The Explanation by Blessed Theophylact of the Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew

Patristically based explanation of the Gospel of St. Matthew.Get all four of the Gospels with explanations by the Blessed Theophylact.A definite must have.You will wonder what you ever did without them!

Arrived promptly, intact and as offered. A classic!

enriches understanding of holy gospel

Orthodox Christian Recorded Books is an invaluable resource for the modern Christian. At the main website there are many more inspirational texts read smoothly and clearly by Nathan Williams. I hope that Audible will make more of these resources available on its great service.

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Tears are flowing down my face. What a beautiful, easy to understand explanation. I hope to always remember to listen to this book when I'm in need. Thank you!

$1800.00 plus $4 shipping... who are you kidding !

It does not happen often, but sometimes I find patristic writings that are more engaging and accessible than the works of modern authors. A case in point is The Explanation by Blessed Theophylact of the Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew. I had been looking for books on Matthew’s Gospel to assist me in my bible studies. To this end I acquired one by a well-known contemporary Orthodox author. I was bitterly disappointed: some 400 pages of stating the obvious. I was not looking for the kind of dull scholastic detail that usually characterises bible studies: I’m not interested in spending hours discussing the exact meaning of the original Greek or Hebrew words, or questioning the authorship of the Gospels. In my opinion, such stuff is for the lecture room, not the parish church. But I was hoping for some interesting insights and patristic references, but there was nothing of the sort. So, following the suggestion of a friend, I acquired Blessed Theophylact’s commentary. It struck me quite strongly that the commentary of this Greek bishop of the 11th century is not only more interesting, but also more accessible, than modern commentaries. It felt as though i was reading a 21st century author who was fully aware of his audience's intellectual limitations, but refused to patronise them. No doubt, a contributing factor to this is the excellent modern translation by Fr. Christopher Stade; and the easy layout of the publication (Chrysostom Press, 2006) also helps. But above all it is the clarity of Blessed Theophylact’s thinking and writing that makes this book so easy to read and understand. I should also add, that while Theophylact does not state when he is quoting other Church Fathers, he does so throughout the work, and he draws mostly from St. John Chrysostom. So what we have here is not simply the opinion of one Father, but a general patristic exegesis of the Gospel.