Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 10:23
There are 38 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 40, footnote 2 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Polycarp (HTML)
The Martyrdom of Polycarp (HTML)
Chapter IV.—Quintus the apostate. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 428 (In-Text, Margin)
Now one named Quintus, a Phrygian, who was but lately come from Phrygia, when he saw the wild beasts, became afraid. This was the man who forced himself and some others to come forward voluntarily [for trial]. Him the proconsul, after many entreaties, persuaded to swear and to offer sacrifice. Wherefore, brethren, we do not commend those who give themselves up [to suffering], seeing the Gospel does not teach so to do.[Matthew 10:23]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 66, footnote 3 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Tatian (HTML)
Address to the Greeks (HTML)
Chapter IV. The Christians Worship God Alone. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 426 (In-Text, Margin)
For what reason, men of Greece, do you wish to bring the civil powers, as in a pugilistic encounter, into collision with us? And, if I am not disposed to comply with the usages of some of them, why am I to be abhorred as a vile miscreant?[Matthew 10:22-39] Does the sovereign order the payment of tribute, I am ready to render it. Does my master command me to act as a bondsman and to serve, I acknowledge the serfdom. Man is to be honoured as a fellow-man; God alone is to be feared,—He who is not visible to human eyes, nor comes within the compass of human art. Only when I am commanded to deny Him, will I not obey, but will rather ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 423, footnote 1 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter X.—Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved. (HTML)
When, again, He says, “When they persecute you in this city, flee ye to the other,”[Matthew 10:23] He does not advise flight, as if persecution were an evil thing; nor does He enjoin them by flight to avoid death, as if in dread of it, but wishes us neither to be the authors nor abettors of any evil to any one, either to ourselves or the persecutor and murderer. For He, in a way, bids us take care of ourselves. But he who disobeys is rash and foolhardy. If he who kills a man of God sins against God, he also who presents himself before the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 40, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
To His Wife. (HTML)
I (HTML)
Marriage Good: Celibacy Preferable. (HTML)
... necessity grants, she by her very nature depreciates. In fact, in that it is written, “To marry is better than to burn,” what, pray, is the nature of this “good” which is (only) commended by comparison with “evil,” so that the reason why “marrying” is more good is (merely) that “burning” is less? Nay, but how far better is it neither to marry nor to burn? Why, even in persecutions it is better to take advantage of the permission granted, and “flee from town to town,”[Matthew 10:23] than, when apprehended and racked, to deny (the faith). And therefore more blessed are they who have strength to depart (this life) in blessed confession of their testimony. I may say, What is permitted is not good. For how stands the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 119, footnote 1 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
De Fuga in Persecutione. (HTML)
De Fuga in Persecutione. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1149 (In-Text, Margin)
6. Nay, says some one, he fulfilled the command, when he fled from city to city. For so a certain individual, but a fugitive likewise, has chosen to maintain, and others have done the same who are unwilling to understand the meaning of that declaration of the Lord, that they may use it as a cloak for their cowardice, although it has had its persons as well as its times and reasons to which it specially applies. “When they begin,” He says, “to persecute you, flee from city to city.”[Matthew 10:23] We maintain that this belongs specially to the persons of the apostles, and to their times and circumstances, as the following sentences will show, which are suitable only to the apostles: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and into a city of the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 119, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
De Fuga in Persecutione. (HTML)
De Fuga in Persecutione. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1152 (In-Text, Margin)
... suffer persecutions, and of teaching that these must be endured); but in order to further the proclamation of the Gospel message, lest by their being at once put down, the diffusion of the Gospel too might be prevented. Neither were they to flee to any city as if by stealth, but as if everywhere about to proclaim their message; and for this, everywhere about to undergo persecutions, until they should fulfil their teaching. Accordingly the Saviour says, “Ye will not go over all the cities of Israel.”[Matthew 10:23] So the command to flee was restricted to the limits of Judea. But no command that shows Judea to be specially the sphere for preaching applies to us, now that the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh. Therefore Paul and the apostles ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 425, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
I (HTML)
Chapter LXV (HTML)
And since Jesus, in teaching His disciples not to be guilty of rashness, gave them the precept, “If they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another; and if they persecute you in the other, flee again into a third,”[Matthew 10:23] to which teaching He added the example of a consistent life, acting so as not to expose Himself to danger rashly, or unseasonably, or without good grounds; from this Celsus takes occasion to bring a malicious and slanderous accusation,—the Jew whom he brings forward saying to Jesus, “In company with your disciples you go and hide yourself in different places.” Now similar to what has ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 273, footnote 7 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Peter of Alexandria. (HTML)
The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras. (HTML)
Canon IX. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2309 (In-Text, Margin)
... unto yourselves, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.” Now, He says, they will deliver you up, and not, ye shall deliver up yourselves; and “ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake,” but not, ye shall bring yourselves, for He would have us pass from place to place as long as there are those who persecute us for His name’s sake; even as again we hear Him saying, “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.”[Matthew 10:23] For He would not have us go over to the ministers and satellites of the devil, that we might not be the cause to them of a manifold death, inasmuch as thus we should be compelling them both to be harsher, and to carry out their deadly works, but He ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 438, footnote 3 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Sec. I.—Concerning the Martyrs (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2976 (In-Text, Margin)
III. Receive also those that are persecuted on account of the faith, and who “fly from city to city”[Matthew 10:23] on account of the Lord’s commandment; and assist them as martyrs, rejoicing that ye are made partakers of their persecution, as knowing that they are esteemed blessed by the Lord; for Himself says: “Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, because your reward is great in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 438, footnote 6 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Sec. I.—Concerning the Martyrs (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2979 (In-Text, Margin)
... manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, because your reward is great in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before us.” And again: “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” And afterwards: “If they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another. For in the world ye have tribulation: for they shall deliver you into the synagogues; and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, and for a testimony to them.”[Matthew 10:23] And, “He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved.” For he that is persecuted for the sake of the faith, and bears witness in regard to Him, Christ, and endures, is truly a man of God.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 498, footnote 17 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book VIII. Concerning Gifts, and Ordinations, and the Ecclesiastical Canons (HTML)
Sec. IV.—Certain Prayers and Laws (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3751 (In-Text, Margin)
XLV. Receive ye those that are persecuted on account of the faith, and who fly from city to city,[Matthew 10:23] as mindful of the words of the Lord. For, knowing that though “the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak,” they fly away, and prefer the spoiling of their goods, that they may preserve the name of Christ in themselves without denying it. Supply them therefore with what they want, and thereby fulfil the commandment of the Lord.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 616, footnote 2 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
The Decretals. (HTML)
The Epistles of Pope Callistus. (HTML)
To All the Bishops of Gaul. (HTML)
That no bishop should presume in anything pertaining to another's parish, and of the transference of bishops. (HTML)
... be wedded to whomsoever she will, only in the Lord, that is, according to order. For if, while he is alive, she marry another, she shall be judged to be an adulteress. And in the same manner, he too, if he marry another of his own will, shall be held to be an adulterer, and shall be deprived of the privilege of communion. If, however, he is persecuted in his own church, he must flee to another, and attach himself to it, as the Lord says: “If they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another.”[Matthew 10:23] If, however, the change be made for the sake of the good of the church, he may not do this of himself, but only on the invitation of the brethren, and with the sanction of this holy seat, and not for ambition’s sake, but for the public good.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 63, footnote 39 (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 XIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 962 (In-Text, Margin)
... nations. [4] And when they deliver you up, be not anxious, nor consider beforehand, what ye [5] shall say; but ye shall be given in that hour what ye ought to speak. Ye do not [6] speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaketh in you. The brother shall deliver up his brother to death, and the father his son; and the sons shall rise against their [7] parents, and put them to death. And ye shall be hated of every man because of [8] my name; but he that endureth unto the end of the matter shall be saved.[Matthew 10:23] When they expel you from this city, flee to another. Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not finish all the cities of the people of Israel, until the Son of man come.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 429, footnote 10 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)
Book X. (HTML)
The Withdrawal of Jesus. (HTML)
... apart. ” The letter teaches us to withdraw as far as it is in our power from those who persecute us, and from expected conspiracies through words; for this would be to act according to prudence; and, when one can keep outside of critical positions, to go to meet them is rash and headstrong. For who would still hesitate about avoiding such things, when not only did Jesus retreat in view of what happened to John, but also taught and said, “If they persecute you in this city, flee ye into the other”?[Matthew 10:23] When a temptation comes which is not in our power to avoid, we must endure it with exceeding nobleness and courage; but, when it is in our power to avoid it, not to do so is rash. But since after the letter we must also investigate the place ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 520, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)
Section 35 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2589 (In-Text, Margin)
... Lord hath said, “Call upon Me in the day of tribulation and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me,” therefore the Apostle ought not to have fled, and to be let down by the wall in a basket that he might escape the hands of a pursuer, but should rather have waited to be taken, that, like the three children from the midst of the fires, the Lord might deliver him. Or for this reason ought not the Lord either to have said this, “If they shall persecute you in one city, flee ye to another,”[Matthew 10:23] namely, because He hath said, “If ye shall ask of the Father any thing in My name, He will give it you.” As then whoever to Christ’s disciples when fleeing from persecution should cast up this sort of question, why they did not rather stand, and by ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 286, footnote 4 (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 842 (In-Text, Margin)
... account of her. Of course, God could have done this; it would be absurd to deny it. But if, in reply to the people, Abraham had told them that Sara was his wife, his trust in God would have included both his own life and the chastity of Sara. Now it is part of sound doctrine, that when a man has any means in his power, he should not tempt the Lord his God. So it was not because the Saviour was unable to protect His disciples that He told them, "When ye are persecuted in one city, flee to another."[Matthew 10:23] And He Himself set the example. For though He had the power of laying down His own life, and did not lay it down till He chose to do so, still when an infant He fled to Egypt, carried by His parents; and when He went up to the feast, He went not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 539, footnote 10 (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 19 (HTML)
42. said: "The Lord Jesus Christ commands us, saying, ‘When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another; and if they persecute you in that, flee yet into a third; for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.’[Matthew 10:23] If He gives us this warning in the case of Jews and pagans, you who call yourself a Christian ought not to imitate the dreadful deeds of the Gentiles. Or do you serve God in such wise that we should be murdered at your hands? You do err, you do err, if you are wretched enough to entertain such a belief as this. For God does not have butchers for His ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 622, footnote 1 (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 this book Augustin refutes the second letter which Petilianus wrote to him after having seen the first of Augustin’s earlier books. This letter had been full of violent language; and Augustin rather shows that the arguments of Petilianus had been deficient and irrelevant, than brings forward arguments in support of his own statements. (HTML)
Chapter 50 (HTML)
61. For the portion of this epistle which he wrote to his adherents—from the beginning down to the passage in which he says, "This is the commandment of the Lord to us, ‘When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another;’[Matthew 10:23] and if they persecute you in that also, flee ye to a third"—came first into my hands, and to it I made a reply; and when this reply of ours had fallen, in turn, into his hands, he wrote in answer to it this which I am now refuting, showing that he has made no reply to mine. In that first portion, therefore, of his writings to which I first replied, these are the passages of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 509, 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)
On the words of the Gospel of John vii. 6, etc., where Jesus said that He was not going up unto the feast, and notwithstanding went up. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3990 (In-Text, Margin)
... before them. He wished that they should go before; He avoided this snare, impressing His infirmity as Man, hiding the Divinity; this He avoided, as when He fled into Egypt. For this was no effect of want of power, but even of truth, that He might give an example of caution; that no servant of His might say, “I do not fly, because it is disgraceful;” when haply it might be expedient to fly. As He was going to say to His disciples, “When they have persecuted you in this city, flee ye into another;”[Matthew 10:23] He gave them Himself this example. For He was apprehended, when He willed; He was born, when He willed. That they might not anticipate Him then, and announce that He was coming, and plots be prepared; He said, “I go not up to this feast day.” He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 259, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter X. 11–13. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 900 (In-Text, Margin)
... fleeing: he was let down by the wall in a basket, to escape the hands of his persecutor. Had he, then, no care of the sheep, whom he thus abandoned at the approach of the wolf? Clearly he had, but he commended them by his prayers to the Shepherd who was sitting in heaven; and for their advantage he preserved himself by flight, as he says in a certain place, “To abide in the flesh is needful for you.” For all had heard from the Shepherd Himself, “If they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another.”[Matthew 10:23] May the Lord be pleased to explain to us this point! Lord, Thou saidst to those whom Thou didst certainly wish to be faithful shepherds, and whom Thou didst form into Thine own members, “If they persecute you, flee.” Doest Thou, then, injustice to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 305, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2960 (In-Text, Margin)
18. “Let not the tempest of waters drown Me” (ver. 15). But already he had been drowned. “I have come into the depth of the sea,” thou hast said, and “the tempest hath drowned Me,” thou hast said. It hath drowned after the flesh, let it not drown after the Spirit. They to whom was said, If they shall have persecuted you in one city, flee ye into another;[Matthew 10:23] had this said to them, that neither in flesh they should stick, nor in spirit. For we must not desire to stick even in flesh; but as far as we are able we ought to avoid it. But if we shall have stuck, and shall have fallen into the hands of sinners: then in body we have stuck, we are fixed in the clay of the deep, it ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 650, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5802 (In-Text, Margin)
... thee. For who comforteth thee save the Lord? “Flight hath perished from me.” He speaketh as though he were hemmed in. Let the persecutors rejoice over him; he is overpowered, he is taken, he is hemmed in, he is conquered. “Flight hath perished” from him who fleeth not. But he who fleeth not, suffereth whatever he can for Christ: that is, he fleeth not in soul. For in body it is lawful to flee; it is allowed, it is permitted; for the Lord saith, “When they persecute you in one city, flee to another.”[Matthew 10:23] He then who fleeth not in soul, from him “flight hath perished.” But it maketh a difference why he fleeth not; whether because he is hemmed in, because he is caught, or because he is brave. For both from him that is caught flight hath perished, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 82, footnote 3 (Image)
Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425
The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Quotations from Athanasius' 'Defense of his Flight.' (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 484 (In-Text, Margin)
... now abuse us for having effected our escape out of their murderous hands; nay, are grievously vexed that they were unable to put us out of the way altogether. In short, they overlook the fact that while they pretend to upbraid us with ‘cowardice,’ they are really criminating themselves: for if it be disgraceful to flee, it is still more so to pursue, since the one is only endeavoring to avoid being murdered, while the other is seeking to commit the deed. But Scripture itself directs us to flee:[Matthew 10:23] and those who persecute unto death, in attempting to violate the law, constrain us to have recourse to flight. They should rather, therefore, be ashamed of their persecution, than reproach us for having sought to escape from it: let them cease to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 83, footnote 1 (Image)
Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425
The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Quotations from Athanasius' 'Defense of his Flight.' (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 496 (In-Text, Margin)
... contrary to the will of God, they demonstrate their ignorance of Scripture. For it was commanded in the Law that ‘cities of refuge’ should be constituted, by which provision was made that such as were pursued in order to be put to death might have means afforded of preserving themselves. Again in the consummation of the ages, when the Word of the Father, who had before spoken by Moses, came himself to the earth, he gave this express injunction, ‘When they persecute you in one city, flee unto another:’[Matthew 10:23] and shortly after, ‘When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (let whosoever reads, understand), then let those in Judea flee unto the mountains: let him that is on the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 120, footnote 9 (Image)
Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425
The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Gregory, finding Some Dissatisfaction about his Appointment, abdicates the Episcopate of Constantinople. The Emperor orders Demophilus the Arian Bishop either to assent to the 'Homoousion,' or leave the City. He chooses the Latter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 699 (In-Text, Margin)
... and enquired whether he was willing to assent to the Nicene Creed, and thus reunite the people, and establish peace. Upon Demophilus’ declining to accede to this proposal, the emperor said to him, ‘Since you reject peace and harmony, I order you to quit the churches.’ When Demophilus heard this, weighing with himself the difficulty of contending against superior power, he convoked his followers in the church, and standing in the midst of them, thus spoke: ‘Brethren, it is written in the Gospel,[Matthew 10:23] “If they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another.” Since therefore the emperor needs the churches, take notice that we will henceforth hold our assemblies without the city.’ Having said this he departed; not however as rightly apprehending ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 379, footnote 1 (Image)
Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425
The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen. (HTML)
Book VII (HTML)
Gregory, the Theologian, receives from Theodosius the Government of the Churches. Expulsion of Demophilus, and of all who deny that the Son is “Consubstantial” with the Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1525 (In-Text, Margin)
The emperor sent to command Demophilus to conform to the doctrines of Nicæa, and to lead the people to embrace the same sentiments, or else to vacate the churches. Demophilus assembled the people, acquainted them with the imperial edict, and informed them that it was his intention to hold a church the next day without the walls of the city, in accordance, he said, with the Divine law, which commands us when we are persecuted in one city to “flee unto another.”[Matthew 10:23] From that day he always held church without the city with Lucius, who was formerly the bishop of the Arians at Alexandria; and who, after having been expelled, as above related, from that city, fled to Constantinople and fixed his residence there. When Demophilus and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 97, footnote 5 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Of the number and character of the deeds done by Pagans against the Christians when they got the power from Julian. (HTML)
... athlete Æmilianus was thrown upon a flaming pyre, by Capitolinus, governor of all Thrace. To relate the tragic fate of Marcus, however, bishop of Arethusa, with true dramatic dignity, would require the eloquence of an Æschylus or a Sophocles. In the days of Constantius he had destroyed a certain idol-shrine and built a church in its place; and no sooner did the Arethusians learn the mind of Julian than they made an open display of their hostility. At first, according to the precept of the Gospel,[Matthew 10:23] Marcus endeavoured to make his escape; but when he became aware that some of his own people were apprehended in his stead, he returned and gave himself up to the men of blood. After they had seized him they neither pitied his old age nor reverenced ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 250, footnote 5 (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 Bishop Irenæus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1613 (In-Text, Margin)
... and waits for this fate to be violently forced upon him. You have suggested these circumstances, and you ask which of these two took the better course. I think that you will agree with me that the latter was the more praiseworthy. No one ought to withdraw himself from life unbidden, but should await either a natural or a violent death. Our Lord gave us this lesson when He bade those that are persecuted in one city flee to another and again commanded them to quit even this and depart to another.[Matthew 10:23] In obedience to this teaching the divine Apostle escaped the violence of the governor of the city, and had no hesitation in speaking of the manner of his flight, but spoke of the basket, the wall, and the window, and boasted and glorified in the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 289, footnote 9 (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 Ancyra. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1851 (In-Text, Margin)
... rather trouble, toil, and peril, and attacks of enemies. “In the world,” He says, “ye shall have tribulation,” and “if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you,” and “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his household,” and “The time cometh when whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God service,” and “Straight is the gate and narrow the way which leadeth unto life,” and “When they persecute you in this city flee you into another,”[Matthew 10:23] and I might quote all similar passages. The divine Apostle too speaks in the same strain. “Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 95, footnote 2 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Encyclical Letter. (Epistola Encyclica.) (HTML)
Epistola Encyclica. (Encyclical Letter.) (HTML)
Retirement of Athanasius, and tyranny of Gregory and Philagrius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 464 (In-Text, Margin)
... have been my fate, had not the grace of Christ assisted me, if it were only that I might escape to relate these few particulars concerning their conduct. For seeing that they were exceedingly mad against me, and being anxious that the church should not be injured, nor the virgins that were in it suffer, nor additional murders be committed, nor the people again outraged, I withdrew myself from among them, remembering the words of our Saviour, ‘If they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another[Matthew 10:23].’ For I knew, from the evil they had done against the first-named church, that they would forbear no outrage against the other also. And there in fact they reverenced not even the Lord’s day of the holy Feast, but in that church also they imprisoned ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 251, footnote 5 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) (HTML)
Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) (HTML)
He defends his Flight. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1378 (In-Text, Margin)
... out of the cities and the province. But these worthy persons presumed to exceed your commands, and banished aged men and Bishops venerable for their years into desert and unfrequented and frightful places, beyond the boundaries of three provinces. Some of them were sent off from Libya to the great Oasis; others from the Thebais to Ammoniaca in Libya. Neither was it from fear of death that I fled; let none of them condemn me as guilty of cowardice; but because it is the injunction of our Saviour[Matthew 10:23] that we should flee when we are persecuted, and hide ourselves when we are sought after, and not expose ourselves to certain dangers, nor by appearing before our persecutors inflame still more their rage against us. For to give one’s self up to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 259, footnote 2 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)
Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)
Examples of Scripture Saints in defence of flight. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1435 (In-Text, Margin)
... world, He also gave this commandment, saying, ‘But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another:’ and shortly after He says, ‘When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand); then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes[Matthew 10:23].’ Knowing these things, the Saints regulated their conduct accordingly. For what our Lord has now commanded, the same also He spoke by His Saints before His coming in the flesh: and this is the rule which is given unto men to lead them to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 265, footnote 20 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Demetrius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3683 (In-Text, Margin)
... thy husband and he shall rule over thee.” We are told that the bridegroom feeds among the lilies, that is, among those who have not defiled their garments, for they have remained virgins and have hearkened to the precept of the Preacher: “let thy garments be always white.” As the author and prince of virginity He says boldly of Himself: “I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.” “The rocks” then “are a refuge for the conies” who when they are persecuted in one city flee into another[Matthew 10:23] and have no fear that the prophetic words “refuge failed me” will be fulfilled in their case. “The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats,” and their food are the serpents which a little child draws out of their holes. Meanwhile the leopard lies ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 290, footnote 7 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Sabinianus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3961 (In-Text, Margin)
2. Does not this whole psalm seem to you to be written of yourself? Certainly you are hale and strong; and like a new apostle of Antichrist, when you are found out in one city, you pass to another.[Matthew 10:23] You are in no need of money, no crushing blow strikes you down, neither are you plagued as other men who are not like you mere brute beasts. Therefore you are lifted up into pride, and lust covers you as a garment. Out of your fat and bloated carcass you breathe out words fraught with death. You never consider that you must some day die, nor feel the slightest repentance when you have satisfied ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 109, footnote 11 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1891 (In-Text, Margin)
... says the same thing, And he sware by Him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, and times, and half a time. And some peradventure have referred what follows also to this; namely, a thousand two hundred and ninety days; and this, Blessed is he that endureth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. For this cause we must hide ourselves and flee; for perhaps we shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come[Matthew 10:23].
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 234, footnote 4 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
Panegyric on His Brother S. Cæsarius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2958 (In-Text, Margin)
14. This victory I esteem far more sublime and honourable than the Emperor’s mighty power and splendid purple and costly diadem. I am more elated in describing it than if he had won from him the half of his Empire. During the evil days he lived in retirement, obedient herein to our Christian law,[Matthew 10:23] which bids us, when occasion offers, to make ventures on behalf of the truth, and not be traitors to our religion from cowardice; yet refrain, as long as may be, from rushing into danger, either in fear for our own souls, or to spare those who bring the danger upon us. But when the gloom had been dispersed, and the righteous sentence had been ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 32, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XXXVII. An even mind should be preserved in adversity as well as in prosperity. However, evil things must be avoided. (HTML)
187. These, then, are the services of fortitude; and full they are of virtuous and seemly duties. But in all that we do we must look to see, not only if it is virtuous, but whether it is possible, so that we may not enter upon anything that we cannot carry out. Wherefore the Lord, to use His own word, wills us to flee in the time of persecution from one city to another;[Matthew 10:23] so that no one, whilst longing for the crown of martyrdom, may put himself in the way of dangers which possibly the weak flesh or a mind indulged could not bear and endure.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 376, footnote 6 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VIII. The Second Conference of Abbot Serenus. On Principalities. (HTML)
Chapter III. The answer on the many kinds of food provided in holy Scripture. (HTML)
... part of all who saw them. But some are capable of being taken suitable and properly in both ways, i.e., the historical and allegorical, so that either explanation furnishes a healing draught to the soul; as this passage: “If any one shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;” and: “when they persecute you in one city, flee to another;” and: “if thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow Me.”[Matthew 10:23] It produces indeed “grass for the cattle” also, (and of this food all the fields of Scripture are full); viz., plain and simple narratives of history, by which simple folk, and those who are incapable of perfect and sound understanding (of whom it ...