I even say unto you, From henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.

This is announced to them by the words of the Prophet Daniel, who said: "With the clouds of heaven came as the Son of man" (Dan. 7:13). Since the accusers considered Him to be a charmer who took upon Himself a humble image, the Lord said to them: "Then you will see Me coming with power and sitting together with the Father (here he calls the power of the Father by power), coming not from earth, but from heaven.

Then the high priest tore his garments and said, "He blasphemes! What else do we have witnesses for? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy! What do you think? And they answered and said, I am guilty of death.

It was the custom of the Jews to tear their clothes when something unbearable happened. In the same way, Caiaphas, as if on account of blasphemy, did this to deceive the people, in order to show that Christ had uttered a terrible blasphemy, and thereby force the people to proclaim Him guilty of death. However, it is necessary to know that Caiaphin's tearing of his clothes was a sign of the tearing of the Old Testament hierarchy.

Then they spat in His face and shook Him; and others smote Him on the cheeks, and said, "Prophesy unto us, O Christ, who smote Thee?"

When they condemned Him, then they began to show Him all kinds of bitterness, and mocked Him, covering His face with His garments, as another Evangelist says (Mark 14:65). Since He was recognized as a prophet, therefore the enemies mock Him. The words "they spat in His face and shook Him" mean: they struck with their hands with bent fingers, or, more simply, they beat with their fists.

Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a maidservant came to him, and said, "And thou wast with Jesus of Galilee." But he denied it before all, saying, "I do not know what you say." And when he was going out of the gate, another woman saw him, and said to those who were there, "This one was also with Jesus of Nazareth." And he again denied with an oath that he did not know this Man. And it came to pass that those who stood there came near, and said unto Peter, Surely thou art also one of them, for thy speech also convicts thee. Then he began to swear and swear that he did not know this Man. And suddenly a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word spoken to him by Jesus: "Before the crows, you will deny Me three times." And when he went out, he wept bitterly.

Possessed by excessive fear, Peter forgot his promises to the Master and submitted to human weakness, as if dying of fear and not knowing what he was saying. But you should also understand this in the highest sense. Peter is accused of being a servant, that is, of human infirmity, of this little slave. Until the rooster crowed and brought him to his senses; The rooster signifies the word of Jesus, which does not allow us to weaken and sleep, but says, "Watch, and arise ye that sleep." With this word, awakened like a rooster, Peter went out of the bishop's court, that is, from the state of his blinded mind, and, coming out of it, began to weep. While he was in the courtyard of the blinded mind, he did not cry, because he had no feeling; but as soon as he came out of it, he came to his senses.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

And when morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel concerning Jesus, to put him to death; and having bound him, they led him away and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

See how the devil took possession of everyone and persuaded them to murder in such days, when they should have made many sacrifices and offerings for the sins of others and kept themselves in purity and purity. And they bind and take Christ to the governor Pilate. Pilate comes from Pontus, but, as a Roman subject, he was sent as governor to Judea. And they delivered up to Pilate the Lord, who was supposed to be a rebellious man who plotted against the king.

Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He was condemned, and repented, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said to him, What have we to do with this? See for yourself. And he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple, and went out, and went and hanged himself.

Judas comes to his senses too late, and although he repents, it is not for good. To confess guilt, of course, is a good deed, but to hang oneself is the devil's. And he, by the devil's suggestion, not tolerating future dishonor, took his own life, whereas he should have wept and besought the Faithful, and not given himself over to demons. Some, however, say that Judas, as a man of money, thought that he would gain money by selling Christ, and that Christ would not be put to death, but would escape the Jews, as he had often avoided before; but now, when he saw that he had been condemned and condemned to death, he repented, because in fact it had not turned out as he had imagined. For this reason he hanged himself, intending as if to precede Jesus in hell and there beseech Him and receive salvation. Still, this was according to the teaching of the enemy. Moreover, let it be known to you that although Judas put a noose around his neck and hanged himself from a tree, the tree bent down, and he lived, for God wanted to preserve him either for repentance or for parable and reproach. And it is said that he fell into watersickness and his body became so swollen that where the chariot passed freely, he could not pass, and afterwards, falling on his face, he was torn asunder, or "his belly was split open," as Luke says in Acts (Acts 1:18).

And the chief priests took the pieces of silver, and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury of the church, because it is the price of blood. And when they had taken counsel, they bought with them the potter's land for the burial of the strangers; for this reason that land is called "the land of blood" to this day. Then was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, who says: "And they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of the Priced One, Whom the children of Israel valued, and gave them for the potter's land, as the Lord told me."