Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Luke 15
There are 153 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 327, footnote 16 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)
Chapter VIII.—How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2766 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Moreover, that Achamoth wandered beyond the Pleroma, and received form from Christ, and was sought after by the Saviour, they declare that He indicated when He said, that He had come after that sheep which was gone astray.[Luke 15:4] For they explain the wandering sheep to mean their mother, by whom they represent the Church as having been sown. The wandering itself denotes her stay outside of the Pleroma in a state of varied passion, from which they maintain that matter derived its origin. The woman, again, who sweeps the house and finds the piece of money, they declare to denote the Sophia above, who, having ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 327, footnote 16 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)
Chapter VIII.—How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2766 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Moreover, that Achamoth wandered beyond the Pleroma, and received form from Christ, and was sought after by the Saviour, they declare that He indicated when He said, that He had come after that sheep which was gone astray.[Luke 15:8] For they explain the wandering sheep to mean their mother, by whom they represent the Church as having been sown. The wandering itself denotes her stay outside of the Pleroma in a state of varied passion, from which they maintain that matter derived its origin. The woman, again, who sweeps the house and finds the piece of money, they declare to denote the Sophia above, who, having ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 341, footnote 1 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)
Chapter XVI.—Absurd interpretations of the Marcosians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2864 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Blending in one the production of their own Æons, and the straying and recovery of the sheep [spoken of in the Gospel[Luke 15:4]], these persons endeavour to set forth things in a more mystical style, while they refer everything to numbers, maintaining that the universe has been formed out of a Monad and a Dyad. And then, reckoning from unity on to four, they thus generate the Decad. For when one, two, three, and four are added together, they give rise to the number of the ten Æons. And, again, the Dyad advancing from itself [by twos] up to six—two, and four, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 341, footnote 4 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)
Chapter XVI.—Absurd interpretations of the Marcosians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2867 (In-Text, Margin)
... twelve. They therefore term the Duodecad—because it contains the Episemon, and because the Episemon [so to speak] waits upon it—the passion. And for this reason, because an error occurred in connection with the twelfth number, the sheep frisked off, and went astray; for they assert that a defection took place from the Duodecad. In the same way they oracularly declare, that one power having departed also from the Duodecad, has perished; and this was represented by the woman who lost the drachma,[Luke 15:8] and, lighting a lamp, again found it. Thus, therefore, the numbers that were left, viz., nine, as respects the pieces of money, and eleven in regard to the sheep, when multiplied together, give birth to the number ninety-nine, for nine times eleven ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 457, footnote 10 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)
Chapter XXIII.—Arguments in opposition to Tatian, showing that it was consonant to divine justice and mercy that the first Adam should first partake in that salvation offered to all by Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3773 (In-Text, Margin)
8. All therefore speak falsely who disallow his (Adam’s) salvation, shutting themselves out from life for ever, in that they do not believe that the sheep which had perished has been found.[Luke 15:4] For if it has not been found, the whole human race is still held in a state of perdition. False, therefore, is that man who first started this idea, or rather, this ignorance and blindness—Tatian. As I have already indicated, this man entangled himself with all the heretics. This dogma, however, has been invented by himself, in order that, by introducing something new, independently of the rest, and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 479, footnote 3 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XIV.—If God demands obedience from man, if He formed man, called him and placed him under laws, it was merely for man’s welfare; not that God stood in need of man, but that He graciously conferred upon man His favours in every possible manner. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3965 (In-Text, Margin)
... with Himself to those who stood in need of it, and sketching out, like an architect, the plan of salvation to those that pleased Him. And He did Himself furnish guidance to those who beheld Him not in Egypt, while to those who became unruly in the desert He promulgated a law very suitable [to their condition]. Then, on the people who entered into the good land He bestowed a noble inheritance; and He killed the fatted calf for those converted to the Father, and presented them with the finest robe.[Luke 15:22-23] Thus, in a variety of ways, He adjusted the human race to an agreement with salvation. On this account also does John declare in the Apocalypse, “And His voice as the sound of many waters.” For the Spirit [of God] is truly [like] many waters, since ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 517, footnote 12 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4386 (In-Text, Margin)
7. And not alone by what has been stated, but also by the parable of the two sons, the younger of whom consumed his substance by living luxuriously with harlots, did the Lord teach one and the same Father, who did not even allow a kid to his elder son; but for him who had been lost, [namely] his younger son, he ordered the fatted calf to be killed, and he gave him the best robe.[Luke 15:11] Also by the parable of the workmen who were sent into the vineyard at different periods of the day, one and the same God is declared as having called some in the beginning, when the world was first created; but others afterwards, and others during the intermediate period, others after a long lapse of time, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 239, footnote 7 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chap. I.—On Eating. (HTML)
For it were not seemly that we, after the fashion of the rich man’s son in the Gospel,[Luke 15:11] should, as prodigals, abuse the Father’s gifts; but we should use them, without undue attachment to them, as having command over ourselves. For we are enjoined to reign and rule over meats, not to be slaves to them. It is an admirable thing, therefore, to raise our eyes aloft to what is true, to depend on that divine food above, and to satiate ourselves with the exhaustless contemplation of that which truly exists, and so taste of the only sure and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 363, footnote 6 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter XV.—On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding. (HTML)
For “great is the joy before the Father when one sinner is saved,”[Luke 15:7] saith the Lord. So Abraham was much to be praised, because “he walked as the Lord spake to him.” Drawing from this instance, one of the wise men among the Greeks uttered the maxim, “Follow God.” “The godly,” says Esaias, “framed wise counsels.” Now counsel is seeking for the right way of acting in present circumstances, and good counsel is wisdom in our counsels. And what? Does not God, after the pardon bestowed on Cain, suitably not long after introduce Enoch, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 363, footnote 6 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter XV.—On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding. (HTML)
For “great is the joy before the Father when one sinner is saved,”[Luke 15:10] saith the Lord. So Abraham was much to be praised, because “he walked as the Lord spake to him.” Drawing from this instance, one of the wise men among the Greeks uttered the maxim, “Follow God.” “The godly,” says Esaias, “framed wise counsels.” Now counsel is seeking for the right way of acting in present circumstances, and good counsel is wisdom in our counsels. And what? Does not God, after the pardon bestowed on Cain, suitably not long after introduce Enoch, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 602, footnote 6 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
Who is the Rich Man that shall be saved? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3910 (In-Text, Margin)
... who has turned to God in truth, and with his whole heart, the doors are open, and the thrice-glad Father receives His truly repentant son. And true repentance is to be no longer bound in the same sins for which He denounced death against Himself, but to eradicate them completely from the soul. For on their extirpation God takes up His abode again in thee. For it is said there is great and exceeding joy and festival in the heavens with the Father and the angels when one sinner turns and repents.[Luke 15:10] Wherefore also He cries, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” “I desire not the death, but the repentance of the sinner.” “Though your sins be as scarlet wool, I will make them white as snow; though they be blacker than darkness, I will wash and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 249, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Prescription Against Heretics. (HTML)
After We Have Believed, Search Should Cease; Otherwise It Must End in a Denial of What We Have Believed. No Other Object Proposed for Our Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1984 (In-Text, Margin)
... that there is something else to be found, although I should by no means entertain such expectation, unless it were because I either had not believed, although I apparently had become a believer, or else have ceased to believe. If I thus desert my faith, I am found to be a denier thereof. Once for all I would say, No man seeks, except him who either never possessed, or else has lost (what he sought). The old woman (in the Gospel) had lost one of her ten pieces of silver, and therefore she sought it;[Luke 15:8] when, however, she found it, she ceased to look for it. The neighbour was without bread, and therefore he knocked; but as soon as the door was opened to him, and he received the bread, he discontinued knocking. The widow kept asking to be heard by ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 402, footnote 18 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke's Gospel; That Being the Only Historical Portion of the New Testament Partially Accepted by Marcion. This Book May Also Be Regarded as a Commentary on St. Luke. It Gives Remarkable Proof of Tertullian's Grasp of Scripture, and Proves that “The Old Testament is Not Contrary to the New.“ It Also Abounds in Striking Expositions of Scriptural Passages, Embracing Profound Views of Revelation, in Connection with the Nature of Man. (HTML)
A Sort of Sorites, as the Logicians Call It, to Show that the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Drachma Have No Suitable Application to the Christ of Marcion. (HTML)
Who sought after the lost sheep and the lost piece of silver?[Luke 15:1-10] Was it not the loser? But who was the loser? Was it not he who once possessed them? Who, then, was that? Was it not he to whom they belonged? Since, then, man is the property of none other than the Creator, He possessed Him who owned him; He lost him who once possessed him; He sought him who lost him; He found him who sought him; He rejoiced who found him. Therefore the purport of neither parable has anything whatever to do with him to whom belongs neither ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 14 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8498 (In-Text, Margin)
... repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive the repentant. The matter were doubtful if He had not withal elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of His clemency. Saith He not, “He who hath fallen shall rise again, and he who hath been a verted shall be con verted?” He it is, indeed, who “would have mercy rather than sacrifices.” The heavens, and the angels who are there, are glad at a man’s repentance.[Luke 15:7] Ho! you sinner, be of good cheer! you see where it is that there is joy at your return. What meaning for us have those themes of the Lord’s parables? Is not the fact that a woman has lost a drachma, and seeks it and finds it, and invites her female ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 14 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8498 (In-Text, Margin)
... repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive the repentant. The matter were doubtful if He had not withal elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of His clemency. Saith He not, “He who hath fallen shall rise again, and he who hath been a verted shall be con verted?” He it is, indeed, who “would have mercy rather than sacrifices.” The heavens, and the angels who are there, are glad at a man’s repentance.[Luke 15:10] Ho! you sinner, be of good cheer! you see where it is that there is joy at your return. What meaning for us have those themes of the Lord’s parables? Is not the fact that a woman has lost a drachma, and seeks it and finds it, and invites her female ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 15 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8499 (In-Text, Margin)
... hath been a verted shall be con verted?” He it is, indeed, who “would have mercy rather than sacrifices.” The heavens, and the angels who are there, are glad at a man’s repentance. Ho! you sinner, be of good cheer! you see where it is that there is joy at your return. What meaning for us have those themes of the Lord’s parables? Is not the fact that a woman has lost a drachma, and seeks it and finds it, and invites her female friends to share her joy, an example of a restored sinner?[Luke 15:8-10] There strays, withal, one little ewe of the shepherd’s; but the flock was not more dear than the one: that one is earnestly sought; the one is longed for instead of all; and at length she is found, and is borne back on the shoulders of the shepherd ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 17 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8501 (In-Text, Margin)
... for us have those themes of the Lord’s parables? Is not the fact that a woman has lost a drachma, and seeks it and finds it, and invites her female friends to share her joy, an example of a restored sinner? There strays, withal, one little ewe of the shepherd’s; but the flock was not more dear than the one: that one is earnestly sought; the one is longed for instead of all; and at length she is found, and is borne back on the shoulders of the shepherd himself; for much had she toiled in straying.[Luke 15:3-7] That most gentle father, likewise, I will not pass over in silence, who calls his prodigal son home, and willingly receives him repentant after his indigence, slays his best fatted calf, and graces his joy with a banquet. Why not? He had found the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 18 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8502 (In-Text, Margin)
... withal, one little ewe of the shepherd’s; but the flock was not more dear than the one: that one is earnestly sought; the one is longed for instead of all; and at length she is found, and is borne back on the shoulders of the shepherd himself; for much had she toiled in straying. That most gentle father, likewise, I will not pass over in silence, who calls his prodigal son home, and willingly receives him repentant after his indigence, slays his best fatted calf, and graces his joy with a banquet.[Luke 15:11-32] Why not? He had found the son whom he had lost; he had felt him to be all the dearer of whom he had made a gain. Who is that father to be understood by us to be? God, surely: no one is so truly a Father; no one so rich in ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 21 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8505 (In-Text, Margin)
... Why not? He had found the son whom he had lost; he had felt him to be all the dearer of whom he had made a gain. Who is that father to be understood by us to be? God, surely: no one is so truly a Father; no one so rich in paternal love. He, then, will receive you, His own son, back, even if you have squandered what you had received from Him, even if you return naked—just because you have returned; and will joy more over your return than over the sobriety of the other;[Luke 15:29-32] but only if you heartily repent—if you compare your own hunger with the plenty of your Father’s “hired servants”—if you leave behind you the swine, that unclean herd—if you again seek your Father, offended though He be, saying, “I have ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 715, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
Certain Other Divine Precepts. The Apostolic Description of Charity. Their Connection with Patience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 9143 (In-Text, Margin)
... that cause, I mean, which makes it lawful, whether for husband or wife, to persist in the perpetual observance of widowhood), she waits for, she yearns for, she persuades by her entreaties, repentance in all who are one day to enter salvation? How great a blessing she confers on each! The one she prevents from becoming an adulterer; the other she amends. So, too, she is found in those holy examples touching patience in the Lord’s parables. The shepherd’s patience seeks and finds the straying ewe:[Luke 15:3-6] for Im patience would easily despise one ewe; but Patience undertakes the labour of the quest, and the patient burden-bearer carries home on his shoulders the forsaken sinner. That prodigal son also the father’s patience receives, and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 715, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
Certain Other Divine Precepts. The Apostolic Description of Charity. Their Connection with Patience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 9145 (In-Text, Margin)
... amends. So, too, she is found in those holy examples touching patience in the Lord’s parables. The shepherd’s patience seeks and finds the straying ewe: for Im patience would easily despise one ewe; but Patience undertakes the labour of the quest, and the patient burden-bearer carries home on his shoulders the forsaken sinner. That prodigal son also the father’s patience receives, and clothes, and feeds, and makes excuses for, in the presence of the angry brother’s im patience.[Luke 15:11-32] He, therefore, who “had perished” is saved, because he entered on the way of repentance. Repentance perishes not, because it finds Patience (to welcome it). For by whose teachings but those of Patience is Charity —the highest sacrament of the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 80, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Of the Parables of the Lost Ewe and the Lost Drachma. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 780 (In-Text, Margin)
You shall have leave to begin with the parables, where you have the lost ewe re-sought by the Lord, and carried back on His shoulders.[Luke 15:3-7] Let the very paintings upon your cups come forward to show whether even in them the figurative meaning of that sheep will shine through (the outward semblance, to teach) whether a Christian or heathen sinner be the object it aims at in the matter of restoration. For we put in a demurrer arising out of the teaching of nature, out of the law of ear and tongue, out of the soundness of the mental faculty, to the effect that such ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 80, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Of the Parables of the Lost Ewe and the Lost Drachma. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 785 (In-Text, Margin)
Similarly, the parable of the drachma,[Luke 15:8-10] as being called forth out of the same subject-matter, we equally interpret with reference to a heathen; albeit it had been “lost” in a house, as it were in the church; albeit “found” by aid of a “lamp,” as it were by aid of God’s word. Nay, but this whole world is the one house of all; in which world it is more the heathen, who is found in darkness, whom the grace of God enlightens, than the Christian, who is already in God’s light. Finally, it is one “straying” which ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 83, footnote 2 (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 801 (In-Text, Margin)
... else, if any doubts that in the land of Judea, subjugated as it had been long since by the hand of Pompey and of Lucullus, the publicans were heathens, let him read Deuteronomy: “There shall be no tribute-weigher of the sons of Israel.” Nor would the name of publicans have been so execrable in the eyes of the Lord, unless as being a “strange” name,—a (name) of such as put up the pathways of the very sky, and earth, and sea, for sale. Moreover, when (the writer) adjoins “sinners” to “publicans,”[Luke 15:1-2] it does not follow that he shows them to have been Jews, albeit some may possibly have been so; but by placing on a par the one genus of heathens—some sinners by office, that is, publicans; some by nature, that is, not publicans—he has drawn ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 83, footnote 5 (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 804 (In-Text, Margin)
... (be said that) the whole “substance” of the sacrament is most truly wasted away. For who will fear to squander what he has the power of afterwards recovering? Who will be careful to preserve to perpetuity what he will be able to lose not to perpetuity? Security in sin is likewise an appetite for it. Therefore the apostate withal will recover his former “garment,” the robe of the Holy Spirit; and a renewal of the “ring,” the sign and seal of baptism; and Christ will again be “slaughtered;”[Luke 15:23] and he will recline on that couch from which such as are unworthily clad are wont to be lifted by the torturers, and cast away into darkness, —much more such as have been stripped. It is therefore a further step if it is not ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 98, footnote 4 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)
Book VI. (HTML)
The System of Marcus Shown to Be that of Pythagoras, by Quotations from the Writings of Marcus' Followers. (HTML)
... the remarkable (letter),—for instance, two and four and six,—exhibited the (number) twelve. And again, if we reckon from the duad to the decade, thirty is produced; and in this are comprised the ogdoad, and decade, and dodecade. And therefore, on account of its having the remarkable (letter), the dodecade has concomitant with it a remarkable passion. And for this reason (they maintain) that when an error had arisen respecting the twelfth number, the sheep skipped from the flock and wandered away;[Luke 15:4-10] for that the apostasy took place, they say, in like manner from the decade. And with a similar reference to the dodecade, they speak of the piece of money which, on losing, a woman, having lit a candle, searched for diligently. (And they make a ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 324, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
Cyprian's Answer to Cornelius, Congratulating Him on the Return of the Confessors from Schism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2435 (In-Text, Margin)
2. We can estimate the joy of that day from our own feelings. For if, in this place, the whole number of the brethren rejoiced at your letter which you sent concerning their confession, and received this tidings of common rejoicing with the greatest alacrity, what must have been the joy there when the matter itself, and the general gladness, was carried on under the eyes of all? For since the Lord in His Gospel says that there is the highest “joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,”[Luke 15:7] how much greater is the joy in earth, no less than in heaven, over confessors who return with their glory and with praise to the Church of God, and make a way of returning for others by the faith and approval of their example? For this error had led ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 333, footnote 2 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Antonianus About Cornelius and Novatian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2490 (In-Text, Margin)
... her a space to repent, and she will not repent of her forni cation. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds;” whom certainly the Lord would not exhort to repentance, if it were not that He promises mercy to them that repent. And in the Gospel He says, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.”[Luke 15:7] For since it is written, “God did not make death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living,” assuredly He who wills that none should perish, desires that sinners should repent, and by repentance should return again to life. Thus ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 662, footnote 5 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Appendix. (HTML)
Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian. (HTML)
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5405 (In-Text, Margin)
... things? Certainly He who, having left the ninety and nine sheep, went to seek that one which had wandered from His flock; as David says, “I have gone astray like a sheep which was lost,” which being found Christ brings back, bearing on His shoulder the tender sinful one; and He, rejoicing and exulting, having called His friends and domestics, says, “Rejoice with me; for my sheep which was lost is found. I say,” says He, “unto you, that there will be such joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”[Luke 15:6-10] And in continuation, He says: “Or what woman, having ten denarii, if she should lose one of the denarii, does not light a lamp, and all the day long clean out her house, seeking till she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 662, footnote 6 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Appendix. (HTML)
Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian. (HTML)
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5406 (In-Text, Margin)
... heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” And in continuation, He says: “Or what woman, having ten denarii, if she should lose one of the denarii, does not light a lamp, and all the day long clean out her house, seeking till she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the denarius that I had lost. I say unto you, that such joy shall be in the sight of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”[Luke 15:6-10] But, on the other hand, they who do not repent of their wickedness, let them know from the answer of the Lord Himself what remaineth for them; for we read in the Gospel, that “certain men came from the Galileans to the Lord, telling Him of those ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 149, footnote 3 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Anatolius and Minor Writers. (HTML)
Anatolius of Alexandria. (HTML)
The Paschal Canon of Anatolius of Alexandria. (HTML)
Chapter X. (HTML)
... everlasting joy. For it is one thing to act in accordance with the precept given by the apostle, yea, by the Lord Himself, and be sad with the sad, and suffer with him that suffers by the cross, His own word being: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;” and it is another thing to rejoice with the victor as he triumphs over an ancient enemy, and exults with the highest triumph over a conquered adversary, as He Himself also says: “Rejoice with Me; for I have found the sheep which I had lost.”[Luke 15:6]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 333, footnote 1 (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)
The Passage Explained; The Queens, the Holy Souls Before the Deluge; The Concubines, the Souls of the Prophets; The Divine Seed for Spiritual Offspring in the Books of the Prophets; The Nuptials of the Word in the Prophets as Though Clandestine. (HTML)
... forth with whom Christ has had intercourse, fruits which bear an ever-memorable renown. For if you will look at the books of Moses, or David, or Solomon, or Isaiah, or of the prophets who follow, O virgins, you will see what offspring they have left, for the saving of life, from their intercourse with the Son of God. Hence the Word has with deep perception called the souls of the prophets concubines, because He did not espouse them openly, as He did the Church, having killed for her the fatted calf.[Luke 15:23]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 346, footnote 7 (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)
Tusiane. (HTML)
The Mind Clearer When Cleansed from Sin; The Ornaments of the Mind and the Order of Virtue; Charity Deep and Full; Chastity the Last Ornament of All; The Very Use of Matrimony to Be Restrained. (HTML)
... boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees.” This signifies the exercise of divine discipline, by which the mind that subdues the passions is cleansed and adorned by the sweeping out and ejection from it of sins. For it is necessary to come cleansed and adorned to the feast, arrayed, as by a decorator, in the discipline and exercise of virtue. For the mind being cleansed by laborious exercises from the distracting thoughts which darken it, quickly perceives the truth; as the widow in the Gospels[Luke 15:8] found the piece of money after she had swept the house and cast out the dirt, that is, the passions which obscure and cloud the mind, which increase in us from our luxuriousness and carelessness.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 400, footnote 8 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. III.—How the Bishop is to Treat the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Penitent (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2650 (In-Text, Margin)
... executing judgment for God. For, as the Scripture says, “the judgment is the Lord’s.” In the first place, therefore, condemn the guilty person with authority; afterwards try to bring him home with mercy and compassion, and readiness to receive him, promising him salvation if he will change his course of life, and become a penitent; and when he does repent, and has submitted to his chastisement, receive him: remembering that our Lord has said, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”[Luke 15:7]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 405, footnote 4 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. III.—How the Bishop is to Treat the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Penitent (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2692 (In-Text, Margin)
... like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the flock, search out, and keep an account of thy flock. Seek that which is wanting; as the Lord God our gracious Father has sent His own Son, the good Shepherd and Saviour, our Master Jesus, and has commanded Him to “leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and to go in search after that which was lost, and when He had found it, to take it upon His shoulders, and to carry it into the flock, rejoicing that He had found that which was lost.”[Luke 15:4] In like manner, be obedient, O bishop, and do thou seek that which was lost, guide that which has wandered out of the right way, bring back that which is gone astray: for thou hast authority to bring them back, and to deliver those that are ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 415, footnote 1 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. V.—On Accusations, and the Treatment of Accusers (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2772 (In-Text, Margin)
XLI. But if any one returns, and shows forth the fruit of repentance, then do ye receive him to prayer, as the lost son, the prodigal, who had consumed his father’s substance with harlots, who fed swine, and desired to be fed with husks, and could not obtain it. This son, when he repented, and returned to his father, and said, “I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son;”[Luke 15:21] the father, full of affection to his child, received him with music, and restored him his old robe, and ring, and shoes, and slew the fatted calf, and made merry with his friends. Do thou therefore, O bishop, act in the same manner. And as thou receivest an heathen after thou ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 484, footnote 13 (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. II.—Election and Ordination of Bishops: Form of Service on Sundays (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3619 (In-Text, Margin)
... all their offences, both voluntary and involuntary, and blot out that handwriting which is against them, and write them in the book of life; cleanse them from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and restore and unite them to His holy flock. For He knoweth our frame. For who can glory that he has a clean heart? And who can boldly say, that he is pure from sin? For we are all among the blameworthy. Let us still pray for them more earnestly, for there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,[Luke 15:7] that, being converted from every evil work, they may be joined to all good practice; that God, the lover of mankind, will suddenly accept their petitions, will restore to them the joy of His salvation, and strengthen them with His free Spirit; that ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 485, footnote 3 (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. II.—Election and Ordination of Bishops: Form of Service on Sundays (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3625 (In-Text, Margin)
... and when he had sinned, Thou gavest him Thy goodness as a pledge in order to his repentance: Look down upon these persons who have bended the neck of their soul and body to Thee; for Thou desirest not the death of a sinner, but his repentance, that he turn from his wicked way, and live. Thou who didst accept the repentance of the Ninevites, who willest that all men be saved, and come to the acknowledgment of the truth; who didst accept of that son who had consumed his substance in riotous living,[Luke 15] with the bowels of a father, on account of his repentance; do Thou now accept of the repentance of Thy supplicants: for there is no man that will not sin; for “if Thou, O Lord, markest iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? For with Thee there is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 503, footnote 8 (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)
The Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3795 (In-Text, Margin)
52. If any bishop or presbyter does not receive him that returns from his sin, but rejects him, let him be deprived; because he grieves Christ, who says, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”[Luke 15:7]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 654, footnote 1 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Memoirs of Edessa And Other Ancient Syriac Documents. (HTML)
A Canticle of Mar Jacob the Teacher on Edessa. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2941 (In-Text, Margin)
Draw me after Thee into Thy fold: for I am a sheep gone astray in the world. After Thee do I run, and Thy converse do I seek: that in me may be completed that number of a hundred, by means of a lost one which is found.[Luke 15:6]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 22 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1807 (In-Text, Margin)
[1, 2][Luke 15:1] And there came unto him publicans and sinners to hear his word. And the scribes and the Pharisees murmured, and said, This man receiveth sinners, and [3] eateth with them. And Jesus, when he beheld their murmuring, spake unto them [4] this parable: What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if one of them were lost, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go and seek the straying one [5] till he found it? Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 23 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1808 (In-Text, Margin)
[1, 2] And there came unto him publicans and sinners to hear his word.[Luke 15:2] And the scribes and the Pharisees murmured, and said, This man receiveth sinners, and [3] eateth with them. And Jesus, when he beheld their murmuring, spake unto them [4] this parable: What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if one of them were lost, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go and seek the straying one [5] till he found it? Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it [6] more than over the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 24 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1809 (In-Text, Margin)
[1, 2] And there came unto him publicans and sinners to hear his word. And the scribes and the Pharisees murmured, and said, This man receiveth sinners, and [3] eateth with them.[Luke 15:3] And Jesus, when he beheld their murmuring, spake unto them [4] this parable: What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if one of them were lost, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go and seek the straying one [5] till he found it? Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it [6] more than over the ninety-nine that went not astray; and bear it on his ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 25 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1810 (In-Text, Margin)
[1, 2] And there came unto him publicans and sinners to hear his word. And the scribes and the Pharisees murmured, and said, This man receiveth sinners, and [3] eateth with them. And Jesus, when he beheld their murmuring, spake unto them [4] this parable:[Luke 15:4] What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if one of them were lost, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go and seek the straying one [5] till he found it? Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it [6] more than over the ninety-nine that went not astray; and bear it on his shoulders, and bring it to his house, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 27 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1812 (In-Text, Margin)
... word. And the scribes and the Pharisees murmured, and said, This man receiveth sinners, and [3] eateth with them. And Jesus, when he beheld their murmuring, spake unto them [4] this parable: What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if one of them were lost, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go and seek the straying one [5] till he found it? Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it [6] more than over the ninety-nine that went not astray;[Luke 15:5] and bear it on his shoulders, and bring it to his house, and call his friends and neighbours, and say unto them, [7] Rejoice with me, since I have found my straying sheep. So your Father which is in heaven willeth not that one of these little ones ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 28 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1813 (In-Text, Margin)
... eateth with them. And Jesus, when he beheld their murmuring, spake unto them [4] this parable: What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if one of them were lost, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go and seek the straying one [5] till he found it? Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it [6] more than over the ninety-nine that went not astray; and bear it on his shoulders, and bring it to his house, and call his friends and neighbours,[Luke 15:6] and say unto them, [7] Rejoice with me, since I have found my straying sheep. So your Father which is in heaven willeth not that one of these little ones that have strayed should perish, [8] and he seeketh for them repentance. I say unto you, Thus ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 31 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1816 (In-Text, Margin)
... seek the straying one [5] till he found it? Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it [6] more than over the ninety-nine that went not astray; and bear it on his shoulders, and bring it to his house, and call his friends and neighbours, and say unto them, [7] Rejoice with me, since I have found my straying sheep. So your Father which is in heaven willeth not that one of these little ones that have strayed should perish, [8] and he seeketh for them repentance.[Luke 15:7] I say unto you, Thus there shall be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons that do not need repentance.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, 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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1817 (In-Text, Margin)
[9][Luke 15:8] And what woman having ten drachmas would lose one of them, and not light a [10] lamp, and sweep the house, and seek it with care till she found it; and when she found it, call her friends and neighbours, and say unto them, Rejoice with me, as I [11] have found my drachma that was lost? I say unto you, Thus there shall be joy [Arabic, p. 101] before the angels of God over the one sinner that repenteth, more than over the ninety-nine righteous persons that do not need repentance.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 33 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1818 (In-Text, Margin)
[9] And what woman having ten drachmas would lose one of them, and not light a [10] lamp, and sweep the house, and seek it with care till she found it;[Luke 15:9] and when she found it, call her friends and neighbours, and say unto them, Rejoice with me, as I [11] have found my drachma that was lost? I say unto you, Thus there shall be joy [Arabic, p. 101] before the angels of God over the one sinner that repenteth, more than over the ninety-nine righteous persons that do not need repentance.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 34 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1819 (In-Text, Margin)
[9] And what woman having ten drachmas would lose one of them, and not light a [10] lamp, and sweep the house, and seek it with care till she found it; and when she found it, call her friends and neighbours, and say unto them, Rejoice with me, as I [11] have found my drachma that was lost?[Luke 15:10] I say unto you, Thus there shall be joy [Arabic, p. 101] before the angels of God over the one sinner that repenteth, more than over the ninety-nine righteous persons that do not need repentance.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 35 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1820 (In-Text, Margin)
[12, 13][Luke 15:11] And Jesus spake unto them also another parable: A man had two sons: and the younger son said unto him, My father, give me my portion that belongeth to [14] me of thy goods. And he divided between them his property. And after a few days the younger son gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a [15] far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally. And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16] And when he ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 36 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1821 (In-Text, Margin)
[12, 13] And Jesus spake unto them also another parable:[Luke 15:12] A man had two sons: and the younger son said unto him, My father, give me my portion that belongeth to [14] me of thy goods. And he divided between them his property. And after a few days the younger son gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a [15] far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally. And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16] And when he was in want, he went and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 37 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1822 (In-Text, Margin)
[12, 13] And Jesus spake unto them also another parable: A man had two sons: and the younger son said unto him, My father, give me my portion that belongeth to [14] me of thy goods.[Luke 15:13] And he divided between them his property. And after a few days the younger son gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a [15] far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally. And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16] And when he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city [17] of that ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 83, footnote 38 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1823 (In-Text, Margin)
[12, 13] And Jesus spake unto them also another parable: A man had two sons: and the younger son said unto him, My father, give me my portion that belongeth to [14] me of thy goods. And he divided between them his property. And after a few days the younger son gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a [15] far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally.[Luke 15:14] And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16] And when he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city [17] of that country; and that man sent him into the field to feed the swine. And he used to long to fill his belly ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 1 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1824 (In-Text, Margin)
[12, 13] And Jesus spake unto them also another parable: A man had two sons: and the younger son said unto him, My father, give me my portion that belongeth to [14] me of thy goods. And he divided between them his property. And after a few days the younger son gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a [15] far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally. And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16][Luke 15:15] And when he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city [17] of that country; and that man sent him into the field to feed the swine. And he used to long to fill his belly with the carob that those swine were eating: and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 3 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1826 (In-Text, Margin)
... to [14] me of thy goods. And he divided between them his property. And after a few days the younger son gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a [15] far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally. And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16] And when he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city [17] of that country; and that man sent him into the field to feed the swine.[Luke 15:16] And he used to long to fill his belly with the carob that those swine were eating: and no man [18] gave him. And when he returned unto himself, he said, How many hired servants now in my father’s house have bread enough and to spare, while I here ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 4 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1827 (In-Text, Margin)
... gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a [15] far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally. And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16] And when he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city [17] of that country; and that man sent him into the field to feed the swine. And he used to long to fill his belly with the carob that those swine were eating: and no man [18] gave him.[Luke 15:17] And when he returned unto himself, he said, How many hired servants now in my father’s house have bread enough and to spare, while I here perish with [19] hunger! I will arise and go to my father’s house, and say unto him, My father, I [20] have ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 5 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1828 (In-Text, Margin)
... he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country. [16] And when he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city [17] of that country; and that man sent him into the field to feed the swine. And he used to long to fill his belly with the carob that those swine were eating: and no man [18] gave him. And when he returned unto himself, he said, How many hired servants now in my father’s house have bread enough and to spare, while I here perish with [19] hunger![Luke 15:18] I will arise and go to my father’s house, and say unto him, My father, I [20] have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy now to be called thy [21] son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But his ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 6 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1829 (In-Text, Margin)
... he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city [17] of that country; and that man sent him into the field to feed the swine. And he used to long to fill his belly with the carob that those swine were eating: and no man [18] gave him. And when he returned unto himself, he said, How many hired servants now in my father’s house have bread enough and to spare, while I here perish with [19] hunger! I will arise and go to my father’s house, and say unto him, My father,[Luke 15:19] I [20] have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy now to be called thy [21] son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But his father saw him while he was at a distance, and was moved with ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 7 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1830 (In-Text, Margin)
... field to feed the swine. And he used to long to fill his belly with the carob that those swine were eating: and no man [18] gave him. And when he returned unto himself, he said, How many hired servants now in my father’s house have bread enough and to spare, while I here perish with [19] hunger! I will arise and go to my father’s house, and say unto him, My father, I [20] have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy now to be called thy [21] son: make me as one of thy hired servants.[Luke 15:20] And he arose, and came to his father. But his father saw him while he was at a distance, and was moved with compassion [22] for him, and ran, and fell on his breast, and kissed him. And his son said unto him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 10 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1833 (In-Text, Margin)
... many hired servants now in my father’s house have bread enough and to spare, while I here perish with [19] hunger! I will arise and go to my father’s house, and say unto him, My father, I [20] have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy now to be called thy [21] son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But his father saw him while he was at a distance, and was moved with compassion [22] for him, and ran, and fell on his breast, and kissed him.[Luke 15:21] And his son said unto him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be [23] called thy son. His father said unto his servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put [24] it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 11 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1834 (In-Text, Margin)
... arise and go to my father’s house, and say unto him, My father, I [20] have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy now to be called thy [21] son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But his father saw him while he was at a distance, and was moved with compassion [22] for him, and ran, and fell on his breast, and kissed him. And his son said unto him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be [23] called thy son.[Luke 15:22] His father said unto his servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put [24] it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and put on him shoes on his feet: and bring and [25] slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry: for this my son was ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 12 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1835 (In-Text, Margin)
... make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But his father saw him while he was at a distance, and was moved with compassion [22] for him, and ran, and fell on his breast, and kissed him. And his son said unto him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be [23] called thy son. His father said unto his servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put [24] it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and put on him shoes on his feet:[Luke 15:23] and bring and [25] slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is [26] [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 13 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1836 (In-Text, Margin)
... father. But his father saw him while he was at a distance, and was moved with compassion [22] for him, and ran, and fell on his breast, and kissed him. And his son said unto him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be [23] called thy son. His father said unto his servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put [24] it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and put on him shoes on his feet: and bring and [25] slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry:[Luke 15:24] for this my son was dead, and is [26] [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house, [27] he heard the sound of many singing. And he ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 14 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1837 (In-Text, Margin)
... [22] for him, and ran, and fell on his breast, and kissed him. And his son said unto him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be [23] called thy son. His father said unto his servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put [24] it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and put on him shoes on his feet: and bring and [25] slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is [26] [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found.[Luke 15:25] And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house, [27] he heard the sound of many singing. And he called one of the lads, and asked him [28] what this was. He said unto him, Thy brother hath ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 17 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1840 (In-Text, Margin)
... not worthy to be [23] called thy son. His father said unto his servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put [24] it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and put on him shoes on his feet: and bring and [25] slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is [26] [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house, [27] he heard the sound of many singing.[Luke 15:26] And he called one of the lads, and asked him [28] what this was. He said unto him, Thy brother hath arrived; and thy father hath [29] slain a fatted ox, since he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, [30] and would not enter; so his ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 18 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1841 (In-Text, Margin)
... servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put [24] it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and put on him shoes on his feet: and bring and [25] slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is [26] [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house, [27] he heard the sound of many singing. And he called one of the lads, and asked him [28] what this was.[Luke 15:27] He said unto him, Thy brother hath arrived; and thy father hath [29] slain a fatted ox, since he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, [30] and would not enter; so his father went out, and besought him to enter. And he said to his ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 20 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1843 (In-Text, Margin)
... bring and [25] slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is [26] [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house, [27] he heard the sound of many singing. And he called one of the lads, and asked him [28] what this was. He said unto him, Thy brother hath arrived; and thy father hath [29] slain a fatted ox, since he hath received him safe and sound.[Luke 15:28] And he was angry, [30] and would not enter; so his father went out, and besought him to enter. And he said to his father, How many years do I serve thee in bondage, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and thou hast never given me a kid, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 21 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1844 (In-Text, Margin)
... is [26] [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house, [27] he heard the sound of many singing. And he called one of the lads, and asked him [28] what this was. He said unto him, Thy brother hath arrived; and thy father hath [29] slain a fatted ox, since he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, [30] and would not enter; so his father went out, and besought him to enter.[Luke 15:29] And he said to his father, How many years do I serve thee in bondage, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and thou hast never given me a kid, that I might [31] make merry with my friends? but this thy son, when he had squandered thy ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 22 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1845 (In-Text, Margin)
... singing. And he called one of the lads, and asked him [28] what this was. He said unto him, Thy brother hath arrived; and thy father hath [29] slain a fatted ox, since he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, [30] and would not enter; so his father went out, and besought him to enter. And he said to his father, How many years do I serve thee in bondage, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and thou hast never given me a kid, that I might [31] make merry with my friends?[Luke 15:30] but this thy son, when he had squandered thy [32] property with harlots, and come, thou hast slain for him a fatted ox. His father said unto him, My son, thou art at all times with me, and everything I have is [33] thine. It behoveth thee to rejoice ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 23 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1846 (In-Text, Margin)
... and thy father hath [29] slain a fatted ox, since he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, [30] and would not enter; so his father went out, and besought him to enter. And he said to his father, How many years do I serve thee in bondage, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and thou hast never given me a kid, that I might [31] make merry with my friends? but this thy son, when he had squandered thy [32] property with harlots, and come, thou hast slain for him a fatted ox.[Luke 15:31] His father said unto him, My son, thou art at all times with me, and everything I have is [33] thine. It behoveth thee to rejoice and make merry, since this thy brother was dead, and is alive; and was lost, and is found.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 84, footnote 24 (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 XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1847 (In-Text, Margin)
... [30] and would not enter; so his father went out, and besought him to enter. And he said to his father, How many years do I serve thee in bondage, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and thou hast never given me a kid, that I might [31] make merry with my friends? but this thy son, when he had squandered thy [32] property with harlots, and come, thou hast slain for him a fatted ox. His father said unto him, My son, thou art at all times with me, and everything I have is [33] thine.[Luke 15:32] It behoveth thee to rejoice and make merry, since this thy brother was dead, and is alive; and was lost, and is found.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 494, footnote 5 (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 XIV. (HTML)
The Power of Harmony in Relation to Prayer. (HTML)
“ Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them. ” The word symphony is strictly applied to the harmonies of sounds in music. And there are indeed among musical sounds some accordant and others discordant. But the Evangelic Scripture is familiar with the name as applied to musical matters in the passage, “He heard a symphony and dancing.”[Luke 15:25] For it was fitting that when the son who had been lost and found came by penitence into concord with his father a symphony should be heard on the occasion of the joyous mirth of the house. But the wicked Laban was not acquainted with the word symphony in his saying to Jacob, “And ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 53, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Commencing with the invocation of God, Augustin relates in detail the beginning of his life, his infancy and boyhood, up to his fifteenth year; at which age he acknowledges that he was more inclined to all youthful pleasures and vices than to the study of letters. (HTML)
Men Desire to Observe the Rules of Learning, But Neglect the Eternal Rules of Everlasting Safety. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 181 (In-Text, Margin)
... face, Lord, will I seek.” For I was far from Thy face, through my darkened affections. For it is not by our feet, nor by change of place, that we either turn from Thee or return to Thee. Or, indeed, did that younger son look out for horses, or chariots, or ships, or fly away with visible wings, or journey by the motion of his limbs, that he might, in a far country, prodigally waste all that Thou gavest him when he set out? A kind Father when Thou gavest, and kinder still when he returned destitute![Luke 15:11-32] So, then, in wanton, that is to say, in darkened affections, lies distance from Thy face.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 62, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth years of his age, passed at Carthage, when, having completed his course of studies, he is caught in the snares of a licentious passion, and falls into the errors of the Manichæans. (HTML)
In the Nineteenth Year of His Age (His Father Having Died Two Years Before) He is Led by the ‘Hortensius’ Of Cicero to ‘Philosophy,’ To God, and a Better Mode of Thinking. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 225 (In-Text, Margin)
... In the ordinary course of study, I lighted upon a certain book of Cicero, whose language, though not his heart, almost all admire. This book of his contains an exhortation to philosophy, and is called Hortensius. This book, in truth, changed my affections, and turned my prayers to Thyself, O Lord, and made me have other hopes and desires. Worthless suddenly became every vain hope to me; and, with an incredible warmth of heart, I yearned for an immortality of wisdom, and began now to arise[Luke 15:18] that I might return to Thee. Not, then, to improve my language—which I appeared to be purchasing with my mother’s means, in that my nineteenth year, my father having died two years before—not to improve my language did I have recourse to that book; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 63, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth years of his age, passed at Carthage, when, having completed his course of studies, he is caught in the snares of a licentious passion, and falls into the errors of the Manichæans. (HTML)
Deceived by His Own Fault, He Falls into the Errors of the Manichæans, Who Gloried in the True Knowledge of God and in a Thorough Examination of Things. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 235 (In-Text, Margin)
11. Where, then, wert Thou then to me, and how far from me? Far, indeed, was I wandering away from Thee, being even shut out from the very husks of the swine, whom with husks I fed.[Luke 15:16] For how much better, then, are the fables of the grammarians and poets than these snares! For verses, and poems, and Medea flying, are more profitable truly than these men’s five elements, variously painted, to answer to the five caves of darkness, none of which exist, and which slay the believer. For verses and poems I can turn into true food, but the “Medea flying,” though I sang, I maintained it not; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 77, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Then follows a period of nine years from the nineteenth year of his age, during which having lost a friend, he followed the Manichæans—and wrote books on the fair and fit, and published a work on the liberal arts, and the categories of Aristotle. (HTML)
He Very Easily Understood the Liberal Arts and the Categories of Aristotle, But Without True Fruit. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 345 (In-Text, Margin)
... the things enlightened, was not itself enlightened. Whatever was written either on rhetoric or logic, geometry, music, or arithmetic, did I, without any great difficulty, and without the teaching of any man, understand, as Thou knowest, O Lord my God, because both quickness of comprehension and acuteness of perception are Thy gifts. Yet did I not thereupon sacrifice to Thee. So, then, it served not to my use, but rather to my destruction, since I went about to get so good a portion of my substance[Luke 15:12] into my own power; and I kept not my strength for Thee, but went away from Thee into a far country, to waste it upon harlotries. For what did good abilities profit me, if I did not employ them to good uses? For I did not perceive that those arts ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 77, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Then follows a period of nine years from the nineteenth year of his age, during which having lost a friend, he followed the Manichæans—and wrote books on the fair and fit, and published a work on the liberal arts, and the categories of Aristotle. (HTML)
He Very Easily Understood the Liberal Arts and the Categories of Aristotle, But Without True Fruit. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 347 (In-Text, Margin)
... arithmetic, did I, without any great difficulty, and without the teaching of any man, understand, as Thou knowest, O Lord my God, because both quickness of comprehension and acuteness of perception are Thy gifts. Yet did I not thereupon sacrifice to Thee. So, then, it served not to my use, but rather to my destruction, since I went about to get so good a portion of my substance into my own power; and I kept not my strength for Thee, but went away from Thee into a far country, to waste it upon harlotries.[Luke 15:13] For what did good abilities profit me, if I did not employ them to good uses? For I did not perceive that those arts were acquired with great difficulty, even by the studious and those gifted with genius, until I endeavoured to explain them to such; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 119, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God. (HTML)
That God and the Angels Rejoice More on the Return of One Sinner Than of Many Just Persons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 625 (In-Text, Margin)
... delivered from greater danger, than if there had always been hope of him, or the danger had been less? For so Thou also, O merciful Father, dost “joy over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.” And with much joyfulness do we hear, whenever we hear, how the lost sheep is brought home again on the Shepherd’s shoulders, while the angels rejoice, and the drachma is restored to Thy treasury, the neighhours rejoicing with the woman who found it;[Luke 15:4-10] and the joy of the solemn service of Thy house constraineth to tears, when in Thy house it is read of Thy younger son that he “was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found.” For Thou rejoicest both in us and in Thy angels, holy through ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 119, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God. (HTML)
That God and the Angels Rejoice More on the Return of One Sinner Than of Many Just Persons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 626 (In-Text, Margin)
... than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.” And with much joyfulness do we hear, whenever we hear, how the lost sheep is brought home again on the Shepherd’s shoulders, while the angels rejoice, and the drachma is restored to Thy treasury, the neighhours rejoicing with the woman who found it; and the joy of the solemn service of Thy house constraineth to tears, when in Thy house it is read of Thy younger son that he “was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found.”[Luke 15:32] For Thou rejoicest both in us and in Thy angels, holy through holy charity. For Thou art ever the same; for all things which abide neither the same nor for ever, Thou ever knowest after the same manner.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 119, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God. (HTML)
That God and the Angels Rejoice More on the Return of One Sinner Than of Many Just Persons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 628 (In-Text, Margin)
8. This law obtains in base and accursed joy; in that joy also which is permitted and lawful; in the sincerity of honest friendship; and in Him who was dead, and lived again, had been lost, and was found.[Luke 15:32] The greater joy is everywhere preceded by the greater pain. What meaneth this, O Lord my God, when Thou art, an everlasting joy unto Thine own self, and some things about Thee are ever rejoicing in Thee? What meaneth this, that this portion of things thus ebbs and flows, alternately offended and reconciled? Is this the fashion of them, and is this all Thou hast allotted to them, whereas from ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 149, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
A Thing When Lost Could Not Be Found Unless It Were Retained in the Memory. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 854 (In-Text, Margin)
27. For the woman who lost her drachma, and searched for it with a lamp,[Luke 15:8] unless she had remembered it, would never have found it. For when it was found, whence could she know whether it were the same, had she not remembered it? I remember to have lost and found many things; and this I know thereby, that when I was searching for any of them, and was asked, “Is this it?” “Is that it?” I answered “No,” until such time as that which I sought were offered to me. Which had I not remembered,—whatever it were,—though it were offered me, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 155, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
About to Speak of the Temptations of the Lust of the Flesh, He First Complains of the Lust of Eating and Drinking. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 898 (In-Text, Margin)
... we the worse;” which is to say, that neither shall the one make me to abound, nor the other to be wretched. I heard also another voice, “For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound . . . I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Lo! a soldier of the celestial camp—not dust as we are. But remember, O Lord, “that we are dust,” and that of dust Thou hast created man; and he “was lost, and is found.”[Luke 15:32] Nor could he do this of his own power, seeing that he whom I so loved, saying these things through the afflatus of Thy inspiration, was of that same dust. “I can,” saith he, “do all things through Him which strengtheneth me.” Strengthen me, that I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 181, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He continues his explanation of the first Chapter of Genesis according to the Septuagint, and by its assistance he argues, especially, concerning the double heaven, and the formless matter out of which the whole world may have been created; afterwards of the interpretations of others not disallowed, and sets forth at great length the sense of the Holy Scripture. (HTML)
He Argues Against Adversaries Concerning the Heaven of Heavens. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1120 (In-Text, Margin)
... whence it would become dark and cold, but that, clinging unto Thee with sublime love, it shineth and gloweth from Thee like a perpetual noon. O house, full of light and splendour! I have loved thy beauty, and the place of the habitation of the glory of my Lord, thy builder and owner. Let my wandering sigh after thee; and I speak unto Him that made thee, that He may possess me also in thee, seeing He hath made me likewise. “I have gone astray, like a lost sheep;” yet upon the shoulders of my Sheperd,[Luke 15:5] thy builder, I hope that I may be brought back to thee.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 560, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
The Useless Bondage of the Gentiles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1858 (In-Text, Margin)
... only as representing the wide ocean, and all the other waters besides that spring out of fountains? As it is described by a poet of theirs, who says, if I recollect aright, “Thou, Father Neptune, whose hoary temples are wreathed with the resounding sea, whose beard is the mighty ocean flowing forth unceasingly, and whose hair is the winding rivers.” This husk shakes its rattling stones within a sweet covering, and yet it is not food for men, but for swine. He who knows the gospel knows what I mean.[Luke 15:16] What profit is it to me, then, that the image of Neptune is used with a reference to this explanation of it, unless indeed the result be that I worship neither? For any statue you like to take is as much god to me as the wide ocean. I grant, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 494, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Against Lying. (HTML)
Section 28 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2436 (In-Text, Margin)
... going further, with reason might it be judged to be a lie: but then if it be rightly understood and referred to that which He willed to signify, it is a mystery. Else will all things be lies which, on account of a certain similitude of things to be signified, although they never were done, are related to have been done. Of which sort is that concerning the two sons of one man, the elder who tarried with his father, and the younger who went into a far country, which is narrated so much at length.[Luke 15:11-32] In which sort of fiction, men have put even human deeds or words to irrational animals and things without sense, that by this sort of feigned narrations but true significations, they might in more winning manner intimate the things which they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 554, footnote 3 (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 37 (HTML)
... save only Him who dispenses that mercy to you in all things? We therefore seek you that we may find you; for we love you that you should have life, with the same intensity with which we hate your error, that it might be destroyed which seeks to ruin you, so long as it is not itself involved in your destruction. And would to God that we might seek you in such a manner as even to find, and be able to say with rejoicing of each one of you, "He was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found!"[Luke 15:32]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 648, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
The Correction of the Donatists. (HTML)
Chapter 10 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2550 (In-Text, Margin)
43. But this, they say, is the very thing which disquiets us,—If we are unrighteous, wherefore do you seek our company? To which question we answer, We seek the company of you who are unrighteous, that you may not remain unrighteous; we seek for you who are lost, that we may rejoice over you as soon as you are found, saying, This our brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.[Luke 15:32] Why, then, he says, do you not baptize me, that you might wash me from my sins? I reply: Because I do not do despite to the stamp of the monarch, when I correct the ill-doing of a deserter. Why, he says, do I not even do penance in your body? Nay truly, except you have done penance, you cannot be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 30, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 334 (In-Text, Margin)
... of Scripture testimonies which I have undertaken to adduce. We have already quoted: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” To the same purport [the Lord] says, on entering the home of Zaccheus: “To-day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The same truth is declared in the parable of the lost sheep and the ninety and nine which were left until the missing one was sought and found;[Luke 15:4] as it is also in the parable of the lost one among the ten silver coins. Whence, as He said, “it behoved that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Mark likewise, at the end of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 30, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 335 (In-Text, Margin)
... already quoted: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” To the same purport [the Lord] says, on entering the home of Zaccheus: “To-day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The same truth is declared in the parable of the lost sheep and the ninety and nine which were left until the missing one was sought and found; as it is also in the parable of the lost one among the ten silver coins.[Luke 15:8] Whence, as He said, “it behoved that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Mark likewise, at the end of his Gospel, tells us how that the Lord said: “Go ye into all the world, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 14, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)
Explanation of the First Part of the Sermon Delivered by Our Lord on the Mount, as Contained in the Fifth Chapter of Matthew. (HTML)
Chapter XI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 104 (In-Text, Margin)
... when he injured the man. And this for the additional reason, that if any one has injured a man by killing him, there will be no time now in which to agree with him; for he is not now in the way with him, i.e. in this life: and yet a remedy will not on that account be excluded, if one repents and flees for refuge with the sacrifice of a broken heart to the mercy of Him who forgives the sins of those who turn to Him, and who rejoices more over one penitent than over ninety-nine just persons.[Luke 15:7] But much less do I see how we are enjoined to bear goodwill towards, or to agree with, or to yield to, the flesh. For it is sinners rather who love their flesh, and agree with it, and yield to it; but those who bring it into subjection are not the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 409, footnote 1 (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, Mark viii. 34, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself,’ etc. And on the words 1 John ii. 15, ‘if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3161 (In-Text, Margin)
... begun to love what is without thee, thou hast lost thyself. When a man’s love then goes even away from himself to those things which are without, he begins to share the vanity of his vain desires, and prodigal as it were to spend his strength. He is dissipated, exhausted, without resource or strength, he feeds swine; and wearied with this office of feeding swine, he at last remembers what he was, and says, “How many hired servants of my Father’s are eating bread, and I here perish with hunger!”[Luke 15:17] But when the son in the parable says this, what is said of him, who had squandered all he had on harlots, who wished to have in his own power what was being well kept for him with his father; he wished to have it at his own disposal, he squandered ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 409, footnote 2 (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, Mark viii. 34, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself,’ etc. And on the words 1 John ii. 15, ‘if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3162 (In-Text, Margin)
... to himself,” he had gone away from himself. Because he had fallen from himself, had gone away from himself, he returns first to himself, that he may return to that state from which he had fallen away by falling from himself. For as by falling away from himself, he remained in himself; so by returning to himself, he ought not to remain in himself, lest he again go away from himself. Returning then to himself, that he might not remain in himself, what did he say? “I will arise and go to my Father.”[Luke 15:18] See, whence he had fallen away from himself, he had fallen away from his Father; he had fallen away from himself, he had gone away from himself to those things which are without. He returns to himself, and goes to his Father, where he may keep ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 56, 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 I. 34–51. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 173 (In-Text, Margin)
... Christ, and not He seek us? Did we come sick to the Physician, and not the Physician to the sick? Was not that sheep lost, and did not the shepherd, leaving the ninety and nine in the wilderness, seek and find it, and joyfully carry it back on his shoulders? Was not that piece of money lost, and the woman lighted the lamp, and searched in the whole house until she found it? And when she had found it, “Rejoice with me,” she said to her neighbors, “for I have found the piece of money which I lost.”[Luke 15:4-10] In like manner were we lost as the sheep, lost as the piece of money; and our Shepherd found the sheep, but sought the sheep; the woman found the piece of money, but sought the piece of money. What is the woman? The flesh of Christ. What is the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 125, 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 V. 19–30. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 384 (In-Text, Margin)
... For “whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and will not come into judgment.” Prove that he has risen again. “But is passed,” saith He “from death unto life.” He that is passed from death unto life, has surely without any doubt risen again. For he could not pass from death to life, unless he were first in death and not in life; but when he will have passed, he will be in life, and not in death. He was therefore dead, and is alive again; he was lost, but is found.[Luke 15:32] Hence a resurrection does take place now, and men pass from a death to a life; from the death of infidelity to the life of faith; from the death of falsehood to the life of truth; from the death of iniquity to the life of righteousness. There is, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 386, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter XVI. 13–15 continued). (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1656 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Father, of whom the Son receives; for in this Trinity the Son is born of the Father, and from the Father the Holy Spirit proceedeth. He, however, who is born of none, and proceedeth from none, is the Father alone. But in what sense it is that the only-begotten Son said, “All things that the Father hath are mine” (for it certainly was not in the same sense as when it was said to that son, who was not only begotten, but the elder of two, “Thou art ever with me; and all that I have is thine),”[Luke 15:31] will have our careful consideration, if the Lord so will, in connection with the passage where the Only-begotten saith to the Father, “And all mine are Thine, and Thine are mine;” so that our present discourse may be here brought to a close, as the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 402, 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 XVII. 9–13. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1725 (In-Text, Margin)
... are Thine.” For the Father did not lose those whom He gave, in the act of giving them to the Son; since the Son still goes on to say, “And all mine are Thine, and Thine are mine.” Where it is sufficiently apparent how it is that all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son; in this way, namely, that He Himself is also God, and, of the Father born, is the Father’s equal: and not as was said to one of the two sons, to wit, the elder, “Thou art ever with me; and all that I have is thine.”[Luke 15:31] For that was said of all those creatures which are inferior to the holy rational creature, and are certainly subordinate to the Church; wherein its universal character is understood as including those two sons, the elder and the younger, along with ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 509, footnote 8 (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 2417 (In-Text, Margin)
... seemed to have rescued. Therefore rescued He some, that thou mayest not think that He had not power to rescue. He has given proof that He has the power, to the end that where he doth it not, thou mayest understand a more secret will, not surmise difficulty of doing. But what, brethren? When we shall have come out of all these snares of mortality, when the times of temptation shall have passed away, when the river of this world shall have fleeted by, and we shall have received again that “first robe,”[Luke 15:22] that immortality which by sinning we have lost, “when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,” that is, this flesh shall have put on incorruption, “and this mortal shall have put on immortality;” the now perfected sons of God, in whom is no ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 513, footnote 1 (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 2438 (In-Text, Margin)
... water for thyself, canst not cook for thyself, canst not run before thy horse, canst not tend thy beast. Thou seest that thou needest the good thou hast by thy servant, thou needest his attendance. Therefore thou art not a true lord, while thou hast need of an inferior. He is the true Lord, who seeks nothing from us; and woe to us if we seek not Him! He seeks nothing from us: yet He sought us, when we sought not Him. One sheep had strayed; He found it, He brought it back on His shoulders rejoicing.[Luke 15:4-5] And was the sheep necessary for the Shepherd, and not rather the Shepherd necessary for the sheep?—The more I love to speak of charity, the less willing am I that this epistle should be finished. None is more ardent in the commending of charity. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 31, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm VIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 310 (In-Text, Margin)
... Angels too, if we would gather from hence that all things are put under our Lord Jesus Christ. For there will be no creature that will not be put under Him, under whom the pre-eminent spirits, that I may so speak, are put. But whence shall we prove that sheep can be interpreted even, not of men, but of the blessed spirits of the angelical creatures on high? May we from the Lord’s saying that He had left ninety and nine sheep in the mountains, that is, in the higher regions, and had come down for one?[Luke 15:4] For if we take the one lost sheep to be the human soul in Adam, since Eve even was made out of his side, for the spiritual handling and consideration of all which things this is not the time, it remains that, by the ninety and nine left in the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 62, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 636 (In-Text, Margin)
5. “In Thy truth guide me:” avoiding error. “And teach me:” for by myself I know nothing, but falsehood. “For Thou art the God of my salvation; and for Thee have I waited all the day” (ver. 5). For dismissed by Thee from Paradise, and having taken my journey into a far country,[Luke 15:13] I cannot by myself return, unless Thou meetest the wanderer: for my return hath throughout the whole tract of this world’s time waited for Thy mercy.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 258, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2457 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Apostles how it is written, that many lost men, that is, men of such arts, and followers of naughty doctrines, brought unto the Apostles all their books; and there were burned so many volumes, that it was the writer’s task to make a valuation of them, and write down the sum of the price. This truly was for the glory of God, in order that even such lost men might not be despaired of by Him that knew how to seek that which had been lost. Therefore this man had been lost, is now sought, found,[Luke 15:32] led hither, he bringeth with him books to be burned, by which he had been to be burned, so that when these have been thrown into the fire, he may himself pass over into a place of refreshment. Know ye that he, brethren, once knocked at the Church ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 313, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3052 (In-Text, Margin)
... them exult and be joyous in Thee:” not in me, not in this man or in that man; but in whom they have been made light that were darkness. “Let them exult and be joyous in Thee, all that seek Thee” (ver. 4). One thing it is to seek God, another thing to seek man. “Let them be joyous that seek Thee.” They shall not be joyous then that seek themselves, whom Thou hast first sought before they sought Thee. Not yet did that sheep seek the Shepherd, it had strayed from the flock, and He went down to it;[Luke 15:4] He sought it, and carried it back upon His shoulders. Will He despise thee, O sheep, seeking Him, who hath first sought thee despising Him and not seeking Him? Now then begin thou to seek Him that first hath sought thee, and hath carried thee back ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 472, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4427 (In-Text, Margin)
5. …For the spot where he wished to build the house, is itself woody, where it was said yesterday, “we found it in the wood.” For he was seeking that very house, when he said, “in the wood.” And why is that spot woody? Men used to worship images: it is not wonderful that they fed hogs. For that son who left his father, and spent his all on harlots, living as a prodigal, used to feed hogs,[Luke 15:12-15] that is, to worship devils; and by this very superstition of the heathen, all the earth became a wood. But he who buildeth a house, rooteth up the wood; and for this reason it was said, “While the house was being built, after the captivity.” For men were held captive under the devil, and served devils; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 490, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm C (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4552 (In-Text, Margin)
... reason have ye for exultation, what reason have ye for pride? Another made you; the Same who made you, suffereth from you. But ye extol yourselves, and glory in yourselves, as if ye were created by yourselves. It is good for you that He who made you, make you perfect.…“We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” Sheep and one sheep. These sheep are one sheep: and how loving a Shepherd we have! He left the ninety and nine, and descended to seek the one, He bringeth it back on His own shoulders[Luke 15:4-5] ransomed by His own blood. That Shepherd dieth without fear for the sheep, who on His resurrection regaineth His sheep.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 554, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5077 (In-Text, Margin)
1. “I have loved, since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer” (ver. 1). Let the soul that is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing thus, let that sheep which had strayed sing thus, let that son who had “died and returned to life,” who had “been lost and was found;”[Luke 15:6] let our soul sing thus, brethren, and most beloved sons. Let us be taught, and let us abide, and let us sing thus with the Saints: “I have loved: since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.” Is this a reason for having loved, that the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer? and do we not rather love, because He hath heard, or that He may hear? What then ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 554, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5077 (In-Text, Margin)
1. “I have loved, since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer” (ver. 1). Let the soul that is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing thus, let that sheep which had strayed sing thus, let that son who had “died and returned to life,” who had “been lost and was found;”[Luke 15:24] let our soul sing thus, brethren, and most beloved sons. Let us be taught, and let us abide, and let us sing thus with the Saints: “I have loved: since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.” Is this a reason for having loved, that the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer? and do we not rather love, because He hath heard, or that He may hear? What then ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 561, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Beth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5139 (In-Text, Margin)
... neither any one, nor a man, but, “a young man.” Is then an old man to be despaired of? or doth an old man correct his way by any other means than by ruling himself after God’s word? Or is it perhaps an admonition at what age we ought chiefly to correct our way; according to what is elsewhere written, “My son, gather instruction from thy youth up: so shalt thou find wisdom till thy gray hairs.” There is another mode of interpreting it, by recognising in the expression the younger son in the Gospel,[Luke 15:12] who returned to himself, and said, “I will arise and go to my father.” Wherewithal did he correct his way, save by ruling himself after the words of God, which he desired as one longing for his father’s bread.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 561, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Beth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5140 (In-Text, Margin)
... despaired of? or doth an old man correct his way by any other means than by ruling himself after God’s word? Or is it perhaps an admonition at what age we ought chiefly to correct our way; according to what is elsewhere written, “My son, gather instruction from thy youth up: so shalt thou find wisdom till thy gray hairs.” There is another mode of interpreting it, by recognising in the expression the younger son in the Gospel, who returned to himself, and said, “I will arise and go to my father.”[Luke 15:18] Wherewithal did he correct his way, save by ruling himself after the words of God, which he desired as one longing for his father’s bread.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 578, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Nun. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5295 (In-Text, Margin)
... “in my hand:” but most, “in Thy hand;” and this latter is indeed easy. For “the souls of the righteous are in God’s hand: in whose hand are both we and our words.” “And I do not forget Thy law:” as if his memory were aided to remember God’s law by the hands of Him in whose hands is his soul. But how the words, “My soul is in my hands,” can be understood, I know not. For these are the words of the righteous, not of the ungodly; of one who is returning to the Father, not departing from the Father.[Luke 15:12] …Is it perhaps said, “My soul is in my hands,” in this sense, as if he offered it to God to be quickened? Whence in another passage it is said, “Unto Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.” Since here too he had said above, “Quicken Thou me.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 578, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Nun. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5295 (In-Text, Margin)
... “in my hand:” but most, “in Thy hand;” and this latter is indeed easy. For “the souls of the righteous are in God’s hand: in whose hand are both we and our words.” “And I do not forget Thy law:” as if his memory were aided to remember God’s law by the hands of Him in whose hands is his soul. But how the words, “My soul is in my hands,” can be understood, I know not. For these are the words of the righteous, not of the ungodly; of one who is returning to the Father, not departing from the Father.[Luke 15:24] …Is it perhaps said, “My soul is in my hands,” in this sense, as if he offered it to God to be quickened? Whence in another passage it is said, “Unto Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.” Since here too he had said above, “Quicken Thou me.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 617, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5596 (In-Text, Margin)
... will go into His tabernacles” (ver. 7). Whose? Those of the Lord God of Jacob. They who enter to dwell therein, are the very same who enter that they may be dwelt in. Thou enterest into thy house, that thou mayest dwell therein; into the house of God, that thou mayest be dwelt in. For the Lord is better, and when He hath begun to dwell in thee, He will make thee happy. For if thou be not dwelt in by Him, thou wilt be miserable. That son who said, “Father, give me the portion of the goods,” etc.,[Luke 15:12-20] wished to be his own master. It was well kept in his father’s hands, that it might not be wasted with harlots. He received it, it was given into his own power; going to a far country, he squandered it all with harlots. At length he suffered hunger, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 96, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall. (HTML)
Letter I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 238 (In-Text, Margin)
... who turneth away not turn back?” But if you inquire of me for instances of persons who have fallen away after having believed, all these things have been said with reference to such persons, for he who has fallen belonged formerly to those who were standing, not to those who were prostrate; for how should one in that condition fall? But other things also shall be said, partly by means of parables, partly by plainer deeds and words. Now that sheep which had got separated from the ninety and nine,[Luke 15:4-5] and then was brought back again, represents to us nothing else than the fall and return of the faithful; for it was a sheep not of some alien flock, but belonging to the same number as the rest, and was formerly pastured by the same shepherd, and it ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 96, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall. (HTML)
Letter I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 239 (In-Text, Margin)
... not despair, he was restored, even after such great corruption, to the same splendour as before, and was arrayed in the most beautiful robe, and enjoyed greater honours than his brother who had not fallen. For “these many years,” saith he “do I serve thee, neither transgressed I thy commandment at any time, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends; but when this thy son is come who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.”[Luke 15:29-30] So great is the power of repentance.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 255, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Two Homilies on Eutropius. (HTML)
Homily II. After Eutropius having been found outside the Church had been taken captive. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 825 (In-Text, Margin)
... taken place, since I had the oversight of the city, and yet no one learns self-control? But when I say no one, I do not condemn all, God forbid. For it is impossible that this rich soil when it has received seed, should not produce one ear of corn: but I am insatiable, I do not wish many to be saved but all. And if but one be left in a perishing condition, I perish also, and deem that the Shepherd should be imitated who had ninety-nine sheep, and yet hastened after the one which had gone astray.[Luke 15:4] How long will money last? how long this silver and gold? how long these draughts of wine? how long the flatteries of slaves? how long these goblets wreathed with garlands? how long these satanic drinking feasts, full of diabolical activity?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 14, page 293, footnote 4 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John. (HTML)
John 16.16,17 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2295 (In-Text, Margin)
... will be much beholden to thee, and He doth nothing to pain or grieve thee, but all so as to make thee glorious, and free thee from all shame. What defense therefore shall we have, what pardon shall we gain, if, leaving these things, we give ourselves up to the contrary, and voluntarily cast ourselves into the furnace that burns with fire? Wherefore I exhort those who are sick of this malady, to recover themselves, and return to health, and not allow themselves to fall into despair. Since that son[Luke 15] also was in a far more grievous state than this, yet when he returned to his father’s house, he came to his former honor, and appeared more glorious than him who had ever been well-pleasing. Let us also imitate him, and returning to our Father, even ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 522, footnote 11 (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 334. Easter-day, xii Pharmuthi, vii Id. April; xvii Moon; Æra Dioclet. 50; Coss. Optatus Patricius, Anicius Paulinus; Præfect, Philagrius, the Cappadocian; vii Indict. (HTML)
10. The whole creation keeps a feast, my brethren, and everything that hath breath praises the Lord, as the Psalmist [says], on account of the destruction of the enemies, and our salvation. And justly indeed; for if there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth[Luke 15:7], what should there not be over the abolition of sin, and the resurrection of the dead? Oh what a feast and how great the gladness in heaven! how must all its hosts joy and exult, as they rejoice and watch in our assemblies, those that are held continually, and especially those at Easter? For they look on sinners while they repent; on those who have turned away ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 526, footnote 15 (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)
... the happiness of the feast. And that young man who went into a far country, and there wasted his substance, living in dissipation, if he receive a desire for this divine feast, and, coming to himself, shall say, ‘How many hired servants of my father have bread to spare, while I perish here with hunger!’ and shall next arise and come to his father, and confess to him, saying, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants[Luke 15:17];’—when he shall thus confess, then he shall be counted worthy of more than he prayed for. For the father does not receive him as a hired servant, neither does he look upon him as a stranger, but he kisses him as a son, he brings him back to life as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 4, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Theodosius and the Rest of the Anchorites. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 20 (In-Text, Margin)
... by your prayers to deliver me from the darkness of this world. I spoke of this when I was with you, and now in writing to you I repeat anew the same request; for all the energy of my mind is devoted to this one object. It rests with you to give effect to my resolve. I have the will but not the power; this last can only come in answer to your prayers. For my part, I am like a sick sheep astray from the flock. Unless the good Shepherd shall place me on his shoulders and carry me back to the fold,[Luke 15:3-5] my steps will totter, and in the very effort of rising I shall find my feet give way. I am the prodigal son who although I have squandered all the portion entrusted to me by my father, have not yet bowed the knee in submission to him; not yet have I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 4, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Theodosius and the Rest of the Anchorites. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 21 (In-Text, Margin)
... in writing to you I repeat anew the same request; for all the energy of my mind is devoted to this one object. It rests with you to give effect to my resolve. I have the will but not the power; this last can only come in answer to your prayers. For my part, I am like a sick sheep astray from the flock. Unless the good Shepherd shall place me on his shoulders and carry me back to the fold, my steps will totter, and in the very effort of rising I shall find my feet give way. I am the prodigal son[Luke 15:11-32] who although I have squandered all the portion entrusted to me by my father, have not yet bowed the knee in submission to him; not yet have I commenced to put away from me the allurements of my former excesses. And because it is only a little while ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 12, footnote 14 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To the Virgins of Æmona. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 147 (In-Text, Margin)
... sent me a single syllable. Light, I know, has no communion with darkness, and God’s handmaidens no fellowship with a sinner, yet a harlot was allowed to wash the Lord’s feet with her tears, and dogs are permitted to eat of their masters’ crumbs. It was the Saviour’s mission to call sinners and not the righteous; for, as He said Himself, “they that be whole need not a physician.” He wills the repentance of a sinner rather than his death, and carries home the poor stray sheep on His own shoulders.[Luke 15:5] So, too, when the prodigal son returns, his father receives him with joy. Nay more, the apostle says: “Judge nothing before the time.” For “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.” And “let him that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 12, footnote 15 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To the Virgins of Æmona. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 148 (In-Text, Margin)
... and God’s handmaidens no fellowship with a sinner, yet a harlot was allowed to wash the Lord’s feet with her tears, and dogs are permitted to eat of their masters’ crumbs. It was the Saviour’s mission to call sinners and not the righteous; for, as He said Himself, “they that be whole need not a physician.” He wills the repentance of a sinner rather than his death, and carries home the poor stray sheep on His own shoulders. So, too, when the prodigal son returns, his father receives him with joy.[Luke 15:20] Nay more, the apostle says: “Judge nothing before the time.” For “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.” And “let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.” “Bear ye one another’s burdens.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 12, footnote 23 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To the Virgins of Æmona. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 156 (In-Text, Margin)
Dear sisters, man’s envy judges in one way, Christ in another; and the whisper of a corner is not the same as the sentence of His tribunal. Many ways seem right to men which are afterwards found to be wrong. And a treasure is often stowed in earthen vessels. Peter thrice denied his Lord, yet his bitter tears restored him to his place. “To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much.” No word is said of the flock as a whole, yet the angels joy in heaven over the safety of one sick ewe.[Luke 15:7] And if any one demurs to this reasoning, the Lord Himself has said: “Friend, is thine eye evil because I am good?”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 12, footnote 23 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To the Virgins of Æmona. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 156 (In-Text, Margin)
Dear sisters, man’s envy judges in one way, Christ in another; and the whisper of a corner is not the same as the sentence of His tribunal. Many ways seem right to men which are afterwards found to be wrong. And a treasure is often stowed in earthen vessels. Peter thrice denied his Lord, yet his bitter tears restored him to his place. “To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much.” No word is said of the flock as a whole, yet the angels joy in heaven over the safety of one sick ewe.[Luke 15:10] And if any one demurs to this reasoning, the Lord Himself has said: “Friend, is thine eye evil because I am good?”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 20, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pope Damasus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 299 (In-Text, Margin)
... saved by its tears from the impending ruin caused by its sin. To what end, you ask, these far-fetched references? To this end, I make answer; that you in your greatness should look upon me in my littleness; that you, the rich shepherd, should not despise me, the ailing sheep. Christ Himself brought the robber from the cross to paradise, and, to show that repentance is never too late, He turned a murderer’s death into a martyrdom. Gladly does Christ embrace the prodigal son when he returns to Him;[Luke 15:20] and, leaving the ninety and nine, the good shepherd carries home on His shoulders the one poor sheep that is left. From a persecutor Paul becomes a preacher. His bodily eyes are blinded to clear the eyes of his soul, and he who once haled Christ’s ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 20, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pope Damasus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 300 (In-Text, Margin)
... this end, I make answer; that you in your greatness should look upon me in my littleness; that you, the rich shepherd, should not despise me, the ailing sheep. Christ Himself brought the robber from the cross to paradise, and, to show that repentance is never too late, He turned a murderer’s death into a martyrdom. Gladly does Christ embrace the prodigal son when he returns to Him; and, leaving the ninety and nine, the good shepherd carries home on His shoulders the one poor sheep that is left.[Luke 15:5] From a persecutor Paul becomes a preacher. His bodily eyes are blinded to clear the eyes of his soul, and he who once haled Christ’s servants in chains before the council of the Jews, lives afterwards to glory in the bonds of Christ.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 162, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2380 (In-Text, Margin)
... procession, and the sound of the feet of the multitude which thronged in thousands to attend her funeral. The streets, porches, and roofs from which a view could be obtained were inadequate to accommodate the spectators. On that day Rome saw all her peoples gathered together in one, and each person present flattered himself that he had some part in the glory of her penitence. No wonder indeed that men should thus exult in the salvation of one at whose conversion there was joy among the angels in heaven.[Luke 15:7]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 162, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2380 (In-Text, Margin)
... procession, and the sound of the feet of the multitude which thronged in thousands to attend her funeral. The streets, porches, and roofs from which a view could be obtained were inadequate to accommodate the spectators. On that day Rome saw all her peoples gathered together in one, and each person present flattered himself that he had some part in the glory of her penitence. No wonder indeed that men should thus exult in the salvation of one at whose conversion there was joy among the angels in heaven.[Luke 15:10]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 163, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2385 (In-Text, Margin)
... my aged powers, to be as it were a funeral offering. Oftentimes have I praised virgins and widows and married women who have kept their garments always white and who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Happy indeed is she in her encomium who throughout her life has been stained by no defilement. But let envy depart and censoriousness be silent. If the father of the house is good why should our eye be evil? The soul which fell among thieves has been carried home upon the shoulders of Christ.[Luke 15:5] In our father’s house are many mansions. Where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded. To whom more is forgiven the same loveth more.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 228, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3179 (In-Text, Margin)
Moreover the Lord tells us in the gospel, “the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas;” and again He says “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” The lost piece of silver is sought for until it is found in the mire.[Luke 15:8-10] So also the ninety and nine sheep are left in the wilderness, while the shepherd carries home on his shoulders the one sheep which has gone astray. Wherefore also “there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth.” What a blessed thought it is that heavenly beings rejoice in our salvation! For it is of us ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 228, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3180 (In-Text, Margin)
Moreover the Lord tells us in the gospel, “the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas;” and again He says “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” The lost piece of silver is sought for until it is found in the mire. So also the ninety and nine sheep are left in the wilderness, while the shepherd carries home on his shoulders the one sheep which has gone astray.[Luke 15:4-5] Wherefore also “there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth.” What a blessed thought it is that heavenly beings rejoice in our salvation! For it is of us that the words are said: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 228, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3181 (In-Text, Margin)
... rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas;” and again He says “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” The lost piece of silver is sought for until it is found in the mire. So also the ninety and nine sheep are left in the wilderness, while the shepherd carries home on his shoulders the one sheep which has gone astray. Wherefore also “there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth.”[Luke 15:10] What a blessed thought it is that heavenly beings rejoice in our salvation! For it is of us that the words are said: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Death and life are contrary the one to the other; there is no middle term. Yet ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 228, footnote 7 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3183 (In-Text, Margin)
... in our salvation! For it is of us that the words are said: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Death and life are contrary the one to the other; there is no middle term. Yet penitence can knit death to life. The prodigal son, we are told, wasted all his substance, and in the far country away from his father “would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat.” Yet, when he comes back to his father, the fatted calf is killed, a robe and a ring are given to him.[Luke 15:11-24] That is to say, he receives again Christ’s robe which he had before defiled, and hears to his comfort the injunction: “let thy garments be always white.” He receives the signet of God and cries to the Lord: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 288, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Exuperantius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3926 (In-Text, Margin)
... the gospel who cast but two mites into the treasury was set before all the men of wealth because she gave all that she had. So it should be with you. Seek not for wealth which you will have to pay away; but rather give up that which you have already acquired that Christ may know his new recruit to be brave and resolute, and then when you are a great way off His Father will run with joy to meet you. He will give you a robe, will put a ring upon your finger, and will kill for you the fatted calf.[Luke 15:20-23] Then when you are freed from all encumbrances God will soon make a way for you to cross the sea to me with your reverend brother Quintilian. I have now knocked at the door of friendship: if you open it to me you will find me a frequent visitor.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 401, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4823 (In-Text, Margin)
... who fasted forty days to hallow Christian fasting; 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 whereby He represented His passion, or in proving the reality of His body is nowhere described as ministering to His appetite;[Luke 15:19-31] who tells of purple-clad Dives in hell for his feasting, and says that poor Lazarus for his abstinence was in Abraham’s bosom; who, when we fast, bids us anoint our head and wash our face, that we fast not to gain glory from men, but praise from the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 442, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5089 (In-Text, Margin)
... true followers who have not defiled their gar ments with women, for they have continued virgins, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. And so they shall be in white clothing. Then shall the saying of our Lord appear perfectly realised: “All that my Father has given me, I shall not lose aught thereof, but I will raise it up again at the last day;” the whole of His humanity, forsooth, which He had taken upon Him in its entirety at His birth. Then shall the sheep which was[Luke 15:3] lost, and was wandering in the lower world, be carried whole on the Saviour’s shoulders, and the sheep which was sick with sin shall be supported by the mercy of the Judge. Then shall they see him who pierced Him, who shouted, “Crucify Him, crucify ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 6, footnote 3 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
To those who are to be Enlightened, delivered extempore at Jerusalem, as an Introductory Lecture to those who had come forward for Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 461 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Disciples of the New Testament and partakers of the mysteries of Christ, as yet by calling only, but ere long by grace also, make you a new heart and a new spirit, that there may be gladness among the inhabitants of heaven: for if over one sinner that repenteth there is joy, according to the Gospel[Luke 15:7], how much more shall the salvation of so many souls move the inhabitants of heaven to gladness. As ye have entered upon a good and most glorious path, run with reverence the race of godliness. For the Only-begotten Son of God is present here most ready to redeem you, saying, Come unto Me all that labour and are heavy laden, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 91, footnote 3 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the words, Crucified and Buried. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1620 (In-Text, Margin)
... the day had not yet entered; and he of the eleventh hour entered. Let none murmur against the goodman of the house, for he says, Friend, I do thee no wrong; is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own? The robber has a will to work righteousness, but death prevents him; I wait not exclusively for the work, but faith also I accept. I am come who feed My sheep among the lilies, I am come to feed them in the gardens. I have found a sheep that was lost[Luke 15:5-6], but I lay it on My shoulders; for he believes, since he himself has said, I have gone astray like a lost sheep; Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 112, footnote 1 (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 1936 (In-Text, Margin)
... multitudes thou shalt come to judgment. Every race of mankind will then be present. Reckon, therefore, how many are the Roman nation; reckon how many the barbarian tribes now living, and how many have died within the last hundred years; reckon how many nations have been buried during the last thousand years; reckon all from Adam to this day. Great indeed is the multitude; but yet it is little, for the Angels are many more. They are the ninety and nine sheep, but mankind is the single one[Luke 15:4]. For according to the extent of universal space, must we reckon the number of its inhabitants. The whole earth is but as a point in the midst of the one heaven, and yet contains so great a multitude; what a multitude must the heaven which encircles ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 123, footnote 10 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Article, And in One Holy Ghost, the Comforter, Which Spake in the Prophets. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2086 (In-Text, Margin)
... them? Also thou hast in Ezekiel (if thou be not now weary of listening), what has already been quoted, And the Spirit fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the Lord. But the words, fell upon me we must understand in a good sense, that is “lovingly;” and as Jacob, when he had found Joseph, fell upon his neck; as also in the Gospels, the loving father, on seeing his son who had returned from his wandering, had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him[Luke 15:20]. And again in Ezekiel, And he brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldæa, to them of the captivity. And other texts thou heardest before, in what was said about Baptism; Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 237, footnote 17 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
Panegyric on His Brother S. Cæsarius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2990 (In-Text, Margin)
... other with the spirit. I must be buried with Christ, arise with Christ, be joint heir with Christ, become the son of God, yea, God Himself. See whither our argument has carried us in its progress. I almost own myself indebted to the disaster which has inspired me with such thoughts, and made me more enamoured of my departure hence. This is the purpose of the great mystery for us. This is the purpose for us of God, Who for us was made man and became poor, to raise our flesh, and recover His image,[Luke 15:9] and remodel man, that we might all be made one in Christ, who was perfectly made in all of us all that He Himself is, that we might no longer be male and female, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free (which are badges of the flesh), but might bear in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 349, footnote 7 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
On the Theophany, or Birthday of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3877 (In-Text, Margin)
... praiseworthy, those darkeners of light, uncultured in respect of wisdom, for whom Christ died in vain, those unthankful creatures, the work of the Evil One? Do you turn this benefit into a reproach to God? Wilt thou deem Him little on this account, that He humbled Himself for thee; because the Good Shepherd, He who lays down His life for His sheep, came to seek for that which had strayed upon the mountains and the hills, on which thou wast then sacrificing, and found the wanderer; and having found it,[Luke 15:4] took it upon His shoulders—on which He also took the Wood of the Cross; and having taken it, brought it back to the higher life; and having carried it back, numbered it amongst those who had never strayed. Because He lighted a candle—His own ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 432, footnote 20 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Second Oration on Easter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4683 (In-Text, Margin)
... little on this account, that He humbled Himself for your sake, and because to seek for that which had wandered the Good Shepherd, He who layeth down His life for the sheep, came upon the mountains and hills upon which you used to sacrifice, and found the wandering one; and having found it, took it upon His shoulders, on which He also bore the wood; and having borne it, brought it back to the life above; and having brought it back, numbered it among those who have never strayed. That He lit a candle,[Luke 15:4-5] His own flesh, and swept the house, by cleansing away the sin of the world, and sought for the coin, the Royal Image that was all covered up with passions, and calls together His friends, the Angelic Powers, at the finding of the coin, and makes ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 433, footnote 3 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Second Oration on Easter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4692 (In-Text, Margin)
... Reproach God with this? Do you conceive of Him as less because He girds Himself with a towel and washes His disciples, and shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation; because He humbles Himself for the sake of the soul that is bent down to the ground, that He may even exalt with Himself that which is bent double under a weight of sin? How comes it that you do not also charge it upon Him as a crime that He eateth with Publicans and at Publicans’ tables, and makes disciples of Publicans[Luke 15:2] that He too may make some gain. And what gain? The salvation of sinners. If so, one must blame the physician for stooping over suffering and putting up with evil smells in order to give health to the sick; and him also who leans over the ditch, that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 152, footnote 6 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To a fallen virgin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2155 (In-Text, Margin)
... will clothe with the chief robe the soul that has put off the old man with all his works; He will put a ring on hands that have washed off the blood of death, and will put shoes on feet that have turned from the evil way to the path of the Gospel of peace. He will announce the day of joy and gladness to them that are His own, both angels and men, and will celebrate your salvation far and wide. For “verily I say unto you,” says He, “there is joy in heaven before God over one sinner that repenteth.”[Luke 15:7] If any of those who think they stand find fault because of your quick reception, the good Father will Himself make answer for you in the words, “It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this” my daughter “was dead and is alive again, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 152, footnote 7 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To a fallen virgin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2156 (In-Text, Margin)
... the day of joy and gladness to them that are His own, both angels and men, and will celebrate your salvation far and wide. For “verily I say unto you,” says He, “there is joy in heaven before God over one sinner that repenteth.” If any of those who think they stand find fault because of your quick reception, the good Father will Himself make answer for you in the words, “It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this” my daughter “was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.”[Luke 15:32]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 329, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter I. St. Ambrose writes in praise of gentleness, pointing out how needful that grace is for the rulers of the Church, and commended to them by the meekness of Christ. As the Novatians have fallen away from this, they cannot be considered disciples of Christ. Their pride and harshness are inveighed against. (HTML)
2. For he who endeavours to amend the faults of human weakness ought to bear this very weakness on his own shoulders, let it weigh upon himself, not cast it off. For we read that the Shepherd in the Gospel[Luke 15:5] carried the weary sheep, and did not cast it off. And Solomon says: “Be not overmuch righteous;” for restraint should temper righteousness. For how shall he offer himself to you for healing whom you despise, who thinks that he will be an object of contempt, not of compassion, to his physician?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 347, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
Chapter III. Explanation of the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which St. Ambrose applies it to refute the teaching of the Novatians, proving that reconciliation ought not to be refused to the greatest offender upon suitable proof of repentance. (HTML)
13. And the Apostle does not contradict the plain teaching of Christ, Who set forth, as a comparison of a repentant sinner, one going to a foreign country after receiving all his substance from his father, wasted it in riotous living, and later, when feeding upon husks, longed for his father’s bread and then gained the robe, the ring, the shoes, and the slaying of the calf,[Luke 15:13] which is a likeness of the Passion of the Lord, whereby we receive forgiveness.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 353, footnote 10 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
Chapter VII. An exhortation to mourning and confession of sins for Christ is moved by these and the tears of the Church. Illustration from the story of Lazarus. After showing that the Novatians are the successors of those who planned to kill Lazarus, St. Ambrose argues that the full forgiveness of every sin is signified by the odour of the ointment poured by Mary on the feet of Christ; and further, that the Novatian heretics find their likeness in Judas, who grudged and envied when others rejoiced. (HTML)
... not the remedy of the Lord’s death, and understands not the mystery of that so great burial. For the Lord both suffered and died that He might redeem us from death. This is manifest from the most excellent value from His death, which is sufficient for the absolution of the sinner, and his restoration to fresh grace; so that all may come and wonder at his sitting at table with Christ, and may praise God, saying: “Let us eat and feast, for he was dead and is alive again, had perished and is found.”[Luke 15:24] But any one devoid of faith objects: “Why does He eat with publicans and sinners?” This is his answer: “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 450, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)
Letter XLI: To Marcellina on the Same. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3616 (In-Text, Margin)
... in love for His body, that is, the Church, give water for His feet, kiss His feet, so that you may not only pardon those who have been taken in sin, but also by your peaceableness restore them to concord, and give them rest. Pour ointment upon His feet that the whole house in which Christ sits may be filled with thy ointment, and all that sit with Him may rejoice in thy fragrance, that is, honour the lowest, so that the angels may rejoice in their forgiveness, as over one sinner that repenteth,[Luke 15:10] the apostles may be glad, the prophets be filled with delight. For the eyes cannot say to the hand: “We have no need of thee, nor the head to the feet, Ye are not necessary to me.” So, since all are necessary, guard the whole body of the Lord Jesus, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 417, footnote 4 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)
Conference XI. The First Conference of Abbot Chæremon. On Perfection. (HTML)
Chapter VII. By what steps we can ascend to the heights of love and what permanence there is in it. (HTML)
... to loathe the uncleanness of the swine, and to dread the punishment of gnawing hunger, and as if he had already been made a servant, desires the condition of a hireling and thinks about the remuneration, and says: “How many hired servants of my father have abundance of bread, and I perish here with hunger. I will then return to my father and will say unto him, ‘Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.’”[Luke 15:17-19] But those words of humble penitence his father who ran to meet him received with greater affection than that with which they were spoken, and was not content to allow him lesser things, but passing through the two stages without delay restored him ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 230, footnote 11 (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)
Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh. (HTML)
Hymn III. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 410 (In-Text, Margin)
... deeds. Heal us, O my Master; every time that we see Thy Feast, may it cause rumours that we have heard to pass away. Our mind wanders amid these voices. O Voice of the Father, still [other] voices; the world is noisy, in Thee let it gain itself quiet; for by Thee the sea was stilled from its storms. The devils rejoiced when they heard the voice of blasphemy: let the Watchers rejoice in us as they are wont. From amongst Thy fold there is the voice of sorrowfulness; O Thou that makest all rejoice,[Luke 15:7] let Thy flock rejoice! as for our murmur, O my Master, in it reject us not: our mouth murmurs since it is sinful. Let Thy day, O Lord, give us all manner of joy, with the flowers of peace, let us keep Thy passover. In the day of Thy Ascension we are ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 348, footnote 25 (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 Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 695 (In-Text, Margin)
11. And furthermore the Prophet Hosea also said:— Light you a lamp and seek ye the Lord. And our Lord Jesus Christ said:— What woman is there who has ten drachmos and shall lose one of them, and will not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek her drachma that she lost?[Luke 15:8] What then does this woman signify? Clearly the congregation of the house of Israel, to which the ten commandments were given. They lost the first commandment—that in which He warned them saying:— I am the Lord your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt. And when they had lost this first commandment, also the nine which are after it they ...