Impurity blocking the holy way; first thoughts of the Threne

It may be possible to encounter impurity in someone who is not the cause of it. Let us also consider the first thoughts of the lament. A soul of such a kind, having fallen away, is necessarily in impurity, and this impurity prevents one from walking the holy path. Just as God commanded Moses the holy man and his successor Jesus to remove their sandals when treading upon holy ground—so that one would not carry dead skin upon the feet into the sacred place—so too, if someone wishes to walk unhindered, they ought not only to remove their sandals but also to wash away the impurity that has come from the dust around the feet. And we may regard this as a symbol: the Savior pouring water into the basin and washing the feet of the disciples, saying to Peter, who did not yet understand the mystery and therefore resisted: "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me," and "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand afterward." Therefore, we must gather around, as it were, the feet of the soul, cleanse them of impurity, and pray to Jesus that he may wash them, so that we may be able to have a share with him. For if this impurity remains, it is an obstacle to our walking the way according to sound reason—the way of which the Savior said, "I am the way." Indeed, it is evident that the healthy soul, or even one that wishes to be such, does not merely focus on the present but looks ahead to what it will encounter in the future from the things being accomplished. And if one considers something good in the present to be occurring, they foresee the bitter thing that will be in the future, and thus send away what seems pleasant, doing the opposite, in order not to fall later into some hardship. But if one encounters something painful in the present, good hopes take over the apparent harshness, and willingly subjects itself to the roughness of what may seem terrible to some, in order to attain the sweet things reserved for those who endure these things.

All these things, he says, the Jerusalem which is called more truly so, suffering, could not even find comfort in the one offering consolation; for, having turned away from the word within her and become wholly given over to passion, she lost her helper, the one who continually arms himself against pains and against the dreaded things deemed so, and the disposition she had toward him. Moreover, upon these things, behold my humiliation as a citizen—so that a relative of the soul might speak it—my citizen’s sorrow, through which I was taught philanthropy, is my own misfortune. Consider then, O Lord, and do not utterly abandon her who has suffered the aforementioned things; do not overlook her enemy, that is, wickedness magnified and poured out against her. For the words “look, O Lord, upon my humiliation” may be understood tropically as referring to the word dwelling within the soul, having been dishonored and humbled, and, to speak plainly, to her own royal estate having been lost.

The desires of Jerusalem, therefore, are to be understood as the things in the temple, and the holy things of the holies kept for the priestly ministry, properly ordered, and likewise the things otherwise destined to be kept in the temple, which are believed to be divine, such as the golden lampstand and the rest. For the people, having trusted these things to be stored in the temple for God’s glory, preferred above all to suffer something themselves at the hands of the enemies rather than see these things fall into hostile hands. And it is customary for those who are circumcised to call the temple holy.

Moreover, something most paradoxical has befallen Jerusalem in the time of her captivity: she saw nations, whom God had commanded not to enter the church, trampling the holy place, where even the Israelites were not permitted to enter, except only the priests who had been deemed worthy, together with those not chosen for purification, to become holy in that place. And the enemies advanced even as far as the forbidden zones, entering that spot which the high priest alone could enter, with great purification, once a year. And shortly thereafter—