Matthew 10:23
He does not want them to be cowardly — rather the opposite: not, out of longing for the things hoped for, to hand themselves over ready to death and so harm those who are about to be helped by the preaching.
He urges the disciples to flee from this city to another, and from that to another. He says this not teaching them to fear, but not to throw themselves into dangers, die lightly, and harm those who are about to be helped through the preaching.
Greek
Ἐξῆλθε τὸ ῥῆμα καὶ τὸ θαῦμα ἐπηκολούθησεν. διὰ τί δὲ καὶ υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου εἶπεν ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας ἐπιτελουμένης θεοση μείας; ἢ ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι κατήγαγεν εἰς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν τὴν τῆς θεότητος ἐξουσίαν διὰ τὴν ἀδιαίρετον πρὸς αὐτὴν ἕνωσιν· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἄνθρωπος, φησίν, γέγονα θεὸς λόγος ὑπάρχων καὶ διὰ τὴν οἰκονο μίαν ἐπὶ γῆς πολιτεύομαί τε καὶ ἀναστρέφομαι, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἧττον τὰ πέρα λόγου ἀποτελῶ θαύματα καὶ ἄφεσιν δωροῦμαι ἁμαρτημάτων· οὐ γὰρ ἀφειλάμην τι τῶν τῆς θεότητος ἰδιωμάτων ἢ ἐμείωσα τῷ γενέσθαι με ἀτρέπτως καὶ ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κατὰ σάρκα υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου. καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· οἰκονομικῶς δὲ λέγει ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι καὶ ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὀφθεὶς θεὸς ἦν κατὰ φύσιν. ἐκέλευσε δὲ τῷ παραλυτικῷ βαστάσαι τὴν κλίνην καὶ ἀπελθεῖν οἴκαδε, ἵνα δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ <πρὸς> τοὺς ἀπόντας πιστώσηται τὸ γεγονὸς ἐπ' αὐτῷ.
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)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.