Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Ezekiel 34

There are 39 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 52, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)

Book Third.—Similitudes (HTML)

Similitude Ninth. The Great Mysteries in the Building of the Militant and Triumphant Church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 388 (In-Text, Margin)

... always in righteousness and truth, according as they had received the Holy Spirit. Such persons, therefore, shall enter in with the angels.”“And they who believed from the ninth mountain, which was deserted, and had in it creeping things and wild beasts which destroy men, were the following: they who had the stains as servants, who discharged their duty ill, and who plundered widows and orphans of their livelihood, and gained possessions for themselves from the ministry, which they had received.[Ezekiel 34:3] If, therefore, they remain under the dominion of the same desire, they are dead, and there is no hope of life for them; but if they repent, and finish their ministry in a holy manner, they shall be able to live. And they who were covered with scabs ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 231, footnote 1 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Chapter IX.—That It is the Prerogative of the Same Power to Be Beneficent and to Punish Justly. Also the Manner of the Instruction of the Logos. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1253 (In-Text, Margin)

... crowning wisdom of the all-holy Shepherd and Instructor, of the omnipotent and paternal Word, when He figuratively represents Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep. And He is the Tutor of the children. He says therefore by Ezekiel, directing His discourse to the elders, and setting before them a salutary description of His wise solicitude: “And that which is lame I will bind up, and that which is sick I will heal, and that which has wandered I will turn back; and I will feed them on my holy mountain.”[Ezekiel 34:14-16] Such are the promises of the good Shepherd.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 231, footnote 2 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Chapter IX.—That It is the Prerogative of the Same Power to Be Beneficent and to Punish Justly. Also the Manner of the Instruction of the Logos. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1254 (In-Text, Margin)

Feed us, the children, as sheep. Yea, Master, fill us with righteousness, Thine own pasture; yea, O Instructor, feed us on Thy holy mountain the Church, which towers aloft, which is above the clouds, which touches heaven. “And I will be,” He says, “their Shepherd,”[Ezekiel 34:14-16] and will be near them, as the garment to their skin. He wishes to save my flesh by enveloping it in the robe of immortality, and He hath anointed my body. “They shall call Me,” He says, “and I will say, Here am I.” Thou didst hear sooner than I expected, Master. “And if they pass over, they shall not slip,” saith the Lord. For we who are passing over to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 363, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Chapter XV.—On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2311 (In-Text, Margin)

Again, the Lord clearly shows sins and transgressions to be in our own power, by prescribing modes of cure corresponding to the maladies; showing His wish that we should be corrected by the shepherds, in Ezekiel; blaming, I am of opinion, some of them for not keeping the commandments. “That which was enfeebled ye have not strengthened,” and so forth, down to, “and there was none to search out or turn away.”[Ezekiel 34:4-6]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 81, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Modesty. (HTML)

Of the Parables of the Lost Ewe and the Lost Drachma. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 788 (In-Text, Margin)

Finally, if you are mindful of the prophets, when they are chiding the shepherds, there is a word—I think it is Ezekiel’s: “Shepherds, behold, ye devour the milk, and clothe you with the fleeces: what is strong ye have slain; what is weak ye have not tended; what is shattered ye have not bound; what has been driven out ye have not brought back; what has perished ye have not re-sought.”[Ezekiel 34:1-4] Pray, does he withal upbraid them at all concerning that which is dead, that they have taken no care to restore that too to the flock? Plainly, he makes it an additional reproach that they have caused the sheep to perish, and to be eaten up by the beasts of the field; nor can they either “perish ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 280, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

From the Roman Clergy to the Carthaginian Clergy, About the Retirement of the Blessed Cyprian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2130 (In-Text, Margin)

... which has been made manifest to us. Since, moreover, it devolves upon us who appear to be placed on high, in the place of a shepherd, to keep watch over the flock; if we be found neglectful, it will be said to us, as it was said to our predecessors also, who in such wise negligent had been placed in charge, that “we have not sought for that which was lost, and have not corrected the wanderer, and have not bound up that which was broken, but have eaten their milk, and been clothed with their wool;”[Ezekiel 34:3-4] and then also the Lord Himself, fulfilling what had been written in the law and the prophets, teaches, saying, “I am the good shepherd, who lay down my life for the sheep. But the hireling, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 331, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Antonianus About Cornelius and Novatian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2467 (In-Text, Margin)

15. If we reject the repentance of those who have some confidence in a conscience that may be tolerated; at once with their wife, with their children, whom they had kept safe, they are hurried by the devil’s invitation into heresy or schism; and it will be attributed to us in the day of judgment, that we have not cared for the wounded sheep,[Ezekiel 34:4] and that on account of a single wounded one we have lost many sound ones. And whereas the Lord left the ninety and nine that were whole, and sought after the one wandering and weary, and Himself carried it, when found, upon His shoulders, we not only do not seek the lapsed, but even drive them away when they come to us; and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 338, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Cornelius, Concerning Granting Peace to the Lapsed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2520 (In-Text, Margin)

... which was strong ye wore out with labour. And my sheep were scattered, because there were no shepherds: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field; and there was none who sought after them, nor brought them back. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep of their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding my sheep; neither shall they feed them any more: and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.”[Ezekiel 34:3-6]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 338, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Cornelius, Concerning Granting Peace to the Lapsed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2520 (In-Text, Margin)

... which was strong ye wore out with labour. And my sheep were scattered, because there were no shepherds: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field; and there was none who sought after them, nor brought them back. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep of their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding my sheep; neither shall they feed them any more: and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.”[Ezekiel 34:10-16]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 369, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Father Stephanus, Concerning Marcianus of Arles, Who Had Joined Himself to Novatian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2745 (In-Text, Margin)

... that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost. And my sheep were scattered because there is no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hands, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall they feed them any more: for I will deliver them from their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.”[Ezekiel 34:4-6] Since therefore the Lord thus threatens such shepherds by whom the Lord’s sheep are neglected and perish, what else ought we to do, dearest brother, than to exhibit full diligence in gathering together and restoring the sheep of Christ, and to apply ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 369, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Father Stephanus, Concerning Marcianus of Arles, Who Had Joined Himself to Novatian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2745 (In-Text, Margin)

... that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost. And my sheep were scattered because there is no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hands, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall they feed them any more: for I will deliver them from their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.”[Ezekiel 34:10] Since therefore the Lord thus threatens such shepherds by whom the Lord’s sheep are neglected and perish, what else ought we to do, dearest brother, than to exhibit full diligence in gathering together and restoring the sheep of Christ, and to apply ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 369, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Father Stephanus, Concerning Marcianus of Arles, Who Had Joined Himself to Novatian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2745 (In-Text, Margin)

... that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost. And my sheep were scattered because there is no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hands, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall they feed them any more: for I will deliver them from their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.”[Ezekiel 34:16] Since therefore the Lord thus threatens such shepherds by whom the Lord’s sheep are neglected and perish, what else ought we to do, dearest brother, than to exhibit full diligence in gathering together and restoring the sheep of Christ, and to apply ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 511, footnote 9 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
That the old pastors should cease and new ones begin. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 3875 (In-Text, Margin)

In Ezekiel: “Wherefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am above the shepherds; and I will require my sheep from their hands, and I will turn them away from feeding my sheep; and they shall feed them no more, and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, and I will feed them with judgment.”[Ezekiel 34:10-16] In Jeremiah the Lord says: “And I will give you shepherds according to my own heart, and they shall feed you with the food of discipline.” In Jeremiah, moreover: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye nations, and tell it to the islands which are afar off. Say, He that scattereth Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd his flock: for the Lord ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 662, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Appendix. (HTML)

Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian. (HTML)

A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5403 (In-Text, Margin)

... and I will drive them away, that they may not feed my sheep; and my sheep shall no more be for them to devour, and I will seek them out as a shepherd his flock in the day in which there shall be darkness and cloud. Thus I will seek out my sheep, and I will seek them out in every place wherever they are scattered; and I will seek out what had perished, and I will recall what had wandered, and what had halted I will heal, and what is weak I will watch over; and I will feed my sheep with judgment.”[Ezekiel 34]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 404, 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 2687 (In-Text, Margin)

... not be meat for them.” And he also adds, speaking to the people: “Behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, and between rams and rams. Seemed it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, and to have trodden down with your feet the residue of your pasture, and that the sheep have eaten what was trodden down with your feet? “And a little after He adds: “And ye shall know that I am the Lord, and you the sheep of my pasture; ye are my men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.”[Ezekiel 34:2]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 405, footnote 7 (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 2695 (In-Text, Margin)

... As a skilful and compassionate physician, heal all such as have wandered in the ways of sin; for “they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For the Son of man came to save and to seek that which was lost.” Since thou art therefore a physician of the Lord’s Church, provide remedies suitable to every patient’s case. Cure them, heal them by all means possible; restore them sound to the Church. Feed the flock, “not with insolence and contempt, as lording it over them,”[Ezekiel 34:4] but as a gentle shepherd, “gathering the lambs into thy bosom, and gently leading those which are with young.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 409, 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. IV.—On the Management of the Resources Collected for the Support of the Clergy, and the Relief of the Poor (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2711 (In-Text, Margin)

... committed the disposition to him. Distribute to all those in want with righteousness, and yourselves use the things which belong to the Lord, but do not abuse them; eating of them, but not eating them all up by yourselves: communicate with those that are in want, and thereby show yourselves unblameable before God. For if you shall consume them by yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who says to such unsatiable people, who alone devour all, “Ye eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool;”[Ezekiel 34:3] and in another passage, “Must you alone live upon the earth”? Upon which account you are commanded in the law, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Now we say these things, not as if you might not partake of the fruits of your labours; for it ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 310, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

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

Book I. (HTML)
The Title “Word” Is to Be Interpreted by the Same Method as the Other Titles of Christ.  The Word of God is Not a Mere Attribute of God, But a Separate Person.  What is Meant When He is Called the Word. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4575 (In-Text, Margin)

... shall any one hear His voice on the streets. A bruised rod shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He bring forth judgment from victory, and in His name shall the nations hope.” That it is Christ about whom such prophecies are made, Matthew shows in his Gospel, where he quotes from memory and says: “That the saying might be fulfilled, He shall not strive nor cry,” etc. David also is called Christ, as where Ezekiel in his prophecy to the shepherds adds as from the mouth of God:[Ezekiel 34:23] “I will raise up David my servant, who shall be their shepherd.” For it is not the patriarch David who is to rise and be the shepherd of the saints, but Christ. Isaiah also called Christ the rod and the flower: “There shall come forth a rod out of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 380, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

A parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world. (HTML)

Of the Prophecy of Daniel and Ezekiel, Other Two of the Greater Prophets. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1199 (In-Text, Margin)

... foretells Christ, speaking of Him in the prophetic manner as David, because He assumed flesh of the seed of David, and on account of that form of a servant in which He was made man, He who is the Son of God is also called the servant of God. He says, “And I will set up over my sheep one Shepherd, who will feed them, even my servant David; and He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince in the midst of them. I the Lord have spoken.”[Ezekiel 34:23] And in another place he says, “And one King shall be over them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms: neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, and their ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 293, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)

Of the Attainment of Cheerfulness in the Duty of Catechising, and of Various Causes Producing Weariness in the Catechumen. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1395 (In-Text, Margin)

... to us to speak, and a pleasure to us to keep silence, then let us ponder what has been set before us by Him who has “showed us an example that we should follow His steps.” For however much our articulate speech may differ from the vivacity of our intelligence, much greater is the difference of the flesh of mortality from the equality of God. And, neverless, “although He was in the same form, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,”—and so on down to the words “the death of the cross.”[Ezekiel 34] What is the explanation of this but that He made Himself “weak to the weak, in order that He might gain the weak?” Listen to His follower as he expresses himself also in another place to this effect: “For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 645, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

The Correction of the Donatists. (HTML)

Chapter 7 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2527 (In-Text, Margin)

... them selves out of the snare of the devil, by whom they are taken captive at his will, though now they only seek materials for calumniating us, and returning to us evil for good; because they have not the knowledge to make them understand what feelings and love we continue to have towards them, and how we are anxious, in accordance with the injunction of the Lord, given to His pastors by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, to bring again that which was driven away, and to seek that which was lost.[Ezekiel 34:4]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 253, 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 X. 1–10. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 863 (In-Text, Margin)

11. That question has been solved in a way, and perhaps satisfies every one. But I bare still a subject of concern, and what concerns me I shall impart to you, that, in some sort inquiring together, I may through His revelation be found worthy with you to attain the solution. Hear, then, what it is that moves me. By the Prophet Ezekiel the Lord rebukes the shepherds, and among other things says of the sheep, “The wandering sheep have ye not recalled.”[Ezekiel 34:4] He both declares it a wanderer, and calls it a sheep. If, while wandering, it was a sheep, whose voice was it hearing to lead it astray? For doubtless it would not be straying were it hearing the shepherd’s voice: but it strayed just because it heard ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 80, footnote 5 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood. (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 218 (In-Text, Margin)

... no doubt he who punishes to a greater degree than others the daughter of a certain man for that man’s sake, will not exact the same penalty from the man who is the cause of her additional chastisement as from others, but a much heavier one; and very reasonably; for the mischief does not merely involve himself, but it destroys the souls of the weaker brethren and of them who look up to him, and Ezekiel, writing to show this, distinguishes from one another the judgment of the rams and of the sheep.[Ezekiel 34:17]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 274, footnote 3 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

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

Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)

To Eusebius, Bishop of Persian Armenia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1741 (In-Text, Margin)

... illustrious patriarch had such care, and offered this defence to him who trusted them to his charge, what ought not we to do who are entrusted with the charge of reasonable sheep, and who have received this trust from the God of all, when we remember that the Lord for them gave up His life? Who does not fear and tremble when he hears the word of God spoken through Ezekiel? “I judge between shepherd and sheep because ye eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool and ye feed not the flocks.”[Ezekiel 34:2] And again, “I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; when thou speakest not to warn the wicked from his wicked way, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood shall I require at thine hand.” With this agree the words ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 248, footnote 1 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) (HTML)

Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) (HTML)

How Athanasius acted when this took place. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1358 (In-Text, Margin)

... and have justly asked, ‘After you had returned under the authority of our letters, why did you withdraw without such authority, and desert your people?’ Would not the people themselves at the day of judgment have reasonably imputed to me this neglect of them, and have said, ‘He that had the oversight of us fled, and we were neglected, there being no one to put us in mind of our duty?’ When they said this, what could I have answered? Such a complaint was made by Ezekiel against the Pastors of old[Ezekiel 34:2]; and the blessed Apostle Paul, knowing this, has charged every one of us through his disciple, saying, ‘Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.’ Fearing this, I wished not to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 558, footnote 5 (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)
Letter to Dracontius. Written A.D. 354 or 355. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4604 (In-Text, Margin)

... will turn his mind to you for peace, when he sees the brethren for whom Christ died injured on account of your flight? For you must know, and not be in doubt, that while before your election you lived to yourself, after it, you live for your flock. And before you had received the grace of the episcopate, no one knew you; but after you became one, the laity expect you to bring them food, namely instruction from the Scriptures. When then they expect, and suffer hunger, and you are feeding yourself[Ezekiel 34:2] only, and our Lord Jesus Christ comes and we stand before Him, what defence will you offer when He sees His own sheep hungering? For had you not taken the money, He would not have blamed you. But He would reasonably do so if upon taking it you dug ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 256, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Principia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3556 (In-Text, Margin)

... While Marcella was thus serving the Lord in holy tranquillity, there arose in these provinces a tornado of heresy which threw everything into confusion; indeed so great was the fury into which it lashed itself that it spared neither itself nor anything that was good. And as if it were too little to have disturbed everything here, it introduced a ship freighted with blasphemies into the port of Rome itself. The dish soon found itself a cover; and the muddy feet of heretics fouled the clear waters[Ezekiel 34:18] of the faith of Rome. No wonder that in the streets and in the market places a soothsayer can strike fools on the back or, catching up his cudgel, shatter the teeth of such as carp at him; when such venomous and filthy teaching as this has found at ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 404, footnote 4 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4847 (In-Text, Margin)

... the rest of your description of the two classes, good and bad, down to the labourers in the vineyard. But what are we to think of your assertion, that because there is a division into good and bad, the good, or the bad it may be, are not distinguished one from another, and that it makes no difference whether one is a ram in the flock or a poor little sheep? whether the sheep have the first or the second fleece? whether the flock is diseased and covered with the scab, or full of life and vigour?[Ezekiel 34:17] especially when by the authoritative utterances of His own prophet Ezekiel God clearly points out the difference between flock and flock of His rational sheep, saying, “Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, and between the rams and the he-goats, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 404, footnote 4 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4847 (In-Text, Margin)

... the rest of your description of the two classes, good and bad, down to the labourers in the vineyard. But what are we to think of your assertion, that because there is a division into good and bad, the good, or the bad it may be, are not distinguished one from another, and that it makes no difference whether one is a ram in the flock or a poor little sheep? whether the sheep have the first or the second fleece? whether the flock is diseased and covered with the scab, or full of life and vigour?[Ezekiel 34:20-21] especially when by the authoritative utterances of His own prophet Ezekiel God clearly points out the difference between flock and flock of His rational sheep, saying, “Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, and between the rams and the he-goats, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 404, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4848 (In-Text, Margin)

... and vigour? especially when by the authoritative utterances of His own prophet Ezekiel God clearly points out the difference between flock and flock of His rational sheep, saying, “Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, and between the rams and the he-goats, and between the fat cattle and the lean. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, until they were scattered abroad.” And that we might know what the cattle were, He immediately added:[Ezekiel 34:31] “Ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men.” Will Paul and that penitent who had lain with his father’s wife be on an equality, because the latter repented and was received into the Church: and shall the offender because he is with him on the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 204, footnote 6 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

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On Easter and His Reluctance. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2543 (In-Text, Margin)

... his only Son, him of the promise. Do you on your side offer to God and to us obedience to your Pastors, dwelling in a place of herbage, and being fed by water of refreshment; knowing your Shepherd well, and being known by him; and following when he calls you as a Shepherd frankly through the door; but not following a stranger climbing up into the fold like a robber and a traitor; nor listening to a strange voice when such would take you away by stealth and scatter you from the truth on mountains,[Ezekiel 34:6] and in deserts, and pitfalls, and places which the Lord does not visit; and would lead you away from the sound Faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the One Power and Godhead, Whose Voice my sheep always heard (and may they always hear ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 227, footnote 26 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

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In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2912 (In-Text, Margin)

... one, and has restored us to each other, Who setteth kings upon thrones, and raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, Who chose David His servant and took him away from the sheepfolds, though he was the least and youngest of the sons of Jesse, Who gave the word to those who preach the gospel with great power for the perfection of the gospel,—may He Himself hold me by my right hand, and guide me with His counsel, and receive me with glory, Who is a Shepherd[Ezekiel 34:12] to shepherds and a Guide to guides: that we may feed His flock with knowledge, not with the instruments of a foolish shepherd, according to the blessing, and not according to the curse pronounced against the men of former days: may He give strength ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 255, footnote 12 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

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On the Death of His Father. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3197 (In-Text, Margin)

... beacon of salvation above us: he has departed with all his excellence, and all the power of pastoral organization, which he had gathered in a long time, full of days and wisdom, and crowned, to use the words of Solomon, with the hoary head of glory. His flock is desolate and downcast, filled, as you see, with despondency and dejection, no longer reposing in the green pasture, and reared up by the water of comfort, but seeking precipices, deserts and pits, in which it will be scattered and perish;[Ezekiel 34:14] in despair of ever obtaining another wise pastor, absolutely persuaded that it cannot find such an one as he, content if it be one who will not be far inferior.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 298, footnote 13 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book V. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. Christ, so far as He is true Son of God, has no Lord, but only so far as He is Man; as is shown by His words in which He addressed at one time the Father, at another the Lord. How many heresies are silenced by one verse of Scripture! We must distinguish between the things that belong to Christ as Son of God or as Son of David. For under the latter title only must we ascribe it to Him that He was a servant. Lastly, he points out that many passages cannot be taken except as referring to the Incarnation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2662 (In-Text, Margin)

111. He has added further: “Save Thy Servant;” and, further on: “Give Thy strength to Thy servant, and to the Son of Thy handmaid;” and, elsewhere, that is, in Ezekiel: “And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall rule them, even My Servant David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My Servant David a prince among them.”[Ezekiel 34:23-24] Now David the Son of Jesse was already dead. Therefore he speaks of Christ, Who for our sakes was made the Son of a handmaiden in the form of man; for according to His divine Generation He has no Mother, but a Father only: nor is He the fruit of earthly desire, but the eternal Power of God.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 384, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

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Of Pastors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1022 (In-Text, Margin)

3. But those pastors who did not care for the sheep, those were hirelings who used to feed themselves alone. On this account the Prophet[Ezekiel 34:2-4] addresses them, saying to them:— O ye pastors who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, hear the word of the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord:  Lo! I will visit My sheep as the pastor visits his flock in the day of the whirlwind, and I will require My sheep at your hands.  O foolish pastors, with the wool of the sheep do ye clothe yourselves and the flesh of the fatlings do eat, and the sheep ye do not feed.  That which was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 384, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

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Of Pastors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1022 (In-Text, Margin)

3. But those pastors who did not care for the sheep, those were hirelings who used to feed themselves alone. On this account the Prophet[Ezekiel 34:9-12] addresses them, saying to them:— O ye pastors who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, hear the word of the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord:  Lo! I will visit My sheep as the pastor visits his flock in the day of the whirlwind, and I will require My sheep at your hands.  O foolish pastors, with the wool of the sheep do ye clothe yourselves and the flesh of the fatlings do eat, and the sheep ye do not feed.  That which was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 384, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)

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Of Pastors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1022 (In-Text, Margin)

3. But those pastors who did not care for the sheep, those were hirelings who used to feed themselves alone. On this account the Prophet[Ezekiel 34:18-19] addresses them, saying to them:— O ye pastors who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, hear the word of the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord:  Lo! I will visit My sheep as the pastor visits his flock in the day of the whirlwind, and I will require My sheep at your hands.  O foolish pastors, with the wool of the sheep do ye clothe yourselves and the flesh of the fatlings do eat, and the sheep ye do not feed.  That which was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 384, footnote 5 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

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Of Pastors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1024 (In-Text, Margin)

... my sheep.  Because thou didst say concerning the sheep, let that which dieth, die, and let that which perisheth perish, and whatever is left, let them devour the flesh of one another; therefore, behold I will make blind thy right eye and I will wither up thy right arm. Thy eye which regarded a bribe shall be blinded, and thy hand which did not rule in righteousness shall waste away. And as for you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, ye are men; but I am the Lord your God.[Ezekiel 34:31] Behold henceforth will feed you in a good and rich pasture.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 384, footnote 6 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

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Of Pastors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1025 (In-Text, Margin)

... which dieth, die, and let that which perisheth perish, and whatever is left, let them devour the flesh of one another; therefore, behold I will make blind thy right eye and I will wither up thy right arm. Thy eye which regarded a bribe shall be blinded, and thy hand which did not rule in righteousness shall waste away. And as for you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, ye are men; but I am the Lord your God. Behold henceforth will feed you in a good and rich pasture.[Ezekiel 34:14]

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