Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Colossians 3:1
There are 36 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 561, footnote 20 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)
Sundry Passages of St. Paul, Which Speak of a Spiritual Resurrection, Compatible with the Future Resurrection of the Body, Which is Even Assumed in Them. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7435 (In-Text, Margin)
... ordinances?” Now, since he makes us spiritually dead—in such a way, however, as to allow that we shall one day have to undergo a bodily death,—so, considering indeed that we have been also raised in a like spiritual sense, he equally allows that we shall further have to undergo a bodily resurrection. In so many words he says: “Since ye are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] Accordingly, it is in our mind that he shows that we rise (with Christ), since it is by this alone that we are as yet able to reach to heavenly objects. These we should not “seek,” nor “set our affection on,” if we had them already in our ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 495, footnote 2 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On Jealousy and Envy. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3674 (In-Text, Margin)
... and Christ, to things above and divine, let us do nothing but what is worthy of God and Christ, even as the apostle arouses and exhorts us, saying: “If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; occupy your minds with things that are above, not with things which are upon the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. But when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”[Colossians 3:1-4] Let us, then, who in baptism have both died and been buried in respect of the carnal sins of the old man, who have risen again with Christ in the heavenly regeneration, both think upon and do the things which are Christ’s, even as the same apostle ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 536, footnote 12 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... dead with Christ from the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things?” Also concerning this same thing: “If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”[Colossians 3:1-4] Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 359, footnote 2 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Victorinus (HTML)
Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John (HTML)
From the twentieth chapter (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2312 (In-Text, Margin)
... his image, nor have received his writing on their forehead or in their hand; and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years: the rest of them lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”] There are two resurrections. But the first resurrection is now of the souls that are by the faith, which does not permit men to pass over to the second death. Of this resurrection the apostle says: “If ye have risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.”[Colossians 3:1]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 304, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Januarius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1744 (In-Text, Margin)
... “under grace,” we are already dead together with Christ, and buried together with Him by baptism into death; as the apostle hath said, “Our old man is crucified with Him;” and we have risen with Him, for “He hath raised us up together, and made us sit with Him in heavenly places.” Whence also he gives this exhortation: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] In the next words, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory,” he plainly gives us to understand that our passing in this present time from ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 341, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel. (HTML)
About the Prefigured Change of the Israelitic Kingdom and Priesthood, and About the Things Hannah the Mother of Samuel Prophesied, Personating the Church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 998 (In-Text, Margin)
“The Lord killeth and maketh alive:” He has killed her who had many children, and made this barren one alive, so that she has born seven. Although it may be more suitably understood that He has made those same alive whom He has killed. For she, as it were, repeats that by adding, “He bringeth down to hell, and bringeth up.” To whom truly the apostle says, “If ye be dead with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”[Colossians 3:1-3] Therefore they are killed by the Lord in a salutary way, so that he adds, “Savor things which are above, not things on the earth;” so that these are they who, hungering, have passed beyond the earth. “For ye are dead,” he says: behold how God savingly kills! Then ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 376, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
A parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world. (HTML)
Of the Things Pertaining to the Gospel of Christ Which Hosea and Amos Prohesied. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1160 (In-Text, Margin)
... which by David, as distinguished by the title of king, Christ is to be understood, “who is made,” as the apostle says, “of the seed of David according to the flesh.” This prophet has also foretold the resurrection of Christ on the third day, as it behoved to be foretold, with prophetic loftiness, when he says, “He will heal us after two days, and in the third day we shall rise again.” In agreement with this the apostle says to us, “If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.”[Colossians 3:1] Amos also prophesies thus concerning such things: “Prepare thee, that thou mayst invoke thy God, O Israel; for lo, I am binding the thunder, and creating the spirit, and announcing to men their Christ.” And in another place he says, “In that day ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 430, footnote 5 (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)
What the Reign of the Saints with Christ for a Thousand Years Is, and How It Differs from the Eternal Kingdom. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1361 (In-Text, Margin)
... Church even now is the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven. Accordingly, even now His saints reign with Him, though otherwise than as they shall reign hereafter; and yet, though the tares grow in the Church along with the wheat, they do not reign with Him. For they reign with Him who do what the apostle says, “If ye be risen with Christ, mind the things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Seek those things which are above, not the things which are on the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] Of such persons he also says that their conversation is in heaven. In fine, they reign with Him who are so in His kingdom that they themselves are His kingdom. But in what sense are those the kingdom of Christ who, to say no more, though they are in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 431, footnote 5 (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)
What is to Be Replied to Those Who Think that Resurrection Pertains Only to Bodies and Not to Souls. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1371 (In-Text, Margin)
... therefore they contend that this first resurrection (of the Apocalypse) is a bodily resurrection. For, say they, “to rise again” can only be said of things that fall. Now, bodies fall in death. There cannot, therefore, be a resurrection of souls, but of bodies. But what do they say to the apostle who speaks of a resurrection of souls? For certainly it was in the inner and not the outer man that those had risen again to whom he says, “If ye have risen with Christ, mind the things that are above.”[Colossians 3:1] The same sense he elsewhere conveyed in other words, saying, “That as Christ has risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.” So, too, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 72, footnote 20 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
The One Death and Resurrection of The Body of Christ Harmonizes with Our Double Death and Resurrection of Body and Soul, to the Effect of Salvation. In What Way the Single Death of Christ is Bestowed Upon Our Double Death. (HTML)
... who speaketh the truth from his heart may inhabit the holy hill of God? But the resurrection of the body of the Lord is shown to belong to the mystery of our own inner resurrection, where, after He had risen, He says to the woman, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father;” with which mystery the apostle’s words agree, where he says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; set your thoughts on things above.”[Colossians 3:1-2] For not to touch Christ, unless when He had ascended to the Father, means not to have thoughts of Christ after a fleshly manner. Again, the death of the flesh of our Lord contains a type of the death of our outer man, since it is by such suffering ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 255, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
Christ’s Cross and Burial, Resurrection, Ascension, and Sitting Down at the Right Hand of God, are Images of the Christian Life. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1182 (In-Text, Margin)
... death.” In reference to His resurrection: “That, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” And in reference to His ascension into heaven and sitting down at the right hand of the Father: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”[Colossians 3:1-3]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 392, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Continence. (HTML)
Section 29 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1918 (In-Text, Margin)
... man hath gotten, may be restrained by continence, that so health may be gotten; and man, not living after man, may now be able to say, “But I live, now not I, but there liveth in me Christ.” For where not I, there more happily I: and, when any evil motion after man arises, unto which he, who with the mind serves the Law of God, consents not, let him say that also, “Now it is not I that do this.” To such forsooth are said those words, which we, as partners and sharers with them, ought to listen to.[Colossians 3:1-4] “If ye have risen together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the Right Hand of God: mind the things that are above, not what are upon earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God: when Christ ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 392, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Continence. (HTML)
Section 29 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1922 (In-Text, Margin)
... their suggestion, and as it were, whisper, yet turns away from these, that it receive not delight from them, and turns to more delightful thoughts of things above: on this account naming them in discourse, that men abide not in them, but flee from them. And this is brought to pass, if we listen effectually, with His help, Who, through His Apostle gives this command, “Seek things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the Right Hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not what are on earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 181, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus quotes passages to show that the Apostle Paul abandoned belief in the incarnation, to which he earlier held. Augustin shows that the apostle was consistent with himself in the utterances quoted. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 396 (In-Text, Margin)
... of Christ; but in his realization of the future life with those who are to be changed at the resurrection, he says, "Henceforth we know no man after the flesh;" that is, we have such an assured hope of our future incorruption and immortality, that the thought of it makes us rejoice even now. So he says elsewhere: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections upon things above, and not on things on the earth."[Colossians 3:1-2] It is true we have not yet risen as Christ has, but we are said to have risen with Him on account of the hope which we have in Him. So again he says: "According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration." Evidently what we obtain in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 538, footnote 12 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
God Gives Both Initiatory and Persevering Grace According to His Own Will. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3636 (In-Text, Margin)
... doubt believed, he felt it also in his own heart. Therefore, as is said in the sacraments of believers, that we should lift up our hearts to the Lord, is God’s gift; for which gift they to whom this is said are admonished by the priest after this word to give thanks to our Lord God Himself; and they answer that it is “meet and right so to do.” For, since our heart is not in our own power, but is lifted up by the divine help, so that it ascends and takes cognizance of those things which are above,[Colossians 3:1] where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, and, not those things that are upon the earth, to whom are thanks to be given for so great a gift as this unless to our Lord God who doeth this,—who in so great kindness has chosen us by delivering ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 270, footnote 4 (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, Matt. Chap. v. 3 and 8, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit:' etc., but especially on that, 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.' (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1923 (In-Text, Margin)
... in heaven, “Let all the heaven bear Thee.” For even the Saints who dwell on earth, though in their body they tread the earth, in heart dwell in heaven. For it is not in vain that they are reminded to “lift up their hearts,” and when they are so reminded, they answer, “that they lift them up:” nor in vain is it said, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] In so far therefore as they have their conversation there, they do bear God, and they are heaven; because they are the seat of God; and when they declare the words of God, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 456, footnote 5 (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 xxiv. 36, ‘He himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, peace be unto you,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3557 (In-Text, Margin)
... that a thought should ascend into his heart, but that his heart should itself ascend upwards, where the Apostle would have believers place their hearts, to whom he said, “If ye be risen with Christ, mind those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Seek those things which are above, not the things which are upon the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”[Colossians 3:1] In what glory? The glory of the resurrection. In what glory? Hear the Apostle saying of this body, “It is sown in dishonour, it shall rise in glory.” This glory the Apostles were unwilling to assign to their Master, their Christ, their Lord: they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 539, footnote 5 (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 same words of the Gospel, John xvi. 8, ‘He will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4270 (In-Text, Margin)
... to the Father, He would not say in another place, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He That descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.” But the Apostle Paul also says, “For our conversation is in heaven.” And why is this? Because he also says, “If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Mind the things which are above, not those which are upon the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”[Colossians 3:1-3] How then is He Alone? Is He therefore Alone because Christ with all His members is One, as the Head with His Body? Now what is His Body, but the Church? As the same teacher says, “Now ye are the Body of Christ, and members in particular.” Forasmuch ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 187, footnote 6 (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 VII. 19–24. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 589 (In-Text, Margin)
... Lord rose again on the Lord’s day? Therefore Christ’s resurrection, which happened on the third day indeed of His passion, but on the eighth day in the days of the week, that same resurrection it is that doth circumcise us. Hear of those that were circumcised with the real stone, while the apostle admonishes them: “If then ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting on the right hand of God; set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] He speaks to the circumcised: Christ has risen; He has taken away from you carnal desires, evil lusts, the superfluity with which you were born, and that far worse which you had added thereto by ill living; being circumcised by the Rock, why do you ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 303, footnote 1 (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. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1144 (In-Text, Margin)
... when he is constrained to come to Christ, and in coming has to bring his feet into contact with the ground. But again, there is another question that arises. Is not Christ above? hath He not ascended into heaven, and sitteth He not at the Father’s right hand? Does not the apostle expressly declare, “If ye, then, be risen with Christ, set your thoughts on those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Seek the things which are above, not things which are on earth?”[Colossians 3:1-2] How is it, then, that to get to Christ we are compelled to tread the earth, since rather our hearts ought to be turned upwards toward the Lord, that we may be enabled to dwell in His presence? You see, brethren, the shortness of the time to-day ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 303, footnote 3 (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 1146 (In-Text, Margin)
... payment has now come. May He give me wherewith to pay, as He gave me cause to incur the debt. For He has given me the love, of which it is said, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another.” May He give also the word, which I feel myself owing to those I love. I put off your expectations till now for this reason, that I might explain as I could how it is we come to Christ along the ground, when we are commanded rather to seek the things which are above, not the things which are upon the earth.[Colossians 3:1-2] For Christ is sitting above, at the right hand of the Father: but He is assuredly here also; and for that reason said also to Saul, as he was raging on the earth, “Why persecutest thou me?” But the topic on which we were speaking, and which led to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 415, footnote 1 (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 XVII. 24–26. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1800 (In-Text, Margin)
... the earth. For ye have died,” he adds, “and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Here, you see, our life is meanwhile in faith and hope with Christ, where He is; because it is with Christ in God. That, you see, is as if already accomplished for which He prayed, when He said, “I will that they also be with me where I am;” but now only by faith. And when will it be accomplished by actual sight? “When Christ,” he says, “[who is] your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”[Colossians 3:1-4] Then shall we appear as that which we then shall be; for it shall then be apparent that it was not without good grounds that we believed and hoped we should become so, before it actually took place. He will do this, to whom the Son, after saying, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 325, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3158 (In-Text, Margin)
... Therefore thy nature in Him hath preceded thee; and that which was taken of thee, hath gone up before thee: therein therefore thou also hast ascended. Therefore He ascended first, and we in Him: because that flesh is of the human race.…Behold one “again.” Hear of its being fulfilled from the Apostle: “If then ye have risen with Christ, the things which are above seek ye, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God; the things which are above mind ye, not the things which are upon the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] He then hath gone before: already we also have risen again, but still in hope. Hear the Apostle Paul saying this same thing: “Even we ourselves groan in ourselves, looking for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” What is it then that Christ ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 369, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3564 (In-Text, Margin)
... that they received the commandments, “to make them known to their sons,” but that they did not know or do them: but they received them themselves, to the end “that another generation might know,” what the former knew not. “Sons who shall be born and shall arise.” For they that have been born have not arisen: because they had not their heart above, but rather on the earth. For the arising is with Christ: whence hath been said, “If ye have arisen with Christ, savour ye the things which are above.”[Colossians 3:1] “And they may tell them,” he saith, “to their sons, in order that they may put their hope in God.”…“And may not forget the works of God:” that is to say, in magnifying and vaunting their own works, as though they did them themselves; while “God it ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 476, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4466 (In-Text, Margin)
... have become His seat; for as God sitteth in the heavens, so doth He sit in the Apostles, so doth He sit in the preachers of the Gospel. Even thou, if thou wilt, shalt be a heaven. Dost thou wish to be so? Purge from thy heart the earth. If thou hast not earthly lusts, and hast not in vain uttered the response, that thou hast “lifted up thy heart,” thou shalt be a heaven. “If ye be risen with Christ,” saith the Apostle to believers, “set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] Thou hast begun to set thine affection upon things above, not on things upon earth; hast thou not become a heaven? Thou carriest flesh, and in thy heart thou art already a heaven; for thy conversation will be in heaven. Being such, thou also ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 416, 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 XI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1490 (In-Text, Margin)
... ministering to their aid, and at the same time they have the advantage over him in variety of tread. Again, the eagle has his light pinion; but I have reason and art, by which I am enabled to bring down and master all the winged animals. But if thou wouldest see my pinion too, I have one much lighter than he; one which can soar, not merely ten or twenty stadia, or even as high as heaven, but above heaven itself, and above the heaven of heavens; even to “where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God!”[Colossians 3:1]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 107, footnote 8 (Image)
Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)
Against Eunomius. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
He then shows the unity of the Son with the Father and Eunomius' lack of understanding and knowledge in the Scriptures. (HTML)
But to say that the Son has no part in His Father’s royal throne argues an extraordinary amount of research into the oracles of God on the part of Eunomius, who, after his extreme devotion to the inspired Scriptures, has not yet heard, “Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God[Colossians 3:1],” and many similar passages, of which it would not be easy to reckon up the number, but which Eunomius has never learnt, and so denies that the Son is enthroned together with the Father. Again the phrase, “not having lot in his power,” we should rather pass by as unmeaning than confute as ungodly. For what sense is attached to the term ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 376, footnote 12 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4543 (In-Text, Margin)
... finely concludes the mystical Epistle to the Ephesians: “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in uncorruptness.” “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory. Whatsoever things then are true, whatsoever are chaste, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things pertain to purity, let us join ourselves to these, let us follow these.[Colossians 3:1] Christ hath reconciled us in his body to God the Father through his death, and has presented us holy and without spot, and without blame before himself: in whom we have been also circumcised, not with the circumcision made with hands, to the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 102, footnote 10 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Words, And Rose Again from the Dead on the Third Day, and Ascended into the Heavens, and Sat on the Right Hand of the Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1801 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, says, It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God. And charging the Ephesians, he thus speaks, According to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand; and the rest. And the Colossians he taught thus, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God[Colossians 3:1]. And in the Epistle to the Hebrews he says, When He had made purification of our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. And again, But unto which of the Angels hath He said at any time, Sit thou at My right hand, until ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 42, footnote 8 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
Of the origin of the word “with,” and what force it has. Also concerning the unwritten laws of the church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1280 (In-Text, Margin)
... Thus we all look to the East at our prayers, but few of us know that we are seeking our own old country, Paradise, which God planted in Eden in the East. We pray standing, on the first day of the week, but we do not all know the reason. On the day of the resurrection (or “standing again” Grk. ἀνάστασις) we remind ourselves of the grace given to us by standing at prayer, not only because we rose with Christ, and are bound to “seek those things which are above,”[Colossians 3:1] but because the day seems to us to be in some sense an image of the age which we expect, wherefore, though it is the beginning of days, it is not called by Moses first, but one. For he says “There was evening, and there was morning, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 102, footnote 8 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Hexæmeron. (HTML)
The creation of terrestrial animals. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1701 (In-Text, Margin)
... by the dignity of his soul. What is the form of quadrupeds? Their head is bent towards the earth and looks towards their belly, and only pursues their belly’s good. Thy head, O man! is turned towards heaven; thy eyes look up. When therefore thou degradest thyself by the passions of the flesh, slave of thy belly, and thy lowest parts, thou approachest animals without reason and becomest like one of them. Thou art called to more noble cares; “seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth.”[Colossians 3:1] Raise thy soul above the earth; draw from its natural conformation the rule of thy conduct; fix thy conversation in heaven. Thy true country is the heavenly Jerusalem; thy fellow-citizens and thy compatriots are “the first-born which are written in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 31, footnote 9 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XXXVI. One of the duties of fortitude is to keep the weak from receiving injury; another, to check the wrong motions of our own souls; a third, both to disregard humiliations, and to do what is right with an even mind. All these clearly ought to be fulfilled by all Christians, and especially by the clergy. (HTML)
184. Think, then, how he teaches those who enter upon their duties in the Church, that they ought to have contempt for all earthly things: “If, then, ye be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do ye act as though living in the world? Touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using.” And further: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, not those things which are on the earth.”[Colossians 3:1-2] And again: “Mortify, therefore, your members which are on the earth.” This, indeed, is meant for all the faithful. But thee, especially, my son, he urges to despise riches and to avoid profane and old wives fables—allowing nothing but this: “Exercise thyself unto godliness, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 159, footnote 4 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On Lent, VIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 937 (In-Text, Margin)
... ascended, to judge the living and the dead. For this is what the Apostle proclaims to all the faithful, saying: “if ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. For when Christ, our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory[Colossians 3:1-4].”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 185, footnote 1 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On the Lord's Resurrection, II. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1114 (In-Text, Margin)
... mouth, in Christ we are crucified, we are dead, we are buried; on the very third day, too, we are raised. Hence the Apostle says, “If ye have risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting on God’s right hand: set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. For when Christ, your life, shall have appeared, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory[Colossians 3:1-4].” But that the hearts of the faithful may know that they have that whereby to spurn the lusts of the world and be lifted to the wisdom that is above, the Lord promises us His presence, saying, “Lo! I am with you all the days, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 189, footnote 3 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On the Lord's Ascension, II. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1134 (In-Text, Margin)
And so, dearly-beloved, let us rejoice with spiritual joy, and let us with gladness pay God worthy thanks and raise our hearts’ eyes unimpeded to those heights where Christ is. Minds that have heard the call to be uplifted must not be pressed down by earthly affections[Colossians 3:1-2], they that are fore-ordained to things eternal must not be taken up with the things that perish; they that have entered on the way of Truth must not be entangled in treacherous snares, and the faithful must so take their course through these temporal things as to remember that they are sojourning in the vale of this world, in which, even though they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 363, footnote 13 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of Monks. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 850 (In-Text, Margin)
Let us diligently ask for mercy, that we may receive whatsoever is necessary for us. Let us seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, that we may receive increase in the land. Let us think upon the things which are above,[Colossians 3:1-2] on the heavenly things, and meditate on them, where Christ has been lifted up and exalted. But let us forsake the world which is not ours, that we may arrive at the place to which we have been invited. Let us raise up our eyes on high, that we may see the splendour which shall be revealed. Let us lift up our wings as eagles, that we may see the body there where it is. Let us prepare as ...