The Closing of the Marketplace

The five who have gathered oil, pressed from the true olive tree, possessing that which provides nourishment and illuminates, entered with the bridegroom into the banquet when a cry occurred in the middle of the night: 'The bridegroom comes, go out to meet him' (Matt 25:6). But those who did not take oil in the vessels, having neglected the one who guards the light, went out to buy and no longer found those selling them; for it was no longer a place of instruction then, nor were those selling the divine words present. And because of this, they remained outside.

And here, therefore, when the village is gathered, the 'marketplaces' are 'closed'; they do not have those 'open doors' about which the divine words write. For indeed the apostle says: 'A great and effective door has been opened to me, and there are many who oppose me' (1 Cor 16:9). If the 'great door' of the word is 'opened' and 'effective', then 'many who oppose' are present. And it is 'effective' when those who hear convert the teachings into works. And 'many' become 'opposing'; for if we observe the Scriptures, it is not always that false prophets are found when they are prophets, nor are false apostles present at other times when they are apostles and teachers. For, envying, they 'oppose' and attempt to contradict the truth, attempting to contradict those who teach well, sometimes even attacking them and leading them to death. Therefore, a 'door' 'has been opened to me, great and effective'. It is not that the 'marketplace' was 'shut', but the 'doors' of the 'marketplace' were not 'open'.

And in another epistle of his he says: 'After I had come and a door had been opened, I had no respite for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother' (2 Corinthians 2:12). Before the 'door was opened', he 'had no respite' so as to bring forward the word without finding those who cooperate with him. And in the proverbs it is said: 'Blessed is the man who listens to me, and the man who, if he keeps my ways, remains watchful at my doors by day' (Prov 8:34). The 'doors' of wisdom are the 'doors' of the 'marketplace'. Therefore the 'doors' in the 'marketplace' are 'closed' when the place of instruction is gathered. And see that they 'close' the 'doors' voluntarily. The 'closing' of the 'doors' is not by force.

Perhaps this is why he commands us “to knock that it may be opened” (Matt 7:7): when men hesitate, lest they knock on the “doors,” they “are shut.” But when the “doors” of the “marketplace” have been “shut,” consider what happens “in the weakness of the voice of the grinding woman” (Eccl 12:4). We were told that there is a “grinding woman taken up” — grinding well and making “flour” and “fine flour” useful — and another “abandoned,” having “sown wind-spoiled things”; and she has “flour” from which it is not possible to make bread. The “one,” then, the “taken up,” has its “voice” “in weakness.” But I want to say something newer, which I am eager not to have trampled down.

“In weakness,” he says, “is the voice of the grinding woman” — of the “taken up,” not of the “abandoned.” But it does not admit speechlessness entirely: for it is a holy soul or a holy church; and after these things too, as is possible, it speaks. But the paradox, which I said I would speak, is this: we once said concerning Moses that he did not speak against the Jews with the intention of an accuser. For the Savior said this: “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; Moses is the one accusing you, in whom you have hoped. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:45-47).

He did not “accuse,” then, with the intention of speaking against them — since even concerning those who “made the calf” he interceded, saying: “If you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me too out of your book which you wrote” (Exod 32:32). Thus, then, he “accused.” Since they “did not believe” even “his writings,” he defends himself, saying: “I kept silent about nothing of what was revealed to me; but when God said: ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel’ (Exod 19:3), I spoke, and there is nothing of what was revealed that I kept silent about.” The defense, then, which he spoke, seemed to be an accusation of them, since when he spoke the things leading to faith and proof, they did not receive them. So too here “weak” is the “voice of the grinding woman.” She does not speak so boldly as when the hearers benefit and those nourished by the “grinding women,” but in a way she defends herself. And if it were possible, she would have wanted, if it were possible, to hide the defense, lest they […].