Take heed you be not seduced, for many will come in my name.

St Luke Chapter XXI : Verses 5-13

Contents

• Luke xxi. Verses 5-13.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate)
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary

Luke xxi. Verses 5-13.

The days will come in which there shall not be left a stone upon a stone...
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

5 And some saying of the temple, that it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said:

Et quibusdam dicentibus de templo quod bonis lapidibus et donis ornatum esset, dixit :

6 These things which you see, the days will come in which there shall not be left a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down.

Hæc quæ videtis, venient dies in quibus non relinquetur lapis super lapidem, qui non destruatur.

7 And they asked him, saying: Master, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when they shall begin to come to pass?

Interrogaverunt autem illum, dicentes : Praeceptor, quando haec erunt, et quod signum cum fieri incipient?

8 Who said: Take heed you be not seduced; for many will come in my name, saying, I am he; and the time is at hand: go ye not therefore after them.

Qui dixit : Videte ne seducamini : multi enim venient in nomine meo, dicentes quia ego sum : et tempus appropinquavit : nolite ergo ire post eos.

9 And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified: these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently.

Cum autem audieritis prælia et seditiones, nolite terreri : oportet primum haec fieri, sed nondum statim finis.

10 Then he said to them: Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Tunc dicebat illis : Surget gens contra gentem, et regnum adversus regnum.

11 And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there shall be great signs.

Et terræmotus magni erunt per loca, et pestilentiae, et fames, terroresque de caelo, et signa magna erunt.

12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for my name's sake.

Sed ante hæc omnia injicient vobis manus suas, et persequentur tradentes in synagogas et custodias, trahentes ad reges et præsides propter nomen meum :

13 And it shall happen unto you for a testimony.

continget autem vobis in testimonium.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

5. And certaine ſaying of the Temple that it was adorned with goodly ſtones and donaries, he ſaid:

6. Theſe things which you ſee, the daies wil come wherein there ſhal not be left a ſtone vpon a ſtone that ſhall not be deſtroied.
7. And they aſked him, ſaying: Maiſter, when ſhal these things be: and what ſhal be the ſigne when they ſhal begin to come to paſſe?

8. Who ſaid: See you be not ſeduced. For many wil come in my name, ſaying that I am he: and the time is at hand, goe not therfore after them.
9. And when you ſhal heare of warres and ſeditions, be not terrified: theſe things muſt firſt come to paſſe, but the end is not yet by and by.

10. Then he ſaid to them: Nation shal riſe against Nation, and Kingdom againſt Kingdom.
11. And there ſhal be greate earth-quakes in places, and peſtilences and famines, and terrours from Heauen, and there ſhal be great ſignes.
12. But before al theſe things they wil lay their hands vpon you: and perſecute you deliuering you into the Synagogues and priſons, drawing you to Kings and Preſidents for my name.
13. and it ſhal happen vnto you for teſtimonie.

 

Annotations

[Taken from the Great Commentary on Chapter xxiv of St Matthew's Gospel. The verse numbers of St Luke's Gospel have been inserted.]

   5. And some saying of the temple, &c. The occasion was because Christ, at the end of the preceding chapter, had predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, and consequently of the Temple. The disciples therefore, being amazed at this desolation of so great a city, show Him the wonderful fabric of the Temple, its beauty and magnificence, which seemed worthy of lasting for ever, in order that they might move Christ to pity, and to revoke the sentence of destruction. For this Temple was the wonder of the world, as Josephus says (de Bello Jud. vi. 6), “Its exterior had everything for the mind and the eye to admire. The roof was entirely covered with very heavy gold plates. At sunrise it was seen from afar with such a fiery splendour as to dazzle the eyes of beholders, as though they were gazing at the sun itself.” See S. Hilary, “After Christ had threatened the destruction of Jerusalem, they show Him the magnificence of its construction, as if He could be moved by the desire of it.” So, too, Origen, S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Jansen, and others. But none of this magnificence moved Christ to recall His sentence. In like manner God overthrew all the magnificence of Babylon, Nineveh, Antioch, and Rome, as well on account of the wickedness of their inhabitants, as that He might show that all such splendour is transitory, and of little worth, that so He might draw the minds of men to regard and desire the magnificence of Heaven, which is far greater, as well as eternal.

    Truly and piously saith S. Augustine, “He will not be a great man who thinks it much that wood and stone should fall and mortals die.” Such were the thoughts with which S. Austin was wont to comfort himself, when Hippo, the city of which he was bishop, was besieged by the Vandals, and which was taken by them and burnt after his death.

    6. These things which you see, the days will come in which there shall not be left a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down. One stone shall not be left upon another. This is a hyperbole, meaning, there shall be utter and total destruction. The Romans did not spend so much time upon the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple as not to leave a stone upon a stone; but yet it was burnt by them, and destroyed in so effectual a manner, that it was razed to the ground, and a plough caused to pass over its site, as S. Jerome testifies on Zech. 8, and Josephus. And this is what Christ here indicates.

    Listen to Josephus (l. 7, Bell. c. 18), 

“Titus bid them utterly destroy the city and the Temple. But there was left standing the three towers, Hippicus, Phaselus, and Mariamne, and that part of the wall of the city which defended it on the west. This was done for the sake of the garrison which he left. And the towers were allowed to stand, in order to be a witness to posterity how strongly fortified was the city which the valour of the Romans had captured. But the remainder of the fortifications they so completely levelled with the ground, that persons who approached would scarcely have believed that the city had ever been inhabited.”

    7. And they asked him, saying: Master, when shall these things be? : the Disciples here ask two things; the first, that Christ would tell them when Jerusalem was to be destroyed; the second, when the destruction of the world and the Day of Judgment would be, when He should come to judge all men. The Disciples thought that Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed at the glorious Advent and reign of Christ at the end of the world, as if He were about to destroy them in punishment and vengeance for His death. For they supposed that these three things, namely, the destruction of the city, the end of the world, and the Day of Judgment would all take place at the same time. And as they knew from the words of Christ that the destruction of the city was nigh at hand, they thought that the end of the world and the Day of Judgment was also at hand. They seemed to come to this conclusion from the words of Christ (Matt. xxii.7, 8, and xxiii. 5), where He seems to join all those events together, and speak of them unitedly.

    8. Who said: Take heed you be not seduced, i.e., from faith in Me and My Gospel.

    for many will come in my name, &c. Such were, 

    1. that Theudas, of whom in Acts v. 36. 

    2. That Egyptian impostor, of whom Josephus (l. 2, Bell. cap. 12) and Acts xxi. 38. 

    3. Simon Magus, of whom Acts viii.10, who, as S. Jerome asserts, was wont to say, “I am the word of God: I am beautiful: I am the Paraclete: I am Almighty: I am all in all.” For this Simon, as Irenæus testifies (lib. 1, c. 20), used to say that he had appeared in Judea as the Son, in Samaria as the Father, and had come down among the Gentiles as the Holy Ghost. Thus this proud Titan, as it were another Lucifer, was wont to say that he was not only Messiah, or Christ, but the whole Blessed Trinity. He it was who, by his magic spectres, so deluded Nero and the Romans, that a statue was erected to him at Rome, between two bridges, with this inscription, To Simon, a great god. 

    4. Such were Menander, Saturninus, the Gnostics, and the rest who sprang from the family of Simon. 

Lastly, such will be Antichrist, who will proclaim himself to the Jews to be Christ, according to the words of the Lord in John v. 43, “If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive,” which every one understands of Antichrist, as S. Augustine says (Serm. 45, de Verb. Dom.).

    9. And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, &c. Rumours: Gr. ἀκοάς, reports; Arab, news, which are often more miserable than the battles themselves, and more thoroughly torment the mind with the fear of evils to come, even though they do not come. Here is another sign given by Christ, prior to the destruction of the city and the world, viz., tumults, wars, seditions, &c. Josephus shows that such took place before the destruction of Jerusalem (lib. 2, de Bello, cap. 11). As S. Chrysostom says, “He declares there shall be a twofold war, one by the seducers, the other by the enemies.”

    be not terrified, &c. That through fear of the enemy ye do not depart from My faith, or by despairing of fruit give up preaching the Gospel; but with generous minds struggling against fear and all opposition, go forward and proclaim faith in Me and My Gospel. He adds the reason why the Apostles must not be troubled, saying,

    these things must first come to pass. The Greek has all, which the Vulgate omits. 

    but the end is not yet presently, the end of Jerusalem and the Temple, much less of the world, also of the battles and evils prior to the destruction of both. For the end of any one battle or trouble will be but the beginning of some greater one, as Josephus says happened at the siege of Jerusalem. Be not troubled, or lose confidence, but have greater courage, that ye may be prepared for the greater evils which shall follow, so as to sustain and overcome them. Do not hope for peace on earth, but by bearing troubles here, pass on to the eternal and happy rest of Heaven.

    Nation shall rise against nation, &c.  After the Jews had captured and slaughtered the Roman garrison of Jerusalem, almost immediately the inhabitants of Ascalon, Ptolemais, Damascus, Alexandria, the Syrians, Romans, and all the neighbouring nations rose up against them. And this state of things continued until the most miserable destruction of Jerusalem. See Josephus, Bell. Jud. passim.

    11. And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences, and famines,  That Judæa was afflicted with famine before the destruction of the capital, is plain from Acts xi. 28.

    Although Josephus says nothing about pestilences or earthquakes, yet it is certain from this prophecy of Christ that they must have happened. And both are usual concomitants of war and famine.

    and terrors from heaven; and there shall be great signs. That these shall precede the destruction of the world is plain from Apoc. chaps. viii. and ix. It is equally certain that they preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. For, 

    1. a dreadful comet, in the shape of a sword, hung over Jerusalem a whole year before its destruction. 

    2. At the Passover, when the people were gathered together, three hours after midnight, a light as bright as noon-day shone for half an hour in the Temple. 

    3. A bullock that was about to be offered in sacrifice brought forth a lamb. 

    4. The eastern gate of the Temple, made of brass, and so heavy that it could be with difficulty closed by twenty men, opened of its own accord at the hour of midnight. 

    5. There was seen in the air the appearances of armies, chariots, and battles. 

    6. There was heard at Pentecost the voices of angels, saying in the Temple, “Let us depart hence.” 

    7. An ignorant man of the lower orders, Jesus the son of Ananus, began suddenly to cry aloud, “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the Temple, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, a voice against the whole people.” And this he continued to cry night and day without ceasing, perambulating all the streets of the city. This he did for seven years, crying with a dreadful voice, like one astonied, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem,” until at last, when the city was besieged by Titus, as he was crying upon the wall with a louder voice than usual, “Woe to Jerusalem, to the Temple, to the people, and to myself,” he was struck by a stone hurled from one of the military engines of the besiegers, and killed. For all these things, see Josephus, Bell. 7. 12, and Eusebius, H. E. iii. 8.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.