Chapter 4
What is meant by the fact that it is written in the same Matthew, Woe to those who are pregnant and those who nurse in those days. And: Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath (Matthew 24:19-20). This is clearly dependent on the earlier statements. For when the Gospel of Christ has been preached to all nations and the end has come, and they see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place (Mark 13): then those who are in Judea are commanded to flee to the mountains; and those who are on the housetop, not to come down and take anything from their house; and those who are in the field, not to turn back and take their cloak. We have spoken more fully on these matters in the Commentaries of the same Matthew. And at once it is joined: Woe to the pregnant and nursing women in those days. In which days? when the abomination of desolation stands in the holy place. Indeed, it is not doubtful that this is preached according to the letter concerning the advent of Antichrist: when the magnitude of persecution compels them to flee, and heavy wombs, and nursing infants impede flight. Although some want it to mean the siege and battle against the Jews, and especially Jerusalem, by Titus and Vespasian. Winter and Sabbaths are also interpreted thus so as not to compel flight at that time when the severity of the cold in the fields and in desert places does not allow refugees to hide: and the observance of the Sabbath either makes deserters if they flee, or exposes them to the swords of the enemy if they keep Sabbath rest and commandments. But let us, hearing the Lord and Savior, flee to the mountains with those who are in Judea; let us also raise our eyes to the mountains, of which it is written: "I lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help" (Psalm 120:1). And in another place: "His foundation is in the holy mountains" (Psalm 87:1). And, "The mountains are around him and the Lord is around his people" (Psalm 124). And, "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14). Let us also, taking off the skin of letters, and going up the mountain with bare feet with Moses, say: "I will go over and see this great sight" (Exodus 3:3); so that we may understand the pregnant souls, which conceived the beginnings of faith from the seed of doctrine and the Word of God, and say with Isaiah, "By your fear, O Lord, we have conceived, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the spirit of your salvation, which you have placed upon the earth" (Isaiah 26:14). For just as seeds are gradually formed in the womb, and a person is not considered or thought to be formed until the confused elements receive their shapes and members, so a sense concept conceived by reason, unless it breaks forth into works, is still retained in the womb; and it quickly perishes as an abortion, when it has seen the abomination of desolation standing in the Church (Dan. 9. 27, Mat. 24. 15, Mark. 13. 14) and Satan being transformed into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11.14). Of such fetuses Paul speaks when he says: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth until Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4. 10). So I consider that women are akin to the mystical understanding, about whom the same Apostle writes: The woman was seduced and became a transgressor. But she will be saved by childbearing, if they remain in faith and love and sanctity with prudence (1 Tim. 2:14-15). For if she ever gives birth to anything related to divine teaching, it is necessary for what is born to grow; and to receive first the milk of infancy, until they reach solid food, and mature age in the fullness of Christ (1 Cor. 3:2; Eph. 4:13). For every one that is fed with milk, is unskillful in the word of justice: for he is a little child. Therefore, those souls which have not yet brought forth, or which, having brought forth, have not yet suckled them, seeing a heretical discourse standing in the Church, are presently scandalized and destroyed; they can’t endure in times of trials and persecutions, especially if they have had leisure to perform good works and have not walked in the way that is Christ’s (John 14:6). The Apostle said of this abomination of heretical and perverse doctrine that the man of iniquity and the adversary raises himself up against everything called God and religion, so that he dares to stand in the Temple of God, and show himself as if he were God (2 Thess. 2:4); whose coming is according to the working of Satan; and he destroys what is conceived by abortion; and what is born cannot reach childhood and perfect age. Therefore we must pray to the Lord, lest in the beginning of faith and growing age there arise a winter, of which it is written: Winter has passed, the rain is over and gone (Song of Solomon 2.11); lest we become sluggish in idleness, but with shipwreck imminent, let us awaken the sleeping Lord and say: Master, save us, we perish (Matthew 8.25).