← §3 Read continuously Fragment on Matthew · §4 · Gregory Thaumaturgus
If your seeming love is darkness, how much worse your open sins
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Gregory is explaining the Savior's question from Matthew 6:23, applying it to the hypocrite whose pretended love is actually a work of darkness.
That is, if the love that seems to you to be light is actually a work worthy of darkness because of the hypocrisy hidden in you, then what are your open transgressions?
Greek Τουτέστιν· εἰ ἡ δοκοῦσά σοι ἀγάπη εἶναι φῶς, διὰ τὴν ἐν
σοὶ κεκρυμμένην ὑπόκρισιν σκότους ἄξιόν ἐστιν ἔργον, τί τὰ προφανῆ σου
παραπτώματα;
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About this text Gregory Thaumaturgus on Matthew 6:22–23 — single eye, hypocrisy, and false love.
Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) wrote this brief exposition of a saying from the Gospel of Matthew. It is addressed to no named recipient and survives only as a fragment. He wrote to explain the meaning of Jesus' words about the eye as the lamp of the body, applying them to the difference between sincere and pretended love.
The passage under discussion is Matthew 6:22-23, where Jesus says that if the eye is sound, the whole body is full of light, but if the eye is evil, the whole body is full of darkness.
A reader should know that Gregory interprets the 'sound eye' as sincere love, through which a person's outward words match inward thoughts. The 'evil eye' is pretended love, which he equates with hypocrisy. Such hypocrites are wolves who have put on sheep's clothing, washing only the outside of the cup and dish while leaving the inside unclean. The Savior convicts them by asking: if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? Gregory explains this as meaning that if what you think is love is actually a work deserving darkness because of hidden hypocrisy, your open transgressions are far worse.
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