EN XXXIIa: παρακατιών

This participle means ‘moving on with one’s exposition’. Technically it is a present (as well as future) participle of the verb παρακατέρχομαι (or, παρακάτειμι = going down to the next point). But this compound verb (παρὰ + κατὰ + εἶμι) has never actually been used in any other form than this participle, which became a standard usage for any other author stating that he ‘moves forward’ with his analysis. This is a term used by Cassian himself following his indisputable reading of Athenaeus, and probably of Porphyry. It appears in catenists and commentators, particularly Aristotelian ones, some of whom were his contemporaries, such as John Philoponus and Olympiodorus, the philosopher of Alexandria.

The telling exception of Theodore of Mopsuestia apart, no Christian author shows this usage, at least not until Andreas of Caesarea used the participle in his own Commentary on the Apocalypse. One instance in Cosmas Indicopleustes is of special importance, once my analysis about a certain contact between him and Cassian is taken into account: it would be extravagant to see this as mere coincidence.