in four books

2nd edition, revised

Russian translation from the Greek original

Book 2

Commentary on the Gospel of Mark

Preface

The Holy Gospel of Mark was written in Rome ten years after the Ascension of Christ. This Mark was a disciple and follower of Peter, whom Peter even calls his son, of course, spiritual. He was also called John; was the nephew of Barnabas; accompanied the Apostle Paul. But for the most part he was with Peter, with whom he was in Rome. Therefore the faithful in Rome asked him not only to preach to them without Scripture, but also to set forth for them the works and life of Christ in Scripture; he barely agreed to this, but he wrote. Meanwhile, it was revealed to Peter by God; that Mark wrote the Gospel. Peter testified that it was true. Then he sent Mark as bishop to Egypt, where by his preaching he founded a church in Alexandria and enlightened all those living in the noonday land. The distinguishing features of this Gospel are clarity and the absence of everything incomprehensible. Moreover, the real Evangelist is almost similar to Matthew, except that it is shorter, and Matthew is more extensive, and that Matthew first mentions the Nativity of the Lord according to the flesh, while Mark began with the prophet John. Hence, not without reason, some see the following sign in the Evangelists: God, sitting on the cherubim, whom the Scriptures depict as four-faceted (Ezekiel 1:6), gave us the four-shaped Gospel, animated by one spirit. Thus, in each of the cherubim, one face is called like a lion, another like a man, a third an eagle, and a fourth a calf; so it is in the work of evangelical preaching. The Gospel of John has the face of a lion, for the lion is an image of royal power; so John began with the royal and sovereign dignity, with the divinity of the Word, saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." The Gospel of Matthew has the face of a man, because it begins with the bodily birth and incarnation of the Word. The Gospel of Mark is compared to an eagle, because it begins with a prophecy about John, and the gift of prophetic grace, as the gift of keen vision and insight into the distant future, can be likened to an eagle, which is said to be endowed with the keenest sight, so that it is the only one of all animals who looks at the sun without closing his eyes. The Gospel of Luke is like a calf, because it begins with the priestly ministry of Zechariah, who offered incense for the sins of the people; then a calf was also sacrificed. Thus, Mark begins the Gospel with prophecy and a prophetic life. Listen to what he says!

Chapter One

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I send my angel before you, who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.

John, the last of the prophets, is presented by the Evangelist as the beginning of the Gospel of the Son of God, because the end of the Old is the beginning of the New Testament. As for the testimony about the Forerunner, it is taken from two prophets – from Malachi: "Behold, I send my angel, and he will prepare the way before me" (3:1) and from Isaiah: "The voice of one crying, In the wilderness" (40:3), and so on. These are the words of God the Father to the Son. He calls the Forerunner an Angel for his angelic and almost bodiless life and for the proclamation and indication of the coming Christ. John prepared the way of the Lord, preparing the souls of the Jews for the reception of Christ by means of baptism: "Before Thy face" means that Thy angel is close to Thee. This signifies the kinship of the Forerunner to Christ, since even before kings it is mainly kindred persons who are honored. "The voice of one crying: In the wilderness...", that is, in the wilderness of the Jordan, and even more so in the synagogue of Judah, which was empty in relation to good. The way means the New Testament, the "paths" – the Old, as repeatedly violated by the Jews. For the way, that is, for the New Testament, they had to prepare themselves, and to correct the paths of the Old, for although they received them of old, they afterwards turned away from their paths and went astray.

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the land of Judah and the people of Jerusalem went out to him, and they were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

John's baptism did not have absolution of sins, but introduced only repentance for people. But how does Mark say here, "for the forgiveness of sins"? To this we reply that John preached the baptism of repentance. And what did this sermon lead to? To the remission of sins, that is, to the baptism of Christ, which already included the remission of sins. When we say, for example, that so-and-so came before the king, commanding to prepare food for the king, we mean that those who fulfill this command are favored by the king. So it is here. The Forerunner preached the baptism of repentance so that people, having repented and accepted Christ, would receive the forgiveness of sins.

And John wore a robe of camel's hair, and a leather girdle on his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey.