Matthew 17:14–18
Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple Solomon had once built and the Babylonians had burned. The Lord is the true builder of the rational temple that fell apart through transgressions and burned with an alien fire — a fire we ourselves kindled, not only making the soul’s intellect follow the fleshly mind as a slave, but also shamelessly lighting the fuel of the passions by what we do.
Zerubbabel also holds in his hand a stone adorned with seven eyes. For the Lord too the stone is faith in him; and it is “in the hand” because faith in Christ shows itself in the practice of the commandments. The hand is plainly a symbol of practice. So the Lord, bearing the stone in his hand, teaches us to hold faith in him as something done, adorned with the seven energies of the Spirit.
Greek
Εἰ 23 καὶ ἔδει τὸν τοῦ δαιμονῶντος πατέρα λυπούμενον ἀπελθεῖν οὐ τε τυχηκότα τῆς φιλοτιμίας, ἅτε οὐκ ἀμώμητον ποιησάμενον τὴν πρόσοδον, ἀλλὰ τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἀποστόλων καταβοήσαντα καὶ εἰπόντα, μὴ ἰσχῦσαι αὐτοὺς ἐπιτιμῆσαι τῷ δαίμονι, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸν διαβάλλοντα τὸν τῶν δυνάμεων κύριον· ὁ γὰρ λέγων ἀσθενῆσαι πρὸς ἐνέργειαν τὴν κατὰ πνευ μάτων ἀκαθάρτων τοὺς παρὰ Χριστοῦ ἐξουσίαν λαβόντας ἐκβάλλειν αὐτά, τῆς χάριτος μᾶλλον κατηγορεῖ, οὐχὶ τῶν λαβόντων αὐτήν. διὰ ταῦτα τοίνυν τὸν ἄπιστον ἐκεῖνον πατέρα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο διεστραμμένον ἐχρῆν κενὸν ἀποπεμφθῆναι. ἀλλ' ἵνα μή τις οἴηται καὶ αὐτὸν ἀτονῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ παραδόξου κατόρθωσιν, "ἐπετίμησε τῷ ἀκα θάρτῳ πνεύματι" καὶ παραχρῆμα τοῦ νοσεῖν ὁ παῖς ἀπηλλάττετο "καὶ ἀπέδωκεν αὐτὸν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ"· πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ θεραπευθῆναι οὐκ ἦν τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ κρατοῦντος πνεύματος.
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.