The Prediction of Peter's Denial (Matthew 26:31–35; Luke 22:31–34; John 13:36–38)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 82 (on Matthew 26:31–35) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf110/npnf110.iii.LXXVIII.html

On why He sets a prophecy before them, "I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad":

at once persuading them ever to give heed to the things that are written, and at same time making it plain that He was crucified, according to God's purpose ... and that the prophets all proclaimed all things beforehand from the beginning that are comprised in the matter, so that they be quite confident about the better things also.

On Peter's over-confidence, where he should rather have prayed:

For where he should have prayed, and have said, Help us, that we be not cut off, he is confident in himself, and saith, "Though all men should be offended in Thee, yet will I never;" though all should undergo this, I shall not undergo it, which led him on by little and little to self-confidence. Christ then, out of a desire to put down this, permitted his denial.

On "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not":

How then was it that He denied? he said not, that thou mayest not deny, but that thy faith fail not, that thou perish not utterly. For this came from His care.

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St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 144 (on Luke 22:31–34) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, Library of Fathers, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_13_sermons_135_145.htm

On why Christ passes by the rest and turns to Peter the foremost:

To humble therefore our tendency to superciliousness, and to repress ambitious feelings, Christ shows that even he who seemed to be great is nothing and infirm. He therefore passes by the other disciples, and turns to him who is the foremost, and set at the head of the company

On the medicine of forgiveness granted before the wound, and the surpassing greatness of the divine gentleness:

O what great and incomparable kindness! The disciple had not yet sickened with the malady of faithlessness, and already he has received the medicine of forgiveness: not yet had the sin been committed, and he receives pardon: not yet had he fallen, and the saving hand is held out: not yet had he faltered, and he is confirmed

On Peter's error, that he should have asked for strength instead of contradicting the Lord:

he ought not, when the Saviour told him that he would prove weak to have contradicted Him, loudly protesting the contrary; for the Truth could not lie: but rather he ought to have asked strength of Him, that either he might not suffer this, or be rescued immediately from harm.

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Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

The Harmony of the Gospels, Book III (on Matthew 26:31–35) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxvi.html

On the differences between the four accounts of the forewarning:

Perplexity may be occasioned to some by the great difference, not in words only, but in substance, of the speeches in which Peter is forewarned by Our Lord, and which occasion his presumptuous declaration of dying with or for the Lord.

On how Mark's "before the cock crow twice" agrees with the rest:

Just as though one should say, Before cock-crow you will write me a letter, in which you will revile me three times; if the letter were begun before any cock-crow, but not finished till after the first, we should not therefore say that the prediction was false.

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St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 26:31–35) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxvi.html

On the Shepherd smitten that the flocks might be made one:

The good Shepherd is smitten, that He may lay down His life for His sheep, and that of many flocks of divers errors should be made one flock, and one Shepherd.

On Peter's protest, which sprang not from wilfulness but from love:

It is not wilfulness, not falsehood, but the Apostle's faith, and ardent attachment towards the Lord his Saviour.

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St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310–367)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 26:31–35) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxvi.html

On the zeal that carried Peter past the weakness of his own flesh:

But Peter was carried so far by his zeal and affection for Christ, that he regarded neither the weakness of his flesh nor the truth of the Lord's words; as if what He spake must not come to pass

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Remigius (c. 841–908)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 26:33–35) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxvi.html

On the lesson for all who are confident in the warmth of their faith:

What the One affirms by His power of foreknowledge, the other denies through love; whence we may take a practical lesson, that in proportion as we are confident of the warmth of our faith, we should be in fear of the weakness of our flesh.