Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Philippians 1:21

There are 12 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 393, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2547 (In-Text, Margin)

... vel contra inobedientem constituente. Unde non ego quidem arbitror Apostolum abhorrere vitam, quæ est in came, cum dicit: “Sed in omni fiducia, ut semper, nunc quoque Christus magnificabitur in corpore meo, sire per vitam, sire per mortera. Mihi enim vivere Christus et mori lucrum. Si autem vivere in carne, et hoc quoque mihi fructus operis, quid eligam nescio, et coarctor ex duobus, cupiens resolvi, et esse cum Christo: multo enim melius: manere autem in carne, est magis necessarium propter vos.”[Philippians 1:20-24] Per hæc enim, ut puto, aperte ostendit, exitus quidem e corpore perfectionem, esse in Dei dilectionem: ejus autem præ sentiæ in carne, ex grato animo profectam tolerantiam, propter eos, qui salute indigent. Quid vero? non etiam ea, quæ deinceps ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 404, footnote 8 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

Cyprian to Nemesianus and Other Martyrs in the Mines. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3019 (In-Text, Margin)

... that the divine condescension would consummate the confession of all of us; that from this darkness and these snares of the world God would set us also free with you, sound and glorious; that we who here are united in the bond of charity and peace, and have stood together against the wrongs of heretics and the oppressions of the heathens, may rejoice together in the heavenly kingdom. I bid you, most blessed and most beloved brethren, ever farewell in the Lord, and always and everywhere remember me.[Philippians 1:21]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 470, footnote 8 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

On the Mortality. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3482 (In-Text, Margin)

... Teacher of our salvation and of our good works, shows to us, who, when His disciples were saddened that He said that He was soon to depart, spoke to them, and said, “If ye loved me, ye would surely rejoice because I go to the Father;” teaching thereby, and manifesting that when the dear ones whom we love depart from the world, we should rather rejoice than grieve. Remembering which truth, the blessed Apostle Paul in his epistle lays it down, saying, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain;”[Philippians 1:21] counting it the greatest gain no longer to be held by the snares of this world, no longer to be liable to the sins and vices of the flesh, but taken away from smarting troubles, and freed from the envenomed fangs of the devil, to go at the call of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 582, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

Treatises Attributed to Cyprian on Questionable Authority. (HTML)

On the Glory of Martyrdom. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4848 (In-Text, Margin)

... when you are unable to enjoy, the world for the sake of which you would deny, because indeed the Lord knew that cruel torments and mischievous acts of punishment would be armed against us for our destruction, in order that He might make us strong to endure them all. “My son,” says He, “if thou come to serve God, stand fast in righteousness, and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.” Moreover, also, the blessed Apostle Paul exclaimed, and said, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”[Philippians 1:21]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 429, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

Cyprian’s Testimonies Concerning the Imperfection of Our Own Righteousness. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2869 (In-Text, Margin)

... constrained to curse, which the divine law forbids; you are compelled to swear, which is not lawful. So many persecutions the soul suffers daily, with so many risks is the heart wearied; and yet it delights to abide here long among the devil’s weapons, although it should rather be our craving and wish to hasten to Christ by the aid of a quicker death.” Again, in the same treatise he says: “The blessed Apostle Paul in his epistle lays it down, saying, ‘To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain;’[Philippians 1:21] counting it the greatest gain no longer to be held by the snares of this world, no longer to be liable to the sins and vices of the flesh.” Moreover, on the Lord’s Prayer, explaining what it is we ask when we say, “Hallowed be thy name,” he says, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 489, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)

1 John III. 9–18. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2253 (In-Text, Margin)

... charity that he is prepared even to die for his brethren, in that man is perfect charity. But as soon as it is born, is it already quite perfect? That it may be made perfect, it is born; when born, it is nourished; when nourished, it is strengthened; when strengthened, it is perfected; when it has come to perfection, what saith it? “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I wished to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is needful for you.”[Philippians 1:21-24] For their sakes he was willing to live, for whose sakes he was prepared to die.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 596, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5447 (In-Text, Margin)

... peace, they would not tear asunder unity. “I,” he saith, “spoke peace of thee.” But wherefore? “For my brethren and companions’ sake:” not for my own honour, not for my own money, not for my life; for, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” But, “I spoke peace of thee, for my brethren and companions’ sakes.” For he wished to depart, and to be with Christ: but, since he must preach these things to his companions and his brethren, to abide in the flesh, he addeth, is more needful for you.[Philippians 1:21]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 318, footnote 15 (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 John the Œconomus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2071 (In-Text, Margin)

... let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” How then can they think of any other foundation, when they are bidden not to fix a foundation, but to build on that which is laid? The divine writer recognises Christ as the foundation, and glories in this title, as when he says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me.” And again “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain,”[Philippians 1:21] and again “For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” And a little before he says, “But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 126, footnote 1 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Heliodorus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1840 (In-Text, Margin)

... if not for him, for ourselves. The greater the happiness which he enjoys, the deeper the sorrow in which the loss of a blessing so great plunges us. The sisters of Lazarus could not help weeping for him, although they knew that he would rise again. And the Saviour himself—to shew that he possessed true human feeling—mourned for him whom He was about to raise. His apostle also, though he says: “I desire to depart and to be with Christ,” and elsewhere “to me to live is Christ and to die is gain,”[Philippians 1:21] thanks God that Epaphras (who had been “sick nigh unto death”) has been given back to him that he might not have sorrow upon sorrow. Words prompted not by the fear that springs of unbelief but by the passionate regret that comes of true affection. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 126, footnote 4 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Macarius and John. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1907 (In-Text, Margin)

... be in any wise distressed at the calumny of a lie; let no imperial threats scare you; do not be grieved at the laughter and mockery of your intimates, nor at the condemnation of those who pretend to care for you, and who put forward, as their most attractive bait to deceive, a pretence of giving good advice. Against them all let sound reason do battle, invoking the championship and succour of our Lord Jesus Christ, the teacher of true religion, for Whom to suffer is sweet, and “to die is gain.”[Philippians 1:21]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 212, footnote 2 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Eupaterius and his daughter. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2520 (In-Text, Margin)

1. may well imagine what pleasure the letter of your excellencies gave me, if only from its very contents. What, indeed, could give greater gratification to one who prays ever to be in communication with them who fear the Lord, and to share their blessings, than a letter of this kind, wherein questions are asked about the knowledge of God? For if, to me, “to live is Christ,”[Philippians 1:21] truly my words ought to be about Christ, my every thought and deed ought to depend upon His commandments, and my soul to be fashioned after His. I rejoice, therefore, at being asked about such things, and congratulate the askers. By me, to speak shortly, the faith of the Fathers assembled at Nicæa is honoured ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 180, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus. (HTML)

Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1523 (In-Text, Margin)

40. We see, then, that this death is a gain and life a penalty, so that Paul says: “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”[Philippians 1:21] What is Christ but the death of the body, the breath of life? And so let us die with Him, that we may live with Him. Let there then be in us as it were a daily practice and inclination to dying, that by this separation from bodily desires, of which we have spoken, our soul may learn to withdraw itself, and, as it were placed on high, when earthly lusts cannot approach and attach it to themselves, may take upon herself the likeness ...