TRV
Augustine of Hippo
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500
7,530 passages across 62 books of the Bible · Who was this?
On Mark
20 of 236-
Mark 13:3-8
(Epist. cxcix. 9.) In answer to the disciples, the Lord tells them of things which were from that time forth to have their course; whether He meant the destruction of Jerusalem which occasioned their question, or His own coming through the Church, (in which He ever comes even unto the end, for we know that He comes in His own, when His members are born day by day,) or the end itself, in which He will appear to judge the quick and the dead.
(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:3-4
There is no discrepancy in the Gospels as to facts of the end time, 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.
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Mark 13:6
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, 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.
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Mark 13:10
(de Con. Evan. ii. 77) Matthew adds: And then shall the end come. (Matt. 24:14) Mark, however, by the word first means before the end come.
(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:14
(de con. ii. 77) Matthew says, standing in the holy place; but with this verbal difference Mark has expressed the same meaning; for He says where it ought not to stand, because it ought not to stand in the holy place.
(Epist. cxcix. 9.) But Luke, in order to show that the abomination of desolation happened when Jerusalem was taken, in this same place gives the words of our Lord, And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. (Luke 21:20) It goes on: Then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains.(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:17
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.
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Mark 13:19-20
(Epist. cxcix. 9.) For Josephus, who has written the history of the Jews, relates that such things were suffered by this people, as are scarcely credible, wherefore it is said, not without cause, that there was not such tribulation from the beginning of the creation until now, nor shall ever be. But although in the time of Antichrist there shall be one similar or greater, we must understand that it is of that people, that it is said that there shall never happen such another. For if they are the first and foremost to receive Antichrist, that same people may rather be said to cause than to suffer tribulation.
(ubi sup.) But some persons more fitly understand that the calamities themselves are signified by days, as evil days are spoken of in other parts of holy Scripture; for the days themselves are not evil, but what is done in them. The woes themselves therefore are said to be abridged, because through the patience which God gave they felt them less, and then what was great in itself was abridged.(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:22
(de Civ. Dei, xx. 19) For then shall Satan be unchained, and work through Antichrist in all his power, wonderfully indeed, but falsely. But a doubt is often raised whether the Apostle said Signs and lying wonders, because he is to deceive mortal senses, by phantoms, so as to appear to do what he does not, or because those wonders themselves, even though true, are to turn men aside to lies, because they will not believe that any power but a Divine power could do them, being ignorant of the power of Satan, especially when he shall have received such power as he never had before. But for whichever reason it is said, they shall be deceived by those signs and wonders who deserve to be deceived.
(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:23
(Epist. 78) For He did not only foretel to His disciples the good things which He would give to His saints and faithful ones, but also the woes in which this world was to abound, that we might look for our reward at the end of the world with more confidence, from feeling the woes in like manner announced as about to precede the end of the world.
(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:25
When impious persecutors rage beyond measure, and when the fortune of this world seems to smile upon them and fear leaves them and they say: “Peace and security,” then the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be moved, when many who seemed to shine brilliantly with grace will yield to the persecutors and will fall, and even the strongest of the faithful will be shaken.
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Mark 13:26
(Epist. cxcix. 11.) For since it was said by the Angels to the Apostles, He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven, (Acts 1:11) rightly do we believe that He will come not only in the same body, but on a cloud, since He is to come as He went away, and a cloud received Him as He was going.
(de Trin. i. 13) For the vision of the Son of Man is shown even to the bad, but the vision of the form of God to the pure in heart alone, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8) And because the wicked cannot see the Son of God, as He is in the form of God, equal to the Father, and at the same time both just and wicked are to see Him as Judge of the quick and dead, before Whom they shall be judged, it was necessary that the Son of Man should receive power to judge.(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:26
In his last advent he will come in the clouds to judge the quick and the dead, just as he preached of clouds in his first voice which sounded forth in the gospel: "They will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory." What is "then"? Will not the Lord come again in later times, when all the peoples of the earth shall lament? He came first in preaching, and filled the whole wide world. Let us not resist his first coming, that we may not tremble at his second.
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Mark 13:26
This could be taken in two ways: one, that he will come in the church as in a cloud, as he continues to come now according to his word: “Hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” He comes with great power and majesty because his greater power and majesty will appear in the saints to whom he will give great power, so that they may not be overcome by such persecution. The other way in which he will come will be in his body in which he sits at the right hand of the Father, in which, also, he died and rose again and ascended into heaven.
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Mark 13:27
Concerning the execution of which power, there is immediately added, And then shall he send his angels.
(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:27
That he will gather his elect from the four winds means from the whole world. For Adam himself, as I have shown, signifies in Greek the whole world, with the four letters (A, D, A, M). As the Greeks think of these matters, the four quarters of the world have these initial letters, Anatole (east), Dysis (west), Arktos (north), and Mesembria (south). Adam after the fall has been scattered over the whole world. He was in one place, but fell, and as if crushed in tiny pieces, his progeny filled the whole world. But the mercy of God is gathering together the fragments from every side and is forging them together by the fire of love, and making one what was pulverized. That incomparable artist knew just how to do this. So let no one despair. This indeed is a great work of art. But reflect upon who the artist is. The very one who made shall restore. The one who formed shall reform. Where finally shall we come to know righteousness and truth? He will gather together his elect with him to the judgment, and the rest will be separated out.
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Mark 13:28-31
(Epist. 119, 11) All that is said by the three Evangelists concerning the Advent of our Lord, if diligently compared together and examined, will perchance be found to belong to His daily coming in His body, that is, the Church, except those places where that last coming is so promised, as if it were approaching; for instance in the last part of the discourse according to Matthew, the coming itself is clearly expressed, where it is said, When the Son of Man shall come in his glory. (Matt. 25:31) For what does he refer to in the words, when ye shall see these things come to pass, but those things which He has mentioned above, amongst which it is said, And then ye shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. The end therefore shall not be then, but then it shall be near at hand. Or are we to say, that not all those things which are mentioned above are to be taken in, but only some of them, that is, leaving out these words, Then shall ye see the Son of man coming; for that shall be the end itself, and not its approach only. But Matthew has declared that it is to be received without exc…
(Epist. 119, 11) All that is said by the three Evangelists concerning the Advent of our Lord, if diligently compared together and examined, will perchance be found to belong to His daily coming in His body, that is, the Church, except those places where that last coming is so promised, as if it were approaching; for instance in the last part of the discourse according to Matthew, the coming itself is clearly expressed, where it is said, When the Son of Man shall come in his glory. (Matt. 25:31) For what does he refer to in the words, when ye shall see these things come to pass, but those things which He has mentioned above, amongst which it is said, And then ye shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. The end therefore shall not be then, but then it shall be near at hand. Or are we to say, that not all those things which are mentioned above are to be taken in, but only some of them, that is, leaving out these words, Then shall ye see the Son of man coming; for that shall be the end itself, and not its approach only. But Matthew has declared that it is to be received without exception, saying, When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. That which is said above must therefore be taken thus; And he shall send his angels, and gather together the elect from the four winds; that is, He shall collect His elect from the four winds of heaven, which He does in the whole of the last hour, coming in His members as in clouds.(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:32
I am by no means of the opinion that a figurative mode of expression can be rightly termed a falsehood. For it is no falsehood to call a day joyous because it makes people joyous. A lupine seed is not sad because it lengthens the face of the eater because of its bitter taste. So also we say that God “knows” something when he makes his hearers know it (an instance quoted by yourself in the words of God to Abraham, “Now I know that you fear God”). These are by no means false statements, as you yourself readily see. Accordingly, the blessed Hilary threw light on an obscure point by this kind of figurative expression, showing how we ought to understand the words that “he did not know the day,” with no other meaning than this: In proportion as he had made others ignorant by concealing his meaning, he spoke of it figuratively as his own lack of knowledge. So by concealing it, he so to speak caused others not to know it. He did not by this explanation condone lying, but he proved that it was not lying to use the common figures, including metaphors, as a form of speech available to all, a mo…
I am by no means of the opinion that a figurative mode of expression can be rightly termed a falsehood. For it is no falsehood to call a day joyous because it makes people joyous. A lupine seed is not sad because it lengthens the face of the eater because of its bitter taste. So also we say that God “knows” something when he makes his hearers know it (an instance quoted by yourself in the words of God to Abraham, “Now I know that you fear God”). These are by no means false statements, as you yourself readily see. Accordingly, the blessed Hilary threw light on an obscure point by this kind of figurative expression, showing how we ought to understand the words that “he did not know the day,” with no other meaning than this: In proportion as he had made others ignorant by concealing his meaning, he spoke of it figuratively as his own lack of knowledge. So by concealing it, he so to speak caused others not to know it. He did not by this explanation condone lying, but he proved that it was not lying to use the common figures, including metaphors, as a form of speech available to all, a mode of expression entirely familiar to all in daily conversation. Would anyone call it a lie to say that vines are jeweled with buds, or that a grainfield waves, or that a young man is in the flower of his youth, because he sees in these objects neither waves nor precious stones, nor grass, nor trees to which these expressions would literally apply? -
Mark 13:32
According to “the form of God” everything that the Father has belongs to the Son: for “All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine.” According to the form of a slave, however, his teaching is not his own, but of the One who sent him. Hence “Of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” He is ignorant of this in the special sense of making others ignorant. He did not “know it” in their presence in such a way as to be prepared to reveal it to them at that time. Recall that in a similar way it was said to Abraham: “Now I know that you fear God,” in the sense that now I am taking you through a continuing journey to know yourself, because Abraham came to know himself only after he had been tried in adversity.… Jesus was “ignorant” in this sense, so to speak, among his disciples, of that which they were not yet able to know from him. He only said that which was seasonally fitting for them to know. Among those with mature wisdom he knew in a different way than among babes.
ON THE TRINITY 1.12.23
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Mark 13:32-37
(Epist. 199, 3) For He not only speaks to those in whose hearing He then spake, but even to all who came after them, before our time, and even to us, and to all after us, even to His last coming. But shall that day find all living, or will any man say that He speaks also to the dead, when He says, Watch, lest when he cometh he find you sleeping? Why then does He say to all, what only belongs to those who shall then be alive, if it be not that it belongs to all, as I have said? For that day comes to each man when his day comes for departing from this life such as he is to be, when judged in that day, and for this reason every Christian ought to watch, lest the Advent of the Lord find him unprepared; but that day shall find him unprepared, whom the last day of his life shall find unprepared.
(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 13:32
No one should arrogate to oneself the knowledge of that time by any computation of years. For if that day is to come after seven thousand years, everyone could learn its advent simply by adding up years. What comes then of the Son’s even “not knowing” this? This is said with this meaning, that his hearers do not learn this from the Son, not that he by himself does not know it. It is to be understood according to that form of speech by which “The Lord your God tries you that he may know,” which means, that he may make you know. Again, the phrase “arise, O Lord” means make us arise. Thus when the Son is said not to know this day, it is not because he is ignorant of it, but because he causes those to know it not for whom it is not yet expedient to know it, for he does not show it to them.