Fragments on Matthew

Apollinaris on Matthew§1

1And Apollinaris is said to accept only the last genealogy; for Matthew's genealogy is natural, having the succession of those born, but Luke's is considered to be of the sons inscribed according to the law for those who did not beget; for in this way, it happened that "Joseph is inscribed to Eli" (Luke 3:23), a descendant of Jacob, from Jeconiah. Thus, having started from different origins, Matthew comes from "Solomon" and Luke from "Nathan" to the same Joseph.

For Apollinaris says, indeed, that a boy is inscribed to a father (Mt 1:19). But his father is Joseph by grace, and at the same time by flesh through the woman. And it is certain for him to be the father of Christ, who was born of his own flesh, which is Mary, where even for the deceased it was certain that the child being born of his wife and of the living brother was his own. For if that of the law is strong, much more is that of grace. And the beginning was also an announcement to a man, not to a woman. For he is the preceding living being and closer to God, and thus the one according to the image. In both the generations of Christ, Joseph is shown to be father, both by grace and by flesh; by grace indeed through the virgin betrothed to him, and by flesh indeed because both the virgin and Joseph are of the same tribe.

And Apollinaris, having set forth this example, also applied the explanation of the blessed John and Theodore.

Many testify from the beginning to our salvation, but the beginning of all these seems to be the firstfruits of the Magi. This is also said to be the firstfruits of all the Gentiles. And not this alone, but being guided by God and by a star, they also revealed the things that were to come, and, having solved the perplexity of the Jews, they proved them condemned for not believing the signs.

How did the evangelist bring the word to the children in Matthew 2:18? The infants slaughtered by Herod are taken as a type of the people. Rachel is remembered by the prophet as the mother of Ephraim and the father of Benjamin, of whom the part is according to Jerusalem, the so-called Ramah. Just as a resurrection awaits the infants, so it is shown, just as the people shall be saved from death through faith. As a type of the people of Israel, the evangelist received the prophet's word regarding the children slaughtered by Herod.

Regarding Matthew 3:17, some say concerning the saying of the voice: 'This is my beloved Son,' that it was an angelic substitute for the person of the Father, or something else prepared by chance. But the saying 'in whom I am well pleased' was spoken in the context of other sons, who were neither becoming beloved nor being extremely pleasing to him; for those in the law were also worthy of adoption. Yet, through the witness of the Father and the descent of the Spirit, the hypostases of the Holy Trinity are demonstrated.

Apollinaris the heretic says that food from paradise served him so that, just as Adam, who was not commanded, was losing the food there, so the new Adam, from whom nothing was commanded, might restore the original goodness through an excess of virtue in Matthew 4:11.

In Matthew 5:6, the hungry are remembered simply by Luke as 'the hungry,' but now Matthew specifies those who abstain because of the desire for the good, from the delights of the flesh. Thus, we hear similarly from both. He who thirsted for the righteousness of God found the truly desired thing, whose longing he fulfilled not in any way merely by the one acting according to appetite; for he did not only desire the participation of the righteous as food, for it was incomplete. Now, he made this good thing also drinkable, so that the warmth and the clarity of desire might be the passion of thirst.

The Vision of God through Purity§2

The Renewal of the Disciples and the Manner of Service§3

3The dispute and logomachy around him is a trampling of the Word, and the contempt and dishonor of those speaking is a casting down.

How does the evangelist lift up the word brought to the cross according to Isaiah (Isaiah 53:4) into healings (Mt 8:17)? Because even his passion was a healing for men, and the Lord suffered no more than he worked through those dishonoring him and through his own death, preparing and fighting against the life of men by setting himself apart for them. Isaiah brought the word to the cross, but Matthew to the healings of diseases; and he did this because even that passion of the Savior was a healing for men, and it is evident that his death also granted life to us.

“You have come,” they say, “before the time of the prophetic words” (Mt 8:29), the demons hearing, because Christ is about to come into the world through the flesh of your flesh and because he is about to judge them in the consummation. “You have come to torment us before the time,” that is, before the consummation.

Why then are they worthy to enter into the swine (Mt 8:31)? When they are not able according to men, they desire according to the irrational, of those things which are through man, just as the misanthropes harm him or his own things. Seeing such a small sign, the Gergesenes entreat Jesus to depart from their borders (Mt 8:34), because they had no desire for the good. For they did not say this judging themselves unworthy, but as being unfeeling and exceedingly unfaithful.

Because they had no desire for the good, but were lazily dividing and sluggishly toward the grasping of the great good.

“An old garment,” he said, speaks the old man; “but a coarse cloth” the new Word (Mt 9:16-17), and a joining of these does not happen; immediately the fast and the spiritual joy; for spiritual susceptibility in a bodily man is not. For having been accustomed to seeking the things of the flesh, he will never find joy in these, but the matter will appear harsh and unendurable to him and will be separated from him more, because the thing being dragged along burns him. And the fasts are old and the old men; but new wine is the new Word, which they cannot contain; for their soft material is torn, not bearing the strength of the spiritual life. And the Word was not given to such people for what is necessary.

not much, but only as much as it advanced toward them for destruction. These things, therefore, the Lord says, regarding the renewal of the foremost of the disciples which is about to be at his resurrection, with which it is already the time for spiritual exercises (Mt 9:27-31). No one boasts if the power speaks about itself that it is able; but it would be boasting for one who does not have the power by nature, but receives it by grace to say 'I am able.' And the Savior commanded the blind not to say anything about what happened, teaching us not to show that it is necessary; for it was not boasting toward God to speak the truth about it. And the confession of those who were healed concerning the healing did not bring a charge, but testified to gratitude.

He did not completely cut off those from the Gentiles about to believe, nor the Samaritans, desiring 'all people' (1 Timothy 2:4) to be 'saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,' but it was necessary first to go to 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel,' just as he himself says toward the Canaanite: 'I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,' which God promised to seek through the prophet Ezekiel. But they lost the law having been given to them, not having guarded it.

And he says 'has come' (Mt 10:7) not as if it were approaching; for it had approached of the incarnate Lord, but as far as those who have not yet believed, it seems Christ is far from them. For I want to show the deacons of the Gospel to be entirely free and prudent, not being humbled by care for any single thing of the body (Mt 10:9-10). And Matthew says both he and Luke say 'neither sandals' 'nor' a garment 'nor a staff,' which seems to be the most modest thing to take, 'on the way.' But Mark seems to permit them to take a 'staff' and 'to have put on sandals' in some of the copies. For he says in others that 'he commanded them so that they might carry nothing on the way,' neither a 'staff' nor a 'bag' nor 'bread' nor 'copper into the belt' nor 'having put on sandals.'

Not two tunics, but the 'seamless' and 'woven from above' Christ Jesus; 'for as many as were baptized into Christ, you have clothed yourselves with Christ' (Gal 3:27); for it is necessary 'to strip off' the old man (Eph 4:22) along with his 'deeds' and his 'desires.' This...

Commentary on Matthew 10§4

4Having left Joseph in the hands of Egypt, he went out naked.

Mt 10:10 'Nor sandals.'

It is not fitting for an apostle in journeys to carry a dead skin, but to walk with life following the one saying, 'I am the way,' and to step out of a holy land wearing nothing; for they are not 'paths of serpent upon rock,' Mt 10:10 and perhaps not of any other beast.

For as much as you have the Savior lighting your darkness and guarding 'your entrance and your exit,' Psalm 121:8 you have no need of sandals.

Where there is no disorder, but gentleness, there is no need for a rod, so as not to frighten in the beginning by means of the rod; for beautiful sheep turn to the shepherd by voice alone, so if you have gentleness, do not fear the rod, which Paul holds up against the Corinthians.

Mt 10:10

He says these things so that glory might not be carried away by an easy and ready mind among those dwelling in the city.

Mt 10:11-15 But the punishment is equal to the Sodomites for those not receiving them, since those who seemed to have received the angels as hospitality rebuked them, but those who called them to the kingdom were refused.

Mt 10:11-15

Just as the serpent withdraws from those pursuing and hides himself, Mt 10:16 so also you, withdrawing from those pursuing, will endure the time of the Gospel without pre-empting it.

He prepares the apostles so as to become ready for the things that will happen and not to be disturbed, Mt 10:19-22 and at the same time shows the power of God helping them and his own proclamation, and neither the madness nor the unbelief of the Jews being spared, nor even of their own. 'And you will be hated,' he says, 'by many'; Mt 10:22 for this is that which is by all;

for many were there receiving them in their houses and loving them. 'And he who endures until the end, this shall be saved,' he says; Mt 10:22 for he who only having been bold and believing in the beginning, but not until the end, this one is not a partaker of the promised good things; for in every matter, both good and bad, the end is indicative.

For if even these are not from God, Mt 10:29 but not without God's permission, allowing toward a useful end, and these to the one choosing to work them out, just as I said concerning Job.

the saying about the sparrows is spoken excessively

Divine Will and the Manner of Teaching§5

The Seven Spirits and the Rejection of the Covenant§6

The Net and the Fish§7

7He shows not that it is sown into them, but they themselves.

Therefore we say that the Word is both seed and that which received the word through comparison and likeness to himself.

Because of this, Christ is formed in us and we are being formed according to Christ.

He likens the world to a sea because of the bitterness and the billows of trouble within it (Mt 13:47), but the power of the Word, casting a net upon the world, gathers from various thoughts of the old and new Scripture, from Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, men and women, free and slaves, righteous and wicked.

The net is filled when the master who casts it knows; for this is not for a man to recognize.

When the Word of instruction already has the measure of the fullness, then not all who have undertaken the learning of the Word will be found worthy to the master of the net, but a distinction then will occur between the wicked and the good; and to the useless, the end will appear as destruction, but to the good, the dwelling placed by the Lord into different vessels:

for many are the dwellings by the Father.

But the wicked, who for the time being are counted with the righteous, will then no longer share with them the indiscriminate sojourn, leaving behind the sweet life they enjoyed—like fish the life in the sea—and will undergo the most grievous punishment in fire, where nothing remains to console their evil.

The Savior likened the world to the sea because of the trouble and confusion within it, but the power of the Word, casting a net upon the world, was being fulfilled from various thoughts of old and new Scripture gathered from every kind of Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish.

Of more wonders and greater events by our Savior (Mt 14:17), it is not less that there is not always use of authority for the abundance of food, but it is necessary many times to be in need and to be without (Mt 15:2).

The Lord turns the evil state of the Pharisees into opposites; for those caring for the bodily things despised the spiritual, but the Savior, introducing the spiritual, renounces the bodily.

Indeed, following the preceding demonstration, the voice of the prophet was applied at the right time, possessing much concord with it (Mt 15:8).

Where did the Canaanite woman come from?

(Mt 15:21-22) From the idolatry of Tyre and Sidon, from her own people, and from 'the house of her father.'

Where did she come from?

She came forth as a fragrance of myrrh for the Savior; for she holds a type of the Church from among the Gentiles.

But also the Savior came out from the 'kinship' of Israel and from 'his own house,' which is Jerusalem.

And the Canaanite woman receives him, she who also received Elijah, the widow; and what did she cry out, shouting: 'Lord, Son of David!'?

How did she know to call thus, having studied neither the law nor the prophets?

She called him 'Lord' according to his divinity, but 'Son of David' according to the flesh.

Consider for me the widow's son who was dead, that is, the body which had been made dead, and the soul having been purified from the demon; he restored both the body and the soul.

For neither does a physician satisfy an untimely desire of those who are sick by seeking the remedy of the disease, nor the fulfillment of pleasure; nor does the Savior fulfill an irrational desire in order to show power.

For it is not profitable for such people to be showered with graces which, not being sufficient, do not suffice.

Moreover, they ask for a sign from heaven, such as foods like those in the days of the fathers, or a standing of the elements like in the days of Joshua.

Having said that they are a wicked generation, he leaves the city that became a harlot—faithful Zion, the synagogue of the Jews—as a bridegroom leaves a city that has become a prostitute.

Just as a physician does not give an untimely desire to those who are sick as a way of loosening their disease, nor does he satisfy their pleasure with harmful foods, so also the Savior does not fulfill an irrational desire to show his power; for many signs from heaven they have seen: 'a spirit descending like a dove' (Matthew 3:16), the heavens having been opened and the paternal 'voice saying:

This is my beloved Son.'

Yet he does not provide an apology to those who work the passion through these things; for the mindset and the conspiracy of the Jews did not harmonize with the counsel of God, nor did they hasten then, which God managed; so that for them, what was being done was impiety according to their opinion, but to God it was a wise dispensation and, to mankind, a saving benefit (Mt 16:23).

And that which is in the glory of his Father: he says 'the glory,' meaning the glory of God, because having become man, he is the Son of God (Mt 16:27).

The Fish and the Lost Sheep§8

The Forgiveness of Sins and the Divine Philanthropy§9

9Having willed to pay the debts of the sins of the world, the Savior has suffered on our behalf.

The fellow-servants who also report the one who used the master's servant without restraint are both angels and men entrusted with the administration, such as Paul was, who delivered the most shameful wrongdoer to the devil.

And just as the one who has canceled the debt becomes free, so the one who suffered for those against whom he was wronged is set free toward salvation.

One must pay attention even to that, that he was conversing about the necessity of forgiving one another among men, and for this purpose, having used the parable, he began thus: 'For this reason the kingdom of heaven was made like...'

(Mt 18:31).

For our fellow-servants, not bearing our wickedness, accuse us before God, not as if He were ignorant, but as those indignant against those who strike the laws of philanthropy.

And he speaks of angels appointed to the tortures.

But 'until he pays all that is owed'—that is, he continuously delivered him over to be tortured—for he was never able to pay; here, indeed, God turns the man toward trials, diseases, and other tortures, but in the future, to be tortured unceasingly for eternity (Matthew 18:34).

And he did not say 'thus your Father will do to you,' but 'my Father'; for such are unworthy to be named sons of God.

Therefore, the word traces in brief the unutterable philanthropy of God, which the one not imitating as much as possible will undergo punishment from the righteous judge.

And even if it has been said: 'the gifts of God are unchangeable,' yet wickedness was so powerful as to overturn this word.

Thus, the word requires two things of us: to remember a certain one of his own sins and to be unforgetful of kindness toward the one who falls.

The Savior has discussed this in a human manner according to the didactic form, not revealing himself to be the creative Word, nor indeed separating the creating Son from the creating Father, but perhaps including the Word in the name of the Father, saying 'all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being' (John 1:3).

He says that adultery is not living with one's own; but he who abandons his own is not living with his own.

Therefore, 'he commits adultery against her'—that is, against the second, whom he joins to the one who is naturally conjoined to him, if he abandons his own.

How then does the law not contradict the one saying 'you shall not commit adultery' (Ex 20:14)?

We say that the law forbade the manifest adultery when another destroys the one living with him; but the Savior forbids even the one not living in agreement with all, nor even known by nature, nor...

The Capacity for the Kingdom§10

Divine Will and the Perfection of Love§11

11God desires to have through choice simplicity, the forgetfulness of wrongs, and the loving of parents even if they beat him.

He placed hands upon the children of the place of the hands, teaching the arming of the divine power.

The early stage of the law is good, and Christ does not annul it; rather, he says, 'if you wish, enter into life' (Mt 19:17), keeping the commandments, showing the beginning of this way, but not fulfilling it; and his law is not something else, testifying through this; but perfection is with him.

It is good for the apostolic way here to fit 'laying aside all wealth' (Mt 19:23); for the wealth was shown by the comparison to the camel; 'for narrow and afflicted is the way leading into life' (Matthew 7:14).

Do the evils then also fit?

For where it is said that God follows the good, no healthy person would even conceive that evils are possible for God, or that he would say it is not a weakness to not do good things; for the doing of evils is the opposite of strength, and Paul calls sins weaknesses, saying: 'for while we are still weak, Christ died for the ungodly according to the time' (Rom 5:6), and the Psalmist says:

'their infirmities' (Matthew 8:17); he calls sins infirmities.

But no one would accuse him by the word that says all things are possible for God, as they are accustomed to say.

Is it then possible that the making of the race did not occur for God?

For such a thing is useless to him again; and nothing is received as useless before the power of God.

Thus all the slanders according to the word are excessive.

Having said, Mark says, that 'Jesus, looking at him, loved him' (Mk 10:21), he stirs up a question: how was he loved who was not going to follow into 'life'?

Regarding the former, he who kept the law and these things from youth was worthy of love, but regarding perfection, he did not allow the love upon the following things to become perfect through a lack of time, just as he also did not show perfection.

Therefore Paul, having understood all in the law as incomplete, hurried toward perfection.

Not as if they were leaving great things, but they, from those which they had, stood up and showed the choice preferring all (Mt 19:27).

Spiritual Kinship and the Gospel§12

12Christ.

According to Matthew 19:28-29, the apostles judge by virtue, reproving evil.

And 'now' is the enjoyment of manyfold things according to fellowship, not according to possession; just as the Savior set forth all the things of the brothers for those fighting for the sake of the gospel—thus many houses, and brothers and sisters, and mothers and children, and farms—as an existence for those leaving their own, because love has filled all with kinship and all need.

And Luke also added concerning a woman; and this is according to Paul commanding to honor 'elders' as mothers, and 'younger women' as sisters in all purity.

For just as he gives non-brothers as brothers, and non-parents as parents, and non-children as children, so also he gives a non-wife as a wife in another way, namely, manifesting kinship through fullness, not fleshly.

Therefore, to leave behind according to the flesh is a good thing because of the spiritual life, just as Moses said long ago concerning the tribe of Levi: 'He who says to father and mother, I have not seen you, and to his sons, he has kept your words and your covenant and has preserved them.

They shall declare your judgments to Jacob and your law to Israel; they shall offer an incense in your anger for all time upon your altar' (Deuteronomy 33:10).

For there, because of the divine zeal of the race, there is apostasy, and here it is the same; for he does not accept the separation as if God were a stranger, but as if it were not an opportunity to spend time on these things for the one about to be raised up in the ministry of the gospel.

So, therefore, not even the separation from wife and marriage is to be counted as something evil to be praised, but so that even this is not an obstacle to the minister; and the preference of spiritual things altogether shows that the fleshly things are not foreign, unlike the Manichaeans who invalidate the creation of God.

And it is no difference to say 'for my sake' or 'for the sake of the gospel' as Mark, or 'for the sake of the kingdom of God' as Luke.

For the very name of Christ is the power of the gospel and of the kingdom, and the gospel is hung upon the name of Christ, and the kingdom of God is granted through his name.

The Departure and the Fig Tree§13

The Cessation of Action and the Nature of Resurrection§14

14The temple is a tower, in which those approaching were required to offer the fruits of piety to God, all of them fulfilling everything according to the law.

Moreover, the altar is a threshing floor upon which the blood of the sacrifices was poured out; the priestly order are farmers, and all those handling this service, so as to prepare for the people the harvest from the teaching of the law to offer to God with a 'good' 'conscience'.

A prophet speaks of the servants sent at the appointed time, those sent to remind the people or the priests of what is owed to God.

For the rebuke was continuous against them, especially against those, more than the rest, who were the causes of the ruin; and they remained enduring all sorts of evils from the Jews, and especially from those who seemed to be in authority among them, without yielding any more.

Regarding the Son, he speaks of his arrival (παρουσίαν), having suffered by them and having risen and having destroyed them miserably (Matthew 21:41).

This is a wedding of a church being joined to the Word, and a preparation for the wedding through the giving of the gifts of the rich, which is likened to those being prepared for guests in a rich banquet.

For Paul says that we are 'in everything' 'made rich' in Christ, 'in word and in knowledge'.

The first and second servants are called: the first being those who ran toward the presence of the Lord as fellow-workers and successors of the apostles.

But neglect prevents those who are called; for those 'walking according to the flesh' do not follow the divine call toward Christ.

Furthermore, there is the call of the Gentiles, and no longer is there a distinction of race, nor does Israel have the privilege; rather, grace is for those who are negligent and those who are rejected, for 'both the wise and the foolish' as Paul says, and both the evil and the good as the parable says.

For he calls those who have taken care of themselves, comparing them to the generally wicked.

And the evil may undergo a transition from wickedness, if they entirely obey the good-doing call and 'put on the new man'; but if not this, they were indeed called, but they were not chosen, and indeed their call is overturned; for they are rebuked even for having been convinced of a false entrance.

But the ministers who cast out such people are angels.

And the binding of feet and hands is...

A cessation of all activity.

For no longer is any practice given to the wicked, the time of strangers having been fulfilled in which they have done nothing good.

But by saying 'darkness' more externally, he speaks further on of divine virtue and glory.

Regarding the question of those testing him, as it is recorded (Mt 22:16), witnesses who wished to be present wanted to appear as those most opposed to the true Christ, saying that Herod is the Christ, and as being in authority and able to accuse.

We know, however, that even regarding this word, those from Valentinus and Marcion still contend, bringing the word up to souls; for they say that these live, and have spoken concerning these as being the god of the god of these.

But the dispute with the Sadducees was not about souls, but about bodies, so that the answer was about these (Mt 22:23).

It is said then that the dead rise, when the soul is with a body, not as if the soul were dissolved in the interval, but as being inactive and lacking the proper things of life which are with a body; for man and life are one thing in common, and both must be reunited toward the life from death.

He did not say 'Lord of the Spirit', but 'of David' (Mt 22:43); for not because he called Christ 'Lord' while speaking in spirit, must the Father be made a slave, as those impious toward the Spirit dare to do.

For David says, 'and a son' of the handmaid of God, and this does not yet fit with the Holy Spirit, but is said regarding his own spirit.

He spoke in spirit, for instance, when he said, 'do not take your Holy Spirit from me' (Psalm 51:11).

And 'do not take your spirit from me' did not yet fit with the Holy Spirit; for he was not about to take it from himself, nor even when he confessed his sin were those confessions of the Spirit.

Look, that there are not by nature any sons of Gehenna (Mt 23:15); rather, it should be sought whether the Gentiles, before they judaized, were not sons of Gehenna.

Because they marveled at gold, they valued the gold in the temple above the temple, it being necessary not to value the matter, but the name, since the temple was called by the name of God, and the gold was shown to be precious because of the name of the temple (Mt 23:16).

And because they profited from the sacrifices because of the gains from them,

Wings, Shelter, and the Gathering of the Saints§15

15The gift of the altar was more glorified because what was previously placed on the altar as a sheep or a calf or something like that, through the placement upon the altar, was already a gift of God and was called so and was shown to be holy; for the altar was anointed with the oil that sanctifies, and the gift through that received sanctification.

Not however in the spiritual things is it thus; for gold in the present temple of God is the Spirit itself, and the body of Christ is the gift upon the spiritual altar.

Therefore, the things being put in are greater now than the things receiving; for these indeed sanctify, but those are sanctified.

Through symbols the law taught purity in life.

And the custom according to the Jews was such a thing, to cleanse the cups and the vessel of the dish from the ancient traditions, so that they might hold this clean from the touch of sinners and thus avoid the fellowship of sinners, as if they were not even touching the vessels they had touched.

But much more they prepared through such customs to flee from sin itself.

But those who carefully observed these customs, while themselves seizing and violently gaining profit, became abominations through their works. 'Therefore, flee from injustice, O blind Pharisee, not even seeing what you do' (Mt 23, 25-26), he says; 'and clean to you are the things in the cup and in the dish, if they are not taken through injustice.

Much better is the vessel cleansed by righteousness beside the water.'

Those having spiritual wisdom, which Paul says, and scribes who interpret the old things newly, so that the names are the same as with the prophets and sages and scribes of old, but the things themselves are not the same; for neither is the prophecy, nor the wisdom, nor the scribal art about the same things.

But he who said 'I will send' showed the divine; for it is God's to send prophets and sages and scribes, the one capable of giving the Spirit of prophecy and wisdom and knowledge.

On account of which he was about to bring wounds upon her because she is a murderer (Mt 23, 37).

Therefore he charges her as a murderer; for she, he says, is killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her, and because she, being able many times to receive mercy, was not willing; for it showed many times and many generations...

After He brought the people back from captivity, they were scattering themselves through sins.

He teaches the God-befitting thing by speaking of wings and shelter, as it was said by Moses concerning God: 'He received them under His wings' (Deut 32:11); and by David: 'the children of men hope in the shelter of Your wings' (Ps 36:7).

For since Satan was scattering them, partly into idolatry and partly into loves of pleasure, He sent prophets, and then came through Himself so as to 'gather' them 'into one.'

But they did not endure to be under His shelter; for He says, 'As a devoted bird, I always had you, drawing you back toward myself, but you did not want to, but were scattering yourself through sinning, casting yourself away from God.'

But the bird is motherly and warm in love, caring for the children and giving herself up for them.

Therefore, He pre-announces two convergences: one of Jerusalem, the second of the whole inhabited world.

And who came in His name?

Simon the Magician, saying he was the great power; Mani came; a certain Dositheos the Samaritan came, claiming to be the prophet proclaimed by Moses.

Montanus alone said in his own writings: 'I am the Word, the Bridegroom, the Paraclete, the Pantocrator, I am all things.'

He speaks of the wilderness because John lived in the wilderness so much (Matthew 24:26); and of the treasuries because Christ was born in a cave and a small hut at the first appearance (Mt 24:26).

He says he contrasts the inhabited world with the desolate wilderness through the treasuries (Mt 24:26).

For just as eagles tear at a dead animal to be fed, so when Christ appears, the saints will be drawn to Him (Mt 24:27-28).

For it will not be as at the first appearance, moving from place to place through the flesh during the transition, but at the second, His appearance will be manifest to all 'in the twinkling of an eye' (Mt 24:27), like a lightning bolt that does not need to be signaled.

And immediately all the saints, having grown wings like eagles, are gathered to Him; for where Jesus fell as a corpse according to the economy of suffering, in order that He might raise those who fell, all will be gathered together, not by chance, but those who...

The Nature of the Passover and Christ's Sympathy§16

16Disciples, bearing wings as Solomon described. Regarding Matthew 24:27-28, a certain likeness and a parable and an example has been spoken; for just as, when a carcass and a dead body is found lying, eagles and other flesh-eating birds are suddenly lifted up from the unseen to be fed, being carried from those high places through the air, so also, he says, the presence of the Son of Man shall be. For his appearing again upon the earth according to the second and glorious presence to judge the inhabited world, and angels in host, wielding spears, shall be manifest, and all the saints, being moved, 'in an instant, in the blink of an eye' (1 Cor 15:52) according to the last trumpet, as the apostle says, just as certain birds, eagles, being swift in movement, shall appear from the unseen; most fittingly being likened to eagles because of thinking the high and heavenly things and being worthy to live the citizenship of the kingdom of heaven. But some have attempted to explain this spoken word in this way, saying that in the second presence of the Lord, all those who have lived justly and, like eagles, are high and heavenly in their mind, will be left behind the parable, and will be gathered to that place where the carcass became of Adam and the transgression of the commandment, through which he fell into sin.

Regarding Matthew 24:31, the Son of Man will send, saying, his angels, God showed the Son of Man; for angels are of God, and to send them is God's own. And that from the ends of the heavens to their ends teaches us the same to be both ends of earth and heaven, so that one must believe in Christ and not be deceived, as the smallest part of the earth is in the midst of the heaven exceeding it in infinite greatness.

Regarding Matthew 25:24, 'Hard,' he says, 'is your command, to seek obedience from men, to whom you did not make the hearing easy through the word. Therefore, fearing that I might become ineffective, I kept only what was for myself, and did not strive concerning others.' 'Hard,' he says, 'is your command, because you seek obedience from men, to whom you have not given the hearing through your word. And because of this, fearing to be ineffective...'

May I become only a person of my own nature, not being unhurried regarding others. Because you involve yourselves, the fault stands around you. The power of things is shown by the impression of the words, as if the righteous were saying these things and as if hearing what the nature of the matter possesses; for it is clear that they would not say these things then, nor would they seek them, when it has been dissolved by the one spoken of by Christ (Mt 25:34). But so often in the words of the scriptures, things lying in the matter are characterized.

But Mark and Luke did not say he had said, 'I will give the Passover,' as he says 'as another,' but 'Where is the lodging, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples' (Mark 14:14). These things are able to indicate the 'preparation of the Passover,' not the eating; for John indicates according to the day of the Passover, lest the Passover be eaten by the Jews, since, as we said, it was necessary according to the same day and hour that both the type of Passover and the truth be fulfilled. Nor was it yet intended for the man to indicate that the Passover is being prepared, but before the knowledge of it, it was necessary to be Passover, unless even this I noted by saying 'my time is near.'

And he also indicates in that supper that which he himself ate as the supper; for Luke says: 'When it became hour, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God' (Luke 22:14-18). For he did not say again 'I shall not eat it,' but 'I shall not eat,' indicating his sympathy toward the disciples, because he pitied them, as they were going to have the feast unobserved due to his departure; for this is the 'I desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer,' bringing forth that they shall have sorrow, and he will prefer, over their cheerfulness, that which is profitable to both them and the whole world—not to eat the Passover, but to become himself a Passover, whose fulfillment is 'in the kingdom of God,' when it completely surpasses death; for this is what the word Passover indicates, signifying a surpassing.

The preparation of the Passover has indeed happened. And it is a supper, and not yet the eating of the Passover; for not even...

The Passover and the Type of Communion§17

17It was the custom of those eating the Passover, and they were dining. And John has said nothing of a remembrance of the Passover, having made it by saying: 'Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them unto the end' (John 13:1) and the following. 'Before the feast of the Passover' he says, not in the feast of the Passover, so that we also received 'the first of the unleavened' (Matthew 26:17) naturally, having understood it as before the unleavened.

It has been said that the good thing is not to have come to execution (Mt 26:24); for non-existence is a preferable state from a bad existence. When Judas went out, John made it manifest; for the servant of the Christ-killer would not have accepted the saving communion; even though the Lord brought him through all other things, but this no longer was permitted.

And for us the type is to expose the wicked regarding the holy communion, even if we bear them through all other things by forbearance; for it is clear that he would kill the Savior, 'he went out' (John 13:27) after being delivered to the devil; for 'after the morsel he entered,' he says, 'into him the Satan' (John 13:27), so as having taken him, he led him away as a traitor.

And speaking of many, he says that the blood is being poured out, concerning all, he says that through the one righteous many shall be established (Mt 26:28). This indeed also here shows that one suffers on behalf of many. And Apollinaris makes a type of the participation of the body and blood of that which is being performed in the Spirit for the believers, having imprinted it with the bread as the body and the wine as the blood.

Since the Spirit is the bread of the coming age, which is a food of life for the one approaching the age, and 'the bread which I will give' to you is 'my flesh for the life of the world' (John 6:51), and the blood is living in the body; and for this reason Moses said 'the life of all flesh' (Leviticus 17:11) regarding 'the blood' as being unified by blood. He clearly distinguished the type by the name of the truth, saying: 'this is my body'; and for this reason he named the types with the names of the truth, so that they would not be trivialized by what is seen, but would marvel at the power. Thus, eating and drinking showed the participation which would not have occurred without a body; for if the divine power had not been joined to a body and unified by blood, we would not have had communion through it to God.

Observe that Judas did not die from strangulation, but lived on after being driven to it before being suffocated. And the deeds of the apostles declare this, that 'having become rash he struck' (Acts 1:18) and the following. But this is more clearly recounted by Papia, the pious disciple of John the Apostle, saying: Judas fell upon a great example of impiety in this world; for having become so much a part of the flesh, such that he could not easily pass through the narrowness, it is said that his entrails were spilled out by the narrowness. Having become so much a part of the flesh that he could not pass easily even where the narrowness passes, he could not pass even just the size of the head; for they say the eyelids of the eyes were so swollen that he could not see the light at all, and his eyes could not even be seen by a medical lens; such depth they had from the external appearance. And his genitals, for all shame, were loathsome and greater...

The Physical Corruption of Judas§18

18It appears that, through him, discharges and worms emerge from the whole body in excess.

After many tortures and punishments, they say he died in a private place, and because of the stench, this place became a desert and uninhabited until now; but even until today, no one is able to pass through that place unless he stops his nose with his hands.

Judas did not die by strangulation, but lived on after being cast down before being suffocated.

And this the acts of the apostles demonstrate, that 'becoming precipitate, he struck the ground, and all his bowels were poured out' (Acts 1:18).

This is more clearly recounted by Papias, the disciple of John, saying thus in the fourth explanation of the Lord's words: Judas walked in this world as a great example of impiety.

Having become so corrupted in the flesh that he could pass through even where no one passes easily, yet not even the volume of his head could pass; for they say the eyelids of his eyes were so diminished that he could not see the light at all, and his eyes could not even be seen by a physician's instruments; such was the depth from the external appearance.

His filthiness, indeed, appeared more loathsome and greater than all ugliness, and through it the discharges and worms dragging from the whole body are carried forth to an excess of only the necessary things.

After many tortures and punishments, they say he died in a private place, and because of the stench, this place became a desert and uninhabited until now; but even until today, no one is able to pass through that place unless he stops his nose with his hands.

Such was his concealment through the flesh, and into the earth.

A good hiding place for those who slander; for those listening were not seeking the truth, and the response was according to the common custom, which also Luke showed in the history, saying to those asking, 'If you are the Christ, tell us; if I tell you, you will not believe; but if I ask, you will not answer' (Luke 22:67).

The scourges were instead of the sins of the world, for many are the scourges of the sinner, and according to the prophecy saying, 'I gave my back to scourges' (Isa 50:6).

And the righteous has been fulfilled on behalf of the sinners, and the extreme of goodness has been fulfilled, when the 'righteous suffered for the unrighteous' (Isa 53:5), so that 'by his wound we might be healed,' as Isaiah says.

Not because they were strong, but because it seemed to God that these things should happen for the redemption of men, through the dishonoring of the 'Lord of glory' on our behalf, because of the dishonor falling upon us, and the day of the righteous glorifying that which is always being mocked by the uninstructed.

Since the cloth was stained with the color of blood,

The Mockery of the King and the Cosmic Darkness§19

19Because of this, those killing him, not understanding what they were doing, instead performed a symbol: this robe, which is the red garment of Joshua in Jesus, and the one who 'stretched out his hand' being one of the sons of Judah from Tamar, signifies the lifting up of the Savior for the salvation of all, against the blood of the world and the people in it. But those being suffocated by 'cares, wealth, and pleasures,' having taken the word of God and not bringing it to completion, crown Jesus with thorns, insulting him; but he, having taken up our thorns, dissipates them with his own head. And they put a reed in his right hand, supposing it to be his kingship.

The Jews, playing at the Lord as if regarding the name of the prophet, were performing a child's game (Matthew 26:68), hence they were saying, 'Prophesy to us, Christ, who is he who struck you'; but the soldiers play at the name of the king; for this is why there is a red robe instead of purple, a crown of thorns instead of gold, a reed instead of a scepter, and the bowing as to a king and saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews.' Upon which was also the spitting and the striking with the reed, which was a practice for training soldiers and a folly of a foolish people playing a game, just as they have always been accustomed to unfolding the emn things, being suddenly fulfilled upon the Lord of the prophecy which says: 'I gave you a dream of a fool; I was made mute and did not open my mouth, because you are the one who made me' (Psalm 39:9).

And Phlegon, a philosopher among the Greeks, remembers this darkness as having happened paradoxically on the fourteenth of the moon (Mt 27:45), when no eclipse usually occurs, when the interval from the sun is far, as from the beginning of the heaven to the end; for eclipses happen when these two luminaries approach one another; for a solar eclipse happens by the moon running to meet it, not at the full moon, when it is at the diameter of the moon. This happened as the creation was mourning over what occurred, and therefore making it manifest, that because this opposition was done by the Jews, their mind was darkened and the intelligible sun departed from them. For perhaps they thought him to be the sun—for that darkness was raging and a sign of what the hybrids will take in the future; for this happens after all the acts of this opposition, when they received a reward from the mockers and did all they wished.

And this is also the beginning of the transfer of souls into the heavens. As many as follow Christ are transferred, as Stephen showed by saying, 'Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit' (Acts 7:59), and Paul, 'It is better to depart and be with Christ' (Phil 1:23). On the contrary, concerning the old things, it was said...

The Resurrection and the Proclamation§20