Origen's Use of Ammonius in Commentary on Matthew [Part Nine]

Work	Passage	Greek textual indicators of Ammonian-style pericope / unit use	Strength as witness for Ammonius-style unit thinking
Origen, Commentary on Matthew	12.15 (end)	Origen explicitly recognizes two different Matthean readings at the same narrative point: his working text has διεστείλατο, while κατὰ τινα τῶν ἀντιγράφων Matthew reads ἐπετίμησεν. This alternative Matthean reading coincides verbally with Mark’s ἐπετίμησεν (Mark 8:30) and aligns with Luke’s ἐπιτιμήσας (Luke 9:21). Origen does not infer this from Matthew alone; the variant becomes visible only because Matthew is being read inside a synoptic unit alongside Mark and Luke. Luke’s τοῦτο forces unit-level alignment, and Mark functions as the control witness that exposes the Matthean divergence. The implication is that Origen is consulting (or presupposing) a comparative synoptic source (Ammonius or equivalent) that preserves a Matthean form different from his own recension at this pericope boundary.	Extremely strong 10/10— Origen is not merely harmonizing; he is aware of a Matthean reading mediated by a synoptic apparatus that differs from his base text and is corroborated by Mark/Luke. This is direct evidence of Ammonius-style unit thinking, where aligned pericopes both reveal and evaluate textual plurality within a Gospel.