Matthew 11:18–19
It was fitting for John, as a household servant, to put the flesh’s passions to death through extreme austerity; but for Christ, as free, to put to death the flesh’s movements and its innate law by the power of divinity with authority — not to be helped into this by ascetic toils. Still, John, “preaching a baptism of repentance,” (Matthew 11:18–19) offered himself as a type to those who ought to mourn; the Lord, “preaching the kingdom of heaven,” reasonably showed ease and brightness in himself, through which he was sketching for the faithful inexpressible joy and toilless life. For the flute is the sweetness of the kingdom of heaven; the dirge is the pains of Gehenna.
Greek
Ἔπρεπεν Ἰωάννῃ ὡς οἰκέτῃ διὰ τῆς ἄγαν σκληραγωγίας κατα νεκρῶσαι τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς πάθη, τῷ δὲ Χριστῷ ὡς ἐλευθέρῳ δυνάμει τῆς θεότητος ἐξουσιαστικῶς τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς νεκροῦν κινήματα καὶ τὸν ἔμφυτον τῆς σαρκὸς νόμον, οὐ μὴν δι' ἀσκητικῶν πόνων εἰς τοῦτο βοη θεῖσθαι. ὅμως Ἰωάννης "βάπτισμα κηρύσσων μετανοίας" τύπον ἑαυτὸν πάρεσχε τοῖς ὀφείλουσι πενθεῖν, ὁ δὲ κύριος "βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν κηρύσ σων" εἰκότως τὸ ἀνειμένον καὶ φαιδρὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐπεδείκνυτο, δι' οὗ τοῖς πιστοῖς ὑπέγραφεν τὴν ἀνέκφραστον χαρὰν καὶ τὴν ἄπονον ζωήν. αὐλὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἡδύτης, θρῆνος δὲ τὰ γεέννης ἐπώδυνα.
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)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.