Oecumenius, Fragments on the Letter to the Philippians

Fragments on the Epistle to the Philippians 452 phil 1,19 And he calls salvation the almost immediate martyrdom. phil 1,24 And in another sense you will understand what is more necessary; that bringing more people to Christ through faith makes him more intimate with Christ. phil 2,2 Or he also speaks concerning doctrine. phil 3,8 You can also understand the law as refuse in another way; for refuse is food for beasts, and the law, therefore, after faith, is a safeguard for more irrational men. But why at all did you consider it a loss and refuse, O Paul? Because for a long time, he says, it caused me loss of Christ, as I sat beside the letter, not that he was now suffering loss from it—for he knew how to use it spiritually—but he speaks about that 453 loss before his faith; for even after the loss which caused us loss has passed, still remembering it we call it loss. For see how carefully he spoke: I consider it loss because of the surpassing knowledge of Christ, as if he had said: By nature it is not a loss, but since, supposedly observing it, I did not recognize Christ, it became a loss for me. For if, he says, one were to compare the physical observance of the law to the knowledge of Christ, he will find the law to be a loss; so great, he says, is the difference of the knowledge of Christ. phil 3,14 And we have read in certain copies: for the prize of the blamelessness of God in Christ Jesus. And the sense of the passage there would be this: the prize is a prize of blamelessness, so that the one who has apprehended what is pursued and attained the goal and taken hold of the prize in no way falls into an accusation from God. phil 3,19 Well did he say their end is destruction; for if, he says, they remain such until the end; for it was likely that they would also change. phil 3, 21 But see what great unanimity of the holy Trinity he knows, that having proposed above that the Son effects the transformation of our body, now he says the Father does this. But then, if we should understand it thus, is it not audacious that the Son will do this according to his power, that by which he subjected all things to his own body? But if we understand it thus, there is a fear lest we seem to divide after the union, the one incarnate nature of the Word of God.

Fragmenta in epistulam ad Philippenses 452 phil 1,19 Σωτηρίαν δέ φησι τὸ ὅσον οὐδέπω μαρτύριον. phil 1,24 Καὶ κατ' ἄλλο δὲ νοήσεις τὸ ἀναγκαιότερον· ὅτι τὸ προσάγειν Χριστῷ διὰ τῆς πίστεως πλείονας πλεῖον αὐτὸν ᾠκείου τῷ Χριστῷ. phil 2,2 Ἢ καὶ περὶ τοῦ δόγματος λέγει. phil 3,8 ∆ύνῃ καὶ κατ' ἄλλο σκύβαλα νοῆσαι τὸν νόμον· τὸ γὰρ σκύβαλον κτηνώδης ἐστὶ τροφή, καὶ ὁ νόμος τοίνυν μετὰ τὴν πίστιν ἀλογωτέροις ἀνθρώποις ἐστὶν παραφυλακή. διὰ τί δὲ ὅλως ἥγησαι αὐτὸν ζημίαν καὶ σκύβαλα, ὦ Παῦλε; ὅτι ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον, φησίν, ἐζημίωσέ με Χριστοῦ τῷ γράμματι παρακαθήμενον, οὐχ ὅτι νῦν ἐζημιοῦτο ἐξ αὐτοῦ ᾔδει γὰρ αὐτῷ πνευματικῶς χρήσασθαιἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς ζημίας 453 ἐκείνης φησὶ τῆς πρὸ τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ· καὶ γὰρ καὶ μετὰ τὸ παρελθεῖν τὴν ζημίαν ζημιώσασαν ἡμᾶς, ἔτι αὐτῆς μεμνημένοι ζημίαν αὐτὴν καλοῦμεν. ὅρα γὰρ πῶς ἀσφαλῶς εἶπεν· ἡγοῦμαι αὐτὸν ζημίαν διὰ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τῆς γνώσεως Χριστοῦ, ὡσεὶ εἶπεν· φύσει μὲν οὐκ ἔστι ζημία, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ δῆθεν φυλάττων αὐτὸν οὐκ ἐπεγίνωσκον τὸν Χριστόν, εἰς ζημίαν μοι ἐγένετο. Εἰ γάρ, φησίν, ἀντιπαραθείη τις τὴν τοῦ νόμου σωματικὴν παραφυλακὴν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ γνῶσιν, ζημίαν εὑρήσει τὸν νόμον· τοσαύτη διαφορὰ τῆς Χριστοῦ, φησί, γνώσεως. phil 3,14 Ἀνέγνωμεν δὲ ἔν τισιν ἀντιγράφοις· εἰς τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς ἀνεγκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. καὶ εἴη ἂν ἐκεῖ τῆς λέξεως ὁ νοῦς τοιοῦτος· τὸ βραβεῖόν ἐστι βραβεῖον ἀνεγκλησίας, ὥστε μηδαμῶς ἐγκλήματι τῷ ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐμπίπτειν τὸν καταλαβόντα τὸ διωκόμενον καὶ τυχόντα τοῦ σκοποῦ καὶ ἐπιλαβόμενον τοῦ βραβείου. phil 3,19 Καλῶς τὸ τέλος εἶπεν ἀπώλειαν· ἐὰν γάρ, φησίν, ἄχρι τέλους μείνωσι τοιοῦτοι· εἰκὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ μεταβληθῆναι αὐτούς. phil 3, 21 Ὅρα δὲ πόσην οἶδεν ὁμογνωμοσύνην τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος, ὅτι ἄνω τὸν υἱὸν ὑποθέμενος τὴν ἐναλλαγὴν τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν ποιεῖσθαι, νῦν τὸν πατέρα τοῦτο ποιεῖν λέγει. ἆρα δέ, ἐὰν οὕτω νοήσωμεν, μὴ τολμηρόν ἐστιν ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦτο ποιήσει κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ, ἐκείνην ἐν ᾗ ὑπέταξε τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι τὰ πάντα; ἀλλ' εἰ οὕτω νοήσομεν, δέος ἐστὶ μὴ δόξωμεν διαιρεῖν μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν, τὴν μίαν σεσαρκωμένην τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου φύσιν.