Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Acts 5

There are 92 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 35, footnote 5 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Polycarp (HTML)

Epistle to the Philippians (HTML)

Chapter VIII.—Persevere in hope and patience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 387 (In-Text, Margin)

Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, “who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” “who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,” but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer[Acts 5:41] for His name’s sake, let us glorify Him. For He has set us this example in Himself, and we have believed that such is the case.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 432, footnote 1 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter XII.—Doctrine of the rest of the apostles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3493 (In-Text, Margin)

... one that was willing to believe. “And with great power,” it is added, “gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,” saying to them, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye seized and slew, hanging [Him] upon a beam of wood: Him hath God raised up by His right hand to be a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are in this witnesses of these words; as also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that believe in Him.”[Acts 5:30] “And daily,” it is said, “in the temple, and from house to house, they ceased not to teach and preach Christ Jesus,” the Son of God. For this was the knowledge of salvation, which renders those who acknowledge His Son’s advent perfect towards God.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 432, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter XII.—Doctrine of the rest of the apostles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3494 (In-Text, Margin)

... of the Lord Jesus,” saying to them, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye seized and slew, hanging [Him] upon a beam of wood: Him hath God raised up by His right hand to be a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are in this witnesses of these words; as also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that believe in Him.” “And daily,” it is said, “in the temple, and from house to house, they ceased not to teach and preach Christ Jesus,”[Acts 5:42] the Son of God. For this was the knowledge of salvation, which renders those who acknowledge His Son’s advent perfect towards God.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 335, footnote 8 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Chapter XXIII.—The Age, Birth, and Life of Moses. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2104 (In-Text, Margin)

... that the Phœnicians received it from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phœnicians.” And betaking himself to their philosophy, he increased his wisdom, being ardently attached to the training received from his kindred and ancestors, till he struck and slew the Egyptian who wrongfully attacked the Hebrew. And the mystics say that he slew the Egyptian by a word only; as, certainly, Peter in the Acts is related to have slain by speech those who appropriated part of the price of the field, and lied.[Acts 5:1] And so Artapanus, in his work On the Jews, relates “that Moses, being shut up in custody by Chenephres, king of the Egyptians, on account of the people demanding to be let go from Egypt, the prison being opened by night, by the interposition ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 106, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

To Scapula. (HTML)

Chapter IV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 453 (In-Text, Margin)

We who are without fear ourselves are not seeking to frighten you, but we would save all men if possible by warning them not to fight with God.[Acts 5:39] You may perform the duties of your charge, and yet remember the claims of humanity; if on no other ground than that you are liable to punishment yourself, (you ought to do so). For is not your commission simply to condemn those who confess their guilt, and to give over to the torture those who deny? You see, then, how you trespass yourselves against your instructions to wring from the confessing a denial. It is, in fact, an ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 648, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Scorpiace. (HTML)

Chapter XV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8324 (In-Text, Margin)

... epistles. And yet, that the apostles endured such sufferings, we know: the teaching is clear. This only I perceive in running through the Acts. I am not at all on the search. The prisons there, and the bonds, and the scourges, and the big stones, and the swords, and the onsets by the Jews, and the assemblies of the heathen, and the indictments by tribunes, and the hearing of causes by kings, and the judgment-seats of proconsuls and the name of Cæsar, do not need an interpreter. That Peter is struck,[Acts 5:40] that Stephen is overwhelmed by stones, that James is slain as is a victim at the altar, that Paul is beheaded has been written in their own blood. And if a heretic wishes his confidence to rest upon a public record, the archives of the empire ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 674, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Ethical. (HTML)

On Baptism. (HTML)

Of John's Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8641 (In-Text, Margin)

... not, because they believed not. But we, with but as poor a measure of understanding as of faith, are able to determine that that baptism was divine indeed, (yet in respect of the command, not in respect of efficacy too, in that we read that John was sent by the Lord to perform this duty,) but human in its nature: for it conveyed nothing celestial, but it fore-ministered to things celestial; being, to wit, appointed over repentance, which is in man’s power.[Acts 5:31] In fact, the doctors of the law and the Pharisees, who were unwilling to “believe,” did not “repent” either. But if repentance is a thing human, its baptism must necessarily be of the same nature: else, if it had been celestial, it would have given ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 98, footnote 14 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Modesty. (HTML)

Of the Difference Between Discipline and Power, and of the Power of the Keys. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 971 (In-Text, Margin)

... as are chargeable with offence against you personally, you are commanded, in the person of Peter, to forgive even seventy times sevenfold. And so, if it were agreed that even the blessed apostles had granted any such indulgence (to any crime) the pardon of which (comes) from God, not from man, it would be competent (for them) to have done so, not in the exercise of discipline, but of power. For they both raised the dead, which God alone (can do), and restored the debilitated to their integrity,[Acts 5:13-16] which none but Christ (can do); nay, they inflicted plagues too, which Christ would not do. For it did not beseem Him to be severe who had come to suffer. Smitten were both Ananias and Elymas —Ananias with death, Elymas with blindness—in order that ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 99, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Modesty. (HTML)

Of the Difference Between Discipline and Power, and of the Power of the Keys. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 972 (In-Text, Margin)

... blessed apostles had granted any such indulgence (to any crime) the pardon of which (comes) from God, not from man, it would be competent (for them) to have done so, not in the exercise of discipline, but of power. For they both raised the dead, which God alone (can do), and restored the debilitated to their integrity, which none but Christ (can do); nay, they inflicted plagues too, which Christ would not do. For it did not beseem Him to be severe who had come to suffer. Smitten were both Ananias[Acts 5:1-6] and Elymas —Ananias with death, Elymas with blindness—in order that by this very fact it might be proved that Christ had had the power of doing even such (miracles). So, too, had the prophets (of old) granted to the repentant the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 421, footnote 5 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

I (HTML)
Chapter LVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3181 (In-Text, Margin)

... Gamaliel named in the book of Acts, to show how those persons above mentioned were strangers to the promise, being neither “sons of God” nor “powers” of God, whereas Christ Jesus was truly the Son of God. Now Gamaliel, in the passage referred to, said: “If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought” (as also did the designs of those men already mentioned after their death); “but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow this doctrine, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”[Acts 5:38-39] There was also Simon the Samaritan magician, who wished to draw away certain by his magical arts. And on that occasion he was successful; but now-a-days it is impossible to find, I suppose, thirty of his followers in the entire world, and probably I ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 449, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Chapter XLV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3316 (In-Text, Margin)

... hands,” etc., to which the Scripture adds, “This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God;” nor how James the brother of John—an apostle, the brother of an apostle—was slain with the sword by Herod for the doctrine of Christ; nor even the many instances of boldness displayed by Peter and the other apostles because of the Gospel, and “how they went forth from the presence of the Sanhedrim after being scourged, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name,”[Acts 5:41] and so surpassing many of the instances related by the Greeks of the fortitude and courage of their philosophers. From the very beginning, then, this was inculcated as a precept of Jesus among His hearers, which taught men to despise the life which ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 579, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4337 (In-Text, Margin)

... at the beginning of their existence the followers of Simon were not exposed to persecution. For that wicked demon who was conspiring against the doctrine of Jesus, was well aware that none of his own maxims would be weakened by the teaching of Simon. The Dositheans, again, even in former times, did not rise to any eminence, and now they are completely extinguished, so that it is said their whole number does not amount to thirty. Judas of Galilee also, as Luke relates in the Acts of the Apostles,[Acts 5:36-37] wished to call himself some great personage, as did Theudas before him; but as their doctrine was not of God, they were destroyed, and all who obeyed them were immediately dispersed. We do not, then, “cast the dice in order to divine whither we ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 226, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)

Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Against the Heresy of One Noetus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1637 (In-Text, Margin)

... And this, indeed, is said by Christ Himself, as when in the Gospel He confessed Him to be His Father and His God. For He speaks thus: “I go to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” If then, Noetus ventures to say that He is the Father Himself, to what father will he say Christ goes away according to the word of the Gospel? But if he will have us abandon the Gospel and give credence to his senselessness, he expends his labour in vain; for “we ought to obey God rather than men.”[Acts 5:29]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 543, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
That what any one has vowed to God, he must quickly repay. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4376 (In-Text, Margin)

... thy lips, and shalt perform the gift which thou hast spoken with thy mouth.” Of this same matter in the forty-ninth Psalm: “Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Of this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles: “Why hath Satan filled thine heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, when thy estate was in thine own power? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.”[Acts 5:3-4] Also in Jeremiah: “Cursed is he who doeth the work of God negligently.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 105, footnote 1 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Dionysius. (HTML)

Extant Fragments. (HTML)

Containing Epistles, or Fragments of Epistles. (HTML)
Against Bishop Germanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 861 (In-Text, Margin)

... indeed a thing superfluous for him to do, and the last thing which one would do who meant to go back to what was first and of prime importance: for his concern was not about our gathering others together in assembly, but about our not being Christians ourselves. From this, therefore, he commanded me to desist, thinking, doubtless, that if I myself should recant, the others would also follow me in that. But I answered him neither unreasonably nor in many words, “We must obey God rather than men.”[Acts 5:29] Moreover, I testified openly that I worshipped the only true God and none other, and that I could neither alter that position nor ever cease to be a Christian. Thereupon he ordered us to go away to a village near the desert, called Cephro.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 234, footnote 6 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Archelaus. (HTML)

A Fragment of the Same Disputation. (HTML)

Chapter I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2162 (In-Text, Margin)

... saying: The God of the Old Testament is the inventor of evil, who speaks thus of Himself: “I am a consuming fire.” —But the sagacious Archelaus completely undid this blasphemy. For he said: If the God of the Old Testament, according to your allegation, calls Himself a fire, whose son is He who says, “I am come to send fire upon the earth?” If you find fault with one who says, “The Lord killeth and maketh alive,” why do you honour Peter, who raised Tabitha to life, but also put Sapphira to death?[Acts 5:10] And if again, you find fault with the one because He has prepared a fire, why do you not find fault with the other, who says, “Depart from me into everlasting fire?” If you find fault with Him who says, “I, God, make peace, and create evil,” explain ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 438, footnote 1 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book V (HTML)

Sec. I.—Concerning the Martyrs (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2974 (In-Text, Margin)

... are given over to death, or bonds, or banishment, in order to deliver your fellow-members from wicked hands. And if any one who accompanies with them is caught, and falls into misfortune, he is blessed, because he is partaker with the martyr, and is one that imitates the sufferings of Christ; for we ourselves also, when we oftentimes received stripes from Caiaphas, and Alexander, and Annas, for Christ’s sake, “went out rejoicing that we were counted worthy to suffer such things for our Saviour.”[Acts 5:40-41] Do you also rejoice when ye suffer such things, for ye shall be blessed in that day.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 466, footnote 13 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VII. Concerning the Christian Life, and the Eucharist, and the Initiation into Christ (HTML)

Sec. I.—On the Two Ways,—The Way of Life and the Way of Death (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3380 (In-Text, Margin)

... steal:” for Achan, when he had stolen in Israel at Jericho, was stoned to death; and Gehazi, who stole, and told a lie, inherited the leprosy of Naaman; and Judas, who stole the poor’s money, betrayed the Lord of glory to the Jews, and repented, and hanged himself, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out; and Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, who stole their own goods, and “tempted the Spirit of the Lord,” were immediately, at the sentence of Peter our fellow-apostle, struck dead.[Acts 5]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 520, footnote 16 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

The Second Epistle of Clement (HTML)

The Homily (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3936 (In-Text, Margin)

Therefore, brethren, let us now at length repent; let us be sober unto what is good; for we are full of much folly and wickedness. Let us blot out from us our former sins, and repenting from the soul let us be saved; and let us not become men-pleasers, nor let us desire to please only one another, but also the men that are without, by our righteousness, that the Name[Acts 5:41] be not blasphemed on account of us. For the Lord also saith “Continually My name is blasphemed among all the Gentiles,” and again, “Woe to him on account of whom My name is blasphemed.” Wherein is it blasphemed? In your not doing what I desire. For the Gentiles, when they hear from our mouth the oracles of God, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 89, footnote 3 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Challenge by Caiaphas. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 576 (In-Text, Margin)

“But when we twelve apostles, on the day of the passover, had come together with an immense multitude, and entered into the church of the brethren, each one of us, at the request of James, stated briefly, in the hearing of the people, what we had done in every place.[Acts 5] While this was going on, Caiaphas, the high priest, sent priests to us, and asked us to come to him, that either we should prove to him that Jesus is the eternal Christ, or he to us that He is not, and that so all the people should agree upon the one faith or the other; and this he frequently entreated us to do. But we often put it off, always seeking for a more ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 94, footnote 2 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Tumult Stilled by Gamaliel. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 593 (In-Text, Margin)

“When I had thus spoken, the whole multitude of the priests were in a rage, because I had foretold to them the overthrow of the temple. Which when Gamaliel, a chief of the people, saw—who was secretly our brother in the faith, but by our advice remained among them—because they were greatly enraged and moved with intense fury against us, he stood up, and said,[Acts 5:35-39] ‘Be quiet for a little, O men of Israel, for ye do not perceive the trial which hangs over you. Wherefore refrain from these men; and if what they are engaged in be of human counsel, it will soon come to an end; but if it be from God, why will you sin without cause, and prevail nothing? For who can overpower the will ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 419, footnote 2 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

The Gospel of Nicodemus; Part I.--The Acts of Pilate:  First Greek Form. (HTML)

Chapter 5. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1822 (In-Text, Margin)

... Jew, stood before the procurator, and said: I beseech your honour, let me say a few words. Pilate says: Say on. Nicodemus says: I said to the elders and the priests and Levites, and to all the multitude of the Jews in the synagogue, What do you seek to do with this man? This man does many miracles and strange things, which no one has done or will do. Let him go, and do not wish any evil against him. If the miracles which he does are of God, they will stand; but if man, they will come to nothing.[Acts 5:38] For assuredly Moses, being sent by God into Egypt, did many miracles, which the Lord commanded him to do before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And there were there Jannes and Jambres, servants of Pharaoh, and they also did not a few of the miracles which ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 428, footnote 4 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

The Gospel of Nicodemus; Part I.--The Acts of Pilate:  Second Greek Form. (HTML)

Chapter 5. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1884 (In-Text, Margin)

... therefore, Nicodemus by name, stood up in the midst, and said to Pilate: I entreat your highness to permit me to say a few words. Say on, said Pilate. Nicodemus says: I, being present in the synagogue, said to the priests, and the Levites, and the scribes, and the people, What have you to say against this man? This man does many miracles, such as man has never yet done nor will do. Let him go, therefore; and if indeed what he does be from God, it will stand; but if from man, it will be destroyed.[Acts 5:38] Just as happened also when God sent Moses into Egypt, and Pharoah king of Egypt told him to do a miracle, and he did it. Then Pharoah had also two magicians, Jannes and Jambres; and they also did miracles by the use of magic art, but not such as ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 505, footnote 5 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

The Acts of Philip. (HTML)

Acts of Saint Philip the Apostle When He Went to Upper Hellas. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2199 (In-Text, Margin)

The high priest having heard this, ran to Philip, wishing to scourge him, and that same hour his whole hand was dried up, and his eyes were blinded; and in like manner also the five hundred who were with him were also themselves blinded. And they reviled and cursed the high priest, saying: Coming out of Jerusalem we said to thee, Refrain; for, being men, we cannot fight against God.[Acts 5:39] But we entreat thee, O Philip, apostle of the God Jesus, give us the light that is through him, that we also may truly be his slaves.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 522, footnote 4 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

Acts of Andrew and Matthias. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2261 (In-Text, Margin)

... seen a brazen pillar, and a statue standing upon it, he came and sat down behind that pillar until he should see what should happen. And it happened that the executioners went to the prison to bring out the men for their food, according to the custom; and they found the doors of the prison opened, and the guards that guarded it lying dead upon the ground. And straightway they went, and reported to the rulers of the city, saying: We found the prison opened, and having gone inside we found nobody;[Acts 5:20-25] but we found the guards lying dead upon the ground. And the rulers having heard this, said among themselves: What, then, has happened? You do not mean to say that some persons have gone into the prison of the city, and have killed the warders, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 549, footnote 2 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas. (HTML)

Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas, When He Came into India, and Built the Palace in the Heavens. (HTML)
About the Young Man Who Killed the Maiden. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2390 (In-Text, Margin)

And the report of him ran through all the cities and countries; and all who had persons sick or tormented by unclean spirits brought them, and they were healed. Some also they laid on the road by which he was to pass, and he healed them all by the power of the Lord.[Acts 5:15] Then said all with one accord who had been healed by him, with one voice: Glory to Thee, Jesus, who givest Thy healing to all alike by means of Thy servant and apostle Thomas. And being in good health, and rejoicing, we pray Thee that we may be of Thy flock, and be numbered among Thy sheep; receive us, therefore, O Lord, and consider not our transgressions and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 620, footnote 1 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

The Decretals. (HTML)

The Epistle of Pope Urban First. (HTML)

Of the persons by whom, and the uses for which, ecclesiastical property should be managed, and of the invaders thereof. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2768 (In-Text, Margin)

... the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the Church, and upon as many as heard these things.”[Acts 5:1-11] These things, brethren, are carefully to be guarded against, and greatly to be feared. For the property of the Church, not being like personal, but like common property, and property offered to the Lord, is to be dispensed with the deepest fear, in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 774, footnote 4 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Remains of the Second and Third Centuries. (HTML)

Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3782 (In-Text, Margin)

... of my relatives, some of whom I have succeeded—seven of my relatives were bishops, and I am the eighth, and my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven—I myself, brethren, I say, who am sixty-five years old in the Lord, and have fallen in with the brethren in all parts of the world, and have read through all Holy Scripture, am not frightened at the things which are said to terrify us. For those who are greater than I have said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”[Acts 5:29]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 355, footnote 1 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book VI. (HTML)
Messianic Discussion with John the Baptist. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4839 (In-Text, Margin)

... thought that the period of Christ’s advent was near. It was in a manner imminent in the years from the birth of Jesus and a little before, down to the publication of the preaching. Hence it was, in all likelihood, that as the scribes and lawyers had deduced the time from Holy Scripture and were expecting the Coming One, the idea was taken up by Theudas, who came forward as the Messiah and brought together a considerable multitude, and after him by the famous Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing.[Acts 5:36-37] Thus the coming of the Messiah was more warmly expected and discussed, and it was natural enough for the Jews to send priests and levites from Jerusalem to John, to ask him, “Who art thou?” and learn if he professed to be the Christ.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 399, footnote 8 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book X. (HTML)
Various Views of Heracleon on Purging of the Temple. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5083 (In-Text, Margin)

... of His Father. We must here say what is most necessary on the divinity, as referred to in Heracleon’s text. If Jesus calls the temple at Jerusalem the house of His Father, and that temple was made in honour of Him who made heaven and earth, why are we not at once told that He is the Son of no one else than the Maker of heaven and earth, that He is the Son of God? To this house of the Father of Jesus, as being the house of prayer, the Apostles of Christ also, as we find in their “Acts,” are told[Acts 5:20] by the angel to go and to stand there and preach all the words of this life. But they came to the house of prayer, through the Beautiful Gate, to pray there, a thing they would not have done had they not known Him to be the same with the God ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 400, footnote 1 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book X. (HTML)
Various Views of Heracleon on Purging of the Temple. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5084 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Father of Jesus, as being the house of prayer, the Apostles of Christ also, as we find in their “Acts,” are told by the angel to go and to stand there and preach all the words of this life. But they came to the house of prayer, through the Beautiful Gate, to pray there, a thing they would not have done had they not known Him to be the same with the God worshipped by those who had dedicated that temple. Hence, too, they say, those who obeyed God rather than men, Peter and the Apostles, “The God[Acts 5:29-30] of our Fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging Him on a tree;” for they know that by no other God was Jesus raised from the dead but the God of the fathers, whom Jesus also extols as the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who are not dead ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 308, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)

Of the Mission of the Holy Ghost Fifty Days After Christ’s Resurrection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1480 (In-Text, Margin)

... they began to speak with tongues, in such a manner that all those who had come to them recognized each his own language (for in that city the Jews were in the habit of assembling from every country wheresoever they had been scattered abroad, and had learned the diverse tongues of diverse nations); and thereafter, preaching Christ with all boldness, they wrought many signs in His name,—so much so, that as Peter was passing by, his shadow touched a certain dead person, and the man rose in life again.[Acts 5:15]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 574, footnote 2 (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 85 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2204 (In-Text, Margin)

... choose the good, have, by your own sentence, declared that you do not wish to live." According to this, if we were to believe your accusations, we should live in kindness; but because we believe the promises of God, we declare by our own sentence that we do not wish to live. You remember well, it seems to me, what the apostles answered to the Jews when they were desired to abstain from preaching Christ. This therefore we also say, that you should answer us whether we ought rather to obey God or man.[Acts 5:29] Traditors, offerers of incense, persecutors: these are the words of men against men. Christ remained only in the love of Donatus: these are the words of men extolling the glory of a man under the name of Christ, that the glory of Christ ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 620, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In this book Augustin refutes the second letter which Petilianus wrote to him after having seen the first of Augustin’s earlier books.  This letter had been full of violent language; and Augustin rather shows that the arguments of Petilianus had been deficient and irrelevant, than brings forward arguments in support of his own statements. (HTML)
Chapter 48 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2421 (In-Text, Margin)

... possess the conscience of one that gives in holiness, what answer do you intend to make, except that he is cleansed by Christ or by God, although, indeed, Christ is Himself God over all, blessed for ever, or by the Holy Spirit since He too is Himself God, because this Trinity of Persons is one God? Whence Peter, after saying to a man, "Thou hast dared to lie to the Holy Ghost," immediately went on to add what was the nature of the Holy Ghost, saying, "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."[Acts 5:3-4] Lastly, even if you were to say that he was cleansed and purified by an angel when he is unacquainted with the pollution in the conscience of him that gives but not in holiness, take notice that it is said of the saints, when they shall have risen ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 35, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

From the Acts of the Apostles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 387 (In-Text, Margin)

... of life.” While in another passage he says: “This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” And again, else where: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, by hanging on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”[Acts 5:30-31] Once more: “To Him give all the prophets witness, that, through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” Whilst in the same Acts of the Apostles Paul says: “Be it known therefore unto you, men and brethren, that through ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 246, footnote 8 (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 IX. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 830 (In-Text, Margin)

... began after the Lord’s ascension, how was it that the apostles wrought so much? Was that the night when the Holy Spirit came, and, filling all who were in one place, gave them the power of speaking in the tongues of every nation? Was it night when that lame man was made whole at the word of Peter, or rather, at the word of the Lord dwelling in Peter? Was it night when, as the disciples were passing by, the sick were laid in couches, that they might be touched at least by their shadow as they passed?[Acts 5:15] Yet, when the Lord was here, there was no one made whole by His shadow as He passed; but He Himself had said to the disciples, “Greater things than these shall ye do.” Yes, the Lord had said, “Greater things than these shall ye do;” but let not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 329, footnote 4 (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 XIV. 10–14. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1292 (In-Text, Margin)

... He promised that He Himself would also do those greater works. Let not the servant exalt himself above his Lord, or the disciple above his Master. He says that they will do greater works than He doeth Himself; but it is all by His doing such in or by them, and not as if they did them of themselves. Hence the song that is addressed to Him, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.” But what, then, are those greater works? Was it that their very shadow, as they themselves passed by, healed the sick?[Acts 5:15] For it is a mightier thing for a shadow, than for the hem of a garment, to possess the power of healing. The one work was done by Christ Himself, the other by them; and yet it was He that did both. Nevertheless, when He so spake, He was commending ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 363, footnote 7 (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 XV. 26, 27. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1510 (In-Text, Margin)

... those lips that in their previous tremor had suppressed the truth, that, when all on whom the Holy Spirit had descended were speaking in the tongues of all nations to the crowds of Jews collected around, he alone broke forth before the others in the promptitude of his testimony in behalf of the Christ, and confounded His murderers with the account of His resurrection. And if any one would enjoy the pleasure of gazing on a sight so charming in its holiness, let him read the Acts of the Apostles:[Acts 2-5] and there let him be filled with amazement at the preaching of the blessed Peter, over whose denial of his Master he had just been mourning; there let him behold that tongue, itself translated from diffidence to confidence, from bondage to liberty, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 137, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

Homilies on S. Ignatius and S. Babylas. (HTML)

Eulogy. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 372 (In-Text, Margin)

... tasted for the first time strange doctrines, stood in need of great indulgence, and were still in a somewhat feeble condition and were often upset. And this was a thing which used to grieve the teachers, no less than the fightings without, nay rather much more. For the fightings without, and the plottings, afforded much pleasure to them on account of the hope of the rewards awaiting them. On this account the apostles returned from the presence of the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been beaten;[Acts 5:41] and Paul cries out, saying: “I rejoice in my sufferings,” and he glories in his afflictions everywhere. But the wounds of those at home, and the falls of the brethren, do not suffer them to breathe again, but always, like some most heavy yoke, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 261, footnote 3 (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 868 (In-Text, Margin)

... uneloquent man was wiser than the wise. Whence was this? He received the earnest, he bore the signet ring and carried it about. All men saw that the King had espoused our nature: the demon saw it and retreated, he saw the earnest, and trembled and withdrew: he saw but the Apostle’s garments and fled. O the power of the Holy Spirit. He bestowed authority not on the soul, nor on the body, but even on raiment; nor on raiment only but even on a shadow. Peter went about and his shadow put diseases to flight,[Acts 5:15] and expelled demons, and raised the dead to life. Paul went about the world, cutting away the thorns of ungodliness, sowing broadcast the seeds of godliness, like an excellent ploughman handling the ploughshare of doctrine. And to whom did he go? To ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 367, footnote 4 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)

Homily IV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1201 (In-Text, Margin)

... rather it did not change the nature, but, what was far more wonderful, it stayed the operation of them, even whilst their nature remained. For it did not quench the fire, but though burning, made it powerless. And it was truly marvellous and unaccountable, that this not only happened with respect to the bodies of these saints, but also with respect to their garments, and their shoes. And as it was in the case of the Apostles, the garments of Paul expelled diseases and demons, and the shadow of Peter[Acts 5:15] put death to flight; so indeed also in this case, the shoes of these youths extinguished the power of the fire.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 376, footnote 3 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)

Homily V (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1255 (In-Text, Margin)

... the day thou eatest,” He saith, “thou shalt surely die;” and to the woman, “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” And by both of these things he took away sin, and provided that the mother should be destroyed by her offspring. For that death as well as grief takes away sin, is evident, in the first place, from the case of the martyrs; and it is plain too from what Paul saith to those who had sinned, speaking on this wise, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”[Acts 5:4] Inasmuch, he observes, as ye have sinned, ye die, so that ye are freed from sin by death. Therefore he goes on to say, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 461, footnote 2 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)

Homily XVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1738 (In-Text, Margin)

... less can the loss of money, or dishonour, or reproaches, or false accusations, at any time affect a soul so great and noble; no, nor anguish of body, since the Apostles were scourged, yet they were not made sad. This, indeed, was a great thing; but what is much more, instead of being made sad, they considered their very scourgings, as a ground of additional pleasure. “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ.”[Acts 5:41] Did any person insult and revile such a one? Well, he was taught by Christ to rejoice in these revilings. “Rejoice,” saith He, “and be exceeding glad, when they shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake; for great is your reward ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 58, footnote 3 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans

A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (HTML)

Homily IX on Acts iii. 12. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 223 (In-Text, Margin)

... know.” And he exculpated not them alone, but also the chief contrivers of the evil, “ye and your rulers:” for doubtless it would have roused their opposition, had he gone off into accusation. For the evil-doer, when you accuse him of some wickedness that he has done, in his endeavor to exonerate himself, grows more vehement. And he no longer says, “Ye crucified,” “Ye killed,” but, “Ye did it;” leading them to seek for pardon. If those rulers did it through ignorance, much more did these present.[Acts 5:19] “But these things which God before had showed,” etc. (v. 18.) But it is remarkable, that both in the first and in the second discourse, speaking to the same effect, that is, in the former, “By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God;” and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 91, footnote 3 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans

A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (HTML)

Homily XIV on Acts v. 34. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 336 (In-Text, Margin)

... (their prayers.) Thus they were enabled to give their attention to things spiritual; thus were these also free to undertake long journeys; thus were these put in trust with the word. But the writer does not say this, nor extol them, but that it was “not reason” that they should leave the work given to them. Thus they had been taught by Moses’s example not to undertake the management of everything by themselves. (Num. xi. 14.) “Only,” it is said, “that we should remember the poor.” (Gal. ii. 10.) And[Acts 5:7] how did they bring these forward? They fasted. “Look you out seven men,” etc. (v. 3.) It is not simply, spiritual men, but, “full of the Spirit and of wisdom,” for it needed very great superiority of mind (

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 12, page 29, footnote 2 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on First and Second Corinthians

Homilies on First Corinthians. (HTML)

Homily VI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 33 (In-Text, Margin)

... word was itself sufficient to withhold him. For he went about preaching death: and for this reason he added, “for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” This was the meaning he meant to convey, that he is altogether destitute of the wisdom which is without; as indeed he was saying above, “I came not with excellency of speech:” for that he might have possessed this also is plain; for he whose garments raised the dead and whose shadow expelled diseases,[Acts 5:5] much more was his soul capable of receiving eloquence. For this is a thing which may be taught: but the former transcendeth all art. He then who knows things beyond the reach of art, much more must he have had strength for lesser things. But Christ ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 90, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians. (HTML)

Homilies on Ephesians. (HTML)

Ephesians 4:1,2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 263 (In-Text, Margin)

... have left them. Whereas, as it is, the object of the Angel’s saying unto him, “Bind on thy sandals,” was that they might know that he had done the thing not in the act of flight, but with full leisure. For, bound as he was, and fixed between the two soldiers, he never would have found sufficient time to unbind the chains also, and especially as he too, like Paul, was in the inner ward. Thus then was the punishment of the keepers owing to the unrighteousness of the judge. For why did not the Jews[Acts 5:19] act in the same way? For now again I am reminded of yet another prison. The first was that at Rome, next, was this at Cæsarea, now we come to that at Jerusalem. When then the chief Priests and the Pharisees heard from those whom they had sent to the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 90, footnote 2 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians. (HTML)

Homilies on Ephesians. (HTML)

Ephesians 4:1,2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 264 (In-Text, Margin)

... the act of flight, but with full leisure. For, bound as he was, and fixed between the two soldiers, he never would have found sufficient time to unbind the chains also, and especially as he too, like Paul, was in the inner ward. Thus then was the punishment of the keepers owing to the unrighteousness of the judge. For why did not the Jews act in the same way? For now again I am reminded of yet another prison. The first was that at Rome, next, was this at Cæsarea, now we come to that at Jerusalem.[Acts 5:19] When then the chief Priests and the Pharisees heard from those whom they had sent to the prison to bring Peter out, that “they found no man within,” but both doors “closed,” and “the keepers standing at the doors,” why was it that they not only did ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 517, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. (HTML)

Homilies on 2 Timothy. (HTML)

2 Timothy 4:9-13 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1441 (In-Text, Margin)

... delivered from disease, another from the possession of devils: bind this man, and loose that.” This was done by them on earth, but it was fulfilled as in Heaven. For, “whatever ye shall bind on earth,” said He, “shall be bound in Heaven.” (Matt. xviii. 18.) And greater power than His own did He give them. And that I lie not, appears from His own words. “He that believeth in Me, greater works shall he do than these which I do.” (John xiv. 12.) Why so? Because this honor is reflected upon the Master.[Acts 5:4] As in our own affairs, if the servant has great power, the master is the more admired, for if the servant is so powerful, much more is he who commands him. But if any man, neglecting his master’s service thinks only of his wife, his son, or his ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 88, footnote 7 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

The Time of his Appearance among Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 77 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Flavius Josephus, the most celebrated of Hebrew historians, also mentions this census,[Acts 5:37] which was taken during Cyrenius’ term of office. In the same connection he gives an account of the uprising of the Galileans, which took place at that time, of which also Luke, among our writers, has made mention in the Acts, in the following words: “After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away a multitude after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 89, footnote 2 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

The Time of his Appearance among Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 79 (In-Text, Margin)

... Josephus, the most celebrated of Hebrew historians, also mentions this census, which was taken during Cyrenius’ term of office. In the same connection he gives an account of the uprising of the Galileans, which took place at that time, of which also Luke, among our writers, has made mention in the Acts, in the following words: “After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away a multitude after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.”[Acts 5:37]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 89, footnote 5 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

The Time of his Appearance among Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 82 (In-Text, Margin)

5. And after a little he says: “But Judas,[Acts 5:37] a Gaulonite, from a city called Gamala, taking with him Sadduchus, a Pharisee, urged the people to revolt, both of them saying that the taxation meant nothing else than downright slavery, and exhorting the nation to defend their liberty.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 112, footnote 8 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

The Impostor Theudas and his Followers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 348 (In-Text, Margin)

1., in the Acts, introduces Gamaliel as saying, at the consultation which was held concerning the apostles, that at the time referred to, “rose up Theudas boasting himself to be somebody; who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered.”[Acts 5:36] Let us therefore add the account of Josephus concerning this man. He records in the work mentioned just above, the following circumstances:

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 242, footnote 14 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book V (HTML)

The Disagreement in Asia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1704 (In-Text, Margin)

7. I, therefore, brethren, who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren throughout the world, and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not affrighted by terrifying words. For those greater than I have said ‘We ought to obey God rather than man.’”[Acts 5:29]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 300, footnote 1 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book VII (HTML)

The Events which happened at this Time to Dionysius and those in Egypt. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2236 (In-Text, Margin)

5. But I answered him, neither unsuitably nor in many words: ‘We must obey God rather than men.’[Acts 5:29] And I testified openly that I worshiped the one only God, and no other; and that I would not turn from this nor would I ever cease to be a Christian. Thereupon he commanded us to go to a village near the desert, called Cephro.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 275, footnote 8 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)

To Anatolius the Patrician. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1754 (In-Text, Margin)

... building bridges, and making further provision for public objects. But if any persons take it ill that I mourn over the ruin of the churches of Phœnicia, be it known to your lordship that it is impossible for me not to grieve when I see the horn of the Jews exalted on high and the Christians in tears and sorrow, though they send them to the very ends of the earth. We cannot fight against the apostolic decrees, for we remember the word of the Apostle which says, “We ought to obey God rather than men,”[Acts 5:29] and more terrible to us than any of the pains of this life is the “judgment seat of Christ” the Lord, before whom we shall all stand to render an account of our words and of our deeds. On account of that judgment seat the hardships of this present ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 152, footnote 3 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Conduct of the Arians towards the Nicene Council. Ignorant as well as irreligious to attempt to reverse an Ecumenical Council: proceedings at Nicæa: Eusebians then signed what they now complain of: on the unanimity of true teachers and the process of tradition: changes of the Arians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 764 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Now it happened to Eusebius and his fellows in the Nicene Council as follows:—while they stood out in their irreligion, and attempted their fight against God[Acts 5:39], the terms they used were replete with irreligion; but the assembled Bishops who were three hundred more or less, mildly and charitably required of them to explain and defend themselves on religious grounds. Scarcely, however, did they begin to speak, when they were condemned, and one differed from another; then perceiving the straits in which their heresy lay, they remained dumb, and by their silence confessed the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 397, footnote 7 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse III (HTML)
Texts Explained; Eighthly, John xvii. 3. and the Like. Our Lord's divinity cannot interfere with His Father's prerogatives, as the One God, which were so earnestly upheld by the Son. 'One' is used in contrast to false gods and idols, not to the Son, through whom the Father spoke. Our Lord adds His Name to the Father's, as included in Him. The Father the First, not as if the Son were not First too, but as Origin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2846 (In-Text, Margin)

7. Now that this is the sense of the Prophet is clear and manifest to all; but since the irreligious men, alleging such passages also, dishonour the Lord and reproach us, saying, ‘Behold God is said to be One and Only and First; how say ye that the Son is God? for if He were God, He had not said, “I Alone,” nor “God is One;”’ it is necessary to declare the sense of these phrases in addition, as far as we can, that all may know from this also that the Arians are really contending with God[Acts 5:39]. If there then is rivalry of the Son towards the Father, then be such words uttered against Him; and if according to what is said to David concerning Adonijah and Absalom, so also the Father looks upon the Son, then let Him utter and urge such words ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 424, footnote 12 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse III (HTML)
Texts Explained; Twelfthly, Matthew xxvi. 39; John xii. 27, &c. Arian inferences are against the Regula Fidei, as before. He wept and the like, as man. Other texts prove Him God. God could not fear. He feared because His flesh feared. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3195 (In-Text, Margin)

... of this flesh He combined His own will with human weakness, that destroying this affection He might in turn make man undaunted in face of death. Behold then a thing strange indeed! He to whom Christ’s enemies impute words of terror, He by that so-called tenor renders men undaunted and fearless. And so the Blessed Apostles after Him from such words of His conceived so great a contempt of death, as not even to care for those who questioned them, but to answer, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men[Acts 5:29].’ And the other Holy Martyrs were so bold, as to think that they were rather passing to life than undergoing death. Is it not extravagant then, to admire the courage of the servants of the Word, yet to say that the Word Himself was in terror, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 425, footnote 9 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse III (HTML)
Objections continued, as in Chapters vii.--x. Whether the Son is begotten of the Father's will? This virtually the same as whether once He was not? and used by the Arians to introduce the latter question. The Regula Fidei answers it at once in the negative by contrary texts. The Arians follow the Valentinians in maintaining a precedent will; which really is only exercised by God towards creatures. Instances from Scripture. Inconsistency of Asterius. If the Son by will, there must be another Word before Him. If God is good, or exist, by His will, then is the Son by His will. If He willed to have reason or wisdom, then is His Word and Wisdom at His will. The Son is the Living Will, and has all titles which denote connaturality. That will whic (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3205 (In-Text, Margin)

58. (continued). But, as it seems, a heretic is a wicked thing in truth, and in every respect his heart is depraved and irreligious. For behold, though convicted on all points, and shewn to be utterly bereft of understanding, they feel no shame; but as the hydra of Gentile fable, when its former serpents were destroyed, gave birth to fresh ones, contending against the slayer of the old by the production of new, so also they, hostile[Acts 5:39] and hateful to God, as hydras, losing their life in the objections which they advance, invent for themselves other questions Judaic and foolish, and new expedients, as if Truth were their enemy, thereby to shew the rather that they are Christ’s opponents in all things.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 15, footnote 15 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Heliodorus, Monk. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 203 (In-Text, Margin)

... to pouring libations of wine out of a cup into a bowl. Covetousness is idolatry, or else the selling of the Lord for thirty pieces of silver was a righteous act. Lust involves profanation, or else men may defile with common harlots those members of Christ which should be “a living sacrifice acceptable to God.” Fraud is idolatry, or else they are worthy of imitation who, in the Acts of the Apostles, sold their inheritance, and because they kept back part of the price, perished by an instant doom.[Acts 5] Consider well, my brother; nothing is yours to keep. “Whosoever he be of you,” the Lord says, “that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” Why are you such a half-hearted Christian?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 102, footnote 7 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Paulinus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1534 (In-Text, Margin)

... his goods because he despises them and means to renounce the world can have no desire to sell them dear. Count as money gained the sum that you must expend upon your outfit. There is an old saying that a miser lacks as much what he has as what he has not. The believer has a whole world of wealth; the unbeliever has not a single farthing. Let us always live “as having nothing and yet possessing all things.” Food and raiment, these are the Christian’s wealth. If your property is in your own power,[Acts 5:4] sell it: if not, cast it from you. “If any man…will take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” You are all for delay, you wish to defer action: unless—so you argue—unless I sell my goods piecemeal and with caution, Christ will be at a loss to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 137, footnote 12 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Pammachius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1954 (In-Text, Margin)

... For, to quote the apostle, “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” If thou wilt be perfect. There is no compulsion laid upon you: if you are to win the prize it must be by the exercise of your own free will. If therefore you will to be perfect and desire to be as the prophets, as the apostles, as Christ Himself, sell not a part of your substance (lest the fear of want become an occasion of unfaithfulness, and so you perish with Ananias and Sapphira[Acts 5]) but all that you have. And when you have sold all, give the proceeds not to the wealthy or to the high-minded but to the poor. Give each man enough for his immediate need but do not give money to swell what a man has already. “Thou shalt not muzzle ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 180, footnote 1 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Pammachius and Oceanus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2593 (In-Text, Margin)

... castrated himself with a knife. Covetousness he trampled under foot. He knew the scriptures by heart and laboured hard day and night to explain their meaning. He delivered in church more than a thousand sermons, and published innumerable commentaries which he called tomes. These I now pass over, for it is not my purpose to catalogue his writings. Which of us can read all that he has written? and who can fail to ad mire his enthusiasm for the scriptures? If some one in the spirit of Judas the Zealot[Acts 5:37] brings up to me his mistakes, he shall have his answer in the words of Horace:

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 183, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Theophilus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2623 (In-Text, Margin)

... the quibbles employed by the heretics. I hold it due to the special providence of God that you should have written to the pope Anastasius at the same time as myself, and should thus without knowing it have been the means of confirming my testimony. Now that you have directly urged me to do so, I shall shew myself more zealous than ever to recall from their error simple souls both near and far. Nor shall I hesitate, if needful, to incur odium with some, for we ought to please God rather than men:[Acts 5:29] although indeed they have been much more forward to defend their heresy than I and others have been to attack it. At the same time I beg that if you have any synodical decrees bearing upon the subject you will forward them to me, that, strengthened ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 213, footnote 12 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Riparius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3035 (In-Text, Margin)

3. You may perhaps in your secret thoughts find fault with me for thus assailing a man behind his back. I will frankly admit that my indignation overpowers me; I cannot listen with patience to such sacrilegious opinions. I have read of the javelin of Phinehas, of the harshness of Elijah, of the jealous anger of Simon the zealot, of the severity of Peter in putting to death Ananias and Sapphira,[Acts 5:1-10] and of the firmness of Paul who, when Elymas the sorcerer withstood the ways of the Lord, doomed him to lifelong blindness. There is no cruelty in regard for God’s honour. Wherefore also in the Law it is said: “If thy brother or thy friend or the wife of thy bosom entice thee from the truth, thine ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 222, footnote 4 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Julian. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3089 (In-Text, Margin)

... hard to enter the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom which desires for its citizens souls that soar aloft free from all ties and hindrances. “Go thy way,” the Lord says, “and sell” not a part of thy substance but “all that thou hast, and give to the poor;” not to thy friends or kinsfolk or relatives, not to thy wife or to thy children. I will even go farther and say: keep back nothing for yourself because you fear to be some day poor, lest by so doing you share the condemnation of Ananias and Sapphira;[Acts 5:1-10] but give everything to the poor and make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Obey the Master’s injunction “follow me,” and take the Lord of the world for your possession; that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 268, footnote 9 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Demetrius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3740 (In-Text, Margin)

... Ananias and Sapphira proved timid stewards, and what is more, deceitful ones; therefore they brought on themselves condemnation. For having made a vow they offered their money to God as if it were their own and not His to whom they had vowed it; and keeping back for their own use a part of that which belonged to another, through fear of famine which true faith never fears, they drew down on themselves suddenly the avenging stroke, which was meant not in cruelty towards them but as a warning to others.[Acts 5:1-10] In fact the apostle Peter by no means called down death upon them as Porphyry foolishly says. He merely announced God’s judgment by the spirit of prophecy, that the doom of two persons might be a lesson to many. From the time of your dedication to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 63, footnote 9 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Clause, and in One Lord Jesus Christ, with a Reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1226 (In-Text, Margin)

... gates of heaven bear witness [having received their Lord], concerning which the Psalmist said, Lift up your doors, O ye Princes, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. His former enemies bear witness, of whom the blessed Paul is one, having been a little while His enemy, but for a long time His servant: the Twelve Apostles are His witnesses, having preached the truth not only in words, but also by their own torments and deaths: the shadow of Peter[Acts 5:15] bears witness, having healed the sick in the name of Christ. The handkerchiefs and aprons bear witness, as in like manner by Christ’s power they wrought cures of old through Paul. Persians and Goths, and all the Gentile converts bear witness, by ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 119, 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 2024 (In-Text, Margin)

17. Peter was not with Ananias and Sapphira when they sold their possessions, but he was present by the Spirit; Why, he says, hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost[Acts 5:3]? There was no accuser; there was no witness; whence knew he what had happened? Whiles it remained was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? The unlettered2026

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 120, footnote 1 (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 2028 (In-Text, Margin)

... the grace of the Spirit, learnt what not even the wise men of the Greeks had known. Thou hast the like in the case also of Elisseus. For when he had freely healed the leprosy of Naaman, Gehazi received the reward, the reward of another’s achievement; and he took the money from Naaman, and bestowed it in a dark place. But the darkness is not hidden from the Saints. And when he came, Elisseus asked him; and like Peter, when he said, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much[Acts 5:8]? he also enquires, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? Not in ignorance, but in sorrow ask I whence comest thou? From darkness art thou come, and to darkness shalt thou go; thou hast sold the cure of the leper, and the leprosy is thy heritage. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 125, footnote 8 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

Continuation of the Discourse on the Holy Ghost. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2115 (In-Text, Margin)

... God, they are the sons of God. He is called also the Spirit of the Father, as the Saviour says, For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you; and again Paul saith, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, and the rest;… that He would grant you to be strengthened by His Spirit. He is also called the Spirit of the Lord, according to that which Peter spake, Why is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord[Acts 5:9]? He is called also the Spirit of God and Christ, as Paul writes, But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.  But if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. He is called also ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 129, footnote 13 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

Continuation of the Discourse on the Holy Ghost. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2185 (In-Text, Margin)

22. And by the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people[Acts 5:12]. And so great was the spiritual grace shed around the Apostles, that gentle as they were, they were the objects of dread; for of the rest durst no man join himself to them; but the people magnified them; and multitudes were added of those who believed on the Lord, both of men and women; and the streets were filled with the sick on their beds and couches, that as Peter passed by, at least his shadow might overshadow some of them. And ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 130, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

Continuation of the Discourse on the Holy Ghost. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2188 (In-Text, Margin)

... Twelve Apostles had been cast into prison by the chief priests for preaching Christ, and had been marvellously delivered from it at night by an Angel, and were brought before them in the judgment hall from the Temple, they fearlessly rebuked them in their discourse to them concerning Christ, and added this, that God hath also given His Holy Spirit to them that obey Him. And when they had been scourged, they went their way rejoicing, and ceased not to teach and preach Jesus as the Christ[Acts 5:42].

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 277, footnote 6 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3361 (In-Text, Margin)

... the public anger and excitement: and thereupon, our champion was restored from his illustrious banishment, for so I term his exile on behalf of, and under the blessing of, the Trinity, amid such delight of the people of the city and of almost all Egypt, that they ran together from every side, from the furthest limits of the country, simply to hear the voice of Athanasius, or feast their eyes upon the sight of him, nay even, as we are told of the Apostles, that they might be hallowed by the shadow[Acts 5:15] and unsubstantial image of his body: so that, many as are the honours, and welcomes bestowed on frequent occasions in the course of time upon various individuals, not only upon public rulers and bishops, but also upon the most illustrious of private ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 327, footnote 11 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

The Fifth Theological Oration. On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3750 (In-Text, Margin)

XXX. They who say and teach these things, and moreover call Him another Paraclete in the sense of another God, who know that blasphemy against Him alone cannot be forgiven, and who branded with such fearful infamy Ananias and Sapphira for having lied to the Holy Ghost, what do you think of these men?[Acts 5:3] Do they proclaim the Spirit God, or something else? Now really, you must be extraordinarily dull and far from the Spirit if you have any doubt about this and need some one to teach you. So important then, and so vivid are His Names. Why is it necessary to lay before you the testimony contained in the very words? And whatever in this case also is ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 421, footnote 12 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4585 (In-Text, Margin)

80. The saint was being carried out, lifted high by the hands of holy men, and everyone was eager, some to seize the hem of his garment, others only just to touch the shadow,[Acts 5:15] or the bier which bore his holy remains (for what could be more holy or pure than that body), others to draw near to those who were carrying it, others only to enjoy the sight, as if even this were beneficial. Market places, porticos, houses of two or three stories were filled with people escorting, preceding, following, accompanying him, and trampling upon each other; tens of thousands of every race and age, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 16, footnote 4 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Against those who say that it is not right to rank the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 925 (In-Text, Margin)

It is not permissible, they assert, for the Holy Spirit to be ranked with the Father and Son, on account of the difference of His nature and the inferiority of His dignity. Against them it is right to reply in the words of the apostles, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”[Acts 5:29]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 23, footnote 3 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

That the Holy Spirit is in every conception inseparable from the Father and the Son, alike in the creation of perceptible objects, in the dispensation of human affairs, and in the judgment to come. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1031 (In-Text, Margin)

... is in you of a truth.” If then God is known to be in the prophets by the prophesying that is acting according to the distribution of the gifts of the Spirit, let our adversaries consider what kind of place they will attribute to the Holy Spirit. Let them say whether it is more proper to rank Him with God or to thrust Him forth to the place of the creature. Peter’s words to Sapphira, “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Ye have not lied unto men, but unto God,”[Acts 5:4] show that sins against the Holy Spirit and against God are the same; and thus you might learn that in every operation the Spirit is closely conjoined with, and inseparable from, the Father and the Son. God works the differences of operations, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 23, footnote 3 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

That the Holy Spirit is in every conception inseparable from the Father and the Son, alike in the creation of perceptible objects, in the dispensation of human affairs, and in the judgment to come. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1031 (In-Text, Margin)

... is in you of a truth.” If then God is known to be in the prophets by the prophesying that is acting according to the distribution of the gifts of the Spirit, let our adversaries consider what kind of place they will attribute to the Holy Spirit. Let them say whether it is more proper to rank Him with God or to thrust Him forth to the place of the creature. Peter’s words to Sapphira, “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Ye have not lied unto men, but unto God,”[Acts 5:9] show that sins against the Holy Spirit and against God are the same; and thus you might learn that in every operation the Spirit is closely conjoined with, and inseparable from, the Father and the Son. God works the differences of operations, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 281, footnote 4 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To the Presbyters of Nicopolis. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3025 (In-Text, Margin)

... you are children of martyrs; you have resisted sin unto blood. Use, each one of you, the examples of those near and dear to you to make you brave for true religion’s sake. No one of us has been torn by lashes; no one of us has suffered confiscation of his house; we have not been driven into exile; we have not suffered imprisonment. What great suffering have we undergone, unless peradventure it is grievous that we have suffered nothing, and have not been reckoned worthy of the sufferings of Christ?[Acts 5:41] But if you are grieved because one whom I need not name occupies the house of prayer, and you worship the Lord of heaven and earth in the open air, remember that the eleven disciples were shut up in the upper chamber, when they that had crucified ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 25, footnote 5 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XXX. On kindness and its several parts, namely, good-will and liberality. How they are to be combined. What else is further needed for any one to show liberality in a praiseworthy manner. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 217 (In-Text, Margin)

146. The first thing necessary is to do kindness in good faith, and not to act falsely when the offering is made. Never let us say we are doing more, when we are really doing less. What need is there to speak at all? In a promise a cheat lies hid. It is in our power to give what we like. Cheating shatters the foundation, and so destroys the work. Did Peter grow angry only so far as to desire that Ananias and his wife should be slain?[Acts 5:11] Certainly not. He wished that others, through knowing their example, should not perish.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 67, footnote 14 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter I. We are taught by David and Solomon how to take counsel with our own heart. Scipio is not to be accounted prime author of the saying which is ascribed to him. The writer proves what glorious things the holy prophets accomplished in their time of quiet, and shows, by examples of their and others' leisure moments, that a just man is never alone in trouble. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 585 (In-Text, Margin)

3. The apostles passed by and their shadows cured the sick.[Acts 5:15-16] Their garments were touched and health was granted.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 79, footnote 5 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter XI. Having adduced examples of certain frauds found in a few passages of the rhetoricians, he shows that these and all others are more fully and plainly condemned in Scripture. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 673 (In-Text, Margin)

74. What is clearer, however, on this point than the case of Ananias? He acted falsely as regards the price he got for his land, for he sold it and laid at the apostles’ feet part of the price, pretending it was the whole amount.[Acts 5:2] For this he perished as guilty of fraud. He might have offered nothing and have acted so without committing a fraud. But as deceit entered into his action, he gained no favour for his liberality, but paid the penalty for his artifice.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 101, footnote 7 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter IV. The Holy Spirit is one and the same Who spake in the prophets and apostles, Who is the Spirit of God and of Christ; Whom, further, Scripture designates the Paraclete, and the Spirit of life and truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 865 (In-Text, Margin)

59. Receive now the saying of the Lord, that the same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of Truth, for you read in the end of this book: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” And Peter teaches that the same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of the Lord, when he says: “Ananias, why has it seemed good to thee to tempt and to lie to the Holy Spirit?”[Acts 5:3] And immediately after he says again to the wife of Ananias: “Why has it seemed good to you to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?” When he says “to you,” he shows that he is speaking of the same Spirit of Whom he had spoken to Ananias. He Himself is, then, the Spirit of the Lord Who is the Holy Spirit.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 101, footnote 8 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter IV. The Holy Spirit is one and the same Who spake in the prophets and apostles, Who is the Spirit of God and of Christ; Whom, further, Scripture designates the Paraclete, and the Spirit of life and truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 866 (In-Text, Margin)

59. Receive now the saying of the Lord, that the same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of Truth, for you read in the end of this book: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” And Peter teaches that the same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of the Lord, when he says: “Ananias, why has it seemed good to thee to tempt and to lie to the Holy Spirit?” And immediately after he says again to the wife of Ananias: “Why has it seemed good to you to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”[Acts 5:9] When he says “to you,” he shows that he is speaking of the same Spirit of Whom he had spoken to Ananias. He Himself is, then, the Spirit of the Lord Who is the Holy Spirit.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 142, footnote 4 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter IX. That the Holy Spirit is provoked is proved by the words of St. Peter, in which it is shown that the Spirit of God is one and the same as the Spirit of the Lord, both by other passages and by reference to the sentence of the same Apostle on Ananias and Sapphira, whence it is argued that the union of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, as well as His own Godhead, is proved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1298 (In-Text, Margin)

54. Perhaps, however, some one might say that this passage cannot be specially applied to the Holy Spirit, had not the same Apostle Peter taught us in another place that the Holy Ghost can be tempted by our sins, for you find that the wife of Ananias is thus addressed: “Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”[Acts 5:9] For the Spirit of the Lord is the very Spirit of God; for there is one Holy Spirit, as also the Apostle Paul taught, saying: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” He first mentioned the Spirit of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 143, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter IX. That the Holy Spirit is provoked is proved by the words of St. Peter, in which it is shown that the Spirit of God is one and the same as the Spirit of the Lord, both by other passages and by reference to the sentence of the same Apostle on Ananias and Sapphira, whence it is argued that the union of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, as well as His own Godhead, is proved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1303 (In-Text, Margin)

56. But Peter himself in the instance we have brought forward spoke first of the Holy Spirit, and then called Him the Spirit of the Lord, for you read as follows: “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to deal fraudulently concerning the price of the field? While it remained did it not continue thine own, and when sold was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this wickedness in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God.”[Acts 5:3-4] And below he says to the wife: “Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 143, footnote 3 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter IX. That the Holy Spirit is provoked is proved by the words of St. Peter, in which it is shown that the Spirit of God is one and the same as the Spirit of the Lord, both by other passages and by reference to the sentence of the same Apostle on Ananias and Sapphira, whence it is argued that the union of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, as well as His own Godhead, is proved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1304 (In-Text, Margin)

... first of the Holy Spirit, and then called Him the Spirit of the Lord, for you read as follows: “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to deal fraudulently concerning the price of the field? While it remained did it not continue thine own, and when sold was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this wickedness in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God.” And below he says to the wife: “Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”[Acts 5:5]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 356, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Concerning Repentance. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Chapter IX. In what way faith is necessary for repentance. Means for paying our debts, in which work, prayer, tears, and fasting are of more value than money. Some instances are adduced, and St. Ambrose declares that generosity is profitable, but only when joined with faith; it is, moreover, liable to certain defects. He goes on to speak of some defects in repentance, such as too great haste in seeking reconciliation, considering abstinence from sacraments all that is needed, of committing sin in hope of repenting later. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3136 (In-Text, Margin)

82. Ananias was poor, when after selling his land he brought the money to the apostles, and was not able with it to pay his debt, but involved himself the more.[Acts 5:1-2] That widow was rich who cast her two small pieces into the treasury, of whom Christ said: “This poor widow hath cast in more than they all.” For God requires not money but faith.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 256, footnote 1 (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 VII. Of the Spirit of Covetousness. (HTML)
Chapter XXV. Of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, and Judas, which they underwent through the impulse of covetousness. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 904 (In-Text, Margin)

... the chief of the apostles, taught by these instances, and knowing that one who has any avarice cannot bridle it, and that it cannot be put an end to by a large or small sum of money, but only by the virtue of renunciation of everything, punished with death Ananias and Sapphira, who were mentioned before, because they had kept back something out of their property, that that death which Judas had voluntarily met with for the sin of betraying the Lord, they might also undergo for their lying avarice.[Acts 5] How closely do the sin and punishment correspond in each case! In the one case treachery, in the other falsehood, was the result of covetousness. In the one case the truth is betrayed, in the other the sin of lying is committed. For though the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 304, footnote 11 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)

Conference I. First Conference of Abbot Moses. (HTML)
Chapter XIX. Of the three origins of our thoughts. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1141 (In-Text, Margin)

... to destroy us either by the pleasures of sin or by secret attacks, in his crafty wiles deceitfully showing us evil as good, and transforming himself into an angel of light to us: as when the evangelist tells us: “And when supper was ended, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray” the Lord: and again also “after the sop,” he says, “Satan entered into him.” Peter also says to Ananias: “Why hath Satan tempted thine heart, to lie to the Holy Ghost?”[Acts 5:3] And that which we read in the gospel much earlier as predicted by Ecclesiastes: “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place.” That too which is said to God against Ahab in the third book of Kings, in the character of an ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs