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1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:1
Everyone who receives the Word of God into himself is a temple. Everyone who does not completely fall away from God after sinning but retains some vestiges of faith and devotion to the commandments of God remains a temple, albeit partially destroyed. Whoever fails to take care of his soul after he sins, however, but continues to walk away from the faith and from the life of the gospel is progressively alienated until he has fully departed from the living God. Then he will be a temple in which “there will not be left one stone” of the teaching of the commandments of God “upon another that will not be destroyed.” …The temple of God was a building composed of distinct words, every Scripture from the Old Testament plainly having been constructed according to the historical sense. By their arrangement of words and phrases, Moses and the prophets built it in such a way that the beauty of the stones, that is, the meaning of their carefully chosen sayings, would command the admiration and praise of everyone. When the disciples of Jesus attempted to direct his attention to the structure of the temple, he responded by saying that this first, merely physical building must be destroyed by the Word so that another, more divine, more mystical temple might be constructed in its place. That other temple is the Scripture, as has already been demonstrated.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 30-31
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:1-2
Christ, when He had foretold all that should come upon Jerusalem, went forth out of the temple, He, who while He was in it, had upheld the temple that it should not fall. And so each man, being the temple of God by reason of the Spirit of God dwelling in him, is himself the cause of his being deserted, that Christ should depart from him. It is worthy of note how they show Him the buildings of the temple, as though He had never seen them. We reply, that when Christ had foretold the destruction that should come upon the temple, His disciples were amazed at the thought that so magnificent buildings should be utterly ruined, and therefore they show them to Him to move Him to pity, that He would not do what He had threatened. And because the constitution of human nature is wonderful, being made the temple of God, the disciples and the rest of the saints confessing the wonderful working of God in respect of the forming of men, intercede before the face of Christ, that He would not forsake the human race for their sins.

Every man also, who, by taking into him the word of God, is become a temple, if after sinning he yet retains in part the traces of faith and religion, his temple is in part destroyed, and in part standing. But he who after sin has no regard for himself is gradually alienated, until he has altogether forsaken the living God, and so one stone is not left upon another of God's commandments, which he has not thrown down.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on Matthew 24:1-51
For in the last days false prophets shall be multiplied, and such as corrupt the word; and the sheep shall be changed into wolves, and love into hatred: for through the abounding of iniquity the love of many shall wax cold. For men shall hate, and persecute, and betray one another. And then shall appear the deceiver of the world, the enemy of the truth, the prince of lies, [2 Thessalonians 2:3-12] whom the Lord Jesus "shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth, who takes away the wicked with His lips; and many shall be offended at Him. But they that endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven;" [Isaiah 11:4; Matthew 24:1-51] and afterwards shall be the voice of a trumpet by the archangel; and in that interval shall be the revival of those that were asleep. And then shall the Lord come, and all His saints with Him, with a great concussion above the clouds, with the angels of His power, [Matthew 16:27] in the throne of His kingdom, to condemn the devil, the deceiver of the world, and to render to every one according to his deeds. "Then shall the wicked go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous shall go into life eternal," [Matthew 25:46] to inherit those things "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, such things as God has prepared for them that love Him;" [1 Corinthians 2:9] and they shall rejoice in the kingdom of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book VII), Section 2, XXXII
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:1-2
(Hom. Ixxv.) How means He this, that one stone shall not be left upon another? Either as conveying the notion of its utter overthrow; or with respect to the place in which it stood, for its parts were broken up to its very foundations. But I would add, that, after the fate it underwent, the most captious might be satisfied that its very fragments have perished.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:1-2
Figuratively; When the Lord departed from the temple, all the buildings of the Law and the structure of the Commandments were so overthrown, that none of them could be fulfilled by the Jews, but, the Head being taken away, all the parts were at war among themselves.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:1-2
(Chapter 24 - Verses 1, 2.) And Jesus went out of the temple and was going on his way. And his disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. But he answered and said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you: there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone, that shall not be destroyed. According to the manifest sense of the story, when the Lord departed from the temple, all the buildings of the law, and the composition of the commandments, were so destroyed that nothing could be fulfilled by the Jews; and with the head removed, all the members fight among themselves.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Matthew 24:1
Some were pointing out to Christ the magnificent things in the temple and how it was adorned by the gifts that had been dedicated to God. For they supposed that Jesus would admire with them all there was to see, although being God he has heaven as his throne! He does offer a teaching concerning them, but he had already predicted that according to the times the temple would utterly fall. The Roman army is being gathered for this very thing, demanding the surrender of Israel itself as all Jerusalem suffers the punishment of the slaying of the Lord. For let me tell you, it came to pass that they suffered these things after the crucifixion of the Savior. But they did not understand the meaning of Jesus’ teachings. They supposed his teachings concerned the consummation of the age.

Source: FRAGMENT 266
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:1-2
So it was ordained of God, that as soon as the light of grace was revealed, the temple with its ceremonies should be taken out of the way, lest any weakling in the faith, beholding all the things instituted of the Lord and hallowed by the Prophets yet abiding, might be gradually drawn away from the purity of the faith to a carnal Judaism.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:1-2
The historical sense is clear, that in the forty-second year after the Lord's passion, the city and temple were overthrown under the Roman Emperors Vespasian and Titus.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:2
After Christ predicted everything that was about to happen to Jerusalem, he who had preserved the temple left it, lest it collapse while he was still in it. The temple stood safe and secure as long as the Word and the kingdom of God were with the Jews, as did all things Jewish. Subsequently, however, the kingdom of God was taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles, as it is written, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the nations who produce its fruit.” Both Jesus and the kingdom of God were then established among the Gentiles. Therefore neither Jesus nor the kingdom of God is to be found among the Jews, because they were abandoned “like a booth in a vineyard and like a hut in a cucumber field and like a city besieged,” on account of the crime they committed against Christ.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 29.6
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:2
The magnificent splendor of the temple’s design was shown to Christ immediately after he had warned of Jerusalem’s desolation, as though to move him. Yet he said that everything had to be destroyed and the scattered stones of its entire foundation demolished, for an eternal temple was being consecrated as a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. This eternal temple is the man who is made worthy of becoming God’s habitation through knowledge of the Son, confession of the Father and obedience to the commandments.

Source: Commentary on Matthew 25.1
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:2
Hom lxxv: How means He Hom. this, “that one stone shalt not be left upon another?” Either as conveying the notion of its utter overthrow; or with respect to the place in which it stood, for its parts were broken up to its very foundations. But I would add, that, after the fate it underwent, the most captious might be satisfied that its very fragments have perished.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:2
For inasmuch as He said, Your house is left desolate, and had previously forewarned them of many grievous things; therefore the disciples having heard these things, as though marvelling at it, came unto Him, showing the beauty of the temple, and wondering, if so much beauty was to be destroyed, and materials so costly, and variety of workmanship past utterance; He no longer thenceforth talks to them of desolation merely, but foretells an entire destruction. See ye not all these things, says He, and do ye marvel, and are you amazed? There shall not remain one stone upon another. How then did it remain? One may say. But what is this? For neither so has the prediction fallen to the ground. For He said these things either indicating its entire desolation, or at that spot where He was. For there are parts of it destroyed unto the foundations.

And together with its we would say another thing also, that from what has been done, even the most contentious ought to believe concerning the remains, that they are utterly to be destroyed.
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:2
. By going out of the temple, Jesus showed that He was departing from the Jews. And as He had just said, "Your house is left unto you desolate [i.e. abandoned]," so here indeed He accomplishes it. To the disciples He foretells the destruction of the temple, for they were thinking of earthly things and were moved by the beauty of the buildings and so they pointed them out to Christ, as if saying to Him, "Look how beautiful is the house Thou leavest desolate." He draws them away from attachment to earthly things and escorts them towards the heavenly Jerusalem by saying, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another." He said this in vivid language, to portray the utter destruction of the edifice.
[AD 100] Didache on Matthew 24:3-44
Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ready, for you know not the hour in which our Lord comes. [Matthew 24:42] But often shall you come together, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if you be not made perfect in the last time. For in the last days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; [Matthew 24:11-12] for when lawlessness increases, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, [Matthew 24:10] and then shall appear the world-deceiver as the Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to pass since the beginning. Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and shall perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, the sign of an outspreading in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.

Source: The Didache, Chapter 16
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:3
And so, if the manifestation of the Lord's kingdom pertains unto the will of God and unto our anxious expectation, how do some pray for some protraction of the age, when the kingdom of God, which we pray may arrive, tends unto the consummation of the age? Our wish is, that our reign be hastened, not our servitude protracted.

Source: On Prayer
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:3-5
Every man also, who, by taking into him the word of God, is become a temple, if after sinning he yet retains in part the traces of faith and religion, his temple is in part destroyed, and in part standing. But he who after sin has no regard for himself is gradually alienated, until he has altogether forsaken the living God, and so one stone is not left upon another of God's commandments, which he has not thrown down.

I think Mount Olivet to be a mystery of the Church out of the Gentiles.

For the husbandman dwelling on Mount Olivet is the word of God confirmed in the Church, that is, Christ, who ever grafts the branches of the wild olive on the good olive tree of the Fathers. They who have confidence before Christ, seek to learn the sign of the coming of Christ, and of the consummation of this world. And the coming of the Word into the soul is of two sorts. The first is that foolish preaching concerning Christ, when we preach that Christ was born and crucified; the second its coming in perfect men, concerning which it is said, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect; (1 Cor. 2:6.) and to this second coming is added the end of the world in the perfect man to whom the world is crucified.

They that are deceived are many, because wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. (Mat. 7:13.) This one thing is enough to detect the Antichrists and seducers that they shall say, I am Christ, which Christ Himself is no where read to have said: for the works of God, and the word which He taught, and His power, were enough to produce belief that He is Christ. For every discourse which professes to expound Scripture faithfully, and has not the truth, is Antichrist. For the truth is Christ, that which feigns itself to be the truth is Antichrist. So also all virtues are Christ, all that feigns itself to be virtue is Antichrist; for Christ has in Himself in truth all manner of good for the edification of men, but the devil has forged resemblances of the same for the deceiving of the saints. We have need therefore of God to help us, that none deceive us, neither word nor power. It is a bad thing to find any one erring in his course of life; but I esteem it much worse not to think according to the most true rule of Scripture.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:3
I regard the allegory of the Mount of Olives to refer to the churches of the Gentiles, among whom olive trees were planted. Each church is able to say, “I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God.” Perhaps also in this Mount of Olives, where the roots of good olive trees live, branches of a wild olive tree were grafted into the good tree in the place of those branches which had been “broken off for their unbelief.” The farmer residing on the Mount of Olives is the Word of God as professed in the church, which is Christ, who continually grafts wild olive branches into the good tree of our father Moses and the other prophets, so that having been strengthened by the holy prophets (whose prophecies they understood to refer to Christ), these new branches might offer more abundant, richer fruit than the first olive branches, which had been cut off and made useless on account of the curse which was in the law.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 32
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:3-5
And because the questions of the disciples are threefold, they are separated by different times and meanings. That concerning the destruction of the city is first answered, and is then confirmed by truth of doctrine, that no seducer might prevail with the ignorant.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:3-5
They asked Him in private, because they were great things about which they were going to ask Him. They wished to know the day of His coming, for the vehement desire they had to see His glory.

Luke speaks of one enquiry, that concerning Jerusalem, as though the disciples supposed that Christ's coming should be then, and the end of the world should be when Jerusalem should be destroyed. Whereas Mark does not state them all to have asked concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, but Peter, James, John, and Andrew, as having more bold and free speech with Christ.

His first answer is neither concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, nor concerning His second coming, but concerning the evils which were to be immediately encountered.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:3
Therefore did they come unto Him privately, as it was of such matters they meant to inquire. For they were in travail to know the day of His coming, because of their eager desire to behold that glory, which is the cause of countless blessings. And these two things do they ask him, when shall these things be? That is, the overthrow of the temple; and, what is the sign of your coming? But Luke says, Luke 21:6-7 the question was one concerning Jerusalem, as though they were supposing that then is His coming. And Mark says, that neither did all of them ask concerning the end of Jerusalem, but Peter and John, as having greater freedom of speech.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:3
Since they meant to inquire about confidential matters, the disciples came to him privately. They were deeply troubled about when the day of his coming would be. They eagerly desired to behold that glory and the countless blessing that will accompany it. Yet they asked him two things. When will these things come to pass—especially the overturning of the temple? And what will be the sign of his coming at the close of the age?

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 75.1
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:3-5
They ask Him three things. First, The time of the destruction of Jerusalem, saying, Tell us when shall these things be? Secondly, The time of Christ's coming, saying, And what shall be the sign of Thy coming? Thirdly, The time of the consummation of this world, saying, And of the end of the world?

One of them of whom The speaks was Simon of Samaria, of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles, that he gave himself out to be the great Power, leaving these things written in his worksa among others, I am the Word of God, I am the Almighty, I am all things of God. The Apostle John also in his Epistle, Ye have heard that Antichrist shall come; even now there are many Antichrists. (1 John 2:18.) I suppose all heresiarchs to be Antichrists, and under the name of Christ to teach those things which are contrary to Christ. No wonder if we see some led away by such teachers, when the Lord has said, And shall deceive many.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:3-4
(Vers. 3, 4.) But while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered them, saying: See that no one deceives you. He sits on the Mount of Olives, where the true light of knowledge was born, and the disciples come to him privately, who desired to know the mysteries and revelations of the future, and they ask three things: When will Jerusalem be destroyed; when will Christ come; when will the end of the age be.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:3-5
The Lord continuing His walk arrives at Mount Olivet, having by the way foretold the destruction of the temple to those disciples who had shown and commended the buildings. When they had reached the Mount they came to Him, asking Him further of this.

For Mount Olivet has no unfruitful trees, but olives, which supply light to dispel darkness, which give rest to the weary, health to the sick. And sitting on Mount Olivet over against the temple, the Lord discourses of its destruction, and the destruction of the Jewish nation, that even by His choice of a situation He might show, that abiding still in the Church He condemns the pride of the wicked.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:3
They come to Him privately to ask Him about matters of great importance. They ask Him two questions. First, "When shall these things be?" that is, the destruction of the temple and the captivity of Jerusalem. Second, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming?"
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:4
The character of the times in which we live is such as to call forth from us even this admonition, that we ought not to be astonished at the heresies (which abound) neither ought their existence to surprise us, for it was foretold that they should come to pass; nor the fact that they subvert the faith of some, for their final cause is, by affording a trial to faith, to give it also the opportunity of being "approved.

Source: The Prescription Against Heretics
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:4-5
Come up to the moral and spiritual sense of Scripture and see if you can discover an interpretation worthy of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ and of the discernment of the Evangelists, lest you denigrate the dignity of evangelical wisdom with a lesser interpretation. Let us see then if mindful of that which was handed down from above concerning him who said “Many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will seduce many,” we can interpret these things in accordance with their consequences. It is inevitable that everyone who has been made perfect and has been given to see the glorious coming of the Word in his soul, everyone who has destroyed, devoured and crucified the world so that all things worldly are dead to him, and has trained his mind for understanding, will eventually engage doctrinal battles in the course of his search and discernment. He will hear many voices from divergent traditions professing to have the truth. Like a good soldier of the Word, however, his soul shall remain safe from all those opponents of the truth who feign adherence to the truth. In this way, he will be made worthy to receive in his soul the glorious coming of Christ, the Word of God who was “in the beginning with God,” who comes to those who, having recognized him “according to the flesh” and having received the Word who “became flesh,” then ascended far beyond these things to behold no ordinary glory, but “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 35.19
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:4
For since they felt as being told of vengeance falling on others when hearing of that which was to be brought upon Jerusalem and as though they were to be out of the turmoils, and were dreaming of good things only, and looked for these to befall them quite immediately; for this cause He again foretells to them grievous things, making them earnest, and commanding them on two grounds to watch, so as neither to be seduced by the deceit of them that would beguile them, nor to be overpowered by the violence of ills that should overtake them.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:5
(Verse 5.) For many will come in my name, saying: I am the Christ, and they will deceive many. One of them is Simon the Samaritan, whom we read about in the Acts of the Apostles, who claimed to be a great power of God (Acts 8). Leaving these things aside, he also wrote among other things in his own volumes: I am the word of God, I am beautiful, I am the Paraclete, I am omnipotent, I am all things of God. But even the apostle John speaks in his epistle: You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, now many antichrists are already here (1 John 2:18). I believe that all heresiarchs are Antichrists, and they teach under the name of Christ those things which are contrary to Christ. It is not surprising if we see some being led astray by them, since the Lord has said: And many will be led astray.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:5
Many, He says, will come declaring themselves to be Christs. For Dositheus the Samaritan said, "I am that prophet foretold by Moses" (Dt. 18:18); and Simon the Samaritan called himself the great power of God.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:6-8
They that are deceived are many, because wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. (Mat. 7:13.) This one thing is enough to detect the Antichrists and seducers that they shall say, I am Christ, which Christ Himself is no where read to have said: for the works of God, and the word which He taught, and His power, were enough to produce belief that He is Christ. For every discourse which professes to expound Scripture faithfully, and has not the truth, is Antichrist. For the truth is Christ, that which feigns itself to be the truth is Antichrist. So also all virtues are Christ, all that feigns itself to be virtue is Antichrist; for Christ has in Himself in truth all manner of good for the edification of men, but the devil has forged resemblances of the same for the deceiving of the saints. We have need therefore of God to help us, that none deceive us, neither word nor power. It is a bad thing to find any one erring in his course of life; but I esteem it much worse not to think according to the most true rule of Scripture.

To hear the shouts raised in the battles, is to hear wars; to hear rumours of wars, is to hear accounts of wars waged afar off.

Or otherwise; As the body sickens before the death of the man, so it must needs be that before the consummation of this world the earth should be shaken, as though it were palsied, with frequent earthquakes, the air should gather a deadly quality and become pestilential, and that the vital energy of the soil should fail, and its fruits wither. And by consequence of this scarcity, men are stirred up to robbery and war. But because war and strife arise sometimes from covctousness, and sometimes from desire of power and empty glory, of these which shall happen before the end of the world a yet deeper cause shall be assignable. For as Christ's coming brought through His divine power peace to divers nations, so it shall be on the other hand, that when iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, and God and His Christ shall desert them; wars shall be again when actions which beget wars are not hindered by holiness; and hostile powers when they are not restrained by the Saints and by Christ shall work unchecked in the hearts of men, stirring up nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. But if, as some will have it, famine and pestilence are from the Angels of Satan, these shall then gather might from opposite powers, when the salt of the earth, and the lights of the world, Christ's disciples, shall be no longer, destroying those things which the malice of dæmons hatches. Ofttimes in Israel famines and pestilences were caused by sin, and removed by the prayers of the Saints. (1 Kings 17:1. Jer. 14. James 5:17, 18.) Well is that said, In divers places, for God will not destroy the whole race of men at once, but judging them in portions, He gives opportunity of repentance. But if some stop be not put to these evils in their commencement, they will progress to worse, as it follows, These all are the beginnings of sorrows, that is, sorrows common to the whole world, and those which are to come upon the wicked who shall be tormented in most sharp pains.

This must come to pass before we can see the perfection of that wisdom which is in Christ; but not yet shall be that end which we seek, for a peaceful end is far from those men.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:6-8
Here He speaks of the battles which should be fought at Jerusalem; when He says, Ye shall hear wars, and rumours of wars.

And because this might alarm the disciples, He continues, See that ye be not troubled. And because they supposed that the end of the world would follow immediately after the war in which Jerusalem should be destroyed, He corrects their suspicions concerning this, These things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

And to show that He also should fight against the Jews, He tells them not only of wars, but of calamities inflicted by Providence, And there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places.

And these things shall not happen according to the order of nature before established among men, but shall come of wrath from heaven, and therefore He said not that they should come only, or come suddenly, but adds significantly, These all are the beginnings of troubles, that is, of the Jewish troubles.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:6
For the war, says He, shall be twofold that of the deceivers, and that of the enemies, but the former far more grievous, as coming upon them in the confusion and turmoils, and when men were terrified and troubled. For indeed great was the storm then, when the Roman power was beginning to flourish, and cities were taken, and camps and weapons were set in motion, and many were readily believed.

But of wars in Jerusalem is He speaking; for it is not surely of those without, and everywhere in the world; for what did they care for these? And besides, He would thus say nothing new, if He were speaking of the calamities of the world at large, which are happening always. For before this, were wars, and tumults, and fightings; but He speaks of the Jewish wars coming upon them at no great distance, for henceforth the Roman arms were a matter of anxiety. Since then these things also were sufficient to confound them, He foretells them all.

Then to show that He Himself also will assail the Jews with them, and war on them, He speaks not of battles only, but also of plagues sent from God, famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, showing that the wars also He Himself permitted to come upon them, and that these things do not happen for no purpose according to what has been before the accustomed course of things among men, but proceed from the wrath on high.

Therefore He says, they shall come not by themselves or at once, but with signs. For that the Jews may not say, that they who then believed were the authors of these evils, therefore has He told them also of the cause of their coming upon them. For verily I say unto you, He said before, all these things shall come upon this generation, having made mention of the stain of blood on them.

Then lest on hearing of the showers of evils, they should suppose the gospel to be broken through, He added, See, be not troubled, for all things must come to pass, i.e. which I foretold, and the approach of the temptations will set aside none of the things which I have said; but there shall indeed be tumults and confusion, but nothing shall shake my predictions.

Then since He had said to the Jews, You shall not see me, till you shall say, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord; and the disciples supposed that together with the destruction would be the end also; to set right this secret thought of theirs, He said, But the end is not yet. For that they did suspect even as I said, you may learn from their question. For, what did they ask? When shall these things be? i.e. when shall Jerusalem be destroyed? And what is the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?

But He answered nothing directly to this question, but first speaks of those other things that are urgent, and which it was needful for them to learn first. For neither concerning Jerusalem straightway, nor of His own second coming, did He speak, but touching the ills that were to meet them at the doors. Wherefore also He makes them earnest in their exertions, by saying, Take heed that no man deceive you; for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ.

Afterwards, when He has roused them to listen about these things (for, take heed, says He, that no man deceive you); and having made them energetic, and prepared them to be watchful, and has spoken first of the false Christs, then He speaks of the ills of Jerusalem, assuring them ever by the things already past, foolish and contentious though they were, of those which were yet to come.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:6-8
That is, Think not that the day of judgment is at hand, but that it is reserved against another time; the sign of which is plainly put in what follows, For nation shall rise against-nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Figuratively; Kingdom rising against kingdom and pestilence of that discourse which spreadeth as a plague-spot, and hunger of hearing the word of God, and commotion throughout the earth, and separation from the true faith, my be rather understood of the heretics, who fighting among themselves give the victory to the Church.

These all are the beginnings of sorrows, is better understood of pains of labour, as it were the conception of the coming of Antichrist, and not of the birth.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:6
(Verse 6.) For you will hear of battles and rumors of battles: see that you are not troubled. For these things must happen; but the end is not yet. Therefore, when we see these things happening, let us not think that the day of judgment is imminent, but that it is reserved for that time, whose sign is clearly set forth in the following events.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:6-8
(Ep. 199. 25.) To this enquiry of the disciples the Lord makes answer, declaring all things which were to come to pass from that time forwards, whether relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, which had given occasion to their enquiry; or to His coming through the Church, in which He ceases not to come to the end of time; for He is acknowledged as coming among His own, while new members are daily born to Him; or relating to the end itself when He shall appear to judge the quick and the dead. When then He describes the signs which shall attend these three events, we must carefully consider which signs belong to which events, lest perchance we refer to one that which belongs to another.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:6-8
RABANUS.b Or, this is a warning to the Apostles not to flee from Jerusalem and Judæa in terror of these things, when they should begin to come upon them; because the end was not immediately, but the desolation of the province, and the destruction of the city and temple should not come till the fortieth year. And we know that most grievous woes, which spread over the whole province, fell out to the very letter.

Nation shall rise against nation, shows the disquietude of men's minds; pestilences, the affliction of their bodies; famines, the barrenness of the soil; earthquakes in dicers places, wrath from heaven above.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:7
But by wars and rumors of wars, He means, what I before said, the troubles coming upon them. After this, because, as I have already said, they supposed after that war the end would come, see how He warns them, saying, But the end is not yet. For nation, He says, shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Matthew 24:7 Of the preludes to the ills of the Jews does He speak.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:7-8
(Verses 7, 8.) For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be pestilences and famines, and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginnings of sorrows. I do not doubt that these things indeed shall come to pass literally as they are written. But it seems to me that the kingdom against kingdom and their pestilence, whose speech spreads like cancer (2 Timothy 2), and the famine to hear the word of God, and the commotion of the whole earth, and the separation from true faith, are more understood in heretics who fight against each other, making victory for the Church. But what he said: These things, however, are the beginnings of sorrows, are better translated as birth pains, so that it may be understood as a kind of conception of the coming of the Antichrist, not as childbirth.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:8
that is, of those that befall them. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:8
By “wars and rumors of wars” he refers to the troubles that are coming upon them. They supposed after that war the end would come. But see how he warns them: “But the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” He speaks of the preludes to the troubles of the Jews. “All this is but the beginning of the birth pangs,” that is, of the troubles that will befall them. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death.” This was the season for being candid about what was to come, in order that they might strengthen one another in facing their common miseries.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 75.2
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:8
He is speaking of the wars conducted by the Romans in Jerusalem. Not only does He say that there will be wars, but famines and plagues as well, showing that the wrath directed against the Jews is sent by God. For while it can be said that wars are caused by the violence of men, famines and plagues have no other cause than God. Then He says, lest they think that the world will come to an end before they have preached the Gospel, "Be not troubled, the end is not yet." For the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the whole world will not be at the same time. But "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom," He says, on account of the calamities soon to befall the Jews. And these calamities are the beginning of the pangs of labor; for just as the expectant mother goes into labor but does not give birth yet, so too this present age will first suffer turmoil and wars and then give birth to the things that shall be.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:9-14
But how should the people of Christ be hated by the nations who dwelt in the uttermost parts of the earth? But one may perhaps say, that in this place all is put hyperbolically for many. But this that He says, Then shall they deliver you, presents some difficulty; for before these things the Christians were delivered to tribulation. To this it may be answered, that at that time the Christians shall be more delivered to tribulation than ever. And persons in any misfortune love to examine into the origin of them, and to talk about them. Hence when the worship of the Gods shall be almost deserted by reason of the multitude of Christians, it will be said that that is the cause of the wars, and famines, and pestilences; and of the earthquakes also they will say that the Christians are the cause, whence the persecution of the Churches.

And that, Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, might be then applied thus; That indeed at this time all nations are conspired together against the Christians, but that when the things foretold by Christ shall have come to pass, then there shall be persecutions, not as before in places, but every where against the people of God.

When every nation shall have heard the preaching of the Gospel, then shall come the end of the world. For at this time there are many nations, not of barbarians only, but of our own, who have not yet heard the word of Christianity.

Morally; He who shall see that glorious second coming of the word of God into his soul, must needs suffer in proportion to the measure of his proficiency assaults of opposing influences, and Christ in him must be hated by all, not only by the nations literally understood, but by the nations of spiritual vices. And in such enquiries there will be few who shall reach the truth with any fulness, the more part shall be offended and fall therefrom, betraying and accusing one another because of their disagreement respecting doctrines, which shall give rise to a mutual hatred. Also there shall be many setting forth unsound words concerning things to come, and interpreting the Prophets in a manner in which they ought not; these are the false Prophets who shall deceive many, and who shall cause to wax cold that fervour of love which was before in the simplicity of the faith. But he who can abide firmly in the Apostolic tradition, he shall be saved; and the Gospel being preached to the minds of all shall be for a testimony to all nations, that is, to all the unbelieving thoughts of the soul.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:9-14
Such was Nicolaus, one of the seven deacons, who led astray many by his pretences. And Simon Magus who, armed with diabolic works and words, perverted many by false miracles.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:9
In good season did He introduce their ills, having a consolation from the common miseries; and not in this way only, but also by His adding, that it is for my name's sake.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:9
Then he added, “And you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” This is the time of greatest evil, when the war becomes internal, for there are many false brothers.Note that the war is coming from three sources simultaneously: from the deceivers, from the enemies, from the false brothers. Later Paul would lament over the same complications, saying that there were “fightings without, fears within” and “danger from false brothers.”

Source: 27 Again he wrote, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.”THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 75.2
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:9-14
Or otherwise; The disciples when they heard these things which were spoken of Jerusalem might suppose that they should be beyond reach of harm, as though what they now heard was the sufferings of others, while they themselves should meet with nothing but prosperous times, He therefore announces the grievous things which should befal them, putting them in fear for themselves. First He had bid them be on their guard against the arts of false teachers, He now foretels to them the violence of tyrants. In good season He thus introduces their own woes, as here they will receive consolation from the common calamities; and He held out to them not this comfort only, but also that of the cause for which they should suffer, showing that it was for His name's sake, And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.

Having named two sources of opposition, that from seducers, and that from enemies, He adds a third, that from false brethren; And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. See Paul bewailing these same things, Without were fightings, within were fears; (2 Cor. 7:5. 2 Cor. 11:26. v. 13.) and in another place; In perils among false brethren, of whom he says, Such are false Apostles, deceitful workers.

And He adds, what is still more cruel, that such false Prophets shall have no alleviation in charity; Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Then that they should not say, How then shall we live among so many evils? He promises not only that they should live, but that they should teach every where. And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world.

That before the taking of Jerusalem the Gospel was preached every where, hear what Paul says, Their sound is gone out into all the earth; (Rom. 10:18.) and see himself travelling from Jerusalem into Spain. And if one had so large a province, think how much all must have done. Whence writing to certain, he says of the Gospel, It bears fruit, and increases in every creature under heaven. (Col. 1:6.) And this is the strongest proof of Christ's power, that in thirty years or a little more, the word of the Gospel filled the ends of the world. Though the Gospel was preached every where, yet all did not believe, whence He adds, For a witness unto all nations, in accusation, that is, of such as believe not, they who have believed bearing witness against them that believed not, and condemning them. And in fit season did Jerusalem fall, namely, after the Gospel had been preached throughout the world; as it follows, And then shall the consummation come, i. e. the end of Jerusalem. For they who have seen Christ's power shining forth every where, and in brief space spread over the whole world, what mercy did they deserve when they continued still in ingratitude?

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:9
(V. 9.) Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. The apostles are a representation of all believers, not that the apostles themselves will be found in physical form at that time.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:9-14
These all are the beginnings of sorrows, is better understood of pains of labour, as it were the conception of the coming of Antichrist, and not of the birth.

Observe, He says, the love of many, (Rom. 8:35.) not 'of all,' for in the Apostles, and those like them, love would continue, as Paul speaks, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

And the sign of the Lord's second coming is, that the Gospel shall be preached in all the world, so that all may be without excuse.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:9-14
(Ep. 199, 46.) But that this preaching the Gospel of the kingdom in all the world was accomplished by the Apostles, we have not any certain evidence, to prove. There are numberless barbarous nations in Africa, among whom the Gospel is not even yet preached, as it is easy to learn from the prisoners who are brought from thence. But it cannot be said that these have no part in the promise of God. For God promised with an oath not the Romans only, but all nations to the seed of Abraham. But in whatever nation there is yet no Church established, it must needs be that there should be one, not that all the people should believe; for how then should that be fulfilled, Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, unless there be in all nations those who hate and those; who are hated? That preaching therefore was not accomplished by the Apostles, while as yet there were nations among whom it had not begun to be fulfilled. The words of the Apostle also, Their sound hath gone out into all the world, though expressed as of time past, are meant to apply to something future, not yet completed; as the Prophet, whose words he quotes, said that the Gospel bore fruit and grew in the whole world (Ps. 19:4.), to show thereby to what extent its growth should come. If then we know not when it shall be that the whole world shall be filled with the Gospel, undoubtedly we know not when the end shall be; but it shall not be before such time.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:9-14
As the capture of Jerusalem approached, many rose up, calling themselves Christians, and deceived many; such Paul calls false brethren, John Antichrists.

That is, true love towards God and our neighbour, in proportion as each surrenders himself to iniquity, in that proportion will the flame of charity in his heart be extinguished.

Whoso shall endure unto the end, i. e. to the end of his life; for whoso to the end of his life shall persevere in the confession of the name of Christ, and in love, he shall be saved.

For the Lord knew that the hearts of the disciples would be made sad by the destruction of Jerusalem, and overthrow of their nation, and He therefore comforts them with a promise that more of the Gentiles should believe than of the Jews should perish.

But the whole passage might be referred to the end of the world. For then shall many be offended, and depart from the faith, when they see the numbers and wealth of the wicked, and the miracles of Antichrist, and they shall persecute their brethren; and Antichrist shall send false Prophets, who shall deceive many; iniquity shall abound, because the number of the wicked shall be increased; and love shall wax cold, because the number of the good shall diminish.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:9-14
For what desert so many evils are to be brought upon Jerusalem, and the whole Jewish province the Lord shows, when He adds, Then shall they deliver you up,&c.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1274] Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 24:9-14
(non occ.)c. But it is possible to maintain both applications of the passage, if only we will take this diffusion of Gospel preaching in a double sense. If we understand it of fruit produced by the preaching, and the foundation in every nation of a Church of believers in Christ, as Augustine (in the passage above quoted) expounds it, then it is a sign which ought to precede the end of the world, and which did not precede the destruction of Jerusalem. But if we understand it of the fame of their preaching, then it was accomplished before the destruction of Jerusalem, when Christ's disciples had been dispersed over the four quarters of the earth. Whence Jerome says, (Hieron. in loc.) I do not suppose that there remained any nation which knew not the name of Christ; for where preacher had never been, some notion of the faith must have been communicated by neighbouring nations.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:10
If we ought to understand this passage in the moral sense, in accordance with how we treated the passages above, then we will explain its meaning as follows. It is necessary that he who is about to see the glorious coming of the Word of God in his soul should, like a great athlete, suffer the snares of his enemies and be given over to afflictions insofar as they advance the perfection of the Word within him.…The manifestation of the qualities of Christ implanted in him, on account of which he is called a Christian, makes him an object of hatred to everyone who has the spirit of the world. This persecution also only tends more and more toward the perfection of the indwelling of Christ.
Few, however, will be left untouched by discussions and questions concerning the fullness of truth. Indeed, many will be “scandalized” and will fall on account of it, having been made betrayers and accusers of one another because of their dissensions over the truth of doctrine, which not everyone is able to learn. This is why they “hate one another.” Among the great many who will be engaged in questions of this sort, those “false prophets who deceive many” will report prophecies concerning the future inaccurately and will interpret them incorrectly. Very few will seek the truth. False doctrines in and of themselves cannot overcome the power of truth, but those who have itchy ears will multiply and will take delight in speaking evil contrary to the law. And the tendentious words of many teachers will do such great harm that even those whose charity was once fervent in the simplicity of faith will “grow cold” toward the divine mysteries and toward the truth. But whoever is able to see all these things and yet to remain in communion with the original purpose of the church’s founding and the apostolic tradition will be saved. In this way then the gospel will be preached to every soul and a testimony will be given to every nation, that is, to all the unbelieving thoughts of every single individual.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 39
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:10
This is the greater evil, when the war is intestine too, for there were many false brethren. Do you see the war to be threefold? From the deceivers, from the enemies, from the false brethren. See Paul too lamenting over the same things, and saying, Without were fightings, within were fears; 2 Corinthians 7:5 and, perils among false brethren, 2 Corinthians 11:26 and again, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:13
[AD 165] Justin Martyr on Matthew 24:11
The fact that there are such men confessing themselves to be Christians, and admitting the crucified Jesus to be both Lord and Christ, yet not teaching His doctrines, but those of the spirits of error, causes us who are disciples of the true and pure doctrine of Jesus Christ, to be more faithful and steadfast in the hope announced by Him. For what things He predicted would take place in His name, these we do see being actually accomplished in our sight. For he said, 'Many shall come in My name, clothed outwardly in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.' [Matthew 7:15] And, 'There shall be schisms and heresies.' [1 Corinthians 11:19] And, 'Beware of false prophets, who shall come to you clothed outwardly in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.' [Matthew 7:15] And, 'Many false Christs and false apostles shall arise, and shall deceive many of the faithful.' [Matthew 24:11] There are, therefore, and there were many, my friends, who, coming forward in the name of Jesus, taught both to speak and act impious and blasphemous things; and these are called by us after the name of the men from whom each doctrine and opinion had its origin.

Source: Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 35
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:12
But as the conquering power of things evil is on the increase-which is the characteristic of the last times -things good are now not allowed either to be born, so corrupted are the seminal principles; or to be trained, so deserted are studies; nor to be enforced, so dined are the laws.

Source: On Modesty
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:12-14
What is even more terrible than all of these things is that they shall not even have love’s consolation. “Most men’s love will grow cold.” Even all this, however, will in no way harm those who are noble and firm. So do not be afraid. Do not be troubled. If you demonstrate the patience that fits your faith, these dangers will not prevail over you. You will see proof of this when the gospel will be preached everywhere in the world. Then you will be above all these things that would otherwise alarm you. You will preach everywhere. You will not waste away in despair asking whether you will survive. Then he added, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.” The sign of this final time will be the downfall of Jerusalem.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 75.2
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:12-13
(Verse 12, 13.) And since iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who perseveres to the end, he will be saved. He did not deny the faith of all, but of many. For many are called, but few are chosen. For in the apostles and those like them, charity will remain, of which it is written: 'Many waters cannot quench love' (Song of Solomon 8:7). And even Paul himself said: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' tribulation, or distress, or famine (Rom. VIII, 35)? and so on.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:12-14
The sign of the Lord’s coming is that the gospel will be preached throughout the entire world, leaving no one any excuse. We believe that this has already been accomplished or is about to be accomplished, since it appears to me that there remains no nation that does not know the name of Christ. Even if they haven’t been visited by an evangelist themselves, certainly they have heard about the Christian faith from neighboring countries.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.24.14
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:13
But "by patience," says He, "ye shall yourselves be saved." Of this very patience the Psalm says, "The patient endurance of the just shall not perish for ever; " because it is said in another Psalm, "Precious (in the sight of the Lord) is the death of the just"-arising, no doubt, out of their patient endurance, so that Zechariah declares: "A crown shall be to them that endure.

Source: Against Marcion Book IV
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:13
To speak plainly, if they who reproach us with harshness, or esteem heresy (to exist) in this (our) cause, foster the "infirmity of the flesh" to such a degree as to think it must have support accorded to it in frequency of marriage; why do they in another case neither accord it support nor foster it with indulgence-when, (namely), torments have reduced it to a denial (of the faith)? For, of course, that (infirmity) is more capable of excuse which has fallen in battle, than (that) which (has fallen) in the bed-chamber; (that) which has succumbed on the rack, than (that) which (has succumbed) on the bridal bed; (that) which has yielded to cruelty, than (that) which (has yielded) to appetite; that which has been overcome groaning, than (that) which (has been overcome) in heat. But the former they excommunicate, because it has not "endured unto the end: " the latter they prop up, as if withal it has "endured unto the end.

Source: On Monogamy
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:13
He foretells the evils that will occur, strengthening His disciples by speaking of these things beforehand. It is often the unexpected that strikes terror and disarray, so He mitigates their fear beforehand by speaking in advance of the terrible events that will be: the spite, the enmity, the snares, and the false prophets who are the forerunners of the Antichrist, deceiving many who will then hurl themselves headlong into every type of iniquity. Because of the burgeoning of iniquity stemming from the deceit of the Antichrist, men will become so savage that not even towards those closest to them will they preserve the milk of human kindness, but will betray each other. But he that endures patiently until the end, steadfastly withstanding and not giving in to the assaults brought upon him, he it is who will be saved as the proven and tested soldier.
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:14
Such Was Nicolaus, one of the seven deacons, who led astray many by his pretences. And Simon Magus who, armed with diabolic works and words, perverted many by false miracles.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:14
After this again, what is more grievous than all, they shall not have so much as the consolation from love. Then indicating, that these things will in no degree harm the noble and the firm, He says, Fear not, neither be troubled. For if you show forth the patience that becomes you, the dangers will not prevail over you. And it is a plain proof of this, that the word shall surely be preached everywhere in the world, so much shall you be above the things that alarm you. For, that they may not say, how then shall we live? He said more, You shall both live and preach everywhere. Therefore He added moreover, And this gospel shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come, of the downfall of Jerusalem.

For in proof that He meant this, and that before the taking of Jerusalem the gospel was preached, hear what Paul says, Their sound went into all the earth; Romans 10:18 and again, The gospel which was preached to every creature which is under Heaven. Colossians 1:23 And do you see him running from Jerusalem unto Spain? And if one took so large a portion, consider what the rest also wrought. For writing to others also, Paul again says concerning the gospel, that it is bringing forth fruit, and growing up in every creature which is under Heaven.

But what means, For a witness to all nations? Forasmuch as though it was everywhere preached, yet it was not everywhere believed. It was for a witness, He says, to them that were disbelieving, that is, for conviction, for accusation, for a testimony; for they that believed will bear witness against them that believed not, and will condemn them. And for this cause, after the gospel is preached in every part of the world, Jerusalem is destroyed, that they may not have so much as a shadow of an excuse for their perverseness. For they that saw His power shine throughout every place, and in an instant take the world captive, what excuse could they then have for continuing in the same perverseness? For in proof that it was everywhere preached at that time, hear what Paul says, of the gospel which was preached to every creature which is under Heaven. Colossians 1:23

Which also is a very great sign of Christ's power, that in twenty or at most thirty years the word had reached the ends of the world. After this therefore, says He, shall come the end of Jerusalem. For that He intimates this was manifested by what follows.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:14
(Verse 14) And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. The sign of the Lord's coming is the preaching of the Gospel in the whole world, so that no one may be without excuse; which has either already been fulfilled, or is about to be fulfilled very soon. For I do not think that any nation remains which does not know the name of Christ. And although it may not have had preachers, it cannot ignore the expectation of faith from neighboring nations.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:14
. Take courage, you will not be hindered from preaching. For the Gospel will be preached to all the nations as a witness, that is, as a reproof, a condemnation of those who do not believe, and then the end will come, not of the world, but of Jerusalem. For prior to the taking of Jerusalem, the Gospel was already preached [as a witness to all the nations], for St. Paul, in writing to the Colossians, speaks of "the Gospel which was preached to every creature under heaven" (Col. 1:23). That Christ is speaking of the end of Jerusalem is clear from what follows, for He says:
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:15-22
Morally; He who shall see that glorious second coming of the word of God into his soul, must needs suffer in proportion to the measure of his proficiency assaults of opposing influences, and Christ in him must be hated by all, not only by the nations literally understood, but by the nations of spiritual vices. And in such enquiries there will be few who shall reach the truth with any fulness, the more part shall be offended and fall therefrom, betraying and accusing one another because of their disagreement respecting doctrines, which shall give rise to a mutual hatred. Also there shall be many setting forth unsound words concerning things to come, and interpreting the Prophets in a manner in which they ought not; these are the false Prophets who shall deceive many, and who shall cause to wax cold that fervour of love which was before in the simplicity of the faith. But he who can abide firmly in the Apostolic tradition, he shall be saved; and the Gospel being preached to the minds of all shall be for a testimony to all nations, that is, to all the unbelieving thoughts of the soul.

Or because that will not be a time of showing pity, neither upon them who are with child, nor upon them who are suckling, nor upon their infants. And as speaking to Jews who thought they might travel no more upon the sabbath than a sabbath-day's journey, He adds, But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath.

Mystically; In the holy place of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, Antichrist, that is, false word, has often stood; let those who see this flee from the Judæa of the letter to the high mountains of truth. And whoso has been found to have gone up to the house-top of the word, and to be standing upon its summit, let him not come down thence as though he would fetch any thing out of his house. And if he be in the field in which the treasure is hid, and return thence to his house, he will run into the temptation of a false word; but especially if he have stripped off his old garment, that is, the old man, and should have returned again to take it up. Then the soul, as it were with child by the word, not having yet brought forth, is liable to a woe; for it casts that which it had conceived, and loses that hope which is in the acts of truth; and the same also if the word has been brought forth perfect and entire, but not having yet attained sufficient growth. Let them that flee to the mountains pray that their flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath-day, because in the serenity of a settled spirit they may reach the way of salvation, but if the winter overtake them they fall amongst those whom they would fly from. And there be some who rest from evil works, but do not good works; be your flight then not on such sabbath when a man rests from good works, for no man is easily overcome in times of peril from false doctrines, except he is unprovided with good works. But what sorer affliction is there than to see our brethren deceived, and to feel one's self shaken and terrified? Those days mean the precepts and dogmas of truth; and all interpretations coming of science falsely so called (1 Tim. 6:20.) are so many additions to those days, which God shortens by those whom He wills.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:15-22
Or otherwise; It is a sign of His future coming that the Lord gives, when He says, When ye shall see the abomination. For the Prophet spoke this of the times of Antichrist; and he calls abomination that which coming against God claims to itself the honour of God. It is the abomination of desolation, because it will desolate the earth with wars and slaughter; and it is admitted by the Jews, and set up in the holy place, that where God had been invoked by the prayers of the saints, into that same place admitted by the unbelievers it might be adored with the worship of God. And because this error will be peculiar to the Jews, that having rejected the truth they should adopt a lie, He warns them to leave Judæa, and flee to the mountains, that no pollution or infection might be gathered by admixture with a people who should believe on Antichrist. That He says, Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take ang thing out of his house, is thus understood. The roof is the highest part of the house, the summit and perfection of the whole building. He then who stands on the top of his house, i. e. in the perfection of his heart, aloft in the regeneration of a new spirit, ought not to come down to the lower desire of things of the world. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his coat; i. e. He that has attained to obedience to the command, let him not return back to his former cares, to take on him again the coat of his former sins in which he once was clothed.

That which is said, Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, is not to be taken literally as an admonition to women pregnant, but as a description of souls burdened with the weight of sin, that neither in the house, nor in the field, may escape the storm of the wrath that is in store for them. Woe also to those that are being suckled; the weak souls, that is, who are being brought to the knowledge of God as by milk, to whom it shall be woe, because they are too laden to fly, and too inexperienced to resist Antichrist, having neither escaped sin, nor partaken of the food of true bread.

Or; That we be not taken in the frost of sins, or in discontinuance of good works, because of the soreness of the affliction; notwithstanding that for the sake of God's elect, those days shall be shortened, that the abridgment of the time may disarm the force of the calamities.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:15-22
As above He had obscurely intimated the end of Jerusalem; He now proceeds to a more plain announcement of it, citing a prophecy which should make them believe it.

Or because he who desolated the city and the temple placed his statue there. He says, When ye shall see, because these things were to happen while some of them were yet alive. Wherein admire Christ's power, and the courage of the disciples, who preached through those times in which all things Jewish were the object of attack. The Apostles, being Jews, introduced new laws in opposition to the Roman authority. The Romans conquered countless thousands of Jews, but could not overcome twelve unarmed unprotected men.

(Hom. lxxvi.) But because it had often happened to the Jews to be recovered in very desperate circumstances, as in the times of Sennacherib and Antiochus, that no man might look for any such event now, He gave command to His disciples to fly, saying, Then let them which are in Judæa flee to the mountains.

Then to show how inevitable the evils that should come upon the Jews, and how infinite their calamity, He adds, And let him which is on the housetop, not come down to take any thing out of his house, for it was better to be saved, and to lose his clothes, than to put on a garment and perish; and of him who is in the field He says the same. For if those who are in the city fly from it, little need is there for those who are abroad to return to the city. But it is easy to despise money, and not hard to provide other raiment; but how can one avoid natural circumstances? How can a woman with child be made active for flight, or how can she that gives suck desert the child she has brought forth? Woe, therefore, to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days; to the one, because they are encumbered, and cannot easily fly, bearing about the burden of the womb; to the other, because they are held by compassion for their children, and cannot save with them those whom they are suckling.

Note how this speech is directed against the Jews; for when these things were done by Vespasian, the Apostles could neither observe the Sabbath nor fly, seeing most of them were already dead, and those who survived were living in distant countries. And why they should pray for this He adds a reason, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor shall be.

I ask the Jews, whence came upon them so grievous wrath from heaven more woful than all that had come upon them before? Plainly it was because of the desperate crime1 and the denial of the Cross. But He shows that they deserved still heavier punishment than they received, when He adds, And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh he saved; that is, If the siege by the Romans should be continued longer, all the Jews would perish; for by all flesh, He means all the Jewish nation, those within and those without; for the Romans were at war not only with those in Judæa, but with the whole race wherever dispersed.

But that the Jews should not say that these evils came because of the preaching and the disciples of Christ, He shows them that had it not been for His disciples, they would have totally perished, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Observe this economy of the Holy Spirit in this, that John wrote nothing of all this, that he might not seem to be writing a history after the event; for he survived sometime the taking of Jerusalem. But these who died before it, and saw nothing of it, these write it, that the power of prophecy may shine manifestly forth.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:15
For He brought in also a prophecy, to confirm their desolation, saying, But when you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him that reads understand. He referred them to Daniel. And by abomination He means the statue of him who then took the city, which he who desolated the city and the temple placed within the temple, wherefore Christ calls it, of desolation. Moreover, in order that they might learn that these things will be while some of them are alive, therefore He said, When ye see the abomination of desolation.

Whence one may most marvel at Christ's power, and their courage, for that they preached in such times, in which most especially the Jewish state was warred against, in which most especially men regarded them as movers of sedition, when Cæsar commanded all of them to be driven away. Acts 18:2 And the result was the same as if any one (when the sea was stirred up on every side, and darkness was filling all the air, and successive shipwrecks taking place, and when all their fellow-sailors were at strife above, and monsters were rising up from beneath, and with the waves devouring the mariners, and thunderbolts falling, and their being pirates, and those in the vessel plotting one against another), were to command men inexperienced in sailing, and who had not so much as seen the sea to sit at the rudder, and to guide and fight the vessel, and when an immense fleet was coming against them with a great array, making use of a single bark, with her crew in this disturbed state, to sink and subdue the fleet. For indeed by the heathens they were hated as Jews, and by the Jews were stoned, as waging war against their laws; and nowhere could they stand.

Thus were all things, precipices, and reefs, and rocks, the things in the cities, the things in the fields, the things in the houses, and every single person was at war with them; generals and rulers, and private persons, and all nations, and all people, and a turmoil which cannot be set forth by words. For the Jewish race was exceedingly detestable to the government of the Romans, as having occasioned them endless trouble; and not even from this did the preaching of the word take hurt; but the city was stormed and set on fire, and involved its inhabitants in countless evils; but the apostles that came from thence, introducing new laws, prevailed even over the Romans.

O strange and wonderful facts! Countless myriads of Jews did the Romans then subdue, and they did not prevail over twelve men fighting against them naked and unarmed. What language can set forth this miracle? For they that teach need to have these two things, to be worthy of credit, and to be beloved by them whom they are instructing; and together with these, and besides them, that their sayings should be easy of reception, and the time should be free from trouble and tumults.

But then were all the contraries to these. For while they did not seem worthy of credit, they were withdrawing from such as did seem worthy of it, those who had been deceived by them. So far from being loved, they were even hated, and were taking men away from what they loved, both habits, and hereditary customs, and laws.

Again, their injunctions had great difficulty; but the things, from which they were withdrawing men, much pleasure. And many were the perils, many the deaths, both themselves and they that obeyed them underwent, and together with all this, the time also occasioned them much difficulty, teeming with wars, tumults, disturbance, so that, even if there had been none of the things we have mentioned, it would have quite thrown all things into confusion.

We have good occasion to say, Who shall tell the mighty works of the Lord, and make all His praises to be heard. For if his own people amid signs hearkened not to Moses, because of the clay only, and the bricks; who persuaded these that every day were beaten and slain, and were suffering incurable evils, to leave a quiet life, and to prefer thereto this which was teeming with blood and death, and that when they who preached it were strangers to them, and very hostile in every way? For I say not unto nations and cities and people, but into a small house let one bring in him that is hated of all that are in the house, and by him endeavor to bring them away from those whom they love, from father, and wife, and child, will he not surely be seen torn in pieces, before he has opened his mouth? And if there be added moreover a tumult and strife of husband and wife in the house, will they not stone him to death before he steps on the threshold? And if he also be one whom they may readily despise, and who enjoins galling things, and commands them who are living in luxury to practise self restraint, and together with this the conflict be against those who are far more in numbers and who excel him, is it not quite manifest that he will be utterly destroyed? Yet nevertheless, this, which is impossible to be done in one house, this has Christ accomplished in all the world, through precipices and furnaces, and ravines, and rocks, and land and sea at war with Him, bringing in the healers of the world.

And if you are minded to learn these things more distinctly, I mean, the famines, the pestilences, the earthquakes, the other calamities, peruse the history about these things composed by Josephus, and you will know all accurately. Therefore Himself too said, Be not troubled, for all must be; and, He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved; and, The gospel shall surely be preached in all the world. For when weakened and faint at the fear of what had been said, He braces them up by saying, Though ten thousand things be done, the gospel must be preached in every part of the world, and then shall the end come.

Do you see in what a state things were then, and how manifold was the war? And this is the beginning, when each of the things to be effected most required quiet. In what state then were they? For nothing hinders us from resuming the same things again. The first war was that of the deceivers; For there shall come, He says, false Christs and false prophets: the second, that of the Romans, For you shall hear, He says, of wars: the third, that which brings on the famines: the fourth, the pestilences and the earthquakes: the fifth, they shall deliver you into afflictions: the sixth, you shall be hated of all men: the seventh, They shall betray one another, and hate one another (an intestine war does He here make known); then, false Christs, and false brethren; then, the love of the most shall wax cold, which is the cause of all the ills.

Do you see numberless kinds of war, new and strange? Yet nevertheless in the midst of these things, and much more (for with the intestine wars was mingled also that of kinsmen), the gospel prevailed over the whole earth. For the gospel, He says, shall be preached in the whole world.

Where then are they who set up the power of a nativity and the cycle of times against the doctrines of the church? For who has ever recorded that another Christ appeared; that such a thing took place? Although they falsely affirm other things, that ten myriads of years passed, yet this they cannot even feign. Of what kind of cycle then would ye speak? For there was never another Sodom, nor another Gomorrha, nor another flood. How long do ye trifle, talking of a cycle and nativity?

How then, it is said, do many of the things they say come to pass? Because you have bereaved yourself of the help God bestows, and betrayed yourself, and placed yourself without His providence; therefore does the evil spirit turn and twist about your matters as he will.

But not so among the saints, or rather not even among us sinners, who utterly despise it. For although our practice is beyond endurance, yet because by God's grace we cling with much exactness to the doctrines of the truth, we are above the malice of the evil spirits.

And altogether, what is a nativity? Nothing else than injustice, and confusion, and that all things are borne along at random; or rather not at random only; but more than this, with folly.

And if there is not any nativity, whence is such a one rich? Whence is such a one poor?

I know not: for in this way I will for a time reason with you, instructing you not to be curious about all things; neither in consequence of this to go on at random and rashly. For neither because you are ignorant of this, ought thou to feign the things that are not. It is better to be ignorant well, than to learn ill. For he that knows not the cause, will come soon to the right one; but he who because he does not know the real cause, feigns one that is untrue, will not be able easily to receive the real; but he needs more both of labors and toil, in order to take away the former. For indeed on a tablet, if it have been wiped smooth, any one may easily write what he will, but when it is written upon, no longer in the same way, for we must first wipe out what has been ill written. And among physicians again, he that applies nothing, is far better than he that applies hurtful things; and he who builds unsoundly, is worse than he who does not so much as build at all; like as the land is far better that bears nothing, than that which bears thorns.

Let us not then be impatient to learn all things, but let us endure to be even ignorant of some things, that when we have found a teacher, we may not afford him double toil. Or rather many oftentimes have remained even incurably diseased, by carelessly entangling themselves in evil opinions. For neither is the toil the same to pluck up first what has taken root amiss, and then to sow, as to plant a clear ground. For in that case, he must overthrow first, and then put in other things; but in this, the hearing is ready.

Whence then is such a one rich? I will say, now; many acquire wealth, by God's gift; and many by His permission. For this is the short and simple account.

What then? It is said, does He make the whoremongers to be rich, and the adulterers, and him that has abused himself with mankind, and him that has made a bad use of his possessions? He does not make them, but permits them to be rich; and great is the difference, and quite infinite between making and permitting. But wherefore does He suffer it at all? Because it is not yet the time for judgment, that every one may receive according to his merits.

For what more worthless than that rich man, who gives not to Lazarus so much as of his crumbs? Nevertheless, he was more wretched than all, for he came to be possessed not even of a drop of water, and for this very cause most especially, that being rich he was cruel. For if there are two wicked men, who have not had the same portion here, but one in wealth, the other in poverty, they will not be similarly punished there, but the wealthier more grievously.

Do you not see at least even this man, suffering more fearfully because he had received his good things? Do thou also therefore, when you see in prosperity one who has become rich by injustice, groan, weep; for indeed this wealth is to him an addition of punishment. For like as they who sin much, and are not minded to repent, treasure up to themselves a treasure of wrath; even so they, who, besides not being punished, are even enjoying prosperity, will undergo the greater punishment.

And the proof of this, if you will, I will show you, not from the things to come only, but also from the present life. For the blessed David, when he sinned that sin of Bathsheba, and was convicted by the prophet, for this cause most of all was he more severely reproved, that even when he had enjoyed such security, he was like this. Hear at least God upbraiding him with this especially. Did not I anoint you for a king, and delivered you from the hand of Saul, and give you all that pertained to your master, and all the house of Israel and Judah, and if it had been little for you, I would have added thus and thus; and wherefore have you done that which was evil in my sight? 2 Samuel 12:7-9 For not for all sins are there the same punishments, but many and diverse, according to the times, according to the persons, according to their rank, according to their understanding, according to other things besides. And that what I say may be more clear, let one sin be set forth, fornication; and mark how many different punishments I find not from myself, but from the divine Scriptures. Did any one commit fornication before the law, he is differently punished; and this Paul shows, For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law. Romans 2:12 Did any one commit fornication after the law? He shall suffer more grievous things. For as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Did any one commit fornication being a priest, he receives from his dignity a very great addition to his punishment. So for this cause, whereas the other women were slain for fornication, the daughters of the priests were burnt; the lawgiver showing the more amply, how great punishment await the priest if he commits this sin. For if on the daughter he inflicts a greater punishment, because of her being a priest's daughter, much more on the man himself who bears the priest's office. Was fornication committed with any violence? She is even freed from punishment. Did one play the harlot being rich, and another being poor? Here again also is a difference. And this is evident from what we have said before concerning David. Was any one guilty of fornication after Christ's coming? Should he depart uninitiated, he will suffer a punishment more sore than all those. Was any guilty of fornication after the laver? In this case not even a consolation is left for the sin any more. And this selfsame thing Paul declared when he said, He that despised Moses' law dies without mercy, under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment suppose you shall he be counted worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and has done despite to the grace of the Spirit? Hath any been guilty of fornication, bearing the priest's office now? This above all is the crown of the evil deeds.

Do you see of one sin how many different forms? One that before the law, another that after the law, another that of him who bears the priest's office; that of the rich woman, and that of the poor woman, of her that is a catechumen, and of the believing woman, of the daughter of the priest.

And from the knowledge again great is the difference; For he which knew his Lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. Luke 12:47 And to sin after examples brings greater vengeance. Therefore He says, But you, when you had seen it, repented not afterwards, Matthew 21:32 though ye had had the advantage of much care. Therefore He upbraids Jerusalem likewise with this saying, How often would I have gathered your children together, and you would not! Luke 13:34

And to sin being in luxury, this is shown by the history of Lazarus. And from the place also the sin becomes more grievous, which He Himself indicated when He said, Between the temple and the altar. Matthew 23:35

And from the equality of the offenses themselves, It is not marvellous if one be taken stealing; and again, You slew your sons and your daughters; this is beyond all your whoredoms, and your abominations.

And from the persons again: If one man sin against another, they shall pray for him; but if he sin against God, who shall entreat for him?

And when any one surpasses in negligence those who are far inferior; wherewith in Ezekiel He does charge them, saying, Not even according to the judgments of the nations have you done. Ezekiel 5:7

And when one is not sobered even by the examples of others, She saw her sister, it is said, and justified her.

And when one has had the advantage of more abundant care; For if, He says, these mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago; but it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for that city. Matthew 11:21-22

Do you see perfect exactness, and that all for the same sins are not paying the same penalty? For moreover when we have had the benefit of long-suffering, and profit nothing, we shall endure worse things. And this Paul shows, where he says, But after your hardness and impenitent heart, you store up for yourself wrath. Romans 2:5

Knowing then these things, let us not be offended, neither let us be confounded at any of the things that happen, nor bring in upon us the storm of thought, but giving place to God's providence, let us give heed to virtue, and flee vice, that we may also attain to the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom be glory unto the Father together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and world without end. Amen.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:15-22
That, Let him that readeth understand, is said to call us to the mystic understanding of the place. What we read in Daniel is this; And in the midst of the week the sacrifice and the oblation shall be taken away, and in the temple shall be the abomination of desolations until the consummation of the time, and consummation shall be given upon the desolate. (Dan. 9:27. sec. LXX.)

Or it may be understood of the statue of Cæsar, which Pilate set up in the temple; or of the equestrian statue of Adrian, which stood to the present time in the very Holy of Holies. For, according to the Old Scripture, an idol is called 'abomination;' of desolation is added, because the idol was set up in the desolated and deserted temple.

Because in the one the severity of the cold prevents your flight to the deserts, and your lurking in mountains and wilds; in the other, you must either transgress the Law, if you will fly, or encounter instant death if you will stay.

Not remembering that which is written. The day continues according to thy ordinances. (Ps. 119:91.) We must understand it of their being shortened not in measure, but in number, lest the faith of believers should be shaken by lengthened affliction.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:15
Whenever we are urged to use our understanding, the meaning is shown to be mystical. But we read in Daniel this only: “And for half a week my sacrifice and offering will be removed, and the abomination of desolation shall be in the temple until the end of time, and the end will be given in abandonment.” The apostle also said in this regard that the man of iniquity, the enemy, would rise up against everything uttered by God and would dare to stand in the temple and be worshiped as though he were God. After Satan’s work is finished, however, Christ’s coming will destroy all who raised themselves against him and will return them to the state of divine abandonment. This man of iniquity can be interpreted either simply as the antichrist, or as the image of Caesar which Pilate put in the temple, or as the statue of Hadrian the equestrian which still today stands in the Holy of Holies. Because the Old Testament normally calls the abomination an idol, the word desolation is added here to indicate that the idol shall be placed there resulting in the temple’s abandonment and destruction.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.24.15
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:15
(Verse 15.) When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth, let him understand. When we are called to understanding, it is shown to be a mystical happening. We read in Daniel in this way: And in the middle of the week, sacrifice and oblation shall be taken away: and in the temple shall be the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end. The apostle speaks about this (II Thess. II): that the man of sin and the adversary will be exalted against everything that is called God and worshiped, so that he dares to stand in the temple of God and show himself to be God, whose coming is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and destroys those who do not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. It can be understood either simply or of the Antichrist, or of the image of Caesar, which Pilate placed in the temple, or of the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stood in the holy of holies until the present day. Abominatio quoque, secundum veterem Scripturam, idolum nuncupatur; et idcirco additur, desolationis; quod in desolato templo atque destructo idolum positum sit.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:15-22
(Ep. 199. 31.) Luke, in order to show that the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel had reference to the time of the siege of Jerusalem, repeats these words of our Lord, When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed by armies, then know ye that its desolation draweth nigh. (Luke 21:20.)

(Ep. 199. 30.) In Luke it is thus read, There shall be great distress upon the earth, and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. (Luke 21:23.) And so Josephus, who wrote the Jewish History, (B. J. vii.) relates evils so great happening to this people as to seem hardly credible. Whence it was not unreasonably said, that such tribulation had never been from the beginning of creation, nor should be; for though in the lime of Antichrist shall be such, or perhaps greater; yet to the Jews, of whom we must understand this, such shall never more befal. For if they shall be the first and the chief to receive Antichrist, they will then rather inflict than suffer tribulation.

Indeed some persons seem to me not unfitly to understand by these days the evils themselves, as in other places of divine Scripture evil days are spoken of; not that the days themselves are evil, but the things that are done on them. And they are said to be shortened, because they are less felt, God giving us endurance; so that even though grievous, they are felt as short.

For we ought not to doubt that when Jerusalem was overthrown, there were among that people elect of God who had believed out of the circumcision, or would have believed, elect before the foundation of the world, for whose sake those days should be shortened, and their evils made endurable. Some there are who suppose that the days will be shortened by a more rapid motion of the sun, as the day was made longer on the prayer of Jesus Naue.

(ubi sup.) For let us not suppose that the computation of Daniel's weeks was interfered with by this shortening of those days, or that they were not already at that time complete, but had to be completed afterwards in the end of all things, for Luke most plainly testifies that the prophecy of Daniel was accomplished at the time when Jerusalem was overthrown.

(ubi sup.) For in tribulations we must beware of coming down from the spiritual heights, and yielding ourselves to the carnal life; or of failing and looking behind us, after having made some progress forwards.

(Quæst. Ev. I. 37.) That no one be found in that day in either joy or sorrow for temporal things.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:15-22
And this we know was so done when the fall of Jerusalem drew near; for on the approach of the Roman army, all the Christians in the province, warned, as ecclesiastical history tells us (Euseb. H.E. iii. 5.), miraculously from heaven, withdrew, and passing the Jordan, took refuge in the city of Pella; and under the protection of that King Agrippa, of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles, they continued some time; but Agrippa himself, with the Jews whom he governed, was subjected to the dominion of the Romans.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:15
The "abomination of desolation" means the monument of the city’s captor which he set up in the inner sanctuary of the temple. "Of desolation," because the city had been ravaged; "abomination," because statues and images of men were called "abominations" by the Jews, who hated idolatry.
[AD 1274] Pseudo-Chrysostom on Matthew 24:15-22
Whence I think that by the abomination of desolation, He means the army by which the city of the holy Jerusalem was desolated.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1274] Pseudo-Augustine on Matthew 24:15-22
(Aug. Serm. App. 75. 2.) Or, They that are with child, are they who covet what belongs to others; they that give suck, are they who have already forcibly taken that which they coveted; to them shall be woe in the day of judgment. Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath day; that is,

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:16
Having spoken of the ills that were to overtake the city, and of the trials of the apostles, and that they should remain unsubdued, and that they will overcome the whole world, he turns again to the calamities of the Jews. While the gospel dispensation will be gloriously fulfilled, the others will be faced with deepening adversities. He shows how intolerable the war will be, even in every detail.
“Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” When does he mean by “then”? These things will take place, he says, “when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place.” He seems to me to be speaking of armies and wars. So flee. There is no hope of safety for you in the cities.

Yet some will say that it has happened again and again that the people of Judah have recovered from terrible times. Think of the conditions under Sennacherib. Remember Antiochus. Remember the time when the armies had come upon them and the temple had been seized and the Maccabees rallied to give their affairs an opposite turn! But Jesus forbids them thinking of any such rescue. He does not want to feed them false hopes. For this is different. It is the end time.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.1
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:16-18
(Verse 16 onwards) Then those who are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains; and those who are on the roof, let them not come down to take anything from their house; and those who are in the field, let them not turn back to take their cloak. The abomination of desolation can be understood, and every perverse teaching; when we see it standing in the holy place, that is, in the Church, and proclaiming itself as God, we must flee from Judea to the mountains, that is, leaving behind the letter of the law and Jewish corruption, and approach the eternal mountains, from which God wonderfully enlightens (Psalm 75); and be on the roof and in the inner room, where the fiery darts of the devil cannot reach: neither coming down and taking anything from the former way of life: nor turning back are they to seek; but rather to sow in the field of spiritual Scriptures, so that we may bear fruit from it. Neither to take off the other tunic, which the apostles are forbidden to have. On this subject, that is, on the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by the prophet Daniel, Porphyry blasphemed against us in the thirteenth volume of his work, while standing in a holy place. To him, Eusebius of Caesarea, the bishop, responded in three volumes: the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth. Apollinaris ((also known as Apollinarius)) also wrote extensively, and attempted to discuss in one chapter what has been disputed in so many thousands of verses.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:17
The roof is the summit of the house, the noble perfection of the entire dwelling. For one may not even say that a house exists if it does not have a roof. Whoever therefore is established at the summit of his house—that is, in the perfection of his body made new by regeneration, raised high by the Spirit and perfected by the absolution of the divine gift—should not allow himself to be provoked within by bodily enticements and to descend to the sinful desire for the lowly things of this world or fall from the heights of the roof.“And let whoever is in the field not return to retrieve his tunic,” that is, if he is busy fulfilling the commandments, he should not return to his previous cares or desire clothing for this body, lest he restore and wear again the old tunic of sin with which he was once covered.

Source: Commentary on Matthew 25.5
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:18
Whoever is in Judea, that is, “in the letter of the old law,” should flee to the mountains of the new things of the Spirit. And whoever is found to have gone up onto the roof, which is the Word, and stands high above his home should not descend to retrieve anything from within his house. For he who remains on the roof and denies himself will never need to come down.Whoever is in the field must not turn back. If he is in the field in which the treasure is hidden, as the Lord taught in his parable, he must not turn back. If he is in the field to which Jacob was compared when his father blessed him, saying, “Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a bountiful field which the Lord has blessed,” in which everyone who lives according to the law will be blessed with the spiritual blessings of the law, he still must not turn back. As the Scripture says, “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.” Whoever therefore is in the field of “every plant which the heavenly Father has planted,” he too must not turn back. Just as he who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is unfit for the kingdom of God, so also the one in the field who turns back on account of those things which he ought to have forsaken will undoubtedly incur the abomination of desolation which is deception. This is especially true of those who had previously stripped off their old tunic (that is, “the old nature with its practices”) and return again to retrieve it.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 42
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:18
For since it had fallen out, that they often had recovered themselves in grievous wars, as under Sennacherib, under Antiochus again (for when at that time also, armies had come in upon them, and the temple had been seized beforehand, the Maccabees rallying gave their affairs an opposite turn); in order then that they might not now also suspect this, that there would be any such change, He forbids them all thought of the kind. For it were well, says He, to escape henceforth with one's naked body. Therefore them also that are on the housetop, He suffers not to enter into the house to take their clothes, indicating the evils to be inevitable, and the calamity without end, and that it must needs be that he that was involved therein should surely perish. Therefore He adds also, him that is in the field, saying, neither let this man turn back to take his clothes. For if they that are in doors flee, much more they that are out of doors ought not to take refuge within.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:18
Under these conditions one would do well merely to escape with one’s naked body. So if anyone is on a housetop, he should not take time to run back into the house to get his clothes. For the evils are inevitable. The calamity is without end. Anyone nearby will surely perish. Therefore he adds also, “if one is in the field,” saying, “do not try to take cover or turn back to find your belongings.” For if those who are indoors flee, much more ought they that are out of doors not take refuge indoors.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.1
[AD 510] Epiphanius Scholasticus on Matthew 24:18
The holy reading continues: “Let him in the field not turn back.” This field represents the church, as was demonstrated by the blessing our blessed patriarch Isaac gave to his son Jacob: “Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a bountiful field which the Lord has blessed.” The field was replete with a multitude of flowers and was redolent with the sweetest aroma. Clearly this signifies the church where the Lord’s flowers—that is, virginity, chastity, continence, confession, faith, mercy, justice, truth and martyrdom—are perfected. These are the flowers of the field, which is the church; the flowers in which the Son of God rejoices, which have merited God’s blessing. Therefore he said, “Let him in the field not turn back.” Likewise, the same Lord once said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” While fleeing the conflagration of Sodom, she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt, leaving an example of foolishness behind her. Therefore the Lord admonishes us that clinging more fully to his love and faith, we would not turn back, yet rather would save our souls for eternal life.

Source: INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 33
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:18
To suggest the utter inevitability of the calamities, He says that one must flee without turning back, and without taking any thought for what is in the houses, neither clothing nor any other possessions. Some say that the "abomination of desolation" means the Antichrist who will come at the time of the desolation of the world and the destruction of the churches and will sit in the temple. They also interpret these things as follows: he who is on the housetop, that is, he who has attained the heights of the virtues, let him not come down from that height in to order to take with him the things of the body. For the house of the soul is the body. But he must also depart from the field, that is, from earthly things, for the field is earthly life. Neither must we return to take our clothing, which is the former wickedness which we have put off.
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:19
For why should we be eager to bear children, whom, when we have them, we desire to send before us (to glory) (in respect, I mean, of the distresses that are now imminent); desirous as we are ourselves, too, to be taken out of this most wicked world, and received into the Lord's presence, which was the desire even of an apostle? To the servant of God, forsooth, offspring is necessary! For of our own salvation we are secure enough, so that we have leisure for children! Burdens must be sought by us for ourselves which are avoided even by the majority of the Gentiles, who are compelled by laws, who are decimated by abortions; burdens which, finally, are to us most of all unsuitable, as being perilous to faith! For why did the Lord foretell a "woe to them that are with child, and them that give suck," except because He testifies that in that day of disencumbrance the encumbrances of children will be an inconvenience? It is to marriage, of course, that those encumbrances appertain; but that ("woe") will not pertain to widows.

Source: To His Wife Book I
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:19
A third saying let them add, "Let us eat, and drink, and marry, for to-morrow we shall die; " not reflecting that the "woe" (denounced) "on such as are with child, and are giving suck," will fall far more heavily and bitterly in the "universal shaking" of the entire world than it did in the devastation of one fraction of Judaea.

Source: On Monogamy
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:19
One must not believe that the Lord was drawing our attention to the burden of pregnant women when he said, “Woe to those who are with child.” Instead, he wanted to demonstrate the heavy weight of souls filled with sins, a weight which prevents them from escaping the storm of wrath stored up for them, whether they are on the roof or in the field. Suffering naturally accompanies pregnancy, and no one is born into the world without his entire body being shaken by the experience. Souls therefore who are found in a similar condition will continue in their suffering and burdens.“Woe also to those who are nursing.” The weaned infant is no less unfit for flight than is the one who is still nursing. But if the difference in age and status between those who are nursing and those who are weaned is of no importance, how are we to understand “Woe also to those who are nursing”? This warning is meant to show the infirmity of souls who were being taught to know God as though they were being nursed. But in fact they only had a weak foretaste of the knowledge of God and were deprived of the strength which comes from the perfect food. The Lord’s woe therefore is said to the souls themselves who are too weighed down to escape the antichrist or too weak to face him because they had not been avoiding sin and because they had not been fed with the true bread.
Therefore we are admonished to pray that our flight does not take place in the winter or on the sabbath. In other words, let us not be found in the coldness of our sins or in the absence of good works. A heavy, intolerable affliction will be visited upon everyone, unless those days are shortened because of the elect of God.

Source: Commentary on Matthew 25.6-7
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:19
to the one because of their greater inertness, and because they cannot flee easily, being weighed down by the burden of their pregnancy; to the other, because they are held by the tie of feeling for their children, and cannot save their sucklings. For money it is a light thing to despise, and an easy thing to provide, and clothes; but the bonds of nature how could any one escape? How could the pregnant woman become active? How could she that gives suck be able to overlook that which she had borne?
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:19
He first mourns for the one weighed down by the burden of pregnancy, who cannot flee easily, who is less mobile. Then he mourns for “those who are nursing.” They are bound by ties of sympathy for their children. Yet they cannot protect those who nurse. Who can escape these bonds of natural affection? By comparison, parting with money is nothing. How could the pregnant woman become mobile? How could she that nurses be able to overlook that which she had borne?

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.1
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:19
(Verse 19.) But woe to those who are pregnant and nursing in those days. Woe to those souls who have not brought forth their offspring to perfect manhood, but have the beginnings of faith, that they should need the nourishment of masters. This can also be said, that in the persecution of Antichrist, or the Roman captivity, those who are pregnant and nursing, burdened with the weight of their wombs and their children, were unable to make an easy escape.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:19-20
What is meant by the fact that it is written in the same Matthew, Woe to those who are pregnant and those who nurse in those days. And: Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath (Matthew 24:19-20). This is clearly dependent on the earlier statements. For when the Gospel of Christ has been preached to all nations and the end has come, and they see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place (Mark 13): then those who are in Judea are commanded to flee to the mountains; and those who are on the housetop, not to come down and take anything from their house; and those who are in the field, not to turn back and take their cloak. We have spoken more fully on these matters in the Commentaries of the same Matthew. And at once it is joined: Woe to the pregnant and nursing women in those days. In which days? when the abomination of desolation stands in the holy place. Indeed, it is not doubtful that this is preached according to the letter concerning the advent of Antichrist: when the magnitude of persecution compels them to flee, and heavy wombs, and nursing infants impede flight. Although some want it to mean the siege and battle against the Jews, and especially Jerusalem, by Titus and Vespasian. Winter and Sabbaths are also interpreted thus so as not to compel flight at that time when the severity of the cold in the fields and in desert places does not allow refugees to hide: and the observance of the Sabbath either makes deserters if they flee, or exposes them to the swords of the enemy if they keep Sabbath rest and commandments. But let us, hearing the Lord and Savior, flee to the mountains with those who are in Judea; let us also raise our eyes to the mountains, of which it is written: "I lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help" (Psalm 120:1). And in another place: "His foundation is in the holy mountains" (Psalm 87:1). And, "The mountains are around him and the Lord is around his people" (Psalm 124). And, "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14). Let us also, taking off the skin of letters, and going up the mountain with bare feet with Moses, say: "I will go over and see this great sight" (Exodus 3:3); so that we may understand the pregnant souls, which conceived the beginnings of faith from the seed of doctrine and the Word of God, and say with Isaiah, "By your fear, O Lord, we have conceived, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the spirit of your salvation, which you have placed upon the earth" (Isaiah 26:14). For just as seeds are gradually formed in the womb, and a person is not considered or thought to be formed until the confused elements receive their shapes and members, so a sense concept conceived by reason, unless it breaks forth into works, is still retained in the womb; and it quickly perishes as an abortion, when it has seen the abomination of desolation standing in the Church (Dan. 9. 27, Mat. 24. 15, Mark. 13. 14) and Satan being transformed into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11.14). Of such fetuses Paul speaks when he says: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth until Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4. 10). So I consider that women are akin to the mystical understanding, about whom the same Apostle writes: The woman was seduced and became a transgressor. But she will be saved by childbearing, if they remain in faith and love and sanctity with prudence (1 Tim. 2:14-15). For if she ever gives birth to anything related to divine teaching, it is necessary for what is born to grow; and to receive first the milk of infancy, until they reach solid food, and mature age in the fullness of Christ (1 Cor. 3:2; Eph. 4:13). For every one that is fed with milk, is unskillful in the word of justice: for he is a little child. Therefore, those souls which have not yet brought forth, or which, having brought forth, have not yet suckled them, seeing a heretical discourse standing in the Church, are presently scandalized and destroyed; they can’t endure in times of trials and persecutions, especially if they have had leisure to perform good works and have not walked in the way that is Christ’s (John 14:6). The Apostle said of this abomination of heretical and perverse doctrine that the man of iniquity and the adversary raises himself up against everything called God and religion, so that he dares to stand in the Temple of God, and show himself as if he were God (2 Thess. 2:4); whose coming is according to the working of Satan; and he destroys what is conceived by abortion; and what is born cannot reach childhood and perfect age. Therefore we must pray to the Lord, lest in the beginning of faith and growing age there arise a winter, of which it is written: Winter has passed, the rain is over and gone (Song of Solomon 2.11); lest we become sluggish in idleness, but with shipwreck imminent, let us awaken the sleeping Lord and say: Master, save us, we perish (Matthew 8.25).

Source: Letter 121, Chapter 4
[AD 510] Epiphanius Scholasticus on Matthew 24:19
The holy reading continues: “Woe to those who are with child and to those who are nursing in those days.” This means woe to those who have conceived suffering and begotten iniquity by neglecting the faith. For just as a pregnant woman in flight has no rest but only pain and tribulation, so also sinners and disbelievers in the Christian faith will have nothing but grief when the day of judgment comes upon them.The holy Gospel next says, “Pray that your flight not fall in the winter or on the sabbath, for there will be a tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world.” These two times, winter and the sabbath, represent two races of people: the Gentiles and the Jews. Just as everything is fruitless, desolate and dead in the winter, so also are the Gentiles. The Lord is hereby warning us therefore not to be found as the Gentiles: desolate, dead and without the fruit of good works on the day of judgment or in the time of persecution. The sabbath … is a day reserved entirely for leisure. The Jews do nothing on the sabbath other than rest. We ought to be vigilant then that the time of persecution or the day of judgment does not find us resting. Whoever is found like this will deservedly suffer “a tribulation such as the world has not seen since its beginning.”

Source: INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 33
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:19
Those who are with child will not be able to flee, weighed down as they are by the burden of their womb. Those who give suck, because of their compassion for their children, will not be able to leave them, nor to carry them and survive together, and so they will not escape the wrath that will be. Christ is also implying the eating of children, for Josephus speaks of a woman who, on account of the starvation during the siege, cooked her child and ate it.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:20
Then, to show again the greatness of the calamity, He says (that).

Do you see that His discourse is addressed to the Jews, and that He is speaking of the ills that should overtake them? For the apostles surely were not to keep the Sabbath day, neither to be there, when Vespasian did those things. For indeed the most part of them were already departed this life. And if any was left, he was dwelling then in other parts of the world.

But wherefore neither in the winter, nor on the Sabbath day? Not in the winter, because of the difficulty arising from the season; not on the Sabbath day, because of the absolute authority exercised by the law. For since they had need of flight, and of the swiftest flight, but neither would the Jews dare to flee on the Sabbath day, because of the law, neither in winter was such a thing easy; therefore, Pray ye, says He; for then shall be tribulation, such as never was, neither shall be.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:20
Recall that this discourse is addressed to the Jews. He is speaking here of the ills that should overtake them. He is not speaking primarily to the apostles, who did not keep the Jewish sabbath day. They were nowhere around when Vespasian did these things. Indeed, most of the apostles would soon be dead or in other distant parts of the world.It is to the Jews that he says “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath.” Pray that it not be in winter, because of the difficulty of the season. Pray that it not be on the sabbath day, because of the absolute authority exercised by the law. For they had need of flight, and of the swiftest flight. The Jews would not dare to flee on the sabbath day, because of the law.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.1
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:20
(Verse 20.) Pray, however, that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. If we wish to receive the captivity of Jerusalem, when it was captured by Titus and Vespasian, they ought to pray that their flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath; for in the former, the harshness of the cold prevents them from going to the desolate places and hiding in the mountains and deserts; in the latter, it is either a violation of the Law if they wish to flee, or imminent death if they remain. But if the end of the world is understood, this commands us, that our faith may not grow cold and our love for Christ may not grow dim, nor may we become idle in the work of God, languishing in the virtues of the Sabbath.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Matthew 24:20
Perhaps this saying contains a puzzle. It admonishes us to pray that our departure from this body would not happen in the time of rest from good works, which the sabbath signifies, nor in the time of unfruitfullness, which is winter. It is notable, however, that God did not create the winter of misfortunes. Winter means the time that we are possessed by the fleshly passions.

Source: FRAGMENT 269
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:20
He addressees these words to the Jews in the person of the apostles; for the apostles would have already departed from Jerusalem by the time that flight would be necessary. To the Jews, then, He says to pray that their flight not be in winter when they would not be able to flee on account of the severity of the weather; and that it would not be on the sabbath day when they rested according to the law and would not dare to flee. But you, O reader, understand it also in this manner: we must pray that our flight from this life, that is, our end, not be on the sabbath during idleness from good deeds, nor in winter, when no good fruit is brought forth, but rather in tranquility of soul, free from all disturbance.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:21
And let not any man suppose this to have been spoken hyperbolically; but let him study the writings of Josephus, and learn the truth of the sayings. For neither can any one say, that the man being a believer, in order to establish Christ's words, has exaggerated the tragical history. For indeed He was both a Jew, and a determined Jew, and very zealous, and among them that lived after Christ's coming.

What then says this man? That those terrors surpassed all tragedy, and that no such had ever overtaken the nation. For so great was the famine, that the very mothers fought about the devouring of their children, and that there were wars about this; and he says that many when they were dead had their bellies ripped up.

I should therefore be glad to inquire of the Jews. Whence came there thus upon them wrath from God intolerable, and more sore than all that had befallen aforetime, not in Judæa only, but in any part of the world? Is it not quite clear, that it was for the deed of the cross, and for this rejection? All would say it, and with all and before all the truth of the facts itself.

But mark, I pray you, the exceeding greatness of the ills, when not only compared with the time before, they appear more grievous, but also with all the time to come. For not in all the world, neither in all time that is past, and that is to come, shall any one be able to say such ills have been. And very naturally; for neither had any man perpetrated, not of those that ever have been, nor of those to come hereafter, a deed so wicked and horrible. Therefore He says, there shall be tribulation such as never was, nor shall be.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:21
You must pray, for “then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” Do not let anyone suppose that he is merely speaking in hyperbole. All you need to do is study the writings of Josephus to learn the truth of these predictions. No one who knows the fact of history can say that Christian believers have exaggerated this tragic history or been any part of trying to see that Christ’s words were fulfilled. For Jesus himself was a Jew, a determined and faithful Jew, very zealous. And among believers who lived after Christ there were many Jews. What then is this man predicting? That these terrors would surpass all tragedy. And indeed no such similar tragedy has ever overtaken any nation.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.1
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:22
“Those days” refers to the commandments and truths which were placed in Scripture for the illumination of rational souls. Accordingly, every doctrine that comes from “false knowledge” and is joined to the words of Scripture is to be understood as corresponding to additions beyond the natural length of days in Scripture. The good God, however, shortens the addition of these days through whom he chooses. Whenever you see then by the advent of the Word of truth in your mind that the “arrogant who fight against the knowledge of God” are cut off, understand that the days of tribulation are shortened. The extra length is abbreviated which the abomination of desolation always adds in opposition to the natural number of the days of the Lord which are in Scripture. “Those days” will be shortened “for the sake of the elect,” so that they will suffer nothing from the desolation of abomination nor from what was added to the true and natural days of Scripture. This assumes that the addition of days has been shortened and that the only remaining light is that of the word of truth.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 45
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:22
By these things He shows them to be deserving of a more grievous punishment than had been mentioned, speaking now of the days of the war and of that siege. But what He says is like this. If, says He, the war of the Romans against the city had prevailed further, all the Jews had perished (for by no flesh here, He means no Jewish flesh), both those abroad, and those at home. For not only against those in Judæa did they war, but also those that were dispersed everywhere they outlawed and banished, because of their hatred against the former.

But whom does He here mean by the elect? The believers that were shut up in the midst of them. For that Jews may not say that because of the gospel, and the worship of Christ, these ills took place, He shows, that so far from the believers being the cause, if it had not been for them, all had perished utterly. For if God had permitted the war to be protracted, not so much as a remnant of the Jews had remained, but lest those of them who had become believers should perish together with the unbelieving Jews, He quickly put down the fighting, and gave an end to the war. Therefore He says, But for the elect's sake they shall be shortened. But these things He said to leave an encouragement to those of them who were shut up in the midst of them, and to allow them to take breath, that they might not be in fear, as though they were to perish with them. And if here so great is His care for them, that for their sakes others also are saved, and that for the sake of Christians remnants were left of the Jews, how great will be their honor in the time for their crowns?

By this He also encouraged them not to be distressed at their own dangers, since these others are suffering such things, and for no profit, but for evil upon their own head.

But He not only encouraged them, but also led them off secretly and unsuspectedly from the customs of the Jews. For if there is not to be a change afterwards, and the temple is not to stand, it is quite evident that the law also shall be made to cease.

However, He spoke not this openly, but by their entire destruction He darkly intimated it. But He spoke it not openly, lest He should startle them before the time. Wherefore neither at the beginning did He of Himself fall into discourse touching these things; but having first lamented over the city, He constrained them to show Him the stones, and question Him, in order that as it were in answering them their question, He might declare to them beforehand all the things to come.

But mark thou, I pray you, the dispensation of the Spirit, that John wrote none of these things, lest he should seem to write from the very history of the things done (for indeed he lived a long time after the taking of the city), but they, who died before the taking, and had seen none of these things, they write it, in order that every way the power of the prediction should clearly shine forth.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:22
This is a tribulation such as never has been before nor will be. He adds, “And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” By this he is indicating that they are deserving of a more grievous punishment than any that had previously been experienced. He is speaking now of the days of the war and of the siege. If the war of the Romans against Jerusalem had continued, all the Jews would have perished. By “no human being” in this case he means the Jews. And this doubtless applies to Jews at home and abroad. For the Romans were fighting not only against those in Judea but also against those Jews that were dispersed everywhere. They too were outlawed and banished, because of the Romans’ hatred against the Jews of Judea.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.1
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:22
But who in this case does he mean by the elect? He means the believers that were hidden away in the midst of them. In order that Jews may not say that it was because of the gospel and the worship of Christ that these ills took place, he showed that so far from the believers being the cause, if it had not been for them, all Jews would have perished utterly. For if God had permitted the war to be protracted, not so much as a remnant of the Jews would have remained. But lest those of them who had become believers should perish together with the unbelieving Jews, he quickly put down the fighting and allowed an end to the war.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.2
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:22
[Daniel 7:25] "And he shall utter (variant: "he utters") speeches against the Lofty One." Or else, as Symmachus has rendered it: "He utters speeches like God," so that one who assumes the authority of God will also arrogate to himself the words of divine majesty.

"...And he shall crush the saints of the Most High, and will suppose himself to be able to alter times and laws." The Antichrist will wage war against the saints and will overcome them; and he shall exalt himself to such a height of arrogance as to attempt changing the very laws of God and the sacred rites as well. He will also lift himself up against all that is called God, subjecting all religion to his own authority.

"...And they shall be delivered into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time." "Time" is equivalent to "year." The word "times," according to the idiom of the Hebrews (who also possess the dual number) represents "two years." The half a year signifies "six months." During this period the saints are to be given over to the power of the Antichrist, in order that those Jews might be condemned who did not believe the truth but supported a lie. The Savior also speaks of this period in the Gospel, saying: "Unless those days had been cut short, no flesh would be saved" (Matthew 24:22). In the final vision we shall assert the inappropriateness of this period to Antiochus.

Source: St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER SEVEN
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:22
(Verse 22.) And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. The shortened days, not according to the delusions of some (who think that the moments of time can be changed; and do not remember that writing: Your ordinance endures (Ps. CXVIII, 91)), but we should understand it according to the quality of time, that is, the days are shortened not in measure, but in number; just as in the blessing it is said; I will satisfy him with long life (Ps. XC); so now the shortened days should be understood: lest the delay of time shake the faith of the believers.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:22
. There was at that time [of the capture of Jerusalem] unendurable tribulation. For the Roman soldiers were commanded to spare no one; but God, for the sake of those who would believe or who had already believed, did not allow them to be completely destroyed, but curtailed both the tribulations and the war. For if war had continued any longer, everyone within would have perished of starvation. Some understand these words to refer to the days of the Antichrist; but they are not concerning the Antichrist, but the capture of Jerusalem. That which concerns the Antichrist begins from this point. Listen, then:
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:23-28
Mystically; In the holy place of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, Antichrist, that is, false word, has often stood; let those who see this flee from the Judæa of the letter to the high mountains of truth. And whoso has been found to have gone up to the house-top of the word, and to be standing upon its summit, let him not come down thence as though he would fetch any thing out of his house. And if he be in the field in which the treasure is hid, and return thence to his house, he will run into the temptation of a false word; but especially if he have stripped off his old garment, that is, the old man, and should have returned again to take it up. Then the soul, as it were with child by the word, not having yet brought forth, is liable to a woe; for it casts that which it had conceived, and loses that hope which is in the acts of truth; and the same also if the word has been brought forth perfect and entire, but not having yet attained sufficient growth. Let them that flee to the mountains pray that their flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath-day, because in the serenity of a settled spirit they may reach the way of salvation, but if the winter overtake them they fall amongst those whom they would fly from. And there be some who rest from evil works, but do not good works; be your flight then not on such sabbath when a man rests from good works, for no man is easily overcome in times of peril from false doctrines, except he is unprovided with good works. But what sorer affliction is there than to see our brethren deceived, and to feel one's self shaken and terrified? Those days mean the precepts and dogmas of truth; and all interpretations coming of science falsely so called (1 Tim. 6:20.) are so many additions to those days, which God shortens by those whom He wills.

That, If it were possible, is spoken hyperbolically; not that the elect can be led astray, but He wishes to show that the discourse of heretics is often so persuasive, as to have force to prevail even with those who act2 wisely.

And observe, He says not vultures or crows, but eagles, showing the lordliness and royalty of all who have believed in the Lord's passion.

The genus of Antichrist is one, the species many, just as all lies are of one sort. As all the holy Prophets were Prophets of the true Christ, so understand that each false Christ shall have his own false Prophets, who shall preach as true the false teachings of some Antichrist. When then one shall say, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there, we need not look abroad out of the Scriptures, for out of the Law, the Prophets, and the Apostles, they bring the things which seem to favour their lie. Or by this, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there, they show that it was not Christ, but some impostor under the same title, such for example as Marcion, or Valentinus, or Basilides taught.

Or, when they allege secret and before unpublished Scriptures, in proof of their lie, they seem to say, Lo, the word of truth is in the desert. But when they produce canonical Scripture in which all Christians agree, they seem to say, Lo, the word of truth is in the chambers. Or wishing to point out such discourses as are altogether without Scripture, He said, If they shall say to you, Lo, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. Truth is like the lightning that cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west. Or this may mean, that truth can be supported out of every passage of Scripture. The lightning of truth comes out of the east, that is, from the first beginnings of Christ, and shines throughout even to His passion, which is His setting; or from the very beginning of creation, to the last Scripture of the Apostles. Or, the east is the Law, the west is the end of the Law, and of John's prophecy. The Church alone neither takes away word or meaning from this lightning, nor adds aught to its prophecy. Or He means that we should give no heed to those who say, Lo, here is Christ, but show Him not in the Church, in which alone is the coming or the Son of Man, who said, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. (Mat. 28:20.)

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:23-28
Notwithstanding, by reason of the great tribulation in which men shall be cast, false prophets promising to show aid present from Christ, will falsely affirm that Christ is present in divers places, that they may draw into the service of Antichrist men discouraged and distracted.

The false prophets, of whom He had spoken above, shall say of Christ one while, Lo, He is in the desert, in order that they may cause men to wander astray; another while, Lo, He is in the secret chambers, that they may enthral men under the dominion of Antichrist. But the Lord declares Himself to be neither lurking in a remote corner, nor shut up to be visited singly, but that He shall be exhibited to the view of all, and in every place, As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

That we might not be ignorant of the place in which He should come, He adds this, Wheresoever the carcase, &c. He calls the Saints eagles, from the spiritual flight of their bodies, and shows that their gathering shall be to the place of His passion, the Angels guiding them thither; and rightly should we look for His coming in glory there, where He wrought for us eternal glory by the suffering of His bodily humiliation.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:23-28
When the Lord had finished all that related to Jerusalem, He came in the rest to His own coming, and gives them signs thereof, useful not for them only, but for us and for all who shall be after us. As above, the Evangelist said, In those days came John the Baptist, (Mat. 3:1.) not implying immediately after what had gone before, but thirty years after; so here, when He says Then, He passes over the whole interval of time between the taking of Jerusalem and the beginnings of the consummation of the world. Among the signs which He gives of His second coming He certifies them concerning the place, and the deceivers. For it shall not be then as at His former coming, when He appeared in Bethlehem, in a corner of the world, unknown of any; but He shall come openly so as not to need any to announce His approach, wherefore, If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe not.

He speaks here of Antichrist, and of certain his ministers, whom He calls false Christs and false prophets, such as were many in the time of the Apostles; but before Christ's second coming there shall come others more bitter than the former, And they shall show great signs and wonders. (cf. 2 Thes. 2:8.)

As He had above described in what guise Antichrist should come, so here He describes how He Himself shall come. For as the lightning needeth none to herald or announce it, but is in an instant of time visible throughout the whole world, even to those that are sitting in their chambers, so the coming of Christ shall be seen every where at once, because of the brightness of His glory. Another sign He adds of His coming, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. The eagles denote the company of the Angels, Martyrs, and Saints.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:23
Having finished what concerned Jerusalem, He passes on to His own coming, and tells the signs of it, not for their use only, but for us also, and for all that shall come after us.

Then. When? Here, as I have often said, the word, then, relates not to the connection in order of time with the things before mentioned. At least, when He was minded to express the connection of time, He added, Immediately after the tribulation of those days, Matthew 24:29 but here not so, but, then, not meaning what should follow straightway after these things, but what should be in the time, when these things were to be done, of which He was about to speak. So also when it is said, In those days comes John the Baptist, he is not speaking of the time that should straightway follow, but that many years after, and that in which these things were done, of which He was about to speak. For, in fact, having spoken of the birth of Jesus, and of the coming of the magi, and of the death of Herod, He at once says, In those days comes John the Baptist; although thirty years had intervened. But this is customary in the Scripture, I mean, to use this manner of narration. So then here also, having passed over all the intermediate time from the taking of Jerusalem unto the preludes of the consummation, He speaks of the time just before the consummation. Then, He says therefore, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not.

Awhile He secures them by the place, mentioning the distinguishing marks of His second coming, and the indications of the deceivers. For not, as when at His former coming He appeared in Bethlehem, and in a small corner of the world, and no one knew Him at the beginning, so does He say it shall be then too; but openly and with all circumstance, and so as not to need one to tell these things. And this is no small sign that He will not come secretly.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:23-28
Wherein He shows that His second coming shall be not in lowliness as His first, but in glory; and therefore it is folly to seek in places little and obscure for Him who is the Light of the whole world. (John 8:12.)

By an instance from nature, which we daily see, we are instructed in a sacrament of Christ. Eagles and vultures are said to scent dead bodies even beyond sea, and to flock to feed upon them. If then birds, not having the gift of reason, by instinct alone find out where lays a dead body, separated by so great space of country, how much more ought the whole multitude of believers to hasten to Christ, whose lightning goeth forth out of the east, and shines even to the west? We may understand by the carcase here, or corpse1, which in the Latin is more expressively 'cadaver,' an allusion to the passion of Christ's death.

They are called eagles whose youth is renewed as the eagle's, and who take to themselves wings that they may come to Christ's passion. (Ps. 103:5. Is. 40:31.)

Or otherwise; This may be understood of the false prophets. At the time of the Jewish captivity, there were many leaders who declared themselves to be Christs, (Joseph B.J. v. 1) so that while the Romans were actually besieging them, there were three factions within. But it is better taken as we expounded it above, of the end of the world. Thirdly, it may be understood of the warfare of the heretics against the Church, and of those Antichrists, who under pretext of false science, fight against Christ.

If then any one assert to you that Christ tarries in the desert of the Gentiles, or in the teaching of the Philosophers, or in the secret chambers of the heretics, who promise the hidden things of God, believe Him not, but believe that the Catholic Faith shines from east to west in the Churches.

Or by this, in the desert, or in the secret chambers, He means that in times of persecution and distress, the false Prophets always find place for deceiving.

We are invited to flock to Christ's passion wheresoever in Scripture it is read of, that through it we may be able to come to God's word.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:23
“If anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There is the Christ,’ do not believe him.” At the time of the Jewish captivity by Rome, many Jewish elders claimed to be the Christ. There were so many, in fact, that there were three distinct camps of them when the Romans besieged Jerusalem. This saying is better understood as referring to the end of the world, however.“False Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so that even the elect might be led into error. Behold, I told you.” As I have already noted, this passage is to be explained in one of three ways. It refers either to the Roman siege of Jerusalem or to the end of the world or to the war waged by heretics against the church and by antichrists who oppose Christ under the pretext of false knowledge.
“If, therefore, they say to you, ‘Behold, he is in the desert,’ do not go out. And if they say ‘Behold, he is inside,’ don’t believe it.” If anyone were to tell you that Christ dwells in the wilderness of the pagans or in the doctrine of the philosophers or within the inner chambers of heretics who promise to reveal the secrets of God, do not go out and do not believe them. And lest false prophets find an opportunity for deceiving you at a time of persecution and anxiety, you should not trust just anyone who claims to speak in the name of Christ.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.24.23-26
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:23
(Verse 23.) Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. Many leaders arose during the time of the Jewish captivity who claimed to be the Christ, to the extent that there were three factions inside the besieged Romans. But the end of the world is better understood.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:23-28
(Lib. 83 Quæst. q. 79.) Here the Lord forewarns us that even wicked men shall do some miracles which the saints cannot do, yet are they not therefore to be thought to have a higher place in the sight of God. For the Egyptian magi were not more acceptable to God than the people of Israel, because they could do what the Israelites could not; yet did Moses, by the power of God, work greater things. This gift is not bestowed on all the saints, lest the weak should be led astray by a most destructive error, supposing such powers to be higher gifts than those works of righteousness by which eternal life is secured. And though magi do the same miracles that the saints do, yet are they done with a different end, and through a different authority; for the one do them seeking the glory of God, the others seeking their own glory; these do them by some special compact or privilege1 granted to the Powers, within their sphere, those by the public dispensation and the command of Him to whom all creation is subject.f For it is one thing for the owner of a horse to be compelled to give it up to a soldier, another for him to hand it over to a purchaser, or to give or lend it to a friend; and as those evil soldiers, who are condemned by the imperial discipline, employ the imperial ensigns to terrify the owners of any property, and to extort from them what is not required by the public service; so some evil Christians, by means of the name of Christ, or by words or sacraments Christian, compel somewhat from the Powers; yet these, when thus at the bidding of evil men, they depart from their purpose, they depart in order to deceive men in whose wanderings they rejoice. It is one way then in which magi, another in which good Christians, another in which bad Christians, work miracles; the magi by a private compact, good Christians by the public righteousness, evil Christians by the signs of public righteousness. 1And we ought not to wonder at this when we believe not unreasonably that all that we see happen is wrought by the agency of the inferior powers of this air.

(de Trin. iii. 8.) Yet are we not therefore to think that this visible material world attends the nod of the disobedient angels, but rather the power is given them of God. Nor are we to suppose that such evil angels have creative power, but by their spirituality they know the seeds of things which are hidden from us, and these they secretly scatter by suitable adaptations of the elements, and so they give occasion both to the whole being, and the more rapid increase of substances. For so there are many men who know what sort of creatures use to be generated out of certain herbs, meats, juices and humours, bruised and mingled together in a certain fashion; save only that it is harder for men to do these things, inasmuch as they lack that subtlety of sense, and penetrativeness of body in their limbs dull and of earthly mould.

(Quæst. Ev. i. 38.) By the east and west, He signifies the whole world, throughout which the Church should be. In the same way as He said below, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, (Mat. 26:64.) so now He likens His coming to lightning, which uses to flash out of the clouds. When then the authority of the Church is set up clear and manifest throughout the whole world, He suitably warns His disciples that they should not believe schismatics and heretics. Each schism and heresy holds its own place, either occupying some important position in the earth, or ensnaring men's curiosity in obscure and remote conventicles. Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there, refers to some district or province of the earth; the secret chambers, or the desert, signify the obscure and lurking conventicles of heretics.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 500] Desert Fathers on Matthew 24:23
The demons, wanting to tempt a hermit, said to him, ‘Would you like to see Christ?’ He said, ‘A curse be upon you and him by whom you speak. I believe my Christ when He said, “If anyone says to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ,’ or ‘Lo, there,’ do not believe him” (Matt. 24:23).’ They vanished at the words.

Source: The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Matthew 24:23-28
(Mor. xv. 61.) When then Antichrist shall have wrought wonderful prodigies before the eyes of the carnal, he shall draw men after him, all such as delight in present goods, surrendering themselves irrevocably to his sway, Insomuch that if it were possible the very elect should be led astray.

(Hom. in Ev. xxxv. i.) Or, because the heart of the elect is assailed with fearful thoughts, yet their faithfulness is not shaken, the Lord comprehends both under the same sentence, for to waver in thought is to err. He adds, If it were possible, because it is not possible that the elect should be taken in error

And as darts, when foreseen, are less likely to hit, He adds, Lo, I have told you. Our Lord announces the woes which are to precede the destruction of the world, that when they come they may alarm the less from having been foreknown.

(Mor. xxxi. 53.) We may understand this, Wheresoever the carcase is, as meaning, I who incarnate sit on the throne of heaven, as soon as I shall have loosed the souls of the elect from the flesh, will exalt them to heavenly places.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:23-28
He says not this because it is possible for the divine election to be defeated, but because they, who to men's judgment seemed elect, shall be led into error.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:24
We know that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" -much more into a man of light-and that at last he will "show himself to be even God," and will exhibit "great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, he shall deceive the very elect." He hardly hesitated on the before-mentioned occasion to affirm himself to be a prophet of God, and especially to Saul, in whom he was then actually dwelling.

Source: A Treatise on the Soul
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:24
He Himself afterwards deprived it of its authority, because when He declared that many would come and "show great signs and wonders," so as to turn aside the very elect, and yet for all that were not to be received, He showed how rash was belief in signs and wonders, which were so very easy of accomplishment by even false christs.

Source: Against Marcion Book III
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:24
But mark how here He says nothing of war (for He is interpreting the doctrine concerning His advent), but of them that attempt to deceive. For some in the days of the apostles deceived the multitude, for they shall come, says He, and shall deceive many; Matthew 24:11 and others shall do so before His second coming, who shall also be more grievous than the former. For they shall show, He says, signs and wonders, so as to deceive if possible the very elect: Matthew 24:24 here He is speaking of Antichrist, and indicates that some also shall minister to him. Of him Paul too speaks on this wise. Having called him man of sin, and son of perdition, He added, Whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders; and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:24
(Verse 24) For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will perform great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. There are three ways, as I have already said, in which this may be interpreted: either concerning the time of the siege of Rome, or concerning the end of the world, or concerning the struggle of heretics against the Church and similar antichrists, who under the guise of false knowledge fight against Christ.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 510] Epiphanius Scholasticus on Matthew 24:24
We are warned by the Lord so that if anyone were to come to us falsely in his name, none of us would believe in such a person, having already been prepared. Henceforth how great will be the signs by which the faith of the elect is demonstrated! But whoever builds his house on the rock, that is, establishes his faith on Christ, cannot be destroyed by winds or rains. The rock represents Christ, the floods are the kings, and the winds are the kings’ orders to persecute the servants of God.The holy reading continues: “False Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so that even the elect would be led into error, if possible. Behold, I have told you.” You see then, beloved, what great love the Lord displays toward us. He carefully instructs each one of us individually regarding the future so that even if we see all these signs come to pass (having been forewarned by him) we will be wise to the enemy and accept nothing contrary to Christ and the catholic faith. In the Acts of the Apostles, Simon declared himself to be the power of God. Likewise, in the last days, the antichrist will declare himself to be God, as the apostle says, “Thus he will sit in the temple of God, calling himself God … whom the Lord Jesus Christ will kill with the breath of his mouth.” The day of judgment will come upon the antichrist also, and the Lord will kill him with the sword of his mouth.

Source: INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 33
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:25-26
(Verses 25, 26.) So if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out; 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. If someone promises you that Christ is staying in the wilderness of the Gentiles and philosophers' doctrine, or in the inner rooms of heretics who promise the secrets of God, do not go out, do not believe it; or (because during times of persecution and distress false prophets always find a place for deception) if someone wants to boast under the name of Christ, do not immediately give them your trust.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:25
Since the disciples had brought two questions to Him, one concerning the captivity of Jerusalem, and the other, the Lord’s second coming, having already spoken of the captivity of Jerusalem, here He begins to speak of His own coming, and of the end of the world. When He says, "Then if any man shall say unto you," "then" does not mean immediately after the capture of Jerusalem, but rather at that time when this shall occur. So it means, "Then," that is, when the Antichrist is about to come, there will be many false christs and false prophets who, by means of the apparitions of demons who, in order to deceive, will play tricks with the eyes of those who see the apparitions. So that if the righteous were not sober minded, even they would be deceived. But, behold, I have foretold these things to you; you have no excuse, for it is within your power not to be deceived.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:26
And see how He secures them; Go not forth into the deserts, enter not into the secret chambers. He did not say, Go, and do not believe; but, Go not forth, neither depart there. For great then will be the deceiving, because that even deceiving miracles are wrought.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:27
Christ is shown to be the Word and Truth and Wisdom of God from the very first creature of the world to the last of the writings of the apostles (that is, from Genesis through the apostolic books of the Bible). No Scripture written after these is to be believed in the same way. Because “the law and the prophets prophesied until the coming of John,” the law and the prophets represent the lightning or radiance of truth which “comes from the East and shines as far as the West.” The East represents the law, and the West represents the “end of the law,” which is marked by “the coming of John.” The church alone has neither removed one word from this radiance nor added any prophecy of its own. If we were to consider carefully why the Evangelist does not use the singular here but writes of a plurality shining “from the Easts to the Wests,” we would see that the law and the prophets are one thing and Jesus Christ himself is yet another reality which extends from East to West, appearing to the apostle Paul “last of all, as to one untimely born.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 47
[AD 319] Theodore Stratelates on Matthew 24:27
For it is much the same with lightning. Lightning is figuratively compared with truth. It is likened to the coming of the Son of man, which is explained in every Scripture, whether it concerns the law, prophecy, the gospel or apostolic testimony. It flashes out from the east, the region of principalities and spiritual powers, and shines all the way to the west, the realm of darkness and Satan, in the time of the Passion. Note that if the law is rising in the east, the end of the law is setting in the west. But from Jesus Christ to Paul is a rising and setting. He was revealed to Paul last of all as “to one abnormally born.”

Source: FRAGMENT 124-25
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:27
Having told them how Antichrist comes, as, for instance, that it will be in a place; He says how Himself also comes. How then does He Himself come?
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:27
(Verse 27.) For as the lightning comes from the east and shines even to the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Do not go out, do not believe that the Son of man is in the deserts of the nations or in the inner chambers of heretics; but rather that from the east even unto the west, his faith may shine forth in the Catholic Churches. It must also be said that the second coming of the Savior will not be in humility as before, but in glory to be shown. It is foolish, therefore, to seek him in a small or hidden place, who is the light of the whole world.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 382] Apollinaris of Laodicea on Matthew 24:28
Jesus spoke in a kind of comparison, as in the form of an illustration and example. For, he says, the appearing of the Son of man will be much the same as when eagles and other flesh-eating birds find a carcass and dead body lying on the ground. They secretly and unexpectedly bear them through the heights and by doing so will provide food for themselves. In the same way, he will appear again on the earth a second and glorious time to judge the world. Ranks of angels will be seen serving as an escort with all the saints rising up “in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye,” according to the last trumpet.… But some attempted to explain this text as teaching that at the second coming of the Lord all who conducted themselves uprightly, corresponding with eagles in their lofty and spiritual outlook, will leave paradise behind and be gathered to that place where the fall of Adam occurred. This is the place where Adam violated the commandment and through his disobedience fell into sin.

Source: FRAGMENT 126
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:28
How then shines the lightning? It needs not one to talk of it, it needs not a herald, but even to them that sit in houses, and to them in chambers it shows itself in an instant of time throughout the whole world. So shall that coming be, showing itself at once everywhere by reason of the shining forth of His glory. But He mentions also another sign, where the carcass is, there also shall the eagles be; meaning the multitude of the angels, of the martyrs, of all the saints.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:28
We are taught about the sacrament of Christ by the use of a natural example taken from daily life. Eagles and vultures are said to sense the presence of a carcass all the way across the sea and to gather their food in this way. If therefore these irrational creatures have the natural capacity to know where a small body lies, even though separated by so great a distance across land and sea, how much more ought we and the whole multitude of believers hasten to him whose splendor comes from the east and shines as far as the west!In Greek the body is called a ptōma, but the Latin word for it, cadaver, is more illuminating because it comes from the word “to fall,” cadere, and implies that the body has fallen dead. We can understand this body to refer to the Passion of Christ because wherever Scripture says that we are gathered together, it is for the purpose of coming to the Word of God. For example, “A company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet,” “like a lamb led to the slaughter,” and in other passages like these. The eagles represent those saints whose youth is renewed like the eagle’s and who, according to Isaiah, shall mount up with wings to come to the passion of Christ.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.24.28
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:28
(Verse 28.) Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. From the natural example that we see every day, we are instructed by the sacrament of Christ. Eagles and vultures are also said to sense corpses even across the seas, and to gather for such food. Therefore, if irrational birds with their natural sense can feel a small corpse wherever it lies, separated by such vast distances of land and the waves of the sea: how much more should we and the whole multitude of believers hasten to him, whose lightning comes from the East and appears even to the West! But we can understand the body, that is, the corpse, which is more significantly called cadaver in Latin, as a representation of the passion of Christ, in which we are called to participate. So whenever it is read in the Scriptures, let us gather and through it, come to the Word of God, as it is written: They have pierced my hands and feet (Ps. 22:17). And in Isaiah: Like a sheep being led to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7). And similar things can be found in other passages. But the holy ones are called eagles, to whom youth is renewed like the eagles; and they who grow feathers like Isaiah, and assume wings, so as to come to Christ's passion.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:28
If the deceivers should come and say, "Christ has come, but He is hiding in the desert, or in a house within its inner chambers," do not be deceived. For the coming of Christ needs no one to point it out, but it will be utterly clear to all, like the lightning. For just as the lightning is sudden and seen by all, so too will the Lord’s coming be visible to everyone on earth. It will not be as in the first coming when He went about from place to place, but at the second coming He will appear in a twinkling of an eye. And as the eagles, that is, the vultures, swiftly converge on a corpse, so too all the saints, who soar in the heights, will come where Christ will be and they will be snatched up into the clouds as the eagles. Certainly the corpse is Christ Who died for us and lay as a corpse. As St. Symeon also says, "Behold, this child is laid out for the fall and resurrection of many in Israel" (Lk. 2:34).
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:29
Besides, the belief that everything was made from nothing will be impressed upon us by that ultimate dispensation of God which will bring back all things to nothing. For "the very heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll; '" nay, it shall come to nothing along with the earth itself, with which it was made in the beginning.

Source: Against Hermogenes
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:29-30
One will say, As at the breaking out of great conflagrations, great darkness is at the first caused by the smoke, so when the world shall be consumed by fire, which shall be kindled, even the great luminaries shall be darkened; and when the light of the stars is decayed, the rest of their substance, incapable of exaltation, shall fall from heaven into what it was, when it was first raised aloft by the light. When this shall have taken place, it follows that the rational heavenly powers shall suffer dismay and derangement, and shall be suspended from their functions. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, that sign by which the heavenly things were made, that is, the power which the Son wrought when He hung upon the cross. And the sign shall appear in heaven, that men of all tribes who before had not believed Christianity when preached, then by that sign, acknowledging it as made plain, shall grieve and mourn for their ignorance and sins. Others will think otherwise, that as the light of a lamp dies away by degrees, so when the supply of the heavenly luminaries shall fail, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon and the light of the stars shall grow dim, and that which in their composition is earthy shall fall from heaven. But how can it be said of the sun that its light shall be darkened, when Esaias the Prophet (Is. 30:26.) declares, that in the end of the world, there shall be light proceeding forth from the sun? And of the moon he declares that it shall be as the sun. But concerning the stars, there are some that endeavour to convince us that all, or many of them, are larger than the whole earth. How then shall they fall from heaven, when this earth would not be large enough to contain them?

But as, at the dispensation of the Cross, the sun was eclipsed, and darkness was spread over the earth; so when the sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven, the light of the sun, moon, and stars, shall fail, as though waning before the might of that sign. This we understand to be the sign of the cross, that the Jews may see, as Zacharias and John speak, Him whom they have pierced, (Zech. 12:10. John 19:37.) and the sign of victory.

Morally, one may say that the sun, which shall be darkened, is the Devil, who shall be convicted in the end of the world, that whereas he is darkness, he has feigned himself to be the sun; the moon, which seems to receive its light from this sun, is the Church of the wicked, which professes to have and to give light, but then convicted with its sinful dogmas, shall lose its brightness; and all those who, either by false teaching, or false virtues, promised truth to men, but led them astray by lies, these are fitly called stars falling from, so to say, their own heaven, where they were raised on high, exalting themselves against the knowledge of God. For illustration of this discourse, we may apply that place in Proverbs, which says, The light of the just is unquenchable, but the light of the wicked shall be quenched. (Prov. 4:18.) Then the brightness of God shall appear in every one who has borne the image of the heavenly; and they of heaven shall rejoice, but they of earth shall lament.

Therefore shall they see with the bodily eyes the Son of Man, coming in human shape, in the clouds of heaven, that is, on high. As at the transfiguration, a voice came out of the cloud, so when He shall come again transformed into His glorious appearance, it shall be not on one cloud, but upon many, which shall be His chariot. And if when the Son of God went up to Jerusalem, they who loved Him spread their garments in the way, not willing that even the ass that carried Him should tread upon the earth; what wonder, if the Father and God of all should spread the clouds of heaven under the body of the Son, when He comes to the work of the consummation? And one may say, that as in the creation of man, God took clay from the earth and made man; so to manifest the glory of Christ, the Lord taking of the heaven, and of its substance, gave it a body of a bright cloud in the Transfiguration, and of bright clouds at the Consummation; wherefore it is here said, in the clouds of heaven, as it was there said, of the clay of the ground. (Gen. 2:7.) And it behoves the Father to give all such admirable gifts to the Son, because He humbled Himself; and He has also exalted Him, not only spiritually, but bodily, that He should come upon such clouds; and perhaps upon rational clouds, that even the chariot of the glorified Son of Man should not be irrational. At the first, Jesus came with that power with which He wrought signs and wonders in the people; yet was that power little in comparison of that great power with which He shall come in the end; for that was the power of one emptying Himself of power. And also, it is fitting that He should be transformed into greater glory than at the transfiguration on the mount; for then He was transfigured for the sake of three only, but in the consummation of the whole world, He shall appear in great glory, that all may see Him in glory.

Or He comes every day with great power to the mind of the believer in the clouds of prophecy, that is, in the Scriptures of the Prophets and the Apostles, who utter the word of God with a meaning above human nature. Also we say that to those who understand He comes with great glory, and that this is the more seen in the second coming of the Word which is to the perfect. 1And so it may be, that all which the three Evangelists have said concerning Christ's coming, if carefully compared together and thoroughly examined, would be found to apply to His continual daily coming in His body, which is the Church, of which coming He said in another place, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven, (Mat. 26:6.) excepting those places in which He promises that His last coming in His own person.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:29-30
The darkening of the sun, the failing of the moon, and the fall of the stars, indicate the glories of His coming.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:29-30
By the tribulation, He means the times of Antichrist and the false Prophets; for when there are so many deceivers, the tribulation will be great. But it shall not extend through any great length of time. For if for the elect's sake the Jewish war is shortened, much more shall this tribulation be shortened for their sakes; for which reason He said not After, but Immediately after, for He shall come immediately after.

Very fitly shall they be shaken and dismayed, seeing so mighty a change being wrought, their fellow-servants punished, and the universe standing before a terrible tribunal.

But because the sun will be darkened, the cross would not be seen, if it were not far brighter than the rays of the sun. That the disciples might not be ashamed, and grieve over the cross, He speaks of it as a sign, with a kind of distinction. The sign of the cross will appear to overthrow the shamelessness of the Jews, when Christ shall appear in the judgment, showing not only His wounds, but His most ignominious death, And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. For when they shall see the cross, they shall bethink them how they have gained nought by His death, and that they have crucified Him whom they ought to have worshipped.

He adds this, that having heard of the cross, they should not now imagine a similar degradation.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:29
Then He tells of fearful prodigies. What are these prodigies?

Of the tribulation of what days does He speak? Of those of Antichrist and of the false prophets? For there shall be great tribulation, there being so many deceivers. But it is not protracted to a length of time. For if the Jewish war was shortened for the elect's sake, much more shall this temptation be limited for these same's sake. Therefore, He said not, after the tribulation, but immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, for almost at the same time all things come to pass. For the false prophets and false Christs shall come and cause confusion, and immediately He Himself will be here. Because no small turmoil is then to prevail over the world.

But how does He come? The very creation being then transfigured, for the sun shall be darkened, not destroyed, but overcome by the light of His presence; and the stars shall fall, for what shall be the need of them thenceforth, there being no night? And the powers of Heaven shall be shaken, and in all likelihood, seeing so great a change come to pass. For if when the stars were made, they trembled and marvelled (for when the stars were made, all angels, it is said, praised Me with a loud voice); much more seeing all things in course of change, and their fellow servants giving account, and the whole world standing by that awful judgment-seat, and those who have lived from Adam unto His coming, having an account demanded of them of all that they did, how shall they but tremble, and be shaken?
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:29
The sun shall be darkened, not destroyed. It will be overcome by the light of God’s presence. The stars shall fall, for what shall be the need of them thereafter, if there is no night? And “the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” For a great change had come to pass. When the stars were made, they trembled and marveled. When the stars were made, all angels praised the Lord with a loud voice. Much more upon seeing all things in course of final change, and their fellow servants giving account, and the whole world standing by that awful judgment seat, and all those who had lived from Adam until his coming having an account demanded of them of all that they did, wouldn’t you expect the powers of the heavens to tremble and be shaken?

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.3
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:29-30
We are invited to flock to Christ's passion wheresoever in Scripture it is read of, that through it we may be able to come to God's word.

These things, therefore, shall not come to pass by any diminution of light, for in another place we read that the light of the sun shall be sevenfold; but by comparison with real light, all things shall seem dim.

By the powers of heaven, we understand the bands of the Angels.

Rightly does He say, the tribes of the earth, for they shall mourn who have no citizenship in heaven, but are written in earth. (Jer. 17:13.)

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:29
(Verse 29.) But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. The sun and the moon will be darkened and will not give their light; and the other stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, not by a diminishing of light (otherwise we read that the sun will have sevenfold light (Ibid. XXX)), but because all things will be dark to the sight compared to true light. Therefore, if that sun, which now shines throughout the whole world, and the moon, which is the next luminary, and the stars, which are kindled for the solace of the night, and all the powers (which we understand to be the multitudes of angels) shall be regarded as darkness in the coming of Christ, let the pride of those who, thinking themselves saints, do not fear the presence of judgment, be cast down.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:29-30
(Ep. 199, 39.) Or, the Church is the sun, moon, and stars, to which it is said, Fair as the moon, bright as the sun. Then shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (Song of Solomon 6:10.), because in that ungoverned fury of wicked persecutors, the Church shall not be seen. Then shall the stars fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken, because many, who seemed to be shining in God's grace, shall give way to their persecutors, and shall fall, and even the stoutest believers shall be shaken. And these things shall be after the tribulation of those days, not because they shall happen when the whole persecution is overpast, but because the tribulation shall be first, that the falling away may come after. And because it shall be so throughout all those days, it shall be after the tribulation of those days, yet on those very days.
And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

(Ep. 199, 41.) The first and most apparent meaning of this is of that time when He shall come to judge the quick and the dead in His body—that body in which He sits at the right hand of the Father, in which He died and rose again and ascended into heaven. As we read in the Acts of the Apostles; He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight, (Acts 1:9.) upon which it was said by the Angels, He shall so come as ye hare seen Him go into heaven, we may reasonably believe that He will come again, not only in the same body, but also in a cloud.

(ubi sup.) But because the Scriptures are to be searched, and we are not to content ourselves with the surface of them, let us look closely at what follows, When ye see all these things come to pass, know that he is near even at the door. We know then that He is near, when we see come to pass not any of the foregoing things, but all of them, among which is this that the Son of Man shall be seen coming. And he shall send his Angels, who from the four quarters of the world shall gather together His elect. All these things He does at the last hour (1 John 2:18.) coming in His members as in the clouds, or in the whole Church as in one great cloud, as now He ceases not to come. And with great power and glory, because His power and glory will seem greater in the Saints to whom He will give great power, that they may not be overcome of persecution.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Matthew 24:29
How will they not shudder with fear? For heaven and earth are transformed for the sake of God’s own discretion (to speak something accurately about such things requires more than one word). The sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars will fall like flowers. Their very nature is again changed by the One who created them, just as he wills, and the heavenly bodies will be thrown into disorder. For as humanity is renewed the whole creation, which had been created for the sake of humanity, is recapitulated and restored.

Source: FRAGMENT 271
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:29-30
But nothing hinders our supposing that the sun and moon with the other stars shall for a time lose their light, as we know did the sun at the time of the Lord's passion; as Joel also says, The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come. (Joel 2:31.) But when the day of judgment is passed, and the life of future glory shall dawn, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, then shall that come to pass of which Isaiah speaks, The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold. (Is. 30:26.) The stars shall fall from heaven, is expressed in Mark; There shall be stars falling from heaven, (Mark. 13:25.) that is, lacking their proper light.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:29
He says: after the coming of the Antichrist who will be swiftly destroyed, (for this is the meaning of "immediately"), "the sun shall be darkened," instead of being blackened; not disappearing, but being overwhelmed by the light of Christ’s appearance, and so too will the stars and the moon. For what need is there for sensory light when the Sun of Righteousness has appeared and night is no more? But the powers of the heavens shall also be shaken, that is, the angelic hosts will be astonished and will tremble seeing creation changed, and all mankind from Adam until now about to give an account.
[AD 1274] Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 24:29-30
(non occ.) As soon as the Lord has fortified the believers against the arts of Antichrist and his ministers, by showing that His coming would be public, He proceeds to show the order and method of His coming.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 100] Didache on Matthew 24:30-31
And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, the sign of an outspreading in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.

Source: The Didache, Chapter 16
[AD 165] Justin Martyr on Matthew 24:30
But if so great a power is shown to have followed and to be still following the dispensation of His suffering, how great shall that be which shall follow His glorious advent! For He shall come on the clouds as the Son of man, so Daniel foretold, and His angels shall come with Him. These are the words: [...he quotes Daniel 7:9-28]

Source: Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 31
[AD 180] Hegesippus on Matthew 24:30
The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said: 'You just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.'

And he answered with a loud voice, 'Why do you ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sits in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.'

Source: Memoirs (Book V), as quoted in Church History (Book II), Chapter 23, Section 13
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:30
Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven; Matthew 24:30 that is, the cross being brighter than the sun, since this last will be darkened, and hide himself, and that will appear when it would not appear, unless it were far brighter than the beams of the sun. But wherefore does the sign appear? In order that the shamelessness of the Jews may be more abundantly silenced. For having the cross as the greatest plea, Christ thus comes to that judgment-seat, showing not His wounds only, but also the death of reproach. Then shall the tribes mourn, for there shall be no need of an accusation, when they see the cross; and they shall mourn, that by His death they are nothing benefited; because they crucified Him whom they ought to have adored.

Do you see how fearfully He has pictured His coming? How He has stirred up the spirits of His disciples? For this reason, let me add, He puts the mournful things first, and then the good things, that in this way also He may comfort and refresh them. And of His passion He suggests to them the remembrance, and of His resurrection, and with a display of glory, He mentions His cross, so that they may not be ashamed nor grieve, whereas indeed He comes then setting it forth for His sign. And another says, They shall look on Him whom they pierced. Therefore it is that they shall mourn, when they see that this is He.

And forasmuch as He had made mention of the cross, He added, They shall see the Son of Man coming, no longer on the cross, but in the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30

For think not, He means, because you hear of the cross, that it is again anything mournful, for He shall come with power and great glory. But He brings it, that their sin may be self-condemned, as if any one who had been struck by a stone, were to show the stone itself, or his garments stained with blood. And He comes in a cloud as He was taken up, and the tribes seeing these things mourn. Not however that the terrors shall with them proceed no further than mournings; but the mourning shall be, that they may bring forth their sentence from within, and condemn themselves.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:30
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.” The cross will be brighter than the sun. The sun will be darkened and hide itself. The sun will appear at times when it would not normally appear. But why is this sign given? In order that the brazenness of the Jews might be more abundantly silenced. For having the cross as the greatest plea, the Son of man thus comes to that judgment seat, showing not only his wounds but also the reproach of his death.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 76.3
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:30
(Verse 30) And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. Let us understand this sign, either as the cross, so that the Jews may see the one they crucified (according to Zechariah (Zech. XII) and John (John XIX)); or as the banner of triumphant victory.

And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Those who did not have citizenship in heaven will mourn, but they are written in the earth.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:30
The Cross will then be seen in heaven shining more brightly than the sun as a reproof to the Jews, for when the Lord comes He will display the Cross as the strongest evidence against the Jews, like one who shows the stone with which he was struck. He calls the Cross a sign, as a trophy and royal ensign. Then all the tribes of the land of Judea will mourn and bewail their own unbelief, and all those who care for earthly things will mourn, though they be Christians. For those who are attached to earthly things might also be called "the tribes of the earth." Although the Lord comes accompanied by the Cross, He also comes "with power and great glory."
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:31
Or He comes every day with great power to the mind of the believer in the clouds of prophecy, that is, in the Scriptures of the Prophets and the Apostles, who utter the word of God with a meaning above human nature. Also we say that to those who understand He comes with great glory, and that this is the more seen in the second coming of the Word which is to the perfect. 1And so it may be, that all which the three Evangelists have said concerning Christ's coming, if carefully compared together and thoroughly examined, would be found to apply to His continual daily coming in His body, which is the Church, of which coming He said in another place, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven, (Mat. 26:6.) excepting those places in which He promises that His last coming in His own person.

Because He had spoken of mourning, which shall be only that they may bear witness against themselves and condemn themselves, that none should suppose that that mourning will end their woes, He now adds, And he shall send his Angels with a trump and a loud voice.

It is written in Numbers (Numb. 10:3.), that the Priests shall summon by the sound of the trumpet from the four winds those who are of the camp of Israel, and it is in allusion to this that Christ speaks here of the Angels, And they shall gather together the elect from the four winds.

Some of little discernment think, that only those who shall then be found in the body shall be gathered together, but it is better to say that the Angels of Christ shall then gather together not only all who from the coming of Christ to the end of the world have been called and chosen, but all from the foundation of the world, who like Abraham have seen the day of Christ and rejoiced therein. (John 8:56.) And that He here means not only those that shall be found in the body, but those also who have quitted the body, the following words show, from one end of heaven to the other, which cannot be meant of any one upon earth. Or, the heavens are the divine Scriptures and their authors1 in which God dwells. One end of heaven is the beginning of the Scriptures, the other end is their conclusion. The saints there are gathered together from one end of heaven, that is, from those that live in the beginning of the Scriptures to those who live in the ends of them. They shall be gathered together with a trump and a loud voice, that they who hear and attend may prepare themselves for that way of perfection which leads to the Son of God.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:31
You will understand why the saints are gathered “from the heights of the earth” if you consider the conduct of their lives and the perfection, insofar as possible, of their dealings with others. All who lived uprightly will be gathered not simply from the earth but “from the heights of the earth.” After their earthly lives have ended, their conduct in the next life will raise them not simply from the highest point in heaven, as it was from the highest level of earth, but from the “heights of the heavens” because each and every heaven has both a beginning and a conclusion or perfection. After their exemplary lives on earth, the saints’ conduct in the first heaven, once they have attained its perfection or conclusion, will elevate them still further. The same is true for the second heaven and the third heaven. It seems to me therefore that there are many heavens, each with its own initiation and perfection. It is from the beginnings and ends of these diverse heavens that God gathers his elect.“From the heights of the heavens to their ends.” It is also possible that the heavens here represent either the divine Scriptures or their authors, in both of which God dwells. In that case, the heights of the Scripture is its beginning, and the perfection of Scripture is its conclusion. To say that the saints will be gathered from “the heights of the heavens” means that they will be found from among those who live in the beginning of Scripture to those who live at its conclusion, or, if I may speak more profoundly, from the unskilled to the experts.
The angels who will be sent by the Savior to gather his elect will gather them not just with any ordinary voice but with what Scripture calls a “great trumpet.” It won’t be an uncertain voice but one that is definite and clear so that all who hear and learn will be established on the way of perfection which leads to the Son of God.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 51
[AD 382] Apollinaris of Laodicea on Matthew 24:31
By saying that the Son of man will send his angels, he demonstrates that the Son of man is God. For they are God’s angels, and to send them is solely God’s prerogative. The saying “from one end of the heavens to the other” teaches us that the extremes of earth and heaven are the same. Hence it is necessary to believe in Christ and not to be deceived as though the smallest part of earth, situated in the midst of the heavens, was surpassed by their infinite greatness.

Source: FRAGMENT 127
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:31
The sound of the trump refers to the resurrection, and the rejoicing, and to represent the astonishment which shall be then, and the woe of those that shall be left, and shall not be snatched up into the clouds.

That the Lord calls His elect by His Angels pertains to the honour of the elect; and Paul also says that they shall be caught into the clouds; (1 Thes. 4:17.) that is, the Angels shall gather together those that have risen, and when they are gathered together, the clouds shall receive them.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:31
But when you have heard of this, consider the punishment of them that remain. For neither shall they suffer that former penalty only, but this too. And as above He said, that they should say, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord, Matthew 22:39 so here, that they shall mourn. For since He had spoken unto them of grievous wars, that they might learn, that together with the fearful things here, the torments there also await them, He brings them in mourning and separated from the elect, and consigned to hell; by this again rousing the disciples, and indicating from how many evils they should be delivered, and how many good things they shall enjoy.

And why now does He call them by angels, if He comes thus openly? To honor them in this way also. But Paul says, that they shall be caught up in clouds. And He said this also, when He was speaking concerning a resurrection. For 1 Thessalonians 4:16 the Lord Himself, it is said, shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel. So that when risen again, the angels shall gather them together, when gathered together the clouds shall catch them up; and all these things are done in a moment, in an instant. For it is not that He abiding above calls them, but He Himself comes with the sound of a trumpet. And what mean the trumpets and the sound? They are for arousing, for gladness, to set forth the amazing nature of the things then doing, for grief to them that are left.

Woe is me for that fearful day! For though we ought to rejoice when we hear these things, we feel pain, and are dejected, and our countenance is sad. Or is it I only that feel thus, and do ye rejoice at hearing of these things? For upon me at least there comes a kind of shudder when these things are said, and I lament bitterly, and groan from the very depth of my heart. For I have no part in these things, but in those that are spoken afterwards, that are said unto the virgins, unto him that buried the talents he had received, unto the wicked servant. For this cause I weep, to think from what glory we are to be cast out, from what hope of blessings, and this perpetually, and forever, to spare ourselves a little labor. For if indeed this were a great toil, and a grievous law, we ought even so to do all things; nevertheless many of the remiss would seem to have at least some pretext, a poor pretext indeed, yet would they seem to have some, that the toil was great, and the time endless, and the burden intolerable; but now we can put forward no such objection; which circumstance most of all will gnaw us no less than hell at that time, when for want of a slight endeavor, and a little toil, we shall have lost Heaven, and the unspeakable blessings. For both the time is short, and the labor small, and yet we faint and are supine. Thou strivest on earth, and the crown is in Heaven; you are punished of men, and art honored of God; the race is for two days, and the reward for endless ages; the struggle is a corruptible body, and the rewards in an incorruptible.

And apart from these things, we should consider another point also, that even if we do not choose to suffer any of the things that are painful for Christ's sake, we must in other ways most assuredly endure them. For neither, though you should not have died for Christ, will you be immortal; neither though you should not have cast away your riches for Christ, will you go away hence with them. These things He requires of you, which although He should not require them, you will have to give up, because you are mortal; He wills you to do these by your choice, which you must do by necessity. So much only He requires to be added, that it be done for His sake; since that these things befall men and pass away, comes to pass of natural necessity. Do you see how easy the conflict? What it is altogether necessary for you to suffer, that choose to suffer for my sake; let this only be added, and I have sufficient obedience. The gold which you intend to lend to another, this lend to me, both at more profit, and in greater security. Your body, wherewith you are going to warfare for another, make it to war for me, for indeed I surpass your toils with recompenses in the most abundant excess. Yet thou in all other matters preferrest him that gives you more as well in loans, as in marketing and in warfare; but Christ alone, when giving more, and infinitely more than all, thou dost not receive. And what is this so great hostility? What is this so great enmity? Where will there be any excuse or defense left for you, when the reasons for which you prefer man to man avail not to induce you to prefer God to man?

Why do you commit your treasure to the earth? Give it into my hand, He says. Does not the earth's Lord seem to you more worthy of trust than the earth? This indeed restores that which you laid in it, though oftentimes not even this, but He gives you also recompense for His keeping of it? For indeed He does exceedingly love us. Therefore if you should wish to lend, He stands ready; or to sow, He receives it; or if you should wish to build, He draws you unto Himself, saying, Build in my regions. Why do you run unto poor, unto beggarly men, who also for little gains occasion you great trouble? Nevertheless, not even on hearing these things, do we make up our minds to it, but where are fightings and wars, and wild struggles, and trials and suits of law, and false accusations, there do we hasten.

Does He not justly turn away from us, and punish us, when He is giving up Himself unto us for all things, and we are resisting Him? It is surely plain to all. For whether you are desirous to adorn yourself, Let it, He says, be with my ornaments; or to arm yourself, with my arms, or to clothe yourself, with my raiment; or to feed yourself, at my table; or to journey, on my way; or to inherit, my inheritance; or to enter into a country, the city of which I am builder and maker; or to build a house, among my tabernacles. For I, so far from asking you for a recompense of the things that I give you, to even make myself owe you a recompense for this very thing, if you be willing to use all I have. What can be equal to this munificence, I am Father, I am brother, I am bridegroom, I am dwelling place, I am food, I am raiment, I am root, I am foundation, all whatsoever you will, I am. Be thou in need of nothing, I will be even a servant, for I came to minister, not to be ministered unto; I am friend, and member, and head, and brother, and sister, and mother; I am all; only cling thou closely to me. I was poor for you, and a wanderer for you, on the cross for you, in the tomb for you, above I intercede for you to the Father; on earth I have come for your sake am ambassador from my Father. You are all things to me, brother, and joint heir, and friend, and member. What would you more? Why do you turn away from Him, who loves you? Why do you labor for the world? Why do you draw water into a broken cistern? For it is this to labor for the present life. Why do you comb wool into the fire? Why do you beat the air? 1 Corinthians 9:26 Why do you run in vain? Galatians 2:2

Hath not every art an end? It is surely plain to every one. Do thou also show the end of your worldly eagerness. But you can not; for, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2 Let us go to the tombs; show me your father; show me your wife. Where is he that was clad in raiment of gold? He that rode in the chariot? He that had armies, that had the girdle, that had the heralds? He that was slaying these, and casting those into prison? He that put to death whom he would, and set free whom he was minded? I see nothing but bones, and a worm, and a spider's web; all those things are earth, all those a fable, all a dream, and a shadow, and a bare relation, and a picture, or rather not so much as a picture. For the picture we see at least in a likeness, but here not so much as a likeness.

And would that the evils stop with this. For now the honor, and the luxury, and the distinction, end with a shadow, with words; but the consequences of them, are no longer limited to a shadow and to words, but continue, and will pass over with us elsewhere, and will be manifest to all, the rapine, the covetousness, the fornications, the adulteries, the dreadful things beyond number; these not in similitude, neither in ashes, but written above, both words and deeds.

With what eyes then shall we behold Christ? For if any one could not bear to see his father, when conscious to himself that he had sinned against him, upon Him who infinitely exceeds a father in forbearance how shall we then look? How shall we bear it? For indeed we shall stand at Christ's judgment-seat, and there will be a strict inquiry into all things.

But if any man disbelieve the judgments to come, let him look at the things here, at those in the prisons, those in the mines, those on the dunghills, the possessed, the frantic, them that are struggling with incurable diseases, those that are fighting against continual poverty, them that live in famine, them that are pierced with irremediable woes, those in captivity. For these persons would not suffer these things here, unless vengeance and punishments were to await all the others also that have committed such sins. And if the rest have undergone nothing here, you ought to regard this very fact as a sign that there is surely something to follow after our departure here. For the self-same God of all would not take vengeance on some, and leave others unpunished, who have committed the same or more grievous offenses, unless He designed to bring some punishments upon them there.

By these arguments then and these examples let us also humble ourselves; and let them who are obstinate unbelievers of the judgment believe it henceforth, and become better men; that having lived here in a manner worthy of the kingdom, we may attain unto the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:31
(Ver. 31.) And He will send His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice; and they will gather His chosen ones from the four winds, from the highest heavens to their ends. The Apostle speaks of this trumpet in I Corinthians XV; I Thessalonians IV: and we read in the Apocalypse of John (Apocalypse VIII): and in the Old Testament (Numbers X), we are instructed to make trumpets of gold, silver, and bronze, so that the lofty mysteries of doctrine may resound.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:31
Here we are not to think of a real trumpet, but of the voice of the archangel, which shall be so loud that at its sound all the dead shall rise out of the dust of the earth.

That is, from the four quarters of the world, north, south, east, and west.

Or otherwise; Lest any one should suppose that they should be gathered only from the four quarters of the world, and not from the middle regions, The adds this, And from one end of heaven to the other. By the heights of heaven meaning the central regions of the earth, which are under the heights of heaven; and by the ends of heaven, meaning the extreme parts of the earth, where the land seems to join a very wide and distant horizon.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:31
He will send the angels to gather together the saints and those risen from the dead, so that they can meet Him in the clouds. He also honors them by calling them with angels. And if Paul says that they will be caught up in the clouds (1Thess. 4:17), this is not contradictory. For when they have been gathered together by the angels, the clouds will snatch them up. There will be the trumpet, to cause the greater consternation.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:32-35
As the fig has its vital powers torpid within it through the season of winter, but when that is past its branches become tender by those very powers and put forth leaves; so the world and all those who are saved had before Christ's coming their vital energies dormant within them as in a season of winter. Christ's Spirit breathing upon them makes the branches of their hearts soft and tender, and that which was dormant within burgeons into leaf, and makes show of fruit. To such the summer and the coming of the glory of the Word of God is nigh at hand.

The uninstructed refer the words to the destruction of Jerusalem, and suppose them to have been said of that generation which saw Christ's death, that it should not pass away before the city should be destroyed. But I doubt that they would succeed in thus expounding every word from that, one stone shall not be left upon another, to that, it is even at the door; in some perhaps they would succeed, in others not altogether.

Yet shall the generation of the Church survive the whole of this world, that it may inherit the world to come, yet it shall not pass away until all these things have come to pass. But when all these shall have been fulfilled, then not the earth only but the heavens also shall pass away; that is, not only the men whose life is earthy, and who are therefore called the earth, but also they whose conversation is in heaven, and who are therefore called the heaven; these shall pass away to things to come, that they may come to better things. But the words spoken by the Saviour shall not pass away, because they effect and shall ever effect their purpose; but the perfect and they that admit no further improvement, passing through what they are, come to that which they are not; and this is that, My words shall not pass away. And perhaps the words of Moses and the Prophets have passed away, because all that they prophesied has been fulfilled; but the words of Christ are always complete, daily fulfilling and to be fulfilled in the saints. Or perhaps we ought not to say that the words of Moses and the Prophets are once for all fulfilled; seeing they also are the words of the Son of God, and are fulfilled continually.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:32-35
Mystically; The Synagogue is likened to the fig treeg; its branch is Antichrist, the son of the Devil, the portion of sin, the maintainer of the law; when this shall begin to swell and to put forth leaves, then summer is nigh, i. e. the approach of the day of judgment shall be perceived.

To give sure credit to the things which should come to pass He adds, Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled. By saying Verily, He gives asseveration to the truth.

For heaven and earth have in their constitution no necessity of existence, but Christ's words derived from eternity have in them such virtue that they must needs abide.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:32
The parable of the fig tree is offered as a lesson in recognizing the signs of the times. When its branches become tender and green we know that summer is near. Both this fig tree and this summer are very different from those found in nature, however. In nature there is a considerable interval between the onset of summer and the greening of a tree’s branches, which begin to grow tender early in the spring. Consequently this parable cannot be about the tree. Indeed, we have already dealt above with the particular meaning of the tree. We saw that Adam had covered himself with its leaves to hide his shameful conscience, which is to say that he was bound under the law as though clothed in sin. The fig tree’s branch therefore represents the antichrist, who is a son of the devil, a partaker of sin and protector of the law. When it begins to grow tender and green, then the summer, which here represents the day of judgment, is near. The greening of the tree then refers to the rise of sinners, a time that will be marked by the flowering of slanderers and the popularity of criminals and favor for blasphemers. This signals that summer, the heat of eternal fire, is near.

Source: Commentary on Matthew 26.2
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:32-35
That the Lord calls His elect by His Angels pertains to the honour of the elect; and Paul also says that they shall be caught into the clouds; (1 Thes. 4:17.) that is, the Angels shall gather together those that have risen, and when they are gathered together, the clouds shall receive them.

(Hom. 77.) Because He had said that these things should come to pass immediately after the tribulation of those days, they might ask, How long time hence? He therefore gives them an instance in the fig

He shows that the interval of time shall not be great, but that the coming of Christ will be presently. By the comparison of the tree He signifies the spiritual summer and peace that the just shall enjoy after their winter, while sinners on the other hand shall have a winter after summer.

This analogy also adds credit to His foregoing discourse; for wherever He speaks of what must by all means come to pass, Christ ever brings forward parallel physical laws.

All these things therefore mean what was said of the end of Jerusalem, of the false prophets, and the false Christs, and all the rest which shall happen down to the time of Christ's coming. That He said, This generation, He meant not of the men then living, but of the generation of the faithful; for so Scripture uses to speak of generations, not of time only, but of place, life, and conversation; as it is said, This is the generation of them that seek the Lord. (Ps. 24:6.) Herein He teaches that Jerusalem shall perish, and the greater part of the Jews be destroyed, but that no trial shall overthrow the generation of the faithful.

He brings forward the elements of the earth to show that the Church is of more value than either heaven or earth, and that He is Maker of all things.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:32
Forasmuch as He had said, Immediately after the tribulation of those days; but they sought of this, after how long a time it should be, and desired to know in particular the very day, therefore He puts also the similitude of the fig tree, indicating that the interval was not great, but that in quick succession would occur His advent also. And this He declared not by the parable alone, but by the words that follow, saying, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Whereby He foretells another thing also, a spiritual summer, and a calm that should be on that day (after the present tempest) for the righteous; but to the sinners the contrary, winter after summer, which He declares in what follows, saying, that the day shall come upon them, when they are living in luxury.

But not for this intent only did He put forward this about the fig tree, in order to declare the interval; for it was possible to have set this before them in other ways as well; but that he might hereby also confirm His saying, as assuredly thus to come to pass. For as this of the fig tree is of necessity, so that too. For thus, wherever He is minded to speak of that which will assuredly come to pass, He brings forward the necessary courses of nature, both Himself, and the blessed Paul imitating Him. Therefore also when speaking of His resurrection, He says, When the grain of wheat has fallen into the earth, except it die, it abides alone; but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. John 12:24 Whereby also the blessed Paul being instructed uses the same similitude, You fool, he says, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die. 1 Corinthians 15:36

After this, that they might not straightway return to it again, and say, When? he brings to their remembrance the things that had been said, saying, Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled! All these things. What things? I pray you. Those about Jerusalem, those about the wars, about the famines, about the pestilences, about the earthquakes, about the false Christs, about the false prophets, about the sowing of the gospel everywhere, the seditions, the tumults, all the other things, which we said were to occur until His coming. How then, one may ask, did He say, This generation? Speaking not of the generation then living, but of that of the believers. For He is wont to distinguish a generation not by times only, but also by the mode of religious service, and practice; as when He says, This is the generation of them that seek the Lord.

For what He said above, All these must come to pass, Matthew 24:6 and again, the gospel shall be preached, Matthew 24:14 this He declares here also, saying, All these things shall surely come to pass, and the generation of the faithful shall remain, cut off by none of the things that have been mentioned. For both Jerusalem shall perish, and the more part of the Jews shall be destroyed, but over this generation shall nothing prevail, not famine, not pestilence, not earthquake, nor the tumults of wars, not false Christs, not false prophets, not deceivers, not traitors, not those that cause to offend, not the false brethren, nor any other such like temptation whatever.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:32
The time is “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” After how long a time would it be? They desired to know in particular the very day. So he puts forth the analogy of the fig tree. He indicates that the interval was not great but that in quick succession these things would occur at his advent. He declared this not by the parable of the fig tree alone but by the words that follow. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” He foretells a spiritual summer, a calm for the righteous that would come on that day, after the storm. But to sinners, on the contrary, there would be winter after summer, which he declares in what follows, saying that the day shall come upon them when they are living in luxury. For these two purposes he spoke about the fig tree: in order to declare the short interval and to underscore that these things assuredly will come to pass. It was possible for him to have demonstrated this in other ways, but he chose the fig tree as an example of a necessary series of things occurring in sequence.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.1
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:32-35
As much as to say, When the tender shoots first show themselves in the stem of the fig tree, and the bud bursts into flower, and the bark puts forth leaves, ye perceive the approach of summer and the season of spring and growth; so when ye shall see all these things that are written, do not suppose that the end of the world is immediate, but that certain monitory signs and precursors are showing its approach.

Or, by generation here He means the whole human race, and the Jews in particular. And He adds, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away, to confirm their faith in what has gone before; as though He had said, it is easier to destroy things solid and immovable, than that aught should fail of my words.

The heaven and the earth shall pass away by a change, not by annihilation; for how should the sun be darkened, and the moon not give her light, if earth and heaven in which these are should be no more?

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:32-33
(Verse 32, 33.) But learn a parable from the fig tree: when its branch is already tender and the leaves have sprouted, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors. Under the example of the tree, he taught the coming of the consummation. How, he says, when the twigs of the fig tree become tender and a bud comes forth into a flower, and the bark brings forth leaves, you understand the coming of summer, and the entrance of the west winds and spring: so when you see all these things that have been written, do not think that the consummation of the world is already here, but rather like some preludes and forerunners coming, to show that it is near and at the doors.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:32-35
(Ep. 199, 22.) That now from the Evangelic and Prophetic signs that we see come to pass, we ought to look that the Lord's coming should be nigh, who is there that denies? For daily it draws ever more and more near, but of the exact time it is said, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons. (Acts 1:7.) See how long ago the Apostle said, Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Rom. 13:11.) What he spoke was not false, and yet how many years have elapsed, how much more may we not say that the Lord's coming is at hand now, that so great an accession of time has been made?

(Quæst. Ev. i. 39.) Or, by the fig tree understand the human race, by reason of the temptations of the flesh. When its branch is fender, i. e. when the sons of men through faith in Christ have progressed towards spiritual fruits, and the honour of their adoption to be the sons of God has shone forth in them.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:32-35
Or, when this fig shall again bud, that is, when the synagogue shall receive the word of holy preaching, as the preaching of Enoch and Elias, then we ought to understand that the day of the consummation is at hand.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:32-35
The heaven which shall pass away is not the1 starry but the2 atmospheric heaven which of old was destroyed by the deluge.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:33
"So likewise ye," (He adds), "when ye shall see all these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of heaven is nigh at hand." "Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things, and to stand before the Son of man; " that is, no doubt, at the resurrection, after all these things have been previously transacted.

Source: On the Resurrection of the Flesh
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:33
The fig tree may be understood to represent the people of the circumcision. The Lord came to them when he was hungry and, “finding no fruit there” but the appearance of life only, said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” At his coming therefore this fig tree, the people of the circumcision, “withered immediately.” But the other fig tree, the one which until that time had been barren and was about to be cut down because no one had ever applied himself diligently to its cultivation, began to bear fruit when fertilizer was spread around it. What was formerly a blight upon the earth will now produce fruit in such abundance sufficient even for the entire time in which it was barren.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 53
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:33
When all these things occur, He says, the time is not far off from the end and My coming. "Summer" means the age to come and serenity after the winter storm, but only for the righteous; for sinners, it is instead storm and tumult. For when you see, He says, the branches and leaves of the fig tree, you expect summer; so too, when you see those signs of which I spoke, the sun and the moon being altered, expect My coming.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:34
“Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place.” All these things. What things? Those about Jerusalem, those about the wars, about the famines, about the pestilences, about the earthquakes, about the false Christs, about the false prophets, about the sowing of the gospel everywhere, the seditions, the tumults, and all the other things which we said were to occur until his coming. What does he refer to when he says “this generation”? He is speaking not of the generation then living but of the age of believers. For he is prone to distinguish a generation not by times only but also by the mode of their religious service and practice, as when he says, “Such is the generation of those that seek him.” He said “all these things will take place,” and yet “the gospel will be preached.” These two are not inconsistent. The generation of the faithful shall remain through all things that will surely come to pass. The faithful will not be cut off by any of the things that have been mentioned. For both Jerusalem shall be destroyed and a large part of the Jews shall be decimated, but over this generation—the faithful—shall nothing prevail, not famine, not pestilence, not earthquake, not the tumults of wars, not false Christs, not false prophets, not deceivers, not traitors, not those that cause to offend, not the false brothers, nor any other such temptation whatever.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.1
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:34
(Verse 34) Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen. Above, we mentioned the generations of the righteous and, on the contrary, the wicked being separate. Therefore, it either signifies all types of people or specifically the Jews.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 1963] CS Lewis on Matthew 24:34-36
But there is worse to come. Say what you like, we shall be told. The apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the second coming in their own lifetime, and, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion.

He said, in so many words, ‘This generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else. It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible. Yet how teasing, also, that within fourteen words of it should come the statement, ‘But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’ The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side.

That they stood thus in the mouth of Jesus Himself, and were not merely placed thus by the reporter, we surely need not doubt. Unless the reporter were perfectly honest, he would never have recorded the confession of ignorance at all. He could have had no motive for doing so except a desire to tell the whole truth. And unless later copyists were equally honest, they would never have preserved the apparently mistaken prediction about this generation after the passage of time had shown the apparent mistake.

This passage, Mark chapter 13, verses 30-32, and the cry, ‘Why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ Mark chapter 15, verse 34, together make up the strongest proof that the New Testament is historically reliable. The evangelists have the first great characteristic of honest witnesses. They mention facts which are, at first sight, damaging to their main contention.

The facts then are these, that Jesus professed Himself in some sense ignorant, and within a moment showed that He really was so. To believe in the Incarnation, to believe that He is God, makes it hard to understand how He could be ignorant, but also makes it certain that if He said He could be ignorant, then ignorant He could really be. For a God who can be ignorant is less baffling than a God who falsely professes ignorance.

The answer of theologians is that the God-Man was omniscient as God and ignorant as man. This, no doubt, is true, though it cannot be imagined. Nor, indeed, can the unconsciousness of Christ in sleep be imagined, nor the twilight of reason in His infancy. Still less is merely organic life in His mother’s womb.

But the physical sciences, no less than theology, propose for our belief much that cannot be imagined. A generation which has accepted the curvature of space need not boggle at the impossibility of imagining the consciousness of incarnate God. In that consciousness the temporal and the timeless were united. I think we can acquiesce in mystery at that point, provided we do not aggravate it by our tendency to picture the timeless life of God as simply another sort of time.

We are committing that blunder whenever we ask how Christ could be, at the same moment, ignorant and omniscient, or how He could be the God who neither slumbers nor sleeps while He slept. The italicized words conceal an attempt to establish a temporal relation between His timeless life as God and the days, months, and years of His life as man. And, of course, there is no such relation.

The incarnation is not an episode in the life of God. The Lamb is slain, and therefore presumably born, grown to maturity, and risen from all eternity. The taking up into God’s nature of humanity, with all its ignorance and limitations, is not itself a temporal event, though the humanity which is so taken up was, like our own, a thing living and dying in time.

And if limitation, and therefore ignorance, was thus taken up, we ought to expect that the ignorance should, at some time, be actually displayed. It would be difficult and, to me, repellent, to suppose that Jesus never asked a genuine question, that is, a question to which He did not know the answer. That would make of His humanity something so unlike ours as scarcely to deserve the name.

I find it easier to believe that when He said, ‘Who touched Me?’ Luke chapter 8, verse 45, He really wanted to know.

Source: The World's Last Night (Essay)
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:35
For "the very heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll; '" nay, it shall come to nothing along with the earth itself, with which it was made in the beginning. "Heaven and earth shall pass away," says He.

Source: Against Hermogenes
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:35
Hom. lxxvii: Because He had said that these things should come to pass "immediately after the tribulation of those days,” they might ask, How longtime hence, He therefore gives them an instance in the fig.
He shows that the interval of time shall not be great, but that the coming of Christ will be presently. By the comparison of the tree He signifies the spiritual summer and peace that the just shall enjoy after their winter, while sinners on the other hand shall have a winter after summer.
This analogy also adds credit to His foregoing discourse; for wherever He speaks of what must by all means come to pass, Christ ever brings forward parallel physical laws.
All these things therefore mean what was said of the end of Jerusalem, of the false prophets, and the false Christs, and all the rest which shall happen downto the time of Christ’s coming, That He said, “This generation,” He meant not of the men then living, but of the generation of the faithful; for so Scripture uses to speak of generations, not of time only, but of place, life, and conversation; as it is said, “This, is the generation of them that seek the Lord.” Herein He teaches that Jerusalem shall perish, and the greater part of the Jews be destroyed, but that no trial shall overthrow the generation of the faithful.
He brings forward the elements of the earth to show that the Church is of more value than either heaven or earth, and that He is Maker of all things.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:35
Then to lead them on more in faith, He says, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away; Matthew 24:35 that is, it were more easy for these firm, fixed, and immoveable bodies to be blotted out, than for ought of my words to fall to the ground. And he who gainsays these things, let him test His sayings, and when he has found them true (for so he surely will find them) from what is past, let him believe also the things to come, and let him search out all things with diligence, and he will see the actual events bearing witness to the truth of the prophecy. And the elements He has brought forward, at once to declare, that the church is of more honor than Heaven and earth, and at the same time to indicate Himself by this also to be maker of all. For since He was speaking of the end, a thing disbelieved by many, He brought forward Heaven and earth, indicating His unspeakable power, and showing with great authority, that He is Lord of all, and by these things rendering His sayings deserving of credit, even with those who are much given to doubt.
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:35
(Verse 35.) Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away by change, not by their destruction: otherwise, how will the sun be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall, if the heaven in which these things are, and the earth, do not exist?

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:35
The heaven which shall pass away is not the starry heaven which of old was destroyed by the deluge.
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:35
. "Generation" here means, not that which was then, but the generation of all believers. It is as if He were saying, "The generation of believers shall not pass away till all these things have occurred.’’ But when you hear of famines and plagues, do not understand that the generation of believers shall perish from these evil things, but it will remain, and no terrible thing will prevail over it. Some have understood "all these things" to refer only to the captivity of Jerusalem, and not to the second coming as well, and so they have interpreted it as follows: "This generation shall not pass away," that is, the generation of you apostles shall see the calamities that will befall Jerusalem. Confirming what has been said, He says that it would be easier for heaven and earth, those fixed and immoveable elements, to be destroyed than for My words to be proven false.
[AD 220] Tertullian on Matthew 24:36
He also introduces a parable of the mission to the vineyard of the Son (not the Father), who was sent after so many servants, and slain by the husbandmen, and avenged by the Father. He is also ignorant of the last day and hour, which is known to the Father only. He awards the kingdom to His disciples, as He says it had been appointed to Himself by the Father.

Source: Against Praxeas
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:36
As long as the church, Christ’s body, does not know that day and hour, the Son himself is said not to know it in order that he may be understood to learn of that day and hour only when all of his members do. But “to know” is given its own special meaning here (as is customary with sacred Scripture), for only he who remains to meet its arrival will know that day and hour.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 55
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:36-41
Otherwise; So long as the Church which is Christ's body knows not that day and hour, so long the Son Himself is said not to know that day and hour. The word know is used according to its proper usual meaning in Scripture. The Apostle speaks of Christ, as him who knew no sin, (2 Cor. 5:21.) i. e. sinned not. The knowledge of that day and hour the Son reserves in store for the fellow-heirs of the promise, that all may know at once, i. e. in the day when it shall come upon them, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Cor. 2:9.)

Or otherwise; The body is laid as sick on the bed of carnal passions, the soul grinds in the mill of this world, and the bodily senses labour in the field of the world.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:36
When Christ taught us that no one knows the day on which the end of time will come, not the angels and not even himself, he removed from us any need to be concerned about its date. O immeasurable mercy of divine goodness! Since the Son said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father,” we know that the Father did not deny him the knowledge of this day. If anything was denied him, he could not have said that all things were delivered to him. But because the Son has handed on to us everything the Father gave him and the Word of God does not contain in himself as much assurance of the future as of things already accomplished, therefore it was established by God that the date of the end should be indefinite. Thus he could allow us an abundant amount of time for repentance yet still keep us solicitous for fear of the uncertain and so as to avoid giving anyone the idea of a particular day by expressing his will. For just as at the time of the flood, in the normal course of our life, in our activities and in our sufferings, that great day will suddenly appear.

Source: Commentary on Matthew 26.4
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:36-41
And has indeed God the Father denied the knowledge of that day to the Son, when He has declared, All things are committed to me of my Father? (Luke 10:22.) but if any thing has been denied, all things are not committed to Him.

Or, the two in the field, are the two people of believers and unbelievers, whom the day of the Lord shall overtake, as it were in the labours of this life. And they shall be separated, one being taken and the other left; this shows the separation that shall be between believers and unbelievers; when God's wrath is kindled, the saints shall be gathered into His garner, and the unbelievers shall be left as fuel for the fire from heaven. The same is the account to be given of that, Two shall be grinding at the mill. The mill is the work of the Law, but as some of the Jews believed through the Apostles, so some shall believe through Elias, and be justified through faith; and one part shall be taken through this same faith of good works, the other part shall be left unfruitful in the work of the Law, grinding in vain, and never to produce the bread of heavenly food.

The two in one bed are those who preach alike the Lord's rest after His passion, about which heretics and catholics have the same confession; but because the Catholic Faith preaches the unity of the Godhead of the Father and the Son, and the false creed of the heretics impugns that, therefore shall the Divine judgment decide between the confession of these two by taking one and leaving the other.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:36
By saying, not the angels, He stopped their mouths, that they should not seek to learn what these angels know not; and by saying, neither the Son, forbids them not only to learn, but even to inquire. For in proof that therefore He said this, see after His resurrection, when He saw they had become over curious, how He stopped their mouths more decidedly. For now indeed He has mentioned infallible signs, many and endless; but then He says merely, It is not for you to know times or seasons. And then that they might not say, we are driven to perplexity, we are utterly scorned, we are not held worthy so much as of this, He says, which the Father has put in His own power. And this, because He was exceedingly careful to honor them, and to conceal nothing from them. Therefore He refers it to His Father, both to make the thing awful, and to exclude that of which He had spoken from their inquiry. Since if it be not this, but He is ignorant of it, when will He know it? Will it be together with us? But who would say this? And the Father He knows clearly, even as clearly as He knows the Son; and of the day is He ignorant? Moreover, the Spirit indeed searches even the deep things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:10 and does not He know so much as the time of the judgment? But how He ought to judge He knows, and of the secrets of each He has a full perception; and what is far more common than that, of this could He be ignorant? And how, if all things were made by Him, and without Him was not even one thing made, was He ignorant of the day? For He who made the worlds, it is quite plain that He made the times also; and if the times, even that day. How then is He ignorant of that which He made?

And ye indeed say that you know even His substance, but that the Son not even the day, the Son, who is always in the bosom of the Father; and yet His substance is much greater than the days, even infinitely greater. How then, while assigning to yourselves the greater things, do you not allow even the less to the Son, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:3 But neither do you know what God is in His substance, though ten thousand times ye talk thus madly, neither is the Son ignorant of the day, but is even in full certainty thereof.

For this cause, I say, when He had told all things, both the times and the seasons, and had brought it to the very doors (for it is near, He says, even at the doors), He was silent as to the day. For if you seek after the day and hour, you shall not hear them of me, says He; but if of times and preludes, without hiding anything, I will tell you all exactly.

For that indeed I am not ignorant of it, I have shown by many things; having mentioned intervals, and all the things that are to occur, and how short from this present time until the day itself (for this did the parable of the fig tree indicate), and I lead you to the very vestibule; and if I do not open unto you the doors, this also I do for your good.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:36
He spoke these things in order to show that he would return unexpectedly and suddenly and when many were living luxuriously. For Paul also says this: “When they shall speak of peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them.” To show just how unexpectedly he uses the metaphor “as travail comes upon a woman with child.”

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.2
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:36-41
He brings forward the elements of the earth to show that the Church is of more value than either heaven or earth, and that He is Maker of all things.

The Lord having described all the tokens that shall precede His coming, and brought His discourse to the very doors, yet would not name the day; Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels of heaven, but my Father only.

That you may perceive that it is not owing to ignorance that He is silent of the day and hour of the judgment, He brings forward another token, As it the as in we days of Noe, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. By this He means that He shall come sudden and unlooked for, and while men are taking their pleasure; of which Paul also speaks, When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them. (1 Thess. 5:3.)

Or, To such as are thoughtlessly disposed, it shall be a time of peace and enjoyment; as the Apostle said not, 'When there shall be peace,' but When they shall say, Peace and safety, showing their insensibility to be such as was theirs in the days of Noe, when the wicked, and not the good, indulged themselves, but their end was sorrow and tribulation. This shows also, that when Antichrist shall come, those who are wicked, and despair of their salvation, shall ran into illicit pleasures; therefore He chooses an instance suitable. For while the ark was building, Noe preached among them, foretelling the evils that should come; but those wicked giving no heed to him, wantoned as though no evil should ever come; so now, because many would not believe things future, He makes credible what He says from what has happened. Another token He gives to show how unexpectedly that day shall come, and that He is not ignorant of the day, Then two shall be in the field, one shall be taken and the other left. These words show that masters and servants, they that work, and they that work not, shall be taken or left alike.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:36
(Ver. 36.) But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, except the Father alone. In some Latin manuscripts, it is added, not even the Son: since in Greek and especially in the exemplars of Adamantius and Pierius, this is not found written, but because it is read in some, it seems worthy of discussion. Arius and Eunomius rejoice, as if the ignorance of the teacher is the glory of the disciples, and they say: One who knows and one who is ignorant cannot be equal. Against whom are these things to be said briefly: When Jesus has done all things, that is, the Word of God: For all things were made through him, and without him was made nothing (John 1:3), in all times, even the day of judgment: by what consequence can he ignore a part of which he knows the whole? This also must be said: What is greater, the knowledge of the Father, or of the judgment? If he knows the greater, how does he not know what is lesser? We have read the scripture. All that belongs to the Father has been handed over to me (Luke 10:22). If all that belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son, then how is it that the Son reserved the knowledge of one day for himself and did not want to share it with the Son? But we must also infer this: If he is ignorant of the last day of times, he is also ignorant of nearly the last, and, looking backward, of all. For it cannot happen that one who is ignorant of the first knows what the second is. Therefore, because we have proven that the Son does not ignore the day of the consummation of all things (God is added in some versions), a reason must be given why he is said to be ignorant. The Apostle writes about the Savior: In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). Therefore, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ, but they are hidden. Why are they hidden? After the resurrection, when questioned by the apostles, he answered more explicitly about the day: It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established in His own authority (Acts 1:7). When he says, 'It is not for you to know,' he shows that he himself knows, but it is not expedient for the apostles to know, so that they may always live uncertain about the coming of the Judge, as if every day were a different Judgment Day. Finally, the consistent sermon of the Gospel urges us to understand this same thing, saying that only the Father knows: in the Father he includes the Son. For every father, the name of the son is.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:36-41
In some Latin copies is added here, "neither the Son:" but in the Greek copies, and particularly those of Adamantius and Pierius, it is not foundh But because it is read in some, it seems to require our notice.

Whereat Arius and Eunomius rejoice greatly; for say they, He who knows and He who is ignorant cannot be both equal. Against these we answer shortly; Seeing that Jesus, that is, The Word of God, made all times, (for By him all things were made, and without him was not any thing made that was made,) (John 1:3.) and that the day of judgment must be in all time, by what reasoning can He who knows the whole be shown to be ignorant of a part? This we will further say; Which is the greater, the knowledge of the Father, or the knowledge of the judgment? If He knows the greater, how can He be ignorant of the less?

Having then shown that the Son of God cannot be ignorant of the day of the consummation, we must now show a cause why He should be said to be ignorant. When after the resurrection He is demanded concerning this day by the Apostles, He answers more openly; It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power. (Acts 1:7.) Wherein He shows that Himself knows, but that it was not expedient for the Apostles to know, that being in uncertainty of the coming of their Judge, they should live every day as though they were to be judged that day.

It is asked here, how it was said above, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, &c. when here only tokens of peace are spoken of as what shall be then? We must suppose, that after the wars and the other miseries which shall waste the human race, shall follow a short peace, offering rest and quiet to approve the faith of the believers.

Or, Two men in one field shall be found performing the same labour, sowing corn together, but not reaping the same fruit of their labour. The two grinding together we may understand either of the Synagogue and the Church, which seem to grind together in the Law, and to make of the same Scriptures meal of the commandments of God; or of other heresies, which out of both or one Testament, seem to grind meal of their own doctrines.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:36-41
(de Trin. i. 12.) When He says here, Knows not, He means,' makes others not to know;' i. e. He knew not then, so as to tell His disciples; as it was said to Abraham, Now I know that thou fearest God; (Gen. 22:19.) i. e. 'Now have I caused that thou shouldest know,' because by the temptation he came to know himself.

(Serm. 97. 1.) He says that the Father knoweth, implies that in the Father the Son also knows. For what can there be in time which was not made by the Word, seeing that time itself was made by the Word!

(Lib. 83 Quæst. q. 60.) That the Father alone knows maybe well understood in the above-mentioned manner of knowing, that He makes the Son to know; but the Son is said not to know, because he does not make men to know.

(Ep. 199, 16.) The Gospel then says, Of that day and hour knoweth no man; but you say, That neither the month nor the year of His coming can be known. This exactness of yours up to this point seems as if you meant that the year could not be known, but that the week or the decade of years might be known, as though it was possible to fix or assign it to some seven, ten, or a hundred, or some number of years more or less. If you allow that you cannot so limit it, you think with me.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:36-41
And Mark has the addition. (Mark 13:32.)

Or, these words denote three orders in the Church. The two men in the field (prædicatores.) denote the order of preachers, to whom is committed the field of the Church; by the two grinding at the mill, (conjugati.) the order of the married priests, who while with a divided heart they are called first to one side, then to the other, do, as it were, ever turn round a mill; by the two in one bed, (continentes.) the order of the continent, whose repose is signified by the bed. But in all these orders are good and bad, righteous and unrighteous, so that some shall be taken, and some left.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:36-41
I have read also in some one's book, that the Son here is not to be taken of the Only-begotten, but of the adopted, for that He would not have put the Angels before the Only-begotten Son, saying, Not the Angels of heaven, neither the Son.i

Marriage and meats in themselves are not here condemned, as the error of Marcion and Manichæus teaches; for in the one the continuation of the species, in the other that of life, depends; but what is reproved is an unrestrained use of things lawful.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:36
Here He teaches the disciples not to seek to know things that exceed human knowledge. By saying "not the angels," He restrains them from seeking to learn now that which even the angels do not know. By saying "My Father only," He also prevents them from seeking to learn thereafter. For if He had said, "I know, but I do not wish to tell you," they would have been grieved as though He had disdained them. But now by saying, "Not even the Son knows, but My Father only," He prevents them from asking. It is like a father who will often hold something in his hands and when his children ask for it and he does not want to give it, he hides it and says, "I do not have what you are asking for," and so the children stop crying for it. So too the Lord says, "Even I do not know, but My Father only," in order to put an end to the desire of the apostles to know the day and the hour. That He Himself does know that day and hour is clear from many other things. All that the Father has, belongs to the Son. As the Father has knowledge of the hour, so the Son surely has the same knowledge. It is even more clear from this: how is it possible for the Son to be ignorant of the day, when He knows the things that precede the day, that is, the signs that He has just foretold? For he who has lead another into the vestibule surely knows where the door is as well. But it was for their good that Christ did not open it. For it is never to our benefit to know the time of the end, lest we become lazy. Not knowing, we remain alert.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:37
And that you may learn by another thing also, that the silence is not a mark of ignorance on His part, see, together with what we have mentioned, how He sets forth another sign also.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:37
What then is meant by “after the tribulation of those days”? If there is to be luxury at that time, and peace and safety, as Paul indicates, how then can he say, “after the tribulation of those days”? If there is luxury, how is there also tribulation? The luxury is spoken of those who are in a state of insensibility and peace. He does not say that there will be peace but rather “when they speak of peace and safety,” indicating that their insensibility would be something like those in Noah’s time, that even amid such evils they lived in luxury. Yet it will not be a time of peace and luxury for the righteous. The righteous will be passing through this time of tribulation in dejection. He shows that when antichrist has come, the pursuit of unlawful pleasures shall be more eagerly pursued among the transgressors, who have learned to despair of their own salvation. There will then be gluttony, partying and drunkenness. He then offers an example of this.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.2
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:37-39
(Verse 37 onwards) Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. It is asked how the following is written: For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes; and now they should remember those things that are signs of peace. But it is to be considered, according to the Apostle, that after wars, and strife, and plagues, and famines, and earthquakes, and other things by which the human race is devastated, peace will soon follow, which promises tranquility to all, so that the faith of believers may be confirmed, whether they may hope that the judge will come after the evils have been completed. For this is what we read in Paul: When they shall say, peace and security, then sudden destruction shall come upon them, as the pain of a woman in labor, and they shall not escape (I Thess. V, 3).

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:38
And these things He spoke, showing that He should come on a sudden, and unexpectedly, and when the more part were living luxuriously. For Paul too says this, writing on this wise, When they shall speak of peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them; and to show how unexpected, He said, as travail upon a woman with child. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 How then does He say, after the tribulation of those days? For if there be luxury then, and peace, and safety, as Paul says, how does He say, after the tribulation of those days? If there be luxury, how is there tribulation? Luxury for them that are in a state of insensibility and peace. Therefore He said not, when there is peace, but when they speak of peace and safety, indicating their insensibility to be such as of those in Noah's time, for that amid such evils they lived in luxury.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:39
All who listen to the depths of the gospel and live it so completely that none of it remains veiled from them care very little about whether the end of the world will come suddenly and all at once or gradually and little by little. Instead, they bear in mind only that each individual’s end or death will arrive on a day and hour unknown to him and that upon each one of us “the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” It is important therefore to be vigilant, whether in the evening (that is, in one’s youth) or in the middle of the night (that is, at human life’s darkest hour) or when the cock crows (at full maturity) or in the morning (when one is well advanced in old age). When God the Word comes and brings an end to the progress of this life, he will gather up the one who gave “no sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids” and kept the commandment of the One who said, “Be vigilant at all times.” …But I know another kind of end for the righteous person who is able to say along with the apostle, “Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world.” In a certain sense, the end of the world has already come for the person to whom the world is crucified. And to one who is dead to worldly things the day of the Lord has already arrived, for the Son of man comes to the soul of the one who no longer lives for sin or for the world.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 56
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:39
But not so the righteous, but they were passing their time in tribulation and dejection. Whereby He shows, that when Antichrist has come, the pursuit of unlawful pleasures shall be more eager among the transgressors, and those that have learned to despair of their own salvation. Then shall be gluttony, then revellings, and drunkenness. Wherefore also most of all He puts forth an example corresponding to the thing. For like as when the ark was making, they believed not, says He; but while it was set in the midst of them, proclaiming beforehand the evils that are to come, they, when they saw it, lived in pleasure, just as though nothing dreadful were about to take place; so also now, Antichrist indeed shall appear, after whom is the end, and the punishments at the end, and vengeance intolerable; but they that are held by the intoxication of wickedness shall not so much as perceive the dreadful nature of the things that are on the point of being done. Wherefore also Paul says, as travail upon a woman with child, even so shall those fearful and incurable evils come upon them.
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:39
. As confirmation of the truth of His words, He draws upon the events that occurred at the time of Noah. Just as then there were those who scoffed at the construction of the ark until the disaster came upon them and destroyed them all; so now there are those who scoff at these words concerning the end. But, Christ says, the destruction will come upon them suddenly. He shows that when the Antichrist comes, men will be giving themselves over to pleasure, reclining at weddings and feasts in a most arrogant manner, just as the giants did in the time of Noah (Gen. 6:5).
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:40-41
Christ shows that a judgment is coming, since between two people in a field, one is taken up and one left behind. Between two grinding at the mill, one is chosen and one rejected. Between two lying in bed, one departs and one remains. This teaching means that the separation of the faithful from the unfaithful will consist in one being accepted and the other abandoned. For, like the prophet says, when the wrath of God rises, the saints will be hidden in God’s chambers but the faithless will be left exposed to celestial fire. The two in the field therefore represent the faithful and the unfaithful, both of whom will be surprised by the day of the Lord in the midst of the world, in the course of their life’s work. They will be separated, one taken and the other left. It will be the same for the two grinding at the mill, which represents the work of the law. For only some of the Jews, like Elijah, believed through the apostles that they must be justified by faith. One group will be taken up through the faith that produces good works, and the other group will be abandoned in the fruitless works of the law, grinding in vain at a mill that will never produce heavenly food. The two lying in bed are proclaiming the repose of the Lord after his Passion, which both Catholics and heretics confess alike. But because the truth of the Catholic faith preaches the unity of the Father and the Son, which we call their deity, whereas the false doctrine of heretics attacks this unity with many different insults, one of the two lying in bed will be taken up but the other will be left behind. For by accepting one and rejecting the other, God’s judgment will prove the merit of each confession.

Source: Commentary on Matthew 26.5
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:40
And wherefore did He not speak of the ills in Sodom? It was His will to introduce an example embracing all men, and disbelieved after it was foretold. So therefore, as by the more part the things to come are disbelieved, He confirms those things by the past, terrifying their minds. And together with the points I have mentioned, He shows this also, that of the former things also He was the doer. Then again He sets another sign, by all which things He makes it evident, that He is not ignorant of the day. And what is the sign?
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:40-41
All these things are demonstrations that he knew what was to come. It would be like the days of Noah: “Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left,” so unexpected will it be. It is without thought that they will be taken. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.” This is not the employment of those who are contemplating such a calamity.From both employees and employers some will be taken and some will be left. Among those who are at ease and those who labor, some will be taken, some left. Rank or station will not matter, as it says in the Old Testament: “From him that sits upon the throne to the captive woman who is at the mill.” Even though he had said earlier that it is hard for a rich man to be saved, here he shows that not even the rich are altogether lost, neither are all the poor saved, but out of both groups people are saved and lost.
And to me he seems to indicate that the advent will come at night, like a thief, as Luke also indicates. It is amazing how fully he knows all things.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.2
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:40-41
(Verse 40, 41.) Then there will be two in the field: one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken, and one will be left. Then, He said, there will be two in the field, when, at the time of the consummation and judgment, two will be found in the field having the same labor and almost the same sowing, but not receiving the fruits of labor equally. Two women grinding together will also be there: one will be taken, and one will be left. In the two who reside in the field, and in the two who grind together, understand either the Synagogue and the Church, which seem to grind together in the Law, and to grind the flour of God's precepts from the same Scriptures, or the other heresies, which seem to grind the flour of their doctrines from either Testament or from the other, and when they have the same Christian name as their purpose, they will not receive the same reward: some being chosen, and others being left behind.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:41
And all these things are both proofs that He knew, and calculated to turn them from their inquiry. So for this cause He spoke also of the days of Noe, for this cause He said too, Two shall be on the bed, signifying this, that He should come upon them thus unexpectedly, when they were thus without thought, and two women grinding at the mill, which also of itself is not the employment of them that are taking thought.

And together with this, He declares that as well servants as masters should be both taken and left, both those who are at ease, and those in toil, as well from the one rank as from the other; even as in the Old Testament He says, From him that sits upon the throne to the captive woman that is at the mill. For since He had said, that hardly are the rich saved, He shows that not even these are altogether lost, neither are the poor saved all of them, but both out of these and out of those are men saved, and lost.

And to me He seems to declare, that at night will be the advent. For this Luke too says. Luke 17:34 Do you see how accurately He knows all things?
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:41
And Mark has the addition.
Or, these words denote three orders in the Church. “The two men in the field "denote the order of preachers , whose repose is signified by the bed. But in all these orders are good and bad, righteous and unrighteous, so that some shall be taken, and some left.
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:41
Then, He says, when everyone is heedless and engaged in their own work, "the one shall be taken," that is, the righteous man shall be taken to meet the Lord in the air, while the other, that is to say, the sinner, is left behind. Even from among those who are servants and laborers who grind at the mill, the worthy are taken while the unworthy are left. From this we learn that no one, whether servant or woman, is hindered from acquiring virtue.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:42-44
Or otherwise; The body is laid as sick on the bed of carnal passions, the soul grinds in the mill of this world, and the bodily senses labour in the field of the world.

Those of more plain understanding say, that He spoke this of His second coming; but others would say that it applies to an intellectual coming of the word into the understanding of the disciples, for as yet He was not in their understanding as He was to be.

The master of the household is the understanding, the house is the soul, the thief is the Devil. The thief is also every contrary doctrine which enters the soul of the unwary by other than the natural entrance, breaking into the house, and pulling down the soul's natural fences, that is, the natural powers of understanding, it enters the breach, and spoils the soul. Sometimes one takes the thief in the act of breaking in, and seizing him, stabs him with a word, and slays him. And the thief comes not in the day-time, when the soul of the thoughtful man is illuminated with the Sun of righteousness, but in the night, that is, in the time of prevailing wickedness; in which, when one is plunged, it is possible, though he have not the power of the sun, that he may be illuminated by some rays from the Word, as from a lamp; continuing still in evil, yet having a better purpose, and watchfulness, that this his purpose should not be broken through. Or in time of temptation, or of any calamities, is the time when the thief is most found to come, seeking to break through the house of the soul.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:42-44
He would have them ever ready, and therefore He says, Watch.

In this He rebukes such as have less care for their souls, than they have of guarding their money against an expected thief.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:42
After this again, that they may not ask about it, He added, Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord does come. Matthew 24:42 He said not, I know not, but, ye know not. For when He had brought them well near to the very hour, and had placed them there, again He deters them from the inquiry, from a desire that they should be striving always. Therefore He says, Watch, showing that for the sake of this, He did not tell it.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:42
But his meaning is like this: If ordinary persons knew when they were going to die, they would surely be striving earnestly at that hour. In order therefore that they may strive, not at that hour only, he does not tell them the hour or day. He wants to keep them on their toes looking for it, that they may be always striving. This is why he made the end of each person’s life so uncertain.In this passage he openly implies that he himself is Lord. Nowhere before has he spoken of this so distinctly. But here he seems to me also to be putting to shame those who remain careless about his lordship. They take much more care about a thief taking their money than about their own soul. Those who care about their house and do not want their possessions stolen take measures against the thief. They watch; they are prepared for the thief. So it is with you. You do not know when he will come. But you know assuredly that he will come. If you do not continue to watch, you will not be ready on that day. You will be unprepared. Destruction will come in your sleep. If the person had known when the thief was coming, he would have been prepared. So be like the one who is prepared at all times, so you will escape free.
Having then mentioned the judgment, he directs his thoughts next to teachers, speaking of honorable and dishonorable actions. His discourse closes with that which is alarming, for he speaks first of those who do right, then of those who continue in sin.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.2-3
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:42-43
(Verse 42, 43.) Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know at what hour your Lord is coming. But understand this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Clearly, he is showing why he said earlier: But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only: because it is not expedient for the apostles to know, so that they may always believe he is coming in uncertain expectation, whom they do not know when he is coming. And he did not say, because we do not know at what hour the Lord will come; but you do not know. And by giving the example of the father of the family, why he keeps silent about the day of the end, he teaches more clearly, saying:

Therefore, you also must be ready, for you do not know at what hour the Son of Man will come. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. He further emphasizes and repeats why he did not predict the day of judgment and hour to the angels or himself, but only to the Father, because it is not fitting for the apostles to know; and he uses the example of a householder, that is, himself and faithful servants, that is, the apostles, to encourage their anxious minds, so that they may provide spiritual nourishment to their fellow servants at the proper time.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:42-44
Having declared that of that hour knoweth no man, but the Father only, He shows that it was not expedient for the Apostles to know, that being ignorant they might live in perpetual expectation of His coming, and thus concluding the whole, He says, Watch therefore, &c. And He does not say, 'Because we know not,' but Because ye know not, showing that He Himself is not ignorant of the day of judgment.

And by the instance of the master of the household, He teaches more plainly why He keeps secret the day of the consummation.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:42-44
(Ep. 199, 3.) He said this Watch, not to those only who heard Him speak at the time, but to those who came after them, and to us, and to all who shall be after us, until His second coming, for it touches all in a manner. That day comes to each one of us, when it comes to him to go out of the world, such as he shall be judged, and therefore ought every Christian to watch that the Lord's coming may not find him unprepared; and he will be unprepared for the day of His coming, whom the last day of his life shall find unprepared.

(non occ.) Foolish are all they, who either profess to know the day of the end of the world, when it is to come, or even the end of their own life, which no one can know unless he is illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Matthew 24:42-44
(Hom. in Ev. ii, 3.) To watch is to keep the eyes open, and looking out for the true light, to do and to observe that which one believes, to cast away the darkness of sloth and negligence.

(Hom. in Ev. xiii. 5.) Or, the thief breaks into the house through the neglect of the master of the house, when the spirit has slept upon its post of guard, and death has come in unawares into the dwelling house of our flesh, and finding the lord of the house sleeping, slays him; that is, the spirit, little providing for coming evils, is taken off unprepared, to punishment, by death. But if he had watched he would have been secure from the thief; that is, looking forward to the coming of the Judge, who takes our lives unawares, he would meet Him with penitence, and not perish impenitent. And the Lord would therefore have the last hour unknown, that it might always be in suspense, and that being unable to foresee it, we might never be unprepared for it.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1963] CS Lewis on Matthew 24:42-44
His teaching on the subject quite clearly consisted of three propositions. One, that He will certainly return. Two, that we cannot possibly find out when. Three, and that therefore we must always be ready for Him. Note the therefore. Only because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments. Our Lord repeated this practical conclusion again and again, as if the promise of the return had been made for the sake of this conclusion alone.

Watch, watch, is the burden of His advice. I shall come like a thief. You will not, I most solemnly assure you, you will not see Me approaching. If the householder had known at what time the burglar would arrive, he would have been ready for him. If the servant had known when his absent employer would come home, he would not have been found drunk in the kitchen. But they didn’t, nor will you. Therefore you must be ready at all times.

The point is surely simple enough. The schoolboy does not know which part of his Virgil lesson he will be made to translate. That is why he must be prepared to translate any passage. The sentry does not know at what time an enemy will attack, or an officer inspect his post. That is why he must keep awake all the time.

The return is wholly unpredictable. There will be wars and rumors of wars, and all kinds of catastrophes, as there always are. Things will be, in that sense, normal, the hour before the heavens roll up like a scroll. You cannot guess it. If you could, one chief purpose for which it was foretold would be frustrated. And God’s purposes are not so easily frustrated as that. One’s ears should be closed against any future William Miller in advance. The folly of listening to him at all is almost equal to the folly of believing him. He couldn’t know what he pretends, or thinks he knows.

Of this folly George MacDonald has written well. Do those, he asks, who say, lo here or lo there are the signs of his coming, think to be too keen for him, and spy his approach? When he tells them to watch, lest he find them neglecting their work, they stare this way and that, and watch lest he should succeed in coming like a thief. Obedience is the one key of life.

The doctrine of the second coming has failed, so far as we are concerned, if it does not make us realize that at every moment of every day in our lives Don’s question, ‘What if this present were the world’s last night?’...

What is important is not that we should always fear or hope about the end, but that we should always remember, always take it into account. An analogy may help here. A man of seventy need not be always feeling, much less talking, about his approaching death. But a wise man of seventy should always take it into account.

Source: The World's Last Night (Essay)
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:43
To teach us that our ignorance of the date of his return (which his silence has kept hidden from everyone) is not without its usefulness, Christ warns us to keep all his commandments. We should also be occupied with constant prayer in order to guard against the coming of the thief. For the thief is the devil who seeks to invade our bodily homes with the darts of his thoughts and allurements in order to ruin us while we are sleepy and careless. It is good therefore that we be prepared. Our ignorance of the day of Christ’s return should provoke us to be careful as we eagerly await his coming.

Source: Commentary on Matthew 26.6
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:43
For this intent He tells them not, in order that they may watch, that they may be always ready; therefore He says, When ye look not for it, then He will come, desiring that they should be anxiously waiting, and continually in virtuous action.

But His meaning is like this: if the common sort of men knew when they were to die, they would surely strive earnestly at that hour.
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:44
. He bids us to keep vigil and to be ready, that is, to have stored up beforehand deeds of virtue so that when the Lord comes asking for the things that He wants, we will have them to give. See how He did not say, "I know not what hour the thief cometh," but "ye know not." A "thief’ is what He names the end of the world as well as the death of each person. He also implies here that His coming will be in the night. Just as the thief comes unnoticed, so will My coming be; therefore, be not indolent, but sober and vigilant. For if we knew when our end would be, we would strive to please God only on that day. But since we do not know, we are always vigilant in the deeds of virtue.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:45
We should understand the phrase “faithful and wise servant” as referring to a person who is faithful in the customary sense of the term, not as referring to those who are wise or clever by natural endowment. Many who are clever and wise are not at all faithful. For instance, whoever considers the great number of people who fancy themselves Christians will discover many who are faithful and who have great zeal for the faith but are not very wise. He will thus conclude that “the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation,” knowing that “God chose the foolish of the world to confound the wise.” He will also see that others who are thought to be believers are clever and wise enough but of only limited faith. If they are not unfaithful, they are certainly at least less faithful than the “foolish of the world” whom “God chose.” But it is rare for faithfulness and wisdom to coincide in one person to enable him to “give his fellow servants their food at the proper time.” He needs wisdom to give food to the needy “at the proper time” and faith to refrain from keeping the food for himself in time of need.

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 61
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:45-51
Or, he that makes progress in the faith, though he is not yet perfect in it, is ordinarily called faithful, and he who has natural quickness of intellect is called prudent. And whoever observes will find many faithful, and zealous in their belief, but not at the same time prudent; for God hath chosen the foolish things of the world. (1 Cor. 1:27.) Others again he will see who are quick and prudent but of weak faith; for the union of faith and prudence in the same man is most rare. To give food in due season calls for prudence in a man; not to take away the food of the needy requires faithfulness. And this the literal sense obliges us to, that we be faithful in dispersing the revenues of the Church, that we devour not that which belongs to the widows, that we remember the poor, and that we do not take occasion from what is written, The Lord hath ordained, that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel, (1 Cor. 9:14.) to seek more than plain food and necessary clothing, or to keep more for ourselves than we give to those who suffer want. And that we be prudent, to understand the cases of them that are in need, whence they come to be so, what has been the education and what are the necessities of each. It needs much prudence to distribute fairly the revenues of the Church. Also let the servant be faithful and prudent, that he lavish not the intellectual and spiritual food upon those whom he ought not, but dispense according as each has need; to one is more behoveful that word which shall edify his behaviour, and guide his practice, than that which sheds a ray of science; but to others who can pierce more deeply let him not fail to expound the deeper things, lest if he set before them common things only, he be despised by such as have naturally keener understandings, or have been sharpened by the discipline of worldly learning.

That he may reign with Christ, to whom the Father has committed all that is His. And as the son of a good father set over all that is his, He shall communicate of His dignity and glory to His faithful and wise stewards, that they also may be above the whole creation.

And every Bishop, who ministers not as a fellow servant, but rules by might as a master, and often an harsh one, sins against God; also if he does not cherish the needy, but feasts with the drunken, and is continually slumbering because his Lord cometh not till after long time.

Or, He shall cut him in sunder, when his spirit, that is, his spiritual gift, shall return to God who gave it; but his soul shall go with his body into hell. But the righteous man is not cut in sunder, but his soul, with his spirit, that is, with his gift, spiritual enters into the kingdom of heaven. They that are cut in sunder have in the in thenceforth no part of that spiritual gift which was from God, but there remains to them that part which was their own, that is, their soul, which shall be punished with their body.

Or, there shall be weeping for such as have laughed amiss in this world, gnashing of teeth for those who have enjoyed an irrational peace. For being unwilling to suffer bodily pain, now the torture forces their teeth to chatter, with which they have eaten the bitterness of wickedness. From this we may learn that the Lord sets over His household not the faithful and wise only, but the wicked also; and that it will not save them to have been set over His household, but only if they have given them their food in due season, and have abstained from beating and drunkenness.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:45-51
Though the Lord had given above a general exhortation to all in common to unwearied vigilance, yet He adds a special charge to the rulers of the people, that is, the Bishops, of watchfulness in looking for His coming. Such He calls a faithful servant, and wise master of the household, careful for the needs and interests of the people entrusted to Him.

That is, obedient to his Lord's command, by the seasonableness of his teaching dispensing the word of life to a household which is to be nourished for the food of eternity.

Or, shall set him over all his goods, that is, shall place him in the glory of God, because beyond this is nothing better.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:45
Tell me, is this too the language of one who is in ignorance? For if because He said, neither does the Son know, you say He is ignorant of it; as He says, who then? what will you say? Will you say He is ignorant of this too? Away with the thought. For not even one of them that are frantic would say this. And yet in the former case one might assign a cause; but here not even this. And what when He said, Peter, do you love me? John 21:16 asking it, knew He not so much as this? Nor when He said, Where have ye laid him? John 11:34
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:45-51
In this He rebukes such as have less care for their souls, than they have of guarding their money against an expected thief.

That He says, Whom think ye is that faithful and nine servant, does not imply ignorance, for even the Father we find asking a question, as that, Adam, where art thou? (Gen. 3:9.)

He requires two things of such servant, fidelity and prudence; He calls him faithful, because he appropriates to himself none of his Lord's goods, and wastes nought idly and unprofitably. He calls him prudent, as knowing on what he ought to lay out the things committed to him.

This parable may be also fitted to the case of secular rulers; for each ought to employ the things he has to the common benefit, and not to the hurt of his fellow-servants, nor to his own ruin; whether it be wisdom or dominion, or whatever else he has.

And He instructs His hearer not only by the honour which awaits the good, but by the punishment which threatens the wicked, adding, If that evil servant shall say in his heart, &c.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:45-51
The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for Him, is to rouse the stewards to watchfulness and carefulness. He shall cut him in sunder, is not to be understood of execution by the sword, but that he shall sever him from the company of the saints.

And shall appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, with those, namely, that were in the field, and grinding at the mill, and were nevertheless left. For as we often say that the hypocrite is one who is one thing, and passes himself for another; so in the field and at the mill he seemed to be doing the same as others, but the event proved that his purpose was different.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 24:45-51
(Ep. 199. 1.) The temper of this servant is shown in his behaviour, which is thus expressed by his good Master; his tyranny, and shall begin to beat his fellow servants, his sensuality, and to eat and drink with the drunken. So that when he said, My Lord delayeth His coming, he is not to be supposed to speak from desire to see the Lord, such as was that of him who said, My soul is athirst for the living God; when shall I come? (Ps. 42:2.) This shows that he was grieved at the delay, seeing that what was hastening towards him seemed to his longing desires to be coming slowly.

(Ep. 199 in fin.) Putting aside this wicked servant, who, there is no doubt, hates his Master's coming, let us set before our eyes these good servants, who anxiously expect their Lord's coming. One looks for His coming sooner, another later, the third confesses his ignorance of the matter. Let us see which is most agreeable to the Gospel. One says, Let us watch and pray, because the Lord will quickly come; another, Let us watch and pray, because this life is short and uncertain, though the Lord's coming may be distant; and the third, Let us watch, because this life is short and uncertain, and we know not the time when the Lord will come. What else does this man say than what we hear the Gospel say, Watch, because ye know not the hour in which the Lord shall come? All indeed, through longing for the kingdom, desire that that should be true which the first thinks, and if it should so come to pass, the second and third would rejoice with him; but if it should not come to pass, it were to be feared that the belief of its supporters might be shaken by the delay, and they might begin to think that the Lord's coming shall be, not remote, but never. He who believes with the second that the Lord's coming is distant will not be shaken in faith, but will receive an unlooked for joy. He who confesses his ignorance which of these is true, wishes for the one, is resigned to the other, but errs in neither, because he neither affirms or denies either.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 533] Remigius of Rheims on Matthew 24:45-51
Nor yet does it imply the impossibility of attaining perfect virtue, but only the difficulty.

It should be observed, that as there is great difference of desert between good preachers and good hearers, so is there great difference between their rewards. The good hearers, if He finds them watching He will make to sit down to meat, as Luke speaks; but the good preachers He will set over all His goods.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 24:45-51
The lord is Christ, the household over which He appoints is the Church Catholic. It is hard then to find one man who is both faithful and wise, but not impossible; for He would not pronounce a blessing on a character that could never be, as when He adds, Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Not that they only, but that they before others, shall be rewarded as well for their own lives as for their superintendence of the flock.

Typically, we may understand his beating his fellow servants, of offending the consciences of the weak by word, or by evil example.

Or, appoints him his portion with the hypocrites, that is, a twofold share of punishment, that of fire and frost; to the fire belongs the weeping, to the frost the gnashing of teethk.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 1274] Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 24:45-51
(ord.) For rare indeed is such faithful servant serving his Master for his Master's sake, feeding Christ's sheep not for lucre but for love of Christ, skilled to discern the abilities, the life, and the manner of those put under him, whom the Lord sets over, that is, who is called of God, and has not thrust himself in.

Source: Catena Aurea by Aquinas
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Matthew 24:46
“Blessed is the servant whom the Lord will find so doing when he comes.” A great promise is extended to the Lord’s faithful and wise stewards. It is like the promise he made to those to whom he said, “Take authority over five cities” or “take authority over ten cities.” For to be made the head “over all his possessions” is nothing other than to be made an “heir of God and coheir with Christ” and to reign with Christ. The Father has given him everything he himself possesses, as Christ said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” The Son of the good Father who is given authority over all his Father’s possessions also shares this honor and glory with his faithful and wise stewards, so they also might be with Christ above every creature and authority. This is what he meant when he said, “Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 62
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:46
And the Father too will be found to be saying such things. For He Himself likewise says, Adam, where are you? Genesis 3:9 and, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is waxed great before me. I will go down therefore, and see whether their doings be according to their cry which comes unto me, and if not, I will know. Genesis 18:20-21 And elsewhere He says, Whether they will hear, whether they will understand. Ezekiel 2:5 And in the gospel too, It may be they will reverence my Son: all which are expressions of ignorance. But not in ignorance did He say these things, but as compassing objects such as became Him: in the case of Adam, that He might drive him to make an excuse for his sin: in that of the Sodomites, that He might teach us never to be positive, till we are present at the very deeds; in that of the prophet, that the prediction might not appear in the judgment of the foolish a kind of compulsion to disobedience; and in the parable in the gospel, that He might show that they ought to have done this, and to have reverenced the Son: but here, as well that they may not be curious, nor over busy again, as that He might indicate that this was a rare and precious thing. And see of what great ignorance this saying is indicative, if at least He know not even him that is set over. For He blesses him indeed, For blessed, says He, is that servant; but He says not who this is. For who is he, He says, whom His Lord shall set over? and, Blessed is he whom He shall find so doing.

But these things are spoken not of money only, but also of speech, and of power, and of gifts, and of every stewardship, wherewith each is entrusted. This parable would suit rulers in the state also, for every one is bound to make full use of what he has for the common advantage. If it be wisdom you have, if power, if wealth, if what it may, let it not be for the hurt of your fellow-servants, neither for your own ruin. For this cause, therefore, He requires both things of him, wisdom, and fidelity: for sin arises from folly also. He calls him faithful then, because he has purloined nothing, neither misspent his Lord's goods without aim or fruit; and wise, because he knew how to dispense the things given him, according as was fit. For indeed we have need of both things, as well not to purloin the goods of our Master, as also to dispense them as is fit. But if the one be wanting, the other halts. For if he be faithful and steal not, yet were to waste and to spend upon that which concerned him not, great were the blame; and if he should know how to dispense it well, yet were to purloin, again there is no common charge against him.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:46
Everyone should make full use of what he has been given for the common advantage of all. If you possess power or wealth or wisdom, do not use it to hurt your fellow servants. If you do, it will be to your own ruin. Since sins come from foolishness, he requires both wisdom and fidelity. One is faithful who has been a good steward of his Lord’s goods, not stealing from the Lord, not spending without aim or fruit. One is wise who knows how to dispense the things given him in a fitting way. Indeed, we have need of both these things together, faithfulness and wisdom, and these in conjunction. We are called to exercise our stewardship in a fitting manner, spending carefully. And we must not steal from the Lord. If one of these is lacking, the other is halted. There would be great blame if one were to waste the Lord’s goods, spend freely the resources we have been given, even if we never stole anything at all. Similarly there would be heavy charges to make against one who spent his Lord’s goods well but occasionally stole something for himself.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.3
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 24:47
Although he urged everyone to exercise an indefatigable vigilance, Christ commanded the princes of the people, the bishops, to demonstrate a special attentiveness in expectation of his advent. The bishop is represented in this parable by the faithful and wise servant who was set over the household. He is fully equipped and enabled to care for the people entrusted to him. He needs to be attentive to his instructions and obedient to the commandments. When he speaks the truth and prudently applies doctrine, he will confirm the weak, heal the broken, convert sinners and feed his household with the Word of life—their eternal food. If he is found performing these tasks diligently, he will receive glory from the Lord as a faithful servant and effective steward. He will be set over all his possessions. In other words, he will be established in the midst of the glory of God. Nothing could possibly be better than this.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:47
And let us also that have money listen to these things. For not unto teachers only does He discourse, but also unto the rich. For either sort were entrusted with riches; those that teach with the more necessary wealth, you with what is inferior. When then at the time that the teachers are scattering abroad the greater, you are not willing to show forth your liberality even in the less, or rather not liberality but honesty (for you give the things of another), what excuse will you have? But now, before the punishment of them that do the contrary things, let us hear the honor of him that approves himself. For verily I say unto you, He will set him over all His goods.

What can be equal to this honor? What manner of speech will be able to set forth the dignity, the blessedness, when the King of Heaven, He that possesses all things, is about to set a man over all His goods? Wherefore also He calls him wise, because he knew, not to give up great things for small, but having been temperate here, has attained to Heaven.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:47
Let everyone who is entrusted with riches listen carefully. He is not only speaking to teachers but to those who manage money. In both cases they are entrusted with riches. Those who teach are entrusted with a wealth that is far more necessary than those who deal with money. There are times when teachers have difficult times. If in these times you who have money are not willing to demonstrate your generosity, what excuse will you have? You need to exhibit both generosity and honesty, for the two go together.It is an honor to be entrusted with the responsibility of someone else’s resources. This happens to the faithful: “Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.” What can be equal to this honor? What sort of speech would be fitting to this dignity? What sort of blessedness would accompany it? Here we are speaking of nothing less than the King of heaven who possesses all things. It is he who is setting a person “over all his possessions.” This is why he calls him to be wise. He must not spend large sums for small benefits. It is only having been responsible here in this life that he will receive the riches of heaven.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.3
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:47
The Lord is doubtful who that wise and faithful servant will be "whom his lord hath made ruler over his household," to show that such a man is rare and hard to find. Two things are required of every steward: faith and wisdom. For if he is faithful and steals nothing, but lacks wisdom and foolishly squanders the household goods, he is of no use; and if he is wise but yet steals, likewise he is of no use. So whoever shall be found then to have been both faithful and wise will also obtain the things that are more excellent, that is, the kingdom of heaven. For the saints will be the inheritors of all of God’s possessions. The faithful and wise servant is also every teacher who gives in due season food proper to each one who is taught by him. Such a one was Paul who at times gave milk to drink [to the young in faith] and at other times spoke wisdom [to the more mature], for he was a faithful servant, though before he had been a blasphemer; and he was also a wise servant understanding the thoughts of the enemy. So too everyone who receives anything from God, whether it be money, authority, or dominion, should administer these things faithfully and wisely, since he will give an account.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:48
After this, as He ever does, not by the honor only laid up for the good, but also by the punishment threatened against the wicked, does He correct the hearers.

But if any one should say, Do you see what a thought has entered into his mind, because of the day's not being known, my Lord, he says, delays His coming? we should affirm, that it was not because the day is not known, but because the servant is evil. Else wherefore came not this thought into the heart of the faithful and wise servant. For what, even though the Lord tarry, O wretched man, surely you look that He will come. Why then do you not take care?

Hence then we learn, that He does not so much as tarry. For this judgment is not the Lord's, but that of the evil servant's mind, wherefore also he is blamed for this. For in proof that He does not tarry, hear Paul saying, The Lord is at hand, be careful for nothing; Philippians 4:5-6 and, He that comes will come, and will not tarry. Hebrews 10:37
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:48-49
(Verse 48, 49.) But if that wicked servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Matthew 24:48-49
This teaching is directed against the rulers who are leading a luxurious and leisurely lifestyle. He calls the negligent teacher a wicked and evil servant because he takes advantage of the judge’s absence and believes he will not be observed because of the judge’s forbearance. So he beats harshly those over whom he holds power and associates with those who are in love with the flesh. They sin both because the judge is not present and because they don’t think judgment will ever arrive. By wounding some of them, he points out those who are disabled in soul because of the luxury of their exalted positions. Just as the apostle says, “When you sin against your brothers in this way [you] wound their weak conscience.” Therefore he threatens to introduce the most severe punishments to those living self-indulgently.…Those who pretend to understand the principles of the good life are not thinking as they should but are only clothing themselves in the appearance of virtue. They will be cut into pieces on that fearful day of judgment. This is a judgment from the Spirit and results in a perpetual alienation.… Grace will be cut off from all the pollution of his soul, and his part will be reckoned with the hypocrites. Jesus calls hypocrites those who are cut into pieces and yet continue to teach others the way to live. They succeed only in making things worse for those learning the life of discipleship. Further, Jesus teaches that those who have not carried out faithfully the ministry given to them in this present life from the Lord will not receive another from him.… For the cutting Jesus reveals is not a bodily one but the stripping of their adoption as sons from the Spirit. Moreover, they are punished because they lived a life of derision. They will gnash their teeth when they consider the reason for their pain and the exceedingly severe character of their punishment.

Source: FRAGMENT 277
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:49
But do thou hear also what follows, and learn how continually He reminds them of their ignorance of the day, showing that this is profitable to the servants, and fitted to waken and thoroughly to rouse them. For what though some gained nothing hereby? For neither by other things profitable for them were some profited, but nevertheless He ceases not to do His part.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:50
What then is the purport of that which follows?

(He) shall inflict upon him extreme punishment. Do you see how even everywhere He puts this, the fact of their ignorance, indicating that it was profitable, and by this making them always earnest minded? For this is the point at which He labors, that we should be always on the watch; and since it is always in luxury that we are supine, but in afflictions we are braced up, therefore everywhere He says this, that when there is relaxation, then come the terrors. And as further back He showed this by the example of Noah, even so here He says it is, when that servant is drunken, when he is beating, and that his punishment shall be intolerable.

But let us not regard only the punishment appointed for him, but let us look to this other point too, lest we ourselves also be un awares to ourselves doing the same things. For to this servant are they like, who have money, and give not to the needy. For you too are steward of your own possessions, not less than he who dispenses the alms of the church. As then he has not a right to squander at random and at hazard the things given by you for the poor, since they were given for the maintenance of the poor; even so neither may thou squander your own. For even though you have received an inheritance from your father, and hast in this way all you possess, even thus all are God's. And then thou for your part desirest that what you have given should be thus carefully dispensed, and do you not think that God will require His own of us with greater strictness, or that He suffers them to be wasted at random? These things are not, they are not so. Because for this end, He left these things in your hand, in order to give them their meat in due season. But what means, in due season? To the needy, to the hungry. For like as you gave to your fellow-servant to dispense, even so does the Lord will you too to spend these things on what is needful. Therefore though He was able to take them away from you, He left them, that you might have opportunity to show forth virtue; that bringing us into need one of another, He might make our love for one another more fervent.

But you, when you have received, so far from giving, dost even beat. And yet if not to give be blame, what excuse is there for beating? But this, it seems to me, He speaks, hinting at the insolent, and the covetous, and indicating the charge to be heavy, when they beat them, whom they were commanded to feed.

5. But He seems to be here hinting also at those that live in luxury, since for luxury too there is laid up a great punishment. For He eats and drinks, it is said, with the drunken, pointing at gluttony. For not for this purpose did you receive, that you should spend it on luxury, but that you should lay it out on alms. What! Are they your own things which you have? With the goods of the poor have you been entrusted, though thou be possessed of them by honest labor, or though it be by inheritance from your father. What, could not God have taken away these things from you? But He does not this, to give you power to be liberal to the poor.

But mark thou, I pray you, how throughout all the parables He punishes them that lay not out their money upon the needy. For neither had the virgins robbed other men's goods, but they had not given their own; neither had he that buried the one talent embezzled, but he had not doubled; neither are they that overlooked the hungry punished, because they seized the possessions of others, but because they did not lay out their own, like as also this servant.

Let us hearken, as many as please the belly, as many as lay out on costly banquets the riches that pertain not at all to us, but belong to the needy. For do not, because out of great love to man you are commanded to give as of yours, therefore suppose these things to be indeed your own. He lent them to you, that you might be able to approve yourself. Do not then suppose them to be yours, when giving Him His own. For neither, if you had lent to any one, that he might go and be able to find means of gain, would you say the money was his. To you then also has God given, that you might traffic for Heaven. Make not then the exceeding greatness of His love to man a cause of ingratitude.

Consider of what prayer it were a worthy object, to be able to find after baptism a way to do away one's sins. If He had not said this, Give alms, how many would have said, Would it were possible to give money, and so be freed from the ills to come! But since this has become possible, again are they become supine.

But I give, you say. And what is this? You have not yet given as much as she, who cast in the two mites; or rather not so much as the half, nor a very small part of what she gave, but you lay out the greater part on useless expenses, on banquets, and drunkenness, and extreme extravagance; now bidding, now bidden; now spending, now constraining others to spend; so that the punishment is even rendered twofold for you, both from what yourself doest, and what you move others to do. See at any rate how He Himself blames His servant for this. For he eats, He says, and drinks with the drunken. For not the drunken only, but those that are with them, does He punish, and very fitly, because (together with corrupting their own selves) they make light also of the salvation of others. But nothing does so much provoke God, as for us to be inclined to overlook the things that concern our neighbor. Wherefore showing His anger, He commands him to be cut asunder. Therefore He also affirmed love to be a distinguishing mark of His disciples, since it is altogether necessary that he who loves should take thought for the things of his beloved.

To this way then let us hold, for this is especially the way that leads up to Heaven, which renders men followers of Christ, which makes them, as far as possible, like God. See at any rate how these virtues are more needful, which have their dwelling by this way. And, if you will, let us make an inquiry into them, and let us bring forth the sentences from the judgment of God.

Let there be then two ways of most holy life, and let the one secure the goodness of him that practises it, but the other of his neighbor also. Let us see whether is the more approved and leads us to the summit of virtue. Surely he, who seeks his own things only, will receive even from Paul endless blame, and when I say from Paul, I mean from Christ, but the other commendations and crowns. Whence is this evident? Hear what His language is to one, what to the other. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. 1 Corinthians 10:24 Do you see he rejects the one, and brings in the other? Again, Let every one of you please his neighbor for good to edification. Then comes also the praise beyond words with an admonition, For even Christ pleased not Himself. Romans 15:2-3

Even these judgments then are sufficient to show the victory; but that this may be done even superabundantly, let us see among good works, which are confined to ourselves, and which pass over from us to others also. Fasting then, and lying on the bare ground, and keeping virginity, and a self-denying life, these things bring their advantage to the persons themselves who do them; but those that pass from ourselves to our neighbors are almsgiving, teaching, charity. Hear then Paul in this matter also saying, Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, I am nothing profited. 1 Corinthians 13:3
[AD 420] Jerome on Matthew 24:50-51
(Verse 50, 51.) The lord of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and he will divide him and place his portion with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This teaches that they should know when the lord is not expected, then he will come, and it warns the stewards of vigilance and diligence. Furthermore, when it says he will divide him, it does not mean that he will cut him with a sword; but rather, that he will separate him from the company of the saints and place his portion with the hypocrites; namely, with those who were in the field and grinding, yet were still abandoned. We often say that a hypocrite is one thing, and another thing to show: just as it seemed to be doing the same thing in the field and in the mill, that is, the man of the church, but the outcome of different wills appeared.

Source: Commentary on Matthew
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Matthew 24:50-51
Let us investigate carefully what “to be cut into pieces means.” When in ancient times Adam came into being, God made him a partaker of his own Spirit, giving to his nature a most perfect beauty. For “he breathed on his face the breath of life.” For to truly give life is to have the Spirit of life, that is, of Christ. But because Adam was deceived and slipped into sin, he was cut off from the Spirit. For it pleased our God and father “to bring all things together under one head in Christ” and to restore the ancient beauty to human nature. We have received this through grace, but the stealthy entrance of sin stripped it from us. For Christ breathed into us after the resurrection, restoring ancient beauty to us. “Receive,” he says, “the Holy Spirit.” And so the Spirit is united to us. For “he who unites himself to the Lord is one with him in spirit.” Surely, just as we have been compelled to be zealous in our efforts by a sense of devotion, we are receiving the utmost fullness since we now have the pledge of the Spirit at the appropriate time. We are deprived of that same foretaste of the Spirit when we stand accused in our own sin since the gift of the Spirit is cut off and sent away from us as in the time of the judgment. We affirm that it is this judgment that Jesus speaks of when he mentions cutting something apart. For one such as this who has the Spirit is not delivered over to punishment.

Source: FRAGMENT 278
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Matthew 24:51
Do you see it in itself gloriously celebrated, and crowned?

But if you be willing, from a third point also let us compare them; and let the one fast, and deny himself, and be a martyr, and be burnt to death, but let another delay his martyrdom for his neighbor's edification; and let him not only delay it, but let him even depart without martyrdom; who will be the more approved after his removal hence? We need not have many words, nor a long circumlocution. For the blessed Paul is at hand, giving his judgment, and saying, To depart and to be with Christ is better, nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you; Philippians 1:23-24 even to his removal unto Christ did he prefer his neighbor's edification. For this is in the highest sense to be with Christ, even to be doing His will, but nothing is so much His will, as that which is for one's neighbor's good.

Will you that I tell you a fourth proof also of these things? Peter, do you love me, says He; Feed my sheep: John 21:15-17 and having asked him a third time, declared this to be an infallible proof of love. But not to priests only is this said, but to every one of us also, who are also entrusted with a little flock. For do not despise it, because it is a little flock: For my Father, He says, has pleasure in them. Luke 12:32 Each of us has a sheep, let him lead that to the proper pastures. And let the man, as soon as he has risen from his bed, seek after nothing else, but how he may do and say something whereby he may render his whole house more reverent. The woman again, let her be indeed a good housekeeper; but before attending to this, let her have another more needful care, that the whole household may work the works of Heaven. For if in worldly matters, before attending to the affairs of our household, we labor diligently to pay public dues, that we may not for our undutifulness in these matters be beaten and dragged to the market places, and suffer ten thousand unseemly things; much more ought we to do this in things spiritual, and to render what is due to God, the King of all, first, that we may not come to that place, where is gnashing of teeth.

And after these virtues let us seek, which together with our own salvation will be able in the greatest degree to profit our neighbor. Such is almsgiving, such is prayer, or rather even this latter is by the former made efficacious, and furnished with wings. For your prayers, it is said, and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Acts 10:4 But not prayers only, but fasting also has its strength from hence. Should you fast without almsgiving; the act is not so much as counted for fasting; but such a one is worse than a gluttonous man and a drunkard; and so much worse, as cruelty is a more grievous thing than luxury. And why do I speak of fasting? Though thou practise self-denial, though thou practise virginity, you are set without the bridechamber, if you have not almsgiving. And yet what is equal to virginity, which not even in the new dispensation has come under the compulsion of law, on account of its high excellence? But nevertheless it is cast out, when it has not almsgiving. But if virgins are cast out, because they have not this in due abundance, who will be able without this to obtain pardon? There is no man, but he must quite of necessity perish, who has not this.

For, if in worldly matters no man lives for himself, but artisan, and soldier, and husbandman, and merchant, all of them contribute to the common good, and to their neighbor's advantage; much more ought we to do this in things spiritual. For this is most properly to live: since he at least who is living for himself only, and overlooking all others, is useless, and is not so much as a human being, nor of our race.

What then, you would say, if I neglect my own interests, while seeking after the good of the rest? It is not possible, for one who seeks after the good of the rest to overlook his own; for he who seeks after the good of the rest pains no man, but pities all, helps them to the utmost of his powers; will rob no man, will covet the goods of no man, will not steal, will not bear false witness; will abstain from all wickedness, will apply himself to all virtue, and will pray for his enemies, and do good to them that plot against him, and will neither revile any, nor speak ill of them, though he hear from them ten thousand evil things; but will speak the words of the apostle: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? 2 Corinthians 11:29 But when looking to our own good, it is not quite sure that the good of the rest will follow.

By all which things being persuaded that it is not possible for one to be saved, who has not looked to the common good, and seeing this man that was cut asunder, and him that buried his talent, let us choose this way, that we may also attain unto eternal life, unto which God grant we may all attain, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, world without end. Amen.
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on Matthew 24:51
Having spoken of how the faithful servant will be honored, now He tells how the wicked servant will be punished. If anyone entrusted with the stewardship of a gift disdains the judgement that will take place and says, "My lord delayeth," that is, God does not impose swift and immediate punishment, the Lord "shall cut him asunder." And if he considers God’s long-suffering nature an opportunity for wickedness and strikes his fellowservants by scandalizing them and shaking their conscience, as happens when those who are ruled see their rulers using for evil purposes what has been entrusted to them, the Lord shall likewise "cut him asunder." If a man, then, does such things, he shall be cut asunder, that is, he will be stripped of his gift, and then it will be seen what sort of man he is, and he will be cast into the darkness. Formerly he was able to deceive by means of his appearance, as are many hierarchs who are thought to be holy because of their rank. But then at the Judgement the grace will be taken from them, and they will be punished as hypocrites, being one thing but appearing another.