# Small fragments

- Author: [Methodius of Olympus](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/methodius-of-olympus/)
- Latin title: *Fragmenta minora*
- Date: late 3rd cent. (disputed) (approximate)
- Source: G. Nathanael Bonwetsch, ed., Methodius, GCS 27 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1917), pp. 520-521 (Greek text: G. N. Bonwetsch, Methodius (GCS 27, 1917); OCR made for this site)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-fragmenta-2/
- Passages: 4

## Fragment without closer identification, no. 1 (on righteousness)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-1/#p-1-1
- Source: Bonwetsch GCS 27:520
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Four sayings on righteousness: it fulfils all the commandments, human reason sees it only dimly, it is equal on every side, and God judges each according to his own disposition.

### Greek text

Δικαιοσύνη ἐστὶν ἡ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν πλήρωσις. — Οὐ δύναται ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις αὐτὸ καθαρῶς τὸ δίκαιον ἐν ψυχῇ θεάσασθαι, τὰ πολλὰ τῷ λογισμῷ ἀμβλυώττουσα. — Ὡς ἔοικεν ἡ δικαιοσύνη τετράγωνός ἐστι πάντοθεν ἴση καὶ ὁμοία. — Ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοκρισία ταῖς ἡμετέραις διαθέσεσιν ἐξομοιοῦται καὶ οἷάπερ ἂν τὰ παρʼ ἡμῶν ᾖ, τοιαῦτα ἡμῖν ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων ἀντιπαρέχεται.

### English translation (Claude)

Righteousness is the fulfilment of all the commandments. — Human nature cannot behold justice itself purely in the soul, since its reasoning is for the most part dim-sighted. — Righteousness, it seems, is foursquare, equal and alike on every side. — God's righteous judgment is made like our own dispositions, and whatever ours are, such he gives back to us in kind.

### Translation notes

- Four separate sayings, joined under one heading in the florilegia (marked —); Bonwetsch cites Theodoret's Eranistes, the Sacra Parallela, Nilus and Antonius Melissa for them.

### Citation (SBL)

Methodius, Frag. min. 1.1 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:520; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-1).

## Fragment without closer identification, no. 2

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-1/#p-1-2
- Source: Bonwetsch GCS 27:521
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Evil knows neither the good nor its own nature.

### Greek text

Πονηρία ἀρετήν τε καὶ ἑαυτὴν οὐδέποτε ἂν γνοίη.

### English translation (Claude)

Wickedness could never know either virtue or itself.

### Citation (SBL)

Methodius, Frag. min. 1.2 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-2).

## Fragment without closer identification, no. 3 (on Adam, Seth and Eve as images of the Trinity)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-1/#p-1-3
- Source: Bonwetsch GCS 27:521
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: A later writer, following Methodius, sees Adam, his son and Eve as an image of the Trinity: Adam unbegotten like the Father, the son begotten like the Son, and Eve proceeding like the Spirit.

### Greek text

Μή πως ἄρα αἱ τρεῖς αὗται τῶν προγόνων κεφαλαὶ πάσης τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ὁμοούσιοι ὑποστάσεις κατʼ εἰκόνα τινά, ὡς καὶ Μεθοδίῳ δοκεῖ, τυπικῶς γεγόνασι τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ὁμοουσίου τριάδος, τοῦ μὲν ἀναιτίου καὶ ἀγεννήτου Ἀδὰμ τύπον καὶ εἰκόνα ἔχοντος τοῦ ἀναιτίου καὶ πάντων αἰτίου παντοκράτορος θεοῦ καὶ πατρός, τοῦ δὲ γεννητοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰκόνα προδιαγράφοντος τοῦ γεννητοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ, τῆς δὲ ἐκπορευτῆς Εὔας σημαινούσης τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐκπορευτὴν ὑπόστασιν.

### English translation (Claude)

Perhaps, then, these three heads of all humankind, the first parents, consubstantial hypostases, came to be, after a kind of image (as Methodius also holds), a type of the holy and consubstantial Trinity: the uncaused and unbegotten Adam bearing the type and image of the uncaused God, the almighty Father, cause of all; his begotten son foreshadowing the image of the begotten Son and Word of God; and Eve, who proceeded, signifying the proceeding hypostasis of the Holy Spirit.

### Scripture references

- Gen 5:3: allusion, medium confidence
- Gen 2:21–22: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- This is a later writer reporting Methodius's view ('as Methodius also holds'), Anastasius of Sinai according to Bonwetsch, not Methodius's own words; its terms (consubstantial, hypostasis, proceeding) are those of the later Trinitarian debates.
- 'Consubstantial' renders ὁμοούσιος (of the same essence); 'hypostasis' is kept for ὑπόστασις.
- 'His begotten son' is Seth (Gen 5:3); Eve 'proceeded' from Adam (Gen 2:21–22).

### Citation (SBL)

Methodius, Frag. min. 1.3 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-3).

## Fragment without closer identification, no. 4

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-1/#p-1-4
- Source: Bonwetsch GCS 27:521
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: A quotation of Job 13:5: silence would be wisdom for Job's friends.

### Greek text

Εἴη ὑμῖν κωφεῦσαι καὶ ἀποβήσεται ὑμῖν σοφία.

### English translation (Claude)

May it be granted you to keep silent, and it will turn out to be wisdom for you.

### Scripture references

- Job 13:5: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The words are Job 13:5 in the Septuagint; the fragment preserves Methodius's use of the verse. The first word is uncertain in the scan (Εἴη).

### Citation (SBL)

Methodius, Frag. min. 1.4 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/methodius-fragmenta-2/1-4).