Pseudo-Chrysostom

This name marks quotations from works that medieval readers believed were Chrysostom's but are not — above all the Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, an unfinished Latin commentary on Matthew by an anonymous author, very likely of Arian sympathies. The misattribution was innocent: the work's moral seriousness and eloquence seemed worthy of the Golden Mouth, and Aquinas, like everyone before Renaissance scholarship, cited it in good faith. Modern editions of the Catena flag these passages honestly rather than discard them, for whatever the author's errors elsewhere, the excerpted comments were chosen because they illuminate the Gospel text — and they still do.

The Opus Imperfectum was probably written by an Arian — yet orthodox medieval readers, Aquinas included, treasured and quoted it for centuries.

Pseudo-Chrysostom has 449 commentary entries in HolyStudy’s verse-by-verse Church Fathers commentary. Open any Gospel chapter, tap a verse, and choose the Church Fathers tab.