Commentarii in matthaeum (in catenis) 1 mt 1, 2 abraham was justified through faith and to him, having believed, god said: i will multiply your seed

 Having believed in god, he shone forth those, therefore, who believe in god, even if they come from obscure and lowly origins, are raised up by god a

 Despising the son of a carpenter, they clearly also considered his commandments to be cheap and despised, but for their insolence and contempt toward

 He made them so that they become imitators of him who both rains upon the just and sinners and makes the sun rise on all alike. 22 mt 6, 3 4 let not,

 Being bodiless it neither eats nor drinks, but do not be anxious for the soul about what you might eat or what you might drink for the soul puts fort

 Wanting it ready at hand. for lest someone should say, i have come to judge not wishing to reproach or grieve my brother, but taking thought to clean

 As we understand the gate and the way that leads to eternal life to be called narrow, not even my yoke is easy and my burden is light will contradic

 To them the sins, for which was the sacrifice, they both promised and seemed to accomplish, but a paralyzed man they were in no way strong enough to h

 Of grace, but they fasted according to the old custom. it was therefore unfitting and inappropriate for those appointed as lawgivers and heralds of th

 But they pursue the royal houses. since, therefore, you have supposed no such thing about the man, but you knew him to be a prophet in deeds and words

 To those who have despised wealth and renown and parents as well as children and death itself. but before the teaching of christ and the coming of joh

 You have received, or rather through which you have abundantly enjoyed the benefaction, through those things it was necessary, if you are ungrateful,

 His own creation, being led by good works to the knowledge of both himself and of his own father and of the consubstantial and co-powerful spirit. the

 Made man, and to hear the voice of god united to flesh hypostatically. 61 mt 13, 24 52 the kingdom of the heavens and the kingdom of god is said to be

 Knowledge and comprehension as he says: for this reason every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven, and so forth for through knowled

 For the children considered nothing of their own labors and resources to be their own, but they brought everything to their fathers, fearing lest they

 He awaited an opinion and testimony about him for if he had said: whom do men say that i, the son of god, am, the disciples' response would have been

 The narrative of higher and more wondrous things. but the lord does not offer to the scribes a solution appropriate to the seeming difficulty, showing

 They escaped the civil disturbances. and elijah dwelt on carmel, but john tarried in the desert, and in other respects the similarity between them was

 From there by a mist they were able to perceive none of the things being done, but later, having been freed from that confusion and having come to the

 Of evils) not only does he subtly and wisely exclude wealth from the appellation of 'good,' but also all other things, by his declaration concerning a

 They will convict the disobedient jews, but they themselves will be shining in honor and glory, while the others are in utmost disgrace and dejection.

 Unbearable, but what appeared heavy and unbearable by the judgment of those priests themselves for what they themselves do not move even with a finge

 Seek the rank of deacons and of those who are last, that is, practice humility for through this it is possible to obtain true primacy and inexpressib

 To kill the righteous. therefore you bear witness to your forefathers as impious, desiring to become like them. and you, he says, fill up the measu

 Always having the inflamed passion of avarice, he is indignant everywhere when deprived of profit. therefore the master, looking to their thought and

 Will be preached, not depriving the one reward of the other for each of the sins has found forgiveness and through the deed is preached throughout th

 He says, that before the entire first cockcrowing is completed, you will deny me three times. but when mark says, “before the cock crows twice, you wi

 This has been permitted for security, that we may always be sober, that even if we seem to do any good work, we may always consider it a gift from abo

 For them who are being saved, their commonwealth is on earth, but in heaven is their reward and inheritance. but since, he says, i have received autho

seek the rank of deacons and of those who are last, that is, practice humility; for through this it is possible to obtain true primacy and inexpressible glory. If we desire to obtain glory and primacy, let us hate glory and primacy; but if you are not even so persuaded to despise glory and primacy, know that your endeavors will be turned to the contrary for you; for you will be humbled; for he who exalts himself will be humbled. But those who have kept my commandments and have been humbled will be exalted; for everyone who humbles himself will be exalted; for humility is a symbol of the observance of the doctrines, and observance is a bond of the kinship of the brethren, and it points to the heavenly father; let us love humility from the heart. 87 Mt 23, 15 The son of gehenna instead of: you prepare him to be so familiar with gehenna through the things in which he sins, as a son is to the mother who bore him. And your making him twice as much shows their extreme indolence and negligence concerning the proselyte, because even if you see him sinning twice as much as you and for this reason becoming a son of gehenna twice as much as you, you do not turn back and correct yourselves, so that through your turning back and correction you might also grant to them an occasion for some small change and care. And yet, if nothing else, you ought to have been ashamed and abashed by your zeal and struggle, which it is your custom to expend to make a proselyte, and not to pour out libations exceedingly and struggle and do everything before making him, but to neglect and overlook, and even to wear him down into wickedness after making him. He says that someone becomes a son of gehenna because of being on familiar terms with the ill-disposed Pharisees; for as the son is to the mother, so is the learner to the teacher. And your making him twice as much indicates their extreme indolence and negligence concerning proselytes. 88 Mt 23, 29-32 You build the tombs of the prophets etc. instead of: you multiply and build upon by being yourselves eager to kill prophets and righteous men, even though you say that if we had been in the days of our fathers etc. So you bear witness against yourselves both by your desire to multiply and build up tombs of prophets and righteous men, and by what you say, that if we had been in the days of our fathers etc. Therefore, by both you bear witness that you are sons of the prophet-killers. For which reason the master justly pronounces woe upon them, because they desired to do the things they condemned. For which reason he adds: And you fill up etc. instead of: What you have accomplished by your practice and wicked thoughts and zeal and eagerness, fill up according to the measure of your fathers, that is, by bringing it out into a visible work and action; for the measure of their fathers' indignation and insolence against the prophets was the violent death through dishonor, which these men, being driven to madness against the common master of all, fulfilled. But the phrase And you fill up is not that of one commanding, but rather of one dissuading and forbidding; for not only are we accustomed to forbid often by negation, such as do not do this, but sometimes also by affirmation, and then especially when the absurdity of the action is manifest; for in such cases we are accustomed to carry out the dissuasion through its opposites, such as do this, kill yourself, kill your own father, run away into the depth of the sea; for we say these things while rebuking some, openly dissuading according to the thought which is manifest, but unspoken for this very reason, such as if you are not ashamed, if you do not shudder, kill your father, if you are mad, if you are out of your senses, kill yourself; throw yourself down from a cliff, if you dare. For this reason the master also, having first rebuked them for calling them sons of the prophet-killers and having assailed them more bitterly, has placed in the middle the phrase fill up; which was of one dissuading and forbidding, not because he himself feared death, but because he was concerned for their salvation. You build the tombs, he says, at the same time multiplying and showing the audacity of your forefathers and being eager, similarly to them, prophets and

διακόνων καὶ ὑστέρων τάξιν ἐπιζήτει, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ταπεινοφροσύνην ἄσκει· διὰ ταύτης γάρ ἐστιν τυχεῖν τῶν ὡς ἀληθῶς πρωτείων καὶ τῆς ἀνεκφράστου δόξης. εἰ ἐρῶμεν δόξης τυχεῖν καὶ πρωτείων, μισήσωμεν δόξαν καὶ πρωτεῖα· εἰ δὲ οὐδὲ οὕτως πείθεσθε καταφρονεῖν δόξης καὶ πρωτείων, γινώσκετε ὅτι εἰς τοὐναντίον τὰ τῆς σπουδῆς ὑμῖν περιτραπήσεται· ταπεινωθήσεσθε γάρ· καὶ γὰρ ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται. οἱ δὲ τὰς ἐντολάς μου φυλάξαντες καὶ ταπεινωθέντες ὑψωθήσονται· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται· ἡ γοῦν ταπεί νωσις σύμβολον τῆς τῶν δογμάτων φυλακῆς, ἡ φυλακὴ δὲ σύνδεσμος τῆς συγγενείας τῶν ἀδελφῶν, ἡ δὲ τὸν οὐράνιον πατέρα δείκνυσιν· ἀγαπήσωμεν ἐκ καρδίας τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην. 87 Mt 23, 15 Τὸ υἱὸν γεέννης ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὕτως ἔχειν οἰκείως δι' ὧν ἁμαρτάνει πρὸς τὴν γέενναν παρασκευάζετε ὡς υἱὸς πρὸς τὴν τεκοῦσαν μητέρα. τὸ δὲ διπλότερον ὑμῶν τὴν ἄκραν αὐτῶν περὶ τοῦ προσηλύτου ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ ἀμέλειαν δηλοῖ, ὅτι κἂν ἴδητε αὐτὸν διπλότερον ὑμῶν ἐξαμαρτάνοντα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο διπλότερον ὑμῶν υἱὸν γεέννης γινόμενον οὐκ ἐπιστρέφεσθε καὶ διορθοῦσθε, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ὑμῶν ἐπιστροφῆς καὶ διορθώσεως κἀκείνοις μικρᾶς τινος μεταβολῆς ἀφορμὴν καὶ ἐπιμελείας δωρήσησθε. καίτοι εἰ μή τι ἄλλο τὴν ὑμετέραν σπουδὴν καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα, ἃ καταβάλλειν ὑμῖν ἔθος εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι προσήλυτον, ἔδει αἰσχυνθῆναι καὶ δυσωπηθῆναι καὶ μὴ σπένδειν μὲν ὑπερβαλλόντως καὶ ἀγωνιᾶν καὶ πάντα πράττειν πρὸ τοῦ ποιῆσαι, ἀμελεῖν δὲ καὶ ὑπερορᾶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς κακίαν ἐπιτρίβειν μετὰ τὸ ποιῆσαι. Υἱὸν γεέννης γίνεσθαι τινά φησιν διὰ τὸ ἔχειν οἰκείως πρὸς τοὺς Φαρισαίους κακῶς διακειμένους· ὡς γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς πρὸς τὴν μητέρα ἔχει, οὕτως ὁ μανθάνων πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον. τὸ δὲ διπλότερον ὑμῶν τὴν ἄκραν αὐτῶν περὶ προσηλύτους ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ ἀμέλειαν ἐνδείκνυται. 88 Mt 23, 29 32 Οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ ἑξῆς ἀντὶ τοῦ· πληθύνετε καὶ ἐποικοδομεῖτε δι' ὧν καὶ αὐτοὶ προφήτας καὶ δικαίους πρόθυμοί ἐστε ἀποκτενεῖν, καίτοι λέγοντες ὅτι εἰ ἤμεθα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν καὶ ἑξῆς. ὥστε μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς ἐξ ὧν τε πληθύνειν καὶ ἐποικοδομεῖν τάφους προφητῶν καὶ δικαίων ἐπιθυμεῖτε, ἐξ ὧν τε λέγετε, ὅτι εἰ ἤμεθα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων καὶ ἑξῆς. δι' ἀμφοῖν οὖν μαρτυρεῖτε, ὅτι υἱοὶ τῶν προφητοκτόνων ἐστέ. διὸ καὶ δικαίως αὐτοὺς ὁ δεσπότης ταλανίζει, ὅτι ἃ ἐκάκιζον πράττειν ἐπεθύμουν. διὸ καὶ ἐπάγει· καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε καὶ ἑξῆς ἀντὶ τοῦ· ὅπερ τῇ μελέτῃ καὶ τοῖς πονηροῖς λογισμοῖς καὶ τῇ σπουδῇ καὶ τῇ προθυμίᾳ διεπράξατε, πληρώσατε κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν εἰς ἔργον αὐτὸ καὶ πρᾶξιν ὁρωμένην ἐξάγοντες· καὶ γὰρ μέτρον ἦν τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν τῆς κατὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἀγανακτήσεως καὶ ὕβρεως ὁ βίαιος καὶ δι' ἀτιμίας θάνατος, ὃν οὗτοι κατὰ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότου ἐκμανέντες ἐξεπλήρωσαν. τὸ δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε οὐκ ἐπιτάττοντός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ ἀποτρέποντος μᾶλλον καὶ κωλύοντος· καὶ γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἐξ ἀποφάσεως πολλάκις κωλύειν εἰώθαμεν, οἷον μὴ ποιήσῃς τόδε, ἀλλ' ἐνίοτε καὶ ἐκ καταφάσεως καὶ τότε μάλιστα ἡνίκα ἐστὶν πρόδηλος ἡ ἀτοπία τῆς πράξεως· ἐπὶ γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων τὴν ἀποτροπὴν ἐκτελεῖν εἰώθαμεν, οἷον ποίησον τόδε, ἄνελε σαυτόν, ἄνελε τὸν σαυτοῦ πατέρα, ἀπότρεχε εἰς τὸν τῆς θαλάσσης βυθόν· ταῦτα γάρ τισιν ἐπιτιμῶντες λέγομεν ἄντικρυς ἀποτρέποντες κατὰ τὴν πρόδηλον μέν, σιωπωμένην δὲ δι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὴν διάνοιαν, οἷον εἰ οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ, εἰ οὐ πέφρικας, ἄνελε τὸν πατέρα, εἰ μέμηνας, εἰ ἐξέστηκας, ἄνελε σαυτόν· ῥῖψον σεαυτὸν κατὰ κρημνοῦ, εἰ τολμᾷς. διὸ καὶ ὁ δεσπότης καὶ προεπιτιμήσας διὰ τὸ υἱοὺς αὐτοὺς τῶν προφητοκτόνων εἰπεῖν καὶ πικρότερον ἐπικαθαψάμενος μέσον τέθεικεν τὸ πληρώσατε· ὅπερ ἀποτρέποντος καὶ κωλύοντος ἦν οὐχ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐδεδίει τὸν θάνατον, ἀλλ' ὅτι τῆς ἐκείνων ἐφρόντιζε σωτηρίας. Οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους, φησίν, πληθύνοντες ἅμα καὶ δει κνύντες τὴν τόλμαν τῶν προγόνων καὶ πρόθυμοι ὄντες παραπλησίως ἐκείνοις προφήτας τε καὶ