Ezekiel 8:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

I beheld the women seated, mourning for Tammuz. The one who guided the prophet to another entrance of the temple of the Lord revealed to him the women weeping in the sanctuary for Tammuz.

In this statement, he condemns not just irreverence but also indecency, as Thammuz is referred to as Adonis in Greek. This refers to the mourning associated with the festivals of Aphrodite, the licentious spirit worshipped for the purposes of immorality.

What if the Lord were to instruct His servant to look beyond the comforts of tradition, beyond the masks of pretense, and through the debris of hollow devotion, to reach the hearts of the congregation during the Divine Service: ‘Son of man, dig up the wall’ (Ezekiel 8:8)? Would one not witness ‘the women … weeping for Tammuz’ (Ezek. 8:14), these indulged souls who seek from God merely the gratification of their desires, or mourn losses that should instead invoke gratitude for His mercy?