Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
John 6:27
There are 24 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 300, footnote 8 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Chapter I.—Preface—The Author’s Object—The Utility of Written Compositions. (HTML)
But the husbandry is twofold,—the one unwritten, and the other written. And in whatever way the Lord’s labourer sow the good wheat, and grow and reap the ears, he shall appear a truly divine husbandman. “Labour,” says the Lord, “not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth to everlasting life.”[John 6:27] And nutriment is received both by bread and by words. And truly “blessed are the peace-makers,” who instructing those who are at war in their life and errors here, lead them back to the peace which is in the Word, and nourish for the life which is according to God, by the distribution of the bread, those “that hunger after righteousness.” ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 397, footnote 13 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2595 (In-Text, Margin)
... sicut vestimentum veterascetis, et tinea vos exedet.” Sed neque nos contradicimus Scripturæ, neque in nostra corpora cadere interitum, eaque esse fluxa, negamus. Fortasse autem iis, quos ibi alloquitur propheta, ut peccatoribus, pnedicit interitum. Servator autem de liberorum procreatione nil dixit, sed ad impertiendum ac communicandum cos hortatur, qui solum opibus abundare, egentibus autem nolebant opem ferre. Quamobrem dicit: “Operamini non cibum, qui petit; sed eum, qui manet in vitam ætenam.”[John 6:27] Similiter autem afferunt etiam illud dictum de resurrectione mortuorum: “Filiillius sæculi nec nubunt, nec nubuntur.” Sed hanc interrogationera et cos qui interrogant, si quis consideraverit, inveniet Dominum non reprobare matrimonium, sed remedium ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 480, footnote 1 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter I.—Plan. (HTML)
... with the true philosophy, having delineated as well as possible the ethical argument conveyed in them, and having exhibited what the Gnostic is in his life, proceed to show the philosophers that he is by no means impious, as they suppose, but that he alone is truly pious, by a compendious exhibition of the Gnostic’s form of religion, as far as it is possible, without danger, to commit it to writing in a book of reference. For the Lord enjoined “to labour for the meat which endureth to eternity.”[John 6:27] And the prophet says, “Blessed is he that soweth into all waters, whose ox and ass tread,” [that is,] the people, from the Law and from the Gentiles, gathered into one faith.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 112, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Fasting. (HTML)
Of the Apostle's Language Concerning Food. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1106 (In-Text, Margin)
How unworthy, also, is the way in which you interpret to the favour of your own lust the fact that the Lord “ate and drank” promiscuously! But I think that He must have likewise “fasted” inasmuch as He has pronounced, not “the full,” but “the hungry and thirsty, blessed:” (He) who was wont to profess “food” to be, not that which His disciples had supposed, but “the thorough doing of the Father’s work;” teaching “to labour for the meat which is permanent unto life eternal;”[John 6:27] in our ordinary prayer likewise commanding us to request “bread,” not the wealth of Attalus therewithal. Thus, too, Isaiah has not denied that God “hath chosen” a “fast;” but has particularized in detail the kind of fast which He has ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 453, footnote 6 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Lord's Prayer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3357 (In-Text, Margin)
... forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.” And the Lord moreover promises and says, “Take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the nations seek. And your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” To those who seek God’s kingdom and righteousness, He promises that all things shall be added.[John 6:27] For since all things are God’s, nothing will be wanting to him who possesses God, if God Himself be not wanting to him. Thus a meal was divinely provided for Daniel: when he was shut up by the king’s command in the den of lions, and in the midst of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 649, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Novatian. (HTML)
On the Jewish Meats. (HTML)
But There Was a Limit to the Use of These Shadows or Figures; For Afterwards, When the End of the Law, Christ, Came, All Things Were Said by the Apostle to Be Pure to the Pure, and the True and Holy Meat Was a Right Faith and an Unspotted Conscience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5331 (In-Text, Margin)
... Hence is that word of the law: “Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Hence, too, that saying of Christ: “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.” Hence, “Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of my loaves and were filled. But labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth to life eternal, which the Son of man will give you; for Him hath the Father sealed.”[John 6:26-27] By righteousness, I say, and by continency, and by the rest of the virtues, God is worshipped. For Zecharias also tells us, saying: “If ye eat or drink, is it not ye that eat or drink?” —declaring thereby that meat or drink attain not unto God, but ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 394, footnote 2 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Methodius. (HTML)
Oration on the Palms. (HTML)
Oration on the Palms. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3111 (In-Text, Margin)
... wonders to the miracles of the Lord, and as it were, from strength to strength. For just as in a golden chain the links are so intimately joined and connected together, as that the one holds the other, and is fitted on to it, and so carries on the chain—even so the miracles that have been handed down by the holy Gospels, one after the other, lead on the Church of God, which delights in festivity, and refresh it, not with the meat that perisheth, but with that which endureth unto everlasting life.[John 6:27] Come then, beloved, and let us, too, with prepared hearts, and with ears intent, listen to what the Lord our God shall say unto us out of the prophets and Gospels concerning this most sacred feast. Verily, He will speak peace unto His people, and to ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 423, footnote 6 (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. VII.—On Assembling in the Church (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2846 (In-Text, Margin)
LXI. But if any one allege the pretence of his own work, and so is a despiser, “offering pretences for his sins,” let such a one know that the trades of the faithful are works by the by, but the worship of God is their great work. Follow therefore your trades as by the by, for your maintenance, but make the worship of God your main business; as also our Lord said: “Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life.”[John 6:27] And again: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” Endeavour therefore never to leave the Church of God; but if any one overlooks it, and goes either into a polluted temple of the heathens, or into a synagogue of the Jews or ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 60, footnote 11 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Two Epistles Concerning Virginity. (HTML)
The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle. (HTML)
What Priests Should Be and Should Not Be. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 424 (In-Text, Margin)
... required of them to conduct themselves. That “the harvest is great, but the workmen are few,” this also is well-known and manifest. Let us, therefore, “ask of the Lord of the harvest” that He would send forth workmen into the harvest; such workmen as “shall skilfully dispense the word of truth;” workmen “who shall not be ashamed;” faithful workmen; workmen who shall be “the light of the world;” workmen who “work not for the food that perisheth, but for that food which abideth unto life eternal;”[John 6:27] workmen who shall be such as the apostles; workmen who imitate the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; who are concerned for the salvation of men; not “hireling” workmen; not workmen to whom the fear of God and righteousness appear to be gain; ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 73, footnote 26 (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 XIX. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1360 (In-Text, Margin)
... Jesus blessed [18] it): and when that multitude saw that Jesus was not there, nor yet his disciples, they [19] [Arabic, p. 75] went up into those ships, and came to Capernaum, and sought Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Our [20] Master, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye have not sought me because of your seeing the signs, but because of [21] your eating the bread and being satisfied.[John 6:27] Serve not the food which perisheth, but the food which abideth in eternal life, which the Son of man will give unto you: him [22] hath God the Father sealed. They said unto him, What shall we do that we may [23] work the work of God? Jesus answered ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 68, footnote 4 (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)
Concerning that Most Unhappy Time in Which He, Being Deceived, Deceived Others; And Concerning the Mockers of His Confession. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 269 (In-Text, Margin)
... been yet savingly cast down and stricken by Thee, O my God, laugh at me; but notwithstanding I would confess to Thee mine own shame in Thy praise. Bear with me, I beseech Thee, and give me grace to retrace in my present remembrance the circlings of my past errors, and to “offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” For what am I to myself without Thee, but a guide to mine own downfall? Or what am I even at the best, but one sucking Thy milk, and feeding upon Thee, the meat that perisheth not?[John 6:27] But what kind of man is any man, seeing that he is but a man? Let, then, the strong and the mighty laugh at us, but let us who are “poor and needy” confess unto Thee.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 61, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Sanctification Manifold; Sacrament of Catechumens. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 611 (In-Text, Margin)
... of our present life are sustained, are, according to the same apostle, “sanctified by the word of God and prayer,” even the prayer with which we beg that our bodies may be refreshed. Just as therefore this sanctification of our ordinary food does not hinder what enters the mouth from descending into the belly, and being ejected into the draught, and partaking of the corruption into which everything earthly is resolved, whence the Lord exhorts us to labour for the other food which never perishes:[John 6:27] so the sanctification of the catechumen, if he is not baptized, does not avail for his entrance into the kingdom of heaven, nor for the remission of his sins. And, by parity of reasoning, that sanctification likewise, of whatever measure it be, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 41, footnote 12 (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 VII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 297 (In-Text, Margin)
... “Give us this day our daily bread.” Daily bread is put either for all those things which meet the wants of this life, in reference to which He says in His teaching, “Take no thought for the morrow:” so that on this account there is added, “Give us this day:” or, it is put for the sacrament of the body of Christ, which we daily receive: or, for the spiritual food, of which the same Lord says, “Labour for the meat which perisheth not;” and again, “I am the bread of life, which came down from heaven.”[John 6:27] But which of these three views is the more probable, is a question for consideration. For perhaps some one may wonder why we should pray that we may obtain the things which are necessary for this life,—such, for instance, as food and clothing,—when ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 151, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Of the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and Mark on the One Hand, and John on the Other, in the Accounts Which the Three Give Together of What Took Place After the Other Side of the Lake Was Reached. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1072 (In-Text, Margin)
... from identity in sense. John, on the other hand, fixing his attention, as his wont is, upon the Lord’s discourses, passes on from the notice of the ship, which the Lord reached by walking upon the waters, to what took place after they disembarked upon the land, and mentions that He took occasion from the eating of the bread to deliver many lessons, dealing pre-eminently with divine things. After this address, too, his narrative is again borne on to one subject after another, in a sublime strain.[John 6:22-72] At the same time, this transition which he thus makes to different themes does not involve any real want of harmony, although he exhibits certain divergencies from these others, with the order of events presented by the rest of the evangelists. For ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 232, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
Of the Evangelist John, and the Distinction Between Him and the Other Three. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1639 (In-Text, Margin)
... point he at once rises again to the region of the Lord’s discourses, and relates those words, so grave, so lengthened, so sustainedly lofty and elevated, which had their occasion in the multiplying of the bread, when He addressed the multitudes to the following effect: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.”[John 6:26-27] After which sayings, He continues to discourse in similar terms for a very long period, and in the most exalted strain. At that time, some fell away from the sublime teaching of such words, namely, those who walked no more with Him afterwards. But ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 14, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm V (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 149 (In-Text, Margin)
15. “Since they have embittered Thee, O Lord: I am,” saith He, “the Bread which came down from heaven;” again, “Labour for the meat which wasteth not;”[John 6:27] again, “Taste and see that the Lord is sweet.” But to sinners the bread of truth is bitter. Whence they hate the mouth of him that speaketh the truth. These then have embittered God, who by sin have fallen into such a state of sickliness, that the food of truth, in which healthy souls delight, as if it were bitter as gall, they cannot bear.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 546, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4996 (In-Text, Margin)
... He created so many trees throughout the whole earth, and no one wondereth: He dried up one with a word, and the hearts of mortals were thunderstruck. For that miracle, which hath not through its frequency become common, will cling most firmly to the heart. But of what use were the miracles, save that He might be feared? What too would fear profit, unless “the gracious and merciful Lord” gave “meat unto them that fear Him”? (ver. 5); meat that doth not spoil, “bread that cometh down from heaven,”[John 6:27] which He gave to no deservings of ours. For “Christ died for the ungodly.” No one then would give such food, save a gracious and merciful Lord. But if He gave so much to this life, if the sinner who was to be justified received the Word made flesh; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 307, footnote 9 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Third Theological Oration. On the Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3531 (In-Text, Margin)
... Then the Son is Only-begotten: The only “begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, it says, He hath declared Him.” The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Light. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;” and “I am the Light of the World.” Wisdom and Power, “Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the Power of God.” The Effulgence, the Impress, the Image, the Seal; “Who being the Effulgence of His glory and the Impress of His Essence,” and “the Image of His Goodness,” and “Him hath God the Father sealed.”[John 6:27] Lord, King, He That Is, The Almighty. “The Lord rained down fire from the Lord;” and “A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom;” and “Which is and was and is to come, the Almighty” —all which are clearly spoken of the Son, with all ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 374, footnote 28 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Oration on Holy Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4174 (In-Text, Margin)
... angered; and that the Word may gain credence by action, as was the case with that which was given in the hand of a prophet; the other, that they be not swift to shed blood, nor to run to evil, but that they be prompt to run to the Gospel and the Prize of the high Calling, and to receive Christ Who washes and cleanses them. And if there be also a cleansing of that belly which receiveth and digesteth the food of the Word, it were good also; not to make it a god by luxury and the meat that perisheth,[John 6:27] but rather to give it all possible cleansing, and to make it more spare, that it may receive the Word of God at the very heart, and grieve honourably over the sins of Israel. I find also the heart and inward parts deemed worthy of honour. David ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 9, footnote 9 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
Issue joined with those who assert that the Son is not with the Father, but after the Father. Also concerning the equal glory. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 801 (In-Text, Margin)
... understood physically, in which case there might be something sinister about God, but Scripture puts before us the magnificence of the dignity of the Son by the use of dignified language indicating the seat of honour. It is left then for our opponents to allege that this expression signifies inferiority of rank. Let them learn that “Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God,” and that “He is the image of the invisible God” and “brightness of his glory,” and that “Him hath God the Father sealed,”[John 6:27] by engraving Himself on Him.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 9, footnote 10 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
Issue joined with those who assert that the Son is not with the Father, but after the Father. Also concerning the equal glory. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 802 (In-Text, Margin)
... case there might be something sinister about God, but Scripture puts before us the magnificence of the dignity of the Son by the use of dignified language indicating the seat of honour. It is left then for our opponents to allege that this expression signifies inferiority of rank. Let them learn that “Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God,” and that “He is the image of the invisible God” and “brightness of his glory,” and that “Him hath God the Father sealed,” by engraving Himself on Him.[John 6:27]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 149, footnote 2 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
Title Page (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book VIII (HTML)
42. For the Lord had said in the gospels, Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which abideth unto life eternal, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him the Father, even God, hath sealed. They said therefore unto Him, What must we do that we may work the works of God? And He said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent[John 6:27-29]. In setting forth the mystery of His Incarnation and His Godhead our Lord has also uttered the teaching of our faith and hope that we should work for food, not that which perisheth but that which abideth for ever; that we should remember that this food of eternity is given us by the Son of Man; that we ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 150, footnote 1 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
Title Page (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book VIII (HTML)
44. Therefore after this manifold and precise revelation of the presence of the Father’s nature in Himself, He goes on to say, For Him hath the Father sealed, even God[John 6:27]. It is the nature of a seal to exhibit the whole form of the figure graven upon it, and that an impression taken from it reproduces it in every respect; and since it receives the whole of that which is impressed, it displays also in itself wholly whoever has been impressed upon it. Yet this comparison is not adequate to exemplify the Divine birth, because in seals there is a matter, difference of nature, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 273, footnote 9 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Book X. Of the Spirit of Accidie. (HTML)
Chapter XXI. Different passages from the writings of Solomon against accidie. (HTML)
... piece and body of the Scriptures, and fits on to his sloth no garment of glory and honour, but an ignominious cloak and excuse. For those, who are affected by this laziness, and do not like to support themselves by the labour of their own hands, as the Apostle continually did and charged us to do, are wont to make use of certain Scripture proofs by which they try to cloak their idleness, saying that it is written, “Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which remains to life eternal;”[John 6:27] and “My meat is to do the will of my Father.” But these proofs are (as it were) rags, from the solid piece of the gospel, which are adopted for this purpose, viz., to cover the disgrace of our idleness and shame rather than to keep us warm, and ...