on the HOLY GOSPEL

in four books

COMMENTARY ON

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Preface

The divine men who lived before the law did not learn from scriptures and books, but, having a pure mind, were enlightened by the illumination of the All-Holy Spirit, and thus learned the will of God from the conversation of God Himself with them lip to mouth. Such were Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Moses. But when people became corrupt and unworthy of enlightenment and instruction from the Holy Spirit, then the loving God gave the Scriptures, so that, even with its help, they would remember the will of God. In the same way, Christ Himself first personally conversed with the Apostles, and (after) sent them the grace of the Holy Spirit as a teacher. But since the Lord foresaw that heresies would arise later and our morals would deteriorate, He was pleased that the Gospels should be written, so that we, learning the truth from them, would not be carried away by heretical lies, and so that our morals would not be completely corrupted.

He gave us the four Gospels because we learn from them the four main virtues: courage, wisdom, truth, and chastity: we learn courage when the Lord says:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul

(Matthew 10:28); wisdom, when he says:

Be wise as serpents

(Matthew 10:16); truth, when he teaches:

As you want people to do to you, do you also to them

(Luke 6:31); chastity, when he says: