Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands an Angel to mark in Jerusalem the pious who mourn the sins of the people with the sign of thau: then He commands six other angels to spare those who are marked, and to kill through the Chaldeans all the rest who are not marked.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 9:1-11
1. And He cried out in my ears with a loud voice, saying: The visitations of the city have drawn near, and each one has a weapon of destruction in his hand. 2. And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which faces northward; and each one had a weapon of destruction in his hand: and one man in their midst was clothed in linen, and a writer's inkhorn was at his waist: and they came in and stood beside the bronze altar. 3. And the glory of the God of Israel had been taken up from the cherub to the threshold of the house: and He called the man who was clothed in linen and had the writer's inkhorn at his waist. 4. And the Lord said to him: Pass through the midst of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and mark a thau upon the foreheads of the men who groan and grieve over all the abominations that are committed in its midst. 5. And to the others He said in my hearing: Pass through the city after him and strike: let not your eye spare, nor have mercy. 6. Old man, youth, and maiden, child and women — kill unto utter destruction: but every man upon whom you see the thau, do not kill, and begin from My sanctuary. So they began with the elders who were before the house. 7. And He said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go forth. And they went forth and struck those who were in the city. 8. And when the slaughter was completed, I remained: and I fell upon my face, and crying out I said: Alas, alas, alas, Lord God! Will You then destroy all the remnant of Israel, pouring out Your fury upon Jerusalem? 9. And He said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with apostasy: for they have said, The Lord has forsaken the earth, and the Lord does not see. 10. Therefore My eye also shall not spare, nor will I have mercy: I will bring their way upon their own heads. 11. And behold, the man who was clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn on his back, answered, saying: I have done as You commanded me.
Verse 1: And He Cried Out
1. AND HE CRIED OUT — the same Lord, the charioteer of the chariot of the Cherubim, of whom chapter 8:5.
VISITATIONS. That is, visitors, that is, avengers and punishers. For thus a visitor, visiting a province, punishes the guilty. The Septuagint translates: "The vengeance of the city has drawn near."
A WEAPON OF DESTRUCTION. That is, an instrument for killing, namely a sword or an axe, as the Septuagint translates in verse 2.
Verse 2: Six Men
2. SIX MEN. That is, six demons, says St. Jerome. Six angels, says Theodoret: "For one angel," he says, "killed one hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrians, and the firstborn of the Egyptians. But here, because of the superabundance of the Jews' impiety, six avenging angels are sent." Thirdly, our Prado and Maldonatus think they were the six chief commanders of Nebuchadnezzar, who, sitting at the gate of Jerusalem and besieging the city, were the first to capture it, namely Neregel, Sereser, Semegarnabu, Sarsachim, Rapsares, Rebmag, about whom Jeremiah speaks in chapter 39:3, and Josephus in Antiquities 10:10. But since in verse 6 these six men are commanded to distinguish the marked from the unmarked, and to spare them, it is better to say with Theodoret that they were six angels: for the Chaldeans did not see or look to see who was marked with the sign of thau and who was not, in order to spare the former and kill the latter. Moreover, six angels are placed according to the number of the six Chaldean commanders already mentioned, because these angels directed those commanders to spare the marked and kill the unmarked.
CAME FROM THE WAY — that is, by the way which leads to the upper gate, that is, the inner gate, which because it was ascended by steps is called "upper," by which one entered the court of the priests.
TOWARD THE NORTH — namely where they had sinned with idolatry, chapter 8:5. Note: Through the same gate by which we drive out God, His executioners enter; for sin lies in wait at the door, which opens the gates to the approaching enemy and death. For "through sin death entered the world," Romans 5:12. And the Lord to Cain, Genesis 4:7: "If you do evil," He says, "sin crouches at the door," as the Hebrew reads, so that it might open the gates to the enemy. So here, the Chaldeans entered the city through the same gate by which idolatry had entered. Hence Clement of Alexandria, Book 5 of the Stromata, says that angels are sometimes made fiery in order to punish the wicked, according to Psalm 103:4: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire."
A WEAPON OF DESTRUCTION. The Hebrew has "instruments of war"; the Septuagint, "an axe."
AND ONE MAN IN THEIR MIDST WAS CLOTHED IN LINEN. The Septuagint renders it as "a full-length garment" (podere), that is, as they translate in chapter 10, verse 2, "a holy robe," not reaching to the knees like a military cloak, as the Scholiast would have it, but hanging down to the feet and ankles — for that is why it is called poderis. Therefore this seventh man did not have military garb and weapons like the previous six, for punishing and killing; but priestly garb, inasmuch as he was to intercede for those worthy of being redeemed from the Chaldean slaughter and of salvation, and to mark them as a notary with the letter thau in ink. Hence he was a type of Christ, who was the mediator between God's justice and the people to be saved. So St. Jerome and Theodoret. Literally, this man was the guardian angel of the pious Jews.
On the full-length robe and its symbols, see what I said on Exodus chapter 28:4.
Wherefore allegorically, St. Gregory, Moralia 22.12: "The man clothed in linen," he says, "is our Redeemer, who also had some parents from the priestly tribe." For linen "was the garment of priests, signifying the purity of conscience which a priest ought to possess. Or certainly," he says, "because linen is born from the earth, and not, like wool, from corruptible flesh: but He Himself took the garment of His body from a virgin mother, and not from the corruption of sexual union; therefore He came to us clothed in linen. And the writer's inkhorn was at His waist. In the loins is the posterior part of the body. And because the Lord Himself, after He died for us and rose again and ascended into heaven, then wrote the New Testament through the Apostles, He had an inkhorn at His waist. For He who composed the writing of the New Testament after He departed, as it were carried the inkhorn behind Him." So also Rupert, Pintus, and Fernandius, Vision 15, who understand this man literally as Christ, for which opinion Fernandius cites St. Irenaeus, Book 4, where he says: The Word before the incarnation was constructing His saving works in advance, rehearsing, as it were, and in a manner practicing the likenesses of salvation in the Old Testament, bestowing it upon many not in a true body but in a simulated one, so that they might learn by experience how He would bestow it in a true body.
But it is more true that literally this man was an angel, who allegorically represented Christ: for angels are ministering spirits who are sent by God in every direction. Hence this man says to God in the last verse: "I have done as You commanded me," which is appropriate for an angel, not for the Word: for since the Word is equal to the Father, He receives no command from Him.
Morally, on Ash Wednesday the priest clothed in linen, with ink, that is, with dark ashes, marks and inscribes on the foreheads of the faithful the sign of thau, that is, of the cross, saying: "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," so that through the remembrance of death he may rouse them to penance and mourning, so that reconciled with the angered God, they may escape His vengeance.
THE INKHORN. So the Hebrew, and Aquila in his second edition, say St. Jerome, Origen, and Vatablus; but Symmachus translates it as "a tablet" (on which, namely, the sins of Jerusalem, its punishments and destruction are written, and the saints are separated from the number of sinners and written down separately, says St. Jerome); the Septuagint renders "a girdle of sapphire" (for they read sappir instead of sepher). Aquila's first edition and Theodotion retain the Hebrew word, translating it as keset of a scribe, for in Hebrew it is keset; therefore keset is the same as a pen-case (kalamarion), from the fact that writing reeds are stored in it; we call it an inkhorn because it holds ink, says St. Jerome. This Angel carries an inkhorn so that, like a notary, he may inscribe the letter thau in ink on the foreheads of those who mourn, as I have already said.
THEY ENTERED the inner court.
THE BRONZE ALTAR — of burnt offerings; for the other altar, of incense, was golden.
Verse 3: And the Glory of the Lord
3. AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD. In Hebrew it is Elohim, which signifies God as judge and avenger: for here He Himself exercises vengeance upon the Jews through six angels. Now "the glory of the Lord," that is, the glorious throne of the Lord fashioned from the other Cherubim, raised above the mercy-seat of the ark of the covenant, Exodus 25:22. Or rather, the sapphire throne towering over the chariot of the Cherubim, which he saw at the Chebar, as he says in chapter 8, verse 4; for he continually persists in the vision of the chariot of chapter 1. As if to say: This throne, and consequently God Himself sitting on His throne, who on account of the crimes of the idolaters committed in chapter 8, verses 3, 4, 6, and chapter 3, verse 12, had migrated from the temple to the court of the Gentiles — now He has been taken up from the Cherub: not as though He had abandoned the Cherubim, as some would have it; but that from the place of the Cherub, or where God Himself had stood upon the Cherub (upon which He is accustomed to be and to ride), that is, from the court of the Gentiles, He flew back, borne by His Cherubim, to the threshold of the house, that is, the temple, namely to the inner court of the priests; so that there, as if sitting on a judgment seat, He might summon His executioners and command them to devastate the city with sword and fire, as is stated in the following verse.
Others interpret the glory of the Lord as the amber-colored image of God which Ezekiel saw in the chariot of the Cherubim, chapter 1, verse 27; as though that image had departed from its Cherubim and leaped forth, as it were, from its chariot — to signify that God was about to depart from the old temple and mercy-seat suddenly, as though impatient of delay from fierce anger and indignation. This opinion is probable, and verse 18 of chapter 10 favors it: "And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the temple, and stood upon the Cherubim." For from this it seems to be inferred that He had already previously left the Cherubim.
Morally, God withdraws from the Cherubim and the mercy-seat, that is, the place of propitiation, when He wishes to punish the impious Jews: because mercy is proper to Him; punishment is foreign and strange, as Isaiah says, chapter 28, verse 21. For He takes the reason for showing mercy from Himself, but the reason for punishment from elsewhere, namely from the sins of men; hence at that time He seems, as it were, to withdraw from Himself and His own nature, and to depart abroad. So Theodoret and Fernandius, Vision 15, section 2.
Verse 4: Mark a Thau
4. MARK A THAU. So Theodotion, the Chaldean, Vatablus, and others generally translate. But the Septuagint and Symmachus translate, "mark" or "place a sign" or "a mark"; the Syriac and Arabic, "mark a seal between the eyes" or "upon the foreheads of the men who groan." The former translation is better and more true: for whenever God gave some sign in a similar matter, He gave a definite one — one that signified not only the deliverance that was then taking place, but also its antitype, namely the deliverance that was to come much later through Christ: such was the blood of the paschal lamb (which was therefore roasted stretched out in the form of a cross, says St. Justin, Against Trypho), Exodus 12:7. The serpent raised up in the desert, Numbers 21:9. So Maldonatus.
You will ask, why does He command them to be marked with thau? Some respond that thau signifies tichie, that is, "you shall live." Others say it signifies tam, that is, "simple, innocent, and perfect," and therefore worthy to be preserved alive. Again, the Hebrews, says Origen, hand down that thau, because it is the last of the Hebrew letters, and because Torah, that is, the law, begins with the letter thau, signifies those who have perfect and practical knowledge of the divine law, and from this knowledge have a sense of and grief over transgressions. Hence also St. Jerome: "The Hebrews," he says, "maintain that because the law among them is called Torah, which is written with this letter at the beginning of its name, that is thau, those received this seal who had fulfilled the precepts of the law."
But better the same St. Jerome, Origen, Tertullian (Against the Jews), Ambrose (Book On Abraham), St. Augustine (in the Dialogue of the Controversy between the Church and the Synagogue), Clement (Book 6 of the Stromata), and many others respond that the letter thau before the time of Ezra, among the ancient Hebrews, had the shape of a cross, and was similar to the letter thau (tau) of the Greeks and Latins. Wherefore the Syriac manuscripts read here, instead of "mark a thau," "mark a cross," as John Grial reports from Caninius in his Notes on St. Isidore, Book 1, Etymologies 3. The cross therefore is here given as the sign of those to be delivered from death and of the salvation to be obtained through the cross of Christ. Hence the Egyptians also inscribed a thau on the breast of Serapis, as a sign of future life. On this matter, see our Jacobus Gretser, Book 1 On the Cross, chapter 51, where from Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomenus, he confirms the same against some who call it into doubt.
St. Jerome adds that birds rising up express the figure of the cross; which also a man praying and a man swimming do. And even the yardarm of a ship, resembling a cross, is filled with wind. Indeed, he says, what is the very figure of the cross but the form of the fourfold world? And St. Bernard, Sermon 4 for the Vigil of the Nativity: "Perhaps," he says, "we ourselves are the cross on which Christ is remembered as having been fastened. For man has the form of the cross: which, if he extends his hands, he will express more clearly." For the body with arms outstretched has the shape of a cross. In it therefore the soul is as it were crucified on a cross; and consequently Christ Himself, who is the life and soul of the Christian soul, is in it, as it were, fastened and crucified. So also among the Greeks and Latins, thau was the symbol of life, theta of death. Indeed judges, as Asconius Pedianus attests, marked the condemned with the letter theta, those to be freed with thau. The Romans received this and many other things from the Greeks, who received them from the Egyptians, who received them from the Hebrews. Moreover, that theta was among judges the mark of thanatos, that is, death, is certain. Hence Ausonius in his funeral epigram 120:
"Wretched teacher, may theta be yours as obscene, And may the cutting theta mark your name."
Scaliger says there: "Theta was the sign of hanging, for it represents a noose wound around the neck; theta is the letter of condemnation: and in the camps it signified a soldier struck off from his cohort by death."
But our Christian Martial piously and elegantly says, Book 3:
Theta to many is unhappy; to me the letter is blessed: If it writes 'death' (thanaton), it also writes 'God' (theon).
The most weighty reason, therefore, why those to be delivered from the Chaldean slaughter in the destruction of Jerusalem should be marked here with the sign of thau rather than any other was this: that these people to be delivered, once marked, actually bore the cross in heart and body, grieving, groaning, and afflicting themselves on account of the sins of the people. Furthermore, because the letter thau had the form and appearance of a cross, and was a symbol of redemption and life: "Because by that sign the life of men was being constructed in advance," says Tertullian in his book Against the Jews, to signify that we are to be freed through the cross of Christ from death, from hell, and from the tyranny of demons — especially those who impress the cross of Christ upon their forehead and mind, that is, as Isidore says, Book of Allegories, chapter 25, so as to take up the cross of Christ after Him, subdue themselves more rigorously, and suffer crucifixion of compassionate charity toward their neighbors.
Hence at the end of the world, the cross will be the sign of the servants of Christ, opposed to the sign of the beast, that is, of the Antichrist, Apocalypse 13:16. Wherefore the Apostle also says, Ephesians 4:30: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
Note: Ezekiel saw all these things not actually happening, but in a vision, as is clear from the similar passage in the preceding chapter, verse 3. In the vision therefore, those who groaned appeared to him to be marked by the Angel and preserved, while the unmarked appeared to be killed — to signify that the pious who mourned, as though marked and protected by an angel, would be immune from the Chaldean slaughter; but all others, as impious, would be killed by them. For thus the Angel directed the Chaldeans, so that those marked by him would escape their hands, while the unmarked would be slaughtered by them.
Symbolically, first, thau is the last letter of the Hebrews: it therefore signifies Christ, who for us was made the lowest of men on the cross, as Isaiah says, chapter 53:3, whom accordingly the sun descending ten lines on the sundial of Ahaz represented, to restore health to Hezekiah, as I said on Isaiah 38:8. Furthermore, thau signifies Christ, who is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end of the law. Hence many psalms are inscribed lamnatseach, that is, "to the victor," which the Septuagint translates as "to the end"; because both David and Moses and the Prophets looked to Christ as the end, and to Him they dedicated and inscribed their psalms. For Christ by His humility and passion became the conqueror of sin, hell, and the devil: for He descended below all, and therefore merited to ascend above all and everything.
Therefore the faith, hope, love, and cross of Christ are marked by the saints and the elect not only on their foreheads but also in their hearts. Second, thau in Hebrew signifies, first, a sign and a cross; second, a boundary, limit, and consummation. It therefore signifies that those who groan and grieve over the sins of the people are perfect in charity and consummated in virtue; and that the cross and tribulation are the sole instrument of holiness and perfection.
Morally, learn here that the cross is the seal and token of the friends and elect of God, and therefore it is not to be fled from but to be sought after.
Note: Those to be saved are marked as few, so to speak. For there were in Jerusalem only some just people, says Polychronius — such as Jeremiah, the sons of Rechab, Uriah, and a few others.
The same is taught, first, by Christ, Matthew 16:24: "If anyone," He says, "wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it."
Second, St. Paul and Barnabas strengthened the spirits of the disciples, saying: "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God," Acts 14:22. The same, Romans 5:3: "We glory," he says, "in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience," etc. And 2 Corinthians 4:10: "Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be made manifest in our bodies."
Third, St. James, chapter 1:12: "Blessed," he says, "is the man who endures temptation: for when he has been tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."
Fourth, St. Peter, First Epistle, chapter 2:21: "For unto this you are called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow His steps," etc.
Fifth, St. Ignatius to the Romans: "Would that," he says, "I may enjoy the beasts that are prepared to tear me apart, etc. Now I begin to be a disciple of Christ. I am the wheat of God; let me be ground by the teeth of beasts, so that I may be found pure bread. Fire, cross, beasts, breaking of bones, cutting of limbs — let all the torments of the devil come upon me, only that I may enjoy Christ."
Sixth, in St. Cyprian, Book 5, Epistle 12, Moses and other Confessors say: "What," they say, "could be more glorious, or what more blessed could befall any man by divine favor, than to confess the Lord fearlessly among the very executioners? Than to have been made a companion in suffering with Christ in the name of Christ? Than to have conquered by dying the very death that all fear? Than to have attained immortality through death itself? Than, tortured by all the cruelties of savagery, to have overcome the torments by the torments themselves? Than to have resisted with strength of soul all the pains of a mangled body? Than not to have been horrified at one's own blood flowing forth?"
Seventh, St. Basil used to call himself wretched and unfortunate because he could not imitate the struggles of the Martyrs for the truth of the faith, says Gregory of Nyssa in his Life of Basil.
Eighth, Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 43, On Easter: "On all days," he says, "and in all movements let us sacrifice ourselves to God; let us endure all things for the Word; through sufferings let us imitate the Passion; through blood let us honor the blood (of Christ); let us ascend the cross eagerly. Sweet are the nails, even though very bitter. It is better to suffer with Christ and for Christ than to live in luxury with others. If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up the cross and follow."
Ninth, how much St. Ambrose desired the cross is clear from his Epistles 32 and 33, where among other things he says: "You know that I am accustomed to offer myself willingly to punishments, and not to yield. He fears neither weapons nor barbarians who does not fear death, who is held back by no pleasure of the flesh. Peter, going out from Rome by night, seeing Christ meeting him at the gate, said: Lord, where are You going? Christ answered: I am coming to Rome to be crucified again. Peter understood that the divine response pertained to his own cross. And so he voluntarily returned, and gave his reply to the Christians who questioned him, and immediately was seized and through his cross glorified the Lord Jesus. The athlete of Christ demands not luxuries but his own sufferings. I answered what is the priest's duty; what is the Emperor's, let the Emperor do. It is more important that he take my life than my faith. Some threaten fire, the sword, deportation. We, the little servants of Christ, have learned not to fear. For those who do not fear, terror is never burdensome. If property is demanded — take it! If my body — I will come forward. Do you wish to drag me into chains? Into death? It is a pleasure to me; I will gladly be sacrificed." See Gretser throughout Book 4 On the Cross.
UPON THEIR FOREHEADS. Here Ezekiel alludes to slaves who bore their master's name or a brand burned into their body, especially on the forehead, as Rhodiginus attests, Book 5, chapter 31; and hence they were called "inscribed" or "lettered" slaves. The same was done to criminals. Hence Seneca, Book 4 On Benefits, 138-139, relates that a certain criminal had his forehead branded as punishment. So in 3 Maccabees, chapter 2, by the king of Egypt an ivy leaf was branded on the bodies of the Jews in honor of Bacchus, so that by this sign, as by a legitimate title of Bacchus, his worshippers would be marked. So Paul, Galatians 6:17, says that he bears the stigmata of Christ in his body.
So recently, in the year of our Lord 1614, in Japan, we read that Christian martyrs were branded on the forehead with the sign of the cross by the tyrant using a red-hot iron, and in pictures printed here in Rome we have seen and continue to see them depicted, as slaves of the cross and of Christ crucified. Seneca, Book 3 On Anger, chapter 3, calls this kind of punishment "inscription of the forehead"; about which Athenaeus also in Book 6, quoting Diphilus: "He covers," he says, "with hair his forehead branded with marks." Constantine the Great abolished this branding of the face in the case of criminals, writing to Eumelius, law 2, On Punishments, in the Theodosian Code: "If anyone," he says, "has been condemned according to the nature of his crimes, let it by no means be written on his face, since the punishment of condemnation can be comprised in a single inscription on the hands and calves, so that the face, which is fashioned in the likeness of heavenly beauty, may not be defiled in the least." But the Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast broke this law, who branded the faces of the holy martyrs Theophanes and Theodore with stigmata, as Cedrenus attests.
The Antichrist too will break this law: for Apocalypse 13:16, those who have subjected themselves to the beast have his mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. So enlisted soldiers were formerly tattooed on the skin. Hear Vegetius, Book 2, chapter 5: "Soldiers inscribed with marks pricked into the skin, and enrolled in the registers, used to swear the oath." And Aetius in Lipsius, Book 1 On Roman Military, Dialogue 9: "They call stigmata," he says, "what is inscribed on the face or other part of the body, such as soldiers have on their hands." See also St. Gregory, Book 1 of the Register, Epistle 100 to Mauritius, and Epistle 103 to Theodoretus, where he mentions the Emperor's edict which ordained that no one who had been marked on the hand should be received into a monastery before completing his military service — an edict which Gregory opposes.
Finally, concerning the Jacobites, Abbot Joachim hands down in his Appendix on Christian Nations that they carry the sign of the cross impressed on their foreheads with a red-hot iron. So even now in Africa, those who descend from the ancient Christians and dwell in the mountains, separated from the Moors, bear a cross impressed on their arm as a sign of Christianity — though otherwise uneducated. They display it to the Portuguese when they come to Arzila, Azemmour, and other Portuguese cities in Africa, so that they may be instructed in Christianity. The Portuguese call them Alarves, as though genuine Africans; for the rest they call Moros, or Moors.
To this passage of Ezekiel the Angel alludes in Apocalypse 7:3, saying: "Do not harm the earth, etc., until we have signed the servants of our God on their foreheads" — with the same sign of thau, that is, of the cross. Therefore the angels in the time of the Antichrist will mark the faithful, constant, and elect with the sign of the cross: first, through priests in Baptism and Confirmation, visibly signing them with the cross; second, spiritually leading and exhorting them, both directly and through the preachers of the Gospel, to a free, public, and constant profession of the faith and the cross of Christ (whose symbol is the forehead) even unto death. Andrew of Caesarea adds that in the time of the Antichrist, the faithful will distinguish themselves from the unfaithful by the sign of the cross: "For then," he says, "the faithful will fearlessly and without shame bear the seal of the cross of Christ in the sight of the impious." For the Greek word sphragis means a visible and expressed seal. Therefore those are marked here, both on their foreheads and in the angelic mind, who will suffer for the cross of Christ in the most terrible persecution of the Antichrist, and therefore will be chosen for eternal life. They are marked, I say, by a special providence and grace of God for this purpose: so that they may not suffer equal evils with the impious and the reprobate, and the divine calamities which the angels will bring upon the world toward its end.
Hence the Bridegroom invites the Bride to this sealing, saying in Song of Songs 8: "Set Me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm." Which St. Ambrose, in his book On Isaac, chapter 8, explains thus: "The seal," he says, "is Christ on the forehead, the seal in the heart, the seal on the arm: on the forehead, that we may always confess; in the heart, that we may always love; on the arm, that we may always work." Wherefore Origen, in a homily...
GRIEVING. In Hebrew, "crying out" — namely from grief and zeal over the violated law — that is, those who not only did not consent to the evil works, but also mourned the sins of others, says St. Jerome.
Such was David, saying: "My zeal has made me waste away, because my enemies have forgotten Your words," Psalm 118:139; and St. Paul: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" 2 Corinthians 11:29.
Morally, this sign of thau on the forehead was borne by Confessors and Martyrs, freely and publicly professing the faith and piety of Christ. Hear the illustrious soldiers of Christ displaying this mark of Christ. Huneric, the Arian king, at the instigation of Bishop Cyrilla, ordered all Catholics to be rebaptized by the Arians, and thus to profess Arianism. He arranged that those who were rebaptized should receive a certificate, by which it was signified that they had obeyed the king — namely, that they had been rebaptized and were Arians. This certificate was the mark of the beast, that is, of the Antichrist: for without it no one could buy or sell anything, or even move from one place to another. The orthodox then stood firm, especially the clergy, strong in the faith. Among other illustrious men were six monks with their abbot Liberatus: who, dragged to Carthage, when the governor offered them ample honors, wealth, pleasures, and the king's friendship if they would obey his command — they, like generous soldiers of God, spurning all these things as contagion, cried out with one voice: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism: nor shall it be possible, with God's help, for that to be repeated in us which in the holy Gospel is commanded to be given once. Do what you will, inflict punishments upon our bodies. It is better to endure temporal sufferings for a short time than to pay and undergo eternal torments. Keep what you promise — you who will shortly perish along with those very riches. But no one shall be able to tear from the doorposts of our foreheads what the Architect of the Trinity deigned to inscribe in one baptism."
Wherefore they were thrown into a foul prison; then Huneric ordered them placed on a ship full of dry wood, so that in the middle of the sea, when the wood was set afire, they would be burned. They went to their punishment as though to a banquet, singing to the Lord with one voice through the streets: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. This day is a day of vows for us, and more festive than every festival. Behold now the acceptable time, behold now the day of salvation, when for the faith of the Lord our God we endure the prepared punishment, lest we lose the garment of the faith we have acquired." Moreover, they roused the people to constancy in the faith by crying out publicly: "Do not fear, O peoples of God! Do not dread the threats and terrors of present tribulations, but rather let us die for Christ, since He Himself died for us."
Among them was a boy named Maximus; the Arians wanted to save him from death, saying: "Little child, why do you hasten to death? Leave them — they are mad; and listen to our counsel, so that you may find a remedy for your life, and enter the palace of so great a king." Hearing this, the boy cried out: "No one shall separate me from my holy father Liberatus the abbot, and my brothers, who nourished me in the monastery. With them I have lived in the fear of God; with them I desire to undergo suffering; with them I trust I shall also find future glory. Do not think that you can seduce my childhood. Together the Lord willed to gather us seven, together He will deign to crown all of us with one martyrdom, as He did with the seven Maccabees. For if I deny Him, He Himself will deny me, as He Himself foretold."
They were therefore led out to the deep sea, where a fire was kindled, but was soon extinguished by a sign from God; and this happened a second and third time. Wherefore the tyrant, raging with shame and anger, ordered their skulls to be crushed with the shafts of oars, and so they were put to death. By such a manner of death, therefore, they breathed forth their blessed souls to God, and their bodies — contrary to nature — the sea cast unharmed upon the shore at that very hour, at which the tyrant was terrified. The clergy buried them with honor. So Victor of Utica, Book 3 of the Vandal Persecution, at the end.
In a similar way, St. Augustine displayed the cross on his forehead and gloried in it; for he writes thus on Psalm 112: "So far am I from being ashamed of the cross that I do not keep the cross of Christ in a hidden place, but carry it on my forehead." And in Sermon 2 on Good Friday: "That cross on which He was crucified in the body, we bear on our foreheads." And on Psalm 36: "The cross has made the passage from places of punishment to the foreheads of Emperors." Wherefore Tertullian, Book 5 Against Marcion, calls the sign of the cross "the seal of the foreheads." Hence it is clear that it was the common custom of early Christians to form the sign of the cross on the forehead. St. Augustine gives the reason for this custom in Psalm 30: "Not without cause," he says, "did He wish His sign to be fixed on our foreheads, as on the seat of shame, lest the Christian should blush at the reproach of Christ." He gives another in Sermon 20 On Various Subjects, recently published at Louvain: "If you carry," he says, "on your forehead the sign of Christ's humility, carry in your heart the imitation of Christ's humility." A third he gives in Treatise 36 on John: "He was going to place the very cross," he says, "as a trophy over the defeated devil, on the foreheads of the faithful." And St. Cyprian, Book 2 of Testimonies 17: "This," he says, "is the stone with which David struck and killed the forehead of Goliath." A fourth is given by St. Cyril, Catechesis 14: "Let us not be ashamed," he says, "of the cross of Christ. If someone conceals it, you openly sign yourself with the cross on your forehead, so that the demons, seeing the sign of the King, may flee trembling far away." St. Chrysostom says the same in Homily 55 on Matthew. A fifth is given by St. Agnes in St. Ambrose, Sermon 90: "He has placed," she says, "a sign on my face, so that I may admit no lover other than Him" — as if to say: I bear the sign of the cross on my forehead, so that I may show everyone that I am the handmaid, bride, and servant of Christ. A sixth is given by Caesarius of Arles, Homily 5 On Easter, so that by the sign of the cross we may be consecrated, as by a title, as the house and temple of God: "Today," he says, "that lamb is offered, when the doorposts of houses are commanded to be inscribed with His blood, that is, when our foreheads are marked with the title of the cross." Finally, on our foreheads is celebrated and glorified the cross which on Mount Calvary was mocked and defamed.
So Gretser, volume 1 On the Cross, Book 4, chapter 39. Who also in chapter 40 shows that for this reason the pagans and heretics tortured the foreheads of the martyrs with exquisite punishments — because they signed themselves there with the cross, which they utterly hated.
So it happened to St. Glyceria the martyr under Antoninus Pius, as is clear from her Life on May 10; and to St. Armogastus the martyr, whose forehead, marked with the cross, the Arians bound so tightly with sinews that they seemed to resound and bellow — but by the power of the cross, like spider's threads, while the Saint looked toward heaven, they snapped, says Victor of Utica, Book 1 of the Vandal Persecution.
Saints Theophanes and Theodore were branded on the forehead by the Emperor Theophilus, an enemy of the cross and of images, with marks which Zonaras records in volume 5, in his account of Theophilus.
Gregory of Tours relates, in Book 3 of the Miracles of St. Martin, chapter 23, that St. Martin appeared to a certain deaf-mute and healed him by drawing the sign of the cross on his forehead and saying: "The Lord has made you well; rise and hasten to the church, and give thanks to your God."
Eusebius in his Life of Constantine, Book 3, chapter 2, relates that Constantine was accustomed to sign his forehead with the cross, "as with a victorious trophy." For he himself, about to fight a doubtful battle against Maxentius, saw the sign of the cross in the sky, and inscribed upon it: "In this sign, conquer." When he doubted what this meant, the following night Christ appeared to him with the sign of the cross shown in the sky, and commanded him to fashion a standard or labarum in its likeness, which he should use in battle against the enemy. He did so, and defeated Maxentius. So Eusebius, Book 9 of the History and in the Life of Constantine, Book 1, chapters 20 and 22.
Wherefore the same Constantine, fighting against the Byzantines and beaten by them once and again, finally raising his eyes to heaven and invoking God, saw again the cross depicted with stars as before, and inscribed upon it: "In this very sign you shall conquer all enemies." The next day therefore, arranging for the sign of the cross to be borne before the battle line, he bravely defeated them and captured the city itself, which he made the capital and chief seat of the empire, and named it Constantinople after his own name. So Nicephorus, Book 7 of the History, chapter 47.
For this reason we read that all the Saints honored, loved, and thirsted for the cross exceedingly. Among whom St. Andrew was preeminent, whose affectionate greeting to the cross when about to be crucified kindled the hearts of all the faithful to love of the cross. Similar was the ardor of St. Peter and St. Philip going to the cross.
Finally, some think, as Salmeron attests on Matthew 24:30, that all the Blessed in heaven are to be marked on their foreheads with the cross as a token and trophy, to signify that they possess heaven by the merit of the cross, both of Christ and of their own — and that this is signified allegorically, or rather anagogically, here, when it is said: "Mark a thau upon the foreheads of the men who groan"; while St. John says the same literally, Apocalypse 7:3, when he says: "Let us mark the servants of our God on their foreheads."
St. Leo, Sermon 9 On Lent: "Certain and secure," he says, "is the expectation of the promised blessedness, where there is participation in the Lord's Passion."
In the Life of St. Calliopius, April 7, it is narrated that when he was crucified for the faith of Christ, a voice was heard from heaven: "Come, citizen of Christ and coheir of the holy angels." St. Julia, a handmaid, crucified for the Christian faith, constantly breathed forth her spirit on the cross: from whose holy mouth a dove went forth and flew to heaven, as Ado relates under May 22, and from him Baronius, volume 6, at the year of Christ 440.
For this reason all the Saints honored the cross exceedingly... Finally, St. Ephrem bore the cross on his forehead, as his portrait drawn from life shows, an ancient one preserved at Constantinople, which Gerardus Vossius prefixed to his works. Hence St. Ephrem, in his Sermon On the Full Armor (Panoplia), or spiritual armature, and in his Sermon On the Holy Cross, volume 3, calls the cross the shield and full armor of Christians against all the assaults of enemies, and gives beautiful and magnificent praises and encomiums to the cross. Hear a few from many, from the Sermon On the Holy Cross: "The Cross, the hope of Christians. The Cross, the resurrection of the dead. The Cross, the staff of the lame. The Cross, the consolation of the poor. The Cross, the bridle of the rich. The Cross, the overthrow of the proud. The Cross, the triumph over demons. The Cross, the teacher of the young. The Cross, the abundance of the destitute, the hope of the desperate, the guidance of sailors. The Cross, the harbor of the storm-tossed, the wall of the besieged. The Cross, the father of orphans and wards, the counselor of the just. The Cross, the consolation and relief of the afflicted. The Cross, the guardian of children, the head of the living, the crown of the aged. The Cross, the light of those who sit in darkness and the magnificence of kings. The Cross, the liberty of slaves, the wisdom of the unlearned, the philosophy of barbarians. The Cross, the preaching of the Prophets, the companion of the Apostles, the glory of the Martyrs. The Cross, the modesty of virgins, the joy of priests. The Cross, the foundation of Churches and the security of the whole world. The Cross, the strength of the weak, the medicine of the sick. The Cross, the cleansing of lepers, the raising up of the paralyzed. The Cross, the food of the hungry and the fountain of the thirsty. The Cross, the confidence of monks, the covering of the naked."
"This Cross, planted in the midst of the earth, has most wisely embraced the ends of the world. On it, Christ our God, exalted, in turn led captivity captive, broke open the most voracious belly of hell, and shut the all-too-gaping mouth of the devil. Armed with this armor of the cross, the holy Apostles trampled all the power of the enemy, and with their nets attracted and gathered all nations to the adoration of the Cross. Clothed with it in place of a breastplate, the soldiers of Christ, the holy Martyrs, overcame all the arts and devices and audacity of tyrants. Carrying this cross, the holy monks, having renounced the world, with great joy and eagerness chose for themselves dwellings in deserts and mountains, caves and caverns of the earth. O the ineffable and immense goodness of the most gracious God, who bestowed so many and so great blessings upon the human race through the cross! Glory to His kindness, and adoration and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
5. For this reason all the Saints... St. Chrysostom, Homily 8 on Various Subjects: "Rejoicing," he says, "let us raise this sign on our foreheads, which demons, when they see it, tremble at; for those who do not fear the golden Capitols fear the cross." Wherefore among the Ethiopian Christians, namely the Abyssinians, it is the custom for the people to carry crosses hanging from their necks; monks carry them further, also in their hand. The authority is Damianus Goes in his work on Ethiopia.
Indeed St. Ephrem bore the cross on his forehead, as his portrait drawn from life shows, the ancient one preserved at Constantinople... (continuing passage on the cross in various cultures and peoples)
Verse 6: The Little Child
6. THE LITTLE CHILD. That is, children whom parents imbued with their impiety from childhood; for the Chaldeans killed these along with their parents. Either, therefore, they were capable of guilt and sin and were culpable, and consequently deserving of death; or, if they were infants and therefore innocent, their parents were punished by their slaughter. The infants, however, were fortunate, since God cut short by death their bad education and the ruin of their souls. So the Scholiast. Plutarch says truly: "Just as doctors burn the thumb of those suffering from sciatica, and when the pain is elsewhere, they apply the remedy elsewhere — so God sometimes, in order to heal the fathers, rages against the children."
DO NOT KILL THEM. The Hebrew and Septuagint render: "Do not approach them."
FROM THE SANCTUARY. The Septuagint renders "from the holy ones," that is, as Theodoret says, first kill the priests consecrated to Me; so that he who excels in rank and in crime may also precede the rest in punishment; so that those who were the occasion of ruin may serve as the example of death.
SO THEY BEGAN WITH THE ELDERS — namely with the 25 priests who worshipped the rising sun, previous chapter, verse 16, who were before the face of the house, that is, the temple, namely between the vestibule and the altar. In a similar way St. Peter says, 1 Peter 4:17: "It is time that judgment begin at the house of God." Throughout this passage the Prophet attacks the sins of the elders, because they were the cause of sin and ruin to the younger ones, and because they were obstinate and incorrigible. Ambrosius Leo, chapter 285 of the Problems, poses this problem: "Why are the old not corrected like the young?" And he answers: "Is it because the old are hard on account of their dried-up body, spirit, and soul? What remains hard is also unchangeable. Or because one or two more ages remain for the young? For in those it is customary for nearly everything to change. But the old cannot be changed by any other age, since they are in the last one. For that reason, what they have once hardened themselves in, they tend to retain and preserve."
Verse 7: Defile the House
7. DEFILE THE HOUSE — that is, the temple, that is, the court of the priests, so that they may be killed in the holy place where they sinned. As if to say: Fill the court with the corpses of the impious priests. Understand: And they did so. Hence when that was done, He says to them: "Go forth." The very concise narrative signifies that the matter was accomplished suddenly and, as it were, in a moment. So Maldonatus.
Verse 8: I Remained
8. I REMAINED — I alone survived, understand, with those who were marked; or, alone in the temple among the priests, for all of them appear to have been slain. Hence the Angel was commanded to mark some in the city, but no one in the temple.
POURING OUT. That is, retaining nothing of Your fury, but pouring all of it out, so as to destroy the entire people of the Jews.
Verse 9: The House of Israel
9. THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. So He calls those who from the ten tribes had remained in Judah.
WITH BLOOD. The Chaldean renders "murders"; the Septuagint, "injustice and uncleanness." For blood or the shedding of blood, by catachresis, signifies any enormous crimes whatsoever, as I have often said.
WITH APOSTASY. In Hebrew mutte, that is, with deviation, defection — namely from God to idols. By "apostasy" therefore He signifies the violation of the first table of the Decalogue, just as by "blood" He signifies the violation of the second.
FOR THEY HAVE SAID: THE LORD HAS FORSAKEN THE EARTH, AND THE LORD DOES NOT SEE. As if to say: This is the fountain of all crimes — that the impious deny that the providence of God sees, cares for, punishes, and rewards the deeds of men.
Verse 10: Their Way
10. THEIR WAY — their actions.
Verse 11: I Have Done as You Commanded Me
11. I HAVE DONE AS YOU COMMANDED ME. I have marked with the thau those who groan, the innocent and the pious, as You commanded in verse 4.