Interpretation of the 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians by St. Paul the Apostle

Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria gained experience in explaining the Holy Scriptures when, as a rhetorician of the Great Church, he instructed the people. Most of his written interpretations arose at the request of the Greek Empress Maria, whom he calls his pious patron. These works became an outstanding synthesis and transposition of the established patristic traditions, primarily the heritage of the Antiochian theological school and St. John Chrysostom. As a rule, the author presents abbreviated versions of extensive interpretations of the ancient Church Fathers, borrowing only what is necessary for understanding the text. The commentary also includes his own explanations, which often concern disputes with heretics, especially later ones, and issues of dialogue with the Latins. Thanks to his clear, concise presentation and clear semantic emphasis, his commentaries were accessible to a wide range of readers, became widespread and had a significant influence on both Byzantine and Western European theology. In his “Commentary on the 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians of the Holy Apostle Paul” (3 chapters), Blessed Theophylact explains that the main reason for writing this letter was unrest and rumors about the imminent approach of the end of times, caused by the activities of false teachers. The main topics raised in the comments: a warning about the appearance of the Antichrist, signs of the end of the world, the need to remain faithful to Christ and await the coming of the Savior. The Apostle Paul writes his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians for the following reason. In his first letter, he wrote to them that he strongly wanted to see them, and since he did not achieve what he wanted, then, unable to bear the separation any longer, he sent Timothy to them, showing by this how much he wanted to come to them. But since he was not able to go to them and correct the shortcomings of their faith, for this reason he adds a second message to the first, wanting to replace his personal presence with messages. And that he did not go to them is clear from the following: in the first letter he did not write about when the Lord would come, which they did not need to know about; now he writes about this too. Indeed, if he himself were with them, he would not write now. He writes about this issue out of necessity. Some seducers said that the coming of the Lord was drawing near and, most dangerous of all, they invented some words as if they were spoken by Paul, and messages as if they were written by him. But the devil planned this to shake the believers. And since believers considered the hope of the resurrection to be a great consolation, because they expected that they would receive a reward for virtue, and would see their persecutors deservedly punished, the devil allowed his servants to teach that the coming of Christ and the judgment were already coming, in order to show that in the future there was no reward, no judgment, no punishment, in order to thus destroy the hopes of the saints and make the enemies of the Gospel more daring; They even accused Christ Himself of lying, who said that there were some signs of His coming: if these signs were not there, but the resurrection, as they lied, was, then Christ clearly turned out to be a liar. That is why Paul writes this letter and speaks about the coming of the Lord, not revealing the time itself, but pointing to the sign of this time - the Antichrist; comforts those greatly oppressed by disasters and in conclusion shows them a special sign by which they should recognize his true messages. You might be interested in: