Bonaventure

In his own words on Ezekiel

• Ezekiel 1:4

  Ezekiel is describing the judgment: "As I looked, a stormwind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire, enveloped in brightness; from the midst of which, the midst of the fire, something gleamed like electrum." First, as to the disturbance of natural powers shown by the stormwind; second, as to the conflagration of fires shown by the flashing fire; third, as to the examination of consciences or merits shown by the word brightness, for then the consciences will be clear; fourth, as to the assistants to the judges shown by the word enveloped. Christ in His twofold nature is referred to by the word electrum.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 1

• Ezekiel 1:5

  "Within it were figures resembling four living creatures." The four orders are designated by the four living creatures: the order of pontiffs by the lion, that of martyrs by the ox, that of confessors by the man, that of virgins by the eagle, by reason of contemplation. Thus the separation of the pure from the impure, of the sheep from the goats, will be brought about by Christ.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 1

• Ezekiel 1:5

  Ezechiel beheld "within figures resembling four living creatures;" and the first had the face of a man, the second that of a lion, the third that of an ox, and the fourth that of an eagle. And each one had four faces. All agree that the "four living creatures" represent the writers of Sacred Scriptures, mostly the Prophets and the Evangelists. Ezechiel intends to describe these meanings in the order of their importance: therefore he begins with the natural face of a man, which signifies the literal interpretation. Now, the literal meaning resembles a natural face, that of a man, while the others are symbolical. The lion, being magnificent, points to allegory, or what we should believe; the face of an ox, that pulls the plow and furrows the soil for the harvest, points to tropology, or moral obligation; the eagle that flies on high points to anagogy. The first face, the literal, is open; the second is lifted up on high by magnificence; the third, the tropological, is fruitful; the fourth looks upon the sun almost without flinching.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 13

• Ezekiel 1:10

  There is a wondrous conformity between the Old and New Testaments, not only in the content of their meanings, but also in the fourfold structure of their parts. As a figure and sign of this, Ezekiel saw wheels with four faces and a wheel within a wheel, because the Old is in the New, and conversely: and in the legal and evangelical books there is the face of a lion on account of the excellence of authority; in the historical books there is the face of an ox on account of the examples of virtue; in the sapiential books there is the face of a man on account of sagacious prudence; in the prophetical books there is the face of an eagle on account of keen understanding.

  Breviloquium, Prologue

• Ezekiel 1:16

  Ezechiel beheld within figures resembling four living creatures, and later there appeared a wheel within another. Then the Prophet says that "the appearance of the wheels and the work of them was like the appearance of the sea," and that it was "as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel." According to Gregory, the "two wheels" having "four faces" point to Scripture which has the Old and the New Testaments, the "four faces" being the four principal interpretations, the literal, the figurative, the moral and the anagogical. Their "appearance" is like a vision "of the sea" because of the depth of the spiritual mysteries. These four meanings are like the appearance of the sea because of the primitive origination, the most profound depth, and the abundantly flowing multiformity of the spiritual meanings. And so, as there are three Persons within the single Essence, there are three meanings beneath the single surface of the letter.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 13

• Ezekiel 1:16

  There is a wondrous conformity between the Old and New Testaments, not only in the content of their meanings, but also in the fourfold structure of their parts. As a figure and sign of this, Ezekiel saw wheels with four faces and a wheel within a wheel, because the Old is in the New, and conversely: and in the legal and evangelical books there is the face of a lion on account of the excellence of authority; in the historical books there is the face of an ox on account of the examples of virtue; in the sapiential books there is the face of a man on account of sagacious prudence; in the prophetical books there is the face of an eagle on account of keen understanding.

  Breviloquium, Prologue

• Ezekiel 1:24

  Then the Prophet says that he "heard the sound of their wings, like the roaring of mighty waters, like the voice of the Almighty." The "sound of their wings" is "heard" when the minds are prompted; and "the voice of the Almighty" rings out because all things are from God. Hence, in the Apocalypse: "I heard a voice from heaven like a voice of many waters," because of the great number of possible interpretations; a voice of "harpers" because of the accord of these interpretations, for they agree in such a marvelous way that the resulting harmony is wonderful.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 13

• Ezekiel 1:25

  This witnessing of the uncreated Word transcends any judgment by a creature. Hence the living creatures lowered their wings when a voice came from above the firmament. How shall we hear the thunder if we hardly see the lightning of this speech?

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 9

• Ezekiel 2:10

  Both reason and faith lead to the splendors of exemplarity. But beyond, there is a threefold help for rising to the exemplary principles: the sensible creatures, the rational creatures, and the sacramental scriptures; and this help contains a mystery. As regards the first, the whole world is a shadow, a way, and a trace; a book "with writing front and back." Indeed, in every creature there is a refulgence of the divine exemplar, but mixed with darkness: hence it resembles some kind of opacity combined with light. Also, it is a way leading to the exemplar. As you notice that a ray of light coming in through a window is colored according to the shades of the different panes, so the divine ray shines differently in each creature and in the various properties. Again, it is a trace of God's wisdom. Wherefore the creature exists only as a kind of imitation of God's wisdom, as a certain plastic representation of it. And for all these reasons, it is a kind of book "written without." And so, when the soul sees these things, it seems to it that it should go through them from shadow to light, from the way to the end, from the trace to truth, from the book to veritable knowledge which is in God. To read this book is the privilege of the highest contemplatives, not of natural philosophers; for the former alone know the essence of things, and do not consider them only as traces. Another help is that provided by the spiritual creature, which resembles light, a mirror, an image, "a scroll written within." Every spiritual substance is light. At the same time, it is a mirror, for it receives and represents all things; and it has the nature of light, so that it may even pass judgment on things. For the whole world is described in the soul. It is also an image. Since it is both light and mirror containing images of things, it is image too. And hence it is "a scroll written within." And for this reason nothing can penetrate the intimate center of the soul, unless it is simple—meaning that nothing can penetrate its powers. For according to Augustine, the most intimate part of the soul is its summit, and the more a power is interior, the higher it is. But the third help is that of sacramental Scripture. For the whole of Scripture is the heart of God, the mouth of God, the tongue of God, the pen of God, "a scroll written within and without." Wherefore it is a scroll "written without," because it contains beautiful stories and teaches the properties of things, and also "written within," because it contains mysteries and different possible interpretations.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 12

• Ezekiel 2:10

  In this consideration, moreover, lies the perfection of the mind's illumination, when, as on the sixth day, it sees man made in the image of God. For if an image is an expressive likeness, when our mind contemplates in Christ the Son of God, who is the image of the invisible God by nature, our humanity so wonderfully exalted, so ineffably united, seeing at once in one the first and the last, the highest and the lowest, the circumference and the center, the Alpha and the Omega, the caused and the cause, the Creator and the creature, the book, that is, written within and without: it has now arrived at a certain perfect reality, so that with God it may reach the perfection of its illuminations in the sixth stage, as on the sixth day; nor does anything further remain except the day of rest, in which through the ecstasy of the mind the keenness of the human mind may rest from every work which it had accomplished.

  Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Chapter 6

• Ezekiel 40:5

  Next, through the addition of one unit, there is a comparison in relation to the number six. In this sense is understood the measure of the one who carried a rod of six cubits and one palm for the measuring of the temple. Seven, for Gregory, is the number of universality, as found in the major and minor worlds, and in God. This present world accessible to the senses consists in four elements that are receptive to celestial influences, and three spheres that provide influence and power. The minor world is made of the four elements, the four humors, the four temperaments, the four qualities, and the three perfecting vital powers, the vegetative, the sensitive, and the rational. Hence those things that exist in the sensible world, come together with a certain purity in the minor world. Wherefore some people say, and not without reason, that the sphere of the stars has a favorable effect on the reception of the vegetative soul, the crystalline, on the reception of the sensitive soul, and the empyrean, on the reception of the rational soul. And according to Hugh of Saint-Victor, the four-fold series corresponds to the body, the three-fold series, to the spirit.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 16