The barren spring as figure of the church, and Zacchaeus the chief tax collector
Amphilochius is explaining how the deadly spring of Jericho, healed by Elisha's salt, prefigures the church healed by Christ through the apostles, and he now turns to Zacchaeus as a chief tax collector in Jericho.
So the water at the spring ran to no purpose. The neighbors often stood by and groaned, not because they had no water, but because the sight of those useless waters dragged them into thirst. They could not cure the suffering of their thirst, and in their misery they cried out to the spring: “Why do you flow to no purpose, O spring? It would be better for you not to appear at all, but to flow among mountains and sands and deserts, where you would not have so many witnesses to your evil.”
Why was the water undrinkable? Because it killed the bodies of those who drank it. If a man drank from it, he did not become a father; nor did a woman become a mother, for she lost the grace of motherhood. And not only this: the earth that received the stream refused its usual yield of grain, and the shady graces of the palm trees stripped off their garment of leaves. To say it all at once, everything became desolate, as if it had unjustly fallen in with that stream.
Such was the spring that encircled Jericho in ancient times, until the prophet Elisha came, took salt, threw it into the spring, and made the waters alive. For this is what the Lord says: “I heal these waters” (2 Kings 2:21). This is what he says who always speaks and brings his word to deed: “Let there no longer be from you one barren and sterile.” He spoke, and the water was changed: wombs were in labor, the earth put forth grain, the grape clusters bloomed again, and the olive tree displayed its own grace. And the neighbors were reconciled to the spring they knew. Once they had warred against it and been warred against by it; later they longed for it and lived near it.
What does the riddle of the spring mean? It is necessary to say. This spring, flowing abundantly but pouring out a useless and barren stream in ancient times, preserves the account of the church. For before Christ, it was so impious that a man drinking from the spring of that stream lost the very fact of being human, denying the nature of his rational soul through entanglement with idols. And a woman did not become a mother of virtues, nor did she give birth to shoots of self-control or gush the white milk of piety. But while she was in this condition, the Lord came, threw in the apostles as salt, seasoned her, and made her drinkable. And that the apostles were salt, hear Christ saying to them: “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). And that the sterile and barren one became fruitful by receiving the apostolic salt, the prophet says: “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one are more than those of her who has a husband” (Isaiah 54:1).
So Jesus came to Jericho. The spring came to those nourished by the spring; the mighty grace came to the much-wooded and well-watered city. And behold, a man named Zacchaeus, and he was a chief tax collector. The evil was double: he pursued an unjust trade and ruled over those who pursued it badly. He not only sinned himself but also received the evils of others. He cut a strange road of injustice, fortifying the highways against travelers. He did not imitate robbers by ambushing those passing by, nor did he wait for travelers out of zeal for hospitality. Instead, holding injustice as a law, he taxed the labors of foreigners, imitating the merciless gluttony of drones. For just as drones harvest the labor of bees without taking part in the toil, so tax collectors plunder the labors of strangers, the travelers, idling in leisure and sitting at the crossroads. A man sailed the sea, fought the waves, battled the winds, cut through the long and ungovernable deep, and Zacchaeus took away his profit with a tax.
Greek
Ὅθεν ἐπειδὴ μάτην τὸ ὕδωρ κατὰ τὴν πηγὴν ἔρρει, πολλάκις οἱ πρόσοικοι παρεστῶτες ἔστε νον οὐχ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνυδρίας ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς θέας τῶν ἀνωφελῶν ὑδάτων εἰς δίψαν παρελκόμενοι. Οὐκ εἶχον θεραπεῦσαι τῆς δίψης τὸ πάθος ὡς σχετλιάζοντας αὐτοὺς πρὸς αὐτὴν λέγειν·«Τί μάτην ῥεῖς, ὦ πηγή; Βελτίων ἦσθα μὴ φαινομένη, ἀλλ' ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ ψάμμοις καὶ ἐν ἐρημίαις ῥέουσα ἔνθα μὴ πολλοὺς μάρτυρας τοῦ κακοῦ εἶχες «. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ἄποτον ἦν τὸ ὕδωρ; Ἐπειδὴ ἐνέκρου τῶν πινόντων τὰ σώματα· ἄν τε γὰρ ἀνὴρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔπιεν, οὐκ ἐγίνετο πατὴρ οὔτε γυνὴ ἐγίνετο μήτηρ τὴν τῶν μητέρων ἀπολέσασα χάριν. Καὶ οὐ μόνον τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ γῆ δεξαμένη τὸ ῥεῖθρον ἠρνεῖτο τὴν συνήθη τῶν σταχύων φορὰν καὶ φοινίκων εὔσκιοι χάριτες τὴν τῶν φύλλων ἀπεδύοντο τὴν στολὴν καὶ συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν ἔρημα πάντα ἐγίνετο ὡς ἀδίκως περιπεσόντα τῷ νάματι.Τοιαύτη ἡ πηγὴ τὸ παλαιὸν τὴν Ἰεριχὼ περιήρχετο, ἕως ἐλθὼν Ἐλισσαῖος ὁ προφήτης καὶ λαβὼν ἅλας καὶ ἐπιβαλὼν τῇ πηγῇ ἐζώωσε τὰ νάματα. Τάδε γάρ, φησί, λέγει κύριος· ἴαμαι τὰ ὕδατα ταῦτα. Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἀεὶ λέγων καὶ τὸν λόγον εἰς ἔργον ἄγων· Μηκέτι ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄγονος ἔστω καὶ στεῖρα. Εἶπεν καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ μετεβλήθη καὶ γαστέρες ὤδινον καὶ ἡ γῆ στάχυας ἐξεδίδου καὶ οἱ βότρυες ἀνέθαλλον καὶ ἡ ἐλαία τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπεδείκνυε χάριν. Καὶ οἱ πρόσοικοι τῇ συνήθει διηλλάσσοντο πηγῇ, πάλαι μὲν πολε μοῦντες καὶ πολεμούμενοι, ὕστερον δὲ ποθοῦντες καὶ γειτνιά ζοντες. Τί δὲ βούλεται τὸ αἴνιγμα τῆς πηγῆς ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν; Ἡ πηγὴ αὕτη ἡ ἀφθόνως ῥέουσα, ἄχρηστον δὲ καὶ ἄγονον προχέου σα ῥεῖθρον τὸ παλαιὸν τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀποσῴζει λόγον.Πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ οὕτως ἦν ἀσε βὴς ὅτι κἀνὴρ πιὼν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ νάματος πηγῆς αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι ἄνθρωπος ἀπόλωλεν καὶ τῇ συμπλοκῇ τῶν εἰδώλων τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς τὴν φύσιν ἀρνούμενος καὶ γυνὴ μήτηρ ἀρετῶν οὐκ ἐγίνετο οὐδὲ ἔτικτεν σωφροσύνης βλαστήματα ἢ τὸ λευκὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἔβλυζε γάλα. Ἀλλ' οὕτως αὐτῆς διακειμένης ἐλθὼν ὁ κύριος τοὺς ἀποστόλους ὡς ἅλας ἐμβαλὼν ἤρτυσεν αὐτὴν καὶ πότιμον ἐποίησεν. Καὶ ὅτι ἅλας ἦσαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι, ἄκουσον τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς αὐτούς· Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς· ὅτι δὲ ἡ στεῖρα καὶ ἄγονος πολύγονος γέγονεν τῶν ἀποστολικῶν μεταλαβοῦσα ἁλῶν, ὁ προφήτης λέγει· Εὐφράνθητι, φησίν, στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα.Πρὸς οὖν τὴν Ἰεριχὼ ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἡ πηγὴ παρὰ τοὺς τῆς πηγῆς πολυτρόφους, ἡ πολυδύναμος χάρις πρὸς τὴν πολύδενδρον καὶ πολύρυτον πόλιν. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι καλούμενος Ζακχαῖος καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχιτελώνης. ∆ιπλοῦν τὸ κακόν, ὅτι καὶ ἄδικον μετῄει τέχνην καὶ τῶν κακῶς αὐτὴν μετιόντων ἦρχεν· οὐ μόνον ἁμαρτάνων ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων ὑποδεχόμενος κακά. Ξένην γὰρ ἀνέτεμνεν ἀδικίας ὁδὸν τὰς λεωφόρους τοῖς ὁδοιποροῦσιν ἐπιτειχίζων· οὔτε γὰρ τοὺς λῃστὰς μιμούμενος ἐλόχα τοὺς παριόντας οὔτε ζήλῳ φιλοξενίας τοὺς ὁδοιπόρους ἀνέμενεν, ἀλλ' ὡς νόμον τὸ ἀδικεῖν ἔχων τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἐτελώνει πόνους τὴν ἀνελεῆ τῶν κηφήνων ἀδηφαγίαν μιμούμενος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ κηφῆνες τῶν μελισσῶν τρυγῶσι τὸν κάματον μὴ συνεφαπτόμενοι τῶν πόνων, οὕτω καὶ οἱ τελῶναι τῶν ξένων τῶν ὁδοιπόρων 2 τοὺς πόνους ληΐζονται ἀργίᾳ σχολάζοντες καὶ ταῖς τριόδοις παρακαθήμενοι. Ἔπλεέν τις τὴν θάλασσαν, τρικυμίαις ἐμάχετο, πνεύ μασιν ἐπολέμει, μακρὸν καὶ δυσήνιον τὸ πέλαγος ἔτεμνεν, Ζακχαῖος δὲ ἀφῃρεῖτο τῷ τέλει τὸ κέρδος.