Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
1 Thessalonians 2
There are 47 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 214, footnote 1 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Chapter V.—All Who Walk According to Truth are Children of God. (HTML)
... lang="EL">νηπύτιος: and νήπιος is νεήπιος (since he that is tender-hearted is called ἤπιος), as being one that has newly become gentle and meek in conduct. This the blessed Paul most clearly pointed out when he said, “When we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ, we were gentle (ἤπιοι) among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children.”[1 Thessalonians 2:6-7] The child (νήπιος) is therefore gentle (ἤπιος), and therefore more tender, delicate, and simple, guileless, and destitute of hypocrisy, straightforward and upright in mind, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 273, footnote 6 (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)
And if Plutus is blind, are not those women that are crazy about him, and have a fellow-feeling with him, blind too? Having, then, no limit to their lust, they push on to shamelessness. For the theatre, and pageants, and many spectators, and strolling in the temples, and loitering in the streets, that they may be seen conspicuously by all, are necessary to them. For those that glory in their looks, not in heart,[1 Thessalonians 2:17] dress to please others. For as the brand shows the slave, so do gaudy colours the adulteress. “For though thou clothe thyself in scarlet, and deck thyself with ornaments of gold, and anoint thine eyes with stibium, in vain is thy beauty,” says the Word by Jeremiah. Is it not monstrous, that ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 300, footnote 6 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Chapter I.—Preface—The Author’s Object—The Utility of Written Compositions. (HTML)
... only reward he reaps is the salvation of those who hear, and if he speaks not in order to win favour: if so, he who speaks by writings escapes the reproach of mercenary motives. “For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know,” says the apostle, “nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness. Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.”[1 Thessalonians 2:5-7]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 543, footnote 5 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book VII (HTML)
Chapter XII.—The True Gnostic is Beneficent, Continent, and Despises Worldly Things. (HTML)
... for the sake of greater pleasures, abstain from the delights that are before them; so also, in the case of faith, some practice self-restraint, either out of regard to the promise or from fear of God. Well, such self-restraint is the basis of knowledge, and an approach to something better, and an effort after perfection. For “the fear of the Lord,” it is said, “is the beginning of wisdom.” But the perfect man, out of love, “beareth all things, endureth all things,” “as not pleasing man, but God.”[1 Thessalonians 2:4] Although praise follows him as a consequence, it is not for his own advantage, but for the imitation and benefit of those who praise him.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 461, footnote 26 (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 First Epistle to the Thessalonians. The Shorter Epistles Pungent in Sense and Very Valuable. St. Paul Upbraids the Jews for the Death First of Their Prophets and Then of Christ. This a Presumption that Both Christ and the Prophets Pertained to the Same God. The Law of Nature, Which is in Fact the Creator's Discipline, and the Gospel of Christ Both Enjoin Chastity. The Resurrection Provided for in the Old Testament by Christ. Man's Compound Nature. (HTML)
I shall not be sorry to bestow attention on the shorter epistles also. Even in brief works there is much pungency. The Jews had slain their prophets.[1 Thessalonians 2:15] I may ask, What has this to do with the apostle of the rival god, one so amiable withal, who could hardly be said to condemn even the failings of his own people; and who, moreover, has himself some hand in making away with the same prophets whom he is destroying? What injury did Israel commit against him in slaying those whom he too has reprobated, since he was the first to pass a hostile sentence on them? But ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 562, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)
Other Passages Quoted from St. Paul, Which Categorically Assert the Resurrection of the Flesh at the Final Judgment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7447 (In-Text, Margin)
The character of these times learn, along with the Thessalonians. For we read: “How ye turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus.” And again: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, at His coming?”[1 Thessalonians 2:19] Likewise: “Before God, even our Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the whole company of His saints.” He teaches them that they must “not sorrow concerning them that are asleep,” and at the same time explains to them the times of the resurrection, saying, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 56, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Exhortation to Chastity. (HTML)
Application of the Subject. Advantages of Widowhood. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 563 (In-Text, Margin)
... If the spirit be self-accused of a blushing conscience, how will it have the hardihood to conduct prayer to the altar; seeing that, if prayer blush, the holy minister (of prayer) itself is suffused too? For there is a prophetic utterance of the Old Testament: “Holy shall ye be, because God is holy;” and again: “With the holy thou shalt be sanctified; and with the innocent man thou shalt be innocent; and with the elect, elect.” For it is our duty so to walk in the Lord’s discipline as is “worthy,”[1 Thessalonians 2:12] not according to the filthy concupiscences of the flesh. For so, too, does the apostle say, that “to savour according to the flesh is death, but to savour according to the spirit is life eternal in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Again, through the holy ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 92, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Consistency of the Apostle in His Other Epistles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 887 (In-Text, Margin)
Challenge me to front the apostolic line of battle; look at his Epistles: they all keep guard in defence of modesty, of chastity, of sanctity; they all aim their missiles against the interests of luxury, and lasciviousness, and lust. What, in short, does he write to the Thessalonians withal? “For our consolation[1 Thessalonians 2:3] (originated) not of seduction, nor of impurity:” and, “This is the will of God, your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; that each one know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence, as (do) the nations which are ignorant of God.” What do the Galatians read? “Manifest are the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 389, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
A Letter from Origen to Africanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3045 (In-Text, Margin)
... having persecuted and slain the prophets on the fathers of those who believed not in Christ. And Paul, in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, testifies this concerning the Jews: “For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men.”[1 Thessalonians 2:14-15] What I have said is, I think, sufficient to prove that it would be nothing wonderful if this history were true, and the licentious and cruel attack was actually made on Susanna by those who were at that time elders, and written down by the wisdom of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 406, footnote 4 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
Cyprian to Sergius, Rogatianus, and the Other Confessors in Prison. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3031 (In-Text, Margin)
... state in which I am placed would permit me to come to you. For what could happen to me more desirable and more joyful than to be now close to you, that you might embrace me with those hands, which, pure and innocent, and maintaining the faith of the Lord, have rejected the profane obedience? What more pleasant and sublime than now to kiss your lips, which with a glorious voice have confessed the Lord, to be looked upon even in presence by your eyes, which, despising the world, have become worthy[1 Thessalonians 2:12] of looking upon God? But since opportunity is not afforded me to share in this joy, I send this letter in my stead to your ears and to your eyes, by which I congratulate and exhort you that you persevere strongly and steadily in the confession of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 380, footnote 17 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)
Chapter XI.—Concerning Teachers, Apostles, and Prophets (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2473 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Whosoever, therefore, cometh and teacheth you all these things that have been said before, receive him. 2. But if the teacher himself turn and teach another doctrine to the destruction of this, hear him not; but if he teach so as to increase righteousness and the knowledge of the Lord, receive him as the Lord. 3. But concerning the apostles and prophets, according to the decree of the Gospel, thus do. 4. Let every apostle that cometh to you be received as the Lord.[1 Thessalonians 2:6] 5. But he shall not remain except one day; but if there be need, also the next; but if he remain three days, he is a false prophet. 6. And when the apostle goeth away, let him take nothing but bread until he lodgeth; but if he ask money, he is a false ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 14, footnote 2 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. (HTML)
The Testament of Levi Concerning the Priesthood and Arrogance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 71 (In-Text, Margin)
... God was for evil upon Shechem; for they sought to do to Sarah as they did to Dinah our sister, and the Lord hindered them. And so they persecuted Abraham our father when he was a stranger, and they harried his flocks when they were multiplied upon him; and Jeblae his servant, born in his house, they shamefully handled. And thus they did to all strangers, taking away their wives by force, and the men themselves driving into exile. But the wrath of the Lord came suddenly upon them to the uttermost.[1 Thessalonians 2:16]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 425, footnote 4 (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 X. (HTML)
Prophets in Their Country. (HTML)
... to the people, “Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute, who showed before of the coming of the Righteous one?” And by Paul in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians like things are said: “For ye brethren became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judæa in Christ Jesus, for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen even as they did of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drave out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men.”[1 Thessalonians 2:14-15] A prophet, then, is not without honour among the Gentiles; for either they do not know him at all, or, having learned and received him as a prophet, they honour him. And such are those who are of the Church. Prophets suffer dishonour, first, when ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 492, footnote 2 (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 Little Ones and the Perfect. (HTML)
But another might say that the perfect man is here called little, applying the word, “For he that is least among you all, the same is great,” and will affirm that he who humbles himself and becomes a child in the midst of all that believe, though he be an apostle or a bishop, and becomes such “as when a nurse cherisheth her own children,”[1 Thessalonians 2:7] is the little one pointed out by Jesus, and that the angel of such an one is worthy to behold the face of God. For to say that the little are here called perfect, according to the passage, “He that is least among you all, the same is great,” and as Paul said, “Unto me who am less than the least of all saints was this grace ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 201, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. (HTML)
He Explains the Divine Image (Ver. 26) of the Renewal of the Mind. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1373 (In-Text, Margin)
... transformed by the renewing of your mind,” —not now after your kind, as if following your neighbour who went before you, nor as if living after the example of a better man (for Thou hast not said, “Let man be made after his kind,” but, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”), that we may prove what Thy will is. For to this purpose said that dispenser of Thine,—begetting children by the gospel, —that he might not always have them “babes,” whom he would feed on milk, and cherish as a nurse;[1 Thessalonians 2:7] “be ye transformed,” saith He, “by the renewing of your mind, that he may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Therefore Thou sayest not, “Let man be made,” but, “Let us make man.” Nor sayest Thou, “after his kind,” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 210, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
He embraces in a brief compendium the contents of the previous books; and finally shows that the Trinity, in the perfect sight of which consists the blessed life that is promised us, is here seen by us as in a glass and in an enigma, so long as it is seen through that image of God which we ourselves are. (HTML)
The Likeness of the Divine Word, Such as It Is, is to Be Sought, Not in Our Own Outer and Sensible Word, But in the Inner and Mental One. There is the Greatest Possible Unlikeness Between Our Word and Knowledge and the Divine Word and Knowledge. (HTML)
... this, in order to arrive at that word of man, by the likeness of which, be it of what sort it may, the Word of God may be somehow seen as in an enigma. Not that word which was spoken to this or that prophet, and of which it is said, “Now the word of God grew and multiplied;” and again, “Faith then cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ;” and again, “When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men but, as it is in truth, the word of God”[1 Thessalonians 2:13] (and there are countless other like sayings in the Scriptures respecting the word of God, which is disseminated in the sounds of many and diverse languages through the hearts and mouths of men; and which is therefore called the word of God, because ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 294, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)
Of the Attainment of Cheerfulness in the Duty of Catechising, and of Various Causes Producing Weariness in the Catechumen. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1399 (In-Text, Margin)
... follower as he expresses himself also in another place to this effect: “For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that He died for all.” And how, indeed, should one be ready to be spent for their souls, if he should find it irksome to him to bend himself to their ears? For this reason, therefore, He became a little child in the midst of us, (and) like a nurse cherishing her children.[1 Thessalonians 2:7] For is it a pleasure to lisp shortened and broken words, unless love invites us? And yet men desire to have infants to whom they have to do that kind of service; and it is a sweeter thing to a mother to put small morsels of masticated food into her ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 510, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)
Section 13 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2510 (In-Text, Margin)
13. Of this weakness of his, he saith in another place, “We made ourselves small among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.”[1 Thessalonians 2:5-7] For in that passage the context indicates this: “For neither at any time,” saith he, “used we flattering words, as ye know, nor an occasion of covetousness; God is witness: nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome to you as the Apostles of Christ: but we made ourselves small among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.” What therefore he saith to the Corinthians, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 510, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)
Section 13 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2513 (In-Text, Margin)
... which seek occasion, that wherein they glory they may be found as also we.” Of this occasion, therefore, which he here saith that he cuts off, he would have that understood which he saith in the former place, “Neither for occasion of covetousness, God is witness.” And what he here saith, “In humbling myself that ye might be exalted:” this in the first to the same Corinthians, “I became to the weak as weak;” this to the Thessalonians, “I became small among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children.”[1 Thessalonians 2:7-9] Now then observe what follows: “So,” saith he, “being affectionately desirous of you, we are minded to impart unto you not alone the Gospel of God, but our own souls also; because ye are become most dear to us. For ye remember, brethren, our labor ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 511, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)
Section 15 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2518 (In-Text, Margin)
15. But when he might use to work, that is, in what spaces of time, that he might not be hindered from preaching the Gospel, who can make out? Though, truly, that he wrought at hours of both day and night himself hath not left untold.[1 Thessalonians 2:9] Yet these men truly, who as though very full of business and occupation inquire about the time of working, what do they? Have they from Jerusalem round about even to Illyricum filled the lands with the Gospel? or whatever of barbarian nations hath remained yet to be gone unto, and to be filled of the peace of the Church, have they undertaken? We know them into a certain holy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 515, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)
Section 22 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2551 (In-Text, Margin)
... unto them, and because he was of the same craft he abode with them, doing work: for they were tent-makers.” This if they shall essay to interpret allegorically, they show what proficients they be in ecclesiastical learning, on which they glory that they bestow all their time. And, at the least, touching those sayings above recited, “Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working?” and, “We have not used this power;” and, “When we might be burdensome to you, as Apostles of Christ,”[1 Thessalonians 2:6] and, “Night and day working that we might not burden any of you;” and, “The Lord hath ordained for them which preach the Gospel, of the Gospel to live; but I have used none of these things:” and the rest of this kind, let them either expound ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 517, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
The Beginning of Faith is God’s Gift. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3539 (In-Text, Margin)
... the apostolic giving of thanks be rightly judged to be either mistaken or fallacious. What then? Does that not appear as the beginning of the faith of the Thessalonians, for which, nevertheless, the same apostle gives thanks to God when he says, “For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when ye had received from us the word of the hearing of God, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh in you and which ye believed”?[1 Thessalonians 2:13] What is that for which he here gives thanks to God? Assuredly it is a vain and idle thing if He to whom he gives thanks did not Himself do the thing. But, since this is not a vain and idle thing, certainly God, to whom he gave thanks concerning this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 53, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)
On the Latter Part of Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Contained in the Sixth and Seventh Chapters of Matthew. (HTML)
Chapter XVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 422 (In-Text, Margin)
... he does not seem to keep the Lord’s precept, which runs, “Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns;” and, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;” while he enjoins the parties in question to labour, working with their hands, that they may have something which they may be able to give to others also. And in what he often says of himself, that he wrought with his hands that he might not be burdensome;[1 Thessalonians 2:9] and in what is written of him, that he joined himself to Aquila on account of the similarity of their occupation, in order that they might work together at that from which they might make a living; he does not seem to have imitated the birds of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 138, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Of the Section Where It is Recorded, that Being Moved with Compassion for the Multitudes, He Sent His Disciples, Giving Them Power to Work Cures, and Charged Them with Many Instructions, Directing Them How to Live; And of the Question Concerning the Proof of Matthew’s Harmony Here with Mark and Luke, Especially on the Subject of the Staff, Which Matthew Says the Lord Told Them They Were Not to Carry, While According to Mark It is the Only Thing They Were to Carry; And Also of the Wearing of the Shoes and Coats. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 986 (In-Text, Margin)
... partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power.” This makes it apparent that by these instructions the Lord did not mean that the evangelists should not seek their support in any other way than by depending on what was offered them by those to whom they preached the gospel (otherwise this very apostle acted contrary to this precept when he acquired a livelihood for himself by the labours of his own hands, because he would not be chargeable to any of them[1 Thessalonians 2:9]), but that He gave them a power in the exercise of which they should know such things to be their due. Now, when any commandment is given by the Lord, there is the guilt of non-obedience if it is not observed; but when any power is given, any one is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 56, footnote 7 (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 I. 34–51. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 179 (In-Text, Margin)
... knoweth), and that he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” You have heard him ascending, hear him descending: “I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal; as babes in Christ I have fed you with milk, not with meat.” Behold he descended who had ascended. Ask whether he ascended to the third heaven. Ask whether he descended to give milk to babes. Hear that he descended: “I became a babe in the midst of you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.”[1 Thessalonians 2:7] For we see both nurses and mothers descend to babes, and although they be able to speak Latin, they shorten the words, shake their tongues in a certain manner, in order to frame childish endearments from a methodical language; because if they speak ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 408, 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. 20. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1759 (In-Text, Margin)
... Apostles we read that in Christ, God hath marked out [the ground of] faith unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead. Accordingly, this word of faith, because principally and primarily preached by the apostles who adhered to Him, was called their word. Not, however, on that account does it cease to be the word of God because it is called their word; for the same apostle says that the Thessalonians received it from him “not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God.”[1 Thessalonians 2:13] “Of God,” for the very reason that it was freely given by God; but called “their word,” because primarily and principally committed to them by God to be preached. In the same way also the thief mentioned above had in the matter of his own faith ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 513, footnote 2 (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 IV. 17–21. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2439 (In-Text, Margin)
... that is better for the mother than that it should not suck nor exact that which of love is due? Often we see great calves driving their heads at the cow’s udders with a force that almost lifts up the mother’s body, yet does she not kick them off; nay, if the young one be not there to suck, the lowing of the dam calls for it to come to the teats. If then there be in us that spiritual charity of which the apostle saith, “I became small in the midst of you even as a nurse cherishing her young ones;”[1 Thessalonians 2:7] we love you the more when ye are exacting. We like not the sluggish, because for the languid ones we are afraid. We have been obliged, however, to intermit the continuous reading of this epistle, because of certain stated lessons coming between, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 188, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm L (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1786 (In-Text, Margin)
... carnal. “For the spiritual man judgeth all things,” but “the animal man perceiveth not those things which are of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him.” To such men saith the Apostle, “I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as to babes in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for ye were not able, but not even now are ye able.” A mother I have been to you: as is said in another place, “I became a babe among you, even as a nurse cherishing her own children.”[1 Thessalonians 2:7] Not a nurse nursing children of others, but a nurse cherishing her own children. For there are mothers who when they have borne give to nurses: they that have borne cherish not their children, because they have given them to be nursed; but those ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 606, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5512 (In-Text, Margin)
... not: He healed us, He raised us upon His beast, upon His flesh; He led us to the inn, that is, the Church; He entrusted us to the host, that is, to the Apostle; He gave two pence, whereby we might be healed, the love of God, and the love of our neighbour. The Apostle spent more; for, though it was allowed unto all the Apostles to receive, as Christ’s soldiers, pay from Christ’s subjects, that Apostle, nevertheless, toiled with his own hands, and excused the subjects the maintenance owing to him.[1 Thessalonians 2:7] All this hath already happened: if we have descended, and have been wounded; let us ascend, let us sing, and make progress, in order that we may arrive.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 606, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5512 (In-Text, Margin)
... not: He healed us, He raised us upon His beast, upon His flesh; He led us to the inn, that is, the Church; He entrusted us to the host, that is, to the Apostle; He gave two pence, whereby we might be healed, the love of God, and the love of our neighbour. The Apostle spent more; for, though it was allowed unto all the Apostles to receive, as Christ’s soldiers, pay from Christ’s subjects, that Apostle, nevertheless, toiled with his own hands, and excused the subjects the maintenance owing to him.[1 Thessalonians 2:9] All this hath already happened: if we have descended, and have been wounded; let us ascend, let us sing, and make progress, in order that we may arrive.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 48, footnote 5 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 100 (In-Text, Margin)
... means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.” And again, “I was with you in fear and in much trembling;” and this was a man who had been caught up to the third Heaven, and made partaker of the unspeakable mysteries of God, and had endured as many deaths as he had lived days after he became a believer—a man, moreover, who would not use the authority given him from Christ lest any of his converts should be offended.[1 Thessalonians 2:9] If, then, he who went beyond the ordinances of God, and nowhere sought his own advantage, but that of those whom he governed, was always so full of fear when he considered the greatness of his government, what shall our condition be who in many ways ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 339, 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 1044 (In-Text, Margin)
... “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” Again, Paul writing to the Macedonians in his desire to console them, says, “For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which are in Judea. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.”[1 Thessalonians 2:14] And again, he consoles the Hebrews in like manner, reckoning up all the just who had lived in furnaces; in pits; in deserts; in mountains; in caves; in hunger; and in poverty. For communion of suffering brings some consolation to the fallen.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 342, footnote 9 (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 1074 (In-Text, Margin)
... dangers. Do thou too imitate these saints, and cease not from good works, so long as thou art able; and although thou seest the devil thwarting thee ten thousand times, never fall back! Thou perchance, bearing with thee thy wealth, hast met with shipwreck; but Paul carrying the word, far more precious than all wealth, was going to Rome, and was wrecked; and sustained innumerable hardships. And this he himself signified, when he said, “Many times we desired to come unto you, but Satan hindered us.”[1 Thessalonians 2:18] And God permitted it; thus revealing the more abun dantly His power, and showing that the multitude of things which the devil did, or prevented from being done, neither lessened nor interrupted the preaching of the Gospel. On this account Paul gave ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 353, 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 II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1117 (In-Text, Margin)
... sleeps, and drinks, and eats with more pleasure than the rich man, what further value is left to riches, now deprived of the one advantage they seemed to have over poverty? For this reason also, from the beginning, God tied the man to labour, not for the purpose of pun ishing or chastising, but for amendment and education. When Adam lived an unlabourious life, he fell from Paradise, but when the Apostle laboured abundantly, and toiled hard, and said, “In labour and travail, working night and day,”[1 Thessalonians 2:9] then he was taken up into Paradise, and ascended to the third heaven!
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 234, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (HTML)
Homily XXXVIII on Acts xvii. 16, 17. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 877 (In-Text, Margin)
... against his will he stays there, while waiting for those others. (a) “His spirit,” it says, “within him” παρωξύνετο. It does not mean there anger or exasperation: just as elsewhere it says, “There was παροξυσμὸς between them.” (ch. xv. 30.) (c) Then what is παρωξύνετο? Was roused: for the gift is far removed from anger and exasperation. He could not bear it, but pined away.[1 Thessalonians 2:1] “He reasoned therefore in the synagogue,” etc. (v. 17.) Observe him again reasoning with Jews. By “devout persons” he means the proselytes. For the Jews were dispersed everywhere before (mod. text “since”) Christ’s coming, the Law indeed being ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 379, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans (HTML)
Homily VII on Rom. iii. 9-18. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1281 (In-Text, Margin)
... uncircumcision, much rather was it now, since it is cast out from both periods. But after saying that “it was excluded,” he shows also, how. How then does he say it was excluded? “By what law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith.” See he calls the faith also a law delighting to keep to the names, and so allay the seeming novelty. But what is the “law of faith?” It is, being saved by grace. Here he shows God’s power, in that He has not only saved, but has even justified, and led them to boasting,[1 Thessalonians 2:19] and this too without needing works, but looking for faith only. And in saying this he attempts to bring the Jew who has believed to act with moderation, and to calm him that hath not believed, in such way as to draw him on to his own view. For he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 14, page 364, footnote 17 (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)
Argument. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2692 (In-Text, Margin)
... Rome; then he was set free; then, having gone into Spain, he saw Jews also in like manner; and then he returned to Rome, where also he was slain by Nero. The Epistle to Timothy then was later than this Epistle. For there he says, “For I am now ready to be offered”; there also he says, “In my first answer no man stood with me.” In many places they [the Hebrew Christians] had to contend with persecution, as also he says, writing to the Thessalonians, “Ye became followers of the churches of Judæa”:[1 Thessalonians 2:14] and writing to these very persons he says, “Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods.” Dost thou see them contending? And if men had thus treated the Apostles, not only in Judæa, but also wherever they were among the Gentiles, what would they not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 559, footnote 6 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Personal Letters. (HTML)
Letter to Dracontius. Written A.D. 354 or 355. (HTML)
... follow, delayed it and took counsel because of his family, or blessed Paul, who, the moment the stewardship was entrusted to him, ‘straightway conferred not with flesh and blood?’ For although he said, ‘I am not worthy to be called an Apostle,’ yet, knowing what he had received, and being not ignorant of the giver, he wrote, ‘For woe is me if I preach not the gospel.’ But, as it was ‘woe to me’ if he did not preach, so, in teaching and preaching the gospel, he had his converts as his joy and crown[1 Thessalonians 2:19]. This explains why the saint was zealous to preach as far as Illyricum, and not to shrink from proceeding to Rome, or even going as far as the Spains, in order that the more he laboured, he might receive so much the greater reward for his labour. He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 236, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ageruchia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3318 (In-Text, Margin)
... people say of me.’ That was not the principle on which the apostle acted. He provided things honest not only in the sight of God but in the sight of all men; that the name of God might not be blasphemed among the Gentiles. Though he had power to lead about a sister, a wife, he would not do so, for he did not wish to be judged by an unbeliever’s conscience. And, though he might have lived by the gospel, he laboured day and night with his own hands, that he might not be burdensome to the believers.[1 Thessalonians 2:9] “If meat,” he says, “make my brother to offend. I will eat no flesh while the world standeth.” Let us then say, if a sister or a brother causes not one or two but the whole church to offend, ‘I will not see that sister or that brother.’ It is better ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 248, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3449 (In-Text, Margin)
... body and mind to the Lord, overcome wrath by patience, love the knowledge of scripture, and you will no longer love the sins of the flesh. Do not let your mind become a prey to excitement, for if this effects a lodgment in your breast it will have dominion over you and will lead you into the great transgression. Always have some work on hand, that the devil may find you busy. If apostles who had the right to live of the Gospel laboured with their own hands that they might be chargeable to no man,[1 Thessalonians 2:9] and bestowed relief upon others whose carnal things they had a claim to reap as having sown unto them spiritual things; why do you not provide a supply to meet your needs? Make creels of reeds or weave baskets out of pliant osiers. Hoe your ground; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 389, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4683 (In-Text, Margin)
... be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” And again: “There hath no temptation taken you, but such as man can bear; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.” And, “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” And to the Galatians: “Ye were running well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” And elsewhere:[1 Thessalonians 2:18] “We would fain have come unto you, I Paul once and again; and Satan hindered us.” And to the married he says: “Be together again, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency.” And again: “But I say, walk by the Spirit and ye shall not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 110, footnote 16 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1914 (In-Text, Margin)
21. Thou seest how they all foretell the coming of the Lord. Thou seest how they know the voice of the sparrow. Let us know what sort of voice this is. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God[1 Thessalonians 2:16]. The Archangel shall make proclamation and say to all, Arise to meet the Lord. And fearful will be that descent of our Master. David says, God shall manifestly come, even our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and a fierce tempest round about Him, and the rest. The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 386, footnote 11 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Last Farewell in the Presence of the One Hundred and Fifty Bishops. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4288 (In-Text, Margin)
2. What then is my defence? If it be false, you must convict me, but if true, you on behalf of whom and in whose presence I speak, must bear witness to it. For you are my defence, my witnesses, and my crown of rejoicing,[1 Thessalonians 2:19] if I also may venture to boast myself a little in the Apostle’s language. This flock was, when it was small and poor, as far as appearances went, nay, not even a flock, but a slight trace and relic of a flock, without order, or shepherd, or bounds, with neither right to pasturage, nor the defence of a fold, wandering upon the mountains and in caves and dens of the earth, scattered and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 232, footnote 4 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2667 (In-Text, Margin)
... yourself know well that the conduct of the governed is commonly of a piece with that of those who are set over them. Perhaps therefore it might be better to appoint one well approved man, though even this may not be an easy matter, to the supervision of the whole city, and entrust him with the management of details on his own responsibility. Only let him be a servant of God, “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,” not “looking on his own things,” but on the things of the most, “that they be saved.”[1 Thessalonians 2:16] If he finds himself overweighted with responsibility, he will associate other labourers for the harvest with himself. If only we can find such a man, I own that I think the one worth many, and the ordering of the cure of souls in this way likely to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 425, footnote 1 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)
Conference XIII. The Third Conference of Abbot Chæremon. On the Protection of God. (HTML)
Chapter VI. That without the grace of God we cannot make any diligent efforts. (HTML)
... when we could use such opportunities, but by a chapter of accidents we are often very much against our will kept away from the salutary ordinances so that we have to pray to the Lord for opportunities of place or time in which to practise them. And it is clear that the ability for these is not sufficient for us unless there be also granted to us by the Lord an opportunity of doing what we are capable of (as the Apostle also says: “For we wanted to come to you once and again, but Satan hindered us”[1 Thessalonians 2:18]), so that sometimes we find for our advantage we are called away from these spiritual exercises in order that while without our own consent the regularity of our routine is broken and we yield something to weakness of the flesh, we may even against ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 115, footnote 6 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
Preached on his Birthday, or day of Ordination. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 653 (In-Text, Margin)
... peace: so that all the days of my life being ready for the service of Almighty God, and for my duties towards you, I may with confidence entreat the Lord: “Holy Father, keep in Thy name those whom Thou hast given me:” and while you ever go on unto salvation, may “my soul magnify the Lord652652 S. Luke i. 46.,” and in the retribution of the judgment to come may the account of my priesthood so be rendered to the just Judge[1 Thessalonians 2:19] that through your good deeds you may be my joy and my crown, who by your good will have given an earnest testimony to me in this present life.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 118, footnote 2 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On His Birthday, III: Delivered on the Anniversary of his Elevation to the Pontificate. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 668 (In-Text, Margin)
... eager for the Divine promises, lift itself to the love of the incorruptible Good and the hope of the true Light. But be sure, dearly-beloved, that your labour, whereby you resist vices and fight against carnal desires, is pleasing and precious in God’s sight, and in God’s mercy will profit not only yourselves but me also, because the zealous pastor makes his boast of the progress of the Lord’s flock. “For ye are my crown and joy[1 Thessalonians 2:20],” as the Apostle says; if your faith, which from the beginning of the Gospel has been preached in all the world has continued in love and holiness. For though the whole Church, which is in all the world, ought to abound in all virtues, yet you ...