Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Proverbs 8

There are 166 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 7 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Tarsians (HTML)

Chapter VI.—Continuation. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1197 (In-Text, Margin)

Nor is He a mere man, by whom and in whom all things were made; for “all things were made by Him.” “When He made the heaven, I was present with Him; and I was there with Him, forming [the world along with Him], and He rejoiced in me daily.”[Proverbs 8:27] And how could a mere man be addressed in such words as these: “Sit Thou at My right hand?” And how, again, could such an one declare: “Before Abraham was, I am?” And, “Glorify Me with Thy glory which I had before the world was?” What man could ever say, “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me?” And of what man could it be said, “He ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 7 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Tarsians (HTML)

Chapter VI.—Continuation. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1197 (In-Text, Margin)

Nor is He a mere man, by whom and in whom all things were made; for “all things were made by Him.” “When He made the heaven, I was present with Him; and I was there with Him, forming [the world along with Him], and He rejoiced in me daily.”[Proverbs 8:30] And how could a mere man be addressed in such words as these: “Sit Thou at My right hand?” And how, again, could such an one declare: “Before Abraham was, I am?” And, “Glorify Me with Thy glory which I had before the world was?” What man could ever say, “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me?” And of what man could it be said, “He ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 15 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Tarsians (HTML)

Chapter VI.—Continuation. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1205 (In-Text, Margin)

... made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not?” How could such a one be a mere man, receiving the beginning of His existence from Mary, and not rather God the Word, and the only-begotten Son? For “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And in another place, “The Lord created Me, the beginning of His ways, for His ways, for His works. Before the world did He found Me, and before all the hills did He beget Me.”[Proverbs 8:22-23]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 15 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Tarsians (HTML)

Chapter VI.—Continuation. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1205 (In-Text, Margin)

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 122, footnote 7 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to Mary at Neapolis (HTML)

Chapter III.—He had complied with her request. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1381 (In-Text, Margin)

... numerous quotations of Scripture passages exceedingly delighted me, which, when I had read, I had no longer a single doubtful thought respecting the matter. For I did not hold that those things were simply to be glanced over by my eyes, of which I had received from thee such an incontrovertible demonstration. May I be in place of thy soul, because thou lovest Jesus, the Son of the living God. Wherefore also He Himself says to thee, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me shall find peace.”[Proverbs 8:17]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 228, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Justin Martyr (HTML)

Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)

Chapter LXI—Wisdom is begotten of the Father, as fire from fire. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2172 (In-Text, Margin)

... all times I delighted in His countenance, because He delighted in the finishing of the habitable world, and delighted in the sons of men. Now, therefore, O son, hear me. Blessed is the man who shall listen to me, and the mortal who shall keep my ways, watching daily at my doors, observing the posts of my ingoings. For my outgoings are the outgoings of life, and [my] will has been prepared by the Lord. But they who sin against me, trespass against their own souls; and they who hate me love death.’[Proverbs 8:21]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 237, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Justin Martyr (HTML)

Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)

Chapter LXXVI.—From other passages the same majesty and government of Christ are proved. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2241 (In-Text, Margin)

... prophets declared obscurely that Christ would suffer, and thereafter be Lord of all, yet that [declaration] could not be understood by any man until He Himself persuaded the apostles that such statements were expressly related in the Scriptures. For He exclaimed before His crucifixion: ‘The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the Scribes and Pharisees, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ And David predicted that He would be born from the womb before sun and moon,[Proverbs 8:27] according to the Father’s will, and made Him known, being Christ, as God strong and to be worshipped.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 264, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Justin Martyr (HTML)

Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)

Chapter CXXIX.—That is confirmed from other passages of Scripture. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2457 (In-Text, Margin)

... to affix on them, who are able neither to tell nor to understand the truth. And it is written in the book of Wisdom: ‘If I should tell you daily events, I would be mindful to enumerate them from the beginning. The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He formed the earth, and before He made the depths, and before the springs of waters came forth, before the mountains were settled; He begets me before all the hills.’ ”[Proverbs 8:22] When I repeated these words, I added: “You perceive, my hearers, if you bestow attention, that the Scripture has declared that this Offspring was begotten by the Father before all things created; and that which is begotten is numerically distinct ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 488, footnote 10 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XX.—That one God formed all things in the world, by means of the Word and the Holy Spirit: and that although He is to us in this life invisible and incomprehensible, nevertheless He is not unknown; inasmuch as His works do declare Him, and His Word has shown that in many modes He may be seen and known. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4073 (In-Text, Margin)

... declares by Solomon: “God by Wisdom founded the earth, and by understanding hath He established the heaven. By His knowledge the depths burst forth, and the clouds dropped down the dew.” And again: “The Lord created me the beginning of His ways in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth.”[Proverbs 8:22-25] And again: “When He prepared the heaven, I was with Him, and when He established the fountains of the deep; when He made the foundations of the earth strong, I was with Him preparing [them]. I was He in whom He rejoiced, and throughout all time I ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 488, footnote 11 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XX.—That one God formed all things in the world, by means of the Word and the Holy Spirit: and that although He is to us in this life invisible and incomprehensible, nevertheless He is not unknown; inasmuch as His works do declare Him, and His Word has shown that in many modes He may be seen and known. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4074 (In-Text, Margin)

... and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth.” And again: “When He prepared the heaven, I was with Him, and when He established the fountains of the deep; when He made the foundations of the earth strong, I was with Him preparing [them]. I was He in whom He rejoiced, and throughout all time I was daily glad before His face, when He rejoiced at the completion of the world, and was delighted in the sons of men.”[Proverbs 8:27-31]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 552, footnote 4 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)

Chapter XXIV.—Of the constant falsehood of the devil, and of the powers and governments of the world, which we ought to obey, inasmuch as they are appointed of God, not of the devil. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4656 (In-Text, Margin)

1. As therefore the devil lied at the beginning, so did he also in the end, when he said, “All these are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give them.” For it is not he who has appointed the kingdoms of this world, but God; for “the heart of the king is in the hand of God.” And the Word also says by Solomon, “By me kings do reign, and princes administer justice. By me chiefs are raised up, and by me kings rule the earth.”[Proverbs 8:15] Paul the apostle also says upon this same subject: “Be ye subject to all the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: now those which are have been ordained of God.” And again, in reference to them he says, “For he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 98, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Theophilus (HTML)

Theophilus to Autolycus (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Chapter X.—The World Created by God Through the Word. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 568 (In-Text, Margin)

... 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.”[Proverbs 8:27] 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.” First he named the “beginning,” and “creation,” then he thus introduced God; for ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 133, footnote 9 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Athenagoras (HTML)

A Plea for the Christians (HTML)

Chapter X.—The Christians Worship the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 729 (In-Text, Margin)

... mind [νοῦς], had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos [λογικός]); but inasmuch as He came forth to be the idea and energizing power of all material things, which lay like a nature without attributes, and an inactive earth, the grosser particles being mixed up with the lighter. The prophetic Spirit also agrees with our statements. “The Lord,” it says, “made me, the beginning of His ways to His works.”[Proverbs 8:22] The Holy Spirit Himself also, which operates in the prophets, we assert to be an effluence of God, flowing from Him, and returning back again like a beam of the sun. Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 194, footnote 16 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

Exhortation to the Heathen (HTML)

Chapter VIII.—The True Doctrine is to Be Sought in the Prophets. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 945 (In-Text, Margin)

... only-begotten Son of God is, seeing He is called by many different names, according to the circumstances and views of individuals. For He is termed Wisdom, according to the expression of Solomon: “The Lord created me—the beginning of His ways, and among His works, before He made any other thing; He founded me before the ages. In the beginning, before He formed the earth, before He brought forth the fountains of waters, before the mountains were made strong, before all the hills, He brought me forth.”[Proverbs 8:22-25] He is also styled First-born, as the apostle has declared: “who is the first-born of every creature.” The first-born, however, is not by nature a different person from the Wisdom, but one and the same. Finally, the Apostle Paul says that “Christ ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 485, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

Chapter LIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3601 (In-Text, Margin)

... they may recover freedom of thought, and be ennobled by the word. And those amongst us who are the ambassadors of Christianity sufficiently declare that they are debtors to Greeks and Barbarians, to wise men and fools, (for they do not deny their obligation to cure the souls even of foolish persons,) in order that as far as possible they may lay aside their ignorance, and endeavour to obtain greater prudence, by listening also to the words of Solomon: “Oh, ye fools, be of an understanding heart,”[Proverbs 8:5] and “Who is the most simple among you, let him turn unto me;” and wisdom exhorts those who are devoid of understanding in the words, “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mixed for you. Forsake folly that ye may live, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 77, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)

Book VI. (HTML)

Simon's Interpretation of the Mosaic Hexaëmeron; His Allegorical Representation of Paradise. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 625 (In-Text, Margin)

... 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 of Mind and Intelligence, that is, Heaven and Earth, and of the seventh power, (I mean) the indefinite one. For these three powers are produced antecedent to all the rest. But when they say, “He begot me prior to all the Ages,”[Proverbs 8:22-24] such statements, he says, are alleged to hold good concerning the seventh power. Now this seventh power, which was a power existing in the indefinite power, which was produced prior to all the Ages, this is, he says, the seventh power, respecting ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 86, footnote 7 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)

Book VI. (HTML)

The Tenet of the Duad Made the Foundation of Valentinus' System of the Emanation of Æons. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 682 (In-Text, Margin)

... all the twenty-eight Æons, being a female, and called Sophia, observed the multitude and power of the begetting Æons, and hurried back into the depth of the Father. And she perceived that all the rest of the Æons, as being begotten, generate by conjugal intercourse. The Father, on the other hand, alone, without copulation, has produced (an offspring). She wished to emulate the Father, and to produce (offspring) of herself without a marital partner, that she might achieve a work in no wise inferior[Proverbs 8] to (that of) the Father. (Sophia, however,) was ignorant that the Unbegotten One, being an originating principle of the universe, as well as root and depth and abyss, alone possesses the power of self-generation. But Sophia, being begotten, and born ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 224, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)

Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)

Against the Heresy of One Noetus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1611 (In-Text, Margin)

... consequently the Father suffered, for He was the Father Himself.” 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.”[Proverbs 8] You see, then, he says, that this is God, who is the only One, and who afterwards did show Himself, and conversed with men.” And in another place he says, “Egypt hath laboured; and the merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 515, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)

That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 3930 (In-Text, Margin)

... He made the countries, and the uninhabitable places, and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him; and when He set apart His seat. When He made the strong clouds above the winds, and when He placed the strengthened fountains under heaven, when He made the mighty foundations of the earth, I was by His side, ordering them: I was He in whom He delighted: moreover, I daily rejoiced before His face in all time, when He rejoiced in the perfected earth.”[Proverbs 8:22-31] Also in the same in Ecclesiasticus: “I went forth out of the mouth of the Most High, first-born before every creature: I made the unwearying light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the whole earth with a cloud: I dwelt in the high places, and my ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 92, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Dionysius. (HTML)

Extant Fragments. (HTML)

Containing Various Sections of the Works. (HTML)

Epistle to Dionysius Bishop of Rome. (HTML)

From the First Book. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 724 (In-Text, Margin)

... for such is not really the state of the case, the day begins with the beginning of the sun, and ends with its ending. But God is the eternal Light, which has neither had a beginning, nor shall ever fail. Therefore the eternal brightness shines forth before Him, and co-exists with Him, in that, existing without a beginning, and always begotten, He always shines before Him; and He is that Wisdom which says, “I was that wherein He delighted, and I was daily His delight before His face at all times.”[Proverbs 8:30]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 93, footnote 9 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Dionysius. (HTML)

Extant Fragments. (HTML)

Containing Various Sections of the Works. (HTML)

Epistle to Dionysius Bishop of Rome. (HTML)

From the Same Second Book. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 737 (In-Text, Margin)

12. In the beginning was the Word. But that was not the Word which produced the Word. For “the Word was with God.” The Lord is Wisdom; it was not therefore Wisdom that produced Wisdom; for “I was that” says He, “wherein He delighted.”[Proverbs 8:30] Christ is truth; but “blessed,” says He, “is the God of truth.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 293, footnote 8 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Alexander of Alexandria. (HTML)

Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

To Alexander, Bishop of the City of Constantinople. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2420 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father. But He is the Father, since the Son is always with Him, on account of whom He is called the Father. Wherefore, since the Son is always with Him, the Father is always perfect, being destitute of nothing as regards good; who, not in time, nor after an interval, nor from things which are not, hath begotten His only-begotten Son. How, then, is it not impious to say, that the wisdom of God once was not which speaks thus concerning itself: “I was with Him forming all things; I was His delight;”[Proverbs 8:30] or that the power of God once did not exist; or that His Word was at any time mutilated; or that other things were ever wanting from which the Son is known and the Father expressed? For he who denies that the brightness of the glory existed, takes ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 381, footnote 4 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

Fragments. (HTML)

Extracts from the Work on Things Created. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2972 (In-Text, Margin)

VIII. The saint says that the Book of Job is by Moses. He says, concerning the words, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” that one will not err who says that the “Beginning” is Wisdom. For Wisdom is said by one of the Divine band to speak in this manner concerning herself: “The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His works: of old He laid my foundation.”[Proverbs 8:22] It was fitting and more seemly that all things which came into existence, should be more recent than Wisdom, since they existed through her. Now consider whether the saying: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God;” —whether ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 384, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3000 (In-Text, Margin)

... greatest ardour and exultation, and alacrity of heart, together with the keenest sagacity of thine intelligence, and therewith approach Bethlehem the renowned, and place before thy mind an image clear and distinct, comparing the prophecy with the actual issue of events. Thou wilt not stand in need of many words to come to a knowledge of the matter; only fix thine eyes on the things which are taking place there. “All things truly are plain to them that understand, and right to them that find knowledge.”[Proverbs 8:9] For, behold, as a throne high and lifted up by the glory of Him that fashioned it, the virgin-mother is there made ready, and that most evidently for the King, the Lord of hosts. Upon this, consider the Lord now coming unto thee in sinful flesh. ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 105, footnote 4 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)

Chap. VI.—Almighty God begat his Son; and the testimonies of the Sibyls and of Trismegistus concerning Him (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 520 (In-Text, Margin)

Assuredly He is the very Son of God, who by that most wise King Solomon, full of divine inspiration, spake these things which we have added:[Proverbs 8:22-31], “God founded me in the beginning of His ways, in His work before the ages. He set me up in the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He established the depths, before the fountains of waters came forth: the Lord begat me before all the hills; He made the regions, and the uninhabitable boundaries under the heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was by Him: and when He separated His own seat, when He made the strong ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 344, footnote 4 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Victorinus (HTML)

Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John (HTML)

From the first chapter (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2245 (In-Text, Margin)

13. “As it were the Son of man walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks.”] He says, in the midst of the churches, as it is said in Solomon, “I will walk in the midst of the paths of the just,”[Proverbs 8:20] whose antiquity is immortality, and the fountain of majesty.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 365, footnote 4 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Dionysius (HTML)

Against the Sabellians (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2345 (In-Text, Margin)

... absurd. But why should I discourse at greater length to you about these matters, since ye are men filled with the Spirit, and especially understanding what absurd results follow from the opinion which asserts that the Son was made? The leaders of this view seem to me to have given very little heed to these things, and for that reason to have strayed absolutely, by explaining the passage otherwise than as the divine and prophetic Scripture demands. “The Lord created me the beginning of His ways.”[Proverbs 8:22] For, as ye know, there is more than one signification of the word “created;” and in this place “created” is the same as “set over” the works made by Himself—made, I say, by the Son Himself. But this “created” is not to be understood in the same ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 365, footnote 8 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Dionysius (HTML)

Against the Sabellians (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2349 (In-Text, Margin)

... not to be understood in the same manner as “made.” For to make and to create are different from one another. “Is not He Himself thy Father, that hath possessed thee and created thee?” says Moses in the great song of Deuteronomy. And thus might any one reasonably convict these men. Oh reckless and rash men! was then “the first-born of every creature” something made?—“He who was begotten from the womb before the morning star?” —He who in the person of Wisdom says, “Before all the hills He begot me?”[Proverbs 8:25] Finally, any one may read in many parts of the divine utterances that the Son is said to have been begotten, but never that He was made. From which considerations, they who dare to say that His divine and inexplicable generation was a creation, are ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 448, footnote 15 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book V (HTML)

Sec. III.—On Feast Days and Fast Days (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3143 (In-Text, Margin)

... darts are sharpened, O Thou that art mighty; the people shall fall under Thee in the heart of the king’s enemies. Wherefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” Concerning Him also spake Solomon, as in His person: “The Lord created me the beginning of His ways, for His works: before the world He founded me, in the beginning before He made the earth, before the fountains of waters came, before the mountains were fastened; He begat me before all the hills.”[Proverbs 8:22-25] And again: “Wisdom built herself an house.” Concerning Him also Isaiah said: “A Branch shall come out of the root of Jesse, and a Flower shall spring out of his root.” And, “There shall be a root of Jesse; and He that is to rise to reign over the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 474, footnote 2 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VII. Concerning the Christian Life, and the Eucharist, and the Initiation into Christ (HTML)

Sec. II.—On the Formation of the Character of Believers, and on Giving of Thanks to God (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3494 (In-Text, Margin)

XXXVI. O Lord Almighty Thou hast created the world by Christ, and hast appointed the Sabbath in memory thereof, because that on that day Thou hast made us rest from our works, for the meditation upon Thy laws. Thou hast also appointed festivals for the rejoicing of our souls, that we might come into the remembrance of that wisdom which was created by Thee; how He submitted to be made of a woman on our account;[Proverbs 8:22] He appeared in life, and demonstrated Himself in His baptism; how He that appeared is both God and man; He suffered for us by Thy permission, and died, and rose again by Thy power: on which account we solemnly assemble to celebrate the feast of the resurrection on the Lord’s day, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 21, footnote 4 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. (HTML)

The Testament of Judah Concerning Fortitude, and Love of Money, and Fornication. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 119 (In-Text, Margin)

24. And after these things shall a Star arise to you from Jacob in peace, and a Man shall rise from my seed, like the Sun of righteousness, walking with the sons of men[Proverbs 8:31] in meekness and righteousness, and no sin shall be found in Him. And the heavens shall be opened above Him, to shed forth the blessing of the Spirit from the Holy Father; and He shall shed forth a spirit of grace upon you, and ye shall be unto Him sons in truth, and ye shall walk in His commandments, the first and the last. This is the Branch of God Most High, and this the Well-spring unto life for all flesh. ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 315, footnote 6 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)

Homily XVI. (HTML)

Peter's Explanation of the Passage. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1291 (In-Text, Margin)

And Peter answered: “One is He who said to His Wisdom, ‘Let us make a man.’ But His Wisdom was that with which He Himself always rejoiced[Proverbs 8:30] as with His own spirit. It is united as soul to God, but it is extended by Him, as hand, fashioning the universe. On this account, also, one man was made, and from him went forth also the female. And being a unity generically, it is yet a duality, for by expansion and contraction the unity is thought to be a duality. So that I act rightly in offering up all the honour to one God as to parents.” And Simon said: “What then? Even ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 303, footnote 4 (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)

Jesus is All Good Things; Hence the Gospel is Manifold. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4504 (In-Text, Margin)

... way which leads to the truth. And all these things our Saviour teaches that He is, when He says: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Ah, is not that good, to shake off earth and mortality, and to rise again, obtaining this boon from the Lord, since He is the resurrection, as He says: “I am the resurrection.” But the door also is a good, through which one enters into the highest blessedness. Now Christ says: “I am the door.” And what need is there to speak of wisdom, which “the Lord created[Proverbs 8:22] the first principle of His ways, for His works,” in whom the father of her rejoiced, delighting in her manifold intellectual beauty, seen by the eyes of the mind alone, and provoking him to love who discerns her divine and heavenly charm? A good ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 307, footnote 8 (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)

The Word Was in the Beginning, I.e., in Wisdom, Which Contained All Things in Idea, Before They Existed. Christ's Character as Wisdom is Prior to His Other Characters. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4545 (In-Text, Margin)

... meaning connected with an origin serve our purpose. One might, however, think of the sense in which it points to the author, to that which brings about the effect, if, as we read, “God commanded and they were created.” For Christ is, in a manner, the demiurge, to whom the Father says, “Let there be light,” and “Let there be a firmament.” But Christ is demiurge as a beginning (arche), inasmuch as He is wisdom. It is in virtue of His being wisdom that He is called arche. For Wisdom says in Solomon:[Proverbs 8:22] “God created me the beginning of His ways, for His works,” so that the Word might be in an arche, namely, in wisdom. Considered in relation to the structure of contemplation and thoughts about the whole of things, it is regarded as wisdom; but in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 317, footnote 7 (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)

Christ as Wisdom and Sanctification and Redemption. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4633 (In-Text, Margin)

... however, pass over in silence that He is of right the wisdom of God, and hence is called by that name. For the wisdom of the God and Father of all things does not apprehend His substance in mere visions, like the phantasms of human thoughts. Whoever is able to conceive a bodiless existence of manifold speculations which extend to the rationale of existing things, living and, as it were, ensouled, he will see how well the Wisdom of God which is above every creature speaks of herself, when she says:[Proverbs 8:22] “God created me the beginning of His ways, for His works.” By this creating act the whole creation was enabled to exist, not being unreceptive of that divine wisdom according to which it was brought into being; for God, according to the prophet ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 413, footnote 2 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

From the Second Book of the Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5155 (In-Text, Margin)

“ 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.[Proverbs 8:8-9] 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. And likewise he becomes a third peacemaker as he demonstrates that that which appears to others to be a conflict in the Scriptures is no conflict, and exhibits their concord and peace, whether ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 114, footnote 13 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ. (HTML)

What He Found in the Sacred Books Which are Not to Be Found in Plato. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 574 (In-Text, Margin)

... his members? For Thou art righteous, O Lord, but we have sinned and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and Thy hand is grown heavy upon us, and we are justly delivered over unto that ancient sinner, the governor of death; for he induced our will to be like his will, whereby he remained not in Thy truth. What shall “wretched man” do? “Who shall deliver him from the body of this death,” but Thy grace only, “through Jesus ‘Christ our Lord,’” whom Thou hast begotten co-eternal, and createdst[Proverbs 8:22] in the begin ning of Thy ways, in whom the Prince of this world found nothing worthy of death, yet killed he Him, and the handwriting which was contrary to us was blotted out? This those writings contain not. Those pages contain not the expression ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 114, footnote 13 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ. (HTML)

What He Found in the Sacred Books Which are Not to Be Found in Plato. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 574 (In-Text, Margin)

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 101, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of fate, freewill, and God’s prescience, and of the source of the virtues of the ancient Romans. (HTML)

Concerning the Difference Between True Glory and the Desire of Domination. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 223 (In-Text, Margin)

... thought there was nothing manly to be dreaded in him, and such his cruelty, that, had not the contrary been known, no one would have thought there was anything effeminate in his character. Nevertheless power and domination are not given even to such men save by the providence of the most high God, when He judges that the state of human affairs is worthy of such lords. The divine utterance is clear on this matter; for the Wisdom of God thus speaks: “By me kings reign, and tyrants possess the land.”[Proverbs 8:15] But, that it may not be thought that by “tyrants” is meant, not wicked and impious kings, but brave men, in accordance with the ancient use of the word, as when Virgil says,

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 206, footnote 6 (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 World is Neither Without Beginning, Nor Yet Created by a New Decree of God, by Which He Afterwards Willed What He Had Not Before Willed. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 454 (In-Text, Margin)

... world is the greatest; of all invisible, the greatest is God. But, that the world is, we see; that God is, we believe. That God made the world, we can believe from no one more safely than from God Himself. But where have we heard Him? Nowhere more distinctly than in the Holy Scriptures, where His prophet said, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Was the prophet present when God made the heavens and the earth? No; but the wisdom of God, by whom all things were made, was there,[Proverbs 8:27] and wisdom insinuates itself into holy souls, and makes them the friends of God and His prophets, and noiselessly informs them of His works. They are taught also by the angels of God, who always behold the face of the Father, and announce His will ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 532, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

On Christian Doctrine (HTML)

Containing a General View of the Subjects Treated in Holy Scripture (HTML)

Christ the First Way to God. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1751 (In-Text, Margin)

... Himself the Truth and the Word, by whom all things were made, had been made flesh that He might dwell among us, the apostle yet says: “Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more.” For Christ, desiring not only to give the possession to those who had completed the journey, but also to be Himself the way to those who were just setting out, determined to take a fleshly body. Whence also that expression, “The Lord created me in the beginning of His way,”[Proverbs 8:22] that is, that those who wished to come might begin their journey in Him. The apostle, therefore, although still on the way, and following after God who called him to the reward of His heavenly calling, yet forgetting those things which were behind, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 31, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)

In What Manner the Son is Said Not to Know the Day and the Hour Which the Father Knows. Some Things Said of Christ According to the Form of God, Other Things According to the Form of a Servant. In What Way It is of Christ to Give the Kingdom, in What Not of Christ. Christ Will Both Judge and Not Judge. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 144 (In-Text, Margin)

24. According to the form of God, it is said “Before all the hills He begat me,”[Proverbs 8:25] that is, before all the loftinesses of things created and, “Before the dawn I begat Thee,” that is, before all times and temporal things: but according to the form of a servant, it is said, “The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways.” Because, according to the form of God, He said, “I am the truth;” and according to the form of a servant, “I am the way.” For, because He Himself, being the first-begotten of the dead, made a passage to the kingdom of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 31, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)

In What Manner the Son is Said Not to Know the Day and the Hour Which the Father Knows. Some Things Said of Christ According to the Form of God, Other Things According to the Form of a Servant. In What Way It is of Christ to Give the Kingdom, in What Not of Christ. Christ Will Both Judge and Not Judge. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 146 (In-Text, Margin)

24. According to the form of God, it is said “Before all the hills He begat me,” that is, before all the loftinesses of things created and, “Before the dawn I begat Thee,” that is, before all times and temporal things: but according to the form of a servant, it is said, “The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways.”[Proverbs 8:22] Because, according to the form of God, He said, “I am the truth;” and according to the form of a servant, “I am the way.” For, because He Himself, being the first-begotten of the dead, made a passage to the kingdom of God to life eternal for His Church, to which He is so the Head as to make the body also immortal, therefore He was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 324, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

A Treatise on Faith and the Creed. (HTML)

Of the Son of God as Neither Made by the Father Nor Less Than the Father, and of His Incarnation. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1549 (In-Text, Margin)

6. But as “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” the same Wisdom which was begotten of God condescended also to be created among men. There is a reference to this in the word, “The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways.”[Proverbs 8:22] For the beginning of His ways is the Head of the Church, which is Christ endued with human nature (homine indutus), by whom it was purposed that there should be given to us a pattern of living, that is, a sure way by which we might reach God. For by no other path was it possible for us to return but by humility, who fell by pride, according as it was said to our first ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 358, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans. (HTML)

From God Also is the Very Power to Be Hurtful. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1116 (In-Text, Margin)

Likewise because the power even of those that are hurtful is from God alone, thus it stands written, Wisdom speaking: "Through me kings reign and tyrants hold the land through me."[Proverbs 8:15] The apostle also says: "For there is no power but of God." But that it is worthily done is written in the book of Job: "Who maketh to reign a man that is a hypocrite, on account of the perversity of the people." And concerning the people of Israel God says: "I gave them a king in my wrath." For it is not unrighteous, that the wicked receiving the power of being hurtful, both the patience of the good should ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 56, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

All Will is Either Good, and Then It Loves Righteousness, or Evil, When It Does Not Love Righteousness. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 572 (In-Text, Margin)

... love it at all, it is not good. And who can hesitate to affirm that, when the will loves not righteousness in any way at all, it is not only a bad, but even a wholly depraved will? Since therefore the will is either good or bad, and since of course we have not the bad will from God, it remains that we have of God a good will; else, I am ignorant, since our justification is from it, in what other gift from Him we ought to rejoice. Hence, I suppose, it is written, “The will is prepared of the Lord;”[Proverbs 8:35] and in the Psalms, “The steps of a man will be rightly ordered by the Lord, and His way will be the choice of his will;” and that which the apostle says, “For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of His own good pleasure.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 388, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Julian’s Fourth Objection, that Man is God’s Work, and is Not Constrained to Evil or Good by His Power. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2602 (In-Text, Margin)

... a sinner from men. And that no one is forced by God’s power unwillingly either into evil or good, but that when God forsakes a man, he deservedly goes to evil, and that when God assists, without deserving he is converted to good. For a man is not good if he is unwilling, but by the grace of God he is even assisted to the point of being willing; because it is not vainly written, “For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure,” and, “The will is prepared by God.”[Proverbs 8:35]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 400, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

God’s Agency is Needful Even in Man’s Doings. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2662 (In-Text, Margin)

... is said, “It is man’s part to prepare his heart, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord;” so also is it said, “Open thy mouth, and I will fill it.” For although, save by His assistance without whom we can do nothing, we cannot open our mouth, yet we open it by His aid and by our own agency, while the Lord fills it without our agency. For what is to prepare the heart and to open the mouth, but to prepare the will? And yet in the same scriptures is read, “The will is prepared by the Lord,”[Proverbs 8] and, “Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.” So God admonishes us to prepare our will in what we read,” It is man’s part to prepare his heart;” and yet, that man may do this, God helps him, because the will is prepared ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 422, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

Of the Praise of Free Will. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2810 (In-Text, Margin)

... against the catholics that they are extolling, free will? For they wish what is said, “If ye be willing and will hear me,” to be so understood, as if in the preceding will itself were the merit of the grace that follows; and thus grace were no more grace, seeing that it is not free when it is rendered as a debt. But if they should so understand what is written, “If ye be willing,” as to confess that He prepares even that good will itself of whom it is written, “The will is prepared by the Lord,”[Proverbs 8:35] they would use this testimony as catholics, and not only would overcome the ancient heresy of the Manicheans, but would not found the new one of the Pelagians.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 422, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

God’s Purposes are Effects of Grace. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2812 (In-Text, Margin)

... one”? This would be received without scruple as being said in a catholic spirit, if they did not attribute merit to the good purpose, to which merit now a wage is paid of debt, not according to grace, but would understand and confess that even that very good purpose, which the grace which follows assists could not have been in the man if grace had not preceded it. For how is there a good purpose in a man without the mercy of God first, since it is that very good will which is prepared by the Lord?[Proverbs 8:35] But when they had said this, “that grace also assists every one’s good purpose,” and presently added, “yet does not infuse the love of virtue into a resisting heart,” it might be fitly understood, if it were not said by those whose meaning is known. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 429, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

Further Appeals to Cyprian’s Teaching. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2862 (In-Text, Margin)

... worst merit. And yet, Cyprian even thus understands what we say in the prayer, “Thy will be done in heaven, and in earth:” that we pray also for those very persons who in this respect are called earth. We pray, therefore, not only for the unwilling, but also for the objecting and resisting. What, then, do we ask, but that from unwilling they may be made willing; from objecting, consenting; from resisting, loving? And by whom, but by Him of whom it is written, “The will is prepared by God”?[Proverbs 8:36] Let them, then, who disdain, if they do not do any evil and if they do any good, to glory, not in themselves, but in the Lord, learn to be catholics.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 457, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

In What Sense It is Rightly Said That, If We Like, We May Keep God’s Commandments. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3123 (In-Text, Margin)

... particular petition to God, you may understand in what sense I said, “If thou wilt, thou mayest keep the commandments.” For it is certain that we keep the commandments if we will; but because the will is prepared by the Lord, we must ask of Him for such a force of will as suffices to make us act by the willing. It is certain that it is we that will when we will, but it is He who makes us will what is good, of whom it is said (as he has just now expressed it), “The will is prepared by the Lord.”[Proverbs 8:35] Of the same Lord it is said, “The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and his way doth He will.” Of the same Lord again it is said, “It is God who worketh in you, even to will!” It is certain that it is we that act when we act; but it is He who ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 478, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace. (HTML)

Why Perseverance Should Be Given to One and Not Another is Inscrutable. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3305 (In-Text, Margin)

... prayed that Peter’s faith might not fail, it would still have failed if Peter had willed it to fail; that is, if he had been unwilling that it should continue even to the end? As if Peter could in any measure will otherwise than Christ had asked for him that he might will. For who does not know that Peter’s faith would then have perished if that will by which he was faithful should fail, and that it would have continued if that same will should abide? But because “the will is prepared by the Lord,”[Proverbs 8:35] therefore Christ’s petition on his behalf could not be a vain petition. When, then, He prayed that his faith should not fail, what was it that he asked for, but that in his faith he should have a most free, strong, invincible, persevering will! ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 518, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Old Testament Testimonies. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3552 (In-Text, Margin)

... not the same thing as to reign eternally with God? And so do they suppose that God inclines the wills of those whom He pleases to the attainment of earthly kingdoms, but does not incline them to the attainment of a heavenly kingdom? But I think that it was in reference to the kingdom of heaven, and not to an earthly kingdom, that it was said, “Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies;” or, “The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He will will His way;” or, “The will is prepared by the Lord;”[Proverbs 8] or, “Let our Lord be with us as with our fathers; let Him not forsake us, nor turn Himself away from us; let Him incline our hearts unto Him, that we may walk in all His ways;” or, “I will give them a heart to know me, and ears that hear;” or, “I ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 1, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 12 (In-Text, Margin)

3. “And he shall be like a tree planted hard by the running streams of waters” (ver. 3); that is either Very “Wisdom,”[Proverbs 8] which vouchsafed to assume man’s nature for our salvation; that as man He might be “the tree planted hard by the running streams of waters;” for in this sense can that too be taken which is said in another Psalm, “the river of God is full of water.” Or by the Holy Ghost, of whom it is said, “He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost;” and again, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink;” and again, “If thou knewest the gift of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 332, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3228 (In-Text, Margin)

... this Psalm hath been in a figure transferred unto another true Salomon, that is, the true Peace-maker. For the former did not have dominion “from the river even unto the ends of the round world.” Thus then hath been prophesied, that even the wise men of this world in Christ would believe. But by Arabia we understand the Gentiles; by gold wisdom which doth as much excel among all doctrines as gold among metals. Whence hath been written, “Receive ye prudence as silver, and wisdom as proved gold.”[Proverbs 8:10] “And they shall pray concerning Himself alway.” That which the Greek hath, περὶ αὐτοῦ, some have interpreted by “concerning Himself,” some “for Himself,” or “for Him.” But what is, “concerning Himself,” except ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 608, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXXVII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5530 (In-Text, Margin)

... pleasure, bodily health, and the like; thou wilt not fulfil thy desire from them.…“He shall not be ashamed, when he speaketh with his enemies in the gate.” Brethren, let us speak in the gate, that is, let all know what we speak. For he who chooseth not to speak in the gate, wisheth what he speaketh to be hidden, and perhaps wisheth it to be hidden for this reason, that it is evil. If he be confident, let him speak in the gate; as it is said of Wisdom, “She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city.”[Proverbs 8:3] As long as they hold unto righteousness in innocency, they shall not be ashamed: this is to preach at the gate. And who is he who preacheth at the gate? He who preacheth in Christ; because Christ is the gate whereby we enter into that city. …They, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 84, footnote 1 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Summary View of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 43 (In-Text, Margin)

... for the formation of all created things, and which is called the Word of God and Wisdom, we may learn, to quote other proofs in addition to those already cited, from the mouth of Wisdom herself, who reveals most clearly through Solomon the following mysteries concerning herself: “I, Wisdom, have dwelt with prudence and knowledge, and I have invoked understanding. Through me kings reign, and princes ordain righteousness. Through me the great are magnified, and through me sovereigns rule the earth.”[Proverbs 8:12]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 84, footnote 1 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Summary View of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 43 (In-Text, Margin)

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 84, footnote 3 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Summary View of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 45 (In-Text, Margin)

... created me in the beginning of his ways, for his works; before the world he established me, in the beginning, before he made the earth, before he made the depths, before the mountains were settled, before all hills he begat me. When he prepared the heavens I was present with him, and when he established the fountains of the region under heaven I was with him, disposing. I was the one in whom he delighted; daily I rejoiced before him at all times when he was rejoicing at having completed the world.”[Proverbs 8:22-25]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 46, footnote 2 (Image)

Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425

The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Of the Creed sent by the Eastern Bishops to those in Italy, called the Lengthy Creed. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 304 (In-Text, Margin)

... springing from choice, as if he begat the Son by constraint, we consider most impious and strangers to the truth because they have dared to determine such things respecting him as are inconsistent with our common notions of God, and are contrary indeed to the sense of the divinely-inspired Scripture. For knowing that God is self-dependent and Lord of himself we devoutly maintain that of his own volition and pleasure he begat the Son. And while we reverentially believe what is spoken concerning him;[Proverbs 8:22] “The Lord created me the beginning of his ways on account of his works”: yet we do not suppose that he was made similarly to the creatures or works made by him. For it is impious and repugnant to the church’s faith to compare the Creator with the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 48, footnote 3 (Image)

Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425

The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Defense of Eusebius Pamphilus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 316 (In-Text, Margin)

... what can the offspring of God be, but the perfect resemblance of him who begot him? A sovereign indeed builds a city, but does not beget it; and is said to beget a son, not to build one. An artificer, also, may be called the framer, but not the father of his work; while he could by no means be styled the framer of him whom he had begotten. So also the God of the Universe is the Father of the Son; but might be fitly termed the Framer and Maker of the world. And although it is once said in Scripture,[Proverbs 8:22] “The Lord created me the beginning of his ways on account of his works,” yet it becomes us to consider the import of this phrase, which I shall hereafter explain; and not, as Marcellus has done, from a single passage to jeopardize the most important ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 37, footnote 12 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 280 (In-Text, Margin)

“Is it not then impious to say that there was a time when the wisdom of God was not? Who saith, ‘ I was by Him as one brought up with Him: I was daily His delight[Proverbs 8:30]?’ Or that once the power of God was not, or His Word, or anything else by which the Son is known, or the Father designated, defective? To assert that the brightness of the Father’s glory ‘once did not exist,’ destroys also the original light of which it is the brightness; and if there ever was a time in which the image of God was not, it is plain that He Whose image He is, is not always: nay, by the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 42, footnote 2 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

The Letter of Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, to Paulinus, Bishop of Tyre. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 328 (In-Text, Margin)

... and is incomprehensible not only to man, but also to all beings superior to man. These opinions we advance not as having derived them from our own imagination, but as having deduced them from Scripture, whence we learn that the Son was created, established, and begotten in the same substance and in the same immutable and inexpressible nature as the Maker; and so the Lord says, ‘ God created me in the beginning of His way; I was set up from everlasting; before the hills was I brought forth[Proverbs 8:22-26].’

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 44, footnote 2 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Confutation of Arianism deduced from the Writings of Eustathius and Athanasius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 340 (In-Text, Margin)

above-named bishops, however, did not consent to it in sincerity, but only in appearance. This was afterwards shewn by their plotting against those who were foremost in zeal for religion, as well as by what these latter have written about them. For instance, Eustathius, the famous bishop of Antioch, who has been already mentioned, when explaining the text in the Proverbs, ‘ The Lord created me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old[Proverbs 8:22],’ wrote against them, and refuted their blasphemy.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 44, footnote 3 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Confutation of Arianism deduced from the Writings of Eustathius and Athanasius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 341 (In-Text, Margin)

... Isaiah.”[Proverbs 8:22]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 180, footnote 8 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)

The Immutable. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1158 (In-Text, Margin)

“The expression ‘created me’[Proverbs 8:22] is not to be understood of the divine and the undefiled, but, as has been said, of our created nature, according to the dispensation of the incarnation.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 203, footnote 3 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)

The Unconfounded. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1318 (In-Text, Margin)

Of the same from his discourse on “The Lord formed me in the beginning of His ways”:[Proverbs 8:22] —

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 235, footnote 6 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)

The Impassible. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1523 (In-Text, Margin)

Of the same from his discourse on “the Lord created me in the beginning of His ways”:[Proverbs 8:22] —

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 29, footnote 3 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Heathen. (Contra Gentes.) (HTML)

Contra Gentes. (Against the Heathen.) (HTML)

Part III (HTML)

Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part 3. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 186 (In-Text, Margin)

... come forth, green herb, and be created, O man.” But in fact He did not do so; but He gives the command thus: “Let us make man,” and “let the green herb come forth.” By which God is proved to be speaking about them to some one at hand: it follows then that some one was with Him to Whom He spoke when He made all things. 6. Who then could it be, save His Word? For to whom could God be said to speak, except His Word? Or who was with Him when He made all created Existence, except His Wisdom, which says[Proverbs 8:27]: “When He was making the heaven and the earth I was present with Him?” But in the mention of heaven and earth, all created things in heaven and earth are included as well. 7. But being present with Him as His Wisdom and His Word, looking at the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 158, footnote 9 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Two senses of the word Son, 1. adoptive; 2. essential; attempts of Arians to find a third meaning between these; e.g. that our Lord only was created immediately by God (Asterius's view), or that our Lord alone partakes the Father. The second and true sense; God begets as He makes, really; though His creation and generation are not like man's; His generation independent of time; generation implies an internal, and therefore an eternal, act in God; explanation of Prov. viii. 22. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 830 (In-Text, Margin)

13. Therefore let them tell us, from what teacher or by what tradition they derived these notions concerning the Saviour? “We have read,” they will say, “in the Proverbs, ‘The Lord created me a beginning of His ways unto His works[Proverbs 8:22];’” this Eusebius and his fellows used to insist on, and you write me word, that the present men also, though overthrown and confuted by an abundance of arguments, still were putting about in every quarter this passage, and saying that the Son was one of the creatures, and reckoning Him with things originated. But they seem to me to have a wrong understanding of this passage also; ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 158, footnote 16 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Two senses of the word Son, 1. adoptive; 2. essential; attempts of Arians to find a third meaning between these; e.g. that our Lord only was created immediately by God (Asterius's view), or that our Lord alone partakes the Father. The second and true sense; God begets as He makes, really; though His creation and generation are not like man's; His generation independent of time; generation implies an internal, and therefore an eternal, act in God; explanation of Prov. viii. 22. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 837 (In-Text, Margin)

... his mind be disordered, and he beside himself. Plainly, divine Scripture, which knows better than any the nature of everything, says through Moses, of the creatures, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;’ but of the Son it introduces not another, but the Father Himself saying, ‘I have begotten Thee from the womb before the morning star;’ and again, ‘Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.’ And the Lord says of Himself in the Proverbs, ‘Before all the hills He begets me[Proverbs 8:25];’ and concerning things originated and created John speaks, ‘All things were made by Him;’ but preaching of the Lord, he says, ‘The Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He declared Him.’ If then son, therefore not creature; if ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 159, footnote 3 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Two senses of the word Son, 1. adoptive; 2. essential; attempts of Arians to find a third meaning between these; e.g. that our Lord only was created immediately by God (Asterius's view), or that our Lord alone partakes the Father. The second and true sense; God begets as He makes, really; though His creation and generation are not like man's; His generation independent of time; generation implies an internal, and therefore an eternal, act in God; explanation of Prov. viii. 22. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 843 (In-Text, Margin)

... became man; and whereas He is Son of God, He became Son of man also. And as to the object he will understand, that, wishing to annul our death, He took on Himself a body from the Virgin Mary; that by offering this unto the Father a sacrifice for all, He might deliver us all, who by fear of death were all our life through subject to bondage. And as to the character, it is indeed the Saviour’s, but is said of Him when He took a body and said, ‘The Lord created me a beginning of His ways unto His works[Proverbs 8:22].’ For as it properly belongs to God’s Son to be everlasting. and in the Father’s bosom, so on His becoming man, the words befitted Him, ‘The Lord created me.’ For then it is said of Him, as also that He hungered, and thirsted, and asked where ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 168, footnote 1 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Authorities in Support of the Council. Theognostus; Dionysius of Alexandria; Dionysius of Rome; Origen. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 932 (In-Text, Margin)

... 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[Proverbs 8:22].’ 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, ‘made by the Son Himself.’ And ‘He created’ here must not be taken for ‘made,’ for creating ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 168, footnote 4 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Authorities in Support of the Council. Theognostus; Dionysius of Alexandria; Dionysius of Rome; Origen. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 935 (In-Text, Margin)

... place, as ‘He set over the works made by Him,’ that is, ‘made 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[Proverbs 8:25]?’ And in many passages of the divine oracles is the Son said to have been 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 ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 168, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Authorities in Support of the Council. Theognostus; Dionysius of Alexandria; Dionysius of Rome; Origen. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 939 (In-Text, Margin)

... 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[Proverbs 8:22]. 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.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 168, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Authorities in Support of the Council. Theognostus; Dionysius of Alexandria; Dionysius of Rome; Origen. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 939 (In-Text, Margin)

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 168, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Authorities in Support of the Council. Theognostus; Dionysius of Alexandria; Dionysius of Rome; Origen. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 939 (In-Text, Margin)

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 117, footnote 11 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

He explains the phrase “The Lord created Me,” and the argument about the origination of the Son, the deceptive character of Eunomius' reasoning, and the passage which says, “My glory will I not give to another,” examining them from different points of view. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 375 (In-Text, Margin)

... to us who have put Him on the beginning of the ways of salvation, that He may make us the work of His own hands, new modelling us from the evil mould of sin once more to His own image. He is at once our foundation before the world to come, according to the words of Paul, who says, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,” and it is true that “before the springs of the waters came forth, before the mountains were settled, before He made the depths, and before all hills, He begetteth Me[Proverbs 8:23-25].” For it is possible, accord ing to the usage of the Book of Proverbs, for each of these phrases, taken in a tropical sense, to be applied to the Word. For the great David calls righteousness the “mountains of God,” His judgments “deeps,” and the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 305, footnote 3 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

The Third Theological Oration. On the Son. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3520 (In-Text, Margin)

XIII. What now remains of their invincible arguments? Perhaps the last they will take refuge in is this. If God has never ceased to beget, the Generation is imperfect; and when will He cease? But if He has ceased, then He must have begun. Thus again these carnal minds bring forward carnal arguments. Whether He is eternally begotten or not, I do not yet say, until I have looked into the statement, “Before all the hills He begetteth Me,”[Proverbs 8:25] more accurately. But I cannot see the necessity of their conclusion. For if, as they say, everything that is to come to an end had also a beginning, then surely that which has no end had no beginning. What then will they decide concerning the soul, or the Angelic nature? If it ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 307, footnote 14 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

The Third Theological Oration. On the Son. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3536 (In-Text, Margin)

But in opposition to all these, do you reckon up for me the expressions which make for your ignorant arrogance, such as “My God and your God,” or greater, or created, or made, or sanctified;[Proverbs 8:22] Add, if you like, Servant and Obedient and Gave and Learnt, and was commanded, was sent, can do nothing of Himself, either say, or judge, or give, or will. And further these,—His ignorance, subjection, prayer, asking, increase, being made perfect. And if you like even more humble than these; such as speak of His sleeping, hungering, being in an agony, and fearing; or perhaps you would make even His ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 310, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

The Fourth Theological Oration, Which is the Second Concerning the Son. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3595 (In-Text, Margin)

II. In their eyes the following is only too ready to hand “The Lord created me at the beginning of His ways with a view to His works.”[Proverbs 8:22] How shall we meet this? Shall we bring an accusation against Solomon, or reject his former words because of his fall in after-life? Shall we say that the words are those of Wisdom herself, as it were of Knowledge and the Creator-word, in accordance with which all things were made? For Scripture often personifies many even lifeless objects; as for instance, “The Sea said” so and so; and, “The Depth saith, It is not in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 120, footnote 1 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To the Cæsareans. A defence of his withdrawal, and concerning the faith. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1835 (In-Text, Margin)

8. Again, as is said through Solomon the Wise in the Proverbs, “He was created;” and He is named “Beginning of ways”[Proverbs 8:22] of good news, which lead us to the kingdom of heaven. He is not in essence and substance a creature, but is made a “way” according to the œconomy. Being made and being created signify the same thing. As He was made a way, so was He made a door, a shepherd, an angel, a sheep, and again a High Priest and an Apostle, the names being used in other senses. What again would the heretics say about God unsubjected, and about His being made sin ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 8, footnote 2 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Synodis or On the Councils. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 463 (In-Text, Margin)