Книга пророка Иезекииля, Глава 3, стих 17. Толкования стиха

A BISHOP SPEAKS HIS OPINION. AMBROSE: An emperor ought not to deny freedom of speech, and a bishop ought not to conceal his opinions. Nothing so much commends an emperor to the love of his people as the encouragement of liberty in those who are subject to him by the obligation of public service. Indeed, the love of liberty or of slavery is what distinguishes good emperors from bad, while in a bishop there is nothing so perilous before God or so disgraceful before people as not to speak his thoughts freely. For it is written, “I spoke of your testimonies before kings and was not ashamed,” and in another place, “Son of man, if I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, to the intent (it says) that if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity because you have not given him warning (that is, not told him what to guard against), his righteousness shall not be remembered, and I will require his blood at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous person not to sin and he does not, then the righteous shall surely live because you have warned him, and you shall deliver your soul.” LETTER 40.2.

CALLED TO HELP THE PEOPLE REPENT. HIPPOLYTUS: “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the members of the house of Israel, so that you may hear from my mouth and warn them.” That means, “Look, I have made you a warning and a caution, so that you may say what I command to the just and to sinners, that the just may grow in discretion and the sinners in penitence.” FRAGMENT 8.

THE WATCHMAN WARNS. JUSTIN MARTYR: We do our very best to warn them, as you do, not to be deluded, for we know full well that whoever can speak out the truth and fails to do so shall be condemned by God. DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 82.

I HAVE MADE YOU A WATCHMAN. CASSIODORUS: The office of bishop is the highest order in the church. Episcopos means overseer, because with the help of divine grace he guards the Lord’s flock from his high seat like a most careful shepherd. As the prophet Ezekiel says, “I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel.” EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 108.8.

THE BISHOP AS A WATCHMAN. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: If we carefully heed the lessons that are read at the consecration of bishops, we have a means of rousing ourselves to the greatest compunction. What Gospel text is it, except the one I mentioned a little while ago? “Peter, Peter, tend my sheep,” and again, “feed my sheep.” Did Christ say, cultivate the vineyards by your presence, arrange the country estates yourself, exercise the cultivation of land? He did not say this, but “feed my sheep.” Now what kind of a prophetic text is read at the consecration of a bishop? It is this: “I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.” It did not say a steward of vineyards or country estates or the manager of fields; doubtless it is a watchman of souls. SERMONS 1.11.

THE WATCHMAN MUST BE CAREFUL. LEO THE GREAT: Just as the well-being of the churches causes us gratification, so we are deeply saddened whenever we learn of any liberties taken with, or acts committed against, canon law and ecclesiastical discipline. We cannot excuse ourselves to him who wished us to be on the watch if we do not repress such practices with the vigilance we should. We cannot excuse ourselves if we permit the unsullied body of the church (which we are bound to keep clean from all dirt) to be defiled by contact with those who pursue evil ends. For the very union of the members gets inharmonious elements in it through carelessness. LETTERS 4.

IT IS BETTER TO REBUKE THAN REMAIN SILENT. MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Sometimes when we preach, our sermons seem rather harsh to many, and what we speak about as a rule is taken by some as if it were produced from a hard attitude. For they say, “how severely and bitterly the bishop has preached!” not knowing that for bishops speaking is more a matter of obligation than of desire. Speaking, I say, is more a matter of obligation— not because the desire to preach the truth is lacking but because the silence that comes from not speaking is driven away by the punishment of the law…. This, then, is the preacher’s situation—that he should not be silent with respect to the sins of another if he wishes to avoid sinning himself, and that he should correct his brother by reproving him so that he may not destroy what is priestly in himself…. Consequently it is better to correct the sinner by rebuking him than to accept the sinner’s misdeed by keeping quiet. This is the position in which we have been placed: if we told sinners that their crimes were not their own, the guilt of their crimes would also implicate us. For this is in fact what the Lord says through the prophet: “And you, son of man, I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel, and you shall hear the word from my mouth. When I say to the sinner, ’You shall die the death, and you do not speak so that the impious may beware of his way, the wicked himself shall die in his own wickedness, but I will require his blood from your hand,’” and so forth. Clearly these words are plain and obvious. They soil the watchmen with criminal blood when he keeps silence, and they are not satisfied that the evildoers’ own evil doing condemns him unless they also incriminate the one who was unwilling to rebuke the evil in question. So, then, how great the iniquity of the sinner is! The sinner sins, and the bishop is convicted; he kills himself by his own sins, and his blood is required from the hand of the bishop…. What is a watchman? A watchman is one who, while standing (as it were) on a lofty pinnacle, looks out on the people around him so that no enemy falls unexpectedly on them but so that, as he keeps careful watch, the populace live in harmony and peace. SERMON 92.1-2.

Через 7 дней после прибытия в Тель-Авив к пророку было обращено слово Господне относительно его обязанностей, а именно, что он поставлен «стражем дома Израилева» и обязан объявлять людям спасительную волю Божию.

Об ответственности пророка: коли он не объявит грешнику, что ожидает его за беззакония, и грешник умрет во грехе, то пророк будет отвечать за его душу; если же пророк возвестит грешнику волю Божию, но тот не покается и погибнет за грехи свои, пророк не будет отвечать за его гибель.

Подобным образом пророк отвечает за душу и согрешившего праведника.

SINNERS ARE EVERYONE. PHILOXENUS OF MABBUG: The words are addressed to the Jews, since it was to them that the prophet Ezekiel had been sent at that time; and today, too, after the coming of our Savior, the words apply to pagans and to Jews and to those who once believed but then denied their faith. The prophet’s words are applicable to those who sin without perceiving their sin, since a sinner who has received baptism, even though he may be dead toward his soul, because he does not perceive his sin, yet he is alive to God because of the grace of baptism that he possesses. ON THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.