Sophia Scriptura

Commentary on Matthew (fragments) (complete)

Cyril of Alexandria · Commentary on Matthew (fragments) · ca. 412-444 · Alexandria · 1 passage

Greek text: PG 72.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).

Chapter 5

5.31PG 72 72:379–380

Ἐῤῥέθη δὲ ὅτι ὃς ἂν ἀπολύσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, δότω αὐτῇ ἀποστάσιον. Ὁ τὴν σώφρονα ἐκβάλλων δίδωσιν αὐτῇ ἄδειαν ἄλλῳ γαμηθῆναι, ὅπερ ἐστὶν εἶδος μοιχείας, ὡσανεὶ μὴ λυθείσης συζυγίας· οὐ γὰρ τὰ ῥεπούδια παρὰ Θεῷ λύει τὸν γάμον, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ ἄτοπος πρᾶξις.

Errhethē de hoti hos an apolysę̄ tēn gynaika autou, dotō autę̄ apostasion. Ho tēn sōphrona ekballōn didōsin autę̄ adeian allǭ gamēthēnai, hoper estin eidos moicheias, hōsanei mē lytheisēs syzygias; ou gar ta rhepoudia para Theǭ lyei ton gamon, all᾽ hē atopos praxis.

"It was said: Whoever puts away his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce." The man who casts out a chaste wife gives her license to be married to another, which is a kind of adultery, as though the marriage had not been dissolved; for it is not divorce papers that dissolve a marriage before God, but the wrongful deed.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Matt 5:31 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:32 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 24:1 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: On Matt 5:31–32: putting away a chaste wife exposes her to a second marriage that is a kind of adultery, because before God a marriage is dissolved not by divorce papers but by the wrongful deed.

  • A catena fragment ascribed to Cyril (Migne prints it from Cramer's catena on Matthew). Its attribution, like that of most catena fragments, is not certain.
  • "Divorce papers" renders ῥεπούδια, a Greek borrowing of Latin repudium, the legal notice of divorce.
  • "The wrongful deed": adultery (the exception of Matt 5:32), which Cyril holds is what dissolves the marriage before God.

Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Matt. 5.31 (PG 72 72:379–380; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-matthaeum/5-31). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-matthaeum/5-31

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.