Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 8:31
There are 8 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 83, footnote 12 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Certain General Principles of Parabolic Interpretation. These Applied to the Parables Now Under Consideration, Especially to that of the Prodigal Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 811 (In-Text, Margin)
... by means of which power the apostle withal notes that “in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom knew not God,” —(wisdom) which, of course, it had received originally from God. This (“substance”), accordingly, he “squandered;” having been cast by his moral habits far from the Lord, amid the errors and allurements and appetites of the world, where, compelled by hunger after truth, he handed himself over to the prince of this age. He set him over “swine,” to feed that flock familiar to demons,[Matthew 8:30-34] where he would not be master of a supply of vital food, and at the same time would see others (engaged) in a divine work, having abundance of heavenly bread. He remembers his Father, God; he returns to Him when he has been satisfied; he receives ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 334, footnote 10 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)
The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)
Homily XIX. (HTML)
Is Matter Eternal? (HTML)
... nourish all who are made by Him? And how does it not fear Him as superior, as trembling through earthquakes it confesses, and as, though its billows ran high, yet, when the Teacher was sailing on it and commanded a calm, it immediately obeyed and became still? What! did not the demons go out through fear and respect for Him, and others of them desired to enter into swine; but they first entreated Him before going, plainly because they had no power to enter even into swine without His permission?”[Matthew 8:31]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 300, footnote 2 (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 906 (In-Text, Margin)
... first the tares into bundles to burn them." The servants, however, were stopped when they wished to do this prematurely: "Lest by chance, when ye would gather the tares, ye root up the wheat also with them." Thus the true and good God alone knows when, to whom, and by whom to order anything, or to permit anything. In the same way, this human goodness, or folly rather, might object to the Lord’s permitting the devils to enter the swine, which they asked to be allowed to do with a mischievous intent,[Matthew 8:31-32] especially as the Manichæans believe that not only pigs, but the vilest insects, have human souls. But setting aside these absurd notions, this is undeniable, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only son of God, and therefore the true and good God, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 144, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Of His Coming into His Own Country, and of the Astonishment of the People at His Doctrine, as They Looked with Contempt Upon His Lineage; Of Matthew’s Harmony with Mark and Luke in This Section; And in Particular, of the Question Whether the Order of Narration Which is Presented by the First of These Evangelists Does Not Exhibit Some Want of Consistency with that of the Other Two. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1032 (In-Text, Margin)
... such a manner as to make the balance of credibility rest on the side of the supposition, that what followed in immediate historical sequence was rather the occurrences which these two latter evangelists both insert in near connection [with the parables],—namely, the incidents of the ship in which Jesus was asleep, and the miracle performed in the expulsion of the devils in the country of the Gerasenes, —two events which Matthew has already recalled and introduced at an earlier stage of his record.[Matthew 8:23-34] At present, therefore, we have to consider whether [Matthew’s report of] what the Lord spoke, and what was said to Him in His own country, is in concord with the accounts given by the other two, namely, Mark and Luke. For, in widely different and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 139, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1291 (In-Text, Margin)
... was heard, who says, “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill.” Let no one of those that are without that mountain, hope to be heard unto eternal life. For many are heard in their prayers for many things. Let them not congratulate themselves on being heard; the devils were heard in their prayer, that they might be sent into the swine. Let us desire to be heard unto eternal life, by reason of our longing, through which we say, “Send out Thy Light and Thy Truth.”[Matthew 8:31-32] That is a “Light” which requires the eye of the heart. For “Blessed” (He saith) “are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” We are now on His Hill, that is, in His Church, and in His Tabernacle. The “tabernacle” is for persons sojourning; the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 187, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons. (HTML)
Homily II. On the Power of Man to Resist the Devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 576 (In-Text, Margin)
... sweet to us, but because the doctrine about him is full of security for you. For he is an enemy and a foe, and it is a great security to know clearly, the tactics of your enemies. We have said lately, that he does not overcome by force, nor by tyranny, nor through compulsion, nor through violence. Since were this so, he would have destroyed all men. And in testimony of this we brought forward the swine, against which the Demons were unable to venture anything, before the permission of the Master.[Matthew 8:31] The herds and flocks of Job. For not even did the Devil venture to destroy these, until he received power from above. We learned therefore this one thing first, that he does not overcome us by force, or by compulsion; next after that, we added that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 204, footnote 4 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
His address to monks, rendered from Coptic, exhorting them to perseverance, and encouraging them against the wiles of Satan. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1053 (In-Text, Margin)
... more to be condemned, for although willing he could not prevail against one just man. For if he could have, he would not have asked permission. But having asked not once but also a second time, he shows his weakness and want of power. And it is no wonder if he could do nothing against Job, when destruction would not have come even on his cattle had not God allowed it. And he has not the power over swine, for as it is written in the Gospel, they besought the Lord, saying, “Let us enter the swine[Matthew 8:31].” But if they had power not even against swine, much less have they any over men formed in the image of God.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 370, footnote 2 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VII. First Conference of Abbot Serenus. On Inconstancy of Mind, and Spiritual Wickedness. (HTML)
Chapter XXII. On the fact that the power to hurt does not depend upon the will of the devils. (HTML)
But that they have not the power of hurting any man is shown in a very clear way by the instance of the blessed Job, where the enemy did not venture to try him beyond what was allowed to him by the Divine permission; and it is evidenced by the confession of the same spirits contained in the records of the gospel, where they say: “If Thou cast us out, suffer us to go into the herd of swine.”[Matthew 8:31] And far more must we hold that they cannot of their own free will enter into any one of men who are created in the image of God, if they have not power to enter into dumb and unclean animals without the permission of God. But no one—I will not say of the younger men, whom we see living ...