Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

1 Corinthians 7:31

There are 29 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 465, footnote 9 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter III.—Answer to the cavils of the Gnostics. We are not to suppose that the true God can be changed, or come to an end because the heavens, which are His throne and the earth, His footstool, shall pass away. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3830 (In-Text, Margin)

... therefore He cannot be the God who is over all; in the first place, they are ignorant what the expression means, that heaven is [His] throne and earth [His] footstool. For they do not know what God is, but they imagine that He sits after the fashion of a man, and is contained within bounds, but does not contain. And they are also unacquainted with [the meaning of] the passing away of the heaven and earth; but Paul was not ignorant of it when he declared, “For the figure of this world passeth away.”[1 Corinthians 7:31] In the next place, David explains their question, for he says that when the fashion of this world passes away, not only shall God remain, but His servants also, expressing himself thus in the 101st Psalm: “In the beginning, Thou, O

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 566, footnote 10 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)

Chapter XXXV.—He contends that these testimonies already alleged cannot be understood allegorically of celestial blessings, but that they shall have their fulfilment after the coming of Antichrist, and the resurrection, in the terrestrial Jerusalem. To the former prophecies he subjoins others drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse of John. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4780 (In-Text, Margin)

... He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things have passed away.” Isaiah also declares the very same: “For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and there shall be no remembrance of the former, neither shall the heart think about them, but they shall find in it joy and exultation.” Now this is what has been said by the apostle: “For the fashion of this world passeth away.”[1 Corinthians 7:31] To the same purpose did the Lord also declare, “Heaven and earth shall pass away.” When these things, therefore, pass away above the earth, John, the Lord’s disciple, says that the new Jerusalem above shall [then] descend, as a bride adorned for her ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 566, footnote 14 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)

Chapter XXXVI.—Men shall be actually raised: the world shall not be annihilated; but there shall be various mansions for the saints, according to the rank allotted to each individual. All things shall be subject to God the Father, and so shall He be all in all. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4784 (In-Text, Margin)

1. For since there are real men, so must there also be a real establishment (plantationem), that they vanish not away among non-existent things, but progress among those which have an actual existence. For neither is the substance nor the essence of the creation annihilated (for faithful and true is He who has established it), but “the fashion of the world passeth away;”[1 Corinthians 7:31] that is, those things among which transgression has occurred, since man has grown old in them. And therefore this [present] fashion has been formed temporary, God foreknowing all things; as I have pointed out in the preceding book, and have also shown, as far as was possible, the cause of the creation of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 33, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)

Book Third.—Similitudes (HTML)

Similitude Fourth. As in Summer Living Trees are Distinguished from Withered by Fruit and Living Leaves, So in the World to Come the Just Differ from the Unjust in Happiness. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 262 (In-Text, Margin)

... wood, and [so] made manifest, because their actions were evil during their lives. For the sinners shall be consumed because they sinned and did not repent, and the heathen shall be burned because they knew not Him who created them. Do you therefore bear fruit, that in that summer your fruit may be known. And refrain from much business, and you will never sin: for they who are occupied with much business commit also many sins, being distracted about their affairs, and not at all serving their Lord.[1 Corinthians 7:30-35] How, then,” he continued, “can such a one ask and obtain anything from the Lord, if he serve Him not? They who serve Him shall obtain their requests, but they who serve Him not shall receive nothing. And in the performance even of a single action a ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 66, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

On Idolatry. (HTML)

Professions of Some Kinds Allied to Idolatry. Of Astrology in Particular. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 221 (In-Text, Margin)

... of this age? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this age?” You know nothing, astrologer, if you know not that you should be a Christian. If you did know it, you ought to have known this also, that you should have nothing more to do with that profession of yours which, of itself, fore-chants the climacterics of others, and might instruct you of its own danger. There is no part nor lot for you in that system of yours. He cannot hope for the kingdom of the heavens, whose finger or wand abuses[1 Corinthians 7:31] the heaven.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 549, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)

Some Considerations in Reply Eulogistic of the Flesh. It Was Created by God. The Body of Man Was, in Fact, Previous to His Soul. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7316 (In-Text, Margin)

... flesh is equally the work of God. There is no work but belongs to Him who has permitted it to exist. It is indeed a happy circumstance, that most of their doctrines, including even the harshest, accord to our God the entire formation of man. How mighty He is, you know full well who believe that He is the only God. Let, then, the flesh begin to give you pleasure, since the Creator thereof is so great. But, you say, even the world is the work of God, and yet “the fashion of this world passeth away,”[1 Corinthians 7:31] as the apostle himself testifies; nor must it be predetermined that the world will be restored, simply because it is the work of God. And surely if the universe, after its ruin, is not to be formed again, why should a portion of it be? You are ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 23, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)

II (HTML)
Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned.  Arguments Drawn from I Cor. VII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 218 (In-Text, Margin)

... necessity, you give the rein without stint to the indulgence of licence. For how will you be able to fulfil (the requirements of) humility, which our (school) profess, if you do not keep within bounds the enjoyment of your riches and elegancies, which tend so much to “glory?” Now it has ever been the wont of glory to exalt, not to humble. “Why, shall we not use what is our own?” Who prohibits your using it? Yet (it must be) in accordance with the apostle, who warns us “to use this world[1 Corinthians 7:31] as if we abuse it not; for the fashion of this world is passing away.” And “they who buy are so to act as if they possessed not.” Why so? Because he had laid down the premiss, saying, “The time is wound up.” If, then he shows plainly that even wives ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 262, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
On the End or Consummation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2044 (In-Text, Margin)

... those things which are seen are temporal—whether because there will be nothing at all after them in all those periods of the coming world, in which that dispersion and separation from the one beginning is undergoing a process of restoration to one and the same end and likeness; or because, while the form of those things which are seen passes away, their essential nature is subject to no corruption. And Paul seems to confirm the latter view, when he says, “For the fashion of this world passeth away.”[1 Corinthians 7:31] David also appears to assert the same in the words, “The heavens shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; and they all shall wax old as a garment, and Thou shalt change them like a vesture, and like a vestment they shall be changed.” For if the heavens ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 273, footnote 9 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
On the Beginning of the World, and Its Causes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2090 (In-Text, Margin)

... class="Greek" lang="EL">᾽Αντίχθονες, and other parts of the earth, to which no one of our people can approach, nor can any one of those who are there cross over to us, which he also termed worlds, saying, “The ocean is impassable to men; and those are worlds which are on the other side of it, which are governed by these same arrangements of the ruling God.” That universe which is bounded by heaven and earth is also called a world, as Paul declares: “For the fashion of this world will pass away.”[1 Corinthians 7:31] Our Lord and Saviour also points out a certain other world besides this visible one, which it would indeed be difficult to describe and make known. He says, “I am not of this world.” For, as if He were of a certain other world, He says, “I am not of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 341, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
That the World Took Its Beginning in Time. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2651 (In-Text, Margin)

... word shall not pass away,” He points out that they are perishable, and must come to an end. The apostle, moreover, in declaring that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God,” manifestly announces the end of the world; as he does also when he again says, “The fashion of this world passeth away.”[1 Corinthians 7:31] Now, by the expression which he employs, “that the creature was made subject to vanity,” he shows that there was a beginning to this world: for if the creature were made subject to vanity on account of some hope, it was certainly made subject from a ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 433, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

On the Dress of Virgins. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3197 (In-Text, Margin)

... that you are wealthy and rich; but it becomes not a virgin to boast of her riches, since Holy Scripture says, “What hath pride profited us? or what benefit hath the vaunting of riches conferred upon us? And all these things have passed away like a shadow.” And the apostle again warns us, and says, “And they that buy, as though they bought not; and they that possess, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as though they used it not. For the fashion of this world passeth away.”[1 Corinthians 7:30-31] Peter also, to whom the Lord commends His sheep to be fed and guarded, on whom He placed and founded the Church, says indeed that he has no silver and gold, but says that he is rich in the grace of Christ—that he is wealthy in his faith and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 536, footnote 6 (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 he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4253 (In-Text, Margin)

... are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.” Also in the same place: “The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.”[1 Corinthians 7:29-31] Also in the same place: “The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 366, footnote 8 (Image)

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

Methodius. (HTML)

From the Discourse on the Resurrection. (HTML)

Part I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2867 (In-Text, Margin)

... earth shall pass away;” and the prophet, that “the heaven shall perish as smoke, and the earth shall grow old as a garment;” we answer, because it is usual for the Scriptures to call the change of the world from its present condition to a better and more glorious one, destruction; as its earlier form is lost in the change of all things to a state of greater splendour; for there is no contradiction nor absurdity in the Holy Scriptures. For not “the world” but the “fashion of this world” passeth away,[1 Corinthians 7:31] it is said; so it is usual for the Scriptures to call the change from an earlier form to a better and more comely state, destruction; just as when one calls by the name of destruction the change from a childish form into a perfect man, as the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 380, footnote 10 (Image)

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

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)

Chapter X.—Prayer After Communion (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2465 (In-Text, Margin)

... they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant. 4. Before all things we thank Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever. 5. Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in Thy love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. 6. Let grace come, and let this world pass away.[1 Corinthians 7:31] Hosanna to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent. Maran atha. Amen. 7. But permit the prophets to make Thanksgiving as much as they desire.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 474, footnote 7 (Image)

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

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

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

Book XIII. (HTML)
Relation of the Baptist to Elijah.  The Theory of Transmigration Considered. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5829 (In-Text, Margin)

... in it. In this place it does not appear to me that by Elijah the soul is spoken of, lest I should fall into the dogma of transmigration, which is foreign to the church of God, and not handed down by the Apostles, nor anywhere set forth in the Scriptures; for it is also in opposition to the saying that “things seen are temporal,” and that “this age shall have a consummation,” and also to the fulfilment of the saying, “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” and “the fashion of this world passeth away,”[1 Corinthians 7:31] and “the heavens shall perish,” and what follows. For if, by hypothesis, in the constitution of things which has existed from the beginning unto the end of the world, the same soul can be twice in the body, for what cause should it be in it? For if ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 434, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)

Of the Damnation of the Devil and His Adherents; And a Sketch of the Bodily Resurrection of All the Dead, and of the Final Retributive Judgment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1383 (In-Text, Margin)

... not happened then, i.e., before the living and the dead were judged; but he says that he saw Him sitting on the throne from whose face heaven and earth fled away, but afterwards. For when the judgment is finished, this heaven and earth shall cease to be, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. For this world shall pass away by transmutation, not by absolute destruction. And therefore the apostle says, “For the figure of this world passeth away. I would have you be without anxiety.”[1 Corinthians 7:31-32] The figure, therefore, passes away, not the nature. After John had said that he had seen One sitting on the throne from whose face heaven and earth fled, though not till afterwards, he said, “And I saw the dead, great and small: and the books were ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 444, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)

Passages from the Psalms of David Which Predict the End of the World and the Last Judgment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1441 (In-Text, Margin)

... gods, proclaims that the heavens are to perish, how is he so infatuated as to detest the faith of the Christians partly, if not chiefly, on this account, that they believe the world is to perish?—though how the heavens are to perish if the world does not is not easy to see. And, indeed, in the sacred writings which are peculiar to ourselves, and not common to the Hebrews and us,—I mean the evangelic and apostolic books,—the following expressions are used: “The figure of this world passeth away;”[1 Corinthians 7:31] “The world passeth away;” “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” —expressions which are, I fancy, somewhat milder than “They shall perish.” In the Epistle of the Apostle Peter, too, where the world which then was is said to have perished, being ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 62, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)

Marriage and Property Allowed to the Baptized by the Apostles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 155 (In-Text, Margin)

... easily, and will present themselves to the inquirer. Why do you look so exclusively at the dross? Why do you use the roughness of the hedge to scare away the inexperienced from the fatness of the garden? There is a proper entrance, though known to but a few; and by it men come in, though you disbelieve it, or do not wish to find it. In the Catholic Church there are believers without number who do not use the world, and there are those who "use it," in the words of the apostle, "as not using it,"[1 Corinthians 7:31] as was proved in those times when Christians were forced to worship idols. For then, how many wealthy men, how many peasant householders, how many merchants, how many military men, how many leading men in their own cities, and how many senators, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 270, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

On Marriage and Concupiscence. (HTML)

On Marriage and Concupiscence (HTML)

The Teaching of the Apostle on This Subject. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2111 (In-Text, Margin)

Accordingly the apostle also, speaking apparently with this passage in view, declares: “But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it re maineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had them not; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as though they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would have you without solicitude.”[1 Corinthians 7:29-31] This entire passage (that I may express my view on this subject in the shape of a brief exposition of the apostle’s words) I think must be understood as follows: “This I say, brethren, the time is short.” No longer is God’s people to be propagated ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 479, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Again in John v. 2, etc., on the five porches, where lay a great multitude of impotent folk, and of the pool of Siloa. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3717 (In-Text, Margin)

... let him hold, not be held; let him be the lord of his possessions, not the slave; as saith the Apostle “However, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that both they that have wives, be as though they had not; and they who buy, as though they possessed not; and they who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they who weep, as though they wept not; and they who use this world, as though they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away. I would have you be without carefulness.”[1 Corinthians 7:29-32] What is, “Do not love what thou dost possess in this world”? Let it not hold thine hand fast, by which God must be held. Let not thy love be engaged, whereby thou canst make thy way to God, and cleave to Him who created thee.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 394, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXXI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3823 (In-Text, Margin)

... stubble, on the foundation, do not perish, but “are saved, yet so as by fire”? An obscure question indeed that, but as I am able I tell you briefly. Brethren, there are men altogether despisers of this world, to whom nothing is pleasant that flows in the course of time, they cling not by love to any earthly works, holy, chaste, continent, just, perchance even selling all their goods and distributing to the poor, or “possessing as though they possessed not, and using this world as though not using it.”[1 Corinthians 7:30-31] But there are others who cling to things allowed to infirmity with a degree of affection. He robs not another of his estate, but so loves his own, that if he loses it he will be disturbed. He does not covet another’s wife, but so clings to his own, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 474, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XCVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4448 (In-Text, Margin)

... give suck.” For example: one wisheth to buy a country seat; he is with child, for his object is not gained as yet, the womb swelleth in hope: he buyeth it; he hath brought forth, he now giveth suck to what he hath bought. “Woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days!” Woe to those who put their hope in the world; woe to them that cling to those things which they brought forth through hope in the world. What then should the Christian do? He should use, not serve, the world.[1 Corinthians 7:29-32] What is this? Those that have as those that have not.…He who is without carefulness, waiteth without fear for his Lord’s coming. For what sort of love is it of Christ, to fear lest He come? Brethren, are we not ashamed? We love Him, and yet we fear ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 298, footnote 13 (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 Uranius Bishop of Emesa. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1921 (In-Text, Margin)

... of courage in its war against wrong; temperance vanquishes intemperance by the aid of courage. And for this reason the God of all said to the prophet “The just shall live by his faith, and if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Shrinking he calls cowardice. Hold fast then, my dear friend, to the apostolic doctrines, for “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,” and “He shall render to every man according to his deeds,” for “the fashion of this world passeth away,”[1 Corinthians 7:31] and the truth shall be made manifest.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 216, footnote 13 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2677 (In-Text, Margin)

54. What of the laboriousness of his teaching? The manifold character of his ministry? His loving kindness? And on the other hand his strictness? And the combination and blending of the two; in such wise that his gentleness should not enervate, nor his severity exasperate? He gives laws for slaves and masters, rulers and ruled, husbands and wives, parents and children, marriage and celibacy,[1 Corinthians 7:31] self-discipline and indulgence, wisdom and ignorance, circumcision and uncircumcision, Christ and the world, the flesh and the spirit. On behalf of some he gives thanks, others he upbraids. Some he names his joy and crown, others he charges with folly. Some who hold a straight course he accompanies, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 53, footnote 6 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Hexæmeron. (HTML)

In the Beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1374 (In-Text, Margin)

... but we ought not on this account to believe it to be without a beginning. Although we are not sensible of it, it really begins at some point where the draughtsman has begun to draw it at a certain radius from the centre. Thus seeing that figures which move in a circle always return upon themselves, without for a single instant interrupting the regularity of their course, do not vainly imagine to yourselves that the world has neither beginning nor end. “For the fashion of this world passeth away”[1 Corinthians 7:31] and “Heaven and earth shall pass away.” The dogmas of the end, and of the renewing of the world, are announced beforehand in these short words put at the head of the inspired history. “In the beginning God made.” That which was begun in time is ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 214, footnote 2 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Diodorus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2534 (In-Text, Margin)

... to the husband. For as he shall not take his wife’s mother, nor yet his wife’s daughter, because he may not take his own mother nor his own daughter, so he may not take his wife’s sister, because he may not take his own sister. And, on the other hand, it will not be lawful for the wife to be joined with the husband’s kin, for the rights of relationship hold good on both sides. But, for my part, to every one who is thinking about marriage I testify that, “the fashion of this world passeth away,”[1 Corinthians 7:31] and the time is short: “it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none.” If he improperly quotes the charge “Increase and multiply,” I laugh at him, for not discerning the signs of the times. Second marriage is a remedy ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 193, footnote 7 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book X (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1167 (In-Text, Margin)

... Himself, but that it may pass away from Himself, though before it could pass away He must have drunk it. But, further, ‘to pass away’ does not mean merely ‘to leave the place,’ but ‘not to exist any more at all:’ which is shewn in the language of the Gospels and Epistles: for example, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not perish: also the Apostle says, Behold the old things are passed away; they are become new. And again, The fashion of this world shall pass away[1 Corinthians 7:31]. The cup, therefore, of which He prays to the Father, cannot pass away unless it be drunk; and when He prays, He prays for those whom He preserved, so long as He was with them, whom He now hands over to the Father to preserve. Now that He is about ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 160, footnote 8 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Sermons. (HTML)

On Lent, XI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 945 (In-Text, Margin)

... flesh? who is not begrimed by the dust? who, lastly, is of such purity as not to be polluted by those things without which one cannot live? For the Divine teaching commands by the Apostle’s mouth that “they who have wives” should “be as though they had none: and those that weep as though they wept not; and those that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy as though they possessed not; and those that use this world as though they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away[1 Corinthians 7:29-31].” Blessed, therefore, is the mind that passes the time of its pilgrimage in chaste sobriety, and loiters not in the things through which it has to walk, so that, as a stranger rather than the possessor of its earthly abode, it may not be wanting in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 200, footnote 8 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Fast of Seventh Month, V. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1205 (In-Text, Margin)

... our own land, all the good things of this world which meet us may be as aids on the way, not snares to detain us. Therefore the blessed Apostle makes this proclamation, “the time is short: it remains that those who have wives be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they wept not; and those who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those who buy, as though they possessed not; and those that use this world, as though they used it not. For the fashion of this world passes away[1 Corinthians 7:29-31].” But as the world attracts us with its appearance, and abundance and variety, it is not easy to turn away from it unless in the beauty of things visible the Creator rather than the creature is loved; for, when He says, “thou shalt love the

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