Matthew 8:18–22
Jesus commands only the disciples to go across, so that he may not seem hindered by the crowds pressing him from letting the disciples hear the lessons that fit them, and so that God’s mysteries — spoken “in parables to the crowds” — may be revealed to them more genuinely.
Since they left everything in hand and followed him alone for love of learning, he commands them to cross from the temporary to the eternal, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the fleshly to the spiritual.
Greek
Ἡ ψυχὴ τῆς τοῦ σώματος οὐσίας τιμιωτέρα ἐστὶν ὡς εἰκὼν θεοῦ καὶ ἐμφύσημα, τὸ δὲ σῶμα ὄργανόν ἐστιν αὐτῆς καὶ συνεργὸν πρὸς τὰ κάλλιστα. χρὴ οὖν ἡμᾶς ἀμφοτέρων φροντίζειν τοῦ τε σώματος ἅμα καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ μὲν σώματος ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον, ἐφ' ὅσον ἱκανὸν αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ ἐμποδίζεσθαι τὴν ψυχήν· αὐτῇ δὲ δοτέον ἀεὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ ἐπιμελητέον παντοίως καὶ ἀνακτέον διὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν πρὸς τὴν αἰτίαν αὐτῆς τὴν δημιουργικήν.
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.