ACC ~ Mark 1 v7a

NONE GREATER THAN JOHN

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Even though Elijah the Tishbite was taken up to heaven, [1] he was not greater than John. Enoch too was translated [2] but was not greater than John. Moses was the greatest of lawgivers and all the prophets were admirable, but none greater than John. It is not I who would dare to compare prophet with prophet, but their Master and ours who himself declared “Among those born of women there is none greater than John.” [3] Not “born of virgins,” observe! but “born of women.” [4] THE CATECHETICAL LECTURES 3.6. [5]

[1] 2 Kings 2:11.

[2] Cf. Gen 5:24.

[3] Lk 7:28.

[4] Cyril defines the position of John in the history of salvation with precision: greater than Moses, less than Christ; culminating the law and prophets yet awaiting the anointed one to whom they point; greater than others born of women; lesser than the one born of the virgin.

[5] TLG 2110.003, 3.6.7-14; LCC 4:93**. That there is none greater born of woman than John does not imply that John’s greatness exceeds that of the Lord himself, who was born of a virgin.

THE BAPTISM OF JOHN AND CHRISTIAN BAPTISM

AMBROSE: Neither repentance avails without grace, nor grace without repentance; for repentance must first condemn sin, that grace may blot it out. So then John, who was a type of the law, came baptizing for repentance, while Christ came to offer grace. EPISTLE 84. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0160, 9.68.7.82.2.172.69; FC 26:470*.

THE PROLOGUE TO BAPTISM

JEROME: As he himself bodily preceded Christ as his forerunner, so also his baptism was the prologue to the Lord’s baptism. THE DIALOGUE AGAINST THE LUCIFERIANS 7. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0608, 7.170.40; NPNF 2 6:323**.

THE HAIR OF THE CAMEL AND THE TUNIC OF THE LAMB

JEROME: “One mightier than I is coming after me, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” [1] The meaning of the words: “He must increase, I must decrease,” [2] is that the gospel must increase, but I, the law, must decrease. John, that is, the law in John, was clothed, therefore, in the hair of a camel, for he could not wear a tunic of the lamb of whom it is said: “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world;” [3] and again: “He is led like a lamb to the slaughter.” [4] In the law, we cannot wear a tunic from that Lamb. HOMILY 75. [5]

[1] Mk 1:7.

[2] Jn 3:30.

[3] Jn 1:29.

[4] Is 53:7.

[5] Cetedoc 0594, 1.107; FC 57:125.

MORE THAN A PROPHET

AUGUSTINE: John therefore was a foreteller of Christ, nearer to him in time than all who went before him. And because all the righteous ones and prophets of former times desired to see the fulfillment of what, through the revelation of the Spirit, they foresaw should come to pass—so also the Lord himself says that “many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.” [1] Therefore it was said of John that he was more than a prophet, and that among all that were born of women there was none greater than he, [2] because to the righteous who went before him it was only granted to foretell the coming of Christ, but to John it was given both to foretell him in his absence and to behold him in his presence, so that it should be found that to him was made manifest what the others had desired. ANSWER TO THE LETTERS OF PETILIAN, THE DONATIST 2.37. [3]

[1] Mt 13:17.

[2] Mt 11:9, 11; Lk 7:28.

[3] Cetedoc 0333, 2.37.87.71.15; NPNF 1 4:552-53*.

Mk