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Mark 8:1. In those days, when a very large crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them: Mark 8:2. I feel sorry for the people who have been with Me for three days now and have nothing to eat. Mark 8:3. If I send them away sick to their homes, they will become weak on the way, for some of them have come from afar. Mark 8:4. His disciples answered Him: where could anyone get bread here in the desert to feed them? Mark 8:5. And he asked them: How many loaves do you have? They said: seven. Mark 8:6. Then he ordered the people to lie down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed it to the people. Mark 8:7. They also had a few fish: having blessed them, He ordered them to be distributed too. Mark 8:8. And they ate and were filled; and they took up the remaining pieces into seven baskets. Mark 8:9. Those who ate were about four thousand. And he let them go. The Lord had already performed a similar miracle before. He works miracles even now, given a favorable opportunity. And the situation was such that the people were with Him for three days, and the food supply they had taken for the road was all gone. For the Lord did not always perform miracles on food, so that they would not think that the people followed Him for food. Even now he would not have started to work miracles if the people apparently did not face danger from lack of food. But look at the disciples, how foolish they still are and do not yet have faith in His power, although they have already seen miracles! However, the Lord does not blame them, teaching us not to attack the inexperienced too much, but to forgive them as those who do not understand. Consider also that Christ does not want to let anyone go hungry, but wants to satisfy everyone with His gifts, and especially those who stayed with Him for three days, that is, those who were baptized. Since baptism is called enlightenment and is performed in three immersions, those who are enlightened by baptism turn out to be three days old. The Lord takes “seven loaves,” I mean seven most spiritual words, for the number seven is an image of the Spirit. The Spirit brings everything to completion, and our life and this age are completed in the number seven. The enlightened eat and are satisfied, and leave excess, since not all God’s thoughts can contain. Above, during the miracle of the five loaves, twelve boxes of excess remained, since there were five thousand, which meant those servile to the five senses; Therefore, they could not eat much, but were satisfied with little, which is why there was a lot left in excess. And here from the seven loaves there remained seven baskets and a small surplus, since the people were four thousand, which means those established in the four virtues; and therefore, being stronger, they ate a lot and left little, because they could not eat only that which was more spiritual and deep, and this is what the seven baskets mean. From the history under consideration, learn also that we should be content with only what we need and not ask for anything more. For these people, having eaten and were satisfied, did not take the leftover grain with them, but the disciples took them, just as it was with the above-mentioned boxes. Likewise, we should be content with what is given, according to our needs. Mark 8:10. And immediately he entered the boat with his disciples and arrived at the borders of Dalmanutha. Mark 8:11. The Pharisees came out, began to argue with Him and demanded a sign from heaven from Him, tempting Him. Mark 8:12. And He, taking a deep breath, said: Why does this generation require a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation. After the miracle of the loaves, the Lord immediately went to another place, fearing that the people would become indignant as a result of such a miracle and decide to make Him king. And the Pharisees demand a sign from heaven, for example, to stop the sun or the moon, to bring down lightning, to make a change in the air. They thought that He was not able to create a heavenly sign, being able to produce only earthly signs through the power of Beelzebub. But Jesus does not heed them; for another time has been appointed for signs from heaven, I mean, the time of the second coming, when the powers of heaven will move and the moon will not give its light, but the time of the first coming has nothing like it, but everything is filled with meekness. Therefore, “no sign will be given to this generation” from heaven. Mark 8:13. And, leaving them, he again entered the boat and went to the other side. Mark 8:14. At the same time, His disciples forgot to take the loaves and had nothing but one loaf with them in the boat. Mark 8:15. And He commanded them, saying: See, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. Mark 8:16. And, reasoning among themselves, they said: this means that we have no bread. Mark 8:17. Jesus, having understood, said to them: Why do you argue that you have no loaves? Do you still not understand and understand? Is your heart still hardened? Mark 8:18. Having eyes, don't you see? Having ears, don't you hear? and don't remember? Mark 8:19. When I broke five loaves for five thousand people, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up? They say to Him: twelve. Mark 8:20. And when there are seven for four thousand, how many baskets did you pick up of the remaining pieces? They said seven. Mark 8:21. And he said to them: How come you don’t understand? The Lord leaves the Pharisees as incorrigible people. For one must linger where there is hope for correction, and where evil is incorrigible, one must flee from there. The disciples forgot to take the loaves according to God’s special dispensation, so that after Christ’s severe reprimand they would become wiser and know the power of Christ. For when the Lord told them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, that is, the teachings of the Pharisees, they thought that the Lord was reminding them of the leaven of bread. So, rightly, He reproaches them as not understanding the power of Christ, with which the Lord can create bread out of nothing. He calls the teaching of the Pharisees and Herodians leaven for the reason that it was tart and filled with old malice. And everyone who has become worn out in evil and cannot speak anything spiritual to sweeten the throat of the one who hears, has in himself the leaven of ancient malice, that is, a teaching that is poisonous and leads those who accept it only to repentance. But who were the Herodians? These are some newly emerged teachers who said that Herod is Christ and that one should believe in him. Mark 8:22. Comes to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man to Him and ask him to touch him. Mark 8:23. He took the blind man by the hand, led him out of the village and, spitting in his eyes, laid his hands on him and asked him: does he see anything? Mark 8:24. He looked and said: I see people passing by, like trees. Mark 8:25. Then he again laid his hands on his eyes and told him to look. And he was healed and began to see everything clearly. Mark 8:26. And he sent him home, saying: Do not enter the village and do not tell anyone in the village. Bethsaida and Chorazin, it seems, suffered from great unbelief, for which Christ reviled them, as he says: “Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the powers that were manifested in you had been manifested in Tire and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matthew 11:21). Upon the Lord's arrival here, a blind man is brought to Him. But the faith of those who brought him was not pure, which is why the Lord leads the blind man out of the village and then heals him. He spits on the eyes of the blind man and lays his hands on him, so that we know that the Divine word and the action following the word can perform miracles: for the hand is an image of action, and spitting is an image of the word, since it comes out of the mouth. But the blind man himself did not have perfect faith. Therefore, the Lord does not suddenly give him his sight, but gradually, like a person who does not have complete faith, for according to the measure of faith, healings are also given. He commands him not to enter the village, because the inhabitants of Bethsaida, as I said, were infidels, and that man among them would have harmed his soul; He does not even order anyone to talk about what happened to him, so that the unbelievers would not be subjected to greater condemnation. And we are often blind in soul, living in a village, that is, in this world; but when we leave the village, that is, when we reject the affairs of the world, Christ heals us; after healing, He tells us not to return to the village again, but to go home, and the home of each of us is heaven and the abodes there. Mark 8:27. And Jesus went with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, He asked His disciples: Who do people say that I am? Mark 8:28. They answered: for John the Baptist; others - for Elijah; and others - for one of the prophets. Mark 8:29. He says to them: Who do you say that I am? Peter answered Him: You are the Christ. Mark 8:30. And he forbade them not to tell anyone about Him. He asks them about Himself, taking them far from the Jews, so that they have no one to fear from confessing the truth. They answer that some take Him for John, others for Elijah; for many thought that John was resurrected, as Herod also believed, that after his resurrection he received the power of working miracles, while during his life John did not perform a single sign. Having asked them in this way about the opinions of others, the Lord then asks them for their own opinion, as if saying: they think about Me this way erroneously, but who do you think I am? What about Peter? He confesses Him to be the Christ foretold by the prophets. But what the Lord said to Peter’s confession and how he pleased him, Mark omitted, so as not to seem biased towards Peter, his teacher. On the contrary, Matthew said everything without omission. The Lord did not order them to tell anyone, because He wanted to cover His glory, so that many would not be offended by Him and, through unbelief, would become guilty of greater punishment. Mark 8:31. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. Mark 8:32. And he spoke about this openly. But Peter, having called Him away, began to contradict Him. Mark 8:33. He, turning and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter, saying: Get away from Me, Satan, because you think not about the things of God, but about the things of men. Having accepted the confession from His disciples that He is the true Christ, the Lord revealed to them the mystery of the Cross. But he had not yet fully revealed it, for the apostles did not understand what He was saying, and did not understand what it meant to be resurrected, but they thought that it was better for Him not to suffer at all. That is why Peter begins to object, saying that it is in vain to give himself up to death when he may not suffer. But the Lord, showing that His suffering will be for the salvation of them and many, and that Satan alone does not want Him to suffer and save people, calls Peter “Satan” for his thoughts, characteristic of Satan, for the fact that he did not want Christ to suffer, but contradicted Him; Satan means adversary. “Get away from Me,” he says, that is, follow My will, do not contradict and do not be My opponent, but follow Me. Peter, according to the Lord, thought about “human things”, for he thought about carnal things, he wanted the Lord to remain in peace, not to give Himself up to the Crucifixion and not to be attacked for the salvation of the world. Mark 8:34. And calling the people with His disciples, He said to them: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Mark 8:35. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel will save it. Mark 8:36. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Mark 8:37. Or what ransom will a man give for his soul? Since Peter reproached Christ, who wanted to hand himself over to the Crucifixion, Christ calls the people and speaks out loud, directing his speech mainly against Peter: You do not approve of the fact that I take the Cross, but I tell you that neither you nor anyone else will be saved unless you die for virtue and truth. Notice that the Lord did not say: die even the one who would not want to die, but “whoever wants to.” “I don’t force anyone,” he says. I call not for evil, but for good, and therefore whoever does not want it is not worthy of it. What does it mean to deny yourself? We will understand this when we learn what it means to reject someone else. Whoever rejects someone else: whether his father, brother, or someone from his family, even if he watches him being beaten or killed, does not pay attention and does not sympathize, having become alien to him. So the Lord commands us, so that for His sake we should despise our body and not spare it, even if they beat or blame us. “Take up your cross,” it is said, that is, blasphemous death, for the cross was then revered as an instrument of blasphemous execution. And since many were crucified and robbers, he adds that with the crucifixion there should be other virtues, for this is what the words mean: “follow me.” Since the command to surrender oneself to death would seem difficult and cruel, the Lord says that, on the contrary, it is very humane; for whoever destroys his soul, but for My sake, and not as a robber being executed or a suicide (in this case, death will not be for My sake), he, he says, will find his soul, while he who thinks to gain a soul will destroy it if he does not resist during the torment. Do not tell Me that this last one will save his life, for even if he acquired the whole world, everything is useless. Salvation cannot be bought by any amount of wealth. Otherwise, having acquired the whole world, but destroyed his soul, he would have given everything when he burned in the flame, and thus would have been redeemed. But such a ransom is impossible there. Here the mouths of those who, following Origen, say that the state of souls will change for the better after they are punished in proportion to their sins are stopped. Let them hear that there is no way to give a ransom for the soul, and to suffer only to the extent necessary, supposedly to satisfy for sins. Mark 8:38. For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels. Internal faith alone is not enough: verbal confession is also required. For since man is dual, sanctification must also be twofold, that is, the sanctification of the soul through faith and the sanctification of the body through confession. So, whoever is “ashamed” to confess the Crucified One by His God, He will also be “ashamed” and recognize him as an unworthy servant when He “comes” no longer in a humble form, not in humiliation, in which He appeared here before and for which some are ashamed of Him, but “in glory” and with the army of Angels.