cheap vegetables. Contrary to the Lord's commandment, we devour and neglect that which is great, and in the insignificant, that which profit gives us, we show thoroughness and give it the meaning of a pious act (religionis).

Verses 25-26: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, while inside they are full of theft and unrighteousness. Blind Pharisee! let us first cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, so that their outside may also be clean. In various words, but with the same meaning as before, He denounces the Pharisees of pretense and falsehood, because they show one thing to people on the outside,851 and do another in their home life. This does not mean that their superstition is contained in the cup and the dish, but that from the outside they show people holiness, namely, in their behavior, in their speech, in the storehouses and the lining of their clothes, in long prayers, and so on, but inwardly they are filled with the impurity of vices.

Verses 27-28: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are likened to painted sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness; so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. "What He showed under the image of the cup and the dish, that they are clean852 on the outside, but dirty on the inside, He now shows under the image of the sepulchres, because the outside of the tombs are whitewashed with lime, adorned with marble and gold, and painted with flowers, but on the inside they are filled with the bones of the dead; In the same way, depraved teachers, who preach one thing and do another, show their purity in the cut of clothing and humble speech, but inwardly are filled with all kinds of abomination and lust. Finally, He expresses this even more clearly when He says: "So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Verses 29-31: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build tombs for the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their accomplices in shedding the blood of the prophets; In this way you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who slew the prophets. - By a very wise conclusion (syllogismo) He accuses them of being the sons of murderers, when they themselves, for the sake of their glory among the people and their apparent goodness, build the tombs of the prophets whom their fathers have killed, and say: "If we had lived at that time, we would not have done what our fathers did." Though they do not express this in words, they do so by their deeds, and by proudly and magnificently erecting monuments to those who are slain,853 without denying that they were slain by their fathers.

Verse 32: Complete therefore the measure of your fathers. - Having affirmed in the previous words that they were the sons of murderers and those who slew the prophets, He now draws the conclusion He wanted, and posits, as it were, the final conclusion from the conclusion (extremam syllogism! partem): "Complete therefore the measure of your fathers,854 that is, you complete what they lacked. They have killed the ministers, and you crucify the Lord, they crucify the prophets, and you crucify Him who was proclaimed by the prophets.

Verse 33: Serpents [or with the addition: and] are the offspring of poisonous reptiles! how will you escape from the judgment of hell.855 - John the Baptist said the same856; Indeed, just as poisonous snakes are born from poisonous snakes, so from the fathers of murderers you were born murderers.

Verse 34: Therefore behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, but you will kill and crucify some of them on the cross, and you will scourge them in your congregations, and persecute them from city to city.857 - That which we have said before [namely, that the words]: Complete the measure of your fathers refers to the Lord, because he was to be put to death858 by them, [these words] may also be applied to his disciples, of whom he now says: Behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes, and [one] of them you shall put to death, and crucify them on the cross, and ye shall scourge your congregations, and persecute you from city to city. At the same time, note the words of the Apostle who writes to the Corinthians (1 Cor 7:17-24) that the gifts of Christ's disciples are different: some are prophets who foretell859 the future, others are wise men who know when to speak, others are scribes who are the most learned in the law860; of them Stephen was stoned, Paul was beheaded, Peter was crucified on the cross; in the book of the Acts of the Apostles [it is reported that] the disciples were scourged; and they drove them from one city to another, driving them out of Judea, so that they went over to the nations of the Gentiles.

Verses 35-36: Let all the righteous blood shed on the earth come upon you, from the blood of Abel the righteous to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, that all these things shall come upon this generation. "There is no doubt about Abel, for he is the one whom his brother Cain killed. And he is called righteous not only in the present mention of him by the Lord, but this is also confirmed by the testimony of the Book of Genesis,861 when it is said that his gifts were received from God. The question arises, who was this Zechariah, the son of Barachias, because we have information (legimus) about many Zechariahs. But that we may not have an easy (libera) opportunity to fall into error, it is added: whom you have killed between the temple and the altar. I have learned different things from different writers, and I must set forth some opinions. Some call him Zechariah, the son of Barachias, who was the eleventh of the twelve prophets, and with this the name of his father is in accord; but when he was put to death between the temple and the altar, the Scripture does not say this. Others understand by Zechariah Father John [the Baptist], based on the invention of certain secret books (apocryphorum); they assert that this Zechariah was killed because he preached the coming of the Saviour. As this assertion has no firm foundation (auctoritatem) in the Holy Scriptures, it is rejected as easily as it is proved. Still others suppose (volunt) that this is the same Zechariah who was slain by King Joash between the temple and the altar, as the narrative of the kings relates. But it must be borne in mind that this Zechariah was not the son of Barachia, but the son of the priest Joyad (Russian Jehoiada). For this reason the Holy Scriptures add: Joash did not remember his father Joiad, that he had done him good.862 And so, although we have Zechariah, and although there is agreement about the place of his murder, yet the question arises, why is he called the son of Barachias, and not Jehoiada? Barachia in our language means: blessed of the Lord, and the name of the priest Joyad means righteousness, translated from Hebrew. In the Gospel, which is used by the Nazarenes, we find instead of the words: son of Barachias, the words: son of Jehoiad. The simpler brethren among us, among the ruins of the temple and the altar, or at the entrances to the gate leading to Siloam, show the red stones and imagine that they are sprinkled with the blood of Zechariah. But let us not condemn their errors, which proceed from hatred of the Jews and from pious faith. "Let us speak briefly863 about why the blood of Abel the righteous and further to the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachia should be exacted from this generation, although he did not kill any of them?" The rule of Holy Scripture is such that it presents two kinds of people: good and evil, as if each kind of both (singulorum singulas) is separate. Let us take examples of pointing to the good: Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place.864 And when he has described the many who are to ascend the mountain of the Lord, although they are of different times, he adds at the end: "Such is the generation of those who seek Him, those who seek Thy face, O God of James".866 And in another place it is said of all the saints in the aggregate of the saints: The generation of the righteous shall be blessed.867 And of the wicked it is spoken as in the present place: A race of poisonous serpents, and: All things shall be required of this generation. Likewise, in the book of Ezekiel, the prophetic word, after describing the sins of the earth, adds: "And if these three men were found in it, Noah, Daniel, and Job, [then] I will not forgive the sins of that land.868 In the same way, those who act against the apostles, like Cain and Joash, appear to be men of the same kind.870

Verse 37: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who slays the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! how many times would I have gathered thy children together, as a bird gathereth her young under her wings, but thou wouldst not.871 He does not call the stones and buildings of the city Jerusalem, but its inhabitants: He cries out as if moved by the feeling of the father, just as in another place we read that He wept at the sight of it.872 And in His words, How many times would I have gathered thy children, He bears witness that all the former (retro) prophets were sent by Him. The likeness of a bird that gathers its young under its wings is found in the song of Deuteronomy: "As an eagle covers its nest, it sought with love (desideravit) its young, stretching out its wings, lifting them up, and carrying them on their feathers.873

Стих 38: Се, оставляется вам дом ваш пуст. - Уже прежде в лице пророка Иеремии Он сказал то же самое: Я оставил дом Свой, покинул наследие Свое; наследие Мое сделалось для Меня, как пещера диких зверей874. Что дом Иудеев, то есть храм их, который блистал величием, [ныне] оставлен, в этом мы убеждаемся своими глазами, - потому что он потерял Христа и, чрезвычайно желая предвосхитить наследие, умертвил Наследника.

Стих 39: Ибо сказываю вам: не увидите Меня отныне, доколе не воскликнете (dicatis): благословен Грядый во имя Господне! - Говорится это Иерусалиму и народу иудейскому; а стишок этот, который провозглашали и дети при входе в Иерусалим Господа Спасителя, когда восклицали: Благословен грядущий во имя Господне, осанна (спасение) в вышних, - [этот стишок] Он взял из Сто семнадцатого псалма, - который очевидно написан в отношении к пришествию Господа. И слова Его должно понимать в таком смысле: "Если вы не принесете покаяния и не исповедуете того, что Я именно Тот, о Котором провозвестили пророки, Сын всемогущего Отца, то вы не увидите лица Моего". У иудеев есть время, данное им для покаяния; пусть они исповедуют, что благословен Тот, который пришел во имя Господне, и они увидят лицо Христа.

Глава XXIV. - Стихи 1-2: И выйдя, Иисус шел от храма; и приступили ученики Его, чтобы показать Ему здания храма. Иисус же сказал им: видите ли все это? Истинно говорю вам: не останется здесь камня на камне; все будет разрушено.- В прямом смысле (juxta historiam) значение места понятно. Но [в переносном] это значит, когда Господь вышел из храма, то все

здания закона и совокупность заповедей [его] смешались в таком беспорядке, что ничто не могло быть исполнено иудеями; с отнятием главы все члены начали вражду между собой.

Стихи 3-4: Когда же Он сидел на Масличной горе, приступили к Нему наедине ученики Его со словами: Скажи нам, когда это будет и какой признак пришествия Твоего и кончины мира? И сказал Иисус им в ответ: Смотрите, чтобы кто-нибудь вас не ввел в заблуждение875. - Он сидит на Масличной горе, откуда происходит истинный свет познания; и подходят к Нему ученики Его наедине, так как они хотели знать тайны и откровения будущих событий, и спрашивают у Него о трех событиях: "В какое время будет разрушен Иерусалим? Когда придет876 Христос? Когда наступит кончина мира"?