1-15-2013-PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS OF AD DAYS-PART 4


******************************FAITH*****************************


"FAITH IS TO BELIEVE, WHAT WE DO NOT SEE, AND THE REWARD OF THIS FAITH, IS TO SEE WHAT WE BELIEVE."

*AUGUSTINE*


"IT IS REASONABLY DEMANDED, THAT FAITH PRECEDE REASON."

*AUGUSTINE*


"DO NOT DOUBT WHETHER IT IS POSSIBLE: FOR JESUS, THAT WAS ON THIS SACRED GOLGOTHA, SAVED THE ROBBER, AFTER ONLY ONE HOUR OF BELIEVEING, THE SAME WILL SAVE YOU, IF YOU BELIEVE."

*CYRIL OF JERUSALEM*


'FAITH AND GODLINESS.........ARE SO CLOSELY ALLIED, THAT THEY CAN BE CONSIDERED SISTERS."

*ATHANASIUS*


"FAITH WILL LEAD YOU IN; EXPERIENCE WILL TEACH YOU; SCRIPTURE WILL TRAIN YOU..

*CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA*


"NO SOUL WHATEVER IS ABLE TO OBTAIN SALVATION; UNLESS IT HAS BELIEVED WHILE IN THE FLESH.

*TERTULLIAN*


"FAITH FEARS NO FAMINE"

*TERTULLIAN*


**************************FALSEHOOD*********************


"IT IS AN OLD SAYING, LIARS ARE DISBELIEVED, EVEN WHEN THEY SPEAK THE TRUTH."

*JEROME*


"FOR THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LYING AND BEING A LIAR. A MAN MAY TELL A LIE UNWILLINGLY; BUT A LIAR LOVES TO LIE AND INHABITS IN HIS MIND, THE DELIGHT OF LYING."

*AUGUSTINE*


"SINCE THEN BY LYING, ETERNAL LIFE IS LOST, NEVER FOR ANY MANS TEMPORAL LIFE, MUST A LIE BE TOLD."

*AUGUSTINE*


"THERE ARE 2 KINDS OF LIES, WHICH ARE NO GREAT CRIME, BUT NOT EXACTLY FREE FROM SIN, THE LIE SPOKEN IN JEST AND THE LIE SPOKEN TO RENDER SOME SERVICE."

*AUGUSTINE*


*********************************FASTING*********************


"FASTING......THE ESCORTING ATTENDANT OF THEIR PRAYERS."

*TERTULLIAN*


"LAY UPON YOURSELF ONLY AS MUCH FASTING AS YOU CAN BEAR, AND LET YOUR FASTS BE PURE, CHASTE, SIMPLE, MODERATE, AND NOT SUPERSTITIOUS."

*JEROME*


"DON'T FAST BY THE MOUTH ONLY, BUT ALSO BY THE EYE, THE EAR, THE FEET, THE HANDS....ALL MEMBERS OF YOUR BODY. LET YOUR HANDS FAST BY BEING PURE FROM STEALING......LET YOUR FEET FAST BY NOT RUNNING TO WATCH THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T......LET YOUR EYES FAST, BEING TAUGHT NOT TO LOOK AT THINGS THEY SHOULDN'T, AND ESPECIALLY NOT TO STARE AT BEAUTIFUL WOMEN..........LET THE EAR FAST....IN REFUSING TO LISTEN TO EVIL TALK AND RUMORS....LET THE MOUTH TOO, FAST FROM DIS-GRACEFUL TALK."

*CHRYSOSTOM*


"THE STRICTEST FAST IS, BREAD AND WATER."

*JEROME*


"FAST, BECAUSE FASTING WILL TRAIN YOUR BODY FOR MARTYDOM, YOUR SKIN WILL BE STRENGTHENED TO BEAR THE IRON NAILS, WHEN YOUR BLOOD IS WELL NIGH EXHAUSTED, YOU WILL BLEED THE LESS, BENEATH THE SCOURGING."

*TERTULLIAN*


"JESUS PRESCRIBED TO FASTS A LAW-THAT THEY ARE TO BE PERFORMED "WITHOUT SADNESS": FOR WHY SHOULD WHAT IS SALUTARY BE SAD? JESUS TAUGHT LIKEWISE, THAT FASTS ARE TO BE WEAPONS, FOR BATTLING WITH THE MORE DIREFUL DEMONS; FOR WHAT WONDER IF THE SAME OPERATION IS THE INSTRUMENT OF THE INIQUITOUS SPIRITS EGRESS, AS OF THE HOLY SPIRITS INGRESS?"

*TERTULLIAN*


" AN OVERFED CHRISTIAN WILL BE MORE NECESSARY TO BEARS AND LIONS, PERCHANCE, THAN TO GOD."

*TERTULLIAN*


*****************************FOOD******************************


"WE ARE ENJOINED TO REIGN AND RULE OVER MEATS, NOT TO BE SLAVES TO THEM,"

*CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA*


"MEATS KILL AS MANY AS THE MUSKET; THE BOARD, AS THE SWORD."

*BARSANUPHIUS*


"ABOUT THE MEASURE OF ABSTINENCE IN FOOD AND DRINK, THE FATHERS SAY, THAT ONE SHOULD PARTAKE OF THE ONE AND THE OTHER IN MEASURE, SOMEWHAT LESS THAN ONE'S ACTUAL NEEDS."

*BARSANUPHIUS*


***********************FOREKNOWLEDGE*************


"MAN...DOES NOT SIN BECAUSE GOD FOREKNEW THAT HE WOULD SIN."

*AUGUSTINE*


"ASK JESUS WHY HE CHOSE THE TRAITOR JUDAS; WHY HE COMMITTED THE COFFERS TO HIM, WHEN HE KNEW THAT JUDAS WAS A THIEF. DO YOU WANT TO HEAR THE REASON? GOD JUDGES THE PRESENT, NOT THE FUTURE."

*JEROME*


**********************FORGIVENESS**********************


"I WILL NOT GLORY BECAUSE I AM RIGHTEOUS, BUT BECAUSE I AM REDEEMED; NOT BECAUSE I AM CLEAR OF SIN, BUT BECAUSE MY SINS ARE FORGIVEN."

*AMBROSE*


"BY DENYING FORGIVENESS, THEY REMOVE THE INCENTIVE TO REPENTANCE."

*AMBROSE*


"FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US." WHAT IF GOD SHOULD ANSWER, WHY DO YOU ASK ME TO DO WHAT I HAVE PROMISED, WHEN YOU REFUSE TO DO WHAT I COMMANDED?"

*AUGUSTINE*


*********************FREE WILL*****************************


""AND WHEN HIS GOODNESS SEES IN US, EVEN THE VERY SMALLEST SPARK OF GOOD WILL SHINING FORTH, WHICH HE HIMSELF HAS STRUCK AS IT WERE, OUT OF THE HARD FLINTS OF OUR HEARTS, HE FANS, AND FOSTERS, AND NURSES IT, WITH HIS BREATH, AS HE WILLS ALL MEN TO BE SAVED."

*JOHN CASSIAN*


"WITHOUT GODS HELP, WE NEITHER WILL, NOR DO ANYTHING GOOD."

*AUGUSTINE*"IF THE WAY TO TRUTH IS HIDDEN FROM A MAN, FREE CHOICE AVAILS HIM NOTHING, EXCEPT FOR SINNING."

*AUGUSTINE*


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

*JEROME*


"THEREFORE, HE HAS MERCY ON WHOM HE WILL AND ON WHOM HE WILL, HE HARDENS".

ANSWER: IT WILL NOT BE SUPERFLUOUS TO EMPLOY.....AN ILLUSTRATION, AS IF E.G. ONE WERE TO SAY, THAT IT IS THE SUN WHICH HARDENS AND LIQUEFIES, ALTHOUGH LIQUEFYING AND HARDENING, ARE THINGS OF AN OPPOSITE NATURE. NOW, IT IS NOT INCORRECT TO SAY, THAT THE SUN, BY ONE AND THE SAME POWER OF ITS HEAT, MELTS WAX INDEED, BUT DRIES UP AND HARDENS MUD: NOT THAT ITS POWER OPERATES ONE WAY UPON MUD AND IN ANOTHER WAY UPON WAX; BUT THAT THE QUALITIES OF MUD AND WAX ARE DIFFERENT, ALTHOUGH ACCORDING TO NATURE, THEY ARE ONE THING, BOTH BEING FROM THE EARTH. IN THIS WAY THEN, ONE AND THE SAME WORKING UPON THE PART OF GOD, WHICH WAS ADMINISTERED BY MOSES, IN SIGNS AND WONDERS, MADE MANIFEST THE HARDNESS OF PHARAOH.....BUT EXHIBITED THE OBEDIENCE OF THOSE EGYPTIANS WHO WERE INTERMINGLED WITH THE ISRAELITES  AND WHO ARE RECORDED TO HAVE LEFT EGYPT, AT THE SAME TIME WITH THE HEBREWS."

*ORIGEN*


*************************FRIENDSHIP***********************


"A FRIEND IS LONG SOUGHT, HARDLY FOUND, AND WITH DIFFICULTY KEPT."

*JEROME*


"THE FRIENDSHIP WHICH CAN CEASE, HAS NEVER BEEN REAL."

*JEROME*