John Chrysostom
Catena Aurea · Matthäusevangelium 23
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and Scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
He had said against the Scribes and Pharisees, that they were the children of those who killed the Prophets; now therefore He shews that they were like them in wickedness, and that that was false that they said, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets. Wherefore He now says, Fill ye up the measure of your fathers. This is not a command, but a prophecy of what is to be.