Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 24:23-28

"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe [it] not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe [it] not. For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." — Matthew 24:23-28 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: When the Lord had finished all that related to Jerusalem, He then turned to the subject of His own coming. He gives them signs of it that are useful not only for them, but also for us and for all who will come after us.

Just as the Evangelist previously said, In those days came John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1), not meaning immediately after what had just happened but thirty years later, so here, when Jesus says, “Then,” He is skipping over the entire interval of time between the fall of Jerusalem and the beginning of the end of the world.

Among the signs He gives of His second coming, He warns them about the place and about deceivers. For it will not be then as it was at His first coming, when He appeared in Bethlehem, in a corner of the world, unknown to anyone. Instead, He will come openly, so that no one will be needed to announce His approach.

Therefore, “If anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.”

St. Jerome: In this, He shows that His second coming will not be in lowliness like His first, but in glory. Therefore, it is foolish to look for Him—who is the Light of the whole world—in small and obscure places.ⁱ

St. Hilary of Poitiers: However, because of the great tribulation into which people will be thrown, false prophets will appear. Promising immediate help from Christ, they will falsely claim that He is present in various places in order to draw discouraged and distracted people into the service of Antichrist.

St. John Chrysostom: He speaks here of Antichrist and of certain of his ministers, whom He calls false christs and false prophets. There were many such in the time of the Apostles, but before Christ’s second coming others will come who are more bitter than the former: And they will show great signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

St. Augustine of Hippo: Here the Lord forewarns us that even wicked men will perform some miracles that the saints cannot, yet they are not, for that reason, to be thought of as having a higher place in the sight of God. For the Egyptian magi were not more acceptable to God than the people of Israel just because they could do what the Israelites could not; Moses, by the power of God, still worked greater things.

This gift of miracles is not bestowed on all the saints, so that the weak will not be led astray by a most destructive error, supposing such powers to be greater gifts than the works of righteousness by which eternal life is secured.

And though magi perform the same miracles that the saints do, they are done with a different end and through a different authority. The saints do them seeking the glory of God, while the magi do them seeking their own glory. The latter perform them by some special pact or privilegeⁱ granted to the demonic Powers within their sphere, while the former do them by the public provision and command of Him to whom all creation is subjectⁱ.¹

For it is one thing for the owner of a horse to be compelled to give it to a soldier, and another for him to hand it over to a buyer, or to give or lend it to a friend. Just as evil soldiers, who are condemned by imperial discipline, use the imperial symbols to terrify property owners and extort from them what is not required for public service, so some evil Christians, by means of the name of Christ or by Christian words or sacraments, compel something from the demonic Powers. Yet when these Powers act at the bidding of evil men, they do so in order to deceive people, rejoicing in their straying.

Therefore, there is one way in which magi work miracles, another for good Christians, and yet another for bad Christians. The magi work by a private pact, good Christians by public righteousness, and evil Christians by the signs of public righteousness.ⁱ We should not wonder at this, since we reasonably believe that everything we see happen is brought about by the agency of the inferior powers of this air.

Yet we are not to think that this visible, material world obeys the whim of disobedient angels; rather, their power is given to them by God. Nor should we suppose that such evil angels have creative power. Instead, because of their spiritual nature, they know the seeds of things that are hidden from us. They secretly scatter these seeds by suitable arrangements of the elements, and in this way they bring about both the existence and the more rapid growth of substances.²

For there are many people who know what sort of creatures are generated from certain herbs, meats, juices, and fluids when they are crushed and mixed together in a particular way. It is only harder for humans to do these things because they lack the subtlety of sense and the penetrating quality of body, having dull and earthly limbs.

St. Gregory the Great: When Antichrist has performed wonderful prodigies before the eyes of worldly people, he will draw after him all who delight in present goods, and they will surrender themselves irrevocably to his power: Insomuch that, if it were possible, the very elect should be led astray.³

Origen of Alexandria: The phrase, “if it were possible,” is spoken hyperbolically. It is not that the elect can be led astray, but He wishes to show that the arguments of heretics are often so persuasive as to have the power to sway even those who actⁱ wisely.

St. Gregory the Great: Or, it is because the hearts of the elect are assailed with fearful thoughts, yet their faithfulness is not shaken. The Lord includes both possibilities under the same sentence, for to waver in thought is to err. He adds, “if it were possible,” because it is not possible that the elect should be captured by error.⁴

Rabanus Maurus: He does not say this because it is possible for the divine election to be defeated, but because those who, in human judgment, seemed to be elect will be led into error.

St. Gregory the Great: And just as darts, when foreseen, are less likely to hit their mark, He adds, Lo, I have told you. Our Lord announces the sorrows that will precede the destruction of the world so that, when they come, they will be less alarming because they were foreknown.⁵

St. Hilary of Poitiers: The false prophets, of whom He had spoken above, will say of Christ at one time, Lo, He is in the desert, in order to cause people to wander astray; and at another time, Lo, He is in the secret chambers, so that they may enslave people under the dominion of Antichrist. But the Lord declares that He is neither lurking in a remote corner nor shut up to be visited one by one. Instead, He will be revealed to the sight of all, and in every place: As the lightning comes from the east and shines even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

St. John Chrysostom: Just as He described above the manner in which Antichrist would come, so here He describes how He Himself will come. For as the lightning needs no one to herald or announce it, but is in an instant visible throughout the whole world—even to those sitting in their rooms—so the coming of Christ will be seen everywhere at once, because of the brightness of His glory.

He adds another sign of His coming: Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. The eagles signify the company of the Angels, Martyrs, and Saints.

St. Jerome: By an example from nature that we see daily, we are instructed in a mystery of Christ. Eagles and vultures are said to scent dead bodies even from beyond the sea and to flock to feed on them. If birds, then, without the gift of reason, can by instinct alone find where a dead body lies, separated by such a great distance, how much more should the whole multitude of believers hasten to Christ, whose lightning goes forth from the east and shines even to the west? We may understand the “carcass” here, or corpse [πτωμα]—which in Latin is more expressively “cadaver”—as an allusion to the passion of Christ's death.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: So that we might not be ignorant of the place where He will come, He adds this: Wherever the carcass is... He calls the Saints “eagles” because of the spiritual flight of their bodies, and shows that they will be gathered to the place of His passion, with the Angels guiding them there. And we should rightly look for His coming in glory there, where He accomplished eternal glory for us by the suffering of His bodily humiliation.

Origen of Alexandria: And observe, He does not say vultures or crows, but “eagles,” showing the lordliness and royalty of all who have believed in the Lord's passion.

St. Jerome: They are called eagles whose youth is renewed like the eagle's, and who take to themselves wings so that they may come to Christ's passion.ⁱ

St. Gregory the Great: We may understand this, “Wherever the carcass is,” as meaning: I who am incarnate and sit on the throne of heaven, as soon as I have freed the souls of the elect from the flesh, will exalt them to heavenly places.⁶

St. Jerome: Alternatively, this may be understood to refer to the false prophets. At the time of the Jewish captivity, there were many leaders who declared themselves to be Christs,ⁱ so that while the Romans were actually besieging them, there were three factions within. But it is better understood as we explained it above, concerning the end of the world.

It may also be understood of the warfare of the heretics against the Church, and of those Antichrists who, under the pretext of false knowledge, fight against Christ.

Origen of Alexandria: The genus of Antichrist is one, but the species are many, just as all lies are of one kind. As all the holy Prophets were prophets of the true Christ, so you should understand that each false Christ will have his own false prophets, who will preach the false teachings of some Antichrist as if they were true.

When, therefore, one of them says, “Look, here is Christ,” or “Look, there,” we do not need to look outside of the Scriptures, for it is from the Law, the Prophets, and the Apostles that they bring things that seem to support their lie.

Or by this, “Look, here is Christ,” or “Look, there,” they show that it was not Christ, but some impostor under the same title, such as the one taught by Marcion, Valentinus, or Basilides.

St. Jerome: If, then, anyone asserts to you that Christ remains in the “desert” of the Gentiles, or in the teaching of the Philosophers, or in the “secret chambers” of the heretics who promise the hidden things of God, do not believe him. Instead, believe that the Catholic Faith shines from “east to west” in the Churches.

St. Augustine of Hippo: By the “east” and “west,” He signifies the whole world, throughout which the Church would be. In the same way that He said later, Hereafter you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64), so now He compares His coming to lightning, which usually flashes from the clouds.

When, therefore, the authority of the Church is established clearly and manifestly throughout the whole world, He suitably warns His disciples not to believe schismatics and heretics. Each schism and heresy holds its own place, either occupying some important position on earth or ensnaring people’s curiosity in obscure and remote secret meetings.⁷

“Look, here is Christ,” or “Look, there,” refers to some district or province of the earth. “The secret chambers” or “the desert” signify the obscure and lurking secret meetings of heretics.

St. Jerome: Or by this, “in the desert” or “in the secret chambers,” He means that in times of persecution and distress, the false prophets always find an opportunity to deceive.

Origen of Alexandria: Or, when they allege secret and previously unpublished Scriptures as proof of their lie, they seem to say, “Look, the word of truth is in the desert.” But when they produce canonical Scripture on which all Christians agree, they seem to say, “Look, the word of truth is in the chambers.”

Or, wishing to point out discourses that are altogether without Scripture, He said, If they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the secret chambers,’ do not believe it. Truth is like the “lightning that comes from the east and shines even to the west.”

This may also mean that truth can be supported out of every passage of Scripture. The lightning of truth comes out of “the east”—that is, from the first beginnings of Christ—and shines all the way to His passion, which is His setting. Or, it shines from the very beginning of creation to the last Scripture of the Apostles.

Alternatively, “the east” is the Law, and “the west” is the end of the Law and of John’s prophecy. The Church alone neither takes away a word or meaning from this lightning, nor adds anything to its prophecy.

Or He means that we should give no heed to those who say, “Look, here is Christ,” but do not show Him in the Church, in which alone is the coming of the Son of Man, who said, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20).

St. Jerome: We are invited to flock to Christ's passion wherever it is read of in Scripture, so that through it we may be able to come to God's word.

1. Lib. 83, Quaest., Q79
2. de Trin., iii, 8
3. Mor. xv, 61
4. Mor., xxxiii, 36
5. Hom. in Ev., xxxv, i
6. Mor. xxxi, 53
7. Quaest. Ev., i, 38