Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Isaiah 14
There are 57 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 260, footnote 7 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)
Chapter CXXII.—The Jews understand this of the proselytes without reason. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2417 (In-Text, Margin)
“You think that these words refer to the stranger[Isaiah 14:1] and the proselytes, but in fact they refer to us who have been illumined by Jesus. For Christ would have borne witness even to them; but now you are become twofold more the children of hell, as He said Himself. Therefore what was written by the prophets was spoken not of those persons, but of us, concerning whom the Scripture speaks: ‘I will lead the blind by a way which they knew not; and they shall walk in paths which they have not known. And I am witness, saith the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 261, footnote 2 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)
Chapter CXXIII.—Ridiculous interpretations of the Jews. Christians are the true Israel. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2423 (In-Text, Margin)
“As, therefore, all these latter prophecies refer to Christ and the nations, you should believe that the former refer to Him and them in like manner. For the proselytes have no need of a covenant, if, since there is one and the same law imposed on all that are circumcised, the Scripture speaks about them thus: ‘And the stranger shall also be joined with them, and shall be joined to the house of Jacob;’[Isaiah 14:1] and because the proselyte, who is circumcised that he may have access to the people, becomes like one of themselves, while we who have been deemed worthy to be called a people are yet Gentiles, because we have not been circumcised. Besides, it is ridiculous for you to imagine that the eyes of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 454, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Creator the Father of Mercies. Shown to Be Such in the Old Testament, and Also in Christ. The Newness of the New Testament. The Veil of Obdurate Blindness Upon Israel, Not Reprehensible on Marcion's Principles. The Jews Guilty in Rejecting the Christ of the Creator. Satan, the God of This World. The Treasure in Earthen Vessels Explained Against Marcion. The Creator's Relation to These Vessels, I.e. Our Bodies. (HTML)
... recognised His Christ, who ought to be understood from His Scriptures. Content with my advantage, I can willingly refrain from noticing to any greater length this point of ambiguous punctuation, so as not to give my adversary any advantage, indeed, I might have wholly omitted the discussion. A simpler answer I shall find ready to hand in interpreting “the god of this world” of the devil, who once said, as the prophet describes him: “I will be like the Most High; I will exalt my throne in the clouds.”[Isaiah 14:14] The whole superstition, indeed, of this world has got into his hands, so that he blinds effectually the hearts of unbelievers, and of none more than the apostate Marcion’s. Now he did not observe how much this clause of the sentence made against ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 466, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)
The Epistle to the Laodiceans. The Proper Designation is to the Ephesians. Recapitulation of All Things in Christ from the Beginning of the Creation. No Room for Marcion's Christ Here. Numerous Parallels Between This Epistle and Passages in the Old Testament. The Prince of the Power of the Air, and the God of This World--Who? Creation and Regeneration the Work of One God. How Christ Has Made the Law Obsolete. A Vain Erasure of Marcion's. The Apostles as Well as the Prophets from the Creator. (HTML)
... may therefore simply conclude that these designations are unsuited to the Creator. There is another being to whom they are more applicable—and the apostle knew very well who that was. Who then is he? Undoubtedly he who has raised up “children of disobedience” against the Creator Himself ever since he took possession of that “ air ” of His; even as the prophet makes him say: “I will set my throne above the stars;… I will go up above the clouds; I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:13-14] This must mean the devil, whom in another passage (since such will they there have the apostle’s meaning to be) we shall recognize in the appellation the god of this world. For he has filled the whole world with the lying pretence of his own ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 259, footnote 1 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
On Rational Natures. (HTML)
... world. As a garment cloned with blood, and stained, will not be clean; neither shalt thou be clean, because thou hast destroyed my land and slain my people: thou shalt not remain for ever, most wicked seed. Prepare thy sons for death on account of the sins of thy father, lest they rise again and inherit the earth, and fill the earth with wars. And I shall rise against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and I shall cause their name to perish, and their remains, and their seed.”[Isaiah 14:12-22] Most evidently by these words is he shown to have fallen from heaven, who formerly was Lucifer, and who used to arise in the morning. For if, as some think, he was a nature of darkness, how is Lucifer said to have existed before? Or how could he ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 594, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XLIII (HTML)
... 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) 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 were, of Pharaoh, or Nebuchadnezzar, or the prince of Tyre; or those in Isaiah,[Isaiah 14:4] where lament is made for the king of Babylon, from which not a little might be learned concerning evil, as to the nature of its origin and generation, and as to how it derived its existence from some who had lost their wings, and who had followed ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 208, footnote 2 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)
Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. (HTML)
... lie in honour, every one in his own house; but thou shalt be cast out on the mountains like a loathsome carcase, with many who fall, pierced through with the sword, and going down to hell. As a garment stained with blood is not pure, so neither shalt thou be comely (or clean); because thou hast destroyed my land, and slain my people. Thou shalt not abide, enduring for ever, a wicked seed. Prepare thy children for slaughter, for the sins of thy father, that they rise not, neither possess my land.”[Isaiah 14:4-21]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 215, footnote 13 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)
Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. (HTML)
... Tyre.”53. These things, then, shall be in the future, beloved; and when the three horns are cut off, he will begin to show himself as God, as Ezekiel has said aforetime: “Because thy heart has been lifted up, and thou hast said, I am God.” And to the like effect Isaiah says: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven: I will be like the Most High. Yet now thou shalt be brought down to hell (Hades), to the foundations of the earth.”[Isaiah 14:13-15] In like manner also Ezekiel: “Wilt thou yet say to those who slay thee, I am God? But thou (shalt be) a man, and no God.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 339, footnote 5 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2529 (In-Text, Margin)
... yea, I sought him, and his place was not found.” Exaltation, and puffing up, and arrogant and haughty boastfulness, spring not from the teaching of Christ who teaches humility, but from the spirit of Antichrist, whom the Lord rebukes by His prophet, saying, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will place my throne above the stars of God: I will sit on a lofty mountain, above the lofty mountains to the north: I will ascend above the clouds; I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:13-14] And he added, saying, “Yet thou shalt descend into hell, to the foundations of the earth; and they that see thee shall wonder at thee.” Whence also divine Scripture threatens a like punishment to such in another place, and says, “For the day of the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 339, footnote 6 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2530 (In-Text, Margin)
... teaching of Christ who teaches humility, but from the spirit of Antichrist, whom the Lord rebukes by His prophet, saying, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will place my throne above the stars of God: I will sit on a lofty mountain, above the lofty mountains to the north: I will ascend above the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” And he added, saying, “Yet thou shalt descend into hell, to the foundations of the earth; and they that see thee shall wonder at thee.”[Isaiah 14:15-16] Whence also divine Scripture threatens a like punishment to such in another place, and says, “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is injurious and proud, and upon every one that is lifted up, and lofty.” By his mouth, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 556, footnote 16 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
In Isaiah: “This is the man who arouseth the earth, who disturbeth kings, who maketh the whole earth a desert.”[Isaiah 14:16]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 672, footnote 4 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Appendix. (HTML)
Anonymous Treatise on Re-baptism. (HTML)
A Treatise on Re-Baptism by an Anonymous Writer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5450 (In-Text, Margin)
... revelation of the heavenly Father; yet this same Peter, when Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders, and priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after the third day rise again from the dead; nevertheless that true confessor of Christ, after a few days, taking Him aside, began to rebuke Him, saying, “Be propitious to Thyself: this shall not be;” so that on that account he deserved to hear from the Lord, “Get thee behind me, Satan;[Isaiah 14:12] thou art an offence unto me, because he savoured not the things which are of God, but those things which are of men.” Which rebuke against Peter became more and more apparent when the Lord was apprehended, and, frightened by the damsel, he said, “I ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 64, footnote 9 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)
Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)
Four Homilies. (HTML)
On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. Discourse Second. (HTML)
... every age, both men and women, both young men and youths, and old men. “He hath made strength with His arm,” on our behalf, against death and against the devil, having torn the handwriting of our sins. “He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts;” yea, He hath scattered the devil himself, and all the demons that serve under him. For he was overweeningly haughty in his heart, seeing that he dared to say, “I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:14] And now, how He scattered him the prophet has indicated in what follows, where he says, “Yet now thou shalt be brought down to hell,” and all thy hosts with thee. For He has overthrown everywhere his altars and the worship of vain gods, and He has ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 64, footnote 10 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)
Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)
Four Homilies. (HTML)
On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. Discourse Second. (HTML)
... death and against the devil, having torn the handwriting of our sins. “He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts;” yea, He hath scattered the devil himself, and all the demons that serve under him. For he was overweeningly haughty in his heart, seeing that he dared to say, “I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High.” And now, how He scattered him the prophet has indicated in what follows, where he says, “Yet now thou shalt be brought down to hell,”[Isaiah 14:15] and all thy hosts with thee. For He has overthrown everywhere his altars and the worship of vain gods, and He has prepared for Himself a peculiar people out of the heathen nations. “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 447, footnote 7 (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 3123 (In-Text, Margin)
... Him; for every, one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.” And, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend.” And Pilate the governor and Herod the king commanded Him to be crucified; and that oracle was fulfilled which says, “Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ;” and, “They cast away the Beloved, as a dead man, who is abominable.”[Isaiah 14:19] And since He was crucified on the day of the Preparation, and rose again at break of day on the Lord’s day, the scripture was fulfilled which saith, “Arise, O God; judge the earth: for Thou shalt have an inheritance in all the nations;” and again, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 80, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He describes the twenty-ninth year of his age, in which, having discovered the fallacies of the Manichæans, he professed rhetoric at Rome and Milan. Having heard Ambrose, he begins to come to himself. (HTML)
Having Heard Faustus, the Most Learned Bishop of the Manichæans, He Discerns that God, the Author Both of Things Animate and Inanimate, Chiefly Has Care for the Humble. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 374 (In-Text, Margin)
... sense by which they perceive what they number, and the judgment out of which they number—they knew not, and that of Thy wisdom there is no number. But the Only-begotten has been “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,” and has been numbered amongst us, and paid tribute to Cæsar. This way, by which they might descend to Him from themselves, they knew not; nor that through Him they might ascend unto Him. This way they knew not, and they think themselves exalted with the stars[Isaiah 14:13] and shining, and lo! they fell upon the earth, and “their foolish heart was darkened.” They say many true things concerning the creature; but Truth, the Artificer of the creature, they seek not with devotion, and hence they find Him not. Or if they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 159, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
A Third Kind is ‘Pride’ Which is Pleasing to Man, Not to God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 951 (In-Text, Margin)
... adversary of our true blessedness presseth hard upon us, everywhere scattering his snares of “well done, well done;” that while acquiring them eagerly, we may be caught unawares, and disunite our joy from Thy truth, and fix it on the deceits of men; and take pleasure in being loved and feared, not for Thy sake, but in Thy stead, by which means, being made like unto him, he may have them as his, not in harmony of love, but in the fellowship of punishment; who aspired to exalt his throne in the north,[Isaiah 14:13-14] that dark and cold they might serve him, imitating Thee in perverse and distorted ways. But we, O Lord, lo, we are Thy “little flock;” do Thou possess us, stretch Thy wings over us, and let us take refuge under them. Be Thou our glory; let us be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 213, footnote 8 (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 481 (In-Text, Margin)
As for what John says about the devil, “The devil sinneth from the beginning” they who suppose it is meant hereby that the devil was made with a sinful nature, misunderstand it; for if sin be natural, it is not sin at all. And how do they answer the prophetic proofs,—either what Isaiah says when he represents the devil under the person of the king of Babylon, “How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning!”[Isaiah 14:12] or what Ezekiel says, “Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering,” where it is meant that he was some time without sin; for a little after it is still more explicitly said, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways?” And if these passages cannot well be otherwise ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 573, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
The Seventh Rule of Tichonius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1932 (In-Text, Margin)
... statements are sometimes made about the devil, whose truth is not so evident in regard to himself as in regard to his body; and his body is made up not only of those who are manifestly out of the way, but of those also who, though they really belong to him, are for a time mixed up with the Church, until they depart from this life, or until the chaff is separated from the wheat at the last great winnowing. For example, what is said in Isaiah, “How he is fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!”[Isaiah 14:12] and the other statements of the context which, under the figure of the king of Babylon, are made about the same person, are of course to be understood of the devil; and yet the statement which is made in the same place, “He is ground down on the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 573, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
The Seventh Rule of Tichonius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1933 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Church, until they depart from this life, or until the chaff is separated from the wheat at the last great winnowing. For example, what is said in Isaiah, “How he is fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!” and the other statements of the context which, under the figure of the king of Babylon, are made about the same person, are of course to be understood of the devil; and yet the statement which is made in the same place, “He is ground down on the earth, who sendeth to all nations,”[Isaiah 14:12] does not altogether fitly apply to the head himself. For, although the devil sends his angels to all nations, yet it is his body, not himself, that is ground down on the each, except that he himself is in his body, which is beaten small like the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 21, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter I. 15–18. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 55 (In-Text, Margin)
... bear witness to Him; let us, however, hear Himself saying, “Even before Abraham, I am.” But Abraham also was born in the midst of the human race: there were many before him, many after him. Listen to the voice of the Father to the Son: “Before Lucifer I have begotten Thee.” He who was begotten before Lucifer Himself illuminates all. A certain one was named Lucifer, who fell; for he was an angel and became a devil; and concerning him the Scripture said, “Lucifer, who did arise in the morning, fell.”[Isaiah 14:27] And why was he Lucifer? Because, being enlightened, he gave forth light. But for what reason did he become dark! Because he abode not in the truth. Therefore He was before Lucifer, before every one that is enlightened; since before every one ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 116, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter IV. 1–18. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 374 (In-Text, Margin)
... in these words such a Son of God was intimated to them as should be equal with God. Who He was they knew not; still they did acknowledge such a One to be declared, in that “He said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” Was He not therefore equal with God? He did not make Himself equal, but the Father begat Him equal. Were He to make Himself equal, He would fall by robbery. For he who wished to make himself equal with God, whilst he was not so, fell, and of an angel became a devil,[Isaiah 14:14] and administered to man that cup of pride by which himself was cast down. For this fallen said to man, envying his standing, “Taste, and ye shall be as gods;” that is, seize to yourselves by usurpation that which ye are not made, for I also have ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 2, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 23 (In-Text, Margin)
... supports and contains the outer man, so that earth invisible the inner man. “From the face of” which “earth the wind casteth forth the ungodly,” that is, pride, in that it puffeth him up. On his guard against which he, who was inebriated by the richness of the house of the Lord, and drunken of the torrent stream of its pleasures, saith, “Let not the foot of pride come against me.” From this earth pride cast forth him who said, “I will place my seat in the north, and I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:13-14] From the face of the earth it cast forth him also who, after that he had consented and tasted of the forbidden tree that he might be as God, hid himself from the Face of God. That his earth has reference to the inner man, and that man is cast forth ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 90, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 838 (In-Text, Margin)
... But now he said, The children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings: they shall be satiated with the fulness of Thy House. When one hath begun to be plentifully overflowed with that Fountain, let him take heed lest he grow proud. For the same was not wanting to Adam, the first man: but the foot of pride came against him, and the hand of the sinner removed him, that is, the proud hand of the devil. As he who seduced him, said of himself, “I will sit in the sides of the north;”[Isaiah 14:13] so he persuaded him, by saying, “Taste, and ye shall be as gods.” By pride then have we so fallen as to arrive at this mortality. And because pride had wounded us, humility maketh us whole. God came humbly, that from such great wound of pride He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 117, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1079 (In-Text, Margin)
... the kingdom of Heaven.” Wherefore was it that they so attained? Because they would not be strong. What is meant by “would not be strong”? They were afraid to presume of their own merits. They did not “go about to establish their own righteousness,” that they might “submit themselves to the righteousness of God.” …Behold! you are mortal; and you bear about you a body of flesh that is corrupting away: “And ye shall fall like one of the princes. Ye shall die like men,” and shall fall like the devil.[Isaiah 14:12] What good does the remedial discipline of mortality do you? The devil is proud, as not having a mortal body, as being an angel. But as for you, who have received a mortal body, and to whom even this does no good, so as to humble you by so great ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 165, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1565 (In-Text, Margin)
... different sides; one, because of the Corner Stone, wherein both are joined together. Hear also this, “the mountains of Sion: the sides of the North are the city of the great King.”…See the Gentiles; “the sides of the North:” the sides of the North are joined to the city of the great King. The North is wont to be contrary to Sion: Sion forsooth is in the South, the North over against the South. Who is the North, but He who said, “I will sit in the sides of the North, I will be like the Most High”?[Isaiah 14:13-14] The devil had held dominion over the ungodly, and possessed the nations serving images, adoring demons; and all whatsoever there was of human kind anywhere throughout the world, by cleaving to Him, had become North. But since He who binds the strong ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 247, footnote 12 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2325 (In-Text, Margin)
... in the same manner as good works begin to grow when a man useth well the law: so arise evil works, when a man ill useth the law. Furthermore, they ill using their father, that is, ill using the law, engendered the Moabites, by whom are signified evil works. Thence the tribulation of the Church, thence the pot boiling up. Of this pot in a certain place of prophecy is said, “A pot heated by the North wind.” Whence but by the quarters of the devil, who hath said, “I will set my seat at the North”?[Isaiah 14:13] The chiefest tribulations therefore arise against the Church from none except from those that ill use the law.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 347, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3364 (In-Text, Margin)
... Etham” (ver. 15).…What is Etham? For the word is Hebrew. What is Etham interpreted? Strong, stout. Who is this strong and stout one, whose rivers God drieth up? Who but that very dragon? For “no one entereth into the house of a strong man that he may spoil his vessels, unless first he shall have bound fast the strong man.” This is that strong man on his own virtue relying, and forsaking God: this is that strong man, who saith, “I will set my seat by the north, and I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:13] Out of that very cup of perverse strength he hath given man to drink. Strong they willed to be, who thought that they would be Gods by means of the forbidden food. Adam became strong, over whom was reproachfully said, “Behold, Adam hath become like ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 433, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4159 (In-Text, Margin)
... the round world, and all that therein is.” “Thou hast created the north and the seas” (ver. 12). For nothing has any power against Thee, against its Creator. The world indeed may rage through its own malice, and the perversity of its will; does it nevertheless pass over the bound laid down by the Creator, who made all things? Why then do I fear the north wind? Why do I fear the seas? In the north indeed is the devil, who said, “I will sit in the sides of the north; I will be like the Most High;”[Isaiah 14:13-14] but Thou hast humbled, as one wounded, the proud one. Thus what Thou hast done in them has more force for Thy dominion, than their own will has for their wickedness. “Thou hast created the north and the seas.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 414, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1483 (In-Text, Margin)
... themselves; and notwithstanding that the very sense of sight bore witness to their mortality, were ambitious to be called gods, and were honoured as such; to what a length of impiety would not many men have proceeded, if death had not gone on teaching all men the mortality and corruptibility of our nature? Hear, for instance, what the prophet says of a barbarian king, when seized with this frenzy. “I will exalt,” saith he, “my throne above the stars of heaven; and I will be like unto the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:13-14] Afterwards, deriding him, and speaking of his death, he says, “Corruption is under thee, and the worm is thy covering;” but his meaning is, “Dost thou dare, O man, whom such an end is awaiting, to entertain such imaginations?” Again, of another, I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 414, footnote 4 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1484 (In-Text, Margin)
... gods, and were honoured as such; to what a length of impiety would not many men have proceeded, if death had not gone on teaching all men the mortality and corruptibility of our nature? Hear, for instance, what the prophet says of a barbarian king, when seized with this frenzy. “I will exalt,” saith he, “my throne above the stars of heaven; and I will be like unto the Most High.” Afterwards, deriding him, and speaking of his death, he says, “Corruption is under thee, and the worm is thy covering;”[Isaiah 14:11] but his meaning is, “Dost thou dare, O man, whom such an end is awaiting, to entertain such imaginations?” Again, of another, I mean the king of the Tyrians, when he conceived the like aims, and was ambitious to be considered as a God, he says, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 224, footnote 4 (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 1155 (In-Text, Margin)
... 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. 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 High[Isaiah 14:14].’ Thus he suffers and is dishonoured; and although he still ventures with shameless confidence to disguise himself, yet now, wretched spirit, he is detected the rather by them that bear the Sign on their foreheads; yea, more, he is rejected of them, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 233, 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 II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1257 (In-Text, Margin)
... that the Arian madness was rejected from communion by our Saviour both here and in the Church of the first-born in heaven. Now who will not wonder to see the unrighteous ambition of these men, whom the Lord has condemned;—to see them vindicating the heresy which the Lord has pronounced excommunicate (since He did not suffer its author to enter into the Church), and not fearing that which is written, but attempting impossible things? ‘For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it[Isaiah 14:27]?’ and whom God hath condemned, who shall justify? Let them however in defence of their own imaginations write what they please; but do you, brethren, as ‘bearing the vessels of the Lord,’ and vindicating the doctrines of the Church, examine this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 399, footnote 6 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse III (HTML)
Texts Explained; Ninthly, John x. 30; xvii. 11, &c. Arian explanation, that the Son is one with the Father in will and judgment; but so are all good men, nay things inanimate; contrast of the Son. Oneness between Them is in nature, because oneness in operation. Angels not objects of prayer, because they do not work together with God, but the Son; texts quoted. Seeing an Angel, is not seeing God. Arians in fact hold two Gods, and tend to Gentile polytheism. Arian explanation that the Father and Son are one as we are one with Christ, is put aside by the Regula Fidei, and shewn invalid by the usage of Scripture in illustrations; the true force of the comparison; force of the terms used. Force of 'in us;' force of 'as;' confirmed by S. John. In (HTML)
... that it should be said of them too, that they and the Father are one, and that each is God’s Image and Word. For what God wills, that will they; and neither in judging nor in doctrine are they discordant, but in all things are obedient to their Maker. For they would not have remained in their own glory, unless, what the Father willed, that they had willed also. He, for instance, who did not remain, but went astray, heard the words, ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning[Isaiah 14:12]?’ But if this be so, how is only He Only-begotten Son and Word and Wisdom? or how, whereas so many are like the Father, is He only an Image? for among men too will be found many like the Father, numbers, for instance, of martyrs, and before them the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 403, footnote 12 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse III (HTML)
Texts Explained; Ninthly, John x. 30; xvii. 11, &c. Arian explanation, that the Son is one with the Father in will and judgment; but so are all good men, nay things inanimate; contrast of the Son. Oneness between Them is in nature, because oneness in operation. Angels not objects of prayer, because they do not work together with God, but the Son; texts quoted. Seeing an Angel, is not seeing God. Arians in fact hold two Gods, and tend to Gentile polytheism. Arian explanation that the Father and Son are one as we are one with Christ, is put aside by the Regula Fidei, and shewn invalid by the usage of Scripture in illustrations; the true force of the comparison; force of the terms used. Force of 'in us;' force of 'as;' confirmed by S. John. In (HTML)
... add, ‘If, as we become one in the Father, so also He and the Father are one, and thus He too is in the Father, how pretend you from His saying, “I and the Father are One,” and “I in the Father and the Father in Me,” that He is proper and like the Father’s Essence? for it follows either that we too are proper to the Father’s Essence, or He foreign to it, as we are foreign.’ Thus they idly babble; but in this their perverseness I see nothing but unreasoning audacity and recklessness from the devil[Isaiah 14:14], since it is saying after his pattern, ‘We will ascend to heaven, we will be like the Most High.’ For what is given to man by grace, this they would make equal to the Godhead of the Giver. Thus hearing that men are called sons, they thought ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 563, footnote 10 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Personal Letters. (HTML)
First Letter to Monks. (Written 358-360). (HTML)
... arriving at a pious and sound faith in Christ. And if in anything they are defective (and I think they are defective in all respects), pardon it with a pure conscience, and only receive favourably the boldness of my good intentions in support of godliness. For an utter condemnation of the heresy of the Arians, it is sufficient for you to know the judgment given by the Lord in the death of Arius, of which you have already been informed by others. ‘For what the Holy God hath purposed, who shall scatter[Isaiah 14:27]?’ and whom the Lord condemned who shall justify? After such a sign given, who do not now acknowledge, that the heresy is hated of God, however it may have men for its patrons? Now when you have read this account, pray for me, and exhort one another ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 18, footnote 19 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pope Damasus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 271 (In-Text, Margin)
... great price.” “Wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” Evil children have squandered their patrimony; you alone keep your heritage intact. The fruitful soil of Rome, when it receives the pure seed of the Lord, bears fruit an hundredfold; but here the seed corn is choked in the furrows and nothing grows but darnel or oats. In the West the Sun of righteousness is even now rising; in the East, Lucifer, who fell from heaven, has once more set his throne above the stars.[Isaiah 14:12] “Ye are the light of the world,” “ye are the salt of the earth,” ye are “vessels of gold and of silver.” Here are vessels of wood or of earth, which wait for the rod of iron, and eternal fire.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 23, footnote 25 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 365 (In-Text, Margin)
... after their prey and seek their meat from God.” The devil looks not for unbelievers, for those who are without, whose flesh the Assyrian king roasted in the furnace. It is the church of Christ that he “makes haste to spoil.” According to Habakkuk, “His food is of the choicest.” A Job is the victim of his machinations, and after devouring Judas he seeks power to sift the [other] apostles. The Saviour came not to send peace upon the earth but a sword. Lucifer fell, Lucifer who used to rise at dawn;[Isaiah 14:12] and he who was bred up in a paradise of delight had the well-earned sentence passed upon him, “Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.” For he had said in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 23, footnote 27 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 367 (In-Text, Margin)
... he seeks power to sift the [other] apostles. The Saviour came not to send peace upon the earth but a sword. Lucifer fell, Lucifer who used to rise at dawn; and he who was bred up in a paradise of delight had the well-earned sentence passed upon him, “Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.” For he had said in his heart, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,” and “I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:13-14] Wherefore God says every day to the angels, as they descend the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, “I have said ye are Gods and all of you are children of the Most High. But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.” The devil fell ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 27, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 428 (In-Text, Margin)
13. I cannot bring myself to speak of the many virgins who daily fall and are lost to the bosom of the church, their mother: stars over which the proud foe sets up his throne,[Isaiah 14:13] and rocks hollowed by the serpent that he may dwell in their fissures. You may see many women widows before wedded, who try to conceal their miserable fall by a lying garb. Unless they are betrayed by swelling wombs or by the crying of their infants, they walk abroad with tripping feet and heads in the air. Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 41, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 664 (In-Text, Margin)
... wine. And if the water brought to us is a trifle too warm, we break the cup and overturn the table and scourge the servant in fault until blood comes. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.” Still, unless you use force you will never seize the kingdom of heaven. Unless you knock importunately you will never receive the sacramental bread. Is it not truly violence, think you, when the flesh desires to be as God and ascends to the place whence angels have fallen[Isaiah 14:12-13] to judge angels?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 133, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Vigilantius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1909 (In-Text, Margin)
... fragments. Can any true Christian explain this image of the devil instead of referring it to God the Father Almighty, or defile the ears of the whole world with so frightful an enormity? If your explanation has ever been accepted by any—I will not say Catholic but—heretic or heathen, let your words be regarded as pious. If on the other hand the Church of Christ has never yet heard of such an impiety, and if yours has been the first mouth through which he who once said “I will be like the Most High”[Isaiah 14:14] has declared that he is the mountain spoken of by Daniel, then repent, put on sackcloth and ashes, and with fast-flowing tears wash away your awful guilt; if so be that this impiety may be forgiven you, and, supposing Origen’s heresy to be true, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 272, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ctesiphon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3772 (In-Text, Margin)
1. In acquainting me with the new controversy which has taken the place of the old you are wrong in thinking that you have acted rashly, for your conduct has been prompted by zeal and friendship. Already before the arrival of your letter many in the East have been deceived into a pride which apes humility and have said with the devil: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:13-14] Can there be greater presumption than to claim not likeness to God but equality with Him, and so to compress into a few words the poisonous doctrines of all the heretics which in their turn flow from the statements of the philosophers, particularly of Pythagoras and Zeno the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 304, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
The Life of S. Hilarion. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4020 (In-Text, Margin)
... limbs but a shirt of sackcloth, and a cloak of skins which the blessed Antony had given him when he set out, and a blanket of the coarsest sort, he found pleasure in the vast and terrible wilderness with the sea on one side and the marshland on the other. His food was only fifteen dried figs after sunset. And because the district was notorious for brigandage, it was his practice never to abide long in the same place. What was the devil to do? Whither could he turn? He who once boasted and said,[Isaiah 14:14] “I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of the sky, I will be like the most High,” saw himself conquered and trodden under foot by a boy whose years did not allow of sin.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 391, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4711 (In-Text, Margin)
... is needless to tell how Moses and Aaron offended God at the water of strife, and did not enter the land of promise. For the blessed Job relates that even the angels and every creature can sin. “Shall mortal man,” he says, “be just before God? Shall a man be spotless in his works? If he putteth no trust in his servants, and chargeth his angels with folly, how much more them that dwell in houses of clay,” amongst whom are we, and made of the same clay too. “The life of man is a warfare upon earth.”[Isaiah 14:12] 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 ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 480, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5343 (In-Text, Margin)
... possess.” Yet he merely thanks God because, by His mercy, he is not as other men: he execrates sin, and does not claim his righteousness as his own. But you say, “Now Thou knowest how holy, how innocent, how pure from all deceit, wrong, and robbery are the hands which I spread out before Thee.” He says that he fasts twice in the week, that he may afflict his vicious and wanton flesh, and he gives tithes of all his substance. For “the ransom of a man’s life is his riches.” You join the devil in boasting,[Isaiah 14:13-14] “I will ascend above the stars, I will place my throne in heaven, and I will be like the Most High.” David says, “My loins are filled with illusions”; and “My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness”; and “Enter not into judgment with ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 278, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter X. The objection that Christ, on the showing of St. John, lives because of the Father, and therefore is not to be regarded as equal with the Father, is met by the reply that for the Life of the Son, in respect of His Godhead, there has never been a time when it began; and that it is dependent upon none, whilst the passage in question must be understood as referring to His human life, as is shown by His speaking there of His body and blood. Two expositions of the passage are given, the one of which is shown to refer to Christ's Manhood, whilst the second teaches His equality with the Father, as also His likeness with men. Rebuke is administered to the Arians for the insult which they are seeking to inflict upon the Son, and the sense (HTML)
119. Let those who oppose us on this ground tell us first what the Life of the Son is. Is it a life bestowed by the Father upon one lacking life? But how could the Son ever fail to possess life, He Himself being the Life, as He says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”[Isaiah 14:6] Truly, His life is eternal, even as His power is eternal. Was there a time, then, when (so to speak) Life possessed not itself?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 314, footnote 14 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book V. (HTML)
Chapter XIX. The Saint having turned to God the Father, explains why he does not deride that the Son is inferior to the Father, then he declares it is not for him to measure the Son of God, since it was given to an angel--nay, perhaps even to Christ as man--to measure merely Jerusalem. Arius, he says, has shown himself to be an imitator of Satan. It is a rash thing to hold discussions on the divine Generation. Since so great a sign of human generation has been given by Isaiah, we ought not to make comparisons in divine things. Lastly he shows how carefully we ought to avoid the pride of Arius, by putting before us various examples of Scriptures. (HTML)
238. But Arius was not caught up to heaven, although he followed him who with accursed boastfulness presumed on what was divine, saying: “I will set my throne upon the clouds; I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:14] For as he said: “I will be like the Most High,” so too Arius wishes the Most High Son of God to seem like himself, Whom he does not worship in the eternal glory of His Godhead, but measures by the weakness of the flesh.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 281, footnote 1 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Book XII. Of the Spirit of Pride. (HTML)
Chapter IV. How by reason of pride Lucifer was turned from an archangel into a devil. (HTML)
... perpetuation of perfect bliss. This thought alone was the cause of his first fall. On account of which being forsaken by God, whom he fancied he no longer needed, he suddenly became unstable and tottering, and discovered the weakness of his own nature, and lost the blessedness which he had enjoyed by God’s gift. And because he “loved the words of ruin,” with which he had said, “I will ascend into heaven,” and the “deceitful tongue,” with which he had said of himself, “I will be like the Most High,”[Isaiah 14:13-14] and of Adam and Eve, “Ye shall be as gods,” therefore “shall God destroy him forever and pluck him out and remove him from his dwelling place and his root out of the land of the living.” Then “the just,” when they see his ruin, “shall fear, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 282, footnote 1 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Book XII. Of the Spirit of Pride. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. How God has destroyed the pride of the devil by the virtue of humility, and various passages in proof of this. (HTML)
And so God, the Creator and Healer of all, knowing that pride is the cause and fountain head of evils, has been careful to heal opposites with opposites, that those things which were ruined by pride might be restored by humility. For the one says, “I will ascend into heaven;”[Isaiah 14:13] the other, “My soul was brought low even to the ground.” The one says, “And I will be like the most High;” the other, “Though He was in the form of God, yet He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.” The one says, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;” the other, “Learn of me, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 342, footnote 2 (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 VII. How vainglory and pride can be consummated without any assistance from the body. (HTML)
... of the flesh, which bring ample destruction on the soul they take captive simply by its assent and wish to gain praise and glory from men? Or what act on the part of the body was there in that pride of old in the case of the above mentioned Lucifer; as he only conceived it in his heart and mind, as the prophet tells us: “Who saidst in thine heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High.”[Isaiah 14:13-14] And just as he had no one to stir him up to this pride, so his thoughts alone were the authors of the sin when complete and of his eternal fall; especially as no exercise of the dominion at which he aimed followed.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 378, footnote 4 (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 VIII. The Second Conference of Abbot Serenus. On Principalities. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. Of the fall of the devil and the angels. (HTML)
... sanctuaries by the multitude of thy iniquities and by the iniquity of thy traffic.” Isaiah also says of another: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the ground, that didst wound the nations? and thou saidst in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.”[Isaiah 14:12-14] But Holy Scripture relates that these fell not alone from that summit of their station in bliss, as it tells us that the dragon dragged down together with himself the third part of the stars. One of the Apostles too says still more plainly: “But the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 386, footnote 9 (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 VIII. The Second Conference of Abbot Serenus. On Principalities. (HTML)
Chapter XXV. How this that is said of the devil in the gospel is to be understood; viz., that “he is a liar, and his father.” (HTML)
... received his life. And so from these passages we clearly infer that no one can be called the Father of spirits but God alone, who makes them out of nothing whenever He pleases, while men can only be termed the fathers of our flesh. So then the devil also in as much as he was created a spirit or an angel and good, had no one as his Father but God his Maker. But when he had become puffed up by pride and had said in his heart: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High,”[Isaiah 14:14] he became a liar, and “abode not in the truth;” but brought forth a lie from his own storehouse of wickedness and so became not only a liar, but also the father of the actual lie, by which when he promised Divinity to man and said “Ye shall be as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 579, footnote 1 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter IX. He corroborates this statement by the authority of the old prophets. (HTML)
... who was indeed afterwards seen. But enough of this. Now let us turn to another point. “The labour of Egypt,” says the prophet Isaiah, “and the merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabæans, men of stature, shall come over to thee and shall be thy servants. They shall walk after thee, bound with manacles, and they shall worship thee, and they shall make supplication to thee: for in thee is God, and there is no God beside thee. For thou art our God and we knew thee not, O God of Israel the Saviour.”[Isaiah 14:14-15] How wonderfully consistent the Holy Scriptures always are! For the first mentioned prophet said, “This is our God,” and this one says, “Thou art our God.” In the one there is the teaching of Divinity, in the other the confession of men. The one ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 353, footnote 1 (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 Wars. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 735 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Now Nebuchadnezzar said:— I will ascend to heaven and exalt my throne above the stars of God and sit in the lofty mountains that are in the borders of the North.[Isaiah 14:13] Isaiah said concerning him:— Because thy heart has thus exalted thee, therefore thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, and all that look upon thee shall be astonished at thee. And Sennacherib also said thus:— I will go up to the summit of the mountains and to the shoulders of Lebanon. I will dig and drink water and will dry up with my horses’ hoofs all the deep rivers. And because he thus ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 353, footnote 2 (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 Wars. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 736 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Now Nebuchadnezzar said:— I will ascend to heaven and exalt my throne above the stars of God and sit in the lofty mountains that are in the borders of the North. Isaiah said concerning him:— Because thy heart has thus exalted thee, therefore thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, and all that look upon thee shall be astonished at thee.[Isaiah 14:15-16] And Sennacherib also said thus:— I will go up to the summit of the mountains and to the shoulders of Lebanon. I will dig and drink water and will dry up with my horses’ hoofs all the deep rivers. And because he thus exalted himself, Isaiah again said concerning him:— Why does the axe boast itself ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 353, footnote 6 (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 Wars. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 740 (In-Text, Margin)
... thou hast done all these things, why art thou exalted against Him Who holds thee, and why dost thou boast against Him Who saws with thee, and why hast thou reviled the holy city? and hast said to the children of Jerusalem:— Can your God deliver you from my hand? And thou hast dared to say:— Who is the Lord that He shall deliver you from my hands? Because of this, hear the word of the Lord, saying:— I will crush the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains will I tread him down.[Isaiah 14:25] And when he shall have been crushed and trodden down, the Virgin, the daughter of Zion, will despise him, and the daughter of Jerusalem will shake her head and say:— Whom hast thou reviled and blasphemed, and against whom hast ...