After the miracle over the loaves, the Lord immediately went to another place, fearing that the people would be indignant as a result of such a miracle and would not think of making 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, having the ability to produce only earthly signs by the power of Beelzebub. But Jesus does not heed them; For for the signs from heaven have another time, I mean, the time of the second coming, when the powers of heaven will be moved and the moon will not give its light, but the time of the first coming has nothing of the kind, but everything is full of meekness. And therefore "no sign shall be given to this generation" from heaven.

And leaving them, he went back into the boat and went to the other side. At the same time, His disciples forgot to take loaves of bread, and had no bread with them in the boat except one. And he commanded them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." And reasoning among themselves, they said, "This means that we have no loaves." Jesus, having understood, said to them, "Why do you reason that you have no loaves? Do you not yet understand and do not understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, don't you see? Having ears, do you not hear? And don't you remember? When I broke five loaves of bread for five thousand people, how many full baskets did you take up pieces? They said to Him, Twelve. And when seven is four thousand, how many baskets have you taken of the remaining pieces? They said seven. And he said to them, How then do you not understand?

The Lord leaves the Pharisees as incorrigible people. For one must tarry 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 rebuke they would become wiser and come to know the power of Christ. For when the Lord told them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, that is, the teaching of the Pharisees, they thought that the Lord was reminding them of the leaven of bread. Thus, He justly rebukes them as not understanding the power of Christ, by which the Lord can make bread out of nothing. The teaching of the Pharisees and Herodians is called leaven for the reason that it was tart and filled with old malice. And everyone who is old in evil and cannot say anything spiritual to delight the throat of the hearer, 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-appeared teachers who said that Herod is Christ and that one should believe in him.

He comes to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man to Him, and ask him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the village, and spitting on his eyes, laid his hands on him, and asked him, "Does he see anything?" He looked at him and said, "I see people passing by like trees." Then again he laid his hands on his eyes and told him to look. And he was healed and began to see everything clearly. And he sent him home, saying, Go not into the village, and tell no man in the village.

Bethsaida and Chorazin seem to have suffered from great unbelief, for which Christ reproached them, as He says (Matt. 11:21): "Woe to thee, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the powers manifested in you had been manifested in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." 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 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 may know that the divine word and the action that follows the word can perform miracles: for the hand is the image of the action, and the spittle is the image of the word, since it comes out of the mouth. Therefore, the Lord does not suddenly allow him to see, but gradually, as 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 have said, were unbelievers, and that man among them would have harmed his soul; He does not even command anyone to speak about what has happened to him, so that the unbelievers will 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 things 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 monasteries there.

And Jesus went with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way He asked His disciples: "Whom do people say that I am?" They answered: for John the Baptist; others for Elijah; and others for one of the prophets. He said to them, "And who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to him, "You are the Christ." And He forbade them not to speak of Him to anyone.

He asks them about Himself, taking them far away from the Jews, so that they would have no one to fear to confess 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 the resurrection he also received the power of miracles, whereas during his lifetime John did not perform a single sign. Having asked them in this way about the opinions of others, the Lord then asks them their own opinion, as if to say: they think so about Me erroneously, and whom do you consider Me to be? What about Peter? He confesses Him to be the Christ foretold by the prophets. But what the Lord said in response to Peter's confession and how He blessed him, Mark omitted it, so as not to appear partial to Peter, his teacher. On the contrary, Matthew spoke about everything without omission. The Lord commanded them not to speak to anyone, because He wanted to hide His glory, so that many would not be offended by Him and through unbelief would not become guilty of a greater punishment.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer much, to be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and to be killed, and on the third day to rise again. And he spoke about it openly. But Peter, having called Him back, began to rebuke Him. And he, turning and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou thinkest not of the things of God, but of the things of men."

Having accepted from His disciples the confession that He is the true Christ, the Lord revealed to them the mystery of the Cross. But He did not yet fully reveal it, for the Apostles did not understand what He was saying, and did not understand what it meant to be resurrected, but 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 of many, and that Satan alone does not want Him to suffer and save people, calls Peter "Satan" because of his thoughts peculiar to Satan, because he did not want Christ to suffer, but rebuked Him; Satan means adversary. "Depart from Me," he says, that is, follow My will, do not contradict Me and do not be My adversary, but follow Me. Peter, in the words of the Lord, thought about "human" things, because he thought carnal things, wanted the Lord to remain in peace, not to give Himself over to the Crucifixion and not to be subjected to misfortune for the salvation of the world.

And having called the people with his disciples, he said to them, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel's sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what ransom will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Since Peter rebuked Christ, who wanted to give Himself up to be crucified, Christ calls the people and says aloud, directing His speech mainly against Peter: "You do not approve that I take up 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 also the one who would not want to die, but "who will." "I," he said, "do not force anyone. 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 oneself? We will understand this when we learn what it means to reject another someone. Whoever rejects another person, whether father, brother, or any one of the household, even if he has watched how he is beaten or killed, does not pay attention and does not sympathize, having become a stranger to him. In the same way the Lord commands us, that for His sake we also despise our body and do not spare it, even if we beat or reproach us. "Take up thy cross," it is said, that is, a shameful death, for the cross was then revered as an instrument of shameful execution. And since many have been crucified and robbers, he adds that with the crucifixion one must have other virtues, for this is the meaning of the words: "Follow me." Since the command to give oneself over to death would seem heavy and cruel, the Lord says that, on the contrary, it is very philanthropic; For whoever destroys his soul, but for My sake, and not as a thief who is executed or a suicide (in which case death will not be for My sake), he, he says, will gain his soul, while he who thinks to gain a soul will destroy it, if he does not stand during the time of torment. Do not tell Me that this last one will save his life, for even if he were to gain the whole world, it would be useless. Salvation cannot be bought by any wealth. Otherwise, he who has gained the whole world, but has lost his soul, would have given everything when he burns in the flames, and thus would have been redeemed. But such a ransom is impossible there. Here the mouths of those are also blocked who, following Origen, say that the state of their souls will change for the better after they are punished in proportion to their sins. Let them hear that there is no way to give a ransom for the soul, and to suffer only to the extent that is supposedly necessary for the satisfaction of sins.

For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of Man also be ashamed, when He shall come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

For since man is dual, there must also be a twofold sanctification, that is, the sanctification of the soul through faith and the sanctification of the body through confession. Thus, whoever is "ashamed" to confess the Crucified One as his God, he too will be "ashamed," will recognize him as His unworthy servant, when He "comes" no longer humble, not in the humiliation in which He appeared here before and for which some are ashamed of Him, but "in glory" and with the host of angels.

Chapter Nine