Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Luke 18:3
There are 12 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 249, footnote 4 (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 1986 (In-Text, Margin)
... 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; 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 the judge, because she was not admitted; but when her suit was heard, thenceforth she was silent.[Luke 18:2-3] So that there is a limit both to seeking, and to knocking, and to asking. “For to every one that asketh,” says He, “it shall be given, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened, and by him that seeketh it shall be found.” Away with the man who is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 409, footnote 17 (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)
The Parables of the Importunate Widow, and of the Pharisee and the Publican. Christ's Answer to the Rich Ruler, the Cure of the Blind Man. His Salutation--Son of David. All Proofs of Christ's Relation to the Creator, Marcion's Antithesis Between David and Christ Confuted. (HTML)
When He recommends perseverance and earnestness in prayer, He sets before us the parable of the judge who was compelled to listen to the widow, owing to the earnestness and importunity of her requests.[Luke 18:1-8] He show us that it is God the judge whom we must importune with prayer, and not Himself, if He is not Himself the judge. But He added, that “God would avenge His own elect.” Since, then, He who judges will also Himself be the avenger, He proved that the Creator is on that account the specially good God, whom He represented as the avenger of His own elect, who cry day and night to Him. And yet, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 216, footnote 2 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)
Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. (HTML)
... to himself the unbelieving everywhere throughout the world, comes at their call to persecute the saints, their enemies and antagonists, as the apostle and evangelist says: “There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city, who came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her.”[Luke 18:2-5]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 286, footnote 5 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To the Clergy, Concerning Prayer to God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2182 (In-Text, Margin)
... entire mind ask for God’s mercy, because He Himself also adds, saying, “Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not scatter away from them.” Let us ask, and we shall receive; and if there be delay and tardiness in our receiving, since we have grievously offended, let us knock, because “to him that knocketh also it shall be opened,” if only our prayers, our groanings, and our tears, knock at the door; and with these we must be urgent and persevering, even although prayer be offered with one mind.[Luke 18:3]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 94, 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 XXXIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2264 (In-Text, Margin)
[18] And he spake unto them a parable also, that they should pray at all times, and [19] not be slothful: There was a judge in a city, who feared not God, nor was ashamed [20] for men:[Luke 18:3] and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, and said, [21] Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a long time: but afterwards he said within himself, If of God I have no fear, and before men I have no shame; [22] yet because this widow vexeth me, I will avenge her, that she come not at all times [23, 24] and annoy me. And our Lord said, Hear ye what the judge of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 50, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)
On the Latter Part of Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Contained in the Sixth and Seventh Chapters of Matthew. (HTML)
Chapter XV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 394 (In-Text, Margin)
... yielded to the widow who often importuned him to consider her case, not from piety or humanity, but that he might be saved annoyance. For that unjust judge does not in any way allegorically represent the person of God; but yet as to how far God, who is good and just, cares for those who supplicate Him, our Lord wished the inference to be drawn from this circumstance, that not even an unjust man can despise those who assail him with unceasing petitions, even were his motive merely to avoid annoyance.[Luke 18:2-8]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 84, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 794 (In-Text, Margin)
20. “Lord, when wilt Thou look on? Rescue My Soul from their deceits, My Darling from the lions” (ver. 17). For to us the time is slow; and in our person is this said, “When wilt Thou look on?” that is, when shall we see vengeance upon those who insult us? When shall the Judge, overcome by weariness, hear the widow?[Luke 18:3] But our Judge, not from weariness, but from love, delayeth our salvation; from reason, not from need; not that He could not even now succour us, but that the number of us all may be filled up even to the end. And yet out of our desire, what do we say? “Lord, when wilt Thou look on? Rescue My Soul from their deceits, My Darling from the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 384, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3722 (In-Text, Margin)
14. And this indeed, as we have said, is a prophecy, not a wish.…And the Lord in the Gospel[Luke 18:3] hath set before us the widow for an example, who longing to be avenged, did intercede with the unjust judge, who at length heard her, not as being guided by justice, but overcome with weariness: but this the Lord hath set before us, to show that much more the just God will speedily make the judgment of His elect, who cry unto Him day and night. Thence is also that cry of the Martyrs under the altar of God, that they may be avenged in the judgment of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 620, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5614 (In-Text, Margin)
... recognise this widow in the Gospel, my brethren, when the Lord declared “that men ought always to pray and not to faint”? “There was in a city a judge,” He said, “which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him day by day, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.” The widow, by daily importunity, prevailed with him: for the judge said within himself, “Though I fear not God; neither regard man, yet because this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her.”[Luke 18:1-8] If the wicked judge heard the widow, that he might not be molested; heareth not God His Church, whom He exhorteth to pray?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 190, footnote 7 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons. (HTML)
Homily II. On the Power of Man to Resist the Devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 598 (In-Text, Margin)
... this, not to bear a grudge against thine enemies to overcome anger, to forgive the sins of our fellow-servants. For so will those which have been done against the master be forgiven us. See the second expiation of sins: “For if ye forgive” saith he, “your debtors, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Dost thou wish to learn a third way of repentance? Fervent and diligent prayer, and to do this from the bottom of the heart. Hast thou not seen that widow, how she persuaded the shameless judge?[Luke 18:3] But thou hast a gentle Master, both tender, and kind. She asked, against her adversaries, but thou dost not ask against thine adversaries, but on behalf of thine own salvation. And if thou wouldest learn a fourth way, I will say almsgiving. For this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 134, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Theophilus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1913 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Your holiness will remember that at the time when you kept silence towards me, I never ceased to do my duty by writing to you, not taking so much into account what you in the exercise of your discretion were then doing as what it became me to do. And now that I have received a letter from your grace, I see that my reading of the gospel has not been without fruit. For if the frequent prayers of a woman changed the determination of an unyielding judge,[Luke 18:2-5] how much more must my constant appeals have softened a fatherly heart like yours?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 163, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Salvina. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2394 (In-Text, Margin)
But why do I write to one who is a stranger to me? For three reasons. First, because (as a priest is bound to do) I love all Christians as my children and find my glory in promoting their welfare. Secondly because the father of Nebridius was bound to me by the closest ties. Lastly—and this is a stronger reason than the others—because I have failed to say no to my son Avitus. With an importunacy surpassing that of the widow towards the unjust judge[Luke 18:1-5] he wrote to me so frequently and put before me so many instances in which I had previously dealt with a similar theme, that he overcame my modest reluctance and made the resolve to do not what would best become me but what would most nearly meet his wishes.