Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Job 40
There are 37 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 259, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
On Rational Natures. (HTML)
... dust, which is peculiarly the mark of the wicked, as the prophet also says; whence, too, he was called the prince of this world, i.e., of an earthly habitation: for he exercised power over those who were obedient to his wickedness, since “the whole of this world”—for I term this place of earth, world—“lieth in the wicked one,” and in this apostate. That he is an apostate, i.e., a fugitive, even the Lord in the book of Job says, “Thou wilt take with a hook the apostate dragon,” i.e., a fugitive.[Job 40:20] Now it is certain that by the dragon is understood the devil himself. If then they are called opposing powers, and are said to have been once without stain, while spotless purity exists in the essential being of none save the Father, Son, and Holy ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 345, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
On the End of the World. (HTML)
... death, nor any evil at all, then verily God will be “all in all.” But some are of opinion that that perfection and blessedness of rational creatures, or natures, can only remain in that same condition of which we have spoken above, i.e., that all things should possess God, and God should be to them all things, if they are in no degree prevented by their union with a bodily nature. Otherwise they think that the glory of the highest blessedness is impeded by the intermixture of any material substance.[Job 40:19] But this subject we have discussed at greater length, as may be seen in the preceding pages.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 353, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
IV (HTML)
Chapter I., Sections 1-23 translated from the Greek: On the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, and How the Same is to be Read and Understood, and What is the Reason of the Uncertainty in it; and of the Impossibility or Irrationality of Certain Things in it, Taken According to the Letter. (HTML)
... vanquished:” for we of the heathen have been overcome and vanquished, we who have been taken by the grace of His teaching. The place also of His birth has been foretold in (the prophecies of) Micah: “For thou, Bethlehem,” he says, “land of Judah, art by no means the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of thee shall come forth a Ruler, who shall rule My people Israel.” And according to Daniel, seventy weeks were fulfilled until (the coming of) Christ the Ruler. And He came, who, according to Job,[Job 40] has subdued the great fish, and has given power to His true disciples to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy, without sustaining any injury from them. And let one notice also the universal advent of the apostles sent ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 594, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XLIII (HTML)
... himself before God, and asking for power against Job, that he might involve him in trials of the most painful kind; the first of which consisted in the loss of all his goods and of his children, and the second in afflicting the whole body of Job with the so-called disease of elephantiasis. I pass by what might be quoted from the Gospels regarding the devil who tempted the Saviour, that I may not appear to quote in reply to Celsus from more recent writings on this question. In the last (chapter)[Job 40:20] also of Job, in which the Lord utters to Job amid tempest and clouds what is recorded in the book which bears his name, there are not a few things referring to the serpent. I have not yet mentioned the passages in Ezekiel, where he speaks, as it ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 53, footnote 13 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)
Book V. (HTML)
Further Exposition of the Heresy of the Naasseni; Profess to Follow Homer; Acknowledge a Triad of Principles; Their Technical Names of the Triad; Support These on the Authority of Greek Poets; Allegorize Our Saviour's Miracles; The Mystery of the Samothracians; Why the Lord Chose Twelve Disciples; The Name Corybas, Used by Thracians and Phrygians, Explained; Naasseni Profess to Find Their System in Scripture; Their Interpretation of Jacob's Vision; Their Idea of the “Perfect Man;” The “Perfect Man” Called “Papa” By the Phrygians; The Naasseni and Phrygians on the Resurrection; The Ecstasis of St. Paul; The Mysteries of Religion as Alluded to by Christ; Interpretation of the Parable of the Sower; Allegory of the Promised Land (HTML)
And by war he means the war that is in the body, because its frame has been made out of hostile elements; as it has been written, he says, “Remember the conflict that exists in the body.”[Job 40:27] Jacob, he says, saw this entrance and this gate in his journey into Mesopotamia, that is, when from a child he was now becoming a youth and a man; that is, (the entrance and gate) were made known unto him as he journeyed into Mesopotamia. But Mesopotamia, he says, is the current of the great ocean flowing from the midst of the Perfect Man; and he was astonished at the celestial gate, exclaiming, “How ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 401, footnote 3 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Methodius. (HTML)
Some Other Fragments of the Same Methodius. (HTML)
Fragment IV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3181 (In-Text, Margin)
Seest thou how, at the end of the contest, with a loud proclamation he declares the praises of the combatant, and discovers that which was in his afflictions hidden, in the words: “Thinkest thou that I had else answered thee, but that thou shouldest appear just?”[Job 40:3] This is the salve of his wounds, this the reward of his patience. For as to what followed, although he received double his former possessions, these may seem to have been given him by divine providence as small indeed, and for trifling causes, even though to some they may appear great.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 484, footnote 3 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book VIII. Concerning Gifts, and Ordinations, and the Ecclesiastical Canons (HTML)
Sec. II.—Election and Ordination of Bishops: Form of Service on Sundays (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3609 (In-Text, Margin)
VII. Thou, who hast bound the strong man, and spoiled all that was in his house, who hast given us power over serpents and scorpions to tread upon them, and upon all the power of the enemy; who hast delivered the serpent, that murderer of men, bound to us, as a sparrow to children, whom all things dread, and tremble before the face of Thy power;[Job 40:24] who hast cast him down as lightning from heaven to earth, not with a fall from a place, but from honour to dishonour, on account of his voluntary evil disposition; whose look dries the abysses, and threatening melts the mountains, and whose truth remains for ever; whom the infants praise, and sucking babes ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 761, footnote 19 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Remains of the Second and Third Centuries. (HTML)
Melito, the Philosopher. (HTML)
From 'The Key.' (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3675 (In-Text, Margin)
The way of the Lord —the operation of the Deity. As in Job, in speaking of the devil: “He is the beginning of the ways of the Lord.”[Job 40:19]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 306, footnote 2 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
(2) in Time. The Beginning of Creation. (HTML)
Again, there is a beginning in a matter of origin, as might appear in the saying: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.” This meaning, however, appears more plainly in the Book of Job in the passage:[Job 40:19] “This is the beginning of God’s creation, made for His angels to mock at.” One would suppose that the heavens and the earth were made first, of all that was made at the creation of the world. But the second passage suggests a better view, namely, that as many beings were framed with a body, the first made of these was the creature called dragon, but called in another passage the great ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 214, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Augustin passes to the second part of the work, in which the origin, progress, and destinies of the earthly and heavenly cities are discussed.—Speculations regarding the creation of the world. (HTML)
How We are to Understand the Words, ‘The Devil Sinneth from the Beginning.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 483 (In-Text, Margin)
... this one also, “He abode not in the truth,” that he was once in the truth, but did not remain in it. And from this passage, “The devil sinneth from the beginning,” it is not to be supposed that he sinned from the beginning of his created existence, but from the beginning of his sin, when by his pride he had once commenced to sin. There is a passage, too, in the Book of Job, of which the devil is the subject: “This is the beginning of the creation of God, which He made to be a sport to His angels,”[Job 40:14] which agrees with the psalm, where it is said, “There is that dragon which Thou hast made to be a sport therein.” But these passages are not to lead us to suppose that the devil was originally created to be the sport of the angels, but that he was ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 214, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Augustin passes to the second part of the work, in which the origin, progress, and destinies of the earthly and heavenly cities are discussed.—Speculations regarding the creation of the world. (HTML)
That the Flaw of Wickedness is Not Nature, But Contrary to Nature, and Has Its Origin, Not in the Creator, But in the Will. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 485 (In-Text, Margin)
It is with reference to the nature, then, and not to the wickedness of the devil, that we are to understand these words, “This is the beginning of God’s handiwork;”[Job 40:14] for, without doubt, wickedness can be a flaw or vice only where the nature previously was not vitiated. Vice, too, is so contrary to nature, that it cannot but damage it. And therefore departure from God would be no vice, unless in a nature whose property it was to abide with God. So that even the wicked will is a strong proof of the goodness of the nature. But God, as He is the supremely good Creator of good ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 147, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
He Meets Pelagius with Another Passage from Hilary. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1316 (In-Text, Margin)
Now even Job himself is not silent respecting his own sins; and your friend, of course, is justly of opinion that humility must not by any means “be put on the side of falsehood.” Whatever confession, therefore, Job makes, inasmuch as he is a true worshipper of God, he undoubtedly makes it in truth.[Job 40:4] Hilary, likewise, while expounding that passage of the psalm in which it is written, “Thou hast despised all those who turn aside from Thy commandments,” says: “If God were to despise sinners, He would despise indeed all men, because no man is without sin; but it is those who turn away from Him, whom they call apostates, that He despises.” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 196, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons. (HTML)
Homily III. On the Power of Man to Resist the Devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 621 (In-Text, Margin)
... comfort and consolation in knowing that God was bringing these sufferings upon him. This indeed especially troubled and disturbed him, to think that the just God who had in every way been served by him, was at war with him. And he was not able to find any reasonable pretext for what took place, since, when at least he afterwards learned the cause, see what piety he shewed, for when God said to him “Dost thou think that I have had dealings with thee in order that thou mightest appear righteous?”[Job 40:8] conscious-stricken he says “I will lay my hand upon my mouth, once have I spoken but to a second word I will not proceed,” and again “as far as the hearing of the ear I have heard thee before, but now mine eye hath seen thee, wherefore I have held ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 196, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons. (HTML)
Homily III. On the Power of Man to Resist the Devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 622 (In-Text, Margin)
... disturbed him, to think that the just God who had in every way been served by him, was at war with him. And he was not able to find any reasonable pretext for what took place, since, when at least he afterwards learned the cause, see what piety he shewed, for when God said to him “Dost thou think that I have had dealings with thee in order that thou mightest appear righteous?” conscious-stricken he says “I will lay my hand upon my mouth, once have I spoken but to a second word I will not proceed,”[Job 40:4-5] and again “as far as the hearing of the ear I have heard thee before, but now mine eye hath seen thee, wherefore I have held myself to be vile, and am wasted away, and I consider myself to be earth and ashes.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 507, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. (HTML)
Homilies on 2 Timothy. (HTML)
2 Timothy 3:1-4 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1413 (In-Text, Margin)
... presides over human affairs. If all were punished, no one would expect a future resurrection, since all had received their due here. On this account He both punishes, and forbears to punish. On this account the righteous suffer tribulation here, because they are sojourners, and strangers, and are in a foreign country. The just therefore endure these things for the purpose of trial. For hear what God said to Job: “Thinkest thou that I have warned thee otherwise, than that thou mightest appear just?”[Job 40:8] (Job xl. 3, Gr.) But sinners when they endure any affliction suffer but the punishment of their sins. Under all circumstances, therefore, whether afflictive or otherwise, let us give thanks to God. For both are beneficial. He does nothing in hatred ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 253, footnote 2 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)
To the Bishop Irenæus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1627 (In-Text, Margin)
Job, that famous tower of adamant and noble champion of goodness, was not shaken even by blows of continuous troubles of every sort and kind, but stood impregnable and firm. At the end however of all his trials the righteous Law-giver explained the reason of them in the words, “Dost thou think that I answered thee for any other reason than that thou mightest appear just?”[Job 40:3] I think that these words are known to your piety which is able to support the many and various attacks of troubles and anxieties, and so far from shrinking from them, exhibits the strength and stability of your administration. So the bountiful Lord, seeing the bravery and holiness of your soul, has refused to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 197, footnote 1 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Early conflicts with the devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 999 (In-Text, Margin)
... life, and at last the difficulty of virtue and the labour of it; he suggested also the infirmity of the body and the length of the time. In a word he raised in his mind a great dust of debate, wishing to debar him from his settled purpose. But when the enemy saw himself to be too weak for Antony’s determination, and that he rather was conquered by the other’s firmness, overthrown by his great faith and falling through his constant prayers, then at length putting his trust in the weapons which are[Job 40:16] ‘in the navel of his belly’ and boasting in them—for they are his first snare for the young—he attacked the young man, disturbing him by night and harassing him by day, so that even the onlookers saw the struggle which was going on between them. The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 202, footnote 9 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
His address to monks, rendered from Coptic, exhorting them to perseverance, and encouraging them against the wiles of Satan. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1041 (In-Text, Margin)
... are their boasts and professions that they may deceive the godly. But not even then ought we, the faithful, to fear his appearance or give heed to his words. For he is a liar and speaketh of truth never a word. And though speaking words so many and so great in his boldness, without doubt, like a dragon he was drawn with a hook by the Saviour, and as a beast of burden he received the halter round his nostrils, and as a runaway his nostrils were bound with a ring, and his lips bored with an armlet[Job 40:19-24]. And he was bound by the Lord as a sparrow, that we should mock him. And with him are placed the demons his fellows, like serpents and scorpions to be trodden underfoot by us Christians. And the proof of this is that we now live opposed to him. For ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 224, footnote 2 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Circular to Bishops of Egypt and Libya. (Ad Episcopos Ægypti Et Libyæ Epistola Encyclica.) (HTML)
To the Bishops of Egypt. (HTML)
Chapter I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1153 (In-Text, Margin)
... said, ‘My hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there is none that shall escape me or speak against me.’ But when the Lord came upon earth, and the enemy made trial of His human Economy, being unable to deceive the flesh which He had taken upon Him, from that time forth he, who promised himself the occupation of the whole world, is for His sake mocked even by children: that proud one is mocked as a sparrow[Job 40:24]. For now the infant child lays his hand upon the hole of the asp, and laughs at him that deceived Eve; and all that rightly believe in the Lord tread under foot him that said, ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 539, footnote 18 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Festal Letters. (HTML)
(For 341.) Coss. Marcellinus, Probinus; Præf. Longinus; Indict. xiv; Easter-day, xiii Kal. Maii, xxiv Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 57. (HTML)
... philanthropic, He distributes to each a due reward according to his actions, so that every man may exclaim, Righteous is the judgment of God! As the prophet says again, ‘The Lord trieth the just, and discerneth the reins.’ Again, for this cause He tries each one of us, either that to those who know it not, virtue may be manifested by means of those who are proved, as was said respecting Job; ‘Thinkest thou that I was revealed to thee for any other cause, than that thou shouldest be seen righteous[Job 40:8-9]?’ or that, when men come to a sense of their deeds, they may be able to know of what manner they are, and so may either repent of their wickedness, or abide confirmed in the faith. Now the blessed Paul, when troubled by afflictions, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 9, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 104 (In-Text, Margin)
... the threatening billows of the world he is sitting in the safe shelter of his island, that is, of the church’s pale, and it may be that even now, like John, he is being called to eat God’s book; whilst I, still lying in the sepulchre of my sins and bound with the chains of my iniquities, wait for the Lord’s command in the Gospel: “Jerome, come forth.” But Bonosus has done more than this. Like the prophet he has carried his girdle across the Euphrates (for all the devil’s strength is in the loins[Job 40:16]), and has hidden it there in a hole of the rock. Then, afterwards finding it rent, he has sung: “O Lord, thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast broken my bonds in sunder. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” But as for me, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 26, footnote 13 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 413 (In-Text, Margin)
... without wine and dainties, and would find a stricter rule of life unendurable. If so, I can only say: “Live, then, by your own rule, since God’s rule is too hard for you.” Not that the Creator and Lord of all takes pleasure in a rumbling and empty stomach, or in fevered lungs; but that these are indispensable as means to the preservation of chastity. Job was dear to God, perfect and upright before Him; yet hear what he says of the devil: “His strength is in the loins, and his force is in the navel.”[Job 40:16]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 204, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2900 (In-Text, Margin)
... the apostles glory when they suffered reproach for the Lord’s sake? Did not even the Saviour humble Himself, taking the form of a servant and being made obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross, that He might save us by His passion? If Job had not fought the battle and won the victory, he would never have received the crown of righteousness, or have heard the Lord say: “Thinkest thou that I have spoken unto thee for aught else than this, that thou mightest appear righteous.”[Job 40:8] In the gospel those only are said to be blessed who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake. My conscience is at rest, and I know that it is not from any fault of mine that I am suffering; moreover affliction in this world is a ground for ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 267, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Demetrius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3710 (In-Text, Margin)
... through food that the old enemy laid a snare for him, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Under the law, in the seventh month after the blowing of trumpets and on the tenth day of the month, a fast was proclaimed for the whole Jewish people, and that soul was cut off from among his people which on that day preferred self-indulgence to self-denial. In Job it is written of behemoth that “his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.”[Job 40:16] Our foe uses the heat of youthful passion to tempt young men and maidens and “sets on fire the wheel of our birth.” He thus fulfils the words of Hosea, “they are all adulterers, their heart is like an oven;” an oven which only God’s mercy and severe ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 391, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4713 (In-Text, Margin)
... life of man is a warfare upon earth.” Lucifer fell who was sending to all nations, and he who was nurtured in a paradise of delight as one of the twelve precious stones, was wounded and went down to hell from the mount of God. Hence the Saviour says in the Gospel: “I beheld Satan falling as lightning from heaven.” If he fell who stood on so sublime a height, who may not fall? If there are falls in heaven, how much more on earth! And yet though Lucifer be fallen (the old serpent after his fall),[Job 40:16] “his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly. The great trees are overshadowed by him, and he sleepeth beside the reed, the rush, and the sedge.” He is king over all things that are in the waters—that is to say in the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 391, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4713 (In-Text, Margin)
... life of man is a warfare upon earth.” Lucifer fell who was sending to all nations, and he who was nurtured in a paradise of delight as one of the twelve precious stones, was wounded and went down to hell from the mount of God. Hence the Saviour says in the Gospel: “I beheld Satan falling as lightning from heaven.” If he fell who stood on so sublime a height, who may not fall? If there are falls in heaven, how much more on earth! And yet though Lucifer be fallen (the old serpent after his fall),[Job 40:21] “his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly. The great trees are overshadowed by him, and he sleepeth beside the reed, the rush, and the sedge.” He is king over all things that are in the waters—that is to say in the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 17, footnote 1 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 614 (In-Text, Margin)
... He might give to them that are baptized a divine and excellent grace. For since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same, that having been made partakers of His presence in the flesh we might be made partakers also of His Divine grace: thus Jesus was baptized, that thereby we again by our participation might receive both salvation and honour. According to Job, there was in the waters the dragon that draweth up Jordan into his mouth[Job 40:23]. Since, therefore, it was necessary to break the heads of the dragon in pieces, He went down and bound the strong one in the waters, that we might receive power to tread upon serpents and scorpions. The beast was great and terrible. No ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 17, footnote 4 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 617 (In-Text, Margin)
... was baptized, that thereby we again by our participation might receive both salvation and honour. According to Job, there was in the waters the dragon that draweth up Jordan into his mouth. Since, therefore, it was necessary to break the heads of the dragon in pieces, He went down and bound the strong one in the waters, that we might receive power to tread upon serpents and scorpions. The beast was great and terrible. No fishing-vessel was able to carry one scale of his tail[Job 40:26]: destruction ran before him, ravaging all that met him. The Life encountered him, that the mouth of Death might henceforth be stopped, and all we that are saved might say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 48, footnote 9 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
Almighty. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1040 (In-Text, Margin)
... Divine Scripture and the doctrines of the truth know but One God, who rules all things by His power, but endures many things of His will. For He rules even over the idolaters, but endures them of His forbearance: He rules also over the heretics who set Him at nought, but bears with them because of His long-suffering: He rules even over the devil, but bears with him of His long-suffering, not from want of power; as if defeated. For he is the beginning of the Lord’s creation, made to be mocked[Job 40:14], not by Himself, for that were unworthy of Him, but by the Angels whom He hath made. But He suffered him to live, for two purposes, that he might disgrace himself the more in his defeat, and that mankind might be crowned with victory. O all ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 267, footnote 3 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
On the Death of His Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3267 (In-Text, Margin)
... limit of our age, forty-five of these, the average life of man, having been spent in the priesthood, he brought it to a close in a good old age. And in what manner? With the words and forms of prayer, leaving behind no trace of vice, and many recollections of virtue. The reverence felt for him was thus greater than falls to the lot of man, both on the lips and in the hearts of all. Nor is it easy to find anyone who recollects him, and does not, as the Scripture says, lay his hand upon his mouth[Job 40:4] and salute his memory. Such was his life, and such its completion and perfection.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 274, footnote 11 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3328 (In-Text, Margin)
... misfortunes. What then of Him who answered Job out of the whirlwind and cloud, Who is slow to chastise and swift to help, Who suffers not utterly the rod of the wicked to come into the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous should learn iniquity? At the end of the contests He declares the victory of the athlete in a splendid proclamation and lays bare the secret of his calamities, saying: “Thinkest thou that I have dealt with thee for any other purpose than the manifestation of thy righteousness?”[Job 40:3] This is the balm for his wounds, this is the crown of the contest, this the reward for his patience. For perhaps his subsequent prosperity was small, great as it may seem to some, and ordained for the sake of small minds, even though he received ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 30, footnote 14 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XXXVI. One of the duties of fortitude is to keep the weak from receiving injury; another, to check the wrong motions of our own souls; a third, both to disregard humiliations, and to do what is right with an even mind. All these clearly ought to be fulfilled by all Christians, and especially by the clergy. (HTML)
... though living before these two, Job had said: “I delivered the poor out of the hand of the strong, and I aided the fatherless for whom there was no helper. Let the blessing of him that was ready to perish come upon me.” Was not he most brave in that he bore so nobly the attacks of the devil, and overcame him with the powers of his mind? Nor have we cause to doubt the fortitude of him to whom the Lord said: “Gird up thy loins like a man. Put on loftiness and power. Humble every one that doeth wrong.”[Job 40:2] The Apostle also says: “Ye have a strong consolation.” He, then, is brave who finds consolation in any grief.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 30, footnote 14 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XXXVI. One of the duties of fortitude is to keep the weak from receiving injury; another, to check the wrong motions of our own souls; a third, both to disregard humiliations, and to do what is right with an even mind. All these clearly ought to be fulfilled by all Christians, and especially by the clergy. (HTML)
... though living before these two, Job had said: “I delivered the poor out of the hand of the strong, and I aided the fatherless for whom there was no helper. Let the blessing of him that was ready to perish come upon me.” Was not he most brave in that he bore so nobly the attacks of the devil, and overcame him with the powers of his mind? Nor have we cause to doubt the fortitude of him to whom the Lord said: “Gird up thy loins like a man. Put on loftiness and power. Humble every one that doeth wrong.”[Job 40:5-6] The Apostle also says: “Ye have a strong consolation.” He, then, is brave who finds consolation in any grief.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 212, footnote 4 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter X. Christ's eternity being proved from the Apostle's teaching, St. Ambrose admonishes us that the Divine Generation is not to be thought of after the fashion of human procreation, nor to be too curiously pried into. With the difficulties thence arising he refuses to deal, saying that whatsoever terms, taken from our knowledge of body, are used in speaking of this Divine Generation, must be understood with a spiritual meaning. (HTML)
65. Do thou, then (like the angels), cover thy face with thy hands,[Job 40:4] for it is not given thee to look into surpassing mysteries! We are suffered to know that the Son is begotten, not to dispute upon the manner of His begetting. I cannot deny the one; the other I fear to search into, for if Paul says that the words which he heard when caught up into the third heaven might not be uttered, how can we explain the secret of this generation from and of the Father, which we can neither hear nor attain to with our understanding?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 340, footnote 3 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference V. Conference of Abbot Serapion. On the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Chapter IV. A review of the passions of gluttony and fornication and their remedies. (HTML)
... first Adam could not have fallen a victim to gluttony unless he had had material food at hand, and had used it wrongly, nor could the second Adam be tempted without the enticement of some object, when it was said to Him: “If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” And it is clear to everybody that fornication also is only completed by a bodily act, as God says of this spirit to the blessed Job: “And his force is in his loins, and his strength in the navel of his belly.”[Job 40:16] And so these two faults in particular, which are carried into effect by the aid of the flesh, especially require bodily abstinence as well as spiritual care of the soul; since the determination of the mind is not in itself enough to resist their ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 357, footnote 6 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VI. Conference of Abbot Theodore. On the Death of the Saints. (HTML)
Chapter XI. Of the two kinds of trials, which come upon us in a three-fold way. (HTML)
... people in Deuteronomy by Moses: “And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep His Commandments or no:” and this which we find in the Psalms: “I proved thee at the waters of strife.” To Job also: “Thinkest thou that I have spoken for any other cause than that thou mightest be seen to be righteous?”[Job 40:3] But for improvement, when God chastens his righteous ones for some small and venial sins, or to raise them to a higher state of purity, and delivers them over to various trials, that He may purge away all their unclean thoughts, and, to use the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 374, footnote 3 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of Monks. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 947 (In-Text, Margin)
... into whom a little of Satan enters, is altogether darkened. Hear that which the Apostle said:— If Satan is transfigured to an angel of light, it is no wonder if his ministers also are transfigured to ministers of righteousness. And again our Lord said to His disciples:— Lo, I have given you authority to tread upon the power of the adversary. And the Scriptures have made known that he has power and also ministers. Moreover Job said concerning him:— God made him to wage his war.[Job 40:14] These ministers then that he has, he causes to run in the world, to wage war. But be sure that he will not fight openly; because from the time of the coming of our Saviour, (God) has given authority over him. But he will surely plunder and steal.