Luke 12

Luke 12:1

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Our Lord has introduced a most forcible argument for preserving simplicity, and being zealous for the faith, that we should not after the manner of faithless Jews put one thing in practice, while in words we pretend another, namely, that at the last day the hidden thoughts accusing or else excusing one another, shall be seen to reveal the secrets of our mind. Whence it is added, There is nothing hid which shall not be revealed. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Meanwhile, as many crowds gathered so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. All the things He had disputed earlier while reclining at the Pharisee’s dinner pertain to this leaven. About which the Apostle also commands: Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Cor V). For just as a little leaven corrupts the whole lump of dough into which it is thrown, and soon taints the entire mixture with its flavor, so indeed simulation, once it has imbued the mind of anyone, will rob it of all sincerity and truth of virtues. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For as a little leaven leaveneth a whole lump of meal, (1 Cor. 5:6.) so hypocrisy will rob the mind of all the purity and integrity of its virtues. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For they were false accusers; therefore Christ warned His disciples against them. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: Being angry at this reproof, it says they began to urge him vehemently. This means to attack him with cunning, oppose him and show their hatred of him. They also tried, it says, to silence him about many things. What again is the meaning of their silencing him? It is that they required him to answer immediately and without consideration their wicked questions, expecting that he would fall and say something objectionable. They did not know that he was God. They despised him, were proud and disrespectful. Christ told his friends, that is, his disciples, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and scribes, meaning by leaven their false pretense. Hypocrisy is hateful to God and humanity. It does not bring a reward, and it is utterly useless for the salvation of the soul. It is rather the cause of its damnation. Although sometimes it may escape detection for a little while, before long, it is sure to be uncovered and bring disgrace on them. It is like an unattractive woman when she is stripped of that external embellishment which she produced by artificial means. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 86

Gregory of Nazianzus ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): When leaven is praised it is as composing the bread of life, but when blamed it signifies a lasting and bitter maliciousness. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Philoxenus of Mabbug: And again in another place our Lord taught His disciples to beware of the cunning of the Pharisees and Sadducees, saying, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and of the leaven of Herod;” and thou mayest know that He here calleth cunning and wickedness by the name of leaven. Our Lord did not bid them beware of the doctrine of Moses which the Pharisees taught, but of their traditions which they invented in their cunning that they might be material for the merchandise of iniquity; and of their feigning to be righteous before the children of men; and of their being careful of the honour of God while in their secret works they belittled Him; and of their making long their prayers in order to devour widow’s houses; and of their disfiguring their countenances that they might appear to be men who fasted; and of their washing the outside of the cup and platter—that is to say, they beautified and made fair the parts of them which were manifest—being filled within with iniquity and all impurity; and of their adorning their persons outside with a reverent and venerable demeanour to be observed with the eye, being secretly filled with rapine, and deceit, and wantonness, and the desire for all objects of lust. Of all this doctrine then of the Pharisees our Lord commanded His disciples to beware. All these things which arise from deceit, and which are wrought under a false disguise are born of cunning. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 – On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity

Luke 12:2

Bede: Nothing, however, is covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. And how in the present age does the hypocrisy of many long remain hidden? Therefore, it must be understood about the future time, when God will judge the hidden things of men. For just as one of the friends of blessed Job very truly said: The praise of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. If his arrogance rises to the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, he will be lost in the end like dung (Job. XX). In the end, he says, he will be lost, who appeared to flourish at the beginning. Therefore, the sense is: Beware of emulating simulators, because surely the time will come, when both your virtue will be revealed to all, and their hypocrisy. But what follows: — On the Gospel of Luke

Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): He either then says this concerning that time when God shall judge the secrets of men, or He says it because however much a man may endeavour to hide the good deeds of another by discredit, good of its own nature cannot be concealed. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: Since, then, He had censured their hypocrisy, which covered the secrets of the heart, and obscured with superficial offices the mysteries of unbelief, because (while holding the key of knowledge) it would neither enter in itself, nor permit others to enter in, He therefore adds, “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, which shall not be known,” in order that no one should suppose that He was attempting the revelation and the recognition of an hitherto unknown and hidden god. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:3

Bede: For what you have spoken in darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the ear in chambers will be proclaimed on the rooftops, not only in the future, when all hidden things of the heart will be brought to light, but also in the present time it can be suitably interpreted. For the things which the apostles once spoke or suffered in the darkness of oppressions and shadows of prisons are now proclaimed publicly throughout the world by the Church, now made glorious by their acts being read. Indeed, what he says ‘will be proclaimed on the rooftops’ refers to the custom of the province of Palestine, where they are accustomed to sit on rooftops. For they do not make their roofs elevated to peaks in our manner, but they make them flat in a level form. Hence, the law commanded that he who built a new house should build a parapet around the roof, so that bloodshed may not occur there if someone were to fall and be precipitated down. And in the construction of the temple, we read: He also covered the house with cedar boards, and built a story over the entire house five cubits in height. Therefore, it will be proclaimed on the rooftops, and it will be said openly for all to hear. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or He says this, because all the things which the Apostles of old spoke and suffered amid the darkness of oppression and the gloom of the prison, arc now that the Church is made known through the world and their acts are read, publicly proclaimed. The words, shall be proclaimed on the housetops, are spoken according to the manner of the country of Palestine, where they are accustomed to live on the housetops. For their roofs were not after our way raised to a point, but flat shaped, and level at the top. Therefore He says, proclaimed on the housetops; that is, spoken openly in the hearing of all men. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: The Gnostic, then, is impressed with the closest likeness, that is, with the mind of the Master; which He being possessed of, commanded and recommended to His disciples and to the prudent. Comprehending this, as He who taught wished, and receiving it in its grand sense, he teaches worthily “on the housetops” those capable of being built to a lofty height; and begins the doing of what is spoken, in accordance with the example of life. For He enjoined what is possible. And, in truth, the kingly man and Christian ought to be ruler and leader. For we are commanded to be lords over not only the wild beasts without us, but also over the wild passions within ourselves. — The Stromata Book 6

Luke 12:4

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Since unbelief springs from two causes, either from a deeply-seated malice or a sudden fear; lest any one from terror should be compelled to deny the God whom he acknowledges in his heart, He well adds, And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, &c.

He tells us also, that that death is not terrible for which at a far more costly rate of interest immortality is to be purchased.

For our natural death is not the end of punishment: and therefore He concludes that death is the cessation of bodily punishment, but the punishment of the soul is everlasting. And God alone is to be feared, to whose power nature prescribes not, but is herself subject; adding, Yea, I say unto you, Fear him. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: But I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more. If the persecutors of the saints, having killed their bodies, can do nothing more against them, then they rage with futile madness, who throw the dead bodies of martyrs to be torn apart by beasts and birds, or to be dissolved into the air, or to be dissolved in the waves, or to be reduced to ashes by flames, since they can in no way hinder the omnipotence of God from bringing them back to life by resurrection. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Their rage then is but useless raving, who cast the lifeless limbs of martyrs to be torn in pieces by wild beasts and birds, seeing that they can in no wise prevent the omnipotence of God from quickening and bringing them to life again. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: To put it in another light, as being his friends, we should not fear death but rather imitate the faith of the holy ancestors. When he was tempted, the patriarch Abraham offered his only-begotten son Isaac, considering that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. What terror of death can assail us, now that life has abolished death? Christ is the resurrection and the life. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 87

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For it is not absolutely to every one that this discourse seems to apply, but to those who love God with their whole heart to whom it belongs to say, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom. 8:3.) But they who are not such, are tottering, and ready to fall down. Moreover our Lord says, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13.) How then is it not most ungrateful to Christ not to repay Him what we receive?

We must then consider that crowns and honours are prepared for the labours of those upon whom men are continually venting forth their indignation, and to them the death of the body is the end of their persecutions. Whence He adds, And after this have nothing more that they can do. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Origen of Alexandria: Notice that this commandment is not given to Jesus’ servants but to his friends. “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” The One to fear is he “who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” He alone, “after he has killed,” has “power to throw into hell.” He throws into hell those who fear those who kill the body and do not fear “him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell.” We may suppose that no matter who else has the hair of his head numbered, the verse is obviously true of those who are cut off for Jesus. We will confess the Son of God before people and not before gods, that he who is confessed may confess us in turn before God and his Father, and confess in heaven the one who confessed him on earth. — EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 34

Pseudo-Clement: Wherefore, brethren, leaving willingly our sojourn in this present world, let us do the will of Him that called us, and not fear to depart out of this world. For the Lord saith, “Ye shall be as lambs in the midst of wolves.” And Peter answered and said unto Him, “What, then, if the wolves shall tear in pieces the lambs?” Jesus said unto Peter, “The lambs have no cause after they are dead to fear the wolves; and in like manner, fear not ye them that kill you, and can do nothing more unto you; but fear Him who, after you are dead, has power over both soul and body to cast them into hell-fire.” And consider, brethren, that the sojourning in the flesh in this world is but brief and transient, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, even the rest of the kingdom to come, and of life everlasting. — Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Pseudo-Clement)

Tertullian: He then turns to His disciples with these words, “I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them which can only kill the body, and after that have no more power over you.” They will, however, find Isaiah had already said, “See how the just man is taken away, and no man layeth it to heart. — Against Marcion Book IV

Tertullian: For “a fire shall proceed before His face, and shall utterly burn His enemies; " striking down not the body only, but the souls too, into hell. Besides, the Lord Himself demonstrates the manner in which He threatens such as judge: “For with what judgment ye judge, judgment shall be given on you. — On Modesty

Luke 12:5

Bede: Fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into Gehenna. For there are two kinds of persecutors: one openly raging, the other deceitfully and fraudulently flattering: wishing to arm and instruct us against both, the Savior commands us above to beware of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and here not to fear the slaughter of executioners, because evidently after death neither the cruelty of the former nor the deceit of the latter is able to endure. Rather, it is the Lord, who always sees, that must be pleased, the Lord, who is always able to punish or liberate, that must be feared. — On the Gospel of Luke

Shepherd of Hermas: But as to the threats of the devil, fear them not at all, for he is powerless as the sinews of a dead man are powerless. Give ear to me, then, and fear Him who has all power, both to save and destroy, and keep His commandments, and ye will live to God. — Shepherd of Hermas, Commandment 12

Tertullian: “But I will show you whom ye shall fear: fear Him who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell” (meaning, of course, the Creator); “yea, I say unto you, fear Him.” Now, it would here be enough for my purpose that He forbids offence being given to Him whom He orders to be feared; and that He orders Him to be respected whom He forbids to be offended; and that He who gives these commands belongs to that very God for whom He procures this fear, this absence of offence, and this respect. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:6

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Our Lord then had instilled the virtue of simplicity, had awakened a courageous spirit. Their faith alone was wavering, and well did He strengthen it by adding with respect to things of less value, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? and not one of them is forgotten before God. As if He said, If God forgets not the sparrows, how can He man?

But perhaps some one will say, How is it that the Apostle says, Does the Lord care for oxen? (1 Cor. 9:9.) whereas an ox is of more value than a sparrow; but to care for is one thing, to have knowledge another.

Or else; A good sparrow is one which nature has furnished with the power of flying; for nature has given us the grace of flying, pleasure has taken it away, which loads with meats the soul of the wicked, and moulds it towards the nature of a fleshly mass. The five senses of the body then, if they seek the food of earthly alloy, cannot fly back to the fruits of higher actions. A bad sparrow therefore is one which has lost its habit of flying through the fault of earthly grovelling; such are those sparrows which are sold for two farthings, namely, at the price of worldly luxury. For the enemy sets up his, as it were, captive slaves, at the very lowest price. But the Lord, being the fit judge of His own work, has redeemed at a great price us, His noble servants, whom He hath made in His own image.

Lastly, the numbering of the hairs is not to be taken with reference to the act of reckoning, but to the capability of knowing. Yet they are well said to be numbered, because those things which we wish to preserve we number.

If then such is the majesty of God, that a single sparrow or the number of our hair is not beside His knowledge, how unworthy is it to suppose that the Lord is either ignorant of the hearts of the faithful, or despises them so as to account them of less value. Hence He proceeds to conclude, Fear not then, ye are of more value than many sparrows. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Athanasius of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (pluris estis) Now I ask the Arians, if God, as if disdaining to make all other things, made only His Son, but deputed all things to His Son; how is it that He extends His providence even to such trifling things as our hair, and the sparrows? For upon whatever things He exercises His providence, of these is He the Creator by His own word. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria, and not one of them is forgotten before God? If, he says, the smallest of animals, and those birds that fly through the air everywhere, cannot be forgotten by God, you who are made in the image of the Creator should not be frightened by those who kill the body, because he who governs the irrational does not cease to care for the rational. An assarius, which sells five sparrows, that is, they are sold for, is a type of very light weight, composed of two asses. Perhaps someone may ask how the Apostle says: Does God care for oxen? (1 Cor. 9) when certainly an ox is more valuable than a sparrow. But care is one thing, and knowledge is another. Lastly, the number of hairs, about which he consequently says: — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): The dipondius is a coin of the lightest weight, and equal to two asses. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: To bestow yet another means of comfort on our minds, he forcibly added that five sparrows are scarcely perhaps worth a penny, and yet God does not forget even one of them. He also said that the separate hairs of your head are all numbered. Consider how great care he takes of those that love him. The Preserver of the universe extends his aid to things so worthless and descends to the smallest animals. How can he forget those who love him, especially when he takes so great care of them? He condescends to visit them, to know exactly each particular of their state, and even how many are the hairs of their heads.…Let us not doubt that with a rich hand he will give his grace to those who love him. He will not permit us to fall into temptation. If, by his wise purpose he permits us to be taken in the snare in order that we may gain glory by suffering, he will most assuredly grant us the power to bear it. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 87

Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Literally, hereby is signified the quickness of the Divine foresight, which reaches even to the least things. But mystically, the five sparrows justly represent the spiritual senses, which have perception of high and heavenly things: beholding God, hearing the Divine voice, tasting of the bread of life, smelling the perfume of Christ’s anointing, handling the Word of Life. And these being sold for two farthings, that is, being lightly esteemed by those who count as perishing whatever is of the Spirit, are not forgotten before God. But God is said to be forgetful of some because of their iniquities. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Pseudo-Clement: To this I answered, “Those, therefore, who do wrong are not guilty, because they wrong the just by the judgment of God.” Then Peter said, “They indeed sin greatly, for they have given themselves to sin. Wherefore knowing this, God chooses from among them some to punish those who righteously repented of their former sins, that the evil things done by the just before their repentance may be remitted through this punishment. But to the wicked who punish and desire to ill-use them, and will not repent, it is permitted to ill-use the righteous for the filling up of their own punishment. For without the will of God, not even a sparrow can fall into a girn. Thus even the hairs of the righteous are numbered by God.” — Clementine Homilies, Homily 12

Luke 12:7

Augustine of Hippo: When our Lord said, “not a hair,” he was not thinking of length but of the number of hairs, as we see from these words, “The hairs of your head are numbered.” I still think that nothing that was a natural part of the body should be lost. Ugly outgrowths, which have the purpose of reminding us of the penal condition of mortal life, will be integrated into the substance as a whole so that no deformity will appear in any one part. After all, a human artist can make a botch of a statue and then reshape it into beauty without a loss of any of his material. It is not a matter of chiseling away some paticular part that was ugly or out of proportion. He can break down and remold the same mass of material so that nothing but the blemish disappears. Of course, the omnipotent Artist can do this even better. There is no deformity of any human body, whether normal, exceptional or even monstrous, which he cannot so eliminate as to leave the total substance intact, while the ugliness disappears. Such outgrowths are not out of place among the other miseries of temporal existence, but they are incompatible with the happiness of the saints in the life to come. — City of God 22.19

Bede: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered, not actually in the act of counting, but understood in the capacity of knowledge. For God does not direct a watchful solicitude in tedious counting, but to whom all things are known, as if all things were numbered. Nevertheless, they are well said to be numbered, because we count the things we want to keep. Here he shows the immense providence of God towards men, and marks the ineffable affection that nothing of ours escapes God’s notice, and that even small and trivial things spoken do not elude His knowledge. Those who deny the resurrection of the flesh deride ecclesiastical understanding in this place, as if we were to say that the same earthly matter, which becomes a corpse when the soul departs, is to be restored in the resurrection in such a way that the things which decay and are transformed into different shapes and forms of other things must necessarily return not only to the body from which they dissolved but also to the same parts of the body where they were. Otherwise, if the hair of the head returns, which frequent cutting has removed, if to the nails, which frequent trimming has taken off, it appears excessive and indecent to those who think about it, and thus the resurrection of the flesh does not present itself acceptably to those who do not believe. But just as if a statue of any soluble metal were either melted by fire or ground into powder or reduced to a mass, and the artist wished to restore it again from that quantity of material, it would make no difference to its integrity which particle of material is restored to which member of the statue, provided that all from which it was constituted is reconstituted: so God, wonderfully and ineffably the artist, from all that our flesh was constituted, will restore it with wonderful and ineffable speed, nor will it matter for its reconstitution whether hairs return to hairs and nails to nails, or whether whatever of them had perished is transformed into flesh and recalled to other parts of the body, with the providence of the artist ensuring that nothing indecent happens. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: Therefore, do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Not ‘you are many,’ which pertains to the comparison of numbers, but ‘you are worth more,’ that is, you are of greater merit, dignity, and esteem before God than countless sparrows, whether bodies or kinds. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): We must not read, Ye are more, which relates to the comparison of number, but ye are of more value, that is, of greater estimation in the sight of God. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): It is His care then diligently to know the life of the saints. Whence it follows, But the hairs of your heads are all numbered; by which He means, that of all things which relate to them He has most accurate knowledge, for the numbering manifests the minuteness of the care exercised.

Now mystically, indeed, the head of a man is his understanding, but his hairs the thoughts, which are open to the eye of God. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:8

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): He has also well introduced faith, stimulating us to its confession, and to faith itself He has placed virtue as a foundation. For as faith is the incentive to fortitude, so is fortitude the strong support of faith. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: But I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. He looks at what was said before, where it was stated that any covered and hidden things are to be revealed, concluding that this revelation will take place not in any lowly meeting, but in the sight of the heavenly city and the eternal king and judge. And lest it be thought that because he says those who deny him will be denied, the condition of all, that is, of those who deny out of zeal and those who deny out of weakness or ignorance, is the same, he immediately adds: — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): It was said above, that every hidden work and word is to be revealed, but He now declares that this revelation is to take place in the presence of the heavenly city and the eternal Judge and King; saying, But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: On martyrdom the Lord hath spoken explicitly, and what is written in different places we bring together. “But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess in Me before men, the Son of man also shall confess before the angels of God; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I deny before the angels.” “Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me or of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man also be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with His angels. Whosoever therefore shall confess in Me before men, him will I also confess before my Father in heaven.” “And when they bring you before synagogues, and rulers, and powers, think not beforehand how ye shall make your defence, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye must say.” In explanation of this passage, Heracleon, the most distinguished of the school of Valentinians, says expressly, “that there is a confession by faith and conduct, and one with the voice. The confession that is made with the voice, and before the authorities, is what the most reckon the only confession. Not soundly: and hypocrites also can confess with this confession. But neither will this utterance be found to be spoken universally; for all the saved have confessed with the confession made by the voice, and departed. Of whom are Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others. And confession by the lip is not universal, but partial. But that which He specifies now is universal, that which is by deeds and actions corresponding to faith in Him. This confession is followed by that which is partial, that before the authorities, if necessary, and reason dictate. For he will confess rightly with his voice who has first confessed by his disposition. And he has well used, with regard to those who confess, the expression ‘in Me,’ and applied to those who deny the expression ‘Me.’ For those, though they confess Him with the voice, yet deny Him, not confessing Him in their conduct. But those alone confess ‘in Him,’ who live in the confession and conduct according to Him, in which He also confesses, who is contained in them and held by them. Wherefore ‘He never can deny Himself.’ And those deny Him who are not in Him. For He said not, ‘Whosoever shall deny’ in Me, but ‘Me.’ For no one who is in Him will ever deny Him. And the expression ‘before men’ applies both to the saved and the heathen similarly by conduct before the one, and by voice before the other. Wherefore they never can deny Him. But those deny Him who are not in Him.” So far Heracleon. And in other things he seems to be of the same sentiments with us in this section; but he has not adverted to this, that if some have not by conduct and in their life “confessed Christ before men,” they are manifested to have believed with the heart; by confessing Him with the mouth at the tribunals, and not denying Him when tortured to the death. And the disposition being confessed, and especially not being changed by death at any time, cuts away all passions which were engendered by corporeal desire. For there is, so to speak, at the close of life a sudden repentance in action, and a true confession toward Christ, in the testimony of the voice. But if the Spirit of the Father testifies in us, how can we be any more hypocrites, who are said to bear testimony with the voice alone? But it will be given to some, if expedient, to make a defence, that by their witness and confession all may be benefited-those in the Church being confirmed, and those of the heathen who have devoted themselves to the search after salvation wondering and being led to the faith; and the rest seized with amazement. So that confession is by all means necessary. For it is in our power. But to make a defence for our faith is not universally necessary. For that does not depend on us. “But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” For who of those who are wise would not choose to reign in God, and even to serve? So some “confess that they know God,” according to the apostle; “but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.” And these, though they confess nothing but this, will have done at the end one good work. Their witness, then, appears to be the cleansing away of sins with glory. For instance, the Shepherd says: “You will escape the energy of the wild beast, if your heart become pure and blameless.” Also the Lord Himself says: “Satan hath desired to sift you; but I have prayed.” Alone, therefore, the Lord, for the purification of the men who plotted against Him and disbelieved Him, “drank the cup;” in imitation of whom the apostles, that they might be in reality Gnostics, and perfect, suffered for the Churches which they founded. So, then, also the Gnostics who tread in the footsteps of the apostles ought to be sinless, and, out of love to the Lord, to love also their brother; so that, if occasion call, enduring without stumbling, afflictions for the Church, “they may drink the cup.” Those who witness in their life by deed, and at the tribunal by word, whether entertaining hope or surmising fear, are better than those who confess salvation by their mouth alone. But if one ascend also to love, he is a really blessed and true martyr, having confessed perfectly both to the commandments and to God, by the Lord; whom having loved, he acknowledged a brother, giving himself up wholly for God, resigning pleasantly and lovingly the man when asked, like a deposit. — The Stromata Book 4

Cyprian: In the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven: but he that denieth me, him will I also deny.” If He does not deny him that denies, neither does He confess him that confesses; the Gospel cannot be sound in one part and waver in another. Either both must stand firm, or both must lose the force of truth. If they who deny shall not be guilty of a crime, neither shall they who confess receive the reward of a virtue. Again, if faith which has conquered be crowned, it is of necessity that faithlessness which is conquered should be punished. Thus the martyrs can either do nothing if the Gospel may be broken; or if the Gospel cannot be broken, they can do nothing against the Gospel, since they become martyrs on account of the Gospel. Let no one, beloved brethren, let no one decry the dignity of martyrs, let no one degrade their glories and their crowns. The strength of their uncorrupted faith abides sound; nor can he either say or do anything against Christ, whose hope, and faith, and virtue, and glory, are all in Christ: those cannot be the authority for the bishops doing anything against God’s command, who themselves have done God’s command. Is any one greater than God, or more merciful than God’s goodness, that he should either wish that undone which God has suffered to be done, or, as if God had too little power to protect His Church, should think that we could be preserved by his help? — Treatise III On the Lapsed

Cyril of Alexandria: “Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.”

It is then a thing above all others worthy of our attention to see who it is that confesses Christ, and in what way one may rightly and blamelessly confess Him. Most wise Paul, therefore writes to us, “Say not in yours heart, Who shall ascend unto heaven? that is to bring Christ down: or who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what says the Scripture? The Word is nigh you, in your mouth and in your heart; that is, the Word of faith which we preach: because if you shall say with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall live. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” In which words the mystery of Christ is most excellently explained. For first of all it is our duty to confess that the Son, Who sprang from God the Father, and Who is the Only-begotten of His substance, even God the Word, is Lord of all: not as one on whom lordship has been bestowed from without, and by imputation, but as being by nature and in truth Lord, as the Father also is. And next we must believe, that “God raised Him from the dead,” that is, when having become man, He had suffered in the flesh for our sakes: for so He arose from the dead.

Whosoever therefore confesses Christ before men, as God and Lord, shall be acknowledged by Him before the angels of God. But where and how? Evidently at that time, when He shall descend from heaven in the glory of His Father with the holy angels at the end of this world: then shall He crown His true confessor, who possessed an unwavering and genuine faith, and so made profession. There also shall the company of the holy martyrs shine, who endured the conflict even unto life and blood, and honoured Christ by their patient endurance: for they denied not the Saviour, nor was His glory unknown to them, but they kept their fealty to Him. — Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 88

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now Paul says, If thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Rom. 10:9.) The whole mystery of Christ is conveyed in these words. For we must first confess that the Word born of God the Father, that is, the only-begotten Son of His substance, is Lord of all, not as one who had gained His Lordship from without and by stealth, but who is in truth by His nature Lord, as well as the Father. Next we must confess that God raised Him from the dead, who was Himself truly made man, and suffered in the flesh for us; for such He rose from the dead. Whoever then will so confess Christ before men, namely, as God and the Lord, Christ will confess him before the angels of God at that time when He shall descend with the holy angels in the glory of His Father at the end of the world. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Eusebius of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But what will be more glorious than to have the only-begotten Word of God Himself to bear witness in our behalf at the divine judgment, and by His own love to draw forth as a recompense for confession, a declaration upon that soul to whom He bears witness, For not as abiding without him to whom He bears witness, but as dwelling in him and filling him with light, He will give His testimony. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) Both in condemnation a greater punishment is announced, and in blessing a greater reward; as if He said, Now you confess and deny, but I then, for a far greater recompense of good and evil awaits them in the world to come.

There are other modes also of denying which St. Paul describes, saying, They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. (Tit. 1:16.) And again, If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (1 Tim. 5:8.) Also, Flee from covetousness, which is idolatry. (Col. 3:5.) Since then there are so many modes of denial, it is plain that there are many likewise of confession, which whosoever has practised, shall hear that most blessed voice with which Christ greets all who have confessed Him. But mark the precaution of the words. For in the Greek he says, Whosoever shall confess in Me, showing that not by his own strength, but by the aid of grace from above, a man confesses Christ. But of him who denies, He said not “in Me,” but me. For though being destitute of grace he denies, he is nevertheless condemned, because the destitution is owing to him who is forsaken, or he is forsaken for his own fault. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 34. in Matt.) The Lord is not then content with an inward faith, but requires an outward confession, urging us to confidence and greater love. And since this is useful for all, He speaks generally, saying, Whosoever shall confess me, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: But this conclusion I can draw also from the following words: “For I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before God.” Now they who shall confess Christ will have to be slain before men, but they will have nothing more to suffer after they have been put to death by them. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:9

Cyprian: Nay, if they shudder at the magnitude of the guilt incurred; if with a truly medicinal hand they deal with the deadly wound of their heart and conscience and the deep recesses of the subtle mischief, let them blush even to ask; except, again, that it is a matter of greater risk and shame not to have besought the aid of peace. But let all this be in the sacrament; in the law of their very entreaty let consideration be had for the time; let it be with downcast entreaty, with subdued petition, since he also who is besought ought to be bent, not provoked; and as the divine clemency ought to be looked to, so also ought the divine censure; and as it is written, “I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me,” so it is written, “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father and before His angels.” For God, as He is merciful, so He exacts obedience to His precepts, and indeed carefully exacts it; and as He invites to the banquet, so the man that hath not a wedding garment He binds hands and feet, and casts him out beyond the assembly of the saints. He has prepared heaven, but He has also prepared hell. He has prepared places of refreshment, but He has also prepared eternal punishment. He has prepared the light that none can approach unto, but He has also prepared the vast and eternal gloom of perpetual night. — Epistle XXX

Cyril of Alexandria: But the rest, those who denied and despised him, shall be denied: when the Judge shall say to them that, as it were, which was spoken by the holy prophets to certain of old; “As you have done, it shall be done unto you; and your requital shall be requited upon yours own head;” and shall deny them in these words: “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I know you not.” And who then are they that shall be denied? First of all, those who when persecution was pressing upon them, and tribulation had overtaken them, deserted the faith.

And in like manner both the followers and teachers of heresy deny him. For they venture to say that the Only-begotten Word of God is not by nature and in truth God; and they traduce His ineffable generation, by saying that He is not of the substance of the Father. — Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 88

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now they who deny are first indeed those who in time of persecution renounce the faith. Besides these, there are heretical teachers also, and their disciples. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Eusebius of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But having confirmed them with good hope by so great promises, He again rouses them by more alarming threats, saying, But he that denieth me before men, shall be denied before the Angels of God.

He rightly declares this threatening, in order that none should refuse to confess Him by reason of the punishment, which is to be denied by the Son of God, to be disowned by Wisdom, to fall away from life, to be deprived of light, and to lose every blessing; but all these things to suffer before God the Father who is in heaven, and the Angels of God. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: These therefore will be they whom He forewarns above not to be afraid of being only killed; and this forewarning He offers, in order that He might subjoin a clause on the necessity of confessing Him: “Every one that denieth me before men shall be denied before God” -by Him, of course, who would have confessed him, if he had only confessed God. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:10

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Truly by the Son of Man we understand Christ, Who by the Holy Spirit was born of a virgin, seeing that His only parent on earth is the Virgin. What then, is the Holy Spirit greater than Christ, that they who sin against Christ should obtain pardon, while they who offend against the Holy Spirit are not thought worthy to obtain it? But where there is unity of power there is no question of comparison.

Thus it is thought by some that we should believe both the Son and the Holy Spirit to be the same Christ, preserving the distinction of Persons with the unity of the substance, since Christ both God and man is one Spirit, as it is written, The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord; (Lam. 4:20.) the same Spirit is holy, for both the Father is holy, and the Son holy, and the Spirit holy. If then Christ is each, what difference is there except we know that it is not lawful for us to deny the divinay of Christ? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Athanasius of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Ep. 4. ad Serap.) The ancients indeed, the learned Origen and the great Theognostus, describe this to be the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, when they who have been counted worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, fall back into sin. For they say that for this reason they can not obtain pardon; as Paul says, It is impossible for those who have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost to renew them again, &c. (Heb. 6:4.) But each adds his own explanation. For Origen gives this as his reason; God the Father indeed penetrates and contains all things, but the power of the Son extends to rational things only; the Holy Spirit is only in those who partake of Him in the gift of Baptism. When then catechumens and heathens sin, they sin against the Son who abideth in them, yet they may obtain pardon when they become worthy of the gift of regeneration. But when the baptized commit sin, he says that their offence touches the Spirit, after coming to whom they have sinned, and therefore their condemnation must be irrevocable. But Theognostus says, that he who has gone beyond both the first and second threshold deserves less punishment, but he who has also passed the third, shall no more receive pardon. By the first and second threshold, he speaks of the doctrine of the Father and the Son, but by the third the partaking of the Holy Spirit. According to St. John, When the Spirit of truth is come, he will lead you into all truth. (John 16:13.) Not as though the doctrine of the Spirit was above that of the Son, but because the Son condescends to those who are imperfect, but the Spirit is the seal of those who are perfect. If then not because the Spirit is above the Son, blasphemy against the Spirit is unpardonable; but because remission of sin is indeed to the imperfect, but no excuse remains to the perfect, therefore since the Son is in the Father, He is in those in whom the Father and the Spirit are not absent, for the Holy Trinity cannot be divided. Besides this, if all things were made by the Son, and all things consist in Him, He will Himself be truly in all; so that it must needs be, that he who sinneth against the Son, sinneth against the Father also, and against the Holy Spirit. But holy Baptism is given in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so they that sin after baptism commit blasphemy against the holy Trinity. But if the Pharisees had not received baptism, how did He condemn them as if they had spoken blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, of which they were not yet partakers, especially since He did not accuse them simply of sin, but of blasphemy? But these differ, for he who sins transgresses the Law, but he who blasphemes offends against the Deity Himself. But again, if to those who sin after baptism there is no remission of the punishment of their offences, how does the Apostle pardon the penitent at Corinth; (2 Cor. 11:10) but he travails in birth of the backsliding Galatians until Christ be formed again in them. (Gal. 4:19.) And why also do we oppose Novatus, who does away with repentance after baptism? The Apostle to the Hebrews does not thus reject the repentance of sinners, but lest they should suppose that as according to the rites of the Law, under the veil of repentance there could be many and daily baptisms, he therefore warns them indeed to repent, but tells them that there could be only one renewal, namely, by Baptism. But with such considerations I return to the dispensation (οἰκονομίαν) which is in Christ, who being God was made man; as very God raised the dead; as clothed with the flesh, thirsted, laboured, suffered. When any then, looking to human things, see the Lord athirst or in suffering, and speak against the Saviour as if against a man, they sin indeed, yet may speedily on repentance receive pardon, alleging as excuse the weakness of His body. And again when any, beholding the works of Deity, doubt concerning the nature of our Lord’s body, they also sin grievously. But these too if they repent may be quickly pardoned, seeing that they have an excuse in the greatness of the works. But when they refer the works of God to the Devil, justly do they undergo the irrevocable sentence, because they have judged God to be the Devil, and the true God to have nothing more in His works than the evil spirits. To this unbelief then the Pharisees had come. For when the Saviour manifested the works of the Father, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, and such like deeds, they said that these were the works of Beelzebub. As well might they say, looking at the order of the world and the providence exercised over it, that the world was created by Beelzebub. As long then as regarding human things they erred in knowledge, saying, Is not this the carpenter’s son, and how knoweth this man things which he never learnt? He suffered them as sinning against the Son of man; but when they wax more furious, saying that the works of God are the works of Beelzebub, He no longer endured them. For thus also He endured their fathers so long as their murmurings were for bread and water; but when having found a calf, they impute to it the divine mercies they had received, they were punished. At first indeed multitudes of them were slain, afterwards He said indeed, Nevertheless, in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. (Exod. 32:34.) Such then is the sentence passed upon the Pharisees, that in the flame prepared for the devil they shall be together with him everlastingly consumed. Not then to make comparison between a blasphemy spoken against Himself and the Holy Spirit said He these things, as if the Spirit were the greater, but each blasphemy being uttered against Him, He shows the one to be greater, the other less. For looking at Him as man they reviled Him, and said that His works were those of Beelzebub. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Serm. 71.) Or if it were here said, “Who hath spoken any blasphemy whatever against the Holy Spirit,” we ought then to understand thereby “all blasphemy;” but because it was said, who blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit, let it be understood of him that blasphemed not in any way, but in such a manner that it can never be pardoned him. For so when it was said, The Lord tempteth no man, (James 1:13.) that is not spoken of every, but only of a certain kind of temptation. Now what that kind of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is, let us sec. The first blessing of believers is forgiveness of sins in the Holy Spirit. Against this free gift the impenitent heart speaks. Impenitence itself therefore is blasphemy against the Spirit, which is neither forgiven in this world, nor in that which is to come; for repentance gains that forgiveness in this world which is to avail in the world to come. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. He who is scandalized by my flesh, considering me only a man because I have James, Joseph, and Judas as brothers, and that I am a human glutton and wine drinker, such opinion and blasphemy, though not free from the guilt of error, has pardon because of the benefit of the body. But he who, clearly understanding the works of God since he cannot deny their power, yet stirred by envy, slanders them, and says that Christ and the works of the Holy Spirit are of Beelzebub, this one will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the age to come. Not that we deny that even he, if he were able to repent, could be forgiven by Him who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, but we believe this blasphemer, due to his deserving merits, will never reach forgiveness nor the fruits of worthy repentance. As the evangelist John truly wrote about some who were blinded due to the merit of their blasphemy: Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them (John XII). Some indeed say that he who speaks the word or blasphemes against the Holy Spirit resists with an impenitent heart the unity of the Church where the forgiveness of sins is effected by the Holy Spirit, saying it is a remedy lest the blasphemy be irremissible, that an impenitent heart should be avoided. Of whom, many consider their opinion by no means firm, because obviously anyone who resists the unity of the Church with an impenitent heart, whether he is a Jew or a Gentile or even a heretic, can certainly have the remission of sins in the Holy Spirit, if he flees with a repentant heart to the unity of the Church. But they say that as long as someone resists the Spirit of grace with an impenitent heart, he does not have forgiveness. But the others object that this condition applies to all crimes. For as long as someone commits fornication, idolatry, adultery, male concubinage, theft, and other crimes, he does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God; but once these crimes have been forsaken, he can be washed, sanctified, justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God; so, they say, an impenitent person as long as he has an impenitent heart cannot have forgiveness; but as soon as he repents, he will also obtain forgiveness. And impenitence is found to be no more binding or irremissible than any other sins, which, remaining until repentance, will be erased once repentance is performed. However, only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, by which someone in the likeness of the devil and his angels does not shudder to attack the majesty of the Deity against his own conscience, does not have forgiveness eternally, but will be guilty of an eternal offense. As the evangelist Mark clearly explains, who, having placed this testimony of the Lord, added and said: Because they were saying, He has an unclean spirit. For neither those who do not believe that the Holy Spirit exists, nor those who believe that He exists but is not God, nor those who believe that He is God but inferior to the Father and the Son, because they act out of human ignorance rather than diabolical envy, are held by this crime of irremissible blasphemy. Therefore, the leaders of the Jews, and all those corrupted by a similar plague of envy, blaspheme the majesty, and will perish without end. Read the first book of the blessed Augustine on the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But lest from what He says, that those who have denied Him are to be denied, it should be supposed that the condition of all was alike, that is, both of those who deny deliberately, and those who deny from infirmity or ignorance, He immediately added, And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or else; Whoso saith that the works of the Holy Spirit are those of Beelzebub, it shall not be forgiven him either in the present world, or in that which is to come. Not that we deny that if he could come to repentance he could be forgiven by God, but that we believe that such a blasphemer as by the necessity of his deserts he would never come to forgiveness, so neither to the fruits themselves of a worthy repentance; according to that, He hath blinded their eyes, so that they should not be converted, and I should heal them. (Isa. 6:10.) — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Nor however are all they who say that the Spirit is not holy, or is not God, but is inferior to the Father and the Son, involved in the crime of unpardonable blasphemy, because they are led to do it through human ignorance, not a demoniacal hatred, as the rulers of the Jews were. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: He has taught us that blasphemy is the most wicked crime for people to commit. He said that whoever speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. In what way is this to be understood? If the Savior means that if any one of us uses any scornful word toward some mere man, he will receive forgiveness if he repents, the matter is free from all difficulty. Since God is by nature good, he will free from blame all those who repent. If the declaration has reference to Christ, the Savior of all, how can he who has spoken against him be innocent or secure from condemnation? Some one who has not learned the meaning of his mystery or understood that being by nature God he humbled himself to our estate and became man may say something blasphemous to a certain extent against him. If this is not so wicked as to pass forgiveness, God will pardon those who have sinned from ignorance.…On another hand, condemnation and the eternal punishment both in this world and in that which is to come is inevitable for those who have blasphemed the Godhead itself. By “the Spirit,” he means not only the Holy Spirit but also the whole nature of the Godhead, as understood [to consist] in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Savior also somewhere said, “God is a Spirit.” Blasphemy against the Spirit is against the whole supreme substance. The nature of the Deity, as offered for our understanding in the holy and adorable Trinity, is one. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 88

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But if our Saviour means to imply, that if any injurious word is spoken by us against a common man, we shall obtain pardon if we repent, there is no difficulty in the passage, for since God is by nature merciful, He restores those who are willing to repent. But if the words are referred to Christ how is he not to be condemned who speaks a word against Him?

But if the Holy Spirit were a creature, and not of the divine substance of the Father and the Son, how does an injury committed against Him entail upon it so great a punishment as is denounced against those that blaspheme against God? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: After deterring His disciples from denial of Himself, He adds an admonition to fear blasphemy: “Whosoever shall speak against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him.” Now, if both the remission and the retention of sin savour of a judicial God, the Holy Ghost, who is not to be blasphemed, will belong to Him, who will not forgive the, blasphemy; just as He who, in the preceding passage, was not to be denied, belonged to, Him who would, after He had killed, also cast into hell. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:11

Basil of Caesarea: The Christian should not fear or be distressed in difficult circumstances and thus be distracted from trust in God. He should take courage as if the Lord were at hand directing his affairs and strengthening him against all his adversaries. It is as if the Holy Spirit were instructing him even as to the very replies he should make to his enemies. — THE MORALS 63

Bede: When they bring you into the synagogues, and to the rulers, and authorities. For He had said before: I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: Do not worry about how or what you are to answer, or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Therefore, when we are brought before judges for Christ’s sake, we should only offer our will for Christ; for Christ Himself who dwells in us, speaks for Himself, and the grace of the Holy Spirit in responding will be provided. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For when we are led for Christ’s sake before judges, we ought to offer only our will for Christ, but in answering, the Holy Spirit will supply His grace, as it is added, For the Holy Spirit will leach you, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: On martyrdom the Lord hath spoken explicitly, and what is written in different places we bring together. “But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess in Me before men, the Son of man also shall confess before the angels of God; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I deny before the angels.” “Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me or of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man also be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with His angels. Whosoever therefore shall confess in Me before men, him will I also confess before my Father in heaven.” “And when they bring you before synagogues, and rulers, and powers, think not: beforehand how ye shall make your defence, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye must say.” …But if the Spirit of the Father testifies in us, how can we be any more hypocrites, who are said to bear testimony with the voice alone? But it will be given to some, if expedient, to make a defence, that by their witness and confession all may be benefited-those in the Church being confirmed, and those of the heathen who have devoted themselves to the search after salvation wondering and being led to the faith; and the rest seized with amazement. So that confession is by all means necessary. For it is in our power. But to make a defence for our faith is not universally necessary. For that does not depend on us. — The Stromata Book 4

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But the Lord after having inspired such great fear, and prepared men to resist those who depart from a right confession, commanded them for the rest to take no care what they should answer, because for those who are faithfully disposed, the Holy Spirit frames fit words, as their teacher, and dwelling within them. Whence it follows, And when they shall bring you into synagogues, take no thought how or what ye shall answer. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Jerusalem: You must also know that the Holy Spirit empowers the martyrs to bear witness.… A person cannot testify as a martyr for Christ’s sake except through the Holy Spirit. If “no man can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit,” will any man give his life for Jesus’ sake except through the Holy Spirit? — Catechetical Lecture 16:21

Jerome: I would therefore beseech you, Pammachius, as a foremost lover of learning, and Marcella, as an outstanding examplar of Roman virtue, men who are bound together by faith and blood, to lend aid to my efforts by your prayers, in order that our Lord and Savior might in His own cause and by His mind make answer through my mouth. For it is He who says to the prophet, “Open thy mouth and I will fill it” (Psalms 81:10). For if He admonishes us, when we have been hailed before judges and tribunals, not to ponder what answer we are to give to them (Luke 12:11-12), how much more is He able to carry on His own war against blaspheming adversaries and through His servants to vanquish them? — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, Prologue

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 33. in Matt.) But elsewhere it is said, Be ready to answer every one who shall ask you for a reason of the hope that is in you. When indeed a contest or strife arises among friends, He bids us take thought, but when there are the terrors of a court of justice and fear on every side, He gives His own strength so as to inspire boldness and utterance, but not dismay. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: When “brought before magistrates,” and examined, He forbids them “to take thought how they shall answer; ““for,” says He, “the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought to say.” If such an injunction as this comes from the Creator, the precept will only be His by whom an example was previously given. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:13

Ambrose of Milan: This whole place is prepared for undergoing the passion of the Lord either with contempt of death, or with hope of reward, or with the declaration of intention to endure punishment, to which no forgiveness will ever be granted. And because greed often tempts virtue, there is also a commandment and example given for the abolishment of this, as the Lord says: Who made me a judge or a divider among you? He who descended for the sake of divine things wisely avoids earthly affairs; nor does he deign to be a judge of disputes or an arbiter of possessions, having the judgment of the living and the dead and the decision of deeds. Therefore, it is not what you seek, but from whom you request that must be considered; and do not think that you must object to those who are greater with an attentive mind in the presence of those who are lesser. Hence, it is not without reason that this brother is refuted, who desired to occupy the stewardship of celestial things with corruptible things; for among brothers, it is not a judge who should divide the inheritance, but rather piety should separate it; although the inheritance of immortality, not of money, should be sought by humans. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.122

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): The whole of the former passage is given to prepare us for undergoing suffering for confessing the Lord, or for contempt of death, or for the hope of reward, or for denunciation of the punishment that will await him to whom pardon will never be granted. And since covetousness is generally wont to try virtue, for destroying this also, a precept and example is added, as it is said, And one of the company said to him, Speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Augustine of Hippo: He was correct when he did not listen to the man who, in disagreement with his brother, said, “Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” He said, “Master, tell my brother.” Tell him what? He said, “To divide the inheritance with me.” The Lord said, “Speak, man.” Why do you want to divide it except because you are human? Whenever someone says, “I am of Paul,” but another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not merely human? “Tell me, man, who has appointed me a judge of the inheritance among you? I have come to gather, not to scatter.” He said, “I say to you, guard against all greed.” Greed wants to divide, just as love desires to gather. What is the significance of “guard against all greed,” unless it is “fill yourselves with love”? We, possessing love for our portion, inconvenience the Lord because of our brother just as that man did against his brother, but we do not use the same plea. He said, “Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” We say, “Master, tell my brother that he may have my inheritance.” — SERMON 265.9

Bede: But someone from the crowd said to him: Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him: Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? Justly is this brother rebuked, who, while the teacher is commending the joys of heavenly peace and unity, wishes to bring in the trouble of earthly division. Justly is he noted by the term ‘man’. For whereas there is among you, he says, jealousy and contention, are you not carnal, are you not men, and walking according to man? And the Lord denies that He is a divider of men, to whom he had come to bring peace both with Himself and with the angels. For God is not the author of disorder but of peace. And the multitude of believers was of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common (Acts IV). But the only divider of fraternity and author of dissension is he of whom it is said above: And he who does not gather with me scatters. And concerning his members: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and house upon house falls (Matt. XII). — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): He who wills to impose the trouble of division of lands upon the Master who is commending the joys of heavenly peace, is rightly called man, according to that, whereas there is envying, strife, and divisions among you, are ye not men? (1 Cor. 3:3.) — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: A certain man drew near to Christ, the Saviour of us all, and said, “Teacher, bid my brother divide with me the inheritance. But He said unto him, Man, who set Me as judge or divider over you?” For the Son indeed, when He appeared in our likeness, was set by God the Father as “Head and King over Sion, His holy mount,” according to the Psalmist’s words: and the nature of His office He again Himself makes plain, “For I am come, He says, to preach the commandment of the Lord.” And what is this? Our virtue-loving Master wishes us to depart far from all earthly and temporal matters; to flee from the love of the flesh, and from the vain anxiety of business, and from base lusts; to set no value on hoards, to despise wealth, and the love of gain; to be good and loving unto one another; not to lay up treasures upon earth; to be superior to strife and envy, not quarrelling with the brethren, but rather giving way to them, even though they seek to gain an advantage over us. — Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 89

Tertullian: But of course the case must be different with Christ, for he is the Christ of the simply good and non-judicial god. “Who,” says he, “made me a judge over you? " No other word of excuse was he able to find, without using that with which the wicked, man and impious brother had rejected the defender of probity and piety! In short, he approved of the excuse, although a bad one, by his use of it; and of the act, although a bad one, by his refusal to make peace between brothers. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:14

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Well then does He avoid earthly things who had descended for the sake of divine things, and deigns not to be a judge of strifes and arbiter of laws, having the judgment of the quick and dead and the recompensing of works. You should consider then, not what you seek, but from whom you ask it; and you should not eagerly suppose that the greater are to be disturbed by the less. Therefore is this brother deservedly disappointed who desired to occupy the steward of heavenly things with corruptible, seeing that between brothers no judge should intervene, but natural affection should be the umpire to divide the patrimony, although immortality not riches should be the patrimony which men should wait for. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now the Son of God, when He was made like unto us, was appointed by God the Father to be King and Prince upon his holy Mount of Sion, to make known the Divine command. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Philoxenus of Mabbug: And unto another, who by the perfection of the doctrine of Christ wished to satisfy his lust for oppression, He answered, “Who hath made Me a judge and a ruler over you?” And unto another who, in His name, wished to gather together riches, and who was scheming that by the mighty deeds, and the signs, and the wonders, which he wrought by His power, he might become the owner of possessions, He said, “I am poor, and I have not where to lay my head.” — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 9 – Second Discourse on Poverty

Luke 12:15

Bede: And he said to them: “Take heed and beware of all covetousness, for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Just as earlier the Lord had spoken much against blasphemers and hypocrites, so here, on the occasion of this foolish petition, he strives to fortify both the crowds and his disciples against the pestilence of greed, by means of precepts and examples. And it is noteworthy that he did not say, “Beware of covetousness,” but added, “of all,” because some things seem to be done by men simply, but the internal judge, who sees with what intention they are done, judges. For who would consider it a crime to divide an inheritance with a brother or store the fruits grown in one’s own field in granaries? But he himself is the witness and judge, as it is written. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): He takes occasion from this foolish petitioner to fortify both the multitudes and His disciples alike by precept and example against the plague of covetousness. Whence it follows, He said to them, Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; and he says, of all, because some things seem to be honestly done, but the internal judge decides with what intention they are done. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: But He does not leave us without instruction: for having found, so to speak, a seasonable opportunity, He frames a profitable and saving discourse; and protesting as it were against them, declares, “Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness.” He showed us that pitfall of the devil, covetousness, a thing hateful to God, and which the wise Paul even calls idolatry, perhaps as being suitable for those only who know not God, or as being equal in the balance with the defilement of those men who choose to serve stocks and stones. It is a snare of evil spirits, by which they drag down man’s soul to the meshes of hell. For this reason He says very justly, as setting them on their guard, “Take heed and keep yourselves from all covetousness:” that is, from great and small, and from defrauding any one whoever he may be. For as I said, it is a thing hateful to God and men. For who does not flee from him who uses violence, and is rapacious and greedy, and ready for iniquity in those things to which he has no right, and who with avaricious hand gathers that which is not his? What beast of prey does not such a man surpass in savageness? Than what rocks is he not more hard? For the heart of him who is defrauded is torn, and even melted sometimes by the penetrating pain as it were by fire: but he takes pleasure therein, and is merry, and makes the pains of them that suffer a cause of rejoicing. For the wronged man is sure generally to be one without power, who can but raise his eyes to Him Who alone is able to be angry for what he has suffered. And He, because He is just and good, accepts his supplication, and pities the tears of the sufferer, and brings punishment on those who have done the wrong. — Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon LXXXIX

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or he says, of all covetousness, that is, great and little. For covetousness is unprofitable, as the Lord says, Ye shall build houses of hewn stone, and shall not dwell in them. (Amos 5:11, Isa. 5:10.) And elsewhere, Yea ten acres of vineyards shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. But also in another way it is unprofitable, as he shows, adding, For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:16

Ambrose of Milan: For he gathers wealth in vain who does not know how to use it: just like that person who, when the granaries were bursting with new harvests, was preparing receptacles for himself to collect the overflowing fruits, being ignorant of how to use them. For everything that belongs to the world remains in the world, and whatever is gathered together by heirs passes away from us; for those things are not ours, which we cannot take away with us. Only virtue is the companion of the dead, only mercy follows us, which as a leading guide of heavenly dwelling acquires eternal tabernacles through the cheap usury of money for the deceased, as the Lord’s commandments testify, saying to us: Make for yourselves friends with the unjust steward, who will receive you into his eternal tabernacles. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.122

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For in vain he amasses wealth who knows not how to use it. Neither are these things ours which we cannot take away with us. Virtue alone is the companion of the dead, mercy alone follows us, which gains for the dead an everlasting habitation. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Augustine of Hippo: “The redemption of a man’s soul is his riches.” This silly fool of a man did not have that kind of riches. Obviously he was not redeeming his soul by giving relief to the poor. He was hoarding perishable crops. I repeat, he was hoarding perishable crops, while he was on the point of perishing because he had handed out nothing to the Lord before whom he was due to appear. How will he know where to look, when at that trial he starts hearing the words “I was hungry and you did not give me to eat”?9 He was planning to fill his soul with excessive and unnecessary feasting and was proudly disregarding all those empty bellies of the poor. He did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns. What he was stowing away in those barns was perhaps even then being stolen away by thieves. But if he stowed it away in the bellies of the poor, it would of course be digested on earth, but in heaven it would be kept all the more safely. The redemption of a man’s soul is his riches. — SERMON 36.9

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (in Hom. de Avar.) Not indeed about to reap any good from his plenty of fruits, but that the mercy of God might the more appear, which extends its goodness even to the bad; sending down His rain upon the just and the unjust. But what are the things wherewith this man repays his Benefactor? He remembered not his fellow-creatures, nor deemed that he ought to give of his superfluities to the needy. His barns indeed bursting from the abundance of his stores, yet was his greedy mind by no means satisfied. He was unwilling to put up with his old ones because of his covetousness, and not able to undertake new ones because of the number, for his counsels were imperfect, and his care barren. Hence it follows, And he thought. His complaint is like that of the poor. Does not the man oppressed with want say, What shall I do, whence can I get food, whence clothing? Such things also the rich man utters. For his mind is distressed on account of his fruits pouring out from his storehouse, lest perchance when they have come forth they should profit the poor; like the glutton who had rather burst from eating, than give any thing of what remains to the starving. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Then he spoke a parable to them, saying: “The land of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest, and he thought to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘This will I do: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.’ This rich man is not condemned for having cultivated the land or for having stored the fruits that came from it in barns, but for placing his entire life’s trust in the very abundance of things, considering the surplus fruits that the land yielded as belonging to him and his goods, without distributing to the poor, according to the Lord’s command saying, ‘What is left over give as alms,’ but rather making larger storehouses to reserve for his future luxury. — On the Gospel of Luke

Clement of Alexandria: Accordingly he has not forbidden us to be rich in the right way, but only a wrongful and insatiable grasping of money. For “property gained unlawfully is diminished.” “There are some who sow much and gain the more, and those who hoard become impoverished.” Of them it is written: “He distributed, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures for ever.” For he who sows and gathers more is the man who by giving away his earthly and temporal goods has obtained a heavenly and eternal prize; the other is he who gives to no one, but vainly “lays up treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupt”; of him it is written: “In gathering motley, he has gathered it into a condemned cell.” Of his land the Lord says in the gospel that it produced plentifully; then wishing to store the fruits he built larger store-houses, saying to himself in the words dramatically put into his mouth “You have many good things laid up for many years to come, eat, drink, and be merry. You fool,” says the Lord, “this night your soul shall be required of you. Whose then shall be the things you have prepared?” — The Stromata Book 3

Tertullian: From Him, therefore, will proceed the parable of the rich man, who flattered himself about the increase of his fields, and to Whom God said: “Thou fool, this night shall they require thy soul of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? " It was just in the like manner that the king Hezekiah heard from Isaiah the sad doom of his kingdom, when he gloried, before the envoys of Babylon, in his treasures and the deposits of his precious things. — Against Marcion Book IV

Tertullian: To which subject He also adapted the parable of the man who pondered on an enlargement of his barns for his forthcoming fruits, and on seasons of prolonged security; but that very night he dies. — On Prayer

Luke 12:17

Cyril of Alexandria: What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, “What should I do?” … He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity. Still more irrational, he settles for himself the length of his life, as if he would also reap this from the ground. He says, “I will say to myself, ‘Self, you have goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’ " “O rich man,” one may say, ‘You have storehouses for your fruits, but where will you receive your many years? By the decree of God, your life is shortened.’ " “God,” it tells us, “said to him, ‘You fool, this night they will require of you your soul. Whose will these things be that you have prepared?’ " — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Mor. 15. c. 13.) O adversity, the child of plenty. For saying, What shall I do, he surely betokens, that, oppressed by the success of his wishes, he labours as it were under a load of goods. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:18

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) It was easy for him to say, I will open my barn, I will call together the needy, but he has no thought of want, only of amassing; for it follows, And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns. Thou doest well, for the storehouses of iniquity are worthy of destruction. Pull down thy barns, from which no one receives comfort. He adds, I will build greater. But thou shalt complete these, wilt thou again destroy them? What more foolish than labouring on for ever. Thy barns, if thou wilt, are the home of the poor. But thou wilt say, Whom do I wrong by keeping what is my own? For it follows also, And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. Tell me what is thine, from whence didst thou get it and bring it into life? As he who anticipates the public games, injures those who are coming by appropriating to himself what is appointed for the common use, so likewise the rich who regard as their own the common things which they have forestalled. For if every one receiving what is sufficient for his own necessity would leave what remains to the needy, there would be no rich or poor. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) But if thou confessest that those things have come to thee from God, is God then unjust in distributing to us unequally. Why dost thou abound while another begs? unless that thou shouldest gain the rewards of a good stewardship, and be honoured with the meed of patience. Art not thou then a robber, for counting as thine own what thou hast received to distribute? It is the bread of the famished which thou receivest, the garment of the naked which rots in thy possession, the money of the pennyless which thou hast buried in the earth. Wherefore then dost thou injure so many to whom thou mightest be a benefactor. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Observe also in another respect the folly of his words, when he says, I will gather all my fruits, as if he thought that he had not obtained them from God, but that they were the fruits of his own labours.

The rich man then builds barns which last not, but decay, and what is still more foolish, reckons for himself upon a long life; for it follows, And I will say unto my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. But, O rich man, thou hast indeed fruits in thy barns, but as for many years whence canst thou obtain them? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 8. in 2 ad Tim.) But in this he errs, that he thinks those things good which are indifferent. For there are some things good, some evil, some between the two. The good are chastity, and humility, and the like, which when a man chooses he becomes good. But opposed to these are the evil, which when a man chooses he becomes bad; and there are the neutral, as riches, which at one time indeed are directed to good, as to almsgiving, at other times to evil, as to covetousness. And in like manner poverty at one time leads to blasphemy, at another to wisdom, according to the disposition of the user. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:19

Athanasius of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (non occ.) Now if any one lives so as to die daily, seeing that our life is naturally uncertain, he will not sin, for the greater fear destroys very much pleasure, but the rich man on the contrary, promising to himself length of life, secks after pleasures, for he says, Rest, that is, from toil, eat, drink, and be merry, that is, with great luxury. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) Thou art so careless with respect to the goods of the soul, that thou ascribest the meats of the body to the soul. If indeed it has virtue, if it is fruitful in good works, if it clings to God, it possesses many goods, and rejoices with a worthy joy. But because thou art altogether carnal and subject to the passions, thou speakest from thy belly, not from thy soul. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: ‘Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ Something similar is read in Ecclesiastes: ‘There is one who becomes rich by being sparing and his reward is a part of it in saying: I have found rest for myself, and now I will eat of my goods alone,’ and he does not know that the time passes and he will leave everything to others” (Eccl. XI). — On the Gospel of Luke

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 39, 8. in 1 ad Cor.) Now it behoves us not to indulge in delights which fattening the body make lean the soul, and bring a heavy burden upon it, and spread darkness over it, and a thick covering, because in pleasure our governing part which is the soul becomes the slave, but the subject part, namely the body, rules. But the body is in need not of luxuries but of food, that it may be nourished, not that it may be racked and melt away. For not to the soul alone are pleasures hurtful, but to the body itself, because from being a strong body it becomes weak, from being healthy diseased, from being active slothful, from being beautiful unshapely, and from youthful old. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Leo the Great: The devil, even in the midst of our efforts, does not relax his schemes. At certain periods of time, we must take care of the reenergizing of our strength. The mind, concerned with the goods of the present, can rejoice in the temperate weather and the fertile fields. When the fruits are gathered into great barns, it can say to its soul, “You have many good things; eat.” It may receive a kind of rebuke from the divine voice and may hear it saying, “Fool, this very night they demand your soul from you. The things you have prepared, whose will they be?“This should be the careful consideration of wise people, that since the days of this life are short and the time uncertain, death should never be unexpected for those who are to die. Those who know that they are mortal should not come to an unprepared end. — SERMON 90.4.1

Luke 12:20

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. in loc.) But he was permitted to deliberate in every thing, and to manifest his purpose, that he might receive a sentence such as his inclinations deserved. But while he speaks in secret, his words are weighed in heaven, from whence the answers come to him. For it follows, But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall they require of thee. Hear the name of folly, which most properly belongs to thee which not man has imposed, but God Himself. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: But God said to him: Fool, this night they will demand your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? You who promised many delights for yourself foolishly in life, snatched away by death this very night, will leave what you have gathered to others. This is what it means for God to speak to a man, to restrain his wicked schemes with sudden reproof. Alternatively: The soul is taken away in the night, which is in the darkness of the heart, and wretched. It is taken away in the night, which did not wish to have the light of reflection, to foresee what it could endure. Hence well does the Apostle Paul say to the disciples considering the future: But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that that day might overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of light and children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of the darkness (1 Thess. V). For the day of departure catches like a thief in the night, when it casts out the souls of the foolish who do not meditate on the future. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For such a one is a fool, and will be taken off in the night. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: It is not of anything else that the assertion is made, but of profligacy, and love of women, and love of glory, and ambition, and similar passions. For so He says, “Fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; and whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?” And the commandment is expressed in these very words, “Take heed, therefore, of covetousness. For a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of those things which he possesses. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” — The Stromata Book 4

Cyprian: He teaches us that riches are not only to be contemned, but that they are also full of peril; that in them is the root of seducing evils, that deceive the blindness of the human mind by a hidden deception. Whence also God rebukes the rich fool, who thinks of his earthly wealth, and boasts himself in the abundance of his overflowing harvests, saying, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? " The fool who was to die that very night was rejoicing in his stores, and he to whom life already was failing, was thinking of the abundance of his food. But, on the other hand, the Lord tells us that he becomes perfect and complete who sells all his goods, and distributes them for the use of the poor, and so lays up for himself treasure in heaven. He says that that man is able to follow Him, and to imitate the glory of the Lord’s passion, who, free from hindrance, and with his loins girded, is involved in no entanglements of worldly estate, but, at large and free himself, accompanies his possessions, which before have been sent to God. For which result, that every one of us may be able to prepare himself, let him thus learn to pray, and know, from the character of the prayer, what he ought to be. — Treatise IV On the Lord’s Prayer

Cyprian: Wherefore do you applaud yourself in those vain and silly conceits, as if you were withheld from good works by fear and solicitude for the future? Why do you lay out before you certain shadows and omens of a vain excuse? Yea, confess what is the truth; and since you cannot deceive those who know, utter forth the secret and hidden things of your mind. The gloom of barrenness has besieged your mind; and while the light of truth has departed thence, the deep and profound darkness of avarice has blinded your carnal heart. You are the captive and slave of your money; you are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness; and you whom Christ had once loosed, are once more in chains. You keep your money, which, when kept, does not keep you. You heap up a patrimony which burdens your with its weight; and you do not remember what God answered to the rich man, who boasted with a foolish exultation of the abundance of his exuberant harvest: “Thou fool,” said He, “this night thy soul is required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? " Why do you watch in loneliness over your riches? why for your punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony, that, in proportion as you are rich in this world, you may become poor to God? Divide your returns with the Lord your God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom. — Treatise VIII. On Works and Alms.

Cyprian: That the lust of possessing, and money, are not to be sought for. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.” Also in Proverbs: “He who holdeth back the corn is cursed among the people; but blessing is on the head of him that communicateth it.” Also in Isaiah: “Woe unto them who join house to house, and lay field to field, that they may take away something from their neighbour. Will ye dwell alone upon the earth? Also in Zephaniah: “They shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them; and they shall appoint vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them, because the day of the Lord is near.” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “For what does it profit a man to make a gain of the whole world, but that he should lose himself? " And again: “But the Lord said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul is required of thee. Whose, then, shall those things be which thou hast provided? " And again: “Remember that thou hast received thy good things in this life. and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is besought, and thou grievest.” And in the Acts of the Apostles: “But Peter said unto him, Silver and gold indeed I have not; but what I have I give unto you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And, taking hold of his right hand, he lifted him up.” Also in the first to Timothy: “We brought nothing into this world, but neither can we take anything away. Therefore, having maintenance and clothing, let us with these be content. But they who will become rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many and hurtful lusts, which drown man in perdition and destruction. For the root of all evils is covetousness, which some coveting, have made shipwreck from the faith, and have plunged themselves in many sorrows.” — Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (22. Mor. c. 2.) The same night he was taken away, who had expected many years, that he indeed who had in gathering stores for himself looked a long time forward, should not see even the next day.

(ubi sup.) But in the night the soul was taken away which had gone forth in the darkness of its heart, being unwilling to have the light of consideration, so as to foresee what it might suffer. But He adds, Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Concio. 2. de Lazar.) They shall require of thee, for perhaps certain dread powers were sent to require it, since if when going from city to city we want a guide, much more will the soul when released from the body, and passing to a future life, need direction. On this account many times the soul rises and sinks into the deep again, when it ought to depart from the body. For the consciousness of our sins is ever pricking us, but most of all when we are going to be dragged before the awful tribunal. For when the whole accumulation of crimes is brought up again, and placed before the eyes, it astounds the mind. And as prisoners are always indeed sorrowful, but particularly at the time when they are going to be brought before the judge; so also the soul at this time is greatly tormented by sin and afflicted, but much more after it has been removed. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:21

Bede: Thus it is for the one who treasures up for himself and is not rich toward God. If he who treasures up for himself and is not rich toward God is a fool and to be taken away in the night, then he who wishes to be rich toward God should not treasure up for himself, but distribute his possessions to the poor. Thus he will rightfully be considered wise and a son of the light. Hence the Psalmist rightly prefaces, concerning any greedy rich man: But in vain does he become troubled; he treasures up and does not know for whom he gathers (Ps. XXXVIII), then at once reveals the treasury of his heart, saying: And now, what is my expectation? Is it not the Lord? And my substance is with you (ibid.). — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): He then who wishes to be rich toward God, will not lay up treasures for himself, but distribute his possessions to the poor. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: It is true that a person’s life is not from one’s possessions or because of having an overabundance. He who is rich toward God is very blessed and has glorious hope. Who is he? Evidently, one who does not love wealth but rather loves virtue, and to whom few things are sufficient. It is one whose hand is open to the needs of the poor, comforting the sorrows of those in poverty according to his means and the utmost of his power. He gathers in the storehouses that are above and lays up treasures in heaven. Such a one shall find the interest of his virtue and the reward of his right and blameless life. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 23. in Gen.) For here shalt thou leave those things, and not only reap no advantage from them, but carry a load of sins upon thy own shoulders. And these things which thou hast laid up will for the most part come into the hands of enemies, but of thee shall an account of them be required. It follows, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:22

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now nothing is more likely to produce conviction in believers that God can give us all things, than the fact, that the ethereal spirit perpetuates the vital union of the soul and body in close fellowship, without our exertion, and the healthgiving use of food does not fail until the last day of death has arrived. Since then the soul is clothed with the body as with a garment, and the body is kept alive by the vigour of the soul, it is absurd to suppose that a supply of food will be wanting to us, who are in possession of the everlasting substance of life. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: And he said to his disciples: Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will wear. When he says, Therefore I say, he looks back to the previous, that is, I forbid the anxiety of temporal things, so that you are not convicted with the world’s rich for treasuring up for yourselves. Hence, what nature gives to all, and what is common to cattle, beasts, and humans, we are completely freed from the concern for it, but we are instructed not to be anxious about what we shall eat. And because we prepare bread for ourselves by the sweat of our brow, labor is to be exercised, anxiety is to be taken away. — On the Gospel of Luke

Clement of Alexandria: Wherefore neither are we to provide for ourselves costly clothing any more than variety of food. The Lord Himself, therefore, dividing His precepts into what relates to the body, the soul, and thirdly, external things, counsels us to provide external things on account of the body; and manages the body by the soul, and disciplines the soul, saying, “Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on; for the life is more than meat, and the body more than raiment.” — The Instructor Book 2

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now the soul is more excellent than food, and the body than clothing. Therefore He adds, The life is more than meat, &c. As if He said, “God who has implanted that which is greater, how will He not give that which is less?” Let not our attention then be stayed upon trifling things, nor our understanding serve to seek for food and raiment, but rather think on whatever saves the soul, and raises it to the kingdom of heaven. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: How carefully and with what great skill he brings the lives of the holy apostles to spiritual excellence. And with them he benefits us too, because he desires all humankind to be saved and to choose the wise and more excellent life. For this reason he makes them abandon unnecessary anxiety and does not allow a careworn and frenetic diligence that would make them wish to gather what exceeds their necessities. In these matters excess adds nothing to our benefit. “Do not be anxious,” therefore, he says, “about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” He did not simply say, “Do not be anxious,” but added “about your life,” that is, do not give much attention to these things, but devote your earnestness to things of far greater importance. For life indeed is of more importance than food, and the body is more important than clothing. Since, therefore, we are at risk concerning both life and body, and pain and punishment are decreed against those who will not live uprightly, let all anxiety be laid aside with regard to clothing and food.…These things, in turn, are followed immediately by a savage crowd of other desires, the result being apostasy from God.… It is our duty, therefore, to stay away from all worldly desires, and rather to take delight in those things which please God. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 90

Tertullian: " “I shall have no food.” But “think not,” says He, “about food; " and as an example of clothing we have the lilies. — On Idolatry

Tertullian: Who would be unwilling that we should distress ourselves about sustenance for our life, or clothing for our body, but He who has provided these things already for man; and who, therefore, while distributing them to us, prohibits all anxiety respecting them as an outrage against his liberality?-who has adapted the nature of “life” itself to a condition “better than meat,” and has fashioned the material of “the body,” so as to make it “more than raiment; “whose “ravens, too, neither sow nor reap, nor gather into storehouses, and are yet fed” by Himself; whose “lilies and grass also toil not, nor spin, and yet are clothed” by Him; whose “Solomon, moreover, was transcendent in glory, and yet was not arrayed like” the humble flower. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:23

Bede: The soul is more than food, and the body more than clothing. It reminds us to remember that God has given us much more in creating and composing us from soul and body than food and clothing, so that you understand that he who gave the soul will much more easily give food. Likewise, he who gave the body will much more easily give clothing. In this place, it is usually asked whether this food reaches the soul, since the soul is incorporeal, but this food is corporeal. But we should know that in this place the soul is put for this life, for which this corporeal food is the support. According to this meaning, it was also said: Whoever loves his soul will lose it (Matthew 10). If we do not understand this as referring to this life, which must be lost for the sake of the kingdom of God, which the martyrs have shown to be possible, this command will be contrary to the statement where it was said: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul (Matthew 16)? — On the Gospel of Luke

Tertullian: We who carry about our very soul, our very body, exposed in this world to injury from all, and exhibit patience under that injury; shall we be hurt at the loss of less important things? Far from a servant of Christ be such a defilement as that the patience which has been prepared for greater temptations should forsake him in frivolous ones. — Of Patience

Luke 12:24

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But it is a great thing to follow up this example in faith. For to the birds of the air who have no labour of tilling, no produce from the fruitfulness of crops, Divine Providence grants an unfailing sustenance. It is true then that the cause of our poverty seems to be covetousness. For they have for this reason a toilless and abundant use of food, because they think not of claiming to themselves by any special right fruits given for common food. We have lost what things were common by claiming them as our own. For neither is any thing a man’s own, where nothing is perpetual, nor is supply certain when the end is uncertain. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn, but God feeds them. If the birds, without care and toil, are fed by God’s providence, which are here today and will not be tomorrow, whose soul is mortal, and when they cease to exist, will never be again, how much more so humans, to whom eternity is promised, are governed by God’s rule! — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: How much more valuable are you than they! That is, you are worth more. For just as a rational animal like man is more highly ordered in the nature of things than irrational beings like birds. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): That is, ye are more precious, because a rational animal like man is of a higher order in the nature of things than irrational things, as the birds are. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: And He adds a plain example of instruction: “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them.” “Are ye not better than the fowls?” Thus far as to food. — The Instructor Book 2

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): As before in raising our minds to spiritual boldness, He assured us by the example of the birds, which are counted of little worth, saying, Ye are of more value than many sparrows; so now also from the instance of birds, He conveys to us a firm and undoubting trust, saying, Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them; how much more are ye better than fowls?

Now whereas our Lord might have taken an example from the men who have cared least about earthly things, such as Elias, Moses, and John, and the like, He made mention of the birds, following the Old Testament, which sends us to the bee and the ant, and others of the same kind, in whom the Creator has implanted certain natural dispositions. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: But perhaps you will reply to this, “Who then will give us the necessities of life?” Our answer to this is as follows: The Lord is worthy to be trusted, and he clearly promises it to you and through little things gives you full assurance that he will be true also in that which is great. “Consider,” he says, “the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.” … Through the birds and the flowers of the field, he produces in you a firm and unwavering faith. Nor does he permit us at all to doubt, but rather he gives us the certainty that he will grant us his mercy and stretch out his comforting hand, that we may have sufficiency in all things. It is, moreover, a very wicked thing that while those who are placed under the yoke of bodily slavery depend on their masters as sufficient to supply them with food and clothing, we will not consent to put our trust in almighty God, when he promises us the necessities of life. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 90

Eusebius of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): By the ravens also he signifies something else, for the birds which pick up seeds have a ready source of food, but those that feed on flesh as the ravens do have more difficulty in getting it. Yet birds of this kind suffer from no lack of food, because the providence of God extends every where; but he brings to the same purpose also a third argument, saying, And which of you by taking thought can add to his stature? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: Who would be unwilling that we should distress ourselves about sustenance for our life, or clothing for our body, but He who has provided these things already for man; and who, therefore, while distributing them to us, prohibits all anxiety respecting them as an outrage against his liberality?-who has adapted the nature of “life” itself to a condition “better than meat,” and has fashioned the material of “the body,” so as to make it “more than raiment; “whose “ravens, too, neither sow nor reap, nor gather into storehouses, and are yet fed” by Himself; whose “lilies and grass also toil not, nor spin, and yet are clothed” by Him; whose “Solomon, moreover, was transcendent in glory, and yet was not arrayed like” the humble flower. Besides, nothing can be more abrupt than that one God should be distributing His bounty, while the other should bid us take no thought about (so kindly a) distribution-and that, too, with the intention of derogating (from his liberality). — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:25

Ambrose of Milan: Indeed, it is a bonus and moral discourse, which contributes to the faith of divine mercy, either literally, because it relates to the stature of our body, or spiritually, because without God’s favor, we can add nothing beyond the measure of our stature. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.125

Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (de Qu. Ev. l. ii. qu. 28.) But in speaking concerning increasing the stature of the body, He refers to that which is least, that is, to God, to make bodies. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then cannot do even that which is least, why are you anxious about the rest? That is, by whose power and dominion was it done that your body was brought to this stature, by his providence also can it be clothed. It can be understood that it was not done by your own care that your body came to this stature from this: if you try and wish to add one cubit to this stature, you cannot. Therefore, also entrust the care of clothing the body to him, by whose care you see it was done that you have a body of such stature. Therefore, he says, if you then cannot do even that which is least, for this is minimal, but to God it is to make bodies. Moreover, an example had to be given also for clothing, just as it was given for nourishment. Hence, it follows, and he says: — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): To Him then leave the care of directing the body, by whose aid you see it to come to pass that you have a body of such a stature. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Eusebius of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): If no one has by his own skill contrived a bodily stature for himself, but can not add even the shortest delay to the prefixed limit of his time of life, why should we be vainly anxious about the necessaries of life? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:27

Ambrose of Milan: The discourse of the Lord, using the comparison of flowers and grass, is especially persuasive. For what could be more moral for persuasion than to see that even irrational things are adorned by God’s providence, so that they have no need for usefulness or ornamentation? Much more so, you should believe that a rational person, if he puts all his use in God and never desires to change his faith, will never be in need; precisely because he presumes on divine favor. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.125

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Nor does it seem of light moment, that a flower is either compared to man, or even almost more than to man is preferred to Solomon, to make us conceive the glory expressed, from the brightness of the colour to be that of the heavenly angels; who are truly the flowers of the other world, since by their brightness the world is adorned, and they breathe forth the pure odour of sanctification, who shackled by no cares, employed in no toilsome task, cherish the grace of the Divine bounty towards them, and the gifts of their heavenly nature. Therefore well also is Solomon hero described to be clothed in his own glory, and in another place to he veiled, because the frailty of his bodily nature be clothed as it were by the powers of his mind to the glory of his works. But the Angels, whose diviner nature remains free from bodily injury, are rightly preferred, although he be the greatest man. We should not however despair of God’s mercy to us, to whom by the grace of His resurrection He promises the likeness of angels. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Ambrose of Milan: It must also be noted that lilies are not generated in the roughness of mountains and in the untamedness of forests, but in the pleasantness of gardens. For there are certain gardens of various fruitful virtues, according to what is written: A closed garden, my sister, my bride, a closed garden, a sealed fountain; because where there is integrity, where there is chastity, where there is piety, where there is faithful secrecy of secrets, where there is the brightness of angels, there the violets of confessors, the lilies of virgins, the roses of martyrs are. And it is not incongruous for anyone to compare angels to lilies, since Christ himself has mentioned the lily, saying: I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valley. And it is fitting that Christ is compared to a lily; for where there is the blood of martyrs, there is Christ, who is a sublime, immaculate, harmless flower; in him, the roughness of thorns does not offend, but the surrounding grace shines forth. For the thorns are like the roses, because they are the torments of the martyrs. Unoffended divinity has no thorns, which it has not felt the torments. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.128

Bede: Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither labor nor spin. But these examples should not be discussed as allegories, so that we might seek what the ravens or the lilies signify; for they were set forth so that from lesser things greater could be persuaded. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: But I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. And truly, what silk, what royal purple, what tapestry of weavers, can be compared to flowers? What blushes like the rose? What glows as the lily? The purple of violets truly surpasses any murex dye, more evident to the eyes than to words. — On the Gospel of Luke

Clement of Alexandria: Similarly He enjoins with respect to clothing, which belongs to the third division, that of things external, saying, “Consider the lilies, how they spin not, nor weave. But I say unto you, that not even Solomon was arrayed as one of these.” And Solomon the king plumed himself exceedingly on his riches. — The Instructor Book 2

Eusebius of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But if a man wishes to be adorned with precious raiment, let him observe closely how even down to the flowers which spring from the earth God extends His manifold wisdom, adorning them with divers colours, so adapting to the delicate membranes of the flowers dyes far superior to gold and purple, that under no luxurious king, not even Solomon himself, who was renowned among the ancients for his riches as for his wisdom and pleasures, has so exquisite a work been devised; and hence it follows, But I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory of Nyssa: Some have obtained dominion and honours and riches by praying for them, how then dost thou forbid us to seek such things in prayer? And indeed that all these things belong to the Divine counsel is plain to every one, yet are they conferred by God upon those that seek them, in order that by learning that God listens to our lower petitions, we may be raised to the desire of higher things; just as we see in children, who as soon as they are born cling to their mother’s breasts, but when the child grows up it despises the milk, and seeks after a necklace or some such thing with which the eye is delighted; and again when the mind has advanced together with the body, giving up all childish desires, he seeks from his parents those things which are adapted to a perfect life. For to be careful about visible things is the part of those who possess no hope of a future life, no fear of judgment to come. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: Or do you think that every believer is entitled to originate and establish a law, if only it be such as is agreeable to God, as is helpful to discipline, as promotes salvation, when the Lord says, “But why do you not even of your own selves judge what is right? " And not merely in regard to a judicial sentence, but in regard to every decision in matters we are called on to consider, the apostle also says, “If of anything you are ignorant, God shall reveal it unto you; " he himself, too, being accustomed to afford counsel though he had not the command of the Lord, and to dictate of himself as possessing the Spirit of God who guides into all truth. — De Corona

Luke 12:28

Ambrose of Milan: Therefore, if lilies or angels are clothed with glory surpassing that of humans, we must not despair of God’s mercy in us, to whom the Lord promises a similar appearance of angels through the grace of resurrection. In this passage, it also seems to address that question, which even the Apostle did not overlook; for the peoples of this world inquire how the dead rise again and with what kind of body they come. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.129

Bede: If then God so clothes the grass in the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O you of little faith? In the Scriptures, tomorrow is understood as a future time, as Jacob says: And tomorrow my righteousness will answer for me (Gen. XXX). And in the vision of Samuel, the witch speaks to Saul: Tomorrow you shall be with me (1 Sam. XXVIII). — On the Gospel of Luke

Clement of Alexandria: What, I ask, more graceful, more gay-coloured, than flowers? What, I say, more delightful than lilies or roses? “And if God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith!” — The Instructor Book 2

Tertullian: But “think not,” says He, “about food; " and as an example of clothing we have the lilies. “My work was my subsistence. — On Idolatry

Tertullian: Whether, indeed, it is as depreciating the Creator that he does not wish such trifles to be thought of, concerning which neither the crows nor the lilies labour, because, forsooth, they come spontaneously to hand by reason of their very worthlessness, will appear a little further on. Meanwhile, how is it that He chides them as being “of little faith? " What faith? Does He mean that faith which they were as yet unable to manifest perfectly in a god who has hardly yet revealed, and whom they were in process of learning as well as they could; or that faith which they for this express reason owed to the Creator, because they believed that He was of His own will supplying these wants of the human race, and therefore took no thought about them? Now, when He adds, “For all these things do the nations of the world seek after,” even by their not believing in God as the Creator and Giver of all things, since He was unwilling that they should be like these nations, He therefore upbraided them as being defective of faith in the same God, in whom He remarked that the Gentiles were quite wanting in faith. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:29

Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (de Qu Ev. l. ii. qu. 29.) Now having forbidden all thought about food, he next goes on to warn men not to be puffed up, saying, Neither be ye lifted up, (nolite in sublime tolli μὴ μετεωρίζισθε.) for man first seeks these things to satisfy his wants, but when he is filled, he begins to be puffed up concerning them. This is just as if a wounded man should boast that he had many plasters in his house, whereas it were well for him that he had no wounds, and needed not even one plaster. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: And you, do not seek what you shall eat, or what you shall drink. Note that he did not say, Do not seek or be anxious about food, or drink, or clothing, but more expressively, He said, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink. And above, neither for the body, what you shall clothe yourselves with. Where it seems to me those are censured who, having despised common food or clothing, seek more luxurious or more austere food or clothing than those with whom they live their lives. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): It must however be observed, that He says not, Do not seek or take thought about meat, or drink, or raiment, but what ye shall eat or drink, in which He seems to me to reprove those who, despising the common food and clothing, seek for themselves either more delicate or coarser food and clothing than theirs with whom they live. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: And do not be lifted up. He, having prohibited anxiety about food, consequently admonished that they should not be exalted. For at first, man seeks these things to fulfill a necessity. But when these things have become abundant, he begins also to take pride in them. This is like someone wounded boasting because he has many bandages in his house, although it would be good for him not to have wounds and not to need even one bandage. — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For it is sufficient to the prudent for the sake of necessity only, to have a suitable garment, and moderate food, not exceeding what is enough. To the saints it is sufficient even to have those spiritual delights which are in Christ, and the glory that comes after.

it were strange for the disciples, who ought to set before others the rule and pattern of life, to fall into those things, which it was their duty to advise men to renounce; and therefore our Lord adds, And seek not what, ye shall eat, &c. Herein also our Lord strongly recommends the study of holy preaching, bidding His disciples to cast away all human cares. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: Moreover, He Justly added, “Give us this day,” seeing He had previously said, “Take no careful thought about the morrow, what ye are to eat.” To which subject He also adapted the parable of the man who pondered on an enlargement of his barns for his forthcoming fruits, and on seasons of prolonged security; but that very night he dies. — On Prayer

Luke 12:30

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): And that you may understand an elation of this kind, remember the vanity of your own youth; if at any time while by yourself you have thought about life and promotions, passing rapidly from one dignity to another, have grasped riches, have built palaces, benefitted friends, been revenged upon enemies. Now such abstraction is sin, for to have our delights fixed upon useless things, leads away from the truth. Hence He goes on to add, For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, &c.

But with respect to the necessaries of life, He adds, And your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: For all these things the nations of the world seek. But your Father knows that you need them. Nevertheless, seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Here he most evidently shows that these are not to be sought as our ultimate goods, for the sake of which we should do good if we do anything, but that they are necessary. For what is the difference between a good which ought to be sought, and a necessity which ought to be used, he declared by this saying, when he said: Nevertheless, seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore, the kingdom of God is our good and it is to be sought, and therein we should establish our end, for which purpose we should do all things whatever we do. But because in this life we struggle, that we may be able to reach that kingdom, which life cannot be lived without these necessities, He says, These things shall be added unto you, but you seek the kingdom of God. For he did not say, They shall be given, but they shall be added, surely indicating that there is another thing which is primarily given, another thing which is superadded. Because eternity should be in our intention, and temporality in our use, and that is given, and this is unquestionably superadded from abundance. — On the Gospel of Luke

Clement of Alexandria: “Wherefore I say, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for your body, what ye shall put on. For your life is more than meat, and your body than raiment.” And again, “For your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” “But seek first the kingdom of heaven, and its righteousness,” for these are the great things, and the things which are small and appertain to this life “shall be added to you.” Does He not plainly then exhort us to follow the gnostic life, and enjoin us to seek the truth in word and deed? — The Stromata Book 4

Gregory of Nyssa ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) For to be careful about visible things is the part of those who possess no hope of a future life, no fear of judgment to come. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: Meanwhile, how is it that He chides them as being “of little faith? " What faith? Does He mean that faith which they were as yet unable to manifest perfectly in a god who has hardly yet revealed, and whom they were in process of learning as well as they could; or that faith which they for this express reason owed to the Creator, because they believed that He was of His own will supplying these wants of the human race, and therefore took no thought about them? Now, when He adds, “For all these things do the nations of the world seek after,” even by their not believing in God as the Creator and Giver of all things, since He was unwilling that they should be like these nations, He therefore upbraided them as being defective of faith in the same God, in whom He remarked that the Gentiles were quite wanting in faith. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:31

Ambrose of Milan: For when he says, Seek the kingdom of God: and all these things shall be added unto you; he shows that grace will not be lacking to the faithful, neither in the present nor in the future, if only those who desire divine things do not seek after earthly things. For it is inappropriate for men to be concerned with food, who are soldiers for the kingdom. The king knows how to provide for, nourish, and clothe his household; and therefore he said: Cast your care upon God, and he himself will nourish you. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.130

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But He goes on to show, that neither at the present time, nor hereafter, will grace be lacking to the faithful, if only they who desire heavenly things seek not earthly; for it is unworthy for men to care for meats, who fight for a kingdom. The king knoweth wherewithal he shall support and clothe his own family. Therefore it follows, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For He declares that there is one thing which is primarily given, another which is superadded; that we ought to make eternity our aim, the present life our business. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory of Nyssa ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (in Orat. Dom. Serm. 1.) Some have obtained dominion and honours and riches by praying for them, how then dost thou forbid us to seek such things in prayer? And indeed that all these things belong to the Divine counsel is plain to every one, yet are they conferred by God upon those that seek them, in order that by learning that God listens to our lower petitions, we may be raised to the desire of higher things; just as we see in children, who as soon as they are born cling to their mother’s breasts, but when the child grows up it despises the milk, and seeks after a necklace or some such thing with which the eye is delighted; and again when the mind has advanced together with the body, giving up all childish desires, he seeks from his parents those things which are adapted to a perfect life. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist: Behold, we see, dearest brothers, how many of you have gathered for the feast of the martyr: you bend your knees, you beat your breasts, you utter words of prayer and confession, you wet your faces with tears. But consider, I ask, your petitions; see whether you are asking in the name of Jesus, that is, whether you are seeking the joys of eternal salvation. For in the house of Jesus you do not seek Jesus, if in the temple of eternity you pray inappropriately for temporal things. Behold, one person in prayer seeks a wife, another asks for an estate, another requests clothing, another begs that food be given to him. And indeed when these things are lacking, they should be sought from almighty God. But we ought to remember continually what we have received from the command of our same Redeemer: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” And so to ask these things from Jesus is not to err, provided they are not sought excessively. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 27

Tertullian: And your own gospel likewise has it in this wise: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and these things shall be added unto you.” But to Esau the blessing promised is an earthly one, which he supplements with a heavenly, after the fatness of the earth, saying, “Thy dwelling shall be also of the dew of heaven. — Against Marcion Book III

Tertullian: Again, if it is another god who has foreseen man’s wants, and is supplying them, how is it that Marcion’s Christ himself promises them? Is he liberal with another’s property? “Seek ye,” says he, “the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you”-by himself, of course. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:32

Bede: Do not fear, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. He calls the small flock the chosen ones, either in comparison to the larger number of the reprobate, or rather for the devotion of humility. Although He has already extended His Church to some size, He still wants it to grow until the end of the world and to reach the promised kingdom through humility. Therefore, He consoles its labors gently, commanding it to seek only the kingdom of God, and with a delighted kindness, promises that the kingdom will be given to them by the Father. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): As if He says, Fear not lest they who warfare for the kingdom of God, should be in want of the necessaries of this life. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: Such He names children, and sons, and little children, and friends, and little ones here, in reference to their future greatness above. “Despise not,” He says, “one of these little ones; for their angels always behold the face of My Father in heaven.” And in another place, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom of heaven.” Similarly also He says that “the least in the kingdom of heaven” that is His own disciple “is greater than John, the greatest among those born of women.” And again, “He that receiveth a righteous man or a prophet in the name of a righteous man or a prophet, shall receive their reward; and he that giveth to a disciple in the name of a disciple a cup of cold water to drink, shall not lose his reward.” Wherefore this is the only reward that is not lost. — Who is the Rich Man that Shall Be Saved?

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But why they ought not to fear, He shows, adding, for it is your Father’s good pleasure; as if He says, How shall He who gives such precious things be wearied in showing mercy towards you? For although His flock is little both in nature and number and renown, yet the goodness of the Father has granted even to this little flock the lot of heavenly spirits, that is, the kingdom of heaven. Therefore that you may possess the kingdom of heaven, despise this world’s wealth. Hence it is added, Sell that ye have, &c.

Now perhaps this command is irksome to the rich, yet to those who are of a sound mind, it is not unprofitable, for their treasure is the kingdom of heaven. Hence it follows, Provide for yourselves bags which wax not old, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: He announced as a general law, useful and necessary for salvation, not only to the holy apostles but to all living on the earth, that people must seek his kingdom. He announced this, being sure that what he gives will be sufficient for them to be in need of nothing else. What, then, does he say? Fear not, little flock. And by “do not fear,” he means that they must believe that certainly and without doubt their heavenly Father will give the means of life to those who love him. He will not neglect his own. Rather he will open his hand to them—the hand which ever fills the universe with goodness. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 91

Cyril of Alexandria: Give away these earthly things, and win that which is in heaven. Give that which you must leave, even against your will, that you may not lose things later. Lend your wealth to God, that you may be really rich.Concerning the way in which to lend it, Jesus next teaches us saying, “Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.” The blessed David teaches us exactly the same in the psalms, where by inspiration he says of every merciful and good man, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” Worldly wealth has many foes. There are numerous thieves, and this world of ours is full of oppressors. Some plunder by secret means, while others use violence and tear it away even from those who resist. But no one can do damage to the wealth that is laid up above in heaven. God is its keeper, and he does not sleep. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 91

Methodius of Olympus: Hail to thee, thou Catholic Church, which hast been planted in all the earth, and do thou rejoice with us. Fear not, little flock, the storms of the enemy; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom, and that you should tread upon the necks of your enemies. Hail, and rejoice, thou that wast once barren, and without seed unto godliness, but who hast now many children of faith. Hail, thou people of the Lord, thou chosen generation, thou royal priesthood, thou holy nation, thou peculiar people – show forth His praises who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; and for His mercies glorify Him. — Methodius Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna

Peter Chrysologus: The flock is little in the eyes of the world, but great in the eyes of God. It is little—because he calls glorious those whom he has trained to the innocence of sheep and to Christian meekness. The flock is little, not as the remnant of a big one, but as one which has grown from small beginnings. This little flock denotes the infancy of his newborn church, and immediately he promises that through the blessings of heaven this church will soon have the dignity of his kingdom. — SERMON 22

Luke 12:33

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (reg. brev. ad int. 92.) But some one will ask, upon what grounds ought we to sell that which we have? Is it that these things are by nature hurtful, or because of the temptation to our souls? To this we must answer, first, that every thing existing in the world if it were in itself evil, would be no creation of God, for every creation of God is good. (1 Tim. 4:4.) And next, that our Lord’s command teaches us not to cast away as evil what we possess, but to distribute, saying, and give alms. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Sell what you possess, and give alms. He says, do not fear that those who fight for the kingdom of God may lack the necessities of this life; indeed, sell what you possess for almsgiving. This is done worthily when, after having forsaken all things for the Lord, one nonetheless works with one’s hands to earn a living and to give alms. Hence the Apostle boasts, saying: “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak” (Acts 20). — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old. Namely, by performing almsgiving, the reward of which remains forever. It should not be understood from this command that the saints reserve nothing of their money, whether for themselves or for the use of the poor: since the Lord Himself, though ministered to by angels, is read to have kept purses to instruct His Church. He conserved what was offered by the faithful and provided for the needs of His own and others who were in need: but it should not be that service to God is done for these things or that justice is abandoned out of fear of poverty. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: A treasure unfailing in the heavens, where a thief does not approach, nor moth corrupts. Either simply taken that money kept fails, or namely, snatched by a thief from treasures, or in treasures itself spoiled by its own fragility, but given for Christ it bestows an everlasting fruit of mercy in the heavens; or certainly it should be understood that the treasure of good work, if it is stored for the sake of earthly gain, easily corrupted perishes, but if gathered solely with a heavenly intention, it is neither corrupted by external human favor nor ruined by the stain of empty glory within. For a thief steals from outside, a moth destroys from within. The thief has taken away the riches of those about whom the Lord says, They have received their reward (Matt. VI). The moth corrupts their clothes, of whom the Psalmist reproving says: For God scatters the bones of men who please themselves (Psalm LII). For bones he calls the strength of virtues. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But sell that ye have for alms’ sake, which then is done worthily, when a man having once for his Lord’s sake forsaken all that he hath, nevertheless afterwards labours with his hands that he may be able both to gain his living, and give alms.

That is, by doing alms, the reward of which abideth for ever; which must not be taken as a command that no money be kept by the saints either for their own, or the use of the poor, since we read that our Lord Himself, to whom the angels ministered, (Matt. 4:11) had a bag in which he kept the offerings of the faithful; (John 12:6.) but that God should not be obeyed for the sake of such things, and righteousness be not forsaken from fear of poverty.

Whether then should it be simply understood, that money kept faileth, but given away to our neighbour bears everlasting fruit in heaven; or, that the treasure of good works, if it be stored up for the sake of earthly advantage, is soon corrupted and perishes; but if it be laid up solely from heavenly motives, neither outwardly by the favour of men, as by the thief which steals from without, nor inwardly by vainglory, as by the moth which devours within, can it be defiled. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: “Lay not up for yourselves, therefore, treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break through and steal,” says the Lord, in reproach perchance of the covetous, and perchance also of those who are simply anxious and full of cares, and those too who indulge their bodies. For amours, and diseases, and evil thoughts “break through” the mind and the whole man. But our true “treasure” is where what is allied to our mind is, since it bestows the communicative power of righteousness, showing that we must assign to the habit of our old conversation what we have acquired by it, and have recourse to God, beseeching mercy. He is, in truth, “the bag that waxeth not old,” the provisions of eternal life, “the treasure that faileth not in heaven.” — The Stromata Book 4

Cyprian: Therefore in the Gospel, the Lord, the Teacher of our life and Master of eternal salvation, quickening the assembly of believers, and providing for them for ever when quickened, among His divine commands and precepts of heaven, commands and prescribes nothing more frequently than that we should devote ourselves to almsgiving, and not depend on earthly possessions, but rather lay up heavenly treasures. “Sell,” says He, “your goods, and give alms.” And again: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.” And when He wished to set forth a man perfect and complete by the observation of the law, He said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.” Moreover, in another place He says that a merchant of the heavenly grace, and a gainer of eternal salvation, ought to purchase the precious pearl-that is, eternal life-at the price of the blood of Christ, from the amount of his patrimony, parting with all his wealth for it. He says: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. And when he found a precious pearl, he went away and sold all that he had, and bought it.” — Treatise VIII On Works and Alms

Cyprian: Of the benefit of good works and mercy. In Isaiah: “Cry aloud,” saith He, “and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet; tell my people their sins, and the house of Jacob their wickednesses. They seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a people which did righteousness, and did not forsake the judgment of God. They ask of me now a righteous judgment, and desire to approach to God, saying, What! because we have fasted, and Thou hast not seen: we have humiliated our souls, and Thou hast not known. For in the days of fasting are found your own wills; for either ye torment those who are subjected to you, or ye fast for strifes and judgments, or ye strike your neighbours with fists. For what do you fast unto me, that to-day your voice should be heard in clamour? This fast I have not chosen, save that a man should humble his soul. And if thou shalt bend thy neck like a ring, and spread under thee sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall it be called an acceptable fast. Not such a fast have I chosen, saith the Lord; but loose every knot of unrighteousness, let go the chokings of impotent engagements. Send away the harassed into rest, and scatter every unrighteous contract. Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into thy dwelling. If thou seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not them of thy own seed in thy house. Then shall thy seasonable light break forth, and thy garments shall quickly arise; and righteousness shall go before thee: and the glory of God shall surround thee. Then thou shalt cry out, and God shall hear thee; while thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Here I am.” Concerning this same thing in Job: “I have preserved the needy from the hand of the mighty; and I have helped the orphan, to whom there was no helper. The mouth of the widow blessed me, since I was the eye of the blind; I was also the foot of the lame, and the father of the weak.” Of this same matter in Tobit: “And I said to Tobias, My son, go and bring whatever poor man thou shalt find out of our brethren, who still has God in mind with his whole heart. Bring him hither, and he shall eat my dinner together with me. Behold, I attend thee, my son, until thou come.” Also in the same place: “All the days of thy life, my son, keep God in mind, and transgress not His precepts. Do justice all the days of thy life, and do not walk in the way of unrighteousness; because if thou act truly, there will be respect of thy works. Give alms of thy substance, and turn not thy face from any poor man. So shall it come to pass that the face of God shall not be turned away from thee. Even as thou hast, my son, so do: if thou hast abundant substance, give the more alms therefrom; if thou hast little, communicate even of that little. And do not fear when thou givest alms: thou layest up for thyself a good reward against the day of need; because alms delivereth from death, and does not suffer to go into darkness. Alms is a good office for all who do it in the sight of the most high God.” On this same subject in Solomon in Proverbs: “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord.” Also in the same place: “He that giveth to the poor shall never want; but he who turns away his eye shall be in much penury.” Also in the same place: “Sins are purged away by alms-giving and faith.” Again, in the same place: “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; and if he thirst, give him to drink: for by doing this thou shalt scatter live coals upon his head.” Again, in the same place: “As water extinguishes fire, so alms-giving extinguishes sin.” In the same in Proverbs: “Say not, Go away, and return, to-morrow I will give; when you can do good immediately. For thou knowest not what may happen on the coming day.” Also in the same place: “He who stoppeth his ears that he may not hear the weak, shall himself call upon God, and there shall be none to hear him.” Also in the same place: “He who has his conversation without reproach in righteousness, leaves blessed children.” In the same in Ecclesiasticus: “My son, if thou hast, do good by thyself, and present worthy offerings to God; remember that death delayeth not.” Also in the same place: “Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and this will entreat for thee from all evil.” Concerning this thing in the thirty-sixth Psalm, that mercy is beneficial also to one’s posterity: “I have been young, and I have also grown old; and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. The whole day he is merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is in blessing.” Of this same thing in the fortieth Psalm: “Blessed is he who considereth over the poor and needy: in the evil day God will deliver him.” Also in the cxith Psalm: “He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness shall remain from generation to generation.” Of this same thing in Hosea: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt-offerings.” Of this same thing also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be satisfied.” Also in the same place: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Also in the same place: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not dig through and steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Also in the same place: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls: and when he hath found a precious pearl, he went away and sold all that he had, and bought it.” That even a small work is of advantage, also in the same place: “And whoever shall give to drink to one of the least of these a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, His reward shall not perish.” That alms are to be denied to none, also in the same place: “Give to every one that asketh thee; and from him who would wish to borrow, be not turned away.” Also in the same place: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith, Which? Jesus saith unto him, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto Him, All these things have I observed: what lack I yet? Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Also in the same place: “When the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then He shall sit on the throne of His glory: and all nations shall be gathered together before Him; and He shall separate them one from another, even as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats: and He shall place the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left hand. Then shall the King say unto them that are on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, and say, Lord, when saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in: naked, and clothed Thee? And when saw we Thee sick, and in prison, and came to Thee? And the King, answering, shall say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. Then shall He say unto them who are on His left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: I was naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer, and say, Lord, when saw we Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? And He shall answer them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting burning: but the righteous into life eternal.” Concerning this same matter in the Gospel according to Luke: “Sell your possessions, and give alms.” Also in the same place: “He who made that which is within, made that which is without also. But give alms, and, behold, all things are pure unto you.” Also in the same place: “Behold, the half of my substance I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, that salvation has this day been wrought for this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.” Of this same thing also in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: “Let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may be the supplement of your want, that there may be equality: as it is written, He who had much had not excess; and he who had little had no lack.” Also in the same place: “He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he who soweth in blessing shall reap also of blessing. But let every one do as he has proposed in his heart: not as if sorrowfully, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Also in the same place: “As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.” Likewise in the same place: “Now he who ministereth seed to the sower, shall both supply bread to be eaten, and shall multiply your seed, and shall increase the growth of the fruits of your righteousness: that in all things ye may be made rich.” Also in the same place: “The administration of this service has not only supplied that which is lacking to the saints, but has abounded by much giving of thanks unto God.” Of this same matter in the Epistle of John: “Whoso hath this world’s substance, and seeth his brother desiring, and shutteth up his bowels from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? " Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Luke: “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor brethren, nor neighbours, nor the rich; lest haply they also invite thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a banquet, call the poor, the weak, the blind, and lame: and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not the means of rewarding thee: but thou I shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the I just.” — Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

Gregory of Nazianzus ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Orat. 14.) Now I fear lest you should think deeds of mercy to be not necessary to you, but voluntary. I also thought so, but was alarmed at the goats placed on the left hand, not because they robbed, but did not minister unto Christ among the poor. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory of Nyssa ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But He bids us lay up our visible and earthly treasures where the power of corruption does not reach, and hence He adds, a treasure that faileth not, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 25. in Act.) For there is no sin which almsgiving does not avail to blot out. It is a salve adapted to ever wound. But almsgiving has to do not only with money, but with all matters also wherein man succours man, as when the physician heals, and the wise man gives counsel.

(ubi sup.) For without alms it is impossible to see the kingdom. For as a fountain if it keeps its waters within itself grows foul, so also rich men when they retain every thing in their possession. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:34

Augustine of Hippo: If you lack earthly riches, do not seek them in the world by evil deeds. If they fall to your lot, let them be stored up in heaven by good works. A manly Christian soul should neither be overjoyed at acquiring them nor cast down when they are gone. Let us instead reflect on what the Lord says: “Where thy treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Surely when we hear that we should lift up our hearts, the familiar answer that we make should not be a lie. — LETTER 189

Bede: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. This is to be understood not only about money, but about all passions. The glutton’s god is the belly. Therefore, there he has his heart where his treasure is. The luxurious man’s treasures are feasts, the wanton’s amusements, the lover’s lust, hence each one serves from whom he is conquered. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now this must not only be felt concerning love of money, but all the passions. Luxurious feasts are treasures; also the sports of the gay and the desires of the lover… — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Eusebius of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For every man naturally dwells upon that which is the object of his desire, and thither he directs all his thoughts, where he supposes his whole interest to rest. If any one then has his whole mind and affections, which he calls the heart, set on things of this present life, he lives in earthly things. But if he has given his mind to heavenly things, there will his mind be; so that he seems with his body only to live with men, but with his mind to have already reached the heavenly mansion. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Peter Chrysologus: All this is what that treasure brings about. Either through almsgiving it raises the heart of a man into heaven, or through greed it buries it in the earth. That is why he said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” O man, send your treasure on, send it ahead into heaven, or else your God-given soul will be buried in the earth. Gold comes from the depth of the earth—the soul, from the highest heaven. Clearly it is better to carry the gold to where the soul resides than to bury the soul in the mine of the gold. That is why God orders those who will serve in his army here below to fight as men stripped of concern for riches and unencumbered by anything. To these he has granted the privilege of reigning in heaven. — SERMON 22

Luke 12:35

Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (de Qu. Ev. lib. ii. q. 25.) Or, He teaches us also to gird our loins for the sake of keeping ourselves from the love of the things of this world, and to have our lamps burning, that this thing may be done with a true end and right intention. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning in your hands: and you be like unto men waiting for their lord. For he had shown many, either those subject to the world in all things, or those serving the Lord with a view to worldly benefit, beautifully and briefly he instructs his own, both to gird their loins for the sake of abstaining from the love of worldly things, and to have burning lamps, so that they may do this with true purpose and right intention. Otherwise, we gird our loins when we restrain the luxury of the flesh through abstinence. And we hold burning lamps in our hands, when through good works we show examples of light to our neighbors. For to our Redeemer, one without the other can by no means be pleasing, if either the one who does good yet has not abandoned the impurities of luxury, or the one who excels in chastity has not yet exercised himself in good works. But if both are done, it remains for any such person to strive with hope toward the heavenly homeland, by no means restraining himself from vices for the sake of this world’s honor, but placing all his hope in the coming of his Redeemer. Hence it immediately follows: — On the Gospel of Luke

Clement of Alexandria: We must therefore sleep so as to be easily awaked. For it is said, “Let your loins be girt about, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like to men that watch for their lord, that when he returns from the marriage, and comes and knocks, they may straightway open to him. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.” For there is no use of a sleeping man, as there is not of a dead man. Wherefore we ought often to rise by night and bless God. For blessed are they who watch for Him, and so make themselves like the angels, whom we call “watchers.” But a man asleep is worth nothing, any more than if he were not alive. — The Instructor Book 2

Cyprian: Let us, beloved brethren, arouse ourselves as much as we can; and breaking the slumber of our ancient listlessness, let us be watchful to observe and to do the Lord’s precepts. Let us be such as He Himself has bidden us to be, saying, “Let your loins be girt, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He shall come from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.” We ought to be girt about, lest, when the day of setting forth comes, it should find us burdened and entangled. Let our light shine in good works, and glow in such wise as to lead us from the night of this world to the daylight of eternal brightness. Let us always with solicitude and caution wait for the sudden coming of the Lord, that when He shall knock, our faith may be on the watch, and receive from the Lord the reward of our vigilance. If these commands be observed, if these warnings and precepts be kept, we cannot be overtaken in slumber by the deceit of the devil; but we shall reign with Christ in His kingdom as servants that watch. — Treatise I. On the Unity of the Church

Cyprian: That we must press on and persevere in faith and virtue, and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may attain to the palm and the crown. In the book of Chronicles: “The Lord is with you so long as ye also are with Him; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you.” In Ezekiel also: “The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in what day soever he may transgress.” Moreover, in the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says: “He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.” And again: “If ye shall abide in my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Moreover, forewarning us that we ought always to be ready, and to stand firmly equipped and armed, He adds, and says: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him. Blessed are those servants whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.” Also the blessed Apostle Paul, that our faith may advance and grow, and attain to the highest point, exhorts us, saying: “Know ye not, that they which run in a race run all indeed, yet one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown; but ye an incorruptible.” And again: “No man that warreth for God binds himself to anxieties of this world, that he may be able to please Him to whom he hath approved himself. Moreover, also, if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he have fought lawfully.” And again: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that ye constitute your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed in the renewing of your spirit, that ye may prove what is the will of God, good, and acceptable, and perfect.” And again: “We are children of God: but if children, then heirs; heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ, if we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.” And in the Apocalypse the same exhortation of divine preaching speaks, saying, “Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown; " which example of perseverance and persistence is pointed out in Exodus, when Moses, for the overthrow of Ama-lek, who bore the type of the devil, raised up his open hands in the sign and sacrament of the cross, and could not conquer his adversary unless when he had stedfastly persevered in the sign with hands continually lifted up. “And it came to pass,” says he, “when Moses raised up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he let down his hands, Amalek grew mighty. And they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sate thereon. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands on the one side and on the other side, and Moses’ hands were made steady even to the going down of the sun. Anti Jesus routed Amalek and all his people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this, and let it be a memorial in a book, and tell it in the ears of Jesus; because in destroying I will destroy the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” — Treatise XI Exhortation to Martyrdom Addressed to Fortunatus

Cyprian: That Christ is the Bridegroom, having the Church as His bride, from which spiritual children were to be born. In Joel: “Blow with the trumpet in Sion; sanctify a fast, and call a healing; assemble the people, sanctify the Church, gather the elders, collect the little ones that suck the breast; let the Bridegroom go forth of His chamber, and the bride out of her closet.” Also in Jeremiah: “And I will take away from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of the joyous, and the voice of the glad; the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.” Also in the eighteenth Psalm: “And he is as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber; he exulted as a giant to run his course. From the height of heaven is his going forth, and his circuit even to the end of it; and there is nothing which is hid from his heat.” Also in the Apocalypse: “Come, I will show thee the new bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he took me in the Spirit to a great mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “Ye are my witnesses, that I said to them who were sent from Jerusalem to me, that I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. For he who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom is he who standeth and heareth him with joy, and rejoiceth because of the voice of the bridegroom.” The mystery of this matter was shown in Jesus the son of Nave, when he was bidden to put his shoes from off him, doubt less because he himself was not the bridegroom. For it was in the law, that whoever should refuse marriage should put off his shoe, but that he should be shod who was to be the bridegroom: “And it happened, when Jesus was in Jericho, he looked around with his eyes, and saw a man standing before his face, and holding a javelin in his hand, and said, Art thou for us or for our enemies? And he said, I am the leader of the host of the Lord; now draw near. And Jesus fell on his rice to the earth, and said to him, Lord, what dost Thou command unto Thy servant. And the leader of the Lord’s host said, Loose thy shoe from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Also, in Exodus, Moses is bidden to put off his shoe, because he, too, was not the bridegroom: “And there appeared unto him the angel of the Lord in a flame of fire out of a bush; and he saw that the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will pass over and see this great sight, why the bush is not consumed. But when He saw that he drew near to see, the Lord God called him from the bush, saying, Moses, Moses. And he said, What is it? And He said, Draw not nigh hither, unless thou hast loosed thy shoe from off thy feet; for the place on which thou standest is holy ground. And He said unto him, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” This was also made plain in the Gospel according to John: “And John answered them, I indeed baptize with water, but there standeth One in the midst of you whom ye know not: He it is of whom I said, The man that cometh after me is made before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.” Also according to Luke: “Let your loins be girt, and your lamps burning, and ye like to men that wait for their master when he shall come from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.” Also in the Apocalypse: “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth: let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give to Him the honour of glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.” — Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

Cyprian: That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: “Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins.” Of this same thing in Solomon: “I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity.” Of this same thing in Exodus: “But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord’s passover.” Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Likewise in the same place: “Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil.” Likewise in the same place: “No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Also in the same place: “Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: “Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.” Of this same thing in Matthew: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head.” Also in the same place: “Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple.” Of this same thing in the first to the Corinthians: “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.” Also in the same place: “The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.” Also in the same place: “The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is from heaven.” Of this same matter to the Philippians: “All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ’s; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory.” Of this very matter to Galatians: “But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Concerning this same thing to Timothy: “No man that warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances, that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself. But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he fight lawfully.” Of this same thing to the Colossians: “If ye be dead with Christ from I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? " Also concerning this same thing: “If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and holiness, and truth.” Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: “As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God.” Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: “He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked.” Also in the same place: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world. And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever.” Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: “Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” — Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

Cyril of Alexandria: The girding of our loins signifies the readiness of the mind to work hard in every thing praiseworthy. Those who apply themselves to bodily labors and are engaged in strenuous toil have their loins girded. The lamp apparently represents the wakefulness of the mind and intellectual cheerfulness. We say that the human mind is awake when it repels any tendency to slumber off into that carelessness that often is the means of bringing it into subjection to every kind of wickedness. When sunk in stupor, the heavenly light within the mind is liable to be endangered, or even already is in danger from a violent and impetuous blast of wind. Christ commands us to be awake. To this, his disciple also arouses us by saying, “Be awake. Be watchful.” Further on, the very wise Paul also says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall give you light.” — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 92

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or, to be girded, signifies activity and readiness to undergo evils from regard to Divine love. But the burning of the lamp signifies that we should not suffer any to live in the darkness of ignorance. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Didache: Watch for your life’s sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh. — The Didache, Chapter 16

Gregory of Nyssa ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) For the sake then of keeping watch, our Lord advised above that our loins should be girded, and our lamps burning, for light when placed before the eyes drives away sleep. The loins also when tied with a girdle, make the body incapable of sleep. For he who is girt about with chastity, and illuminated by a pure conscience, continues wakeful. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist: That lust resides in the loins in men and in the navel in women, the Lord testifies when speaking of the devil to blessed Job, saying: “His strength is in his loins, and his power is in the navel of his belly.” Therefore, by the principal sex, lust is designated by the name of loins, when the Lord says: “Let your loins be girded.” For we gird our loins when we restrain the lust of the flesh through continence. But because it is not enough to refrain from evil unless one also strives to labor in good works, it is immediately added: “And have burning lamps in your hands.” For we hold burning lamps in our hands when through good works we show examples of light to our neighbors. Concerning these works the Lord indeed says: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Now two things are commanded: both to restrain the loins and to hold lamps, so that there may be both the purity of chastity in the body and the light of truth in action. For one without the other can in no way please our Redeemer, whether he who does good has not yet abandoned the defilements of lust, or he who excels in chastity does not yet exercise himself in good works. Neither is chastity great without good work, nor is any work good without chastity. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 13. in Evang.) Or else, we gird our loins when by continence we control the lusts of the flesh. For the lust of men is in their loins, and of women in their womb; by the name of loins, therefore, from the principal sex, lust is signified. But because it is a small thing not to do evil, unless also men strive to labour in good works, it is added, And your lamps burning in your hands; for we hold burning lamps in our hands, when by good works we show forth bright examples to our neighbours. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Irenaeus: And therefore did the Lord say to His disciples, to make us become good workmen: “Take heed to yourselves, and watch continually upon every occasion, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day shall come upon you unawares; for as a snare shall it come upon all dwelling upon the face of the earth.” “Let your loins, therefore, be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding.” “For as it was in the days of Noe, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they married and were given in marriage, and they knew not, until Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all; as also it was in the days of Lot, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and builded, until the time that Lot went out of Sodom; it rained fire from heaven, and destroyed them all: so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man.” “Watch ye therefore, for ye know not in what day your Lord shall come.” [In these passages] He declares one and the same Lord, who in the times of Noah brought the deluge because of man’s disobedience, and who also in the days of Lot rained fire from heaven because of the multitude of sinners among the Sodomites, and who, on account of this same disobedience and similar sins, will bring on the day of judgment at the end of time; on which day He declares that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city and house which shall not receive the word of His apostles. — Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4

Irenaeus: For this reason the Lord also said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” And, “Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares.” And, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He returns from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing.” And again, “The servant who knows his Lord’s will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” And, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” And again, “But if the servant say in his heart, The Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.” All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man, and at the same time the counsel which God conveys to him, by which He exhorts us to submit ourselves to Him, and seeks to turn us away from [the sin of] unbelief against Him, without, however, in any way coercing us. — Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4

Maximus the Confessor ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or, he teaches us to keep our lamps burning, by prayer and contemplation and spiritual love. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Methodius of Olympus: Just as our Lord Jesus Christ commands in the Gospels, thus directing: “Let not your lights be extinguished, and let not your loins be loosed. Therefore also be ye like men who wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are ye, when he shall make you sit down, and shall come and serve you. And if he come in the second, or in the third watch, ye are blessed.” For consider, O virgins, when He mentions three watches of the night, and His three comings, He shadows forth in symbol our three periods of life, that of the boy, of the full-grown man, and of the old man; so that if He should come and remove us from the world while spending our first period, that is, while we are boys, He may receive us ready and pure, having nothing amiss; and the second and the third in like manner. — Methodius Discourse V. Thallousa

Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For He will be girded about His loins with righteousness. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Origen of Alexandria: And when someone is in this state, it is possible that, even if he does not have the strength of the sun, yet he may be illumined by some slight brightness of the word which is a “lamp”, while still indeed remaining amid evils, yet already having a purpose of better things and a watchfulness, so that his purpose, looking toward better things, may not be broken in upon. For, as we read in the Shepherd, no one quickly tastes full vessels, for they are not easily changed; but the half-full ones, because they are readily believed to be changed, are frequently tasted.

And see whether you can draw to such an understanding that which is written elsewhere: “but let your loins be girded and your lamps burning; and be you like men awaiting their lord, when he shall return”; since he who is not yet in the light and in the day of the virtues, but already offers himself to the teaching that illumines his soul, so far as is possible, is in the first place girded. And turning himself away from the outpouring of malice, he uses not yet, as it were, the clear daylight of virtue, but the lamp by which it is possible for even one who is in malice to be illumined. This one, therefore, whose lamp is thus lit, is one awaiting his lord, God the Word,

that returning he may come to him who meanwhile has had within himself the lamp and has illumined his whole mind, evidently as it were a sun. And each one according to his own progress kindles his lamp either less or more from the light of knowledge, and pours oil into it through meditation, and watching in it against sinful works, hoping through abstinence of this kind and meditation to receive even the lord into himself. — COMMENTARY ON Matthew 59

Origen of Alexandria: And so the thief too comes at a certain watch and hour of the night and digs through the house of him whom he shall have found not keeping watch nor having a lamp lit. And upon some indeed he comes in the evening, but upon others at midnight, and upon some even at cockcrow, and there are also those upon whom he comes in the morning. And the master too comes at a certain watch and hour of the night, and perhaps the master comes to that man to whom the thief, in coming, could do nothing — namely, not being permitted to dig through the house of the one keeping watch and having a lamp lit. But to him who has his house dug through the master does not come, especially if anyone has learned what was said: “let your loins be girded and your lamps burning; and be yourselves like men awaiting their master”, and, despising the things that were said, has given “sleep to his eyes and drowsiness to his eyelids”. But to make clear the sense of this passage which has come upon us, let us use such an example: in the time of temptations or of calamities of whatever kind the thief is especially wont to come, wishing to dig through the house of the soul; but when the thief comes, the one who bears the mishaps and endures all things for the love of God, having suffered nothing from him, will straightway see the master coming to him. But whoever shall have had his house dug through by the thief in the time of his calamity will, as unworthy of the coming of his master to him, not be worthy to look upon him. — COMMENTARY ON Matthew 60

Pseudo-Clement: Therefore, let us not be constantly with women, nor with maidens. For this is not profitable for those who truly wish to “gird up their loins.” [Luke 12:35] For it is required that we love the sisters in all purity and chasteness, and with all curbing of thought, in the fear of God, not associating constantly with them, nor finding access to them at every hour. — Two Epistles on Virginity

Tertullian: We are servants because we have a Lord in our God. We ought “to have our loins girded: " in other words, we are to be free from the embarrassments of a perplexed and much occupied life; “to have our lights burning,” that is, our minds kindled by faith, and resplendent with the works of truth. — Against Marcion Book IV

Tertullian: We ought “to have our loins girded: " in other words, we are to be free from the embarrassments of a perplexed and much occupied life; “to have our lights burning,” that is, our minds kindled by faith, and resplendent with the works of truth. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:36

Bede: And you be like men waiting for their lord, when he returns from the weddings. For the Lord went to the weddings, because rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, the new man united to himself the supreme multitude of angels. He then returns when he is now manifested to us through judgment. And well is it added concerning the waiting servants: — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: That when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately. For he comes when he approaches for judgment; indeed, he knocks when he indicates that death is near through the afflictions of illness. To whom we open immediately, if we receive him with love. For he does not want to open to the knocking judge who trembles to leave the body; and he fears to see the judge whom he remembers having scorned. But he who is secure in his hope and action opens to the knocking judge immediately, because he joyfully waits for the judge; when he recognizes the time of imminent death, he rejoices at the glory of the reward. Hence it immediately follows: — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria: We should look for Christ’s coming again from heaven. He will come in the glory of the Father with the holy angels. He has taught us saying that we must be like those who wait for their lord to return from the banqueting house, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open the door to him immediately. For Christ will return as from a feast. This plainly shows that God always dwells in festivals that are fitting for him. In heaven above, there is no sadness whatsoever since nothing can occasion grief. That heavenly nature is incapable of passion and of being affected by anything whatsoever of this kind. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 92

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now consider that He comes from the wedding as from a festival, which God is ever keeping; for nothing can cause sadness to the Incorruptible Nature. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory of Nyssa ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 11. in Cant..) Or else, when the wedding was celebrated and the Church received into the secret bridal chamber, the angels were expecting the return of the King to His own natural blessedness. And after their example we order our life, that as they living together without evil, are prepared to welcome their Lord’s return, so we also, keeping watch at the door, should make ourselves ready to obey Him when He comes knocking; for it follows, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist: But even if both are practiced, it remains that whoever he is should reach toward the heavenly homeland by hope, and should not restrain himself from vices merely for the sake of this world’s respectability. For even if he sometimes begins certain good things for the sake of respectability, he ought not to remain in that intention, nor seek the glory of the present world through good works, but should place all his hope in the coming of his Redeemer. Hence it is immediately added: “And be like men waiting for their lord, when he returns from the wedding.” For the Lord went to the wedding because, rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, the new man joined to himself the heavenly multitude of angels. He returns when he is manifested to us through judgment. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) But if a man has both of these, whosoever he be, nothing remains for him but that he should place his whole expectation on the coming of the Redeemer. Therefore it is added, And be ye like to men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, &c. For our Lord went to the wedding, when ascending up into heaven as the Bridegroom He joined to Himself the heavenly multitude of angels. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) For He comes when He hastens to judgment, but He knocks, when already by the pain of sickness He denotes that death is at hand; to whom we immediately open if we receive Him with love. For he who trembles to depart from the body, has no wish to open to the Judge knocking, and dreads to see that Judge whom he remembers to have despised. But he who rests secure concerning his hope and works, immediately opens to Him that knocks; for when he is aware of the time of death drawing near, he grows joyful, because of the glory of his reward. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: We ought “to have our loins girded: " in other words, we are to be free from the embarrassments of a perplexed and much occupied life; “to have our lights burning,” that is, our minds kindled by faith, and resplendent with the works of truth. And thus “to wait for our Lord,” that is, Christ. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:37

Bede: Blessed are those servants whom the Lord will find watching when He comes. One watches who keeps the eyes of the mind open to the sight of the true light. One watches who fulfills by action what he has believed. One watches who drives the darkness of sluggishness and negligence away from himself. Hence Paul says: Awake to righteousness, and sin not (I Cor. XV). Hence he also says again: It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep (Rom. XIII). But let us hear what the Lord, upon His coming, will offer to those vigilant servants. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: Amen, I say to you that He will gird Himself and have them sit at table, and He will come and serve them. He girds Himself, which means He prepares their reward; He has them sit at table, which means they are refreshed in eternal rest. Our sitting at table surely means resting in the kingdom. Wherefore the Lord again says: They will come and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. VIII). The Lord, passing by, ministers because He satisfies us with the illumination of His light. Truly, passing by, it is said, He returns from judgment to the kingdom. Or certainly, the Lord passes to us after judgment because He elevates us from the form of His humanity to the contemplation of His divinity. And His passing by is to lead us into the vision of His brightness, for when we see Him in humanity at judgment, we also see Him in divinity after judgment. — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria: When he comes and finds us girded, awake and our hearts enlightened, then he immediately will make us blessed. “He will gird his loins and serve them.” By this, we learn that he will reward us proportionately. Since we are weary with toil, he will comfort us, setting before us spiritual banquets and spreading the abundant table of his gifts. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 92

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): When then our Lord coming shall find us awake and girded, having our hearts enlightened, He will then pronounce us blessed, for it follows, Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself; from which we perceive that He will recompense us in like manner, seeing that He will gird Himself with those that are girded. (Isa. 11:5.)

He will then make them to sit down as a refreshment to the weary, setting before them spiritual enjoyments, and ordering a sumptuous table of His gifts. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist: And well is it added concerning the waiting servants: “That when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.” For the Lord comes when he hastens to judgment; he knocks when through the troubles of illness he indicates that death is near. We open to him immediately if we receive him with love. For he who trembles to depart from the body does not wish to open to the judge who knocks, and fears to see as judge him whom he remembers having despised. But he who is confident in his hope and work opens immediately to the one who knocks, because he awaits the judge joyfully; and when he recognizes that the time of approaching death has come, he rejoices in the glory of recompense. Hence it is immediately added: “Blessed are those servants whom the lord, when he comes, shall find watching.” He watches who keeps the eyes of his mind open to behold the true light; he watches who preserves in action what he believes; he watches who repels from himself the darkness of torpor and negligence. Hence Paul says: “Awake, you righteous, and do not sin.” Hence again he says: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep.”

But let us hear what the coming Lord shows to his watchful servants: “Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them recline, and passing by will minister to them.” He will gird himself, that is, he will prepare himself for recompense; and he will make them recline, that is, to be refreshed in eternal rest. For our reclining in the kingdom is to rest. Whence again the Lord says: “They will come and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” But the Lord passing by ministers, because he satisfies us with the illumination of his light. And it is said “passing,” when he returns from judgment to the kingdom. Or certainly the Lord passes by for us after the judgment, because he raises us from the form of humanity to the contemplation of his divinity. And his passing is to lead us into the vision of his glory, when him whom we perceive in humanity at the judgment, we also see in divinity after the judgment. For coming to judgment, he appears to all in the form of a servant, because it is written: “They will look upon him whom they pierced.” But when the reprobate fall into punishment, the just are drawn to the glory of his brightness, as it is written: “Let the impious one be taken away, lest he see the glory of God.” — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) For He comes when He hastens to judgment, but He knocks, when already by the pain of sickness He denotes that death is at hand; to whom we immediately open if we receive Him with love. For he who trembles to depart from the body, has no wish to open to the Judge knocking, and dreads to see that Judge whom he remembers to have despised. But he who rests secure concerning his hope and works, immediately opens to Him that knocks; for when he is aware of the time of death drawing near, he grows joyful, because of the glory of his reward; and hence it is added, Blessed are the servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. He watches who keeps the eyes of his mind open to behold the true light; who by his works maintains that which he beholds, who drives from himself the darkness of sloth and carelessness. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 13. in Ev.) By which He girds Himself, that is, prepares for judgment.

(Hom. 13. in Ev.) But He is said to be passing over, when He returns from the judgment to His kingdom. Or the Lord passes to us after the judgment, and raises us from the form of His humanity to a contemplation of His divinity. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Irenaeus: “The pain of the stroke” means that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is, death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says: “And thou shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father.” This is what the Lord declared: “Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down [to meat], and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in the evening watch, and find them so, blessed are they, because He shall make them sit down, and minister to them; or if this be in the second, or it be in the third, blessed are they.” Again John also says the very same in the Apocalypse: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” Then, too, Isaiah has declared the time when these events shall occur; he says: “And I said, Lord, how long? Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses be without men, and the earth be left a desert. And after these things the Lord shall remove us men far away, and those who shall remain shall multiply upon the earth.” Then Daniel also says this very thing: “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of those under the heaven, is given to the saints of the Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” And lest the promise named should be understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophet: “And come thou, and stand in thy lot at the consummation of the days.” — Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5

Philoxenus of Mabbug: “Verily I say unto you that He shall make His chosen ones sit down, and He shall gird up His loins and shall go in and minister unto them.” Be thou then at all times mindful of this table, that from the remembrance thereof thou mayest receive strength, and mayest be able to despise the natural table; for there is no man who would exchange the dainty table of the kingdom for the coarse and common table of the bread of wheat, and more than this the table of meats of the body is smaller and inferior in comparison to that spiritual table. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 – On Abstinence

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Dion. in Ep. ad Tit.) The “sitting down” is taken to be the repose from many labours, a life without annoyance, the divine conversation of those that dwell in the region of light enriched with all holy affections, and an abundant pouring forth of all gifts, whereby they are filled with joy. For the reason why Jesus makes them to sit down, is that He might give them perpetual rest, and distribute to them blessings without number. Therefore it follows, And will pass over (transiens) and serve them. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:38

Ancient Greek Expositor ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Severus.) Or, to the first watch belong those who live more carefully, as having gained the first step, but to the second, those who keep the measure of a moderate conversation, but to the third, those who are below these. And the same must be supposed of the fourth, and if it should so happen also of the fifth. For there are different measures of life, and a good rewarder metes out to every man according to his deserts. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: And if he comes in the second watch, or if he comes in the third watch, and finds them so, blessed are those servants. The first watch is the time of youth, that is, childhood. The second is adolescence or youth. As the sacred word says in one authority: Rejoice, young man, in your youth (Eccl. XI). But the third is understood as old age. Therefore, he who did not wish to be watchful in the first watch, let him at least guard the second, so that he who neglected to turn away from his wickedness in childhood may awaken to the paths of life at least in his youth. And he who did not wish to be watchful in the second watch, let him not lose the remedies of the third watch, so that he who did not awaken to the paths of life in his youth may at least come to his senses in old age. But to shake off the sloth of our mind, external losses are also deduced through analogy, so that by these the mind may be roused to self-guarding; for it is said: — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria: We typically divide the night into three or four watches. The sentinels on the city walls, who watch the motions of the enemy, after being on guard three or four hours, deliver the watch and guard over to others. With us, there are three ages. The first is childhood. The second is youth. The third is old age. Now the first of these, in which we are still children, is not called to account by God but is deemed worthy of pardon, because of the innocence as yet of the mind and the weakness of the understanding. The second and the third—the periods of adulthood and old age—owe obedience and piety of life to God, according to his good pleasure. Whoever is found watching and well belted, whether by chance he is still young or has arrived at old age, shall be blessed. For he will be counted worthy of attaining to Christ’s promises. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 92

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Our Lord knew the proneness of human infirmity to sin, but because He is merciful, He docs not allow us to despair, but rather has compassion, and gives us repentance as a saving remedy. And therefore He adds, And if he shall come in the second watch, &c. For they who keep watch on the walls of cities, or observe the attacks of the enemy, divide the night into three or four watches.

Of the first watch, however, he makes no mention, for childhood is not punished by God, but obtains pardon; but the second and third age owe obedience to God, and the leading of an honest life according to His will. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist: But what if servants are negligent in the first watch? For the first watch is the guarding of the first age. But even so, one should not despair or cease from good work. For the Lord, suggesting the patience of his long-suffering, adds: “And if he comes in the second watch, and if he comes in the third watch, and finds them so, blessed are those servants.” For the first watch is the earliest time, that is, childhood. The second is adolescence or youth, which according to the authority of sacred Scripture are one, as Solomon says: “Rejoice, young man, in your adolescence.” The third, however, is understood as old age. Therefore, he who was unwilling to keep watch in the first watch should guard at least the second, so that he who neglected to turn from his wickedness in childhood may awaken to the ways of life at least in the time of youth. And he who was unwilling to watch in the second watch should not lose the remedies of the third watch, so that he who did not awaken to the ways of life in youth may at least come to his senses in old age. Consider, dearest brothers, that the mercy of God has enclosed our hardness. There is nothing left for a person to find as an excuse. God is despised, and he waits; he sees himself scorned, and he calls back; he receives injury from contempt of himself, and yet he still promises rewards to those who eventually return. But let no one neglect this long-suffering of his, because he will demand justice at the judgment all the more strictly, the longer the patience he extended before the judgment. For Paul says about this: “Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God.” About this the Psalmist says: “God is a just judge, strong and long-suffering.” For about to call him long-suffering, he first said just, so that you may know that he whom you see patiently bearing the sins of transgressors for a long time will also at some point judge strictly. About this it is said through a certain wise man: “For the Most High is a patient rewarder.” He is called a patient rewarder because he both endures and repays the sins of men. For those whom he tolerates for a long time so that they may convert, if they do not convert, he condemns more harshly. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) The first watch then is the earliest time of our life, that is, childhood, the second youth and manhood, but the third represents old age. He then who is unwilling to watch in the first, let him keep even the second. And he who is unwilling in the second, let him not lose the remedies of the third watch, that he who has neglected conversion in childhood, may at least in the time of youth or old age recover himself. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:39

Bede: But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. From this preceding analogy, an exhortation is also implied when it is said: — On the Gospel of Luke

Gregory the Dialogist: But to shake off the sloth of our mind, even external losses are brought forward through a comparison, so that through these the soul may be roused to guard itself. For it is said: “Know this, that if the master of the house knew at what hour the thief was coming, he would certainly watch and would not allow his house to be broken into.” For while the master of the house is unaware, the thief breaks into the house, because while the spirit sleeps from guarding itself, unforeseen death coming bursts into the dwelling of our flesh, and slays as if sleeping the one it found as master of the house, because when the spirit fails to foresee the coming losses, death snatches him unknowing to punishment. But he would resist the thief if he were watching, because being on his guard against the coming of the judge who secretly seizes the soul, he would meet him by repenting, lest he perish impenitent. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (ubi sup.) But to shake off the sloth of our minds, even our external losses are by a similitude set before us. For it is added, And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 13. in Ev.) Or else; unknown to the master the thief breaks into the house, because while the spirit sleeps instead of guarding itself, death comes unexpectedly, and breaks into the dwelling place of our flesh. But he would resist the thief if he were watching, because being on his guard against the coming of the Judge, who secretly seizes his soul, he would by repentance go to meet Him, lest he should perish impenitent. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: In the next parable also he makes a flagrant mistake, when he assigns to the person of the Creator that “thief, whose hour, if the father of the family had only known, he would not have suffered his house to be broken through.” How can the Creator wear in any way the aspect of a thief, Lord as He is of all mankind? No one pilfers or plunders his own property, but he rather acts the part of one who swoops down on the things of another, and alienates man from his Lord. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:40

Basil of Caesarea: What is the mark of a Christian? It is to watch daily and hourly and to stand prepared in that state of total responsiveness pleasing to God, knowing that the Lord will come at an hour that he does not expect. — THE MORALS 22

Bede: Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. For while the master of the house is unaware, the thief breaks into the house: because while the spirit sleeps, neglecting self-guarding, an unexpected death comes, breaks into the dwelling of our flesh, and if it finds the master of the house sleeping, it kills. For when the spirit does not foresee future harms, death snatches it unaware to punishment. The master would resist the thief if he kept watch, because by anticipating the coming of the judge who secretly takes the soul, he would confront him by repenting, lest he perish impenitent. Our Lord wanted the final hour to be unknown to us so that it always might be suspected, and since we cannot foresee it, we may always be prepared for it. — On the Gospel of Luke

Gregory the Dialogist: Our Lord willed that the final hour be unknown to us so that it might always be regarded with suspicion, so that since we cannot foresee it, we might prepare ourselves for it without ceasing. Therefore, my brothers, fix the eyes of your mind upon the condition of your mortality; prepare yourselves for the coming Judge through daily weeping and lamentation. And since certain death awaits all, do not think about the uncertain provision of temporal life. Let not the care of earthly things weigh you down. For however great the masses of gold and silver that surround the flesh, however precious the garments in which it is clothed, what is it other than flesh? Therefore do not consider what you have, but what you are. Do you wish to hear what you are? The prophet declares, saying: “Truly the people are grass.” For if the people are not grass, where are those who celebrated with us the feast of blessed Felix’s birthday a year ago, which we celebrate today? O how many and how great were the thoughts they had about provision for the present life, but when the moment of death crept upon them, they were suddenly found in those circumstances they had been unwilling to foresee, and they lost all the temporal things at once which, having been gathered together, they seemed to hold securely. If therefore the multitude of the human race that has passed flourished in the flesh through birth and withered to dust through death, it was evidently grass. Since therefore the hours flee with their moments, act, dearest brothers, so that they may be retained in the reward of good work. Hear what the wise Solomon says: “Whatever your hand is able to do, work at it earnestly, for there will be neither work, nor knowledge, nor reason, nor wisdom in the underworld, to which you are hastening.” Since therefore we do not know the time of coming death, and after death we cannot work, it remains that before death we seize the time that has been granted. For thus, yes thus, death itself when it comes will be conquered, if before it comes it is always feared. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 13. in Ev.) But the last hour our Lord wishes to be unknown to us, in order as we cannot foresee it, we may be unceasingly preparing for it. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:41

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or else, the form of the first command is a general one adapted to all, but the following example seems to be proposed to the stewards, that is, the priests; and therefore it follows, And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give, them their portion of meat in due season? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: But Peter said to him: Lord, are you telling this parable for us, or for everyone? The Lord indeed had previously warned through a parable, both that he would come suddenly, and that they should expect him prepared; but of which of these matters Peter asked, or about both, whom he compared with himself and his companions, when he said, Are you telling this to us, or to everyone? It is not easily clear. And indeed in that which he says, us and everyone, he is supposed to signify no others but either apostles and those similar to apostles, and the other faithful, or those who individually dying daily receive the coming of their judge willing or unwilling, and those who are to be found alive in the flesh when the universal judgment comes. But it would be a marvel if blessed Peter doubted, or to all who wish to live soberly, righteously, and piously, expecting the blessed hope, and the coming of the glory of the great God, who wants all men to be saved, whether the judgment will be unexpected for each and everyone, the great and the small, both the faithful and the unfaithful. Whence it remains to understand that, with these matters well understood, he found it more worthy to ask about those things which he might possibly be ignorant of, as namely whether those lofty precepts of heavenly life, by which he commanded to sell possessions, make purses that do not grow old, store up treasure in heaven, gird your loins, burn lamps and watch, and wait for the Lord, pertain solely to apostles and those like them, or even to all who are to be saved. This sense of the inquirer is declared (if I am not mistaken) by the Lord’s very response. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Our Lord had taught two things in the preceding parable unto all, even that He would come suddenly, and that they ought to be ready and waiting for Him. But it is not very plain concerning which of these, or whether both, Peter asked the question, or whom he compared to himself and his companions, when he said, Speakest thou to us, or to all? Yet in truth by these words, us and all, he must be supposed to mean none other than the Apostles, and those like to the Apostles, and all other faithful men; or Christians, and unbelievers; or those who dying separately, that is, singly, both unwillingly indeed and willingly, receive the coming of their Judge, and those who when the universal judgment comes are to be found alive in the flesh. Now it is marvellous if Peter doubted that all must live soberly, piously, and justly, who wait for a blessed hope, or that the judgment will to each and all be unexpected. It therefore remains to be supposed, that knowing these two things, he asked about that which he might not know, namely, whether those sublime commands of a heavenly life in which He bade us sell what we have and provide bags which wax not old, and watch with our loins girded, and lamps burning, belonged to the Apostles only, and those like unto them, or to all who were to be saved. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: Blessed Peter, considering within himself the force of what Christ said, rightly asked which of the two was meant: the declaration referred to all believers, or only to them? That is, to those who had been called to the discipleship, and especially honored by the grant of apostolic powers? — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 93

Isidore of Seville: It was added also in their due season, because a benefit not conferred at its proper time is rendered vain, and loses the name of a benefit. The same bread is not equally coveted by the hungry man, and him that is satisfied. But with respect to this servant’s reward for his stewardship, He adds, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing.

Tertullian: If then in this passage he displays the Creator’s Christ under the title “Son of man,” that he may give us some presage of the thief, of the period of whose coming we are ignorant, you still have it ruled above, that no one is the thief of his own property; besides which, there is our principle also unimpaired -that in as far as He insists on the Creator as an object of fear, in so far does He belong to the Creator, and does the Creator’s work. When, therefore, Peter asked whether He had spoken the parable “unto them, or even to all,” He sets forth for them, and for all who should bear rule in the churches, the similitude of stewards. — Against Marcion Book IV

Tertullian: That steward who should treat his fellow-servants well in his Lord’s absence, would on his return be set as ruler over all his property; but he who should act otherwise should be severed, and have his portion with the unbelievers, when his lord should return on the day when he looked not for him, at the hour when he was not aware -even that Son of man, the Creator’s Christ, not a thief, but a Judge. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:42

Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (de Qu. Ev. l. ii. c. 26.) Now he says portion, because of suiting His measure to the capacity of his several hearers. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: The Lord said: Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom the Lord shall make ruler over his household? Answering the questions of the Savior, he first teaches that judgment is present for all, and that individuals will receive rewards or punishments according to the merit of their work and the capacity of their understanding. Then, in addressing what was especially asked, he shows that the grace of virtues which he brought to the world is to be pursued by each as much as they can. “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled?” Certainly, in saying “who then is,” he suggests the difficulty, not the impossibility, of achieving virtue, just as the Psalmist says: “Who is wise, and will observe these things?” (Psalms 106). He signifies not no one, but the rarity. For elsewhere the same term is used not for difficulty, but for impossibility. “Who is like unto thee, O God?” (Psalms 82), that is to say, none. “For thou alone art the most High over all the earth” (Psalms 82). — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: To give them their portion of wheat in due season. By the portion of wheat is expressed the measure of the word. For lofty matters ought to be covered before many listeners, and scarcely disclosed to a few, lest when something beyond the ability of a narrow heart is given, it be cast aside. Here, Moses, coming forth from the secret presence of God, veiled his shining face before the people, because surely, he did not reveal the secrets of innermost clarity to the crowds. Therefore, the speech of teachers ought to be formed according to the quality of the listeners, so that it suits each individually and yet never departs from the art of common edification. — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria: What is our Lord’s reply? He makes use of a clear and very evident example to show that the commandment especially belongs to those who occupy a more influential position and have been admitted into the rank of teachers. “Who,” he says, “is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord will set over his household, to give the allowance of food at its season?” …This is the simple and plain meaning of the passage. If we now fix our mind accurately upon it, we will see what it signifies and how useful it is for the benefit of those who have been called to the office of apostle, that is, to the office of teacher. The Savior has ordained faithful men of great understanding, and well instructed in the sacred doctrines, as stewards over his servants who have been won by faith to the acknowledgment of his glory. He has ordained them, commanding them to give their fellow servants their allowance of food. He does not do this simply and without distinction but rather at its proper season. I mean spiritual food, as is sufficient and fitting for each individual. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 93

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now to the courageous rightly belong the great and difficult of God’s holy commandments, but to those who have not yet attained to such virtue, belong those things from which all difficulty is excluded. Our Lord therefore uses a very obvious example, to show that the above-mentioned command is suited to those who have been admitted into the rank of disciples, for it follows, And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful steward? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Pseudo-Clement: Then Peter said: “If you are afraid of this, do not be called Ruler, but The Appointed One, the Lord having permitted you to be so called, when He said, ‘Blessed is that man whom his Lord shall Appoint to the ministry of his fellow-servants.’ — Clementine Homilies, Homily 3

Shepherd of Hermas: And this is a great work, and acceptable before God, because he understands the object of his wealth, and has given to the poor of the gifts of the Lord, and rightly discharged his service to Him. — Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 2

Luke 12:43

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (in Proœm. in reg. fus.) He says not, ‘doing,’ as if by chance, but so doing. For not only conquest is honourable, but to contend lawfully, which is to perform each thing as we have been commanded. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Blessed is that servant whom, when the Lord comes, He finds so doing. Truly I say to you that He will set him over all His possessions. Just as there is a great difference in merits between good listeners and good teachers, so too is there in rewards. For when He comes and finds these watching, He will make them sit down to eat, and passing by, He will serve them. But those whom He finds faithfully and wisely dispensing the word of food to the family entrusted to them, He will set over all that He possesses, that is, over all the heavenly joys of the kingdom, not that they alone may hold the Lord, but that they may more abundantly enjoy eternal possession with the other saints. For those who are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and those who instruct many to righteousness as the stars for endless eternities (Dan. XII). And the Apostle says: The elders who rule well are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine (I Tim. V). — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For whatever difference there is in the merits of good hearers and good teachers, such also there is in their rewards; for the one whom when He cometh He finds watching, He will make to sit down; but the others whom He finds faithful and wise stewards, He will place over all that He hath, that is, over all the joys of the kingdom of heaven, not certainly that they alone shall have power over them, but that they shall more abundantly than the other saints enjoy eternal possession of them. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Thus the faithful and wise servant prudently giving out in due season the servants’ food, that is, their spiritual meat, will be blessed according to the Saviour’s word, in that he will obtain still greater things, and will be thought worthy of the rewards which are duo to friends. Hence it follows, Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Isidore of Pelusium ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (l. 3. Ep. 170.) It was added also in their due season, because a benefit not conferred at its proper time is rendered vain, and loses the name of a benefit. The same bread is not equally coveted by the hungry man, and him that is satisfied. But with respect to this servant’s reward for his stewardship, He adds, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:45

Augustine of Hippo: But many misuse his delay for their own impiety. And the wicked servant says: My lord delays. And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken. The lord of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces. For it is the body of ministers and overseers that gives food to fellow servants in due time. He will cut him in pieces, he says. He has good ones, he has bad ones, he separates the good from the bad. And he will appoint his portion with the hypocrites. Not the whole ministry, because there are those who also desire the coming of the Lord. There are also those from that number of whom it is said: Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he comes, will find so doing. Therefore, he will come and cut him in pieces. — Sermon 37

Bede: But if that servant shall say in his heart, ‘My Lord delays to come,’ and shall begin to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink, and to become drunken. Just as in a faithful and wise steward the entire order of good things is taught, how he should live and be rewarded, so also in this most wicked servant is shown the work and damnation of all condemned overseers, who, neglecting the fear of the Lord, not only indulge in luxury themselves, but also incite their subordinates to wrongdoing. Although symbolically it can be understood that beating the male and female servants means corrupting the hearts of the weak, who are not yet strengthened in faith, hope, and charity, by showing them an example of bad behavior or speech. Eating, drinking, and becoming drunk means being occupied with all crimes and worldly pleasures, which dement the mind and lead it astray. Note certainly among the vices of the bad servant that he believed his lord’s return to be slow, but not counted among the virtues of the good that he hoped for it quickly, but only that he gave his fellow servants the measure of wheat in time, that is, he showed them either the word of the Lord or the rule of his own example. Indeed, we also read that some good servants were reproved by the Apostle for trembling and anxiously believing the day of the Lord to be imminent, which he himself promised would come unexpectedly. Hence it is proven best, although we fervently desire to know when the Desired One for all nations shall come, to bear patiently not knowing what cannot be known, and just in the example of the good servant, whether he is near or far, to be ready to await and love his coming. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Observe that it is counted among the vices of a bad servant that he thought the coming of his Lord slow, yet it is not numbered among the virtues of the good that he hoped it would come quickly, but only that he ministered faithfully. There is nothing then better than to submit patiently to be ignorant of that which can not be known, but to strive only that we be found worthy. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): In this servant is declared the condemnation of all evil rulers, who, forsaking the fear of the Lord, not only give themselves up to pleasures, but also provoke with injuries those who are put under them. Although these words may be also understood figuratively, meaning to corrupt the hearts of the weak by an evil example; and to eat, drink, and be drunken, to be absorbed in the vices and allurements of the world, which overthrow the mind of man. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: He says, “Neglecting the duty of being diligent and faithful, and despising watchfulness in these things as being superfluous, he lets his mind grow intoxicated with worldly cares. He is seduced into improper courses, dragging by force and oppressing those who are subject to him. If he is not giving them their portion, he will be in utter wretchedness.” I think this and this only is the meaning of his being cut in two. “His portion,” he says, “will be with the unbelievers.” Whoever has done wrong to the glory of Christ or attempted to disregard the flock entrusted to his charge does not differ in any way from those who do not know him. These persons will be rightly counted among those who have no love for him. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 93

Irenaeus: Those, however, who are believed to be presbyters by many, but serve their own lusts, and, do not place the fear of God supreme in their hearts, but conduct themselves with contempt towards others, and are puffed up with the pride of holding the chief seat, and work evil deeds in secret, saying, “No man sees us,” shall be convicted by the Word, who does not judge after outward appearance (secundum gloriam), nor looks upon the countenance, but the heart; and they shall hear those words, to be found in Daniel the prophet: “O thou seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust perverted thy heart. Thou that art waxen old in wicked days, now thy sins which thou hast committed aforetime are come to light; for thou hast pronounced false judgments, and hast been accustomed to condemn the innocent, and to let the guilty go free, albeit the Lord saith, The innocent and the righteous shalt thou not slay.” Of whom also did the Lord say: “But if the evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite the man-servants and maidens, and to eat and drink and be drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day that he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.” — Against Heresies Book IV

Irenaeus: For this reason the Lord also said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” And, “Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares.” And, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He returns from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing.” And again, “The servant who knows his Lord’s will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” And, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” And again, “But if the servant say in his heart, The Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.” All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man, and at the same time the counsel which God conveys to him, by which He exhorts us to submit ourselves to Him, and seeks to turn us away from [the sin of] unbelief against Him, without, however, in any way coercing us. — Against Heresies Book IV

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 77. in Matt.) But our Lord not only by the honours kept in store for the good, but by threats of punishment upon the bad, leads the hearer to correction, as it follows, But if that servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:46

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (in lib. de Sp. San. c. 16.) The body indeed is not divided, so that one part indeed should be exposed to torments, the other escape. For this is a fable, nor is it a part of just judgment when the whole has offended that half only should suffer punishment; nor is the soul cut in sunder, seeing that the whole possesses a guilty consciousness, and cooperates with the body to work evil; but its division is the eternal severing of the soul from the Spirit. For now although the grace of the Spirit is not in the unworthy, yet it seems ever to be at hand expecting their turning to salvation, but at that time it will be altogether cut off from the soul. The Holy Spirit then is the prize of the just, and the chief condemnation of sinners, since they who are unworthy will lose Him. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: The lord of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his part with the unbelievers. He will cut him not by beheading, but by separating him from the fellowship of the faithful and associating him with those who never belonged to the faith: for he who does not care for his own, and especially for his household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever, as the Apostle says. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But concerning his punishment it is added, The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, that is, the day of his judgment or death, and will cut him in sunder. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or He will cut him in sunder, by separating him from the communion of the faithful, and dismissing him to those who have never attained unto the faith. Hence it follows, And will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers; (1 Tim. 5:8.) for he who has no care for his own, and those of his own house, has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:47

Augustine of Hippo: Now if those ignorant of the law are in a worse condition than those who know the law, how can this saying of our Lord in the Gospel be true? “That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make ready or act according to his will shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know and did what deserved a beating shall receive a light beating.” You see that this passage shows clearly a person who knows sins more seriously than one who does not know. Yet we must not on this account take refuge in the darkness of ignorance so as to find there an excuse for our conduct. Not to know is one thing; unwillingness to know is another. — ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 3

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (in reg. brev. 267.) But you will say, If the one indeed received many stripes, and the other few, how do some say He assigns no end to punishments? But we must know, that what is here said assigns neither measure nor end of punishments, but their differences. For a man may deserve unquenchable fire, to either a slight or more intense degree of heat, and the worm that dieth not with greater or more violent gnawings. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Basil of Caesarea: When I consult the New Testament, I find that our Lord Jesus Christ does not absolve from punishment even sins committed in ignorance, although he attaches a harsher threat to deliberate sins. “And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not make ready or act according to his will shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know and did what deserved a beating shall receive a light beating.” I hear something like this from the lips of the only-begotten Son of God and consider the anger of the holy apostles against sinners. I observe that the sufferings of those who have transgressed in even one particular are not less serious but rather more serious than those cited from the Old Testament. I then comprehend the severity of the judgment. Our Lord says, “To whomever much is given, much will be required of him.” — PREFACE ON THE JUDGMENT OF GOD

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or else, much is often given also to certain individuals, upon whom is bestowed the knowledge of God’s will, and the means of performing what they know; much also is given to him to whom, together with his own salvation, is committed the care also of feeding our Lord’s flock. Upon those then who are gifted with more abundant grace a heavier penalty falls; but the mildest punishment of all will be theirs, who, beyond the guilt they originally contracted, have added none besides; and in all who have added, theirs will be the more tolerable who have committed fewest iniquities. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: But that servant who knew his master’s will and did not prepare or act according to his will, will be beaten with many blows. Many, misinterpreting this sentence, do not want to know what they should be doing and ostensibly think they will be beaten less if they are ignorant of what they should have done. But it is one thing not to know, another to be unwilling to know. For he who wishes to learn but is unable does not know; but he who turns his ear away from the voice of truth so that he may remain ignorant, this one is condemned not for ignorance, but for contempt. — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyprian: Although I know, brethren beloved, that from the fear which we all of us owe to God, you also are instantly urgent in continual petitions anti earnest prayers to Him, still I myself remind your religious anxiety, that in order to appease and entreat the Lord, we must lament not only in words, but also with fastings and with tears, and with every kind of urgency. For we must perceive and confess that the so disordered ruin arising from that affliction, which has in a great measure laid waste, and is even still laying waste, our flock, has visited us according to our sins, in that we do not keep the way of the Lord, nor observe the heavenly commandments given to us for our salvation. Our Lord did the will of His Father, and we do not do the will of our Lord; eager about our patrimony and our gain, seeking to satisfy our pride, yielding ourselves wholly to emulation and to strife, careless of simplicity and faith, renouncing the world in words only, and not in deeds, every one of us pleasing himself, and displeasing all others, -therefore we are smitten as we deserve, since it is written: “And that servant, which knoweth his master’s will, and has not obeyed his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” But what stripes, what blows, do we not deserve, when even confessors, who ought to be an example of virtuous life to others, do not maintain discipline? Therefore, while an inflated and immodest boastfulness about their own confession excessively elates some, tortures come upon them, and tortures without any cessation of the tormentor, without any end of condemnation, without any comfort of death,-tortures which do not easily let them pass to the crown, but wrench them on the rack until they cause them to abandon their faith, unless some one taken away by the divine compassion should depart in the very midst of the torments, gaining glory not by the cessation of his torture, but by the quickness of his death:

These things we suffer by our own fault and our own deserving, even as the divine judgment has forewarned us, saying, “If they forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they profane my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes.” It is for this reason that we feel the rods and the stripes, because we neither please God with good deeds nor atone for our sins… — Epistle VII

Cyprian: That we are not to obey our own will, but the will of God. In the Gospel according to John: “I came not down from heaven to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” Of this same matter, according to Matthew: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” Also in the daily prayer: “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” Also according to Matthew: “Not every one who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Also according to Luke: “But that servant which knoweth his Lord’s will, and obeyed not His will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” In the Epistle of John: “But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as He Himself also abideth for ever.” — Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For the man of understanding who has given up his will to baser things will shamelessly implore pardon, because he has committed an inexcusable sin, departing as it were maliciously from the will of God. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Irenaeus: For this reason the Lord also said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” And, “Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares.” And, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He returns from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing.” And again, “The servant who knows his Lord’s will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” And, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” And again, “But if the servant say in his heart, The Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.” All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man, and at the same time the counsel which God conveys to him, by which He exhorts us to submit ourselves to Him, and seeks to turn us away from [the sin of] unbelief against Him, without, however, in any way coercing us. — Against Heresies Book IV

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 26. in Matt.) For all things are not judged alike in all, but greater knowledge is an occasion of greater punishment. Therefore shall the Priest, committing the same sin with the people, suffer a far heavier penalty. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Shepherd of Hermas: If, accordingly, when he ought to do good, he do evil, does not he appear to do greater evil than he who does not know God? For this reason, they who have not known God and do evil are condemned to death; but they who have known God, and have seen His mighty works, and still continue in evil, shall be chastised doubly, and shall die for ever. — Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9

Luke 12:48

Apostolic Constitutions: Be sensible, therefore, O bishop, of the dignity of thy place, that as thou hast received the power of binding, so hast thou also that of loosing. Having therefore the power of loosing, know thyself, and behave thyself in this world as becomes thy place, being aware that thou hast a great account to give. “For to whom,” as the Scripture says, “men have entrusted much. of him they will require the more.” For no one man is free from sin, excepting Him that was made man for us; since it is written: “No man is pure from filthiness; no, not though he be but one day old.” Upon which account the lives and conduct of the ancient holy men and patriarchs are described; not that we may reproach them from our reading, but that we ourselves may repent, and have hope that we also shall obtain forgiveness. For their blemishes are to us both security and admonition, because we hence learn, when we have offended, that if we repent we shall have pardon. — Constitutions of the Holy Apostles Book 2

Bede: For there are evidently five senses, with which, while using them in this life, we must cultivate the image of our Creator that we have received: but the people to whom the Decalogue of the law was given through a servant ought to cultivate less. Much more, however, those to whom the grace of eternal life has been entrusted through the Son. And therefore, the gain of this accumulates through the number ten, the gain of that through the number hundred, which no one doubts pertains to the signification of the kingdom of heaven, about to be given to the right. For it is not in vain that, with the same flexure of the fingers, the ten is figured on the left and the hundred on the right. Unless it is because both now the works of the Decalogue, which the letter could not complete, faith perfects, and in the future, it will render to each one according to his works, to those indeed who, according to the patience of good works, seek for glory, honor, and incorruption, eternal life. But, because neither by our own strengths, but by His grace we have been saved through faith, it is rightly said: He forgave both, not having anything whose due they could repay. And indeed, he loves more, to whom more is forgiven. But to whom less is forgiven, he loves less. Because whether you wish to understand the good of the knowledge we received to be perfected, or the foolishness to be avoided that we incurred, much more indeed is granted to the Church than to the Synagogue, which was once defiled by baser, as none of its teachers prohibited it, the filth of idolatry was corrupted, but where sin abounded, grace superabounded (Roman V), and it is now exalted with the higher proclamation of evangelical perfection. To which it is said: Because many prophets and just men desired to see what you see, and did not see; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear (Matthew XIII). Certainly, in this place, it fits what the history of Numbers recounts, that with the spoils of the Medianites divided equally, those who came from the battle gave the five-hundredth head of their portion to the Lord, while the rest gave the fiftieth to the Lord. Because both he who keeps himself safe from hostile incursion by exercising virtue in the camps offers much, but he who, wielding the sword of the word, strikes down countless hosts of the adversary offers much more. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: But the one who did not know and did things deserving of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked. Therefore, after saying, “To whom much is given,” he added, “And from whom much is demanded,” understanding, divine judgments. Unless perhaps through this he wanted to indicate both the order of the faithful, namely of the rulers and subordinates, because much is often given even to certain individuals to whom both the knowledge of the Lord’s will and the ability to execute what they know is imparted. Much is also entrusted to him to whom, along with his own salvation, the care of pastoring the Lord’s flock is entrusted. Therefore, the powerful will suffer powerful torments, and stronger torture awaits the stronger, that is, those endowed with greater grace, if they sin, greater vengeance will follow. However, the mildest of all penalties will be for those who, apart from the original sin they inherited, have not added any additional sin; and among the other sins they have added, each will have a more tolerable condemnation to the extent that he had less iniquity here. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or else, much is often given also to certain individuals, upon whom is bestowed the knowledge of God’s will, and the means of performing what they know; much also is given to him to whom, together with his own salvation, is committed the care also of feeding our Lord’s flock. Upon those then who are gifted with more abundant grace a heavier penalty falls; but the mildest punishment of all will be theirs, who, beyond the guilt they originally contracted, have added none besides; and in all who have added, theirs will be the more tolerable who have committed fewest iniquities. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Clement of Alexandria: She who has committed fornication liveth in sin, and is dead to the commandments; but she who has repented, being as it were born again by the change in her life, has a regeneration of life; the old harlot being dead, and she who has been regenerated by repentance having come back again to life. The Spirit testifies to what has been said by Ezekiel, declaring, “I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he should turn.” Now they are stoned to death; as through hardness of heart dead to the law which they believed not. But in the case of a priestess the punishment is increased, because “to whom much is given, from him shall more be required.” — The Stromata Book 2

Cyprian: Confession is the beginning of glory, not the full desert of the crown; nor does it perfect our praise, but it initiates our dignity; and since it is written, “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved,” whatever has been before the end is a step by which we ascend to the summit of salvation, not a terminus wherein the full result of the ascent is already gained. He is a confessor; but after confession his peril is greater, because the adversary is more provoked. He is a confessor; for this cause he ought the more to stand on the side of the Lord’s Gospel, since he has by the Gospel attained glory from the Lord. For the Lord says, “To whom much is given, of him much shall be required; and to whom more dignity is ascribed, of him more service is exacted.” Let no one perish by the example of a confessor; let no one learn injustice, let no one learn arrogance, let no one learn treachery, from the manners of a confessor. He is a confessor, let him be lowly and quiet; let him be in his doings modest with discipline, so that he who is called a confessor of Christ may imitate Christ whom he confesses. For since He says, “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he who humbleth himself shall be exalted; " and since He Himself has been exalted by the Father, because as the Word, and the strength, and the wisdom of God the Father, He humbled Himself upon earth, how can He love arrogance, who even by His own law enjoined upon us humility, and Himself received the highest name from the Father as the reward of His humility? He is a confessor of Christ, but only so if the majesty and dignity of Christ be not afterwards blasphemed by him. Let not the tongue which has confessed Christ be evil-speaking; let it not be turbulent, let it not be heard jarring with reproaches and quarrels, let it not after words of praise, dart forth serpents’ venom against the brethren and God’s priests. But if one shall have subsequently been blameworthy and obnoxious; if he shall have wasted his confession by evil conversation; if he shall have stained his life by disgraceful foulness; if, finally, forsaking the Church in which he has become a confessor, and severing the concord of unity, he shall have exchanged his first faith for a subsequent unbelief, he may not flatter himself on account of his confession that he is elected to the reward of glory, when from this very fact his deserving of punishment has become the greater. — Treatise I On the Unity of the Church

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But the rude or unlearned man will more reasonably ask for pardon of the avenger. Hence it is added, But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Justin Martyr: And everywhere we, more readily than all men, endeavour to pay to those appointed by you the taxes both ordinary and extraordinary, as we have been taught by Him; for at that time some came to Him and asked Him, if one ought to pay tribute to Caesar; and He answered, “Tell Me, whose image does the coin bear?” And they said, “Caesar’s.” And again He answered them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Whence to God alone we render worship, but in other things we gladly serve you, acknowledging you as kings and rulers of men, and praying that with your kingly power you be found to possess also sound judgment. But if you pay no regard to our prayers and frank explanations, we shall suffer no loss, since we believe (or rather, indeed, are persuaded) that every man will suffer punishment in eternal fire according to the merit of his deed, and will render account according to the power he has received from God, as Christ intimated when He said, “To whom God has given more, of him shall more be required.” — The First Apology, Chapter XVII

Tertullian: And thus, preministering the justice of judgment, He issued the materials of liberty; preparing through allowance an undergrowth of discipline; permitting all things, with a view to take some away; meaning to “exact more” if He had “committed more; " to command abstinence since He had foresent indulgence: in order that (as we have said) the primordial sin might be the more expiated by the operation of a greater abstinence in the (midst of the) opportunity of a greater licence. — On Fasting

Luke 12:49

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): To stewards, that is, to Priests, the preceding words seem to have been addressed, that they may thereby know that hereafter a heavier punishment awaits them, if, intent upon the world’s pleasures, they have neglected the charge of their Lord’s household, and the people entrusted to their care. But as it profiteth little to be recalled from error by the fear of punishment, and far greater is the privilege of charity and love, our Lord therefore kindles in men the desire of acquiring the divine nature, saying, I came to send fire on earth, not indeed that He is the Consumer of good men, but the Author of good will, who purifies the golden vessels of the Lord’s house, but burns up the straw and stubble.

But so great was our Lord’s condescension, that He tells us He has a desire of inspiring us with devotion, of accomplishing perfection in us, and of hastening His passion for us; as it follows, And how am I straitened till it be accomplished? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Ambrose of Milan: Therefore, good charity having the wings of a burning fire, which flies through the chests and hearts of the saints, and consumes whatever is material and earthly: it tests whatever is sincere, and improves whatever it touches with its fire. This fire the Lord Jesus sent upon the earth, and faith shone forth, devotion was kindled, charity was illuminated, justice shone brightly. With this fire, he inflamed the hearts of his apostles, as Cleophas testifies, saying: Was not our heart burning within us, while he opened the Scriptures? Therefore, the flames of the scriptures are divine. — Isaac, or the Soul, 8.77

Basil of Caesarea: He also said, “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!” These flaming words from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ reveal the malice of sin. He also reveals the excellence of good actions performed for the glory of God and his Christ.… Then we are ready for the baptism of water, which is a type of the cross, death, burial and resurrection from the dead.…One who is prepared to be baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit is one who has been born anew, who undergoes a change of residence, habits and associates so that, walking by the Spirit, he may be ready to be baptized in the name of the Son and to put on Christ. — CONCERNING BAPTISM 1.2

Bede: I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish except that it be kindled? This sentence responds particularly to the question of the blessed Peter inquiring whether the state of a stricter life should be sought by all. Indeed, he says fire is the fervor of the Holy Spirit, which, illuminating the secrets of the heart, provokes with continuous motions towards heavenly things, burns away the vices of carnal desire like thorns and thistles, improves by refining the golden vessels of the Lord’s house, and consumes the wood, hay, and stubble; which, as soon as it was sent to the earth, fertilized those hundred and twenty lamps found in the stronghold of Zion with an intimate sprinkling of its light. Of which, when he said above, “Let your loins be girded” (Luke XII), he added, “And your lamps burning.” Therefore, you ask (he says) whether I advise all to await the Lord’s coming with loins girded and lamps burning: but since for this reason alone I came forth from the Father’s bosom and came into the world, that I might kindle men from earthly desires to heavenly desires, what do you think I wish other than that the radiance of this fire illuminates all regions of the world, that the flame of this devotion always grows in the hearts of the faithful until the end of the age, and that it is neither extinguished by any incursions of the faithless nor by waves or gusts? — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria: We affirm that the fire that Christ sent out is for humanity’s salvation and profit. May God grant that all our hearts be full of this. The fire is the saving message of the gospel and the power of its commandments. We were cold and dead because of sin and in ignorance of him who by nature is truly God. The gospel ignites all of us on earth to a life of piety and makes us fervent in spirit, according to the expression of blessed Paul. Besides this, we are also made partakers of the Holy Spirit, who is like fire within us. We have been baptized with fire and the Holy Spirit. We have learned the way from what Christ says to us. Listen to his words: “Truly I say to you, that except a man be born of water and spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.“It is the divinely inspired Scripture’s custom to give the name of fire sometimes to the divine and sacred words and to the efficacy and power which is by the Holy Spirit by which we are made fervent in spirit. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 94

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Now it is the way of holy Scripture to use sometimes the term fire, of holy and divine words. For as they who know how to purify gold and silver, destroy the dross by fire, so the Saviour by the teaching of the Gospel in the power of the Spirit cleanses the minds of those who believe in Him. This then is that wholesome and useful fire by which the inhabitants of earth, in a manner cold and dead through sin, revive to a life of piety. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Jerusalem: Why is it “fire”? It is because the descent of the Holy Spirit was in fiery tongues. Concerning this the Lord says with joy, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” — Catechetical Lecture 17:8

Gregory the Dialogist: Of this fire the Truth says: “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire except that it burn?” For earthly hearts are called earth, which, while they always heap up base thoughts within themselves, are trampled by malignant spirits. But the Lord casts fire upon the earth when He kindles the hearts of carnal people with the breath of the Holy Spirit. And the earth burns when the carnal heart, cold in its wicked pleasures, abandons the desires of the present age and is set ablaze with love of God. Rightly therefore the Spirit appeared in fire, since from every heart He fills He shakes off the torpor of coldness and kindles it with desire for His eternity. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30

Gregory the Dialogist: The mercy of the Redeemer has tempered for us the severity of the law. For in it was written: If anyone does this or that, let him surely die. If anyone does these or those things, let him be overwhelmed with stones. Our Creator and Redeemer appeared in the flesh, promising not punishment but life to the confession of sinners. Hence it is also well written in the law that the hands of Moses were heavy; therefore taking a stone, they placed it underneath, upon which he sat; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands. Moses indeed sat upon a stone, when the law rested upon the Church. But this same law had heavy hands, because it did not mercifully bear with sinners, but struck them with severe punishment. Aaron means mountain of strength, and Hur means fire. Whom therefore does this mountain of strength signify, if not our Redeemer, of whom it is said through the prophet: In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains? Or who is figured by fire, if not the Holy Spirit, of whom the same Redeemer says: “I came to cast fire upon the earth”? Therefore Aaron and Hur support the heavy hands of Moses, and by supporting them render them lighter, because the Mediator of God and men, coming with the fire of the Holy Spirit, showed us through spiritual understanding that the heavy commandments of the law, which could not be borne while held carnally, are tolerable for us. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 33

Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (in Ezech. lib. i. Hom. 2.) Or else, fire is sent upon the earth, when by the fiery breath of the Holy Spirit, the earthly mind has all its carnal desires burnt up, but inflamed with spiritual love, bewails the evil it has done; and so the earth is burnt, when the conscience accusing itself, the heart of the sinner is consumed in the sorrow of repentance. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For by the earth He now means not that which we tread under our feet, but that which was fashioned by His hands, namely, man, upon whom the Lord pours out fire for the consuming of sins, and the renewing of souls. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Damascene: A first baptism was by the flood for the cutting away of sin. A second baptism was by the sea and the cloud, because the cloud is a symbol of the Spirit, while the sea is a symbol of the water. A third baptism is that of the law, because every unclean person washed himself with water and also washed his garments and then entered the camp. A fourth is that of John, which was an introductory baptism leading those thus baptized into repentance so that they might believe in Christ. “I indeed,” he says, “baptize you in water, but he that will come after me, he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” John purified with water in advance to prepare for the Spirit. A fifth baptism is the Lord’s baptism with which he was baptized. He was not baptized because he needed purification. He was baptized so that by making my purification his own, he might “crush the heads of the dragons in the waters,” wash away the sin and bury all of the old Adam in the water, sanctify the baptizer, fulfill the law, reveal the mystery of the Trinity and become for us a model and example for the reception of baptism. We also are baptized with the perfect baptism of the Lord, which is by water and the Spirit. It is said that Christ baptizes in fire because he poured out the grace of the Spirit on the holy apostles in the form of tongues of fire. The Lord says, “John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, not many days from now.” It may also be that he is said to baptize with fire because of the chastising baptism of the fire to come. A sixth baptism is that which is by repentance and tears, which is truly painful. A seventh baptism is that which is by blood and martyrdom. Christ was also baptized with this for our sake. This baptism is exceedingly sublime and blessed because second stains do not pollute it. An eighth baptism, which is the last, is not saving. While being destructive of evil, since evil and sin no longer hold power, it chastises endlessly. — ORTHODOX FAITH 4.9

Methodius of Olympus: For the flesh is truly, as it were, our five-lighted lamp, which the soul will bear like a torch, when it stands before Christ the Bridegroom, on the day of the resurrection, showing her faith springing out clear and bright through all the senses, as He Himself taught, saying. Wicked demons who once fell from light; but when the Creator and Framer of all things had, as the most divine Paul says, laid hold of the seed of Abraham, and through him of the whole human race, He was made man for ever, and without change, in order that by His fellowship with us, and our joining on to Him, the ingress of sin into us might be stopped, its strength being broken by degrees, and itself as wax being melted, by that fire which the Lord, when He came, sent upon the earth. — Methodius Discourse VI. Agathe

Origen of Alexandria: According to which sense our Lord and Savior too, since he is “spirit”, “came to send fire upon the earth”; “spirit” according to that which is written: “but when you have turned to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away”, and: “the Lord is a spirit”. But “he came to send fire” not upon heaven, but “upon the earth”, as he himself shows when he says: “I came to send fire upon the earth, and what do I wish but that it already blaze?” For if “you have turned to the Lord”, who is “spirit”, Christ will be “spirit” to you and “he did not come to send fire upon the earth”. But if you are not turned to him, but have earth and its fruits, “he came to send fire upon” your “earth”. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 26

Pseudo-Clement: On this account, therefore, He said, ‘I have come to send fire on the earth; and how I wish that it were kindled!’ [Luke 12:49] There is therefore a certain fight, which is to be fought by us in this life; for the word of truth and knowledge necessarily separates men from error and ignorance, as we have often seen putrified and dead flesh in the body separated by the cutting knife from its connection with the living members. — Recognitions (Book VI)

Tertullian: Whom else than the God of retribution can I understand by Him who shall “beat His servants with stripes,” either “few or many,” and shall exact from them what He had committed to them? Whom is it suitable for me to obey, but Him who remunerates? Your Christ proclaims, “I am come to send fire on the earth.” That most lenient being, the lord who has no hell, not long before had restrained his disciples from demanding fire on the churlish village. — Against Marcion Book IV

Titus of Bostra ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): And we must here believe that Christ came down from heaven. For if He had come from earth to earth, He would not say, I came to send fire upon the earth. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:50

Bede: But I have a baptism to be baptized with. With the staining (he says) of my own blood I must first be washed, and thus inflame the hearts of the believers with the fire of the Spirit, by which they are able to despise or even hate all earthly things simultaneously and their own souls. For the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified (Thess. III), that is, the victory of passion. About which elsewhere he says: Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? (Mark X). — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: And how am I distressed until it is accomplished? Some manuscripts have, And how am I anguished. Thus, the Lord’s dignity is so great that he testifies that the zeal for infusing devotion in us, for completing perfection in us, and for ripening the passion’s zeal for us is within himself; for he, who had nothing in himself to cause suffering, yet was distressed or constrained by our afflictions, and at the time of passion displayed sorrow, which he had assumed not from fear of his own death, but from the delay of our redemption. As he says: And how am I anguished until it is accomplished? Certainly, he who is anguished until perfection is secure about the perfection. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But He adds, I have a baptism to be baptized with, that is, I have first to be sprinkled with the drops of My own Blood, and then to inflame the hearts of believers by the fire of the Spirit. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Some manuscripts have, “And how am I anguished,” (coangor) that is, grieved. For though He had in Himself nothing to grieve Him, yet was He afflicted by our woes, and at the time of death He betrayed the anguish which He underwent not from the fear of His death, but from the delay of our redemption. For he who is troubled until he reaches perfection, is secure of perfection, for the condition of bodily affections not the dread of death offends him. For ho who has put on the body must suffer all things which are of the body, hunger, thirst, vexation, sorrow; but the Divine nature knows no change from such feelings. At the same time He also shows, that in the conflict of suffering consists the death of the body, peace of mind has no struggle with grief. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyprian: On which place some, as if by human reasoning they were able to make void the truth of the Gospel declaration, object to us the case of catechumens; asking if any one of these, before he is baptized in the Church, should be apprehended and slain on confession of the name, whether he would lose the hope of salvation and the reward of confession, because he had not previously been born again of water? Let men of this kind, who are aiders and favourers of heretics, know therefore, first, that those catechumens hold the sound faith and truth of the Church, and advance from the divine camp to do battle with the devil, with a full and sincere acknowledgment of God the Father, and of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost; then, that they certainly are not deprived of the sacrament of baptism who are baptized with the most glorious and greatest baptism of blood, concerning which the Lord also said, that He had “another baptism to be baptized with.” But the same Lord declares in the Gospel, that those who are baptized in their own blood, and sanctified by suffering, are perfected, and obtain the grace of the divine promise, when He speaks to the thief believing and confessing in His very passion, and promises that he should be with Himself in paradise. Wherefore we who are set over the faith and truth ought not to deceive and mislead those who come to the faith and truth, and repent, and beg that their sins should be remitted to them; but to instruct them when corrected by us, and reformed for the kingdom of heaven by celestial discipline. — Epistle LXXII

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But our Lord was hastening the kindling of the fire, and hence it follows, And what will I, save that it be kindled? (nisi ut accendatur) For already some of the Jews believed, of whom the first were the holy Apostles, but the fire once lighted in Judaea was about to take possession of the whole world, yet not till after the dispensation of His Passion had been accomplished. Hence it follows, But I have a baptism to be baptized with. For before the holy cross and His resurrection from the dead, in Judaea only was the news told of His preaching and miracles; but after that the Jews in their rage had slain the Prince of life, then commanded He His Apostles, saying, Go and teach all nations. (Matt. 28:19.) — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: He teaches us this by saying, “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!” By his baptism, he means his death in the flesh. By being constrained because of it, he means that he was saddened and troubled until it was accomplished. What was to happen when it was accomplished? The saving message of the gospel would not be proclaimed only in Judea. Comparing it with fire, he said, “I have come to send fire upon earth—but that now it should be published even to the whole world.” Before the precious cross and his resurrection from the dead, his commandments and the glory of his divine miracles were spoken of in Judea only. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 94

Irenaeus: They maintain that those who have attained to perfect knowledge must of necessity be regenerated into that power which is above all. For it is otherwise impossible to find admittance within the Pleroma, since this [regeneration] it is which leads them down into the depths of Bythus. For the baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins, but the redemption brought in by that Christ who descended upon Him, was for perfection; and they allege that the former is animal, but the latter spiritual. And the baptism of John was proclaimed with a view to repentance, but the redemption by Jesus was brought in for the sake of perfection. And to this He refers when He says, “And I have another baptism to be baptized with, and I hasten eagerly towards it.” Moreover, they affirm that the Lord added this redemption to the sons of Zebedee, when their mother asked that they might sit, the one on His right hand, and the other on His left, in His kingdom, saying, “Can ye be baptized with the baptism which I shall be baptized with?” Paul, too, they declare, has often set forth, in express terms, the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; and this was the same which is handed down by them in so varied and discordant forms. — Against Heresies Book I

Tertullian: We have indeed, likewise, a second font, (itself withal one with the former, ) of blood, to wit; concerning which the Lord said, “I have to be baptized with a baptism,” when He had been baptized already. — On Baptism

Tertullian: When, however, it is led forth unto the final proof of happiness, unto the occasion of the second baptism, unto the act of ascending the divine seat, no patience is more needed there than bodily patience. — Of Patience

Tertullian: In the act, however, of urgently entreating from a martyr pardon for adulterers and fornicators, you yourself confess that crimes of that nature are not to be washed away except by the martyrdom of the criminal himself, while you presume (they can be washed away) by another’s If this is so, then martyrdom will be another baptism. For “I have withal,” saith He, “another baptism.” Whence, too, it was that there flowed out of the wound in the Lord’s side water and blood, the materials of either baptism. — On Modesty

Luke 12:51

Ambrose of Milan: Although in nearly all Evangelical places the spiritual intellect operates; nevertheless, for the present time, the series of senses must be moderated so as not to offend anyone with the harshness of naked exposition, especially since the sacred religion invites even the exiles of faith to reverence with moral disciplines and gentle examples of piety, kindly dissolving the hard superstitions with the meekness of its preceding discipline of faith, and compelling minds that are subject to errors to believe in faith, which it could soothe with piety.

Therefore, we will think now that the Lord, who embraced both reverence for divinity and the grace of piety, said: You shall love the Lord your God… and you shall love your neighbor; has it been changed so that we believe it commands the abolition of the names of relationships, the collision of feelings of piety, and the dissension of beloved family members? And how is He our peace who made both one? How can he say, My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you, if he comes to separate parents from children, and children from parents, to destroy the bond of family? How cursed is the one who does not honor their father, the one who abandons their religious devotion?

But if we consider that the first cause of religion is piety, we must also evaluate this question in the same way; for it is necessary to prioritize divine matters over human matters. For if duty must be shown to parents, how much more to the author of parents, to whom you also owe gratitude for your parents! Or if they do not acknowledge a parent at all, how can you acknowledge one? Therefore, it does not say that debts must be renounced, but that God must be preferred above all. Finally, you have in another book: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. You are not forbidden to love your parents, but you are instructed to prefer them to God; for they are the pledges of the Lord’s blessings: and no one should love the gift he has received more than God from whom the gift was received. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.134-136

Bede: Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. How the earth will burn after the baptism of his passion, after the coming of the spiritual fire, is declared. Indeed, the whole world is divided against itself for faith in Christ; every household has both unbelievers and believers, and therefore a good war has been sent, so that bad peace may be broken. Which Isaiah also prophetically foretold under the guise of Egypt, saying: Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a light cloud, and will enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt within it, and I will stir Egyptians against Egyptians (Isa. XIX), with some fighting against the faith and others for the faith. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But the manner in which after the baptism of His passion and the coming of the spiritual fire the earth will be burnt, He declares as follows, Suppose ye that I am to give peace, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): What sayest thou, O Lord? Didst thou not come to give peace, Who art made peace for us? (Eph. 2:14.) making peace by Thy cross with things in earth and things in heaven; (Col. 1:20.) Who saidst, My peace I give unto you. (John 14:27.) But it is plain that peace is indeed a good, but sometimes hurtful, and separating us from the love of God, that is, when by it we unite with those who keep away from God. And for this reason we teach the faithful to avoid earthly bonds. Hence it follows, For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, &c. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Pseudo-Clement: For you say, that he said that every kingdom or every city divided in itself shall not stand; and elsewhere you say, that he said that he would send a sword, that he might separate those who are in one house, so that son shall be divided from father, daughter from mother, brother from brother; so that if there be five in one house, three shall be divided against two, and two against three. [Luke 12:51-53] If, then, everything that is divided falls, he who makes divisions furnishes causes of falling; and if he is such, assuredly he is wicked. Answer this if you can. — Recognitions (Book II)

Tertullian: But He will Himself best explain the quality of that fire which He mentioned, when He goes on to say, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.” It is written “a sword,” but Marcion makes an emendation of the word, just as if a division were not the work of the sword. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:52

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Though the connection would seem to be of six persons, father and son, mother and daughter, mother in law and daughter in law, yet are they five, for the mother and the mother in law may be taken as the same, since she who is the mother of the son, is the mother in law of his wife.

Now in a mystical sense the one house is one man, but by two we often mean the soul and the body. But if two things meet together, each one has its part; there is one which obeys, another which rules. But there are three conditions of the soul, one concerned with reason, another with desire, the third with anger. Two then are divided against three, and three against two. For by the coming of Christ, man who was material became rational. We were carnal and earthly, God sent His Spirit into our hearts, and we became spiritual children. (Gal. 4:6.) We may also say, that in the house there are five others, that is, smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing. If then with respect to those things which we hear or see, separating the sense of sight and hearing, we shut out the worthless pleasures of the body which we take in by our taste, touch, and smell, we divide two against three, because the mind is not carried away by the allurements of vice. Or if we understand the five bodily senses, already are the vices and sins of the body divided among themselves. The flesh and the soul may also seem separated from the smell, touch, and taste of pleasure, for while the stronger sex of reason is impelled, as it were, to manly affections, the flesh strives to keep the reason more effeminate. Out of these then there spring up the motions of different desires, but when the soul returns to itself it renounces the degenerate offspring. The flesh also bewails that it is fastened down by its desires (which it has borne to itself,) as by the thorns of the world. But pleasure is a kind of daughter in law of the body and soul, and is wedded to the motions of foul desire. As long then as there remained in one house the vices conspiring together with one consent, there seemed to be no division; but when Christ sent fire upon the earth which should burn out the offences of the heart, or the sword which should pierce the very secrets of the heart, then the flesh and the soul renewed by the mysteries of regeneration cast off the bond of connection with their offspring. So that parents are divided against their children, while the intemperate man gets rid of his intemperate desires, and the soul has no more fellowship with crime. Children also are divided against parents when men having become regenerate renounce their old vices, and younger pleasure flies from the rule of piety, as from the discipline of a strict house. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Ambrose of Milan: Therefore, even according to the literal meaning, the religious explanation is not lacking for those who understand it piously; however, there is a deeper meaning which we should consider because He added: There will be five divided into one group in the house, three into two, and two into three.

For who are the five, when it appears that there is subjection of six persons, of father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law? Although the same mother that can be called mother-in-law, since she is the mother of the son, is the mother-in-law of his wife; so that according to the letter of the number, the reason may not be absurd, and it may clearly be shown that the bond of faith is not connected to nature, in which they are obligated by the duty of piety, yet they are free by faith.

It does not seem inappropriate either if we give the same meaning through a mystical interpretation. One house, one man. For each house is either of God or of the devil. Therefore, a spiritual house is a spiritual man, as we have in the Epistle of Peter: And you are being built up as living stones, a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood. In this house, two are divided into three, and three into two. — Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.136-138

Bede: For from now on, in one house, there will be five divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or in another way. By three are signified those who have faith in the Trinity, by two the unbelievers who depart from the unity of the faith. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:53

Bede: It should be noted how he speaks of the five divided, when it seems he has mentioned six persons: father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. And it should be understood that the same woman is designated as both mother and mother-in-law, because she who is the mother of the son is also the mother-in-law of his wife, and thus, she is said to be divided both against her own daughter and against her daughter-in-law. If anyone seeks to interpret these divisions allegorically, three are divided against two, and two against three, because the good oppose the evil, and the evil oppose the good. No one doubts that three pertains to those who maintain faith in the highest Trinity. It is also found fitting that two relates to those who dissent from the unity of faith, and in many places in Scripture, this is proven; notably, unclean animals in the ark are held under this number, and only in Genesis is it said that the works of the second day are not seen by God as good. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: The father against his son, and the son against his father. Here, the father is the devil, whose sons we once were, not by his creation, but by imitating him, as the Lord said: You are of your father the devil (John VIII). But after we heard the voice of admonition, Forget your people and the house of your father’s (Psalms 45:10), that fire came, that is, the spiritual grace that separated us from one another, showing us another father, to whom we would say, Our Father who art in heaven (Matthew VI). — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: The mother against her daughter, and the daughter against her mother. The mother is the synagogue, the daughter is the early Church, which both endured the persecution of faith from that synagogue from which she derived her lineage, and also contradicted the synagogue in the truth of faith. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede: The mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law is the synagogue, the daughter-in-law is the Church of the Gentiles, because the groom of the Church, Christ, is the son of the synagogue, as the Apostle says: “Of whom are the fathers, and from whom Christ is according to the flesh” (Rom. IX). Therefore, the mother-in-law, that is, the mother of the groom, is divided against her daughter-in-law and daughter, as we said before, because the carnal synagogue persecutes those who believe from the circumcision and from the uncircumcision without ceasing. But these are also divided against their mother-in-law and mother, unwilling to receive carnal circumcision, as the Acts of the Apostles teach. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But the father is the devil, whose children we were by following him, but when that heavenly fire came down, it separated us from one another, and showed us another Father who is in heaven. The mother is the Synagogue, the daughter is the Primitive Church, who had to bear the persecution of that same synagogue, from whom she derived her birth, and whom she did herself in the truth of the faith contradict. The mother in law is the Synagogue, the daughter in law the Gentile Church, for Christ the husband of the Church is the son of the Synagogue, according to the flesh. The Synagogue then was divided both against its daughter in law, and its daughter, persecuting believers of each people. But they also were divided against their mother in law and mother, because they wished to abolish the circumcision of the flesh. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (non occ.) Now hereby He declared a future event, for it so happened in the same house that there have been believers whose fathers wished to bring them to unbelief; but the power of Christ’s doctrines has so prevailed, that fathers were left by sons, mothers by daughters, and children by parents. For the faithful in Christ were content not only to despise their own, but at the same time also to suffer all things as long as they were not without the worship of their faith. But if He were mere man, how would it have occurred to Him to conceive it possible that He should be more loved by fathers than their children were, by children than their fathers, by husbands than their wives, and they too not in one house or a hundred, but throughout the world? And not only did he predict this, but accomplish it in deed. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Pseudo-Clement: But to those who not only did not believe, but set themselves in opposition to His doctrine, He proclaims the war of the word and of confutation, and says that ‘henceforth you shall see son separated from father, and husband from wife, and daughter from mother, and brother from brother, and daughter-in-law from mother-in-law, and a man’s foes shall be they of his own house.’ For in every house, when there begins to be a difference between believer and unbeliever, there is necessarily a contest: the unbelievers, on the one hand, fighting against the faith; and the believers on the other, confuting the old error and the vices of sins in them. — Recognitions (Book II)

Tertullian: He says at last, “The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law.” Since this battle among the relatives was sung by the prophet’s trumpet in the very words, I fear that Micah must have predicted it to Marcion’s Christ! On this account He pronounced them “hypocrites,” because they could “discern the face of the sky and the earth, but could not distinguish this time,” when of course He ought to have been recognised, fulfilling (as he was) all things which had been predicted concerning them, and teaching them so. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:54

Basil of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (in Hexam. Hom. 6, 4.) Now we must observe, that conjectures concerning the stars are necessary to the life of man, as long as we do lot push our searches into their signs beyond due limits. For it is possible to discover some things with respect to coming rain, still more concerning heat and the force of the winds, whether partial or universal, stormy or gentle. But the great advantage that is rendered to life by these conjectures is known to every one. For it is of importance to the sailor to prognosticate the dangers of storms, to the traveller the changes of the weather, to the husbandman the abundant supply of his fruits. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: Moreover, he said to the crowds: When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, A storm is coming, and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say there will be heat, and it happens. The cloud rising from the west signifies his flesh rising from death. For from that, the rain of the Evangelical preaching has been poured upon all lands. The south wind blowing before the heat signifies lighter tribulations before the judgment. — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria: People focus their attention on things of this kind. From long observation and practice they tell beforehand when rain will fall or violent winds will blow. One especially sees that sailors are very skillful in this matter. He says that it would be suitable for those who can calculate things of this sort and may foretell storms that are about to happen to focus the penetrating eyes of the mind also on important matters. What are these? The law showed beforehand the mystery of Christ, that he would shine out in the last ages of the world on the inhabitants of the earth and submit to be a sacrifice for the salvation of all. It even commanded a lamb to be sacrificed as a type of him who died towards evening and at lighting of lamps. We might now understand that when, like the day, this world was declining to its close, the great, precious and truly saving passion would be fulfilled. The door of salvation would be thrown wide open to those who believe in him, and abundant happiness be their share. In the Song of Songs, we also find Christ calling to the bride described there. The bride personally represents the church, in these words, “Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful dove. Look, the winter is past, and the rain is gone. It has passed away. The flowers appear on the ground. The time of the pruning has come.” As I said, a certain springlike calm was about to arise for those who believe in him. — COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 95

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): For the prophets have in many ways foretold the mystery of Christ; it became them therefore, if they were wise, to stretch their prospect beyond to the future, nor will ignorance of the time to come avail them after the present life. For there will be wind and rain, and a future punishment by fire; and this is signified when it is said, A shower cometh. It became them also not to be ignorant of the time of salvation, that is, the coming of the Saviour, through whom perfect piety entered into the world. And this is meant when it is said, Ye say that there will be heat. Whence it follows in censure of them, Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and the earth, but how is it that ye do not discern this time? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Luke 12:56

Bede: Hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. But how is it that you do not know how to interpret this time? We have briefly touched upon what is mystically signified by the cloud and the south wind. But the literal sense is also clear, because those who from the change of elements could easily predict the state of the weather as they wished, could also, if they wanted, understand this time, that is, the first or second coming of the Lord (for he had warned about both) from the words of the prophets, who have clearly indicated both with the most evident signs, either of things or of years. And lest anyone from the crowd perhaps flatter themselves with their ignorance and plead that they, being unlearned and ignorant of the prophetic readings, could not interpret the course of the times, he vigilantly adds. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or, they who from the change of the elements can easily when they like predetermine the state of the weather, might if they wished also understand the time of our Lord’s coming from the words of the Prophets. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Tertullian: Since this battle among the relatives was sung by the prophet’s trumpet in the very words, I fear that Micah must have predicted it to Marcion’s Christ! On this account He pronounced them “hypocrites,” because they could “discern the face of the sky and the earth, but could not distinguish this time,” when of course He ought to have been recognised, fulfilling (as he was) all things which had been predicted concerning them, and teaching them so. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:57

Apostolic Constitutions: But it is the duty of the bishop to judge rightly, as it is written, “Judge righteous judgment;” and elsewhere, “Why do ye not even of yourselves judge what is right?” Be ye therefore as skilful dealers in money: for as these reject bad money, but take to themselves what is current, in the same manner it is the bishop’s duty to retain the unblameable, but either to heal, or, if they be past cure, to cast off those that are blameworthy, so as not to be hasty in cutting off, nor to believe all accusations; for it sometimes happens that some, either through passion or envy, do insist on a false accusation against a brother, as did the two elders in the case of Susanna in Babylon, and the Egyptian woman in the case of Joseph. Do thou therefore, as a man of God, not rashly receive such accusations, lest thou take away the innocent and slay the righteous. — Constitutions of the Holy Apostles Book 2

Basil of Caesarea: Having recognized the nature of this present time from the signs revealed to us by the Scriptures, we should dispose our affairs accordingly. — THE MORALS 17

Bede: But why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Showing them, as rational creatures, and even if they are illiterate, they can by natural instinct discern, either that one who has done works among them which no one else could have done should be understood as beyond human and therefore believed to be God, or that after so many injustices in this age, the just judgment of the Creator is going to come. No one, therefore, from what has been said above, should presume that a servant ignorant of the master’s will shall receive few stripes, while in sinning, he avails himself of the excuse of ignorance. For, if I keep silent about other things, from the very fact that he is human, he can neither be ignorant of the evils which he must avoid, nor of the goods which he must seek. — On the Gospel of Luke

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But lest any of the people should allege their ignorance of the prophetical books as a reason why they could not discern the courses of the times, He carefully adds, And why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right, showing them that although unlearned they might still by their natural ability discern Him, who did works such as none other man did, to be above man, and to be God, and that therefore after the injustice of this world, the just judgment of the creation would come. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Cyril of Alexandria: “And why even of yourselves judge you not what is just? For while you are going with him who has a suit against you, in the way to the magistrate, give diligence that you may be delivered from him; lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the exactor, and the exactor cast you into prison. I tell you, you shall not come out thence, until you have made compensation unto the last mite.”

Now perhaps it may be imagined that the sense of this passage is difficult to comprehend: but it will become very easy if we examine the metaphor by what takes place among ourselves. For let there be supposed, He says, some one who has brought a charge against you before one of those in authority, and has pointed you out to those whose office it is to carry the accused into court, and is causing you to be taken thither. “While therefore, He says, you are still with him on the way,” that is, before you have come to the judge, “give diligence,” that is, weary not, in using all your earnestness that you may be delivered from him. For otherwise he will give you up to the judge; and then, when you have been proved to be indebted to him, you will be delivered to the exactors, to those, that is, whose office it is to exact the money; and they will cast you into prison, and make you pay the last mite.

Now all of us, without exception, upon earth are guilty of offences: he who has a suit against us and accuses us is the wicked Satan: for he is “the enemy and the exactor.” While therefore we are in the way: that is, ere yet we have arrived at the termination of our life here, let us deliver ourselves from him: let us do away with the offences of which we have been guilty: let us close his mouth: let us seize upon the grace that is by Christ, which frees us from all debt and penalty, and delivers us from fear and torment: lest if our impurity be not cleansed away, we be carried before the judge, and given over to the exactors, that is, the tormentors, from whose cruelty no man can escape: yea, rather, who will exact vengeance for every fault, whether it be great or small. — Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 95

Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): But had it not been implanted in our nature to judge what is right, our Lord would never have said this. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Origen of Alexandria: Unless the power of judging what is just were implanted in us by nature, the Savior would never say: “But why do you not also judge of yourselves what is just?” But lest we wander too far afield in proving this statement — especially since much more difficult matters are appended to this chapter — let it suffice to have merely touched upon this. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 35

Tertullian: But then who could know the times of him of whom he had no evidence to prove his existence? Justly also does He upbraid them for “not even of themselves judging what is right.” Of old does He command by Zechariah, “Execute the judgment of truth and peace; " by Jeremiah, “Execute judgment and righteousness; " by Isaiah, “Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow,” charging it as a fault upon the vine of Sorech, that when “He looked for righteousness therefrom, there was only a cry” (of oppression). — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:58

Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or our adversary is the devil, who lays his baits for sin, that he may have those his partners in punishment who were his accomplices in crime; our adversary is also every vicious practice. Lastly, our adversary is an evil conscience, which affects us both in this world, and will accuse and betray us in the next. Let us then give heed, while we are in this life’s course, that we may be delivered from every bad act as from an evil enemy. Nay, while we are going with our adversary to the magistrate, as we are in the way, we should condemn our fault. But who is the magistrate, but He in whose hands is all power? But the Magistrate delivers the guilty to the Judge, that is, to Him, to whom He gives the power over the quick and dead, namely, Jesus Christ, through Whom the secrets are made manifest, and the punishment of wicked works awarded. He delivers to the officer, and the officer casts into prison, for He says, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness. (Matt. 22:12.) And he shows that His officers are the angels, of whom he says, The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; (Matt. 13:49.) but it is added, I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite. For as they who pay money on interest do not get rid of the debt of interest before that the amount of the whole principal is paid even up to the least sum in every kind of payment, so by the compensation of love and the other acts, or by each particular kind of satisfaction the punishment of sin is cancelled. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Augustine of Hippo: Let us try to find out who is the opponent with whom we should agree, fearing that he might deliver us to the judge, and the judge deliver us to the officer. Let us try to find him and be in agreement with him. If you are committing a sin, your adversary is the word of God. For instance, perhaps you may like to get drunk. It says to you, “Do not do that.” You may like to frequent the circus and indulge in frivolities. It says to you, “Do not do that.” You may like to commit adultery. The word of God says to you, “Do not do it.” In whatever sins you wish to follow your own will, it says to you, “Do not do that.” It is the enemy of your will until it becomes the assurance of your salvation. Oh, what an honest and helpful enemy! — SERMON 109.3

Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or else, our adversary in the way is the word of God, which opposes our carnal desires in this life; from which he is delivered who is subject to its precepts. Else he will be delivered to the judge, for of contempt of God’s word the sinner will be accounted guilty in the judgment of the judge. The judge will deliver him to the officer, that is, the evil spirit for punishment. He will then be cast into prison, that is, to hell, where because he will ever have to pay the penalty by suffering, but never by paying it obtain pardon, he will never come out from thence, but with that most terrible serpent the devil, will expiate everlasting punishment. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Bede: When you go with your adversary to the ruler, on the way, make an effort to be delivered from him, lest perhaps he deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. These things, like the previous admonitions, teach us to trample the allurements of the world underfoot, and to await the coming of the fearful judge with constant expectation. Indeed, our adversary on the way is the word of God opposed to our carnal desires in this present life. One who submits himself humbly to its precepts is thereby delivered from it. Otherwise, he is given over to the judge, and the judge delivers him to the officer, because from the despised word of the Lord, the sinner shall be held guilty in the judgment. The judge delivers him to the officer because he permits him to be dragged by the evil spirit to punishment, so that the spirit may exact the compelled soul to punishment from the body, which voluntarily consented to guilt. The officer throws him into prison because he is thrust back into hell by the evil spirit until the day of judgment comes, from which point onwards he will be tortured along with it in the fires of hell. — On the Gospel of Luke

Clement of Alexandria: But the Saviour himself, whom alone they think one should obey, has forbidden hatred and reviling and says: “When you go with your adversary to court, try to achieve a friendly reconciliation with him.” Accordingly, they will either refuse to accept Christ’s exhortation, in that they are in opposition to the adversary, or they will become his friends and cease to oppose him. — The Stromata Book 3

Irenaeus: So unbridled is their madness, that they declare they have in their power all things which are irreligious and impious, and are at liberty to practise them; for they maintain that things are evil or good, simply in virtue of human opinion. They deem it necessary, therefore, that by means of transmigration from body to body, souls should have experience of every kind of life as well as every kind of action (unless, indeed, by a single incarnation, one may be able to prevent any need for others, by once for all, and with equal completeness, doing all those things which we dare not either speak or hear of, nay, which we must not even conceive in our thoughts, nor think credible, if any such thing is mooted among those persons who are our fellow-citizens), in order that, as their writings express it, their souls, having made trial of every kind of life, may, at their departure, not be wanting in any particular. It is necessary to insist upon this, lest, on account of some one thing being still wanting to their deliverance, they should be compelled once more to become incarnate. They affirm that for this reason Jesus spoke the following parable:-“Whilst thou art with thine adversary in the way, give all diligence, that thou mayest be delivered from him, lest he give thee up to the judge, and the judge surrender thee to the officer, and he cast thee into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the very last farthing.” They also declare the “adversary” is one of those angels who are in the world, whom they call the Devil, maintaining that he was formed for this purpose, that he might lead those souls which have perished from the world to the Supreme Ruler. They describe him also as being chief among the makers of the world, and maintain that he delivers such souls [as have been mentioned] to another angel, who ministers to him, that he may shut them up in other bodies; for they declare that the body is “the prison.” Again, they interpret these expressions, “Thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the very last farthing,” as meaning that no one can escape from the power of those angels who made the world, but that he must pass from body to body, until he has experience of every kind of action which can be practised in this world, and when nothing is longer wanting to him, then his liberated soul should soar upwards to that God who is above the angels, the makers of the world. — Against Heresies Book I

John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): (Hom. 16. in Matt.) It seems to me that He is speaking of the present judges, and of the way to the present judgment, and of the prison of this world. For by these things which are visible and at hand, ignorant men are wont to gain improvement. For often He gives a lesson, not only from future good and evil but from present, for the sake of His ruder hearers. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Or else, He here introduces four characters, the adversary, the magistrate, the officer, and the judge. But with Matthew the character of the magistrate is left out, and instead of the officer a servant is introduced. They differ also in that the one has written a farthing, the other a mite, but each has called it the last. Now we say that all men have present with them two angels, a bad one who encourages them to wicked deeds, a good one who persuades all that is best. Now the former, our adversary whenever we sin rejoices, knowing that he has an occasion for exultations and boasting with the prince of the world, who sent him. But in the Greek, “the adversary” is written with the article, to signify that he is one out of many, seeing that each individual is under the ruler of his nation. Give diligence then that you may be delivered from your adversary, or from the ruler to whom the adversary drags you, by having wisdom, justice, fortitude, and temperance. But if you have given diligence, let it be in Him who says, I am the life, (John 14:6.) otherwise the adversary will hale thee to the judge. Now he says, hale, to point out that they are forced unwillingly to condemnation. But I know no other judge but our Lord Jesus Christ who delivers to the officer. Each of us have our own officers; the officers exercise rule over us, if we owe any thing. If I paid every man every thing, I come to the officers and answer with a fearless heart, “I owe them nothing.” But if I am a debtor, the officer will cast me into prison, nor will he suffer me to go out from thence until I have paid every debt. For the officer has no power to let me off even a farthing. He who forgave one debtor five hundred pence and another fifty, (Luke 7:41.) was the Lord, but the exactor is not the master, but one appointed by the master to demand the debts. But the last mite he calls slight and small, for our sins are either heavy or slight. Happy then is he who sinneth not, and next in happiness he who has sinned slightly. Even among slight sins there is diversity, otherwise he would not say until he has paid the last mite. For if he owes a little, he shall not come out till he pays the last mite. But he who has been guilty of a great debt, will have endless ages for his payment. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Origen of Alexandria: or rather let us spread the sails of our souls toward God and beg for the coming of his word, that it may interpret the parable of which it is written: “When you go with your adversary to the ruler on the way, make an effort to be freed from him, lest perhaps he hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Amen I say to you: you will not come out from there until you pay back the very last mite”. I see four persons set down: the adversary, the ruler, the judge, the officer. And because the evangelist Matthew seems to have said something similar in that he says: “Be well-disposed toward your adversary while you are on the way with him”, I ask whether the meaning is the same or whether there is some kinship, since with Matthew one person is omitted and another is changed. Omitted is the “ruler”, and in place of “officer” a “servant” is inserted, while “adversary” and “judge” are alike set down by both. So then we go “with our adversary to the ruler”, and it is necessary for us, while we are still “on the way”, to labor mightily so that we may be freed from him. From whom? For the word is ambiguous and can be referred both to the ruler and to the adversary: “lest perhaps he hand you over” — whether the adversary or the ruler — “to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer”; and: “you will not come out from there until you pay back the very last mite”, for which Matthew says: “until you pay back the last farthing”. The word “last” both retained, but they seemed to differ in that the one set down “farthing”, the other “mite”. There are certain more hidden matters I must touch upon, so that we may understand that the adversary is one thing, and the other three persons — that is, the ruler, the judge, the officer — are another. We read — if indeed anyone is pleased to accept a writing of this kind — of the angels of justice and of iniquity contending over the salvation and destruction of Abraham, while each band wishes to claim him for its own company. But if this displeases anyone, let him pass over to the volume that is inscribed with the title of the Shepherd, and he will find that two angels attend all men: an evil one, who exhorts to perverse things, and a good one, who persuades to whatever is best. It is written elsewhere too that a double set of angels stand by a man, whether toward the good side or toward the bad. Of the good ones also the Savior makes mention, saying: “Their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven”. At the same time inquire whether the angels of the little ones in the Church “always see the face of the Father”, and whether the angels of others do not have the liberty to gaze upon the face of the Father. For it is not to be hoped that the angels of all men always see “the face of the Father who is in heaven”. If I belong to the Church, however least I may be, my angel has the liberty and the confidence always to see “the face of the Father who is in heaven”. But if I am on the outside and not of that Church “which has no spot or wrinkle or any such thing”, and by the very fact am proved to be a stranger to such a congregation, my angel does not have the confidence to look upon “the face of the Father who is in heaven”. For which reason the angels are anxious on behalf of the good, knowing that, if they govern us well and lead us through to salvation, they themselves also have the confidence to see “the face of the Father”. For just as, if by their care and diligence salvation is procured for men, they gaze always upon “the face of the Father”, so, if through their negligence a man has fallen, they are not unaware that it is a matter of their own peril as well. And just as a good bishop and an excellent steward of the Church knows that it is to his own merit and virtue if the sheep of the flock entrusted to him have been kept safe, so understand it also of the angels. It is a disgrace to an angel if the man entrusted to him has sinned, just as, on the contrary, it is a glory to an angel if the one entrusted to him — even the least in the Church — has made progress. For they will see, not sometimes, but “always the face of the Father who is in heaven”, while others do not always see it. For according to the merit of those whose angels they are, the angels will contemplate the face of God either always or never, or little or more. The clear knowledge of this matter God knows, and also if anyone — though rarely — has been found whom Christ has instructed. Let us see, then, first, who the “adversary” is with whom we make our journey. The “adversary” is always with us: unhappy and wretched are we! As often as we sin, our adversary exults, knowing that he has the opportunity, before the ruler of this age who had sent him, of exulting and glorying, because the adversary — for example, of this or that man — has made him subject to the ruler of this age through such and so many sins, through this or that offense. But it sometimes happens that, if someone has been equipped with the armor of God and has covered himself on every side, the “adversary” indeed tries to inflict a wound, but does not have the opportunity to strike. The “adversary” always walks with us, never deserts us, seeks an occasion for his snares, whether he can in some way subvert us and cast an evil thought into the governing part of our heart. “When you go to the ruler”. Who then is this ruler? “When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the Lord’s portion became his people Jacob, the cord of his inheritance Israel”. Therefore from the beginning the earth was divided among the rulers, that is, the angels. For Daniel more plainly testifies that those whom Moses had named “angels” are “rulers”, saying: “the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians” and “the ruler of the kingdom of the Greeks” and “Michael your ruler”; and so there are rulers of the nations. And each one of us has an adversary clinging to him, whose work it is to lead us to the ruler and to say: O ruler — for example, of the kingdom of the Persians — this man, who was under you, I have kept for you as he was; none of the remaining rulers was able to lead him over to himself, not even that one who boasted that he had come for this purpose, to snatch men from all the inheritances of the Persians or the Greeks and of all the nations and make them subject to the inheritance of God. Christ our Lord conquered all the rulers and, passing beyond their boundaries, carried over the captive peoples to himself for salvation. And you were of the portion of some ruler: Jesus came and snatched you from the perverse power and offered you to God the Father. Our “adversary”, then, walks along, leading us “to” his “ruler”. Hence I, believing that all the words of the Scriptures have their reason, do not think it was in vain that “judge” among the Greeks is set down with the article, which is a marker of singularity, while “ruler” is written simply, without the article. “When”, he says, “you go with your adversary”. He says pointedly: “your”. For not all are the adversaries of all, but individuals have their own individual adversaries, who everywhere follow them and are their companions. “When you go with your adversary to a ruler”. He did not set down “ruler” with the article, lest it should seem to point to a definite one, but without the article, to show that it is one out of many, which is better understood among the Greeks. For each one of us does not have his own proper ruler; but if someone is an Egyptian, he has the ruler of Egypt; he who is a Syrian is under the ruler of the Syrians; and each one is under the ruler of his own nation — if indeed it is enough for me to have advanced this far and not to pass from this discussion to another and greater one, so as to make mention that the other nations too exist. Whence it is said: “behold Israel according to the flesh”. It belongs to a prudent man to have begun to speak; though this very thing is rash, to have begun a discourse on such a matter among the people. He who wishes, he says, to lead you to his ruler and to carry you over from another ruler — “when you go with your adversary to the ruler on the way, make an effort to be freed from him”. Unless you “labor with all zeal to be freed” while you are still traveling the road, before you enter in to the ruler, before the ruler hands you over — prepared by the adversary — to the judge, afterward you will strive in vain. “Make” therefore “an effort to be freed” from your adversary, or from the ruler to whom the adversary drags you. “Make an effort” to have wisdom, justice, fortitude, temperance, and then it will be fulfilled: “behold, the man and his works before his own face”. Unless you “make an effort”, you will not be able to break the compact of the adversary, whose “friendship is enmity against God”. “When you go with your adversary to the ruler on the way, make an effort”. Something lies hidden in this place, and it is secret: “on the way make an effort”. The Savior says: “I am the way and the truth and the life”. If you “make an effort” to be freed from the adversary, be on the way; and when you have stood in him who says: “I am the way”, it is not enough to have stood, but “make an effort to be freed” from the adversary. For unless you “make an effort” to “be freed” from the adversary, hear what things follow you. “He drags you to the judge” — the adversary or the ruler, when he has received you from the adversary, “drags you to the judge”. How elegant is the word “drags”, that it may show them, as it were, drawing back and unwilling, dragged to condemnation and compelled to go! For what murderer proceeds to the judge with a quickened step? Who, rejoicing, hastens to go to his own condemnation, and is not dragged unwilling and resisting? For he knows that he is going for this, to receive the sentence of death. “Lest perhaps he drag you to the judge”. Who, do you suppose, is this “judge”? I know no other judge than our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it is also said elsewhere: “he will set the sheep on the right, but the goats on the left”, and again: “whoever confesses me, I too will confess him before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father who is in heaven”. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 35

Tertullian: But how absurd, that he should now be commanding them to judge righteously, who was destroying God the righteous Judge! For the Judge, who commits to prison, and allows no release Out of it without the payment of “the very last mite,” they treat of in the person of the Creator, with the view of disparaging Him. — Against Marcion Book IV

Luke 12:59

Bede: I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last penny. That is, until you have paid for even the smallest sins. Because you will always be able to pay the penalties by suffering, but never able to obtain forgiveness in return (for there will be no place for forgiveness there), you will never come out from where you will bear the eternal penalties for your deeds. — On the Gospel of Luke

Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)): Where thou wilt suffer want until thou payest the last farthing; and this is what He adds, I say unto you, thou shalt not depart hence. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Origen of Alexandria: “He drags you to the judge, and the judge hands you over to the officer”. Each one of us, through each single sin, sustains a loss, and according to the quality and account of the offense the magnitude of the loss is reckoned. I ought to bring forward some testimony from the Scriptures concerning loss and a fine of money. One man sustains a loss of five hundred denarii and owes them; another is condemned in fifty denarii; which sum is remitted to both by the creditor. Further, another, as the Scripture says: “one was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents”, is condemned in a debt of ten thousand talents. And what need is there for me to pursue more? Each one, according to the quality and quantity of his sin, receives a different sentence of fine. If it is little that you sin, you will be struck with the loss of a “mite”, as Luke writes, or, as Matthew, of a “farthing”. Nevertheless, it is also necessary to pay this very thing in which you have become a debtor; for you will not come out of the prison unless you have paid off even the very least things. But he who is faithful is struck by no loss, but is daily enriched; for the whole world of riches is his; the unbeliever, however, has not even an obol. One is condemned in a denarius, another in a mina, another in a talent. There is an examiner of this business, who knows the measures of all sins and says: This offense is condemned in a talent, that sin merits a fine of this kind. For it is written: “but when he had begun to make a reckoning”. A “reckoning” must be computed for all of us. There is no other time for making the reckoning than the time of judgment, when it will be clearly known what has been entrusted to us and what gain or what loss we have made, which of us received a mina, which one talent, which two, which five. What need is there to repeat more, when it is enough to have said this in general, that we shall render an account and, if we are found to be debtors, be dragged to the judge and handed over by the judge to the officer? As individuals we have our own officers, but the whole multitude is handed over to several, according to that which is written in Isaiah: “my people, your officers plunder you, and those who are powerful lord it over you” — the officers lord it over us, if we owe anything. But if we have confidence and with free brow say: I have kept the precept that commands: “render to all their debts, to whom tribute, tribute, to whom fear, fear, to whom custom, custom, to whom honor, honor” — if I have rendered all things to all, I come to the officer and with untroubled mind answer: I owe you nothing. The officer comes to demand back — I resist him; for I know that, if I owe nothing, he has no power over me. But if I am a debtor, my “officer will cast” me “into prison”, in that order which was foretold. For the “adversary” leads me to the ruler, the ruler to the judge, the judge will hand me over to the officer, the officer “will cast me into prison”. What is the law of that prison? I do not go out from it, nor does the officer allow me to go out, unless I have paid off the whole debt. The officer does not have the power to be able to remit to me even a “farthing” and the smallest portion; there is one who can remit to debtors who have nothing wherewith to pay. “There approached him”, he says, “one who owed five hundred denarii, and another fifty; and since they had nothing wherewith to pay, he forgave them both”. He who forgave was the master; but this one, who is the officer, is not the master, but is appointed by the master to exact the debts. You were not worthy that five hundred or fifty denarii should be forgiven you, nor did you deserve to hear: “your offenses are forgiven you”: you are cast into prison, and there you are exacted through labor and works, or through penalties and torments, and you will not come out from there unless you have paid back the “farthing” or the “very last mite”, which in Greek can be called “the fine thing”. Our sins are either gross — for it is written: “the heart of this people has grown fat” — or, in comparison with greater ones, fine and subtle. Blessed, therefore, is he first who does not sin; secondly, that in comparison one should have at least a fine sin. And even among these fine and subtle sins there is a diversity of sins. For unless among a fine and subtle sin there were another still subtler, it would never be said: “you will not come out from there until you pay back the last farthing”. Just as, if he were speaking of money, the “very last mite” — the mite, which is a denarius or a coin or an obol or a stater —; but what if we owe a great sum of money, like that man who is written to have owed ten thousand talents; for how long a time we shall be shut up in prison until we pay back the debt — I cannot openly declare. For if he who owes little does not come out unless he pays off the “least farthing”, surely he who has become liable for so great a debt will have countless ages numbered to him for paying back the debt. Wherefore “let us make an effort to be freed from the adversary” while we are on the way, and let us be joined to the Lord Jesus: to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 35