How to reconcile these seeming contradictions? It seems that the Evangelist Luke will provide the key to their complete reconciliation. He says: "He, having taken them with Him, departed especially (ύπεχώρησε κατ' ιδίαν — departed especially) into an empty place"... Here κατ' ιδίαν does not refer to the crossing by boat, but to the way of the Lord on the shore after the crossing. At the crossing, "He took them with Him"; then on the shore he separated from them in a special empty place"... So it turns out in Luke: Do not others, i.e. the Evangelists Matthew and Mark, say so? The Evangelist Matthew says: "(The Lord) departed from there, Ode found Him with the news of the death of John the Stronger, to a desert place alone" (κατ' ιδίαν – especially). What does κατ' ιδίαν refer to here? To a boat, or to a desolate place? Does the Evangelist mean to say that He went alone on a boat? or that He withdrew into a desolate place alone? There can be no doubt that the Evangelist understood the latter. For him, because of the connection of his speech, it did not matter whether Jesus went separately on a boat or not. He says before this that the disciples of John the Baptist came and told Him about his death at the hands of Herod, "and when Jesus heard, he departed from thence... to a desolate place alone", i.e. He went into solitude, departed alone, as He did at other important moments.

The word "on a boat" was added by the Evangelist only to signify that He went "to the other side," not here He retired to the place where His important message was found, but crossed "to the other side."

Thus, according to the connection of the speech, the Evangelist had absolutely no need to emphasize His separate crossing; but there was every reason to emphasize that He withdrew to a desolate place alone...

Further, and grammatically, there is no reason to attribute κατ' ιδίαν to the word "in a boat" and not to the words "to a desolate place," which immediately precede it.

Finally, this meaning completely harmonizes the text of the Evangelist Matthew with the words of the Evangelist Luke, and, therefore, for this reason alone, deserves every preference.

In English, the text could have avoided any ambiguity in such a translation: "Jesus departed from there, having crossed by boat, to a deserted place alone." Or just put the words "on a boat" between commas, as an explanatory insertion only.

Now let us turn to Evangelist Mark (6.31-32): "And the apostles gathered together to Jesus... He said to them, "Go ye alone (κατ' ιδίαν) into a desert place, and rest a little: for there were many who came and went, so that they had no time to eat. And they went to a deserted place in a boat alone" (και απηλθον εις έρημον τόπον τω πλοίω κατ' ιδίαν).

The question arises: what does the Lord mean when He says to the tired and hungry Apostles: "Go alone to a desert place and rest a little?" Is it that they should go separately from Him (κατ' ιδίαν) in a boat? Obviously not. They needed rest, and the Lord sent them to a desert place, so that they could stay there alone, without people, and rest; and the crossing by boat was decidedly indifferent to this purpose, whether it was done with Him or apart from Him.

If in the words of the Lord κατ' ιδίαν – "especially" undoubtedly refers (obviously) to the departure to a deserted place, and not to the crossing by boat, then the subsequent words of the Evangelist, in which he speaks of the fulfillment of this command of the Lord, of course, must be understood in the same sense. "And they went into a desert place in a boat alone" does not mean that they got into the boat and went alone (this is completely indifferent), but that they went to a desert place alone, as the Lord suggested to them.

Чтобы по-русски избежать двусмысленности в выражении, можно бы с греческого сделать такой перевод: и удалились (а не "отправились", как в русском переводе) в пустынное место (переправившись) лодкой (а не в "лодке", как в русском переводе) одни.

а) Переводить απηλθον в данном месте словом "отправились" неудобно потому, что это делает ударение на исходный пункт путешествия, на момент отправки Апостолов, и тогда как ни располагай фразу, все в ней будет выходить по-русски так, как будто бы Апостолы с самой отправки с берега были одни, т. е. когда отправились, были уже одни; а греческий глагол απηλθον этого оттенка не имеет; он просто говорит об удалении, не ударяет на исходный его пункт. (Греческий перевод у того же Евангелиста Марка — 1:20 и 1:35, где и сказано: εξηλθε και απηλθεν, -и по-русски прямо переведено "вышел и удалился").

6) Выражение "в лодке" лучше заменить выражением "лодкой". Это будет буквальный перевод τω πλοίω, как стоит у Евангелиста Марка (а не εν τω πλοίω, как у Евангелиста Матфея), и он имеет то удобство, что по-русски даст оттенок вставочной мысли: Евангелист говорит об этом как бы мимоходом, между прочим, имея в виду главное то, что они удалились для отдыха в уединенное место одни, а "лодкой" вставлено как частность, как черта действительности — не более…

Таким образом, между Евангелистами не оказывается в данном случае даже и тени противоречия. Наоборот, если подумаем, то увидим удивительное, дышащее непосредственной правдой, дополнение их друг другом.

Евангелист Лука не был очевидцем; он передает такую редакцию события, которая была среди очевидцев и соединяла в общем все их точки зрения.