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Fragments on Matthew (from the catena of Nicetas)

96.1408 “At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grainfields; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the heads of grain, and to eat.” And your servant, he says, and your beast of burden shall rest on the Sabbath; that is, in this weekly life; as a beast of burden, the body will cease from the slavery of sin; and will serve the divine commandments; and as a servant, anger and desire will cease from sin, and will be permitted to be at leisure for God; desire being wholly directed toward God, and anger being armed against the enemies of God. “And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone as the sun; and his raiment was white as the light.” The Lord is transfigured, not by taking on what he was not, but by revealing to the disciples what he was, and his face shines as the sun (for he is identified with another light hypostatically); and his garments become white as snow, according to Mark. For the covering is glorified by relation, not by hypostatic union. Just as the sun is one, but has two substances, both of light, which came to be before, and of the body, which came later in creation, and the light is indivisibly united through the whole body, and while the body remains, the light spreads over all 96.1409 parts of the earth; so also Christ, being light from light, without beginning and unapproachable, having come in a temporal and created body, is one Sun of righteousness, one Christ in two natures; and the body is circumscribed, but the divinity, being uncontained in all things, is also beyond all things; and just as the sun is one thing (for it is a source of light, unable to be clearly seen), and the light which comes from it to the earth is another (for the wisdom and philanthropy of God is seen and foreseen, so that we might not be rendered entirely without a share in good things); so the face of Christ shines more clearly, as the sun (for what the sun is among sensible things, God is among intelligible things), and his garments are made white as light, being brightened by the impartation of the divine light. That he shone, however, not just as the sun, but that the light was even greater than the example, the disciples showed by falling down. For if the light had not been unmixed, but commensurate with the sun, they would not have fallen. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.” Note that formerly at the Jordan the Trinity was witnessed, with the Son being baptized, the Father testifying from above, and the Spirit descending like a dove. Now on Tabor she herself is again witnessed by the one proclaiming. By the one proclaimed, by the cloud, by the Spirit. These things David also proclaimed beforehand. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in your name. For Hermon rejoiced when Christ was baptized. And Tabor when he was transfigured, since at both a voice was brought forth, saying, This is my Son. “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you.” The bread and wine are not a type of the body and blood of Christ, God forbid, but the very body and the very blood which go to the constitution of our soul and body, not being consumed, not being corrupted, not passing into the latrine, but into our substance and preservation. And if some have called the bread and the wine antitypes of the body and blood of the Lord, they said this not after they were consecrated, but before they were consecrated, calling the offering so. They are called antitypes of things to come, not as if they are not truly the body and blood of Christ, but because now through them we partake of Christ's

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Fragmenta in Matthaeum (e catena Nicetae)

96.1408 «Ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἐπορεύθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοῖς Σάββασι διὰ τῶν σπορίμων, οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπείνασαν, καὶ ἤρξαντο τίλλειν στάχυας, καὶ ἐσθίειν.» Καὶ ὁ δοῦλός σου, φησὶ, καὶ τὸ ὑποζύγιον ἐν τῷ Σαββάτῳ ἀναπαυθήσεται· τουτέστιν, ἐν τῷ ἑβδοματικῷ τούτῳ βίῳ· ὡς μὲν ὑποζύγιον τὸ σῶμα τῆς δουλείας τῆς ἁμαρτίας παυθήσεται· ταῖς δὲ θείαις ἐντολαῖς ἐξυπηρετήσεται· ὡς δὲ δοῦλος ὁ θυμὸς καὶ ἐπιθυμία, τῆς μὲν ἁμαρτίας καταπαυθήσεται, τῷ δὲ Θεῷ σχολάζειν ἐπιτραπήσεται· ἡ μὲν ἐπιθυμία πρὸς Θεὸν ἅπασα τεινομένη, ὁ δὲ θυμὸς κατὰ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ δυσμενειῶν ὁπλιζόμενος. «Καὶ μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἔλαμψε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ, ὡς ὁ ἥλιος· τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἐγένοντο λευκὰ, ὡς τὸ φῶς.» Μεταμορφοῦται ὁ Κύριος οὐχ, ὃ οὐκ ἦν, προσλαβόμενος, ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἦν τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἐκφαινόμενος, καὶ λάμπει τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος (φωτὶ γὰρ ἄλλῳ ταυτίζεται καθ' ὑπόστασιν)· ὡς δὲ χιὼν λευκαίνεται κατὰ Μάρκον τὰ ἱμάτια. Περιβολὴ γὰρ δοξάζεται σχέσει, οὐχ ἑνώσει τῇ καθ' ὑπόστασιν. Ὥσπερ δὲ ὁ ἥλιος εἷς ἐστιν, ἔχει δὲ οὐσίας δύο, τοῦ τε φωτὸς, ὃ γέγονε πρότερον, καὶ τοῦ τῇ κτίσει ἐφυστερίζοντος σώματος, δι' ὅλου δὲ τοῦ σώματος τὸ φῶς ἀδιαιρέτως ἥνωται, καὶ τοῦ σώματος μένοντος, τὸ φῶς πᾶσι τῆς γῆς ἐφαπλοῦται 96.1409 τοῖς μέρεσιν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς φῶς ἐκ φωτὸς ἄναρχον ὃν, καὶ ἀπρόσιτον, ἐν τῷ χρονικῷ καὶ κτιστῷ γενόμενος σώματι, εἷς ἐστι δικαιοσύνης Ἥλιος, εἷς Χριστὸς ἐν δυσὶ ταῖς φύσεσι· καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα περίγραπτον, ἡ δὲ θεότης ἀχώρητος ἐν πᾶσιν οὖσα, καὶ πάντων ἐπέκεινα· καὶ ὥσπερ ἕτερον μὲν ἥλιος (πηγὴ γάρ ἐστι φωτὸς, καθορᾶσθαι μὴ δυνάμενος τρανῶς), ἑτέρου δὲ τὸ φῶς, τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ πρὸς γῆν ἀφικνούμενον (ὁρᾶται γὰρ καὶ προβλέπεται σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ φιλανθρωπία, ὡς ἂν μὴ παντελῶς ἀμέτοχοι τῶν καλῶν κατασταίημεν)· οὕτω τὸ μὲν πρόσωπον τοῦ Χριστοῦ λάμπει τρανότερον ὡς ὁ ἥλιος (ὅπερ γὰρ ἐν αἰσθητοῖς ὁ ἥλιος, τοῦτο ἐν νοητοῖς ὁ Θεὸς), ὡς δὲ φῶς λευκαίνεται τὰ ἱμάτια, τῇ μεταδόσει τοῦ θείου φωτὸς ἀγλαϊζόμενα. Ὅτι μέντοι οὐχ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἔλαμψεν, ἀλλὰ ὅτι καὶ τοῦ ὑποδείγματος μεῖζον ἦν τὸ φῶς, ἔδειξαν οἱ μαθηταὶ πεσόντες. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἄκρατον ἦν τὸ φῶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ ἡλίῳ σύμμετρον, οὐκ ἂν ἔπεσον. «Οὗτός ἐστιν Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε.» Ἐπισήμηναι ὅτι πρότερον μὲν ἐν Ἰορδάνῃ ἡ Τριὰς ἐμαρτυρήθη τοῦ Υἱοῦ βαπτιζομένου, Πατρὸς ἄνωθεν μαρτυροῦντος, τοῦ Πνεύματος ὡσεὶ περιστερὰ κατερχομένου. Νῦν δὲ ἐν Θαβὼρ ἡ αὐτὴν πάλιν μαρτυρεῖται τῷ κηρύττοντι. Τῷ κηρυττομένῳ, τῇ νεφέλῃ τῷ Πνεύματι. Ταῦτά τοι καὶ ∆αβὶδ προανεφώνησε. Θαβὼρ καὶ Ἑρμὼν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ἀγαλλιάσονται. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ Ἑρμὼν ἠγαλλιάσατο βαπτιζομένου τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τὸ δὲ Θαβὼρ μεταμορφουμένου, ἐπειδὴ ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ἠνέχθη φωνὴ, Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου λέγουσα. «Καὶ λαβὼν τὸ ποτήριον καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· Πίετε ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντες.» Οὐκ ἔστι τύπος ὁ ἄρτος καὶ οἶνος τοῦ σώματος καὶ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ αἷμα εἰς σύστασιν τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος χωροῦν, οὐ δαπανώμενον, οὐ φθειρόμενον, οὐκ εἰς ἀφεδρῶνα χωροῦν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν ἡμῶν οὐσίαν τε καὶ συντήρησιν. Εἰ δὲ καί τινες ἀντίτυπα τοῦ σώματος καὶ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Κυρίου τὸν ἄρτον καὶ τὸν οἶνον ἐκάλεσαν, οὐ μετὰ τὸ ἁγιασθῆναι εἶπον, ἀλλὰ πρὶν ἁγιασθῆναι, τὴν προσφορὰν οὕτω καλέσαντες. Ἀντίτυπα δὲ τῶν μελλόντων λέγονται, οὐχ ὡς μὴ ὄντα ἀληθῶς σῶμα καὶ αἷμα Χριστοῦ, ἀλλ' ὅτι νῦν μὲν δι' αὐτῶν μετέχομεν τῆς Χριστοῦ