Matthew 26:55
Does Christ then blame the Jewish leaders because they were not already laying an early snare of death for him? That is not what he means. Rather: though you could seize me day by day while I taught in the temple, you did not — for I was saving the need to suffer for the fitting time. So Christ did not say this as accusing Jewish madness, nor as rebuking their slowness toward bloodshed because they did not seize him at the outset when he was present and seen. He convicts them rather that the arrest was not the work of power in them, but of his will, who economically accepted the unwanted suffering and made it willed — not because suffering was good in itself, but because what would follow from it was about to restore human nature to what it was from the beginning, showing that taking him was the work of his permission (Matthew 26:55).
Greek
Ἆρα οὖν αἰτιᾶται Χριστὸς τοὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων καθηγητάς, ὅτι μὴ πρόωρον αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου πάγην ἐσκεύαζον; οὐ τοῦτο βού λεται δηλοῦν, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐξὸν ὑμῖν καθ' ἡμέραν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ διδά σκοντα κατασχεῖν, οὐκ ἐκρατήσατε· ἐταμιευόμην γὰρ μᾶλλον τὸ χρῆναι παθεῖν καιρῷ τῷ προσήκοντι. οὐ τοίνυν τῆς Ἰουδαίων μανίας καται τιώμενος ταῦτα ὁ Χριστὸς ἔφη, οὔτε μὴν ἐπιπλήττει τὸ βράδος αὐτῶν πρὸς μιαιφονίαν, ὅτι δὴ παρόντα καὶ ὁρώμενον οὐκ ἐν ἀρχαῖς κατε σχήκασιν· διελέγχει δὲ μᾶλλον ὡς οὐ τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτοῖς ἰσχύος ἔργον ἡ σύλληψις, ἀλλὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ βουλήσεως τοῦ τὸ ἀβούλητον πάθος οἰκονο μικῶς παραδεξαμένου καὶ ποιησαμένου θελητόν. οὐκ ἐπείπερ ἦν τὸ πα θεῖν ἀγαθόν, ἀλλ' ὅτι τὰ ἐξ αὐτοῦ συμβαίνοντα τὴν ἀνθρώπου φύσιν ἀνακομίζειν ἔμελλεν εἰς τὸ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς δεικνύς, ὅτι τῆς αὐτοῦ συγχω ρήσεως ἔργον ἦν τὸ ἑλεῖν.
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.