ACC ~ Mark 13 v1 - 8

OVERVIEW:

The death of trees, contaminated air and the pollution of the fruits of the earth—all these are signs of the final judgment (ORIGEN). The Gospels offer a cohesive account of history when they are compared text by text to seek the sense of the whole. Not merely wars between nations but also the final conflict between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be resolved in the end (AUGUSTINE). Antichrist falsifies the truth, mimicking the goodness of Christ (ORIGEN). The ruin of the edifice of Christian teaching, as of temples and buildings, does not happen instantly but gradually (ORIGEN). As long as some portions of the temple still remain intact, it would be improper to say that the Antichrist had already come (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM).

13:1 | What Wonderful Stones and What Wonderful Buildings

BELIEVER AS TEMPLE

ORIGEN: The temple was not overthrown all at once, but gradually as time went by. Similarly, every one who welcomes the Word of God into himself is something like a temple. If, after committing sin he does not completely fall away from the Word of God, but still partially preserves in himself traces of faith and accountability to God’s commands, he is a temple partly destroyed, partly standing. But he who after sinning has no care for himself but is always prone to depart from faith and from life according to the gospel, till he completely departs from the living God, he is a temple in which no stone of doctrine is left upon any stone and not thrown down. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 29. [1]

[1] PG 13:1640; AEG 5:113-14*.

13:2 | Not One Stone upon Another

THE TEMPLE IN RUINS

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Antichrist [1] will come at such a time as there shall not be left of the temple of the Jews “one stone upon another,” to quote the sentence pronounced by the Savior. [2] For it is not until all the stones are overthrown, whether by the decay of age, or through being pulled down for building material or in consequence of this or that other happening, and I do not mean merely the stones of the outer walls, but the floor of the inner temple where the cherubim were, [3] that Antichrist will come “with all signs and lying wonders” [4] treating all the idols with disdain. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 15.15. [5]

[1] Cf. 1 Jn 2:18-22; 4:3; 2 Jn 7.

[2] Mk 13:2.

[3] Cf. 1 Kings 6:27; 8:6.

[4] 2 Thess 2:9; cf. Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22.

[5] TLG 2110.003, 15.15.12-9; LCC 4:159. This passage is made more interesting and historically weighty in the light of the fact that it was written in Jerusalem and taught in catechetical lectures at the site of the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the mid-fourth century, three centuries before the Muslim conquest and seven centuries before the Crusaders. It may indicate that the outer walls were already pulled down but the floor of the inner temple was still intact. One can assume that Cyril was familiar with the site as it appeared in his day. Since in his view the antichrist had not yet come, he understood himself in between the times of the basic destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 and the final destruction of the temple.

13:4 | They Asked Him Privately, “Tell Us, When Will This Be?

READING THE SIGNS

AUGUSTINE: There is no discrepancy in the Gospels as to facts of the end time, [1] although one may supply details which another may pass over or describe differently. Rather, they supplement each other when compared, and thus give direction to the mind of the reader. [2] LETTER 199, TO HESYCHIUS 25. [3]

[1] Augustine is asking how the reader is to reason about apparently conflicting accounts of last things.

[2] Cf. Mt 24:3-8; Mk 13:3-8; Lk 21:7-11.

[3] Cetedoc 0262, 199.57.9.265.15; FC 30:376**.

13:6 | Many Will Come in My Name, Saying, “I Am He!”

EXPERTS AT IMPERSONATION

ORIGEN: Christ is truth. Antichrist falsifies truth. Christ is wisdom. Antichrist deftly simulates wisdom. All genuine excellences have a correspondence with Christ. All pretended virtues correspond with Antichrist. For each variety of good which Christ embodies in himself to build up the faithful, the demonic will find a way of mimicking in appearance to deceive the faithful. [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 32. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22.

[2] PG 13:1644-45; AEG 5:117-18*.

THE COMMON CONDITION OF NATIONS

AUGUSTINE: As to wars, when has the earth not been scourged by them at different periods and places? To pass over remote history, when the barbarians were everywhere invading Roman provinces in the reign of Gallienus, [1] how many of our brothers who were then alive do we think could have believed that the end was near, since this happened long after the ascension of the Lord! Thus, we do not know what the nature of those signs will be when the end is really near at hand, if these present ones have not been so foretold that they should at least be understood in the church. Certainly, there are two nations and two kingdoms, namely, one of Christ, the other of the devil. LETTER 199, TO HESYCHIUS 35. [2]

[1] Emperor from 260 to 268.

[2] Cetedoc 0262, 199.57.10.274.8; FC 30:384.

13:8 | There Will Be Earthquakes, There Will Be Famines

ECOLOGICAL CRISIS

ORIGEN: Just as bodies become sick before their death if they do not suffer violence from without, and in all cases the way of separation of soul from body comes through weakness, so it happens with the whole course of the world creation. When the creation begins to decay, having as it has both beginning and end, it must grow weak before its dissolution. At this point the earth may be frequently shaken with earthquakes. The air having received some diseased contagion may become overrun with pestilence. [1] Moreover the vital energies of the earth itself may suddenly fail and strangle its fruits. These destructive forces may pollute the regenerative capacity of all trees. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 34. [2]

[1] Cf. Lk 21:10-11.

[2] PG 13:1649; AEG 5:122*.