First Reading — Genesis 12:1-4a
Philo of Alexandria
On 12:1
XV. "And they were both naked, both Adam and his wife, and they were not ashamed ; but the serpent was the most subtle of all the beasts that were upon the earth, which the Lord God had made:"§ — the mind is naked, which is clothed neither with vice nor with virtue, but which is really stripped of both : just as the soul of an infant child, which has no share in either virtue or vice, is stripped of all coverings, and is completely naked: for these things are the coverings of the soul, by which it is enveloped and concealed, good being the garment of the virtuous soul, and evil the robe of the wicked soul. And the soul is made naked in these ways. Once, when it is in an unchangeable state, and is entirely free from all vices, and has discarded and laid aside the covering of all the passions. With reference to this Moses also pitches his tabernacle outside of the camp, a long way from the camp, and it was called the tabernacle of testimony. || And this has some such meaning as this : the soul which loves God, having put off the body and the affections which are dear to it, and having fled a long way from them, chooses a foundation and a sure ground for its abode, and a lasting settlement in Deut. xxxiii. 9. t Deut. x. 9. J Lev. xvi. 7. § Gen. ii. 25 ; iii. 1. I! Ex. xxxiii. 7. the perfect doctrines of virtue ; on which account testimony is borne to it by God, that it loves what is good, " for it was called the tabernacle of testimony," says Moses, and he has passed over in sileuce the giver of the name, in order that the soul, being excited, might consider who it is who thus beareth witness to the dispositions which love virtue. On this account the high priest " will not come into the holy of holies clad in a garment reaching to the feet ; but having put off the robe of opinion and vain fancy of the soul, and having left that for those who love the things which are without, and who honour opinion in preference to truth, will come forward naked, without colours or any sounds, to make an offering of the blood of the soul, and to sacrifice the whole mind to God the Saviour and Benefactor ; and certainly Nadab and Abihu,f who came near to God, and left this mortal life and received a share of immortal life, are seen to be naked , that is, free from all new and mortal opinion; for they would not have carried it in their garments and borne it about, if they bad not been naked, having broken to pieces every bond of passion and of corporeal necessity, in order that their nakedness and absence of corporeality might not be adulterated by the accession of atheistical reasonings ; for it may not be permitted to all men to behold the secret mysteries of God, but only to those who are able to cover them up and guard them ; on which account Mishael and his partisans concealed them not in their own garments, but in those of Nadab and Abihu, who had been burnt with fire and taken upwards ; for having stripped off all the garments that covered them, they brought their nakedness before God, and left their tunics about Mishael. But clothes belong to the irrational part of the animal, which overshadow the rational part. Abraham also was naked when he heard, " Come forth out of thy land and from thy kindred ;"| and as for Isaac, he indeed was not stripped, but was at all times naked and incorporeal ; for a commandment was given to him not to go down into Egypt,§ that is to say, into the body. Jacob also was fond of the nakedness of the soul, for his smoothness is nakedness, " for Esau was a hairy man, but Lev. xvi. ). t Lev. x. J. $ Gen. xiii. 1. § Gen. xxvL 2. Jacob," says Moses, " was a smooth man/' on which account he was also the husband of Leah.
On 12:1
XLVI. Do you not see in the case of Abraham that, "when he had left his country, and his kindred, and his father's house," that is to say, the body, the outward senses, and reason, he then began to become acquainted with the powers of the living God ? for when he had secretly departed from all his house, the law says that, " God appeared unto him,"j" showing that he is seen clearly by him who has put off mortal things, and who has taken refuge from this body in the incorporeal soul ; on which account Moses taking his tent " pitches it without the tabernacle, "J and settles to dwell at a distance from the bodily camp, for in that way alone could he hope to become a worthy suppliant and a perfect minister before God. And he says that this tent was called the tent of testimony, taking exceeding care that it may really be the tabernacle of the living God, and may not be called so only. For of virtues, the virtues of God are founded in truth, existing according to his essence : since God alone exists in essence, on account of which fact, he speaks of necessity about himself, saying, "I am that I am,"§ as if those who wrere with him did not exist according to essence, but only appeared to exist in opinion. But the tent of Moses being symbolically considered, the virtue of man shall be thought worthy of appellation, not of real existence, being only an imitation, a copy made after the model of that divine tabernacle, and consistent with these facts is the circumstance that Moses when he is appointed to be the God of Pharaoh, was not so in reality, but was only conceived of as such in opinion, "for I know that it is God who gives and bestows favours, but I am not able to perceive that he is given, aud it is said in the sacred scriptures, " I give thee as a God to Pharaoh," and yet what is given is the patient, not the agent ; but he that is truly living must be the agent, and beyond all question cannot be the patient. Genesis xii. 1. t Genesis xii. 7. X Exodus xxxiil 7. § Exodus iii. 14. THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 283 What then is inferred from these facts ? Why. that the wise man is called the God of the foolish man, but he is not God in reality, just as a base coin of the apparent value of four drachmas is not a four drachma piece. But when he is compared with the living God, then he will be found to be a man of God ; but when he is compared with a foolish man, he is accounted a God to the imagination and in appearance, but he is not so in truth, and essence.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
Irenaeus
On 32:6
The rule of truth which we hold, is, that there is one God Almighty, who made all things by His Word, and fashioned and formed, out of that which had no existence, all things which exist. Thus saith the Scripture, to that effect "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the might of them, by the spirit of His mouth." And again, "All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." There is no exception or deduction stated; but the Father made all things by Him, whether visible or invisible, objects of sense or of intelligence, temporal, on account of a certain character given them, or eternal; and these eternal things He did not make by angels, or by any powers separated from His Ennoea. For God needs none of all these things, but is He who, by His Word and Spirit, makes, and disposes, and governs all things, and commands all things into existence,-He who formed the world (for the world is of all),-He who fashioned man,-He [who] is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, above whom there is no other God, nor initial principle, nor power, nor pleroma,-He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall prove.
Second Reading — 2 Timothy 1:8b-10
Ignatius of Antioch
On 1:10
The priests indeed are good, but the High Priest is better; to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been trusted with the secrets of God. He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the Church. All these have for their object the attaining to the unity of God. But the Gospel possesses something transcendent [above the former dispensation], viz., the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, His passion and resurrection. For the beloved prophets announced Him, but the Gospel is the perfection of immortality. All these things are good together, if ye believe in love.
Gospel — Matthew 17:1-9
Origen
On 17:1
Or because in six days this whole visible world was made; so he who is above all the things of this world, may ascend into the high mountain, and there see the glory of the Word of God.
On 17:1
Mystically; When any one has passed the six days according as we have said, he beholds Jesus transfigured before the eyes of his heart. For the Word of God has various forms, appearing to each man according as He knows that it will be expedient for him; and He shews Himself to none in a manner beyond his capacity; whence he says not simply, He was transfigured, but, before them. For Jesus, in the Gospels, is merely understood by those who do not mount by means of exalting works and words upon the high mountain of wisdom; but to them that do mount up thus, He is no longer known according to the flesh, but is understood to be God the Word. Before these then Jesus is transfigured, and not before those who live sunk in worldly conversation. But these, before whom He is transfigured, have been made sons of God, and He is shewn to them as the Sun of righteousness. His raiment is made white as the light, that is, the words and sayings of the Gospels with which Jesus is clothed according to those things which were spoken of Him by the Apostles.
On 17:3
However, if any man discerns a spiritual sense in the Law agreeing with the teaching of Jesus, and in the Prophets finds the hidden wisdom of Christ, (1 Cor. 2:7.) he beholds Moses and Elias in the same glory with Jesus.
On 17:5
The bright cloud overshadowing the Saints is the Power of the Father, or perhaps the Holy Spirit; or I may also venture to call the Saviour that bright cloud which overshadows the Gospel, the Law, and the Prophets, as they understand who can behold His light in all these three.
On 17:5
The voice out of the cloud speaks either to Moses or Elias, who desired to see the Son of God, and to hear Him; or it is for the teaching of the Apostles.