---
title: "Catena Aurea: The Four Gospels"
author: "Thomas Aquinas"
translator: "John Henry Newman (ed.)"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 179 of 394
url: https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/179/
cite: "Thomas Aquinas, tr. John Henry Newman (ed.), Catena Aurea: The Four Gospels, section 179. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/179/"
---

# Catena Aurea: The Four Gospels

*Thomas Aquinas, tr. John Henry Newman (ed.)*

The four Gospels read through chains of quotations from the Church Fathers.

## 179. Mark 8 · 2 of 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/179/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/179/#p-N

[¶0] Theophylact: By a special providence also the disciples forgot to take bread, that they might be blamed by Christ, and thus become better, and arrive at a knowledge of Christ’s power. For it goes on, "And He charged them, saying, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod."

[¶1] Pseudo-Chrysostom:, Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: Matthew says, "of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees;" Luke, however, of the Pharisees only. All three, therefore, name the Pharisees, as being the most important of them, but Matthew and Mark have each mentioned one of the secondary sects; and fitly has Mark added "of Herod," as a supplement to Matthew’s narrative, in which they were left out. But in saying this, He by degrees brings the disciples to understanding and faith.

[¶2] Theophylact: He means by leaven their hurtful and corrupt doctrine, full of the old malice, for the Herodians were the teachers, who said that Herod was the Christ.

[¶3] Bede: Or, the leaven of the Pharisees is making the decrees of the divine law inferior to the traditions of men, preaching the law in word, attacking it in deed, tempting the Lord, and disbelieving His doctrine and His works; but the leaven of Herod is adultery, murder, rash swearing, a pretence of religion, hatred to Christ and His forerunner.

[¶4] Theophylact: But the disciples themselves thought that the Lord spoke of the leaven of bread. Wherefore it goes on, "And they reasoned amongst themselves, saying, it is because we have no bread;" and this they said, as not understanding the power of Christ, who could make bread out of nothing; wherefore the Lord reproves them. For there follows: "And when Jesus knew it, He said unto them, Why reason ye because ye have no bread?"

[¶5] Bede: Taking occasion then from the precept, which He had commanded, saying, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod," our Saviour teaches them what was the meaning of the five and the seven loaves, concerning which He adds, "And do ye not remember, when I brake the five loaves amongst five thousand, and how many baskets full of fragments ye took up?"

[¶6] For if the leaven mentioned above means perverse traditions, of course the food, with which the people of God was nourished, means the true doctrine.

[¶7] Ver. 22. And He cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto Him, and besought Him to touch him.23. And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when He had spit on his eyes, and put His hands upon him, He asked him if he saw ought.24. And he looked up and said, "I see men as trees, walking."25. After that He put His hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.26. And He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town."

[¶8] Gloss: After the feeding of the multitude, the Evangelist proceeds to the giving sight to the blind, saying, "And they came to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man to Him, and besought Him to touch him."

[¶9] Bede, in Marc., 2, 34: Knowing that the touch of the Lord could give sight to a blind man as well as cleanse a leper. It goes on, "And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town."

[¶10] Theophylact: For Bethsaida appears to have been infected with much infidelity, wherefore the Lord reproaches it, "Woe to thee, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." [[Matt. 11], ] He then takes out of the town the blind man, who had been brought to Him, for the faith of those who brought him was not true faith. It goes on, "And when He had spit in his eyes, and put His hands upon him, He asked him if he saw ought."

[¶11] Pseudo-Chrysostom:, Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: He spat indeed, and put His hand upon the blind man, because He wished to shew that wonderful are the effects of the Divine word added to action; for the hand is the symbol of working, but the spittle, of the word proceeding out of the mouth. Again He asked him whether he could see any thing, which He had not done in the case of any whom He had healed, thus shewing that by the weak faith of those who brought him, and of the blind man himself, his eyes could not altogether be opened.

[¶12] Wherefore there follows: "And He looked up, and said, I see men as trees walking;" because he was still under the influence of unfaithfulness, he said that he saw men obscurely.

[¶13] Bede: Seeing indeed the shapes of bodies amongst the shadows, but unable to distinguish the outlines of the limbs, from the continued darkness of his sight; just as trees standing thick together are wont to appear to men who see them from afar, or by the dim light of the night, so that it cannot easily be known whether they be trees or men.

[¶14] Theophylact: But the reason why he did not see at once perfectly, but in part, was, that he had not perfect faith; for healing is bestowed in proportion to faith.

[¶15] Pseudo-Chrysostom:, Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: From the commencement, however, of the return of his senses, He leads him to apprehend things by faith, and thus makes him see perfectly; wherefore it goes on, "After that, He put His hands again upon his eyes, and he began to see," and afterwards he adds, "And he was restored, and saw all things clearly," that is, being perfectly healed in his senses and his intellect.

[¶16] It goes on, "And He sent him away to his house, saying, Go into thy home, and if thou enter into the town, tell it not to any one."

[¶17] Theophylact: These precepts He gave him, because they were unfaithful, as has been said, lest perchance he should receive hurt in his soul from them, and they by their unbelief should run into a more grievous crime.

[¶18] Bede: Or else, He leaves an example to His disciples that they should not seek for popular favour by the miracles which they did.

[¶19] Pseudo-Jerome: Mystically, however, Bethsaida is interpreted, ’the house of the valley’, that is, the world, which is the vale of tears. Again, they bring to the Lord a blind man, that is, one who neither sees what he has been, what he is, nor what he is to be. They ask Him to touch him, for what is being touched, but feeling compunction?

[¶20] Bede: For the Lord touches us, when He enlightens our minds with the breath of His Spirit, and He stirs us up that we may recognise our own infirmity, and be diligent in good actions. He takes the hand of the blind man, that He may strengthen him to the practice of good woks.

[¶21] Pseudo-Jerome: And He brings him out of the town, that is, out of the neighborhood of the wicked; and He puts spittle into his eyes, that he may see the will of God, by the breath of the Holy Ghost; and putting His hands upon him, He asked him if he could see, because by the works of the Lord His majesty is seen.

[¶22] Bede: Or else, putting spittle into the eyes of the blind man, He lays His hands upon him that he may see, because He has wiped away the blindness of the human race both by invisible gifts, and by the Sacrament of His assumed humanity; for the spittle, proceeding from the Head, points out the grace of the Holy Ghost. But though by one word He could cure the man wholly and all at once, still He cures him by degrees, that He may shew the greatness of the blindness of man, which can hardly, and only as it were step by step, be restored to light; and He exhibits to us His grace, by which He furthers each step towards perfection.

[¶23] Again, whoever is weighed down by a blindness of such long continuance, that he is unable to distinguish between good and evil, sees as it were men like trees walking, because he sees the deeds of the multitude without the light of discretion.

[¶24] Pseudo-Jerome: Or else, he sees men as trees, because he thinks all men higher than himself. But He put His hands again upon his eyes, that he might see all things clearly, that is, understand invisible things by visible, and with the eye of a pure mind contemplate, what the eye hath not seen, the glorious state of his own soul after the rust of sin. He sent him to his home, that is, to his heart; that he might see in himself things which he had not seen before; for a man despairing of salvation does not think that he can do at all what, when enlightened, he can easily accomplish.

[¶25] Theophylact: Or else, after He has healed him, He sends him to his home; for the home of every one of us is heaven, and the mansions which are there.

[¶26] Pseudo-Jerome: And He says to him, "If thou enter into the town, tell it not to any one," that is, relate continually to thy neighbours thy blindness, but never tell them of thy virtue.

[¶27] Ver. 27. And Jesus went out, and His disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way He asked His disciples, saying unto them, "Whom do me say that I am?"28. And they answered, "John the Baptist: but some say, ’Elias;’ and others, ’One of the prophets.’ "29. And He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?" And Peter answereth and saith unto Him, "Thou art the Christ."30. And He charged them that they should tell no man of Him.31. And He began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.32. And He spake that saying openly. And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him.33. But when He had turned about and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men."

[¶28] Theophylact: After taking His disciples afar from the Jews, He then asks them concerning Himself, that they might speak the truth without fear of the Jews. Wherefore it is said, "And Jesus entered, and His disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi."

[¶29] Bede, in Marc., 2, 35: Philip was that brother of Herod, of whom we spoke above, who in honour of Tiberius Caesar called that town, which is now called Paneas, Caesarea Philippi. It goes on, "And by the way He asked His disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?"

[¶30] Pseudo-Chrysostom:, Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: He asks the question with a purpose, for it was right that His disciples should praise Him better than the crowd.

[¶31] Bede: Wherefore He first asks what is the opinion of men, in order to try the faith of the disciples, lest their confession should appear to be founded on the common opinion. It goes on, "And they answered, saying, ’Some say John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, One of the prophets."

[¶32] Theophylact: For many thought that John had risen from the dead, as even Herod believed, and that he had performed miracles after his resurrection. After however having enquired into the opinion of others, He asks them what was the belief of their own minds on this point. Wherefore it continues, "And He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?"

[¶33] Chrys., Hom. in Matt., 54: From the manner, however, itself of the question, He leads them to a higher feeling, and to higher thoughts, concerning Him, that they might not agree with the multitude. But the next words shew what the head of the disciples, the mouth of the Apostles, answered; when all were asked, "Peter answereth and saith unto Him, Thou art the Christ."

[¶34] Theophylact: He confesses indeed that He is the Christ announced by the Prophets; but the Evangelist Mark passes over what the Lord answered to his confession, and how He blessed him, lest by this way of relating it, he should seem to be favouring his master Peter; Matthew plainly goes through the whole of it.

[¶35] Origen, in Matt. Tom., 12, 15: Or else, Mark and Luke, as they wrote that Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ," without adding what is put down in Matthew, "the Son of the living God," so they omitted to relate the blessing which was conferred on this confession. It goes on, "And He charged them that they should tell no man of Him."

[¶36] Theophylact: For He wished in the meantime to hide His glory, lest many should be offended because of Him, and so earn a worse punishment.

[¶37] Chrysostom: Or else, that He might wait to fix the pure faith in their minds, till the Crucifixion, which was an offence to them, was over, for after it was once perfected, about the time of His ascension, He said unto the Apostles, "Go ye and teach all nations."

[¶38] Theophylact: But after the Lord had accepted the confession of the disciples, who called Him the true God, He then reveals to them the mystery of the Cross.

[¶39] Wherefore it goes on, "And He began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again; and He spake that saying openly," that is, concerning His future passion.

[¶40] But His disciples did not understand the order of the truth, neither could they comprehend His resurrection, but thought it better that He should not suffer.

[¶41] Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: The reason, however, why the Lord told them this, was to shew, that after His cross and resurrection, Christ must be preached by His witnesses. Again, Peter alone, from the fervour of his disposition, had the boldness to dispute about these things. Wherefore it goes on, "And Peter took Him up, and began to rebuke Him."

[¶42] Bede: This, however, he speaks with the feelings of a man who loves and desires; as if he said, This cannot be, neither can mind ears receive that the Son of God is to be slain.

[¶43] Chrysostom: But how is this, that Peter, gifted with a revelation from the Father, has so soon fallen, and become unstable? Surely, however, it was not wonderful that one who had received no revelation concerning the Passion should be ignorant of this. For that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God, he had learnt by revelation; but the mystery of His cross and resurrection had not yet been revealed to him. He Himself, however, shewing that He must come to His Passion, rebuked Peter. Wherefore there follows, "And when He had turned about and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, etc."

[¶44] Theophylact: For the Lord, wishing to shew that His Passion was to take place on account of the salvation of men, and that Satan alone was unwilling that Christ should suffer, and the race of man be saved, called Peter Satan, because he savoured the things that were of Satan, and, from unwillingness that Christ should suffer, became His adversary; for Satan is interpreted ’the adversary.’