Ante-Nicene Fathers • VOLUME 6
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius, Julius Africanus & Others
SECTION 1
the Ante-Nicene Fathers have been elucidated by their American editor. [8] He begs to remind his countrymen that ecclesiastical history is y
the Ante-Nicene Fathers have been elucidated by their American editor. [8] He begs to remind his countrymen that ecclesiastical history is yet to be written on these irrefragable positions, and the future student of history will be delivered from the most puzzling entanglement when once these idols of the market are removed from…
2,685 wordsSECTION 2The surname Thaumaturgus, or Wonder-worker, at once admonishes us of the marvellous that so largely connected itself with the historical in
The surname Thaumaturgus, or Wonder-worker, at once admonishes us of the marvellous that so largely connected itself with the historical in the ancient records of this man's life. [17] He was believed to have been gifted with a power of working miracles, which he was constantly exercising. But into these it is profitless to ente…
1,641 wordsSECTION 3Chapter I. [41]
Chapter I. [41] These words speaketh Solomon, the son of David the king and prophet, to the whole Church of God, a prince most honoured, and a prophet most wise above all men. How vain and fruitless are the affairs of men, and all pursuits that occupy man! For there is not one who can tell of any profit attaching to those thing…
705 wordsSECTION 4Chapter II.
Chapter II. Judging, therefore, that it stood thus with this matter, I decided to turn to another manner of life, and to give myself to pleasure, and to take experience of various delights. And now I learned that all such things are vain; and I put a check on laughter, when it ran on carelessly; and restrained pleasure, accordi…
1,132 wordsSECTION 5Chapter III.
Chapter III. For this present time is filled with all things that are most contrary [49] to each other--births and deaths, the growth of plants and their uprooting, cures and killings, the building up and the pulling down of houses, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. At this moment a man gathers of earth's products, an…
749 wordsSECTION 6Chapter IV.
Chapter IV. And leaving all these reflections, I considered and turned in aversion from all the forms of oppression [57] which are done among men; whence some receiving injury weep and lament, who are struck down by violence in utter default of those who protect them, or who should by all means comfort them in their trouble. [5…
859 wordsSECTION 7Chapter V.
Chapter V. Moreover, it is a good thing to use the tongue sparingly, and to keep a calm and rightly balanced [69] heart in the exercise of speech. [70] For it is not right to give utterance in words to things that are foolish and absurd, or to all that occur to the mind; but we ought to know and reflect, that though we are far …
744 wordsSECTION 8Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. Moreover, I shall exhibit in discourse the ill-fortune that most of all prevails among men. While God may supply a man with all that is according to his mind, and deprive him of no object which may in any manner appeal to his desires, whether it be wealth, or honour, or any other of those things for which men distra…
1,534 wordsSECTION 9Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. Moreover, wisdom, when it is found in a man, shows itself also in its possessor's face, and makes his countenance to shine; as, on the other hand, effrontery convicts the man in whom it has taken up its abode, so soon as he is seen, as one worthy of hatred. And it is on every account right to give careful heed to …
1,415 wordsSECTION 10Chapter X.
Chapter X. Moreover, flies falling into myrrh, and suffocated therein, make both the appearance of that pleasant ointment and the anointing therewith an unseemly thing; [105] and to be mindful of wisdom and of folly together is in no way proper. The wise man, indeed, is his own leader to right actions; but the fool inclines to …
1,059 wordsSECTION 11Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. Moreover, it is right that thou shouldest fear God while thou art yet young, before thou givest thyself over to evil things, and before the great and terrible day of God cometh, when the sun shall no longer shine, neither the moon, nor the rest of the stars, but when in that storm and commotion of all things, the p…
813 wordsSECTION 12Canonical Epistle. [121]
Canonical Epistle. [121] ------------------------ Canon I. The meats are no burden to us, most holy father, [122] if the captives ate things which their conquerors set before them, especially since there is one report from all, viz., that the barbarians who have made inroads into our parts have not sacrificed to idols. For th…
884 wordsSECTION 13Canon III.
Canon III. Behold, did not Achar [129] the son of Zara transgress in the accursed thing, and trouble then lighted on all the congregation of Israel? And this one man was alone in his sin; but he was not alone in the death that came by his sin. And by us, too, everything of a gainful kind at this time, which is ours not in our o…
773 wordsSECTION 14Canon VIII. [137]
Canon VIII. [137] Now those who have been so audacious as to invade the houses of others, if they have once been put on their trial and convicted, ought not to be deemed fit even to be hearers in the public congregation. But if they have declared themselves and made restitution, they should be placed in the rank of the repentan…
2,544 wordsSECTION 15[161] pharmakon.
[161] pharmakon. [162] charakteras ton tes psuches tupon. [163] aspasamenoi hedeos, epei kai periphronesantes. The passage is considered by some to be mutilated. [164] The text is, alla gar ek triton authis allos koluei,, etc. For allos Hoeschelius gives alla de, Bengel follows him, and renders it, sed rursum, tertio loco, al…
2,245 wordsSECTION 16[175] logos.
[175] logos. [176] [The unformed theological mind of a youth is here betrayed.] [177] The text gives melegorein, for which others read megalegorein. [178] Gen. xlviii. 15. [Jacob refers to the Jehovah-Angel.] [179] The text gives emoi, etc.,...sumpheron einai kataphainetai. Bengel's idea of the sense is followed in the trans…
2,065 wordsSECTION 17And from the very first day of his receiving us (which day was, in truth, the first day to me, and the most precious of all days, if I may s
And from the very first day of his receiving us (which day was, in truth, the first day to me, and the most precious of all days, if I may so speak, since then for the first time the true Sun began to rise upon me), while we, like some wild creatures of the fields, or like fish, or some sort of birds that had fallen into the toi…
3,153 wordsSECTION 18[204] to pleion.
[204] to pleion. [205] The text gives sumblusanta hos, for which Casaubon proposes sumphusanta eis hen, or hos hen. Bengel suggests sumbrusanra hos hen. [206] nothon. [207] The text gives ekei, for which Hoeschelius and Bengel read eike. [208] teleiouthai de te blaspse. [209] hup' allelon. [210] tribolous. [211] The words…
2,733 wordsSECTION 19[222] alla gar pasi mechri rhematon to philosophein stesasin.
[222] alla gar pasi mechri rhematon to philosophein stesasin. [223] The text is, all' epei aletheian hemin, ou kompseian epengeilato ho logos anothen. The Latin rendering is, sed quia veritatem nobis, non pompam et ornatum promisit oratio in exordio. [224] The text is, kaitoi ge eipein ethelon einai te alethes. Bengal takes th…
2,953 wordsSECTION 20[240] [The ultimate subjugation of Latin theology by Aristotelian philosophy, is a deplorable instance of what is here hinted at, and what H
[240] [The ultimate subjugation of Latin theology by Aristotelian philosophy, is a deplorable instance of what is here hinted at, and what Hippolytus has worked out. Compare Col. ii. 8.] [241] The text is, ouk allen tina (ei dei t' alethes eipein) echon e ten pros tes philosophias epi tade ta dogmata alogon hormen; kai koisin h…
2,481 wordsSECTION 21[255] apeithein. Bengel and Hoeschelius read apelthein, withdraw.
[255] apeithein. Bengel and Hoeschelius read apelthein, withdraw. [256] haplous ara tis einai nenomistai andri prophete. Migne refers us to Ps. xvii. [257] Ps. cxxxvii. [258] 2 Kings xxiv.; xxv. [259] theologous, used probably of the prophets here--namely of Ezekiel, Daniel, and others carried into exile with the people. On …
2,470 wordsSECTION 22[276] prokopas.
[276] prokopas. [277] doxan ten epiginomenen. [278] morphosis ton holon. [279] ten ktisin. IV. One therefore is God the Father, one the Word, one the Spirit, the life, the sanctification of all. And neither is there another God as Father, [280] nor is there another Son as Word of God, nor is there another Spirit as quickeni…
2,204 wordsSECTION 23[312] John iv. 24.
[312] John iv. 24. [313] Ps. xxxiii. 6. [314] Kosmopoiias. [315] Gen. i. 2. [316] Rom. viii. 9. [317] Rom. viii. 11. [318] Rom. viii. 14, 15. [319] Rom. ix. 1. [320] Rom. xv. 13. XI. And again, writing to those same Romans, he says: "But I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, beca…
1,705 wordsSECTION 24XVIII.
XVIII. We acknowledge that the Son and the Spirit are consubstantial with the Father, and that the substance of the Trinity is one,--that is, that there is one divinity according to nature, the Father remaining unbegotten, and the Son being begotten of the Father in a true generation, and not in a formation by will, [344] and t…
1,340 wordsSECTION 25XXIII.
XXIII. Seest thou that the Spirit is inseparable from the divinity? And no one with pious apprehensions could fancy that He is a creature. Moreover, in the Epistle to the Hebrews he writes again thus: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unt…
2,220 wordsSECTION 26[386] Vol. i. pp. 164, 166, 170, 178, 190-193, 263, 272; Irenæus, Ibid., 468, 546, etc.
[386] Vol. i. pp. 164, 166, 170, 178, 190-193, 263, 272; Irenæus, Ibid., 468, 546, etc. [387] Vol. iii. p. 628. Compare (same volume) notes 15, p. 602, and 1, p. 604. [388] Vol. ii. p. 98, notes 1, 2; also p. 103, note 5. [389] Vol. iii. p. 299, note 19. Twelve Topics on the Faith. Wherein is Given Also the Formula of Excom…
2,208 wordsSECTION 27In behalf of this grace let us glorify the Father, who has given His only begotten Son for the life of the world. Let us glorify the Holy Sp
In behalf of this grace let us glorify the Father, who has given His only begotten Son for the life of the world. Let us glorify the Holy Spirit that worketh in us, and quickeneth us, and furnisheth the gifts meet for the fellowship of God; and let us not intermeddle with the word of the Gospel by lifeless disputations, scatteri…
2,213 wordsSECTION 28Still further, as all corporeal substance is divided into animate and inanimate, let those who hold that the soul is a body tell us whether
Still further, as all corporeal substance is divided into animate and inanimate, let those who hold that the soul is a body tell us whether we are to call it animate or inanimate. Finally, if every body has colour, and quantity, and figure, and if there is not one of these qualities perceptible in the soul, it follows that the …
3,100 wordsSECTION 29Most of the holy fathers, and patriarchs, and prophets desired to see Him, and to be eye-witnesses of Him, but did not attain hereto. And so
Most of the holy fathers, and patriarchs, and prophets desired to see Him, and to be eye-witnesses of Him, but did not attain hereto. And some of them by visions beheld Him in type, and darkly; others, again, were privileged to hear the divine voice through the medium of the cloud, and were favoured with sights of holy angels; b…
2,315 wordsSECTION 30Clearly, then, did the prophet behold in type Him who was born of the holy virgin, whom thou, O holy virgin, wouldest have had no strength t
Clearly, then, did the prophet behold in type Him who was born of the holy virgin, whom thou, O holy virgin, wouldest have had no strength to bear, hadst thou not beamed forth for that time [518] with all that is glorious and virtuous. And with what words of laudation, then, shall we describe her virgin-dignity? With what indica…
1,719 wordsSECTION 31Thus the holy Virgin, while still in the flesh, maintained the incorruptible life, and received in faith the things which were announced by
Thus the holy Virgin, while still in the flesh, maintained the incorruptible life, and received in faith the things which were announced by the archangel. And thereafter she journeyed diligently to her relation Elisabeth in the hill-country. "And she entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth," [532] in imitation…
1,934 wordsSECTION 32Again have we the glad tidings of joy, again the announcements of liberty, again the restoration, again the return, again the promise of gla
Again have we the glad tidings of joy, again the announcements of liberty, again the restoration, again the return, again the promise of gladness, again the release from slavery. An angel talks with the Virgin, in order that the serpent may no more have converse with the woman. In the sixth month, it is said, the angel Gabriel w…
2,127 wordsSECTION 33O ye who are the friends of Christ, and the friends of the stranger, and the friends of the brethren, receive in kindness my speech to-day,
O ye who are the friends of Christ, and the friends of the stranger, and the friends of the brethren, receive in kindness my speech to-day, and open your ears like the doors of hearing, and admit within them my discourse, and accept from me this saving proclamation of the baptism [565] of Christ, which took place in the river Jo…
1,632 wordsSECTION 34When I baptize others, I baptize into Thy name, in order that they may believe on Thee, who comest with glory; but when I baptize Thee, of w
When I baptize others, I baptize into Thy name, in order that they may believe on Thee, who comest with glory; but when I baptize Thee, of whom shall I make mention? and into whose name shall I baptize Thee? Into that of the Father? But Thou hast the Father altogether in Thyself, and Thou art altogether in the Father. Or into th…
3,150 wordsSECTION 35[591] A discourse of Gregory Thaumaturgus published by Joannes Aloysius Mingarelli, Bologna, 1770.
[591] A discourse of Gregory Thaumaturgus published by Joannes Aloysius Mingarelli, Bologna, 1770. [592] The codex gives demosieuousan, for which we read demosieuein. [593] The codex gives ateles, for which euteles is read by the editor. [594] Reading tharrhountos for tharrhountos. [595] This is supposed by the Latin annotat…
2,658 wordsSECTION 36[607] Epistle to Philemon, infra.
[607] Epistle to Philemon, infra. [608] Vol. v. p. 390, this series. [609] There are also passages, of larger or smaller extent, bearing upon his life and his literary activity, in Jerome (De viris illustr., ch. 69; and Præfatio ad Lib., xviii., Comment. in Esaiam), Athanasius (De Sententia Dionysii, and De Synodi Nicænæ Decre…
2,270 wordsSECTION 376. And from the ideas, and the expressions, and the collocation of the same, it may be very reasonably conjectured that this one is distinct
6. And from the ideas, and the expressions, and the collocation of the same, it may be very reasonably conjectured that this one is distinct from that. [635] For the Gospel and the Epistle agree with each other, and both commence in the same way. For the one opens thus, "In the beginning was the Word;" while the other opens thus…
2,264 wordsSECTION 38II.--From the Books on Nature. [641]
II.--From the Books on Nature. [641] ------------------------ I. In Opposition to Those of the School of Epicurus Who Deny the Existence of a Providence, and Refer the Constitution of the Universe to Atomic Bodies. Is the universe one coherent whole, as it seems to be in our own judgment, as well as in that of the wisest of t…
2,417 wordsSECTION 39Then we have what follows:--But if neither the word, nor the choice, nor the order of a ruler is laid upon them, and if by their own act the
Then we have what follows:--But if neither the word, nor the choice, nor the order of a ruler is laid upon them, and if by their own act they keep themselves right in the vast commotion of the stream in which they move, and convey themselves safely through the mighty uproar of the collisions, and if like atoms meet and group the…
2,323 wordsSECTION 40[674] Ps. cxix. 73.
[674] Ps. cxix. 73. [675] Job x. 10-12. [The milky element (sperma) marvellously changed into flesh, and the embroidery of the human anatomy, are here admirably brought out. Compare Ps. cxxxix. 12-16; also p. 86, note 1, supra.] [676] [Eccles. iii. 11. Note the force of the word Cosmos. Coleridge's Aids to Reflection, p. 251, …
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Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.