Author of the "Imperfect Work" and Where to Find a Copy of It

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Sample references

These are 2 out of 11 references from the 1889 edition of St. Alphonsus Liguori's Dignity and Duties of the Priest:

  • Page 43, footnote #2, referring to Hom. 34 "Ideo vocati sumus a Christo, non ut operemur quae ad nostrum pertinent usum, sed quae ad gloriam Dei. . . . Verus amor non quaerit quae sua sunt, sed ad libitum amati cuncta desiderat perficere" :

    "Therefore," says the author of the Imperfect Work, "has Christ sent us not that we may do what is to our profit, but what is for the glory of God. ... True love does not seek its own advantage, but it wishes in all things only what is the good pleasure of the person loved."2

  • Page 80, footnote #1, referring to Hom. 34 "Laici delinquentes facile emendantur; clerici, si mali fuerint, inemendabiles sunt.":

    And St. John Chrysostom, or the author of the "Imperfect Work," writes: "When laypersons sin, they easily amend. As for priests, once bad, they are incorrigible."1

Out of the 11 PDF search result of "Imperfect Work" St. Alphonsus only mentioned St. John Chrysostom as author twice, probably because he was not sure that St. John Chrysostom was the author.

Identification

"Imperfect Work" seems to refer to Opus Imperfectum, an early Christian commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, written sometime in the 5th century, which was for centuries wrongly attributed to St. John Chrysostom but later refuted by Erasmus in 1530.

When checking the footnotes against the Latin text of Opus Imperfectum as published in Patrologia Graeca volume 56 (source: Manipulus florum project), the two quotes above match (PDF page 204 and 263 respectively).

Where to read / obtain a copy

IVP Academic published the Incomplete Commentary on Matthew (Opus imperfectum) in two volumes in 2010, part of their Ancient Christian Texts series, edited by Thomas C. Oden and translated by James A. Kellerman:

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It refers to the Opus Imperfectum in Matthæum, an incompelete collection of homilies on St. Matthew's Gospel.

It appears in a Migne vol. under St. John Chrysostom's works:

It's been translated into English:

From the translator's introduction:

As Thomas Aquinas was approaching Paris, a fellow traveler pointed out the lovely buildings gracing that city. Aquinas was impressed, to be sure, but he sighed and stated that he would rather have the complete Incomplete Commentary on Matthew than to be mayor of Paris itself. [CCL 87B:177-180*]

Thomas's affection for the work attests its great popularity during the Middle Ages, despite its significant missing parts--everything beyond the end of Matthew 25, with further gaps of Matthew 8:11--10:15 and 13:14--18:35. Although there are gaps, what remains is quite lengthy, so much so that we offer the work in two volumes, comprising fifty-four homilies.

While the early-fifth-century author displays a few Arian propensities in a handful of passages, for the most part the commentary is moral in nature and therefore orthodox and generic. The unknown author, who for several centuries was thought to be John Chrysostom, follows the allegorizing method of the Alexandrians, but not by overlooking the literal meaning. His passion, above all, is to set forth the meaning of Matthew's Gospel for his readers.

*which also says St. Thomas "had a predilection for the Opus Imp.", quoting it 444× in his Catena Aurea on St. Matthew's Gospel! I count 445 occurrences of "Pseudo-Chrys."!

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