Matthew 5:25–26
What he means is this: be reasonable before judgment. If you are accused and jailed, you are not released until you pay down to an obol — that is what the quadrans shows.
He exhorts us to be reasonable and not to trust the lawsuit. If something goes against hope and the judge holds you, you will not be released until you pay the last obol. That is what is called a quadrans (Matthew 5:25–26).
Greek
Ὃ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· πρὸ δίκης εὐγνωμόνει. ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐὰν ἐγκληθῇς καὶ φυλακισθῇς, οὐκ ἀπολύῃ ἕως οὗ ἀποτίσῃς ἕως ὀβο λοῦ· τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ κοδράντης δηλοῖ. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· παραινεῖ γὰρ εὐγνωμονεῖν καὶ μὴ τῇ κρίσει θαρρεῖν· εἰ γάρ τι συμ βαίη παρ' ἐλπίδα καὶ κατασχεθῇς ὑπὸ τοῦ κριτοῦ, οὐκ ἀπολυθήσῃ ἕως οὗ ἀποτίσῃς τὸν ἔσχατον ὀβολόν· τοῦτο γὰρ λέγεται κο δράντης.
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.