Church Fathers Commentary Mark 5:1-20

"And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. And when he was come out of the boat, straightway there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling in the tombs: and no man could any more bind him, no, not with a chain; because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him. And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped him; and crying out with a loud voice, he saith, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, torment me not. For he said unto him, Come forth, thou unclean spirit, out of the man. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he saith unto him, My name is Legion; for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there on the mountain side a great herd of swine feeding. And they besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down the steep into the sea, [in number] about two thousand; and they were drowned in the sea. And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they came to see what it was that had come to pass. And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was possessed with demons sitting, clothed and in his right mind, [even] him that had the legion: and they were afraid. And they that saw it declared unto them how it befell him that was possessed with demons, and concerning the swine. And they began to beseech him to depart from their borders. And as he was entering into the boat, he that had been possessed with demons besought him that he might be with him. And he suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and [how] he had mercy on thee. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men marvelled." — Mark 5:1-20 (ASV)

Theophylact of Ohrid: Those who were in the boat inquired among themselves, What manner of man is this? and now it is made known who He is by the testimony of His enemies. For the demon-possessed man came up confessing that He was the Son of God. Proceeding to this event, the Evangelist says, And they came over unto the other side...

The Venerable Bede: Gerasa is a well-known town in Arabia, across the Jordan, near Mount Gilead, which the tribe of Manasseh held. It is not far from the Lake of Tiberias, into which the swine were thrown.¹

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Nevertheless, the exact reading contains neither “Gadarenes” nor “Gerasenes,” but “Gergesenes.” For Gadara is a city of Judea, which has no sea near it at all, and Gerasa is a city of Arabia with neither a lake nor a sea nearby. So that the Evangelists may not be thought to have spoken such an obvious falsehood, being well acquainted as they were with the regions around Judea, Gergesa—from which the Gergesenes come—was an ancient city, now called Tiberias, around which a considerable lake is situated.ⁱ²

The text continues, And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him...

St. Augustine of Hippo: Although Matthew says that there were two, Mark and Luke mention one, so that you may understand that one of them was a more prominent person, by whose condition that country was greatly afflicted.³

St. John Chrysostom: Alternatively, Mark and Luke relate what was most deserving of compassion, and for this reason they describe in greater detail what had happened to this man. For the text continues, no man could bind him, no, not with chains.⁴

Therefore, they simply said, “a man possessed by a devil,” without paying attention to the number. This was done, perhaps, so that he might show the greater power in the Worker, for He who had cured one such man could cure many others. Nor is any discrepancy shown here, for they did not say that there was only one, because then they would have contradicted Matthew.

Now, devils dwelt in tombs, wishing to promote the false belief among many that the souls of the dead were changed into devils.

Gregory of Nyssa: Now the assembly of devils had prepared itself to resist the divine power. But when He who has power over all things was approaching, they proclaimed aloud His eminent power.

Therefore, the text continues, But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, saying...

St. Cyril of Alexandria: See how the devil is torn between two passions, fear and audacity. He hangs back and pleads, as if considering a question. He wishes to know what business he has with Jesus, as if to say, “Are you casting me out from these people, who belong to me?”

The Venerable Bede: And how great is the impiety of the Jews, to say that He casts out devils by the prince of the devils, when the very devils confess that they have nothing in common with Him.

St. John Chrysostom: Then, praying to Him, the man adds, I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he considered being cast out to be a torment, or perhaps he was also being invisibly tortured.

For however evil the devils are, they know that a punishment for their sins ultimately awaits them. But they knew full well that the time of their final punishment had not yet come, especially since they were permitted to mingle with humanity. However, because Christ had come upon them as they were committing such dreadful deeds, they thought the severity of their crimes was so great that He would not wait for the end times to punish them. For this reason, they beg not to be tormented.

The Venerable Bede: For it is a great torment for a devil to stop harming a person, and the more severely he possesses him, the more reluctantly he releases him.

For the text continues, For He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Consider the unconquerable power of Christ; He makes Satan tremble, for to him the words of Christ are fire and flame. As the Psalmist says, The mountains melted at the presence of the Lord (Psalm 97:5), which refers to great and proud powers.

The text continues, And He asked him, What is thy name?

Theophylact of Ohrid: The Lord asks, not because He needed to know, but so that the others might know that a multitude of devils was dwelling in the man.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Lest he not be believed if He affirmed there were many, He wishes for them to confess it themselves. Therefore, the text continues, And he saith unto Him, Legion, for we are many. He gives not a specific number, but a multitude, for such numerical accuracy would not help our understanding.⁵

The Venerable Bede: But by the public declaration of the affliction that the possessed man suffered, the power of the Healer appears more gracious. Even the priests of our time, who know how to cast out devils by the grace of exorcism, are accustomed to say that those who suffer cannot be cured at all unless they openly declare in confession, as far as they are able, what they have suffered from the unclean spirits—whether in sight, hearing, taste, touch, or any other sense of body or soul, whether awake or asleep.

It goes on, And he besought Him much that He would not send them away out of the country.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Luke, however, says, into the abyss (Luke 8:31). For the abyss is the separation from this world, as devils deserve to be sent into the outer darkness prepared for the devil and his angels. Christ could have done this, but He allowed them to remain in this world, so that the absence of a tempter would not deprive people of the crown of victory.⁶

Theophylact of Ohrid: Also, by fighting with us, they may make us more skilled.

It goes on, Now there was there about the mountain a great herd of swine feeding.

St. Augustine of Hippo: What Mark says here, that the herd was near the mountain, and what Luke calls “on the mountain,” are not at all inconsistent. For the herd of swine was so large that some were on the mountain and the rest were around it.⁷

It goes on: And the devils besought Him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

Remigius of Auxerre: The devils did not enter the swine of their own will; rather, they asked for this permission so that it might be shown that they cannot harm people without divine permission. They did not ask to be sent into humans, because they saw that He, by whose power they were tortured, bore a human form. Nor did they desire to be sent into flocks of sheep, for those are clean animals offered in the temple of God. But they desired to be sent into the swine, because no animal is more unclean than a pig, and devils always delight in filth.⁸

It goes on: And forthwith Jesus gave them leave.

The Venerable Bede: And He gave them leave, so that by the killing of the swine, the salvation of humanity might be advanced.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: He wished to show publicly the fury that devils hold against humans, and that they would inflict far worse things upon people if they were not restrained by divine power. Because His compassion would not allow this to be demonstrated on humans, He permitted the devils to enter the swine, so that their fury and power might be made known through them.⁹

The text continues: And the unclean spirits went out.

Titus of Bostra: But the herdsmen also fled, so that they would not perish with the swine, and they spread the same fear among the inhabitants of the town.

Therefore there follows: And they that fed them...

The necessity of their loss, however, brought these men to the Savior. For frequently, when God causes people to suffer loss in their possessions, He confers a benefit on their souls.

Therefore it goes on: And they came to Jesus, and see him that was tormented by the devil... This means he was at the feet of Him from whom he had obtained health. A man, whom before not even chains could bind, was now clothed and in his right mind, though he used to be continually naked. And they were amazed.

Therefore it says, And they were afraid.

They learned of this miracle, then, partly by sight and partly by word.

Therefore, the text continues: And they that saw it told them.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But amazed at the miracle they had heard about, they were afraid, and for this reason they begged Him to depart from their region. This is expressed in what follows: And they began to pray Him to depart out of their coasts. For they feared that at some time they might suffer a similar thing; saddened by the loss of their swine, they rejected the Savior's presence.

The Venerable Bede: Alternatively, aware of their own weakness, they judged themselves unworthy of the Lord's presence.

It goes on: And when He was going to the ship, he that had been tormented...

Theophylact of Ohrid: For he feared that at some point the devils might find him and enter him a second time. But the Lord sends him back to his house, indicating to him that even though He Himself was not present, His power would protect him. At the same time, this was so that he might be helpful in the healing of others.

Therefore, it goes on: And He did not suffer him, and saith unto him, Go home to thy friends...

See the humility of the Savior. He did not say, “Proclaim all the things that I have done for you,” but rather, “all that the Lord has done.” You also, when you have done any good thing, do not take the credit for yourself, but attribute it to God.

St. John Chrysostom: But although He commanded others whom He healed to tell no one, He nevertheless appropriately commands this man to proclaim it, since that entire region, being possessed by devils, remained without God.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He therefore began to proclaim it, and all were amazed, which is what follows: And he began to publish.

The Venerable Bede: Mystically, however, Gerasa, or Gergesa as some read it, is interpreted as “casting out a dweller” or “a stranger approaching,” because the Gentile people both expelled the enemy from their hearts and he who was far off was brought near.

Pseudo-Jerome: Here again, the demon-possessed man represents the Gentile people, in a most hopeless state, bound neither by the law of nature, nor the law of God, nor by human fear.

The Venerable Bede: They “dwelt in the tombs” because they delighted in dead works, that is, in sins. They were “raging night and day” because whether in prosperity or in adversity, they were never free from the service of malignant spirits. Again, by the foulness of their works, they lay as it were in tombs; in their lofty pride, they wandered over the mountains; and with words of the most hardened infidelity, they cut themselves, as it were, with stones.

But he said, My name is Legion, because the Gentile people were enslaved to various forms of idolatry. Again, the fact that the unclean spirits, after going out from the man, enter the swine and cast them headlong into the sea, implies that now that the Gentile people are freed from the dominion of demons, those who have not chosen to believe in Christ perform sacrilegious rites in hidden places.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Or, this signifies that devils enter into those people who live like swine, rolling themselves in the mire of pleasure. They drive them headlong down the precipice of perdition into the sea of an evil life, where they are choked.

Pseudo-Jerome: Or they are choked in hell without any touch of mercy by the onset of an early death. Many people avoid such evils, for by the punishment of the fool, the wise person is made more prudent.

The Venerable Bede: But the fact that the Lord did not permit him to stay, though he wished to be with Him, signifies that everyone, after the forgiveness of his sins, should remember that he must work to obtain a good conscience and serve the Gospel for the salvation of others, so that at last he may rest in Christ.

St. Gregory the Great: For when we have perceived even a little of divine knowledge, we are at once unwilling to return to worldly affairs and instead seek the quiet of contemplation. But the Lord commands that the mind should first labor hard at its work and afterward refresh itself with contemplation.¹⁰

Pseudo-Jerome: But the man who was healed preached in the Decapolis, where the Jews, who cling to the letter of the Decalogue, are being turned away from Roman rule.

1. in Marc., 2, 21
2. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
3. de Con. Evan., 2, 24
4. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc., see Chrys. Hom. in Matthew, 28
5. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
6. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
7. de Con. Evan, ii, 24
8. see Aurea Catena in Matt., p.327
9. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
10. Mor., 37