Commentarium in evangelium matthaei

 Angels of god may gather up the evil doctrines attached to the soul and hand them over for consumption, overturning them with what is called burning f

 He did not speak to them», and not to the crowds when he came «into the house» does he speak, but to the disciples who came to him in it, it is clear

 They have sold their possessions, so that, by having sold and given those things away and in exchange for them having received from god a good purpose

 In the strait, not in the pinnae, which is a kind of pearl-bearing shell, but in those called mussels. and for these, i mean those of the bosphorus, t

 Of christ” one might be able to attain, having been first exercised in the, so to speak, knowledges which are surpassed by the knowledge of christ. bu

 Of bad kinds, as among fish, to the fine ones, or from the better to the worse, but among men, the just or the wicked can always be seen either reachi

 The calling from every kind of nation. and those who served the net cast into the sea are the lord of the net, jesus christ, and the angels who came a

 You will know that i the lord have poured out my wrath upon you.” 10.14 have you understood all these things? they say, yes (13, 51[52]). christ jesus

 Of the heavens is within you, and especially through the repentance from the letter to the spirit, because whenever someone turns to the lord, th

 Might make him like himself, until the disciple becomes as the teacher, imitating first the imitator of christ, and after this one, also <τὸν> chris

 He was doing greater things than those in the time of elijah and elisha, and even before, in the time of moses and joshua son of nun. but those who ma

 For they consider judea their homeland and that israel their kinsmen, and perhaps the body their house for all were dishonored in judea by the israel

 Paying attention, if on account of living very intensely and reproving those who sin he should be hated and plotted against, as one persecuted and rev

 Baptist (14, 1. 2[-11]). and thus in mark and thus in luke. the jews held different opinions concerning these matters, some false, such as the sadduce

 He passed over in silence in his histories. 10.21 the text of matthew has it thus: for herod, having seized john, bound him in prison. concerning thes

 Free among the dead.” “for though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of god.” furthermore, behold the people among whom clea

 Into the desert, was in it, because his word and teaching were peculiar compared to what was customary and established among the gentiles. and the cro

 To give the loaves of the blessing to the disciples, so that they might set them before the crowds, he healed the sick, so that having been made wel

 The disciples say they have five loaves and the two fish in matthew and mark and luke, without noting whether they were of wheat or of barley but joh

 “all flesh is grass,” that is, to make the flesh subject and to subordinate “the mind of the flesh,” so that in this way one might be able to partake

 Of those who come to the name of jesus, those who know “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” might be called disciples but those to whom such a th

 Jesus [compelled] the disciples to get in, or perhaps the struggle of temptations and circumstances, into which one is compelled by the word and, as i

 To lead us to the other side. for it is not possible to reach the other side without having endured the trials of waves and a contrary wind. then, whe

 Having sent them, since they were not able, on account of being very ill, to approach on their own, and they did not themselves touch the fringe, as t

 Jesus does not accuse them concerning a tradition of the jewish elders, but concerning two of the most necessary commandments of god, of which the one

 By the name of the treasury wishes to give to the poor rather than to the relatives of the givers, if they happen to be in need of necessities and the

 The hidden things. and all these words will be to you like the words of the sealed book, which if they give it to a man who knows letters, saying, ‘re

 For which things the carnal jews and the ebionites who differ little from them accuse us of breaking the law, for not thinking that the obvious meanin

 Drink” and the rest, teaching us that the things according to the letter are a shadow, but the true meanings of the law underlying these are good thin

 Guides of the blind. who then? the pharisees, whose 'minds the god of this age has blinded,' being 'unbelievers' because they had not believed in jesu

 What enters into the mouth goes into the stomach and is cast out into the latrine, and the food that is sanctified through the word of god and prayer

 And jesus went out from there and withdrew into the region of tyre and sidon, and behold a canaanite woman (15, 21. 22 [-28]). from where there? or fr

 To see the difference of those who approach, who approach him, as it were, as the one who was made “of the seed of david according to the flesh,” and

 He answered and said: it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. one might inquire into the meaning of this saying,

 Blind in soul and not seeing the true light, and others lame and not able to walk according to reason, and others maimed and not able to work accord

 Of the loaves (jesus) went out and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. and when it was evening, the

 To her “o woman, great is your faith let it be to you as you desire,” he healed her daughter “from that hour,” yet it is not written that he sent he

in the strait, not in the pinnae, which is a kind of pearl-bearing shell, but in those called mussels. And for these, I mean those of the Bosphorus, their feeding-ground is in marshes. It is also recorded that there is a fourth kind of pearl around Acarnania in the oyster pinnae; but these are not at all good, but also irregular in shape and completely clouded and dirty in color. And besides these there are others around the same Acarnania that are worthless in every respect. 10.8 Having collected these things from the treatise on stones, I say that the Savior, knowing the difference in pearls, among which kind there are both good ones and others that are bad, said, 'The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls'; for if there were not also some bad pearls, it would not have been said 'seeking good pearls'. And among the various doctrines that profess truth and those who bear them, seek the pearls, and let them be, so to speak, the shells conceiving from the heavenly dew and pregnant with the word of truth from heaven—the prophets—the good pearls, which the merchant man in the passage before us seeks. And the chief of the pearls, in the finding of whom the rest are also found together, the pearl of great price, the Christ of God, the Word who is above the precious letters and meanings of the Law and the Prophets, and when he is found, all other things are easily received. And the Savior speaks to all the disciples as to merchant men, not only seeking the good pearls, but also having found and possessing them, in what he says: 'Do not cast your pearls before swine.' And it is clear that these things were said to the disciples from the fact that before these words is placed, 'And seeing the multitudes, he went up on the mountain; and when he was seated, his disciples came to him'; for in the sequence of those words it is said: 'Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine.' Perhaps, then, he who does not have pearls or the pearl of great price is not a disciple of the Savior and *** the good pearls, not the cloudy nor the misty ones, such as are the doctrines of the heretics, not born towards the east but towards the west or the north, if we should also take these things into account because of the difference we found in pearls being produced in different places. And perhaps the muddied doctrines and the heresies that are wrapped up in the works of the flesh are the misty ones and the not-good pearls produced in marshes. 10.9 You will connect to the one 'seeking good pearls' the saying 'seek, and you will find' and 'everyone who seeks finds'. For what do 'you seek,' or what does 'everyone who seeks find'? Daring, I would say the pearls and the pearl which one acquires by giving up and losing everything, for which Paul says, 'I have suffered the loss of all things, that I may gain Christ', saying 'all things' to mean the good pearls, and 'that I may gain Christ,' the one pearl of great price. Precious, then, is a lamp to those in darkness, and there is need of a lamp until the sun rises; and precious also is the glory on the face of Moses—and I think also that of the prophets—and a beautiful sight, through which we are introduced to being able to see the glory of Christ, to which the Father, bearing witness, says: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' But 'what was made glorious has no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels', and we first have need of the glory that can be done away with for the sake of 'the glory that excels', just as there is need of knowledge that is in part, which 'will be done away with when that which is perfect has come'. Therefore every soul coming into infancy and proceeding 'on to perfection' needs, until 'the fullness of the time' comes upon it, a tutor and stewards and guardians, so that after all these things, the one who formerly 'differed in no way from a slave, though he is lord of all' may receive, having been set free from the tutor and stewards and guardians, his paternal inheritance, that which is analogous to the pearl of great price and to the perfection which is to come, which does away with 'that which is in part,' when 'the surpassing worth of the knowledge

πορθμῷ οὐκ ἐν ταῖς πίναις ὅ ἐστιν ὀστράκων εἶδος μαργαρι τοφόρον, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς προσαγορευομένοις μυσί. Τούτοις δέ, λέγω δὴ τοῖς κατὰ Βόσπορον, ἡ νομὴ ἐν τέλμασίν ἐστιν. Ἱστόρηται δὲ καὶ τέταρτον γένος εἶναι μαργαριτῶν περὶ τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν ἐν ταῖς τῶν ὀστρέων πίναις· οὐ σπουδαῖοι δὲ οὗτοι ἄναν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄρρυθμοι καὶ τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὸ χρῶμα τέλεον διατεθολωμένοι καὶ ῥυπῶντες. Καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ παρὰ τούτους εἰσὶ περὶ τὴν αὐτὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν πάντων ἕνεκεν ἀπόβλητοι. 10.8 Ταῦτα δὲ συναγαγὼν ἐκ τῆς περὶ λίθων πραγματείας, φημὶ τὸν σωτῆρα ἐπιστάμενον διαφορὰν μαργαριτῶν, ὧν ἐν τῷ γένει εἰσὶ καὶ καλοὶ καὶ ἄλλοι φαῦλοι, εἰρηκέναι τὸ ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ ἐμπόρῳ ζητοῦντι τοὺς καλοὺς μαργαρίτας· εἰ γὰρ μὴ καὶ φαῦλοι ἦσάν τινες ἐν μαργαρίταις, οὐκ ἂν εἴρητο ζητοῦντι καλοὺς μαργαρίτας. Ἐν τοῖς παντοδαποῖς δὲ ἐπαγγελλομένοις ἀλήθειαν λόγοις καὶ τοῖς φέρουσιν αὐτοὺς ζήτει τοὺς μαργα ρίτας, καὶ ἔστωσαν, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς οὐρανίου δρόσου συλλαμβάνοντες κόγχοι καὶ κύοντες ἐξ οὐρανοῦ λόγον ἀληθείας προφῆται οἱ καλοὶ μαργαρῖται, οὓς ὁ κατὰ τὴν προκειμένην λέξιν ζητεῖ ἔμπορος ἄνθρωπος. Ὁ δὲ ἀγελάρχης τῶν μαργαριτῶν, ᾧ εὑρισκομένῳ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ συνευρίσ κονται, ὁ πολυτίμητος μαργαρίτης, ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ ὑπὲρ τὰ τίμια γράμματα καὶ νοήματα τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν λόγος, οὗ εὑρεθέντος καὶ τἆλλα πάντα εὐμαρῶς παραλαμβάνονται. ∆ιαλέγεται δὲ ὁ σωτὴρ τοῖς μαθηταῖς πᾶσιν ὡς ἀνθρώποις ἐμπόροις, οὐ μόνον ζητοῦσι τοὺς καλοὺς μαργαρίτας, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὑροῦσιν αὐτοὺς καὶ κεκτημένοις, ἐν οἷς φησι· «Μὴ βάλητε τοὺς μαργαρίτας ἔμπροσθεν τῶν χοίρων.» ∆ῆλον δὲ ὅτι τοῖς μαθηταῖς ταῦτα λέλεκται ἐκ τοῦ προτετάχθαι τῶν λόγων τὸ «ἰδὼν δὲ τοὺς ὄχλους ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος· καὶ καθίσαντος αὐτοῦ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ»· ἐν γὰρ τῷ εἱρμῷ τῶν λόγων ἐκείνων εἴρηται· «Μὴ δῶτε τὸ ἅγιον τοῖς κυσί, μηδὲ βάλητε τοὺς μαργαρίτας ἔμπροσθεν τῶν χοίρων.» Μήποτε οὖν ὁ μὴ ἔχων μαργαρίτας ἢ τὸν πολύτιμον μαργα ρίτην οὐδὲ μαθητής ἐστι τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ *** τοὺς μαργαρίτας τοὺς καλούς, οὐ τοὺς νεφώδεις οὐδὲ τοὺς ἀχλυώδεις, ὁποῖοί εἰσιν οἱ τῶν ἑτεροδόξων λόγοι, οὐ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς γεννώμενοι ἀλλὰ πρὸς δυσμὰς ἢ πρὸς βορρᾶν, εἰ χρὴ καὶ ταῦτα προσ παραλαμβάνειν δι' ἣν εὕρομεν διαφορὰν μαργαριτῶν ἐν διαφόροις γινομένων τόποις. Τάχα δὲ οἱ τεθολωμένοι λόγοι καὶ αἱ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τῆς σαρκὸς κατειλιγμέναι αἱρέσεις οἱ ἀχλυώδεις εἰσὶ καὶ οἱ ἐν τέλμασι γινόμενοι μαργαρῖται οὐ καλοί. 10.9 Συνάψεις δὲ τῷ ζητοῦντι καλοὺς μαργαρίτας τὸ «ζητεῖτε καὶ εὑρήσετε» καὶ τὸ «πᾶς ὁ ζητῶν εὑρίσκει». Τί γὰρ «ζητεῖτε», ἢ τί «πᾶς ὁ ζητῶν εὑρίσκει»; Ἀποτολμήσας εἴπω τοὺς μαργαρίτας καὶ τὸν μαργαρίτην ὃν ὁ πάντα δοὺς καὶ ζημιωθεὶς κτᾶται, δι' ὅν φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· «Τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω», «πάντα» λέγων τοὺς καλοὺς μαργαρίτας, καὶ «Χριστὸν κερδήσω», τὸν ἕνα πολύτιμον μαργαρίτην. Τίμιον μὲν οὖν λύχνος τοῖς ἐν σκότει καὶ χρεία λύχνου ἕως ἀνατείλῃ ὁ ἥλιος· τιμία δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ τοῦ προσώπου Μωσέως δόξα-ἐγὼ δ' οἶμαι ὅτι καὶ τῶν προφητῶν-καὶ καλὸν θέαμα, δι' ἧς εἰσαγόμεθα πρὸς τὸ δυνηθῆναι ἰδεῖν τὴν δόξαν Χριστοῦ, ᾗ μαρτυρῶν ὁ πατήρ φησιν· «Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, εἰς ὃν ηὐδόκησα.» Ἀλλ' «οὐ δεδόξασται τὸ δεδοξασμένον ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει ἕνεκεν τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης δόξης», καὶ χρεία ἡμῖν πρότερον δόξης τῆς ἐπιδεχομένης κατάργησιν ὑπὲρ «τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης δόξης», ὡς χρεία γνώσεως τῆς ἐκ μέρους, ἥτις «καταργηθήσεται, ὅταν ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον». Πᾶσα τοίνυν ψυχὴ ἐρχομένη εἰς νηπιότητα καὶ ὁδεύουσα «ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα» δεῖται, μέχρις ἐνστῇ αὐτῇ «τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου», παιδαγωγοῦ καὶ οἰκονόμων καὶ ἐπιτρόπων, ἵνα μετὰ ταῦτα πάντα ὁ πρότερον μηδὲν «διαφέρων δούλου κύριος πάντων ὢν» ἀπολάβῃ ἐλευθερω θεὶς ἀπὸ παιδαγωγοῦ καὶ οἰκονόμων καὶ ἐπιτρόπων τὰ πατρῷα, τὰ ἀνάλογον τῷ πολυτιμήτῳ μαργαρίτῃ καὶ τῷ ἐρχομένῳ τελείῳ, καταργοῦντι «τὸ ἐκ μέρους», ὅταν «τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως