Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 38–41

Since I think there is also a figurative understanding in this passage, in keeping with what I have said, these things too must be said accordingly: if someone is to see the glorious and royal form of the Word, his glorious coming, he must be roused not only to hear battles and reports of intelligible battles, so that by seeing he may learn not to be alarmed at all, but also to see a nation of some falsehood, and a movement of words drawing people to some sect, rising up against some other nation of falsehood; since for such nations there is never a peaceful end. We often see this happen among heretics: among the churches of the evil-doers the nation of one heresy rises against the nation of another heresy. So also the kingdom of one word rises against the kingdom of another erratic word: since Satan and every lie is always divided against itself, and therefore cannot stand. One, then, who is setting out to see the glory and kingdom of Christ, that is, the perfection of the Word and the kingdom that reigns and rules, putting all adverse words under his feet and to be trampled by his feet, must, as he seeks the truth, often suffer a lack of the meanings by which the soul is properly nourished in seeking what must be sought. And as those who once set out for the land of promise were afflicted and suffered hunger by the withdrawal of fleshly foods, so as to receive the heavenly manna, so one who is to be nourished by the perfection of the Word must often be tried by a lack of meanings and suffer nothing from it. And we see this very thing daily in ourselves when we seek some sense of truth in the Scriptures: before we find what we seek, we suffer some lack of meanings, until such lack of meanings is relieved in us by God, who gives the worthy food in due season to eat and clothing to put on. One who sees the glorious coming, that is, the coming of wisdom into his soul, must also see the pestilences of diseased words and suffer nothing from them. Pestilential words are all those uttered by pestilential men, who speak iniquity on high and set their mouth against heaven in pride and great boasting: for example, the words of Marcion against the Creator of the world, and his ungodly blasphemy, are a kind of pestilence of souls, corrupting men's minds and making souls sick with their suspicions. And the fable of Valentinus about male and female aeons, and about the birth of the Creator of the world, which they have put together out of a false wisdom, and whatever else they babble, what else are they but pestilence? The words of Basilides, too, who disparages those who contend for the truth even to death so as to confess Jesus before men, and teaches that it is indifferent to go on to denial and to sacrifice to foreign gods, are no less pestilential and corrupt those who hear him; who in the same discourses teaches that there are no punishments for sins other than the transmigrations of souls after death. For, to pass over the fact that what is said is plainly false, they further take away from men a saving fear, and nourish the boldness of impiety in those who would have kept themselves from a multitude of sins at least out of fear of future punishments. Many famines and pestilences, then, will come to all who wish to see Christ's glorious coming in their soul, but they will not harm them; for they will only see them and suffer nothing from them. They will suffer, too, the shakings of what will be sought in very many places of the Scriptures, which have a semblance of contradiction or of falsehoods; but afterwards they will suffer nothing, nor will the shaking of false hearings tear them away from the expectation of the glorious, divine, and perfect coming of Jesus Christ the Word. And one who is to say, “From fear of you, Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in labour, and have brought forth the spirit of your salvation which you have made upon the earth,” or as it is said, “My children, for whom I am again in labour until Christ is formed in you,” must first be in all these pains of famine, pestilences, and shakings; enduring which, he will bring forth what he conceived and formed in himself, Christ the Word, so that he may say at his birth: “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy,” and “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth.”

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulations and will kill you; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will stumble, and will betray one another and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray; and because iniquity has abounded, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Without explanation the text is plain in itself: that Christ's disciples have often been delivered up to tribulations, killed for the sake of the Word, and hated by the nations for Christ's sake. But if someone wishes to examine the saying “by all nations,” he will not find it sufficiently certain that Christ's people are hated by all nations, even those living in the furthest parts of the earth; unless perhaps here too someone says that “all” is put for “many” by way of exaggeration. And setting before yourself what he says, “Then they will deliver you up,” you will find a question. For it was not after nation rose against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and after famines and pestilences in various places, that they were then delivered up to tribulations, killed, and hated by all nations for Christ's name; for even before these things happened Christians were delivered up to tribulations, killed for bearing witness to the truth, and hated by the nations among whom they lived. To this question one who wishes to understand according to the words will answer that then above all Christians will be delivered up to tribulations as never before; then above all they will be hated by all the nations living with them, as never before; and they will suffer everything for Christ's name, when nation has risen against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there are famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places. For those who are in calamities love, as they examine their causes, to find something to talk about. When these things happen to the world, then, it follows, as though men were abandoning the worship of the gods, that they say wars, famines, and pestilences come about because of the multitude of Christians. For the Gentiles, and whoever thought as the Gentiles do, have often blamed the Christians as the cause of famine; and they have also laid the causes of pestilences on the Church of Christ. And we know that among us too an earthquake happened in certain places and some ruins resulted, so that those who were ungodly and outside the faith said that the Christians were the cause of the earthquake; for which reason the churches also suffered persecutions and were burned; and not only those, but also people who seemed prudent said such things in public, that the most severe earthquakes happen because of the Christians. As for the saying, “And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake,” someone could defend it thus: that never indeed have all nations agreed together against the Christians; but when the things Christ foretold have happened, then all will be set alight, as it were, by certain Gentiles who begin to blame the Christians, so that then persecutions take place no longer in part, as before, but generally and everywhere against the people of God. Then it will happen that many who seem to stand firm in the faith will stumble and betray one another, and there will be hatred even among those who seem faithful. Then many false prophets will arise, deceiving the multitude of the foolish; then, as love grows cold not only among unbelievers but even among the faithful themselves, the fervour of love will grow cold from many iniquities, so that few remain contending for the truth to the end, and they alone will be saved. And when things are in this state, the Gospel, which before had not been preached in the whole world (for many, not only of the barbarian nations but even of our own, have not to this day heard the word of Christianity), will then be preached, so that every nation hears the gospel preaching and no one is left who has not heard; and then will be the end of the age. If these things are so, we shall no longer be ignorant about his saying, “Then they will deliver you up,” nor shall we suspect as false his saying, “And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake,” saying that the truth of this word has not yet been fulfilled as long as what he says has not happened: “Then many will stumble and betray one another.” For not yet have many traitors arisen from the Church, and not yet have false prophets appeared deceiving many; so too Christians have not yet been hated by all nations, even those living in the furthest parts of the earth, for Christ's name; and so too the Gospel of the kingdom has not yet been preached in the whole world. For the Gospel is not reported to have been preached among all the Ethiopians, especially among those beyond the river; nor have the Seres, nor those in the East, heard the word of Christianity. And what shall we say of the Britons, or the Germans who live by the Ocean, or among the barbarians, the Dacians, Sarmatians, and Scythians, most of whom have not yet heard the word of the Gospel, but will hear it at the very consummation of the age? For he asserts: “And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” But if someone wishes rashly to say that the Gospel of the kingdom has already been preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, he will be able consequently to say also, from the words “then the end will come,” that the end has already come; which is great rashness to say, and belongs to a man who does not understand what Paul says in the second letter to the Thessalonians: “Let no one deceive you in any way, as though the day of the Lord were at hand: for unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction,” and the rest, the day of the Lord will not come. These things we have explained according to the simple tradition.

But if, in keeping with the figurative sense we handed on above, we ought here too to understand a figurative treatment, we shall explain as follows: one who is to see that glorious second coming of the Word of God into his soul must, according to the measure of his progress towards the perfection of the Word, suffer the snares of the contrary operations, like a great athlete, and be delivered up to tribulations and abandoned. For “many are the tribulations of the righteous,” and the more righteous someone wishes to become, the more, walking eagerly as it were on the narrow and afflicted way, he runs into tribulations, and being afflicted he is put to death to the world; and the further he advances to a clearer vision of the Word, the more he is afflicted. Since Christ is found more perfect in him, he will be hated by all who hate Christ, not so much by all the nations according to the flesh as by the nations of the spiritual forces of wickedness. For the very manifestation, implanted in him, of the properties of Christ, on account of which he is also called a Christian, makes him hated by all who have the spirit of the world, as he strives more and more towards the perfection of Christ. And in dissensions and questions too, few will be intent on attaining the truth more fully. But more will stumble and fall from it, becoming traitors and accusers of one another because of dissension over the doctrines of truth, which not all can grasp; and for this reason it will come about that they hate one another. And when such questions have reached many, there will be many who hand on the word about the future unsoundly and interpret the prophets as they ought not, whom one will not sin in calling false prophets, leading many astray. Very few will be those who search out the truth. False teachings will loosen even the strong from the purpose of truth, and will multiply those who have itching ears, speaking for their delight an iniquity contrary to the law; and at the same time the contrary words of many teachers will do harm, so that they make even the fervent love that existed before in the simplicity of faith grow cold, through the opinion of comprehending the divine mysteries and the truth. But one who, seeing all these things, is able to remain in the first purpose of the apostolic tradition and of the church's instruction will himself be saved; and so the Gospel, preached into the souls of all, will be a testimony to all nations, that is, to all the unbelieving thoughts of all souls.

“When you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.” The words of the prophet which he spoke about the future abomination of desolation are these: “And one week will confirm the covenant with many, and in the middle of the week sacrifice and libation will be taken away, and upon the temple there will be the abomination of desolation, and until the consummation of time a consummation will be given upon the desolation.” To comprehend truly the words of Daniel belongs to no one else but the Holy Spirit who was in Daniel, so as to make plain the word about all the weeks and what he said about the abomination of desolation. But if we too ought to set out a few things about this passage as it seems to us, it must be said that the word seems to point to the seventy years that came after the coming of our Saviour. For this week, which is called a week because of seven decades of years, confirms the covenant with many, when the apostles of Christ too, after his ascension, persisting in prayer and the word, were enlightened by God and by the Holy Spirit into all knowledge of the will of the divine Scriptures. And in the middle of the week, that is, in three and a half decades of years, the sacrifice of the altar was taken away; that is, in thirty-five years what had been written was fulfilled: “In the middle of the week sacrifice and libation will be taken away.” And then upon the temple that was in Jerusalem came the abomination of desolation of the temple and the city, namely at the time when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by an army, so that, according to what the Saviour had prophesied about it, they should know that its desolation had drawn near. And this abomination of desolation, brought upon the temple by the army surrounding Jerusalem, the prophet says remains until the time of the consummation, so that the consummation of the world comes upon the desolation of Jerusalem and of the temple in it. And where are those who say they are Jews and are not, who say that the Jerusalem below will be rebuilt before the consummation of the age takes place? “The consummation,” he says, “will be given upon its desolation.” And if the temple is rebuilt, it will be rebuilt for him who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or worshipped, so that he may sit in such a temple, showing himself as though he were God; whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the brightness of his coming. So even if it pleases some that this Jerusalem should be rebuilt on earth, what is said will still not be false: “The consummation is to be given upon its desolation.” And if we must also say something about the times, we say that in the Chronicles of a certain Phlegon it is said (if indeed we ought to accept him too as speaking the truth about the temple) that the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple in it took place about the fortieth year from the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. Deduct, then, the roughly three years of the Lord's preaching, and the time of his resurrection, when appearing to them for forty days he taught them about the kingdom of God, and you will find, perhaps more or less, that about the middle of the week, counting by decades of years, was fulfilled what was said: “My sacrifice and libation will be taken away,” when also the abomination of desolation came upon the temple, which desolation will remain until the time of the consummation. For the consummation, as we have said, will be given upon the desolation. And if such an account of the week holds good for us, when we say that, as regards the saying, what was said has been fulfilled, not only “My sacrifice and libation will be taken away,” but also what is written, that the abomination of desolations should come upon the temple, then without doubt the coming of Christ is plainly shown also from the words of Daniel the prophet, who says: “Seventy weeks have been cut off upon your people and upon the holy city, that sin may be completed, and sin sealed, and iniquities blotted out, and that everlasting righteousness may be brought in, and that vision and prophecy may be sealed; and the Holy of holies will be anointed; and the one who understands will know from the going forth of the word to answer and to build Jerusalem until Christ the leader, sixty-two weeks; and it will return, and the street and the wall will be rebuilt, and the times will be emptied; and after sixty-two weeks the anointing will perish, and there is no judgment in it. And the city and the sanctuary he will destroy with the leader who comes, and it will be cut off in a flood, and until the end of the war cut short, destructions; and one week will confirm the covenant with many, and in the middle of the week sacrifice and libation will be taken away, and the pinnacle until the consummation of haste.” After this follows the word we have explained, which runs: “And one week will confirm the covenant with many,” and the rest. I think that the seventy weeks cut off upon the people and upon the holy city, that sin may be completed, are four thousand nine hundred years, from Adam until the seventy years that came after the dispensation of Christ. For the sin of the people was completed, for which reason it was also abandoned by God. And their sin was sealed, while the injustice of believers was blotted out, and after its blotting out eternal life was brought in in Christ. But since the law and the prophets were until John, who showed Christ, I think it is therefore said that vision and prophecy are sealed. For since there are no visions in the prophets after John, therefore vision and prophecy were sealed. And when vision and prophecy had been sealed, the only-begotten Holy of holies, Christ, was anointed. The prophets, and Daniel, knew this Christ, the Anointed, and understood him in some way from the going forth of the word, when by the word of the Lord the heavens were established. And from the going forth of the word, to answer in the saints who were from the beginning and in the prophets of the Lord, and also to build Jerusalem, until Christ the leader, there passed sixty-two weeks: that is, first four hundred and ninety years, which, computed by decades, make seven weeks; and after this four thousand three hundred and forty years, which likewise, computed by decades, make sixty-two weeks. After which Christ returned and built the street in which wisdom acts boldly, and the wall on whose top it is proclaimed. And the people's times were emptied, because, after the sixty-two weeks added to the seven weeks, the chrism that was in the temple was taken away from the people, so that there is no longer judgment among them. And the city and the sanctuary were destroyed along with the leader who came upon that people afterwards, whether Herod or Agrippa; for the history of the Jews says this one was the last. But see that you do not think that the saying “destroyed with the leader who comes” refers to Christ. For where Daniel wished Christ himself to be understood, he used both names, saying, “until Christ the leader.” But when he is silent about the name of Christ, he brings in a leader who is to be destroyed, since a leader failed after Christ, “and a leader from his thighs,” for he came for whom it was reserved. After whom the people was cut off in a flood until the end of the war cut short upon them. But when these things happened to them, God confirmed the covenant with many in one week, in the middle of which week he made incense and sacrifices cease, and the temple, which I think he named from its pinnacle, to perish until the consummation in haste, when their house was also left to them in their sins. What follows in the text of Daniel we have explained as well as we could. All these things from Daniel seemed right to us to set beside the interpretation of the gospel text, so as to make plain the word that says: “When you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.”

Now let us set out the text of the Gospel itself. We have said that the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place is the commander who surrounded Jerusalem with an army. Since, then, the worst things happened to those who were then in Judaea, the Lord, prophesying these things as future to the people, says: “Then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains.” And such were the things that happened at that time, so to speak, that one who was on the roof of a house had no time to come down and take anything from his house, and one who was in the field could not return to the city and take his garment. And there was no time then for mercy, either on pregnant women, or on nursing mothers, or on their infants. Therefore he says (I speak as to the words): “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing in those days.” And as though speaking to the Jews, who thought that on the sabbath one ought neither to act nor to walk farther than a sabbath day's journey, he therefore says: “Pray that your flight may not be in winter, or on a sabbath.” For not only on the sabbath but also in winter it was very bad to seek safety by flight. And it is reported by those who wrote the Jewish history of what happened then that a great tribulation came upon the people, such as there had never been from the beginning of the world until the time of Christ, nor can such a one befall them afterwards, because they dared to lay hands on the true Christ of God, whose mystery and name David revered, saying of Saul, who persecuted him and wished to kill him: “I will not lay my hands on the Lord's anointed.” The cutting short of those days that was to come for the sake of God's elect who believe in Christ we understand as the shortening of those days. And then, when the people was in great calamity and the elect who were in Judaea were suffering dangers, many deceivers said: “Behold, here is the Christ, behold, there.” Teaching his disciples to watch out for them, he then said: “If anyone says to you, Behold, here is the Christ, behold, there, do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders.” One may name Simon Magus, who said that he was the great Power of God, or anyone like him, wishing to lead astray, if it were possible, even the elect. We have said these things in advance, without adding in this place any other explanation than that which follows the text, for the sake of those who delight in the simple tradition, so as to say what seems useful to them; since the Lord, foreknowing the truth, set these things forth, prophesying that they would happen.