If Sin is swelling up in You, Turn to the Eucharist, by St Cyril of Alexandria

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The Eucharist is the fountain of Eternal Life. If we approach it in Faith and Love,  it will become for us forgiveness of sins,  healing of soul and body, and it will unite us to our Lord Jesus Christ.

St Cyril of Alejandría,  who is one of the greatest Church Fathers affirms;

“If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility.

If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity.

 If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart.

If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate.

 If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent.

Lastly, if you feel scorched by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste.” St Cyril of Alexandria Source

Social Justice and the Poor According to the Church Fathers Part 2 - the Rich

“Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for 
nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. 
Psalm 39:6 NASB

On Riches and Faithful Stewardship
What is the use of riches for the Christian and what is their purpose?
Most certainly we should not despise the rich but in many cases, pity 
them. 

In the writings of the holy Fathers we read;

"Isidore said: 'In this fleeting life the rich do not have the satisfaction

of permanently enjoying their power, their fame, or their money.

Suddenly death carries them off, the abyss swallows them up and

they disappear, condemned to eternal torments.

'Greed makes the rich haughty. It does not happen because of

their riches, but because of their free choice. Evil does not

consist in things, but in the use we make of them.

Those who spend their riches on beneficial objects are 

making good use of good things. The same good things are

being badly used by those who plan to multiply their 

wealth or who only do good to their neighbors for 

reputation's sake." 

Defensor Grammaticus in the Book of Sparkling Sayings, 58

And St Maximos the Confessor plainly states, ""But there are four
kinds of people who put money aside. I have just mentioned three
(for pleasure, conceit and lack of faith).

There are, however, also those who restrict themselves to the 

administration of goods. Only these last are justified in 

accumulating money, on the assumption that their aim is to be

always in the business of helping the needy." St Maximos the 

Confessor, Centuries of Charity, 3:16

"Be very merciful if you care about prayer. For through mercy,
monks (and I can add, the rest of us Christians also) shall 
receive a hundred fold, and the rest in the future life." St John
Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, p.218:44.

"Gregory said, 'When we are presenting something to the poor that

they need, we are not giving them what would be ours but that to

which they have a right." Defensor Grammaticus in the Book of

Sparkling Sayings.

Of course, it is possible to be poor in material possessions and at the
same time, miserly in spirit as St Basil teaches us, "Many are poor in
terms of possessions and very miserly in spirit, and those people will
not be saved through their poverty but damned by their attitude of 
mind." St Basil the Great, On Psalm 33.

What is the wise disposition? In the Psalms we read,

"Do not trust in oppression And do not vainly hope in robbery; If
riches increase, do not set your heart upon them." Psalm 62:10

The love of money is a passion, an unnatural movement of the soul
which cannot be satisfied. It corrupts and ruins the soul,

"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money,
nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity."
Ecclesiastes 5:10

St John Climacus in 'The Ladder of Divine Ascent' p.121 writes,
"Avarice, or love of money, is the worship of idols, a daughter of
unbelief, an excuse for infirmities, a foreboder of old age, a
harbinger of drought, a herald of famines. The lover of money
sneers at the Gospel and is a willful transgressor. He who has

attained to love scatters his money. But he who says that he 

lives for love and for money has deceived himself." And, "A 

hospitable man and a money lover met one another, and the 

latter called the former undiscerning." Published by Holy

Transfiguration Monastery 1991.

"There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches
being hoarded by their owner to his hurt." Ecc.5:13

Riches are a gift from God, but he who receives this gift must use it
wisely!
"Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches
and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to
receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God."
Ecc.5:19

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of 
his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let 
not a rich man boast of his riches.

The lure and terrifying tempting power of riches is evidenced by
our Lord's words when He said;

"And Jesus said to His disciples, 'Truly I say to you, it is hard for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God.' When the disciples heard this,
they were very astonished and said, 'Then who can be saved?' And
looking at them Jesus said to them, 'With people this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26

Saint Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria comments on this incident 
which appears also in chapter 18 of the Gospel of Luke, St Cyril
writes; "Observe , however that He does not altogether cut away
the hope of the rich, but reserves for them a place and way of 
salvation. For he did not say that it is impossible for a rich man to
enter in, but that he does so with difficulty. When the blessed 
disciples heard these words, they objected saying, And who can 
live? And their plea was for those who had wealth and 
possessions. 

For we know, they say, that no one will ever be persuaded to 
abandon his wealth and riches: Who then can be saved? But 
what does the Lord reply? The things that are impossible with
man are possible with God. He has reserved, therefore for 
those who possess wealth the possibility of being counted 
worthy, if they will, of the kingdom of God; for even though 
they refuse entirely to abandon what they have, yet it is 
possible for them in another way to attain to honor. And the
Savior has Himself showed us how and in what way this can 
happen, saying, 'Make to yourselves friends of the unrighteous
mammon; that when it has failed, they may receive you into 
eternal tabernacles. For there is nothing to prevent the rich, if 
they will, from making the poor partakers and sharers of the 
abundance which they possess. What hinders him who has 
plentiful possessions from being affable of address, and ready
to communicate to others, easily prevailed upon to give, and 
compassionate, and full of that generous pity which is well 
pleasing to God? Not unrewarded, nor unprofitable shall we
find carefulness in this respect; for as it is written, mercy 
boasteth over judgment. From the Commentary on the 
Gospel of St Luke by St Cyril of Alexandria, Translated by
R. Payne Smith, Homily12.2, p.491, Studion Publishers,
Inc. 1983

Who can forget the precious story of a righteous rich man
giving his very best to the Lord? 
"When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, 
named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then 
Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body
and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new
tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large
stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away."
Matthew 27:57-60

Unto all ages, the Holy Orthodox Church has immortalized this
event in its Liturgy. It is reenacted during the afternoon services 
of Great and Holy Friday, when the 'unnailing (apokathelosis)
takes place, and we all chant the hauntingly beautiful lament,
"The Noble Joseph brought down thine pure body, from the cross,
He wrapped it in clean linen and with fragrant spices laid it in a
new tomb"

And then we have this striking passage from the Gospel of St.
Luke, chapter 12;
"And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man
was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying,
‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he
said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build
larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I
will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many
years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” But God
said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you;
and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who
stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
St Luke 12:16-21

Blessed Theophylact in his Explanation to the Holy Gospel
According to St Luke, writes,
"The Lord had said that the life of a man is not lengthened by an
abundance of possessions, and now He offers this parable in 
confirmation of this truth...
See also the pleasures of the rich man: What shall I do? Does not
the pauper say the same thing as well, 'What shall I do? I have 
nothing to eat or to put on.' Think if you will, about the words of
the rich man, What shall I do, because I have no room where to 
gather my crops? At the very least he could take a good rest. If both
the pauper says, 'What shall I do because I have not ?' and the rich
man says, What shall I do because I have not?' then what do we gain
by gathering more and more? We do not gain any rest, and it
is clear from all the cares that come from our further 
efforts that we are piling up for ourselves only a great 
multitude of sins.  

Yet the foolish man says, I will pull down my barns, and build 
greater. And if your land yields even more bountifully in the future,
will you pull these down and build again? But what need is there
to pull down and build? You have available to you as 
storehouses the stomachs of the poor which can hold 
much, and are indestructible and imperishable. They
are in fact heavenly and divine storehouses.for he who
feeds the pauper, feeds God.

See something else that is foolish: my fruits and my goods. The
rich man did not consider that he had received these things from
God. If he had, he would have treated these things as would a 
steward of God. But he imagined that these things were the fruits
of his own labors, which is why he usurped them for himself
calling them my fruits and my goods. 'I am the sole owner', he
thinks, 'and there is no one else entitled to a share. These things
are not God's but mine, and therefore I alone will enjoy them. I
will not now take God in as a partner to enjoy my profit.'

Because he spoke foolishly, let us see what happened.
Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years. He
determines that he will have a long life, as if length of
years was something else he could obtain by working 
his land. But a long life is not a crop you can grow, and
it is not another of your belongings.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night they shall require
thy soul of thee....the thoughts that came into the man's mind are
what God spoke. Thou fool, He calls him a fool because everything
he wanted was foolish, as we have shown. And every man like him
is foolish and acts in vain, for, as David says, 'In vain doth every 
man disquiet himself (Psalm 38:14) Why? Because he stores up
things without knowing for whom he gathers them. .....

Thus he who lays up treasure for himself is called foolish: he never
stops drawing up plans and dies in the midst of them. But if he had
been laying up treasure for the poor and for God, it would not have
been so. 

Let us strive , therefore, to be rich toward God, that is, to
trust in God to have Him as our wealth and the treasury
of wealth, and not to speak of my goods but 'the good 
things of God'. If they are God's then let us not deprive 
God of His own goods. This is what it means to be rich 
toward God: to trust that even if I empty myself and give
everything away, I will not lack the necessities. God is my
treasury of good things, and I open and take from the 
treasury what I need"  
p.146-148, Translated by Fr. Christopher Stade, Chrysostom Press 1997


St Ephraim the Syrian gives us the most profound meaning
of the beloved Gospel of Matthew 21:31-46 (italicized below)
"At the terrible judgment the Lord will say to those at His right
hand: come, O sons of My light, blessed heirs of My kingdom.
Come,ye who for My sake have been impoverished, hungered
and thirsted, who loved not the world nor all that is in it. Come,
ye who for  My sake have left all worldly power and joy,
brothers and friends, parents and children.

Come, ye who have dwelt in deserts, on mountains, in caves
and crevices in the earth together with beasts, and rejoice with
the angels in heaven. Come all ye who have walked the strait 
and narrow path. Come, ye who are blessed of My Father;
inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for you since the
creation of the world.

And to those at His left hand He will say; Go away from Me,
into the fire that lies without. Go away from Me, ye heartless
ones, who have hated both brothers and Christ. Ye were not 
merciful and neither shall ye obtain mercy. Ye did not heed
My noble gospels and My blessed disciples - and neither shall
I heed your lamentation. 

You lived a life of luxury on earth, enjoyed good things in your
life, and here there is nothing more for you to receive - you
have already taken what is yours. Daily I called out to you
through the scriptures, but when you heard, you mocked
those who read them. And now I say to you: I know you not.
Go away from Me, ye accursed souls, into the eternal fire that
is prepared for the devil and his angels.

And they will enter into eternal torment, but the righteous 
will enter into eternal life."

From 'A Spiritual Psalter' No. 127 p.201-202, excerpted by Bishop

Theophan the Recluse from the works of our Holy Father Ephraim 

the Syrian, Trans. by Br. Isaac E. Lambertsen, 

The St. John of Kronstadt Press, Liberty TN 1997

ISBN 0-912927-40-2

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the 
angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will
separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His
right, and the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who
are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and
you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me
something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I
was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will
answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed
You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when
did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and
clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come
to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to
you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me,
accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for
the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me
nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you
did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see
You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them,
‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of
the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’  These will go away
into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospel

of St. Matthew chapter 25:31-46 

Christ in the Old Testament

Source

Christ in the Old Testament 
by Fr Vassilios Papavassilios
Source
Source

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God”.

[John 1:1]

It is no coincidence that St John begins his gospel in the same way as begins the first book of the Old Testament: “In the beginning…” (Gen. 1:1). Orthodox Christianity rests on the belief in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages”. Christ was there from the beginning. Yet while many Christians are happy to proclaim this doctrine in Sunday worship or in their daily prayers without any serious consideration for its implications, just as many are surprised by the suggestion that the Word (the Pre-incarnate Christ) was not only there (somewhere in the background) from the beginning, but that He actually appeared and spoke to the prophets – that He in fact was from the beginning the one Who reveals and declares the Father. And yet this doctrine is absolutely imperative for a correct understanding of the Old Testament.

The Christian Orthodox exegesis of the Old Testament is founded upon three vital affirmations:

1)  “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching” (2 Tim. 3:16)

2)  The Old Testament speaks of Christ.

3)  All manifestations of God in the Old Testament are of the Word.

I would like to examine just two of these manifestations – the appearance of the three men to Abraham at the plain of Mamre (Genesis 18) and the appearance of God to Moses in the burning bush on Sinai (Exodus 3 and 33).

Source

THE HOSPITALITY OF ABRAHAM

‘"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad”. Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am".

[John 8:56-58]

Genesis 18 describes the appearance of three men to Abraham by the plain of Mamre. These three men have for some time been regarded by Orthodox Christians as a type of the Trinity, an idea that has been popularised by the famous icon of the Trinity by Rublev, which is adapted from the original icon of the appearance of the three men to Abraham, known as ‘The Hospitality of Abraham’. But a closer look at the text suggests that the three men are not merely a type of the Trinity:

“And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant…

And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord…

And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place”.

What is interesting here is that Abraham addresses only one of the men as Lord. Clearly, ‘Lord’ here is not a mere address of respect, like ‘sir’, or otherwise he would have said ‘lords’, but it is a recognition that one of them is greater than the others. And as we see in verse 22, two of the men depart and we are told that ‘Abraham stood yet before the Lord’. Furthermore, I have employed for this passage a translation in old English grammar in order to convey the use of the second person singular (thou/thee/thy), which means that Abraham is addressing only one of the men.

What we have here is not a mere representation of the Trinity, but a manifestation of the Word of God, accompanied by what are probably two angels. This is certainly in keeping with the Orthodox exegesis that all manifestations of the deity in the Old Testament are of the Son and not of the Trinity in its fullness.

This view is expressed by St Justin Martyr in the second century:

“Moses, therefore, that blessed and faithful servant of God, declares that the one who was seen by Abraham at the oak of Mamre was God, ac­companied by two angels, who were sent, for the condemnation of Sodom, by another, namely by the One who always remains above the heavens, who has never been seen by any human being, and who of himself holds converse with none, whom we term the Creator of all things, and the Father”.

[Dial. 56]

The same view is held by Severian of Gabbala in the fifth century:

“Christ appeared to you, O excellent one, escorted by two angels, and by your hospitality you became a companion of God and of angels… Christ appeared to you in the appearance of a man, revealing to you the mysteries of his divine and saving sojourn on earth… Therefore you recognised God's mediator, the Son who was to be known between two living beings or animals”.

[PG 56:546]

Origen also, although it has been suggested that the exegesis of the three men as a type of the Trinity began with him, saw in the narrative a manifestation of the Word accompanied by two angels:

“Notice first that with the two angels the Lord was present to Abraham, but it was only the two Angels who came to Lot”.

[PG 12:184]

The Church historian, Eusebius, also describes the scene as a manifestation of ‘our Lord and Saviour’ accompanied by angels. He specifically says the figure in the middle was the most important and excelled in dignity.

The same is implied by St Romanos the Melodist in his Kontakion on the Holy Theophany:

            “When God appeared to Abraham as he sat by the oak of Mambre, He was seen as a man but he did not know Him as he was, for he could not have borne it: but now for us it is not so, but in His own Person: for the Word has become flesh”.

                       

“God appeared once to Abraham, but he in no way saw God: but we see Him, because He wills it, and we grasp the One Who appeared and enlightened all things".

[MT 6.4]

Procopios of Gaza in the sixth century tells us that the interpretation of the three men at Mamre had become three-fold in his day:

“Some people say they are three angels, others that one of them is God accompanied by two angels and others that there is a type of the Holy Trinity”

[PG 12:184]

It would appear that the first to see a type of the Trinity in the narrative is St Cyril of Alexandria, who regarded the use of the singular as a reference to the oneness of the Trinity. But it seems that the earliest patristic commentaries see in the three men the Word of God accompanied by two angels.

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CHRIST AND MOSES

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me"

[John 5:46].

The most famous manifestation of the deity in the Old Testament is the appearance of God to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-5):

“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, themountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up." When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then he said, "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God”.

Before we go any further, something must be said about ‘the angel of the Lord’ that appeared to Moses ‘in flames of fire from within the bush’.

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The Angel of Great Counsel

Patristic teaching holds that ‘the Angel of the Lord’ is one of the many names of God the Word in the Old Testament. It is, in fact, one of the earliest Christological titles. More often than not, ‘the Angel of the Lord’ refers not to one of the bodiless powers of heaven, but to the pre-incarnate Christ. Angel means messenger, and in the Old Testament an “angel” was not necessarily one of the heavenly court – it could also be a human being. The Word is God’s messenger par excellence. Thus St Justin Martyr repeatedly refers to Christ as an Angel. The primary source for Justin and other Church Fathers was probably the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 9:6:

“For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Angel of Great Counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him”.

And yet Justin, despite his copious use of the term ‘Angel of the Lord’ or ‘Angel of Great Counsel’, never attempts to clarify that the Angel is the Word of God, for that Christ was called Angel was obvious to anyone who was familiar with the Septuagint Isaiah 9:6. Since it was widely acknowledged that Isaiah 9:6 refers to the Messiah, the title “Angel of Great Counsel” refers also to Christ, and thus it also follows that Christ is the Angel of the Lord who appears to the Prophets of the Old Testament (e.g. Genesis 15–22; Genesis 28–35; Exodus 3, Joshua 5-6).

Justin argued from the appearances of the Angel in the Old Testament that this Angel is God Himself. This is explained by Günther Juncker in his treatment of the subject:

‘It does not take Justin long to point out from the Old Testament appearances of the Angel of the Lord that this Angel is fully God. Invariably when this particular Angel is seen, those who have seen him declare that they have seen God and are amazed that they have lived. In numerous places this Angel speaks in the first person as Lord and God, receives worship and sacrifices, and makes the very ground on which he stands holy; yet in other places he speaks of God in the third person and is functionally subordinate since, as Angel, he is sent by God to deliver a message from God. When these passages were combined with others (e.g. Gen 1:26; 24 19:24; Ps 45:6–7; and 110:1) which on the surface seem to speak of a plurality of persons in the Godhead, Justin’s argument became irrefutable. Thus in a key passage which mentions the title Angel four times in relation to the Old Testament theophanies, Justin can hardly be held guilty of an overstatement when he says of Christ that “He is called God, He is God, and shall always be God” (Dial. 58)’

[“Christ As Angel: The Reclamation Of A Primitive Title,” Trinity Journal 15:2 (Fall 1994): 221–250.]

In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin writes:

‘He who is called God and appeared to the patriarchs is called both Angel and Lord, in order that from this you may understand Him to be minister to the Father of all things...  He…  appeared as a man to Abraham, and… wrestled in human form with Jacob’

[LVIII]

Novatian also argued that the Angel of Great Counsel was more than just an angel:

“…the name God has never been granted to angels…He is entitled ‘The Angel of Great Counsel”

[On the Trinity, XVIII].

And St Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews writes:

‘For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you”? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"?’

[Heb. 1:5. See also Psalm 2:7].

Thus ‘the Angel of the Lord’ who speaks and appears to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Prophets throughout the Old Testament is the Only-begotten Son and Word of God. And so the ‘Angel of the Lord’ who appears to Moses on Sinai is God Himself: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”. ^“And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend”. (Exodus 33:11). “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10). And yet Christ Himself said, “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father”. (John 6:46) “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). Do the words of Christ contradict what is written in Exodus and Deuteronomy? By no means, for while Moses did indeed see God, he did not see the Father; he saw the Son. This is alluded to in the New Testament when Christ says: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). Some commentators see here an allusion to the words of God in Exodus when Moses asks for God’s name, and the Lord replies (in the Septuagint), “I am the one who is”; (in the Hebrew) “I am that I am”. ‘You shall say…”I AM has sent me to you”.’

St Justin Martyr clearly saw in the Angel of the Lord in the Burning Bush a manifestation of the Son of God:

“Neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor any other man, ever saw the Father and Ineffable Lord of all things…; but the One who according to his will is both God his Son and his Angel ministering to his will, whom he determined should be born as man of a Virgin, and who once even became fire when he conversed with Moses from the bush”.

[Dial. 127].

Sinai, Horeb and Tabor

That the Word of God was made manifest to Moses is made clearer when one considers the revelation of divine glory on another mount, this time in the New Testament. In St Matthew’s Gospel (17:1-9), we read of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor (see also Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36):

‘After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.’

Why do Moses and Elijah appear before Christ on Mount Tabor?: to illustrate that Christ is the God Who appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai and to Elijah on MountHoreb. Let us take a closer look at these two Old Testament theophanies:

On Mount Sinai:

‘…Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then the Lord said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen".’

 [Exodus 33:18-23]

On Mount Horeb:

Elijah “…came to a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And he said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, only I, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And he said, Go, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in mouth of the cave. And hear heard a voice saying to him: What are you doing here, Elijah?”.’

[1 Kings 19: 8-13]

In the Orthodox Church these two texts are read at Vespers on the Feast of the Transfiguration, and thus the Church provides an interpretation of the Transfiguration by its comparison with these two Old Testament theophanies. In Exodus 24, God’s glory descends on the Mount and Moses enters the cloud. In Matthew 17, a bright cloud envelopes the apostles. In Exodus 24, God passes before Moses’ face and Moses falls to the ground and worships Him. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah reacts to God’s presence in a similar manner: ‘he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood by the cave’, while in Matthew 17 the apostles also respond to God’s glory in a similar fashion.

These three manifestations of divine glory on a mount are all manifestations of the Word of God. In the Transfiguration, the Word Who appeared to Moses on Sinai and to Elijah on Horeb is now become flesh, and on Tabor He reveals to the apostles His divine glory.

THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS

            “And the Word became flesh and lived among us”

[John 1:14]

           

In St Luke’s Gospel (4:16-21), we read that Christ began His preaching by entering the synagogue in Nazareth where He grew up. There He stood up to read, and the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled it and read this passage:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”.

He then put away the scroll and said, “Today, in your hearing, the scripture is fulfilled”.

Thus Christ began His ministry by proclaiming that all that was foretold in the Scriptures was fulfilled in Him. Throughout His earthly work, throughout the New Testament writings, we are constantly reminded that the Old Testament finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ. But this is so not only inasmuch as Christ fulfils the prophecies contained in its books, but also because Christ Himself is the fulfilment of all ‘theophanies’, of every divine intervention and manifestation of God. The same God Who appeared to Abraham at Mamre, Who appeared to Moses on Sinai and to Elijah on Horeb, Who appeared to and spoke to the prophets and patriarchs, is the Son and Word of God, Who became man and lived among us, Who entered into the fullness of human life and the fullness of human death, that we may enter into the fullness of His Resurrection, the fullness of true, divine and eternal life.

The Church Fathers teach us that everything in the Old Testament is about Christ. What should be clear then, after this very brief treatment of the subject of Christ in the Old Testament, is that I have barely begun to scratch the surface. From Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament is filled with manifestations of the Word, with prefigures and types of Christ, the Virgin Birth, the Cross, Baptism and the Eucharist, not to mention the countless prophecies about Jesus. For the Church Fathers, it was self-evident that the Old Testament was all about Christ, and He is truly in every sense the “fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets”. For Christianity, the Old Testament is, as St Paul teaches us, a tutor which leads us to Christ (Gal. 3:24). Its true significance and inspiration can be found only when we read and examine it in a Christological light. We need to regain this patristic understanding of the Old Testament, to read its books with the eyes of the hymn-writers and Fathers of the Church, seeing Christ in everything. As Fr Ephrem Lash has put it:

‘The hymn-writers did not have to search for types and images; ‘wood’, or ‘tree’, immediately suggested the Cross; vessels or buildings containing something precious, the womb of the Mother of God. For the Fathers and hymn-writers, all the words of scripture spoke of Christ, the Word incarnate, and they have bequeathed to the Church an extraordinary wealth of theology and spirituality, which is a constant reminder that Christianity is not a religion of a book, but of a living Word’.

[Biblical Interpretation in Worship.

The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology.

Cambridge University Press, 2008. p. 47.]

 Jacob wrestling with the Angel