Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Revelation 5:5
There are 19 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 149, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
Appendix (HTML)
Five Books in Reply to Marcion. (HTML)
Of the Harmony of the Old and New Laws. (HTML)
Did bear a lion:[Revelation 5:5] hurtful to her man
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 206, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)
Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. (HTML)
6. Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of under the figure of a lion,[Revelation 5:5] on account of His royalty and glory, in the same way have the Scriptures also aforetime spoken of Antichrist as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is also a lion; Christ is a king, so Antichrist is also a king. The Saviour was manifested as a lamb; so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf. The ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 520, footnote 8 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
... I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to receive the book, and to open its seals? Nor was there any one either in heaven or upon the earth, or under the earth, who was able to open the book, nor even to look into it. And I wept much because nobody was found worthy to open the book, nor to look into it. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.”[Revelation 5:1-5]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 348, footnote 1 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)
From the Fifth Book. (HTML)
Chapter IV. (HTML)
... of, let him tell us on what principle he warrants his preference for one book over another. If any one supposes that we are doing something of this kind ourselves, and applying the words in question to the book of Psalms, we deny that we do so, and we would urge that in that case the words should have been, “In this book it is written of Me.” But He speaks of all the books as one chapter, thus summing up in one all that is spoken of Christ for our instruction. In fact the book was seen by John,[Revelation 5:1-5] “written within and without, and sealed; and no one could open it to read it, and to loose the seals thereof, but the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, who has the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 307, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Januarius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1774 (In-Text, Margin)
... occasionally borrowed from them for the representation of divine mysteries; for such are borrowed from every created thing. Nor is there any reason for our incurring the sentence of condemnation which is pronounced by the apostle on some who worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. We do not adore sheep or cattle, although Christ is called both a Lamb, and by the prophet a young bullock; nor any beast of prey, though He is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah;[Revelation 5:5] nor a stone, although Christ is called a Rock; nor Mount Zion, though in it there was a type of the Church. And, in like manner, we do not adore the sun or the moon, although, in order to convey instruction in holy mysteries, figures of sacred ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 566, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
The Same Word Does Not Always Signify the Same Thing. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1883 (In-Text, Margin)
36. Now the rule in regard to this variation has two forms. For things that signify now one thing and now another, signify either things that are contrary, or things that are only different. They signify contraries, for example, when they are used metaphorically at one time in a good sense, at another in a bad, as in the case of the leaven mentioned above. Another example of the same is that a lion stands for Christ in the place where it is said, “The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;”[Revelation 5:5] and again, stands for the devil where it is written, “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” In the same way the serpent is used in a good sense, “Be wise as serpents;” and again, in a bad sense, “The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 491, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Against Lying. (HTML)
Section 24 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2418 (In-Text, Margin)
... object not proper, may at this rate be called a lie. For when he speaks of waving corn-fields, of vines putting forth gems, of the bloom of youth, of snowy hairs; without doubt the waves, the gems, the bloom, the snow, for that we find them not in those objects to which we have from other transferred these words, shall by these persons be accounted lies. And Christ a Rock, and the stony heart of the Jews; also, Christ a Lion, and the devil a lion, and innumerable such like, shall be said to be lies.[Revelation 5:5] Nay, this tropical expression reaches even to what is called antiphrasis, as when a thing is said to abound which does not exist, a thing said to be sweet which is sour; “ lucus quod non luceat, Parcæ quod non parcant.” Of which kind is that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 81, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Of the Four Living Creatures in the Apocalypse, Which Have Been Taken by Some in One Application, and by Others in Another, as Apt Figures of the Four Evangelists. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 535 (In-Text, Margin)
... of the several evangelists in its completeness, which was the matter that should, above all, have been thoroughly examined. For surely it is with much greater propriety that the one who has brought under our notice most largely the kingly character of Christ, should be taken to be represented by the lion. Thus is it also that we find the lion mentioned in conjunction with the royal tribe itself, in that passage of the Apocalypse where it is said, “The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed.”[Revelation 5:5] For in Matthew’s narrative the magi are recorded to have come from the east to inquire after the King, and to worship Him whose birth was notified to them by the star. Thus, too, Herod, who himself also was a king, is [said there to be] afraid of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 334, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xiii. 19, etc., where the Lord Jesus explaineth the parables of the sower. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2511 (In-Text, Margin)
... a lamb is simply a lamb, and a lion, a lion: but Christ is both. The first are respectively what they are in propriety of expression; the Latter both together in a figurative sense. Nay much more; besides this it may happen that under a figure, things very different from one another may be called by one and the same name. For what is so different as Christ and the devil? yet both Christ and the devil are called “a lion.” Christ is called “a lion:” “The Lion hath prevailed of the tribe of Judah;”[Revelation 5:5] and the devil is called a lion: “Know ye not that your adversary the Devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour?” Both the one and the other then is a lion; the one a lion by reason of His strength; the other for his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 89, 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 III. 22–29. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 305 (In-Text, Margin)
... when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. All things can be said of God, and nothing is worthily said of God. Nothing is wider than this poverty of expression. Thou seekest a fitting name for Him, thou canst not find it; thou seekest to speak of Him in any way soever, thou findest that He is all. What likeness have the lamb and the lion? Both is said of Christ. “Behold the Lamb of God!” How a lion? “The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed.”[Revelation 5:5]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 257, 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 X. 11–13. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 887 (In-Text, Margin)
... slaughter.” Ask the friend of the bridegroom: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” Moreover, I am going to say something of a still more wonderful kind, in accordance with these points of similarity. For both the lamb, and the sheep, and the shepherd are friendly with one another, but from the lions as their foes the sheep are protected by their shepherds: and yet of Christ, who is both sheep and Shepherd, we have it said, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed.”[Revelation 5:5] All this, brethren, understand in connection with points of similarity, not with personal qualities. It is a common thing to see the shepherds sitting on a rock, and there guarding the cattle committed to their care. Surely the shepherd is better ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 147, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1387 (In-Text, Margin)
6. What follows then? “My tongue is the pen of a writer writing rapidly.” What likeness, my brethren, what likeness, I ask, has the “tongue” of God with a transcriber’s pen? What resemblance has “the rock” to Christ? What likeness does the “lamb” bear to our Saviour, or what “the lion” to the strength of the Only-Begotten?[Revelation 5:5] Yet such comparisons have been made; and were they not made, we should not be formed to a certain extent by these visible things to the knowledge of the “Invisible One.” So then with this mean simile of the pen; let us not compare it to His excellent greatness, so let us not reject it with contempt. For I ask, why He compares His ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 189, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm L (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1795 (In-Text, Margin)
... brave one, like a mighty one, like him whom none can withstand. To this he made reference when he said, “Lion.” For it is used for praise, it is used also for showing evil. The devil hath been called lion: “Your adversary,” He saith, “like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom He may devour.” May it not be that whereas he hath been called lion because of savage fierceness, Christ hath been called Lion for wondrous mightiness? And where is that, “The Lion hath prevailed of the tribe of Judah?”[Revelation 5:5] …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 263, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2488 (In-Text, Margin)
... glory of the King, and the infamy of the Jews themselves, who, rejecting the true King, chose the fox Cæsar. “The King in truth shall rejoice in God.” They have been made portions of foxes.…“Stopped up is the mouth of men speaking unjust things.” No one dareth now openly to speak against Christ, now all men fear Christ. “For stopped up is the mouth of men speaking unjust things.” When in weakness the Lamb was, even foxes were bold against the Lamb. There conquered the Lion of the tribe of Judah,[Revelation 5:5] and the foxes were silenced.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 447, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4297 (In-Text, Margin)
6. “His truth shall surround thee with a shield” (ver. 5). What are “the wings,” the same is “the shield:” since there are neither wings nor shield. If either were literally, how could the one be the same as the other? can wings be a shield or a shield wings? But all these expressions, indeed, are figuratively used through likenesses. If Christ were really a Stone, He could not be a Lion; if a Lion,[Revelation 5:5] He could not be a Lamb: but He is called both Lion, and Lamb, and Stone, and Calf, and anything else of the sort, metaphorically, because He is neither Stone, nor Lion, nor Lamb, nor Calf, but Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all of us, for these are likenesses, not literal names. “His truth shall be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 515, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4747 (In-Text, Margin)
27. Nor think, brethren, that the sun ought to be worshipped by some men, because the sun doth sometimes in the Scriptures signify Christ. For such is the madness of men; as if we said that a creature should be worshipped, when it is said, the sun is an emblem of Christ. Then worship the rock also, for it also is a type of Christ. “He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter:” worship the lamb also, since it is a type of Christ. “The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;”[Revelation 5:5] worship the lion also, since it signifieth Christ. Observe how numerous are the types of Christ: all these are Christ in similitude, not in essence.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 57, footnote 15 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Clause, and in One Lord Jesus Christ, with a Reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1128 (In-Text, Margin)
... irrational one, but the one which through its precious blood cleanses the world from its sins, which is led before the shearers, and knows when to be silent. This Sheep again is called a Shepherd, who says, I am the Good Shepherd: a Sheep because of His manhood, a Shepherd because of the loving-kindness of His Godhead. And wouldst thou know that there are rational sheep? the Saviour says to the Apostles, Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Again, He is called a Lion[Revelation 5:5], not as a devourer of men, but indicating as it were by the title His kingly, and stedfast, and confident nature: a Lion He is also called in opposition to the lion our adver sary, who roars and devours those who have been deceived. For the Saviour ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 260, footnote 7 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter XV. The Arians, inasmuch as they assert the Son to be “of another substance,” plainly acknowledge substance in God. The only reason why they avoid the use of this term is that they will not, as Eusebius of Nicomedia has made it evident, confess Christ to be the true Son of God. (HTML)
128. Let us, then, keep the precepts of our forefathers, nor with rude and reckless daring profane the symbols bequeathed to us. That sealed book of prophecy, whereof we have heard, neither elders, nor powers, nor angels, nor archangels, ventured to open; for Christ alone is reserved the peculiar right of opening it.[Revelation 5:5] Who amongst us dare unseal the book of the priesthood, sealed by confessors, and long hallowed by the testimony of many? They who have been constrained to unseal, nevertheless have since, respecting the deceit put upon them, sealed again; they who dared not lay sacrilegious hands upon it, have stood forth as martyrs and confessors. How ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 134, footnote 4 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Commonitory of Vincent of Lérins, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies. (HTML)
Chapter V. The Example set us by the Martyrs, whom no force could hinder from defending the Faith of their Predecessors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 437 (In-Text, Margin)
And again in the third book of the same work, “Let us observe the precepts of our predecessors, and not transgress with rude rashness the landmarks which we have inherited from them. That sealed Book of Prophecy no Elders, no Powers, no Angels, no Archangels, dared to open. To Christ alone was reserved the prerogative of explaining it.[Revelation 5:1-5] Who of us may dare to unseal the Sacerdotal Book sealed by Confessors, and consecrated already by the martyrdom of numbers, which they who had been compelled by force to unseal afterwards resealed, condemning the fraud which had been practised upon them; while they who had not ventured to tamper with it proved themselves ...