The Golden Lampstand and Spiritual Nourishment

Regarding matters of practical wisdom, observe how he summoned those whom he loves, the neighbor as himself, under his own vineyard, so that they might pray and rejoice together. Likewise, the maker of good works leads his friends under the planting of a practical virtue fig tree, so that they might simultaneously find rest, having entered into the joy of their own master.

And the angel who was speaking in me returned, and he roused me just as a man is roused from his sleep (Zach. 4:3). And he said to me: 'What do you see?' And I said: 'I have seen, and behold, a golden lampstand, and the lamp upon it, and seven lamps upon it, and seven lampstands for the lamps upon it. And two olive trees upon it, one on the right of its lamp, and one on the left (Zach. 4:2).'

The angel speaking in me returned from one revelation to another vision, which I was to behold; he roused me, having moved me as if from sleep, a man sleeping, and says to me: 'What do you see?' And I said to him: 'I have seen, and behold, a golden lampstand, and a lamp upon it, and seven lamps and an equal number of lampstands supplying oil to the lamps. And I saw also two olive trees upon the lampstand, one on the right and one on the left of the lamp.'

What, then, is signified by each of the things shown to the prophet? The holy one says that the angel, having turned toward me and speaking in me continually and repeatedly, perhaps turns out to be 'the angel of the great counsel.' He roused me similarly to a man being awakened from sleep, having arrived at sobriety. And this awakening is praiseworthy, so that the one expecting it might say with confidence: 'I shall arise at dawn.' This being fulfilled through the outcome of what was pre-announced, he cries out gratefully: 'I have arisen, for the Lord shall take hold of me.' This voice is referred to regarding the Savior, having been raised from the dead, who slept...

It has become according to man. For how was he not raised from sleep when he rose from the dead after having remained in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, having benefited even the souls in Hades, rejoicing them and filling them with the luxury available there?

He says, indeed: 'I satisfied every thirsty soul, and I filled every hungry soul,' providing 'wine that gladdens the heart of man and bread that sustains the ruling part of the meal.' And I was raised and I saw the intoxicating drunkenness that had come to be for the drinking souls, and how they were filled with the saving food. Therefore, 'sweet has become to me sleep' (Ps 116:9), that is, 'death, of which I have tasted above all things by grace' of the well-pleasing God.

Similarly to this, the divine prophet, being the 'man who is in a wound and knows how to bear weakness' (2 Cor 12:10), having been raised, hears from the angel who awakened him: 'What do you see?' To which the one who had seen the vision arrived at comprehension replied with the eyes of the heart enlightened: 'I see a golden lampstand, all of it.' By saying that the lampstand is all golden, it is indicated that it is a spiritual and incorporeal lampstand, entirely filled with light through all its parts.

We do not often find in the Scripture that the intelligible is signified by the name of gold; perhaps, therefore, the intelligible lampstand turns out to be the spiritual house and temple of God, as it is said in the Revelation of John, when he who shows the revelation to the one being initiated says: 'The seven churches which I saw with the eye of the soul are seven lampstands' (Rev 1:12-20).

Upon the whole golden lampstand, there is a torch above, the luminous Word concerning the Trinity. From the moment the torch was extinguished by the wise virgins who met their divine bridegroom, they shall enlighten a light of knowledge, participating in the light of God which exists, in which no darkness of evil or ignorance exists, and participating also in the true light, becoming partakers of the holy.