When you have been purified by the sweeping wind, to the extent that it has swept away every evil from you and everything of evil character in your soul, then you will begin to benefit from the great cloud that envelopes the sweeping wind.

When, at the Lord’s command, the cold wind recedes, the warm wind takes possession of the hearts of the faithful, he who blows through the garden of God, holy church, so that reports of virtues flow out like spices for many people to hear about.

So that the exiled people can be comforted and the purpose of God revealed, the prophet saw a very great vision. As far as its interpretation is concerned, all the synagogues of the Jews are silent beyond what a person can say.

The Savior said that he had come to send fire on earth, and he wanted it to burn in us and in all believers.

In the middle of the fire or the torments of God is the likeness of amber, which is more precious than gold or silver, and after judgment and torments, which seem awkward and hard to those who suffer them, a flash of lightning more precious than amber appears, while all things are steered by the providence of God and what is considered punishment is in fact a medicine.

What is meant by the resemblance of amber but Christ Jesus, the mediator of God and humankind?

The cherubim are interpreted as the fullness of knowledge. Whoever is full of skill becomes a cherub that God drives.

After this description of the prophet, we still cannot comprehend as we read. But if we cannot comprehend the throne that he has described, how will we be able to comprehend him who sits on it, the invisible and ineffable God? It is impossible to examine closely the nature of God, but for his works, which we see, we can offer him praise and glory.

The cherubim have four faces, and their faces are images of the activity of the Son of God. For the first living creature, it says, was like a lion, signifying his active and princely and royal character; the second was like an ox, showing his sacrificial and priestly order; the third had the face of a man, indicating very clearly his coming in human guise; and the fourth was like a flying eagle, making plain the giving of the Spirit who broods over the church. Now the Gospels, in which Christ is enthroned, are like these. John expounds his princely and mighty and glorious birth from the Father, saying, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made.^[1] Therefore this Gospel is deserving of all confidence, for such indeed is his person. That according to Luke has a priestly character, and it began with the priest Zechariah offering incense to God. For the fatted calf was already being prepared that was to be sacrificed for the finding of the younger son.^[2] Matthew proclaims his human birth, saying, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham,^[3] and The birth of Jesus Christ was in this manner.^[4] This Gospel is manlike, and so through the whole Gospel Christ appears as a man of humble mind and gentle. But Mark takes his beginning from the prophetic Spirit who comes on people from on high, saying, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet,^[5] showing a winged image of the Gospel. Therefore he made his message concise and immediate, for such is the prophetic character.

Four living creatures with four forms stand announcing the coming of Christ: the form of the man for one of them, because Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem, as the Evangelist Matthew tells us; the form of the lion for another, as Mark proclaims him as having come from the Jordan, like the royal lion, as it is written, Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan;^[1] the form of the bull for another, because Luke proclaims—and not only him, but all the Evangelists also—that at the appointed time, until the ninth hour, he was sacrificed on the cross as the ox for the world; the form of the eagle for the last, because John proclaims the Word that has come down from heaven and became flesh and has gone to heaven like an eagle, for a complete resurrection, full of the divine nature.

The four-faced creature that we met in the Apocalypse of John^[1] and in the beginning of Ezekiel’s prophecy that had the face of a man, the face of a calf, the face of a lion, the face of an eagle, has also special significance for the text we are considering.^[2] In Matthew, this human being has the face of a man; in Luke, an ox; in John, an eagle; in Mark, the lion crying in the desert.

The preface of each Gospel avers that these four winged creatures denote the four holy Evangelists. Because he began from the generations of humankind, Matthew is justly represented by a man; because of the crying in the wilderness, Mark is rightly indicated by a lion; because he started from a sacrifice, Luke is well described as an ox; and because he begins with the divinity of the Word, John is worthily signified by an eagle, he who says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;^[1] while he stretched towards the very substance of divinity, he fixed his eye on the sun as if in the fashion of an eagle. But because all the elect are members of our Savior, for our Savior is indeed the head of all the elect, in that his members are thereby depicted, there is no obstacle to even him being signified in all these. For the only-begotten Son of God truly became man; he deigned to die like an ox at sacrifice for our salvation; he, through the virtue of his fortitude, rose as a lion. Moreover, the lion is said to sleep with open eyes because, in the very death in which our Savior could sleep through his humanity, by remaining immortal in his divinity, he kept vigil. Furthermore, ascending to heaven after his resurrection, he was carried aloft to the heights like an eagle. He is therefore wholly the same within us at the same time, who became a man by being born, an ox in dying, a lion in rising again and an eagle in ascending to the heavens.

This is also how Ezekiel depicts those animals that praise God. In the four figures of the four Evangelists he demonstrates the glory of the Father and draws attention to his workings, in whom all four points of the compass are fulfilled. The one animal, he says, had four figures; because each figure is a Gospel, it appears in a fourfold fashion. The first figure, he says, which was like an ox, indicates the priestly glory of Jesus, which Luke depicts. The second, which was like a lion, indicates the leadership and regal nature of the lion of the tribe of Judah; this is what Matthew depicts. The third was like a human being and shows the Son’s capacity for suffering and the lowly nature of humanity; this is what Mark shows. However, the fourth, the eagle, teaches the spiritual secret of his power and might who flies up to the Father’s heaven; this is John’s message.

It appears to me that those who have taken the lion to point to Matthew, the man to Mark, the ox to Luke and the eagle to John have made a more reasonable application of the figures than those who have assigned the man to Matthew, the eagle to Mark and the lion to John. For in forming their particular idea of the matter, they have chosen to keep in view simply the beginnings of the book, and not the full design of the several Evangelists in its completeness, which was the matter that should, above all, have been thoroughly examined. For surely it is with much greater propriety that the Evangelist who has brought to our attention most particularly the kingly character of Christ should be taken as being represented by the lion…. That Luke is intended under the figure of the calf, in reference to the sacrifice made by the priest, has been doubted by neither of the two sets of interpreters…. In this way it further follows that Mark, who has set himself neither to give account of the royal lineage nor to expound anything distinctive of the priesthood… appears to be indicated simply under the figure of the man among those four living creatures.

The Gospels are joined to each other. They stick together, and they run hither and thither in different ways in the whole circle of their flight. And they do not have an end to their flight, nor do they ever rise above and fall down, but they always move to higher places.

In the figure of the four living creatures the two designated by the man and the calf display the tokens of his passion and death, but the two prefigured by the lion and the eagle reveal the signs of the victory in which he destroyed death. For the man represents the Lord as he was made mortal through the incarnation; the calf stands for him as he was offered for us on the altar of the cross; the lion portrays him when he bravely conquered death; the eagle when he ascended into heaven.

The face means the beginning of the Gospels, from which the man and the lion, that is, the nativity of Christ and the voice of prophecy crying in the wilderness, are on the right-hand side; but the ox, that is, about the victims and the sacrifice of the Jews, is on the left, is abolished and is transformed into a spiritual priesthood… just so that all things may hold fast to him and be thought of as in one body; and the eagle, which is over the nativity and is over the prophecy that is fulfilled in the coming of Christ and over the priesthood that it surpasses, and is beyond all these things, refers to the spiritual nativity, how the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father.

The sole of the foot in the holy preachers is like that of a calf, namely, advancing in due season, brave and cloven, because each possesses reverence in maturity, fortitude in action and division on the hoof in discernment.HOMILIES

The feet denote movement, speed, and skillfulness in the perpetual advancement toward divine things. Therefore the Word of God also arranged the feet of the celestial intelligences under their wings, for the wing displays the swift soaring and the progress toward heavenly things, and the superiority to every earthly thing by reason of the ascent. The lightness of the wings shows they are in no respect earthly, but pure and lightly raised to the transcendent. The naked and unshod feet symbolize unfettered, agile, and unrestrained power, free from anything external, and conformity to the divine simplicity, as far as attainable.

There are two lives of holy preachers, the active, of course, and the contemplative, but the active precedes the contemplative in time, since contemplation ensues from a good work. For the contemplative confers greater merit than the active because the latter strives in the practice of instant labor, while the former tastes future rest with secret savor.

Why are the four said to have a man and a lion on the right side and an ox on the left? Nor is it without wondrous reason that those two are said to be on the right and that one on the left. And, again, we must ask why the eagle is said to be not on the right or the left but above these four. Thus we present two questions that we must answer with the Lord’s revelation. Indeed, a man and a lion are said to be on the right and an ox on the left. So, we have joys on the right and sorrows on the left. Hence we describe as our left that which we consider to be adverse. And, as we said before, the incarnation is represented by the man, the passion by the ox and truly the resurrection of our Creator by the lion. For all the elect were gladdened by the incarnation of the onlydened by his death and rejoiced anew at his resurrection. Because, therefore, his nativity and his resurrection offer joy to his disciples, who were saddened by his passion, the man and the lion are described as being on the right and truly the ox on the left. For, indeed, these same holy Evangelists rejoiced in his humanity and were encouraged by his resurrection, they who had been saddened by his passion. Therefore, the man and the lion are on the right because the incarnation of our Savior gave them life, the resurrection established them. But the ox is to the left, because his death laid them low for a moment in faithlessness. But the place of the eagle is rightly defined not beside but above them, since, whether because it denotes his ascension or because it declares the Word of the Father to be with the Father, in the virtue of contemplation he surpasses the Evangelists; for, although speaking with them about Christ’s divinity, he contemplates this more subtly than all of them. But if, when the eagle is joined with the other three, they are said to be four living creatures, is it any wonder that he is described as above these, because having seen the Word in the beginning, John even transcended himself?

Now, in every sort of person, the astute Greeks have said, are to be found logisticon, thymeticon, epithymeticon, dioraticon; in Latin these are prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice. Prudence concerns the human reason. Fortitude bestows a certain power of fierce strength and contempt for death. Temperance, when it contemplates the heavenly mysteries and is retrained by consecrated chastity, cares nothing for bodily pleasures. And justice, from a certain high position of revelation, sees and searches out anything produced for others rather than itself; justice does not examine its own conveniences as much as what benefits society. It is appropriate that the begotten Son, through whom we are saved; truly the holy apostles, the first of the elect, were sadsoul that has acted with justice is symbolized by an eagle. It should fly away from earthly things and be totally intent on the divine mystery of the sublime resurrection. It struggles for and attains glory insofar as it is impartial.

The four animals that bore the chariot were a type of the leading characteristics of the soul. For as the eagle rules over all the other birds and the lion is king of the wild beasts and the bull over the tamed animals and humanity rules over all creatures, so the soul has certain dominant powers that are superior to others. I am speaking of the faculties of the will: conscience, the mind and the power of loving. For it is through such that the chariot of the soul is directed, and it is in these that God resides. In some other fashion also such a symbolism can be applied to the heavenly church of the saints. In this text of Ezekiel’s vision it is said that the animals were exceedingly tall, full of eyes. It was impossible for anyone to comprehend the number of eyes or grasp their height since the knowledge of such was not given. And in a similar manner the stars in the sky are given for people to gaze on and be filled with awe, but to know their number is given to no one. So in regard to the saints in the heavenly church it is permitted to all who only enter into it and enjoy it as they strive to live in it. But to know and comprehend the number of the saints is given only to God.

After I wrote the letter, I remembered what is written in Ezekiel, which he showed as an example of perfection. He saw an animal above the river Chebar that had four faces and four feet and four wings. The face of the cherub is when the Spirit of God rests in the soul and ensures that it gives praise with a pleasant and beautiful voice. When he wants to rise and enquire of a person, he takes on himself the face of the man. But what is the ox? That is surely when the faithful soul is involved in struggle; the Spirit assists in the form of an ox, which is a strong animal, able to confound Satan. And what of the eagle? The eagle flies to the heights, higher than all the birds that fly. When the soul ascends to the heights, the Spirit comes and acts in the form of an eagle, so that it can remain on high and be near to God.

Most people interpret the man, the lion and the ox as the rational, emotional and appetitive parts of the soul…. And they come with a fourth part that is above and beyond these three and that the Greeks call suneidhsin: that spark of conscience that was not even extinguished in the breast of Cain after he was turned out of paradise and by which we discern that we sin, when we are overcome by pleasures or frenzy and meanwhile are misled by an imitation of reason. They reckon that this is strictly speaking, the eagle, which is not mixed up with the other three but corrects them when they go wrong.

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.

It must be remembered that every good deed that is done by good intention is always lifted up to the heavens. But one who seeks earthly glory by his good works dips his wings and faces downwards.

Two are stretched out and lift themselves up on high and signify heavenly preaching, in everything that pertains to the majesty of God. Two cover their bodies, for human knowledge is excluded, and perfect consideration is not offered.

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.

This shows the secret of each Testament, because, in those four animals, the law and the gospel hasten toward the future and never make any motion back.

We should carefully examine ourselves as we do others and place our very selves, so to speak, before our eyes, so that unceasingly imitating the winged creatures, we always walk before our face, lest we be ignorant of what we are doing.

[The Word of God] generally, whether in reference to high or low in the hierarchy, principally prefers the representation by the image of fire. I think, then, the image of fire signifies to the highest degree the likeness of the celestial intelligences to God.

Those who run to and fro in preaching, through love of the Lord, are the burning fire of his wheels, since they run through several places from desire of him, from whom they themselves burn and kindle others.

Whatever creature we will have looked at makes the knowledge of God shine forth, while the Creator recognizes it from his creatures. And from the midst of the animals splendor and fire and light go forth. For if the Gospels are at variance in themselves, you will find in the midst of their writings and worthy narratives the mysteries of the Holy Spirit.

The living creatures in the vision went and turned not when they went, and they ran and returned, because holy people do not run headlong from the active life that they embraced to perform acts of injustice, and fall back from the contemplative, which they cannot continually retain, to the active life.

The wheels that lie beneath it signify the various periods of time in which all the component members of the world are constantly being whirled forward. Furthermore, feet have been given to these members that they may not always stand still but move on. All their limbs are studded with eyes because the works of God are to be contemplated with ever careful observation. And within their very bosom is a fire of glowing coals, to signify that this world is hastening to the fiery day of judgment or that all the works of God are fiery and not obscure.

I now understand more plainly what I have read, that one wheel runs within another and is not impeded. For a life lived without any offense is a rounded life, whatever the sufferings in which it is lived, and even within such it runs like a wheel. The law runs within grace, and the keeping of the law lies within the course of God’s mercy; the more it rolls, the more it gains approval. Jacob and the

Whoever is stretching forward, like a wheel, touching the earth with a small part of itself, is really such as that wheel was, about which Ezekiel spoke.

Indeed of one kind is the small flower of the grape, because great is the virtue and belief of the preachers that inebriate the minds of hearers; another is the smell of the olive flower, because sweet is the work of pity, which revives and glows like olive oil; another is the smell of the rose, because wondrous is its fragrance, which shines and is redolent with the blood of the martyrs; another is the smell of the lily, because its fleshly life is white with the incorruption of virginity; another is the smell of the violet, because great is the virtue of the humble who, preferring to occupy far-off places through humility, do not raise themselves from the earth to the heights and serve in their minds the purple of the heavenly kingdom; another is the smell of spikenard when it is led to maturity, because the perfection of good works is prepared for the satisfaction of those who thirst for justice.

Everything that is earthly and heavenly and whatever falls under human understanding turns on its own wheels…. But if anyone considers the wheel and the movement of the Gospels—that is, of the four animals that breathe and live—and understands, [that person] will in a short space of time see that the world is completed by the teaching of the apostles.

The winged wheels, advancing without turning back and swerving, show the power of advancing energy, within a straight and direct path, toward the same unflinching and straight swoop of their every intellectual track, straight and direct apart from anything in this world.

If you consider the way in which the universe moves in different and contrary ways, whether you think it is in error or whether you think it is of a different nature from us, you see the meaning of a wheel within a wheel. But as far as all that is concerned, the God of the whole universe directs everything and makes everything to move where he wills, in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever.

The wheel within a wheel is life under the law, life under grace; inasmuch as Jews are within the church, the law is included in grace. For one is within the church who is a Jew secretly; and circumcision of the heart is a sacrament within the church. But that Jewish people are within the church of which it is written: In Judah is God known;^[1] therefore as wheel runs within wheel, in the same way the wings were still and the wings were flying.

The wheel has four faces because first it perceived the sins amid the peoples that must be restrained by the law, then it saw through the prophets, more subtly indeed through the gospel, and finally it observed through the apostles the things that must be stopped in the sins of people.

The two wheels are the New and the Old Testament; the Old moves within the New and the New within the Old.

When our Savior came into the world, he made to be spiritually understood what he found to be carnally held. Thus wherever its letter is spiritually understood, all the carnal display in it comes to life. Truly the New Testament is also called the eternal Testament through the pages of the Old because the understanding of it is never changed.

Three things are equally indicated in the animals and the wheels; when they stand, when they walk and when they arise, what they do as animals and wheels and what they do in common.

It is possible, then, I think, to find within each of the many parts of our body fitting images of the celestial powers. The powers of vision suggests the most transparent gaze upward toward the divine lights, and similarly, the soft, clear and unresisting, but sensitive, pure and open reception, free from all passion, of the supremely divine illuminations.

Those who are over others are to be warned that through prudence they should attain watchful eyes within and round about and strive to become living creatures of heaven. For the living creatures of heaven are described as full of eyes round about and within. So it is fitting that those who are over others should have eyes within and round about, so that in striving to please the inward judge and in serving outwardly as examples of life, they may detect the things that should be corrected in others.

When the animals stand, their wings are set down. For they are not able to bear the voice of the Lord sounding in the heavens, but they stand and marvel, and they show by their silence the power of God, who sits above the firmament.

Because the saints shrewdly examine themselves as to the points on which they can be judged by others, and strictly look at themselves as they are often strictly scrutinized by others and are not ignorant of the things that could lie hidden, they carry the light on their backs.

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.

If the spirit of life touches the soul of the reader to the observance of patience, the wheels too immediately follow, because he finds in holy Scriptures when Moses and Aaron, although speaking rightly, suffered persecution from the people, they ran to the tabernacle, yet they were still praying for the very people from whom they fled. But their holy minds endured the commotion of the haughty, and they did not burst out against them in hatred. True patience is that which loves whom its bears. For to tolerate but to hate is not the virtue of mildness but is the veil of fury.

If the spirit of life arouses the soul of the reader to the study of prophecy, the wheels too immediately follow, because he finds in holy Scripture that Moses, at the Lord’s command, rose against Pharaoh with so many words of bold prophecy.

This is the whole vision: a spirit rising and a great cloud and four animals and four wheels following the animals and the spirit that is worthy to be above the firmament of God.

There are those who advance as far as the point where they know to distribute well the earthly goods that they receive, to exert themselves in works of pity, to relieve the oppressed. These manifestly go insofar as they strive for the benefit of their neighbor. Therefore the wheels progress with them because they arrange holy Scripture as the steps of their words on their journey. And there are others who in the faith that they have received are so strong to preserve it that they can resist all adversaries and are not only in no way drawn to the perversity of treachery but even rebuke those who speak perverse words and drag them to rectitude. When these stand the wheels too stand still, because the words of holy Scripture confirm their rectitude to them whenever they hear within themselves, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us.^[1]

It is possible, figuratively, to recognize in the name of the firmament our Savior himself, true God above all things, becoming perfect man among all things, in whom our nature is made strong with the Father.

Those virtues protect us in the face of almighty God that we bestow and join to our neighbors out of charity, and when we live in harmony with them we cover the sins we have committed. The two precepts of charity can thereby be understood by these two wings, namely, love of God and love of our neighbor.

Therefore theology has transmitted its hymns to those on earth, in which are divinely shown the excellence of its most exalted illumination. For some of those hymns, to speak in material terms, cry out as a voice of many waters.

Transcending the soul, we seek the voice from the firmament when we examine what is the innumerable throng of holy angels in the sight of almighty God, what is their infinite joy at the jubilation of God, what joy without defect, what fervor of love not tormenting but delighting, how great is their desire for the vision of God with sufficiency and how great their sufficiency with desire.

The firmament is beneath the throne, and the man is on the throne, because through assuming human nature he is born lower than the angels and is exalted above the angels.

When he came to the doorway of the church, he looked in and saw an apparition. Where his feet were, there appeared to him something like a sparkling sapphire, and he was unable to look at his face because of the great light that unceasingly flashed forth from him.

In fact, even in Ezekiel, from what looked like from his waist upward God resembled amber, but from his waist downward he resembled fire. Whatever is above is gold, and whatever is below is ready for purgation in Gehenna.

The brightness of gold is tempered there by the silver, and the appearance of silver is brightened by the splendor of the gold. In our Savior, then, the natures of divinity and humanity are united and joined.

It is clear … that Ezekiel saw the cherubim and their course, and the firmament above them and the one seated on the throne. What could be more glorious and exalted than these things?

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

One might gather from a passage in Ezekiel that Ezekiel saw him, but what does Scripture actually say? He saw the likeness of his glory; not the Lord but only the likeness of his glory, not the glory as it really is. Yet, on beholding the likeness of his glory and not the glory itself, he fell to the earth in fear. But if the vision of the likeness of the glory inspired the prophets with fear and trembling, anyone attempting to look on God would surely lose his life.

He does not say, the vision of the glory but the likeness of the glory, in order that it be truly shown that however great the will with which the human has strived, even though it prunes away the fantasies of bodily images from its meditation, yet still clad in mortal flesh it cannot avail to see the glory of God as it is. But whatever of that glory shines in the mind is the likeness and not the glory itself. There that preacher who was snatched to the third heaven said, Now we see through a glass darkly.^[1]

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

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.

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.