Fathers

Loading…

What the Fathers say

Mark 4:8

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Why did one soil bear a hundred, one sixty, one thirty? The difference is the readiness of the ground, for even where the ground is good, differences remain in the readiness of soils. The fault lies not in the farmer or the seed, but in the condition of the land itself, its disposition to receive.

The Gospel Of St Matthew, Homily 44.6 ↗

Cyril of Alexandria

Observe therefore, that just as Christ described three degrees of loss, so similarly the degrees of success are equal in number. For those seeds that fall upon the pathway are snatched away by the birds: and those upon the rocks, having merely shot up, within a little while wither away: and those among the thorns are choked. But that desirable land brings forth fruit in three several degrees, as I said: a hundred, sixty, and thirtyfold. …

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 41 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

But the fourth seed fell on good ground. So observe how rare goodness is and how few are being saved! Only a fourth part of the seed proved to have survived!

Commentary on Mark ↗