H.H. Pope Shenouda III (Comparative Theology)
“We do not pray to the Virgin but we address her when we pray and entreat her to intercede for us. Not only do we address the Virgin, but we also address the angels, nature, people, ourselves and even the Devil. This is based on written texts from the Divine Inspiration and is not considered prayer. Why should we not address our mother the Virgin in particular? (1) We address the angels when we pray, saying: “Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word…(2) We address nature in our prayer, saying: Praise Him, sun and moon…(3) We address the holy city of God and ask her to praise the Lord, saying: “Praise the Lord, 0 Jerusalem! Praise your God, 0 Zion! (4) We address people in our prayer, saying: “Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!” (Ps.47: 1)… (5) Also, the worshipper addresses himself, saying: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy, name!…(6) Moreover, in our prayer we address the evil spirits and all their powers, saying: Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping…Do we pray to all these? Do we pray to angels? Do we pray to nature, people and devils? God forbid! We address them in our prayer…As long as we address angels, nature, people, ourselves and devils in our prayers, according to the teaching of the Divine Inspiration, then it is not wrong to address our mother the Virgin whilst we pray and this is not considered prayer. “ —
Isaac the Syrian (The Second Part, 39,20) – Universalist Error
Accordingly we say that, even in the matter of the afflictions and sentence of Gehenna, there is some hidden mystery, whereby the wise Maker has taken as a starting point for its future outcome the wickedness of our actions and wilfulness, using it as a way of bringing to perfection His dispensation wherein lies the teaching which makes wise, and the advantage beyond description, hidden from both angels and human beings, hidden too from those who are being chastised, whether they be demons or human beings, ” hidden for as long as the ordained period of time holds sway
Isaac the Syrian (The Second Part 41, 1 p. 180) – Universalist Error
Let us beware in ourselves, my beloved, and realize that even if Gehenna is subject to a limit, the taste of its experience is most terrible, and the extent of its bounds escapes our very understanding. Let us strive all the more to partake of the taste of God’s love for the sake of perpetual reflection on Him, and let us not (have) experience of Gehenna through neglect
Isaac the Syrian (The Second Part, XL, 4; p. 175) – Universalist Error
And it is clear that He does not abandon them the moment they fall, and that demons will nor remain in their demonic state, and sinners (will not remain) in their sins; rather, He is going to bring them to a single equal state of perfection in relationship to His own Being – in a (state) in which the holy angels are now, in perfection of love and a passionless mind. (The Second Part, XL, 4; p. 175)
When the priest says: “So-and-so is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he puts your head down into the water three times and three times he lifts it up again, preparing you by this mystic rite to receive the descent of the Spirit.” For it is not only the priest who touches the head, but also the right hand of Christ, and this is shown by the very words of the one baptizing. He does not say: “I baptize so-and-so,” but: “So-and-so is baptized,” showing that he is only the minister of grace and merely offers his hand because he has been ordained to this end by the Spirit. The one fulfilling all things is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the undivided Trinity. It is faith in this Trinity which gives the grace of remission from sin; it is this confession which gives to us the gift of filial adoption.
St. John Chrysostom – Baptismal Instructions (Baptism)
This also happens in the case of your body. The baptism is given in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, John the Baptist told us, for our instruction, that man does not baptize us, but God: There comes after me one who is mightier than I, anal I am not worthy to loose the strap of His sandal. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.“ For this reason, when the priest is baptizing he does not say, “I baptize so—and—so,” but, “So-and—so is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”” In this way he shows that it is not he who baptizes but those whose names have been invoked, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
St. John Chrysostom – Homilies on Galatians (Judaizers)
A fear to omit the sabbath plainly shows that you fear the Law as still in force; and if the Law is needful, it is so as a whole, not in part, nor in one commandment only; and if as a whole, the righteousness which is by faith is little by little shut out. If thou keep the sabbath, why not also be circumcised? and if circumcised, why not also offer sacrifices? If the Law is to be observed, it must be observed as a whole, or not at all. If omitting one part makes you fear condemnation, this fear attaches equally to all the parts. If a transgression of the whole is not punishable, much less is the transgression of a part; on the other hand, if the latter be punishable, much more is the former. But if we are bound to keep the whole, we are bound to disobey Christ, or by obedience to Him become transgressors of the Law. If it ought to be kept, those who keep it not are transgressors, and Christ will be found to be the cause of this transgression, for He annulled the Law as regards these things Himself, and bid others annul it. Do you not understand what these Judaizers are compassing? They would make Christ, who is to us the Author of righteousness, the Author of sin, as Paul says, “Therefore Christ is the minister of sin.”…“For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.” Observe the Apostle’s discernment; his opponents endeavored to show, that he who kept not the Law was a transgressor, but he retorts the argument upon them, and shows that he who did keep the Law was a transgressor, not merely of faith, but of the Law itself. “I build up again the things which I destroyed,” that is, the Law; he means as follows: the Law has confessedly ceased, and we have abandoned it, and betaken ourselves to the salvation which comes of faith. But if we make a point of setting it up again, we become by that very act transgressors, striving to keep what God has annulled. Next he shows how it has been annulled. “For I through the Law died unto the Law” …“Yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me.” In these words, “I am crucified with Christ,” he alludes to Baptism…When the Law had accused, and God condemned us, Christ came, and by giving Himself up to death, rescued us all from death. So that “the life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith.” Had not this been, nothing could have averted a destruction as general as that which took place at the flood, but His advent arrested the wrath of God, and caused us to live by faith.
St. John Chrysostom – Homilies on Galatians (Judaizers)
“Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the Law; ye are fallen away from grace.” Having established his point, he at length declares their danger of the severest punishment. When a man recurs to the Law, which cannot save him, and falls from grace, what remains but an inexorable retribution, the Law being powerless, and grace rejecting him? Thus having aggravated their alarm, and disquieted their mind, and shown them all the shipwreck they were about to suffer, he opens to them the haven of grace which was near at hand. This is ever his wont, and he shows that in this quarter salvation is easy and secure, subjoining the words, “For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.” We need none of those legal observances, he says; faith suffices to obtain for us the Spirit, and by Him righteousness, and many and great benefits. “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love.”
Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Book 2 (Judaizers)
On the Sabbath day doth Christ heal the man, when healed He immediately enjoins him to break through the custom of the law, inducing him to walk on the Sabbath and this laden with his bed, although God clearly cries aloud by one of the holy Prophets, Neither carry forth a burthen out of your house on the Sabbath day. And no one I suppose who is sober-minded would say that the man was rendered a despiser or unruly to the Divine commands, but that as in a type Christ was making known to the Jews, that they should be healed by obedience and faith in the last times of the world (for this I think the Sabbath signifies, being the last day of the week): but that having once received the healing through faith, and having been re-modelled unto newness of life, it was necessary that the oldness of the letter of the law should become of no effect, and that the typical worship as it were in shadows and the vain observance of Jewish custom should be rejected. Hence (I think) the blessed Paul too taking occasion of speech writes to them who after the faith were returning again to the Law, I say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing; and again, Ye are severed from Christ, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.
H.H. Pope Shenouda III – Comparative Theology
It was regarding these foods which were considered impure and unclean, that the Apostle Paul said: “…let no one judge you in food or in drink. ” For at the beginning of Christianity, the first people who became Christians were Jews who tried to “Judaize” Christianity, that is, to bring into Christianity all the Jewish customs such as unclean food, purification, keeping the Sabbath, moon festivals, celebrations of the beginning of months and Jewish feasts (such as the Passover, the Unleavened Bread, the Trumpets, the Tents and the Atonement Day). St. Paul wanted to resist the Judaization of Christianity. That is why he said: “Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come” (Col.2: 16,17).
St. John Chrysostom – Against the Jews, HOMILY IV (Judaizers)
I blame the Jews for violating the Law. But I blame you much more for going along with the lawbreakers, not only those of you who run to the synagogues but also those of you who have the power to stop the Judaizers but are unwilling to do so. Do not say to me: “What do I have in common with him? He is a stranger, and I do not know him.” I say to you that as long as he is a believer, as long as he shares with you in the same mysteries, as long as he comes to the same church, he is more closely related to you than your own kinsmen and friends. Remember, it is not only those who commit robbery who pay the penalty for their crime; those, too, who could have stopped them but did not, pay the same penalty. Those guilty of impiety are punished, and so, too, are those who could have led them from godless ways but did not, because they were too timid or lazy to be willing to do so.
Coptic Encyclopedia Volume I, PG 159 (Toll Houses)
In the course of this journey to heaven, which at times takes on the appearance of a descent to hell, Paul glimpses the organization of the heavenly hosts, angelic and demonic, the interlocking of the spheres with their doors and their keepers, and the punishment of a wicked soul. Arriving at the seventh heaven, Paul faces a demiurgic power who questions him before allowing him to pass on to the Ogdoad. When Paul reaches the eighth heaven, he joins the twelve apostles, his spiritual companions, and with them goes to the tenth and last heaven. The framework of the heavenly journey, as it is briefly sketched by the author of the Apocalypse of Paul, is of a literary genre common to many Jewish writings (patriarchs’ and prophets’ journeys to heaven, including the Ascension of Isaiah; 2, 3 Enoch, Apocalypse of Baruch, 4 Esdras, Apocalypse of Abraham, Testament of Abraham; cf. Widengren, 1955; Schwartz, 1977). The Gnostics frequently took up this schema to illustrate a theme that was dear to them: the mounting of the soul to God by a dangerous ascent through the heavenly spheres (cf. the Apocryphon of James, the Dialogue of the Savior, the First Apocalypse of James, the Paraphrase of Shem, Zostrianos, Marsanes, Allogenes, the Gospel of Mary, all in the Nag Hammadi Library). The elements supporting Paul’s ascent in this apocalypse are common to all heavenly journeys: the passage from sphere to sphere, questionings by the appointed toll-collectors at the gates, passwords and signa that the soul must give in order to advance, and finally the presence of an escorting angel who helps the soul in her wanderings (for a discussion of this imagery, cf. Scholem, 1960).
St. Severus of Antioch – Letter LXIV (Toll houses)
They say that a man’s adversary is the reminder that comes from his conscience, and our Lord says this: “When you sin or wish to sin, agree with your adversary”; that is, accept the admonition that comes from your conscience, when it reminds you and blames you, if you have sinned or wished to sin; and, if you neglect the reminder from your conscience, and do not obey nor restrain yourself, you do not agree with your adversary, but rather use force against your adversary. So also is it written in the prophet Hosea: “Ephraim used force against his adversary and forgot judgment, because he began to go after vanity”. So also Paul wrote to the Romans and said: “Our conscience beareth witness, or maketh defence, on the day on which God shall judge the secrets of men” . The words, ‘as long as thou art in the way with him’, have this meanmg, ‘as far as this world extends’, and the way is trodden by all men: and this is what he said: “While you are walking in this world as on a way, Accept the reminder that comes from your conscience and do not refuse it. If you refuse it and pass out of this world without having agreed, the conscience will take the place of an adversary and accuse you before the judge and place you under his sentence, and the judge will deliver you to the torture and these things would not have befallen you if you had made union with your adversary in this way of the world, when admonition was offered to you, and you did not accept this in agreement. This John the Evangelist also wrote in an epistle and said: “If our conscience condemneth us not, we have confidence towards God”
St. Cyril of Alexandria – Commentary on Zechariah
While God, who is naturally kind and merciful, was in the habit of freeing Israel from sin, there was standing there Satan, who drove them into it, still their opponent and adversary, and continuing to accuse them and, to the extent of his power and will, prevent their being pitied because of their persistence in sin, their being guilty of impious faults and having nothing to recommend them. He was, in fact, standing at his right hand, somehow disabling commendable deeds; it is not our useless actions he opposes but those that are commendable and praiseworthy. This is the experience blessed David requested for anyone who acted impiously towards Christ, saying, “Let the devil stand at his right hand.” So Satan opposed him, but was rebuked by the voice of an angel; note what it says, The Lord rebuke you, devil, and the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Observe, in fact, how he immediately presented him as an adversary of God, sacrilegiously resisting decrees from on high; while God shows pity and is now freeing Israel from sin, welcoming Jerusalem and now in some way making it an object of choice, Satan does not cease accusing it and presuming to condemn those who have been shown mercy. God therefore censures him for his insatiable wrath in the words, Lo, is it not like a brand snatched from the fire? (v.2) It is as if he were saying, Admittedly Israel has sinned, and is obviously deserving of your censure; but it has paid no slight penalty, sustained calamities, and has barely been snatched from the fire like a half-burned firebrand. He had not yet depicted the effects of the captivity, you see; Israel had only just escaped the flame of insupportable hardship. So cease your censure of those shown mercy: “Since God justifies, who is to condemn?”
St. Cyril of Alexandria – Commentary on Gospel of St. John, BOOK XII
And He triumphed over principalities in it. For it was open to the view of all who chose to learn, pointing to Him Who suffered for our sake, and Who was giving His Life as a ransom for the lives of all. For all men upon the earth, in that they have fallen into the snare of sin (for all have gone aside, and have all together become filthy, according to the Scripture), had made themselves liable to the accusation of the devil, and were living a hateful and miserable life…We were, then, accursed and condemned, by the sentence of God, through Adam’s transgression, and through breach of the Law laid down after him; but the Saviour wiped out the handwriting against us, by nailing the title to His Cross, which very clearly pointed to the death upon the Cross which He underwent for the salvation of men, who lay under condemnation. For our sake He paid the penalty for our sins. For though He was One that suffered, yet was He far above any creature, as God, and more precious than the life of all. Therefore, as the Psalmist says, the mouth of all lawlessness was stopped, and the tongue of sin was silenced, unable any more to speak against sinners.For we are justified, now that Christ has paid the penalty for us; for by His stripes we are healed, according to the Scripture.
St. Cyril of Alexandria – SERMON XCIV (Toll Houses)
That it is our duty, therefore, to be watchful, in seeking quickly to attain to deliverance from our sins, and the means of escaping from blame, before we arrive at the termination of our natural lives, He has shown, by saying; “And why even of yourselves judge you not what is just? For while you are going with him who has a suit against you, in the way to the magistrate, give diligence that you may be delivered from him; lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the exactor, and the exactor cast you into prison. I tell you, you shall not come out thence, until you have made compensation unto the last mite.” Now perhaps it may be imagined that the sense of this passage is difficult to comprehend: but it will become very easy if we examine the metaphor by what takes place among ourselves. For let there be supposed, He says, some one who has brought a charge against you before one of those in authority, and has pointed you out to those whose office it is to carry the accused into court, and is causing you to be taken thither. “While therefore, He says, you are still with him on the way,” that is, before you have come to the judge, “give diligence,” that is, weary not, in using all your earnestness that you may be delivered from him. For otherwise he will give you up to the judge; and then, when you have been proved to be indebted to him, you will be delivered to the exactors, to those, that is, whose office it is to exact the money; and they will cast you into prison, and make you pay the last mite. Now all of us, without exception, upon earth are guilty of offences: he who has a suit against us and accuses us is the wicked Satan: for he is “the enemy and the exactor.” While therefore we are in the way: that is, ere yet we have arrived at the termination of our life here, let us deliver ourselves from him: let us do away with the offences of which we have been guilty: let us close his mouth: let us seize upon the grace that is by Christ, which frees us from all debt and penalty, and delivers us from fear and torment: lest if our impurity be not cleansed away, we be carried before the judge, and given over to the exactors, that is, the tormentors, from whose cruelty no man can escape: yea, rather, who will exact vengeance for every fault, whether it be great or small. Far removed from this danger are those who search for the time of Christ’s corning, and are not ignorant of His mystery, but well know that the Word, though He be God, has shone forth upon the inhabitants of earth in likeness as one of us, that freeing them from all blame, He may bless with exceeding happiness those who believe in Him…
St. Cyril of Alexandria – Commentary on Luke, SERMON XL
Satan had bound the inhabitants of earth with the cords of sin: Christ has loosed them; He has made us free, has abolished the tyranny of sin, has driven away the accuser of our infirmities; and the Scripture is fulfilled, that “all iniquity shall stop its mouth;” “for it is God That justifieth: ‘Who is he that condemneth?” …”There was no one doing good, no not one; but they all had turned aside together, and become reprobate.” But because the Only-begotten submitted Himself to emptiness, and became flesh, and was made man, sinners have perished, and exist no longer. For the dwellers upon earth have been justified by faith, have washed away the pollution of sin by holy baptism, have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have sprung out of the hand of the enemy; and having bidden as it were the hosts of devils to depart, dwell under the yoke of Christ
St. Basil of Caesarea – Homily 11 (on Psalm 7) (Toll Houses)
I think that the noble athletes of God, who have wrestled considerably with the invisible enemies during the Whole of their lives, after they have escaped all of their persecutions and reached the end of life, are examined by the prince of the world in order that, if they are found to have wounds from the wrestling or any stains or effects of sin, they may be detained; but, if they are found unwounded and stainless, they may be brought by Christ into their rest as being unconquered and free. Therefore, he prays for his life here and for his future life. For, he says: ‘Save me’ here ‘from them that persecute me; deliver me’ there in the time of the scrutiny ‘lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion.’ You may learn this from the Lord Himself who said concerning the time of His passion: ‘Now the prince of this world is coming, and in me he will have nothing.’ He who had committed no sin said that he had nothing; but, for a man it will be sufficient, if he dares to say: ‘The prince of this world is coming, and in me he will have few and trivial penalties.’ And there is a danger of experiencing these penalties, unless we have some one to deliver us or to save us. For, the two tribulations set forth, two petitions are introduced. ‘Save me from the multitude of them that persecute me, and deliver me, lest at any time I be seized as if there were no one to redeem me.’
St. Cyril of Alexandria – Festal Letter Eleven
“Let us be good to one another, and tenderhearted,” as is written, “being generous to one another, as God in Christ has been generous to us.” And how can anyone not see what God has given us in Christ, or in what kind of goods we have come to share? We have been granted the remission of our transgressions, a forbearing love. For we have been saved, as though God had forgotten human pettiness. It is necessary, then, beloved, that we also practice forbearance, hastening to follow in the footsteps of the tranquility which is in the Master of all. And let us give prudent consideration to the following: human failings are countless, and there is no occasion which is free of our pettiness. But if, whenever that occurs, we are going to get upset seriously and enter into disputes with those who have grieved us, our whole life will be spent in bitterness and distress. And since “the ways of those who remember injuries lead to death,” as is written, there is nothing to prevent anyone’s soul from falling prey to death if it cannot nobly repel what causes grief, but is always incited to rise up fiercely against its attackers. As the blessed Paul says, therefore, let us bear each other’s burdens, and thus we will fulfill the law of Christ.
St. John Chrysostom – Homily XIV on Romans viii. 12, 13
And let there be no gold lying by in your houses, but that which is more precious than millions of money, alms and love to man, for your treasure. For this gives us boldness toward God, but the other covers us with deep shame, and causes the devil to bear hard (σφοδρὸν πνεἵν) upon us. Why then arm thy enemy, and make him stronger? Arm thy right hand against him, and transfer all the splendor of thy house into thy soul, and stow away all thy fortune in thy mind, and instead of a chest and a house, let heaven keep thy gold. And let us put all our property about our own selves; for we are much better than the walls, and more dignified than the pavement. Why then do we, to the neglect of our own selves, waste all our attention upon those things, which when we are gone we can no longer reach, and often even while we stay here we cannot keep hold of, when we might have such riches as to be found not in this life only, but also in that, in the easiest circumstances? For he who carries about his farms and house and gold upon his soul, wherever he appears, appears with all this wealth. And how is this possible to be effected? one may ask. It is possible, and that with the utmost ease. For if you transfer them to Heaven by the poor man’s hand, you will transfer them entire into your own soul. And if death should afterwards come upon thee, no one will take them from thee, but thou wilt depart to be rich in the next world too.
St. Basil of Caesarea – Ascetical Works, The Long Rules, PG 236
If, moreover, the love of children for their parents is a natural endowment and if this love is noticeable in the behavior even of brute beasts, as well as in the affection of human beings in early infancy for their mothers, let us not appear to be less rational than infants or more savage than wild beasts by alienating ourselves from Him who made us and by being unloving toward Him. Even if we did not know what He is from His goodness, yet, from the very fact that we are made by Him, we ought to feel an extraordinary affection for Him and cling to a constant remembrance of Him, as infants do to their mothers. Furthermore, he who is our benefactor is foremost among those whom we naturally love. This gratitude is characteristic not of men only, but it is also felt by almost all animals, so that they attach themselves to those who have conferred some good upon them. ‘The ox knoweth his owner,’ says the Prophet, ‘and the ass his master’s crib.’ God forbid that what follows these words should be said of us: ‘but Israel hath not known me and my people hath not understood.’ As for the dog and many other animals, I need not speak of the great affection they show toward those who rear them.
Divorce was allowed in case of adultery, but in that case only; furthermore, St. Basil explains that, because of a custom which he thinks is abnormal, although it cannot be set aside, this privilege exists only for the husband. The husband who has dismissed his wife is not an adulterer if he remarries; the wife can neither dismiss her husband, even though he is an adulterer, nor remarry, if she is dismissed by him. We find almost the same solution in St. Chrysostom. He says plainly that, as regards the woman, marriage is absolutely indissoluble. For whatever motive she is dismissed, she cannot remarry; once she has been joined to her husband, she remains his wife, as long as she lives. As to the husband, the Holy Doctor is less positive; and although he insists, most of the time, on the absolute indissolubility of the marital bond, he does not seem plainly to forbid the husband who has legitimately divorced his wife to remarry; however, he declares that, in case of adultery on the part of the wife, the marriage is already dissolved , and that the husband is no longer husband. – J. Tixerfont (History of Dogma, Vol II)
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Titus (1:12-14)
The swine therefore is clean. Why then was it forbidden as unclean? It was not unclean by nature; for, “all things are pure.” Nothing is more unclean than a fish, inasmuch as it even feeds upon human flesh. But it was permitted and considered clean. Nothing is more unclean than a bird, for it eats worms; or than a stag, which is said to have its name from eating serpents. Yet all these were eaten. Why then was the swine forbidden, and many other things? Not because they were unclean, but to check excessive luxury. But had this been said, they would not have been persuaded; they were restrained therefore by the fear of uncleanness. For tell me, if we enquire nicely into these things, what is more unclean than wine; or than water, with which they mostly purified themselves? They touched not the dead, and yet they were cleansed by the dead, for the victim was dead, and with that they were cleansed. This therefore was a doctrine for children. In the composition of wine, does not dung form a part? For as the vine draws moisture from the earth, so does it from the dung that is thrown upon it. In short, if we wish to be very nice, everything is unclean, otherwise if we please not to be nice, nothing is unclean. Yet all things are pure. God made nothing unclean, for nothing is unclean, except sin only. For that reaches to the soul, and defiles it. Other uncleanness is human prejudice. “But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”
St. John Chrysostom – Homilies on the Statues, Homily I
And what is more than this, Paul is not ashamed, and does not blush, after the many and great signs which he had displayed even by a simple word; yet, in writing to Timothy, to bid him take refuge in the healing virtue of wine drinking. Not that to drink wine is shameful. God forbid! For such precepts belong to heretics; but the matter of astonishment is, that he accounted it no disgrace not to be able, without this kind of assistance, to set one member right when it was disordered. Nevertheless, he was so far from being ashamed of this, that he has made it manifest to all posterity…The admonition however, and the counsel, such as it is, appears to some to give authority for drinking wine too freely. But this is not so. If indeed we closely investigate this very saying, it rather amounts to a recommendation of abstinence. For just consider that Paul did not at first, nor at the outset give this counsel. But when he saw that all strength was overthrown, then he gave it; and even then not simply, but with a certain prior limitation. He does not say merely, Use wine, but a little wine; not because Timothy needed this admonition and advice, but because we need it. On this account, in writing to him, he prescribes the measure and limit of wine-drinking for us; bidding him drink just so much as would correct disorder; as would bring health to the body, but not another disease. For the immoderate drinking of wine produces not fewer diseases of body and of soul, than much drinking of water, but many more, and more severe; bringing in as it does upon the mind the war of the passions, and a tempest of perverse thoughts, besides reducing the firmness of the body to a relaxed and flaccid condition…For wine was given us of God, not that we might be drunken, but that we might be sober; that we might be glad, not that we get ourselves pain. Wine, it says, makes glad the heart of man, but you make it matter for sadness; since those who are inebriated are sullen beyond measure, and great darkness over-spreads their thoughts. It is the best medicine, when it has the best moderation to direct it. The passage before us is useful also against heretics, who speak evil of God’s creatures; for if it had been among the number of things forbidden, Paul would not have permitted it, nor would have said it was to be used. And not only against the heretics, but against the simple ones among our brethren, who when they see any persons disgracing themselves from drunkenness, instead of reproving such, blame the fruit given them by God, and say, Let there be no wine. We should say then in answer to such, Let there be no drunkenness; for wine is the work of God, but drunkenness is the work of the devil. Wine makes not drunkenness; but intemperance produces it. Do not accuse that which is the workmanship of God, but accuse the madness of a fellow mortal. But you, while omitting to reprove and correct the sinner, treat your Benefactor with contempt! When, therefore, we hear men saying such things, we should stop their mouths; for it is not the use of wine, but the want of moderation which produces drunkenness, Drunkenness! That root of all evils. Wine was given to restore the body’s weakness, not to overturn the soul’s strength; to remove the sickness of the flesh, not to destroy the health of the spirit. Do not then, by using the gift of God immoderately, afford a handle to the foolish and the impudent. For what is a more wretched thing than drunkenness!…Let us cut off then this evil habit, and let us hear Paul saying, Use a little wine. For even this little he permits him on account of his infirmity; so that if infirmity had not troubled him, he would not have forced his disciple to allow himself even a small quantity, since it is fitting that we should always mete out even the needful meat and drink, which are given us, by occasions and necessities; and by no means go beyond our need, nor do anything unmeaningly and to no purpose.
St. Athanasius (ON THE SALUTARY APPEARING OF CHRIST, AND AGAINST APOLLINARIS)
Why did the Lord, when He came, say, in fulfilment of the promise, I lay down my soul for My sheep,—that soul which the Holy Scriptures clearly represent as being a spirit? and the Lord moreover spoke of the body as being killed by men who yet were not able to kill the soul, because it was a spirit. It was the spirit in which Jesus was troubled; it was the spirit that departed from the body on the cross. And by this means the body became dead, and its dissolution took place, while God the Word remained unchangeably both with the body and with the soul, and with Himself who was in the bosom of the Father, so as to exhibit unchangeableness. And in that form which is ours, and which belonged to Him, He there depicted the death which is ours, in order that in it He might also arrange the resurrection which should take place on our behalf : by exhibiting His soul on returning from Hades, and His body from the sepulchre, that in death He might overthrow death by the exhibition of a soul, and in the grave might abolish corruption by the burial of a body; exhibiting immortality and incorruption from Hades and from the grave; having traversed our path in that form which is ours, and unloosed that hold which pressed heavily upon us.
St. Severus of Antioch (Letter to Thomas, bishop of Germanicea)
Since, when the soul is separated from the body after the release from this world, the angelic and good hosts and a company of evil demons meet it, in order that, according to the quality of the deeds which it has performed bad or good, either the one or the other may convey it to the proper regions to be kept till the last day, on which, we shall all rise, either to judgment or to eternal life, or shall be brought to the unending flame of the fire, therefore, because God wished to show this to the sons of Israel by some bodily type, he caused the burial of Moses to appear before their eyes at the time of the swathing of the body and at: the customary deposition in the earth, as if the evil demon were opposing and, Michael the good angel were, acting contrary to him. who met him and drove him away, and did not authoritatively rebuke him, but yielded the judgment against that demon to the Lord of all, and said, «The Lord rebuke thee», that by means of these things those who are being instructed may learn that that the soul has a contest after the release from this world, and that we must by means of good deeds prepare ourselves in order that angelic help may come to us when the demons gnash their teeth enviously and bitterly at us.
St. Severus of Antioch (Letter to EUPRAXIUS THE CHAMBERLAIN)
He is said also to have tasted death for us, in that his soul was separated from his body; not that his soul was cut away from his Godhead, or his body left without Godhead; but he showed that he was in both without separation, for neither was his soul left in Sheol, nor did his flesh see corruption , according to the saying of the Psalmist.
St. Severus of Antioch (5th Letter From Book IV to CAESARIA THE HYPATISSA)
And therefore, they say, we should on this principle regard the period of the three days’ burial, and the descent of our God and Savior who became incarnate into Sheol, as beginning from the time when he truly entered the heart of the earth; and that he did after he gave up his spirit, saying, “My Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”, and then his spirit departed, and thus, though he was united in a perfect union, the soul and the body were separated from one another, and through the burial of the body he does away corruption in graves, and through the soul he is seen in the lower parts’ of the earth, and he released those who were bound in graves. Then it was therefore that he entered the heart of the earth, when ‘he went down’, as Paul says, ‘to the lower parts of the earth’ , that is to the lowest limits and to the gloomy crowns (?) in the earth; From the departure of the spirit therefore the three day-and-nights are to be counted; and the departure took place at the 9th hour of the preparation, when three hours of the day remained.
“For if I pray in a tongue,” says he, “my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” Seest thou how by degrees bringing his argument to a point, he signifies that not to others only is such an one useless, but also to himself; if at least “his understanding is unfruitful?” For if a man should speak only in the Persian, or any other foreign tongue, and not understand what he says, then of course to himself also will he be thenceforth a barbarian, not to another only, from not knowing the meaning of the sound. For there were of old many who had also a gift of prayer, together with a tongue; and they prayed, and the tongue spoke, praying either in the Persian or Latin language, but their understanding knew not what was spoken. Wherefore also he said, “If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays,” i.e., the gift which is given me and which moves my tongue, “but my understanding is unfruitful.” What then may that be which is best in itself, and doth good? And how ought one to act, or what request of God? To pray, “both with the spirit,” i.e., the gift, and “with the understanding.” – St. John Chrysostom (Homilies on First Corinthians)
St. Basil of Caesarea – Exegetic Homilies, Homily 2
Again, it is impious to say that evil has its origin from God, because naught contrary is produced by the contrary. Life does not generate death, nor is darkness the beginning of light, nor is disease the maker of health, but in the changes of conditions there are transitions from one condition to the contrary. In genesis, however, each being comes forth not from its contrary, but from those of the same type. Accordingly, they say, if it is not uncreated nor created by God, whence does it have its nature? No one who is in this world will deny that evils exist. What, then, do we say? That evil is not a living and animated substance, but a condition of the soul which is opposed to virtue and which springs up in the slothful because of their falling away from good. Do not, therefore, contemplate evil from without; and do not imagine some original nature of wickedness, but let each one recognize himself as the first author of the vice that is in him.
St. Gregory Nazianzen – Five Theological Orations (On the Holy Spirit)
And how are we to combat and dispute against both of these parties together? What is our response? For us there is one God, because there is only one divine nature, and all that proceeds from the One is referred to It, although we believe that there are Three. For one is not more and another less God; nor is One before and another after; neither are They divided in will or parted in power; nor can you find here any of the qualities of divisible things. To put the matter concisely, the divine nature undivided in those who are distinct; there is a unique fusion of Light, as if three suns were joined to each other. Therefore, when we look at the divine nature, the First Cause, and the Monarchy, it is the One that appears to us. But when we look at those in whom the divine nature dwells, at those who timelessly and with equal glory come out of the First Cause – then there are Three whom we worship.
St. John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis
After all, what could be more pitiful and more stupid than people coming up with arguments like this, claiming that beings get existence of themselves, and withdrawing all creation from God’s providence? How could you have the idea, I ask you, that so many elements and such great arrangement were being guided without anyone to supervise and control it all? Surely no ship ever managed to navigate the waves of the sea without a pilot, or soldier do brave deed with no general in command, or house stand firm with no householder in charge-whereas this immense universe and the design of all these elements could happen simply by chance without anyone present with the power to guide it all, controlling and maintaining all things in existence from his innate wisdom is this feasible? Yet why do we take further pains to demonstrate to those people what is obvious even, as the proverb has it, to the blind? Still, let us not neglect to propose the teaching of Scripture to them, making every effort to deliver them from error and lead them to truth. You see, even if they are caught up in error, the fact is nonetheless that they are people like ourselves, and it is proper for us to show every care for them, never relenting, demonstrating instead with great zeal all we have at our command, and providing them with an appropriate remedy so that at least eventually they may come to a truly healthy condition. Nothing, remember, is of such concern to God as the saving of souls. Paul makes no secret of it when he says, “He wants everybody to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth;” and again God himself says, “I have no wish for the death of the sinner-only for him to be converted and live.”
St. John Chrysostom – Homilies on the Gospel of St. John
“Is it then enough,” saith one, “to believe on the Son, that one may have eternal life?” By no means. And hear Christ Himself declaring this, and saying, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” ( Matt. vii. 21 ); and the blasphemy against the Spirit is enough of itself to cast a man into hell. But why speak I of a portion of doctrine? Though a man believe rightly on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, yet if he lead not a right life, his faith will avail nothing towards his salvation. Therefore when He saith, “This is life eternal, that they may know Thee the only true God” ( c. xvii. 3 ), let us not suppose that the (knowledge) spoken of is sufficient for our salvation; we need besides this a most exact life and conversation. Since though he has said here, “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life,” and in the same place something even stronger, (for he weaves his discourse not of blessings only, but of their contraries also, speaking thus: “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him”;) yet not even from this do we assert that faith alone is sufficient to salvation. And the directions for living given in many places of the Gospels show this. Therefore he did not say, “This by itself is eternal life,” nor, “He that doth but believe on the Son hath eternal life,” but by both expressions he declared this, that the thing doth contain life, yet that if a right conversation follow not, there will follow a heavy punishment. And he did not say, “awaiteth him,” but, “abideth on him,” that is, “shall never remove from him.” For that thou mayest not think that the “shall not see life,” is a temporary death, but mayest believe that the punishment is continual, he hath put this expression to show that it rests upon him continually.
St. John Chrysostom – Homilies on the Gospel of St. John
When therefore He mentioned the resurrection of Lazarus, He spake not of the Judgment (for it was not for this that Lazarus arose); but when He spake generally He also added, that “they that have done good shall go forth unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment.”Thus also John led on his hearers by speaking of the Judgment, and that “he that believeth not on the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” ( c. iii. 36 ): so too Himself led on Nicodemus: “He that believeth on the Son,” He said to him, “is not judged, but he that believeth not is judged already” ( c. iii. 18 ); and so here He mentioneth the Judgment-seat and the punishment which shall follow upon evil deeds. For because He had said above, “He that heareth My words and believeth on Him that sent Me,” “is not judged,” lest any one should imagine that this alone is sufficient for salvation, He addeth also the result of man’s life, declaring that “they which have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment.”
Fr. Tadros Malaty – A Patristic Commentary on Ezekiel
Finally, having proclaimed that sin prevailed on all levels, God admonished them saying: “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ez 22:30). Who is this man, who can build a wall before the wrath of God; and who can stand as an intercessor on behalf of all humanity, that He should not destroy it?! There was no being who could bear the wrath of God on the land, and intercede on its behalf. That is why He sent His Only-Begotten Son, as a Son of Man; who, alone, can stand in the gap, bear the divine wrath in His body for our sake; and intercede for us by His pure blood; and bring us back to the bosom of the Father…We as well; having enjoyed the reconciliation with God, long to stand in the gap, to labor and to pray for the sake of every sinner, to encounter with His Savior, and to experience the same reconciliation that we have received. Let everyone of us be that man who may stand in the gap before God, to intercede and do his best, yearning for the salvation of everyone. And as the apostle Paul says: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20).
St. Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch Vol 1, PG 100
That is it is always necessary to be respectful to one’s parents, the divine law itself also teaches us. For having previously commanded that one ought to love the one Being of God with the whole heart and soul, it says, “Honor your father and your mother, in order that it may go well with you, and you shall live long upon the earth.” Those who give us birth should be reckoned as they were an image and representation of God, for it says, “Remember that it was through them that you were given birth.” Again it says, “The eye that mocks a father and dishonors the old age of a mother, let the ravens of the alleys peck it out. Consequently, not to hold that one should honor one’s parents and count them worthy of all respect results in a curse or a punishment, as one may readily learn though Ham.
GEORGES FLOROVSKY (Creation and Redemption)
Finally, there could hardly be any retributive justice in the Passion and death of the Lord, which might possibly have been in the death of even a righteous man. For this was not the suffering and death of a mere man, graciously supported by the Divine help because of his faithfulness and endurance. This death was the suffering of the Incarnate Son of God Himself, the suffering of unstained human nature already deified by its assumption into the hypostasis of the Word. Nor is this to be explained by the idea of a substitution! satisfaction, the satisfactio vicaria of the scholastics. Not because substitution is not possible. Christ did indeed take upon Himself the sin of the world. But because God does not seek the sufferings of anyone, He grieves over them. How could the penal death of the Incarnate, most pure and undefiled, be the abolition of sin, if death itself is the wages of sin, and if death exists only in the sinful world? Does Justice really restrain Love and Mercy, and was the Crucifixion needed to disclose the pardoning love of God, otherwise precluded from manifesting itself by the restraint of vindicatory justice? If there was any restraint at all, it was rather a restraint of love…The Cross is not a symbol of Justice, but the symbol of Love Divine…The death of Our Lord was the victory over death and mortality, not just the remission of sins, nor merely a justification of man, nor again a satisfaction of an abstract justice.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures)
Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are still. Great is that preservative; it is without price, for the sake of the poor; without toil, for the sick; since also its grace is from God. It is the Sign of the faithful, and the dread of devils: for He triumphed over them in it, having made a shew of them openly; for when they see the Cross they are reminded of the Crucified; they are afraid of Him, who bruised the heads of the dragon. Despise not the Seal, because of the freeness of the gift; out for this the rather honour thy Benefactor.
H.G. Bishop Youanis – Paradise of the Spirit, Part 1.4 (Humility)
Hence when you stand to pray, feel poor and lowly, present your petition with feeling of lowliness. If we are accustomed to ask for something from a great person in this world, with meekness and lowliness, should we not do like that when we ask the Father of the Spirits? This should be a beautiful experience for us to freshen our prayers. Before you start your prayer, keep quiet for a while, standing, kneeling, or worshipping under the feet of the Saviour. Think of how vile you are, and it is God’s love which made you worthy to raise your voice and join the unseen heavenly hosts in their praises. If you did that you shall feel the comforts of God falling upon you in this prayer. Nobody asks people for a donation if he is well dressed, else people refuse him. Likewise, when you ask God, do that in humility and lowliness, so that He be compassionate to you.
St. Cyril of Alexandria – On the Unity of Christ
Will they then be able out of the Holy Scriptures to prove to us that their account hereof is true? or do they innovate the Faith, uttering things out of their heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord, as it is written, or haply unable to say, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ through which the world hath been crucified to me and I to the world?
St. Augustine – W R I T I N G S IN CONNECTION WITH THE MANICHÆAN CONTROVERSY
For besides, He had made the prohibition, in order to show that the nature of the rational soul ought not to be in its own power, but in subjection to God, and that it guards the order of its salvation through obedience, corrupting it through disobedience. Hence also He called the tree, the touching of which He forbade, the tree “of the knowledge of good and evil;” because when man should have touched it in the face of the prohibition, he would experience the penalty of sin, and so would know the difference between the good of obedience, and the evil of disobedience.
St. Augustine – City of God
The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes.” Their eyes, therefore were open, but were not open to this, that is to say, were not observant so as to recognize what was conferred upon them by the garment of grace, for they had no consciousness of their members warring against their will. But when they were stripped of this grace, that their disobedience might be punished by fit retribution, there began in the movement of their bodily members a shameless novelty which made nakedness indecent: it at once made them observant and made them ashamed. And therefore, after they violated God’s command by open transgression, it is written: “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” “The eyes of them both were opened,” not to see, for already they saw, but to discern between the good they had lost and the evil into which they had fallen. And therefore also the tree itself which they were forbidden to touch was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from this circumstance, that if they ate of it it would impart to them this knowledge. For the discomfort of sickness reveals the pleasure of health. “They knew,” therefore, “that they were naked,”—naked of that grace which prevented them from being ashamed of bodily nakedness while the law of sin offered no resistance to their mind.
St. John Chrysostom (Homilies on Matthew, V. 1, 2.)
“as indeed Paul plainly declared, saying, “Lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil:”—and the first man, too, puffed up by the devil with these hopes, was made an example of and became mortal (for expecting to become a god, he lost even what he had; and God also upbraiding him with this, and mocking his folly, said, “Behold, Adam is become as one of us” ; and each one of those that came after did hereby wreck himself in impiety, fancying some equality with God:—since, I say, this was the stronghold of our evils, and the root and fountain of all wickedness”
St. Cyril of Alexandria – Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Book IV
But we must know that by His saying again that He was sent, He does not shew that He is second in Dignity to the Father. For we must not imagine a mission befitting a servant, even though because clad in servant’s form He might rightly say even this of Himself. But He was sent as Word from Mind, as the Sun’s radiance from itself. For these I suppose are processions from those things in which they are, from their appearing to issue forth, yet exist they naturally and immovably in those things whence they are. For we ought not, because word issues forth from mind, and radiance from the sun, therefore at all to suppose that the things which produced are left of those which have gone forth of them, but rather we shall see both those in these, and these again existing in the former. For mind will never be word-less, nor yet word again without the mind fashioned therein. Analogously to this, shall we conceive of the other also.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem – Catachetical Lectures, Lecture XX
In order therefore that we may learn, that whatsoever things Christ endured, He suffered them for us and our salvation, and that, in reality and not in appearance, we also are made partakers of His sufferings. Paul cried with all exactness of truth, For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Well has he said, planted together. For since the true Vine was planted in this place, we also by partaking in the Baptism of death, have been planted together with Him. And fix thy mind with much attention on the words of the Apostle. He has not said, “For if we have been planted together in His death,” but, in the likeness of His death. For upon Christ death came in reality, for His soul was truly separated from His body; and His burial was true, for His holy body was wrapt in pure linen; and every thing happened to Him truly; but in your case only the likeness of death and sufferings, whereas of salvation, not the likeness, but the reality.
St John Chrysostom
The Apostle does not say ‘united with Him in His death’; but he says: ‘united together in the likeness of His death’, (v5). It is death in both instances, but the object of death differs: Christ died in the flesh; while we die to sin which we commit and bring upon ourselves.
Clement of Alexandria
We have been buried in the baptismal waters, while He was buried in the earth. We have been buried away from sin, while He was buried in terms of the flesh. That is why the Apostle does not use the words: ‘United us with Him in His death’, but he uses the words ‘the likeness of His death’ …and the focus is on the ‘resurrection’ itself…note that the Apostle does not say ‘…in the likeness of His resurrection’; but … ‘we become like Him resurrected
St. John Chrysostom (Homilies on Romans)
after saying, “for if we were planted together in the likeness of His Death,” he does not say that we shall be in the likeness of His Resurrection, but we shall belong to the Resurrection. For to prevent thy saying, and how, if we did not die as He died, are we to rise as He rose? when he mentioned the Death, he did not say, “planted together in the Death,” but, “in the likeness of His Death.” But when he mentioned the Resurrection, he did not say, “in the likeness of the Resurrection,” but we shall be “of the Resurrection” itself. And he does not say, We have been made, but we shall be, by this word again plainly meaning that Resurrection which has not yet taken place, but will hereafter
St. Athanasius – On the Incarnation of the Word
Firstly, because the death which befalls men comes to them agreeably to the weakness of their nature; for, unable to continue in one stay, they are dissolved with time. Hence, too, diseases befall them, and they fall sick and die. But the Lord is not weak, but is the Power of God and Word of God and Very Life…But since He was, firstly, the Life and the Word of God, and it was necessary, secondly, for the death on behalf of all to be accomplished, for this cause, on the one hand, because He was life and power, the body gained strength in Him…Since it was not fit, either, that the Lord should fall sick, who healed the diseases of others; nor again was it right for that body to lose its strength, in which He gives strength to the weaknesses of others also. Why, then, did He not prevent death, as He did sickness? Because it was for this that He had the body, and it was unfitting to prevent it, lest the Resurrection also should be hindered, while yet it was equally unfitting for sickness to precede His death, lest it should be thought weakness on the part of Him that was in the body.
Yet He came “in the likeness of sinful flesh;” that is, He took on Him the likeness of sinful flesh, the likeness, because it is written: “He is man, and who shall know Him?” He was man in the flesh, according to His human nature, that He might be recognized, but in power was above man, that He might not be recognized, so He has our flesh, but has not the failings of this flesh. For He was not begotten, as is every man, by intercourse between male and female, but born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin; He received a stainless body, which not only no sins polluted, but which neither the generation nor the conception had been stained by any admixture of defilement. For we men are all born under sin, and our very origin is in evil, as we read in the words of David: “For lo, I was conceived in wickedness, and in sin did my mother bring me forth.” Therefore the flesh of Paul was a body of death, as he himself says: “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” But the flesh of Christ condemned sin, which He felt not at His birth, and crucified by His death, so that in our flesh there might be justification through grace, in which before there had been pollution by guilt.
He was born of the Virgin perfectly free from sin either actual or transmitted. If, however,
the souls of men are not derived from that one soul, and it is only by the flesh that original
sin is transmitted from Adam, the Son of God created a soul for Himself, as He creates souls
for all other men, but He united it not to sinful flesh, but to the “likeness of sinful flesh.”2696
For He took, indeed, from the Virgin the true substance of flesh; not, however, “sinful flesh,”
for it was neither begotten nor conceived through carnal concupiscence, but mortal, and
capable of change in the successive stages of life, as being like unto sinful flesh in all points,
sin excepted.
What then is the meaning of his saying that the Son was sent “in the likeness of
sinful flesh?” It is this. The law of sin lies hidden in our fleshly
members, together with the shameful stirring of the natural lusts:
but when the Word of God became flesh, that is man, and
assumed our likeness, His flesh was holy and perfectly pure; so
that He was indeed in the likeness of our flesh, but not according
to its standard. For He was entirely free from the stains and
emotions natural to our bodies, and from that inclination which
leads us to what is not lawful.
Canon CXXXIII. (Greek cxxxiv.)
That a bishop should not rashly deprive anyone of communion.
As long as his own bishop will not communicate with one excommunicated, the other
bishops should have no communion with that bishop, that the bishop may be more careful
not to charge anyone with what he cannot prove by documentary evidence to others.
“Heresy is subtle, and therefore the simple-minded are easily deceived. To be deceived is the common lot of both layman and bishop. But you say, a bishop could not have been mistaken. The truth is, men are elected to the episcopate who come from the bosom of Plato and Aristophanes. How many can you find among them who are not fully instructed in these writers? Indeed all, whoever they may be, that are ordained at the present day from among the literate class make it their study not how to seek out the marrow of Scripture, but how to tickle the ears of the people with the flowers of rhetoric. We must further add that the Arian heresy goes hand in hand with the wisdom of the world, and borrows its streams of argument from the fountains of Aristotle.” — St. Jerome (The Dialogue Against the Luciferians)
VIII. Excommunication should be inflicted only on those who are guilty of some great crime, and even then not hastily.
No Christian should lightly be denied communion, nor should that be done at the will of an angry priest which the judge’s mind ought to a certain extent unwillingly and regretfully to carry out for the punishment of a great crime. For we have ascertained that some have been cut off from the grace of communion for trivial deeds and words, and that the soul for which Christ’s blood was shed has been exposed to the devil’s attacks and wounded, disarmed, so to say, and stript of all defence by the infliction of so savage a punishment as to fall an easy prey to him. Of course if ever a case has arisen of such a kind as in due proportion to the nature of the crime committed to deprive a man of communion, he only who is involved in the accusation must be subjected to punishment: and he who is not shown to be a partner in its commission ought not to share in the penalty. But what wonder that one who is wont to exult over the condemnation of priests, should show himself in the same light towards laymen. — Pope Leo
blood cries to God,Genesis 4:10 and will be required. For a righteous man unjustly slain by any one will be in rest with God forever. The same is the case of him who without cause is separated by his bishop. He who has cast him out as a pestilent fellow when he was innocent, is more furious than a murderer. Such a one has no regard to the mercy of God, nor is mindful of His goodness to those that are penitent, nor keeping in his eye the examples of those who, having been once great offenders, received forgiveness upon their repentance. Upon which account, he who casts off an innocent person is more cruel than he that murders the body. In like manner, he who does not receive the penitent, scatters the flock of Christ, being really against Him. For as God is just in judging of sinners, so is He merciful in receiving them when they return. For David, the man after God’s own heart, in his hymns ascribes both mercy and judgment to Him. – Apostolic Constitutions (Book II, XXI)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 5
“But in learning the Faith and in professing it, acquire and keep that only, which is now delivered to you by the Church, and which has been built up strongly out of all the Scriptures…I wish you also to keep this as a provision through the whole course of your life, and beside this to receive no other, neither if we ourselves should change and contradict our present teaching, nor if an adverse angel, transformed into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) should wish to lead you astray. For though we or an angel from heaven preach to you any other gospel than that you have received, let him be to you anathema…For the articles of the Faith were not composed as seemed good to men; but the most important points collected out of all the Scripture make up one complete teaching of the Faith. And just as the mustard seed in one small grain contains many branches, so also this Faith has embraced in few words all the knowledge of godliness in the Old and New Testaments. Take heed then, brethren, and hold fast the traditions which you now receive, and write them on the table of your heart. Guard them with reverence, lest per chance the enemy despoil any who have grown slack; or lest some heretic pervert any of the truths delivered to you. For faith is like putting money into the bank , even as we have now done; but from you God requires the accounts of the deposit. I charge you, as the Apostle says, before God, who quickens all things, and Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession, that you keep this faith which is committed to you, without spot, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. A treasure of life has now been committed to you, and the Master demands the deposit at His appearing, which in His own times He shall show, Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords”
St. Cyril of Alexandria – Commentary on John, book 9. Vol.2
The Divine nature is exceedingly terrible in uttering reproofs, and is stirred to violent emotion by unmingled hatred of evil, against whomsoever the Divine decree may have determined that this feeling is justly due; and this in spite of immeasurable long-suffering. Whenever therefore the Divine Scripture wishes to express God’s emotion against impious designs of whatever kind, it derives its language as on other occasions from expressions in use among us, and in human phraseology speaks of anger and wrath; although the Divine Essence is subject to none of these passions in any way that bears comparison with our feelings, but is moved to indignation the extent of which is known only to Itself and is natural to Itself alone, for the ways of God are utterly unspeakable. But the Divine Scripture, as we have said, is wont to record things too great for us in accordance with human fashion.
St. Severus of Antioch – LXV—Letter TO EUPRAXIUS THE CHAMBERLAIN, [508-11]
First therefore you seek to learn how we say that God the Word was begotten without beginning by the Father. But I from the very appellation ‘Father’ say that the generation of the Son is without beginning. If the Father was from eternity, the Son also, who shows forth the Father, existed from eternity: for, if there was a time when the Son did not exist, there was then a time when the Father was not a father. We, because we are a corruptible nature, come into being in time, and again pass away from being: therefore also the names applied to us vary; and at one time we are sons of certain persons, and after this we cease to be sons, and we become fathers, and we beget others. But God is in his nature invariable, and he is as he is from eternity, and he is a father from eternity. And the Son became such to eternity, and the Son is a son who is from eternity, and he was begotten everlastingly by the Father, and he did not acquire for the Father from outside the status of a father, because the Son was begotten by him without beginning and without time. If we say that the Son is the wisdom and the power of the Father in accordance with the wise Paul’s saying, “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God”, how is it not beyond all impiety for us to presume to say that the Father ever appeared without wisdom or without power? But, if he is wise from eternity, and he is powerful from eternity, then he has also wisdom and power from eternity, which is Christ: for he is the ray of the glory of the Father, and the impress of his hypostasis. As the sun from which it shines is the cause of the ray, and the sun is a circle and orb, and, so to speak, a composition, and the ray that comes from it is the light that is emitted and lightens everything under heaven, the land I mean and the sea at the same time, and one can never see the sun without the ray that comes from it, but, when
you hear of the sun, then you also without separation think of and understand the light that comes from it, that which gives light and that which is lightened by it, for it is from it, and is not after it, so also from the everlasting and suprasensual light, which is the Father, the Son shone forth without beginning and everlastingly, who himself also is the suprasensual ray which proceeds from him by generation, and does not appear after him.
Blessed Augustine
We have two births: One of them earthly and the other heavenly; one from the body, and the other from the Spirit; one of a corruptible nature and the other of an eternal nature; one from a man and a woman, and the other from God and the Church; one make us sons of the body, and the other makes us sons of the Spirit; one makes us sons of death, and the other makes us sons of resurrection; one makes us sons of the world, and the other makes us sons of God; one makes us sons of curse and wrath, and the other makes us sons of blessing and love; one will bind us with chains of sin, and the other will set us free of all its bonds
Orthodox Study Bible
Christ’s once-for-all offering of Himself is for all people for all time, and supersedes the Mosaic sacrificial system. Accordingly, the mystery of the eucharistic service, accomplished within the Divine Liturgy of the Church, is done “in remembrance” of Christ’s sacrifice (Lk 22:19) and is a “reasonable and bloodless sacrifice” to be understood as our sacrifice-offering to God—“a mercy of peace, a sacrifice of praise.” In the Divine Liturgy, instead of an animal or grain offering, we offer the Body and Blood of Christ to God.
Liturgy of St. Basil
“Therefore, make us worthy O our Master, with a pure heart and a soul full of Your grace, to stand and offer before You this holy, rational and bloodless sacrifice; for the forgiveness of our trespasses and the remission of the ignorances of Your people, for You are a compassionate and merciful God.”
Tertullian – Marcion’s “God”, Book 1, chapter 27
Again, he plainly judges evil by not willing it, and condemns it by prohibiting it; while, on the other hand, he acquits it by not avenging it, and lets it go free by not punishing it. What a prevaricator of truth is such a god! What a dissembler with his own decision! Afraid to condemn what he really condemns, afraid to hate what he does not love, permitting that to be done which he does not allow, choosing to indicate what he dislikes rather than deeply examine it! This will turn out an imaginary goodness, a phantom of discipline, perfunctory in duty, careless in sin. Listen, ye sinners; and ye who have not yet come to this, hear, that you may attain to such a pass! A better god has been discovered, who never takes offense, is never angry, never inflicts punishment, who has prepared no fire in hell, no gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness! He is purely and simply good. He indeed forbids all delinquency, but only in word. He is in you, if you are willing to pay him homage, for the sake of appearances, that you may seem to honor God; for your fear he does not want. And so satisfied are the Marcionites with such pretenses, that they have no fear of their god at all. They say it is only a bad man who will be feared, a good man will be loved. Foolish man, do you say that he whom you call Lord ought not to be feared, whilst the very title you give him indicates a power which must itself be feared? But how are you going to love, without some fear that you do not love? Surely (such a god) is neither your Father, towards whom your love for duty’s sake should be consistent with fear because of His power; nor your proper Lord, whom you should love for His humanity and fear as your teacher.
Good for discussion
Leo the Great – Sermon XXII
And to this end, without male seed Christ was conceived of a Virgin, who was fecundated not by human intercourse but by the Holy Spirit. And whereas in all mothers conception does not take place without stain of sin, this one received purification from the Source of her conception. For no taint of sin penetrated, where no intercourse occurred. Her unsullied virginity knew no lust when it ministered the substance. The LORD took from His mother our nature, not our fault. The slave’s form is, created without the slave’s estate, because the New Man is so commingled with the old, as both to assume the reality of our race and to remove its ancient flaw.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF John
While, however, our Lord Jesus Christ says this to put a stop to her weeping, she, supposing the speaker to be one of the gardeners, undertook very readily to transfer the remains to another place, if only it were shown her where he had laid Him. For, not yet apprehending the great mystery of the Resurrection, she was disturbed by suspicions of this kind. For the feminine mind is slow-witted and ill-prepared to readily comprehend even what is not very difficult, far less miracles which baffle description. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turneth herself, and saith, unto Him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Master, and ran forward to touch Him.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF John
Wherefore He proceeds, He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent Him. For the charge of dishonouring the Son, and the force of blasphemy against Him, will mount up unto none other more truly than the Father Himself…For He will be angry, and that with reason, yet not wholly so, as though His Very Nature were insulted in the Son, according to our just now carefully finished argument, but since He is His Image and Impress, formed most excellently after His Divine and Ineffable Essence, He is with reason angry, and will wholly transfer the wrong to Himself. For it were indeed most absurd, that he who insulted the Divine Impresses, should not surely pay the penalty of his sin against the Archetype. Just as he who has insulted the images of earthly kings, is punished as having indeed transgressed against the ruler himself. And in like manner shall we find it decreed by God in respect of ourselves also: for Whoso (saith He) sheddeth man’s blood, for his blood shall he be poured forth: because in the Image of God He made man. Seest thou then hereby very clearly (saith he) that if the Image be wronged, and not altogether the Divine Nature, God the Father deems it right to be angry? In this way then let that which is said by Christ be conceived of and adapted, He that honoureth not the Son, neither doth he honour the Father.”
St. Jerome – To Pammachius on the Best Method of Translating
To take another instance from Zechariah, the evangelist John quotes from the Hebrew, “They shall look on him whom they pierced,” for which we read in the Septuagint, “And they shall look upon me because they have mocked me,”… In the Hebrew the twenty-second psalm begins with the exact words which the Lord uttered on the cross: Eli Eli lama azabthani, which means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Let my critics tell me why the Septuagint introduces here the words “look thou upon me.” For its rendering is as follows: “My God, my God, look thou upon me, why hast thou forsaken me?” They will answer no doubt that no harm is done to the sense by the addition of a couple of words…It would be tedious now to enumerate, what great additions and omissions the Septuagint has made, and all the passages which in church-copies are marked with daggers and asterisks…Yet the Septuagint has rightly kept its place in the churches, either because it is the first of all the versions in time, made before the coming of Christ, or else because it has been used by the apostles (only however in places where it does not disagree with the Hebrew).
St. Athanasius (296 – 373 AD) – Contra Apollinarium
How then can you any longer be deemed faithful, or Christians, who neither keep close to the words of Scripture, nor believe in what took place, but venture to define what is beyond nature? Is it a small thing for you to enter into a contest with men, and how do ye enter on a contest with God? For if those who disbelieved the prophets were condemned, how much more those who do not put faith in the Master Himself? For how is it that you dare to think or to speak in a- different way of the things which He Himself willed and was pleased to do, for the putting away of sin and death? If we confess Him, He will also confess us; if we deny Him, He also will deny us, if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. For what means this extreme and wild extravagance of yours, to say what is not in Scripture, and to think what is alien from religion?
Blessed Augustine – On the Trinity, Chap 11
But what is meant by “justified in His blood?” What power is there in this blood, I beseech you, that they who believe should be justified in it? And what is meant by “being reconciled by the death of His Son?” Was it indeed so, that when God the Father was wroth with us, He saw the death of His Son for us, and was appeased towards us? Was then His Son already so far appeased towards us, that He even deigned to die for us; while the Father was still so far wroth, that except His Son died for us, He would not be appeased? And what, then, is that which the same teacher of the Gentiles himself says in another place: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; how has He not with Him also freely given us all things?” Pray, unless the Father had been already appeased, would He have delivered up His own Son, not sparing Him for us? Does not this opinion seem to be as it were contrary to that? In the one, the Son dies for us, and the Father is reconciled to us by His death; in the other, as though the Father first loved us, He Himself on our account does not spare the Son, He Himself for us delivers Him up to death. But I see that the Father loved us also before, not only before the Son died for us, but before He created the world; the apostle himself being witness, who says, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” Nor was the Son delivered up for us as it were unwillingly, the Father Himself not sparing Him; for it is said also concerning Him, “Who loved me, and delivered up Himself for me.” Therefore together both the Father and the Son, and the Spirit of both, work all things equally and harmoniously; yet we are justified in the blood of Christ, and we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. And I will explain, as I shall be able, here also, how this was done, as much as may seem sufficient.
St. Ambrose
And what is the love of the Son, but that He offered Himself for us, and redeemed us with His own blood. But the same love is in the Father, for it is written: “God so loved the world that He gave His Only-begotten Son.” So, then, the Father gave the Son, and the Son gave Himself. Love is preserved and due affection is not wronged, for affection is not wronged where there is no distress in the giving up. He gave one Who was willing, He gave One Who offered Himself, the Father did not give the Son to punishment but to grace. If you enquire into the merit of the deed, enquire into the description of the affection. The vessel of election shows plainly the unity of this divine love, because both the Father gave the Son and the Son gave Himself.
St. Athanasius – Select Treatises
Seek neither a ‘ brother ‘ for thy redemption, but one who surpasses thy nature ; nor a mere ‘ man,’ but a man who is God, Jesus Christ, who alone is able to make propitiation for us all … One thing has been found sufficient for all men at once, which was given as the price of ransom of our soul, the holy and most precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He poured out for us all.
Basil. in Psalm. 48, n. 4. ” One had not been sufficient instead
of all, had it been simply a man ; but if He be under stood as God made man, and suffering in His own
flesh, the whole creation together is small compared to Him, and the death of one flesh is enough for the
ransom of all that is under heaven.”
St. John Chrysostom – Homilies on 1 Timothy
Therefore he says, “without controversy great is the mystery.” Great indeed was it. For God became Man, and Man became God. A Man was seen without sin! A Man was received up, was preached in the world! Together with us the Angels saw Him. This is indeed a mystery! Let us not then expose this mystery. Let us not lay it forth everywhere, but let us live in a manner worthy of the mystery. They to whom a mystery is intrusted are great persons.
Ireranus?
Because Christ is true man and true God, he sums up and renews humanity. This
he does on the cross when he forgives his enemies out of infinite love. This is the
keystone of recapitulation. The cross has to be true and without pretence [sic] of
any kind. Goodness and truth are joined, else the love of the cross could not be
effective in the continuing life of the martyrs and other Christians. On the cross
God becomes man and man becomes God as he displays divine forgiveness; in
the union of God and man, man is brought to life.
Fr. Tadros Malaty – Commentary on Ezekiel
This is the law of the Church, that finds in her Christ, the divine justice realized; the balances of God are all just. He carried our trespasses, and paid our debts; and as the apostle says: “And you being dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it”(Col 2:13-15). In the balances we were found wanting; so He paid our dues; not just with words or emotions, but He paid for them with His life for our salvation; to have the divine justice realized in Him. By destroying violence and oppression, which are the law of the devil, Satan together with all his principalities and powers were disarmed, and were made a public spectacle. For this reason, He talked about the law of justice and not cheating in the offerings, sacrifices, and burnt offerings (Ez 45:15); as being a symbol of the sacrifice of the Lord Christ, in which the divine justice is realized.
Theophilus of Antioch – To Autolycus, Book 2
it is obviously not the law which causes punishment, but the disobedience and transgression; — for a father sometimes enjoins on his own child abstinence from certain things, and when he does not obey the paternal order, he is flogged and punished on account of the disobedience; and in this case the actions themselves are not the [cause of] stripes, but the disobedience procures punishment for him who disobeys; — so also for the first man, disobedience procured his expulsion from Paradise. Not, therefore, as if there were any evil in the tree of knowledge; but from his disobedience did man draw, as from a fountain, labor, pain, grief, and at last fall a prey to death… And God showed great kindness to man in this, that He did not suffer him to remain in sin forever; but, as it were, by a kind of banishment, cast him out of Paradise, in order that, having by punishment expiated, within an appointed time, the sin, and having been disciplined, he should afterwards be restored.
Irenaeus – Against Heresies
Again, that they might remove the rebuking and judicial power from the Father, reckoning that as unworthy of God, and thinking that they had found out a God both without anger and [merely] good, they have alleged that one [God] judges, but that another saves, unconsciously taking away the intelligence and justice of both deities. For if the judicial one is not also good, to bestow favors upon the deserving, and to direct reproofs against those requiring them, he will appear neither a just nor a wise judge. On the other hand, the good God, if he is merely good, and not one who tests those upon whom he shall send his goodness, will be out of the range of justice and goodness; and his goodness will seem imperfect, as not saving all; [for it should do so,] if it be not accompanied with judgment.
For he that is the judicial one, if he be not good, is not God, because he from whom goodness is absent is no God at all; and again, he who is good, if he has no judicial power, suffers the same [loss] as the former, by being deprived of his character of deity. And how can they call the Father of all wise, if they do not assign to Him a judicial faculty? For if He is wise, He is also one who tests [others]; but the judicial power belongs to him who tests, and justice follows the judicial faculty, that it may reach a just conclusion; justice calls forth judgment, and judgment, when it is executed with justice, will pass on to wisdom. Therefore the Father will excel in wisdom all human and angelic wisdom, because He is Lord, and Judge, and the Just One, and Ruler over all. For He is good, and merciful, and patient, and saves whom He ought: nor does goodness desert Him in the exercise of justice, nor is His wisdom lessened; for He saves those whom He should save, and judges those worthy of judgment. Neither does He show Himself unmercifully just; for His goodness, no doubt, goes on before, and takes precedency. The God, therefore, who does benevolently cause His sun to rise upon all, and sends rain upon the just and unjust, shall judge those who, enjoying His equally distributed kindness, have led lives not corresponding to the dignity of His bounty…
Clement of Alexandria – The Insructor
For the Divine Being is not angry in the way that some think; but often restrains, and always exhorts humanity, and shows what ought to be done. And this is a good device, to terrify lest we sin. “For the fear of the Lord drives away sins, and he that is without fear cannot be justified,” says the Scripture. And God does not inflict punishment from wrath, but for the ends of justice; since it is not expedient that justice should be neglected on our account. Each one of us, who sins, with his own free-will chooses punishment, and the blame lies with him who chooses. God is without blame. “But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? God forbid.” He says, therefore, threatening, “I will sharpen my sword, and my hand shall lay hold on judgment; and I will render justice to mine enemies, and requite those who hate me
Novation – A TREATISE OF NOVATIAN CONCERNING THE TRINITY
Moreover, if we read of His wrath, and consider certain descriptions of His indignation, and learn that hatred is asserted of Him, yet we are not to understand these to be asserted of Him in the sense in which they are human vices. For all these things, although they may corrupt man, cannot at all corrupt the divine power. For such passions as these will rightly be said to be in men, and will not rightly be judged to be in God. For man may be corrupted by these things, because he can be corrupted; God may not be corrupted by them, because He cannot be corrupted. These things, forsooth, have their force which they may exercise, but only where a material capable of impression precedes them, not where a substance that cannot be impressed precedes them. For that God is angry, arises from no vice in Him. But He is so for our advantage; for He is merciful even then when He threatens, because by these threats men are recalled to rectitude. For fear is necessary for those who want the motive to a virtuous life, that they who have forsaken reason may at least be moved by terror. And thus all those, either angers of God or hatreds, or whatever they are of this kind, being displayed for our medicine,–as the case teaches,–have arisen of wisdom, not from vice, nor do they originate from frailty; wherefore also they cannot avail for the corruption of God.
Augustine (354-430 A.D.) – The Enchiridion
And so the human race was lying under a just condemnation, and all men were the children of wrath. Of which wrath it is written: “All our days are passed away in Thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told.” Of which wrath also Job says: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” Of which wrath also the Lord Jesus says: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” He does not say it will come, but it “abideth on him.” For every man is born with it; wherefore the apostle says: “We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Now, as men were lying under this wrath by reason of their original sin, and as this original sin was the more heavy and deadly proportion to the number and magnitude of the actual sins which were added to it, there was need for a Mediator, that is, for a reconciler, who, by the offering of one sacrifice, of which all the sacrifices of the law and the prophets were types, should take away this wrath. Wherefore the apostle says: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Now when God is said to be angry, we do not attribute to Him such a disturbed feeling as exists the mind of an angry man; but we call His just displeasure against sin by the name “anger,” word transferred by analogy from human emotions. But our being reconciled to God through a Mediator, and receiving the Holy Spirit, so that we who were enemies are made sons (“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”): this is the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
St, Cyril of Alexandria – Commentary on the Gospel of St. John
Yea (saith’the opponent) let the charge from dishonouring the Son go to whatsoever you please, or rather let it reach even ‘unto God the Father Himself. For ‘He will be “angry, and that with reason, yet not wholly so, as though ” His Very Nature were insulted in the Son, according to “our just now carefully finished argument, but since He is His Image and Impress, formed most excellently after “His Divine and Ineffable Essence, He is with reason “angry, and will wholly transfer the wrong to Himself. “For it were indeed most absurd, that he who insulted the Divine Impresses, should not surely pay the penalty of his sin against the Archetype. Just as he who has insulted the images of earthly kings, is punished as having indeed transgressed against the ruler himself. And in like manner shall we find it decreed by God in respect of ourselves also: for Whoso (saith He) sheddeth man’s blood, “for his blood shall he be poured forth: because in the Image of “God He made man. Seest thou then hereby very clearly (saith he) that if the Image be wronged, and not altogether the Divine Nature, God the Father deems it right “to be angry? In this way then let that which is said by Christ be conceived of and adapted s, He that honoureth not the Son, netther doth he honour the Father.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313 A.D. – 386 A.D) – On the Sacred Liturgy and Communion
So then after having carefully hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest thou lose any portion thereof; for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones? Then after thou hast partaken of the Body of Christ, draw near also to the Cup of His Blood; not stretching forth thine hands, but bending, and saying with an air of worship and reverence, Amen, hallow thyself by partaking also of the Blood of Christ…Then wait for the prayer, and give thanks unto God, who hath accounted thee worthy of so great mysteries. Hold fast these traditions undefiled and, keep yourselves free from offence. Sever not yourselves from the Communion; deprive not yourselves, through the pollution of sins, of these Holy and Spiritual Mysteries.
The below are evident scriptural/Orthodox truths:
1. God commanded sin/guilt offerings to be offered to God in the Old Testament. These were most often in the form of animal sacrifices. The blood of the animals was used for purification and to atone for sin. The sacrifices were a type and shadow of the true sacrifice of Christ for sanctification and remission of sin.
2. Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross, and offered Himself to God as a sin offering for the sins of the world. Through faith in His blood we receive justification, reconciliation with God, and remission of sins. Christ remains our eternal Sacrifice and High Priest; He is our eternal atonement/propitiation for sin with the Father.
3. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by dying a cursed death on the cross. He bore the curse that lay on us.
4. In the Eucharist, the Church offers up to God the body/blood of Christ as the New Testament bloodless sacrifice for the remission of sins, and for the sanctification of the believers.
5. The Son will judge the world at His second coming and will give to each according to what has done.
I will not place a label on the above, or associate them with any atonement theory. These are not “theories”. Anyone who denies any of the above, denies fundamental Apostolic/Christian truths. I am happy to provide ample scriptural/patristic references to support all of the above truths.
What PSA really is or how it is defined, I can care less. I have no interest in “theories”, but scriptural/patristic truths. If we are going to discount the idea that Christ took upon Himself (willingly) the judgment/curse for our disobedience on the cross, we will need to account for the below scripture/patristic quotes. These are just a small sample:
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered (Zechariah 13:7)
“the chastisement of our peace was upon him…and the Lord gave him up for our sins” (Isaiah 53:5-6 — Septuagint)
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10 – KJV)
“He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many…” (Isaiah 53:12)
You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. (Psalm 88:6-9)
The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again. (Luke 24:7)
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. (John 19:11)
‘My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?’ (Psalm 22:1)
He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:25)
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
(Romans 8:32)
Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Galatians 1:4)
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law…Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. (Galatians 3:10, 13)
He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1 Peter 3:18)
“if any honest Christian wants to know why He suffered death on the cross and not in some other way, we answer thus: in no other way was it expedient for us, indeed the Lord offered for our sakes the one death that was supremely good. He had come to bear the curse that lay on us; and how could He “become a curse” otherwise than by accepting the accursed death? And that death is the cross, for it is written “Cursed is every one that hangeth on tree.” Again, the death of the Lord is the ransom of all….” — St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word
“And Psalms 88 and 69, again speaking in the Lord’s own person, tell us further that He suffered these things, not for His own sake but for ours. Thou has made Thy wrath to rest upon me, says the one; and the other adds, I paid them things I never took. For He did not die as being Himself liable to death: He suffered for us, and bore in Himself the wrath that was the penalty of our transgression, even as Isaiah says, Himself bore our weaknesses.” St. Athanasius , Letter to Marcellinus
Our Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement for sin, it is atonement necessitated because of love, provided by love, finished by love. When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the abiding presence of Christ, we are preaching the power of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.” ~Billy Graham 1918-2018
The matter is simple. Either scripture and the Church fathers said Christ endured the “wrath” of God on the cross and “punished” or they didn’t. We all want to the truth. And we are all sincere. Let’s take a look:
“There was no being who could bear the wrath of God on the land, and intercede on its behalf. That is why He sent His Only-Begotten Son, as a Son of Man; who, alone, can stand in the gap, bear the divine wrath in His body for our sake; and intercede for us by His pure blood; and bring us back to the bosom of the Father.” — Fr. Tadros Malaty (Commentary on Ezekiel)