Matthew 1:16
Matthew does not say “through whom” he was born, but “out of whom.” That overthrows Apollinaris, who claimed Christ passed through the virgin as through a tube and took nothing from her.
The evangelist says Jesus was born not through her but out of her — that is, from her all-holy blood. The apostle speaks the same way: “God sent his Son, born of a woman,” not through a woman.
Greek
Εἰ διὰ φυσικὸν αὐτῆς νόμον ἡ σελήνη ἴσχυσεν ἐμποιῆσαί τινι πάθος, διὰ τί μὴ πᾶσιν ἐπιπέμπει τοῦτο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὥσπερ πᾶσιν ἐνίησι τὸ ἑαυτῆς φῶς; πάλιν ἐκεῖνο δῆλον, ὅτι εἰς φαῦσιν ἐγένετο ἡ σελήνη, οὐκ εἰς τὸ τεκεῖν δαίμονας. εἰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἐνεργείας τῆς φυσικῆς τῆς σε λήνης ἐγένετο τοῦτο, ἔδει τοῦ δαιμονίου συντριβέντος καὶ τὴν σελήνην βλαβῆναι, τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ πάθους. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν τοῦτο, ἀλλ' οἱ δαίμονες πλανᾶν βουλόμενοι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὰ τῶν στοιχείων ἑαυτοῖς περι ετίθεσαν ὀνόματα, ἵνα ὡς πονηρὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα διαβάλληται, ὅπερ οὐκ ἔστιν· φύσει γὰρ <τὰ> στοιχεῖα καλὰ μόνοις δουλεύοντα τοῖς δοθεῖσιν αὐτοῖς νόμοις καὶ μὴ ἔχοντα τὸ ἐκ προαιρέσεως ἐξουσιαστικόν.
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.