Augustine of Hippo

"To eat that meat which endures to everlasting life is to believe in Him. Why do you make ready your tooth and your belly? Only believe, and you have eaten already."

Augustine of Hippo

"He that eats within, not without; who eats in his heart, not who presses with his teeth."

Augustine of Hippo

"Consequently, he that dwells not in Christ and in whom Christ dwells not, doubtless neither eats His flesh nor drinks His blood."

Augustine of Hippo

"For he who is not in the body of Christ is not to be considered to eat the body of Christ."

Origen of Alexandria

"Which seems to me to be thus: as it is not the meat but the conscience of him who eats with doubt which defiles him… there is advantage to him who uses it, when with undefiled mind and pure conscience he partakes of the bread… [the Eucharist] goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught, but in respect of the prayer which comes upon it, according to the proportion of the faith, becomes a benefit."

Origen of Alexandria

"The Word was made flesh and very meat, which whoso eateth shall surely live for ever; which no evil man can eat. For if it could be that he that continueth evil might eat the Word made flesh, seeing that he is the Word and bread of life, it should not have been written, 'Whosoever eateth this bread, shall live for ever.'"

Ambrose of Milan

"That sacrament is Christ, because it is the Body of Christ — it is therefore not bodily food but spiritual."

Athanasius of Alexandria

"But this, and the blood from it, shall be given to you spiritually at My hands as meat, so as to be imparted spiritually in each one, and to become for all a preservative to resurrection of life eternal."

Cyprian of Carthage

"This bread is the food of the soul, and not the meat of the belly."

Augustine of Hippo

"To eat then that meat which endures to everlasting life is to believe in Him. Why do you make ready your tooth and your belly? Only believe, and you have eaten already."

Augustine of Hippo

"How shall I take hold of the absent? How shall I stretch up my hand into heaven, and take hold of one who is sitting there? Stretch up your faith, and you have got hold."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Christ on a certain occasion discoursing with the Jews said, 'Except ye eat My flesh and drink My blood, ye have no life in you.' They, not having heard His saying in a spiritual sense, were offended, and went back, supposing that He was inviting them to eat flesh."

John Chrysostom

"For when you see the Lord sacrificed, and laid upon the altar… are you not, on the contrary, straightway translated to Heaven?"

Irenaeus of Lyons

"No longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly."

Ambrose of Milan

"The bread and wine in the Sacraments remain still the same they were before."

Pope Gelasius I

"Yet the substance or nature of the bread and wine does not cease."

Theodoret of Cyrus

"After the consecration the mystical signs do not cast off their own proper nature; for they remain still in their former substance, form, and kind."

Theodoret of Cyrus

"There ceaseth not to be still the substance of bread, and nature of wine."

John Chrysostom

"The bread, before it be sanctified, is called bread; but when it is sanctified by the means of the priest, it is delivered from the name of bread, and is exalted to the name of the Lord's body, although the nature of bread doth still remain."

Origen of Alexandria

"We are said to drink the blood of Christ, not only by the sacramental rite, but also when we receive His word, in which is life."

Jerome

"To nourish ourselves with his flesh and drink his blood — not only in the Eucharist but also in reading sacred Scripture."

Jerome

"When we hear the word of God, Christ's body and blood are being poured into our ears."

Ambrose of Milan

"[Your] souls I would without hesitation call altars, on which Christ is daily offered."

Augustine of Hippo

"To eat then that meat which endures to everlasting life is to believe in Him. Why do you make ready your tooth and your belly? Only believe, and you have eaten already."

The Didache

"But every Lord's Day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"Now we make offering to Him, not as though He stood in need of it, but rendering thanks for His gift, and thus sanctifying what has been created."

Tertullian

"Not that in the water we obtain the Holy Spirit, but being cleansed in the water under the angel, we are prepared for the Holy Spirit."

Tertullian

"That baptismal washing is a sealing of faith, which faith is begun and is commended by the faith of repentance… We are not washed so that we may cease sinning, but because we have ceased, since in heart we have been bathed already. For the first baptism of a learner is this, a perfect fear; thenceforward, in so far as you have understanding of the Lord faith is sound, the conscience having once for all embraced repentance."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"[Baptism without faith:] for the water will receive, but the Spirit will not accept you."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Once Simon Magus also entered into the water; he was baptized but not enlightened. And while he plunged his body into the water, he did not enlighten his heart with the Spirit. And his body descended and ascended. But his soul was not buried with Christ, nor raised up."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Neither does he that is baptized with water, but not found worthy of the Spirit, receive the grace in perfection."

Gregory of Nyssa

"If the washing is applied to the body while the soul has not expelled the stains of its passions… that in these cases the water is water, since the gift of the Holy Spirit is nowhere manifest in what takes place."

Gregory of Nyssa

"We make Sacred Scripture the rule and the norm of every doctrine. We necessarily fix our eyes upon it and approve only what may be made to harmonize with the intent of these writings."

Gregory of Nyssa

"Whatever is not supported by the testimony of Scripture we reject as false."

Theodoret of Cyrus

"Do not, I beg you, bring in human reasoning. I shall yield to Scripture alone."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell you these things, give not absolute credence, unless you receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches?"

Basil of Caesarea

"We are not content simply because this is the tradition of the Fathers. What is important is that the Fathers followed the meaning of Scripture."

Gregory of Nyssa

"Let the inspired Scriptures then be our umpire, and the vote of truth will be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words."

John of Damascus

"It is impossible either to say or fully to understand anything about God beyond what has been divinely proclaimed to us, whether told or revealed, by the sacred declarations of the Old and New Testaments."

Basil of Caesarea

"Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth."

Augustine of Hippo

"In the matters of which we are now treating, only the canonical writings have any weight with us."

Augustine of Hippo

"I have learned to yield this respect and honor only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error."

Athanasius of Alexandria

"Vainly then do they run about with the pretext that they have demanded Councils for the faith's sake; for divine Scripture is sufficient above all things; but if a Council be needed on the point, there are the proceedings of the Fathers, for the Nicene Bishops did not neglect this matter, but stated the doctrine so exactly, that persons reading their words honestly, cannot but be reminded by them of the religion towards Christ announced in divine Scripture."

Hippolytus of Rome

"There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures, and from no other source."

Athanasius of Alexandria

"The holy and inspired Scriptures are fully sufficient for the proclamation of the truth."

Basil of Caesarea

"Enjoying as you do the consolation of the holy Scriptures, you stand in need neither of my assistance nor of that of anybody else… You have the all-sufficient counsel and guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead you to what is right."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Believe me not in whatsoever I shall simply deliver, unless thou find the things which I shall speak demonstrated out of the Holy Scriptures. For our salvation ought not to rest upon human testimony, but upon the demonstration of the Holy Scriptures."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"For since all cannot read the Scriptures, some being hindered as to the knowledge of them by want of learning, and others by a want of leisure, in order that the soul may not perish from ignorance, we comprise the whole doctrine of the Faith in a few lines [the Creed]. This summary I wish you both to commit to memory when I recite it and to rehearse it with all diligence among yourselves, not writing it out on paper, but engraving it by the memory upon your heart."

Gregory of Nyssa

"We are not entitled to such license, namely, of affirming whatever we please. For we make Sacred Scripture the rule and the norm of every doctrine. Upon that we are obliged to fix our eyes, and we approve only whatever can be brought into harmony with the intent of these writings."

John Chrysostom

"There comes a heathen and says, I wish to become a Christian, but I know not whom to join… if we bid you believe the Scriptures, and these are simple and true, the decision is easy for you. If any agree with the Scriptures, he is a Christian; if any fight against them, he is far from this rule."

Gregory of Nyssa

"Whatever is not supported by the testimony of Scripture we reject as false."

Augustine of Hippo

"What more shall I teach you than what we read in the apostles? For Holy Scripture fixes the rule for our doctrine, lest we dare be wiser than we ought. Therefore I should not teach you anything else except to expound to you the words of the Teacher."

Augustine of Hippo

"This shows that the established authority of Scripture must outweigh every other; for it derives new confirmation from the progress of events which happen, as Scripture proves, in fulfillment of the predictions made so long before their occurrence."

Cyril of Alexandria

"All things, therefore, that have been delivered to us by the Law, and Prophets, and Apostles, we receive, and acknowledge, and confess; and beyond these, we seek not to know anything. For it is impossible for us to say, or at all think anything concerning God, beyond what has been divinely declared by the divine oracles of the Old and New Testament."

Jerome

"But as we do not deny what is written, so we do reject what is not written."

Augustine of Hippo

"Among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found all matters that concern faith and the manner of life."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"Since, therefore, the entire Scriptures, the prophets, and the Gospels, can be clearly, unambiguously, and harmoniously understood by all… they proclaim one only God, to the exclusion of all others, formed all things by His word."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"And they [heretics] assert that the Scriptures are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition."

Clement of Alexandria

"Sometimes heretics quote from the prophetic Scriptures, but they misuse them in several ways: first, they don't make use of all the Scriptures. Second, when they do cite a passage, they don't quote it in its entirety… they gather a few expressions here and there, not looking to the meaning, but making use of the mere words, while altering the meaning."

Clement of Alexandria

"And this signified that the Scripture is clear to all, when taken according to the bare reading; and that this is the faith which occupies the place of the rudiments."

John Chrysostom

"All things are clear and open that are in the divine Scriptures; the necessary things are all plain."

Augustine of Hippo

"For among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found all matters that concern faith and the manner of life."

Augustine of Hippo

On the Unity of the Church, c. 405 AD

"We ought to find the Church, as the Head of the Church, in the Holy Canonical Scriptures, not to inquire for it in the various reports, and opinions, and deeds, and words, and visions of men."

Basil of Caesarea

De Spiritu Sancto, c. 375 AD

"We are not content simply because this is the tradition of the Fathers. What is important is that the Fathers followed the meaning of Scripture."

Jerome

Commentary on Galatians, c. 387 AD

"I place the Apostles in a distinct rank from all other writers — for as for them, they always speak truth — but as for those other, they err sometimes, like men as they were."

Augustine of Hippo

"The sacred canon of Scripture… stands so absolutely in a superior position to all later letters of the bishops, that about it we can have no doubt or disputation at all — whether what is written in it is true and right; but the letters of bishops which have been written, or are being written, since the closing of the canon, are liable to be refuted if there be anything in them which strays from the truth — and so are even plenary Councils."

Augustine of Hippo

"As to all other writings, in reading them, however great the superiority of the authors to myself in sanctity and learning, I do not accept their teaching as true on the mere ground of the opinion being held by them; but only because they have succeeded in convincing my judgment of its truth either by means of these canonical writings themselves, or by arguments addressed to my reason."

Augustine of Hippo

"For the reasonings of any men whatsoever, even though they be Catholics, and of high reputation, are not to be treated by us in the same way as the canonical Scriptures are treated. We are at liberty, without doing any violence to the respect which these men deserve, to condemn and reject anything in their writings, if perchance we shall find that they have entertained opinions differing from that which others or we ourselves have, by the divine help, discovered to be the truth. I deal thus with the writings of others, and I wish my intelligent readers to deal thus with mine."

Augustine of Hippo

Against the Epistle of Parmenianus, c. 400 AD

"Let no one say to me, What hath Donatus said, what hath Parmanian said, or Pontius, or any of them. For we must not allow even Catholic bishops, if at any time, perchance, they are in error, to hold any opinion contrary to the Canonical Scriptures of God."

Augustine of Hippo

c. 400 AD

"As regards our writings, which are not a rule of faith or practice, but only a help to edification, we may suppose that they contain some things falling short of the truth in obscure and recondite matters, and that these mistakes may or may not be corrected in subsequent treatises. For we are of those of whom the apostle says: 'And if you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you' (Philippians 3:15). Such writings are read with the right of judgment, and without any obligation to believe. In order to leave room for such profitable discussions of difficult questions, there is a distinct boundary line separating all productions subsequent to apostolic times from the authoritative canonical books of the Old and New Testaments."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Pray, read none of the apocryphal writings: for why do you, who know not those which are acknowledged among all, trouble yourself in vain about those which are disputed? Read the Divine Scriptures, the twenty-two books of the Old Testament, these that have been translated by the Seventy-two Interpreters."

Athanasius of Alexandria

"[lists the canon]…Thus far constitutes the Old Testament…there are other books besides these not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness. The Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Sirach, and Esther, and Judith, and Tobit, and that which is called the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd. But the former, my brethren, are included in the Canon, the latter being [merely] read; nor is there in any place a mention of apocryphal writings."

Jerome

"And so there are also twenty-two books of the Old Testament [protestant canon counted differently]…we may be assured that what is not found in our list must be placed amongst the Apocryphal writings. Wisdom, therefore, which generally bears the name of Solomon, and the book of Jesus, the Son of Sirach, and Judith, and Tobias, and the Shepherd are not in the canon. The first book of Maccabees I have found to be Hebrew, the second is Greek, as can be proved from the very style."

Jerome

"Therefore, just as the Church also reads the books of Judith, Tobias, and the Maccabees, but does not receive them among the canonical Scriptures, so also one may read these two scrolls for the strengthening of the people, (but) not for confirming the authority of ecclesiastical dogmas."

Hilary of Poitiers

"The reason for reckoning twenty-two books of the Old Testament is that this corresponds with the number of the [Hebrew] letters."

Eusebius of Caesarea

"When expounding the first Psalm, he [Origen] gives a catalogue of the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament as follows: 'It should be stated that the canonical books, as the Hebrews have handed them down, are twenty-two; corresponding with the number of their letters.'"

John of Damascus

"Observe, further, that there are two and twenty books of the Old Testament, one for each letter of the Hebrew tongue. For there are twenty-two letters of which five are double, and so they come to be twenty-seven. For the letters Caph, Mere, Nun, Pe, Sade are double. And thus the number of the books in this way is twenty-two, but is found to be twenty-seven because of the double character of five."

Gregory of Nazianzus

"Receive the number and names of the holy books… These twenty-two books of the Old Testament are counted according to the twenty-two letters of the Jews…"

Melito of Sardis

"Melito to Onesimus his brother: I have accurately learned the books of the Old Testament. Their names are as follows: Five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Joshua, Judges, Ruth. Four books of Kings [two of Samuel and two of Kings], two of Paralipomenon [Chronicles]. The Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon (which is also Wisdom), Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job. Of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; and of the twelve prophets, one book; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras."

Council of Laodicea

"Let no private psalms nor any uncanonical books be read in church, but only the canonical ones of the New and Old Testament…These are all the books of Old Testament appointed to be read: 1, Genesis of the world; 2, The Exodus from Egypt; 3, Leviticus; 4, Numbers; 5, Deuteronomy; 6, Joshua, the son of Nun; 7, Judges, Ruth; 8, Esther; 9, Of the Kings, First and Second; 10, Of the Kings, Third and Fourth; 11, Chronicles, First and Second; 12, Esdras, First and Second; 13, The Book of Psalms; 14, The Proverbs of Solomon; 15, Ecclesiastes; 16, The Song of Songs; 17, Job; 18, The Twelve Prophets; 19, Isaiah; 20, Jeremiah, and Baruch, the Lamentations, and the Epistle; 21, Ezekiel; 22, Daniel."

Epiphanius of Salamis

"For if you were begotten from the Holy Spirit and instructed in the prophets and apostles, you must have gone through (the record) from the beginning of the genesis of the world until the times of Esther in twenty-seven books of the Old Covenant, which are numbered as twenty-two."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"That alone is the true life-giving faith, which the church received from the apostles and passed on to her children… We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches?"

Irenaeus of Lyons

"To which course many nations… carefully preserving the ancient tradition, believing in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation, condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been received up in splendour, shall come in glory."

Tertullian

"They then in like manner founded churches in every city, from which all the other churches, one after another, derived the tradition of the faith, and the seeds of doctrine, and are every day deriving them, that they may become churches."

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel (c. 411 AD)

"The Church does not consist in walls, but in the truths of her teachings. The Church is there where there is true faith. As a matter of fact, fifteen and twenty years ago, all the church buildings belonged to heretics [namely the Arians], for heretics twenty years ago were in possession of them; but the true Church was there where the true faith was."

Clement of Alexandria

Stromata, 7.5 (c. 198 AD)

"For it is not now the place, but the assemblage of the elect, that I call the Church."

Gregory of Nazianzus

On His Own Life (c. 382 AD)

"For unity in doctrine deserves unity in office; and a rival teacher sets up a rival throne; the one is a successor in reality, the other in name only."

Tertullian

On the Prescription of Heretics, Chapter 32 (c. 200 AD)

"Let them [heretics] unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that that first bishop of theirs shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men — a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers… should they even effect the contrivance, they will not advance a step."

Tertullian

On the Prescription of Heretics, Chapter 21 (c. 200 AD)

"We hold communion with the apostolic churches because our doctrine is in no respect different from theirs. This is our witness of apostolicity."

Tertullian

On the Prescription of Heretics (c. 200 AD)

"To this test, therefore will they be submitted for proof by those churches, who, although they derive not their founder from apostles or apostolic men (as being of much later date, for they are in fact being founded daily), yet, since they agree in the same faith, they are accounted as not less apostolic because they are akin in doctrine."

Augustine of Hippo

On the Unity of the Church, c. 405 AD

"Whoever dissents from the sacred Scriptures, even if they are found in all places in which the church is designated, are not the church."

Augustine of Hippo

On the Unity of the Church, Chapter 47

"All such things then removed, let them demonstrate their Church, if they can, not in the speeches and murmurs of African, not in the councils of their bishops, not in the epistles of whatever debates, not in false signs and prodigies, since we are prepared and cautioned against them by the word of the Lord, but in the precept of the law, in the predictions of the prophets, in the songs of the psalms, in the utterances of the one shepherd himself, in the preaching of the evangelists, that is in all the canonical authority of the holy books, and not such that they might gather and cite things that are spoken obscurely or ambiguously or metaphorically which anyone might interpret according to his own opinion as he wishes. Such things cannot be properly understood and explained unless first those things that are said most openly are held with a strong faith."

Ambrose of Milan

Exposition of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke

"So the faith of the church must be sought first and foremost. If Christ is to dwell in a house, it undoubtedly must be chosen. But lest an unbelieving people or a heretical teacher deface its home, the church is commanded that the fellowship of heretics be avoided and the synagogue shunned....Any church which rejects faith and does not possess the foundations of apostolic preaching is to be abandoned lest it be able to stain others with unbelief."

Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 2, Section 2

"But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in the Churches."

Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 3, Section 3

"In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the apostles until now, and handed down in truth."

Clement of Rome

"And so we, having been called through His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves or our own wisdom or understanding or piety, or works that we have done in holiness of heart, but through faith, by which the Almighty God has justified all who have existed from the beginning."

Basil of Caesarea

"Indeed, this is the perfect and complete glorification of God, when one does not exult in his own righteousness, but recognizing oneself as lacking true righteousness to be justified by faith alone in Christ."

Hilary of Poitiers

"Because faith alone justifies… publicans and prostitutes will be first in the kingdom of heaven."

John Chrysostom

"They said that he who adhered to faith alone was cursed; but he, Paul, shows that he who adhered to faith alone is blessed."

John Chrysostom

"He made his way into paradise — not having fasted, not having been baptized in water, not having received the Eucharist — on the basis of faith alone."

John Chrysostom

"For he died for us, and further reconciled us, and brought us to Himself, and gave us grace unspeakable. But we brought faith only as our contribution."

Ambrose of Milan

"Wherefore let no man glory in works, for by his works no man shall be justified, for he that is just hath a free gift, for he is justified by the Bath. It is faith then which delivers by the blood of Christ."

John Chrysostom

"Here he shows God's power, in that He has not only saved, but has even justified, and led them to boasting — and this too without needing works, but looking for faith only."

John Chrysostom

"For you believe the faith; why then do you add other things, as if faith were not sufficient to justify? You make yourselves captive, and you subject yourself to the law."

John Chrysostom

"The declaring of his righteousness also means that not only is he himself righteous but that he also makes those who are filled with the putrefying sores of sin instantaneously righteous. And in order to further explain what he means by this 'declaring,' he has added, 'That he might be just, and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus.' Have no doubt, then, for it is not of works but of faith."

John Chrysostom

"God's grace has allowed Him that did no wrong to be punished for those who had done wrong… Him that was righteousness itself, 'He made sin,' that is, allowed Him to be condemned as a sinner, as one cursed to die, so that we might be, not just 'righteous' but 'righteousness,' indeed the righteousness of God."

Ambrose of Milan

"To this end has His grace and goodness been formed upon us in Christ Jesus: that being dead according to works, redeemed through faith and saved by grace, we might receive the gift of this great deliverance."

Cyril of Alexandria

"By mercy then is signified, Justification and grace in Christ, even that which is by faith. For we have been justified, not by the works of the law that we have done, but by His great mercy."

John Chrysostom

"We need none of those legal observances, he says; faith suffices to obtain for us the Spirit, and by Him righteousness, and many and great benefits."

John Chrysostom

"And he well said, 'a righteousness of mine own,' not that which I gained by labor and toil, but that which I found from grace… the righteousness of God; this is altogether a gift. And the gifts of God far exceed those worthless good deeds, which are due to our own diligence."

John Chrysostom

"But he calls it their 'own righteousness,' either because the Law was no longer of force, or because it was one of trouble and toil. But this he calls God's righteousness, that from faith, because it comes entirely from the grace from above, and because men are justified in this case, not by labors, but by the gift of God."

Cyril of Alexandria

"For the dwellers upon earth have been justified by faith… Faith then in Christ is found to be the pledge to us of these great blessings: for it is the way that leadeth unto life."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"Human beings can be saved from the ancient wound of the serpent in no other way than by believing in him who, when he was raised up from the earth on the tree of martyrdom in the likeness of sinful flesh, drew all things to himself and gave life to the dead."

Tertullian

"God will impute righteousness to those who believe in him, and make the just live through him, and declare the Gentiles to be his children through faith."

Gregory of Nazianzus

"Confess Jesus Christ, and believe that He is risen from the dead, and you will be saved. For indeed righteousness is only to be believed; but a complete salvation must also be confessed and knowledge must be added to confidence."

Epistle to Diognetus

"O the sweet exchange, O the incomprehensible work of God, O the unexpected blessings — that the sinfulness of many should be hidden in one righteous person, while the righteousness of one should justify many sinners."

Athanasius of Alexandria

"The Word, being Himself incapable of death, assumed a mortal body, that He might offer it as His own in place of all — and suffering for the sake of all through His union with it, might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

Athanasius of Alexandria

"But since it was necessary also that the debt owing from all should be paid again, for… it was owing that all should die… he next offered up his sacrifice also on behalf of all, yielding his temple to death in the stead of all, in order firstly to make men quit and free of their old trespass, and further to show himself more powerful even than death, displaying his own body incorruptible as first fruits of the resurrection of all."

Jerome

"The rock is Christ, Who gave to His apostles, that they also should be called rocks, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.'"

Augustine of Hippo

"For, 'Thou art Peter' and not 'Thou art the rock' was said to him. But 'the rock was Christ,' in confessing whom, as also the whole Church confesses, Simon was called Peter. But let the reader decide which of these two opinions is the more probable."

Origen of Alexandria

"But if you suppose that upon that one Peter only the whole church is built by God, what would you say about John the son of thunder or each one of the Apostles? Shall we otherwise dare to say, that against Peter in particular the gates of Hades shall not prevail, but that they shall prevail against the other Apostles and the perfect?"

Cassiodorus

"For the Church cannot be moved because it is known to have been founded on that most solid rock, namely, Christ the Lord..."

Bede

"You are Peter and on this rock from which you have taken your name, that is, on myself, I will build my Church."

Jerome

"The Church is founded upon Peter, although in another place, the same thing is done upon all the Apostles..."

Ambrose of Milan

"The foundation of the Church: for it was not said of Peter's flesh, but of his faith."

John Chrysostom

"'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church' — that is, on the faith of his confession."

Cyril of Alexandria

"Jesus said to divine Peter: 'You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.' Now by the word 'rock', Jesus indicated, I think, the immoveable faith of the disciple."

Ambrosiaster

"Wherefore the Lord says to Peter: 'Upon this rock I shall build my Church,' that is, upon this confession of the catholic faith I shall establish the faithful in life."

Hilary of Poitiers

"Thus our one immovable foundation, our one blissful rock of faith, is the confession from Peter's mouth, You are the Son of the living God."

Hilary of Poitiers

"Hence I ask, was it that the blessed Simon Bar-Jona confessed to Him, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God?' ... And this is the rock of confession whereon the Church is built ... that Christ must be not only named, but believed, the Son of God. This faith is that which is the foundation of the Church; through this faith the gates of hell cannot prevail against her. This is the faith which has the keys of the kingdom of heaven."

Origen of Alexandria

"If we, too, have said like Peter, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God' [Matt. 16:16]...we become a Peter. So, to us there might be said by the Word, 'You are Peter.' For every disciple of Christ is a rock...And upon every such rock is built every word of the church...it is said to Peter, and to every Peter, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven."

Augustine of Hippo

"Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter's confession. What is Peter's confession? 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' There's the rock for you, there's the foundation, there's where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer."

Basil of Seleucia

"Now Christ called this confession a rock, and he named the one who confessed it 'Peter,' perceiving the appellation which was suitable to the author of this confession. For this is the solemn rock of religion, this the basis of salvation, this the wall of faith and the foundation of truth: 'For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.' To whom be glory and power forever."

Jerome

"But you say the Church was founded upon Peter: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism."

Augustine of Hippo

"The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church."

Cyprian of Carthage

"that He might set forth unity, He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one. Assuredly, the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity."

Firmilian of Caesarea

"But that they who are at Rome do not observe those things in all cases which are handed down from the beginning, and vainly pretend the authority of the apostles."

Firmilian of Caesarea

"He [Pope Stephen] is really the schismatic who has made himself an apostate from the communion of ecclesiastical unity. For while you think that all may be excommunicated by you, you have excommunicated yourself alone from all."

Augustine of Hippo

"There still remained a plenary Council of the universal Church, in which these judges themselves might be put on their defense; so that, if they [Rome] were convicted of mistake, their decisions might be reversed."

Third Council of Constantinople (Sixth Ecumenical Council)

"And with these we define that there shall be expelled from the holy Church of God and anathematized Honorius, who was Pope of the elder Rome, because we find in his letter to Sergius that he followed his opinion in all things and confirmed his impious doctrines."

John Chrysostom

"[John the Apostle] The son of thunder, the beloved of Christ, the pillar of the Churches throughout the world, who holds the keys of heaven."

Augustine of Hippo

"Did Peter receive the keys and Paul not receive them? Did Peter receive them, and John and James and the other apostles not receive them?... What was given to Peter was given to the whole church."

Tertullian

"If, because the Lord has said to Peter, 'Upon this rock will I build My Church, to you have I given the keys of the heavenly kingdom; or, Whatsoever you shall have bound or loosed in earth, shall be bound or loosed in the heavens,' you therefore presume that the power of binding and loosing has derived to you, that is, to every Church akin to Peter."

Origen of Alexandria

"Are the keys of the kingdom of heaven given by the Lord to Peter only, and will no other of the blessed receive them? But if this promise be common to the others, how shall not all the things previously spoken of, and the things which are subjoined as having been addressed to Peter, be common to them?...For in this place these words seem to be addressed as to Peter only... but in the Gospel of John the Saviour having given the Holy Spirit unto the disciples by breathing upon them said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' Many then will say to the Saviour, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God;'...And if any one says this to Him...he will obtain the things that were spoken according to the letter of the Gospel to that Peter, but, as the spirit of the Gospel teaches, to every one who becomes such as that Peter was. For all bear the surname of 'rock' who are the imitators of Christ, that is, of the spiritual rock which followed those who are being saved."

Jerome

"But you say the Church was founded upon Peter: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism."

Augustine of Hippo

"If this was said only to Peter, it gives no ground of action to the Church. But if such is the case also in the Church, that what is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven — for when the Church excommunicates, the excommunicated person is bound in heaven; when one is reconciled by the Church, the person so reconciled is loosed in heaven — if such, then, is the case in the Church, Peter, in receiving the keys, represented the holy Church."

Augustine of Hippo

"If this was said only to Peter, it gives no ground of action to the Church. But if such is the case also in the Church, that what is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven — for when the Church excommunicates, the excommunicated person is bound in heaven; when one is reconciled by the Church, the person so reconciled is loosed in heaven — if such, then, is the case in the Church, Peter, in receiving the keys, represented the holy Church."

Origen of Alexandria

"Whatever things you shall bind on earth; for with justice has he, who has thrice admonished and not been heard, bound him who is judged to be as a gentile... when one is bound...he remains bound."

Origen of Alexandria

"But when one judges unrighteously, and does not bind upon earth according to the Word of God, nor loose upon earth according to His will, the gates of Hades prevail against him...But if he [the bishop] is tightly bound with the cords of his sins, to no purpose does he bind and loose."

Jerome

"[On binding and loosing] The bishops and priests do not understand this passage. They assume for themselves some of the superciliousness of the Pharisees when they either condemn the innocent or think that they can loose the guilty. Yet in the sight of God it is not the verdict of the priests but the life of the accused that is examined. We read in Leviticus about lepers that they are commanded to show themselves to the priests and, if they have leprosy, then they are established as unclean by the priest. This does not mean that the priests make them leprous and unclean, but that they have knowledge of the leprous and the non-leprous, and they can discern who is clean and who is unclean."

Augustine of Hippo

"He has given, therefore, the keys to His Church, that whatsoever it should bind on earth might be bound in heaven, and whatsoever it should loose on earth might be loosed in heaven; that is to say, that whosoever in the Church should not believe that his sins are remitted, they should not be remitted to him; but that whosoever should believe and should repent, and turn from his sins, should be saved by the same faith and repentance on the ground of which he is received into the bosom of the Church. For he who does not believe that his sins can be pardoned, falls into despair, and becomes worse as if no greater good remained for him than to be evil, when he has ceased to have faith in the results of his own repentance."

Jerome

"If someone thinks that this is our opinion, but not that of the Scriptures — that bishop and priest are one — the burden of proof lies on them."

Jerome

"It was decreed for the whole world that one of the priests should be elected to preside over the others, to whom the entire care of the church should pertain, and the seeds of schism would be removed."

The Didache

"Appoint for yourselves therefore bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord."

1 Clement

"And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed the first-fruits of their labors, having first proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place, I will appoint their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith."

Shepherd of Hermas

"Bishops given to hospitality, who always gladly received into their houses the servants of God, without dissimulation. And the bishops never failed to protect, by their service, the widows, and those who were in want, and always maintained a holy conversation."

Shepherd of Hermas

"But you will read the words in this city, along with the presbyters who preside over the Church."

Council of Carthage — Cyprian presiding

"Neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of bishops, nor by tyrannical terror does any compel his colleague to the necessity of obedience; since every bishop, according to the allowance of his liberty and power, has his own proper right of judgment, and can no more be judged by another than he himself can judge another."

First Council of Constantinople

"The bishops are not to go beyond their dioceses to churches lying outside of their bounds, nor bring confusion on the churches; but let the Bishop of Alexandria, according to the canons, alone administer the affairs of Egypt; and let the bishops of the East manage the East alone… And let not bishops go beyond their dioceses for ordination or any other ecclesiastical ministrations, unless they be invited."

Council of Chalcedon

"Constantine the most devout deacon said: 'When the sentence of deposition [of Constantinople] was read, Eutyches appealed to the holy council of the most holy bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Thessalonica.'"

Maximinus

"Why do you not understand that the see of Peter is equal and common to all the bishops?"

First Council of Nicaea

"Let the ancient customs in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis prevail, that the Bishop of Alexandria have jurisdiction in all these, since the like is customary for the Bishop of Rome also. Likewise in Antioch and the other provinces, let the Churches retain their privileges."

Council of Chalcedon

"For the Fathers rightly granted privileges to the throne of old Rome, because it was the royal city. And the One Hundred and Fifty most religious Bishops, actuated by the same consideration, gave equal privileges to the most holy throne of New Rome, justly judging that the city which is honoured with the Sovereignty and the Senate, and enjoys equal privileges with the old imperial Rome, should in ecclesiastical matters also be magnified as she is, and rank next after her."

Gregory the Great

"If one be called universal bishop, the universal Church goes to decay."

John Chrysostom

"[bishop of antioch is] another Peter...[who holds] the throne of Peter"

Origen of Alexandria

"Nothing should be painted on the walls which is to be adorned by the people… we suffer not to worship at altars, images, or temples."

Origen of Alexandria

"It is not possible at the same time to know God and to address prayers to images."

Clement of Alexandria

"Works of art cannot then be sacred and divine."

Lactantius

"There is no religion wherever there is an image… because there can be nothing heavenly in that which is made on earth."

Lactantius

"Why do you not raise your eyes to heaven? Why do you look to walls and wood and stone, rather than to the place where you believe God to be?"

Eusebius of Caesarea

"Can it be that you have forgotten that passage in which God lays down the law that no likeness should be made either of what is in heaven or what is in the earth beneath? Have you ever heard anything of the kind [images] either yourself in church, or from another person? Are not such things banished and excluded from churches all over the world?"

Augustine of Hippo

"Have they mouth, and yet speak not? Have they eyes, and see not? Do we pray unto them, because through them we pray unto God? This is the chief cause of this insane profanity."

Hippolytus of Rome

"and [the Carpocratian heretics'] make counterfit images of Christ"

Origen of Alexandria

"And they too are not less insane who think that images, fashioned by men of worthless and sometimes most wicked character, confer any honor upon genuine divinities."

Origen of Alexandria

"[Christians] not only avoid temples, altars and images, but are ready to suffer death when it is necessary."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"[The Carpocratian heretics] also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They have also other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles."

Augustine of Hippo

"[reacting negatively] They [pagans] presume to reply, that they worship not the bodies themselves, but the deities which preside over the government of them."

Gregory the Great

"It has come to our ears that your Fraternity, seeing certain adorers of images, broke and threw down these same images in Churches. And we commend you indeed for your zeal against anything made with hands being an object of adoration; but we signify to you that you ought not to have broken these images. For pictorial representation is made use of in Churches for this reason; that such as are ignorant of letters may at least read by looking at the walls what they cannot read in books. Your Fraternity therefore should have both preserved the images and prohibited the people from adoration of them."

Clement of Alexandria

"He alone is judge, because He alone is sinless. As far, however, as we can, let us try to sin as little as possible."

Clement of Alexandria

"For this Word of whom we speak alone is sinless. For to sin is natural and common to all."

Tertullian

"For God alone is without sin; and the only man without sin is Christ, since Christ is also God. . . . Just as no soul is without sin, so neither is any soul without seeds of good."

Tertullian

"For to the Son of God alone was it reserved to persevere to the last without sin."

Origen of Alexandria

"What ought we to think? That while the apostles were scandalized, the Mother of the Lord was immune from scandal? If she had experienced scandal during the Lord's Passion, Jesus did not die for her sins. But if all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but are justified by his grace and redeemed, then Mary too was scandalized by this moment. This is what Simeon is prophesying about. . . . Your soul will be pierced by the sword of unbelief and will be wounded by the sword point of doubt."

John Chrysostom

"For in fact that which she had essayed to do, was of superfluous vanity; in that she wanted to show the people that she has power and authority over her Son, imagining not as yet anything great concerning Him; whence also her unseasonable approach."

Basil of Caesarea

"Simeon therefore prophesies about Mary herself, that when standing by the cross, and beholding what is being done, and hearing the voices, after the witness of Gabriel, after her secret knowledge of the divine conception, after the great exhibition of miracles, she shall feel about her soul a mighty tempest. The Lord was bound to taste of death for every man – to become a propitiation for the world and to justify all men by His own blood. Even thou thyself, who hast been taught from on high the things concerning the Lord, shalt be reached by some doubt. This is the sword. 'That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.' He indicates that after the offence at the Cross of Christ a certain swift healing shall come from the Lord to the disciples and to Mary herself."

Augustine of Hippo

"Mary, descended from Adam, died because of sin."

Hilary of Poitiers

"If this virgin, made capable of conceiving God, will encounter the severity of this judgment, who will dare to escape?"

Epiphanius of Salamis

"Either the holy Virgin died and was buried, then her falling asleep was with honor, her death chaste, her crown that of virginity. Or she was killed, as it is written: 'and your own soul a sword shall pierce,' then her glory is among the martyrs and her holy body amid blessings, she through whom light rose over the world. Or she remained alive, since nothing is impossible with God and He can do whatever He desires, for her end no one knows."

Augustine of Hippo

"Besides that, it is not only Elias, but Moses and Enoch you believe to be immortal, and to have been taken up with their bodies to heaven."

Jerome

"Enoch was translated in the flesh; Elias was carried up to heaven in the flesh. They are not dead, they are inhabitants of Paradise."

Tertullian

"That Enoch and Elias, who even now, without experiencing a resurrection (because they have not even encountered death), are learning to the full what it is for the flesh to be exempted from all humiliation, and all loss, and all injury, and all disgrace — translated as they have been from this world."

Irenaeus of Lyons

"For Enoch, when he pleased God, was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was caught up [when he was yet] in the substance of the [natural] form; thus exhibiting in prophecy the assumption of those who are spiritual, and that nothing stood in the way of their body being translated and caught up."

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles

"Now that, if it had pleased Him that all men should be immortal, it was in His power, He showed in the examples of Enoch and Elijah, while He did not suffer them to have any experience of death."

Tertullian

"Enoch no doubt was translated, and so was Elijah; nor did they experience death: it was postponed, (and only postponed,) most certainly."

John Chrysostom

"And Enoch also, having worn flesh, was translated, and not found. So also Elias was caught up with the flesh."

Origen of Alexandria

"Enoch and Elijah, who were translated so as to not see death."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Remember that Enoch was translated; but Jesus ascended: remember what was said yesterday concerning Elias, that Elias was taken up in a chariot of fire; but that the chariots of Christ are ten thousand-fold even thousands upon thousands: and that Elias was taken up, towards the east of Jordan; but that Christ ascended at the east of the brook Cedron: and that Elias went as into heaven; but Jesus, into heaven."

Cyril of Jerusalem

"You may mention Elias the Tishbite who was taken up into heaven, yet he is not greater than John: Enoch was translated, but he is not greater than John."

Augustine of Hippo

"As when it is asked where Elijah is at the present moment, and where Enoch — whether in this Paradise or in some other place, although we doubt not of their existing still in the same bodies in which they were born."

Ambrose of Milan

"When he wrote that he should be caught up alive in the clouds to meet Christ? We read the same too of Enoch and of Elijah."

Methodius of Olympus

"And if any one should speak doubtfully concerning the soul of Elias, as that the Scriptures say that he was taken up in the flesh..., as was also proved by the translation of Enoch."

Tertullian

"the sphere of action of this second and only (remaining) repentance."

Origen

"For the graver crimes, there is only one opportunity of penance."

Shepherd of Hermas

"If anyone is tempted by the devil, and sins after that great and holy calling [baptism]... he has opportunity to repent but once."

Ambrose of Milan

"As there is one baptism, so there is one penance, which, however, is performed publicly."

John Chrysostom

"I do not say that you should make your sins known in public, nor that you should accuse yourself before others, but I would have you obey the prophet who says, 'Make known your ways before God'. Therefore, confess your sins before God, the true Judge, with prayer. Tell your errors, not with the tongue, but with the memory of your conscience, and so forth."