Interpretation of the Gospel according to Matthew

“Interpretations of the Gospel according to Matthew” (28 chapters) written by Bl. Jerome of Stridon in 398 at the request of Eusebius of Cremona. In this work, blzh. Jerome combines spiritual exegesis with geographical and historical accuracy. In the preface, the author provides brief information about the evangelists and the canonical and non-canonical Gospels. He seeks to briefly consider the literal-historical meaning of the Gospel narrative: “So, without attaching importance to the works of ancient writers, which I do not have the opportunity to re-read and follow, I compiled a brief historical interpretation, which you mainly demanded of me; and only from time to time I added flowers of spiritual interpretation, leaving the improvement of this work for the future.” To characterize the Church, the author uses images and symbols from the Holy Scriptures. The Church, as a pure and immaculate Bride, entered into a spiritual union with Christ, from which the apostles and other Christians descended: “The Groom is Christ, the Bride is the Church. From this sacred-spiritual union came the apostles...” (chapter 9). *The title of the work in Latin is Commentarii in Evangelium Matthaei. Chapter I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII The fact that there were many who wrote the Gospels is evidenced by the Evangelist Luke, who says: “Just as many have already begun to compose narratives about events that are completely known among us, as those who from the very beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word conveyed to us” (Luke 1:1-2), this is clearly shown by the monuments that have survived to this day, which were published by various compilers and served as the beginning of various kinds of heresies, such as the Gospels and from The Egyptians, and from Thomas, and from Matthew, and from Bartholomew, and also from the Twelve Apostles and from Basilides, and Apelles, and others, whom it would be difficult to list. At the same time, at the present time we only need to say that there were some of them who, without the assistance of the Spirit and the grace of God, cared more about just compiling a narrative than about presenting the actual deeds. It is to these that the following prophetic word can rightly be applied: “Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets, who are led by their own spirit and have not seen anything! They see empty things and foretell lies, saying: “The Lord has spoken”; but the Lord did not send them” (Ezek. 13:3, 6). The Savior speaks about them in the Gospel of John: “All of them, no matter how many of them came before Me, are thieves and robbers” (John 10:8), [namely:] “those who came” and not “those who were sent,” for He Himself says: “I did not send them, but they themselves fled” (Jer. 14:14, 23:21). Indeed, in those who come, an insane arrogance is revealed, and in those sent, the devotion of faithful slaves is revealed. And the Church, founded according to the word of the Lord on stone, - the Church which the King brought into His palace (Song 1:3, 2:4.) and to which He extended His hand through the hole of the secret entrance 1, is like a wild goat and a deer (Song 2:9) 2; four rivers of paradise flow through it (Gen. 2:10–14); it has four corners and rings, through which it moves like the Ark of the Covenant and the guardian of the Law of the Lord on wooden poles that are never removed from the rings (Ex. 25:10–12). The first of all was Matthew, a tax collector nicknamed Levi, who wrote the Gospel in Hebrew, perhaps, mainly for the sake of those among the Jews who believed in Christ and no longer wanted to serve the canopy of the Law, whose place was taken by the truth of the Gospel. The second was Mark, interpreter (interpres) of the Apostle Peter and the first bishop of the Alexandrian Church; Although he himself had not seen the Lord the Savior, he outlined the events from what he heard in his Teacher’s sermon, caring more about their correct transmission than about presenting them in order. The third is Luke, a doctor, a Syrian by nationality from Antioch - which is known from Gospel 3 - he was at the same time a disciple of the Apostle Paul. He compiled his book in Achaia and Boeotia (2 Cor. 8:18, John 13:23, 21, 20, John 19:27), conveying the most famous and describing, as he himself states in the introduction, more heard from others than seen personally. The last one is John, the apostle and evangelist, whom Jesus loved more than anyone else and who, reclining on his breasts (John 13:23, 21, 20), was drunk with the moisture of the purest teaching and who alone was honored to hear the famous cry from the cross: “Behold, your Mother!” (John 19:27). When he was in Asia and when there the seeds of the heresies of Cerinthus, Ebion and other heretics who denied the coming of Christ in the flesh were already sprouting there, whom he in one of his epistle calls antichrists, whom the Apostle Paul constantly strikes [with excommunication] (Rom. 3, 2 Cor. 5). 5, he was moved by almost all the Asian bishops of that time and representatives of many churches to write about the Divinity of the Savior more sublimely and - so to speak - to penetrate to the very Word of God through a flight [of thought] not so much daring as happy. And church history tells that when his brothers urged him to write [the Gospel], he replied that he would fulfill their request if they all, having fasted themselves, together asked the Lord. At the end of the fast, he was illuminated by revelation and wrote that heaven-sent introduction 6 [which 7 reads]: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1). These particular four Gospels were predicted much earlier than their writing, as evidenced by the scroll of Ezekiel, in which the first vision is stated as follows: “And from the middle of it the likeness of four living creatures was seen. The similarity of their faces is the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side of all four of them; and on the left side - the face of a bull in all four, and the face of an eagle in all four" (Ezek. 1:5, 10). The first person - a human face - designates the Evangelist Matthew, who began to write [about the Lord] as if about a man: “The genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). The second [person represents] Mark, in whose Gospel one hears, as it were, the voice of a lion roaring in the desert: “The voice of one crying in the desert: prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:3). The third [face] of the calf prefigures the Evangelist Luke, who begins the story with the priest Zechariah. The fourth [person refers] to the Evangelist John, who, having assumed the wings of an eagle and soaring into the heights, talks about the Word of God. And the rest of [Ezekiel's vision] corresponds to the same meaning of it. Their legs were straight and their legs were winged, and wherever the spirit went, they went and did not return. Their back side was full of eyes, and sparks and lamps spread out in the middle (Ezek. 1:5) 8; there were wheels within wheels, and each had four faces. Therefore, the Apocalypse of John, after the image of the twenty-four elders, who, holding harps and bowls in their hands, worshiped the Lamb of God, adds lightning and thunders and seven diverging winds, and a crystal sea, and four living creatures full of eyes (Rev. 4, Rev. 5), saying: “And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like flying eagle"; and a little lower he says: “But inside they are full of eyes; and they have no rest day or night, crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come” (Rev. 4:7–8). From all this it is very clearly revealed that only four Gospels should be accepted, and all apocryphal fabrications should be left to dead heretics rather than to living children of the Church. Beloved Eusebius, I am quite amazed that you, having in mind to suddenly sail to Rome, wanted to receive from me, as it were, a supply of provisions for the journey - namely, so that I, having briefly outlined the Gospel, would present its deep meaning in a few words. If you remembered my answer, you would not ask me to complete a task that requires many years of labor within a few days. Firstly, it is very difficult to re-read everyone who wrote about the Gospels; and secondly, it is much more difficult to borrow the best when discussing the merits of these works. I confess that many years ago I read twenty-five scrolls of Origen for the exposition of the Gospel of Matthew, and the same number of his homilies, and a short and precise mode of interpretation; then the interpretations of Theophanes, bishop of the city of Antioch, as well as the martyr Hippolytus and Theodore Heracleots, and Apollinaris of Laodicea, and Didymus of Alexandria, and small works of the Latins: Hilary, Victorinus, Fortunatian, from which I extracted, admittedly, little, but something worthy of being preserved in memory. And under such conditions, within two weeks, when Easter is already at the door (imminente jam Pascha) and the wind is already blowing [favorable for you], you force me to begin dictating the 9th essay. So, when will the census takers start working? When will the parchment scrolls be written? When will they be cleaned? When will they be put in proper order? Moreover, as you know, I have been so ill for three months that now I am barely beginning to get up, and due to the shortness of the time [indicated by you], I cannot complete such a large amount of work. So, without attaching importance to the works of ancient writers, which I do not have the opportunity to re-read and follow, I compiled a brief historical interpretation, which you mainly demanded of me; and only from time to time I added flowers of spiritual interpretation, leaving the improvement of this work for the future. But if my life continues further and if, on the other hand, you fulfill your promise to return, then I will try to complete the rest, especially since having laid the foundation and partially built the walls of the building, I will lay the most beautiful peak, so that you know what the difference is between bold work undertaken suddenly and careful, tireless labor for writing. Without a doubt, you know, and I would blush if I made you a witness to my lies, that I dictated my actual work to the scribes very hastily, so you might think that I was reading someone else’s work rather than composing my own. But at the same time, do not think that I am saying this out of vanity or arrogance; I say this because I want to show you what great importance you have for me, for I would rather be subjected to dangerous attacks by learned people than to refuse you anything when you urgently ask. Therefore, I conjure you to explain by haste in work, and not by lack of knowledge, those passages in which my speech appears unskillful and my style does not reveal its usual lightness and beauty, and that you hand over one list to the virgin of Christ Principia, who asked me to draw up an interpretation of the book of Song of Songs; I was kept from this work by a long illness and now I place my hope in the future. If you take upon yourself the obligation (hac te lege constringens) to deliver to her what is written for you, then she will also reduce in her bookcase [for you] what should be written by me later for her. In the translation: The Gospel of Matthew - ed. At the lane a link is given to: Song 10, 4 – ed. Song 2, 9 – In the new Synodal Russian translation: “My friend is like a chamois or a young deer” - ed. In the translation: his fame in the Gospel - ed. In the lane: they gave offspring - ed. Question marks in the text of the Interpretation - ed. In the translation: an attack sent from heaven - ed. At the lane: in the middle. According to the old Synodal Russian translation: And I saw, and behold, a stormy wind came from the north, a great cloud and swirling fire, and a radiance around it, and from the middle of it, as it were, the light of a flame from the middle of the fire; and from the middle of it could be seen the likeness of four living creatures” (Ezek 1:5) - ed. In the lane: dictation - ed. You might be interested in: