ACC ~ Matthew 3 v10

THE AXE LAID TO THE ROOT

CHRYSOSTOM: He did not merely say that the axe was barely “touching the root” but “laid to the root”—it is poised right next to it and shows no sign of delay. Yet even while bringing the axe so near, he makes its cutting depend upon you. For if you turn around and become better persons, this axe will be laid aside without doing any harm. But if you continue in the same ways, it will tear up the tree by the roots. So note well that the axe is neither removed from the root nor too quickly applied to cut the root. He did not want you to become passive, yet he wanted to let you know that it is possible even in a short time to be changed and saved. He first heightened their fear in order to fully awaken them and press them on to repentance. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 11.3. [1]

[1] PG 57:195; NPNF 1 10:70**.

THE ROOT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He calls Christ an axe “sharper than a two-edged sword,” [1] which was to cut off the unbelieving Jews and dissociate them from the honor and communion of the patriarchs. Those spoken of as “the root” are the fathers of old who remained well pleasing to God, those who with Abraham and as with many people in former times were holy. The unbelievers who sprang from them were cut off as fruitless branches. But the root remained, onto which those of the believing Gentiles were engrafted. And as Irenaeus reminds us, God’s Word is like an axe in accordance with Jeremiah’s saying: the word of the Lord is “like a pickaxe chopping stone.” [2] Why am I saying that you are going to fall away? God did not spare the root. FRAGMENT 24. [3]

[1] Heb 4:12.

[2] Jer 23:29 LXX (RSV: “like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces”).

[3] MKGK 160.

THE AXE

ANONYMOUS: The axe is the utter wrath of the destruction about to strike down the whole world. If that axe was prepared, why did it not strike down? And if it was not about to strike down, why was it made ready? The trees [1] of which we speak have a rational quality and have the power either to do or not to do good. Since an axe has been laid at their roots they fear being cut down, as they were called to bear fruit. An evildoer is not corrected by fear. But a good person will perish unless he has appropriate fear. Therefore, even if angry denunciation does nothing to change evildoers, it serves to distinguish the bad from the good. Note, however, that the axe is not said to be laid at the branches that they may be cut down and then restored. It is laid at the roots that they may be irretrievably eradicated. Why? Because as long as this world steeped in evil has not come to final judgment, [2] sinners are chastised but not cut away altogether. This is for two reasons. First, it was necessary for people responding to God to have a locus of action in the world, even if the world is full of iniquity. Second, with the world continuing on, there was hope that some just people might be born from the generations of the unjust. But now with the former world ending and the holy world fast approaching, sinners are not being chastised but turned out. There is room for hope that from the generations of the unjust, some just people may possibly be born. But it would be inappropriate in this coming holy world to have people who are not holy, as it is written: The upright of heart shall inhabit the earth, but “the evildoers lie prostrate, they are thrust down, unable to rise.” [3] INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 3. [4]

[1] Symbolizing human beings.

[2] 1 Jn 5:19.

[3] Ps 36:12 (35:12 LXX).

[4] PG 56:652.

THREAT OF DIVINE JUDGMENT

CHROMATIUS: There is no doubt this axe signifies the power of the divine word, for God says through Jeremiah the prophet: “Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces?” [1] Therefore this axe which is laid at the very roots of interior faith in this forest of humanity always implies the severe threat of divine judgment. Unfruitful trees or barren people, bearing no fruit of faith, will be cut down and consigned to perpetual fire. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 11.1. [2]

[1] Jer 23:29.

[2] CCL 9a:239.

FAITHLESSNESS DESTROYED

HILARY: The axe laid at the roots of the trees witnesses to the power present in Christ. The cutting down and burning of the trees signifies the destruction of barren faithlessness that is being prepared for the fire of judgment. ON MATTHEW 2.4. [1]

[1] SC 254:106.

Mt