From the Exposition by S. Gregory the Great
on the Prophet Ezekiel Lesson v: Hom. lll. Bk. 1
THE four holy creatures foreseen by the spirit of
prophecy are described most subtly when it is said: Everyone had four faces and
every one had four wings. Is not recognition expressed by the faces, and flight
by the wings? By his face is a man recognized, and by his wings the body of a
bird is lifted up on high. Therefore, the faces denote faith, and the wings,
contemplation. By faith we are known by Almighty God, for thus he speaks of his
flock: I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine; and
again, he says: I know whom I have chosen.
THROUGH contemplation, which makes us rise up out
of ourselves, we are, as it were, lifted up into the air. The four faces are
but one: if you ask what Matthew perceived concerning the Incarnation, it was
indeed the same as was revealed to Mark, Luke and John. If you ask what John
perceived, it was undoubtedly the same as Luke, Matthew and Mark. If you ask
about Mark, that was the same as Matthew, John and Luke. If you then say: What
of Luke? He perceived the same as John, Matthew and Mark.
THEREFORE, the four faces are but one; for the
knowledge of the faith, by which they are known of God, is in each of them, and
yet it is the same in all four. For whatever you may find in one of them, you
will also discover in all four. And every one had four wings. For they all
preached in harmony our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of Almighty God: raising the
eyes of their mind to his divinity, they flew on the wings of contemplation.
MATTHEW, who is also called Levi, an Apostle and
Evangelist, was called by Christ when he was sitting at the seat of custom at
Capernaum, and he followed immediately. He also made a great feast for Jesus
and his disciples. After Christ's resurrection, before setting out for the
province which it was his lot to evangelize, he wrote the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in Hebrew, for the sake of those of the Circumcision who had believed.
Homily by S. Jerome, Priest Bk. 1. Comm on
Matt. Ch. 9. v. 9
THE other Evangelists, because of the reverence
and honor in which they held Matthew, did not wish to call him by his ordinary
name, but they called him Levi: for he possessed a double name. Now Matthew
himself, according to that saying of Solomon, The righteous man accuses himself
in the beginning of his speech; and in another place, Do thou tell thy sins,
that thou mayest be justified; calls himself Matthew and a publican: that he
may make plain to those that read that no man should despair of salvation,
having turned to better things, since he himself was suddenly changed from
publican to Apostle.
HERE Porphyry and Julian Augustus argue the
ignorance of the lying historian and the folly of those who immediately
followed the Savior. As though they followed any man who called them; doubtless
the Apostles had seen great virtues and great signs before they believed.
SURELY the very splendor and majesty of the hidden
Deity, which was reflected in his human face, could, from the first glance,
draw to itself those who beheld it. For if in an amber and in a magnet there is
said to be such power that they attach rings and straws and stalks to
themselves, how much more could the Lord of all creation draw to himself those
whom he called?
AND it came to pass that while he was sitting in
the house, behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus. They
saw that the publican turning from his sins to better things had found a place
of penitence, and for that reason they themselves despaired not of salvation.
And not having remained in their former vices, they come to Jesus, so that the
Pharisees and Scribes murmured: they come doing penance, as the following word
of the Lord signifies saying, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: for I am not
come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Now the Lord came to the
banquets of sinners that he might have occasion to teach and might afford
spiritual food to these that invited him.
