Jacob of Serugh — Commentary on Scripture

Ezekiel 1:28

The prophet wonderful-in-revelations told this account.
He who ate the scroll full of the symbols of creative power
Disgorged a memra at whose meaning intellects are dazzled.
He discoursed about the chariot and about its transformations
And about its forms and the faces that were joined in it.
About the faces and the wings and eloquent wheels
And the living spirit that was in the wheels being turned,
About the movement of service of the cherubs,
And about the high throne that is established on their backs,
And about the appearance of the image of the Son of God
Which was borne on the chariot with great awe;
And about the voice of that service that is the cherubs’ own,
Which with great movement bless the most high in his place.
All these things from Ezekiel, the son of the exile,
Did the world learn about the chariot’s awesome appearance.
For neither Moses nor David published this account
Nor any prophet told [of it] like Ezekiel.

ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CREATION 1:4

John 19:34

Christ came and opened up baptism by his cross, so that it should be a mother of life for the world in place of Eve, water and blood for the fashioning of spiritual infants flowed forth from it, and baptism became the mother of life. No previous baptism [i.e., of Moses or of John] ever gave the Holy Spirit. Only the baptism that was opened by the Son of God on the cross did so. It gives birth to children spiritually with the “water and the blood,” and, instead of a soul, the Holy Spirit is breathed into them.

HOMILY ON THREE BAPTISMS

Mark 10:8

In his mysterious plans the Father had destined a bride for his only Son and presented her to him under the guise of prophetic images. Moses appeared and with deft hand sketched a picture of bridegroom and bride but immediately drew a veil over it. In his book he wrote that a man should leave father and mother so as to be joined to his wife, that the two might in very truth become one. The prophet Moses spoke of man and woman in this way in order to foretell Christ and his church. With a prophet’s penetrating gaze he contemplated Christ becoming one with the church through the mystery of water. He saw Christ even from the virgin’s womb drawing the church to himself, and the church in the water of baptism drawing Christ to herself. Bridegroom and bride were thus wholly united in a mystical manner, which is why Moses wrote that the two should become one.… Wives are not united to their husbands as closely as the church is to the Son of God. What husband but our Lord ever died for his wife, and what bride ever chose a crucified man as her husband? Who ever gave his blood as a gift to his…

In his mysterious plans the Father had destined a bride for his only Son and presented her to him under the guise of prophetic images. Moses appeared and with deft hand sketched a picture of bridegroom and bride but immediately drew a veil over it. In his book he wrote that a man should leave father and mother so as to be joined to his wife, that the two might in very truth become one. The prophet Moses spoke of man and woman in this way in order to foretell Christ and his church. With a prophet’s penetrating gaze he contemplated Christ becoming one with the church through the mystery of water. He saw Christ even from the virgin’s womb drawing the church to himself, and the church in the water of baptism drawing Christ to herself. Bridegroom and bride were thus wholly united in a mystical manner, which is why Moses wrote that the two should become one.… Wives are not united to their husbands as closely as the church is to the Son of God. What husband but our Lord ever died for his wife, and what bride ever chose a crucified man as her husband? Who ever gave his blood as a gift to his wife except the one who died on the cross and sealed the marriage bond with his wounds? Who was ever seen lying dead at his own wedding banquet with his wife at his side seeking to console herself by embracing him? At what other celebration, at what other feast is the bridegroom’s body distributed to the guests in the form of bread? Death separates wives from their husbands, but in this case it is death that unites the bride to her beloved.

HOMILIES

Psalms 104:1-4

That through visible things the world might learn who is its Lord And what Moses omitted from his account, and what was not written, David expressed in the book of his psalm. “He made his angels and his ministers of fire and wind.” Thus David caused to be written in his excellent book of Psalms So that the world might learn that angels too were created works And with the created things they come to birth from the Creator. For what the great Moses did not write about concerning the angels David wrote down, but single is the spirit of their revelations. And the world learned through Moses as well as through David That he is one who created all creatures with his gesture. And David showed on what day the angels came into being For their creation was made plain to the world, when and how In that gesture with which heaven and earth were created. In it all the hosts of heavenly beings arose. Through the word of the Lord heaven was made, David showed. And together with it [his word] were the hosts made through the Spirit from his mouth. Moses demonstrated that the Lord created the heaven an…

That through visible things the world might learn who is its Lord
And what Moses omitted from his account, and what was not written,
David expressed in the book of his psalm.
“He made his angels and his ministers of fire and wind.”
Thus David caused to be written in his excellent book of Psalms
So that the world might learn that angels too were created works
And with the created things they come to birth from the Creator.
For what the great Moses did not write about concerning the angels
David wrote down, but single is the spirit of their revelations.
And the world learned through Moses as well as through David
That he is one who created all creatures with his gesture.
And David showed on what day the angels came into being
For their creation was made plain to the world, when and how
In that gesture with which heaven and earth were created.
In it all the hosts of heavenly beings arose.
Through the word of the Lord heaven was made, David showed.
And together with it [his word] were the hosts made through the Spirit from his mouth.
Moses demonstrated that the Lord created the heaven and the earth
And David demonstrated how the hosts came into being. Isaiah, too, through that revelation of his prophecy, brought to the world an account of that power of the seraphim.

ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CREATION