Mark 11
Commentary from 29 fathers
And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.
καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· ὑπάγετε εἰς τὴν κώμην τὴν κατέναντι ὑμῶν, καὶ εὐθέως εἰσπορευόμενοι εἰς αὐτὴν εὑρήσετε πῶλον δεδεμένον, ἐφ᾿ ὃν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων κεκάθικε· λύσαντες αὐτὸν ἀγάγετε.
и҆ гл҃а и҆́ма: и҆ди́та въ ве́сь, ꙗ҆́же є҆́сть прѧ́мѡ ва́ма: и҆ а҆́бїе вхѡдѧ́ща въ ню̀, ѡ҆брѧ́щета жребѧ̀ привѧ́зано, на не́же никто́же ѿ человѣ̑къ всѣ́де: ѿрѣ̑шша є҆̀, приведи́та:
And we will cite the prophetic utterances of another prophet, Zephaniah, to the effect that He was foretold expressly as to sit upon the foal of an ass and to enter Jerusalem. The words are these: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."
The First Apology, Chapter XXXV
Note that the place where the ass was found tied was a village, and a village without a name. For in comparison with the great world in heaven, the whole earth is a village.
Commentary on John 18
“Untie the donkey and bring it to me.” He began with a manger and finished with a donkey, in Bethlehem with a manger, in Jerusalem with a donkey.
Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your king will come to you, gentle, and sitting upon a donkey, and its foal, the offspring of a beast of burden.” The daughter of Zion is the church of the faithful, a figure of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all, of which there then existed a sizeable group among the people of Israel. They had a king who was gentle, for it was not God’s pleasure to give an earthly kingdom to the powerful, but a heavenly kingdom to the gentle.
Homilies on the Gospels 2.3
And immediately upon entering it, you will find a colt tied, upon which no man has yet sat. Untie it and bring it. And if anyone says to you: What are you doing? say: Because the Lord needs it, and immediately he will send it here. Entering the world, the holy preachers found the people of the nations ensnared by the bonds of perfidy. For each was bound by the cords of their sins; not only of the nations, but also of the Jews. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. III). Therefore, in Matthew, the donkey together with the colt is found tied. The donkey, indeed, which was yoked and tamed, represents the Synagogue that bore the yoke of the law, while the colt of the donkey, untamed and free, signifies the people of the nations. Upon which no man has yet sat, because no rational teacher had yet applied the restraining bridle of correction, by which he might compel the tongue to refrain from evil or to go on the narrow path of life, or provided the garments of salvation by which they would be spiritually warmed, through beneficial advice for the people of the nations. A man would sit upon it if any rational person corrected its foolishness by suppressing it. Therefore, not unreasonably can the two disciples assigned to present the animals to the Lord be understood as the two orders of preachers, one directed to the Gentiles, the other to the circumcision.
On the Gospel of Mark
(in Marc. 3, 41) But in what way He sent His disciples and for what purpose is shown in these words, And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(ubi sup.) But He sent His disciples to a hold, which was over against them, that is, He appointed doctors to penetrate into the ignorant parts of the whole world, into, as it were, the walls of the hold placed against them.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(ubi sup.) For the colt of the ass, wanton and unshackled, denotes the people of the nations, on whom no man had yet sat, because no wise doctor had, by teaching them the things of salvation, put upon them the bridle of correction, to oblige them to restrain their tongues from evil, or to compel them into the narrow path of life.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
2–4Now consider how many things the Lord foretold to His disciples, that they should find a colt; wherefore it goes on, And as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat, loose him, and bring him; and that they should be impeded in taking it, wherefore there follows, And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye, The Lord hath need of him; and that on saying this, they should be allowed to take him; wherefore there follows, And straightway he will send him hither; and as the Lord had said, so it was fulfilled. Thus it goes on: And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without, in a place where two ways meet; and they loose him.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.
καὶ ἐάν τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ· τί ποιεῖτε τοῦτο; εἴπατε ὅτι ὁ Κύριος αὐτοῦ χρείαν ἔχει, καὶ εὐθέως αὐτὸν ἀποστέλλει πάλιν ὧδε.
и҆ а҆́ще кто̀ ва́ма рече́тъ: что̀ твори́та сїѐ; рцы́та, ꙗ҆́кѡ гдⷭ҇ь тре́бꙋетъ є҆̀: и҆ а҆́бїе по́слетъ є҆̀ сѣ́мѡ.
And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.
ἀπῆλθον δὲ καὶ εὗρον τὸν πῶλον δεδεμένον πρὸς τὴν θύραν ἔξω ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀμφόδου, καὶ λύουσιν αὐτόν.
И҆до́ста же, и҆ ѡ҆брѣто́ста жребѧ̀ привѧ́зано при две́рехъ внѣ̀ на распꙋ́тїи, и҆ ѿрѣши́ста є҆̀.
And the prophecy, "He shall be the expectation of the nations," signified that there would be some of all nations who should look for Him to come again. And this indeed you can see for yourselves, and be convinced of by fact. For of all races of men there are some who look for Him who was crucified in Judaea, and after whose crucifixion the land was straightway surrendered to you as spoil of war. And the prophecy, "binding His foal to the vine, and washing His robe in the blood of the grape," was a significant symbol of the things that were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to do. For the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then; and when it was brought, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem, where was the vast temple of the Jews which was afterwards destroyed by you. And after this He was crucified, that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled.
The First Apology, Chapter XXXII
(in Luc. 9, 6) Or else, they found it bound before the door, because whosoever is not in Christ is without, in the way; but he who is in Christ, is not without. He has added in the way, or in a place where two ways meet, where there is no certain possession for any man, nor stall, nor food, nor stable; miserable is his service, whose rights are unfixed; for he who has not the one Master, has many. Strangers bind him that they may possess him, Christ looses him in order to keep him, for He knows that gifts are stronger ties than bonds.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
“His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him,” that is, when he had manifested the power of his resurrection.… In short, mentally comparing with the contents of Scripture what was accomplished both prior to and in the course of our Lord’s passion, they found this also in Scripture, that it was in accordance with the utterance of the prophets that he sat on an ass’s colt.
Tractate on John 51.6
And going, they found the colt tied outside the gate at the crossroads, and they untied it. The colt is rightly found outside the gate at the crossroads. The gate, indeed, is He who says: I am the gate for the sheep. Through me, if anyone enters he will be saved, and he will go in and out and find pasture. This colt, that is, the people of the nations, lacked these pastures of life, as they still stood tied outside this gate at the crossroads. And rightly at the crossroads, because they did not hold a certain single path of life and faith, but followed many uncertain and erring paths of heresies.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) Or else, fitly did the colt stand in a place where two ways meet, because the Gentile people did not hold on in any certain road of life and faith, but followed in its error many doubtful paths of various sects.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Or else, in a place where two roads meet, that is, in this life, but it was loosed by the disciples, through faith and baptism.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
But they found the colt tied by the door without, because the Gentile people were bound by the chain of their sins before the door of faith, that is, without the Church.
Or, in a place where two roads meet, that is, in the freedom of will, hesitating between life and death.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?
καί τινες τῶν ἐκεῖ ἑστηκότων ἔλεγον αὐτοῖς· τί ποιεῖτε λύοντες τὸν πῶλον;
И҆ нѣ́цыи ѿ стоѧ́щихъ тꙋ̀ глаго́лахꙋ и҆́ма: что̀ дѣ́ета ѿрѣша̑юща жребѧ̀;
5–6(de Con. Ev. ii. 66) Matthew says, an ass and a colt, the rest however do not mention the ass. Where then both may be the case, there is no disagreement, though one Evangelist mentions one thing, and a second mentions another; how much less should a question be raised, when one mentions one, and another mentions that same one and another. It goes on: And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded, and they let them take it, that is, the colt.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And some of those standing there said to them, "What are you doing untying the colt?" In the Gospel of Luke, it is written thus: "So those who were sent went and found it just as He had told them, a colt standing there. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, 'What are you untying the colt for?' " And quite appropriately. For it had many owners, since it was not given to one doctrine and superstition, but miserably carried off into various and diverse errors at the whim of unclean spirits, proceeding to mute idols as led. Hence, by a certain customary usage of Scripture, it is said to be common, which is unclean. Just as the voice from heaven says to Peter, "What God has cleansed, you must not call common" (Acts 10). Because he who is holy belongs to God alone and is shared with no one. But he who is a sinner and unclean belongs to many. For many demons possess him, and thus he is called common.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) Or else, the masters of error, who resisted the teachers, when they came to save the Gentiles; but after that the power of the faith of the Lord appeared to believers, the faithful people were freed from the cavils of the adversaries, and were brought to the Lord, whom they bore in their hearts.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
5–6But they would not have allowed this, if the Divine power had not been upon them, to compel them, especially, as they were country people and farmers, and yet allowed them to take away the colt.
Or else, those who prevent them are the devils, who were weaker than the Apostles.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
But some said, What do ye? as if they would say, Who can remit sins?
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.
οἱ δὲ εἶπον αὐτοῖς καθὼς ἐνετείλατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ ἀφῆκαν αὐτούς.
Ѡ҆́на же рѣ́ста и҆̀мъ, ꙗ҆́коже заповѣ́да и҆́ма і҆и҃съ: и҆ ѡ҆ста́виша ѧ҆̀.
And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
καὶ ἤγαγον τὸν πῶλον πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἐπέβαλον αὐτῷ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ.
И҆ приведо́ста жребѧ̀ ко і҆и҃сови: и҆ возложи́ша на нѐ ри̑зы своѧ̑, и҆ всѣ́де на нѐ.
The master of humility is Christ who humbled himself and became obedient even to death, even the death of the cross. Thus he does not lose his divinity when he teaches us humility.… What great thing was it to the king of the ages to become the king of humanity? For Christ was not the king of Israel so that he might exact a tax or equip an army with weaponry and visibly vanquish an enemy. He was the king of Israel in that he rules minds, in that he gives counsel for eternity, in that he leads into the kingdom of heaven for those who believe, hope, and love. It is a condescension, not an advancement for one who is the Son of God, equal to the Father, the Word through whom all things were made, to become king of Israel. It is an indication of pity, not an increase in power.
Tractate on John 51.3-4
They said to them as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go, and they brought the colt to Jesus. Those who had opposed untying the colt quieted upon hearing the name of the Lord. Because the masters of errors, who resisted the teachers of the gentiles coming to salvation, defended their darkness until, with miracles attesting, the power of the true owner and Lord shone forth. But after the power of the Lord's faith appeared, with the complaints of the adversaries giving way, the assembly of believers was freely brought to God, whom they carried in their hearts.
On the Gospel of Mark
And they put their garments on it, and He sat on it. The garments of the apostles can be understood as the doctrine of virtues, the explanation of Scriptures, or certainly the varieties of ecclesiastical doctrines, by which those hearts of men, formerly bare and cold, are covered so they may be made worthy of Christ as the rider.
On the Gospel of Mark
But by the garments of the Apostles, which they put upon it, we may understand the teaching of virtues, or the interpretation of the Scriptures, or the various doctrines of the Church, by which they clothe the hearts of men, once naked and cold and fit them to become the seats of Christ.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
7–10As long as the common people remain uncorrupted, they recognize what is beneficial. This is why they now pay honor to Jesus, each according to his ability. But what did they say as they glorified Him? They borrowed their song from David, and the word "Hosanna," according to some, means "salvation," while according to others it means "a song." But the first opinion is better, for in the one hundred and seventeenth psalm it says: "O Lord, save us," which in Hebrew is written "Hosanna." They called Christ's Kingdom the "Kingdom of David," first because Christ descended from the seed of David, and second because David means "strong of hand." And who else is so strong of hand as the Lord, whose hands have accomplished such wondrous works? But let us also spread our garments, that is, our flesh, for the flesh is the garment of the soul, and let us submit it to the Lord. Let us pave the path of our life by cutting branches from the trees, that is, by imitating the lives of the saints. For the saints are like trees from which one who imitates their virtues cuts branches. But let our deeds, both those that precede and those that follow, be to the glory of God. For some showed a good beginning in their earlier life, yet their subsequent life was not the same and did not serve to the glory of God.
Commentary on Mark
It goes on: And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
The colt, however, was not necessary to Him, but He sent for it to show that He would transfer Himself to the Gentiles.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Or else, they put upon it their garments, that is, they bring to them the first robe of immortality by the Sacrament of Baptism. And Jesus sat upon it, that is, began to reign in them, so that sin should not reign in their wanton flesh, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.
πολλοὶ δὲ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν ἔστρωσαν εἰς τὴν ὁδόν, ἄλλοι δὲ στοιβάδας ἔκοπτον ἐκ τῶν δένδρων καὶ ἐστρώννυον εἰς τὴν ὁδόν.
Мно́зи же ри̑зы своѧ̑ постла́ша по пꙋтѝ: дрꙋзі́и же ва̑їа рѣ́захꙋ ѿ дре́вїѧ и҆ постила́хꙋ по пꙋтѝ.
Instead of our garments, let us spread our hearts before him.
Oration on the Palms 1
And others cut boughs … and strewed them in the way. They cut branches from the fruitbearing trees with which the Mount of Olives was planted, and spread them in the way; so as to make the crooked ways straight, and the rough ways smooth, that Christ the conqueror of sin might walk straightly and safely into the hearts of the faithful.… And when they had done all that was to be done by their hands, they offered also the tribute of their voices; and going before and following after they cry, not in a brief and wordless confession, but with all their might: “Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.”
Homilies 94
But many spread their garments on the way. When the Lord was borne on a donkey, many spread their garments on the way, because the holy martyrs, stripping themselves of their own fleshly clothing, prepare the way for the simpler servants of God with their blood, so that, with an unhindered step of mind, they may proceed to the walls of the heavenly city where Jesus leads. Likewise, our Savior tends towards Jerusalem sitting on a donkey when he, ruling the soul of each believer, that is, his beast of burden, leads to the inner vision of peace. He also sits on the beast when he universally presides over the holy Church and inflames it with a desire for heavenly peace. But many spread their garments on the way, for they subjugate their bodies through abstinence to prepare the way to the mind, or they present good examples to those who follow.
On the Gospel of Mark
But others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. And those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They cut branches or twigs from the trees, who in the teaching of truth extract words and sentences of the Fathers from their eloquence, and submit these on the way of God to the mind of a coming listener with humble preaching. But those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting: Hosanna. Indeed, the Jewish people went ahead, the Gentiles followed. And because all the chosen, whether they could have been in Judea or those who now exist in the Church, believed and believe in the Mediator of God and men, those who go ahead and those who follow shouted Hosanna. Hosanna is said in Latin as save us. From Him, both the former sought salvation, and the present seek. They confess the blessed one who comes in the name of the Lord, because there is one hope, one faith of the preceding and following peoples. For just as they were healed by witnessing His passion and resurrection, so we are saved by His past passion and by His resurrection enduring through the ages. For whom our ancestors from the Jewish people believed and loved to come, this one we believe has come and love, and we are kindled with desire for Him, so that we may behold Him face to face.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) Or else, many strew their garments in the way, because the holy martyrs put off from themselves the garment of their own flesh, and prepare a way for the more simple servants of God with their own blood. Many also strew their garments in the way, because they tame their bodies with abstinence, that they may prepare a way for God to the mount, or may give good examples to those who follow them. And they cut down branches from the trees, who in the teaching of the truth cull the sentences of the Fathers from their words, and by their lowly preaching scatter them in the path of God, when He comes into the soul of the hearer.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Let us also strew the way of our life with branches which we cut from the trees, that is, imitate the saints, for these are holy trees, from which, he who imitates their virtues cuts down branches.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Again, many spread their garments in the way, under the feet of the foal of the ass. What are feet, but those who carry, and the least esteemed, whom the Apostle has set to judge? (v. 1 Cor. 6:4.) And these too, though they are not the back on which the Lord sat, yet are instructed by John with the soldiers.
For the righteous shall flourish as a palm tree, straitened in their roots, but spreading out wide with flowers and fruits; for they are a good odour unto Christ, and strew the way of the commandments of God with their good report.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
καὶ οἱ προάγοντες καὶ οἱ ἀκολουθοῦντες ἔκραζον λέγοντες· ὡσαννά, εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου.
И҆ предходѧ́щїи и҆ в̾слѣ́дъ грѧдꙋ́щїи вопїѧ́хꙋ, глаго́люще: ѡ҆са́нна, блгⷭ҇ве́нъ грѧды́й во и҆́мѧ гдⷭ҇не,
The boys in the Gospel raised aloft their branches as the Savior entered Jerusalem. They kept on crying: “Hosanna.” … They borrowed these versicles from Psalm 117. Hosanna, moreover, is the Hebrew for “O Lord, grant salvation!”
Homilies 94
“Hosanna,” however, is a word of supplicating, as some say who know the Hebrew language, more declaring a feeling than signifying something. Just as in the Latin language there are words which we call interjections, as when in sorrow we say, Heu! Or when we are delighted, we say, Vah! Or when we are amazed, we say, “Oh, what a great thing!” For then oh signifies nothing except the feeling of one who is amazed.
Tractate on John 51.2
(ubi sup.) But Hosanna is a Hebrew word, made out of two, one imperfect the other perfect. For save, or preserve, is in their language, hosy; but anna is a supplicatory interjection, as in Latin heu is an exclamation of grief.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(ubi sup.) And because all the elect, whether those who were able to become such in Judæa, or those who now are such in the Church, believed and now believe on the Mediator between God and man, both those who go before and those who follow cried out Hosanna.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
But both those of our deeds which go before and those which follow after must be done to the glory of God; for some in their past life make a good beginning, but their following life does not correspond with their former, neither does it end to the glory of God.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
9–10They cry out Hosanna, that is save us, that men might be saved by Him who was blessed, and was a conqueror and came in the name of the Lord, that is, of His Father, since the Father is so called because of the Son, and the Son, because of the Father.
Or Hosanna, that is, save in the highest as well as in the lowest, that is, that the just be built on the ruin of Angels, and also that both those on the earth and those under the earth should be saved. In a mystical sense, also, the Lord approaches Jerusalem, which is 'the vision of peace,' in which happiness remains fixed and unmoved, being, as the Apostle says, the mother of all believers. (Gal. 4:26)
Those who went before are the prophets, and those who followed are the Apostles.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
εὐλογημένη ἡ ἐρχομένη βασιλεία ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου τοῦ πατρός ἡμῶν Δαυΐδ· ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.
блгⷭ҇ве́но грѧдꙋ́щее црⷭ҇тво во и҆́мѧ гдⷭ҇а ѻ҆тца̀ на́шегѡ дв҃да: ѡ҆са́нна въ вы́шнихъ.
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem into the temple, etc. We read in the Gospel of John that the crowds, having been fed with five loaves and two fishes, wanted to seize Jesus and make him king; but to prevent this from happening, he fled to the mountain and prayed. Now, however, as he comes to Jerusalem to suffer, he does not avoid those who make him king, who lead him to the royal city with a glorious procession and hymns worthy of the Son of God and king; he does not suppress the voices of those who proclaim the restoration of the kingdom of patriarch David in him and the recovery of the blessings of old. Why, then, does he now willingly embrace what he avoided before by fleeing, and not refuse to accept the kingdom, which while still living in the world he did not wish to receive, but now, about to depart from the world through the passion of the cross, he does not refuse to accept, unless it is to openly teach that he is a king not of a temporal and earthly, but of an eternal empire in heaven? To which kingdom indeed he would arrive through the contempt of death, the glory of resurrection, and the triumph of ascension. Hence it is that after the resurrection, appearing to the disciples, he said: All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me, and other things of the same place. It should certainly be noted how great a consonance there is between the crowd praising the Lord and the voice of the archangel Gabriel announcing to the virgin mother, who said: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever (Luke I). Now, the Lord took the seat or kingdom of David to call the people, to whom David once provided the reins of the temporal kingdom as well as examples of justice, and whom they were accustomed to inspire with the modulations of spiritual hymns to faith and love for their Creator, to the heavenly and immortal kingdom by means of words, gifts, deeds, and promises worthy of such a mediator between God and men, and to lead them to the very vision of God the Father. In this it is joined: Hosanna in the highest, that is, salvation. This clearly shows that the coming of Christ is not only the salvation of men but of the whole world; uniting the earthly with the heavenly, so that every knee shall bow to him, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. It should certainly be noted that the word Hosanna, a Hebrew word, is composed of two parts, corrupted and intact. For save or save us is said by them Osi, while anna is an interjection of one who is beseeching. Just as among the Latins there is an interjection for one who is in pain, "heu," and an interjection for one who is marveling, "papae." Finally, in the hundred and seventeenth psalm, where the seventy interpreters translated "O Lord, save me," in Hebrew it is written: Anna Adonai, osi anna. This our interpreter Jerome, elucidating more diligently, translated thus: I beseech you, O Lord, save I beseech. For it signifies the same thing, "O Lord," through the interjection of beseeching, as "I beseech you, O Lord," through the very word of supplication. Hosanna thus signifies "save, I beseech," with the vowel letter i, which terminates the first word when it is perfectly said osi, being consumed by the force of the vowel letter a, with which the following word begins anna. Which the metrical poets call synaloepha in scanning verses, although when scanning they leap over the written letter; however, in this word Hosanna, the letter i is neither even written, but with the sense of the speakers preserved, is utterly extinguished.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) Now we read in the Gospel of John that He fled into a mountain, lest they should make him their king. Now, however, when He comes to Jerusalem to suffer, He does not shun those who call Him king, that He might openly teach them that He was King over an empire not temporal and earthly, but everlasting in the heavens, and that the path to this kingdom was through contempt of death. Observe also the agreement of the multitude with the saying of Gabriel, The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; (Luke 1:32) that is, that He Himself may call by word and deed to a heavenly kingdom the nation to which David once furnished the government of a temporal rule.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
But they called the kingdom of Christ, that of David, both because Christ was descended from the seed of David, and because David means a man of a strong hand. For whose hand is stronger than the Lord's, by which so many and so great miracles were wrought.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἰς τὸ ἱερόν· καὶ περιβλεψάμενος πάντα, ὀψίας ἤδη οὔσης τῆς ὥρας, ἐξῆλθεν εἰς Βηθανίαν μετὰ τῶν δώδεκα.
[Заⷱ҇ 50] И҆ вни́де во і҆ерⷭ҇ли́мъ і҆и҃съ и҆ въ це́рковь: и҆ соглѧ́давъ всѧ̑, по́здѣ ᲂу҆жѐ сꙋ́щꙋ часꙋ̀, и҆зы́де въ виѳа́нїю со ѻ҆бѣмана́десѧте.
And he entered Jerusalem into the temple. Having entered the city, he first went to the temple, showing us the form of religion which we should follow. So that when by chance we enter a village or town or any other place where there is a house dedicated to the worship of God, we first go to this; and, after we have commended ourselves to the Lord through the duty of prayers, we then withdraw to attend to the temporal business for which we came. However, as the time of the Passion approached, the Lord wished to draw near to the place of the Passion and remain there, where at the appointed and predetermined time he could be found by those through whom the Passion was to be accomplished. Through this, he also intimated to all those hearing that he would face death not unwillingly, as the profane thought, but of his own will. When the hour was approaching, he boldly went to the place where he had foretold far in advance through himself and his prophets that he would suffer. It should be noted that this entry of his into Jerusalem occurred five days before Passover, during which he decided to fulfill the mystery of his most holy Passion. For John narrates that six days before Passover, he came to Bethany, where a supper was made for him, and many reclining at the table, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed him with mystical ointment; and the next day, sitting on a donkey, with a large crowd meeting him with palms, he came to Jerusalem. Here, not only the harmony in things but also in the times of the Old and New Testaments, the shadow and the truth, the law and the Gospel, must not be passed over in silence. For it is written in the law, with the Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron: "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Speak to the whole congregation of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their ancestral houses, a lamb for each household." And shortly after: "And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight" (Exodus 12). Therefore, on the tenth day of the first month, the lamb to be sacrificed at Passover was commanded to be brought into the house, because also on the tenth day of the same month, that is, five days before Passover, the Lord was to enter the city in which he would suffer. And just as the lamb chosen from the whole flock awaited the certain day of its sacrifice, so also the Lord, as the whole council of elders and leaders conspired against him, steadfastly awaited the hour in which he would offer himself as a sacrifice to God and a victim in the odor of sweetness for the salvation of the world. The lamb was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight, and the Lord, at the same hour, eating the lamb with his disciples, where he completed the decrees of the legal Passover, immediately went out with them to the place of prayer, where, being captured and bound by the Jews, he began at once the mysteries of his blessed suffering.
On the Gospel of Mark
And having looked around at everything, since it was already evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. He did not do this just once; but for all five days after he had gone up to Jerusalem until the time of the Passion, he was accustomed to do this very thing: that during the day he would teach in the temple, but at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as we read in Luke. For by teaching the unbelievers, he diligently fulfilled the duty of correction. However, by staying among the faithful, he graciously exhibited the kindness of his favor to them. It is well noted that, after looking around at everything, he went out to Bethany. Indeed, the internal judge examines the hearts of all, and when he does not find a place to rest his head among those who oppose and resist the truth, he withdraws to the faithful and rejoices in making a dwelling with the Father in those who obey the word. For Bethany is called the house of obedience. This also must be understood, that the Lord was of such great poverty, and so did not flatter anyone, that he found no host, no lodging in that greatest city, but stayed in the small country place with Lazarus and his sisters. For their village is Bethany.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) As the time of His Passion approached, the Lord wished to approach to the place of His Passion, in order to intimate that He underwent death of His own accord: wherefore it is said, And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple. And by His going to the temple on first entering the city, He shows us beforehand a form of religion, which we are to follow, that if by chance we enter a place, where there is a house of prayer, we should first turn aside to it. We should also understand from this, that such was the poverty of the Lord, and so far was He from flattering man, that in so large a city, He found no one to be His host, no abiding place, but lived in a small country place with Lazarus and his sisters; for Bethany is a hamlet of the Jews. Wherefore there follows: And when he had looked round about upon all things, (that is, to see whether any one would take Him in,) and now the eventide was come, he went out into Bethany with the twelve. Nor did He do this once only, but during all the five days, from the time that He came to Jerusalem, to the day of His Passion, He used always to do the same thing; during the day He taught in the temple, but at night, He went out and dwelt in the mount of Olives.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(ubi sup.) Farther, He looks round about upon the hearts of all, and when in those who opposed the truth, He found no place to lay His head, He retires to the faithful, and takes up His abode with those who obey Him. For Bethany means the house of obedience.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
11–14Wishing to show His disciples that if He chose He could in a moment exterminate those who were about to crucify Him. In a mystical sense, however, the Lord entered into the temple, but came out of it again, to show that He left it desolate, and open to the spoiler.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Jesus entered the temple and soon went out of it again, showing by this that He was already leaving it to desolation and plunder. He departs to Bethany, which means "house of obedience," for, leaving the disobedient and hard-hearted, He now goes with His disciples to those obedient to Him.
Commentary on Mark
11–12He went in the morning to the Jews, and visits us in the eventide of the world.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
Καὶ τῇ ἐπαύριον ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν ἀπὸ Βηθανίας ἐπείνασε·
И҆ наꙋ́трїе и҆зше́дшымъ и҆̀мъ ѿ виѳа́нїи, взалка̀:
As we behold the mystery of his tears, hunger and thirst, let us remember that the one who wept also raised the dead to life, rejoicing for Lazarus. From the very One who thirsted flowed rivers of living water. He who hungered was able to wither the fig tree which offered no fruit for his hunger. How could this be, that he who was able to strike the green tree dead merely by his word could also have a nature that could hunger? This was the mystery of his hunger, grief, and thirst, that the Word was assuming flesh. His humanity was entirely exposed to our weaknesses, yet even then his glory was not wholly put away as he suffered these indignities. His weeping was not for himself, his thirst was not for water, nor his hunger merely for food. He did not eat or drink or weep just to satisfy his appetites. Rather, in his incarnate humbling he was demonstrating the reality of his own body by hungering, by doing what human nature does. And when he ate and drank, it was not a concession to some necessity external to himself, but to show his full participation in the human condition.
On the Trinity 10.24
12–14We may also say, in another sense, that the Lord sought for fruit on the fig tree before its time, and not finding it, cursed it, because all who fulfil the commandments of the Law, are said to bear fruit in their own time, as, for instance, that commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but he who not only abstains from adultery but remains a virgin, which is a greater thing, excels them in virtue. But the Lord exacts from the perfect not only the observance of virtue, but also that they bear fruit over and above the commandments.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Did Christ really want physically to relish and consume fruit himself when he sought the fruit of this fig tree? And if he had found it there, would he then even have eaten it? Did he really want to drink water when he said to the woman of Samaria, “Give me a drink”? When he was on the cross saying “I thirst,” was this really all about his physical thirst? For what does Christ hunger more than our good works? For what does Christ thirst more than our faithful response? On the Psalms
Mark, on his side, has recorded in connection with the second day what he had omitted to notice as occurring really on the first—namely, the incident of the expulsion of the sellers and buyers from the temple. On the other hand, Matthew, after mentioning what was done on the second day—namely, the cursing of the fig tree as he was returning in the morning from Bethany into the city—has omitted certain facts which Mark has inserted, namely, his coming into the city, and his going out of it in the evening, and the astonishment which the disciples expressed at finding the tree dried up as they passed by in the morning; and then to what had taken place on the second day, which was the day on which the tree was cursed, he has attached what really took place on the third day—namely, the amazement of the disciples at seeing the tree’s withered condition, and the declaration which they heard from the Lord on the question of the power of faith.
Harmony of the Gospels 2.68.131
And the next day, when they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. He was hungry, either showing the truth of human flesh or desiring the salvation of believers, burning with zeal against the unbelief of Israel.
On the Gospel of Mark
It goes on, And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
12–14But let us also examine the account of the fig tree, for here something seemingly strange and harsh appears. First, Jesus was hungry early in the morning; second, He demands fruit when the season for figs had not yet come; and furthermore, He punishes an insensible tree. For in what He says and does here, there was a special providence. Until now Jesus had often worked miracles, but only for the benefit of people. But the disciples had not yet seen Him do harm to anyone. Now, in order to show the disciples that He can also punish, and that, if He wished, He could in a single hour destroy those intending to crucify Him, He manifests His power upon an insensible tree. And the miracle was truly great in that a tree so full of sap withered at once, for the fig tree is more full of sap than almost all other trees. That He hungered early in the morning — this He permitted His flesh to experience by a special providence; and He seeks fruit prematurely on the fig tree for the purpose, as I said above, of showing the disciples that He can also punish. And this fig tree was at the same time a figure of the Jewish synagogue, which had only leaves, that is, the Law, which provided nothing but a shadow, while they bore no fruit at all. But Jesus hungered for their salvation. He says: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 4:34), and this will of God consists in converting sinners. Since, however, the synagogue had no fruit, it was cursed and withered, having (no longer among it) neither prophets nor teachers.
Commentary on Mark
12–14The miracles of healing fall into the same pattern. This is sometimes obscured for us by the somewhat magical view we tend to take of ordinary medicine. The doctors themselves do not take this view. The magic is not in the medicine but in the patient's body. What the doctor does is to stimulate Nature's functions in the body, or to remove hindrances. In a sense, though we speak for convenience of healing a cut, every cut heals itself; no dressing will make skin grow over a cut on a corpse. That same mysterious energy which we call gravitational when it steers the planets and biochemical when it heals a body is the efficient cause of all recoveries, and if God exists, that energy, directly or indirectly, is His. All who are cured are cured by Him, the healer within. But once He did it visibly, a Man meeting a man. Where He does not work within in this mode, the organism dies. Hence Christ's one miracle of destruction is also in harmony with God's wholesale activity. His bodily hand held out in symbolic wrath blasted a single fig tree; but no tree died that year in Palestine, or any year, or in any land, or even ever will, save because He has done something, or (more likely) ceased to do something, to it.
Miracles, from God in the Dock
And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
καὶ ἰδὼν συκῆν ἀπὸ μακρόθεν ἔχουσαν φύλλα, ἦλθεν εἰ ἄρα τι εὑρήσει ἐν αὐτῇ· καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν οὐδὲν εὗρεν εἰ μὴ φύλλα· οὐ γὰρ ἦν καιρὸς σύκων.
и҆ ви́дѣвъ смоко́вницꙋ и҆здале́ча, и҆мꙋ́щꙋ ли́ствїе, прїи́де, а҆́ще ᲂу҆́бѡ что̀ ѡ҆брѧ́щетъ на не́й: и҆ прише́дъ къ не́й, ничесѡ́же ѡ҆брѣ́те, то́кмѡ ли́ствїе: не ᲂу҆̀ бо бѣ̀ вре́мѧ смо́квамъ.
(The Docetae maintain) that God is the primal (Being), as it were a seed of a fig-tree, which is altogether very diminutive in size, but infinite in power. (This seed constitutes, according to the Docetae,) a lowly magnitude, incalculable in multitude, (and) labouring under no deficiency as regards generation. (This seed is) a refuge for the terror-stricken, a shelter of the naked, a veil for modesty, (and) the sought-for produce, to which He came in search (for fruit), he says, three times, and did not discover (any). Wherefore, he says, He cursed the fig-tree, because He did not find upon it that sweet fruit-the sought-for produce. And inasmuch as the Deity is, according to them to express myself briefly-of this description and so great, that is, small and minute, the world, as it seems to them, was made in some such manner as the following: When the branches of the fig-tree became tender, leaves budded (first), as one may (generally) see, and next in succession the fruit. Now, in this (fruit) is preserved treasured the infinite and incalculable seed of the fig-tree. We think, therefore, (say the Docetae,) that there are three (parts) which are primarily produced by the seed of the fig-tree, (viz.,) stem, which constitutes the fig-tree, leaves, and fruit-the fig itself, as we have previously declared. In this manner, the (Docetic) affirms, have been produced three Aeons, which are principles from the primal originating cause of the universe. And Moses has not been silent on this point, when he says, that there are three words of God, "darkness, gloom, tempest, and added no more." For the (Docetic) says, God has made no addition to the three Aeons; but these, in every respect. have been sufficient for (the exigencies of) those who have been begotten and are sufficient. God Himself, however, remains with Himself, far separated froth the three Aeons. When each of these Aeons had obtained an originating cause of generation, he grew, as has been declared, by little and little, and (by degrees) was magnified, and (ultimately) became perfect. But they think that that is perfect which is reckoned at ten. When, therefore, the Aeons had become equal in number and in perfection, they were, as (the Docetae) are of opinion, constituted thirty Aeons in all, while each of them attains full perfection in a decade. And the three are mutually distinct, and hold one (degree of) honour relatively to one another, differing in position merely, because one of them is first, and the other second, and the other of these third. Position, however, afforded them diversity of power. For he who has obtained a position nearest to the primal Deity-who is, as it were, a seed-possessed a more productive power than the rest, inasmuch as he himself who is the immeasurable one, measured himself tenfold in bulk. He, however, who in position is second to the primal Deity, has, inasmuch as he is the incomprehensible one, comprehended himself sixfold. But he who is now third in position is conveyed to an infinite distance, in consequence of the dilatation of his brethren. (And when this third Aeon) had thrice realized himself in thought, he encircled himself with, as it were, some eternal chain of union.
The Refutations of All Heresies Book 8
The nature of the fig tree is such that when it is cut, because of its moisture, it [requires] many months for it to dry up. Our Lord chose it as a symbol, therefore, to make the quality of his power known through it. It is evident that the fig tree becomes moist and tender before the other trees. Hence our Lord said: “From the fig tree learn this parable. As soon as its branch becomes tender and opens up in the outer covering of its buds, you know that summer is near.” You see that he proposes it [as a symbol] because of its abundant moisture and its early buds.
Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron
Some who witnessed Christ’s miracles did not understand what they meant, and how they spoke to those who knew they had special meaning. They wondered only at the miracles themselves. Others both marvelled at the miracles, and attained some preliminary understanding of them. For this we must come to the school of Christ himself. Those fixed only upon the plain sense of Scripture tend to focus merely upon miracle for miracles’ sake. Hence they may prematurely conclude that Jesus himself was ignorant of the time of the year, something any ordinary farmer could discern. For it was not yet the season for the tree to bear fruit. Nevertheless, since he was hungry, he looked for fruit on the tree. Does this imply that Christ knew less than what every peasant could easily discern? Surely not. Wouldn’t you expect the maker of the fig tree to know what the ordinary orchard worker would know in a snap? So when he was hungry he looked for fruit on the tree, but he seemed to be looking for something more from this tree. He noted that the tree had no fruit, but was full of leaves. It was at that point that he cursed it, and it withered away. So what terrible thing had the poor tree done simply in not bearing fruit? Could the tree reasonably be faulted for its fruitlessness? No. But human beings who by their own free will decide not to bear fruit—that is a different matter. Those found wanting in accountability in this case are those who had the benefit of the law, which was meant to bear fruit, but they had no fruit to show for it. They had a full growth of leaves (the law), yet they bore no fruit (works of mercy).
Sermons on New Testament Lessons 48.3
For, as to what you have said about the fig-tree, Augustine speaks aptly in the same sense; for, when the evangelist subjoined, For the time of figs was not yet, it is plainly shown that the figs which the Lord had sought were fruit in the synagogue, which had the leaves of the Law, but not the fruit of works. For the Creator of all things could not be ignorant that the fig-tree had no fruit; which was a thing that all might know, since it was not the time of figs.
Register of Epistles, Book 10, Epistle 39
And when he saw from afar a fig tree having leaves, he went to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And answering, Jesus said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." Just as the Lord was accustomed to saying many things in parables, so also he was accustomed to doing certain things in parables. For what reason would there be for him to seek fruit on a fig tree when he was hungry, when any man knew that it was not yet the time for figs, and to condemn the tree to an eternal curse for not having fruit at that time, unless, by this act, he intended to admonish the people whom he was teaching by word, that no one producing leaves but not fruit, that is, displaying the words of righteousness without deeds, would deserve to be cut down and cast into the fire? For every tree is known not by its flowers, not by its leaves, but by its fruit; that is, every man is tested and proven not by the reputation of fame or the pomp of words, but by the testimony of their actions. Therefore, the Lord, being hungry, saw a fig tree having leaves and came to seek fruit on it, but did not find any. Because desiring the salvation of the human race, he saw Judea having the words of the law and the prophets, and came to test, by teaching, correcting, and performing miracles, if he might find any fruit of faith and life in their hearts. But because the fig tree was found to have leaves without fruit, it is condemned, because Judea, which resounded with the words of Scripture without deeds, deserved to be punished with vengeance. However, I would say this, not that the entire Synagogue was rejected, from which certainly the early Church was constructed. But that portion of the Synagogue which refused to feed the hungry Christ with good works deservedly earned condemnation, preferring to be overshadowed by the leaves of spiritual words rather than to be adorned with the fruits of the Spirit. To them, he says elsewhere: "I go, and you will seek me, and in your sin you will die" (John 5:34). This passage, indeed, fits 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 any. He then said to the vinedresser: Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down, why does it even occupy the ground? But he answered and said to him: Lord, leave it for this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on it. And if it bears fruit, well; but if not, you shall cut it down (Luke 13:6-9). The vinedresser is the order of the apostles and spiritual doctors, who diligently called the Synagogue to repentance, lest it perish, and strove to supplicate the Lord for its salvation. Especially James, the brother of the Lord, who was put in charge of governing the Church in Jerusalem. But because that Synagogue neither in the legal edicts, nor in the prophetic declarations, nor in the grace of the shining Gospel itself, agreed to bear the fruit of obedience, it remained a sterile fig tree for three years and was rejected by the Lord and overturned by eternal malediction. For it was not only cast away from the lot of the elect, but also cut off from the very ground it occupied in vain. But also you, if you do not wish to hear in judgment from Christ: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, for I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat (Matthew 25:41), beware of being a sterile tree in this life; rather, offer to the poor Christ who is hungry the fruit of piety he needs.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) Just in the same way as He speaks parables, so also His deeds are parables; therefore He comes hungry to seek fruit off the fig tree, and though He knew the time of figs was not yet, He condemns it to perpetual barrenness, that He might show that the Jewish people could not be saved through the leaves, that is, the words of righteousness which it had, without fruit, that is, good works, but should be cut down and cast into the fire. Hungering therefore, that is, desiring the salvation of mankind, He saw the fig tree, which is, the Jewish people, having leaves, or, the words of the Law and the Prophets, and He sought upon it the fruit of good works, by teaching them, by rebuking them, by working miracles, and He found it not, and therefore condemned it. Do thou too, unless thou wouldest be condemned by Christ in the judgment, beware of being a barren tree, but rather offer to Christ the fruit of piety which He requires.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτῇ· μηκέτι ἐκ σοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μηδεὶς καρπὸν φάγοι. καὶ ἤκουον οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ.
И҆ ѿвѣща́въ і҆и҃съ речѐ є҆́й: да не ктомꙋ̀ ѿ тебє̀ во вѣ́ки никто́же плода̀ снѣ́сть. И҆ слы́шахꙋ ᲂу҆чн҃цы̀ є҆гѡ̀.
The owner of the fig tree did not obey the law but spurned it. Our Lord came and found that there was [nothing] left on it, so he cursed it, lest its owner eat from it again, since he had left [nothing] for the orphan and widows.… He cursed the fig tree and it shriveled up to show them the power of his divinity, so that by means of [this] action near at hand which they could see, they might believe that which was to come. Because [Jerusalem] had not accepted the law, he cursed [the fig tree], so that there might no longer be fruit on it, according to its law.… He sought fruit from the fig tree at an inopportune time, that it might be a symbol of one who had deceitfully withheld the fruits of the law at the opportune time. For, if he had sought fruit from it at the opportune time, no one would have known that there was a figurative meaning embedded here. Instead of the fig tree, therefore, he showed that it was Jerusalem that he was reproaching, for he had sought love in her, but she had despised the fruit of repentance.… Why, therefore, did he who was good and gentle, who everywhere revealed great things out of little things, and completion out of imperfection, why did he command the fig tree to dry up? For he healed the sufferings of everyone, changed water to wine, made an abundance from a little bread, opened the eyes of the blind, cleansed lepers and raised the dead to life. But this fig tree alone did he cause to wither. It was because the time of his suffering was near, and, lest it be thought that he was captured because he was unable to free himself, he cursed the fig tree, that it might be a sign for his friends, and a miracle for his enemies. Thus, the disciples would be strengthened by his word, and others would be amazed at his power. Because he did all things well, and [the time] for him to suffer was near, it might be thought, as indeed it was, that he was captured because he possessed no power. He showed in advance, therefore, by means of a living plant which he caused to wither, that he would have been able to destroy his crucifiers with a word.
Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron
Remember at the time of the sin of Adam and Eve they clothed themselves—with what? Fig leaves. That was their first act after the fall. So now Jesus is making the same figure of the fig tree the very last of his wondrous signs. Just as he was headed toward the cross, he cursed the fig tree—not every fig tree, but that one alone for its symbolic significance—saying: “May no one ever eat fruit of you again.” In this way the curse laid upon Adam and Eve was being reversed. For they had clothed themselves with fig leaves.
Catechetical Lecture 13:18
And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
Καὶ ἔρχονται πάλιν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα· καὶ εἰσελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἤρξατο ἐκβάλλειν τοὺς πωλοῦντας καὶ τοὺς ἀγοράζοντας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, καὶ τὰς τραπέζας τῶν κολλυβιστῶν καὶ τὰς καθέδρας τῶν πωλούντων τὰς περιστερὰς κατέστρεψε,
И҆ прїидо́ша (па́ки) во і҆ерⷭ҇ли́мъ. И҆ вше́дъ і҆и҃съ въ це́рковь, нача́тъ и҆згони́ти продаю́щыѧ и҆ кꙋпꙋ́ющыѧ въ це́ркви: и҆ трапє́зы торжникѡ́мъ и҆ сѣда̑лища продаю́щихъ гѡ́лꙋби и҆спрове́рже:
This account of the many sellers who were cast out of the temple was reported by all the Evangelists, including John, but in his case he introduces it in a completely different order.… John proceeds to tell us that he went up to Jerusalem at the season of the Jews’ passover, and when he had made a scourge of small cords drove out of the temple those who were selling in it. This makes it evident that this act was performed by the Lord not on a single occasion, but twice over. Only in the first instance was it recorded by John, but in the last by the other three.
Harmony of the Gospels 2.67
(de Con. Evan. lib. ii. 67) John, however, relates this in a very different order, wherefore it is manifest that not once only, but twice, this was done by the Lord, and that the first time was related by John, this last, by all the other three.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(de Con. Evan. lib. ii. 68) In this again Mark does not keep the same order as Matthew; because however Matthew connects the facts together by this sentence, And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany, (Matt. 21:17) returning from whence in the morning, according to his relation, Christ cursed the tree, therefore it is supposed with greater probability that he rather has kept to the order of time, as to the ejection from the temple of the buyers and sellers. Mark therefore passed over what was done the first day when He entered into the temple, and on remembering it inserted it, when he had said that He found nothing on the fig tree but leaves, which was done on the second day, as both testify.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Why do you not recall before the eyes of your mind that our Redeemer, entering the temple, overturned the seats of those selling doves and poured out the money of the money-changers? For who are those in the temple of God today who sell doves, if not those who in the Church receive payment for the imposition of hands? Through which imposition, namely, the Holy Spirit is given from heaven. Therefore the dove is sold, because the imposition of hands, 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 merchants. For hence it is that the sacred canons condemn the simonian heresy, and command that those be deprived of the priesthood who seek payment for bestowing ordinations. Therefore the seat of those selling doves is overturned when those who sell spiritual grace are deprived of the priesthood, either before human eyes or before the eyes of God.
Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 17
Having described this, what the Lord did is added: because, entering the temple, he began to cast out those selling and buying in it, saying to them: It is written that my house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. For he who foretold the evils to come and immediately entered the temple to cast out from it those selling and buying, clearly made known that the ruin of the people came chiefly from the fault of the priests. Indeed, in describing the destruction but striking at those selling and buying in the temple, he showed by the very effect of his work whence the root of perdition sprang. Moreover, as we have learned from another evangelist as witness, doves were being sold in the temple. And what is received through doves except the gift of the Holy Spirit? But he expels the sellers and buyers from the temple, because he condemns either those who grant the imposition of hands for a gift, or those who strive to buy the gift of the Spirit.
Just as the temple of God is in the city, so also is the life of religious persons among the faithful people. And often some take up the habit of religion, and when they receive a place in the sacred orders, they turn the office of holy religion into a commerce of earthly business. Those selling in the temple are they who bestow for a reward what rightly belongs to certain persons. For to sell justice is to maintain it in exchange for receiving a reward. Those buying in the temple are they who, while refusing to render to their neighbor what is just, and while disdaining to do what is rightly owed, give a reward to patrons and buy sin.
Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 39
And they come to Jerusalem. And when he had entered the temple, he began to cast out those who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves. What the Lord did by cursing the barren fig tree as a symbol, he soon showed more clearly by casting out the wicked from the temple. For the tree did not sin in that it did not have fruit when the Lord was hungry, since the time for fruit had not yet come; but the priests sinned by conducting secular business in the house of the Lord, and they neglected to bear the fruit of piety which they owed, and which the Lord hungered for in them. The Lord withered the tree with a curse, so that those who saw or heard might more greatly understand that they would be condemned by divine judgment if they were without the fruits of deeds, but only relied on the praise of religious speech, or on the appearance and covering of flourishing leaves. But because they did not understand, he then exercised the necessary severity of deserved vengeance upon them. And he cast out the commerce of human affairs from that house, in which it was commanded that only divine things be conducted, sacrifices and prayers be offered to God, the word of God be read, heard, and sung. And indeed it is to be believed that he found only those things being sold or bought in the temple which were necessary for the ministry of the same temple, based on what we read happening elsewhere, when he entered the same temple and found in it sellers and buyers of sheep, oxen, and doves. Clearly, it is to be believed that all these things were bought by those who came from afar from the locals, so that they might be offered in the house of the Lord. If, therefore, the Lord did not even want those things to be sold in the temple which he wanted to be offered in the temple, namely because of the greed or fraud that is usually the crime of merchants, how great a punishment, do you think, would he inflict if he found anyone there engaged in laughter or idle talk, or enslaved to any other vice? For if the Lord does not allow temporal business to be conducted in his house, which can be conducted freely elsewhere, how much more do those things deserve celestial wrath that are not allowed anywhere, if they are conducted in buildings consecrated to God? But because the Holy Spirit appeared upon the Lord in the form of a dove, rightly, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are signified by doves. Who, then, are those in the temple of God today who sell doves, but those in the Church who take a price for the imposition of hands? Through this imposition, namely, the Holy Spirit is given from heaven. Therefore, the dove is sold when the imposition of hands, through which the Holy Spirit is received, is provided for a price. But our Redeemer overturned the seats of those who sold doves, because he destroys the priesthood of such merchants. Hence, sacred canons condemn the Simoniac heresy and command that those who seek a price for conferring ordinations be deprived of the priesthood. Therefore, the seat of those who sell doves is overturned, because those who sell spiritual grace are deprived of the priesthood either before humans or before the eyes of God.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) What the Lord had done in figure, when He cursed the barren fig tree, He now shows more openly, by casting out the wicked from the temple. For the fig tree was not in fault, in not having fruit before its time, but the priests were blameable; wherefore it is said, And they come to Jerusalem; and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple. Nevertheless, it is probable that He found them buying and selling in the temple things which were necessary for its ministry. If then the Lord forbids men to carry on in the temple worldly matters, which they might freely do any where else, how much more do they deserve a greater portion of the anger of Heaven, who carry on in the temple consecrated to Him those things, which are unlawful wherever they may be done. It goes on: and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(ubi sup.) Because the Holy Spirit appeared over the Lord in the shape of a dove, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are fitly pointed out under the name of doves. The Dove therefore is sold, when the laying on of hands by which the Holy Spirit is received is sold for a price. Again, He overturns the seats of them who sell doves, because they who sell spiritual grace, are deprived of their priesthood, either before men, or in the eyes of God.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
15–18He calls moneychangers, changers of a particular sort of money, for the word means a small brass coin. There follows, and the seats of them that sold doves.
But if a man by sinning gives up to the devil the grace and purity of baptism, he has sold his Dove, and for this reason is cast out of the temple. There follows, And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
Further, He calls the temple, a den of thieves, on account of the money gained there; for thieves always troop together for gain. Since then they sold those animals which were offered in sacrifice for the sake of gain, He called them thieves.
Which also turns to the greater condemnation of the Jews, because though the Lord did this so many times, nevertheless they did not correct their conduct.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
15–18John also narrates the expulsion of the money changers by Jesus, but he speaks of this at the beginning of the Gospel, whereas this one (Mark) speaks of it toward the end. Therefore one must think that this (latter) expulsion was the second, which serves to the greater condemnation of the Jews, since they did not repent despite the Lord having acted thus with them on more than one occasion. He calls the Temple a "den of robbers" on account of the covetousness of the money changers. For the robber race is given over to plundering. And since the sellers in the Temple also traded in sacrificial animals for the sake of gain, they too were called robbers. The "money changers" were engaged in the exchange of money. The Lord presents the prophet Isaiah as well as their accuser, who says: "My house shall be called a house of prayer" (Is. 56:7). Let us therefore pray that we too may not be cast out of the church! For many come to our church as well in order to sell what is good and buy what is bad. There are also those who, arranging and managing church affairs, have tables full of money: they do everything out of greed. Overturned also are the seats of those who sell doves, that is, the thrones of hierarchs who sell spiritual gifts, for the dove is an image of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord cast out such a bishop from his bishopric, for cursed is he who ordains for money. In like manner, he also sells his dove who sells to the devil the grace and purity received in baptism. For this reason he too is cast out of the Church.
Commentary on Mark
And with that thought came a larger one, and the colossal figure of her Master had also crossed the theatre of my thoughts. The same modern difficulty which darkened the subject-matter of Anatole France also darkened that of Ernest Renan. Renan also divided his hero's pity from his hero's pugnacity. Renan even represented the righteous anger at Jerusalem as a mere nervous breakdown after the idyllic expectations of Galilee. As if there were any inconsistency between having a love for humanity and having a hatred for inhumanity! Altruists, with thin, weak voices, denounce Christ as an egoist. Egoists (with even thinner and weaker voices) denounce Him as an altruist. In our present atmosphere such cavils are comprehensible enough. The love of a hero is more terrible than the hatred of a tyrant. The hatred of a hero is more generous than the love of a philanthropist. There is a huge and heroic sanity of which moderns can only collect the fragments. There is a giant of whom we see only the lopped arms and legs walking about. They have torn the soul of Christ into silly strips, labelled egoism and altruism, and they are equally puzzled by His insane magnificence and His insane meekness. They have parted His garments among them, and for His vesture they have cast lots; though the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout.
Orthodoxy, Ch. 3: The Suicide of Thought (1908)
Instead of looking at books and pictures about the New Testament I looked at the New Testament. There I found an account, not in the least of a person with his hair parted in the middle or his hands clasped in appeal, but of an extraordinary being with lips of thunder and acts of lurid decision, flinging down tables, casting out devils, passing with the wild secrecy of the wind from mountain isolation to a sort of dreadful demagogy; a being who often acted like an angry god--and always like a god. Christ had even a literary style of his own, not to be found, I think, elsewhere; it consists of an almost furious use of the a fortiori. His "how much more" is piled one upon another like castle upon castle in the clouds. The diction used about Christ has been, and perhaps wisely, sweet and submissive. But the diction used by Christ is quite curiously gigantesque; it is full of camels leaping through needles and mountains hurled into the sea. Morally it is equally terrific; he called himself a sword of slaughter, and told men to buy swords if they sold their coats for them. That he used other even wilder words on the side of non-resistance greatly increases the mystery; but it also, if anything, rather increases the violence. We cannot even explain it by calling such a being insane; for insanity is usually along one consistent channel. The maniac is generally a monomaniac. Here we must remember the difficult definition of Christianity already given; Christianity is a superhuman paradox whereby two opposite passions may blaze beside each other. The one explanation of the Gospel language that does explain it, is that it is the survey of one who from some supernatural height beholds some more startling synthesis.
Orthodoxy, Ch. 9: Authority and the Adventurer (1908)
The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city. Yet He concealed something. Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something. I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.
Orthodoxy, Ch. 9: Authority and the Adventurer (1908)
And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
καὶ οὐκ ἤφιεν ἵνα τις διενέγκῃ σκεῦος διὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ,
и҆ не даѧ́ше, да кто̀ мимонесе́тъ сосꙋ́дъ сквозѣ̀ це́рковь.
And He would not allow anyone to carry vessels through the temple. He speaks of those vessels which were brought in for the sake of trading. Moreover, far be it that the Lord would cast out from the temple the vessels dedicated to God, or prohibit them from being brought into the temple, where He provided an example of His future judgment; but rather He eliminates the impure and profane vessels from the temple and prohibits them from being brought in any longer, as He not only drives away and expels all the reprobates from the Church, but also, to prevent them from entering again to disturb the Church, restrains them with an eternal scourge. But also in the present time this is the true house of the Lord, that is, the purification of the hearts of the faithful, so that not only does the divinely inspired compunction remove the sins that were present, but also, lest these sins return, the divine grace persevering in them may help.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) He speaks of those vessels which were carried there for the purpose of merchandise. But God forbid that it should be taken to mean, that the Lord cast out of the temple, or forbade men to bring into it, the vessels consecrated to God; for here He shows a type of the judgment to come, for He thrusts away the wicked from the Church, and restrains them by His everlasting word from ever again coming in to trouble the Church. Furthermore, sorrow, sent into the heart from above, takes away from the souls of the faithful those sins which were in them, and Divine grace assists them so that they should never again commit them.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
καὶ ἐδίδασκε λέγων αὐτοῖς· οὐ γέγραπται ὅτι ὁ οἶκός μου οἶκος προσευχῆς κληθήσεται πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν; ὑμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐποιήσατε σπήλαιον λῃστῶν.
И҆ ᲂу҆ча́ше, гл҃ѧ и҆̀мъ: нѣ́сть ли пи́сано, ꙗ҆́кѡ хра́мъ мо́й хра́мъ моли́твы нарече́тсѧ всѣ̑мъ ꙗ҆зы́кѡмъ; вы́ же сотвори́сте є҆го̀ верте́пъ разбо́йникѡмъ.
So, then, brethren, if we do the will of our Father God, we shall be members of the first church, the spiritual, — that which was created before sun and moon; but if we shall not do the will of the Lord, we shall come under the Scripture which says, "My house became a den of robbers." [Jeremiah 7:11]
Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Pseudo-Clement)
She has none to whom to make such a promise; and if she have had, she does not make it; since even the earthly temple of God can sooner have been called by the Lord a "den of robbers," than of adulterers and fornicators.
On Modesty
About this temple it is soon added: "My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." For those who sat in the temple to receive gifts, it was certainly not doubtful that they would seek to harm those who gave nothing. Therefore the house of prayer had been made a den of thieves, because they knew how to stand in the temple for this purpose: either to eagerly pursue bodily those not giving gifts, or to kill spiritually those who did give.
To them it is rightly said: "My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves," because when perverse men sometimes hold a place of religion, there they slay with the swords of their malice where they ought to have given life to their neighbors through the intercession of their prayer.
The temple and house of God is also the very mind and conscience of the faithful. If at any time it brings forth perverse thoughts in injury to a neighbor, it is as though robbers are dwelling in a cave and killing those who walk by in simplicity, when they thrust 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 thieves when, having abandoned the innocence and simplicity of holiness, it strives to do that by which it might harm its neighbors.
Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 39
And He taught, saying to them: Is it not written that my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? He says, for all nations, not for one Jewish nation, nor in one place in the city of Jerusalem, but in the whole world, and not with the sacrifices of bulls and goats and rams, but with prayer.
On the Gospel of Mark
But you have made it a den of robbers. Those who sat in the temple to receive gifts, certainly it was no doubt that they would seek harms from some who did not give. Therefore, the house of prayer had become a den of robbers, because they had learned to stand in the temple for this purpose, to either pursue those not giving gifts physically or to kill those giving spiritually. The temple and the house of God are also the mind and conscience of the faithful, which, if ever it produces perverse thoughts in the injury of a neighbor, resides as it were in a den of robbers. And they simply kill those walking uprightly, when they thrust swords into those who are guilty of no offense. 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 neighbors.
On the Gospel of Mark
It goes on: And he taught, saying unto them, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer. (Isa. 56:7)
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(ubi sup.) He says, to all nations, not to the Jewish nation alone, nor in the city of Jerusalem alone, but over the whole world; and he does not say a house of bulls, goats, and rams, but of prayer.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
(ubi sup.) For they were in the temple for this purpose, either that they might persecute with corporal pains those who did not bring gifts, or spiritually kill those who did. The mind and conscience of the faithful is also the temple and the house of God, but if it puts forth perverse thoughts, to the hurt of any one, it may be said that thieves haunt it as a den; therefore the mind of the faithful becomes the den of a thief, when leaving the simplicity of holiness, it plans that which may hurt others.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
According to Isaiah: But ye have made it a den of thieves, (Jer. 7:11) according to Jeremiah.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
καὶ ἤκουσαν οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι καὶ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, καὶ ἐζήτουν πῶς αὐτὸν ἀπολέσωσιν· ἐφοβοῦντο γὰρ αὐτόν, ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὄχλος ἐξεπλήσσετο ἐπὶ τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ.
И҆ слы́шаша кни́жницы и҆ а҆рхїере́є, и҆ и҆ска́хꙋ, ка́кѡ є҆го̀ погꙋбѧ́тъ: боѧ́хꙋбосѧ є҆гѡ̀, ꙗ҆́кѡ ве́сь наро́дъ дивлѧ́шесѧ ѡ҆ ᲂу҆ч҃нїи є҆гѡ̀.
De Con. Evan, ii, 67: John, however, relates this in a very different order, wherefore it is manifest that not once only, but twice, this was done by the Lord, and that the first time was related by John, the last, by all the other three. de Con. Evan, ii, 68: In this again, Mark does not keep the same order as Matthew; because however Matthew connects the facts together by this sentence, “And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany,” returning from whence in the morning, according to his relation, Christ cursed the tree, therefore it is supposed with greater probability that he rather has kept to the order of time, as to the ejection from the temple of the buyers and sellers. Mark therefore passed over what was done the first day when He entered into the temple, and on remembering it inserted it, when he had said that He found nothing on the figtree but leaves, which was done on the second day, as both testify. Wherefore it is added, “For they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His doctrine. For He taught themas one having authority, and not as the Scribes” and Pharisees, as is said elsewhere.
(non occ.) But the Evangelist shows what effect the correction of the Lord had on the ministers of the temple, when he adds: And the Scribes and Chief Priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him; according to that saying of Amos: They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. (Amos 5:10) From this wicked design, however, they were kept back for a time solely by fear. Wherefore it is added, For they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes and Pharisees, as is said elsewhere.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And when even was come, he went out of the city.
καὶ ὅτε ὀψὲ ἐγένετο, ἐξεπορεύετο ἔξω τῆς πόλεως.
И҆ ꙗ҆́кѡ по́здѣ бы́сть, и҆схожда́ше во́нъ и҆з̾ гра́да.
19–20The Lord, leaving darkness behind Him in the hearts of the Jews, went out, as the sun, from that city to another which is well-disposed and obedient. And this is what is meant, when it is said, And when even was come, he went out of the city. But the sun sets in one place, rises in another, for the light, taken from the Scribes, shines in the Apostles; wherefore He returns into the city; on which account there is added, And in the morning, as they passed by, (that is, going into the city,) they saw the fig tree dried up from the root.
Now the fig tree withered from the roots is the synagogue withered from Cain, and the rest, from whom all the blood from Abel up to Zechariah is required.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Καὶ παραπορευόμενοι πρωῒ εἶδον τὴν συκῆν ἐξηραμμένην ἐκ ριζῶν.
И҆ ᲂу҆́трѡ мимоходѧ́ще, ви́дѣша смоко́вницꙋ и҆зсо́хшꙋ и҆з̾ коре́нїѧ.
20–23(non occ.) The wonder of the disciples was the consequence of imperfect faith, for this was no great thing for God to do; since then they did not clearly know His power, their ignorance made them break out into wonder; and therefore it is added, And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, &c. That is; Thou shalt not only be able to dry up a tree, but also to change a mountain by thy command and order.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
20–21(de Con. Evan. ii. 68) The meaning is not that it dried up at the time, when they saw it, but immediately after the word of the Lord; for they saw it, not beginning to dry up, but completely dried up; and they thus understood that it had withered immediately after our Lord spoke.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Not only the branches or the trunks of the barren fig tree, but even the root itself, drying up, showed the sentence of divine reprobation upon it. And John says that the axe is laid to the root of the trees (Matt. III). Therefore, the fig tree dried up from the roots to show that the impious nation was not to be corrected temporarily or partially by invasions of foreigners, and then immediately, with the Lord's mercy, after repentance, to be restored to its former freedom, as sacred history often reports; but rather, it was to be struck with eternal damnation, dried up from the roots, so that it might be intimated that the wicked people were to be utterly deprived not only of external human glory but even of inner divine favor. For it lost both the salvation and the life it could have received in the heavens and the homeland it had already obtained on earth.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) Further, the fig tree was dried up from the roots to show that the nation was impious not only for a time and in part, and was to be smitten for ever, not merely to be afflicted by the attacks of nations from without and then to be freed, as had often been done; or else it was dried up from the roots, to show that it was stripped not only of the external favour of man, but altogether of the favour of heaven within it; for it lost both its life in heaven, and its country on earth.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
20–21Although Matthew says that the fig tree withered at once and that the disciples, seeing this, marveled, do not be troubled hearing now from Mark that they saw the withered fig tree only on the next day. What Matthew said should be understood thus: "And the fig tree withered at once" — stop here; then read: "Seeing this, the disciples marveled." When did they see it? — not at once, but on the next day. Whoever understands it this way will encounter no difficulty.
Commentary on Mark
20–21The greatness of the miracle appears in the drying up so juicy and green a tree. But though Matthew says that the fig tree was at once dried up, and that the disciples on seeing it wondered, there is no reason for perplexity, though Mark now says, that the disciples saw the fig tree dried up on the morrow; for what Matthew says must be understood to mean that they did not see it at once, but on the next day.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
καὶ ἀναμνησθεὶς ὁ Πέτρος λέγει αὐτῷ· ραββί, ἴδε ἡ συκῆ ἣν κατηράσω ἐξήρανται.
И҆ воспомѧнꙋ́въ пе́тръ глаго́ла є҆мꙋ̀: равві̀, ви́ждь, смоко́вница, ю҆́же проклѧ́лъ є҆сѝ, ᲂу҆́сше.
You are now being joined with the holy vine. If, then, you abide in the vine, you grow into a fruitful branch, but if you do not so abide, you will be burnt in the fire. Let us therefore bring forth worthy fruit. For let it not come about that it should happen to us what happened to the barren fig tree in the Gospel. Let not Jesus come in these days and utter the same curse upon the fruitless. But instead may all of you say, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.”
Catechetical Lecture 1:4
Peter perceives the dry root, which is cut off, and has been replaced by the beautiful and fruitful olive, called by the Lord; wherefore it goes on: And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἔχετε πίστιν Θεοῦ.
И҆ ѿвѣща́въ і҆и҃съ гл҃а и҆̀мъ:
And Jesus answering said to them: Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, that whoever says to this mountain: Be lifted up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Those gentiles who wrote curses against the Church usually reproach our people for not having complete faith in God, because they have never been able to move mountains. To which it must be replied that not everything that has happened in the Church is written, just as our Scripture testifies about the deeds of Christ Himself, our God and Lord. Therefore, it could also have happened that the mountain was removed from the earth and cast into the sea, if necessity required it. As we read about what was done by the prayers of the blessed father Gregory of Neocaesarea, bishop of Pontus, a man distinguished by merits and virtues, that a mountain yielded ground to the extent that the inhabitants of the city needed. For when he wanted to build a church in a suitable place, he saw that it was narrower than required because on one side it was confined by a sea cliff and on the other by a nearby mountain. He came to the place at night, and on his knees admonished the Lord of His promise, to move the mountain further away according to the faith of the petitioner. And in the morning, he returned and found that the mountain had left as much space for the church builders as they needed. Therefore, this man or another man of the same merit could have obtained from the Lord, by the merit of faith, that even the mountain would be lifted up and cast into the sea if the opportunity demanded it. However, because the term mountain is sometimes used to signify the devil, evidently due to the pride with which he rises against God and wishes to be like the Most High, the mountain is removed from the earth and cast into the sea at the command of those strong in faith when holy teachers preaching the word drive out the unclean spirit from the hearts of those ordained to life, and he is permitted to exercise the madness of his tyranny in the turbulent and bitter minds of unbelievers. Not that he hadn't had his seat and kingdom there before, but because he rages more fiercely against those he can harm as much as he regrets having been driven out by the injury inflicted by the pious. To this is similar that passage of the Apocalypse: And the second angel sounded the trumpet, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea (Rev. VIII). For when the angel sounded the trumpet, a mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, because, when the teacher of truth preached the word, the ancient enemy, inflamed with the torches of envy, heavily corrupted the minds of the perverse to avenge his expulsion from the faithful upon the unfaithful.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) The Gentiles, who have attacked the Church, are in the habit of objecting to us, that we have never had full faith in God, for we have never been able to change mountains. 1It could, however, be done, if necessity called for it, as once we read that it was done by the prayers of the blessed Father Gregory of Neocæsarea, Bishop of Pontus, by which a mountain left as much space of ground for the inhabitants of a city as they wanted.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
22–23Notice, then, how Christ here appears as God. For through the prophets the Lord says: "I dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish" (Ezek. 17:24). But marvel at God's love for mankind in that even to us, who become like God through faith, He gives the wonder-working power that belongs to Him by nature, so that we can even move mountains. A mountain is, in the spiritual sense, a proud mind, lofty and obstinate. Therefore, whoever sees himself overcome by the passion of pride, striving to drive it out of himself, should seek the visitation and help of God. For he is proud who says that he does everything himself and not by the help of God. Such a person should rebuke this mountain, that is, pride, and say to it: "Be taken up and cast into the sea," that is, into worldly people who are in the sea of this life and are unbelievers, while he himself should "not doubt," that is, not fall away from God. For the proud person falls away from God, saying: I owe nothing to God and have no need of His help.
Commentary on Mark
22–23Consider the Divine mercy, how it confers on us, if we approach Him in faith, the power of miracles, which He Himself possesses by nature, so that we should be able even to change mountains.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ὃς ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ, ἄρθητι καὶ βλήθητι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ μὴ διακριθῇ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ πιστεύσει ὅτι ἃ λέγει γίνεται, ἔσται αὐτῷ ὃ ἐὰν εἴπῃ.
[Заⷱ҇ 51] и҆мѣ́йте вѣ́рꙋ бж҃їю: а҆ми́нь бо гл҃ю ва́мъ, ꙗ҆́кѡ, и҆́же а҆́ще рече́тъ горѣ̀ се́й: дви́гнисѧ и҆ ве́рзисѧ въ мо́ре: и҆ не размы́слитъ въ се́рдцы свое́мъ, но вѣ́рꙋ и҆́метъ, ꙗ҆́кѡ є҆́же глаго́летъ, быва́етъ: бꙋ́детъ є҆мꙋ̀, є҆́же а҆́ще рече́тъ:
This Gnostic, to speak compendiously, makes up for the absence of the apostles, by the rectitude of his life, the accuracy of his knowledge, by benefiting his relations, by "removing the mountains" of his neighbours, and putting away the irregularities of their soul. Although each of us is his own vineyard and labourer.
The Stromata Book 7
Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine never exhausted, a sky unobstructed by clouds, a haven unruffled by storm. It is the root, the fountain, and the mother of a thousand blessings. It exceeds a monarch’s power.… I speak not of the prayer which is cold and feeble and devoid of zeal. I speak of that which proceeds from a mind outstretched, the child of a contrite spirit, the offspring of a soul converted—this is the prayer which mounts to heaven.… The power of prayer has subdued the strength of fire, bridled the rage of lions, silenced anarchy, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, enlarged the gates of heaven, relieved diseases, averted frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. In sum, prayer has power to destroy whatever is at enmity with the good. I speak not of the prayer of the lips, but of the prayer that ascends from the inmost recesses of the heart.
On the Incomprehensible Nature of God 5.44, 46, 57, 58
(non occ.) Or else, as He did not dry up the fig tree for its own sake, but for a sign that Jerusalem should come to destruction, in order to show His power, in the same way we must also understand the promise concerning the mountain, though a removal of this sort is not impossible with God.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Note that Jesus said “for him,” not “for me,” and not “for the Father.” Yet it is certain that no human being does such a thing without God’s gift and workings. Mark well that even if no actual instances of perfect righteousness may be found among humans, that does not rule out perfect righteousness as if it were formally impossible. For it might have been realized if only sufficient responsive willing had been applied, enough to suffice for so great a deed.
On the Spirit and the Letter 63
While we are praying, there should be no hesitation that would intervene or break down the confidence of our petition by any shadow of despair. We know that by pouring forth our prayer we are obtaining already what we are asking for. We have no doubt that our prayers have effectually reached God. For to that degree that one believes that he is regarded by God, and that God can grant it, just so far will one be heard and obtain an answer.
Conferences 1.9.32
(ubi sup.) Or else, because the devil is often on account of his pride called by the name of a mountain, this mountain, at the command of those who are strong in the faith, is taken up from the earth and cast into the sea, whenever, at the preaching of the word of God by the holy doctors, the unclean spirit is expelled from the hearts of those who are fore-ordained to life, and is allowed to exert the tyranny of his power over the troubled and embittered souls of the faithless. At which time, he rages the more fiercely, the more he grieves at being turned away from hurting the faithful. It goes on: Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Christ then who is the mountain, which grew from the stone, cut out without hands, is taken up and cast into the sea, when the Apostles with justice say, Let us turn ourselves to other nations, since ye judged yourselves unworthy of hearing the word of God. (Acts 13:46)
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Instead of looking at books and pictures about the New Testament I looked at the New Testament. There I found an account, not in the least of a person with his hair parted in the middle or his hands clasped in appeal, but of an extraordinary being with lips of thunder and acts of lurid decision, flinging down tables, casting out devils, passing with the wild secrecy of the wind from mountain isolation to a sort of dreadful demagogy; a being who often acted like an angry god--and always like a god. Christ had even a literary style of his own, not to be found, I think, elsewhere; it consists of an almost furious use of the a fortiori. His "how much more" is piled one upon another like castle upon castle in the clouds. The diction used about Christ has been, and perhaps wisely, sweet and submissive. But the diction used by Christ is quite curiously gigantesque; it is full of camels leaping through needles and mountains hurled into the sea. Morally it is equally terrific; he called himself a sword of slaughter, and told men to buy swords if they sold their coats for them. That he used other even wilder words on the side of non-resistance greatly increases the mystery; but it also, if anything, rather increases the violence. We cannot even explain it by calling such a being insane; for insanity is usually along one consistent channel. The maniac is generally a monomaniac. Here we must remember the difficult definition of Christianity already given; Christianity is a superhuman paradox whereby two opposite passions may blaze beside each other. The one explanation of the Gospel language that does explain it, is that it is the survey of one who from some supernatural height beholds some more startling synthesis.
Orthodoxy, Ch. 9: Authority and the Adventurer (1908)
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν, πάντα ὅσα ἂν προσευχόμενοι αἰτεῖσθε, πιστεύετε ὅτι λαμβάνετε, καὶ ἔσται ὑμῖν.
сегѡ̀ ра́ди гл҃ю ва́мъ: всѧ̑ є҆ли̑ка а҆́ще молѧ́щесѧ про́сите, вѣ́рꙋйте, ꙗ҆́кѡ прїе́млете: и҆ бꙋ́детъ ва́мъ:
That faith is of advantage altogether, and that we can do as much as we believe. In Genesis: "And Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Also in Isaiah: "And if ye do not believe, neither shall ye understand." Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? " Also in the same place: "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Pass over from here to that place, and it shall pass over; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Also according to Mark: "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye shall receive them, and they shall be yours." Also in the same place: All things are possible to him that believeth." In Habakkuk: "But the righteous liveth by my faith." Also in Daniel: "Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, trusting in God, were delivered from the fiery flame."
Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.
He who believes firmly directs his heart toward God and, to use the words of David, pours out his soul before God, and he who turns his soul toward God is united with Him, and his heart, being warmed (by grace), is assured that it will receive what is asked. He who has experienced this understands. And I think that all who are even somewhat attentive have experienced this. Therefore the Lord also says that you will receive everything that you ask with faith. God gives everything to the believer when he expresses all his desires before Him in prayer with tears and, as it were, clings to the feet of the Master.
Commentary on Mark
For whosoever sincerely believes evidently lifts up his heart to God, and is joined to Him, and his burning heart feels sure that he has received what he asked for, which he who has experienced will understand; and those persons appear to me to experience this, who attend to the measure and the manner of their prayers. For this reason the Lord says, Ye shall receive whatsoever ye ask in faith; for he who believes that he is altogether in the hands of God, and interceding with tears, feels that he as it were has hold of the feet of the Lord in prayer, he shall receive what he has rightly asked for.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
The New Testament contains embarrassing promises that what we pray for with faith we shall receive. Mark XI, 24 is the most staggering. Whatever we ask for, believing that we'll get it, we'll get. No question, it seems, of confining it to spiritual gifts; whatever we ask for. No question of a merely general faith in God, but a belief that you will get the particular thing you ask. No question of getting either it or else something that is really far better for you; you'll get precisely it. And to heap paradox on paradox, the Greek doesn't even say "believing that you will get it". It uses the aorist, [Greek: elabete], which one is tempted to translate "believing that you got it". But this final difficulty I shall ignore. I don't expect Aramaic had anything which we--brought up on Latin grammar--would recognise as tenses at all.
How is this astonishing promise to be reconciled--
(a) With the observed facts?
(b) With the prayer in Gethsemane, and (as a result of that prayer) the universally accepted view that we should ask everything with a reservation ("if it be Thy will")?
As regards (a), no evasion is possible. Every war, every famine or plague, almost every death-bed, is the monument to a petition that was not granted. At this very moment thousands of people in this one island are facing as a fait accompli, the very thing against which they have prayed night and day, pouring out their whole soul in prayer, and, as they thought, with faith. They have sought and not found. They have knocked and it has not been opened. "That which they greatly feared has come upon them."
But (b) though much less often mentioned, is surely an equal difficulty. How is it possible at one and the same moment to have a perfect faith--an untroubled or unhesitating faith as St. James says (I, 6)--that you will get what you ask and yet also prepare yourself submissively in advance for a possible refusal? If you envisage a refusal as possible, how can you have simultaneously a perfect confidence that what you ask will not be refused? If you have that confidence, how can you take refusal into account at all?
It is easy to see why so much more is written about worship and contemplation than about "crudely" or "naïvely" petitionary prayer. They may be--I think they are--nobler forms of prayer. But they are also a good deal easier to write about.
As regards the first difficulty, I'm not asking why our petitions are so often refused. Anyone can see in general that this must be so. In our ignorance we ask what is not good for us or for others, or not even intrinsically possible. Or again, to grant one man's prayer involves refusing another's. There is much here which it is hard for our will to accept but nothing that is hard for our intellect to understand. The real problem is different; not why refusal is so frequent, but why the opposite result is so lavishly promised.
Shall we then proceed on Vidler's principles and scrap the embarrassing promises as "venerable archaisms" which have to be "outgrown"? Surely, even if there were no other objection, that method is too easy. If we are free to delete all inconvenient data we shall certainly have no theological difficulties; but for the same reason no solutions and no progress. The very writers of the "Tekkies", not to mention the scientists, know better. The troublesome fact, the apparent absurdity which can't be fitted into any synthesis we have yet made, is precisely the one we must not ignore. Ten to one, it's in that covert the fox is lurking. There is always hope if we keep an unsolved problem fairly in view; there's none if we pretend it's not there.
Before going any further, I want to make two purely practical points: 1. These lavish promises are the worst possible place at which to begin Christian instruction in dealing with a child or a Pagan. You remember what happened when the Widow started Huck Finn off with the idea he could get what he wanted by praying for it. He tried the experiment and then, not unnaturally, never gave Christianity a second thought; we had better not talk about the view of prayer embodied in Mark XI, 24 as "naïf" or "elementary". If that passage contains a truth, it is a truth for very advanced pupils indeed. I don't think it is "addressed to our condition" (yours and mine) at all. It is a coping-stone, not a foundation. For most of us the prayer in Gethsemane is the only model. Removing mountains can wait.
2. We must not encourage in ourselves or others any tendency to work up a subjective state which, if we succeeded, we should describe as "faith", with the idea that this will somehow ensure the granting of our prayer. We have probably all done this as children. But the state of mind which desperate desire working on a strong imagination can manufacture is not faith in the Christian sense. It is a feat of psychological gymnastics.
It seems to me we must conclude that such promises about prayer with faith refer to a degree or kind of faith which most believers never experience. A far inferior degree is, I hope, acceptable to God. Even the kind that says, "Help thou my unbelief", may make way for a miracle. Again, the absence of such faith as ensures the granting of the prayer is not even necessarily a sin; for Our Lord had no such assurance when He prayed in Gethsemane.
How or why does such faith occur sometimes, but not always, even in the perfect petitioner? We, or I, can only guess. My own idea is that it occurs only when the one who prays does so as God's fellow-worker, demanding what is needed for the joint work. It is the prophet's, the apostle's, the missionary's, the healer's prayer that is made with this confidence and finds the confidence justified by the event. The difference, we are told, between a servant and a friend is that a servant is not in his master's secrets. For him, "orders is orders". He has only his own surmises as to the plans he helps to execute. But the fellow-worker, the companion or (dare we say?) the colleague of God is so united with Him at certain moments that something of the divine foreknowledge enters his mind. Hence his faith is the "evidence"--that is, the evidentness, the obviousness--of things not seen.
As the friend is above the servant, the servant is above the suitor, the man praying on his own behalf. It is no sin to be a suitor. Our Lord descends into the humiliation of being a suitor, of praying on His own behalf, in Gethsemane. But when He does so the certitude about His Father's will is apparently withdrawn.
After that it would be no true faith--it would be idle presumption--for us, who are habitually suitors and do not often rise to the level of servants, to imagine that we shall have any assurance which is not an illusion--or correct only by accident--about the event of our prayers. Our struggle is, isn't it?--to achieve and retain faith on a lower level. To believe that, whether He can grant them or not, God will listen to our prayers, will take them into account. Even to go on believing that there is a Listener at all. For as the situation grows more and more desperate, the grisly fears intrude. Are we only talking to ourselves in an empty universe? The silence is often so emphatic. And we have prayed so much already.
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, Letter 11
You cannot be sure of a good harvest whatever you do to a field. But you can be sure that if you pull up one weed that one weed will no longer be there. You can be sure that if you drink more than a certain amount of alcohol you will ruin your health or that if you go on for a few centuries more wasting the resources of the planet on wars and luxuries you will shorten the life of the whole human race. The kind of causality we exercise by work is, so to speak, divinely guaranteed, and therefore ruthless. By it we are free to do ourselves as much harm as we please. But the kind which we exercise by prayer is not like that; God has left Himself a discretionary power. Had He not done so, prayer would be an activity too dangerous for man and we should have the horrible state of things envisaged by Juvenal: "Enormous prayers which Heaven in anger grants."
Prayers are not always—in the crude, factual sense of the word—"granted." This is not because prayer is a weaker kind of causality, but because it is a stronger kind. When it "works" at all it works unlimited by space and time. That is why God has retained a discretionary power of granting or refusing it; except on that condition prayer would destroy us. It is not unreasonable for a headmaster to say, "Such and such things you may do according to the fixed rules of this school. But such and such other things are too dangerous to be left to general rules. If you want to do them you must come and make a request and talk over the whole matter with me in my study. And then—we'll see."
God in the Dock: Work and Prayer
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
καὶ ὅταν στήκητε προσευχόμενοι, ἀφίετε εἴ τι ἔχετε κατά τινος, ἵνα καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἀφῇ ὑμῖν τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν.
и҆ є҆гда̀ стоитѐ молѧ́щесѧ, ѿпꙋща́йте, а҆́ще что̀ и҆́мате на кого̀, да и҆ ѻ҆ц҃ъ ва́шъ, и҆́же є҆́сть на нб҃сѣ́хъ, ѿпꙋ́ститъ ва́мъ согрѣшє́нїѧ ва̑ша:
Thus, also, when He gave the law of prayer, He added, saying, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." And He calls back from the altar one who comes to the sacrifice in strife, and bids him first agree with his brother, and then return with peace and offer his gift to God: for God had not respect unto Cain's offerings; for he could not have God at peace with him, who through envious discord had not peace with his brother. What peace, then, do the enemies of the brethren promise to themselves? What sacrifices do those who are rivals of the priests think that they celebrate? Do they deem that they have Christ with them when they are collected together, who are gathered together outside the Church of Christ?
Treatise I On the Unity of the Church
He has clearly joined herewith and added the law, and has bound us by a certain condition anti engagement, that we should ask that our debts be forgiven us in such a manner as we ourselves forgive our debtors, knowing that that which we seek for our sins cannot be obtained unless we ourselves have acted in a similar way in respect of our debtors. Therefore also He says in another place, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." And the servant who, after having had all his debt forgiven him by his master, would not forgive his fellow-servant, is cast back into prison; because he would not forgive his fellow-servant, he lost the indulgence that had been shown to himself by his lord. And these things Christ still more urgently sets forth in His precepts with yet greater power of His rebuke. "When ye stand praying," says He, "forgive if ye have aught against any, that your Father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you your trespasses." There remains no ground of excuse in the day of judgment, when you will be judged according to your own sentence; and whatever you have done, that you also will suffer. For God commands us to be peacemakers, and in agreement, and of one mind in His house; and such as He makes us by a second birth, such He wishes us when new-born to continue, that we who have begun to be sons of God may abide in God's peace, and that, having one spirit, we should also have one heart and one mind. Thus God does not receive the sacrifice of a person who is in disagreement, but commands him to go back from the altar and first be reconciled to his brother, that so God also may be appeased by the prayers of a peace-maker. Our peace and brotherly agreement is the greater sacrifice to God,-and a people united in one in the unity of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Treatise IV. On the Lord's Prayer.
Do no one an injury at any time, and provoke no one to anger. If an injury is done to you, look to Jesus Christ; and even as ye desire that He may remit your transgressions, do ye also forgive them theirs; and then also shall ye do away with all ill-will, and bruise the head of that ancient serpent, who is ever on the watch with all subtlety to undo your good works and your prosperous attainments.
The Epistle of Theonas, Bishop of Alexandria, to Lucianus, the Chief Chamberlain
Hence the Truth says: "When you stand to pray, forgive if you have anything in your hearts." We show the virtue of forgiveness more clearly if we bring forward one testimony from the Old Testament. Certainly when Judea had offended the justice of its Creator through its demanding sins, the Lord, forbidding His prophet from prayer, says: "Do not take up praise and prayer for them. If Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not be toward this people." What is it that, with so many fathers passed over and left aside, Moses and Samuel alone are brought forward, whose wondrous power of obtaining is shown, while even they are said to be unable to intercede? As if the Lord were saying openly: I do not even hear those whom I by no means despise on account of the great merit of their petition. What then is it that Moses and Samuel are preferred to the other fathers in petition, except that these two alone in the entire sequence of the Old Testament are read to have prayed even for their enemies? One is assailed with stones by the people, and yet he entreats the Lord for the one who stoned him; the other is cast down from leadership, and yet when asked to pray, he confesses saying: "Far be this sin from me against the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you." "If Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not be toward this people." As if He were saying openly: I do not even now hear those on behalf of friends, whom I know by the merit of their great virtue to pray even for enemies. Therefore the power of true prayer is the loftiness of charity. And then each person obtains what he rightly asks, when his mind in petition is not darkened by hatred of an enemy. But often we overcome a reluctant mind if we also pray for enemies. The mouth pours forth prayer for adversaries, but would that the heart hold love. For often we also offer prayer for our enemies, but we pour it forth more from precept than from charity. For we ask for the life of our enemies, and yet we fear lest we be heard. But because the internal Judge considers the mind rather than words, he asks nothing for an enemy who does not pray for him out of charity.
Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 27
And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive your sins. It is to be noted the distinction of those praying. He who has perfect faith, which works through love, can by praying or even commanding, move spiritual mountains. As Paul did with Elymas the magician, whom he deprived of his sight and his wicked art. Likewise with the soothsayer in Philippi, from whom he cast out a malignant spirit, a most haughty mountain to be sure. But the same mountain being cast into the sea, as much maddened fire it had brought, the persecution of the Gentiles immediately following against him taught him well. But those who have not yet climbed to such a height of perfection, let them ask for their sins to be forgiven, so that they may be counted worthy to enter eternal life, and undoubtedly they will obtain what they ask for, if they first forgive those who sin against them. But if they scorn to do this, not only can they not perform miracles by praying, but they cannot even obtain forgiveness of their own sins.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) But we must observe that there is a difference in those who pray; he who has perfect faith, which worketh by love, can by his prayer or even his command remove spiritual mountains, as Paul did with Elymas the sorcerer. But let those who are unable to mount up to such a height of perfection pray that their sins should be forgiven them, and they shall obtain what they pray for, provided that they themselves first forgive those who have sinned against them. If however they disdain to do this, not only shall they be unable to perform miracles by their prayers, but they shall not even be able to obtain pardon for their sins, which is implied in what follows; But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
25–26And do you wish to receive what you ask in yet another way? Forgive your brother if he has sinned in anything against you. See how easy it is to receive the gift of God!
Commentary on Mark
25–26Again, would you in another way receive what you ask for? Forgive your brother, if he has in any way sinned against you; this is also what is added: And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
25–26Mark has, as he is wont, expressed seven verses of the Lord's prayer in one prayer. But what can he, whose sins are all forgiven, require more, save that he may persevere in what has been granted unto him.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
εἰ δὲ ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἀφίετε, οὐδὲ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἀφήσει τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν.
а҆́ще ли же вы̀ не ѿпꙋща́ете, ни ѻ҆ц҃ъ ва́шъ, и҆́же є҆́сть на нб҃сѣ́хъ, ѿпꙋ́ститъ ва́мъ согрѣше́нїй ва́шихъ.
And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
Καὶ ἔρχονται πάλιν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα· καὶ ἐν τῶ ἱερῷ περιπατοῦντος αὐτοῦ ἔρχονται πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι
[Заⷱ҇ 52] И҆ прїидо́ша па́ки во і҆ерⷭ҇ли́мъ. И҆ въ це́ркви ходѧ́щꙋ є҆мꙋ̀, прїидо́ша къ немꙋ̀ а҆рхїере́є и҆ кни́жницы и҆ ста́рцы
27–33They were angry with the Lord, for having cast out of the temple those who had made it a place of merchandize, and therefore they come up to Him, to question and tempt Him. Wherefore it is said: And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the Chief Priests, and the Scribes, and the elders, and say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee authority to do these things? As if they had said, Who art thou that doest these things? Dost thou make thyself a doctor, and ordain thyself Chief Priest?
Further, they said this, thinking to bring Him to judgment, so that if He said, by mine own power, they might lay hold upon Him; but if He said, by the power of another, they might make the people leave Him, for they believed Him to be God. But the Lord asks them concerning John, not without a reason, nor in a sophistical way, but because John had borne witness of Him. Wherefore there follows: And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
27–33Enraged that Christ had driven the money-changers out of the temple, they come to Him with the question: "By what authority do You do these things?" They were, as it were, saying to Him reproachfully: "Who are You to do this? Were You appointed as a teacher? Were You ordained as a high priest?" They said this trying to put Him in a difficult position, so as to trap Him. If He had said, "I do this by My own authority," they would have stoned Him as one opposed to God, and if He had said, "By the authority of God," then they could have drawn the people away from Him, since He claimed to be God. But the Lord poses a question to them about John, not without reason and not with any cunning. But since John had testified about Him, He asks the malicious Jews about John, so that if they acknowledged John as a messenger of God, they would be compelled to accept John's testimony about Christ as well. And since they could not give any answer, He, in order to humble them even more, says: "Neither will I tell you." He did not say, "I do not know what to answer you," but "Neither will I tell you," that is, since you act with malice, I do not deem you worthy of an answer.
Commentary on Mark
And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?
καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιεῖς; ἢ τίς σοι ἔδωκε τὴν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην ἵνα ταῦτα ποιῇς;
и҆ глаго́лаша є҆мꙋ̀: ко́ею ѡ҆́бластїю сїѧ̑ твори́ши; и҆ кто̀ тѝ ѡ҆́бласть сїю̀ дадѐ, да сїѧ̑ твори́ши;
Fearing a stoning, but fearing more an admission of the truth, they answered the truth with a lie, reminiscent of the Scripture: “injustice has lied within herself.” For they said, “We know not.” And because they had shut themselves up against him, by asserting that they did not know what they knew, the Lord did not open up to them because they did not knock. For it has been said, “Knock and it will be opened to you.” But they not only had not knocked that it might be opened, but by their denial they barricaded the door itself against themselves. And the Lord said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Tractate on John 2.9
And when he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came to him and said to him: "By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority to do these things?" In various ways they raise the same calumny as before, when they said: "He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons." For when they say, "By what authority do you do these things?" they doubt the power of God, and want it to be understood that what he does is by the power of the devil. Also adding: "Who gave you this authority?" most openly they deny the Son of God, whom they think performs signs not by his own power, but by that of others.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) And indeed, when they say, By what authority doest thou these things, they doubt its being the power of God, and wish it to be understood that what He did was the devil's work. When they add also, Who gave thee this authority, they evidently deny that He is the Son of God, since they believe that He works miracles, not by His own but by another's power.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ἐπερωτήσω ὑμᾶς κἀγὼ ἕνα λόγον, καὶ ἀποκρίθητέ μοι, καὶ ἐρῶ ὑμῖν ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ.
І҆и҃съ же ѿвѣща́въ речѐ и҆̀мъ: вопрошꙋ́ вы и҆ а҆́зъ словесѐ є҆ди́нагѡ, и҆ ѿвѣща́йте мѝ: и҆ рекꙋ̀ ва́мъ, ко́ею ѡ҆́бластїю сїѧ̑ творю̀:
But Jesus answering said: "I will also ask you one thing, and you 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 prudently asks, so that they may be condemned either by their silence or by their own decision.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) The Lord might indeed have confuted the cavils of his tempters by a direct answer, but prudently puts them a question, that they might be condemned either by their silence or their speaking.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.
τὸ βάπτισμα Ἰωάννου ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἦν ἢ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων; ἀποκρίθητέ μοι.
кр҃ще́нїе і҆ѡа́нново съ нб҃се́ ли бѣ̀, и҆лѝ ѿ человѣ̑къ; ѿвѣща́йте мѝ.
The baptism announced by John formed the subject, even at that time, of a question proposed by the Lord himself to the legal experts. It concerned whether John’s baptism was from heaven or from men. They were unable to give a consistent answer. They did not understand because they did not believe.
On Baptism 10
The baptism announced by John formed the subject, even at that time, of a question, proposed by the Lord Himself indeed to the Pharisees, whether that baptism were heavenly, or truly earthly: about which they were unable to give a consistent answer, inasmuch as they understood not, because they believed not.
On Baptism
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
καὶ ἐλογίζοντο πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς λέγοντες· ἐὰν εἴπωμεν, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἐρεῖ· διατί οὖν οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ;
И҆ мы́слѧхꙋ въ себѣ̀, глаго́люще: а҆́ще рече́мъ, съ нб҃сѐ, рече́тъ: почто̀ ᲂу҆̀бо не вѣ́ровасте є҆мꙋ̀;
But they considered among themselves, saying: If we say, from heaven, he will say to us: Why then did you not believe him? For he whom you acknowledge to have had prophecy from heaven, testified about me, and you heard from him by what authority I do these things.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? As if He had said, He whom you confess to have had his prophecy from heaven bore testimony of Me, and ye have heard from him, by what authority I do these things.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.
ἀλλὰ εἴπωμεν, ἐξ ἀνθρώπων; ἐφοβοῦντο τὸν λαόν· ἅπαντες γὰρ εἶχον τὸν Ἰωάννην ὅτι προφήτης ἦν.
но а҆́ще рече́мъ, ѿ человѣ̑къ: боѧ́хꙋсѧ люді́й: вси́ бо и҆мѣ́ѧхꙋ і҆ѡа́нна, ꙗ҆́кѡ вои́стиннꙋ прⷪ҇ро́къ бѣ̀.
If we say from men, we fear the people. For all held John to be a true prophet. Therefore, they saw that whichever of these they answered, they would fall into a trap, fearing stoning, but more fearing the confession of the truth.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) It goes on: But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people. They saw then that whatever they answered, they should fall into a snare; fearing to be stoned, they feared still more the confession of the truth. Wherefore it goes on: And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
καὶ ἀποκριθέντες λέγουσι τῷ Ἰησοῦ· οὐκ οἴδαμεν. καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀποκριθεὶς λέγει αὐτοῖς· οὐδὲ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ.
И҆ ѿвѣща́вше глаго́лаша і҆и҃сови: не вѣ́мы. И҆ ѿвѣща́въ і҆и҃съ гл҃а и҆̀мъ: ни а҆́зъ гл҃ю ва́мъ, ко́ею ѡ҆́бластїю сїѧ̑ творю̀.
And answering, they say to Jesus: We do not know. And Jesus, responding, 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 do not want to admit what you know. Most justly rejected, they indeed went away confused. And it was fulfilled what in the psalm the Father God says through the prophet: I have prepared a lamp for my Christ, that is, John himself. I will clothe his enemies with shame (Psalm 131). It should be noted, moreover, that the knowledge of the truth is to be hidden from those who seek it for two main reasons. Namely, when he who asks is either less capable of understanding what he seeks, or is unworthy because of hatred or contempt of the truth itself, to whom it ought to be revealed what he seeks. For one of these reasons, the Lord said: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. For the other reason, he commanded the disciples: Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor throw your pearls before swine.
On the Gospel of Mark
(ubi sup.) As if He had said, I will not tell you what I know, since ye will not confess what ye know. Further, we must observe that knowledge is hidden from those who seek it, principally for two reasons, namely, when he who seeks for it either has not sufficient capacity to understand what he seeks for, or when through contempt for the truth, or some other reason, he is unworthy of having that for which he seeks opened to him.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
They envied the Lamp, and were in the dark, wherefore it is said, I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed; his enemies will I clothe with shame. (Ps. 132:17, 18) There follows: And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
AND when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,
Καὶ ὅτε ἐγγίζουσιν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς Βηθσφαγῆ καὶ Βηθανίαν πρὸς τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν, ἀποστέλλει δύο τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ
[Заⷱ҇ 49] И҆ є҆гда̀ прибли́жи[ша]сѧ во і҆ерⷭ҇ли́мъ, въ виѳсфагі́ю и҆ виѳа́нїю, къ горѣ̀ є҆леѡ́нстѣй, посла̀ два̀ ѿ ᲂу҆чн҃къ свои́хъ