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ER 2060

Anonymous author of the "Incomplete Commentary on Matthew" explains that Christ`s warning against false prophets should be interpreted as referring to heretical priests. The mid-5th c., the Danubian provinces or Constantinople.

Homilia 19

"Attendite vobis a falsis prophetis." [Matt 7:15] Scriptum est, Omnis lex et prophetae usque ad Ioannem [Matt 11:13]: non quia futuri non erant post Ioannem. Fuerunt enim et Agabus, et Sylas, et multi. Sed quia prophetia de Christo non erat uentura post eum. Ergo post Ioannem prophetia quidem de Christo futuro cessauit, prophetae autem et fuerunt, et sunt: sed non qui prophetarent de Christo, sed qui interpretarentur ea quae de Christo ab antiquis fuerant prophetata: id est, doctores ecclesiarum. Sed et omnes Christiani prophetae dicuntur, qui in regnum et in sacerdotium et in prophetiam unguntur. Nec enim potest quis propheticos interpretari sensus, nisi habeat spiritum prophetiae. Haec autem diximus, ut ostendamus, quia prophetae, de quibus loquitur Christus, doctores dicuntur. Sciens ergo dominus futuros esse falsos doctores haeresum diuersarum, contra ueros doctores, qui scripturas prophecticas et apostolicas peruersa interpretatione confunderent: ideo per apostolos suos omnium ecclesiarum doctores admonet, dicens: "Attendite uobis a falsis prophetis." Et ne forte dicat aliquis haereticus doctor, quia non dixit nos falsos prophetas, sed Gentilium et Iudaeorum doctores: ideo addidit, dicens: Qui ueniunt ad uos in uestimentis ouium. Quamuis et de Iudaicis quidem falsis apostolis et prophetis ista praedicit, tamen de illis Iudaicis, qui in Christum quidem fuerant credituri ex eis, peruersa autem loquentes secundum suggestionem maligni spiritus, ad corruptionem Christianorum fuerant locuturi, de quibus cauendis in omni epistola sua solicite monet Apostolus: quorum filii sunt et haeretici modo. Oues enim proprie Christiani dicuntur: uestimentum autem ouile, est species Christianitatis. Vides quia de haereticis Christianis loquatur Christus fugiendis, qui a foris in schemate Christiani uidentur, abintus autem confessionis efficacitate Gentiles. Et isti multo periculosiores sunt quam illi Iudaici: quia illi quidem reiecti ab apostolis, et uocati, extra conuentum Christianorum erratici uagabant, haeretici et furtim quosdam corrumpebant incautos. Isti autem quasi fundati Christiani, et ecclesias suas habentes. Et quid dico, ecclesias etiam regentes, palam cum libertate subuertunt, et sic multiplicati sunt ex diuerso, ut Christiani uagi potius uideant quam illi. Et quomodo non sint periculosi, aut quomodo suadeant multis? Et ne adhuc dicat haereticus, quia de ueris Christianis doctoribus loquitur, qui Christiani quidem sunt, tamen peccatores sunt. Omnis enim Christianus qui facit peccatum, falsus dicitur Christianus: et uere quidem est, quia Christianus qui facit peccatum, nec poenitet de peccato, falsus est Christianus. Tamen ut scias, quia non de Christianis peccatoribus, sed de haereticis doctoribus loquatur: non tantum dixit, qui ueniunt ad uos in uestimentis ouium: sed addidit, Ab intus autem sunt lupi rapaces. Christiani enim doctores, etsi fuerint peccatores, serui quidem carnis dicuntur, quia uincuntur a carne, tamen propositum non habent perdere Christianos, et ideo non dicuntur lupi rapaces. Vides ergo, quia manifeste de haereticis doctoribus dicat, qui eo proposito schemata Christianorum susceperunt, prouidente diabolo, ut Christianos iniquo seductionis morsu dilanient. De qualibus lupis ad Ephesios dicebat Apostolus: Scio quia post discessum meum introibunt lupi graues in uos, non parcentes gregi, et ex uobisipsis exient peruersa loquentes, ut abducant discipulos post se [Acts 20:29-30]. Audi ergo qui doctus ab haereticis, putas te eruditum: et baptizatus ab eis, putas te Christianum factum. Vide doctores haereticos qui lupi dicuntur a Christo. Si ergo eruditus es ab haereticis, raptus es, non eruditus. Si baptizatus ab eis es, deuoratus es, non saluatus. Nam luporum deuorare est, non saluare.

(ed. Desiderius Erasmus 1530: 579-80: cf. PG 56, col. 738, ed. B. Montefaucon)

Homily 19

"Beware of false prophets." [Matt 7:15] It was written, "All the prophets and the law prophesied until John," [Matt 11:13] not because there would not be any prophets after John, for there were Agabus, Silas, and many others, but because after him there would not be any prophecy about Christ. Therefore, after John prophecy about the coming Christ ceased, there have been and are prophets, but not such people as those who prophesied about Christ but who have interpreted those things that were prophesied about Christ in times of old, namely, the teachers of the church. But all Christians are also called prophets, who are anointed into the kingdom, priesthood and prophetic office. Indeed, no one can interpret the meaning of the prophets unless he has the spirit of prophecy. But we have said this to show that the prophets about whom Christ is speaking are called teachers. Therefore, because the Lord knew that there would be false teachers of various heresies against the true teachers and that the former would confuse the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures with their perverse interpretation, he warned the teachers of all the churches through his apostles, "Beware of false prophets." [Matt 7:15]

And if by chance some heretical teacher should say, "He did not call us false prophets, but rather the teachers of the Gentiles and

Jews," so he went on to say, "who come to you in sheep's clothing." Although he spoke those things concerning the Jewish false apostles and prophets, nonetheless he spoke about those Jews who would believe in Christ but speak perverse things as an evil spirit suggested to them and would speak in order to corrupt Christians. The apostle Paul diligently warns in every epistle of his about being wary of them. The heretics are now the offspring of these false teachers. The sheep are properly called Christians, but the sheep's clothing is a type of Christianity. Do you see that Christ is speaking about fleeing from heretical Christians who seem outwardly to be Christians in form but inwardly are heathen by the way their confession functions? And the heretics are much more dangerous than the Jews of Paul's letters because the latter were rejected and pointed out by the apostles and wandered erratically outside the assembly of Christians, but heretics secretly corrupted some people who were not cautious, all the while being established as Christians and having their own churches. And what shall I say? They even rule churches and openly subvert them with all liberty and have so multiplied that Christians seem to have wandered rather than they. And how can they not be dangerous or how can they persuade many? Furthermore, do not let a heretic say chat Christ is speaking about true Christian teachers who indeed are not Christians but sinners. Every Christian who commits a sin is called a false Christian and truly is such because a Christian who commits a sin and does not repent of the sin is a false Christian. Nonetheless, so that you can know that he is not talking about Christian sinners but about heretical teachers he not only said, "Who come to you in sheeps clothing," but added, "Inwardly they are ravenous wolves." Christian teachers, even if they have been servants and are called servants of the flesh because they have been overcome by the flesh, nonetheless do not intend to destroy Christians and, consequently, are not called ravenous wolves. Thus you see that he is clearly talking about heretical teachers who have undertaken the forms of Christians with the intention of tearing Christians to pieces with the iniquitous bite of seduction, as much as the devil can help them. Concerning such wolves the apostle said to the Ephesians, "I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Then from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." [Acts 22:29-30]

Hear, therefore, you who have been taught by the heretics and think that you are wise, and baptized by them and think that you have been made a Christian. See that are the heretical teachers are called wolves by Christ. Therefore, if you have been educated by heretics, you have been snatched by them and not educated. For it is the nature of wolves to devour, not to save.

(trans. Kellerman 2010: 154-55; lightly adapted)

Place of event:

Region

Danubian provinces and Illyricum
East

City

Constantinople

About the source:

Author: Ps.-John Chrysostom
Title: Incomplete Commentary on Matthew, Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum
Origin: Danubian provinces and IllyricumConstantinople (East),
Denomination: Arian

"Incomplete Commentary on Matthew" (Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum) is the name given to a Latin exegetical commentary on the Gospel of Matthew which has been handed down under the attribution to John Chrystostomus. The name of the Opus imperfectum also served to distinguish it from another commentary, John Chrystostomus' Homilies on Matthew (CPG 4424), which is complete. The Opus imperfectum does not contain a commentary on Matthew 8:10 to 10:15, Matthew 13:14 to 18:35, and Matthew 25:37 to the end of the Gospel. Therefore, the commentary can be divided into three parts: commentaries (called "homilies" in the mss.) 1-22 (up to Matthew 8:10), commentaries 24-31 (Matthew 10:13-13:13) and commentaries 32-54 (Matthew 19-25). In order to facilitate the description of the manuscript families and the transmission, Van Banning has proposed to divide the third section into two parts, so that he speaks of four parts in all:

- part A (hom. 1-22)

- part B (hom. 24-31)

- part C (hom. 32-46)

- part D (hom. 46-54)

Commentary (homily) 23, included in early modern editions (and printed in PG 56, 754-756), has been identified as one of the homilies to Matthew by Chromatius of Aquileia. New fragments of the commentary were identified by Étaix in 1974.

The editio princeps was published by Johannes Koelhof in Cologne in 1487. The next one, of much better quality, appeared in Venice in 1503. At that time, the work was still considered to be written by Chrysostom, but translated by an unknown person. The first doubts about its authorship were expressed by Andreas Cartander in the preface to the 1525 edition. The next editor, Erasmus of Rotterdam, made only minor changes to the text of the previous edition, but was the first to firmly reject the authorship of John Chrysostom on the basis of the text fragments he described as "Arian". He was also convinced that the commentary was not the translation from Greek, but was originally written in Latin, albeit possibly by a person who knew Greek.

To this day, the questions of authorship, date and the region in which the commentary was written remain unresolved, and many different hypotheses have been put forward in scholarship. Stiglmayr (1909, 1910) and Nautin (1972) argued that the Opus was a translation from Greek and suggested Timothy, the deacon of Constantinople mentioned in Socrates, as a possible author; Morin (1942) suggested that the author of the Opus could be identified with the translator of Origen's Homilies on Matthew into Latin; Meslin (1967: 174-180) attributed it to Bishop Maximinus, who translated it from the so-called Arian scholia in ms. Parisinus Latinus 8907; Schlatter (1988) suggested the attribution to Ananius of Celeda. The various passages reveal the author's hostility to Nicene theology, which maintains that the Father and the Son are consubstantial. He thus seems to have belonged to a non-Nicene theology that modern scholarship calls "Homoian" (referring to the creeds of Rimini 359 and Constantinople 360). Schlatter, on the other hand, focused on the passages he considered "Pelagian" and wanted to place the author in the context of the controversies about grace. Further research is needed to clarify the doctrinal position and theological context of the work, but one promising avenue is to search Homoian circles in fifth-century Constantinople or in the Danubian provinces.

The author has made an extensive use of the commentary on Matthew by Origen (Mali 1991) but he was also using a very wide range of sources both in Latin and Greek (see for example Dulaey 2004).

The author of the commentary mentions the Emperor Theodosius I as already deceased (PG 56, column 907). Furthermore, he refers to teaching held at the Capitol in Constantinople, and we know that the "university" there was founded in 425 (Codex Theodosianus 16.9.3). It is therefore likely that the enactment took place in the second half of the reign of Theodosius II (408-450).

However, the uniformity of the work is also not certain, and it has not yet been proven beyond doubt that parts A-D were written by the same person at the same time. Piemonte (1996) even claims that parts of the commentary were written in the 8th century by Johannes Scotus Eriugena.

The great obstacle in clarifying many questions about the nature of the text is the lack of a contemporary critical edition. Joop van Banning published an excellent introduction to the planned edition in 1988, in which he explains the intricacies of the manuscript tradition. The complexity of the tradition and the large number of manuscripts (about 200) contributed to the immense scope of the edition project, which is still not completed today (autumn 2023). The research group in Fribourg (Switzerland) is currently working on the edition of Part A, which will hopefully be completed in the next few years. Until then, the text can be read in early modern editions (1525, 1530) and in Patrologia Graeca 56, which reproduces the text of Bernard de Montefaucon's 17th century edition.

Edition:

Tertius tomus operum divi Ioannis Chrysostomi archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani in quo homiliae in Matthaeum et Ioannem praeterea commentarii digni lectu in Matthaeum incerto autore, ed. Desiderius Erasmus, Basilea 1530, 474-752

Patrologia Graeca 56, col. 611-946

Translation:

Incomplete Commentary to Matthew, ed. T.C. Oden, trans. J.A. Kellerman, 2 vols., Downers Grove 2010

Bibliography:

J. van Banning, Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum: its provenance, theology and influence (D.Phil diss., University of Oxford, 1983)

J. van Banning, Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum. Praefatio, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 87B, Turnhout 1988

M. Dulaey, "Les sources latines de l’Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum dans le commentaire de la parabole des dix vierges (Mt 25, 1–13)”, Vetera Christianorum 41 (2004), 295–311.

R. Étaix, "Fragments inédits de l’Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum”, Revue Bénédictine 84 (1974), 271–300.

F. Mali, Das "Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum" und sein Verhältnis zu den Matthäuskommentaren von Origenes und Hieronymus, Innsbruck Wien 1991.

M. Meslin, Les Ariens d’Occident: 335–430, Paris 1967

G. Morin, "Les homélies latines sur S. Matthieu attribuées à Origène”, Revue Bénédictine 54 (1942), 3–11.

P. Nautin, "M. Meslin. Les Ariens d’Occident (335-430) [compte rendu]," Revue de l’histoire des religions 177 (1970), 74-80.

P. Nautin, "L’Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum et les Ariens de Constantinople”, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique 67 (1972), 380–408; 745–766.

G.A. Piemonte, "Recherches sur les „Tractatus in Matheum” attribués à Jean Scot”, [in :] Iohannes Scottus Eriugena. The Bible and Hermeneutics, 1996, 321–350.

F.W. Schlatter, “The Author of the Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum,” Vigiliae Christianae 42 (1988), 365-375

F. W. Schlatter, “The Pelagianism of the ‘Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum”’, Vigiliae Christianae 41 (1987), 267-284

J. Stiglmayr, "Ist das Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum ursprünglich lateinisch abgefaßt?”, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 33 (1909), 594–597

J. Stiglmayr, "Das Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum: Zur Frage über Grandsprache, Entstehungszeit, Heimat und Verfasser des Berkes”, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 34 (1910), 1–38

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Ritual activity - Baptism and instructing catechumens

Described by a title - Doctor

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Unspecified 'heretic'

Pastoral activity - Teaching

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2060, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2060