Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 25:4
There are 12 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 576, footnote 15 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter V (HTML)
... blessed; and notice that the truth as it is contained in Plato concerning this subject did not at all help his readers to attain to a pure worship of God, nor even himself, who could philosophize so grandly about the “chief good,” whereas the simple language of the holy Scriptures has led to their honest readers being filled with a divine spirit; and this light is nourished within them by the oil, which in a certain parable is said to have preserved the light of the torches of the five wise virgins.[Matthew 25:4]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 109, footnote 43 (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 XLIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2962 (In-Text, Margin)
[9] Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like unto ten virgins, those that took their [10] lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom and the bride. Five of them were [11] wise, and five foolish. And those foolish ones took their lamps, and took not with [12, 13] them oil:[Matthew 25:4] but those wise ones took oil in vessels along with their lamps. When then [14] the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But in the middle of the night there occurred a cry, Behold, the bridegroom cometh! Go forth therefore to [15, 16] meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and made ready their lamps. The foolish [17] said unto the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 433, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 43 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2181 (In-Text, Margin)
... to know whose gift it was?” But perhaps continence is the gift of God, but wisdom man bestows upon himself, whereby to understand, that that gift is, not his own, but of God. Yea, “The Lord maketh wise the blind:” and, “The testimony of the Lord is faithful, it giveth wisdom unto little ones:” and, “If any one want wisdom, let him ask of God, Who giveth unto all liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him.” But it becometh virgins to be wise, that their lamps be not extinguished.[Matthew 25:4] How “wise,” save “not having high thoughts, but consenting unto the lowly.” For Wisdom Itself hath said unto man, “Lo, piety is wisdom!” If therefore thou hast nothing, which thou hast not received, “Be not high-minded, but fear.” And love not thou ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 187, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Same Continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1638 (In-Text, Margin)
... His left hand, whose barrenness in all good works He will expose, will He condemn to everlasting fire. In two other passages He deals with that wicked and slothful servant, who neglected to trade with His money, and with the man who was found at the feast without the wedding garment,—and He orders them to be bound hand and foot, and to be cast into outer darkness. And in yet another scripture, after admitting the five virgins who were wise, He shuts the door against the other five foolish ones.[Matthew 25:1-10] Now these descriptions,—and there are others which at the instant do not occur to me,—are all intended to represent to us the future judgment, which of course will be held not over one, or over five, but over multitudes. For if it were a solitary ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 403, footnote 11 (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. xxv. 1, ‘then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3109 (In-Text, Margin)
... sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed”? And so when the cry was made at midnight, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh;” what follows? “Then all those virgins arose.” What is, “they” all arose? “The hour will come,” said the Lord Himself, “when all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” Therefore at the last trumpet they all arose. “Now those wise virgins had brought oil with them in their vessels; but the foolish brought no oil with them.”[Matthew 25:4] What is the meaning of “brought no oil with them in their vessels”? What is “in their vessels”? In their hearts. Whence the Apostle says, “Our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience.” There is the oil, the precious oil; this oil is of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 646, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5773 (In-Text, Margin)
... amend? “In mercy. And shall convict me.” Wherein? “In mercy. For the oil of a sinner shall not enrich my head.” My head shall not grow by flattery. Undue praise is flattery: undue praise of a flatterer is “the oil of a sinner.” Therefore men too, when they have mocked any one with false praise, say, “I have anointed his head.” Love then to be “convicted by the righteous One in mercy;” love not to be praised by a sinner in mockery. Have oil in yourselves, and ye shall not seek the “oil of a sinner.”[Matthew 25:4] …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 527, footnote 6 (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)
... consider the whole course of our life as a feast, and continue near and do not go far off, saying to Him, ‘Thou hast the words of eternal life, and whither shall we go?’ Let those of us who are far off return, confessing our iniquities, and having nothing against any man, but by the spirit mortifying the deeds of the body. For thus, having first nourished the soul here, we shall partake with angels at that heavenly and spiritual table; not knocking and being repulsed like those five foolish virgins[Matthew 25:1-12], but entering with the Lord, like those who were wise and loved the bridegroom; and shewing the dying of Jesus in our bodies, we shall receive life and the kingdom from Him.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 10, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 118 (In-Text, Margin)
6. I salute your mother and mine with the respect which, as you know, I feel towards her. Associated with you as she is in a holy life, she has the start of you, her holy children, in that she is your mother. Her womb may thus be truly called golden. With her I salute your sisters, who ought all to be welcomed wherever they go, for they have triumphed over their sex and the world, and await the Bridegroom’s coming,[Matthew 25:4] their lamps replenished with oil. O happy the house which is a home of a widowed Anna, of virgins that are prophetesses, and of twin Samuels bred in the Temple! Fortunate the roof which shelters the martyr-mother of the Maccabees, with her sons around her, each and all wearing the martyr’s ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 107, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Furia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1599 (In-Text, Margin)
... sport, and prayer she makes her pastime. Like Miriam after the drowning Pharaoh she takes up her timbrel and sings to the virgin choir, “Let us sing to the Lord for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” She teaches her companions to be music girls but music girls for Christ, to be luteplayers but luteplayers for the Saviour. In this occupation she passes both day and night and with oil ready to put in the lamps she waits the coming of the Bridegroom.[Matthew 25:4] Do you therefore imitate your kinswoman. Let Rome have in you what a grander city than Rome, I mean Bethlehem, has in her.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 251, footnote 17 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3505 (In-Text, Margin)
20. I lay great emphasis on these points that I may deliver a young man who is dear to me from the itching both of the tongue and of the ears: that, since he has been born again in Christ, I may present him without spot or wrinkle as a chaste virgin, chaste in mind as well as in body; that the virginity of which he boasts may be more than nominal and that he may not be shut out by the bridegroom because being unprovided with the oil of good works his lamp has gone out.[Matthew 25:1-10] In Proculus you have a reverend and most learned prelate, able by the sound of his voice to do more for you than I with my written sheets and sure to direct you on your path by daily homilies. He will not suffer you to turn to the right hand or to the left or to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 267, footnote 15 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Demetrius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3724 (In-Text, Margin)
... foundation on which other virtues may be built. The same may be said of sanctification and of that chastity without which no man shall see the Lord. Each of these is a step on the upward way, yet none of them by itself will avail to win the virgin’s crown. The gospel teaches us this in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins; the former of whom enter into the bridechamber of the bridegroom, while the latter are shut out from it because not having the oil of good works they allow their lamps to fail.[Matthew 25:1-12] This subject of fasting opens up a wide field in which I have often wandered myself, and many writers have devoted treatises to the subject. I must refer you to these if you wish to learn the advantages of self-restraint and on the other hand the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 362, footnote 3 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of Monks. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 827 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Expedient is the word that I speak and worthy of acceptance:— Let us now awake from our sleep, and lift up both our hearts and hands to God towards heaven; lest suddenly the Lord of the house come, that when He comes He may find us in watchfulness. Let us observe the appointed time of the glorious bridegroom,[Matthew 25:4] that we may enter with Him into His bride-chamber. Let us prepare oil for our lamps that we may go forth to meet Him with joy. Let us make ready provision for our abiding-place, for the way that is narrow and strait. And let us put away and cast from us all uncleanness, and put on wedding garments. Let us trade with the silver that ...