On account of this relationship of brotherhood, God teaches us never to do evil, but always good. And He also prescribes[Ezekiel 18:7] in what this doing good consists: in affording aid to those who are oppressed and in difficulty, and in bestowing food on those who are destitute. For God, since He is kind, wished us to be a social animal. Therefore, in the case of other men, we ought to think of ourselves. We do not deserve to be set free in our own dangers, if we do not succour others; we do not deserve assistance, if we refuse to render it. There are no precepts of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 400, footnote 12 (Image)

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

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)

Sec. III.—How the Bishop is to Treat the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Penitent (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2654 (In-Text, Margin)

... doubting, him that repents. Be not hindered by such unmerciful men, who say that we must not be defiled with such as those, nor so much as speak to them: for such advice is from men that are unacquainted with God and His providence, and are unreasonable judges, and unmerciful brutes. These men are ignorant that we ought to avoid society with offenders, not in discourse, but in actions: for “the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”[Ezekiel 18:20] And again: “If a land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of bread upon it, and send famine upon it, and destroy man and beast therein: though these three men, Noah, Job, and Daniel, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 402, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)

Sec. III.—How the Bishop is to Treat the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Penitent (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2664 (In-Text, Margin)

... all this wickedness; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. Yet they will ask thee, Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father; or his righteousness, having exercised righteousness and mercy himself? And thou shalt say unto them, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”[Ezekiel 18:2] And a little after he says: “When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, all his righteousness, by reason of all his wickedness which he has committed, shall not be mentioned to him: in his iniquity which he hath ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 463, footnote 12 (Image)

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

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)

Sec. V.—The Teaching of the Apostles in Opposition to Jewish and Gentile Superstitions, Especially in Regard to Marriage and Funerals (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3327 (In-Text, Margin)

... when the woman with the perpetual purgation of blood touched the saving border of the Lord’s garment in hope of being healed, He was not angry at her, nor did complain of her at all; but, on the contrary, He healed her, saying, “Thy faith hath saved thee.” When the natural purgations do appear in the wives, let not their husbands approach them, out of regard to the children to be begotten; for the law has forbidden it, for it says: “Thou shalt not come near thy wife when she is in her separation.”[Ezekiel 18:6] Nor, indeed, let them frequent their wives’ company when they are with child. For they do this not for the begetting of children, but for the sake of pleasure. Now a lover of God ought not to be a lover of pleasure.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 485, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VIII. Concerning Gifts, and Ordinations, and the Ecclesiastical Canons (HTML)

Sec. II.—Election and Ordination of Bishops: Form of Service on Sundays (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3623 (In-Text, Margin)

... Governor of all things, who hast exhibited man as the ornament of the world through Christ, and didst give him a law both naturally implanted and written, that he might live according to law, as a rational creature; and when he had sinned, Thou gavest him Thy goodness as a pledge in order to his repentance: Look down upon these persons who have bended the neck of their soul and body to Thee; for Thou desirest not the death of a sinner, but his repentance, that he turn from his wicked way, and live.[Ezekiel 18] Thou who didst accept the repentance of the Ninevites, who willest that all men be saved, and come to the acknowledgment of the truth; who didst accept of that son who had consumed his substance in riotous living, with the bowels of a father, on ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 205, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)

Book X. (HTML)

God's Long-Suffering. (HTML)

... pleasures, have fallen away from piety and righteousness. But you will say, If it is right to punish the wicked, they ought to be punished immediately when they do wickedly. You indeed do well to make haste; but He who is eternal, and from whom nothing is secret, inasmuch as He is without end, in the same proportion is His patience extended, and He regards not the swiftness of vengeance, but the causes of salvation. For He is not so much pleased with the death as with the conversion of a sinner.[Ezekiel 18:33] Therefore, in short, He has bestowed upon men holy baptism, to which, if any one makes haste to come, and for the future remains without stain, all his sins are thenceforth blotted out, which were committed in the time of his ignorance.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 617, footnote 4 (Image)

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

The Decretals. (HTML)

The Epistles of Pope Callistus. (HTML)

To All the Bishops of Gaul. (HTML)

Of those who ought not to be admitted to prefer an accusation, or to bear witness; and that evidence is not to be given but on things happening in the person's presence. (HTML)

... thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burden, and so will ye fulfil the law of Christ.” Furthermore, the sainted David had deadly crimes to repent of, and yet he was continued in honour. The blessed Peter also shed the bitterest tears when he repented of having denied the Lord; but still he abode an apostle. And the Lord by the prophet makes this promise to the sinning: “In the day that the sinner is converted, and repenteth, I will not mention any more against him all his transgressions.”[Ezekiel 18:21-22]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 617, footnote 7 (Image)

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

The Decretals. (HTML)

The Epistles of Pope Callistus. (HTML)

To All the Bishops of Gaul. (HTML)

As to whether a priest may minister after a lapse. (HTML)

... heaven.” And in short, this opinion either is not the Lord’s, or it is true. But be that as it may, we believe without hesitation, that both the priests of the Lord and other believers may return to their honours after a proper satisfaction for their error, as the Lord Himself testifies by His prophet: “Shall he who falls not also rise again? and shall he who turns away not return?” And in another passage the Lord says: “I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he may turn, and live.”[Ezekiel 18:32] And the prophet David, on his repentance, said: “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.” And he indeed, after his repentance, taught others also, and offered sacrifice to God, giving thereby an example to the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 231, footnote 15 (Image)

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

The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. (HTML)

Continuation Respecting Repentance. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4044 (In-Text, Margin)

The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, “As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;” adding, moreover, this gracious declaration, “Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity.”[Ezekiel 18:30] Say to the children of my people, Though your sins reach from earth to heaven, and though they be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sack-cloth, yet if ye turn to me with your whole heart, and say, Father! I will listen to you, as to a holy people. And in another place He speaks thus: “Wash you and become clean; put away ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 419, footnote 5 (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)

Book X. (HTML)

The Parable of the Drag-Net. (HTML)

... or from the better kind to the worse; but you can always behold the righteous or evil among men either coming from wickedness to virtue, or returning from progress towards virtue to the flood of wickedness. Wherefore also in Ezekiel, concerning the man who turns away from unrighteousness to the keeping of the divine commandments, it is thus written: “But if the wicked man turn away from all his wickednesses which he hath done,” etc., down to the words, “that he turn from his wicked way and live;”[Ezekiel 18:20-23] but concerning the man who returns from the advance towards virtue unto the flood of wickedness it is said, “But in the case of the righteous man turning away from his righteousness and committing iniquity,” etc., down to the words, “in his sins ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 419, footnote 6 (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)

Book X. (HTML)

The Parable of the Drag-Net. (HTML)

... the keeping of the divine commandments, it is thus written: “But if the wicked man turn away from all his wickednesses which he hath done,” etc., down to the words, “that he turn from his wicked way and live;” but concerning the man who returns from the advance towards virtue unto the flood of wickedness it is said, “But in the case of the righteous man turning away from his righteousness and committing iniquity,” etc., down to the words, “in his sins which he hath sinned in them shall he die.”[Ezekiel 18:24] Let those who, from the parable of the drag-net, introduce the doctrine of different natures, tell us in regard to the wicked man who afterwards turned aside from all the wickednesses which he committed and keeps all the commandments of God, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 421, footnote 3 (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)

Book X. (HTML)

Relation of Men to Angels. (HTML)

... in order to be cast along with the good into vessels. And in like manner the bad fishes are cast without and thrown away; but the bad in the similitude before us are cast into “the furnace of fire,” that what is said in Ezekiel about the furnace of fire may also overtake them—“And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man behold the house of Israel is become to me all mixed with brass and iron,” etc., down to the words, “And ye shall know that I the Lord have poured My fury upon you.”[Ezekiel 18:17-22]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 466, footnote 6 (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)

Book XII. (HTML)

The Word Appears in Different Forms; The Time of His Coming in Glory. (HTML)

... good, deed. But I suppose—in this also following the Apostle, but comparing also the sayings of Ezekiel, in which the sins of him who is a perfect convert are wiped out, and the former uprightness of him who has utterly fallen away is not held of account—that in the case of him who is perfected, and has altogether laid aside wickedness, the sins are wiped out, but that, in the case of him who has altogether revolted from piety, if anything good was formerly done by him, it is not taken into account.[Ezekiel 18:21-24] But to us, who occupy a middle position between the perfect man and the apostate, when we stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, there is rendered what we have done, whether good or bad; for we have not been so pure that our evil deeds are not at ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 480, footnote 11 (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)

Book XIII. (HTML)

Satan and the “Delivery” Of Jesus. (HTML)

Now we must think that the devil has the power of death,—not of that which is common and indifferent, in accordance with which those who are compacted of soul and body die, when their soul is separated from the body,—but of that death which is contrary to and the enemy of Him who said, “I am the Life,” in accordance with which “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”[Ezekiel 18:4] But that it was not God who gave Him up into the hands of men, the Saviour manifestly declares when He says, “If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews.” For, when He was delivered up to the Jews, He was delivered into the hands of men, not by His own ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 289, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

To Eleusius, Glorius, and the Two Felixes (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1661 (In-Text, Margin)

... he said this with the most manifest reluctance and sincere regret. When he himself most frankly bewailed many of the evil deeds of his party, making evident, as was further proved by the testimony of the whole community, how far he was from sharing in such transactions, and told us what he was wont to say in mild expostulation to those of his own party; when also I had quoted the words of Ezekiel—“As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth it shall die”[Ezekiel 18:4] —it which it is written that the son’s fault is not to be reckoned to his father, nor the father’s fault reckoned to his son, it was agreed by all that in such discussions the excesses of bad men ought not to be brought forward by either party ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 252, footnote 8 (Image)

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

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

The Enchiridion. (HTML)

It is Probable that Children are Involved in the Guilt Not Only of the First Pair, But of Their Own Immediate Parents. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1168 (In-Text, Margin)

... the first pair, but of their own immediate parents. For that divine judgment, “I shall visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children,” certainly applies to them before they come under the new covenant by regeneration. And it was this new covenant that was prophesied of, when it was said by Ezekiel, that the sons should not bear the iniquity of the fathers, and that it should no longer be a proverb in Israel, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”[Ezekiel 18:2] Here lies the necessity that each man should be born again, that he might be freed from the sin in which he was born. For the sins committed afterwards can be cured by penitence, as we see is the case after baptism. And therefore the new birth would ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 489, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Against Lying. (HTML)

Section 20 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2409 (In-Text, Margin)

... shall have power of this sort shall say, “Unless thou be wicked, I will be more wicked, or unless thou do this wickedness, I will do more such,” we must seem to admit wickedness in ourselves, if we wish to refrain (others) from wickedness. To be wise in this sort, what is it but to lose one’s wits, or rather, to be downright mad? Mine own iniquity, not another’s, whether perpetrated upon me or upon others, is that from which I must beware of damnation. For “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”[Ezekiel 18:4]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 365, footnote 3 (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)

Augustin Prays that the Manichæans May Be Restored to Their Senses. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1140 (In-Text, Margin)

... give place to repentance, that wickedness having been abandoned, they may believe on Thee, O Lord; who by Thy patience dost lead to repentance, although many according to the hardness of their heart and their impenitent heart treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath and of the revelation of Thy righteous judgment, who wilt render to every man according to his works; who in the day when a man shall have turned from his iniquity to Thy mercy and truth, wilt forget all his iniquities:[Ezekiel 18:21] stand before us, grant unto us that through our ministry, by which Thou hast been pleased to refute this execrable and too horrible error, as many have already been liberated, many also may be liberated, and whether through the sacrament of Thy holy ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 78, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

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

Book III (HTML)

The Precept About Touching the Menstruous Woman Not to Be Figuratively Understood; The Necessity of the Sacraments. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 705 (In-Text, Margin)

... rather to indicate, and to a certain degree compel us) some particular sanctification is to be here understood, by which an unbelieving husband or wife was sanctified by the believing partner, and by which the children of the believing parents were sanctified,—whether it was that the husband or the wife, during the woman’s menstruation, abstained from cohabiting, having learned that duty in the law (for Ezekiel classes this amongst the precepts which were not to be taken in a metaphorical sense[Ezekiel 18:6]), or on account of some other voluntary sanctification which is not there expressly prescribed,—a sprinkling of holiness arising out of the close ties of married life and children. Nevertheless, whatever be the sanctification meant, this must be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 456, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

Free Will Has Its Function in the Heart’s Conversion; But Grace Too Has Its. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3112 (In-Text, Margin)

Lest, however, it should be thought that men themselves in this matter do nothing by free will, it is said in the Psalm, “Harden not your hearts;” and in Ezekiel himself, “Cast away from you all your transgressions, which ye have impiously committed against me; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; and keep all my commandments. For why will ye die, O house of Israel, saith the Lord? for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: and turn ye, and live.”[Ezekiel 18:31-32] We should remember that it is He who says, “Turn ye and live,” to whom it is said in prayer, “Turn us again, O God.” We should remember that He says, “Cast away from you all your transgressions,” when it is even He who justifies the ungodly. We should ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 325, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xii. 32, ‘Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.’ Or, ‘on the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.’ (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2413 (In-Text, Margin)

21. But this impenitence or impenitent heart may not be pronounced upon, as long as a man lives in the flesh. For we are not to despair of any so long as “the patience of God leadeth the ungodly to repentance,” and doth not hurry him out of this life; “God, who willeth not the death of a sinner, but that he should return from his ways and live.”[Ezekiel 18:23] He is a heathen today; but how knowest thou whether he may not be a Christian to-morrow? He is a heretic to-day; but what if to-morrow he follow the Catholic truth? He is a schismatic to-day; but what if to-morrow he embrace Catholic peace? What if they, whom thou observest now in any kind of error that can be, and whom ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 362, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xviii. 15, ‘If thy brother sin against thee, go, shew him his fault between thee and him alone;’ and of the words of Solomon, he that winketh with the eyes deceitfully, heapeth sorrow upon men; but he that reproveth openly, maketh peace. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2760 (In-Text, Margin)

... breast, be the better for the beating; lest thou seem not to beat thy conscience, but rather with blows to harden it, and make an evil conscience more unyielding instead of better. Moan with no fruitless moaning. For it may be thou art saying to thyself, “God hath promised me forgiveness, whenever I reform myself I am secure; I read the divine Scripture, “In the day that the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, I will forget all his iniquities.”[Ezekiel 18:21-22] I am secure then, whenever I reform myself, God will give me pardon for my evil deeds.” What can I say to this? Shall I lift up my voice against God? Shall I say to God, Do not give him pardon? Shall I say, This is not written, God hath not promised ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 376, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Delivered on the Lord’s Day, on that which is written in the Gospel, Matt. xx. 1, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that was a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.’ (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2859 (In-Text, Margin)

... because we cannot attain to the receiving an eternal.” In saying such things they perish through despair, either before they believe at all, or when Christians already, they have fallen by evil living into any sins and wickednesses. The Lord of the vineyard goeth forth to them, and by the Prophet Ezekial knocketh, and calleth to them in their despair, and as they turn their backs to Him that calleth them. “In whatsoever day a man shall turn from his most wicked way, I will forget all his iniquities.”[Ezekiel 18:21] If they hear and believe this voice, they are recovered from despair, and rise up again from that very deep and bottomless gulf, wherein they had been sunk.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 200, footnote 2 (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 VII. 40–53; VIII. 1–11. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 631 (In-Text, Margin)

... Wisdom, which says, “I also will laugh at your perdition.” How then does the Lord treat those who are in danger from both these maladies? To those who are in danger from hope, He says, “Be not slow to be converted to the Lord, neither put it off from day to day; for suddenly His anger will come, and in the time of vengeance, will utterly destroy thee.” To those who are in danger from despair, what does He say? “In what day soever the wicked man shall be converted, I will forget all his iniquities.”[Ezekiel 18:21] Accordingly, for the sake of those who are in danger by despair, He has offered us a refuge of pardon; and because of those who are in danger by hope, and are deluded by delays, He has made the day of death uncertain. Thou knowest not when thy last ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 52, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 540 (In-Text, Margin)

27. “And with the chosen Thou shalt be chosen.” (ver. 26). And by him whom Thou choosest, Thou art chosen. “And with the froward Thou shalt be froward.” And with the froward Thou seemest froward: for they say, “The way of the Lord is not right:”[Ezekiel 18:25] and their way is not right.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 538, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4927 (In-Text, Margin)

14. But what is it that he next addeth? “Let the wickedness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be done away” (ver. 13). Is it to be understood, that even the sins of his fathers shall be visited upon him? For upon him they are not visited, who hath been changed in Christ, and hath ceased to be the child of the wicked, by not having imitated their conduct.[Ezekiel 18:4] …And to these words, “I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children,” is added, “who hate Me;” that is, hate Me as their fathers hated Me: so that as the effect of imitating the good is that even their own sins are blotted out, so the imitation of the wicked causeth men to suffer ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 538, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4927 (In-Text, Margin)

14. But what is it that he next addeth? “Let the wickedness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be done away” (ver. 13). Is it to be understood, that even the sins of his fathers shall be visited upon him? For upon him they are not visited, who hath been changed in Christ, and hath ceased to be the child of the wicked, by not having imitated their conduct.[Ezekiel 18:20] …And to these words, “I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children,” is added, “who hate Me;” that is, hate Me as their fathers hated Me: so that as the effect of imitating the good is that even their own sins are blotted out, so the imitation of the wicked causeth men to suffer ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 462, footnote 5 (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 XVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1748 (In-Text, Margin)

... partake of their sadness. And hear what He says, reproaching them: “They suffered nothing in the affliction of Joseph:” meaning by Joseph the whole people. And again: “The inhabitants of Ænan went not forth to bewail the house next unto them.” For although they are justly punished, God willeth that we should condole with them, and not rejoice or insult. “For if I that punish,” saith He, “do not this rejoicingly; nor take pleasure in their punishment; for “I do not at all will the death of the sinner;”[Ezekiel 18:32] it is right that thou shouldest imitate thy Lord; and shouldest mourn for this very thing, that the sinner hath provided matter and occasion for a just punishment.” So that if any one entertains a godly sorrow, he will thence reap a great advantage.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 596, footnote 4 (Image)

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

The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius. (HTML)

The Oration of Eusebius. (HTML)

Chapter XI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3541 (In-Text, Margin)

... to draw near, and hasten to receive his heavenly cure. And thus in time past had he clearly announced to all the pardon of former transgressions, saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And again, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” And he adds the reason, saying, “For they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” And again, “I desire not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent.”[Ezekiel 18:23]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 184, footnote 5 (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 1191 (In-Text, Margin)

Orth. —Hear the Lord God speaking through the prophet Ezekiel “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”[Ezekiel 18:4] Moreover through the great Moses He saith “If a soul sin—” And again “It shall come to pass that every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be cut off.” And many other passages of the same kind may be found.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 201, footnote 1 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

His address to monks, rendered from Coptic, exhorting them to perseverance, and encouraging them against the wiles of Satan. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1023 (In-Text, Margin)

... his Master. Wherefore as a servant would not dare to say, because I worked yesterday, I will not work today; and considering the past will do no work in the future; but, as it is written in the Gospel, daily shows the same readiness to please his master, and to avoid risk: so let us daily abide firm in our discipline, knowing that if we are careless for a single day the Lord will not pardon us, for the sake of the past, but will be wrath against us for our neglect. As also we have heard in Ezekiel[Ezekiel 18:26]; and as Judas because of one night destroyed his previous labour.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 514, footnote 13 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)

The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)

Festal Letters. (HTML)

For 331. Easter-day xvi Pharmuthi; iii Id. April; Æra Dioclet. 47; Coss. Annius Bassus, Ablabius; Præfect, Florentius; Indict. iv. (HTML)

... deceitful, and lovers of sin, walk still as in darkness, not having that ‘Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ Now a fire such as this laid hold of Jeremiah the prophet, when the word was in him as a fire, and he said, ‘I pass away from every place, and am not able to endure it.’ And our Lord Jesus Christ, being good and a lover of men, came that He might cast this upon earth, and said, ‘And what? would that it were already kindled!’ For He desired, as He testified in Ezekiel[Ezekiel 18:23], the repentance of a man rather than his death; so that evil should be entirely consumed in all men, that the soul, being purified, might be able to bring forth fruit; for the word which is sown by Him will be productive, some thirty, some sixty, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 514, footnote 13 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)

The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)

Festal Letters. (HTML)

For 331. Easter-day xvi Pharmuthi; iii Id. April; Æra Dioclet. 47; Coss. Annius Bassus, Ablabius; Præfect, Florentius; Indict. iv. (HTML)

... deceitful, and lovers of sin, walk still as in darkness, not having that ‘Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ Now a fire such as this laid hold of Jeremiah the prophet, when the word was in him as a fire, and he said, ‘I pass away from every place, and am not able to endure it.’ And our Lord Jesus Christ, being good and a lover of men, came that He might cast this upon earth, and said, ‘And what? would that it were already kindled!’ For He desired, as He testified in Ezekiel[Ezekiel 18:32], the repentance of a man rather than his death; so that evil should be entirely consumed in all men, that the soul, being purified, might be able to bring forth fruit; for the word which is sown by Him will be productive, some thirty, some sixty, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 126, footnote 6 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

He expounds the passage of the Gospel, “The Father judgeth no man,” and further speaks of the assumption of man with body and soul wrought by the Lord, of the transgression of Adam, and of death and the resurrection of the dead. (HTML)

... in the day that they should eat of the forbidden fruit, death without respite would attach to the act. Now since the condemnation of man was twofold, death correspondingly effects in each part of our nature the deprivation of the twofold life that operates in him who is thus mortally stricken. For the death of the body consists in the extinction of the means of sensible perception, and in the dissolution of the body into its kindred elements: but “the soul that sinneth,” he saith, “it shall die[Ezekiel 18:20].” Now sin is nothing else than alienation from God, Who is the true and only life. Accordingly the first man lived many hundred years after his disobedience, and yet God lied not when He said, “In the day that ye eat thereof ye shall surely die.” ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 50, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Paula. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 800 (In-Text, Margin)

... that godless men live to old age in the enjoyment of this world’s riches? How comes it that untutored youth and innocent childhood are cut down while still in the bud? Why is it that children three years old or two, and even unweaned infants, are possessed with devils, covered with leprosy, and eaten up with jaundice, while godless men and profane, adulterers and murderers, have health and strength to blaspheme God? Are we not told that the unrighteousness of the father does not fall upon the son,[Ezekiel 18:20] and that “the soul that sinneth it shall die?” Or if the old doctrine holds good that the sins of the fathers must be visited upon the children, an old man’s countless sins cannot fairly be avenged upon a harmless infant. And I have said: “Verily, I ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 50, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Paula. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 801 (In-Text, Margin)

... of this world’s riches? How comes it that untutored youth and innocent childhood are cut down while still in the bud? Why is it that children three years old or two, and even unweaned infants, are possessed with devils, covered with leprosy, and eaten up with jaundice, while godless men and profane, adulterers and murderers, have health and strength to blaspheme God? Are we not told that the unrighteousness of the father does not fall upon the son, and that “the soul that sinneth it shall die?”[Ezekiel 18:4] Or if the old doctrine holds good that the sins of the fathers must be visited upon the children, an old man’s countless sins cannot fairly be avenged upon a harmless infant. And I have said: “Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 56, footnote 4 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 885 (In-Text, Margin)

... the apostles, but with them a bishop ranks not first but third. For while they put first the patriarchs of Pepusa in Phrygia, and place next to these the ministers called stewards, the bishops are relegated to the third or almost the lowest rank. No doubt their object is to make their religion more pretentious by putting that last which we put first. Again they close the doors of the Church to almost every fault, whilst we read daily, “I desire the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,”[Ezekiel 18:23] and “Shall they fall and not arise, saith the Lord,” and once more “Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings.” Their strictness does not prevent them from themselves committing grave sins, far from it; but there is this ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 105, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Furia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1568 (In-Text, Margin)

8. So much for dress and adornment. But a widow “that liveth in pleasure”—the words are not mine but those of the apostle—“is dead while she liveth.” What does that mean—“is dead while she liveth”? To those who know no better she seems to be alive and not, as she is, dead in sin; yes, and in another sense dead to Christ, from whom no secrets are hid. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”[Ezekiel 18:20] “Some men’s sins are open…going before to judgment: and some they follow after. Likewise also good works are manifest, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. The words mean this:—Certain persons sin so deliberately and flagrantly that you no sooner see them than you know them at once to be sinners. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 126, footnote 7 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Heliodorus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1846 (In-Text, Margin)

... itself obscure. But as my duty is to sing the praises of the soul, I will not dwell upon those fleshly advantages which Nepotian for his part always despised. Nor will I boast of his family, that is of the good points belonging not to him but to others; for even those holy men Abraham and Isaac had for sons the sinners Ishmael and Esau. And on the other hand Jephthah who is reckoned by the apostle in the roll of the righteous is the son of a harlot. It is said “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”[Ezekiel 18:4] The soul therefore that has not sinned shall live. Neither the virtues nor the vices of parents are imputed to their children. God takes account of us only from the time when we are born anew in Christ. Paul, the persecutor of the church, who is in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 159, footnote 19 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Oceanus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2348 (In-Text, Margin)

... Yet for all that the publican with his humble confession of his faults went back justified far more than the Pharisee with his arrogant boasting of his virtues. This is not however the place to preach penitence, neither am I writing against Montanus and Novatus. Else would I say of it that it is “a sacrifice…well pleasing to God,” I would cite the words of the psalmist: “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” and those of Ezekiel “I prefer the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,”[Ezekiel 18:23] and those of Baruch, “Arise, arise, O Jerusalem,” and many other proclamations made by the trumpets of the prophets.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 192, footnote 10 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Laeta. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2692 (In-Text, Margin)

... cup of Babylon? to keep her from going out with Dinah to see the daughters of a strange land? to save her from the tripping dance and from the trailing robe? No one administers drugs till he has rubbed the rim of the cup with honey; so, the better to deceive us, vice puts on the mien and the semblance of virtue. Why then, you will say, do we read:—“the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son,” but “the soul that sinneth it shall die”?[Ezekiel 18:20] The passage, I answer, refers to those who have discretion, such as he of whom his parents said in the gospel:—“he is of age…he shall speak for himself.” While the son is a child and thinks as a child and until he comes to years of discretion to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 225, footnote 19 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Rusticus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3132 (In-Text, Margin)

... and light shines more brightly when it is relieved against darkness. Ezekiel uses language like that of the other prophets because he is animated by a similar spirit. “Repent,” he cries, “and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord.”[Ezekiel 18:30-32] Wherefore in a subsequent passage he says: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” These words shew us that the mind must not through disbelief in the promised ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 294, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Sabinianus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4004 (In-Text, Margin)

10. But possibly you flatter yourself that since the bishop who has made you a deacon is a holy man, his merits will atone for your transgressions. I have already told you that the father is not punished for the son nor the son for the father. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”[Ezekiel 18:4] Samuel too had sons who forsook the fear of the Lord and “turned aside after lucre” and iniquity. Eli also was a holy priest, but he had sons of whom we read in the Hebrew that they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of God, and that like you they shamelessly claimed for themselves the right to minister in His sanctuary. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 364, footnote 9 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4411 (In-Text, Margin)

... argument that in Ezekiel it is said that Noah, Daniel and Job in a sinful land could not free their sons and daughters, we reply that the words are used hypothetically. Noah and Job were not in existence at that time: we know that they lived many ages before. And the meaning is this: if there were such and such men in a sinful land, they shall not be able to save their own sons and daughters: because the righteousness of the father shall not save the son, nor shall the sin of one be imputed to another.[Ezekiel 18:4] “For the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” This, too, must be said, that Daniel, as the history of his book shows, was taken captive with King Jehoiakim at the same time that Ezekiel was also led into captivity. How then could he have sons who was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 465, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5250 (In-Text, Margin)

... without sin. Hence it was that Job offered sacrifices for his sons, lest, perchance, they had unwittingly sinned in thought. And if, when one is cutting wood, the axe-head flies from the handle and kills a man, the owner is commanded to go to one of the cities of refuge and stay there until the high priest dies; that is to say, until he is redeemed by the Saviour’s blood, either in the baptistery, or in penitence which is a copy of the grace of baptism, through the ineffable mercy of the Saviour, who[Ezekiel 18:23] would not have any one perish, nor delights in the death of sinners, but would rather that they should be converted and live.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 477, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5324 (In-Text, Margin)

... or less frequent intervals, and, however strong it may be, is sometimes distressed by various humours; so the soul, bearing the onset of thoughts and agitations, even though it escape shipwreck, does not sail without danger, and remembering its weakness, is always anxious about death, according as it is written, “What man is he that shall live and not see death?”—death, which threatens all mortal men, not through the decay of nature, but through the death of sin, according to the prophet’s words,[Ezekiel 18:4] “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Besides, we know that Enoch and Elias have not yet seen this death which is common to man and the brutes. Show me a body which is never sick, or which after sickness is ever safe and sound, and I will show you ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 6, footnote 2 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

To those who are to be Enlightened, delivered extempore at Jerusalem, as an Introductory Lecture to those who had come forward for Baptism. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 460 (In-Text, Margin)

1. Disciples of the New Testament and partakers of the mysteries of Christ, as yet by calling only, but ere long by grace also, make you a new heart and a new spirit[Ezekiel 18:31], that there may be gladness among the inhabitants of heaven: for if over one sinner that repenteth there is joy, according to the Gospel, how much more shall the salvation of so many souls move the inhabitants of heaven to gladness. As ye have entered upon a good and most glorious path, run with reverence the race of godliness. For the Only-begotten Son of God is present here most ready to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 337, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On the Arrival of the Egyptians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3802 (In-Text, Margin)

... Majesty of our Fellow Servants, though we lose our God. But if all that the Father has belongs likewise to the Son, except Causality; and all that is the Son’s belongs also to the Spirit, except His Sonship, and whatsoever is spoken of Him as to Incarnation for me a man, and for my salvation, that, taking of mine, He may impart His own by this new commingling; then cease your babbling, though so late, O ye sophists of vain talk that falls at once to the ground; for why will ye die O House of Israel?[Ezekiel 18:31] —if I may mourn for you in the words of Scripture.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 144, footnote 1 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Chilo, his disciple. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2063 (In-Text, Margin)

2. Vain then is the labour of the righteous man, and free from blame is the way of the sinner, if a change befall, and the former turn from the better to the worse, and the latter from the worse to the better. So we hear from Ezekiel teaching as it were in the name of the Lord, when he says, “if the righteous turneth away and committeth iniquity, I will not remember the righteousness which he committed before; in his sin he shall die,”[Ezekiel 18:24] and so too about the sinner; if he turn away from his wickedness, and do that which is right, he shall live. Where were all the labours of God’s servant Moses, when the gainsaying of one moment shut him out from entering into the promised land? What became of the companionship ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 147, footnote 4 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To a lapsed Monk. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2097 (In-Text, Margin)

... and rescue you. Though it be but two legs or a lobe of an ear, spring back from the beast that has wounded you. Remember the mercies of God and how He cures with oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall your recollection of how it is written in the Scriptures that he who is falling rises and he who turns away returns; the wounded is healed, the prey of beasts escapes; he who owns his sin is not rejected. The Lord willeth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live.[Ezekiel 18:32] Do not despise, like the wicked in the pit of evil. There is a time of endurance, a time of long suffering, a time of healing, a time of correction. Have you stumbled? Arise. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand in the way of sinners, but spring ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 264, footnote 5 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

Against Eustathius of Sebasteia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2897 (In-Text, Margin)

... at Heraclea, and at an earlier period in the suburb of Cæsarea? Are they not all mutually consistent? I only except the increase in force of which I spoke just now, resulting from advance, and which is not to be regarded as a change from worse to better, but rather as a filling up of what was wanting in the addition of knowledge. How can you fail to bear in mind that the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son, nor the son bear the iniquity of the father, but each shall die in his own sin?[Ezekiel 18:20] I have neither father nor son slandered by you; I have had neither teacher nor disciple. But if the sins of the parents must be made charges against their children, it is far fairer for the sins of Arius to be charged against his disciples; and, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 179, footnote 7 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus. (HTML)

Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1518 (In-Text, Margin)

... which, escaping from sin, and devoted to God, separates us from what is mortal and consecrates us to Him Who is immortal. Another death is the departure from this life, as the patriarch Abraham died, and the patriarch David, and were buried with their fathers; when the soul is set free from the bonds of the body. The third death is that of which it is said: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” In that death not only the flesh but also the soul dies, for “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”[Ezekiel 18:4] For it dies to the Lord, through the weakness not of nature but of guilt. But this death is not the discharge from this life, but a fall through error.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 245, footnote 6 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)

Chapter III. That the Father and the Son must not be divided is proved by the words of the Apostle, seeing that it is befitting to the Son that He should be blessed, only Potentate, and immortal, by nature, that is, and not by grace, as even the angels themselves are immortal, and that He should dwell in the unapproachable light. How it is that the Father and the Son are alike and equally said to be “alone.” (HTML)

19. But the immortality of His Nature is one thing, that of ours is another. Things perishable are not to be compared to things divine. The Godhead is the one only Substance that death cannot touch, and therefore it is that the Apostle, though knowing both the [human] soul and angels to be immortal, declared that God only had immortality. In truth, even the soul may die: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,”[Ezekiel 18:20] and an angel is not absolutely immortal, his immortality depending on the will of the Creator.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 331, footnote 4 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Concerning Repentance. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)

Chapter III. To the argument of the Novatians, that they only deny forgiveness in the case of greater sins, St. Ambrose replies, that this is also an offence against God, Who gave the power to forgive all sins, but that of course a more severe penance must follow in case of graver sins. He points out likewise that this distinction as to the gravity of sins assigns, as it were, severity to God, Whose mercy in the Incarnation is overlooked by the Novatians. (HTML)

... to God those for severity. And what as to that saying: “Let God be true but every man a liar, as it is written, That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and overcome when Thou art judged”? In order, then, that we may recognize that the God of mercy is rather prone to indulgence than to severity, it is said: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice.” How, then, can your sacrifice, who refuse mercy, be acceptable to God, since He says that He wills not the death of a sinner, but his correction?[Ezekiel 18:32]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 55, footnote 4 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of Sulpitius Severus. (HTML)

The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus. (HTML)

Letter I. A Letter of the Holy Presbyter Severus to His Sister Claudia Concerning the Last Judgment. (HTML)

Chapter II. (HTML)

... steps; for, undoubtedly, by falling into this fault, your furrow will lose its straightness, and the cultivator will not receive his own proper reward. Moreover, he does not secure even a measure of the reward, if he has, in a measure, failed. For, as we must flee from sin to righteousness, so he who has entered on the practice of righteousness must beware lest he lay himself open to sin. For it is written that “his righteousness shall not profit the righteous on the day on which he has gone astray.”[Ezekiel 18:24] For this, then, we must take our stand, for this we must labor, that we, who have escaped from sins, do not lose the prepared rewards. For the enemy stands ready against us, that he may at once strike the man who has been stripped of the shield of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 426, footnote 14 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)

Conference XIII. The Third Conference of Abbot Chæremon. On the Protection of God. (HTML)

Chapter IX. Of the power of our good will, and the grace of God. (HTML)

... may boast?” What is this too which is said: “Draw near to the Lord, and He will draw near to you,” and what He says elsewhere: “No man cometh unto Me except the Father who sent Me draw Him?” What is it that we find: “Make straight paths for your feet and direct your ways,” and what is it that we say in our prayers: “Direct my way in Thy sight,” and “establish my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps be not moved?” What is it again that we are admonished: “Make you a new heart and a new spirit,”[Ezekiel 18:31] and what is this which is promised to us: “I will give them one heart and will put a new spirit within them:” and “I will take away the stony heart from their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh that they may walk in Thy statutes and keep My ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 543, footnote 5 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV. (HTML)

Conference XXIV. Conference of Abbot Abraham. On Mortification. (HTML)

Chapter XXV. Of the good which an attack of temptation brings about. (HTML)

... this world. But when in this way we have made the Lord’s yoke heavy and hard to us, we at once complain in a blasphemous spirit of the hardness and roughness of the yoke itself or of Christ who lays it upon us, in accordance with this passage: “The folly of man corrupteth his ways, but he blames God in his heart;” and as Haggai the prophet says, when we say that “the way of the Lord is not right” the reply is aptly made to us by the Lord: “Is not My way right? Are not your ways rather crooked?”[Ezekiel 18:25] And indeed if you will compare the sweet scented flower of virginity, and tender purity of chastity to the foul and fetid sloughs of lust, the calm and security of monks to the dangers and losses in which the men of this world are involved, the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 354, footnote 8 (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 750 (In-Text, Margin)

... boasted of it before the Babylonians, (yet) it was all of it carried away and went to Babylon. And if thou gloriest in thy children, they shall be led away from thee to the Beast, as the children of King Hezekiah were led away, and became eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon. And if thou dost glory in thy wisdom, thou dost not in it excel the Prince of Tyre, whom Ezekiel reproached, saying unto him:— Art thou wiser than Daniel, or hast thou seen by thy wisdom the things that are hid?[Ezekiel 18:3] And if thy mind is puffed up by thy years, that they are many; they are not more in number than those of the Prince of Tyre who ruled the Kingdom during the days of twenty-two Kings of the house of Judah, that is, for four hundred and forty years. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 380, footnote 9 (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 the Resurrection of the Dead. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 999 (In-Text, Margin)

... and said to him, In the day that thou shalt eat of the tree, thou shalt surely die. And after he had transgressed the commandment, and had eaten, he lived nine hundred and thirty years; but he was accounted dead unto God because of his sins. But that it may be made certain for thee that a sinner is called dead even when he lives, I will make it clear to thee. For thus it is written in Ezekiel the Prophet, As I live, saith the Lord of lords, I desire not the death of the dead sinner.[Ezekiel 18:23]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 380, footnote 9 (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 the Resurrection of the Dead. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 999 (In-Text, Margin)

... and said to him, In the day that thou shalt eat of the tree, thou shalt surely die. And after he had transgressed the commandment, and had eaten, he lived nine hundred and thirty years; but he was accounted dead unto God because of his sins. But that it may be made certain for thee that a sinner is called dead even when he lives, I will make it clear to thee. For thus it is written in Ezekiel the Prophet, As I live, saith the Lord of lords, I desire not the death of the dead sinner.[Ezekiel 18:32]