THE VINE BRANCH THE DIVINE VINE God often fondly addresses his people as His divine vine that he planted by His right hand, cared for it, and let it in need for nothing. God chose the vine, because among other trees it is seen as little and soft. Its wood is not useful for construction, for making musical instruments, tent pegs, or even for use as fuel; as fire totally consumes it within moments. Its only privilege is its productive fruition. If it does not produce fruits, then it is completely useless. That is what God demands for His Church to bring forth the precious fruits of the Spirit. In the book of Isaiah, He proclaims that He set His vineyard on a very fruitful hill; dug it up and cleared out its stones; planted it with the choicest vine; built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it (Is 5:1, 2). He granted it all the possibilities for fruition; fenced it with His Holy Spirit; rid it from its stony nature; and granted it the tower of divine knowledge... He then expected it to bring forth good grapes; but it brought forth wild grapes instead. For that He proclaims: “‘And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge please between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned. And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.’ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, weeping” (Is 5:3-7). Likewise, the Psalmist describes the people of the Lord as ‘God’s vineyard,’ that, although He cared for by His right hand; yet it did not hold itself... He says: “You have a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. You prepared room for it, and caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow, and the mighty cedars with its boughs. She sent out her boughs to the Sea, and her branches to the River. Why have you broken down her hedges, so that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? The boar out of the woods uproots it, and the wild beast of the field devours it” (Ps 80:8-13). That is what literally happened to the people of Israel; as well as what symbolically happens in the life of man. Literally, the Lord set His people in Egypt, as the first plant, on a nation’s level, to be referred to Him. Then He moved that plant from there, on the hand of the prophet Moses, by a long and a strong arm. He cast out several nations before its face, to replant it in the Promised Land, where its people increased in number and filled it; embraced the mountains of Israel and the cedars of Lebanon; and extended east of the Mediterranean Sea, to the River Jordan. But, having been diverted from God, He broke down its hedges, and into it many strangers entered to humiliate it. It became defiled through the entrance of heathen worship into its temple; and in place of God’s care, the beasts of the wilderness inside it devoured its children. 5 From a symbolic aspect, the believer, planted in Egypt (the world), is brought up to the higher Jerusalem, to the heavenliness, by the mighty hands of the Lord Christ Himself; God cast out before him all the hosts of darkness; so that they would have no place in his heart and He made him live like a king, with the authority to tread on the serpents and scorpions; to embrace in himself the holy mountains (the prophets of the Old and the New Testaments, the cedars of God), to enter into a fellowship with the saints who live as straight as the cedar trees. His life is extended to the Sea and the River; namely to the canals of the holy waters, or the blessed River of Baptism, so as to live on the Spirit of the Holy God, as the source of enlightenment and permanent growth. Such a soul, if it does not abide in what is given to it until the end, it becomes lost, and turns into a toy for the devil! That is why the apostle warns us saying: “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he falls” (1 Corinthians 10:12). THE BRANCH OF VINE The Church of the Old, as well as that of the New Testament, was called a vine among the trees of the forest, having carried the Bunch of grapes of life - Jesus, the Lord of Glory - who is the Source of our joy and rejoice. It bore fruit among the fruitless trees of the forest. In the present chapter, the old people were called the ‘vine branch,’ above every branch of the trees of the forest; that was supposed to bear grapes, but, unfortunately, having been cut off its origin, it became dry and useless. It dried up, and the fire devoured both its ends as well as its middle; would it then be useful whatsoever?! “When it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?!” (Ez 15:5) First: It was cut off its origin, to lose its life, and to become of no use except to be burned by the fire of judgment. And as St. Augustine says: [The branch is only useful for one of two things: either to produce grapes, or for the fire. If it wishes to escape getting consumed by the fire, it is committed to keep its place and abide in the vine1.] Second: Burning the two ends, is a reference to what happened to that people because of their sins: The kingdom of the north (Israel) fell in the year 721 B.C. to the Assyrian captivity; and the kingdom of the south (Judah), fell to its first captivity in about the year 597 B.C. What had befallen them was because of their separation from God - the inner consumption because of sin; that must inevitably be followed by whole consumption. 1 St. Augustine: IN Ioan., tractate 81:3. 6 AN INSPIRATION FROM THE BOOK OF E ZEKIEL 15 LET ME ABIDE IN YOU, O TRUE VINE Let me abide in You, the true Vine. Without You, I dry up, and would be of no use except for fire! Here I am, a bruised reed; do not break me! Mend my ways by the touches of Your healing hand! Grant me Your Holy Spirit to work in me! Instead of dryness, I would bear living fruits. And instead of death, I would breathe eternal life! You have watered Your vine by Your precious blood. You have planted Your Church, a good vineyard. Surrounded it with the fences of Your Holy Spirit. Presented it with every possibility of fruition! Work in me; to bear Your fruits in me, O the Holy One!
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