ACC ~ Mark 6 v40

THE DIVISION BY COMPANIES

ORIGEN: Since there are different classes of those who need the food which Jesus supplies, for all are not equally nourished by the same words, on this account I think that Mark has written, “And he commanded them that they should all sit down by companies upon the green grass; and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties.” [1] … For it was necessary that those who were to find comfort in the food of Jesus should either be in the order of the hundred—the sacred number which is consecrated to God because of its completeness; or in the order of the fifty—the number which symbolizes the remission of sins in accordance with the mystery of the Jubilee which took place every fifty years, and of the feast at Pentecost. [2] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.3. [3]

[1] Mk 6:39-40.

[2] Cf. Lev 25:10; Tob 2:1; Acts 2:1.

[3] ANF 9:433*; TLG 2042.029, 11.3.33-38, 40-46.