(Verse 5.) For many will come in my name, saying: I am the Christ, and they will deceive many. One of them is Simon the Samaritan, whom we read about in the Acts of the Apostles, who claimed to be a great power of God (Acts 8). Leaving these things aside, he also wrote among other things in his own volumes: I am the word of God, I am beautiful, I am the Paraclete, I am omnipotent, I am all things of God. But even the apostle John speaks in his epistle: You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, now many antichrists are already here (1 John 2:18). I believe that all heresiarchs are Antichrists, and they teach under the name of Christ those things which are contrary to Christ. It is not surprising if we see some being led astray by them, since the Lord has said: And many will be led astray.
24:6
(Verse 6.) For you will hear of battles and rumors of battles: see that you are not troubled. For these things must happen; but the end is not yet. Therefore, when we see these things happening, let us not think that the day of judgment is imminent, but that it is reserved for that time, whose sign is clearly set forth in the following events.
24:7-8
(Verses 7, 8.) For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be pestilences and famines, and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginnings of sorrows. I do not doubt that these things indeed shall come to pass literally as they are written. But it seems to me that the kingdom against kingdom and their pestilence, whose speech spreads like cancer (2 Timothy 2), and the famine to hear the word of God, and the commotion of the whole earth, and the separation from true faith, are more understood in heretics who fight against each other, making victory for the Church. But what he said: These things, however, are the beginnings of sorrows, are better translated as birth pains, so that it may be understood as a kind of conception of the coming of the Antichrist, not as childbirth.
24:9
(V. 9.) Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. The apostles are a representation of all believers, not that the apostles themselves will be found in physical form at that time.
24:12-13
(Verse 12, 13.) And since iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who perseveres to the end, he will be saved. He did not deny the faith of all, but of many. For many are called, but few are chosen. For in the apostles and those like them, charity will remain, of which it is written: 'Many waters cannot quench love' (Song of Solomon 8:7). And even Paul himself said: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' tribulation, or distress, or famine (Rom. VIII, 35)? and so on.
24:14
(Verse 14) And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. The sign of the Lord's coming is the preaching of the Gospel in the whole world, so that no one may be without excuse; which has either already been fulfilled, or is about to be fulfilled very soon. For I do not think that any nation remains which does not know the name of Christ. And although it may not have had preachers, it cannot ignore the expectation of faith from neighboring nations.
24:15
(Verse 15.) When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth, let him understand. When we are called to understanding, it is shown to be a mystical happening. We read in Daniel in this way: And in the middle of the week, sacrifice and oblation shall be taken away: and in the temple shall be the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end. The apostle speaks about this (II Thess. II): that the man of sin and the adversary will be exalted against everything that is called God and worshiped, so that he dares to stand in the temple of God and show himself to be God, whose coming is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and destroys those who do not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. It can be understood either simply or of the Antichrist, or of the image of Caesar, which Pilate placed in the temple, or of the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stood in the holy of holies until the present day. Abominatio quoque, secundum veterem Scripturam, idolum nuncupatur; et idcirco additur, desolationis; quod in desolato templo atque destructo idolum positum sit.
24:16-18
(Verse 16 onwards) Then those who are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains; and those who are on the roof, let them not come down to take anything from their house; and those who are in the field, let them not turn back to take their cloak. The abomination of desolation can be understood, and every perverse teaching; when we see it standing in the holy place, that is, in the Church, and proclaiming itself as God, we must flee from Judea to the mountains, that is, leaving behind the letter of the law and Jewish corruption, and approach the eternal mountains, from which God wonderfully enlightens (Psalm 75); and be on the roof and in the inner room, where the fiery darts of the devil cannot reach: neither coming down and taking anything from the former way of life: nor turning back are they to seek; but rather to sow in the field of spiritual Scriptures, so that we may bear fruit from it. Neither to take off the other tunic, which the apostles are forbidden to have. On this subject, that is, on the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by the prophet Daniel, Porphyry blasphemed against us in the thirteenth volume of his work, while standing in a holy place. To him, Eusebius of Caesarea, the bishop, responded in three volumes: the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth. Apollinaris ((also known as Apollinarius)) also wrote extensively, and attempted to discuss in one chapter what has been disputed in so many thousands of verses.
24:19
(Verse 19.) But woe to those who are pregnant and nursing in those days. Woe to those souls who have not brought forth their offspring to perfect manhood, but have the beginnings of faith, that they should need the nourishment of masters. This can also be said, that in the persecution of Antichrist, or the Roman captivity, those who are pregnant and nursing, burdened with the weight of their wombs and their children, were unable to make an easy escape.
24:20
(Verse 20.) Pray, however, that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. If we wish to receive the captivity of Jerusalem, when it was captured by Titus and Vespasian, they ought to pray that their flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath; for in the former, the harshness of the cold prevents them from going to the desolate places and hiding in the mountains and deserts; in the latter, it is either a violation of the Law if they wish to flee, or imminent death if they remain. But if the end of the world is understood, this commands us, that our faith may not grow cold and our love for Christ may not grow dim, nor may we become idle in the work of God, languishing in the virtues of the Sabbath.
24:22
(Verse 22.) And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. The shortened days, not according to the delusions of some (who think that the moments of time can be changed; and do not remember that writing: Your ordinance endures (Ps. CXVIII, 91)), but we should understand it according to the quality of time, that is, the days are shortened not in measure, but in number; just as in the blessing it is said; I will satisfy him with long life (Ps. XC); so now the shortened days should be understood: lest the delay of time shake the faith of the believers.
24:23
(Verse 23.) Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. Many leaders arose during the time of the Jewish captivity who claimed to be the Christ, to the extent that there were three factions inside the besieged Romans. But the end of the world is better understood.
24:24
(Verse 24) For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will perform great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. There are three ways, as I have already said, in which this may be interpreted: either concerning the time of the siege of Rome, or concerning the end of the world, or concerning the struggle of heretics against the Church and similar antichrists, who under the guise of false knowledge fight against Christ.