Matthew 22:2–5
Those called through the first household servants refused to come: thrusting aside the law through Moses, they turned to human teachings. Likewise those called second after them through second messengers — that is, the holy apostles — left what was beneficial and withdrew as far as possible to what seemed good to themselves. Some went to their own field, which signifies possession of earthly things and zeal about them; others to commerce, which again shows us love of money and the spasm around it. For love of flesh and worldly love of pleasure, empty distractions, and care for making money deprive us of eternal enjoyment and intimacy with God.
Greek
Εἰπόντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰ θέλεις εἰς τὴν ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν, ἢ "εὐθὺς τὰς τήρησον τὰς ἐντολὰς οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἐκεῖνος προσδοκήσας ἐρεῖν αὐτὸν ἐμάς" φησιν· ποίας; πολὺ δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐσφάλλετο· οὐ γάρ, ὅπερ ᾠήθη, πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπεκρίνατο ὁ Χριστός, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸν νόμον ἀνάγει αὐτόν, οὐχ ὅτι τελειότης ὁ νόμος ("δικαιοῦται" γὰρ "οὐδεὶς ἐν νόμῳ" κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον), ἀλλ' ὅτι προεισβολή τις ὥσπερ τῆς εἰς αἰῶνα ζωῆς ἡ κατὰ νόμον μελέτη κατὰ βραχὺ προσεθίζουσα τοῖς ἀνω τέρω τῶν παιδαγωγουμένων τὸν νοῦν. "γέγονεν" γὰρ ἡμῖν "ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς εἰς Χριστόν"· ἀρχὴ τοιγαροῦν σωματικῆς πολιτείας ὁ νόμος, τελειότης δὲ ὁ Χριστός· ἀρχὴ γάρ, φησίν, τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸ ποιεῖν δίκαια. παραδείκνυσι μὲν οὖν τὸ δίκαιον ὁ νόμος, τὸ δὲ ἀγαθὸν ὁ Χριστός. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐδίδασκεν τοῖς ἴσοις ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς ἀδικεῖν βουλομένους ("ὀδόντα" γὰρ "ἀντὶ ὀδόντος" καὶ "ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντὶ ὀφθαλμοῦ"), ὁ δὲ τὸ ἰσορροποῦν ἀνέντας ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον ... τῷ γὰρ παίοντί σε "εἰς τὴν δεξιάν, στρέψον αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην· καὶ τῷ θέλοντί σοι κριθῆναι", φησίν, "καὶ τὸν χιτῶνά σου λαβεῖν, ἄφες αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον".
About this text
Catena fragments on Matthew (CPG 5206). Contents follow Matthew chapter and verse. Edition fragment numbers stay in About this text and under each passage.
English follows the named copy-text (Aegean/khazarzar Migne PG 72 extract). Other prints were checked as noted; no silent merge of recensions.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 72 Commentarii in Matthaeum (Aegean Digital Patrologia / khazarzar) (Greek · CPG 5206 catena fragments (290 parsed heads))
- Checked print matia.gr mirror of same Aegean extract (Greek · Byte-identical PDF; integrity check only)
- Checked print Internet Archive PG 72 volume OCR (bim … 1859_72) (Greek (OCR damaged) · Locus confirmation only; not used as reading text)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.