Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Revelation 2
There are 83 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 352, footnote 2 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)
Chapter XXVI.—Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2957 (In-Text, Margin)
... followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [when they are represented] as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practise adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Wherefore the Word has also spoken of them thus: “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.”[Revelation 2:6]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 465, footnote 13 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter IV.—Answer to another objection, showing that the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the city of the great King, diminished nothing from the supreme majesty and power of God, for that this destruction was put in execution by the most wise counsel of the same God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3834 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Further, also, concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they venture to assert that, if it had been “the city of the great King,” it would not have been deserted.[Revelation 2:5] This is just as if any one should say, that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat; and that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But as these [vine twigs] have not been originally made for their own sake, but for that of the fruit growing upon them, which being come to maturity and taken away, they are left behind, and those ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 536, footnote 7 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)
Chapter X.—By a comparison drawn from the wild olive-tree, whose quality but not whose nature is changed by grafting, he proves more important things; he points out also that man without the Spirit is not capable of bringing forth fruit, or of inheriting the kingdom of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4518 (In-Text, Margin)
2. But as the engrafted wild olive does not certainly lose the substance of its wood, but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives another name, being now not a wild olive, but a fruit-bearing olive, and is called so; so also, when man is grafted in by faith and receives the Spirit of God, he certainly does not lose the substance of flesh, but changes the quality of the fruit [brought forth, i.e.,] of his works, and receives another name,[Revelation 2:17] showing that he has become changed for the better, being now not [mere] flesh and blood, but a spiritual man, and is called such. Then, again, as the wild olive, if it be not grafted in, remains useless to its lord because of its woody quality, and is cut down as a tree ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 575, footnote 16 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus (HTML)
XLV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4891 (In-Text, Margin)
“And Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword.” For, speaking no longer by the Spirit of God, but setting up another law of fornication contrary to the law of God,[Revelation 2:14] this man shall no longer be reckoned as a prophet, but as a soothsayer. For, as he did not continue in the commandment of God, he received the just reward of his evil devices.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 62, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Idolatry in Its More Limited Sense. Its Copiousness. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 171 (In-Text, Margin)
... adultery to consist even in concupiscence, “if one shall have cast an eye lustfully on,” and stirred his soul with immodest commotion; when He judges murder to consist even in a word of curse or of reproach, and in every impulse of anger, and in the neglect of charity toward a brother just as John teaches, that he who hates his brother is a murderer. Else, both the devil’s ingenuity in malice, and God the Lord’s in the Discipline by which He fortifies us against the devil’s depths,[Revelation 2:24] would have but limited scope, if we were judged only in such faults as even the heathen nations have decreed punishable. How will our “righteousness abound above that of the Scribes and Pharisees,” as the Lord has prescribed, unless we shall have ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 73, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Dress as Connected with Idolatry. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 313 (In-Text, Margin)
... all the powers and dignities of this world are not only alien to, but enemies of, God; that through them punishments have been determined against God’s servants; through them, too, penalties prepared for the impious are ignored. But “both your birth and your substance are troublesome to you in resisting idolatry.” For avoiding it, remedies cannot be lacking; since, even if they be lacking, there remains that one by which you will be made a happier magistrate, not in the earth, but in the heavens.[Revelation 2:26-27]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 102, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
The Chaplet, or De Corona. (HTML)
Chapter XV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 441 (In-Text, Margin)
Keep for God His own property untainted; He will crown it if He choose. Nay, then, He does even choose. He calls us to it. To him who conquers He says, “I will give a crown of life.”[Revelation 2:10] Be you, too, faithful unto death, and fight you, too, the good fight, whose crown the apostle feels so justly confident has been laid up for him. The angel also, as he goes forth on a white horse, conquering and to conquer, receives a crown of victory; and another is adorned with an encircling rainbow (as it were in its fair colours)—a celestial meadow. In like manner, the elders sit crowned ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 162, footnote 20 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)
Of the Prophecies of the Birth and Achievements of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1279 (In-Text, Margin)
... grace of his lips, one whom he was girding for war with a sword; of whom he proceeds subjunctively to say, “Outstretch and prosper, advance and reign!” And he has added, “because of thy lenity and justice.” Who will ply the sword without practising the contraries to lenity and justice; that is, guile, and asperity, and injustice, proper (of course) to the business of battles? See we, then, whether that which has another action be not another sword,—that is, the Divine word of God, doubly sharpened[Revelation 2:12] with the two Testaments of the ancient law and the new law; sharpened by the equity of its own wisdom; rendering to each one according to his own action. Law ful , then, it was for the Christ of God to be precinct, in the Psalms, without warlike ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 259, footnote 18 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Prescription Against Heretics. (HTML)
Present Heresies (Seedlings of the Tares Noted by the Sacred Writers) Already Condemned in Scripture. This Descent of Later Heresy from the Earlier Traced in Several Instances. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2208 (In-Text, Margin)
... the thirty Æons. The same apostle, when disapproving of those who are “in bondage to elements,” points us to some dogma of Hermogenes, who introduces matter as having no beginning, and then compares it with God, who has no beginning. By thus making the mother of the elements a goddess, he has it in his power “to be in bondage” to a being which he puts on a par with God. John, however, in the Apocalypse is charged to chastise those “who eat things sacrificed to idols,” and “who commit fornication.”[Revelation 2:14] There are even now another sort of Nicolaitans. Theirs is called the Gaian heresy. But in his epistle he especially designates those as “Antichrists” who “denied that Christ was come in the flesh,” and who refused to think that Jesus was the Son of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 646, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
Scorpiace. (HTML)
Chapter XII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8297 (In-Text, Margin)
... of fear, but that which he who denies is about to pay, who has to be slain, body and soul, in hell? And if he teaches that we must die for the brethren, how much more for the Lord,—he being sufficiently prepared, by his own Revelation too, for giving such advice! For indeed the Spirit had sent the injunction to the angel of the church in Smyrna: “Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”[Revelation 2:10] Also to the angel of the church in Pergamus (mention was made) of Antipas, the very faithful martyr, who was slain where Satan dwelleth. Also to the angel of the church in Philadelphia (it was signified) that he who had not denied the name of the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 646, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
Scorpiace. (HTML)
Chapter XII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8298 (In-Text, Margin)
... body and soul, in hell? And if he teaches that we must die for the brethren, how much more for the Lord,—he being sufficiently prepared, by his own Revelation too, for giving such advice! For indeed the Spirit had sent the injunction to the angel of the church in Smyrna: “Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Also to the angel of the church in Pergamus (mention was made) of Antipas,[Revelation 2:13] the very faithful martyr, who was slain where Satan dwelleth. Also to the angel of the church in Philadelphia (it was signified) that he who had not denied the name of the Lord was delivered from the last trial. Then to every conqueror the Spirit ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 650, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
Appendix: Against All Heresies. (HTML)
Earliest Heretics: Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Nicolaus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8353 (In-Text, Margin)
... permixtures, and certain yet baser outcomes of these. He teaches that there were born, moreover, dæmons, and gods, and spirits seven, and other things sufficiently sacrilegious. alike and foul, which we blush to recount, and at once pass them by. Enough it is for us that this heresy of the Nicolaitans has been condemned by the Apocalypse of the Lord with the weightiest authority attaching to a sentence, in saying “Because this thou holdest, thou hatest the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I too hate.”[Revelation 2:6]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 659, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Repentance Applicable to All the Kinds of Sin. To Be Practised Not Only, Nor Chiefly, for the Good It Brings, But Because God Commands It. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8446 (In-Text, Margin)
... repentance, O sinner, like myself (nay, rather, less than myself, for pre-eminence in sins I acknowledge to be mine), do you so hasten to, so embrace, as a shipwrecked man the protection of some plank. This will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sins, and will bear you forward into the port of the divine clemency. Seize the opportunity of unexpected felicity: that you, who sometime were in God’s sight nothing but “a drop of a bucket,” and “dust of the threshing-floor,” and “a potter’s vessel,”[Revelation 2:27] may thenceforward become that “tree which is sown beside the waters, is perennial in leaves, bears fruit at its own time,” and shall not see “fire,” nor “axe.” Having found “the truth,” repent of errors; repent of having loved what God loves not: ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8490 (In-Text, Margin)
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.”[Revelation 2:7] He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8490 (In-Text, Margin)
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.”[Revelation 2:11] He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8490 (In-Text, Margin)
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.”[Revelation 2:17] He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8490 (In-Text, Margin)
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.”[Revelation 2:29] He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8491 (In-Text, Margin)
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.” He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;”[Revelation 2:4] reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive the repentant. The ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8492 (In-Text, Margin)
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.” He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;”[Revelation 2:20] accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive the repentant. The matter were doubtful if He had not withal ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8494 (In-Text, Margin)
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.” He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things;[Revelation 2:14-15] upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive the repentant. The matter were doubtful if He had not withal elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of His clemency. ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 15, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced Back to the Angels Who Had Fallen. (HTML)
... and—so to say—crude and rude, had moved (the mind of) angels? or was it that the lovers would appear sordid and—through gratuitous use—contumelious, if they had conferred no (compensating) gift on the women who had been enticed into connubial connection with them? But these questions admit of no calculation. Women who possessed angels (as husbands) could desire nothing more; they had, forsooth, made a grand match! Assuredly they who, of course, did sometimes think whence they had fallen,[Revelation 2:5] and, after the heated impulses of their lusts, looked up toward heaven, thus requited that very excellence of women, natural beauty, as (having proved) a cause of evil, in order that their good fortune might profit them nothing; but that, being ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 90, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
The Same Subject Continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 856 (In-Text, Margin)
... nuptials and impious voluptuousness and parricidal lust,—(lust) which he had refused to compare even with (the lusts of) the nations, for fear it should be set down to the account of custom; (lust) on which he would sit in judgment though absent, for fear the culprit should “gain the time;” (lust) which he had condemned after calling to his aid even “the Lord’s power,” for fear the sentence should seem human. Therefore he has trifled both with his own “spirit,” and with “the angel of the Church,”[Revelation 2:1] and with “the power of the Lord,” if he rescinded what by their counsel he had formally pronounced.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 90, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
The Same Subject Continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 856 (In-Text, Margin)
... nuptials and impious voluptuousness and parricidal lust,—(lust) which he had refused to compare even with (the lusts of) the nations, for fear it should be set down to the account of custom; (lust) on which he would sit in judgment though absent, for fear the culprit should “gain the time;” (lust) which he had condemned after calling to his aid even “the Lord’s power,” for fear the sentence should seem human. Therefore he has trifled both with his own “spirit,” and with “the angel of the Church,”[Revelation 2:8] and with “the power of the Lord,” if he rescinded what by their counsel he had formally pronounced.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 90, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
The Same Subject Continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 856 (In-Text, Margin)
... nuptials and impious voluptuousness and parricidal lust,—(lust) which he had refused to compare even with (the lusts of) the nations, for fear it should be set down to the account of custom; (lust) on which he would sit in judgment though absent, for fear the culprit should “gain the time;” (lust) which he had condemned after calling to his aid even “the Lord’s power,” for fear the sentence should seem human. Therefore he has trifled both with his own “spirit,” and with “the angel of the Church,”[Revelation 2:12] and with “the power of the Lord,” if he rescinded what by their counsel he had formally pronounced.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 90, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
The Same Subject Continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 856 (In-Text, Margin)
... nuptials and impious voluptuousness and parricidal lust,—(lust) which he had refused to compare even with (the lusts of) the nations, for fear it should be set down to the account of custom; (lust) on which he would sit in judgment though absent, for fear the culprit should “gain the time;” (lust) which he had condemned after calling to his aid even “the Lord’s power,” for fear the sentence should seem human. Therefore he has trifled both with his own “spirit,” and with “the angel of the Church,”[Revelation 2:18] and with “the power of the Lord,” if he rescinded what by their counsel he had formally pronounced.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 95, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Objections from the Revelation and the First Epistle of St. John Refuted. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 933 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Spirit sends a message that He “hath against him that he kept (in communion) the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophet, and teacheth, and seduceth my servants unto fornicating and eating of idol sacrifice. And I gave her bounteously a space of time, that she might enter upon repentance; nor is she willing to enter upon it on the count of fornication. Behold, I will give her into a bed, and her adulterers with herself into greatest pressure, unless they shall have repented of her works.”[Revelation 2:18] I am content with the fact that, between apostles, there is a common agreement in rules of faith and of discipline. For, “Whether (it be) I,” says (Paul), “or they, thus we preach.” Accordingly, it is material to the interest of the whole sacrament ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 95, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Objections from the Revelation and the First Epistle of St. John Refuted. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 933 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Spirit sends a message that He “hath against him that he kept (in communion) the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophet, and teacheth, and seduceth my servants unto fornicating and eating of idol sacrifice. And I gave her bounteously a space of time, that she might enter upon repentance; nor is she willing to enter upon it on the count of fornication. Behold, I will give her into a bed, and her adulterers with herself into greatest pressure, unless they shall have repented of her works.”[Revelation 2:20-22] I am content with the fact that, between apostles, there is a common agreement in rules of faith and of discipline. For, “Whether (it be) I,” says (Paul), “or they, thus we preach.” Accordingly, it is material to the interest of the whole sacrament ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 86, footnote 6 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)
Book VI. (HTML)
The Tenet of the Duad Made the Foundation of Valentinus' System of the Emanation of Æons. (HTML)
... and Synesis, Ecclesiasticus and Macariotes, Theletus and Sophia. But of the twelve, the twelfth and youngest of all the twenty-eight Æons, being a female, and called Sophia, observed the multitude and power of the begetting Æons, and hurried back into the depth of the Father. And she perceived that all the rest of the Æons, as being begotten, generate by conjugal intercourse. The Father, on the other hand, alone, without copulation, has produced (an offspring). She wished to emulate the Father,[Revelation 2:24] and to produce (offspring) of herself without a marital partner, that she might achieve a work in no wise inferior to (that of) the Father. (Sophia, however,) was ignorant that the Unbegotten One, being an originating principle of the universe, as ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 115, footnote 7 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)
Book VII. (HTML)
The Melchisedecians; The Nicolaitans. (HTML)
... convicted (of these charges). But Nicolaus has been a cause of the wide-spread combination of these wicked men. He, as one of the seven (that were chosen) for the diaconate, was appointed by the Apostles. (But Nicolaus) departed from correct doctrine, and was in the habit of inculcating indifferency of both life and food. And when the disciples (of Nicolaus) continued to offer insult to the Holy Spirit, John reproved them in the Apocalypse as fornicators and eaters of things offered unto idols.[Revelation 2:6]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 254, footnote 7 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
Appendix to the Works of Hippolytus. Containing Dubious and Spurious Pieces. (HTML)
A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ. (HTML)
Section XLIX. (HTML)
... benignant God may say, “Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace;” and again, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Which joy may it be ours to reach, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom pertain glory, honour, and adoration, with His Father, who is without beginning, and His holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of the ages. Amen.[Revelation 2:10]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 283, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To the Presbyters and Deacons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2146 (In-Text, Margin)
... that they should maintain the honour of their name, so that those who have achieved glory by what they have testified, may achieve glory also by their characters, and in all things seeking the Lord’s approval, may show themselves worthy, in consummation of their praise, to attain a heavenly crown. For there remains more than what is yet seen to be accomplished, since it is written “Praise not any man before his death;” and again, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”[Revelation 2:10] And the Lord also says, “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” Let them imitate the Lord, who at the very time of His passion was not more proud, but more humble. For then He washed His disciples’ feet, saying, “If I, your Lord and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 289, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To the Martyrs and Confessors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2207 (In-Text, Margin)
... engaged,—Himself also in the struggles of our conflict not only crowns, but is crowned. But if before the day of your contest, of the mercy of God, peace shall supervene, let there still remain to you the sound will and the glorious conscience. Nor let any one of you be saddened as if he were inferior to those who before you have suffered tortures, have overcome the world and trodden it under foot, and so have come to the Lord by a glorious road. For the Lord is the “searcher out of the reins and the hearts.”[Revelation 2:23] He looks through secret things, and beholds that which is concealed. In order to merit the crown from Him, His own testimony alone is sufficient, who will judge us. Therefore, beloved brethren, either case is equally lofty and illustrious,—the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 293, footnote 5 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To the Clergy, Concerning Those Who are in Haste to Receive Peace. A.D. 250. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2236 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Cyprian to the presbyters and deacons, his brethren, greeting. I have read your letter, beloved brethren, wherein you wrote that your wholesome counsel was not wanting to our brethren, that, laying aside all rash haste, they should manifest a religious patience to God, so that when by His mercy we come together, we may debate upon all kinds of things, according to the discipline of the Church, especially since it is written, “Remember from whence thou hast fallen, and repent.”[Revelation 2:5] Now he repents, who, remembering the divine precept, with meekness and patience, and obeying the priests of God, deserves well of the Lord by his obedience and his righteous works.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 306, footnote 2 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To the Presbyters and Deacons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2317 (In-Text, Margin)
... who once and again, as you wrote to me, when warned by my colleagues not to do this, have persisted obstinately, in their presumption and audacity, deceiving certain brethren also from among our people, whose benefit we desire with all humility to consult, and whose salvation we take care for, not with affected adulation, but with sincere faith, that they may supplicate the Lord with true penitence and groaning and sorrow, since it is written, “Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent.”[Revelation 2:5] And again, the divine Scripture says, “Thus saith the Lord, When thou shalt be converted and lament, then thou shalt be saved, and shalt know where thou hast been.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 315, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To the Clergy, Bidding Them Show Every Kindness to the Confessors in Prison. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2376 (In-Text, Margin)
... was wanting to the tortures, but the tortures that were wanting to him. “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven,” saith the Lord. They have confessed Him. “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved,” saith the Lord. They have endured and have carried the uncorrupted and unstained merits of their virtues through, even unto the end. And, again, it is written, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”[Revelation 2:10] They have persevered in their faithfulness, and stedfastness, and invincibleness, even unto death. When to the willingness and the confession of the name in prison and in chains is added also the conclusion of dying, the glory of the martyr is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 332, footnote 10 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Antonianus About Cornelius and Novatian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2487 (In-Text, Margin)
22. But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think that repentance is not to be granted to the lapsed, or to suppose that pardon is to be denied to the penitent, when it is written, “Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works,”[Revelation 2:5] which certainly is said to him who evidently has fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to rise up again by his works, because it is written, “Alms do deliver from death,” and not, assuredly, from that death which once the blood of Christ extinguished, and from which the saving grace of baptism and of our Redeemer has delivered us, but from that which subsequently creeps ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 333, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Antonianus About Cornelius and Novatian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2489 (In-Text, Margin)
... for repentance; and the Lord threatens him that does not repent: “I have,” saith He, “many things against thee, because thou sufferest thy wife Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols; and I gave her a space to repent, and she will not repent of her forni cation. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds;”[Revelation 2:20-22] whom certainly the Lord would not exhort to repentance, if it were not that He promises mercy to them that repent. And in the Gospel He says, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 442, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Lapsed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3249 (In-Text, Margin)
... another persecution, and another temptation, by which the crafty enemy still further assaults the lapsed; attacking them by a secret corruption, that their lamentation may be hushed, that their grief may be silent, that the memory of their sin may pass away, that the groaning of their heart may be repressed, that the weeping of their eyes may be quenched; nor long and full penitence deprecate the Lord so grievously offended, although it is written, “Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent.”[Revelation 2:5]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 445, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Lapsed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3282 (In-Text, Margin)
... has done with less either of disgrace or of guilt among men. Be that as it may, he will not be able to escape and avoid God his judge, seeing that the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms, “Thine eyes did see my substance, that it was imperfect, and in Thy book shall all men be written.” And again: “Man seeth the outward appearance, but God seeth the heart.” The Lord Himself also forewarns and prepares us, saying, “And all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and the heart.”[Revelation 2:23] He looks into the hidden and secret things, and considers those things which are concealed; nor can any one evade the eyes of the Lord, who says, “I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man be hidden in secret places, shall not I therefore ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 448, footnote 9 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Lord's Prayer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3311 (In-Text, Margin)
... modesty and discipline—not to throw abroad our prayers indiscriminately, with unsubdued voices, nor to cast to God with tumultuous wordiness a petition that ought to be commended to God by modesty; for God is the hearer, not of the voice, but of the heart. Nor need He be clamorously reminded, since He sees men’s thoughts, as the Lord proves to us when He says, “Why think ye evil in your hearts?” And in another place: “And all the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the hearts and reins.”[Revelation 2:23]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 473, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Mortality. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3504 (In-Text, Margin)
... foreseen by a foreseeing God, so also in God’s servants, among whom confession is purposed and martyrdom conceived in the mind, the intention dedicated to good is crowned by God the judge. It is one thing for the spirit to be wanting for martyrdom, and another for martyrdom to have been wanting for the spirit. Such as the Lord finds you when He calls you, such also He judges you; since He Himself bears witness, and says, “And all the churches shall know that I am the searcher of the reins and heart.”[Revelation 2:23] For God does not ask for our blood, but for our faith. For neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob were slain; and yet, being honoured by the deserts of faith and righteousness, they deserved to be first among the patriarchs, to whose feast is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 502, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus. (HTML)
That injuries and penalties of persecutions are not to be feared by us, because greater is the Lord to protect than the devil to assault. (HTML)
... me, in that will I put my hope. One hope have I sought of the Lord, this will I require; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Also in Exodus, the Holy Scripture declares that we are rather multiplied and increased by afflictions, saying: “And the more they afflicted them, so much the more they became greater, and waxed stronger.” And in the Apocalypse, divine protection is promised to our sufferings. “Fear nothing of these things,” it says, “which thou shalt suffer.”[Revelation 2:10] Nor does any one else promise to us security and protection, than He who also speaks by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name: thou art mine. And if thou passest through the water, I am with ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 538, footnote 14 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... night in His temple; and He who sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall neither hunger nor thirst ever; and neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor shall they suffer any heat: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall protect them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life; and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Also in the same place: “He who shall overcome I will give him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God.”[Revelation 2:7] Also in the same place: “Be thou faithful even unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Also in the same place: “Blessed shall they be who shall watch, and shall keep their garments, lest they walk naked, and they see their shame.” Of this ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 538, footnote 15 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... hunger nor thirst ever; and neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor shall they suffer any heat: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall protect them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life; and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Also in the same place: “He who shall overcome I will give him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God.” Also in the same place: “Be thou faithful even unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”[Revelation 2:10] Also in the same place: “Blessed shall they be who shall watch, and shall keep their garments, lest they walk naked, and they see their shame.” Of this same thing, Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy: “I am now offered up, and the time of my ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 547, footnote 25 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... Solomon: “In every place the eyes of God look upon the good and evil.” Also in Jeremiah: “I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man should be hidden in the secret place, shall I not therefore see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” Also in the first of Kings: “Man looketh on the face, but God on the heart.” Also in the Apocalypse: “And all the churches shall know that I am the searcher of the reins and heart; and I will give to every one of you according to his works.”[Revelation 2:23] Also in the eighteenth Psalm: “Who understands his faults? Cleanse Thou me from my secret sins, O Lord.” Also in the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: “We must all be manifested before the tribunal of Christ, that every one may bear again ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 595, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
Treatises Attributed to Cyprian on Questionable Authority. (HTML)
Exhortation to Repentance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4942 (In-Text, Margin)
Also in the Apocalypse: “Remember whence thou hast fallen, and repent; but if not, I will come to thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place.”[Revelation 2:5]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 661, footnote 10 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Appendix. (HTML)
Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian. (HTML)
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5394 (In-Text, Margin)
... opposed to penitents; who labours more readily in the destruction of those things which are built and standing, than in the building up of those which are prostrate; who has once more made heathens of many most wretched brethren of ours, terrified by his false oppositions, by saying that the repentance of the lapsed is vain, and cannot avail them for salvation, although the Scripture cries aloud and says, “Remember whence thou hast fallen, and repent, or else I will come to thee except thou repent.”[Revelation 2:5] And indeed, writing to the seven churches, rebuking each one of them with its own crimes and sins, it said, Repent. To whom but to them, doubtless, whom He had redeemed at the great price of His blood?
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 317, footnote 7 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Methodius. (HTML)
The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)
Thaleia. (HTML)
Comparison Instituted Between the First and Second Adam. (HTML)
And, first, we must inquire if Adam can be likened to the Son of God, when he was found in the transgression of the Fall, and heard the sentence, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” For how shall he be considered “the first-born of every creature,” who, after the creation of the earth and the firmament, was formed out of clay? And how shall he be admitted to be “the tree of life” who was cast out for his transgression,[Revelation 2:7] lest “he should again stretch forth his hand and eat of it, and live forever?” For it is necessary that a thing which is likened unto anything else, should in many respects be similar and analogous to that of which it is the similitude, and not have its constitution opposite and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 214, footnote 6 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book VII. Of a Happy Life (HTML)
Chap. XVII.—Of the false prophet, and the hardships of the righteous, and his destruction (HTML)
As many as shall believe him and unite themselves to him, shall be marked by him as sheep; but they who shall refuse his mark will either flee to the mountains, or, being seized, will be slain with studied tortures. He will also enwrap righteous men with the books of the prophets, and thus burn them; and power will be given him to desolate[Revelation 2] the whole earth for forty-two months. That will be the time in which righteousness shall be cast out, and innocence be hated; in which the wicked shall prey upon the good as enemies; neither law, nor order, nor military discipline shall be preserved; no one shall reverence hoary locks, nor recognise the duty of piety, nor pity ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 16, footnote 9 (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 92 (In-Text, Margin)
... spirit of understanding and of sanctification shall rest upon Him in the water. He shall give the majesty of the Lord to His sons in truth for evermore; and there shall none succeed Him for all generations, even for ever. And in His priesthood shall all sin come to an end, and the lawless shall rest from evil, and the just shall rest in Him. And He shall open the gates of paradise, and shall remove the threatening sword against Adam; and He shall give to His saints to eat from the tree of life,[Revelation 2:7] and the spirit of holiness shall be on them. And Beliar shall be bound by Him, and He shall give power to His children to tread upon the evil spirits. And the Lord shall rejoice in His children, and the Lord shall be well pleased in His beloved for ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 151, footnote 3 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)
The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)
Book V. (HTML)
Who are Worshippers of God? (HTML)
“But some one will say, These passions sometimes befall even those who worship God. It is not true. For we say, that he is a worshipper of God, who does the will of God, and observes the precepts of His law. For in God’s estimation he is not a Jew who is called a Jew among men (nor is he a Gentile that is called a Gentile), but he who, believing in God, fulfils His law and does His will, though he be not circumcised.[Revelation 2:9] He is the true worshipper of God, who not only is himself free from passions, but also sets others free from them; though they be so heavy that they are like mountains, he removes them by means of the faith with which he believes in God. Yea, by faith he truly removes mountains with their ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 481, footnote 2 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)
Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. (HTML)
Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2080 (In-Text, Margin)
Nero said: Art thou not afraid, Peter, of Simon, who confirms his godhead by deeds? Peter said: Godhead is in Him who searcheth the hidden things of the heart.[Revelation 2:23] Now then, tell me what I am thinking about, or what I am doing. I disclose to thy servants who are here what my thought is, before he tells lies about it, in order that he may not dare to lie as to what I am thinking about. Nero said: Come hither, and tell me what thou art thinking about. Peter said: Order a barley loaf to be brought, and to be given to me secretly. And when he ordered it to be brought, and secretly ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 283, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Glorius, Eleusius, etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1639 (In-Text, Margin)
... Apocalypse of John we read: “Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write: These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name’s sake hast tolerated them, and hast not fainted.”[Revelation 2:1-3] Now, if He wished this to be understood as addressed to a celestial angel, and not to those invested with authority in the Church, He would not go on to say: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 283, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Glorius, Eleusius, etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1640 (In-Text, Margin)
... and for My name’s sake hast tolerated them, and hast not fainted.” Now, if He wished this to be understood as addressed to a celestial angel, and not to those invested with authority in the Church, He would not go on to say: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”[Revelation 2:4-5] This could not be said to the heavenly angels, who retain their love unchanged, as the only beings of their order that have departed and fallen from their love are the devil and his angels. The first love here alluded to is that which was proved in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 267, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
The Resurrection of the Lost. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1273 (In-Text, Margin)
... susceptible of pain; or in what sense corruptible, if it be free from the possibility of death. For there is no true life except where there is happiness in life, and no true incorruption except where health is unbroken by any pain. When, however, the unhappy are not permitted to die, then, if I may so speak, death itself dies not; and where pain without intermission afflicts the soul, and never comes to an end, corruption itself is not completed. This is called in Holy Scripture “the second death.”[Revelation 2:2]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 453, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)
In which he treats of what follows in the same epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus. (HTML)
Chapter 10 (HTML)
16. But it will be urged that the bad outside are worse than those within. It is indeed a weighty question, whether Nicolaus, being already severed from the Church,[Revelation 2:6] or Simon, who was still within it, was the worse,—the one being a heretic, the other a sorcerer. But if the mere fact of division, as being the clearest token of violated charity, is held to be the worse evil, I grant that it is so. Yet many, though they have lost all feelings of charity, yet do not secede from considerations of worldly profit; and as they seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 161, footnote 3 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Nicolaus and the Sect named after him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 842 (In-Text, Margin)
1. this time the so-called sect of the Nicolaitans made its appearance and lasted for a very short time. Mention is made of it in the Apocalypse of John.[Revelation 2:6] They boasted that the author of their sect was Nicolaus, one of the deacons who, with Stephen, were appointed by the apostles for the purpose of ministering to the poor. Clement of Alexandria, in the third book of his Stromata, relates the following things concerning him.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 161, footnote 3 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Nicolaus and the Sect named after him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 842 (In-Text, Margin)
1. this time the so-called sect of the Nicolaitans made its appearance and lasted for a very short time. Mention is made of it in the Apocalypse of John.[Revelation 2:15] They boasted that the author of their sect was Nicolaus, one of the deacons who, with Stephen, were appointed by the apostles for the purpose of ministering to the poor. Clement of Alexandria, in the third book of his Stromata, relates the following things concerning him.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 164, footnote 9 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Symeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, suffers Martyrdom. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 885 (In-Text, Margin)
6. He writes as follows: “They came, therefore, and took the lead of every church as witnesses[Revelation 2:13] and as relatives of the Lord. And profound peace being established in every church, they remained until the reign of the Emperor Trajan, and until the above-mentioned Symeon, son of Clopas, an uncle of the Lord, was informed against by the heretics, and was himself in like manner accused for the same cause before the governor Atticus. And after being tortured for many days he suffered martyrdom, and all, including even the proconsul, marveled that, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 213, footnote 14 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
The Number of those who fought for Religion in Gaul Under Verus and the Nature of their Conflicts. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1371 (In-Text, Margin)
17. “But the whole wrath of the populace, and governor, and soldiers was aroused exceedingly against Sanctus, the deacon from Vienne, and Maturus, a late convert, yet a noble combatant, and against Attalus, a native of Pergamos[Revelation 2:12] where he had always been a pillar and foundation, and Blandina, through whom Christ showed that things which appear mean and obscure and despicable to men are with God of great glory, through love toward him manifested in power, and not boasting in appearance.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 572, footnote 1 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius. (HTML)
The Oration of Constantine. (HTML)
That Created Nature differs infinitely from Uncreated Being; to which Man makes the Nearest Approach by a Life of Virtue. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3442 (In-Text, Margin)
... superior to the power of fate, in eternal and undecaying mansions. For the only power in man which can be elevated to a comparison with that of God, is sincere and guileless service and devotion of heart to himself, with the contemplation and study of whatever pleases him, the raising our affections above the things of earth, and directing our thoughts, as far as we may, to high and heavenly objects: for from such endeavors, it is said, a victory accrues to us more valuable than many blessings.[Revelation 2:7-10] The cause, then, of that difference which subsists, as regards the inequality both of dignity and power in created beings, is such as I have described. In this the wise acquiesce with abundant thankfulness and joy: while those who are dissatisfied, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 6, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rufinus the Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 58 (In-Text, Margin)
... will repel him: “When I am weak, then am I strong,” and “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” He will hold out threats of death; but the reply will be: “I desire to depart and to be with Christ.” He will brandish his fiery darts, but they will be received on the shield of faith. In a word, Satan will assail him, but Christ will defend. Thanks be to Thee, Lord Jesus, that in Thy day I have one able to pray to Thee for me. To Thee all hearts are open, Thou searchest the secrets of the heart,[Revelation 2:23] Thou seest the prophet shut up in the fish’s belly in the midst of the sea. Thou knowest then how he and I grew up together from tender infancy to vigorous manhood, how we were fostered in the bosoms of the same nurses, and carried in the arms of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 17, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Heliodorus, Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 232 (In-Text, Margin)
9. Not all bishops are bishops indeed. You consider Peter; mark Judas as well. You notice Stephen; look also on Nicolas, sentenced in the Apocalypse by the Lord’s own lips,[Revelation 2:6] whose shameful imaginations gave rise to the heresy of the Nicolaitans. “Let a man examine himself and so let him come.” For it is not ecclesiastical rank that makes a man a Christian. The centurion Cornelius was still a heathen when he was cleansed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Daniel was but a child when he judged the elders. Amos was stripping mulberry bushes when, in a moment, he was made a prophet. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 17, footnote 17 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Heliodorus, Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 244 (In-Text, Margin)
... much, of him He will ask the more. “Mighty men shall be mightily tormented.” No man need pride himself in the day of judgment on merely physical chastity, for then shall men give account for every idle word, and the reviling of a brother shall be counted as the sin of murder. Paul and Peter now reign with Christ, and it is not easy to take the place of the one or to hold the office of the other. There may come an angel to rend the veil of your temple, and to remove your candlestick out of its place.[Revelation 2:5] If you intend to build the tower, first count the cost. Salt that has lost its savor is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of swine. If a monk fall, a priest shall intercede for him; but who shall intercede for a fallen ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 18, footnote 23 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pope Damasus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 275 (In-Text, Margin)
... fruitful soil of Rome, when it receives the pure seed of the Lord, bears fruit an hundredfold; but here the seed corn is choked in the furrows and nothing grows but darnel or oats. In the West the Sun of righteousness is even now rising; in the East, Lucifer, who fell from heaven, has once more set his throne above the stars. “Ye are the light of the world,” “ye are the salt of the earth,” ye are “vessels of gold and of silver.” Here are vessels of wood or of earth, which wait for the rod of iron,[Revelation 2:27] and eternal fire.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 146, footnote 26 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2100 (In-Text, Margin)
... left. If filthiness is cleansed, how much more is cleanness kept from defilement. “A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit.” Yes, for “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new nature.” Wherefore the song also which we sing is a new song, and putting off the old man we walk not in the oldness of the letter but in the newness of the spirit. This is the new stone wherein the new name is written, “which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”[Revelation 2:17] “Know ye not,” says the apostle, “that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 176, footnote 12 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius and Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2560 (In-Text, Margin)
... to me in his own person a second edition of Nicodemus. Of all of these I have frequently made mention in my works. The doctrines of Apollinaris and of Didymus are mutually contradictory. The squadrons of the two leaders must drag me in different directions, for I acknowledge both as my masters. If it is expedient to hate any men and to loath any race, I have a strange dislike to those of the circumcision. For up to the present day they persecute our Lord Jesus Christ in the synagogues of Satan.[Revelation 2:9] Yet can anyone find fault with me for having had a Jew as a teacher? Does a certain person dare to bring forward against me the letter I wrote to Didymus calling him my master? It is a great crime, it would seem, for me a disciple to give to one ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 234, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ageruchia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3274 (In-Text, Margin)
... passage refers it to Christ and the church; making the first Adam a monogamist in the flesh and the second a monogamist in the spirit. As there is one Eve who is “the mother of all living,” so is there one church which is the parent of all Christians. And as the accursed Lamech made of the first Eve two separate wives, so also the heretics sever the second into several churches which, according to the apocalypse of John, ought rather to be called synagogues of the devil than congregations of Christ.[Revelation 2:9] In the Book of Songs we read as follows:—“there are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her.” It is to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 291, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Sabinianus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3977 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Have mercy I beseech you upon your soul. Consider that God’s judgment will one day overtake you. Remember by what a bishop you were ordained. The holy man was mistaken in his choice; but this he might well be. For even God repented that he had anointed Saul to be king. Even among the twelve apostles Judas was found a traitor. And Nicolas of Antioch—a deacon like yourself —disseminated the Nicolaitan heresy and all manner of uncleanness.[Revelation 2:6] I do not now bring up to you the many virgins whom you are said to have seduced, or the noble matrons who have suffered death because violated by you, or the greedy profligacy with which you have hied through dens of sin. For grave and serious as such sins are in themselves, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 291, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Sabinianus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3977 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Have mercy I beseech you upon your soul. Consider that God’s judgment will one day overtake you. Remember by what a bishop you were ordained. The holy man was mistaken in his choice; but this he might well be. For even God repented that he had anointed Saul to be king. Even among the twelve apostles Judas was found a traitor. And Nicolas of Antioch—a deacon like yourself —disseminated the Nicolaitan heresy and all manner of uncleanness.[Revelation 2:15] I do not now bring up to you the many virgins whom you are said to have seduced, or the noble matrons who have suffered death because violated by you, or the greedy profligacy with which you have hied through dens of sin. For grave and serious as such sins are in themselves, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 332, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4148 (In-Text, Margin)
... was asserted to be a phantom; the Galatians had been led away to the observance of the law, and the Apostle was a second time in travail with them; the Corinthians did not believe the resurrection of the flesh, and he endeavoured by many arguments to bring them back to the right path. Then came Simon Magus and his disciple Menander. They asserted themselves to be powers of God. Then Basilides invented the most high god Abraxas and the three hundred and sixty-five manifestations of him. Then[Revelation 2:6] Nicolas, one of the seven Deacons, and one whose lechery knew no rest by night or day, indulged in his filthy dreams. I say nothing of the Jewish heretics who before the coming of Christ destroyed the law delivered to them: of Dositheus, the leader ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 332, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4148 (In-Text, Margin)
... was asserted to be a phantom; the Galatians had been led away to the observance of the law, and the Apostle was a second time in travail with them; the Corinthians did not believe the resurrection of the flesh, and he endeavoured by many arguments to bring them back to the right path. Then came Simon Magus and his disciple Menander. They asserted themselves to be powers of God. Then Basilides invented the most high god Abraxas and the three hundred and sixty-five manifestations of him. Then[Revelation 2:15] Nicolas, one of the seven Deacons, and one whose lechery knew no rest by night or day, indulged in his filthy dreams. I say nothing of the Jewish heretics who before the coming of Christ destroyed the law delivered to them: of Dositheus, the leader ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 333, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4158 (In-Text, Margin)
... fornication. And yet the Lord encourages all these to repent, and adds a threat, moreover, of future punishment if they do not turn. Now he would not urge them to repent unless he intended to grant pardon to the penitents. Is there any indication of his having said, Let them be re-baptized who have been baptized in the faith of the Nicolaitans? or let hands be laid upon those of the people of Pergamum who at that time believed, having held the doctrine of Balaam? Nay, rather, “Repent therefore,”[Revelation 2:16] he says, “or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 390, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4700 (In-Text, Margin)
... God who is lifted up in his own heart.” Like those who had just escaped from their sins, they return to their own error, and persuade men to luxury, and to the delights of eating and the gratification of the flesh. For who is not glad to hear them say: “Let us eat and drink, and reign for ever”? The wise and prudent they call corrupt, but pay more attention to the honey-tongued. John the apostle, or rather the Saviour in the person of John, writes thus to the angel of the Church of Ephesus:[Revelation 2:2] “I know thy works and thy toil and patience, and that thou didst bear for my name’s sake, and hast not grown weary. But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 210, footnote 19 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2614 (In-Text, Margin)
... reconciling the ends of the earth. This is the reason of the lifting up to atone for the fall, and of the gall for the tasting, and of the thorny crown for the dominion of evil, and of death for death, and of darkness for the sake of light, and of burial for the return to the ground, and of resurrection for the sake of resurrection. All these are a training from God for us, and a healing for our weakness, restoring the old Adam to the place whence he fell, and conducting us to the tree of life,[Revelation 2:7] from which the tree of knowledge estranged us, when partaken of unseasonably, and improperly.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 389, footnote 5 (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 4355 (In-Text, Margin)
9. This I seemed to hear Him say, and to see Him do, and besides, to hear Him shouting to His people, which once were few and scattered and miserable, and have now become many, and compact enough and enviable, Go through My gates and be ye enlarged. Must you always be in trouble and dwell in tents, while those who vex you rejoice exceedingly? And to the presiding Angels, for I believe, as John teaches me in his Revelation, that each Church has its guardian,[Revelation 2:1] Prepare ye the way of My people, and cast away the stones from the way, that there may be no stumblingblock or hindrance for the people in the divine road and entrance, now, to the temples made with hands, but soon after, to Jerusalem above, and the Holy of holies ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 432, footnote 4 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Second Oration on Easter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4667 (In-Text, Margin)
XXIV. If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up the Cross and follow. If you are crucified with Him as a robber, acknowledge God as a penitent robber. If even He was numbered among the transgressors for you and your sin, do you become law-abiding for His sake. Worship Him Who was hanged for you, even if you yourself are hanging; make some gain even from your wickedness; purchase salvation by your death; enter with Jesus into Paradise, so that you may learn from what you have fallen.[Revelation 2:5] Contemplate the glories that are there; let the murderer die outside with his blasphemies; and if you be a Joseph of Arimathæa, beg the Body from him that crucified Him, make thine own that which cleanses the world. If you be a Nicodemus, the worshipper ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 178, footnote 3 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
Title Page (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book IX (HTML)
66. The Lord Jesus Christ, then, Who searcheth the heart and the reins[Revelation 2:23], has no weakness in His nature, that He should not know, for, as we perceive, even the fact of His ignorance proceeds from the omniscience of His nature. Yet if any there be, who impute to Him ignorance, let them tremble, lest He Who knows their thoughts should say to them, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts ? The All-knowing, though not ignorant of thoughts and deeds, sometimes enquires as if He were, as for instance when He asks the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 276, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter IX. Various quibbling arguments, advanced by the Arians to show that the Son had a beginning of existence, are considered and refuted, on the ground that whilst the Arians plainly prove nothing, or if they prove anything, prove it against themselves, (inasmuch as He Who is the beginning of all cannot Himself have a beginning), their reasonings do not even hold true with regard to facts of human existence. Time could not be before He was, Who is the Author of time--if indeed at some time He was not in existence, then the Father was without His Power and Wisdom. Again, our own human experience shows that a person is said to exist before he is born. (HTML)
108. But neither had the Son of God any beginning, seeing that He already was at the beginning, nor shall He come to an end, Who is the Beginning and the End of the Universe;[Revelation 2:8] for being the Beginning, how could He take and receive that which He already had, or how shall He come to an end, being Himself the End of all things, so that in that End we have an abiding-place without end? The Divine Generation is not an event occurring in the course of time, and within its limits, and therefore before it time is not, and in it time has no place.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 337, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter X. St. John did not absolutely forbid that prayer should be made for those who “sin unto death,” since he knew that Moses, Jeremiah, and Stephen had so prayed, and he himself implies that forgiveness is not to be denied them. (HTML)
46. How could John say that we should not pray for the sin unto death, who himself in the Apocalypse wrote the message to the angel of the Church of Pergamos? “Thou hast there those that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to put a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. Repent likewise, or else I will come to thee quickly.”[Revelation 2:14-16] Do you see that the same God Who requires repentance promises forgiveness? And then He says: “He that hath ears let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 337, footnote 3 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter X. St. John did not absolutely forbid that prayer should be made for those who “sin unto death,” since he knew that Moses, Jeremiah, and Stephen had so prayed, and he himself implies that forgiveness is not to be denied them. (HTML)
... doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to put a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. Repent likewise, or else I will come to thee quickly.” Do you see that the same God Who requires repentance promises forgiveness? And then He says: “He that hath ears let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.”[Revelation 2:17]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 488, footnote 1 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV. (HTML)
Conference XVIII. Conference of Abbot Piamun. On the Three Sorts of Monks. (HTML)
Chapter XVI. On the perfection of patience. (HTML)
... floor of this world, the chaff which is destined for eternal fire is quite sure to be mingled with the choicest of the wheat. Finally if we bear in mind that Satan was chosen among the angels, and Judas among the apostles, and Nicholas the author of a detestable heresy among the deacons, it will be no wonder that the basest of men are found among the ranks of the saints. For although some maintain that this Nicholas was not the same man who was chosen for the work of the ministry by the Apostles,[Revelation 2:15] nevertheless they cannot deny that he was of the number of the disciples, all of whom were clearly of such a character and so perfect as those few whom we can now with difficulty discover in the Cœnobia. Let us then bring forward not the fall of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 381, footnote 7 (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 the Resurrection of the Dead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1007 (In-Text, Margin)
19. But it is right for us to be afraid of the second death,[Revelation 2:11] that which is full of weeping and gnashing of teeth, and of groanings and miseries, that which is situated in outer darkness. But blessed shall be the faithful and the righteous in that Resurrection, in which they expect to be awakened and to receive the good promises made them. But as for the wicked who are not faithful, in the Resurrection woe to them, because of that which is laid up for them! It would be better for them according to the faith which they ...