Matthew 13:22

ἡ μέριμνα τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ ἡ�. St Mark adds αἱ περὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπιθυμίαι, St Luke ἡδονῶν τοῦ βίου. These things destroy the ‘singleness’ of the Christian life. Compare with this the threefold employment of the world as described by Christ, at the time of the Flood, at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and at the coming of the Son of man. (Luke 17:26-30.)

μέριμνα, ‘absorbing care,’ from a root that connects it with μερμηρίζω, μάρτυς, memoria, mora.