ACC ~ Mark 13 v9 - 23

OVERVIEW:

Far from being nothingness, the final end for the faithful is the most complete conceivable fullness of being (HILARY OF POITIERS). Origen argued that the consummation would not occur until crucial prophecies are fulfilled and not before the gospel is preached to the whole world. Since there are still a number of known nations to whom the gospel had not yet been preached, it could not be argued that the end has yet come. Hippolytus thought that the reference to flight in winter was not merely to a literal winter but to an unexpectedly harsh spiritual challenge. On that final day, however, those lacking faith will not be saved, even if they seem to be abiding within the faithful community and its sacraments (CYPRIAN, AUGUSTINE). The Antichrist will personify many seemingly plausible teachings (ORIGEN).

13:10 | Whether This Has Already Occurred

ORIGEN: It is evident that the gospel of the kingdom has not yet been preached in all the world. It is not reported to have been preached among all the Ethiopians, especially among those beyond the river, [1] nor among the Serae, nor in the East. [2] What are we to say of the Britons, or of the Germans along the ocean, [3] or of the barbarians, Dacians, [4] Samaritans and Scythians, [5] the greatest part of whom have not yet [6] heard the word of the gospel, but who will certainly hear it by the time of the end? If any one is minded to say rashly that the gospel of the kingdom has already been preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, he will consequently be constrained to say that the end has already come! [7] That would be a most rash statement indicating a lack of understanding. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 39. [8]

[1] Nile.

[2] Beyond Parthia.

[3] North Sea.

[4] Transylvania on the Danube.

[5] Both Scythians and Samaritans were in the region now known as Bulgaria and northwest of the Black Sea.

[6] Ca. A.D. 230.

[7] Origen here anticipates and meets the arguments that would later become known as “realized eschatology.”

[8] PG 13:1655; AEG 5:126-27*.

13:13 | He Who Endures to the End

PROMISE OF BLESSEDNESS

HILARY OF POITIERS: Therefore the Lord exhorts us to wait with patient and reverent faith until the end comes, for “Blessed is he that endures to the end.” [1] It is neither a blessed nothingness that awaits us, nor is nonexistence the fruit, nor annihilation the appointed reward of faith. Rather the end is the final attainment of the promised blessedness. They are blessed who endure until the goal of perfect happiness is reached, when the expectation of faith reaches toward complete fulfillment. Their end is to abide with unbroken rest in that condition toward which they are presently pressing. [2] ON THE TRINITY 11.28. [3]

[1] Mt 10:22; 24:13; Mk 13:13; Lk 21:19.

[2] Cf. 2 Thess 1:5-7.

[3] Cetedoc 0433, 62A.11.28.11; NPNF 2 9:211**.

13:14a | Set Up Where It Ought Not Be

THE PLACE OF SACRILEGE

ORIGEN: By the holy place is to be understood every saying of divine Scripture spoken by the prophets from Moses onwards, and by the Evangelists and apostles. In this holy place of all the Scriptures, Antichrist, the false Word, has often stood. This is the abomination of desolation. [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 42. [2]

[1] Cf. Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; 1 Macc 1:54; Mt 24:15.

[2] PG 13:1660; AEG 5:131*.

13:14b | Let Those Who Are in Judea Flee to the Mountains

WHEN AND WHERE TO FLEE

ORIGEN: He who flees ought to know the place to which he ought to flee, and also to pray that he may not flee in the time which is opposed to flight. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 41. [1]

[1] PG 13:1664; AEG 5:135*.

13:15 | Let Him Who Is on the Housetop Not Go Down, nor Enter His House, to Take Anything Away

WHAT TOP OF WHAT HOUSE?

ORIGEN: The housetop in this case suggests a lofty and exalted mind. We are commanded not to descend down from this housetop. Let one who flees in persecution not fail to go up to this housetop, but also from this housetop let him not come down to scramble for the things down below, in his house. HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 12.13 (18). [1]

[1] TLG 2042.021, 19.13.22-26; AEG 5:133.

13:17 | Alas for Those Who Give Suck in Those Days!

PROVIDING FOR WHAT ONE HAS ACQUIRED

AUGUSTINE: This is said figuratively, distinguishing those with child from those who give suck. Those who are with child are the souls whose hope is in the world. Those who have acquired what they hoped for are “those who give suck.” Suppose someone yearns to buy a country estate. She is with child, for her object is not gained as yet. The womb swells in hope. She buys it. When she has given birth, she now gives suck to what she has bought. Woe to those who put their hope in the world. Woe also to those who cling to those things which they brought forth through hope in the world. ON THE PSALMS 96.14. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0283, 39.95.14.7; NPNF 1 8:474*. Idolatry toward worldly goods may come in the form of expecting fulfillment in the worldly or in living with the strains of the achievement of what had been hoped for in the worldly.

13:18 | Pray That It May Not Happen in Winter

WHEN SLUGGISH IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

HIPPOLYTUS: When the elect pray that their flight not be on the Sabbath or in the winter, this means that God asks us not to let ourselves be surprised by the things which meet us unexpectedly when we might be sluggish in righteousness (neglecting the Sabbath or caught in worldly preoccupations). AGAINST GAIUS 5. [1]

[1] CSCO 101:17; AEG 5:138*.

KEEP ON PRAYING

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Winter is without fruit and sabbath without labor. [1] Do not let it be you who might be led away captive under such circumstances—when you have neither fruit nor work. Pray that captivity does not come either of some external necessity, such as the winter, or during a time of inattentiveness such as the sabbath. This means that neither the constraint of others nor the relaxation of your own will should be the occasion to take you away from the work of the Lord your God. … It is true that distress will come and that you will have to flee. But keep on praying lest this calamity come upon you in the winter, or surprise you on the sabbath when you are resting. … Winter is the time of repose from all the work of the summer, just as the sabbath is the time of repose, the seventh day, when work is not done. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 24:20, which has “sabbath.”

[2] CSCO 137:261-262; JSSS 2:277-78**.

13:19 | For in Those Days There Will Be Such Tribulation As Has Not Been from the Beginning

THE LAST TRIBULATION

GREGORY THE GREAT: Let us keep in mind that these present afflictions are as far below the last tribulations, as is the person of the herald below the majesty of the judge he precedes. Reflect with all your mind upon this day, my dearest ones. Remedy what is now defective in your present life. Amend your ways. Overcome evil temptations by standing firm against them. Repent with tears of the sins you have committed. For the more you make ready against the severity of his justice by serving him in fear, the more serenely shall you behold the coming of that eternal judge, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, world without end. Amen. ON THE GOSPEL, HOMILY 1. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 1711, 1.1.6.33; SSGF 1:20*; Migne PL 76, 1077-81, Homily 1.

13:22a | False Christs Will Lead Astray, If Possible, the Elect

THE PRETENSE OF TRUTH

ORIGEN: While Antichrist is generically one, there may be many species of him. It is as if one would say that falsehood is generically one, but according to the differences of false doctrines there are found many specific falsehoods. … “If possible” is a hyperbole. For he did not suggest or indicate that even the elect are to be thrown into error, but wishes to show that often the words of the heretics are exceedingly plausible and have power to move even those who hear them wisely. Every word professing to be truth while not the truth, whether among gentiles or barbarians, is in a sense Antichrist, seeking to mislead as though the truth, and to separate from the One who said, “I am the truth.” [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 46. [2]

[1] Jn 14:6.

[2] PG 13:1668-9; AEG 5:143-44*.

13:22b | I Have Told You All Things Beforehand

BEWARE OF THE ADVERSARY

CYPRIAN: The more the Adversary rages, the more error deceives. Senselessness makes its pretenses, envy inflames, covetousness makes blind, impiety depraves, pride puffs up, discord exasperates, anger hurries headlong. … Let the brethren beware of these things, for “I have told you all things beforehand.” [1] Avoid such people. Drive them away from your side and your ears, as if their mischievous conversation were the contagion of death. … It is an enemy of the altar, a rebel against Christ’s sacrifice, who offers the faithful faithlessness, who is a disobedient servant, an impious son, a hostile brother, who despises bishops, who forsakes the elders, who dares to set up another altar to make another prayer with prohibited words, to profane the truth of the Lord’s offering. TREATISES, ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 16-17. [2]

[1] Mt 24:25; Mk 13:22.

[2] Cetedoc 0041, 16.410; ANF 5:426-27*. Avoid the purveyors of error.