2-2-2013- PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS FROM 50-150 AD


*****************************IDLENESS***********************


"IF THE ONE COMING TO YOU IS ONLY A TRAVELER, HELP HIM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, BUT HE SHALL STAY WITH YOU ONLY FOR TWO DAYS, IF NECESSARY, THREE. IF SOMEONE WANTS TO SETTLE AMONG YOU, LET HIM WORK IN HIS TRADE FOR A LIVING AND IN CASE HE HAS NO TRADE, OR CRAFT, USE YOUR DISCRETION AND SEE TO IT THAT NO IDLE CHRISTIAN LIVES IN YOUR MIDST.

*DIDACHE*


***************************INCARNATION******************


"IN GOD THERE IS ONE SUBSTANCE, BUT THREE PERSONS; IN CHRIST TWO SUBSTANCES, BUT ONE PERSON.

*VINCENT OF LERINS*


"LOOK FOR CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD; WHO WAS BEFORE TIME, YET APPEARED IN TIME; WHO WAS INVISIBLE BY NATURE; YET VISIBLE IN THE FLESH; WHO WAS IMPALPABLE AND COULD NOT BE TOUCHED, AS BEING WITHOUT A BODY BUT FOR OUR SAKE'S BECOME SUCH, MIGHT BE TOUCHED AND HANDLED IN THE BODY; WHO WAS IMPOSSIBLE AS GOD, BUT BECAME POSSIBLE FOR OUR SAKES AS MEN."

*IGNATIUS*


"CHRIST BECAME WHAT WE ARE, THAT HE MIGHT MAKE US, WHAT HE IS"

*ATHANASIUS*


"THE SON,JESUS, WISHED TO BE SENT AND TO BECOME THE SON OF MAN, SO THAT HE MIGHT MAKE US THE SONS OF GOD."

*CYPRIAN*


"IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN FITTING FOR ONE, JESUS, WHO ACCOMPLISHED A PERFECT WORK IN OTHERS, TO ALLOW ANYTHING IMPERFECT IN HIMSELF. IF SOMETHING WAS LACKING IN HIS HUMANITY, HE DID NOT REDEEM THE WHOLE MAN; AND IF HE DID NOT REDEEM THE WHOLE MAN, HE WAS A DECEIVER WHEN HE DECLARED THAT HE HAD COME TO SAVE THE WHOLE MAN. BUT, HE DID NOT DECEIVE....HIS HUMANITY WAS PERFECT."

*AMBROSE OF MILAN*



*************************INSTRUCTION*********************


"HE MUST STRIVE TO LIVE SO AS TO MOISTEN THE DRIED UP HEARTS, WITH THE FLOWING WAVES OF INSTRUCTION."

*GREGORY THE GREAT*


**********************INTELLECT****************************


"YOU ARE NOT MUCH DIFFERENT FROM CATTLE, EXCEPT THAT YOU HAVE INTELLIGENCE; SO DO NOT GLORY IN ANYTHING ELSE. DO YOU CLAIM TO BE STRONG? YOU WILL BE BEATEN BY BEASTS. DO YOU CLAIM SPEED? FLIES ARE FASTER. DO YOU CLAIM BEAUTY? WHAT GREAT BEAUTY THERE IS IN A PEAFOWLS FEATHERS! HOW ARE YOU BETTER, THEN, THAN THESE? BY THE IMAGE OF GOD. AND WHERE IS GODS IMAGE? IN YOUR MIND,(HEART), IN YOUR INTELLECT!"

*AUGUSTINE*


**********************JUDGMENT*************************


""HEAR THE OTHER SIDE."

*AUGUSTINE*


"THE DAY OF JUDGMENT BETOKENS AN ETERNAL MEASURING OUT, EITHER OF HAPPINESS, OR OF PUNISHMENT."

*HILARY OF POITIERS*


"YOU ARE FOND OF SPECTACLES, EXCEPT THE GREATEST OF ALL SPECTACLES-------THE LAST ETERNAL DAY OF JUDGMENT."

*TERTULLIAN*


"WE ARE SO FAR FROM PRACTICING PROMISCUOUS INTERCOURSE, THAT WE ARE NOT EVEN ALLOWED A LUSTFUL GLANCE. WHAT COULD JUSTIFY ANY DOUBT AS TO THE PURITY OF THE LIFE LED BY THOSE WHO ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THEIR EYES FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, THAN THAT FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THEM, NAMELY TO LOOK IN THE LIGHT FOR WHOM EVEN A LUSTFUL GLANCE, IS CALLED ADULTERY! FOR THEM, THE COMING JUDGMENT APPLIES, EVEN TO THOUGHTS."

*ATHENAGORAS*


*************************JUSTIFICATION******************


"INDEED, WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE COVERED OVER OUR SINS EXCEPT HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS? IN WHOM WAS IT POSSIBLE FOR US, IN VIEW OF OUR WICKEDNESS AND IMPIETY, TO BE JUSTIFIED, EXCEPT IN THE SON OF GOD ALONE? OH, THE UNEXPECTED BENEFITS!.......THAT THE WICKEDNESS OF THE MANY, SHOULD BE HIDDEN IN THE ONE, JESUS, WHO IS JUST; AND THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE ONE, SHOULD JUSTIFY THE WICKED MANY!"

*LETTER TO DIOGNETUS*


"THE SCRIPTURES AND THE FACTS THEMSELVES, OBLIGE US TO CONFESS THAT ABRAHAM RECEIVED CIRCUMCISION FOR A SIGN AND NOT FOR JUSTIFICATION."

*JUSTIN*


"HE WHO MADE YOU WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT, DOES NOT JUSTIFY YOU WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT."

*AUGUSTINE*


**************************KINGDOM OF GOD***********


"GOD WHOM ALL CREATION SERVES, ALWAYS HAS A KINGDOM AND IS NEVER WITHOUT A KINGDOM."

*AUGUSTINE*


"THE PUBLICANS AND THE HARLOTS, GO INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE YOU. THEY GO BEFORE BECAUSE THEY DO VIOLENCE ; THEY PUSH THEIR WAY BY FAITH AND TO FAITH, A WAY IS MADE, NOR CAN ANY RESIST, SINCE THEY WHO ARE VIOLENT, TAKE IT BY FORCE."

*AUGUSTINE*


******************************KNOWLEDGE****************


"KNOW THAT IT IS THE VOICE OF SCOFFERS THAT SAYS: "IF YOU ARE IGNORANT OF THE ESSENCE OF GOD, YOU ADORE WHAT YOU DO NOT KNOW." I KNOW HE IS; BUT WHAT HIS ESSENCE IS, THAT I REGARD AS BEYOND UNDERSTANDING. HOW THEN, AM I SAVED? THROUGH FAITH. FAITH SUFFICES ITSELF TO KNOW THAT GOD IS, NOT WHAT HE IS."

*BASIL THE GREAT*


"LET US LEARN UPON EARTH, THAT KNOWLEDGE WHICH WILL CONTINUE WITH US IN HEAVEN."

*JEROME*


"NOR IS A MAN FAR FROM KNOWLEDGE, WHO BEGINS TO UNDERSTAND, HOW IGNORANT HE IS."

*JOHN CASSIAN*


***************************LAW**********************************


"THERE HAS BEEN IN THE WHOLE PERIOD OF THE DURATION OF THE WORLD, TWO CONSPICUOUS CHANGES IN MEN'S LIVES....OR......TWO EARTHQUAKES; THE ONE, FROM IDOLS TO THE LAW, THE OTHER, FROM THE LAW TO THE GOSPEL."

*GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS*


"YOU MUST NOT HAVE A MONOPOLY OF BENDING THE LAW TO SUIT YOUR WILL, INSTEAD OF BENDING YOUR WILL, TO SUIT THE LAW."

*JEROME* ALSO THE MOTTO OF "THE CHURCH AT TEXAS".


***********************LIBERALITY************************


"THAT LIBERALITY IS REAL, WHERE A MAN HIDES WHAT HE DOES IN SILENCE, AND SECRETLY ASSISTS THE NEEDS OF INDIVIDUALS WHOM THE MOUTH OF THE POOR AND NOT HIS OWN LIPS, PRAISES."

*AMBROSE*


"DO GOOD AND WITH A SIMPLE HEART, SHARE THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR WHICH GOD GIVES TO YOU, WITH THOSE WHO ARE POOR, NOT WONDERING TO WHOM YOU SHOULD GIVE AND TO WHOM YOU SHOULD NOT GIVE. GIVE ALL, FOR GOD WISHES THAT YOU GIVE TO ALL, FROM HIS GIFTS TO YOU."

*HERMAS*


"GIVE YOUR RICHES NOT TO THOSE WHO FEED ON PHEASANTS, BUT TO THOSE WHO HAVE NONE BUT COMMON BREAD TO EAT, SUCH AS STAYS HUNGER, WHILE IT DOES NOT STIMULATE LUST."

*JEROME*


"IT IS A SERIOUS FAULT, IF A BELIEVER IS IN WANT AND YOU KNOW IT."

*AMBROSE*


"AND THIS SAYING IS ABOVE ALL DIVINITY---NOT TO WAIT TO BE ASKED, BUT TO ENQUIRE ONESELF, WHO DESERVES TO RECEIVE KINDNESS."

*CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA*


"DO NOT .....BY AN ERROR OF JUDGMENT, GIVE THE PROPERTY OF THE POOR, WHO ARE NOT POOR; THAT, AS A WISE MAN HAS TOLD US, CHARITY PROVE THE DEATH OF CHARITY."

*JEROME*


"GIVE TO ALL, FOR GOD WISHES HIS GIFTS TO BE SHARED AMONG ALL. THEY WHO RECEIVE, WILL RENDER AN ACCOUNT TO GOD WHY, AND FOR WHAT THEY HAVE RECEIVED. FOR THE AFFLICTED WHO RECEIVE, WILL NOT BE CONDEMNED, BUT THEY WHO RECEIVE UNDER FALSE PRETENSES, WILL SUFFER PUNISHMENT. HE, THEN, WHO GIVES IS GUILTLESS. FOR AS HE HAS RECEIVED FROM THE LORD, SO HAS HE ACCOMPLISHED HIS SERVICE IN SIMPLICITY, NOT HESITATING AS TO WHOM HE SHOULD GIVE AND TO WHOM HE SHOULD NOT GIVE."

*HERMAS* 


"BESIDES FOOD AND CLOTHING AND THINGS MANIFESTLY NECESSARY, GIVE NO MAN ANYTHING."

*AUGUSTINE*


"THUS YOU WILL GIVE TO EVERYONE THAT ASKS YOU, ALTHOUGH YOU WILL NOT ALWAYS GIVE WHAT HE ASKS."

*AUGUSTINE*


"BEWARE, THAT YOU BE LIKE OTHER MEN OF EARTH, WHO, WHEN THEY AWAKEN IN ANOTHER WORLD, AWAKE WITH EMPTY HANDS BECAUSE THEY PLACED NOTHING IN CHRISTS HANDS, WHICH WERE STRETCHED OUT TO THEM, IN THE HANDS OF HIS POOR AND NEEDY."

*AUGUSTINE*


*************************LIBERTY*****************************


"THE SLAVE MIGHT BE SUPERIOR IN CHARACTER TO HIS MASTER AND BE REALLY MORE FREE THAN HE."

*AMBROSE*


"HE WHO IS THE SERVANT OF SIN, IS FREE TO SIN. AND HENCE HE WILL NOT BE FREE TO DO RIGHT UNTIL, BEING FREED FROM SIN, HE SHALL BEGIN TO BE THE SERVANT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. AND THIS IS TRUE LIBERTY."

*AUGUSTINE*


"WE SHALL BE MADE TRULY FREE, THEN, WHEN GOD FASHIONS US, THAT IS, FORMS AND CREATES US ANEW, NOT AS MEN....FOR HE HAS DONE THAT ALREADY----BUT AS GOOD MEN, WHICH HIS GRACE IS NOW DOING."

*AUGUSTINE*