Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Matthew 24:9

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you." In good season did He introduce their ills, having a consolation from the common miseries; and not in this way only, but also by His adding, that it is "for my name's sake. For ye shall be hated," He saith, "of all men for my name's sake. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and many false Christs and false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. …

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 75 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He foretells the evils that will occur, strengthening His disciples by speaking of these things beforehand. It is often the unexpected that strikes terror and disarray, so He mitigates their fear beforehand by speaking in advance of the terrible events that will be: the spite, the enmity, the snares, and the false prophets who are the forerunners of the Antichrist, deceiving many who will then hurl themselves headlong into every type of iniquity. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. The apostles are a representation of all believers, not that the apostles themselves will be found in physical form at that time.

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

But because all these things come not from the injustice of the one striking but from the merit of the world that suffers, the deeds of wicked men are set forth first when it is said: "But before all these things they will lay their hands upon you and persecute you, and deliver you to synagogues, leading you before kings and governors for my name's sake." As if he were saying openly: First the hearts of men are disturbed, and afterward the elements, so that when the order of things is thrown into confusion, it may be shown from what …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 35 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted. Then he sets forth certain things that were to come in the Church. In the Church there were to be both prosperous things and adverse. And first he sets forth the adverse; secondly, the prosperous, at and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world. He announces the adverse in two ways: from those outside and from those inside. Deuteronomy 32:25: Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and within, terror. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗