Theodoret of Cyrus

In his own words on Ezekiel

• Ezekiel 1:1

  He said that the heavens were open, not in reality or in deed but through spiritual contemplation.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:1

• Ezekiel 1:10

  The lion represents kingship (for it is the royal animal); the ox priesthood, for an ox was offered for the chief of the priests; prophecy is shown through the eagle, for it is the creature that flies high and has very sharp sight. The prophecy is of this kind: it contemplates the heights and looks very far into the future. It therefore teaches through what has been spoken, that the whole of human nature, together with its own leaders, has been subjected to the ruler and maker of all things, and he has instructed the human race in so many gifts.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:1

• Ezekiel 1:11

  He shows by these things not that everything is to be understood by divine power but that some things are clear to them and others are unknown, and they do not go beyond the limit set down for them. They stretch out two wings in their exultation, for the gift of contemplation has been granted, and they cover their bodies with two wings, covering those things that are hidden in happy ignorance, and they do not struggle in order to observe things that it is not right for them to see.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:1

• Ezekiel 1:20

  The prophet also claims that the spirit of life was in the wheels, its movement was spontaneous and of its own free will. For the chariot was not placed on some living creatures or on a yoke, but violent clouds went before, and that mighty wind followed. The divine vehicle ran on its own accord with the living creatures preceding it and the wheels moving on their own.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:1

• Ezekiel 1:28

  When you have heard of various visions of God, do not think that the divine majesty has many forms.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:1

• Ezekiel 1:28

  The godhead is empty of body and form; it is simple, and it has no part in composition and any form; nor can it be seen with eyes, nor can it be understood with the mind or limited within a boundary. He reveals visions just as it is necessary to make them appear. And in this place he shows these awesome things: he shows the favor that all people are to be granted, namely, of God and of our Savior in the dispensation of the flesh. Because of this, he says that human appearance is two natures: the one of amber, the other of fire, and the one carrying and the other being carried. In this way, the divine nature took on the human.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:1

• Ezekiel 1:28

  He did not say this was the nature of the Lord or the glory of the Lord but that this was the likeness of the glory of the Lord. For as he willed, so he spoke, and creating the vision, he made me worthy of contemplating it.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:2

• Ezekiel 3:3

  Just as he contemplated that vision in spirit, so he now felt its taste in spirit.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:3

• Ezekiel 3:4-5

  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 3:17

  "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 3:22

  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 4:4-6

  Ezekiel was to lie down on his right side for 40 days and 150 on his left, to dig through a wall and flee, portraying in himself the captivity. Another time Ezekiel is to sharpen a sword to a point, shave his head with it and divide the hair four ways and assign a part here, a part there, without listing it all. The ruler of the universe ordered each of these things to be done so that by the strangeness of this spectacle he might gather those who would not be persuaded by speech or give an ear to prophecy and so dispose them to hear the divine oracles.… So, just as the God of the universe providentially ordered each one of these things to be done for the good of those who live carelessly, so he arranged this extraordinary novelty to draw everyone by its strangeness to the spectacle and make his counsel persuasive to those who come. For the novelty of the spectacle is a reliable guarantee of the instruction it can give, and whoever comes to the spectacle leaves instructed in divine matters.

  LIVES OF SIMEON STYLITES 12

• Ezekiel 11:19

  He calls it a new heart, as a force in the soul for honorable things. When they are disposed to contrary things, they refer to a change toward better things as a new spirit. Just as he spoke of another heart and did not mean a change in nature, but a disposition towards better things, so this is shared through a new spirit.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 3:11

• Ezekiel 14:11

  I want to have them as my people and to be their God, attending to them with every care.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 4:11

• Ezekiel 16:11

  The priests are anointed with holy oil and are clothed with embroidered cloth and with silk. It means riches, which the people gained as a result of his providence, as much in spirit as in body.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 5:16

• Ezekiel 17:23

  He says, know that it is easy for me both to humble what is lofty and to raise up what is lowly; to make dry what is wet and to manifest what is dry to be in flower.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6

• Ezekiel 18:21

  I will not allow those punishments that the parents avoided to be repeated by their children, since I am the Lord of both of them and have the same care for all of them. For all souls are mine, and the soul that sins pays the penalty. Thus God teaches us forms of justice, and the way people can delight in life and be released by prayer and become free.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18

• Ezekiel 18:28

  You see my just sentence and you dare to accuse me of injustice? You yourselves needed to be accused; you actually prefer injustice in the face of such an obvious example of justice by your own judge.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18

• Ezekiel 28:2

  The devil has fallen into such madness and is excited in such a frenzy that he has called himself God, and he has persuaded people to offer worship to him instead.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 11:28

• Ezekiel 33:2

  These words teach that it is God who gives peace to people because of goodness and allows wars to happen because of the wickedness of people who bring disaster on themselves.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:33

• Ezekiel 34:9-10

  These words predict the end both of the kingdom of the Jews and the priesthood. I will free my flocks, he says, from those who look after them badly, who have steered them with no kind of providence but have only continued to devour them. Therefore through our Lord and Savior they are granted salvation.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:34

• Ezekiel 34:16

  The words against the false shepherds have been hidden, as well as the prediction of God's attentiveness to come. He turns his words to the flocks and teaches the useless shepherds how not to fall back in any way in defending them.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:34

• Ezekiel 36:8

  I will strengthen the people's hope, and I will make steadfast their expectation of good things to come, and they will return and enjoy those fruits that are produced by you.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:36

• Ezekiel 36:25

  He calls the pure water the water of rebirth, because we who have been baptized have received the forgiveness of our sins.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:36

• Ezekiel 36:26

  He means by these things a change of attitude. Your heart, he says, will incline to better things, no longer following your previous preference for what is worse. That "I will give" in no way damages free will, for by words and deeds and endless miracles, not only among them but in all races, so that they start to live piously; he persuades, he does not compel. And although he does not compel but persuades, he says that he has inclined their minds toward better things.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 11:14.36

• Ezekiel 36:27

  These things did not happen before the coming of the Lord Christ. Since they had three prophets after the return to Jerusalem, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, they were immediately deprived of the gift of prophecy. But after our God and Savior was made man and ascended into the heavens, and the Holy Spirit came on the holy apostles, through them grace was given not only to the Jews but also to all those from the peoples who came to faith. He calls a heart of stone one that is antagonistic and rebellious, and a heart of flesh, one that is compliant and obedient to what it is told, and is able to draw out the meaning of the divine writings … this is the mark of a spirit of grace, which assists our free will and ensures that what has been said proceeds in due course.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:36

• Ezekiel 37:1

  Again this is the spirit of contemplation; he did not see these bodies that were shown to him with his eyes, but he had them revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 15:37

• Ezekiel 37:7-10

  The proclamation, he says is made by me, by divine command. The bodies that were bound together came back to life, and they experienced a resurrection, and the multitude of those who rose again was not small.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 15:37

• Ezekiel 43:6

  He showed me that there was an angel who measured the building, and he showed me these things; and he was very like Michael, who was given the responsibility of looking after the people.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 16:43

• Ezekiel 44:2

  It is very likely that these words refer to the womb of the Virgin, through which no one enters and from which no one departs other than the only one who is the Lord.

  Commentary on Ezekiel 16.44

• Ezekiel 47:1

  Thoroughly instructed in sacrificial matters, after he learned that sacrifices have to be offered for sins in a figurative manner, the prophet was taught that two expiations of souls were made through water and spirit.

  COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 16:47