Isaiah 65:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Ironically, they believed themselves to inhabit a state of purity, asserting to those who approached them, "Depart from me, do not touch me, I am clean," as malevolent, unclean spirits lead their followers to believe that by acting contrary to divine law and moral decency, they could attain a false sense of cleanliness through rituals such as lighting lamps, running around fires, or participating in the fanciful tales of elderly women. Yet, all their actions, described as wicked and ungodly, are met with the consuming fire of my wrath; indeed, smoke signifies an impending blaze. Before the arrival of the Savior, the Israelites mentioned above were shown this smoke, indicating the initial stirrings of divine anger. However, when they compounded their prior sins with the most egregious act of dethroning the Savior and Redeemer of all by executing the Author of life (Acts 3:15), divine wrath was fully ignited, and the smoke transformed into flames.

This manifests the folly of the pagans and many within the Aesculapius' coffins, which are merely the graves of the deceased. Yet, they indulged further in this wickedness, also consuming forbidden swine flesh and yesterday's brew, which the Greeks termed έωλον, with insatiable appetite. Thus, they were as unclean as their vessels, and their arrogance and contempt grew daily, leading them to define anyone who dissented from their delusions as unclean and to shun contact with them, much like the Samaritans, Jews, and newly arisen heretics in Gaul, who under a fervent leader shun us as impure when away from the martyrs' basilicas yet pray there by custom. It is the demons within them, unable to bear the chastising power of sacred dust, who truly compel such behavior. Which heretics do not reside among tombstones or seek rest in the teachings of false prophets? Examples include Marcion, Valentinus, and, more recently, Eunomius, whose leprous body testified to the uncleanness of his spirit, having abandoned the light of the Holy Spirit and the upper chamber of the apostles to dwell in the darkness of evil and to favor the caves condemned by Jeremiah in his enigmatic proclamation: “My portion has become to me as a cave of Gehenna” (Jeremiah 12:12), which we term as hyena, a beast that perpetually trails corpses, feeding on the fluids and putrid blood of the dead. Against cave dwellers, Habakkuk lamented, saying: “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pouring out your wrath and also making him drunk, to look upon their nakedness” (Habakkuk 2:15). Concerning these caves, our Lord proclaimed: “It is written, 'My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves'” (Matthew 21:13; Luke 19:46), wherein the souls of the deceived are undermined to the extent that they cannot perceive those visions that the Savior promised: “I will multiply visions, and I will speak in parables” (Hosea 12:10). Another states: “You spoke in a vision to your Holy One” (Psalm 88:20), yet you place your faith in dreams and visions the Lord has commanded you not to trust. They partake of swine flesh, of which it is said: “Do not cast your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6), and consume abominable brews, mingled with heretical doctrines in their writings. All their vessels are defiled, referring both to their bodies and their beliefs; they fall into such madness that anyone who does not resemble them is condemned as lost.