silent, and a time to speak.” For he did not say, “A time to speak, and a time to be silent,” but he puts the time for silence first, and afterwards adds that for speaking, because we ought to learn to speak not by speaking but by being silent. If therefore the holy prophet who had been sent to speak was first silent for a long time, so that afterwards he might speak rightly, we must consider how great a fault it is for him not to be silent whom no necessity compels to speak. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 11

Jerome: (Verse 16, 17.) But after seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, and you will hear a word from my mouth and will declare it to them from me. The watchman, who is to be the messenger of God’s words to the people, must rest for a long time and be sorrowful for the things he sees. And he must have no personal guilt for the sins he will rebuke in others. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Jerome: He who was to be a sentinel and to tell the words of God to the people had to be quiet for some time, and to grieve at the things he saw and have nothing in his consciousness in respect of which he would be reproved in other things. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.16-17

Ezekiel 3:17

Ambrose of Milan: An emperor ought not to deny freedom of speech, and a bishop ought not to conceal his opinions. Nothing so much commends an emperor to the love of his people as the encouragement of liberty in those who are subject to him by the obligation of public service. Indeed, the love of liberty or of slavery is what distinguishes good emperors from bad, while in a bishop there is nothing so perilous before God or so disgraceful before people as not to speak his thoughts freely. For it is written, “I spoke of your testimonies before kings and was not ashamed,” and in another place, “Son of man, if I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, to the intent (it says) that if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity because you have not given him warning (that is, not told him what to guard against), his righteousness shall not be remembered, and I will require his blood at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous person not to sin and he does not, then the righteous shall surely live because you have warned him, and you shall deliver your soul.” — LETTER 40:2

Caesarius of Arles: If we carefully heed the lessons that are read at the consecration of bishops, we have a means of rousing ourselves to the greatest compunction. What Gospel text is it, except the one I mentioned a little while ago? “Peter, Peter, tend my sheep,” and again, “feed my sheep.” Did Christ say, cultivate the vineyards by your presence, arrange the country estates yourself, exercise the cultivation of land? He did not say this, but “feed my sheep.” Now what kind of a prophetic text is read at the consecration of a bishop? It is this: “I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.” It did not say a steward of vineyards or country estates or the manager of fields; doubtless it is a watchman of souls. — SERMONS 1:11

Cassiodorus: The office of bishop is the highest order in the church. Episcopos means overseer, because with the help of divine grace he guards the Lord’s flock from his high seat like a most careful shepherd. As the prophet Ezekiel says, “I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel.” — EXPOSITIONS OF THE Psalms 108:8

Gregory the Dialogist: It should be noted that He whom the Lord sends to preach, He declares to be a watchman. For he to whom the care of others is committed is called a watchman, so that he may sit in the height of the mind and draw the meaning of his name from the power of his action. For he is not a watchman who is in the lowest place. Indeed, a watchman always stands in a high place, so that he may see from afar whatever is to come. And whoever is appointed as a watchman of the people ought to stand on high through his life, so that he may be able to benefit them through his foresight. Hence another prophet admonishes the watchman, saying: “Get up onto a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion.” So that evidently he who has undertaken the office of preaching may ascend to the height of good action; may pass over to lofty things and transcend the works of those who have been committed to him; so that he may see the life of his subjects all the more keenly, inasmuch as he does not subject his mind to the earthly things which he looks down upon.

Oh how harsh to me are these words that I speak, because in speaking I strike myself, whose tongue neither maintains preaching as is worthy, nor does my life follow my tongue to the extent that it is able to maintain it. I am often entangled in idle words, and I cease from exhortation and the edification of my neighbors, being sluggish and negligent. I have become mute and verbose in the sight of God—mute in necessary things, verbose in idle ones. But behold, the word of God concerning the life of a watchman compels me to speak. I cannot be silent, and yet I fear to strike myself by speaking. I will speak, I will speak, so that the sword of God’s word may pass even through me to pierce the heart of my neighbor. I will speak, I will speak, so that the word of God may sound against me even through me. I do not deny that I am guilty; I see my sluggishness and negligence. Perhaps before the merciful Judge the very recognition of fault will be an obtaining of pardon.

And indeed while I was stationed in a monastery, I was able both to restrain my tongue from idle words and to keep my mind almost continuously fixed on the intention of prayer. But after I placed the shoulder of my heart beneath the pastoral burden, my mind cannot collect itself upon itself regularly, because it is divided among many things. For I am compelled now to examine the affairs of churches, now of monasteries, often to weigh the lives and deeds of individuals; now to bear certain business matters of citizens, now to groan over the attacking swords of barbarians, and to fear wolves lying in wait for the flock entrusted to me; now to take care of material concerns, lest resources fail those very ones who are held by the rule of discipline, now to endure certain plunderers with equanimity, now to oppose them while striving to preserve charity. Therefore, when my mind is led torn and mangled to think upon so many and such great matters, when does it return to itself, so that it might gather itself wholly for preaching and not withdraw from the ministry of speaking the word? Moreover, because by the necessity of my position I am often joined with secular men, sometimes I relax the discipline of my tongue. For if I keep myself in the constant rigor of my strictness, I know that I am avoided by the weaker ones, and I never draw them to what I desire. Hence it happens that often I patiently hear even their idle talk. But because I myself am also weak, being drawn along a little in idle conversations, I now begin to speak willingly those things which I had begun to hear unwillingly; and where it was wearisome to fall, it becomes pleasant to lie there. Who then or what manner of watchman am I, who do not stand on the mountain of action, but still lie in the valley of weakness? Yet the creator and redeemer of the human race is powerful to grant to unworthy me both the height of life and the efficacy of speech, for whose love I do not spare even myself in speaking his word.

The life of a watchman, therefore, must always be both lofty and circumspect. Lest he succumb to the love of earthly things, let it be lofty; lest he be struck by the darts of the hidden enemy, let it be circumspect on every side. Nor is it sufficient for a watchman to live loftily, unless he also continually draws his hearers to lofty things by speaking, and kindles their minds by speaking to the love of the heavenly homeland. But he does these things rightly when his tongue blazes forth from his life. For a lamp that does not burn in itself does not ignite the thing beneath which it is placed. Hence Truth says of John: He was a burning and shining lamp. Burning, that is, through heavenly desire, shining through the word. Therefore, that the truth of preaching may be preserved, the loftiness of living must necessarily be maintained. Hence it is also rightly said in the voice of the Bridegroom of holy Church in the Song of Songs: Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon. What kind of praise is it, my brothers, that the bride’s nose should be compared to a tower? But since we always distinguish pleasant and foul odors through the nose, what is designated by the nose except the discernment of watchmen? This nose is said to be both like a tower and of Lebanon, because indeed the discernment of overseers must always be fortified with circumspection and established in loftiness of life—that is, not lie prostrate in the valley of feeble work. For just as a tower is placed on a mountain for watching so that enemies who approach may be seen from afar, so the life of a preacher must always remain fixed on high, so that in the manner of nostrils he may distinguish the stench of vices and the fragrance of virtues. Let him look far ahead at the assaults of malignant spirits, and render the souls committed to him cautious through his foresight.

Behold, again the prophet is warned not to presume to speak what he has not heard, but first to open the ear of his heart to the voice of the Creator, and afterward to open the mouth of his body to the ears of the people. Hence another prophet says: I will incline my ear to a parable, I will open my proposition on the psaltery. For he who preaches rightly first, as has been said, inclines the ear of his heart to the inward speaking, so that afterward he may open the mouth of his body in the proposition of admonition. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 11

Hippolytus of Rome: “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the members of the house of Israel, so that you may hear from my mouth and warn them.” That means, “Look, I have made you a warning and a caution, so that you may say what I command to the just and to sinners, that the just may grow in discretion and the sinners in penitence.” — FRAGMENT 8

Justin Martyr: Therefore we are most anxious that you be persuaded not to be misled by such persons, since we know that every one who can speak the truth, and yet speaks it not, shall be judged by God, as God testified by Ezekiel, when He said, “I have made thee a watchman to the house of Judah. If the sinner sin, and thou warn him not, he himself shall die in his sin; but his blood will I require at thine hand. But if thou warn him, thou shalt be innocent.” And on this account we are, through fear, very earnest in desiring to converse [with men] according to the Scriptures, but not from love of money, or of glory, or of pleasure. — Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXXII

Leo the Great: Just as the well-being of the churches causes us gratification, so we are deeply saddened whenever we learn of any liberties taken with, or acts committed against, canon law and ecclesiastical discipline. We cannot excuse ourselves to him who wished us to be on the watch if we do not repress such practices with the vigilance we should. We cannot excuse ourselves if we permit the unsullied body of the church (which we are bound to keep clean from all dirt) to be defiled by contact with those who pursue evil ends. For the very union of the members gets inharmonious elements in it through carelessness. — LETTER 4

Maximus of Turin: Sometimes when we preach, our sermons seem rather harsh to many, and what we speak about as a rule is taken by some as if it were produced from a hard attitude. For they say, “how severely and bitterly the bishop has preached!” not knowing that for bishops speaking is more a matter of obligation than of desire. Speaking, I say, is more a matter of obligation—not because the desire to preach the truth is lacking but because the silence that comes from not speaking is driven away by the punishment of the law.… This, then, is the preacher’s situation—that he should not be silent with respect to the sins of another if he wishes to avoid sinning himself, and that he should correct his brother by reproving him so that he may not destroy what is priestly in himself.… Consequently it is better to correct the sinner by rebuking him than to accept the sinner’s misdeed by keeping quiet. This is the position in which we have been placed: if we told sinners that their crimes were not their own, the guilt of their crimes would also implicate us. For this is in fact what the Lord says through the prophet: “And you, son of man, I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel, and you shall hear the word from my mouth. When I say to the sinner, ‘You shall die the death, and you do not speak so that the impious may beware of his way, the wicked himself shall die in his own wickedness, but I will require his blood from your hand,’ ” and so forth. Clearly these words are plain and obvious. They soil the watchmen with criminal blood when he keeps silence, and they are not satisfied that the evildoers’ own evil doing condemns him unless they also incriminate the one who was unwilling to rebuke the evil in question. So, then, how great the iniquity of the sinner is! The sinner sins, and the bishop is convicted; he kills himself by his own sins, and his blood is required from the hand of the bishop.… What is a watchman? A watchman is one who, while standing (as it were) on a lofty pinnacle, looks out on the people around him so that no enemy falls unexpectedly on them but so that, as he keeps careful watch, the populace live in harmony and peace. — SERMON 92:1-2

Philoxenus of Mabbug: The words are addressed to the Jews, since it was to them that the prophet Ezekiel had been sent at that time; and today, too, after the coming of our Savior, the words apply to pagans and to Jews and to those who once believed but then denied their faith. The prophet’s words are applicable to those who sin without perceiving their sin, since a sinner who has received baptism, even though he may be dead toward his soul, because he does not perceive his sin, yet he is alive to God because of the grace of baptism that he possesses. — ON THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Theodoret of Cyrus: “You must be,” he says, “like a watchman, who is placed on top of some hill, with orders to announce for himself beforehand any invasions by barbarians. And you must be set up as if on a watchtower, on the highest point of prophecy, and what you foresee, you must tell out to the people.” — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3

Ezekiel 3:18

Augustine of Hippo: You have frequently heard in the holy Scriptures in what great danger bishops are placed, if they are unwilling to carry out what the apostle urges on them.… But when we reprove someone, if the person we reprove is bad, he fixes his attention on the one he is being reproved by and happily and more readily acknowledges what has to be put right in his reprover than in himself. And if he can find something true to say against the one who is reproving him, he is delighted. How much better to rejoice about his own healthy condition when he has been put right than about another person’s illness when he is rebuked! — SERMON 387:1

Basil of Caesarea: It is of the greatest importance that the superior [in a religious community] be convinced that if he fails to offer his brother the proper guidance, he will draw on himself heavy and inescapable wrath, for his blood will be required at his hands. — THE LONG RULES 29

Caesarius of Arles: Whenever we preach something hard, we do not do so because we believe that you have done something of the sort, but we denounce things that you have not done, in order to be able to cure those matters in which you may have been overcome. It often happens that we fear to do great wrongs but more quickly fail to guard against slight ones. — SERMONS 57:2

Caesarius of Arles: It is necessary for us to rebuke, either in secret or in public, those who are careless. Now if the one whom we reprove is wicked, when we do so he will notice by whom he is rebuked, and he will more readily recognize what is being corrected in the one who is reproving him than in himself. — SERMONS 145:1

Gregory the Dialogist: In these words, what should we note, what should we carefully consider, except that the subject does not die because of the fault of the superior, nor is the superior without fault when, not hearing the words of life, the subject dies by his own fault? For death is owed to the impious, but the way of life must be announced to him by the watchman, and his impiety must be rebuked. But if the watchman is silent, the impious man himself will die in his iniquity, because it was the merit of his impiety that he was not worthy for the watchman’s word to reach him. But the Lord requires his blood from the hand of the watchman, because he himself killed him, because by remaining silent he betrayed him to death. In both of these cases, we must weigh how closely connected are the sins of subjects and superiors, because where the subject dies by his own fault, there the one who is in charge, because he was silent, is held guilty of death. Consider therefore, dearest brothers, consider, because the fact that we are not worthy pastors is also due to your fault, over whom we have been placed as prelates. And if at times you slide into iniquity, this is also due to our guilt, since you do not have us resisting and crying out against your wicked desires. Therefore you spare both yourselves and us if you cease from wicked work. We spare both you and ourselves when we do not keep silent about what displeases. Oh how free from the blood of those committed to him was that excellent preacher who said: I am clean from the blood of all; for I did not shrink from announcing to you the whole counsel of God. For if he had not announced it, he would not be clean from blood. But because he strove to announce the whole counsel of God to them, he was clean from their blood. By this voice we are summoned, we are bound, we are shown to be guilty, we who are called priests, who on top of the evils that are our own also add the deaths of others, because we kill as many as we see going to death daily while we remain lukewarm and silent.

But when it is said: “His blood I will require at your hand,” if by the name of blood in this passage the death of the body is designated, our fear regarding our silence is greatly increased, because if he who is set over others as a watchman is held so gravely guilty even for the bodily death of those who will someday die anyway, by what guilt is he bound for the death of the soul of his subjects, which could have lived forever if it had heard words of correction? But sins can better be signified by the name of blood. Whence a certain one, when he was lamenting the sins of the flesh, said: “Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, God of my salvation.” Therefore the blood of the dying is required at the hand of the watchman, because the sin of the subject is imputed to the fault of the superior if he has remained silent. There is therefore something he can do, so that even when his subject dies he may render himself free. Let him rise up, keep watch, oppose evil deeds, as it is written: “Run about, make haste, rouse your friend; give no sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber.” — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 11

Jerome: (Verse 18, 19.) If I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. There are two wicked or iniquitous persons, as the Septuagint has translated. One who hears nothing as a viewer, and dies in his impiety; whose blood is sought by the hands of the viewer. Another, to whom the viewer announces, and he, despising to hear, dies due to his own fault: in such a way that the viewer is innocent of the fault. From which we understand that the Lord threatens the impious one, and says: ‘You will die by death’, so that he may turn away from his impious way, and live. For the threat is not against humans, but against sins, and not against those who turn away from vices, but against those who persist in sin. And there is a great danger in keeping silent on the words of God for three reasons: either out of fear, or out of laziness, or out of flattery. Hence Isaiah says: Woe is me, for I have kept silent (Isaiah 6:5). And what follows, You have freed your soul, signifies the same as the saying of the Apostle: If anyone’s work burns, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:14), so as to prove whether an external observer was the cause of his death or whether he was guilty. For the work of the master is the well-being of the disciple. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Jerome: A threat is not made against people but against sins, nor is it made against those who are converted from their imperfections but against those who remain in their sin. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.18-19

Ezekiel 3:19

Augustine of Hippo: If he does this, he goes out from there, not by physical withdrawal but defended by his behavior; he has done what he had to do, even if the other person did not heed the warning he should have heeded. — SERMON 88:23

Gregory the Dialogist: For then your subject dies without you, when in the cause of death he has endured you as one who does not speak against it. For you are joined to the death which you do not oppose. And it should be noted what things ought to be preached by the watchman, namely faith and works. For he says: “But if you have announced to the wicked man, and he has not been converted from his wickedness and from his wicked way.” For wickedness pertains to unbelief, but the wicked way pertains to depraved action. And every watchman ought to have this zeal: that he first draw people to the piety of faith, and afterward to the pious way, that is, to good action.

But since the discussion has turned to exhortation, we ought briefly to make known how great should be the order and consideration of speech in the mouth of a pastor. For a teacher ought to weigh what he speaks, to whom he speaks, when he speaks, how he speaks, and how much he speaks. For if one of these is lacking, the speech will not be fitting. Indeed it is written: “If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, you have sinned.” We offer rightly when we do a good work with good zeal; but we do not divide rightly if we neglect to have discretion in the good work. For we ought to consider what we speak, so that according to Paul’s words, “Let our speech always be seasoned with grace as with salt.”

We must consider to whom we are speaking, because often a word of rebuke that one person accepts, another does not accept. And often the same person becomes different according to their deed. Hence Nathan the prophet struck David after his adultery with a strong sentence of rebuke. When he spoke about the one who seized the sheep, saying “The man who did this is a son of death,” he immediately responded to him, saying: “You are that man.” Yet when he spoke to him about Solomon’s kingdom, because there was no fault, he humbly prostrated himself before him in adoration. Therefore in one and the same person, because the circumstances were different, the prophetic discourse was also different.

When we ought to speak must also be considered, because often even if reproof is delayed, it is afterwards kindly received. And sometimes it grows weak, if it has lost the time when it ought to have been brought forth earlier. For the wise woman also, seeing Nabal drunk, did not wish to reprove him for the fault of his avarice, but when the wine was digested she profitably struck him with the words of her reproof. And the Prophet announces that the tongues of flatterers are not to be deferred to a subsequent time, who says: “Let them immediately be confounded with shame who say to me, Well done, well done.” For flattery, if it is patiently endured even for a time, increases, and little by little soothes the mind, so that it grows soft from the rigor of its rectitude in the delight of speech. But lest it should increase, it must be struck immediately and without delay.

We must also consider how we speak. For often the words that call one person back to salvation wound another. Hence the apostle Paul, who admonishes Titus, saying: “Rebuke with all authority,” exhorts Timothy, saying: “Reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and teaching.” Why does he prescribe authority to one and patience to the other, unless because he perceived that the one was of a gentler spirit, while the other was of a more fervent spirit? Upon the gentle one, severity of speech had to be enjoined through the authority of command, but he who burned with fervor of spirit needed to be tempered through patience, lest if he grew more heated than was right, he would not lead the wounded back to salvation, but would wound the healthy.

We must also be careful how much we speak, lest if we draw out a word of exhortation or reproof too long for one who cannot bear much, we lead our hearer to weariness. Hence the same excellent preacher speaks to the Hebrews, saying: “I beseech you, brethren, that you bear with the word of consolation, for I have written to you in very few words.” This is especially fitting for the weak, that they hear few things indeed, and things they are able to grasp, but things that pierce their mind with the sorrow of repentance. For if a lengthy discourse of exhortation is spoken to them all at once, because they cannot retain many things, they lose everything together. Hence physicians of bodies also apply cloths to ailing stomachs with suitable medicine, but they apply it thinly, lest if they are filled with much medicine, they not help the weakness of the stomach by strengthening it, but burden it by oppressing it.

It should be known, however, that even if at times a rather lengthy discourse exceeds its proper measure, this is not dangerous for the hearers. But if how something is said, and to whom it is said, is not carefully considered, it is very dangerous. For modest minds, if they have perhaps committed some faults, should be reproved gently, because if they are rebuked too harshly, they are broken rather than instructed. On the other hand, harsh and shameless minds, if they are reproved gently, are provoked by that very gentleness to greater faults.

We learn this well in the same distinguished preacher, who when he knew that the Corinthians were divided into schism out of love for personalities, being considerate of their modesty, began his speech to them with thanksgiving and praises, saying: “I give thanks to my God always for you in the grace of God, which was given to you in Christ Jesus, because in all things you have been made rich in him, in all speech and in all knowledge, just as the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in you.” He adds further and says: “So that you lack nothing in any grace, as you await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I ask you, Paul, if they already lack nothing, why do you weary yourself writing to them? Why do you speak while positioned at a distance? Let us consider then, dearest brothers, how much he praises them. Behold, he asserts that the grace of God was given to them, he says they were made rich in all things in all speech and in all knowledge; he declares that the testimony of Christ, that is, what he testified about himself by dying and rising, has been confirmed in their life, and he attests that they lack nothing in any grace. Who, I ask, would believe that shortly after he rebukes those whom he praises so much? For after other things he adds: “But I beseech you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you.” For how could schism creep in among those so perfect and so praiseworthy? “For it has been signified to me about you, my brothers, by those who are of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. But this I say, that each one of you says: ‘I indeed am of Paul, but I am of Apollo, but I am of Cephas, but I am of Christ.’” Behold, those whom he had praised in all speech and in all knowledge, those whom he had said lacked nothing in any grace, speaking a little while, coming gently to rebuke, he reproves as divided among themselves; and those whose health he had first described, he afterward laid open their wounds. For a skilled physician, seeing a wound that must be cut, but perceiving the patient to be fearful, stroked it for a long time, and suddenly struck. First he placed the soothing hand of praise, and afterward he drove in the blade of rebuke. For unless modest minds are reproved with gentle stroking, so that they hear from other matters what they might take for consolation, through rebuke they immediately fall into despair.

But did Paul lie, so that he first said they lacked nothing in all grace, when afterward he was going to say they lacked unity? Far be it: who, even if foolish, would believe such things of him? But because there were among the Corinthians some filled with all grace, and there were some cut off by favoritism toward persons, he began with praises of the perfect, so that by modest rebuke he might arrive at reproof of the weak. And in this too he drew upon the practice of bodily medicine for the healing of the heart. For when a physician looks at a wound to be treated, he first touches those parts around the wound that are healthy, so that afterward he may gently reach by touching those that are wounded. Therefore when Paul praised the perfect among the Corinthians, he touched the healthy parts near the wound; but when he reproved the weak for their division, he struck the wound in the body.

Let us see, however, how this same man who is led with such modesty and gentleness to correct the Corinthians conducts himself against the Galatians, who had departed from the faith. For without any patience of modesty offered beforehand, without any sweetness of speech granted in advance, those whom he knew had departed from the faith he rebukes with invective from the very beginning of his epistle. For after the greeting, he began thus: “I marvel that you are so quickly being transferred from him who called you in the grace of Christ.” To whom also, after other things, he adds in open rebuke: “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” For hard minds, unless they were struck with open rebuke, would in no way recognize the evil they had done. For often those who are shameless feel they have sinned only to the degree that they are rebuked for the sins they have committed, so that they consider their faults to be lesser when a lesser invective chastises them, and those which they see are vehemently reproved they perceive to be greater. Hence it is necessary that the speech of the preacher must always be formed according to the quality of the hearers, lest he speak harshly to the modest or gently to the shameless. But what is surprising if the dispenser of God’s word does this, when even the farmer who casts seeds into the ground first considers beforehand the quality of the soil, which seeds it seems suited for, and after he has considered the quality beforehand, then he scatters the seeds? But because we have drawn out the discussion about the quality of teaching too long, it is fitting that we return to the order of exposition which we had begun. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 11

John Chrysostom: We learn from Ezekiel that, provided the guardian gives warning as to what it is necessary to avoid and it is necessary to choose, he delivers his own soul, even if no one pays any attention to him. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF John 13

Ezekiel 3:20

Gregory the Dialogist: Because the preacher remained silent toward the just man who fell into sin, he is held guilty of his blood. And he who did not strive to be diligent in preaching has become a participant in damnation. But when it is said: “He will die in his sin, and his acts of justice which he performed will not be remembered,” we must especially consider this: that when we commit evil deeds, we recall our past good deeds to memory in vain, since in the perpetration of evil there should be no confidence in past good deeds. But it can be asked whether preaching should be done to the just man after he has fallen, or also before he falls? The preacher must be vigilant lest he come to a fall—without doubt, even before he falls.

But in all these things which have been said about the just man turned to iniquity, this is difficult to speak of, this is greatly to be feared: that the Lord says, “I will place a stumbling block before him.” For He says: “If the just man, having turned from his justice, shall commit iniquity, I will place a stumbling block before him.” For we say that if he commits iniquity, he stumbles, and what we say is entirely true. Why then does almighty God place a stumbling block before him whom He already sees to have struck against it and fallen through the iniquity he has committed? But the judgments of almighty God are strict; and He who long waits for the sinner to return, places before the one who does not return and who shows contempt yet another place where he may stumble more grievously.

For indeed a sin which is not quickly wiped away through repentance is either a sin and a cause of sin, or a sin and a punishment for sin, or a sin that is simultaneously both a cause and a punishment for sin. For everything that is first committed is a sin. But if it is not quickly cleansed through repentance, by just judgment almighty God permits the bound mind of the sinner to fall into yet another fault, so that the one who refused to amend what he had done through weeping and correction begins to heap sin upon sin. Therefore the sin which is not washed away by the lament of repentance is simultaneously a sin and a cause of sin, because from it arises that by which the sinner’s soul is bound still more deeply. But the sin which follows from sin is simultaneously a sin and a punishment for sin, because, as blindness increases, it is generated from the retribution of the prior fault, so that the very increases of vices become, as it were, certain punishments in the sinner. Indeed it sometimes happens that one and the same sin is both a sin and a punishment for sin, and simultaneously a cause of sin. For let us place before our eyes someone who coveted a neighbor’s property, which because he could not obtain openly, he seized by theft, but when accused of the theft, he denied under oath that he had taken it. For this man, covetousness was a sin and a cause of sin, because through it he arrived at robbery. But the very theft by which he seized the coveted property both became a sin for him and a punishment for sin, because from the retribution of the concupiscence that was not repressed, it came about that he proceeded to theft, and the fault of the heart grew into action through the vengeance of blindness. But because he took care to cover the theft with perjury, from sin he again begot sin. Therefore the theft which proceeded from covetousness and produced perjury became both a sin and a punishment for the preceding fault, and a sin and a cause of sin for the subsequent fault, because having been born from the former, it generated the latter. This Paul rightly suggested concerning certain ones who understood God but did not honor him, saying: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but became vain in their thoughts.” Behold, there is a sin and a cause of sin. What follows from this cause he adds: “And their foolish heart was darkened. For claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents.” Behold, there is a sin and a punishment for sin. But it would be only a sin and a punishment for sin if yet another sin did not follow from this sin. For after their unbelief it is added: “Therefore God handed them over to the desires of their hearts, to uncleanness, so that they dishonor their own bodies among themselves.” Those therefore who, knowing God, did not glorify him as God, from that sin which was also a cause of sin were brought to this point as well, that they slipped into the worship of serpents and birds. But because through this blindness they also fell into uncleanness and the disgraces of the flesh, their very blindness of unbelief is both a sin and a punishment for sin in relation to their preceding understanding, but in relation to the subsequent uncleanness it became a sin and a cause of sin. But because these matters have been treated at length in the books of the Morals, we must not linger on them longer now.

But this we must consider with trembling: how the just and almighty God, when He is angry at preceding sins, permits the blinded mind to fall also into others. Hence Moses says: “The sins of the Amorites are not yet complete.” David also says: “Add iniquity upon their iniquity, that they may not enter into Your justice.” Another prophet also says: “Cursing and lying and murder and theft and adultery have overflowed, and blood has touched blood.” For blood touches blood when sin is added to sin, so that before the eyes of God the soul is bloodied by accumulated iniquities. The Apostle Paul says: “That they may fill up their sins always.” To John also it is said through the angel: “Let him who does harm do harm still; and let him who is filthy be filthy still.” Hence now also the Lord says: “If the just man turns from his justice and commits iniquity, I will place a stumbling block before him.” As if He were saying openly: Because he was unwilling to see through repentance where he had already stumbled, I, abandoning him by just judgment, will cause him to stumble elsewhere as well. Yet this placing by the Lord is by no means to press him toward sinning, but to be unwilling to free him from sin; just as it is said of Pharaoh: “I will harden his heart.” For the Lord does not harden the heart of the one sinning, but He is said to harden when He does not free from hardness. For the merciful God grants us time for repentance; but when we turn the patience of His grace toward an increase of guilt, that very time which He mercifully arranged for sparing us He turns more strictly toward striking us, so that when someone has been unwilling to return even after receiving a space of time, through this very thing he increases his evils to his condemnation, through which he could have washed them away if he had been willing to convert. Hence it is written: “Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God.” Therefore from the kindness of almighty God the reprobate stores up wrath for himself on the day of wrath, because while time is received for repenting and is used for sinning, he turns the very remedy of grace into an increase of guilt. Hence also almighty God, because He sees that the remedies He has bestowed are being drawn toward an increase of guilt, turns that very kindness which He bestowed into the strictness of judgment, so that afterward He may strike more heavily from the source whence He now waits more patiently. And because man is unwilling to abandon evil that he may live, he increases the means by which he may die. But whether the just man falls into guilt or the sinner into death, the watchman must fear lest the guilt of those sinning equally entangle him through his silence. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 11

Jerome: (Verse 20, 21.) But even if a righteous person turns away from their righteousness and commits iniquity, I will set a stumbling block before them. They shall die because you did not warn them; in their sin they shall die, and their righteous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will require their blood from your hand. However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they shall surely live because you warned them, and you have saved your own soul. Just as we read about two wicked or unjust individuals: One, who did not hear, and perished; the other, who heard and persisted in wickedness: so there are two righteous individuals, one who did not hear and perished; the other who heard and turned to repentance, saved his soul. It should be noted that a righteous person can fall; and if he has a teacher, he can be converted to better things. And therefore, good works require a constant teacher, so that a slip does not cause him to step back from the best path. And indeed the wicked, or the unjust if they have not converted, will die in their wickedness and injustice. But if the just commit impiety and sin, they do not immediately die; but a stumbling block or torment is set before them, as Theodotius said, an infirmity, so that they may be tormented and not find a straight path, and understand themselves to be weak, of whom the Apostle also says: Therefore many are weak and sleep among you (I Corinthians 11:30). For it is advantageous for the just to understand their own transgression and the torment of their conscience, and to say with the Psalmist: I am turned in my sorrow while the thorn is fastened on me (Psalms 31:4). And just as the wickedness of the impious is not obvious if they turn away from their wicked ways and live, so the ancient virtues do not benefit the just if they are oppressed by new crimes. But what has been brought upon oneself: He will die, because you did not announce to him, it is understood, that he could have lived if the watcher and teacher had instructed him. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Jerome: The one who does not hear perishes, but the other who hears and is converted to repentance saves his soul. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.20-21

Salvian the Presbyter: Thus it happens that all things are changed, pass away and perish. No one considers anyone more base than himself or more lowly than God. If there is a time at which anyone can legally place God second to his blood and marriage relatives, there is no time in which God must lawfully be placed ahead of them. But if, because it is true, there is no time whatever in which he should not be given preference, there is no time when he can lawfully be placed second to them. Indeed, there is no time, not even at the point of death, because the prophet says that even the just person will perish on the day he errs. — FOUR BOOKS OF TIMOTHY TO THE CHURCH 4:2

Ezekiel 3:21

Gregory the Dialogist: If, therefore, the preacher freed his soul because he warned the just man not to sin, when the just man has fallen into sin while the preacher remained silent, the preacher is held guilty because he was silent. But who among us, I ask, is sufficient for these things, not only to zealously rebuke sinners, but also to watch over the just lest they fall? For we, conscious of our own weakness, when we behold just men, do not presume to admonish them to hold to the way of justice, which we see they already hold; and yet it is the duty of a preacher to admonish even the just. Hence the distinguished preacher said: I am a debtor both to the wise and to the unwise.

But meanwhile, while I speak, I want to turn my eyes away from myself, and behold, again the divine word drives me back upon myself, that I may see my own negligence and fear that these things I hear are spoken to me. For as I said above, whose heart, scattered among innumerable cares, can gather itself back to itself? For when am I able both to attend carefully to all things around me and to behold myself with a unified mind? When am I able to correct the wickedness of the wicked by pursuing them, to guard the actions of the good by praising and admonishing them, to show terror to some and gentleness to others? When am I able both to think about what is necessary for the brothers and to bear anxiety for the watches of the city against hostile swords, to take care lest citizens perish from a sudden attack, and amid all these things to devote myself fully and effectively to the word of exhortation for the custody of souls? For to speak about God belongs to a mind that is very quiet and free. For then the tongue is rightly directed in speech when the mind has rested securely in tranquility, because agitated water does not return the image of one looking into it, but the face of one gazing is seen in it only when it is not moving. What exhortation, then, dearest brothers, can your watchman offer you, whom the confusion of so many things disturbs? Certainly the prophet of whom we speak, seeing the temple in his final revelation, narrates among other things what he beheld in that same temple, saying: “Earth up to the windows, and the windows were closed.” The apostle Paul also says: “For the temple of God is holy, which you are.” Now in this temple the windows are the priests and watchmen, who pour forth the light of holy preaching among the faithful people. But when earth reaches up to the windows, the windows are closed, because when earthly thought grows up in the hearts of priests, the windows do not pour forth light, because the priests fall silent from the office of preaching.

There is also another thing very grave in the order of priests, because they are not able to remain fixed in their own meditation like those who lead a quiet and secluded life. For these, as we said above, who are far from a position of governance, are able both to wash the stains of their sins with weeping and after weeping to persist in the same sorrow of mind, just as it is written of a certain good woman who had prayed at the tabernacle and did not change her mind from its purpose after the grace of compunction, when it says: “And her countenance was no longer changed in various ways.” In this we must consider that if a woman who was seeking a son lamented thus, how ought a soul that seeks God to lament? But a priest, even after compunction and tears, is compelled to learn whatever needs of his children there are, and to hear patiently those things from which his mind shrinks, and after sighs for heavenly things to bear the burdens of any carnal men whatsoever, and often to pour out his heart into various states with those who come upon him. For sometimes he rejoices over spiritual gains, but when someone grieving comes upon him, unless he takes that person’s grief into himself, he is not compassionate toward his tribulation. And sometimes he mourns over the loss of souls, and suddenly there come upon him those who are rejoicing over certain prosperities of theirs; if the priest does not rejoice together with their joy, he is believed to love less those children in whose joy he does not exult, especially since Paul says: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

I see nothing, therefore, so burdensome to the order of priests as to bend the rigor of the mind through compassion, and to change one’s disposition according to the persons who come before them; and yet this is greatly necessary. For when a sinner is brought back to the grace of good works through his preaching, what if the preacher himself appears ungracious? Hence through this same prophet it is said in the latter part: “And when the priests minister within, they shall not use woolen garments.” Concerning which it is added: “And when they go out to the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they had ministered, and lay them up in the treasury of the sanctuary.” Woolen garments are indeed coarser. But when the priest approaches the sacred ministry, when he enters within through compunction, it is necessary that he be clothed as if with a linen garment of more refined understanding. But when he goes out to the people, he ought to put away the garments in which he had ministered within, and appear before the people clothed in other garments, because if he holds himself in the rigor of his compunction, if he persists in the grief he had at the time of prayer, he does not allow himself to receive words about external matters. And what shall the flock do about necessary things, if the Pastor refuses to hear and consider even what the present time demands? Therefore let the priest going out before the people put on coarser garments, so that he may dispose the habit of his mind for the benefit of his children even to tolerating earthly matters. Consider, I ask you, dearest brothers, how great a labor it is for the watchman both to stretch his heart toward sublime things, and suddenly to call it back to the lowest things, and to refine his soul in the sublimity of intimate knowledge, and on account of the external concerns of his neighbors, so to speak, to suddenly become thick in thought.

It is therefore not now necessary for me to expound the words of the prophet, but to bewail my own misery before you. Wherefore I ask that your prayer may make me such that I may be able to profit both myself and you. He who out of His own loving-kindness deigned to become weak for us is able to grant these things to me, unworthy and weak, through your intercession. For the power and wisdom of God, who took upon Himself our weakness in order to strengthen us by His own strength, is Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, through all ages of ages. Amen. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 11

Ezekiel 3:22

Gregory the Dialogist: With the truth of history preserved, the divine utterances sometimes designate causes from time, sometimes from place, which they do not indicate by open speech. From time indeed, as when the Lord was preaching to the Jews it is said through the evangelist: “It was winter.” For among those mysteries which the Truth was speaking, what was the reason for adding the name of winter, unless to show through the quality of the time the coldness of heart? Because even when they were receiving the words of truth, the hearts of the Jews remained cold. Sometimes indeed from place, as when to the carnal Israelite people, with Moses descending from the mountain, the law was given in the plains; and to the holy apostles the Lord sitting on the mountain spoke the highest and spiritual precepts, so that from the places it might be shown that to those as carnal ones the least commandments were given in the valley of the earth, and these as spiritual and holy ones might hear the heavenly commandments on the mountain, so that it might be openly shown that those ascending in heart to heavenly things would leave behind the lowest things of the world and would stand on the summit of the mind. Hence now the prophet Ezekiel describes what he did in places at God’s command, so that through the qualities of places he might indicate what would follow in the future concerning the mysteries of the prophecy. For behold he says: “The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he said to me: Arise, go out into the plain, and there I will speak with you.”

What is the meaning of this, that previously the Lord had spoken to His prophet in the midst of the Israelites, and yet afterward He says: “Go out into the plain, and there I will speak with you,” unless that He deigned both to pour out the grace of His prophecy first upon Judea, and afterward to demonstrate it in the breadth of the Gentiles? For not without reason is the Gentile world designated by the plain, which extends far and wide, that is, throughout the entire world.

For what is it that the prophet is commanded to go out to the plain, except that everyone who preaches, on account of those placed outside himself whom he corrects and restrains from iniquity, goes out to the plain by speaking? And there he sees the glory of the Lord, because he receives the grace of teaching all the more abundantly as he extends himself in the labor of preaching out of love for his neighbors. Therefore by going out he is led into a lofty vision, because from that source by which he illuminates the blindness of ignorance in the hearts of others through the ministry of his speech, from that same source heavenly grace exalts him to a higher understanding. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 12

Hippolytus of Rome: “Go out into the plain, and you will be spoken to.” This means that [Ezekiel] is made into a sign for them; or on this day he is ordered to go out into the plain, and he will be spoken to; and on the plain that face will be revealed to him that was shown to him at the river Chebar. — FRAGMENT 9

Jerome: And notice this, that, standing himself in the middle of those who sat as captives, the prophet did not see the glory of God. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.22

Jerome: (Verse 22.) And there, the hand of the Lord came upon me and He said to me: rise up, go out into the field, and there I will speak with you. This phrase, "there," which we have translated from the Hebrew and is not found in the Septuagint, is intentionally placed and undoubtedly signifies a specific location. For earlier we read: And I came to the captivity at Tel-abib, to those who dwelt near the river Chebar (Ezekiel 3:15). And rightly so, the one to whom he spoke, sat down, is commanded to rise up. And he who had entered into transmigration hears, ‘Go forth, not into rugged valleys, not onto steep cliffs, but into the width of the fields that can contain the glory of the Lord.’ Hence it is also said to the Corinthians: ‘Be enlarged’ (1 Corinthians 6:13). When he enters to capture the captives, of whom it is said that they are insane and persecute him, perhaps he needs a strong hand in order to resist and endure the fury of those who pursue him. But when he goes forth into the field, surely the hand of the Lord is upon him: for without his help he could not go forth, but strength is not added. For he goes out to see the glory of God, not to fight. And it should be noted that while sitting among the captives, the Prophet himself did not see the glory of the Lord. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Theodoret of Cyrus: Quiet is afforded by contemplating divine things, when the mind is free from external cares, which makes it anticipate things, and it is distracted no more fully here or there, but it can take in divine things more exactly when it is turned in on itself. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 2:3

Ezekiel 3:23

Gregory the Dialogist: “And rising I went out into the plain, and behold, there the glory of the Lord stood, like the glory which I saw beside the river Chebar.”

The prophet saw in the plain the glory of the Lord, which he had seen beside the river Chebar in the midst of the Israelites, because that same majesty appeared to the Gentiles which had first revealed itself to the elect among the Jewish people through the revealing Spirit.

“And I fell upon my face.”

Having seen the glory of the Lord, the prophet falls on his face, because although a man may be elevated to understand sublime things, nevertheless from the contemplation of God’s majesty he understands the weakness of his own condition; and he who sees himself to be ashes and dust before God’s eyes has, as it were, no standing. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 12

Jerome: This is the meaning of the verse, “Because you have been strengthened by the sight of the majesty of the Lord, never fear anything and do not be frightened of anyone, and go back to your own house, whether it is for your bodily needs, as some people regard them, or as a sign of imminent danger.” — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.23-24

Jerome: (Verse 23.) And I arose ((Vulg. arose)) and went out into the field, and behold there the glory of the Lord was standing, as the glory that I saw by the river Chobar. At the Lord’s command, it enters and at the Lord’s command, it goes out, and it sits among those who sit; for those who stand could not hear him. And going out into the width of the field, he saw the standing glory of the Lord, which he had seen before walking and lifting itself up, and sometimes standing. Because next to the river of this age, called Chobar, which can be interpreted as very serious, glory was seen: which signifies that all the glory of this world overflows and does not have a stable position. But the standing and enduring glory of the Lord, when seen with the standing Prophet in the field, could not stand nor be seen amidst the captives. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:24

Gregory the Dialogist: “And the spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet.”

When we humble ourselves before God, when we recognize that we are dust and ashes, when, weighing the weakness of our own condition, we do not maintain a state of rigidity and pride, almighty God lifts us up through His Spirit and sets us upon our feet, so that we who have lain and lie humbly within ourselves from the thought of our weakness may stand upright, as it were upon our feet, in good works afterward. Why is this done to the prophet in a plain, unless to specially designate that the Holy Spirit was also to be given to the elect of the Gentiles, who would first cast down from their state of pride those whom He would take up, and afterward establish them upon their feet, that is, upon good works? As it is said through Paul: “Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet.”

“And He spoke to me and said to me: Enter and shut yourself in the midst of your house.”

What does it mean that the prophet is led out from the midst of the Israelite people to the plain, and afterward called back from the plain to the house, except that the grace of preaching was taken away from the Jewish people and spread abroad in the breadth of the Gentiles? Yet at the end of the world, when the Jews return to faith, the prophet is, as it were, led back to the house, so that preaching may again dwell among his people—preaching which now shines forth among diverse nations as if in a plain. For it is written: “Until the fullness of the Gentiles should enter in, and so all Israel should be saved.” And through another prophet it is said: “If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” Therefore let the prophet go out from the midst of the people to the plain, and let him return from the plain to the house, so that the preaching which was done in Judea may go forth to the Gentiles, and when the Gentiles have been filled with faith, let Judea receive back the gifts of spiritual teaching which she lost. Moreover, the prophet is commanded to be shut in the midst of his house, because in the time of Antichrist the converted people of the Jews will be constrained by harsh persecutions from those Gentiles who remain in unbelief. Hence it is written: “But the court which is outside the temple, cast out and do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they shall trample the holy city for forty-two months.”

But because a preacher must always return to his mind, guarding humility and purity within, after the plain it is necessary that he return to his house, so that in those things which he says he may also recognize what kind of person he himself is within his conscience. For if he either fails to keep what he says, or seeks temporal glory from those things which he speaks, he indeed goes out to the plain by speaking, but by not thinking he scorns to return to his house. For having received the Spirit, we are enclosed in the midst of the house, when through his grace we are called back to examine the secrets of our mind, so that the soul may rest in God within itself, and may no longer run about through exterior desires in pursuit of praise and glory through the restlessness of thought.

Concerning this house of the heart, Truth Himself says to a certain man who was healed: “Take up your bed and go to your house.” For by the bed in which the flesh finds rest, the flesh itself is signified; by the house, however, the conscience is represented. And because when we are dead in mind we lie in vices, we rest in the delight of the flesh, and when sick we are carried on a bed; but when we have been healed in mind, so that we may now resist the vices of the flesh that assail us, it is necessary that we also endure the insults of temptations from our flesh. Therefore it is commanded to the sick man restored to health: “Take up your bed,” that is, carry the bed in which you were carried, because it is necessary that everyone who has been healed carry the insult of the flesh in which he previously lay sick. What then does it mean to say: “Take up your bed and go to your house,” except: carry the temptations of the flesh in which you have lain until now, and return to your conscience, so that you may see what you have done? Therefore the prophet, after the plain, is commanded to be enclosed in a house, so that the preacher may always, after the grace of teaching which he ministers to his neighbors, return to his conscience and examine himself with careful scrutiny, lest concerning those things which he preaches outwardly he himself inwardly seek any passing praise.

Hence it is also said through Solomon: “Drink water from your own cistern, and the streams of your own well. Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and divide your waters in the streets; have them for yourself alone, and let not strangers be partakers with you.” But what he says seems very contradictory: “Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and divide your waters in the streets,” when he immediately adds: “Have them for yourself alone, and let not strangers be partakers with you.” For how will he be able to have the water of knowledge alone, if he divides it in the streets? How are strangers not partakers of his water, if his fountains are dispersed abroad? But when we preach to the people, we certainly divide the waters in the streets, because we spread the words of knowledge to the multitude of hearers. But when, with divine grace assisting, we guard ourselves inwardly, and with watchful care look around lest the evil spirits—who are rightly strangers to us because they have lost the lot of blessedness—steal upon us through pride, we alone have the waters that we divide in the streets, so that strangers may not be partakers with us in them. These indeed are they of whom it is written: “Strangers have risen up against me, and the mighty have sought my soul.” Therefore he both divides the waters in the streets and has them alone, who through the fact that he preaches to many does not exalt himself in the thought of temporal glory. For then a man possesses what he teaches, when he rejoices not in being known, but in being of benefit. Therefore the prophet is led back from the field to the house, so that he who speaks from God, after he has gone forth by speaking for the benefit of his neighbors, may always be called back through humility to examine the secrets of his own heart. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 12

Jerome: (Verse 24.) And I fell upon my face, and the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and he spoke to me, and said to me: Go in, and shut thyself up in the midst of thy house. Unable to bear the weight of the glory of the Lord standing, he fell on his face, so that he could be lifted up by the entering spirit. The spirit stood him upon his feet, and spoke to him, saying: Enter and shut thyself up in the midst of thy house. And this is the meaning: Because you have been strengthened by the vision of the Lord’s majesty, you should not fear anyone or be afraid of anything; but rather return to your home or tend to the needs of the body, as some think, or as a sign of the future siege. And just as Isaiah, barefoot and naked (Isaiah 20), proclaimed the captivity of three years and the nakedness of the people, so you, confined to your home, by the action itself, foretell the imminent siege of the city of Jerusalem. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:25

Gregory the Dialogist: “And you, son of man, behold, chains have been placed upon you, and they shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out into their midst.”

If we follow these words through the order of typological exposition, the prophet receives bonds in his house and is bound, because in the last days, when Judea shall have believed, she will experience the most grievous persecutions in the time of Antichrist, so that the ministers of iniquity will not receive his preaching, but by resisting will press it down with the bonds of sorrows. And he does not go out into their midst, because preaching does not reach the hearts of the wicked, while the tongue of the good, bound by tribulations, is silent. For there will be at that time many of the unbelieving Jews who will persecute those very ones from among the Jews who shall have believed. Hence it should be noted that here too it is said that the prophet endures bonds in his own house: so that it may be signified that Judea, even from her own people, when she shall have become faithful, will bear the tribulation of persecution. For as long as it is not believed that the Only-Begotten of the Most High Father, having become incarnate and died, rose again and ascended to the heavens, as is preached through the pages of Sacred Scripture, prophecy will certainly be bound among the Jews. If it had flowed into their understanding just as it was spoken, it would have had, as it were, the free steps of its preaching.

Hence it is also added: “And you, son of man, behold, bonds are placed upon you, and they shall bind you in them, and you shall not go out into the midst of them.”

For when any preacher is brought back to the conscience of his own house, bonds are placed upon him, and he is bound in them, because the more he examines himself in thought, the more the soul of the just man recognizes how many infirmities of his mortality it is bound by. For unless Paul had seen himself bound, he would never have said: “Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.” Hence it is said through the Psalmist: “That he might hear the groaning of those in bonds, and loose the children of the slain.” And again: “Let the groaning of the fettered come before your sight.” Often, however, when the soul now desires to go forth to contemplate the appearance of its Redeemer, when it sighs to be present among heavenly joys, it beholds and groans at the very bonds of its mortality by which it is still held bound in the present world. Hence it is that Jeremiah, beholding the subtle judgment of almighty God, says: “He has built against me so that I cannot go out; he has made heavy my fetters.” For we have fetters, the very weakness and corruption of our mortality; but when tribulation and groaning are added to us, our very fetters are made heavier. And indeed, as long as the just man endures delays in this life, by speaking good things he hastens to benefit others; but when he beholds hardened minds and considers them occupied with contentions, he withholds the word of preaching. And he does not go forth in the midst of them, because he falls silent from the good things he could have spoken, as it is said through Paul: “Nothing through contention.” And again: “If anyone wishes to be contentious, we have no such custom.”

For what more is commended to us through the very words of the history than the virtue of obedience? When the prophet is commanded now to proceed to the transmigration by the river Chobar, now to go out to the plain, now to return from the plain to his house? So that first going forth by command, and a little later going out, and again returning home, and shutting himself in, he might always break the judgment of his own will according to the precept of the divine word, so that, suspended in the heavenly command, he might fulfill not his own will, but that of his Creator? To whom it is said: “And you, son of man, behold, bonds have been placed upon you, and they will bind you in them, and you will not go out in their midst.” In this matter it should be noted that the prophet foreknows adversities, so that he may be prepared against all things. For evils prevail less against the mind which do not come unexpectedly; and yet while contrary things are foreknown, how great is the virtue of obedience in him is shown, who both knows that he is about to suffer adversities, and yet is not disobedient to the Lord’s voice. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 12

Hippolytus of Rome: “And look, they will bind you with chains and fetters.” That is, the chains that will bind him, so that he might not go out and walk among them, are the Babylonians who encircle Jerusalem and its inhabitants and prevent them from going out and coming in. — FRAGMENT 11

Jerome: (Verse 25, 26.) And you, son of man: behold, chains have been placed upon you, and they will bind you with them, and you shall not go out from among them, and I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth (or throat), and you shall be mute, not speaking as a man who reproaches them: for the house is rebellious. What is enclosed in a house, what is bound with chains, what does not go out to those among whom it dwells, but suffers the solitude of a prison among a multitude of captives, is a sign of siege, as I have said before, that Jerusalem, closed and surrounded by the army of the Chaldeans, will not allow any of its inhabitants to go out. This is the pot about which Jeremiah speaks (Jeremiah I), and he himself as the Prophet in the following words; in which the flesh of the people is consumed. That the language of the Prophet cleaves to the palate or throat and becomes mute is not the result of a reproachful authority, but has a clear cause: for he says, the house is provoking. And the meaning is: They are of such bitterness, and of such contention against God, that they do not deserve to hear the reproacher. From this it is clear that where there is a multitude of sins, sinners are unworthy to correct those who are corrected by the Lord. — Commentary on Ezekiel

Jerome: So many are the struggles against God that they do not deserve to hear him rebuking them. From this it is clear that where there is a multitude of sinners, those who sin are unworthy, who are corrected by the Lord. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:3.25-26

Ezekiel 3:26

Gregory the Dialogist: “And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, and you shall be mute, not like a man who rebukes, because it is a rebellious house.”

Therefore, the knowledge of the preachers is then compelled to be silent to the reprobate. Hence it is also added here: “And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, and you shall be mute, and not as a man who rebukes, because it is a provoking house.” But because, when Enoch and Elijah preach, many of those who then remain from the Jews in unbelief return to the knowledge of truth, just as it is said of the same Elijah: “Elijah will come, and he will restore all things,” who are both called through Zechariah two olive trees, and through John two candlesticks, rightly here also it is added: “But when I shall have spoken to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God.”

Hence here also it is fittingly added: “And I will make your tongue cling to your palate, and you shall be mute, and not as a man who rebukes, because it is a provoking house.”

Sometimes indeed the Lord also kindles the hearts of preachers with zeal for Himself against the tongues of those who resist, so that they may not be silent, but may press down the sayings of the deceitful with words of truth.

But the words which are immediately added require great consideration: “And I will make your tongue cleave to your palate, and you will be mute, nor like a man rebuking, because it is a provoking house.” For we must discern whether the word of preaching is withdrawn only on account of evil hearers, or sometimes also on account of the fault of the one preaching.

For this matter, when considered, is distinguished by four qualities. For sometimes the word is taken away from good teachers on account of bad hearers. Sometimes, however, the word is given even to bad teachers on account of good hearers. Sometimes, moreover, for the justification of both those teaching and those hearing, the word is given to good teachers, so that they themselves may grow through merit, and their hearers may advance in understanding and life. Sometimes, however, because neither are those worthy to receive to whom the word of teaching is brought forth, nor are those worthy to bring forth the word of teaching who hold the position of teaching, the word of preaching is taken away, so that both parties may be strictly judged. For on account of bad hearers the word is taken away from good teachers, just as it is now said to Ezekiel: “I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, and you will be mute, not like a man who rebukes, because it is a rebellious house.” And as it is said to Paul: “Make haste and go out quickly from Jerusalem, because they will not receive your testimony concerning me.” And as when the apostles wished to preach in Asia, it is written that the Spirit of Jesus forbade them. On account of good hearers the word is given even to bad teachers, just as the Lord says of the Pharisees: “Whatever they tell you, observe and do, but do not act according to their works; for they speak and do not act.” For the merit of those teaching and the justification of those hearing, the word of teaching is also granted, just as it is said to the holy apostles: “Go and teach all nations.” But on account of bad hearers and the unworthy life of those who ought to have taught, the word of teaching is withdrawn, just as Eli did not have a word of strict rebuke for correcting his sons, because both his negligence and the life of his sons demanded that the people should fall along with them, and the ark of the Lord, captured, should pass over to the foreigners. For it is a great grace of almighty God when a harsh word of rebuke is brought forth by teachers against those acting wickedly. Against which it is now said: “And you will be mute, not like a man who rebukes.” For he would have rebuked the transgressors if they had been worthy of that grace of rebuke itself.

But since there is such great diversity of merits in teaching and in silence that it cannot easily be known whether the word of teaching is withdrawn because of the fault of the hearer or of him who seems to hold the place of teaching, what else are we commanded but to always preserve humility in doubtful matters? So that when we are able to speak we are not exalted, lest perhaps this very grace of our speaking was bestowed not on us but on our hearers; and again when we are not able to speak, those who have been committed to us should by no means judge us, lest perhaps we are unable to speak not because of our own sin but because of the sin of the hearers. Therefore all things concerning our merits are uncertain to us for this purpose: that we may hold fast to one certain grace—humility—so that when we speak, we may consider this to be from the gift of almighty God and your merit. And when we fall silent from the word of teaching, although it may be our fault, yet you should believe this to be especially yours, so that when we mutually attribute evils to ourselves and goods to others, through this very grace of humility it may come about that the word of teaching which had been taken away may return. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 12

Gregory the Dialogist: And again, because of the fault of those subject to them, the voice of preachers is forbidden, as the Lord says to Ezekiel: “I will make your tongue cleave to your palate, and you shall be mute, and not as a man who rebukes, because it is a provoking house.” As if he were to say openly: Therefore the word of preaching is taken from you, because while the people provoke me in their actions, they are not worthy to receive the exhortation of truth. From whose fault, therefore, the word is withdrawn from the preacher is not easily known. But it is known most certainly that the silence of the Pastor sometimes harms himself, but always harms those subject to him. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 17

Ezekiel 3:27

Gregory the Dialogist: “But when I shall have spoken to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: He who hears, let him hear; and he who is silent, let him be silent, for it is a provoking house.”

Then, as it were at the end, the mouth of the prophet is opened, when through the preaching of Enoch and Elijah, as the Jews return to the faith, the prophecy of sacred scripture is recognized to have been about Christ. But since we have spoken these things typologically, let us now discuss the same words to your charity in a moral sense.

Whence it is added here: But when I shall have spoken to you, you shall open your mouth, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God.

Often some desire to hear the word of God, but when they observe others turning away their ear, they themselves also deviate from hearing salvation; and frequently many desire to rest and to be free from all the activities of this world, to succumb no longer to any earthly desires, but when they see others advancing by acting restlessly and being exalted in this world by riches and honors, because they are not yet firm in the way of righteousness, they slip into wicked works by the example of others. For hence it is that the Psalmist, speaking in the figure of the weak, said: “But my feet were almost moved, my steps were nearly poured out, because I was zealous concerning sinners, seeing the peace of sinners.” Hence again he says: “While the impious man is proud, the poor man is set on fire.” Hence to the prophet Jeremiah it is said by the Lord’s voice concerning Judah and Israel: “Have you seen what the turning away Israel has done? She went off by herself upon every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and committed fornication there. And I said when she had done all these things: Return to me, and she did not return.” Where it is immediately added how Judah, who seemed to stand, also fell through emulation of her. For he says: “And her treacherous sister Judah saw that because the turning away Israel had committed adultery, I had dismissed her and given her a bill of divorce; and her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went off and committed fornication herself also.” Behold, the merciful God is despised and calls out, to those turning away from him he opens a sign of mercy, because he says to the one sinning: “Return to me,” and yet she did not return. But because the Israelite people deserted the almighty God, not wishing to return, she received a bill of divorce. She deserted, that is, by sinning, but she received a bill of divorce by remaining in her iniquities without the scourge. For the soul that sins departs. But if prosperity follows her after sin, no discipline, no rebuke of severity recalls her to heart; in the division she made between herself and the Lord, she also received a bill of divorce, so that now, as if abandoned as a stranger, she may do the evil things she wishes, may not feel the scourges of God’s zeal, in order that she may descend more deeply to eternal punishments. But her sister Judah, because she saw the Israelite people dismissed in their pleasures, herself also burned into the uncleanness of fornication. For because she observed the adulteress flourishing in her perversity, she herself also did not fear to sin more grievously and to withdraw from union with the Lord, as if from the bed of a lawful husband. Hence it is necessary that we consider all those sinning to be more wretched when we observe them abandoned in their fault without the scourge. For hence it is said through Solomon: “The turning away of the little ones will kill them, and the prosperity of fools will destroy them.” For he who is turned away from God and prospers becomes so much nearer to perdition as he is found more estranged from the zeal of discipline. Let it therefore be said: “Let him who hears hear, and let him who rests rest, because it is a provoking house.” As if it were openly said: You who have already begun both to hear the words of truth and to rest from wicked action, do not imitate those by whose conduct you see me provoked.

However, we can also understand this in another way. For some who hear the word do not truly hear, because they lend their ear to sacred speech but do not tear their heart away from worldly desires. And there are some who, while resting, do not rest at all, because though they are idle from wicked deeds in body, they turn over perverse works in their mind out of love for them. For this is why it is written concerning Judah coming into captivity: Her enemies saw her and mocked her Sabbaths. Indeed, enemies mock the Sabbaths when malign spirits cast wicked thoughts into an idle mind, so that even if it rests from work, it does not rest from delight in evil works. Rightly therefore it is now said: Let him who hears, hear—so that the word may sound in the ear of the body in such a way that it resounds in the ear of the heart. And let him who rests, rest—so that desires for wickedness may be driven from thought, since they are now seen to be driven from action. And lest we follow the examples of the wicked, as we have said, it is added: For it is a rebellious house. But though the wicked are tolerated for a long time, they suddenly fall, and the weak behold their punishments, lest they imitate those whose sins they think go unpunished. Hence here too the desolation of that same Judah is added, which is called a rebellious house, when the Lord immediately says to His prophet: And you, son of man, take a brick for yourself, and place it before you, and draw upon it the city of Jerusalem, and arrange a siege against it. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 12

Jerome: (Verse 27.) But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Let him who hears, hear; and let him who remains quiet, remain quiet; for the house is rebellious. What we read in Ecclesiastes: A time to be silent, and a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3), is also supported in prophetic speech: that it is wise to both be silent and speak in due time, and to give food to our fellow servants at the appointed time. Therefore, Isaiah also said to the unbelieving people: I kept silent, will I always be silent? says the Lord (Isaiah 65). Therefore, he who kept his mouth closed for a long time due to the multitude of sins, because he saw that some could be converted, about whom it was said: Let him who has ears to hear, hear; and let him who is at peace with evil, be at peace; and let him cease: therefore, speaking with an open mouth, not by his own will, but by the command of the Lord, he speaks to the people. However, this is what we have set forth: Let him who has ears to hear, hear; and let him who is at peace, be at peace; for which the Septuagint translates: Let him who has ears to hear, hear; and let him who is unbelieving, be unbelieving; the second edition by Aquila translated it as follows: Let him who has ears to hear, be heard; and let him who leaves, be left. And he said: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to them that are without, all things are done in parables. (Mark 4:11) — Commentary on Ezekiel