Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 5:6
There are 60 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 596, footnote 3 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
Who is the Rich Man that shall be saved? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3857 (In-Text, Margin)
In the same way spiritual poverty is blessed. Wherefore also Matthew added, “Blessed are the poor.” How? “In spirit.” And again, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God.”[Matthew 5:6] Wherefore wretched are the contrary kind of poor, who have no part in God, and still less in human property, and have not tasted of the righteousness of God.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 112, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Fasting. (HTML)
Of the Apostle's Language Concerning Food. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1104 (In-Text, Margin)
How unworthy, also, is the way in which you interpret to the favour of your own lust the fact that the Lord “ate and drank” promiscuously! But I think that He must have likewise “fasted” inasmuch as He has pronounced, not “the full,” but “the hungry and thirsty, blessed:”[Matthew 5:6] (He) who was wont to profess “food” to be, not that which His disciples had supposed, but “the thorough doing of the Father’s work;” teaching “to labour for the meat which is permanent unto life eternal;” in our ordinary prayer likewise commanding us to request “bread,” not the wealth of Attalus therewithal. Thus, too, Isaiah has not denied that God ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 297, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
On Counter Promises. (HTML)
... Lord shall eat and drink, but that sinners shall hunger and thirst; that the righteous shall be joyful, but that sorrow shall possess the wicked. And from the New Testament also they quote the saying of the Saviour, in which He makes a promise to His disciples concerning the joy of wine, saying, “Henceforth I shall not drink of this cup, until I drink it with you new in My Father’s kingdom.” They add, moreover, that declaration, in which the Saviour calls those blessed who now hunger and thirst,[Matthew 5:6] promising them that they shall be satisfied; and many other scriptural illustrations are adduced by them, the meaning of which they do not perceive is to be taken figuratively. Then, again, agreeably to the form of things in this life, and according ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 360, footnote 8 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
Cæcilius, on the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2680 (In-Text, Margin)
... of baptism, the Scripture adds, saying, “But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.” For by baptism the Holy Spirit is received; and thus by those who are baptized, and have attained to the Holy Spirit, is attained the drinking of the Lord’s cup. And let it disturb no one, that when the divine Scripture speaks of baptism, it says that we thirst and drink, since the Lord also in the Gospel says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness;”[Matthew 5:6] because what is received with a greedy and thirsting desire is drunk more fully and plentifully. As also, in another place, the Lord speaks to the Samaritan woman, saying, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 531, footnote 20 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... is he who considereth over the poor and needy: in the evil day God will deliver him.” Also in the cxith Psalm: “He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness shall remain from generation to generation.” Of this same thing in Hosea: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt-offerings.” Of this same thing also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be satisfied.”[Matthew 5:6] Also in the same place: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Also in the same place: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not dig through and steal: for where ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 332, footnote 3 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Methodius. (HTML)
The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)
Procilla. (HTML)
Virgins Being Martyrs First Among the Companions of Christ. (HTML)
... and orders, according to the analogy of the faith of each. And this Paul, too, sets forth, saying, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.” And the Lord does not profess to give the same honours to all; but to some He promises that they shall be numbered in the kingdom of heaven, to others the inheritance of the earth, and to others to see the Father.[Matthew 5:3-16] And here, also, He announces that the order and holy choir of the virgins shall first enter in company with Him into the rest of the new dispensation, as into a bridal chamber. For they were martyrs, not as bearing the pains of the body for a little ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 45, footnote 1 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Excerpts of Theodotus. (HTML)
Excerpts of Theodotus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 225 (In-Text, Margin)
... death; so also ought we to fast from worldly things, that we may die to the world, and after that, by partaking of divine sustenance, live to God. Especially does fasting empty the soul of matter, and make it, along with the body, pure and light for the divine words. Worldly food is, then, the former life and sins; but the divine food is faith, hope, love, patience, knowledge, peace, temperance. For “blessed are they that hunger and thirst after” God’s “righteousness; for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] The soul, but not the body, it is which is susceptible of this craving.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 56, footnote 32 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
The Diatessaron of Tatian. (HTML)
The Diatessaron. (HTML)
Section VIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 644 (In-Text, Margin)
[30][Matthew 5:6] Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be satisfied.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 95, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Attaining his thirtieth year, he, under the admonition of the discourses of Ambrose, discovered more and more the truth of the Catholic doctrine, and deliberates as to the better regulation of his life. (HTML)
He Leads to Reformation His Friend Alypius, Seized with Madness for the Circensian Games. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 459 (In-Text, Margin)
... from that so deep pit, wherein he was wilfully plunged, and was blinded by its miserable pastimes; and he roused his mind with a resolute moderation; whereupon all the filth of the Circensian pastimes flew off from him, and he did not approach them further. Upon this, he prevailed with his reluctant father to let him be my pupil. He gave in and consented. And Alypius, beginning again to hear me, was involved in the same superstition as I was, loving in the Manichæans that ostentation of continency[Matthew 5:3-11] which he believed to be true and unfeigned. It was, however, a senseless and seducing continency, ensnaring precious souls, not able as yet to reach the height of virtue, and easily beguiled with the veneer of what was but a shadowy and feigned ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 163, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
The design of his confessions being declared, he seeks from God the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and begins to expound the words of Genesis I. I, concerning the creation of the world. The questions of rash disputers being refuted, ‘What did God before he created the world?’ That he might the better overcome his opponents, he adds a copious disquisition concerning time. (HTML)
By Confession He Desires to Stimulate Towards God His Own Love and That of His Readers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1001 (In-Text, Margin)
... “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” Therefore do we make known unto Thee our love, in confessing unto Thee our own miseries and Thy mercies upon us, that Thou mayest free us altogether, since Thou hast begun, that we may cease to be wretched in ourselves, and that we may be blessed in Thee; since Thou hast called us, that we may be poor in spirit, and meek, and mourners, and hungering and athirst after righteousness, and merciful, and pure in heart, and peacemakers.[Matthew 5:3-9] Behold, I have told unto Thee many things, which I could and which I would, for Thou first wouldest that I should confess unto Thee, the Lord my God, for Thou art good, since Thy “mercy endureth for ever.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 69, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
Preface. (HTML)
... rather than to know the walls of the world, the foundations of the earth, and the pinnacles of heaven. And by obtaining this knowledge, he has obtained also sorrow; but sorrow for straying away from the desire of reaching his own proper country, and the Creator of it, his own blessed God. And if among men such as these, in the family of Thy Christ, O Lord my God, I groan among Thy poor, give me out of Thy bread to answer men who do not hunger and thirst after righteousness, but are sated and abound.[Matthew 5:6] But it is the vain image of those things that has sated them, not Thy truth, which they have repelled and shrunk from, and so fall into their own vanity. I certainly know how many figments the human heart gives birth to. And what is my own heart but ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 426, footnote 12 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 28 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2081 (In-Text, Margin)
28. Therefore let the rest of the faithful, who have lost virginity, follow the Lamb, not whithersoever He shall have gone, but so far as ever they shall have been able. But they are able every where, save when He walks in the grace of virginity. “Blessed are the poor in spirit;”[Matthew 5:3-10] imitate Him, Who, whereas “He was rich, was made poor for your sakes.” “Blessed are the meek;” imitate Him, Who said, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.” “Blessed are they that mourn;” imitate Him, Who “wept over” Jerusalem. “Blessed are they, who hunger and thirst after righteousness;” imitate Him, Who said, “My meat is to do the will of Him ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 162, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus claims that the Manichæans and not the Catholics are consistent believers in the Gospel, and seeks to establish this claim by comparing Manichæan and Catholic obedience to the precepts of the Gospel. Augustin exposes the hypocrisy of the Manichæans and praises the asceticism of Catholics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 321 (In-Text, Margin)
... else that the gospel requires; and do you ask if I believe the gospel? Perhaps you do not know what is called the gospel. The gospel is nothing else than the preaching and the precept of Christ. I have parted with all gold and silver, and have left off carrying money in my purse; content with daily food; without anxiety for tomorrow; and without solicitude about how I shall be fed, or where-withal I shall be clothed: and do you ask if I believe the gospel? You see in me the blessings of the gospel;[Matthew 5:3-11] and do you ask if I believe the gospel? You see me poor, meek, a peacemaker, pure in heart, mourning, hungering, thirsting, bearing persecutions and enmity for righteousness’ sake; and do you doubt my belief in the gospel? One can understand now how ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 163, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus claims that the Manichæans and not the Catholics are consistent believers in the Gospel, and seeks to establish this claim by comparing Manichæan and Catholic obedience to the precepts of the Gospel. Augustin exposes the hypocrisy of the Manichæans and praises the asceticism of Catholics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 328 (In-Text, Margin)
... born," but, "to observe my commandments." Again, "Ye are my friends if ye do what I command you;" not, "if you believe that I was born." Again, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love," and in many other places. Also in the sermon on the mount, when He taught, "Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are they that hunger, blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,"[Matthew 5:3-10] He nowhere says, "Blessed are they that confess that I was born." And in the separation of the sheep from the goats in the judgment, He says that He will say to them on the right hand, "I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 292, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus states his objections to the morality of the law and the prophets, and Augustin seeks by the application of the type and the allegory to explain away the moral difficulties of the Old Testament. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 865 (In-Text, Margin)
... joys of truth which he desired and hoped for, finds in the darkness of the manifold trials of this world that he is bound to painful endurance, or has embraced Leah instead of Rachel, if there is perseverance in his love, he bears with the one in order to attain the other; and as if it were said to him, Serve seven other years for Rachel, he hears seven new commands,—to be poor in spirit, to be meek, to be a mourner, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to be merciful, pure, and a peacemaker.[Matthew 5:3-9] A man would desire, if it were possible, to obtain at once the joys of lovely and perfect wisdom, without the endurance of toil in action and suffering; but this is impossible in mortal life. This seems to be meant, when it is said to Jacob: "It is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 566, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)
In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 69 (HTML)
153. said: "‘Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God.’[Matthew 5:3-9] You make a pretence of peace by your wickedness, and seek unity by war."
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 46, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Will of Man Requires the Help of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 471 (In-Text, Margin)
... say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” When He commands us, saying, “Go not after thy lusts,” and we say to Him, “We know that no man can be continent, except God gives it to him;” what else do we say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” When He commands us, saying, “Do justice,” and we say, “Teach me Thy judgments, O Lord;” what else do we say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” In like manner, when He says: “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled,”[Matthew 5:6] from whom ought we to seek for the meat and drink of righteousness, but from Him who promises His fulness to such as hunger and thirst after it?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 108, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
The Faith of Those Who are Under the Law Different from the Faith of Others. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1022 (In-Text, Margin)
... Father,”—one of which words they of the circumcision utter; the other, they of the uncircumcision,—the Jew first, and then the Greek; since there is “one God, which justifieth the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.” When indeed they utter this call, they seek something; and what do they seek, but that which they hunger and thirst after? And what else is this but that which is said of them, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled?”[Matthew 5:6] Let, then, those who are under the law pass over hither, and become sons instead of slaves; and yet not so as to cease to be slaves, but so as, while they are sons, still to serve their Lord and Father freely. For even this have they received; for ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 113, footnote 14 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
In What Sense a Sinless Righteousness in This Life Can Be Asserted. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1110 (In-Text, Margin)
... to my mind, that whatever be the quality or extent of the righteousness which we may definitely ascribe to the present life, there is not a man living in it who is absolutely free from all sin; and that it is necessary for every one to give, that it may be given to him; and to forgive, that it may be forgiven him; and whatever righteousness he has, not to presume that he has it of himself, but from the grace of God, who justifies him, and still to go on hungering and thirsting for righteousness[Matthew 5:6] from Him who is the living bread, and with whom is the fountain of life; who works in His saints, whilst labouring amidst temptation in this life, their justification in such manner that He may still have somewhat to impart to them liberally when ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 164, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
It is One Thing to Depart from the Body, Another Thing to Be Liberated from the Body of This Death. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1411 (In-Text, Margin)
... grace alone, through our Lord Jesus Christ, imparts to His faithful saints. It is after this life, indeed, that the reward of perfection is bestowed, but only upon those by whom in their present life has been acquired the merit of such a recompense. For no one, after going hence, shall arrive at fulness of righteousness, unless, whilst here, he shall have run his course by hungering and thirsting after it. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 234, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin. (HTML)
On the Grace of Christ. (HTML)
In What Sense Some Men May Be Said to Live Without Sin in the Present Life. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1918 (In-Text, Margin)
... perfect state of righteousness in which we shall one day live truly and absolutely in a condition of spotless purity. The Apostle Paul, indeed, has told us that he was “blameless, as touching the righteousness which is of the law;” and it was in respect of the same law that Zacharias also lived a blameless life. This righteousness, however, the apostle counted as “dung” and “loss,” in comparison with the righteousness which is the object of our hope, and which we ought to “hunger and thirst after,”[Matthew 5:6] in order that hereafter we may be satisfied with the vision thereof, enjoying it now by faith, so long as “the just do live by faith.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 410, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Their Calumny About the Fulfilment of Precepts in the Life to Come. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2744 (In-Text, Margin)
... and perfect knowledge. “For we see now through a glass in an enigma,” says the apostle, “but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known.” Here, the precept is, “Exult unto the Lord, our helper,” and, “Rejoice, ye righteous, in the Lord;” there, the reward is to rejoice with a perfect and unspeakable joy. Lastly, in the precept it is written, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness;” but in the reward, “Because they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] Whence, I ask, shall they be filled, except with what they hunger and thirst after? Who, then, is so abhorrent, not only from the divine perception, but also from the human perception, as to say that in man there can be such righteousness while he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 46, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)
On the Latter Part of Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Contained in the Sixth and Seventh Chapters of Matthew. (HTML)
Chapter XI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 346 (In-Text, Margin)
... heart, in not seeking after a single good, to which we may refer all our actings, but at the same time pursuing things temporal and earthly. For temptations arising from those things which seem to men burdensome and calamitous, have no power over us, if those other temptations have no power which befall us through the enticements of such things as men count good and cause for rejoicing. If it is wisdom through which the peacemakers are blessed, inasmuch as they shall be called the children of God;[Matthew 5:3-9] let us pray that we may be freed from evil, for that very freedom will make us free, i.e. sons of God, so that we may cry in the spirit of adoption, “Abba, Father.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 266, 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)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. Chap. v. 3 and 8, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit:' etc., but especially on that, 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.' (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1888 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Let us come to the fourth work and its reward, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] Dost thou desire to be filled? Whereby? If the flesh long for fulness, after digestion thou wilt suffer hunger again. So He saith, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” If the remedy which is applied to a wound heal it, there is no more pain; but that which is applied against hunger, food that is, is so applied as to give relief only for a little while. For when the fulness is past, hunger returns. This remedy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 284, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
Again, on Matt. vi. on the Lord’s Prayer. To the Competentes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2030 (In-Text, Margin)
... for your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things before ye ask Him. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” For many have been tried even with hunger, and have been found gold, and have not been forsaken by God. They would have perished with hunger, if the daily inward bread were to leave their heart. After this let us chiefly hunger. For, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] But He can in mercy look upon our infirmity, and see us, as it is said, “Remember that we are dust.” He who from the dust made and quickened man, for that His work of clay’s sake, gave His Only Son to death. Who can explain, who can worthily so much ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 296, footnote 6 (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. vii. 7, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you;’ etc. An exhortation to alms-deeds. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2150 (In-Text, Margin)
... do we ask? Who are we that ask? What do we ask? From whom, or who are we, or what is it that we ask? We ask of the Good God; and we that ask are evil men; but we ask for righteousness, whereby we may be good. We ask then for that which we may have for ever, wherewith when we shall be filled, we shall want no more. But in order that we may be filled, let us hunger and thirst; hungering and thirsting, let us ask, and seek, and knock. “For blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”[Matthew 5:6] Wherefore are they blessed? They do hunger and thirst, and are they blessed? Is want ever a blessing? They are not blessed in that they hunger and thirst, but in that they will be filled. There will there be blessedness, in the fulness, not in the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 346, footnote 7 (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. xv. 21,’Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanitish woman,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2638 (In-Text, Margin)
... Where then is there true health, except where there is true immortality? But if it be true immortality, and no corruption, no wasting, what need will there be there of nourishment? Therefore, when you hear it said, “They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;” get not your body, but your soul in order. There shall thou be filled; and this inner man has its proper food. In relation to it is it said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] And so truly filled shall they be that they shall hunger no more.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 168, footnote 1 (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 VI. 41–59. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 509 (In-Text, Margin)
... said, “Is not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?” These Jews were far off from the bread of heaven, and knew not how to hunger after it. They had the jaws of their heart languid; with open ears they were deaf, they saw and stood blind. This bread, indeed, requires the hunger of the inner man: and hence He saith in another place, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”[Matthew 5:6] But the Apostle Paul says that Christ is for us righteousness. And, consequently, he that hungers after this bread, hungers after righteousness,—that righteousness however which cometh down from heaven, the righteousness that God gives, not that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 182, footnote 1 (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. 1–13. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 566 (In-Text, Margin)
... feast of tabernacles, but there hidden. At the present time, when these things are already made manifest, we acknowledge that we are journeying in the wilderness: for if we know it, we are in the wilderness. What is it to be in the wilderness? In the desert waste. Why in the desert waste? Because in this world, where we thirst in a way in which is no water. But yet, let us thirst that we may be filled. For, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] And our thirst is quenched from the rock in the wilderness: for “the Rock was Christ,” and it was smitten with a rod that the water might flow. But that it might flow, the rock was smitten twice: because there are two beams of the cross. All these ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 255, footnote 10 (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 880 (In-Text, Margin)
... is, by the faith of Christ; for as true believers they die, and will have life more abundantly when they come whither the Shepherd hath preceded them, where they shall die no more. Although, therefore, there is no want of pasture even here in the fold,—for we may understand the words “and shall find pasture” as referring to both, that is, both to their going in and their going out,—yet there only will they find the true pasture. where they shall be filled who hunger and thirst after righteousness,[Matthew 5:6] —such pasture as was found by him to whom it was said, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” But how He Himself is the door, and Himself the Shepherd, so that He also may in a certain respect be understood as going in and out by Himself, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 510, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)
1 John IV. 12–16. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2422 (In-Text, Margin)
... lest another see you. Fear thou lest thou do it to the end that thou mayest be praised: let the other see it, that God may be praised. For if thou hidest it from the eyes of man, thou hidest it from the imitation of man, thou withdrawest from God His praise. Two are there to whom thou doest the alms: two hunger; one for bread, the other for righteousness. Between these two famishing souls:—as it is written, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled:”[Matthew 5:6] —between these two famishing persons thou the doer of the good work art set; if charity does the work by occasion of the one, therein it hath pity on both, it would succor both. For the one craves what he may eat, the other craves what he may ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 45, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 471 (In-Text, Margin)
... tribulations approved to sinners. “Purified seven times:” by the fear of God, by godliness, by knowledge, by might, by counsel, by understanding, by wisdom. For seven steps also of beatitude there are, which the Lord goes over, according to Matthew, in the same sermon which He spake on the Mount, “Blessed” are “the poor in spirit, blessed the meek, blessed they that mourn, blessed they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, blessed the merciful, blessed the pure in heart, blessed the peacemakers.”[Matthew 5:3-9] Of which seven sentences, it may be observed how all that long sermon was spoken. For the eighth where it is said, “Blessed” are “they which suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake,” denotes the fire itself, whereby the silver is proved seven ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 76, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 725 (In-Text, Margin)
... riches of the rich. But such an one has found in the market mules of great value, and has bought them. If thou couldest find faith to be sold, how much wouldest thou give for that, which God willeth that thou shouldest have gratis, and thou art ungrateful? Those rich then lack, they lack, and what is heavier, they lack bread.…For He hath said, “I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven.” And again, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] “But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing:” but what manner of good, I have already said.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 89, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 834 (In-Text, Margin)
... torrent we call water coming with a flood. There will be a flood of God’s Mercy to overflow and inebriate those who now put their trust under the shadow of His wings. What is that Pleasure? As it were a torrent inebriating the thirsty. Let him then who thirsts now, lay up hope: whoso thirsts now, let him have hope; when inebriated, he shall have possession: before he have possession, let him thirst in hope. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 90, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 835 (In-Text, Margin)
... fountain is one thing, light another: there not so. For that which is the Fountain, the same is also Light: and whatever thou wilt thou callest It, for It is not what thou callest It: for thou canst not find a fit name: for It remaineth not in one name. If thou shouldest say, that It is Light only, it would be said to thee, Then without cause am I told to hunger and thirst, for who is there that eateth light? It is said to me plainly, directly, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”[Matthew 5:6] If It is Light, my eyes must I prepare. Prepare also lips; for That which is Light is also a Fountain: a Fountain, because It satisfieth the thirsty: Light, because It enlighteneth the blind. Here sometimes, light is in one place, a fountain in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 176, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLIX (HTML)
Part 2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1665 (In-Text, Margin)
... teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is unrighteousness to them that use it.” For he that shall have eaten unrighteousness, that is, he that shall have had unrighteousness wilfully, shall not be able to eat righteousness. For righteousness is bread. Who is bread? “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” Himself is the bread of our heart.…Is then even righteousness eaten? If it were not eaten, the Lord would not have said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.”[Matthew 5:6] Therefore “since his soul shall be blessed in life,” in life it “shall” be blessed, in death it shall be tormented.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 259, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2461 (In-Text, Margin)
... wherein to so great necessities we are made subject, by the name of Idumæa is signified. Even here is a desert where there is much thirst, and ye are to hear the voice of One now thirsting in the desert. But if we acknowledge ourselves as thirsting, we shall acknowledge ourselves as drinking also. For he that thirsteth in this world, in the world to come shall be satisfied, according to the Lord’s saying, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for the same shall be satisfied.”[Matthew 5:6] Therefore in this world we ought not to love fulness. Here we must thirst, in another place we shall be filled. But now in order that we may not faint in this desert, He sprinkleth upon us the dew of His word, and leaveth us not utterly to dry up, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 271, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2561 (In-Text, Margin)
... Martyrs, though beasts tare their limbs! Is it possible but that when blood was staining all parts, when with the teeth of monsters their bowels gushed out, the eyes had nothing but objects to shudder at? What was there to be loved, except that in that hideous spectacle of mangled limbs, entire was the beauty of righteousness? These are the good things of the House of God, with these prepare thyself to be satisfied.…“Blessed they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] “Thy holy Temple is marvellous in righteousness.” And that same temple, brethren, do not imagine to be aught but yourselves. Love ye righteousness, and ye are the Temple of God.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 311, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3022 (In-Text, Margin)
... Thee, such as hereafter will be, after poverty and sorrow, in the eternal society of Angels, where neither adversary there shall be in battle to be tossed, nor sluggard from earth to be stirred up. “Let the needy see and rejoice” (ver. 32). Let them believe, and in hope be glad. Let them be more needy, in order that they may deserve to be filled: lest while they belch out pride’s satiety, there be denied them the bread whereon they may healthily live. “Seek the Lord,” ye needy, hunger ye and thirst;[Matthew 5:6] for He is Himself the living bread that came down from Heaven. “Seek ye the Lord, and your soul shall live.” Ye seek bread, that your flesh may live: the Lord seek ye, that your soul may live.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 314, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3063 (In-Text, Margin)
... candle, O Lord.” What then of thee? “But I am needy and poor.” I am like an orphan, my soul is like a widow destitute and desolate: help I seek, alway mine infirmity I confess. There have been forgiven me my sins, now I have begun to follow the commandments of God: still, however, I am needy and poor. Why still needy and poor? Because “I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind.” Why needy and poor? Because, “blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.”[Matthew 5:6] Still I hunger, still I thirst: my fulness hath been put off, not taken away. “O God, aid Thou me.” Most suitably also Lazarus is said to be interpreted, “one aided:” that needy and poor man, that was transported into the bosom of Abraham; and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 419, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4027 (In-Text, Margin)
... depart, as from a dinner or from a supper. What then do I say? doth He not satisfy thee? I am afraid again, that if I say, He doth not satisfy thee, thou shouldest seem to be in want: and shouldest be as it were empty, and there should be in thee some void which ought to be filled. What then shall I say, except what can be said, but can hardly be thought? He both satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not: for I find both in Scripture. For while He said, “Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled;”[Matthew 5:6] it is again said of Wisdom, “Those who eat Thee shall hunger again, and those who drink shall thirst again.” Nay, but He did not say “again,” but he said, “still:” for “shall thirst again” is as if once having been filled he departed and digested, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 445, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XC (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4272 (In-Text, Margin)
15. Next, in anticipation of future blessings, of which he speaks as already vouchsafed, he says, “We are satisfied with Thy mercy in the morning” (ver. 14). Prophecy has thus been kindled for us, in the midst of these toils and sorrows of the night, like a lamp in the darkness, until day dawn, and the Day-star arise in our hearts. For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: then shall the righteous be filled with that blessing for which they hunger and thirst now,[Matthew 5:6] while, walking in faith, they are absent from the Lord. Hence are the words, “In Thy presence is fulness of joy:” and, “Early in the morning they shall stand by, and shall look up:” and as other translators have said it, “We shall be satisfied with Thy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 494, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4568 (In-Text, Margin)
... then, eating: eat not with these: fly such banquets: for they cannot satisfy themselves with rejoicing in others’ evils, because their hearts are insatiable. Beware thou art not caught in their feasts by the devil’s noose.…Just as birds feed at the trap, or fishes at the hook, they were taken, when they fed. The ungodly therefore have their own feasts, the godly also have theirs. Hear the feasts of the godly: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] If therefore the godly eateth the meat of righteousness, and the ungodly of pride; it is no wonder if he is insatiable in heart. He eateth the meat of iniquity: do not eat the meat of iniquity, and the proud in eye, and the insatiable in heart, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 496, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4592 (In-Text, Margin)
... that thou mayest receive riches. Now eat: for thou art in His body, who saith, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” Thou hadst forgotten to eat thy bread; but after His crucifixion, “all the ends of the earth shall be reminded, and be converted unto the Lord.” After forgetfulness, let remembrance come, let bread be eaten from heaven, that we may live; not manna, as they did eat, and died; that bread, of which it is said, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”[Matthew 5:6]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 514, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4732 (In-Text, Margin)
... not to do aught else than to gladden the heart. But that thou mayest not imagine that this indeed should be taken of the spiritual wine, but not of that spiritual bread; He hath shown this very point, that it is also spiritual: “and bread,” he saith, “strengtheneth man’s heart.” So understand it therefore of the bread as thou dost understand it of the wine; hunger inwardly, thirst inwardly: “Blessed are they,” saith our Lord, “who hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] That bread is righteousness, that wine is righteousness: it is truth, Christ is truth. “I am,” He said, “the living bread, who came down from heaven;” and, “I am the Vine, and ye are the branches.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 528, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4838 (In-Text, Margin)
13. “And He gave them their desire, and sent fulness withal into their souls” (ver. 15). But He did not thus render them happy: for it was not that fulness of which it is said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] In this passage he doth not speak of the rational soul, but of the soul as giving animal life to the body; to the substance of which belong meat and drink, according to what is said in the Gospel, “Is not the soul more than meat, and the body than raiment?” as if it belonged to the soul to eat, to the body to be clothed.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 576, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Mem. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5272 (In-Text, Margin)
... his enemies read is not of God, but because they do not understand it, like him who understandeth it above his enemies, by clinging to the Stone upon which they stumbled. For “Christ is the end of the law,” etc., “that they may be justified freely through His grace;” not like those who imagine that they obey the law of their own strength, and are therefore, though by God’s law, yet still endeavouring to set up their own righteousness; but as the son of promise, who hungering and athirst after it,[Matthew 5:6] by seeking, by asking, by knocking, as it were begs it of the Father, that being adopted he may receive it through His only-begotten Son.…His enemies sought from the same commandment temporal rewards; and therefore it was not unto them for ever, as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 620, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5617 (In-Text, Margin)
... Christ, they pray unto Christ; but they are not satisfied with His wisdom and righteousness. Wherefore? Because they are not poor. For the poor, that is the humble in heart, the more they hunger, the more they eat; and the more empty they are of the world, the more hungry they are. He who is full refuseth whatsoever thou wilt give him, because he is full. Give me one who hungereth; give me one of whom it is said, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled:”[Matthew 5:6] and these will be the poor of whom he hath just said, “And will satisfy her poor with bread.” For in the very Psalm where it is said, “All such as be fat upon the earth have eaten and worshipped;” this is said of the poor also, and exactly in the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 641, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXL (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5745 (In-Text, Margin)
2. What this Psalm containeth, I believe that ye perceived when it was being chanted; for therein the Church of Christ, set in the midst of the wicked, complaineth and groaneth, and poureth out prayer to God. For her voice is in every such prophecy the voice of one in need and want, not yet satisfied, “hungering and thirsting after righteousness,”[Matthew 5:6] for whom a certain fulness in the end hath been promised, and is reserved.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 644, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXL (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5756 (In-Text, Margin)
15. “I know that the Lord will maintain the right of the needy” (ver. 12). This “needy” one is not “full of words;” for he that is full of words, wisheth to abound, knoweth not to hunger. He is “needy” of whom it is said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] They groan among the stumbling-blocks of the wicked, they pray to their Head, “to be delivered from the wicked man. “And the cause of the poor.” These then are they whose cause the Lord will not neglect; although now they suffer hardships, their glory shall appear, when their Head appeareth. For to such while placed here it is said, “Ye are ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 664, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5895 (In-Text, Margin)
7. “Who giveth food to the hungry.” Behold, from thee I look for nothing: “God giveth food to the hungry.” Who are “the hungry”? All. What is, all? To all things that have life, to all men He giveth food: doth He not reserve some food for His beloved? If they have another kind of hunger, they have also another kind of food. Let us first enquire what their hunger is, and then we shall find their food. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] We ought to be God’s hungry ones.…“The Lord looseth them that are fettered; the Lord lifteth up them that are dashed down; the Lord maketh wise them that are blind” (ver. 8). Perfectly hath he by this last sentence explained to us all the preceding ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 670, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5941 (In-Text, Margin)
22. What ye cried out a while ago at the very mention of peace, ye cried from longing: your cry was from thirst, not from fulness; for there will be perfect righteousness where will be perfect peace. Now we hunger and thirst after righteousness. “They shall be filled.”[Matthew 5:6] How shall they be filled? When we have arrived at peace. Therefore when he had said, “Who hath set peace for thy borders,” because there is fulness and no want, he added at once, “and filleth thee with the fat of wheat” (ver. 14).…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 675, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5969 (In-Text, Margin)
... but that they are ruled by chance, how they can, as they can: and they are influenced by what they say sometimes to one another: e.g. “If it were God that gave rain, would He rain into the sea? What sort of providence,” they say, “is this? Getulia is thirsty, and it rains into the sea.” They think that they handle the matter cleverly. One should say to them, “Getulia does at all events thirst, thou dost not even thirst.” For good were it for thee to say to God, “My soul hath thirsted for Thee.”[Matthew 5:6] For he that thus argueth is already satisfied; he thinketh himself learned, he is not willing to learn, therefore he thirsteth not. For if he thirsted, he would be willing to learn, and he would find that everything happeneth upon earth by God’s ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 462, footnote 7 (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 1750 (In-Text, Margin)
... counsel of the ungodly. Blessed is he whom Thou chastenest, and teachest him out of Thy law. Blessed are the undefiled in the way. Blessed are all they who trust in Him. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. Blessed is he whom his soul condemneth not. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord.” And again, Christ speaks thus: “Blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the humble; blessed are the meek; blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”[Matthew 5:3-10] Seest thou how the divine laws everywhere pronounce blessed none of the rich, or of the well-born, or of the possessors of glory, but the man who has gotten hold of virtue. For what is required of us is, that in every thing we do or suffer, the fear ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 525, footnote 16 (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 335. Easter-day iv Pharmuthi, iii Kal. April; xx Moon; Ær. Dioclet. 51; Coss. Julius Constantius, the brother of Augustus, Rufinus Albinus; Præfect, the same Philagrius; viii Indict. (HTML)
... in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when Thy glory is seen by me.’ For he who partakes of divine bread always hungers with desire; and he who thus hungers has a never-failing gift, as Wisdom promises, saying, ‘The Lord will not slay the righteous soul with famine.’ He promises too in the Psalms, ‘I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.’ We may also hear our Saviour saying, ‘Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled[Matthew 5:6].’ Well then do the saints and those who love the life which is in Christ raise themselves to a longing after this food. And one earnestly implores, saying, ‘As the hart panteth after the fountains of waters, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God! My ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 401, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4819 (In-Text, Margin)
17. My opponent has dared to maintain that our Lord was called by the Pharisees a wine-bibber and a glutton: and from the fact of His going to marriage feasts and from His not despising the banquets of sinners, I am to infer His wishes respecting ourselves. That Lord, so you suppose, is a glutton who fasted forty days to hallow Christian fasting;[Matthew 5:6] who calls them blessed that hunger and thirst; who says that He has food, not that which the disciples surmised, but such as would not perish for ever; who forbids us to think of the morrow; who, though He is said to have hungered and thirsted, and to have gone frequently to various meals, except in celebrating the mystery ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 58, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
Chapter XVII. What virtues ought to exist in him whom we consult. How Joseph and Paul were equipped with them. (HTML)
... In all things he was accustomed both to be full and to be hungry. Blessed is he that knows how to be full in Christ. Not corporal, but spiritual, is that satiety which knowledge brings about. And rightly is there need of knowledge: “For man lives not by bread alone, but by every word of God.” For he who knew how to be full also knew how to be hungry, so as to be always seeking something new, hungering after God, thirsting for the Lord. He knew how to hunger, for he knew that the hungry shall eat.[Matthew 5:6] He knew, also, how to abound, and was able to abound, for he had nothing and yet possessed all things.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 155, footnote 3 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On Lent, II. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 920 (In-Text, Margin)
... should rather desire to satisfy themselves with the “Word of God ” than with bodily food, let us with ready devotion and eager faith enter upon the celebration of the solemn fast, not with barren abstinence from food, which is often imposed on us by weakliness of body, or the disease of avarice, but in bountiful benevolence: that in truth we may be of those of whom the very Truth speaks, “blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled[Matthew 5:6].” Let works of piety, therefore, be our delight, and let us be filled with those kinds of food which feed us for eternity. Let us rejoice in the replenishment of the poor, whom our bounty has satisfied. Let us delight in the clothing of those whose ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 204, footnote 6 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
A Homily on the Beatitudes, St. Matt. v. 1-9. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1239 (In-Text, Margin)
After this the Lord goes on to say: “blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied[Matthew 5:6].” It is nothing bodily, nothing earthly, that this hunger, this thirst seeks for: but it desires to be satiated with the good food of righteousness, and wants to be admitted to all the deepest mysteries, and be filled with the Lord Himself. Happy the mind that craves this food and is eager for such drink: which it certainly would not seek for if it had never tasted of its sweetness. But hearing the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 362, footnote 6 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of Monks. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 830 (In-Text, Margin)
... uncleanness, and put on wedding garments. Let us trade with the silver that we have received, that we may be called diligent servants. Let us be constant in prayer, that we may pass by the place where fear dwells. Let us cleanse our heart from iniquity, that we may see the Lofty One in His honour. Let us be merciful, as it is written, that God may have mercy upon us. Let there be peace amongst us, that we may be called the brethren of Christ. Let us hunger for righteousness, that we may be satisfied[Matthew 5:6] from the table of His Kingdom. Let us be the salt of truth, that we may not become food for the serpent. Let us purge our seed from thorns, that we may produce fruit a hundred-fold. Let us found our building on the rock, that it may not be shaken by ...