We, however, when we do abstain, do so because “we keep under our body, and bring it into subjection,”[1 Corinthians 9:27] and desire “to mortify our members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence;” and we use every effort to “mortify the deeds of the flesh.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 58, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Two Epistles Concerning Virginity. (HTML)

The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle. (HTML)

Continuation of the Subject of Mortification; Dignity of Persons Consecrated to God. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 372 (In-Text, Margin)

He in whomsoever the Spirit of God is, is in accord with the will of the Spirit of God; and, because he is in accord with the Spirit of God, therefore does he mortify the deeds of the body and live unto God, “treading down and subjugating the body and keeping it under; so that, while preaching to others,” he may be a beautiful example and pattern to believers, and may spend his life in works which are worthy of the Holy Spirit, so that he may “not be cast away,”[1 Corinthians 9:27] but may be approved before God and before men. For in “the man who is of God,” with him I say there is nothing of the mind of the flesh; and especially in virgins of either sex; but the fruits of all of them are “the fruits of the Spirit” and of life, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 154, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)

About to Speak of the Temptations of the Lust of the Flesh, He First Complains of the Lust of Eating and Drinking. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 890 (In-Text, Margin)

43. There is another evil of the day that I would were “sufficient” unto it. For by eating and drinking we repair the daily decays of the body, until Thou destroyest both food and stomach, when Thou shall destroy my want with an amazing satiety, and shalt clothe this corruptible with an eternal incorruption. But now is necessity sweet unto me, and against this sweetness do I fight, lest I be enthralled; and I carry on a daily war by fasting, oftentimes “bringing my body into subjection,”[1 Corinthians 9:27] and my pains are expelled by pleasure. For hunger and thirst are in some sort pains; they consume and destroy like unto a fever, unless the medicine of nourishment relieve us. The which, since it is at hand through the comfort we receive of Thy gifts, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 295, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

To Eudoxius (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1687 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Moreover, when you are exerting yourselves with energy and fervour, whatever you do, whether labouring diligently in prayer, fasting, or almsgiving, or distributing to the poor, or forgiving injuries, “as God also for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us,” or subduing evil habits, and chastening the body and bringing it into subjection,[1 Corinthians 9:27] or bearing tribulation, and especially bearing with one another in love (for what can he bear who is not patient with his brother?), or guarding against the craft and wiles of the tempter, and by the shield of faith averting and extinguishing his fiery darts, or “singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,” or with ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 43, 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)

How Far Sin is Done Away in Infants by Baptism, Also in Adults, and What Advantage Results Therefrom. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 442 (In-Text, Margin)

... whilst he was servant to a mind subject to its concupiscence, should be abolished, and regarded as if it had never occurred. The concupiscence itself, however, (notwithstanding the loosening of the bond of guilt in which the devil, by it, used to keep the soul, and the destruction of the barrier which separated man from his Maker,) remains in the contest in which we chasten our body and bring it into subjection, whether to be relaxed for lawful and necessary uses, or to be restrained by continence.[1 Corinthians 9:27] But inasmuch as the Spirit of God, who knows so much better than we do all the past, and present, and future of the human race, foresaw and foretold that the life of man would be such that “no man living should be justified in God’s sight,” it ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 164, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)

The Righteousness of This Life Comprehended in Three Parts,—Fasting, Almsgiving, and Prayer. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1414 (In-Text, Margin)

As long, then, as we are “absent from the Lord, we walk by faith, not by sight;” whence it is said, “The just shall live by faith.” Our righteousness in this pilgrimage is this—that we press forward to that perfect and full righteousness in which there shall be perfect and full love in the sight of His glory; and that now we hold to the rectitude and perfection of our course, by “keeping under our body and bringing it into subjection,”[1 Corinthians 9:27] by doing our alms cheerfully and heartily, while bestowing kindnesses and forgiving the trespasses which have been committed against us, and by “continuing instant in prayer;” —and doing all this with sound doctrine, whereon are built a right faith, a firm hope, and a pure ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 9, footnote 10 (Image)

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

Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)

Explanation of the First Part of the Sermon Delivered by Our Lord on the Mount, as Contained in the Fifth Chapter of Matthew. (HTML)

Chapter VI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 66 (In-Text, Margin)

... the service of the body the doctrine shines more conspicuously, inasmuch as it is insinuated into those who learn by means of bodily functions, i.e. by means of the voice and tongue, and the other movements of the body in good works. The apostle therefore puts his candle on a candlestick, when he says, “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach to others, I myself should be found a castaway.”[1 Corinthians 9:26-27] When He says, however, “that it may give light to all who are in the house,” I am of opinion that it is the abode of men which is called a house, i.e. the world itself, on account of what He says before, “Ye are the light of the world;” or if ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 32, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)

Explanation of the First Part of the Sermon Delivered by Our Lord on the Mount, as Contained in the Fifth Chapter of Matthew. (HTML)

Chapter XXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 230 (In-Text, Margin)

... overthrown, partly by the amendment of men, so that the flesh is brought under subjection to the spirit; partly by the condemnation of those who persevere in sin, so that they are righteously disposed of in such a way that they cannot be troublesome to the righteous who reign with Christ. Look at the Apostle Paul; does it not seem to you that he avenges the martyr Stephen in his own person, when he says: “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection”?[1 Corinthians 9:26-27] For he was certainly laying prostrate, and weakening, and bringing into subjection, and regulating that principle in himself whence he had persecuted Stephen and the other Christians. Who then can demonstrate that the holy martyrs were not asking ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 304, 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 XIII. 6–10 (continued), and Song of Sol. V. 2, 3. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1158 (In-Text, Margin)

... who, purified from all dross, can say: “I desire to depart, and to be with Christ; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” She says it in those who preach Christ, and open to Him the door, that He may dwell by faith in the hearts of men. In such she says it, when they deliberate whether to undertake such a ministry, for which they do not consider themselves qualified, so as to discharge it blamelessly, and so as not, after preaching to others, themselves to become castaways.[1 Corinthians 9:27] For it is safer to hear than to preach the truth: for in the hearing, humility is preserved; but when it is preached, it is scarcely possible for any man to hinder the entrance of some small measure of boasting, whereby the feet at least are ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 3, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm II (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 33 (In-Text, Margin)

... filthy doings of the old man, and whatsoever hath been derived and inured from the sinful clay. “And now understand, ye kings” (ver. 10). “And now;” that is, being now renewed, your covering of clay worn out, that is, the carnal vessels of error which belong to your past life, “now understand,” ye who now are “kings;” that is, able now to govern all that is servile and brutish in you, able now too to fight, not as “they who beat the air, but chastening your bodies, and bringing them into subjection.”[1 Corinthians 9:26-27] “Be instructed, all ye who judge the earth.” This again is a repetition; “Be instructed” is instead of “understand;” and “ye who judge the earth” instead of “ye kings.” For He signifies the spiritual by “those who judge the earth.” For whatsoever we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 187, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm L (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1776 (In-Text, Margin)

... what a certain man doth speak in another Psalm, “I will hear what in me speaketh the Lord God, for He shall speak peace to His people.” What am I then, that hear not what in me He speaketh, and will that other hear what through me He speaketh? I will hear first, will hear, and chiefly I will hear what speaketh in me the Lord God, for He shall speak peace to His people. Let me hear, and “chasten my body, and to servitude subject it, lest perchance to others preaching, myself be found a cast-away.”[1 Corinthians 9:27] “Why dost thou tell out my judgments?” Wherefore to thee what profiteth not thee? He admonisheth him to hear: not to lay down preaching, but to take up obedience. “But thou, why dost thou take My Covenant in they mouth?”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 360, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3482 (In-Text, Margin)

... God will be to thee terrible. How, wilt thou say, shall I be a king of the earth? Rule the earth, and thou wilt be a king of the earth. Do not therefore with desire of empire set before thine eyes exceeding wide provinces, where thou mayest spread abroad thy kingdoms; rule thou the earth which thou bearest. Hear the Apostle ruling the earth: “I do not so fight as if beating air, but I chasten my body, and bring it into captivity, lest perchance preaching to other men, I myself become a reprobate.”[1 Corinthians 9:26-27] …

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 334, footnote 7 (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 I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1017 (In-Text, Margin)

... of; but, in proportion as he abounded with innumerable good works, so much the more did he fear and tremble. And he learnt this spiritual wisdom from his preceptor; for even he, after he had been rapt into the third heaven, and transported to paradise; and had heard unutterable words; and taken part in such mysteries; and traversed the whole world, like some winged being, when he wrote to the Corinthians, said, I fear “lest by any means having preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”[1 Corinthians 9:27] And if Paul was afraid after so many signal good works; he who was able to say, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world;” much more does it become us to fear; and the rather in proportion as we have stored up numerous good works. For ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 384, 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 VI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1291 (In-Text, Margin)

... reason for this unseasonable distress, one which is not less, and truer than the rest? We do not live with the austerity that becometh Christians. On the contrary, we love to follow this voluptuous and dissolute and indolent life; therefore also it is but natural that we cleave to present things; since if we spent this life in fastings, vigils, and poverty of diet, cutting off all our extravagant desires; setting a restraint upon our pleasures; undergoing the toils of virtue; keeping the body under[1 Corinthians 9:27] like Paul, and bringing it into subjection; not “making provision for the lusts of the flesh;” and pursuing the strait and narrow way, we should soon be earnestly desirous of future things, and eager to be delivered from our present labours. And to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 162, 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 6:5-8 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 474 (In-Text, Margin)

... him? Not, however, that he saith this, as though they were actually attempting it, but upon the supposition; wherefore also he said, “I am persuaded.” So then he did not wrestle, yet nevertheless he fears his artifices; for hear what he saith, “I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ.” (2 Cor. xi. 3.) True, you will say, but he uses this word touching himself also, where he saith, “For I fear[1 Corinthians 9:27] lest, by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” How then art thou “persuaded that no one shall separate thee”? Perceivest thou that the expression is that of lowliness and of humility? For he already dwelt in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 14, page 414, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews. (HTML)

Hebrews 6.7,8 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2895 (In-Text, Margin)

... are we confident? And are becoming supine? What is it which makes us inert? If “he that thinketh he standeth” ought to fear “lest he fall”; for (he says) “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. x. 12); he that falleth, how anxious ought he to be that he may rise up again! If Paul fears, “lest that by any means, when he had preached to others, he himself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. ix. 27); and he who had been so approved is afraid lest he should become disapproved:[1 Corinthians 9:27] what pardon shall we have who are already disapproved, if we have no fear, but fulfill our Christianity as a custom, and for form’s sake. Let us then fear, beloved: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.” (Rom. i. 18.) Let us fear, for it ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 197, footnote 9 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

Details of his life at this time (271-285?) (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1007 (In-Text, Margin)

... him; nor did the enemy as though conquered cease to lay snares for him. For again he went round as a lion seeking some occasion against him. But Antony having learned from the Scriptures that the devices of the devil are many, zealously continued the discipline, reckoning that though the devil had not been able to deceive his heart by bodily pleasure, he would endeavour to ensnare him by other means. For the demon loves sin. Wherefore more and more he repressed the body and kept it in subjection[1 Corinthians 9:27], lest haply having conquered on one side, he should be dragged down on the other. He therefore planned to accustom himself to a severer mode of life. And many marvelled, but he himself used to bear the labour easily; for the eagerness of soul, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 540, footnote 10 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)

The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)

Festal Letters. (HTML)

(For 341.) Coss. Marcellinus, Probinus; Præf. Longinus; Indict. xiv; Easter-day, xiii Kal. Maii, xxiv Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 57. (HTML)

... their own names,’ and have wood, and hay, and stubble in their thoughts; such as these, since they are strangers to difficulties, become aliens from the kingdom of heaven. Had they however known that ‘tribulation perfecteth patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed,’ they would have exercised themselves, after the example of Paul, who said, ‘I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway[1 Corinthians 9:27].’ They would easily have borne the afflictions which were brought upon them to prove them from time to time, if the prophetic admonition had been listened to by them; ‘It is good for a man to take up Thy yoke in his youth; he shall sit alone and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 543, footnote 14 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)

The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)

Festal Letters. (HTML)

(For 342.) Coss. Augustus Constantius III, Constans II, Præf. the same Longinus; Indict. xv; Easter-day iii Id. Apr., xvi Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 58. (HTML)

... fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth [month], shall be to the house of Judah for gladness, and rejoicing, and for pleasant feasts.’ Since therefore this occasion for exercise is set before us, and such a day as this is come, and the prophetic voice has gone forth that the feast shall be celebrated, let us give all diligence to this good proclamation, and like those who contend on the race course, let us vie with each other in observing the purity of the fast[1 Corinthians 9:24-27], by watchfulness in prayers, by study of the Scriptures, by distributing to the poor, and let us be at peace with our enemies. Let us bind up those who are scattered abroad, banish pride, and return to lowliness of mind, being at peace with all men, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 24, footnote 7 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 374 (In-Text, Margin)

5. If, then, the apostle, who was a chosen vessel separated unto the gospel of Christ, by reason of the pricks of the flesh and the allurements of vice keeps under his body and brings it into subjection, lest when he has preached to others he may himself be a castaway;[1 Corinthians 9:27] and yet, for all that, sees another law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin; if after nakedness, fasting, hunger, imprisonment, scourging and other torments, he turns back to himself and cries “Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” do you fancy that you ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 105, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Furia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1570 (In-Text, Margin)

... concealed that we only learn them from subsequent information. Similarly the good deeds of some people are public property, while those of others we come to know only through long intimacy with them. Why then must we needs boast of our chastity, a thing which cannot prove itself to be genuine without its companions and attendants, continence and plain living? The apostle macerates his body and brings it into subjection to the soul lest what he has preached to others he should himself fail to keep;[1 Corinthians 9:27] and can a mere girl whose passions are kindled by abundance of food, can a mere girl afford to be confident of her own chastity?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 166, footnote 13 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Salvina. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2447 (In-Text, Margin)

... while she liveth.” So speaks the “chosen vessel” and the words are brought out from his treasure who could boldly say: “Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?” Yet they are the words of one who in his own person admitted the weakness of the human body, saying: “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not that I do.” And again: Therefore “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway.”[1 Corinthians 9:27] If Paul is afraid, which of us can venture to be confident? If David the friend of God and Solomon who loved God were overcome like other men, if their fall is meant to warn us and their penitence to lead us to salvation, who in this slippery life ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 196, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2739 (In-Text, Margin)

... light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.” She would frequently exclaim: “I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were,” and again, I desire “to depart and to be with Christ.” As often too as she was troubled with bodily weakness (brought on by incredible abstinence and by redoubled fastings), she would be heard to say: “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway;”[1 Corinthians 9:27] and “It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine;” and “I humbled my soul with fasting;” and “thou wilt make all” my “bed in” my “sickness;” and “Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” And when the pain ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 246, footnote 14 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Rusticus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3428 (In-Text, Margin)

... with her already in his heart.” “Who can say,” writes the wise man, “I have made my heart clean?” The stars are not pure in the Lord’s sight; how much less men whose whole life is one long temptation. Woe be to us who commit fornication every time that we cherish lust. “My sword,” God says, “hath drunk its fill in heaven;” much more then upon the earth with its crop of thorns and thistles. The chosen vessel who had Christ’s name ever on his lips kept under his body and brought it into subjection.[1 Corinthians 9:27] Yet even he was hindered by carnal desire and had to do what he would not. As one suffering violence he cries: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Is it likely then that you can pass without fall or wound, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 266, footnote 13 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Demetrius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3698 (In-Text, Margin)

... stains of her former foulness with bitter tears. Howbeit, let us know nothing of penitence, lest the thought of it lead us into sin. It is a plank for those who have had the misfortune to be shipwrecked; but an inviolate virgin may hope to save the ship itself. For it is one thing to look for what you have cast away, and another to keep what you have never lost. Even the apostle kept under his body and brought it into subjection, lest having preached to others he might himself become a castaway.[1 Corinthians 9:27] Heated with the violence of sensual passion he made himself the spokesman of the human race: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” and again, “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 388, footnote 18 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4676 (In-Text, Margin)

... we also forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” If we do not sin after baptism, why do we ask that we may be forgiven our sins, which were already forgiven in baptism? Why do we pray that we may not enter into temptation, and that we may be delivered from the evil one, if the devil cannot tempt those who are baptized? The case is different if this prayer belongs to the Catechumens, and is not adapted to faithful Christians. Paul, the chosen vessel,[1 Corinthians 9:27] chastised his body, and brought it into subjection, lest after preaching to others he himself should be found a reprobate, and he tells that there was given to him “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet” him. And to the Corinthians he ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 225, footnote 6 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2630 (In-Text, Margin)

... restored to the rank whence they have fallen; but the deacon undergoes once for all the lasting penalty of deposition. His deacon’s orders not being restored to him, they rested at this one punishment. So far is this as regards what depends on law laid down. But generally a truer remedy is the departure from sin. Wherefore that man will give me full proof of his cure who, after rejecting grace for the sake of the indulgence of the flesh, has then, through bruising of the flesh and the enslaving of it[1 Corinthians 9:27] by means of self control, abandoned the pleasures whereby he was subdued. We ought therefore to know both what is of exact prescription and what is of custom; and, in cases which do not admit of the highest treatment, to follow the traditional ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 243, footnote 5 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)

Chapter I. Statement of the reasons wherefore the matters, treated of shortly in the two former, are dealt with more at length in the three later books. Defence of the employment of fables, which is supported by the example of Holy Writ, wherein are found various figures of poetic fable, in particular the Sirens, which are figures of sensual pleasures, and which Christians ought to be taught to avoid, by the words of Paul and the deeds of Christ. (HTML)

5. But if the poet judged the enticement of worldly pleasure and licence destructive of men’s minds and a sure cause of shipwreck, what ought we to think, for whom it hath been written: “Train not the flesh in concupiscence”? And again: “I chastise my body and bring it into servitude, lest whilst I preach to others, I myself become a castaway.”[1 Corinthians 9:27]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 297, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book V. (HTML)

Chapter VIII. Christ, so far as He is true Son of God, has no Lord, but only so far as He is Man; as is shown by His words in which He addressed at one time the Father, at another the Lord. How many heresies are silenced by one verse of Scripture! We must distinguish between the things that belong to Christ as Son of God or as Son of David. For under the latter title only must we ascribe it to Him that He was a servant. Lastly, he points out that many passages cannot be taken except as referring to the Incarnation. (HTML)

102. If then the Son is glory, and the Father is glory (for the Father of glory cannot be anything else than glory), there is no separation of glories, but glory is one. Thus glory is referred to its own proper nature, but lordship to the service of the body that was assumed. For if the flesh is subject to the soul of a just man as it is written: “I chastise my body and bring it into subjection;”[1 Corinthians 9:27] how much more is it subject to the Godhead, of Which it is said: “For all things serve Thee”?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 458, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)

Epistle LXIII: To the Church at Vercellæ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3654 (In-Text, Margin)

... that there is no merit in abstinence, no grace in a frugal life, none in virginity, that all are valued at one price, that they are mad who chasten their flesh with fastings, that they may bring it into subjection to the spirit. But if he had thought it madness, Paul the Apostle would never himself have acted thus, nor written to instruct others. For he glories in it, saying: “But I chasten my body, and bring it into bondage, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be found reprobate.”[1 Corinthians 9:27] So they who do not chasten their body, and desire to preach to others, are themselves esteemed reprobates.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 239, footnote 6 (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 V. Of the Spirit of Gluttony. (HTML)

Chapter XVII. That the foundation and basis of the spiritual combat must be laid in the struggle against gluttony. (HTML)

Would you like to hear a true athlete of Christ striving according to the rules and laws of the conflict? “I,” said he, “so run, not as uncertainly; I so fight, not as one that beateth the air: but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway.”[1 Corinthians 9:26-27] You see how he made the chief part of the struggle depend upon himself, that is upon his flesh, as if on a most sure foundation, and placed the result of the battle simply in the chastisement of the flesh and the subjection of his body. “I then so run not as uncertainly.” He does not run uncertainly, because, looking to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 241, 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 V. Of the Spirit of Gluttony. (HTML)

Chapter XIX. That the athlete of Christ, so long as he is in the body, is never without a battle. (HTML)

... efforts and begin to forget the glorious struggles of his contests, and be rendered slack through the idleness which is caused by immunity from danger, and be cheated of the reward of his prizes and the recompense of his triumphs. And so if we want to rise with ever-growing virtue to these stages of triumph we ought also in the same way to enter the lists of battle and begin by saying with the Apostle: “I so fight, not as one that beateth the air, but I chastise my body and bring it into sub jection,”[1 Corinthians 9:26-27] that when this conflict is ended we may once more be able to say with him: “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.” ...