And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
All Commentaries on Mark 9:42 Go To Mark 9
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
In Faeceh., 1, Hom. 7: We must observe, however, that in our good works we must sometimes avoid the offence ofour neighbour, sometimes look down upon it as of no moment. For in as far as wecan do it without sin, we ought to avoid the offence of our neighbour; but if astumblingblock is laid before men in what concerns the truth, it is better toallow the offence to arise, than that the truth should be abandoned.
de eura, past. p.i.v.2: Mystically by a millstone is expressed the tedious round and toil of a secular life, and by the depths of the sea, the worst damnation is pointed out. He who therefore, after having been brought to a profession of sanctity, destroys others, either by word or example, it had been indeed better for him that his worldly deeds should render him liable to death, under a secular garb, than that his holy office should hole him out as an example for others in his faults, because doubtless if he had fallen alone, his pain in hell would have been of a more endurable kind.
