Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

2 Corinthians 4:18

There are 29 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 74, footnote 15 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Romans: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)

Chapter III.—Pray rather that I may attain to martyrdom. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 839 (In-Text, Margin)

... conduct], which in your instructions ye enjoin [on others]. Only request in my behalf both inward and outward strength, that I may not only speak, but [truly] will; and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really be found to be one. For if I be truly found [a Christian], I may also be called one, and be then deemed faithful, when I shall no longer appear to the world. Nothing visible is eternal. “For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18] For our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is with the Father, is all the more revealed [in His glory]. Christianity is not a thing of silence only, but also of [manifest] greatness.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 75, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Romans: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)

Chapter III.—Pray rather that I may attain to martyrdom. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 842 (In-Text, Margin)

... conduct], which in your instructions ye enjoin [on others]. Only request in my behalf both inward and outward strength, that I may not only speak, but [truly] will, so that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really found to be one. For if I be truly found [a Christian], I may also be called one, and be then deemed faithful, when I shall no longer appear to the world. Nothing visible is eternal. “For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18] The Christian is not the result of persuasion, but of power. When he is hated by the world, he is beloved of God. For says [the Scripture], “If ye were of this world, the world would love its own; but now ye are not of the world, but I have chosen ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 274, footnote 1 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
Chapter II.—Against Embellishing the Body. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1588 (In-Text, Margin)

... costly specimens of mirrors, in which they arrange their costume,—hunting after those that, like silly children, are crazy about their figures,—are characteristic of women who have lost all sense of shame. If any one were to call these courtesans, he would make no mistake, for they turn their faces into masks. But us the Word enjoins “to look not on the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 598, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

Who is the Rich Man that shall be saved? (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3869 (In-Text, Margin)

With such persecution, if you have worldly wealth, if you have brothers allied by blood and other pledges, abandon the whole wealth of these which leads to evil; procure peace for yourself, free yourself from protracted persecutions; turn from them to the Gospel; choose before all the Saviour and Advocate and Paraclete of your soul, the Prince of life. “For the things which are seen are temporary; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18] And in the present time are things evanescent and insecure, but in that to come is eternal life.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 455, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Creator the Father of Mercies. Shown to Be Such in the Old Testament, and Also in Christ. The Newness of the New Testament. The Veil of Obdurate Blindness Upon Israel, Not Reprehensible on Marcion's Principles. The Jews Guilty in Rejecting the Christ of the Creator. Satan, the God of This World. The Treasure in Earthen Vessels Explained Against Marcion. The Creator's Relation to These Vessels, I.e. Our Bodies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5733 (In-Text, Margin)

... death is borne about, wherein too the excellency of his power is treasured. For he gives prominence to the statement, “That the life also of Christ may be manifested in our body,” as a contrast to the preceding, that His death is borne about in our body. Now of what life of Christ does he here speak? Of that which we are now living? Then how is it, that in the words which follow he exhorts us not to the things which are seen and are temporal, but to those which are not seen and are eternal[2 Corinthians 4:16-18] —in other words, not to the present, but to the future? But if it be of the future life of Christ that he speaks, intimating that it is to be made manifest in our body, then he has clearly predicted the resurrection of the flesh. He says, too, that ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 574, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)

Sundry Passages of St. Paul Which Attest Our Doctrine Rescued from the Perversions of Heresy. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7548 (In-Text, Margin)

... gradual process from day to day, but a consummation once for all complete. You may learn this, too, from the following passage, where the apostle says: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen,” that is, our sufferings, “but at the things which are not seen,” that is, our rewards: “for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:17-18] For the afflictions and injuries wherewith the outward man is worn away, he affirms to be only worthy of being despised by us, as being light and temporary; preferring those eternal recompenses which are also invisible, and that “weight of glory” ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 346, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
On the End of the World. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2683 (In-Text, Margin)

... blessed. And from this statement we may form a conjecture, how pure, how refined, and how glorious are the qualities of that body, if we compare it with those which, although they are celestial bodies, and of most brilliant splendour, were nevertheless made with hands, and are visible to our sight. But of that body it is said, that it is a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. Since, then, those things “which are seen are temporal, but those things which are not seen are eternal,”[2 Corinthians 4:18] all those bodies which we see either on earth or in heaven, and which are capable of being seen, and have been made with hands, but are not eternal, are far excelled in glory by that which is not visible, nor made with hands, but is eternal. From ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 583, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4384 (In-Text, Margin)

... Our Paul, moreover, educated by these words, and longing after things “supra-mundane” and “super-celestial,” and doing his utmost for their sake to attain them, says in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are unseen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:17-18]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 601, footnote 10 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter LIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4583 (In-Text, Margin)

... of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” If, then, we understand by “removing out of the world” a transference from “regions on earth,” there is nothing absurd in the expression. If, on the contrary, the system of things which consists of heaven and earth be termed “world,” then those who perished in the deluge are by no means removed out of the so-called “world.” And yet, indeed, if we have regard to the words, “Looking not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen;”[2 Corinthians 4:18] and also to these, “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,” —we might say that he who dwells amid the “invisible” things, and what are called generally “things ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 44, footnote 8 (Image)

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

Excerpts of Theodotus. (HTML)

Excerpts of Theodotus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 219 (In-Text, Margin)

... received not in this world the punishment of the sins which, in numbers through ignorance, accompany those that are in the flesh, they would in the other world suffer the penalty all at once. So that they preferred curative treatment here. What is to be dreaded is, then, not external disease, but sins, for which disease comes, and disease of the soul, not of the body: “For all flesh is grass,” and corporeal and external good things are temporary; “but the things which are unseen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 463, footnote 16 (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 XII. (HTML)
Peter as a Stumbling-Block to Jesus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5715 (In-Text, Margin)

... is made to stumble, and I am not made to stumble?” But if Peter, at that time because of the saying, “God be propitious to Thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee,” was called a stumbling-block by Jesus, as not minding the things of God in what he said but the things of men, what is to be said about all those who profess to be made disciples of Jesus, but do not mind the things of God, and do not look to things unseen and eternal, but mind the things of man, and look to things seen and temporal,[2 Corinthians 4:18] but that such still more would be stigmatized by Jesus as a stumbling-block to Him, and because stumbling-blocks to Him, as stumbling-blocks to His brethren also? As in regard to them He says, “I was thirsty and ye gave Me no drink,” etc., so also ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 474, footnote 5 (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 5827 (In-Text, Margin)

... these things be said by way of illustration of the passage before us. But now according to our ability let us make investigation also into the things that are stored up 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,”[2 Corinthians 4:18] 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,” and “the heavens shall perish,” and what follows. For if, by hypothesis, in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 487, footnote 11 (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)
The World and Offences.  Various Meanings of World. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5955 (In-Text, Margin)

... for it is not to be supposed that He spoke things contradictory when He said, “And I come to thee, and I am no longer in the world,” and “I am in the world.” But also in this, “And these things I speak in the world,” we must think of the place round about the earth. And this is clearly indicated also by the words, “And the world hated them, because they are not of the world.” For it hated us from the time when we no longer “look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen,”[2 Corinthians 4:18] because of the teaching of Jesus; not the world of heaven and earth and them that are therein, all compacted together but the men on the earth along with us. And the saying, “They are not of the world,” is equivalent to, They are not of the place ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 425, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)

Section 24 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2068 (In-Text, Margin)

... what more full of phrensy than this assertion? For, although at times the Church, even that which is at this time, is called the kingdom of heaven; certainly it is so called for this end, because it is being gathered together for a future and eternal life. Although, therefore, it have the promise of the present, and of a future life, yet in all its good works it looks not to “the things that are seen, but to what are not seen. For what are seen are temporal; but what are not seen, are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 52, footnote 3 (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)

We are Required to Despise All Sensible Things, and to Love God Alone. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 102 (In-Text, Margin)

... of the word, because among our senses also, which the mind uses in acting through the body, there is nothing more valuable than the eyes, and so in the Holy Scriptures all the objects of sense are spoken of as visible things. Thus in the New Testament we are warned against the love of these things in the following words: "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."[2 Corinthians 4:18] This shows how far from being Christians those are who hold that the sun and moon are to be not only loved but worshipped. For what is seen if the sun and moon are not? But we are forbidden to regard things which are seen. The man, therefore, who ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 101, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

On Two Souls, Against the Manichæans. (HTML)

The Manichæans Inquire Whence is Evil and by This Question Think They Have Triumphed.  Let Them First Know, Which is Most Easy to Do, that Nothing Can Live Without God.  Consummate Evil Cannot Be Known Except by the Knowledge of Consummate Good, Which is God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 208 (In-Text, Margin)

... as has been said, eternal life. But no one can be converted to God, except he turn himself away from this world. This for myself I feel to be arduous and exceedingly difficult, whether it is easy to you, God Himself would have seen. I should have been inclined to think it easy to you, had I not been moved by the fact, that, since the world from which we are commanded to turn away is visible, and the apostle says: "The things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal,"[2 Corinthians 4:18] you ascribe more importance to the judgment of these eyes than to that of the mind, asserting and believing as you do that there is no shining feather that does not shine from God; and that there are living souls that do not live from God. These and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 432, footnote 10 (Image)

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

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

On the words of the Gospel, Luke xi. 5, ‘Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3356 (In-Text, Margin)

... an egg, and not as yet the chicken. And it is covered with a shell; it is not seen because it is covered; let it be with patience waited for; let it feel the warmth, that it may come to life. Press on, “reach forth unto the things which are before, forget the past. For the things which are seen, are temporal. Not looking back,” says he, “at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18] Unto those things which are not seen then extend thy hope, wait, endure. Look not back. Fear “the scorpion” for thine “egg.” See how he wounds with the tail, which he has behind him. Let not then the “scorpion” crush thine “egg,” let not this world ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 52, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 538 (In-Text, Margin)

25. “And the Lord shall reward Me according to My righteousness (ver. 24). Accordingly not only for the breadth of faith, which worketh by love; but also for the length of perseverance, will the Lord reward Me according to My righteousness. “And according to the cleanness of My hands in the sight of His eyes.” Not as men see, but “in the sight of His eyes.” For “the things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal:”[2 Corinthians 4:18] whereto the height of hope appertains.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 289, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Letters of St. Chrysostom to Olympias. (HTML)

To My Lady. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 910 (In-Text, Margin)

... the enemy, the peril of the deep, warfare of the whole world, or anything else you like to name, they are but idle tales. For whatever the nature of these things may be they are transitory and perishable, and operate in a mortal body without doing any injury to the vigilant soul. Therefore the blessed Paul, desiring to prove the insignificance both of the pleasures and sorrows relating to this life, declared the whole truth in one sentence when he said—“For the things which are seen are temporal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18] Why then dost thou fear temporal things which pass away like the stream of a river. For such is the nature of present things whether they be pleasant or painful. And another prophet compared all human prosperity not to grass, but to another material ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 450, footnote 1 (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 XVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1682 (In-Text, Margin)

... account of our security, but also for our pleasure and consolation hath He ordained that the things which are grievous should be first; in order that being lightened with the hope of futurity, we should be rendered insensible to what is present. And this Paul would shew and make plain, when he said, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.”[2 Corinthians 4:17-18] He calls tribulation light, not because of the intrinsic nature of things that are grievous, but because of the expectation of good things to come. For even as the merchant is indifferent to the labour that attends navigation, being buoyed up with ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 71, footnote 1 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
It will not do to apply this conception, as drawn out above, of the Father and Son to the Creation, as they insist on doing: but we must contemplate the Son apart with the Father, and believe that the Creation had its origin from a definite point. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 153 (In-Text, Margin)

... the two, that same interval would fix a beginning for the life of the Almighty;—a monstrous supposition. But there is nothing to prevent the creation, being, as it is, in its own nature something other than its Creator and in no point trenching on that pure pre-temporal world, from having, in our belief, a beginning of its own, as we have said. To say that the heavens and the earth and other contents of creation were out of things which are not, or, as the Apostle says, out of “things not seen,[2 Corinthians 4:18] ” inflicts no dishonour upon the Maker of this universe; for we know from Scripture that all these things are not from everlasting nor will remain for ever. If on the other hand it could be believed that there is something in the Holy Trinity which ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 42, footnote 12 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 696 (In-Text, Margin)

4. And now for the moral of all this, which, with tears and groans, I conjure you to remember. While we run the way of this world, we must not clothe ourselves with two coats, that is, with a twofold faith, or burthen ourselves with leathern shoes, that is, with dead works; we must not allow scrips filled with money to weigh us down, or lean upon the staff of worldly power. We must not seek to possess both Christ and the world. No; things eternal must take the place of things transitory;[2 Corinthians 4:18] and since, physically speaking, we daily anticipate death, if we wish for immortality we must realize that we are but mortal.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 204, footnote 21 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2910 (In-Text, Margin)

... apostle, “we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed” and “though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day”: and “our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh in us an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:17-18] She used to say that, although to human impatience the time might seem slow in coming, yet that it would not be long but that presently help would come from God who says: “In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 236, footnote 6 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

Panegyric on His Brother S. Cæsarius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2971 (In-Text, Margin)

... of life, in which I surpassed all the kings that were before me. And what does he say after all these things? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity and vexation of spirit, possibly meaning some unreasoning longing of the soul, and distraction of man condemned to this from the original fall: but hear, he says, the conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God. This is his stay in his perplexity, and this is thy only gain from life here below, to be guided through the disorder of the things which are seen[2 Corinthians 4:18] and shaken, to the things which stand firm and are not moved.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 52, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Chapter X. Men entrust their safety rather to a just than to a prudent man. But every one is wont to seek out the man who combines in himself the qualities of justice and prudence. Solomon gives us an example of this. (The words which the queen of Sheba spoke of him are explained.) Also Daniel and Joseph. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 460 (In-Text, Margin)

... above all that I heard in mine own land. Blessed are thy women and blessed thy servants, which stand before thee, and that hear all thy prudence.” Recognize the feast of the true Solomon, and who are set down at that feast; recognize it wisely and think in what land all the nations shall hear the fame of true wisdom and justice, and with what eyes they shall see Him, beholding those things which are not seen. “For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[2 Corinthians 4:18]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 322, footnote 1 (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 III. Conference of Abbot Paphnutius. On the Three Sorts of Renunciations. (HTML)
Chapter VI. An account of the three sorts of renunciations. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1210 (In-Text, Margin)

... incline thine ear: forget also thine own people and thy father’s house:” for the person who says “Hearken, O daughter,” is certainly a Father; and yet he bears witness that the one, whose house and people he urges should be forgotten, is none the less father of his daughter. And this happens when being dead with Christ to the rudiments of this world, we no longer, as the Apostle says, regard “the things which are seen, but those which are not seen, for the things which are not seen are eternal,”[2 Corinthians 4:18] and going forth in heart from this temporal and visible home, turn our eyes and heart towards that in which we are to remain for ever. And this we shall succeed in doing when, while we walk in the flesh, we are no longer at war with the Lord ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 325, footnote 4 (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 III. Conference of Abbot Paphnutius. On the Three Sorts of Renunciations. (HTML)
Chapter X. That none can become perfect merely through the first grade of renunciation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1244 (In-Text, Margin)

... the third renunciation also, whereby we rise above not merely all those things which are done in this world or specially belong to men, but even that whole universe around us which is esteemed so glorious, and shall with heart and soul look down upon it as subject to vanity and destined soon to pass away; as we look, as the Apostle says, “not on those things which are seen, but on those which are not seen: for the things that are seen, are temporal, and the things which are not seen are eternal;”[2 Corinthians 4:18] that so we may be found worthy to hear that highest utterance, which was spoken to Abraham: “and come into a land which I will show thee,” which clearly shows that unless a man has made those three former renunciations with all earnestness of mind, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 141, footnote 6 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Feast of the Nativity, VII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 827 (In-Text, Margin)

... of the faithful has in his own heart is more than what he wonders at in heaven. And so, dearly beloved, we do not bid or advise you to despise God’s works or to think there is anything opposed to your Faith in what the good God has made good, but to use every kind of creature and the whole furniture of this world reasonably and moderately: for as the Apostle says, “the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not seen are eternal[2 Corinthians 4:18].” Hence because we are born for the present and reborn for the future, let us not give ourselves up to temporal goods, but to eternal: and in order that we may behold our hope nearer, let us think on what the Divine Grace has bestowed on our nature ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 160, footnote 5 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On Lent, XI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 942 (In-Text, Margin)

... the right, save that the multitude is prone to worldly joys and carnal goods? And although that which it desires is short-lived and uncertain, yet men endure toil more willingly for the lust of pleasure than for love of virtue. Thus while those who crave things visible are unnumbered, those who prefer the eternal to the temporal are hardly to be found. And, therefore, seeing that the blessed Apostle Paul says, “the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal[2 Corinthians 4:18],” the path of virtue lies hid and in concealment, to a certain extent, since “by hope we were saved,” and true faith loves that above all things, which it attains to without any intervention of the flesh. A great work and toil it is then to keep our ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs