In Marci Evangelium expositio (libri IV), cum epistola ad Accam

EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK.

LETTER TO ACCA.

Being about to write an exposition of the Gospel according to Mark, with the help of that same grace of the Gospel, we have judged that we should first briefly make known what was the cause for this same Mark of writing a Gospel. When the bright light of the true God had arisen upon the city of Rome through the preaching of the blessed apostle Peter, the word of truth so enlightened the minds of all with a pleasing hearing that those who heard him daily never had any satiety of it. Hence hearing alone did not suffice them, but with every entreaty they besought and begged Mark his disciple to commit to Scripture the things which he preached by word, for their perpetual remembrance, so that at home and abroad they might abide in meditations on this word. Nor did they cease from beseeching before they obtained what they had begged. But Peter, when he learned through the Holy Spirit that he had been robbed by a pious

theft, he was delighted; and considering their faith and devotion through these things, he confirmed what had been done, and handed down the Scripture to the Churches to be read for ever. Clement in the sixth book of the Dispositions describes these things as having been done thus. A like testimony is given also by the bishop of Hierapolis, Papias by name, who also says this, that Peter in his first epistle, which he wrote from the city of Rome, makes mention of Mark, in which he figuratively names Rome Babylon, when he says: The Church which is in Babylon, elect, greets you, and Mark my son (1 Pet. 5:13). Having taken, then, the Gospel which he himself had composed, he went on into Egypt, and, proclaiming Christ first at Alexandria, he founded a Church of such learning and continence of life that he compelled all followers of Christ to his own example. Then Philo, the most eloquent of the Jews, seeing

the first Church of Alexandria, still judaizing, he wrote a book about their way of life, as it were in praise of his own nation. And just as Luke relates that the believers at Jerusalem held all things in common, so he too committed to memory what he saw being done at Alexandria under Mark as teacher. Now they hand down that this [Mark] was of the Israelite nation and sprung of priestly stock, and that after the passion and resurrection of the Lord the Saviour he was steeped in the evangelical faith and sacraments through the preaching of the apostles, and was of the number of those of whom Luke writes that a great crowd of the priests also obeyed the faith (Acts 6). Wherefore, as one instructed in the decrees of the law, he showed beforehand to the people whom he was calling to the faith the best order of living in all things. And he also showed the canonical observance of Easter, which was to be imitable by all the Churches of Christ. Being about to write on his Gospel, prompted by your exhortation, most beloved of bishops, Acca, and also by that of many other brethren, we shall take care, as the Lord shall grant, to set down chiefly what we have found in the examples of the venerable Fathers, gathered from here and there. But we shall also insert some things of our own, in imitation of their sense, where it seems opportune; and I humbly beseech the reader that, if he judges these little works of ours worthy of copying, careful writing may preserve the noting of the names of those which have been placed above, as is known to have been done in the exposition of the Gospel of blessed Luke, which we composed very many years ago with the help of God's grace. May heavenly grace ever protect your holiness as you pray for us. And this above all I beg in the Lord of all who may perhaps read these things: that for my frailties both of body and of soul they may deign to stand as intercessors before the merciful Judge.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, etc. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet. This beginning of Mark's Gospel is to be compared with the beginning of Matthew, where he says: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, etc. And from both together our one Lord Jesus Christ is to be understood as the Son of God and of man. And fittingly the first evangelist names Him Son of man, the second Son of God, so that our understanding might rise little by little from lesser things to greater, and through faith in, and the sacraments of, the humanity He assumed might ascend to the knowledge of the divine eternity. Fittingly he who was about to describe His human generation began from the Son of man, namely of David or of Abraham, from whose stock He assumed the substance of flesh. Fittingly he who was beginning his book from the beginning of the evangelical preaching chose rather to call our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, because indeed it belonged to human nature to take on the reality of flesh from the line of patriarchs or of kings, and it belonged to divine power to preach the Gospel to the world. For "Gospel" means good news. And what news is better than: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven will draw near (Matt. 3)? So it is of man to be born humanly, but of God to preach to the penitent the entry into the heavenly kingdom. And therefore Matthew rightly calls Him Son of David, whom he declares to be coming in the flesh; rightly Mark [calls Him] Son of God, whom at the very front of his volume he designates the author of the Gospel and the guarantor of the eternal kingdom. Here it is to be noted that the holy evangelists, who left us the dispensation of the Lord's incarnation in writing, came to the task of writing kindled indeed by one Spirit, but each fixed a different beginning of his narrative and a different end. For Matthew, taking his start from the Lord's nativity, carried the course of his narrative down to the time of the Lord's resurrection. Mark,

beginning from the beginning of the evangelical preaching, came down to the time of the Lord's ascension and of the preaching of His disciples to all nations throughout the world. Luke, beginning his Gospel from the nativity of the forerunner, ended it at the Lord's ascension, when the disciples, returning to Jerusalem, were awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit in divine praises. John, taking his beginning from the eternity of the Word of God, through whom all things were made, himself too reaches in his evangelizing to the time of the Lord's resurrection. Mark, then, being about to write the Gospel, fittingly sets first of all the testimonies of the prophets by which they had long ago foretold that this would come. So that he might make known to all that what he was writing was true and to be received without any scruple of doubt, in that he showed these things to have been foreknown and foretold beforehand by prophets filled with the Holy Spirit; and at the same time, by one and the same beginning of his Gospel, he both instructed the Jews, who had received the law and the prophets, to receive also the sacraments of the Gospel which their own prophets had foretold, and he calls the gentiles, who had come to the Lord through all the proclamations of the Gospel, to receive and revere the authority of the law and the prophets as well, lest anyone, after the manner of heretics, having received only the Old Testament or only the New, should remain a stranger to the testament of God.

Behold, I send My angel, etc. John is called an angel not by fellowship of nature, according to the heresy of Origen, but by the dignity of his office. For "angelus" in Greek is called "nuntius", messenger, in Latin. By this name that man could rightly be called who was sent from God to bear witness to the light (John 1), and to announce to the world the Lord coming in the flesh. Nor is it to be wondered at that he is mystically named an angel than whom none greater has arisen among those born of women (Matt. 11), since it is agreed that all who duly exercise the rank of the priesthood, on account of [the office] of evangelizing

can be called angels, as the prophet says: The lips of the priest shall guard knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts (Mal. 2:7).

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, etc. (Mark 1:3). It is certain that the only-begotten Son is called the Word of the Father, as John attests, who says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). And from our own speech we know that the voice sounds first, so that the word may afterwards be heard. John, then, is called a voice by the prophet, because he goes before the Word. Running ahead of the Lord's coming, therefore, he is called a voice, because through his ministry the Word of the Father is heard by men. He also cries in the wilderness, because he announces the comfort of redemption to forsaken and destitute Judaea. And what he was crying is disclosed when it is added: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. Everyone who preaches right faith and good works, what else does he do but prepare a way for the coming Lord into the hearts of his hearers, so that this power of grace may penetrate, so that the light of truth may illumine, and he may make straight paths for God, while by the word of good preaching he forms pure thoughts in the mind? It is certainly to be noted that of the prophetic testimonies which Mark set down, only one is found in Isaiah, but the other in Malachi. Yet the evangelist is not to be thought to be deceived or to deceive, in saying that this was written in Isaiah which Isaiah did not write; rather it is to be understood that, although these words which he set down from Malachi are not found in Isaiah, yet their sense is found in Isaiah, and in some other places, and more plainly in that which he himself here added: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. For who does not see how great is the agreement in both sayings? For what Malachi said, that an angel was to be sent before the face of the Lord to prepare His way, is surely what Isaiah said, that the voice of one crying was to be heard in the wilderness, saying: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. For just as John could rightly be called an angel, because by evangelizing he went before the face of the Lord, so he could rightly be called a voice also, because by sounding he went before the Word of God, as was also said above. And in both sayings alike the way of the Lord is proclaimed as to be prepared. And therefore the evangelist is not mistaken who writes this as said by Isaiah, since he found it written by him, if not in the same words, yet in the same sense. It could also have happened that, while Mark was writing the Gospel, Isaiah came to his mind in place of Malachi, as tends to happen. Yet he would without any hesitation have corrected this, at least when admonished by others who could read it while he was still living in the flesh, had he not reflected that it was not for nothing that one prophet's name had come to his recollection, which was ruled by the Holy Spirit, in place of the other, because the Lord appointed that it be so written. And why the Lord so appointed, that first and most useful reason ought very easily to be thought of, that thus also it was intimated that all the holy prophets, speaking by one spirit, stand together in such wonderful agreement among themselves that this is much more

evident than if all the words of all the prophets were spoken by the one mouth of one man. And therefore whatever the Holy Spirit said through them ought to be received without doubt, and each thing to be of all, and all things of each. Since, then, the things that were said through Isaiah are as much Malachi's as Isaiah's, and the things that were said through Malachi are as much Isaiah's as Malachi's, what need was there for Mark to correct it, when he had read the one name, coming to him in place of the other, written by himself? and should he not rather, following the authority of the Holy Spirit, by Whom he surely felt more than we do that his mind was ruled, leave this so written? For thus by admonition the Lord had appointed for him, in order to instruct us, that there is such concord of His words among the prophets that not absurdly, nay most fittingly, we should attribute to Isaiah also what we have found spoken through Malachi.

John was in the wilderness baptizing, etc. (Mark 1:4). It is clear to all nations that John not only preached a baptism of penance but also gave it to some, and yet he could not give a baptism for the remission of sins. For remission of sins is granted to us in the baptism of Christ alone. It is to be noted, then, that it is said, preaching a baptism of penance for the remission of sins, since he preached the baptism that would loose sins, because he could not give it; so that, just as by the word of preaching he ran before the incarnate Word of the Father, so by his own baptism, by which sins cannot be loosed, he ran before the baptism of penance by which sins are loosed. And they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins (Mark 1:5). An example of confessing sins and promising a better life is given to those who desire to receive baptism, just as also, when Paul was preaching at Ephesus, many of the believers came confessing and declaring their deeds, so that, having renounced the old life, they might deserve to be renewed in Christ. Hence also to blessed Peter, when animals of divers kinds had been shown him in the heavenly linen sheet, it was said: Arise, Peter, kill and eat (Acts 10:13). Which is to say plainly: Kill the unbelievers from what they were before, by renunciation of crimes and the promise of godly religion, and so, having imbued them with the sacraments of the Christian faith, change them into members of the holy Church.

And John was clothed in camel's hair, etc. (Mark 1:6). Clothed, he says, in hair, not in wool. The one is a sign of austere dress; the other of softer luxury. And the leather girdle, with which Elijah too was girded, is a sign of mortification. Further, what follows: And he ate locusts and wild honey, is fitting for a dweller in the solitude, that he should satisfy not the delights of foods but the need of human flesh. His dress and food can also, by signification, not unfittingly express the quality of his inner way of life. For he used rather austere garments, as the Lord also declared in his praise, saying to the Jews: What went you out into the desert to see? a man clothed in soft garments? behold, those who are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings (Matt. 11:8), because the life of sinners

he did not cherish with blandishments, but rebuked with the vigour of harsh invective, saying: Brood of vipers, who showed you to flee from the wrath to come (Matt. 23)? He had a leather girdle about his loins, because he crucified his flesh with its vices and concupiscences, which we have learned, on the Apostle's testimony, is proper to those who are Jesus Christ's. He ate locusts and wild honey, because his preaching tasted sweet indeed to the crowds, as the people were supposing, and all were thinking in their hearts concerning him, whether perhaps he himself were the Christ. But that opinion quickly met its end, when his hearers understood that he was not himself the Christ, but the forerunner and prophet of Christ. For in honey there is sweetness; in locusts there is a swift flight, but one that soon falls.

And he preached, saying: There comes one mightier, etc. (Mark 1:7). It was the custom among the ancients that if anyone would not take as wife her who fell to him, he who came to her as bridegroom by right of kinship would loose his shoe. What, then, did Christ appear among men, but as the Bridegroom of the holy Church? Of Whom the same John also says: He who has the bride is the bridegroom (John 3:29). But because men thought John to be the Christ, which the same John denies, he rightly declares himself unworthy to loose the latchet of His shoe. As if he said plainly: I am not able to bare the Redeemer's footprints, because I do not, undeserving, usurp for myself the name of bridegroom. Yet this can also be understood otherwise. For who does not know that shoes are made from dead animals? But the Lord, coming incarnate, appeared as it were shod, Who in His divinity took on the dead skins of our corruption. But the human eye is not able to penetrate the mystery of this incarnation. For it can in no way be searched out how the Word is embodied, how the supreme and life-giving Spirit is animated within the mother's womb, how He Who has no beginning both exists and is conceived. The latchet of the shoe, then, is the binding of the mystery. John, therefore, is not able to loose the latchet of His shoe, because even he is not sufficient to search out the mystery of the incarnation, who recognized it through the spirit of prophecy. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8). John does not yet indeed preach the Lord plainly as God or as the Son of God, but only as a man mightier than himself. For his hearers, still untaught, did not grasp the secrets of so great a sacrament, that the eternal Son of God, having assumed manhood from the Virgin, had been born anew into the world; rather, little by little, through the knowledge of the glorified humanity, they were to be brought in to faith in the divine eternity. Yet to them, as it were covertly in a certain way and in veiled speech, he declares that this is true God, when he affirms that He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. For to whom is it doubtful that no other can give the grace of the Holy Spirit but God? But as time went on, when he saw those same hearers of his now more capable of understanding, he openly preached Him also as the Son of God, saying: But He Who sent me to baptize in water said to me: He upon Whom you see the Spirit descending and

remaining upon Him, He it is Who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And I saw, and bore witness, that this is the Son of God (John 1:33–34). And we are baptized by the Lord in the Holy Spirit, not only when on the day of baptism we are washed in the font of life for the remission of sins, but also daily, when through the grace of the same Spirit we are kindled to do the things that please God.

And it came to pass in those days, etc. (Mark 1:9). For a threefold cause the Saviour received baptism from John. First, that, because He had been born a man, He might fulfil all justice and the humility of the Law. Second, that by His own baptism He might approve the baptism of John. Third, that, sanctifying the water of the Jordan, He might show by the descent of the dove the coming of the Holy Spirit in the laver of believers.

And straightway coming up out of the water He saw the heavens opened, etc. (Mark 1:10). The mystery of the Trinity is shown forth in the baptism of the Lord. The Lord is baptized, the Spirit descends in the form of a dove, the voice of the Father is heard bearing witness to the Son. And the heavens are opened, not by an unbarring of the elements, but to spiritual eyes, by which Ezekiel too, at the beginning of his volume, records that they were opened. The dove also settled upon the head of Jesus, lest anyone should think that the voice of the Father was addressed to John, not to the Lord. And beautifully, when he had said: And the Spirit as a dove descending, he added, and remaining upon Him (John 1:32). For this special gift was conferred upon the Mediator of God and men, that the Holy Spirit, having once filled Him, should never withdraw, but should abide in Him perpetually. For upon His faithful the grace of the Spirit is sometimes conferred for signal works of power and for working miracles, and sometimes withdrawn. Yet from them the grace of the Spirit is never absent for the working of godliness and justice, for preserving the love of God and of neighbour. Hence it is promised concerning that Spirit, the Lord saying to them: But you shall know Him, for He shall abide with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17). But in a special way the Spirit abides always in the Lord, not as in His elect according to the measure of faith, but as John says: We saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). And the Spirit abides in Him, not only from the time when He was baptized in the Jordan, but rather from that in which He was conceived in the virginal womb. For that the Spirit was seen to descend upon Him when baptized was a sign of the spiritual grace to be conferred on us in baptism, upon whom, regenerated of water and the Spirit for the remission of sins, a fuller grace of the same Spirit is wont to be given from heaven through the imposition of the bishop's hand. So too, that He saw the heavens opened after baptism was surely done for our sake, for whom through the laver of the regenerating wave the door of the heavenly kingdom is opened, which, when the first-formed sinned of old and were cast out of paradise, was closed to the whole human race by the cherubim and the flaming sword set between. For this flame is quenched for each of the faithful when he is dipped in the life-giving waters. He is reconciled to the angelic spirits when he has returned to the peace of his Creator, so much so that if the sacraments of faith he has received

he has kept with pure heart and body, as soon as he is loosed from the flesh he can enter the heavenly kingdoms. Otherwise how were the heavens then opened to the Lord, Who, when He became man and dwelt with us on earth, held heaven and earth alike by divine power? And this too, that the Father's voice made itself known from heaven: Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased (Mark 1:11), — it is not that the Son Himself is taught what He did not know, but that what we ought to believe is shown to us: namely, that He Who came as a man to John to be baptized with others is the true Son of God; Lord not only of John himself but of the whole world, and therefore able truly to baptize in the Holy Spirit. The same voice has taught us also that through the water of washing and the spirit of sanctification we can be made sons of God. For as many as received Him, He gave them power to become sons of God (John 1:12). And well did the Holy Spirit descend in the form of a dove, because it is a very simple creature, and a stranger to the malice of gall, so that He might figuratively intimate to us that He seeks simple hearts, and does not deign to dwell in impure minds, such as was that Simon to whom Peter said: You have no part nor lot in this word; for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity (Acts 8:21, 23).

And straightway the Spirit drove Him into the desert, etc. (Mark 1:12). Matthew likewise, having set out the Lord's baptism and the voice made from heaven, saying: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, at once added: Then Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1). But lest it should come into doubt for anyone by what spirit they said He was led or driven into the desert, Luke advisedly set down first that Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and then brought in: And He was led by the Spirit into the desert (Luke 4:1), lest the unclean spirit should be thought to have had any power against Him Who, full of the Holy Spirit, going where He willed, did what He willed. And the forty days and nights in which he tempts Him intimate the whole time of this world, in which he never ceases to tempt His members, that is, the holy Church. For indeed the world in which we serve the Lord is fourfold. And there are ten commandments, through the observance of which, serving the Lord, we fight against the malice of the unwearied foe. And ten taken four times make forty. And therefore the whole time of our warfare is fittingly comprised in the forty-fold number of days and nights. The Lord, then, having been baptized, is driven by the Spirit into the desert and is tempted by Satan, that He may give an example of life to His faithful, who after receiving in baptism the remission of sins must gird themselves not only to exercise works of virtue but also to endure persecution for justice' sake. For He withdraws into the desert, to teach us, leaving behind the allurements of the world and the company of the wicked, to serve the divine commandments in all things. He is tempted alone by the devil, to intimate to us that all who will live godly in Christ suffer persecution, and that through many tribulations we must enter

into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:21). He is tempted forty days and forty nights, to show that as long as we serve the Lord living here, whether prosperity flatters us (which belongs to the days) or adversity strikes us (which suits the figure of night), the adversary is always present throughout the whole world to those walking in the law of the Lord, and does not cease to hinder our journey by tempting. And He was with the beasts, and the angels ministered to Him (Mark 1:13). He dwells among the beasts as man, but uses the ministry of angels as God. We too, when in the desert of a holy way of life we endure with unpolluted mind the beastly manners of men, merit the ministry of angels, by whom, loosed from the body, we may be carried over to the eternal joys in heaven.

But after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, etc. (Mark 1:14). John having been delivered up, He rightly begins to preach Himself. As the Law ceases, the Gospel accordingly arises. And if the Saviour preaches the same things which John the Baptist had said before, He shows that He is Son of the same God Whose prophet that man is. But let no one think that the delivering of John into prison took place immediately after the fast of forty days and the Lord's temptation. For whoever reads the Gospel of John will find that before his delivering up the Lord both taught many things and worked miracles. Indeed you have in his Gospel: This beginning of signs Jesus made in Cana of Galilee (John 2:11). And again: For John was not yet cast into prison (John 3:24). And they report that when John had read the volumes of Matthew, Mark and Luke, he approved indeed the text of the history and affirmed that they had spoken true things, but that they had woven the history of one year only, that in which He also suffered, after John's imprisonment. Passing over, therefore, the year whose acts had been set forth by the three, he narrated the deeds of the earlier time, before John was shut up in prison, as can be plain to those who have diligently read the four volumes of the Gospels. Which fact also removes the discord that seemed to exist between John and the others. When, then, Mark had said that Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, he added and says: And saying: For the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent, and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15). The time is fulfilled, He says. That, surely, of which the Apostle says: But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, that He might redeem those who were under the Law (Gal. 4:4–5). Therefore the times are fulfilled: repent. How long ago it is that this is cried out, and would that it were at some time heard: For the times are fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe the Gospel. Renounce dead works, believe in the living God. What does it profit to believe without good works? It was not the merit of good works that brought you to faith, but faith begins, that good works may follow.

And passing by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, etc. (Mark 1:16). These were the first called to follow the Lord. Fishermen and unlettered men are sent to preach, lest the faith of believers should be thought to rest not on the power of God but on eloquence and learning. It can be asked

[it can be asked] how He called the fishermen two by two from their boats: first Peter and Andrew, then, going on a little, the other two, the sons of Zebedee, as Matthew and Mark relate, whereas Luke says that both their boats were filled by that great catch of fish, and records that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Peter's partners, were called to help when they could not draw in the full nets, and at the same time marvelled at so great a multitude of fishes as had been caught, and that He said to Peter alone: Fear not, from now on you shall be catching men (Luke 5:10), yet that they followed Him together once the ships had been drawn up on land. From this it is to be understood that what Luke intimates was done first, and that they were not then called by the Lord, but that it was only foretold to Peter that he would catch men. This was not said as though he would never again catch fish. For we read that they fished even after the Lord's resurrection. What was said, then, is that thenceforth he would catch men; it was not said that he would no longer catch fish. Hence it is given us to understand, according to Luke, that they went back to catching fish as they were accustomed, so that afterwards there came about what Matthew and Mark relate, when He called them two by two and Himself commanded them to follow Him, first the two, Peter and Andrew, then the other two, the sons of Zebedee. For then they did not draw their ships up on land as though with a care to return, but followed Him thus, as One calling and commanding them to follow. And they enter Capernaum, and straightway on the sabbaths, having entered the synagogue, He taught them. That He bestows the gifts of His healing and teaching chiefly on the Sabbaths teaches that He is not under the law but above the law, He Who came to fulfil that same law, not to destroy it; and that He chooses not the Jewish Sabbath, on which it is not lawful either to kindle a fire or to move hand and foot, but that the true Sabbath and the rest beloved of the Lord is this: if, intent on the salvation of souls, we refrain from servile work, that is, from all unlawful things.

And they were astonished at His teaching, etc. For they taught the peoples what is written in Moses and the prophets; but Jesus, as God and Lord of Moses himself, by the freedom of His own will either added to the law what seemed lacking, or preached to the peoples changing it, as we read in Matthew: It was said to them of old, but I say to you (Matt. 5:21–22).

And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, etc. This confession is not one of the will, which the reward of confessing follows, but one wrung out by necessity, which compels the unwilling to confess. And just as runaway slaves, if after a long time they see their master, beg for nothing else than to be spared the lash, so the demons too, seeing the Lord suddenly dwelling on earth, believed that He had come to judge them. The presence of the Saviour is the torment of demons. And Jesus rebuked him, saying: Be silent, and go out of the man. Since by the envy of the devil death entered into the world (Wis. 2:24), therefore the medicine of salvation had first to work against the very author of death: first the serpent's tongue had to be shut, lest it spread its poison any further; then

the woman, who was first led astray, had to be cured of the fever of carnal concupiscence; thirdly the man, who listened to the words of his wife's evil counsel, had to be cleansed of the leprosy of his error, so that the order of restoration in the Lord should be the very order there had been of the fall in our first parents: And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him. Luke says of the unclean spirit that it went out of the man in such a way as to do him no harm. It can therefore seem contradictory how, according to Mark, it was tearing him, or, as some manuscripts have it, convulsing him, whom according to Luke it did no harm. But Luke himself too says: And when the demon had thrown him into the midst, it went out of him, and did him no harm at all (Luke 4:35). From this it is understood that Mark said convulsing him, or tearing him, for what Luke said, when it had thrown him into the midst, so that by what Luke adds next, and did him no harm at all, it is understood that that tossing and torment of his limbs did not weaken him, as demons are wont to go out even with some limbs cut off or torn away.

And they all marvelled, so that they questioned among themselves, etc. Having seen the power of the miracle, they marvel at the newness of the Lord's teaching, and are roused by what they had seen to inquire into what they had heard. For assuredly the signs were done for this end, whether those the Lord Himself performed in the manhood He had assumed, or those He gave His disciples to perform, that through them the Gospel of the kingdom of God which was being preached might be believed more surely, since those who promised to the earth-born the heavenly joys to come were showing heavenly and divine works on earth. But the disciples, as mere men, did all things by the Lord's gift. The Lord Himself, however, by the singular strength of His power worked both cures and miracles, and spoke in the world what He heard from the Father. For before as well (as the Gospel bears witness) He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes (Matt. 7:29). And now, with the crowd bearing witness, with authority He commands the unclean spirits, and they obey Him (Mark 1:27).

And straightway, going out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon, etc. If we say that the man freed from the demon signifies, in the moral sense, the mind cleansed from unclean thought, it follows that the woman assailed by fevers but cured at the Lord's command shows the flesh reined in from the heat of its concupiscence by the precepts of continence. For all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamour, and blasphemy (Eph. 4:31) is the fury of the unclean spirit. But fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and avarice (which is the service of idols [Eph. 5:5]): understand these as the fever of the enticing flesh. And straightway they tell Him of her, and coming to her He raised her up, having taken her by the hand. In the Gospel of Luke it is written that they asked Him for her, and standing over her He commanded the fever. For now on being asked, now of His own accord, the Saviour cures the sick, showing that against the passions of the vices too He always both assents to the prayers of the faithful, and sometimes either gives them to understand those things which they themselves do not at all understand in themselves, or, for those who ask piously, forgives them even when not understood, and according to what

the Psalmist asks: Who understands his sins? From my hidden ones cleanse me, O Lord (Ps. 18:13).

And straightway the fever left her, and she ministered to them. It is natural for the feverish, when health begins to return, to grow weary and to feel the discomfort of the sickness. But the health that is conferred by the Lord's command returns whole all at once. Nor does it return alone, but with such strength accompanying it that she is at once equal to ministering to those who had helped her; and, by the laws of tropology, the members that had served uncleanness unto iniquity so as to bear fruit for death serve justice unto eternal life.

And when evening came, when the sun had set, they brought to Him, etc. The setting of the sun signifies the passion and death of Him Who said: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world (John 9:5). And when the sun is setting, more demoniacs than before, more sick are healed. For He Who, living in the flesh for a time, taught a few of the Jews, having trampled down the kingdom of death, sent on to all the nations throughout the world the gifts of faith and salvation. To His ministers, as heralds of life and light, the Psalmist sings: Make a way for Him Who ascends above the setting (Ps. 67:5). For the Lord ascended above the setting, because whence He set in His passion, thence by rising again He manifested His greater glory.

And He cast out many demons, etc. Luke writes of these more plainly: And demons also went out from many, crying out and saying: Thou art the Son of God. And rebuking them He did not suffer them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ (Luke 4:41). The demons therefore confessed the Son of God; and they knew that He was the Christ, because the devil, who had recognized Him as a man worn by a fast of XL days, and could not by tempting find out whether He was also the Son of God, now through the power of the signs either understood, or rather suspected, that He was the Son of God. It was not, then, because he thought He was not the Christ or the Son of God that he persuaded the Jews to crucify Him, but because he did not foresee that he himself would be condemned by His death. For truly the Apostle says of this mystery hidden from the ages that none of the princes of this world knew it. For had they known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (I Cor. 2:8). Why the Lord forbids the demons to speak, the Psalmist makes plain, who says: But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare My justices, and take My covenant in your mouth? But you have hated discipline (Ps. 49:16–17), and so on. Lest anyone, while he hears the preacher, should follow one who errs. For the devil is a wicked master, who often mingles false things with true, so as to cloak the testimony of fraud with the appearance of truth.

And rising very early, He went out and departed into a desert place, etc. If the death of the Saviour is expressed by the setting of the sun, why should not His resurrection be indicated by the return of dawn? When its light had been made manifest He departed into the desert of the nations, and there He prayed in His faithful, because by the grace of His Spirit He roused their hearts to the virtue of prayer. And He was preaching in their synagogues and in all Galilee, and casting out demons. In this preaching which he says He held in all Galilee is understood also that sermon delivered on

the mount, of which Matthew makes mention. For Mark continues thus:

And there came to Him a leper beseeching Him, etc. He joins on this leper's cleansing, so that he is understood to be the one whom Matthew records was then cleansed, when after that sermon the Lord came down from the mount. For thus Matthew says: And when He had come down from the mount, great crowds followed Him (Matt. 8:1). And behold, a leper coming worshipped Him, saying: Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean, etc. And since the Lord says: I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it (Matt. 5:17), he who was shut out by the law, presuming that he would be purified by the Lord's power, judged that the grace which could wash away the leper's stain was not from the law but above the law. And as the authority of power is declared in the Lord, so is the constancy of faith in him. He falls on his face, which is a mark of humility and of shame, so that each one may blush for the stains of his own life; but shame did not hold back confession. He showed the wound, he asked for the remedy, and the confession itself is full of religion and faith. If Thou wilt, he says, Thou canst make me clean. He attributed power to the Lord's will. Yet he did not doubt the Lord's will as one unbelieving of His mercy, but as one conscious of his own foulness he did not presume. And Jesus, having compassion on him, stretched out His hand, and touching him said to him: I will; be made clean. And when He had said it, straightway the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. There is nothing between the work of God and His command, because the work is in the command. In short, He spoke and they were made (Ps. 32:9). Do you see, then, that it cannot be doubted that the will of God is power? If, then, His will is power, those who assert one will assert, surely, one power. And so, as one having the power to heal and the authority to command, He does not shrink from the witness of working. For He says I will on account of Photinus, He commands on account of Arius, He touches on account of the Manichaean. And the law indeed forbids lepers to be touched; but since He is the Lord of the law, He does not obey the law, but makes the law. He touched, then, not because he could not be cleansed without a touch, but to prove that He was not subject to the law. Nor did He fear contagion as men do, but since He Who set others free could not be defiled, the leprosy, which was wont to defile the one who touched it, is put to flight by the Lord's touch. And at the same time this is wonderful, that He healed in the very form in which He had been entreated. If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. I will, He says; be made clean. You have the will; you have also the effect of His mercy. It is not, then (as many of the Latins think), to be joined and read I will to cleanse, but separately, so that He first says I will, and then commands, be made clean.

And He sternly charged him, and straightway sent him away, etc. Why is he commanded to tell no one, except to teach that our benefactions are not to be published but kept hidden, so that we abstain not only from the reward of money but also from that of favour?

But go and show yourself to the chief of the priests, etc. He is commanded to show himself to the priest, so that the priest might understand that he was [cleansed] not by the order of the law, but by the grace of God above the law

[cleansed]. And He [bade him] offer sacrifice so that the Lord might show that He was not destroying the law but fulfilling it, He Who, walking according to the law, above the law healed those whom the remedies of the law had not healed. And he did well to add: For a testimony to them, that is, if they believe God, if the leprosy of impiety departs. But if it troubles anyone how the Lord seems to approve the Mosaic sacrifice, when the Church has not received it, let him remember that the holy of holies sacrifice, which is His body, had not yet begun. For He had not yet offered His holocaust in the passion. And the signifying sacrifices ought not to be taken away before what they signified had been confirmed by the witness of the preaching apostles and by the faith of the believing peoples. But since this man figuratively designates the human race, sick with sins, he is rightly described not only as leprous, but, according to the Gospel of Luke, as full of leprosy. For all have sinned, and need the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). That [glory], namely, so that, the Saviour's hand being stretched out, that is, the Word of God being incarnate and touching human nature, they may be cleansed from the variety of their ancient error, and may hear with the apostles: Now you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you (John 15:3); and those who for a long time were abominable, set apart from the camp by the people of God, may at length be restored to the temple and be offered to the priest, to Him, that is, to Whom it is said: Thou art a priest for ever (Ps. 109:4), hearing from the Apostle: For the temple of God is holy, which you are (I Cor. 3:17); and may offer for their cleansing as Moses commanded, that is, present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1).

But he, going out, began to proclaim and to spread abroad the word, so that He could no longer go openly into the city, but was outside in desert places: and they came together to Him from every side. The perfect healing of one man drives great crowds to the Lord: for, so that he might show that he had been healed within and without, he by no means keeps silent about the benefit he had received, as he had been ordered by the very One from Whom he had received it; rather, performing the office of an evangelist, he straightway went out and began to proclaim and spread abroad the word. Hence it is rightly asked what it means that the Lord ordered some things He had done to be hidden, and they could not be hidden even for an hour. Did the only-begotten Son, coeternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, have in this matter a will that He could not fulfil? But it is to be noted that whatever our Redeemer did through His mortal body, He offered to us as an example of action. For in working a miracle He both commanded silence and yet silence could not be kept; so that, namely, His elect, following the example of His teaching, may indeed have it in their will that the great things they do lie hidden, but may be betrayed against their will so as to profit others; so that it is a mark of great humility that they desire their works to be kept silent, and of great sublimity that their works cannot be kept silent. The Lord, then, did not will anything to be done and fail to bring it about, but by the authority of His teaching He gave an example of what His members ought to will, and of what is done concerning them even against their will.

CHAPTER II.

And again He entered Capernaum, etc. God, the Saviour of all, goes through all places with His saving step. And then in the deserts, now in the city, now by the sea, He ministers to the crowds the gifts of heavenly teaching and of mighty works. Now He prays alone on the mountain, now He helps those toiling on the sea, lest they perish. Everywhere He imparts the gifts of salvation, to show that all ranks and conditions belong to His grace. But according to the mystical sense, after the miracle done in the city He withdraws into the desert, and there receives with kindly mercy the crowds gathering to Him, to show that He loves rather a quiet life, removed from the cares of the world, and that, because of His desire for this, He applies His care to healing bodies. And indeed, in human fashion, as though avoiding the throng of those seeking Him, He would not go openly into the city. But allegorically He taught that the truth does not show an open manifestation of itself to the tumultuous minds of the carnal, but on whomever it sees to be set apart from the allurements of temporal things it pours the light of its gifts more abundantly. Yet since the mercy from on high does not abandon even the carnal, but grants them too the grace of its visitation, through which they themselves also may be made spiritual, after the desert the Lord returns to the city; and to the many who come together there He speaks the word; and by healing the paralytic He gives to more the occasion of inward healing, which is in faith. That so many came together while the Lord was teaching and [in] the house that they could not find room, not even at the door, designates properly our salvation, who have come to the faith from the Gentiles, since when the Lord was preaching in Judaea we were not yet able to enter to hear. Yet He made the words of His teaching reach us, though placed outside, because He Himself gathered us through the mouths of holy preachers, and, though we were found outside the synagogue in which He preached, made us sharers of His Gospel. And they came bringing to Him a paralytic, who was carried by four. The cure of this paralytic designates the salvation of the soul that, after a long sloth of carnal allurement, sighs for Christ, which first of all needs ministers to lift it up and bring it to Christ, that is, good teachers to prompt it to hope for healing and to the help of intercession. And these are fittingly reported to have been four, whether because by the four books of the holy Gospel all the strength of preachers, all their word, is made firm, or because there are four virtues by which the mind's confidence is raised up to merit health. Of these it is said in praise of the eternal Wisdom: For she teaches sobriety and wisdom and justice and virtue, than which nothing is more profitable for men in life (Wis. 8:7). These some call by different names prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice. And when they could not offer him to Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. They desire to offer the paralytic to Christ, but are shut off on every side by the crowd in the way, because often the soul, coming to its senses before God after the sloth of the sick body, and longing to be renewed by the remedy of grace from on high, [is held back] by its former

is held back by the obstacle of former habit. Often amid the very sweetness of secret prayer, and as it were a pleasant converse with the Lord, a crowd of thoughts comes between and hinders the eye of the mind from seeing Christ. And what is to be done amid these things? Certainly not to remain outside, below, where the crowds are in tumult, but to go up to the roof of the house in which Christ teaches, that is, to seek the loftiness of holy Scripture, and with the Psalmist to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. For wherein does a young man correct his way? By keeping, he says, Thy words (Ps. 118:9). And having opened it, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. When the roof is opened the sick man is let down before Jesus, because once the mysteries of the Scriptures are unlocked one comes to the knowledge of Christ, that is, one descends to His humility by the devotion of faith. And it is well that the house of Jesus, according to the narrative of another evangelist, is found to have been covered with tiles, because under the contemptible veil of the letter, if there is one at hand to unlock divine things, the power of spiritual grace will be found. For the uncovering of the tiles in the house of Jesus is the opening, in the lowliness of the letter, of the spiritual sense and of heavenly secrets. And that the sick man is let down with his bed signifies that Christ ought to be known by man while still set in this flesh.

And when Jesus had seen their faith, etc. Being about to cure the man of palsy, the Lord first loosed the bonds of his sins, to show that it was because of the bonds of his faults that he had been condemned to the loosening of his limbs, and that he could not be healed by the recovery of his members unless these were first undone. So too to that paralytic who beside the Sheep pool long waited in vain for the moving of the water, when he had been healed by the Lord it is said: Behold, you are made whole; sin no more, lest something worse befall you (John 5:14).

Son, He says, your sins are forgiven you. O wonderful humility! One despised and feeble and loosened in all the joints of his members He calls son, whom the priests would not have deigned to touch. Or rightly, then, son, because his sins are forgiven him. It is surely to be considered how much each one's own faith avails with God, when another's availed so much that the whole man suddenly, that is, now saved outwardly and inwardly, rose up, and by the merit of some the errors of others were forgiven.

But there were there some of the scribes sitting and thinking in their hearts, etc. The scribes speak truly, that no one can forgive sins but God, Who also forgives through those to whom He gives the power of forgiving. And therefore Christ is proved to be truly God, because He can forgive sins as God. They bear true witness to God, but are deceived in denying the person of Christ. The Jews therefore err, who, while they believe that the Christ is both God and able to forgive sins, yet do not believe that Jesus is the Christ. But the Arians err far more madly, who, though, overcome by the words of the Gospel, they dare not deny that Jesus is the Christ and can forgive sins, nevertheless do not fear to deny that He is God. But He, desiring to save the faithless, shows Himself to be God both by the knowledge of hidden things and by the power of His works. For there follows: Which

[Which] being straightway known, Jesus [perceiving] in His spirit that they so thought within themselves, says to them: Why do you think these things in your hearts? He shows Himself to be God, Who can know the secrets of the heart. And in a certain manner, though silent, He speaks: By the same majesty and power by which I behold your thoughts, I can also forgive men their sins. Understand from yourselves what the paralytic obtains. Which is easier, to say to the paralytic: Your sins are forgiven you, or to say: Arise, and take up your bed, and walk? Between saying and doing there is a great distance. Whether the paralytic's sins had been forgiven only He knew Who forgave them. But Arise and walk both he who was rising and those who saw him rising could attest. A carnal sign, then, is done, that the spiritual may be proved, although it belongs to the same power to forgive the faults both of body and of soul. And we are given to understand that many weaknesses of bodies come about because of sins. And perhaps for this reason the sins are forgiven first, so that, the causes of the weakness being removed, health may be restored. For there are five different causes for which we are afflicted in this life with bodily troubles. For either we are weighed down with infirmity of body to increase the merits of the just through patience, like the blessed fathers Job and Tobias and countless martyrs in both Testaments. Or for the guarding of virtues received, lest they perish when pride tempts, like the apostle Paul, to whom, lest he be lifted up by the greatness of the revelations, there was given a sting of his flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet him. Or for understanding and correcting our sins, as Mary the sister of Aaron in the wilderness was struck with leprosy for words of rashness and pride; or like the paralytic of whom we are treating, who could be cured of his infirmity only when his sins had first been forgiven. Or for the glory of God Who saves, whether through Himself or through His servants, like the man born blind in the Gospel, of whom neither he himself sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him; like Lazarus, whose sickness was not unto death but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified by it. Or for the beginning of eternal damnation, which is the lot of the reprobate, and their own, like Antiochus and Herod, who both, fighting against God in their own time, showed to all by the misery of their present afflictions what they were to suffer of torments in Gehenna for ever. To these fits that saying of the prophet: And with a double destruction destroy them. Hence it is necessary that in all the adversities we suffer in time we give thanks to the Lord with humility, and, conscious of our infirmity, rejoice in the remedies bestowed on us. It is necessary that, turning back to our conscience, we carefully examine our deeds and our thoughts together, and whatever we find we have sinned in we purge with fitting chastisement; whatever of those things we believed we had done rightly we find has perished in us through the vice of pride, this too we chastise with humble satisfaction. For this is quite often the cause of the scourges upon us. But for the innocent and just to be scourged for the increase of their rewards belongs to the perfect, and is the special gift of [such] men. But by temporal scourges

to be driven on to eternal torments is the punishment of the impenitent reprobate.

But that you may know that the Son of man has power, etc. If both He is God, according to the Psalmist, Who as far as the East is from the West has removed our iniquities from us, and the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, then the same One is both God and son of man, so that both the man Christ by the power of His divinity can forgive sins, and the same God Christ can die for sinners through the frailty of His humanity. Spiritually, however, to rise from the bed is for the soul to draw itself away from the carnal desires where it lay sick. To take up the bed is to set apart from earthly delights, in the hope of heavenly rewards, the flesh itself too, restrained by the reins of continence. And to go home with the bed taken up is to return to paradise. For this is our true home, which first received man, lost not by right but by fraud, at last restored through Him Who owed nothing to the fraudulent enemy. Otherwise: the one who had been sick, made whole, carries his bed back home when the soul, having received the remission of sins, brings itself back together with the body itself to an inward watch over itself, lest after pardon it commit anything for which it might again justly be struck. And straightway he arose, and taking up his bed went away before them all, so that all marvelled, and glorified God, saying: We never saw it thus. How marvellous the strength of the divine power, where, with no moment of time intervening, swift health accompanies the Saviour's command! Rightly those who were present, the darts of blasphemy condemned, turn their astonished hearts to the praise of such great majesty. And He went out again to the sea, and all the crowd came to Him, and He taught them. Teaching in Capernaum, the Lord commended the heavenly power of His teaching by the cure of the paralytic. When this was done He went out to the sea, so that He might not only set the civil life of men in the way of truth, but also preach the Gospel of the kingdom to the dwellers by the sea, and teach them to despise the wave-tossed movements of passing things and to overcome them by the firmness of faith. Then He teaches there the very great crowd coming to Him. There He calls a publican from the tax-office and makes him an apostle and evangelist. There He makes many sinners, corrected through penance, worthy of His supper and of the hearing of His secrets, and, separating them from the swelling waves and the sea-monsters of deceiving desires, draws them to the solid ground of a quiet way of life, which is in the hope of heavenly goods. For there follows:

And as He passed by, He saw Levi [the son] of Alphaeus, etc. "At the tax-office" he says, meaning at the charge and management of the revenues; for in Greek it is called τέλος, in Latin vectigal: and the same Levi is also Matthew. But Luke and Mark, out of reverence for the evangelist and to honour him, were unwilling to set down his common name. Matthew himself, however, according to what is written, the just man is his own accuser, at the beginning of his account names himself Matthew and the publican; to show his readers that no one who is converted ought to despair of salvation, since he himself from a publican into an apostle

from a tax-collector into an evangelist was suddenly changed.

And rising he followed Him. In the Gospel of Luke it is written more fully: And leaving all things, rising he followed Him (Luke 5:28). Matthew, then, understanding what it is truly to follow the Lord, follows having left all things. For to follow is to imitate. And therefore, so that he might pursue the poor Christ not so much with his step as with his affection, he who used to seize what belonged to others left what was his own. And giving us the perfect pattern of renunciation of the world, he not only left the profits of the revenues, but despised the danger that could come from the princes of the world, because he had left the accounts of the revenues unfinished and unsettled. For he was led by so great a desire of following the Lord that he kept back for himself no regard or thought whatever for this life. For indeed the Lord Himself, Who outwardly called him by human address to follow Him, inwardly by divine inspiration kindled him to follow at once the One calling, and Himself invisibly taught him how He was to be followed. Wherefore, by the merit of obedience, while despising human business he forsakes it, he was made a faithful steward of the Lord's talents.

And it came to pass, as He sat at table in his house, many publicans, etc. The evangelist Luke writes that Levi made Him a great feast in his house, which fits aptly with the figures of the mysteries. For whoever receives Christ into the inner dwelling is fed with the greatest delights of overflowing pleasures. And so the Lord gladly enters, and reclines in the affection of him who has believed. And this is the spiritual feast of good works, which the rich people lacks and the poor feasts on. Publicans, as they show even by their name, is what those are called who exact the public revenues, or who are contractors for the revenues of the treasury or of public property; and those too who pursue the gains of this world by business are reckoned under the same name. So they had seen that the publican, converted from sins to better things, had found a place of penance, and for that reason they themselves also do not despair of salvation. Yet the publicans do not come to Jesus remaining in their former vices, as the Pharisees and Scribes murmur, but doing penance, as the Evangelist's following words indicate, saying: For there were many, who also followed Him. And the Lord went to the feasts of sinners so as to have the occasion of teaching, and to provide spiritual food for those who invited Him. In short, when they describe Him going often to a feast, nothing else is related but what He did there, what He taught, so that both the humility of the Lord in going to sinners and the power of His teaching in the conversion of penitents might be shown.

And the Scribes and Pharisees, seeing that He ate with sinners, etc. If by the choice of Matthew and the calling of the Publicans is expressed the faith of the Gentiles, who formerly gaped after the gain of the world but now are refreshed with the Lord at the banquet of charity and by the diligent devotion of good works, then surely the haughtiness of the Scribes and Pharisees intimates the envy of the Jews by which they are tormented over the salvation of the Gentiles. To them He Himself says: Amen I say to you, that the publicans and harlots go before

you into the kingdom of God. — Jesus, having heard this, said to them: They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are ill. For I came not to call the just but sinners. He rebukes the scribes and Pharisees, who, thinking themselves just, avoided the company of sinners. He calls Himself a physician, Who by a wondrous manner of healing was wounded for our iniquities, and by His bruise we are healed (Isa. 53). Now He calls healthy and just those who, not knowing the justice of God and wishing to establish their own, have not submitted to the justice of God (Rom. 10); who, presuming on the law, do not seek the grace of the Gospel. But He calls ill and sinners those who, overcome by the awareness of their own frailty, and seeing that they cannot be justified through the law, bow their necks in penitence to the grace of Christ.

And the disciples of John were, etc. The other evangelists report that the Pharisees themselves and the disciples of John pressed the Lord with this question. Here, however, the Gospel's words seem to sound as though some others, whom concern for this matter had stirred, put this question to Him. Hence it is to be gathered that this question was put to the Lord by several, that is, both by the Pharisees and by the disciples of John, and by the guests at table, or by any others whom this troubled: why the disciples of John and the Pharisees fasted, while the disciples of the Saviour did not fast. In the mystical sense, however, it can be expounded thus: that the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but those of Christ do not fast, because everyone who either glories in the works of the law without faith, or, what is graver, follows the traditions of men, or at any rate receives even the very proclamation of Christ with the ear of the body only and not also with the faith of the heart, abstaining from spiritual goods, wastes away with a fasting heart. But he who is incorporated into the members of Christ by faithful love cannot fast, since he feasts on His flesh and blood. Otherwise: John drinks neither wine nor strong drink, the Lord eats and drinks with publicans and sinners, because the one increases merit by abstinence, having no power of nature; but the Lord, Who by nature had at hand the power to forgive sins, why should He shun those whom He could render purer than those who abstain? But Christ too fasted, lest you should shun the precept; He ate with sinners, that you might discern grace and recognize power. And Jesus said to them: Can the children of the wedding fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them; and then they shall fast in that day. In Matthew it is put thus: Can the children of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them (Matt. 9)? The bridegroom, then, is Christ, the bride is the Church. Of this holy and spiritual wedlock the apostles were created. They cannot mourn and fast as long as they see the bridegroom in the bridal chamber and know that the bridegroom is with the bride. But when the wedding has passed and the time of the passion and resurrection has come, then the children of the bridegroom shall fast. According to the laws of tropology, moreover, it is to be known that as long as the bridegroom is with us and we are in joy, we can neither fast nor mourn. When

however, He has withdrawn from us on account of sins and flown away, then fasting is to be proclaimed, then mourning is to be taken up. No one sews a patch of rough cloth on an old garment. Otherwise the new piece takes away from the old, and a greater rent is made. When the Lord had been asked why His disciples did not fast, He answered that those who were still carnal, and not yet made firm by faith in His passion and resurrection, could not bear the severer fasts and precepts of continence, lest through excessive austerity they should lose even the belief which they seemed to have. He therefore calls the disciples, as they still were, old garments, on which a new cloth is unfittingly sewn, that is, some small part of the teaching which pertains to the temperance of the new life; because if this were done, the teaching itself would in a way be torn, a small part of which, that which bears on fasting from foods, would be handed on out of season, since it teaches a general fast, not from the desire of foods only, but from all joy in temporal delights. A sort of cloth from it, that is, some part which pertains to foods, He says ought not to be imparted to men still given over to the old habit, because a sort of tearing apart seems to be made there too, and it does not suit that oldness itself.

And no one puts wine, etc. He likewise compares the same men to old wineskins, which, He says, are more easily burst by new wine, that is, by spiritual precepts, than able to hold it. But they were already new wineskins when, after the Lord's ascension, they were being renewed by praying and hoping in longing for His consolation. For then they received the Holy Spirit, and when, filled with Him, they spoke in all tongues, it was said by the Jews, who did not know but nevertheless bore true witness: These men are full of new wine (Acts 2). For the new wine had now come into new wineskins, that is, the fervour of the Holy Spirit had filled the hearts of the spiritual. Otherwise. The teacher must take care not to entrust the secrets of the new mysteries to a soul not yet renewed but persisting in the oldness of malice. And if anyone asks what difference there is, in the mystical sense, between new wine and a new garment, it is readily plain: by wine we are refreshed and made drunk within, but with a garment we are clothed outwardly. Since, however, both belong to the signifying of the spiritual life, the garment surely suggests our good works which we do outwardly and by which we shine before men; but by the new wine is expressed the fervour of faith, hope and charity, by which, in the sight of our Maker, we are ourselves reformed inwardly in the newness of our mind.

And it came to pass again on the Sabbaths, etc. We read in what follows that there were many coming and going, and they had not even time to eat, and therefore, as men, they were hungry. That they rub ears of the standing grain in their hands and console their hunger is a sign of a more austere life, of men seeking not prepared feasts but simple foods. But the Pharisees said to Him: Behold, why do Thy disciples on the Sabbaths what is not lawful? Note that the first apostles of the Saviour destroy the letter of the Sabbath, against the Ebionites, who, while they accept the other apostles, Paul

they reject as a transgressor of the law. Mystically, however, the disciples pass through the sown fields, namely those of which the Lord says: Lift up your eyes and see the countries, for they are white already for the harvest. And he who reaps receives wages (John 4), when the holy teachers look with the care of devoted solicitude upon those whom they seek to instruct in the faith of the truth, and weigh with diligent consideration how, and in what order, they ought to draw each one to salvation. And therefore they are understood to hunger for nothing better than the salvation of men, which the first of the reapers himself once hungered for amid his prayers, and presently, when the dishes he desired were offered him, he heard: Arise, Peter, kill and eat (Acts 10). And there is a wonderful harmony of the mystery, because there animals sent from heaven are ordered to be slain and eaten, and here the disciples are related to have plucked ears consecrated by the Lord's passing through, and, according to the narrative of the other evangelists, to have rubbed them in their hands and eaten. For this is what the Apostle says: Mortify your members which are upon the earth, and put off the old man with his deeds (Col. 3). For no one passes into the body of Christ otherwise, nor otherwise feeds his teacher with the fruits of his own progress, than if, having renounced his old desires, he has been made a new man by the new commandment of love. To pluck the ears, then, is to root men out of the earthly aim in which they had fixed the ground of their mind as a kind of root; and to rub them with the hands is, by examples of the virtues, to strip the purity of the mind of the very concupiscence of the flesh, as of the husks and coverings of the beards. But to eat the grains is for each one, cleansed from the filth of vices, to be incorporated into the members of the Church through the mouths of the preachers. And well are the disciples recorded to have done this going ahead before the Lord, because the teacher's word must go before, and so the grace of the heavenly visitation, following after, enlightens the heart of the hearer. Well, on the Sabbaths, because the holy teachers themselves also labour in preaching for the hope of the future rest, and likewise admonish their hearers not to apply themselves to superfluous business for love of the world, but rather to toil at good labours for the eternal rest. Again, they walk through the sown fields with the Lord who, eager to obey the divine commands, delight to meditate skilfully on the sacred words. They hunger in the fields when, in those same sacred words which they go through in reading, they long to find the bread of life, that is, they take care to arrive at those words by which they may kindle in themselves a fuller love of their Maker. And this on the Sabbaths, when, with the mind quieted, they rejoice to be free from turbulent thoughts and to see how sweet the Lord is, and how blessed is the man who hopes in Him (Ps. 33). And having put on the habit of piety and humility, they strive to attain to the rest of their souls. They pluck the ears that happen to come their way, and keep turning them in their hands and cleanse them, crushed, until they come to the food, when, by meditating, they take up the testimonies of the Scriptures which they reach in reading, and examine them with diligent searching until, finding in them the marrow of love which seemed to lie hidden, they draw it out. For just as the grains are veiled by the roughness of the bristling beards

of wheat which refresh, so often beneath what seemed the usefulness of the letter are covered the gifts of the divine love, which feed with the dishes of inward sweetness the minds of the faithful who hunger and thirst for justice. But this refreshment of minds displeases, indeed, the foolish defenders of the Sabbath, yet is approved by the Lord of the Sabbath, because those who follow only the surface of the letter know neither how to recognize the true refreshment of minds nor how to arrive at the inward rest of souls. Hence their rashness is deservedly confounded by the mouth of the Truth, when there follows:

And He said to them: Have you never read, etc.? To refute the false charge of the Pharisees He recalls the ancient history, when David, fleeing Saul, came to Nob, and, received by Abimelech the priest, asked for food (I Kgs. 21). He, since he had no common bread, gave him the consecrated loaves, which it was not lawful for any to eat but the priests and Levites alone. And he asked only this, whether the young men were clean from women: and when David answered, since yesterday and the day before, he did not hesitate to give the loaves, judging it better (as the prophet says, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice [Hos. 6]) to free men from the danger of hunger than to offer sacrifice to God. For the salvation of men is a victim pleasing to God. The Lord therefore objects and says: If David too is holy, and Abimelech the high priest is not blamed by you, but both transgressed the commandment of the law with an acceptable excuse, and hunger was the cause, why do you not approve the same hunger in the apostles which you approve in the others? Although in this too there is much difference. These rub ears in their hand on the Sabbath; those ate the Levitical loaves. There, moreover, the days of the new moons were being added to the solemnity of the Sabbath, on which, being sought at the feasts, he fled from the royal court. Figuratively, however, what He says, that David and his young men received the sanctified loaves, shows that the priestly food was to pass over to the use of the peoples, whether because we all ought to imitate the priestly life, or because all the children of the Church are priests. For we are anointed into a holy priesthood, offering ourselves to God as spiritual victims. Of this whole history we have spoken more fully, according to our capacity, in the exposition of the book of Kings, and of the table and the loaves of proposition in the book of the exposition of the tabernacle and its vessels. But that the Lord calls Abiathar the chief of the priests instead of Abimelech has no discord in it. For both were there when David came and asked for the loaves and received them, namely Abimelech the chief of the priests and Abiathar his son. But when Abimelech had been slain by Saul, with eighty-five men of his house of the priestly stock, Abiathar fled to David and became the companion of his whole exile. Afterwards, while David reigned, he too received the rank of the high priesthood, and continuing in the pontificate through the whole time of his reign, became of much greater excellence than his father. And therefore he was worthy that the Lord should make mention of him as high priest even while his father was living. And He said to them: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Greater care is to be given to the health and life of man than to the keeping of the Sabbath. For thus the commandment too

is the sabbath to be kept, yet so that, if there were necessity, he who had violated the sabbath would not be guilty. Therefore circumcision on the Sabbath is not forbidden, because it had to be done. For Joshua too went round the walls of Jericho with the army for seven days. And the Maccabees, when necessity pressed, fought on the Sabbath. Hence, when the disciples were hungry, what was not lawful in the law was made lawful by the necessity of hunger. This case is like that today in the lawful fasts: where, if anyone who is sick breaks the fast, he is in no way held guilty. Therefore the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. If, He says, King David is excusable for having fed on the priestly food, and, according to the narrative of another evangelist, the priests who violate the sabbath through the ministry of the temple are free from blame, how much more is the Son of man, Who is true king and true priest, and therefore Lord of the Sabbath, not held guilty of the fault of the ears plucked on the sabbath?

CHAPTER III.

And He entered again into the synagogue, etc. The man who has a withered hand signifies the human race, dried up in the fruitfulness of good work, but healed by the Lord's compassion. Its right hand, which had withered in our first parent when he plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree, was restored to health with the sap of good works through the grace of the Redeemer when He stretched out His innocent hands on the tree of the cross. And well was the hand withered in the synagogue, because where the gift of knowledge is greater, there the danger of inexcusable guilt is graver. And they watched Him, whether He would heal on the Sabbaths, that they might accuse Him. Because the master had excused, by an acceptable example, the destruction of the Sabbath which they charged against the disciples, now by watching they wish to slander the master himself, so that if He heals on the sabbath they may charge Him with transgression; if He does not heal, with cruelty or weakness. And He said to the man who had the withered hand: Stand up in the middle. And He says to them: Is it lawful on the Sabbaths to do good, or evil? The Lord, forestalling the slander of the Jews which they had prepared for Him with treacherous mind, rebukes them because they violated the precepts of the law by a perverse interpretation, judging that on the Sabbath one must rest even from good works, whereas the law bids one abstain from evil ones, saying: You shall do no servile work on it, that is, sin. For everyone who commits sin is the servant of sin. By this precept He also foreshadows in present things the form of the world to come, where those who have done good through the six ages of this world will in the seventh age have holiday from evil things only, but not also from good ones. For although worldly works come to rest, yet to rest in the praises of God is no idle doing of good work. To save life, or to destroy it? That is, to heal a man, or not? It is the same as what He had said before, To do good, or evil? Not that God, the supremely good, could be the author of evil or of perdition for us, but that, by the usage of Scripture, His not saving is called destroying. As He is said to have hardened Pharaoh's heart, not that He hardened it when it was soft, but that He was unwilling in mercy to soften it when it had been hardened by previous deserts. And we, when we ask, Lead us not into temptation (Matt. 6), by adding at once, But deliver us from evil, are plainly taught that His leading

into temptation is nothing other than not delivering from evil, and that His destroying a life is not saving it from perdition. But if it troubles anyone why the Lord, when He was about to heal a body, asked about the saving of a soul, let him understand either that "soul" is put for "man" in the manner of the Scriptures, as it is said: These are the souls that came out of the thigh of Jacob (Exod. 1); or that He did those miracles for the salvation of the soul; or that the very healing of the hand signified the salvation of the soul, which, ceasing (as I said before) from good works, seemed in a way to have a withered right hand. But they were silent. And looking round on them with anger, being grieved at the blindness of their heart, He says to the man: Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored to him. The withered hand that is to be healed is bidden to be stretched out, because the fruitless weakness of the soul is healed in no better way than by the bounty of almsgiving. Hence John the Baptist, when the crowds asked what they should do so as not to be cast into the fire like dry trees, commands this alone: He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. And he who has food, let him do likewise (Luke 3). And in Ecclesiasticus it is said: Son, let not your hand be stretched out to receive, and drawn back from giving (Sir. 4). For in vain does he spread out his hands to God to pray for his sins who has not stretched them out to the widow who asks, to bestow a kindness.

But the Pharisees going out immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. He calls Herodians the servants of Herod the tetrarch, who, on account of the enmity which their master exercised against John, pursued with snares and hatred the Saviour too, Whom John preached. And it was great folly that those who were most in need of salvation should take counsel about the death of the Saviour. How much they are bent on wickedness is shown when they count even this as a crime, that at His word the man who was ailing stretched out his right hand healed; as if each of them did not do greater things on the Sabbaths, carrying food, holding out a cup, and performing the other things that are needful for sustenance. For He Who spoke, and they were made, could not be convicted of having laboured on the Sabbath.

And Jesus with His disciples withdrew to the sea. He withdrew as a man fleeing the snares of His persecutors, because neither had the hour of His passion yet come, nor was the place of His passion outside Jerusalem. He withdrew, fleeing those who persecuted Him out of hatred; but He went there where He found more who followed Him out of love. For there follows: And a great crowd from Galilee and Judaea followed Him, and from Jerusalem and from Idumaea, and beyond the Jordan; and those about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what He was doing, came to Him. Behold, the Pharisees and the Herodians, namely the masters of the people and the servants of the king, seek with one-minded counsel to destroy the Lord. But the untaught crowd and the common people gathered from everywhere follow Him with one-minded love. The former, seeing the works of His miracles and hearing the words of His teaching, seek nothing further to learn,

wished nothing other than to persecute Him. These, led only by the report of His miracles, come in a very great throng to hear Him and to beg the help of healing. Hence they presently deserve to obtain the fulfilment of their will and desire, very many being healed by the Lord, as is read in what follows. Here He also gave His followers an example, that if they suffered persecution in one city they should flee to another. Finally Paul, taught at once by the example and by the precept of the Lord, fled from Damascus, where he was being sought by the snares of wicked men. But having departed thence, he found elsewhere countless peoples to follow him to godliness. According to the laws of allegory, however, the Lord, in that, having gone out of the synagogue, He withdrew to the sea and received the very great multitude of people coming to Him everywhere, to heal and to teach them, plainly prefigured our salvation, to whom He deigned to come through faith, leaving Judaea behind on account of its unbelief. For rightly are the nations, long unbelieving and tossed about by the various windings of errors, compared to the instability, bitterness and darkness of the surging sea. But the Lord came to the sea with His disciples, and a great crowd from various provinces followed Him, because, through the preaching of the Apostles, He came to the hearts of the gentiles. And after He had graciously consecrated in them a house beloved by Him, He now kindly received many coming to Him, and granted them to obtain the salvation they desired. To them aptly applies what follows: And He told His disciples that a small boat should wait on Him because of the crowd, lest they should throng Him. For He healed many, so that they pressed upon Him to touch Him. For the small boat waiting on the Lord on the sea is the Church, gathered from the gentiles, which has passed over the waves of the fleeting world by the strength of a free mind.

The more she widens the bosom of her heart to receive the grace of her maker, the more loftily does she leap over all the rollings of passing things, as a small boat driven by favourable winds over the waves of the seething sea. There is a difference, however, between thronging the Lord and touching Him. For he touches Him who receives faith in Him and love of Him with a true heart.

They throng Him who, by carnal thoughts or even deeds, disturb the peace of those in whom the truth was wont to abide. Hence aptly those who touched Him are said to have been saved, because true faith and love are indeed wont to beget eternal salvation.

And the Lord goes up into the small boat because of the crowd, lest it should throng Him, because, fleeing the troubled minds of the carnal, He rejoices rather to come to those who have learned to despise the fleeting glory and likewise the abasement of the world, and to make His abode with them.

But as many as had plagues, the unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him. Both indeed fell down before the Lord, that is, both those who had plagues of bodily infirmities and those who were troubled by unclean spirits: but the sick with the simple intention of obtaining health, while the demoniacs, or rather the demons dwelling in them, compelled by the force of divine fear, not only to fall down before Him, but also

were compelled to confess His majesty. For struck by the presence of His power and exceedingly terrified, they by no means dared to hide Him Whom they had already come to know to be the Son of God. Here the blindness of the Arians is more than enough to be wondered at, or rather lamented, who, after the glory of His resurrection and ascension, after the faith of the Gospel has been spread through the whole world, after churches have been built among all the nations and the name of the Lord the Saviour praised in them from the rising of the sun to its setting, suddenly deny to be the Son of God Him Whom the demons, while He was still clothed in the mortal garment of the flesh, profess with open voice to be the Son of God. For thus it follows: And they cried out, saying: Thou art the Son of God. And He strongly charged them that they should not make Him known. But why He forbids the unclean spirits to speak of Him the Psalmist makes plain, who says: But to the sinner God said, Why do you declare My justices, and take My covenant in your mouth? But you have hated discipline, and have cast My words behind you (Ps. 49).

The sinner, therefore, is forbidden to preach the Lord, lest anyone, while listening to him preaching, should follow him in his error. For the devil is a wicked master, who often mingles false things with true, so as to cloak the testimony of deceit with the appearance of truth. Moreover, not only the demons, who confessed against their will, [were bidden] gladly to keep silence about Christ, but also those who, healed by Him, wished of their own accord to confess Him. Nay, the apostles themselves, who after the resurrection were to preach Him throughout the whole world, are commanded before His passion to keep altogether silent about Him, lest, namely, if the divine majesty were preached, the dispensation of the passion should be put off, and, the passion being put off, the salvation of the world, which was to come about through it, should be denied.

And going up into a mountain He called to Him whom He Himself would, and they came to Him, and He made twelve to be with Him. That mountain on which the Lord chose the apostles signifies the height of justice in which they were to be instructed, and which they were to preach to men. For since He was going to send them to preach the Gospel of the heavenly kingdom, rightly, through the loftiness of the place in which they were chosen, He wished to admonish them that they ought not to let the mind go slack in the lowest desires, but always to raise it to desire and seek the things above. So also, when about to give the law to His former people, He appeared on a mountain; from a mountain He thundered what was to be done. But because it was not yet the time for it to be said: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near (Matt. 4): but it was only said, Honour your father and mother, that you may be long-lived upon the land which the Lord your God will give you (Exod. 20), although these same words figuratively promise us the eternal kingdom, which is in the land of the living: the people could by no means draw near to the Lord speaking on the mountain, but heard from lower down what was said, because it did not yet know how to ascend with a mind capable of understanding the mysteries that were spoken: and Moses alone, because he had learned to hear the law spiritually, climbed to the summit of the mountain on which God was. And well is it said that the Lord, going up into a mountain, called

to Him whom He Himself would. For it was not of their choice and zeal, but of the divine condescension and grace, that they were called to the apostolate. Hence He also says to them elsewhere: You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you (John 15).

And He made twelve to be with Him. Surely for the sake of a definite mystery, namely that they should commend by their number too the salvation of the world which they preached by word. For three times four make twelve. And three times four apostles were sent to preach, that through all the regions of the four-square world they might baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Hence also of the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God it is written that it had on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates (Rev. 21). Here it is shown figuratively that, through the preaching of the apostles and of the apostles' successors, all the nations throughout the world would enter the Church in the faith of the Holy Trinity. In this mystery too the children of Israel once encamped around the tabernacle in such a way that on every side of the square three tribes abode (Num. 1). Because the primitive Church, namely, which was in Judaea, was to pitch for God, all round about her, spiritual camps in the faith and confession of the Holy Trinity, as the nations believed throughout the whole world.

And that He might send them to preach the Gospel. And He gave them power to heal infirmities and to cast out demons. After He had forbidden the abominable spirits to preach Him, He chose holy men, who would both cast out the unclean spirits and themselves preach the Gospel with clean mind and tongue. On them He also conferred the power of healing the other infirmities, and moreover of raising the dead (as Matthew the evangelist writes), so that the greatness of the deeds might bear witness to the greatness of the heavenly promises, and the power displayed might give credence to the words, and they who preached new things might do new things. Hence now too, when the number of the faithful has grown, there are many within the holy Church who hold to the way of the virtues and do not have the signs of miraculous powers.

For in vain is a miracle shown outwardly if there is lacking what may work inwardly. For according to the word of the teacher of the gentiles, tongues are for a sign not to the faithful, but to the unbelieving (1 Cor. 14).

And to Simon He gave the name Peter. He did not now for the first time give Simon the name of Peter, but long before, when, looking on him brought to Him by his brother Andrew, He said: You are Simon the son of Joanna; you shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter (John 1). But since the Evangelist, wishing to enumerate the names of the twelve apostles, had to say Peter, he took care to indicate briefly that he was not called this before, but that the Lord had so surnamed him, though not at that time, but when John set down the very words of the Lord, thus making his hearers attentive.

For if he had been called this before, you would not so see the mystery of the rock, thinking that he was so called by chance, not by the providence of God. Therefore He willed that he be called something else first,

so that by the very change of name the liveliness of the mystery might be commended. The same, then, that is Peter in Greek or Latin is Cephas in Syriac. And in both languages the name is derived from rock: no doubt that rock of which Paul says: And the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10). For just as Christ, the true light, granted to the apostles that they should be called the light of the world, so too on Simon, who believed in Christ the rock, He bestowed the name of Peter. Alluding to its etymology elsewhere, He said: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church (Matt. 16). But that Simon is interpreted "laying down grief" or "hearing sorrow" fits that time when, after the resurrection, having seen the Lord, he laid down his grief either for His death or for his own denial: but at once he heard the sorrow of his own death, when the Lord said: But when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and lead you whither you would not (John 21).

And James of Zebedee and John the brother of James (there is understood from the words above: He called to Him, when He went up into the mountain). And He gave them the names Boanerges, which is, sons of thunder. Fitly were they surnamed sons of thunder, one of whom, thundering from the heavens, sent forth that theological utterance which no one before had known how to give forth: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, etc. (John 1). Which he left so pregnant with the weight of such great power that, had he at any time wished to thunder more, the world itself could not have contained it. But both, too, were often found worthy to be led apart by the Lord, and up a mountain, and on one occasion to hear the terrifying sound from the cloud: This is My beloved Son, hear Him (Mark 9.)

Their old names too, which they bore, were most fitting to their merits. For James means supplanter; John is said to mean "in whom is grace", or "grace of the Lord". For the one rejoiced both to supplant the care of the flesh at the Lord's call, and to despise the flesh itself when Herod put him to death; the other, because of the grace of special love which he had earned by the glory of virginity, reclined upon the breast of his Redeemer at the supper.

And Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas. Andrew is a Greek name and is interpreted "manly", from the fact that in Greek a man is called anēr. With this name he is most fittingly adorned who, at the preaching of John, at once took care to follow, to see and to hear the Lamb of God, and afterwards, when He called him, did not delay to follow Him, leaving all things, and to cleave to Him for ever. Philip is interpreted "mouth of a lamp" or "of lamps". And rightly, because, called by the Lord, he at once made it his concern to pass on, by the office of the mouth, to the brother he had found the light of grace by which he himself had been kindled and enlightened in heart, saying: We have found Him of Whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth (John 1). Bartholomew is Syriac, not Hebrew, and is interpreted "son of him who suspends the waters", which plainly signifies the Son of God, Who suspends the minds of His preachers to the contemplation of heavenly things, so that the more freely they fly up to the heights, the more fruitfully the hearts of earthly men, with the drops of their words,

with drops they may inebriate. Matthew is called "given", namely because by the great gift of the Lord he was delegated from tax-farmer and publican into the office of apostle and evangelist. Thomas [means] "abyss" or "twin", which in Greek is Didymus; and each interpretation fits his state. For he could rightly be called Didymus because of his doubtful heart in believing the fact of the Lord's resurrection. The same man could justly be called Abyss, since with sure faith he penetrated the height of the Lord's power celebrated in the resurrection. It is indeed to be noted that the evangelist Matthew, in describing the names of the apostles, puts it thus: Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew the publican. The other evangelists, then, in the joining of the names put Matthew first and afterwards Thomas, and do not ascribe the name of publican to him, lest by recalling his former way of life they should seem to taunt the evangelist. But he himself both puts Thomas before himself and calls himself a publican, so that where sin abounded, grace might more abound (Rom. 5[:20]). And James of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus. He set down James of Alphaeus with an addition, to distinguish him from James of Zebedee. He is the one who in the Gospels is named the brother of the Lord, and in the Epistle to the Galatians, because Mary the wife of Alphaeus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord; which Mary John the evangelist calls Mary of Cleophas, perhaps because either the same Alphaeus was also called Cleophas, or Mary herself, Alphaeus having died after James was born, married Cleophas. But that James was deservedly named son of Alphaeus, that is, "of the learned", the apostles themselves bear witness, who immediately after the Lord's passion ordained him to rule the Church of Jerusalem. Thaddaeus, moreover, is the one whom Luke, both in his Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, names Judas of James. For he was the brother of James the brother of the Lord, as he himself writes in his Epistle. Hence he too was called the brother of the Lord, his fellow-citizens bearing witness, who, astonished at His mighty works, said: Is not this the son of the carpenter and of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph, and of Jude, and of Simon (Matt. 13[:55])?

And Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. These too he set down with an addition, to distinguish them from Simon Peter and Judas of James. Now Simon the Cananaean took his surname from Cana, a village of Galilee, which the evangelist Luke set down with its interpretation, Simon Zelotes. For Cana [means] "zeal"; the Cananaean is called Zelotes, that is, "the zealous one". Judas Iscariot, moreover, took his name either from the village in which he was born or from the tribe of Issachar, a presage of his own damnation. For Issachar, which means "reward", hints at the price of the betrayal. Iscariot, which is interpreted "memory of death", shows that he committed the crime of the Lord's betrayal not on a sudden persuasion but after long premeditation. He is chosen among the apostles not through imprudence but through providence. For how great is the truth which not even a hostile servant weakens? How great the moral goodness of the Lord, who preferred that His judgement rather than His affection should be imperilled among us? For He had taken up the frailty of man, and therefore did not refuse even these parts of human weakness. He willed to be deserted, He willed to be betrayed, He willed to be handed over by His own apostle, so that you, by a companion

deserted, by a companion betrayed, may bear with moderation that your judgement has erred, that your kindness has been lost. Now the apostles having been ordained on the mountain, to be sent to preach the Gospel, it is fittingly added:

And they come to a house. For He leads the apostles chosen on the mountain back to a house, as if silently admonishing them that, after receiving the rank of the apostolate, they should return to their own conscience; and that, the wider the charge they have taken up of the peoples to be taught, the more skilfully they should themselves penetrate by reflection the dwellings of their own minds, and search out by diligent examination lest anything perhaps be found there that offends the eyes of the hidden Inspector. For thus each one, thus he rightly rules his neighbour, if he first purges from his own heart by studious searching whatever depravity was in it.

And the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat bread. O how happy the occupation of the Saviour, how blessed the thronging of the crowd flowing together, which had so much zeal for hearing the word of God, so much care for obtaining salvation, that for the Author of salvation, with those who were with Him, not even the hour of eating remained free from bestowing the solace of life upon the wretched! Would that Thou, Lord Jesus, in the times of our age too, wouldst grant so much grace to Thy faithful, that by their assiduity in learning they might hinder their teachers not only from the appetite for carnal pleasures, but sometimes even from the very taking of their daily bread! But let us see at what value the esteem of His kinsfolk weighs Him whom the crowd from outside throngs. There follows,

And when His own had heard, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said that He had turned to madness. Truly, as He Himself says elsewhere, A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country and in his own house. For Him whom the others desire to approach, to see and to hear as the Author of life and the Wisdom of God, His kinsfolk decide must be bound as one not master of his mind. For since they could not grasp the height of wisdom which they were hearing, they believed He had spoken as if out of His senses: after the example of those who, not bearing the sacrament of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, said: This saying is hard. Who can hear it? And therefore they went back, and walked no more with Him. Allegorically, moreover, in that while the crowd thronged to Him He is despised by His own as a madman, the salvation of believers from the Gentiles is approved, and the envy and faithlessness of the Jews is marked. Of whom John says: He came unto His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 1[:11]). There is indeed a great difference between those who do not understand the word of God through slowness of mind, and those who deliberately blaspheme and persecute what they understand. For to the former hope of salvation still remains, if perchance they come to understand; but to the latter, who are unwilling to understand that they may do well, and meditate iniquity on their bed, what hope of being saved remains any longer, when they strive to reject, by detesting and pursuing with hatred, even this which they had grasped by rightly understanding for the salvation of their soul? For see what follows.

And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said that He has Beelzebub: and that by the prince

of demons He casts out demons. Not without reason are those who brought so much blasphemy against the Lord said to have come down from Jerusalem; rather they foreshadowed that He was certainly going to be persecuted to the death by the citizens of that city. We read indeed above that a great crowd followed Him from Galilee, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea and beyond the Jordan, and those about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what He was doing, came to Him. So a crowd coming from Jerusalem followed the Lord, as also from other regions of the Jews, or even of the Gentiles. For who does not know that Idumaea, Tyre and Sidon were provinces or cities of the Gentiles? But the scribes coming down from Jerusalem persecuted Him with horrid blasphemies, because so indeed it was to be at the time of the passion: that the crowd of the people of the Jews would lead Him into Jerusalem with palms and praises, the Gentiles would desire to see Him, but the scribes and elders of the people would deliberate about His death. So while the crowds, who seemed less learned, always marvelled at the Lord's deeds, those men on the contrary laboured either to deny them, or, what they could not deny, to pervert by a sinister interpretation, as if these were not the works of the Godhead but of a most unclean spirit, that is, Beelzebub, who was the god of Accaron. For Beel is indeed the same as Baal, and Zebub means "fly". Nor, according to certain faulty copies, is the letter l, or d, to be read at the end of the name, but b. Beelzebub, then, is interpreted "Baal of flies", that is, "man of flies", or "having flies", namely on account of the filth of the sacrificial gore, from whose most foul rite or name they surnamed him the prince of demons.

And having called them together, He said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. A kingdom and a city divided against itself cannot endure. But as by concord small things grow, so by discord the greatest fall apart (Sallust). If, then, Satan fights against himself, and demon is enemy of demon, the consummation of the world ought already to have come, so that the adverse powers, whose war among themselves is the peace of men, should have no place in it. But if you think, O scribes and Pharisees, that the withdrawal of the demons is obedience to their prince, so that they may delude ignorant men by fraudulent pretence, what can you say of the healings of bodies which the Lord accomplished? It is another matter if you assign to the demons also the infirmities of the members and the marks of spiritual powers. And if Satan has risen up against himself, he is divided, and will not be able to stand, but has an end. By saying this He wished it to be understood from their own admission that by not believing in Him they had chosen to be in the kingdom of the devil, which, being divided against itself, certainly could not stand. Let the Pharisees, then, choose what they will. If Satan cannot cast out Satan, they could find nothing to say against the Lord. But if he can, let them much more look to themselves, and depart from his kingdom, which, divided against itself, cannot stand.

No one entering into the house of a strong man can plunder his goods unless he first bind the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. He calls the devil the strong man; his goods, the men deceived by him; his house, the world, which is seated in the evil one. In it, until the Saviour's coming, he enjoyed an ill-pacified dominion, because he rested without any opposition in the hearts of unbelievers. But the Lord bound the strong man, that is, He restrained the devil from seducing the elect, and then He plundered his house, because those whom He foresaw to be His own He snatched from the devil's snares, united to the members of His Church, and set in order through the distinct dignities of various ranks in it. Or certainly He plundered his house because all the parts of the world over which the ancient enemy once ruled He distributed to the apostles and their successors, so that each in his own province might turn the peoples, recalled from error, to the way of life. The Lord, then, showed by a parable, but now a most manifest one, that He was freeing men from demons not as a deceiver by working in concord with the demons, as they slandered, but by the wholly different and opposed power of the Godhead: and that therefore they were committing a great crime who cried out that what they knew to be God's was the devil's.

Amen I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and the blasphemies with which they shall have blasphemed. All sins and blasphemies are not forgiven indiscriminately to all men, but to those who have done worthy penance for their errors in this life. Nor has Novatian any room for his depraved assertion, that he should deny that pardon is to be granted to those who lapsed in martyrdom when they repent; nor Origen, that he should assert that after the universal judgement, though countless ages of ages have passed, all sinners and blasphemers will obtain pardon of their sins and be brought to the heavenly kingdom. His error the following words of the Lord also refute, when it is added:

But whoever shall have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit has no forgiveness for ever, but shall be guilty of an eternal sin. Whoever, then, clearly understanding the works of God, since he cannot deny them as to their power, being goaded by envy slanders them, and says that Christ, the Word of God, and the works of the Holy Spirit are Beelzebub, to him It shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come. Not that we deny that he too, if he should be willing to do penance, can be forgiven by Him who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth; but that, believing the Judge and Giver of pardon Himself, who says both that He will always accept penance and that this blasphemy is never to be remitted, we believe that this blasphemer, as his deserts require, will come neither to remission nor even to the very fruits of worthy penance. In accordance with what John the evangelist most truly wrote of certain men blinded by the desert of their blasphemy: Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I heal them (John 12[:39–40]). Only the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, by which anyone

after the likeness of the devil and his angels, does not tremble to attack the majesty of the Godhead against his own conscience, has no forgiveness for ever, but shall be guilty of an eternal sin, as the evangelist clearly declares, who, having set down this testimony of the Lord, added and said:

Because they said, He has an unclean spirit. For neither those who believe and confess that the Holy Spirit does not exist, nor those who believe that He exists but is not God, nor those who believe that He is indeed God but less than the Father and the Son, are held by the crime of the unforgivable blasphemy, because they do this led not by diabolical envy but by human ignorance: by which [blasphemy] properly the leaders of the Jews, and whoever are corrupted by a like plague of envy, blaspheme the majesty, and will perish without end. But as for what is said according to Matthew, that he who has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, or has spoken a word against the Holy Spirit, has no forgiveness either in this world or in the world to come, it is given to be understood that some faults are remitted in this world, and some in the world to come. For what is denied of one, the consequent understanding makes plain is granted of some. But nevertheless this must be believed possible concerning the least and small sins, such as constant idle talk, immoderate laughter, or the sin of care for household affairs, which is scarcely carried on without fault even by those who know how they ought to avoid fault; or in faults not grave, through the error of ignorance: all of which weigh down even after death, if they have not been remitted while [men] are still set in this life. This, however, must be known, that there no one will obtain any purgation even of the least [sins] unless, while still set in this life, he merits by good deeds that he may obtain it there.

And His mother and brethren come, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And the crowd was sitting about Him, etc. The brethren of the Lord are not to be thought sons of the blessed ever-virgin Mary, as Helvidius holds, nor sons of Joseph by another wife, as some hold, but are rather to be understood as their kinsmen. Indeed, that the Lord, when asked for by His mother and brethren, declines to go out from the office of the word, does not reject the duties of maternal piety, whose precept is, Honour your father and mother; but He shows that He owes Himself more to His Father's mysteries than to His mother's affections, commending the same to us by example as by word, when He says, He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matt. 10[:37]). He does not slight His brethren injuriously, but, preferring the spiritual work to kinship of the flesh, teaches that the union of hearts is more sacred than that of bodies. Mystically, however, the mother and brethren of Jesus are the Synagogue, from whose flesh He was born, and the people of the Jews, who, while the Saviour teaches within, coming cannot enter: for they neglect to understand His words spiritually. For the crowd, getting ahead, enters His house to listen to His discourses, as the evangelist Matthew declares: because while Judaea delayed, the Gentile world flowed together to Christ, and drank in the inner mysteries of life, the more capacious in mind the nearer it was in faith. According to

what the Psalmist says, Come to Him, and be enlightened (Ps. 33[:6]).

And they say to Him: Behold, Your mother and Your brethren seek You outside. And answering them He says: Who is My mother and My brethren? Within is the Word, within is the light. Hence elsewhere He says, That those who enter may see the light (Luke 8[:16]). If, then, standing outside, not even His parents themselves are acknowledged, and perhaps are not acknowledged for the sake of our example, how shall we be acknowledged if we stand outside? For His kinsfolk, standing outside, do not wish to see the Lord, since the Jews, not seeking the spiritual sense in the law, fixed themselves outside in keeping the letter, and as it were compel Christ to go out to teach carnal things rather than consent to go in to learn spiritual things.

And looking round at those who sat about Him, He says: Behold My mother and My brethren. For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother, and My sister, and mother. That he who does the will of God is called the sister and brother of the Lord, because of both sexes gathered to the faith, is no wonder. But it is greatly to be wondered at how he is also called mother. For He deigned to call His faithful disciples brethren, saying: Go, tell My brethren. Since, then, one could become the Lord's brother by coming to the faith, it must be asked how he can also be mother. But we must know that he who is the brother and sister of Jesus by believing becomes His mother by preaching. For he as it were gives birth to the Lord whom he has poured into the heart of the hearer. And he becomes His mother if through his voice the love of the Lord is begotten in the mind of his neighbour.

CHAPTER IV.

And again He began to teach by the sea. If we look into the Gospel of Matthew, it is clear indeed that this teaching of the Lord by the sea took place on the same day as the preceding discourse in the house. For when that discourse was ended, Matthew at once added, saying: On that day, going out of the house, He sat by the sea, and great crowds were gathered to Him, etc. (Matt. 13[:1–2]). Not only the deeds and words of the Lord, but also the journeys and places in which He works miracles and preaches, are full of heavenly sacraments. For after the discourse held in the house, where by impious blasphemy He was said to have a demon, going out He taught by the sea, to show that, having left Judaea for the guilt of its faithlessness, He would pass over to save the Gentiles. For the hearts of the Gentiles, long proud and unbelieving, are fittingly likened to the swelling and bitter waves of the sea. And who does not know that the Lord's house was faithless Judaea? But having left the house in which He suffered the blasphemies of the impious, He began to teach by the sea, because, having forsaken the Synagogue for its unbelief, He came to gather through the apostles the multitude of the Gentile people. Hence it is fittingly put first that, while He was preaching in the house, His mother and brethren stood outside and were as it were not acknowledged by Him, and so, going out of the house, He passed over to the sea to teach: because after the Synagogue fixed itself outside in keeping the letter, and to the inner secrets of the Lord's faith [chose] to prefer

it chose, the Lord bestowed the sacraments of salvation which it had spurned upon the outside nations throughout the world.

And a great crowd was gathered to Him, so that, going up into a boat, He sat on the sea, and all the crowd was on the land about the sea; and He taught them many things in parables. That a great crowd was gathered to the Lord teaching by the sea signifies the throng of peoples flowing together to the faith of truth at the apostles' preaching. But that He Himself, going up into a boat, sat on the sea prefigured the Church to be built in the midst of nations unbelieving and gainsaying. For the Lord as it were sits in a boat set in the midst of the sea when by the grace of His visitation He enlightens the minds of the faithful dwelling among the faithless, and consecrates in them a beloved dwelling for Himself. Further, the crowd which, set on the land about the sea, listened to the words of the Lord, so that it was neither touched by the waves of the sea nor sat with Him in the boat, the waves having been crossed, most aptly bears the figure of those who had lately come together to hear the word. And indeed by piety of mind they are separated from the bitterness, darkness and instability of the reprobate, but are not yet imbued with the heavenly mysteries which they desire.

And He said to them in His teaching: Hear; behold, the sower goes out to sow. The Lord Himself, expounding this parable in what follows, declares that the seed is the word of God, and that the sower is Himself. But why He says that the sower went out to sow He has left for us to seek. The sower, then, went out to sow, because the Lord, going forth from the bosom of the Father, came into the world, and the word of truth which He saw with the Father He Himself sowed in the human race, either by Himself or by those whom He appointed, according to what Habakkuk says in His praises, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, to save Thine anointed (Hab. 3[:13]), that is, those whom Thou deignest to consecrate with the anointing of Thy Spirit and to make partakers of Thy holy name. Or certainly He went out to sow when, after the chosen part of the Synagogue had been called to His faith, He poured out the gifts of His grace for the gathering of the Gentiles also. This very thing He signified also by His journey, when after the preaching held at home He went out to the sea to teach. In short, preaching in the house, He forsook some for the unforgivable crime of their blasphemy; others, for the devotion of their piety, He called His mother and brethren. This plainly expresses the division in the Jewish nation, in which many are rebels against the Lord, some are worthy of divine adoption.

And while He sows, some fell by the way, and the birds came and ate it up. In the Gospel of Luke it is written thus of this seed: Some fell by the wayside, and was trodden down, and the birds of the air ate it up. Whatever things, then, the Lord deigned to expound in this parable are to be received with pious faith. But those which He left unspoken for our understanding are to be searched out with equally pious intent and touched on briefly. The seed which fell by the way perished by a double injury, namely both trodden down by travellers and by the birds

snatched away. The way, then, is the mind trodden and dried up by the constant passage of evil thoughts, so that it is not able to receive the seed of the word and make it sprout; and therefore whatever good seed has touched the neighbourhood of such a way perishes, because, trodden down by the wicked passage of the worst thought, it is snatched away by the demons. These are rightly called the birds of the air, either because they are of a heavenly and spiritual nature, or because they fly through the air.

And some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. The mystery of this seed too the Lord expounds. In which exposition, namely, we learn that the same things are by no means always set allegorically in one and the same signification. For He calls the rock the hardness of a wanton mind, the earth the gentleness of an obedient soul, the sun the heat of raging persecution: whereas He Himself elsewhere puts the sun in a good sense, saying that the just will shine in the future like the sun in the kingdom of their Father; and in the building of the spiritual house He teaches that one must dig deep, that the earth must be cast out and the rock laid in the foundation, that is, He admonishes that earthly thoughts are to be purged from the inmost recess of the heart, and in their stead the strength of unconquered faith is to be brought in as the foundation of good works. In this place, then, the depth of earth which, duly cultivated, ought to have received the seed of the word is the uprightness of a mind exercised in heavenly disciplines and regularly trained to listen to and obey the divine utterances. But the stony places, which, covered with thin turf, can quickly make the received seed sprout but have not the strength to fix a root, are those breasts which, schooled by no studies of discipline, softened by no trials of temptations, take delight for an hour only in the sweetness of the word heard and in the heavenly promises, but in the time of temptation fall away; because, when they spread the momentary sweetness of the heavenly oracle over the austerity implanted in them, as if a place assigned to the holy seed, they cover a great heap of stones with a little soil of earth. These therefore cannot come to the fruit of righteousness, because there is little in them of saving desire to conceive the seed of life, and much of harmful hardness to resist the fruit of salvation.

And He said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Whenever this little admonition is inserted either in the Gospel or in the Apocalypse of John, it is intimated that what is said is mystical and wholesome to hear and learn. For the ears for hearing are the ears of the heart and the inner senses, the ears for obeying and doing what has been commanded.

But to those who are outside all things are done in parables, that seeing they may see, and not see; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins be forgiven them. It is to be noted in these words of the Lord that not only what He spoke but also what He did were parables, that is, signs of mystical things, since those to whom all things were done in parables are said to have been able to bring neither what they saw nor what they heard

to understanding. For what would have prevented the onlookers from understanding the deeds or journeys of His which they saw, if He had not wished something more in them to be understood spiritually than lay open to the eyes of the flesh? To those, then, who are outside, and do not draw near to the feet of the Lord to receive of His teaching, all things are done in parables, namely both the deeds and the words of the Saviour, because neither in the mighty works which He performed nor in the secrets which He preached are they able to know Him as God. And therefore they do not merit to attain to the remission of sins, which is to be obtained through the grace of faith in Him. And these are they by the way, where the word is sown. And when they have heard, Satan comes at once and takes away the word that was sown in their heart, etc. In this exposition of the Lord the whole difference of those who were able indeed to hear the words of salvation, but cannot come to salvation, is comprehended. For there are some who deign to take in the word they hear with no faith, no understanding, not even on the occasion of testing its usefulness. From their undisciplined and hard hearts the unclean spirits, like the birds of a trodden path, at once snatch away the seed of the word entrusted to them. There are some who both approve the usefulness of the word heard and taste the desire for it, but, lest they attain to what they approve, [the spirits] hold back some by terrifying them with the adversities of this life, others by flattering them with its prosperity. The first of these the Lord compares to stony ground, the second to thorny. The Gentiles, of course, are excepted, who do not merit even to hear the words of life. Nor ought it to seem strange why the Lord compared riches to thorns, since those prick, these delight. For they are rightly called thorns, because they tear the mind with the prickings of their thoughts. And when they drag it as far as sin, they make it bleed as if by a wound inflicted. But even apart from the prickings of the vices, the desire of riches very greatly lays waste the mind and does not allow it to be secure. For when anyone watches anxiously by what order or art he may acquire what he does not yet have, by what foresight again he may preserve what he had already acquired, and lastly with what glory and dignity he may enjoy the abundance of what he has acquired: by what great goads of cares must the wretched mind be ulcerated hour by hour? Hence the Lord, about to name riches in the exposition of the thorns, fittingly put first the hardships, saying: And others are they who are sown among thorns; these are they who hear the word: and the hardships of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires concerning other things, entering in, choke the word, and it becomes fruitless. The hardships (He says) of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches. For whomever the superfluous appetite for riches deceives, the hardship of continual cares must soon afflict, accompanying it or even running before it. For what is more full of hardship than those who, the more they have, the more they lack, and seem to have less for themselves? According to what one of the poets says, mocking the lovers of money:

The love of money grows as much as the money itself grows. (Juvenal)

And how much happier, not only by the appetite for true riches but also by the very contempt of false ones, are those who truly confess themselves to be as having nothing,

and possessing all things? And rightly, when He had said: And the hardships of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, He added: And the desires concerning other things. For Scripture commands: Desiring wisdom, keep the commandments, and God gives it to you. And again it says: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord; in His commandments he greatly desires (Ps. 111[:1]). Contrary to which, he who, neglecting wisdom and despising the commandments of the Lord, strays desiring other things, can neither receive the fruit of wisdom nor attain to the joy of true blessedness. For desires of this kind choke the word, because with their importunate thoughts they strangle the throat of the mind. And while they do not allow good desire to enter the heart, they as it were kill the passage of the vital breath. To such a one it happens by just judgement that the more he desires concerning other things, the farther he is from that spirit and desire of the poor by which they desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ (Phil. 1[:23]). Rather the wretch fears what will in truth befall him: to be dissolved from this life, and to be with the devil.

And these are they who are sown upon good ground, who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred. The good ground, that is, the faithful conscience of the elect, does the contrary of all the yields of the worthless ground, because it both gladly receives the seed of the word entrusted to it and, having received it, keeps it constantly amid adversity and prosperity until the time of fruit. And it bears fruit, and yields one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred. Thirty, namely, when it instils the faith of the Holy Trinity into the hearts of the elect; sixty, when it teaches the perfection of good working. For since the adornment of the world was completed in the number six, good working is rightly signified by it. A hundred, when it shows the rewards to be sought by us in the heavenly kingdom in all that we do. For a hundred, which in counting is transferred to the right hand, is rightly set to signify perpetual blessedness. Indeed thirty and sixty are still held on the left hand; a hundred passes over to the right. For although great is faith, which reveals to us the knowledge of our Creator, and great are the works by which faith is consummated so that it may not be idle, yet both are necessary in this life; but the reward of faith and working, which are exercised through love, is to be hoped for in the life to come.

And He said to them: Does a lamp come to be put under a bushel or under a bed? Is it not to be put upon a lampstand? Because He had said above to the apostles and those who were with them: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables, He now shows that through them the same mystery is at some time to be revealed to the rest also, and the breast of all who were to enter the house of God is to be lit up with the flames of faith. By these words also He figuratively teaches confidence in preaching, lest anyone through fear of carnal inconveniences should hide the light of knowledge which he has. For by the name of the bushel and the bed [He signifies] this present life and the flesh in which we live; but of the lamp

by the name, He signifies the word by which we are enlightened. For since the time of our life is held within a fixed measure of divine providence, it is rightly compared to a bushel. And who would not see that the body can rightly be called the bed of the soul, in which, dwelling for a time, it rests? Hence it is said to a certain man who was healed: Rise, take up your bed, and go into your house (Matt. 9). Which is to say openly: Rise from the body of negligence; and the body, in whose desires you were lying too long, lift up diligently into the exercises of good works: and so, about to receive the rewards of good works, enter the house of eternal dwelling. He, then, who out of love of this temporal life and of carnal enticements hides the word of God covers the lamp as with a bushel or a bed, because he sets the lusts of the flesh before the manifesting of the truth, which he fears to preach. But he puts the lamp upon the lampstand who subjects his body to the ministry of God, so that the preaching of the truth may be higher, and the service of the body lower: yet through that very service of the body the teaching may shine the more loftily, being instilled into learners through bodily offices, that is, through voice and tongue and the other movements of the body, in good works. So the Apostle puts the lamp upon the lampstand when he says: I so fight, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become reprobate (1 Cor. 9).

For there is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest: nor has anything been made secret, but that it may come into the open. Do not, He says, be ashamed of the Gospel of God, but amid the darkness of persecutors raise the light of the word above the lampstand of your body, holding with fixed mind that day of the final recompense, on which the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of hearts. For then praise from God awaits you, and eternal punishment the adversaries of the truth.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. If anyone has the sense to understand the word of God, let him not withdraw himself, let him not turn his hearing to fables, but let him diligently apply his ear to searching out the things which the Truth has said, diligently his hands to fulfilling the things which he has already understood, diligently subject his tongue to preaching them in season and out of season.

And He said to them: Take heed what you hear. With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be added to you. If (He says) you earnestly strive to do all the good things you are able, and to make them known to your neighbours, the divine goodness will be at hand to confer on you, both in the present, the sense to grasp higher things and the power to accomplish better ones; and in the future to add to you truly, beyond what you know how to hope for, the gifts of eternal recompense.

For he that has, to him shall be given. And he that has not, even that which he has shall be taken away from him. With your whole intent (He says) give your labour to the word which you hear, by recalling it and searching it out: because to him who has love of the word shall be given also the sense to understand what he loves. But he who has not the love of hearing the word, even if he seems to himself to be skilled either by natural talent or by practice in letters, will rejoice in no sweetness of true wisdom. And even if

it seems to have been said specially of the apostles, to whom it was given, by charity and faith rather, to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, and of the faithless Jews, who seeing in parables did not see, and hearing did not understand; namely, that they were going to lose the letter of the law in which they gloried: yet it can also be taken generally, that sometimes a clever reader by neglect deprives himself of wisdom, which one slow of wit but zealous tastes by labouring.

And He said to them: So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earth and sleep: and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow while he knows not. For the earth bears fruit of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And when the fruit has brought itself forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come. A man casts seed into the earth when he implants a good intention in his heart. And after he has cast the seed, he sleeps, because he now rests in the hope of good work. And he rises night and day, because he advances amid adversity and prosperity. And the seed springs and grows while he knows not; because even while he is not yet able to measure his own increase, the virtue once conceived is led on to progress. And the earth bears fruit of itself, because, with grace going before it, the mind of man rises of its own accord to the fruit of good work. But this same earth brings forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. For to bring forth the blade is to have still the tenderness of a good beginning. And the blade reaches the ear when virtue conceived in the mind draws itself on to progress in good work. And it bears the full corn in the ear when virtue has now advanced so far that it can be capable of robust and perfect work. And when the fruit has brought itself forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come. For almighty God, when the fruit is brought forth, puts in the sickle and cuts down His harvest, because when He has brought each one to perfect works, He cuts off his temporal life by the sentence sent forth, so as to bring His grain into the heavenly barns. When therefore we conceive good desires, we cast seed into the earth. When we begin to do right things, we are the blade. When we grow towards the perfection of good work, we reach the ear. When we are made firm in the perfection of that same working, we now bring forth the full corn in the ear. Therefore no one is to be despised who is seen to be still in tenderness of mind towards a good purpose, because the corn of God begins from the blade so that it may become grain.

And He said: To what shall we liken the kingdom of God, or to what parable shall we compare it? It is as a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that are in the earth. The kingdom of God is the preaching of the Gospel, and the knowledge of the Scriptures which leads to life, and of which it is said to the Jews: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth its fruits. Such a kingdom, then, is like a grain of mustard seed, which, according to Matthew's Gospel, a man took and sowed in his field (Matt. 13). The man who sows is understood by most as the Saviour, in that in the souls of believers

may sow. By others [it is taken as] the man himself sowing in his earth or field, that is, in himself and in his heart. Who is this that sows, if not our understanding and mind? Which, receiving the grain of preaching and cherishing the seed with the moisture of faith, makes it sprout in the field of its breast.

Which, when it has been sown, He says, in the earth, is less than all the seeds that are in the earth. And when it has been sown, it springs up and becomes greater than all herbs, and puts forth great branches, so that the birds of the air can dwell under its shade. The preaching of the Gospel is the least among all teachings.

For at first teaching it does not carry the credit of truth, preaching a man as Lord, God dead, and the scandal of the cross. Compare teaching of this kind with the doctrines of the philosophers, and with their books, and with the splendour of their eloquence and the composition of their discourses, and you will see how much smaller than the other seeds is the seed of the Gospel. But those, when they have grown, show nothing pungent, nothing lively, nothing life-giving: the whole bubbles up limp and withered into herbs and grasses, which dry up and fall. But this preaching, which seemed small in the beginning, whether when it has been sown in the soul of the believer or when in the whole world, does not spring up into herbs but grows into a tree, as is said most plainly in the other evangelists. So the grain of mustard seed, sown in the earth or field of the Lord, springs up and is changed from a herb into a tree, whose nature is to surpass the nature of all herbs in height, breadth and length of years. For great is the height of this tree, because the preaching of the Gospel lifts up the minds of its hearers to seek heavenly things. It is spread out in branches, because through the preachers born of it it has taken possession of the ends of the whole world.

It excels in duration, because the truth which it preaches will be blotted out by no end ever. Under its shade the birds of the air dwell, since the souls of the faithful, which have grown accustomed to fly to heavenly things by desire and, the cravings for temporal things being disregarded, to have the heart on high, according to the Psalmist's word: In the protection of the wings of the Lord they will hope (Ps. 90). Hence also the bride in the Canticle of canticles, that is, the Church of the saints gathered as one out of many souls, glories and says: Under His shadow, whom I desired, I sat, and His fruit was sweet to my throat (Song 2). Which is to say openly: under the protection of Him whom I desired to see I placed myself, bereft of the solace of all others; and the joy of His sight and His sweet presence to my heart compelled me to despise, nay to loathe, whatever is outside Him.

And with many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear. But without a parable He did not speak to them; but apart He explained all things to His disciples. This is not said as though He made no plain discourse to the crowds, but spoke to them by parables alone; but rather thus, that hardly any discourse of His is found in which something of parables is not intermingled.

BOOK II.

And He said to them on that day, when evening had come: Let us cross over. And sending away the crowd, they take Him, just as He was, in the boat; and other boats were with Him. In this voyage the Lord deigns to show both natures of His one and the same Person, since He who as man sleeps in the boat, as God checks the fury of the sea by a word. Further, according to allegory, the sea which He desires to cross with His own is taken as the dark and bitter surge of the present age. And the little boat which He boards is understood as nothing better than the tree of His most sacred passion, aided by whose benefit all the faithful, having passed over the waves of the world, arrive at the dwelling of the heavenly homeland as at the steadiness of a safe shore. And the other boats, which are said to have been with the Lord and yet are not related to have been taken out into the deep or to have endured any storm, signify those, no doubt, who have been so imbued with faith in the Lord's cross that, not yet beaten by the whirlwind of tribulations, they simply keep in the peace of the Church the mysteries of faith they have received; or certainly those who, after frequent storms of temptations, enjoy for a time some little calm of a peace granted. For it is uncertain whether those boats, newly made, were brought down into harbour, or were brought back to harbour after experiencing the perils of the sea. Hence they can rightly designate both: those, namely, who have not yet been proved by temptations, and those who after a frequent testing of tribulations

for Christ, the temptations being somewhat lulled, have gained tranquillity of affairs.

And there arose a great storm of wind, and the wave was cast into the boat, so that the boat was filling. And He Himself was in the stern, sleeping on a pillow. While the disciples were sailing, Christ fell asleep: because, while the faithful were trampling on the world and pondering in mind the rest of the kingdom to come, and, whether by the favouring breath of the Holy Spirit or by the oarage of their own effort, were vying with one another in casting behind their backs the faithless pride of the world, the time of the Lord's passion suddenly arrived. Hence it is well recorded that this was done when evening had come, so that not the Lord's sleep alone but the very hour of the departing light might signify the setting of the true Sun. And as He mounts the stern of the cross, on which to take the sleep of death, the waves of blaspheming persecutors, stirred up by demonic storms, rise up. By these, however, His patience is not troubled; but the weakness of the disciples is shaken, trembles, is in peril.

And they wake Him and say to Him: Master, does it not concern Thee that we are perishing? The disciples wake the Lord lest, while He sleeps, they perish by the fierceness of the waves; for they sought with the greatest longing the resurrection of Him whose death they had seen, lest, if He Himself should be lulled too long in the death of the flesh, their mind should perish for ever by a spiritual death. Hence it well follows:

And rising up He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea:

Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. For rising He rebuked the wind, because, having accomplished the resurrection, He laid low the pride of the devil, when through death He destroyed him who had the dominion of death. He also commanded the sea to be silent and brought back calm, because by overcoming death and rising from the tomb He cast down the mad rage of the Jews, which, wagging its head, had cried out: If He is the Son of God, let Him now come down from the cross, and we believe Him (Matt. 27). Here it is to be noted according to the letter that all creatures perceive the Creator. For those that are rebuked and commanded perceive Him Who commands: not by the error of the heretics, who think all things are animate, but by the majesty of the Maker. For things which are insensible with us are sensible to Him.

And He said to them: Why are you fearful? Have you not yet faith? Rightly are they rebuked who were afraid with Christ present, since surely whoever has clung to Him cannot perish. Like this is what, after the sleep of death, appearing to the disciples, He reproached them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him risen (Mark, last chapter). And again He said to them: O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory (Luke, last chapter)? As if He were saying under the metaphor of a ship: Ought not Christ to have slept, while the waves swept from every side the ship in which He was sleeping, and so, awakened, having at once calmed the swelling surges of the deep, to make the power of His divinity known to all? And they feared with great fear, and said one to another: Who, think you, is this? For the wind and the sea obey Him. Matthew writes thus: But the men marvelled, saying: What manner of man is this? etc. So it was not the disciples but the sailors and the others who were in the ship who marvelled, and were in doubt about the person of Him Whom the wind and sea obeyed. But if anyone should contentiously maintain that those who marvelled were the disciples, we shall answer that they are rightly called men, because they did not yet know the power of the Saviour. And we too, each of us, when, marked with the sign of the Lord's cross, we resolve to leave the world, surely board the ship with Jesus and try to cross the sea. But He Who will not slumber nor sleep, ever keeping Israel, yet often, as we sail, has as it were fallen asleep amid the roaring of the sea, when, as the assaults of the forces of unclean spirits, or of a few men, or the very impulse of our own thoughts, grow frequent in our midst, the splendour of faith grows dark, the loftiness of hope wastes away, the flame of love grows cold. But amid such storms we must run to that Helmsman, must earnestly rouse Him Who does not serve but commands the winds. Soon He will check the tempests, pour back calm, grant the harbour of salvation.

CHAPTER V.

And they came across the strait of the sea into the country of the Gerasenes. Gerasa is a notable city of Arabia beyond the Jordan, adjoining Mount Gilead, which the tribe of Manasseh held, not far from the lake of Tiberias, into which the swine

were cast down. And it signifies the nation of the Gentiles, which, after the sleep of His passion and the glory of His resurrection, the Saviour deigned to visit by sending preachers. Hence Gerasa, or Gergesi (as some read), is well interpreted "casting out the dweller", or "a stranger drawing near"; that is, suggesting that the people of the Gentiles both drove out of its heart the enemy by whom it was wickedly inhabited, and, being far off, has been made near in the blood of Christ.

And as He went out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling in the tombs. This man, who was harassed by an unclean spirit, and who met the Lord raving but soon to be cured, bears the figure of the Gentile people, which up to the times of the Lord's incarnation, deluded by demonic teachings, worshipped idols in place of God. He had his dwelling in the tombs, because he took delight in dead works, that is, in sins. For what are the bodies of the faithless but certain sepulchres of the dead, in which the word of God does not dwell, but a soul dead in sins is shut up?

And no one could now bind him even with chains, because, having often been bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains and broken the fetters in pieces. And no one could tame him. By the chains and fetters are signified the heavy and harsh laws of the Gentiles, by which sins are restrained even in their commonwealth. And having broken the chains (as Luke writes) he was driven by the demon into the desert, he who, even transgressing those very laws, was led by desire to such crimes as exceeded even common custom.

And always night and day he was in the tombs and in the mountains, crying out and cutting himself with stones. Always night and day the demoniac raged, because the Gentile world, whether it laboured under adverse turns of affairs, or whether some peace and prosperity of a flattering world smiled upon it, in no way knew how to shake the neck of its mind free from the service of wicked spirits, but through the foulness of its works lay as it were in tombs, through the deed of pride wandered on the ridges of mountains, through words of the hardest unbelief, as though seizing rocks in its frenzy, cut itself. But, as John the Baptist bears witness, the Lord raised up children to Abraham from the stones, when He turned the hard hearts of unbelievers to the grace of godliness.

And seeing Jesus from afar he ran and worshipped Him, and crying with a loud voice he said: What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of the most high God? How great the madness of Arius, to believe Jesus a creature and not God, Whom the demons believe to be the Son of the most high God, and tremble! What impiety of the Jews, to say that He cast out demons by the prince of demons, Whom the demons themselves confess to have nothing in common with them! Who did not cease afterwards to say and confess in the shrines of idols this very thing which they then cried out through the frenzy of the demoniac, namely that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the most high God, and that they have nothing of peace or fellowship with Him.

I adjure Thee by God, that Thou torment me not. For He said

to him: Go out, unclean spirit, from the man. The enemy of human salvation reckons it no small torment to himself to cease from harming a man, and the longer he was accustomed to possess him, the harder he consents to let him go.

Hence we must strive with all our might that, if ever, being men, we are overcome by the devil, we at once make every effort to escape his snares, lest, if his strength is resisted somewhat late, he be driven out at some time with greater labour.

And He asked him: What is your name? And he says to Him: Legion is my name, for we are many. He asks the name not as one unaware, but so that, the plague which in his frenzy he endured being publicly confessed, the power of the One healing might shine forth the more welcome. And the priests of our own time too, who know how to cast out demons through the grace of exorcism, are accustomed to say that sufferers are not cured otherwise than if, as far as they are able to understand, they set out openly by confessing everything that they have suffered from unclean spirits, waking or sleeping, by sight, hearing, taste, touch, or any other sense of body or mind.

And that the spirit said, Legion is my name, for we are many, signifies that the people of the Gentiles was enslaved not to some single one but to innumerable and diverse cults of idolatry.

Against which it is written that the multitude of believers had one heart and one soul (Acts IV). Hence fittingly, in the building of Babylon the unity of tongues was split through the spirit of pride, while in Jerusalem the variety of tongues was united through the grace of the holy [Spirit]. And the one is interpreted "confusion", the other "vision of peace", because, namely, one faith and godliness strengthens the elect in many tongues and nations by making peace throughout the world; but the reprobate are confounded, being divided by more sects than tongues.

And he besought Him much that He would not drive him out of the country. In the Gospel of Luke it is written thus: And they besought Him that He would not command them to go into the abyss. So the demons knew that it would come about at some time that through the Lord's coming they would be sent into the abyss, not themselves foreseeing the future, but recalling the sayings of the prophets about themselves. And therefore they dreaded that the glory of the Lord's coming, at which they marvelled, tended to their own damnation.

And there was there near the mountain a great herd of swine feeding. And the spirits besought Him, saying: Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And Jesus immediately gave them leave. He permitted the demons what they asked for this reason, that through the killing of the swine an occasion of salvation might be offered to men. For the herdsmen, seeing these things, at once report it to the city. Let the Manichaean blush. If the souls of men and of beasts are of the same substance and from the same author, how are two thousand swine drowned for the salvation of one man? In whose destruction, however, unclean men, devoid of speech and reason, are figuratively judged, who, feeding on the mountain of pride, take delight in muddy deeds. For over such the demons can hold dominion through the worship of idols. For unless someone has lived after the manner of a swine,

the devil will not receive power over him, or he will receive it only to test him, but not also to destroy him.

And the unclean spirits, going out, entered into the swine, and the herd, about two thousand, rushed with great violence down into the sea, and were drowned in the sea. It signifies that, the Church now being glorified and the people of the Gentiles freed from the dominion of demons, those who would not believe in Christ perform their sacrilegious rites in hiding, sunk in a blind and deep curiosity. And it is to be noted that the unclean spirits would go into the swine, unless the Saviour Himself, in His kindness, had granted this to them at their asking, whom He could certainly have banished into the abyss. He wished to teach us something necessary, namely that we should know that they can much less harm men by their own power, since they could not harm even any cattle whatever. This power, moreover, the good God can give by a hidden justice; by an unjust one He cannot.

And those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the fields. That the herdsmen of the swine flee and report these things signifies that certain even of the chief men of the ungodly, although they flee the Christian law, yet proclaim its power among the nations with astonishment and wonder.

And they went out to see what had been done. And they come to Jesus, and they see him who had been troubled by the demon sitting, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid, etc. In the Gospel of Luke it is written: Sitting at His feet. And it signifies that the multitude, delighted with its old life, honours indeed but is unwilling to bear the Christian law, saying that they cannot fulfil it, yet marvelling at the faithful people healed from its former lost way of life. For to sit at the Lord's feet means that he from whom the demons had gone out, that is, those who have been corrected from sins, gaze with fixed intention of mind on the footsteps of their Saviour, to follow them. To put on clothing again is to recover, now with a sound mind, the pursuits of the virtues which in madness they had lost. With this figure the Lord's parable fittingly agrees, in which the dissolute and prodigal son, returning to his father, is at once clothed with the first robe together with a ring, plainly suggesting that whoever with a true heart repents of what he has lost can, by the gift of Christ's grace, recover the first works of justice from which he had fallen, together with the ring of inviolate faith.

And they began to beg Him to depart from their borders. The Gerasenes, conscious of their frailty, judge themselves unworthy of the Lord's presence, not grasping the word of God, nor able, with a mind still weak, to bear the weight of wisdom. Which we read happened to Peter himself also, when he had seen the miracle of the fishes: and the widow of Sarepta, who felt herself blessed by the lodging of blessed Elijah, none the less thought herself burdened by his presence, saying: What have I to do with you, man of God? Have you come in to me that my iniquities should be remembered, and that you should slay my son (III Kings XVII)?

And when He was going up into the ship, he who had been troubled by the demon began to beseech Him that he might be with Him; and He did not admit him, but said to him: Go into your house to

your own, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you, and has had mercy on you. These things can rightly be understood from that saying of the Apostle, when he says: To be dissolved and to be with Christ is far better, to remain in the flesh is necessary for your sakes (Phil. 1); so that each may thus understand that after the remission of sins he must return to a good conscience and serve the Gospel for the salvation of others also, so that afterwards he may rest with Christ, lest, wishing over-hastily to be with Christ already, he neglect the ministry of preaching suited to the redemption of his brethren. And whereas Matthew says that two were cured of the legion of demons, while Mark and Luke record one, you are to understand that one of them was a person of some greater distinction and fame, whom that region chiefly grieved over, and for whose salvation it was most anxious. Wishing to signify this, the two Evangelists judged that he alone should be recorded, about whom the fame of this deed had blazed more widely and more brightly.

But the sum of the allegory also agrees, because just as one possessed by a demon, so also two not unfittingly express the type of the Gentile people. For although Noah begot three sons, the family of only one was taken into God's possession; from the two others were begotten the peoples of the diverse nations which were to be enslaved to idols.

And there comes one of the rulers of the synagogue, named Jairus, and seeing Him he falls at His feet, etc. In this reading, where the ruler of the synagogue asks that his daughter be saved, but, as the Lord goes on to his house, the woman with the issue of blood gets in first and snatches healing, and then the ruler's daughter attains the health she longed for, nay, is called back from death to life, the salvation of the human race is shown, which, when the Lord came in the flesh, was so ordered that first some from Israel should come to faith, then the fullness of the Gentiles should enter, and so all Israel should be saved.

Who then is better understood as this ruler of the synagogue, who comes to the Lord to plead for his daughter, than Moses himself? Hence he is fittingly called Jairus, that is, enlightening, or enlightened, because he received words of life to give to us, and through them enlightens others, and he himself was enlightened by the Holy Spirit so that he could write or teach life-giving counsels.

Who, seeing Jesus, falls at His feet, because, foreseeing in the spirit the Lord to come in the flesh, he submitted himself with humble heart to His power: Whom he so knew to be incarnate as man towards the end of the world, that he did not doubt that He exists as God eternal before every age. For if the head of Christ is God, what are more fittingly to be understood as His feet than the humanity assumed, by which He touched the earth of our mortality? And for the ruler of the synagogue to fall at the feet of Jesus is for the lawgiver, with the whole lineage of the fathers, to acknowledge that the Mediator of God and men is to be preferred far above himself in the glory of dignity, and to confess with the Apostle that what is weak of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1).

And he besought Him much, saying: For my daughter

is at the point of death, come, lay Thy hands upon her, that she may be safe and live. In the Gospel of Luke it is written thus, that he had an only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying. The daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, then, is the Synagogue itself, which, constituted solely by the institution of the law, was born as it were the only daughter of Moses. And she was dying as though in the twelfth year of her age, that is, as the time of puberty drew near, because, nobly brought up by the prophets, after she had reached the years of understanding, after she ought to have borne spiritual offspring to God, suddenly struck down by the sickness of errors, she desperately gave up entering the ways of spiritual life, and had she not been succoured by Christ, would have fallen in every way into a dreadful death.

And He went with him, and a great crowd followed Him, and they pressed upon Him. Going to heal the girl, the Lord is pressed by the crowd, because, while offering to the Jewish nation saving counsels by which He might raise up its conscience sick with vices, He was weighed down by the harmful custom of carnal peoples.

And a woman who had had an issue of blood for twelve years. The woman flowing with blood, but cured by the Lord, is the Church gathered from the Gentiles, which, polluted by the inborn flux of carnal delights, had already been separated from the company of the faithful; but while the Word of God was resolving to save Judaea, she, with sure hope, snatched the salvation already prepared and promised to others. And it is to be noted that the ruler's daughter is twelve years old, and this woman had flowed with blood for twelve years, that is, that the one began to be sick at the same time as the other was born.

For in one and almost the same age of this world both the Synagogue began to be born in the patriarchs, and the nation of foreign peoples throughout the world began to be defiled with the corruption of idolatry. For the flux of blood can rightly be understood in two ways, that is, both of the pollution of idolatry and of those things which are done in the delight of flesh and blood.

And she had suffered many things from many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and had profited nothing, but rather grew worse. Understand the physicians either as false theologians, or as philosophers and teachers of worldly laws, who, disputing most subtly about virtues and vices, promised to give mortals useful rules of living and believing; or certainly as the unclean spirits themselves, who, as though counselling men, thrust themselves forward to be worshipped as God. The more the Gentile world spent the powers of its natural industry in eagerly listening to them, the less could it be cleansed from the filth of its iniquity. But when it learned that the people of the Jews had fallen sick, and that the true Physician from heaven was at hand, it too began alike to hope for and to seek the remedy of its sickness.

When she had heard of Jesus, she came in the crowd behind, and touched His garment. For she said: If I touch His garment, I shall be whole. And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up. The Church comes and touches the Lord when she draws near to Him through the truth of faith. And she comes behind, whether according to what He Himself says: If anyone serves Me,

let him follow Me (John 12). And elsewhere it is commanded: You shall walk after the Lord your God. Or else because, not seeing the Lord present in the flesh, she came, when the mysteries of His incarnation had already been accomplished, to the grace of faith in Him and of knowledge of Him. And so, while she was found worthy to be saved from sins by sharing in His sacraments, she dried up the fountain of her blood as if by the touch of His garments.

For the fountain of blood is the origin of sin. The fountain of blood of each person is the beginning of an unclean thought, from which every sin is born. But the Lord, with the words of the Gospel, took care not only to restrain evil deeds and words but also to root out the wicked root of thoughts; when He granted that both of these be cleansed by the sacraments of the Gospel, He as it were put into His garments the power of drying up the foul fountain.

And at once Jesus, knowing in Himself the power that had gone out of Him, turned to the crowd and said: Who touched My garments? He asks, not that He Himself may be taught what He does not know, but that the power which He knew well, indeed which He Himself had given, might be made plain in the woman, and that, the power of faith being made plain and recognized, many may come to salvation.

And His disciples said to Him: You see the crowd pressing upon You, and You say, Who touched Me? The Lord whom the crowd, accompanying Him on every side, presses upon, one believing woman touches; for He who is burdened by the various heresies of those who flock together in disorder, or by perverse morals, is worshipped faithfully in heart by the catholic Church alone. For just as some seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear, so also those touching do not touch who touch Christ not with a single heart but with a doubting or feigned one. Hence to a certain woman who loved indeed but did not yet fully believe He Himself says: Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father (John 20); saying openly what it is truly to touch Him, namely to believe Him equal to the Father.

And He looked around to see her who had done this. The Lord does not forget His faithful, nor does He cease to look upon those who hope in Him, but He judges all who are found worthy to be saved deserving of His gaze and compassion. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.

But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done in her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. See where the Lord's question was tending: that, the woman openly confessing the truth of her long-lasting infirmity, of her sudden belief, of the divine favour, and of the healing granted to her, she herself might be more surely confirmed in faith, and an example of salvation and life might be offered to many. Next it follows.

And He said: Daughter, your faith has made you whole. Go in peace, and be healed of your plague. He did not say: Your faith will make you whole, but has made you whole. For in that you believed, you have already been made whole: While He was still speaking, they come to the ruler of the synagogue, saying: Your daughter is dead; why do you trouble the master further? The woman having been healed

of the flow of blood, at once the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue is announced dead; for as soon as the Church was cleansed from the stain of vices and, on account of the merit of faith, was called daughter, straightway the Synagogue was dissolved in the mourning of unbelief and of envy together: of unbelief, because it would not believe in Christ; of envy, because it grieved that the Church believed. For it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: But on the following sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of the Lord. But the Jews, seeing the crowds, were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things that were said by Paul, reviling (Acts 13). And what the messengers said to the ruler of the synagogue, Why do you trouble the master further? is said even today by those who see the state of the synagogue so forsaken that they do not believe it can be restored, and therefore do not think that supplication should be made for its raising. But the things that are impossible with men are possible with God (Mark 10); hence it fittingly follows:

But Jesus, having heard the word that was spoken, said to the ruler of the synagogue: Do not fear, only believe. The ruler of the synagogue is understood as the assembly of the teachers of the law, of which the Lord says: The Scribes and Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses (Matt. 23). If it itself will believe, the Synagogue subject to it will also be saved.

And they come into the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and they see a tumult, and people weeping and wailing much. And let all rejoice, it says, who hope in Thee; they shall exult for ever, and Thou shalt dwell in them. But because the Synagogue lost this joy of the Lord's indwelling by the guilt of unbelief, it lies dead as it were among those weeping and wailing. Yet the heavenly mercy does not allow it to perish utterly, but rather, about the end of the age, restores its remnant, according to the election of grace, to salvation and life. Hence it is fittingly added:

And going in He said to them: Why are you troubled and weeping? The girl is not dead, but sleeps. Dead to men, who had not been able to raise her, she was sleeping to God, in whose ordering both her soul, received, was living and her flesh, to be raised, was resting. Hence the Christian custom has prevailed that the dead, who are not doubted to be going to rise, are called sleepers; as the Apostle says: We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who sleep, that you may not be sorrowful as the others also, who have no hope (I Thess. 4). But also in the part of allegory, although the soul that has sinned shall itself die, yet the soul which the Lord has foreseen is to be raised and to come to eternal life may not unfittingly be said to have been dead to us, but to have fallen asleep to Him.

And they laughed at Him. But He, having put them all out, takes the father and mother of the girl, etc. Because they preferred to laugh at the word of Him who raises rather than to believe it, they are rightly shut outside, as being unworthy to see the power of Him who raises and the mystery of her who rises. Again, the crowd is put outside so that the girl may be raised, because if the importunate multitude of worldly cares is not first driven out from the more secret places of the heart, the soul which lies dead within will not rise again. For while it

scatters itself through countless thoughts of earthly desires, it in no way gathers itself to the consideration of itself.

And taking the girl's hand, He said to her: Tabatha cumi, which is interpreted: Girl, I say to you, arise. The careful reader may ask why the truthful Evangelist, in explaining the Saviour's saying, inserted of his own: I say to you, when in the Syriac speech which he set down no more is said than Girl, arise.

Unless perhaps he thought this should be done to express the force of the Lord's command, taking care to convey to his readers the sense of the speaker rather than the very words.

For it is well known to be customary with the Evangelists and apostles, when they take testimonies from the Old Testament, to take care to set down the prophetic sense rather than the words. And the Lord, taking the girl's hand, raised her, because unless the hands of the Jews, which are full of blood, are first cleansed, their dead synagogue will not rise up.

And straightway the girl arose and walked. Well [is it said], she arose and walked. For whomever, dead in sins, the hand of heavenly mercy touches in order to raise him, he ought not only to rise up from the filth and torpor of crimes, but also to advance continually in good works, namely, according to the psalmist, walking without stain and doing the works of justice.

And they were astonished with a very great astonishment. And He charged them strictly that no one should know it. And He commanded that something be given her to eat. As a testimony indeed of a true raising He commanded that the girl be given something to eat, lest what appeared should be thought by the unbelieving to be not reality but a phantom. But also, if anyone has risen from spiritual death, he must at once be filled with the heavenly bread, being made a partaker, that is, of the divine word and of the most holy altar. For according to the moral understanding, those three dead whom the Saviour raised in their bodies signify three kinds of resurrection of souls. For some, by giving consent to evil delight, bring death on themselves by the thought of sin alone, still hidden. But the Saviour, signifying that He gives life to such, raised the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, not yet carried out of doors but dead in the house, as if sin were ruling secretly in the heart. Others, not only by consenting to harmful delight but also by carrying out the very evil in which they delight, carry their dead as it were outside the gates. And showing that these too are raised by Him if they repent, He raised the young man, the widow's son, carried outside the gates of the city, and gave him back to his mother, because He restored to the unity of the Church the soul coming back to its senses from the darkness of sin. But some corrupt themselves not only by thinking or doing unlawful things, but also by the very habit of sinning, as if by burying themselves. Yet not even for raising these does the power and grace of the Saviour become less, provided that anxious thoughts are present, which keep watch over their salvation like sisters devoted to Christ. For to make this known, He raised Lazarus, who had been four days in the tomb and, as his sister attested, already stank, because doubtless a most wicked

deeds a report is wont to accompany. But it is to be noted that the heavier the death that has fallen upon the soul, the more keenly must the fervour of the penitent press on, that he may be found worthy to rise again. For lighter and daily errors can be cured by the remedy of a lighter penance. Wishing to show this in a hidden way, the Lord raises the girl lying dead in the inner room with a very easy and very short word, saying: Girl, arise. Indeed, because of the ease of raising her, He had denied that she was dead at all. But the dead young man carried out of doors He strengthens with more words, that he may come back to life, when He says: Young man, I say to you, arise. But for the man four days dead to be able to escape the long bars of the sepulchre pressing upon him, Jesus groaned in spirit, troubled Himself, shed tears, groaned again, and cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. And so at length he who was despaired of, the weight of darkness shaken off, is restored to life and light. But this too is to be noted: because a public offence needs a public remedy, while light and secret sins can be blotted out by a lighter penance, the girl lying in the house rises with few witnesses, and these are strictly commanded to make it known to no one. The young man is raised with a great crowd accompanying and looking on. Lazarus, called out of the tomb, became so known to the peoples that, because of the testimony of those who had seen, very many crowds came to meet the Lord with palms, and many of the Jews went away on his account and believed in Jesus. The Lord heard of a fourth dead man when a disciple reported it, but because living men to pray for his raising had been lacking, He says: Let the dead bury their dead (Luke 9), that is, let the wicked weigh down the wicked with harmful praises; and because there is no just man to rebuke in mercy, let the oil of the sinner fatten their head.

CHAPTER VI.

And going out from there He went away into His own country, and His disciples followed Him; and when the sabbath came He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing were astonished at His teaching, saying: Where did this man get all these things? And what is the wisdom that has been given to him, and such mighty works as are done by his hands? He calls Nazareth His country, in which He had been brought up. But how great the blindness of the Nazarenes, who despise Him, whom they could have recognized as the Christ in His own words and deeds had their mind not been foolish, solely on account of their knowledge of His family. They refer wisdom to His teaching, power to the healings and miracles which He did. These the Apostle records with a skilful and fine distinction, saying: The Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the gentiles foolishness; but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (I Cor. 1). In which sentence, doubtless, he referred power to signs on account of the Jews, but wisdom to teaching on account of the Greeks, that is, the gentiles.

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Jude and Simon? Are not his sisters also here with us? And they took offence at Him. The offence

and error of the Jews is our salvation and the condemnation of heretics. For they so far saw Jesus Christ as a man that they cried out that He was a carpenter and, according to another Evangelist, the son of a carpenter; and they testified that His brothers and sisters too were with them. These, however, are not to be thought children of Joseph or of Mary, as the heretics hold, but rather, according to the usage of sacred Scripture, are to be understood as their kinsfolk, in the way that Abraham and Lot are called brothers, though Lot was the son of Abraham's brother. And you have many things of this kind.

Not without the foresight of a definite mystery, however, did the Lord, appearing in the flesh, will to be thought and called a carpenter and a carpenter's son; rather, by this too He taught that He is the Son, before the ages, of Him who, the maker of all things, in the beginning created heaven and earth (John 1). For although human things are not to be compared with divine, yet the figure is complete, because the Father of Christ works by fire and by spirit. Hence also His forerunner says of Him as of a carpenter's son: He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire (Matt. 3). He in the great house of this world fashions vessels of different kinds, or rather, softening the vessels of wrath with the fire of His Spirit, changes them into vessels of mercy; but the Jews, ignorant of this mystery, despise the works of divine power by looking at His fleshly lineage,

And Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. That the Lord Jesus Christ is called a prophet in the Scriptures, Moses too is witness, who, foretelling His future incarnation to the children of Israel, says: The Lord your God has raised up for you a prophet from among your brethren, like me; him you shall hear. And not only He who is the head and Lord of the prophets, but also Elijah and Jeremiah and the other prophets were held in less esteem in their own country than in foreign cities, because it is almost natural for citizens always to envy citizens. For they do not consider the present works of the man, but remember his frail infancy, as if they themselves too had not come to mature age through the same stages of life.

And He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief. Not that He could not do many mighty works even though they were unbelieving, but so that, by doing many, He might not condemn His unbelieving fellow citizens. It can also be understood otherwise: that Jesus is despised in His house and in His country, that is, among the people of the Jews, and therefore did few signs there, lest they should become wholly without excuse.

But greater signs He does daily among the gentiles through the apostles, not so much in the healing of bodies as in the salvation of souls. And as for the Lord being said to marvel at their unbelief, He does not marvel as at things unexpected and unforeseen, He who knows all things before they come to be; just as He did not then begin to marvel at the faith of the centurion as something new and previously unknown, when, hearing the words of his devout confession, He said: Not even in Israel have I found such faith (Luke 7); but He who knew

the secrets of the heart shows Himself marvelling before men at what He wishes to make known to men as to be marvelled at. For the faith of the centurion was to be marvelled at, who without a human teacher, without the utterances of the Scriptures, without the oracles of angels, by natural sense alone, divinely enlightened, knew through the miracles that He was true God whom through the weaknesses of human frailty he had known to be true man. But on the other hand, no less to be marvelled at is the unbelief of the Nazarenes, who, abounding both in teachers and in the divine utterances in which the coming of Christ was proclaimed, and having Christ Himself present, pressing the knowledge of Himself upon them both by words and by signs, nevertheless remained unbelieving. But in the one of these the marvellous blindness of the Jews is marked, who would neither believe their prophets about Christ nor believe Christ Himself born among them. In the other the faith of the gentiles is crowned, who were found worthy to receive, together with the sacred oracles, the mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ, born among the Jews but driven out by them.

And He went round the villages round about, teaching; and He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. The kind and merciful Lord and master does not grudge His servants and disciples His powers; and as He Himself had cured every sickness and every infirmity, He gave His apostles too the power to cure every infirmity and every sickness. But there is a great difference between having and bestowing, between giving and receiving. Whatever He does, He does by the power of the Lord; whatever they do, they confess their own weakness and the power of the Lord, saying, like Peter: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk (Acts 3).

And He commanded them to take nothing for the way except a staff only; no bag, no bread, nor money in the belt, but shod with sandals, and not to put on two tunics. So great ought to be the preacher's trust in God that, although he makes no provision for the expenses of the present life, he yet knows most surely that these will not be lacking to him; lest, while his mind is taken up with temporal things, he provide less of the eternal for others. But it is commonly asked how Matthew and Luke recorded that the Lord told the disciples not to carry even a staff, whereas Mark says: And He commanded them to take nothing for the way except a staff only. This is resolved thus: we are to understand that the staff which according to Mark is to be carried is spoken of in one sense, and that which according to Matthew and Luke is not to be carried in another; just as temptation is understood in one sense where it is said, God tempts no one, and in another where it is said, The Lord your God tempts you, to know whether you love Him. The one is of seduction, the other of proving. Both, then, are to be taken as said by the Lord to the apostles: both that they should not carry even a staff, and that they should carry nothing but a staff. For when, according to Matthew, He said to them: Do not possess gold nor silver, etc., He at once added: For the labourer is worthy of his food. By this He shows clearly enough why He did not want them to possess and carry these things: not that they are not necessary for the sustenance

of this life, but because He was sending them in such a way as to show that these things were owed to them by those to whom, as believers, they announced the Gospel. It is clear, however, that the Lord did not so command these things as though evangelists ought not to live otherwise than by the provision of those to whom they announce the Gospel. Otherwise the apostle would have acted against this precept, who got his living from the labours of his own hands, so as not to be burdensome to anyone; but [it is clear] that He gave a power, in virtue of which they might know that these things were owed to them. Now when something is commanded by the Lord, unless it is done, there is the fault of disobedience. But when a power is given, each one is free not to use it, and as it were to give up his own right. So the Lord, ordaining this which the apostle says He ordained, that those who announce the Gospel should live by the Gospel, spoke those words to the apostles so that, free from care, they should neither possess nor carry the necessities of this life, neither great nor least. Therefore He added, Not even a staff, showing that all things are owed by His faithful to His ministers, who seek nothing superfluous. And by adding this, For the labourer is worthy of his food, He plainly disclosed and made clear why He was saying all these things. This power, then, He signified by the name of a staff when He said that they should take nothing for the way except a staff only, so that it may be understood that, through the power received from the Lord (which is signified by the name of a staff), even the things that are not carried will not be lacking. This is to be understood also of the two tunics: that none of them should think he must carry another besides the one he had on, anxious lest there should be need, since by that power he could receive it. Accordingly Mark, by saying that they were shod with sandals or soles, warns that this footwear has some mystical meaning: that the foot should be neither covered nor bare to the ground, that is, that the Gospel should be neither hidden nor rest on earthly advantages.

And in that He forbids, not the carrying or having of two tunics, but more expressly the wearing of them, saying: and not to put on two tunics, what does He warn them but to walk not doubly but simply? Otherwise: by the two tunics He seems to me to indicate a double garment; not that in the regions of Scythia, stiff with icy snow, one ought to be content with a single tunic, but that by the tunic we should understand clothing, so that, being clothed with one, we should not keep another for ourselves out of fear of what is to come. Allegorically, however, by the bag the burdens of the world are designated, by the bread temporal delights, by the money in the belt the hiding of wisdom.

For he who has the word of wisdom but neglects to bestow it on his neighbour holds as it were money shut up in his belt; and it is written: Hidden wisdom and concealed treasure, what profit is there in either (Sir. 41)? So the apostles are not to carry a bag, nor bread, nor money in the belt, because whoever has received the office of teacher ought neither to be weighed down by the burdens of worldly business, nor to be enervated by carnal desires, nor to hide the talent of the word entrusted to him under the idleness of sluggish torpor.

And He said to them: Wherever you enter into a house, stay there until you depart from there. In Matthew it is thus written

: Into whatever city or village you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there until you depart (Matt. 10). He gives a general command of constancy, that they keep the rights of the bond of hospitality, declaring it foreign to a preacher of the heavenly kingdom to run about from house to house and to lose the rights of inviolable hospitality. Nor is it idly that, according to Matthew, the house which the apostles enter is decreed to be chosen, so that no reason may arise for changing their lodging and violating the bond.

And whoever do not receive you nor hear you, going out from there shake off the dust from your feet, for a testimony to them. The dust is shaken from the feet as a testimony of their labour, that they entered the city and the apostolic preaching reached even to them. Or else the dust is shaken off so that they may accept nothing, not even what is necessary for food, from those who have spurned the Gospel.

And going out they preached that men should repent, and they cast out many demons, etc. The apostle James says: Is anyone among you sick? Let him bring in the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him (Jas. 5). Hence it is plain that this custom of holy Church was handed down by the apostles themselves, that the possessed, or any other sick persons, be anointed with oil consecrated by the bishop's blessing.

And King Herod heard (for His name had become known), and they said that John the Baptist had risen. How great was the envy of the Jews, what fury of malice there was against the Lord, we are taught by almost every passage of the Gospel; for see, they believed, with no one attesting it, that John, of whom it was said that he did no sign, could have risen from the dead. But Jesus, a man approved by God with mighty works and signs (Acts 2), at whose death the very elements trembled, and whose resurrection and ascension angels, apostles, men and women eagerly proclaimed, they preferred to believe had not risen but had been stolen away.

When they said that John had risen from the dead, and that for this reason unexpected powers were at work in him, they thought rightly in every way about the power of the resurrection: that the saints will be of greater might when they have risen from the dead than they were while still weighed down by the infirmity of the flesh.

But they also showed that the very miracle of resurrection is not incredible, since they believed it of their own accord with no one teaching it; and yet by not believing a credible thing in the Lord they proved themselves deserving of their own blindness and envy.

When Herod heard this he said: John, whom I beheaded, he has risen from the dead. Luke wrote of this thus: Now Herod the tetrarch heard all that was being done by Him, and was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, but by some that Elijah had appeared, etc. (Luke 9). It is to be understood, then, either that after this perplexity he confirmed in his own mind what was being said by others, when he says: [John], whom I

beheaded, he has risen from the dead. Or else these words are to be pronounced so as to show him still perplexed. For if he had said: Can this be he, or is this perhaps John the Baptist? there would be no need to give any warning about the pronunciation, since he would be understood as doubting and perplexed. As it is, because those words are lacking, it can be pronounced either way, so that we take him to have spoken either as confirmed, by the words of others, in what was to be believed, or as still perplexed (as Luke records).

For Herod himself had sent and seized John, and bound him in prison on account of Herodias. An old history relates that Philip, son of the elder Herod, under whom the Lord fled into Egypt, and brother of the Herod under whom Christ suffered, married Herodias, the daughter of King Aretas; but that afterwards his father-in-law, certain quarrels having arisen against his son-in-law, took away his daughter and, to the grief of her former husband, joined her in marriage to his enemy. Who this Philip is, does not the Evangelist Luke teach more fully? In the fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar, Pontius Pilate being procurator of Judaea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis (Luke 3). So John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, with the same authority with which Elijah had rebuked Ahab and Jezebel, reproves Herod and Herodias for having contracted an unlawful marriage, since it is not lawful, while one's own brother is living, to take his wife; preferring to be in danger with the king rather than, for flattery's sake, to be unmindful of the commandments of God.

And when a fitting day had come, Herod made a supper on his birthday for the princes, etc. Herod and Pharaoh alone of mortals are read to have celebrated their birthday with festive rejoicings; but each king, under an ill-omened auspice, defiled his festival with blood. Herod, however, did so with impiety the greater in that he killed a holy and innocent teacher of truth, the herald of life and of the heavenly kingdom, and that at the wish and request of a dancing-girl; nor was he ashamed to have the head of the slain man brought in before the guests. For Pharaoh is not read to have committed any such madness; but, merely ordering a eunuch who had offended him to be deprived of life, he sinned the more lightly in the violation of his festival the further he strayed from the worship of true religion. And yet it is proved by the example of both that it is more profitable for us to call often to mind the day of our future death, by fearing it and living chastely, than to celebrate the day of our birth in luxury. For man is born into the world for labour (Job 5), and the elect pass out of the world through death to rest.

And when the daughter of Herodias herself had come in and danced and pleased Herod. Herod is not excused because he committed murder unwillingly and reluctantly on account of his oath, for perhaps he swore precisely in order to prepare the machinery for the coming killing. Otherwise, if he says he did it on account of his oath, had she asked for the death of his father or of his mother, would he have done it or not? What, therefore, he would have refused in his own case, he ought to have spurned in the case of the prophet too.

And when she had gone out, she said to her mother: What shall I ask? And

she said: The head of John the Baptist, etc. Herodias, fearing that Herod might some day come to his senses or become a friend to his brother Philip, and that the unlawful marriage might be dissolved by divorce, advises her daughter to ask for John's head at once, at the very banquet: a fitting reward of blood for a fitting work of dancing!

And the king was made sorrowful; because of his oath, and because of those reclining with him, he would not grieve her, but sending an executioner he commanded his head to be brought on a dish, etc. It is the custom of the Scriptures that the historian relates the opinion of many in the way that it was believed by all at that time. Just as Joseph is called the father of Jesus even by Mary herself, so here too Herod is said to have been made sorrowful, because those reclining at table thought so. For, a dissembler of his own mind and a skilled murderer, he showed sorrow in his face while he had gladness in his mind. And he excuses the crime by the oath, so that under the pretext of piety he might become impious. And as for his adding: And because of those reclining with him, he wants all to be partners in his crime, so that at a luxurious and impure banquet bloody dishes might be served.

And he brought his head on a dish, and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. Let this have been done according to the letter; but we see to this day, in the head of John the prophet, that the Jews have lost Christ, who is the head of the prophets. Otherwise: the beheading of John signifies the lessening of his fame, by which he was believed by the people to be the Christ, just as the lifting up on the cross of the Lord Saviour signified the advance of faith; for He who had before been thought by the crowds to be a prophet, the Lord of the prophets, was acknowledged by all the faithful as the Christ, the Son of God. John therefore was diminished by his head, the Lord was lifted up on the cross; for, as the same John says, He must increase, but John decrease. It was fitting that He who was reckoned a prophet should be known as the Christ, and that he who for the sublimity of his powers was thought to be the Christ should be understood to be the prophet and forerunner of Christ. This very thing is also signified quite plainly by the distinction of the season at which each of them was born: for John, who had to decrease, was born when the light of day begins to decrease; but the Lord, who is the true light of the world, displayed to us the light-bearing gifts of His nativity at the season of the year when the day begins to increase.

When his disciples heard this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Josephus relates that John was taken in bonds to the fortress of Machaerus and beheaded there. The Ecclesiastical History relates that he was buried in Sebaste, a city of Palestine, which was once called Samaria. But in the time of the emperor Julian, the pagans, envying the Christians who visited his tomb with devout care, broke into the tomb, scattered the bones over the fields, gathered them again and burnt them with fire, and scattered them once more over the land. At that time there were present in that place monks from Jerusalem, who, mingling with the pagans gathering the bones, collected the greatest part of them and carried them to Jerusalem to their father Philip. And he sent them to the blessed Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and there

[they were] preserved until the times of Theophilus, bishop of the same city, when, at the command of the emperor Theodosius, all the shrines of the heathen were destroyed. Then, the temple of Serapis having been cleansed of its filth, [they were] brought in there, and a basilica was consecrated in honour of Saint John in place of the little shrine of Serapis. Read the eleventh book of the Ecclesiastical History.

And the apostles, coming together to Jesus, reported to Him all that they had done and taught. The apostles report to the Lord not only what they themselves had done and taught; but also what John had suffered while they were occupied in teaching, either they themselves or the disciples of that same John report it to Him, as Matthew describes. Hence what follows:

And He said to them: Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little, etc. He does this not only for the sake of their rest, but also for the sake of a mystical signification: namely, that, having left Judaea, which by not believing had taken away from itself the head of prophecy, He was to bestow the food of the word on believers in the desert of the Church, which had had no husband, as though about to give a feast of loaves and fishes. For there the holy preachers, who among an unbelieving and gainsaying Judaea had for some time been weighed down by a heavy burden of tribulations, found rest in the grace of faith bestowed on the gentiles. But what need there was to grant rest to the disciples is shown next, when it is said:

For there were many coming and going, and they had not even time to eat. Here the great happiness of that time is shown, from the labour of the teachers together with the zeal of the learners. Would that it might return in our age, so that so great a throng of faithful hearers might stand about the ministers of the word as would not grant them even free time to care for the body! For those who are denied the hour needed to care for the body, how much less have they the leisure to pursue the allurements of soul or flesh? Rather, those from whom the word of faith and the saving ministry is demanded in season and out of season have their mind consequently kindled always to do and to think heavenly things, lest they assail by their deeds what they teach by their words.

And going up into a boat, they went away into a desert place apart. Not the disciples alone, but, having taken the Lord with them, they went up into the boat and made for a desert place, as the evangelist Matthew plainly shows.

And many saw them going away and recognized [them], and on foot from all [the cities they ran] to it, etc. When they are said to have gone before them on foot, it is shown that the disciples with the Lord did not come by boat to another shore of the sea or of the Jordan, but, having crossed some strait or pool by boat, went to nearby places of the same region, where the natives too could arrive on foot.

And Jesus, going out, saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd, and He began to teach them many things. How He had compassion on them Matthew sets out more fully, saying: And He had compassion on them, and healed their sick. For this is truly [the mark] of the poor and of those having no shepherd

to have pity, and to open to them the way of truth by teaching, and to take away bodily troubles by healing; and also, by refreshing the hungry, to stir them to the praise of the bounty from on high. That He did this the following parts of this reading also record. He tests the faith of the crowds, and rewards it, once proved, with a fitting reward. For by making for a solitary place He tries whether they take care to follow. They, by following, and not on beasts of burden or various vehicles but by taking the road of the desert by the labour of their own feet, show how great a care they have for their salvation. He in turn, as a mighty and kindly Saviour and physician, by receiving the weary, teaching the ignorant, healing the sick, and refreshing the hungry, makes known how much He is delighted by the devotion of believers. But according to the laws of allegory, many bands of the faithful, having left the walls of their former way of life and neglected the protection of various doctrines, follow Christ as He makes for the deserts of the gentiles. And God, Who was first known in Judaea, after the teeth of the Jews became weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword (Ps. 56:5), was exalted above the heavens as God, and His glory over all the earth.

And when the hour was now late, His disciples came to Him saying: The place is a desert, and the hour is now past. Send them away, that going into the nearest farms and villages they may buy themselves food to eat. By "a late hour" he means the evening time, as Luke bears witness, who says: But the day had begun to decline, and the twelve came and said to Him: Send the crowds away, etc. (Luke 9:12). And it is when the day has declined that the Saviour refreshes the crowds, because either as the end of the ages draws near, or when the Sun of justice set for us, we were saved from the long wasting of spiritual hunger.

And answering He said to them: Give them [something] to eat, etc. He calls the apostles to the breaking of bread, so that, when they testify that they have none, the greatness of the sign may become better known; at the same time making known that our hungry hearts are to be fed daily through them, namely when we are roused to love heavenly things by their examples or their letters. It is to be noted, moreover, that the evangelist John, when about to write of this miracle of the loaves, said first that the Pasch, the feast day of the Jews, was near. But Matthew and Mark record that this was done immediately after John had been killed. From which it is gathered that John was beheaded when that same paschal feast was at hand, and that in the year following this, when the paschal time came round again, the mystery of the Lord's passion was accomplished. And so the fact that in the Book of Sacraments his feast is noted on the fourth day before the Kalends of September, and that in the Martyrology which is marked with the names of Eusebius and Jerome one reads: "On the fourth day before the Kalends of September, in the city of Edessa of the province of Phoenicia, the feast of John the Baptist, on the day on which he was beheaded", does not specifically mark the very day of his beheading, but rather the day on which his head was found in that same city of Edessa and laid up in a church. For, as the Chronicle of Count Marcellinus testifies, in the time of the emperor Marcian two eastern monks had come to worship at Jerusalem, and the places

to see the holy places; and the same forerunner of the Lord, standing by them through a revelation, instructed them to go to the dwelling of the former king Herod and to seek his head there, and, having found it, to lay it up with fitting honour. This, having been found and taken up there by them, but not long afterwards lost through negligence, was carried by others to Edessa, and in a certain cave it lay hidden in an urn beneath the earth, without honour, for no short time, until the same John again showed himself and his head to a certain Marcellus, a devout abbot and priest, while he was living in that same cave. It is established that this head was found through the aforesaid priest by Julioramus, bishop of the same city. From that time the beheading of the blessed forerunner began to be celebrated in that same city, on the very day (as we think) on which the head was found or raised up. About these things you will find it written more fully in the aforesaid book of Chronicles.

And He says to them: How many loaves have you? Go and see. And when they had found out, they say: Five, and two fishes. By the five loaves of the apostles and the two fishes the whole scripture of the Old Testament is signified. By the five loaves, namely, the five books of the Mosaic law, through which the knowledge of the divine eternity, the creation of the world, the onward course of the passing age, and the true religion of serving God became known to the human race. By the two fishes the psalms and the prophets are figured, which fed the people instructed in the law of God with the new sweetness of grace from the promise of the Lord's incarnation. By this threefold division of sacred Scripture we are taught on the Lord's authority that the whole sequence of the old instrument is comprehended. For the Lord Himself, appearing to the disciples after the resurrection, said that all things had to be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me (Luke 24:44). And when He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, and hand them on, spiritually understood, to faithful hearers, it was as though, blessing the apostolic loaves and fishes and multiplying them with the gift of inward sweetness, He commanded them to be distributed to the crowds. And well, according to the Gospel of John, are the loaves which signify the law said to have been of barley, which is the food chiefly of beasts of burden and of country slaves, because to beginners and hearers not yet perfect the harsher and, as it were, coarser precepts are to be committed. For the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). And therefore the Lord, giving gifts to each according to his strength, and ever calling them on to more perfect things, first refreshes five thousand with five loaves, secondly four thousand men with seven loaves, thirdly entrusts to the disciples the mystery of His flesh and blood; at the last He gives to the elect with a great gift that they may eat and drink at His table in His kingdom.

And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. The different sittings of the guests signify the distinct assemblies of the Churches throughout the world, which make up the one catholic [Church]. These the Lord well commanded to sit down in groups of fifty or of a hundred,

so that, namely, the crowd of the faithful might receive its food both distinct in places and joined in morals. For the rest of the Jubilee is contained in the mystery of the number fifty, and fifty is taken twice so as to reach a hundred. Since, then, one first rests from evil work, so that afterwards the soul may rest more fully in thought, some sit down by fifties, but others by hundreds, because there are some who have rest of work from wicked acts, and there are some who already have rest of mind from perverse thoughts. Well also did they sit down upon green grass. For it is written: All flesh is grass (Isa. 40:6). And those who sit down upon green grass are fed with the Lord's food who, having trampled on the allurements of carnal desires through the pursuit of continence, devote their effort to hearing and fulfilling the words of God.

And taking the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven He blessed and broke, and gave to His disciples to set before them, and the two fishes He divided among all. For the hungry crowds the Saviour does not create new food, but, taking what the disciples had, He blesses it; because, coming in the flesh, He preached nothing other than what had been foretold, but shows how pregnant with the mysteries of grace are the writings of the law and the prophets. He looks up to heaven, to teach that the eye of the mind is to be directed there, and that the light of knowledge is to be sought there. He breaks, and distributes to the disciples to set before the crowds, because He laid open the sacraments of prophecy to holy teachers, who were to preach them in the whole world.

And they all ate and were filled, and they took up the remains of the fragments, twelve baskets full, and of the fishes. What is left over by the crowds is taken up by the disciples; because the more sacred mysteries, which cannot be grasped by the unlearned, are not to be carelessly passed over, but are to be searched out by the perfect. For by the twelve baskets the apostles are figured, and through the apostles all the choirs of the teachers who follow: outwardly despised by men, but inwardly heaped up with the remains of the saving food for nourishing the hearts of the humble. For it is well known that servile work is usually done with baskets; but He filled the baskets with fragments of the loaves Who chose the weak things of this world to confound the strong.

Now those who ate were five thousand men. Since there are five senses of the outer man, the five thousand men who followed the Lord signify those who, still placed in secular dress, know how to use well the outward things which they possess. They are rightly fed with five loaves, because such men must still be instructed by the precepts of the law. For those who renounce the world entirely are both four thousand and refreshed with seven loaves, that is, they are both lofty in evangelical perfection and inwardly instructed by spiritual grace.

And immediately He compelled His disciples to go up into the boat, to go before Him across the strait to Bethsaida, while He Himself sent the people away, etc. Why He compelled the disciples to go up into the boat, and He Himself, having soon sent away the people, went off to the mountain to pray, John clearly declares, who, when that heavenly refreshment was completed, at once added: Jesus therefore, when He knew that they would come

were going to seize Him and make Him king, fled again to the mountain, Himself alone (John 6:15). Here He shows us a needful example of living: that in the good things we do we should shun the reward of human favour, and that the working of spiritual virtues should not turn us back to the desire of temporal pleasures. For it has happened to some that, while for the merit of a loftier life they stood out as admirable in morals and praiseworthy, and were rightly thought worthy of honour, they accepted money or estates, lost the rudiments of justice they had begun, and, when they had incautiously corrupted themselves with carnal allurements and avarice, came, in the eyes even of those by whom they had been honoured for good deeds, now for evil deeds not only into distaste but even into hatred. And it is much less dangerous, in the things we do rightly, to be wearied by the wickedness of those who oppose us than to be soothed by the favour of those who honour us. For the latter often corrupts a mind made too secure; the former always renders it circumspect and wary. Hence the Lord, opening for us the way of life which we are to follow, when those who admired His mighty works wished to make Him king, fled to the mountain to pray. But when those who envied His mighty works were arranging to hand Him over to death, He came forward readily and offered Himself to the raging men to be bound and crucified, instructing us by a plain example to be ready to endure the adversities of the world, and wary to turn aside its blandishments when perhaps they smile on us; and let us implore the Lord with frequent prayers that the prosperities of the world, flowing in upon us, may not deceive us by softening us. Now the disciples went before the Lord across the strait to Bethsaida, which is a city in Galilee of the apostles Andrew and Peter and Philip, near the lake of Genezareth, as we find in the books of places. Here it rightly warns [us to consider] how Mark says that, the miracle of the loaves accomplished, the disciples came across the strait to Bethsaida, when Luke seems to say that it was in the region of Bethsaida that that memorable miracle and heavenly refreshment took place. For he says: Taking them with Him, He withdrew apart into a desert place, which is Bethsaida. And when the crowds knew it, they followed Him, and He received them (Luke 9:10–11). And the rest that follows, up to the completed account of the sacred refreshment. Unless perhaps we understand that by Luke's saying into a desert place, which is Bethsaida, not the neighbourhood of the city itself but places of a desert belonging to it are meant. For Mark says plainly that they went before Him to Bethsaida, where it is clear that the bounds of the city itself are indicated. But Luke, who does not say "into a desert place which [place] is Bethsaida" but "which is Bethsaida", can, unless I am mistaken, rightly be understood to have meant not the city itself but its desert place, that is, one belonging to its borders. Now the Evangelist John relates that the crowds ate bread near Tiberias, and that the disciples, going up into the boat, came across the sea to Capharnaum; both of which are cities in Galilee by the lake of Genezareth, which is also called [the lake] of Tiberias from the city of Tiberias

And when He had sent them away, He went off to the mountain to pray. Not everyone who prays goes up the mountain; for there is a prayer

which causes sin. But he who prays well, who seeks God by praying, advancing from earthly things to higher, climbs the summit of a loftier care. But he who makes entreaty anxious about riches, or about the honour of the world, or indeed about the death of an enemy, lying himself in the lowest places, sends paltry prayers to God. Now the Lord prays, not to entreat for Himself, but to obtain for me. For although [the Father] has put all things in the power of the Son, yet the Son, that He might fulfil the form of a man, thinks the Father should be entreated for us, because He is our advocate. For, says the Apostle, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1). If He is an advocate, He must intercede for my sins. He entreats, then, not as one weak but as one kind. Do you wish to know that He can do all that He wills? He is both advocate and judge. In the one is the office of kindness, in the other the mark of power.

And when it was evening, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He Himself alone on the land. And seeing them labouring in rowing, for the wind was against them. The labour of the disciples in rowing, and the wind against them, signifies the various labours of holy Church, which, amid the waves of a hostile world and the blasts of unclean spirits, strives to reach the rest of the heavenly fatherland as though the safe anchorage of the shore. Here it is well said that the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He Himself alone on the land. For sometimes the Church has been not only afflicted but even defiled by such great oppressions of the gentiles that (were it possible) her Redeemer would seem for a time to have wholly forsaken her. Hence that cry of hers, caught amid the waves and storms of sweeping temptations and seeking the help of His protection with a groaning outcry: Why, O Lord, hast Thou withdrawn afar off, dost Thou look away in times of need, in tribulation (Ps. 9:22)? It likewise sets out the voice of the persecuting enemy, adding in the following parts of the psalm: For he has said in his heart, God has forgotten; He has turned away His face so as not to see, unto the end (ibid.). But He does not forget the prayer of the poor, nor does He turn away His face from those who hope in Him; rather, He both helps those who struggle with their enemies to conquer, and crowns the victors for ever. Hence here too it is plainly said that He saw them labouring in rowing. For the Lord saw them labouring on the sea, although He Himself was set on the land, because, even if He seems for an hour to put off bestowing help on the afflicted, He nonetheless strengthens them by the regard of His kindness so that they do not fail in tribulations, and sometimes even by manifest help, having overcome adversities, as though trampled underfoot, and stilled the rolling of the waves, He sets them free, as is here too indicated next, when it is said:

And about the fourth watch of the night He came to them walking upon the sea. Military stations and watches are divided into spaces of three hours. When, then, he says that the Lord came to them in the fourth watch of the night, he shows that they were in danger all night, and that help was given them at the last time of the night.

They labour, then, through the whole time of the dark night; but as the dawn draws near, and the morning star promises the rising of the sun and of the day, the Lord comes and, walking over

the swollen backs of the strait, presses them down. For when human frailty, beset by oppressions, considers the smallness of its strength, it sees nothing about itself but the darkness of straits and the surge of contending enemies. But when it has raised the mind to the light of protection from above and to the gifts of everlasting reward, it beholds, as it were amid the shadows of night, the sudden rising of the morning star, which announces the coming day. For the morning star is said at most to light up three hours of the night, that is, the whole morning watch.

And the Lord will be at hand, to grant, when the dangers of temptations have been laid to rest, the full confidence of freedom which His protection gives. There follows:

And He meant to pass them by. But they, when they saw Him walking upon the sea, thought it was a phantom, and cried out. For they all saw Him, and were troubled. Heretics still think that the Lord was a phantom and did not take true flesh from the Virgin. Indeed Theodore of Pharan, a bishop of former times, wrote that the Lord had no bodily weight according to the flesh, but walked upon the sea without weight and body. But against this the catholic faith proclaims both that He has weight according to the flesh, and a bodily burden, and that with bodily weight and burden He walked upon the waters with feet not wetted. For Dionysius, eminent among ecclesiastical writers, speaks in this way in his little works On the Divine Names: For we do not know how He was formed from virginal blood by another law than the natural, and how, with feet that were not wetted, having bodily weight and material burden, He walked upon a moist and unstable substance. But how did the Lord mean to pass them by, as though strangers, when He had come to free them from the danger of shipwreck, unless it was so that, troubled and fearful for an hour but at once set free, they might marvel the more at the miracle of their rescue and render greater thanks to their rescuer? For in the storms of sufferings too, which are inflicted by the faithless for constancy in the faith, such a providence is sometimes shown from God. For often the goodness from above has seemed so to have forsaken the faithful set in tribulation that Jesus might be thought to have wished to pass by the disciples labouring, as it were, on the sea. Hence too that word in the psalmist, of the Church toiling in the contest of martyrdom: Why hast Thou forgotten me, why hast Thou cast me off, and why do I go sorrowful while the enemy afflicts me? While all my bones are broken, etc. But the enemies say, terrifying them, Where is their God (Ps. 41:4)? as though threatening shipwreck to the weary apostles. Their God Himself says: When you pass through the waters I will be with you, and the rivers shall not cover you. When you walk in fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not burn in you (Isa. 43:2). Hence here too it is rightly added:

And immediately He spoke with them, and said to them: Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And He went up to them into the boat, and the wind ceased. The first help to the frightened and endangered is to drive out the fear struck into their hearts; the second, to check the fury of the storms by the power of His presence. Nor is it to be wondered at if, when the Lord goes up

into the boat, the wind ceased. For in whatever heart God is present through the grace of His love, at once all the wars of vices, and of the hostile world, or of evil spirits, are put down and grow quiet.

And they were the more astonished within themselves. For they had not understood about the loaves; for their heart was blinded. The Lord indeed showed in the miracle of the loaves that He was the Creator of things; and in walking upon the waves He taught that He had a body free from all the heaviness of sins; and in calming the winds and stilling the rage of the waves He showed that He was Lord of the elements. But the disciples, still carnal, do not yet know that He is God. And they were indeed astonished at the greatness of His mighty works; yet they were not yet able to know in Him the truth of the divine majesty.

When they had come out of the boat, at once they recognized Him; and running through all that region, they began to carry about on beds those who were sick, where they heard He was. They recognized Him by report, not by face; or surely, because of the greatness of the signs which He wrought among the peoples, He was known by countenance even to very many. And see how great is the faith of the men of the land of Genezareth, that they are not content with the healing of those present only, but send to other cities round about, so that all may run to the physician.

And wherever He entered into villages or farms or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch even the fringe of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made whole. Those who are sick are not to touch the body of Jesus, nor His whole garment, but the edge of the fringe. And whoever have touched it will be healed. By the fringe of His garment understand the least commandment, which whoever transgresses shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; or the assumption of flesh, through which we come to the Word of God and afterwards enjoy His majesty.

CHAPTER VII.

And there came together to Him the Pharisees and some of the Scribes, coming from Jerusalem. And when they had seen some of His disciples eat bread with common (that is, unwashed) hands, they found fault. O how true is that confession of the Lord to the Father, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. The men of the land of Genezareth, who seemed less learned, not only come themselves but also bring their sick: nay, they carry them to the Lord, so that they may be worthy to touch even His fringe, whereby they may be made whole. And therefore at once they gain the reward of the health they longed for, as they deserved. But the Pharisees and Scribes, who ought to have been teachers of the people, run together to the Lord not to hear the word, not to seek healing, but only to stir up battles of questions; and they find fault with them over unwashed bodily hands, in whose works, done through the hands or the other members of the body, they could find nothing of defiling uncleanness; when they ought rather to have blamed themselves, who, with hands washed in water,

bore a conscience polluted with envy. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, unless they often wash their hands, do not eat, holding the tradition of the elders; and [coming] from the market, unless they are washed, they do not eat.

It is a superstitious tradition of men to wash more often those already washed for eating bread, and not to eat [after coming] from the market unless they are washed. But necessary is the teaching of truth, which bids those who desire to partake of the bread of life coming down from heaven to cleanse their works often with the washing of almsgiving, of tears and of the other fruits of justice, so that with chaste heart and body they may be able to communicate in the heavenly mysteries. It is necessary that each one thoroughly cleanse, by a following earnestness of good thoughts and deeds, the defilements he has contracted from the cares of temporal business, if he desires to enjoy fully the feast of inward refreshment. But the Pharisees, taking carnally the spiritual words of the prophets, kept as concerning the washing of the body alone what those [prophets] enjoined concerning the chastening of heart and work, saying: Wash yourselves, be clean, and be cleansed, you who carry the vessels of the Lord (Isa. 1:16; 52:11).

But in vain do the Pharisees, in vain do all the Jews wash their hands and are washed [on coming] from the market, so long as they scorn to be washed in the font of the Saviour. In vain do they keep the washings of vessels who neglect to wash away the filth of their hearts and bodies; since it is certain that Moses and the prophets, who for whatever reason commanded the vessels of the people of God to be rinsed with water, or purged with fire, or sanctified with oil, did not in this enjoin on us the cleansing of material things, but rather the chastening and holiness of minds and works, and the salvation of souls.

And the Pharisees and Scribes asked Him: Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with common hands? Amazing is the folly of the Pharisees and Scribes. They reprove the Son of God for not keeping the traditions and precepts of men. But the hands, that is, the works, not of course the hands of the body but those of the soul, are to be washed, so that the word of God may come to be in them.

And He said to them: Well do you make void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. He refutes a false accusation with a true answer. Since (He says) you neglect the commandments of the Lord for the sake of the tradition of men, why do you believe My disciples are to be reproved because they make little of the orders of the elders so as to keep the decrees of God?

For Moses said: Honour your father and your mother. And he who curses father or mother, let him die the death. Honour in the Scriptures is understood not so much in offering greetings and services as in almsgiving and the bestowing of gifts.

Honour (says the Apostle) widows who are truly widows (1 Tim. 5:3). Here honour is understood as a gift. And in another place: Presbyters are to be honoured with double honour, especially those who labour in the word and teaching of the Lord (ibid. 5:17). And by this commandment we are bidden not to muzzle the ox that treads out the grain, so that the labourer may be worthy of his wage (ibid. 5:18).

But you say: If a man says to father or mother,

Corban (that is, a gift), whatever [comes] from me shall profit you. And you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother, etc. The Lord, considering either the weaknesses or the ages or the poverty of parents, had commanded that sons should honour their parents even in supplying the necessities of life. Wishing to overturn this most provident law of God, so as to bring in impiety under the name of piety, the Scribes and Pharisees taught the worst of sons that if anyone wished to vow to God, Who is the true Father, the things which were to be offered to parents, the offering to the Lord should be put before the gifts due to parents. Or else the parents themselves, shunning what had been consecrated to God lest they incur the charge of sacrilege, were worn down by want; and so it came about that the offering of the children, on the pretext of the temple and of God, went to the profit of the priests. This most wicked custom of the Pharisees came from such an occasion. Having many bound to them by debt who were unwilling to repay them what they had lent, they assigned [the debts] to the priests, so that the money, once exacted, should serve the ministries of the temple and their uses. But it can also briefly have this sense: Whatever gift is from me shall profit you. You compel sons, He says, to say to their parents: Whatever gift I was going to offer to God I spend on your food, and it profits you, O father and mother; so that they, fearing to accept what they saw had been made over to God, would rather lead a needy life than eat of consecrated things.

And calling the crowd again He said to them: Hear Me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a man which, entering into him, can defile him. But the things which come out of a man, those are what make a man common. The word "make common" is proper to the Scriptures and is not worn in common speech. The Jewish people, boasting that it is the portion of God, calls "common" the foods which all men use: for example, pork, oysters, hares, and animals of that kind which do not divide the hoof nor chew the cud, and those among fish which are not scaly. Hence in the Acts of the Apostles too it is written: What God has sanctified, do not call common (Acts 10:15). "Common", then, is what lies open to other men and, as it were, is not of God's portion: it is used for "unclean". There is nothing (He says) outside a man which, entering into him, can defile him. But the things which come out of a man, those are what defile a man. Let the prudent reader object and say: If what enters the mouth does not defile a man, why do we not eat things offered to idols? And the Apostle writes: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons (1 Cor. 10:21). It is to be understood, then, that the foods themselves, as God's creation, are clean in themselves, but the invocation of idols and demons makes them unclean.

And when He had gone into the house from the crowd, His disciples asked Him about the parable. And He said to them: Are you also so without understanding? What had been said openly and was plain to the hearing, the apostles think was said in a parable, and in a manifest matter they seek a mystical understanding. And they are rebuked by the Lord for thinking that what He spoke clearly was said in a parable. From which we observe

that that hearer is at fault who wishes to understand plain things obscurely, or things plainly said obscurely.

Do you not understand that everything entering a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter into his heart, but into the belly, and is sent out into the privy, purging all foods? The passages of all the Gospels are, with heretics and perverse men, full of stumbling-blocks. And from this little sentence certain people cavil that the Lord, ignorant of natural science, supposes that all foods go into the belly and are digested in the privy, whereas foods, as soon as they are poured in, are at once diffused through the limbs and veins and marrows and sinews. Hence too we see many who, through a fault of the stomach, suffer continual vomiting, at once throwing up after suppers and dinners what they have taken in, and yet are stout, because at the first touch the more liquid food and drink is diffused through the members. But men of this kind, while they wish to censure another's ignorance, show their own. For although the thinnest moisture and liquid food, when it has been concocted and digested in the veins and limbs, glides down to the lower parts through the hidden passages of the body, which the Greeks call πόρους [pores], and goes into the privy. And He said that the things which come out of a man, these defile a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, and the rest. Out of the heart, He says, come evil thoughts. Therefore the ruling part of the soul is not, according to Plato, in the brain, but, according to Christ, in the heart. And from this sentence those are to be refuted who suppose that thoughts are put in by the devil, and are not born of one's own will. The devil can be a helper and kindler of evil thoughts; their author he cannot be. If, however, ever lying in wait, he has inflamed with his tinder the slight spark of our thoughts, we ought not to suppose that he also searches out the hidden things of the heart, but that he judges from the bearing and gestures of the body what we are turning over within. For example, if he has seen us often looking back at a beautiful woman, he understands that the heart has been wounded by the dart of love.

And rising from there He went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. Leaving behind the scribes and Pharisees, His cavillers, He passes over into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, to heal the Tyrians and Sidonians.

And having entered a house, He wished no one to know it, and He could not be hidden. It is rightly asked how it is said that the Lord wished no one to know His journey, and yet could not be hidden. For what is there that He could not do, Who, even when placed in time among men, invisibly ordered within, with the Father, all things that were done outside? Or for what reason is He to be thought to have entered the borders of Tyre and Sidon, except to free the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman from the demon, and through the faith of a Gentile woman to rebuke the faithlessness of the scribes and Pharisees? But it is to be held faithfully and piously that in this matter nothing at all was done concerning Him that He Himself did not will, but that to the faithful who follow His way it was shown what they ought chiefly to will in the good things they do. For having entered a house He charged the disciples not to reveal to anyone in the unknown region who He was.

Yet He Himself made known that entry of His to the Gentile woman, to whomsoever He Himself willed among the discerning; He Himself kindled her heart by an invisible prompting to seek salvation from Him, so that by His example those on whom He would confer the grace of healing the sick might learn, in the display of miracles, to shun the glory of human favour as far as they could, and yet not to cease from the holy work of power, when either the faith of the good justly deserved that these things be done, or the unbelief of the wicked of necessity compelled it.

And He could not, it says, be hidden. For a woman, as soon as she heard of Him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by race. Figuratively, this woman, a Gentile but coming to the Lord with faith, signifies the Church gathered from the Gentiles. She begs the Lord for her demon-possessed daughter when she makes supplication to the heavenly mercy for her peoples not yet believing, that they too may be released from the devil's deceits. She is well said, according to Matthew, to have gone out from her borders, and in this Evangelist to have come in to the Lord and fallen at His feet, so that from the statement of both it may be gathered that those alone pray faithfully and rightly for the erring who leave the old dwellings of their faithlessness and with holy devotion transfer themselves into the house of the Lord, that is, the Church.

And she besought Him, it says, that He would cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her: Let the children first be filled. As if He said more openly: It remains in the future that you also who are of the Gentiles shall obtain salvation; but first the Jews, who by the merit of their ancient election are wont to be reckoned under the name of sons of God, must be refreshed with the heavenly bread, and so at length the food of life be ministered to the Gentiles.

For it is not good to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. But she answered and said to Him: Yes, Lord. For even the little dogs eat of the children's crumbs. Under the person of the Canaanite woman the wonderful faith, patience and humility of the Church are proclaimed. Faith, by which she believed that her daughter could be healed. Patience, by which, so often scorned (as Matthew writes), she perseveres in her prayers. Humility, by which she compares herself not to dogs, but to puppies. I know, she says, that I do not deserve the children's bread, nor can I take whole food, nor sit at table with the father; but I am content with the leavings of the puppies, so that by the humility of the crumbs I may come to the greatness of the whole loaf. A wonderful reversal of things: Israel once the son, we the dogs; according to the difference of faith the order of names is changed. Of them it is afterwards said: Many dogs have surrounded me (Ps. 21). And: Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision (Phil. 3). Of us, turned from the barking of blasphemous gainsaying to the grace of godliness, He Himself says elsewhere: And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, and them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice (John 10). It is indeed to be noted that the woman believing from among the Gentiles speaks mystically, that the little dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. For the table is Holy Scripture, which ministers to us the bread of life. For hence

the Church says: Thou hast prepared a table in my sight against those who afflict me (Ps. 22). The children's crumbs are the inward mysteries of the Scriptures, by which the hearts of the humble are wont to be refreshed. Of these it is promised elsewhere to holy Church, the Prophet saying of the Lord: Who has made your borders peace, and fills you with the fat of the wheat (Ps. 147). Not crusts, then, but crumbs of the children's bread do the little dogs eat, because those who were despised among the Gentiles, being converted to the faith, seek in the Scriptures not the surface of the letter but the marrow of the spiritual senses, by which they may make progress in good deeds. And this under the table of the masters, when, humbly subject to the word of the sacred utterance, they lay all the services of their heart and body under the fulfilling of what is commanded, so that by the merit of due humility they may raise themselves to the hope of the rewards in heaven that the Lord has promised.

And He said to her: For this saying go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter. Because of the mother's humble and faithful saying the demon left the daughter. Here an example is given for catechizing and baptizing infants, since, namely, through the faith and confession of their parents in baptism little ones are freed from the devil, who cannot yet of themselves understand or do anything good or evil.

And again going out from the borders of Tyre, He came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. Decapolis is (as the name itself shows) a region of ten cities beyond the Jordan to the east, around Hippos and Pella and Gadara, over against Galilee. So the statement that the Lord came to the sea of Galilee, in the midst of the borders of Decapolis, does not mean that He entered the borders of Decapolis themselves. For He is not said to have sailed across the sea, but rather to have come as far as the sea, and to have reached the very place that looked towards the middle of the borders of Decapolis, lying far across the sea.

And they bring to Him one deaf and dumb; and they besought Him to lay His hand upon him. He is deaf and dumb who opens neither his ears to hear the words of God nor his mouth to speak them; such persons those who by long use have already learned to speak and to hear the divine utterances must needs offer to the Lord to be healed, so that those whom human frailty cannot save, He Himself may save by the right hand of His grace.

And taking him aside from the crowd, He put His fingers into his ears. The first door of salvation is for the sick man, the Lord taking hold of him, to be led aside from the crowd. For, taking hold of the sick man, He leads him aside from the crowd when, enlightening with the visitation of His mercy a mind enfeebled by sins, He calls it away from the accustomed ways of human life and summons it to follow the paths of His precepts. He puts His fingers into the ears when, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, He opens the ears of the heart to understand and receive the words of salvation. For that the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God the Lord Himself testifies, when He says to the Jews: If then I by the finger of God cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out (Luke 11)? Which another Evangelist, expounding, says: If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons (Matt. 12). By this finger, indeed, the magicians also in

Egypt were overcome by Moses, saying: This is the finger of God (Exodus VIII); and the law was written on tables of stone, because through the gift of the Holy Spirit we are both defended from the snares of men or of evil spirits, and instructed in the knowledge of the divine will. So the fingers of God put into the ears of him who was to be healed are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which He opens hearts that had strayed from the way of truth to hear and learn the knowledge of salvation. And because confession ought to follow the light of truth once known, it is fittingly added:

And spitting, He touched his tongue. For the Lord, spitting, touches the sick man's tongue when He instructs the mouths of the catechized for the confession of faith. For the Lord's spittle signifies the savour of wisdom, which, on the witness of the wise man, says: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, the first-born (Ecclesiasticus XXIV). Hence also elsewhere, by His spittle mixed with earth, the man born blind is given light. For the spittle that comes down from the Lord's head signifies His divine nature, which is from God; the portion of earth with which He mixed that same spittle signifies the human nature, which was taken from men. And by a medicine compounded of His spittle and earth He opened the eyes of the man born blind, because through the confession of both His natures He rescued the human race from the inborn darkness of its errors. So the Lord, spitting, touches the tongue of the dumb man that he may be able to speak, when by the touch of His mercy He forms mouths long brutish to utter words of wisdom. And it is well added:

And looking up to heaven, He groaned; and He said to him: Ephphatha, which is, Be opened. For He looked up to heaven to teach that thence speech for the dumb, thence hearing for the deaf, thence healing for all infirmities is to be sought. And He groaned, not because He Himself needed to ask anything of the Father with groaning, He Who with the Father gives all things to those who ask, but to give us an example of groaning when we call upon the protection of the heavenly mercy for our own errors or for those of our neighbours. And that He says: Ephphatha, that is, Be opened, belongs properly to the ears. For the ears were to be opened for hearing, but the tongue was to be loosed from the restraints of its slowness so that it might speak; whence it is also added:

And at once his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke rightly. Here both natures of the one and the same Mediator of God and men are plainly distinguished. For looking up to heaven as man about to pray to God He groaned, but presently with one word, as mighty in divine majesty, He healed. And it is well said of him whose ears the Lord opened and the bond of whose tongue He loosed, that he spoke rightly. For he alone speaks rightly, whether in confessing God or in preaching to others, whose hearing divine grace unlocks so that he may listen to and obey the heavenly commands, and whose tongue the Lord, by the touch of wisdom, which He Himself is, trains to speak. Such a one may rightly say with the Psalmist: O Lord, Thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Thy praise (Ps. 50). And with Isaiah: The Lord

has given me a learned tongue, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. He wakens in the morning, in the morning He wakens my ear, that I may hear as a master (Isa. 50).

And He charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, so much the more did they proclaim it, and were the more astonished, saying: He has done all things well; He has made both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. If He knew, as One to Whom both the present and the future wills of men were known, that they would proclaim it the more, the more He charged them not to proclaim it, why did He give this charge, unless because He wished to show the slothful how much more zealously and how much more fervently those whom He commands to preach ought to preach Him, when those who were forbidden could not keep silent?

CHAPTER VIII.

In those days again, when there was a great crowd and they had nothing to eat, having called His disciples together, He said to them: I have compassion on the crowd, for behold, they have now been with Me three days, and have nothing to eat, etc. In this reading too we must consider the distinct working of the divinity and the humanity in one and the same Redeemer of ours; and the error of Eutyches, who presumes to teach as dogma only one operation in Christ, must be driven far from Christian borders. For who does not see that the Lord's having compassion on the crowd, lest it faint from hunger or from the toil of a longer journey, is the feeling and compassion of human frailty? And that His satisfying four thousand men from seven loaves and a few small fishes is the work of divine power? Mystically, this miracle signifies that we cannot pass safely through the way of the present world otherwise than if the grace of our Redeemer refreshes us with the food of His word. Typically, this refection differs from that of the five loaves and two fishes in this, that there the letter of the Old Instrument was signified to be full of spiritual grace, while here the truth and grace of the New Testament is shown to be ministered to the faithful. Both refections, indeed, were held on a mountain, as the narrative of the other evangelists makes clear, because the Scripture of each Testament, rightly understood, commends to us the loftiness both of heavenly precepts and of rewards: both with harmonious voice proclaim the loftiness of Christ, Who is the mountain of the house of the Lord on the top of the mountains. For He Who raises the city or house of the Lord built upon Himself, that is, the Church, to the height of good works, and displays it manifest to all nations, Himself refreshes it, drawn away from the lowest delights, with the bread of heaven, and, giving a pledge of spiritual food, kindles it to the desire of the heavenly sweetness.

I have compassion, He says, on the crowd, for behold, they have now been with Me three days, and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way. Why the crowd stayed with the Lord three days Matthew sets out more fully, saying: And going up into the mountain He sat there. And great crowds came to Him, having with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others, and they cast them down at His feet, and He healed them (Matt. 15). So the crowd [stayed with] the Lord three days on account of

the healing of their sick, when all the elect, made bright by faith in the Holy Trinity, entreat the Lord with persevering urgency for their own sins and those of their people, that is, for the sicknesses of the soul. Again, the crowd stays with the Lord three days when the multitude of the faithful, turning away by penance from the sins it has committed, turns itself to the Lord in deed, in word and in thought. These the Lord does not wish to send away fasting to their home, lest they faint on the way, because converted sinners faint on the way of the present life if they are sent away in their own conscience without the food of holy doctrine. So, lest they grow weary on the road of this pilgrimage, they are to be fed with sacred admonition. And much to be weighed is the gracious sentence that came forth from the mouth of Truth, in which it is said:

For some of them came from afar. For there is one who, having experienced nothing of fraud and nothing of carnal corruption, has hastened to the service of almighty God. He has not come from afar, because through incorruption and innocence he was near. Another, defiled by no unchastity, by no shameful deeds, but having experienced marriage only, has turned to the spiritual ministry. Neither has he come from afar, because, using the union allowed, he did not stray into what is unlawful. But others, after sins of the flesh, others after false witness, others after thefts committed, others after injuries and violence inflicted, others after murders perpetrated, return to penance and are converted to the service of almighty God. These, namely, come to the Lord from afar. For the more anyone has strayed in wicked work, the farther has he withdrawn from the almighty Lord. Let food therefore be given also to those who come from afar, because the meats of holy doctrine are to be offered to converted sinners, that they may recover in God the strength they lost in shameful deeds. Again, those Jews who believed in Christ came to Him from near at hand, because they had been taught about Him by the writings of the law and the prophets. But those believing from among the Gentiles certainly came to Christ from afar, because they had been forewarned of faith in Him by no records of the sacred pages.

And He asked them: How many loaves have you? And they said: Seven. Fittingly are seven loaves set down in the mystery of the New Testament, in which the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit is more fully both revealed to all the faithful to be believed, and given once believed. Nor are they recorded to have been of barley, like those five by which five thousand men were satisfied, lest again, as in the law, the life-giving food of the soul should be covered over by bodily sacraments. For the kernel of barley is covered by a most tenacious husk.

And He commanded the crowd to sit down upon the ground. Above, at the refection of the five loaves, the crowd sat down upon the green grass; now, where it is to be refreshed with seven loaves, it is commanded to sit down upon the ground, because through the Scripture of the law we are bidden to trample and repress the desires of the flesh. For all flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass (I Peter I). But in the New Testament we are commanded to forsake the earth itself also, and temporal possessions. Or surely because

the mountain on which the crowd was refreshed with the Lord's loaves signifies (as we said above) the loftiness of our Redeemer; there it is refreshed upon grass, here upon the ground. For there the height of Christ, on account of carnal men and the earthly Jerusalem, is covered by carnal hope and desire; but here, all carnal desire being removed, the firm ground of an abiding hope, like the solidity of the mountain itself, held the guests of the New Testament with no grass laid between.

And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks He broke them, and gave them to His disciples to set before them, and they set them before the crowd. The Lord, taking the loaves, gave them to the disciples, that they might set them, once received, before the crowd, because, bestowing on the apostles the spiritual gifts of knowledge, He willed that through their ministry the food of life be distributed to His Church throughout the world. And His breaking the loaves which He was to give to the disciples signifies the opening of the sacraments by which the world was to be nourished to everlasting salvation. For when the Lord Himself says: And no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him (Matt. 11), what did He show, if not that the bread of life must be opened to us by Him, since we could not penetrate by ourselves to discern its inner parts? Against which the prophet, lamenting the pitiable hunger of certain men, said: The little ones asked for bread, and there was none to break it to them (Lam. 4). Which is to say in other words: The untaught sought the food of the word of God, to be refreshed by it so that they might grow strong in the virtue of good working, and, the teachers failing, there was none to lay open to them the secrets of the Scriptures and to set them on the way of truth. Having taken the loaves to break them, the Lord gives thanks, both to show how much He Himself rejoices in the salvation of the human race, and to train us always to give thanks to God, when we refresh either the flesh with earthly bread or the soul with heavenly bread, the grace from above bestowing it.

And they had small fishes, and these too He blessed and commanded to be set before them. If in the seven loaves the Scripture of the New Testament is signified, in the reading of which we find through the grace of the Holy Spirit the inward banquet of minds, what do we understand by the small fishes which the Lord, blessing them likewise, commanded to be set before the crowd, if not the saints of that time when that same Scripture was composed, or those whose faith, life and passions that Scripture contains? These, snatched from the turbulent waves of this world and consecrated by the divine blessing, have afforded us inward refreshment by the example of their life or of their death, lest we faint in our course through this passing world.

And they ate and were filled. They eat of the Lord's loaves and fishes, and are filled, who, hearing the words of God and beholding the examples, hasten to be roused by these and to rise up to the advancement of a more amended life. To them that saying of the Psalmist fitly applies: The poor shall eat and shall be filled, and they shall praise the Lord who seek Him. Their heart shall live for ever and ever (Ps. 21). Which is to say plainly: The humble will hear the word of God and do it, and, to the praise not of themselves but of the Giver above, all the good things that

they do they will refer. Whence rightly they will come to the eternal life of the inner man, as men filled with the bread of life. Against which slow hearers are reproached through the prophet: You have eaten, and you have not been filled. For they eat and are not filled who taste the bread of the word of God by hearing, but, not doing what they hear, receive into the belly of the memory nothing of its inward sweetness by which their heart might be strengthened.

And they took up what was left over of the fragments, seven baskets. What was left over when the crowds were filled the apostles take up and fill seven baskets, because there are higher precepts of perfection, or rather exhortations and counsels, which the general multitude of the faithful cannot reach by keeping and fulfilling them. Their carrying out properly concerns those who, filled with a greater grace of the Holy Spirit, surpass the general conversion of the people of God by loftiness of mind and of work. To such it is said: If you will be perfect, go, sell all that you have (Matt. 19), etc. Hence fittingly the baskets in which the fragments of the Lord's food were stored are recorded to have been seven, on account of the sevenfold grace of the Spirit. For since baskets are commonly woven of rush and palm leaves, they are rightly set down to signify the saints. For the rush usually grows above the waters, while the palm adorns the victor's hand. And the elect are rightly compared to vessels of rush when they set the root of the heart in the very fountain of life, lest perhaps it wither from the love of eternity. They are likened also to those woven of palm leaves when [the elect soul] holds in a pure heart the unfailing memory of the eternal reward. And it is well related that the crowd, although it did not take the leavings of the Lord's dinner, nevertheless ate and was filled. For there are some who, although they cannot leave all their goods, nor fulfil what is said of virgins: He who can take it, let him take it (Matt. 19), and other things of this kind, yet, hungering and thirsting for justice, are filled, when by hearing the commandments of God's law they come to eternal life.

And those who had eaten were about four thousand, and He sent them away. Fittingly four thousand, that by the very number they might show that they had been fed with the food of the Gospels.

And at once going up into the boat with His disciples He came into the parts of Dalmanutha. For this we read in Matthew: And having dismissed the crowd He went up into the little boat, and came into the borders of Magedan (Matt. 15). There is no doubt that it is the same place under both names. For most manuscripts, even according to Mark, have only Magedan.

And the Pharisees came out, and began to dispute with Him, seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him. They seek a sign as though the things they had seen were not signs. But what they seek is shown when it is said: Seeking of Him a sign from heaven. Either they wanted fire to come from on high after the manner of Elijah, or, in the likeness of Samuel, thunder to roar in summer time, lightning to flash, rain to pour down; as if they could not cavil at those things too, and say they had happened from hidden and various disturbances of the air. But you who cavil

the things that you see with your eyes, hold with your hand, feel in their usefulness, what will you do about the things that have come from heaven? You will surely answer that the magicians in Egypt also worked many signs from heaven. Or surely they seek a sign from heaven, so that He Who for a second time satisfied many thousands of men from a few loaves might now, after the example of Moses, with manna sent from heaven and scattered everywhere throughout, refresh the whole people for a long time. This, as we read in the Gospel of John, the crowds asked of Him after the eating of the loaves, saying: What sign then do You do, that we may see and believe You? What do You work? Our fathers ate manna in the desert (John VI), as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat (ibid.).

And sighing in spirit He said: Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen I say to you, if a sign shall be given to this generation. He Who above, when He was about to refresh the believing crowd with a heavenly benefit, gave thanks, now at the foolish request of the unbelieving and tempting Pharisees groans and is saddened, because, bearing a true human nature and the true affections of human nature, just as He rejoices over the salvation of men, so He grieves and groans over their errors. Hence also elsewhere, when many had been brought to salvation by the apostles' preaching, it is written of Him: In that very hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said: I confess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones (Luke X). And when He was about to expose the crime of Judas, He was troubled in spirit, as John writes, and testified, and said: Amen, amen I say to you, that one of you will betray Me (John XIII). And that He says: If a sign shall be given to this generation, means it shall not be given, according to that in the psalm: Once I have sworn by My holiness, if I lie to David (Ps. 88), that is, I will not lie to David. Lastly, holy Augustine, speaking of the agreement of the evangelists, testifies that in Mark it is written thus: And a sign shall not be given to it. So a sign shall not be given to that generation, that is, of those tempting the Lord and resisting His words. Such a sign, that is, as the tempters sought, namely from heaven. To whom nevertheless He gave many heavenly signs on earth. But to the generation of those who seek Him, of those who seek the face of the God of Jacob, He showed a sign from heaven when, the apostles looking on, He ascended into heaven; when, the Spirit being sent from above, He filled the primitive Church; when, at the laying on of the apostles' hands in Samaria, Caesarea, Ephesus, and many other cities and places, He ministered to believers the grace of the Holy Spirit from heaven.

And leaving them He went up into the boat again and departed across the strait. And they forgot to take bread, and they had with them in the boat only one loaf. Someone may ask and say how they did not have loaves who, right after the seven baskets were filled, went up into the little boat and came into the borders of Magedan, and there, as they sail, hear that they must beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But Scripture testifies that they forgot to take them with them. And that, about to sail across

the strait, they forgot to take provisions with them is a sign of how little care for the flesh they had in other things, since the very need of refreshing the body, which is naturally in all mortals, had passed out of their minds through their intentness on the Lord's company. But the one loaf which they had with them in the boat mystically signifies the Bread of Life Himself, namely the Lord the Saviour. Because they were always inwardly refreshed in heart by love of Him, they cared less about the earthly bread with which the body is wont to be fed.

And He charged them, saying: Look, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. The leaven of the Pharisees is to put the decrees of the divine law after the traditions of men, or at any rate to preach the law in words and to fight against it in deeds. Their leaven is to tempt the Lord, and not to believe His teaching or His works, but insultingly to ask for other things in which they should believe. The leaven of Herod is adultery, murder, rashness in swearing, the pretence of religion, and, what is the head and source of all crimes, hatred and persecution against Christ and His forerunner, the first herald of the heavenly kingdom. From the leaven of both of these the Apostle also, forbidding [us], says: Therefore let us feast not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5).

And they reasoned among themselves, saying: Because we have no bread. And Jesus, knowing it, said to them: Why do you reason that you have no bread? Do you not yet know nor understand? Have you your heart still blinded? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? Nor do you remember, when I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets of fragments you took up? etc. On the occasion of the precept by which the Saviour had commanded, saying: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod, He teaches them what the five and the seven loaves signify, or the small fishes, or the five thousand men and the four thousand who were fed in the desert. Although the greatness of the signs is evident, yet something else is shown by spiritual understanding. For if the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the leaven of Herod, signifies not bodily bread but perverse traditions and heretical dogmas, why should not the foods also with which the people of God was nourished signify true and whole doctrine? Leaven of this kind, which is to be shunned by every means, Marcion had, and Valentinus, and all heretics. Leaven has this power, that if it has been mixed with flour, what seemed small grows into something greater, and draws the whole lump to its own savour. So too heretical doctrine, if it has cast even a small spark into your breast, will in a short while grow up into a huge flame, and draw a man's whole possession to itself. This is what the Apostle also speaks of: A little leaven corrupts the whole lump (Gal. 5).

And they come to Bethsaida, and they bring to Him a blind man, and they besought Him to touch him. All the sicknesses that are cured by the Lord are signs of the spiritual sicknesses by which the soul through sin draws near to eternal death.

For just as in the deaf and dumb man healed by the Lord there is suggested the healing of the mind of those who had known neither how to hear the word of God nor how to speak it, and soon after, in the feeding of the hungry crowd which had followed the Lord, there is figured that sweetness with which He is wont to nourish the hearts of those who love and seek Him, so in this blind man cured by the Lord little by little let there be signified the enlightening of the hearts of the foolish, and of those who wander far from the way of truth. And they besought Him to touch him, knowing that the touch of the Lord, as it had power to cleanse the leper, so too had power to give light to the blind. Now we touch the Lord when we cleave to Him with whole and sincere faith. And that this touch is most healthful to us we learn from the example of the woman who with happy boldness touched the hem of His garment. The Lord touches us when He enlightens our mind with the breath of His Spirit, and kindles us to the acknowledgement of our own weakness and to zeal for good action.

And taking the blind man by the hand, He led him out of the village (Mark 8:23). He took the blind man's hand, to strengthen him for the carrying out of good work, which because of the long darkness of his heart he had not known. He led him out of the village, so that, set apart from the common life, he might search out more freely and with diligent heart the will of his Maker, by which he might deserve to be enlightened. For whoever desires to see the light of eternity must always follow, not the examples of crowds, but the leading of his Redeemer.

And spitting on his eyes, having laid His hands on him, He asked him whether he saw anything. And looking up he said: I see men as trees, walking. Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes, and he began to see, and was restored so that he saw all things clearly (Mark 8:23–25). Therefore the Lord cures this man by Himself little by little, and not at once and suddenly, though He could have cured him straightway with one word had He willed, so as to show the greatness of human blindness, which is wont to come to the light of the divine vision as it were step by step and through certain degrees of progress; or else to give us frequent tokens of His grace, by which He aids each increase of our perfection, so that they may make some progress and not fail. Of the spittle of the Lord's mouth, that it signifies the grace of His Spirit, it has often been said. Of the touch of His hands, that they suggest the power of His help, no one is in doubt. For the spittle proceeds from within, from the Lord's head; but the hands are members of the body placed outside. So the Lord, spitting on the blind man's eyes, lays His hands on him that he may see, because He wiped away the blindness of the human race both through the invisible gifts of the divine goodness and through the sacraments, shown outwardly, of the humanity He assumed. Now at first he who was being cured saw men as trees, walking; that is, he beheld the shape of bodies amid shadows, but, his sight being still dim, was unable to make out any outlines of the limbs, just as thick-set trees are wont to appear to those looking from afar, or indeed in the light of night, so that one cannot easily tell whether it is a tree or a man. For indeed the first entry of everyone into virtue is to look upon the life and manners of other men, so as to imitate whatever good he may see anywhere,

and whatever evil, he may beware of and abhor. But whoever is so foolish, and so weighed down by the darkness of long time, that he still does not know how to discern between good and evil, faith and faithlessness, the sincere works of piety and the pretence of righteousness, sees men walking as if like trees, because he sees the deeds of the multitude without the light of discernment. And what remains for such men, except that the divine condescension, which granted him the care of considering men, should also bestow the gift of discerning which life of men is most to be followed, whose teaching is to be heard? Hence it is fittingly said that by the second laying on of His hands the Lord restored to him the light to see all things clearly. For he who was blind sees all things clearly when he who has deserved to be enlightened within has plainly learned how one must believe, how one must live, what rewards are to be hoped for in the future for the faith of truth and the working of righteousness.

And He sent him into his house, saying: Go into your house; and if you enter into the village, tell no one (Mark 8:26). That He commanded him to go into his house mystically admonishes all who are enlightened by the knowledge of the truth to return to their own heart, and to weigh with careful mind how much has been given them, and to answer the benefits bestowed on them with a worthy carrying out of works. But that He bids him, as also many others whom He healed, to cover his healing with silence, He gives an example to His own, that they should not seek the favour of the crowd for the wonderful things they do, but be content to please the divine sight alone, where the reward of works also remains.

And Jesus and His disciples went out into the town of Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27). This Philip is the brother of Herod of whom we spoke above, tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, who in honour of Tiberius Caesar named Caesarea Philippi, which is now called Paneas, and it is in the province of Phoenicia; imitating his father Herod, who in honour of Augustus Caesar named Caesarea the town formerly called Strato's Tower, and from the name of his daughter built Livias beyond the Jordan. This place is Caesarea Philippi, where the Jordan rises at the roots of Lebanon, and it has two springs, one by the name of Jor and the other Dan, which, mingled together, make the name Jordan.

And on the way He asked His disciples, saying: Who do men say that I am? And they answered Him, saying: Some, John the Baptist; others, Elijah; but others, as it were one of the prophets (Mark 8:27–28). Fittingly the Lord, about to test the faith of the disciples, first asks the opinion of men, lest, that is, their confession should seem not to be proved by knowledge of the truth but confirmed by the opinion of the crowd, and lest they should be thought not to believe things ascertained but, like Herod, to waver over things heard. Hence also, according to Matthew, He says to Peter as he confesses Him to be the Christ: For flesh and blood has not revealed it to you (Matt. 16:17), that is, human teaching has not taught you the truth of the faith. Fittingly too, those who hold a different opinion about the Lord are marked by the name of men. For those who know the truth of His power faithfully and with devout mind deserve to be called, not men at all, but gods. Such

the Lord showed the apostles to have been by His second question. For there follows:

Then He says to them: But you, who do you say that I am? (Mark 8:29). For mark, prudent reader, that from what follows and from the texture of the discourse the apostles are by no means called men, but gods. For when He had said: Who do men say that I am, He added: But you, who do you say that I am? While those, because they are men, hold human opinions, you, who are gods, who do you judge Me to be?

Peter answering said: Thou art the Christ (Mark 8:29). Although the other apostles know, Peter nevertheless answered before the others. So he embraced everything, who expressed both the nature and the name, in which is the sum of the virtues. Do we, then, still debate questions about the generation of God? When Paul declared that he knew nothing save Christ Jesus, and Him crucified, and Peter thought nothing more was to be confessed than Christ the Son of God, do we probe, by the contemplation of human weakness, both when and how He was born, and how great He is? The end, therefore, of my faith is Christ; the end of faith is the Son. It is not permitted me to know the sequence of the generation; yet let it not be permitted me not to know the faith of the generation.

And He charged them that they should tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and by the chief priests, etc. (Mark 8:30–31). He did not wish to be proclaimed before His passion and resurrection for this reason: that, when the sacrament of His blood had afterwards been fulfilled, He might more fittingly say to the apostles: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). For it would not profit that He be publicly proclaimed and His majesty spread abroad among the peoples, whom a little later they were to see scourged and crucified, suffering many things from the elders and scribes and chief priests. And it is to be noted that He calls Him who was to suffer many things and be killed and rise again the Son of Man, because, though Christ suffered in the flesh, in His Godhead He remained impassible.

And Peter, taking hold of Him, began to rebuke Him (Mark 8:32). How he rebuked Him Matthew sets out more plainly, saying: And Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: Far be it from Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto Thee (Matt. 16:22). We have often said that Peter was of exceeding ardour and of the very greatest love towards the Lord and Saviour. Since, therefore, after his confession in which he had said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the Saviour's reward, in which he had heard, according to Matthew: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in heaven (Matt. 16:16–17), he suddenly hears from the Lord that He must go to Jerusalem and there suffer many things from the elders and scribes and chief priests, and be killed, and on the third day rise again: he does not want his confession destroyed, nor does he think it can come to pass that the Son of God be killed; and he takes Him into his affection, or leads Him apart, so as not to seem to reprove his master in the presence of the other fellow disciples. And he began to rebuke Him with the affection of one who loves, and to say as one who wishes it: Far be it from Thee, Lord, or (as it is better rendered in the Greek), Be merciful to Thyself, Lord,

this shall not be; that is, it cannot come to pass, nor do my ears accept it, that the Son of God should be put to death.

And He, turning and seeing His disciples, rebuked Peter, saying: Get behind Me, Satan (Mark 8:33). Satan is interpreted adversary, or opponent. Because (He says) you speak things contrary to My will, you ought to be called an adversary. Many think that it was not Peter who was rebuked, but the adversary spirit who was prompting the apostle to say these things. But to me an apostle's error, and one coming from the affection of piety, will never seem an incitement of the devil. Go, Satan, is said to the devil; Get behind Me, Peter hears; that is, follow My judgement.

For you savour not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men (Mark 8:33). It is of My will, and of the Father's, whose will I came to do, that I should die for the salvation of men. You, considering only your own will, do not wish the grain of wheat to fall into the ground, that it may bear much fruit.

And calling the crowd together with His disciples, He said to them: If anyone wills to follow after Me, let him deny himself, etc. (Mark 8:34). After He had shown the disciples the mystery of His passion and resurrection, He exhorts them together with the crowd to follow the example of His passion. And to all who have endured tribulation for His sake He promises the salvation of souls in the future; yet not to all, but to the more perfect, did He disclose how much He Himself was to suffer, or that He was to rise from the dead. Here He set before the ministers of the word a pattern of teaching, that, considering the capacity of their hearers, they should remember to instruct each in his own measure, and not entrust to weak hearers mysteries higher than they can grasp. If anyone wills (He says) to follow after Me, let him deny himself. Now we deny ourselves when we shun what we were through oldness, and strive towards that to which we are called through newness. Let us weigh how Paul had denied himself, who said: And I live, now not I (Gal. 2:20). For that fierce persecutor had been extinguished, and the devout preacher had begun to live. For if he were himself, he would surely not be devout. But let him who denies that he lives say whence it is that he cries out holy words through the teaching of the truth. Straightway he adds: But Christ lives in me (ibid.). As if he said plainly: I indeed am extinguished from myself, because I do not live carnally; but yet I am not dead in essence, for I live spiritually in Christ. Let the Truth say, then, let Him say: If anyone wills to follow after Me, let him deny himself. For unless one falls away from himself, he does not draw near to Him who is above him. Nor can he lay hold of what is beyond himself, if he does not know how to slay what he is. But for him who now denies himself in respect of vices, virtues must be sought in which he may grow. For when it has been said: If anyone wills to follow after Me, let him deny himself, there is straightway added:

And let him take up his cross, and follow Me (Mark 8:34). For the cross is taken up in two ways: when either the body is afflicted through abstinence, or the mind is afflicted through compassion for one's neighbour. Let us weigh how Paul had borne his cross in both ways, who said: I chastise my body

my [body], and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, having preached to others, I myself should become reprobate (1 Cor. 9). See, in the affliction of the body we have heard of the cross of the flesh; now let us hear of the cross of the mind in compassion for one's neighbour. He says: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn (2 Cor. 11)? For the perfect preacher, to give an example of abstinence, carried the cross in his body; and because he drew upon himself the losses of another's weakness, he carried the cross in his heart.

For whoever wills to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel's will save it. Thus it is said to the faithful man: Whoever wills to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel's will save [it]. As if it were said to a farmer: Grain, if you keep it, you lose; if you sow it, you renew it. For who does not know that grain, when it is put in as seed, perishes from the eyes and fails in the earth? But from the very thing whereby it rots in the dust, it grows green in renewal. And because holy Church has one time of persecution and another of peace, our Redeemer marked out her very times in His precepts. For in time of persecution the life is to be laid down; but in time of peace the earthly desires which might gain greater mastery are to be broken. Hence also it is now said:

For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffers loss to his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? When persecution from adversaries is lacking, the heart must be guarded far more watchfully. For in time of peace, because one may live [freely], one may also seek ambition. And often we overcome even avarice, but what still stands in the way of perfection is that we keep the ways of righteousness with lesser guard. For often we despise all possessions, yet we are still hindered by the habit of human bashfulness, so that the righteousness we keep in the mind we cannot yet express in the voice. And we neglect the face of God for the defence of justice as much as we fear the faces of men against justice. But to this wound too a fitting remedy is subjoined, when the Lord says:

For whoever has confessed Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also will confess him, when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. But see, men now say within themselves: We are no longer ashamed of the Lord and His words, for we confess Him with open voice. To them I answer that in this Christian people there are some who confess Christ for this reason, that they see all to be Christians. So for the proof of faith the voice of profession does not suffice, which the profession of the generality shields from shame. And yet there is a place where each may question himself, so as to prove himself truly in the confession of Christ: whether he is no longer ashamed of His name, whether he has fully subjected human shame to the strength of the mind. For certainly in time of persecution the faithful could be ashamed to be stripped of their goods, cast down from their dignities, afflicted with blows. But in time of peace, since these things are lacking from our persecutions, there is something else in which we are shown to ourselves. We often fear to be despised by our neighbours; we disdain to bear injuries of word. If perhaps a quarrel arises with a neighbour, we are ashamed to make amends first. For the carnal heart, while it seeks the glory of this life, spurns humility.

BOOK III.

CHAPTER VIII.

And He said to them: Amen I say to you, that there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until, etc. The kingdom of God in this place is called the present Church. And because some of the disciples were to live in the body so long as to see the Church of God built up and raised against the glory of this world, it is now said by a consoling promise: There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God coming in power. But since the Lord was giving such great precepts about undergoing death, what need was there for Him to come suddenly to this promise? If we attend closely, we shall recognize with how great a dispensation of loving-kindness it is done. For to disciples still untaught something had to be promised even concerning the present life, so that they might be more firmly established for the life to come. So to the Israelite people, about to be freed from the land of Egypt, the land of promise is promised, so that, while they were to be called to heavenly gifts, they might be persuaded by earthly promises. Hence also it is rightly said through the Psalmist: He gave them the lands of the nations, and they possessed the labours of the peoples, that they might keep His justifications and seek His law

(Ps. 104). So in this place the Truth, speaking to untaught disciples, promises that the kingdom of God is to be seen on earth, so that it may be the more faithfully anticipated by them in heaven. But if by this saying we wish to take the kingdom of God as the future blessedness in the heavens, this too some of those standing by saw on the mountain not many days after. Which was done by a loving providence indeed, so that by the contemplation of the ever-abiding joy, though tasted hastily and for a brief moment, they might more bravely bear the pressing adversities of the passing world. With a most fitting word He testifies that the saints taste death, by whom indeed the death of the body is tasted as if by sipping, while the life of the soul is truly held by possessing it.

And after six days Jesus took Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. In the Gospel of Luke it is written thus: Now it came to pass about eight days after these words, that He took Peter and James and John, and went up into the mountain that they might pray (Luke 9), and the rest. On the eighth day the Lord shows His disciples the promised glory of the blessedness to come: so that, the sweetness of the heavenly life being shown, of all wh

may hear these things He might refresh the hearts, and by the number of eight days might teach that the joy will come, but in the time of the resurrection. For He Himself also rose from the dead on the eighth day, that is, after the sixth day of the week, on which He mounted the cross, and the seventh day of the week, on which He rested in the tomb; and we, after the six ages of this world in which we rejoice to suffer and labour for the Lord, and the seventh, the Sabbath of souls, which meanwhile is passed in another life, shall surely rise again in the eighth age. For in that Matthew and Mark say that the Lord was transfigured after six days, they do not differ from Luke, who says eight days, either in the order of time or in the meaning of the mystery, because they put only the days in between, whence they also record simply that it happened after six days. He adds the first day, on which the Lord promised these things, and the last, on which He fulfilled His promises; and therefore he more moderately puts about eight days. And in the mystical sense, there it signifies that after the six ages of the world the saints are to rest from all labour, but here that in the eighth time they are to rise again. Hence fittingly the sixth psalm too is entitled For the octave, whose beginning is, Lord, rebuke me not in Thy fury (Ps. 6:2), because surely through the six ages in which it is permitted to work we must persevere in prayers, lest in the eighth time, of retribution, we be chastised by an angry judge. This the Lord Himself also wished to teach us in this place, by showing the example of His own prayer, of whom it is said according to Luke that He went up into a mountain to pray. For He went up into the mountain to pray and to be transfigured in such a way as to show that those who await the fruit of the resurrection, who desire to see the king in his beauty, must dwell in mind on high and apply themselves to continual prayers. He takes only three disciples with Him, either because many are called but few chosen (Matt. 20:16), or because those who now keep with uncorrupted mind the faith of the holy Trinity with which they have been imbued will then deserve to rejoice in the eternal vision of it.

And He was transfigured (it says) before them, and His garments became shining, exceeding white as snow (Mark 9:2). The Saviour, transfigured, did not lose the substance of true flesh, but showed the glory of the future resurrection, whether His own or ours. Such as He then appeared to the apostles, such will He appear after the judgement to all the elect. For at the very time of judging He will be seen by good and bad alike in the form of a servant, so that, that is, the ungodly may be able to recognize as judge Him whom they spurned, the Jews Him whom they denied, the soldiers Him whom they crucified, Pilate and Herod Him whom they judged. Now the Lord's garments are rightly taken to be His saints, the Apostle bearing witness, who says: For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27). These garments, that is, while the Lord was living on earth, seemed despised and like those of others; but when He makes for the mountain they shine with a new whiteness, because now indeed we are sons of God, but it has not yet appeared what we shall be. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Hence of these same garments it is well added: such as no fuller upon earth can make white (Mark 9:2). For since by the fuller in this place is to be understood Him whom the penitent Psalmist entreats:

Wash me yet more from my injustice, and cleanse me from my sin (Ps. 50:4), He cannot give His faithful on earth the brightness which, kept in store, awaits them in heaven.

And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus (Mark 9:3). Moses and Elijah, of whom we read that the one died and the other was caught up into heaven, seen in majesty with the Lord (as Luke writes), signify the future glory of all the saints in Him. These, that is, at the time of judgement, either to be found living in the flesh, or else, having long since tasted death, to be raised up, are alike to reign with Him. For the Apostle bears witness: The dead who are in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:15–16). Otherwise: Moses and Elijah, that is, the lawgiver and the foremost of the prophets, appear and talk with the Lord come in the flesh, to show that He is the one whom all the oracles of the law and the prophets promised. And they appear not in the low places but on the mountain with Him, because surely only those who in mind rise above earthly desires behold the majesty of holy Scripture, which has been fulfilled in the Lord. Thus the children of Israel saw Moses, but did not deserve to follow him as he went up into the mountains to God, and even when he returned to them they saw him not without a veil. They knew Elijah, but Elisha alone, with the sons of the prophets, beholds the triumph of his ascent. For many of us read the words of Scripture here and there; but how loftily it shines in the mysteries of Christ, very few, the more perfect, understand.

And Peter answering said: Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he did not know what he was saying; for they were struck with fear (Mark 9:4–5). O how great a happiness to be present for ever at the vision of the Godhead among the choirs of angels, if the transfigured humanity of Christ alone, and the company of two saints, seen for a moment, so delights that Peter wishes to keep them, even by service, from departing; who, even if from the stupor of human frailty he does not know what he says, yet gives a sign of the affection implanted in him! For he did not know what he was saying, who forgot that the kingdom of God had been promised to the saints by the Lord not anywhere on earth but in heaven. Nor did he remember that he and his fellow apostles, still enclosed in mortal flesh, could not enter the state of immortal life, to which he had gone out in mind; and that in the Father's house which is in heaven a house made by hand is not needed. But even to this day anyone is marked with unskilfulness who desires to make three tabernacles for the law and the prophets and the gospels, since these can in no way be separated from one another, having one tabernacle, that is, the Church of God.

And there was a cloud overshadowing them (Mark 9:6). He who sought a material tabernacle received the shade of a cloud, that he may learn that in the resurrection the saints are to be protected not by the covering of houses but by the glory of the Holy Spirit. Of which the Psalmist says: But the children of men shall hope under the protection of Thy wings (Ps. 35:8). And John in his Apocalypse: And a temple, he says, I did not see in it

(Rev. 21:22), for the Lord almighty is its temple, and the Lamb.

And a voice came from the cloud, saying: This is My most beloved Son; hear Him (Mark 9:6). Because they had asked imprudently, they therefore do not deserve the Lord's answer; but the Father answers for the Son, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled: I do not bear witness for Myself, but the Father who sent Me, He bears witness for Me (John 5:31, 37). A voice too is heard from heaven, of the Father speaking, to bear witness to the Son, and, the error being removed, to teach Peter the truth: nay, in Peter the other apostles. This is (He says) My most beloved Son; for Him the tabernacle is to be set up, Him you must obey. This is the Son; they are servants, Moses and Elijah. They too ought, with you, to prepare a tabernacle for the Lord in the inner chambers of their heart. This passage of the Gospel indeed agrees with the words of Moses himself, in which, bearing witness to the Lord's incarnation, he said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brethren: him you shall hear as myself, in all things whatsoever he shall speak to you. And it shall be: every soul whatsoever that will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people (Deut. 18:15, 19). Him, then, of whom Moses foretold that when He came in the flesh He must be heard by every soul that wishes to be saved, God the Father, now that He has come in the flesh, shows to the disciples as the one to be heard, and marks Him with a voice from heaven as His Son. And as if making faith in His coming known to them more plainly, He says: This man, this is he whom this Moses often promised you would be born into the world. Hearken to His words, according to the precept of Moses himself, both you and all true lovers, bid them hearken. And it is to be noted that, as when the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, so also when He was glorified on the mountain, the mystery of the whole holy Trinity is declared. Because, surely, His glory which believing we confess in baptism, seeing we shall praise together in the resurrection. Nor is it for nothing that the Holy Spirit appeared here in a bright cloud, as another evangelist records, and there in a dove; because he who now keeps with simple heart the faith he has received, will then contemplate in the light of open vision what he had believed, and will be protected for ever by the very grace by which he will be enlightened.

And immediately, looking round, they saw no one any more, but Jesus only with them (Mark 9:7). When the Son began to be pointed out, the servants at once departed, lest the Father's voice should be thought to have been sent forth to them. Otherwise: when the voice came upon the Son, He Himself was found alone, because when He has manifested Himself to the elect, God will be all in all; nay, He Himself with His own, one Christ throughout, that is, the head with the body, will shine. Because of this unity He said elsewhere: And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven (John 3:13).

And as they came down from the mountain, He charged them to tell no one what they had seen, except when the Son of Man should have risen from the dead (Mark 9:8). A foreshadowing of the future kingdom, and the glory of Him triumphing, had been shown on the mountain. He does not wish, then, that this be proclaimed among the peoples, lest it be both incredible

because of the greatness of the thing, and lest, after such great glory, the cross that followed should cause scandal in their minds.

And they asked Him, saying: Why then do the Pharisees and Scribes say that Elijah must come first? (Mark 9:10). It is a tradition of the Pharisees, following the prophet Malachi, who is the last of the twelve, that Elijah will come before the advent of the Saviour, and will bring back the heart of the fathers to the sons, and of the sons to the fathers, and will restore all things to their ancient state. So the disciples suppose that this is the transformation of glory which they had seen on the mountain, and they say: If Thou hast already come in glory, how is it that Thy forerunner does not appear? Especially since they had seen that Elijah had withdrawn. But when the scribes add and say that Elijah must come first, by saying first they show that unless Elijah comes, the second advent of the Saviour does not take place.

And He answering said to them: Elijah, when he comes, will first restore all things (Mark 9:11). He will restore all things, namely those which the aforesaid prophet showed, saying: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers (Mal. 4:5–6). He will restore also that which he owes to death, and has put off by living long. This too the Lord here intimated in due order, when He straightway added:

And how it is written of the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be despised (Mark 9:11). That is, as the prophets in many ways wrote many things about the passion of Christ, so Elijah too, when he comes, will suffer many things and is to be despised by the ungodly. He will restore all things, then: first, namely, the hearts of the men of that age, by training them to believe in Christ and to resist the faithlessness of Antichrist; then by laying down his own life for the martyrdom of the faith of Christ. Of which the Apocalypse tells more fully in mystical speech.

But I say to you that Elijah too has come, and they did to him whatever they willed, as it is written of him (Mark 9:12). He who is to come at the Saviour's second advent in the reality of the body has now come through John in power and spirit. They did to him whatever they willed, that is, they despised him and beheaded him.

And coming to His disciples, He saw a great crowd about them, and scribes disputing with them. And at once all the people, seeing Him, were astonished and afraid. And running up they greeted Him (Mark 9:13–14). In all places the difference of mind between the scribes and the crowd is to be noted. For the crowd was with the disciples, and the scribes were too; but when the Lord came, at once the whole crowd, astonished, was afraid, and ran up greeting Him. The scribes are related to have shown Him nothing of devotion, faith, humility and reverence. But what the crowds or the scribes were disputing with the Lord's disciples the evangelist does not say. It may, however (unless I am mistaken), be fittingly understood that the question had been raised about this: why they, though they were the Saviour's disciples, could not save the demoniac who had been placed in the midst. This can be gathered from the following words of the Gospel, where it is said:

And He asked them: What are you disputing among yourselves? And one of the crowd answered and said: Master, I have brought my son to Thee, who has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and withers away. And I spoke to Thy disciples that they should cast it out, and they could not. It is to be noted, moreover, that places always fit the events. On the mountain the Lord prays, is transfigured, and opens to the disciples the secrets of His majesty. Coming down to the lower places, He is met by the onrush of the crowd and assailed by the weeping of the wretched. Above He unlocks the mysteries of the kingdom to the disciples; below He reproaches the crowds for the sins of unbelief. Above He discloses the Father's voice to those who were able to follow Him; below He drives the evil spirits out of those who were tormented. And even now, according to the quality of their merits, He does not cease to ascend for some and to descend for others. For those who are still carnal and beginners He strengthens, teaches and chastens, as though going to the lowest places. But the perfect, whose conversation is in heaven, He glorifies by lifting them up more loftily, instructs more freely about eternal things, and often teaches what the crowds would not even be able to hear. Now this demoniac, whom the Lord healed as He came down from the mountain, Mark records to have been deaf and dumb, but Matthew a lunatic. And he signifies those of whom it is written: The fool is changed like the moon. These, never remaining in the same state, changed now to these vices, now to those, wax and wane. They are dumb, by not confessing the faith; deaf, by not hearing even in any measure the word of truth itself. And they foam when they waste away in folly. For it belongs to fools and the languid and the dull to let froth of spittle fall from the mouth. They gnash with their teeth when they blaze up with the fury of anger. They wither away when they languish in torpid idleness and, strengthened by no diligence in virtue, live without vigour. But in saying: And I spoke to Thy disciples that they should cast it out, and they could not, he covertly accuses the apostles, whereas the impossibility of curing is sometimes to be referred not to the weakness of those who cure, but to the faith of those who are to be cured, as the Lord says: Be it done to you according to your faith (Matt. 9:29).

And He answered them and said: O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I bear with you? Not that He was overcome by weariness, He the meek and gentle, who like a lamb before the shearer did not open His mouth, nor did He break out into words of fury; but in the manner of a physician who, if he sees a sick man conducting himself against his instructions, would say: How long shall I come to your house? how long shall I waste the diligence of my art, while I order one thing and you do another? So far, moreover, was He angry not with the man but with the vice, and through one man He reproves the Jews for unbelief, that He at once added:

Bring him to Me. And they brought him. And when he had seen Him, immediately the spirit troubled him, and being thrown down on the ground he rolled about foaming. The spirit troubles and dashes down the boy when he has been brought to the Lord, because often, while we are striving to turn to the Lord after our sins, we are assailed by greater and new snares of the ancient enemy. And this the crafty adversary does certainly for this reason, that either

he may strike in a hatred of virtue, or avenge the injury of his expulsion. For hence it is (to pass from the species to the genus) that he brought so many most grievous contests of persecutions upon the beginnings of holy Church, because he grieved that losses of souls had suddenly been inflicted on his kingdom.

And He asked his father: How long a time is it since this happened to him? But he said: From infancy. And often it has cast him both into the fire and into the waters, to destroy him. Let Julian blush, who dares to say that all men are born in the flesh without any contagion of sin, and as innocent in all things as Adam was when he was created. For what had this boy, that he should be tormented from infancy by a most cruel demon, if he was held by no bond of original sin, when it is certain that he could not yet have had any sin of his own? Let the Catholic confess that no one is born free of the guilt of the first transgression, and let him call upon the grace of God, by which he may be delivered from the body of death through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let the scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven understand that in this demoniac cured by the Lord is signified the salvation of all the faithful, who come into the world bound by the guilt of original fault, and are to be saved only by faith in and the grace of the one Redeemer Jesus Christ. But what is said: And often it has cast him both into the fire and into the waters, signifies the greatest crimes of human madness. For the heat of fire is to be referred to the fervour of anger; water to the pleasures of the flesh, which are wont to dissolve the mind through delights. Or certainly the demoniac is carried into the fire with which the hearts of adulterers are inflamed, and into the waters which are wont to extinguish charity.

But if Thou canst do anything, help us, having pity on us. And Jesus said to him: If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. The Lord gives a fitting answer to the one who asks. For he says: If Thou canst do anything, help us. And the Lord says: If you can believe, I can have pity on you and help you, because unfeigned faith merits to obtain all that it asks for its salvation. Whereas, by contrast, the leper who cried out faithfully: Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean (Luke 5:12), received an answer fitting his faith: I will, be made clean (ibid. 5:13).

And immediately the father of the boy, crying out with tears, said: I believe, Lord; help my unbelief. No one becomes highest all at once; but in a good manner of life each begins from the least things, that he may arrive at great ones. For the beginnings of virtue are one thing, progress another, perfection another. For if faith itself were not led to its perfection by certain steps, this man, asked whether he believed, would not answer: I believe, Lord; help my unbelief. For if he believed, why did he speak of unbelief? But if he knew that he had unbelief, how did he believe? But because through the hidden inspiration of grace faith grows by the steps of its merits, at one and the same time he who had not yet believed perfectly both believed and was unbelieving.

And when Jesus saw the crowd running together, He rebuked

the unclean spirit, saying to it: Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, go out of him, and enter no more into him. The Lord's rebuke is the power of a divine command. Yet He rebuked not the boy who was suffering violence, but the demon who was inflicting it. For he who desires to correct a sinner ought indeed to root out the vice by rebuking and cursing it, but to cherish the man by loving him. And well does the Lord, who drives the unclean spirit out of the man, at the same time command it not to enter into him again. For he is truly set free from the dominion of the demon who avoids returning, by living ill, to the sins from which he was once cleansed by repenting.

And crying out and tearing him greatly, it went out of him. The unclean spirit, about to go out of the man, tears him, and terrified the onlookers with a raging cry. For often the devil, when he is being expelled from the heart, produces in it fiercer temptations than he had stirred up before, when he possessed it undisturbed.

And he became as one dead, so that many said that he was dead. But Jesus, taking his hand, lifted him up, and he arose. Him whom the wicked enemy, already compelled to flee, threw down and made like a dead man, the loving Saviour raised by the touch of His gentle right hand. And as He showed by the power of saving that He is true God, so also by the manner of human touch He declared that He had the true nature of flesh. For the insane Manichaean denies that He was truly clothed in flesh; but He, when He raised up, cleansed and enlightened so many sick by His touch, condemned that man's heresy even before it was born.

And when He had gone into the house, His disciples asked Him privately: Why could we not cast it out? And He said to them: This kind can go out by nothing, save by prayer and fasting. While He teaches the apostles how the most wicked demon ought to be expelled, He instructs all for life, namely that we may know that all the heaviest assaults, whether of unclean spirits or of men, are to be overcome by fastings and prayers; and also that the anger of the Lord, when it has been kindled to avenge our crimes, can be appeased by this singular remedy. Now fasting in the general sense is to abstain not only from foods, but also from all carnal allurements, nay, to hold oneself back from all the passions of the vices. So too prayer in the general sense lies not only in the words with which we call upon the divine clemency, but also in all things that we do with the devotion of faith in the service of our Maker, as the apostle witnesses, who says: Always rejoicing, pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:16–17). For how can anyone call upon God in words at all hours and moments without ceasing? But we pray without ceasing then, when we do only those works which commend us to the loving-kindness of our Author. With this fasting, surely, and with this prayer, the Lord helping us, we shall vanquish and drive back all the snares of the ancient enemy.

CHAPTER IX.

And departing thence they passed through Galilee, and He would not have anyone know it. And He was teaching His disciples,

and He said to them: The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and having been killed He shall rise again on the third day. He always mingles sad things with prosperous ones, so that when they come suddenly they may not terrify the apostles, but may be borne by minds prepared beforehand. For if it saddens them that He is to be killed, it ought to gladden them that He is to rise again on the third day.

But they did not understand this word, and they were afraid to ask Him. This ignorance of the disciples springs not so much from slowness of their wit as from love of the Saviour; for, being still carnal and ignorant of the mystery of the cross, they could not believe that He whom they had known to be true God was going to die. And because they were accustomed to hear Him often speaking in figures, shuddering at the event of His death, they wanted something else to be signified figuratively even in the things that He spoke openly about His betrayal and passion.

And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, He asked them: What were you discussing on the way? But they were silent. For indeed on the way they had disputed among themselves which of them was the greater. The disciples' dispute about primacy seems to have arisen from this, that they had seen Peter, James and John taken apart onto the mountain, and that some secret had been entrusted to them there. And also that to Peter, above, according to what Matthew relates, the keys of the kingdom of heaven had been promised, and that the Lord's Church was to be built upon the rock of faith from which he had received his name. They were complaining, therefore, either that those three had been preferred to the rest, or that Peter had been preferred to all the apostles.

And sitting down He called the twelve, and said to them: If anyone wishes to be first among you, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all. And taking a child He set him in their midst. When He had embraced him, He said to them: Whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me. Seeing the thoughts of the disciples, the Lord takes care to heal the desire for glory by the striving of humility, and that primacy is not to be sought; and first He admonishes them by a simple command of humility, and then teaches them by the example of a child's innocence. For in saying: Whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me, He either shows simply that the poor of Christ are to be received, for His honour, by those who wish to be greater, or certainly He urges them to be little ones in malice, so that, like the age of childhood, they may keep simplicity without arrogance, charity without envy, devotion without anger. And His embracing the child signifies that the humble are worthy of His embrace and love, and that such, when they have fulfilled what He commanded: Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. 11:29), can rightly glory and say: His left hand is under my head, and His right hand shall embrace me (Song 2:6). And well, when He had said: Whoever receives one such child, did He add: in My name, namely so that the form of virtue which the child observes with nature as guide, they themselves, with the help of the diligence of reason, may follow for the name of Christ. But because He was teaching that He is received in children, namely as the head

in His members, lest it be thought that this was only what was seen, He added and said:

And whoever receives Me, receives not Me, but Him who sent Me. Wishing, assuredly, to be believed such and as great as the Father is. For, He says, so far is there no difference between Me and Him, that whoever receives Me receives also Him who sent Me.

John answered Him, saying: Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Thy name, who does not follow us, and we forbade him. John, loving the Lord with especial devotion and therefore worthy to be loved in return, thought that one who did not use the office should be shut out from the benefit; but he is taught that no one is to be kept back from the good which he has in part, but rather to be called forward to that which he does not yet have. For it follows: But Jesus said: Do not forbid him; for there is no one who works a miracle in My name and can soon speak ill of Me. For he who is not against you is for you. Taught by this saying the Apostle says: But whether by pretext or in truth Christ is proclaimed, in this too I rejoice, yes, and I shall rejoice (Phil. 1:18). But although he rejoices even over those who proclaim Christ not sincerely, and such men, working signs at times in the name of Christ, are judged not to be forbidden for the sake of others' salvation, yet their own conscience is not made secure for them by such signs; rather, on that day, when they say: Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Thy name, and cast out demons in Thy name, and work many miracles in Thy name (Matt. 7:22)? they will receive the answer: I never knew you; depart from Me, all you who work iniquity (ibid. 7:23). Therefore in heretics and bad Catholics we ought to detest and forbid, not the common sacraments, in which they are with us and are not against us, but the divisions of peace contrary to the truth, by which they are against us and do not follow the Lord with us.

For whoever gives you a cup of cold water to drink in My name, because you are Christ's, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward (Ps. 140). We read in the prophet David: To make excuses in sins, because many put forward as it were just pretexts for their sins, so that what they commit by will they may seem to sin by necessity. The Lord, searcher of heart and reins, who beholds the future thoughts in each one, had said: Whoever receives one little one in My name, receives Me. Someone could plead and say: I am prevented by poverty, my slender means hold me back, so that I cannot be hospitable. And He washes away this excuse by a very light precept, that we should offer with our whole heart a cup of water, and that cold, according to Matthew. Of cold water, He says, not hot, lest in the case of hot water too the pretext of poverty and a lack of firewood should be sought. The Apostle also commands something of the kind to the Galatians: Let him who is catechized share with him who catechizes him in all good things (Gal. 6:6). And he exhorts disciples to the refreshment of their teachers. And because anyone could plead poverty and evade the precept, before he sets it forth he resolves the impending question, saying: Do not err; God is not mocked.

For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (ibid. 6:7).

And whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in Me, it is better for him if a millstone turned by an ass were hung about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. Although this may be a general sentence against all who scandalize anyone, yet according to the sequence of the discourse it can be understood as said also against the apostles, who, disputing among themselves which of them was the greater, seemed to be contending with one another about rank. And if they had persisted in this vice, they could have ruined by their scandal those whom they were calling to the faith, when these saw the Apostles fighting among themselves about honour. But what He said: It is better for him if a millstone turned by an ass were hung about his neck, He speaks according to the custom of the province, by which among the ancient Jews the punishment of greater crimes was that they were sunk into the deep with a stone tied to them. And truly it is better for an innocent man to end his bodily life by a temporal punishment, however most atrocious, than by harming a brother to merit the everlasting death of the soul. And rightly is he who can be scandalized called little. For he who is great, whatever he may see, whatever he may suffer, does not turn aside from the faith. But he who is little and small in mind looks for occasions of being scandalized. For this reason, then, we ought most of all to take thought for those who are small in faith, lest on our account they take offence, and fall away from the faith, and fall from salvation. It is indeed to be noted that in our good work the scandal of our neighbour is sometimes to be guarded against, but sometimes to be disregarded as nothing. For in so far as we can avoid our neighbours' scandal without sin, we ought to. But if scandal arises from the truth, it is more profitable to allow scandal to arise than for the truth to be abandoned. Again, by the millstone turned by an ass the round and toil of secular life is expressed, and by the depth of the sea extreme damnation is signified. He, therefore, who having been brought to the appearance of holiness destroys others either by word or by example, it would surely have been better for him that earthly deeds should bind him fast unto death under a secular habit, than that sacred offices should show him in his fault as one for the rest to imitate. For truly, if he fell alone, the punishment of hell would torment him in some way more tolerably.

And if your hand scandalizes you, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. Because He had taught above that we should not scandalize those who believe in Him, He now accordingly warns how much we ought to beware of those who strive to scandalize us, that is, to drive us by their word or example to the ruin of sin. For He calls our hand a needful friend, whose work and help we need daily. But if such a one should wish to harm us in the matter of the soul, he is to be shut out from our company, lest, if we wish to have a share with a lost man in this life, we perish together with him in the life to come. And what is added:

Where their worm does not die, and the fire shall not be quenched. In the worm the putrefaction of gehenna, as in the fire

He signifies its burning; or else by the worm He means the late repentance for crimes, which in the torments will never cease to gnaw the conscience of the afflicted: so that the fire is the punishment raging from without, the worm the pain accusing within.

And if your foot scandalizes you, cut it off. It is better for you to enter lame into eternal life than having two feet to be cast into the gehenna of unquenchable fire, etc. In the foot, as also in the hand, He teaches that dear ones who are incorrigible are to be estranged from us, lest through the uncleanness of those whom we cannot chastise we too be defiled and perish. But such are called a hand on account of work necessary to us, a foot on account of service and running to and fro suited to our uses.

But if your eye scandalizes you, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter one-eyed into the kingdom of God than having two eyes to be cast into the gehenna of fire. In the eye too, which is to be plucked out on account of scandal, the same are signified who are our friends according to the flesh but adversaries according to the spirit. But since we need their counsel and foresight, while they seek to deceive us with wicked counsel and to turn us aside onto the road of error, their company is to be given up by us entirely. For scandal is a Greek word, which we can render as stumbling-block, or the ruin and striking of the foot. Some say scandal in Greek, scruple in Latin. He therefore scandalizes his brother who by a word or deed less than right gives him an occasion of ruin. It can also be said simply: if anyone seems so necessary to us as a hand, a foot and an eye, namely useful and careful and sharp in seeing, but he causes us scandal and by the discord of his morals draws us into gehenna, we ought not, even so, to use his temporal advantages and be cherished by them at the peril of our souls. But since the Lord has three times made mention of the eternal worm and fire, it remains to say how we may avoid the stench of the worm and the torment of the fire. It follows:

For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every victim shall be salted with salt. For the stench of worms is wont to arise from the corruption of flesh and blood. And therefore fresh meat is seasoned with salt, so that, the bloody moisture being dried out, it may not be able to breed worms. Flesh and blood therefore create worms, because carnal delight, which the seasoning of continence does not resist, begets eternal punishment for the luxurious. Whoever desires to avoid its stench, let him strive to bind fast both his body with the salt of continence and his mind with the seasoning of wisdom against the stain of error and vices. And it is wonderfully said: For everyone shall be salted with fire. For what is salted with salt wards off the putrefaction of the worm. But what is salted with fire, that is, is seasoned with salt sprinkled on the fires, not only drives far away all contagion of worms, but also consumes the very flesh that is so salted. That this was wont to be done in the victims which were burnt on the altar, the decrees of the divine law declare, where it is commanded that salt be offered in every victim and sacrifice. Salt therefore signifies the sweetness of wisdom, fire the grace of the Holy Spirit. And everyone shall be salted with fire, because every elect one ought to be purged by spiritual wisdom from the corruption of carnal concupiscence, so that, a victim for the divine

may be made fit for the divine altars. Hence well, when He had said: For everyone shall be salted with fire, He added: And every victim shall be salted with salt. For he truly becomes a victim of the Lord who, by cleansing his body and soul from vices, consecrates them to God through the love of the Holy Spirit. And such a victim is not only sprinkled with salt, but also consumed by fire, when not only the contagion of sin is driven out, but from the mind of the elect even the very delight of the present life which is in the flesh is taken away, and the manner of life of the life to come is sighed for rather, with intent mind. Was not he a sacrifice salted with sacred fire who said: But our conversation is in heaven (Phil. 3:20)? From whence also we await the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowliness, made like to the body of His glory (ibid. 3:20–21). For they who, with most certain hope of the immortality to come, looked upon the body of their frailty as though already reformed into the likeness of the Lord's resurrection, lived even in the present as a victim consecrated to God by spiritual fire, according to that saying of the same apostle: I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God (Rom. 15). We can also rightly understand what is said: For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every victim shall be salted with salt (Mark 9:48), in this way: that the altar of God is the heart of the elect, and the victims and sacrifices to be offered on this altar are the good works of the faithful; and that in all sacrifices salt ought to be offered, because there is no good work which the salt of wisdom does not purge from all corruption of vain praise and from other wicked or superfluous thoughts. For the care of continence chastens from carnal allurements. But the fire which consumes the sacrifices on the altar is certainly that of which John says: He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire (ibid. 3); by which our good works are helped, so that they may be either begun or perfected; or certainly it is the fire of tribulation by which the patience of the faithful is exercised, that they may be able to have a perfect work. Everyone therefore shall be salted with fire, and the victim shall be salted with salt (ibid. 9:48), because every faithful man who wishes to beware of the worm of eternal torment ought to be chastened by fire, either of spiritual grace or of the tribulations that befall him from without, so that he may become a sacrifice worthy of God. This place looks back to the preceding, where we were commanded to tear off the members that scandalize; for this too is to be salted with fire, that is, to be exercised by temptations: to renounce, for the love of Christ, those who are near and dear to us.

Salt is good. But if the salt becomes saltless, with what will you season it? It is good to hear the word of God more often, to season the secret places of the heart with the salt of spiritual wisdom, nay, to become oneself with the apostles the salt of the earth, that is, to be sufficient for imbuing the minds also of those who still savour earthly things. But if anyone, once refreshed by the seasoning of truth, returns to apostasy, by what other teacher is he corrected, who has spurned the sweetness of wisdom which he himself tasted, either terrified by the adversities of the world or enticed by its prosperities? To him fitly applies that saying of the wise man: Who will heal the charmer struck by a serpent? By this sentence, indeed, it will not undeservedly be believed that the companions of Judas Iscariot and he himself are specially signified

who, corrupted by love of money, did not hesitate both to lose the rank of the apostolate and to betray the Lord. But since there are some whom greater knowledge, while it lifts them up, separates from the company of the rest, and who, as it were, the more they know, the further they lose their wits from the virtue of concord, it is rightly added:

Have salt in yourselves, and have peace among you. For by salt the wisdom of the word is signified. Let him therefore who strives to speak wisely greatly fear lest by his eloquence the unity of his hearers be thrown into confusion. For salt without peace is not a gift of virtue but an increase of damnation. For the better anyone knows, the worse he offends. And therefore he will inexcusably merit punishment who, by prudence, could have avoided sin had he wished.

CHAPTER X.

And rising up thence He came into the borders of Judaea beyond the Jordan. Up to this point Mark the evangelist has narrated those things concerning the Lord which He did and taught in Galilee. Here he begins to narrate those things which He did and taught, or suffered, in Judaea. And first, indeed, beyond the Jordan to the east; then also on this side of the Jordan, when He came to Jericho, Bethany and Jerusalem. For although the whole province of the Jews in general has been called Judaea, to distinguish it from other nations, yet more specifically its southern tract is called Judaea, to distinguish it from Samaria, Galilee, the Decapolis and the other regions in the same province.

And the crowds come together to Him again, and as He was accustomed He taught them again. And the Pharisees, coming up, asked Him whether it is lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting Him. And here the difference of minds in the crowds and the Pharisees is to be noted. The former come together to be taught and that their sick may be healed, as the evangelist Matthew plainly records. The latter come up to deceive, by tempting Him, the Saviour and teacher of truth. Nor is this to be wondered at. For devotion and piety brought the one, the goad of envy the other. They ask, therefore, whether it is lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause whatever, so as to hold Him, as it were, by a horned syllogism, and that whatever He answered should lie open to the trap. If He should say that a wife is to be put away for any cause whatever and others taken, the preacher of chastity will seem to teach things contrary to himself. But if He should answer that she ought not to be put away for every cause, He will be held guilty as it were of sacrilege, and of acting against the teaching of Moses, and through Moses of God. The Lord therefore so tempers His answer as to pass by the snare, bringing forward holy Scripture in testimony, and setting the natural law and God's first sentence against the second, which was granted not by the will of God but by the necessity of sinners.

What, He says, did Moses command you? And they said: Moses permitted to write a bill of divorce and to put her away. Jesus answered them and said: Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote this for you, etc. What He says is of this kind. Can God be contrary to Himself, so as to have commanded one thing before and then break His sentence by a new command? It is not to be thought so. But Moses, when he saw that, because of the desire for second wives,

who were either richer or younger or more beautiful, the first wives were being killed or were leading a wretched life, preferred to allow discord rather than that hatreds and homicides should continue and be committed. And consider at the same time that He did not say: because of the hardness of your heart God permitted you, but Moses; so that, according to the Apostle, it is the counsel of a man, not the command of God.

But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is written at the opening of Genesis. And by saying male and female, He shows that second marriages are to be avoided. For He does not say male and females, which was what was sought from the former divorce, but male and female, so that they should be bound in partnership with one spouse.

For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife. Likewise He says: He shall cleave to his wife, not to his wives.

And the two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. It is the reward of marriage that from two one flesh is made. Chastity joined to the spirit becomes of one spirit.

What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Those whom God has joined, making one flesh of man and woman, man cannot separate, but perhaps God alone. Man separates when, through desire for a second wife, he puts away the first. God, who also had joined, separates when by consent, for the service of God, because the time is short, we so have wives as though not having them.

And in the house His disciples asked Him again about the same matter. And He said to them: Whoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a wife puts away her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. In Matthew it is written more fully: Whoever puts away his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery (Matt. 5). There is therefore only one carnal cause, fornication, and one spiritual, the fear of God, for a wife to be put away, as many are read to have done for the sake of religion. But there is no cause written in the law of God for another to be married while she who was left is living.

And they brought little children to Him that He might touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Not that they did not wish them to be blessed by both the voice and the hand of the Saviour, but because, not yet having the fullest faith, they thought that He, after the likeness of men, was wearied by the importunity of those who brought them.

When Jesus saw them, He was indignant, and said to them: Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. He said pointedly: of such is it, not of these, to show that it is not age that reigns but character, and that the reward is promised to those who have a like innocence and simplicity; the Apostle also agreeing with the same sentence: Brethren, do not become children in understanding, but in malice be little ones, and in understanding be perfect.

Amen I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter into it. As a child does not persist in anger, does not remember when hurt, does not

sees a beautiful woman, is delighted; he does not think one thing and say another. So you too, unless you have such innocence and purity of mind, will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Otherwise: we are bidden to receive the kingdom of God, that is, the teaching of the Gospel, as little children, because just as a little child in learning does not contradict his teachers, nor put together arguments and words against them in resistance, but faithfully takes up what he is taught, and with fear obeys and is quiet; so we too ought to do the words of the Lord in obeying simply and without any reservation.

And embracing them and laying His hands upon them, He blessed them. Having embraced the little children He blesses them, to signify that the humble in spirit are worthy of His blessing, grace and love.

And when He had gone forth into the way, a certain man running up, kneeling before Him, asked Him, saying, etc. This seeker of eternal life had heard, I believe, from the Lord that only those who wish to be like little children are worthy of entrance into the heavenly kingdom, and therefore, being anxious for a more certain treatment, he asks that it be set out to him, not in parables but openly, by the merits of what works he could attain eternal life.

And Jesus said to him: Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone. Because he had called Him a good master, and had not confessed Him God or the Son of God, he learns that a man, however holy, is not good in comparison with God, of Whom it is said: Give praise to the Lord, for He is good (Ps. 105:1). But the one God Who is good is to be understood not as the Father alone, but also as the Son, Who says: I am the good shepherd (John 10:11); and also as the Holy Spirit, because the Father from heaven will give the good Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13); that is, the one and undivided Trinity itself, Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, the sole and one God, is good. The Lord therefore does not deny that He is good, but signifies that He is God; He does not deny that He is a good master, but testifies that there is no good master apart from God.

This is the chastity of childlike innocence, which is set before us to be imitated, if we wish to enter the kingdom of God. It is to be noted, indeed, that the righteousness of the law, kept in its own time, conferred on its observers not only the good things of the earth, but also eternal life.

And he answering said: Master, all these things I have kept from my youth, etc. This man is not to be thought either to have questioned the Lord with the intent of one testing Him (as some have thought), or to have lied about his own life when he said that he had kept the commandments of the law, but to have confessed simply how he had lived. For if he were held guilty of the offence of lying or pretence, Jesus, having looked into the secrets of his heart, would by no means be said to have loved him. For the Lord loves those who keep the commandments of the law, lesser though they are, but nonetheless He shows to those who desire to be perfect what had been lacking in the law, because He came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them. And to this fulfilment indeed belongs what is added here next.

Go, sell whatever you have, and give, etc. Whoever wishes to be perfect must sell what he has,

and not sell in part, like Ananias and Sapphira, but sell everything, and when he has sold, give it all to the poor, and so prepare for himself a treasure in the kingdom of heaven. Nor is this enough for perfection, unless after despising riches he follows the Saviour, that is, having abandoned evil things he does good ones. For a purse is more easily despised than the will. Many who leave riches do not follow the Lord. But he follows the Lord who is His imitator, and walks in His footsteps. For he who says that he believes in Christ ought himself also to walk as He walked.

And he, saddened at the word, went away grieving. For he had many possessions. This is the sadness which leads to death. And the cause of the sadness is given, that he had many possessions, that is, thorns and thistles springing up, which choked the Lord's sowing.

And Jesus, looking round, said to His disciples: How hard it is for those who have money [to enter] into the kingdom, etc. It is clear indeed that those who here apply themselves to multiplying riches disdain to seek the joys of the other life; but between having money and loving money there is a great distance. For many who have it do not love it; many who do not have it love it. Again, others both have it and love it. Others rejoice that they neither have nor love the riches of the world; their state is the safer, because they are able to say with the Apostle: To us the world is crucified, and we to the world (Gal. 5 [6:14]). Hence Solomon too does not say, he who has, but he who loves riches shall reap no fruit from them (Eccl. 5 [5:9]). And the Lord Himself, as the disciples were astonished at the words of this saying, added by way of explanation, saying:

Little children, how hard it is for those who trust in money to enter into the kingdom of God. Here it is to be noted that He does not say how impossible, but how hard it is. For what is impossible cannot be done at all. What is hard can be done with toil. For it can be done, but with the greatest toil, God's grace helping, that those who have money, or trust in money, having stripped off the bonds of love of money, may enter the door of the heavenly kingdom: It is easier for a camel [to pass] through the eye, etc. (Matt. 19:24). If it is easier for a camel, huge with its enormous limbs, to pass through the narrow eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, then no rich man will enter the kingdom of God. And how is it that, whether in the Gospel Matthew, Zacchaeus and Joseph, or in the Old Testament very many rich men entered into the kingdom of God? Unless perhaps because, the Lord inspiring them, they learned either to hold riches as nothing or to leave them with their whole heart. For did David trust in the riches of his kingdom? He who sings of himself: For I am alone and poor (Ps. 24:16); and exhorts others: If riches abound, do not set your heart upon them (Ps. 61:11). He did not dare, I believe, to say, do not accept them. Is it credible that Abraham preferred his substance to the Lord, for Whom he did not hesitate to strike his only heir? But in a higher sense it is easier for Christ to suffer for the lovers of the world than for the lovers of the world to be able to be converted to Christ. For by the name of camel He willed Himself to be understood, Who of His own accord in humility took up the burdens of our weakness. For in whom is it more manifestly understood than in

Himself what is written: The greater you are, humble yourself in all things (Sir. 3:20)? By the needle, moreover, He signifies prickings, and by the prickings the sorrows undergone in the passion. The eye of the needle, then, He calls the straits of the passion. By it He deigned in a certain way to mend, that is, to recover, the torn garments, as it were, of our nature; so that, reformed better after the fall, we may rejoice at the testimony of the Apostle, who says: For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27).

And they wondered the more, saying among themselves: And who can be saved? To what does this response refer, since the crowd of the poor, which could be saved though the rich were lost, is incomparably greater, unless that they understood that all who love riches, even if they cannot obtain them, are counted among the number of the rich?

And Jesus, looking upon them, said: With men it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God. It is not to be taken thus, that the covetous and proud, who are signified by the name of that rich man, will enter into the kingdom of heaven with their covetousness and pride; but it is possible for God that through His word, as we see has been done and is done daily, they should be converted from covetousness for temporal things to love of eternal things, and from pernicious pride to most wholesome humility.

Peter began to say to Him: Behold, we have left all things and have followed You. Great confidence! Peter was a fisherman; he had not been rich; he sought his food by hand and craft; and yet he speaks confidently: We have left all things. And because it is not enough merely to leave, he joins what is perfect: And we have followed You. We have done what You commanded; what reward, then, will You give us?

Jesus answering said: Amen I say to you: There is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands for My sake and for the Gospel's, who shall not receive a hundred times as much now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. Some, taking occasion from a saying of this kind, teach as dogma the Jewish fable of a thousand years after the resurrection of the just, when all that we have left for God's sake is to be repaid to us with manifold interest, and eternal life given besides. Nor do these fools see that, even if the promise is fitting in other things, yet in the matter of wives, according to the other evangelists, the hundredfold would plainly be a disgrace, especially since the Lord testifies that in the resurrection too there is to be no marrying, and declares that what has been left for His sake is to be received in this time with persecutions. Which persecutions, at any rate, those Chiliasts affirm to be wholly absent from their thousand years, as are all other adversities too. This then is the sense: he who for the Gospel of Christ has left fleshly things will receive spiritual goods, which by comparison and by their own worth will be such that it is as if the number one hundred were compared with a small number. For indeed from the brothers and partners of his way of life, who are bound to him by spiritual glue, he will receive even in this life a far more pleasing love. Read the Acts

of the Apostles, that the multitude of believers had one heart and one soul, and all things were common to them, and there was no one needy among them (Acts 4:32), who had left their own things for the Lord. Of whom the Apostle too says: As having nothing, and possessing all things (2 Cor. 6:10). This that He says, He shall receive a hundred times as much now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions (Mark 10:30), can indeed be understood more deeply by way of signification. For the number one hundred, transferred from the left hand to the right, although in the bending of the fingers it seems to keep the same figure that the number ten had on the left, yet grows exceedingly beyond it in greatness of quantity. That is to say, all who for the kingdom of God spurn temporal things, even in this life most full of persecutions, taste with sure faith the joy of that same kingdom, and in expectation of the heavenly homeland (which is rightly signified by the right hand) enjoy the most sincere love of all the elect alike. But because many do not complete their pursuit of the virtues with the same intention of piety with which they begin, but either grow lukewarm after receiving the love of the virtues, or slide back entirely into the wallows of crimes, a terrible sentence is presently added.

But many who are first shall be last, and the last first. For see Judas turned from an apostle into an apostate, and say that many who are first shall be last; see the thief on the cross made a confessor, and on the same day on which he was crucified for his sins rejoicing with Christ in paradise by the grace of faith, and say that the last too shall be first. And indeed we see daily many established in the lay habit excelling by great merits of life, and others, fervent with spiritual zeal from their earliest age, at the last growing torpid with idleness, wilting, and with sluggish folly finishing in the flesh what they had begun in the spirit.

And they were on the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them, and they were astonished, and following they were afraid. The disciples, making for Jerusalem with the Lord, were astonished and afraid for this reason: because they remembered His saying in which He had foretold that He would suffer many things from the chief priests and scribes and be killed, fearing either that they themselves would be killed with Him, or at least that He in whose life and teaching they rejoiced would fall at the hands of His enemies.

And taking the twelve again, He began to tell them the things that would happen to Him. For behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and hand Him over to the gentiles, and they will mock Him, and spit on Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again. Our Redeemer, foreseeing that the minds of the disciples would be troubled by His passion, foretells to them long beforehand both the pain of that passion and the glory of His resurrection, so that when they saw Him dying (as had been foretold) they should not doubt that He would also rise again. Here He also most plainly refutes the madness of the pagans, with which they are wont to deride His cross, when, as one foreknowing the future, He shows both the time of His approaching passion, and, as one unafraid, approaches the place of His death.

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come to Him, saying: Master, we wish that whatever we ask, You would do for us. But He said to them: What do you wish Me to do for you? And they said: Grant us that we may sit, one at Your right hand and the other at Your left, in Your glory. Matthew writes that the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked these things of the Lord for them; but Mark, wishing to lay open to his readers their own desire and design, is silent about the mother's intervention, and says rather that they themselves asked what he knew had been asked through their mother at their own request. Finally, according to both Evangelists, the Lord answered not the mother but them:

You do not know what you ask. Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? And they said to Him: We can. They do not know what they ask who seek from the Lord a seat of glory which they did not yet deserve. For already the summit of honour delighted them, but first they had to travel the road of toil. They desired to reign on high with Christ, but first came suffering humbly for Christ. For by the name of cup or of baptism He designates the suffering of martyrdom, by which it was fitting that both He and they should be perfected. Hence elsewhere too He speaks of His passion: But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am straitened until it be accomplished (Luke 12:50)! And as He drew near to that same passion, He prayed, saying: Father, if You will, take this cup from Me (Mark 14:36).

And Jesus said to them: The cup indeed that I drink you shall drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized you shall be baptized. It is asked how the sons of Zebedee, namely James and John, drank the cup of martyrdom, or how they were baptized with the Lord's baptism, since Scripture relates that only the apostle James was beheaded by Herod, while John ended his life by his own death. But if we read the ecclesiastical histories, in which it is reported that he too, for martyrdom, was put into a vat of boiling oil, and came forth from it as an athlete of Christ to receive the crown, and was immediately banished into exile on the island of Patmos, we shall see that the will for martyrdom was not lacking, and that John drank the cup of confession, which the three youths in the furnace of fire also drank, though the persecutor did not shed their blood. But what He adds:

But to sit at My right hand or at My left is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it is prepared, is to be understood thus: The kingdom of heaven is not the giver's but the receiver's. For there is no respect of persons with God (Rom. 2:11); but whoever shows himself such as to be worthy of the kingdom of heaven, he will receive what has been prepared not for a person but for a life. If therefore you are such as to attain the kingdom of heaven, which My Father has prepared for those who triumph and conquer, you too will receive it. Again: it is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it is prepared. It is not Mine to give to the proud, for that is what they still were. But if you wish to receive it, do not be what you are. It is prepared for others; then be others, and it is prepared for you. What does "be others" mean? First be humbled, you who already wish to be exalted.

And the ten, hearing it, began to be indignant at James and

John. The ten apostles are not indignant at the mother of the sons of Zebedee, nor do they put down the boldness of the request to the woman, but to the sons, who, ignorant of their own measure, blazed with immoderate desire. To whom the Lord too had said: You do not know what you ask.

But Jesus, calling them, said to them: You know that those who are seen to rule over the gentiles lord it over them, and their princes have power over them. But it is not so among you, etc. The humble and meek Master neither convicts the two petitioners of immoderate desire, nor rebukes the remaining ten for indignation and envy, but sets forth such an example as to teach that he is greater who has been the lesser, and that he becomes lord who is the servant of all. In vain therefore did those seek immoderate things, or do these grieve over the desire for greater things, since one comes to the summit of the virtues not by power but by humility. Finally He sets forth His own example, so that if they thought little of His words, they might be ashamed before His deeds. And He says:

For the Son of Man also came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life as a redemption for many. Note what we have often said: that He Who would minister is called the Son of Man, and gives His life as a redemption for many, when He took the form of a servant, in order to shed His blood for the world. And He did not say, to give His life as a redemption for all, but for many, that is, for those who willed to believe.

And they come to Jericho, and as He was setting out from Jericho with His disciples and a very great multitude, Bartimaeus the blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the way begging. When he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, etc. Matthew says that at this place two blind men sitting by the way and crying out to the Lord were given light. Luke, however, relates in the same order that a blind man was given light by Him as He drew near to Jericho. Here let no wise man suppose that the Evangelists write things contrary to one another, but that one writes more fully what another omitted. But that, while Matthew relates that the Lord gave light to two blind men, Mark preferred to set down one given light, without denying that the other was present, is to be understood to mean that one of them was very well known. This also appears clearly enough from the fact that Mark recorded both his name and his father's, which does not readily occur among so many healed by the Lord earlier, except when he named Jairus the ruler of the synagogue too, whose daughter Jesus raised. In which this sense appears still more, because that ruler of the synagogue was certainly a man of standing in that place. Without doubt, therefore, this Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, cast down from some great prosperity, was of a most well-known and notorious misery, since he sat not only blind but a beggar too. This, then, is why Mark wished to record him alone, whose giving of sight gained for this miracle a fame as bright as his calamity had been known. The blind, then, whom the Lord gave light as they cried to Him, are men ignorant of the true light (which is Christ), but by His gift brought to the knowing and confessing of His

blindness and to seeking the light of truth, being pricked at heart. Jericho, moreover, which is said to be interpreted "moon", signifies the waning of our mutability and mortality. This is made clear above all by that parable of the Gospel, where a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among robbers, and, wounded and stripped by them, was brought back to health by the kindly diligence of the Samaritan; because the human race, falling from the vision of the highest peace into the desires of this world by a deadly lapse, is brought back through the Lord the Saviour to the life which it had lost by straying. Drawing near to Jericho, then, the Lord restored light to a blind man, because, coming in the flesh and drawing near to His passion, He brought many to faith and the confession of divine knowledge. For not in the first times of His incarnation, but a few years before He suffered, that is, after He had begun to be thirty years old, did He show the world the ministry of the word by which it might be enlightened. But also, setting out from Jericho, He gave light to blind men: because, rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles and dispersed them into the world for the enlightenment of all peoples. And that drawing near to Jericho He gave light to one, and setting out from Jericho to two, He intimated this figuratively: that before His passion He preached to the one people of the Jews alone, but after His resurrection and ascension He laid open more manifestly through the apostles, both to Jews and to gentiles, the mysteries both of His eternal divinity and of the humanity He had assumed. But that Mark writes of one given light looks especially to the salvation of the gentiles, who had been utterly exiled from the light of truth. And therefore, as notorious as was the blindness of their unbelief, so famous has become the grace of the Saviour Who enlightened them. And well does Mark, who was writing the Gospel among the gentiles, speak of one given light, so that the figure might fit the salvation of those whom he was instructing in the faith. But Matthew, who was writing his Gospel for the believers from among the Hebrews, which was to come to the knowledge of the gentiles too, rightly speaks of two given light, to teach that one and the same grace of faith belongs to both peoples. Which the Gospel Scripture also took care to observe in the following passage, about the ass on which the Lord deigned to sit. For Matthew, who was evangelizing the faithful from among the Jews, relates that a she-ass and a colt together were brought to the Lord. Whereas the other three Evangelists, who wrote for the Church gathered from the nations, make mention only of the colt brought to the Lord, and are wholly silent about the mother. Because they figure simply the faith of the gentiles; but he took care to intimate, in the next order of his narrative, the faithful people of the gentiles born from the faithful synagogue. As the Lord, then, and His disciples and a very great multitude were setting out from Jericho, a blind man sat by the way begging; because, when the Lord ascended to the heavens, and many of the faithful followed, nay, all the elect from the beginning of the world entered together with Him the door of the heavenly kingdom, presently the people of the gentiles, long blind with unbelief, hearing of the Saviour's coming, itself also began to have hope of its own salvation and

enlightenment. Of which it is well said that he sat by the way begging. For he begs sitting by the way who, not yet entering on the road of truth, not yet knowing it, strives with diligent intent and the searching of a saving desire to arrive at it, and persists in investigating what is the true worship of religion. This was declared especially in the story of Cornelius the centurion, who prayed with frequent prayers to the God Whom he worshipped that He would deign to enlighten him. But what is it to hear in passing by, and standing to restore light, unless that He had pity through His humanity Who through the power of His divinity shut out from us the darkness of our mind? For in that He was born and suffered for us, rose again and ascended into heaven, Jesus, as it were, passed by; because this action is indeed temporal. But standing He gave light to the blind man, because the eternity of the Word does not pass as that temporal dispensation does, the Word Which, remaining in Itself, makes all things new. For God's standing is to dispose all mutable things by an unchangeable thought. He then Who passing by heard the cries of the petitioner, standing restored his light. Because although for our sake He bore temporal things, yet He gave us light from that whence He knows no passing of mutability. But he who prayed with frequent prayers to the God Whom he worshipped, that He would deign to enlighten him.

When he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say: Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me. And many threatened him that he should be silent. But he cried out much the more, saying: Son of David, have mercy on me. Hearing of Jesus, the blind man begs Him to have mercy on him, and though many forbid him he does not cease from crying out. Because the people of the gentiles, having learned the fame of Christ's name, sought to become partaker of Him; many opposed, first the Jews, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, then the gentiles too frequently pressed on with a sharper and stronger persecution, lest the world, to be enlightened and healed, should call upon Christ; and yet the insane fury of the assailants could not deprive of the salvation appointed for them those who had been preordained to eternal life.

And Jesus, standing, commanded him to be called. Behold, He stands Who before was passing by. In this the Lord hints at something to us which can be profitably understood of His humanity and divinity. For passing by He heard the blind man crying out, but standing He showed the miracle of giving light. And they call the blind man, saying to him: Be of good heart; rise, He calls you. The Lord calls the blind man who cries out to Him when, through holy preachers, He entrusts the word of faith to the people of the gentiles, who desire the knowledge of the truth. They indeed, calling the blind man, bid him be of good heart, and rise and come to the Lord, when, preaching the word to the unlearned, they bid them have hope of salvation and be raised from the torpor of vices, and gird themselves for the pursuits of the virtues by which they may deserve to be enlightened, saying with the prophet: Come to Him and be enlightened (Ps. 33:6); and again: Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Eph. 5:14). And because the first Church from the gentiles burned with so great a desire for the light promised in Christ, that very many, having left the resources of the world,

followed the gospel life stripped bare, so as to merit having an eternal treasure in heaven, it is rightly added concerning the blind man who was to be given light:

And he, throwing off his garment, leapt up and came to Him. He indeed throws off his garment and leaps up, to come and be given light by Christ, who, having cast away the bonds of the world, hastens with the unencumbered step of the mind to the Giver of eternal light.

And Jesus answering said to him: What do you wish that I should do for you? And the blind man said to Him: Rabboni, that I may see. Did He Who could restore light not know what the blind man wanted? But He wishes that to be asked which He foreknows both that we ask and that He grants. For He urges us to prayer insistently and says: For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him (Matt. 6:8). He seeks, then, to be asked for this purpose, He seeks it for this purpose, that He may rouse the heart to prayer. Hence the blind man too at once adds: Rabboni, that I may see. See, the blind man seeks from the Lord not gold but light. He thinks it of little worth to seek anything apart from light, because although a blind man may have anything at all, without light he cannot see what he has. Let us therefore imitate him whom we have heard was saved both in body and in mind. Let us seek from the Lord not false riches, not earthly gifts, not fleeting honours, but light: that light, namely, which we can see together with the angels alone, which no beginning begins and no end confines. And to that light faith is assuredly the way. Hence it is rightly answered at once to the blind man who was to be given light:

Go, your faith has made you whole. And at once, it says, he saw, and followed Him on the way. He sees and follows who does the good that he understands. But he sees and does not follow who understands the good indeed, but disdains to work well. For he follows Jesus the Lord who imitates Him. For hence He says: If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me (John 12:26). Let us consider, then, by what way He walks, that we may deserve to follow. See, though He is the Lord and Creator of the angels, being about to take up our nature which He had made, He came into the womb of a virgin. Yet He would not be born in this world through the rich; He chose poor parents, so that even the lamb to be offered for Him was lacking, and His mother found young pigeons and a pair of turtle-doves for the sacrifice. He [would not] prosper in this world; He bore reproaches and mockeries; He endured spittle, scourges, blows, a crown of thorns, a cross. And because we fell from inward joy through delight in bodily things, He showed with what bitterness the way back there is made.

CHAPTER XI.

And when they were drawing near to Jerusalem and to Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sends two of His disciples, and says to them: Go into the village that is opposite you. Bethany is a small township or town on the side of the Mount of Olives, about fifteen stadia from Jerusalem, as John the evangelist shows, where Lazarus was raised from the dead, whose tomb too the church now built on the same spot points out. Bethany, moreover, is called the house of obedience. And fittingly the Lord, being about to come to Jerusalem,

and to redeem the world by His blood, first exalted Bethany by the condescension of His presence, and there was anointed by a devout woman with a mystical chrism; because indeed, by teaching many before His passion, He made for Himself a house of obedience in which He might dwell through the Spirit of grace, and, delighted by their devout action, He Himself was as it were anointed with fragrant ointment. For this is why this town is related to be set on the Mount of Olives: to signify that the Church is to be saved through the grace of her Founder, Who refreshes us with the anointing of spiritual gifts and with the perpetual light of knowledge and piety. Hence elsewhere, when He had said: A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden, He at once added: Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel (Matt. 5:14–15). For that same Mount of Olives, that is, the supreme Distributor of spiritual graces, Who exalts His city that it may stand out, also enriches it with the oil of gladness, that it may be able to shine and not fail. And because He did not wish that same light to be put under a bushel, He sent the disciples into the village that was opposite them; that is, He appointed teachers to penetrate by evangelizing the unlearned and barbarous places of the whole world, as it were the walls of a village set opposite. And rightly two are sent, whether on account of knowledge of the truth and purity of action, or because the mystery of twofold love, namely of God and of neighbour, was to be preached in the whole world.

And at once on entering it you will find a colt tied, on which no man has yet sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you: What are you doing? say: Because the Lord has need of it, and at once he will let it go hither. Entering the world, the holy preachers found the people of the nations entangled in the chains of unbelief. For each one was bound fast with the cords of his own sins; and not only of the nations, but of the Jews too. For all have sinned and lack the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Hence well in Matthew a she-ass too is found tied with the colt. For the she-ass, which was a beast of burden and broken in, signifies the Synagogue, which had drawn the yoke of the law; the ass's colt, wanton and free, signifies the people of the nations. On which no man has yet sat, because no one of the reasonable teachers had brought to the people of the gentiles, by urging useful things upon it, the bridle of correction by which it might be compelled either to restrain its tongue from evil or to go on the narrow way of life; no one, the garments of salvation by which it might be spiritually warmed. For a man would sit upon it if anyone, using reason, corrected its folly by restraining it. Hence not undeservedly the two disciples appointed to present the animals to the Lord can be understood as the two orders of preachers, one directed, namely, to the gentiles, the other to the circumcision.

And going away, they found the colt tied before the door outside, at the meeting of two ways, and they loose it. Well is the colt found before the door outside at the meeting of two ways. For He Himself is the door Who says: I am the door of the sheep. By Me, if anyone enters, he shall be saved, and shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. These pastures of life this colt, that is, the people of the gentiles, lacked, while it still stood tied outside this door at the meeting of two ways. And rightly at the meeting of two ways, because, not certain, it kept not one

way of life and faith, but in his error followed the many and doubtful paths of the sects.

And some of those standing there said to them: What are you doing, loosing the colt? In the Gospel of Luke it is written thus: And those who had been sent went away, and found the colt standing, as He had told them. And as they were loosing the colt, its owners said to them: Why are you loosing the colt? And fittingly enough. For it had many owners, because, devoted not to one doctrine and superstition, but at the pleasure of unclean spirits, the wretch was dragged off to various and diverse errors, going to dumb idols as he was led. Indeed, by a certain native usage of Scripture, what is unclean is said to be common. Just as the voice from heaven also says to Peter: What God has cleansed, do not call common (Acts 10). For he who is holy belongs to God alone, and is common with no one. But he who is a sinner and unclean belongs to many. For many demons possess him, and therefore he is called common.

And they spoke to them as Jesus had commanded them, and they let them go, and they led the colt to Jesus. Those who had objected to the loosing of the colt fall quiet on hearing the name of the Lord. For the masters of errors, who opposed the teachers coming for the salvation of the gentiles, [went on] defending their own darkness only so long, until, with miracles bearing witness, the power of the true Possessor and Lord shone forth. But after the might of the Lord's faith appeared, as the complaints of the adversaries everywhere gave way, the company of believers was freely led to God, Whom it was to carry in its heart.

And they put their garments on it, and He sat upon it. The garments of the apostles can be understood as the teaching of the virtues, or the exposition of the Scriptures, or indeed the varieties of the Church's doctrines, with which they cover the hearts of men, before naked and cold, so that they may become worthy of Christ as their Rider.

And many spread their garments in the way. While the ass carries the Lord, many spread their garments in the way, because the holy martyrs, stripping themselves of the cloak of their own flesh, prepare a way with their blood for God's simpler servants, so that, with the step of the mind unhindered, they may advance to the walls of the city on high, whither Jesus leads. Again, our Saviour, sitting on the ass, makes for Jerusalem when, ruling the soul of each of the faithful, that is, His own beast of burden, He leads it to the vision of inmost peace. He sits on the beast also when He presides over holy Church universally, and kindles it to the desire of the peace on high. And many spread their garments in the way, because they tame their bodies by abstinence, so as to prepare a way for Him to the mind, or offer good examples to those who follow.

And others cut leafy branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: Hosanna, blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord. They cut leafy branches or boughs from the trees who, in the teaching of truth, excerpt the words and sentences of the Fathers from their discourse, and in humble preaching lay these down in the way of God as He comes to the hearer's soul

But those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: Hosanna. For the Jewish people went before, the gentile followed. And because all the elect, whether those who could be in Judaea, or those who now exist in the Church, have believed and believe in the Mediator of God and men, those who go before and those who follow cried Hosanna. Now Hosanna in the Latin tongue means save us. And from Him both those before sought salvation, and those present seek it. And they confess blessed Him Who comes in the name of the Lord, since there is one hope, one faith of the peoples going before and following. For as they were healed by beholding His passion and resurrection, so we are saved by His passion now past and His resurrection abiding for ever. For Him Whom our forerunners from the Jewish people believed and loved as One to come, we both believe and love as having come, and are kindled with desire for Him, that we may contemplate Him face to face.

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes, Hosanna in the highest. And He entered Jerusalem, into the temple, etc. We read in the Gospel of John that the crowds, fed from five loaves and two fishes, wished to seize Jesus and make Him king; but so that they could not accomplish this, He forestalled it by fleeing into the mountain. But now, when He comes to Jerusalem to suffer, He does not shun those who make Him king, who with a glorious procession and with hymns worthy of the Son of God and of a king lead Him to the royal city; He does not check the voices of those who sing in concert that the kingdom of the patriarch David is to be restored in Him and the gifts of the ancient blessing recovered. Why then does He now gladly embrace what before He avoided by flight, and the kingdom which He would not take up while He was yet to live in the world He did not refuse to take up when now about to go out of the world through the passion of the cross, unless to teach openly that He was King not of a temporal and earthly but of an eternal empire in heaven? To which kingdom indeed He was to come through contempt of death, the glory of the resurrection and the triumph of the ascension. For hence it is that, appearing to the disciples after the resurrection, He says: All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth, and the rest of that passage. It is to be noted, indeed, how great is the harmony of the crowd praising the Lord with the voice of Gabriel bringing the good news to the virgin mother, who says: For He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give Him the throne of David His father, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever (Luke 1). And the Lord received the throne or kingdom of David, so that the nation to which David once gave both the helm of temporal kingship and examples of justice, and which they used to kindle with the measures of spiritual hymns to faith in and love of its Maker, He Himself might call, by words, gifts, deeds and promises worthy of so great a Mediator of God and men, to the heavenly and immortal kingdom, and lead in to the very vision of God the Father. To which is joined: Hosanna in the highest, that is, salvation. By which it is clearly shown that the coming of Christ is the salvation not of men alone but of the whole world, joining earthly things to heavenly, that

every knee should bow to Him, of those in heaven, and on earth and under the earth. It is to be noted, indeed, that Hosanna, a Hebrew word, is compounded of two, one corrupted and one whole. For among them save, or make safe, is said Osi, while anna is the interjection of one entreating. Just as among the Latins the interjection of one grieving is heu, and the interjection of one wondering papae. Indeed, in the hundred and seventeenth psalm, where the Seventy Translators rendered O Lord, save me, in the Hebrew it is written: Anna Adonai, osi anna. Which our translator Jerome, explaining it more carefully, rendered thus: I beseech, Lord, save, I beseech. For O Lord, by the interjection of one beseeching, signifies the same as I beseech, Lord, by the very verb of beseeching. Hosanna therefore signifies save, I beseech, the vowel letter i, which ends the first word when osi is said in full, being swallowed up by the force of the vowel letter with which the following word anna begins. This the metricians in scanning verses call synaloepha, although they, in scanning, pass over a letter that is written; but in this word Hosanna the letter i is not even written, but, the sense of the speakers being kept, it is done away with altogether.

And He entered Jerusalem, into the temple. That on entering the city He went first to the temple shows us beforehand a pattern of religion for us to follow. So that when perhaps we enter a village or town, or any other place in which there is a house of prayer consecrated to God, we may turn aside first to it; and after we have commended ourselves to the Lord by earnest prayers, so then we may withdraw to do the temporal business for which we came. Now as the time of the passion drew near, the Lord willed to draw near to the place of the passion, and to stay close by there, where at the time appointed and fixed before the ages He could be found by those through whom that same passion was to be accomplished. So that by this too He might make known to all who hear that He underwent death not unwillingly, as the profane supposed, but of His own accord. As its hour drew near He went fearlessly to the place in which He had foretold long before, both by Himself and by the mouths of His prophets, that He would suffer. It is to be noted, moreover, that this entry of His into Jerusalem took place five days before the Pasch on which He had resolved to fulfil the mystery of His most holy passion. For John relates that six days before the Pasch He came to Bethany, where a supper was made for Him, and, as many reclined at table, Mary the sister of Lazarus poured mystic ointment over Him; and on the next day, sitting on an ass, with a very great crowd coming to meet Him with palms, He came to Jerusalem. Here there must not be passed over in silence the agreement, not only in things but also in times, of the Old and the New Testament, of the shadow and the truth, of the law and the Gospel. For it is written in the law, the Lord saying to Moses and Aaron: This month shall be to you the beginning of months, it shall be the first in the months of the year. Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let each one take a lamb by their families and houses. And a little after: And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and

the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it at evening (Exod. 12). On the tenth day of the first month, then, the lamb that was to be sacrificed at the Pasch was ordered to be brought into the house, because the Lord too, on the tenth day of the same month, that is, five days before the Pasch, was to enter the city in which He was to suffer. And as the lamb chosen out of the whole flock awaited the fixed day of its sacrifice, so the Lord also, while the whole council of the elders and chief men conspired against Him, awaited with certainty the hour in which He would offer Himself for the salvation of the world as an oblation and victim to God for an odour of sweetness. The lamb was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening, and the Lord at that same hour, eating the lamb with the disciples, when He had fulfilled the decrees of the legal Pasch, went out with them at once to the place of prayer, where, seized by the Jews and bound, He was now to begin the sacraments of His blessed sacrifice.

And having looked round on all things, when it was now the hour of evening, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. He did not do this once only; but through all the five days from when He had gone up to Jerusalem until the time of the passion, He was accustomed to do this very thing: to teach in the temple by day, but by night to go out and stay on the Mount of Olives, as we read in Luke. For by teaching the unbelieving He diligently bestowed the service of correction. But by staying with the faithful He graciously showed them the favour of His kindness. And it is well said that, having looked round on all things, He went out to Bethany. For the inward Judge looks into the hearts of all, and when among those who contradict and resist the truth He does not find where to lay His head, He withdraws to the faithful, and rejoices to make His dwelling, together with the Father, in those who obey the word. For Bethany is interpreted house of obedience. This too is to be understood, that the Lord was of such poverty, and flattered no one so much, that in a very great city He found no host, no lodging, but lived in a little country place with Lazarus and his sisters. For Bethany is their village.

And the next day, when they came out from Bethany, He was hungry. He was hungry, either showing the reality of human flesh, or hungering for the salvation of believers, burning at the unbelief of Israel.

And when He had seen from afar a fig tree having leaves, He came, if perhaps He might find anything on it. And when He had come to it, He found nothing but leaves. For it was not the season for figs. And Jesus answering said to it, May no one henceforth eat fruit of you for ever. As the Lord was accustomed to say many things in parables, so too He was accustomed to do some things in parables. For what cause was there that, being hungry, He should seek fruit on the fig tree, when any man knew that their season had not yet come, and should condemn the tree with the curse of eternal barrenness because it had no fruit at that time, unless that He was terrifying the people whom He taught by word by this deed also, lest anyone, by having leaves and not having fruit, that is, by holding out words of justice without works, should deserve to be cut down and cast into the fire? For each tree is known not by its flowers, not by its leaves, but by its fruit, that is, each one

man is proved not by the estimate of his reputation or by the pomp of his words, but by the testimony of his actions. The Lord, then, being hungry, saw a fig tree having leaves, and came to seek fruit on it, and did not find it. For, desiring the salvation of the human race, He saw Judaea having the oracles of the law and the prophets, and came to test, by teaching, by rebuking, by working miracles, whether perhaps He could find any fruit of faith and life in their heart. But because the fig tree was found to have leaves without fruits, it is condemned, because Judaea, which sounded the words of Scripture without works, was punished with a just vengeance. But I would say this not because the whole Synagogue was cast away, from which it is certain that the primitive Church was built. But surely that portion of the Synagogue deserved to be condemned which refused to feed the hungry Christ by working well, which chose rather to be overshadowed by the leaves of spiritual words than to be adorned with the fruits of the Spirit. To whom He Himself says elsewhere: I go, and you seek Me, and you shall die in your sin (John 5). This passage indeed agrees with that parable of His where He says: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and did not find it. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: Behold, it is three years since I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I do not find it. Cut it down therefore; why does it even take up the ground? But he in answer said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and put dung. And if indeed it bears fruit: but if not, afterwards you shall cut it down (Luke 13). Now the dresser of the vineyard is the order of the apostles and of spiritual teachers, who were zealous to call the Synagogue diligently to repentance, so that it should not perish, and to make supplication to the Lord for its salvation. Above all James the brother of the Lord, who was set over the governing of the Church of Jerusalem. But because it consented to bear the fruit of obedience neither in the edicts of the law, nor in the solemn warnings of the prophets, nor in the very grace of the shining Gospel, like a fig tree remaining barren for three years, it was cast away by the Lord, and overthrown with an everlasting curse. For not only was it driven back from the lot of the elect, but it was cut off even from the very ground which it occupied to no purpose. But you too, if you do not wish to hear from Christ at the judgement: Depart from Me, accursed one, into everlasting fire, for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat (Matt. 25), beware of being a barren tree in this life; rather, offer to Christ, poor and hungry, the fruit of piety which He needs.

And they come to Jerusalem. And when He had entered the temple, He began to cast out those selling and buying from the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those selling doves. What the Lord did in figure by cursing the fruitless fig tree, this same thing He soon showed more openly by casting the wicked out of the temple. For the tree did not sin at all in having no fruit when the Lord was hungry, since their season had not yet come; but the priests sinned, who carried on worldly business in the house of the Lord, and had omitted to bear the fruit of piety which they owed, and for which the Lord hungered in them. The Lord withered the tree with a curse,

so that men seeing or hearing these things might understand much more that they were to be condemned by the divine judgement if, without the fruit of works, they flattered themselves only on the applause of religious speech, as it were on the rustling and covering of green leaves. But because they did not understand, He consequently exercised upon them the severity of a deserved vengeance. And He cast out the commerce of human affairs from that house in which it had been commanded that only divine things be done, sacrifices and prayers be offered to God, and the word of God be read, heard and sung. And indeed it is to be believed that He found sold or bought in the temple only those things which were necessary for the service of that same temple, according to what we read was done on another occasion, when, entering the same temple, He found in it those selling and buying sheep and oxen and doves. For surely it is to be believed that those who had come from far bought all these things from the inhabitants only so that they might be offered in the house of the Lord. If then the Lord did not wish even those things to be sold in the temple which He wished to be offered in the temple, namely because of the zeal of avarice or of fraud, which is wont to be the particular crime of traders, with how great a punishment, do you think, would He punish, if He had found there any given over to laughter or idle talk, or enslaved to any other vice? For if the Lord does not suffer temporal business, which they were free to carry on elsewhere, to be carried on in His house, how much more do those things which it is nowhere lawful to do deserve more of heaven's wrath if they are done in buildings consecrated to God? But because the Holy Spirit appeared over the Lord in a dove, rightly are the gifts of the Holy Spirit signified by doves. And who are they today in the temple of God who sell doves, but those who in the Church take a price for the imposition of the hand? through which imposition, that is, the Holy Spirit is given from heaven. The dove, then, is sold when the imposition of the hand, through which the Holy Spirit is received, is offered for a price. But our Redeemer overturned the seats of those selling doves, because He destroys the priesthood of such traders. Hence it is that the sacred canons condemn the Simoniac heresy, and command that those be deprived of the priesthood who seek a price for conferring orders. The seat of those selling doves is therefore overturned, because those who sell spiritual grace are deprived of the priesthood, either before the eyes of men or before the eyes of God.

And He did not allow anyone to carry a vessel through the temple. He speaks of those vessels which they brought in for the sake of trading. For the rest, far be it that the Lord should cast vessels dedicated to God out of the temple, or forbid them to be brought into the temple, where He holds out a striking example of His judgement to come; rather, He banishes unclean and profane vessels from the temple, and forbids them to be brought in any more, when He not only drives out and thrusts all the reprobate from the Church, but also, lest they should enter any more to trouble the Church, restrains them with everlasting scourging. But in the present too this is the true house of the Lord, that is, the purification of the heart of the faithful: that compunction sent from God should not only take away the sins that were within, but also that divine grace, abiding in them, should help them not to seek them again.

And He taught, saying to them: Is it not written that My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? For all nations, He says, not for the one Jewish nation, nor in the one place of the city of Jerusalem, but in the whole world, and not at all [a house] of bulls and goats and rams, but of prayer.

But you have made it a den of robbers. As for those who sat in the temple to receive gifts, there was certainly no doubt that they sought ways to injure some who did not give. The house of prayer, then, had been made a den of robbers, because they knew how to attend in the temple for this purpose: either to be eager to persecute bodily those who did not give gifts, or to kill spiritually those who gave. The temple and house of God is also the very mind and conscience of the faithful, and if at any time it brings forth perverse thoughts to injure a neighbour, [those thoughts] sit as it were in a den of robbers. And they kill those who walk in simplicity when they plunge the swords of injury into those who are guilty of nothing. For the mind of the faithful is no longer a house of prayer but a den of robbers when, having abandoned the innocence and simplicity of holiness, it strives to do that by which it may harm its neighbours.

And when they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Not only the branches or the trunk of the fruitless fig tree, but the very root also, by withering, showed the sentence of divine reprobation upon it. And John says that the axe is laid to the root of the trees (Matt. 3). The fig tree, therefore, was withered from the roots, to show that the impious nation was not to be chastised for a time or in part by the incursions of foreigners and soon, the Lord having mercy, after doing penance be restored to its former liberty, as sacred history relates was often done; but rather was to be struck with everlasting damnation. It was withered from the roots, to make known that the wicked people was to be utterly bereft not only of human glory outwardly, but also of divine favour within. For it lost both the salvation and life which it could have received in heaven, and the homeland which it had already received on earth.

And Jesus answering said to them: Have faith in God. Amen I say to you, that whoever shall say to this mountain: Be taken up and cast into the sea, and shall not hesitate in his heart, but shall believe that whatever he says will be done, it shall be done for him. The gentiles who wrote abuse against the Church are accustomed to reproach our people that they did not have full faith in God, because they were never able to move mountains. To them it must be answered that not all things which have been done in the Church have been written, just as our Scripture testifies also concerning the deeds of Christ Himself, our God and Lord. Hence this too could have been done, that a mountain taken up from the land should be cast into the sea, if necessity had required it to be done. As we read was done at the prayers of the blessed father Gregory, bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus, a man outstanding in merits and virtues, that a mountain on land gave way as much in place as the inhabitants of the city had need. For when, wishing to build a church in a suitable place, he saw that it was narrower than the matter required, because it was hemmed in on one side by a rock of the sea and on the other by a mountain close by, he came by night to the place, and on bended knees reminded the Lord

of His promise, that He should move the mountain further off according to the faith of him who asked. And when morning came, returning, he found that the mountain had left as much space for the builders of the church as they had need of. This man, then, could have obtained from the Lord, and some other man of the same merit could have obtained, by the merit of faith, if occasion had required, that a mountain too should be taken up and cast into the sea. But because by the name of mountain the devil is sometimes signified, namely because of the pride by which he raises himself against God and wishes to be like the Most High, the mountain is taken up from the land at the command of those who are strong in faith, and cast into the sea, when, as holy teachers preach the word, the unclean Spirit is driven from the heart of those who are foreordained to life, and is allowed to exercise the madness of his tyranny in the turbulent and bitter minds of unbelievers. Not that he did not have his seat and kingdom there before also, but because he rages the more fiercely against those whom he may, the more he grieves that he has been driven away from harming the pious. Like this is that saying of the Apocalypse: And the second angel sounded the trumpet, and behold, as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea (Rev. 8). For when the angel sounds the trumpet, the mountain burning with fire is cast into the sea, because, when the teacher of truth preaches the word, the ancient enemy, kindled by the torches of envy, attacks the minds of the perverse to corrupt them more grievously, so as to avenge on the faithless the pain of his expulsion from the faithful.

And when you stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also, Who is in heaven, may forgive you your sins, etc. The distinction between those who pray is to be noted. He who has perfect faith, which works through love, can by praying, or even by commanding, move spiritual mountains. As Paul did in the case of Elymas the magician, whom he deprived both of his eyes and of his wicked art. As in the case of the pythoness at Philippi, from whom he cast out the evil spirit, that is, a most proud mountain. But how much furious fire this same mountain, cast into the sea, brought upon him, the persecution of the gentiles that followed at once against him fully showed. But those who cannot yet climb the summit of so great a perfection, let them ask that their sins be forgiven them, so that they may deserve to enter into life everlasting, and without doubt they will obtain what they ask, provided that they themselves first forgive others who sin against them. But if they scorn to do this, not only can they not work miracles by praying, but they cannot even obtain pardon for their own sins.

And as He was walking in the temple, there come to Him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and they say to Him: By what authority do You do these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things? In different ways they contrive the same calumny as above, when they said: By Beelzebub the prince of demons He casts out demons. For when they say, By what authority do You do these things? they doubt the power of God, and wish it to be understood that what He does is the devil's. Adding also: Who gave You this authority? they most plainly deny the Son of God, Whom they think to work signs not by His own powers but by another's.

But Jesus answering said: I also will ask you

one word, and answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? Answer Me. The Lord could have refuted the calumny of the tempters with an open answer, but He wisely asks a question, so that they may be condemned either by their own silence or by their own verdict.

But they reasoned among themselves, saying: If we say, from heaven, He will say to us: Why then did you not believe him? For he whom you confess to have had his prophecy from heaven bore witness to Me, and from him you heard by what authority I do these things.

If we say from men, We fear the people. For all held John to be truly a prophet. They saw, then, that whichever of these they answered, they would fall into the snare, fearing stoning, but fearing more the confession of the truth.

And answering they say to Jesus: We do not know. And Jesus answering said to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. I do not tell you what I know, because you will not confess what you know. Most justly rebuffed, they went away thoroughly confounded. And there was fulfilled what God the Father says through the prophet in the psalm: I have prepared a lamp for My Christ, that is, John himself. His enemies I will clothe with confusion (Ps. 131). Now it is to be noted that for two causes chiefly the knowledge of the truth is to be hidden from those who seek it. Namely, when he who seeks is either less capable of understanding what he seeks, or, by hatred or contempt of the truth itself, is unworthy that what he seeks should be opened to him. Because of the first of these the Lord says: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But because of the other He commanded the disciples: Do not give what is holy to dogs: nor cast your pearls before swine.

CHAPTER XII.

And He began to speak to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit, and built a tower. This man who planted the vineyard is the same who in another parable hired labourers into his vineyard. He planted the vineyard of which Isaiah speaks most fully in a song, bringing in at the end: The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel. And in the psalm, Thou hast brought (he says) a vineyard out of Egypt, Thou hast cast out the nations and planted it. And he set a hedge around it, either the wall of the city, or the help of the angels. And he dug a pit in it, either the winepress, or the altar, or those winepresses with which three psalms too are marked in their title, the eighth, the eightieth, and the eighty-third. And he built a tower: no doubt the temple, of which it is said through Micah: And you, cloudy tower of the daughter of Zion.

And he let it out to husbandmen. Those whom elsewhere He called the labourers of the vineyard, who had been hired at the first, third, sixth and ninth hour. And he went abroad, not by change of place. For whence can God be absent, by Whom all things are filled? And Who says through Jeremiah: I am a God at hand, and not from afar, says the Lord? But He seems to go away from the vineyard, so as to leave the vinedressers free choice in working.

And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, to receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. Who, having seized him,

beat, and sent away empty. He rightly put the season of the fruits, not the yield. For no fruit of the contumacious people came forth; no yield of this vineyard was found, although it was sought often and with care. The servant, then, who was sent first is understood as the lawgiver Moses himself, who for forty continuous years sought from the cultivators some fruit of the law which he had given, but they beat him and sent him away empty. For they provoked Moses in the camp, and Aaron the holy one of the Lord. And Moses was afflicted on their account, because they embittered his spirit. And this servant himself declares openly in a song what he thinks of the fruit of this vineyard, saying: For their vine is of the vineyard of Sodom, and their offshoots of Gomorrah. Their grape is a grape of gall, and a cluster of bitterness is in them; the fury of dragons is their wine, and the incurable fury of asps (Deut. 32).

And again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. The second servant signifies David, king and prophet, and the other psalmists, who were sent after Moses, so that after the edicts of the law they might rouse the tenants of the vineyard to the exercise of good work by the measures of psalmody and the sweetness of the harp. For David himself too, so as to lift the heart of the people to the desire of heavenly things, appointed that amid the rites of carnal victims the praises of the Lord should be sung continually with sweet melody. But him too, treated with insults, they wounded in the head, because, setting little store by the songs of the psalmists which called them to the praise of the Lord, they cast off David himself, who had shone forth as the head and fount of psalmody in the Holy Spirit. For, saying: What portion have we in David, or what inheritance in the son of Jesse (1 Kgs. 12)? they changed at once his kingdom for an ignoble stock, and religion for impiety. Yet he himself prayed for this vineyard, which, brought out of Egypt, had covered the mountains of Palestine with its shade, that it might not be rooted out: O Lord God of hosts, turn now, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard, and perfect that which Thy right hand has planted (Ps. 79). Where he set out likewise who that man is who planted this vineyard, namely the Lord God of hosts.

And again he sent another, and him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing others. By the third servant with his companions understand the choir of the prophets, who with continual solemn warnings addressed the people, and foretold the evils that were threatening to come upon this vineyard. But which of the prophets did they not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Lord the Saviour (Acts 7). And all these said much about the barrenness of this vineyard, but let it suffice to set down the lament of Jeremiah alone. But I, he says, planted you a chosen vine, all true seed; how are you turned into the degenerate [plant] of a strange vine (Jer. 2)? That the figure of all the teachers under the law can be comprised in these three grades of servants the Lord declares plainly elsewhere, saying: For all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the psalms concerning Me (Luke 24).

Having yet, therefore, one son, most dear, him too

he sent to them last of all, saying: They will reverence my son. What he says, They will reverence my son, does not come from ignorance. For what could the householder not know, who in this place is understood as God the Father? But God is always said to be in doubt, so that free will may be kept for man. Let us question Arius and Eunomius. See, the Father is said not to know, and He tempers His sentence, and, so far as it lies in us, He is shown to have spoken falsely. Whatever they answer for the Father, let them understand the same for the Son, who says that He does not know the day of the consummation.

But the tenants said to one another: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. The Lord shows most plainly that the leaders of the Jews crucified the Son of God not through ignorance but through envy. For they understood that this was He to whom it was said: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance (Ps. 2:8). And therefore, as if taking counsel for themselves, they said: Behold, the whole world has gone after him. And if we let him go on thus, all will believe in him (John 12:19; 11:48). The inheritance of the Son, then, is the Church, given to Him from all the nations, which the Father did not leave Him by dying, but which He Himself wonderfully acquired by His own death and possessed by rising again. But the wicked tenants strove, once He was killed, to snatch this away, when the Jews who crucified Him tried to extinguish the faith [that comes] through Him, and rather to put forward their own justice, which is from the law, and to implant it in the nations that were to be instructed.

And taking him, they killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. He marks them as men of stubborn malice, who, even when the Lord had been crucified and raised from the dead, would not believe at the preaching of the apostles, but cast Him out like a worthless corpse. For, so far as lay in them, by shutting Him out of their own borders they gave Him to the nations to be received.

What then will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and will give the vineyard to others. This little verse the Lord Himself presently expounded in Matthew, saying: Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation that yields its fruits (Matt. 21:43). That it would be so He had also shown figuratively, when He cursed the unfruitful fig tree as an example of the unbelieving Jews. Those, on the contrary, who afterwards believed, whether from the Jews or from the nations, He compared to a fruitful and excellent tree, saying: I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit (John 15:5). And when He had said that the lord of the vineyard, coming after the destruction of the wicked husbandmen, would give the vineyard to others, He at once affirmed by a prophetic example that this very thing had been so provided by God, adding:

Have you not read this Scripture: The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner? This was done by the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes. How, He says, will this prophecy be fulfilled, which says that the stone rejected by the builders is to be set as the head of the corner, unless because Christ, rejected and slain by you, is to be preached to the nations who will believe, so that as a corner-stone He may found two

in Himself, and out of both peoples build for Himself one city of the faithful, one temple? For the same masters of the Synagogue whom He had above called tenants, He now calls builders. For those who were bidden to cultivate the people subject to them like a vineyard for bearing the fruits of life were also commanded to build and adorn it like a house worthy of God as its indweller. Hence the Apostle too, writing to the faithful, says: You are God's husbandry, God's building (I Cor. 3:9). But those who, like the worst of tenants, refused to render the fruit of God's vineyard to the great householder, these same, like bad masons, labour to withdraw from the house of God the precious and chosen stone which was to be laid either in the foundations or in the corner; that is, they were trying to snatch the faith of Christ from their hearers.

And they sought to lay hold of him, and they feared the crowd. For they knew that he had spoken this parable against them; and leaving him they went away. The chief priests and scribes sought to kill the Lord as though He were speaking falsely against them. But by seeking this very thing they showed that what He had said was true. For He Himself is the heir whose unjust death He said was to be avenged by the Father. Those wicked tenants could indeed be held back for a little by human fear from killing the Son of God, until His hour should come, but they could never be restrained by divine love. In the moral sense, to each of the faithful, when the mystery of baptism is entrusted to him to exercise by working, a vineyard, as it were, is let out for him to cultivate. A servant is sent, one, a second and a third, to receive of the fruit, when the law, the psalmody and prophecy are read, whose admonition he should follow by doing well. But the servant sent is treated with insults or beaten and cast out, when the word that is heard is despised, or (what is worse) even blasphemed. Moreover he kills (so far as lies in him) the heir who is sent, who has both trodden underfoot the Son of God and done insult to the spirit of grace by which he was sanctified. When the wicked cultivator is destroyed, the vineyard will be given to another, when each humble man is enriched with the gift of grace that the proud man spurned. And this too, that the chief priests, scribes and elders, seeking to lay hands on Jesus, are held back by fear of the crowd, is done daily in the Church, when someone who is a brother in name only, because of the multitude of good brethren living with him, is either ashamed or afraid to attack that unity of the Church's faith and peace which he does not love. Yet he, as the Lord says of the most foolish of birds, the ostrich, when the time comes lifts up his wings on high, because by persecuting the Church he will rejoice to deliver the Lord, as it were, to the cross and to hold Him up to scorn.

And they send to him some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, that they might catch him in his words. By Herodians he means the soldiers of Herod the tetrarch, who was himself at that time in Jerusalem and joined with Pilate and the Jews in despising and mocking the Lord, as Luke the evangelist testifies. So the high priests, scribes and elders, seeking to seize the Lord, feared the crowd. And therefore, because they could not do it by themselves, they tried to bring it about by the hands of earthly power, so that they themselves might seem free of His death. Recently

for under Caesar Augustus Judaea, made subject to the Romans when the census was held throughout the whole world, had been made tributary, and there was great dissension among the people, some saying that for the sake of the security and quiet for which the Romans soldiered on behalf of all, the taxes ought to be paid; but the Pharisees, who prided themselves on their righteousness, striving on the contrary that the people of God, who paid tithes and gave first-fruits and the other things written in the law, ought not to be subject to human laws. The tinder of this dissension grew so strong that after the Lord's resurrection, when the Romans pressed upon them, they preferred to lose their native nation and kingdom, that august temple too with its worship, and even life itself, rather than pay tribute.

And coming they say to him: Master, we know that you are truthful and care for no one; for you do not look upon the face of man, but teach the way of the Lord in truth. Is it lawful for tribute to be given to Caesar, or shall we not give it? This flattering and deceitful question draws the one answering towards fearing God rather than Caesar and saying that tribute ought not to be paid, so that the Herodians, hearing it, might at once hold Him as the author of sedition against the Romans.

And knowing their craftiness, he said to them: Why do you tempt me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it. And they brought him one. Wisdom always acts wisely, so that tempters are confounded rather by their own words: Bring me, He says, a denarius. This is a kind of coin which was reckoned as ten coins, and it bore the image of Caesar.

And he said to them: Whose is this image and inscription? Let those who think the Saviour's questioning is ignorance and not a dispensation learn from the present passage that Jesus could certainly have known whose image was on the coin; but He asks so that He may answer their speech fittingly.

They say to him: Caesar's. And Jesus answering said to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. What He says, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, let us understand as the coin, the tribute and money; and to God the things that are God's, as tithes, first-fruits, and offerings and victims. Just as He Himself pays tribute for Himself and Peter, and rendered to God the things that are God's, doing the Father's will. Otherwise: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. As Caesar requires of us the stamp of his image, so does God also, so that, as the coin is rendered to the one, so to God may be rendered the soul illumined and sealed with the light of His countenance. Hence the Psalmist says: The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us (Ps. 4:7).

This light too is the whole of man and his true good, which is beheld not with the eyes but with the mind. And he said signed upon us, as a denarius is signed with the king's image. For man was made to the image and likeness of God, which he corrupted by sinning. His good, therefore, is true and eternal if he is signed by being born again.

And they marvelled at him. Those who ought to have believed at such great wisdom marvelled, because their cunning had found no room for laying snares. And, as Matthew

writes, leaving him they went away, carrying back their unbelief together with their wonder.

And there came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection. There were two heresies among the Jews, one of the Pharisees and the other of the Sadducees. The Pharisees made a display of the righteousness of traditions and observances, which they call deuterōseis, whence they were also called the separated from the people. The Sadducees, who are interpreted the just, also claimed for themselves what they were not. While the former believed in the resurrection of both body and soul, and confessed both angels and spirits, the latter, according to the Acts of the Apostles, denied everything.

And they questioned him, saying: Master, Moses wrote for us that if anyone's brother die and leave a wife, and leave no sons, his brother should take his wife and raise up seed for his brother. Now there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died, leaving no seed, etc. Those who did not believe in the resurrection of bodies, judging that souls perish with bodies, fittingly invent a tale of this kind, to convict of madness those who assert the resurrection of bodies. Yet it may be that this really happened at some time among their nation.

In the resurrection, then, when they rise again, whose wife will she be of these? For the seven had her as wife. They set forth the shamefulness of the tale in order to deny the truth of the resurrection; but mystically these seven brothers who died without sons correspond to all the reprobate who, through the whole life of this world, which revolves in seven days, remain barren of good works. When these have been snatched away one by one by a wretched death, at the last the worldly way of life itself, which they had spent without the fruit of life-giving work, will pass away like a barren wife.

And Jesus answering said to them: Do you not err for this reason, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God? They err because they do not know the Scriptures. And because they are ignorant of the Scriptures, they consequently do not know the power of God, that is, Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:24).

For when they rise from the dead, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven. Latin usage does not answer to the Greek idiom. Properly it is women who are said nubere, and men to take wives. But let us understand it as said simply, so that nubere is said of the husbands and nubi of the wives. If in the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, then bodies will rise which are able to marry and be married. For no one says of a stone or a tree, or of those things which have no organs of generation, that they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but of those who, though they could marry, yet for some reason do not marry. And what is added, But are as the angels in heaven, promises a spiritual way of life. For they are as the angels in heaven who, renewed by the glory of the resurrection, without any fear of death, without any stain of corruption, without any action of earthly condition, enjoy the perpetual vision of God. Whoever desires to ascend to that equality with the angelic dignity must now condescend to the least of the brethren by acting with devotion.

But as for the dead, that they rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, at the bush, how God spoke to him, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? To prove the truth of the resurrection He could have used other examples far plainer, among which is this: The dead shall be raised, and those who are in the tombs shall rise again. And in another place: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise, some to life everlasting, and others to reproach and everlasting confusion (Dan. 12:2). It is asked, therefore, what the Lord meant by bringing forward this testimony, which seems ambiguous or not sufficiently to bear on the truth of the resurrection. We said above that the Sadducees, confessing neither angels nor spirit nor the resurrection of bodies, also preached the destruction of souls. These received only the five books of Moses, rejecting the oracles of the prophets. It would therefore have been foolish to bring testimonies from a source whose authority they did not follow. Further, to prove the eternity of souls He sets forth the example: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And at once He adds:

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. So that, when He had proved that souls endure after death (for it could not be that He should be the God of those who did not exist at all), there would follow, as a consequence, the resurrection of the bodies too, which did good or evil together with the souls.

And one of the scribes came, who had heard them disputing. And seeing that he had answered them well, he asked him which was the first commandment of all. And Jesus answered him that the first commandment of all is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. He calls it the first and greatest commandment of all, that is, what each of us ought before all things to lay deep in the heart as the one foundation of piety. This He showed more openly in the conclusion, when He said: There is no other commandment greater than these. The first and greatest commandment of all, then, is the knowledge and confession of the divine unity together with the carrying out of good works. And good works are made perfect in the love of God and of neighbour. This the Apostle commends briefly in other words, saying: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith that works through love (Gal. 5:6).

And the scribe said to him: Well, master, you have said in truth that God is one, and there is no other besides Him. And that He be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, is greater than all holocausts and sacrifices. It is shown by this answer of the scribe that a weighty question had often been debated among the scribes and Pharisees as to which was the first or greatest commandment of the divine law, some, that is, praising victims and sacrifices, but others with greater authority

preferring the works of faith and love, because very many of the fathers before the law, without any custom of victims and sacrifices, pleased God by faith alone, which works through love, and were held in the highest place with Him; whereas no one would ever be found to have pleased God by holocausts and sacrifices alone, without faith and love. This scribe declared that he too was of this opinion.

And Jesus, seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: You are not far from the kingdom of God. He was not far from the kingdom of God, because he was shown to have been a supporter of that view which is proper to the New Testament and to evangelical perfection. Hence we must inquire more carefully how Matthew says that this scribe, or doctor of the law (as he calls him), questioned the Lord about the first or greatest commandment to tempt Him, when according to this evangelist the Lord declares that he is not far from the kingdom of God; since it is agreed that those who seek wisdom by tempting cannot find it, and therefore cannot draw near to the gate of the heavenly kingdom, which is opened only to the wise. For Scripture says: And seek Him in simplicity of heart, for He is found by those who do not tempt Him (Wis. 1:1–2). Unless perhaps we say that he did indeed come to the Lord meaning to tempt Him, but, having heard His answer, was corrected and soon turned back to the grace of piety; and Him whom he had at first thought to deceive by tempting, he afterwards recognized must be embraced and followed. Or else let us take the temptation itself not as malicious, as of an enemy wishing to deceive, but rather as cautious, as of one wishing to test further someone unknown to him. For it is not written in vain: He who believes easily is light of heart and shall be lessened (Ecclus. 19:4).

And no one any longer dared to question him. The Pharisees and Sadducees and the other leaders of the Jews, seeking an occasion for calumny and to find some word that lay open to their snares, since they were confuted in argument, question Him no further, but most openly seize Him and hand Him over to the Roman power. From this we understand that the poisons of envy can indeed be overcome, but hardly be quieted.

And Jesus answering said, as he taught in the temple: How do the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? For David himself says in the Holy Spirit: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet. David himself therefore calls him Lord, and how then is he his son? Jesus' question profits us even to this day against the Jews. For these too, who confess that the Christ is to come, assert that he is a mere man, holy, of the race of David. Let us then, taught by the Lord, ask them: if He is a mere man and only the son of David, how does David call Him his Lord, not in the uncertainty of error nor of his own will, but in the Holy Spirit? They are not blamed for calling Him the son of David, but for not believing Him to be the Son of God: since He appeared both as David's Lord, by abiding God before all times, and as David's son, by being born man at the end of time. And that His enemies are made subject to Him by the Father signifies not the weakness of the Son but the unity of nature, because the One works in the Other. For the Son too subjects

His enemies to the Father, because He glorifies the Father upon the earth.

And He said to them in His teaching: Beware of the scribes, who like to walk about in long robes, and to be greeted in the market-place, and to sit in the first seats in the synagogues, and the first places at feasts. To walk in long robes means to go out in public dressed in more elegant clothes, in which, among other things, that rich man who feasted splendidly every day is described as having sinned. But it is to be noted that He does not forbid being greeted in the market-place, or sitting or reclining in the first places, to those to whom this belongs by the order of their office; rather, those who love these things unduly, whether they have them or indeed do not, these He teaches are to be shunned by all the faithful as wicked, rebuking, that is, with just strictness the disposition, not the rank: although this too is not without fault, if the same men who wish to be called masters of the Synagogue in the chair of Moses take part in lawsuits in the market-place. We are bidden to beware of those greedy for vain glory for a twofold reason: lest, [either] judging that what they do is good and to be done, [we imitate them,] or we be inflamed with rivalry, rejoicing in vain to be praised for good things that are feigned.

They who devour the houses of widows under pretence of long prayer, these shall receive the longer judgement. He did not say only, They shall receive judgement, but added longer, to suggest that even those who pray standing at the corners to be seen by men deserve condemnation, but that those who, doing these things at greater length as if more religious, seek not only praise from men but money too, are to be punished with a heavier judgement. For there are those who, feigning to be just and of great merit with God, do not hesitate to take money from all sorts of lowly people troubled by the consciousness of their sins, as though they were to be their advocates at the judgement: and whereas hands held out to the poor man are wont to help prayers, these spend whole nights in prayer chiefly for this, to take the coin from the poor man. To them that curse upon Judas fits not undeservedly: When he is judged, may he go out condemned, and may his prayer become sin (Ps. 108:7). For he goes out condemned when he is judged, and receives back his prayer as sin, who, held now in great esteem among men, will then in the divine examination find not only that he cannot intercede for others, but that his own merits cannot suffice even for himself; nay rather, he pays the penalty, among his crimes, for the very prayers by which he had deceived human judgement.

And Jesus, sitting over against the treasury, watched how the crowd cast money into the treasury. Since in the Greek tongue phylattein means to keep, and riches are called gaza in the Persian tongue, the place where riches are kept is usually called gazophylacium. By this name they called both the chest in which the people's gifts were gathered for the necessary uses of the temple, and the porticoes in which they were kept. You have an example of the porticoes in the Gospel: These words, it says, Jesus spoke in the treasury, teaching in the temple (John 8:20). You have the chest in the book of Kings: And Joiada the high priest took a chest, and opened a hole in the top, and

set it beside the altar, on the right of those entering the house of the Lord. And the priests who kept the doors put into it all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord. And when they saw that there was a great deal of money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they poured out and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord (IV Kgs. 12:9–10). And so the Lord, who had warned that those who covet first place and vain glory are to be shunned, who had foretold that a longer judgement is to be repaid for feigned prayers, discerns with sure scrutiny even those who bring gifts into the house of the Lord, so as to repay each according to their heart and their works; for in the same way the same inward Judge never ceases to act in the Church.

And many rich men cast in much. But when a poor widow had come, she put in two mites, which is a farthing. Reckoners call a quadrans the fourth part of any thing whatever, that is, of a place, or of a time, or of money. Perhaps, then, in this place it signifies the fourth part of a shekel, that is, five obols.

And calling his disciples together, he said to them: Amen I say to you, that this poor widow has put in more than all those who put into the treasury. Morally, this passage tells us that whatever we offer with a good mind is acceptable to God, who weighs not the substance of those who offer but their conscience, and considers not how much is offered in His sacrifice but out of how much. But according to the laws of allegory, the rich who were putting gifts into the treasury signify the Jews puffed up over the righteousness of the law, while the poor widow signifies the simplicity of the Church. She is rightly called poor, because she has cast away either the spirit of pride or the desires for temporal things, as the riches of the world. And a widow, because her Husband endured death for her, and now, hidden from her eyes in the inner places of heaven, lives as it were in the region of another country. She puts two mites into the treasury, because into the sight of the divine Majesty, by which the offerings of our devout working are kept as though written down and sealed in a fixed number, she brings either the love of God and of neighbour, or the gifts of her faith and prayer. These, small in the consideration of one's own frailty, but accepted by the merit of a devout intention, surpass all the works of the proud Jews.

For they all put in out of that which they had in abundance; but she out of her want put in all that she had, her whole living. The Jew puts into God's gifts out of his own abundance, who, presuming on his own righteousness, prays thus with himself: O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, robbers, unjust, etc. (Luke 18:11). But the Church puts her whole living into God's gifts, because she understands that all by which she lives is not of her own merit but of the divine gift, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner (ibid. 18:13). And again: I will keep my strength to Thee, for Thou, O God, art my protector; my God, His mercy shall go before me (Ps. 58:10–11).

BOOK IV

CHAPTER XIII

And as He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him: Master, look, what stones and what buildings! And Jesus answering said to him: Do you see all these great buildings? There shall not be left a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down. According to the history the sense is plain. But when the Lord withdrew from the temple, all the buildings of the law and the arrangement of the commandments were so destroyed that nothing could be fulfilled by the Jews; and with the head taken away, all the members fight among themselves. And because, when the faith and the Church of Christ had been founded among the nations, Judaea was to pay the penalty worthy of its faithlessness, the Lord, after praising the devotion of the Church in the poor widow, fittingly goes out of the temple and foretold its coming ruin, and that the buildings then admired would not long after be levelled. It was divinely provided that, when the grace of the Gospel faith had been made manifest throughout the world, the temple itself, once august, should be taken away with its ceremonies, lest perhaps someone still a little one and a suckling in the faith, if he saw those things remain which had been made by the holy prophets and instituted by the Lord, should, by admiring a holy thing of this world, little by little slip from the sincerity of the faith which is in Christ Jesus into carnal Judaism. God, therefore, providing for our weakness and desiring His Church to be multiplied, caused all those things to be overthrown and utterly taken away, so that, when the shadow and the type ceased, the truth itself, now declared throughout the world, might hold the truer palm.

And as He sat on the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately: Tell us when these things will be, and what will be the sign when all these things begin to be accomplished? Because, when some were praising the buildings of the temple, the Lord had answered openly that all these were to be destroyed, the disciples ask in secret the time and the signs of the foretold destruction. And the Lord sits on the Mount of Olives over against the temple when He discourses on the ruin of the temple and the destruction of the nation, so that even by the very position of His body He may accord with the words He speaks, signifying mystically that, abiding at rest in the saints, He abhors the madness of the proud. For who does not see that the Mount of Olives signifies the fruitful height of holy Church, in which the Lord ever delights to dwell? For that mountain was not wont to have unfruitful trees and a barren wood, but to bear olives, by which light is fed to drive away the shadows of the nights, infirmities are relieved and rest is given to the weary. All of which the Church herself shows to be done especially in her, when she says: But I, like a fruitful olive in the house of the Lord, will hope in the mercy of my God (Ps. 51:10).

And Jesus answering began to say to them: Take heed that no one lead you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and they will lead many astray. Many,

when the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent, there arose leaders who said they were christs and declared that the time of liberty was now drawing very near. Many heresiarchs came forth in the Church even in the very times of the apostles, who, among very many other things contrary to the truth, preached that the day of the Lord was at hand. These the Apostle condemns in the Epistle to the Thessalonians. Many antichrists came in the name of Christ, of whom the first is Simon Magus: to whom, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, all who were in Samaria gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying: This man is the power of God which is called great, because for a long time he had bewitched them with his magic arts (Acts 8:10–11).

But when you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be afraid. For these things must happen, but the end is not yet. Wars concern enemies, seditions concern citizens. That both of these abounded more than enough from the time of the Lord's passion among the people of the Jews, who chose for themselves a seditious robber instead of Christ the Saviour, is well established. But the apostles are warned not to be terrified when these things come, nor to abandon Jerusalem and Judaea, since the end, which was rather to be put off to the fortieth year, that is, the desolation of the province and the final destruction of the city and temple, would not follow at once.

And nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in places, and pestilences and famine. These things are the beginning of sorrows. In the Gospel of Luke it is written thus: And there shall be great earthquakes in places, and pestilences and famines (Luke 21:11). It is certain that these things happened according to the letter before the last and most bitter sorrows by which the whole province was laid waste, nay razed, that is, in the time of the Jewish sedition. But kingdom against kingdom, and the pestilence of those whose speech spreads like a cancer, and famine of hearing the word of God, and the shaking of the whole earth, and separation from the true faith, can rather be understood of heretics, who by fighting against one another give the Church the victory. And that so many adversities were deservedly to be dealt out to Jerusalem and the whole province of the Jews, the Lord makes plain by what He adds, when He says:

But look to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you will be beaten, and you will stand before kings and governors for my sake, for a testimony to them. For this was either the only or the chief cause of ruin for the Jewish nation, that after the slaying of the Lord the Saviour it harassed with impious cruelty the heralds and at the same time the confessors of His name and faith.

And the Gospel of God must first be preached to all nations. That this was so fulfilled the ecclesiastical histories bear witness, in which it is related that all the apostles, long before the destruction of the province of Judaea, had been scattered over the whole world to preach the Gospel, except James the son of Zebedee and James the brother of the Lord,

who had earlier shed their blood in Judaea for the word of the Gospel. Since, then, the Lord knew that the hearts of the disciples would be saddened at the downfall and ruin of their own nation, He relieves them with this consolation, that they might know that, even when the Jews had been cast off, they would not lack companions in the joy and the kingdom of heaven; nay rather, that many more were to be gathered from all nations throughout the whole world than were perishing out of Judaea.

And when they lead you, delivering you up, do not think beforehand what you are to say, but whatever shall be given you in that hour, that say. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. When we are led before judges for Christ's sake, we ought to bring forward only our will for Christ. For the rest, Christ Himself, Who dwells in us, speaks, and the grace of the Holy Spirit is supplied in answering.

And brother shall deliver up brother unto death, and the father the son, and children shall rise up against parents and put them to death. And you shall be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who, etc. We have seen this happen often in persecutions, nor is there any faithful affection between those whose faith is different.

But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, let him who reads understand. Where Mark says, Standing where it ought not, it is written in Matthew, Standing in the holy place (Matt. 24:15); which signifies altogether one and the same thing, since assuredly the abomination of desolation ought not to stand in the holy place. And when we are summoned to understanding, it is shown that what was said is mystical. It can, however, be taken simply either of Antichrist, or of the image of Caesar which Pilate set up in the temple, or of the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stood for a long time in the very place of the holy of holies. An idol, too, is called an abomination according to the old Scripture. And therefore of desolation is added, because the idol was set up in the desolated and deserted temple.

Then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains. And let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor go in to take anything out of his house. And let him who shall be in the field not turn back to take up his garment. It is established that these things were done according to the letter, when, as the Roman war and the extermination of the Jewish nation drew near, all the Christians who were in the province, warned by an oracle, had withdrawn far off, as the Ecclesiastical History relates, and, settling beyond the Jordan, remained for a time in the city of Pella under the protection of Agrippa, king of the Jews, who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, and who, with that part of the Jews which was willing to obey him, always lived subject to the rule of the Romans. But according to the spiritual senses, when we see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, that is, heresies and crimes reigning among those who seemed to be consecrated by the heavenly mysteries, when we perceive workers of iniquity, speakers of lies, men of blood and deceitful, whom the Lord will abhor, troubling the peace of the faithful, then whoever of us are in Judaea, that is, persist in the confession of the true faith, [ought] not to be made slaves to earthly and weak deeds, but the higher

we ought to climb to the summit of the virtues, the more people we see following the broad and wandering roads of the vices. Then he who is on the housetop, that is, he who, rising in mind above carnal things, lives spiritually as in the free air, let him not go down to the lowest deeds of his former way of life, nor seek again those desires of the world or of the flesh which he had left behind. For our house is to be understood either as this world, or as our very flesh in which we live, of which the Apostle says: For we know that if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have a building from God (2 Cor. 5:1). And let him who works in the Church, and like Paul and Apollos plants and waters (1 Cor. 3:6), not look back to the worldly hope which he has renounced, nor heedlessly presume to take up again the ties of this passing life, of which he had stripped himself long since, that he might follow Christ naked.

But woe to those who are with child and to those who give suck in those days. Woe, in the present captivity, to those who are with child and who give suck, whose wombs or hands, weighed down by the burden of children, hinder not a little the necessity of flight. Read the history of the Kings, where the wife of Jonathan, in avoiding the evil of captivity by over-hasty flight, received back her son, who had fallen from her bosom, lame for ever.

But pray that these things happen not in winter. In Matthew it is written: But pray that your flight be not in winter or on the sabbath. If we wish to take it of the captivity of Jerusalem, when it was taken by Titus and Vespasian, they ought to pray that their flight not happen in winter or on the sabbath, because in the one case the harshness of the cold forbids going out into the wilderness and hiding in the mountains and desert places; in the other there is either transgression of the law, if they choose to flee, or imminent death, if they remain. But if it is understood of the consummation of the world, He enjoins this, that our faith and our charity towards Christ grow not cold, and that we do not grow sluggish, idle in the work of God, with a sabbath from the virtues. For this speech of the Lord pertains partly to the Jewish captivity which was brought about by the Romans, partly to the day of judgement. For in Matthew too the disciples are read to have questioned the Lord thus, when He was about to say these things: Tell us when these things shall be, and what is the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the world?

For those days shall be days of tribulation such as have not been from the beginning of the creation which God made until now, nor shall be. These things properly fit the times of Antichrist, when not only are torments to be inflicted on the faithful more frequent than they were wont to be before, but (what is more grievous) the working of signs also will accompany those who inflict the torments, as the Apostle witnesses, who says, Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all seduction, with signs and lying wonders (2 Thess. 2:9). For how many miracles, how many mighty works the holy martyrs often did before their persecutors, and yet these would neither believe nor cease from persecuting. Who, then, being an unbeliever, is converted to the faith, and whose faith, though already a believer, does not tremble and is not shaken, when the persecutor of godliness becomes also a worker of mighty works, and the very same man who rages with torments that Christ may be denied, challenges by miracles that Antichrist may be believed? What refuge, then, in these things,

what hope will remain for the elect, unless that the heavenly grace which bestows on the godly the virtue of patience should the sooner take away from the ungodly the power of persecuting and afflicting? Hence it is added with provident kindness:

And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He has shortened the days. For by as much as this tribulation is heavier in the weight of its pressures than the others that went before, by so much will it be more moderate in the shortness of its time. For it is believed that it will assail the Church throughout the world for three years and a half, so far as can be gathered from the prophecy of Daniel and the Apocalypse of Saint John.

And then if anyone says to you: Behold, here is the Christ, behold, there, do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise up, and will show signs and portents to lead astray, if it be possible, even the elect. Some refer these things to the time of the Jewish captivity, when many, saying that they were christs, drew after them deceived crowds of the people. But it must be noted that in that siege of the wretched and pitiable city there was no one faithful to whom a divine exhortation not to follow perverse teachers needed to be addressed; rather all alike, both the lesser and the greater, both besieged and besiegers, remained estranged from Christ. Hence it is better taken of the heretics, who, coming against the Church, falsely claimed to be christs. Of these the first was Simon Magus, while the last, and greater than the rest, is Antichrist.

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, the stars of heaven shall be falling. On the day of judgement the stars will seem dim, not through any diminution of their own light coming upon them, but through the brightness of the true light coming over them, that is, of the supreme Judge, when He comes in His majesty and that of the Father and of the holy angels; although nothing forbids it to be understood that the sun and moon, with the other stars, will truly then be deprived of their light for a time, in the way that it is established was done to the sun at the time of the Lord's passion. For the moon, being full at that time, lay hidden beneath the hidden side of the earth. Hence that prophecy of Joel remains unfulfilled to this day, who, having said, The sun shall be turned into darkness, added, And the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes (Joel 2:31). And so too what Isaiah says, speaking of the day of judgement: And the moon (he says) shall blush and the sun be put to shame, when the Lord of hosts shall reign on Mount Sion and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of His elders (Isa. 24:23). But when the day of judgement is done and the glory of the life to come shines forth, when there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, then will come to pass what the same prophet says elsewhere: And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.

And the powers that are in the heavens shall be moved. What wonder that men, who are earthly both in nature and in sense, should be troubled at this judgement, at whose sight even the powers of the heavens, that is, the angelic powers, will tremble? As blessed Job also testifies, who says: The pillars of heaven tremble, and are afraid at His nod (Job 26:11). What then will the boards do, when the pillars tremble

What does the little rod of the desert suffer, when the cedar of paradise is shaken?

And then He shall send His angels, and shall gather His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. From the four winds, He says, from the four regions of the world, the East, the West, the North and the South. And lest anyone should think that the elect were to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth only, and not rather from all its bounds and at the same time from the inland regions, He fittingly added: From the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven, that is, from the farthest bounds of the earth in a straight line to its last limits, where, to those who look far off, the circle of the sky seems to fall upon the earth. No one of the elect, then, will remain on that day who does not go to meet the Lord in the air as He comes to judgement, whether found still living in the body, or already raised from death to life. The reprobate too come to the judgement, some found living in the body, others raised from death to life. But there is assuredly this difference, that the just are gathered into the joy of their Lord, while His enemies, when the judgement is done, are scattered and perish from the face of God.

Now learn a parable from the fig tree: when its branch is now tender, and the leaves have come forth, you know that summer is near. So you also, etc. Under the example of a tree He taught the coming of the consummation. Just as, He says, when the shoots on the fig tree are tender, and the bud bursts into flower, and the bark brings forth leaves, you understand the coming of summer and the entry of the west wind and of spring; so when you see all these things that are written, do not think that the consummation of the world is already present, but that certain preludes, as it were, and forerunners are coming, to show that it is near and at the doors. This fruit-bearing of the fig, however, can be understood more deeply according to the mystical senses, namely concerning the state of the Synagogue, which once, when the Lord came to it, because it did not have the fruit of righteousness, was condemned to eternal barrenness in those who were then unbelieving. But since the Apostle said that blindness in part has happened in Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved (Rom. 11:25–26): when this time has come, that, the long blindness of unbelief being taken away, all Israel receives light and salvation, what will the long-barren fig tree render but the fruit which it had refused? according to that saying of blessed Job: A tree has hope; if it be cut down, it grows green again, and its branches sprout. If its root grow old in the earth, and its stock be dead in the dust, at the scent of water it shall bud, and put forth foliage, as when it was first planted. When you see this done, you will not doubt that the day of the final decision, and the summer of true peace and light, are near.

Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass until all these things be done. By the name of generation He signifies either the whole race of men, or specially that of the Jews. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. The heaven which will pass away we ought to understand not as the ethereal or starry heaven, but the airy one, from which both the birds of heaven and the clouds of heaven take their name, as Peter testifies, who says: That the heavens were of old and

the earth out of water and through water, standing by the word of God; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now are laid up by the same word, reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and of the perdition of ungodly men (2 Pet. 3:5–7), plainly teaching that no other heavens are to perish by fire than those which perished by water, that is, these empty and cloudy spaces of the windy air. For the water of the flood, which overtopped the summits of the mountains by fifteen cubits only, is not to be believed to have reached beyond the bounds of the air and the ether. But wherever it was able to reach, there assuredly, according to the aforesaid saying of blessed Peter, the fire of judgement also will reach. But if heaven and earth shall pass away, it may be asked how Ecclesiastes says: One generation passes away and another generation comes, but the earth stands for ever (Eccl. 1:4). But by a plain reasoning heaven and earth pass away in respect of the form which they now have, and yet in respect of their essence they subsist without end. For the fashion of this world passes away (1 Cor. 7:31). And the angel to John: There shall be, he says, a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1); which are not other things to be created, but these very things to be renewed. Heaven and earth, then, both pass away and will be, because they are both purged by fire of the appearance which they now have, and yet are always preserved in their own nature. Hence it is also said through the Psalmist: Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed (Ps. 101:27). And indeed they announce to us now this last change of theirs by the very vicissitudes in which they unceasingly alternate for our uses. For the earth fails from its appearance in the dryness of winter, and grows green with the moisture of spring. The sky is daily covered with the darkness of night, and renewed by the divine brightness. From this, then, from this let every believer gather both that these things perish, and yet that they are remade by renewal, which, it is clear, are now continually restored as if from failing.

But of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. Arius and Eunomius rejoice, as though the ignorance of the master were the glory of the disciples, and they say: He who knows and he who is ignorant cannot be equal. But since Jesus, that is, the Word of God, made all times (for all things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing), and the day of judgement is also among all times, by what logic can He be ignorant of a part of that whose whole He knows? A reason, then, must be given why He is said to be ignorant. The Apostle wrote concerning the Saviour: In Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). Why hidden? After the resurrection, being asked by the apostles about the day of judgement, He answered more plainly: It is not for you to know the times and moments which the Father has put in His own power (Acts 1:7). When He says, It is not for you to know, He shows that He Himself knows, but that it is not expedient for the apostles to know, so that, always uncertain of the Judge's coming, they may live each day as though they were to be judged on that day. Finally the following discourse of the Gospel too compels this very thing to be understood. Teaching also that the Father alone knows, He includes the Son too in the Father. For every father is the name of a son.

Take heed, watch, and pray. For you do not know when the time is. As a man who, going into a far country, left his house

and gave authority to his servants, etc. The Lord shows plainly why He had said: But of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. Because it is not expedient for the apostles to know, so that in the uncertainty of a suspended expectation they may always believe that He is about to come, of Whom they do not know when He will come. And He did not say, because we do not know at what hour the Lord will come, but, you do not know. And having set forth first the example of the householder, He teaches more plainly why He keeps silent about the day of the consummation, saying:

Watch therefore; for you do not know when the Lord comes, at evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. Lest, coming suddenly, He find you sleeping. Now the man who, going into a far country, left his house is without doubt Christ, Who, ascending as victor to the Father after the resurrection, left the Church bodily: which nevertheless He never deprived of the protection of His divine presence, remaining in it all days even to the consummation of the world. For the proper place of the flesh is the earth, which was led as it were into foreign parts when through our Redeemer it was set in heaven. And He gave His servants authority over each work: because, having granted the grace of the Holy Spirit to His faithful, He bestowed on them the ability to serve in good works. He commanded the doorkeeper also to watch: because He bids the order of pastors and spiritual rulers to bestow with careful vigilance their care on the Church committed to them.

But what I say to you, I say to all: Watch. Not only the apostles and their successors, the rulers of the Church to be sure, but all of us are commanded to watch. All of us are bidden to guard earnestly the doors of our hearts, lest the ancient enemy break in by suggesting evil things. Each of us ought carefully to take precautions lest the Lord, coming, find us sleeping. For each one will render account to God for himself. He watches, moreover, who keeps the eyes of the mind open to the sight of the true light. He watches who keeps by acting what he believes. He watches who drives away from himself the darkness of torpor and negligence. For hence Paul says: Awake, you just, and do not sin (1 Cor. 15:34). Hence again he says: It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep (Rom. 13:11).

CHAPTER XIV.

Now the Pasch and the unleavened bread were after two days. The Pasch, which in Hebrew is called phase, is named not from suffering, as most suppose, but from passing over, because the destroyer, seeing the blood on the doors of the Israelites, passed over and did not strike them, or because the Lord Himself, bringing help to His people, walked over them from above. Expounding the mystery of this word more loftily, John the evangelist says: Now before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus, knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father (John 13:1). Where he plainly declares that the day of this solemnity was mystically called a passing-over through the law, because on it the Lamb of God, Who would take away the sins of the world, was either Himself to pass over from this world, or to lead us by a saving passage as if from Egyptian bondage. Indeed, according to the scripture of the Old Instrument, between the pasch and the unleavened bread

there is this difference, that the pasch is the name of that one day alone on which the lamb was slain at evening, that is, the fourteenth moon of the first month. But on the fifteenth moon, when they went out of Egypt, there followed the feast of unleavened bread, a solemnity appointed for seven days, that is, until the evening of the twenty-first day of the same month. But the evangelists are accustomed to put indifferently both the day of unleavened bread for the Pasch, and the Pasch for the days of unleavened bread. For Mark says: Now the Pasch and the Unleavened Bread were after two days (Mark 14:1). Luke says: The festival day of unleavened bread, which is called the Pasch (Luke 22:1). Likewise John, when the matter was being done on the first day of unleavened bread, that is, the fifteenth moon, says: And they themselves did not go into the praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the pasch (John 18:28). And they did this because the day of the pasch also was commanded to be celebrated with unleavened loaves, and we, as though keeping a perpetual pasch, are commanded always to pass over out of this world. For when the lamb has been sacrificed on one day at evening, seven days of unleavened bread follow in order, because Christ Jesus, having once suffered for us in the flesh in the fullness of times, commanded that through the whole time of this world (which runs in seven days) we should live in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8), and admonishes us with every effort always to flee earthly desires as the bonds of Egypt, and, as it were withdrawn from worldly conversation, to enter on the solitary road of the virtues.

And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by guile and kill Him. But they said, Not on the festival day, lest perhaps there be a tumult among the people. They who, with the Pasch at hand, ought to have prepared victims, smoothed the walls of the temple, swept the floors, cleansed the vessels, and been purified according to the rite of the law, so that they might be made worthy to eat the lamb, gather together taking counsel how they may kill the Lord, not fearing an uprising, as the plain wording shows, but taking care lest by the help of the people He be taken out of their hands.

And when He was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, and was reclining at table. About to suffer for the whole world, and to redeem all nations by His blood, He stays in Bethany, in the house of obedience, which once belonged to Simon the leper; not that he remained a leper at that time, but because, having been a leper before, he was afterwards cleansed by the Saviour, the former name remaining, so that the power of Him Who healed might appear. For in the catalogue of the apostles too Matthew is called the publican, with his former fault and office, though he had certainly ceased to be a publican. Some wish to understand Simon the leper as the part of the people which believed in the Lord and was healed by Him. Simon also means obedient.

There came a woman having an alabaster jar of ointment of precious spikenard, and, breaking the alabaster, she poured it over His head. This woman was Mary Magdalene, the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, as John plainly records, who testifies also that this was done six days before the pasch, the day before He came to Jerusalem seated on an ass, with the palms and praise of the crowds. And it is she, and no other, who once (as Luke writes)

while still a sinner, came and watered the Lord's feet with tears of penitence, and anointed them with the ointment of a godly confession, and, because she loved much, merited from the merciful Judge the pardon of many sins. But now, justified and made a familiar friend of the Lord, she poured holy oil not only on His feet (as the same John relates) but also on His head (as Matthew and Mark report). Now alabaster is a kind of white marble, streaked with various spots, which is usually hollowed out for ointment vessels, because it is said to keep them best uncorrupted. It is found around Egyptian Thebes, and at Damascus in Syria whiter than elsewhere, but the most approved in India. Nard, moreover, is an aromatic shrub, with a heavy (as they say) and thick root, but short, black and brittle, though oily, smelling of mould, or of the cypress, of a sharp taste, with a small, dense leaf, whose tops spread out into ears. And therefore the perfumers praise the spikes and the leaves of nard as a twofold endowment. And this is what Mark says: Of ointment of precious spikenard. Because, that is, the ointment which Mary brought to the Lord was not only made from the root of nard, but also, that it might be more precious, its grace of scent and potency had been heaped up by the addition of its spikes and leaves as well. The naturalists say of nard that it is the chief among ointments. Hence it was fittingly offered for the anointing of the Lord's head and feet. There are indeed many kinds of it, but all duller except the Indian, which is more precious. Mystically, however, this devotion of Mary ministering to the Lord signifies the faith and godliness of the holy Church, which speaks in the song of love, saying: While the king was at his repose, my nard gave forth its fragrance (Song 1:11). Which words assuredly she both fulfilled once according to the letter by the hands of Mary, and does not cease daily to fulfil spiritually in all her members, who, spread throughout the whole world, glory and say: But thanks be to God, Who always triumphs in us in Christ Jesus, and manifests the fragrance of His knowledge through us in every place. For we are the good odour of Christ to God (2 Cor. 2:14–15). When she confesses, praises and proclaims with due reverence the power of His divine might, which is His together with the Father, she indeed pours precious ointment on His head. But when she looks up with equally due reverence to the mysteries of the humanity He assumed, she certainly pours on the Lord's feet ointment of pistic nard, that is, faithful and true, because she commends by godly preaching, and venerates with devout services, that nature of His by which He deigned to touch the earth, that is, to live among men.

But there were some who were indignant within themselves, and saying: Why was this waste of the ointment made? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor. Mark also, like Matthew, says these things by synecdoche, putting the plural number, that is, for the singular. For John, speaking more distinctly, testifies that Judas said these things, and that out of greed, because he was a thief, and, having the purse, carried what was put in. It can also be understood that the other disciples too either

thought this, or said it, or were persuaded of it by Judas saying it, and that Matthew and Mark also expressed in words the will of all, but that he said of Judas, for this reason, because he was a thief, but that they rejoiced [Al. the rest] on account of care for the poor; while John wished to record it of him alone, whose habit of stealing he believed should be made known on this occasion. But as for what follows:

And they murmured against her, I would by no means believe this said of the apostles, who were good and loved Christ, but rather of him, under the plural number, who is proved neither to have clung faithfully to the Lord or His disciples, nor to have had care of the poor.

But Jesus said: Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has wrought a good work on Me. For the poor you have always with you, and whenever you will, you can do them good; but Me you will not always have. Another question arises: why Jesus said to the disciples after the resurrection, Behold, I am with you even to the consummation of the world (Matt. 28:20); and now says, But Me you will not always have. But it seems to me that in this place He speaks of His bodily presence: because He would by no means be with them after the resurrection in the way He now was, in all companionship and familiarity. Mindful of this, the Apostle says: And if we have known Jesus Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer (2 Cor. 5:16).

What she had, she has done; she has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. What you think to be a waste of ointment is the office of burial. Nor is it a wonder if she has given Me the good odour of her faith, since I am about to shed My blood for her.

Amen I say to you, wherever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, what she has done shall also be told in memory of her. Mark His knowledge of things to come: that He, about to suffer after a few days, knows that His Gospel is to be celebrated throughout the whole world. But it is to be noted that, just as Mary has won glory throughout the whole world, wherever the holy Church is spread, for the service of godly devotion which she showed the Lord, so on the contrary he who did not fear to disparage her service with a rash tongue, defamed far and wide with the brand of treachery, has deservedly become hateful to God and men alike. But the Lord, rewarding the good with fitting praise, passed over in silence the future insults of the wicked man.

And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, to betray Him to them. Unhappy Judas! The loss which he believed he had suffered from the pouring out of the ointment he wishes to make good by the price of his master; nor does he now ask a fixed sum, so that the betrayal might at least seem profitable, but, as one handing over a worthless slave, he left it in the power of the buyers how much they would give. And in saying, He went away to the chief priest, to betray Him to them, he shows that he was not invited by the rulers, nor constrained by any necessity, but entered upon the counsel of his wicked mind of his own accord.

And when they heard it they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him. Many today shudder at the crime of Judas, that he sold his Lord

and master and his God for money, as something monstrous and abominable, and yet they do not beware. For when for the sake of women they bear false witness against anyone, then indeed, because they deny the truth for money, they sell God for money. For He Himself said: I am the truth. When they defile the fellowship of brotherhood with some plague of discord, they betray the Lord, because God is charity. Those, then, who spurn the commands of charity and truth certainly betray God, Who is charity and truth, above all when they sin not through weakness or ignorance, but, after the likeness of Judas, seek an opportunity how, when there are no witnesses, they may exchange truth for a lie, virtue for crime.

And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the pasch, the disciples say to Him: Where do You wish that we go and prepare for You to eat the pasch? He calls the first day of unleavened bread the fourteenth of the first month, when, the leaven having been cast out, they used to sacrifice the pasch, that is, to kill the lamb, at evening. Expounding this, the Apostle says: For Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed (1 Cor. 5:7). Who, although He was crucified on the following day, that is, on the fifteenth moon, yet on this night on which the lamb was sacrificed both handed over to the disciples the mysteries of His flesh and blood to be celebrated, and, being held and bound by the Jews, consecrated the beginning of His own sacrifice, that is, of His passion.

And He sends two of His disciples and says to them: Go into the city, and there will meet you a man carrying a jar of water. It is indeed a sign of foreknowing divinity, that while speaking with the disciples He knows what will happen elsewhere. And it is beautifully done that a man carrying a jar, or, according to another evangelist, a pitcher of water, meets the disciples as they are about to prepare the pasch, so that it may be shown that the mystery of this pasch is to be celebrated for the perfect washing of the whole world. For the water signifies the laver of grace, the jar the frailty of those through whom that same grace was to be ministered to the world. Hence they say: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7). The disciples, then, prepare the pasch where a jar of water is brought in, to intimate that the time is at hand when for the worshippers of the true Pasch the typical blood is taken away from the threshold and doorposts, and the baptism of the life-giving font is consecrated for taking away the crimes of the world.

Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house: The Master says, Where is My refreshment, where I may eat the pasch with My disciples? The names both of the water-carrier and of the master of the house have been passed over deliberately, so that it may be signified that the ability is to be given to all who wish to celebrate the true pasch, that is, to be imbued with the sacraments of Christ, and who seek to receive Him into the lodging of their mind.

And he will show you a large upper room furnished, and there prepare for us, etc. The large upper room is the spiritual law, which, going forth from the narrow straits of the letter, receives the Saviour in a lofty place. For he who still keeps the letter that kills, who has understood nothing else in the lamb than a beast, he assuredly keeps the pasch the less: because to comprehend the majesty of the spirit in the words of God

he has not yet learned. But he who has followed the water-bearer, that is, the herald of grace, into the house of the Church, he, through the Spirit who illumines him, passing beyond the surface of the letter, prepares a refreshment for Christ in the high upper room of the mind, because he recognizes that all the sacraments of the pasch, and the other decrees of the law, are His sacraments.

And when evening had come, He came with the twelve. And as they reclined and were eating, Jesus said: Amen I say to you, that one of you will betray Me, he who eats with Me. He who had foretold concerning the Passion foretells concerning the betrayer too, giving room for repentance, so that when he understood that his thoughts and the secrets of his conscience were known, he might repent of his deed. And yet He does not point him out individually, lest, openly convicted, he should become more shameless. He puts the crime among the number, so that the one who knows himself guilty may do penance.

But they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one: Is it I? And surely the eleven apostles knew that they were contemplating nothing of the kind against the Lord, but they trusted the Master more than themselves; and fearing their own frailty, they asked in sorrow about a sin of which they had no consciousness.

And He said to them: One of the twelve, who dips his hand with Me in the dish. O wondrous power of the Lord! First He had said, one of you will betray Me; the betrayer persists in evil; He accuses him more openly, and yet does not point out his name in particular. Judas, while the others were saddened and drew back their hands and forbade food to their mouths, with the rashness and shamelessness with which he was about to betray his Master, even puts his hand into the dish with the Master, so that by his boldness he might feign a good conscience.

And the Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of Him; but woe to that man through whom the Son of man shall be betrayed. Rebuked neither at the first warning nor at the second does he draw back his foot from the betrayal, but feeds his shamelessness on the Lord's patience, and treasures up for himself wrath on the day of wrath. He foretells the punishment, so that the torments announced might correct one whom shame had not overcome. But today also and for ever, woe to that man who approaches the table of the Lord with malice, who, with treachery hidden in his mind, with a heart defiled by some crime, does not fear to share in the most holy offerings of the mysteries of Christ. For he too, after the example of Judas, betrays the Son of man, not indeed to Jewish sinners, but to sinners nonetheless, namely to his own members, with which he presumes to profane that priceless and inviolable sacrament of the Lord's body and blood. He sells God who, neglecting the fear and love of Him, is shown to love and care for earthly and perishing things in His place, nay even criminal ones.

It would be good for that man if he had not been born. He is not therefore to be thought to have existed before he was born, on the ground that it can be well with no one except one who has existed. But it is said simply: it is much better not to exist than to exist in evil.

And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessing it He broke it, and gave it to them, and said: Take, this is

my body. When the solemnities of the old pasch had been completed, which were kept in commemoration of the ancient deliverance of God's people from Egypt, He passed over to the new, which He wished the Church to celebrate in memory of her redemption, so that, namely, in place of the flesh and blood of the lamb He might substitute the sacrament of His own body and blood, and might show Himself to be the one to whom the Lord has sworn, and He will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech (Ps. 109:4). And He Himself breaks the bread which He holds out to the disciples, to show that the breaking of His body would come not without His own will and arrangement, but, as He says elsewhere, that He has power to lay down His life, and power to take it up again. And this bread, for the sake also of a sure sacrament, He blessed before He broke it, because the human nature which He assumed in order to suffer He Himself, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, filled with the grace of divine power. He blessed the bread and broke it, because He deigned so to subject the man He had assumed to death as to show that the power of divine immortality truly dwelt in him, and therefore to teach that he was to be raised from death all the more swiftly.

And having taken the cup, giving thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank of it. When He is said to be approaching His Passion, He is reported to have given thanks after taking bread. He therefore gives thanks who takes upon Himself the scourges of another's iniquity. And He who displayed nothing deserving of a blow humbly blesses under the blow, to show from this what each person ought to do under the scourge of his own fault, if He Himself bears with equanimity the scourges of another's fault; to show from this what a subject should do under correction, if One equal [to the Father], set under the scourge, gives thanks to the Father.

And He said to them: This is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many. Because bread strengthens the body, while wine produces blood in the flesh, the one is referred mystically to the body of Christ, the other to the blood. But because we must abide in Christ, and Christ in us, water is mixed with the wine of the Lord's cup. For, as John testifies, the waters are peoples. And it is not lawful for anyone to offer water alone, nor wine alone, just as not a grain of wheat alone, without the admixture of water and its making into bread, lest such an offering should signify that the head is to be separated from the members, and it should follow either that Christ could have suffered without love for our redemption, or that we could be saved and offered to the Father without His Passion. And when He says: This is My blood of the new testament (Matt. 26:28), He looks to the distinction from the old testament, which was dedicated with the blood of goats and calves, the lawgiver saying while he sprinkled: This is the blood of the testament which God has commanded to you (Heb. 9:20). For it is necessary that the copies of true things be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these; as the Apostle, distinguishing between the Law and the Gospel throughout the whole Epistle to the Hebrews, declares with a most beautiful exposition and full reasoning.

Amen I say to you, that I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. That the Synagogue is called the vine or vineyard of the Lord, both the whole of Scripture testifies here and there, and Isaiah more openly in the song sung about it: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts, he says, is the house of Israel (Isa. 5:7). From this vineyard, indeed, the Lord drank for a long time, although many branches had turned into the bitterness of an alien vine, because, even though many in that people strayed from the right path of faith, throughout the whole time of the Law there was no lack of very many in whose devout thoughts and highest virtues God took delight. But when the Lord had suffered in the flesh and was rising from the dead, the time had come for that legal and figurative observance to cease, and for the things that were done according to the letter to be carried over into a spiritual sense and better kept in the new testament, with the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. So the Lord, as He is about to go to His Passion, says: I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. As if He were saying openly: I will no longer take delight in the carnal ceremonies of the Synagogue, among which these rites of the paschal lamb also held the chief place. For the time of My resurrection will come, that day will come when I Myself, set in the kingdom of God, that is, raised up in the glory of immortal life, shall be filled with a new joy together with you over the salvation of that same people, reborn from the font of the grace of the Spirit.

And when a hymn had been said, they went out to the Mount of Olives. This is what we read in the psalm: The poor shall eat and be filled, and they shall praise the Lord who seek Him (Ps. 21:27). But that hymn can also be understood which the Lord, according to John, sang as He gave thanks to the Father, in which, with His eyes lifted up, He prayed both for Himself, and for the disciples, and for those who were to believe through their word. And beautifully He leads the disciples, steeped in the sacraments of His body and blood and commended to the Father by the hymn of loving intercession, out to the Mount of Olives, to signify figuratively that we, through receiving His sacraments and through the help of His intercession, ought to ascend to the higher gifts of the virtues and the charisms of the Holy Spirit, with which we are anointed in the heart.

And Jesus said to them: You will all be scandalized this night. He foretells what they are going to suffer, so that when they have suffered it they may not despair of salvation, but by doing penance may be set free. And pointedly He added, you will be scandalized this night, because just as those who get drunk get drunk at night, so too those who suffer scandal undergo it in the night and in darkness. But let us say: The night is past, and the day is at hand (Rom. 13:12).

For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. This is written in other words in the prophet Zechariah; and, unless I am mistaken, it is said in the person of the prophet to God: Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered (Zech. 13:7). The sixty-eighth psalm too, which is sung wholly by the Lord, agrees with this sense: For they have persecuted him whom Thou hast struck. And the good Shepherd is struck, that He may lay down His life

for His sheep, and out of many flocks of wanderers there may be one flock and one shepherd.

But Peter said to Him: Even if all are scandalized, yet not I. It is not rashness nor a lie, but it is the faith of the apostle Peter, and his ardent affection towards the Lord Saviour.

And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to you, that today, in this night, before the cock has crowed twice, you will deny Me three times. Peter was promising out of the ardour of faith, and the Saviour, as God, knew the things to come. And note that Peter denies in the night, and denies three times. But after the cock crowed, and, as the darkness waned, the nearness of the light was announced, he turned and wept bitterly, washing away the filth of his threefold denial with tears. It is certainly not to be thought contradictory that, while Mark says: Before the cock has crowed twice, you will deny Me three times, the other evangelists have said simply: Before the cock crows, you will deny Me three times. For the whole of Peter's denial is a threefold denial. For he remained in the same denial, in mind and in his purpose of lying, until, reminded of what had been foretold to him, he was healed by bitter weeping and sorrow of heart. Now if this whole, that is, the threefold denial, had begun after the first crowing of the cock, the three who said that the Lord had said that before the cock crowed Peter would deny Him three times would seem to have spoken falsely. Again, if he had completed the whole threefold denial before the cock began to crow, Mark would be found to have said superfluously in the person of the Lord: Amen I say to you, that in this night, before the cock has crowed twice, you will deny Me three times. But because that threefold denial was begun before the first crowing of the cock, those three paid attention not to when Peter would complete it, but to how great it would be and when it would begin, that is, that it would be threefold before the cock's crowing, although in his mind it can be understood as whole even before the first crowing of the cock. For although that whole threefold denial was begun in the words of the denier before the first crowing, and completed before the second crowing of the cock, yet in the disposition of his mind and in Peter's fear it was wholly conceived before the first. Nor does it matter at what intervals of delay it was uttered with a threefold voice, since it possessed his heart wholly even before the first crowing of the cock, steeped, that is, in so great a dread that he could deny the Lord, not only once, but when questioned a second and a third time; so that, to those who consider more rightly and carefully, just as he who has looked at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in his heart, so Peter, whenever he gave voice in words to the fear which he had conceived so vehemently in his mind that it could last until the third denial of the Lord, the whole threefold denial is to be assigned to that time when a fear sufficient for a threefold denial seized him.

And they come to an estate whose name is Gethsemani. The place Gethsemani, where the Lord prayed, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, is shown to this day, with a church now built over it. And Gethsemani is interpreted valley of the fat ones, or of fatnesses. But that not only the sayings or deeds of our Saviour, but also the places and times in which He acts and speaks,

are full of mystical figures (as has often been said): when the Lord prays on the mountain, He as it were silently admonishes us that in praying only lofty things are to be sought, and that we ought to make supplication for heavenly goods. But when He prays in the valley, and that in the valley of fat ones or of fatness, He equally suggests to us that humility is always to be kept in our prayers, and with the inward fatness of love: lest, namely, anyone praying to God should dare to boast of his merits after the example of the proud Pharisee, but should rather cry out with humble voice and mind: O God, be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13). Lest, carrying a heart dry of love of neighbour, he should kneel to win for himself the favour of the Creator, like him who, unwilling to forgive his brother the hundred denarii he owed him, prayed in vain that the ten thousand talents be forgiven him by his lord. Lest, having a breast empty of the love of the Creator, he should seek in prayer any temporal things whatever rather than the vision of Him, to be numbered among those of whom He Himself says: For they have received their reward (Matt. 6:2). For to set one's thought on the lowest things, what else is it but a kind of dryness of mind? But those who, through understanding of heavenly things, are already fed by holy desires with the food of inward delight from on high, grow fat as if on more abundant nourishment. With this fatness the Psalmist had longed to be fattened, when he said: Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness (Ps. 62:6). But as far as concerns the very dispensation of the Lord's Passion, fittingly the Lord, drawing near to death, prayed in the valley of fatness, because through the valley of humility and the fatness of charity He underwent death for us. For He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the Father unto death (Phil. 2:8). And greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

And He takes Peter, and James, and John with Him, and He began to be afraid and to be weary. And He said to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Christ fears, while Peter does not fear. Christ fears; Peter says: I will lay down my life for Thee (John 13:37). Christ says: My soul is troubled. Both are true, and both full of reason, because both he who is lower does not fear, and He who is higher bears the feeling of one who fears. For the one, as a man, does not know the force of death; but the Other, as God set in a body, displays the frailty of the flesh, so that the impiety of those who forswear the sacrament of the Incarnation might be shut out. And in fact He said this, and Manichaeus did not believe it, Valentinus denied it, Marcion judged it a phantasm. But He made Himself equal in feeling to the man whom He showed forth by the reality of His body, to the point of saying: But yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt (Matt. 26:39). So He took up my will, He took up my sorrow. I name the sorrow with confidence, because I preach the cross. Mine is the will which He called His own. Because as man He took up my sorrow, as man He spoke.

And therefore He says: Not as I will, but as Thou wilt (ibid.). Mine is the sorrow which He took up with my feeling. So He grieved for me, who had nothing to grieve for on His own account. And, the delight of His eternal divinity set apart,

He is affected by weariness of my infirmity. My soul, He says, is sorrowful even unto death. The Lord is not sorrowful on account of death, because what afflicted Him was the condition of bodily feeling, not dread of death. For He who took up a body had to undergo all the things that belong to a body: to hunger, to thirst, to be distressed, to be saddened. But the Divinity does not know how to be changed by these feelings.

Wait here, and watch. And when He had gone forward a little, He fell down upon the ground. When He commands, wait here and watch, He does not forbid sleep, for which this was not the time with danger imminent, but the sleep of unbelief and torpor of mind. And having given them the command to wait and keep watch with Him, going forward a little He fell on His face, and showed the humility of His mind by the posture of His flesh.

And He prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him, and He said: Abba, etc. What was that voice but the sound of our infirmity? Many who are still infirm are saddened by death to come; but let them have an upright heart, let them avoid death as far as they can; but if they cannot, let them say what the Lord Himself said, not for His own sake, but for ours. For what did He say? Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. See, you have the human will expressed. Now see the upright heart.

But not what I will, but what Thou wilt. I came not (He says) to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me (John 6:38). He called His own the will which He took in time from the Virgin; but by the will of Him who sent Him He signifies, namely, that will which, eternal, He had timelessly in common with the Father. He prays that the cup may pass, to show truly that He was also man. But remembering also why He was sent, He accomplishes the dispensation for which He was sent, and cries out: But not what I will, but what Thou wilt. If death can die without My dying, according to the flesh, that is, let this cup pass, He says. But because this will not come about otherwise, He says: Not what I will, but what Thou wilt. And that, calling on the Father, He says with a double name Abba, Father, shows that He is the God and Saviour of both peoples, namely of the Jew and of the Gentile. For abba means the same as pater. But abba is Hebrew, pater Greek and Latin. So, to teach that both peoples who would believe in Him were to call upon Him, He Himself first calls upon Him in both languages. For He is the good Shepherd who, giving His life for His sheep, makes one fold out of two flocks. And therefore He begs the help of the Father with the voice of both flocks, so that we on both sides, formed by His example, when we sense adversity threatening, we calling God Father, the Hebrews calling Him Abba, may seek heavenly protection with one devotion of faith and charity. Hence the excellent teacher, taking his pattern of teaching from the Lord, addresses his hearers thus: You have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry: Abba, Father (Rom. 8:15). Abba, of course, they who are of the people of Israel; Father, we who have come from the Gentiles to the faith of Christ.

And coming He found them sleeping, and He said to Peter: Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? He who

had said above: Even if all are scandalized, I shall never be scandalized, now cannot overcome sleep for the greatness of his sorrow.

Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. It is impossible for the human soul not to be tempted. Hence in the Lord's Prayer too we say: And lead us not into temptation (Matt. 6:13), [that is,] one which we cannot bear: not refusing temptation altogether, but praying for the strength to endure in temptations. So in the present case He does not say: Watch and pray, that you may not be tempted, but, that you may not enter into temptation. That is, lest temptation finally overcome you and hold you within its nets. For example, the martyr who shed his blood for the confession of the Lord was indeed tempted, but was not bound by the snares of temptation. But he who denies runs into the toils of temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak. This is said against the rash, who think they can attain whatever they have believed. So, as much as we trust in the ardour of the mind, so much let us fear the frailty of the flesh. But yet, according to the Apostle, let us by the spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh. This passage also tells against the Eutychians, who say that in the mediator of God and men, our Lord and Saviour, there was one operation and one will. For when He says: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak, He shows two wills: the human, namely, which is of the flesh, and the divine, which is of the Godhead. Where the human indeed, on account of the weakness of the flesh, shrinks from the Passion, but His divine will is most willing. For to dread in the Passion belongs to human frailty; but to take up the dispensation of the Passion belongs to the divine will and power.

And going away again, He prayed, saying the same words; and returning once more, He found them sleeping. He alone prays for all, just as He alone suffers for everyone. And the eyes of the apostles were growing faint and were weighed down, with the denial near at hand.

And He came the third time, and said to them: Sleep now, and take your rest; it is enough, etc. When He had said: Sleep now, and take your rest, and added: It is enough, and then went on: The hour has come, behold, the Son of man will be betrayed, and the rest, it is certainly understood that after what was said to them, Sleep and take your rest, the Lord was silent for some while, so that what He had foretold might take place, and then went on: Behold, the hour draws near, or, the hour has come. Therefore after those words is placed it is enough, that is, that you have rested is now enough. But because this interposed silence of the Lord is not itself mentioned, it therefore constrains the understanding, so that another way of pronouncing those words is sought.

Rise, let us go. Behold, he who will betray Me is near. After He had prayed for the third time, and had commanded that the apostles' fear be corrected by the repentance that would follow, untroubled about His Passion He goes on to His persecutors, and of His own accord offers Himself to be killed, and said to the disciples: Rise, let us go. Behold, he who will betray Me is near. Let him not find us as if afraid and holding back; let us go forward of our own accord

to death, that they may see the confidence and joy of one about to suffer.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying: Whomever I shall kiss, etc. A shameless and wicked boldness indeed, to call him master and to press a kiss on the one he was betraying. Yet he still has something of a disciple's shame, in that he did not hand Him over openly to the persecutors, but through the sign of a kiss. And the Lord accepted the traitor's kiss, not to teach us to dissemble, but lest He seem to flee the betrayer, at the same time fulfilling that saying of David: With those who hated peace I was peaceable (Ps. 119:7).

But a certain one of those standing by, drawing a sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. Peter did this, as John the evangelist declares, with the same ardour of mind, surely, with which he had done the other things. For he knew how Phinees, by punishing the sacrilegious, had received the reward of justice, a perpetual priesthood. But Luke adds that the Lord, touching the servant's ear, healed him. So the Lord never forgets His loving-kindness, who does not allow even His enemies to be wounded. They inflict death on the just One; He heals the wounds of His persecutors. Mystically He teaches that even those who had contracted a wound of the soul by consenting to His death could merit salvation, if they brought forth fruit worthy of repentance.

And Jesus answering said to them: As against a robber you have come out with swords and staves to seize Me, etc. It is foolish, He says, to seek with swords and clubs Him who of His own accord gives Himself into your hands; and to track down through a betrayer, as if He were lurking in the night and avoiding your eyes, Him who teaches daily in the temple. But you gather against Me in darkness because your power is in darkness.

Then His disciples, leaving Him, all fled. The word of the Lord which He had spoken is fulfilled, that all the disciples would be scandalized in Him that very night. For even if they fled with the crowd permitting it at the Lord's request, as John writes, they nevertheless showed the dread and timidity of their mind, in that they had proved readier for the refuge of flight than for the confidence to suffer with Christ.

And a certain young man was following Him, clothed in a linen cloth over his naked [body], and they seized him. But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked. Where it says clothed in a linen cloth over his naked, body is understood, that is, over his naked body, because he had no other garment than the linen cloth alone. Who this young man was, the evangelist does not say. But whoever he was, he shows that a greater love of the Lord remained in him than in the others, since, when they were already fleeing, he, bound by the chain of charity, did not leave off following Him until he was seized by the enemies. Although he did not yet have perfect charity, who, even when held, could flee from the company of the Saviour. For just as perfect charity casts out fear (1 John 4:18), so fear besieging the mind proves charity imperfect.

But it is to be noted more carefully that concerning this young man

the evangelist, writing, does not say that he fled from His company, or fled from following the Lord, but, casting off, he says, the linen cloth, he fled from them naked. For he fled from the enemies, whose presence and deeds alike he detested; he did not flee from the Lord, his Saviour and Master, whose love, though absent in body, he kept fixed in his heart. Nor does anything forbid us to understand that this young man was John, the disciple loved by the Master beyond the rest. For that he too was a young man at that time is shown by his long life in the flesh after these events. For it could have happened that, having slipped for the moment from the hands of those holding him, he soon took up his garment again and returned, and in the doubtful light of night mingled with the crowds leading Jesus, as though one of them, until he reached the court of the high priest, to whom he was known, as he himself records in his Gospel. And just as Peter, who washed away the guilt of his denial with tears of repentance and rooted it out entirely by the confession of his love for the Lord, shows the recovery of those who fall in martyrdom, so the other disciples, who had forestalled the moment of the arrest by fleeing, teach the prudence of flight to those who feel themselves less fit to endure tortures. For them it is much safer to seek the protection of hiding places than to expose themselves to the peril of combat. So too this young man who, casting off the linen cloth, fled naked from the impious, signifies both the work and the mind of those who, to be safer from the attacks of the enemies, cast away whatever they seem to possess in this world, and have learned rather to serve the Lord naked than, by clinging to the things of the world, to give the adversaries matter for tempting them and calling them away from God: after the example of blessed Joseph, who, leaving his cloak in the adulteress's hands, leapt outside, preferring to serve God naked rather than, clothed in the desires of the world, to serve a harlot.

And they led Jesus to the high priest. By the high priest he means Caiaphas, who (as the evangelist John writes) was high priest that year. Concerning whom Josephus testifies to agreeing things, that he bought the high priesthood for himself from the Roman ruler, without merit of worth. So it is no wonder if an unjust high priest judges unjustly.

But Peter followed from afar, etc. Rightly he was following from afar who was soon to deny Him. For he could not have denied Him if he had kept close to Christ. But in this he is to be revered by us with the greatest admiration, that he did not leave the Lord even when he was afraid. For that he fears belongs to nature; that he follows, to devotion; that he denies, to being taken by surprise; that he repents, to faith. Otherwise: that Peter follows that same Lord to His Passion from afar signified that the Church would indeed follow, that is, imitate the Passion of the Lord, but far differently. For the Church suffers for herself, but He for the Church.

And he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. There is a fire of love, and there is also one of covetousness. Of the one it is said: I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I will but that it be kindled (Luke 12:49)? But of the other: They are all adulterers, their hearts like an oven (Hos. 7:4, 6). This

descending upon the believers in the upper room of Sion, taught them to praise God in various tongues. That [fire] in the court of Caiaphas, kindled at the prompting of the evil spirit, armed the harmful tongues of the faithless to deny and blaspheme the Lord. For what the wicked council was doing inside, in the house of the chief of the priests, this fire, kindled materially outside in the court amid the cold of the night, figuratively foreshowed. Whoever, then, extinguishes in himself the vicious and harmful blaze can say to the Lord with the prophet: For I am become like a bottle in the frost; I have not forgotten Thy justifications (Ps. 118:83). But those in whom the turbid floods of vices have overwhelmed the flame of charity hear from the Lord: because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many grows cold (Matt. 24:12). Numbed by this cold for the moment, the apostle Peter desired to be warmed as it were at the coals of the servants of Caiaphas, because he was seeking the comfort of temporal advantage in the company of the faithless. But without delay, looked upon by the Lord, he left both the fire of the wicked with his body and unbelief in his heart. And after the resurrection of the Lord, restored by the holy fire, he utterly purged the transgression of the threefold denial by a threefold confession of love. For then, when that memorable catch of fish was completed, and he had come to the Lord with his fellow disciples, at once seeing the coals laid, and the fish laid on them, and the bread, he set the hidden places of his heart aflame with the coals of love.

And some, rising up, bore false witness against Him, saying: For we heard Him saying: I will destroy this temple made with hands, and after three days I will build another not made with hands. How are they false witnesses, if they say what we read the Lord said? But he is a false witness who does not understand what is said in the same sense in which it is said. For the Lord had spoken of the temple of His body. But they also slander Him in the very words, and by adding or changing a few they make as it were a just accusation. The Saviour had said: Destroy this temple. They change it and say: I will destroy this temple made with hands. You, He says, destroy it, not I. Because it is unlawful for us to inflict death on ourselves. Then they turn it: and after three days I will build another not made with hands, so that He might seem to have spoken properly of the Jewish temple. But the Lord, to show that the temple was a living and breathing animal, had said: And in three days I will raise it up. It is one thing to build, another to raise up.

And the high priest, rising up in the midst, questioned Jesus, saying: Do You answer nothing to the things that are laid against You by these? But He was silent, and answered nothing. Anger, headlong and impatient, finding no room for accusation, shakes the high priest from his seat, so that he showed the madness of his mind by the movement of his body. The more Jesus kept silent before the false witnesses and impious priests, unworthy of His answer, the more the high priest, overcome by fury, provokes Him to answer, so as to find from some occasion in His speech room for accusing Him. Nonetheless Jesus is silent. For He knew, as God, that whatever He answered would be twisted into a slander.

Again the high priest questioned Him, and says to Him: Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the blessed God? And Jesus said to him: I am. In Matthew it is written that to the pontiff who questioned Him and adjured Him whether He were the Christ, He answered: You have said (Matt. 26:64). In place of which Mark has put: I am, namely so as to show that what Jesus says to him, You have said, is worth as much as if He were saying: I am.

And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. If then, O Jew, pagan and heretic, the contempt, weakness and cross in Christ are an affront to you, see that through these things the Son of Man is to sit at the right hand of God the Father, and He who was born man from the Virgin's childbearing is to come with the clouds in His majesty of heaven. Hence the Apostle too, when he had described the abasements of the cross, saying that He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, added and said: Wherefore God also has exalted Him, and has given Him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:8–11).

But the high priest, rending his garments, said: What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. The same frenzy which had shaken him from the priestly throne provokes him to rend his garments. He rends his garments to show that the Jews had lost the priestly glory and had the pontiff's seat empty. But it is also the custom of the Jews, when they have heard something of blasphemy and as it were against God, to rend their garments. This we read that Paul and Barnabas also did, when in Lycaonia they were being honoured with the worship of gods. Herod, however, because he did not give the honour to God but acquiesced in the immoderate favour of the people, was at once struck by an angel. And it came about by a deeper mystery that in the Lord's passion the pontiff of the Jews himself tore his own garments, while the Lord's tunic could not be rent even by the very soldiers who crucified Him. For it was being figured that the priesthood of the Jews was to be rent for the crimes of the pontiffs themselves, and loosed altogether from the state of its integrity, whereas the solidity of the holy universal Church, which is wont to be called the garment of her Redeemer, can never be torn apart. Nay rather, even if Jews, if gentiles, if heretics, if bad catholics despise the humility of the Lord Saviour, yet His chastity, in those whom He has found [to be] of the lot of election, will remain inviolate until the consummation of the age.

And some began to spit on Him, and to veil His face, and to strike Him with their fists, and to say to Him: Prophesy. And the servants struck Him with blows of the hand. In this place the prophecy is fulfilled which says: I gave my cheeks to blows, and I did not turn away my face from the shame of spittings (Isa. 50:6). But He who was then beaten with the fists or the slaps of the Jews is beaten even now by the blasphemies of false Christians.

He who was then spat upon with the spittle of the unbelievers is still now dishonoured by the frenzied [words] of those faithful in name only

and provoked with reproaches. And they veiled His face, not that He might not see their crimes, but that they might hide from themselves the grace of knowing Him, as they once did to Moses. For if they believed Moses, they would perhaps believe the Lord also. That veil remains to this day upon their heart, not lifted. But from us who believe in Christ it has been taken away. For not in vain, as He died, was the veil of the temple rent in the middle, and the hidden mysteries of the holy of holies, which had lain concealed through the whole time of the law and had been hidden from carnal Israel, were laid open to the worshippers of the New Testament. But when they say to Him: Prophesy, and according to other evangelists: Prophesy who it is that struck you, they do it as if in insult to Him who would have Himself held a prophet by the peoples. But since He Himself disposes what He suffers, all things are done for us, as Peter exhorts: Christ having suffered in the flesh, let us arm ourselves with the same thought, and prepare ourselves to bear the reproaches of mockeries for His name.

And when Peter was in the court below, there came one of the maidservants of the high priest. And when she had seen Peter warming himself, looking at him she said: You also were with Jesus of Nazareth, etc. What does it mean that a maidservant first betrays him, when men surely could have recognized him better? Only that this sex too might be seen to have sinned unto the Lord's death, and this sex too be redeemed through the Lord's passion. And therefore a woman first receives the mystery of the resurrection, and keeps the commands, that she might blot out the old error of transgression.

And he went out before the court, and the cock crew. Of this cock-crow the other evangelists are silent, yet they do not deny that it happened, just as some pass over in silence many other things which others relate.

And again, when a maidservant had seen him, she began to say to those standing about: This man is one of them. But he denied again. This is not to be believed to be the same one who accused him before. For Matthew says most plainly: As he went out of the gate, another saw him, and says to those who were there (Matt. 26:71), etc. And in this denial of Peter we learn that Christ is denied not only by him who says that He is not the Christ, but also by him who, though he is one, denies that he is a Christian. For the Lord did not say to Peter: You shall deny that you are My disciple, but: You shall deny Me. He denied Him, therefore, when he denied that he was His disciple.

And after a little while, those who stood by said again to Peter: Surely you are one of them. For you are also a Galilean. Not that the Galileans spoke another language than those of Jerusalem, since both were Hebrews, but that each province and region has its own peculiarities and cannot avoid the native sound of speaking. Hence in the Acts of the Apostles, when those on whom the Holy Spirit had settled were speaking in the tongues of all nations, among others who had come from various regions of the world, those also who dwelt in Judaea are reported to have said: Behold, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how have we heard, each of us, our own tongue in which we were born (Acts 2:7–8)? And Peter, speaking to the brethren in Jerusalem: And it was made known, he says,

to all who dwell in Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their tongue Haceldama (Acts 1:19). Why "in their tongue", unless because those, that is, the people of Jerusalem, sounded the same name one way, and the Galileans another?

But he began to curse and to swear: I know not this man of whom you speak. And immediately the cock crew again. Scripture is wont to signify the mystery of events through the condition of the times. Hence Peter, who denied at midnight, repented at the cock-crow. He also, after the Lord's resurrection, in the light of day, professed three times equally that he loved Him whom he had three times denied. For indeed, the error he made in the darkness of forgetfulness he both corrected by remembering the light now hoped for, and, having gained the presence of that same true light, he fully set upright all that had tottered. By this cock I think some one of the teachers is to be understood, who, rousing us as we lie and rebuking us in our drowsiness, says: Awake, you just, and do not sin (1 Cor. 15:34).

And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said to him: Before the cock crows twice, you shall deny Me thrice. And he began to weep. How harmful are the conversations of the wicked! Peter himself, among unbelievers, denied that he knew even as a man Him whom among his fellow disciples he had already confessed as the Son of God. But neither could he, held back in Caiaphas's court, do penance. He goes out of doors, as other evangelists relate, so that, withdrawn from the council of the ungodly, he might wash away the filth of his fearful denial with free weeping.

CHAPTER XV.

And straightway in the morning the chief priests, holding a council with the elders and the scribes and the whole council, binding Jesus, led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate. He was led not only to Pilate but also to Herod, so that both might make sport of the Lord. And see the zeal of the priests in evil. All night they kept watch that they might commit murder, and they delivered Him bound to Pilate. For they had this custom, that whomever they had adjudged to death they handed over bound to the judge. Yet it is to be noted that they did not then bind Him for the first time, but as soon as He was seized by night in the garden, as John declares, they bound Him, and so led Him first to Annas.

And Pilate asked Him: Are you the king of the Jews? Since Pilate asks of no other charge than whether He is king of the Jews, the Jews are convicted of impiety, in that they could not find, even falsely, anything to lay against the Saviour.

But He, answering, said to him: You say it. He so answered that He both spoke the truth and His word lay open to no false charge. And note that to Pilate, who was passing sentence unwillingly, He answered in some part, but to the priests and rulers He would not answer, and judged them unworthy of His speech.

And Pilate again asked Him, saying: Do you answer nothing? See in how many things they accuse you. But Jesus answered nothing further. It is indeed a heathen who condemns Jesus, but he refers the cause to the people of the Jews: See in how many things they accuse you. But Jesus would answer nothing, lest by clearing Himself of the charge

He should be released by the governor, and the benefit of the cross be put off.

But the pontiffs stirred up the crowd that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Their petition, which they obtained with so much effort, clings to the Jews to this day. For because, when the choice was given them, they chose instead of Jesus a robber, instead of the Saviour a murderer, instead of the giver of life its taker, they deservedly lost salvation and life, and subjected themselves to robberies and seditions to such a degree that they lost both their country and their kingdom, which they loved more than Christ, and have not to this day deserved to recover the liberty, whether of soul or of body, which they sold.

And Pilate, answering again, said to them: What then will you that I do to the king of the Jews? But they cried out again: Crucify him. And Pilate said to them: Why, what evil has he done? Pilate gave many occasions for freeing the Saviour: first comparing a robber with the just man, then adding: What then will you that I do to the king of the Jews? And when they answered, Let him be crucified, he did not at once give way, but, following the suggestion of his wife, who had sent word to him, as Matthew writes: Have you nothing to do with that just man (Matt. 27:19), he himself also answering in earnest [Another reading: also]: Why, he says, what evil has he done? In saying this Pilate acquitted Jesus.

But they cried out the more: Crucify him. That there might be fulfilled what He had said in the twenty-first psalm: Many dogs have encompassed me, the council of the malignant has besieged me (Ps. 21:17); and that word of Jeremiah: My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; they have uttered their voice against me (Jer. 12:8). Isaiah too agreeing in this sentence: And I looked that they should do judgement, but they did iniquity, and not justice, but a cry (Isa. 5:7).

And Pilate, wishing to satisfy the people, released Barabbas to them and delivered up Jesus, beaten with scourges, to be crucified. Jesus is to be understood to have been scourged by none other than Pilate himself. For John writes plainly: They all cried again, saying: Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him (John 18:40–19:1). And then he adds: And the soldiers, plaiting a crown of thorns, put it on His head, etc. (John 19:2). He is to be believed to have done this, and to have handed Him over to the soldiers to be mocked, for this reason: that, sated with His punishments and reproaches, they might cease thirsting further for His death. And this was done so that, since it was written: Many are the scourges of sinners (Ps. 31:10), by His being scourged we might be freed from stripes, as Scripture says: The scourge shall not come near your tabernacle (Ps. 90:10).

And the soldiers led Him into the court of the praetorium, and they call together the whole cohort, and they clothe Him with purple, and, plaiting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him, and they began to salute Him: Hail, king of the Jews. Because He had been called king of the Jews, and the scribes and priests had laid this charge against Him, that He was usurping rule for Himself among the people of Israel, the soldiers do this in mockery: that, stripped of His former garments, they clothe Him with purple, with which

the kings of old used to be clothed, so that in place of a diadem they put on Him a crown of thorns, in place of a royal sceptre they give Him a reed, as Matthew writes, and adore Him as a king. But let us understand all these things mystically. For as Caiaphas said: It is expedient that one man die for all (John 18:14), not knowing what he said (Luke 9:33); so these too, whatever they did, although they did it with another mind, were yet bestowing sacraments on us who believe. And it is to be noted that, where Mark says: And they clothe Him with purple, Matthew put it thus: And stripping Him, they put a scarlet cloak about Him (Matt. 27:28). From which it is understood that what Matthew says, They put a scarlet cloak about Him, Mark expressed as, Clothed with purple. For that scarlet cloak had been used by the mockers in place of royal purple, and there is a certain red purple very like scarlet. It may also be that Mark mentioned the purple which the cloak had, though it was scarlet. Mystically, then, in the purple with which the Lord was clothed is signified His very flesh, which He exposed to sufferings. Of which the prophecy had spoken beforehand: Why then is Thy apparel red, and Thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress (Isa. 63:2)? And in the crown of thorns which He bore is shown His taking up of our sins, for which He deigned to become mortal. In accordance with which His forerunner, bearing witness to Him, says: Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). For that thorns are wont to be put for the signification of sins the Lord Himself testifies, Who said to the first-formed man when he had fallen into sin: Your land shall bring forth thorns and thistles to you (Gen. 3:18). Which is to say openly: Your conscience will not cease to produce for you the prickings and stings of vices. And whereas, according to the Gospel of Luke, the Lord is clothed in a white garment before Herod, but in the other evangelists He is said to have been mocked by Pilate's soldiers in a scarlet or purple dress, when the two narratives are compared, in the one the innocence and chastity of the humanity He assumed is expressed, in the other the reality of the passion through which He was to come to the glory of the immortal kingdom. For as purple imitates the colour of the blood which was shed for us, so too the dress signifies the kingdom which He entered after the passion and which lies open for us to enter. But since the Apostle says: For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27); and Isaiah says to the Lord concerning all the elect: Thou shalt be clothed with these as with an ornament (Isa. 49:18), the whole multitude of His elect, which is divided into the venerable martyrs and the rest of the faithful people, can most fittingly be designated in this twofold dress of the Lord, shameful indeed in the judgement of His enemies, but most glorious in the choice of the Lord Himself. For He is clothed in a white garment when He is surrounded by the pure confession of the just.

He is clothed in purple or scarlet when He glories in the triumph of the victorious martyrs.

And they struck His head with a reed, and spat on Him. And bending their knees they adored Him. These things the soldiers of Pilate did then; these things heretics and pagans, soldiers surely of the devil, do to this day. For since the head

of Christ is God, they strike His head who deny that He is true God. And since writing is wont to be done with a reed, they strike the head of Christ as it were with a reed who, contradicting His divinity, try to confirm their error by the authority of sacred Scripture. They spit in His face who, with accursed words conceived from the madness of a blind mind within, spit back the presence of His grace, and deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

And the soldiers indeed adored Him in mockery, as one who had falsely called himself God. But there are those today, which is of graver madness, who adore Him with sure faith as true God, but by perverse acts presently despise His words as fables, and set the promises of His kingdom far behind temporal allurements.

And they lead Him out to crucify Him. And they compelled a certain passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to take up His cross. This Simon seems to have been of great repute at that time, since his sons too are marked out by name as if already known to all. But care must be taken lest it seem contradictory to anyone that John writes that the Lord Himself carried the cross for Himself, while the other evangelists relate that this Simon of Cyrene bore it.

For it was first carried by the Lord, and then laid on Simon, whom they happened to meet as they went out, to be carried. And this in a fitting enough order of mystery. Because indeed He suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps (1 Pet. 2:21).

And since this Simon is said to be not a man of Jerusalem but a Cyrenian (for Cyrene is a city of Libya, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles), rightly are the peoples of the gentiles designated by him, who were once strangers and foreigners to the covenants, but now by obeying are fellow citizens and members of the household of God, and, as is said elsewhere, Heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Hence fittingly Simon is interpreted "obedient", Cyrene "heir". Nor should it be passed over that this same Simon is said to have come from the country. For a country place is called in Greek πάγος. Hence we call pagans those whom we see to be strangers to the city of God, and as it were without share in urban life. But Simon, coming out of the country district, carries the cross after Jesus when the people of the nations, having abandoned pagan rites, obediently embrace the footsteps of the Lord's passion.

And they bring Him to the place Golgotha, which is interpreted, the place of Calvary. Outside the gate of the city are places in which the heads of the condemned are cut off, and they took the name of Calvary, that is, of the beheaded. And the Lord was crucified there for this reason: that where there had formerly been the ground of the condemned, the banners of martyrdom might be raised.

And as for us He became the curse of the cross, and was scourged and crucified, so for the salvation of all He is crucified as a guilty man among the guilty.

And they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, and He did not take it. God speaks to Jerusalem: I planted you as My true vine; how have you become, into bitterness,

a strange vine (Jer. 2:21)? The bitter vine has made bitter wine, which is offered to the Lord Jesus, that what is written may be fulfilled: They gave Me gall for My food, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink (Ps. 68:22). And that it is said: And He did not take it, or according to Matthew: When He had tasted, He would not drink (Matt. 27:34), indicates this: that He tasted indeed the bitterness of death for us, but rose again on the third day.

For when Mark says: He did not take it, it is understood: He did not take it so as to drink it. But He tasted it, as Matthew is witness; so that what the same Matthew says, He would not drink, Mark expressed as He did not take it, but was silent about His having tasted it. And also, what Mark says, wine mingled with myrrh, Matthew is to be understood to have expressed as mixed with gall (Matt. 27:34). For he put gall for bitterness. And wine mingled with myrrh is most bitter, though it may be that the wine was made most bitter both with gall and with myrrh.

And crucifying Him, they divided His garments, casting lots upon them, what each should take. John the evangelist sets this out more fully: namely that the soldiers, dividing the rest into four parts according to their own number, cast lots for the tunic, which was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

And the fourfold garment of the Lord figured His fourfold Church, spread, that is, through the whole world of lands (which consists of four parts), and distributed equally, that is, concordantly, through all those same parts. But that tunic allotted by lot signifies the unity of all the parts, which is held together by the bond of charity. For if charity, according to the Apostle, both has a more excellent way, and surpasses knowledge, and is above all precepts, rightly is the garment by which it is signified said to be woven from the top. And in the lot what is commended but the grace of God? For thus in one it came to all, when the lot pleased all, because the grace of God too comes in unity to all. And when the lot is cast, it is entrusted not to the person or merits of anyone, but to the hidden judgement of God. And since, as the Apostle says, our old man is fastened to the cross together with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, that we may serve sin no longer (Rom. 6:6), as long as our works do this, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and as long as the outer man is being corrupted, that the inner may be renewed from day to day, it is the time of the cross. These too are good works indeed, yet still laborious, whose reward is rest. But therefore it is said, Rejoicing in hope (Rom. 12:12), that we may work in our labours with cheerfulness towards the rest to come. This cheerfulness is signified by the breadth of the cross in the transverse beam where the hands are fixed. For by the hands we understand works, by the breadth the cheerfulness of the one working, because sadness makes for narrowness. And by the height, to which the head is joined, the expectation of recompense from the lofty justice of God, Who will render to every one according to his works (Matt. 16:27): to those indeed who according to patience in good work seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life. And so the length too, along which the whole body is stretched, signifies patience itself, whence

those who endure are called long-suffering. And the depth, which is fixed in the earth, prefigures the secret of the sacrament. You remember, unless I am mistaken, that the words of the Apostle are unfolded in this figure of the cross, where he says: Rooted and founded in charity, that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length, the breadth, the height and the depth (Eph. 3:17–18).

And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. There are those who think that the Lord was crucified at the third hour, and that from the sixth hour darkness came until the ninth, so that three hours are understood to have passed from when He was crucified until the darkness came. And this could indeed be understood most correctly, were it not that John says that at about the sixth hour Pilate sat on the judgement seat in the place called Lithostrotos, but in Hebrew Gabbatha (John 19:13). For there follows: It was the Parasceve of the Pasch, about the sixth hour. And he says to the Jews: Behold your king, etc. If then at about the sixth hour, Pilate sitting on the judgement seat, He was handed over to the Jews to be crucified, how was He crucified at the third hour, as some, not understanding the words of Mark, have supposed? Mark had certainly already said: And crucifying Him, they divided His garments. If then he wished to record for them the time of the deed, it would have sufficed to say: And it was the third hour; why did he add: And they crucified Him, unless because he wished, by recapitulating, to signify something that would be found when sought, since the Scripture itself was being read in those times when it was known to the whole Church at what hour the Lord was hung on the wood, whereby the error of such a one could be corrected or his falsehood refuted? But because he knew that the Lord was crucified by the soldiers, not by the Jews, he wished to show covertly that those rather crucified Him who cried out that He should be crucified, than those who rendered service to their chief according to their duty. It is understood, then, that it was the third hour when the Jews cried out that the Lord should be crucified. And it is most truly shown that they crucified Him at the time when they cried out, especially since they did not wish to be seen to have done it, and for that reason had handed Him over to Pilate, as their words according to John sufficiently indicate. What, then, they least wished to be seen to have done, this Mark shows that they did at the third hour, most truly indicating that the tongue of the Jews rather than the hands of the soldiers was the Lord's slayer.

And the inscription of His cause was written: The King of the Jews. The inscription placed above His cross, in which was written: The King of the Jews, shows this: that not even by killing Him could they bring it about that they should not have Him as king, Who with most manifest and most eminent power will render to them according to their works. Hence it is sung in the psalm: But I am appointed king by Him over Sion, His holy mountain (Ps. 2:6). Who also fittingly, since He is king and pontiff at once, when He offered to the Father the excellent victim of His flesh on the altar of the cross, displayed in the inscription the dignity of king also with which He was endowed, so as to make known to all who are willing to read, that is, to hear and believe, that through the gibbet of the cross He did not lose His rule, but rather confirmed and strengthened it.

And with Him they crucify two robbers, one on the right,

and the other on His left. The robbers who were crucified with the Lord on either side signify those who, under the faith and confession of Christ, undergo either the contest of martyrdom or any of the rules of stricter continence. But whoever do these things solely for eternal and heavenly glory are surely designated by the merit and faith of the robber on the right. But those who renounce the world either with a view to human praise or from any less worthy intention not undeservedly imitate the mind and acts of the blaspheming robber on the left.

Of whom the Apostle says: If I should deliver my body to be burned, if I should give all my goods to feed the poor, if I should seem to do many other works of piety, or to have received the gifts of spiritual grace, but have not charity, it profits me nothing (1 Cor. 13:3). But blessed are those who leave their own for the Lord's sake and for the Gospel's sake. Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:10).

Likewise the chief priests too, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said: Others, etc. Even unwillingly the scribes and pontiffs confess that He saved others. So then your own sentence condemns you. For He Who saved others could surely, if He willed, save Himself.

Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. A fraudulent promise. Which is greater, to come down from the cross while still living, or to rise from the tomb when dead? He has risen, and you do not believe; therefore even if He had come down from the cross, you would likewise not believe.

And those who were crucified with Him reviled Him. How did those who were crucified with Him revile Him, when in fact one of them reviled Him, according to Luke's testimony, and the other both restrained him and believed in God? Unless we understand that Matthew and Mark, touching on it briefly, put in this place the plural number for the singular, as in the Epistle to the Hebrews we read it said in the plural: They stopped the mouths of lions (Heb. 11:33), when Daniel alone is understood to be signified. And it is said in the plural: They were sawn asunder (Heb. 11:37), when this is handed down of Isaiah alone. And what is more usual, for example, than for someone to say: The country folk too insult me, even if one insults him? For it would then be contrary to what Luke made plain about one, if they had said that both robbers reviled the Lord, since one could not be understood under the plural number. But when it is said "robbers", or, "those who were crucified with Him", and "both" is not added, not only could this be said if both had done it, but also, because one did it, it could be signified by the usual manner of speech through the plural number. But that, as Luke attests, one robber blasphemes the Lord, saying: If you are the Christ, save yourself and us (Luke 23:39), while the other rebukes him with a fitting reproach, and prays to the Lord with faithful supplication, saying: Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom (Luke 23:42), we see done in the Church to this day, when, touched by worldly afflictions, true and false

Christians: those indeed who bear the sacraments of the Lord's passion with a feigned mind desire to be freed by the Lord for the joys of the present life. But those who with simple intention glory with the Apostle in nothing save in the cross of our Lord choose rather to be rescued from present hardships in such a way that they commend their spirit into the hands of their Maker, and they desire to be partakers together with Him of the heavenly kingdom. Hence fittingly he who prayed to the Lord with doubtful faith was utterly disregarded by the Lord, and not held worthy of any answer. But the prayers of him who sought eternal salvation from Him the Lord at once deigned to receive with a kindly hearing. For indeed, whoever, placed in tribulations, seek only temporal consolations from the Lord deprive themselves of temporal and eternal joys alike. But those who truly sigh for the good things of the heavenly fatherland come to them without any doubt by Christ's mercy.

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour. The brightest light of the world drew back its rays, lest it should either see the Lord hanging, or the ungodly blasphemers enjoy its light. And it is to be noted that the Lord was crucified at the sixth hour, that is, when the sun was about to withdraw from the centre of the world; but at dawn, that is, when the sun was now rising, He celebrated the mysteries of His resurrection. For by the condition of the time He marked what He displayed by the effect of the work: that He died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. For of Adam too, when he sinned, it is written that he heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise in the breeze after midday (Gen. 3:8). After midday, that is, when the light of faith was declining; in the breeze, that is, when the fervour of charity was growing cold. And He was heard walking, because He had withdrawn from man when he sinned. The order of reason, then, nay of divine goodness, required that at the same point of time at which He had then shut the door of paradise to Adam the transgressor, the Lord should now open it to the penitent robber, and that at the hour in which the first Adam by sinning had brought death into this world, at that same hour the second Adam by dying should destroy death.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He used the beginning of the twenty-first psalm. What is read in the middle of the verse: Look upon me, is superfluous. For it is read in the Hebrew: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And do not wonder at the lowliness of the words, the complaints of one forsaken, when, knowing the form of a servant, you see the scandal of the cross. For as hunger and thirst and weariness were not proper to the divinity but were bodily passions, so too what is said, Why hast Thou forsaken Me? was proper to the bodily voice, since the body according to nature is wont in no way to wish to be defrauded of the life joined to it. For although the Saviour Himself also said this, yet properly He was showing the frailty of the body, while remaining the power and wisdom of God. He speaks therefore as man, bearing about my emotions, because, placed in dangers, from God

we think ourselves forsaken; as man He is troubled, as man He weeps, as man He is crucified.

And some of those standing by, hearing it, said: Behold, He calls Elijah. Not all, but some. These I judge to have been Roman soldiers, who did not understand the idiom of the Hebrew speech, but, from His having said Heloi, Heloi, supposed that Elijah was being called upon by Him. But if you choose to understand that it was Jews who said this, they do this too after their accustomed manner, to brand the Lord with weakness, as one who begs the help of Elijah.

And one ran, and filling a sponge with vinegar, and putting it round a reed, gave Him to drink, saying: Let be, let us see whether Elijah comes to take Him down. For what cause vinegar was given the Lord to drink John shows more fully, saying: After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, says: I thirst. Now a vessel full of vinegar had been set there. So they, putting a sponge full of vinegar round hyssop, offered it to His mouth (John 19:28–29). He saw, then, that all things which had to be done before He received the vinegar and gave up His spirit were accomplished, and so that this too might be fulfilled which he says: And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (Ps. 118 [as printed; the verse is Ps. 68:22]), He says: I thirst. As if He were saying: This you have left undone; give what you are. For the Jews themselves were the vinegar, degenerating from the wine of the patriarchs and prophets; as though from a full vessel, filled with the iniquity of this world, having a heart like a sponge, deceitful with, as it were, cavernous and winding hiding-places. The hyssop, round which they put the sponge full of vinegar, since it is a lowly herb and cleanses the breast, we fittingly take as the humility of Christ Himself, which they surrounded, and thought they had circumvented. Hence that saying in the psalm: Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed (Ps. 50:9); for we are cleansed by the humility of Christ, since unless He had humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the Father unto the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8), His blood would surely not have been poured out for the remission of sins, that is, for our cleansing. By the reed, on which the sponge was placed, is signified the Scripture, which was being fulfilled by this deed. For just as a language, whether Greek or Latin or any other, is called a tongue, signifying the sound which is uttered by the tongue, so the letter which is written with a reed can be called a reed. But we quite commonly call the sounds of the human voice tongues, more expressively; that Scripture should be called a reed is the more mystically figured the less usual it is.

And Jesus, having uttered a loud cry, breathed His last. What the Lord said with this loud cry Luke plainly indicates, saying: Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit. And saying this, he says, He breathed His last (Luke 23:46). But as to what John writes, that when Jesus had received the vinegar He said: It is finished, and bowing His head gave up His spirit (John 19:30), between what He says: It is finished, and that: And bowing His head He gave up His spirit, that cry was uttered

loud, about which John was silent, but the other three recorded it.

And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The veil of the temple is torn, so that the ark of the covenant and all the sacraments of the law, which were covered, might appear, and pass over to the people of the nations. For before it had been said: In Judaea God is known, in Israel His name is great (Ps. 75:2). But now he says: Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth (Ps. 66 [as printed; cf. Ps. 56:6]). And in the Gospel He said earlier: Go not into the way of the Gentiles (Matt. 10:5). But after His passion He says: Go, teach all nations (Matt. 28:19).

And the centurion, who stood facing Him, seeing that crying out thus He had breathed His last, said: Truly this man was the Son of God. The plain cause of the centurion's wonder is set forth: that seeing the Lord had thus breathed His last, that is, sent forth His spirit, he said: Truly this man was the Son of God. For no one has power to send forth the spirit except He who is the maker of souls. And this too is to be considered, that the centurion before the cross, in the very scandal of the passion, confesses Him truly the Son of God, while Arius in the Church proclaims Him a creature. Hence rightly is the faith of the Church signified by the centurion, which, once the veil of the heavenly mysteries was unlocked by the Lord's death, at once affirms Jesus to be both a truly just man and truly the Son of God, while the Synagogue keeps silent.

And there were also women looking on from afar, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joseph, and Salome. These, when He was in Galilee, followed Him and ministered to Him. By James the Less he means James of Alphaeus, who was also called the brother of the Lord, because he was the son of Mary, the Lord's maternal aunt, whom John mentions in his Gospel, saying: Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas (John 19:25). He seems to call her Mary of Cleophas from her father, or from her kindred. And he was called James the Less to distinguish him from James the Greater, namely the son of Zebedee, who was called among the first apostles and chosen by the Lord. Now it was a Jewish custom, and by the ancient usage of the nation was not counted a fault, that women should supply food and clothing to their teachers from their own substance; this, since it could cause scandal among the nations, Paul records that he had cast aside: Have we not power to lead about sisters, women, as the other apostles also do (1 Cor. 9:5)? And they ministered to the Lord from their substance, so that He whose spiritual things they were reaping might reap their carnal things. Not that the Lord of creatures needed food, but that He might show a pattern for teachers, that they ought to be content with food and clothing from their disciples. But let us see what companions He had. Mary Magdalene, namely, from whom He had cast out seven demons, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, His maternal aunt, and others, whom we read of in the other Gospels.

And when it was now evening, because it was the Parasceve, which is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, a noble councillor, came. He is called a decurio because he was of the order of the curia and discharged the office of the curia. Such a one is also usually called a curialis, from taking care of civic duties. Arimathaea itself is Ramathaim, the city of Elkanah and Samuel, in the region of Thamna near Diospolis. Παρασκευή in Greek is called in Latin praeparatio, preparation. By this name the Jews who lived among the Greeks called the sixth day of the week, because on it they were accustomed to prepare the things needful for the Sabbath rest. According to what was once commanded about the manna: But on the sixth day you shall gather double, etc. (Exod. 16:5). Since, therefore, man was made on the sixth day, and the whole creation of the world was completed, while on the seventh the Creator rested from His work, whence He willed this day also to be called Sabbath, that is, rest, rightly did the Saviour, crucified on that same sixth day, fulfil the mystery of man's restoration. And therefore when He had received the vinegar, He said: It is finished; that is, the work of the sixth day, which I undertook for the remaking of the world, is now wholly completed. And resting in the tomb on the Sabbath, He awaited the event of the resurrection which was to come on the eighth day. Here there shines before us a pattern at once of our devotion and of our blessed reward: we who in this sixth age of the world must suffer for the Lord and, as it were, be crucified to the world. But in the seventh age, that is, when one pays the debt of death, the bodies must remain in the tombs, but the souls in hidden peace with the Lord, and after good works rest, until, the eighth age at last coming, the bodies themselves too, glorified in the resurrection, receive together with the souls the incorruption of the eternal inheritance.

There came, he says, Joseph of Arimathaea, a noble councillor, who was himself also waiting for the kingdom of God. And he boldly went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. This Joseph is praised as having been of great rank in the world, but of greater merit with God. For it was fitting that he who was to bury the body of the Lord should be such a one as would be worthy of so great a ministry by the righteousness of his merits, and could obtain the means of ministering through the nobility of his worldly power. For not just any unknown or ordinary person could approach the governor and obtain the body of one crucified.

And Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking Him down, wrapped Him in the linen. And by the simple burial of the Lord the ambition of the rich is condemned, who cannot do without their riches even in their tombs. But according to the spiritual understanding we can take this to mean that the body of the Lord is to be wrapped not in gold, not in gems and silk, but in pure linen; though this too it signifies, that he wraps Jesus in a clean linen cloth who receives Him with a pure mind. Hence the custom of the Church has prevailed that the sacrifice of the altar is celebrated not on silk, nor on dyed cloth, but on linen from the earth, just as the body of the Lord was buried in a clean linen cloth, according to what in the acts

of the pontiffs we read was established by the blessed Pope Silvester.

And he laid Him in a tomb which was hewn out of rock, and rolled a stone to the door of the tomb. Concerning the Lord's tomb, those who in our time have come from Jerusalem to Britain report that it was a round chamber hewn out of the underlying rock, of such a height that a man standing inside could scarcely reach the roof with outstretched hand; it has its entrance from the East, and that great stone was rolled against it and set there. In the northern part of this tomb the sepulchre itself, that is, the place of the Lord's body, was made of the same rock, seven feet in length, and rising three palms' measure higher than the rest of the floor. This place, namely, is open not from above but along the whole of its southern side, whence the body was laid in. The colour of this tomb and of the burial niche is said to be mingled red and white.

And Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joseph saw where He was laid. In Luke we read that all His acquaintance stood afar off, and the women who had followed Him (Luke 23:49). So when these acquaintances of Jesus went back to their homes after His body was laid down, the women alone, who loved more closely, followed the burial and took care to see how He was laid, so that at a fitting time they might offer Him the gift of their devotion. And even to this day holy women do the same on the day of the Parasceve, that is, of preparation, when humble souls, burning with a love of the Saviour the greater the more conscious they are of their own frailty, follow diligently in the footsteps of His passion in this world, in which the rest to come is to be prepared, and, in case they may be able to imitate it, weigh with devout care in what order that passion was accomplished.

CHAPTER XVI.

And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James, and Salome bought spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke it is written that, returning from the tomb, they prepared spices and ointments, and on the Sabbath they kept quiet, because of the commandment (Luke 23:56). It was, then, a commandment of the law that the quiet of the Sabbath be kept from evening to evening; and therefore the devout women, once the Lord was buried, were busy preparing ointments as long as it was lawful to work, that is, until sunset, as Luke writes. And because then, through the shortness of the time, they could not finish the work, they hastened, as soon as the Sabbath was over, that is, at sunset, when leave to work had returned, to buy spices, as Mark relates, so that coming in the morning they might anoint His body. For on the evening of the Sabbath, with the hour of night already coming on, they did not wish to go to the tomb.

And very early on the first of the Sabbaths they come to the tomb, the sun having now risen. The first of the Sabbaths is the first day from the day of the Sabbaths, that is, of the rests, which the Church's custom now calls the Lord's day because of the resurrection of the Lord and Saviour. And it is the same thing when one of the Sabbath, or one of the Sabbaths

we read, that is, one day from the day of the Sabbaths, that is, of the rests which were kept on the Sabbaths. Now the holy women who had followed the Lord came to the tomb with spices, and to Him whom they had loved while living they show service, even when dead, with the care of human kindness. And we too, then, believing in Him who died, if, filled with the fragrance of the virtues, we seek the Lord with the good report of good works, truly come to His tomb with spices. That the women came to the tomb very early, the sun having now risen, that is, when the sky was already growing white in the region of the East, which surely happens only with the nearness of the rising sun, according to the history indeed shows a great fervour of charity in seeking and finding the Lord. But according to the mystical understanding an example is given us, that with face enlightened, and the darkness of the vices shaken off, we should offer to the Lord the fragrance of good works and the sweetness of prayers.

And they said to one another: Who will roll back the stone for us from the door of the tomb? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. How the stone was rolled back by an angel Matthew sets out sufficiently. But the rolling back of the stone mystically suggests the unlocking of the sacraments of Christ, which were covered by the veil of the letter of the law. For the law was written on stone; and when its covering was removed, the glory of the resurrection was shown, and the abolition of the ancient death, and the everlasting life to be hoped for by us began to be preached in the whole world.

And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were astonished. Entering from the East into that round chamber which is hewn in the rock, they saw the angel sitting at the southern part of the place where the body of Jesus had been laid; for this was on the right side. Because, of course, the body, which lying on its back had its head to the west, must have had its right side to the south. Now Matthew writes that they first saw the angel who rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb sitting upon the stone itself, and that he bade them enter the place where the Lord had been laid and see that He had already risen from the dead. Luke writes that entering the tomb they found two angels standing there. So the women who came with spices see angels, because those minds, namely, behold the citizens on high which journey to God with the virtues through holy desires. But we must note what it means that the angel is seen sitting on the right side. For what is signified by the left but the present life? And what by the right but life everlasting? Whence it is written: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me (Song 2:6). For the Church has set the left hand of God, namely the prosperity of the present life, as it were under her head, and presses it down with the intent of her highest love. But the right hand of God embraces her, because she is held with entire devotion under His eternal blessedness. Since, then, our Redeemer had now passed beyond the corruption of the present life, rightly did the angel, who had come to announce His everlasting life, sit on the right side. He

appeared clothed in a white robe, because he announced the joys of our feast. For the whiteness of his garment proclaims the splendour of our feast. Shall we say ours, or his? But to speak more truly, let us say both his and ours. For that resurrection of our Redeemer was both our feast, because it brought us back to immortality, and it was the feast of the angels, because by calling us back to heavenly things it filled up their number. In his own feast, then, and in ours, the angel appeared in white garments, because while we are brought back to things above through the Lord's resurrection, the losses of the heavenly fatherland are repaired. But now let us hear what he says to the women as they come.

Be not afraid; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; He has risen, He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. Be not afraid, he says. As if he were saying openly: Let those be afraid who do not love the coming of the citizens on high. Let those fear who, weighed down by carnal desires, despair of being able to attain to their fellowship. But you, why do you fear, who see your fellow citizens? Whence Matthew too, describing the angel's appearing, says: And his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment like snow (Matt. 28:3). For in lightning there is the terror of fear, but in snow the gentleness of whiteness. And because Almighty God is both terrible to sinners and gentle to the just, rightly is the angel, the witness of His resurrection, shown both with lightning in his face and with whiteness in his dress, so that by his very appearance he might both terrify the reprobate and soothe the devout. You seek Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus in the Latin tongue is interpreted salutaris, that is, saviour. But many could then be called by this name, yet not in substance, only in name. And therefore the place is added, so that it may be made plain of which Jesus it is said: of Nazareth; and he at once adds the cause, crucified, and added, He has risen, He is not here. He is not here is said of the presence of His flesh, He who yet was nowhere absent by the presence of His majesty.

But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He goes before you into Galilee. We must ask why, when the disciples have been named, Peter is marked out by name. But if the angel did not mention by name him who had denied his Master, he would not dare to come among the disciples. He is called by name, then, lest he despair because of his denial. In this matter we must consider why Almighty God allowed him whom He had determined to set over the whole Church to be afraid of a maidservant's voice and to deny Him. This we recognize was surely done by the dispensation of a great mercy, so that he who was to be the shepherd of the Church might learn in his own fault how he ought to have mercy on others. And so He first showed him to himself, and then set him over the rest, so that from his own weakness he might know how mercifully he should bear the weaknesses of others. And well is it said of our Redeemer: He goes before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him, as He told you. For Galilee is interpreted a passing over accomplished. For our Redeemer had already passed over from passion to resurrection, from death to life, from punishment to glory, from corruption to incorruption. And

He is first seen by the disciples after the resurrection in Galilee, because we shall afterwards see the glory of His resurrection with joy, if only we pass over from the vices to the height of the virtues. He, then, who is announced in the tomb is shown in the passing over, because He who is recognized in the mortification of the flesh is seen in the passing over of the mind.

But they, going out from the tomb, fled (for trembling and fear had seized them), and they said nothing to anyone. For they were afraid. It rightly troubles us how Mark writes: And they said nothing to anyone, when Luke says: And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest (Luke 24:9). Likewise Matthew: And they went out quickly, he says, from the tomb, with fear and great joy, running to tell His disciples (Matt. 28:8). Unless we understand that they dared say nothing to any of the angels themselves, that is, to reply to the things they had heard from them; or else to the guards, whom they saw lying there. For that joy which Matthew records does not conflict with the fear of which Mark speaks. For we ought to understand both to have arisen in their minds, even if Matthew himself said nothing of the fear.

And Jesus, rising early on the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalene. How and where this appearing of the Lord took place John teaches most fully. Now the Lord rose in the morning from the tomb, in which He had been laid when it was already evening, so that the Psalmist's word might be fulfilled: In the evening weeping shall linger, and in the morning gladness (Ps. 29:6). Buried, then, on the sixth day of the week, which is called the Parasceve, about the hour of evening, and laid in the tomb through the following night and the day of the Sabbath with the night that followed it, so on the third day, that is, in the morning of the first day of the week, He rose. Not, however, deservedly did He lie one day and two nights in the tomb; because, namely, He joined the light of His single death to the darkness of our double death. For He came to us, who were held in the death of spirit and of flesh. He brought to us His one death, that is, the death of the flesh, and loosed the two of ours which He found. For if He had taken on both, He would have freed us from neither. But He mercifully accepted one, and justly condemned both. He set His single death against our double, and by dying subdued our double death.

He appeared, he says, first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. As in the beginning the woman was the author of sin to the man, and the man the executor of the error, so now she who had first brought in death and tasted it saw the resurrection first. And lest she who had passed on the fault to the man should bear among men the reproach of a perpetual guilt, she passed on grace as well. Hence rightly this woman too, who first announced the gladness of the Lord's resurrection to the men as they mourned and wept, is recorded to have been cured of seven demons, so that it may be signified that she had been full of all the vices but had been cleansed of them all by the divine gift, and it may be shown that where sin abounded grace has more abounded (Rom. 5:20). For the number seven is wont mystically

to stand for the whole. She, then, who had been cured of seven demons, that is, freed from all her crimes, was the first to see the Lord rising from the dead, so that no one who worthily repents should despair of pardon for what he has committed, seeing that she who had once been subject to so many and so great vices was suddenly raised, by the merit of faith and love, to so great a height that she herself first announced the good news of the accomplished miracle of the resurrection to the very evangelists and apostles of Christ.

And they, hearing that He was alive and had been seen by her, did not believe. That the disciples were slow to believe the Lord's resurrection was not so much their weakness as (so to speak) our future firmness. For the resurrection itself was shown to them in their doubting by many proofs; and when we, reading, come to know these, what else happens but that we are made firm by their doubting? For Mary Magdalene, who believed more quickly, has done less for me than Thomas, who doubted long. For he by doubting touched the scars of the wounds, and cut away the wound of doubt from our breast.

And after this He was shown in another form to two of them as they walked, going into the country. And they went and told the rest; neither did they believe them. How this was done Luke sets out more at length. And what Mark says, He was shown in another form, Luke says more plainly: that their eyes were held so that they should not know Him, until, coming with Him to the village where they were going, and setting a table for Him as for a stranger, they at last knew Him in the breaking of bread (Luke 24:16–35). And they, as the same Luke goes on to add, rising up the same hour, returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven gathered together, and those that were with them, saying that the Lord has truly risen and has appeared to Simon. And they told what things had been done on the way, and how they knew Him in the breaking of bread (ibid. 24:33–35). But as to Mark's saying, they told the rest, or [as printed] they believed them, when Luke says that they were already saying from that time that He had truly risen and had appeared to Simon, what is to be understood except that there were some there who would not believe this? And to whom is it not clear that Mark passed over what Luke set out in his narrative? That is, what Jesus spoke with them before they knew Him, and how they recognized Him in the breaking of bread; since, as soon as he had said that He appeared in another form to them as they went into the country, he at once joined to it: And they went and told the rest; neither did they believe them. As though they could announce Him whom they had not known, or as though those to whom He had appeared in another form could recognize Him. How, then, they recognized Him so as to be able to announce Him, Mark without doubt passed over. This is to be committed to memory for this reason, that we may grow used to noticing the manner of the Evangelists, who so pass over what they do not record, and so join together what they do record, that for those who have no practice in this kind of consideration error arises chiefly from this very source, whereby they think the Evangelists do not agree with one another.

Last of all He appeared to the eleven as they sat at table, and reproached their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him risen.

How last of all, as if they did not see Him any more after this? For the last time the apostles saw the Lord on earth was when He ascended into heaven, which took place on the fortieth day after His resurrection. Was He going to reproach them then that they had not believed those who had seen Him risen, when they themselves had by then seen Him so many times after the resurrection? Let us take it, then, that after the many showings of Himself by which He presented Himself to His disciples through forty days, He appeared last of all also to the eleven as they sat at table, that is, on the fortieth day itself. And since He was now about to ascend from them into heaven, He chose on that day above all to reproach them with this, that they had not believed those who had seen Him risen before they saw Him themselves, when after His ascension, as they preached the Gospel, the nations, which did not see, were indeed going to believe. For following on that reproach, the same Mark says:

And He said to them: Going into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned. Since, then, they were to preach this, that he who does not believe shall be condemned, when he would of course be not believing what he had not seen, ought not they themselves first to be rebuked, because before they had seen the Lord they had not believed those to whom the Lord had appeared? But as to His saying to them: Going into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature, was the holy Gospel to be preached either to senseless things or to brute animals, that it should be said to the disciples about it: Preach to every creature? But by the name of every creature every nation of the Gentiles can be signified. For before it had been said: Go not into the way of the Gentiles (Matt. 10:5); but now it is said: Preach to every creature, so that, namely, the preaching of the apostles, first rejected by Judaea, might then become a help to us, when Judaea in her pride had rejected it as a witness to her own condemnation. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned. Perhaps each one says within himself: I have already believed; I shall be saved. He speaks the truth if he holds the faith with works. For that is true faith which does not contradict by conduct what it says in words. Hence it is that Paul says of certain false believers: They profess that they know God, but in their deeds they deny Him (Titus 1:16). Here John says: He who says that he knows God, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar (I John 2:4). But since it is said: But he who does not believe shall be condemned, what do we say here of little children, who by reason of age cannot yet believe? For about adults there is no question. In the Church, then, little children believe in the Saviour through others, just as from others they contracted the sins which are remitted to them in baptism.

And these signs shall follow those who believe: In My name they shall cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Is it that, because we do not do these signs, we do not believe? But these were necessary at the beginning of the Church

were. For in order that it might grow to faith, it had to be nourished by miracles. For we too, when we plant shrubs, pour water on them until we see that they have grown strong in the ground; but once they have fixed their roots, the watering will cease. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers (1 Cor. 14:22). Or have we not things about these signs and powers which we ought to consider yet more closely? For holy Church does daily in the spirit what she then did in the body through the apostles. For when her priests lay hands on believers through the grace of exorcism, and forbid the evil spirit to dwell in their minds, what else do they do but cast out demons? And all the faithful who now leave behind the worldly words of the old life, and give voice to the holy mysteries, and tell, as far as they are able, the praises and the power of their Creator, what else do they do but speak with new tongues? And when by their good exhortations they take away malice from the hearts of others, they take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent persuasions, yet are not at all drawn into wicked deeds, it is indeed a deadly thing that they drink, but it will not hurt them. And whenever they see their neighbours growing weak in good work, when they run to them with all their strength, and by the example of their own conduct strengthen the life of those who falter in their own action, what else do they do but lay hands on the sick, that they may recover? These miracles are surely the greater the more spiritual they are; they are the greater in that by them not bodies but souls are raised.

And the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God. We must consider what it means that Mark says: He sits at the right hand of God, while Stephen says: I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55). What does it mean that Mark testifies that he sees Him sitting, but Stephen standing? But we know that to sit belongs to one who judges, but to stand to one who fights or helps. Since, then, our Redeemer, taken up into heaven, both now judges all things and at the last will come as the judge of all, Mark describes Him as sitting after the assumption, because after the glory of His ascension He will be seen at the end as judge. But Stephen, set in the struggle of toil, saw Him standing, whom he had as his helper. For in order that he on earth might overcome the unbelief of his persecutors, His grace fought for him from heaven. There follows:

But they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs that followed. What is to be considered in these words, what committed to memory, except that obedience followed the command, and signs followed the obedience? Among these things it is to be noted that, the later Mark began his Gospel than the others, the further in writing he extended it into later times. For recording nothing either of the birth of the Lord Himself or of His forerunner, nor of the infancy or boyhood of either of them, nor writing of the Saviour's nativity at any deeper level, except that at the head of his Gospel he [calls] Him the Son of God

he names, began from the beginning of the gospel preaching, which was done through John, and in his narrating comes right up to that time at which the apostles, by preaching, spread that same whole word of the Gospel throughout the world. There remains, indeed, no small question: how the same evangelist wrote that the angel said to the women, Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He goes before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you, and yet did not afterwards report, in any place of his Gospel, that the Lord was seen there by the disciples. Matthew, indeed, says that the disciples went away into Galilee, and there saw and worshipped the Lord, and received from Him the command to go, to teach, and to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Yet the writing of the other evangelists, once examined, teaches that He had been seen by the disciples quite often before: above all on the very day of His resurrection, in Jerusalem, and in the village of Emmaus. Why then did He foretell specifically that He would go before them into Galilee and would be seen there by the disciples, when He was seen neither only there nor there first? Let us see, then, for the sake of what mystery, according to Matthew and Mark, He on rising gave this command: I will go before you into Galilee; there you will see Me. Although this was fulfilled, yet it was fulfilled after many things, whereas the command is so framed (albeit without prejudice to necessity) that either this alone or this first would be expected to have had to happen. Beyond doubt, then, since that is the voice not of the evangelist narrating that it happened so, but of the angel at the Lord's command, and of the Lord Himself, while the evangelist narrates it, but as said by the angel and by the Lord, it is to be taken as said by way of prophecy. For Galilee is interpreted either "transmigration" or "revelation". First, therefore, according to the meaning of transmigration, what else presents itself to be understood by

He goes before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you, than that the grace of Christ, from the people of Israel