======================================================================== EARLY TEACHINGS OF CHURCH by Joseph A. Gallegos ======================================================================== A collection of early church writings compiled by Joseph A. Gallegos, presenting the teachings of the Church Fathers on key doctrines and practices of the early Christian faith. A valuable resource for understanding the beliefs of the first centuries of Christianity. Chapters: 35 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 1-1 permission granted to reproduce 2. 1-2 Introduction 3. 1a-Sacraments index 4. 1b-Sacraments Baptism 5. 1c-Sacraments Eucharist, Confession, Confirmation 6. 1d-Matrimony Holy Orders, Last Rights 7. 2a-Rule of Faith index 8. 2b-Scripture 9. 2c-Tradition 10. 2z-Solo Scriptura 11. 3-Papacy 12. 3-Succesion 13. 3-primacy 14. 4a-Church index 15. 4b-Catholic 16. 4c-Deuterocanonical Books 17. 4d-Hierarchy, Indefectibility, infallibility 18. 4e-sundayworship,churchvisibility,Shism 19. 5a-Blessed Lady index 20. 5b-Assumption, IMC, Theotokos Ark of New Covenant 21. 5c-PerpetualVirginity, Veneration, Intercession 22. 6a-Salvation 23. 6c-conce saved not always saved, Salutary works 24. 7a-eschatology 25. 7b-Heaven, Hell, Purgatory 26. 7c-death,resurection,no reincarnation 27. 7d-Christs Resurection, & intercession of Saints 28. 8a-Creation Index 29. 8b-Angesl, imortal Soul, Ex Nihilo, Original Sin 30. 9a-Triune God index 31. 9b-Holy Trinity, Son of God, Diety of Holy Spirit 32. 9c-filioque 33. x-Social Issues Abortion, Contraception 34. y- Primer on the Church Fathers 35. z-Church Fathers FAQ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 1-1 PERMISSION GRANTED TO REPRODUCE ======================================================================== This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only.This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1998 All Rights Reserved. Dear Mr Gallegos I would like to* know if I could obtain your permission to put together a topical module early church teachings* using the material from your web site as long as it is freely distributed and your (see complete request belows) Answer: Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Corunum Apologetic Web site Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:59:34 -0800 From: JoeG To: Michael Jacques References: <47C0DC87.2050109@merr.com> Michael, You may quote from Corunum provided you provided you cite Corunum website & myself as the source of your material. In Christ Jesus, Joe Michael Jacques wrote: > Hi Joseph A. Gallegos > There is a free Bible program located at > <> > This is a protestant site with a number of Bibles, commentaries, > dictionaries, with some material useful for Catholics, such as a few > of the dictionaries, greek english interlinear, Douey Rheims Bible, > latin vulgate etc.. The Bible Program e-sword is a base plate > allowing for any number of module add ons for Bibles, Commentaries, > dictionaries etc. There are a few people beginning to produce some > Catholic modules to be operated from within this base program, such as > the Catholic Catechism, Catholic Catechism glossary and a few other > things. Right now I am in the process of almost completing St Thomas > Aquinas Catena patristic commentary on the Gospels. > > /_I would like to* know if I could obtain your permission to put > together a topical module early church teachings* using the material > from your web site as long as it is freely distributed and your > copyright is contained with reference to your web site. This way > would contribute to a growing free Catholic Bible based programs as > more Catholic Modules are added in.._/ > > Example of Catholic add on available on the web for e-sword: > > > > Allusions to the NT in the /Ante-Nicene Fathers/ > <> > (Commentary file with links to the online ANF at ccel.org > <>) > ____________________________________________________________________________________________ > > ______________________________________________________________________________________________ > *Latin to English v1.97 Dictionary.zip* in E-sword By > vaughn71765@yahoo.com > <> > on Jan. 12 2007 > Latin to english dictionary > > ____________________________________________________________________________________________ > Balitmore Catechism, Baltimore Catechism #4 Catholic > Catechism glossary > > ___ > **Baltimore_Catechism 1891.top* > <>* > Baltimore Catechism was the de facto standard Roman Catholic school > text in the United States from 1885 to the 1960s. By Ric 1.0 > <> > on Sep. 10 2006 > > *Catechism of the Roman Catholic church.zip* > <> > The Catechism of the Roman Catholic church with Glossary and Index for > eSword By Ric 1.0 > <> 4 > hours 24 minutes ago > > ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 1-2 INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Joseph A. Gallegos is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine and West Coast University, Los Angeles. He is very active in Catholic Apologetics, having created Corunum Apologetics BBS in 1992, and an international web site () for his expertise on patristic thought regarding the Papacy and Tradition. He is the author of What Did The Church Fathers Teach About Scripture, Tradition, and Church Authority in Not By Scripture Alone (Queenship Publishing, 1997). The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who will follow the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. Most outside of the Catholic Church would ignore rule number one. But all Christians outside of the Catholic church ought to pay attentions to the last three rules particulary rule number "2" and "3". Rule "2" states to always be guided by what the early church fathers had to say. Why? First we were not there to hear and see everything and can easily be fooled into reading something not there into Scripture or reading something out of Scripture. The First Fathers were trained by the Apostles and the preceding Fathers are closer to the time frame allowing for less corruption of the teachings to occur. We are 2,000 years removed from the original source. Second and Most Important is that Scripture is clear on this and is repeated often by Paul that we are to pay attention to both the Sacred Oral word as well as the Sacred Written word passed down. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 ...Thank God constantly for this, that when you receivedthe word of God Which your heard from us,... 2 Thessalonians 2:15, "So then, brethren, stand firm, and hold teachings that you have learned whether by word (Sacred oral teaching) or by letter of ours." 2 Thesalonians 3:6 6* Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us ( Sacred oral teachings) Malachi 2:7; "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at this mouth. (Sacred Oral teaching)" 2 Timothy 2::2, "and the things that thou hast heard from me through many witnesses, commend to trust-worthy men who shall be competent in turn to teach others." 1 Corinthians 11:2, "Now I praise you, brethren, because in all things you are mindful of me and hold fast my precepts as I gave them to you." We are told that first Christian "were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles" (Acts 2, 42) which was the oral teaching that was given long before the New Testament was written. 1 Corinthians 11:2 and hold fast my precepts (oral teaching) 2 Timothy 1:13 Hold to the form of sound teaching which thous has heard from me. Titus 1:3 manifested his word through the preaching committed to my trust by the Command of God 1 Thessalonians 2:13 …you heard and received from us the word of God 1 Corinthians 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached (Oral teaching) unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. Furthermore John tells us that everything has not been written down. John 21:25, "There are, however, many other things that Jesus did; but if every one of these would be written not even the world itself, I think, could hold the books that would have to be written." (Not everything concerning Christ is in the Scripture per John) John 20:30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. John 5:39 Search the scriptures: for you think in them to have life everlasting. And the same are they that give testimony of me. 1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 1A-SACRAMENTS INDEX ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who will follow the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Sacraments.: This section will examine the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church in the faith of the early Church Fathers. The sacraments include: Baptism, Confession, Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Extreme Unction. Infant Baptism: Documents illustrating the practice of infant baptism Pg6 Born Again: Documents illustrating the Fathers equated baptism with ’born again’ Pg9 Triune Baptism: Documents illustrating the Fathers belief in Triune baptism. According to the Fathers, the form of baptism includes a disctinct expression of God as One and Three. Pg13 ______________________________________________________________________________ Eucharist: The Real Presence:,--Pg 18 Documents illustrating the realist view of the Eucharist, Transubstantiation Documents illustrating the ancient belief in Transubstantiation Pg22 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Sacrament of Penance: Documents illustrating the practice of auricular confession Pg26 The Sacrament of Confirmation: Documents illustrating the practice of Confirmation/Chrism Pg29 The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony: Documents illustrating that Christ elevated Marriage to a sacrament Pg33 The Sacrament of Holy Orders: Documents illustrating the sacrament of Holy Orders. In addition to the royal priesthood possessed by all Christians there exists a ministerial priesthood. Pg36 The Sacrament of Extreme Unction(Anointing of the Sick) Documents illustrating that the Fathers affirmed the sacramental nature of anointing of the sick in light of St. James 5:14-15. Pg41 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 1B-SACRAMENTS BAPTISM ======================================================================== Infant Baptism "And when a child has been born to one of them[ie Christians], they give thanks to God[ie baptism]; and if moreover it happen to die in childhood, they give thanks to God the more, as for one who as passed through the world without sins." Aristides,Apology,15(A.D. 140),in ANF,X:277-278 The Letter of Barnabas "Regarding [baptism], we have the evidence of Scripture that Israel would refuse to accept the washing which confers the remission of sins and would set up a substitution of their own instead [Jeremiah 22:13; Isaiah 16:1 Letter of Barnabas 11:1 Hermas "’I have heard, sir,’ said I, ’from some teacher, that there is no other repentance except that which took place when we went down into the water and obtained the remission of our former sins.’ He said to me, ’You have heard rightly, for so it is’" (The Shepherd 4:3:1) Ignatius of Antioch "Let none of you turn deserter. Let your baptism be your armor; your faith, your helmet; your love, your spear; your patient endurance, your panoply" (Letter to Polycarp 6 [A.D. 110]). Second Clement "For, if we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest; but if otherwise, then nothing shall deliver us from eternal punishment, if we should disobey His commandments. . . . [W]ith what confidence shall we, if we keep not our baptism pure and undefiled, enter into the kingdom of God? Or who shall be our advocate, unless we be found having holy and righteous works?’ (Second Clement 6:7 "And many,both men and women, who have been Christ’s disciples from childhood, remain pure and at the age of sixtey or seventy years..." Justin Martyr,First Apology,15:6(A.D. 110-165),in ANF,I:167 "For He came to save all through means of Himself--all, I say, who through Him are born again to God--infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men." Irenaeus, Against Heresies,2,22:4 (A.D. 180),in ANF,I:391 "I, therefore, brethren, who have lived sixy-five years in the Lord." Polycrates,Fragment in Eusebius’ Church History, V:24:7(A.D. 190),in NPNF2,I:242 Here Tertullian comments on his preference of delaying baptism in deference to the traditional practice of baptizing infants writes: "And so, according to the circumstances and disposition, and even age,of each individual, the delay of baptism is preferable; principally,however, in the case of little childrem." Tertullian,On Baptism,18(A.D. 200/206),in ANF,III:678 "And they shall baptise the little children first. And if they can answer for themselves, let them answer. But if they cannot, let their parents answer or someone from their family." Hippolytus of Rome, Apostolic Tradition,21(c. A.D. 215), in AT,33 "[T]herefore children are also baptized." Origen,Homily on Luke,XIV(A.D. 233),in Jeremiah, 65 "For this reason, moreover, the Church received from theapostles the tradition of baptizing infantstoo." Origen, Homily on Romans, V:9(A.D. 244),in Jeremiah,65 "Baptism is given for the remission of sins; and according to the usage of the Church, Baptism is given even to infants. And indeed if there were nothing in infants which required a remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous." Origen, Homily on Leviticus,8:3(post A.D. 244),in JUR,I:208 "But in respect of the case of the infants, which you say ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, and that the law of ancient circumcision should be regarded, so that you think one who is just born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day...And therefore, dearest brother, this was our opinion in council, that by us no one ought to be hindered from baptism...we think is to be even more observed in respect of infants and newly-born persons.." Cyprian,To Fidus, Epistle 58(64):2,6(A.D. 251),in ANF,5:353-354 "It shows no crease when infants put it on[ie the baptismal garment], it is not too scanty for young men, it fits women without alteration." Optatus of Mileve,Against Parmenium,5:10(A.D. 365),in Jeremiah, 94 "Have you an infant child? Do not let sin get any opportunity, but let him be sanctified from his childhood; from his very tenderest age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Fearest thou the Seal on account of the weakness of nature?" Gregory Nazianzen,Oration on Holy Baptism,Matthew:17(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,7:365 "Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for Baptism; what have you to say about those who are still children, and conscious neither of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any danger presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified than that they should depart unsealed and uninitaited."Gregory Nazianzen,Oration on Holy Baptism,Matthew:28(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,7:370 "We do baptize infants, although they are not guilty of any sins." Chrysostom John,Ad Neophytos,(A.D. 388),in LCF,169 " ’Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ No one is expected: not the infant, not the one prevented by necessity." Ambrose,Abraham,2,11:79(A.D. 387),in JUR,2:169 "And if any one seek for divine authority in this matter, though what is held by the whole Church, and that not as instituted by Councils, but as a matter of invariable custom, is rightly held to have been handed down by apostolical authority, still we can form a true conjecture of the value of the sacrament of baptism in the case of infants,from the parallel of circumcision, which was received by God’s earlier people, and before receiving which Abraham was justified, as Cornelius also was enriched with the gift of the Holy Spirit before he was baptized." Augustine,On Baptism against the Donatist,4:24:31(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,IV:461 "While the son is a child and thinks as a child and until he comes to years of discretion to choose between the two roads to which the letter of Pythagoras points, his parents are responsible for his actions whether these be good or bad. But perhaps you imagine that, if they are not baptized, the children of Christians are liable for their own sins; and that no guilt attaches to parents who withhold from baptism those who by reason of their tender age can offer no objection to it. The truth is that, as baptism ensures the salvation of the child, this in turn brings advantage to the parents. Whether you would offer your child or not lay within your choice, but now that you have offered her, you neglect her at your peril."br> Jerome,To Laeta,Epistle 107:6(A.D. 403),in NPNF2,VI:191 "Now, seeing that they [Pelagians] admit the necessity of baptizing infants,--finding themselves unable to contravene that authority of the universal Church, which has been unquestionably handed down by the Lord and His apostles,--they cannot avoid the further concession, that infants require the same benefits of the Mediator, in order that, being washed by the sacrament and charity of the faithful, and thereby incorporated into the body of Christ, which is the Church, they may be reconciled to God, and so live in Him, and be saved, and delivered, and redeemed, and enlightened. But from what, if not from death, and the vices, and guilt, and thraldom, and darkness of sin? And, inasmuch as they do not commit any sin in the tender age of infancy by their actual transgression, original sin only is left."Augustine,On forgiveness of sin, and baptism,39[26](A.D. 412),in NPNF1,V:30 "The blessed Cyprian, indeed, said, in order to correct those who thought that an infant should not be baptized before the eighth day, that it was not the body but the soul which behoved to be saved from perdition -- in which statement he was not inventing any new doctrine, but preserving the firmly established faith of the Church; and he, along with some of his colleagues in the episcopal office, held that a child may be properly baptized immediately after its birth" Augustine,Epistle 166:8:23(A.D. 412),in NPNF1,I:531 " ’C. Tell me, pray, and rid me of all doubts, why little children are baptized.? A. That their sins may be forgiven them in baptism." Jerome,Against the Pelagians,3:18(A.D. 415),in NPNF2,VI:482 "Likewise, whosoever says that those children who depart out of this life without partaking of that sacrament shall be made alive in Christ, certainly contradicts the apostolic declaration, and condemns the universal Church,in which it is the practice to lose no time and run in haste to administer baptism to infant children, because it is believed, as an indubitable truth, that otherwise they cannot be made alive in Christ." Augustine,Epistle 167,7,21(A.D. 415),in NPNF1,I:530 "Canon 2. Likewise it has been decided that whoever says that infants fresh from their mothers’ wombs ought not to be baptized....let him be anathema."Council of Carthage,Canon 2,(A.D. 418),in Denzinger 101 "Concerning the Donatists it seemed good that we should hold counsel with our brethren and fellow priests Siricius and Simplician concerning those infants alone who are baptized by Donatists: lest what they did not do of their own will, when they should be converted to the Church of God with a salutary determination, the error of their parents might prevent their promotion to the ministry of the holy altar." African Code, Canon 47/51(A.D. 419), in NPNF2,XIV:463 "Believest thou this?...when a newborn child is brought forward to receive the anointing of initiation, or rather of consumation through holy baptism." Cyril of Alexandria,Commentary on John 7:1-53(A.D. 428),in Jeremiah,95 "QUESTION XIX. Concerning those who after being baptized in infancy were captured by the Gentiles, and lived with them after the manner of the Gentiles, when they come back to Roman territory as still young men, if they seek communion, what shall be done? REPLY. If they have only lived with Gentiles and eaten sacrificial food, they can be purged by fasting and laying on of hands, in order that for the future abstaining from things offered to idols, they may be partakers of Christ’s mysteries. But if they have either worshipped idols or been polluted with manslaughter or fornication, they must not be admitted to communion, except by public penance." Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],To Rusticus,Epistle 167(A.D. 459),in NPNF2,XII:112 "But with respect to triune immersion in baptism, no truer answer can be given than what you have yourself felt to be right; namely that, where there is one faith, a diversity of usage does no harm to holy Church. Now we, in immersing thrice, signify the sacraments of the three days’ sepulture; so that, when the infant is a third time lifted out of the water, the resurrection after a space of three days may be expressed." Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Leander,Epistle 43(A.D. 591),in NPNF2,XII:88 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-2001 All Rights Reserved. Born Again "For Christ also said, ’Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers’ wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: ’Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.’ And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the layer the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed." Justin Martyr,First Apology,61(A.D. 110-165),in ANF,I:183 " ’And dipped himself,’ says [the Scripture], ’seven times in Jordan.’ It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [it served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as new-born babes, even as the Lord has declared: ’Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ " Irenaeus,Fragment,34(A.D. 190),in ANF,I:574 "Moreover, the things proceeding from the waters were blessed by God, that this also might be a sign of men’s being destined to receive repentance and remission of sins, through the water and laver of regeneration,--as many as come to the truth, and are born again, and receive blessing from God."Theopilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,2:16(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:101 " When, however, the prescript is laid down that ’without baptism, salvation is attainable by none" (chiefly on the ground of that declaration of the Lord, who says, "Unless one be born of water, he hath not life’ " Tertullian,On Baptism,12:1(A.D. 203),in ANF,III:674-675 "But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go back to the fountain of life, and to view the fountain that gushes with healing. The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and He, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the breath (spirit) of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit the regeneration of the layer he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism." Hippolytus of Rome,Discourse on the Holy Theophany,8(A.D. 217),in ANF,V:237 "But you will perhaps say, What does the, baptism of water contribute towards the worship of God? In the first place, because that which hath pleased God is fulfilled. In the second place, because, when yon are regenerated born again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so length you shall be able to attain salvation; hut otherwise it is impossible. For thus hath the true prophet testified to its with an oath: ’Verily I say to you, That unless a man is born again of water, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Therefore make haste; for there is in these waters a certain power of mercy which was borne upon them at the beginning, and acknowledges those who are baptized under the name of the threefold sacrament, and rescues them from future punishments, presenting as a gift to God the souls that are consecrated by baptism. Betake yourselves therefore to these waters, for they alone can quench the violence of the future fire; and he who delays to approach to them, it is evident that the idol of unbelief remains in him, and by it be is prevented from hastening to the waters which confer salvation. For whether you righteous or unrighteous, baptism is necessary for you in every respect: for the righteous, that perfection may be accomplished in him, and he may be born again to God; for the unrighteous, that pardon may he vouchsafed him of the sins which he has committed in ignorance. Therefore all should hasten to he born again to God without delay, because the end of every one’s life is uncertain." Recognitions of Clement,6:9(A.D. 221),in ANF,VIII:155 " ’But perhaps some one will say, What does it contribute to piety to be baptized with water? In the first place, because you do that which is pleasing to God; and in the second place, being born again to God of water, by reason of fear you change your first generation, which is of lust, and thus you are able to obtain salvation. But otherwise it is impossible. For thus the prophet has sworn to us, saying, ’Verily I say to you, Unless ye be regenerated living water into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Wherefore approach. For there is there something that is merciful from the beginning, home upon the water, and rescues from the future punishment those who are baptized with the thrice blessed invocation, offering as gifts to God the good deeds of the baptized whenever they are done after their baptism. Wherefore flee to the waters, for this alone can quench the violence of fires. He who will not now come to it still bears the spirit of strife, on account of which he will not approach the living water for his own salvation." Pseudo-Clementines,Homily 11:26(A.D. 221),in ANF,VIII:290 "The Church received from the Apostles the tradition of giving Baptism even to infants. For the Apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of divine mysteries,knew that there is in everyone the innate stains of sins, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit." Origen,Commentary on Romans,5:9(A.D. 244),in JUR,I:209 "[W]hen they come to us and to the Church which is one, ought to be baptized, for the reason that it is a small matter to ’lay hands on them that they may receive the Holy Ghost,’ unless they receive also the baptism of the Church. For then finally can they be fully sanctified, and be the sons of God, if they be born of each sacrament; since it is written, ’Except a man be born again of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’...[O]nly baptism of the holy Church, by divine regeneration, for the kingdom of God, may be born of both sacraments, because it is written, ’Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ " Cyprian,To Stephen,71:72(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:378,385 "And in the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with His divine voice, saying, "Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."[8] This is the Spirit which from the beginning was borne over the waters; for neither can the Spirit operate without the water, nor the water without the Spirit...Unless therefore they receive saving baptism in the Catholic Church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but will be condemned with the carnal in the judgment of the Lord Christ." Council of Carthage VII(A.D. 258),in ANF,V:566 " ’But you will perhaps say, What does the, baptism of water contribute towards the worship of God? In the first place, because that which hath pleased God is fulfilled. In the second place, because, when yon are regenerated and born again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so at length you shall be able to attain salvation; hut otherwise it is impossible. For thus hath the true prophet testified to its with an oath: ’Verily I say to you, That unless a man is born again of water, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Therefore make haste; for there is in these waters a certain power of mercy which was borne upon them at the beginning, and acknowledges those who are baptized under the name of the threefold sacrament, and rescues them from future punishments, presenting as a gift to God the souls that are consecrated by baptism. Betake yourselves therefore to these waters, for they alone can quench the violence of the future fire; and he who delays to approach to them, it is evident that the idol of unbelief remains in him, and by it be is prevented from hastening to the waters which confer salvation. For whether you be righteous or unrighteous, baptism is necessary for you in every respect: for the righteous, that perfection may be accomplished in him, and he may be born again to God; for the unrighteous, that pardon may he vouchsafed him of the sins which he has committed in ignorance. Therefore all should hasten to he horn again to God without delay, because the end of every one’s life is uncertain." Lactantius,Divine Institutes,5:19(A.D. 310),in ANF,VII:155 "We are circumcised not with a fleshly circumcision but with the circumcision of Christ, that is, we are born again into a new man; for, being buried with Him in His baptism, we must die to the old man, because the regeneration of baptism has the force of resurrection." Hilary of Poitiers,Trinity,9:9(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:158 "And with reason; for as we are all from earth and die in Adam, so being regenerated from above of water and Spirit, in the Christ we are all quickened" Athanasius,Discourse Against the Arians,III:33(A.D. 360),in NPNF2,IV:412 "The baptized when they come up are sanctified;--the sealed when they go down are pardoned.---They who come up have put on glory;--they who go down have cast off sin." Ephraim Syrus,Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany,6:9(ante A.D. 373),in NPNF2,XIII:273-274 "And in what way are we saved? Plainly because we were regenerate through the grace given in our baptism." Basil,On the Spirit,10:26(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:17 "This then is what it is to be born again of water and of the Spirit, the being made dead being effected in the water, while our life is wrought in us through the Spirit. In three immersions, then, and with three invocations, the great mystery of baptism is performed, to the end that the type of death may be fully figured, and that by the tradition of the divine knowledge the baptized may have their souls enlightened. It follows that if there is any grace in the water, it is not of the nature of the water, but of the presence of the Spirit." Basil,On the Spirit,15:35(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:22 "[T]he birth by water and the Spirit, Himself led the way in this birth, drawing down upon the water, by His own baptism, the Holy Spirit; so that in all things He became the first-born of those who are spiritually born again, and gave the name of brethren to those who partook in a birth to His own by water and the Spirit." Gregory of Nyssa,Against Eunomius,2:8(A.D. 382),in NPNF2,V:112 "For if no one can enter into the kingdom of Heaven except he be regenerate through water and the Spirit, and he who does not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink His blood is excluded from eternal life, and if all these things are accomplished only by means of those holy hands, I mean the hands of the priest, how will any one, without these, be able to escape the fire of hell, or to win those crowns which are reserved for the victorious? These verily are they who are entrusted with the pangs of spiritual travail and the birth which comes through baptism: by their means we put on Christ, and are buriedwith the Son of God, and become members of that blessed Head." John Chrysostom,On the Priesthood,3:5-6(A.D. 387),in ,IX:47 "The Word recognizes three Births for us; namely, the natural birth, that of Baptism, and that of the Resurrection...Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration on Holy Baptism,I(A.D. 388),in VII:360 "And that the writer was speaking of baptism is evident from the very words in which it is stated that it is impossible to renew unto repentance those who were fallen, inasmuch as we are renewed by means of the laver of baptism, whereby we are born again, as Paul says himself: ’For we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that, like as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we, too, should walk in newness of life.’ " Ambrose,Concerning Repentance,2:8(A.D. 390),in NPNF2,XI:346 "Therefore read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit, are one, for if you take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not exist. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: ’For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ " Ambrose,On the Mysteries,4:20(A.D. 391),in NPNF2,XI:319 "Baptism, then, is a purification from sins, a remission of trespasses, a cause of rennovation and regeneration...Let us however, if it seems well, persevere in enquiring more fully and more minutely concerning Baptism, starting, as from the fountain-head, from the Scriptural declaration, ’Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ Why are both named, and why is not the Spirit alone accounted sufficient for the completion of Baptism? Man, as we know full well, is compound, not simple: and therefore the cognate and similar medicines are assigned for healing to him who is twofold and conglomerate:--for his visible body, water, the sensible element,--for his soul, which we cannot see, the Spirit invisible, invoked by faith, present unspeakably. For ’the Spirit breathes where He wills, and thou hearest His voice, but canst not tell whence He cometh or whither He goeth.’ He blesses the body that is baptized, and the water that baptizes. Despise not, therefore, the Divine laver, nor think lightly of it, as a common thing, on account of the use of water. For the power that operates is mighty, and wonderful are the things that are wrought thereby. For this holy altar, too, by which I stand, is stone, ordinary in its nature, nowise different from the other slabs of stone that build our houses and adorn our pavements; but seeing that it was consecrated to the service of God, and received the benediction, it is a holy table, an altar undefiled, no longer touched by the hands of all, but of the priests alone, and that with reverence. Gregory of Nyssa,On the Baptism of Christ(ante A.D. 394),in NPNF2,V:512 “Time would fail me were I to try to lay before you in order all the passages in the Holy Scriptures which relate to the efficacy of baptism or to explain the mysterious doctrine of that second birth which though it is our second is yet our first in Christ.” Jerome,To Oceanus,69:7(A.D. 397),in NPNF2,VI:140 “Be ye likewise contented with one baptism alone, that which is into the death of the Lord...For the Lord says: ‘Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ And again: ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.’ “ Apostolic Constitutions, 6:3:15(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:456-457 “Weep for the unbelievers; weep for those who differ in nowise from them, those who depart hence without the illumination[ie. baptism], without the seal! they indeed our wailing, they deserve our groans; they are outside the Palace, with the culprits, with the condemned: for, ‘Verily I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.’ Mourn for those who have died in wealth, and did not from their wealth think of any solace for their soul, had power to wash away their sins and would not.” John Chrysostom,Homily on Phillipians,3:24(A.D. 404),in NPNF1,XIII:197 “It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to regenerated through the agency of another’s will when that infant is brought to Baptism; and it is through this one Spirit that the infant so presented is reborn...’Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit.’ The water, therefore, manifesting exteriorly the sacrament of grace, and the Spirit effecting interiorly the benefit of grace, both regenerate in one Christ that man who was in one Adam.” Augustine,To Boniface,Epistle 98:2(A.D. 408),in JUR,III:4 “No sooner do they rise from the baptismal font, and by being born again and incorporated into our Lord and Saviour.” Jerome,Against the Pelagians,III:15(A.D. 415),in ,VI:480 “For whatever unbaptized persons die confessing Christ, this confession is of the same efficacy for the remission of sins as if they were washed in the sacred font of baptism. For He who said, ‘Except a man be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,’ made also an exception in their favor, in that other sentence where He no less absolutely said, “Whosoever shall me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven;’ “ ,City of God,13:7(A.D. 419),in NPNF1,I:248 “But the sacrament of baptism is undoubtedly the sacrament of regenation: Wherefore, as the man who has never lived cannot die, and he who has never died cannot rise again, so he who has never been born cannot be born again. From which the conclusion arises, that no one who has not been born could possibly have been born again in his father. Born again, however, a man must be, after he has been born; because, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’ Even an infant, therefore, must be imbued with the sacrament of regeneration, lest without it his would be an unhappy exit out of this life; and this baptism is not administered except for the remission of sins. And so much does Christ show us in this very passage; for when asked, How could such things? He reminded His questioner of what Moses did when he lifted up the serpent. Inasmuch, then, as infants are by the sacrament of baptism conformed to the death of Christ, it must be admitted that they are also freed from theserpent’s poisonous bite, unless we wilfully wander from the rule of the Christian faith. This bite, however, they did not receive in their own actual life, but in him on whom the wound was primarily inflicted.” Augustine,On Forgiveness of sin, and baptism,43:27(A.D. 412),in NPNF1,V:62 “Moreover, from the time when He said, ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven;’ and again, ‘He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it; ‘ no one becomes a member of Christ except it be either by baptism in Christ, or death for Christ.” Augustine,On the Soul and its Origin,1:10:9(A.D. 419),in NPNF1,V:319 “One generation and another generation; the generation by which we are made the faithful, and are born again by baptism; the generation by which we shall rise again from the dead, and shall live with the Angels for ever.” Augustine,Psalms,135:11(A.D. 433),in NPNF1,VIII:626 “And each one is a partaker of this spiritual origin in regeneration; and to every one when he is re-born, the water of baptism is like the Virgin’s womb; for the sameHoly Spirit fills the font, Who filled the Virgin, that the sin, which that sacred conception overthrew, may be taken away by this mystical washing.” Leo the Great(regn. A.D. 440-461),Sermon 24:3(ante .D. 461),in NPNF2,XII:135 “From that time when the Saviour said to us: ‘If any man is not born again from water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God’,without the sacrament of baptism-apart from those who without baptism in the Catholic Church shd their blood for Christ-no one can receive the Kingdom of God or eternal life.” Fulgentius,On Faith,3(A.D. 524),in TCF,85 “The baptism then into Christ means that believers are baptized into Him...And He laid on us the command to be born again of water and of the Spirit, through prayer and invocation, the Holy Spirit drawing nigh unto the water. For since man’s nature is twofold, consisting of soul and body, He bestowed on us a twofold purification, of water and of the Spirit the Spirit renewing that part in us which is after His image and likeness, and the water by the grace of the Spirit cleansing the body from sin and delivering it from corruption, the water indeed expressing the image of death, but the Spirit affording the earnest of life.” John of Damascus,Orthodox Faith,9(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,X:73 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Triune Baptism “And concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if thou have not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, in warm. But if thou have noteither, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever otherscan; but thou shalt order the baptized to fast one or two days before.” Didache,7(c.A.D. 140),in ANF,VII:379 “ I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and areregenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Fatherand Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enteri nto their mothers’ wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: ‘Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.’ And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly , there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the layer the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed.” Justin Martyr,First Apology,61(A.D. 155),in ANF,I:183 “Go now into all the world, and preach my gospel in all the creation; and teach all the peoples, and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and teach them to keep all whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you all the days, unto the end of the world. For whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but whosoever believeth not shall be rejected.”, The Diatessaron,55(A.D. 170),in ANF,X:128 “We have received baptism...for the remission of sins in the name of God the Father, and in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, Who was incarnate and died and rose again, and in the Holy Spirit of God.” Irenaeus,Presentation of the Apostolic Preaching,41(A.D. 190),in ECD,195 “For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: ‘Go,’ He saith, ‘teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ The comparison with this law of that definition, ‘Unless a man have been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens,’ has tied faith to thenecessity of baptism.” Tertullian,On Baptism,13(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:676 “To deal with this matter briefly, I shall begin with baptism. When we are going to enter the water, but a little, in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel.” Tertullian,The Crown,3(A.D. 211),in ANF,III:94 “After His resurrection He promises in a pledge to His disciples that He will send them the promise of His Father; and lastly, He commands them to baptize into the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, not into a unipersonal God. And indeed it is not once only, but three times, that we are immersed into the Three Persons, at each several mention of Their names.” Tertullian,Against Praxeas(Modalist/Oneness heretic),26(A.D. 216),in ANF,III:623 “And when he who is to be baptised goes down to the water, let him who baptised lay hand on him saying thus: Dost thou believe in God Almighty? And he who is being baptised shall say: I believe. Let him forthwith baptise him once ... Dost thou believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God ... And when he says: I believe, let him baptise him the second time ... Dost thou believe in the Holy Spirit in the Holy Church ... And he who is being baptised shall say: I believe. And so let him baptise him the third time.” Hippolytus,Apostolic Tradition,21(A.D. 215),in AT,36-37 “[W]hy, when the Lord Himself told His disciples that they should baptize all peoples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, does this Apostle employ the name of Christ alone in Baptism, saying, ‘We who have been baptized in Christ;’ for indeed, legitimate Baptism is had only in the name of the Trinity.” Origen, Commentary on Romans,5:8(A.D. 244),in JUR,I:209 “Then Probus arising from the ground fell again upon the couch, and arising early he came to Paul, and finding him baptising many in the name of the life-giving Trinity, he said, My lord Paul, if only I were worthy to receive baptism, behold the hour. Paul said to him, Son, behold the water is ready for the cleansing of those that come to Christ. Therefore immediately taking, off his garments, and Paul laying hold of him, he leapt into the water, saying, Jesus Christ, son of God, and everlasting God, let all my sins be taken away by this water. And Paul said, We baptise thee in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost.” The Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena,21(A.D. 250),in ANF,X:211 “Finally, when, after the resurrection, the apostles are sent by the Lord to the heathens, they are bidden to baptize the Gentiles “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” How, then, do some say, that a Gentile baptized without, outside the Church, yea, and in opposition to the Church, so that it be only in the name of Jesus Christ, everywhere, and in whatever manner, can obtain remission of sin, when Christ Himself commands the heathen to be baptized in the full and united Trinity?” Cyprian,To Jubaianus,Epistle 72(73):18(A.D. 256),in ANF,IV:383 “[T]he simple water having received the invocation of the Holy Ghost, and of Christ, and of the Father, acquires a new power of holiness” Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,3:3(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:15 “After these things, ye were led to the holy pool of Divine Baptism, as Christ was carried from the Cross to the Sepulchre which is before our eyes And each of you was asked, whether he believed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and ye made that saving confession, and descended three times into the water, and ascended again; here also hinting by a symbol at the three days burial of Christ. For as our Saviour passed three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, so you also in your first ascent out of the water, represented the first day of Christ in the earth, and by your descent, the night; for as he who is in the night, no longer sees, but he who is in the day, remains in the light, so in the descent, as in the night, ye saw nothing, but in ascending again ye were as in the day. And at the self-same moment ye were both dying and being born; and that Water of salvation was at once your grave and your mother. And what Solomon spoke of others will suit you also; for he said, in that case, There is a time to bear and a time to die; but to you, in the reverse order, there was a time to die and a time to be born; and one and the same time effected both of these, and your birth went hand in hand with your death.” of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,20:4(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:147-148 “Thus, after the present first book, the second expounds the mystery of the Divine birth, that those who shall be baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost may know the true Names, and not be perplexed about their sense but accurately informed as to fact and meaning, and so receive full assurance that in the words which are used they have the true Names, and that those Names involve the truth.” Hilary of Poitiers,The Trinity,1:21(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:46 “For as the faith in the Triad, which has been delivered to us, joins us to God; and as he who takes anything away from the Triad, and is baptized in the name of the Father alone, or in the name of the Son alone, or in the Father and the Son without the Holy Spirit, receives nothing...for the rite of initiation is in the Triad...For as baptism, which is given in the Father, Son , and Holy Spirit, is one; and as there is one faith in the Triad.”Athanasius,To Serapion of Thmuis,1:30(A.D. 360),in SHA,139-140 “For if our Lord, when enjoining the baptism of salvation, charged His disciples to baptize all nations in the name ‘of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,’ not fellowship with Him, and these men allege that we must not rank Him with the Father and the Son, is it not clear that they openly withstand the commandment of God? If they deny that coordination of this kind is declaratory of any fellowship and conjunction, let them tell us why it behoves us to hold this opinion, and what more intimate mode of conjunction they have. If the Lord did not indeed conjoin the Spirit with the Father anti Himself in baptism, do not let them lay the blame of conjunction upon us, for we neither hold nor say anything different. If on the contrary the Spirit is there conjoined with the Father and the Son, and no one is so shameless as to say anything else, then let them not lay blame on us for following the words of Scripture.” Basil,On the Holy Spirit,10:24(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:16 “We have made profession of our faith in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and we are baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Basil,Epistle 226:3(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:269 “That there is one Spirit, all holy, grace witnesseth, because there is one Baptism, in the Name of the Trinity.” Ambrose,On the Christian Faith,1:4(A.D. 379),in NPNF2,X:205 “Notice, also, that the appearance of the mystery three times repeated expressed the operation of the Trinity. And so in the mysteries the threefold question is put, and the threefold answer made, and no one can be cleansed but by a threefold confession. For which reason, also, Peter in the Gospel is asked three times whether he loves the Lord, that by the threefold answer the bonds of the guilt he had contracted by denying the Lord might be loosed.”Ambrose,Of the Holy Spirit,2:105(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,X:128 “Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, where with he too is signed; but unless he be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins nor gain the gift of spiritual grace.” Ambrose,On the Mysteries,4:20(A.D. 391),in NPNF2,X:319 “Therefore, in the case of baptism also the Trinity is included. The Father is able to effect the whole, as is the Son, and the Holy Ghost; yet, since concerning the Father no man doubts, but the doubt was concerning the Son, and the Holy Ghost, They are included in the rite, that by Their community in supplying those unspeakable blessings, we may also fully learn Their community in dignity.” John Chrysostom,Homilies on John,78:3(A.D. 391),in NPNF2,XIV:289 “I will baptize you and make you a disciple in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; and These Three have One common name, the Godhead.” Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration on Holy Baptism,Matthew:45(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,VII:376 “For seeing that a man, baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, becomes a temple of the Lord, and that while the old abode is destroyed a new shrine is built for the Trinity, how can you say that sins can be remitted among the Arians without the coming of the Holy Ghost?” Jerome,Against the Luciferians,6(A.D. 382),in NPNF2,VI:322 “[W]e are baptized only in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit and not in the names of archangels or angels...” Pope Damasus[regn A.D. 366-384],Council of Rome,24(A.D. 382),in DEN,32 “And we in receiving Baptism, in imitation of our Lord and Teacher and Guide, are not indeed buried in the earth (for this is the shelter of the body that is entirely dead, covering the infirmity and decay of our nature), but coming to the element akin to earth, to water, we conceal ourselves in that as the Saviour did in the earth: and by doing this thrice we represent for ourselves that grace of the Resurrection which was wrought in three days: and this we do, not receiving the sacrament in silence, but while there are spoken over us the Names of the Three Sacred Persons on Whom we believed, in Whom we also hope, from Whom comes to us both the fact of our present and the fact of our future existence. It may be thou art offended, thou who contendest boldly against the glory of the Spirit, and that thou grudgest to the Spirit that veneration wherewith He is reverenced by the godly. Leave off contending with me: resist, if thou canst, those words of the Lord which gave to men the rule of the Baptismal invocation. What says the Lord’s command? ‘Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.’ “ Gregory of Nyssa,On the Baptism of Christ(A.D. 383),in NPNF2,V:520 “He said, ‘teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ Since, then, in the case of those who are regenerate from death to eternal life, it is through the Holy Trinity that the life-giving power is bestowed on those who with faith are deemed worthy of the grace, and in like manner the grace is imperfect, if any one, whichever it be, of the names of the Holy Trinity be omitted in the saving baptism-for the sacrament of regeneration is not completed in the Son and the Father alone without the Spirit: nor is the perfect boon of life imparted to Baptism in the Father and the Spirit, if the name of the Son be suppressed: nor is the grace of that Resurrection accomplished in the Father and the Son, if the Spirit be left out.” Gregory of Nyssa,To the City of Sebasteia,Epistle 2(ante A.D. 394),in NPNF2,V:528 “To this we answer, That all who are baptized with the baptism that is consecrated in the words of the gospel have the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the sacrament alone; but that in heart and in life neither do those have them who live an abandoned and accursed life within.” Augustine,On Baptism-Against the Donatists,6:29(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,IV:488 “Clearly, if the baptism is not consecrated in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, it should be considered to be of the heretics, and repudiated as unrighteous by us with all solemnity of witness; but if we discern this name in it, we do better to distinguish the words of the gospel from heretical error, and approve what is sound in them, correcting what is faulty.” Augustine,On Baptism-Against the Donatists,6:29(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,IV:495 “Augustin answered: Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost has Christ for its authority, not any man, whoever he may be; and Christ is the truth, not any man.” Augustine,Letters of Petillian-The Donatist,2:57(A.D. 403),in NPNF1,IV:545 “AUGUSTIN answered: certainly you had proposed thoroughly to investigate the baptism in the name of the Trinity.” Augustine,Letters of Petillian-The Donatist,2:57(A.D. 403),in NPNF1,IV:550 “O Lord our God, we believe in Thee, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For the Truth would not say, Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, unless Thou wast a Trinity.” Augustine,On the Trinity,15:28/51(A.D. 408),in NPNF1,III:227 “[T]he Church that preaches that the Trinity is one and the same nature, because these three, who were signified in the three ways, are one. But the Church that preaches them is the body of Christ. Thus the three things by which they were signified came forth from the body of the Lord, just as we heard from the body of the Lord that the nations should be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In hte name, not, ‘In the names’;for these three are one, and these three are one God. If the depth of this great mystery which we read in the Letter of John can be explained and understood in some other way in accord with the Catholic faith, that neither confuses nor divides the Trinity, neither denies the persons, nor believes they are different substances, we should on no account reject it.” Augustine,Answer to Maximinus the Arian,2:22:3(A.D. 412),in AAOH,308 “Paulianists do not at all baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and the Novatians do not baptize in the same tremendous and venerable names, and among them the question has not ever been raised concerning the unity of the divine power, that is of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Pope Innocent[regn 401-417],To Rufus, Epistle 17(A.D. 414),in DEN,42 “And what need is there of many words, when it is possible to refute falsehood in few? We provide that those who year by year come up for holy baptism should carefully learn the faith set forth at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers; and initiating them as we have been bidden, we baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, pronouncing each name singly.” Theodoret of Cyrus,To the Monks of Constantinople,Epistle 145(A.D. 444),in NPNF2,III:313 “[T]he evangelical precept ... handed down warns us to give each one holy baptism in the name of the Trinity.” Pope Pelagius[regn A.D. 556-561],To Gaudentius(A.D. 560),in DEN,91 the Fathers that whosoever among heretics are baptized in the name of the Trinity, when they return to holy Church, may be recalled to the bosom of mother Church either by unction of chrism, or by imposition of hands, or by prefession of the faith only.” Pope Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Quiricus,Epistle 67(A.D. 601),in NPNF2,XIII:83 “We confess one baptism for the remission of sins and for life eternal. For baptism declares the Lord’s death. We are indeed ‘buried with the Lord through baptism,’ as saith the divine Apostle. So then, as our Lord died once for all, we also must be baptized once for all, and baptized according to the Word of the Lord, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, being taught the confession in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” John Damascene,Orthodox Faith,9(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:76 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 1C-SACRAMENTS EUCHARIST, CONFESSION, CONFIRMATION ======================================================================== Real Presence “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again” Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to Smyrnaeans,7,1(c.A.D. ),in ANF,I:89 “For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour,having been made flesh and blood for our salvation,so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word,and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished,is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” Justin Martyr,First Apology,66(A.D. 110-165),in ANF,I:185 “[T]he bread over which thanks have been given isthebody of their Lord, and the cup His blood...” Irenaeus,Against Heresies,IV:18,4(c.A.D. 200), in ANF,I:486 “He acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as his own blood,from which he bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of creation) he affirmed to be his own body,from which he gives increase to our bodies.” Irenaeus,Against Heresies,V:2,2(c.A.D. 200),in NE,119 “But what consistency is there in those who hold that the bread over which thanks have been given is the Body of their Lord,and the cup His Blood,if they do not acknowledge that He is the Son of the Creator of the world...” Irenaeus,Against Heresies,IV:18,2(c.A.D. 200),in JUR,I:95 “For the blood of the grape-that is, the Word-desired to mixed with water, as His blood is mingled with salvation. And the blood of the Lord is twofold. For there is the blood of His flesh, by which we are redeemed from corruption; and the spiritual, that by which we are anointed. And to drink the blood of Jesus, is to become partaker of the Lord’s immortality; the Spirit being the energetic principle of the Word, as blood is of flesh. Accordingly, as wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. And the one, the mixture of wine and water, nourishes to faith; while the other, the Spirit, conducts to immortality. And the mixture of both-of the water and of the Word-is called Eucharist, renowned and glorious grace; and they who by faith partake of it are sanctified both in body and soul.” Clement of Alexandria,The Instructor,2(ante A.D. 202),in ANF,II:242 “Then, having taken the bread and given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by saying, ‘This is my body,’ that is, the figure of my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there were first a veritable body. An empty thing, or phantom, is incapable of a figure. If, however, (as Marcion might say,) He pretended the bread was His body, because He lacked the truth of bodily substance, it follows that He must have given bread for us. It would contribute very well to the support of Marcion’s theory of a phantom body, that bread should have been crucified! But why call His body bread, and not rather (some other edible thing, say) a melon, which Marcion must have had in lieu of a heart! He did not understand how ancient was this figure of the body of Christ, who said Himself by Jeremiah: ‘I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter, and I knew not that they devised a device against me, saying, Let us cast the tree upon His bread,’ which means, of course, the cross upon His body. And thus, casting light, as He always did, upon the ancient prophecies, He declared plainly enough what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed ‘in His blood,’ affirms the reality of His body. For no blood can belong to a body which is not a body of flesh. If any sort of body were presented to our view, which is not one of flesh, not being fleshly, it would not possess blood. Thus, from the evidence of the flesh, we get a proof of the body, and a proof of the flesh from the evidence of the blood. In order, however, that you may discover how anciently wine is used as a figure for blood, turn to Isaiah, who asks, ‘Who is this that cometh from Edom, from Bosor with garments dyed in red, so glorious in His apparel, in the greatness of his might? Why are thy garments red, and thy raiment as his who cometh from the treading of the full winepress?’ The prophetic Spirit contemplates the Lord as if He were already on His way to His passion, clad in His fleshly nature; and as He was to suffer therein, He represents the bleeding condition of His flesh under the metaphor of garments dyed in red, as if reddened in the treading and crushing process of the wine-press, from which the labourers descend reddened with the wine-juice, like men stained in blood. Much more clearly still does the book of Genesis foretell this, when (in the blessing of Judah, out of whose tribe Christ was to come according to the flesh) it even then delineated Christ in the person of that patriarch, saying, ‘He washed His garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes’-in His garments and clothes the prophecy pointed out his flesh, and His blood in the wine. Thus did He now consecrate His blood in wine, who then (by the patriarch) used the figure of wine to describe His blood.” Tertullian,Against Marcion,40(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:418-419 “For because Christ bore us all, in that He also bore our sins, we see that in the water is understood the people, but in the wine is showed the blood of Christ. But when the water is mingled in the cup with wine, the people is which association and conjunction of water and wine is so mingled in the Lord’s cup, that that mixture cannot any more be separated. Whence, moreover, nothing can separate the Church-that is, the people established in the Church, faithfully and firmly persevering in that which they have believed-from Christ, in such a way as to prevent their undivided love from always abiding and adhering. Thus, therefore, in consecrating the cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered, even as wine alone cannot be offered. For if any one offer wine only, the blood of Christ is dissociated from us; but if the water be alone, the people are dissociated from Christ; but when both are mingled, and are joined with one another by a close union, there is completed a spiritual and heavenly sacrament. Thus the cup of the Lord is not indeed water alone, nor wine alone, unless each be mingled with the other; just as, on the other hand, the body of the Lord cannot be flour alone or water alone, unless both should be united and joined together and compacted in the mass of one bread; in which very sacrament our people are shown to be made one, so that in like manner as many grains, collected, and ground, and mixed together into one mass, make one bread; so in Christ, who is the heavenly bread, we may know that there is one body, with which our number is joined and united.” Cyprian,To Caeilius,Epistle 62(63):13(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:362 “Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of Christ; and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth man’s heart, to make his face to shine with oil, ‘strengthen thou thine heart,’ by partaking thereof as spiritual, and “make the face of thy soul to shine.” “ Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XXII:8(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:352 “The words in which we speak of the things of God must be used in no mere human and worldly sense, nor must the perverseness of an alien and impious interpretation be extorted from the soundness of heavenly words by any violent and headstrong preaching. Let us read what is written, let us understand what we read, and then fulfil the demands of a perfect faith. For as to what we say concerning the reality of Christ’s nature within us, unless we have been taught by Him, our words are foolish and impious. For He says Himself, My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me, and I in him. As to the verity of the flesh and blood there is no room left for doubt. For now both from the declaration of the Lord Himself and our own faith, it is verily flesh and verily blood. And these when eaten and drunk, bring it to pass that both we are in Christ and Christ in us. Is not this true? Yet they who affirm that Christ Jesus is not truly God are welcome to find it false. He therefore Himself is in us through the flesh and we in Him, whilst together with Him our own selves are in God.” Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,8:14(inter A.D. 356-359),in NPNF2,IX:141 “ Let us then in everything believe God, and gainsay Him in nothing, though what is said seem to be contrary to our thoughts and senses, but let His word be of higher authority than both reasonings and sight. Thus let us do in the mysteries also, not looking at the things set before us, but keeping in mind His sayings. For His word cannot deceive, but our senses are easily beguiled. That hath never failed, but this in most things goeth wrong. Since then the word saith, ‘This is my body,’ let us both be persuaded and believe, and look at it with the eyes of the mind. For Christ hath given nothing sensible, but though in things sensible yet all to be perceived by the mind. So also in baptism, the gift is bestowed by a sensible thing, that is, by water; but that which is done is perceived by the mind, the birth, I mean, and the renewal. For if thou hadst been incorporeal, He would have delivered thee the incorporeal gifts bare; but because the soul hath been locked up in a body, He delivers thee the things that the mind perceives, in things sensible. How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His clothes, His shoes. Lo! thou seest Him, Thou touchest Him, thou eatest Him. And thou indeed desirest to see His clothes, but He giveth Himself to thee not to see only, but also to touch and eat and receive within thee.” John Chrysostom,Gospel of Matthew,Homily 82(A.D. 370),in NPNF1,X:495 “It is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, ‘He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.’ And who doubts that to share frequently in life, is the same thing as to have manifold life. I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord’s day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint. It is needless to point out that for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence, as long custom sanctions this practice from the facts themselves. All the solitaries in the desert, where there is no priest, take the communion themselves, keeping communion at home. And at Alexandria and in Egypt, each one of the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion, at his own house, and participates in it when he lilies. For when once the priest has completed the offering, and given it, the recipient, participating in it each time as entire, is bound to believe that he properly takes and receives it from the giver. And even in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand. It has the same validity whether one portion or several portions are received from the priest at the same time.” Basil,To Patrician Caesaria,Epistle 93(A.D. 372),in NPNF2,VIII:179 “You will see the Levites bringing the loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers and invocations have not yet been made,it is mere bread and a mere cup. But when the great and wonderous prayers have been recited, then the bread becomes the body and the cup the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ....When the great prayers and holy supplications are sent up, the Word descends on the bread and the cup, and it becomes His body.” Athanasius,Sermon to the Newly Baptized,PG 26,1325(ante A.D. 373),in ECD,442 “If the subsistence of every body depends on nourishment, and this is eating and drinking, and in the case of our eating there is bread and in the case of our drinking water sweetened with wine, and if, as was explained at the beginning, the Word of God, Who is both God and the Word, coalesced with man’s nature, and when He came in a body such as ours did not innovate on man’s physical constitution so as to make it other than it was, but secured continuance for His own body by the customary and proper means, and controlled its subsistence by meat and drink, the former of which was bread,--just, then, as in the case of ourselves, as has been repeatedly said already, if a person sees bread he also, in a kind of way, looks on a human body, for by the bread being within it the bread becomes it, so also, in that other case, the body into which God entered, by partaking of the nourishment of bread, was, in a certain measure, the same with it; that nourishment, as we have said, changing itself into the nature of the body. For that which is peculiar to all flesh acknowledged also in the case of that flesh, namely, that that Body too was maintained by bread; which Body also by the indwelling of God the Word was transmuted to the dignity of Godhead. Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was once, by implication, bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that by which the bread that was transformed in that Body was changed to a Divine potency, a similar result takes place now. For as in that case, too, the grace of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which came of the bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as says the Apostle, ‘is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer’; not that it advances by the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the Word, but it is at once changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word itself said, ‘This is My Body.’ Seeing, too, that all flesh is nourished by what is moist(for without this combination our earthly part would not continue to live), just as we support by food which is firm and solid the solid part of our body, in like manner we supplement the moist part from the kindred element; and this, when within us, by its faculty of being transmitted, is changed to blood, and especially if through the wine it receives the faculty of being transmuted into heat. Since, then, that God-containing flesh partook for its substance and support of this particular nourishment also, and since the God who was manifested infused Himself into perishable humanity for this purpose, viz. that by this communion with Deity mankind might at the same time be deified, for this end it is that, by dispensation of His grace, He disseminates Himself in every believer that flesh, whose substance comes from bread and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, to secure that, by this union with the immortal, man, too, may be a sharer in incorruption. He gives these gifts by virtue of the benediction through which He transelements the natural quality of these visible things to that immortal thing.” Gregory of Nyssa,The Great Catechism,37(post A.D. 383),in NPNF2,V:505-506 “ Perhaps you will say, ‘I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?’ And this is the point which remains for us to prove. And what evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed...The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: ‘This is My Body.’Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks.” Ambrose,On the Mysteries,9:50(A.D. 390-391),in ,X:324-325 “ ‘And was carried in His Own Hands:’ how ‘carried in His Own Hands’? Because when He commended His OwnBody and Blood, He took into His Hands that which thefaithful know; and in a manner carried Himself,when He said, ‘This is My Body.’ “ Augustine,On the Psalms,33:1,10(A.D. 392-418),in NPNF1,VIII:73 “Dearly-beloved, utter this confession with all your heart and reject the wicked lies of heretics, that your fasting and almsgiving may not be polluted by any contagion with error: forthen is ouroffering of the sacrificeclean and oar gifts of mercy holy, when those who perform them understand that which they do. For when the Lord says, “unless ye have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and drunk His blood, ye will not have life in you,’ you ought so to be partakers at the Holy Table, as to have no doubt whatever concerning the reality of Christ’s Body and Blood. For that is taken in the mouth which is believed in Faith, and it is vain for them to respond Amen who dispute that which is taken.” Pope Leo the Great,Sermon, 91:3(ante A.D. 461),NPNF2,XII:202 “The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God’s body and blood. But if you enquire how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out. But one can put it well thus, that just as in nature the bread by the eating and the wine and the water by the drinkingare changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and do not become a different body from the former one, so the bread of the table and the wine and water are supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are not two but one and the same. Wherefore to those who partake worthily with faith, it is for the remission of sins and for life everlasting and for the safeguarding of soul and body; but to those who partake unworthily without faith, it is for chastisement and punishment, just as also the death of the Lord became to those who believe life and incorruption for the enjoyment of eternal blessedness, while to those who do not believe and to the murderers of the Lord it is for everlasting chastisement and punishment. The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has said, ‘This is My body,’ not, this is a figure of My body: and ‘My blood,’ not, a figure of My blood. And on a previous occasion He had said to the Jews, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. For My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed.And again, He that eateth Me, shall live.”John of Damascus,Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,4:13(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:83 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. Transubstantiation "For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh bytransmutationare nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." Justin Martyr, First Apology,66(A.D. 110-165),in ANF,I:185 "He acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as his own blood,from which he bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of creation) he affirmed to be his own body,from which he gives increase to our bodies." Irenaeus, Against Heresies,V:2,2(c. A.D. 200),in NE,119 "Then, having taken the bread and given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by saying, ’This is my body,’ that is, the figure of my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there were first a veritable body. An empty thing, or phantom, is incapable of a figure. If, however, (as Marcion might say,) He pretended the bread was His body, because He lacked the truth of bodily substance, it follows that He must have given bread for us. It would contribute very well to the support of Marcion’s theory of a phantom body, that bread should have been crucified! But why call His body bread, and not rather (some other edible thing, say) a melon, which Marcion must have had in lieu of a heart! He did not understand how ancient was this figure of the body of Christ, who said Himself by Jeremiah: ’I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter, and I knew not that they devised a device against me, saying, Let us cast the tree upon His bread,’ which means, of course, the cross upon His body. And thus, casting light, as He always did, upon the ancient prophecies, He declared plainly enough what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed ’in His blood,’ affirms the reality of His body. For no blood can belong to a body which is not a body of flesh. If any sort of body were presented to our view, which is not one of flesh, not being fleshly, it would not possess blood. Thus, from the evidence of the flesh, we get a proof of the body, and a proof of the flesh from the evidence of the blood. In order, however, that you may discover how anciently wine is used as a figure for blood, turn to Isaiah, who asks, ’Who is this that cometh from Edom, from Bosor with garments dyed in red, so glorious in His apparel, in the greatness of his might? Why are thy garments red, and thy raiment as his who cometh from the treading of the full winepress?’The prophetic Spirit contemplates the Lord as if He were already on His way to His passion, clad in His fleshly nature; and as He was to suffer therein, He represents the bleeding condition of His flesh under the metaphor of garments dyed in red, as if reddened in the treading and crushing process of the wine-press, from which the labourers descend reddened with the wine-juice, like men stained in blood. Much more clearly still does the book of Genesis foretell this, when (in the blessing of Judah, out of whose tribe Christ was to come according to the flesh) it even then delineated Christ in the person of that patriarch, saying, ’He washed His garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes’--in His garments and clothes the prophecy pointed out his flesh, and His blood in the wine. Thus did He now consecrate His blood in wine, who then (by the patriarch) used the figure of wine to describe His blood."Tertullian,Against Marcion,40(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:418-419 "He once in Cana of Galilee, turned the water into wine, akin to blood, and is it incredible that He should have turned wine into blood?" Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XXII:4(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:152 "Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of Christ; and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth man’s heart, to make his face to shine with oil, ’strengthen thou thine heart,’ by partaking thereof as spiritual, and "make the face of thy soul to shine." " Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XXII:8(c.A.D 350), in NPNF2,VII:152 "Then having sanctified ourselves by these Hymns, we beseech the merciful God to send forth His Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before Him; that He may make the Bread the Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ; for whatsoever the Holy Ghost hastouched, is surely sanctified and changedCyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures,XXIII:7(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:154 "Let us then in everything believe God, and gainsay Him in nothing, though what is said seem to be contrary to our thoughts and senses, but let His word be of higher authority than both reasonings and sight. Thus let us do in the mysteries also, not looking at the things set before us, but keeping in mind His sayings. For His word cannot deceive, but our senses are easily beguiled. That hath never failed, but this in most things goeth wrong. Since then the word saith, ’This is my body,’ let us both be persuaded and believe, and look at it with the eyes of the mind. For Christ hath given nothing sensible, but though in things sensible yet all to be perceived by the mind. So also in baptism, the gift is bestowed by a sensible thing, that is, by water; but that which is done is perceived by the mind, the birth, I mean, and the renewal. For if thou hadst been incorporeal, He would have delivered thee the incorporeal gifts bare; but because the soul hath been locked up in a body, He delivers thee the things that the mind perceives, in things sensible. How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His clothes, His shoes. Lo! thou seest Him, Thou touchest Him, thou eatest Him. And thou indeed desirest to see His clothes, but He giveth Himself to thee not to see only, but also to touch and eat and receive within thee." John Chrysostom,Gospel of Matthew,Homily 82(A.D. 370),in NPNF1,X:495 "You will see the Levites bringing the loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers and invocations have not yet been made,it is mere bread and a mere cup. But when the great and wonderous prayers have been recited, then the bread becomes the body and the cup the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ....When the great prayers and holy supplications are sent up, the Word descends on the bread and the cup, and it becomes His body." Athanasius, Sermon to the Newly Baptized,PG 26,1325(ante A.D. 373),in ECD,442 "If the subsistence of every body depends on nourishment, and this is eating and drinking, and in the case of our eating there is bread and in the case of our drinking water sweetened with wine, and if, as was explained at the beginning, the Word of God, Who is both God and the Word, coalesced with man’s nature, and when He came in a body such as ours did not innovate on man’s physical constitution so as to make it other than it was, but secured continuance for His own body by the customary and proper means, and controlled its subsistence by meat and drink, the former of which was bread,--just, then, as in the case of ourselves, as has been repeatedly said already, if a person sees bread he also, in a kind of way, looks on a human body, for by the bread being within it the bread becomes it, so also, in that other case, the body into which God entered, by partaking of the nourishment of bread, was, in a certain measure, the same with it; that nourishment, as we have said, changing itself into the nature of the body. For that which is peculiar to all flesh is acknowledged also in the case of that flesh, namely, that Body too was maintained by bread; which Body also by the indwelling of God the Word was transmuted to the dignity of Godhead. Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was once, by implication, bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that by which the bread that was transformed in that Body was changed to a Divine potency, a similar result takes place now. For as in that case, too, the grace of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which came of the bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as says the Apostle, ’is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer’; not that it advances by the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the Word, but it is at once changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word itself said, ’This is My Body.’ Seeing, too, that all flesh is nourished by what is moist(for without this combination our earthly part would not continue to live), just as we support by food which is firm and solid the solid part of our body, in like manner we supplement the moist part from the kindred element; and this, when within us, by its faculty of being transmitted, is changed to blood, and especially if through the wine it receives the faculty of beingtransmutedinto heat. Since, then, that God-containing flesh partook for its substance and support of this particular nourishment also, and since the God who was manifested infused Himself into perishable humanity for this purpose, viz. that by this communion with Deity mankind might at the same time be deified, for this end it is that, by dispensation of His grace, He disseminates Himself in every believer through that flesh, whose substance comes from bread and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, to secure that, by this union with the immortal, man, too, may be a sharer in incorruption. He gives these gifts by virtue of the benediction through which He transelements the natural quality of these visible things to that immortal thing." Gregory of Nyssa,The Great Catechism,37(post A.D. 383),in NPNF2,V:505-506 "Then He added: ’For My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink [indeed].’ Thou hearest Him speak of His Flesh and of His Blood, thou perceivest the sacred pledges, [conveying to us the merits and power] of the Lord’s death, and thou dishonourest His Godhead. Hear His own words: ’A spirit hath not flesh and bones.’ Now we, as often as we receive the Sacramental Elements, which by the mysterous efficacy of holy prayer are transformed into the Flesh and the Blood, "do show the Lord’s Death.’" Ambrose, On the Christian Faith,4,10:125(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,X:278 "Perhaps you will say, ’I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?’ And this is the point which remains for us to prove. And what evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed...The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: ’This is My Body.’ Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks." Ambrose, On the Mysteries,9:50(A.D. 390-391), in NPNF2,X:324-325 " ’And was carried in His Own Hands:’ how ’carried in His Own Hands’? Because when He commended His Own Body and Blood, He took into His Hands that which the faithful know; and in a manner carried Himself, when He said, ’This is My Body.’ " Augustine, On the Psalms,33:1,10(A.D. 392-418),in NPNF1,VIII:73 "He did not say, ’This is the symbol of My Body, and this, of My Blood,’ but, what is set before us, but that it is transformed by means of the Eucharistic action into Flesh and Blood." Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Matthew 26:26(ante A.D. 428),in JUR,II:81 "Eran.--You have opportunely introduced the subject of the divine mysteries for from it I shall be able to showyou the change of the Lord’s body into another nature. Answer now to my questions. Orth.--I will answer. Eran.--What do you call the gift which is offered before the priestly invocation? Orth.--It were wrong to say openly; perhaps some uninitiated are present. Eran.--Let your answer be put enigmatically. Orth.--Food of grain of such a sort. Eran.--And how name we the other symbol? Orth.--This name too is common, signifying species of drink. Eran.--And after the consecration how do you name these? Orth.--Christ’s body and Christ’s blood. Eran.--And do yon believe that you partake of Christ’s body and blood? Orth.--I do." Theodoret of Cyrus,Eranistes,2(A.D. 451),in NPNF1,III:200 "Dearly-beloved, utter this confession with all your heart and reject the wicked lies of heretics, that your fasting and almsgiving may not be polluted by any contagion with error: for then is our offering of the sacrifice clean and oar gifts of mercy holy, when those who perform them understand that which they do. For when the Lord says, "unless ye have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and drunk His blood, ye will not have life in you,’ you ought so to be partakers at the Holy Table, as to have no doubt whatever concerning the reality of Christ’s Body and Blood. For that is taken in the mouth which is believed in Faith, and it is vain for them to respond Amenwho dispute that which is taken." Pope Leo the Great,Sermon, 91:3(ante A.D. 461),NPNF2,XII:202 "The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God’s body and blood. But if you enquire how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out. But one can put it well thus, just as in nature the bread by the eating and the wine and the water by the drinking are changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and do not become a different body from the former one, so the bread of the table and the wine and water are supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are not two but one and the same. Wherefore to those who partake worthily with faith, it is for the remission of sins and for life everlasting and for the safeguarding of soul and body; but to those who partake unworthily without faith, it is for chastisement andpunishment, just as also the death of the Lord became to those who believe life and incorruption for the enjoyment of eternal blessedness, while to those who do not believe and to the murderers of theLord it is for everlasting chastisement and punishment. The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but thedeifiedbody of the Lord itself: for theLord has said, ’This is My body,’ not, this is a figure of My body: and ’My blood,’ not, a figure of My blood. And on a previous occasion He had said to the Jews, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. For My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed. And again, He that eateth Me, shall live." John of Damascus,Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,4:13(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:83 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. Confession "In church confess your sins, and do not come to your prayer with a guilt conscience. Such is the Way of Life...On the Lord’s own day,assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins,so that your sacrifice may be pure" Didache,4:14,14:1(A.D.70),in ACW,6:18,23 "Confess your sins. Do not come to prayer with a guilty conscience." Epistle of Barnabas,19:12(A.D. 74),in ACW,6:63 "Moreover, it is in accordance with reason that we should return to soberness[of conduct], and, while yet we have opportunity, exercise repentance towards God. It is well to reverence both God and the bishop." Ignatius,Epistle to the Smyraeans,9(.A.D. 110),in ANF,I:90 "Moreover, that this Marcus compounds philters and love-potions, in order to insult the persons of some of these women, if not of all, those of them who have returned to the Church of God--a thing which frequently occurs--have acknowledged, confessing, too, that they have been defiled by him, and that they were filled with a burning passion towards him. A sad example of this occurred in the case of a certain Asiatic, one of our deacons, who had received him (Marcus) into his house. His wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, fell a victim both in mind and body to this magician, and, for a long time, travelled about with him. At last, when, with no small difficulty, the brethren had converted her, she spent her whole time in the exercise of public confession, weeping over and lamenting the defilement which she had received from this magician." Irenaeus. Against Heresies,1:13(A.D.180),in ANF,I:335 "Such are the words and deeds by which, in our own district of the Rhone, they have deluded many women, who have their consciences seared as with a hot iron. Some of them, indeed, make a public confession of their sins; but others of them are ashamed to do this, and in a tacit kind of way, despairing of [attaining to] the life of God, have, some of them, apostatized altogether; while others hesitate between the two courses, and incur that which is implied in the proverb, ’neither without nor within;’ possessing this as the fruit from the seed of the children of knowledge." Irenaeus.Against Heresies,1:13(A.D.180),in ANF,I:336 "The Pontifex Maximus--that is, the bishop of bishops--issues an edict: ’I remit, to such as have discharged (the requirements of) repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication.’ " Tertullian,Modesty,1(A.D. 220),in ANF,IV:74 "[Prayer for the Consecration of a Bishop] O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Who dwellest on high yet hast respect unto the lowly, who knowest all things before they come to pass; Who didst give ordinances unto Thy church by the Word of thy grace; Who didst foreordain from the beginning the race of the righteous from Abraham, instituting princes and priests and leaving not Thy sanctuary without ministers; Who from the foundation of the world hast been pleased to be glorified in them whom Thou hast chosen; And now pour forth that Power which is from Thee, of the princely Spirit which Thou didst deliver to Thy Beloved Child Jesus Christ, which He bestowed on Thy holy Apostles who established the Church which hallows Thee in every place to the endless glory and praise of Thy Name. Father who knowest the hearts of all grant upon this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen for the episcopate to feed Thy holy flock and serve as Thine high priest,that he may minister blamelessly by night and day,that he may unceasingly behold and propriateThy countenance and offer to Thee the gifts of Thy holy Church. And that by the high priestlySpirit he may have authority toforgive sins..." Hippolytus,Apostolic Tradition,3(A.D. 215),in AT,4-5 "In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and laborious: the remission of sins through penance...when he does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord" Origen,Homilies on Leviticus,2:4(A.D. 248),in JUR,I:207 "Moreover, how much are they both greater in faith and better in their fear, who, although bound by no crime of sacrifice to idols or of certificate, yet, since they have even thought of such things, with grief and simplicity confess this very thing to God’s priests, and make the conscientious avowal, put off from them the load of their minds, and seek out the salutary medicine even for slight and moderate wounds, knowing that it is written, ’God is not mocked.’ God cannot be mocked, nor deceived, nor deluded by any deceptive cunning. Yea, he sins the more, who, thinking that God is like man, believes that he evades the penalty of his crime if he has not openly admitted his crime. Christ says in His precepts, ’Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed.’ And does he think that he is a Christian, who is either ashamed or afraid to be a Christian? How can he be one with Christ, who either blushes or fears to belong to Christ? He will certainly have sinned less, by not seeing the idols, and not profaning the sanctity of the faith under the eyes of a people standing round and insulting, and not polluting hands by the deadly sacrifices, nor defiling his lips with the wicked food. This is advantageous to this extent, that the fault is less, not that the conscience is .guiltless. He can more easily attain to pardon of his crime, yet he is not free from crime; and let him not cease to carry out his repentance, and to entreat the Lord’s mercy, lest what seems to be less in the quality of his fault, should be increased by his neglect of atonement. I entreat you, beloved brethren, that each one should confess his own sin, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while hisconfession may be received, while the satisfaction andremissionmadeby the priestsare pleasing to the Lord?" Cyprian,To the Lapsed,28-29(A.D. 251),in ANF,IV:445 "For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with their time still unfulfilled, while persecution is still raging, while the peace of the Church itself is not vet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed,confessionis not yet made, the hands Of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ’Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.’ " Cyprian,To the Clergy,9(16):2 (A.D. 250),in ANF,IV:290 "It is necessary to confess our sins to those whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted." Basil, Rule Briefly Treated,288(A.D. 374),in JUR,II:26 "For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one, being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to draw nigh to that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests; since by their agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation. For they who inhabit the earth and make their abode there are entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven, and have received an authority which God has not given to angels or archangels. For it has not been said to them, ’Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.’ They who rule on earth have indeed authority to bind, but only the body: whereas this binding lays hold of the soul and penetrates the heavens; and what priests do here below God ratifies above, and the Master confirms the sentence of his servants. For indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He has given them when He says, ’Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain they are retained?’ What authority could be greater than this? ’The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son?’ But I see it all put into the hands of these men by the Son." Chrysostom,The Priesthood,3:5(A.D. 387), NPNF1,IX:47 "The Church holds fast its obedience on either side, by both retaining and remitting sin;heresy is on the one side cruel, and on the other disobedient; wishes to bind what it will not loosen, and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns itself by its. own sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of binding and of loosing should be alike, and sanctioned each by a similar condition. So he who has not the power to loose has not the power to bind. For as, according to the Lord’s word, he who has the power to bind has also the power to loose, their teaching destroys itself, inasmuch as they who deny that they have the power of loosing ought also to deny that of binding. For how can the one be allowed and the other disallowed? It is plain and evident that either each is allowed or each is disallowed in the case of those to whom each has been given. Each is allowed to the Church, neither to heresy, for this power has been entrusted to priests alone. Rightly, therefore, does the Church claim it, which has true priests; heresy, which has not the priests of God, cannot claim it. And by not claiming this power heresy pronounces its own sentence, that not possessing priests it cannot claim priestly power. And so in their shameless obstinacy a shamefaced acknowledgment meets our view. Consider, too, the point that he who has received the Holy Ghost has also received the power of forgiving and of retaining sin. For thus it is written: ’Receive the Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.’ So, then, he who has not received power to forgive sins has not received the Holy Spirit. The office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it is specially to forgive and to retain sins. How, then, can they claim His gift who distrust His power and His right?" Ambrose,Concerning Repentance,I:7-8(A.D. 388),in NPNF2,X:330 "Just as in the Old Testament the priest makes the leper clean or unclean, so in the New Testament the bishop and presbyter binds or looses not those who are innocent orguilty,but by reason of their office, when they have heard various kinds of sins, they know who is to be bound and who loosed." Jerome,Commentary on Matthew,3:16,19(A.D. 398),in JUR,II:202 "All mortal sins are to be submitted to the keys of the Church and all can be forgiven; but recourse to these keys is the only, the necessary, and the certain way to forgiveness. Unless those who are guilty of grevious sin have recourse to the power of the keys, they cannot hope for eternal salvation. Open your lips, them, and confess your sins to the priest.Confession alone is the true gate to Heaven." Augustine, Christian Combat(A.D. 397) This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. Confirmation-Holy Chrism "And about your laughing at me and calling me "Christian," you know not what you are saying. First, because that which is anointed is sweet and serviceable, and far from contemptible. For what ship can be serviceable and seaworthy, unless it be first caulked [anointed]? Or what castle or house is beautiful and serviceable when it has not been anointed? And what man, when he enters into this life or into the gymnasium, is not anointed with oil? And what work has either ornament or beauty unless it be anointed and burnished? Then the air and all that is under heaven is in a certain sort anointed by light and spirit; and are you unwilling to be anointed with the oil of God? Wherefore we are called Christians on this account, because we are anointed with the oil of God." Theophilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,I:12(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:92 " ’And she said to her maids, Bring me oil.’ For faith and love prepare oil and unguents to those who are washed. But what were these unguents, but the commandments of the holy Word? And what was the oil, but the power of the Holy Spirit, with which believers are anointed as with ointment after the layer of washing? All these things were figuratively represented in the blessed Susannah, for our sakes, that we who now believe on God might not regard the things that are done now in the Church as strange, but believe them all to have been set forth in figure by the patriarchs of old, as the apostle also says: ’Now these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the world are come.’"Hippolytus of Rome,Commentary on Daniel,6;18(A.D. 204),in ANF,V:192 "After this, when we have issued from the font, we are thoroughly anointed with a blessed unction,--(a practice derived) from the old discipline, wherein on entering the priesthood, then were wont to be anointed with oil from a horn, ever since Aaron was anointed by Moses. Whence Aaron is called "Christ,’ from the ’chrism, ’which is ’the unction;’ which, when made spiritual, furnished an appropriate name to the Lord, because He was’anointed’ with the Spirit by God the Father; as written in the Acts: ’For truly they were gathered together in this city against Thy Holy Son whom Thou hast anointed.’ Thus, too, in our case, the unction runs cornally, (i.e. on the body,) but profits spiritually; in the same way as the act of baptism itself too is carnal, in that we are plunged in water, but theeffect spiritual, in that we are freed from sins."Tertullian, On Baptism,7(A.D. 206),in ANF,III:672 "But Satan, who entered and dwelt in him for a long time, became the occasion of his believing. Being delivered by the exorcists, he fell into a severe sickness; and as he seemed about to die, he received baptism by affusion, on the bed where he lay; if indeed we can say that such a one did receive it. And when he was healed of his sickness he did not receive the other things which it is necessary to have according to the canon of the Church, even the being sealed by the bishop. And as he did not receive this, how could he receive the Holy Spirit?’ " Pope Cornelius[regn. A.D. 251-253],To Fabius;fragment in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History 6,43:14(A.D. 251),in NPNF2,I:288-289 "But, moreover, the very interrogation which is put in baptism is a witness of the truth. For when we say, ’Dost thou believe in eternal life and remission of sins through the holy Church?’ we mean that remission of sins is not granted except in the Church, and that among heretics, where there is no Church, sins cannot be put away. Therefore they who assert that heretics can baptize, must either change the interrogation or maintain the truth; unless indeed they attribute a church also to those who, they contend, have baptism.It is also necessary that he shouldbe anointedwho is baptized; so that, having received the chrism, that is, the anointing, he may be anointed of God, and have in him the grace of Christ. Further, it is the Eucharist whence the baptized are anointed with the oil sanctified on the altar. But he cannot sanctify the creature of oil, who has neither an altar nor a church; whence also there can be no spiritual anointing among heretics, since it is manifest that the oil cannot be sanctified nor the Eucharist celebrated at all among them. But we ought to know and remember that it is written, ’Let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head,’ which the Holy Spirit before forewarned in the Psalms, lest any one going out of the way and wandering from the path of truth should be anointed by heretics and adversaries of Christ. Besides, what prayer can a priest who is impious and a sinner offer for a baptized person? since it is written, ’God heareth not a sinner; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth.’ Who, moreover, can give what he himself has not? or how can he discharge spiritual functions who himself has lost the Holy Spirit? And therefore he must be baptized and renewed who comes untrained to the Church, that he may be sanctified within by those who are holy, since it is written, ’Be ye holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord.’ So that he who has been seduced into error, and baptized outside of the Church, should lay aside even this very thing in the true and ecclesiastical baptism, viz., that he a man coming to God, while he seeks for a priest, fell by the deceit of error upon a profane one." Cyprian,To Januarius,Epistle 70/69:2(A.D. 255) "But a gate has been opened for seeking peace,whereby the mist has lifted from the reason of the multitude; and light has dawned in the mind; and from the glistening olive,fruits are put forth,in which there is a sign of the sacrament of life,by which Christians are perfected, as well as priests and kings and prophets. It illuminates the darkness, anoints the sick, and leads back penitents in its secret sacrament." Aphraates,Treatises,23:3(A.D. 345),in JUR,I:306 "But beware of supposing this to be plait ointment. For as theBread of the Eucharist. after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread no longer, but the Body of Christ,so also this holy ointment is no more simple ointment, nor so to say) common, after invocation, but it is Christ’s gift of grace, and, by the advent of the Holy Ghost, is made fit to impart His Divine Nature. Which ointment is symbolically applied to thy forehead and thy other senses; and while thy body is anointed with the visible ointment, thy soul is sanctified by the Holy and life-giving Spirit." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures(On Chrism),21:3(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:150 "You mayeffect in this chrism a divine and heavenly operation,so that those baptized and anointed in tracing with it of the sign of the saving cross of the Only-begotten,through which cross Satan and every adverse power is turned aside and conquered,as if reborn and renewed through the bath of regeneration,may be made participants in the gift of the Holy Spirit,and confirmed by this seal,may remain firm and immovable,unharmed and inviolate." Serapion of Thmuis,Prayer over Chrism,25:1(A.D. 350),in JUR,II:133 " ’And your floors shall be filled with wheat,and the presses shall overflow equally with wine and oil.’... This has been fufilled mystically by Christ,who gave to the people whom He had redeemed,that is,to His Church,wheat and wine and oil in a mystic manner...the oil is the sweet unguent with which those who are baptized are signed,being clothed in the armaments of the Holy Spirit." Ephraim,On Joel 2:24(ante A.D. 373),in JUR,I:314 "Thirsty men in their dreams eagerly gulp down the water of the stream, and the more they drink the thirstier they are. In the same way you appear to me to have searched everywhere for arguments against the point I raised, and yet to be as far as ever from being satisfied. Don’t you know that the laying on of hands after baptism and then the invocation of the Holy Spirit is a custom of the Churches? Do you demand Scripture proof? You may find it in the Acts of the Apostles. And even if it did not rest on the authority of Scripture the consensus of the whole world in this respect would have the force of a command. For many other observances of the Churches, which are due to tradition, have acquired the authority of the written as for instance the practice of dipping the head three times in the layer, and then, after leaving the water, of tasting mingled milk and honey in representation of infancy; and, again, the practices of standing up in worship on Lord’s day, and ceasing from fasting every Pentecost; and there are many other unwritten practices which have won their place through reason and custom. So you see we follow the practice of the Church, although it may be clear that a person was baptized before the Spirit was invoked." Jerome, Against the Luciferians,8(A.D. 379),in NPNF2,VI:324 " THEY who are baptized must after Baptism be anointed with the heavenly chrism, and be partakers of the Kingdom of Christ." Council of Laodicea, Canon 48(A.D. 343-381),in NPNF2,XIV:154 "And then remember that you received the seal of the ; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the spirit of holy fear, and preserved what you received. God the Father sealed you, Christ the Lord strengthened you, and gave the earnest of the Spirit in your heart, as you have learned in the lesson from the Apostle." Ambrose, On the Mysteries,7:42(A.D. 391),in NPNF2,X:322 "He would likewise be permitting this to the Apostles alone? Were that the case,He would likewise be permitting them alone to baptize,them alone to baptize,them alone to Confer the Holy Spirit...If,then,the power both of Baptism and Confirmation,greater by far the charisms,is passed on to the bishops..." Pacian,Epistle to Sympronian,1:6(A.D. 392),in JUR,II:142 ’For indeed the word of Ecclesiastes says true; your heretic is no living man, but ’bones,’ he says, ’in the womb of her that is with child’; for how can one who does not think of the unction along with the Anointed be said to believe in the Anointed?’Him,’ says (Peter), ’did God anoint with the Holy Spirit.’ These destroyers of the Spirit’s glory, who relegate Him to a subject world, must tell us of what thing that unction is the symbol. Is it not a symbol of the Kingship? And what? Do they not believe in the Only-begotten as in His very nature a King? Men who have not once for all enveloped their hearts with the Jewish ’vail’ will not gainsay that He is this. If, then, the Son is in His very nature a king, and the unction is the symbol of His kingship, what, in the way of a consequence, does your reason demonstrate? Why, that the Unction is not a thing alien to that Kingship, and so that the Spirit is not to be ranked in the Trinity as anything strange and foreign either. For the Son is King, and His living, realized, and personified Kingship is found in the Holy Spirit, Who anoints the Only-begotten, and so makes Him the Anointed, and the King of all things that exist. If, then, the Father is King, and the Only-begotten is King, and the Holy Ghost is the Kingship, one and the same definition of Kingship must prevail throughout this Trinity, and the thought of "unction" conveys the hidden meaning that there is no interval of separation between the Son and the Holy Spirit. For as between the body’s surface and the liquid of the oil nothing intervening can be detected, either in reason or in perception, so inseparable is the union of the Spirit with the Son; and the result is that whosoever is to touch the Son by faith must needs firstencounter the oil in the very act of touching; there is not a part of Him devoid of the Holy Spirit. Therefore belief in the Lordship of the Son arises in those who entertain it, by means of the Holy Ghost; on all sides the Holy Ghost is met by those who by faith approach the Son. If, then, the Son is essentially a King, and the Holy Spirit is that dignity of Kingship which anoints the Son, what deprivation of this Kingship, in its essence and comparing it with itself, can be imagined?" Gregory of Nyssa,On the Holy Spirit,16(ante A.D. 394),in NPNF2,V:321 "Now concerning baptism,O bishop, or presbyter, we have already given direction, and we now say, that thou shalt so baptize as the Lord commanded us, saying: ’Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost(teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded afterward baptize him with the water, and in the conclusion shall seal him with the ointment; that the anointing with oil may be participation of the Holy Spirit, and the water the symbol of the death of Christ, and the ointment the seal of the covenants. But if there be neither oil nor ointment, water is sufficient both for the anointing, and for the seal, and for the confession of Him that is dead, or indeed is dying together with Christ. But before baptism, let him that is to be baptized fast; for even the Lord, when He was first baptized by John, and abode in the wilderness, did afterward fast forty days and forty nights. But He was baptized, and then fasted, not having Himself any need of cleansing, or of fasting, or of purgation, who was by nature pure and holy; but that He might testify the truth to John, and afford an example to us. Wherefore our Lord was not baptized into His own passion, or death, or resurrection--for none of those things had then happened--but for another purpose. Wherefore He by His own authority fasted after His baptism, as being the Lord of John. But he who is to be initiated into His death ought first to fast, and then to be baptized. For it is not reasonable that he who has been buried with Christ, and is risen again with Him, should appear dejected at His very resurrection. For man is not lord of our Saviour’s constitution, since one is the Master and the other the servant." Apostolic Constitutions,7,2:22(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:469 "Why, therefore, is the Head itself, whence that ointmentof unity descended, that is, the spiritual fragrance of brotherly love,--why, I say, is the Head itself exposed to your resistance, while it testifies and declares that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem"? And by this ointment you wish the sacrament of chrism to be understood, which is indeed holy as among the class of visible signs, like baptism itself..." Augustine,Letters of Petilian the Donatist,2,104:239(A.D. 403),in NPNF1,IV:592 "That this power of a bishop, however,is due to the bishops alone, so that they either sign or give the Paraclete the Spirit...For to presbyters it is permitted to anoint the baptized with chrism whenever they baptize...but (with chrism) that has been consecrated by a bishop; nevertheless (it is) not (allowed) to sign the forehead with the same oil; that is due to the bishops alone when they bestow the Spirit, the Paraclete." Pope Innocent[regn. A.D. 401-417],To Decentius,3(A.D. "The living water of holy Baptism is given to us as if in rain,and the Bread of Life as if in wheat,and the Blood as if in wine.In Addition to this there is also the use of oil,reckoned as perfecting those who have been justified in Christ through holy baptism." Cyril of Alexandria,Commentary on the Minor Prophets,32(A.D. 429),in JUR,III:219 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-1998 All Rights Reserved ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 1D-MATRIMONY HOLY ORDERS, LAST RIGHTS ======================================================================== Sacrament of Holy Matrimony " Flee wicked arts; but all the more discourse regarding them. Speak to my sisters, that they love in our Lord, and that their husbands be sufficient for them in the flesh and spirit. Then, again, charge my brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they love their wives, as our Lord His Church. If any man is able in power to continue in purity, to the honour of the flesh of our Lord, let him continue so without boasting; if he boasts, he is undone; if he become known apart from the bishop, he has destroyed himself. It is becoming, therefore, to men and women who marry, that they marry with the counsel of the bishop, that the marriage may be in our Lord, and not in lust. Let everything, therefore, be [done] for the honour of God." Ignatius of Antioch,To Polycarp,5(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:100 "Whence are we to find (words) enough fully to tell the happiness of that marriage which theChurch cements, and the oblation confirms, and the benediction signs and seals; (which) angels carry back the news of (to heaven), (which) the Father holds for ratified? For even on earth children do not rightly and lawfully wed without their fathers’ consent. What kind of yoke is that of two believers, (partakers) of one hope, one desire, one discipline, one and the same service? Both (are) brethren, both fellow servants, no difference of spirit or of flesh; nay, (they are) truly ’two in one flesh.’] Where the flesh is one, one is the spirit ton. Together they pray, together prostrate themselves, together perform their fasts; mutually teaching, mutually exhorting, mutually sustaining. Equally (are they) both (found) in the Church of God; equally at the banquet of God; equally in straits, in persecutions, in refreshments. Neither hides (ought) from the other; neither shuns the other; neither is troublesome to the other. The sick is visited, the indigent relieved, with freedom. Alms (are given) without (danger of ensuing) torment; sacrifices (attended) without scruple; daily diligence (discharged) without impediment: (there is) no stealthy signing, no trembling greeting, no mute benediction. Between the two echo psalms and hymns; and they mutually challenge each other which shall better chant to their Lord. Such things when Christ sees and hears, He joys. To these He sends His own I peace. Where two (are), there withal (is) He Himself. Where He (is), there the Evil One is not." Tertullian,To My Wife,2,8:4(A.D. 206),in ANF,IV:48 "Now that the Scripture counsels marriage, and allows no release from the union, is expressly contained in the law, ’Thou shalt not put away thy wife,except for the causeof fornication;’ and it regards as fornication, the marriage of those separated while the other is alive. Not to deck and adorn herself beyond what is becoming, renders a wife free of calumnious suspicion. while she devotes herself assiduously to prayers and supplications; avoiding frequent departures from the house, and shutting herself up as far as possible from the view of all not related to her, and deeming housekeeping of more consequence than impertinent trifling. ’He that taketh a woman that has been put away,’ it is said, ’committeth adultery; and if one puts away his wife, he makes her an adulteress,’ that is, compels her to commit adultery. And not only is he who puts her away guilty of this, but he who takes her, by giving to the woman the opportunity of sinning; for did he not take her, she would return to her husband." Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,2:24(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:379 "Then, describing what ought to be in the case of those who are joined together by God, so that they may be joined together in a manner worthy of God, the Saviour adds, ’So that they are no more twain;’ and, wherever there is indeed concord, and unison, and harmony, between husband and wife, when he is as ruler and she is obedient to the word, ’He shall rule over thee,’ then of such persons we may truly say, ’They are no more twain.’ Then since it was necessary that for ’him who was joined to the Lord,’ it should be reserved ’that he should become one spirit with Him,’ in the case of those who are joined together by God, after the words, ’So that they are no more twain,’ it is said, ’but one flesh.’ And it is God who has joined together the two in one so that they are no more twain, from the time that the woman is married to the man. And, since God has joined them together, on this account in the case of those who are joined together by God, there is a ’gift’; and Paul knowing this, that marriage according to the Word of God was a ’gift,’ like as holy celibacy was a gift, says, ’But I would that all men were like myself; howbeit, each man hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that.’ And those who are joined together by God both mind and keep the precept, ’Husbands love your wives, as Christ also the church.’ The Saviour then commanded, ’What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder,’ but man wishes to put asunder what God hath joined together, when, "falling away from the sound faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron, forbidding," not only to commit fornication, but ’to marry,’ he dissolves even those who had been before joined together by the providence of God. Let these things then be said, keeping in view what is expressly said concerning the male and the female, and the man and the woman, as the Saviour taught in the answer to the Pharisees." Origen,Commentary on Matthew,14:16(post A.D. 244),in ANF,X:506 "Two reasons can be advanced to explain why the marriage was celebrated with external festivities in Cana of Galilee, and why the water was truly changed into wine:so that the tide of Bacchanalian frenetics in the world might be turned to chastity and dignity in marriage, and so that the rest might be directed aright to the enjoyment both of wine free of toil and of the favor that presented it; so that in every way it might stop the mouths of those aroused against the Lord, and so that it might show that He is God with the Father and His Holy Spirit." Epiphanius,Panarion(Against All Heresies),51:30(A.D. 370),in JUR,II:72-73 " ’What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.’ See a teacher’s wisdom. I mean, that being asked, Is it lawful? He did not at once say, It is not lawful, lest they should be disturbed and put in disorder, but before the decision by His argument He rendered this manifest, showing that it is itself too the commandment of His Father, and that not in opposition to Moses did He enjoin these things, but in full agreement with him. But mark Him arguing strongly not from the creation only, but also from His command. For He said not, that He made one man and one woman only, but that He also gave this command that the one man should be joined to the one woman. But if it had been His will that he should put this one away, and bring in another, when He had made one man, He would have formed many Women. But now both by the manner of the creation, and by the manner of lawgiving, He showed that one man must dwell with one woman continually, and never break off from her." Chrysostom John,On Matthew,62:1(A.D. 370),in NPNF1,X:382 "And these are the nuptials of the Lord, so that like that great Sacrament they might become two in one flesh, Christ and the Church. From these nuptials a Christian people is born, when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon that people."Pacian, Sermon on Baptism,6(ante A.D. 392),in JUR,II:144 "There is hardly anything more deadly than being married to one who is a stranger to the faith, where the passions of lust and dissension and the evils of sacrilege are inflamed. Since the marriage ceremony ought to be sanctified by the priestly veiling and blessing,how can that be called a marriage ceremony where there is no agreement in faith?" Ambrose, To Vigilius, Letter 19:7 (A.D. 385),in FC,XXVI:176 "We do not say that marriage was not sanctified by Christ, since the Word of God says: ’The two shall become one flesh’ and one spirit. But we are born before we are brought to our final goal, and the mystery of God’s operation is more excellent than the remedy for human weakness. Quite rightly is a good wife praised, but a pious virgin is more rightly preferred." Ambrose, To Sircius, Letter 42:3(A.D. 389),in FC,XXVI:225226 " ’For this reason shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to his wife and they shall be two in one flesh.’ To commend this unity he supplies an example of unity. Just as a man and a woman are one in nature so Christ and the Church are recognized as one through faith. ’This is a great mystery--I mean in reference to Christ and the Church.’ He means that the great sign of this mystery is in the unity of man and woman....Just as a man forsakes his parents and cleaves to his wife, so too he forsakes every error and cleaves to the Church and subjects himself to her Head, which is Christ." Ambrosiaster, In Ephesians 5:31(ante A.D. 384),in JUR,II:178-179 "It is certainly not fecundity only, the fruit of which consists of offspring, nor chastity only, whose bond is fidelity, but also a certain sacramental bond in marriage which is recommended to believers in wedlock. Accordingly it is en-joined by the apostle: ’Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church.’ Of this bond the substance undoubtedly is this, that the man and the woman who are joined together in matrimony should remain inseparable as long as they live..." Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence,1,10[11](A. 420),in NPNF1,V:268 "When the wedding was celebrated [at Cana] it is clear that it was entirely decorous:for indeed,the Mother of the Savior was there;and,invited along with His disciples,the Savior too was there,working miracles more than being entertained in feasting,and especially that He might sanctify the very beginning of human generation,which certainly is a matter concerning the flesh."Cyril of Alexandria,Commentary on John,2:1(A.D. 429),in JUR,III:222 "And so a wife is different from a concubine, even as a bondwoman from a freewoman. For which reason also the Apostle in order to show the difference of these persons quotes from Genesis, where it is said to Abraham, ’Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.’ And hence, since the marriage tie was from the beginning so constituted as apart from the joining of the sexes to symbolize the mystic union of Christ and His Church, it is undoubted that that woman has no part in matrimony, in whose case it is shown that the mystery of marriage has not taken place." Pope Leo the Great,To Rusticus,Epistle 167:4(A.D. 459),in NPNF2,XII:110 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-1998 All Rights Reserved. Holy Orders "Since therefore I have, in the persons before mentioned, beheld the whole multitude of you in faith and love, I exhort you to study to do all things with a divine harmony, while your bishop presides in the place of God, and your presbyters in the place of the assembly of the apostles, along with your deacons, who are most dear to me, and are entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father before the beginning of time, and in the end was revealed. Do ye all then, imitating the same divine conduct, pay respect to one another, and let no one look upon his neighbour after the flesh, but do ye continually love each other in Jesus Christ. Let nothing exist among you that may divide you ; but be ye united with your bishop, and those that preside over you, as a type and evidence of your immortality." Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to the Magnesians,6(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:61 "For, since ye are subject to the bishop as to Jesus Christ, ye appear to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ, who died for us, in order, by believing in His death, ye may escape from death. It is therefore necessary that, as ye indeed do, so without the bishop ye should do nothing, but should also be subject to the presbytery, as to the apostle of Jesus Christ, who is our hope, in whom, if we live, we shall [at last] be found. It is fitting also that the deacons, as being [the ministers] of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, should in every respect be pleasing to all. For they are not ministers of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God. They are bound, therefore, to avoid all grounds of accusation [against them], as they would do fire." Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to the Trallians,2(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:67 "Be on your guard, [therefore, against such persons, that ye admit not of a snare for your own souls. And act so that your life shall be without offence to all men, lest ye become as ’a snare upon a watch-tower, and as a net which is spread out.’ For’ he that does not heal himself in his own works, is the brother of him that destroys himself.’ If, therefore, ye also put away conceit, arrogance, disdain, and haughtiness, it will be your privilege to be inseparably united to God, for "He is nigh unto those that fear Him.’ And says He, ’Upon whom will I look, but upon him that is humble and quiet, and that trembles at my words?’ And do ye also reverence your bishop as Christ Himself, according as the blessed apostles have enjoined you. He that is within the altar is pure, wherefore also he is obedient to the bishop and presbyters: but he that is without is one that does anything apart from the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons. Such a person is defiled in his conscience, and is worse than an infidel. For what is the bishop but one who beyond all others possesses all power and authority, so far as it is possible for a man to possess it, who according to his ability has been made an imitator of the Christ Of God? And what is the presbytery but a sacred assembly, the counsellors and assessors of the bishop? And what are the deacons but imitators of the angelic powers, fulfilling a pure and blameless ministry unto him, as the holy Stephen did to the blessed James, Timothy and Linus to Paul, Anencletus and Clement to Peter? He, therefore, that will not yield obedience to such, must needs be one utterly without God, an impious man who despises Christ, and depreciates His appointments." Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to the Trallians,7(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:68-69 " I must not omit an account of the conduct also of the discipline, as suits their creed. To begin with, it is doubtful who is a catechumen, and who a believer; they have all access alike, they hear alike, they pray alike--even heathens, if any such happen to come among them. ’That which is holy they will cast to the dogs, and their pearls,’ although (to be sure) they are not real ones, ’they will fling to the swine.’ Simplicity they will have to consist in the overthrow of discipline, attention to which on our part they call brothelry. Peace also they huddle up anyhow with all comers; for it matters not to them, however different be their treatment of subjects, provided only they can conspire together to storm the citadel of the one only Truth. All are puffed up, all offer you knowledge. Their catechumens are perfect before they are full-taught. The very women of these heretics, how wanton they are! For they are bold enough to teach, to dispute, to enact exorcisms, to undertake cures--it may be even to baptize. Their ordinations, are carelessly. administered, capricious, changeable. At one time they put novices in office; at another time, men who are bound to some secular employment; at another, persons who have apostatized from us, to bind them by vainglory, since they cannot by the truth. Nowhere is promotion easier than in the camp of rebels, where the mere fact of being there is a foremost service. And so it comes to pass that to-day one man is their bishop, to-morrow another; to-day he is a deacon who to-morrow is a reader; to-day he is a presbyter who tomorrow is a layman. For even on laymen do they impose the functions of priesthood." Tertullian,On Prescription Against Heretics,41(c.A.D. 200),in ANF,III:263 "Since, according to my opinion, the grades here in the Church, of bishops, presbyters, deacons, are imitations of the angelic glory, and of that economy which, the Scriptures say, awaits those who, following the footsteps of the apostles, have lived in perfection of righteousness according to the Gospel. For these taken up in the clouds, the apostle writes, will first minister [as deacons], then be classed in the presbyterate, by promotion in glory (for glory differs from glory) till they grow into ’a perfect man.’ " Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,13(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:505 "And that you may be still more confident, that repenting thus truly there remains for you a sure hope of salvation, listen to a tale? which is not a tale but a narrative, handeddown and committed to the custody of memory, about the Apostle John. For when, on the tyrant’s death, he returned to Ephesus from the isle of Patmos, he went away, being invited, to the contiguous territories of the nations, here to appoint bishops, there to set in order whole Churches, there to ordain such as were marked out by the Spirit. Having come to one of the cities not far off (the name of which some give), and having put the brethren to rest in other matters, at last, looking to the bishop appointed, and seeing a youth, powerful in body, comely in appearance, and ardent, said, ’This (youth) I commit to you in all earnestness, in the presence of the Church, and with Christ as witness.’ And on his accepting and promising all, he gave the same injunction and testimony. And he set out for Ephesus. And the presbyter taking home the youth committed to him, reared, kept, cherished, and finally baptized him. After this he relaxed his stricter care and guardianship, under the idea that the seal of the Lord he had set on him was a complete protection to him." Clement of Alexandria,Who is te rich man that shall be saved?,42(A.D. 210),in ANF,II:603 Clement’s letter as the Bishop of Rome written to the Corinthians has been historically authenticated as a first-century document, and his ordination to priest by Peter was a fact accepted by early Christians long centuries before there was any controversy between Protestants and Catholics. He wrote, " The apostles preached to us the gospel received from Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ was God’s ambassador" "and so, after receiving their instructions... they went forth, equipped with the fullness of the Holy Spirit to preach the good news" He goes on to say, ’Our apostles too, were given to understand by our Lord that the office of bishop would give rise to intrigues for this reason, equipped as they were with perfect foreknowledge, they appointed the men mentioned before and afterwards laid down a rule once for all to this effect: When these men die, other approved men shall succeed to their sacred ministry."(80 AD) "Why, moreover, should we not rather recognise, from among (the store of) primitive precedents, those which communicate with the later (order of things) in respect of discipline, and transmit to novelty the typical form of antiquity? For look, in the old law I find the pruning-knife applied to the licence of repeated marriage. There is a caution in Leviticus: ’My priests shall not pluralize marriages.’ I may affirm even that that is plural which is not once for all. That which is not unity is number. In short, after unity begins number. Unity, moreover, is everything which is once for all. But for Christ was reserved, as in all other points so in this also, the ’fulfilling of the law.’ Thence, therefore, among us the prescript is more fully and more carefully laid down, that they who are chosen into the sacerdotal order must be men of one marriage; which rule is so rigidly observed, that I remember some removed from their office for digamy. But you will say, ’Then all others may (marry more than once), whom he excepts.’ Vain shall we be if we think that what is not lawful for priests is lawful for laics. Are not even we laics priests? It is written: ’A kingdom also, and priests to His God and Father, hath He made us.’ It is the authority of the Church, and the honour which has acquired sanctity through the joint session of the Order, which has established the difference between the Order and the laity. Accordingly, where there is no joint session of the ecclesiastical Order, you offer, and baptize, and are priest, alone for yourself. But where three are, a church is, albeit they be laics. For each individual lives by his own faith, nor is there exception of persons with God; since it is not hearers of the law who are justified by the Lord, but doers, according to what the apostle withal says. Therefore, if you have the right of a priest in your own person, in cases of necessity, it behoves you to have likewise the discipline of a priest whenever it may be necessary to have the fight of a priest. If you are a digamist, do you baptize? If you are a digamist, do you offer? How much more capital (a crime) is it for a digamist laic to act as a priest, when the priest himself, if he turn digamist, is deprived of the power of acting the priest! ’But to necessity,’ you say, ’indulgence is granted.’ No necessity is excusable which is avoidable. In a word, shun to be found guilty of digamy, and you do not expose yourself to the necessity of administering what a digamist may not lawfully administer. God wills us all to he so conditioned, as to be ready at all times and places to undertake (the duties of) His sacraments. There is ’one God, one faith,’ one discipline too. So truly is this the case, that unless the laics as well observe the rules which are to guide the choice of presbyters, how will there be presbyters at all, who are chosen to that office from among the laics? Hence we are bound to contend that the command to abstain from second marriage relates first to the laic; so long as no other can be a presbyter than a laic, provided he have been once far all a husband." Tertullian,On Exhortation to Chastity,7(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:54 "To Flavius Philagrius, and to Flavius Palladius, Ducenary, Officer of the Palace, and Controller, and to Flavius Antoninus, Commissary of Provisions, and Centenary of my lords the most illustrious Prefects of the sacred Praetorium, these from the Presbyters and Deacons of the Mareotis, a home of the Catholic Church which is under the most Reverend Bishop Athanasius, we address this testimony by those whose names are underwritten:--Whereas Theognius, Maris, Macedonius, Theodorus, Ursacius, and Valens, as if sent by all the Bishops who assembled at Tyre, came into our Diocese alleging that they had received orders to investigate certain ecclesiastical affairs, among which they spoke of the breaking of a cup of the Lord, of which information was given them by Ischyras, whom they brought with them, and who says that he is a Presbyter, although he is not,-for he was ordained by the Presbyter Colluthus who pretended to the Episcopate, and was afterwards ordered by a whole Council, by Hosius and the Bishops that were with him, to take the place of a Presbyter, as he was before; and accordingly all that were ordained by Colluthus resumed the same rank which they held before, and so Ischyras himself proved to be a layman,--and the church which he says he has, never was a church at all, but a quite small private house belonging to an orphan boy of the name of Ision ;--for this reason we have offered this testimony, adjuring you by Almighty God, and by our Lords Constantine Augustus, and the most illustrious Caesars his sons, to bring these things to the knowledge of their piety. For neither is he a Presbyter of theCatholicChurch nor does he possess a church, nor has a cup ever been broken, but the whole story is false and an invention. Dated in the Consulship of Julius Constantius the most illustrious Patrician, brother of the most religious Emperor Constantine Augustus, and of Rufinus Albinus, most illustrious men, on the tenth day of the month Thoth. These were the letters of the Presbyters." Athanasius, Defence Against the Arians,76(A.D. 347), In NPNF2,IV:140 "The Cathari are schismatics; but it seemed good to the ancient authorities, I mean Cyprian and our own Firmilianus, to reject all these, Cathari, Encratites, and Hydroparastatae, by one common condemnation, because the origin of separation arose through schism, and those who had apostatized from the Church had no longer on them the grace of the Holy Spirit, for it ceased to be imparted when the continuity was broken. The first separatists had received their ordination from the Fathers, and possessed the spiritual gift by the laying on of their hands. But they who were broken off had become laymen, and, because they are no longer able to confer on others that grace of the Holy Spirit from which they themselves are fallen away, they had no authority either to baptize or to ordain. And therefore those who were from time to time baptized by them, were ordered, as though baptized by laymen, to come to the church to be purified by the Church’s true baptism. Nevertheless, since it has seemed to some of those of Asia that, for the sake of management of the majority, their baptism should be accepted, let it be accepted. We must, however, perceive the iniquitous action of the Encratites; who, in order to shut themselves out from being received back by the Church have endeavoured for the future to anticipate readmission by a peculiar baptism of their own, violating, in this manner even their own special practice." Basil,To Amphilochius,Epistle 188:1(A.D. 347),in NPNF2,VIII:244 "Beware lest ever like Simon thou come to the dispensers of Baptism in hypocrisy, thy heart the while not seeking the truth. It is ours to protest, but it is thine to secure thyself. If thou standest in faith, blessed art thou; if thou hast fallen in unbelief, from this day forward cast away thine unbelief, and receive full assurance. For, at the season of baptism, when thou art come before the Bishops, or Presbyters, or Deacons,--(forits grace is everywhere, in villages and in cities, on them of low as on them of high degree, on bondsmen and on freemen, for this grace is not of men, but the gift is from God through bmen,)--approach the Minister of Baptism, but approaching, think not of the face of him thou seest, but remember this Holy Ghost of whom we are now speaking. For He is present in readiness to seal thy soul, and He shall give thee that Seal at which evil spirits tremble, a heavenly and sacred seal, as also it is written, In whom also ye believed, and were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XVII:35(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:132 "Driven from this line of defence you will appeal to the example of the clergy. These, you will say, remain in their cities, and yet they are surely above criticism. Far be it from meto censure the successors of the apostles, who with holy words consecrate the body of Christ, and who make us Christians. Having the keys of the kingdom of heaven, they judge men to some extent before the day of judgment, and guard the chastity of the bride of Christ. But, as I have before hinted, the case of monks is different from that of the clergy. The clergy feed Christ’s sheep; I as a monk am fed by them. They live of the altar: I, if I bringno gift to it, have the axe laid to my root as to that of a barren tree. Nor can I plead poverty as an excuse, for the Lord in the gospel has praised an aged widow for casting into the treasury the last two coins that she had. I may not sit in the presence of a presbyter; he, if I sin, may deliver me to Satan, ’for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved.’ Under the old law he who disobeyed the priests was put outside the camp and stoned by the people, or else he was beheaded and expiated his contempt with his blood. But now the disobedient person is cut down with the spiritual sword, or he is expelled from the church and torn to pieces by ravening demons Should the entreaties of your brethren induce you to take orders, I shall rejoice that you are lifted up, and fear lest you may be cast down. You will say: ’If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.’ I know that; but you should add what follows: such an one "must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober,chaste, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker but patient.’ After fully explaining the qualifications of a bishop the apostle speaks of ministers of the third degree with equal care." Jerome,To Heliodorus,Epistle 14:8(A.D. 379), in NPNF2,VI:16 "Despise not, therefore, the Divine laver, nor think lightly of it, as a common thing, on account of the use of water. For the power that operates is mighty, and wonderful are the things that are wrought thereby. For this holy altar, too, by which I stand, is stone, ordinary in its nature, nowise different from the other slabs of stone that build our houses and adorn our pavements; but seeing that it was consecrated to the service of God, and received the benediction, it is a holy table, an altar undefiled, no longer touched by the hands of all, but of thepriests alone, and that with reverence. The bread again is at first common bread, but when the sacramental action consecrates it, it is called, and becomes, the Body of Christ.So with the sacramental oil; so with the wine: though before the benediction they are of little value, each of them, after the sanctification bestowed by the Spirit, has its several operation. The same power of the word, again, also makes the priest venerable and honourable, separated, by the new blessing bestowed upon him, from his community with the mass of men. While but yesterday he was one of the mass, one of the people, he is suddenly rendered a guide, a president, a teacher of righteousness, an instructor in hidden mysteries; and this he does without being at all changed in body or in form; but, while continuing to be in all appearance the man he was before, being, by some unseen power and grace, transformed in respect of his unseen soul to the higher condition. And so there are many things, which if you consider you will see that their appearance is contemptible, but the things they accomplish are mighty: and this is especially the case when you collect from the ancient history instances cognate and similar to the subject of our inquiry." Gregory of Nyssa,On the Baptism of Christ(ante A.D. 394),in NPNF2,V:519 "Therefore the good of marriage throughout all nations and all men stands in the occasion of begetting, and faith of chastity: but, so far as pertains unto the People of God, also in the sanctity of the Sacrament, by reason of which it is unlawful for one who leaves her husband, even when she has been put away, to be married to another, so long as her husband lives, no not even for the sake of bearing children: and, whereas this is the alone cause, wherefore marriage takes place, not even where that very thing, wherefore it takes place, follows not, is the marriage bond loosed, save by the death of the husband or wife. In like manner as if there take place an ordination of clergyin order to form a congregation of people, although the congregation of people follow not, yet there remains in the ordained persons the Sacrament of Ordination; and if, for any fault, any be removed from his office, he will not be without the Sacrament of the Lord once for all set upon him, albeit continuing unto condemnation." Augustine,On the Good of Marriage,24:32(A.D. 401),in NPNF1,III:412 "When a priest is ordained, while the bishop is blessing [him] and holding his hands over his head, let all the priests also, who are present, hold their hands close to the hands of the bishop above his head." Council of Chalcedon,Canon 3(A.D. 451),in DEN,62-63 "As often as GOD’s mercy deigns to bring round the day of His gifts to us, there is, dearly-beloved, just and reasonable cause for rejoicing, if only our appointment to the office be referred to the praise of Him who gave it. For though this recognition of GOD may well be found in all His priests, yet I take it to be peculiarly binding on me, who, regarding my own utter insignificance and the greatness of the office undertaken, ought myself also to utter that exclamation of the Prophet, ’LORD, I heard Thy speech and was afraid: I considered Thy works and was dismayed.’ For what is so unwonted and so dismaying as labour to the frail, exaltation to the humble, dignity to the undeserving? And yet we do not despair nor lose heart, because we put our trust not in ourselves but in Him who works in us. And hence also we have sung with harmonious voice the psalm of David, dearly beloved, not in our own praise, but to the glory of Christ the LORD. For it is He of whom it is prophetically written, ’Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck,’ that is, not after the order of Aaron, whose priesthood descending along his own line of offspring was a temporal ministry, and ceased with the law of the Old Testament, but after the order of Melchizedeck, in whom was prefigured the eternal High Priest. And no reference is made to his parentage because in him it is understood that He was portrayed, whose generation cannot be declared. And finally, now that the mystery of this Divine priesthood has descended to human agency, it runs not by the line of birth, nor is that which flesh and blood created, chosen, but without regard to the privilege of paternity and succession by inheritance, those men are received by the Church as its rulers whom the Holy Ghost prepares: so that in the people of GOD’s adoption, the whole body of which is priestly and royal, it is not the prerogative of earthly origin which obtains the unction, but the condescension of Divine grace which creates the bishop." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D. 440-461],Sermons,3:1(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,XII:116 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-1998 All Rights Reserved. Sacrament of Extreme Unction(Anointing of the Sick) "For they are bold enough to teach, to dispute, to enact exorcisms, to undertake(13) cures--it may be even to baptize." Tertullian,Prescription,49(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:263 "O God who sanctifiest this oil as Thou dost grant unto all who are anointed and receive of it the hallowing wherewith Thou didst anoint kings and priests and prophets, so grant that it may give strength to all that taste of it and health to all that use it." Hippolytus of Rome,Apostolic Tradition,5:2(c.A.D. 215),in AT,10 "In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and laborious...In this way there is fufilled that too, which the Apostle James says :’If then, there is anyone sick, let him call the presbyters of the Church, and let them impose hands upon him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.’ "Origen,Homily on Leviticus,2:4(A.D. 244),in JUR,I:207 "[O]f the sacrament of life, by which Christians [baptism], priests [in ordination], kings and prophets are made perfect; it illuminates darkness [in confirmation], anoints the sick, and by its secret sacrament restores penitents." Aphraates the Persian Sage, Treatises, 23:3(A.D. 345), in CE,V:720 "For not only at the time of regeneration, but afterwards also, they have authority to forgive sins. ’Is any sick among you?’ it is said, ’let him call for the elders of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up: and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.’ " John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood,3:6(A.D. 386),in NPNF1,IX:48 "[The sick] considered a more terrible calamity than disease itself ... [instead of allowing] the hands of the Arians to be laid on the heads." Athanasius, Encyclical Epistle (A.D. 341),in CE,V:720 "[this oil]...for good grace and remission of sins, for a medicine of life and salvation, for health and soundness of soul, body, spirit, for perfect strengthening." Serapion of Thmuis,Anaphora,29:1(A.D. 350),in CE,V:720 "They pray over thee; one blows on thee, another seals thee." Ephraim,Homily 46(ante A.D. 373),in CE,V:720 "Why, then, do you lay on hands, and believe it to be the effect of the blessing, if perchance some sick person recovers? Why do you assume that any can be cleansed by you from the pollution of the devil? Why do you baptize if sins cannot be remitted by man? If baptism is certainly the remission of all sins, what difference does it make whether priests claim that this power is given to them in penance or at the font? In each the mystery is one." Ambrose,Penance,1,8:36(A.D. 390),in NPNF2,X:335 "[I]f some part of your body is suffering...recall also the saying in the divinely inspired Scripture: ’Is anyone among you ill? Let him call the presbyters of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven.(James 5:14-15)" Cyril of Alexandria,Worship and Adoration,6(A.D. 412),in JUR,III:217 "[I]n the epistle of the blessed Apostle James...’If anyone among you is sick, let him call the priests...’. There is no doubt that this anointing ought to be interpreted or understood of the sick faithful, who can be anointed with the holy oil of chrism...it is a kind of sacrament." Pope Innocent [regn. A.D. 401-416],To Decentius,25,8,11(A.D. 416),in DEN,43 "[L]et him who is ill receive the Body and Blood of Christ; let him humbly and in faith ask the presbyters for blessed oit, to anoint his body, so that what was written may be fufilled in him: ’Is anyone among you sick? Let him bring in the presbyters, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he be in sins, they will be forgiven him (James 5:14-15)" Ceasar of Arles,Sermons,13(265),3(ante A.D. 542),in JUR,III:285 "[A] priest is to be called in, who by the prayer of faith and the unction of the holy oil which he imparts will save him who is afflicted [by a serious injury or by sickness]." Cassiodorus,Complexiones(A.D. 570),in CE,V:720 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1998 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 2A-RULE OF FAITH INDEX ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. Rule of faith. The Catholic Church’s rule of faith consists of the Bible, Tradition and a teaching Church.The Church Fathers unanimously affirm this three-fold rule of faith. Scripture: This document contains a dossier of passages from the Church Fathers illustrating the authority of Scripture. The Fathers affirmed the sufficiency of the Scripture not in a vacuum rather within the context of an authoritative Tradition and a teaching Church. The Inspired Scripture: The Fathers affirmed the inspiration and divine origin of Sacred Scripture. Free From All Error: This document contains passages from the Church Fathers illustrating the belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. According to the Fathers Scripture is free from all error. This section is dedicated to Fr. William Most(+Jan 31,1999). Tradition: This document contains an extensive dossier of passages from the Church Fathers illustrating the coordinate and normative authority of Tradition. Private Interpretation: This document contains passages from the Church Fathers illustrating heretics’ fatal flaw in interpreting Scripture apart from Church and Tradition. Interpreting Scripture with the eyes of the Church: The Church Fathers together proclaimed that authentic and orthodox interpretation of Scripture can only be obtained if one understands Scripture according to the faith of the Church. The Fathers never wanted to be considered private exegetes or dared to be innovative in their approach to interpreting Scripture. The Fathers had only one goal in mind when interpreting Scripture -- to teach the apostolic doctrine as it was taught to them. The heretics on the other hand jettisoned Mother Church and her teaching and replaced it with their own private understanding. Sola Scriptura in the Early Church: There are preachers in the early Church that adhered to the formal principle of sola scriptura; however, despite their common belief in appealing to the Scriptures alone they disagreed with one another. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 2B-SCRIPTURE ======================================================================== Documents illustrating the authority of ScriptureHOLY WRIT ’All Scripture, inspired by God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice’ 2 Timothy 3:16 Fathers of the Church ANASTASIUS OF ANTIOCH ’It is manifest that those things are not to be inquired into, which Scripture has passed over into silence. For the Holy Spirit has dispensed and administered to us all things which conduce to our profit’ Anagog. Contemp. in Hexem. lib 8 init. ATHANASIUS "...from the tokens of truth are more exact as drawn from Scripture, than from other sources..." De Decretis, 31 "The Holy and Inspired Scriptures are sufficient of themselves for the preaching of the Truth’ Contra Gentiles, 1:1 "These [canonical] books are the fountains of salvation, sothat he who thirsts may be satisfied with the oracles contained in them: in these alone the school of piety preaches the Gospel; let no man add to or take away from them." Festal Letters 39 "For they were spoken and written by God." De Incarnatione 56 "...the Scriptures...will learn from them more completely and clearly the exact detail of what we said" De Incarnatione 56 "Scripture is of all things most sufficient for us." Ad Epis Aeg 4 "Divine Scripture is sufficient above all things." De Synodis 6 ANTONY of EGYPT ’The Scriptures are enough for instruction." Vita S. Antoni 16 AUGUSTINE ’What more shall I teach you than what we read in the Apostle? For Holy Scripture fixes the rule for our doctrine, lest we dare to be wiser than we ought.’ De Bono Viduitatis 2 ’Let us therefore give in ... to the authority of the Holy Scriptures’ De Peccatorum 33 ’Let us search for the church in the sacred Scriptures’ Epis 105 ’[H]e will find there in much greater abundance things that are to be found nowhere else, but can be learnt only in the wonderful sublimity and wonderful simplicity of the Scriptures’ De Doctr. Christ. 2,42,63 ’It believes also the Holy Scriptures, old and new, which we call canonical, and which are the source of the faith by which the just lives...’ De Civ. Dei 19,18 BASIL ’The hearers taught in the Scriptures ought to test what is said by teachers and accept that which agrees with the Scriptures but reject what is foreign’ Moralia 72:1 CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA ’How can we prove and certify as true something which Sacred Scripture does not attest?’ Glaphyra on Genesis, PG 69,53c CYRIL of JERUSALEM ’In regard to the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not the least part may be handed on without theHoly Scriptures. Do not be led astray by winning words and clever arguments. Even to me, who tell you these things, do not give ready belief, unless you receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of the things which I announce. The salvation in which we believe is not proved from clever reasoning, but from the Holy Scriptures. Catechetical Lectures 4,17. ’Nothing must be taught without the Sacred Scriptures’ PG 33,476-7 CHRYSOSTOM ’Therefore I beg you all that you give up what appeals to this one or that one and that you address all these questions concerning these things to the Scriptures.’ Homily 13 on 2 Corinthians ’If anything is said without Scripture, the thinking of the hearers limps. But where the testimony proceeds from the divinely given Scripture, it confirms both the speech of the preacher and the soul of the hearer’ Commenting on Psalms 95:1-11 ’But when Scripture wants to teach us something like that, it interprets itself and does not permit the hearer to err. I therefore beg and entreat that we close our ears to all these things and follow the canon of the Holy Scripture exactly’ Homily 13 on Genesis ’As a trusty door, Scripture shuts out heretics, securing us from error...’ Joann. 58 ’Everything in the divine Scriptures is clear and straightforward; they inform us about all that is necessary’ Epis 2 ad Thess 3,4 GREGORY OF NYSSA ’Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth’ Ep. Ad Eustathius IRENAEUS(The Father of Tradition) ’[B]eing most properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God’ Against Heresies 2,28,2 ’The apostles at that time first preached the Gospel but later by the will of God, they delivered it to us in the Scriptures, that it might be the foundation and pillar of our faith’ Against Heresies 3,1 ’Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in the Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scriptural proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, and that no lie is in Him’ Against Heresies 3,5,1 JEROME ’Ignorance of Scriptures is Ignorance of Christ’ In Is. Prologue ORIGEN ’It is necessary to take the Holy Scriptures as witnesses; for our comments and statements without these witnesses are not trustworthy’ In Jerem 1,7 ’For he knows that Scripture, as a whole, is God’s One Perfect and Complete Instrument, giving forth, to those who wish to learn its one saving music...’ In Matt. tom 2 TERTULLIAN "If it is nowhere written, then let it fear the woe which impends on all who add to or take away from the written word" Ad Hermogenes 22 ’It is right that His conduct be investigated according to the rule of Scripture’ Ad Marcion 3,17 THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH ’It would be acting according to demonic inspiration to followthe thinking of the human mind and to think there could be anything divine apart from the authority of the Scriptures’ Pascal Letter of 401 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. The Inspired Scripture "Look carefully into the Scriptures, which are the true utterances of the Holy Spirit." Clement of Rome[regn c91-c101],Letter to the Corinthians,45(A.D. 98),in ANF,I:17 "But when you hear the utterances of the prophets spoken as it were personally, you must not suppose that they are spoken by the inspired themselves, but by the Divine Word who moves them." Justin Martyr,First Apology,36(A.D. 155),in ANF,I:175 "We should leave things of that nature to God who created us, being most properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God and His Spirit; but we, inasmuch as we are inferior to, and later in existence than, the Word of God and His Spirit, are on that very account destitute of the knowledge of His mysteries." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,2,28:2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:399 "Moreover, concerning the righteousness which the law enjoined, confirmatory utterances are found both with the prophets and in the Gospels, because they all spoke inspired by one Spirit of God." Theophilus,To Autolycus,3:12(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:114 "This teaching the apostle knows as truly divine. ’Thou, O Timothy,’ he says, ’from a child hast known the holy letters, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus.’ For truly holy are those letters that sanctify and deify; and the writings or volumes that consist of those holy letters and syllables, the same apostle consequently calls ’inspired of God, being profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work.’ " Clement of Alexandria,Exhortation to the Greeks,9,82:1(A.D. 200),in ANF,II:196 "What, then, is the Paraclete’s administrative office but this: the direction of discipline, the revelation of the Scriptures, the reformation of the intellect, the advancement toward the ’better things?’ " Tertullian,On the Veiling of Virgins,1:5(A.D. 213),in ANF,IV:27 "They have treated the Divine Scriptures recklessly and without fear. They have set aside the rule of ancient faith;... But how daring this offense is, it is not likely that they themselves are ignorant. For either they do not believe that the Divine Scriptures were spoken by the Holy Spirit, and thus are unbelievers, or else they think themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and in that case what else are they than demoniacs?" Hippolytus of Rome,Against Artemon,Fragment in Eusebius’ EH 5,28:15,18(A.D. 230),in NPNF2,I:248 "Then, finally, that the Scriptures were written by the Spirit of God, and have a meaning, not such only as is apparent at first sight, but also another, which escapes the notice of most. For those (words) which are written are the forms of certain mysteries, and the images of divine things." Origen,Fundamental Doctrines,1,Preface:8(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:241 "Reading and observing this, we certainly think that no one is to be restrained from the fruit of satisfaction, and the hope of peace, since we know, according to the faith of the divine Scriptures, God Himself being their author, and exhorting in them, both that sinners are brought back to repentance, and that pardon and mercy are not denied to penitents." Cyprian,To Antonianus,Epistle 51[55]:27(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:335 "For although the sacred and inspired Scriptures are sufficient to declare the truth,--while there are other works of our blessed teachers compiled for this purpose, if he meet with which a man will gain some knowledge of the interpretation of the Scriptures, and be able to learn what he wishes to know,--still, as we have not at present in our hands the compositions of our teachers, we must communicate in writing to you what we learned from them,--the faith, namely, of Christ the Saviour; lest any should hold cheap the doctrine taught among us, or think faith. in Christ unreasonable." Athanasius,Against the Heathen,1(A.D. 318),in NPNF2,IV:4 Now these the divinely-inspired Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament teach us. For the God of the two Testaments is One, Who in the Old Testament foretold the Christ Who appeared in the New; Who by the Law and the Prophets led us to Christ’s school. For before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, and, the law hath been our tutor to bring us unto Christ. And if ever thou hear any of the heretics speaking evil of the Law or the Prophets, answer in the sound of the Saviour’s voice, saying, Jesus came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. Learn also diligently, and from the Church, what are the books of the Old Testament, and what those of the New." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,4:33(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:26 "We however, who extend the accuracy of the Spirit to the merest stroke and tittle, will never admit the impious assertion that even the smallest matters were dealt with haphazard by those who have recorded them" Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration II:105(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,VII:225 "How can he who calls Scripture ’God-inspired,’ because it was written through the inspiration of the Spirit, use the language of one who insults and belittles Him?" Basil,On the Spirit,21(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:34 "How, then, does He not possess all that pertains to God, Who is named by priests in baptism with the Father and the Son, and is invoked in the oblations, is proclaimed by the Seraphim in heaven with the Father and the Son, dwells in the Saints with the Father and the Son, is poured upon the just, is given as the source of inspiration to the prophets? And for this reason in the divine Scripture all is called theopneustos because God inspires what the Spirit has spoken." Ambrose,On the Holy Spirit,3,16:112(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,X:151 "The Scripture, ’given by inspiration of God,’ as the Apostle calls it, is the Scripture of the Holy Spirit, and its intention is the profit of men. For ’every scripture,’ he says, ’is given by inspiration of God and is profitable’; and the profit is varied and multiform, as the Apostle says--’for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’ " Gregory of Nyssa,Against Eunomius,7:1(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,V:192 "Knowing then these things, and collecting instances of the like kind from the inspired divine Scriptures (for it is possible to find many such examples in the case of various other persons) we deem that neither a difficulty arising from seasons or events, nor compulsion and force, nor the arbitrary authority of potentates furnish a sufficient excuse for us when we transgress." John Chrysostom,None can harm him who does not injure himself,(A.D. 406),in NPNF1,IX:283-4 "And if a man in searching the Scriptures endeavors to get at the intention of the author through whom the Holy Spirit spoke, whether he succeeds in this endeavor, or whether he draws a different meaning from the words, but one that is not opposed to sound doctrine, he is free from blame so long as he is supported by the testimony of some other passage of Scripture. For the author perhaps saw that this very meaning lay in the words which we are trying to interpret; and assuredly the Holy Spirit, who through him spoke these words, foresaw that this interpretation would occur to the reader, nay, made provision that it should occur to him, seeing that it too is founded on truth. For what more liberal and more fruitful provision could God have made in regard to the Sacred Scriptures than that the same words might be understood in several senses, all of which are sanctioned by the concurring testimony of other passages equally divine?" Augustine,Christian Instruction,3,27:38(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:567 "By the grace of the spirit they dived into the depths of God-inspired scripture and both themselves perceived its mind, and made it plain to all that are willing to learn." Theodoret of Cyr,To the Monks,Epistle 151(A.D. 431),in NPNF2,III:332 "All Scripture, then, is ’given by inspiration of God and is also assuredly profitable.’ Wherefore to search the Scriptures is a work most fair and most profitable for souls. For just as the tree planted by the channels of waters, so also the soul watered by the divine Scripture is enriched and gives fruit in its season, viz. orthodox belief, and is adorned with evergreen leafage, I mean, actions pleasing to God. For through the Holy Scriptures we are trained to action that is pleasing to God, and untroubled contemplation." John Damascene,Orthodox Faith,17(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:89 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. Free From All Error "Ye are fond of contention, brethren, and full of zeal aboutthings which do not pertain to salvation. Look carefully intothe Scriptures, which are the true utterances of the HolySpirit." Clement,To the Corinthians(A.D. 98),in ANF,I:17 "And Trypho said, ’Being shaken by so many Scriptures, I know not what to say about the Scripture which Isaiah writes, in which God says that He gives not His glory to another, speaking thus ’I am the Lord God; this is my name; my glorywill I not give to another, nor my virtues.’And I answered, ’If you spoke these words, Trypho, and then kept silence in simplicity and with no ill intent, neither repeating what goes before nor adding what comes after, you must be forgiven; but if[you have done so] because you imagined that you could throw doubt on the passage, in order that I might say the Scriptures contradicted each other, you have erred. But I shall not venture to suppose or to say such a thing; and if a Scripture which appears to be of such a kind be brought forward, and if there be a pretext[for saying] that it is contrary[to some other], since I am entirely convinced that no Scripture contradicts another, I shall admit rather that I do not understand what is recorded, and shall strive to persuade rather of the same opinion as myself." Justin Martyr,Dialogue with Trypho,65(A.D. 155),in ANF,I:230 "If, however, we cannot discover explanations of all those things in Scripture which are made the subject of investigation, yet let us not on that account seek after any other God besides Him who really exists. For this is the very greatest impiety. We should leave things of that nature to God who created us, being most properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God and His Spirit; but we, inasmuch as we are inferior to, and later in existence than, the Word of God and His Spirit, are on that very account destitute of the knowledge of His mysteries." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,2,28:2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:399 "It behoved, therefore, that he should the rather become a scholar of God in this matter of legislation, as he himself confessed that in no other way could he gain accurate information than by God’s teaching him through the law. And did not the poets Homer and Hesiod and Orpheus profess that they themselves had been instructed by Divine Providence? Moreover, it is said that among your writers there were prophets and prognosticators, and that those wrote accurately: who were informed by them. How much more, then, shall we know the truth who are instructed by the holy prophets, who were possessed by the Holy Spirit of God! On this account all the prophets spoke harmoniously and in agreement with one another, and foretold the things that would come to pass in all the world. For the very accomplishment of predicted and already consummated events should demonstrate to those who are fond of things are really true which they declared concerning the epochs and eras before the deluge: to wit, how the years have run on since the world was created until now, so as to manifest the ridiculous mendacity of your authors, and show that their statements are not true." Theophilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,17(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:116 "Therefore they[the followers of Artemon’s heresy] have laid their hands boldly upon the Divine Scriptures, alleging that they have corrected them...But how daring this offense is, it is not likely that they themselves are ignorant. For either they do not believe that the Divine Scriptures were spoken by the Holy Spirit, and thus are unbelievers, or else they think themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and in that case what else are they than demoniacs?" Hippolytus of Rome,Fragment in Eusebius’ EH 5:28(A.D. 230),in NPNF2,I:248 "In the case I have supposed where the historians desire to teach us by an image what they have seen in their mind, their meaning would be found, if the four were wise, to exhibit no disagreement; and we must understand that with the four Evangelists it is not otherwise." Origen,Commentary on John,10:4(A.D. 232),in ANF,X:383 " ’Blessed are the peacemakers. ...’ To the man who is a peacemaker in either sense there is in the Divine oracles nothing crooked or perverse, for they are all plain to those who understand. And because to such an one there is nothing crooked or perverse, he sees therefore abundance of peace in all the Scriptures, even in those which seem to be at conflict, and in contradiction with one another." Origen,Commentary on Matthew 2:1-23(A.D. 244),in ANF,X:413 "Now it is the opinion of some, that the Scriptures do not agree together, or that God, Who gave the commandment, is false. But there is no disagreement whatever, far from it, neither can the Father, Who is truth, lie; ’for it is bimpossible that God should lie,’ as Paul affirms. But all these things are plain to those who rightly consider them, and to those who receive with faith the writings of the law." Athanasius,To Rufinus,Epistle 19:3(A.D. 347),in NPNF2,IV:546 "And nothing of discrepancy will be found in Sacred Scripture, nor will there be found any statement in opposition to any other statement." Epiphanius,Panarion,70:7(A.D. 377),in JUR,II:75 "I am not, I repeat, so ignorant as to suppose that any of the Lord’s words is either in need of correction or is not divinely inspired." Jerome,To Marcellus,27:1(A.D. 385),in NPNF2,VI:44 "I have been reading also some writings, ascribed to you, on the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. In reading your exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians, that passage came to my hand in which the Apostle Peter is called back from a course of dangerous dissimulation. To find there the defence of falsehood undertaken, whether by you, a man of such weight, or by any author (if it is the writing of another), causes me, I must confess, great sorrow, until at least those things which decide my opinion in the matter are refuted, if indeed they admit of refutation. For it seems to me that most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books: that is to say, that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us, and committed to writing, did put down in these books anything false. It is one question whether it may be at any time the duty of a good man to deceive; but it is another question whether it can have been the duty of a writer of Holy Scripture to deceive: nay, it is not another question -- it is no question at all. For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority ’one false statement as made in the way of duty,1 there will not be left a single sentence of those books which, if appearing to any one difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away, as a statement in which, intentionally, and under a sense of duty, the author declared what was not true." Augustine,To Jerome,Epistle 28,3:3(A.D. 395),in NPNF1,I:251-252 "For I confess to your Charity that I have learned to yield this respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the Ms. is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it." Augustine,To Jerome,Epistle 82,1:3(A.D. 405),in NPNF1,I:350 "If we are perplexed by an apparent contradiction in Scripture, it is not allowable to say, The author of this book is mistaken; but either the manuscript is faulty, or the translation is wrong, or you have not understood." Augustine,Reply to Faustus the Manichean,11:5(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,IV:180 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 2C-TRADITION ======================================================================== Documents illustrating the coordinate authority of Sacred Tradition HOLY WRIT ’[A]nd maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you’ 1 Corinthians 11:2 Fathers of the Church AMBROSE ’But if they will not beleive the doctrines of the priests, let them beleive Christ’s oracles, let them beleive the admonitions of angels who say, "For with God nothing is impossible". Let them beleive the apostles CREED WHICH the ROMANS CHURCH as always kept undefiled’ To Sircius ATHANASIUS ’The confession arrived at Nicea was, we say more, SUFFICIENT and enough by ITSELF, for the subversion of all ireligious heresy, and for the security and furtherance of the doctrine of the Church’ Ad Afros 1 ’But the WORD OF THE LORD which came THROUGH the Ecumenical Synod at Nicea, abides forever’ Ad Afros 2 ’forcing on the divine oracles a misinterpretation according to their OWN PRIVATE sense’ Orat 1,37 ’...that He was not before that time, but is wholly man by nature and nothing more. But this is NO sentiment of the CHURCH, but of the Samosatene and of the present Jews...’ Orat 1,38 "This then I consider the sense of this passage, and that, a VERY ECCLESIASTICAL sense." Orat 1,44 ’Who heard in his FIRST CATECHISING, that God has a Son and has made all things by His proper Word, *BUT* understood it in THAT SENSE in which we now mean it? Who on the rise of this odious heresy of the Arians, was not startled at what he heard, as *strange* ’ Orat 2,34 "However here too they(the Arians) introduce theirprivate fictions, and contend that the Son and the Father are not in such wise ’one,’ or ’like,’ as the CHURCH preaches, but as they themselves would have it" Orat 3,10 "If we now consider the OBJECT of that FAITH which we Christians HOLD, and using it as a RULE, apply ourselves, as the Apostle teaches to the reading of inspired Scripture. For Christ’s enemies, being ignorant of this OBJECT, have wandered from the way of truth, and have stumbled on a stone of stumbling, thinking otherwise than they should think" Orat 3,28 ’let us, retaining the GENERAL SCOPE of the faith, acknowledge that what they interpret ill, HAS a right intepretation’ Had Christ enemies thus dwelt on these thoughts, and recognized the ECCLESIASTICAL SCOPE and an ANCHOR for the faith, they would NOT have made SHIPWRECK of the faith..." Orat 3,58 "We are content with the fact that this is not the teaching of the Catholic Church, nor did the Fathers hold this." Epis 59 "But our faith is right, and starts from the teaching of the Apostles and tradition of the fathers, being confirmed both by the NT and the Old." Epis 60 "But after him (the devil) and with him are all inventors of unlawful heresies,who indeed refer to the Scriptures, BUT DO NOT hold such opinions as thesaints have handed down, and receiving them as the traditions of men, err,because they DO NOT rightly KNOW THEM nor their power" Festal Letter 2 ’Scarcely, however, did they begin to speak, when they were condemned, and one differed from another; then perceiving the straits in which their heresy lay, they remained dumb, and by their silence confessed the disgrace which came upon their heterodoxy. On this the Bishops, having negatived the terms they had invented, published against them the SOUND and ECCLESIASTICAL faith....And what is strange indeed, Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine, who had denied the day before, but afterward subscribed, sent to his Church a letter, saying that this was the CHURCH’s faith and the TRADITION of the FATHERS’ De Decretis 3 ’Are they not then committing a crime in their very thought to gainsay so GREAT and ECUMENICAL a Council’? De Decretis 4 ’For, what OUR FATHERS have delivered, THIS IS TRULY DOCTRINE; and this is truly the TOKEN of doctors, to CONFESS THE SAME THING with each other, and to vary NEITHER from themselves nor from their FATHERS...Thus the Greeks, as not witnessing to the SAME doctrines, but quarreling one with another, have no truth of teaching; but the holy and veritable HERALDS of TRUTH AGREE TOGETHER, and do not differ..preaching the same Word harmoniously’ De Decretis 4 ’...and it is seemingly and most irreligious when Scripture contains such images, to form ideas concerning our Lord from others which are neither in Scripture, nor have any religious bearing. THEREFORE let them tell us FROM WHAT TEACHER or BY WHAT TRADITION they derived these notions concerning the Saviour?...But they seem to me to have a wrong understanding of this passage also; for it has a RELIGIOUS and VERY ORTHODOX sense, which had they understood, they wouldNOT have blasphemed the Lord of glory’ De Decretis 13 ’...and in dizziness about TRUTH, are full set upon accusing the COUNCIL, let them tell us what are the Scriptures from what they have learned , or WHO is the saint by whom they have BEEN TAUGHT...’ De Decretis 18 ’MUST needs hold and intend the decisions of the Council, suitably regarding them to signify the relation of the RADIANCE to the LIGHT, and FROM THENCE gaining the illustration TO THE TRUTH’ De Decretis 20 ’We are PROVING that THIS view has been TRANSMITTED from FATHER to FATHER, but ye, O modern Jews and disciples of Caiaphas, how many FATHERS CAN YE ASSIGN to your phrases? Not one of the understandings and wise; for all abhor you, but the devil alone; none but he is your father in this apostasy, who both in the beginning sowed you with the seed of this IRRELIGION, and now persuades you to slander the ECUMENICAL Council, for committing to writing, not YOUR doctrines, but that which from the BEGINNING those who were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word have handed down to us. For the faith which the COUNCIL has confessed in writing, that is the faith of the Catholic Church; to assert this, the BLESSED FATHERS so expressed themselves while condemning the Arian heresy...’ De Decretis 27 ’...For they dissent from each other, and , whereas they have revolted from THEIR FATHERS, are not of ONE AND THE SAME MIND, but float about with various and discordant changes’ De Synodis 13 ’For it is right and meet thus to feel, and to maintain a good conscience toward the FATHERS, if we be not spurious children, but have received the TRADITIONS from them, and the LESSONS of religion at their hands’ De Synodis 47 ’Such then, as we confess and beleive, being the SENSE of the FATHERS...’ De Synodis 48 ’...but do you, remaining on the foundation of the Apostles, and holding fast the TRADITIONS of the FATHERS, pray that now at length all strife and rivalry may CEASE and the futile questions of the heretics may be condemned...’ De Synodis 54 ’Of course, the holy Scriptures, divinely inspired are self-sufficient for the proclamation of the truth. But there are also numerous works composed for this purpose by blessed teachers. The ONE WHO READS THEM will ==UNDERSTAND== the INTERPRETATION of the Scriptures AND will be ABLE to GAIN knowledge he desrires’ C. Gentes 1 ’But the sectaries, who have fallen away from the TEACHING of the CHURCH, and made SHIPWRECK concerning the faith’ C. Gentes 6 ’But that the soul is made immortal is a further point in the CHURCH’S TEACHING which you must know...’ C. Gentes 33 ’But what is also to the point, let us note that the very TRADITION, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning was preached by the Apostles and PRESERVED by the FATHERS. On this the CHURCH was founded; and if anyone departs from THIS, he neither is, nor any longer ought to be called, a Christian.’ Ad Serapion 1,28 ANTONY of EGYPT "Wherefore keep yourselves all the more untainted by them, and observe the TRADITIONS of the FATHERS, and chiefly the holy faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, which you have learned from the SCRIPTURE, AND of which you have often been put in mind BY ME" Vita S. Antoni 89 AUGUSTINE "For in the Catholic Church, not to speak of the purest wisdom, to the knowledge of which a few spiritual men attain in this life, so as to know it, in the scantiest measure, indeed, becuase they are but men, still without any uncertainty...The consent of peoples and nations keep me in Church, so does her authority, inaugerated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The SUCCESSION of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the APOSTLE PETER, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave it in charge to feed his sheep, down to the present EPISCOPATE...The epistle begins thus:--’Manicheus, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the providence of God the Father. These are the wholesome words from the perennial and living fountain.’ Now, if you please, patiently give heed to my inquiry. I do not believe Manichues to be an apostle of Christ. Do not, I beg you, be enraged and begin to curse. For you know that it is my rule to beleive none of your statements without consideration. Therefore I ask, who is this Manicheus? You will reply, An Apostle of Christ. I do not beleive it. Now you are at a loss what to say or do; for you promised to give knowledge of truth, and here you are forcing me to beleive what I have no knowledge of. Perhaps you will read the gospel to me, and will attempt to find there a testimony to Manicheus. But should you meet with a person not yet beleiving in the gospel, how would you reply to him were he to say, I do not beleive? For MY PART, I should NOT BELEIVE the gospel except moved by the authority of the Catholic Church. So when those on whose authority I have consented to beleive in the gospel tell me not to beleive in Manicheus, how can I BUT CONSENT?" C. Epis Mani 5,6 "Wherever this tradition comes from, we must believe that the Church has not believed in vain, even though the express authority of the canonical scriptures is not brought forward for it" Letter 164 to Evodius of Uzalis "To be sure, although on this matter, we cannot quote a clear example taken from the canonical Scriptures, at any rate, on this question, we are following the true thought of Scriptures when we observe what has appeared good to the universal Church which the authority of these same Scriptures recommends to you" C. Cresconius I:33 "It is obvious; the faith allows it; the Catholic Church approves; it is true" Sermon 117:6 "If therefore, I am going to beleive things I do not know about, why should I not believe those things which are accepted by the common consent of learned and unlearned alike and are established by most weighty authority of all peoples?" C. Letter called Fundamentals 14:18 "Will you, then, so love your error, into which you have fallen through adolescent overconfidence and human weakness, that you will seperate yourself from these leaders of Catholic unity and truth, from so many different parts of the world who are in agreement among themselves on so important a question, one in which the essence of the Christian religion involved..?" C. Julian 1:7,34 "The authority of our Scriptures, strenghtened by the consent of so may nations, and confirmed by the succession of the Apostles, bishops and councils, is against you" C. Faustus 8:5 "No sensible person will go contrary to reason, no Christian will contradict the Scriptures, no lover of peace will go against the CHURCH" Trinitas 4,6,10 BASIL "Let us now investigate what are our common conceptions concerning the Spirit, as well those which have been gathered by us from Holy Scripture AS WELL those which have been gathered concerning it as those which we have RECEIVED from the UNWRITTEN tradition of the Fathers" Holy Spirit 22 "Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have delivered to us in a mystery by the Apostles by the tradition of the Apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force" Holy Spirit 27 "The day would fail me, if I went through the mysteries of the Church which are not in Scripture. I pass by the others, the very confession of faith, in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, from what written document have we?" Holy Spirit 67 "While the unwritten traditions are so many and their bearing on ’the mystery of godliness’ is so important, can they refuse us a single word which has come down to us from the Fathers;--which we found, derived from untutotred custom, abiding in unpreverted churches;--a word for which contributes in no small degree to the completeness of the force of the mystery" Holy Spirit 67 "In answer to the objection that the doxology in the form ’with the Spirit’ has NO written authority, we maintain that if there is not other instance of that which is unwritten, then this must not be recieved. But if the great number of our mysteries are admitted into our constitution without written authority, then, in company with many others, let us recieve this one. For I HOLD IT APOSTOLIC TO ABIDE BY THE UNWRITTEN TRADITIONS. ’I praise you,’ it is said, ’that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I have delivered them to you;’ and ’Hold fast the traditions which ye have been taught whether by by word, or our Epistle.’ One of these traditions is the practice which is now before us, which they who ordained from the beginning, rooted firmly in the churches, delivering it to their SUCCESSORS, and its use through long custom advances pace by pace with time. If as in a court of Law, we were at a loss for documentary evidence, but were able to bring before you a large number of witnesses, would you not give your vote for our aquittal? I think so; for ’at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established’. And if we could prove clearly to you that a long period of time was in our favour, should we not have seemed to you to urge you with reason that this suit ought not to be brought into court against us? For ancient dogmas inspire a certain sense of awe, venerable as they are with hoary antiquity" Holy Spirit 71 "...and I have not allowed my judgement concerning them to rest wholly with myself, but have followed decisions given about them by our Fathers." Epis 204,6 Basil continues affirming that he would receive the Arians if they started: "accepting the Nicene Creed.." Epis 204,6 Basil Continues: "is to be recieved without hesitation and difficulty, citing in support of his opinion the unanimous assent of the bishops of Macedonia and Asia" Eps 204,6 Again repudiating privateopinion and affirming Scripture, tradition and Church. Regarding the authority of St. Athanasius, the unanimous consent of Bishops, and Nicean Creed, Basil writes: "considering myself bound to follow the high authority of such a man and of those who made the rule, and with every desire on my part to win the reward promised peacemakers, did enroll in the lists of communicants all who accepted that creed. The fair thing would be to judge of me, not from one or two who do not walk uprightly in the truth, but from the multitiude of bishops throughout the world, connected with me by the grace of the Lord... you may learn that we are all of one mind and of one opinion. Whoso shuns communion with me, it cannot escape your accuracy, CUTS himself off from the whole Church." Epis 204,6-7 ’Not to accept the VOICE of the Fathers as being of more authority than their OPINION deserves reproof as something filled with pride!’ Epis to Canonicas CYPRIAN To Pope Cornelius ’After all this, they yet in addition, having had a false bishop ordained for them by heretics,dare to set sail, and to carry letters from schismatic and profane persons to the CHAIR of Peter, and the PRINCIPLE CHURCH, whence the unity of the priesthood took its rise. They fail to reflect that those Romans are the same as those who faith was publicly praised by the apostle, to whom unbelief CANNOT have access" Ephesians 59:14 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA Speaking of his own teachers, ’But they, safeguarding the TRUE tradition of the blessed teachin, which comes straight from the Apostles Peter, James, John and Paul and transmitted from father to son have come down to us with the help of God to deposit in us those acenstral and apostolic seeds’ Stromata 1,11 Right after Clement repudiates the private interpretation of the Gnostics he writes: ’For US...having grown old in the Scriptures, PRESERVING the Apostolic and ecclesiastical correctness of doctrine, living a life according to the Gospel, is led by the Lord to discover the proofs from the Law and the prophets which he seeks.’ ibid 7,104 COUNCIL OF NICEA I(AD 325) ’We believe in ONE HOLY CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC ++++CHURCH++++’ Nicene Creed COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE II(AD 553) ’We confess that(we) hold and declare the faith given from the beginning by the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ to the Holy Apostles, and preached by them in the whole world; which the sacred FATHERS CONFESSED and EXPLAINED, and HANDED down to the holy churches, and especially(those fathers) who assembled in the four sacred Synods, whom we follow and accept through all things and in all things...judging as at odds with piety all things, indeed, which are not in accord with what has been defined as RIGHT FAITH by the same four holy Councils, we condemn and anathematize.’ COUNCIL OF NICEA II(AD 787) ’If anyone rejects all ecclesiastical tradition either written or not written...let him be anathema’ CYRIL of JERUSALEM ’But in learning the Faith and in professing it, acquire andkeep that only, which is now DELIVERED TO THEE by THE CHURCH, AND which has been built up strongly out of all the SCRIPTURES.’ Catechetical Lectures 5,12 ’Learn also diligently, and FROM THE CHURCH, WHAT ARE THE BOOKS of the Old Testaments, and WHAT are the books of the NEW’ Catechetical Lectures 5,33 CHRYSOSTOM ’So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word, or by our epistle of ours’.Hence it is manifest, that they did not deliver all things by Epistle, but many things unwritten, and in like manner both the one and the other are worthy of credit. Therefore let us think the tradition of the Churh also worthy of credit. It is a tradition seek no farther." Homilies on 2 Thessalonians 2:15 "We may answer, that what is here written, was sufficient for those who would attend, and that the sacred writers ever addressed themsleves to the matter of immediate importance, whatever it might be at that time: it was no object with them to be writers of books: in fact, there are many things which have been delivered by UNWRITTEN TRADITION. Now while all that is contained in this Book is worthy of admiration, so is especially the way the Apostles have of coming down to the wants of their hearers: a condescension suggested by the Spirit who has so ordered it, that the subject on which they cheifly dwewll is that pertains to Christ as man. For so it is, that while they discourse so much about Christ, they have spoke little concerning His Godhead: it was mostly of the manhood that they discoursed, and of the Passion, and the Resurrection, and the Ascencion." Homilies on Acts 1:1-26; Acts 1:1-26 "Not in vain did the Apostles order that remembrance should be made of the dead in the dreadful mysteries" Hom Php 3:1-21; Php 4:1-23 EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS ’But for all the divine words, there is no need of allegory to grasp the meaning; what is necessary is study and understanding to know the MEANING of each statement. We must have recourse to TRADITION, for all cannot be received from the divine Scriptures. That is why the holy Apostles handed down certain things in writings but others by TRADITIONS. As Paul said:" Just as I handed them on to you." ’ Panarion 61,6 GREGORY of NAZIANZUS "My sheep hear my voice, which I heard from the oracles of God, which I have been taught by the Holy FATHERS, which I have taught alike on all occasions, not conforming myself to the opportune, and which I will never cease to teach; in which I was born, and in which I will depart" Orat 33,15 "I desire to learn what is this fashion of innovation in things concerning the Church..But since our faith has been proclaimed, both in writing and without writing, here and in distant parts, in times of danger and of safety, how comes it that some make such attempts, and that others keep silence?" Epis 101 GREGORY of NYSSA "It suffices for proof of our statement that we have a tradition coming down from the Fathers, an inheritance as it were, by succession from the Apostles through the saints who came after them." C. Eunomius 4:6 "...I say, that the Church teaches this in plain langauge, that the Only-begotten is essentially God, very God of the essence of the very God, how OUGHT one who OPPOSES her DECISIONS to overthrow the preconceived opinion?" C. Eunomius 4,6 "They, on the other hand, who change their doctrines to this novelty, would need the support of their arguments in abundance, if they were to bring over to their views, not men light as dust, and unstable, but MEN of weight and steadiness: but so long as their statement is advanced without being established, and without being proved, who is so foolish ad so brutish as to account the teaching of the evangelists and apostles, AND of those who successively shone like lights in the churches, of less force than this undemonstrated nonsense" C. Eunomius 4,6 HILARY OF POITIERS ’It behooves us not to withdraw from the CREED which we have received...nor to back off from the faith which we have recieved from through the prophets ... or to back-slide from the Gospels. Once laid down, it continues even to this day through the TRADITION of the FATHERS’ Ex. Oper. Hist. Fragment 7,3 HIPPOLYTUS OF ROME ’It is NOT by drawing on the Holy Scriptures NOR BY GUARDING the TRADITION of some holy person that the HERETICS have formulated these doctrines.’ Refutation of All Heresies 1,Preface IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH ’If I do not find it in the ancient Scriptures(OT), I will not beleive the Gospel; on my saying to them, It is written, they answered me, That remains to be proved. But to me Jesus Christ is in the place of all that is ancient: His cross, and death and resurrection, and the FAITH which is by Him are undefiled monuments of antiquity..’ Epis Philadelphians 8,2 ’Follow the bishop, all of you, as Jesus Christ follows his Father, and the presbterium as the Apostles. As for the deacons, respect them as the Law of God. Let no one do anything with reference to the Church without the bishop. Only that Eucharist may be regarded as legitimate which is celebrated with the bishop or his delegate presiding. Where the bishop is, there let the community be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church’ Epis Symyrnaens 8 IRENAEUS(The Father of Tradition) ’The apostles at that time FIRST PREACHED the Gospel but later by the will of God, they delivered it to us in the Scriptures, that it might be the foundation and pillar of our faith’ Against Heresies(AH) 3,1 ’Since, therefore, the TRADITION from the apostles DOES thus EXIST in the Church, and is PERMAMENT AMONG US, let us revert to the Scriptural proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, and that no lie is in Him’ AH 3,5,1 "Through none others know we the disposition of our salvation, than those through whom the gospel came to us, first heralding it, then by the will of God delivering to us the Scriptures, which were to be the foundation and pillar of our faith...But when, the heretics are Scriptures,as if they were wrong, and unauthoritative, and were variable, and the truth could not be extracted from them by those who were ignorant of tradition...And when we challengethem in turn whatthat tradition, which is from the Apostles,which isguarded by the succession of eldersinthe churches,they oppose themselves to Tradition, sayingthat they are wiser, not only than those elders, but even than the Apostles. The Tradition of the Apostles, manifested ’on the contrary’ in the whole world, is open in every Church to all who see the truth...And, since it is a long matter in a work like this to enumerate these successions, we will confute them by pointing to the Tradition of that greatest and most ancient and universally known Church, founded and constituted at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, atradition which she has had and a faith which she proclaims to all men from those Apostles’ AH 3,1-3 For Irenaeus tradition included three things 1)the faith that was handed on-oral or in writing ’For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us their writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those whom they did commit the Churches?’ AH 3,4:1 2)a living authority "Wherefore it is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the Church...those who, together with the succession of the episcopate, have recieved the certain gift of truth..." AH 26:2 3)transmission and preservation by succession. "In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is MOST abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the Apostles until now, and handed in truth" AH 3,3:3 "Then I have pointed out the truth, and shown the preaching of the Church, which the prophets proclaimed(as I have already demonstrated), but which Christ brought to perfection, and the apostles have handed down , from which the Church, recieving [these truths], and throughout all the world alone preserving them in their integrity, has transmitted them to her sons. Then also-having disposed of all questions which the heretics propose to us, and having explained the doctrine of the apostles, and clearly set forth many of those things which were said and done by the Lord in parables--I shall endeavor, in this fifth book of the entire work which treats of the exposure and refutation of knowledge falsely so called, to exhibit proofs from the rest of the Lord’s doctrine and apostolic epistles; [thus] complying with demand, as thou didst request of me(since indeed I have been assigned a place in ministry of the word); and, labouring by every means...and convert them to the Church of God...that they may preserve stedfast the faith which they have recieved, guarded by the Church in its integrity, in order that they be in no way preverted by those who endeavor to teach them false doctrine..." AH V Preface "Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to whom the apostles committed to the Churches; which fact I have in the third book taken all pains to demonstrate. It follows, then, as a matter of course, that these aforementioned, since they are blind to the truth,and deviate from the [right] way, will walk in various roads; and therefore the footsteps of their doctrine are scattered here and there without agreement or connection. But the path of those belonging to the Church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition of the Apostles, and gives unto us to see that the faith of all is one and the same ....And undoubtily the preaching of the Church is true and stedfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughtout the whole world...For the Church preaches the truth everywhere..." AH V 20,1 "Those, therefore, who desert the preaching of the Church, call in question the knowledge of the holy presbyters....It behoves us, therefore, to avoid their doctrines, and take careful heed lest we suffer any injury from them; but to flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and be nourished with the Lord’s Scriptures." AH V 20,2 Episcopal Succession "Wherefore it is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the Church, those who as I have shown, possess succession from the apostles; those who, together with the succession of bishops, have recieved the CERTAIN GIFT of TRUTH, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But [it is also uncumbent] to hold in SUSPICION others who DEPART from the primitive succession of the succession, and assemble themselves....But those who cleave asunder, and separate the unity of the Church, [shall] recieve from God the same punishments as Jeroboam did" AH 4,26:2 "Heretics assent neither to Scripture nor to Tradition"AH 3,2,1 JEROME ’Do you demand Scripture proof?You may find it in Acts of the Apostles. And even if it did NOT REST on the authority of the Scripture the CONSENSUS of the WHOLE WORLD in this respect would have the force of COMMAND...’ C. Dialogue Luciferians 8 ’And let them not flatter you themselves if they think theyhave Scripture authority sinc the devil himself has quoted Scripture texts...we could all, while preserving in the letter of Scripture, read into it some novel doctrine’ ibid 28 JOHN DAMASCUS ’So, then in expectation of His coming we worship toward the East. But this tradition of the apostles is unwritten. For much that has been handed down to us by tradition is unwritten’ Orthodox Faith 4,12,16 ’Moreover that the Apostles handed down much that was unwritten,Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, tells us in these words: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught of us, whether by word or epistle" And to the Corinthians he writes, "Now I praise your brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I have delivered them to you.’ Orthodox Faith 4,16 ’He who does not beleive according to the tradition of the Catholic Church is an unbeleiver’ C. Nestorians MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR ’I have no private opinion, but only agree with the Catholic Church’ Quoted from ’From the Housetops’ Vol 9, No.2 Serial 23 , p28 ORIGEN "The Church’s preaching has been handed down through an orderly succession from the Apostles and remains in the Church until the present. That alone is to be believed as the truth which in no way departs from ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition" First Principles 1,2 TERTULLIAN "We do not take our scriptural teaching from the parables but we interpret the parables according to our TEACHING" Purity 9,1 ’Let them show the origins of their churches, let them unroll the list of their bishops,(showing) through a succession coming down from the very beginning that their first bishop had his authority and predecessor someone from among the number of Apostles or apostolic men and, further, that he did not stray from the Apostles. In this way the apostolic churches present their earliest records. The church of Smyrna, for example, records that Polycarp was named by John; the Romans, that Clement was ordained by Peter. In just the same way, the other churches show who were made bishops by the Apostles and who transmitted the apostolic seed to them. Let the heretics invent something like that’ Prescr Ag Heretics 32 THEODORET OF CYRUS ’This teaching has been handed down to us not only by the Apostles and prophets but also by those who have INTERPRETED their writings, Ignatius, Eustathius, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory...and other lights of the world and before them, by the HOLY FATHERS gathered at Nicea whose confession of faith we have kept intact, as the inheritance from a Father, while those who dare to VIOLATE THEIR TEACHINGS, we call corrupt and enemies of truth’ Epis 89 THEODOSIUS, says Socrates ’..This being an anxious matter to Nectarius, Sicinnius advised him to avoid all dialectic contests, and to APPEAL to the STATEMENTS of THE ANCIENTS, and to put the question to the heresiarchs from the Emperor whether they made any account of the doctors who belonged to the Church before the division or came to issue with them as aliens from Christianity’ Hist 5,10 VINCENT OF LERINS Vincent of Lerins remarks(as many of the Fathers do) that the first thing the heretic says to affirm his position is: ’It is written...!’ ’When anyone asks one of these heretics who presents arguments: Where are the proofs of your teacing that I should leave behind the world-wide and ancient faith of the Catholic Church? He will jump in before you have finished with the question: "It is written" He follows upimmediately with thousands of texts and examples...’ Commonit 1,26 "Here perhaps, someone may ask: Since the canon of the Scripture is complete and more than sufficient in itself, why is it necessary to add to it the authority of ecclesiastical interpretation? As a matter of fact, [we must answer] Holy Scripture, because of its depth, is not universally accepted in one and the same sense. The same text is interpreted different by different people, so that one may almost gain the impression that it can yield as many different meanings as there are men.Novatian, for example, expounds a passage in one way; Sabellius, in another; Donatus, in another. Arius, and Eunomius, and Macedonius read it differently; so do Photinus, Apollinaris, and Priscillian; in another way, Jovian, Pelagius, and Caelestius; finally still another way, Nestorius. Thus, becuase of the great distortions caused by various erros, it is, indeed, necessary that the trend of the interpretation of the prophetic and apostolic writings be directed in accordance with the rule of the ecclesiastical and Catholic meaning" Comm 2 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. Private Exegesis apart from Tradition and Church "True knowledge is [that which consists in] the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto us, being guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures, by a very complete system of doctrine, and neither receiving addition nor [suffering] curtailment [in the truths which she believes]; and [it consists in] reading [the word of God] without falsification, and a lawful and diligent exposition in harmony with the Scriptures, both without danger and without blasphemy; and [above all, it consists in] the pre-eminent gift of love, which is more precious than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and which excels all the other gifts [of God]." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4,33:8 (inter A.D. 180-199),in ANF,I:508 "But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men, ùa man, moreover, who continued stedfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed. Let the heretics contrive something of the same kind. For after their blasphemy, what is there that is unlawful for them (to attempt)? But should they even effect the contrivance, they will not advance a step. For their very doctrine, after comparison with that of the apostles, will declare, by its own diversity and contrariety, that it had for its author neither an apostle nor an apostolic man; because, as the apostles would never have taught things which were self-contradictory, so the apostolic men would not have inculcated teaching different from the apostles, unless they who received their instruction from the apostles went and preached in a contrary manner. To this test, therefore will they be submitted for proof by those churches, who, although they derive not their founder from apostles or apostolic men (as being of much later date, for they are in fact being founded daily), yet, since they agree in the same faith, they are accounted as not less apostolic because they are akin in doctrine. Then let all the heresies, when challenged to these two tests by our apostolic church, offer their proof of how they deem themselves to be apostolic. But in truth they neither are so, nor are they able to prove themselves to be what they are not. Nor are they admitted to peaceful relations and communion by such churches as are in any way connected with apostles, inasmuch as they are in no sense themselves apostolic because of their diversity as to the mysteries of the faith." Tertullian,On Prescription against the Heretics,32 (c.A.D. 200),in ANF,III:258 "For those are slothful who, having it in their power to provide themselves with proper proofs for the divine Scriptures from the Scriptures themselves, select only what contributes to their own pleasures. And those have a craving for glory who voluntarily evade, by arguments of a diverse sort, the things delivered by the blessed apostles and teachers, which are wedded to inspired words; opposing the divine tradition by human teachings, in order to establish the heresy."Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,7:16 (post A.D. 202),in ANF,II:553-554 "When heretics show us the canonical Scriptures, in which every Christian believes and trusts, they seem to be saying:’Lo, he is in the inner rooms [ie., the word of truth] ’ (Matthew 24:6). But we must not believe them, nor leave the original tradition of the Church, nor believe otherwise than we have been taught by the succession in the Church of God." Origen,Homilies on Matthew,Homily 46,PG 13:1667 (ante A.D. 254),in CON,392 "For the method of godliness consists of these two things, pious doctrines, and virtuous practice: and neither are the doctrines acceptable to God apart from good works, nor does God accept the works which are not perfected with pious doctrines. For what profit is it, to know well the doctrines concerning God, and yet to be a vile fornicator? And again, what profit is it, to be nobly temperate, and an impious blasphemer? A most precious possession therefore is the knowledge of doctrines: also there is need of a wakeful soul, since there are many that make spoil through philosophy and vain deceit. The Greeks on the one hand draw men away by their smooth tongue, for honey droppeth from a harlot’s lips: whereas they of the Circumcision deceive those who come to them by means of the Divine Scriptures, which they miserably misinterpret though studying them from childhood to all age, and growing old in ignorance. But the children of heretics, by their good words and smooth tongue, deceive the hearts of the innocent, disguising with the name of Christ as it were with honey the poisoned arrows of their impious doctrines: concerning all of whom together the Lord saith, Take heed lest any man mislead you. This is the reason for the teaching of the Creed and for expositions upon it." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,4:2 (A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:19 "And, O wretched heretic! you turn the weapons granted to the Church against the Synagogue, against belief in the Church’s preaching, and distort against the common salvation of all the sure meaning of a saving doctrine." Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,12:36 (inter A.D. 356-359),in NPNF2,IX:227 "But since they allege the divine oracles and force on them a misinterpretation, according to their private sense, it becomes necessary to meet them just so far as to vindicate these passages, and to shew that they bear an orthodox sense, and that our opponents are in error." Athanasius,Discourse Against the Arians,I:37(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:327-328 "To refuse to follow the Fathers, not holding their declaration of more authority than one’s own opinion, is conduct worthy of blame, as being brimful of self-sufficiency."Basil,EpistleTo the Canonicae,52:1 (A.D. 370),in NPNF2,VIII:155 "While (the sects) mutually refute and condemn each other, it has happened to truth as to Gideon; that is, while they fight against each other, and fall under wounds mutually inflicted, they crown her. All the heretics acknowledge that there is a true Scripture. Had they all falsely believed that none existed, some one might reply that such Scripture was unknown to them. But now that have themselves taken away the force of such plea, from the fact that they have mutilated the very Scriptures. For they have corrupted the sacred copies; and words which ought to have but one interpretation, they have wrested to strange significations. Whilst, when one of them attempts this, and cuts off a member of his own body, the rest demand and claim back the severed limb....It is the church which perfect truth perfects. The church of believers is great, and its bosom most ample; it embraces the fulness (or, the whole) of the two Testaments." Ephraem,Adv. Haeres. (ante A.D. 373),in FOC,I:377-378 "Who knows not that what separates the Church from heresy is this term, ’product of creation, ’ applied to the Son? Accordingly, the doctrinal difference being universally acknowledged, what would be the reasonable course for a man to take who endeavors to show that his opinions are more true than ours?" Gregory of Nyssa,Against Eunomius,4:6 (inter A.D. 380-384),in NPNF2,V:162 "For heresies, and certain tenets of perversity, ensnaring souls and hurling them into the deep, have not sprung up except when good Scriptures are not rightly understood, and when that in them which is not rightly understood is rashly and boldly asserted. And so, dearly beloved, ought we very cautiously to hear those things for the understanding of which we are but little ones, and that, too, with pious heart and with trembling, as it is written, holding this rule of soundness, that we rejoice as in food in that which we have been able to understand, according to the faith with which we are imbued;" Augustine,On the Gospel of John,Homily XVIII:1 (A.D. 416 et 417),NPNFI,VII:117 "If you produce from the divine scriptures something that we all share, we shall have to listen. But those words which are not found in the scriptures are under no circumstance accepted by us, especially since the Lord warns us, saying, In vain they worship me, teaching human commandments and precepts’(Matthew 5:19) " (Arch-Arian Heretic),Debate with Maximinus,1 (c.A.D. 428),in AAOH,188 "Therefore, as I said above, if you had been a follower and assertor of Sabellianism or Arianism or any heresy you please, you might shelter yourself under the example of your parents, the teaching of your instructors, the company of those about you, the faith of your creed. I ask, O you heretic, nothing unfair, and nothing hard. As you have been brought up in the Catholic faith, do that which you would do for a wrong belief. Hold fast to the teaching of your parents. Hold fast the faith of the Church: hold fast the truth of the Creed: hold fast the salvation of baptism." Cassian,John,Incarnation of the Lord,6:5 (c.A.D. 429/430),in NPNF2,XI:593-594 "I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: That whether I or any one else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they rise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways; first, by the authority of the Divine Law, and then, bythe Tradition of the CatholicChurch." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitory,2:4 (c.A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:132 "But the Church of Christ, the careful and watchful guardian of the doctrines deposited in her charge, never changes anything in them, never diminishes, never adds, does not cut off what is necessary, does not add what is superfluous, does not lose her own, does not appropriate what is another’s, but while dealing faithfully and judiciously with ancient doctrine, keeps this one object carefully in view,ùif there be anything which antiquity has left shapeless and rudimentary, to fashion and polish it, if anything already reduced to shape and developed, to consolidate and strengthen it, if any already ratified and defined to keep and guard it. Finally, what other object have Councils ever aimed at in their decrees, than to provide that what was before believed in simplicity should in future be believed intelligently, that what was before preached coldly should in future be preached earnestly, that what was before practised negligently should thenceforward be practised with double solicitude ? This, I say, is what the Catholic Church, roused by the novelties of heretics, has accomplished by the decrees of her Councils,ùthis, and nothing else,ùshe has thenceforward consigned to posterity in writing what she had received from those of olden times only by tradition, comprising a great amount of matter in a few words, and often, for the better understanding, designating an old article of the faith by the characteristic of a new name." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitory,23:59 (c.A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:148-149 "[A]ll heresies, that they evermore delight in profane novelties, scorn the decisions of antiquity, and ...make shipwreck of the faith. On the other hand, it is the sure characteristic of Catholics to keep that which has been committed to their trust by the holy Fathers...." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitory,24:63 (c.A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:150 "His (Nestorius) first attempt at innovation was, that the holy Virgin, who bore the Word of God, who took flesh of her, ought not to be confessed to be the mother of God, but only the mother of Christ; though of old, yea from the first, the preachers of the orthodox faith taught, agreeably to the apostolic tradition, that the mother of God. And now let me produce his blasphemous artifice and observation unknown to any one before him." Theodoret of Cyrus,Compendium of Heretics’ Fables,12 (c.A.D. 453),in FOC,I:449 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-1998 All Rights Reserved. Private Exegesis apart from Tradition and Church "True knowledge is [that which consists in] the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto us, being guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures, by a very complete system of doctrine, and neither receiving addition nor [suffering] curtailment [in the truths which she believes]; and [it consists in] reading [the word of God] without falsification, and a lawful and diligent exposition in harmony with the Scriptures, both without danger and without blasphemy; and [above all, it consists in] the pre-eminent gift of love, which is more precious than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and which excels all the other gifts [of God]." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4,33:8 (inter A.D. 180-199),in ANF,I:508 "But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men, ùa man, moreover, who continued stedfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed. Let the heretics contrive something of the same kind. For after their blasphemy, what is there that is unlawful for them (to attempt)? But should they even effect the contrivance, they will not advance a step. For their very doctrine, after comparison with that of the apostles, will declare, by its own diversity and contrariety, that it had for its author neither an apostle nor an apostolic man; because, as the apostles would never have taught things which were self-contradictory, so the apostolic men would not have inculcated teaching different from the apostles, unless they who received their instruction from the apostles went and preached in a contrary manner. To this test, therefore will they be submitted for proof by those churches, who, although they derive not their founder from apostles or apostolic men (as being of much later date, for they are in fact being founded daily), yet, since they agree in the same faith, they are accounted as not less apostolic because they are akin in doctrine. Then let all the heresies, when challenged to these two tests by our apostolic church, offer their proof of how they deem themselves to be apostolic. But in truth they neither are so, nor are they able to prove themselves to be what they are not. Nor are they admitted to peaceful relations and communion by such churches as are in any way connected with apostles, inasmuch as they are in no sense themselves apostolic because of their diversity as to the mysteries of the faith." Tertullian,On Prescription against the Heretics,32 (c.A.D. 200),in ANF,III:258 "For those are slothful who, having it in their power to provide themselves with proper proofs for the divine Scriptures from the Scriptures themselves, select only what contributes to their own pleasures. And those have a craving for glory who voluntarily evade, by arguments of a diverse sort, the things delivered by the blessed apostles and teachers, which are wedded to inspired words; opposing the divine tradition by human teachings, in order to establish the heresy."Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,7:16 (post A.D. 202),in ANF,II:553-554 "When heretics show us the canonical Scriptures, in which every Christian believes and trusts, they seem to be saying:’Lo, he is in the inner rooms [ie., the word of truth] ’ (Matthew 24:6). But we must not believe them, nor leave the original tradition of the Church, nor believe otherwise than we have been taught by the succession in the Church of God." Origen,Homilies on Matthew,Homily 46,PG 13:1667 (ante A.D. 254),in CON,392 "For the method of godliness consists of these two things, pious doctrines, and virtuous practice: and neither are the doctrines acceptable to God apart from good works, nor does God accept the works which are not perfected with pious doctrines. For what profit is it, to know well the doctrines concerning God, and yet to be a vile fornicator? And again, what profit is it, to be nobly temperate, and an impious blasphemer? A most precious possession therefore is the knowledge of doctrines: also there is need of a wakeful soul, since there are many that make spoil through philosophy and vain deceit. The Greeks on the one hand draw men away by their smooth tongue, for honey droppeth from a harlot’s lips: whereas they of the Circumcision deceive those who come to them by means of the Divine Scriptures, which they miserably misinterpret though studying them from childhood to all age, and growing old in ignorance. But the children of heretics, by their good words and smooth tongue, deceive the hearts of the innocent, disguising with the name of Christ as it were with honey the poisoned arrows of their impious doctrines: concerning all of whom together the Lord saith, Take heed lest any man mislead you. This is the reason for the teaching of the Creed and for expositions upon it." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,4:2 (A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:19 "And, O wretched heretic! you turn the weapons granted to the Church against the Synagogue, against belief in the Church’s preaching, and distort against the common salvation of all the sure meaning of a saving doctrine." Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,12:36 (inter A.D. 356-359),in NPNF2,IX:227 "But since they allege the divine oracles and force on them a misinterpretation, according to their private sense, it becomes necessary to meet them just so far as to vindicate these passages, and to shew that they bear an orthodox sense, and that our opponents are in error." Athanasius,Discourse Against the Arians,I:37(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:327-328 "To refuse to follow the Fathers, not holding their declaration of more authority than one’s own opinion, is conduct worthy of blame, as being brimful of self-sufficiency."Basil,EpistleTo the Canonicae,52:1 (A.D. 370),in NPNF2,VIII:155 "While (the sects) mutually refute and condemn each other, it has happened to truth as to Gideon; that is, while they fight against each other, and fall under wounds mutually inflicted, they crown her. All the heretics acknowledge that there is a true Scripture. Had they all falsely believed that none existed, some one might reply that such Scripture was unknown to them. But now that have themselves taken away the force of such plea, from the fact that they have mutilated the very Scriptures. For they have corrupted the sacred copies; and words which ought to have but one interpretation, they have wrested to strange significations. Whilst, when one of them attempts this, and cuts off a member of his own body, the rest demand and claim back the severed limb....It is the church which perfect truth perfects. The church of believers is great, and its bosom most ample; it embraces the fulness (or, the whole) of the two Testaments." Ephraem,Adv. Haeres. (ante A.D. 373),in FOC,I:377-378 "Who knows not that what separates the Church from heresy is this term, ’product of creation, ’ applied to the Son? Accordingly, the doctrinal difference being universally acknowledged, what would be the reasonable course for a man to take who endeavors to show that his opinions are more true than ours?" Gregory of Nyssa,Against Eunomius,4:6 (inter A.D. 380-384),in NPNF2,V:162 "For heresies, and certain tenets of perversity, ensnaring souls and hurling them into the deep, have not sprung up except when good Scriptures are not rightly understood, and when that in them which is not rightly understood is rashly and boldly asserted. And so, dearly beloved, ought we very cautiously to hear those things for the understanding of which we are but little ones, and that, too, with pious heart and with trembling, as it is written, holding this rule of soundness, that we rejoice as in food in that which we have been able to understand, according to the faith with which we are imbued;" Augustine,On the Gospel of John,Homily XVIII:1 (A.D. 416 et 417),NPNFI,VII:117 "If you produce from the divine scriptures something that we all share, we shall have to listen. But those words which are not found in the scriptures are under no circumstance accepted by us, especially since the Lord warns us, saying, In vain they worship me, teaching human commandments and precepts’(Matthew 5:19) " (Arch-Arian Heretic),Debate with Maximinus,1 (c.A.D. 428),in AAOH,188 "Therefore, as I said above, if you had been a follower and assertor of Sabellianism or Arianism or any heresy you please, you might shelter yourself under the example of your parents, the teaching of your instructors, the company of those about you, the faith of your creed. I ask, O you heretic, nothing unfair, and nothing hard. As you have been brought up in the Catholic faith, do that which you would do for a wrong belief. Hold fast to the teaching of your parents. Hold fast the faith of the Church: hold fast the truth of the Creed: hold fast the salvation of baptism." Cassian,John,Incarnation of the Lord,6:5 (c.A.D. 429/430),in NPNF2,XI:593-594 "I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: That whether I or any one else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they rise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways; first, by the authority of the Divine Law, and then, bythe Tradition of the CatholicChurch." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitory,2:4 (c.A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:132 "But the Church of Christ, the careful and watchful guardian of the doctrines deposited in her charge, never changes anything in them, never diminishes, never adds, does not cut off what is necessary, does not add what is superfluous, does not lose her own, does not appropriate what is another’s, but while dealing faithfully and judiciously with ancient doctrine, keeps this one object carefully in view,ùif there be anything which antiquity has left shapeless and rudimentary, to fashion and polish it, if anything already reduced to shape and developed, to consolidate and strengthen it, if any already ratified and defined to keep and guard it. Finally, what other object have Councils ever aimed at in their decrees, than to provide that what was before believed in simplicity should in future be believed intelligently, that what was before preached coldly should in future be preached earnestly, that what was before practised negligently should thenceforward be practised with double solicitude ? This, I say, is what the Catholic Church, roused by the novelties of heretics, has accomplished by the decrees of her Councils,ùthis, and nothing else,ùshe has thenceforward consigned to posterity in writing what she had received from those of olden times only by tradition, comprising a great amount of matter in a few words, and often, for the better understanding, designating an old article of the faith by the characteristic of a new name." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitory,23:59 (c.A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:148-149 "[A]ll heresies, that they evermore delight in profane novelties, scorn the decisions of antiquity, and ...make shipwreck of the faith. On the other hand, it is the sure characteristic of Catholics to keep that which has been committed to their trust by the holy Fathers...." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitory,24:63 (c.A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:150 "His (Nestorius) first attempt at innovation was, that the holy Virgin, who bore the Word of God, who took flesh of her, ought not to be confessed to be the mother of God, but only the mother of Christ; though of old, yea from the first, the preachers of the orthodox faith taught, agreeably to the apostolic tradition, that the mother of God. And now let me produce his blasphemous artifice and observation unknown to any one before him." Theodoret of Cyrus,Compendium of Heretics’ Fables,12 (c.A.D. 453),in FOC,I:449 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-1998 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 2Z-SOLO SCRIPTURA ======================================================================== Sola Scriptura in the early Church The Problem "He, therefore, will not be a Christian who shall deny this doctrine which is confessed by Christians; denying it, moreover, on grounds which are adopted by a man who is not a Christian. Take away, indeed, from the heretics the wisdom which they share with the heathen, and let them support their inquiries from the Scriptures alone: they will then be unable to keep their ground." Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh,3 Recently a few Evangelical Christians have attempted to find the Protestant doctrine of sola Scriptura within the writings of the Church Fathers[1]. These writers do not understand the coordinate role of Tradition and its relationship with Scripture in the ancient Church. Catholic[2], Orthodox[3], Coptic[4] and many Protestant[5] patristic scholars agree that the rule of faith in the early Church consisted of Scripture, Tradition and Church[2]. Not a single Church Father interpreted Sacred Scripture in isolation from the traditional faith of the Church; rather, the Fathers applied Tradition as a rule to interpret Scripture. The only ancient teachers who interpreted Scripture apart from Tradition were the early heretics. Before the NT was collated and canonized, there were those who would only admit the OT Scripture and reject the oral Christian tradition. St. Ignatius writes: "And I exhort you to do nothing out of strife, but according to the doctrine of Christ. When I heard some saying, If I do not find it in the ancient Scriptures, I will not believe the Gospel; on my saying to them, It is written, they answered me, That remains to be proved. But to me Jesus Christ is in the place of all that is ancient: His cross, and death, and resurrection, and the faith which is by Him, are undefiled monuments of antiquity." Epistle to the Philadephians 8:2 St. Ignatius contrasts the authority of this Scriptures-only mentality with the Christian tradition. According to St. Ignatius, one interprets the OT Scripture within the framework of the Christian Gospel. . Some Gnostics not only attempted to falsify the canon of Scripture(such as Marcion) but appealed exclusively to the same and rejected tradition. Eusebius preserves this citation which describes the behavior of those who follow Theodotus, a Unitarian: "They have treated the Divine Scriptures recklessly and without fear. They have set aside the rule of the ancient faith; and Christ they have not known. They do not endeavor to learn what the Divine Scriptures declare, but strive laboriously after any form of syllogism which may be devised to sustain their impiety. And if any one brings before them a passage of Divine Scripture, they see whether a conjunctive or disjunctive form of syllogism can be made from it." Eusebius Church History, V:28:13 These Unitarians relied on Scripturealone and rejected the tradition of the Church. Tertullian of Carthage discovered the futility of interpreting Scripture outside of the framework of the Church and her Tradition.Tertullian writes: "Our appeal, therefore, must not be made to the Scriptures; nor must controversy be admitted on points in which victory will either be impossible, or uncertain, or not certain enough. But even if a discussion from the Scriptures should not turn out in such a way as to place both sides on a par, (yet) the natural order of things would require that this point should be first proposed, which is now the only one which we must discuss: ’With whom lies that very faith to which the Scriptures belong. From what and through whom, and when, and to whom, has been handed down that rule, by which men become Christians?" For wherever it shall be manifest that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will likewise be the true Scriptures and expositions thereof, and all the Christian traditions." Tertullian Prescription Against the Heretics, 19 Likewise, St. Athanasius makes the same claim regarding the Arians. According to St. Athanasius the Arians read Scripture according to their own private lights and rejected the traditions of the Church. This is a recurring theme in the writings of the Church Fathers. According to Athanasius, the Arians’ rejection of the Church tradition resulted in their divisions and heresy: "The blessed Apostle approves of the Corinthians because, he says, ’ye remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you’ (1 Cor. xi. 2); but they, as entertaining such views of their predecessors, will have the daring to say just the reverse to their flocks: ’We praise you not for remembering your fathers, but rather we make much of you, when you hold not their traditions. And let them go on to accuse their own unfortunate birth, and say, ’We are sprung not of religious men but of heretics.’ For such language, as I said before, is consistent in those who barter their Fathers’ fame and their own salvation for Arianism, and fear not the words of the divine proverb, ’There is a generation that curseth their father’ (Prov. xxx. 11; Ex. xxi. 17), and the threat lying in the Law against such. They then, from zeal for the heresy, are of this obstinate temper; you, however, be not troubled at it, nor take their audacity for truth. For they dissent from each other, and, whereas they have revolted from their Fathers, are not of one and the same mind, but float about with various and discordant changes." St. Athanasius De Synodis,14 St. Basil of Ceasarea observes the same fatal flaw in those who rejected the deity of the Holy Spirit - the Pneumatomachianists(the Spirit fighters). St. Basil writes: "It is against us, they say, that they are preparing their engines and their snares; against us that they are shouting to one another, according to each one’s strength or cunning, to come on. But the object of attack is faith. The one aim of the whole band of opponents and enemies of ’sound doctrine’ is to shake down the foundation of the faith of Christby levelling apostolic tradition with the ground, and utterly destroying it. So like the debtors,--of course bona fide debtors.-they clamour for written proof, and reject as worthless the unwritten tradition of the Fathers." St. Basil Holy Spirit,10:25 Basil could not have provided a more clear passage in contrasting the rule of faith between Catholics and heretics. The Pneumatomachianists, like the Arians and Gnostics, appealed to the Scriptures alone and rejected the tradition of the Church! St. Augustine finds the wayward principle in the Pelagians and Arians. Pelagius expresses himself as follows: "What we read, therefore, let us believe; and what we do not read, let us deem it wicked to add; and let it suffice to have said this of all cases." Nature and Grace,46[39] In other words, Pelagius would only admit what is read within the pages of Holy Writ; hence, like the heretics before him rejected tradition. In the latter part of St. Augustine’s life, St. Augustine was involved in an oral debate with an Arian bishop - Maximinus. Maximinus proclaims at the very start of the exchange: "I did not come to this city in order to stage a debate with Your Holiness. Rather, I am here, sent by Count Segisvult with a view to peace ... If you produce from the divine scriptures something that we all share, we shall have to listen. But those words which are not found in the scriptures are under no circumstances accepted by us, especially since the Lord warns us, saying, In vain they worship me, teaching human commandments and precepts (Matthew 15:9)" Augustine Debate with Maximinus,1 In other words, Maximinus rejected all traditional monuments such as Nicea and would only accept what was found in Scripture. Coincidentally, Maximinus appealed to1 Timothy 3:16in defense of his Bible-only mentality: "All divinely inspired scripture is useful for teaching (2 Timothy 3:16). For that reason, not one least letter or one particle of a letter will pass away (Matthew 5:18). The Lord said, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Matthew 24:35)." Debate with Maximinus,15:16 Elsewhere, Maximinus continues to denigrate the authority of tradition and the deity of Christ: "Even if one produces from testimonies from the divine scriptures all day long, it will not be truly counted against one as wordiness. But if one uses some literary skill or cleverness of mind and makes up words which the holy scriptures do not contain, they are both idle and superfluous." Debate with Maximinus,13 Time and time again, Maximinus criticizes the traditional monuments such as Trinity and homoousios! Later, Maximinus challengesSt. Augustine to defend the deity of theHoly Spirit’s on the basis of the Scriptures-alone: "The truth is not obtained by argumentation, but is proved by certain [scriptural] testimonies. For this reason you ought to produce [scriptural] testimonies that the Holy Spirit is God." Debate with Maximinus,15:21 Lastly, we visit the arch-heretic Eutyches. Eutyches affirmed after the Incarnation that Christ possessed only one nature not two - the divine and human nature. The Council of Chalcedon writes: "He[Eutyches] said that he was ready to receive the decrees of the holy fathers assembled in the Councils of Nice and Ephesus, and promises to subscribe to their definitions. But if in their declarations anything by chance should be found either unsound or false, he says that he will neither reject or approve of it: but search the scripture aloneas beingmore solid than all the decrees of the fathers." Council of Chalcedon, Acts 1:1-26 In Eutyches we find Luther all over again! What could be more different than Gnosticism, Pelagianism, Arianism, Eutychianism and Pneumatomachianism? Yet, we find the formal principle of sola scriptura applied across these early heresies. The early testimony is clear - if one fails to interpret Scripture within the milieu of Tradition and replace it with a private reading of Scripture than one can come up with about anything. If one wishes to find adherents to the principle of sola scriptura, one need look no further than the proponents of the early heresies. The Antidote "Putting aside all Greek literature, they[St. Basil and St. Gregory] are said to have passed thirteen years together in studying the Scriptures alone, and followed out their sense, not from their private opinions, but by the writings and authority of the Fathers." Rufinus,Church History, 2:9 Notes: [1] Don Kistler, ed., Sola Scriptura! The Protestant Position on the Bible (Morgan: Soli Deo Gloria, 1996), William Webster, The Church of Rome at the Bar of History (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1995), John Armstrong, ed., Roman Catholicism: Evangelical Protestants Analyze What Divides and Unites Us (Chicago: Moody, 1995) [2] Congar Yves, Tradition And Traditions (New York: Macmillan, 1966), Gallegos J.A., "What did the Early Fathers teach about Scripture, Tradition, and Church Authority" Not by Scripture Alone, Ed. Robert Sungenis (Santa Barbara:Queenship, 1997), Tavard George, Holy Writ or Holy Church: The Crisis of the Protestant Reformation (New York: Harper, 1959) [3]John Meyendorff, Living Tradition (Crestwood: St. Vladimir Seminary, 1978) [4]Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty, Tradition and Orthodoxy (Los Angeles: St George Coptic Church, 1971) [5] JND Kelly, "Tradition and Scripture" Early Christian Doctrines (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978), F.W. Dillistone, ed., Scripture and Tradition (London: Lutterworth, 1955), D.H. Williams, Retrieving the Tradition & Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 3-PAPACY ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Papacy: This section will deal with various aspects of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in patristic thought. Corunum will include such things as: Peter’s presence in Rome, Peter’s primacy amongst the apostles, and the primacy of the Apostolic See. Peter in Rome: Documents illustrating St. Peter’s presence in Rome Peter in Patristic: Thought Documents illustrating the position of St. Peter in Patristic Thought. Primacy of the Apostolic See in Patristic Thought: Documents illustrating the jurisdictional primacy of the Bishop of Rome through both the Western and Eastern Fathers Primacy of the Apostolic See in Papal Thought: Documents illustrating the self-claimed authority of the Bishop of Rome. Rome has always considered herself as the head of Christendom and the primary expositor of the Apostolic heritage. Authority Claimed by the Bishop of Rome,The Pope Peter’s Presence in Rome "Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars[of the Church] have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. " Clement of Rome,The First Epistle of Clement,5(c.A.D. 96),in ANF,I:6 "I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you." Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to theRomans 4:1-25(c.A.D. 110),in ANF,I:75 ’You have thus by such an admonition bound together the plantings of Peter and Paul at Rome and Corinth." Dionysius of Corinth, Epistle to Pope Soter,fragment in Eusebius’ Church History,II:25(c.A.D. 178),in NPNF2,I:130 "Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome,and laying the foundations of the Church."Irenaeus,Against Heresies,3:1:1(c.A.D. 180),in ANF,I:414 "As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had followed him for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out." Clement of Alexandria, fragment in Eusebius Church ’We read the lives of the Caesars: At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the rising blood. Then is Peter girt by another(an allusion toJohn 21:18), when he is made fast to the cross." Tertullian, Scorpiace,15:3(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:648 "[W]hat utterance also the Romans give, so very near(to the apostles), to whom Peter and Paul conjointly bequeathed the gospel even sealed with their own blood." Tertullian, Against Marcion,4:5(inter A.D. 207-212),in ANF,III:350 "It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself, and that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero. This account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day. It is confirmed likewise by Caius, a member of the Church, who arose under Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome. He, in a published disputation with Proclus, the leader of the Phrygian heresy, speaks as follows concerning the places where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid apostles are laid: ’But I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican or to the Ostian way, you will find the trophies of those who laid the foundations of this church.’ " Gaius, fragment in Eusebius’ Church History,2:25(A.D. 198),in NPNF2,I:129-130 "Peter...at last, having come to Rome, he was crucified head-downwards; for he had requested that he might suffer this way." Origen,Third Commentary on Genesis,(A.D. 232) fragment in Eusebius 3:1:1,in NPNF2,X:132 "Thus Peter, the first of the Apostles, having been often apprehended, and thrown into prison, and treated with igominy, was last of all crucified at Rome." Peter of Alexandria,The Canonical Epistle,Canon 9(A.D. 306),in ANF,VI:273 "[W]hich Peter and Paul preached at Rome..." Lactantius,The Divine Institutes,4:21(A.D. 310),in ANF,VII:123 "Peter...coming to the city of Rome, by the mighty cooperation of that power which was lying in wait there..." Eusebius,Ecclesiastical History,II:14,5 (A.D. 325),in NPNF2,X:115 "This man[Simon Magus],after he had been cast out by the Apostles,came to Rome...Peter and Paul,a noble pair,chief rulers of the Church, arrived and set the error right...For Peter was there, who carrieth the keys of heaven..."Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,6:14-15(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:37-38 "And Peter, who had hid himself for fear of the Jews, and the Apostle Paul who was let down in a basket, and fled, when they were told, ’Ye must bear witness at Rome,’ deferred not the journey; yea, rather, they departed rejoicing..." Athanasius,Defence of his Flight,18(c.A.D. 357),in NPNF2,IV:261 "I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul...My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross." Jerome,To Pope Damasus,Epistle 15 (A.D. 377),in NPNF2,VI:18 "Where the Cherubim sing the glory, where the Seraphim are flying, there shall we see Paul, with Peter, and as a chief and leader of the choir of the Saints, and shall enjoy his generous love. For if when here he loved men so, that when he had the choice of departing and being with Christ, he chose to be here, much more will he there display a warmer affection. I love Rome even for this, although indeed one has other grounds for praising it, both for its greatness, and its antiquity, and its beauty, and its populousness, and for its power, and its wealth, and for its successes in war. But I let all this pass, and esteem it blessed on this account, that both in his lifetime he wrote to them, and loved them so, and talked with them whiles he was with us, and brought his life to a close there. Wherefore the city is more notable upon this ground, than upon all others together. And as a body great and strong, it hath as two glistening eyes the bodies of these Saints. Not so bright is the heaven, when the sun sends forth his rays, as is the city of Rome, sending out these two lights into all parts of the world. From thence will Paul be caught up, from thence Peter. Just bethink you, ... what a sight Rome will see, when Paul ariseth suddenly from that deposit, together with Peter, and is lifted up to meet the Lord. What a rose will Rome send up to Christ! what two crowns will the city have about it! what golden chains will she be girded with! what fountains possess! Therefore I admire the city, not for the much gold, not for the columns, not for the other display there, but for these pillars of the Church."Chrysostom,Epistle to the Romans,Homily 32 (c.A.D. 391),in NPNFI,XI:561-562 "Which was mere to the interest of the Church at Rome, that it should at its commencement be presided over by some high-born and pompous senator, or by the fisherman Peter, who had none of this world’s advantages to attract men to him?" Gregory of Nyssa,To the Church at Nicodemia,Epistle 13 (ante A.D. 394),NPNF2,V:535 "For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: ’Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it !’ The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these: -- Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found. But, reversing the natural course of things, the Donatists sent to Rome from Africa an ordained bishop, who, putting himself at the head of a few Africans in the great metropolis, gave some notoriety to the name of ’mountain men,’ or Cutzupits, by which they were known." Augustine,To Fortunatus,Epistle 53(A.D. 400),in NPNFI,I:298 "But some people in some countries of the West, and especially in the city,[ie. Rome] not knowing the reason of this indulgence, think that a dispensation from fasting ought certainly not to be allowed On the Sabbath, because they say that on this day the Apostle Peter fasted before his encounter with Simon[Magus]." John Cassian,Institutes,X(ante A.D. 435),in NPNF2,XI:218 "The whole world, dearly-beloved, does indeed take part in all holy anniversaries[of Peter & Paul], and loyalty to the one Faith demands that whatever is recorded as done for all men’s salvation should be everywhere celebrated with common rejoicings. But, besides that reverence which to-day’s festival has gained from all the world, it is to be honoured with special and peculiar exultation in our city, that there may be a predominance of gladness on the day of their martyrdom in the place where the chief of the Apostles met their glorious end. For these are the men, through whom the light of Christ’s gospel shone on thee, ORome, and through whom thou, who wast the teacher of error, wast made the disciple of Truth. These are thy holy Fathers and true shepherds, who gave thee claims to be numbered among the heavenly kingdoms, and built thee under much better and happier auspices than they, by whose zeal the first foundations of thy walls were laid: and of whom the one that gave thee thy name defiled thee with his brother’s blood." Pope Leo the Great(regn. A.D. 440-461),Sermon LXXXII(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,XII:194 Some non-Catholic historians "Some Protestant controversialists have asserted that Peter was never in Rome...I think the historical probability is that he was...Protestant champions had undertaken the impossible task of proving the negative, that Peter was never in Rome. They might as well have undertaken to prove out of the Bible that St. Bartholomew never preached in Pekin...For myself, I am willing, in absence of any opposing tradition, to accept the current account that Peter suffered martyrdom at Rome. If Rome, which early laid claim to have witnessed that martrydom, were not the scene of it, where then did it take place? Any city would be glad to claim such a connexion with the name of the Apostle, and none but Rome made the claim...If this evidence for Peter’s martydom be not be deemed sufficient, there are few things in the history of the early Church which it will be possible to demonstrate" G. Salmon "Infallibilty of the Church" (Grand Rapids:Baker,1959) pp. 348-9(a critic of the Catholic faith) "...to deny the Roman stay of Peter is an error which today is clear to every scholar who is not blind. The Martyr death of Peter at Rome was once contested by reason of Protestant prejudice.’ A. Harnack ’It is sufficient to let us include the martyrdom of Peter in Rome in our final historical picture of the early Church, as a matter of fact which is relatively though not absolutely assured. We accept it, however facts of antiquity that are universally accepted as historical. Were we to demand for all facts of ancient history a greater degree of probability, we should have to strike from our history books a large portion of their contents." Oscar Cullman "Peter, Disciple, Apostle, Martyr" (London:SCM,1962) p. 114 "That Peter and Paul were the most eminent of many Christians who suffered martyrdom in Rome under Nero is certain..." F.F. Bruce "NT History" (New York:Doubleday,1971) p. 410 "It seems certain that Peter spent his closing years in Rome" JND Kelly "The Oxford Dictionary of Popes" (Oxford:Oxford,1986) p. 6 "The martrydom of both Peter and Paul in Rome...has often been questioned by Protestant critics, some of whom have contended that Peter was never in Rome. But the archeaological researches of the Protestant Historian Hans Lietzmann, supplemented by the library study of theProtestant exegete Oscar Cullman, have made it extremelydifficult to deny the tradition of Peter’s death in Rome under the emperor Nero. The account of Paul’s martydom in Rome, which is supported by much of the sameevidence, has not called forth similar skepticism." Jaroslav Pelikan, "The Riddle of Catholicism", (New York:Abingdon,1959) p. 36 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. Peter in Patristic thought "Peter was proncounced blessed by the Lord...the duty of feeding the spiritual sheep of the Church under whose protecting shield, this Apostolic Church of his has NEVER turned away from the path of truth in ANY direction of ERROR, whose AUTHORITY, as that of the Prince of all the Apostles, the whole Catholic Church and the Ecumenical Synods have faithfully embraced..." Agatho Pope,To Ecumenical Council VI at Constantinople,(A.D. 680),in NPNF2,XIV:328-339 "It was right indeed that he(Paul) should be anxious to see Peter; for he was the first among the apostles, and was entrusted by the Savior with the care of the churches." Ambrosiaster,Commentary on Galatians,PL 17:344 (A.D. 384),in SPP,62 " ’Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church’, Wherefore where Peter the Church is..." Ambrose,Commentary on the Psalms,40:30 ew:30 ew:30 (AD 395),in DOP,184 "At length, after being tempted by the devil, Peter is set over the Church." Ambrose,Commentary on the Psalms,43:40(AD 397),in GILES,145 "...the chief of the disciples...the Lord accepted him, set him up as the foundation, called him the rock and structureof the church."Aphraates, De Paenitentibus Homily 7:15(A.D. 337),in SPP,58 "In order that he may show his power, God has endowed none of his disciples with gifts likePeter.But, having raised him with heavenly gifts, he has set him above all. And, as first disciple and greater among the brethren, he has shown, by the test of deeds, the power of the Spirit. The first to be called, he followed at once....The Saviour confided to this man, as some special trust, the whole universal Church, after having asked him three times ’Lovest thou me?’. And he receive the world in charge..." Asterius,Homily 8(A.D. 400),in GILES,145-146 "Number the priests even from that seat of Peter. And in that order of fathers see to whom succeeded: that is the rock which the proud gates of hades do not conquer."Augustine,Psalmus contr Partem Donati(A.D. 393),in GILES,182 "Peter bore the person of the church" Augustine, Sermon 149:7(inter A.D. 391-430),in SPP,69 "Peter upon which rock the Lord promised that he would build his church." Basil,In Isaias,2:66(A.D. 375),in SPP,55 "Peter is again called ’the coryphaeus of the Apostles" Basil of Seleucia,Oratio 25(ante A.D. 468),in FOC,II:49 " ’Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven’? When Wilfrid spoken thus, the king said, ’It is true, Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?’ He answered, ’It is true O king!’ Then says he, ’Can you show any such power given to your Columba?’ Colman answered, ’None.’ Then added the king,"Do you both agree that these words were principally directed toPeter, and that the keys of heaven were given to him by our Lord?’They both answered,’We do.’ " Bede Venerable, AD 700, Ecclesiastical History,3:5(A.D. 700),in RCH,I:271 "[B]ut that great man, the disciple of disciples, that master among masters, who wielding the government of the Roman Church possessed the authority in faith and priesthood. Tell us therefore, tell us we beg of you, Peter, prince of the Apostles, tell us how the churches must believe in God." Cassian John,Contra Nestorium,3:12(A.D. 430),in SPP,61 "A copy of the letter sent by the holy and Ecumenical: Sixth Council to Agatho, the most blessed and most holy pope of Old Rome...Serious illnesses call for greater helps, as you know, most blessed (father); and therefore Christ our true God, who is the creator and governing power of all things, gave a wise physician, namely your God-honoured sanctity, to drive away by force the contagion of heretical pestilence by the remedies of orthodoxy, and to give the strength of health to the members of the church. Therefore to thee, as to the bishop of the first see of the Universal Church, we leave what must be done, since you willingly take for your standing ground the firm rock of the faith, as we know from having read your true confession in the letter sent by your fatherly beatitude to the most pious emperor: and we acknowledge that this letter was divinely written (perscriptas) as by the Chief of the Apostles, and through it we have cast out the heretical sect of many errors which had recently sprung up.." Constantinople III Council to Pope Agatho,(A.D. 680),NPNF2,XIV:349 "Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith..." Council of Chalcedon,Session III (A.D. 451),in NPNF2,XIV:259-260 " ’...thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church’ ...It is on him that he builds the Church, and to him that he entrusts the sheep to feed. And although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single Chair, thus establishing by his own authority the source and hallmark of the (Church’s) oneness...If a man does not fast to this oneness of Peter, does he still imagine that he still holds the faith. If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church?" Cyprian, De Unitate Ecclesiae(Primacy text),4(A.D. 251),in NE,228-229 "He promises to found the church, assigning immovableness to it,as He is the Lord of strength, and over this he sets Peter as shepherd." Cyril of Alexandria,Commentary on Matthew (A.D. 428),in SPP,74 "Peter, the foremost of the Apostles, and Chief Herald of the Church..." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,11:3(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VIII:64 "(Peter)The first of the Apostles, the foundation of the Church, the coryphaeus of the choir of disciples." Chrysostom John,Ad eos qui scandalizati 17(ante A.D. 407),in SEP,74 "Peter, that head of the Apostles, the first in the Church, the friend of Christ, who recieved revelation not from manbut from the Father...this Peter, and when I say Peter, I mean that unbroken Rock, the unshaken foundation, the great Apostle, the first of the disciples, the first called, the first to obey" Chrysostom John, De Eleemosyna,3:4(ante A.D. 407),in SEP,74 "[W]e have considered that it ought be announced that although all the Catholic Churches spread abroad through the world comprise one bridal chamber of Christ, nevertheless, the holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront not by conciliar decisions of other churches, but has received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Savior, who says: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it..."...The first see, therefore, is that of Peter the Apostle, that of the Roman Church, which has neither the stain nor blemish nor anything like it" Damasus Pope, Decree of Damasus,3(A.D. 382), in JUR,I:406 "[T]he first of the apostles, the solid rock on which theChurch was built."Epiphanius, In Ancorato,9:6 (A.D. 374),in SPP,in 57 "Simon, My follower, I have made you the foundation of the Holy Church. I betimes called you Peter(Kepha-- hebrew), because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on earth a Church for me...I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, have given you authority over all my treasures." Ephraim, Homily 4:1,(A.D. 373),JUR,I:11 "...Peter, that strongest and greatest of all the apostles, and the one who on account of his virtue was the speaker for all the others..." Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History,2:14 (A.D. 325),in NPNF2,I:115 "And Peter,on whom the Church of Christ is built, ’against which the gates of hell shall not prevail’ " Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History,6:25 (A.D. 325),in NPNF2,I:273 "...folly of (Pope) Stephen, that he who boasts of the place ofthe episcopate, and contends that he holds the succession from Peter,on whom the foundation of the Church were laid..." Firmilian,Epistle To Cyprian,Ephesians 75(74):17(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:394 "To Peter,that is, to his church, he gave the power ofretaining and forgiving sins on earth."Fulgentius, De Remissione Peccatorum,2:20(A.D. 523),in SPP,71 "The holy Roman Church is senior to the other churches not by virtue of any synodal decrees, but obtained the primacy from Our Lord and Savior in the words of theGospel,’Thou art Peter...’ " Gelasius Pope,Decree of Gelasium(A.D. 492),in SPP,166 "Who could be ignorant of the fact that the holy church is consolidated in the solidity of the prince of the Apostles, whose firmness of character extended to his name so that he should be called Peter after the ’rock’, when the voice of the Truth says, ’I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven’. To him again is said "When after a little while thou hast come back to me, it is for thee to be the support of thy brethren." Gregory the Great Pope,Epistle 40(A.D. 604),in SPP,66 "Seest thou that of the disciples of Christ, all of whom were exalted and deserving of choice, one is called rock, and is entrusted with the foundations of the church."Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 32:18(A.D. 380),in SPP,56 "The memory of Peter, who is the head of the apostles...he is the firm and most solid rock, on which the savior built his Church." Gregory of Nyssa,Panegyric on St. Stephen,3(ante A.D. 394),in SPP,56 "[B]lessed Simon, who after his confession of the mystery was set to be the foundation-stone of the Church, and received the keys of the kingdom..."Hilary de Poiters,On the Trinity,6:20(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:105 "By this Spirit Peter spake that blessed word, ’Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ By this Spirit the rock of the Church was stablished." Hippolytus,Discourse on the Holy Theophany,9(ante A.D. 235),ANF,V:237 "[T]he statement of Our Lord Jesus Christ who said, ’Thou art Peter,and upon this rock I will build my Church,’...These (words) which were spoken, are proved by the effects of the deeds, because in the Apostolic See the Catholic religion has always been preserved without stain.’ Hormisdas Pope,Libellus professionis fidei,(A.D. 519),in DEN(171),73 "The decrees of the Roman Pontiff, standing upon thesupremacy of the Apostolic See, are unquestionable." Isidore of Seville,(ante A.D. 636),in PL:84 "But you say, the Church was founded upon Peter: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one(ie. Peter)among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism." Jerome,Against Jovinianus,1 (A.D. 393),in NPNF2,VI:366 "As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built!"Jerome,To Pope Damasus,Epistle 15(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VI:18 "[B]lessed Peter preserving in the strength of the Rock, which he has received, has not abandoned the helm of the Church, which he under took...And so if anything is rightly done and rightly decreed by us, if anything is won from the mercy of God by our daily supplications,it is of his work and merits whos power lives and whose authority prevails in his See...to him whom they know to be not only the patron ofthis See, but also primate of all bishops. When therefore...beleive that he is speaking whose representative we are:..."Leo the Great(Pope),Sermon 3:3-4(A.D. 442),in NPNF2,XII:117 "[T]he Lord wished to be indeed the concern of all the Apostles: and from him as from the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body: so that any one who dares to secede from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery." Leo the Great(Pope),To Bishops of Vienne,Epistle 10 (A.D. 450),in NPNF2,XII:8 "For the extremities of the earth, and all in every part of it who purely and rightly confess the Lord, look directly towards the most holy Roman Church and its confession and faith, as it were a sun of unfailing light, awaiting from it the bright radiance of our fathers, according to what the six inspired and holy Councils have purely and piously decreed, declaring most expressly the symbol of faith. For from the coming down of the Incarnate Word among us, all the churches in every part of the world have possessed that greatest church alone as their base and foundation, seeing that, according to the promise of Christ Our Savior, the gates of hell do never prevail against it, that it possesses the Keys of right confession and faith in Him, that it opens the true and only religion to such as approach with piety, and shuts up and locks every heretical mouth that speaks injustice against the Most High" Maximus the Confessor,Opuscula theologica et polemica(A.D. 650),in PG(91:137-144) "This Peter on whom Christ freely bestowed a sharing in his name. For just as Christ is the rock, as the Apostle Paul taught, so through Christ Peter is made rock, when the Lord says to him: "Thou art Peter and upon this rock Iwill build my church..."’Maximus of Turin,Homily 63(A.D. 408),in SPP,61-62 "[F]or the good of unity blessed Peter, for whom it would have been enough if after his denial he had obtained pardone only, deserved to be placed before all the apostles, and alone received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to be communicated to the rest." Optatus of Milevis, De Schismate Donatistorum,7:3(A.D. 370),in GILES,120 "And Peter, on whom the Church of Christ is built, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail..." Origen,Commentary on John,5:3(c.A.D. 232),in ANF,X:347 "[T]he Lord spoke to Peter a little earlier; he spoke to one, that from one he might found unity, soon delivering the same to all." Pacian,To Sympronianus,Epistle 3:2(AD 372),in GILES,123 "Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness.’Peter, the apostle, who is the rock and support of the Catholic Church’ " Paschasinus, Council of Chalcedon,Session III(A.D. 451)in NPNF,XIV:259-260 "You know that the Lord proclaims in the Gospel: ’Simon, Simon, behold:Satan has desired to possess you,so that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you,that your faith may not fail. And you,once you have converted, confirm your brethren!’(Luke 22:31-32). Consider that the truth could not have lied,nor will the faith of Peter be able to be shaken or changed forever. For, although the devil desired to sift all the disciples,the Lord testifies that He Himself asked for Peter alone,and wished that the others be confirmed my him;and to Peter also was committed the care of ’feeding the sheep’(John 21:15);and to him also did the Lord hand over the ’keys of the kingdom of heaven’(Matthew 16:19),and upon him did He promise to ’build His Church’ (Matthew 16:18);and He testified that ’the gates of Hell would not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:19)." Pelagius II(Pope),Quod Ad Dilectionem(c.A.D. 685),in DNZ(246),95 "We exhort you, honourable brother, to submit yourself in all things to what has been written by the blessed Bishop of Rome,because St. Peter, who lives and presides in his see, gives the true faith to those who seek it. For our part,for the sake of peace and the good of the faith, we cannot judge questions of doctrine without the consent of the Bishop of Rome." Peter Chrysologus,Epistle 25 of Leo from Peter(A.D. 449),in SPP,215 "There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the Apostles, pillar of faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even to to-day and forever, lives and judges in his successors. The holy and most blessed Pope Celestine,according to due order,is his successor and holds his place..." Philip,Council of Ephesus,Session III (A.D. 431),in NPNF,XIV:223 "...the most firm rock, who(Peter) from the principal Rock recieved a share of his virtue and his name" Prosper of Aquitaine,The Call of All Nations,2:28(A.D. 426),in SPP,71 "Peter, who is called ’the rock on which the church should be built,’ who also obtained ’the keys of the kingdom of heaven...’ " Tertullian,On the Prescription Against the Heretics,22(c.A.D. 200),in ANF,III:253 "If Paul, the herald of the truth, the trumpet of the Holy Ghost, hastened to the great Peter in order that he might carry from him the desired solution of difficulties to those at Antioch who were in doubt about living in conformity with the law, much more do we, men insignificant and small, hasten to your apostolic see in order to receive from you a cure for the wounds of the churches. For every reason it is fitting for you to hold the first place, inasmuch as your see is adorned with many privileges." Theodoret of Cyrus,To Pope Leo,Epistle 113(A.D. 449),in NPNF2,III:293 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 3-SUCCESION ======================================================================== Apostolic Succession "And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed the first-fruits [of their labours], having first proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus saith the Scripture a certain place, ’I will appoint their bishops s in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.’...Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and there would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect fore-knowledge of this, they appointed those [ministers] already mentioned, and afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry...For our sin will not be small, if we eject from the episcopate those who have blamelessly and holily fulfilled its duties." Clement,Epistle to Corinthians,42,44(A.D. 98),in ANF,I:16,17 "For what is the bishop but one who beyond all others possesses all power and authority, so far as it is possible for a man to possess it, who according to his ability has been made an imitator of the Christ Of God? And what is the presbytery but a sacred assembly, the counsellors and assessors of the bishop? And what are the deacons but imitators of the angelic powers, fulfilling a pure and blameless ministry unto him, as ... Anencletus and Clement to Peter?" Ignatius,To the Trallians,7(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:69 "Hegesippus in the five books of Memoirs which have come down to us has left a most complete record of his own views. In them he states that on a journey to Rome he met a great many bishops, and that he received the same doctrine from all. It is fitting to hear what he says after making some remarks about the epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. His words are as follows: ’And the church of Corinth continued in the true faith until Primus was bishop in Corinth. I conversed with them on my way to Rome, and abode with the Corinthians many days, during which we were mutually refreshed in the true doctrine. And when I had come to Rome I remained a there until Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus. And Anicetus was succeeded by Soter, and he by Eleutherus. In every succession, and in every city that is held which is preached by the law and the prophets and the Lord.’ " Hegesippus,Memoirs,fragment in Eusebius EcclesiaticalHistory,4:22(A.D. 180),in NPNF2,I:198-199 "True knowledge is [that which consists in] the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christaccording to the successionsof thebishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto us, being guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures, by a very complete system of doctrine, and neither receiving addition nor [suffering] curtailment [in the truths which she believes]; and [it consists in] reading [the word of God] without falsification, and a lawful and diligent exposition in harmony with the Scriptures, both without danger and without blasphemy; and [above all, it consists in] the pre-eminent gift of love, which is more precious than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and which excels all the other gifts [of God]." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4:33:8(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:508 "But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst Of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men,--a man, moreover, who continued stedfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed. Let the heretics contrive something of the same kind. For after their blasphemy, what is there that is unlawful for them (to attempt)? But should they even effect the contrivance, they will not advance a step. For their very doctrine, after comparison with that of the apostles, will declare, by its own diversity and contrariety, that it had for its author neither an apostle nor an apostolic man; because, as the apostles would never have taught things which were self-contradictory, so the apostolic men would not have inculcated teaching different from the apostles, unless they who received their instruction from the apostles went and preached in a contrary manner. To this test, therefore will they be submitted for proof by those churches, who, although they derive not their founder from apostles or apostolic men (as being of much later date, for they are in fact being founded daily), yet, since they agree in the same faith, they are accounted as not less apostolic because they are akin in doctrine. Then let all the heresies, when challenged to these two tests by our apostolic church, offer their proof of how they deem themselves to be apostolic. But in truth they neither are so, nor are they able to prove themselves to be what they are not. Nor are they admitted to peaceful relations and communion by such churches as are in any way connected with apostles, inasmuch as they are in no sense themselves apostolic because of their diversity as to the mysteries of the faith." Tertullian, Prescription against the Heretics,33(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:258 "And that you may still be more confident, that repenting thus truly there remains for you a sure hope of salvation, listen to a tale? which is not a tale but a narrative, handed down and committed to the custody of memory, about the Apostle John. For when, on the tyrant’s death, he returned to Ephesus from the isle of Patmos, he went away, being invited, to the contiguous territories of the nations, here to appoint bishops, there to set in order whole Churches, there to ordain such as were marked out by the Spirit." Clement of Alexandria,Who is the rich man that shall be save?,42(A.D. 210),in ANF,II:603 "We are not to credit these men, nor go out from the first and the ecclesiastical tradition; nor to believe otherwise than as the churches of God have by succession transmitted to us."Origen,Commentary on Matthew (post A.D. 244),in FOC,407 "Our Lord, whose precepts and admonitions we ought to observe, describing the honour of a bishop and the order of His Church, speaks in the Gospel, and says to Peter: ’I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ Thence, through the changes of times and successions, the ordering of bishops and the plan of the Church flow onwards; so thatthe Church is founded upon the bishops, and every act of the Church is controlled by these same rulers." Cyprian,To the Lapsed,1(A.D. 250),in ANF,V:305 "Therefore the power of remitting sins was given to the apostles, and to the churches which they, sent by Christ, established, and to the bishops who succeeded to them by vicarious ordination."Firmilian,To Cyprian,Epistle 75[74]:16(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:394 "It is my purpose to write an account of the successions of the holy apostles, as well as of the times which have elapsed from the days of our Saviour to our own; and to relate the many important events which are said to have occurred in the history of the Church; and to mention those who have governed and presided over the Church in the most prominent parishes, and those who in each generation have proclaimed the divine word either orally or in writing... When Nero was in the eighth year of his reign, Annianus succeeded Mark the evangelist in the administration of the parish of Alexandria... Linus ... was Peter’s successor in the episcopate of the church there ... Clement also, who was appointed third bishop of the church at Rome."Eusebius,Ecclesiastical History,1:1,2:24,(A.D. 325),in NPNF2,I:81 "Lo! In these three successions, as in a mystery and a figure ... Under the three pastors,--there were manifold shepherds" Ephraem,Nisbene Hymns,The Bishops of Nisibis(Jacob, Babu, Valgesh),13,14(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,XIII:180 "[W]hile before your election you lived to yourself, after it, you live for your flock. And before you had received the grace of the episcopate, no one knew you; but after you became one, the laity expect you to bring them food, namely instruction from the Scriptures ... For if all were of the same mind as your present advisers, how would you have become a Christian, since there would be no bishops? Or if our successors are to inherit this state of mind, how will the Churches be able to hold together?" Athanasius,To Dracontius,Epistle 49(A.D. 355),in NPNF2,IV:558 "[B]elieve as we believe,we , who are, by succesion from the blessed apostles, bishops; confess as we and they have confessed, the only Son of God, and thus shalt thou obtain forgiveness for thy numerous crimes." Lucifer of Calaris,On St. Athanasius(A.D. 361),in FOC,274 "[W]e shall not recede from the faith ... as once laid it continues even to this say, through the tradition of the fathers, according to the succession from the apostles, even to the discussion had at Nicea against the heresy which had, at that period, sprung up." Hilary of Poitiers,History Fragment 7(ante A.D. 367),in FOC,273 "[D]uring the days of that Anicetus, bishop of Rome, who succeeded Pius and his predecessors, For, in Rome, Peter and Paul were the first both apostles and bishops; then came Linus, then Cletus ... However the succession of the bishops in Rome was in the following order. Peter and Paul, and Cletus, Clement ..." Epiphanius,Panarion,27:6(A.D. 377),in FOC,279 "He[St. Athanasius] is led up to the throne of Saint Mark, to succeed him in piety, no less than in office; in the latter indeed at a great distance from him, in the former, which is the genuine right of succession, following him closely. For unity in doctrine deserves unity in office; and a rival teacher sets up a rival throne; the one is a successor in reality, the other but in name. For it is not the intruder, but he whose rights are intruded upon, who is the successor, not the lawbreaker, but the lawfully appointed, not the man of contrary opinions, but the man of the same faith; if this is not what we mean by successor, he succeeds in the same sense as disease to health, darkness to light, storm to calm, and frenzy to sound sense." Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 21:8(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,VII:271 "For they[Novatians] have not the succession of Peter, who hold not the chair of Peter, which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too, they do, wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven even in the Church, whereas it was said to Peter: ’I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven.’ " Ambrose,Concerning Repentance,7:33(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,X:334 "It has been ordained by the apostles and their successors, that nothing be read in the Catholic Church, except the law, and the prophets, and the Gospels."Philastrius of Brescia,On Heresis(ante A.D. 387),in FOC,280 "Let a bishop be ordained by three or two bishops; but if any one be ordained by one bishop, let him be deprived, both himself and he that ordained him. But if there be a necessity that he have only one to ordain him, because more bishops cannot come together, as in time of persecution, or for such like causes, let him bring the suffrage of permission from more bishops." Apostolic Constitutions,8:27(A.D. 400),in ANF,7:493 "For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: ’Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it !’ The successor of Peterwas Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these: -- Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius,Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found. But, reversing the natural course of things, the Donatists sent to Rome from Africa an ordained bishop, who, putting himself at the head of a few Africans in the great metropolis, gave some notoriety to the name of "mountain men," or Cutzupits, by which they were known." Augustine,To Generosus,Epistle 53:2(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,I:298 " ’To the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi.’ Since it was likely that the Jews too would call themselves ’saints’ from the first oracle, when they were called a ’holy people, a people for God’s own possession’ (Ex. xix. 6; Deut. vii. 6, etc.); for this reason he added, ’to the saints in Christ Jesus.’ For these alone are holy, and those hence-forward profane. ’To the fellow-Bishops and Deacons." What is this? were there several Bishops of one city? Certainly not; but he called the Presbyters so. For then they still interchanged the titles, and the Bishop was called a Deacon. For this cause in writing to Timothy, he said, "Fulfil thy ministry,’ when he was a Bishop. For that he was a Bishop appears by his saying to him, ’Lay hands hastily on no man.’ (1 Tim. v. 22.) And again, ’Which was given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery.’ (1 Tim. iv. 14.) Yet Presbyters would not have laid hands on a Bishop. And again, in writing to Titus, he says, ’For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge. If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife’ (Tit. i. 5, 6); which he says of the Bishop. And after saying this, he adds immediately, ’For the Bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self willed:’ (Tit. i. 7.) " John Chrysostom,Homilies on Phillipians,1:1(A.D. 404),in NPNF2,XIII:184 "[I]f any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God.’ And to Timothy he says: ’Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.’ Peter also says in his first epistle: ’The presbyters which are among you I exhort, who am your fellow-presbyter and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: feed the flock of Christ’ ... taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly, according unto God.’ In the Greek the meaning is still plainer, for the word used is episkopountes, that is to say, overseeing, and this is the origin of the name overseer or bishop. But perhaps the testimony of these great men seems to you insufficient. If so, then listen to the blast of the gospel trumpet, that son of thunder, the disciple whom Jesus loved and who reclining on the Saviour’s breast drank in the waters of sound doctrine. One of his letters begins thus: ’The presbyter unto the elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth; ’ and another thus: ’The presbyter unto the well-beloved Gains whom I love in the truth.’ When subsequently one presbyter was chosen to preside over the rest, this was done to remedy schism and to prevent each individual from rending the church of Christ by drawing t to himself. For even at Alexandria from the time of Mark the Evangelist until the episcopates of Heraclas and Dionysius the presbyters always named as bishop one of their own number chosen by themselves and set in a more exalted position, just as an army elects a general, or as deacons appoint one of themselves whom they know to be diligent and call him archdeacon. For what function excepting ordination, belongs to a bishop that does not also belong to a presbyter? It is not the case that there is one church at Rome and another in all the world beside. Gaul and Britain, Africa and Persia, India and the East worship one Christ and observe one rule of truth. If you ask for authority, the world outweighs its capital. Wherever there is abishop, whether it be at Rome or at Engubium, whether it be at Constantinople or at Rhegium, whether it be at Alexandria or at Zoan, his dignity is one and hispriesthood is one. Neither the command of wealth nor the lowliness of poverty makes him more a bishop or less a bishop. All alike are successors of the apostles." Jerome,To Evangelus,Epistle 146:1(ante A.D. 420),in NPNF2,VI:288-289 "We must strive therefore in common to keep the faith which has come down to us to-day, through the ApostolicSuccession. " Pope Celestine[regn A.D. 422-432],To the Council of Ephesus,Epistle 18(A.D. 431),in NPNF2,XIV:220 "Examples there are without number: but to be brief, we will take one, and that, in preference to others, from the Apostolic See, so that it may be clearer than day to every one with how great energy, with how great zeal, with how great earnestness, the blessed successors of the blessed apostles have constantly defended the integrity of the religion which they have once received." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitories,6:15(A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:135 "Moreover, with respect to a certain bishop who, as the aforesaid magnificent men have told us, is prevented by infirmity of the head from administering his office, we have written to our brother and fellow-bishop Etherius, that if he should have intervals of freedom from this infirmity, he should make petition, claring that he is not another be ordained to his Church. For during the life of abishop, whom not his own fault but sickness, withdraws from the administration of his office, the sacred canons by no means allow another to be ordainedin his place. But, if he at no time recovers the exercise of a sound mind, a person should be sought adorned with good life and conversation, who may be able both to take charge of souls, and look with salutary control after the causes and interests of the same church; and he should be such as may succeed to the bishop’s place in case of his surviving him. But, if there are any to be promoted to a sacred order, or to any clerical ministry, we have ordained that the matter is to be reserved and announced to our aforesaid most reverend brother Etherius, provided it belong to his diocese, so that, enquiry having then been made, if the persons are subject to no fault which the sacred canons denounce, he himself may ordain them. Let, then, the care of your Excellency conjoin itself with our ordering, to the end that the interests of the Church, which you have exceedingly at heart, may not suffer damage, and that increase of reward may accrue to the good deeds of your Excellency." Pope Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],Epistle 6(A.D. 602),NPNF2,XIII:94 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 3-PRIMACY ======================================================================== Primacy of the Apostolic See "The church of God which sojourns at Rome to the church of God which sojourns at Corinth ... But if any disobey the words spoken by him through us, let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and in no small danger."Clement of Rome,Pope,1st Epistle to the Corinthians,1,59:1 (c.A.D. 96),in GILES,1-2 "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the MastHigh God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is sanctified and enlightened by the will of God, who farmed all things that are according to the faith and love of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour; the Church which presides in the place of the region of the Romans, and which is worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise, worthy of credit, worthy of being deemed holy, and which presides over love..." Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to the Romans, Prologue (A.D. 110), in ANF,I:73 "There is extant also another epistle written by Dionysius to the Romans, and addressed to Soter, who was bishop at that time. We cannot do better than to subjoin some passages from this epistle, in which he commends the practice of the Romans which has been retained down to the persecution in our own days. His words are as follows: For from the beginning it has been your practice to do good to all the brethren in various ways, and to send contributions to many churches in every city. Thus relieving the want of the needy, and making provision for the brethren in the mines by the gifts which you have sent from the beginning, you Romans keep up the hereditary customs of the Romans, which your blessed bishop Soter has not only maintained, but also added to, furnishing an abundance of supplies to the saints, and encouraging the brethren from abroad with blessed words, as a loving father his children.’ In this same epistle he makes mention also of Clement’s epistle to the Corinthians, showing that it had been the custom from the beginning to read it in the church.His words are as follows: To-day we have passed the Lord’s holy day, in which we have read your epistle. From it, whenever we read it, we shall always be able to draw advice, as also from the former epistle, which was written to us through Clement.’ The same writer also speaks as follows concerning his own epistles, alleging that they had been mutilated: As the brethren desired me to write epistles, I wrote. And these epistles the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, cutting out some things and adding others. For them a woe is reserved. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at if some have attempted to adulterate the Lord’s writings also, since they have formed designs even against writings which are of less accounts.’ " Dionysius of Corinth,To Pope Soter(A.D. 171),Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History,4:23,in NPNF2:1:200-202 "Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre- eminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere."Irenaeus,Against Heresies,3:3:2 (A.D. 180),in ANF,I:1415-416 "A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s passover. It was therefore necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Saviour...ThereuponVictor, who presided over the church at Rome,immediately attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia, with the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox; and he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate.But this did not please all the bishops. And they besought him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are extant, sharply rebuking Victor. Among them was Irenaeus, who, sending letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be observed only on the Lord’s day. He fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom ..." Pope Victor & Easter(c.A.D. 195),Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History 5:23,24,in NPNF2,I:241-243 "And he says to him again after the resurrection, ’Feed my sheep.’ It is on him that he builds the Church, and to him that he entrusts the sheep to feed. And although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single Chair, thus establishing by his own authority the source and hallmark of the (Church’s) oneness. No doubt the others were all that Peter was, but a primacy is given to Peter, and it is (thus) made clear that there isbut one flockwhich is to be fed by all the apostles in common accord. If a man does not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that he still holds the faith?If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church?This unity firmly should we hold and maintain, especially we bishops, presiding in the Church, in order that we may approve the episcopate itself to be the one and undivided."Cyprian,The Unity of the Church,4-5 (Primacy Text,A.D. 251/256),NE,228-229 "After such things as these, moreover, they still dare-a false bishop having been appointed for them by, heretics--to set sail and to bear letters from schismatic and profane persons to the throne of Peter, and to the chief church whence priestly unity takes its source; and not to consider that these were the Romans whose faith was praised in the preaching of the apostle, to whom faithlessness could have no access." Cyprian,To Cornelius,Epistle 54/59:14(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:344 "For Dionysius, Bishop of Rome, having written also against those who said that the Son of God was a creature and a created thing, it is manifest that not now for the first time but from of old the heresy of the Arian adversaries of Christ has been anathematised by all. And Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, making his defence concerning the letter he had written, appears in his turn as neither thinking as they allege, nor having held the Arian error at all." Athanasius,Dionysius of Rome,13 (A.D. 352),in NPNF2,IV:180 "Supposing, as you assert, that some offence rested upon those persons, the case ought to have been conducted against them, not after this manner, but according to the Canon of the Church. Word should have been written of it to us all , that so a just sentence might prceed from all. For the sufferers were Bishops, and Churches of no ordinary note, but those which the Apostles themselves had governed in their own persons. And why was nothing said to us concerning the Church of the Alexandrians in particular? Are you ignorant that the custom has been for word to be written first to us, and then for a just decision to be passed from this place? If then any such suspicion rested upon the Bishop there, notice thereof ought to have been sent to the Church of this place; whereas, after neglecting to inform us, and proceeding on their own authority as they pleased, now they desire to obtain our concurrence in their decisions, though we never condemned him. Not so have the constitutions of Paul, not so have the traditions of the Fathers directed; this is another form of procedure, a novel practice. I beseech you, readily bear with me: what I write is for the common good. For what we have received from the blessed Apostle Peter, that I signify to you; and I should not have written this, as deeming that these things were manifest unto all men, had not these proceedings so disturbed us." Athanasius,Pope Julius to the Eusebians,Defense Against the Arians, 35(A.D. 347),in NPNF2,IV:118 Athanasius attended and sanctioned the deliberations of the Council of Sardica and referred to the Council of Sardica as "the great Council" (Defense Against the Arians 1) or "the Holy Synod" (Letter to the People of Antioch 5) "Bishop Hosius said: This also it is necessary to add, that no bishop pass from his own province to another province in which there are bishops, unless indeed he be called by his brethren, that we seem not to close the gates of charity. And this case likewise is to be provided for, that if in any province a bishop has some matter against his brother and fellow-bishop, neither of the two should call in as arbiters bishops from another province. But if perchance sentence be given against a bishop in any matter and he supposes his case to be not unsound but good, in order that the question may be reopened, let us, if it seem good to your charity, honour the memory of Peter the Apostle, and let those who gave judgment write to Julius, the bishop of Rome, so that, if necessary, the case may be retried by the bishops of the neighbouring provinces and let him appoint arbiters; but if it cannot be shown that his case is of such a sort as to need a new trial, let the judgment once given notbe annulled, but stand good as before."Council of Sardica,Canon III (A.D. 343/344),in NPNF2,XIV:416-417 "Bishop Gaudentius said: If it seems good to you, it is necessary to add to this decision full of sincere charity which thou hast pronounced, that if any bishop be deposed by the sentence of these neighbouring bishops, and assert that he has fresh matter in defence, a new bishop be not settled in his see, unless the bishop of Rome judge and render a decision as to this."Council of Sardica,Canon IV (A.D. 343/344),in NPNF2,XIV:418 "Bishop Hosius said: Decreed, that if any bishop is accused, and the bishops of the same region assemble and depose him from his office, and he appealing, so to speak, takes refuge with the most blessed bishop of the Roman church, and he be willing to give him a hearing, and think it right to renew the examination of his case, let him be pleased to write to those fellow-bishops who are nearest the province that they may examine the particulars with care and accuracy and give their votes on the matter in accordance with the word of truth. And if any one require that his case be heard yet again, and at his request it seem good to move the bishop of Rome to send presbyters a latere, let it be in the power of that bishop, according as he judges it to be good and decides it to be right that some be sent to be judges with the bishops and invested with his authority by whom they were sent. And be this also ordained. But if he think that the bishops are sufficient for the examination and decision of the matter let him do what shall seem good in his most prudent judgment. The bishops answered: What has been said is approved." Council of Sardica,Canon V (A.D. 343/344),in NPNF2,XIV:419 "What we have always believed, that we now know, for experience is proving and confirming for each of us what he has heard with his ears. It is true what the Apostle Paul, the most blessed teacher of the Gentiles, said of himself: ’Do ye seek a proof of him who speaks in me?’ For, since the Lord Christ dwelt in him, there can be no doubt that the Spirit spoke by through his soul and animated the instrument of his body. And thus you, dearly beloved brother, though distant in body, have been with us in unison of mind and will. The reason for your absence was both honorable and imperative, that the schismatic wolves might not rob and plunder by stealth nor the heretical dogs bark madly in the rapid fury nor the very serpent, the devil, discharge his blasphemous venom. So it seems to us right and altogether fitting that priests of the Lord from each and every province should report to their head, that is, to the See of Peter, the Apostle." Council of Sardica,To Pope Julius (A.D. 342),as cited by James T. Shotwell and Louise Ropes Loomis The See of Peter (New York:Columbia,1927),pp.527-528. "You cannot deny that you know that in the city of Rome the Chair was first conferred on Peter, in which the prince of all the Apostles, Peter,sat ... in which Chair unity should be preserved by all, so that he should now be a schismatic and a sinner who should set up another Chair against that unique one." Optatus of Mileve,The Schism of Donatists,2:2-3 (c.A.D. 367),in GCC,55 "For the good of unity Blessed Peter deserved to be preferred before the rest, and alone received the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, that he might communicate them to the rest." Optatus of Mileve,The Schism of Donatists,7:3 (c.A.D. 367),in GCC,50 "Yet, at the very outset, error was so far set right by the bishops on whom the attempt was made at Ariminum to compel them to manipulate or innovate on the faith, that they confessed themselves seduced by opposite arguments, or owned that they had not perceived any contradiction to the opinion of the Fathers livered at Nicaea. No prejudice could arise from the number of bishops gathered at Ariminum, since it is well known that neither the bishop of the Romans, whose opinion ought before all others to have been waited for, nor Vincentius, whose stainless episcopate had lasted so many years, nor the rest, gave in their adhesion to such doctrines. And this is the more significant, since, as has been already said, the very men who seemed to be tricked into surrender, themselves, in their wiser moments, testified their disapproval." Pope Damasus[regn. A.D. 366-384],About Council at Arminum,Epistle 1 (A.D. 371),in Theodoret’s Church History,in NPNF2,III:83 "Since the East, shattered as it is by the long-standing feuds, subsisting between its peoples, is bit by bit tearing into shreds the seamless vest of the Lord, woven from the top throughout,’ since the foxes are destroying the vineyard of Christ, and since among the broken cisterns that hold no water it is hard to discover the sealed fountain’ and the garden inclosed,’ I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul. I appeal for spiritual food to the church whence I have received the garb of Christ. The wide space of sea and land that lies between us cannot deter me from searching for the pearl of great price.’ Wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.’ Evil children have squandered their patrimony; you alone keep your heritage intact. The fruitful soil of Rome, when it receives the pure seed of the Lord, bears fruit an hundredfold; but here the seed corn is choked in the furrows and nothing grows but darnel or oats. In the West the Sun of righteousness is even now rising; in the East, Lucifer, who fell from heaven, has once more set his throne above the stars. Ye are the light of the world,’ ye are the salt of the earth,’ ye are "vessels of gold and of silver." Here are vessels of wood or of earth, which wait for the rod of iron,and eternal fire. Yet, though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I demand the safe-keeping of the victim, from the shepherd the protection due to the sheep. Away with all that is overweening; let the state of Roman majesty withdraw. My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built! This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten. This is the ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails. But since by reason of my sins I have betaken myself to this desert which lies between Syria and the uncivilized waste, I cannot, owing to the great distance between us, always ask of your sanctity the holy thing of the Lord. Consequently I here follow the Egyptian confessors who share your faith, and anchor my frail craft under the shadow of their great argosies. I know nothing of Vitalis; I reject Meletius; I have nothing to do with Paulinus. He that gathers not with you scatters; he that is not of Christ is of Antichrist." Jerome,To Pope Damasus,Epistle 15:1-2(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VI:18 "But he was not so eager as to lay aside caution. He called the bishop to him, and esteeming that there can be no true thankfulness except it spring from true faith, he enquired whether he agreed with the Catholic bishops, that is, with the Roman Church?"Ambrose,The death of his brother Satyrus,1:47(A.D. 378),in NPNF2,X:168 "Your grace must be besought not to permit any disturbance of the Roman Church, the head of the whole Roman World and of the most holy faith of the Apostles, for from thence flow out to all(churches) the bonds ofsacred communion." Ambrose,To Emperor Gratian,Epistle 11:4(A.D. 381),in SPP,160 "To your inquiry we do not deny a legal reply, because we, upon whom greater zeal for the Christian religion is incumbent than upom the whole body, out of consideration for our office do not have the liberty to dissimulate, nor to remain silent. We carry the weight of all who are burdened; nay rather the blessed apostle Peter bears these in us, who, as we trust, protects us in all matters of his administration, and guards his heirs." Pope Sircius[regn. A.D. 384-399],To Himerius,Epistle 1(A.D. 385),in DEN,36-37 "Or rather, if we hear him here, we shall certainly see him hereafter, if not as standing near him, yet see him we certainly shall, glistening near the Throne of the king. Where the Cherubim sing the glory, where the Seraphim are flying, there shall we see Paul, with Peter, and as a chief and leader of the choir of the Saints, and shall enjoy his generous love. For if when here he loved men so, that when he had the choice of departing and being with Christ, he chose to be here, much more will he there display a warmer affection. I love Rome even for this, although indeed one has other grounds for praising it, both for its greatness, and its antiquity, and its beauty, and its populousness, and for its power, and its wealth, and for its successes in war. But I let all this pass, and esteem it blessed on this account, that both in his lifetime he wrote to them, and loved them so, and talked with them whiles he was with us, and brought his life to a close there. Wherefore the city is more notable upon this ground, than upon all others together. And as a body great and strong, it hath as two glistening eyes the bodies of these Saints. Not so bright is the heaven, when the sun sends forth his rays, as is the city of Rome, sending out these two lights into all parts of the world. From thence will Paul be caught up, from thence Peter. Just bethink you, and shudder (frixate) at the thought of what a sight Rome will see, when Paulariseth suddenly from that deposit, together withPeter, and is lifted up to meet the Lord. (1 Thess. iv. 17.) What a rose will Rome send up to Christ! (Is. xxxv. 1) what two crowns will the city have about it! what golden chains will she be girded with! what fountains possess! Therefore I admire the city, not for the much gold, not for the columns, not for the other display there, but for these pillars of the Church. (1 Cor. xv. 38.) Would that it were now given me to throw myself round (pericuqhnai) the body of Paul, and be riveted to the tomb, and to see the dust of that body that "filled up that which was lacking" after "Christ" Col. i. 24), that bore "the marks" (stigmata,) (Gal. vi. 17) that sowed the Gospel everywhere yea, the dust of that body through which he ran to and fro everywhere!" Chrysostom,Epistle to the Romans,Homily 32:24(c.A.D. 391), in NPNF1,XI:561-562 "Number the bishops from the See of Peter itself. And in that order of Fathers see who has succeeded whom. That is the rock against which the gates of hell do not prevail"Augustine,Psalm against the Party of Donatus,18(A.D. 393),in GCC,51 "I am held in the communion of the Catholic Church by...and by the succession of bishops from the very seat ofPeter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrectioncommended His sheep to be fed up to the present episcopate."Augustine,Against the Letter of Mani,5(A.D. 395),in GCC,78 "Carthage was also near the countries over the sea, and distinguished by illustrious renown,so that it had a bishop of more than ordinary influence, who could afford to disregard a number of conspiring enemies because he saw himselfjoinedby letters ofcommunion to the Roman Church, in whichthe supremacy of an apostolic chair has always flourished" Augustine,To Glorius et.al,Epistle 43:7(A.D. 397),in NPNF1,I:278 "If the lineal succession of bishops is to be considered with how much more benefit to the Church do we reckon from Peter himself,to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: Upon this rock I will build my church,and the gates of hell shall not conquer it!’ For to Peter succeededLinus,Clement...Damsus,Sircius,Anastasius. In this order of sucession no Donatist bishop is too be found." Augustine,To Generosus,Epistle 53:2(A.D. 400),in GILES,180-181 "The chair of the Roman Church, in which Peter sat, andin which Anastasius sits today."Augustine,Against the Letters of Petillian,2:51(A.D. 402),in GCC,78 "In making inquiry with respect to those things that should be treated with all solicitude by bishops,and especially by a true and just and Catholic Council,by preserving,as you have done,the example of ancient tradition,and by being mindful of ecclesiastical discipline,you have truly strengthened the vigour of our religion,no less now in consulting us than before in passing sentence. For you decided that it was proper to refer to our judgement,knowing what is due to theApostolic See,since all we who are set in this place,desire to follow the Apostle from the very episcopate and whole authority of this name is derived.Following in his footsteps, we know how to condemn the evil and to approve the good. So also, you have by your sacredotal office preserve the customs of the Fathers,and have not spurned that which they decreed by a divine and not human sentence,that whatsoever is done,even though it be in distant provinces,should not be ended without being brought to the knowledge of this See,that by its authority the whole just pronouncement should be strengthened,and that from it all other Churches (like waters flowing from their natal source and flowing through the different regions of the world,the pure streams of one incorrupt head),should receive what they ought to enjoin,whom they ought to wash,and whom that water,worthy of pure bodies,should avoid as defiled with uncleansable filth.I congratulate you,therefore,dearest brethren,that you have directed letters to us by our brother and fellow-bishop Julius,and that,while caring for the Churches which you rule,you also show your solicitude for the well-being of all,and that you ask for a decree that shall profit all the Churches of the world at once; so that the Church being established in her rules and confirmed by this decree of just pronouncement against such errors,may be unable to fear those men,etc." Pope Innocent[regn A.D. 401-417],To the Council of Carthage,Epistle 29(A.D. 417),in SEP,146-147 "Although the tradition of the Fathers has attributed to the Apostolic See so great authority that none would dare to contest its judgements...For(Peter) himself has care over all the Churches, and above all that in which he sat nor does he suffer any of its priveleges or decisions to be shaken" Pope Zosimus[regn A.D. 417-418 ],To Aurelius and the Council of Carthage,Epistle 12(A.D. 418),in GCC,95,115 "For it has never been allowed to discuss again what has once been decided by the Apostolic See"Pope Boniface[regn A.D. 418-422],To Rufus Bishop of Thessalonica,Epistle 13(A.D. 422),in GCC,115 "The rising pestilence was first cut short by Rome,the see of Peter,which having become the head to the world of the pastoral office,holds by religion whatever it holds not by arms." Prosper of Aquitaine,Song on the Enemies of Grace,1(A.D. 429),in GCC,79 "Joining to yourself,therefore,the sovereignt of our See,and assuming our place with authority,you will execute this sentence with accurate rigour:that within ten days,counted from the day of your notice,he shall condemn his[Nestorius’] false teachings in a written confession." Pope Celestine[regn. A.D. 422-432],To Cyril of Alexandria,Epistle 11(A.D. 430),in GCC,88 "The Holy Synod said:’Since most impious Nestorius will not obey our citation, and has not received the most holy and God-fearing bishops whom we sent to him,we have necessarily betaken ourselves to the examination of his impieties;and having apprehended from his letters,and from his writings,and from his recent sayings in this metropolis,which have been reported,that his opinions and teachings are impious,we being necessarily compelled thereto by the canons and by the leter of our most holy father and colleague,Celestine,bishop of the Roman Church,with many tears,have arrived at the following sentence against him:--’OurLord Jesus Christ,Who has been blasphemed by him,defines by this present most holy synod that the same Nestorius is deprived of episcopal dignity and of all sacredotal intercourse." Council of Ephesus,Session I(A.D. 431),in GCC,89-90 "And all the most reverend bishops at the same time cried out. This is a just judgment. To Coelestine, a new Paul! To Cyril a new Paul! To Coelestine the guardian of the faith! To Coelestine of one mind with the synod! To Coelestine the whole Synod offers its thanks! One Coelestine! One Cyril! One faith of the Synod! One faith of the world!....Arcadius...said:...Wherefore we desire to ask your blessedness, that you command that we taught what has been already decreed by your holiness.... Theodotus...said: The God of the whole world has made manifest the justice of the judgment pronounced by the holy Synod by the writings of the most religious bishop Coelestine, and by the coming of your holiness. For ye have made manifest the zeal of the most holy and reverend bishop Coelestine, and his care for the pious faith. And since very reasonably your reverence is desirous of learning what has been done from the minutes of the acts concerning the deposition of Nestorius your reverence will be fully convinced of the justice of the sentence, and of the zeal of the holy Synod, and the symphony of the faith which the most pious and holy bishop Coelestine has proclaimed with a great voice, of course after your full conviction, the rest shall be added to the present action." Council of Ephesus,Session II (A.D. 431),in NPNF2,XIV:222-223 "Philip, presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See, said: There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: Our holy and most blessed Pope successor and holds his place....Accordingly the decision all churches is firm, for the priests of the eastern and western churches are present....Wherefore Nestorius knows that he is alienated from the communion of the priests of the Catholic Church." Council of Ephesus,Session III (A.D. 431),in GILES,252 "B. Peter in his successors has delivered what he received." Pope SixtusIII[regn. A.D. 432-440],To John of Antioch,Epistle 6(A.D. 433),in GCC,95 "For he[Pope Sixtus] wrote what was in accord with the holy synod[Council of Ephesus],and confirmed all of its acts,an is agreement with us." Cyril of Alexandria,To Acacius of Meletine,Epistle 40(A.D. 434),in GCC,114 "And since these heretics were trying to bring the Apostolic See round their view,African councils of holy bishops also did their best to persuade the holy Pope of the city(first the veneranle Innocent,and afterwards his successor Zosimus) that this heresy was to be abhorred and condemned by Catholic faith. And these bishops sogreat a Seesuccessively branded them,and cut them off from the members of the Church,giving letters to the African Churches in the West,and to the Churches of the East,and declared that they were to be anathematised and avoided by all Catholics.The judgement pronounced upon them by the Catholic Church of God was heard and followed also by the most pious Emperor Ho they had wandered,and are yet returning,as the truth of the right faith becomes known against this detestable error." Possidius,Life of Augustine,18(A.D. 437),in GCC,80-81 "The example of Pope Stephen in resisting the Iteration of Baptism. Great then is the example of these same blessed men, an example plainly divine, and worthy to be called to mind, and medirated upon continually by every true Catholic, who, like the seven-branched candlestick, shining with the sevenfold light of the Holy Spirit, showed to posterity how thenceforward the audaciousness of profane novelty, in all the several rantings of error, might be crushed by the authority of hallowed antiquity. Nor is there anything new in this? For it has always been the case in the Church, that the more a man is under the influence of religion, so much the more prompt is he to oppose innovations. Examples there are without number: but to be brief, we will take one, and that, in preference to others, from the Apostolic See, so that it may be clearer than day to every one with how great energy, with how great zeal, with how great earnestness, the blessed successors of the blessed apostles have constantly defended the integrity of the religion which they have once received. Once on a time then, Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage, of venerable memory, held the doctrine--and he was the first who held it --that Baptism ought to be repeated, contrary to the divine canon, contrary to the rule of the universal Church, contrary to the customs and institutions of our ancestors. This innovation drew after it such an amount of evil, that it not only gave an example of sacrilege to heretics of all sorts, but proved an occasion of error to certain Catholics even. When then all men protested against the novelty, and the priesthood everywhere, each as his zeal prompted him, opposed it, Pope Stephen of blessed memory, Prelate of the Apostolic See, in conjunction indeed with his colleagues but yet himself the foremost, withstood it, thinking it right, I doubt not, that as he exceeded all others in the authority of his place, so he should also in the devotion of his faith. In fine, in an epistle sent at the time to Africa, he laid down this rule: Let there be no innovation--nothing but what has been handed down.’ For that holy and prudent man well knew that true piety admits no other rule than that whatsoever things have been faithfully received from our fathers the same are to be faithfully consigned to our children; and that it is our duty, not to lead religion whither we would, but rather to follow religion whither it leads; and that it is the part of Christian modesty and gravity not to hand down our own beliefs or observances to those who come after us, but to preserve and keep what we have received from those who went before us. What then was the issue of the whole matter? What but the usual and customary one? Antiquity was retained, novelty was rejected." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitories,6(A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XIV:134-135 "Although, therefore, dearly beloved, we be found both weak and slothful in fulfilling the duties of our office, because, whatever devoted and vigorous action we desire to do, we are hindered by the frailty of our very condition; yet having the unceasing propitiation of the Almighty and perpetual Priest, who being like us and yet equal with the Father, brought down His Godhead even to things human, and raised His Manhood even to things Divine, we worthily and piously rejoice over His dispensation, whereby, though He has delegated the care of His sheep to many shepherds, yet He has not Himself abandoned the guardianship of His beloved flock. And from His overruling and eternal protection we have received the support of the Apostles’ aid also, which assuredly does not cease from its operation: and the strength of the foundation, on which the whole superstructure of the Church is reared, is not weakened by the weight of the temple that rests upon it. For the solidity of that faith which was praised in the chief of the Apostles is perpetual: and as that remains which Peter believed in Christ, so that remains which Christ instituted in Peter. For when, as has been read in the Gospel lesson, the Lord had asked the disciples whom they believed Him to be amid the various opinions that were held, and the blessed Peter bad replied, saying, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ the Lord says, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and flood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father, which is in heaven. And I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.’The dispensation of Truth therefore abides, and the blessed Peter persevering in the strength of the Rock, which he has received, has not abandoned the helm of the Church, which he undertook. For he was ordained before the rest in such a way that from his being called the Rock, from his being pronounced the Foundation, from his being constituted the Doorkeeper of the kingdom of heaven, from his being set as the Umpire to bind and to loose, whose judgments shall retain their validity in heaven, from all these mystical titles we might know the nature of his association with Christ. And still to-day he more fully and effectually performs what is entrusted to him, and carries out every part of his duty and charge in Him and with Him, through Whom he has been glorified. And so if anything is rightly done and rightly decreed by us, if anything is won from the mercy of God by our daily supplications, it is of his work and merits whose power lives and whose authority prevails in his See. For this, dearly-beloved, was gained by that confession, which, inspired in the Apostle’s heart by God the Father, transcended all the uncertainty of human opinions, and was endued with the firmness of a rock, which no assaults could shake. For throughout the Church Peter daily says, Thou an the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ and every tongue which confesses the Lord, accepts the instruction his voice conveys. This Faith conquers the devil, and breaks the bonds of his prisoners. It uproots us from this earth and plants us in heaven, and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against it. For with such solidity is it endued by God that the depravity of heretics cannot mar it nor the unbelief of the heathen overcome it." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D.440-461],Sermon 3:2-3(A.D ante 461),in NPNF2,XII:117 "Who does not cease to preside in his see,who will doubt that he rules in every part of the world." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D.440-461],Sermon 5(A.D ante 461),in GCC,95 "After the reading of the foregoing epistle [i.e. the Tome of Pope Leo], the most reverend bishops cried out: This is the faith of the fathers, this is the faith of the Apostles. So we all believe, thus the orthodox believe. Anathema to him who does not thus believe. Peter has spoken thus through Leo [regn. A.D. 440-461]. So taught the Apostles. Piously and truly did Leo teach, so taught Cyril. Everlasting be the memory of Cyril. Leo and Cyril taught the same thing, anathema to him who does not so believe. This is the true faith. Those of us who are orthodox thus believe.This is the faith of the fathers. Why were not these things read at Ephesus [i.e. at the heretical synod held there] ? These are the things Dioscorus hid away." Council of Chalcedon,Session II (A.D. 451),in NPNF2,XIV:259 "Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness. Therefore let this most holy and great synod sentence the before mentioned Dioscorus to the canonical penalties." Council of Chalcedon,Session III (A.D. 451),in NPNF2,XIV:259-260 "The great and holy and universal Synod...in the metropolis of Chalcedon...to the most holy and blessed archbishop of Rome, Leo....being set as the mouthpiece unto all of the blessed Peter, and imparting the blessedness of his Faith unto all...and besides all this he [Dioscorus] stretched forth his fury even against him who had been charged with the custody of the vine by the Savior, we mean of course your holiness, ...." Leo the Great,Pope,Chalcdeon to Pope Leo,Epistle 98:1-2 (A.D. 451),in NPNF2,XII:72 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. Authority Claimed by the Bishop of Rome,The Pope "The Church of God which sojourns in Rome to the Church of God which sojourns in Corinth....If anyone disobey the things which have been said by Him through us, let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and in no small danger." Clement of Rome[regn. c A.D.91-101],1st Epistle to the Corinthians,1,59:1 (c.A.D. 96),in JUR,I:7,12 "Thereupon Victor, who presided over the church atRome, immediately attempted to cut off from the commonunity the parishes of all Asia, with the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox; and he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate..." Victor I [regn A.D. 189-198],in Eusebius EH,24:9,in NPNF2,I:242-243 "Stephen, that he who so boasts of the place of his episcopate, and contends that he holds the succession from Peter, on whom the foundations of the Church were laid...Stephen, who announces that he holds by succession the throne of Peter" Stephen I [regn A.D. 254-257], Firmilian to Cyprian,Epistle 74/75:17(A.D. 256).in ANF,V:394 "And why was nothing said to us concerning the Church of the Alexandrians in particular? Are you ignorant that the custom has been for word to be written first to us, and then for a just decision to be passed from this place? If then any such suspicion rested upon the Bishop there, notice thereof ought to have been sent to the Church of this place; whereas, after neglecting to inform us, and proceeding on their own authority as they pleased, now they desire to obtain our concurrence in their decisions, though we never condemned him. Not so have the constitutions of Paul, not so have the traditions of the Fathers directed; this is another form of procedure, a novel practice. I beseech you, readily bear with me: what I write is for the common good. For what we have received from the blessed Apostle Peter s, that I signify to you; and I should not have written this, as deeming that these things were manifest unto all men, had not these proceedings so disturbed us." Julius[regn A.D. 337-352],To the Eusebians,fragment in Athanasius’ Against the Arians,2:35,in NPNF2,IV:118 "Most honourable sons: Inasmuch as your love renders to the apostolic see the reverence which is its due, accept the same in no niggard measure for yourselves. For even though in the holy church in which the holy apostle sat, and taught us how it becomes us to manage the rudder which has been committed to us, we nevertheless confess ourselves to be unworthy of the honour, we yet on this very account strive by every means within our power if haply we may be able to achieve the glory of that blessedness....Why then do you again ask me for the condemnation of Timotheus? Here, by the judgment of the apostolic see, in the presence of Peter, bishop of Alexandria, he was condemned, together with his teacher, Apollinarius, who will also in the day of judgment undergo due punishment and torment. But if he succeeds in persuading some less stable men, as though having some hope, after by his confession changing the true hope which is in Christ, with him shall likewise perish whoever of set purpose withstands the order of the Church. May God keep you sound, most honoured sons." Damasus[regn A.D. 366-384],To the Eastern Bishops,fragment in Theodoret’s EH,5:10,in NPNF2,III:139 "We bear the burdens of all who are heavy laden; nay, rather, the blessed apostle Peter bears them in us and protects and watches over us, his heirs,as we trust,in all the care of his ministry....Now let all your priests observe the rule here given, unless they wish to be plucked from the solid, apostolic rock upon which Christ built the universal Church....I think, dearest brother, disposed of all the questions which were contained in your letter of inquiry and have, I believe, returned adequate answers to each of the cases you reported by our son, the priest Basianus, to the Roman Church as to the head of your body....And whereas no priest of the Lord is free to be ignorant of the statutes of the Apostolic See and the venerable provisions of the canons" Sircius[regn c A.D. 384-399],To Himerius,bishop of Tarragona(Spain),1,3,20,in SL,699,701,707 "Care shall not be lacking on my part to guard the faith of the Gospel as regards my peoples, and to visit by letter, as far as I am able, the parts of my body throughout the divers regions of the earth." Anastasius[regn A.D. 399-401],Epistle 1,in DOP,182 "In making inquiry with respect to those things that should be treated ... by bishops ... as you have done, the example of ancient tradition ... For you decided that it was proper to refer to our judgement, knowing what is due to the Apostolic See, since all we who are set in this place, desire to follow that Apostle from whom the very episcopate and whole authority of this named derived ... that whatsoever is done, even though it be in distant provinces, should not be ended without being brought to the knowledge of this See, that by its authority the whole just pronouncement should be strengthened, and that from it all other Churches (like waters flowing from their natal source and flowing through the different regions of the world, the pure streams of one incorrupt head)...you also show your solicitude for the well being of all, and that you ask for a decree that shall profit all the Churches of the world at once." Innocent I[regn A.D. 401-417],To the Council of Carthage,1,2 (A.D. 417), in SEP,146-147 "It is therefore with due care and propriety that you consult the secrets of theApostolic office that office, I mean, to which belongs, besides the things which are wihtout, the care of all the Churches...Especially as often as a question of faith is discussed, I think that all our brothers and fellow bishops should refer to none other than to Peter, the author of their name and office." Innocent I[regn A.D. 401-417],To the Council of Mileve,2 (A.D. 417), in SEP,147-148 "Although the tradition of the fathers has attributed to the Apostolic See so great authority that none would dare to contest its judgement, and has preserved this ever in its canons and rules, and current ecclesiastical discipline in its laws still pays the reverence which it ought to the name of Peter...For he himself has care over all the churches, and above all of that which he sat...Since, then Peter is the head of so great authority, and has confirmed the suffrages of our forefathers since his time...and as bishops you are bound to know it; yet; though such was our authority that none could reconsider our decision." Zosimus[regn A.D. 417-418],To the Council of Carthage,in SPP,175 "For it has never been lawful to reconsider what has once been settled by the apostolic see." Boniface[regn A.D. 418-422],To Rufus bishop of Thessalonica,in GILES,230 "The universal oredering of the Church at ist birth took its origin from the office of blessed Peter, in which is found both directings power and its supreme authority. From him as from a source, at the time when our religion was in the stage of growth, all churches received their common order. This much is shown by the injunctions of the council of Nicaea, since it did not venture to make a decree in his regard, recognizing that nothing could be added to his dignity: in fact it knew that all had been assigned to him by the word of the Lord. So it is clear that this church is to all churches throughout the world as the head is to the members, and that whoever seperates himself from it becomes an exile from the Christian religion, since he ceases to belong to its fellowship." Boniface[regn A.D. 418-422],To the bishops of Thessaly,in GILES,230 "None has ever been so rash as to oppose the apostolic primacy, the judgement of which may not be revised; none rebels against it, unless he would judge in his turn." Boniface[regn A.D. 418-422],To Rufus and bishops of Macedonia,in GILES,231 "Wherefore, assuming to yourself the authority of our see and using our stead and place with power, you will deliver this sentence with utmost severity." Celestine[regn A.D. 422-427],To Cyril of Alexandria,Epistle 11(A.D. 430),in SPP,208 "The blessed apostle Peter, in his successors, has handed down what he received. Who would be willing to seperate himself from the doctrine of whom the Master himself instructed first among the apostles?" Sixtus III,[regn A.D. 432-440],To John of Antioch(A.D. 433),in GILES,261 "And so he too rejoices over your good feeling and welcomes your respect for the LORD’S own institution as shown towards the partners of His honour, commending the well ordered love of the whole Church, which ever finds Peter in Peter’s See, and from affection for so great a shepherd grows not lukewarm even over so inferior a successor as myself." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D.440-461],Sermon 2(A.D ante 461),in NPNF2,XII:116 " ’Thou an the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ and every tongue which confesses the Lord, accepts the instruction his voice conveys. This Faith conquers the devil, and breaks the bonds of his prisoners. It uproots us from this earth and plants us in heaven, and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against it. For with such solidity is it endued by God that the depravity of heretics cannot mar it nor the unbelief of the heathen overcome it." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D.440-461],Sermon 3:2-3(A.D ante 461),in NPNF2,XII:117 "Who does not cease to preside in his see,who will doubt that he rules in every part of the world." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D.440-461],Sermon 5(A.D ante 461),in GCC,95 "But this mysterious function the LORD wished to be indeed the concern of all the apostles, but in such a way that He has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the Apostles: and from him as from the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body: so that any one who dares to secede from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D.440-461],Epistle 10(A.D 445),in NPNF2,XII:8 The testimony of the Pope Leo the Great is a convenient point to terminate this study. The universal jusridiction and powers are fully developed at this point in Church history, acknowledged by both the Western as well as the Eastern Church.There is no substantive difference in powers expressed by Pope John Paul II and Pope Leo the Great. This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-1998 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 4A-CHURCH INDEX ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. Church. From the Greek kuriakos,"belonging to the Lord" which translates the Greek ecclesia, the holy people, particularly its assembly for worship. This section will deal with various aspects of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church in patristic thought.Topics that Corunum will conver will include such things as: the visible nature of the Church, the divine authority/infallibility of the Church, the hierarchial nature of the Church and the meaning of ’Catholic’. Catholic: Documents illustrating the meaning of ’Catholic’ Church in the ancient Church. The Fathers from the get go affirm that the Catholic Church as a visible authoritative institution distinct from other heretical groups.It is through this Church alone by which one is saved. Does your use/meaning of the word ’Catholic’ agree with the Fathers?. Canon: The Catholic Church, not the individual Christian or any other faith tradition, was the appointed authority that determined/recognized the canon of the Bible. These documents in the early Church illustrates this fact. Deuterocanonical Books The Church Fathers with varying degrees of recognition embraced the larger Old Testament Alexandrian/Septuagint canon not the Hebrew Palestinian canon. This canon included the proto-canonical books of the Palestinian canon and the deutero-canonical books of Judith, Tobit, I/II Macabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and the minor additions in Daniel(Three Youths, Susanna, Bel & the Dragon) and Esther. Hierarchy: The Catholic Church is hierarchical in nature consisting of deacons, priests and bishops. The early Church Fathers affirmed the ministerial priesthood and hierarchy. Indefectibility of the Church: The Church Fathers believed that the Catholic Church is always visible and will never fail. If the Church was not indefectible it would cease to be visible. Infallibility of Ecumenical Councils: The Church Fathers believed that the pastors of the Church when convened in an Ecumenical Council have the commission to define, explain, and propound to the faithful what it has received from Christ and His Apostles. These pastors have always been recognized as infallible judges of faith. Sunday Worship: The Early Church from the beginning worshipped on the first day of the Week, the Lord’s day, not on the Sabbath. The Lord’s day was so called, as our Lord rose from the dead on this day. The Visible Church: The Church Fathers believed that the Catholic Church is both a spiritual as well as a visible body. Schism: The Church Fathers believed ecclesiastical unity was one of the marks of Catholic Church. Schism according to the Fathers was a breach of ecclesiastical unity and was considered a crime. In the long run schism leads to heresy, because it leads to denying the authority of the Catholic Church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 4B-CATHOLIC ======================================================================== Catholic "See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Christ Jesus does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the apostles. Do ye also reverence the deacons, as those that carry out[through their office] the appointment of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is[administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude[of the people] also be; by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it.Wherever the bishopshall appear, there let the multitude[of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is theCatholicChurch." Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to the Smyrneans, 8:2(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:89 "[A]ll the people wondered that there should be such a difference between the unbelievers and the elect, of whom this most admirable Polycarp was one, having in our own times been an apostolic and prophetic teacher, and bishop of theCatholic Churchwhich is in Smyrna. For every word that went out of his mouth either has been or shall yet be accomplished." Martyrdom of Polycarp,16:2(A.D. 155),in ANF,I:42 "[N]or does it consist in this, that he should again falsely imagine, as being above this [fancied being], a Pleroma at one time supposed to contain thirty, and at another time an innumerable tribe of Aeons, as these teachers who are destitute of truly divine wisdom maintain; while theCatholic Churchpossessesone and the same faiththroughout the whole world, as we have already said." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,1:10,3(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:331-332 "For the blessed apostle Paul himself,following the rule of his predecessor John, writes only by name to seven Churches in the following order--to the Corinthians afirst...there is a second to the Corinthians and to theThessalonians, yet one Church is recognized as being spread over the entire world...Howbeit to Philemon one, to Titus one, and to Timothy two were put in writing...to be in honour however with the Catholic Church for the ordering of ecclesiastical discipline...one to the Laodicenes, another to the Alexandrians, both forged in Paul’s name to suit the heresy of Marcion, and several others, which cannot be received into the Catholic Church; for it is not fitting that gall be mixed with honey. The Epistle of Jude no doubt, and the couple bearing the name of John, are accepted by the Catholic Church...But of Arsinous,called also Valentinus,or of Militiades we receive nothing at all." The fragment of Muratori (A.D. 177),in NE,124 "Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called the rock on which the church should be built,’ who also obtained the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ with the power of loosing and binding in heaven and on earth?’...Where was Marcion then, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those menlived not so long ago,--in the reign of Antoninus for the most part,--and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherus,until on account of their ever restless curiosity,with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled." Tertullian,On the Prescription Against Heretics,22,30(A.D.200),in ANF,III:253,257 "Peter speaks there, on whom the Church was to be built, teaching and showing in the name of the Church, that although a rebellious and arrogant multitude of those who will not hear and obey may depart, yet the Church does not depart from Christ; and they are the Church who are a people united to the priest, and the flock which adheres to its pastor. Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if any one be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s priests, and think that they communicate secretly with some; while the Church, which is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another."Cyprian,To Florentius,Epistle 66/67(A.D. 254),in ANF,V:374-375 "But for those who say, There was when He was not,and,Before being born He was not,and that He came into existence out of nothing,or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance...these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes"Creed of Nicea (A.D. 325),in Ecclesiastes,216 "Concerning those who call themselves Cathari, if they come over to the Catholic and Apostolic Church, the great and holy Synod decrees that they who are ordained shall continue as they are in the clergy. But it is before all things necessary that they should profess in writing that they will observe and follow the dogmas of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; in particular that they will communicate with persons who have been twice married, and with those who having lapsed in persecution have had a period [of penance] laid upon them, and a time [of restoration] fixed so that in all things they will follow the dogmas of the Catholic Church..." Council of Nicaea I (A.D. 325),Canon 8,in NPNF2,XIV:19 "[T]he Article, In one Holy Catholic Church,’ on which, though one might say many things, we will speak but briefly.It is called Catholic then because it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to come to men’s knowledge, concerning things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind, governors and governed, learned and unlearned; and because it universally treats and heals the whole class of sins, which are committed by soul or body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue which is named, both in deeds and words, and in every kind of spiritual gifts... But since the word Ecclesia is applied to different things (as also it is written of the multitude in the theatre of the Ephesians, And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the Assembly), and since one might properly and truly say that there is a Church of evil doers, I mean the meetings of the heretics, the Marcionists and Manichees, and the rest, for this cause the Faith has securely delivered to thee now the Article, And in one Holy Catholic Church;’ that thou mayest avoid their wretched meetings, and ever abide with the Holy Church Catholic in which thou wast regenerated. And if ever thou art sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord’s House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God (for it is written, As Christ also loved the Churchand gave Himself for it, and all the rest,) and is a figure and copy of Jerusalem which is above, which is free, and the mother of us all; which before was barren, but now has many children."Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:23,26(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VIII:139-140 "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life. Amen"Apostles Creed(A.D. 360),in Ecclesiastes,369 "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the life-giver, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is together worshiped and together glorified, Who spoke through the prophets; in one holy Catholic, and apostolic Church"Constantinopolitan Creed(A.D. 381),in Ecclesiastes,298 "Those who from heresy turn to orthodoxy, and to the portion of those who are being saved, we receive according to the following method and custom: Arians, and Macedonians, and Sabbatians, and Novatians, who call themselves Cathari or Aristori, and Quarto-decimans or Tetradites, and Apollinarians, we receive, upon their giving a written renunciation [of their errors] and anathematize every heresy which is not in accordance with the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of God."Council of Constantinople I,Canon 7(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,XIV:185 "We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is Catholic and which is called Catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For theywill not be understood unless they distinguish her by thisname which the whole world employs in her regard" Augustine,The True Religion, 7:12(A.D. 390),in JUR,3:40 "You think that you make a very acute remark when you affirm the name Catholic to mean universal, not in respect to the communion as embracing the whole world, but in respect to the observance of all Divine precepts and of all the sacraments, as if we (even accepting the position that the Church is called Catholic because it honestly holds the whole truth, of which fragments here and there are found in some heresies) rested upon the testimony of this word’s signification, and not upon the promises of God, and so many indisputable testimonies of the truth itself, our demonstration of the existence of the Church of God in all nations." Augustine,To Vincent the Rogatist,93:7,23(A.D. 403),in NPNF1,I:390 "Inasmuch, I repeat, as this is the case, we believe also in THE HOLY CHURCH, [intending thereby] assuredly the CATHOLIC. For both heretics and schismatics style their congregations churches. But heretics, in holding false opinions regarding God, do injury to the faith itself; while schismatics, on the other hand, in wicked separations break off from brotherly charity, although they may believe just what we believe. Wherefore neither do the heretics belong to the Church catholic, which loves God; nor do the schismatics form a part of the same, inasmuch as: it loves the neighbor, and consequently readily forgives the neighbor’s sins, because it prays that forgiveness may be extended to itself by Him who has reconciled us to Himself, doing away with all past things, and calling us to a new life. And until we reach the perfection of this new life, we cannot be without sins. Nevertheless it is a matter of consequence of what sort those sins may be."Augustine,On Faith and Creed,10:21(A.D. 393),in NPNF1,III:331 "For in the Catholic Church, not to speak of the purest wisdom, to the knowledge of which a few spiritual, men attain in this life, so as to know it, in the scantiest measure,deed, because they are but men, still without any uncertainty (since the rest of the multitude derive their entire security not from acuteness of intellect, but from simplicity of faith,)--not to speak of this wisdom, which you do not believe to be in the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; sodoes her authority, inaugurated bymiracles,nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep, down to the present episcopate. And so, lastly, does the name itself of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house. Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should, though from the slowness of our understanding, or the small attainment of our life, the truth may not yet fully disclose itself. But with you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me, the promise of truth is the only thing that comes into play. Now if the truth is soclearly proved as to leave no possibility of doubt, it must be set before all the things that keep me in the Catholic Church; but if there is only a promise without any fulfillment, no one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion in which almost all that you believe is contained. For in that unhappy time when we read it we were in your opinion enlightened. The epistle begins thus:--’Manichaeus, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the providence of God the Father. These are wholesome words from the perennial and living fountain.’ Now, if you please, patiently give heed to my inquiry. I do not believe Manichaeus to be an apostle of Christ. Do not, I beg of you, be enraged and begin to curse. For you know that it is my rule to believe none of your statements without consideration. Therefore I ask, who is this Manichaeus? You will reply, An apostle of Christ. I do not believe it. Now you are at a loss what to say or do; for you promised to give knowledge of the truth, and here you are forcing me to believe what I have no knowledge of. Perhaps you will read the gospel to me, and will attempt to find there a testimony to Manichaeus. But should you meet with a person not yet believing the gospel, how would you reply to him were he to say, I do not believe? For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church. ... for it was through the Catholics that I got my faith in it; and so, whatever you bring from the gospel will no longer have any weight with me. Wherefore, if no clear proof of the apostleship of Manichaeus is found in the gospel,I will believe the Catholics rather than you. But if you read thence some passage clearly in favor of Manichaeus, I will believe neither them nor you: not them, for they lied to me about you; nor you, for you quote to me that Scripture which I had believed on the authority of those liars. But far be it that I should not believe the gospel; for believing it, I find no way of believing you too. For the names of the apostles, as there recorded, do not include the name of Manichaeus. And who the successor of Christ’s betrayer was we read in the Acts of the Apostles; which book I must needs believe if I believe the gospel, since both writings alike Catholic authority commends to me. The same book contains the well-known narrative of the calling and apostleship of Paul. Read me now, if you can, in the gospel where Manichaeus is called an apostle, or in any other book in which I have professed to believe. Will you read the passage where the Lord promised the Holy Spirit as a Paraclete, to the apostles? Concerning which passage, behold how many and how great are the things that restrain and deter me from believing in Manichaeus." Augustine,Against the Epistle of Manichaeus,4:5,5:6 (A.D 397),in NPNF1,IV:130-131 "Philip the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the Apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even to to-day and forever both lives and judges in his successors."Council of Ephesus,Session III(A.D. 431),in NPNF2:XIV:223 "I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: That whether I or anyone else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways; first, by the authority of the Divine Law, and then, by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. But here some one perhaps will ask, Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of theChurch’s interpretation?’ For this reason,--because, owing to the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in another, so that it seems to be capableof as many interpretations as there are interpreters. For Novation expounds it one way, Sabellius another, ... Arius ... another ... Pelagius ... another. Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various error, that the rule for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of Ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation" Vincent of Lerins,Commoniories,2:4,5(A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:132 "Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed andall-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness. Therefore let this most holy and great synod sentence the before mentioned Dioscorus to the canonical penalties." Council of Chalcedon,Session III(A.D. 451),in NPNF2,XIV:259 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. Church and the Canon "For the blessed apostle Paul himself,following the rule of his predecessor John, writes only by name to seven Churches in the following order--to the Corinthians afirst...there is a second to the Corinthians and to the Thessalonians, yet one Church is recognized as being spread over the entire world...Howbeit to Philemon one, to Titus one, and to Timothy two were put in writing...to be in honour however with the Catholic Church for the ordering of ecclesiastical discipline...one to the Laodicenes, another to the Alexandrians, both forged in Paul’s name to suit the heresy of Marcion, and several others, which cannot be received into the Catholic Church; for it is not fitting that gall be mixed with honey. The Epistle of Jude no doubt, and the couple bearing the name of John, are accepted by the Catholic Church...But of Arsinous,called also Valentinus,or of Militiades we receive nothing at all." The fragment of Muratori (A.D. 177),in NE,124 Markwho wrote theGospel, which he [Papias] has given in the following words]: And the presbyter said this. Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered…Matthewput together the oracles [of the Lord] in the Hebrew language (Papias of Hierapolis Fragments from the Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord 90 AD) Chap IX For thataccording to Johnrelates His original, effectual, and glorious generation from the Father, thus declaring, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."(8) Also, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." For this reason, too, is that Gospel full of all confidence, for such is His person.(9) But that according to Luke, taking up [His] priestly character, commenced with Zacharias the priest offering sacrifice to God. For now was made ready the fatted calf, about to be immolated for(10) the finding again of the younger son.Matthew, again, relatesHis generation as a man, saying, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;"(11) and also, "The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise." This, then, is the Gospel of His humanity;(12) for which reason it is, too, that [the character of] a humble and meek man is kept up through thewhole Gospel. Mark,on the other hand, commences with [a reference to] the prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men, saying, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Esaias the prophet,"--pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel; and on this account he made a compendious and cursory narrative, for such is the prophetical character. CHAP. X.--PROOFS OF THE FOREGOING, DRAWN FROM THE GOSPELS OF MARK AND LUKE. CHAP. XI--PROOFS IN CONTINUATION, EXTRACTED FROM ST. JOHN’S GOSPEL. THEGOSPELS ARE FOUR IN NUMBER, NEITHER MORE NOR LESS. MYSTIC REASONS FOR THIS. (Irenaeus of Lyons Against Heresies Book III Chap XI 180 AD) " In his[ie. Origen] first book on Matthew’s Gospel, maintaining the Canon of the Church, he testifies that he knows only four Gospels, writing as follows: Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism, and published in the Hebrew language. The second is by Mark, who composed it according to the instructions of Peter, who in his Catholic epistle acknowledges him as a son, saying, ’The church that is at Babylon elected together with you, saluteth you, and so doth Marcus, my son.’ And the third by Luke, the Gospel commended by Paul, and composed for Gentile converts. Last of all that by John."Origen,Commentary on Matthew,fragment in Eusebius Church History,6:25,3(A.D. 244),in NPNF2,I:273 "The same authority of the apostolic churches will afford evidence to the other Gospels also, which we possess equally through their means, and according to their usage--I mean the Gospels of John and Matthew--whilst that which Mark published may be affirmed to be Peter’s whose interpreter Mark was. For even Luke’s form of the Gospel men unsually ascribe to Paul." Tertullian,Against Marcion,4:5(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:350 "Learn also diligently, and from the Church, what are the books of the Old Testaments, and what those of the New." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,4:33(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:26 "I beseech you to bear patiently, if I also write, by way of remembrance, of matters with which you are acquainted, influenced by the need and advantage of the Church. In proceeding to make mention of these things [ie. the canon] I shall adopt, to comment my undertaking, the pattern of Luke...to reduce into order for themselves the books termed apocryphal, and to mix them up with the divinely inspired Scripture, concerning which we have been fully persuaded, as they who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, delivered to the fathers; it seemed good to me also, having been urged thereto by true brethren, and having learned from the beginning, to set before you the books included in the Canon...." Athanasius,Festal Letters,39 (A.D. 397),in NPNF2,IV:551-552 "Likewise it has been said: Now indeed we must treat of the divine Scriptures, what the universal Catholic Church accepts and what she ought to shun.The order of the Old Testament begins here: Genesis one book, Exodus one book, Leviticus one book, Numbers one book, Deuteronomy one book, Josue Nave one book, Judges one book, Ruth one book, Kings four books, Paraleipomenon two books, Psalms one book, Solomon three books, Proverbs one book, Ecclesiastes one book, Canticle of Canticles one book, likewiseWisdomone book, Ecclesiasticusone book. Likewise the order of the Prophets. Isaias one book, Jeremias one book,with Ginoth, that is, with his lamentations, Ezechiel one book,Daniel one book, Osee one book, Micheas one book, Joel one book, Abdias one book, Jonas one book, Nahum one book, Habacuc one book, Sophonias one book, Aggeus one book, Zacharias one book, Malachias one book. Likewise the order of the histories. Job one book, Tobiasone book, Esdras two books, Esther one book, Judith one book,Machabees two books. Likewise the order of the writings of the New and eternal Testament, which only the holy and Catholic Church supports. Of the Gospels, according to Matthew one book, according to Mark one book, according to Luke one book, according to John one book. The Epistles of Paul [the apostle] in number fourteen. To the Romans one, to the Corinthians two, to the Ephesians one, to the Thessalonians two, to the Galatians one, to the Phillipians one, to the Colossians one, to Timothy two, to Titus one, to Philemon one, to the Hebrews one. Likewise the Apocalypse of John, one book. And the Acts of the Apostles one book. Likewise the canonical epistles in number seven. Of Peter the Apostle two epistles, of James the Apostle one epistle, of John the Apostle one epistle, of another John, the presbyter, two epistles, of Jude the Zealut, the Apostle one epistle."Pope Damasus(regn A.D. 366-384),Decree of,Council of Rome,The Canon of Scripture(A.D. 382),in DEN,33 "Besides the canonical Scriptures, nothing shall be read, in the church under the title of divine writings.’. The canonical books are:---Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings, the two books of Paraleipomena(Chronicles), Job, the Psalms of David,the five books of Solomon,the twelve books of the (Minor) Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel,Tobias,Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, two books of theMaccabees. The books of the New Testament are:---the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of S. Paul, one Epistle of S. Paul to the Hebrews, two Epistles of S. Peter, three Epistles of S. John, the Epistle of S. James, the Epistle of S. Jude, the Revelation of S. John. Concerning the confirmation of this canon, the transmarine Church shall be consulted." Council of Hippo, Canon 36 (A.D. 393), in HCC,2:400 "[It has been decided] that nothing except the Canonical Scriptures should be read in the church under the name of the Divine Scriptures. But the Canonical Scriptures are:Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Josue, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, Paraleipomenon two books, Job, the Psalter of David, five books of Solomon, twelve books of the Prophets, Isaias, Jeremias, Daniel, Ezechiel, Tobias, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, two books of the Maccabees. Moreover, of the New Testament: Four books of the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles one book, thirteen epistles of Paul the Apostle, one of the same to the Hebrews, two of Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, the Apocalypse of John." Council of Carthage III,Canon 47(A.D. 397),in DEN,39-40 "The authority of our books [Scriptures], which is confirmed by agreement of so many nations, supported by a succession of apostles, bishops, and councils, is against you."Augustine,Reply to Faustus the Manichean,13:5 (c.A.D. 400),in NPNF1,IV:201 "If any one shall say, or shall believe, that other Scriptures, besides those which the Catholic church has received, are to be esteemed of authority, or to be venerated, let him be anathema."Council of Toledo,Canon 12 (A.D. 400),in FOC,1:445 "A brief addition shows what books really are received in the canon. These are the desiderata of which you wished to be informed verbally: of Moses five books, that is, of Genesis, of Exodus, of Leviticus, of Numbers, of Deuteronomy, and Josue, of Judges one book, of Kings four books, also Ruth, of the Prophets sixteen books, of Solomon five books, the Psalms. Likewise of the histories, Job one book, of Tobias one book, Esther one, Judith one, of the Machabees two, of Esdras two, Paralipomenon two books. Likewise of the New Testament: of the Gospels four books, of Paul the Apostle fourteen epistles, of John three, epistles of Peter two, an epistle of Jude, an epistle of James, the Acts of the Apostles, the Apocalypse of John." Pope Innocent(regn A.D. 401-417),Epistle to Exsuperius Bishop of Toulose,6:7,13(A.D. 405),in DEN,42 "Item, that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the church under the name of divine Scripture. But the Canonical Scriptures are as follows: Genesis....The Revelation of John...for these are the things which we have received from our fathers to be read in the church."Council of Carthage,African Code, Canon 24 (A.D. 419),in NPNF2,XIV:453-454 "The book of the Apocalypse which John the wise wrote, and which has been honoured by the approval of the fathers." Cyril of Alexandria,Worship and Adoration in Spirit and in Truth,5 (A.D. 425),in FOC,I:445 "Now, in regard to the canonical Scriptures, he must follow the judgment of the greater number of catholic churches; and among these, of course, a high place must be given to such as have been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle and to receive epistles. Accordingly, among the canonical Scriptures he will judge according to the following standard: to prefer those that are received by all the catholic churches to those which some do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all, he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and those of greater authority, to such as are held by the smaller number and those of less authority. If, however, he shall find that some books are held by the greater number of churches, and others by the churches of greater authority (though this is not a very likely thing to happen), I think that in such a case the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon as equal.Now the whole canon of Scripture on which we say this judgment is to be exercised, is contained in the following books:--Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one of Judges; one short book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to the beginning of Kings; next, four books of Kings, and two of Chronicles --these last not following one another, but running parallel, so to speak, and going over the same ground. The books now mentioned are history, which contains a connected narrative of the times, and follows the order of the events. There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles. Next are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of David; and three books of Solomon, viz., Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. For two books, one called Wisdom and the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be reckoned among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as being authoritative. The remainder are the books which are strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books of the prophets which are connected with one another, and having never been disjoined, are reckoned as one book; the names of these prophets are as follows:--Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; then there are the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old Testament is contained within the limits of these forty-four books. That of the New Testament, again, is contained within the following:--Four books of the Gospel, according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John; fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul--one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Colossians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews: two of Peter; three of John; one of Jude; andone of James; one book of the Acts of the Apostles; and one of the Revelation of John." Augustine,On Christian Doctrine,2:8,12(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:538-539 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 4C-DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS ======================================================================== Deuterocanonical Books "Having then this hope, let our souls be bound to Him who is faithful in His promises, and just in His judgments. He who has commanded us not to lie, shall much more Himself not lie; for nothing is impossible with God, except to lie. Let His faith therefore be stirred up again within us, and let us consider that all things are nigh unto Him. By the word of His might He established all things, and by His word He can overthrow them. ’Who shall say unto Him, What hast thou done ? or, Who shall resist the power of His strength?’[Wisdom 12:12,ll:22] When and He pleases He will do all things, and none of the things determined by Him shall pass away? All things are open before Him, and nothing can be hidden from His counsel. ’The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy-work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. And there are no Deuterocanonical Books "Having then this hope, let our souls be bound to Him who is faithful in His promises, and just in His judgments. He who has commanded us not to lie, shall much more Himself not lie; for nothing is impossible with God, except to lie. Let His faith therefore be stirred up again within us, and let us consider that all things are nigh unto Him. By the word of His might He established all things, and by His word He can overthrow them. ’Who shall say unto Him, What hast thou done ? or, Who shall resist the power of His strength?’[Wisdom 12:12,ll:22] When and He pleases He will do all things, and none of the things determined by Him shall pass away? All things are open before Him, and nothing can be hidden from His counsel. ’The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy-work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. And there are no words or speeches of which the voices are not heard.’[Psalms 19:1-3]"Clement of Rome,To the Corinthians, 27:5(c A.D. 80),in ANF,I:12 "Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your intercourse with one another, and despising no one. When you can do good, defer it not, because ’alms delivers from death.’[Tobit 4:10,12:9] Be all of you subject one to another?[1 Peter 5:5] having your conduct blameless among the Gentiles,’[1 Peter 2:12] that ye may both rewords or speeches of which the voices are not heard.’[Psalms 19:1-3]"Clement of Rome,To the Corinthians, 27:5(c A.D. 80),in ANF,I:12 "Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your intercourse with one another, and despising no one. When you can do good, defer it not, because ’alms delivers from death.’[Tobit 4:10,12:9] Be all of you subject one to another?[1 Peter 5:5] having your conduct blameless among the Gentiles,’[1 Peter 2:12] that ye may both receive praise for your good works, and the Lord may not be blasphemed through you. But woe to him by whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed![Isaiah 52:5] Teach, therefore, sobriety to all, and manifest it also in your own conduct. Polycarp,To the Phillipians,10(A.D. 135),in ANF,I:35 " ’Be just in your judgement’:[Deuteronomy 1:16-17Proverbs 31:9] make no distinction between man and man when correcting transgressions. Do not waver in your decision. ’Do not be one that opens his hands to receive, but shuts them when it comes to giving’[Sirach 4:31]" Didache,4:3-5(A.D. 140),in ACW,VI:17 "Melito to his brother Onesimus, greeting: Since thou hast often, in thy zeal for the word, expressed a wish to have extracts made from the Law and the Prophets concerning the Saviour and concerning our entire faith, and hast also desired to have an accurate statement of the ancient book, as regards their number and their order, I have endeavored to perform the task, knowing thy zeal for the faith, and thy desire to gain information in regard to the word, and knowing that thou, in thy yearning after God, esteemest these things above all else, struggling to attain eternal salvation. Accordingly when I went East and came to the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and send them to thee as written below. Their names are as follows: Of Moses, five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth; of Kings, four books; of Chronicles, two; the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon,Wisdom also, Ecclesiastes, Song off Songs, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one book; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From which also I have made the extracts, dividing them into six books." Melito of Sardes,Fragment in Eusebius’ Ecclesiatical History,4:26(A.D. 177),in NPNF2,I:206 "[New Testament books...] The Epistle of Jude, indeed, and two belonging to the above-named John--or bearing the name of John--are reckoned among the Catholic epistles. And the book of Wisdom, written by the friends of Solomon in his honour." Muratorian Fragment(A.D. 200),in ANF,V:603-604 "What, then, again says the prophet? ’The assembly of the wicked surrounded me; they encompassed me as bees do a honeycomb,’[Psalms 22:17;Psalms 118:12] and ’upon my garment they cast lots.’[Psalms 22:19] Since, therefore, He was about to be manifested and to suffer in the flesh, His suffering was foreshown. For the prophet speaks against Israel, ’Woe to their soul, because they have counselted anevil counsel against themselves,[Isaiah 3:9] saying, Let us bind the just one, because he is displeasing to us.’[Wisdom 2:12] And Moses also says to them, ’Behold these things, saith the Lord God: Enter into the good land which the Lord sware [to give] to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and inherit ye it, a land flowing with milk and honey.’[Exodus 33:1,Leviticus 20:24]"Epistle of Barnabas,6(A.D. 74),in ANF,I:140 "And when these things are done, he says, ’God will remove men far away, and those that are left shall multiply in the earth.’[Isaiah 6:12] ’And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them themselves: and plant vineyards, and eat of them themselves.’[Isaiah 65:21] For all these and other words were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the Wicked one. For it is in reference to them that the prophet says: ’And those that are left shall multiply upon the earth,’ And Jeremiah the prophet has pointed out, that as many believers as God has prepared for this purpose, to multiply those left upon earth, should both be under the rule of the saints to minister to this Jerusalem, and that [His] kingdom shall be in it, saying, "Look around Jerusalem towards the east, and behold the joy which comes to thee from God Himself. Behold, thy sons shall come whom thou hast sent forth: they shall come in a band from the east even unto the west, by the word of that Holy One, rejoicing in that splendour which is from thy God. O Jerusalem, put off thy robe of mourning and of affliction, and put on that beauty of eternal splendour from thy God. Gird thyself with the double garment of that righteousness proceeding from thy God; place the mitre of eternal glory upon thine head. For God will show thy glory to the whole earth under heaven. For thy name shall for ever be called by God Himself, the peace of righteousness and glory to him that worships God. Arise, Jerusalem, stand on high, and look towards the east, and behold thy sons from the rising of the sun, even to the west, by the Word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the very remembrance of God. For the footmen have gone forth from thee, while they were drawn away by the enemy. God shall bring them in to thee, being borne with glory as the throne of a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain shall be brought low, and the eternal hills, and that the valleys be filled, so that the surface of the earth be rendered smooth, that Israel, the glory of God, may walk in safety. The woods, too, shall make shady places, and every sweet-smelling tree shall be for Israel itself by the command of God. For God shall go before with joy in the light of His splendour, with the pity and righteousness which proceeds from Him.’[Baruch(reckoned as part of Jeremiah) 4:36-5:9]" Irenaeus,Against Heresies,V:35:1(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:565 "Those, however, who are believed to be presbyters by many, but serve their own lusts, and, do not place the fear of God supreme in their hearts, but conduct themselves with contempt towards others, and are puffed up with the pride of holding the chief seat, and work evil deeds in secret, saying, ’No man sees us,’ shall be convicted by the Word, who does not judge after outward appearance (secundum gloriam), nor looks upon the countenance, but the heart; and they shall hear those words, to be found in Daniel the prophet: ’O thou seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust perverted thy heart.’[Daniel 13:56 -Susanna] Thou that art waxen old in wic ed days, now thy sins which thou hast committed aforetime are come to light; for thou hast pronounced false judgments, and hast been accustomed to condemn the innocent, and to let the guilty go free, albeit the Lord saith, The innocent and the righteous shalt thou not slay.’[Daniel 13:52-53 -Susanna] Of whom also did the Lord say: "But if the evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite the man-servants and maidens, and to eat and drink and be drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day that he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.’ [Matthew 24:48] " Irenaeus,Against Heresies,IV:26:3(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:497 "For, when one reads of God as being ’the searcher and witness of the heart;’[Wisdom 1:6] when His prophet is reproved by His discovering to him the secrets of the heart; when God Himself anticipates in His people the thoughts of their heart, ’Why think ye evil in your hearts?’[Matthew 9:4] when David prays ’Create in me a clean heart, O God,’[Psalms 51:12] and Paul declares, ’With the heart man believeth unto righteousness,’[Romans 10:10] and John says, ’By his own heart is each man condemned;’[1 John 3:20] when, lastly, ’he who looketh on a woman so as to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart,’[Matthew 5:28]--then both points are cleared fully up, that there is a directing faculty of the soul..." Tertullian,On the Soul,15(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:194 "Our instruction comes from ’the porch of Solomon,’ who had himself taught that ’the Lord should be sought in simplicity of heart.’[Wisdom 1:1]" Tertullian,Prescription Against the Heretics,7(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:246 "For they remembered also the words of Jeremias writing to those over whom that captivity was impending: ’And now ye shall see borne upon (men’s) shoulders the gods of the Babylonians, of gold and silver and wood, causing fear to the Gentiles. Beware, therefore, that ye also do not be altogether like the foreigners, and be seized with fear while ye behold crowds worshipping those gods before and behind, but say in your mind, Our duty is to worship Thee, O Lord.’[Baruch 6:3] Therefore, having got confidence from God, they said, when with strength of mind they set at defiance the king’ s threats against the disobedient: ’There is no necessity for our making answer to this command of yours. For our God whom we worship is able to deliver us from the furnace of fire and from your hands; and then it will be made plain to you that we shall neither serve your idol, nor worship your golden image which you have set up.’[Daniel 3:16]" Tertullian,Scorpiace,8(A.D. 205),in ANF,III:246 "At this stage some rise up, saying that the Lord, by reason of the rod, and threatening, and fear, is not good; misapprehending, as appears, the Scripture which says, ’And he that feareth the Lord will turn to his heart;’[Sirach 21:6] and most of all, oblivious of His love, in that for us He became man. For more suitably to Him, the prophet prays in these words: ’Remember us, for we are dust;’[Psalms 103:14] that: is, Sympathize with us; for Thou knowest from personal experience of suffering the weakness of the flesh. In this respect, therefore, the Lord the Instructor is most good and unimpeachable, sympathizing as He does from the exceeding greatness of His love with the nature of each man. ’For there is nothing which the Lord hates.’[Wisdom 11:24] For assuredly He does not hate anything, and yet wish that which He hates to exist Nor does He wish anything not to exist, and yet become the cause of existence to that which He wishes not to exist. Nor does He wish anything not to exist which yet exists. If, then, the Word hates anything, He does not wish it to exist. But nothing exists, the cause of whose existence is not supplied by God. Nothing, then, is hated by God, nor yet by the Word. For both are one--that is, God. For He has said, ’In the beginning the Word was in God, and the Word was God.’[John 1:1]"Clement of Alexandria,The Instructor,I:8(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:225 "And again He says, ’Come all to Me, who labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;’[Matthew 11:28] and that which is added the Lord speaks in His own person. And very clearly He calls to goodness by Solomon, when He says, ’Blessed is the man who hath found wisdom, and the mortal who hath found understanding.’[Proverbs 3:13] ’For the good is found by him who seeks it, and is wont to be seen by him who has found it.’[Proverbs 2:4-5;Proverbs 3:15] By Jeremiah, too, He sets forth prudence, when he says, ’Blessed are we, Israel; for what is pleasing to God is known by us’[Baruch 4:4]--and it is known by the Word, by whom we are blessed and wise. For wisdom and knowledge are mentioned by the same prophet, when he says, ’Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life, and give ear to know understanding.’[Baruch 3:9] By Moses, too, by reason of the love He has to man, He promises a gift to those who hasten to salvation. For He says, ’And I will bring you into the good land, which the Lord sware to your fathers.’ [Deuteronomy 31:20]" Clement of Alexandria,The Instructor,I:8(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:232-233 "[H]aving heard the Scripture which says, ’Fasting with prayer is a good thing.’[Tobit 12:8]" Clement of Alexandria,The Stromata,6:12(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:503 "But they said, ’We will not come forth: neither will we do the king’s commandment; we will die in our innocency: and he slew of them a thousand souls.’[1 Macc 2:33] The things, therefore, which were spoken to the blessed Daniel are fulfilled: ’And my servants shall be afflicted, and shall fall by famine, and by sword, and by captivity.’[Daniel 11:33] Daniel, however, adds: ’And they shall be holpen with a little help.’ For at that time Matthias arose, and Judas Maccabaeus, and helped them, and delivered them from the hand of the Greeks." Hippolytus,Commentary on Daniel,2:32(A.D. 204),in ANF,V:183 "What is narrated here, happened at a later time, although it is placed before the first book (at the beginning of the book[of Daniel]. For it was a custom with the writers to narrate many things in an inverted order in their writings....To all these things, therefore, we ought to give heed, beloved, fearing lest any one be overtaken in any transgression, and risk the loss of his soul, knowing as we do that God is the Judge of all; and the Word Himself is the Eye which nothing that is done in the world escapes. Therefore, always watchful in heart and pure in life, let us imitate Susannah." Hippolytus,Commentary on Daniel,6:1,61(A.D. 204),in ANF,V:191,194 " ’For even now the angel of God.’ He shows also, that when Susannah prayed to God, and was heard, the angel was sent then to help her, just as was the case in the instance of Tobias[Tobit 3:17] and Sara. For when they prayed, the supplication of both of them was heard in the same day and the same hour, and the angel Raphael was sent to heal them both." Hippolytus,Commentary on Daniel,6:55(A.D. 204),in ANF,V:193 " ’[T]he prophet says, "The ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright," that is, about Christ, "Let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings and words, and upbraideth us with our offending the law, and professeth to have knowledge of God; and he calleth himself the Child of God.’[Wisdom 2:1,12,13] And then he says, ’He is grievous to us even to behold; for his life is not like other men’s, and his ways are of another fashion. We are esteemed of him as counterfeits, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed.[Wisdom 2:15,16]" Hippolytus,Against the Jews,65(ante A.D. 235),in ANF,V:218-9 "But the case stands not thus; for the Scriptures do not set forth the matter in this manner. But they make use also of other testimonies, and say, Thus it is written: ’This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of Him. He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His servant (son), and to Israel His beloved. Afterward did He show Himself upon earth, and conversed with men.’[Baruch 3:25-38]" Hippolytus,Against the Noetus,2(A.D. 210),in ANF,V:224 " ’It should be stated that the canonical books, as the Hebrews have handed them down, are twenty-two; corresponding with the number of their letters.’ Farther on he says: ’The twenty-two books of the Hebrews are the following: That which is called by us Genesis, but by the Hebrews, from the beginning of the book, Bresith, which means, ’In the beginning’; Exodus, Welesmoth, that is, ’These are the names’; Leviticus, Wikra, ’And he called’; Numbers, Ammesphekodeim; Deuteronomy, Eleaddebareim, ’ These are the words’; Jesus, the son of Nave, Josoue ben Noun; Judges and Ruth, among them in one book, Saphateim; the First and Second of Kings, among them one, Samouel, that is, ’The called of God’; the Third and Fourth of Kings in one, Wammelch David, that is, ’The kingdom of David’; of the Chronicles, the First and Second in one, Dabreiamein, that is, ’Records of days’; Esdras, First and Second in one, Ezra, that is, ’An assistant’; the book of Psalms, Spharthelleim; the Proverbs of Solomon, Me-loth; Ecclesiastes, Koelth; the Song of Songs (not, as some suppose, Songs of Songs), Sir Hassirim; Isaiah, Jessia; Jeremiah, with Lamentations and the epistle in one, Jeremia[Baruch 6]; Daniel, Daniel; Ezekiel, Jezekiel; Job, Job; Esther, Esther. And besides these there are the Maccabees, which are entitled Sarbeth Sabanaiel." Origen,Canon of the Hebrews,Fragment in Eusebius’ Church History,6:25[A.D. 244],in NPNF2,I:272 "In all these cases consider whether it would not be well to remember the words, ’Thou shalt not remove the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set.’ Nor do I say this because I shun the labour of investigating the Jewish Scriptures, and comparing them with ours, and noticing their various readings. This, if it be not arrogant to say it, I have already to a great extent done to the best of my ability, labouring hard to get at the meaning in all the editions and various readings; while I paid particular attention to the interpretation of the Seventy, lest I might to be found to accredit any forgery to the Churches which are under heaven, and give an occasion to those who seek such a starting-point for gratifying their desire to slander the common brethren, and to bring some accusation against those who shine forth in our community." In Origen’s epistle to Julius Africanus he defends the canonicity of Susanna [Daniel 13], Bel and the Dragon[Daniel 14], the prayers of Azarias[Daniel 3:1-30], and the hymn of praise of the three youths in the fiery furnace[Daniel 3:1-30]. "And I make it my endeavour not to be ignorant of their various readings, lest in my controversies with the Jews I should quote to them what is not found in their copies, and that I may make some use of what is found there, even although it should not be in our Scriptures. For if we are so prepared for them in our discussions, they will not, as is their manner, scornfully laugh at Gentile believers for their ignorance of the true reading as they have them." Origen,To Africanus,5(ante A.D. 254),in ANF,IV:387 "[A]s is written in the book of Tobit: ’It is good to keep close the secret of a king, but honourable to reveal the works of God,’[Tobit 12:7]--in a way consistent with truth and God’s glory, and so as to be to the advantage of the multitude." Origen,Against Celsus,5:19(A.D. 248),in ANF,IV:551 "But he ought tp know that those who wish to live according to the teaching of Sacred Scripture understand the saying, ’The knowledge of the unwise is as talk without sense,’[Sirach 21:18] and have learnt ’to be ready always to give an answer to everyone that asketh us a reason for the hope that is in us.’[1 Peter 3:15] "Origen,Against Celsus,7:12(A.D. 248),in ANF,IV:615 "But that we may believe on the authority of holy Scripture that such is the case, hear how in the book of Maccabees, where the mother of seven martyrs exhorts her son to endure torture, this truth is confirmed; for she says, ’ ask of thee, my son, to look at the heaven and the earth, and at all things which are in them, and beholding these, to know that God made all these things when they did not exist.’[2 Maccabees 7:28]" Origen,Fundamental Principles,2:2(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:270 "[T]he Wisdom of Solomon, a work which is certainly not esteemed authoritative by all. In that book, however, we find written as follows: "For thy almighty hand, that made the world out of shapeless matter, wanted not means to send among them a multitude of bears and fierce lions.’[Wisdom 11:17]" Origen,Fundamental Principles,2:2(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:270 "And, forsooth, when we notice such things, we are forthwith to reject as spurious the copies in use in our Churches, and enjoin the brotherhood to put away the sacred books current among them, and to coax the Jews, and persuade them to give us copies which shall be untampered with, and free from forgery! Are we to suppose that that Providence which in the sacred Scriptures has ministered to the edification of all the Churches of Christ, had no thought for those bought with a price, for whom Christ died." Origen,To Africanus,4(ante A.D. 254),in ANF,IV:387 "For since it is written, ’God did not make death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living,’[Wisdom 1:13]" Cyprian,Epistle 51/55:22(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:333 "[T]his the faith of the sacred Scripture assures us, and in telling us how such as these prayed, gives an example which we ought to follow in our prayers, in order that we may be such as they were: ’Then these three,’ it says, ’as if from one mouth sang an hymn, and blessed the Lord.’[3 Youths- Daniel 3:51]"Cyprian,Treatise 4,8(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:449 "And thus Holy Scripture instructs us, saying, ’Prayer is good with fasting and almsgiving.’[Tobit 12:8] Cyprian,Treatise 4,32(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:456 "Holy Scripture teaches and forewarns, saying, ’My son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.’[Sirach 2:1,4] And again: ’In pain endure, and in thy humility have patience; for gold and silver is tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.’[Sirach 2:5]" Cyprian,Treatise 7,9(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:471 "Also in Daniel: ’There was a man dwelling in Babylon whose name was Joachim; and he took a wife by name Susanna, the daughter of Helchias, a very beautiful woman, and one that feared the Lord. And her parents were righteous, and taught their daughter according to the law of Moses.’[Susanna- Daniel 13:1-3]. Moreover, in Daniel: ’And we are lowly this day in all the earth because of our sins, and there is not at this time any prince, or prophet, or leader, or burnt-offering, or oblation, or sacrifice, or incense, or place to sacrifice before Thee, and to find mercy from Thee. And yet in the soul and spirit of lowliness let us be accepted as the burnt-offerings of rams and bulls, and as it were many thousands of lambs which are fattest. If our offering may be made in Thy presence this day, their power shall be consumed, for they shall not be ashamed who put their trust in Thee. And now we follow with our whole heart, and we fear and seek Thy face. Give us not over unto reproach, but do with us according to Thy tranquillity, and according to the multitude of Thy mercy deliver us.’[3 Youths- Daniel 3:37-43]"Cyprian,Testimonies,20(ante A.D. 258),in ANF,V:540 "In the Gospel according to John: ’No one can receive anything, except it were given him from heaven.’[John 3:27] Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: ’For what hast thou that thou hast not received? But if thou hast received it, why boastest thou, as if thou hadst not received it?’[1 Corinthians 4:7] Also in the first of Kings: ’Boast not, neither speak lofty things, and let not great speeches proceed out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge.’[1 Samuel 2:4] Also in the same place: ’The bow of the mighty men has been made weak, and the weak are girt about with strength.’[1 Samuel 2:5] Of this same thing in the Maccabees: ’It is just to be subjected to God, and that a mortal should not think things equal to God.’[2 Macc 9:12] Also in the same place: ’And fear not the words of a man that is a sinner, because his glory shall be filth and worms. Today he shall be lifted up, and to-morrow he shall not be found; because he is turned into his earth, and his thought has perished.’[1 Macc 2:62,63] " Cyprian,Treatises,12:3:4(A.D. 248),in ANF,V:533 "In Genesis: ’And God, tempted Abraham, and said to him, Take thy only son whom thou lovest, Isaac, and go into the high land, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell thee.’[Genesis 22:1-2] Of this same thing in Deuteronomy: ’The Lord your God proveth you, that He may know if ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.’[Deuteronomy 13:3] Of this same thing in the Wisdom of Solomon: ’Although in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality; and having been in few things distressed, yet in many things they shall be happily ordered, because God tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He proved them, and as a burnt-offering He received them. And in their time there shall be respect of them; they shall judge the nations, and shall rule over the people; and their Lord shall reign for ever.’[Wisdom 3:4-8] Of this same thing in the Maccabees: ’Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness?’[1 Macc 2:52]" Cyprian,Treatises,12:3:15(A.D. 248),in ANF,V:537 "[T]hat they worship Him alone, saying: ’O king Nebuchodonosor, there is no need for us to answer thee in this matter. For the God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of the furnace of burning fire; and He will deliver us from thy hands, O king. And if not, be it known unto thee, that we do not serve thy gods, and we do not adore the golden image which thou hast set up.’[Daniel 3:16-18] And Daniel, devoted to God, and filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims and says: ’I worship nothing but the Lord my God, who founded the heaven and the earth.’[Daniel 14:5 Bel & Dragon] Tobias also, although under a royal and tyrannical slavery, yet in feeling and spirit free, maintains his confession to God, and sublimely announces both the divine power and majesty, saying: ’In the land of my captivity I confess to Him, and I show forth His power in a sinful nation.’[Tobit 13:6]" Cyprian,Treatises,11:11(A.D. 257),in ANF,V:503 "But listen to the divine oracles: ’The works of the Lord are in judgment; from the beginning, and from His making of them, He disposed the parts thereof. He garnished His works for ever, and their principles unto their generations.’[Sirach 16:24-25]" Dionysius the Great,On Nature,3(ante A.D. 265),in ANF,VI:86 "He is a Spirit--for says He, ’God is a Spirit’[John 4:24]--fittingly again is Christ called Breath; for ’He,’ saith He, ’is the breath of God’s power.’[Wisdom 7:25]" Dionysius the Great,To Dionsyius of Rome,4(ante A.D. 265),in ANF,VI:92 "Solomon also shows that it is the Word of God, and no other, by whose hands these works of the world were made. ’I,’ He says, ’came forth out of the mouth of the Most High before all creatures: I caused the light that faileth not to arise in the heavens, and covered the whole earth with a cloud. I have dwelt in the height, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud.’[Sirach 24:3-5]"Lactanius,Institutions,4:8(A.D. 310),in ANF,VII:107 "Therefore, I do not think men ought to be considered pious who presume to investigate this subject, in disobedience to the injunction, ’Seek not what is too difficult for thee, neither enquire into what is too high for thee.’[Sirach 3:21] For if the knowledge of many other things incomparably inferior is beyond the capacity of the human mind, and cannot therefore be attained, as has been said by Paul, ’Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared far them that lave Him’[1 Corinthians 2:9], and as God also said to Abraham, that the stars could not be numbered by him; and it is likewise said,’ Who shall number the grains of sand by the sea-shore, or the drops of rain?’[Sirach 1:2]"Alexander of Alexandria,To brother Alexander, fragment in Theodoret of Cyrus’ Ecclesiastical History,1:3(A.D. 324),in NPNF2,III:37 "For this was accomplished at that time, when the venerable and aged Eleazar was slain, and the sons of the blessed Samuna, seven in number,[ref 2 Maccabees 6:18-31] and when Judas (Maccabeus) and his brethren were struggling on behalf of their people[ref 2 Maccabees 5:27]" Aphraates the Persian Sage,Demonstrations,5:19(A.D. 345),in NPNF2,XIII:359 "He leads away to himself the wealthy, the sons of luxury; And ’they leave their possessions as the waves of the sea.’[Sirach 29:17]" Aphraates the Persian Sage,Demonstrations,22:7(A.D. 345),in NPNF2,XIII:404 "Of these read the two and twenty books, but have nothing to do with the apocryphal writings. Study earnestly these only which we read openly in the Church. Far wiser and more pious than thyself were the Apostles, and the bishops of old time, the presidents of the Church who handed down these books. Being therefore a child of the Church, trench thou not upon its statutes. And of the Old Testament, as we have said, study the two and twenty books, which, if thou art desirous of learning, strive to remember by name, as I recite them. For of the Law the books of Moses are the first five, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And next, Joshua the son of Nave, and the book of Judges, including Ruth, counted as seventh. And of the other historical books, the first and second books of the Kings are among the Hebrews one book; also the third and fourth one book. And in like manner, the first and second of Chronicles are with them one book; and the first and second of Esdras are counted one. Esther is the twelfth book; and these are the Historical writings. But those which are written in verses are five, Job, and the book of Psalms, and Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, which is the seventeenth book. And after these come the five Prophetic books: of the Twelve Prophets one book, of Isaiah one, of Jeremiah one, including Baruch[1-5] and Lamentations and the Epistle[of Jeremiah-Baruch 6]; then Ezekiel, and the Book of Daniel, the twenty-second of the Old Testament." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,4:33(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:27 "The Divine Nature then it is impossible to see with eyes of flesh: but from the works, which are Divine, it is possible to attain to some conception of His power, according to Solomon, who says, ’For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen’[Wisdom 13:5]. He said not that from the creatures the Maker is seen, but added proportionably. For God appears the greater to every man in proportion as he has grasped a larger survey of the creatures: and when his heart is uplifted by that larger survey, he gains withal a greater conception of God. Wouldest thou learn that to comprehend the nature of God is impossible? The Three Children in the furnace of fire, as they hymn the praises of God, say ’Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the Cherubim’[Daniel 3:55 -Three Youths]." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,9:2,3(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:51 "[L]earn from this instance the mightiness of God: for ’He hath numbered the drops of rain’[Job 26:27], which have been poured down on all the earth, not only now but in all time. The sun is a work of God, which, great though it be, is but a spot in comparison with the whole heaven; first gaze stedfastly upon the sun, and then curiously scan the Lord of the sun. ’Seek not the things that are too deep for thee, neither search out the things that are above thy strength: what is commanded thee, think thereupon’[Sirach 3:20,21]." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,6:4(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:34 "Hear the Prophet saying, ’This is our God, none other shall be accounted of in comparison with Him. He hath found out every way of knowledge, and given it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved. Afterwards He[she] was seen on earth, and conversed among men’[Baruch 3:36-38]."Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,9:15(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:68 "He says to Daniel; young though thou be, convict old men infected with the sins of youth; for it is written, ’God raised up the Holy Spirit upon a young stripling’[Daniel 13:45 -Susanna]"Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,16:31(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:123 "For when they speak against the ascension of the Saviour, as being impossible, remember the account of the carrying away of Habakkuk: for if Habakkuk was transported by an Angel, being carried by the hair of his head[Daniel 14 -Bel & the Dragon], much rather was the Lord of both Prophets and Angels, able by His own power to make His ascent into the Heavens on a cloud from the Mount of Olives." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,14:25(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:101 "[T]he Old Testament is reckoned as consisting of twenty-two books...so that of Moses there be five books...with the Lamentations and the Letter[Baruch 6-Epistle of Jeremiah], and Daniel...bringing the number of the books to twenty-two. It is to be noted also that by adding to these Tobias and Judith, there are twenty-four books, corresponding to the number of letters used by the Greeks." Hilary of Poitiers,Prologue to the Psalms 15:1-5(A.D. 365),in JUR, 1:383 "They say that the Father has prescience of all things, as the blessed Susanna says, ’O eternal God, that knowest secrets, and knowest all things before they be’[Daniel 13:42 -Susanna]" Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,4:8(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:73 "As you have listened already to Moses and Isaiah, so listen now to Jeremiah inculcating the same truth as they:--’This is our God, and there shall be none other likened unto Him, Who hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His servant and to Israel His beloved. Afterward did He shew Himself upon earth and dwelt among men.’[Baruch 3:36-38] Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,4:42(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:84 "Such suggestions are inconsistent with the clear sense of Scripture. For all things, as the Prophet says[ref 2 Maccabees 7:28], were made out of nothing; it was no transformation of existing things, but the creation into a perfect form of the non-existent." Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,4:16(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:76 "Then, while the devout soul was baffled and astray through its own feebleness, it caught from the prophet’s voice this scale of comparison for God, admirably expressed, ’By the greatness of His works and the beauty of the things that He hath made the Creator of worlds is rightly discerned’[Wisdom 13:5]." Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,1:7(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:42 "There are, then, of the Old Testament, twenty-two books in number; for, as I have heard, it is handed down that this is the number of the letters among the Hebrews; their respective order and names being as follows. The first is Genesis, then Exodus, next Leviticus, after that Numbers, and then Deuteronomy. Following these there is Joshua, the son of Nun, then Judges, then Ruth. And again, after these four books of Kings, the first and second being reckoned as one book, and so likewise the third and fourth as one book. And again, the first and second of the Chronicles are reckoned as one book. Again Ezra, the first and second are similarly one book. After these there is the book of Psalms, then the Proverbs, next Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. Job follows, then the Prophets, the twelve being reckoned as one book. Then Isaiah, one book, then Jeremiah with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle, one book; afterwards, Ezekiel and Daniel, each one book. Thus far constitutes the Old Testament...But for greater exactness I add this also, writing of necessity; that there are other books besides these not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness. The Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Sirach, and Esther, and Judith, and Tobit, and that which is called the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd. But the former, my brethren, are included in the Canon, the latter being [merely] read; nor is there in any place a mention of apocryphal writings. But they are an invention of heretics, who write them when they choose, bestowing upon them their approbation, and assigning to them a date, that so, using them as ancient writings, they may find occasion to lead astray the simple. Athanasius,Festal Letters,39:4,7(A.D. 367),in NPNF2,IV:552 "[T]he sacred writers to whom the Son has revealed Him, have given us a certain image from things visible, saying, ’Who is the brightness of His glory, and the Expression of His Person;’[Hebrews 1:3] and again, ’For with Thee is the well of life, and in Thy light shall we see lights;’[Psalms 36:9] and when the Word chides lsrael, He says, ’Thou hast forsaken the Fountain of wisdom;’[Baruch 3:12] and this Fountain it is which says, ’They have forsaken Me the Fountain of living waters’[Jeremiah 2:13]"Athanasius,Defense of the Nicene Faith,2:12(A.D. 351),in NPNF2,IV:158 " And where the sacred writers say, Who exists before the ages,’ and ’By whom He made the ages,’[Hebrews 1:2] they thereby as clearly preach the eternal and everlasting being of the Son, even while they are designating God Himself. Thus, if Isaiah says, ’The Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth[2];’[ ew:28] and Susanna said, ’O Everlasting God[3];’[Daniel 13:42 -Susanna] and Baruch wrote, ’I will cry unto the Everlasting in my days,’ and shortly after, ’My hope is in the Everlasting, that He will save you, and joy is come unto me from the Holy One;’[Baruch 4:20,22]" Athanasius,Discourses Against the Arians,1:4(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:313 "[I]t is written that ’all things were made through the Word,’ and ’without Him was not made one thing,’[John 1:3] and again, ’One Lord Jesus, through whom are all things,’[1 Corinthians 8:9] and ’in Him all things consist,’[Colossians 1:17] it is very plain that the Son cannot be a work, but He is the Hand of God and the Wisdom. This knowing, the martyrs in Babylon, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, arraign the Arian irreligion. For when they say, ’O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord,’[Daniel 3:57 -Three Youths]" Athanasius,Discourses Against the Arians,2:71(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:387 "Daniel said to Astyages, ’I do not worship idols made with hands, but the Living God, who hath created the heaven and the earth, and hath sovereignty over all flesh;’[Daniel 14:5 -Bel & the Dragon]"Athanasius,Discourses Against the Arians,3:30(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:410 "But if this too fails to persuade them, let them tell us themselves, whether there is any wisdom in the creatures or not? If not how is it that the Apostle complains, ’For after that in the Wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God?’[1 Corinthians 1:21] or how is it if there is no wisdom, that a ’multitude of wise men’[Wisdom 6:24] are found in Scripture? for ’a wise man feareth and departeth from evil;’[Proverbs 14:16] and ’through wisdom is a house builded;’[Proverbs 24:1-34] and the Preacher says, ’A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine;’ and he blames those who are headstrong thus, ’Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire in wisdom concerning this.’[Ecclesiastes 8:1;Ecclesiastes 7:10] But if, as the Son of Sirach says, ’He poured her out upon all His works; she is with all flesh according to His gift, and He hath given her to them that love Him,’[Sirach 1:8,9]"Athanasius,Discourses Against the Arians,2:79(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:391 "[F]or it is written of the other, ’The foolish person will speak foolishness;’ [Isaiah 32:6LXX] but of these, ’Ask counsel of all that are wise.’[Tobit 4:18]" Athanasius,Defense before Constantius,17(A.D. 357),in NPNF2,IV:244 "So as Judith says, ’Thou hast thought, and what things thou didst determine were ready at hand.’[Judith 9:5,6]" Basil,On the Holy Spirit,8:19(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:13 "The Lord ordereth ’all things in measure and weight,’[Wisdom 11:20]" Basil,To Clergy of Samosata,Epistle 219:1(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:260 "What Scripture says is very true, ’As for a fool he changeth as the moon.’[Sirach 27:11] Basil,Hexaemeron,6:10(A.D. 370),in NPNF2,VIII:88 "Standing and sitting, I apprehend, indicate the fixity and entire stability of the nature, as Baruch, when he wishes to exhibit the immutability and immobility of the Divine mode of existence, says, ’For thou sittest for ever and we perish utterly.’[Baruch 3:3]" Basil,On the Holy Spirit,6:15(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:10 "But the Spirit is believed to have been operating at the saint time in Habakkuk and in Daniel at Babylon,[ref Daniel 14:35 -Bel & the Dragon] and to have been at the prison with Jeremiah,[refJeremiah 20:2] and with Ezekiel at the Chebar.[ref Ezekiel 1:1]" Basil,On the Holy Spirit,23:54(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:35 "The Lord is now making trial of your love for Him. Now there is an opportunity for you, through your patience, to take the martyr’s lot. The mother of the Maccabees[ref 2 Maccabees 7] saw the death of seven sons without a sigh, without even shedding one unworthy tear." Basil,To the Wife of Nectarius,Epistle 6:2(A.D. 358),in NPNF2,VIII:115 "[T]he Scripture tells us, ’into the malicious soul Wisdom cannot come.’[Wisdom 1:4]" Gregory of Nyssa,On Virginity,15(A.D. 371),in NPNF2,V:361 "[T]he prophetical writing says, ’knoweth all things before they be,’[Daniel 3:42 -Susanna]" Gregory of Nyssa,Against Making of Man,16(A.D. 379),in NPNF2,V:406 "[T]he prophet says, ’was seen upon earth and conversed with men,’[Baruch 3:38]"Gregory of Nyssa,Against Eunomius,6:4(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,V:189 "[I]n the Scripture the ’Seed of the Chaldeans’[Judith 5:6] removed, and the children of Babylon dashed against the Rocks and destroyed." Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 45,2nd Oration on Easter 15(A.D. 383),in NPNF2,VII:428 "And how shall we preserve the truth that God pervades all things and fills all, as it is written ’Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord,’[Jeremiah 23:24] and ’The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world,’[Wisdom 1:7] if God partly contains and partly is contained?" Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 28,2nd Theological 8(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,VII:291 "Passing by the elders in the book of Daniel;[Ref Daniel 13:5 -Susanna] for it is better to pass them by, together with the Lord’s righteous sentence and declaration concerning them..." Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 2,Flight to Pontus 64(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,VII:218 "Not by raining down manna, as for Israel of old[refExodus 16:14] or opening the rock, in order to give drink to His thirsting people,[refPsalms 78:24] or feasting her by means of ravens, as Elijah,[ref1 Kings 17:6] or feeding her by a prophet carried through the air, as He did to Daniel when a-hungered in the den.[ref Daniel 14:33,34 -Bel & Dragon]" Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 18,On the Death of his Father 30(A.D. 374),in NPNF2,VII:264 "[T]he just man in the den, restraining the lions’ rage,[ref Daniel 6:22] and the struggle of the seven Maccabees,[ref 2 Maccabees 7:1] who were perfected with their father and mother in blood, and in all kinds of tortures. Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 43,Panegyric on Basil 74(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,VII:420 "The order of the Old Testament begins here: Genesis, one book; Exodus, one book; Leviticus, one book; Numbers, one book; Deuteronomy, one book; Joshua [Son of] Nave, one book; Judges, one book; Ruth, one book; Kings, four books [ie., 1 and 2 Samuel 1:1-27 and 2 Kings];Paralipomenon [Chronicles], two books; Psalms, one book; Solomon, three books: Proverbs, one book; Ecclesiastes, one book; Canticle of Canticles, one book; likewise Wisdom, one book; Ecclesiasticus [Sirach], one book. Likewise the order of the Prophets. Isaias one book, Jeremias one book,...lamentations, Ezechiel one book, Daniel one book, Osee ... Nahum ... Habacuc ... Sophonias ... Aggeus ... Zacharias ... Malachias ... Likewise the order of the historical [books]: Job, one book; Tobit, one book; Esdras, two books [Ezra and Nehemiah]; Esther, one book; Judith, one book; Maccabees, two books." Council of Rome,Decree of Pope Damasus(A.D. 382),in DEN,34 "Of the Old Covenant: the five books of Moses--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; one of Joshua the son of Nun, one of the Judges, one of Ruth, four of the Kings, two of the Chronicles, two of Ezra, one of Esther, one of Judith, three of the Maccabees, one of Job, one hundred and fifty psalms; three books of Solomon--Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs; sixteen prophets. And besides these, take care that your young persons learn the Wisdom of the very learned Sirach."Apostolic Constitutions,47:85(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:505 "And again; ’Do not to another what thou hatest’[Tobit 4:15]" John Chrysostom,Concerning Statues,7(A.D. 387),in NPNF1,IX:428 "Wherefore we must cast out all wickedness from our souls, and never more contrive any deceit; for, saith one, ’To the perverse God sendeth crooked paths [Proverbs 21:8LXX]; and, ’The holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding.’[Wisd. 1:5]" John Chrysostom,Homilies on John,41(A.D. 391),in NPNF1,XIV:150 "Let us then repeat to ourselves soothing charms drawn from the holy Scripture, and say, ’Thou art earth and ashes.’ ’Why is earth and ashes proud?’ [Sirach 10:9], and, ’The sway of his fury shall be his destruction’[Sirach 1:19] and, ’The wrathful man is not comely’[Proverbs 11:25LXX]"John Chrysostom,Homilies on John,48(A.D. 391),in NPNF1,XIV:175 "Elsewhere the Scripture takes the term "old" in the sense of blame; for seeing that the things are of various aspect as being composed of many parts, it uses the same words both in a good and an evil import, not according to the same shade of meaning. Of which you may see an instance in the blame cast elsewhere on the old: [Psalms 17:46 LXX] ’They waxed old, and they halted from their paths.’ And again, [Psalms 6:7LXX] ’I have become old in the midst of all mine enemies.’ And again, [Daniel 13:52 -Susanna] ’O thou that art become old in evil days.’ So also the ’Leaven’ is often taken for the kingdom of Heaven, although here found fault with. But in that place it is used with one aspect, and in this with another." John Chrysostom,Homilies on 1 Corinthians 15:1-58(A.D. 392),in NPNF1,XII:87 "And to prove that I say not this upon conjecture; when they fell into the furnace, they bewailed themselves after this sort, saying, [Daniel 3:29,33 -Three Youths] ’We have sinned, we have done iniquity, we cannot open our mouth.’ John Chrysostom,Homilies on 1 Corinthians,18(A.D. 392),in NPNF1,XII:104 "And Baruch in the book of Jeremiah says ’this is our God: no other shall be reckoned by the side of Him: He found out every path of knowledge and gave it to Jacob His servant, and lsrael his beloved. After these things also He appeared upon the earth, and held converse with men.’[Baruch 3:35-37] And David signifying His incarnate presence said ’He shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool, and like the drop which distills upon the earth’[Psalms 72:6] because He noiselessly and gently entered into the Virgin’s womb. John Chrysostom,Against Marcionist & Manicheans(ante A.D. 403),in NPNF1,XI:205 "That nothing be read in church besides the Canonical Scripture. Item, that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in church under the name of divine Scripture. But the Canonical Scriptures are as follows: Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. Joshua the Son of Nun. The Judges. Ruth. The Kings, four books. The Chronicles, two books. Job. The Psalter. The Five books of Solomon. The Twelve Books of the bProphets. Isaiah. Jeremiah. Ezechiel. Daniel. Tobit. Judith. Esther. Ezra, two books. Macchabees, two books."Council of Hippo,Canon 36(A.D. 393),in NPNF2,XIV:453-454 "[It has been decided] that nothing except the canonical Scriptures should be read in the Church under the name of the divine Scriptures. But the canonical Scriptures are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, Paralipomenon, two books, Job, the Psalter of David, five books of Solomon [Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach], twelve books of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, two books of the Maccabees." Council of Carthage III,Canon 397(A.D. 397),in DEN,39-40 "Nor do I allege any opinion of my own, but I repeat that which the Holy Spirit spake by the prophet: ’Blessed is the barren that is undefiled.’[Wisdom 3:13]" Ambrose,Concerning Virginity,7:35(A.D. 378),in NPNF2,X:369 "So then, holy Judith,[Judith 10:3ff] strengthened by lengthened mourning and by daily fasting, sought not the enjoyments of the world regardless of danger, and strong in her contempt for death." Ambrose,Concerning Widows,7:38(A.D. 378),in NPNF2,X:397 "Daniel also, unless he had received the Spirit of God, would never have been able to discover that lustful adultery, that fraudulent lie. For when Susanna, assailed by the conspiracy of the elders, saw that the mind of the people was moved by consideration for the old men, and destitute of all help, alone amongst men, conscious of her chastity she prayed God to judge; it is written: ’The Lord heard her voice, when she was being led to be put to death, and the Lord raised up the Holy Spirit of a young youth, whose name was Daniel.’[Daniel 13:44,45 -Susanna]" Ambrose,On the Holy Spirit,3:6:39(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,X:140 "And the Lord bids them lay aside the garments of mourning, and to cease the groanings of repentance, saying: ’Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning and affliction. and clothe thyself in beauty, the glory which God hath given thee for ever.’[Baruch 5:1]" Ambrose,Concerning Repentance,I:9:43(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,X:336 "Wherefore the Scripture says well: ’A wise man will keep silence until there is opportunity.’[Sirach 20:6]" Ambrose,Duties of the Clergy,I:2:5(A.D. 391),in NPNF2,X:2 "When Jeremiah understood what they wanted he said: ’The spot will remain unknown until God shall gather His people together and be gracious to them. Then God shall reveal these things and the majesty of the Lord shall appear.’[2 Maccabees 2:7]"Ambrose,Duties of the Clergy,III:17:101(A.D. 391),in NPNF2,X:84 "And what safety can there be for us unless we wash away our sins by fasting, since Scripture says that fasting and alms do away sin? [Tobit 12:8,9]" Ambrose,Epistle 63:16(A.D. 396),in NPNF2,X:459 "This preface to the Scriptures may serve as a ’helmeted’ introduction to all the books which we now turn from Hebrew into Latin, so that we may be assured that what is not found in our list must be placed amongst the Apocryphal writings. Wisdom ... the book of ... Sirach, and Judith, and Tobias, and the Shepherd are not in the canon. The first book of Maccabees I have found to be in Hebrew, the second in Greek, as can be proved from the very style." Jerome,Preface to Samuel and Kings[Prologus Galeatus](A.D. 391),in NPNF2,VI:490 "We have the authentic book of Jesus son of Sirach, and annother pseudepigraphic work, entitled the Wisdom of Solomon. I found the first in Hebrew, with the title, ’Parables’, not Ecclesiasticus, as in Latin versions...The second finds no place in Hebrew texts, and its style is redolent of Greek eloquence: a number of ancient writers assert that it is a work of Philo Judaeus. Therefore, just as the Church reads Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees, but does not admit them to the canon of Scripture; so let the Church read these two volumes, for the edification of the people, but not to support the authority of ecclesiastical doctrines." Jerome,Preface to Proverbs,(A.D. 398),in LCF,187 "What sin have I committed in following the judgment of the churches? But when I repeat what the Jews say against the Story of Susanna and the Hymn of the Three Children, and the fables of Bel and the Dragon, which are not contained in the Hebrew Bible, the man who makes this a charge against me proves himself to be a fool and a slanderer; for I explained not what I thought but what they commonly say against us." Jerome,Against Rufinus,11:33(A.D. 402),in NPNF2,III:517 "At least that is what Solomon says: "wisdom is the gray hair unto men.’[Wisdom 4:9]" Jerome,To Paulinus, Epistle 58(A.D. 395),in VI:119 "[D]oes not the scripture say: ’Burden not thyself above thy power’[Sirach 13:2]?" Jerome,To Eustochium,Epistle 108(A.D. 404),in NPNF2,VI:207 "I would cite the words of the psalmist: ’the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,’[Psalms 51:17] and those of Ezekiel ’I prefer the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,’[Ezekiel 18:23] and those of Baruch, ’Arise, arise, O Jerusalem,’[Baruch 5:5] and many other proclamations made by the trumpets of the prophets." Jerome,To Oceanus,Epistle 77:4(A.D. 399),in NPNF2,VI:159 "The words of 2 Maccabees v. 17, which say that Antiochus Epiphanes had power to overthrow the Temple, ’because of the multitude of sins,’[2 Macc 5:17] are quoted in connection with the confessions of Daniel." Jerome,Against the Pelagians,II:30(A.D. 415),in NPNF2,VI:471 "Of the Old Testament, therefore, first of all there have been handed down five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Then Jesus Nave, (Joshua the son of Nun), The Book of Judges together with Ruth; then four books of Kings (Reigns), which the Hebrews reckon two; the Book of Omissions, which is entitled the Book of Days (Chronicles), and two books of Ezra (Ezra and Nehemiah), which the Hebrews reckon one, and Esther; of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; moreover of the twelve (minor) Prophets, one book; Job also and the Psalms of David, each one book. Solomon gave three books to the Churches, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles. These comprise the books of the Old Testament...But it should be known that there are also other books which our fathers call not ’Canonical’ but ’Ecclesiastical:’ that is to say, Wisdom, called the Wisdom of Solomon, and another Wisdom, called the Wisdom of the Son of Syrach, which last-mentioned the Latins called by the general title Ecclesiasticus, designating not the author of the book, but the character of the writing. To the same class belong the Book of Tobit, and the Book of Judith, and the Books of the Maccabees. In the New Testament the little book which is called the Book of the Pastor of Hermas, [and that] which is called The Two Ways,[ie. Didache] or the Judgment of Peter; all of which they would have read in the churches, but not appealed to for the confirmation of doctrine. The other writings they have named ’Apocrypha.’ These they would not have read in the Churches. These are the traditions which the Fathers have handed down to us, which, as I said, I have thought it opportune to set forth in this place, for the instruction of those who are being taught the first elements of the Church and of the Faith, that they may know from what fountains of the Word of God their draughts must be taken." Rufinus of Aquileia,The Apostles Creed,37-38(A.D. 404),in NPNF2,III:557-558 "Which also the Prophet fore told when he said, ’This is our God: no other shall be accounted of in comparison of Him. He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His servant and to Israel His beloved. Afterward He shewed Himself upon the earth, and conversed with men.’[Baruch 3:36-38]" Rufinus of Aquileia,The Apostles Creed,37-38(A.D. 404),in NPNF2,III:557-558 "A brief addition shows what books really are received in the canon. These are...of Moses five books...and Josue, of Judges one book, of Kings four books, and also Ruth, of the Prophets sixteen books, of Solomon five books, the Psalms. Likewise of the histories, Job one book, of Tobias one book, Esther one, Judith one, of the Machabees two, of Esdra two, Paralipomenon two books..." Pope Innocent[regn. A.D. 401-417],To Exsuperius,Epistle 6(A.D. 405),in DEN,42 "Now the whole canon of Scripture on which we say this judgment is to be exercised, is contained in the following books:--Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one of Judges; one short book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to the beginning of Kings; next, four books of Kings, and two of Chronicles -these last not following one another, but running parallel, so to speak, and going over the same ground. The books now mentioned are history, which contains a connected narrative of the times, and follows the order of the events. There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra,(ie. Ezra & Nehemiah) which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles. Next are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of David; and three books of Solomon, viz., Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. For two books, one calledWisdomand the otherEcclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be reckoned among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as being authoritative. The remainder are the books which are strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books of the prophets which are connected with one another, and having never been disjoined, are reckoned as one book; the names of these prophets are as follows:--Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; then there are the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old Testament is contained within the limits of these forty-four books." Augustine,On Christian Doctrine,II:8(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:53-539 "Wherefore, as Scripture says, ’when you go forth to serve the Lord stand in the fear of the Lord, and prepare your mind’[Sirach 2:1]" John Cassian,The Institutes,4:37(A.D. 426),in NPNF2,XI:231 "[A]s Scripture itself testifies: ’For God made not death, neither rejoiceth in the destruction of the living.’[Wisdom 1:13]" John Cassian,Third Conference of Abbot Chaermon,7(A.D. 428),in NPNF2,XI:425 "[T]he Prophet says, ’the Lord Himself is God, who found out all the way of knowledge; who was seen upon earth and conversed with men.’[Baruch 3:37,38]" John Cassian,The Incarnation of Christ,4:13(A.D. 430),in NPNF2,XI:580 "[T]he divine Oracles cry aloud, ’Remove not the landmarks, which thy fathers have set,’[Proverbs 22:28] and ’Go not to law with a Judge,’[Sirach 8:14] and ’Whoso breaketh through a fence a serpent shall bite him,’[Ecclesiastes 10:8]"Vincent of Lerins,Commonitory,21:51(A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:146 "Two officers in the army, who were shield bearers in the imperial suite, at a certain banquet lamented in somewhat warm language the abomination of what was being done, and employed the admirable language of the glorious youths at Babylon, ’Thou hast given us over to an impious Prince an apostate beyond all the nations on the earth.’[Daniel 3:32 -Three Youths]" Theodoret of Cyrus,Ecclesiastical History,3:11(A.D. 440),in NPNF2,III:101 "A wise man who knew all this full well reasons about deaths of this kind and says, ’Yea; speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding.’[Wisdom 4:11]" Theodoret of Cyrus,To Cyrus Magistrianus,Epistle 136(ante A.D. 466),in NPNF2,III:306 "And hence Tobias also, while instructing his son in the precepts of godliness, says, ’Give alms of thy substance, and turn not thy face from any poor man: so shall it come to pass that the face of GOD shall not be turned from thee’[Tobit 4:7]" Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],Sermon 10:4(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,XII:121 "[T]he sins which are washed away either by the waters of baptism, or the tears of repentance, may be also blotted out by alms-giving; for the Scripture says, ’As water extinguisheth fire, so alms extinguisheth sin.’[Sirach 3:29] Through our Lord Jesus Christ." Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],Sermon 49:6(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,XII:162 "But O ungodliest of men[ie Judas Iscariot], "thou seed of Chanaan and not of Juda,’[Daniel 13:56 -Susanna]" Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],Sermon 67(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,XII:179 "Who[ie the Son] is equal with God the Father, have assumed the form of a slave and the likeness of sinful flesh. But because ’by the devil’s malice death entered into the world’[Wisdom 2:24]" Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],Sermon 78:2(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,XII:192 "The canonical books of the Old Testament are therefore twenty-one in number...Besides these there are otherb books of the same Old Testament, which are not canonical, and which are read only to the catechumens. These are the Wisdom of Solomon...the Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach,... Esther,... Judith,... Tobias... These are not canonical." Synopsys of Sacred Scripture,2(A.D. 500),in JUR,III:255 "For of him it is written, But by envy of the devil death entered into the world’[Wisdom 2:24]" Pope Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],Pastoral Care,10(ante A.D. 604),in NPNF2,XII:32 "[L]et them hear what is written, ’Give to every man that asketh of thee’[Luke 6:30]. Lest they should give something, however little to those on whom they ought to bestow nothing at all, let them hear what is written. ’Give to the good man, and receive not a sinner: do well to him that is lowly, and give not to the ungodly’[Sirach 12:4]. And again, ’Set out thy bread and wine on the burial of the just, but eat and drink not thereof with sinners’ [Tobit 4:17]." Pope Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],Pastoral Care,20(ante A.D. 604),in NPNF2,XII:45 "The divine Scripture likewise saith that ’the souls of the just are in God’s hand’[Wisdom 3:1] and death cannot lay hold of them." John Damascene,Orthodox Faith,4:15(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:87 "But others, though future, are put in the past tense, as, for instance, This is our God: ’Therefore He[she] was seen upon the earth and dwell among men’[Baruch 3:38]."John Damascene,Orthodox Faith,4:18(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:90 "[S]o that in them was fufilled that which is written, ’The service of God is abominable to the sinner.’[Sirach 1:22]"7th Ecumenical Council,Nicea II,Canon 6,in NPNF2,XIV:566 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 4D-HIERARCHY, INDEFECTIBILITY, INFALLIBILITY ======================================================================== The Hierarchical Structure of the Catholic Church "Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and there would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect fore-knowledge of this, they appointed those [ministers] already mentioned, and afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in theirministry." Clement of Rome,Pope,1st Epistle to the Corinthians,44:1-2 (c.A.D. 96),in ANF,I:17. "Accordingly,elect for yourselves bishops and deacons,men who are an honor to the Lord,of gentle disposition,not attached to money,honest and well-tried; for they, too, render you the sacred service of the prophets and teachers." Didache(c.A.D. 140),in ACW,6:24 "See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution ofGod. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is[administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid." Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to the Smyraens,8 (c.A.D. 110),in ANF,I:89-90. "Hegesippus and the Events which he mentiones. Hegesippus in the five books of Memoirs which have come down to us has left a most complete record of his own views. In them he states that on a journey to Rome he met a great many bishops, and that he received the same doctrine from all. It is fitting to hear what he says after making some remarks about the epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. His words are as follows: And the churchIll of Corinth continued in the true faith until Primus was bishop in Corinth. I conversed with them on my way to Rome, and abode with the Corinthians many days, during which we were mutually refreshed in the true doctrine. And when I had come to Rome I remained a there until Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus. And Anicetus was succeeded by Soter, and he by Eleutherus. In every succession, and in every city that is held which is preached by the law and the prophets and the Lord.’ "Hegesippus,fragment in Eusebius Ecclesiastical History,4:22(c.A.D. 180),in NPNF2,I:198-199. "Since, according to my opinion, the grades here in the Church, of bishops, presbyters, deacons, are imitations of the angelic glory, and of that economy which, the Scriptures say, awaits those who, following the footsteps of the apostles, have lived in perfection of righteousnessaccording to the Gospel."Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,6:13(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:504-505. " Our Lord, whose precepts and admonitions we ought to observe, describing the honour of a bishop and the order of His Church, speaks in the Gospel, and says to Peter: I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ Thence, through the changes of times and successions, the ordering of bishops and the plan of the Church flow onwards; so that the Church is founded upon the bishops, and every act of the Church is controlled by these same rulers.s Since this, then, is founded on the divine law, I marvel that some, with daring temerity, have chosen to write to me as if they wrote in the name of the Church; when the Church is established in the bishop and the clergy, and all who stand fast in the faith." Cyprian,To the Lasped,Epistle 26/33(A.D. 250),in ANF,V:305. "And before you had received the grace of the episcopate, no one knew you; but after you became one, the laity expected you to bring them food, namely instruction from the Scriptures...For if all were of the same mind as your present advisers, how would you have become a Christian, since there would be no bishops? Or if our successors are to inherit the state of mind, how will the Churches be able to hold together?" Athanasius,To Dracontius,Epistle 49:2,4(c.A.D. 355),in NPNF2,IV:558 "The Blessed Apostle Paul in laying down the form for appointing a bishop and creating by his instructions an entirely new type of member of the Church, has taught us in the following words the sum total of all the virtues perfected in him:--Holding fast the word according to the doctrine of faith that he may be able to exhort to sound doctrine and to convict gainsavers. For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers. For in this way he points out that the essentials of orderliness and morals are only profitable for good service in the priesthood if at the same time the qualities needful for knowing how to teach and preserve the faith are not lacking, for a man is not straightway made a good and useful priest by a merely innocent life or by a mere knowledge of preaching." Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,VIII:137 "The immediate object of my entreaty is as follows. By the old census,the clergy of God,presbyters and deacons, were left exempt" Basil,To Modestus,Epistle 104(A.D. 372),in NPNF2,VIII:186 "You must know that Faustus came with letters for me,from the pope,requesting that he migh be ordained bishop." Basil,To Theodotus,Epistle 121(A.D. 373),in NPNF2,VIII:193 "There is not, however, such narrowness in the moral excellence of the Catholic Church as that I should limit my praise of it to the life of those here mentioned. For how many bishops have I known most excellent and holy men, how many, presbyters, how many deacons, and ministers of all kinds of the divine sacraments, whose virtue seems to me more admirable and more worthy of commendation on account of the greater difficulty of preserving it amidst the manifold varieties of men, and in this life of turmoil!" Augustine,On the Morals of the Catholic Church,69(A.D. 388),in NPNF1,IV:60. "Who can test himself by the rules and standards which Paul laid down for bishops and presbyters, that they are to be temperate, soberminded, not given to wine, no strikers, apt to teach, blameless in all things, and beyond the reach of the wicked, without finding considerable deflection from the straight line of the rules?" Gregory of Nazianzen,In Defense of his Flight,69(ante A.D. 389),in NPNF2,VII:219 "You saw there the deacon, you saw the priest, you saw the chief priest [i.e. the bishop]."Ambrose,Concerning the Mysteries,2(A.D.391),in NPNF2,X:317 "To this end it is well, I think, to look out for high qualifications in your election, that he who is appointed to the Presidency may be suitable for the post. Now the Apostolic injunctions do not direct us to look to high birth, wealth, and distinction in the eyes of the world among the virtues of a Bishop" Gregory of Nyssa,To the Church at Nicodemia,Epistle 13(ante A.D. 394),in NPNF2,V:536 "Martin[bishop of Tours], then,clothed in this garment, proceeds to offerthe sacrifice to God. And then on that very day--I am about to narrate something wonderful--when he was engaged in blessing the altar, as is usual, we beheld a globe of fire dart from his head, so that, as it rose on high, the flame produced a hair of extraordinary length. And, although we saw this take place on a very famous day in the midst of a great multitude of people, only one of the virgins, one of the presbyters, and only three of the monks, witnessed the sight: but why the others did not behold it is a matter not to be decided by our judgment...I have often noticed this, Sulpitius, that Martin was accustomed to say to you, that such an abundance of power was by no means granted him while he was a bishop, as he remembered to have possessed before he obtained that office. Now, if this be true, or rather since it is true, we may imagine how great those things were which, while still a monk, he accomplished, and which, without any witness, he effected apart by himself; since we have seen that, while a bishop, he performed so great wonders before the eyes of all. Many, no doubt, of his former achievements were known to the world, and could not be hid, but those are said to have been innumerable which, while he avoided boastfulness, he kept concealed and did not allow to come to the knowledge of mankind; for, inasmuch as he transcended the capabilities of mere man, in a consciousness of his own eminence, and trampling upon worldly glory, he was content simply to have heaven as a witness of his deeds." Sulpitius Severus,Dialogues,2,4(c.A.D. 400),in NPNF2,XI:38-40 "To the fellow-Bishops and Deacons.’ What is this? Were there several Bishops of one city? Certainly not; but he called the Presbyters so. For then they still interchanged the titles, and the Bishop was called a Deacon. For this cause in writing to Timothy, he said, Fulfil thy ministry,’ when he was a Bishop. For that he was a Bishop appears by his saying to him, Lay hands hastily on no man.’ (1 Tim. v. 22.) And again, Which was given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery.’ (1 Tim. iv. 14.)YetPresbyters would not have laid hands on a Bishop.” Chrysostom,Homily on Philippians,1:1(c.A.D. 404),in NPNF1,XIII:184. "For in the early days of the faith when only a few, and those the best of men, were known by the name of monks, who, as they received that mode of life from the Evangelist Mark of blessed memory, the first to preside over the Church of Alexandria as Bishop...But sometimes it creates a wish to take holy orders, and a desire for the priesthood or diaconate. And it represents that if a man has even against his will received this office, he will fulfil it with such sanctity and strictness that he will be able to set an example of saintliness even to other priests; and that he will win over many people, not only by his manner of life, but also by his teaching and preaching. It makes a man, even when alone and sitting in his cell, to go round in mind and imagination to the dwellings and monasteries of others, and to make many conversions under the inducements of imaginary exultatio." John Cassian,Institutes,2:5,11:14(ante A.D. 435),in NPNF2,XI:278 " Theotocos (Greek for Mother of God),’ but not in the sense in which it is imagined by a certain impious heresy which maintains, that she is to be called the Mother of God for no other reason than because she gave birth to that man who afterwards became God, just as we speak of a woman as the mother of a priest, or the mother of a bishop, meaning that she was such, not by giving birth to one already a priest or a bishop, but by giving birth to one who afterwards became a priest or a bishop. Not thus, I say, was the holy Mary Theotocos,’ the mother of God, but rather, as was said before,because in her sacred wombwas wrought that most sacred mysterywhereby,on account of the singular and unique unity of Person, asthe Word in flesh is flesh, so Man in God is God." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitories, 15(ante A.D. 450),in NPNF2,XI:143 "For although they who are not within the ranks of the clergy are free to take pleasure in the companionship of wedlock and the procreation of children, yet for the exhibiting of the purity of complete continence, even sub-deacons are not allowed carnal marriage: that both those that have, may be as though they had not,’ and those who have not, may remain single. But if in this order, which is the fourth from the Head[ie. Christ], this is worthy to be observed, how much more is it to be kept in the first, or second, or third, lest any one be reckoned fit for either the deacon’s duties or the presbyter’s honourable position, or the bishop’s pre-eminence, who is discovered not yet to have bridled his uxorious desires." Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],To Anastasius,Epistle 14,5(A.D. 446),in NPNF2,XII:18 "Through my most beloved son Laurentius, the presbyter, and Peter the monk, I received thy Fraternity’s letter, in which thou hast been at pains to question me on many points. But, inasmuch as my aforesaid sons found me afflicted with the pains of gout, and on their urging me to dismiss them speedily were allowed to go, leaving me under the same painful affiction; I have not been able to reply, as I ought to have done, at greater length on every single point. Augustine’s first question. I ask, most blessed father, concerning bishops, how they should live with their clergy: And concerning the offerings of the faithful which are received at the altars, both into what portions they should be divided, and how the bishop ought to deal with them in the Church. Answer of St. Gregory, Pope of the City of Rome. Holy Scripture, which no doubt thou know-est well, bears witness, and especially the epistles of the blessed Paul to Timothy, in which he studied to instruct him how he ought to behave himself in the house of God. Now it is the custom of the Apostolic See to deliver an injunction to bishops when ordained, that of all emoluments that come in four divisions should be made: to wit, one for the bishop and his household on account of hospitality and entertainment; another for the clergy; a third for the poor; and a fourth for the reparation of Churches. But, inasmuch as thy Fraternity, having been trained in the rules of a monastery, ought not to live apart from thy clergy in the Church of the Angli,which by the guidance of God has lately been brought to the faith, it will be right to institute that manner of life which in the beginning of the infant Church was that of our Fathers, among whom none said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common (Acts iv.)." Pope Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Augustine,Epistle 64,in NPNF2,XIII:74-75 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. The Indefectibility of the Catholic Church "But [it has, on the other hand, been shown], that the preaching of the Church is everywhere consistent, and continues in an even course, and receives testimony from the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples--as I have proved--through [those in] the beginning, the middle, and the end, and through the entire dispensation of God, and that well-grounded system which tends to man’s salvation, namely, our faith; which, having been received from the Church, we do preserve, and which always, by the Spirit of God, renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in an excellent vessel, causes the vessel itself containing it to renew its youth also. For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be vivified; and the [means of] communion with Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God. ’For in the Church," it is said, "God hath set apostles, prophets, teachers,’ and all the other means through which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their perverse opinions and infamous behaviour.For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit istruth." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,3:24 (A.D. 180),in ANF,I:458 "But I shall pray the Spirit of Christ to wing me to my Jerusalem. For the Stoics say that heaven is properly a city, but places here on earth are not cities; for they are called so, but are not. For a city is an important thing, and the people a decorous body, and a multitude of men regulated by law as the church by the word--a city on earth impregnable--free from tyranny; a product of the divine will on earth as in heaven."Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,4:26(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:441 "And Peter, on whom the Church of Christ is built, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail..."Origen,On John 5:1-47(A.D. 232),in ANF,X:346 "[F]or the rock is inaccessible to the serpent, and it is stronger than the gates of Hades which are opposing it, so that because of its strength the gates of Hades do not prevail against it; but the church, as a building of Christ who built His own house wisely upon the rock, is incapable of admitting the gates of Hades which prevail against every man who is outside the rock and the church, but have no power against it." Origen,On Matthew,12:11(A.D. 244),in ANF,X:457 "But we who hope for the Son of God are persecuted and trodden down by those unbelievers. For the wings of the vessels are the churches; and the sea is the world, in which the Church is set, like a ship tossed in the deep, but not destroyed; for she has with her the skilled Pilot, Christ. And she bears in her midst also the trophy (which is erected) over death; for she carries with her the cross of the Lord. For her prow is the east, and her stern is the west, and her hold is the south, and her tillers are the two Testaments; and the ropes that stretch around her are the love of Christ, which binds the Church; and the net which she bears with her is the layer of the regeneration which renews the believing, whence too are these glories. As the wind the Spirit from heaven is present, by whom those who believe are sealed: she has also anchors of iron accompanying her, viz., the holy commandments of Christ Himself, which are strong as iron. She has also mariners on the right and on the left, assessors like the holy angels, by whom the Church is always governed and defended. The ladder in her leading up to the sailyard is an emblem of the passion of Christ, which brings the faithful to the ascent of heaven. And the top-sails aloft upon the yard are the company of prophets, martyrs, and apostles, who have entered into their rest in the kingdom of Christ." Hippolytus,Christ and AntiChrist,59(A.D. 200),in ANF,V:216-217 "The spouse of Christ cannot be adulterous; she is uncorrupted and pure. She knows one home; she guards with chaste modesty the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God. She appoints the sons whom she has born for the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress, is separated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother. If any one could escape who was outside the ark of Noah, then he also may escape who shall be outside of the Church. The Lord warns, saying, ’He who is not with me is against me, and he who gathereth not with me scattereth.’ He who breaks the peace and the concord of Christ, does so inopposition to Christ; he who gathereth elsewhere than in the Church, scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says, ’I and the Father are one;’ and again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, ’And these three are one.’ And does any one believe that this unity which thus comes from the divine strength and coheres in celestial sacraments, can be divided in the Church, and can be separated by the parting asunder of opposing wills? He who does not hold this unity does not hold God’s law, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation." Cyprian,On Unity,6(A.D. 251),in ANF,V:423 "From which things it is evident that all the prophets declared concerning Christ, that it should come to pass at some time, that being born with a body of the race of David, He should build an eternal temple in honour of God, which is called the Church, and assemble all nations to the true worship of God. This is the faithful house, this is the everlasting temple; and if any one hath not sacrificed in this, he will not have the reward of immortality. And since Christ was the builder of this great and eternal temple, He must also have an everlasting priesthood in it; and there can be no approach to the shrine of the temple, and to the sight of God, except through Him who built the temple. David in the cixth Psalm teaches the same, saying: ’Before the morning-star I begat Thee. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent; Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.’ " Lactantius,Divine Institutes,4:14(A.D. 310),in ANF,VII:113 "And besides, also, one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which can never be destroyed, though all the world should seek to make war with it; but it is victorious over every most impious revolt of the heretics who rise up against it. For her Goodman hath confirmed our minds by saying, ’Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’ " Alexander of Alexandria,Epistle on the Arian Heresy,12(A.D. 321),in ANF,VI:296 "But I trust that the Church, by the light of her doctrine, will so enlighten the world’s vain wisdom, that, even though it accept not the mystery of the faith, it will recognise that in our conflict with heretics we, and not they, are the true representatives of that mystery. For great is the force of truth; not only is it its own sufficient witness, but the more it is assailed the more evident it becomes; the daily shocks which it receives only increase its inherent stability. It is the peculiar property of the Church that when she is buffeted she is triumphant, when she is assaulted with argument she proves herself in the right, when she is deserted by her supporters she holds the field. It is her wish that all men should remain at her side and in her bosom; if it lay with her, none would become unworthy to abide under the shelter of that august mother, none would be cast out or suffered to depart from her calm retreat. But when heretics desert her or she expels them, the loss she endures, in that she cannot save them, is compensated by an increased assurance that she alone can offer bliss. This is a truth which the passionate zeal of rival heresies brings into the clearest prominence. The Church, ordained by the Lord and established by His Apostles, is one for all; but the frantic folly of discordant sects has severed them from her. And it is obvious that these dissensions concerning the faith result from a distorted mind, which twists the words of Scripture into conformity with its opinion, instead of adjusting that opinion to the words of Scripture. And thus, amid the clash of mutually destructive errors, the Church stands revealed not only by her own teaching, but by that of her rivals. They are ranged, all of them, against her; and the very fact that she stands single and alone is her sufficient answer to their godless delusions. The hosts of heresy assemble themselves against her; each of them can defeat all the others, but not one can win a victory for itself. The only victory is the triumph which the Church celebrates over them all." Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,7:4(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,IX:119 "[W]e are content with the fact that this is not the teaching of the Catholic Church, nor did the fathers hold this." Athanasius,To Epicletus,Epistle 59:3(A.D. 371),in NPNF2,IV:571 " Of old the Psalmist sang, ’Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, (ye that are) from the fountains of Israel’. But after the Jews for the plots which they made against the Saviour were cast away from His grace, the Saviour built out of the Gentiles a second Holy Church, the Church of us Christians, concerning which he said to Peter, ’And upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’. And David prophesying of both these, said plainly of the first which was rejected, ’l have hated the Congregation of evil doers’; but of the second which is built up he says in the same Psalm, ’Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thine hour’; and immediately afterwards. ’In the Congregations will I bless thee, O Lord’. For now that the one Church in Judaea is cast off, the Churches of Christ are increased over all the world; and of them it is said in the Psalms, ’Sing unto the Lord a new song, His praise in the Congregation of Saints’. Agreeably to which the prophet also said to the Jews, ’I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord Almighty’; and immediately afterwards, ’For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My name is glorified among the Gentiles’. Concerning this Holy Catholic Church Paul writes to Timothy, ’That thou mayest know haw thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’" Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:25(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:140 "He seems to have designated the tabernacle of the Old Testament a likeness, or a type, and a temporary tabernacle, thereby to intimate that it was to last but for a time, and that, when at last set aside, for it would be substituted the church of Christ, and that this, as being perfect and complete pattern of the heavenly tabernacle, would abide for ever." Ephraem,On Exodus,1:2(ante A.D.373),in FOC,223 "An heretical congregation is an adulteress woman: for the Catholic hath never from the beginning left the couch and the chamber of her spouse, nor gone after other and strange lovers. Ye have painted a divorced form in new colours; ye have withdrawn your couch from the old wedlock’ ye have left the body of a mother, the wife of one husband, decking yourselves out with new arts of pleasing, new allurements of corruption." Pacian,Epistle 3(ante A.D. 392),in FOC,224 "Such as these have no power against the ark; for holy Noah received a commission, according to the word of the Lord, to secure it;as the Lord said unto him, ’Thou shalt pitch it within and without’; that he might thereby point out the semblance of the holy church of God, which has that efficacy of pitchm which repells pernicious and destructive and serpent-like doctrines. For where is the smell of pitch, there the snake is unable to remain." Epiphanius,Panarion,51(A.D. 377),in FOC,51 "Go thy way, therefore, to my brethren--that is, to those everlasting doors, which, as soon as they see Jesus, are lifted up. Peter is an ’everlasting door,’ against whom the gates of hell shall not prevail. John and James, the sons of thunder, to wit, are ’everlasting doom.’ Everlasting are the doors of the Church, where the prophet, desirous to proclaim the praises of Christ, says: ’That I may tell all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.’ “ Ambrose,On the Christian Faith,4:26(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,X:265 . "Yet, though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I demand the safe-keeping of the victim, from the shepherd the protection due to the sheep. Away with all that is overweening; let the state of Roman majesty withdraw. My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built! This is the house where alone thepaschal lambcan berightly eaten. This is the ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails. But since by reason of my sins I have betaken myself to this desert which lies between Syria and the uncivilized waste, I cannot, owing to the great distance between us, always ask of your sanctity the holy thing of the Lord. Consequently I here follow the Egyptian confessors who share your faith, and anchor my frail craft under the shadow of their great argosies. I know nothing of Vitalis; I reject Meletius; I have nothing to do with Paulinus. He that gathers not with you scatters; he that is not of Christ is of Antichrist." Jerome,To Pope Damasus[regn. A.D. 366-384],Epistle 15:2(A.D. 377),in NPNF2,VI:18 "Do not hold aloof from the Church; for nothing is stronger than the Church. The Church is thy hope, thy salvation, thy refuge. It is higher than the heaven, it is wider than the earth. It never waxes old, but is always in full vigour. Wherefore as significant of its solidity and stability Holy Scripture calls it a mountain: or of its purity a virgin, or of its magnificence a queen; or of its relationship to God a daughter; and to express its productiveness it calls her barren who has borne seven: in fact it employs countless names to represent its nobleness. For as the master of the Church has many names: being called the Father, and the way, and the life, and the light, and the arm, and the propitiation, and the foundation, and the door, and the sinless one, and the treasure, and Lord, and God, and Son, and the only begotten, and the form of God, and the image of God so is it with the Church itself: does one name suffice to present the whole truth? by no means. But for this reason there are countless names, that we may learn something concerning God, though it be but a small part. Even so the Church also is called by many names. She is called a virgin, albeit formerly she was an harlot: for this is the miracle wrought by the Bridegroom, that He took her who was an harlot and hath made her a virgin. Oh! what a new and strange event? With us marriage destroys virginity, but with God marriage hath restored it. With us she who is a virgin, when married, is a virgin no longer: with Christ she who is an harlot, when married, becomes a virgin." Chrysostom,Eutropius,2:6(A.D. 399),in NPNF2,IX:256 "It follows after commendation of the Trinity, ’The Holy Church.’ God is pointed out, and His temple. ’For the temple of God is holy,’ says the Apostle, ’which (temple) are ye.’ This same is the holy Church, the one Church, the true Church, the catholic Church, fighting against all heresies: fight, it can: be fought down, it cannot. As for heresies, they went all out of it, like as unprofitable branches pruned from the vine: but itself abideth in its root, in its Vine, in its charity. ’The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ "Augustine,Sermon to the Catechumens on the Creed,6:14(A.D. 377),in NPNF1,III:374 " ’I have raised him up a king with justice, and all his ways are right.’ The ways of Christ are right, and he has built the holy city, that is, the church, wherein also he dwelleth. For he abideth in the saints, and we have become temples of the living God, having Christ within us through the participation of the Holy Spirit. He, therefore, founded a church, himself being the foundation, in which we also, as rich and precious stones, are built into a holy temple, as a dwelling-place for God in the spirit; the church, having Christ for a foundation, and an immovableable support, is perfectly immoveable." Cyril of Alexandria, On Isaiah 4:1-6(A.D. 429),in FOC,244 " ’But thou hast upheld me by reason of mine innocence, and hast established me in thy sight for ever.’ This signifies the church in the apostles and prophets; for not philosphers and rhetoricians, but unlearned men and fishermen, upheld of God, founded a church which he has established in his sight forever." Arnobius the Younger,On Psalms 40:1-17 w:1-17(A.D. 439),in FOC,248-249 "He also denotes, by these men, those who have risen up at divers times against the church, and were not able to overcome it, in accordance with that prohibition of our God and Saviour; ’For the gates of hell,’ he says, ’shall not prevail against it.’ " Theodoret of Cyrus,Interpretation of Psalms 5:1-12(A.D. 449),in FOC,246 "But the Church of Christ, the careful and watchful guardian of the doctrines deposited in her charge, never changes anything in them, never diminishes, never adds, does not cut off what is necessary, does not add what is superfluous, does not lose her own, does not appropriate what is another’s, but while dealing faithfully and judiciously with ancient doctrine, keeps this one object carefully in view,--if there be anything which antiquity has left shapeless and rudimentary, to fashion and polish it, if anything already reduced to shape and developed, to consolidate and strengthen it, if any already ratified and defined to keep and guard it. Finally, what other object have Councils ever aimed at in their decrees, than to provide that what was before believed in simplicity should in future be believed intelligently, that what was before preached coldly should in future be preached earnestly, that what was before practised negligently should thenceforward be practised with double solicitude ? This, I say, is what the Catholic Church, roused by the novelties of heretics, has accomplished by the decrees of her Councils,--this, and nothing else,--she has thenceforward consigned to posterity in writing what she had received from those of olden times only by tradition, comprising a great amount of matter in a few words, and often, for the better understanding, designating an old article of the faith by the characteristic of a new name. But let us return to the apostle. ’O Timothy,’ he says, ’Guard the deposit,; shunning profane novelties of words. ’ ’Shun them as you would a viper, as you would a scorpion, as you would a basilisk, lest they smite you not only with their touch, but I even with their eyes and breath.’ What is "to shun’ ? Not even to eat with a person of this sort What is "shun’? ’If anyone,’ says St. John, ’come to you and bring not this doctrine. What doctrine ? What but the Catholic and universal doctrine, which has continued one and the same through the several successions of ages by the uncorrupt tradition of the truth and so will continue for ever--’Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed, for he that biddeth him Godspeed communicates with him in his evil deeds.’ " Vincent of Lerins,Commonitories,59-60(A.D. 450),in NPNF2,XI:148 "Since, therefore, the universal Church has become a rock (petra) through the building up of that original Rock , and the first of the Apostles, the most blessed Peter, heard the voice of the LORD saying, ’Thou art Peter, and upon this rock (petra) I will build My Church ,’ who is there who dare assail such impregnable strength, unless he be either antichrist or the devil, who, abiding unconverted in his wickedness, is anxious to sow lies by the vessels of wrath which are suited to his treachery, whilst under the false name of diligence he pretends to be in search of the Truth." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D. 440-461],To Leo Augustus,Epistle 156:2(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,XIII:100 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. The Infallibility of the Ecumenical Councils "The Bishops who assembled in the great Council of Nicaea agreed,not without the will of God, that the decisions of one council should be examined in another, to the end that the judges, having before their eyes that other trial which was to follow, might be led to investigate matters with the utmost caution, and that the parties concerned in their sentence might have assurance that the judgment they received was just, and not dictated by the enmity of their former judges. Now if you are unwilling that such a practice should be adopted in your own case, though it is of ancient standing, and has been noticed and recommended by the great Council, your refusal is not becoming; for it is unreasonable that a custom which had once obtained in the Church, and been established by councils, should be set aside by a few individuals." Pope Julius[regn. A.D. 337-352],To the Eusebians in Athanasius ’Defence against the Arians’,21(A.D. 340),in NPNF2,XIV:111-112 "Are they not thencommitting a crime, in their very thoughtto gainsayso great andecumenical a Council? Are they not in transgression, when they dare to confront that good definition against Arianism, acknowledged, as it is, by those who had in the first instance taught them irreligion? " Athanasius,Defence of the Nicene Definition,2(A.D. 351),in NPNF2,IV:489 "This gave occasion for an Ecumenical Council[ie Nicea], that the feast might be everywhere celebrated on one day, and that the heresy which was springing up might be anathematized. It took place then; and the Syrians submitted, and the Fathers pronounced the Arian heresy to be the forerunner of Antichrist, and drew up a suitable formula against it. And yet in this, many as they are, they ventured on nothing like the proceedings of these three or four men. Without pre-fixing Consulate, month, and day, they wrote concerning Easter, ’It seemed good as follows,’ for it did then seem good that there should be a general compliance; but about the faith they wrote not, ’It seemed good,’ but, ’Thus believes the Catholic Church;’ and thereupon they confessed how they believed, in order to shew that their own sentiments were not novel, but Apostolical; and what they wrote down was no discovery of theirs, but is the same as was taught by the Apostles." Athanasius,Councils of Ariminum & Seleucia,5(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:453 "But the word of the Lord which came through the ecumenical Synod at Nicaea, abides for ever." Athanasius,To the Bishops of Africa,2(A.D. 372),in NPNF2,IV:489 "[T]hat you should confess the faith put forth by our Fathers once assembled at Nicaea, that you should not omit any one of its propositions, but bear in mind that the three hundred and eighteen who met together without strife did not speak without the operation of the Holy Ghost, and not to add to that creed the statement that the Holy Ghost is a creature, nor hold communion with those who so say, to the end that the Church of God may be pure and without any evil admixture of any tare." Basil,To Cyriacus,Epistle 114(A.D. 372),in NPNF2,VIII:190 "Synods create security on the point that falls under notice from time to time." Epiphanius,Panarion,74(A.D. 377),in FOC,462 "And therefore, first in the holy Synod of Nicaea, the gathering of the three hundred and eighteen chosen men, united by the Holy Ghost, as far as in him lay, he[St. Athanasius] stayed the disease. Though not yet ranked among the BiShops, he held the first rank among the members of the Council, for preference was given to virtue just as much as to office." Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration 21:14(A.D. 379),in NPNF2,VII:273 "THE Faith of the Three Hundred and Eighteen Fathers assembled at Nice in Bithynia shall not be set aside, but shall remain firm. And every heresy shall be anathematized, particularly that of the Eunomians or [Anomoeans, the Arians or] Eudoxians, and that of the Semi-Arians or Pneumatomachi, and that of the Sabellians, and that of the Marcellians, and that of the Photinians, and that of the Apollinarians. " Ecumenical Council of Constantinople I, Canon 1(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,XIV:172 "This was decreed at the Synod of Ariminum, and rightly do I detest that council, following the rule of the Nicene Council, from which neither death nor the sword can detach me, which faith the father of your Clemency also." Ambrose,To the Emperor Valentinian,Epistle 21:14(A.D. 386),in NPNF2,X:428 "Some of the brethren whose heart is as our heart told us of the slanders that were being propagated to our detriment by those who hate peace, and privily backbite their neighbour; and have no fear of the great and terrible judgment-seat of Him Who has declared that account will be required even of idle words in that trial of our life which we must all look for: they say that the charges which are being circulated against us are such as these; that we entertain opinions opposed to those who at Nicaea set forth the right and sound faith." Gregory of Nyssa,To Sebasteia,Epistle 2(ante A.D. 394),in NPNF2,V:528 "As to those other things which we hold on the authority, not of Scripture, but of tradition, and which are observed throughout the whole world, it may be understood that they are held as approved and instituted either by the apostles themselves, or by plenary Councils, whose authority in the Church is most useful, e.g. the annual commemoration, by special solemnities, of the Lord’s passion, resurrection, and ascension, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven, and whatever else is in like manner observed by the whole Church wherever it has been established." Augustine,To Januarius,Epistle 54:1(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,1:300 "[H]e, I say, abundantly shows that he was most willing to correct his own opinion, if any one should prove to him that it is as certain that the baptism of Christ can be given by those who have strayed from the fold, as that it could not he lost when they strayed; on which subject we have already said much. Nor should we ourselves venture to assert anything of the kind, were we not supported by the unanimous authority of the whole Church, to which he himself would unquestionably have yielded, if at that time the truth of this question had been placed beyond dispute by the investigation and decree of a plenary Council. For if he quotes Peter as an example for his allowing himself quietly and peacefully to be corrected by one junior colleague, how much more readily would he himself, with the Council of his province, have yielded to the authority of the whole world, when the truth had been thus brought to light?" Augustine,On Baptism against the Donatist,2:5(A.D. 401),in NPNF1,IV:427 "What the custom of the Church has always held, what this argument has failed to prove false, and what a plenary Council has confirmed, this we follow!" Augustine,On Baptism against the Donatist,4:10(A.D. 401),in NPNF1,IV:450 "And in no wise do we suffer to be shaken by any one, the faith defined, or the symbol of faith settled, by our fathers, who assembled, in their day, at Nicaea. Neither do we allow ourselves,or any other to alter a word there set down, or even to omit a single syllable, mindful of that saying: ’Remove not the ancient land-marks which thy fathers have set.’ " Cyril of Alexandria,To John of Antioch,5(A.D. 433),in FOC,465 "[C]leave to the holy synod which assembled at Nicaea,nothing added(thereto), nothing diminishing; for that synod being divinely inspired, taught the true doctrine." Isidore of Pelusium,Epistle 99:4(ante A.D. 435),in FOC,466 "So have I learnt not only from the apostles and prophets but also from the interpreters of their writings, Ignatius,Eustathius, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, John, and the rest of the lights of the world; and before these from the holy Fathers in council at Nicaea, whose confession of the faith I preserve in its integrity, like an ancestral inheritance, styling corrupt and enemies of the truth all who dare to transgress its decrees. " Theodoret of Cyrus,TO Florentius,Epistle 89(A.D. 449),in NPNF2,III:283 "The great and holy and universal Synod, which by the grace of God and the sanction of our most pious and Christ-loving Emperors has been gathered together in the metropolis of Chalcedon in the province of Bithynia, to the most holy and blessed archbishop of Rome, Leo.I. They congratulate Leo on taking the foremost part in maintaining the Faith. ’Our mouth was filled with joy and our tongue with exultation.’ This prophecy grace has fitly appropriated to us for whom the security of religion is ensured. For what is a greater incentive to cheerfulness than the Faith? what better inducement to exultation than the Divine knowledge which the Saviour Himself gave us from above for salvation, saying, ’go ye and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things that I have enjoined you.’ And this golden chain leading down from the Author of the command to us, you yourself have stedfastly preserved, being set as the mouthpiece unto all of the blessed Peter, and imparting the blessedness of his Faith unto all. Whence we too, wisely taking you as our guide in all that is good, have shown to the sons of the Church their inheritance of Truth, not giving our instruction each singly and in secret, but making known our confession of the Faith in conceit, with one consent and agreement And we were all delighted, revelling, as at an imperial banquet, in the spiritual food, which Christ supplied to us through your letter: and we seemed to see the Heavenly Bridegroom actually present with us. For if ’where two or three are gathered together in His name,’ He has said that ’there He is in the midst of them,’ must He not have been much more particularly present with 520 priests, who preferred the spread of knowledge concerning Him to their country and their ease? Of whom you were, chief, as the head to the members, showing your goodwill in the person of those who represented you; whilst our religious Emperors presided to the furtherance of due order, inviting us to restore the doctrinal fabric of the Church, even as Zerubbabel invited Joshua to rebuild Jerusalem." Council of Chalcedon to Pope Leo the Great,Epistle 98:1(A.D. 451),in NPNF2,XII:72 "Anatolius’ attempts to subvert the decisions of Nicaea are futile. But at the present time let it be enough to make a general proclamation on all points, that if in any synod any one makes any attempt upon or seems to take occasion of wresting an advantage against the provisions of the Nicene canons, he can inflict no discredit upon their inviolable decrees: and it will be easier for the compacts of any conspiracy to be broken through than for the regulations of the aforesaid canons to be in any particular invalidated." Pope Leo the Great[regn. A.D. 440-461],To Maximus, Epistle 119:3(A.D. 453),in NPNF2,XII:86 "[T]he Sacred Synod of Nicea ... Ephesus ... [and] Chalcedon ... to be received after those of the Old or New Testament, which we regularly accept." Pope Gelasius[regn. A.D. 492-496],Epistle 42,in DEN,68-69 "Besides those which are contained in the Decretal of Gelasius, here, after the Synod of Ephesus ’Constantinople(I)’ was also inserted: then was added: But even if any councils thus far have been instituted by the holy Fathers, we have decreed that after the authority of those four they must be both kept and received." Pope Hormisdas[regn. A.D. 514-523],Epistle 125(A.D. 520),in DEN,74 "We confessed that we hold, preserve, and declare to the holy churches that confession of faith which the 318 holy Fathers more at length set forth, who were gathered together at Nice, who handed down the holy mathema or creed. Moreover, the 150 gathered together at Constantinople set forth our faith, who followed that same confession of faith and explained it. And the consent of fire 200 holy fathers gathered for the same faith in the first Council of Ephesus. And what things were defined by the 630 gathered at Chalcedon for the one and the same faith, which they both followed and taught. And all those wile from time to time have been condemned or anathematized by the Catholic Church, and by the aforesaid four Councils, we confessed that we hold them condemned and anathematized." Ecumenical Council of Constantinople II,Sentence of the Synod(A.D. 553),in NPNF2,XIV:307 "Besides, since with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, I confess that I receive and revere, as the four books of the Gospel so also the four Councils: to wit, the Nicene, in which the perverse doctrine of Arius is overthrown; the Constantinopolitan also, in which the error of Eunomius and Macedonius is refuted; further, the first Ephesine, in which the impiety of Nestorius is condemned; andthe Chalcedonian, in which the pravity of Eutyches and Dioscorus is reprobated. These with full devotion I embrace, and adhere to with most entire approval; since on them, as on a four-square stone, rises the structure of the holy faith; and whosoever, of whatever life and behaviour he may be, holds not fast to their solidity, even though he is seen to be a stone, yet he lies outside the building. The fifth council also I equallyvenerate, in which the epistle which is called that of Ibas, full of error, is reprobated; Theodorus, who divides the Mediator between God and men into two subsistences, is convicted of having fallen into the perfidy of impiety; and the writings of Theodoritus, in which the faith of the blessed Cyril is impugned, are refuted as having been published with the daring of madness. But all persons whom the aforesaid venerable Councils repudiate I repudiate; those whom they venerate I embrace; since, they having been constituted by universal consent, he overthrows not them but himself, whosoever presumes either to loose those whom they bind, or to bind those whom they loose. Whosoever, therefore, thinks otherwise, let him be anathema. But whosoever holds the faith of the aforesaid synods, peace be to him from God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, Who lives and reigns consubstantially God with Him in the Unity of the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen." Pope Gregory the Great[regn. A.D. 590-604],To John of Constantinople,Epistle 24(A.D. 591),in NPNF2,XII:81 "And in the fourth holy and great Oecumenical Council, I mean the one at Chalcedon, we are told that it was in this form that the Hymn was sung; for the minutes of this holy assembly so record it. It is, therefore, a matter for laughter and ridicule that this ’Thrice Holy’ Hymn, taught us by the angels, and confirmed by the averting of calamity, ratified and established by so great an assembly of the holy Fathers, and sung first by the Seraphim as a declaration of the three subsistences of the Godhead, should be mangled and forsooth emended to suit the view of the stupid Fuller as though he were higher than the Seraphim. But oh! The arrogance! not to say folly! But we say it thus, though demons should rend us in pieces, ’Do Thou, Holy God, Holy and Mighty One, Holy and Immortal One, have mercy upon us.’" John of Damascene,Orthodox Faith,10(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:54 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 4E-SUNDAYWORSHIP,CHURCHVISIBILITY,SHISM ======================================================================== Sunday Worship "On the Lord’s own day, assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks, but first confess your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure." Didache,14(A.D. 70),in ACW,VI:23 "If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death--whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master" Ignatius,To the Magnesians,9:1(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:62 "The seventh day, therefore, is proclaimed a rest--abstraction from ills--preparing for the Primal Day,[ie. The Lord’s Day] our true rest; which, in truth, is the first creation of light, in which all things are viewed and possessed. From this day the first wisdom and knowledge illuminate us. For the light of truth--a light true, casting no shadow, is the Spirit of God indivisibly divided to all, who are sanctified by faith, holding the place of a luminary, in order to the knowledge of real existences. By following Him, therefore, through our whole life, we become impossible; and this is to rest." Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,6:16(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:512 "In fine, let him who contends that the Sabbath is still to be observed as a balm of salvation, and circumcision on the eighth day because of the threat of death, teach us that, for the time past, righteous men kept the Sabbath, or practised circumcision, and were thus rendered "friends of God." For if circumcision purges a man since God made Adam uncircumcised, why did He not circumcise him, even after his sinning, if circumcision purges? At all events, in settling him in paradise, He appointed one uncircumcised as colonist of paradise. Therefore, since God originated Adam uncircumcised, and inobservant of the Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering Him sacrifices, uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, was by Him commended; while He accepted what he was offering in simplicity of heart, and reprobated the sacrifice of his brother Cain, who was not rightly dividing what he was offering. Noah also, uncircumcised--yes, and inobservant of the Sabbath-God freed from the deluge. For Enoch, too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and in-observant of the Sabbath, He translated from this world; who did not first taste death, in order that, being a candidate for eternal life, he might by this time show us that we also may, without the burden of the law of Moses, please God." Tertullian,An answer to the Jews,2(A.D. 203),in ANF,III:153 "The apostles further appointed: Onthe first day of the weeklet there be service, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures,and the oblation:because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the lace of the dead and on the first day of the week He arose upon the world, and on the first day of the week He ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of the week He will appear at last with the angels of heaven." Teaching of the Apostles,2(A.D. 225),in ANF,VIII:668 "Hence it is not possible that the rest after the Sabbath should have come into existence from the seventh of our God; on the contrary, it is our Saviour who, after the pattern of His own rest, caused us to be made in the likeness of His death, and hence also of His resurrection." Origen,Commentary on John,2:27(A.D. 229),in ANF,X:342 "On the seventh day He rested from all His works, and blessed it, and sanctified it. On the former day we are accustomed to fast rigorously, that on the Lord’s day we may go forth to our bread with giving of thanks. And let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews, which Christ Himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, says by His prophets that ’His soul hateth;’ which Sabbath He in His body abolished" Victorinus,On the Creation of the World(A.D. 300),in ANF,VII:341-2 "They did not care about circumcision of the body, neither do we. They did not care about observing Sabbaths, nor do we." Eusebius,Church History,1:4,8(A.D. 312),in NPNF2,I:87 "Also that day which is holy and blessed in everything, which possesses the name of Christ, namely the Lord’s day, having risen upon us on the fourth of Pharmuthi (Mark 30), let us afterwards keep the holy feast of Pentecost." Athanasius,Epistle 9:11(A.D. 335),in NPNF2,VII:527 "Fall not away either into the sect of the Samaritans, or into Judaism: for Jesus Christ henceforth hath ransomed thee. Stand aloof from all observance of Sabbaths, and from calling any indifferent meats common or unclean." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,4:37(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII: "Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ." Council of Laodicea,Canon 29(A.D. 360),in NPNF2,XIV:149 "For many other observances of the Churches, which are due to tradition, have acquired the authority of the written law, as for instance the practice of dipping the head three times in the layer, and then, after leaving the water, of tasting mingled milk and honey in representation of infancy; and, again, the practices of standing up in worship on the Lord’s day, and ceasing from fasting every Pentecost; and there are many other unwritten practices which have won their place through reason and custom. So you see we follow the practice of the Church, although it may be clear that a person was baptized before the Spirit was invoked." Jerome,Dialogue against the Luciferians,8(A.D. 382),in NPNF2,VI:324 "Then as one whom they must respect, there will be the presbyter among them and this will contribute to the security of the estate. There will be constant prayers there through thee hymns and Communions through thee; the Oblationon each Lord’s Day." John Chrysostom,Acts of the Apostles,Homily 18(A.D. 388),in NPNF1,XI:118 "And on the day of our Lord’s resurrection, which is the Lord’s day, meet more diligently, sending praise to God that made the universe by Jesus, and sent Him to us, and condescended to let Him suffer, and raised Him from the dead. Otherwise what apology will he make to God who does not assemble on that day to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection, on which we pray thrice standing in memory of Him who arose in three days, in which is performed the reading of the prophets, the preaching of the Gospel, theoblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy food?"Apostolic Constitutions,2,7:59(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:423 "Well, now, I should like to be told what there is in these ten commandments, except the observance of the Sabbath, which ought not to be kept by a Christian,--whether it prohibit the making and worshipping of idols and of any other gods than the one true God, or the taking of God’s name in vain; or prescribe honour to parents; or give warning against fornication, murder, theft, false witness, adultery, or coveting other men’s property? Which of these commandments would any one say that the Christian ought not to keep? Is it possible to contend that it is not the law which was written on those two tables that the apostle describes as ’the letter that killeth,’ but the law of circumcision and the other sacred rites which are now abolished? But then how can we think so, when in the law occurs this precept, ’Thou shall not covet,’ by which very commandment, notwithstanding its being holy, just, and good, ’sin,’ says the apostle, ’deceived me, and by it slew me?’ What else can this be than ’the letter’ that ’killeth’? " Augustine,Spirit and the Letter,23:14(A.D. 412),in NPNF1,V:93 "He[Constantine] also enjoined the observance of the day termed the Lord’s day, which the Jews call the first day of the week, and which the pagans dedicate to the sun, as likewise the day before the seventh, and commanded that no judicial or other business should be transacted on those days, but that God should be served with prayers and supplications. He honored the Lord’s day, because on it Christ arose from the dead, and the day above mentioned, because on it he was crucified." Sozomon,Ecclesiastical History,1:8(A.D. 443),in NPNF2,II:245 "It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. What else can I call these but preachers of Antichrist, who, when he comes, will cause the Sabbath day as well as the Lord’s day to be kept free from all work. For, because he pretends to die and rise again, he wishes the Lord’s day to be had in reverence; and, because he compels the people to judaize that he may bring back the outward rite of the law, and subject the per-tidy of the Jews to himself, he wishes the Sabbath to be observed. For this which is said by the prophet, ’Ye shall bring in no burden through your gates on the Sabbath day’, could be held to as long as it was lawful for the law to be observed according to the letter. But after that the grace of Almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ has appeared, the commandments of the law which were spoken figuratively cannot be kept according to the letter. For, if any one says that this about the Sabbath is to be kept, he must needs say that carnal sacrifices are to be offered: he must say too that the commandment about the circumcision of the body is still to be retained. But let him hear the Apostle Paul saying in opposition to him, ’If ye be circumcised, Christ profiteth you nothing’." Pope Gregory the Great[regn. A.D. 590-604],To the Roman Citizens,Epistle 13:1(A.D. 597),in NPNF2,XIII:92 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved. The Visibility of the Catholic Church "Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to whom the apostles committed the Churches; which fact I have in the third book taken all pains to demonstrate. It follows, then, as a matter of course, that these heretics aforementioned, since they are blind to the truth, and deviate from the [right] way, will walk in various roads; and therefore the footsteps of their doctrine are scattered here and there without agreement or connection. But the path of those belonging to the Church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition from the apostles, and gives unto us to see that the faith of all is one and the same ... And undoubtedly the preaching of the Church is true and stedfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to her is entrusted the light of God; and therefore the "wisdom" of God, by means of which she saves all men, ’is declared in [its] going forth; it uttereth [its voice] faithfully in the streets, is preached on the tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the gates of the city.’ For the Church preaches the truth everywhere, and she is the seven-branched candlestick which bears the light of Christ. Those, therefore, who desert the preaching of the Church, call in question the knowledge of the holy presbyters, not taking into consideration of how much greater consequence is a religious man, even in a private station, than a blasphemous and impudent sophist. Now, such are all the heretics, and those who imagine that they have hit upon something more beyond the truth ... not keeping always to the same opinions with regard to the same things, as blind men are led by the blind, they shall deservedly fall into the ditch of ignorance lying in their path, ever seeking and never finding out the truth. It behoves us, therefore, to avoid their doctrines, and to take careful heed lest we suffer any injury from them; but to flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and be nourished with the Lord’s Scriptures. For the Church has been planted as a garden (paradisus) in this world; therefore says the Spirit of God, ’Thou mayest freely eat from every tree of the garden,’ that is, Eat ye from every Scripture of the Lord; but ye shall not eat with an uplifted mind, nor touch any heretical discord." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,5:20 (A.D. 180),in ANF,I:547-8 "I shall at once go on, then, to exhibit the peculiarities of the Christian society, that, as I have refuted the evil charged against it, I may point out its positive good. We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. We meet together as an assembly and congregation, that, offering up prayer to God as with united force, we may wrestle with Him in our supplications. This violence God delights in. We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final consummation. We assemble to read our sacred writings, if any peculiarity of the times makes either forewarning or reminiscence needful. However it be in that respect, with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more stedfast; and no less by inculcations of God’s precepts we confirm good habits." Tertullian,Apology,39:1(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:46 "To sum up all in one word--what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible." Letter to Diognetus,6:1(A.D. 200),in ANF,I:27 "You may learn, if you will, the crowning wisdom of the all-holy Shepherd and Instructor, of the omnipotent andpaternal Word, when He figuratively represents Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep. And He is the Tutor of the children. He says therefore by Ezekiel, directing His discourse to the elders, and setting before them a salutary description of His wise solicitude: ’And that which is lame I will bind up, and that which is sick I will heal, and that which has wandered I will turn back; and I will feed them on my holy mountain.’ Such are the promises of the good Shepherd. Feed us, the children, as sheep. Yea, Master, fill us with righteousness, Thine own pasture; yea, O Instructor, feed us on Thy holy mountain the Church, which towers aloft, which is above the clouds, which touches heaven." Clement of Alexandria,The Instructor,I:9(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:230-1 "We are not to give heed to those who say, Behold here is Christ, but show him not in the Church, which is filled with brightness from the East even unto the West; which is filled with true light; is the ’pillar and ground of truth’; in which, as a whole,is the whole advent of the Son of Man, who saith to all men throughout the universe,’Behold, I am with you all the days of life even unto the consumption of the world.’ " Origen, Commentary on Matthew,Tract 30(A.D. 244),in FOC,194-195 "Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of light; break a branch from a tree,--when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up. Thus also the Church, shone over with the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over the whole world,yet it is one light which is everywhere diffused, nor is the unity of the body separated. Her fruitful abundance spreads her branches over the whole world. She broadly expands her rivers, liberally flowing, yet her head is one, her source one; and she is one mother, plentiful in the results of fruitfulness: from her womb we are born, by her milk we are nourished, by her spirit we are animated."Cyprian,Unity of the Church,5(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:423 " ’A city built upon a mountain cannot be hid’ The light, or lamp of Christ, is not now to be hidden under a bushel, nor to be concealed by any covering of the synagogue,but, hung on the wood of the Passion, it will give an everlasting light to those that dwell in the church. He also admonishes the apostles to shine with like splendour, that by the admiration of their deeds, praise may be given to God." Hilary of Poitiers,Commentary on Matthew,5:13(A.D. 355),in FOC,196-7 " ’And his throne as the sun before me.’ Understand, by the ’throne’ of Christ, the Church; for in it he rests. The Church of Christ, then, he says, shall be refulgent and enlighten all under heaven, and be abiding as the sun and the moon. For this passage says so: ’His throne as the sun before me, and as the moon perfect forever, and a faithful witness in heaven.’ " Athanasius,Exposition in the Psalms 88:1-18(ante A.D. 373),in FOC,197 "Not therefore on that Mount Sion does Isaias look down upon the valley, but on that holy mountain which is the church, that mountain which lifts its head over the whole Roman world under heaven...a church which is throughout the world, wherein there is one Catholic church."Optatus of Mileve,Against the Donatist,3:2(A.D. 384), in FOC, 197 " ’And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains’ The house of the Lord, ’prepared on the top of the mountains,’ is the church, according to the declaration of the apostle, ’Know,’ he says, ’how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God’Whose foundations are on the holy mountains, for it is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. One also of these mountains was Peter, upon which the rock the Lord promised to build his church." Basil,Commentary on Isaiah,2:66(A.D. 375),in FOC,197-8 "It is an easier thing for the sun to be quenched, than for the church to be made invisible." Chrysostom,In illud: vidi Dom.(ante A.D. 407),in FOC,198 " PETILIANUS said: ’If you declare that yon hold the Catholic Church, the word ’catholic’ is merely the Greek equivalent for entire or whole. But it is clear that you are not in the whole, because you have gone aside into the part.’ AUGUSTIN answered: I too indeed have attained to a very slight knowledge of the Greek language, scarcely to be called knowledge at all, yet I am not shameless in saying that I know that means not ’one,’ but ’the whole;’ and that means "according to the whole:" whence the Catholic Church received its name, according to saying of the Lord, ’It is not for you to know the times, which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and even in the whole earth.’ Here you have the origin of the name ’Catholic.’ But you are so bent upon running with your eyes shut against the mountain which grew out of a small stone, according to the prophecy of Daniel, and filled the whole earth, that you actually tell us that we have gone aside into a part, and are not in the whole among those whose communion is spread throughout the whole earth. But just in the same way as, supposing you were to say that I was Petilianus, I should not be able to find any method of refuting you unless I were to laugh at you as being in jest, or mourn over you as being mad, so in the present case I see that I have no other choice but this; and since I do not believe that you are in jest, you see what alternative remains." Augustine,Answer to Letters of Petilian,2:38[90](A.D. 400),in NPNF1,IV:554-555 "For the church is in lofty and conspicuous, and well known to all men in every place. It is also lofty in another sense; for her thoughts have nothing earthly, but she is above all that is earthly, and with the eyes of the understanding, looks upon, as far as it is possible, the glory of God, and glories in doctrines truly exalted, concerning God ... Wherefore, with justice may the hous of God be called a mountain(known) by the understanding, and it is perfectly visible, as being raised upon the hills; and one may say of it, and with great cause, what as a notable illustration was uttered by the mouth of the Saviour: ’A city placed upon a hill cannot be hidden’ " Cyril of Alexandria,Commentary on Isaias,(ante A. 429),in FOC,202 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. Schism "Why are there strifes, and tumults, and divisions, and schisms, and wars among you? Have we not [all] one God and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us? And have we not one calling in Christ? Why do we divide and tear to pieces the members of Christ, and raise up strife against our own body, and have reached such a height of madness as to forget that "we are members one of another?" Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, "Woe to that man [by whom offences come]! It were better for him that he had never been born, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my elect. Yea, it were better for him that a millstone should be hung about [his neck], and he should be sunk in the depths of the sea, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my little ones. Your schism has subverted [the faith of] many, has discouraged many, has given rise to doubt in many, and has caused grief to us all. And still your sedition continueth." Clement of Rome[regn c.A.D. 91-101],To the Corinthians,46(A.D. 91),in ANF,I:17-18 3 "Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God."Ignatius of Antioch,To the Ephesians 5:1-33(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:51 "For there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing, who, by means of a pernicious pleasure, carry captive(3) those that are running towards God; but in your unity they shall have no place." Ignatius of Antioch,To the Philadelphians,2(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:80 "Do not err, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If any one walks according to a strange opinion, he agrees not with the passion [of Christ.]" Ignatius of Antioch,To the Philadelphians,3(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:80 "For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth] the unity of His blood; one altar." Ignatius of Antioch,To the Philadelphians,4(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:81 "But flee from all abominable heresies, and those that cause schisms, as the beginning of evils." Ignatius of Antioch,To the Smyrnaens,7(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:89 "See that ye follow the bishop, even as Christ Jesus does the Father."Ignatius of Antioch,To the Smyrnaens,8:2(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:89 "But those who cleave asunder, and separate the unity of the Church, [shall] receive from God the same punishment as Jeroboam did." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4,26:2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:497 "Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if any one be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church." Cyprian, To Florentius,Epistle 68[66]:8(A.D. 254),in ANF,V:375 "Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of light; break a branch from a tree,--when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up. Thus also the Church, shone over with the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over the whole world, yet it is one light which is everywhere diffused, nor is the unity of the body separated."Cyprian,Unity of the Church,5(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:423 "The spouse of Christ cannot be adulterous; she is uncorrupted and pure. She knows one home; she guards with chaste modesty the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God. She appoints the sons whom she has born for the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress, is separated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother. If any one could escape who was outside the ark of Noah, then he also may escape who shall be outside of the Church...He who does not hold this unity does not hold God’s law, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation."Cyprian,Unity of the Church,5(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:423 "What does the fierceness of wolves do in the Christian breast? What the savageness of dogs, and the deadly venom of serpents, and the sanguinary cruelty of wild beasts? We are to be congratulated when such as these are separated from the Church, lest they should lay waste the doves and sheep of Christ with their cruel and envenomed contagion." Cyprian,Unity of the Church,9(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:424 "Let none think that the good can depart from the Church. The wind does not carry away the wheat, nor does the hurricane uproot the tree that is based on a solid root. The light straws are tossed about by the tempest, the feeble trees are overthrown by the onset of the whirlwind." Cyprian,Unity of the Church,9(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:424 "Do they deem that they have Christ with them when they are collected together, who are gathered together outside the Church of Christ?" Cyprian,Unity of the Church,13(A.D. 256),in ANF,V:426 "Only-Begotten. At this time the altogether wicked heretics and ignorant schismatics are in the same case; the one in that they slay the Word, the other in that they rend the coat." Athanasius,Festal Letter 6,6(A.D. 334),in NPNF2,IV:521 "For you have said, among other things, that schismatics are cut off like branches from the vine, and, being destined for punishment, are reserved like dry wood forthe fires of Gehenna."Optatus of Mileve,The Schism of the Donatist,1:10(A.D. 367),in OPT,10 "Indeed it would be monstrous to feel pleasure in the schisms and divisions of the Churches, and not to consider that the greatest of goods consists in the knitting together of the members of Christ’s body." Basil,To Evagrius,Epistle 156:1(A.D. 373),in NPNF2,VIII:211 "Heretics bring sentence upon themselves since they by their own choice withdraw from the Church, a withdrawal which, since they are aware of it, constitutes damnation. Between heresy and schism separates one from the Church on account of disagreement with the bishop." Jerome,Commentaries on the Epistle to Titus,3:10(A.D. 386),in JUR,II:194 "And this confession is indeed rightly made by them, for they have not the succession of Peter, who hold not the chair of Peter, which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too, they do, wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven even in the Church, whereas it was said to Peter: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Ambrose,Concerning Repentance,33(A.D. 390),in NPNF2,X:334 "But heretics, in holding false opinions regarding God, do injury to the faith itself; while schismatics, on the other hand, in wicked separations break off from brotherly charity, although they may believe just what we believe." Augustine,On Faith and Creed,10(A.D. 393),in NPNF1,III:331 "In the time of Donatus, from whom his followers were called Donatists, when great numbers in Africa were rushing headlong into their own mad error, and unmindful of their name, their religion, their profession, were preferring the sacrilegious temerity of one man before the Church of Christ, then they alone throughout Africa were safe within the sacred precincts of the Catholic faith, who, detesting the profane schism, continued in communion with the universal Church, leaving to posterity an illustrious example, how, and how well in future the soundness of the whole body should be preferred before the madness of one, or at most of a few." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitories,9(A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:133 "Furthermore, those whom the error of the schismatics severs from the unity of the Church, strive ye, for your own reward, to recall to the unity of concord." Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Brunichild,Epistle 11(A.D. 597),in NPNF2,XIII:8 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 5A-BLESSED LADY INDEX ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Theotokos is the ancient title for Mary, the Mother of God. This section will deal with various aspects of the Blessed Virgin Mary in patristic thought. Corunum will include such things as: Mary the Mother of God, the brethren of the Lord, Mary’s glorious Assumption, Mary’s personal sinlessness and her Immaculate Conception. Assumption of Mary: Documents illustrating the bodily Assumption of Mary Immaculate Conception of Mary: Documents illustrating that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin Theotokos: Documents illustrating that Mary was truly the Mother of God Perpetual Virginity: Mary was considered Ever-Virgin in the faith of the fathers. Mary had no child save Jesus Christ. Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a recurring theme in the writings of the Church Fathers. According to the Fathers, Mary is the Second Eve, the Ever-Vrigin, Theotokos and the vehicle by which salvation is brought forth. Devotion to and Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary :Devotion and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a common expression in the writings of the Church Fathers. According to the Fathers, Mary is the intercessor par excellence amongst all men. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 5B-ASSUMPTION, IMC, THEOTOKOS ARK OF NEW COVENANT ======================================================================== Bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary "If the Holy Virgin had died and was buried, her falling asleep would have been surrounded with honour, death would have found her pure, and her crown would have been a virginal one...Had she been martyred according to what is written: ’Thine own soul a sword shall pierce’, then she would shine gloriously among the martyrs, and her holy body would have been declared blessed; for by her, did light come to the world."Epiphanius,Panarion,78:23(A.D. 377),in PG 42:737 "[T]he Apostles took up her body on a bier and placed it in a tomb; and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come. And behold, again the Lord stood by them; and the holy body having been received, He commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise: where now, rejoined to the soul, [Mary] rejoices with the Lord’s chosen ones..." Gregory of Tours, Eight Books of Miracles,1:4(inter A.D. 575-593),in JUR,III:306 "As the most glorious Mother of Christ,our Savior and God and the giver of life and immortality, has been endowed with life by him, she has received an eternal incorruptibility of the body together with him who has raised her up from the tomb and has taken her up to himself in a way known only to him." Modestus of Jerusalem,Encomium in dormitionnem Sanctissimae Dominae nostrae Deiparae semperque Virginis Mariae(PG 86-II,3306),(ante A.D. 634) from Munificentis simus Deus "It was fitting ... that the most holy-body of Mary, God-bearing body, receptacle of God, divinised, incorruptible, illuminated by divine grace and full glory ... should be entrusted to the earth for a little while and raised up to heaven in glory, with her soul pleasing to God."Theoteknos of Livias,Homily on the Assumption(ante A.D. 650),in THEO,57 "You are she who, as it is written, appears in beauty, and your virginal body is all holy, all chaste, entirely the dewlling place of God, so that it is henceforth completely exempt from dissoultion into dust. Though still human, it is changed into the heavenly life of incorruptibility, truly living and glorious, undamaged and sharing in perfect life." Germanus of Constantinople,Sermon I(PG 98,346),(ante A.D. 733),from Munificentis simus Deus "It was fitting that the she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped when giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father, It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God" John of Damascene,Dormition of Mary(PG 96,741),(ante A.D. 749) from Munificentis simus Deus " ’St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.’ " John of Damascene,PG(96:1)(A.D. 747-751) "Venerable to us, O Lord, is the festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death, but still could not be kept down by the bonds of death, who has begotten Thy Son our Lord incarnate from herself." Gregorian Sacramentary,Veneranda(ante A.D. 795), from Munificentis simus Deus "[A]n effable mystery all the more worthy of praise as the Virgin’s Assumption is something unique among men." Gallican Sacramentary, from Munificentis simus Deus "God, the King of the universe, has granted you favors that surpass nature. As he kept you virgin in childbirth, thus he kept your body incorrupt in the tomb and has glorified it by his divine act of transferring it from the tomb." Byzantine Liturgy, from Munificentis simus Deus "[T]he virgin is up to now immortal, as He who lived, translated her into the place of reception" Timotheus of Jerusalem(6th-8th century),in OTT,208 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Immaculate Conception Irenaeus of Lyons: "Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, `Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient, and, when yet a virgin, she did not obey., was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made thecause of salvationfor herself and for thewhole human race..(mediatrix) Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith" (Against Heresies 3:22:24 [A.D. 189]). Tertullian: Likewise through a Virgin the Word of God was introduced to set up a structure of life. Thus what had been laid waste in ruin by this Eve was by Mary re-established in salvation.(mediatrix) Eve had believed the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel. That which the one destroyed by believing, the other, by believing, set straight" (The Flesh of Christ 17:4 [A.D.210]. Tertullian:As Eve had believed the serpent, so Mary believed the angel. Eve at all events conceived; for the devil’s word afterwards became as seed to her that she should conceive as an outcast, and bring forth in sorrow. Indeed she gave birth to a fratricidal devil; whilst Mary, on the contrary, bare one who was one day to secure salvation to Israel,(mediatrix) (On the Flesh of Christ Chapt XVII Similarity in the circumstance between the first and second Adam and between Eve and Mary) Tertullian: Because Eve, contrary to the assurance she had received from God, believed the serpent, she brought death in the world: but ourQueen, because she believed the angel when he said that she, remaining a virgin would become the mother of God, brought salvation into the world(Crediderat Eva Serpenti, Maria Gabrielli: ) St Athanasius states:If the Son is King, the Mother who begot Him is rightly and truly considereda Queenand sovereign. ST Peter Chrysologus CalledMary the spouse of the Holy Spirit "He was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption." Hippolytus,Orat. Inillud, Dominus pascit me(ante A.D. 235),in ULL,94 "This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God, is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one." Origen,Homily 1(A.D. 244),in ULL,94 "Let woman praise Her, the pure Mary." Ephraim,Hymns on the Nativity,15:23(A.D. 370),in NPNF2,XIII:254 "Thou alone and thy Mother are in all things fair, there is no flaw in thee and no stain in thy Mother." "Ephraem,Nisibene Hymns,27:8(A.D. 370),in THEO,132 Epiphanius of Salamis "We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God . . . who for us men and for our salvation came down and took flesh, that is, was born perfectly of theholyever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit." (The Man Well-Anchored 120 [A.D. 374]). Epiphanius of Salamis "And to holy Mary, [the title] ’Virgin’ is invariably added, for that holy woman remains undefiled" (Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 78:6 [A.D. 375]). "Mary, a Virgin not onlyundefiledbut a Virgin whom grace has madeinviolate, free of every stain of sin." Ambrose,Sermon 22:30(A.D. 388),in JUR,II:166 "We must except the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin." Augustine,Nature and Grace,42[36](A.D.415),in NPNF1,V:135 inher sacred wombwas wrought that most sacred mystery whereby, on account of the singular and unique unity of Person, as the Word in flesh is flesh, so Man in God is God." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitories,15 (A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:142-143 As he formed her without my stain of her own,so He proceeded from her contracting no stain." Proclus of Constantinople,Homily 1(ante A.D. 446), in ULL,97 "A virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily sprouting among thorns." Theodotus of Ancrya,Homily VI:11(ante A.D. 446), in THEO,339 "The angel took not the Virgin from Joseph, but gave her to Christ, to whom she was pledged from Joseph, but gave her to Christ, to whom she was pledged in the womb, when she was made." Peter Chrysologus,Sermon 140(A.D. 449),in ULL,97 Council of Constantinople II "If anyone will not confess that the Word of God . . . came down from the heavens and was made flesh of holy and glorious Mary, mother of God and ever-virgin, and was born from her, let him be anathema" (Anathemas Against the ’Three Chapters’ 2 [A.D. 553]). "[T]he very fact that God has elected her provesthat none was ever holierthan Mary, if any stain had disfigured her soul, if any other virgin had been purer and holier, God would have selected her and rejected Mary." Jacob of Sarug(ante A.D. 521),in CE "She is born like the cherubim, she who is of a pure, immaculate clay" Theotoknos of Livias,Panegyric for the feast of the Assumption, 5:6(ante A.D. 650),in THEO,180 "Today humanity, in all the radiance of her immaculate nobility, receives its ancient beauty. The shame of sin had darkened the splendour and attraction of human nature; but when the Mother of the Fair One par excellence is born, this nature regains in her person its ancient privileges and is fashioned according to a perfect model truly worthy of God.... The reform of our nature begins today and the aged world, subjected to a wholly divine transformation, receives the first fruits of the second creation" Andrew of Crete,Sermon I,On the Birth of Mary(A.D. 733),in THEO,180 "[T]ruly elect, and superior to all,not by the altitude of lofty structures, but as ecelling all in the greatness and purity of sublime and divine virtues, and having no affinity with sin whatever." Germanus of Constantinople,Marracci in S. Germani Mariali(ante A.D. 733),in ULL,98 "O most blessed loins of Joachim from which came forth a spotless seed! O glorious womb of Anne in which a most holy offspring grew." John of Damascus,Homily I in Nativ.(ante A.D. 749),in THEO,200 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Mary: Ark of the New Covanent (Early Church Fathers) *Courtesy of Steve Ray St. Proclus (died 446 or 447) “Let the woman haste hither, for the woman shows not the tree of death, but brings forth the tree of life: the virgins...the mothers also, for the Virgin Mother has amended the tree of disobedience by the tree of life. The female sex is no longer in execration, for it has obtained whereby it shall surpass even the angels in glory. Eve has been healed...and Mary is venerated (adored), because she has become mother and handmaid, cloud and chamber, and ark of the Lord....For this cause let us say to her: Blessed art thou amongst women, who alone hast healed the grief of Eve; who alone hast borne the world’s price” (Orat.iv.and v. In Natal. Dom. P.G. Tom. 65, p.710) (Blessed Virgin, p. 58). St. Ephrem (c. 306-373) “With the rib that was drawn out of Adam, the wicked one drew out the heart of Adam. There arose from the rib [i.e., Mary], a hidden power which cut off Satan as Dagon. For in that ark [Mary again], a book was hidden that cried and proclaimed the Conqueror. There was then a mystery revealed, in that Dagon was brought low in his own place of refuge. The accomplishment came after the type, in that the wicked one was brought low wherein he trusted....Fulfilled was the mystery. Blessed is He who by the true Lamb redeemed us, and destroyed our destroyer as He did Dagon” (S. Ephrem, Rhythm iii, On the Nativity, Morris, p.20) ((Blessed Virgin, p. 66). Chrysippus “An ark truly royal, an ark most precious is the ever-Virgin Mother of God, an ark which received the treasure of entire sanctification. Not that ark wherein were all kinds of animals, as in the ark of Noe, which escaped the shipwreck of the whole drowning world. Not that ark in which were the tables of stone, as in the ark that journeyed in company with Israel throughout the desert; but an ark whose architect and inhabitant, pilot and merchant, companion of the way, and leader, was the Creator of all creatures, all which He bears in Himself, but by all is not contained” (Chrysippus, Orat. de laudib. Deip. (Blessed Virgin, p. 74). St. Hippolytus (c. 170-c. 236) “At that time, the Savior coming from the Virgin, the Ark, brought forth His own Body into the world from that Ark, which was gilded with pure gold within by the Word, and without by the Holy Ghost; so that the truth was shown forth, and the Ark was manifested....And the Savior came into the world bearing the incorruptible Ark, that is to say His own body” (S. Hippolytus, In Dan.vi., Patr. Gr., Tom. 10, p. 648) (Blessed Virgin, p. 77). St. Ambrose (c. 339-397) “The prophet David danced before the Ark. Now what else should we say the Ark was but holy Mary? The Ark bore within it the tables of the Testament, but Mary bore the Heir of the same Testament itself. The former contained in it the Law, the latter the Gospel. The one had the voice of God, the other His Word. The Ark, indeed, was radiant within and without with the glitter of gold, but holy Mary shone within and without with the splendor of virginity. The one was adorned with earthly gold, the other with heavenly” (Serm. xlii. 6, Int. Opp., S. Ambrosii) (Blessed Virgin, p. 77). St. Cyril (315-387?) “The Ark would be the type and image of Christ : for if we look back to the way of the Incarnation of the Only-begotten, we shall see that it is in the temple of the Virgin, as in an ark that the Word of God took up His abode. For in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, as the Scripture saith. But the testimonies in the ark were the word of God, and the wood of it was imperishable, and with pure and choicest gold was it beautified within and without” (St. Cyril, De ador. In Spir. Et Verit, p. 293, St. Maximus of Turin and other Fathers apply the Ark of the Covenant to the Blessed Virgin Mary) (Blessed Virgin, p. 76). Breviarium in Psalterium “Christ in Mary as though the Bridegroom in the bride chamber, and the body of Mary as though the tabernacle” (Breviarium in Psalterium) (Blessed Virgin, p. 78). St. Athanasius (c. 296-373; the main defender of the Trinity and the deity of Christ against the 2nd century Arian heretics.) “Be mindful of us, most holy virgin, who after childbirth didst remain virgin; and grant to us for these small words great gifts from the riches of they graces, O thou full of grace. Accept them as though they were true and adequate praises in they honor; and if there is in them any virtue and any praise, we offer them as a hymn from ourselves and from all creatures to thee, full of grace, Lady, Queen, Mistress, Mother of God, and Ark of sanctification” (Orat. In Deip. Annuntiat, nn. 13, 14. Int. Opp. S. Athanasii) (Blessed Virgin, p. 80). “O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O (Ark of the) Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which Divinity resides.” Homily of the Papyrus of Turin. St. Dionysius (died 264) “As Christ our priest was not chosen by hand of man, so neither was His tabernacle framed by men, but was established by the Holy Ghost; and by the power of God is that tabernacle protected, to be had in everlasting remembrance, Mary, God’s Virgin Mother” (S. Dionysius of Alexandria, Respons. ad Quoest. v. Pauli Samos) (Blessed Virgin, p. 81). “Not in a servant did He dwell, but in His holy tabernacle not made with hands, which is Mary the Mother of God” (Ib. ad Quoest. vii. In calling Mary ?????????????? ?, the Saint implies that she was of an election and origin altogether singular and exceptional. The word occurs three times in the New Testament (Mark xiv. 58, 2 Cor. v. 1, Col. Ii. 11), and in each case denotes what is of singular and divine origin. See also Heb. ix. 11, 24) (Blessed Virgin, p. 81). St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213-c. 270) “The ark is verily the holy Virgin, gilded within and without, who received the treasure of universal sanctification. Arise, O Lord, from the Father’s bosom, to raise up again the ruined race of our first parent” (Orat. in Deip. Annunciat. Int. Opp. S. Greg. Thaumaturg) (Blessed Virgin, p. 89). Another translation renders this: “Let us chant the melody which has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, “Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou, and the Ark of Thy sanctuary.” For the holy Virgin is in truth an Ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary “The tenor of his message was as follows. I am moved by My compassion to descend to earth in order to recover the lost Adam. Sin made him to decay who was made to My image, and hath corrupted the work of My hands, and obscured the beauty which I formed....Go therefore to the Virgin Mary. Pass thou on to the animate city whereof the prophet spake these words: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God. Go, then, to My rational paradise, to the Gate of the East, to the place of sojourn that is worthy of My Word, that hath appeared as a heaven upon earth ; go to the light cloud, and announce to it the shower of My coming ; go to the sanctuary prepared for Me, to the hall of the Incarnation, to the pure chamber of My generation according to the flesh. Speak in the ears of My rational ark, so as to prepare for Me the accesses of hearing. But disturb not nor vex the soul of Mary. Manifest thyself in such wise as becomes that sanctuary, and salute her first with the voice of gladness” (Homilies, il, ii., iii. On the Annunciation, Int. Opp. S. Greg. Thaum., 5th century) (Blessed Virgin, p. 123). 13. The Holy Virgin is herself both an honourable temple of God and a shrine made pure, and a golden altar of whole burnt offerings. By reason of her surpassing purity [she is] the Divine incense of oblation ( = ?????????), and oil of the holy grace, and a precious vase bearing in itself the true nard; [yea and] the priestly diadem revealing the good pleasure of God, whom she alone approacheth holy in body and soul. [She is] the door which looks eastward, and by the comings in and goings forth the whole earth is illuminated. The fertile olive from which the Holy Spirit took the fleshly slip (or twig) of the Lord, and saved the suffering race of men. She is the boast of virgins, and the joy of mothers; the declaration of archangels, even as it was spoken: "Be thou glad and rejoice, the Lord with thee"; and again, "from thee"; in order that He may make new once more the dead through sin. |166 Gregory Thaumaturgus, Homily concerning the Holy Mother of God. The Expositor 5th series vol.3 (1896) pp.161-173 Hesychius (lived c. 300) “The ark is without doubt the Virgin Mother of God. For if Thou art the gem, with reason is she the ark; and because Thou art the sun, the Virgin will necessarily be called heaven: since Thou art the unfading flower, the Virgin must assuredly be the plant of incorruption and paradise of immortality. Which things Isaias, seeing from afar, exclaimed later on: Behold a Virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel. Behold a Virgin. Who is she? The most noble of women, the elect from among virgins, the splendid ornament of our nature, the glory of our mould, who freed Eve from her shame and Adam from the curse, who cut off the bold insolence of the dragon, she whom the smoke of concupiscence touched not, nor the worm of pleasure harmed” (Is.vii. 14). (Hesychius, Orat. De Virginis laudib. Biblioth. PP. Græco-Lat. Tom. ii. p. 423) (Blessed Virgin, p. 89). “Arise, Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the Ark of Thy sanctification, which is very evidently the Virgin Mother of God. For if thou are the pearl, with good reason is she the Ark” (Serm. V. De S. Maria Deip. Patr. Gr. Tom. 93, pp. 460-4) (Blessed Virgin, p. 227). St. Zeno (c. 450-491) “God, the Son of God, at the time appointed, concealing for the while His majesty, comes forth from His ethereal throne, and prepares for Himself a tabernacle in the temple of the predestined Virgin; wherein He hides Himself, about to become man; and there whilst preserving what He was, He meditates to be what He was not. Mingles thus with human flesh He forms Himself an infant. The womb of Mary swells forth with pride, not by conjugal gift, but by faith; by the Word, not by seed. She knows not the tediousness of the ten months” (Lib. Ii., Tractatus viii. Et ix. Pat. Lat. Tom. 11, pp. 413-417) (Blessed Virgin, p. 126). St. Methodius (815-8885) “Hence it was that the Ark of God removed from the stable at Bethlehem . . . and rested upon the mountains of Zion; and receiving into her pure bosom as upon a lofty throne-such as transcends the nature of man-the Monarch of all, she presented Him there to God the Father-the Son joint-partner of His throne, and inseparable from Him-together with that pure and undefiled flesh which He had from her assumed.... She goes up therefore to the temple, she who was more exalted than the temple, clothed with a double glory-the glory, I mean, of undefiled virginity, and that of ineffable child-bearing, the benediction of the Law, and the sanctification of grace.... “Tremendous, verily, is the mystery connected with thee, O Mother Virgin, thou spiritual throne, glorified and made worthy of God. . . . And the lintels of the doors, says the prophet, were raised at the voice of them that cried. By which is signified the veil of the temple overshadowing before the ark of the Covenant which typified thee.... For if to the ark, which was the image and type of thy sanctity, such honor was paid by God, that to no one but to the priestly order was the access to it open, or ingress allowed to behold it-the veil separating it off, and keeping the vestibule as that of a queen-how great, and what sort of veneration is due to thee from us, who are of all the least, to thee who art indeed a Queen ; to thee who art in truth the living Ark of God, the Law-giver; to thee who hast verily become the heaven that contains Him who can be contained of none?” (St. Methodius, Orat. de Simeone et Anna ii. Patr. Graec. Tom. 18, p. 332. (Blessed Virgin, p. 153). St. Theodotus of Ancyra (died c. 445) “But what part had the divine Virgin Mother, worthy of all praise, in these things that were taking place? She wondered indeed and with reason at the things that were being said, and kept them, together with those said before, in her heart. To her now Simeon of set purpose speaks: O fair and innocent dove! O sacred tabernacle of our hope, wherein all sanctity and magnificence dwell, He to whom thou hast given birth-thou knowest it not -is set for the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed” (Hom. Iv. In Deip. Et Simeon. N. 13, Patr. Gr. Tom. 74, p. 1410) (Blessed Virgin, p. 161). “O Dove, all-white and innocent! O holy temple of our hopes, wherein dwells all sanctity and magnificence” (Hom. iv. In S. Deip. et Simeon. Ib., p. 1395) (Blessed Virgin, p. 223). St. Ambrose (c. 339-397) “For this cause did the prophet David dance before the Ark. And what shall we say is the Ark, but holy Mary? For as the Ark bore within it the tables of the Testament, so Mary bore the Heir of the same Testament: it preserved within it the Law, she the Gospel; it had the voice, she the word, of God. The Ark, moreover, was radiant within and without with the shining of gold, whilst holy Mary gleamed within and without with the splendor of virginity; it was adorned with earthly gold, she with heavenly” (Serm. xlii., Int. Opp. S. Ambros. The author is uncertain, but there is nothing to show that he is not S. Ambrose. Ed. Maurin,. vol. iv. p. 551) (Blessed Virgin, p. 201). St. Jerome (c. 345-420) “Behold one in truth, the handmaid of the Lord. Holy she is, in whom is no guile, all simplicity....The spouse of Christ is the ark of the covenant, within and without overlaid with gold, a keeper of the law of the Lord. As in the ark there was nothing but the tables of the Testament, so too in thee no one from outside should be thought of. Over this propitiatory, as though upon the Cherubim, the Lord is pleased to sit....The Apostle thus defines a virgin, that she should be holy in body and in spirit... (Epist. Xxii., Ad Eustoch. Nn. 18, 19, 21, 24) (Blessed Virgin, p. 216). Unknown author “ He made not his dwelling in a slave, but in His Holy Tabernacle not made with hands, which is Mary the Mother of God” (Blessed Virgin, p. 251). St. Ephrem (c. 306-373) “O Virgin Mother of God, Gate of heaven, and Ark, in thee I have a secure salvation. Save me out of the pure mercy (??????, gratis), O Lady” (Precat. ix. Opp. Gr. et Lat. Tom. iii. P. 522) (Blessed Virgin, p. 294). “Concentration of the hierarchies, crown of all saints and virgins, approached for thy exceeding brightness and splendor, censer of God, lamp most bright, urn must beautiful containing the heavenly manna; table bearing the written law for men, true ark, book of writing most divine, princess, of all most prudent and wise, light-giving Virgin, most holy consoler and directress of all, most sacred Maid. . . (Is. Xxv. 9, vii. 16) (Blessed Virgin, p. 297) “Hail, most tranquil haven, and most ardently longed for rescuer of the tempest-tossed from billows and storms. Hail, succor of those in danger. Hail, resurrection of our first father Adam. Hail, sweet liberty. Hail, parent of all. Hail, fountain of grace, and of all the solace. Hail, refuge and hospice of sinners. Hail, mercy-seat of the afflicted. Hail, place of sanctuary in Jerusalem. Hail, most glorious throne of our Creator. Hail, most illustrious splendor of the age. Hail, hope of all the good who suffer under affliction. Hail, sweet solace and protection of the converted. Hail, of men and women alike Queen and Patroness. Hail, best mediatress between God and man. (Threni B. V. M. Opp. Gr. et Lat. Tom. iii. p.575 sq) (Blessed Virgin, p. 298) “The woman ministered before the man, because he is her head. Joseph rose to minister before His Lord, who was in Mary. The priest ministered before Thy Ark by reason of Thy holiness. Moses carried the tables of stone which the Lord wrote, and Joseph bare about the pure Tablet in whom the Son of the Creator was dwelling. The tables had ceased, because the world was filled with Thy doctrine” (Serm. xi., Natali Domini, Opp. Syr. Tom. ii. p. 429. Morris, pp. 51, 52.) (Blessed Virgin, p. 383). St. Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530-c. 610) “How blest that Mother in whose shrine, The great Artificer Divine, Whose hand contains the earth and sky, Vouchsafed, as in His ark, to lie! Blest, in the message Gabriel brought, Blest, by the work the Spirit wrought; From whom the great Desire of earth, Took human Flesh and human birth. All honor, laud, and glory be, O Jesu, Virgin-born to Thee! All glory, as is ever meet, To Father and to Paraclete. Amen” (Blessed Virgin, p. 458). Mary Mediatrix St. Ephrem (d. 373) said of Mary, in a prayer ascribed to him: "After the Mediator thou art the mediatrix of the whole world" (Oratio IV ad Deiparam. 4th Lesson of the Office of the Feast). St. Irenaeus (ca. AD 189) stated: "Mary ... by her obedience became the cause of her own salvation and the salvation of the whole human race." (Adv. haer. III 22,4). St. Jerome said: "By a woman the whole world was saved" (Tract. de Psalms 96:1-13). Jerome states that "The Eternal Word uses Mary ,as an abitratrix". She acts as Mediatrix between God and the lowliness of the flesh (Andrew of Crete Homily on Mary’s Nativity 740 AD In other words, the doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix is of such antiquity that it pre-dates the canonization of Scripture. What about "all graces"??? That is the implication of "whole world." But here’s more explicit doctrine from the Roman Pontiffs and the Patriarch of Constantinople... Pope Leo XIII: "From the great treasure of all graces, which the Lord has brought, nothing, according to the will of God comes to us except through Mary" (Octobre mensi, 1891) Pope St. Pius X calls Mary: "the dispenser of all gifts, which Jesus has acquired for us by his death and His blood" (Denzinger 1978 a) Pope Benedict XV declared: "All gifts which the Author of all good has deigned to communicate to the unhappy posterity of Adam, are, according to the loving resolve of His Divine Providence, dispensed by the hands of the Most Holy Virgin" (AAS 9, 1917, 266) And from an even older source, from the Patriarch of Constantinople for all you Easterners out there... St. Germanus of Constantinople (d. 733) stated of Mary: "Nobody can achieve salvation except through thee ... O Most Holy One ... nobody can receive a gift of grace except through thee ... O Most Chast One" (Or. 9,5. Lesson of the Office of the Feast, cite by Ott, ibid., p. 214). Others notable Catholics who have asserted that Mary is the univeral dispenser of grace by her intercession in heaven include St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Peter of Canisius, St. Alphonsus Liguori. __________________ God bless, St. Ephraim of Syria (ca. AD 306-373) described St. Mary as "dispensatrix of all gifts... Mediatrix of the whole world.” [Sancti Ephraem Syri opera graece et latine, ed. Assemani, Vol. 3 (Rome, 1746), p. 525 and pp. 528-529, cited by Fr. William Most, Mary in Our Life, Garden City, NY: Doubleday Image, 1954, pg. 48] St. John of Damasus (c. 675-c. 749), "O Mary, whose mediation is never refused, whose prayer is never denied...through you we obtain, as long as we linger in this crumbling world, the means to do good works" [J.P. Migne, ed., Patroligia Greaca, 96:647] She acts as Mediatrix between God and the lowliness of the flesh (Andrew of Crete Homily on Mary’s Nativity 740 AD According to the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Quote: "By the intercession of the Theotokos, Saviour, save us.... ...May Christ, our true God (who rose from the dead), as a good, loving and merciful God, have mercy upon us, and save us, through the intercession of his most pure and holy Mother." Eastern Orthodox St. Gregory Palamas (d. 1359): "No divine gift can reach either angels or men, save through her mediation. As one cannot enjoy the light of a lamp . . . save through the medium of this lamp, so every movement towards God, every impulse towards good coming from him is unrealizable save through the mediation of the Virgin. She does not cease to spread benefits on all creatures..." [J.P. Migne, ed., Patroligia Greaca 151, 472A] St. Peter Damien (1007-1072) said of St. Mary, "As the Son of God has designed to descend to us through you, so we also must come to him through you." [J.P. Migne, ed., Patroligia Latina, 144, 761B] St. Bernard of Clairvaux (ca. 1090-1153), "God wished us to have nothing that would not pass through the hands of Mary." [J.P. Migne, ed., Patroligia Latina, 183, 100]; "...every grace that comes from heaven to the world pass through the hands of Mary." [Apud. S. Bernarin. Pro Fest. V. M. s.5, c.8; cited in St. Alphonsus de Liguori, The Glories of Mary, ch. 5, p. 160] St. Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280) "The Blessed Virgin is very properly called ’gate of heaven,’ for every created or uncreated grace that ever came or will ever come into this world came through her." [Mariale, 147] Church documents and papal writings speak clearly. The Second Vatican Council states that "the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adiutrix, and Mediatrix" (Lumen Gentium 62). The Council refers to Pope St. Pius X, who said that Mary is the "dispensatrix of all the gifts and is the ‘neck’ connecting the head of the mystical body to the members. But all power flows through the neck" (Ad Diem Illum 13). Other popes and prominent saints have taught the same. In Octobri Mense Adventante, Pope Leo XIII wrote: Nothing at all of that very great treasury of all grace that the Lord brought us-for "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" [John 1:17]-nothing is imparted to us except through Mary, since God so wills. In Inter Sodalicia, Pope Benedict XV told us: Every kind of grace we receive from the treasury of the redemption is ministered as it were through the hands of the same sorrowful Virgin. Pope Pius XI concurred in Ingravescentibus Malis: We know that all things are imparted to us from God the greatest and best through the hands of the Mother of God. A Father of the Council of Ephesus, Antipater of Bostra, wrote, "Hail, you who acceptably intercede as a Mediatrix for mankind." (In S. Joannem Bapt., PG, 1772C) [5] St. Andrew of Crete (660-740) referred to Mary as the "Mediatrix of the law and grace” and that “she is the mediation between the sublimity of God and the abjection of the flesh.” Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange cites numerous other references from the early centuries of the Church: "From the 8th century we may quote the Venerable Bede (homil. I in fest. Annunc. and hom. I in fest. Visit.; P.L., t. XCIV, Colossians 91, 16). St. Andrew of Crete calls Mary Mediatrix of grace, dispenser and cause of life (In Nativit. B. M. , hom. Iv, and in Dormit. S.M., III; P.G.. t. XCVII, cols. 813 and 1108). St. Germanus of Constantinople says that no one has been saved without the cooperation of the Mother of God (In dormit. B.M., P.G., t. XCVIII, c. 349). The title of mediatrix is given by St. John Damascene also, who asserts that we owe to her all the benefits conferred on us by Jesus (In dormit. B.M., hom. 1, 3, 8, 12; 11, 16; P.G., t. XCVI, cols. 705, 713, 717, 744). In the 9th century we find St. Peter Damien teaching that nothing is accomplished in the work of our redemption without her (Serm. 15; P.L. . t. CXLIV, cols. 741, 743). The teaching of St. Anselm (Orat. 47, 52; PL, t. CLVIII, cols. 741, 743), Eadmer, and St. Bernard in the 12th century is the same.” [6] St. Cyril of Alexandria: "Hail Mary Theotokos, venerable treasure of the whole world, light unextinguished, crown of virginity, sceptre of orthodoxy, indestructible temple, which contains the uncontainable... it is through you that the Holy Trinity is glorified and adored, through you, the precious cross is venerated and adored throughout the whole world, through you that heaven is in gladness, that angels and archangels rejoice that demons are put to flight, through you that the tempter, the devil is cast from heaven, through you that the fallen creature is raised up to heaven, through you that all creation, once imprisoned in idolatry, has reached knowledge of the truth, that the faithful obtain baptism and the oil of joy, churches have been founded in the whole world, that peoples are led to conversion." [7] St. Germanus: Our Lady is “truly a good Mediatrix of all sinners.” (Hom. in Dorm. II, PG 98, 321, 352-3) St. Tarasius of Constantinople: Our Lady is “the Mediatrix of all who are under Heaven.” (In SS. Deiparae Praesentionem. PG 98, 1499).” [8] St. Bernard of Clairvaux: · St. Bernard speaks of Mary as “gratiae inventrix, mediatrix, salutis restauratrix saeculorum.” [9] · "God Has willed that we should have nothing which would not pass through the hands of Mary." (Hom. III in vig. nativit., n. 10, PL 183, 100) · "God has placed in Mary the plenitude of every good, in order to have us understand that if there is any trace of hope in us, any trace of grace, any trace of salvation, it flows from her." [10] · "God could have dispensed His graces according to His good pleasure, without making use of this aqueduct (Mary); but it was His wish to provide this means whereby grace would reach you." [11] St. Albert the Great: · “To her [Mary] alone was given this privilege, namely, a communication in the Passion; to her the Son willed to communicate the merit of the Passion, in order that He could give her the reward; and in order to make her a sharer in the benefit of Redemption. He willed that she be a sharer in the penalty of the Passion, insofar as she might become the Mother of all through re-creation even as she was the adjudtrix of the Redemption by her co-passion. And just as the whole world is bound to God by His supreme Passion, so also it is bound to the Lady of all by her co-passion.” (Mariale, Opera Omnia, v. 37, Q. 150, p. 219) · "… every single grace passes through the hands of Mary.” [12] · “The Blessed Virgin is very properly called ‘gate of heaven,’ for every created or uncreated grace that ever came or will ever come into this world came through her.” (Mariale 147) St. Thomas Aquinas writes, "Mary is the whole hope of our salvation,” [13] and "Through the intercession of Mary any souls are in Paradise who would not be there had she not interceded for them, for God has entrusted her with the keys and treasures of the heavenly kingdom.” [14] St. Gregory Palamas: “No divine gift can reach either angels or men, save through her mediation. As one cannot enjoy the light of a lamp … save through the medium of this lamp, so every movement towards God, every impulse towards good coming from Him is unrealizable save through the mediation of the Virgin. She does not cease to spread benefits on all creatures….” [15] Theophanes of Nicaea: “[Mary] is the dispenser and distributor of all the wondrous uncreated gifts of the divine Spirit, which make us Christ’s brothers and co-heirs, not only because she is granting the gifts of her natural Son to His brothers in grace, but also because she is bestowing them on these as her own true sons, though not by ties of nature but of grace.” [16] St. Louis De Montfort: · "To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispensatrix of all He possesses, in such sort that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which does not pass through her virginal hands." [17] · “… Mary whom He has appointed to be … treasurer of His riches, Distributor of His graces, Worker of His great miracles, Restorer of the human race, Mediatrix of men, Destroyer of God’s enemies, and faithful Companion of His great works and triumphs.” (W.G. 28) St. Alphonsus Liguori: "God, who gave us Jesus Christ, wills that all graces that have been, that are, and will be dispensed to men to the end of the world through the merits of Jesus Christ, should be dispensed by the hands and through the intercession of Mary." (The Glories of Mary, Ch. 5). Against the contention that this doctrine is "a pious exaggeration," St. Alphonsus replied, "I consider it as indubitably true that all graces are dispensed by Mary.” [18] St. John Vianney: "All the saints have a great devotion to Our Lady: no grace comes from Heaven without passing through her hands. We cannot go into a house without speaking to the doorkeeper. Well, the Holy Virgin is the doorkeeper of Heaven.” St. Peter Julian Eymard: "Mankind was unworthy to receive the Word directly from God, so Mary was our Mediatrix in the Incarnation, and she continues to exercise that function. No one comes to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and embraces His holy law except through her; no one obtains the saving gift of faith except by her prayers. Her mission, to which she is ever faithful, is to give us Jesus. He must be received from her hands, and in vain do we seek Him elsewhere." [19] THE EASTERN LITURGIES In one of the tropars of the Coptic liturgy we read that our salvation is insured "because every help come to the faithful through Mary, the Mother of God.” [26] A prayer in the Syriac liturgy read, "How can I praise thee duly, O most chaste Virgin? For thou alone among men art all-holy; and thou givest to all the help and grace they need.” [27] The Armenian liturgy has the following prayer: “Rejoice, 0 Mother of God, throne of salvation and hope of the human race, Mediatrix of law and grace.” [28] And the Chaldean liturgy has this beautiful prayer: “O Queen of queens, all rich, enrich thy servants with benefits, O Mother of the Most High. For He has made thee the dispensatrix of His treasures and the universal Queen. It is in thy bosom that He has placed His treasures, and in thee He has gathered graces as in a sea, and He has made thee the source of life for mortals…” [29] THE FRANCISCAN TRADITION The Franciscan Order, which championed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception through the Franciscan theologian Duns Scotus, has many saints who have promoted devotion to Mary, Mediatrix of all graces: St. Francis of Assisi: · "I therefore command all my Brothers, those living now and those to come in the future, to venerate the Holy Mother of God, whom we always implore to be our Protectress, to praise her at all times, in all circumstances of life, with all the means in their power and with the greatest devotion and submission." [30] St. Bonaventure: · "No one can enter into heaven except through Mary, as entering through a gate.” [31] · "We believe that Mary opens the abyss of God’s mercy to whomsoever she wills, when she wills, and as she wills; so that there is no sinner however great who is lost if Mary protects him.” [32] St. Bernardine of Siena: · "Mary is the dispensatrix of all the graces God bestows on man.” [33] · "This is the process of divine graces: from God they flow to Christ, from Christ to His Mother, and from her to the Church.... I do not hesitate to say that she has received a certain jurisdiction over all graces.... they are administered through her hands....” (Sermon V de nativitate B.M.V., cap. 8: op. omn., v. 4, p. 96) [1] Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Mother of the Savior and Our Interior Life, p. 172. [2] Ibid., pp. 172-173. [3] Sayings and Examples of St. Maximilian Kolbe, (Manila: Franciscan Conventual Publication), pp. 141-142. [4] Sancti Ephraem Syri opera graece et latine,. ed. Assemani, Vol. 3 (Rome, 1746), p. 525 and pp. 528-529. [5] Mark I. Miravalle, S.T.D., Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate, (Santa Barbara, Queenship Publications, 1993), p. 36. [6] Garrigou-Lagrange, p. 175. [7] St. Cyril, Homiliae diversae 4; PG 77, 992. [8] Quoted in Miravalle, p. 37. [9] Garrigou-Lagrange, p. 175. [10] Hom. in nativit. B.V.M., n. 6; PL, 183,441. [11] Hom. in nativit., B.V.M., nn.3-4; PL, 183, 440. [12] Armand J. Robischaud, S.M., "Mary, Dispensatrix of All Graces," p. 446. Taken from Mariology, Vol. II, edited by Juniper B. Carol, O.F.M., Bruce Publishing Co., Milwaukee, 1957. [13] "Marian Sermons," Complete Works, Augsburg: 1757, p. 499. [14] St. Thomas Aquinas, "Exposition of the Salve Regina," IPM 27. [15] Quoted in Miravalle, p. 136. [16] Ibid., p. 141. [17] St. Louis De Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, nn. 24-25. [18] St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary, p. 32. [19] St. Peter Julian Eymard, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, New York: Eymard League, 1930, pp. 99-100. [20] Robischaud, p. 431. [21] Ibid., p. 436. [22] A.A.S., Vol. 9, 1917, p. 266. [23] Robischaud, p. 432. [24] Menti Nostrae, #143, (Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Pius XII to the clergy of the whole world on the development of holiness in priestly life), Sept. 23, 1950. [25] A.A.S., Vol. 34, 1942, p. 44. [26] Robischaud, p. 438. [27] D. Attwater, Prayers from the Eastern Liturgy (London, 1931), p. 20. [28] Robischaud, p. 438. [29] Ibid., pp. 436-439. [30] St. Francis of Assisi, "Rule of the Friars Minor, cf. I. [31] St. Bonaventure, "On St. Luke’s Gospel," GM 160, note 4. [32] St. Bonaventure, GM 238; VOS 145. [33] St. Bernardine of Siena, "On the Birth of the Blessed Virgin, ch. 8, vol. 4, p. 96, Lyons: 1650. M.J. Scheeben, Mariology, Vol. 2, p. 271, St. Louis: B. Herder, 1948. [34] H.-M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P., Immaculate Conception and Holy Spirit, p. 89. [35] Ibid., p. 97. [36] Ibid., p. 102. [37] Savings and Examples of St. St. Maximilian Kolbe, (Manila: Franciscan Conventual Publication), p. 140. [38] Ibid., p. 142. Theotokos-- Greek Mother of God "After this, we receive the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the first-fruits; Who bore a Body, in truth, not in semblance, derived from Mary the mother of God (59) in the fulness of time sojourning among the race, for the remission of sins: who was crucified and died, yet for all this suffered no diminution of His Godhead." Alexander of Alexandria,Epistle to Alexander,12(A.D. 324),in NPNF2,III:40 "And the Angel on his appearance, himself confesses that he has been sent by his Lord; as Gabriel confessed in the case of Zacharias, and also in the case of Mary, bearer of God." Athanasius,Orations III,14(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:401 "Many, my beloved, are the true testimonies concerning Christ. The Father bears witness from heaven of His Son: the Holy Ghost bears witness, descending bodily in likeness of a dove: the Archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing good tidings to Mary: the Virgin Mother of God bears witness: the blessed place of the manger bears witness." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,X:19(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:62 "If anyone does not believe that Holy Mary is the Mother of God, he is severed from the Godhead." Gregory of Nazianzus,To Cledonius,101(A.D. 382),in NPNF2,VII:439 "Just as, in the age of Mary the mother of God, he who had reigned from Adam to her time found, when he came to her and dashed his forces against the fruit of her virginity as against a rock, that he was shattered to pieces upon her, so in every soul which passes through this life in the flesh under the protection of virginity, the strength of death is in a manner broken and annulled, for he does not find the places upon which he may fix his sting." Gregory of Nyssa,On Virginity,14 (A.D. 370),in NPNF2,V:359-360 "He reshaped man to perfection in Himself, from Mary the Mother of God through the Holy Spirit." Epiphanius,The man well-anchored,75 (A.D. 374),in JUR,II:70 "Let, then, the life of Mary be as it were virginity itself, set forth in a likeness, from which, as from a mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form of virtue is reflected. From this you may take your pattern of life, showing, as an example, the clear rules of virtue: what you have to correct, to effect, and to hold fast. The first thing which kindles ardour in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God?" Ambrose,Virginity,II:6 (c.A.D. 378),in NPNF2,X:374 "To the question: ’Is Mary the bearer of Man, or the bearer of God?’ we must answer: ’Of Both’ " Theodore of Mopsuestia,The Incarnation,15 (ante A.D. 428),in TLCF,168 "AND so you say, O heretic, whoever you may be, who deny that God was born of the Virgin, that Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ ought not to be called Theotocos, i.e., Mother of God, but Christotocos, i.e., only the Mother of Christ, not of God. For no one, you say, brings forth what is anterior in time. And of this utterly foolish argument whereby you think that the birth of God can be understood by carnal minds, and fancy that the mystery of His Majesty can be accounted for by human reasoning, we will, if God permits, say something later on. In the meanwhile we will now prove by Divine testimonies that Christ is God, and that Mary is the Mother of God." John Cassian,The Incarnation of Christ,II:2 (A.D. 430),in NPNF2,XI:556 "But since the Holy Virgin brought forth after the flesh God personally united to the flesh, for this reason we say of her that she is Theotokos, not as though the nature of the Word had its beginning of being from the flesh, for he was in the beginning, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God....but, as we said before, because having personally united man’s nature to himself..." Cyril of Alexandria,To Nestorius,Epistle 17:11 (A.D. 430),in CCC,306 "If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Theotokos), inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [as it is written, ’The Word was made flesh’: let him be anathema." Council of Ephesus,Anathemas Against Nestorius,I (A.D. 430),in NPNF2,XIV:206 "For by the singular gift of Him who is our Lord and God, and withal, her own son, she is to be confessed most truly and most blessedly--The mother of God ’Theotocos,’ but not in the sense in which it is imagined by a certain impious heresy which maintains, that she is to be called the Mother of God for no other reason than because she gave birth to that man who afterwards became God, just as we speak of a woman as the mother of a priest, or the mother of a bishop, meaning that she was such, not by giving birth to one already a priest or a bishop, but by giving birth to one who afterwards became a priest or a bishop. Not thus, I say, was the holy Mary ’Theotocos,’ the mother of God, but rather, as was said before, because in her sacred womb was wrought that most sacred mystery whereby, on account of the singular and unique unity of Person, as the Word in flesh is flesh, so Man in God is God." Vincent of Lerins,Commonitories,15 (A.D. 434),in NPNF2,XI:142-143 "So then He was both in all things and above all things and also dwelt in the womb of the holy Mother of God, but in it by the energy of the incarnation."John Damascene,Source of Knowledge,III:7 (A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:51 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 5C-PERPETUALVIRGINITY, VENERATION, INTERCESSION ======================================================================== Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary "There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord." Ignatius,To the Ephesians,7(A.D.110),in ANF,I:52 "[T]hey blessed her, saying: O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations. And all the people said: So be it, so be it, amen. And he brought her to the chief priests; and they blessed her, saying: O God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be for ever." Protoevangelium of John,6:2(A.D. 150),in ANF,VIII:362 "He became man by the Virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, ’Be it unto me according to thy word.’ And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many Scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him." Justin Martyr,Dialogue with Trypho,100(A.D. 155),in ANF,I:249 "[H]e was born of Mary the fair ewe." Melito de Sardo,Easter Homily(c.A.D. 177),in PAT,I:244 "In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, ’Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’ But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise ’they were both naked, and were not ashamed,’ inasmuch as they, having been created a short time previously, had no understanding of the procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first come to adult age, and then multiply from that time onward), having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race. And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a virgin; thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because what is joined together could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of the process by which these bonds of union had arisen; s so that the former ties be cancelled by the latter, that the latter may set the former again at liberty. And it has, in fact, happened that the first compact looses from the second tie, but that the second tie takes the position of the first which has been cancelled. For this reason did the Lord declare that the first should in truth be last, and the last first. And the prophet, too, indicates the same, saying, "instead of fathers, children have been born unto thee.’ For the Lord, having been born "the First-begotten of the dead,’ and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those who die. Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,3:22(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:455 "For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon Himself the holy flesh by theholy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He wove for Himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our moral body, and by mixing the incorruptible with the corruptible, and the strong with the weak, He might save perishing man." Hippolytus,Treatise on Christ and antiChrist,4(A.D. 200),in ANF,V:205 "Accordingly, a virgin did conceive and bear ’Emmanuel, God with us.’ This is the new nativity; a man is born in God. And in this man God was born, taking the flesh of an ancient race, without the help, however, of the ancient seed, in order that He might reform it with a new seed, that is, in a spiritual manner, and cleanse it by the re-moral of all its ancient stains. But the whole of this new birth was prefigured, as was the case in all other instances, in ancient type, the Lord being born as man by a dispensation in which a virgin was the medium. The earth was still in a virgin state, reduced as yet by no human labour, with no seed as yet cast into its furrows, when, as we are told, God made man out of it into a living soul. As, then, the first Adam is thus introduced to us, it is a just inference that the second Adam likewise, as the apostle has told us, was formed by God into a quickening spirit out of the ground,--in other words, out of a flesh which was unstained as yet by any human generation. But that I may lose no opportunity of supporting my argument from the name of Adam, why is Christ called Adam by the apostle, unless it be that, as man, He was of that earthly origin? And even reason here maintains the same conclusion, because it was by just the contrary operation that God recovered His own image and likeness, of which He had been robbed by the devil. For it was while Eve was yet a virgin, that the ensnaring word had crept into her ear which was to build the edifice of death. Into a virgin’s soul, in like manner, must be introduced that Word of God which was to raise the fabric of life; so that what had been reduced to ruin by this sex, might by the selfsame sex be recovered to salvation. As Eve had believed the serpent, so Mary believed the angel. The delinquency which the one occasioned by believing, the other by believing effaced. But (it will be said) Eve did not at the devil’s word conceive in her womb. Well, she at all events conceived; for the devil’s word afterwards became as seed to her that she should conceive as an outcast, and bring forth in sorrow. Indeed she gave birth to a fratricidal devil; whilst Mary, on the contrary, bare one who was one day to secure salvation to Israel, His own brother after the flesh, and the murderer of Himself. God therefore sent down into the virgin’s womb His Word, as the good Brother, who should blot out the memory of the evil brother. Hence it was necessary that Christ should come forth for the salvation of man, in that condition of flesh into which man had entered ever since his condemnation." Tertullian,Flesh of Christ,17(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:536 "But the Lord Christ, the fruit of the Virgin, did not pronounce the breasts of women blessed, nor selected them to give nourishment; but when the kind and loving Father had rained down the Word, Himself became spiritual nourishment to the good. O mystic marvel! The universal Father is one, and one the universal Word; and the Holy Spirit is one and the same everywhere, and one is the only virgin mother. I love to call her the Church. This mother, when alone, had not milk, because alone she was not a woman. But she is once virgin and mother--pure as a virgin, loving as a mother. And calling her children to her, she nurses them with holy milk, viz., with the Word for childhood. Therefore she had not milk; for the milk was this child fair and comely, the body of Christ, which nourishes by the Word the young brood, which the Lord Himself brought forth in throes of the flesh, which the Lord Himself swathed in His precious blood." Clement of Alexandria,The Instructor,I:6(A.D.202),in ANF,II:220 "And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the first-fruit among men ofthe purity which consists in chastity,and Mary among women; for it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the first-fruit of virginity." Origen,Commentary on Matthew,10:17(A.D. 244),in ANF,X:424 "In what remains we have the appointment of the Father’s will. The Virgin, the birth, the Body, then the Cross, the death, the visit to the lower world; these things are our salvation. For the sake of mankind the Son of God was born of tile Virgin and of the Holy Ghost. In this process He ministered to Himself; by His own power--the power of God--which overshadowed her He sowed the beginning of His Body, and entered on the first stage of His life in the flesh. He did it that by His Incarnation He might take to Himself from the Virgin the fleshly nature, and that through this commingling there might come into being a hallowed Body of all humanity; that so through that Body which He was pleased to assume all mankind might be hid in Him, and He in return, through His unseen existence, be reproduced in all. Thus the invisible Image of God scorned not the shame which marks the beginnings of human life. He passed through every stage; through conception, birth, wailing, cradle and each successive humiliation. What worthy return can we make for so great a condescension? The One Only-begotten God, ineffably born of God, entered the Virgin’s womb and grew and took the frame of poor humanity. He Who upholds the universe, within Whom and through Whom are all things, was brought forth by common childbirth; He at Whose voice Archangels and Angels tremble, and heaven and earth and all the elements of this world are melted, was heard in childish wailing. The Invisible and Incomprehensible, Whom sight and feeling and touch cannot gauge, was wrapped in a cradle. If any man deem all this unworthy of God, the greater must he own his debt for the benefit conferred the less such condescension befits the majesty of God. He by Whom man was made had nothing to gain by becoming Man; it was our gain that God was incarnate and dwelt among us, making all flesh His home by taking upon Him the flesh of One. We were raised because He was lowered; shame to Him was glory to us. He, being God, made flesh His residence, and we in return are lifted anew from the flesh to God." Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,2:24-25(A.D. 355),in NPNF2,IX:58-59 "Many, my beloved, are the true testimonies concerning Christ. The Father bears witness from heaven of His Son: the Holy Ghost bears witness, descending bodily in likeness of a dove: the Archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing good tidings to Mary: the Virgin Mother of God [Theotokos] bears witness: the blessed place of the manger bears witness" Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,10:19(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:62 "And as the grace of the Triad is one, so also the Triad is indivisible. We can see this in regard to Saint Mary herself. The archangel Gabriel when sent to announce the coming of the Word upon her said, ’The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee’, knowing that the Spirit was in the Word. Wherefore he added: ’and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.’" Athanasius,To Serapion of Thmuis,III:6(A.D. 360),in SHA,176 "And when he had taken her, ’he knew her not, till she had brought forth her first-born Son.’ He hath here used the word ’till,’not thatthou shouldest suspect that afterwards he did know her, but to inform thee that before the birth the Virgin was wholly untouched by man." John Chrysostom,Homily on Matthew,5:5(A.D. 370),in NPNF1,X:33 "It was, to divulge by the manner of His Incarnation this great secret; that purity is the only complete indication of the presence of God and of His coming, and that no one can in reality secure this for himself, unless he has altogether estranged himself from the passions of the flesh. What happened in the stainless Mary when the fulness of the Godhead which was in Christ shone out through her, that happens in every soul that leads by rule the virgin life." Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity,2(A.D. 371),in NPNF2,V:344 "Thou alone and thy Mother are in all things fair; for there is no flaw in thee and no stain in thy Mother. Of these two fair ones, to whom are my children similar?" Ephraem,Nisbene Hymns,27:8(ante A.D. 373),in THEO,132 "Whoever honors the Lord also honors the holy [vessel];who instead dishonors the holy vessel also dishonors his Master.Mary herself is that holyVirgin, that is, the holy vessel" Epiphanius,Panarion,78:21(A.D. 377),in MFC,127 "And if the God-bearing flesh was not ordained to be assumed of the lump of Adam, what need was there of theHoly Virgin?" Basil,To the Sozopolitans,Epistle 261(A.D. 377),in NPNF2,VIII:300 "The first thing which kindles ardour in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chaste than she who bore a body without contact with another body? For why should I speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind, who stained the sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble in heart, grave in speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading, resting her hope not on uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intent on work, modest in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as thejudge of her thoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before her elders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, to love virtue." Ambrose,On Virginity,2:15(A.D. 377),in NPNF2,X:374 "Recalling these and other circumstances and imploring the Virgin Mary to bring assistance, since she, too, was a virgin and had been in danger, she entrusted herself to the remedy of fasting and sleeping on the ground." Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration 24:11(A.D. 379),in MFC,167 "If anyone does not believe that Holy Mary is the Mother of God, he is severed from the Godhead. If anyone should assert that He passed through the Virgin as through a channel, and was not at once divinely and humanly formed in her (divinely, because without the intervention of a man; humanly, because in accordance with the laws of gestation), he is in like manner godless." Gregory of Nazianzen,To Cledonius, Epistle 101(A.D. 382),in NPNF2,VII:439 " ’There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall grow out of his roots.’ The rod is the mother of the Lord--simple, pure, unsullied; drawing no germ of life from without but fruitful in singleness like God Himself... Set before you the blessed Mary, whosesurpassing puritymade her meet to be the mother of the Lord." Jerome,To Eustochium,Epistle 22:19,38(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,VI:29,39 "We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whomI wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin." Augustine,Nature and Grace,36:42(A.D. 415),in NPNF1,V:135 "Hail, Mary, you are the most precious creature in the whole world; hail, Mary, uncorrupt dove; hail, Mary, inextinguishable lamp; for from you was born the Sun of justice...through you, every faithful soul achieves salvation" Cyril of Alexandria,Homily 11 at Ephesus(A.D. 431),in MFC,243-245 "If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (theotokos), inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [as it is written, ’The Word was made flesh’ let him be anathema." Council of Ephesus[Cyril’s Epistle 17], Anathema I(A.D. 431),in NPNF2,XIV:206 "A Virgin conceived, a Virgin bore, and a Virgin she remains."Peter Chyrsologus,Sermon 117(post A.D. 432),in JUR,III:267 "Therefore, when the time came, dearly beloved, which had been fore-ordained for men’s redemption, there enters these lower parts of the world, the Son of GOD, descending from His heavenly throne and yet not quitting His Father’s glory, begotten in a new order, by a new nativity. In a new order, because being invisible in His own nature He became visible in ours, and He whom nothing could contain, was content to be contained: abiding before all time He began to be in time: the LORD of all things, He obscured His immeasurable majesty and took on Him the form of a servant: being GOD, that cannot suffer, He did not disdain to be man that can, and immortal as He is, to subject Himself to the laws of death. And by a new nativity He was begotten, conceived by a Virgin, born of a Virgin, without paternal desire, without injury to the mother’s chastity: because such a birth as knew no taint of human flesh, became One who was to be the Saviour of men, while it possessed in itself the nature of human substance. For when GOD was born in the flesh, GOD Himself was the Father, as the archangel witnessed to the Blessed Virgin Mary: ’because the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee: and therefore, that which shall be born of thee shall be called holy, the Son of God.’ The origin is different but the nature like: not by intercourse with man but by the power of God was it brought about: for a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bare, and a Virgin she remained. Consider here not the condition of her that bare but the will of Him that was born; for He was born Man as He willed and was able. If you inquire into the truth of His nature, you must acknowledge the matter to be human: if you search for the mode of His birth, you must confess the power to be of GOD. For the LORD Jesus Christ came to do away with not to endure our pollutions: not to succumb to our faults but to heal them. He came that He might cure every weakness of oar corruptness and all the sores of our defiled souls: for which reason it behoved Him to be born by a new order, who brought to men’s bodies the new gift of unsullied purity. For the uncorrupt nature of Him that was born had to guard the primal virginity of the Mother, and the infused power of the Divine Spirit had to preserve inspotlessness and holiness that sanctuarywhich He had chosen for Himself: that Spirit (I say) who had determined to raise the fallen, to restore the broken, and by overcoming the allurements of the flesh to bestow on us in abundant measure the power of chastity: in order that the virginity which in others cannot be retained in child-bearing, might be attained by them at their second birth." Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],in Sermon 22:2(ante A.D. 461),in NPNF2,128 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2000 All Rights Reserved. Devotion to and Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary Inscriptions and graffiti under St. Pete’s Basilica going back to the 2ond and 3rd centuriess protray Mary as Protectric for the Christian departed and their Mediatrix with Christ. The Catcombs of St Pricilla have frescos with the same theme. "For as Eve was seduced by the word of an angel to flee from God, having rebelled against His Word, so Mary by the word of an angel received the glad tidings that she would bear God by obeying his Word. The former was seduced to disobey God, but the latter was persuaded to obey God, so that theVirgin Mary might become theadvocateof the virginEve. As the human race wassaved by a virgin." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, V:19,1(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:547 "Under your mercy we take refuge, O Mother of God. Do not reject our supplications in necessity, but deliver us from danger,[O you] alone pure and alone blessed." Sub Tuum Praesidium, Egypt 3rd Century, From Rylands Papyrus,in MCF,79 "O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides." Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin,71:216(ante AD 373),in MCF,106 "Recalling these and other circumstances and imploring the Virgin Mary to bring assistance, since she, too, was a virgin and had been in danger, she entrusted herself to the remedy of fasting and sleeping on the ground." Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration 24:11(A.D. 379),in MCF,167 "Let, then, the life of Mary be as it were virginity itself, set forth in a likeness, from which, as from a mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form of virtue is reflected.... Nor would I hesitate to admit you to the altars of God, whose souls I would without hesitation call altars, on which Christ is daily offered for the redemption of the body. For if the virgin’s body be a temple of God, what is her soul, which, the ashes, as it were, of the body being shaken off, once more uncovered by the hand of the Eternal Priest, exhales the vapour of the divine fire. Blessed virgins, who emit a fragrance through divine grace as gardens do through flowers, temples through religion, altars through the priest." Ambrose, On Virginity II:6,18(AD 378),in NPNF2,X:374,376 "For it is said that he[Gregory the Wonderworker] heard the one who had appeared in womanly form exhorting John the Evangelist to explain to the young man the mystery of the true faith. John, in his turn, declared that he was completely willing to please the Mother of the Lord even in this matter and this was the one thing closest to his heart. And so the discussion coming to a close, and after they had made it quite clear and precise for him, the two disappeared from his sight." Gregory of Nyssa,On Gregory the WonderWorker(AD 380),PG 46:912,in MCF,94 "Mary, the holy Virgin, is truly great before God and men. For how shall we not proclaim her great, who held within her the uncontainable One, whom neither heaven nor earth can contain?" Epiphanius, Panarion, 30:31(ante AD 403),in MCF,127 In light of the Marian heresy of adoration(Collyridians): "Let Mary be held in honour. Let the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be adored, but let no one adore Mary" Epiphanius,ten Marian medeis prosknueito(ante AD403),in CE "Give milk, Mother to him who is our food, give milk to the bread coming down from heaven ... give milk to him who made you such that he could be made fruitfulness in conception and in birth, did not take from you the ornament of virginity." Augustine,Sermon 369:1(AD 430),in THEO,187 "Hail to thee Mary, Mother of God, to whom in towns and villages and in island were founded churches of true believers" Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 11(ante AD 444),in CE "Hail, our desirable gladness; Hail, O rejoicing of the Churches; Hail, O name that breathes out sweetness; Hail, face that radiates divinity and grace; Hail, most venerable memory;" Theodotus of Ancrya, Homily 4:3(ante AD 446),in MCF,267 "The Virgin’s festival (parthenike panegyris) incites our tongue today to herald her praise ... handmaid and Mother, Virgin and heaven, the only bridge of God to men, the awful loom of the Incarnation, in which by some unspeakable way the garment of that union was woven, whereof the weaver is the Holy Ghost; and the spinner the overshadowing from on high; the wool the ancient fleece of Adam; the woof the undefiled flesh from the virgin, the weaver’s shuttle the immense grace of Him who brought it about; the artificer the Word gliding through the hearing" Proclus of Constantinople, Homily 1(ante AD 446),in CE "The Virgin received Salvation so that she may give it back to the centuries." Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 140(ante AD 450),in MIRA,16 "O Virgin all holy, he who has said of you all that is honorable and glorioushas not sinned against the truth, but remains unequal to your merit. Look down upon us from above and be propitious to us. Lead us in peace and having brought us without shame to the throne of judgment, grant us a place at the right hand of your Son, that we may borne off to heaven and sing with angels to the uncreated, consubstantial Trinity" Basil of Seleucia, PG 85:452(ante AD 459),in THEO,187 According to Romanos the Singer, the BVM replies: "Cease your laments; I will make myself your advocate in my Son’s presence. Meanwhile, no more sadness, because I have brought joy to the world. For it is to destroy the kingdom of sorrow that I have come into the world: I full of grace ... Then curb your tears;accept me as your mediatrixin the presence of him who was born from me, becausethe author of joy is the God generated before all ages.Remain calm; be troubled no longer: I come from him,full of grace." Romanos the Singer,On Christmas 2,10-11(ante AD 560),in MCF,327 "Raised to heaven, she remains for the human race an unconquerable rampart, interceding for us before her Son and God." Theoteknos of Livias, Assumption 291(ante AD 560),in THEO,187 "Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, because thou didst conceive Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of our souls" Coptic Ostraca (AD 600),in CE "Mary the Ever-Virgin --radiant with divine light and full of grace,mediatrixfirst through her supernatural birth and now because of the intercession of her maternal assistance -- be crowned with neverending blessings ... seeking balance and fittingness in all things, we should make our way honestly, as sons of light." Germanus of Constantinople, Homily on the Liberation of Constantinople, 23(ante AD 733),in MCF,387 "O, how marvelous it is! Sheacts as a mediatrixbetween the loftiness of God and the lowliness of the flesh, and becomes Mother of the Creator." Andrew of Crete, Homily 1 on Mary’s Nativity(ante AD740),in MCF,398 "She is all beautiful, all near to God. For she, surpassing the cherubim. Exalted beyond the seraphim, is placed near to God." John of Damascene, Homily on the Nativity,9(ante AD 749),in MCF,403 "We today also remain near you, O Lady. Yes, I repeat, O Lady, Mother of God and Virgin. We bind our souls to your hope, as to a most firm and totally unbreakable anchor, consecrating to you mind, soul, body, and all our being and honoring you, as much as we can, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles." John of Damascene, Homily 1 on the Dormition,14(ante AD 749),in MCF,408 "Let us entrust ourselves with all our soul’s affection to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin: let us all, with all our strength, beg her patronage, that, at the moment when on earth we surround her with our suppliant homage, she herself may deign in heaven to commend us with fervent prayer. For without any doubt she who merited to bring ransom for those who needed deliverance, can more than all the saints benefit by her favor those who have received deliverance" Ambrose Autpert, Assumption of the Virgin, (ante AD 778)PL 39:2134,in THEO,188 "Let us approach with confident spirit the throne of the high Priest, where he is our victim, priest, advocate and judge." Radbert Paschasius, On the Assumption(ante AD 786), PL 96:249B,in THEO,188 "For she who brought forth the source of mercy, Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, receiving from him all things,\ will and through him, grant the wishes of all" Paul the Deacon, (ante AD 799),PL 95,1574,inTHEO,188 "You scatter your favors with still greater abundance since you possess more fully him who is their source and who is entirely willing to give them to us, rather youpossess almost everything by yourself and you show largesse to whom you will and to him who begs it of you." John the Geometer, Life of Mary(AD 989),in THEO,187 "May we deserve to have the help of your intercession in heaven, because as the Son of God has deigned to descend to us through you, so we also must come to him with you" Peter Damian,(ante AD 1072),PL 144:761B,in THEO,188 "The Mother of God is our mother. May the good mother ask and beg for us, may she request and obtain what isgood for us."Anselm, Oration 7(ante AD 1109),in THEO,188 "O whoever you may be who feel yourself on the tide of this world drifting in storms and tempests rather than treading firm ground, turn not your eyes from the effulgence of this star, unless you wish to be submerged ... if she holds you, you do not fall, if she protects you, you have no fear; with her to lead you, you tire not; with her favour, you will reach your goal, conscious thus within yourself how rightly the word was spoken: ’And the Virgin’s name was Mary’ " Bernard, Homily 2:17,Respice stellam(ante AD 1153),in THEO,76 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2002 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 6A-SALVATION ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Salvation. This section will examine the various aspects of Salvation in the eyes of the faith of the early Church Fathers. Topics will include: the nature of justification(infused or forensic), the relationship of faith and works, the sacraments as the ordinary means of God’s grace, and salvation is by God’s grace alone. Faith and Works Documents illustrating the importance of faith and works in salvation. The Fathers affirmed that works play a role in our salvation. Infused Righteousness Documents illustrating that in justification man is given an infused righteousness in contrast to an alien/forensic righteousness. The Fathers affirmed that in justification man is truly righteous. Once saved NOT always saved!: The Fathers affirmed that a baptized Christian(ie. regenerate person) can lose his salvation by committing a mortal sin. The road back to salvation is through the grace of repentance. Salutary Works require Grace The Fathers affirmed that every salutary work is accomplished by God’s grace alone. The Fathers were one on the absolute necessity of divine grace for all salutary Acts 6:1-15b-Faith&Works, infused Righteousness Faith and Works "Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One, let us do all those things which pertain to holiness, avoiding all evil-speaking, all abominable and impure embraces, together with all drunkenness, seeking after change, all abominable lusts, detestable adultery, and execrable pride. ’For God,’ saith [the Scripture], ’resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.’ Let us cleave, then, to those to whom grace has been given by God. Let us clothe ourselves with concord and humility, ever exercising self-control, standing far off from all whispering and evil-speaking, being justified by our works, and not our words." Clement of Rome,Epistle to the Corinthians,30(A.D. 98),in ANF,I:13 "For what reason was our father Abraham blessed? was it not because he wrought righteousness and truth throughfaith?" Clement of Rome,Epistle to the Corinthians,31(A.D. 98),in ANF,I:13 " All these, therefore, were highly honoured, and made great, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they wrought, but through theoperation of His will. And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Clement of Rome,Epistle to the Corinthians,32(A.D. 98),in ANF,I:13 "Now I beseech thee, by the grace with which thou art clothed, to add [speed] to thy course, and that thou ever pray for all men that they may be saved, and that thou demand things which are befitting, with all assiduity both of the flesh and spirit. Be studious of unity, than which nothing is more precious. Bear with all men, even as our Lord beareth with thee. Show patience with all men in love, as [indeed] thou doest. Be stedfast in prayer. Ask for more understanding than that which thou [already] hast. Be watchful, as possessing a spirit which sleepeth not. Speak with every man according to the will of God. Bear the infirmities of all men as a perfect athlete; for where the labour is great, the gain is also great."Ignatius of Antioch,To Polycarp,1(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:99 " Look ye to the bishop, that God also may look upon you. I will be instead of the souls of those who are subject to the bishop, and the presbyters, and the deacons; with them may I have a portion in the presence of God! Labour together with one another, act as athletes together, run together, suffer together, sleep together, rise together. As stewards of God, and of His household, and His servants, please Him and serve Him, that ye may receive from Him the wages [promised]. Let none of you be rebellious.Let yourbaptism be to you as armour, and faith as a spear, and love as a helmet, and patience as a panoply. Let your treasures be your good works, that ye may receive the gift of God, as is just. Let your spirit be long-suffering towards each other with meekness, even as God [is] toward you. As for me, I rejoice in you at all times." Ignatius of Antioch,To Polycarp,6(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:100 "For he who keepeth these shall be glorified in the kingdom of God; but he who chooseth other things shall bedestroyed with his works." Epistle of Barnabas,2(A.D. 132),in ANF,I:149 "But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also,if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, falsewitness; ’not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,’ or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: ’Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; and once more, "Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.’ " Polycarp,To the Phillipians,2(A.D. 135),in ANF,I:33 "They only who fear the Lord and keep His commandments have life with God; but as to those who keep not His commandments, there is no life in them."Shepherd of Hermas,2 Comm 7(A.D. 155),in ANF,II:25 "But those who do not keep his commandments, flee from his life, and despise him. But he has his own honour with the Lord. All, therefore, who shall despise him, and not follow his commands, deliver themselves to death, and every one of them will be guilty of his own blood. But I enjoinyou, that you obey his commands, and you will have a cure for your former sins." Shepherd of Hermas,3 Sim 10:2(A.D. 155),in ANF,II:55 "But lest some suppose, from what has been said by us, that we say that whatever happens, happens by a fatal necessity, because it is foretold as known beforehand, this too we explain. We have learned from the prophets, and we hold it to be true, that punishments, and chastisements, and good rewards, arerendered according to the merit of each man’s actions. Since if it be not so, but all things happen by fate, neither is anything at all in our own power. For if it be fated that this man, e.g., be good, and this other evil, neither is the former meritorious nor the latter to be blamed. And again, unless the human race have the power of avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice, they are not accountable for their actions, of whatever kind they be. But that it is by free choice they both walk uprightly and stumble, we thus demonstrate. We see the same man making a transition to opposite things. Now, if it had been fated that he were to be either good or bad, he could never have been capable of both the opposites, nor of so many transitions. But not even would some be good and others bad, since we thus make fate the cause of evil, and exhibit her as acting in opposition to herself; or that which has been already stated would seem to be true, that neither virtue nor vice is anything, but that things are only reckoned good or evil by opinion; which, as the true word shows, is the greatest impiety and wickedness. But this we assert is inevitable fate, that they who choose the good have worthy rewards, and they who choose the opposite have their merited awards. For not like other things, as trees and quadrupeds, which cannot act by choice, did God make man: for neither would he be worthy of reward or praise did he not of himself choose the good, but were created for this end; nor, if he were evil, would he be worthy of punishment, not being evil of himself, but being able to be nothing else than what he was made." Justin Martyr,First Apology,6(A.D. 155),in ANF,I:177 "On this account also Paul the Apostle says to the Corinthians, ’Know ye not, that they who run in a racecourse, do all indeed run, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. Every one also who engages inthe contest is temperate in all things: now these men ida it] that they may obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. But I so run, not as uncertainty; I fight, not as One beating the air; but I make my body livid, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when preaching to others, I may myself be rendered a castaway.’ This able wrestler, therefore, exhorts us to the struggle for immortality, that we may be crowned, and may deem the crown precious, namely, that which is acquired by our struggle, but which does not encircle us of its own accord (sed non ultro coalitam)." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4:7(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:520 "But do you also, if you please, give reverential attention to the prophetic Scriptures, and they will make your way plainer for escaping the eternal punishments, and obtaining the eternal prizes of God. For He who gave the mouth for speech, and formed the ear to hear, and made the eye to see, will examine all things, and will judge righteous judgment, rendering merited awards to each. To those who by patient continuanceinwell-doingseekimmortality, He will give life everlasting, joy, peace, rest, and abundance of good things, which neither hath eye seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. But to the unbelieving and despisers, whoobey notthe truth, but are obedient to unrighteousness, when they shall have been filled with adulteries and fornications, and filthiness, and covetousness, and unlawful idolatries, there shall beanger and wrath, tribulation and anguish, and at the last everlasting fire shall possess such men. Since you said, "Show me thy God," this is my God, and I counsel you to fear Him and to trust Him." Theophilius of Antioch,To Autolycus,I:14(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:93 " ’And other sheep there are also,’ saith the Lord, ’which are not of this fold ’--deemed worthy of another fold and mansion, in proportion to their faith. ’But My sheep hear My voice,’ understanding gnostically the commandments. And this is to be taken in a magnanimous and worthy acceptation, along with also the recompense and accompaniment of works. So that when we hear, ’Thy faith hath saved thee, we do not understand Him to say absolutely that those who have believed in any way whatever shall be saved,unlessalso works follow. But it was to the Jews alone that He spoke this utterance, who kept the law and lived blamelessly, who wanted only faith in the Lord. No one, then, can be a believer and at the same time be licentious; but though he quit the flesh, he must put off the passions, so as to be capable of reaching his own mansion." Clement of Alexandria,The Stromata,6:14(A.D. 202),in ANF,II:505 "[T]hus by the grace of the Saviour healing their souls, enlightening them and leading them to the attainment of the truth; and whosoever obtains this and distinguishes himself in good works shall gain the prize of everlasting life... But others rightly and adequately comprehend this, but attachingslight importanceto theworkswhich tend to salvation, do not make the requisite preparation for attaining to the objects of their hope." Clement of Alexandria,Who is the rich man that shall be saved?,1,2(A.D. 210),in ANF,II:591 "[T]he apostolic teaching is that the soul, having a substance and life of its own, shall, after its departure from the world, berewarded according to its deserts,being destined to obtain either an inheritance of eternal life and blessedness, if its actions shall have procuredthis for it, or to be delivered up to eternal fire and punishments, if the guilt of its crimes shall have brought it down to this" Origen,First Principles,Preface 5(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:240 "Whoever dies in his sins, even if he profess to believe in Christ, does not truly believe in Him, and even if that whichexists without works be called faith, such faith is deadin itself, as we read in the Epistle bearing the nameof James." Origen,Commentary on John,19:6(A.D. 232),in JUR,I:202 "And in like manner, the Gentiles by faith in Christ prepare for themselves eternal lifethrough good works." Hippolytus,Commentary on Proverbs(ante A.D. 235),in ANF,V:174 "He, in administering the righteous judgment of the Father to all, assigns to each what isrighteous according to his works....the justification will be seen in the awarding to each that which is just; since to those who have done well shall be assigned righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal punishment. And the fire which is un-quenchable and without end awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which dieth not...But the righteous will remember only the righteous deeds by which they reached the heavenly kingdom, in which there is neither sleep, nor pain, nor corruption" Hippolytus,Against Plato,3(ante A.D. 235),in ANF,V:222-223 "For both to prophesy and to cast out devils, and to do great acts upon the earth is certainly a sublime and an admirable thing; but one does not attain the kingdom of heaven although he is found in all these things, unless hewalks in the observance of the right and just way. The Lord denounces, and says, ’Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’ There is need of righteousness, that one may deserve well of God the Judge; we must obey His precepts and warnings, that our merits may receive their reward. " Cyprian,On the Unity of the Church,16(A.D. 251),in ANF,V:423 "Youmust praymore eagerly and entreat; you must spend the day in grief; wear out nights in watchings and weepings; occupy all your time in wailful lamentations; lying stretched on the ground, you must cling close to the ashes, be surrounded with sackcloth and filth; after losing the raiment of Christ, you must be willing now to have no clothing; after the devil’s meat, you must prefer fasting; be earnest in righteous works,wherebysins may be purged; frequently applyyourself to almsgiving, whereby souls are freed from death. What the adversary took from you, let Christ receive; nor ought your estate now either to be held or loved, by which you have been both deceived and conquered. Wealth must be avoided as an enemy; must be fled from as a robber; must be dreaded by its possessors as a sword and as poison. To this end only so much as remains should be of service, that by it the crime and the fault may be redeemed. Letgood worksbe done without delay, and largely; let all your estate be laid out for the healing of your wound; let uslend of our wealthand our means to the Lord, who shall judge concerning us. Thus faith flourished in the time of the apostles; thus the first people ofbelievers kept Christ’s commands: they were prompt, they were liberal, they gave their all to be distributed by the apostles; and yet they were not redeeming sins of such a character as these." Cyprian,On the Lapsed,35(A.D. 251),in ANF,V:447 "You therefore, who are rich and wealthy, buy for yourself of Christ gold tried by fire;that you may be pure gold, with your filth burnt out as if by fire, if you are purgedbyalmsgiving and righteous works. Buy for yourself white raiment, that you who had been naked according to Adam, and were before frightful and unseemly, may be clothed with the white garment of Christ. And you who are a wealthy and rich matron in Christ’s Church, anoint your eyes, not with the collyrium of the devil, but with Christ’s eye-salve, that you may be able to attain to see God, by deserving well of God, both by good works and character." Cyprian,Works and Almsgiving,14(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:480 "For this reason He has given us this present life, that we may eitherlosethat true andeternal lifeby ourvices, orwinit byvirtue."Lactantius,Divine Institutes,7:5(A.D. 310),in ANF,VII:200 "But our faith thus teaches, that when men fall asleep, they sleep this slumber without knowing good from evil. And the righteous look not forward to their promises, nor do the wicked look forward to their sentence of punishment, until the Judge come and separate those whose place is at His right hand from those whose place is at His left. And be thou instructed by that which is written, that when the Judge shall sit, and the books be opened before Him and the good and evil deeds recited, then they that have wrought good worksshall receive good rewards from Him Who is good; and they that have doneevil deedsshallreceive evil penaltiesfrom the just Judge... But hear, my beloved, this proof that retribution shall take place at the end. For when the Shepherd divides His flock and sets some on His right hand and some on His left. until He shall have acknowledged the service of the good, then He will cause them to inherit the kingdom; and until He shall have rebuked the evil and they are condemned, then He will send them to the torment." Aphrahat,Select Demonstrations,8:21(A.D. 345),in NPNF2,XIII:381-382 "Terrible in good truth is the judgment, and terrible the things announced. The kingdom of heaven is set before us, and everlasting fire is prepared. How then, some one will say, are we to escape the fire? And how to enter into the kingdom? I was an hungered, He says, and ye gave Me meat. Learn hence the way; there is here no need of allegory, but to fulfil what is said. I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.These things if thou do, thou shall reign together with Him; but if thou do them not, thou shalt be condemned. At once then begin to do these works, and abide in the faith; lest, like the foolish virgins, tarrying to buy oil, thou be shut out." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,15:26(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:112 "We shall be raised therefore, all with our bodies eternal, but not all with bodies alike: for if a man is righteous, he will receive a heavenly body, that he may be able worthily to hold converse with Angels; but if a man is a sinner, he shall receive an eternal body, fitted to endure the penalties of sins, that he may burn eternally in fire, nor ever be consumed. And righteously will God assign this portion to either company; for we do nothing without the body. Weblaspheme with the mouth, andwith the mouth we pray. With the body we commit fornication, and with the body we keep chastity. With the hand we rob, and by the hand we bestow alms; and the rest in like manner. Since then the body has been our minister in all things, it shall also share with us in the future the fruits of the past. Therefore, brethren, let us be careful of our bodies, nor misuse them as though not our own. Let us not say like the heretics, that this vesture of the body belongs not to us, but let us be careful of it as our own; for we must giveaccountto the Lord ofall things done through the body. Say not, none seeth me; think not, that there is no witness of the deed. Human witness oftentimes there is not; but He who fashioned us, an unerring witness, abides faithful in heaven, and beholds what thou doest. And the stains of sin also remain in the body; for as when a wound has gone deep into the body, even if there has been a healing, the scar remains, so sin wounds soul and body, and the marks of its scars remain in all; and they areremoved onlyfrom thosewho receive the washing of Baptism. The past wounds therefore of soul and bodyGod heals by Baptism; against future ones let us one and all jointly guard ourselves, that we may keep this vestment of the body pure, and may not for practising fornication and sensual indulgence or any other sin for a short season, lose the salvation of heaven, but may inherit the eternal kingdom of God; of which may God, of His own grace, deem all of you worthy." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:19,20(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:139 "For it is not productive of virtue, nor is it any token of goodness. For none of us is judged for what he knows not, and no one is called blessed because he hath learning and knowledge. But each one will be called to judgment in these points--whether he have kept the faith andtruly observed the commandments." Athanasius,Life of Antony,33(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:205 " ’O Lord, my heart is not exalted, neither have mine eyes been lifted up.’ This Psalm, a short one, which demands an analytical rather than a homiletical treatment, teaches us the lesson of humility and meekness. Now, as we have in a great number of other places spoken about humility, there is no need to repeat the same things here. Of course we are bound to bear in mind in how great need ourfaith stands of humility when we hear the Prophet thus speaking of it as equivalent to the performance of the highest works: O Lord, my heart is not exalted. For a troubled heart is the noblest sacrifice in the eyes of God. The heart, therefore, must not be lifted up by prosperity, but humbly kept within the bounds of meekness through the fear of God." Hilary of Poitiers,Commentary on the Psalms 130:1-8/131:1(A.D. 365),in NPNF2,IX:247 "Finally Scripture teaches us how far from common are these stones, inasmuch as, whilst some brought one kind, and others another, of less precious offerings, these the devout princes brought, wearing them upon their shoulders, and made of them the ’breastplate of judgment,’ that is, a piece of woven work. Now we havea woven work, when faith and action go together. Let none suppose me to be misguided, in that I made at first a threefold division, each part containing four, and afterwards a fourfold division, each part containing three terms. The beauty of a good thing pleases the more, if it be shown under various aspects. For those are good things, whereof the texture of the priestly robe was the token, that is to say, either the Law, or the Church, which latter hath made two garments for her spouse, as it is written’--the one of action, the other of spirit, weaving together the threads of faith and works.... Faith is profitable, therefore, when her brow is brightwith a fair crown of good works. This faith--that I may set the matter forth shortly--is contained in the following principles, which cannot be overthrown." Ambrose,On the Christian Faith,II:11,13(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,X:225 "Then, in the tenth place, work that which is good upon this foundation of dogma; for faith without works is dead, even as are works apart from faith. This is all that may be divulged of the Sacrament, and that is not forbidden to the ear of the many. The rest yon shall learn within the Church by the grace of the Holy Trinity; and those matters you shall conceal within yourself, sealed and secure." Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration on Holy Baptism,45(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,VII:377 " ’Is it thenenough,’ 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, hisfaith will avail nothingtowards his salvation." Chrysostom John,Homilies on John,31:1(A.D. 391),in NPNF1,XIV:106 "You had a wife, the apostle says, when you believed. Do not fancy your faith in Christ to be a reason for parting from her. For ’God hath called us in peace.’ ’Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but thekeepingof thecommandmentsof God.’ Neither celibacy nor wedlock is of theslightest usewithout works, since even faith, the distinguishing mark of Christians,if it have not works, is said to be dead, and on such terms as these the virgins of Vesta or of Juno, who was constant to one husband, might claim to be numbered among the saints." Jerome,To Pammachius,Epistle 48:6(A.D. 393),in NPNF2,VI:69 "Paul, joining righteousness to faith and weaving them together, constructs of them the breastsplates for the infantryman, armoring the soldier properly and safely on both sides. A soldier cannot be considered safely armored when either shield is disjoined from the other. For faith without works of justiceis notsufficient for salvation;neither, however, is righteous livingsecure in itself of salvation,if it is disjoined from faith." Gregory of Nyssa,Homilies on Ecclesiastes 8:1-17(A.D. 394),in JUR,II:45-46 "There is no gift of God more excellent than this. It alone distinguishes the sons of the eternal kingdom and the sons of eternal perdition. Other gifts, too, are given by the Holy Spirit; butwithout lovethey profit nothing. Unless, therefore, the Holy Spirit is so far imparted to each, as to make him one who loves God and his neighbor, he is not removed from the left hand to the right. Nor is the Spirit specially called the Gift, unless on account of love. And he who has not this love, ’though he speak with the tongues of men and angels, is sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; and though he have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and though he have all faith, so that he can remove mountains, he is nothing; and though he bestow all his goods to feed the poor, and though he give his body to be burned, it profiteth him nothing.’ How great a good, then, is that without which goods so great bring no one to eternal life! But love or charity itself,--for they are two names for one thing,--if he have it that does not speak with tongues, nor has the gift of prophecy, nor knows all mysteries and all knowledge, nor gives all his goods to the poor, either because he has none to give or because some necessity hinders, nor delivers his body to be burned, if no trial of such a suffering overtakes him, brings that man to the kingdom, so thatfaithitself is onlyrendered profitableby love,since faithwithout lovecan indeed exist, butcannot profit. And therefore also the Apostle Paul says, ’In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith that worketh by love:’ so distinguishing it from that faith by which even ’the devils believe and tremble.’ Love,therefore, which isof God and is God, is specially the Holy Spirit, by whom the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by which love the whole Trinity dwells in us. And therefore most rightly is the Holy Spirit, although He is God, called also the gift of God. And by that gift what else can properly be understoodexcept love, which brings to God, and without which any other gift of God whatsoever does not bring to God?" Augustine,On the Trinity,15:18,32(A.D. 416),in NPNF1,III:217 "According to the Catholic faith we believe this also, that aftergracehas beenreceivedthroughbaptism, all the baptized with the help and cooperation of Christcan andought to fufillwhat pertains to the salvation of the soul, if they will labor faithfully." Council of Orange II,Predestination (A.D. 529),in DEN,81 "They acknowledge that they know God, but in deeds they deny Him (Tit. i. 16). And John says, He that saith that he knows Him, and keepethnot His commandments, is a liar (1 John ii. 4). James also, the brother of the Lord, writes saying, Faith without works is dead (Jam. ii. 20). If, then, believers now are notsaved without good works, while the unbelievingand reprobate without good action were saved by our Lord descending into hell, then the lot of those who never saw the incarnation of the Lord was better than that of these who have been born after the mystery of His incarnation." Gregory the Great.Pope [regn. A.D. 590-604],To George(Presbyter),Epistle 15,in NPNF2,XII:216 "If good life is wanting, faith has no merit,as the blessed James attests, who says, Faith without works is dead (Jam; ii. 18)." Gregory the Great, Pope [regn. A.D. 590-604],To Theoderic,Epistle 110,in NPNF2,XIII:29 "The remission of sins, therefore, is granted alike to allthrough baptism: but the grace of the Spirit isproportionalto thefaithand previous purification. Now, indeed, we receive thefirstfruitsof theHoly Spiritthroughbaptism, and the second birth is for us the beginning and seal and security and illumination s of another life. It behoves as, then, with all our strength to steadfastly keep ourselvespure from filthy works, that we may not, like the dog returning to his vomit, make ourselves again the slaves of sin. For faith apart from works is dead, and so likewise are works apart from faith. For the true faith is attested by works." John Damascene,Orthodox Faith,9(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:73 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Infused Righteousness "This truth, therefore, [he declares], in order that we may not reject the engrafting of the Spirit while pampering the flesh. ’But thou, being a wild olive-tree,’ he says, ’hast been grafted into the good olive-tree, and been made a partaker of the fatness of the olive-tree.’ As, therefore, when the wild olive has been engrafted, if it remain in its former condition, viz., a wild olive, it is ’cut off, and cast into the fire;’but if it takes kindly to the graft, and is changed into the good olive-tree, it becomes a fruit-bearing olive, planted, as it were, in a king’s park (paradiso): l, as being planted in the paradise of God. But if they cast out the Spirit, and remain in their former condition, desirous of being of the flesh rather than of the Spirit, then it is very justly said with regard to men of this stamp, ’That flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God;’ just as if any one were to say that the wild olive is not received into the paradise of God. Admirably therefore does the apostle exhibit our nature, and God’s universal appointment, in his discourse about flesh and blood and the wild olive. For as the good olive, if neglected for a certain time, if left to grow wild and to run to i wood, does itself become a wild olive; or again, if the wild olive be carefully tended and grafted, it naturally reverts to its former fruit-bearing condition: so men also, when they become careless, and bring forth for fruit the lusts of the flesh like woody produce, are rendered, by their own fault, unfruitful in righteousness. For when men sleep, the enemy sows the material of tares; and for this cause did the Lord command His disciples to be on the watch. And again, those persons who are not bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and are, as it were, covered over and lost among brambles, if they use diligence, and receive the word of God as a graft, arrive at the pristine nature of man--that which was created after the image and likeness of God." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,5:10,1(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:536 "But if they acted as men who had any part in God, and thereby in reason also, they would first weigh well the importance of repentance, and would never apply it in such a way as to make it a ground for convicting themselves of perverse self-amendment. In short, they would regulate the limit of their repentance, because they would reach (a limit) in sinning too--by fearing God, I mean. But where there is no fear, in like manner there is no amendment; where there is no amendment, repentance is of necessity vain, for it lacks the fruit for which God sowed it; that is, man’s salvation. For God--after so many and so great sins of human temerity, begun by the first of the race, Adam, after the condemnation of man, together with the dowry of the world? after his ejection from paradise and subjection to death--when He had hasted back to His own mercy, did from that time onward inaugurate repentance in His own self, by rescinding the sentence of His first wrath, engaging to grant pardon to His own work and image. And so He gathered together a people for Himself, and fostered them with many liberal distributions of His bounty, and, after so often finding them most ungrateful, ever exhorted them to repentance and sent out the voices of the universal company of the prophets to prophesy. By and by, promising freely the grace which in the last times He was intending to pour as a flood of light on the universal world through His Spirit, He bade the baptism of repentance lead the way, with the view of first preparing, by means of the sign and seal of repentance, them whom He was calling, through grace, to (inherit) the promise surely made to Abraham. John holds not his peace, saying, ’Enter upon repentance, for now shall salvation approach the nations’--the Lord, that is, bringing salvation according to God’s promise. To Him John, as His harbinger, directed the repentance (which he preached), whose province was the purging of men’s minds,that whatever defilement inveterate error had imparted, whatever contamination in the heart of man ignorance had engendered, that repentance should sweep and scrape away, and cast out of doors, and thus prepare the home of the heart, by making it clean, for the Holy Spirit, who was about to supervene, that He might with pleasure introduce Himself there-into, together with His celestial blessings. Of these blessings the title is briefly one the salvation of man--the abolition of former sins being the preliminary step. This is the (final) cause of repentance, this her work, in taking in hand the business of divine mercy. What is profitable to man does service to God. The rule of repentance, however, which we learn when we know the Lord, retains a definite form,--viz., that no violent hands so to speak, be ever laid on good deeds or thoughts. For God, never giving His sanction to the reprobation of good deeds, inasmuch as they are His own (of which, being the author, He must necessarily be the defender too), is in like manner the acceptor of them, and if the acceptor, likewise the rewarder. Let, then, the ingratitude of men see to it, if it attaches repentance even to good works; let their gratitude see to it too, if the desire of earning it be the incentive to well-doing: earthly and mortal are they each. For how small is your gain if you do good to a grateful man! or your loss if to an ungrateful! A good deed has God as its debtor, just as an evil has too; for a judge is rewarder of every cause. Well, since, God as Judge presides over the exacting and maintaining of justice, which to Him is most dear; and since it is with an eye to justice that He appoints all the sum of His discipline, is there room for doubting that, just as in all our acts universally, so also in the case of repentance, justice must be rendered to God?--which duty can indeed only be fulfilled on the condition that repentance be brought to bear only on sins. Further, no deed but an evil one deserves to be called sin, nor does any one err by well-doing. But if he does not err, why does he invade (the province of) repentance, the private ground of such as do err ? Why does he impose on his goodness a duty proper to wickedness? Thus it comes to pass that, when a thing is called into play where it ought not, there, where it ought, it is neglected." Tertullian,On Repentance,2(A.D. 204),in ANF,III:657-658 "And since many saints participate in the Holy Spirit, He cannot therefore be understood to be a body, which being divided into corporeal parts, is partaken of by each one of the saints; but He is manifestly a sanctifying power, in which all are said to have a share who have deserved to besanctified by His grace." Origen,First Principles,I:I,3(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:242-243 "No doubt all they imitate Adam who by disobedience transgress the commandment of God; but he is one thing as an example to those who sin because they choose; and another thing as the progenitor of all who are born with sin. All His saints, also, imitate Christ in the pursuit of righteousness; whence the same apostle, whom we have already quoted, says: ’Be ye imitators of me, as I am also of Christ.’ But besides this imitation, His grace works within us our illumination and justification, by that operation concerning which the same preacher of His [name] says: ’Neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth theincrease.’ For by this grace He engrafts into His bodyeven baptized infants, who certainly have not yet become able to imitate any one. As therefore He, in whom all are made alive, besides offering Himself as an example of righteousness to those who imitate Him, gives also to those who believe on Him the hidden grace of His Spirit, which He secretly infuses even into infants..."Augustine,On the merits and forgiveness of sins,1:9(A.D. 412),in NPNF1,V:19 "You are mistaken, and are deceived, whosoever you are, that think yourself rich in this world. Listen to the voice of your Lord in the Apocalypse, rebuking men of your stamp with righteous reproaches: ’Thou sayest,’ says He, ’I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear in thee; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.’ You therefore, who are rich and wealthy, buy for yourself of Christ gold tried by fire; that you may be pure gold, with your filth burnt out as if by fire, if you are purged by almsgiving and righteous works. Buy for yourself white raiment, that you who had been naked according to Adam, and were before frightful and unseemly, may be clothed with the white garment of Christ. And you who are a wealthy and rich matron in Christ’s Church, anoint your eyes, not with the collyrium of the devil, but with Christ’s eye-salve, that you may be able to attain to see God, by deserving well of God, bothby good works and character."Cyprian,On Works and Alms,14(A.D. 254),in ANF,V:479-480 "For He was made man that we might be made God..." Athanasius,Incarnation,54(A.D. 318),in NPNF2,IV:65 "Therefore it will be much more accurate to denote God from the Son and to call Him Father, than to name Him and call Him Un-originated from His works only; for the latter term refers to the works that have come to be at the will of God through the Word, but the name of Father points out the proper offspring from His essence. And whereas the I Word surpasses things originated, by so much and more also doth calling God Father surpass the calling Him Unoriginated; for the latter is non-scriptural and suspicious, as it has various senses; but the former is simple and scriptural, and more accurate, and alone implies the Son. And ’Unoriginated’ is a word of the Greeks who know not the Son: but ’Father’ has been acknowledged and vouchsafed by our Lord; for He knowing Himself whose Son He was, said, ’I in the Father and the Father in Me;’ and, ’He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father;’ and, ’I and the Father are one;’ but nowhere is He found to call the Father Unoriginated. Moreover, when He teaches us to pray, He says not, ’When ye pray, say, O God Unoriginated,’ but rather, ’When ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heavens.’ And it was His Will, that the Summary of our faith should have the same bearing. For He has bid us be baptized, not in the name of Unoriginate and Originate, not into the name of Uncreate and Creature, but into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for with such an initiation we too are made sons verily, and using the name of the Father, we acknowledge from that name the Word in the Father. But if He wills that we should call His own Father our Father, we must not on that account measure ourselves with the Son according to nature, for it is because of the Son that the Father is so called by us; for since the Word bore our body and came to be in us, therefore by reason of the Word in us, is God called our Father. For the Spirit of the Word in us names through us His own Father as ours, which is the Apostle’s meaning when he says, ’God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Soninto your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.’ " Athanasius,On the Defense of the Nicene Creed,31(A.D. 351),in NPNF2,IV:171-172 " ’To declare His righteousness.’ What is declaring of righteousness? Like the declaring of His riches, not only for Him to be rich Himself, but also to make others rich, or of life, not only that He is Himself living, but also that He makes the dead to live; and of His power, not only that He is Himself powerful, but also that He makes the feeble powerful. So also is the declaring of His righteousness not only that He is Himself righteous, but that He doth also make them that are filled with the putrefying sores ’asapentas’) of sinsuddenly righteous." Chrysostom John,Romans,Homily VII:24,25(A.D. 391),in NPNF`1,XI:378 "Here, perhaps, it may be said by that presumption of man, which is ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishes to establish one of its own, that the apostle quite properly said, ’For by the law shall no man be justified,’ in as much as the law merely shows what one ought to do, and what one ought to guard against, in order that what the law thus points out may be accomplished by the will, and so man be justified, not indeed by the power of the law, but by his free determination. But I ask your attention, O man, to what follows. ’But now the righteousness of God,’ says he, ’without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.’ Does this then sound a light thing in deaf ears? He says, ’The righteousness of God is manifested.’ Now this righteousness they are ignorant of, who wish to establish one of their own; they will not submit themselves to it. His words are, ’The righteousness of God is manifested:’ he does not say, the righteousness of man, or the righteousness of his own will, but the ’righteousness of God,’--not that whereby He is Himself righteous, but that with which He endows man when He justifies the ungodly. This is witnessed by the law and the prophets; in other words, the law and the prophets each afford it testimony. The law, indeed, by issuing its commands and threats, and by justifying no man, sufficiently shows that it is byGod’s gift, through the help of the Spirit, that a man is justified; and the prophets, because it was what they predicted that Christ at His coming accomplished." Augustine,On the Spirit and the Letter,9:15(A.D. 412),in NPNF1,V:89 "Now he could not mean to contradict himself in saying, ’The doers of the law shall be justified,’ as if their justification came through their works, and not through grace; since he declares that a man is justified freely by His grace without the works of the law, intending by the term ’freely’ nothing else than that works do not precede justification. For in another passage he expressly says, ’If by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.’ But the statement that ’the doers of the law shall be justified’ must be so understood, as that we may know that they are not otherwise doers of the law, unless they be justified, so that justification does not subsequently accrue to them as doers of the law, but justification precedes them as doers of the law. For what else does the phrase ’being justified’ signify than being made righteous, -- by Him, of course, who justifies the ungodly man, thathe may become a godly one instead? For if we were to express a certain fact by saying, ’The men will be liberated,’ the phrase would of course be understood as asserting that the liberation would accrue to those who were men already; but if we were to say, The men will be created, we should certainly not be understood as asserting that the creation would happen to those who were already in existence, but that they became men by the creation itself. If in like manner it were said, The doers of the law shall be honoured, we should only interpret the statement correctly if we supposed that the honour was to accrue to those who were already doers of the law: but when the allegation is, ’The doers of the law shall be justified,’ what else does it mean than that the just shall be justified? for of course the doers of the law are just persons. And thus it amounts to the same thing as if it were said, The doers of the lawshall be created,-- not those who were so already, but that they may become such; in order that the Jews who were hearers of the law might hereby understand that they wanted the grace of the Justifier, in order to be able to become its doers also. Or else the term ’They shall be justified is used in the sense of, They shall be deemed, or reckoned as just, as it is predicated of a certain man in the Gospel, ’But he, willing to justify himself,’-- meaning that he wished to be thought and accounted just. In like manner, we attach one meaning to the statement, ’God sanctifies His saints,’ and another to the words, ’Sanctified be Thy name; ’ for in the former case we suppose the words to mean that He makes those to be saints who were not saints before, and in the latter, that the prayer would have that which is always holy in itself be also regarded as holy by men, -- in a word, be feared with a hallowed awe." Augustine,On the Spirit and the Letter,26:45(A.D. 412),in NPNF1,V:89 "For then it is true wisdom; for if it is human, it is vain. Yet not so of God, as is that wherewith God is wise. For He is not wise by partaking of Himself, as the mind is by partaking of God. But as we call it the righteousness of God, not only when we speak of that by which He Himself is righteous, but also of that which He gives to man when He justifies the ungodly, which latter righteousness the apostle commending, says of some, that ’not knowing the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own righteousness,they are not subject to the righteousness of God;’ so also it may be said of some, that not knowing the wisdom of God and going about to establish their own wisdom, they are not subject to the wisdom of God." Augustine,On the Trinity,14:12,5(A.D. 416),in NPNF1,III:191 "Although there are many who appear to do what the law commands, through fear of punishment, not through love of righteousness; and such righteousness as this the apostle calls ’his own which is after the law,’--a thing as it were commanded, not given. When, indeed, it has been given, it is not called our own righteousness, but God’s; because it becomes our own only so that we have it from God. These are the apostle’s words: ’That I may be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith.’ So great, then, is the difference between the law and grace, that although the law is undoubtedly of God, yet the righteousness which is ’of the law’ is not ’of God,’ but the righteousness which isconsummated by grace is ’of God.’ The one is designated ’the righteousness of the law,’ because it is done through fear of the curse of the law; while the other is called ’the righteousness of God,’ because it is bestowed through the beneficence ofHis grace, so that it is not a terrible but a pleasant commandment, according to the prayer in the psalm: ’Good art Thou, O Lord, therefore in Thy goodness teach me Thy righteousness;’ that is, that I may not be compelled like a slave to live under the law with fear of punishment; but rather in the freedom of love may be delighted to live with law as my companion. When the freeman keeps a commandment, he does it readily. And whosoever learns his duty in this spirit, does everything that he has learned ought to be done." Augustine,On the Grace of Christ,13:14(A.D. 418),in NPNF1,V:223 "But then who are those gods, or where are they, of whom God is the true God? Another Psalm saith, ’God hath stood in the synagogue of gods, but in the midst He judgeth gods.’ As yet we know not whether perchance any gods be congregated in heaven, and in their congregation, for this is ’in the synagogue,’ God hath stood to judge. See in the same Psalm those to whom he saith, ’I have said, Ye are gods, and children of the Highest all; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.’ It is evident then, that He hath called men gods, that are deified of His Grace, not born of His Substance. For He doth justify, who is just through His own self, and not of another; and He doth deify who is God through Himself, not by the partaking of another. But He that justifieth doth Himself deify, in that by justifying He doth make sons of God. ’For He hath given them power to become the sons of God.’ If we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods: but this is the effect ofGrace adopting, not of nature generating. For the only Son of God, God, and one God with the Father, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, was in the beginning the Word, and the Word with God, the Word God. The rest that are made gods, are madeby His own Grace,are not born of His Substance, that they should be the same as He, but that by favour they should come to Him, and be fellow-heirs with Christ. For so great is the love in Him the Heir, that He hath willed to have fellow-heirs. What covetous man would will this, to have fellow-heirs?" Augustine,On the Psalms 49:1-20/50:2(A.D. 418),in NPNF1,VIII:178 "But in order that he might be taught whose that was, of which he had begun to boast as if it were his own, he was admonished by the gradual desertion of God’s grace, and says: ’O Lord, in Thy good pleasure Thou didst add strength to my beauty. Thou didst, however, turn away Thy face, and then I was troubled and distressed.’ Thus, it is necessary for a man that he should be not only justified when unrighteous by the grace of God,--that is, be changed from unholiness to righteousness,--when he is requited with good for his evil; but that, even after he has become justified by faith, grace should accompany him on his way, and he should lean upon it, lest he fall. On this account it is written concerning the Church herself in the book of Canticles: ’Who is this that cometh up in white raiment, leaning upon her kinsman?’ Made white is she who by herself alone could not be white. And by whom has she been made white except by Him who says by the prophet, ’Though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow’? At the time, then, that she was made white, she deserved nothing good; but now that she is made white, she walketh well;--but it is only by her continuing ever to lean upon Him by whom she was made white. Wherefore, Jesus Himself, on whom she leans that was made white, said to His disciples, ’Without me ye can do nothing.’ " Augustine,On Grace and Free Will,6:13(A.D. 427),in NPNF1,V:449 "This then is the righteousness of God. As it is called, ’The Lord’s salvation,’ not whereby the Lord is saved, but which He giveth to them whom He saveth; so too the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord is called the righteousness of God, not as that whereby the Lord is righteous, but whereby He justifieth those whom of ungodly He maketh righteous. But some, as the Jews in former times, both wish to be called Christians, and still ignorant of God’s righteousness, desire to establish their own, even in our own times, in the times of opengrace, the times of the full revelation ofgracewhich before was hidden; in the times ofgracenow manifested in the floor, which once lay hid in the fleece. I see that a few have understood me, that more have not understood, whom I will by no means defraud by keeping silence. Gideon, one of the righteous men of old, asked for a sign from the Lord, and said, ’Ipray, Lord, that this fleece which I put in the floor be bedewed, and that the floor be dry.’ And it was so; the fleece was bedewed, the whole floor was dry. In the morning he wrung out tim fleece in a basin; for as much as to the humble is grace given; and in a basin, ye know what the Lord did to His disciples. Again, he asked for another sign; ’O Lord, I would,’ saith he, ’that the fleece be dry, the floor bedewed.’ And it was so. Call to mind the time of the Old Testament, grace was hidden in a cloud, as the rain in the fleece. Mark now the time of the New Testament, consider well the nation of the Jews, thou wilt find it as a dry fleece; whereas the whole world, like that floor, isfull of grace,not hidden, but manifested. Wherefore we are forced exceedingly to bewail our brethren, who strive not against hidden, but against open and manifested grace. There is allowance for the Jews. What shall we say of Christians? Wherefore are ye enemies to the grace of Christ? Why rely ye on yourselves? Why unthankful? For why did Christ come? Was not nature here before? Was not nature here, which ye only deceive by your excessive praise? Was not the Law here? But the Apostle says, ’If righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain.’ What the Apostle says of the Law, that say we of nature to these men. ’If righteousness come by nature, then Christ is dead in vain.’ " Augustine,Sermon 131:9,on John 6:53(ante A.D. 431),in NPNF1,VI:503-504 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-1998 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 6C-CONCE SAVED NOT ALWAYS SAVED, SALUTARY WORKS ======================================================================== Once Saved NOT Always Saved! "And pray ye without ceasingin behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For ’cannot he that falls arise again, and he may attain to God.’ " Ignatius of Antioch,To the Ephesians,10(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:53-54 "Watch for your life’s sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh. But often shall ye come together, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profityou, if ye benot madeperfectin the last time. "Didache,16(A.D. 140),in ANF,VII:382 "And as many of them, he added, as have repented, shall have their dwelling in the tower. And those of them who have been slower in repenting shall dwell within the walls. And as many as do not repent at all, but abide in their deeds, shall utterly perish...Yet they also, being naturally good, on hearing my commandments, purified themselves, and soon repented. Their dwelling, accordingly, was in the tower.But if any one relapseinto strife, he will be east out of the tower, and will lose his life." Hermas,The Shephard,3:8:7(A.D. 155),in ANF,II:41-42 "[T]hat eternal fire has been prepared forhim as he apostatized from Godof his own free-will, and likewise for all who unrepentant continue in the apostasy, he now blasphemes, by means of such men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon him] as being already condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his Maker, not to his own voluntary disposition." Justin Martyr,fragment in Irenaeus’ Against Heresies,5:26:1(A.D. 156),in ANF,I:555 "Now, in the beginning the spirit was a constant companion of the soul, but the spirit forsook it because it was not willing to follow. Yet, retaining as it were a spark of its power, though unable by reason of the separation to discern the perfect, while seeking for God it fashioned to itself in its wandering many gods, following the sophistries of the demons. But the Spirit of God is not with all, but, taking up its abode with those who live justly, and intimately combining with the soul, by prophecies it announced hidden things to other souls." Tatian the Syrian,To the Greeks,13(A.D. 175),in ANF,II:71 "Christ shall not die again in behalf of those who now commit sin, for death shall no more have dominion over Him; but the Son shall come in the glory of the Father, requiring from His stewards and dispensers the money which He had entrusted to them, with usury; and from those to whom He had given most shall He demand most. We ought not, therefore, as that presbyter remarks, to be puffed up, nor be severe upon those of old time, but ought ourselves to fear, lest perchance, after [we have come to] the knowledge of Christ, if we do things displeasing to God,we obtain no further forgiveness of sins, but be shut out from His kingdom. And therefore it was that Paul said, ’For if [God] spared not the natural branches, [take heed] lest He also spare not thee, who, when thou wert a wild olive tree, wert grafted into the fatness of the olive tree, and wert made a partaker of its fatness.’ " Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4:27:2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:499 "But some think as if God were under a necessity of bestowing even on the unworthy, what He has engaged (to give); and they turn His liberality into slavery. But if it is of necessity that God grants us the symbol of death, then He does so unwilling. But who permits a gift to be permanently retained which he has granted unwillingly? For do not many afterward fall out of (grace)? is not this gift taken away from many?" Tertullian,On Repentance,6(A.D. 204),in ANF,III:661 "Confession is the beginning of glory, not the full desert of the crown; nor does it perfect our praise, but it initiates our dignity; and since it is written, ’He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved,’ whatever has been before the end is a step by which we ascend to the summit of salvation,not a terminus wherein the full result of the ascent is already gained. " Cyprian,Unity of the Church,21(A.D. 251),in ANF,V:428 "Therefore, my beloved, we also have received of the Spirit of Christ, and Christ dwelleth in us, as it is written that the Spirit said this through the month of the Prophet: --I will dwell in them and will walk in them.Therefore let us prepare our temples for the Spirit of Christ, and let us notgrieve itthat itmay not depart from us. Remember the warning that the Apostle gives us:--Grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby ye have been sealed unto the day of redemption. Forfrom baptismdo wereceive the Spiritof Christ ... And whatever man there is that receives the Spirit from the water (of baptism) and grieves it, it departs from him until he dies, and returns according to its nature to Christ, and accuses that man of having grieved it." Aphrahat,Demonstrations,6:14(A.D. 345),in NPNF2,VIII:371-372 "Thou art made partaker of the Holy Vine. Well then, if thou abide in the Vine, thou growest as a fruitful branch; but if thou abide not, thou wilt be consumed by the fire. Let us therefore bear fruit worthily. God forbid that in us should be done what befell that barren fig-tree, that Jesus come not even now and curse us for our barrenness." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,I:4(A.D. 350),NPNF2,VII:7 "For what the Word has by nature, as I said, in the Father, that He wishes to be given to us through the Spirit irrevocably; which the Apostle knowing, said, ’Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’ for ’the gifts of God’ and ’grace of His calling are without repentance.’ It is the Spirit then which is in God, and not we viewed in our own selves; and as we are sons and gods because of the Word in us, so we shall be in the Son and in the Father, and we shall be accounted to have become one in Son and in Father, because that that Spirit is in us, which is in the Word which is in the Father. When then a man falls from the Spirit for any wickedness, if he repent upon his fall, the grace remains irrevocably to such as are willing; otherwise he who has fallen is no longer in God (because that Holy Spirit and Paraclete which is in God has deserted him), but the sinner shall be in him to whom he has subjected himself, as took place in Saul’s instance; for theSpirit of God departed from him and an evil spirit was afflicting him." Athanasius,Discourse Against the Arians,3:25(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:407 "Clerics who are guilty of the sin unto death are degraded from their order,but not excluded from the communion of the laity." Basil,To Amphilochius,Letter 199:32(A.D. 375),in NPNF2,VIII:237 "This temple is holier than that; for it glistened not with gold and silver, but with the grace of the Spirit, and in place of the ark and the cherubim, it had Christ, and His Father, and the Paraclete seated within. But now all is changed, and the temple is desolate, and bare of its former beauty and comeliness, unadorned with its divine and unspeakable adornments, destitute of all security and protection; it has neither door nor bolt, and is laid open to all manner of soul-destroying and shameful thoughts; and if the thought of arrogance or fornication, or avarice, or any more accursed than these, wish to enter in there is no one to hinder them; whereas formerly, even as the Heaven is inaccessible to all these, so also was the purity of thy soul." John Chrysostom,To the Fallen Theodore,Letter 1(A.D. 378),in NPNF1,IX:91 "But these sins were not after Baptism, you will say. Where is your proof? Either prove it--or refrain from condemning; and if there be any doubt, let charity prevail. But Novatus, you say, would not receive those who lapsed in the persecution. What do you mean by this? If they were unrepentant he was right; I too would refuse to receive those who either would not stoop at all or not sufficiently, and who would refuse to make their amendment counterbalance their sin; and when I do receive them, I will assign them their proper place; but if he refused those who wore themselves away with weeping, I will not imitate him Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration on the Holy Lights,39:19(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,VII:359 "These are capital sins, brethren,these are mortal." Pacian of Barcelona,Penance,4(A.D. 385),in JUR,II:143 "Let us admonish each other. Let us correct each other, that we may not go to the other world as debtors, and then, needing to borrow of others, suffer the fate of the foolish virgins, and fall from immortal salvation." John Chrysostom,Concerning Statues,21(A.D. 387),in NPNF1,IX:363 "Some offences are light, some heavy. It is one thing to owe ten thousand talents, another to owe a farthing. We shall have to giveaccount of the idle wordno less than of adultery; but it is not the same thing to be put to the blush, and to be put upon the rack, to grow red in the face and to ensure lasting torment. Do you think I am merely expressing my own views? Hear what the Apostle John says: ’He who knows that his brother sinneth a sin not unto death, let him ask, and he shall give him life, even to him that sinneth not unto death. But he that hath sinned unto death, who shall pray for him? ’You observe that if we entreat for smaller offences, we obtain pardon: if for greater ones, it is difficult to obtain our request: and that there is a great difference between sins.’ " Jerome,Against Jovianus,2:30(A.D. 393),in NPNF2,VI:411 "And, consequently, both those who have not heard the gospel, and those who, having heard it and been changed by it for the better, have not receivedperseverance, and those who, having heard the gospel, have refused to come to Christ, that is, to believe on Him, since He Himself says, ’No man cometh unto me, except it were given him of my Father,’ and those who by their tender age were unable to believe, but might be absolved from original sin by the sole layer of regeneration, and yet have not received this laver, and have perished in death: are not made to differ from that lump which it is plain is condemned, as all go from one into condemnation." Augustine,On Rebuke and Grace,12(A.D. 427),in NPNF2,V:476 "The faith of these, which worketh by love, either actually does not fail at all, or, if there are any whose faith fails, it is restored before their life is ended, and the iniquity which had intervened is done away, and perseverance even to the end is allotted to them. But they who arenot to persevere,and who shall so fall away from Christian faith and conduct that the end of this life shall find them in that case, beyond all doubt are not to be reckoned in the number of these, even in that season wherein they are living well and piously. For they are not made to differ from that mass of perdition by the foreknowledge and predestination of God, and therefore are not called according to God’s purpose, and thus are not elected" Augustine,On Rebuke and Grace,16(A.D. 427),in NPNF2,V:478 "It is, indeed, to be wondered at, and greatly to be wondered at, that to some of His own children--whom He has regenerated in Christ--to whom He has given faith, hope, and love, Goddoes not give perseverancealso." Augustine,On Rebuke and Grace,18(A.D. 427),in NPNF2,V:478 "Let the inquirer still go on, and say, ’Why is it that to some who have in good faith worshipped Him He has notgiven to persevere to the end?’ Why except because he does not speak falsely who says, ’They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, doubtless they would have continued with us.’ Are there, then, two natures of men? By no means. If there were two natures there would not be anygrace, for there would be given a gratuitous deliverance to none if it were paid as a debt to nature. But it seems to men that all who appear good believers ought to receive perseverance to the end. But God has judged it to be better to mingle some who wouldnot persevere with a certain numberof His saints, so that thosefor whom security from temptation in this life is not desirablemay not be secure." Augustine,On the Gift of Perseverance,19(A.D. 429),in NPNF2,V:531-532 “The manifold mercy of God so assists menwhen they fall, that not only by the grace of baptism but also by the remedy of penitence is the hope of eternal life revived, in order that they who have violated the gifts of the second birth, condemning themselves by their own judgment,may attain to remission of their crimes, the provisions of the Divine Goodness having so ordained that GOD’S indulgencecannot be obtained without the supplicationsofpriests. For the Mediator between GOD and men, the Man Christ Jesus, has transmitted this power to those that are set over the Church that they should both grant a course of penitence to those who confess, and, when they are cleansed by wholesome correction admit them through the door of reconciliation to communion in the sacraments." Pope Leo the Great[regn A.D. 440-461],To Theodore,Epistle 108:2(A.D. 452),NPNF2,XII:80 "The branches of the vine. Thus there are branches in the vine, not that they may bestow anything upon the vine, but that they may receive from it the means by which they maylive...And by this it is an advantage to the disciples,not to Christ,that each have Christ abiding in him, and that each abide in Christ. For if the branch is cut off, another can sprout forth from the living root; but that which has been cut off, cannot live without the root." Council of Orange,Canon 24(A.D. 529),in DEN,79-80 "And they who mourn their transgressions certainly cast forth by confession the wickedness with which they have been evilly satiated, and which oppressed the inmost parts of their soul; and yet, in recurring to it after confession, they take it in again. But the sow, by wallowing in the mire when washed, is made more filthy. I And one who mourns past transgressions, yet forsakes them not, subjects himself to the penalty of more grievous sin, since he both despises the very pardon which he might have won by his weeping, and as it were rolls himself in miry water; because in withholding purity of life from his weeping he makes even his very tears filthy before the eyes of God." Pope Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],Pastoral Rule,30(A.D. 591),in NPNF2,XII:62 "The remission of sins, therefore, is granted alike to all through baptism: but the grace of the Spirit is proportional to the faith and previous purification. Now, indeed, we receive the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit through baptism, and the second birth is for us the beginning and seal and security and illumination s of another life. It behoves as, then, withall our strength to steadfastly keep ourselves pure from filthy works, that we may not, like the dog returning to his vomit,make ourselves againthe slaves of sin. For faith apart from works is dead, and so likewise are works apart from faith. For the true faith is attested by works." John of Damascus,On the Orthodox Faith,4:9(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:78 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Salutary works require grace "Wherefore also the Lord promised to send the Comforter, who should join us to God. For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner, neither could we, being many, be made onein Christ Jesus without the water from heaven. And as dry earth does not bring forth unless it receive moisture, in like manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have brought forth fruit unto life without the voluntary rain from above. For our bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that layer which leads to incorruption; but our souls, by means of the Spirit. Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of God" Irenaeus,Against Heresies,3:17(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:444-445 "A corrupt tree will never yield good fruit, unless the better nature be grafted into it; nor will a good tree produce evil fruit, except by the same process of cultivation.Stones also will become children of Abraham, if educated in Abraham’s faith; and a generation of vipers will bring forth the fruits of penitence, if theyreject the poison of their malignant nature. This will be the power of the grace of God, more potent indeed than nature, exercising its sway over the faculty that underlies itself within us--even the freedom of our will." Tertullian,A Treatise on the Soul, 21(A.D. 208),in ANF,III:202 "We add, also, and say, ’Thy will be done, as in heaven so in earth;’ not that God should do what He wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills. For who resists God, that l He may not do what He wills? But since we are hindered by the devil from obeying with our thought and deed God’s will in all things, we prayand ask that God’swill may be done in us; and that it may be done in us we have need of God’s good will, that is, of His help and protection, since no one is strong in his own strength, but he is safe by the grace and mercy of God." Cyprian,On the Lord’s Prayer,14(A.D. 252),in ANF,V:451 "He from the essence of the Father, nor is the Son again Son according to essence, but in consequence of virtue, as we who are called sonsby grace."Athanasius,Defense of the Nicene Creed,22(A.D.351),in NPNF2,IV:165 "For when you hear, Not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shewethmercy, I counsel you to think the same. For since there are some who are so proud of their successes thatthey attribute all to themselvesand nothing toHimthat made them and gave them wisdom and supplied them with good; such are taught by this word that even to wish well needs help from God; or rather that even to choose what is right is divine and a gift of the mercy of God. For it is necessary both that we should be our own masters and also that our salvation should be of God. This is why He saith not of him that willeth; that is, not of him that willeth only, nor of him that runneth only, but also of God. That sheweth mercy. Next; since to will also is from God, he has attributed the whole to God with reason. However much you may run, however much you may wrestle, yet you need one to give the crown." Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration 37:13(A.D. 383),inNPNF2,in VII:342 "You see indeed,then,how thestrength of the Lordis cooperative in human endeavors, so thatno one can buildwithout the Lord,no one canpreserve withoutthe Lord,no one can build without the Lord, no one can preserve without the Lord, no one can undertake anything without the Lord." Ambrose,Commentary on Luke,2:84(A.D.389),in JUR,II:162 "All indeeddependson God, but not so that our free-will is hindered. ’If then it depend on God,’ (one says), ’why does He blame us?’ On this account I said, ’so that our free-will is no hindered.’ It depends then on us, and on Him For we must first choose the good; and then He leads us to His own. He does not anticipate our choice, lest our free-will should be outraged. But when we have chosen, thengreat is the assistancehe brings to us...For it is ours to choose and to wish; but God’s to complete and to bring to an end. Since therefore the greater part is of Him, he says all is of Him, speaking according to the custom of men. For so we ourselves also do. I mean for instance: we see a house well built, and we say the whole is the Architect’s [doing], and yet certainly it is not all his, but the workmen’s also, and the owner’s, who supplies the materials, and many others’, but nevertheless since he contributed the greatest share, we call the whole his. So then [it is] in this case also. Again, with respect to a number of people, where the many are, we say All are: where few, nobody. So also Paul says, ’not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.’And herein he establishes two great truths: one, that we should not be lifted up: even shouldst thou run (he would say), even shouldst thou be very earnest, do not consider that the well doing is thine own. For if thou obtain not the impulse that is from above, all is to no purpose. Nevertheless that thou wilt attain that which thou earnestly strivest after is very evident; so long as thou runnest, so long as thou willest." John Chrysostom,Homily on Hebrews,12:3(A.D. 403),in NPNF1,XIV:425 "Now for the commission of sin we get no help from God; but we are not able to do justly, and to fulfil the law of righteousness in every part thereof, except we are helped by God. For as the bodily eye is not helped by the light to turn away therefrom shut or averted, but is helped by it to see, and cannot see at all unless it help it; so God, who is the light of the inner man, helps our mental sight, in order that we may do some good, not according to our own, but according to His righteousness." Augustine, On Forgiveness of Sins and Baptism,II:5(A.D. 411), in NPNF1,V:45 " ’No man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him’! For He does not say, ’except He lead him,’ so that we can thus in any way understand that his will precedes. For who is ’drawn,’ if he was already willing? And yet no man comes unless he is willing. Therefore he is drawn in wondrous ways to will, by Him who knows how to work within the very hearts of men. Not that men who are unwilling should believe, which cannot be, but that they should be made willing from being unwilling." Augustine,Against Two Letters of the Pelagians,I:19(A.D. 420),in NPNF1,V:389 "As strong as we could,we urged on them, as on your and our brothers, to preservein the Catholic faith, which neither denies free will whether for a bad life or a good one, nor allows it so much effect that it can do anything withoutthe graceof God, whether to convert the soul from evil to good,or to preserve and advance in good, or to attain eternal good, where there is no more fear of falling away." Augustine, Epistle 215:4(A.D. 423),in FC32,64-65 "[L]est the will itself should be deemed capable of doing any good thing without the grace of God, after saying, ’His grace within me was not in vain, but I have laboured more abundantly than they all,’ he immediately added the qualifying clause, ’Yet not I,but thegrace of God which was with me.’ In other words, Not I alone, but the grace of God with me. And thus, neither was it the grace of God alone, nor was it he himself alone, but it was the grace Of God with him. For his call, however, from heavenand his conversion by that great and most effectual call, God’s grace was alone, because his merits, though great, were yet evil." Augustine,On Grace and Free Will,5:12(A.D. 427),in NPNF1,V:448-9 " ’There is henceforth laid up for me,’ he says, ’a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day.’ Now, to whom should the righteous Judge award the crown, except to him on whom the merciful Father hadbestowed grace? And how could the crown be one ’of righteousness,’ unless the grace had preceded which ’justifieth the ungodly’?" Augustine,On Grace and Free Will,6:14(A.D. 427),in NPNF1,V:449 " ’I have fought,’ says he, "the good fight; I have finishedmy course; I have kept the faith.’ Now, in the first place, these good works were nothing, unless they had been preceded by good thoughts. Observe, therefore, what he says concerning these very thoughts. His words, when writing to the Corinthians, are: ’Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.’ " Augustine,On Grace and Free Will,7:16(A.D. 427),in NPNF1,V:450 " The first man had not that grace by which he should never will to be evil; but assuredly he had that in which if he willed to abide he would never be evil, and without which, moreover, he could not by free will be good, but which, nevertheless, by free will he could forsake. God, therefore, did not will even him to be without His grace, which He left in his free will; because free will is sufficient for evil, but is too little s for good, unless it is aided by Omnipotent Good. And if that man had not forsaken that assistance of his free will, he would always have been good; but he forsook it, and he was forsaken. Because such was the nature of the aid, that he could forsake it when he would, and that he could continue in it if he would; but not such that it could be brought about that he would." Augustine,On Grace and Free Will,11:31(A.D. 427),in NPNF1,V:484 "And besides, this is the apostolic declaration, "No one saith, Lord Jesus, but in the Holy Spirit: and who is it that calleth Him Lord Jesus but he that loveth Him, if he so call Him in the way the apostle intended to be understood? For many call Him so with their lips, but deny Him in their hearts and works; just as He saith of such, ’For they profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.’ If it is by works He is denied, it is doubtless also by works that His name is truly invoked. ’No one,’ therefore, ’saith, Lord Jesus,’ in mind, in word, in deed, with the heart, the lips, the labor of the bands,--no one saith, Lord Jesus, but in the Holy Spirit." Augustine,On the Gospel of John,74:1(A.D. 430),in NPNF1,VII:333-4 "For just to keep any from supposing that the branch can bear at least some little fruit of itself, after saying, ’the same bringeth forth much fruit,’ His next words are not, Without me ye can do but little, but ’ye can do nothing.’ Whether then it be little or much, without Him it is impracticable; for without Him nothing can be done." Augustine,On the Gospel of John,81:3(A.D. 430),in NPNF1,VII:345-6 "Most bitter enemies of grace, you offer us examples of ungodly men who,you say, ’through without faith, abound in virtues where there is,without the aid of grace,only the good of nature even though shackled by superstitions.’ Such men, by the mere powers of their inborn liberty, often merciful, and modest, and chaste, and sober. When you say this you have already removed what you thought to attibute to the grace of God: namely, effectiveness of will ... If it pleases you so much to praise the ungodly that you say they abound in true virtues - as though you did not hear the Scripture saying: ’They that say to the wicked man: You are just, shall be accursed by the people by the people, and the tribes shall abhor them’ - it were much better for you, who say they abound in virtues,to confess that these are gifts of God in them." Augustine, Against Julian,4:3:16(A.D.421),in FC35,179 "But God forbid there be true virtues in anyone unless he is just, and God forbid he be truly unless he lives by faith, for ’He who is just lives by faith.’ Who of those wishing to be considered Christians.except the Pelagians alone, or perhaps, you alone among the Pelagians, will call an unbeliever just, and an ungodly man just, and say a man is in bondage to the Devil?" Augustine, Against Julian,4:3:17(A.D.421),in FC35,181 "Surely, if no Christian will dare to say this, ’It is not of God that showeth mercy, but of man that willeth,’ lest he should openly contradict the apostle, it follows that the true interpretation of the saying, ’It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,’ is that the whole work belongs to God, who both makes the will of man righteous, and thus prepares it for assistance, and assists it when it is prepared. For the man’s righteousness of will precedesmany of God’s gifts, but not all; and it must itself be included among those which it does not precede. We read in Holy Scripture, both that God’s mercy ’shall meet me,’ and that His mercy ’shall follow me.’ It goes before the unwilling to make him willing; it follows the willing to make his will effectual." Augustine, Enchiridion,32(A.D.422),in NPNF1,III:248 "Without God there is no virtue, nor does a man obtain what is proper to divinity unless he be enlivened by them Spirit of his Author. Since the Lord said to His disciples, ’Without Me you are able to do nothing,’ there is no doubt that when a man does good workshe has from God both the carrying out the work and the beginning of his will to do so." Gregory the Great,Sermons,38:3(ante A.D. 461),in JUR,III:277 "We ought to understand that while God knows all things beforehand, yet He does not predetermine all things. For He knows beforehand those things that are in our power, but He does not predetermine them. For it is not His will that there should be wickedness nor does He choose to compel virtue. So that predetermination is the work of the divine command based on fore-knowledge. But on the other hand God predetermines those things which are not within our power in accordance with His prescience. For already God in His prescience has prejudged all things in accordance with His goodness and justice. Bear in mind, too, that virtue is a gift from God implanted in our nature, and that He Himself is the source and cause of all good, and without His co-operation and help we cannot will or do any good thing, But we have it in our power either to abide in virtue and follow God, Who calls us into ways of virtue, or to stray from paths of virtue, which is to dwell in wickedness, and to follow the devil who summons but cannot compel us. For wickedness is nothing else than the withdrawal of goodness, just as darkness is nothing else than the withdrawal of light While then we abide in the natural state we abide in virtue, but when we deviate from the natural state, that is from virtue, " John Damascene,Orthodox Faith,2:30(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:240 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1997-2003 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 7A-ESCHATOLOGY ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. __________________________________________________________________________________________ eschatology. This section will examine the Last Things and End Times of the Church in the faith of the early Church Fathers. The topics will include: Heaven & Hell, Purgatory, Resurrection of the Dead, Particular and Final Judgments. Heaven and Hell: Documents illustrating the belief of the eternalness and existence of Heaven and Hell Purgatory: Documents illustrating the belief of the existence of Purgatory Death: The Fathers affirmed that man dies once, followed by judgement and Resurrection. The Fathers unanimously denied reincarnation. Rise Again: The Fathers affirmed that man will rise again in the flesh from the dead on the last day. Not reincarnation. Physical Resurrectionof Jesusand theelect: The Fathers affirmed that Jesus rose again in the same physical, material body that was crucified and placed in the tomb. Likewise, the elect will rise from the numerically same material body that died. Veneration and Invocation of the Saints: The Fathers have venerated the saints in various ways. Veneration included such things as: invoking their intercession in prayer, naming children after them, creating statues and images of the saints, and preserving relics of the saints. According to the Fathers, the invocation and veneration of the saints is a glorification of Christ, since it is Christ who dispenses the grace to the saints. Jerome writes, ’We honour the servants that their honour may be reflected upon their Lord.’(Epistle 109:1). Lastly, the Fathers affirmed that adoration is due only to God Almighty. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 7B-HEAVEN, HELL, PURGATORY ======================================================================== Heaven and Hell " If any one confesses Christ Jesus the Lord, but denies theGod of the law and of the prophets, saying that the FatherofChrist is not the Maker of heaven and earth, he has not continued in the truth any more than his father the devil, and is a disciple of Simon Magus, not of the Holy Spirit." Ignatius of Antioch,To the Philadelphians,5(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:82 "He bids the inhabitants of all the earth, who have known the mystery of this salvation, i.e., the suffering of Christ, by which He saved them, sing and give praises to God the Father of all things, and recognise that He is to be praised and feared, and thatHe is the Maker of heaven and earth,who effected this salvation in behalf of the human race, who also was crucified and was dead, and who was deemed worthy by Him(God) to reign over all the earth." Justin Martyr,Dialogue with Trypho,74(c.A.D. 155),in ANF,I:235 " ’Wherefore, girding up your loins,’ ’serve the Lord in fear’ and truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and error of the multitude, and ’believed in Him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory,’ and a throne at His right hand. To Him all things’ in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will God require of those who do not believe in Him. But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also,ifwe do His will,and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, falsewitness; "not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,’ or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: ’Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful,that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; and once more, ’Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.’ " Polycarp,Epistle to the Phillipians,2:3(A.D.157),in ANF,I:33 "The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father ’to gather all things in one,’ and to raise up a new all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, ’every knee should bow, of things in heaven,, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess’ to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send ’spiritual wickednesses,’ and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise ofHis grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory."Irenaeus,Against Heresies,1,10,10(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:330 "For as, in the New Testament, that faith of men [to be placed] in God has been increased, receiving in addition [to what was already revealed] the Son of God, that man too might be a partaker of God; so is also our walk in life required to be more circumspect, when we are directed not merely to abstain from evil actions, but even from evil thoughts, and from idle words, and empty talk, and scurrilous-language: thus also the punishment of those who do not believe the Word of God, and despise His advent, and are turned away backwards, is increased; being not merely temporal, but rendered also eternal. For to whomsoever the Lord shall say, ’Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,’ these shall be damned for ever; and to whomsoever He shall say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you for eternity,’ these do receive the kingdom for ever, and make constant advance in it; since there is one and the same God the Father, and His Word, who has been always present with the human race, by means indeed of various dispensations, and has wrought out many things, and saved from the beginning those who are saved, (for these are they who love God, and follow the Word of God according to the class to which they belong,) and has judged those who are judged, that is, those who forget God, and are blasphemous, and transgressors of His word." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4,28,2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:501 "But do you also, if you please, give reverential attention to the prophetic Scriptures, and they will make your way plainer for escaping the eternal punishments, and obtaining the eternal prizes of God." Theophilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,1:14(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:93 "[T]hese have further set before us the proofs He has given of His majesty in judgments by floods and fires, the rules appointed by Him for securing His favour, as well as the retribution in store for the ignoring, forsaking and keeping them, as being about at the end of all to adjudge His worshippers to everlasting life, and the wicked to the doom of fire at once without ending and without break, raising up again all the dead from the beginning, reforming and renewing them with the object of awarding either recompense." Tertullian,Apology,18:3(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:32 "Therefore after this there is neither death nor repeated resurrections, but we shall be the same that we are now, and still unchanged--the servants of God, ever with God, clothed upon with the proper substance of eternity; but the profane, and all who are not true worshippers of God, in like manner shall be consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire--that fire which, from its very nature indeed, directly ministers to their incorruptibility." Tertullian,Apology,48:12(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:54 "[T]he world when thou shall know what it is to live truly in heaven, when thou shalt despise that which is here esteemed to be death, when thou shalt fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who shall be condemned to the eternal fire, which shall afflict those even to the end that are committed to it." Letter to Diognetus 10:7(A.D. 200),in ANF,I:29 "Of which voice the justification will be seen in the awarding to each that which is just; since to those who have done well shall be assigned righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal punishment." Hippolytus,Against the Greeks,3(ante A.D. 225),in ANF,V:222 "For as we see it not to be the case with rational natures, that some of them have lived in a condition of degradation owing to their sins, while others have been called to a state of happiness on account of their merits; but as we see those same souls who had formerly been sinful, assisted, after their conversion and reconciliation to God,to a state of happiness; so also are we to consider, with respect to the nature of the body, that the one which we now make use of in a state of meanness, and corruption, and weakness, is not a different body from that which we shall possess in incorruption, and in power, and in glory; but that the same body, when it has cast away the infirmities in which it is now entangled, shall be transmuted into a condition of glory, being rendered spiritual, so that what was a vessel of dishonour may, when cleansed, become a vessel unto honour, and an abode of blessedness. And in this condition, also, we are to believe, that by the will of the Creator, it will abide for ever without any change, as is confirmed by the declaration of the apostle, when he says, ’We have a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’ " Origen,Fundamental Doctrines,3,6:6(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:347 "Oh,what and how great will that day be at its coming, beloved brethren, when the Lord shall begin to count up His people, and to recognize the deservings of each one by the inspection of His divine knowledge, to send the guilty to Gehenna, and to set on fire our persecutors with the perpetual burning of a penal fire, but to pay to us the reward of our faith and devotion!" Cyprian,To Thibaris,Epistle 55(58):10(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:346 "But, however, the sacred writings inform us in what manner the wicked are to undergo punishment. For because they have committed sins in their bodies, they will again be clothed with flesh, that they may make atonement in their bodies; and yet it will not be that flesh with which God clothed man, like this our earthly body, but indestructible, and abiding for ever, that it may be able to hold out against tortures and everlasting fire...The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment ...Then they whose piety shall have been approved of will receive the reward of immortality; but they whose sins and crimes shall have been brought to light will not rise again, but will be hidden in the same darkness with the wicked, being destined to certain punishment." Lactantius,Divine Institutes,7:21(A.D),in ANF,VII:217 "But especially mark this, how very pointedly Paul says, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. For this body shall be raised not remaining weak as now; but raised the very same body, though by putting on incorruption it shall be fashioned anew,--as iron blending with fire becomes fire, or rather as He knows how, the Lord who raises us. This body therefore shall be raised, but it shall abide not such as it now is, but an eternal body; no longer needing for its life such nourishment as now, nor stairs for its ascent, for it shall be made spiritual, a marvellous thing, such as we cannot worthily speak of. Then, it is said. shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, and the moon, and as the brightness of the firmament. And God, fore-knowing men’s unbelief, has given to little worms in the summer to dart beams of light from their body, that from what is seen, that which is looked for might be believed; for He who gives in part is able to give the whole also, and He who made the worm radiant with light, will much more illuminate a righteous man." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:18(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:139 "The real and true life then is the Father, who through the Son in the Holy Spirit pours forth as from a fountain His heavenly gifts to all; and through His love to man, the blessings of the life eternal are promised without fail to us men also. We must not disbelieve the possibilityof this, but having an eye not to our own weakness but to His power, we must believe; for with God all things are possible. And that this is possible, and that we may look for eternal life, Daniel declares, And of the many righteous shall they shine as the stars for ever and ever. And Paul says, And so shall we be ever with the Lord(1): for the being for ever with the lord implies the life eternal. But most plainly of all the Saviour Himself says in the Gospel, And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal" Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:28(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:141 "For the whole life of man is very short, measured by the ages to come,wherefore all our time is nothing compared with eternal life. And in the world everything is sold at itsprice, and a man exchanges one equivalent for another; but the promise of eternal life is bought for a trifle." Athanasius,Life of Antony,16(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:200 "And all things whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Never again shall His gift and His statutes be set at naught, as they were in the case of Adam, who by his sin in breaking the Law lost the happiness of an assured immortality; but now, thanks to the redemption wrought by the tree of Life, that is, by the Passion of the Lord, all that happens to us is eternal and eternally conscious of happiness in virtue of our future likeness to that tree of Life. For all their doings shall prosper. being wrought no longer amid shift and change nor in human weakness, for corruption will be swallowed up in incorruption, weakness in endless life, the form of earthly flesh in the form of God. This tree, then, planted and yielding its fruit in its own season, shall that happy man resemble, himself being planted in the Garden, that what God has planted may abide, never to be rooted up, in the Garden where all things done by God shall be guided to a prosperous issue, apart from the decay that belongs to human weakness and to time, and has to be uprooted." Hilary of Poitiers,Homilies on the Psalms,I:18(c.A.D. 365),in NPNF2,IX:240-241 "[I]nto eternal punishment; the just, however, into eternal life" Basil,Rules briefly Treated,267(A.D. 370),in JUR,II:26 "We believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church, and in One baptism of repenetance, and in the resurrection of the dead and the just judgment of souls and bodies, and in the kingdom of heaven, and in eternal life." Epiphanius,The Man Well Anchored,120(A.D. 374),in JUR,II:71 "[T]o judge the living and dead,of Whose kingdom there will be no end...look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen." Creed of Constantinople(A.D. 381),in Ecclesiastes,297-298 "When you hear the word fire, you have been taught to think of a fire other than the fire we see, owing to something being added to that fire which in this there is not; for that fire is never quenched, whereas experience has discovered many ways of quenching this; and there is a great difference between a fire which can be extinguished, and one that does not admit of extinction. That fire, therefore, is something other than this. If, again, a person hears the word ’worm,’ let not his thoughts, from the similarity of the term, be carried to the creature here that crawls upon the ground; for the addition that it ’dieth not’ suggests the thought of another reptile than that known here. Since, then, these things are set before us as to be expected in the life that follows this, being the natural outgrowth according to the righteous judgment of God, in the life of each, of his particular disposition, it must be the part of the wise not to regard the present, but that which follows after, and to lay down the foundations for that unspeakable blessedness during this short and fleeting life, and by a good choiceto wean themselves from all experience of evil, now in their lifetime here, hereafter in their eternal recompense." Gregory of Nyssa,Great Catechism,40(A.D. 383),in NPFN2,V:509 "Innocence, then, and knowledge make a man blessed. We have also noted already that the blessedness of eternal life is the reward for good works. It remains, then, to show that when the patronage of pleasure or the fear of pain is despised (and the first of these one abhors as poor and effeminate, and the other as unmanly and weak), that then a blessed life can rise up in the midst of pain. This can easily be shown when we read: ’Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you for righteousness’ sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.’ And again: ’He that will come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me.’ " Ambrose,Duties of the Clergy,3:9(c.A.D. 391),in NPNF2,X:45 "So will both this present be light and that future great, if we withdraw ourselves from the things that are seen. ’For the things that are seen are temporal.’ Therefore the afflictions are so too. ’But the things that are not seen are eternal.’ Therefore the crowns are so also. And he said not the afflictions are so, but ’the things that are seen;’ all of them, whether punishment or rest, so that we should be neither puffed up by the one nor overborne by the other. And therefore when speaking of the things to come, he said not the kingdom is eternal; but, ’the things which are punishment; so as both to alarm by the one and to encourage by the other."Chyrsostom,Homilies on 2nd Corinthians,9:17,18(c.A.D.392) "His fourth and last contention is that there are two classes, the sheep and the goats, the just and the unjust: that the just stand on the right hand, the other on the left: and that to the just the words are spoken: ’Come, ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ But that sinners are thus addressed: ’Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ...And as in one Gospel our Lord promises the Apostles a hundred fold, in another seven fold, for leaving children and wives, and in the world to come life eternal" Jerome,Against Jovianianus,2:18,19(c.A.D. 393),in NPNF2,VI:402-403 "But because this is absurd, they who desire to be rid of eternal punishment ought to abstain from arguing against God, and rather, while yet there is opportunity, obey the divine commands. Then what a fond fancy is it to suppose that eternal punishment means long continued punishment, while eternal life means life without end, since Christ in the very same passage spoke of both in similar terms in one and the same sentence, ’These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal!’ If both destinies are "eternal," then we must either understand both as long-continued but at last terminating, or both as endless. For they are correlative,--on the one hand, punishment eternal, on the other hand, life eternal. And to say in one and the same sense, life eternal shall be endless, punishment eternal shall come to an end, is the height of absurdity. Wherefore, as the eternal life of the saints shall be endless, so too the eternal punishment of those who are doomed to it shall have no end." Augustine,City of God,21:23(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:469 "But what excuse for despondency will be left us if we take to heart God’s own promises and the hopes of Christians; the resurrection, I mean, eternal life, continuance in the kingdom, and all that ’eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him’? Does not the Apostle say emphatically, ’I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope’? " Theodoret of Cyr,To Alexandra,Epistle 14(ante A.D. 466),in NPNF2,III:254 "For there are two kinds of compunction, as you know: one that is afraid of eternal pains, the other that sighs for heavenly rewards; since the soul that is athirst for God is first moved to compunction by fear, and afterwards by love. For in the first place it is affected to tears because, while recollecting its evil doings, it fears to suffer for them eternal punishments." Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Theoctista,Epistle 26(ante A.D. 604),in NPNF2,XII:220 "Now may Almighty God keep you under His protection, and so grant you human favour in an earthly court as to bring you after a long life to the eternal joys of a heavenly court." Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Theodore,Epistle 28(ante A.D. 604),in NPNF2,XII:222 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Purgatory "And after the exhibition, Tryphaena again receives her. For her daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in a dream: Mother, thou shall have this stranger Thecla in my place, in order that she maypray concerningme, and that I may be transferred to the place of the just." Acts of Paul and Thecla(A.D. 160),in ANF,VIII:490 "Abercius by name, I am a disciple of the chaste shepherd...He taught me .. faithful writings...These words,I, Abercius, standing by, ordered to be inscribed. In truth, I was in the course of my seventy-second year.Let him who understands and believes this pray for Abercius." Inscription of Abercius(A.D. 190),in PAT,I:172 "Without delay, on that very night, this was shown to me in a vision. I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid colour, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age?who diedmiserably with disease...But Itrusted that my prayerwould bring help to his suffering; andI prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then was the birth-day of Gets Caesar, and I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me.Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me. I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. And where there had been a wound, I saw a scar; and that pool which I had before seen, I saw now with its margin lowered even to the boy’s navel. And one drew water from the pool incessantly, and upon its brink was a goblet filled with water; and Dinocrates drew near and began to drink from it, and the goblet did not fail. And when he was satisfied, he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood thathe was translated from the place ofpunishment." The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitias,2:3-4(A.D. 202),in ANF,III:701-702 "Accordingly the believer, through great discipline, divesting himself of the passions, passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, viz., to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance from the sins he has committed after baptism. He is tortured then still more--not yet or not quite attaining what he sees others to have acquired. Besides, he is also ashamed of his transgressions.The greatest torments, indeed, are assigned to the believer. For God’s righteousness is good, and His goodness is righteous. And though the punishments cease in the course of thecompletion of the expiation and purificationof each one, yet those have very great and permanent grief who are found worthy of the other fold, on account of not being along with those that have been glorified through righteousness." Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,6:14(post A.D. 202),in ANF,II:504 "[T]hat allegory of the Lord which is extremely clear and simple in its meaning, and ought to be from the first understood in its plain and natural sense...Then, again, should you be disposed to apply the term ’adversary’ to the devil, you are advised by the (Lord’s) injunction, while you are in the way with him,’to make even with him such a compact as may be deemed compatible with the requirements of your true faith. Now the compact you have made respecting him is to renounce him, and his pomp, and his angels. Such is your agreement in this matter. Now the friendly understanding you will have to carry out must arise from your observance of the compact: you must never think of getting back any of the things which you have abjured, and have restored to him, lest he should summon you as a fraudulent man, and a transgressor of your agreement, before God the Judge (for in this light do we read of him, in another passage, as ’the accuser of the brethren,’ or saints, where reference is made to the actual practice of legal prosecution); and lest this Judge deliver you over to the angel who is to execute the sentence, andhe commit you to the prison of hell, out of which therewill be no dismissaluntil the smallest even of your delinquencies be paid off ( Matthew 5:25-26; Matthew 5:48,}in the period before the resurrection. What can be a more fitting sense than this? What a truer interpretation?" Tertullian,A Treatise on the Soul,35(A.D. 210),in ANF,III:216 "Allsouls, therefore; are shut up within Hades: do you admit this? (It is true, whether) you say yes or no: moreover, there are already experienced there punishments and consolations; and there you have a poor man and a rich...Moreover, the soul executes not all its operations with the ministration of the flesh; for the judgment of God pursues even simple cogitations and the merest volitions. ’Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’ Therefore, even for this cause it is most fitting that the soul, without at all waiting for the flesh, should be punished for what it has done without the partnership of the flesh. So, on the same principle, in return for the pious and kindly thoughts in which it shared not the help of the flesh, shall it without the flesh receive its consolation. In short, in as much as we understand ’the prison’ pointed out in the Gospel to be Hades, and as we also interpret ’the uttermost farthing’ to mean the very smallest offencewhich has to be recompensed there before the resurrection, no one will hesitate to believe thatthe soulundergoes in Hadessomecompensatory discipline, without prejudice to the full process of the resurrection, when the recompense will be administered through the flesh besides." Tertullian,A Treatise on the Soul,58(A.D. 210),in ANF,III:234-235 "As often as the anniversary comes round, we makeofferingsfor thedeadas birthday honours." Tertullian,The Chaplut,3(A.D. 211),in ANF,III:94 "[A] woman is more bound when her husband is dead...Indeed,she prays for his soul,and requestsrefreshment for him meanwhie, and fellowship(with him) in the first resurrection;and sheoffers (her sacrifice) on theanniversaryof hisfalling asleep." Tertullian,On Monogamy,10(A.D. 216),in ANF,III:66-67 "For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones(1 Corinthians,3:11-15);but also wood and hay and stubble,what do you expect when the soul shall be seperated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God;or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones; Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials;for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature,but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble.It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our trangressions and then returns to us the rewardof our great works." Origen,Homilies on Jeremias,PG 13:445,448(A.D. 244),in CE,577 "And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that repentance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace is offered to the penitent. The strength of the truly believing remains unshaken; and with those who fear and love God with their whole heart, their integrity continues steady and strong. For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigour of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to the adulterer. It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory: it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one haspaid the uttermost farthing;( Matthew 5:25-26; Matthew 5:48,} another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord." Cyprian,To Antonianus,Epistle 51(55):20(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:332 "Let uspray for our brethrenthatare at restin Christ, that God, the lover of mankind, who has received his soul, may forgive him every sin, voluntary and involuntary, and may be merciful and gracious to him, and give him his lot in the land of the pious that are sent into the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, with all those that have pleased Him and done His will from the beginning of the world, whence all sorrow, grief, and lamentation are banished." Apostolic Constitutions,8:4,41(3rd Century),in ANF,VII:497 "The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment: which the poets transferred to the vulture of Tityus. Thus, without any wasting of bodies, which regain their substance, it will only burn and affect them with a sense of pain. But when He shall have judged the righteous, He will also try them with fire. Then they whose sins shall exceed either in weight or in number, shall be scorched by the fire and burnt: but they whom full justice and maturity of virtue has imbued will not perceive that fire; for they have something of God in themselves which repels and rejects the violence of the flame." Lactantius,The Divine Institutes,7:21(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:217 "Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs,that at their prayers and intercessionsGod would receive our petition.Then on behalf also of the Holy Fathers and Bishops who have fallen asleep before us, and in a word of all who in past years have fallen asleep among us, believing that it will be a verygreat benefittothe souls, for whomthe supplication is put up, while that holy and most awful sacrifice is set forth. And I wish to persuade you by an illustration. For I know that many say, what is a soul profited, which departs from this world either with sins, or without sins, if it be commemorated in the prayer? For if a king were to banish certain who had given him of-fence, and then those who belong to them should weave a crownand offer it to him on behalfofthose under punishment, would he not grant a remission of their penalties? In the same way we, when we offer to Him our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, though they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer up Christ sacrificed for our sins, propitiating our merciful God for them as well as for ourselves. Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,23:9,10(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:154-155 "I think that the noble athletes of God,who have wrestled all their lives with the invisble enemies,after they have escaped all of their persecutions and have come to the end of life,are examined by the prince of this world;and if they are found to have any wounds from their wrestling,any stains or effects of sin,they are detained.If,however they are found unwounded and without stain,they are, as unconquered,brought by Christ into their rest." Basil,Homilies on the Psalms,7:2(ante A.D. 370),in JUR,II:21 "Lay me not with sweet spices: for this honour avails me not; Nor yet incense and perfumes: for the honour benefits me not. Burn sweet spices in the Holy Place: and me, even me, conduct to the grave with prayer. Give ye incense to God: and over me send up hymns. Instead of perfumes of spices: in prayer make remembrance of me." Ephraem,His Testament(ante A.D. 373),in NPNF2,in XIII:135 "Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf...it is useful,because in this world we often stumble either voluntarily or involuntarily." Epiphanius,Panarion,75:8(A.D. 375),in JUR,II:76 "When he has quitted his body and the difference between virtue andvice is known he cannot approach Godtill thepurging fire shall have cleansed the stains with which his soul was infested.That same fire in others will cancel the corruption of matter, and the propensity to evil." Gregory of Nyssa,Sermon on the Dead,PG 13:445,448(ante A.D. 394),in CE,577 "Give,Oh Lord,rest to Thy servant Theodosius,that rest Thou hast prepared for Thy saints....I love him,therefore will I follow him to the land of the living;I will not leave himtill by my prayers and lamentationshe shall beadmitted unto the holy mountof the Lord,to which his deserts call him." Ambrose,De obitu Theodosii,PL 16:1397(A.D. 395),in CE,577 "Other husbands scatter on the graves of their wives violets, roses, lilies, and purple flowers; and assuage the grief of their hearts by fulfilling this tender duty. Our dear Pammachius also waters the holy ashes and the revered bones of Paulina, but it is with the balm of almsgiving." Jerome,To Pammachius,Epistle 66:5(A.D. 397),in NPNF2,VI:136 "Weep for the unbelievers; weep for those who differ in nowise from them, those who depart hence without the illumination, without the seal! they indeed deserve our wailing, they deserve our groans; they are outside the Palace, with the culprits, with the condemned: for, "Verily I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven." Mourn for those who have died in wealth, and did not from their wealth think of any solace for their soul, who had power to wash away their sins and would not. Let us all weep for these in private and in public, but with propriety, with gravity, not so as to make exhibitions of ourselves; let us weep for these, not one day, or two, but all our life. Such tears spring not from senseless passion, but from true affection. The other sort are of senseless passion. For this cause they are quickly quenched, whereas if they spring from the fear of God, they always abide with us. Let us weep for these; let us assist them according to our power; let us think of some assistance for them, small though it be, yet still let us assist them. How and in what way? By praying and entreating others to make prayers for them, by continually giving to the poor on their behalf." John Chrysostom,Homilies on Phillipians,3(ante A.D404),in NPNF1,XIII:197 "If the baptized person fufils the obligations demanded of a Christian,he does well. If he does not--provided he keeps the faith,without which he would perish forever-no matter in what sin or impurity remains,he will be saved,as it were,by fire; as one who has built on the foundation,which is Christ,not Gold,silver, and precious stones,but wood, hay straw,that is, not just and chasted works but wicked and unchaste works." (1 Corinthians,3:11-15) Augustine,Faith and Works,1:1(A.D. 413),in ACW,48:7 "Now on what ground does this person pray that he may not be ’rebuked in indignation, nor chastened in hot displeasure"? (He speaks) as if he would say unto God, ’Since the things which I already suffer are many in number, I pray Thee let them suffice;’ and he begins to enumerate them, by way of satisfying God; offering what he suffers now, that he may not have to suffer worse evilshereafter." Augustine,Exposition of the Psalms 38:1-22(37):3(A.D. 418),in NPNF1,VIII:103 "And it is not impossible that something of the same kind may take place even after this life. It is a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful, whether some believers shall pass through a kind ofpurgatorial fire, and in proportionas they have loved with more or less devotion the goods that perish, be less or more quickly delivered from it. This cannot, however, be the case of any of those of whom it is said, that they ’shall not inherit the kingdom of God,’ unless after suitable repentance their sins be forgiven them. When I say ’suitable,’ I mean that theyare not to be unfruitful in almsgiving;for Holy Scripture lays somuch stress on this virtue, that our Lord tells us beforehand, that He will ascribe no merit to those on His right hand but that they abound in it, and no defect to those on His left hand but their want of it, when He shall say to the former, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom," and to the latter, ’Depart from me, ye cursed, intoeverlastingfire.’ " Augustine,Enchiridion,69(A.D. 421),in NPNF1,III:260 " During the time, moreover, which intervenes between a man’s death and the final resurrection, the soul dwells in a hidden retreat, where it enjoys rest or suffers affliction just in proportion to the merit it has earned by the life which it led on earth." Augustine,Enchiridion,1099(A.D. 421),in NPNF1,III:272 "For our part, we recognize that even in this life some punishments are purgatorial,--not, indeed, to those whose life is none the better, but rather the worse for them, but to those who are constrained by them to amend their life. All other punishments, whether temporal or eternal, inflicted as they are on every one by divine providence, are sent either on account of past sins, or of sins presently allowed in the life, or toexerciseandrevealaman’s graces. They may be inflicted by the instrumentality of bad men and angels as well as of the good. For even if any one suffers some hurt through another’s wickedness or mistake, the man indeed sins whose ignorance or injustice does the harm; but God, who by His just though hidden judgment permits it to be done, sins not. But temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But of those who suffer temporary punishments after death, all arenotdoomed to those everlasting pains which are to follow that judgment; for to some, as we have already said, what is not remitted in this world is remitted in the next, that is, they are not punished with the eternal punishment.of the world to come." Augustine,City of God,21:13(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:464 "But since she has this certainty regarding no man, she prays for all her enemies who yet live in this world; and yet she is not heard in behalf of all. But she is heard in the case of those only who, though they oppose the Church, are yet predestinated to become her sonsthrough her intercession. But if any retain an impenitent heart until death, and are not converted from enemies into sons, does the Church continue to pray for them, for the spirits, i.e., of such persons deceased? And why does she cease to pray for them, unless because the man who was not translated into Christ’s kingdom while he was in the body, is now judged to be of Satan’s following? It is then, I say, the same reason which prevents the Church at any time from praying for the wicked angels, which prevents her from praying hereafter for those men who are to be punished in eternal fire; and this also is the reason why, though she prays even for the wicked so long as they live, she yet does not even in this world pray for the unbelieving and godless who are dead. For some of thedead, indeed, the prayer of the Churchor of pious individuals is heard; but it is for those who, having been regenerated in Christ, did not spend their life so wickedly that they can be judged unworthy of such compassion, nor so well that they can be considered to have no need of it. As also, after the resurrection, there will be some of the dead to whom, after they have endured the pains proper to the spirits of the dead, mercy shall be accorded, and acquittal from the punishment of the eternal fire. For were there not some whose sins, though not remitted in this life, shall be remitted in that which is to come, it could not be truly said, "They shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in that which is to come.’ But when the Judge of quick and dead has said, ’Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,’ and to those on the other side, ’Depart from me, ye cursed, into theeternalfire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels,’ and ’These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,’ it were excessively presumptuous to say that the punishment of any of those whom God has said shall go away into eternal punishment shall not be eternal, and so bring either despair or doubt upon the corresponding promise of life eternal." Augustine,City of God,21:24(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:470 "If we neither give thanks to God in tribulations nor redeem our own sins by good works,we shall have to remain in that purgatorian fire as long as it takes for those above-mentioned lesser sins to be consumed like wood and straw and hay." (1 Corinthians,3:11-15) Ceasar of Arles,Sermon 179(104):2(A.D. 542),in JUR,III:283 "Each one will be presented to the Judge exactly as he was when he departed this life. Yet, there must be acleansing firebefore judgement,because of some minor faults that may remain tobe purged away. Does not Christ,the Truth,say that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit he shall not be forgiven ’either in this world or in the world to come’(Matthew 12:32)? From this statement we learn that some sins can be forgiven in this world andsome in the world to come. For, if forgiveness is refused for a particular sin, we conclude logically that it is granted for others. This must apply, as I said, to slight transgressions." Gregory the Great[regn. A.D. 590-604],Dialogues,4:39(A.D. 594),in FC,39:248 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1998 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 7C-DEATH,RESURECTION,NO REINCARNATION ======================================================================== Death, Resurrection and No reincarnation "We may subvert their doctrine as to transmigration from body to body by this fact, that souls remember nothing whatever of the events which took place in their previous states of existence. For if they were sent forth with this object, that they should have experience of every kind of action, they must of necessity retain a remembrance of those things which have been previously accomplished, that they might fill up those in which they were still deficient, and not by always hovering, without intermission, round the same pursuits, spend their labour wretchedly in vain (for the mere union of a body [with a soul] could not altogether extinguish the memory and contemplation of those things which had formerly been experienced), and especially as they came [into the world] for this very purpose." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,2,33:1(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:409-410 "With reference to these objections, Plato, that ancient Athenian, who also was the first to introduce this opinion, when he could not set them aside, invented the [notion of] a cup of oblivion, imagining that in this way he would escape this son of difficulty. He attempted no kind of proof [of his supposition], but simply replied dogmatically [to the objection in question], that when souls enter into this life, they are caused to drink of oblivion by that demon who watches their entrance [into the world], before they effect an entrance into the bodies [assigned them]. It escaped him, that [by speaking thus] he fell into another greater perplexity. For if the cup of oblivion, after it has been drunk, can obliterate the memory of all the deeds that have been done, how, O Plato,dost thou obtain the knowledge of this fact(since thy soul is now in the body), that, before it entered into the body, it was made to drink by the demon a drug which caused oblivion?" Irenaeus,Against Heresies,2,33:2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:410 "Come now, if some philosopher affirms, as Laberius holds, following an opinion of Pythagoras, that a man may have his origin from a mule, a serpent from a woman, and with skill of speech twists every argument to prove his view, will he not gain acceptance for and work in some the conviction that, on account of this, they should even abstain from eating animal food? May any one have the persuasion that he should so abstain, lest by chance in his beef he eats of some ancestor of his? But if a Christian promises the return of a man from a man, and the very actual Gaius from Gaius, the cry of the people will be to have him stoned; they will not even so much as grant him a hearing. If there is any ground for the moving to and fro of human souls into different bodies, why may they not return into the very substance they have left, seeing this isto be restored, to be that which had been?" Tertullian,Apology,48(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:52-53 "O ye philosophers do you teach us, and how usefully do you advise us, that after death rewards and punishments fall with lighter weight! whereas, if any judgment awaits souls at all, it ought rather to be supposed that it will be heavier at the conclusion of life than in the conduct thereof, since nothing is more complete than that which comes at the very last--nothing, moreover, is more complete than that which is especially divine. Accordingly, God’s judgment will be more full and complete, because it will be pronounced at the very last, in an eternal irrevocable sentence, both of punishment and of consolation, (on men whose) souls are not to transmigrate into beasts, but are to return into their own proper bodies. And all this once for all, and on ’that day, too, of which the Father only knoweth;’ (only knoweth,) in order that by her trembling expectation faith may make full trial of her anxious sincerity, keeping her gaze ever fixed on that day, in her perpetual ignorance of it, daily fearing that for which she yet daily hopes." Tertullian,Treatise on the Soul,23(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:215 "In order, then, as we have already stated, that we may prove them atheists, both in opinion and their mode (of treating a question) and in fact, and (in order to show) whence it is that their attempted theories have accrued unto them, and that they have endeavoured to establish their tenets, taking nothing from the holy Scriptures--nor is it from preserving the succession of any saint that they have hurried headlong into these opinion;--but that their doctrines have derived their origin from the wisdom of the Greeks, from the conclusions of those who have formed systems of philosophy, and from would-be mysteries, and the vagaries of astrologers...But most of all does he concur with the tenet of transition of souls from body to body, expressing himself thus:--’For surely both youth and maid I was, And shrub, and bird, and fish, from ocean stray’d.’ This (philosopher) maintained the transmutation of all souls into any description of animal. For Pythagoras, the instructor of these (sages), asserted that himself had been Euphorbus, who sewed in the expedition against Ilium, alleging that he recognised his shield.The foregoing are the tenets of Empedocles." Hippolytus,Refutation of All Heresies,Prol.,3(post A.D. 222),in ANF,V:10,13 " ’And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? and he said, I am not.’ No one can fail to remember in this connection what Jesus says of John, ’If ye will receive it, this is Elijah which is to come.’ How, then, does John come to say to those who ask him, ’Art thou Elijah?’--’I am not.’...As for the first point, one might say that John did not know that he was Elijah. This will be the explanation of those who find in our passage a support for their doctrine of transcorporation, as if the soul clothed itself in a fresh body and did not quite remember its former lives...Another, however, a churchman, who repudiates the doctrine of transcorporation as a false one, and does not admit that the soul of John ever was Elijah, may appeal to the above-quoted words of the angel, and point out that it is not the soul of Elijah that is spoken of atJohn’s birth, but the spirit and power of Elijah." (seeJohn 1:21) Origen,On John,6:7(A.D. 229),in ANF,X:355-356 "As for the spirits of the prophets, these are given to them by God, and are spoken of as being in a manner their property (slaves), as ’The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.’ and ’The spirit of Elijah rested upon Elisha.’ Thus, it is said, there is nothing absurd in supposing that John, ’in the spirit and power of Elijah,’ turned the hearts of the fathers to the children, and that it was on account of this spirit that he was called ’Elijah who was to come.’ " Origen,On John,6:7(A.D. 229),in ANF,X:356 "If the doctrine in question really was widely current, ought not John to have hesitated to pronounce upon it, lest his soul had actually been in Elijah? And here our churchman will appeal to history, and will bid his antagonists ask experts of the secret doctrines of the Hebrews, if they do really entertain such a belief. For if it should appear that they do not, then the argument based on that supposition is shown to be quite baseless." Origen,On John,6:7(A.D. 229),in ANF,X:357 "[I]n the opinion of Celsus and those like him, deemed inferior to him who degrades the Divinity not only to the level of rational and mortal animals, but even to that of irrational also!--a view which goes far beyond the mythical doctrine of transmigration, according to which the soul falls down from the summit of heaven, and enters into the body of brute beasts, both tame and savage! " Origen,Against Celsus,20(A.D. 248),in ANF,IV:404 "[W]e should cure those who have fallen into the folly of believing in the transmigration of souls through the teaching of physicians, who will have it that the rational nature descends sometimes into all kinds of irrationalanimals, and sometimes into that state of being which is incapable of using the imagination, why should we not improve the souls of our subjects by means of a doctrine which does not teach that a state of insensibility or irrationalism is produced in the wicked instead of punishment, but which shows that the labours and chastisements inflicted upon the wicked by God are a kind of medicines leading to conversion?" Origen,Against Celsus,75(A.D. 248),in ANF,IV:494 "[S]ome one might say, however, that Herod and some of those of the people held the false dogma of the transmigration of souls into bodies, in consequence of which they thought that the former John had appeared again by a fresh birth, and had come from the dead into life as Jesus. But the time between the birth of John and the birth of Jesus, which was not more than six months, does not permit this false opinion to be considered credible. And perhaps rather some such idea as this was in the mind of Herod, that the powers which wrought in John had passed over to Jesus, in consequence of which He was thought by the people to be John the Baptist. And one might use the following line of argument. Just as because of the spirit and the power of Elijah, and not because of his soul, it is said about John, ’This is Elijah which is to come,’ the spirit in Elijah and the power in him having gone over to John--so Herod thought that the powers in John wrought in his case works of baptism and teaching,--for John did not one miracle, but in Jesus miraculous portents." Origen,On Matthew,10:20(A.D. 249),in ANF,X:427 " ’[T]he Canaanitish woman, having come, worshipped Jesus as God, saying, ’Lord, help me,’ but He answered and said, "It is not possible to take the children’s bread and cast it to the little dogs.’ ...Let others, then, who are strangers to the doctrine of the Church, assume that souls pass from the bodies of men into the bodies of dogs, according to their varying degree of wickedness; but we, who do not find this at all in the divine Scripture"Origen,On Matthew,11:17(A.D. 249),in ANF,X:446-447 "In this place it does not appear to me that by Elijah the soul is spoken of, lest I should fall into the dogma of transmigration, which is foreign to the church of God, and not handed down by the Apostles, nor anywhere set forth in the Scriptures; for it is also in opposition to the saying that ’things seed are temporal,’ and that ’this age shall have a consummation,’ and also to the fulfilment of the saying, ’Heaven and earth shall pass away,’ and ’the fashion of this world passeth away,’ and ’the heavens shall perish,’ and what follows." Origen,On Matthew,13:1(A.D. 249),in ANF,X:474 "But if, of necessity, the Greeks who introduce the doctrine of transmigration, laying down things in harmony with it, do not acknowledge that the world is coming to corruption, it is fitting that when they have looked the Scriptures straight in the face which plainly declare that the world will perish, they should either disbelieve them, or invent a series of arguments in regard to the interpretation of the things concerning the consummation; which even if they wish they will not be able to do." Origen,On Matthew,13:1(A.D. 249),in ANF,X:475 "I say, is man’s real death, when souls which know not God shall be consumed in long-protracted torment with raging fire, into which certain fiercely cruel beings shall cast them, who were unknown before Christ, and brought to light only by His wisdom...Wherefore there is no reason that that should mislead us...But if that, too, which is said in the more hidden mysteries is true, that the souls of wicked men, on leaving their human bodies, pass into cattle and other creatures, it is even more clearly shown that we are allied to them, and not separated by any great interval, since it is on the same ground that both we and they are said to be living creatures, and to act as such." Arnobius, Against the Heathen, 2:14-16(A.D. 305),inANF,VI:440-441 "What of Pythagoras, who was first called a philosopher, who judged that souls were indeed immortal, but that they passed into other bodies, either of cattle, or of birds, or of beasts?Would it not have been better that they should be destroyed, together with their bodies, than thus to be condemned to pass into the bodies of other animals?Would it not be better not to exist at all, than, after having had the form of a man, to live as a swine or a dog? And the foolish man, to gain credit for his saying, said that he himself had been Euphorbus in the Trojan war, and that, when he had been slain, he passed into other figures of animals, and at last became Pythagoras. O happy man! To whom alone so great a memory was given; or rather unhappy, who, when changed into a sheep, was not permitted to be ignorant of what he was!" Lactanius, Divine Institutes,36(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:236 "Since then the doctrine involved in both these theories is open to criticism--the doctrine alike of those who ascribe to souls a fabulous pre-existence in a special state, and of those who think they were created at a later time than the bodies, it is perhaps necessary to leave none of the statements contained in the doctrines without examination: yet to engage and wrestle with the doctrines on each side completely, and to reveal all the absurdities involved in the theories, would need a large expenditure both of argument and of time; we shall, however, briefly survey as best we can each of the views mentioned, and then resume our subject.Those who stand by the former doctrine, and assert that the state of souls is prior to their life in the flesh, do not seem to me to be clear from the fabulous doctrines of the heathen which they hold on the subject of successive incorporation: for if one should search carefully, he will find that their doctrine is of necessity brought down to this. They tell us that one of their sages said that he, being one and the same person, was born a man, and afterwards assumed the form of a woman, and flew about with the birds, and grew as a bush, and obtained the life of an aquatic creature;--and he who said these things of himself did not, so far as I can judge, go far from the truth: for such doctrines as this of saying that one soul passed through so many changes are really fitting for the chatter of frogs or jackdaws, or the stupidity of fishes, or the insensibility of trees." Gregory of Nyssa,On the Making of Man,28:2,3(A.D. 379),in NPNF2,V:419 "Basil, great amongst the saints, had departed from this life to God; and the impulse to mourn for him was shared by all the churches. But his sister the Teacher was still living...As for the thinkers, the Teacher went on, outside our own system of thought, they have, with all their diverse ways of looking at things, one in one point, another in another, approached and touched the doctrine of the Resurrection: while they none of them exactly coincide with us, they have in no case wholly abandoned such an expectation. Some indeed make human nature vile in their comprehensiveness, maintaining that a soul becomes alternately that of a man and of something irrational; that it transmigrates into various bodies, changing at pleasure from the man into fowl, fish, or beast, and then returning to human kind. While some extend this absurdity even to trees and shrubs, so that they consider their wooden life as corresponding and akin to humanity,others of them hold only thus much--that the soul exchanges one man for another man, so that the life of humanity is continued always by means of the same souls, which, being exactly the same in number, are being born perpetually first in one generation, then in another. As for ourselves, we take our stand upon the tenets of the Church, and assert that it will be well to accept only so much of these speculations as is sufficient to show that those who indulge in them are to a certain extent in accord with the doctrine of the Resurrection." Gregory of Nyssa,On the Soul & Resurrection,(A.D. 379),in NPNF2,V:430,453-454 "It is a cause for wonder that though they do not believe in the resurrection, yet in their kindly care they make provision that the human race should not perish, and so say that souls pass and migrate into other bodies that the world may not pass away. But let them say which is the most difficult, for souls to migrate, or to return; come back to that which is their own, or seek for fresh dwelling places. But let those who have not been taught doubt. For us who have read the Law, the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Gospel it is not lawful to doubt. For who can doubt when he reads: ’And in that time shall all thy people besaved which is written in the book; and many of them that sleep in the graves of the earthshall arisewith one opening, these toeverlasting life, and those to shame andeverlasting confusion." Ambrose,On Belief in the Resurrection,65-66(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,X:18 "But is their opinion preferable, who say that our souls, when they have passed out of these bodies, migrate into the bodies of beasts, or of various other living creatures? Philosophers, indeed, themselves are wont to argue that these are ridiculous fancies of poets, such as might be produced by draughts of the drugs of Circe; and they say that not so much they who are represented to have undergone such things, as the senses of those who have invented such tales are changed into the forms of various beasts as it were by Circe’s cup. For what is so like a marvel as to believe that men could have been changed into the forms of beasts? How much greater a marvel, however, would it be that the soul which rules man should take on itself the nature of a beast so opposed to that of man, and being capable of reason should be able to pass over to an irrational animal, than that the form of the body should have been changed? You yourselves, who teach these things, destroy what you teach. For you have given up the production of these portentous conversions by means of magic incantations." Ambrose,On Belief in the Resurrection,127(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,X:195-196 "For if our soul be of the substance of God, but the process of its transmigration into new bodies brings it at last into cucumbers, and melons, and onions, why then the substance of God will pass into cucumbers!... Do ye see the filthiness of their impiety?--But why do they not wish the body to be raised? And why do they say the body is evil? " Chrysostom,On Acts,2:3(A.D 388),in NPNF1,XI:16 "Attack the silence of Pythagoras, and the Orphic beans, and the novel brag about ’The Master said.’ Attack the ideas of Plato, and the transmigrations and courses of our souls, and the reminiscences, and the unlovely loves of the soul for lovely bodies."Gregory of Nazianzen, First Oration, 9(ante A.D. 389), in NPNF2,VII:288 "As for doctrines on the soul, there is nothing excessively shameful that they have left unsaid; asserting that the souls of men become flies, and gnats, and bushes, and that God Himself is a soul; with some other the like indecencies." Chrysostom,On John,2:3(A.D 391),in NPNF1,XIV:5 "And as, if you uncover those sepulchers which are whitened without you will find them full of corruption, and stench, and rotten bones; so too the doctrines of the philosopher, if you strip them of their flowery diction, you will see to be full of much abomination, especially when he philosophizes on the soul, which he both honors and speaks ill of without measure. And this is the snare of the devil, never to keep due proportion, but by excess on either hand to lead aside those who are entangled by it into evil speaking. At one time he says, that the soul is of the substance of God; at another, after having exalted it thus immoderately and impiously, he exceeds again in a different way, and treats it with insult, making it pass into swine and asses, and other animals of yet less esteem than these." Chrysostom,On John,2:6(A.D 391),in NPNF1,XIV:6 "[A]void the nonsense of those arrogant philosophers who do not blush to liken their soul to that of a dog; who say that they have been formerly themselves women, shrubs, fish. Have they ever been fish? I do not know; but I do not fear to affirm that in their writings they show less sense thanfish." Basil,Hemaemeron,8:2(A.D. 393),in NPNF2,VIII:95-96 "We come next in the order of belief to the HOLY CHURCH. We have mentioned above why the Creed does not say here, as in the preceding article, ’In the Holy Church.’ They, therefore, who were taught above to believe in one God, under the mystery of the Trinity, must believe this also, that there is one holy Church in which there is one faith and one baptism, in which is believed one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, and one Holy Ghost. This is that holy Church which is without spot or wrinkle. For many others have gathered together Churches, as Marcion, and Valentinus, and Ebion, and Manichaeus, and Arius, and all the otherheretics. But those Churches are not without spot or wrinkle of unfaithfulness. And therefore the Prophet said of them, ’I hate the Church of the malignants, and I will not sit with the ungodly.’ But of this Church which keeps tim faith of Christ entire, hear what the Holy Spirit says in the Canticles, ’My Glove is one; the perfect one of her mother is one.’ He then who receives this faith in the Church let him not turn aside in the Council of vanity, and let him not enter in with those who practise iniquity. For Marcion’s assembly is a Council of vanity in that he denies that the Father of Christ is God, the Creator, who by His Son made the world. Ebion’s is a Council of vanity since he teaches that, while we believe in Christ, we are withal to observe the circumcision of the flesh, the keeping of the Sabbath, the accustomed sacrifices, and all the other ordinances according to the letter of the Law.Manichaeus’ is a Council of vanity in regard of his teaching; first in that he calls himself the Paraclete, then that he says that the world was made by an evil God, denies God the Creator, rejects the Old Testament, asserts two natures, one good the other evil, mutually opposing one another, affirms that men’s souls are co-eternal with God, that, according to the Pythagoreans, they return through divers circles of nativity into cattle and animals and beasts, denies the resurrection of our flesh, maintains that the passion and nativity of theLord were not in the verity of flesh, but only inappearance." Rufinus,On Apostles Creed,(A.D. 404),in NPNF2,III:558 "Then, lest he should be held guilty of maintaining with Pythagoras the transmigration of souls, he winds up the wicked reasoning with which he has wounded his reader." Jerome,To Avitus,124(A.D. 410),in NPNF2,VI:239-240 "The opinion, therefore, of some Platonists, that there is a necessary revolution carrying souls away and bringing them round again to the same things, is false." Augustine,City of God,10:30(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:201 "For if we say that no such thing shall be reproduced in the body of a man, they suppose that they confute us by citing the marks of the wounds which we assert were found in the risen body of the Lord Christ But of all these, the most difficult question is, into whose body that flesh shall return which has been eaten and assimilated by another man constrained by hunger to use it so; for it has been converted into the flesh of the man who used it as his nutriment, and it filled up those losses of flesh which famine had produced. For the sake, then, of ridiculing the resurrection, they ask, Shall this return to the man whose flesh it first was, or to him whose flesh it afterwards became? And thus, too, they seek to give promise to the human soul of alternations of true misery and false happiness, in accordance with Plato’s theory; or, in accordance with Porphyry’s, that, after many transmigrations into different bodies, it ends its miseries. and never more returns to them, not, however, by obtaining an immortal body, but by escaping from every kind of body." Augustine,City of God,22:12(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:494 "He even supposed in accordance with the teachings of Pythagoras and Plato on ’the transmigration of souls,’ that he was possessed of Alexander’s soul, or rather that he himself was Alexander in another body. This ridiculous fancy deluded and caused him to reject the negotiations for peace proposed by the king of the Persians." Socrates Scholasticus,Church History,2:21(A.D. 439),in NPNF2,II:90 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. More On Reincarnation Members of what is commonly called the "New Age" movement often claim that early Christians believed in reincarnation. Shirley MacLaine, an avid New Age disciple, recalls being taught: "The theory of reincarnation is recorded in the Bible. But the proper interpretations were struck from it during an ecumenical council meeting of the Catholic Church in Constantinople sometime around A.D. 553, called the Council of Nicaea [sic]" (Out on a Limb, 234-35). Historical facts provide no basis for this claim. In fact, there was no Council of Nicaea in A.D. 553. Further, the two ecumenical councils of Nicaea (A.D. 325 and A.D. 787) took place in the city of Nicaea (hence their names)-and neither dealt with reincarnation. What did take place in A.D. 553 was the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople. But records from this Council show that it, too, did not address the subject of reincarnation. None of the early councils did. The closest the Second Council of Constantinople came to addressing reincarnation was, in one sentence, to condemn Origen, an early Church writer who believed souls exist in heaven before coming to earth to be born. New Agers confuse this belief in the preexistence of the soul with reincarnation and claim that Origen was a reincarnationist. Actually, he was one of the most prolific early writers against reincarnation! Because he is so continually misrepresented by New Agers, we have included a number of his quotes below, along with passages from other sources, all of which date from before A.D. 553, when the doctrine of reincarnation was supposedly "taken out of the Bible." The origin of Shirley MacLaine’s mistaken notion that Origen taught reincarnation is probably Reincarnation in Christianity, by Geddes MacGregor-a book published by the Theosophical Publishing House in 1978. The author speculates that Origen’s texts written in support of the belief in reincarnation somehow disappeared or were suppressed. Admitting he has no evidence, MacGregor nonetheless asserts: "I am convinced he taught reincarnation in some form" (58). You may judge from the passages below whether this seems likely. Irenaeus "We may undermine [the Hellenists’] doctrine as to transmigration from body to body by this fact-that souls remember nothing whatever of the events which took place in their previous states of existence. For if they were sent forth with this object, that they should have experience of every kind of action, they must of necessity retain a remembrance of those things which have been previously accomplished, that they might fill up those in which they were still deficient, and not by always hovering, without intermission, through the same pursuits, spend their labor wretchedly in vain. . . . With reference to these objections, Plato . . . attempted no kind of proof, but simply replied dogmatically that when souls enter into this life they are caused to drink of oblivion by that demon who watches their entrance, before they effect an entrance into the bodies. It escaped him that he fell into another, greater perplexity. For if the cup of oblivion, after it has been drunk, can obliterate the memory of all the deeds that have been done, how, O Plato, do you obtain the knowledge of this fact . . . ?" (Against Heresies 2:33:1-2 [A.D. 189]). Tertullian "Come now, if some philosopher affirms, as Laberius holds, following an opinion of Pythagoras, that a man may have his origin from a mule, a serpent from a woman, and with skill of speech twists every argument to prove his view, will he not gain an acceptance for it [among the pagans], and work in some conviction that on account of this, they should abstain from eating animal food? May anyone have the persuasion that he should abstain, lest, by chance, in his beef he eats some ancestor of his? But if a Christian promises the return of a man from a man, and the very actual Gaius [resurrected] from Gaius . . . they will not . . . grant him a hearing. If there is any ground for the moving to and fro of human souls into different bodies, why may they not return to the very matter they have left . . . ?" (Apology 48 [A.D. 197]). Origen "[Scripture says] ‘And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" and he said, "I am not"’ [John 1:21]. No one can fail to remember in this connection what Jesus says of John: ‘If you will receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come’ [Matthew 11:14]. How then does John come to say to those who ask him, ‘Are you Elijah?’-‘I am not’? . . . One might say that John did not know that he was Elijah. This will be the explanation of those who find in our passage a support for their doctrine of reincarnation, as if the soul clothed itself in a fresh body and did not quite remember its former lives. . . . [H]owever, a churchman, who repudiates the doctrine of reincarnation as a false one and does not admit that the soul of John was ever Elijah, may appeal to the above-quoted words of the angel, and point out that it is not the soul of Elijah that is spoken of at John’s birth, but the spirit and power of Elijah" (Commentary on John 6:7 [A.D. 229]). "As for the spirits of the prophets, these are given to them by God and are spoken of as being in a manner their property [slaves], as ‘The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets’ [1 Corinthians 14:32] and ‘The spirit of Elijah rested upon Elisha’ [2 Kings 2:15]. Thus, it is said, there is nothing absurd in supposing that John, ‘in the spirit and power of Elijah,’ turned the hearts of the fathers to the children and that it was on account of this spirit that he was called ‘Elijah who is to come’" (ibid.). "If the doctrine [of reincarnation] was widely current, ought not John to have hesitated to pronounce upon it, lest his soul had actually been in Elijah? And here our churchman will appeal to history, and will bid his antagonists [to] ask experts of the secret doctrines of the Hebrews if they do really entertain such a belief. For if it should appear that they do not, then the argument based on that supposition is shown to be quite baseless" (ibid.). "Someone might say, however, that Herod and some of those of the people held the false dogma of the transmigration of souls into bodies, in consequence of which they thought that the former John had appeared again by a fresh birth, and had come from the dead into life as Jesus. But the time between the birth of John and the birth of Jesus, which was not more than six months, does not permit this false opinion to be considered credible. And perhaps rather some such idea as this was in the mind of Herod, that the powers which worked in John had passed over to Jesus, in consequence of which he was thought by the people to be John the Baptist. And one might use the following line of argument: Just as because the spirit and the power of Elijah, and not because of his soul, it is said about John, ‘This is Elijah who is to come’ [Matthew 11:14] . . . so Herod thought that the powers in John’s case worked in him works of baptism and teaching-for John did not do one miracle [John 10:41]-but in Jesus [they worked] miraculous portents" (Commentary on Matthew 10:20 [A.D. 248]). "Now the Canaanite woman, having come, worshipped Jesus as God, saying, ‘Lord, help me,’ but he answered and said, ‘It is not possible to take the children’s bread and cast it to the little dogs.’ . . . [O]thers, then, who are strangers to the doctrine of the Church, assume that souls pass from the bodies of men into the bodies of dogs, according to their varying degree of wickedness; but we . . . do not find this at all in the divine Scripture" (ibid., 11:17). "In this place [when Jesus said Elijah was come and referred to John the Baptist] it does not appear to me that by Elijah the soul is spoken of, lest I fall into the doctrine of transmigration, which is foreign to the Church of God, and not handed down by the apostles, nor anywhere set forth in the scriptures" (ibid., 13:1). "But if . . . the Greeks, who introduce the doctrine of transmigration, laying down things in harmony with it, do not acknowledge that the world is coming to corruption, it is fitting that when they have looked the scriptures straight in the face which plainly declare that the world will perish, they should either disbelieve them or invent a series of arguments in regard to the interpretation of things concerning the consummation; which even if they wish they will not be able to do" (ibid.). Lactantius "What of Pythagoras, who was first called a philosopher, who judged that souls were indeed immortal, but that they passed into other bodies, either of cattle or of birds or of beasts? Would it not have been better that they should be destroyed, together with their bodies, than thus to be condemned to pass into the bodies of other animals? Would it not be better not to exist at all than, after having had the form of a man, to live as a swine or a dog? And the foolish man, to gain credit for his saying, said that he himself had been Euphorbus in the Trojan war, and that when he had been slain he passed into other figures of animals, and at last became Pythagoras. O happy man!-to whom alone so great a memory was given! Or rather unhappy, who when changed into a sheep was not permitted to be ignorant of what he was! And [I] would to heaven that he [Pythagoras] alone had been thus senseless!" (Epitome of the Divine Institutes 36 [A.D. 317]). Gregory of Nyssa "[I]f one should search carefully, he will find that their doctrine is of necessity brought down to this. They tell us that one of their sages said that he, being one and the same person, was born a man, and afterward assumed the form of a woman, and flew about with the birds, and grew as a bush, and obtained the life of an aquatic creature-and he who said these things of himself did not, so far as I can judge, go far from the truth, for such doctrines as this-of saying that one should pass through many changes-are really fitting for the chatter of frogs or jackdaws or the stupidity of fishes or the insensibility of trees" (The Making of Man 28:3 [A.D. 379]). Ambrose of Milan "It is a cause for wonder that though they [the heathen] . . . say that souls pass and migrate into other bodies. . . . But let those who have not been taught doubt [the resurrection]. For us who have read the law, the prophets, the apostles, and the gospel, it is not lawful to doubt" (Belief in the Resurrection 65-66 [A.D. 380]). "But is their opinion preferable who say that our souls, when they have passed out of these bodies, migrate into the bodies of beasts or of various other living creatures? . . . For what is so like a marvel as to believe that men could have been changed into the forms of beasts? How much greater a marvel, however, would it be that the soul which rules man should take on itself the nature of a beast so opposed to that of man, and being capable of reason should be able to pass over to an irrational animal, than that the form of the body should have been changed?" (ibid., 127). John Chrysostom "As for doctrines on the soul, there is nothing excessively shameful that they [the disciples of Plato and Pythagoras] have left unsaid, asserting that the souls of men become flies and gnats and bushes and that God himself is a [similar] soul, with some other the like indecencies. . . . At one time he says that the soul is of the substance of God; at another, after having exalted it thus immoderately and impiously, he exceeds again in a different way, and treats it with insult, making it pass into swine and asses and other animals of yet less esteem than these" (Homilies on John 2:3; John 2:6 [A.D. 391]). Basil the Great "[A]void the nonsense of those arrogant philosophers who do not blush to liken their soul to that of a dog, who say that they have themselves formerly been women, shrubs, or fish. Have they ever been fish? I do not know, but I do not fear to affirm that in their writings they show less sense than fish" (The Six Days’ Work 8:2 [A.D. 393]). NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors. Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004 IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827 permission to publish this work is hereby granted. +Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004 Physical Resurrection of the Flesh "And letno one of you saythat this very flesh shall not be judged,nor rise again. Consider ye in what state ye were saved, in what ye received sight, if not while ye were in this flesh. We must therefore preserve the flesh as thetemple of God. For as ye were called in the flesh, ye shall also come to be judged in the flesh. As Christ the Lord who saved us, though He was first a Spirit, became flesh, and thus called us, so shall we also receive the reward in this flesh." So Called 2nd Letter of Clement,9:1(A.D. 150),inANF,VII:519 "Such favour as you grant to these, grant also to us, who not less but more firmly than they believe in God; since we expect to receive again our own bodies, though they be dead and cast into the earth, for we maintain that with God nothing is impossible." Justin Martyr,First Apology,18(A.D. 155),in ANF,I:169 "If He had no need of the flesh, why did He heal it? And what is most forcible of all, Heraised the dead. Why? Was it notto show what the resurrection should be? How then did He raise the dead? Their souls or their bodies? Manifestly both. If the resurrection were only spiritual, it was requisite that He, in raising the dead, should show the body lying apart by itself, and the soul living apart by itself. But now He did not do so, but raised the body, confirming in it the promise of life. Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm this, when His disciples did not know whether to believe He had truly risen in the body, and were looking upon Him and doubting, He said to them, ’Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I;’ and He let them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the nails in His hands. And when they were by every kind of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the body, they asked Him to eat with them, that they might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had in verity risen bodily; and He did eat honey-comb and fish. And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), ’He was taken up into heaven while they beheld,’ as He was in the flesh. If, therefore, after all that has been said, any one demand demonstration of the resurrection, he is in no respect different from the Sadducees, since the resurrection of the flesh is the power of God, and, being above all reasoning, is established by faith, and seen in works." Justin Martyr,On the Resurrestion,9(ante A.D. 165),in ANF,I:298 "And on this account we believe that there will be a resurrection of bodies after the consummation of all things; not, as the Stoics affirm, according to the return of certain cycles, the same things being produced and destroyed for no useful purpose, but a resurrection once for all, when our periods of existence are completed..." Tatian,To the Greeks,6(A.D. 175),in ANF,II:67 "The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth,has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead ..." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,1:10,1(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:330 "Moreover also, that His power is sufficient for the raising of dead bodies, is shown by the creation of these same bodies. For if, when they did not exist, He made at their first formation the bodies of men, and their original elements, He will, when they are dissolved, in whatever manner that may take place, raise them again with equal ease: for this, too, is equally possible to Him." Athenagoras,Resurrection of the Dead,3(A.D. 180),in ANF,II:150 "Now, with regard to this rule of faith--that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend--it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is ... the resurrection of both these classes shall have happened, together with the restoration of their flesh." Tertullian, Prescription Against the Heretics,13(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:249 "The word dead expresses simply what has lost the vital principle, by means of which it used to live. Now the body is that which loses life, and as the result of losing it becomes dead. To the body, therefore, the term dead is only suitable. Moreover, as resurrection accrues to what is dead, and dead is a term applicable only to a body, therefore the body alone has a resurrection incidental to it. So again the word Resurrection, or (rising affairs), embraces only that which has fallen down. ’To rise,’ indeed, can be predicated of that which has never fallen down, but had already been always lying down. But ’to rise again’ is predicable only of that which has fallen down; because it is by rising again, in consequence of its having fallen down, that it is said to have re-risen." Tertullian, Against Marcion,5:9(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:447 "And so the flesh shall rise again, wholly in every man, in its own identity, in its absolute integrity." Tertullian,On the Resurrection of the Flesh,63(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:593 "He will accomplish a resurrection of all, not by transferring souls into other bodies, but by raising the bodies themselves."Hippolytus,Against the Greeks,2(A.D. 225),in ANF,V:222 "[T]here is to be a time of resurrection from the dead, when this body, which now ’is sown in corruption, shall rise in incorruption,’ and that which ’is sown in dishonour will rise in glory.’ " Origen,First Principles,Pref:5(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:240 "[I]t is not new bodies which are given to those who rise from the dead, but that they receive those identical ones which they had possessed when living, transformed from an inferior into a better condition." Origen,First Principles,3:6(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:347 "Thus also the body that was laid in the earth is that which shall rise again." Aphraates,Treatises,8:3(A.D. 345),in NPNF2,XIII:375 "The root of all good works is the hope of the Resurrection; for the expectation of the recompensenerves the soul to good works. For every labourer is ready to endure the toils, if he sees their reward in prospect; but when men weary themselves for nought, their heart soon sinks as well as their body. A soldier who expects a prize is ready for war, but no one is forward to die for a king who is indifferent about those who serve under him, and bestows no honours on their toils. In like manner every soul believing in a Resurrection is naturally careful of itself; but, disbelieving it, abandons itself to perdition. He who believes that his body shall remain to rise again, is careful of his robe, and defiles it not with fornication; but he who disbelieves the Resurrection, gives himself to fornication, and misuses his own body, as though it were not his own. Faith therefore in the Resurrection of the dead, is a great commandment and doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church; great and most necessary, though gainsaid by many, yet surely warranted by the truth. Greeks contradict it, Samaritans disbelieve it, heretics mutilate it; the contradiction is manifold, but the truth is uniform."Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 18:1(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:132 "But especially mark this, how very pointedly Paul says, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. For this body shall be raised not remaining weak as now; but raised the very same body, though by putting on incorruption it shall be fashioned anew,--as iron blending with fire becomes fire, or rather as He knows how, the Lord who raises us. This body therefore shall be raised, but it shall abide not such as it now is, but an eternal body; no longer needing for its life such nourishment as now, nor stairs for its ascent, for it shall be made spiritual, a marvellous thing, such as we cannot worthily speak of. Then, it is said. shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, and the moon, and as the brightness of the firmament." Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures,18:18(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:139 "Now what we are to understand by the privilege of rising again and being judged is declared by the Lord in theGospels..." Hilary of Poitiers, Psalms,1:20(A.D. 365), in NPNF2,IX:241 "As for those who profess to be Christian but are followers of Origen, and who confess the resurrection of the dead, of our body and of the body of the Lord, of that holy body received from Mary, but who at the same time say that the same flesh does not rise, but other flesh is given in its place by God; are we not to say that this opinion exceeds all others in its impiety." Epiphanius,The Man Well Anchored,87(A.D. 374),in JUR,II:70 "We believe ... in the resurrection of the dead..." Creed of Epiphanius(A.D. 374),in DEN,10 "We look foward to the resurrection of the dead..." Creed of Constantinople(A.D. 381),in Ecclesiastes,298 "It must be evident that, whatever the members, the hair, the flesh, the bones, were in which Christ rose, in the same shall we also rise. For this purpose be offered himself to the, disciples to touch afterhis resurrection, so that no hesitation as to his resurrection should remain. Since then Christ has given his own resurrection as a typical instance, one that is quite evident, and (as I may say) capable of being felt and handled by the hand, who can be so mad as to think that he himself will rise otherwise than as He rose who opened the door of the resurrection? This also confirms the truth of this confession of ours that, while it is the actual natural flesh and no other which will rise, vet it will rise purged from its faults and having laid aside its corruption." Rufinus,Apology,I:6(A.D. 400),in NPNF2,III:437 "[S]o God, the Artificer of marvellous and unspeakable power, shall with marvellous and unspeakable rapidity restore our body, using up the whole material of which it originally consisted. Nor will it affect the completeness of its restoration whether hairs return to hairs, and nails to nails, or whether the part of these that had perished be changed into flesh, and called to take its place in another part of the body, the great Artist taking careful heed that nothing shall be unbecoming or out of place." Augustine,Enchiridion,89(A.D. 421),in NPNF1,III:266 "From all that we have thus considered, and discussed with such poor ability as we can command, we gather this conclusion, that in the resurrection of the flesh the body shall be of that size which it either had attained or should have attained in the flower of its youth, and shall enjoy the beauty that arises from preserving symmetry and proportion in all its members. And it is reasonable to suppose that, for the preservation of this beauty, any part of the body’s substance, which, if placed in one spot, would produce a deformity, shall be distributed through the whole of it, so that neither any part, nor the symmetry of the whole, may be lost, but only the general stature of the body somewhat increased by the distribution in all the parts of that which, in one place, would have been unsightly. Or if it is contended that each will rise with the same stature as that of the body he died in, we shall not obstinately dispute this, provided only there be no deformity, no infirmity, no languor, no corruption,--nothing of any kind which would ill become that kingdom in which the children of the resurrection and of the promise shall be equal to the angels of God, if not in body and age, at least in happiness." Augustine,City of God,22:20:1(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:498-499 "We believe also in the resurrection of the dead. For there will be in truth, there will be, a resurrection of the dead, and by resurrection we mean resurrection of bodies. For resurrection is the second state of that which has fallen. For the souls are immortal, and hence how can they rise again? For if they define death as the separation of soul and body, resurrection surely is the re-union of soul and body, and the second state of the living creature that has suffered dissolution and downfall. It is, then, this very body, which is corruptible and liable to dissolution, that will rise again incorruptible. For He, who made it in the beginning of the sand of the earth, does not lack the power to raise it up again after it has been dissolved again and returned to the earth from which it was taken, in accordance with the reversal of the Creator’s judgment." John of Damascus,Orthodox Faith,27(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:99 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 7D-CHRISTS RESURECTION, & INTERCESSION OF SAINTS ======================================================================== Physical Resurrection "For I know that after His resurrection also He was still possessed of flesh, and I believe that He is so now." Ignatius,To the Smyrnaens,3(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:87 "[T]he first proof, an opening in the heavens; the next proof, the sounding of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead."Didache,16:6(A.D. 140),in ACW,VI:25 "The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and theresurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, ourLord..." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,1,10:1(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:330 "But you do not believe that the dead are raised. When the resurrection shall take place, then you will believe, whether you will or no; and your faith shall be reckoned for unbelief, unless you believe now." Theophilus,To Autolycus,1:8(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:91 "Now, with regard to this rule of faith--that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend--it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son, and, under the name of God, was seen ’in diverse manners’ by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ; thenceforth He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of heaven, worked miracles; having been crucified, Herose again the third day; (then) having ascended into the heavens, He sat at the right hand of the Father; sent instead of Himself the Power of the Holy Ghost to lead such as believe; will come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of everlasting life and of the heavenly promises, and to condemn the wicked to everlasting fire, afterthe resurrection of both these classes shall have happened, together with the restoration of their flesh. This rule, as it will be proved, was taught by Christ, and raises amongst ourselves no other questions than those which heresies introduce, and which make men heretics." Tertullian,Prescription Against the Heretics,3:13(A.D. 200),in ANF III:249 "Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm this, when His disciples did not know whether to believe He had truly risen in the body, and were looking upon Him and doubting, He said to them, ’Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I;’ and He let them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the nails in His hands. And when they were by every kind of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the body, they asked Him to eat with them, that they might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had in verity risen bodily;and He did eat honey-comb and fish. And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), ’He was taken up into heaven while they beheld,’ as He was in the flesh."Justin Martyr, On the Resurrection, 9(A.D. 165), in ANF, I:298 "Moreover also, that His power is sufficient for the raising of dead bodies, is shown by the creation of these same bodies. For if, when they did not exist, He made at their first formation the bodies of men, and their original elements, He will, when they are dissolved, in whatever manner that may take place, raise them again with equal ease: for this, too, is equally possible to Him. " Athenagoras, Resurrection of the Dead, 3(A.D. 180), in ANF,II:150 "Let no heretic ever persuade thee to speak evil of the Resurrection. For to this day the Manichees say, that, the resurrection of the Saviour was phantom-wise, and not real, not heeding Paul who says, Who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and again, By the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead." Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 14:20(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:99 "The Faith which we rehearse contains in order the following, ’AND IN ONE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCEFOR THE REMISSION OF SINS; AND IN ONE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH; AND IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH; AND IN ETERNAL LIFE.’ " Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 18:22(A.D. 350), inNPNF2,VII:139 "[God] will repair what has been shattered, but not by mending it with something else. Rather, out of the old and very same material of its origin He will impart to it an appearance of beauty pleasing to Himself; and the resurrection of corruptible bodies in the glory of incorruption will not take away their nature by utter destruction thereof, but will work only a qualitative change of condition." Hilary of Poitiers, On the Psalms, 2:41(A.D. 365), in JUR, 1:384 "For the word was made flesh, he did not submit to an alteration, nor did he change his own divine nature and the human into the only holy pefection of himself ... the same suffered in the flesh andarose againand ascended into heaven with the very body and sits in glory at the eight hand of the Father, in thatvery body he is coming in gloryto judge the living and the dead" Epiphanius, 2nd Creed(A.D. 374), in DEN,10 "If the earth and heaven are renewed, why should we doubt that man, on account of whom heaven and earth were made, can be renewed? If the transgressor be reserved for punishment, why should not the just be keptfor glory? If the worm of sins does not die, how shall the flesh of the just perish? For the resurrection, as the very form of the word shows, is this, that what has fallen should rise again, that which has died should come to life again." Ambrose, On the Death of His Brother Satyrus ,II:87(A.D. 378), in NPNF2,X:188 "I mean that connected with the body, will dissolve the material which has received the evil, and, re-moulding it again by the Resurrection without any admixture of the contrary matter, will recombine the elements into the vessel in its original beauty." Gregory of Nyssa, Catechism, 8(A.D. 385), in NPNF2,V:483 "The potter in Jeremiah, whose vessel, which he had made, was broken through the roughness of the stone, restored from the same lump and from the same clay that which had fallen to pieces; and, if we look at the word resurrection itself, itdoes not meanthat one thing is destroyed, another raised up; and the addition of the word dead, points to our own flesh, for that which in man dies, that is also brought to life. The wounded man on the road to Jericho is taken to the inn with all his limbs complete, and the stripes of his offences are healed withimmortality."Jerome, Against John of Jerusalem, 33(A.D. 397), in NPNF2,VI:441 "Thus then the substance of each individual flesh, though its particles have been variously and diversely scattered, has within it an immortal principle, since it is the flesh of an immortal soul, and at the time which God in His good pleasure shall appoint, there will be collected from the earth and drawn to it, its own component particles, which willbe restored to that form which death had formerly dissolved." Rufinus, Commentary on the Apostle’s Creed, 43(A.D.404), in NPNF2,III:560 "But granting that this was once incredible, behold, now, the world has come to the belief that the earthly body of Christ was received up into heaven. Already both the learned and unlearned have believed in the resurrection of the flesh and its ascension to the heavenly places, while only a very few either of the educated or uneducated are still staggered by it...It is indubitable that the resurrection of Christ, and His ascension into heaven with the flesh in which He rose, is already preached and believed in the whole world." Augustine, City of God, 22:5(A.D. 401), in NPNF1,II:482 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved. Veneration and Invocation of the Saints "[T]hat it is neither possible for us ever to forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of such as shall be saved throughout the whole world (the blameless one for sinners), nor to worship any other. For Him indeed, as being the Son of God, we adore; but the martyrs, as disciples and followers of the Lord, we worthily love on account of their extraordinary affection towards their own King and Master, of whom may we also be made companions and fellow disciples! The centurion then, seeing the strife excited by the Jews, placed the body in the midst of the fire, and consumed it. Accordingly, we afterwards took up his bones, as being more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more purified than gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, whither, being gathered together, as opportunity is allowed us, with joy and rejoicing, the Lord shall grant us to celebrate the anniversary of his martyrdom, both in memory of those who have already finished their course, and for the exercising and preparation of those yet to walk in their steps." Martyrdom of Polycarp 17,18(A.D. 157), in ANF,I:43 "[Appealing to the three companions of Daniel] Think of me, I beseech you, so that I may achieve with you the same fate of martyrdom" Hippolytus of Rome, On Daniel,11:30(A.D. 204), in OTT,319 "As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honours." Tertullian, The Crown, 3(A.D. 211), in ANF,III:94 . "Nor is that kind of title to glories in the case of Celerinus, our beloved, an unfamiliar and novel thing. He is advancing in the footsteps of his kindred; he rivals his parents and relations in equal honours of divine condescension. His grandmother, Celerina, was some time sincecrowned with martyrdom. Moreover, his paternal and maternal uncles, Laurentius and Egnatius, who themselves also were once warring in the camps of the world, but were true and spiritual soldiers of God, casting down the devil by the confession of Christ, merited palms and crowns from the Lord by their illustrious passion. We always offer sacrifices for them, as you remember, as often as we celebrate the passions and days of the martyrs in the annual commemoration. Nor could he, therefore, be degenerate and inferior whom this family dignity and a generous nobility provoked, by domestic examples of virtue and faith. But if in a worldlyfamily it is a matter of heraldry and of praise to be a patrician, of bow much greater praise and honour is it to become of noble rank in the celestial heraldry! I cannot tell whom I should call more blessed,--whether those ancestors, for a posterity so illustrious, or him, for an origin so glorious. So equally between them does the divine condescension flow, and pass to and fro, that, just as the dignity of their offspring brightens their crown, so the sublimity of his ancestry illuminates his glory." Cyprian, To Clergy and People, Epistle 33(39):3(A.D. 250), in ANF,V:313 "I am also of opinion that there were many persons of the same name with John the apostle, who by their love for him, and their admiration and emulation of him, and their desire to be loved by the Lord as he was loved, were induced to embrace also the same designation, just as we find many of the children of the faithful called by the names of Paul and Peter." Dionysius of Alexandria,Books of Promises,5(A.D. 257),in ANF,VI:83 "Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, that at their prayers and intercessions God would receive our petition.Then on behalf also of the Holy Fathers and Bishops who have fallen asleep before us, and in a word of all who in past years have fallen asleep among us, believing that it will be a very great benefittothe souls, for whom the supplicationis put up, while that holy and most awful sacrifice is set forth." Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,23:9(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:154 " Thus might you console us; but what of the flock? Would you first promise the oversight and leadership of yourself, a man under whose wings we all would gladly repose, and for whose words we thirst more eagerly than men suffering from thirst for the purest fountain? Secondly, persuade us that the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep(a) has not even now left us; but is present, and tends and guides, and knows his own, and is known of his own, and, though bodily invisible, is spiritually recognized, and defends his flock against the wolves, and allows no one to climb over into the fold as a robber and traitor; to pervert and steal away, by the voice of strangers, souls under the fair guidance of the truth. Aye, I am well assured thathis intercession is of more availnow than was his instruction in former days, since he is closer to God, now that he has shaken off his bodily fetters, and freed his mind from the clay which obscured it, and holds intercourse naked with the nakedness of the prime and purest Mind; being promoted, if it be not rash to say so, tothe rank and confidence of an angel."John Chrysostom,On the Death of his Father,Oration 18:4(A.D. 374),in NPNF2,VII:255-256 "He voluntarily undertook all the toil of the journey; he moderated the energy of the faithful on the spot; he persuaded opponents by his arguments; in the presence of priests and deacons, and of many others who fear the Lord,he took up the relicswith all becoming reverence, and has aided the brethren in their preservation. These relics do you receive with a joy equivalent to the distress with which their custodians have parted with them and sent them to you. Let none dispute; let none doubt. Here you have that unconquered athlete. These bones, which shared in the conflict with the blessed soul, are known to the Lord. These bones He will crown, together with that soul, in the righteous day of His requital, as it is written, ’we must stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each may give an account of the deeds he has done in the body.’ One coffin held that honoured corpse. None other lay by his side. The burial was a noble one; the honours of a martyr were paid him. Christians who had welcomed him as a guest and then with their own handslaid him in the grave, have now disinterred him. They have wept as men bereaved of a father and a champion. But they have sent him to you, for they put your joy before their own consolation. Pious were the hands that gave; scrupulously careful were the hands that received. There has been no room for deceit; no room for guile. I bear witness to this. Let the untainted truth be accepted by you." Basil,To Ambrose bishop of Milan, Epistle 197(A.D. 375), in NPNF2,VIII:235 "Futhermore, as to mentioning the names of the dead,how is there anything very useful in that? What is more timely or more excellent than that those who are still here shouldbelieve that the departeddo live, and that they have not retreated into nothingness, but that they exist and are alive with the Master...Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf...For we make commemoration of the just and of sinners:of sinners, begging God’s mercyfor them; of the just and the Fathers and Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists and martyrs and confessors, and of bishops and solitaries, and of the whole list of them..." Epiphanius,Panarion,75:8(A.D. 377),in JUR,II:75-76 "Only may that power come upon us which strengthens weakness, through the prayers of him[i.e. St. Paul] who made his own strength perfect in bodily weakness" Gregory of Nyssa,Against Eunomius,1:1(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,V:36 "But God forbid that any in this fair assembly should appear there suffering such things! but by the prayers of the holy fathers, correcting all our offences, and having shown forth the abundant fruit of virtue, may we depart hence with much confidence." Chrysostom,On Statues, Homily 6:19(A.D. 387), in NPNF1,IX:389-390 "We, it is true, refuse to worship or adore, I say not the relics of the martyrs, but even the sun and moon, the angels and archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim and ’every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come.’ For we may not "serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Still we honour the relics of the martyrs, that we may adore Him whose martyrs they are. We honour the servants that their honour may be reflected upon their Lord who Himself says:--’he that receiveth you receiveth me.’ I ask Vigilantius, Are the relics of Peter and of Paul unclean? Was the body of Moses unclean, of which we are told (according to the correct Hebrew text) that it was buried by the Lord Himself? And do we, every time that we enter the basilicas of apostles and prophets and martyrs, pay homage to the shrines of idols? Are the tapers which burn before their tombs only the tokens of idolatry? I will go farther still and ask a question which will make this theory recoil upon the head of its inventor and which will either kill or cure that frenzied brain of his, so that simple souls shall be no more subverted by his sacrilegious reasonings. Let him answer me this, Was theLord’s body unclean when it was placed in the sepulchre? And did the angels clothed in white raiment merely watch over a corpse dead and defiled, that ages afterwards this sleepy fellow might indulge in dreams and vomit forth his filthy surfeit, so as, like the persecutor Julian, either to destroy the basilicas of the saints or to convert them into heathen temples?" Jerome, To Riparius, Epistle 109:1(A.D. 404), in NPNF2,VI:212 "For you say that the souls of Apostles and martyrs have their abode either in the bosom of Abraham, or in the place of refreshment, or under the altar of God, and that they cannot leave their own tombs, and be present there they will. They are, it seems, of senatorial rank. and are not subjected to the worst kind of prison and the society of murderers, but are kept apart in liberal and honourable custody in the isles of the blessed and the Elysian fields. Will you lay down the law for God? Will you put the Apostles into chains? So that to the day of judgment they re to be kept in confinement, and are not with their Lord, although it is written concerning them, ’They follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth.’ If the Lamb is present everywhere, the same must be believed respecting those who are with the Lamb. And while the devil and the demons wander through the whole world, and with only too great speed present themselves everywhere; are martyrs, after the shedding of their blood, to be kept out of sight shut up in a coffin, from whence they cannot escape? You say, in your pamphlet, that so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and all the more because the martyrs, though they cry for the avenging of their blood, have never been able to obtain their request. If Apostles and martyrs while still in the body can prayfor others, when they ought still to be anxious for themselves,how much more must they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome, and triumphed? A single man, Moses, oft wins pardon from God for six hundred thousand armed men; and Stephen, the follower of his Lord and the first Christian martyr, entreats pardon for his persecutors; and when once they have entered on their life with Christ, shall they have less power than before? The Apostle Paul says that two hundred and seventy-six souls were given to him in the ship; and when, after his dissolution, he has begun to be with Christ, must he shut his mouth, and be unable to say a word for those who throughout the whole world have believed in his Gospel? Shall Vigilantius the live dog be better than Paul the dead lion? I should be right in saying so after Ecclesiastes, if I admitted that Paul is dead in spirit. The truth is that the saints are not called dead, but are said to be asleep. Wherefore Lazarus, who was about to rise again, is said to have slept. And the Apostle forbids theThessalonians to be sorry for those who were asleep. As for you, when wide awake you are asleep, and asleep when you write, and you bring before me an apocryphal book which, under the name of Esdras, is read by you and those of your feather, and in this book it is written that after death no one dares pray for others. I have never read the book: for what need is there to take up what the Church does not receive? It can hardly be your intention to confront me with Balsamus, and Barbelus, and the Thesaurus of Manichaeus, and the ludicrous name of Leusiboras; though possibly because you live at the foot of the Pyrenees, and border on Iberia, you follow the incredible marvels of the ancient heretic Basilides and his so-called knowledge, which is there ignorance, and set forth what is condemned by the authority of the whole world. I say this because in your short treatise you quote Solomon as if he were on your side, though Solomon never wrote the words in question at all; so that, as you have a second Esdras you may have a second Solomon. And, if you like, you may read the imaginary revelations of all the patriarchs and prophets, and, when you have learned them, you may sing them among the women in their weaving-shops, or rattler order them to be read in your taverns, the more easily by these melancholy ditties to stimulate the ignorant mob to replenish their cups." Jerome, Against Vigilantius, 6(A.D. 406), in NPNF2,VI:419-420 "As to our paying honor to the memory of the martyrs, and the accusation of Faustus, that we worship them instead of idols, I should not care to answer such a charge, were it not for the sake of showing how Faustus, in his desire to cast reproach on us, has overstepped the Manichaean inventions, and has fallen heedlessly into a popular notion found in Pagan poetry, although he is so anxious to be distinguished from the Pagans. For in saying that we have turned the idols into martyrs, be speaks of our worshipping them with similar rites, and appeasing theshades of the departed with wine and food. Do you, then, believe in shades? We never heard you speak of such things, nor have we read of them in your books. In fact, you generally oppose such ideas: for you tell us that the souls of the dead, if they are wicked, or not purified, are made to pass through various changes, or suffer punishment still more severe; while the good souls are placed in ships, and sail through heaven to that imaginary region of light which they died fighting for. According to you, then, no souls remain near the burying-place of the body; and how can there be any shades of the departed? What and where are they? Faustus’ love of evil-speaking has made him forget his own creed; or perhaps he spoke in his sleep about ghosts, and did not wake up even when he saw his words in writing. It is true that Christians pay religious honor to the memory of the martyrs, both toexcite us to imitate themandto obtain a share in their merits,andthe assistance of their prayers. But we build altars not to any martyr, but to the God of martyrs, although it is to the memory of the martyrs. No one officiating at the altar in the saints’ burying-place ever says, We bring an offering to thee, O Peter! or O Paul! Or O Cyprian! The offering is made to God, who gave the crown of martyrdom, while it is in memory of those thus crowned. The emotion is increased by the associations of the place, and. love is excited both towards those who are our examples, and towards Him by whose help we may follow such examples. We regard the martyrs with the same affectionate intimacy that we feel towards holy men of God in this life, when we know that their hearts areprepared to endure the same suffering for the truth of the gospel. There is more devotion in our feeling towards the martyrs, because we know that their conflict is over; and we can speak with greater confidence in praise of those already victors in heaven, than of those still combating here. What is properly divine worship, which the Greeks call latria, and for which there is no word in Latin, both in doctrine and in practice, we give only to God. To this worship belongs the offering of sacrifices; as we see in the word idolatry, which means the giving of this worship to idols. Accordingly we never offer, or require any one to offer, sacrifice to a martyr, or to a holy soul, or to any angel. Any one falling into this error is instructed by doctrine, either in the way of correction or of caution. For holy beings themselves, whether saints or angels, refuse to accept what they know to be due to God alone. We see this in Paul and Barnabas, when the men of Lycaonia wished to sacrifice to them as gods, on account of the miracles they performed. They rent their clothes, and restrained the people, crying out to them, and persuading them that they were not gods. We see it also in the angels, as we read in the Apocalypse that an angel would not allow himself to be worshipped, and said to his worshipper, ’I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethen.’ Those who claim this worship are proud spirits, the devil and his angels, as we see in all the temples and rites of the Gentiles. Some proud men, too, have copied their example; as is related of some kings of Babylon. Thus the holy Daniel was accused and persecuted, because when the king made a decree that no petition should be made to any god, but only to the king, he was found worshipping and praying to his own God, that is, the one true God. As for those who drink to excess at the feasts of the martyrs, we of course condemn their conduct; for to do so even in their own houses would be contrary to sound doctrine. But we must try to amend what is bad as well as prescribe what is good, and must of necessity bear for a time with some things that are not according to our teaching. The rules of Christian conduct are not to be taken from the indulgences of the intemperate or the infirmities of the weak. Still, even in this, the guilt of intemperance is much less than that of impiety. To sacrifice to the martyrs, even fasting, is worse than to go home intoxicated from their feast: to sacrifice to the martyrs, I say, which is a different thing from sacrificing to God in memory of the martyrs, as we do constantly, in the manner required since the revelation of the New Testament, for this belongs to the worship or latria which is due to God alone. But it is vain to try tomake these heretics understandthe full meaning of these words of the Psalmist: ’He that offereth the sacrifice of praise glorifieth me, and in this way will I show him my salvation.’ Before the coming of Christ, the flesh and blood of this sacrifice were foreshadowed in the animals slain; in the passion of Christ the types were fulfilled by the true sacrifice; after the ascension of Christ, this sacrifice is commemorated in the sacrament. Between the sacrifices of the Pagans and of the Hebrews there is all the difference that there is between a false imitation and a typical anticipation. We do not despise or denounce the virginity of holy women because there were vestal virgins. And, in the same way, it is no reproach to the sacrifices of our fathers that the Gentiles also had sacrifices. The difference between the Christian and vestal virginity is great, yet it consists wholly in the being to whom the vow is made and paid; and so the difference in the being to whom the sacrifices of the Pagans and Hebrews are made and offered makes a wide difference between them. In the one case they are offered to devils, who presumptuously make this claim in order to be held as gods, because sacrifice is a divine honor. In the other case they are offered to the one true God, as a type of the true sacrifice, which also was to beoffered to Him in the passion of the body and blood of Christ."Augustine, Against Faustus, 20:21(A.D. 400), in NPNF1,IV:261-262 "Even if we make images of pious men it is not that we may adore them as gods but that when we see them we mightbe prompted to imitate them."Cyril of Alexandria,On Psalms 113:1-9(115)(ante A.D. 444),in JUR,III:218 "The noble souls of the triumphant are sauntering around heaven, dancing in the choruses of the bodiless; and not one tomb for each conceals their bodies, but cities and villages divide them up and call them healers and preservers of souls and bodies, and venerate them a guardians and protectors of cities; and when theyintervene as ambassadors before the Masterof the universethe divine gifts are obtained through them; and though thebody has been divided, its grace has continuedundivided. And that little particle and smallest relic has the same power as the absolutely and utterly undivided martyr." Theodoret of Cyrus,The Cure of Pagan Maladies,8:54(A.D. 449),in JUR,III:241 " Thou gainest nothing, thou prevailest nothing, O savage cruelty. His mortal frame is released from thy devices, and, when Laurentius departs to heaven, thou art vanquished. The flame of Christ’s love could not be overcome by thy flames, and the fire which burnt outside was less keen than that which blazed within. Thou didst but serve the martyr in thy rage, O persecutor: thou didst but swell the reward in adding to the pain. For what did thy cunning devise, which did not redound to the conqueror’s glory, when even the instruments of torture were counted as part of the triumph? Let us rejoice, then, dearly-beloved, with spiritual joy, and make our boast over the happy end of this illustrious man in the Lord, Who is ’wonderful in His saints,’ in whom He has given us a support and an example, and has so spread abroad his glory throughout the world, that, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the brightness of his deacon’s light doth shine, and Rome is become as famous in Laurentius as Jerusalemwas ennobled by Stephen. By his prayer and intercession we trust at all times to be assisted;that, because all, as the Apostle says, ’who wish to live holily in Christ, suffer persecutions,’ we may be strengthened with the spirit of love, and be fortified to overcome all temptations by the perseverance of steadfast faith. Through our LORD Jesus Christ"Pope Leo the Great [regn. A.D. 440-461],On the Feast of Laurence the Martyr, Sermon 85:4(ante A.D. 461), in NPNF2,XII:198 "To the saints honour must be paid as friends of Christ, as sons and heirs of God: in the words of John the theologian and evangelist, As many as received Him, to them gave He power to became sons of God. So that they are no longer servants, but sons: and if sons, also heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ: and the Lord in the holy Gospels says to His apostles, Ye are My friends. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth. And further, if the Creator and Lord of all things is called also King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God of Gods, surely also the saints are gods and lords and kings. For of these God is and is called God and Lord and King. For I am the God of Abraham, He said to Moses, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And God made Moses a god to Pharaoh. Now I mean gods and kings and lords not in nature, but as rulers and masters of their passions, and as preserving a truthful likeness to the divine image according to which they were made (for the image of a king is also called king), and as being united to God of their own free-will and receiving Him as an indweller and becoming by grace through participation with Him what He is Himself by nature. Surely, then, the worshippers and friends and sons of God are to be held in honour? For the honour shewn to the most thoughtful of fellow-servants is a proof of good feeling towards the common Master." John of Damascene, Orthodox Faith, 4:15(A.D. 743), in NPNF2,IX:86 "We, therefore, following the royal pathway and the divinely inspired authority of our Holy Fathers and the traditions of the Catholic Church (for, as we all know, the Holy Spirit indwells her), define with all certitude and accuracy that just as the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, so also the venerable and holy images, as well in painting and mosaic as of other fit materials, should be set forth in the holy churches of God, and on the sacred vessels and on the vestments and on hangings and in pictures both in houses and by the wayside, to wit, the figure of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, ofour spotless Lady, theMother of God, of the honourableAngels, of all Saints and of all pious people. For by so much more frequently as they are seen in artistic representation, by so much more readily are men lifted up to the memory of their prototypes, and to a longing after them; and tothese should be given due salutation and honourable reverence,not indeed that true worship of faith(latria) which pertains alone to the divine nature; but to these, as tothe figure of the precious and life-giving Cross and to the Book of the Gospels and to the other holy objects, incense and lights may be offered according to ancient pious custom.For the honour which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented. For thus the teaching of our holy Fathers, that is the tradition of the Catholic Church, which from one end of the earth to the other hath received the Gospel, is strengthened." Ecumenical Councilof Nicea II, Action VII(A.D. 787), in NPNF2,XIV:550 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 8A-CREATION INDEX ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Creation. This section will deal with various aspects of God’s creation in patristic thought.Topics that Corunum will conver will include such things as: divine creation, the nature of man, and the nature of angels. Angels The Church Fathers unanimously affirmed the creation and existence of Angels. Angels: The Church Fathers unanimously affirmed the creation and existence of Angels. Immortal Soul: The Church Fathers with varying degrees of recognition affirmed the immortality of the soul. Ex Nihilo(Create from Nothing): The Church Fathers with varying degrees of recognition affirmed that God created all things out of nothing. Original Sin: The Church Fathers with varying degress of recognition affirmed Original Sin. That is, Adam lost holiness and justice on account of his transgression. He fell out of communion with God. This one sin was propagated, not through imitation, so that it dwells in all and is proper to each. Creation In Six Literal Days Creation Note: The word day in Hebrew is Yom. In the Jewish language Yom can mean a literal 24 hour day or an extended period of time for Scripture tells us that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day to our Lord. But when morning and evening is used with the word yom then it is defined as a literal 24 hour day. In Genesis the creation account is given for a day/yom as morning and evening with each and every day of the six day creation which means it is literally written as a 24 hour day. Augustine writes: "With this reasoning some of our scholars attack the position of those who refuse to believe that there are waters above the heavens while maintaining that the star whose path is in the height of the heavens is cold. Thus they would compel the disbeliever to admit that water is there not in a vaporous state but in the form of ice. But whatever the nature of that water and whatever the manner of its being there, we must not doubt that it does exist in that place. The authority of Scripture in this matter is greater than all human ingenuity" (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Bk 2, Ch. 5, No 9). Aquinas said the same thing regarding the superiority of Scripture to decide such matters: "Whether, then, we understand by the firmament the starry heaven, or the cloudy region of the air, it is true to say that it divides the waters from the waters, according as we take water to denote formless matter, or any kind of transparent body, as fittingly designated under the name of waters..." (Summa Theologica, Bk. 1, Ques. 68, Art 3). Augustine and Thomas both affirm that what Genesis recorded literally occurred, whether or not they understood then, or whether we understand today, how it could have occurred as stated. The Fathers tell us that Moses received his knowledge about the creation directly from God. St. Ambrose writes: "Moses ’spoke to God the Most High, not in a vision or in dreams, but mouth to mouth" (Hexaemeron 1, 2). St. Basil add: "This man [Moses], who is made equal to the angels, being considered worthy of the sight of God face to face, reports to us those things which he heard from God (Hexaemeron 1, 1). END 370 AD Basil The Great "`And there was evening and morning, one day.’ Why did he say `one’ and not `first’? . . . He said `one’ because he was defining the measure of day and night . . . since twenty-four hours fill up the interval of one day" (). Basil (329-379): "Thus were created the evening and the morning. Scripture means the space of a day and a night...If it therefore says ‘one day,’ it is from a wish to determine the measure of day and night, and to combine the time that they contain. Now twenty-four hours fills up the space of one day - we mean of a day and of a night" (Hexameron 2, 8). As Catholic doctrine teaches, no man can do anything good without God’s grace (cf., Leviticus 26:36; Deuteronomy 28:28; Deuteronomy 28:65 f; 1 Samuel 16:14; 1 Samuel 26:12; Job 12:24; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 6:9-10; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 29:14; Isaiah 44:18; Jeremiah 6:21; Ezekiel 7:26; Ezekiel 14:9; Zechariah 12:4; Matthew 11:25; Romans 1:24-28; 2 Thessalonians 2:11). Psalms 139:1-24 (138 in some versions) says: "Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb" (v. 13), and similar expressions are used elsewhere, including in Isaiah and Job. Council of Cologne condemned the idea of human evolution in very straightforward words:"Our first parents were formed immediately by God. Therefore we declare that...those who...assert...man...emerged from spontaneous continuous change of imperfect nature to the more perfect, is clearly opposed to Sacred Scripture and to the Faith." Ten years later, Vatican Council I in 1870"If anyone does not confess that the world and all things which are contained in it, both spiritual and material, as regards their whole substance, have been produced by God from nothing, let him be anathema." { ex nihilo creation.} Pope Leo XIII, in his 1880 encyclical Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, stated this about Creation:"We record what is to all known, and cannot be doubted by any, that God, on thesixth day of creation, having made man from the slime of the earth, andbreathed into his face the breath of life, gave him a companion, whom He miraculously took from the side of Adam when he was locked in sleep." 170-215 AD Mark Felix "Some men deny the existence of any Divine power. Others inquire daily as to whether or not one exists. Still others would construct the whole fabric of the universe by chance accidents and by random collision, fashioning it by the movement of atoms of different shapes." (M. Felix Octavius chap. 30 [Notice the term "atom" isn’t a twentieth century invention, but a term coined by Greek philosophers.]) 234 AD Origen "The text said that `there was evening and there was morning’; it did not say `the first day,’ but said `one day.’ It is because there was not yet time before the world existed. But time begins to exist with the following days" (Homilies on Genesis). 234 AD Origen "And since he [the pagan Celsus] makes the statements about the `days of creation’ ground of accusation--as if he understood them clearly and correctly, some of which elapsed before the creation of light and heaven, the sun and moon and stars, and some of them after the creation of these we shall only make this observation, that Moses must have forgotten that he had said a little before `that in six days the creation of the world had been finished’ and that in consequence of this act of forgetfulness he subjoins to these words the following: `This is the book of the creation of man in the day when God made the heaven and the earth [Genesis 2:4]’" (Against Celsus 6:51). 234 AD Origen "And with regard to the creation of the light upon the first day . . . and of the [great] lights and stars upon the fourth . . . we have treated to the best of our ability in our notes upon Genesis, as well as in the foregoing pages, when we found fault with those who, taking the words in their apparent signification, said that the time of six days was occupied in the creation of the world" (ibid., 6:60). The Fathers who wrote about Creation taught that God made the universe ex nihilo, out of nothing, in six literal days,. 2 Maccabees 7:28: "I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them Basil (329-379): "And there was evening and morning, one day." Why did he say "one" and not "first"? . . . He said "one" because he was defining the measure of day and night . . . , since the twenty-four hours fill up the interval of one day.(Basil, On the Hexameron, 1.1.2, The Fathers of the Church, 46:4,5. Ibid., 2.8, p. 34. ) Gregory of Nyssa (335-394): "Before I begin, let me testify that there is nothing contradictory in what the saintly Basil wrote about the creation of the world since no further explanation is needed. They should suffice and alone take second place to the divinely inspired Testament. Let anyone who hearkens to our attempts through a leisurely reading be not dismayed if they agree with our words. We do not propose a dogma which gives occasion for calumny; rather, we wish to express only our own insights so that what we offer does not detract from the following instruction. Thus let no one demand from me questions which seem to fall in line with common opinion, either from holy Scripture or explained by our teacher. My task is not to fathom those matters before us which appear contradictory; rather, permit me to employ my own resources to understand the text’s objective. With God’s help we can fathom what the text means which follows a certain defined order regarding creation. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ [Genesis 1:1], and the rest which pertains to the cosmogenesis which the six days encompass." (Hexaemeron, PG 44:68-69, translated by Richard McCambly). Eustathius (270-337), Bishop of Antioch, called Basil’s commentary on Genesis 1:1-31 an "overall great commentary" (PG 18, 705-707). Ambrose (340-397): "But Scripture established a law of twenty-four hours, including both day and night, should be given the name of day only, as if one were to say the length of one day is twenty-four hours in extent." (Hexameron 1:37, FC 42:42). "In the beginning of time, therefore God created heaven and earth. Time proceeds from this world, not before the world. And the day is a division of time, not its beginning." (Hexameron 1:20, FC 42:19). "But now we seem to have reached the end of our discourse, since the 6th day is completed and the sum total of the work has been concluded." (Hexameron 6:75, FC 42:282). 370 AD Ambrose of Milan "Scripture established a law that twenty-four hours, including both day and night, should be given the name of day only, as if one were to say the length of one day is twenty-four hours in extent. . . . The nights in this reckoning are considered to be component parts ofthe days that are counted. Therefore, just as there is a single revolution of time, so there is but one day. There are many who call even a week one day, because it returns to itself, just as one day does, and one might say seven times revolves back on itself. Hence, Scripture appeals at times of an age of the world" (The Six Days Work 1:1-2). Victorinus (c 355-361): "The Creation of the World: In the beginning God made the light, and divided it in the exact measure of twelve hours by day and by night, for this reason, doubtless, that day might bring over the night as an occasion of rest for men’s labours; that, again, day might overcome, and thus that labour might be refreshed with this alternate change of rest, and that repose again might be tempered by the exercise of day. "On the fourth day He made two lights in the heaven, the greater and the lesser, that the one might rule over the day, the other over the night... (cf. (NPNF1, vol. 7, pp. 341-343)." Ephrem the Syrian (306-373): "‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,’ that is, the substance of the heavens and the substance of the earth. So let no one think that there is anything allegorical in the works of the six days. No one can rightly say that the things that pertain to these days were symbolic." (Commentary on Genesis,1:1, FC 91:74) Theophilus (c 185): "Of this six days’ work no man can give a worthy explanation and description of all its parts...on account of the exceeding greatness and riches of the wisdom of God which there is in the six days’ work above narrated" (Autolycus 2,12). 181 AD Theophilus of Antioch "On the fourth day the luminaries came into existence. Since God has foreknowledge, he understood the nonsense of the foolish philosophers who were going to say that the things produced on earth come from the stars, so that they might set God aside. In order therefore that the truth might be demonstrated, plants and seeds came into existence before the stars. For what comes into existence later cannot cause what is prior to it" (To Autolycus 2:15). 181 AD Theophilus of Antioch "All the years from the creation of the world [to Theophilus’s day] amount to a total of 5,698 years and the odd months and days. . . . [I]f even a chronological error has been committed by us, for example, of 50 or 100 or even 200 years, yet [there have] not [been] the thousands and tens of thousands, as Plato and Apollonius and other mendacious authors have hitherto written. And perhaps our knowledge of the whole number of the years is not quite accurate, because the odd months and days are not set down in the sacred books" (To Autolycus, 3:28-29) Irenaeus, (140-202): "For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded...For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year" (Against Heresies 5, 28, 3). Lactantius (250-317): "God completed the world and this admirable work of nature in the space ofsix days, as is contained in the secrets of Holy Scripture, and consecrated the seventh day...For there are seven days, by the revolutions of which in order the circles of years are made up...Therefore, since all the works of God were completed in six days, the world must continue in its present state through six ages,that is, six thousand years...For the great day of God is limited by a circle of a thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says, ‘In Thy sight, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day." ...And as God labored during those six days in creating such great works, so His religion and truth must labor during these six thousand years... (Institutes 7, 14). Methodius (c 311): For you seem to me, O Theophila, to have discussed those words of the Scripture amply and clearly, and to have set them forth as they are without mistake. For it is a dangerous thing wholly to despise the literal meaning, as has been said, and especially of Genesis, where the unchangeable decrees of God for the constitution of the universe are set forth, in agreement with which, even until now, the world is perfectly ordered, most beautifully in accordance with a perfect rule, until the Lawgiver Himself having re-arranged it, wishing to order it anew, shall break up the first laws of nature by a fresh disposition. But, since it is not fitting to leave the demonstration of the argument unexamined - and, so to speak, half-lame - come let us, as it were completing our pair, bring forth the analogical sense, looking more deeply into the Scripture; for Paul is not to be despised when he passed over the literal meaning, and showed that the word extended to Christ and the Church. (Banquet of the Ten Virgins, Discourse III, Ch 2). Clement of Alexandria (150-216): "From Adam to the deluge are comprised two thousand one hundred and forty-eight years, four days" (ANF, Vol. 2, p. 332). Epiphanius (315-403): "Adam, who was fashioned from the earth onthe sixth dayand received breath, became a living being (for he was not, as some suppose, begun on the fifth day, and completed on the sixth; those who say have the wrong idea), and was simple and innocent, without any other name." (Panarion 1:1, translated by Phillip R. Amidon). Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386): "In six days God made the world...The sun, however resplendent with bright beams, yet was made to give light to man, yea, all living creatures were formed to serve us: herbs and trees were created for our enjoyment...The sun was formed by a mere command, but man by God’s hands" (Catechetical Lectures 12, 5). "...but the earth is from the waters: and before the whole six days’ formation of the things that were made, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water. The water was the beginning of the world..." (Catechetical Lectures, 3, 5). Hippolytus (160-235): "But it was right to speak not of the ‘first day,’ but of ‘one day,’ in order that by saying ‘one,’ he might show that it returns on its orbit, and, while it remains one, makes up the week....On the first day God made what He made out of nothing." (Genesis 1:5-6; ANF, vol. 5, p. 163). "When, therefore, Moses has spoken of ‘the six days in which God made heaven and earth’...Simon, in a manner already specified, giving these and other passages of Scripture a different application from the one intended by the holy writers, deifies himself. When, therefore, the followers of Simon affirm that there are three days begotten before sun and moon, they speak enigmatically..."(Refutation of All Heresies, Book VI, Ch IX). Hippolytus, as did some of the other Fathers who believed that the world would end in 6,000 years, He writes: "Since, then, in six days God made all things, it follows that 6,000 years must be fulfilled." Chrysostom (344-407): "Acknowledging that God could have created the world ‘in a single day, nay in a single moment,’ he chose ‘a sort of succession and established things by parts’...so that, accurately interpreted by that blessed prophet Moses, we do not fall in with those who are guided by human reasonings" (PG, Homily 3, Colossians 35). Athanasius (295-373): "For as to the separate stars or the great lights, not this appeared first, and that second, but in one day and by the same command, they were all called into being. And such was the original formation of the quadrupeds, and of birds, and fishes, and cattle, and plants; thus too has the race made after God’s Image come to be, namely men; for though Adam was formed out of earth, yet in him was involved the succession of the whole race" (Discourse Against the Arians, Discourse II, 48; NPNF2, vol. 4, pp. 374-375). "We begin the holy fast on the fifth day...and adding to it according to the number of those six holy and great days, which are the symbol of the creation of the world, let us rest and cease from fasting on the tenth day of the same...on the holy sabbath of the week" (Easter Letter, 10). END Basil "Some had recourse to material principles and attributed the origin of the Universe to the elements of the world. Others imagined that atoms, and indivisible bodies, molecules...by their union formed the nature of the visible world. Atoms reuniting or separating, produce births and deaths and the most durable bodies owing their consistency to the strength of their mutual adhesion...Deceived by their inherent atheism it appeared to them that nothing governed or ruled the universe, and that all was given up to chance." (The Hexameron, Homily 3, 2). "The philosophers of Greece have made much ado to explain nature, and not one of their systems has remained firm and unshaken, each being overturned by its successor. It is vain to refute them; they are sufficient in themselves to destroy one another" (The Hexameron, Homily 3, 2). Clement of Rome, a Father of the first century (d. 80), writes on the theories of Creation among the Greek scientists of his day: "For the Greek philosophers, inquiring into the beginning of the world, have gone, some in one way and some in another. In short, Pythagoras says that numbers are the elements of its beginnings; Callistratus, that qualities; Alcmaeon, that contrarieties; Anaximander, that immensity; Anaxagoras, that equalities of parts; Epicurus, that atoms; Diodorus, things in which there are no parts...Democritus, that ideas; Thales, that water; Heraclitus, that fire; Diogenes, that air; Parmenides, that earth; Zeno, Empedocles, Plato, that fire, water, air and earth. Aristotle also introduced a fifth element...by joining the four elements into one..." (Clement of Rome, Pseudo-Clementine, Ch. XV, Theories of Creation). Hippolytus of Rome, an early Father who lived in the second century (d. 235) "But Leucippus, an associate of Zeno...affirms things to be infinite, and always in motion, and that generation and change exist continuously....And he asserts that worlds are produced when many bodies are congregated and flow together from the surrounding space to a common point, so that by mutual contact they made substances of the same figure and similar in form come into connection; and when thus intertwined, there are transmutations into other bodies, and that created things wax and wane through necessity..." (The Refutation of All Heresies, Ch. X: Leucippus and His Atomic Theory). Leo XIIIencyclical in 1880 titled Arcanum Divinae Sapientae in which he dealt a devastating blow to the theory of evolution by stating that: (1) Eve was miraculously, and therefore instantaneously, formed from the side of Adam; (2) that Adam did not come from the womb of an ape. Lateran IV Council, the Church dogmatically states that the material universe is created out of nothing (ex nihilo). Prior to this, the Church, in the person of Pope Pelagius I in his 561 letter to King Childebert I, stated: "For I confess that...Adam and his wife, were not born of other parents, but were created, the one from the earth, the other from the rib of man" (Denzinger 228a). Same teaching that Leo XIII would give thirteen hundred years later in Arcanum Divinae Sapientae, stating that Adam was not born from the womb of an ape, and that Eve was miraculously created from the side of Adam. 408 AD Augustine "With the Scriptures it is a matter of treating about the faith. For that reason, as I have noted repeatedly, if anyone, not understanding the mode of divine eloquence, should find something about these matters [about the physical universe] in our books, or hear of the same from those books, of such a kind that it seems to be at variance with the perceptions of his own rational faculties, let him believe that these other things are in no way necessary to the admonitions or accounts or predictions of the Scriptures. In short, it must be said that our authors knew the truth about the nature of the skies, but it was not the intention of the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, to teach men anything that would not be of use to them for their salvation" (The Literal Interpretation of Genesis, 2:9). 408 AD Augustine "Seven days by our reckoning, after the model of the days of creation, make up a week. By the passage of such weeks time rolls on, and in these weeks one day is constituted by the course of the sun from its rising to its setting; but we must bear in mind that these days indeed recall the days of creation, but without in any way being really similar to them" (The Literal Interpretation of Genesis, 4:27). AD Augustine "They [pagans] are deceived, too, by those highly mendacious documents which profess to give the history of [man as] many thousands of years, though reckoning by the sacred writings we find that not 6,000 years have yet passed" (The Literal Interpretation of Genesis, 12:10). The following is taken from: Robert A. Sungenis, M.A. Catholic Apologetics International 8-1-03 He is on the advisory council of the Kolbe Center, He used to have a few more articles on the site in the past, right now I only saw one article by him there Catholic Apologetics International As for Augustine, far from rejecting a literal six-day period, he did not for a moment suggest that the days of Genesis 1:1-31 could be billions of years long, and he never, in fact, rejected that the days of Genesis were 24 hours long. Rather, in one of his interpretations, Augustine suggested that perhaps God created everything instantaneously, and that the six days were the means by which the angels could comprehend, in stages, what God had made all at once.(3) In short, Augustine offered what he thought was a viable alternative to remedy what he believed were exegetical difficulties in interpreting Genesis 1:1-31 as six literal days, not to mention the fact that Augustine also had a penchant for spiritual interpretation. The main reason Augustine had these difficulties is due to his self-imposed desire to find some place inGenesis 1:1-31for the creation of the angels. Seeing no other place to put them, Augustine suggested that the creation of light inGenesis 1:3served this purpose. This, of course, would force the other days to be representations of what the angels contemplated, but not necessarily in 24-hour segments. Since none of the other Fathers of the Church shared his concern about when the angels were created, Augustine acknowledged that his interpretation was only a possibility, and that he would gladly concede it if someone could harmonize the rest of the Genesis 1:1-31 text. In The Literal Meaning of Genesis he writes: Whoever, then, does not accept the meaning that my limited powers have been able to discover of conjecture but seeks in the enumeration of the days of creation a different meaning, which might be understood not in a prophetical or figurative sense, but literally and more aptly, in interpreting the works of creation, let him search and find a solution with God’s help. I myself may possibly discover some other meaning more in harmony with the words of Scripture. I certainly do not advance the interpretation given above in such a way as to imply that no better one can ever be found, although I do maintain that Sacred Scripture does not tell us that God rested after feeling weariness and fatigue (Bk 4, Ch 28, No 45). Another reason Augustine struggled withGenesis 1:1-31was due to his unique interpretation of Ecclesiasticus 18:1. The Greek of the Septuagint translates it as: “He who lives forever has created all things in common.” The word in question is “common,” which is from the Greek koine, and normally means “in common” or “without exception.” But the Latin Vulgate, from which Augustine read, translated koine with the words omnia simul,(4) which in Latin means “at one time” or “altogether.” But the Vulgate’s translation is at best questionable and at worst erroneous. Ecclesiasticus 18:1, at least in the original Greek, does not, in its primary meaning, say that the creation was made “at one time,” but of what was made, the Lord created it all, with no exceptions. The context of the passage bears this meaning out,(5) and it is certainly the way the rest of the creation passages in Scripture describe God’s work in Genesis, in addition to the fact that there is no other verse in Scripture which specifically indicates that God created everything “at one time.” If the Greek author had wanted to impart the idea of “all at once” there were plenty of words at his disposal.(6) The reason this mistake may have happened is that Augustine’s knowledge of Greek was at an elementary level when he began his commentary on Genesis in 401 AD.(7) It wasn’t until he was an old man that he had a modest reading ability of Greek. Unfortunately, Augustine was dependent on the Vulgate’s translation of Ecclesiasticus 18:1, and thus he could have easily misunderstood the meaning of the verse.(8) So let’s take the tally. Of the thirty or so Fathers who taught on the days of Genesis 1:1-31, all but two said the days were literal. Of those two, one had a known-habit of interpreting almost all of Scripture in an allegorical sense (Origen), while the other said the days could be limited to one instant of time, but only because he felt compelled to add the angels to Genesis 1:1-31, in addition to the fact that he misconstrued the Greek of Ecclesiasticus 18:1, yet even at that, admitted his interpretation might not be correct and he would gladly concede it to anyone who had a satisfactory literal interpretation. Thus, we have at least 94% of the Fathers who say the days of Genesis 1:1-31 are literal days, 3% who say they are not, and 3% who say that they may be. This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Website or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2002 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 8B-ANGESL, IMORTAL SOUL, EX NIHILO, ORIGINAL SIN ======================================================================== Angels "Let us consider the whole multitude of His angels, how they stand ever ready to minister to His will. For the Scripture saith, ’Ten thousand times ten thousand stood around Him, and thousands of thousands ministered unto Him, and cried, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the Lord of Sabaoth; the whole creation is full of His glory.’ " Clement of Rome,Letter to the Corinthians,34:5(A.D. 98),in ANF,I:14 "Let no man deceive himself. Both the things which are in heaven, and the glorious angels, and rulers, both visible and invisible,if they believe notin the blood of Christ, shall, in consequence, incur condemnation." Ignatius of Antioch,Letter to the Smyrnaeans,6(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:88-89 "In reply I said to her, ’This is magnificent and marvellous. But who are the six young men who are engaged in building?’ And she said, ’These are the holy angels of God, who were first created, and to whom the Lord handed over His whole creation, that they might increase and build up and rule over the whole creation. By these will the building of the tower be finished.’ ’But who are the other persons who are engaged in carrying the stones?’ These also are holy angels of the Lord, but the former six are more excellent than these." Shephard of Hermas, Vision 3:4(A.D. 140), in ANF,II:14 "Hence are we called atheists. And we confess that we are atheists, so far as gods of this sort are concerned, but not with respect to the most true God, the Father of righteousness and temperance and the other virtues, who is free from all impurity. But both Him, and the Son (who came forth from Him and taught us these things, and the host of the other good angels who follow and are made like to Him), and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, knowing them in reason and truth, and declaringwithout grudging to every one who wishes to learn, as wehave been taught." Justin Martyr, First Apology, 6(A.D. 155), in ANF,I:164 "The Logos, too, before the creation of men, was the Framer of angels. And each of these two orders of creatures was made free to act as it pleased, not having the nature of good, which again is with God alone, but is brought to perfection in men through their freedom of choice, in order that the bad man may be justly punished, having become depraved through his own fault, but the just man be deservedly praised for his virtuous deeds, since in the exercise of his free choice he refrained from transgressing the will of God. Such is the constitution of things in reference to angels and men." Tatian,To the Greeks,7(A.D. 165),in ANF,II:67 "Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists? Nor is our teaching in what relates to the divine nature confined to these points; but we recognise also a multitude of angels and ministers, whom God the Maker and Framer of the world distributed and appointed to their several posts by His Logos, to occupy themselves about the elements, and the heavens, and the world, and the things in it, and the goodly ordering of them all." Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians, 10(A.D. 177), in ANF,II:133 "For His offspring and His similitude do minister to Him in every respect; that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom; whom all the angels serve, and to whom they are subject. Vain, therefore, ark those who, because of that declaration, ’No man knoweth the Father, but the Son,’ do introduce another unknown Father." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, IV,7:4(A.D. 180), in ANF,I:470 "Whence are we to find (words) enough fully to tell the happiness of that marriage which the Church cements, and the oblation confirms, and the benediction signs and seals; (which) angels carry back the news of (to heaven), (which) the Father holds for ratified? For even on earth children do not rightly and lawfully wed without their fathers’ consent. "Tertullian, To His Wife, II,8:4(A.D. 200), in ANF,IV:48 "This also is a part of the teaching of the Church, that there are certainangels of God, and certain good influences, which are His servants inaccomplishing the salvation of men." Origen, Fundamental Doctrine, 1 Pref:10(A.D. 220), in ANF,IV:241 "The world has been created for this purpose, that we may be born; we areborn for this end, that we mayacknowledge the Makerof the world and of ourselves--God; we acknowledge Him for this end, thatwe may worship Him; we worship Him for this end that we may receive immortality as the reward of our labours, since the worship of God consists of the greatest labours; for this end we are rewarded with immortality, that being made like to the angels, we may serve the Supreme Father and Lord for ever, and may be to all eternity a kingdom to God." Lactanius, Divine Institutions, VII,6:1(A.D. 304), in ANF,VII:203 "Divine majesty. His ministers are the heavenly hosts; his armies the supernal powers,angels, the companies of archangels, the chorus of holy spirits, draw from and reflect his radiance as from the fountains of everlasting light." Eusebius, Oration of Eusebius, 1:1(A.D. 335), in NPNF2,I:582 "And how do the impious men[ie. The Arians] venture to speak folly, as they ought not, being men and unable to find out how to describe even what is on the earth? But why do I say ’ what is on the earth?’ Let them tell us their own nature, if they can discover how to investigate their own nature? Rash they are indeed, and self-willed, not trembling to form opinions of things whichangelsdesire to look into (I Pet. i. x2), who are so far above them, both in nature and in rank. For what is nearer [God] than the Cherubim or the Seraphim? " Athanasius, On Luke X, 6(A.D. 342), in NPNF2,IV:90 "At the birth of the Son, there was a great shouting in Bethlehem; for theAngelscame down, and gave praise there. Their voices were a great thunder: at that voice of praise the silent ones came, and gave praise to the Son." Ephraem,Hymns on the Nativity, 5(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,XII:237 "Then may you receive the name of Christ, and the power of things divine. Even now, I beseech you, lift up the eye of the mind: even now imagine the choirs ofAngels, and God the Lord of all there sitting, and His Only-begotten Son sitting with Him on His right hand, and the Spirit present with them; and Thrones and Dominions doing service, and every man of you and every woman receiving salvation." Cyril of Jerusalem, ProCatechesis, 15(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:4-5 "For You are above every Principality and Power and Virtue and Domination and every Name that is named not only in the present age but in that to come. Assisting You are thousands of thousands and myriads and myriads ofAngels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominations, Principalities and Powers." Serapion, Sacramentary, 13:3(A.D. 350), in JUR,II:132 "I, too, am in the dark, yet I ask no questions. I look for comfort to the fact that Archangels share my ignorance, that Angels have not heard the explanation, and worlds do not contain it, that no prophet has espied it and no Apostle sought for it, that the Son Himself has not revealed it." Hilary of Poitiers, Trinity, II:9(A.D. 359), in NPNF2,IX:55 "They fill the essence of this invisible world, as Paul teaches us. ’For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers’ or virtues or hosts of angels or the dignities of archangels." Basil, The Hexaemeron, 5(A.D. 370), in NPNF2,VIII:54 "The word of God signifies the angels were created not after the stars nor before the earth and sky." Epiphanius, Panarion, 65:5(A.D. 374), in JUR,II:74 "But greater than all these things in the perpetual enjoyment of intercourse with Christ in the company ofangels, andarchangels, and the higher powers." John Chyrsostom, To the Fallen Theodore, Epistle 1:11(A.D. 374), in NPNF1,IX:99 "Do you see how we get dizzy over this subject, and cannot advance to any point, unless it be as far as this, that we know there areAngels and Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Princedoms, Powers, Splendours, Ascents, Intelligent Powers or Intelligencies, pure natures and unalloyed, immovable to evil, or scarcely movable; ever circling in chorus round the First Cause (or how should we sing their praises?) illuminated thence with the purest Illumination, or one in one degree and one in another, proportionally to their nature and rank ... so conformed to beauty and moulded that they become secondary Lights, and can enlighten others by the overflowings and largesses of the First Light? Ministrants of God’s Will, strong with both inborn and imparted strength, traversing all space, readily present to all at any place through their zeal for ministry and the agility of their nature ... different individuals of them embracing different parts of the world, or appointed over different districts of the Universe, as He knoweth who ordered and distributed it all." Gregory of Nazianzen, Second Theological Oration, 31(A.D. 380), in NPNF2,VII:300 "For in fact, since the Lord is the Maker of angels, the angelis assuredly a thing made by Him that made him: and since the Lord is the Creator of the world, clearly the world itself and all that is therein are called the creature of Him that created them." Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, III:1(A.D. 384), in NPNF2,V:136 "We, it is true, refuse to worship or adore, I say not the relics of the martyrs, but even the sun and moon, the angels and archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim and ’every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come.’ For we may not ’serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Still we honour the relics of the martyrs, that we may adore Him whose martyrs they are. We honour the servants that their honour may be reflected upon their Lord who Himself says:--’he that receiveth you receiveth me.’ I ask Vigilantius, Are the relics of Peter and of Paul unclean? Was the body of Moses unclean, of which we are told (according to the correct Hebrew text) that it was buried by the Lord Himself? And do we, every time that we enter the basilicas of apostles and prophets and martyrs, pay homage to the shrines of idols? Are the tapers which burn before their tombs only the tokens of idolatry? I will go farther still and ask a question which will make this theory recoil upon the head of its inventor and which will either kill or cure that frenzied brain of his, so that simple souls shall be no more subverted by his sacrilegious reasonings. Let him answer me this, Was the Lord’s body unclean when it was placed in the sepulchre? And did the angels clothed in white raiment merely watch over a corpse dead and defiled, that ages afterwards this sleepy fellow might indulge in dreams and vomit forth his filthy surfeit, so as, like the persecutor Julian, either to destroy the basilicas of the saints or to convert them into heathen temples?" Jerome, To Riparius, Epistle 109:1(A.D. 404), in NPNF2,VI:212 "They are referable either to God, or to angels, or to men, or to animals of whatever description, if indeed those instinctive movements of animals devoid of reason, by which, in accordance with their own nature, they seek or shun various things, are to be called wills. And when I speak of the wills of angels, I mean either the wills of good angels, whom we call the angels of God, or of the wicked angels, whom we call the angels of the devil, or demons."Augustine, City of God, 5:9(A.D. 413), in NPNF1,II:91 "We have, it must be admitted, a use for anger excellently implanted in us for which alone it is useful and profitable for us to admit it, viz., when we are indignant and rage against the lustful emotions of our heart, and are vexed that the things which we are ashamed to do or say before men have risen up in the lurking places of our heart, as we tremble at the presence of the angels, and of God Himself, who pervades all things everywhere, and fear with the utmost dread the eye of Him from whom the secrets of our hearts cannot possibly be hid." John Cassian, Institutes, 7:7(A.D. 426), in NPNF2,X:259 "He goes on ’Even though an angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.’ It was not enough for the preservation of the faith once delivered to have referred to man; he must needs comprehend angels also. ’Though we,’ he says, ’or an angel from heaven.’ Not that the holy angels of heaven are now capable of sinning. But what he means is: Even if that were to happen which cannot happen,--if any one, be he who he may, attempt toalter the faithonce for all delivered, let him be accursed." Vincent of Lerins, Commonitories ,8:21(A.D. 434), in NPNF2,X:136 "Therefore the exulting angel’s song when the LORD was born is this, ’Glory to GOD in the Highest,’ and their message, ’peace on earth to men of good will.’ For they see that the heavenly Jerusalem is being built up out of all the nations of the world: and over that indescribable work of the Divine love how ought the humbleness of men to rejoice, when the joy of the lofty angels is so great?" Leo the Great (regn. A.D. 440-461), Sermon 21(ante A.D. 461), in NPNF2,XII:129 "And indeed it is a very serious consideration, that now at this time any are forbidden to leave the world; a time when the end of the world is drawing nigh. For lo! There will be no delay: the heavens on fire, the earth on fire, the elements blazing, with angels and archangels, thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, the tremendous Judge will appear. " Gregory the Great (regn A.D. 590-604), To Mauricius,Epistle 65(A.D. 593), in NPNF2,XII:141 "The angel of the Lord was sent to the holy Virgin, who was descended from David’s line. Far it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe no one turned his attention to the altar, as the divine apostle said: but about this we will speak more accurately later. And bearing glad tidings to her, he said, Hail thou highly favoured one, the Lord is with thee. And she was troubled at his word, and the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God, and shalt bring forth a Son and shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins. Hence it comes that Jesus has the interpretation Saviour. And when she asked in her perplexity, How can this be, seeing I know not a man? The angel again answered her, The Holy Spirit shall came upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And she said to him, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to Thy word. So then, after the assent of the holy Virgin, the Holy Spirit descended on her, according to the word of the Lord which theangelspoke, purifying her, and granting her power to receive the divinity of the Word, and likewise power to bring forth."John of Damascene, Orthodox Faith, III,2:3(A.D. 743), in NPNF2,IX:46 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved. Immortal Soul "The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die. If, indeed, it knows not the truth, it dies, and is dissolved with the body, but rises again at last at the end of the world with the body, receiving death by punishment in immortality." Tatian, Address to the Greeks, 13(A.D. 175), in ANF,II:70 "But since this cause is seen to lie in perpetual existence, the being so created must be preserved for ever, doing and experiencing what is suitable to its nature, each of the two parts of which it consists contributing what belongs to it, so that the soul may exist and remain without change in the nature in which it was made, and discharge its appropriate functions (such as presiding over the impulses of the body, and judging of and measuring that which occurs from time to time by the proper standards and measures), and the body be moved according to its nature towards its appropriate objects, and undergo the changes allotted to it, and, among the rest (relating to age, or appearance, or size), the resurrection." Athenagoras, Resurrection of the Dead, 12(A.D. 180), in ANF,II:15 "And again to the Romans he says, ’But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.’ What, then, are mortal bodies? Can they be souls? Nay, for souls are incorporeal when put in comparison with mortal bodies; for God ’breathedinto the face of man thebreath of life, and man became a livingsoul." Now the breath of life is an incorporeal thing. And certainly they cannot maintain that the very breath of life is mortal. Therefore David says, "My soul also shall live to Him,’ just as if its substance were immortal." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5,7:1(A.D. 180), in ANF,I:532-3 "The soul, then, we define to be sprung from the breath of God, immortal ..." Tertullian, A treatise on the soul, 22:2(A.D. 212), in ANF,III:203 "But that the soul is made immortal is a further point in the Church’s teaching which you must know, to shew how the idols are to be overthrown." Athanasius, Against the Heathen, 33(A.D. 318),in XIV:21 "Next to the knowledge of this venerable and glorious and all-holyFaith, learn further what thou thyself art: that as man thou art of a two-fold nature,consisting of soul and body; and that, as was said a short time ago, the same God is the Creator both ofsouland body. Know also that thou hasta soulself-governed, the noblest work of God, made after the image of its Creator: immortal because of God that gives it immortality; a living being, rational, imperishable, because of Him that bestowed these gifts: having free power to do what it willeth"Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 4:18(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:23 "In fact, I said the Divine utterances seemed to me like mere commands compelling us to believe that thesoul lasts for ever."Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and Resurrection (A.D. 380), in NPNF2,V:431 "Such a kind of sovereignty God bestowed upon us from the beginning, and set us over all things. And not only in this respect did He confer honour upon our nature, but also, by the very eminence of the spot in which we were placed, fixing upon Paradise as our choice dwelling, and bestowing the gift of reason, and an immortal soul."John Chrysostom, Concerning Statues, 7:3(A.D. 387), in NPNF1,IX:391-2 "The immortality of the soul and its continuance after the dissolution of the body--truths of which Pythagoras dreamed..."Jerome, To Heliodorus, Epistle 60:4(A.D. 397), in NPNF2,VI:125 "But because the soul from its very nature, being created immortal, cannot be without some kind of life, its utmost death is alienation from the life of God in an eternity of punishment. So, then, He only who gives true happiness gives eternal life, that is, an endlessly happy life." Augustine, City of God, 6:12(A.D. 427), in NPNF1,II:121 Additionally, St. Augustine developed a treatise on the immortality of the soul in A.D 387 - "De immortalitate animae" "The soul, accordingly, is a living essence, simple, incorporeal, invisible in its proper nature to bodily eyes, immortal, reasoning and intelligent, formless, making use of an organised body, and being the source of its powers of life, and growth, and sensation, and generation, mind being but its purest part and not in any wise alien to it; (for as the eye to the body, so is the mind to the soul); further it enjoys freedom and volition and energy, and is mutable, that is, it is given to change, because it is created." John of Damascene, Orthodox Faith, 2:12(A.D. 743), in NPNF2,IX:31 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved. Ex Nihilo(Creation out of Nothing) "And as I prayed, the heavens were opened, and I see the woman whom I had desired saluting me from the sky, and saying, ’Hail, Hermas!’ And looking up to her, I said, ’Lady, what doest thou here? ’And she answered me, ’I have been taken up here to accuse you of your sins before the Lord.’ ’Lady,’ said I, ’are you to be the subject of my accusation?’ ’No,’ said she; ’but hear the words which I am going to speak to you. God, who dwells in the heavens, and made out of nothing the things that exist, and multiplied and increased them on account of His holy Church, is angry with you for having sinned against me." Hermas,Shepard,1:1:1(A.D. 80),in ANF,II:9 "First Of all, believe that there is one God who created and finished all things, and made all things out of nothing." Hermas,Shepard,2:1:1(A.D. 80),in ANF,II:20 "Let us turn now, O King, to the elements in themselves, that we may make clear in regard to them, that they are not gods, but a created thing, liable to ruin and change, which is of the same nature as man; whereas God is imperishable and unvarying, and invisible, while yet He sees, and overrules, and transforms all things." Aristides,Apology,4(A.D. 140),in ANF,X:266 "God was in the beginning; but the beginning, we have been taught, is the power of the Logos. For the Lord of the universe, who is Himself the necessary ground of all being, in as much as no creature was yet in existence, was alone; but in as much as He was all power, Himself the necessary ground of things visible and invisible, with Him were all things; with Him, by Logos-power , the Logos Himself also, who was in Him, subsists." Tatian,Address to the Greeks,5:1(A.D. 175),in ANF,II:67 "For, to attribute the substance of created things to the power and will of Him who is God of all, is worthy both of credit and acceptance. It is also agreeable [to reason], and there may be well said regarding such a belief, that ’the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.’ While men, indeed, cannot make anything out of nothing, but only out of matter already existing, yet God is in this point proeminently superior to men, that He Himself called into being the substance of His creation, when previously it had no existence." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,2,10:4(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:370 "And further, as God, because He is uncreated, is also unalterable; so if matter, too, were uncreated, it also would be unalterable, and equal to God; for that which is created is mutable and alterable, but that which is uncreated is immutable and unalterable. And what great thing is it if God made the world out of existent materials? For even a human artist, when he gets material from some one, makes of it what he pleases. But the power of God is manifested in this, that out of things that are not He makes whatever He pleases; just as the bestowal of life and motion is the prerogative of no other than God alone." Theophilus of Antioch,Autolycus,2:4(A.D. 181), in ANF,II:95 "And first, they taught us with one consent that God made all things out of nothing; for nothing was coeval with God: but He being His own place, and wanting nothing, and existing before the ages, willed to make man by whom He might be known; for him, therefore, He prepared the world. For he that is created is also needy; but he that is uncreated stands in need of nothing." Theophilus of Antioch,Autolycus,2:10(A.D. 181), in ANF,II:97-98 "[H]e[Hermogenes] takes from Him everything which is God, since he will not have it that He made all things of nothing." Tertullian,Hermogenes,1-2,in ANF,III:477 "The object of our worship is the One God, He who by His commanding word, His arranging wisdom, His mighty power, brought forth from nothing this entire mass of our world, with all its array of elements, bodies, spirits, for the glory of His majesty; whence also the Greeks have bestowed on it the name of Cosmos." Tertullian,Apology,17:1(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:31 "Now, with regard to this rule of faith-that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend-it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son." Tertullian, Prescription Against the Heretics,13:1(A.D. 200), in ANF,III:249 "For if God produced all things whatever out of nothing, He will be able to draw forth from nothing even the flesh which had fallen into nothing; or if He moulded other things out of matter, He will be able to call forth the flesh too from somewhere else, into whatever abyss it may have been engulphed." Tertullian, Resurrection of the Flesh,11(A.D. 210), in ANF,III:553 "On the first day God made what He made out of nothing. But on the other days He did not make out of nothing, but out of what He had made on the first day, by moulding it according to His pleasure." Hippolytus, Six Days Work(Hexameron)(A.D. 217), in ANF, V:163 "First, That there is one God, who created and arranged all things, and who, when nothing existed." Origen, Fundamental Doctrines, Preface 1(A.D. 225), in ANF, IV:239 "Therefore arming him, and strengthening him, and so bearing her son by a more blessed birth, she said, "O son, pity me that bare thee ten months in the womb, and gave thee milk for three years, and nourished thee and brought thee up to this age; I pray thee, O son, look upon the heaven and the earth; and having considered all the things which are in them, understand that out of nothing God made these things and the human race."Cyprian, Exhortation to Martyrdom, 11(A.D. 253), in ANF, V:504-505 "For Thou createdst all things out of nothing; wherefore also Thou changest and transformest all things as Thou wilt, seeing they are Thine, and Thou alone art God." Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection, 1:14(A.D. 300), in ANF, VI:369 "For all things are placed under Thee as their Cause and Author, as He who brought all things into being out of nothing, and gave to what was unstable a firm coherence; as the connecting Band and Preserver of that which has been brought into being; as the Framer of things by nature different; as He who, with wise and steady hand, holds the helm of the universe; as the very Principle of all good order; as the irrefragable Bond of concord and peace." Methodius, Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna, 6(A.D. 305), in ANF, VI:387 "But if he conceives in his mind how great is the immensity of that divine work, when before it was nothing, yet that by the power and wisdom of God it was made out of nothing-a work which could only be commenced and accomplished by one-he will now understand that that which has been established by one is much more easily governed by one." Lactanius, Divine Institutes, 1:3(A.D. 307), in ANF, VII:12 "Nor were they able at all to understand how much greater and more wonderful He is, who made these things out of nothing."Lactanius, Divine Institutes, 2:5(A.D. 307), in ANF, VII:47 "Let no one inquire of what materials God made these works so great and wonderful: for He made all things out of nothing." Lactanius, Divine Institutes, 2:9(A.D. 307), in ANF, VII:53 "For they ignorantly affirm that one of two things must necessarily be said, either that He is from things which are not, or that there are two unbegottens; nor do those ignorant men know how great is the difference between the unbegotten Father, and the things which were by Him created from things which are not, as well the rational as the irrational. Between which two, as holding the middle place, the only begotten nature of God, the Word by which the Father formed all things out of nothing, was begotten of the true Father Himself. As in a certain place the Lord Himself testified, saying, ’Every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.’ “Alexander of Alexandria,On the Arian Heresy,1:11(A.D. 326),in ANF,VI:295 "Is God then, who created us out of nothing, unable to raise again those who exist and are fallen(9)?" Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 18:6(A.D. 350), in NPNF2, VII:135 "For the elements of the world have come into being out of nothing, but Christ’s continuity of existence did not begin in the non-existent, nor did He ever begin to exist, but He took from the beginning a beginning which is eternal." Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 53(A.D. 359), inNPNF2, VIII:153 "Thus do they vainly speculate. But the godly teaching spontaneously, because forethought is not absent; nor existing matter, because God is not weak; but that out of nothing, and without its having any previous existence, God made the universe to exist through His word." Athanasius, Incarnation, 3(A.D. 365), in NPNF2, IV:38 "Studious listener, think of all these creations which Godhas drawn out of nothing, think of all those which my speech has left out, to avoid tediousness, and not to exceed my limits; recognise everywhere the wisdom of God; never cease to wonder, and, through, every creature, to glorify the Creator." Basil, Hexameron, 8:7(A.D. 370), in NPNF2, VIII:99 "Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything. While God is able to bring forth everything from the earth without these things, it was his will to show that there was nothing created on earth that was not created for the purpose of mankind or for his service." Ephrem, Commentary on Genesis 1:1-31(ante A.D. 376), in FOC, 91:92 "The word of God clearly declares that the Angels were neither created after the stars nor before heaven and earth. It must be regarded as certain and unshakable the opinion that says: None of the created things did exist before heaven and earth, because ’in the beginning God created heaven and earth’ so that this was the beginning of all creation, before which none of the created things existed." Epiphanius, Panarion, 65:5(A.D. 377), in PAN "But if God made all these things out of nothing (for "He spake and they were made,He commanded and they were created"[1]), why should we wonder that which has been should be brought to life again, since we see produced that which had not been?" Ambrose, On the belief of the Resurrection, 2:64(A.D. 378), in NPNF2, IX:184 "Believe that all that is in the world, both all that is seen and all that is unseen, was made out of nothing by God, and is governed by the Providence of its Creator, and will receive a change to a better state." Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration on Holy Baptism, 45(A.D. 383), in NPNF2, VII:376-377 "We return to our plain statement, and we assert, that He Who brought all creation into being out of nothing is the Creator of things seen in substantial existence, not of unsubstantial words having no existence but in the sound of the voice and the lisp of the tongue." Gregory of Nyssa, Answer to Eunomius’ Second Book (A.D. 384), in NPNF2, V:287 "And then He made man, who was not a man before, of different parts, giving to him a soul made out of nothing. But now He will restore the bodies, which have been dissolved, to the souls that are still in being: for the rising again belongs to things laid down, not to things which have no being. He therefore that made the original bodies\ out of nothing, and fashioned various forms of them, will also again revive and raise up those that are dead." Apostolic Constitutions, 5,1:7(A.D. 400), in ANF, VII:441 "For Thou art eternal knowledge, everlasting sight, unbegotten hearing, untaught wisdom, the first by nature, and the measure of being, and beyond all number; who didst bring all things out of nothing into being by Thy only begotten Son."Apostolic Constitutions, 8,2:12(A.D. 400), in ANF, VII:486-487 "Thou didst create heaven and earth, not out of Thyself, for then they would be equal to Thine Only-begotten, and thereby even to Thee; and in no wise would it be right that anything should be equal to Thee which was not of Thee. And aught else except Thee there was not whence Thou mightest create these things, O God, One Trinity, and Trine Unity; and, therefore, out of nothing didst Thou create heaven and earth,-a great thing and a small,because Thou art Almighty and Good, to make all things good, even the great heaven and the small earth. Thou wast, and there was nought else from which Thou didst create heaven and earth; two such things, one near unto Thee, the other near to nothing, -one to which Thou shouldest be superior, the other to which nothing should be inferior." Augustine, Confessions, 12:7(A.D. 400), in NPNF1, I:177 "Moreover, the bad will, though it be not in harmony with, but opposed to nature, inasmuch as it is a vice or blemish, yet it is true of it as of all vice, that it cannot exist except in a nature, and only in a nature created out of nothing, and not in that which the Creator has begotten of Himself, as He begot the Word, by whom all things were made. For though God formed man of the dust of the earth, yet the earth itself, and every earthly material, is absolutely created out of nothing; and man’s soul, too, God created out of nothing, and joined to the body, when He made man."Augustine, City of God, 14:11(A.D. 400), in NPNF1, II:271-272 "But God, through the exercise of will alone, has broughtall things into existence out of nothing. Now there is the same difference between God and man in begetting andgenerating." John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith, 8(A.D. 743), in NPNF2, VIII:7 Original Sin "He stood in need of baptism, or of the descent of the Spirit like a dove; even as He submitted to be born and to be crucified, not because He needed such things, but because of the human race, which from Adam had fallen under the power of death and the guile of the serpent, and each one of which had committed personal transgression. For God, wishing both angels and men, who were endowed with freewill, and at their own disposal, to do whatever He had strengthened each to do, made them so, that if they chose the things acceptable to Himself, He would keep them free from death and from punishment; but that if they did evil, He would punish each as He sees fit. For it was not His entrance into Jerusalem sitting on an ass, which we have showed was prophesied, that empowered Him to be Christ, but it furnished men with a proof that He is the Christ; just as it was necessary in the time of John that men have proof, that they might know who is Christ." Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 88:4(A.D. 155), in ANF, I:243-244 "And not by the aforesaid things alone has the Lord manifested Himself, but [He has done this] also by means of His passion. For doing away with [the effects of] that disobedience of man which had taken place at the beginning by the occasion of a tree, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;" rectifying that disobedience which had occurred by reason of a tree, through that obedience which was [wrought out] upon the tree [of the cross]. Now He would not have come to do away, by means of that same [image], the disobedience which had been incurred towards our Maker if He proclaimed another Father. But inasmuch as it was by these things that we disobeyed God, and did not give credit to His word, so was it also by these same that He brought in obedience and consent as respects His Word; by which things He clearly shows forth God Himself, whom indeed we had offended in the first Adam, when he did not perform His commandment. In the second Adam, however, we are reconciled, being made obedient even unto death. For we were debtors to none other but to Him whose commandment we had transgressed at the beginning." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, V:16:3(A.D. 180), in ANF,I:544 "Every soul, then, byreason ofitsbirth, has its nature in Adam until it isborn again in Christ; moreover, it is unclean all the while that it remains without this regeneration; and because unclean, it is actively sinful, and suffuses even the flesh (by reason of their conjunction) with its own shame. " Tertullian, On the Soul, 40(A.D. 208), in ANF, III:220 "Everyone in the world falls prostrate under sin. And it is the Lord who sets up those who are cast down and who sustains all who are falling. In Adam all die, and thus the world prostrate and requires to be set up again, so that Christ all may be made to live." Origen, Homilies on Jeremias, 8:1(post A.D. 244), inJUR,I:205 "If, in the case of the worst sinners and of those who formerly sinned much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is held back from Baptism and grace,how much more, then, should aninfant not be held back, who, having but recently been BORN, has done no sin [committed no personal sin], except that, born of the flesh according to Adam. He hascontracted the contagionof that old death from his first being born. For this very reason does he approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins forgiven him are not his own but those of another[i.e. from Adam]." Cyprian, Epistle to Fidus, 68[64]:5(c A.D. 250), in ANF, V:354 "But if any one were to think that the earthy image is the flesh itself, but the heavenly image some other spiritual body besides the flesh; let him first consider that Christ, the heavenly man, when He appeared, bore the same form of limbs and the same image of flesh as ours, through which also He, who was not man, became man, that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ For if He bore flesh for any other reason than that of setting the flesh free, and raising it up, why did He bear flesh superfluously, as He purposed neither to save it, nor to raise it up? But the Son of God does nothing superfluously. He did not then take the form of a servant uselessly, but to raise it up and save it. For He truly was made man, and died, and not in mere appearance, but that He might truly be shown to be the first begotten from the dead, changing the earthy into the heavenly, and the mortal into the immortal." Methodius, On the Resurrection, 13(A.D. 300), in ANF,VI:368 "That Lord, I say, who in His simple and immaterial Deity, entered our nature, and of the virgin’s womb became ineffably incarnate; that Lord, who was partaker of nothing else save the lump of Adam, who was by the serpent tripped up.” Methodius, Oration concerning Simeon and Anna, 13(ante A.D. 300), in ANF, VI:392 "Moreover, among the sons of Adam there is none besides Him who might enter the race without being wounded or swallowed up. For sin has ruled from the time Adam transgressed the command. By one among the many was it swallowed up; many did it wound, and many did it kill; but none among the many killed it until our Savior came, who took it on Himself and fixed it to His cross." Aphraates the Persian Sage, Treatises,7:1(ante A.D. 345), in JUR,I:303 "Adam sinned and earned all sorrows;--likewise the world after His example,all guilt.--And instead of considering how it should be restored,--considered how its fall should be pleasant for it.--Glory to Him Who came and restored it!" Ephraem, Hymns on the Epiphany, 10:1(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,XIII:280 "Through him our forefather Adam was cast out for disobedience, and exchanged a Paradise bringing forth wondrous fruits of its own accord for the ground which bringeth forth thorns. What then? some one will say. We have been beguiled and are lost. Is there then no salvation left? We have fallen: Is it not possible to rise again? We have been blinded: May we not recover our sight? We have become crippled: Can we never walk upright? In a word, we are dead: May we not rise again? He that woke Lazarus who was four days dead and already stank, shall He not, O man, much more easily raise thee who art alive? He who shed His precious blood for us, shall Himself deliver us from sin." Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 2:4-5(A.D. 350), in NPNF2, VII:9 "And this thought commends itself strongly to the right-minded. For since the first man Adamaltered, and throughsin deathcame into the world, therefore it became the second Adam to beunalterable; that, should the Serpent again assault, even the Serpent’s deceit might be baffled, and, the Lord being unalterable and unchangeable, the Serpent might become powerless in his assault against all. For as when Adam had transgressed, his sin reached unto all men, so, when the Lord had become man and had overthrown the Serpent, that so great strength of His is to extend through all men, so that each of us may say, ’For we are not ignorant of his devices’ Good reason then that the Lord, who ever is in nature unalterable, loving righteousness and hating iniquity, should be anointed and Himself’ sent, that, He, being and remaining the same, by taking this alterable flesh, ’might condemn sin in it,’ and might secure its freedom, and its ability s henceforth ’to fulfil the righteousness of the law’ in itself, so as to be able to say, ’But we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us.’ " Athanasius, Against the Arians, I:51(A.D. 358), in NPNF2, IV:336 "Little given, much gotten; by the donation of food the original sin is discharged. Just as Adam transmitted the sin by his wicked eating, we destroy that treacherous food when we cure the need and hunger." Basil, Eulogies & Sermons, Famine & Drought 8:7(ante 379), in JUR, II:23 "And further, above this, we have in common reason, the Law, the Prophets, the very Sufferings of Christ, by which we were all without exception created anew, who partake of the same Adam, and were led astray by the serpent and slain by sin, and are saved by the heavenly Adam and brought back by the tree of shame to the tree of life from whence we had fallen." Gregory of Nazianzen, Against the Arians, 33:9(A.D. 380), in NPNF2, VII:331 "For death is alike to all, without difference for the poor, without exception for the rich. And so although through the sin of one alone, yet it passed upon all; that we may not refuse to acknowledge Him to be also the Author of death, Whom we do not refuse to acknowledge as the Author of our race; and that, as through one death is ours, so should be also the resurrection; and that we should not refuse the misery, that we may attain to the gift. For, as we read, Christ ’is come to save that which was lost,’ and ’to be Lord both of the dead and living.’ In Adam I fell, in Adam I was cast out of Paradise, in Adam I died; how shall the Lord call me back, except He find me in Adam; guilty as I was in him, so now justified in Christ. If, then, death be the debt of all, we must be able to endure the payment. But this topic must be reserved for later treatment." Ambrose, On the Death of his brother Satyrus, II:6(A.D. 380), in NPNF2,X:175 "In whom" -- that is, in Adam -- ’all have sinned’. And he said ’in whom,’ using the masculine form, when he was speaking of a woman, because the reference was not to a specific individual but to the race. It is clear, therefore, that all have sinned in Adam,en masse as it were; for when he himself was corrupted by sin,all whom he begot were born under sin. On his account, then, all are sinners, because we are all from him. He lost God’s favor when he strayed." Ambrosiaster, Commentaries on thirteen Pauline Epistles, Romans 5:12(A.D. 384), in JUR, II:177 "How then did death come in and prevail? "Through the sin of one." But what means, "for that all have sinned?" This; he having once fallen, even they that had not eaten of the tree did from him, all of them, become mortal ... From whence it is clear, that it was not this sin, the transgression, that is, of the Law, but that of Adam’s disobedience, whichmarred all things. Now what is the proof of this? The fact that even before the Law all died: for ’death reigned’ he says, ’from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned.’ How did it reign? ’After the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come.’ Now this is why Adam is a type of Christ ... [W]hen the Jew says to thee, How came it, that by the well-doing of this one Person, Christ, the world was saved? thou mightest be able to say to him, How by the disobedience of this one person, Adam, came it to be condemned?" John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 10:1-21(A.D. 391), in NPNF1, XI:401-402 "After Adam sinned, as I noted before, when the Lord said, ’You are earth, and to earth you shall return’, Adam was condemned to death. This condemnation passed on to the whole race. For all sinned, already by their sharing in that nature, as the Apostle says: "For through one man sin made its entry, and through sin death, and thus it came down to all men, because all have sinned. ... Someone will say to me: But the sin of Adam deservedly passed on to his posterity, because they were begotten of him: but how are we to be begotten of Christ, so that we can be saved through Him? Do not think of these things in a carnal fashion. You have already seen how we are begotten by Christ our Parent. In these last times Christ took a soul and with it flesh from Mary:this flesh came to prepare salvation." Pacian, Sermons on Baptism, 2,6(ante A.D. 392), in JUR, II:143-144 "Evil was mixed with our nature from the beginning ... through those who by their disobedience introduced the disease. Just as in the natural propagation of the species each animal engenders its like, so man is born from man, a being subject to passions from a being subject to passions, a sinner from a sinner. Thussin takesits rise in; it grows with us and keeps us company till life’s term us as we are born " Gregory of Nyssa, The Beatitudes, 6(ante A.D. 394), in ECD, 351 "This grace, however, of Christ, without which neither infants nor adults can be saved, is not rendered for any merits, but is given gratis, on account of which it is also called grace. ’Being justified,’ says the apostle, ’freely through His blood.’ Whence they, who are not liberated through grace, either because they are not yet able to hear, or because they are unwilling to obey; or again because they did not receive, at the time when they were unable on account of youth to hear, that bath of regeneration, which they might have received and through which they might have been saved, are indeed justly condemned; because theyare not without sin, either that which they have derived from their birth, or that which they have added from their own misconduct. ’For all have sinned’-whether in Adam or in themselves--"and come short of the glory of God.’ " Augustine, On Nature and Grace, 4(A.D. 415), in NPNF1, V:122 "[T]his concupiscence, I say, which is cleansed only by the sacrament of regeneration, does undoubtedly, by means of natural birth, pass on the bond of sin to a man’s posterity, unless they are themselves loosed from it byregeneration." Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence, 1:23(A.D. 420), in NPNF1, V:274 "Song of Solomon 1:1-17 If anyone says that by the offense of Adam’s trangression not the whole man, that is, according to body and soul, was changed for the worse, but believes that while the liberty of the soul endures without harm, the body only is exposed to corruption, he is deceived by the error of Pelagius and resists the Scriptures .... Song of Solomon 2:1-17 If anyone asserts that Adam’s trangression injured him alone and not his descendents, or declares that certainly death of the body only, which is the punishment of sin, but not sin also, which isdeath of the soul, passed through one man into the whole human race, he will do an injustice to God, contradicting the Apostle." Council of Orange, Canon 1(A.D. 530), in DEN, 75 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2003 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 9A-TRIUNE GOD INDEX ======================================================================== The Bible states in1 Timothy 3:15, "The church is the pillar and foundation of truth." Cardinal Henery Neuman was a convert from Calvinism to the Anglican Church and finally to the Catholic Church. He stated “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to cease to be Protestant”. Its Collary is also true, “to be deep in the study of the History of the church is to become Catholic”. Rules for interpreting Scripture: Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo’s encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies" Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church 1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church 2. Beguided by what the early fathershad to say about a particular passage. 3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one’s theology, see opening quote) 4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable I will maintain that a anyone who follows the last three rules will well over 90% of the time arrive at the same truths as the Catholic Church!! The true church must be that church which follows the teachings of those immediate successors of the Apostles. These are the Apostolic fathers who learned the faith at the foot of the Apostles. The Catholic church teaches the same things as those taught by the Apostolic fathers. It has not veered to the left or ritght but teaches the same today. If a Church comes a long 1,500 years later and teaches something different how can they have the truth. They claim truth based on their own authority yet teach things that are in contradiction to the Apostolic fathers. While they maintain a portion of the same teachings as the Apostolic teachings professing Christ as redeemer and savior and hence have portion of the Catholic heritage never the less they only have a portion of the loaf of bread. For since the Catholic churche teaches the same as the Apostolic Fathers only they have the complete loaf of bread. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Triune God. This section will deal with various aspects of the Holy Trinity in patristic thought. Corunum will cover such things as: God as Triune, the divinity of the Son, the divinity of the Holy Spirit and the procession of the Holy Spirit. Holy Trinity: Documents illustrating that God is three divine Persons in the unity of one divine nature God the Son Documents illustrating that the Second Person of the Trinity,the Son, is consubstantial with the Father Filioque: Documents illustrating that the Third Person of the Trinity,the Holy Spirit, proceeds from both the Father and the Son as one Principle. God the Holy Spirit: Documents illustrating that the Third Person of the Trinity,the Holy Spirit, is God. The ante-Nicene Church did not express the deity of the Holy Spirit in very explicit terms, as much of the controversy in the ante-Nicene centered around the early Christological heresies. Much of the work for synthesizing the doctrine of the Holy Spirit’s deity was accomplished by St. Athanasius and the Cappodocians. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 9B-HOLY TRINITY, SON OF GOD, DIETY OF HOLY SPIRIT ======================================================================== Holy Trinity "Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who also was born for this purpose, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judaea, in the times of Tiberius Caesar; and that we reasonably worship Him, having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him in the second place, and the prophetic Spirit in the third, we will prove."Justin Martyr, First Apology, 13:(A.D. 155), in ANF,I:166-167 "[T]he ever-truthful God, hast fore-ordained, hast revealed beforehand to me, and now hast fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen."Martyrdom of Polycarp 14(A.D. 157), in ANF, 1:42 "For God did not stand in need of these [beings], in order to the accomplishing of what He had Himself determined with Himself beforehand should be done, as if He did not possess His own hands. For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, ’Let Us make man after Our image and likeness;’ He taking from Himself the substance of the creatures [formed], and the pattern of things made, and the type of all the adornmentsbin the world." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4,20:1(A.D. 180), in ANF, 1:487-488 "And first, they taught us with one consent that God made all things out of nothing; for nothing was coeval with God: but He being His own place, and wanting nothing, and existing before the ages, willed to make man by whom He might be known; for him, therefore, He prepared the world. For he that is created is also needy; but he that is uncreated stands in need of nothing. God, then, having His own Word internal within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own wisdom before all things. He had this Word as a helper in the things that were created by Him, and by Him He made all things. He is called governing principle’ (arche), because He rules, and is Lord of all things fashioned by Him. He, then, being Spirit of God, and governing principle, and wisdom, and power of the highest, came down upon the prophets, and through them spoke of the creation of the world and of all other things. For the prophets were not when the world came into existence, but the wisdom of God which was in Him, and His holy Word which was always present with Him. Wherefore He speaks thus by the prophet Solomon:\ When He prepared the heavens I was there, and when He appointed the foundations of the earth I was by Him as one brought up with Him.’ And Moses, who lived many years before Solomon, or, rather, the Word of God by him as by an instrument, says, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ " Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, II:10(c.A.D. 181), in ANF,II:97-98 "In the course of time, then, the Father forsooth was born, and the Father suffered,God Himself, the Lord Almighty, whom in their preaching they declare to be Jesus Christ. We, however, as we indeed always have done and more especially since we have been better instructed by the Paraclete, who leads men indeed into all truth), believe that there is one only God, but under the following dispensation, or oikonomia, as it is called, that this one only God has also a Son, His Word, who proceeded from Himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. Him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the Virgin, and to have been born of her--being both Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus Christ; we believe Him to have suffered, died, and been buried, according to the Scriptures, and, after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven, to be sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come to judge the quick and the dead; who sent also from heaven from the Father, according to His own promise, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost. That this rule of faith has come down to us from the beginning of the gospel, even before any of the older heretics, much more before Praxeas, a pretender of yesterday, will be apparent both from the lateness of date which marks all heresies, and also from the absolutely \novel character of our new-fangled Praxeas." Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 2(post A.D. 213), in ANF,III:598 "Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. I am, moreover, obliged to say this, when (extolling the Monarchy at the expense of the Economy) they contend for the identity of the Father and Son and Spirit, that it is not by way of diversity that the Son differs from the Father, but by distribution: it is not by division that He is different, but by distinction; because the Father is not the same as the Son, since they differ one from the other in the mode of their being. For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: My Father is greater than I.’ In the Psalm His inferiority is described as being a little lower than the angels.’ Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son, inasmuch as He who begets is one, and He who is begotten is another; He, too, who sends is one, and He who is sent is another; and He, again, who makes is one, and He through whom the thing is made is another. Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete, so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter. ... even the Spirit of truth,’ thus making the Paraclete distinct from Himself, even as we say that the Son is also distinct from the Father; so that He showed a third degree in the Paraclete, as we believe the second degree is in the Son, by reason of the order observed in the Economy. Besides, does not the very fact that they have the distinct names of Father and San amount to a declaration that they are distinct in personality? For, of course, all things will be what their names represent them to be; and what they are and ever will be, that will they be called; and the distinction indicated by the names does not at all admit of any confusion, because there is none in the things which they designate. "Yes is yes, and no is no; for what is more than these, cometh of evil." Tertullian, Against Praxeas,9 (post A.D. 213), in ANF,III:603-604 "[T]he statements made regarding Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are to be understood as transcending all time, all ages, and all eternity. For it is theTrinityalone which exceeds the comprehension not only of temporal but even of eternal intelligence; while other things which are not included in it are to be measured by times and ages." Origen, First Principles, 4:28(A.D. 230), in ANF,IV:377 ""Next, I may reasonably turn to those who divide and cut to pieces and destroy that most sacred doctrine of the Church of God, the Divine Monarchy, making it as it were three powers and partitive subsistences and god-heads three. I am told that some among you who are catechists and teachers of the Divine Word, take the lead in this tenet, who are diametrically opposed, so to speak, to Sabellius’s opinions; for he blasphemously says that the Son is the Father, and the Father the Son, but they in some sort preach three Gods, as dividing the sacred Monad into three subsistences foreign to each other and utterly separate. For it must needs be that with the God of the Universe, the Divine Word is united, and the Holy Ghost must repose and habitate in God; thus in one as in a summit, I mean the God of the Universe, must the Divine Triad be gathered up and brought together. For it is the doctrine of the presumptuous Marcion, to sever and divide the Divine Monarchy into three origins,--a devil’s teaching, not that of Christ’s true disciples and lovers of the Saviour’s lessons, For they know well that a Triad is preached by divine Scripture, but that neither Old Testament nor New preaches three Gods. Equally must one censure those who hold the: Son to be a work, and consider that the Lord has come into being, as one of things which really came to be; whereas the divine oracles witness to a generation suitable to Him and becoming, but not to any fashioning or making. A blasphemy then is it, not ordinary, but even the highest, to say that the Lord is in any sort a handiwork. For if He came to be Son, once He was not; but He was always, if (that is) He be in the Father, as He says Himself, and if the Christ be Word and Wisdom and Power (which, as ye know, divine Scripture says), and these attributes be powers of God. If then the Son came into being, once these attributes were not; consequently there was a time, when God was without them; which is most absurd. And why say more on these points to you, men full of the Spirit and well aware of the absurdities which come to view from saying that the Son is a work? Not attending, as I consider, to this circumstance, the authors of this opinion have entirely missed the truth, in explaining, contrary to the sense of divine and prophetic Scripture in the passage, the words, ’The Lord created me a beginning of His ways unto His works .’ For the sense of He created, as ye know, is not one, for we must understand ’He created’ in this place, as ’He set over the works made by Him,’ that is, mode by the Son Himself.’ And ’He created’ here must not be taken for ’made,’ for creating differs from making. ’Is not He thy Father that hath bought thee? hath He not made thee and created thee?’ says Moses in his great song in Deuteronomy. And one may Say to them, O reckless men, is He a work, who is ’the First-born of every creature, who is born from the womb before the morning star,’ who said, as Wisdom, ’Before all the hills He begets me?’ And in many passages of the divine oracles is the Son said to have been s generated, but nowhere to have come into being; which manifestly convicts those of misconception about the Lord’s generation, who presume to call His divine and ineffable generation a making. Neither then may we divide into three Godheads the wonderful and divine Monad; nor disparage with the name of ’work’ the dignity and exceeding majesty of the Lord; but we must believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Christ Jesus His Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and hold that to the God of the universe the Word is united. For ’I,’ says He, ’and the Father are one; ’and, ’I in the Father and the Father in Me.’ For thus both the Divine Triad, and the holy preaching of the Monarchy, will be preserved." Pope Dionysius [regn 260-268],to Dionysius of Alexandria, fragment in Athanasius’ Nicene Definition 26(A.D. 262), in NPNF2,IV:167-168 "Now the person in each declares the independent being and subsistence. But divinity is the property of the Father; and whenever the divinity of these three is spoken of as one, testimony is borne that the property of the Father belongs also to the Son and the Spirit: wherefore, if the divinity may be spoken of as one in three persons, the trinity is established, and the unity is not dissevered; and the oneness Which is naturally the Father’s is also acknowledged to be the Son’s and the Spirit’s." Gregory the Wonderworker(Thaumaturgus), Sectional Confession of Faith, 8(A.D. 270), in ANF,VI:42 "For the kingdom of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is one, even as their substance is one and their dominion one. Whence also, with one and the same adoration, we worship the one Deity in three Persons, subsisting without beginning, uncreate, without end, and to which there is no successor. For neither will the Father ever cease to be the Father, nor again the Son to be theSon and King, nor the Holy Ghost to be what in substance and personality He is." Methodius, Oration on the Palms, 4(A.D. 305), in ANF,VI:396-397 "We believe in one God, the Father almighty,maker of all things, visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,begotten from the Father,only-begotten,that is,from the substance of the Father,God from God,light from light,true God from true God,begotten,not made,of one substance with the Father...And in the Holy Spirit." Creed of Nice a(A.D. 325), in Ecclesiastes,215-216 " Let no one therefore separate the Old from the New Testament; let no one say that the Spirit in the former is one, and in the latter another; since thus he offends against the Holy Ghost Himself, who with the Father and the Son together is honoured, and at the time of Holy Baptism is included with them in the Holy Trinity. For the Only-begotten Son of God said plainly to the Apostles, Go ye, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Our hope is in Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. We preach not three God; let the Marcionites be silenced; but with the Holy Ghost through One Son, we preach One God. The Faith is indivisible; the worship inseparable. We neither separate the Holy Trinity, like some; nor do we as Sabellius work confusion. But we know according to godliness One Father, who sent His Son to be our Saviour we know One Son, who promised that He would send the Comforter from the Father; we know the Holy Ghost, who spake in the Prophets, and who on the day of Pentecost descended on the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues, here, in Jerusalem, in the Upper Church of the Apostles..." Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 16:4(c.A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:116 "I can see no limit to my venture of speaking concerning God in terms more precise than He Himself has used. He has assigned the Names--Father, Son and Holy Ghost,--which are our information of the Divine nature. Words cannot express or feeling embrace or reason apprehend the re suits of enquiry carried further; all is ineffable, unattainable, incomprehensible. Language is exhausted by the magnitude of the theme, the splendour of its effulgence blinds the gazing eye, the intellect cannot compass its boundless extent....When Israel hears that its God is one, and that no second god is likened, that men may deem him God, to God Who is God’s Son, the revelation means that God the Father and God the Son are One altogether, not by confusion of Person but by unity of substance. For the prophet forbids us, because God the Son is God, to liken Him to some second deity....But I cannot describe Him, Whose pleas for me I cannot describe. As in the revelation that Thy Only-begotten was born of Thee before times eternal, when we cease to struggle with ambiguities of language and difficulties of thought, the one certainty of His birth remains; so I hold fast in my consciousness the truth that Thy Holy Spirit is from Thee and through Him, although I cannot by my intellect comprehend it." Hilary of Poiters, On the Trinity, 2:5,4:42,12:56(A.D. 359), in NPNF2,IX:53,84,233 "[T]hey ought to confess that the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God, as they have been taught by the divine words, and by those who have understood them in their highest sense. Against those who cast it in our teeth that we are Tritheists, let it be answered that we confess one God not in number but in nature. For everything which is called one in number is not one absolutely, nor yet simple in nature; but God is universally confessed to be simple and not composite." Basil, To the Caesareans, Epistle 8 (A.D. 360), in NPNF2,VIII:116 "For this Synod of Nicaea is in truth a proscription of every heresy. It also upsets those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and call Him a Creature. For the Fathers, after speaking of the faith in the Son, straightway added, ’And we believe in the Holy Ghost,’ in order that by confessing perfectly and fully the faith in theHoly Trinitythey might make known the exact form of the Faith of Christ, and the teaching of theCatholic Church. For it is made clear both among you and among all, and no Christian can have a doubtful mind on the point, that our faith is not in the Creature, but in one God, Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible: and in one Lord Jesus Christ His Only-begotten Son, and in one Holy Ghost; one God. known in the holy and perfect Trinity, baptized into which, and in it united to the Deity, we believe that we have also inherited the kingdom of the heavens, in Christ Jesus our Lord, hrough whom to the Father be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen." Athanasius, To the Bishops in Africa, 11(A.D. 372), in NPNF2,IV:492 "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified." Epiphanius, Creed (A.D. 374), in NP,8 "The Substance of the Trinity is, so to say, a common Essence in that which is distinct, an incomprehensible, ineffable Substance. We hold the distinction, not the confusion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; a distinction without separation; a distinction without plurality; and thus we believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as each existing from and to eternity in this divine and wonderful Mystery: not in two Fathers, nor in two Sons, nor in two Spirits. For there is one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him.’ There is One born of the Father, the Lord Jesus, and therefore He is the Only-begotten. There is also One Holy Spirit,’ as the same Apostle hath said. So we believe,so we read, so we hold. We know the fact of distinction, we know nothing of the hidden mysteries; we pry not into the causes, but keep the outward signs vouchsafed unto us." Ambrose, On the Christian Faith, 8:92(A.D. 380), in NPNF2,X:274 "We believe in one God,the Father,almighty,maker of heaven and earth,of all things visible and invisible;And in one Lord Jesus Christ,the only-begotten Son of God,begotten from the Father before all ages,light from light,true God from true God,begotten not made,of one substance with the Father,through Whom all things came into existence...And in the Holy Spirit,the Lord and life-giver,Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is together worshipped and together glorified..." Creed of Constantinople (A.D. 381), in Ecclesiastes,297-298 "For neither the centurion nor that poor woman who for twelve years was wasting away with a bloody flux, had believed in the mysteries of the Trinity, for these were revealed to the Apostles after the resurrection of Christ; so that the faith of such as believe in the mystery of the Trinity might have its due preeminence: but it was her singleness of mind and her devotion to her God that met with our Lord’s approval: ’For she said within herself, If I do but touch his garment, I shall be made whole.’ This is the faith which our Lord said was seldom found. This is the faith which even in the case of those who believe aright is hard to find in perfection. ’According to your faith, be it done unto you,’ says God. I do not, indeed, like the sound of those words. For if it be done unto me according to my faith, I shall perish. And yet I certainly believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, and I believe in God the Holy Ghost. I believe in one God; nevertheless, I would not have it done unto me according to my faith."Jerome, Against Luciferians, 15(A.D. 382), in NPNF2,VI:327 "But they[ie. Catholics] worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, One Godhead; God the Father, God the Son and (do not be angry) God the Holy Ghost, One Nature in Three Personalities, intellectual, perfect, Self-existent, numerically separate, but not separate in Godhead." Gregory of Nazianzen, Against the Arians and concerning himself, Oration 33:16(ante A.D. 389), in NPNF2, VII:334 "Seest thou that he implies that there is no difference inthe gifts of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost? Not confounding the Persons, God forbid! but declaring the equal honor of the Essence. For that which the Spirit bestows, this he saith that God also works; this, that the Son likewise ordains and grants. Yet surely if the one were inferior to the other, or the other to it, he would not have thus set it down nor would this have been his way of consoling the person who was vexed." Chrysostom John, Homily on 1 Corinthians, 29:4(c.A.D. 392), in NPNF1,XII:171 "Since, then, in the case of those who are regenerate from death to eternal life, it is through the Holy Trinity that the life-giving power is bestowed on those who with faith are deemed worthy of the grace, and in like manner the grace is imperfect, if any one, whichever it be, of the names of the Holy Trinity be omitted in the saving baptism--for the sacrament of regeneration is not completed in the Son and the Father alone without the Spirit: nor is the perfect boon of life imparted to Baptism in the Father and the Spirit, if the name of the Son be suppressed: nor is the grace of that Resurrection accomplished in the Father and the Son, if the Spirit be left out :--for this reason we rest all our hope, and the persuasion of the salvation of our souls, upon the three Persons, recognized by these names; and we believe in the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Fountain of life, and in the Only-begotten Son of the Father, Who is the Author of life, as saith the Apostle, and in the Holy Spirit of God, concerning Whom the Lord hath spoken, ’It is the Spirit that quickeneth". And since on us who have been redeemed from death the grace of immortality is bestowed, as we have said, through faith in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, guided by these we believe that nothing servile, nothing created, nothing unworthy of the majesty of the Father is to be associated in thought with the Holy Trinity; since, I say, our life is one which comes to us by faith in the Holy Trinity, taking its rise from the God of all, flowing through the Son, and working in us by the Holy Spirit. Having, then, this full assurance, we are baptized as we were commanded, and we believe as we are baptized, and we hold as we believe; so that with one accord our baptism, our faith, and our ascription of praise are to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. But if any one makes mention of two or three Gods, or of three God-heads, let him be accursed. And if any, following the perversion of Arius, says that the Son or the Holy Spirit were produced from things that are not, let him be accursed. But as many as walk by the rule of truth and acknowledge the three Persons, devoutly recognized in Their several properties, and believe that there is one Godhead, one goodness, one rule, one authority and power, and neither make void the supremacy of the Sole-sovereignty, nor fall away into polytheism, nor confound the Persons, nor make up the Holy Trinity of heterogeneous and unlike elements, but in simplicity receive the doctrine of the faith, grounding all their hope of salvation upon the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,--these according to our judgment are of the same mind as we, and with them we also trust to have part in the Lord." Gregory of Nyssa, To the City of Sebasteia, Epistle 2 (ante A.D. 394), in NPNF2,V:528-529 "All those Catholic expounders of the divine Scriptures, both Old and New, whom I have been able to read, who have written before me concerning the Trinity,Who is God, have purposed to teach, according to the Scriptures, this doctrine, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit intimate a divine unity of one and the same substance in an indivisible equality; and therefore that they are not three Gods, but one God: although the Father hath begotten the Son, and so He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the Father, and so He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Himself also co-equal with the Father and the Son, and pertaining to the unity of the Trinity. Yet not that this Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate, andand roseburied,, again the third day, and ascended into heaven, but only the Son. Nor, again, that this Trinity descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus when He was baptized; nor that, on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, when there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,’ the same Trinity sat upon each of them with cloven tongues like as of fire,’ but only the Holy Spirit. Nor yet that this Trinity said from heaven, Thou art my Son,’ whether when He was baptized by John, or when the three disciples were with Him in the mount, or when the voice sounded, saying, I have both glorified it,and will glorify it again;’ but that it was a word of the Father only, spoken to the Son; although the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as they are indivisible, so work indivisibly. This is also my faith, since it is the Catholic faith." Augustine, On the Trinity, I:4,7(A.D. 416), in NPNF1,III:20 "But after him the schism of Sabellius burst forth out of reaction against the above mentioned heresy, and as he declared that there was no distinction between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, he impiously confounded, as far as was possible, the Persons, and failed to distinguish the holy and ineffable Trinity. Next after him whom we have mentioned there followed the blasphemy of Arian perversity, which, in order to avoid the appearance of confounding the Sacred Persons, declared that there were different and dissimilar substances in the Trinity." John Cassian, The Incarnation of Christ, 2(A.D. 430), in NPNF2,XI:551-552 "In God there is one substance, but three Persons; in Christ two substances, but one Person. In the Trinity, another and another Person, not another and another substance (distinct Persons, not distinct substances)...Because there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost; but yet there is not another and another nature (distinct natures) but one and the same nature." Vincent of Lerins, Commonitory, 37(ante A.D. 450), in NPNF2,XI:140 "But although, dearly-beloved, the actual form of the thing done was exceeding wonderful, and undoubtedly in that exultant chorus of all human languages the Majesty of the Holy Spirit was present, yet no one must think that His Divine substance appeared in what was seen with bodily eyes. For His Nature, which is invisible and shared in common with the Father and the Son, showed the character of His gift and work by the outward sign that pleased Him, but kept His essential property within His own Godhead: because human sight can no more perceive the Holy Ghost than it can the Father or the Son. For in the Divine Trinity nothing is unlike or unequal, and all that can be thought concerning Its substance admits of no diversity either in power or glory or eternity. And while in the property of each Person the Father is one, the Son is another, and the Holy Ghost is another, yet the Godhead is not distinct and different; for whilst the Son is the Only begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, not in the way that every creature is the creature of the Father and the Son, but as living and having power with Both, and eternally subsisting of That Which is the Father and the Son." Pope Leo the Great (regn 440-461), Sermon 77:2 (ante A.D. 461), in NPNF2,XII:190 "Or, if any one should perhaps think that this is done out of veneration for the supreme Trinity, neither so is there any objection to immersing the person to be baptized in the water once, since, there being one substance in three subsistences, it cannot be in any way reprehensible to immerse the infant in baptism either thrice or once, seeing that by three immersions the Trinity of persons, and in one the singleness of the Divinity may be denoted." Pope Gregory the Great (regn A.D. 590-604), To Leander Bishop of Hispalis, Letter 43(A.D. 591), in NPNF2,XII:88 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. God the Son "We have also as a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin " Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians, 7(A.D. 110), in ANF,1:52 "For if you had understood what has been written by the prophets, you would not have denied that He was God, Son of the only, unbegotten, unutterable God." Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 121(A.D. 155), in ANF,1:263 "God was in the beginning; but the beginning, we havebeen taught, is the power of the Logos. For the Lord of the universe, who is Himself the necessary ground of all being, inasmuch as no creature was yet in existence, was alone; but inasmuch as He was all power, Himself the necessary ground of things visible and invisible, with Him were all things; with Him, by Logos-power, the Logos Himself also, who was in Him, subsists. And by His simple will the Logos springs forth; and the Logos, not coming forth in vain, becomes the first-begotten work of the Father. Him (the Logos) we know to be the beginning of the world. But He came into being by participation, not by abscission; for what is cut off is separated from the original substance, but that which comes by participation, making its choice of function, does not render him deficient from whom it is taken. For just as from one torch many fires are lighted, but the light of the first torch is not lessened by the kindling of many torches, so the Logos, coming forth from the Logos-power of the Father, has not divested of the Logos-power Him who begat Him." Tatian the Syrian, Oration Against the Greeks, 5(c.A.D.175), in ANF,II:67 "We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales, when we announce thatGod was bornin the form of a man." Tatian the Syrian, Oration Against the Greeks, 21(c.A.D.175), in ANF,II:74 "But the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding and reason of the Father is the Son of God. But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father, not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind, had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos" Athenagoras, Plea for Christians, 10(A.D. 177), in ANF,II:133 "We have already asserted that God made the world, and all which it contains, by His Word, and Reason, and Power. It is abundantly plain that your philosophers, too, regard the Logos--that is, the Word and Reason--as the Creator of the universe...And we, in like manner, hold that the Word, and Reason, and Power, by which we have said God made all, have spirit as their proper and essential substratum, in which the Word has inbeing to give forth utterances, and reason abides to dispose and arrange, and power is over all to execute. We have been taught that He proceeds forth from God, and in that procession He is generated; so that He is the Son of God, and is called God from unity of substance with God. For God, too, is a Spirit. Even when the ray is shot from the sun, it is still part of the parent mass; the sun will still be in the ray, because it is a ray of the sun--there is no division of substance, but merely an extension. Thus Christ is Spirit of Spirit, and God of God, as light of light is kindled. The material matrix remains entire and unimpaired, though you derive from it any number of shoots possessed of its qualities; so, too, that which has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son of God, and the two are one. In this way also, as He is Spirit of Spirit and God of God, He is made a second in manner of existence--in position, not in nature; and He did not withdraw from the original source, but went forth. This ray of God, then, as it was always foretold in ancient times, descending into a certain virgin, and made flesh in her womb, is in His birth God and man united." Tertullian, Apology, 21(A.D. 197), in ANF,III:34- But nothing exists, the cause of whose existence is not supplied by God. Nothing, then, is hated by God, nor yet by the Word. For both are one--that is, God." Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor,I:8(A.D. 202), in ANF,II:225 when I say another, I do not mean that there are two Gods, but that it is only as light of light, or as water from a fountain, or as a ray from the sun. For there is but one power, which is from the All; and the Father is the All, from whom cometh this Power, the Word. And this is the mind which came forth into the world, and was manifested as the Son of God." Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of One Noetus, 11(A.D. 210), in ANF,V:227 "The Logos alone of this God is from God himself; wherefore also the Logos is God, being the substance of God." Hippolytus, Refutation against All Heresies, 10:29(A.D. 220), in ANF,V:151 "Secondly, That Jesus Christ Himself, who came (into the world), was born of the Father before all creatures; that, after He had been the servant of the Father in the creation of all things--’For by Him were all things made’--He in the last times, divesting Himself (of His glory), became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained the God which He was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in this respect only, that it was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit: that this Jesus Christ was truly born, and did truly suffer, and did not endure this death common (to man) in appearance only, but did truly die; that He did truly rise from the dead; and that after His resurrection He conversed with His disciples, and was taken up (into heaven)." Origen, First Principles, Pref 4 (A.D. 230), in ANF,IV:240 "For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God Himself as man."Novatian, Concerning the Trinity, 11(A.D. 235), in ANF,V:620 "If of Christ; he could not become His temple, since he denies that Christ is God." Cyprian,To Jubaianus, Epistle 72[73]:12(A.D. 256), in ANF,V:382 "But since He{Jesus] is God in reality and without any shadow of doubt, do you think that we will deny that He is worshipped by us with all the fervour we are capable of, and assumed as the guardian of our body? Is that Christ of yours a god, then? some raving, wrathful, and excited man will say. A god, we will reply." Arnobius, Against the Heathen, 1:42(A.D. 305), in ANF,VI:424 "He became both the Son of God through the Spirit, and the Son of man through the flesh,--that is, both God and man." Lactantius, Divine Institutes, 4:13(A.D. 310), in ANF,VII:112 "...And in one Lord Jesus Christ,the Son of God,begotten from the Father,only-begotten,that is,from the substance of the Father,God from God,light from light,true God from true God,begotten not made,of one substance with the Father..." Creed of Nicea (A.D. 325), in Ecclesiastes,215 "Believe also in the Son of God, One and Only, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was be-gotten God of God, begotten Life of Life, begotten Light of Light, Who is in all things likes to Him that begat, Who received not His being in time, but was before all ages eternally and incomprehensibly begotten of the Father: The Wisdom and the Power of God, and His Righteousness personally subsisting: Who sitteth on the right hand of the Father before all ages." Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 4:7(A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:20-21 "[S]ince the generation of the Son from the Father is not according to the nature of men, and not only like, but also inseparable from the essence of the Father, and He and the Father are one, as He has said Himself, and the Word is ever in the Father and the Father in the Word, as the radiance stands towards the light (for this the phrase itself indicates), therefore the Council, as understanding this, suitably wrote ’one in essence,’ that they might both defeat the perverseness of the heretics, and shew that the Word was other than originated things." Athanasius,Defence of the Nicene Council,20(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,IV:164 "On this account and reasonably, having said before, ’I and the Father are One,’ He added, ’I in the Father and the Father in Me,’ by way of shewing the identity of Godhead and the unity of Essence. For they are one, not as one thing divided into two parts, and these nothing but one, nor as one thing twice named, so that the Same becomes at one time Father, at another His own Son, for this Sabellius holding was judged an heretic. But They are two, because the Father is Father and is not also Son, and the Son is Son and not also Father; but the nature is one; (for the offspring is not unlike its parent, for it is his image), and all that is the Father’s, is the Son’s. Wherefore neither is the Son another God, for He was not procured from without, else were there many, if a godhead be procured foreign from the Father’s; for if the Son be other, as an Offspring, still He is the Same as God; and He and the Father are one in propriety and peculiarity of nature, and in the identity of the one Godhead, as has been said. For the radiance also is light, not second to the sun, nor a different light, nor from participation of it, but a whole and proper offspring of it. And such an offspring is necessarily one light; and no one would say that they are two lights, but sun and radiance two, yet one the light from the sun enlightening in its radiance all things. So also the Godhead of the Son is the Father’s; whence also it is indivisible; and thus there is one God and none other but He. And so, since they are one, and the Godhead itself one, the same things are said of the Son, which are said of the Father, except His being said to be Father:--for instance, that He is God, ’And the Word was God;’ Almighty, ’Thus saith He which was and is and is to come, the Almighty;’ Lord, ’One Lord Jesus Christ;’ that He is Light, ’I am the Light;’ that He wipes out sins, ’that ye may know,’ He says, ’that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins;’ and so with other attributes. For ’all things,’ says the Son Himself, ’whatsoever the Father hath, are Mine;’ and again, ’And Mine are Thine.’ " Athanasius, Orations, III:4(A.D. 362), in NPNF2,IV:395 "But, since in Christ there is the fulness of the Godhead, we have herein a revelation of God the Father joining to raise us in Him Who died; and we must confess that Christ Jesus is none other than God in all the fulness of the Deity." Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 1:13(A.D. 359), in NPNF2,IX:44 "Thus you cannot add together God the Father and God the Son, and count Them as two Gods, for They Two are One God. You cannot confuse Them together, for They Two are not One Person. And so the Apostolic faith rejects two gods; for it knows nothing of two Fathers or two Sons." Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 7:31(A.D. 359), in NPNF2,IX:131-132 "Worshipping as we do God of God, we both confess the distinction of the Persons, and at the same time abide by the Monarchy. We do not fritter away the theology in a divided plurality, because one Form, so to say, united in the invariableness of the Godhead, is beheld in God the Father, and in God the Only begotten. For the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son; since such as is the latter, such is the former, and such as is the former, such is the latter; and herein is the Unity. So that according to the distinction of Persons, both are one and one, and according to the community of Nature, one. How, then, if one and one, are there not two Gods? Because we speak of a king, and of the king’s image, and not of two kings. The majesty is not cloven in two, nor the glory divided. The sovereignty and authority over us is one, and so the doxology ascribed by us is not plural but one; because the honour paid to the image passes on to the prototype. Now what in the one case the image is by reason of imitation, that in the other case the Son is by nature; and as in works of art the likeness is dependent on the form, so in the case or the divine and uncompounded nature the union consists in the communion of the Godhead. One, moreover, is the Holy Spirit, and we speak of Him singly, conjoined as He is to the one Father through the one Son, and through Himself completing the adorable and blessed Trinity. Of Him the intimate relationship to the Father and the Son is sufficiently declared by the fact of His not being ranked in the plurality of the creation, but being spoken of singly; for he is not one of many, but One. For as there is one Father and one Son, so is there one Holy Ghost. He is reason requires the singular to be removed from compound and plural bodies; and He is in such wise united to the Father and to the Son as unit has affinity with unit." Basil, On the Spirit, 45(A.D. 375), in NPNF2,VIII:28 "In my opinion He is called Son because He is identical with the Father in Essence; and not only for this reason, but also because He is Of Him. And He is called Only-Begotten, not because He is the only Son and of the Father alone, and only a Son; but also because the manner of His Sonship is peculiar to Himself and not shared by bodies." Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration, 30:20(ante A.D. 389), in NPNF2,VII:316 "And Christ also, after having said that I receive not testimony from man’ (c. v. 34), in order that He may not seem to the foolish to clash with Himself, by declaring at one time There is another that beareth witness of Me and I know that his witness is true’ (c. v. 32) (for He pointed to John;) and at another, I receive not testimony from man’ (c. v. 34); He immediately adds the solution of the doubt, But these things I say’ for your own sake, that ye might be saved.’ As though He had said, that I am God, and the really-Begotten Son of God, and am of that Simple and Blessed Essence, I need none to witness to Me; and even though none would do so, yet am not I by this anything diminished in My Essence; but because I care for the salvation of the many, I have descended to such humility as to commit the witness of Me to a man.’ " Chrysostom John, Homily on John, VI:7(c.A.D. 391), in NPNF1,XIV:26 " Further, that none may fall into error, let a man attend to those signs vouchsafed us by holy Scripture, whereby we may know the Son. He is called the Word, the Son, the Power of God, the Wisdom of God.The Word, because He is without blemish; the Power, because He is perfect; the Son, because He is begotten of the Father; the Wisdom, because He is one with the Father, one in eternity, one in Divinity. Not that the Father is one Person with the Son; between Father and Son is the plain distinction that comes of generation; so that Christ is God of God, Everlasting of Everlasting, Fulness of Fulness. Now these are not mere names, but signs of power manifesting itself in works for while there is fulness of Godhead in the Father, there is also fulness of Godhead in the Son, not diverse, but one. The Godhead is nothing confused, for it is an unity: nothing manifold, for in it there is no difference." Ambrose, On the Christian Faith, 1:2,16-17(A.D. 380), in NPNF2,X:203-204 "We believe...in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten from the Father before all ages, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father..." Creed of Constantinople (A.D. 381), in Ecclesiastes, 297 "If anyone does not say that the Son of God is true God just as [His] Father is true God [and] He is all-powerful and omniscient and equal to the Father, he is a heretic."Council of Rome, Tome of Pope Damasus, Canon 12(A.D. 382),in DEN,31 "At what point, then, does Eunomius assent to the truth? When he says that the Lord Himself, being the Son of the living God, not being ashamed of His birth from the Virgin, often named Himself, in His own sayings, ’the Son of Man’? For this phrase we also allege for proof of the community of essence, because the name of Son’ shows the community of nature to be equal in both cases. For as He is called the Son of Man by reason of the kindred of His flesh to her of whom He was born, so also He is conceived, surely, as the Son of God, by reason of the connection of His essence with that from which He has His existence, and this argument is the greatest weapon of the truth. For nothing so clearly points to Him Who is the mediator between God and man’ (as the great Apostle called Him), as the name of Son,’ equally applicable to either nature, Divine or Human. For the same Person is Son of God, and was made, in the Incarnation, Son of Man, that, by His communion with each, He might link together by Himself what were divided by nature. Now if, in becoming Son of Man, he were without participation in human nature, it would be logical to say that neither. Does He share in the Divine essence, though He is Son of God. But if the whole compound nature of man was in Him (for He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin), it is surely necessary to believe that every property of the transcendent essence is also in Him, as the Word Son’ claims for Him both alike--the Human in the man, but in the God the Divine." Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, 3:4(A.D. 384), in NPNF2,V:145 "But if the Son is said to be sent by the Father on this account, that the one is the Father, and the other the Son, this does not in any manner hinder us from believing the Son to be equal, and consubstantial, and co-eternal with the Father, and yet to have been sent as Son by the Father. Not because the one is greater, the other less; but because the one is Father, the other Son; the one begetter, the other begotten; the one, He from whom He is who is sent; the other, He who is from Him who sends." Augustine, On the Trinity, 4:20(A.D. 416), in NPNF1,III:83 "The Word of God, then, the only-begotten Son of theFather, in all things like and equal to the Father, God of God, Light of Light, Wisdom of Wisdom, Essence of Essence, is altogether that which the Father is, yet is not the Father, because the one is Son, the other is Father. And hence He knows all that the Father knows; but to Him to know, as to be, is from the Father, for to know and to be is there one. And therefore, as to be is not to the Father from the Son, so neither is to know. Accordingly, as though uttering Himself, the Father begat the Word equal to Himself in all things; for He would not have uttered Himself wholly and perfectly, if there were in His Word anything more or less than in Himself." Augustine, On the Trinity, 15:14(A.D. 416), in NPNF1,III:213 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. The Deity of the Holy Spirit "Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit...Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete, so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, ’I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter. ... even the Spirit of truth,’thus making the Paraclete distinctfromHimself, even as we say thatthe Son is also distinct fromthe Father; so that He showed a third degree in the Paraclete, as we believe the second degree is in the Son, by reason of the order observed in the Economy. Besides, does not the very fact that they have the distinct names of Father and Son amount to a declaration that they are distinct in personality? For, of course, all things will be what their names represent them to be; and what they are and ever will be, that will they be called; and the distinction indicated by the names does not at all admit of any confusion, because there is none in the things which they designate. ’Yes is yes, and no is no; for what is more than these, cometh of evil.’" Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 9(A.D. 213), in ANF, III:603-604 "But if there is such co-ordination and unity within the holy Triad, who can separate either the Son from the Father, or the Spirit from the Son or from the Father himself? Who would be sp audacious as to say that the Triad is unlike itself and diverse in nature, or that the Son is in essence foreign from the Father, or the Spirit alien from the Son?...For as the Son, who is in the Father and the Father in him, is not a creature but pertains to the essence of the Father(for this you also profess to say); so also it is not lawful to rank with the creatures the Spirit who is in the Son, and the Son in him, nor to divide him from the Word and reduce the Triad to imperfection." Athanasius, Letter to Serapion of Thmuis, 1:20-21(A.D. 360), in in SHAP,113-114,119 "There is one true God...Trinity in unity;one God, Father,Son, and Holy Spirit...We call the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God." Epiphanius, Well Anchored man, 2,6(A.D. 374), in SW,226 "Wherefore, in the case of the Godhead, we confess one essence or substance so as not to give a variant definition of existence hut we confess a particular hypostasis, in order that our conception of Father, Son and Holy Spirit may be without confusion and clear. If we have no distinct perception of the separate characteristics, namely, fatherhood, sonship, and sanctification, but form our conception of God t from the general idea of existence, we cannot possibly give a sound account of our faith. We must, therefore, confess the faith by adding the particular to the common. The Godhead is common; the fatherhood particular. We must therefore combine the two and say, ’I believe in God the Father.’ The like course must be pursued in the confession of the Son; we must combine the particular with the common and say ’I believe in God the Son,’ so in the case of the Holy Ghost we must make our utterance conform to the appellation and say ’in God the Holy Ghost.’ Hence it results that there is a satisfactory preservation of the unity by the confession of the one Godhead, while in the distinction of the individual properties regarded in each there is the confession of the peculiar properties of the Persons. On the other hand those who identify essence or substance and hypostasis are compelled to confess only three Persons, and, in their hesitation to speak of three hypostases, are convicted of failure to avoid the error of Sabellius, for even Sabellius himself, who in many places confuses the conception, yet, by asserting that the same hypostasis changed its form to meet the needs of the moment, does endeavour to distinguish persons." Basil, To Amphilochius, Epistle 236:6(A.D. 376), in NPFN2,VIII:278 "Who, then, can dare to say that the Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and the Son, since through Him we attain to the image and likeness of God, and through Him, as the Apostle Peter says, are partakers of the divine nature?" Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit, 1:6,80(A.D. 381), in NPNF2,X:103 "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who is proceeding from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who spoke through the prophets." Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (A.D. 381) "Let us, however, see whether the prophet does not say that that earth is to be worshipped which the Lord Jesus took upon Him in assuming flesh. And so, by foot-stool is understood earth, but by the earth the Flesh of Christ, which we this day also adore in the mysteries, and which the apostles, as we said above, adored in the Lord Jesus; for Christ is not divided but is one; nor, when He is adored as the Son of God, is He denied to have been born of the Virgin. Since, then, the mystery of the Incarnation is to be adored, and the Incarnation is the work of the Spirit, as it is written, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and that Holy Thing Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God,"(2) without doubt the Holy Spirit also is to be adored, since He Who according to the flesh was born of the Holy Spirit is adored." Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit, 3:11,879(A.D. 381), in NPNF2,X:146 "And yet I certaintly believe ... in God the Holy Ghost." Jerome, Against the Luciferians, 12(A.D. 382), in NPNF2,VI:327 "The Holy Ghost, which proceedeth from the Father; Who, inasmuch as He proceedeth from That Source, is no Creature; and inasmuch as He is not Begotten is no Son; and inasmuch as He is between the Unbegotten and the Begotten is God... What then is Procession? Do you tell me what is the Unbegottenness of the Father, and I will explain to you the physiology of the Generation of the Son and the Procession of the Spirit, and we shall both of us be frenzy-stricken for prying into the mystery of God... What then, say they, is there lacking to the Spirit which prevents His being a Son, for if there were not something lacking He would be a Son? We assert that there is nothing lacking--for God has no deficiency. But the difference of manifestation, if I may so express myself, or rather of their mutual relations one to another, has caused the difference of their Names. For indeed it is not some deficiency in the Son which prevents His being Father (for Sonship is not a deficiency), and yet He is not Father. According to this line of argument there must be some deficiency in the Father, in respect of His not being Son. For the Father is not Son, and yet this is not due to either deficiency or subjection of Essence; but the very fact of being Unbegotten or Begotten, or Proceeding has given the name of Father to the First, of the Son to the Second, and of the Third, Him of Whom we are speaking, of the Holy Ghost that the distinction of the Three Persons may be preserved in the one nature and dignity of the Godhead. For neither is the Son Father, for the Father is One, but He is what the Father is; nor is the Spirit Son because He is of God, for the Only-begotten is One, but He is what the Son is. The Three are One in Godhead, and the One Three in properties; so that neither is the Unity a Sabellian one, nor does the Trinity countenance the present evil distinction. What then? Is the Spirit God? Most certainly. Well then, is He Consubstantial? Yes, if He is God." Gregory of Nazianzen, 5th Oration - On the Holy Spirit, 9-10(A.D. 383), in NPFN2,VII:320-321 "For as the Son is bound to the Father, and, while deriving existence from Him, is not substantially after Him, so again the Holy Spirit is in touch with the Only-begotten, Who is conceived of as before the Spirit’s subsistence only in the theoretical light of a cause. Extensions in time find no admittance in the Eternal Life; so that, when we have removed the thought of cause, the Holy Trinity in no single way exhibits discord with itself; and to It is glory due." Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, 1:42(A.D. 384), in NPNF2,V:100 " ’I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,’ that is, Another like unto Me.’ Let those be ashamed who have the disease of Sabellius, who hold not the fitting opinion concerning the Spirit. For the marvel of this discourse is this, that it hath stricken down contradictory heresies with the same blow. For by saying ’another,’ He showeth the difference of Person, and by "Paraclete," the connection of Substance." John Chrysostom,Homily on John,75(A.D. 391),in NPNF1,XIV:274 "We have said elsewhere that those things are predicated Specially in the Trinity as belonging severally to each person, which are predicated relatively the one to the other, as Father and Son, and the gift of both, the Holy Spirit; for the Father is not the Trinity, nor the Son the Trinity, nor the gift the Trinity: but what whenever each is singly spoken of in respect to themselves, then they are not spoken of as three in the plural number, but one, the Trinity itself, as the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; the Father good, the Son good, and the Holy Spirit good; and the Father omnipotent, the Son omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit omnipotent: yet neither three Gods, nor three goods, nor three omnipotents, but one God, good, omnipotent, the Trinity itself; and whatsoever else is said of them not relatively in respect to each other, but individually in respect to themselves. For they are thus spoken of according to l essence, since in them to be is the same as to be great, as to be good, as to be wise, and whatever else is said of each person individually therein, or of the Trinity itself, in respect to themselves. And that therefore they are called three persons, or three substances, not in order that any difference of essence may be understood, but that we may be able to answer by some one word, should any one ask what three, or what three things? And that there is so great an equality in that Trinity, that not only the Father is not greater than the Son, as regards divinity, but neither are the Father and Son together greater than the Holy Spirit; nor is each individual person, whichever it be of the three, less than the Trinity itself." Augustine, On the Trinity, 8 Pref(A.D. 416), in NPNF1,III:115 "We have said elsewhere that those things are predicated Specially in the Trinity as belonging severally to each person, which are predicated relatively the one to the other, as Father and Son, and the gift of both, the Holy Spirit; for the Father is not the Trinity, nor the Son the Trinity, nor the gift the Trinity: but what whenever each is singly spoken of in respect to themselves, then they are not spoken of as three in the plural number, but one, the Trinity itself, as the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; the Father good, the Son good, and the Holy Spirit good; and the Father omnipotent, the Son omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit omnipotent: yet neither three Gods, nor three goods, nor three omnipotents, but one God, good, omnipotent, the Trinity itself; and whatsoever else is said of them not relatively in respect to each other, but individually in respect to themselves. For they are thus spoken of according to l essence, since in them to be is the same as to be great, as to be good, as to be wise, and whatever else is said of each person individually therein, or of the Trinity itself, in respect to themselves. And that therefore they are called three persons, or three substances, not in order that any difference of essence may be understood, but that we may be able to answer by some one word, should any one ask what three, or what three things? And that there is so great an equality in that Trinity, that not only the Father is not greater than the Son, as regards divinity, but neither are the Father and Son together greater than the Holy Spirit; nor is each individual person, whichever it be of the three, less than the Trinity itself." Augustine, On the Trinity, (A.D. 419), in NPNF1,III: "And if the Spirit is called Image of the Son, then He is God and not something else." Cyril of Alexandria, Treasury of the Holy Spirit, 33(A.D. 425), in JUR,III:212 "There is a proper Person of the Father, a proper Person of the Son, and a proper Person of the Holy Spirit, each alike belonging to the Divine essence." Theodore of Mopsuestia, Epistle 135(ante A.D. 428), in SW,256 "The Holy Spirit ... is of the same Godhead and essence as the Father and the Son, and is ever inseperable from the Father and the Son, as the Son is from the Father, and the Father from the Son." Gelasius of Cyzicus, History of the Council of Nicea (A.D. 476), in SW,275-76 "The Father is the Source-Deity, whereas Jesus and the Spirit are, if one may so speak, Divine growths from the Divine parent-stock, and as it were the flowers and lights of an Essence beyond all essence." Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, The Divine Names (A.D. 500), in SW,277 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 9C-FILIOQUE ======================================================================== Filioque " We further declare that we hold fast to the decrees of the four Councils, and in every way follow the holy Fathers, Athanasius, Hilary, Basil, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose, Theophilus, John (Chrysostom) of Constantinople, Cyril, Augustine, Proclus, Leo and their writings on the true faith." Ecumenical Council of Constantinople II, Session I (A.D. 553), in NPNF2,XIV:303 "I believe the Spirit to proceed from no other source than from the Father through the Son." Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 4:1(A.D. 216), in ANF,III:599 "Now the Spirit indeed is third from God and the Son; just as the fruit of the tree is third from the root, or as the stream out of the river is third from the fountain, or as the apex of the ray is third from the sun." Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 8:1(A.D. 216), in ANF, III:603 "We consider therefore that there are three hypostases, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and at the same time we believe nothing to be uncreated but the Father. We therefore, as the more pious and the truer course, admit that all things were made by the Logos, and that the Holy Spirit is the most excellent and the first in order of all that was made by the Father through Christ." Origen, Commentary on John, 2:6(A.D. 229), in ANF,X:328 "Therefore the Spirit is said to receive from Christ, and Christ Himself from the Father." Marius Victorinus, Against Arium, I:12(c. A.D. 355), in SW,306 " Concerning the Holy Spirit I ought not to be silent, and yet I have no need to speak; still, for the sake of those who are in ignorance, I cannot refrain. There is no need to speak, because we are bound to confess Him, proceeding, as He does, from Father and Son" Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 2:29(A.D. 357), inNPNF2, IX:60 "For the present I forbear to expose their licence of speculation, some of them holding that the Paraclete Spirit comes from the Father or from the Son. For our Lord has not left this in uncertainty, for after these same words He spoke thus,-- ’I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak from Himself: but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak; and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine and stroll declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you’ (John 16:12-15). Accordingly He receives from the Son, Who is both sent by Him, and proceeds from the Father. Now Iask whether to receive from the Son is the same thing as to proceed from the Father. But if one believes that there is a difference between receiving from the Son and proceeding from the Father, surely to receive from the Son and to receive from the Father will be regarded as one and the same thing." Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 8:20(A.D. 357) ,in NPNF2, IX:143 "But I cannot describe Him, Whose pleas for me I cannot describe. As in the revelation that Thy Only-begotten was born of Thee before times eternal, when we cease to struggle with ambiguities of language and difficulties of thought, the one certainty of His birth remains; so I hold fast in my consciousness the truth that Thy Holy Spirit is from Thee and through Him, although I cannot by my intellect comprehend it. For in Thy spiritual things I am dull, as Thy Only-begotten says, Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be barn anew. The Spirit breathes where it will, and thou hearest the voice of it; but dost not know whence it comes or whither it goes. So is every one who is barn of water and of the Holy Spirit. Though I hold a belief in my regeneration, I hold it in ignorance; I possess the reality, though I comprehend it not." Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 12:56(A.D. 357), in NPNF2, IX:233 "For as the Son, who is in the Father and the Father in him, is not a creature but pertains to the essence of the Father (for this you also profess to say); so also it is not lawful to rank with the creatures the Spirit who is in the Son, and the Son in him" Athanasius, To Serapion, I:21(A.D. 360), in SHA, 119 "For He, as as been said, gives to the Spirit, and whatever the Spirit hath, He hath from the Word." Athanasius, Against the Arians, III:24(A.D. 362), in NPNF2, IV:407 "The Holy Spirit ... is ever with the Father and the Son, and is from God, proceeding from the Father and receiving of the Son." Epiphanius, The Man Well-Anchored, 7(A.D. 374), in SW, 226 "The Spirit is God, from the Father and the Son." Epiphanius, The Man Well-Anchored, 9(A.D. 374), in SW, 227 "[N]either does any know the Spirit but the Father and the Son, the Persons from whom he proceeds and from whom He receives." Epiphanius, The Man Well-Anchored, 11(A.D. 374), in SW, 227 "God ... is Life, the Son Life from Life, and the Holy Spirit flows from both; the Father is Light, the Son is Light, the Holy Spirit the third from Father and Son." Epiphanius, The Man Well-Anchored, 70(A.D. 374), in SW, 227 "The Father always existed and the Son always existed, and the Spirit breathes forth from the Father and the Son..." Epiphanius, The Man Well-Anchored, 75(A.D. 374), in JUR, II:69 "[T]he Holy Spirit is neither begotten or created ... but of the same substance with the Father and the Son." Epiphanius, Panarion, 74(A.D. 377), in SW, 229 "Even if the Holy Spirit is third in diginity and order, why need he be third also in nature? For that he is second to the Son, having his being from him and receiving from him and announcing to us and being completely dependent on him, pious tradition recounts; but that his nature is third we are not taught by the Saints nor can we conclude logically from what has been said." Basil, Against Eunomius, 3, PG 29:653B(A.D. 365), in Hosea, 44 "[A]lthough the Holy Spirit is behind the Son in dignity, yet not in nature. We have received that he is numbered third from the Father, the Lord saying in the tradition of baptism....But that he is thrust out to some third nature we have neither learnt nor ever heard." Basil, Homilies, Against Eunomius, PG 29:657D-660A(A.D. 365), in GIL, 204-205 "One, moreover, is the Holy Spirit, and we speak of Himsingly, conjoined as He is to the one Father through the one Son, and through Himself completing the adorable and blessed Trinity." Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 18:45(A.D. 375), in NPNF2, VIII:28 "One, moreover,is the Holy Spirit and we speak of Him singly, conjoined as He is through Himself completing the adorable and blessed Trinity." Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 18:45(A.D. 375), in NPNF2, VIII:28 "Thus the way of the knowledge of God lies from One Spirit through the One Son to the One Father, and conversely the natural Goodness and the inherent Holiness and the royal Dignity extend from the Father through the Only-begotten to the Spirit. Thus there is both acknowledgment of the hypostases and the true dogma of the Monarchy is not lost." Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 18:47(A.D. 375), in NPNF2, VIII:28 "One Father, one Son, one Holy Spirit must be confessed according to the divine tradition. Not two Fathers, nor two Sons, since the Spirit neither is the Son nor is called. For we do NOT receive anything from the Spirit in the SAME way as the Spirit from the Son; but we receive him (ie. the Spirit) coming to us and sanctifying us, the communication of divinity, the pledge of eternal inheritance, and the first fruits of the eternal good." Basil, Homilies, PG 31:1433(ante A.D. 379), in GIL, 204 "If ever there was a time when the Father was not, then there was a time when the Son was not. If ever there was a time when the Son was not, then there was a time when the Spirit was not." Gregory of Nazianen, 5th Oration(31),3(A.D. 380), inNPNF2, VII:318 "I have very carefully considered this matter in my own mind...but I have been unable to discover any thing on earth with which to compare the nature of the Godhead...I picture to myself an eye, a fountain, a river, as others have done before, to see if the first might be analogous to the Father, the second to the Son, and the third to the Holy Ghost....Again I thought of the sun and a ray and light. But here again there was a fear lest people should get an idea of composition in the Uncompounded Nature, such as there is in the Sun and the things that are in the Sun. And in the second place lest we should give Essence to the Father but deny Personality to the Others, and make Them only Powers of God, existing in Him and not Personal." Gregory of Nazianen, 5th Oration (31),31,32(A.D. 380), in NPNF2, VII:328 "Our Lord teaches that the being of the Spirit is derived not from the Spirit Himself, but from the Father and the Son; He goesforth from the Son, proceeding from the Truth; He has no subsistence but that which is given Him by the Son."Didymus the Blind, The Holy Spirit, 37(ante A.D. 381), in SW, 22 "The Holy Spirit also, when He proceeds from the Father and the Son, is not separated from the Father nor separated from the Son. For how could He be separated from the Father Who is the Spirit of His mouth? Which is certainly both a proof of His eternity, and expresses the Unity of this Godhead." Ambrose, The Holy Spirit, 1:11:120(A.D. 381), in NPNF2, X:109 "Learn now that as the Father is the Fount of Life, so, too, many have stated that the Son is signified as the Fount of Life; so that, he says, with Thee, Almighty God, Thy Son is the Fount of Life. That is the Fount of the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit is Life, as the Lord says: ’The words which I speak unto you are Spirit and Life,’ for where the Spirit is, there also is Life; and where Life is, is also the HolySpirit." Ambrose, The Holy Spirit, 1:15:172(A.D. 381), in NPNF2,X:113 "For as the Son is bound to the Father, and, while deriving existence from Him, is not substantially after Him, so again the Holy Spirit is in touch with the Only-begotten, Who is conceived of as before the Spirit’s subsistence only in the theoretical light of a cause. Extensions in time find no admittance in the Eternal Life; so that, when we have removed the thought of cause, the Holy Trinity in no single way exhibits discord with itself; and to It is glory due." Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, 1:42(A.D. 384), in NPNF2, V:100 " If, however, any one cavils at our argument, on the ground that by not admitting the difference of nature it leads to a mixture and confusion of the Persons, we shall make to such a charge this answer;--that while we confess the invariable character of the nature, we do not deny the difference in respect of cause, and that which is caused, by which alone we apprehend that one Person is distinguished from another;-by our belief, that is, that one is the Cause, and another is of the Cause; and again in that which is of the Cause we recognize another distinction. For one is directly from the first Cause, and another by that which is directly from the first Cause; so that the attribute of being Only-begotten abides without doubt in the Son, and the interposition of the Son, while it guards His attribute of being Only-begotten, does not shut out the Spirit from His relation by way of nature to the Father." Gregory of Nyssa, To Ablabius-There are not three gods (A.D. 375), in NPNF2, V:336 "For the plea will not avail them in their self-defence, that He is delivered by our Lord to His disciples third in order, and that therefore He is estranged from our ideal of Deity. Where in each case activity in working good shows no diminution or variation whatever, how unreasonable itis to suppose the numerical order to be a sign of any diminution or essential variation! It is as if a man were to see a separate flame burning on three torches(and we will suppose that the third flame is caused by that of the first being transmitted to the middle, and then kindling the end torch), and were to maintain that the heat in the first exceeded that of the others; that that next it showed a variation from it in the direction of the less; and that the third could not be called fire at all, though it burnt and shone just like fire, and did everything that fire does. But if there is really no hindrance to the third torch being fire, though it has been kindled from a previous flame, what is the philosophy of these men, who profanely think that they can slight the dignity of the Holy Spirit because He is named by the Divine lips after the Father and the Son?" Gregory of Nyssa, Against Macedonians, 6(A.D. 377), in NPNF2, V:317 "For neither did the Universal God make the universe ’through the Son,’ as needing any help, nor does the Only-begotten God work all things ’by the Holy Spirit,’ as having a power that comes short of His design; but the fountain of power is the Father, and the power of the Father is the Son, and the spirit of that power is the Holy Spirit" Gregory of Nyssa, Against Macedonians, 13(A.D. 377), in NPNF2, V:320 "Our Lord teaches that the being of the Spirit is derived not from the Spirit Himself,but from the Father and the Son; He goes forth from the Son, proceeding from the Truth; He has no subsistence but that which is given Him by the Son." Didymus the Blind of Alexandria, The Holy Spirit, 3 7(anteA.D. 381), in SW, 224, 225 "The Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son, not made nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." Athanasian Creed (A.D. 400), in DEN, 39 "As, therefore, the Father begat, the Son is begotten; so the Father sent, the Son was sent. But in like manner as He who begat and He who was begotten, so both He who sent and He who was sent, are one, since the Father and the Son are one. So also the Holy Spirit is one with them, since these three are one. For as to be born, in respect to the Son, means to be from the Father; so to be sent, in respect to the Son, means to be known to be from the Father. And as to be the gift of God in respect to the Holy Spirit, means to proceed from the Father; so to be sent, is to be known to proceed from the Father. Neither can we say that the Holy Spirit does not also proceed from the Son, for the same Spirit is not without reason said to be the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. Nor do I see what else He intended to signify, when He breathed on the face of the disciples, and said, ’Receive ye the Holy Ghost.’ For that bodily breathing, proceeding from the body with the feeling of bodily touching, was not the substance of the Holy Spirit, but a declaration by a fitting sign, that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son." Augustine, On the Trinity, IV:20,29(A.D. 408), in NPNF1, III:85 "If, therefore, that also which is given has him for a beginning by whom it is given, since it has received from no other source that which proceeds from him; it must be admitted that the Father and the Son are a Beginning of the Holy Spirit, not two Beginnings; but as the Father and Son are one God, and one Creator, and one Lord relatively to the creature, so are they one Beginning relatively to the Holy Spirit. But the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one Beginning in respect to the creature, as also one Creator and one God." Augustine, On the Trinity, V:14,15(A.D. 408), in NPNF1, III:95 "And the Holy Spirit, according to the Holy Scriptures, is neither of the Father alone, nor of the Son alone, but of both." Augustine, On the Trinity, XV:17,27(A.D. 408), in NPNF1,III:215 "And yet it is not to no purpose that in this Trinity the Son and none other is called the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit and none other the Gift of God, and God the Father alone is He from whom the Word is born, and from whom the Holy Spirit principally proceeds. And therefore I have added the word principally, because we find that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son also. But the Father gave Him this too, not as to one already existing, and not yet having it; but whatever He gave to the only-begotten Word, He gave by begetting Him. Therefore He so begat Him as that the common Gift should proceed from Him also, and the Holy Spirit should be the Spirit of both." Augustine, On the Trinity, XV:17,29(A.D. 408), in NPNF1,III:216 "Wherefore let him who can understand the generation of the Son from the Father without time, understand also the procession of the Holy Spirit from both without time. And let him who can understand, in that which the Son says, ’As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,’ not that the Father gave life to the Son already existing without life, but that He so begat Him apart from time, that the life which the Father gave to the Son by begetting Him is co-eternal with the life of the Father who gave it: let him, I say, understand, that as the Father has in Himself that the Holy Spirit should proceed from Him, so has He given to the Son that the same Holy Spirit should proceed from Him, and be both apart from time: and that the Holy Spirit is so said to proceed from the Father as that it be understood that His proceeding also from the Son, is a property derived by the Son from the Father. For if the Son has of the Father whatever He has, then certainly He has of the Father, that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from Him. But let no one think of any times therein which imply a sooner and a later; because these things are not there at all. How, then, would it not be most absurd to call Him the Son of both: when, just as generation from the Father, without any changeableness of nature, gives to the Son essence, without beginning of time; so procession from both, without any changeableness of nature, gives to the Holy Spirit essence without beginning of time? For while we do not say that the Holy Spirit is begotten, yet we do not therefore dare to say that He is unbegotten, lest any one suspect in this word either two Fathers in that Trinity, or two who are not from another. For the Father alone is not from another, and therefore He alone is called unbegotten, not indeed in the Scriptures, but in the usage of disputants, who employ such language as they can on so great a subject. And the Son is born of the Father; and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father principally, the Father giving the procession without any interval of time, yet in common from both [Father and Son]. But He would be called the Son of the Father and of the Son, if--a thing abhorrent to the feeling of all sound minds--both had begotten Him. Therefore the Spirit of both is not begotten of both, but proceeds from both."Augustine, On the Trinity, XV:26,47(A.D. 408), in NPNF1,III:225 "Some one may here inquire whether the Holy Spirit proceedeth also from the Son. For the Son is Son of the Father alone, and the Father is Father of the Son alone; but the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit of one of them, but of both.... If, then, the Holy Spirit proceedeth both from the Father and from the Son, why said the Son, ’He proceedeth from the Father’? Why, do you think, but just because it is to Him He is wont to attribute even that which is His own, of whom He Himself also is? Hence we have Him saying, ’My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me.’ If, therefore, in such a passage we are to understand that as His doctrine, which nevertheless He declared not to be His own, but the Father’s, how much more in that other passage are we to understand the Holy Spirit as proceeding from Himself, where His words, ’He proceedeth from the Father,’ were uttered so as not to imply, He proceedeth not from me? But from Him, of whom the Son has it that He is God (for He is God of God), He certainly has it that from Him also the Holy Spirit proceedeth: and in this way the Holy Spirit has it of the Father Himself, that He should also proceed from the Son, even as He proceedeth from the Father." Augustine, Homilies on John, 99:6,8(A.D. 416),in NPNF1,VII:383,384 "Call the Father the author, because the Son is from him, though he is not from the Son and because the Holy Spirit proceeds from him and from the Son. By giving birth to the Son, he gave it to him that the Holy Spirit proceeds from him as well." Augustine, Against Maximinus, 2:5(A.D. 428), in AAOH,269 "You[ie. the Arian heretic Maximinus] ask me, ’If the Son has the substance of the Father and the Holy Spirit also has the substance of the Father, why is one a son and the other not a son?’ Look, here is my answer whether you get it or not. The Son comes from the Father; the Holy Spirit comes from the Father. The former is born; the latter proceeds. Hence, the former is the Son of the Father from whom he is born, but the latter is the Spirit of both because he proceeds from both. When the Son spoke of the Spirit, he said, ’He proceeds from the Father(John 15:26)’, because the Father is the author of his procession. The Father begot a Son and, by begetting him, gave it to him that the Holy Spirit proceeds from him as well.If he did not proceed from him, he would not say to his disciples,’Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22)’, and give the Spirit by breathing on them. He signified that the Holy Spirit also proceeeds from him and showed outwardly by blowing what he was giving inwardly by breathing. If he were born, he would be born not from the Father alone or from the Son alone, but from both of them; he would beyond any doubt be the son of both of them. But because he is in no sense the son of both of them, it was necessary that he not be born from both. He is, therefore, the Spirit of both, by proceeding from both." Augustine, Against Maximinus, 2:14(A.D. 428), in AAOH,280 "Since the Holy Spirit when he is in us effects our being conformed to God, and He actually proceeds from Father and Son, it is abundantly clear that He is of the divine essence, in it in essence and proceeding from it." Cyril of Alexandria, Treasury of the Holy Trinity, Thesis 34(A.D. 425), in JUR,212 "Inasmuch as the Son is God and is by nature from God, the Spirit is His own, and is both in Him and from Him." Cyril of Alexandria, In Joel, 2:28(A.D. 427), in SW,269 "He is the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son, seeing that He is poured forth in a way of essence from Both or in other words, from the Father through the Son." Cyril of Alexandria, Worship and Adoration, 1(A.D. 429), in SW,269 "For he [ie. the Holy Spirit] is called the Spirit of Truth, and Christ is the Truth, and he is poured forth from him [ie. the Son] just as he is also from God the Father." Cyril of Alexandria,To Nestorius, Epistle 17(A.D. 430), in CCC,306 " And so under the first head is shown what unholy views they hold about the Divine Trinity: they affirm that the person of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost is one and the same, as if the same GOD were named now Father, now Son, and now Holy Ghost: and as if He who begot were not one, He who was begotten, another, and Hewho proceeded from both, yet another; but an undivided unity must be understood, spoken of under three names, indeed, but not consisting of three persons." Pope Leo the Great [regn. A.D. 440-461], To Turribius, Epistle 15(A.D. 447), in NPNF2,XII:21 "And while in the property of each Person the Father is one, the Son is another, and the Holy Ghost is another, yet the Godhead is not distinct and different; for whilst the Son is the Only begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, not in the way that every creature is the creature of the Father and the Son, but as living and having power with Both, and eternallysubsisting of That Which is the Father and the Son." Pope Leo the Great [regn. A.D. 440-461], Sermon 75(ante A.D. 461), in NPNF2,XII:21 "The Spirit is also the Paraclete, who is himself neither the Father and the Son, but proceeding from from the Father and the Son. Therefore the Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten, the Paraclete is not begotten, but proceeding from the Father and the Son." Council of Toledo II (A.D. 447), in DEN,13 "Believe most firmly,and never doubt, that the same Holy Spirit, the One Spirit of the Father and the Son, proceeds from (de) the Father and the Son. That He proceeds also from the Son is supported by the teaching both of Prophets and Apostles."Fulgence of Ruspe (North Africa), Rule of Faith,11(A.D. 447), in SW,342-343 "The Father is begotten of none, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son." Fulgence of Ruspe (North Africa), The Trinity, 2(ante A.D. 517), in SW,343 "The Holy Spirit is wholly the Father’s and wholly the Son’s, because He is by nature the one Spirit of the Father and the Son; for which cause He proceeds wholly from (de) the Father and the Son; for He so abides as to proceed, and so proceeds as to abide." Fulgence of Ruspe (North Africa), To Ferrandus, Epistle 14(ante A.D. 527), in Sw, 343 "The Holy Spirit is neither generate nor ingenerate, but rather is He who proceeds from the Father and the Son, as a harmony, we may say of Both." Eucherius of Lyons, Spic. Romans,5:93(ante A.D. 454), in SW,341 "We believe that there is One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Father, in that He has a Son; Son, in that He has a Father; Holy Spirit, in that He proceeds from the Father and the Son (ex patre et filio)." Gennadius of Marseilles, De eccl. dogm., PL 58,980(ante A.D. 495), in SW,341 "[T]he faithful committed to our charge ought to be taught concerning the Holy Spirit that He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and therefore cannot be said to be either generate or ingenerate." Julianus Pomerius of Arles, The Contemplative Life,PL 59,432 (ante A.D. 498), n SW,342 "The Spirit is said to be sent by the Father and the Son, and to proceed from Their substance....If you ask what distinction is to be drawn between generation and procession, there is clearly this difference, that the Son is begotten of One, but the Spirit proceeds from Both." Paschasius a Deacon of Rome, The Holy Spirit,1:12(ante A.D. 512), in SW,347 "[T]he Father is unbegotten, the Son begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son." Cassiodorius, Expositio Psalmorum, Praef. 17(ante A.D. 570), in SW,347 "We for our part affirm that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son...it is the property of the Holy Spirit to proceed from the Father and the Son." Avitus of Vienne, Against King Gundobad (ante A.D. 523), in SW,342 "Great and incomprehensible is the mystery of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, an undivided Trinity, and yet it is known because it is characteristic of the Father to generate the Son, characteristic of the Son of God to be born of the Father equal to the Father, characteristic of the Spirit to proceed from Father and Son in one substance of deity." Pope Hormisdas [regn A.D. 514-523], Profession of Faith, PL 63:514B(A.D. 517), in GIL,216 "We must equally confess and preach that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son." Council of Toledo III (A.D. 589), in HS,III:51-52 "The Spirit proceeds essentially from the Son...the Redeemer imparted to the hearts of His disciples the Spirit who proceeds from Himself." Pope Gregory the Great (the Theologian)[regn A.D.590-604], Moral Teachings drawn from Job, 1:22,2:92(A.D. 595), in SW,348 "Our Lord ... shews how the Spirit of Both so proceeds as to be coeternal with Both...He who is produced by procession is not posterior in time to those by whom He is put forth." Pope Gregory the Great (the Theologian)[regn A.D.590-604], Moral Teachings drawn from Job, 25:4(A.D. 595), in SW,348 "The Holy Spirit is called God because He proceeds from the Father and the Son and has Their essence....There is, however, this difference between generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit, that the Son is begotten of One, but the Spirit proceeds from Both." Isidore of Seville, Etymologies,7:3(A.D. 636), in SW,346 "One thing which is consubstantial with two could not at once proceed from them and be in them, unless the two from which it proceeds were one." Isidore of Seville, Sententiarum libri tresm1:15(A.D. 636), in SW,346 "Those of the Queen of the cities(Constantinople) have attacked the synodal letter of the present very holy Pope, not in the case of all chapters that he has written in it, but only in the case of two of them. One relates to the theology (of the Trinity) and, according to them says:’The Holy Spirit also has his ekporeusis(ekporeuesthai) from the Son’. The other deals with the divine incarnation. With regard to the first matter, they(the Romans) have produced the unanimous evidence of the Latin Fathers, and also of Cyril of Alexandria, fromthe study he made of the gospel of St. John. On the basis of these texts, they have shown that they have not made the Son the cause(aitian) of the Spirit--they know in fact that the Father is the only cause of the Son and the Spirit, the one by begetting and the other by ekporeusis(procession)--but that they have manifested the procession through him (to dia autou proienai) and have thus shown the unity and identity of the essence....They (the Romans) have therefore been accused of precisely those things of which it would be wrong to accuse them, whereas the former (the Byzantines) have been accused of those things of which it has been quite correct to accuse them (Monothelitism). They have up till now produced no defence, although they have not yet rejected the things that they have themselves so wrongly introduced. In accordance with your request, I have asked the Romans to translate what is peculiar to them (the ’also from the Son’) in such a way that any obscurities that mayresult from it will be avoided. But since the practice of writing and sending (the synodal letter) has been observed, I wonder whether they will possibly agree to do this. It is true, of course, that they cannot reproduce their idea in a language and in words that are foreign to them as they can in their mother-tongue, just as we too cannot. In any case, having been accused, they will certainly take some care about this." Maximus the Confessor, To Marinus(A.D. 655), in HS,III:52-53 "[T]he Holy Spirit (he writes elsewhere), as He is by nature and in the way of essence [the Spirit] of God the Father, so is He also the Son’s by nature and in the way of essence, since He proceeds from the Father essentially and ineffably through the Son, who is begotten." Maximus the Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium, 63(ante A.D. 662), in SW,279-280 "We believe also that the Holy Spirit, who is the third person in the Trinity, is God, one and equal with God the Father and the Son, of one substance, also of one nature; that He is the Spirit of both, not, however, begotten nor created but proceeding from both." Council of Toledo XI(A.D. 675), in DEN,107 "But we must contemplate it as an essential power, existing in its own proper and peculiar subsistence, proceeding from the Father anti resting in the Word, and shewing forth the Word" John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith, I:7(A.D. 712), in NPNF2,IX:5 "These hypostases are within each other, not so that they are confused, but so that they contain one another, in accordance with the word of the Lord: I am in the Father and the Father is in me .... We do not say three gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, we say only one God, the Holy Trinity, the Son, and the Spirit going back to only one Principle, without composition or confusion, quite unlike the heresy of Sabellius. These Persons are united, not so that they are confused with each other, but so that they are contained within each other. There is between them a circumincession without mixture or confusion, by virtue of which they are neither seperated nor divided in substance, unlike the heresy of Arius. In fact, in a word, the divinity is undivided in the individuals, just as there is only one light in three suns contained within each other, by means of an intimate interprenetration." John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith, I:8(A.D. 712), in HS,III:37 "Through the Word, the Father produces the Spirit, who manifests him(dia logou proboleus ekphantorikou Pneumatos). ...The Holy Spirit is the power of the Father making secrets of the deity known and proceeding from the Father through the Son in a way that he knows, but which is not begetting.... The Father is source of the Son and the Holy Spirit....The Spirit is not the Son of the Father, he is the Spirit of the Father, as proceeding from him(ekporeuomenon),...but he is also Spirit of the Son, not as (proceeding) from him, but proceeding through him from the Father. Only the Father is cause (aitios)." John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith, I:12(A.D. 712), inHS,III:39 "I say that God is always Father since he has always his Word coming from himself, and through his Word, having his Spirit issuing from him." John of Damascus, Against the Manicheans, 5, PG 94:1512B(ante A.D. 749) "[I]n the Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of Life, proceeding from the Father through the Son." Council of Nicea II (A.D. 787), Profession of Faith(Patriarch Tarasius),in Hosea,53 "I believe also that the Holy Spirit, complete and perfect and true God, proceeding from the Father and the Son, co-equal, co-essential, co-omnipotent and co-eternal with the Father and the Son in all respects." Pope Leo IX [regn. 1049-1054], Symbol of faith (A.D. 1053), in DEN,141 What follows is a report by the Pontifical Council for promoting Christian unity on the procession of the Holy Spirit At his meeting last year with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Pope John Paul II called for clarification of the filioque clause of the Creed-’proceeds from the Father and the Son’. The following document on this issue was published by the (Catholic) Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, USA in 1990. Briefing is grateful to Catholic International magazine for this document, including the transliteration of the Greek phrases. The text had originally been supplied by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The Greek and Latin traditions about the procession of the Holy Spirit In its first report on The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in the Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, unanimously approved in Munich on July 1982, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church had mentioned the centuries-old difficulty between the two churches concerning the eternal origin of the Holy Spirit. Not being able to treat this subject for itself in this first phase of the dialogue, the Commission stated: "Without wishing to resolve yet the difficulties which have arisen between the East and the West concerning the relationship between the Son and the Spirit, we can already say together that this Spirit, which proceeds from the Father (John 15:26) as the sole source in the Trinity and which has become the Spirit of our sonship (Romans 8:15) since he also the Spirit of the Son (Galatians 4:6), is communicated to us particularly in the Eucharist by this Son upon whom he reposes in time and in eternity (John 1:32)." (Information Service of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, no.49, p.108, I,6). The Catholic Church acknowledges the conciliar, ecumenical, normative, and irrevocable value, as expression of the one common faith of the church and of all Christians, of the Symbol professed in Greek at Constantinople in 381 by the Second Ecumenical Council. No profession of faith peculiar to a particular liturgical tradition can contradict this expression of the faith taught and professed by the undivided church. On the basis of John 15:26, this Symbol confesses the Spirit "to ek tou Patros ekporeuomenon" ("who takes his origin from the Father"). The Father alone is the principle without principle (arche anarchos) of the two other persons of the Trinity, the sole source (peghe) of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, therefore, takes his origin from the Father alone (ek monou tou Patros) in a principal, proper, and immediate manner. [1] The Father’s monarchy The Greek Fathers and the whole Christian Orient speak, in this regard, of the "Father’s Monarchy," and the Western tradition, following St Augustine, also confesses that the Holy Spirit takes his origin from the Father principaliter, that is, as principle (De Trinitate XV, 25, 47, PL 42, 1094-1095). In this sense, therefore, the two traditions recognise that the "monarchy of the Father" implies that the Father is the sole Trinitarian Cause (Aitia) or Principle (Principium) of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This origin of the Holy Spirit from the Father alone as Principle of the whole Trinity is called ekporeusis by Greek tradition, following the Cappadocian Fathers. St Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, in fact, characterises the Spirit’s relationship of origin from the Father by the proper term ekporeusis, distinguishing it from that of procession (to proienai) which the Spirit has in common with the Son. "The Spirit is truly the Spirit proceeding (proion) from the Father, not by filiation, for it is not by generation, but by ekporeusis" (Discourse 39. 12, Sources Chrétiennes 358, p.175). Even if St Cyril of Alexandria happens at times to apply the verb ekporeusthai to the Son’s relationship of origin from the Father, he never uses it for the relationship of the Spirit to the Son (Cf. Commentary on St John, X, 2, PG 74, 910D; Ephesians 55, PG 77, 316D, etc.). Even for St Cyril, the term ekporeusis as distinct from the term "proceed" (proienai), can only characterise a relationship of origin to the principle without principle of the Trinity: the Father. That is why the Orthodox Orient has always refused the formula to ek tou Patros kai tou Uiou ekporeuomenon and the Catholic Church has refused the addition kai tou Uiou to the formula ek tou Patros ekporeuomenon in the Greek text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol, even in its liturgical use by Latins. Orthodox view: Holy Spirit from the Father through the Son The Orthodox Orient does not, however, refuse all eternal relationship between the Son and the Holy Spirit in their origin from the Father. St Gregory of Nazianzus, a great witness to our two traditions, makes this clear in response to Macedonius who was asking: "What then is lacking to the Spirit to be the Son, for if nothing was lacking to him, he would be the Son? We say that nothing is lacking to him, for nothing is lacking to God; but it is the difference in manifestation, if I may say so, or in the relationship between them (tes pros allela scheseos diaphoron) which makes also the difference in what they are called" (Discourse 31, 9, Sources Chrétiennes n.250, pp.290-292). The Orthodox Orient has, however, given a happy expression to this relationship with the formula dia tou Uiou ekporeuomenon (who takes his origin from the Father by or through the Son). St Basil already said of the Holy Spirit: "Through the Son (dia tou Uiou), who is one, he is joined to the Father, who is one, and by himself completes the blessed Trinity" (Treatise on the Holy Spirit, XVIII, 45, Sources Chrétiennes 17 bis, p.408). St Maximus the Confessor said: "By nature (phusei) the Holy Spirit in his being (kat’ousian) takes substantially (ousiodos) his origin (ekporeuomenon) from the Father through the Son who is begotten (di Uiou gennethentos)" (Quaestiones ad Thalassium, LXIII, PG 90, 672 C). We find this again in St John Damascene: "ho Pater aeien, echon ex eautou ton autou logon, kai dia tou logou autou ex eautou to Pneuma autou ekporeuomenon," in English: "I say that God is always Father since he has always his Word coming from himself, and through his Word, having his Spirit issuing from him" (Dialogus Contra Manichaeos 5, PG 94, 1512 B, ed. B. Kotter, Berlin 1981, p.354; cf. PG 94, 848-849 A). This aspect of the Trinitarian mystery was confessed at the seventh Ecumenical council, meeting at Nicaea in 787, by the Patriarch of Constantinople St Tarasius, who developed the Symbol as follows: "to Pneuma to agion, to Kyrion kai Zoopoion, to ek tou Patros dia tou Uiou ekporeuomenon" (Mansi, Xll, 1122 D). This doctrine all bears witness to the fundamental Trinitarian faith as it was professed together by East and West at the time of the Fathers. It is the basis that must serve for the continuation of the current theological dialogue between Catholic and Orthodox. Catholic teaching on the filioque The doctrine of the Filioque must be understood and presented by the Catholic Church in such a way that it cannot appear to contradict the Monarchy of the Father nor the fact that he is the sole origin (arche, aitia) of the ekporeusis of the Spirit. The Filioque is, in fact, situated in a theological and linguistic context different from that of the affirmation of the sole Monarchy of the Father, the one origin of the Son and of the Spirit. Against Arianism, which was still virulent in the West, its purpose was to stress the fact that the Holy Spirit is of the same divine nature as the Son, without calling in question the one Monarchy of the Father. We are presenting here the authentic doctrinal meaning of the Filioque on the basis of the Trinitarian faith of the Symbol professed by the second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople. We are giving this authoritative interpretation, while being aware of how inadequate human language is to express the ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity, one God, a mystery which is beyond our words and our thoughts. The Catholic Church interprets the Filioque with reference to the conciliar and ecumenical, normative, and irrevocable value of the confession of faith in the eternal origin of the Holy Spirit, as defined in 381 by the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in its Symbol. This Symbol only became known and received by Rome on the occasion of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451. In the meantime, on the basis of the earlier Latin theological tradition, Fathers of the Church of the West like St Hilary, St Ambrose, St Augustine and St Leo the Great, had confessed that the Holy Spirit proceeds (procedit) eternally from the Father and the Son. [2] Since the Latin Bible (the Vulgate and earlier Latin translations) had translated John 15:26 (para tou Patros ekporeutai) by "qui a Patre procedit," the Latins translated the "ek tou Patros ekporeuomenon" of the Symbol of Nicaea-Constantinople by "ex Patre procedentum" (Mansi VII, 112 B). In this way, a false equivalence was involuntarily created with regard to the eternal origin of the Spirit between the Oriental theology of the ekporeusis and the Latin theology of the processio. The Greek ekporeusis signifies only the relationship of origin to the Father alone as the principle without principle of the Trinity. The Latin processio, on the contrary, is a more common term, signifying the communication of the consubstantial divinity from the Father to the Son and from the Father, through and with the Son, to the Holy Spirit. [3] In confessing the Holy Spirit "ex Patre procedentem," the Latins, therefore, could only suppose an implicit Filioque which would later be made explicit in their liturgical version of the Symbol. In the West, the Filioque was confessed from the fifth century through the Quicumque (or ’Athanasianum,’ DS 75) Symbol, and then by the Councils of Toledo in Visigothic Spain between 589 and 693 (DS 470, 485, 490, 527, 568), to affirm Trinitarian consubstantiality. If these Councils did not perhaps insert it in the Symbol of Nicaea-Constantinople, it is certainly to be found there from the end of the eighth century, as evidenced in the proceedings of the Council of Aquileia-Friuli in 796 (Mansi XIII, 836, D, ff.) and that of Aix-la-Chapelle of 809 (Mansi XIV, 17). In the ninth century, however, faced with Charlemagne, Pope Leo III, in his anxiety to preserve unity with the Orient in the confession of faith, resisted this development of the Symbol which had spread spontaneously in the West, while safeguarding the truth contained in the Filioque. Rome only admitted it in 1014 into the liturgical Latin version of the Creed. In the Patristic period, an analogous theology had developed in Alexandria, stemming from St Athanasius. As in the Latin tradition, it was expressed by the more common term of ’procession’ (proienai) indicating the communication of the divinity to the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son intheir consubstantial communion: "The Spirit proceeds (proeisi) from the Father and the Son; clearly, he is of the divine substance, proceeding (proion) substantially (ousiodos) in it and from it" (St Cyril of Alexandria, Thesaurus, PG 75, 585 A). [4] In the seventh century, the Byzantines were shocked by a confession of faith made by the Pope and including the Filioque with reference to the procession of the Holy Spirit; they translated the procession inaccurately by ekporeusis. St Maximus the Confessor then wrote a letter from Rome linking together the two approaches - Cappadocian and Alexandrian - to the eternal origin of the Spirit: the Father is the sole Principle without Principle (in Greek, aitia) of the Son and of the Spirit; the Father and the Son are consubstantial source of the procession (to proienai) of this same Spirit. "For the procession they (the Romans) brought the witness of the Latin Fathers, as well, of course, as that of St Cyril of Alexandria in his sacred study on the Gospel of St John. On this basis they showed that they themselves do not make the Son cause (aitia) of the Spirit. They know, indeed, that the Father is the sole cause of the Son and of the Spirit, of one by generation and of the other by ekporeusis-but they explained that the latter comes (proienai) through the Son, and they showed in this way the unity and the immutability of the essence" (Letter to Marin of Cyprus, PG 91, 136 A-B). According to St Maximus, echoing Rome, the Filioque does not concern the ekporeusis of the Spirit issued from the Father as source of the Trinity, but manifests his proienai (processio) in the consubstantial communion of the Father and the Son, while excluding any possible subordinationist interpretation of the Father’s Monarchy. The fact that in Latin and Alexandrian theology the Holy Spirit proceeds (proeisi) from the Father and the Son in their consubstantial communion does not mean that it is the divine essence or substance that proceed in him, but that it is communicated from the Father and the Son who have it in common. This point was confessed as dogma in 1215 by the fourth Lateran Council: "The substance does not generate, is not begotten, does not proceed; but it is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, the Holy Spirit who proceeds: so that there is distinction in persons and unity in nature. Although other (alius) is the Father, other the Son, other the Holy Spirit, they are not another reality (aliud), but what the Father is the Son is and the Holy Spirit equally; so, according to the orthodox and catholic faith, we believe that they are consubstantial. For the Father, generating eternally the Son, has given to him his substance... It is clear that, in being born the Son has received the substance of the Father without this substance being in any way diminished, and so the Father and the Son have the same substance. So the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from them both, are one same reality" (DS 804-805). In 1274, the second Council of Lyons confessed that "the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, not as from two principles but as from one single principle (tamquam ex uno principio)" (DS 850). In the light of the Lateran Council, which preceded the second Council of Lyons, it is clear that it is not the divine essence that can be the "one principle" for the procession of the Holy Spirit. The Catechism of the Catholic Church interprets this formula in no.248 as follows: "The eternal order of the divine persons in their consubstantial communion implies that the Father, as the ’principle without principle,’ is the first origin of the Spirit, but also that as Father of the only Son, he is, with the Son, the single principle from which the Spirit proceeds" (Council of Lyons II, DS 850)." The Catholic Church understands that the Eastern tradition expresses first that it is characteristic of the Father to be the first origin of the Spirit. By confessing the Spirit as he "who takes his origin from the Father" ("ek tou Patros ekporeuomenon" cf. John 15:26), it affirms that he comes from the Father through the Son. The Western tradition expresses first the consubstantial communion between Father and Son, by saying that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque). "This legitimate complementarity, provided it does not become rigid, does not affect the identity of faith in the reality of the same mystery confessed." (Catechism of the Catholic Church no.248). Being aware of this, the Catholic Church has refused the addition of kai tou Uiou to the formula ek tou Patros ekporeuomenon of the Symbol of Nicaea-Constantinople in the churches, even of Latin rite, which use it in Greek. The liturgical use of this original text remains always legitimate in the Catholic Church. If it is correctly situated, the Filioque of the Latin tradition must not lead to subordination of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Even if the Catholic doctrine affirms that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son in the communication of their consubstantial communion, it nonetheless recognises the reality of the original relationship of the Holy Spirit as person with the Father, a relationship that the Greek Fathers express by the term ekporeusis. [5] Harmony of Catholic and Orthodox teaching In the same way, if in the Trinitarian order the Holy Spirit is consecutive to the relation between the Father and the Son, since he takes his origin from the Father as Father of the only Son, [6] it is in the Spirit that this relationship between the Father and the Son itself attains its Trinitarian perfection. Just as the Father is characterised as Father by the Son he generates, so does the Spirit, by taking his origin from the Father, characterise the Father in the manner of the Trinity in relation to the Son and characterises the Son in the manner of the Trinity in his relation to the Father: in the fullness of the Trinitarian mystery they are Father and Son in the Holy Spirit. [7] The Father only generates the Son by breathing (proballein in Greek) through him the Holy Spirit and the Son is only begotten by the Father insofar as the spiration (probole in Greek) passes through him. The Father is Father of the One Son only by being for him and through him the origin of the Holy Spirit. [8] The Spirit does not precede the Son, since the Son characterises as Father the Father from whom the Spirit takes his origin, according to the Trinitarian order. [9] But the spiration of the Spirit from the Father takes place by and through (the two senses of dia in Greek) the generation of the Son, to which it gives its Trinitarian character. It is in this sense that St John Damascene says: "The Holy Spirit is a substantial power contemplated in his own distinct hypostasis, who proceeds from the Father and reposes in the Word" (De Fide Orthodoxa I, 7, PG 94, 805 B, ed. B. Kotter, Berlin 1973, p.16; Dialogus contra Manichaeos 5, PG 94. 1512 B, ed. B. Kotter, Berlin 1981, p. 354). [10] What is this Trinitarian character that the person of the Holy Spirit brings to the very relationship between the Father and the Son? It is the original role of the Spirit in the economy with regard to the mission and work of the Son. The Father is love in is source (2 Corinthians 13:13; 1 John 4:8.16), the Son is "the Son that he loves" (Colossians 1:14). So a tradition dating back to St Augustine has seen in the Holy Spirit, through whom "God’s love has been poured into our hearts" (Romans 5:5), love as the eternal Gift of the Father to his "beloved Son" (Mark 1:11; Mark 9:7; Luke 20:13; Ephesians 1:6). [11] The divine love which has its origin in the Father reposes in "the Son of his love" in order to exist consubstantially through the Son in the person of the Spirit, the Gift of love. This takes into account the fact that, through love, the Holy Spirit orients the whole life of Jesus towards the Father in the fulfilment of his will. The Father sends his Son (Galatians 4:4) when Mary conceives him through the operation of the Holy Spirit (cf. Luke 1:35). The Holy Spirit makes Jesus manifest as Son of the Father by resting upon him at baptism (cf. Luke 3:21-22; John 1:33). He drives Jesus into the wilderness (cf. Mark 1:12). Jesus returns ("full of the Holy Spirit" (Luke 4:1). Then he begins his ministry "in the power of the Spirit" (Luke 4:14). He is filled with joy in the Spirit, blessing the Father for his gracious will (cf.Luke 10:21). He chooses his apostles "through the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:2). He casts out demons by the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28). He offers himself to the Father "through the eternal Spirit" (Hebrews 9:14). On the Cross he "commits his Spirit" into the Father’s hands (Luke 23:46). "In the Spirit" he descended to the dead (cf. 1 Peter 3:19), and by the Spirit he was raised from the dead (cf. Romans 8:11) and "designated Son of God in power" (Romans 1:4). [l2] This role of the Spirit in the innermost human existence of the Son of God made man derives from an eternal Trinitarian relationship through which the Spirit, in his mystery as Gift of Love, characterises the relation between the Father, as source of love, and his beloved Son. The original character of the person of the Spirit as eternal Gift of the Father’s love for his beloved Son shows that the Spirit, while coming from the Son in his mission, is the one who brings human beings into Christ’s filial relationship to his Father, for this relationship finds only in him its Trinitarian character: "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba!Father!" (Galatians 4:6). In the mystery of salvation and in the life of the church, the Spirit, therefore, does much more than prolong the work of the Son. In fact, whatever Christ has instituted - Revelation, the church, the sacraments, the apostolic ministry, and its magisterium - calls for constant invocation (epiclesis) of the Holy Spirit and his action (energeia), so that the love that "never ends" (1 Corinthians 13:8) may be made manifest in the communion of the saints with the life of the Trinity. 1 These are the terms employed by St Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica, Ia, q.36, a. 3, 1 um and 2um. 2 It isTertullianwho lays the foundations for Trinitarian theology in the Latin tradition, on the basis of the substantial communication of the Father to the Son and through the Son to the Holy Spirit: "Christ says of the Spirit ’He will take from what is mine’ (John 16:14), as he does from the Father. In this way, the connection of the Father to the Son and of the Son to the Paraclete makes the three cohere one from the other. They who are one sole reality (unum) not one alone (unus) by reason of the unity of substance and not of numerical singularity" (Adv. Praxean, XXV, 1-2). This communication of the divine consubstantiality in the Trinitarian order he expresses with the verb procedere (ibid., II, 6). We find this same theology in St Hilary of Poitiers, who says to the Father: "May I receive your Spirit who takes his being from you through your only Son" (De Trinitate XII, PL 10, 471). He remarks: "If anyone thinks there is a difference between receiving from the Son (John 16:15) and proceeding (procedere) from the Father (John 15:26), it is certain that it is one and the same thing to receive from the Son and to receive from the Father (De Trinitate, VIII, 20, PL 10, 251 A). It is in this sense of communication of divinity through procession that St Ambroseof Milan is the first to formulate the filioque: "The Holy Spirit when he proceeds (procedit) from the Father and the Son, does not separate himself from the Father and does not separate himself from the Son" (De Spiritu Sancto, 1, 11, 120, PL 16, 733 A = 762 D). St Augustine, however, takes the precaution of safeguarding the Father’s monarchy within the consubstantial communion of the Trinity: "The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as Principle (principaliter) and, through the latter’s timeless gift to the Son, from the Father and the Son in communion (communiter)" (De Trinitate XV , 25, 47, PL 42, 1095). St Leo, Sermon LXXV, 3, PL 54, 402; Sermon LXXVI, 2, ibid. 404). 3 Tertullian uses the verb procedere in a sense common to the Word and the Spirit insofar as they receive divinity from the Father: "The Word was not uttered out of something empty and vain, and he does not lack substance, he who proceeded (processit) from such a (divine) substance and has made so many (created) substances. (Adv. Praxean, VII, 6). St Augustine, following St Ambrose, takes up this more common conception of procession: "All that proceeds is not born, although what is born proceeds" (Contra Maximinum, II, 14, 1, PL 42, 770). Much later St Thomas Aquinas remarks that "the divine nature is communicated in every processing that is not ad extra (Summa Theologica Ia, q.27, a.3, 2um). For him, as for all this Latin theology which used the term "procession" for the Son as well as for the Spirit, "generation is a procession which puts the divine person in possession of the divine nature" (ibid., Ia. q.43, a 2, c), for "from all eternity the Son proceeds in order to be God" (ibid.). In the same way, he affirms that "through his procession, the Holy Spirit receives the nature of the Father, as does the Son (ibid., Ia, q.35, a.2, c). "Of words referring to any kind of origin, the most general is procession. We use it to indicate any origin whatever; we say, for instance, that the line proceeds from the point; that the ray proceeds from the sun, the river from its source, and likewise in all kinds of other cases. Since we admit one or another of these words that evoke origin, we can, therefore, conclude hat the Holy Spirit proceeds from the son (ibid., Ia, q.36, a.2, c). 4. St Cyril bears witness here to a Trinitarian doctrine common to the whole school of Alexandria since St Athanasius, who had written "Just as the Son says: ’All that the Father has is mine’ (John 16:15), so shall we find that, through the Son, it is all also in the Spirit" (Letters to Serapion, III, 1, 33, PG 26, 625 B). St Epiphanius of Saramis (Ancoratus, VIII, PG 43, 29 C) and Didymus the Blind (Treatise on the Holy Spirit, CLIII, PG 34, 1064 A) link the Father and the Son by the same preposition ek inthe communication to the Holy Spirit of the consubstantial divinity. 5 "The two relationships of the Son to the Father and of the Holy Spirit to the Father oblige us to place two relationships in the Father, one referring to the Son and the other to the Holy Spirit" (St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Ia, q.32, a.2, c). 6 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.248. 7 St Gregory of Nazianzus says that "the Spirit is a middle term (meson) between the Unbegotten and the Begotten" (Discourse 31, 8, Sources Chrétiennes, no.250, p.290). C£ also, in a Thomistic perspective, G Leblond, "Point of view on the procession of the Holy Spirit," in Revue Thomiste, LXXXVI, t.78, 1978, pp.293-302. 8 St Cyril of Alexandria says that "the Holy Spirit flows from the Father into the Son (en to Uiou)," (Thesaurus, XXXIV, PG 75, 577A). 9 St Gregory of Nyssa writes: "The Holy Spirit is said to be of the Father and it is attested that he is of the Son. St Paul says: ’Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him’ (Romans 8:9). So the Spirit who is of God (the Father) is also the Spirit of Christ. However, the Son who is of God (the Father) is not said to be of the Spirit: the consecutive order of the relationship cannot be reversed" (Fragment In orationem dominicam, quoted by t John Damascene, PG 46. 1109 BC). And St Maximus affirms in the same way the Trinitarian order when he writes: "Just as the Thought (the Father) is principle of the Word, so is he also of the Spirit through the Word. And, just as one cannot say that the Word is of the voice (of the Breath), so one cannot say that the Word is of the Spirit" (Quaestiones et dubia, PG 90, 813 B). 10 St Thomas Aquinas, who knew the De Fide orthodoxa, sees no opposition between the Filioque and this expression of St John Damascene: "To say that the Holy Spirit reposes or dwells in the Son does not exclude his proceeding from the Son; for we say also that the Son dwells in the Father, although he proceeds from the Father (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.36, a.2, 4um). 11 St Thomas Aquinas, following St Augustine, writes: "If we say of the Holy Spirit that he dwells in the Son, it is in the way that the love of one who loves reposes in the loved one" (Summa Theologica Ia, q.36, a.2, 4um). This doctrine of the Holy Spirit as love has been harmoniously assumed by St Gregory Palamas into the Greek theology of the ekporeusis from the Father alone: "The Spirit of the most high Word is like an ineffable love of the Father for this Word ineffably generated. A love which this same Word and beloved Son of the Father entertains (chretai) towards the Father: but insofar as he has the Spirit coming with him (sunproelthonta) from the Father and reposing connaturally in him" (Capita physica XXXVI, PG 150, 1144, D-1145 A). 12 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem nn.18-24, AAS LXXVIII, 1986, 826-831. Cf. also Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 438, 689 690, 695, 727. This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1998 All Rights Reserved ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: X-SOCIAL ISSUES ABORTION, CONTRACEPTION ======================================================================== Abortion 1.Exodus 21:22RSV: "When men strive together and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judge determine. 23. If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye etc." Flavius Josephus, "Against Apion" 2:202: "The law [Jewish law] orders us to bring up all our children,and forbids women to cause abortion of that which is begotten; and if any woman seems to have done so,she will be a murderer of her own child,by destroying a living creature." (Probably late first century AD). Sibylline Oracles 2.281-82: " ...as many as aborted what they carried in the womb, as many as cast forth their offspring unlawfully [will be punished after the resurrection]." COMMENT: The editor in Charlesworth, J.J.Collins, estimates second century A.D. for Christian redaction, but the Jewish original was about the turn of the era. The lines cited above seem Jewish original. Didache 2,2: "you shall not kill a child by abortion nor kill it after it is born." Epistle of Barnabas: Those on the "way of darkness" include in 20.2, "the murderers of children, aborting the work of God." Tertullian, Apologeticum 9:8: For us, since murder has been forbidden, it is also not permitted to dissolve what is conceived in the womb while the blood is being formed into a human being. It is an anticipation of murder to keep one from being born; nor does it make a difference whether one takes the life of one already born, or disturbs one in the process of being born: even the one who is going to be a human being is one." Text from Sources Chrétiennes No.108,p.184.(Written about 197 A.D.) St.Cyprian of Carthage, Epistle 52, to Cornelius: "He [the schismatic Novatian] struck the womb of his wife with his heel and hurried an abortion, thereby causing parricide." (Written about 251 AD) St.Basil the Great, Epistle 138: "He who destroys the fetus deliberately is guilty of murder." PG 36:672. (Written about 375 AD) St.Jerome, Epistle 22.13: [speaking of virgins] "Others drink for sterility and commit murder on the human not yet sown. Some when they sense that they have conceived by sin, consider the poisons for abortion, and frequently die themselves along with it, and go to hell guilty of three crimes: murdering themselves, committing adultery against Christ, and murder against their unborn child." PL 22.401. (Written about 380 AD). St.Ambrose, "On the Hexaemeron" 5:18: "The rich women, to avoid dividing the inheritance among many, kill their own fetus in the womb and with murderous juices extinguish in the genital chamber their children." PL 14:231. (Written about 386 AD). St.John Chrysostom, "Homilies on Romans" 24: To destroy the fetus "is something worse than murder." The one who does this "does no to take away life that has already been born, but prevents it from being born." PG 60.626-27. (Written about 391 AD). St.Augustine, "De nuptiis et concupiscentia" 1:15: "At times their lustful cruelty or cruel lust goes so far as to obtain poisons to cause sterility; and if this does not work,to somehow extinguish and destroy the fetus conceived within the womb, wishing the offspring to be killed before living,or if it was living in the womb, to be killed before being born." PL44:423- 24. (Written about 419 AD). Pope Stephen V, "Epistle to Archbishop of Mainz," Sept 14, 887 (SA 670): "If he who destroys what is conceived in the womb by abortion is a murderer, how much more is he unable to excuse himself of murder who kills a child even one day old." Vatican II, Church in Modern World §51: "Therefore life starting at conception is to be guarded with the greatest care, and abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes" [nefanda sunt crimina]. 1 Contraception Contraception Contraception and Sterilization Christians have always condemned contraceptive sex. Both forms mentioned in the Bible, coitus interruptus and sterilization, are condemned without exception (Genesis 38:9-10,Deuteronomy 23:1). The early Fathers recognized that the purpose of sexual intercourse in natural law is procreation; contraceptive sex, which deliberately blocks that purpose, is a violation of natural law. Every church in Christendom condemned contraception until 1930, when, at its decennial Lambeth Conference, Anglicanism gave permission for the use of contraception in a few cases. Soon all Protestant denominations had adopted the secularist position on contraception. Today not one stands with the Catholic Church to maintain the ancient Christian faith on this issue. How badly things have decayed may be seen by comparing the current state of non-Catholic churches, where many pastors counsel young couples to decide before they are married what form of contraception they will use, with these quotations from the early Church Fathers, who condemned contraception in general as well as particular forms of it, as well as popular contraceptive sex practices that were then common (sterilization, oral contraceptives, coitus interruptus, and orally consummated sex). Many Protestants, perhaps beginning to see the inevitable connection between contraception and divorce and between contraception and abortion, are now returning to the historic Christian position and rejecting contraceptive sexual practices. It should be noted that some of the Church Fathers use language that can suggest to modern ears that there is no unitive aspect to marital intercourse and that there is only a procreative aspect. It is unclear whether this is what some of them actually thought or whether they are intending simply to stress that sexual activity becomes immoral if the procreative aspect of a given marital act is deliberately frustrated. However that may be, over the course of time the Church has called greater attention to the unitive aspect of marital intercourse, yet it remains true that the procreative aspect of each particular marital act must not be frustrated. The Letter of Barnabas "Moreover, he [Moses] has rightly detested the weasel [Leviticus 11:29]. For he means, ‘Thou shall not be like to those whom we hear of as committing wickedness with the mouth with the body through uncleanness [orally consummated sex]; nor shall thou be joined to those impure women who commit iniquity with the mouth with the body through uncleanness’" (Letter of Barnabas 10:8 [A.D. 74]). Clement of Alexandria "Because of its Divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted" (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 [A.D. 191]). "To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature" (ibid., 2:10:95:3). Hippolytus "[Christian women with male concubines], on account of their prominent ancestry and great property, the so-called faithful want no children from slaves or lowborn commoners, [so] they use drugs of sterility or bind themselves tightly in order to expel a fetus which has already been engendered" (Refutation of All Heresies 9:12 [A.D. 225]). Lactantius "[Some] complain of the scantiness of their means, and allege that they have not enough for bringing up more children, as though, in truth, their means were in [their] power . . . or God did not daily make the rich poor and the poor rich. Wherefore, if any one on any account of poverty shall be unable to bring up children, it is better to abstain from relations with his wife" (Divine Institutes 6:20 [A.D. 307]). "God gave us eyes not to see and desire pleasure, but to see acts to be performed for the needs of life; so too, the genital [’generating’] part of the body, as the name itself teaches, has been received by us for no other purpose than the generation of offspring" (ibid., 6:23:18). Council of Nicaea I "[I]f anyone in sound health has castrated himself, it behooves that such a one, if enrolled among the clergy, should cease [from his ministry], and that from henceforth no such person should be promoted. But, as it is evident that this is said of those who willfully do the thing and presume to castrate themselves, so if any have been made eunuchs by barbarians, or by their masters, and should otherwise be found worthy, such men this canon admits to the clergy" (Canon 1 [A.D. 325]). Epiphanius of Salamis "They [certain Egyptian heretics] exercise genital acts, yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption" (Medicine Chest Against Heresies 26:5:2 [A.D. 375]). Augustine "This proves that you [Manicheans] approve of having a wife, not for the procreation of children, but for the gratification of passion. In marriage, as the marriage law declares, the man and woman come together for the procreation of children. Therefore, whoever makes the procreation of children a greater sin than copulation, forbids marriage and makes the woman not a wife but a mistress, who for some gifts presented to her is joined to the man to gratify his passion" (The Morals of the Manichees 18:65 [A.D. 388]). "You [Manicheans] make your auditors adulterers of their wives when they take care lest the women with whom they copulate conceive. They take wives according to the laws of matrimony by tablets announcing that the marriage is contracted to procreate children; and then, fearing because of your law [against childbearing] . . . they copulate in a shameful union only to satisfy lust for their wives. They are unwilling to have children, on whose account alone marriages are made. How is it, then, that you are not those prohibiting marriage, as the apostle predicted of you so long ago [1 Timothy 4:1-4], when you try to take from marriage what marriage is? When this is taken away, husbands are shameful lovers, wives are harlots, bridal chambers are brothels, fathers-in-law are pimps" (Against Faustus 15:7 [A.D. 400]). "For thus the eternal law, that is, the will of God creator of all creatures, taking counsel for the conservation of natural order, not to serve lust, but to see to the preservation of the race, permits the delight of mortal flesh to be released from the control of reason in copulation only to propagate progeny" (ibid., 22:30). "For necessary sexual intercourse for begetting [children] is alone worthy of marriage. But that which goes beyond this necessity no longer follows reason but lust. And yet it pertains to the character of marriage . . . to yield it to the partner lest by fornication the other sin damnably [through adultery]. . . . [T]hey [must] not turn away from them the mercy of God . . . by changing the natural use into that which is against nature, which is more damnable when it is done in the case of husband or wife. For, whereas that natural use, when it pass beyond the compact of marriage, that is, beyond the necessity of begetting [children], is pardonable in the case of a wife, damnable in the case of a harlot; that which is against nature is execrable when done in the case of a harlot, but more execrable in the case of a wife. Of so great power is the ordinance of the Creator, and the order of creation, that . . . when the man shall wish to use a body part of the wife not allowed for this purpose [orally or anally consummated sex], the wife is more shameful, if she suffer it to take place in her own case, than if in the case of another woman" (The Good of Marriage 11-12 [A.D. 401]). "I am supposing, then, although you are not lying [with your wife] for the sake of procreating offspring, you are not for the sake of lust obstructing their procreation by an evil prayer or an evil deed. Those who do this, although they are called husband and wife, are not; nor do they retain any reality of marriage, but with a respectable name cover a shame. Sometimes this lustful cruelty, or cruel lust, comes to this, that they even procure poisons of sterility. . . . Assuredly if both husband and wife are like this, they are not married, and if they were like this from the beginning they come together not joined in matrimony but in seduction. If both are not like this, I dare to say that either the wife is in a fashion the harlot of her husband or he is an adulterer with his own wife" (Marriage and Concupiscence 1:15:17 [A.D. 419]). John Chrysostom "Why do you sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit, where there are medicines of sterility [oral contraceptives], where there is murder before birth? You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well. . . . Indeed, it is something worse than murder, and I do not know what to call it; for she does not kill what is formed but prevents its formation. What then? Do you condemn the gift of God and fight with his [natural] laws? . . . Yet such turpitude . . . the matter still seems indifferent to many men-even to many men having wives. In this indifference of the married men there is greater evil filth; for then poisons are prepared, not against the womb of a prostitute, but against your injured wife. Against her are these innumerable tricks" (Homilies on Romans 24 [A.D. 391]). "[I]n truth, all men know that they who are under the power of this disease [the sin of covetousness] are wearied even of their father’s old age [wishing him to die so they can inherit]; and that which is sweet, and universally desirable, the having of children, they esteem grievous and unwelcome. Many at least with this view have even paid money to be childless, and have mutilated nature, not only killing the newborn, but even acting to prevent their beginning to live" (Homilies on Matthew 28:5 [A.D. 391]). "[T]he man who has mutilated himself, in fact, is subject even to a curse, as Paul says, ‘I would that they who trouble you would cut the whole thing off’ [Galatians 5:12]. And very reasonably, for such a person is venturing on the deeds of murderers, and giving occasion to them that slander God’s creation, and opens the mouths of the Manicheans, and is guilty of the same unlawful acts as they that mutilate themselves among the Greeks. For to cut off our members has been from the beginning a work of demonical agency, and satanic device, that they may bring up a bad report upon the works of God, that they may mar this living creature, that imputing all not to the choice, but to the nature of our members, the more part of them may sin in security as being irresponsible, and doubly harm this living creature, both by mutilating the members and by impeding the forwardness of the free choice in behalf of good deeds" (ibid., 62:3). "Observe how bitterly he [Paul] speaks against their deceivers . . . ‘I would that they which trouble you would cut the whole thing off’ [Galatians 5:12]. . . . On this account he curses them, and his meaning is as follows: ‘For them I have no concern, "A man that is heretical after the first and second admonition refuse" [Titus 3:10]. If they will, let them not only be circumcised but mutilated.’ Where then are those who dare to mutilate themselves, seeing that they draw down the apostolic curse, and accuse the workmanship of God, and take part with the Manichees?" (Commentary on Galatians 5:12 [A.D. 395]). Jerome "But I wonder why he [the heretic Jovinianus] set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he grudged his brother seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children?" (Against Jovinian 1:19 [A.D. 393]). "You may see a number of women who are widows before they are wives. Others, indeed, will drink sterility and murder a man not yet born, [and some commit abortion]" (Letters 22:13 [A.D. 396]). Caesarius of Arles "Who is he who cannot warn that no woman may take a potion so that she is unable to conceive or condemns in herself the nature which God willed to be fecund? As often as she could have conceived or given birth, of that many homicides she will be held guilty, and, unless she undergoes suitable penance, she will be damned by eternal death in hell. If a woman does not wish to have children, let her enter into a religious agreement with her husband; for chastity is the sole sterility of a Christian woman" (Sermons 1:12 [A.D. 522]). NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors. Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004 IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827 permission to publish this work is hereby granted. +Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: Y- PRIMER ON THE CHURCH FATHERS ======================================================================== A Primer on the Church Fathers "Remove not the ancient landmark which your fathers have set"(Proverbs 22:28 RSV) Protestant Evangelical Christians often gain a keener understanding of Holy Writ either by a private reading of Scripture or by listening to or reading various interpretations of Scripture through various ministrations of the church such as a Bible study or a Sunday sermon. Many ofthe interpretations are harmoniouswith the historic tenants of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Churchand some contradictory. Nevertheless, this is the primary vehicle through which many Evangelicals learn Christian doctrines and morals. Therefore, why not take advantage of a Bible study or a sermon bylisteningto the written words ofa disciple of an Apostleor theirimmediate descendantsrather thanfrom someone whoIsaiah 20:1-6centuries removedfrom the Apostles? This is the case when one delves in the writings and faith of the early Church Fathers. Who are these guys(and gals) called The Church Fathers? The Church Fathers is a titled bestowed on men (and some women such as Egeria of Spain fl AD 448) in the ancient Church that are united by four trademarks: (1) a rigid orthodoxy in doctrine, (2) an exemplary holy life, (3) approval in the Church, and (4) antiquity. Today, some ecclesiastical writers are bestowed this title who have partially fulfilled these marks( e.g. Tertullian, Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea). These writers are included due to their invaluable service to the Church. The majority of the Church Fathers were bishops, a few held a lower clerical rank such as St. Jerome, and fewer yet, were laymen such as Clement of Alexandria and perhaps Tertullian of Carthage. In the Catholic Church the period of antiquity ends with St. John Damascene (d AD 749) in the East and with St. Gregory the Great(d AD 604) or St. Isidore of Seville (d AD 636) in the West, hence the patristic age spans 7 centuries. St. Epiphanius provides us with this classic understanding of Church Father, he writes: "Now of these which is wiser? This deceived man (Aerius) who has just now obtained notoriety, and who is still living; or they who were witnesses before us, who held before us the tradition in(or for) the church, and who themselves had received it from their fathers, whose fathers again had learnt it from their forefathers, even as the church, having received the true faith from its fathers, retains it, togetherwith the traditions, even unto this day."Epiphanius, Panarion, 75(A.D. 374-377), in FOC,I:433-434 The Fathers’ writings The writings of the Church Fathers took various forms. Their writings included sermons on various matters of faith (e.g. St. Augustine’s sermons), treatises on various theological subjects (e.g. Cyprian’s Unity of the Catholic Church), biographies (e.g. St. Possidius’ Life of Augustine), autobiographies (e.g. St. Augustine’s Confessions), hagiographies (e.g. St. Athanasius’ Life of St. Antony), letters (e.g. St. Ambrose’s 91 epistles), histories (e.g. Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History), exegetical works (e.g. Origen’s & St. John Chrysostom’s commentaries), patristic studies (e.g. St. Jerome’s Lives of illustrious men), and apologies (e.g. St. Justin Martyr’s’ Apologies). Some ancient writings have no ascribed author such as the Didache or the Epistle to Diognetus. Some writings have an ascribed pseudo-author such as the Athanasian Creed or the New Testament apocryphal works. Some writings we have only in fragments(Muratorian fragment) and many writings are not extant(the majority of Origen’s efforts) but are known through the writings of others. Classifying the Fathers There are a couple of ways of classifying the writings of the Church Fathers. The most popular way is to divide the writings into various periods of time. The other approach is to divide the Fathers by geography and culture, that is, East versus West. This first method usually divides the Fathers into three basic time periods: 1) the Ante-Nicene period (post Apostolic times until AD 325), 2) the Post-Nicene Fathers (AD 325 - AD 451), and 3) the later Fathers (AD 451 until the close of the Patristic age AD 749). Another popular way of dividing the Fathers into time periods Isaiah: 1) the period of Origins which include the Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists (post Apostolic times until AD 300), 2) the Classical or Golden Period (AD 300 to the death of Cyril of Alexandria d. AD 444), and 3)the Last period sometimes called the decadent period (AD 444 - to the close of the Patristic Age AD 749). There are some small variations to these time periods in various patrologies and studies. The second method is to divide the Fathers into two groups, the Western/Latin and the Eastern/Greek. However, not all the Fathers can be classified as either representing the West or the East such as the Coptic, Syriac, Arabic and Iberian Fathers. There are seven(7) centuries of patristic heritage involving diverse languages, cultures, and geography. This alone assured the Catholic Church a diversity of patristic thought on a myriad of theological subjects. The Fathers taken as a whole touched on every conceivable tenant of faith, taken individually, no one Father wrote on every doctrine. Time and circumstance provided the impetus for the various subjects and efforts treated by the Church Fathers. St. Irenaeus and Tertullian wrote extensively on the rule of faith against the criticisms of the numerous Gnostic heresies, St. Athanasius debated and routed the Arians on the deity of Jesus Christ, Cyprian wrote on the episcopacy in many of his treatises, St. Basil delved into the deity of the Holy Spirit in his conflicts with Eunomious, St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin at the request of Pope Damasus, the Cappadocians (St. Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, & Gregory of Nazianzen) wrote and expounded on the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and St. Augustine expounded on grace, free-will, sin, and ecclesiology in his controversies with the Manicheans, Donatists, and Pelagians. No Church Father wrote on every Catholic doctrine. The Fathers taken as a whole provide us with an unswerving consensus and testimony of the Catholic faith. Conflicts In addition to the language, cultural, and geographic differences, there were numerous theological conflicts which shaped theology throughout the patristic age. Some conflicts came outside the Church such as Judaism, Gnosticism and Manichaeism. However, most of the conflicts came from within the Church. Some internal conflicts dealt with heretical teachings such as Arianism, Monophystism, Nestorianism, and Pelagianism. All these heresies were combated by the Church Fathers in the form of apologies, treatises, debates, and letters. The definitive reply to many of these early heresies came within the acts and canons of the Ecumenical Councils or through the proclamations of various Apostolic Sees, primarily the See of Rome. Some internal conflicts involved only the orthodox, such as the dating of Easter or episode concerning the lapse Christians and heretical baptism. Consensus and Development of Doctrine Amongst this diversity of patristic thought the Fathers were united on a number of doctrines without much controversy or discussion. Some of these doctrines include: 1) the existence of One God, 2) sotierology and sacraments, 3) ecclesiastical authority, 4) the existence of heaven and hell, 5)the existence of an invisible world consisting of angels and demons, 6) regenerative water baptism, and 7) the real presence in the Eucharist. However, many of the doctrines of today such as the Holy Trinity were a result of many years of reflection, dialogue and debate. In fact, prior to formal definition many of the Fathers would seem to have downplayed various aspects of the Trinity or even contradicted the defined doctrine. Prior to definition, doctrinal confusion is expected as the Fathers are grappling with the mysteries of the faith in an attempt to puzzle out the doctrines of the Church. The process between doctrinal chaos to doctrinal clarity is called the development of doctrine. By the end of the patristic age a broad and deep witness was arrived at on most of the cardinal doctrines of the Catholic faith. These include the Blessed Trinity, the nature of Christ, the canon of Scriptures, justification and grace, infallibility of the Church, and doctrines concerning Theotokos, just to name a few. An Invitation Don’t be afraid of the Fathers, dive right in. Find out what the Church Fathers believed about baptism, the Church, justification, the Bible, tradition, the second coming of Christ, the resurrection and host of other doctrines. Below is a list of the most prominent Church Fathers including a brief biography and a list of some their most important writings. All Rights Reserved. Fathers of the Church The Apostolic Fathers Clement of Rome(d 97) Ignatius of Antioch(50-107) Polycarp(69-166) Writer of The Didache Writer of the Epistle of Barnabas The Church Fathers of the West The Four Great Fathers of the West Jerome(+420) Ambrose(+397) Augustine(+430) Gregory the Great(+604) Latin Fathers of the Church Ambrose(340-397) Arnobius(284-305) Augustine(354-430) Benedict(480-543) Caesarius(470-543) John Cassian(360-435) Celestine I(regn. 422-432) Clement of Rome(c. 88-97) Cornelius (regn. 251-253) Cyprian(190-258) Damasus(regn. 366-384) Dionysius(regn. 259-268) Ennodius(473-521) Eucherius of Lyons(d 449) Fulgentius(468-533) Gregory of Elvira(320-392) Gregory the Great(regn. 590-604) Hilary of Poitiers(315-367) Hippolytus(170-236) Innocent I(regn. 402-417) Irenaeus(130-202) Isidore(560-636) Jerome(340-420) Julius I(regn. 337-352) Lactanius(250-325) Leo the Great(regn. 440-461) Marius Mercator(5th C) Marius Victorinus(5th C) Minucius Felix(fl. 160-300) Optatus(4th C) Pacian(310-392) Pamphilius(240-309) Paulinus(354-431) Peter Chrysologus(406-450) Phoebadius(+ 392) Prosper of Aquitaine(400-463) Rufinus(345-410) Salvian of Marseilles(400-480) Sircius(regn. 384-399) Tertullian(160-250) Vincent of Lerins(400-450) The Church Fathers of the East The Four Great Fathers of the East Athanasius(+373) Basil the Great(+379) Gregory of Nazianzen(+398) John Chyrsostom(+407) Greek Fathers of the Church Anastasius(+700) Andrew of Crete(650-740) Aphraates(4th C) Archelaus(+282) Athanasius(296-373) Athenagoras(2nd C) Basil the Great(329-379) Caesarius of Nazianzus(330-369) Clement of Alexandria(160-215) Cyril of Jerusalem(315-386) Cyril of Alexandria(375-444) Didymus the Blind(313-398) Diodore of Tarsus(+390) Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite(fl. 500) Epiphanius of Salamis(315-403) Eusebius(260-340) Eustathius of Antioch(fl. 325) Firmillian(+268) Gennadius I(458-471) Germanus(634-733) Gregory of Nazianzus(325-389) Gregory of Nyssa(331-394) Gregory Thaumaturgus(213-270) Hermas(fl. 90-150) Ignatius of Antioch(50-107) Isidore of Pelusium(360-435) John Chrysostom(347-407) John Climacus(525-605) John Damascene(676-770) Justin Martyr(100-165) Leontius of Byzantium(+ 543) Macarius the Great(300-390) Maximus(580-662) Melito(2nd C) Methodius(+ 311) Nilus the Elder of Ancyra(+ 430) Origen(185-253) Polycarp(69-166) Proclus of Constantinople(+ 446) Serapion of Thmuis(+ 362) Sophronius(560-638) Tatian the Assyrian(2nd C) Theodore of Mopsuestia(350-428) Theodoret of Cyrus(393-460) Theophilus of Antioch(2nd C) A Selection of Writings of the Fathers St. Clement of Rome:Third Bishop of Rome and the first Apostolic Father. Letter to the Corinthians(c. 96) St. Ignatius of Antioch:Bishop of Antioch and one of the Apostolic Fathers. Wrote several works to various Churches. He was condemned to die by wild beasts in Rome. Letter to the Ephesians(c. 110)Letter to the Magnesians(c. 110) Letter to the Trallians(c. 110)Letter to the Philadelphians(c. 110) Letter to the Smyrnaens(c. 110)Letter to the Polycarp(c. 110) Letter to the Romans(c. 110) St. Polycarp of Symrna(Asia Minor):Bishop of Symrna and Apostolic Father. He was a hearer and disciple of John the Apostle. Polycarp to the Phillipians(c. 135) Martyrdom of Polycarp[biography](c. 157) Unknown Author Didache[The Teaching of the Apostles](c. 140) Barnabas:Friends of St. Paul, the Apostle and Mark(Acts 15:39). Letter of Barnabas(c. 132) Papias of Hierapolis(Phrygia):Bishop of Hierapolis and an Apostolic Father. Explanations[fragments in Irenaeus & Eusebius(c. 120) Hermas(Rome):A contemporary of Clement of Rome and an Apostolic Father. The Shepherd(c. 155) St. Justin the Martyr(Rome):Catholic Apologist and martyr. He propogated and defended the faith in Asia Minor and Rome. First and Second Apologies(A.D. 161) Dialogue with the Trypho the Jew(A.D. 155) St. Irenaeus(Asia Minor):Bishop of Lyons(France) and disciple of Polycarp(hearer of John the Apostle). His polemical writings are directed against the early Gnostic heresies. Against Heresies(A.D. 180) Tertullian(Rome/Carthage):An ecclesiastical writer from Carthage. He converted to the Catholic faith from paganism, only to revert to Montanism later in life. His Catholic writings include some of the finest apologetics on behalf of the Church. Apology(A.D. 197) Prescription Against the Heretics(A.D. 200) St. Clement of Alexandria:A presbyter and head of the catechetical school in Alexandria. Stromateis(A.D. 202)Who is the rich man that is saved(A.D. 210) Origen(Alexandria):A celebrated ecclesiastical writer from Alexandria. An ordained presbyter and one of the most accomplished exegetes of Sacred Scripture. He laid much of the foundation for the doctrine of the Church, rule of faith and Christ as the Word Incarnate. Fundamental Doctrines(A.D. 230) Celsus(A.D. 248) St. Cyprian(Carthage):ArchBishop of Carthage and marytr. Converted to Catholicism late in his life. One of the most authoritative Church Fathers. Involved in the controversy of lapse Catholics and heretical baptism. The Unity of the Catholic Church[primacy](A.D. 251) Unity of the Catholic Church[received text](A.D. 256) Eusebius Pamphilus(Palestine):An ecclesiastical writer and Bishop of Caeserea. His monumental work "Church History" provides us with a priceless insight into the life of the Church from its infancy to around A.D. 323. Ecclesiastical History(A.D. 325) St. Athanasius(Alexandria):Bishop and Patriarch of Alexandria , one of Four Great Fathers of the East, Doctor of the Church, and called "Father of Orthodoxy," as the chief champion of the deity of Jesus Christ against the Arian heresy. Argueably one of the finest apologists and defenders of the faith the Catholic Church has ever known. He spent seventeen of the forty-six years of his episcopate in exile while defending the creed of Nicea. Incarnation of the Word(A.D. 318) Apology against the Arian(A.D. 347) Concerning the Decrees of the Nicene Council(A.D. 351) Discourses against the Arians(A.D. 362) Concerning the Councils of Rimini and Seleucia(A.D. 362) St. Cyril of Jerusalem:Bishop of Jerusalem andm contributor to the Ecumenical Council of Contantinople in A.D. 381. Catechetical Lectures(A.D. 386) St. Hilary of Poitiers(Asia Minor):Bishop of Poitiers(France) and defender of the Nicene faith The Trinity(A.D. 359) St. Basil(Ceasarea):Bishop of Ceasarea, Doctor of the Church, one of the Four Great Fathers of the East, and brother of St. Gregory of Nyssa and friend of St. Gregory of Nazianzus. His writings included a monastic rule of life and a defense of the deity of the Holy Spirit. Against Eunomius(A.D. 365) The Holy Spirit(A.D. 375) St. Gregory of Nazianzus(Ceasarea):Bishop of Sasima, Doctor of the Church, one of the Four Great Fathers of the East, friend of Basil the Great, and known as "The Theologian". His writings include famous and insightful discourses on the Blessed Trinity. Orations(ante A.D. 389) St. Gregory of Nyssa(Alexandria):Bishop of Nyssa and brother of Basil the Great. His "Catechism" is a defense of the Catholic faith. The Great Catechism(A.D. 383) Against Eunomius(A.D. 384) St. Epiphanius(Cyprus/Salamis):Bishop of Salamis and writer against several heresies. Produced a work similar to Irenaeus’ "Against Heresies" where Epiphanius describes and delineates over 80 heresies, called the Panarion(ie. the medicine chest). The Well Anchored Man(A.D. 374) Panarion[Against All Heresies](A.D. 377) St. John Chrysostom(Antioch,Constantinople):ArchBishop of Constantinople, one of the Four Great Fathers of the East, Doctor of the Church and the consumate preacher, nicknamed "Golden Mouthed." He devoted his life to preaching, writing and asceticism. No other Eastern Father has left us with such an exhaustive canon of writings. Chyrsostom takes up 18 of 161 volumes of Patrologia Graeca of Migne. The Priesthood(A.D. 386) Homilies[Commentaries, Treatises](ante A.D. 407) St. Ambrose(Milan):Bishop of Milan, one of the Four Great Fathers of the West, and Doctor of the Church. The Faith(A.D. 380) The Holy Spirit(A.D. 381) St. Jerome(Stridon,Rome):One of the Four Great Fathers of the West, Doctor of the Church and Scripture scholar. Best known for the Vulgate translation of the Bible. Against Helvidius(A.D. 383) The Vulgate(A.D. 384) Various Commentaries on Scripture(ante A.D. 420) St. Augustine(Hippo,Africa):Bishop of Hippo(N. Africa),one of the Four Great Doctors of the West, Doctor of the Church, and named the "Doctor of Grace." The most influential Church Father in philosophy and theology. Argueably the greatest of all the Church Fathers. Augustine single handedly routed three great heresies during his lifetime; Manichaeism, Donatism and Pelagianism. Augustine is the most erudite, concise, and penetrating writer the Church has ever known. Of all the Fathers, Augustine wrote more than all. St. Isidore of Seville once wrote that anyone who claimed to have read all of Augustine’s writings could be considered a ’liar.’ His works make up 14 of 217 volumes of Patrologia Latina Migne. Free Choice(A.D. 395) Against the Letter of Mani called ’The Foundation’(A.D. 397) Confessions(A.D. 400) Baptism(A.D. 400) Faith and Works(A.D. 413) Nature and Grace(A.D. 415) The Trinity(A.D. 416) The Enchiridion of Faith,Hope and Love(A.D. 421) City of God(A.D. 426) Christian Instruction(A.D. 426) Retractations(A.D. 427) St. Cyril of Alexandria:Bishop of Alexandria and Doctor of the Church. Cyril’s fame comes from his defense of the Catholic faith against the arch-heretic Nestorius. Against Nestorius(A.D. 430) The Twelve Anathemas(A.D. 430) St. Vincent of Lerins:Priest and monk who lived in the monastery on the island of Lerins. Famous for his classic synthesis on the rule of faith. Commonitories(A.D. 434) Pope Leo the Great(Rome):Bishop of Rome(regn A.D. 440-461) and defender of the Faith. ’Tome of Leo’ was the classic expression of the Personhood of Christ at the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. 173 Letters(A.D. 460) 96 Sermons(A.D. 461) St. Isidore of Seville:Bishop of Seville(Spain), brother to St. Fulgentius and last of the Latin Fathers. Etymologies(A.D.636) St. John Damascene(Syria):Doctor of the Church and last of the Greek Fathers. The Orthodox Faith(A.D. 743) This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: Z-CHURCH FATHERS FAQ ======================================================================== Church Fathers FAQ This document will provide answers to popular questions I’ve answered over the years. Many of these questions have been answered countless times; hence, the creation of Church Fathers FAQ. This document is intended to be dynamic, as questions and answers will be added continuously. If you feel a question needs to be added feel free to email me. (1) Are all thewritings of the Church Fathersavailable on the internet? 95% of all the writings of the Church Fathers on the internet are derived from theOxford/Edinburgh"Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers"38 volume series.This effort was completed in the late 19th century by the Anglican divines. This entire 38 volume set is in the public domain. Nevertheless,this effort only provides asmall selectionof writingsof the Church Fathers. (2) How were the Church Fathers chosen? There is no Catholic magisterial statement listing the names of the Church Fathers. In essence, the names of the Church Fathers were derived from a general consensus of the ancient faith traditions(ie. Catholic, Orthodoxy, Coptic, Syrian, Armenian etc.) over the past 2000 years. The Church Fathers werechosenon the basis of fourattributes:orthodoxy of doctrine, holiness of life, ecclesiastical approval and antiquity. (3) Are all the Fathers of the Church male? No. Most of the Church Fathers were bishops, a few were lower clerics and a fewer yet were laymen. However, there were a few female Church Fathers. One such female ecclesiastical writer in the ancient Church was Egeria of Spain. She wrote and lived during 5th century. (4) Did St. Augustine write the following citation, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity" No. Unfortunately, no one has found the primary text of this citation from the vast corpus of St. Augustine’s writings. No Church Father has left us with more pregnant proverbial sayings than St. Augustine; hence, it is no wonder why this citation is popularly attributed to St. Augustine. The earliest use of this citation has been traced to a German theologian of the 17th century - named Rupert Meldenius. (5) How does one get started in Patrology? a) Read my primer on the Church Fathers. b) Read an introductory work on the Church Fathers;such as, Fr. Hamell’s "Handbook of Patrology" or Pier Franco Beatrice’s "The Fathers of the Church" c) Obtain a work which includes selections of writings from the Church Fathers; such as, Fr. Jurgen’s three volume work, "The Faith of the Early Fathers". See Corunum’s bibliography for other source material on the Church Fathers. (6) Who are the Great Fathers of the West and the East? West: St. Ambrose(+397),St. Jerome(+420), St. Augustine(+430), & Pope Gregory the Great(+604) East: St. Athanasius(+373), St. Basil(+379), St. Gregory of Nazianzian(+398), St. John Chrysostom(+407) (7) Who is the Greatest of all the Church Fathers? Without question and hesitation-- St. Augustine! No Father wrote on more theological matters with such insight than the prelate from Hippo. St. Augustine is the only Father to have routed three heresies during his lifetime - Manichaeism, Donatism, and Pelagianism. It is difficult to convey the estimate of St. Augustine in so few words. Augustine is the most erudite, concise, and penetrating writer the Church has ever known. Of all the Fathers, Augustine wrote more than all. St. Isidore of Seville once wrote that anyone who claimed to have read all of Augustine’s writings could be considered a ’liar.’ His works make up 14 of 217 volumes of Patrologia Latina Migne. I offer no higher praise than to recommend St. Augustine’s Confessions to any reader interested in the Church Fathers. (8) Which Church Father first used the word "Catholic"? The honor goes to the Bishop of Antioch, St. Ignatius. In his epistle to the Symrnaens he writes: "Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" 8:1 A.D. 110). Interestingly enough, this is the same Antiochian Church which first used the term "Christian"(Acts 11:26). (9) Which Church Father was the first to use the word "Trinity" to describe the nature of God? In Greek, the honor goes to St. Theophilus of Antioch. In his epistle to Autolycus he writes: "The three days before the luminaries were created are type of the Trinity(trias): God, His Word, and His Wisdom."(2:15 A.D. 181). In Latin, the honor goes to Tertullian of Carthage. In his polemic against Praxeas the modalist he writes: "And at the same time the mystery of the dispensation is safeguarded, for Unity is distributed in a Trinity(trinitas). Placed in order, the Three are Father, Son, and Spirit"(2:1 A.D. 213) (10) Where is the citation in Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians which warns the Corinthian Church of "no small danger" in disobeying the Roman Church? The Clementine text that is found in the Internet is derived from the "Ante-Nicene Fathers" by Oxford/Eerdmans. This text is based on the "incomplete" Codex A(Alexandrinus). If you want to see the complete text see volume 1 of the ACW or Jurgens or Giles. (11) Is there a biblical commentary which provides numerous references and citations from the Church Fathers? Yes. It is a three(3) volume set published by CatholicTreasures in Monrovia,CA. They reprinted the Douay-Rheims OT and NT with a comprehensive Catholic commentary by Rev. Fr. Geo. Leo Haydock. This work was originally published in 1859. (12) Did Pope Gelasiusdeny the doctrine of transubstantiation? Here is the relevant passage often foisted by critics of the Catholic faith: "Sacred Scripture, testifying that this Mystery[ie. The Incarnation] began at the start of the blessed Conception, says; ’Wisdom has built a house for itself’(Proverbs 9:1), rooted in the solidity of the sevenfold Spirit. This Wisdom ministers to us the food of the Incarnation of Christ through which we are made sharers of the divine nature. Certainly the sacraments of the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive are a divine reality, because of which and through which we ’are made sharers of the divine nature’(1 Peter 1:4). Nevertheless the substance or nature of bread and wine does not cease to exist. And certainly the image and likeness of the Body and Blood of Christ are celebrated in the carrying out the Mysteries." Pope Gelasius I[regn A.D. 492-496],Tract on the two natures against Eutchyes & Nestorius. First, Pope Gelasius categorically affirms the RealPresence of Christ in the Eucharist. This is denied by White. Second, Pope Gelasius was concerned in defending the nature of Christ not the Eucharist. So he was not so concerned in giving his understanding of the Eucharist as he was in explaining the mystery of the Incarnation. Remember, the Church was concerned with various Christological heresies at this time which denied the two natures, the two wills, and the one [divine]personhood of Christ. At this point in time, the mystery of the Eucharist had not so developed in the mind of the Church to force upon the mind of Pope Gelasius an expression of the Eucharist in the terms of transubstantiation. The Church had to develop a theological language to express the mind of the Church on various matters of faith. The Church was just beginning to express its thoughts to describe the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. There was no question regarding a Real Presence in the Eucharist; however, it is another matter regarding the type of change(consubstantiation, transubstantiation etc.). At best, Pope Gelasius was simply saying that the appearance[accidents] of bread/wine remain alongside the Real Presence in an attempt to explain the mystery of the Incarnation, since Christ humanity remains alongside His divinity. Some scholars interpret the above passage to refer to the accidents of the bread and wine. Even this analogy has some holes in it. At worst, Pope Gelasius was simply incorrect in his Eucharistic theology. I tend to believe the Pope was somewhere in the middle. That is, Pope Gelasius was not so concerned with explaining the doctrine of the Eucharist, but wanted to explain the Incarnation via an analogy. As with most analogies, they are imperfect. In addition, his theological vocabulary did not allow him to express the mystery of the Eucharist with any more precision. Therefore, do not base your understanding of the Eucharist during this time on one single passage from Pope Gelasius. Instead cull the passages from contemporaries of Pope Gelasius which speak directly on the Eucharist. Here you will find a clear and broad witness on behalf of Transubstantiation. For more info see: James T. O’Connor’s "The Hidden Manna" pgs 71-73 Ludwig Ott’s "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma" p. 382 You wonder why critics of the Faith don’t downplay the divinity of Christ by citing Fathers prior to Nicea that seemingly subordinate the nature of Christ. Prior to definition, the Fathers are developing a theological vocabulary as they reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation, so it is no surprise to see some Fathers prior to Nicea seemingly downplay the divinity of Christ. This is the nature of development. Prior to definition, the Fathers are all over the theological landscape as they attempt to explain a divine mystery, and as time goes on the mystery becomes a little more clearer and more defined. (13) Did Pope Honorius invalidate the Vatican I definition of papal infallibility? Vatican I fathers were intimately familiar with all the failures and alleged failures of the papacy;such as, Pope Honorius, Pope Vigilius and Pope Liberius. The doctrine of the infallibiltiy of the papacy was framed with these cases and the previous 19 centuries of Catholic tradition in mind. Hence, after much deliberation, theological debate and discussion the very precise doctrine of papal infallibility was defined. The doctrine in short is as follows:1)The Pope must speak ex cathedra as Pope, ie. as the supreme pastor of the Church, 2)he must define a doctrine on faith and morals and 3 He must clearly indicate that he is making a sollmn, definitive and final pronouncement on the doctrine at issue. 4. He must declare his intions to bind all members of the Catholic Church to accept new teaching. There are two schools of thought in Catholic tradition regarding Pope Honorius--both are acceptable. The first position is that Pope Honorius writings to Sergius werem not heretical but ambiguous--here Honorius simply allowed the faith to be sullied, an act of negligence if you will. Here the definition of infallibility is intact since items 1 & 3(maybe 2) are not involved. Here "heresy/heretic" simply means he allowed the faith to sullied. Full-blown heretics used his ambiguous writings to develop and propagate their wayward doctrines. The second position is that Honorius writings ("One will") were heretical. Here "heresy/heretic" means that Pope Honorius taught a heterodox teaching. Even here the doctrine of infallibility remains intact. The Fathers at Vatican I framed the definition very precisely; Again items 1) and 3) are not met. Remember the writings of Pope Honoriuswere to Sergius not the world--and it is clear in Pope Honorius writings to Sergius that he did not intend to teach with the authority of Peter and bind the consciences of the whole world to a new doctrine! In both cases the precise Vatican I definition invalidates both of these instances as infallible exercizes of the papacy. One only has to look at some examples of ex-cathedra pronouncements to get a feel how the Vatican I definition is met: For example, regarding Mary’s Immaculate Conception: "....by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ...of...Peter ... and by our own, We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine...has been revealed by God...Wherefore, if any should presume to think otherwise than as it has been defined by Us...that they have suffered shipwreck in regard to faith, and have revolted from the unity of the Church..." Pope Pius IX 1854 Likewise, regarding Mary’s bodily Assumption: "...by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ...of...Peter ... and by our own authority We pronounce, declare, and define that the dogma was revealed by God...Therefore,if anyone, which may God forbid, should dare either deny this, or voluntary call into doubt what has been defined by us, he should realize that he has cut himself entirely from the divine and Catholic faith." Pope Pius XII, 1950 IOW the force and meaning one puts behind the word "heresy/heretic" is moot since Pope Honorius clearly showed he was nowhere near the Vatican I guidelines. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone since the Vatican I definition took Pope Honorius episode in mind. (14) When did the use of the word "Pope" apply to only to the Roman Bishop? The word "Pope" was used early on as a title to the primatial sees of Carthage and Alexandria(A.D. 250). The first time it was used to reference a Roman Bishop was in A.D. 304, "my Pope Marcellus". The title "Pope" became popular in use during the 4th century and was applied to the various Sees of Christendom. It wasn’t till PopeGregory VII(regn A.D. 1073-1085) that the title becamereserved only for the bishop of Rome. Pope Gregory VII decreed that the title be confined only the Roman See. (15) What is the earliest equation ofMatthew 16:18and ’this rock’ with Peter in the Church Fathers? Tertullian of Carthage in A.D. 200 wrote: "Was anything hidden from Peter who was called the rock on which the Church would be built, who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the power of loosing and binding in heaven and on eath?" Prescription Against the Heretics,22(A.D. 200) (16) What was the OT canon of the early Church Fathers? The Septuagint(following the Alexandrian tradition was the OT canon of the early Church. The recognition of the larger Septuagint canon varied from Father to Father. For example St. Athanasius favored a shorter canon wihtout denying the efficacy of the deuterocanonical books; many of the Apostolic Fathers allude to many of the deuterocanonical books while some are silent on the deuterocanonical books in their writings; like St. Athanasius, St. Jerome favored the shorter Palestinian canon without denying the Church’s reccognition of the larger Septuagint canon; and Origen applies the word canon to the shorter OT while in practice cites the deuterocanonical books in his writings. However, when we examine the entire landscape of the writings and faith of the early Church we find a broad and firm witness on behalf of the larger Septuagint canon not the shorter Palestinian canon. If one examines the various testimonies on behalf of the Church; such as, the expressions of faith found in Councils/Synods(Hippo AD 393, Carthage AD 397/419) and Papal pronouncements(Pope Innocent AD 405, Pope Gelasius AD 496) , we find a clear witness on behalf of the Septuagint canon. The Anglican patrisitic scholar JND Kelly writes: "It should be observed that the Old Testament thus admitted as authoritative in the Church was somewhat bulkier and more comprehensive than the twenty-one, or twenty-four, books of the Hebrew Bible of the Palestinian Judaism...It always included, though with varying degrees of recognition, the so-called Apocyrpha, or the deutero-canonical books." (17) Were there any writers in the early Church who embraced a proto-Protestant concept of sola Scriptura? First, no Church Father embraced sola Scriptura. The Church Fathers’ rule of faith embraced Scripture(the larger canon), Tradition, and a teaching Church. The Fathers never pitted Scripture against Apostolic tradition or visa-versa. The Fathers never would interpret Scripture apart of Apostolic Tradition --in fact, many Church Fathers would take to task many of the early heretics for seperating Scripture, Tradition and Church. For every proclamation from the Fathers regarding the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, one will be able to find an equally authoritative testimony on behalf of Tradition and Church. The Fathers freely spoke in this manner to emphasize the subject at hand - be it Scripture, Tradition, or Church. In the end, the Fathers followed the tripartite rule of faith(Scripture, Tradition, and Church. After all, these early writers who embraced the Church’s Scripture and the Church’s Tradition were named the ’CHURCH Fathers’ not the ’private orphans’ of the early Church. However, there were a number of early writers who embraced a sola Scriptura mentality, but these were the heretics of the early Church. See my article on this subject Sola Scripura & Heretics (18) Who is ’Migne’ and what do these references of (PG 39,116) or (PL 45,117) mean? Abbe Migne who died in 1875 compiled the largest and greatest collection of writings of the early Church -- called Patrologiae Cursus Completus. The Greek section, Patrologia Graeca(PG) contains 161 volumes; whereas, the Latin section, Patrologia Latina(PL) contains 217 volumes. Hence PG 39, 116 means the 39th volume page 116. The Migne collection can be found at most Universities and Seminary libraries. The Latin section is available on CD for several thousands of dollars from Chadwyck-Healey CD Migne(PL only). The Migne collection can still be obtained from Brepols Publishing Paper Migne in Belgium for a few thousand dollars. (19) Were there collection of the writings of the Church Fathers in the early Church? Yes. For example: Eubesius includes various citations from early writers in his ’Ecclesiasitical History’. Jerome collected various writings of 135 Christian authors in his ’Lives of Illustrious Men’(A.D. 393); Gennadius of Marseilles(+ AD 494) continued the same effort started by Jerome under the same title; likewise, Isidore of Seville(+ AD 636) continued the same effort of Jerome and Gennadius under the same title; finally, this effort was completed by Ildephnonsus(+ AD 669). The ’Lives of Illustrious Men’ is an invaluable resource to this day, as it provides the only historical source for some Church Fathers. (20) Were there any recorded apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the ancient Church? Probably the most famous is the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Gregory the Wonderworker. Gregory of Nyssa recounts: "While [Gregory] was passing a sleepless night because of these worries, someone appeared to him in human form, aged in appearance, clothed in garments denoting a sacred dignity, with a face characterized by a sense of grace and virtue...For it is said that he heard the one who had appeared in womanly form exhorting John the Evangelist ... John, in his turn, declared that he was completely willing to please the Mother of the Lord..." Gregory of Nyssa,Life of Gregory the Wonderworker (21) Matthew 16:18 and the Church Fathers The Fathers interpretation ofMatthew 16:18is in harmony with the Catholic understanding of this passage. Matthew 16:18 simply talks about the fact that Jesus named Simon the Rock after Simon’s declaration of Christ’s divinity and that he found the Church on Peter. The Fathers are united on this and is the primary sense of the passage. There are extensions to this passage that do not downplay the force of the primary sense such as applying emphasis on Peter’s faith(ie his affirmation of Christ’s deity). Note well, when the Fathers applied this sense they did so to emphasize Christ’s divinity and not to downplay Peter’s authority, as many Protestants and Orthodox do. This is an important distinction, as many critics of the Catholic Church interpret Matthew 16:18 to mean either Peter’s faith or Christ Himself to ’downplay’ the primacy of Peter. The Fathers never drove a wedge between Peter the person and his faith, as to somehow downplay Peter’s primacy. Another extension to Matthew 16:18 is the basis for the authority of Peter’s successors. Again, the Fathers appealed to this sense when the Bishop of Rome’s authority was questioned. If you look at any old Catholic commentary you will find the primary sense as I’ve described above; however, you often do not find it’s extension to Peter’s faith or to Peter’s successor. Any equation of ’this rock’ to Peter, his faith, or Peter’s successors is never separated from Peter the person. There are a few Fathers who interpreted Matthew 16:18 in a unique way; that is, they equated ’this rock’ with Christ Himself. The Fathers often used this sense to emphasize the divine nature of the Church without denying the primacy of St. Peter. Some Fathers applied one or more of the senses described above. For example, St. Augustine equated ’this rock’ with Peter, his faith, Peter’s successors, followers of Christ and Christ Himself. He applied all them without downplaying the authority of St. Peter or his successors. In sum, in the Ante-Nicene Church and the majority of the later Fathers equated ’this rock’ with Peter himself. After the rise of Arianism the Fathers would apply the secondary sense of Matthew 16:18 to support the consubstantiality of the Son and emphasize Peter’s declaration of faith. (22) Is there any evidence of the sign of the cross in the Church Fathers? There is no prayer that is more recognized as Catholicthan the ’sign of the cross.’ Tertullian of Carthage writes, "In all our travels, in our coming in and going out, in putting on our clothes and our shoes, at table, in going to rest, whatever we are doing we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross." Ephraem of Syrus writes, "With the sign of the living cross, seal all thy doings, my son. Go not forth from the door of thy house till thou hast signed the cross. Whether in eating or in drinking, whether in sleeping or in waking, whether in thy house or on the road, or again in the season of leisure, neglect not this sign; for there is no guardian like it. It shall be unto thee as a wall, in the forefront of all thy doings. And teach this to thy children, that heedfully they be conformed to it."(Repentance, 17) Likewise St Augustine matter of factly states, "Thou hearest a man assail a shameless man and say, ’He hath no forehead.’ What is, ’He hath no forehead’? He hath no shame. Let me not have a bare forehead, let the Cross of my Lord cover it."(Psalms 141:4) (23) Did St. Augustine consign infants who were not baptized to hell? Some have concluded that St. Augustine had consigned unbaptized infants in a temporal place/state instead of eternal damnation. However, Augustine had ample opportunity to consign the unbaptized to purgatory, a state which he testified numerous times and according to Augustine, a state that would terminate with the last judgement. Nevertheless, Augustine’s writings regarding the fate of unbaptized infants was in the context of the final judgement, which for Augustine consisted of either eternal death or eternal life! In sum, according to Augustine there is no eternal life outside of heaven, there is no middle state between the right and left at the LAST JUDGEMENT. Hence, to exclude unbaptized infants from the kingdom of God is to consign them to eternal hell. " ’An infant,’ [the Pelagians] say, ’even if he be not baptized, by merit of innocence, since he has no sin at all, neither his own or original sin, contracted neither on his own nor from Adam,--it is necessary,’ they say, ’that he have salvation and ETERNAL life, even if he not be baptized; but for this reason he is to be baptized, so that he may also enter into the kingdom of God,that is, into the kingdom of heaven’...Is there ETERNAL life, then, outside the kingdom of heaven? First, turn your ears away from this error, eradicate it from your minds. This is something new in the Church, previously unheard of: that there is ETERNAL life outside the kingdom of heaven, that there is ETERNAL salvation outside the kingdom of God. First, brother, see whether you ought not perhaps agree with us, that whoever does not belong to the kingdom of God, UNDOUBTEDLY belongs to damnation. The Lord, who will come and who will judge the living and the dead, just as the Gospel says, will make a division in TWO parts, on the right and on the left. To those on the left He will say: "Go into **ETERNAL FIRE** , which was prepared for the Devil and his angels’; and to those on his right He will say: ’Come,blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ To one group He designates a kingdom, to the other, damnation in the company with the Devil. There is NO one left for a middle place, where you may try to place infants. Judgement will be made of the living and of the dead. Some will be on the right hand, others will be on the left had: ANOTHER hand I never knew." Sermon 294 Hence, it is clear St. Augustine consigned unbaptized infants who die to spiritual death, hell, and condemnation. The question at hand is: Is it eternal death/condemnation or a temporal one(via Purgatory). I will let St. Augustine speak: "For we mean by eternal life that life where there is endless happiness. For if the soul live in eternal punishments, by which also those unclean spirits shall be tormented, that is rather ETERNAL DEATH than eternal life. For there is no greater or worse death than when death never dies. But because the soul from its very nature, being created immortal, cannot be without some kind of life, its utmost death is alienation from the life of God in an eternity of punishment." City of God VI:12 "But when he wished to answer with respect, however, to those infants who are prevented by death from being first baptized in Christ, he was so bold as to promise them not only paradise, but also the kingdom of heaven,--finding no way else of avoiding the NECESSITY of saying that God condemns to ETERNAL DEATH innocent souls which, without any previous desert of sin, He introduces into sinful flesh." On the Soul and its Origin, 1:10[ix] "For the fact undoubtedly is, that numberless souls of infants pass out of the body before they are baptized.... That owing to one man all pass into condemnation who are born of Adam unless they are born again in Christ, even as He has appointed them to be regenerated, before they die in the body, whom He predestinated to everlasting life, as the most merciful bestower of grace; whilst to those whom He has predestinated to ETERNAL DEATH , He is also the most righteous awarder of punishment not only on account of the sins which they add in the indulgence of their own will, but also because of their original sin, even if, as in the case of infants, they add nothing thereto. Now this is my definite view on that question, so that the hidden things of God may keep their secret, without impairing my own faith." On the Soul and its Origin, 4:16 "They [ie. the Pelagians], however, who will not say thatany one who has died is judged according to those things which God foreknew that he would have done if he had lived, considering with how manifest a falsehood and how great an absurdity this would be said, have no further reason to say, what the Church condemned in the Pelagians, and caused to be condemned by Pelagius himself,--that the grace of God, namely, is given according to our merits,--when they see some infants not regenerated taken from this life to ETERNAL DEATH, and others regenerated, to eternal life; and those themselves that are regenerated, some going hence, persevering even to the end, and others kept in this life even until they fall, who certainly would not have fallen if they had departed hence before their lapse; and again some falling, but not departing from this life until they return, who certainly would have perished if they had departed before their return." On the Gift of Perseverance, 32 "[T]he fact of his[ie. Pelagius] unwillingness openly to confess that infants incur ETERNAL DEATH who depart this life without the sacrament of baptism. We[ie. African bishops] argued: ’If, as he seems to admit, eternal life can only accrue to them who have been baptized, it follows of course that they who die unbaptized incur EVERLASTING DEATH. This destiny, however, cannot by any means justly befall those who never in this life committed any sins of their own, unless on account of original sin.’" On Original Sin, 2:22[xx] "Certain brethren, however, afterwards failed not to remind us that Pelagius possibly expressed himself in this way, because on this question he is represented as having his answer ready for all inquirers, to this effect: ’As for infants who die unbaptized, I know indeed whither they go not; yet whither they go, I know not;’ that is, I know they do not go into the kingdom of heaven. But as to whither they go, he was (and for the matter of that, still is) in the habit of saying that he knew not, because he dared not say that those went to ETERNAL DEATH, who he was persuaded had never committed sin in this life, and whom he would not admit to have inherited originalsin." On Original Sin,2:23[xxi] Lastly, may I submit the opinions of two of foremost authorities on St Augustine. I asked the following: JG>Did Augustine consign upbatized infants to eternal damnation? In other words, according the Augustine, does Original Sin alone consign one to eternal damnation? What is your position on the above questions? "Augustine infers from the practice of infant baptism that infants must need it, and so comes (in the course of his life ) to accept a strong position on original sin." James O’Donnell, Email to J.Gallegos dated 5/5/99 James O’Donnell earned his Ph.D from Yale University in 1975. He has published numerous articles on St. Augustine and has translated his various works. He maintains the popular Web Site dedicated to St. Augustine. He presently teaches at the University of Pennsylvannia in Classical studies. "I don’t think there is any question about it. Augustine thought that infants who died without baptism were not saved and, hence, entered into eternal condemnation. He may not have thought that they suffered hell fire, and he did say in at least one place that they met with the mildest condemnation. But he is perfectly clear that original sin alone sufficed for eternal condemnation. The teaching of limbo did not arise until later. He did not even knowof baptism of desire. The only alternative to the sacrament of baptism which he saw was martyrdom, such as the Holy Innocents suffered. Tough doctrine, but that’s what he held." Roland Teske, S.J., Email to J. Gallegos dated 5/6/99 Roland J. Teske, S.J. earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1973 and his S.T.L. from St. Louis University in 1966. He has published several books on topics relating to early Church history, including translations of works by William of Auvergne, Augustine and Henry of Ghent. He has recently translated all of St. Augustine’s work on grace for New City Press, finishing with the first English translation of Augustine’s unfinished work against Julian’s Second Reply. He has also published over 50 articles on a variety of topics relating to medieval theological thought and has served on the editorial boards of several journals. Currently, Fr. Teske teaches medieval philosophy at Marquette University. (24) Has the ’race’ of St. Augustine ever been established to any certainty? No. St. Augustine would have most likely been a "Mediterannean medium", as Thagaste consists primarily of Berber people. He was swarthy enough to offend Aryan bigots, but not black to be considered negroid. Augustine preaching to his flock writes: "Thou hast given him for a morsel to the Ethiopian peoples." What is this? How do I understand the Ethiopian peoples? How but by these all nations? And properly by black men: for Ethiopians are black." Psalms, 74:13 (25) Did Irenaeus contrast the Catholic rule of faith consisting of sola scriptura against the Gnostic rule of faith consisting of Scripture and tradition. In other words, is St. Irenaeus critiquing the Catholic rule of faith consisting of Scripture and tradition, for Irenaeus writes: "When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of [Gnostic’s secret] tradition." AH 3,2:1 No. In this passage St. Irenaeus is NOT contrasting Scripture alone versus Scripture+Gnostic tradition, as it seems you are arguing. Instead, St. Irenaeus is contrasting Scripture+Gnostic traditionversus Scripture+Apostolic Tradition -- which is entirely a different matter. For St. Irenaeus, the Gnostic tradition was secret, below board and it did not have the apostles as its origin. In contrast, apostolic tradition was public, above board and was derived from the apostles. Following the above citation from Irenaeus we find Irenaeus extolling the virtues of apostolic tradition in contrast to the secret Gnostic tradition, for he writes: "But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in the Churches, they object to tradition, saying thatthey themselves are wiser not merely than the presbyters, but even than the apostles, because they have discovered the unadulterated truth. For [they maintain] that the apostles intermingled the things of the law with the words of the Saviour; and that not the apostles alone, but even the Lord Himself, spoke as at one time from the Demiurge, at another from the intermediate place, and yet again from the Pleroma, but that they themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, have knowledge of the hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their Creator after a most impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that these men do now consent neither to Scripture nor to tradition." AH 3,2:2 Hence, Irenaeus embraces both -- Scripture and apostolic tradition not scripture alone. In this citation, Irenaeus weaves both Scripture and tradition into his defense against the Gnosticsa single rule of faith: Similarly, Ireneaus upholds the authorities of Scripture and the Church’s faith/tradition : "Those, therefore, who desert the preaching of the Church, call in question the knowledge of the holy presbyters, not taking into consideration of how much greater consequence is a religious man, even in a private station, than a blasphemous and impudent sophist. Now, such are all the heretics, and those who imagine that they have hit upon something more beyond the truth, so that by following those things already mentioned, proceeding on their way variously, in harmoniously, and foolishly, not keeping always to the same opinions with regard to the same things, as blind men are led by the blind, they shall deservedly fall into the ditch of ignorance lying in their path, ever seeking and never finding out the truth. It behooves us, therefore, to avoid their doctrines, and to take careful heed lest we suffer any injury from them; but to flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and benourished with the Lord’s Scriptures." AH 5,20:2 Irenaues contrasts the Apostolic tradition with the Gnostic tradition, as apostolic tradition is authenticated by the faith contained in the principle Sees of Christendom. According to Irenaeus, apostolic tradition is validated by the faith contained in the principle Sees of Christendom which are led by bishops who have succeeded from the apostles themselves. Now I suppose one could experience the faith in all these principle Sees to get a feel for the faith in each of these great cities, but it would take a lots of time and energy. So I ask you what shortcut does S. Irenaeus have in mind to validate true authentic apostolic tradition? Again does he go for the alleged sola scriptura card which would have been the natural thing to do if he affirmed such a novelty or does he go elsewhere? Instead Irenaeus directs everyone instead to a single church: "Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere." AH 3,3:2 (26)Was Peter ever in Rome? "If this evidence for Peter’s martyrdom be not be deemed sufficient, there are few things in the history of the early Church which it will be possible to demonstrate" George Salmon "Infallibility of the Church" (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1959) pp. 348-9 "Some Protestant controversialists have asserted that Peter was never in Rome...I think the historical probability is that he was...Protestant champions had undertaken the impossible task of proving the negative, that Peter was never in Rome. They might as well have undertaken to prove out of the Bible that St. Bartholomew never preached in Pekin...For myself, I am willing, in absence of any opposing tradition, to accept the current account that Peter suffered martyrdom at Rome. If Rome, which early laid claim to have witnessed that martyrdom, were not the scene of it, where then did it take place?Any city would be glad to claim such a connexion with the name of the Apostle, and none but Rome made the claim." ibid. pp. 348-9 "If this evidence for Peter’s martydom be not be deemed sufficient, there are few things in the history of the early Church which it will be possible to demonstrate" ibid. p. 349 "[T]o deny the Roman stay of Peter is an error whicht oday is clear to every scholar who is not blind. The Martyr death of Peter at Rome was once contested byreason of Protestant prejudice." A. Harnack "History of Doctrine" "It is sufficient to let us include the martyrdom of Peter in Rome in our final historical picture of the early Church, as a matter of fact which is relatively though not absolutely assured. We accept it, however facts of antiquity that are universally accepted as historical. Were we to demand for all facts of ancient history a greater degree of probability, we should have to strike from our history books a large portion of their contents." Oscar Cullman "Peter, Disciple, Apostle, Martyr" (London:SCM,1953) p. 114 "That Peter and Paul were the most eminent of many Christians who suffered martyrdom in Rome under Nero is certain..." F.F. Bruce "New Testament History" (New York:Doubleday,1969) p. 410 "It seems certain that Peter spent his closing years in Rome" JND Kelly "The Oxford Dictionary of Popes" (Oxford:OUP, 1986) p. 6 "We certainly do not even have the slightest reference that points to any other place besides Rome which could be considered as the scene of his death. And in favor of Rome, there are important traditions that he did actually die in Rome. In the second and third centuries when certain churches were in rivalry with those in Rome it never occurred to a single one of them to contest the claim of Rome that it was the scene of the martyrdom of Peter." William McBirnie "The Search for the Twelve Apostles" (Wheaton:Tyndale, 1973) p. 64. "The martyrdom of both Peter and Paul in Rome...has often been questioned by Protestant critics, some of whom have contended that Peter was never in Rome. But the archaeological researches of the Protestant Historian Hans Lietzmann, supplemented by the library study of the Protestant exegete Oscar Cullman, have made it extremely difficult to deny the tradition of Peter’s death in Rome under the emperor Nero. The account of Paul’s martyrdom in Rome, which is supported by much of the same evidence, has not called forth similar skepticism." Jaroslav Pelikan, "The Riddle of Catholicism" (New York:Abingdon, 1959) p. 36 "[A]nd quite certain that he[Peter] died there[Rome] a martyr’s death in the persecution under Nero(about AD 65)." Bishop Charles Gore "Roman Catholic Claims" (London:Longmans, 1920) pp. 93-94 ------------------------ "Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter wrote a short gospel at the request of the brethren at Rome embodying what he had heard Peter tell. When Peter had heard this, he approved it and published it to the churches to be read by his authority as Clemens in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes and Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, record. Peter also mentions this Mark in his first epistle, figuratively indicating Rome under the name of Babylon: ’She who is in Babylon elect together with you saluteth you and so doth Mark my son.’ " Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men, 8(AD 393) This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Joseph A. Gallegos © 2002 ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/early-teachings-of-church/ ========================================================================