Early Christian Quotes from the First Three Centuries - by topic

(Note: These quotes are given not to judge whether the ancient Christians were correct in all matters but simply to show what they believed on certain topics. Dates of authorship indicate the earliest known manuscripts. It is possible that some authors wrote before the dates given.)

• On Abortion
• On Aborted and Unborn Children
• On the Age of the Earth and Creation 
• On Angels
• On Baptism
• On Children 
  
• On Christian Character
• On Christian Living 
  
• On the Church
• On Communion
• On Confession
• On Death and Dying
• On Demons
• On Discipline from God
• On Drinking Alcohol 
  
• On Eating Food 
  
• On the End Times
• On Entertainment
• On Evil 
• On Exercise
• On Fasting
• On the Forgiveness of Sins Committed Out of Ignorance
• On Forgiving Others
• On Free Will
• On Giving
• On God
• On Heaven
• On Hell
• On the Holy Spirit
• On Humility 
  
• On Hypocrites and Heretics
• On Jesus
• On Jews and the Law
• On the Judgment
• On Marriage and Divorce
• On Mary
• On Military Service 
  
• On Ministry
• On the New Earth
• On Parenting
• On Prayer
• On Prophecy
• On Purgatory
• On the Resurrection of Man
• On a Relationship with God
• On Salvation
• On Satan
• On Schisms
• On Scripture
• On Self-Control
• On Sheol
• On the Sin Nature
• On the Soul and the Spirit
• On Speech 
  
• On Suffering
• On Temptation
• On Thoughts
• On the Trinity
• On Vanity
• On Women 
• On Work
• On Worship

 

Early Christian Quotes on Abortion

Didache 

(1st Century) 

2:2

 

Do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant.

 

 

Barnabas’s Epistle 

(1st Century) 

Chapter 19:

 

You will not kill a child by having an abortion; nor will you kill a child after it is born.

 

 

Athenagoras' Plea for the Christians

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 35:

 

Women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder and will have to give an account to God for the abortion.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Aborted and Unborn Children

 

Clement of Alexandria

(Mid-2nd Century)

(from his notes):

 

The care of God does not shine only upon those who are alive. For example, the Apocalypse of Peter discusses children who are born early and die or who are aborted. If they would have lived and been saved, they are delivered over to an angel to take care of them and teach them. They have already suffered what they would have suffered in this life. 

 

Those children who would not have been saved if they had lived do obtain salvation, they will continue without suffering, as beings who have been injured and had mercy shown to them, receiving salvation as a reward.

 

But the milk of the mothers who aborted their children will flow from their beasts and dry into small snakes that will devour those women. This shows that the punishments in Hell will fit the sins people committed.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Age of the Earth

Theophilus of Antioch’s Book 3 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 28:

 

We can trace the timeline of the main eras from the foundation of the world. From the creation of the world to the Flood, there were 2242 years. And from the Flood to the time when Abraham became the father of Isaac, 1036 years. And from Isaac to the time when the Israelites lived with Moses in the desert, 660 years. And from the death of Moses and the rule of Joshua, the son of Nun to the death of King David, 498 years. And from the death of David and the reign of Solomon to the sojourning of the people in the land of Babylon, 518 years and 6 months and 10 days. And from the government of Cyrus to the death of Emperor Aurelius Verus, 744 years. All the years from the creation of the world amount to approximately 5698.

 

 

Origen’s Principles

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 3, Chapter 5, Paragraph 3:

 

Someone might ask, "If the world had its beginning in time, what was God doing before the world began? It’s disrespectful and absurd to say that our active God wasn’t doing anything, or to suppose that Goodness at one time did not do good, and omnipotence at one time did not exercise its power."

 

This world had its beginning at a certain time, and according to our belief in Scripture, we can calculate how long ago that was. So, we say again that God did begin to work when He made this visible world; but just like there will be another world after this one is destroyed, so we believe that other worlds existed before this one was created.

 

 

Cyprian’s Exhortation to Martyrdom

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 2:

 

Six thousand years are now nearly completed since the devil first attacked man.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Angels

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 4:

 

The angel said, “These are the holy angels of God, who were first created and to whom the Lord handed over His whole creation so that they might increase and build up and rule over the whole creation. They will finish building the tower [the Church].” 

 

I asked, “But who are the other persons who are carrying the stones?” 

 

The angel answered, “These also are holy angels of the Lord, but the first six are more excellent than these. The building of the tower will be finished, and all will rejoice together around the tower, and they will glorify God because the tower is finished.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 5:

 

He said to me, “Do you not know me?” 

 

“No,” I answered. 

 

“I,” said he, “am that shepherd to whom you have been entrusted.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 6, Chapter 2:

 

The angel said, “Now hear about faith. There are two angels with a man—one of righteousness and the other of wickedness.”

 

And I said to him, “Sir, how am I to know one from the other if both angels live with me?” 

 

“Hear,” he said, and “understand them. The angel of righteousness is gentle and modest, meek and peaceful. So, when he speaks to your heart, he talks to you of righteousness, purity, chastity, contentment, and of every righteous deed and glorious virtue. When you feel these things in your heart, know that the angel of righteousness is with you. These are the deeds of the angel of righteousness, so trust him and his works. 

 

“Look now at the works of the angel of wickedness. First, he is wrathful and bitter and foolish, and his works are evil and ruin the servants of God. When he speaks to your heart, know him by his works.” 

 

And I said to him, “Sir, I don’t know how I will recognize him.” 

 

“Hear and understand,” he said. “When anger comes upon you, or harshness, know that he is in you; and also, you will know this to be the case when you are attacked by a longing for money and the richest delicacies and drunken revels and various luxuries and things improper and by a hankering after women and by overreaching and pride and wanting people to listen to you make speeches and by whatever else is like these.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 6, Chapter 3:

 

The angel said, “This is the angel of punishment. He belongs to the righteous angels, and his duty is to punish. He takes those who wander away from God and who have walked in the desires and deceits of this world and chastises them as they deserve with terrible and various punishments.” 

 

“Sir, I would like to know what types of tortures and punishments he carries out.” 

 

He answered, “Hear the various tortures and punishments. The tortures are such as occur during life. For some are punished with losses, others with want, others with sicknesses of various kinds, and others with all kinds of disorder and confusion; others are insulted by unworthy persons and exposed to suffering in many other ways, for many, becoming unstable in their plans, try many things, and none of them at all succeed, and they say they are not successful in what they do. It does not occur to their minds that they have done evil deeds, but they blame the Lord. 

 

“So, when they have been afflicted with all kinds of affliction, then they are delivered to me for good training, and they are made strong in the faith of the Lord; and for the rest of the days of their life, they are subject to the Lord with pure hearts and are successful in all they do, obtaining from the Lord everything they ask. Then they glorify the Lord for delivering them to me, and they no longer suffer any evil.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 8, Chapter 5:

 

The angel said, “This law is the Son of God, proclaimed to the ends of the earth; and the people who are under its shadow are they who have heard the proclamation and have believed in Him. And the great and glorious angel Michael is he who has authority over this people and governs them; for this is he who gave the law into the hearts of believers: he accordingly rules over them to whom he gave the law to see if they have kept it.”

 

 

Fragments of Papias

(Early 2nd Century) 

7:

 

To some of the angels, He gave dominion over the arrangement of the world, and He commissioned them to exercise their dominion well. But it happened that their arrangement came to nothing.

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapters 13-14:

 

Jesus revealed this to us, saying, “When I was about to come to Earth from the Father of all things, I passed through the heavens, putting on the wisdom of the Father and the power of His might. I was in heaven, and I passed by the archangels and the angels, appearing as one of them, among the princedoms and powers. I passed through them because I possessed the wisdom of Him who had sent Me. 

 

“Now the chief captain of the angels, Michael, and Gabriel and Uriel and Raphael followed Me up to a certain point because they thought I was one of them; such power was given to Me by My Father. And on that day, I used a wonderful voice to tell the archangels that they should go to the altar of the Father and serve and fulfill the ministry until I returned to Him…

 

“You know that the angel Gabriel brought the message of My coming to Mary. Do you also remember that I told you a little while ago that I became an angel among the angels, and I became all things in all? On that day when I took the form of the angel Gabriel, I appeared to Mary and spoke with her. Her heart accepted Me, and she believed, and I formed Myself and entered into her body. I became flesh, for I alone was a minister to Myself.”

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 19: 

 

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, such great joy has My Father prepared for you that the angels and the powers desired and do desire to see it and look upon it, but it is not given to them to behold the glory of My Father.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 88:

 

For God, wanting both angels and men, who were endowed with free will, to do whatever He had strengthened each to do, made it so that if they chose the things that were acceptable to Him, He would keep them free from death and from punishment; but that if they did evil, He would punish each as He sees fit. 

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Second Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 5:

 

When God had made the whole world and subjected the earth to man and arranged the heavenly bodies and the rotation of seasons so that vegetation would increase, He committed the care of men and of all things under heaven to angels, whom He appointed over them. 

 

But the angels transgressed this appointment and were captivated by the love of women and begat children, whom we now call demons; and besides, they afterward subdued the human race to themselves, partly by magical writings and partly by fears and the punishments they brought and partly by teaching them to offer sacrifices and incense, and libations…and among men, they sowed murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds, and all wickedness. 

 

Later, the poets and mythologists, not knowing that it was the angels and those demons they had fathered who did these things to men and women and cities and nations, ascribed to Neptune and Pluto and their offspring. For whatever name each of the angels had given to himself and his children, that’s what the poets called them.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Second Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 6:

 

But since God made the race of angels and men with free will in the beginning, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed. And this is the nature of all that is made, to be capable of vice and virtue. For no one would be worthy of praise unless they had the power to turn to both virtue and vice.

 

 

Athenagoras’ Plea for the Christians

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 24:

 

For this is the office of the angels: to supervise the things created and ordered by Him so that God may have the universal and general supervision of the whole, while the particular parts are cared for by the angels appointed over them. 

 

Just as with men, who have freedom of choice as to both virtue and vice (for you would not either honor the good or punish the bad unless vice and virtue were in their own power…), so is it among the angels. Some continued to do their duty, but some were outraged both by their own nature and by their role…These fell into impure love of virgins and became negligent and wicked in the management of the things entrusted to them. Giants were born to these lovers of virgins. 

 

 

Irenaeus’ Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching

(Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 18:

 

And for a very long while, wickedness extended and spread and reached and laid hold of the whole race of mankind until a very small seed of righteousness remained among them, and illicit unions took place upon the earth, since angels were united with the daughters of the race of mankind; and they bore to them sons, who for their exceeding greatness, were called giants. 

 

And the angels brought as presents to their wives teachings of wickedness, in that they brought them the virtues of roots and herbs, dyeing in colors and cosmetics, the discovery of rare substances, love-potions…spells of bewitchment, and all sorcery and idolatry hateful to God.

 

 

Origen’s Principles 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 1, Chapter 8, Paragraph 1:

 

We are not to suppose that a particular office is assigned to a particular angel for no reason. For example, Raphael has the work of curing and healing; to Gabriel, the conduct of wars; to Michael, the duty of attending to the prayers and supplications of mortals. For we are not to imagine that they obtained these offices other than by their own merits and by the zeal and excellent qualities they displayed before this world was formed; so that afterward in the order of archangels, this or that office was assigned to each one, while others deserved to be enrolled in the order of angels and to act under this or that archangel or that leader or head of an order… 

 

God entrusted the Church of the Ephesians to one angel; to another, that of the Smyrnaeans; one angel was to be Peter's, another Paul's; and so on through every one of the little ones that are in the Church, for the angels who daily behold the face of God must be assigned to each one of them; and there must also be some angels who encamp around those who fear God. We must believe that all these things were arranged by God, the just and impartial Ruler of all things, according to the merits and good qualities and mental abilities of each individual spirit.

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Early Christian Quotes on Baptism

Didache 

(1st Century) 

7:1-4:

 

This is how to baptize. Give public instruction on all these points, and then baptize in running water, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." If you do not have running water, baptize in some other. If you cannot baptize in cold water, then baptize in warm water. If you have no large body of water, then pour water on the head three times "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Before the baptism, the one who baptizes and the one being baptized must fast, along with any others who can. And you must tell the one being baptized to fast for one or two days beforehand.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 16:

 

The angel said, “People were obliged to ascend through water in order that they might be made alive; for, unless they laid aside the deadness of their life, they could not in any other way enter into the kingdom of God. Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For before a man bears the name of the Son of God, he is dead; but when he receives the seal, he lays aside his deadness and receives life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they come out alive. And this seal was preached to them, and they made use of it so they might enter into the kingdom of God.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 29:

 

Why do I need to be baptized if I have been baptized with the Holy Spirit?

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 33:

 

We, who have approached God through Christ, have received not physical, but spiritual circumcision, which Enoch and those like him observed. And we have received it through baptism because of God’s grace, since we were sinners; and all men may equally obtain it.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 61:

 

I will tell how we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ. If we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and strive to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and ask God with fasting for the remission of their past sins, and we pray and fast with them. Then we take them where there is water, and they are revived in the same way we were revived. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Unless you are born again, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Since it is impossible for those who have already been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, this is an example to all. And how those who have sinned and repent will escape their sins is declared by Isaiah the prophet; he says: "Wash youself, make yourself clean; put away the evil doings of your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you refuse and rebel, the sword will devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it."

 

And for this rite, we have learned from the apostles this reason. At our birth, we were born without our own knowledge or choice when our parents joined together, and we were brought up in bad habits and wicked training. Now, so that we may not remain the children of necessity and ignorance but may become the children of choice and knowledge and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again and has repented of his sins the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe. He who leads the person to the water to be washed calls God by thiss name alone, for no one can utter the name of the transcendent and holy God; if anyone dares to say that there is a name, he babbles with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And he who is illuminated is washed in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus.

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Donatus

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 4:

 

I was held in bonds by the numerous errors of my previous life. I did not believe that I could be delivered, so I was willing to submit to my remaining sins; and because I gave up on better things, I used to indulge my sins as if they were actually parts of me, and natural to me. 

 

But after that, by the help of the water of new birth, the stain of former years was washed away, and a light from above, serene and pure, became infused into my reconciled heart. After that, by the agency of the Spirit breathed from heaven, a second birth restored me to a new man. Then, in a wondrous manner, doubtful things suddenly began to make sense to me, hidden things to be revealed, dark things to be enlightened, what before had seemed difficult began to seem doable, what had been thought impossible became capable of being achieved. 

 

It was possible to acknowledge that being born of the flesh and earthly, I had been living in the practice of sins, but I had now begun to be of God and was animated by the Spirit of holiness…

 

Only let fear guard our innocence so that the Lord, who because of His mercy has flowed into our hearts in the access of heavenly grace, may be righteously submit to living in the home of our grateful mind, that the assurance we have gained may not bring about carelessness, and so the old enemy cannot creep up on us again.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Fidus

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 5:

 

[Regarding how early infants should be baptized]…If remission of sins is granted even to the greatest sinners who had sinned much against God—and nobody is turned away from baptism and from grace—then, how much more should we avoid turning away an infant, who, recently born, has not sinned, except for being born according to the flesh of Adam. He has contracted the contagion of the ancient death at his earliest birth but approaches the more easily to the forgiveness of sins—those sins that are transferred to him, not his own sins, but the sins of another through Adam.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Januarius and the Bishops in Numidia

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraphs 1-3:

 

No one can be baptized outside the Church, since there is one baptism appointed in the holy Church…It is required that the water should first be cleansed and blessed by the priest, that it may wash away the sins of the man who is baptized…But how can he cleanse and sanctify the water if he is unclean, and the Holy Spirit is not within him?...Or how can he who baptizes give the remission of sins to another if he is outside the Church and cannot put away his own sins?...

 

It is also necessary that he who baptizes is anointed; having received the blessing, that is, the anointing, he may be anointed of God and have the grace of Christ in him…

 

The Church, founded by Christ the Lord upon Peter, by a source and principle of unity, is one.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Stephen

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 1:

 

“Lay hands on them that they may receive the Holy Spirit,” unless they also receive the baptism of the Church. For then finally, they can be fully sanctified and made holy and be the sons of God, if they are born of each sacrament, since it is written, “Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Pompey

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 5:

 

He who has been sanctified and made holy has his sins put away in baptism and is spiritually reformed into a new man, fit for receiving the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Pompey

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 7:

 

The birth of Christians is in baptism.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Magnus

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraphs 15-16:

 

The determined wickedness of the devil succeeds even up to the saving water, but in baptism, it loses all the poison of his wickedness…The devil is scourged and burned and tortured by exorcists, by the human voice, and by divine power; and although he often says that he is going out and will leave the men of God, he deceives…When, however, they come to the water of salvation and to the sanctification of baptism, we ought to know and to trust that there the devil is beaten down, and the man dedicated to God is set free by the divine mercy...

 

On the other hand, some of those who are baptized in health are shaken by the return of the unclean spirit if they later begin to sin, so that it is obvious that the devil is driven out in baptism by the faith of the believer, but returns if the faith afterward fails.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Children

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 29:

 

All infants are honorable before God and are the first persons with Him.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Christian Character

 

 The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 8:

 

The angel said, “Faith leads to Self-restraint, which leads to Humility, which leads to Truthfulness, which leads to Sexual Purity, which leads to Wisdom, which leads to Love.” 

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 15:

 

The angel said, “Hear the names of the stronger virgins who stood at the corners. The first is Faith, the second Self-Control, the third Power, the fourth Patience. And the others standing in the midst of these have the following names: Simplicity, Innocence, Purity, Cheerfulness, Truth, Understanding, Harmony, Love. He who bears these names and that of the Son of God will be able to enter into the kingdom of God.”

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Testament 5, Paragraph 4:

 

Listen to me, my children, and walk in purity of heart, for I have seen what is well-pleasing to the Lord. The pure man does not covet gold, does not cheat his neighbor, does not long for fancy food, does not delight in different kinds of clothes, does not dream about having a long life – but only waits to see what God’s will is. 

 

And the erring spirits have no power over him. For he keeps thoughts of female beauty out of his mind so that he doesn’t corrupt his mind. He does not allow thoughts of envy or jealousy to eat away at his soul. He does not dwell on gaining money.

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 10, Paragraph 1:

 

If a person takes pleasure in good, all his actions are done in righteousness. But even if he does sin, he repents right away. For, having his mind set on righteousness and casting away any desire to harm others, he overthrows the evil in him and tears sin out by the roots. 

 

But if his mind turns aside toward evil, all his doings are done with a desire to hurt others, and he drives away the good and embraces the evil and is ruled by Beliar. And even if he does something good, he perverts it with evil.

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Ephesians 

(Late 1st Century or Early 2nd Century) 

Chapter 14:

 

The beginning is faith, and the next step is love. Being inseparably connected together, these two come from God, while all other things that are required for a holy life come after them. 

 

No man who truly makes a profession of faith continues to sin, and the one who loves does not hate anyone. 

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapters 43-44:

 

Jesus said, “And you will be like the wise virgins who watched and did not sleep, but went with the Lord into the bridechamber. The foolish virgins were not able to keep watch  but had fallen asleep. 

 

And we said to Him, “Lord, who are the wise and who are the foolish?” 

 

He said to us, “There are five wise and five foolish. These are they of whom the prophet has spoken: they are the Sons of God. Listen to their names.”

 

But we wept and were troubled for those who slept. 

 

He said to us, “The five wise are Faith and Love and Grace and Peace and Hope. Now they of the faithful who possesses these will guide those who have believed in Me and in Him who sent Me. For I am the Lord, and I am the bridegroom whom they have received, and they have entered into the house of the bridegroom and have laid down with Me in the bridal chamber rejoicing. But the five foolish, when they had slept and had woken up, came to the door of the bridal chamber and knocked, for the doors were shut. Then they wept and lamented because no man opened the door for them.”

 

We said to Him, “Lord, did their wise sisters who were inside the bridegroom's house continue the celebration without opening the door for them? Did they not mourn for the sake of the foolish sisters nor beg the bridegroom to open the door for them?” 

 

He answered us, saying, “They were not yet able to obtain favor for them.” 

 

We said to him, “Lord, when will the foolish sisters enter into the chamber for their sisters' sake?” 

 

Then He said to us, “He who is shut out, is shut out.” 

 

And we said to Him, “Lord, is this word final? Who then are the foolish?” 

 

He said to us, “Hear their names. They are Knowledge, Understanding, Obedience, Patience, and Compassion. These are those who have fallen asleep. They have believed in Me and confessed their faith in Me but have not fulfilled My commandments. Those who fallen asleep will remain outside the kingdom and outside the fold of the Shepherd and His sheep. And those who live outside the sheepfold will be devoured by wolves, condemned, and die in much suffering. He will be ripped to pieces and devoured in long and evil torment and will he not be able to obtain death quickly.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Discourse to the Greeks

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 5:

 

For our own Ruler, God, the Divine Word, who continues to help us, does not desire the strength of our body or any the beauty of our features, nor does He want the high spirit of earth’s royalty. He wants a pure soul, fortified and strengthened by holiness, and the motto of our King is holy actions, for through the Word (Jesus) power passes into the soul. Peace to the soul that is at war! It is a weapon that makes sins flee! It is the guidance that satisfies the innate fire of the soul! The Word does not make poets: it does not equip philosophers nor skilled speakers, but by its instruction, it makes mortals immortal, mortals gods; and from the earth transports them to the realms above Olympus.

 

 

The Acts of John 

(Mid to Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 69:

 

Is it right that a body should be praised as beautiful when it is stripped naked? Or a general as great when he has accomplished every promise of the war? And a physician as excellent when he has succeeded in curing everything? And a soul as full of faith and worthy of God when it has paid its promise in full?

 

Not that soul which began well but gave in to earthly desires and fell away, nor that which is numb, having made an effort to earn better things and then is stripped down to worldly things, nor that which has itched for the things of earthly life more than those of eternity, nor that which exchanges things that do not last, nor that which has honored the works of dishonor that deserve shame, nor that which takes the oath of Satan, nor that which has received the devil into its own house, nor that which suffers scolding for God’s sake and then is ashamed, nor that which the mouth says yes, but the soul knows is not right: but that which has succeeded in not being made weak by inappropriate pleasure, has not been overcome by light-mindedness, has not been caught by the bait of the love of money, has not been betrayed by strength of body or wrath.

Early Christian Quotes On Christian Living

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 8:

 

The angel said, “Listen to the good deeds you should do; you don’t need to limit yourself in these. First is faith, then the fear of the Lord, love, harmony with others, words of righteousness, truth, and patience. Nothing is better than these in the life of men. If anyone puts effort into these and doesn’t limit himself from practicing them, he will be blessed. 

 

“From these things follows helping widows, looking after orphans and the needy, rescuing the servants of God from poverty, being hospitable (for in hospitality you always find good to do), never opposing anyone, being quiet, having fewer needs than all men, respecting the aged, practicing righteousness, watching the brotherhood, bearing with the arrogant, being patient, encouraging those who are sick in soul, not casting those who have fallen into sin from the faith but turning them back and restoring them to peace of mind, warning sinners, not oppressing those in debt or the needy, and if there are any other actions like these.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 12, Chapter 2:

 

The angel said, “The worst evil desire is the desire for someone else’s wife or husband, then having too much money and useless fancy foods and drinks and many other foolish luxuries; for all luxury is foolish and empty in the servants of God. These are the evil desires that kill the servants of God. For this evil desire is the daughter of the devil. You must refrain from evil desires so that you can live to God.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 12, Chapter 3, 4:

 

The angel said, “If you set in your mind that you can keep these commands, then you will keep them easily; they won’t be hard. But if you imagine that people can’t keep them, then you will not keep them. And if you don’t keep them, but neglect them, you will not be saved…

 

“God created the world for the sake of man, and subjected all creation to him, and gave him the power to rule over everything under heaven. So, if man is lord of the creatures of God and rules over all, is he not able to master these commandments? For the man who has the Lord in his heart can also be lord of all, including every one of these commandments. But to those who have the Lord only on their lips, but their hearts hardened, and who are far from the Lord, the commandments are hard and difficult. So, you who are empty and fickle in your faith, put the Lord in your heart, and you will know that there is nothing easier or sweeter or more manageable than these commandments.”

 

 

The Acts of Paul 

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 2:

 

Paul said:

 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 

“Blessed are those who keep their body under control, for they will become the temple of God.

 

“Blessed are those who are sexually pure, for God will speak to them.

 

“Blessed are those who have renounced this world, for they will be well-pleasing to God.

 

“Blessed are those who have wives but do not indulge in sexual activity, for they will inherit God.

 

“Blessed are those who fear God, for they will become God’s messengers.

 

“Blessed are those who tremble at the words of God, for they will be comforted.

 

“Blessed are those who accept the wisdom of Jesus Christ, for they will be called sons of the Most High.

 

“Blessed are those who have been obedient after their baptism, for they will rest with the Father and with the Son.

 

“Blessed are those who have put effort into understanding Jesus Christ, for they will be in the light.

 

“Blessed are those who, because they love God, have left this world’s way of doing things, for they will judge angels and will be blessed at the right hand of the Father.

 

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy and will not see the bitter day of judgment. 

 

“Blessed are the bodies of the virgins, for they will be well-pleasing to God and will not lose the reward of their self-control, for the word of the Father will save them in the day of His Son, and they will have rest from the world without end.”

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 12, Paragraph 6:

 

The mind of the good man is not under the power of Beliar’s deceit, for the angel of peace guides his soul. He is not passionate about temporal things. He does not gather riches to spend on his pleasure. He does not delight in pleasure. He does not hurt his neighbor. He doesn’t treat himself to fancy food. He does not lust for what he sees. Instead, the Lord is his portion. 

 

The mind of the good man does not glorify or dishonor men. It does not deceive or fight with others, for the Lord lives in Him and gives light to his soul. He delights in all men all the time. 

 

The mind of the good man does not have two tongues: of blessing and of cursing, of insult and of honor, of sorrow and of joy, of quietness and of trouble, of hypocrisy and of truth, of poverty and of wealth. But it has one mode of speaking, pure and un-corrupt toward all men.

 

The mind of the good man has no double sight, nor double hearing, for he knows that in everything he does or speaks or sees, the Lord watches his soul. He cleanses his mind, so God and other men won’t find fault with him. 

 

 

The Christian Sibylline Oracles 

(2nd Century)

Book 2:62-188:

 

Every human soul is God's free gift,

And it’s not right for men to stain it with vile deeds.

 

Do not get rich unrighteously, 

But lead a life of strong morality in your finances. 

 

Be satisfied with what you have 

And keep yourself from what belongs to another. 

 

Do not lie,

But love all things that are true.

 

Do not show respect to idols uselessly,

But always honor the God Who Cannot Die first,

Then honor your parents. 

 

Give everyone what you owe them,

And you will not be judged unjustly. 

 

Don’t cast the poor aside unrighteously,

Nor judge by outward show.

 

If you judge others wickedly,

God will soon judge you.

 

Do not lie about others; 

Tell the truth.

 

Maintain your virgin purity

And guard love among all. 

 

Don’t cheat anyone when measuring out how much to give them,

For it’s beautiful when you give full measures to all.

 

Don’t tip the scales in your favor, 

But make them equal.

 

Do not go back on your word either by neglect or willingly;

God hates the man who doesn’t follow through.

 

Never take a gift that is gained by wrong actions.

 

Do not steal seed;

You will be cursed for many generations.

 

Do not indulge lust. Do not slander or kill.

 

Give the workman his wages; do not afflict the poor man. 

 

Give help to orphans and widows and the needy. 

 

Talk with sense;

Keep a secret securely in your heart. 

 

Be unwilling to act unjustly 

And do not tolerate unrighteous men. 

 

Give to the poor at once

And do not say, "Come tomorrow." 

 

Give your grain to the need with a sweaty hand. 

He who gives to the poor knows how to lend to God.

 

Mercy redeems from death when judgment comes.

 

God does not desire sacrifices. 

He desires mercy rather than sacrifice. 

 

Clothe the naked. Share your bread with the hungry.

Take the homeless into your house and lead the blind.

 

Pity those who have been shipwrecked,

For the voyage is uncertain. 

 

Give a hand to the fallen 

And save the man that stands without defense.

 

Suffering is common to all; 

Life's a wheel, and riches unstable. 

 

Having wealth, reach out your hand to the poor.

Give to the needy from what God gave you.

 

Common is the whole life of mortal men;

But it comes out unequal. 

 

When you see a poor man,

Never tease him with words,

Nor be too hard on the one in the wrong.

 

Death is the endpoint of your life; 

Whether a person was unlawful or just

Will be decided when he comes to judgment.

 

Do not cloud your mind with wine, nor drink excessively.

 

Do not eat blood, and do not eat what was sacrificed to idols.

 

Do not wear a sword to kill but only for self-defense;

And do not use it lawlessly or unjustly,

For if you kill an enemy, you defile your hand.

 

Stay out of your neighbor’s field; do not trespass on it.

Every property line is just, and trespassing brings pain.

 

Having lawful possessions is useful,

But unrighteous gains are worthless.

 

Do not destroy any fruit growing in the field.

 

Honor strangers equally with citizens,

For everyone will experience long hospitality

As each other’s guests.

But do not let anyone be a stranger

Because all of you mortals are of one blood

And no land is permanent.

 

Do not wish for or pray for wealth,

But pray to live on little

And do not possess anything that is unjust.

 

The love of gain is the mother of all evil.

Do not long for gold and silver;

In them is a double-edged and soul-destroying iron sword.

Gold and silver are continual snares to men.

To gold, that source of life, that life-destroying troubler, 

I say, “I wish you were not something men longed for.

Because of you, wars come, and pillaging, and murders, 

And children hate their parents and brothers and sisters, 

Those of their own blood.”

 

Do not plan to deceive anyone

And do not put up emotional defenses against a friend.

 

Do not think secretly something different than what you say

And don’t be like a rock-clinging sea anemone that changes depending on the place where it is.

 

Be straightforward with everyone and speak from the soul.

 

Whoever willfully commits a wrong is an evil man,

But he who is forced to do it has an uncertain future. 

Only let everyone have the right will.

 

Do not pride yourself on your wisdom, power, or wealth;

God is the only wise and mighty one, full of riches.

 

Do not trouble your heart with past evils,

For what is done can never be undone.

 

Do not be hasty to react in anger, but curb your ferocity,

For many people committed murder without planning to just by striking out. 

 

Let the punishment be limited, neither too severe nor too long.

 

Having nice things hasn’t done anything to help men,

And having a lot of luxuries leads to lusting for more and more.

 

Having a lot of wealth makes you want to hunt for more

And attack others to get it.

 

Passion can creep in and cause someone to act destructively

Without fully realizing what they’re doing.

Anger is a passion, 

And when it grows too much, it becomes wrath.

 

It’s good when good men become excited about good things,

But when common men get excited about common things, it’s meaningless. 

 

The boldness of wicked men is destructive,

But good men who are bold will be respected by all.

 

To be honored is to be loved purely,

But being known for chasing romantic love increases shame.

 

A fool’s friends speak well of him.

 

Eat, drink, and talk with others in moderation.

Moderation in all things is best,

And going too far will make you sorry.

 

Do not be envious, faithless, abusive,

Evil-minded, or a deceiver.

 

Be cautious and keep yourself from shameless acts.

 

Do not copy someone’s evil behavior,

But leave vengeance to justice.

 

Using persuasion is useful,

But arguing leads to more arguing.

 

Do not be too trusting before you see the result.

 

 

Aristides’ Apology

(Early 2nd Century) 

Chapter 15:

 

O King, the Christians have searched for and found the truth. As we learn from their writings, they have come closer to the truth and real knowledge than any other group. 

 

They know and trust God, the Creator of heaven and earth, in Whom and from Whom are all things. There is no other God like Him, and He has given them His commandments, which they have engraved in their minds and follow in the hope of sharing in the world to come.

 

So, they do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor embezzle others’ money, nor covet what is not theirs. They honor father and mother and are kind to those near to them. And whenever they are judges, they judge morally and justly. 

 

They do not worship idols made in the image of man, and whatever they wouldn’t someone to do to them, they do not do to others. They don’t eat food sacrificed to idols, for they are pure. And they speak gently to those who are oppressing them and make them their friends. They do good to their enemies.

 

And their women, O King, are as pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest. Their men keep themselves from every unlawful sexual relation and from all uncleanness in the hope of gaining a reward in the world to come. 

 

And if any of them have slaves or servants or children, and through loving them, they persuade them to become Christians, then, they call them brothers and sisters without distinguishing between their social classes. They do not worship strange gods, and they live in all modesty and cheerfulness. Not one of them is dishonest, and they love one another. They respect widows, and they rescue the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a brother; for they do not call people brothers who are brothers of the flesh, but brothers of the spirit and in God. 

 

And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them, according to his ability, pays respects to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their own is imprisoned or suffering on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his needs. If it is possible to pay for him to be released, they set him free. And if there is any poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days to supply the needy with their lack of food. 

 

They observe their Messiah's commands carefully, living in righteousness and seriousness as the Lord their God commanded them. Every morning and every hour, they give thanks and praise to God for His loving-kindnesses toward them.; They offer thanksgiving to Him for their food and their drink. And if any righteous man among them passes from the world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God. They escort his body as if he were setting out on a journey to a nearby city. And when a child has been born to one of them, they give thanks to God; and likewise, if he happens to die in childhood, they give thanks to God all the more, as the child was one who has passed through the world without sins. And further, if they see that any one of them dies in his ungodliness or in his sins, they grieve bitterly for him. They are mournful, as they would mourn for one who goes to meet his doom.

 

 

Mathetes’ Letter to Diognetus 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 5:

 

Christians are not distinguished from other men by their country, language, or the customs they observe. They do not inhabit cities of their own, speak in a particular way, or lead a life that is marked out by any single notable feature. The course of conduct they follow has not been crafted under the opinion or consideration of nosy, power-hungry men, nor do they.  proclaim themselves to be the advocates of merely human doctrines. 

 

But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according to their lot in life, and following the customs of the natives with regards to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners—one who is simply passing through. As citizens, they share in all things with others and yet endure all things as if foreigners. They consider every foreign land as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. 

 

They marry, as do all others. They have children, but they do not destroy their offspring through abortion or abusive mistreatment. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They live in the flesh, but they do not live to satisfy the desires of the flesh. 

 

They live their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time, surpass the laws in the way they conduct their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich. They lack all things, and yet have an abundance in all. They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor, are glorified. They are spoken of unjustly, and yet are justified. They are vilified, but bless others nonetheless. They are insulted and repay the insult with kindness. They do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When they are punished, they rejoice as if they were raised from the dead. They are bashed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks. But those who hate them are unable to give any reason for their hatred.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter14:

 

We formerly delighted in careless, ungodly sexual relations, but now embrace monogamy or abstinence alone. We who previously used superstition and witchcraft now dedicate ourselves to the good and infinite God. We who valued the acquisition of wealth and possessions more than anything now bring what we have into a common fund and help everyone in need. We used to hate and destroy one another. Because of their different characteristics we would not live with men of a different tribe. Now, since the coming of Christ, we live well with them. Now we pray for our enemies and seek to persuade those who hate us unjustly to live in submission to the good doctrine of Christ. We hope that in the end they will become like us, recipients of the same joyful hope of a reward from God, the Ruler of all.

 

 

Tertullian’s Apology

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 39, Paragraph 1:

 

We are a body knit together by a common religious line of work, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. As a family and congregation, we meet together that offers prayers to God as a united, single force. We may wrestle with Him in our appeal for His mercy. God delights in this holy violence. We also pray for the leaders, kings, and presidents. We pray for all in authority. We pray for the welfare of the world, for the popularity of peace, for the delay of the end. We gather to read our sacred religious writings if anything happening makes it necessary for us to give warnings or reminders. We feed and nourish our faith with the sacred words. We bring our hope to life. We make our confidence more unwavering. Through obedience to God’s commands, we confirm good habits. 

 

In the same place, encouragement is given amd correction and reprimand are administered. With great importance, the work of judging is carried on among us, as agrees with those who feel assured that they are in the sight of God. You have the most notable example of judgment to come when anyone has sinned so badly as to require his parting from us in prayer, in the congregation, and in all sacred situations. 

 

The tried men of our elders rule over us, receiving that honor not by purchase but by established character. There is no buying and selling of any sort in the things of God. Though we have our treasure chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, like a religion that has its price. 

 

On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation, but only if it be his pleasure and only if he be able, for there is no requirement; all is voluntary. These gifts are, as it were, piety’s deposit fund. For they are not taken and spent on feasts and drinking and eating out, but it is to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to their house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines or banished to the islands or shut up in the prisons for nothing but their loyalty to the cause of God’s Church, they are cared for as a result of their confession.

 

One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives. 

 

Our feast explains itself by its name. The Greeks call it agape, i.e., unconditional love. Whatever it costs, our outlay in the name of loyalty is gain, since with the good things of the feast, we benefit the needy; not as it is with you. Do parasites aspire to the glory of satisfying their corrupt desires, selling themselves for a belly-feast to all disgraceful treatment? 

 

But as it is with God Himself, a special respect is shown to the lowly. If the object of our feast is good, consider its further regulations. As it is an act of religious service, it permits no lewd behavior or immodesty. The participants, before reclining, offer prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as satisfies the thirst. They say it is enough, as those who remember that they have to worship God even during the night. They talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual cleaning and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing—a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer, it is closed.

 

 

Sentences of Sextus 

(Early 3rd Century)

Selections:

 

(175) Those who curse the name of God are dead before God.

 

(177) May your life confirm your words before those who hear.

 

(178) If it is not right to do, do not even consider doing it.

 

(310) Everything God possesses, the wise man also has.

 

(319) After honoring God, honor a wise man since he is the servant of God.

 

(383) The faithful do not speak many words, but their works are numerous.

 

(388) What is right to do, do willingly.

 

(389a) What is not right to do, do not do it in any way.

 

 

Origen's On Prayer 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 15, Paragraphs 1 and 7:

 

He who prays for the coming of the kingdom of God prays with good reason for rising and fruit bearing and perfecting of God's kingdom within him.

 

If God rules us, do not let sin rule in our body or let us obey its commands when it calls our soul to the works of the flesh that are foreign to God. Instead, let us tame our members on earth and bear the fruits of the Spirit so that the Lord may walk in us in a spiritual garden. Submit to God, who rules over us alone, with His Christ seated within us on the right of the Holy Spirit that we pray to receive, sitting until all His enemies within us become a footstool for His feet and every rule and authority and power be undone in us.

 

 

Cyprian's On the Lapsed 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 6:

 

[As to why God allowed a recent period of persecution:] Each one desired to increase their estate. They forgot what believers had either done before in the times of the apostles or always should do. They, with the unquenchable greed of earthly things, devoted themselves to the increase of their property. Among the priests, there was no devotedness of religion; among the ministers, there was no sound faith: in their works, there was no mercy; in their manners, there was no discipline. 

 

Men destroyed their beards; women covered their face with makeup: their eyes were falsified from what God's hand had made them; their hair was colored with a falsehood. They used crafty frauds to deceive the hearts of the simple, subtle meanings for bypassing brothers and sisters of the faith. They united in the bond of marriage with unbelievers; they prostituted the members of Christ to the Gentiles. They would make careless and false statements and would despise those set over them with arrogant thoughts. They would speak evil of one another with enraged tongues. They would quarrel with one another with steadfast hatred. Bishops who should furnish both warning and example to others, despising their divine charge, became agents in secular business. They renounced their throne, deserted their people, wandered about over foreign provinces, hunted the markets for gainful merchandise, while brothers and sisters in the Church were starving. They sought to stockpile money. They seized estates by sneaky tricks, increasing their gains by multiplying and increasing interest due to loans.

 

 

Cyprian's On the Lapsed 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 35:

 

[Concerning repentance:] Do you think that He will easily have mercy upon those of you who have declared Him not to be your God? 

 

You must pray and beg more eagerly. You must spend the day in grief and wear out nights in watchings and weepings. Occupy all your time in sincere mourning. Lying stretched on the ground, you must cling close to the ashes and be surrounded with sackcloth and filth. You must be willing now to have no clothing since you have lost the clothing of Christ. After the devil's meat, you must prefer fasting. Be heartfelt in righteous works so that sins may be purged and removed. Frequently apply yourself to charity, an act that frees souls from death. What the enemy took from you, let Christ receive. Because you were tricked and overpowered, do not love or hold your wealth and possessions tightly. Avoid wealth like an enemy. Flee from it like a robber. Dread it like you would a sword and poison. So that all you have is usable. That way, the crime committed and the fault of the robber can be made right. Do good works immediately, and largely; let all your estate be laid out for the healing of your wound; let us lend of our wealth and our means to the Lord, who will judge us. Faith flourished in the time of the apostles as the first people of believers kept Christ's commands: they were prompt, they were generous, they gave their all to be distributed by the apostles, and yet they were not redeeming sins as bad as denying Him.

 

 

Apocalypse of Elijah 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

1:20-22:

 

A pure and genuine fast is what I created, with a pure heart and pure hands. It releases sin. It heals diseases. It casts out demons. It is effective up to the throne of God for an ointment and for a release from sin by means of a pure prayer.

 

 

Lactantius' The Divine Institutes, Book 6 

(Early 4th Century) 

Chapter 4, Paragraph 1:

 

One ways of life belongs to that accuser who, having invented false religions, turns men away from the heavenly path and leads them into the way of suffering and damnation…In it are all things that are counted on earth as good things—I mean wealth, honor, quietness, pleasure…But the end of this way is as follows: 

 

When they have reached the point from which there is no return, the illusion is so suddenly removed, together with all its beauty, that no one is able to foresee the fraud before he falls headlong into a deep abyss. For whoever is captivated by the appearance of present goods and busies himself pursuing and enjoying them will not have foreseen the things that are about to follow death. He will have turned his back from God and will be cast down to Hell and be condemned to eternal punishment.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Church

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 2, Chapter 4:

 

Now while I slept, a revelation was given to me, my brothers and sisters, by an attractive young man, who said to me, “Who do you think that old woman is from whom you received the book?” 

 

And I said, “The Sibyl.” 

 

“You are mistaken,” he said. “It is not the Sibyl.” 

 

“Who is it then?” I asked. 

 

And he said, “It is the Church.” 

 

And I said to him, “Why then is she an old woman?” 

 

“Because,” he said, “she was created first of all. That is why she is old. And for her sake, the world was made.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 5:

 

[Speaking about the tower, which represents the Church.] The angel said, “Hear now about the stones that are in the building. Those square white stones that fit exactly into each other are apostles, bishops, teachers, and deacons, who have lived in godly purity and have acted as bishops and teachers and deacons loyally and respectfully to the elect of God. Some of them have fallen asleep, and some still remain alive. And they have always agreed with each other and been at peace among themselves and listened to each other. On account of this, they fit perfectly into the building of the tower.” 

 

 

Mathetes’ Letter to Diognetus

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 6:

 

Let’s summarize what the soul is in the body and what Christians are in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body, and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The visible body guards the invisible soul, and Christians are known to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul and wars against it but doesn’t suffer any injury if it is prevented from enjoying pleasures. The world also hates the Christians, though they are in no way injured if they give up pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it; Christians love those who hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body. Likewise, Christians are confined in the world like in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle, and Christians dwell as sojourners and travelers in corruptible bodies, looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when provided with even poor food and drink, becomes better. Similarly, though subjected day by day to punishment, the Christians increase the more in number. God has given them this prominent position, which it was unlawful for them to abandon.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 32:

 

"The rule that twelve bells be attached to the robe of the high priest, which hung down to the feet, was a symbol of the twelve apostles, who depend on the power of Christ, the eternal Priest; and through their voice, all the earth has been filled with the glory and grace of God and of His Christ.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 1 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 10, Paragraphs 1-2:

 

The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: She believes in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are in them; and in one Christ, Jesus, the Son of God, who became man for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the kindness of God and the anticipation and arrivals and the birth from a virgin and the passion and the resurrection from the dead and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord and His future appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father "to gather all things in one" and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race in order that to Christ Jesus our Lord and God and Savior and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, "every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess" to Him and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send "spiritual wickednesses" and the angels who transgressed and became traitors, together with the ungodly and unrighteous and wicked and profane among men into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, give immortality on the righteous and holy and those who have kept His commandments and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning, and others from the time of their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.

 

The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, carefully preserves it, as if they live in the same house. She also believes these points just as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them down with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. Although the world's languages are different, the meaning of the tradition is the same. For the Churches planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in France, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, which is a creature of God, is the same throughout the whole world, so the preaching of truth shines everywhere and enlightens all men willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. No matter how gifted he may be, none of the Churches' rulers teach doctrines different from these, for no one is greater than the Master; nor will he who is not a good speaker abuse or hurt tradition. Because the faith is always the same, no one able to speak about it at great lengths makes any addition to it, nor does one who can say little lesson it.

 

 

Didascalia Apostolorum 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 13, Paragraph 1:

 

When you teach, command and warn the people to be constant in gathering together in the church. They should not withdraw themselves but always assemble so that no man can diminish the Church by not gathering, and cause the body of Christ to be short a member. Let a man not think about others only, but also about himself in regards to what the Lord said: “Everyone who does not gather with me, scatters.” Since you are the members of Christ, do not scatter yourselves from the Church by not gathering together.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Januarius and the Bishops in Numidia 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 3:

 

The Church, founded by Christ the Lord upon Peter, by a source and principle of unity, is one.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Communion

Didache 

(1st Century)

9:1-5:

 

Now about the Eucharist: This is how to give thanks. First, in connection with the cup, say, "We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David, Your Child, which You have revealed through Jesus, Your Child. To You be glory forever."

 

Then in connection with the piece broken off the loaf: "We thank You, our Father, for the life and knowledge You have revealed through Jesus, Your Child. To You be glory forever.

 

"As this piece of bread was scattered over the hills and then was brought together and made one, so let Your Church be brought together from the ends of the earth into Your Kingdom. For Yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever."

 

You must not let anyone eat or drink of your communion except those baptized in the Lord's name. For about this the Lord said, "Do not give what is sacred to dogs."

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Smyrneans

(Late 1st Century or Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 7:

 

They do not participate in the Eucharist or in prayer because they do not confess the communion to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins, and whom the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God incur death during their challenges. But it would be better for them to treat it with respect so that they also might rise again. You should keep a distance from such persons and not speak of them in private or public. Listen to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion of Christ has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. But avoid all divisions as the beginning of evils.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 31:

 

The offering of fine flour that was recommended to be presented on behalf of those purified from leprosy was a type of the bread of the communion, the celebration of which our Lord Jesus Christ set as a guide. It was a guide to remembering the suffering He endured for those purified in their soul from all sin. We should simultaneously thank God for creating the world for the sake of man, for delivering us from evil, and for completely overthrowing principalities and powers by Him who suffered according to His will.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 117:

 

The Eucharist of the bread and the cup reminds us through the use solid and liquid food of the suffering endured by the Son of God.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapters 65-66:

 

After we have washed him who has been convinced and has agreed with our teaching, we will bring him to the place where those who are called brothers and sisters are gathered so that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized person and for all others in every place. We do this so we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth. And by our works, we seek to be good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. 

 

Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. Then bread and a cup of wine mixed with water are brought to the president of the brothers and sisters; taking them, he gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And he offers a long prayer of thanksgiving because we have been deemed worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their agreement by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to genoito, meaning “so be it.” And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their agreement, those whome we call deacons give to everyone present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water, over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and a portion is carried away to those who are absent.

 

This food is called the Eucharist. No one is allowed to eat it, except the man who believes that the things we teach are true and has washed for the remission of sins and to regeneration and who is living as Christ has commanded. We do not receive these as common bread and common drink; but in the same way that Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so we have been taught that the food blessed by the prayer of His word, and by which our blood and flesh are nourished, is the flesh and blood of Jesus who was made flesh. According to the Gospels, which the apostles have delivered to us, Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "Do this in remembrance of Me; this is My body." In the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood" and gave it to them alone.

 

 

Fragments of Irenaeus

(Late 2nd Century)

Paragraph 37:

 

The communion offering is not a fleshly one but a spiritual one, and in this respect, it is pure. For we make an offering to God of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving Him thanks because He has commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment. When we have completed the offering, we seek the Holy Spirit and request that He may show His power on this sacrifice, both the bread (the body of Christ) and the cup (the blood of Christ) so that the receivers of these elements may receive forgiveness of sins and have life eternal.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to the People

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 2:

 

I hear that some of the elders and ministers, neither mindful of the Gospel nor considering what the martyrs have written to me, nor giving to the bishop the honor of his priesthood and of his dignity, have already begun to communicate (take Communion) with the lapsed and to offer the Eucharist on their behalf and to give them Communion, when it was fitting that they should attain to these things in due course. For, as in smaller sins that are not committed directly against God, remorse may be fulfilled in a set time and confession made with an investigation of the life of him who fulfills the shame. No one can come to Communion unless the hands of the bishop and clergy are laid on him first. How much more should matters like this, in the gravest and most extreme sins, be observed with caution and moderation, according to the discipline of the Lord!

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Caecilius

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraphs 2, 9, 11-13:

 

In offering the cup, one must observe the tradition of the Lord, and we must do nothing but what the Lord first did on our behalf in that the cup offered in remembrance of Him should be offered mingled with wine. For when Christ says, “I am the true vine,” the blood of Christ is assuredly not water but wine; neither can His blood, by which we are redeemed and awakened, appear to be in the cup when the cup has no wine…

 

[After speaking of the waters of baptism] We find that the cup which the Lord offered was mixed with water and what He called His blood was wine. It appears that the blood of Christ is not offered if there be no wine in the cup. The Lord’s sacrifice is not celebrated with a legitimate blessing unless our offering and sacrifice respond to His passion. But how will we drink the new wine of the fruit of the vine with Christ in the kingdom of His Father, if, in the sacrifice of God the Father and of Christ, we do not offer wine, nor mix the cup of the Lord by the Lord’s own tradition?...

 

I wonder why this practice began. Contrary to evangelical and apostolic discipline, water is offered in some places in the Lord’s cup. Water by itself cannot express the blood of Christ…certainly the Lord’s cup intoxicates them to the point of sobriety. It restores their minds to spiritual wisdom so that each one receives from that flavor of the world the understanding of God; and in the same way, by that common wine, the mind and the soul are relaxed. All sadness is laid aside, so, when the blood of the Lord and the cup of salvation have been drunk, the memory of the old man is laid aside. There arises a forgetfulness of the former worldly conversation, and the sorrowful and sad breast which before was oppressed by tormenting sins is eased by the joy of the divine mercy. Only he who drinks in the Church is able to rejoice when it is drunk because it retains the Lord’s truth…

 

The divine Scripture in the Apocalypse tells us that the waters signify the people, saying, “The waters which you saw, upon which the whore sits, are peoples and multitudes, and nations of the Gentiles, and languages,” which we clearly see in the ceremony of the cup.

 

Because Christ bore us all, in that He also took our sins, we understand the people being the water, but the wine is the blood of Christ. But when the water is mingled in the cup with wine, the people are made one with Christ, and the assembly of believers is associated and joined with Him. The association and combination of water and wine is so entangled in the Lord’s cup that that mixture cannot be separated. Moreover, nothing can separate the Church from Christ. And by Church, I mean the people established in the Church, faithfully and firmly persevering in that which they have believed… 

 

On the other hand, the body of the Lord cannot be flour alone or water alone. Both should be united and joined together and compacted in the mass of one bread. In the same way, our people are shown to be made one, so that in the same way as many grains are collected and ground and mixed together into one mass to make one bread, so in Christ, who is the heavenly bread, we may know that there is one body, into which all of us are joined and united.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Confession

Didache 

(1st Century)

4:14:

 

At the church meeting, you must confess your sins.

 

 

Didache

(1st Century)

14:1-3:

 

On every Lord's Day—His special day—come together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure. Anyone in conflict with his neighbor must not join you until they reconcile, so your sacrifice will not be defiled. For it was of this sacrifice that the Lord said, "Always and everywhere offer me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is marveled at by the nations."

 

 

Barnabas’ Epistle

(1st Century)

Chapter 19:

 

You will confess your sins.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Death and Dying

 Fragments of Irenaeus 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 11:

 

The job of the Christian is nothing more than to be constantly preparing for death.

 

 

Sentences of Sextus 

(Early 3rd Century)

Selections:

 

(321) Do not become guilty of your own death. Do not be angry at him who will take you out of the body and kill you.

 

(322) If someone brings the wise man out of the body forcefully, he does him a favor because he has been released from his jail.

 

(345) It is better to die than to pollute the soul because of the ravenous wants of the belly.

 

(364) If a tyrant threatens you, then, especially, remember God.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies

(Early 3rd Century) 

Book 4, Chapter 11, Paragraphs 1, 3:

 

Some say, “If God cares for you, why are you persecuted and put to death? Has He delivered you to this?” No, we do not believe that the Lord wishes disasters like that on us but that He foretold prophetically what would happen -- that we would be persecuted for His name's sake, slaughtered, and impaled. So that it was not that He wanted us to be persecuted, but He told beforehand what we will suffer, training us to endurance to be able to claim our inheritance…

 

They ask, “But why doesn’t He help you when you are persecuted?” What wrong is done us in being released by death to go to the Lord? If we were thinking about it correctly, we would feel obliged to thank those who are giving us a speedy departure from this life.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Mortality

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 18:

 

How preposterous and absurd it is that while we ask that the will of God should be done, yet when God calls and summons us from this world, we should not at once obey the command of His will! We struggle and resist, and like argumentative servants, we are dragged to the presence of the Lord with sadness and grief, departing this life only because we have to, not with the obedience of free will; and we want to be honored with heavenly rewards by Him to whom we come unwillingly. Why, then, do we pray and ask that the kingdom of heaven may come if the captivity of earth delights us?

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Demons

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Testament 1, Paragraph 5:

 

Flee fornication, my children, and command your wives and your daughters not to adorn their heads and their faces; because every woman who acts deceitfully in these things has been reserved for everlasting punishment. For thus they allured the Watchers before the flood; and as these continually beheld them, they fell into the desire for women, and they conceived the act in their mind and changed themselves into the shape of men and appeared to them as husbands; and the women, having in their minds desire for these visitors, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even to heaven.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 93:

 

God sets before every race of mankind what is always and universally just, as well as all righteousness; and every race knows that adultery and fornication and homicide and such like are sinful; and though they all commit such practices, they do not escape from the knowledge that they act unrighteously whenever they do so, with the exception of those who are possessed with an unclean spirit, and who have been debased by false education, by wicked customs, and by sinful institutions, and who have lost, or rather quenched and stifled their natural ideas. 

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 5:

 

In our case, who pledge ourselves to do no wickedness, nor to hold atheistic opinions, you do not examine the charges made against us; but, yielding to unreasoning passion and to the instigation of evil demons, you punish us without consideration or judgment. For the truth shall be spoken; since of old these evil demons, taking on different appearances, defiled women and corrupted boys and showed such fearful sights to men that those who did not use their reason in judging the actions that were done, were struck with terror; and being carried away by fear and not knowing that these were demons, they called them gods and called the demons the names each chose for himself. 

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 14:

 

We warn you to be on your guard, or else those demons we have been accusing will deceive you and divert you from reading and understanding what we say. For they strive to hold you as their slaves and servants; and sometimes by appearances in dreams, and sometimes by magical impositions, they subdue everyone who doesn’t make a strong effort to oppose them for their own salvation.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 26:

 

There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Caesar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic by the power of the devils operating in him.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Second Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 5:

 

When God had made the whole world and subjected the earth to man and arranged the heavenly bodies and the rotation of seasons so that vegetation would increase, He committed the care of men and of all things under heaven to angels, whom He appointed over them. 

 

But the angels transgressed this appointment and were captivated by the love of women and begat children, whom we now call demons; and besides, they afterward subdued the human race to themselves, partly by magical writings and partly by fears and the punishments they brought and partly by teaching them to offer sacrifices and incense and libations…and among men, they sowed murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds, and all wickedness. 

 

Later, the poets and mythologists, not knowing that it was the angels and those demons they had fathered who did these things to men and women and cities and nations, ascribed to Neptune and Pluto and their offspring. For whatever name each of the angels had given to himself and his children, that’s what the poets called them.

 

 

Sextus’ Sentences 

(Early 3rd Century)

348-349:

 

Unclean demons lay claim to a polluted soul, but evil demons will not be able to hinder a faithful and good soul in the way of God.

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 3, Chapter 2, Paragraph 4:

The thoughts that come from our heart, or the recollection of things we have done, or the contemplation of any things or causes whatever, sometimes proceed from ourselves, and sometimes originate from the opposing powers; sometimes God or the holy angels suggest them.

 

 

Origen’s Against Celsus

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 4, Chapter 92:

 

It is wicked demons of the race of Titans or Giants who have been guilty of impiety toward the true God and toward the angels in heaven. They have fallen from heaven and haunt the denser parts of bodies and often go to unclean places upon earth. They have some power to tell future events because they don’t have bodies of earthly material. 

 

They try to lead the human race away from the true God and secretly enter the bodies of the wilder and more savage and wicked animals and stir them up to do whatever they choose and at whatever time they choose. They cause these animals to make flights and movements of various kinds to make men think they can divine things from irrational animals and neglect to seek after the God who contains all things. Instead of searching after the pure worship of God, these men allow their reasoning powers to grovel on the earth and amongst birds and serpents and even foxes and wolves.

 

 

Origen’s Against Celsus

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 8, Chapter 36:

 

The demons can do no harm to those who are under the protection of Him who can alone help all who deserve His aid; and He does no less than set His own angels over His devout servant so that none of the hostile angels, nor even he who is called "the prince of this world," can do anything against those who have given themselves to God.

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 3:

 

When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent down, they despised His laws. Such was the beauty of women that it turned them aside so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment against them, and giants are said to have been born from their seed. 

 

By these giants, arts were made known in the earth, and they taught the dyeing of wool and everything which is done; and men erected images to them when they died. But the Almighty, because they were of an evil seed, did not approve that, when dead, they should be brought back from death. So, wandering, they now subvert many bodies, and it is such as these that you now worship and pray to as gods.

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 22:

 

So it has pleased the Lord of lords Himself in the heavens that demons should wander in the world for our discipline.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Dress of Virgins

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 14:

 

When tempted, sinning and apostate angels gave up their heavenly life and suggested wearing dyed clothes and jewelry. They taught women also to paint their eyes with blackness drawn round them in a circle and to stain their cheeks with a deceitful red and to change their hair with false colors and to drive out all truth, both of face and head, by the assault of their own corrupting actions.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Punishment and Discipline from God

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 6, Chapter 3:

 

The angel said, “This is the angel of punishment. He belongs to the righteous angels, and his duty is to punish. He takes those who wander away from God and who have walked in the desires and deceits of this world and chastises them as they deserve with terrible and various punishments.” 

 

“Sir, I would like to know what types of tortures and punishments he carries out.” 

 

He answered, “Hear the various tortures and punishments. The tortures are such as occur during life. For some are punished with losses, others with want, others with sicknesses of various kinds, and others with all kinds of disorder and confusion; others are insulted by unworthy persons and exposed to suffering in many other ways, for many, becoming unstable in their plans, try many things, and none of them at all succeed, and they say they are not successful in what they do. It does not occur to their minds that they have done evil deeds, but they blame the Lord. 

 

“So, when they have been afflicted with all kinds of affliction, then they are delivered to me for good training, and they are made strong in the faith of the Lord; and for the rest of the days of their life, they are subject to the Lord with pure hearts and are successful in all they do, obtaining from the Lord everything they ask. Then they glorify the Lord for delivering them to me, and they no longer suffer any evil.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 7:

 

The angel said, “I know some people have repented with their whole heart. But do you think the sins of those who repent are erased? Not entirely, but he who repents must torture his own soul and be extremely humble in all he does, and suffer many punishments. Then, if he endures the punishments, He who created all things and gave them power will have compassion on the man and heal him. He will do this when He sees that the heart of the repentant person has been purified from every evil thing. So, it is for your good and for your family’s good that you suffer punishments now.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies, Book 4 

(Early 3rd Century)

Chapter 24, Paragraph 3:

 

Punishment doesn’t help a person undo his sin, but it does help him not to sin anymore and helps others not to sin in the same way. So, the good God corrects people for these three reasons: first, so that the person being corrected may become better than he was before; second, so that those who can be saved by the example of others will take warning not to sin; and third, so that the person who was hurt by the sin won’t be hurt again.

 

And there are two methods of correction -- the instructive and the punitive, which we have called the disciplinary. Know, then, that those who fall into sin after baptism are subjected to discipline, for the deeds done before baptism are paid for, and those done after baptism are purged. 

 

 

Cyprian’s Address to Demetrianus 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 7:

 

Listen, the Lord is angry and ready to take action. He threatens you because you won’t turn to Him. And in your stubbornness and disrespectful turning away from God, you wonder why there hasn’t been much rain and the ground dries up, and why hail destroys and weakens the vines, or why the wind uproots the olive plant, or why a drought stops the wells from flowing, or why disease fills the air and lays waste to man.

 

 

Novatian’s On the Trinity 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 5:

 

It is not a sin for God to be angry. He is angry for our good, for He is merciful even when He threatens us. It is by these threats that men are called back to righteousness. Fear motivates people to live a virtuous life because if they can’t make themselves live righteously by the power of their reason alone, they’ll at least respond to the terror of punishment.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Drinking Alcohol

Clement of Alexandria’s Instructor, Book 2 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 2, Paragraphs 7-8:

 

I admire those who have adopted a calm, peaceful life and who enjoy drinking water, the medicine of self-control. They run as far as possible from wine, avoiding it like they would the danger of fire. Therefore, it is right that boys and girls should keep as far away from this “medicine” as possible. It is not right to add to a difficult time in their lives the hottest of all liquids--wine--as it were, fire to fire, for then wild impulses and burning lusts and fiery habits are kindled. Young men become inflamed from within and are prone to the indulgence of dangerous activities, to the extent that signs of injury appear in their body. The youth come to maturity sooner than they should. The breasts and organs of youth, inflamed with wine, expand and swell in a shameful way, already exhibiting beforehand the image of sex; and the body compels the wound of the soul to inflame, and shameless throbbing follows abundance, triggering the man of upstanding behavior to fall away from what is right; and the sexiness of youth overpasses the bounds of modesty. To the best of our ability, we must try to crush youth's impulses by removing the alcoholic fuel of the threatened danger. By pouring the antidote to the inflammation, keep down the burning soul, keep in the swelling members, and decrease lust's agitation when it is already in commotion. 

 

And in the case of adults, let those who drink wine occasionally with dinner completely refrain from drinking so that the eating of dry food may absorb their excessive moisture. For constant spitting and wiping off perspiration and frequent trips to the restroom are the signs of excess, from the frequent use of liquids supplied in excessive quantity to the body. 

 

And if one is thirsty, let thirst be quenched with a little water. For it is not proper that water should be supplied in too great an amount so that the food may not be drowned but ground down in order to digest; this takes place when the food is collected into a mass, and only a small portion is passed out of the body. 

 

And, besides, it matches divine studies not to be heavy with wine. “For unmixed wine is far from compelling a man to be wise, much less in control,” according to the comic poet. But towards evening, about supper-time, wine may be used when we are no longer engaged in more serious readings. Then also, the air becomes colder than it is during the day so that the failing natural warmth requires us to be nourished by heat from the inside. But even then, it must only be a little wine that is used, for we must not go on to drink excessive amounts. 

 

Those who are already advanced in life may partake more cheerfully of wine to warm by the harmless medicine of the vine the chill of age, which the decay of time has produced. In general, old men’s passions are not stirred to such agitation as to drive them to the shipwreck of drunkenness, for being tied down by reason and time, as by anchors, they easily withstand the storm of passions that rushes down from drunkenness. They may also be permitted to indulge in humor at feasts. But to them also let the limit of their alcohol be the point at which they keep their reason unwavering, their memory active, and their body unmoved and unshaken by wine.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Eating Food

Clement of Alexandria’s Exhortation to Endurance 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Paragraph 4:

 

Do not release the tension in your soul with feasting and drunkeness, but think about what is needed for the body. And do not arrive early to meals before the time for dinner to come. Let your dinner be bread, and let earth’s grasses and the ripe fruits of trees be set before you, and go to your meal with composure, showing no sign of raging lust for food. 

 

Do not indulge in the flesh or too much wine if they do not provide any cure to any illness. But in place of these earthly pleasures, choose the joys that are in divine words and songs, joys given to you by wisdom from God; and let prayer continue to lead you upward to heaven.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Instructor, Book 2 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 1, Paragraphs 2-3:

 

The truth is, some men live to eat, as the irrational creatures “whose life is their belly and nothing else.” But the Instructor calls us to eat so we may live. Food is not our business, nor is pleasure our goal; but both are on account of our life here, which the Word is training up to immortality. 

 

We should use discrimination with regards to food. It is to be simple, truly plain, suiting little children so that it gives us life, not luxury. The life our food gives us consists of two things--health and strength; to which ordinary, simple food is most suitable, it is conducive both to digestion and lightness of body. Growth, health, and right strength come from it, not strength that is wrong or dangerous and wretched, as is that of athletes when the feed just to make their bodies stronger.

 

Therefore, we must reject different thoughts and actions that create mischief, such as a depraved habit of body and disorders of the stomach, the taste being corrupted by the unfortunate art of cookery and the useless art of making pastry.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the End Times

 Didache 

(1st Century) 

16:1-7:

 

Watch over your life: do not let your lamps go out, and do not keep your loins ungirded; but be ready, for you do not know the hour when our Lord is coming. 

 

Meet together frequently in your search for what is good for your souls since a lifetime of faith will be of no advantage to you unless you are perfect at the very last. For in the final days, many false prophets and seducers will appear. Sheep will turn into wolves, and love into hatred. For with the increase of immorality, men will hate, persecute, and betray each other. 

 

And then the world deceiver will appear in the guise of God's Son. He will work signs and wonders, and the earth will fall into his hands, and he will commit outrages such as have never occurred before. Then mankind will come to the fiery trial, and many will fall away and perish, but those who persevere in their faith will be saved by the Curse Himself.

 

Then there will appear the signs of the Truth: first, the sign of stretched-out hands in heaven, then the sign of a trumpet's blast, and thirdly the resurrection of the dead, though not of all the dead, but as it has been said: "The Lord will come and all His holy with Him. Then the world will see the Lord coming on the clouds of the sky."

 

 

Barnabas’ Epistle 

(1st Century) 

Chapter 15:

 

My children, pay attention to the meaning of this expression: “He finished in six days.” This implies that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day is with Him a thousand years.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Vision 4, Chapter 2:

 

The angel said, “This beast I prevented from attacking you is a type of the great tribulation that is coming. So, if you prepare yourselves and repent with all your heart and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it. Your heart must be pure and spotless, and you must spend the rest of the days of your life serving the Lord blamelessly.”

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Testament 3, Paragraph 4:

 

Know that the Lord will execute judgment upon the sons of men. When the rocks are split, and the sun quenched, and the waters dried up, and the fire trembling, and all creation troubled, and the invisible spirits melting away, and the grave emptied through the suffering of the Most High, still men will not believe and will continue in their immorality. So, they will be judged deserving of punishment.

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Testament 4, Paragraph 25:

 

Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will rise to life, and I and my brothers, the sons of Jacob, will be chiefs…and there will be one people of the Lord, and one language; and there won’t be a spirit of the deceit of Beliar, for he will be cast into the fire forever. 

 

And they who have died in grief will arise in joy, and they who have lived in poverty for the Lord's sake will be made rich, and they who have been hungry will be filled, and they who have been weak will be made strong, and they who have been put to death for the Lord's sake will awake in life. 

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 7, Paragraph 5:

 

The holy ones will rest in Eden, and the righteous will rejoice in the new Jerusalem, which will be to the glory of God forever and ever. And Jerusalem will no longer endure desolation, nor Israel be led captive; for the Lord will be in the midst of her, dwelling among men, even the Holy One of Israel reigning over them in humility and in poverty, and whoever believes in Him will reign in truth in the heavens.

 

 

The Christian Sibylline Oracles

(2nd Century) 

Book 3: 76-111:

 

Beliar will come from the Sebastenes 

After this, and the height of hills will he

Establish, and shall make the sea stand still

And the great fiery sun and the bright moon,

And he will raise the dead, and many signs

Work before men: but nothing will be brought

By him to completion but deceit,

And many mortals will be led astray

Hebrews both true and choice, and lawless men

Besides who never gave ear to God's word.

But when the threatenings of the mighty God

Draw near, and a flaming power shall come

By billow to the earth, it shall consume

Both Beliar and all the haughty men

Who put their trust in him. And thereupon

The whole world will be governed by the hands

Of a woman and be obedient everywhere.

Then when a widow will over all the world

Gain the rule, and cast in the mighty sea

Both gold and silver, also brass and iron

Of short-lived men into the deep will cast,

Then all the elements will be bereft

Of order, when the God who dwells on high

Rolls the heaven, even as a scroll is rolled;

And to the mighty earth and sea will fall

The entire multiform sky; and there will flow

A tireless cataract of raging fire,

And it will burn the land, and burn the sea,

And heavenly sky, and night, and day, and melt

Creation itself together and pick out

What is pure. No more laughing spheres of light,

Nor night, nor dawn, nor many days of care,

Nor spring, nor winter, nor the summer-time,

Nor autumn. And then of the mighty God

The judgment midway in a mighty age

Will come, when all these things shall come to pass.

 

 

The Apocalypse of Peter 

(Early 2nd Century):

 

When Israel understands the wickedness of their actions, they will turn away from the Antichrist to the first Christ whom they crucified and so sinned a great sin. They will see this deceiver is not the Christ. 

 

And when they reject him, he will kill them with the sword, and there will be many martyrs. Then the twigs of the fig-tree, that is, the house of Israel, will shoot forth. Many will become martyrs at his hand. Enoch and Elijah will be sent to teach them that this is the deceiver who must come into the world and do signs and wonders to deceive. And so those who die by his hand will be martyrs and will be counted among the good and righteous martyrs who have pleased God in their life…

 

And on the day of judgment, this will come on those who have fallen away from faith in God and have committed sin: Floods of fire will be let loose, and darkness and obscurity will come up and clothe and veil the whole world, and the waters will be changed and turned into coals of fire, and all that is in them will burn, and the sea will become fire.

 

Under the heaven will be a sharp fire that cannot be quenched and flows to fulfill the judgment of wrath. And the stars will fly in pieces by flames of fire as if they had not been created, and the powers of the heaven will pass away for lack of water and will be as though they had not been. There will be lightning in the heavens and will scare the whole world. Also, the spirits of the dead bodies will be like lightning and will become fire at the commandment of God.

 

And as the whole creation dissolves, the men that are in the east will flee to the west; they who are in the south will flee to the north. And in all places, the wrath of a fearful fire will overtake them, and an unquenchable flame driving them on will bring them to the judgment of wrath, to the stream of unquenchable fire that flows, flaming with fire, and when the burning waves of it part themselves one from another, there will be great gnashing of teeth among the children of men.

 

“Then they will all see Me coming on an eternal cloud of brightness with the angels of God that are with Me. I will sit on the throne of My glory at the right hand of My Heavenly Father, and He will set a crown on My head. And when the nations behold it, they will weep, every nation apart.

 

“Then He will command them to enter into the river of fire while the works of every one of them will stand before them for Him to reward every man according to his deeds. As for the chosen who have done good, they will come to Me and not see death by the devouring fire. But the unrighteous, the sinners, and the hypocrites will stand in the depths of darkness that will not pass away. Their punishment is the fire, and angels will bring forward their sins and prepare a place for them where they will be punished forever.”

 

Uriel, the angel of God, will bring out the souls of those sinners who died in the flood, and of all who lived in idols, in every molten image, in every object of love and in pictures and of those who lived on all hills and in stones and by the wayside, whom men called gods. They will burn them with them in everlasting fire.

 

 

Irenaeus speaking about Papias 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

6:

 

Papias says there will be 1,000 years after the resurrection from the dead, when the personal reign of Christ will be established on this earth.

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 16-17:

 

Jesus said, “I will come like the sun when it has risen, and My brightness will be seven times brighter! The wings of the clouds will bear Me in brightness, and the sign of the cross will go before Me, and I will come upon earth to judge the living and the dead.”

 

We said to Him, “Lord, after how many years will this come to pass?”

 

He said to us, “When the hundredth part and the twentieth part is fulfilled, the coming of My Father will be between the Pentecost and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.”

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapters 34-38:

 

And we said to Jesus, “Lord…, You told us there will be wonders and strange appearances in heaven and on earth before the end of the world comes. Tell us now, how will we perceive it?” 

 

And He answered us, “I will teach it to you; and not what will happen to you only but also those you will teach and who will believe, and even those who hear them after you and believe on Me. It will happen in those years and days…

 

“Those who believe and those who don’t believe will hear a trumpet in the heaven and see great stars in the day, wonderful sights in heaven reaching down to the earth; stars that fall to the earth like fire, and a great and mighty hail of fire. They’ll see the sun and the moon fighting each other, and there will be continual thunder and lightning, thunder and earthquakes, with cities falling and men perishing in their overthrow. There will be a continual lack of rain, a terrible pestilence, and great mortality, mighty and untimely, so that those who die won’t be buried, and brothers and sisters and relatives will die and be burned on one bier. 

 

“Relatives will show no favor to each other, nor any man to his neighbor. And those who were overthrown will rise up and behold them that overthrew them, that they lack burial, for the pestilence will be full of hatred and pain and envy, and men will take from one and give to another. And after that, it will grow even worse than before. 

 

“Then My Father will be angry at the wickedness of men, for they have committed many sins, and the abomination of their uncleanness weighs heavy upon them in the corruption of their life…

 

“In those years and days, war will be kindled upon war. The four ends of the earth will be in commotion and fight against each other. Then there will be clouds of locusts, darkness, and famine, and persecutions on those who believe in Me, against the chosen. Many will doubt and fight against one another. And there will be many who believe in My Name and yet follow after evil and spread false doctrine. And men will follow after them and their riches and be subject to their pride and lust for drink and bribery, and they will show respect to certain persons over others.

 

“But those who desire to behold the face of God and do not show respect toward the rich sinners and are not afraid to rebuke those who would lead them astray – they will be crowned by the Father.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 80:

 

If you have fallen in with some who are called Christians…but who say there is no resurrection of the dead and that when they die, their souls are taken to heaven, do not imagine that they are Christians…But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 28, Paragraphs 2-3:

 

In as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years will it be concluded. And for this reason, the Scripture says, "So the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And on the sixth day, God finished all the works He had made, and God rested on the seventh day from all His works." This is an account of the things formerly created, and it is also a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years, and in six days, the created things were completed. It is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the six thousandth year.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 36, Paragraphs 1-2:

 

Neither the substance nor the essence of the creation will be annihilated (for He who has established it is faithful and true), but "the form of the world will pass away;" that is, those things among which sin has occurred, since man has grown old in them…But when this present form of things passes away, and man has been renewed and flourishes in an incorruptible form in which he won’t be able to grow old, then there will be the new heaven and the new earth, in which the new man will remain continually, always holding fresh conversation with God…As the elders say, those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven will go there, while others will enjoy the delights of paradise, and others will possess the splendor of the city; for the Savior will be seen everywhere according to the worthiness of those who see Him.

 

They also say that there will be a distinction between the home of those who produce a hundred-fold and those who produce sixty-fold and those who produce thirty-fold. The first will be taken up into the heavens, the second will dwell in paradise, and the last will inhabit the city; as the Lord declared, "In My Father's house are many mansions." For all things belong to God, who supplies everyone with a suitable dwelling-place; His Word says the Father allots to each person his share according to how worthy they are.

 

 

Hippolytus’ Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 

(Early 3rd Century)

Paragraphs 8, 14:

 

The prophet Jacob, in calling Judah “a lion's whelp,” means Him who sprang from Judah and David according to the flesh, who was not actually of the seed of David but was conceived by the Holy Ghost and came forth from the holy shoot of earth.

 

And in like manner, we find it also written regarding Antichrist. For Moses said, "Dan is a lion's whelp, and he will leap from Bashan." But that no one may err by supposing that this is said of the Savior, let him attend carefully to the matter. "Dan," he says, "is a lion's whelp," and in naming the tribe of Dan, he declared clearly the tribe from which Antichrist is destined to spring. For as Christ springs from the tribe of Judah, so Antichrist is to spring from the tribe of Dan. We also see this is the case from the words of Jacob: "Let Dan be a serpent, lying upon the ground, biting the horse's heel." What, then, is meant by the serpent but Antichrist, that deceiver who is mentioned in Genesis, who deceived Eve and bruised Adam's heel?

 

 

Hippolytus’ Commentary On Daniel 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 2, Paragraph 4:

 

As the times are noted from the foundation of the world and reckoned from Adam, they set clearly before us the topic we’re dealing with. For the first appearance of our Lord in the flesh took place in Bethlehem, under Augustus, in the year 5500; and He suffered in the thirty-third year. And 6,000 years must be accomplished so that the Sabbath may come, the rest, the holy day "on which God rested from all His works." For the Sabbath is the type and emblem of the future kingdom of the holy ones, when they "will reign with Christ," when He comes from heaven, as John says in his Apocalypse, for "a day with the Lord is as a thousand years." Since God made all things in six days, it follows that 6,000 years must be fulfilled. And they are not yet fulfilled, as John says: "five are fallen; one is;" that is, the sixth; "the other is not yet come."

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 35:

 

We will be immortal when six thousand years are accomplished.

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 41:

 

Isaiah said, “This is the man who moves the world and so many kings, and under whom the land will become desert…” Doubtless, the world will be finished when he will appear. He himself will divide the globe into three ruling powers, when Nero will be raised up from hell, but Elijah will first come to seal the beloved ones. At this, the region of Africa and the northern nation, the whole earth on all sides, will tremble for seven years.

 

But Elijah will occupy half of the time, and Nero will occupy half. Then the whore Babylon, being reduced to ashes, its embers will advance to Jerusalem, and the Latin conqueror will then say, “I am Christ, whom you always pray to.” And, indeed, the original ones who were deceived will combine to praise him. He does many wonders, since his is the false prophet. His image will speak to make them believe him. The Almighty has given it the power to appear such. The Jews, examining the Scriptures about him, will exclaim at the same time to the Highest that they have been deceived.

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 80:

 

This has pleased Christ, that the dead should rise again; yes, with their bodies, including those bodies that have been burned up, when six thousand years are completed and the world has come to an end.

 

 

Apocalypse of Elijah 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapters 3:12-18; 4:1-7; 5:1-11, 20-29, 32, 36-39:

 

He will do the works Christ did, except for raising the dead. That’s how you’ll know he is the son of lawlessness, because he can’t give life. See, I will tell you his signs so that you can know him. 

 

He is a skinny-legged young lad, having a tuft of gray hair at the front of his bald head. His eyebrows will reach his ears. There is a leprous bare spot on the front of his hands. He will transform himself in the presence of those who see him. He will become a young child. He will become old. He will transform himself in every sign. But the signs of his head will not be able to change. That’s how you will he is the son of lawlessness.

 

The virgin, whose name is Tabitha, will hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy places. And she will put on her garment of fine linen. And she will pursue him up to Judea, scolding him up to Jerusalem, saying, "O shameless one, O son of lawlessness, O you who have been hostile to all the holy ones.” 

 

Then the shameless one will be angry at the virgin. He will pursue her up to the regions of the sunset. He will suck her blood in the evening. And he will cast her upon the temple, and she will become a healing for the people. She will rise up at dawn. And she will live and scold him, saying, "O shameless one, you have no power against my soul or my body, because I live in the Lord always. And also, my blood which you have cast upon the temple has become a healing for the people." 

 

Then when Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy place, they will come down and fight with him…

 

And on that day, the heart of many will harden, and they will flee from him, saying, "This is not the Christ. The Christ does not kill the righteous. The Antichrist does not pursue men so that he might seek them, but he persuades them with signs and wonders." On that day, the Christ will pity those who are His own. And He will send from heaven His sixty-four thousand angels, each of whom has six wings. The sound will move heaven and earth when they give praise and glorify Him. 

 

Now those upon whose forehead the name of Christ is written and upon whose hand is the seal, both the small and the great, will be taken up upon their wings and lifted up before His wrath. Then Gabriel and Uriel will become a pillar of light, leading them into the holy land. It will be granted to them to eat from the tree of life. They will wear white garments, and angels will watch over them. They will not thirst, nor will the son of lawlessness be able to prevail over them. 

 

And on that day, the earth will be disturbed, and the sun will darken, and peace will be removed from the earth. The birds will fall on the earth, dead. The earth will be dry. The waters of the sea will dry up. The sinners will groan upon the earth, saying, "What have you done to us, O son of lawlessness, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ when you are the devil? You are unable to save yourself so that you might save us. You produced signs in our presence until you alienated us from the Christ who created us. Woe to us because we listened to you.”

 

Then he will take his fiery wings and fly out after the holy ones. He will fight with them again. The angels will hear and come down. They will fight with him a battle of many swords. It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send for fire. And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble. A true judgment will occur. 

 

On that day, the mountains and the earth will utter speech. The byways will speak with one another, saying, "Have you heard today the voice of a man who walks and has not come to the judgment of the Son of YHWH?" The sins of each one will stand against him in the place where they were committed, whether those of the day or of the night. Those who belong to the righteous will see the sinners and those who persecuted them and those who handed them over to death in their torments. Then the sinners in torment will see the place of the righteous. And so, grace will occur. In those days, what the righteous will ask for many times will be given to them.

 

After these things, Elijah and Enoch will come down. They will lay down the flesh of the world and will receive their spiritual flesh. They will pursue the son of lawlessness and kill him since he is not able to speak…On that day, the Christ, the King, and all His holy ones will come forth from heaven. He will burn the earth. He will spend a thousand years upon it. Because the sinners prevailed over it, He will create a new heaven and a new earth. No deadly devil will exist in them. He will rule with His holy ones, ascending and descending, while they are always with the angels, and they will be with the Christ for a thousand years.

 

 

Lactantius’ The Divine Institutes Book 7 

(Early 4th Century) 

Chapter 14, Paragraph 3:

 

Since all the works of God were completed in six days, the world must continue in its present state through six ages; that is, six thousand years. For the great day of God is limited by a circle of a thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says, “In Thy sight, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day.” And as God labored during those six days in creating such great works, so His religion and truth must labor during these six thousand years, while wickedness prevails and rules. 

 

And again, since God, having finished His works, rested the seventh day and blessed it, at the end of the six thousandth year, all wickedness must be abolished from the earth and righteousness reign for a thousand years; and there must be peace and rest from the labors the world has long endured.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Entertainment

Theophilus of Antioch’s Book 3 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 15:

 

We are forbidden even to watch shows of gladiators to avoid engaging in or being a supporter of murders. We should never witness other ungodly acts to protect our eyes and ears from being corrupted. We should not join in their evil speech. For they speak of cannibalism in these spectacles when the children of Olympia and Greece are eaten. They make adultery the subject of their dramas, both in the case of men and of gods, whom they celebrate in elegant language for honors and prizes. 

 

But far be it from Christians to accept any such deeds, for with them lives self-control, self-restraint is practiced, monogamy is observed, purity is guarded, wrong exterminated, sin removed, goodness exercised, law carried out, worship performed, God acknowledged, truth governs, grace guards, peace screens them, the holy word guides, wisdom teaches, life directs, God reigns.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria's Instructor, Book 3 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 11:

 

Do not let men spend their time in barbers' shops and taverns, speaking nonsense. They should give up hunting for the women who sit near and endlessly talking poorly against people to get a laugh.

 

The game of dice is to be prohibited, and the pursuit of gain, especially by dicing.

 

Let spectacles, therefore, and plays that are full of indecency and full of gossip be forbidden. For what base action is it that is not exhibited in the theatres? And what shameless saying is not brought forward by the fools? And those who enjoy the evil that is in them copy it at home.

 

 

Cyprian's Letter to Donatus 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 8:

 

In the theatres, you will also see what may cause you grief and shame. It is the heartbreaking drama that reminds us of the crimes of the days before. The old horrors of killing one's parent and incest unfold in action calculated to express the image of the truth, so that, as time passes, these crimes would not be forgotten. Each generation is reminded through retelling history, that whatever has once been done may be done again. Crimes never die out over time; wickedness will not be abolished by process of time; godlessness is never buried in oblivion. 

 

Things that happened before have become examples to us today. Moreover, as the actors teach evil and immorality, the spectator is moved either to reconsider what he may have done in secret or get ideas about what he may do. Adultery is learned while it is seen. While the mischief has the public’s approval, the lady, who may have gone to the show a modest woman, returns from it immodest.

 

 

Cyprian's On the Public Shows 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraphs 8-10:

 

We quickly get accustomed to what we hear and what we see. Because man's mind is drawn towards indecency and vices all on its own, what will it do if it its slippery will is tempted by physical temptation? What will it do if it is tempted by something outside itself? Therefore, the mind must be called away from such things as these.

 

The Christian has nobler causes if he wishes for them. He has true and profitable pleasures if he will recollect himself, not to mention those he cannot consider yet. He has that beauty of the world to look upon and admire. He may gaze upon the sun's rising, and again on its setting, as it brings around the changes of days and nights; the round moon, distinguishing the seasons in its waxings and wanings; the troops of shining stars, and those which glitter from on high with extreme mobility—their members divided through the changes of the entire year, and the days themselves with the nights distributed into hourly periods; the heavy mass of the earth balanced by the mountains, and the flowing rivers with their sources; the expanse of seas, with their waves and shores; and meanwhile, the air, existing equally everywhere in perfect harmony, expanded in the midst of all, and in agreeable and pleasing bonds bringing all things to life, now scattering showers from the contracted clouds, now recalling the serenity of the sky with its refreshed purity; and in all these areas of the earth their appropriate inhabitants—in the air the birds, in the waters the fishes, on the earth man. Let these, I say, and other divine works, be the show for faithful Christians. 

 

What theatre built by human hands could ever be compared to such works as these? Although it may be constructed with immense piles of stones, the mountain crests are loftier; and although the fretted roofs glitter with gold, they will be surpassed by the brightness of the starry sky. Never will anyone admire the works of man if he has recognized himself as the son of God. He degrades himself from the height of his nobility if he admires anything but the Lord.

 

I say, let the faithful Christian devote himself to the sacred Scriptures, and there he will find worthy uses for his faith. He will see God establishing His world and making not only the other animals, but that marvelous and better fabric of man. He will gaze upon the world in its delightfulness, righteous shipwrecks, the rewards of the good, and the punishments of the ungodly, seas drained dry by a people, and again from the rock seas spread out by a people. He will behold harvests descending from heaven, not pressed in by the plow; rivers with their hosts of waters bridled in, exposing dry crossings. In some cases, he will behold faith struggling with the flame, wild beasts overcome by devotion and soothed into gentleness. He will look also upon souls brought back even from death. Moreover, he will consider the marvelous souls brought back to the life of bodies that themselves were already consumed. And in all these things he will see a still greater show—that devil who had triumphed over the whole world lying prostrate under the feet of Christ. 

 

How honorable is this exhibition, brothers and sisters! How delightful, how necessary to continually gaze upon the source of one's hope and to open our eyes to one's salvation! This is a spectacle that is beheld even when sight is lost. This is an exhibition which is given by neither military commander nor elected official. It is given by Him who is alone and above all things and before all things and of whom are all things, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and honor for ever and ever.

 

 

Cyprian's Letter to Euchratius

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraphs 1-2:

 

A certain actor, having joined your church, continues to follow his disreputable art; and as a master and teacher of acting, we wont’ say he instructs boys in the career but destroys them. You ask whether someone like this ought to be in Communion with us. I do not think this benefits the divine majesty or the discipline of the Gospel that such a disgraceful and vile virus should pollute the modesty and credit of the Church. For since, in the law, men are forbidden to put on a woman's garment, and those that disregard this law are condemned, how much greater is the crime when a man wears women's clothes and also expresses feminine gestures by the teaching of an immodest art.

 

Do not let anyone exempt themselves if he has given up acting but is still teaching the art to others. For he cannot appear to have given it up while encouraging others in his place, and who, instead of himself alone engaging in such a career, he encourages many to take up the career in his place…But if such a person quits their career and claims to be in poverty and of small means, he can be counted among the rest who are maintained by the Church's support; that is, if he will be content with very frugal and simple food.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Evil

 

Novatian’s On the Trinity 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 4:

 

The only reason evil occurs to man is that he departed from the good God. So, evil is part of man, not because it was necessary but because he himself so willed it.

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Early Christian Quotes On Exercise

Clement of Alexandria’s Instructor, Book 3 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 10, Paragraphs1-2:

 

Women should not be deprived of bodily exercise. But they are not to be encouraged to engage in wrestling or running, but are to exercise themselves in spinning and weaving and supervising the cooking if necessary. And they are, with their own hand, to retrieve from the store what is needed. And it is not wrong for them to apply themselves to the mill. Nor is it bad for a wife--housekeeper and partner--to occupy herself with cooking, so that it may be appetizing to her husband. And if she maintains a tidy home, offers a drink to her husband when he is thirsty, sets food on the table, and gives herself exercise to maintain her health, the Instructor will approve of her. A woman who “stretches forth her arms to useful tasks, rests her hands upon her tools, puts money in the kitty, and opens her arms to the poor.”

 

She who mirrors Sarah is not ashamed of that highest of ministries, helping drifters. For Abraham said to her, “Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make it bread.” "And Rachel, the daughter of Laban, came," it is said, "with her father's sheep." This was not enough; but to teach humility, it is added, "for she fed her father's sheep." And countless more examples of frugality and self-help, and also of exercises, are provided by the Scriptures. 

 

In the case of men, let some strip and engage in wrestling; let some play at the small ball, especially the game they call Pheninda, in the sun. To others who walk into the country, or go down into the town, the walk is sufficient exercise. And if they were to handle the hoe, this exercise in agricultural labor would not be ungentlemanlike.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Fasting

 

Didache 

(1st Century) 

8:1:

 

Your fasts must not be identical with those of the hypocrites. They fast on Mondays and Thursdays, so you should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 5, Chapter 1:

 

The angel said, "God does not desire such an empty fasting. You will do nothing for a righteous life by fasting to God like this; but offer God the following kind of fast: Do no evil in your life and serve the Lord with a pure heart. Keep His commandments, walking in His precepts, and let no evil desire arise in your heart. And believe in God. If you do these things, and fear Him, and abstain from every evil thing, you will live to God. And if you do these things, you will keep a great fast, one acceptable before God."

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 5, Chapter 3:

 

The angel said, “You will taste nothing but bread and water on the day you fast. Having calculated the price of the dishes of that day, which you intended to have eaten, you will give that amount of money to a widow or an orphan or some person in want, and as a result, you will show humility, and the one who receives a benefit from your humility may fill his own soul and pray for you to the Lord. If you observe fasting, as I have commanded you, your sacrifice will be acceptable to God. This fasting will be written down, and the service thus performed is noble and sacred and acceptable to the Lord.”

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Forgiveness of Sins Committed Out of Ignorance

The Preaching of Peter 

(Early to Mid-2nd Century)

 

Whatever sins you committed in ignorance, not knowing God clearly, will all be forgiven.

 

 

The Acts of Peter 

(Mid to Late 2nd Century) 

Part 3, Paragraph 2:

 

Men and brothers who have now have begun to believe in Christ, if you leave the practices your ancestors followed, and keep yourself from deceit and anger and adultery and everything that defiles a person, and from pride and envy and contempt and being difficult with people, then Jesus, the living God, will forgive what you did in ignorance.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Forgiving Others

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 23:

 

The angel said, “If our God and Lord, who rules over all things and has power over all His creation, does not remember the evil done by those who confess their sins, but is merciful, should man, who is corruptible and full of sins, remember the evil done by another person, as if he were able to destroy or to save him?"

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Free Will

The Epistle of the Apostles 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 39:

 

Jesus said, “Adam was given the power to choose one of the two: he chose the light and laid hold of it, but the darkness he left behind and cast away from him. In the same way, all men have power to believe in the light, which is life, and which is the Father who sent Me. 

 

“And everyone who believes and does the works of the light will live in them; but if anyone who confesses that he belongs to the light but does the works of darkness, he will have no defense to utter, nor can he lift up his face to look upon the Son of God. I am that Son. For I will say to him, ‘As you sought, so have you found, and what you asked for, you received. Do you judge Me as being unfair, O man? Why have you departed from Me and denied Me? Why have you confessed Me and yet denied Me?’

 

“Does not every man have the power to live or to die? So whoever keeps My commandments will be a son of the light, that is, of the Father who is in Me.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 88:

 

Jesus submitted to be born and to be crucified, not because He needed to but because of the human race, which had fallen under the power of death and the guile of the serpent from the time of Adam, and each person had committed personal transgression. 

 

For God endowed both angels and men with free will and wanted them to do whatever He had strengthened each to do. If they chose the things acceptable to Him, He would keep them free from death and from punishment; but if they did evil, He would punish each as He sees fit. 

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 151:

 

God wanted men and angels to follow His will. He created them free to do righteousness and possessing reason so that they would know who created them. He gave them a law He would judge them by. We, both men and angels, will be convicted of acting sinfully unless we repent beforehand. 

 

But if the word of God foretells that some angels and men will certainly be punished, it did so because it foreknew that they would be unchangeably wicked but not because God had created them so.

 

So, if they repent, all who want mercy can obtain it from God.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 28:

 

We call the prince of the wicked spirits the serpent, and Satan, and the devil, as you can learn by looking into our writings. And there, you’ll see Christ foretold that Satan will be sent into the fire with his host and the men who follow him, and he will be punished for an endless duration.

 

The reason God has delayed to do this is His regard for the human race, for He foreknows that some are to be saved by repentance, maybe even including some who aren’t born yet. In the beginning, He made the human race with the power of thought and of choosing the truth and doing right, so that all men are without excuse before God, for they have been born with the ability to think and choose.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Second Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 6:

 

But since God made the race of angels and men with free will in the beginning, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed. And this is the nature of all that is made, to be capable of vice and virtue, for no one would be worthy of praise unless they had the power to turn to both virtue and vice.

 

 

Tatian’s Address to the Greeks

(Mid-Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 7:

 

Before the creation of men, The Logos was the Framer of angels. And each of these two orders of creatures was made free to act as each one pleased. 

 

They did not have the nature of good, which belongs to God alone, but this nature is brought to perfection in men through their freedom of choice so that the bad man may be justly punished, having become depraved through his own fault, but the just man may be deservedly praised for his virtuous deeds since, in the exercise of his free choice, he refrained from transgressing the will of God. 

 

Such is the constitution of things in reference to angels and men. And the Logos, having in Himself the power to foresee future events, not as fated but as taking place by the choice of free agents, foretold from time to time what was to come.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 4

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 37, Paragraph 1:

 

This saying of our Lord, "How often would I have gathered your children together, and you were not willing," shows the ancient principle of human liberty because God made man a free agent from the beginning, possessing his own power, just as he does his own soul, to obey the commands of God voluntarily and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God, but He always has a good will toward us. So, He gives good counsel to all, and He has given the power of choice to men as well as to angels, for angels are also rational beings.

 

 

Hippolytus’ Refutation of All Heresies Book 10 

(Early 3rd Century)

Chapter 29:

 

Since man has free will, the Deity has given him a law to guide him, and for good reason. For if man did not possess the power to will and not to will, why should a law be established? For a law will not be laid down for an animal devoid of reason but a bridle and a whip, whereas God has given man a law and consequences. 

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies Book 7 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 2, Paragraph 6:

 

He is the Savior. He is not the Savior of some but not of others. But in proportion to the condition of each tribe, He has dispensed His kindness both to Greeks and Barbarians and also to those who were predestined and, in due time called the faithful and elect. 

 

He who called all equally and assigned special honors to those who have believed in an especially excellent way can never envy anyone. Nor can He who is the Lord of all and serves the will of the good and almighty Father above all ever be hindered by another.

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Preface, Paragraph 5:

 

It is clearly defined in the teaching of the Church that every rational soul has free-will.

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 3, Chapter 1, Paragraph 11:

 

Concerning the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, you could say the sun both hardens and liquefies, although liquefying and hardening are opposites. But the sun, by one and the same power of its heat, melts wax but dries up and hardens mud: not that its power operates one way on mud and in another way on wax but that the qualities of mud and wax are different although they both come from the earth. 

 

In the same way, God was working through the signs and wonders He performed through Moses. Pharaoh was hardened through the intensity of his wickedness, but other Egyptians obeyed God and joined the Israelites when they left Egypt. 

 

 

Origen’s On Prayer

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 4, Paragraph 6:

 

God’s foreknowledge is not the cause of all future events. Some are caused by our free will acting in response to our impulses. 

 

 

Novatian’s On the Trinity

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 1:

 

God placed man at the head of the world. He made man in the image of God and imparted to him a mind and reason and foresight so that he could imitate God. And although the first elements of his body were earthly, his substance was inspired by a heavenly and divine breath. 

 

And when He had given man all things for his service, He willed that he alone should be free. And to make sure unbounded freedom wouldn’t cause the man danger, He laid down a command. God taught the man that there was no evil in the fruit of the tree but warned him that evil would arise if he exercised his free will in contempt of the law that was given. 

 

For, on the one hand, it was good for the man to be free so that the image of God wouldn’t be limited in him; and on the other, the law was added so that unbridled liberty wouldn’t break forth in contempt of the Giver.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Giving

 

Didache 

(1st Century) 

1:5-6:

 

"Give to everybody who begs from you, and ask for nothing in return." The Father wants his own gifts to be universally shared. Happy is the man who gives as the commandment bids him, for he is guiltless! But the man who receives needs to be careful! If he receives because he is in need, he will be guiltless. But if he is not in need, he will have to stand trial and answer for why he received it and for what purpose. He will be thrown into prison and have his action investigated, and "he will not get out until he has paid back the last cent." Indeed, there is a further saying that relates to this: "Let your donation stay with you until you know who to give it to."

 

 

Didache 

(1st Century) 

4:5-8:

 

Do not be one who holds his hand out to take, but shuts it when it comes to giving. If your labor has brought you earnings, pay a ransom for your sins. Do not hesitate to give, and do not give with a bad attitude, for you will discover who He is that pays you back a reward with a good attitude. Do not turn your back on the needy, but share everything with your brother and call nothing your own. For if you have what is eternal in common, how much more should you have what is fleeting!

 

 

Didache 

(1st Century) 

12:2-5:

 

If a traveler arrives, help him all you can. But he must not stay with you for more than two days, or, if necessary, three. If he wants to settle with you and is an artisan; he must work for his living. If, however, he has no trade, use your judgment in taking steps for him to live with you as a Christian without being idle. If he refuses to work at all, he is taking advantage of your charity Christ. You must be on your guard against such people.

 

 

Didache 

(1st Century) 

13:3-4:

 

So take all the first fruits of wine and harvest and of cattle and sheep and give these first fruits to the prophets. For they are your high priests. If, however, you have no prophet, give them to the poor.

 

 

Barnabas’ Epistle 

(1st Century) 

Chapter 19:

 

Do not be ready to stretch out your hands to take, while you pull them in when it’s time to give…You should not hesitate to give, nor grumble when you give. "Give to everyone who asks you," and you will know who is the good Giver of the reward.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 6:

 

[On why certain stones are being shaped to fit into the building of the Tower, which represents the Church] For as a round stone cannot become square unless portions are cut off and thrown away, so also those who are rich in this world cannot be useful to the Lord unless their riches be cut down.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 9:

 

Pay attention, you who bask in and enjoy your wealth, to prevent those who are needy from groaning, because their groans may reach to the Lord, and you will be shut out with all your goods beyond the gate of the tower [Church].

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 2:

 

The angel said, “From the rewards of your labors, which God gives you, give to all the needy in simplicity, not hesitating over who you are to give or not to give to. Give to all, for God wants His gifts shared among all. Those who receive will give an account to God why and for what they have received. For the afflicted who receive will not be judged harshly, but they who receive on false pretenses will suffer punishment. He, then, who gives is guiltless. For as he received from the Lord, so has he accomplished his service in simplicity, not hesitating over he should give to and who he should not give to. If accomplished in simplicity, this service is glorious with God.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 1:

 

The angel said, "You know that you who are the servants of God live in a foreign land; for your true city is far away from this one. If, then, you know your city, why do you own lands here? Why do you make expensive preparations and accumulate dwellings and useless buildings? He who makes such preparations for this city cannot return again to his own. 

 

“Oh, foolish and unstable and miserable man! Don’t you understand that all these things belong to another, and are under the power of another? For the lord of this city will say, 'I do not want you to live in my city; leave this city, because you do not obey my laws.' Therefore, although you have fields and houses and many other things, when he casts you out, what will you do with your land and house and other possessions that you have gathered for yourself? For the lord of this country justly says to you, 'Either obey my laws or depart from my dominion.' 

 

“What, then, do you intend to do, having a law in your own city, about your lands and the rest of your possessions? You must altogether deny your law and walk according to the law of this city. See, it will hurt you to deny your law; for if you want to return to your city, you will not be received because you have denied your city's law. You will be excluded from it. 

 

“So, be careful; as one living in a foreign land, make no further preparations for yourself more than what is sufficient; and be ready for the time when the master of this city will come to cast you out for disobeying his law. Be ready to leave his city and to depart to your own and to obey your own law in great joy, without being hindered by anyone. 

 

“Be careful, you who serve the Lord, and have Him in your heart so that you do the works of God, remembering His commandments and promises He promised. Believe that He will make them happen if His commandments are observed. 

 

“Therefore, instead of lands, buy afflicted souls, as each one is able. Visit widows and orphans; do not overlook them, and spend your wealth and all your preparations, which you received from the Lord, on such lands and houses. For this is why the Master made you rich: so that you could perform these services for Him. And it is much better to purchase such lands and possessions and houses as you will find in your own city when you come to live in it. 

 

“This is a noble and sacred way of living, not joined with sorrow or fear, but joy. Do not practice the lifestyle of the heathen or nonbeliever, for it is harmful to you who are the servants of God. But practice the lifestyle of your own, in which you can rejoice, and do not corrupt nor touch what is another's nor envy it, for it is an evil thing to envy and lust for the goods of other men; but do your own work, and you will be saved."

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 2:

 

Blessed are they who have riches and understand that they are from the Lord. For they who are of that mind will be able to do some good.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 6, Chapter 1-2:

 

And the angel and I came to a certain plain, and he showed me a young man, a shepherd, clothed in a suit of yellow garments. He was herding many sheep, and these sheep were feeding luxuriously and frolicking and happily skipping here and there. The shepherd himself was happy because of his flock. The appearance of the shepherd was joyous, and he was running about among his flock. And I saw other sheep frolicking and feasting in one place, but not leaping about. 

 

And the angel said to me, "Do you see this shepherd?" 

 

"I see him, sir," I said. 

 

He said, "This is the angel of luxury and deceit. He wears out the souls of the servants of God and distorts the truth, deceiving them with wicked desires, through which they will die; for they forget the commandments of the living God and walk in deceits and empty luxuries; and the angel ruins them, some being brought to death, others to corruption." 

 

I said to him, "Sir, I do not know the meaning of these words, 'to death, and to corruption.'” 

 

“Listen,” he said. “The sheep you saw that were merry and leaping about are those that have torn themselves away from God forever. They have given themselves over to luxuries and deceits of this world. Among them, there is no return to life through repentance because they have added to their other sins, and blasphemed the name of the Lord. Such men are appointed to death. And the sheep you saw not leaping, but feeding in one place, are they who have delivered themselves over to luxury and deceit, but have committed no blasphemy against the Lord. These have been brainwashed from the truth. Among them, there is the hope of repentance, by which it is possible to live. Corruption, then, has a hope of a kind of renewal, but death has everlasting ruin.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Similitude 9, Chapter 30:

 

When the Lord saw the mind of these persons, that they were born good and could be good, He ordered their riches to be cut down, not to be taken away forever, so that they might be able to do some good with what was left.

 

 

2 Clement 

(Early to Mid-2nd Century) 

16:

 

Giving as repentance from sin is good. Fasting is better than prayer, and charitable giving is better than both for "charity covers a multitude of sins," and prayer out of a good conscience delivers from death. Blessed is everyone who will be found complete in these, for charitable giving lightens the burden of sin.

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 46:

 

If any man who is not rich and possesses a small livelihood gives to the poor and needy, men will call him a humanitarian and philanthropist.

 

 

Tertullian’s Apology

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 39, Paragraph 1:

 

Though we have our treasure chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, like a religion that has its price. 

 

On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation, but only if it be his pleasure and only if he be able, for there is no requirement; all is voluntary. These gifts are, as it were, piety’s deposit fund. For they are not taken and spent on feasts and drinking and eating out, but it is to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to their house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines or banished to the islands or shut up in the prisons for nothing but their loyalty to the cause of God’s Church, they are cared for as a result of their confession.

 

One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives. 

 

Our feast explains itself by its name. The Greeks call it agape, i.e., unconditional love. Whatever it costs, our outlay in the name of loyalty is gain, since with the good things of the feast, we benefit the needy; not as it is with you. Do parasites aspire to the glory of satisfying their corrupt desires, selling themselves for a belly-feast to all disgraceful treatment? 

 

But as it is with God Himself, a special respect is shown to the lowly. 

 

 

Sentences of Sextus 

(Early 3rd Century)

Selections:

 

(328) Do not let an ungrateful man cause you to stop doing good.

 

(330) You will use great character if you give to the needy willingly.

 

(331) Persuade a senseless brother not to be senseless; if he is mad, protect him.

 

(338) Not only should you not hold an opinion that does not benefit the needy, but also do not listen to it.

 

(339) He who gives something without respect to the person he’s giving it to commits an outrage. 

 

(340) If you take on the guardianship of orphans, you will be the father of many children, and you will be beloved of God.

 

(371) The love of man is the beginning of godliness.

 

(372) The truth of God is in he who takes care of men while praying for all of them. .

 

(373/374) It is God`s business to save whom He wants; on the other hand, it is the business of the devout man to beg God to save everyone.

 

(377/378) It is better for man to be without anything than to have many things while not giving to the needy; so also you, if you do not give to others but pray to God, He will not give to you.

 

(379) If you, from your whole heart, give your bread to the hungry, the gift is small, but the willingness is great with God.

 

(382) God does not need anything, but he rejoices over those who give to the needy.

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 71:

 

If your brother is weak—I speak of the poor man—do not visit him empty-handed. Do good under God; pay your obedience by your money. Then he will be restored; or if he dies, he will at least be comforted before he dieas. He has nothing to pay you, but the Founder and Author of the world will repay you on his behalf. 

 

Or if it should displease you to go to the poor man, always hateful, send money, and something, he may recover himself. And, similarly, if your poor sister lies on a sick-bed, let your maidservant bring to her food. God, Himself cries out, Break your bread to the needy. There is no need to visit with words, but with benefits. It is wicked that your brother should be sick through want of food. Do not satisfy him with words. He needs meat and drink. Look upon such assuredly weakened, who are not able to act for themselves. Give to them at once. I pledge my word that fourfold will be given to you by God.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Unity of the Church

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 26:

 

Then, they used to sell houses and estates, hoping they would lay up for themselves treasures in heaven. They presented to the apostles the price of them to be distributed for the poor to use. But now we do not even give the tenths from our estate, and while our Lord bids us sell, we rather buy and increase our store. So has the power of faith dwindled among us; thus has the strength of believers grown weak.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Lapsed 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraphs 6, 11-12:

 

[As to why God allowed a recent period of persecution:] Each one desired to increase his estate. He was forgetful of what believers had either done before in the times of the apostles or should always do. They devoted themselves to the increase of their property with the unsatisfiable enthusiasm of greed….Not a few bishops who should furnish both warning and example to others, despising their divine charge, became agents in secular business. They forsook their throne, deserted their people, wandered about over foreign provinces, hunted the markets for gainful merchandise, while brothers and sisters were starving in the Church. They sought to possess money in hoards. They seized estates by crafty deceits. They increased their gains by exploiting others…

 

The truth, brothers, must not be disguised, nor must the matter and cause of our wound be concealed. A blind love of one’s own property has deceived many. They could not be prepared for, or at ease in, departing when their wealth bound them like a chain. Those were the chains to them that remained—those were the bonds by which both virtue was retarded and faith burdened and the spirit bound and the soul hindered. Those involved in earthly things will become booty and food for the serpent, which, according to God’s sentence, feeds upon the earth. 

 

And therefore, the Lord, the teacher of good things, warning for the future time, says, “If you will be perfect, go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” If rich men did this, they would not perish by their riches; if they laid up treasure in heaven, they would not now have a domestic enemy and assailant. Heart and mind and feeling would be in heaven, if the treasure were in heaven; nor could he be overcome by the world if he had nothing in the world to be overcome by. He would follow the Lord unbound and free, as the apostles did, and many in the times of the apostles, and many who forsook both their livelihood and their relatives and clung to Christ with undivided ties.

 

But how can they follow Christ if they are held back by the chain of their wealth? Or how can those who are weighed down by earthly desires seek heaven and climb to lofty heights? They think that they possess, when they are instead possessed, as slaves of their profit, not lords with respect to their own money, but rather the bond-slaves of their money.

 

 

Cyprian’s On Works and Alms

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraphs 2, 10, 13, 19:

 

The Holy Spirit speaks in the sacred Scriptures and says, “Sins are purged by giving to the poor and by faith.” This doesn’t refer to those sins which had been previously committed, for those are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ. Moreover, He says, “As water extinguishes fire, so giving to the poor quenches sin.” It is also shown and proved that as in the washing of saving water, the fire of hell is extinguished, so by giving to the poor and works of righteousness, the flame of sins is subdued. In baptism, the remission of sins is granted once for all, and constant and ceaseless labor, following the likeness of baptism, once again gives the mercy of God…

 

You are afraid that you may not regain your estate if you begin to act liberally and get rid of it. Miserable man that you are, you do not know that while you fear your family property should fail you, life itself, and salvation, are failing. While you are afraid your wealth will be diminished, you do not see that you yourself are being diminished in that you are a lover of wealth more than of your own soul. While you selfishly fear you will lose your estate, you yourself are perishing for the sake of your estate…

 

Divide your returns with the Lord your God. Share your gains with Christ. Make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, so He also may make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom…

 

Give your wealth that you are saving up for your heirs to Him. Let Him be the guardian for your children. Let Him be their trustee, their protector, by His divine majesty, against all worldly injuries.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on God

 Aristides' Apology 

(Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 1:

 

God is not born, not made. He is an ever-living being without beginning and without end, immortal, perfect, and incomprehensible. 

 

When I say He is "perfect," I mean there is nothing wrong with Him, and He does not need anything, but all things need Him…

 

The heavens do not limit Him, but the heavens and all things, visible and invisible, receive their bounds from Him. He has no real adversary, because nothing exists that is stronger than He…

 

Ignorance and forgetfulness are not in His nature, for He is the epitome of wisdom and understanding.

 

 

Justin Martyr's Hortatory Address to the Greeks

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 21:

 

God cannot be called by any proper name because names are given to mark out and distinguish their object…but no one existed before God who could give Him a name, nor did He Himself think it right to name Himself, seeing that He is one and unique, as He Himself also testifies by His own prophets when He says, "I God am the first," and after this, "And besides Me, there is no other God." 

 

So, when He sent Moses to the Hebrews, God did not mention any name, but by a word, He mystically teaches them that He is the one and only God. "For," says He; "I am the Being;" contrasting Himself, "the Being," with those false gods so that those people who had been deceived up to this point might see that they were attaching themselves not to real gods but to those who had no being. 

 

 

Novatian's On the Trinity

(Mid-3rd Century)

Chapter 2:

 

He contains all things, so there can be nothing beyond Himself. Since He didn't have a beginning, He won't have an ending…

 

He is always unbounded because nothing is greater than He; always eternal, because nothing is more ancient than He. He has no time, no beginning, so nothing can come before Him. He is immortal and fully complete in Himself. And since everything that is without beginning cannot be subject to any outside law, He owes nothing to anyone. 

 

The human mind cannot worthily conceive Him and all His attributes. No one is eloquent enough to do justice to His majesty. If we could conceive of Him or speak of all that He is, that would make Him less than what He really is. He is greater than our minds…

 

For, to repeat once more, what can you worthily say of Him who is loftier than all excellence, and higher than all height, and deeper than all depth, and clearer than all light, and brighter than all brightness, more brilliant than all splendor, stronger than all strength, more powerful than all power, and more mighty than all might, and greater than all majesty, and more potent than all potency, and richer than all riches, more wise than all wisdom, and more kind than all kindness, better than all goodness, more just than all justice, more merciful than all mercy?

 

 

Novatian's On the Trinity

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 4:

 

What He is, He always is; and who He is, He is always Himself; and what character He has, He always has. 

 

For if He could increase or grow, that would imply He had a beginning from which to grow. If He could decrease or experience some sort of loss, that would prove He could die. Therefore, He says, "I am God. I change not;" in that what is not born cannot suffer change, always holding His condition. For whatever it is about Him that makes Him divine, that must always exist, maintaining itself by its own powers, so that He should always be God.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Heaven

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 2:

 

Some have endured plagues, prisons, great torment and trials, crosses, and wild beasts, for God’s name’s sake. On this account, they are assigned the division of sanctification and grace on the right hand, along with everyone who will suffer for God’s name. The rest are assigned the division on the left. The same gifts and promises are available for those on the right and the left; only those who sit on the right have more glory.

 

 

Apocalypse of Peter

(Early 2nd Century)

1:4-19:

 

The Lord said, “Let us go up the mountain to pray.” And going with Him, we, the twelve disciples, begged Him to show us one of our brothers, the righteous who have gone before us, so that we might see what their form is like, and having taken courage, might also encourage the men who hear us.

 

And as we prayed, suddenly, two men appeared, standing before the Lord facing the East. We were not able to look at them because a ray, like that of the sun, shone from their faces, and their robes were shining, unlike anything we had ever seen. No mouth could express or heart conceive the glory they had been granted and the beauty of their appearance. And as we looked at them, we were astounded; their bodies were whiter than any snow and more pink than any rose; and the red was mingled with the white, and I am completely unable to express their beauty. Their hair was curly and bright, coming down to their shoulders, and it was the same with their beard, so that all their hair was like a wreath around their head, woven of beautiful flowers, or like a rainbow in the sky, just like their righteousness.

 

We were in awe of their beauty since they appeared suddenly. And I approached the Lord and said, “Who are they?” 

 

He said to me, “These are your brothers, the righteous, whose forms you wanted to see. 

 

And I said to him, “And where are all the righteous ones, and what is the time period in which they are and have this glory?”

 

And the Lord showed me a very great country outside of this world, exceeding bright with light, and the air there lit up with the rays of the sun, and the earth was blooming with unfading flowers and full of spices and plants, fair-flowering and incorruptible and bearing blessed fruit. And so great was the perfume of that place that it even infused us. Those who lived in that place were dressed in the clothing of shining angels, and their clothing was like their country, and angels hovered about them. And the glory of the people who lived there was equal to one another, and with one voice, they sang praises alternately to the Lord God, rejoicing. The Lord said to us, “This is the place of your high-priests, the righteous men.”

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 3, Paragraph 3:

 

Listen to this about the seven heavens. The lowest is the most gloomy because it is near all the sin and evildoing of men. The second has fire, snow, and ice, ready for the day of the Lord's command in the righteous judgment of God. All the spirits who will pay back the wicked in wrath are here. In the third are the hosts of the armies appointed for the day of judgment to bring justice to the spirits of deceit and of Beliar, the evil one. 

 

And the rest of the heavens are holy. In the highest of all dwells the Great Glory—God, in the holy of holies, far above all holiness. In the next heaven down are the angels of the presence of the Lord, who minister and make amends to the Lord for all the ignorances of the righteous, and they offer the Lord a sweet-smelling scent and a bloodless offering. And in the heaven below this are the angels who deliver answers to the angels of the presence of the Lord. And in the heaven next to this are thrones and dominions, in which hymns are continually offered to God.

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 3, Paragraph 18:

 

And He will open the gates of paradise and remove the threatening sword against Adam. He will allow His saints to eat from the tree of life, and the spirit of holiness will be on them.

 

 

Fragments of Papias

(Early 2nd Century)

4:

 

As the elders and ministers say, those who are deemed worthy of a home in heaven will go there, others will enjoy the delights of Paradise. Others will possess the splendor of the city, because the Savior will be seen everywhere, according to those who are worthy who see Him. But there is a distinction between the heavenly home of those who produce a hundredfold and those who produce sixty-fold and those who produce thirty-fold. The first will be taken up into the heavens, the second class will dwell in Paradise, and the last will inhabit the city. Because of this, the Lord said, "In my Father's house are many mansions."

 

All things belong to God, who supplies everyone with a suitable dwelling-place. As His word says, a share is given to all by the Father, based on each one’s worth. And this is the place where they will recline at the feast, having been invited to the wedding. 

 

The elders, disciples of the apostles, say this is the arrangement of those saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature. Moreover, they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father; and in due time, the Son will yield His work to the Father, as it is said by the apostle, "For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." For in the times of the kingdom, the just man who is on the earth will forget to die. 

 

 

Irenaeus’ Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching

(Late 2nd Century)

Chapter 9:

 

This world is encompassed by seven heavens, where the powers and angels dwell—angels and archangels, doing service to God, the Almighty and Maker of all things, not because He was in need, but because they should not be idle and unprofitable and useless. 

 

Therefore, the Spirit of God is manifold in His indwelling, and He is elevated by the prophet Isaiah in seven forms of service, as resting on the Son of God, that is the Word, in His coming as man. He says the spirits will rest upon Him: “The Spirit of God, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness; the Spirit of the fear of God will fill him.” 

 

Now the first heaven encompasses the rest. It encompasses that of wisdom; and the second from it, of understanding; and the third, of counsel; and the fourth, elevated from above, is that of might; and the fifth, of knowledge; and the sixth, of godliness; and the seventh, this sky of ours, which is full of the fear of that Spirit who gives light to the heavens. For, modeled after this pattern, Moses received the seven-branched candlestick.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Exhortation to the Heathen

(Early 3rd Century)

Chapter 10, Paragraph 4:

 

Who follows the path to death, when it is in his power to be a citizen of heaven and to cultivate Paradise and walk around in heaven and share in the tree of life and immortality, and, making his way through the sky along the path of a cloud (like Elijah) see the rain of salvation?

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Hell

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 4:

 

The heathen and sinners are like withered and unfruitful trees. They will be burnt like wood and made to be an example of because their actions were evil during their lives. For the sinners will be consumed because they sinned and did not repent, and the heathen will be burned because they did not know Him who created them.

 

 

Apocalypse of Peter

(Early 2nd Century)

1:20-33:

 

I saw a filthy place of punishment. Those who were punished there and the punishing angels had dark clothing, like the air of the place.

 

And there were certain people there hanging by the tongue, they were those who spoke evil about the way of righteousness; and under them lay fire, burning and punishing them. And there was a great lake, full of flaming mire and muck that contained certain men who misused righteousness, and tormenting angels afflicted them.

 

And there were also others, women, hanged by their hair over that mire and muck that bubbled up. They were those who adorned themselves for adultery; and the men who mingled with them in the sin of adultery were hanging by the feet and their heads in that mire and muck. And I said, “I did not believe that I would ever see this place.”

 

And I saw the murderers and those who conspired with them cast into a certain narrow place that was full of evil snakes, and they were bitten by those beasts, tossing to and fro in that punishment. And worms like clouds of darkness afflicted them. And the souls of the murdered stood and looked upon the punishment of those murderers and said, “O God, your judgment is just.”

 

And near that place, I saw a valley into which the gore and the filth of those who were being punished ran down and became a lake. Women sat in that lake with gore up to their necks, and across from them sat many crying children who were aborted. There came forth from the crying children sparks of fire and struck the women in the eyes, for these were women are the accursed who conceived and had abortions.

 

And other men and women were burning up to the middle and were cast into a dark place and were beaten by evil spirits, and restless worms ate their insides; these are those who persecuted and tormented the righteous.

 

And near those, there were more women and men gnawing their own lips and being punished with a red-hot iron put in their eyes; these are they who blasphemed and slandered the way of righteousness.

 

Again, there were other men and women gnawing their tongues and having flaming fire in their mouths; these are the liars and false witnesses.

 

And in another place, there were pebbles sharper than swords and red-hot. Women and men in tattered clothing rolled around on them in punishment. These were the rich who trusted in their riches and had no pity for orphans and widows and despised the commandment of God.

 

And in another great lake, men and women were standing knee-deep in blood and bubbling mire. These are the financial lenders who charge interest.

 

And other men and women were being hurled down from a great cliff. When they reached the bottom, they were driven by those who were set over them to climb back up the cliff. Again, they were hurled down; they had no rest from this punishment. These are the ones who defiled their bodies acting like women, and the women who were with them were those who lay with one another as a man with a woman.

 

And alongside that cliff, there was a place full of fire. There stood men who with their own hands had made for themselves carven images instead of worshiping God. And alongside these were other men and women, having rods and striking each other and never ceasing from punishment.

 

And other women and men near them were burning and turning themselves and roasting. These were the ones who left way of God.

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 10, Paragraph 6:

 

If the soul leaves the earth troubled, it is tormented by the evil spirit it served in lusts and evil works; but if it goes quietly and with joy, it has known the angel of peace, and it will comfort him in life.

 

 

The Christian Sibylline Oracles

(2nd Century)

Book 2:315-383:

 

The godless furthermore

Will die forever, all who did

Evil previously, and committed murders,

And all who are accomplices of them,

Liars and thieves, and those who ruin the home,

Crafty and terrible, and parasites,

And marriage-breakers speaking disgraceful words,

Dread, shameless, lawless, and idolaters.

 

And all who left the great immortal God,

Became blasphemers and harmed the believers,

Destroying faith and killing righteous men.

 

And all who with shamelessness, deceitful,

And double-faced rush in as elders 

And reverend ministers, who knowingly

Give unjust judgments, submitting to false words

More hurtful than the leopards and the wolves

And more vile. 

 

And those who are grossly proud

And financiers, who amass more and more wealth

And damage orphans and widows in each thing.

 

And all who give to widows and to orphans

The fruit of unjust deeds, and all that cast

Reproach in giving from their own hard toils.

 

And all who left their parents in old age,

Not paying them at all, nor offering

To parents familial duty, and all who

Were disobedient and against their parents

Spoke a harsh word. 

 

And all who made promises

And then denied them. 

And the servants 

Who were against their masters, and again

Those who corruptly defiled the flesh;

And all who loosed the undergarments of the maid

For secret intercourse, and all who caused

Abortions, and all whose offspring were cast

Away unlawfully; and sorcerers

And sorceresses with them. 

 

And these, wrath

Of the heavenly and immortal God will drive

Against a pillar where all around 

In a circle will flow a restless stream of fire;

And deathless angels of the immortal God,

Whoever is, will bind with lasting bonds

In chains of flaming fire and from above

Punish them all by scourge most terribly.

 

And in Hell, in the gloom of night,

Will they be thrown under many horrid beasts

Of Tartarus, where darkness is immense.

But when there are many punishments

Enforced on all who had an evil heart,

Yet afterward will a fiery wheel

From a great river will circle them around,

Because they had a care for wicked deeds.

And then one here, another there

Young children, mothers, nursing babes, in tears

Will wail their most miserable fate. No fill of tears

Will they find, nor distressing voice be heard

Of them who moan, one here, another there,

But long worn under dark, dank Tartarus

Out loud will they cry; and they will repay

In cursed places three times as much as all

The evil work they did, burned with much fire.

 

And all of them, consumed by raging thirst

And hunger, will in anguish gnash their teeth

And call death beautiful, and death will flee

Away from them. For neither death nor night

Will ever give them rest. And many things in vain

Will they ask of the God who rules on high,

And then he will turn his face openly

Away from them. For to erring men

He gav, signs in the hands of a virgin undefiled

In seven ages for repentance.

 

 

The Christian Sibylline Oracles

(2nd Century)

Book 2:404-415:

 

And to the righteous will the almighty God

Eternal grant another thing

When they will ask the eternal God:

That He will sustain men from raging fire

And endless gnawing anguish to be saved;

And this will He do. For hereafter He

Will pluck them from the restless flame, elsewhere

Remove them, and for His own people's sake

Send them to other and eternal life

With the immortals in heaven.

This obviously false, for the punishing fire

Will never cease for those who are punished.

Also I might pray to have it so,

Branded with greatest scars of sin,

Which need more kindness. But let Origen

Of his self-confident babble be ashamed,

Saying there will be an end of punishments.

Where move far-stretching billows of the lake

Of ever-flowing, bottomless Acheron River.

 

 

Apocalypse of Peter

(Early 2nd Century): 

 

And [Jesus] showed me in His right hand the souls of all men. On the palm of His right hand was the image of what will be accomplished on the last day. The righteous and the sinners will be separated. The righteous are upright in heart, and the evil-doers will be rooted out to all eternity. We saw how the sinners cried in great affliction and sorrow, and all that saw it cried, including the righteous and angels, and He Himself also cried.

 

And I asked Him, “Lord, permit me to speak Your word about the sinners: It would be better for them if they had not been created.” 

 

And the Savior answered and said to me, “Peter, when you say it would be better for them not to have been created, you resist God. You cannot have more compassion than He does for His image, for He has created them and brought them to life out of not being. Now, because you have seen the mourning that will come upon the sinners in the last days, your heart is troubled; but I will show you their works, how they have sinned against the Most High…”

 

[The destiny of sinners -their eternal doom- is more than Peter can endure. He appeals to Christ to have pity on them.]

 

And my Lord answered me, saying, “Have you understood what I said to you before? You are allowed to know about what you ask, but you must not tell what you hear to the sinners, or they may sin even more…My Father will give to them all the life, the glory, and the kingdom that does not pass away…It is because of them who have believed in Me that I am here. It is also because of them who have believed in Me, that, at their word, I will have pity on men.” 

 

 

Oxyrhynchus Fragment 840

(Early to Mid-2nd Century)

verses 2-7:

 

Jesus said, “Be careful that you do not end up suffering the same fate as them. For the evil-doers of humanity receive retaliation not only among the living, but they will also undergo punishment and much torture later."

 

 

2 Clement

(Early to Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 8:

 

As long as we are on earth, let us practice repentance, for we are as clay in the hand of the craftsman. For as the potter, if he makes a vessel, and it is distorted or broken in his hands, he fashions it over again; but if he has cast it into the furnace of fire before it is broken, he can no longer find any help for it. So, while we are in this world and still have an opportunity of repentance, let us repent with our whole heart of the evil deeds we have done in the flesh so that we may saved by the Lord. For after we have gone out of the world, we will not have the power to confess or repent for us.

 

 

Mathetes’ Letter to Diognetus

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 10:

 

Fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who will be condemned to the eternal fire that will afflict those who are committed to it even to the end.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 45:

 

Some are sent to be punished unceasingly into judgment and the condemnation of fire.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 28:

 

We call the prince of the wicked spirits the serpent, and Satan, and the devil, as you can learn by looking into our writings. And there, you’ll see Christ foretold that Satan will be sent into the fire with his host and the men who follow him, and he will be punished for an endless duration.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Second Apology

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 6:

 

Since God made the race of angels and men with free will in the beginning, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed. And this is the nature of all that is made, to be capable of vice and virtue, for no one would be worthy of praise unless they had the power to turn to both virtue and vice.

 

 

The Acts of Peter

(Mid to Late 2nd Century)

Part 3, Paragraph 2:

 

If you do not repent while you live in the body, devouring fire and outer darkness will receive you forever.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 3

(Late 2nd Century)

Chapter 23, Paragraph 3:

 

Immediately after Adam had transgressed, as the Scripture relates, He pronounced no curse against Adam personally but against the ground, in reference to his works, as a certain person among the ancients has observed: "God did indeed transfer the curse to the earth, that it might not remain in man." But man received, as punishment for his transgression, the backbreaking job of tilling the earth and eating the bread in the sweat of his face. He will return to the dust from where he came. Similarly, the woman received hard work, labor, groans, the pains of birth. She received the job of serving her husband. 

 

This was all so that they might not die altogether when cursed by God, nor, by remaining unpunished, should be led to despise God. But the curse in all its fulness fell upon the serpent that had deceived them. And God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and above all the beasts of the earth." And the Lord says this same thing in the Gospel to those who are found upon the left hand: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels," indicating that eternal fire was not originally prepared for man but for him who deceived man, the chief of the apostasy, and for those angels who became apostates along with him. They too will justly feel the fire, like him who keeps going in works of wickedness without repentance and without retracing their steps.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 4

(Late 2nd Century)

 Chapter 39, Paragraph 4:

 

Because God knows all things, He prepared fit homes for both, kindly conferring the light they desire on those seeking the light of righteousness and resort to it. But for the despisers and mockers who avoid and turn themselves away from this light, and who blind themselves, He has prepared darkness suitable to persons who oppose the light. 

 

He has inflicted an appropriate punishment upon those who try to avoid being subject to Him. Submission to God is eternal rest, so those who shun the light have a place worthy of their flight, and those who flee from eternal rest have a home in accordance with their fleeing. 

 

Now, since all good things are with God, they who, by their own determination, flee from God, cheated themselves of all good things. Having been defrauded of all good things concerning God, they will consequently fall under the just judgment of God. Those who shun rest will justly incur punishment, and those who avoid the light will justly dwell in darkness. 

 

In the case of this earthly light, those who turn away from it do deliver themselves over to darkness. They become the cause for their own loss of light and inhabit darkness; and, as I have already observed, the light is not the cause of such an unhappy condition of existence; those who flee from the eternal light of God, which contains all good things, are the cause of their own eternal darkness, lacking all good things, having become to themselves the cause of the home of they will inhabit.

 

 

Hippolytus’ Refutation of All Heresies Book 10

(Early 3rd Century)

 Chapter 30:

 

You will escape the boiling flood of hell's eternal lake of fire and the threatening glare of fallen angels chained in Tartarus as punishment for their sins. You will escape the worm that ceaselessly coils for food around the body whose scum has created it. You will avoid these kinds of torments by being instructed in the knowledge of the true God.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Fragments

(Early 3rd Century)

Chapter 3, Paragraph 14:

 

[Commenting on 1 John 2] Ver. 2. "And not only for our sins,"--that is, for those of the faithful--is the Lord the appeaser, for he says, "but also for the whole world." Yes, He saves all, but He saves some by converting them with punishments. He saves others, who follow voluntarily, with the dignity of honor so "that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth;" that is, angels, men, and souls that have departed from this earthly life before His arrival.

 

 

Origen’s Against Celsus Book 6

(Early to Mid-3rd Century)

Chapter 25:

 

We find a certain confirmation of what is said regarding the place of punishment intended for the purification of souls by torments in the saying: "The Lord comes like a refiner's fire, and like launders' soap, and He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and of gold."

 

 

The Roman Clergy’s Letter to Cyprian

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 7:

 

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, but He has also prepared the vast and eternal gloom of continuous night.

 

 

Cyprian’s Address to Demetrianus

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 24:

 

An ever-burning fire will burn up the condemned—a punishment devouring with living flames. They will never either a break or an end to their torments. Souls, with their bodies, will be kept in infinite tortures to suffer.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Holy Spirit

 Barnabas' Epistle 

(1st Century) 

Chapter 16:

 

A temple does exist. Learn, then, how it will be built in the name of the Lord. Before we believed in God, our heart was corrupt and weak, like a temple made with hands. For it was full of idolatry and was a place where demons lived because we did what was opposed to God. 

 

But the temple will be built in the name of the Lord so that the temple of the Lord may be built in glory. How? 

 

Having received the forgiveness of sins and placed our trust in the name of the Lord, we have become new creatures, formed again from the beginning. So, God truly dwells in us. How? 

 

His word of faith; His calling of promise; the wisdom of the statutes; the commands of the doctrine; He Himself prophesying in us; He Himself dwelling in us; opening to us who were enslaved by death the doors of the temple, that is, the mouth; and by giving us repentance, He introduced us into the incorruptible temple. 

 

So, whoever wants to be saved looks not to man but to Him who lives in him and speaks in him, amazed at never having said such things before, nor wanting to hear them before. This is the spiritual temple built for the Lord.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 5, Chapter 1:

 

"Be patient," said the angel, "and of good understanding, and you will rule over every wicked work, and you will work all righteousness. For if you are patient, the Holy Spirit that dwells in you will be pure. He will not be darkened by any evil spirit, but, dwelling in an open area, He will rejoice and be glad; and with the vessel in which He dwells, He will serve God in gladness, having great peace within Himself. 

 

"But if any outburst of anger takes place, the Holy Spirit, who is tender, is squeezed in, not having a pure place, and He seeks to depart. For He is choked by the vile spirit and cannot attend on the Lord as He wishes, for anger pollutes Him. For the Lord dwells in long-suffering, but the devil in anger. The two spirits, then, when dwelling in the same place, do not agree with each other and cause trouble for that man in whom they dwell."

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 10, Chapter 2:

 

Remove grief from you and crush not the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, or He will ask God to act against you, and He will withdraw from you. For the Spirit of God who has been granted to us to dwell in this body does not endure grief or being confined. 

 

So put on cheerfulness, which is always pleasing to God, and rejoice in it. For every cheerful man does what is good and minds what is good and despises grief. But the sorrowful man always acts wickedly. First, he acts wickedly because he grieves the Holy Spirit, who was given to man as a cheerful Spirit. Secondly, grieving the Holy Spirit, he does wrong, neither praying to the Lord nor confessing to Him. For the prayer of the sorrowful man has no power to ascend to the altar of God." 

 

"Why," I asked, "doesn’t the prayer of the grieving man ascend to the altar?” 

 

“Because,” he said, “grief sits in his heart. Grief, then, mingled with his prayer, does not permit the prayer to ascend pure to the altar of God. For as vinegar and wine when mixed in the same cup do not give the same pleasure as pure wine does, so grief mixed with the Holy Spirit does not produce the same kind of pure prayer as would be produced by the Holy Spirit alone. 

 

“Cleanse yourself from this wicked grief, and you will live to God. And all will live to God who drive away grief from them and put on all cheerfulness.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 11:

 

The angel said, “Look at the power that comes from above. Hail is the size of a very small grain, yet when it falls on a man’s head, how much annoyance it gives him! Or, again, take the drop that falls from a pitcher to the ground, and yet it hollows a stone. You see, then, that the smallest things coming from above have great power when they fall upon the earth. 

 

So also is the Divine Spirit, who comes from above, powerful. Trust, then, that Spirit.”

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies Book 5 

(Late 2nd Century)

Chapter 8, Paragraph 1:

 

We do receive a portion of His Spirit, perfecting us and preparing us for incorruption. Little by little, He accustoms us to receive and bear God. The apostle terms this portion of His Spirit a deposit; that is, a part of the honor that has been promised to us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "You were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession." This deposit living in us makes us spiritual even now, and the mortal is swallowed up by immortality.

 

 

Origen’s Against Celsus

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 6, Chapter 4:

 

The Jewish prophets, who were enlightened as far as was necessary for their prophetic work by the Spirit of God, were the first to enjoy the benefit of the inspiration; and by the contact-of the Holy Spirit, they became clearer in mind, and their souls were filled with a brighter light. And the body no longer hindered them from living a virtuous life, for their bodies were deadened to "the lust of the flesh." For we are persuaded that the Divine Spirit "mortifies the deeds of the body" and destroys our enmity against God, which the carnal passions only make worse.

 

 

Origen’s Against Celsus

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 6, Chapter 8:

 

The Holy Spirit gave signs of His presence at the beginning of Christ's ministry, and after His ascension, He gave still more. But since that time, these signs have diminished, although there are still traces of His presence in a few who have had their souls purified by the Gospel and their actions regulated by its influence.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Pompey

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 5:

 

For he who has been sanctified, his sins being put away in baptism, and been spiritually reformed into a new man, has become fitted for receiving the Holy Spirit.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Humility

Sentences of Sextus 

(Early 3rd Century)

Selections:

 

(389b) Rather than claiming to be wise, show evidence of your wisdom. 

 

(390) Give glory and thanks to God for all your success, for God is behind it. 

 

(394/395) Know who God is, and know Who thinks in you; a good man is the good work of God.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Hypocrites and Heretics

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 35:

 

The fact that some men are confessing themselves to be Christians and admitting the crucified Jesus to be both Lord and Christ, yet not teaching His doctrines but their own, causes us who are disciples of the true and pure doctrine of Jesus Christ to be more faithful and steadfast in the hope announced by Him. For those things He predicted would take place in His name, these we do believe will be accomplished in our sight. For he said, 'Many will come in My name, clothed outwardly in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." And, 'There will be disagreements and error.' And, 'Beware of false prophets, who will come to you clothed outwardly in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.' And, 'Many false Christs and false apostles will arise and will deceive many of the faithful.' There are and were many coming forward in the name of Jesus, taught both to speak and act in unholy and godless ways; and we call these after the name of the men from whom each doctrine and opinion had its origin.

 

Some in one way, others in another, teach men to disrespect the Maker of all things, and Christ, who was foretold by Him as coming, and the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. We have nothing in common with these men since we know them to be atheists, unholy, unrighteous, and sinful, and confessors of Jesus in name only, not true worshippers of Him. Yet they style themselves as Christians, just as certain people among the Gentiles write the name of God upon the works of their own hands, and partake in sinful and unholy rites.

 

Some are called Marcians, and some Valentinians, and some Basilidians, and some Saturnilians, and others by other names. Each is called after the originator of the individual opinion, just like each one of those who consider themselves philosophers thinks he must bear the name of the philosophy which he follows, named after the father of that particular doctrine.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5

(Late 2nd Century)

 Chapter 8, Paragraphs 2-4:

 

Those who reject the Spirit's counsel and are the slaves of fleshly lusts and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headfirst into their own desires, having no longing for the Divine Spirit, live like pigs and of dogs; these men, the apostle very properly term "carnal," because they have no thought of anything else except fleshly things…This means that it is his own fault that he is likened to cattle, by rivaling their irrational life…

 

Now the law has figuratively predicted all these, characterizing man by the various animals: whatsoever of these, says the Scripture, have a double hoof and are ruminants, also known as herbivores, are considered clean; but whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these properties is considered unclean. Who then are the clean? Those who make their way by faith steadily toward the Father and the Son. This is denoted by the steadiness of those that divide the hoof. They meditate day and night on God’s words so that they may be adorned with good works: this is the meaning of the ruminants. 

 

However, the unclean are those who neither divide the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those who have neither faith in God nor meditate on His words: and such is the curse of the Gentiles. But as to those animals that do chew the cud but do not have a double hoof and are unclean, we have in them a figurative description of the Jews, who certainly have the words of God in their mouth but who do not fix their rooted steadfastness in the Father and in the Son. Therefore, they are an unstable people. Those animals that have the hoof all in one piece easily slip. Those that have it divided are more sure-footed, their cleft hoofs succeeding each other as they advance, and the one hoof supporting the other. 

 

In the same way, those that have a double hoof but do not ruminate are unclean. This is plainly an indication of all skeptics and of those who do not meditate on the words of God, nor are adorned with works of righteousness. To these, the Lord says, "Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things I tell you to?" For men of this kind say they believe in the Father and the Son, but they never meditate as they should on the things of God, nor are they adorned with works of righteousness.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Jesus

 The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Similitude 5, Chapter 6:

 

God made the holy, pre-existent Spirit that created every creature to dwell in flesh. This flesh in which the Holy Spirit dwelt was subject to that Spirit, walking religiously and chastely, in no way defiling the Spirit; and after living excellently and purely, and after laboring and co-operating with the Spirit, and having acted vigorously and courageously along with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit assumed the flesh as a partner… 

 

For the flesh that has been found without spot or defilement, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, will receive a reward.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 12:

 

"First of all, sir," I said, "explain this to me: What is the meaning of the rock and the gate I saw in my vision?"

 

"This rock," the angel answered, "and this gate are the Son of God." 

 

"How, sir?" I said, "The rock is old, and the gate is new." 

 

"Listen," he said, "and understand, O ignorant man. The Son of God is older than all His creatures, so that He was a fellow-councilor with the Father in His work of creation: for this reason, He is old." 

 

"And why is the gate new, sir?" I said. 

 

"Because," he answered, "He became manifest in these last days: for this reason, the gate was made new, that they who are to be saved by it might enter into the kingdom of God. Did you see," he said, "that those stones that came in through the gate were used for the building of the tower, and that those that did not come through the gate were thrown back again to their own place?" 

 

"I saw, sir," I replied. 

 

"In the same way," he continued, "no one will enter into the kingdom of God unless he receives His holy name. For if you desire to enter into a city, and that city is surrounded by a wall and has only one gate, can you enter into that city except through that one gate?" 

 

"Why, how can it be otherwise, sir?" I said. 

 

"If, then, you cannot enter into the city except through its gate, so, in the same way, a man cannot enter into the kingdom of God except by the name of His beloved Son. Did you see," he added, "the multitude who were building the tower?" 

 

"I saw them, sir," I said. 

 

"Those," he said, "are all glorious angels, and the Lord is surrounded by them. And the gate is the Son of God. This is the one entrance to the Lord. In no other way, then, shall anyone enter in to Him except through His Son. Did you see," he continued, "the six men, and the tall and glorious man in the midst of them, who walked around the tower and rejected the stones from the building?" 

 

"I saw him, sir," I answered. 

 

"The glorious man," he said, "is the Son of God, and those six glorious angels are those who support Him on the right hand and on the left. None of these glorious angels," he continued, "will enter in to God apart from Him. Whoever does not receive His name shall not enter into the kingdom of God."

 

 

The Christian Sibylline Oracles

(2nd Century) 

Book 8: 437-440:

 

Know your God Himself, who is God's Son;

Glorify Him and hold Him within your heart.

Love Him from your soul and extol His name.

 

 

Odes of Solomon

(1st or 2nd Century) 

7:3-16:

 

There is a Helper for me, the Lord. He has generously shown Himself to me in His simplicity, because His kindness has diminished His dreadfulness.

 

He became like me that I might receive Him. In form, He was considered like me, that I might put Him on.

 

And I trembled not when I saw Him, because He was gracious to me.

 

He took on a nature like mine so that I might understand Him. And like my form, that I might not turn away from Him.

 

The Father of knowledge is the Word of knowledge.

 

He who created wisdom is wiser than His works.

 

And He who created me when I was not knew what I would do when I came into being.

 

On account of this, He was gracious to me in His abundant grace and allowed me to pray to Him and to benefit from His sacrifice.

 

For He is the one who is incorrupt, the perfection of the worlds and their Father.

 

The Father has allowed Him to appear to them that are His own so that that they may recognize Him that made them and not suppose that they came of themselves.

 

 

Ignatius' Letter to the Philadelphians

(Late 1st Century or Early 2nd Century) 

Chapter 9:

 

The priests indeed are good, but the High Priest is better. He is the one to whom the Holy of Holies has been committed and who alone has been trusted with the secrets of God. He is the door to the Father, through which Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the prophets and the apostles and the Church all enter in.

 

 

Ignatius' Letter to the Ephesians

(Late 1st Century or Early 2nd Century) 

7:

 

There is one Physician who has both flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

 

Ignatius' Letter to the Ephesians

(Late 1st Century or Early 2nd Century) 

Chapter 19:

 

Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world, and so was her Offspring and the death of the Lord; three famous mysteries that God worked in silence. 

 

How, then, was He manifested to the world? A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the light of which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, along with the sun and moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. 

 

And the prince of this world was agitated because this new spectacle was so unlike everything else in the heavens. So every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. What God had prepared beforehand was taking place. So after this, all things were in a state of tumult because He planned the abolition of death.

 

 

Aristides' Apology 

(Early 2nd Century) 

Chapter 14:

 

The Christians trace the beginning of their religion from Jesus the Messiah, and He is named the Son of God Most High. And it is said that God came down from heaven and took on and clothed Himself with flesh from a Hebrew virgin, and the Son of God lived in a daughter of man.

 

 

Justin Martyr's Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 48:

 

There is definite proof this man is the Christ of God even if I can't prove He existed beforehand as Son of the Maker of all things, being God, and was born a man by the Virgin…For there are some who admit that He is Christ while holding Him to be a man only, an opinion I do not agree with.

 

 

Justin Martyr's Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 84:

 

The Spirit of prophecy foretold that the first-begotten of all creation would become incarnate by the Virgin's womb and be a child so that when it took place, people would recognize it as God's power and will at work. 

 

 

Justin Martyr's Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 87:

 

The Scripture says that all powers of the Spirit have come on Jesus, not because He needed them but because they would be completed in Him, so that there would be no more prophets in Israel; and this you can plainly see, for after Him, no prophet has arisen among the Jews.

 

 

Justin Martyr's Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 127:

 

Wherever Scripture says, "God went up from Abraham," or, "The Lord spoke to Moses," and "The Lord came down to behold the tower the sons of men had built," or when "God shut Noah into the ark," you must not imagine that the unbegotten God Himself came down or went up from any place. For the indescribable Father and Lord of all neither has come to any place, nor walks, nor sleeps, nor rises up, but remains in His own place, wherever that is, quick to behold and quick to hear, having neither eyes nor ears, but being of indescribable might; and He sees all things, and knows all things, and none of us escapes His observation; and He is not moved or confined to a spot in the whole world, for He existed before the world was made. 

 

How, then, could He talk with anyone, or be seen by anyone, or appear on the smallest portion of the earth, when the people at Sinai were not able to even look on the glory of Him who was sent from Him; and Moses himself could not enter into the tabernacle he had erected when it was filled with the glory of God; and the priest could not endure standing before the temple when Solomon placed the ark into the Lord's house in Jerusalem? 

 

The answer is that neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor any other man saw the Father and indescribable Lord of all, but they saw Him who was His Son.

 

 

Melito's Discourse on Soul and Body

(Mid to Late 2nd Century):

 

The earth shook, and its foundations trembled; the sun fled away, and the elements turned back, and the day was changed into night, for they could not endure the sight of their Lord hanging on a tree. 

 

The whole creation was amazed, marveling and saying, "What new mystery is this? The Judge is judged and holds His peace; the Invisible One is seen and is not ashamed; the Incomprehensible is laid hold of and is not indignant; the Unlimited is restricted and does not resist; the Impossible suffers and does not avenge; the Immortal dies and answers not a word; the Heavenly is laid in the grave and endures it! What new mystery is this?"

 

The whole creation was astonished; but, when our Lord arose from the place of the dead and trampled death underfoot and bound the strong one and set people free, then the whole creation saw clearly that all this was for humanity's sake. 

 

For our Lord, when He was born a human, was condemned so that He might show mercy, was bound so that He might free us, was seized so that He might release us, suffered so that He might feel compassion, died so that He might give life, was laid in the grave so that He might raise the dead.

 

 

Melito's Discourse on the Cross

(Mid to Late 2nd Century):

 

Though He was incorporeal, He formed for Himself a body like ours, appearing as a sheep, yet still remaining the Shepherd; being seen as a servant, yet not renouncing the Sonship; being carried in the womb of Mary, yet carrying the nature of His Father; walking upon the earth, yet filling heaven; appearing as an infant, yet not discarding the eternity of His nature; being invested with a body, yet not cutting Himself off from the Godhead; being poor, yet not divested of His riches; needing sustenance as a man, yet not ceasing to feed the entire world as God; putting on the likeness of a servant, yet not impairing the likeness of His Father…He was standing before Pilate, and at the same time was sitting with His Father; He was nailed upon the tree, and yet was the Lord of all things.

 

 

Melito's On Faith

(Mid to Late 2nd Century):

 

This Being is perfect reason, the Word of God; He who was begotten before the light; He who is Creator together with the Father; He who is the Fashioner of man; He who is all in all; He who among the patriarchs is Patriarch; He who in the law is the Law; among the priests, Chief Priest; among kings, the Ruler; among prophets, the Prophet; among the angels, Archangel; in the voice of the preacher, the Word; among spirits, the Spirit; in the Father, the Son; in God, God; King forever and ever. 

 

For this is He who was captain to Noah; He who was a guide to Abraham; He who was bound with Isaac; He who was in exile with Jacob; He who was sold with Joseph; He who was commander of the army with Moses; He who was the divider of the inheritance with Joshua the son of Nun; He who in David and the prophets announced His own sufferings…He who is the rest for those who are departed; the recoverer of those who are lost; the light of those who are in darkness; the deliverer of those who are captive; the guide of those who go astray; the refuge of the afflicted; the bridegroom of the Church; the charioteer of the cherubim; the general of the angels; God who is from God; the Son who is from the Father; Jesus Christ the King forevermore. 

 

 

Melito's On the Nature of Christ

(Mid to Late 2nd Century):

 

There is no need to try to prove that Jesus' soul and body, His human nature, was just as real as ours and not a phantom of the imagination. For the deeds done by Christ after His baptism, and especially His miracles, point to and prove the Deity hidden in His flesh. For, being at once both God and perfect man, He gave us sure evidence of His two natures: of His Deity, by His miracles during the three years that followed His baptism; of His humanity, during the thirty years before His baptism, in which, by reason of His low estate as regards the flesh, He concealed the signs of His Deity, although He was the true God existing before all ages.

 

 

Irenaeus' Against Heresies

(Late 2nd Century) 

Book 3, Chapter 19, Paragraph 3:

 

Just as Jesus became man to undergo temptation, so also was He the Word that He might be glorified; the Word remaining inactive so that He might be capable of being tempted, dishonored, crucified, and of suffering death, but the human nature being swallowed up in the divine when it conquered and endured and performed acts of kindness and rose again and was received up into heaven.

 

 

Fragments of Irenaeus'

(Late 2nd Century)

Paragraph 8:

 

As the ark of the covenant was glided inside and out with pure gold, so also was the body of Christ pure and resplendent; for it was adorned within by the Word and shielded externally by the Spirit so that from both materials, the splendor of the natures might be clearly shown forth.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria's Instructor

(Early 3rd Century) 

Book 1, Chapter 5, Paragraph 12:

 

The King, who is Christ, sees our laughter from above, and, as the Scripture says, like looking through a window, He views the thanksgiving and the blessing and the rejoicing and the gladness, and, what’s more, the endurance that works together with these things. He views His Church, showing only His face, which was what the Church was lacking but is now made perfect by Her royal Head.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Jews and the Law

Apology of Aristides 

(Early 2nd Century) 

Chapter 12:

Nevertheless they too erred from true knowledge. And in their imagination they conceive that it is God they serve; whereas by their mode of observance it is to the angels and not to God that their service is rendered:--as when they celebrate sabbaths and the beginning of the months, and feasts of unleavened bread, and a great fast; and fasting and circumcision and the purification of meats, which things, however, they do not observe perfectly.

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 18:

For we too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined you,--namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your hearts.

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 20:

"Moreover, you were commanded to abstain from certain kinds of food, in order that you might keep God before your eyes while you ate and drank, seeing that you were prone and very ready to depart from His knowledge...

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 21:

Moreover, that God enjoined you to keep the Sabbath, and impose on you other precepts for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your unrighteousness, and that of your fathers

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 31:

The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first.

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 33:

"As, then, circumcision began with Abraham, and the Sabbath and sacrifices and offerings and feasts with Moses, and it has been proved they were enjoined on account of the hardness of your people's heart, so it was necessary, in accordance with the Father's will, that they should have an end in Him who was born of a virgin, of the family of Abraham and tribe of Judah, and of David; in Christ the Son of God, who was proclaimed as about to come to all the world, to be the everlasting law and the everlasting covenant, even as the forementioned prophecies show.

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 45:

those who regulated their lives by the law of Moses would in like manner be saved. For what in the law of Moses is naturally good, and pious, and righteous, and has been prescribed to be done by those who obey it; and what was appointed to be performed by reason of the hardness of the people's hearts; was similarly recorded, and done also by those who were under the law. Since those who did that which is universally, naturally, and eternally good are pleasing to God, they shall be saved through this Christ in the resurrection equally with those righteous men who were before them

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 47:

But if some, through weak-mindedness, wish to observe such institutions as were given by Moses, from which they expect some virtue, but which we believe were appointed by reason of the hardness of the people's hearts, along with their hope in this Christ, and [wish to perform] the eternal and natural acts of righteousness and piety, yet choose to live with the Christians and the faithful, as I said before, not inducing them either to be circumcised like themselves, or to keep the Sabbath, or to observe any other such ceremonies, then I hold that we ought to join ourselves to such, and associate with them in all things as kinsmen and brethren. But if, Trypho," I continued, "some of your race, who say they believe in this Christ, compel those Gentiles who believe in this Christ to live in all respects according to the law given by Moses, or choose not to associate so intimately with them, I in like manner do not approve of them. But I believe that even those, who have been persuaded by them to observe the legal dispensation along with their confession of God in Christ, shall probably be saved. And I hold, further, that such as have confessed and known this man to be Christ, yet who have gone back from some cause to the legal dispensation, and have denied that this man is Christ, and have repented not before death, shall by no means be saved. Further, I hold that those of the seed of Abraham who live according to the law, and do not believe in this Christ before death, shall likewise not be saved, and especially those who have anathematized and do anathematize this very Christ in the synagogues, and everything by which they might obtain salvation and escape the vengeance of fire. For the goodness and the loving-kindness of God, and His boundless riches, hold righteous and sinless the man who, as Ezekiel tells, repents of sins; and reckons sinful, unrighteous, and impious the man who fails away from piety and righteousness to unrighteousness and ungodliness. 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 82: 

For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time. And hence you ought to understand that [the gifts] formerly among your nation [the Jews] have been transferred to us.

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5 

(Late 2nd Century), 

Chapter 8, Paragraphs 2-4:

But those who do indeed reject the Spirit's counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men, [I say], does the apostle very properly term "carnal," because they have no thought of anything else except carnal things…This denotes that, for his own fault, he is likened to cattle, by rivalling their irrational life…

4. Now the law has figuratively predicted all these, delineating man by the [various] animals: whatsoever of these, says [the Scripture], have a double hoof and ruminate, it proclaims as clean; but whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these [properties], it sets aside by themselves as unclean. Who then are the clean? Those who make their way by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son; for this is denoted by the steadiness of those which divide the hoof; and they meditate day and night upon the words of God, that they may be adorned with good works: for this is the meaning of the ruminants. The unclean, however, are those which do neither divide the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those persons who have neither faith in God, nor do meditate on His words: and such is the abomination of the Gentiles. But as to those animals which do indeed chew the cud, but have not the double hoof, and are themselves unclean, we have in them a figurative description of the Jews, who certainly have the words of God in their mouth, but who do not fix their rooted stedfastness in the Father and in the Son; wherefore they are an unstable generation. For those animals which have the hoof all in one piece easily slip; but those which have it divided are more sure-footed, their cleft hoofs succeeding each other as they advance, and the one hoof supporting the other. In like manner, too, those are unclean which have the double hoof but do not ruminate: this is plainly an indication of all heretics, and of those who do not meditate on the words of God, neither are adorned with works of righteousness; to whom also the Lord says, "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say to you? " For men of this stamp do indeed say that they believe in the Father and the Son, but they never meditate as they should upon the things of God, neither are they adorned with works of righteousness…

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Early Christian Quotes on the Judgment

The Christian Sibylline Oracles 

(2nd Century)

Book 2:280-315:

 

And then Uriel, mighty angel of repentance, 

Will break the bolts of stern and lasting adamant

Which, monstrous, bold the brazen gates of Hades,

Straight cast them down, and to judgment lead

All forms that have endured much suffering,

Chiefly the shapes of Titans born of old,

And giants, and all whom the Flood overran,

And all that perished in the surging seas,

And all that provided a banquet for the beasts

And creeping things and fowls.

These in a mass, Uriel shall summon to the judgment-seat;

And also those whom flesh-devouring fire

Destroyed in flame, even these he will collect

And place before the judgment-seat of God.

And when the high-thundering Lord of Sabaoth

Making an end of fate will raise the dead,

Sit on His heavenly throne and firmly fix

The mighty pillar, then among the clouds

Christ, who Himself is incorruptible,

Shall come to the Incorruptible

In glory with pure angel, and will sit

At the right hand on the great judgment-seat

To judge the life of the godly and the way

Of sinful men. And Moses, the great friend

Of the Most High, will come dressed in flesh.

Also great Abraham himself will come,

Isaac and Jacob, Joshua, Daniel,

Elijah, Habakkuk, and Jonah, and

Those whom the Hebrews slew. But He'll destroy

The Hebrews after Jeremiah, all

Who are to be judged at the judgment-seat,

That they may receive worthy compensation 

And pay for all each did in mortal life.

And then all will pass through the burning stream

Of flame unquenchable; but all the just

Will be saved.

 

 

2 Clement

(Early to Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 17:

 

For the Lord said, "I come to gather all nations and tongues." This refers to the day of His appearing, when He will come and redeem us--each one according to his works. And the unbelievers will see His glory and might, and, when they see the empire of the world in Jesus, they will be surprised. They will say, "Woe to us, because You are, and we did not believe or obey the elders who showed us plainly the way to our salvation." 

 

And "their worm will not die, neither will their fire be quenched; and they will be a spectacle to all people." He speaks of the great day of judgment when they will see those among us who were guilty of ungodliness and did not respect Jesus Christ’s commands. 

 

The righteous succeeded in enduring the trials of the world and hating the indulgences of the soul. Whenever they witness how those who have swerved and denied Jesus in words or deeds are punished with grievous torments in unquenchable fire, they will give glory to their God and say, "There will be hope for him who has served God with his whole heart." 

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 26:

 

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, the flesh will arise, and the soul will live, so that they can defend themselves on that day regarding what they have done, whether it be good or evil and so that there may be a choosing-out of the faithful who have kept the commandments of My Father who sent Me. And the judgement will be strict. For My Father said to Me, ‘My Son, in the day of judgement You will have no respect for the rich, neither pity for the poor, but according to the sins of every man will You deliver him to everlasting torment.’ But to My beloved who have kept the commandments of My Father who sent Me, I will give the rest of life in the kingdom of My Father, which is in heaven, and they will see what He has given to Me. And He has given Me the authority to do give what I have promised to whoever I want.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 5:

 

I do not say that all souls die; for would be truly good fortune to the evil. What am I saying, then? The souls of the devout remain in a better place, while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse place, waiting for the time of judgment. So, some who are deemed worthy of God never die, but others are punished as long as God allows them to exist and be punished.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 120:

 

He has said that He will raise those worthy of the honor to the everlasting kingdom, along with the holy patriarchs and prophets, but condemn others to the unquenchable fire, along with disobedient and unrepentant men from all the nations.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Marriage and Divorce

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 4, Chapter 1:

 

I said to the angel, "Sir, if anyone has a wife who trusts in the Lord, and if he suspects she has been unfaithful, does the man sin if he continues to live with her?" 

 

And he said to me, "As long as he remains ignorant of her sin, the husband commits no transgression in living with her. If the husband knows his wife has been unfaithful, and if the woman does not repent but persists in her sexual relations outside her marriage, and the husband continues to live with her, then he is also guilty of her crime and has a sharer in her adultery." 

 

And I said to him, "What then, sir, is the husband to do if his wife continues in her unholy practices?" 

 

And he said, "The husband should divorce her and remain by himself. But if he divorces his wife and marries another, he also commits adultery." 

 

And I said to him, "What if the divorced woman repents and wants to return to her husband: will she not be taken back by her husband?" 

 

And he said to me, "Surely. If the husband does not take her back, he sins and brings a great sin upon himself; for he ought to take back the sinner who has repented. But not many times; for there is but one repentance to the servants of God. The husband should not remarry, in the event that the divorced wife repents. In this matter, man and woman are to be treated exactly the same. Also, adultery is committed not only by those who pollute their flesh, but by those who imitate the heathen in their actions. So, if anyone continues in adulterous affairs and does not repent, remove yourself from them and do not live with them. Otherwise, you are a sharer in their sin.”

 

 

Athenagoras’ Plea for the Christians 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 33:

 

Having the hope of eternal life, we despise the things of this life, even turning away from the desires of the soul, each of us accounting for the wife he has married, according to the laws laid down by us, and only for the purpose of having children. For as the husbandman throwing the seed into the ground awaits the harvest, not sowing more than necessary upon it, so to us, the procreation of children is the limit of our indulgence in the sexual appetite. 

 

In fact, you would find many among us, both men and women, growing old and unmarried in the hope of living in closer communion with God. But if the remaining in virginity and in the state of a eunuch brings us nearer to God, while the indulgence of carnal thought and desire leads away from Him, in those cases in which we shun the thoughts, much more do we reject the deeds. For we do not give our attention to the study of words, but on the demonstrating and teaching of actions--that a person should either remain as he was born or be content with one marriage; for a second marriage is nothing more than adultery. "For whosoever puts away his wife," says He, "and marries another, commits adultery." He does not permit a man to send away a woman if he has taken her virginity, nor does He allows him to marry again. For he who deprives himself of his first wife, even though she be dead, is a disguised adulterer if he marries again. He is resisting the hand of God, because in the beginning, God made one man and one woman.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies, Book 2 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 13, Paragraphs 2-3:

 

We ask if we ought to marry; which is one of the points we consider relative. For some must marry, and a man must be in some condition, and he must marry someone in some condition. For every one is not to marry, nor always. But there is a time in which it is suitable. And there is a person for whom it is suitable. And there is an age up to which it is suitable. Neither should everyone take a wife, nor is every woman suitable to take. But only he who is in certain circumstances should marry, and such a one and at such time as is necessary, and for the sake of children. And the woman should be in a similar situation and should be not forced or compelled to love the husband who loves her…

 

But those who approve of marriage say, “Nature has adapted us for marriage, as is evident from the structure of our bodies, which are male and female.” And they constantly proclaim that command, "Increase and replenish."…By all means, we must marry, both for our country's sake and for the succession of children…But it is the diseases of the body that principally show marriage to be necessary. For a wife's care and her loyal efforts appear to exceed the endurance of all other relations and friends, excelling in compassion; and most of all, she takes kindly to patient watching. And in truth, according to Scripture, she is a necessary help.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Mary

 Odes of Solomon

(1st or 2nd Century) 

19:7-9:

 

The Virgin became a mother with great mercies.

 

And she labored and bore the Son but without pain because it did not occur without purpose.

 

And she did not require a midwife because He caused her to give life.

 

 

Irenaeus' Against Heresies

(Late 2nd Century) 

Book 5, Chapter 19, Paragraph 1:

 

Just as the virgin Eve was led astray by the word of an angel and fled from God when she had transgressed His word, so the Virgin Mary received the glad tidings from an angel that she would sustain God, being obedient to His word. 

 

Eve did disobey God, but Mary was persuaded to be obedient to God so that the Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. And just as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin, virginal disobedience having been balanced out by virginal obedience. 

 

In the same way, the sin of the first created man is set right by the obedience of the First-begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Military Service

 

Tertullian's On Idolatry 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 19: 

 

The question is whether a believer may turn himself to military service...There is no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament or service, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be due to two masters—God and Caesar. And yet Moses carried a rod, and Aaron wore a buckle, and John the Baptist was girt with leather, and Joshua the son of Nun led troops; and the People warred. 

 

But how will a Christian man war? How will he serve even in peace, without a sword, which the Lord has taken away? For even if soldiers had come to John, and likewise, a centurion had believed, still the Lord afterward, in disarming Peter, unbelted every soldier. No service is lawful among us if assigned to any unlawful action.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Ministry

Didache 

(1st Century)

11:4-6:

 

Welcome every apostle upon arrival, as if he were the Lord. But he must not stay beyond one day. In case of necessity, however, the next day too. If he stays three days, he is a false prophet. An apostle must not accept anything when he leaves except a sufficient amount of food to carry him till his next lodging. If he asks for money, he is a false prophet.

 

 

Didache

(1st Century)

11:12:

 

But if someone says in the Spirit, "Give me money or something else," you must not listen to him. However, if he tells you to give for others in need, no one must judge or denounce him.

 

 

Didache

(1st Century)

13:1-7:

 

Every genuine prophet who wants to settle with you "has a right to his support." Similarly, a genuine teacher himself, just like a "workman, has a right to his support." So, take all the first fruits of the wine crop and harvest and of cattle and sheep and give these first fruits to the prophets, for they are your high priests. If, however, you have no prophet, give them to the poor. If you make bread, take the first fruits and give them. Similarly, when you open a jar of wine or oil, take the first fruits and give them to the prophets. Yes, of money, clothes, and of all your possessions, take the first fruits as you think right, and give in accordance.

 

 

Didache

(1st Century)

15:1-2:

 

You must elect for yourselves bishops and deacons who are a credit to the Lord, men who are gentle, generous, faithful, and well-tried, for their ministry to you is identical to that of the prophets and teachers. Therefore, you must not despise them, for along with the prophets and teachers, they enjoy a place of honor among you.

 

 

Barnabas’ Epistle

(1st Century)

Chapter 19:

 

You shall love, as the apple of your eye, everyone who speaks the word of the Lord to you.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 9:

 

I now say to you who preside over the Church and love the first seats, “Do not be like drug-mixers. For the drug-mixers carry their drugs in boxes, but you carry your drug and poison in your heart. You are hardened and do not wish to cleanse your hearts so that you might add unity of aim to purity of heart and have mercy from the great King. Therefore, children take heed that these dissensions of yours do not deprive you of your life.

 

 

Odes of Solomon

(1st or 2nd Century)

6:

 

As the wind glides through the harp and the strings speak,

So the Spirit of the Lord speaks through my members, and I speak through His love.

 

For He destroys whatever is foreign, and everything is of the Lord.

For as it was from the beginning, and will be until the end.

So that nothing will be opposite, and nothing will rise up against Him.

 

The Lord has multiplied his knowledge, 

And He was zealous because He has given us knowledge through His grace. 

 

And His praise He gave us on account of His name; our spirits praise His Holy Spirit.

 

There went forth a stream, and it became a river great and broad; 

Indeed, it carried everything away, and it shattered and brought it to the Temple.

And the barriers built by men were not able to restrain it, 

Nor even the arts of those who habitually control water.

For it spread over the surface of all the earth, and it filled everything.

 

Then all the thirsty on the earth drank, and thirst was relieved and quenched;

For the drink was given from the Most High.

 

Blessed, therefore, are the ministers of that drink, who have been entrusted with His water.

They have refreshed the parched lips and have awakened the paralyzed will.

Even living persons who were about to die, they have held back from death.

And limbs that have collapsed, they have restored and set up.

 

They gave strength for their coming, and light for their eyes

Because everyone recognized them as the Lord's and lived by the living water of eternity. 

 

Hallelujah.

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to Polycarp 

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

4:1:

 

[Speaking to a bishop] Let nothing be done without your consent; nor should you do anything without the consent of God.

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Smyrneans

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 8:

 

See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and follow the elders as you would the apostles; and respect the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a proper communion offering, which is administered either by the bishop or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop will appear, there let the multitude of the people also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the universal Church. It is not lawful to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast without the bishop; but whatever he will approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Smyrneans

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 9:

 

Following logic, we should return to soberness of conduct while we have the opportunity and exercise repentance toward God. It is good to respect both God and the bishop. He who honors the bishop has been honored by God; he who does anything without the knowledge of the bishop serves the devil. Let all things flow to you through grace, for you are worthy. You have refreshed me in all things, and Jesus Christ will refresh you. 

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Trallians

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

Chapters 2-3, 7:

 

Do nothing without the bishop, a rule you are already following. You should also be subject to the elders, as to the apostles of Jesus Christ, who is our hope and in Whom, if we live, we will be found. It is fitting also that the deacons, as the ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, should be pleasing to all in every respect. For they are not ministers of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God. Therefore, they are bound to avoid like fire all grounds of accusation against them.

 

In like manner, let everyone respect the deacons as an appointment of Jesus Christ, and the bishop as Jesus Christ, who is the Son of the Father, and the elders as the Sanhedrin of God and assembly of the apostles. Apart from these, there is no Church…

 

He who does anything apart from the bishop and elders and deacons is not pure in his conscience.

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Magnesians

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 3:

 

It flatters you to not treat your bishop too familiarly on account of his youth, but to yield him all respect.

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Magnesians

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 7:

 

Just like the Lord did nothing without the Father, being united to Him, neither by Himself nor by the apostles, so neither should you do anything without the bishop and elders. Neither attempt to achieve anything reasonable and proper on your own, but come together in the same place and let there be one prayer, one supplication, one mind, and one hope in love and in pure joy.

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Ephesians

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 6:

 

The more anyone sees the bishop keeping silent, the more he should revere him. For we are to receive every one whom the Master of the house sends to be over His household, as we would respect Him that sent him. Therefore, it is obvious that we should look to the bishop as we would look to the Lord Himself.

 

 

Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians

(Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 11:

 

I am greatly saddened for Valens, who had been an elder with you, because he understands so little the place that was given to him in the Church. Therefore, I encourage you to abstain from greed and to be honorable and truthful. "Abstain from every form of evil." For if a man cannot govern himself in such matters, how will he counsel others on the matter?…I am deeply grieved, therefore, brothers and sisters, for Valens and his wife, to whom may the Lord grant true repentance! You are to be moderate in regard to this matter, and "do not count such as enemies," but call them back as suffering and straying members; that way, you may save your whole body. By acting on this, you will improve yourselves.

 

 

Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles

(Late 2nd Century to Early 3rd Century):

 

Jesus said, “Heal the bodies before anything else, so that through the real powers of healing for their bodies, without using medicine of the world, they may believe in you that you have the power to heal the illnesses of the heart too.”

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 4

(Late 2nd Century)

 Chapter 26, Paragraphs 2-3:

 

It is necessary to obey the elders in the Church, those who possess the succession from the apostles. Together with the continuation of the episcopate, they receive the certain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But it is also necessary to hold in suspicion others who depart from the original cycle and gather together in. Look at them either as heretics of wicked minds, or as unbelievers puffed up and self-pleasing, or as hypocrites, acting for the sake of profit and pride…

 

However, there those who are believed to be elders by many but serve their own desires by conducting themselves with disrespect toward others and do not place the fear of God supreme in their hearts and are puffed up with the pride of holding the chief seat. They work evil deeds in secret, saying, "No man sees us." They will be convicted by the Word, who does not judge according to the outward appearance, nor even looks upon the appearance, but the heart; and they will hear those words found in Daniel the prophet: "You offspring of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you, and lust perverted your heart. You who are weak to wicked days, now the sins you have committed have come to light. You have pronounced false judgments and have been used to condemn the innocent and let the guilty go free, despite the Lord saying, ‘you shall not kill the innocent or the righteous.’” The Lord also said, "But if the evil servant will say in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and will begin to strike the man-servants and maidservants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the lord of that servant will come on a day that he does not know and at an hour that he is not aware of and will cut him apart and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers."

 

Didascalia Apostolorum

(Early to Mid-3rd Century)

Chapter 8, Paragraphs 1-2:

 

You will not mismanage revenues of the Church, but will act with moderation; and you will not buy or acquire pleasure and luxury from the revenues of the Church. Sufficient for the laborer is his clothing and his food. Therefore, as good stewards of God and His command, wisely hand out to orphans, widows, those in distress, and strangers what is given to the Church. While you do this, know that you have God who will require an account at your hands, who delivered this stewardship to you. Divide the monies and give to all who are in need.

 

But also see that you are fed and able to live from the revenues of the Church. However, do not devour the food by yourself, but let those who are in need share with you, and you will be without offense with God.

 

 

Didascalia Apostolorum

(Early to Mid-3rd Century)

Chapter 9, Paragraph 6:

 

The king who wears the crown reigns over the body alone, and binds and looses on earth only; but the bishop reigns over soul and body to bind and to loose on earth with heavenly power. For great power, heavenly and almighty, is given to him. Therefore love the bishop as a father and fear him as a king and honor him as God. Present your fruits and the works of your hands to him so that you may be blessed; give your firstfruits and your tithes and your vows and your part-offerings to him, for he needs them so that he will be sustained and that he may also dispense to those who are in need, to each as is right for him.

 

 

Didascalia Apostolorum

(Early to Mid-3rd Century)

Chapter 9, Paragraph 8:

 

It is not permitted for the layman to judge his neighbor or take on a burden that is not his. For the weight of this burden is not for laymen but for the bishop. Therefore, being a layman, you should not lay traps for yourself, but leave judgement in the hand of those who will have to render an account. Do you study to work peace with all men and love your members, your fellow laymen? The Lord says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

 

Origen’s Against Celsus

(Early to Mid-3rd Century)

Book 8, Chapter 75:

 

Celsus also urges us to "take office in the government of the country, if that is required to maintain the laws and the support of religion." But we recognize in each state the existence of another national organization founded by the Word of God. We encourage those who are mighty in their speech and of blameless life to rule over churches. We reject those who are too eager to rule, but we make rule those who are not easily persuaded to take a public charge in the Church of God because of their excessive modesty. And those who rule over us well are under the binding influence of the great King, whom we believe to be the Son of God, God the Word. 

 

And if those who govern in the Church’s divine nation rule well, they rule following the divine commands and never suffer being led astray by worldly policy. It is not to escape public duties that Christians decline public offices but that they may reserve themselves for a diviner and more necessary service in the Church of God--for the salvation of men. And this service is at once necessary and right. They take charge of all--of those who are within the Church that they may day by day lead better lives, and of those who are without that they may come to overflow in holy words and in deeds of righteousness. They rule so that they may be filled with the word of God and the law of God while worshipping God truly and training up as many as they can in the same way. And as a result, their hearers unite with the Supreme God through His Son the Word, Wisdom, Truth, and Righteousness, who unites to God all who are resolved to conform their lives to the law of God in all things.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to the Clergy

(Mid-3rd Century):

 

Understand that I have made Saturus a reader, and Optatus, the confessor, a sub-deacon, whom already, by the general advice, we had made next to the clergy...With the teacher-elders we were carefully trying readers—in appointing Optatus from among the readers to be a teacher of the hearers—first examining whether all things were found fitting in them, which should be found in one preparing for the clerical office.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to the Lapsed

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 1:

 

Our Lord, whose laws and counsel we should observe, described the honor of a bishop and the order of His Church when He said in the Gospel to Peter: “I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you will bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Now, through the changes of times and successions, the ordering of bishops and the Church's plan continues forward so that the Church is founded upon the bishops, and these same rulers control every act of the Church.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to the Clergy and the People

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 5:

 

Understand that these for the present are appointed readers…Know that I have already decided the honor of the parsonage for them, so they may be honored with the same presents as the elders and share the monthly divisions equally. They may sit with us hereafter in their advanced and strengthened years, although we will not counter anyone younger as inferior if he has consummated his age by the dignity of his glory.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to the People of Furni

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 1:

 

It was declared in a council of the bishops that no one should appoint any of the clergy and the ministers of God executor or guardian by his will, since everyone honored by the divine priesthood and ordained in the clerical service should only serve the altar and sacrifices and have free time for prayers and appeals...Those who are promoted to clergy in the Church of the Lord may in no way be called off from the divine administration. Worldly anxieties and matters will not tie them down. In honor of the brothers who contribute, as it were a tithe, the clergy may not withdraw from the altars and sacrifices but may serve day and night in heavenly and spiritual things.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to the Clergy and People in Spain

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraph 5:

 

For the proper celebration of appointing a a new bishop, all the neighboring bishops of the same province should gather with those people for which a bishop is ordained. And the people who have most fully known each candidate's life and have looked into each one's habitual conduct will choose the bishop.

 

 

Pseudo-Clement’s Letter to James 

(Early 4th Century)

 

Chapters 6, 7, 12, 13:

 

Now, if you, as a bishop, were occupied with worldly cares, you would deceive both yourself and your followers. On account of being too busy with you occupation, you would not be able to point out what is good to your followers. Then, both you and your followers should be punished. You for not having taught what was profitable, and your followers, not having learned, would perish because of ignorance. So, you should preside over them without having another occupation so that you can deliver the words that are able to save them at the right time; let them listen to you, knowing that whatever the ambassador of the truth will bind upon earth is also bound in heaven, and what he will loosen is set free. But you will bind what ought to be bound and loosen what ought to be loosened. And these are the things that relate to you as president.

 

And concerning the elders, take these instructions. Above all things, let them join the young in marriage, anticipating the complications of youthful lusts. And do not let them neglect marrying those who are already old, for lust is strong even in some old men. Do not let sex outside of marriage find a place among you and so bring a plague upon you. Take precaution and be watchful so that the fire of adultery is not secretly kindled among you. For adultery is a very terrible thing, even such that it holds the second place in respect of punishment. The first is assigned to those in error, even though they be sexually pure. Therefore, as elders of the Church, keep the spouse of Christ pure, and by the spouse, I mean the body of the Church. If others see her upright and trustworthy by her royal Bridegroom, she will receive the greatest honor. You, as wedding guests, will receive great praise and approval. But if she is caught having sinned, she will be cast out; and you will suffer punishment if at any time her sin has been a result of your negligence.

 

Moreover, let the deacons of the church, living with intelligence, be the eyes to the bishop, carefully inquiring into the doings of each member of the church, ascertaining who is about to sin, so that, being stopped with scolding by the president, he may not sin. Let them check the disorderly to make sure they will not stop gathering to hear the teaching, so that, by the word of truth, the elders can counteract the anxieties that consume the heart from every side through worldly concerns and evil communications. If they remain idle for too long, they become fuel for the fire. And let the deacons find out who is suffering with a bodily disease and bring them to the notice of the church body who do not know of them so that they can visit them and supply their needs according to the judgment of the president. Yes, though they do this without his knowledge, they do nothing incorrectly. Let the deacons attend to these things.

 

After being instructed, let the teachers teach, for the work relates to men's souls. The teacher of the word must accommodate himself to the various judgments of the learners. The teacher must therefore be learned, blameless, highly experienced, and approved.

Early Christian Quotes on the New Earth

The Christian Sibylline Oracles 

(2nd Century)

Book 2:384-403:

 

But the others, all to whom right and fair works

And devotion and just thoughts were dear,

Will angels, looking through the burning stream,

Lead to light and life exempt from care,

Where the immortal way of the great God comes

And fountains three--of honey, wine, and milk.

And equal land for all, not divided 

By walls or fences, more abundant fruits

Spontaneously will grow, and the course

Of life be common and wealth not given to anyone.

For no longer will there be poor nor rich,

Slave driver nor slave, nor any great nor small,

Nor kings nor leaders; all alike in common.

No more at all will one say, "night has come,"

Nor "tomorrow comes," nor "yesterday has been”;

Nor will there be many days of anxiety,

Nor spring, nor winter, nor the summer-heat,

Nor autumn will be, nor marriage, nor death,

Nor sales, nor purchases, nor the setting of the sun

Nor the rising; for God will make one long day.

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5

(Late 2nd Century)

Chapter 36, Paragraphs 1-2:

 

Neither the substance nor the essence of the creation will be annihilated (for He who has established it is faithful and true), but "the form of the world will pass away;" that is, those things among which sin has occurred, since man has grown old in them…But when this present form of things passes away, and man has been renewed and flourishes in an incorruptible form in which he won’t be able to grow old, then there will be the new heaven and the new earth, in which the new man will remain continually, always holding fresh conversation with God…As the elders say, those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven will go there, while others will enjoy the delights of paradise, and others will possess the splendor of the city; for the Savior will be seen everywhere according to the worthiness of those who see Him.

 

They also say that there will be a distinction between the home of those who produce a hundred-fold and those who produce sixty-fold and those who produce thirty-fold. The first will be taken up into the heavens, the second will dwell in paradise, and the last will inhabit the city; as the Lord declared, "In My Father's house are many mansions." For all things belong to God, who supplies everyone with a suitable dwelling-place; His Word says the Father allots to each person his share according to how worthy they are.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Parenting

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 1, Chapter 3:

 

The angel said, “Although you love your sons, you did not warn your family, but you allowed them to be terribly corrupt. On this account, the Lord is angry with you, but He will heal all the evils done in your house.”

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Prayer

Didache 

(1st Century)

8:3:

 

[After quoting the Lord’s prayer] “You should pray this way three times a day.”

 

 

Didache 

(1st Century) 

10:1-7:

 

After you have finished your meal, say grace this way:

 

"We thank you, holy Father, for Your sacred name, which You have lodged in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality You have revealed through Jesus, Your Child. To You be glory forever.

 

"Almighty Master, You have created everything for the sake of Your name and have given men food and drink to enjoy so they may thank you. But to us, You have given spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Jesus, Your Child.

 

"Above all, we thank You that you are mighty. To You be glory forever.

 

“Remember, Lord, Your Church, to save it from all evil and to make it perfect by Your love. Make it holy, and gather it together from the four winds into Your Kingdom, which You have made ready for it. For Yours is the power and the glory forever.

 

"Let grace come and let this world pass away.

 

"Hosanna to the God of David!

 

"If anyone is holy, let him come. If not, let him repent.

 

"Our Lord, come!

 

"Amen.”

 

In the case of prophets, however, you should let them give thanks in their own way.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 1: 

 

The angel said, “Hermas, stop praying continually for your sins; pray for righteousness, that you may have a portion of it immediately in your house.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 9:

 

The angel said, “Stop allowing doubtful thoughts to enter your mind, and do not hesitate to ask of the Lord. You say to yourself, ‘How can I ask of the Lord and receive from Him, since I have sinned against Him so much?’ Do not reason with yourself, but with all your heart, turn to the Lord and ask Him without doubting. If you do this, you will know the multitude of His tender mercies; that He will never leave you but will fulfill the request of your soul. He is not like men, who remember evils done against them, but He Himself does not remember evils, and He has compassion on His own creature. So, cleanse your heart from all the vanities of this world and the words already mentioned. Ask of the Lord, and you will receive all, and none of your requests to the Lord, made without doubting, will be denied. 

 

“But if you doubt in your heart, you will receive none of your requests. Those who doubt regarding God are double-minded and receive none of their requests. But those who are perfect in faith ask everything, trusting in the Lord, and they receive because they did not doubt when they asked. They were not being double-minded. For every double-minded man, even if he repents, will be saved with difficulty.

 

“Therefore, cleanse your heart from all doubt, put on faith because it is strong, and trust God that you will obtain from Him all that you ask. And if at any time, after you have asked of the Lord, you are slower in getting your request than you expected, do not doubt because you have not received your request quickly. For invariably, it is on account of some temptation or some sin you are ignorant of that you are slower in obtaining your request. 

 

“So then, do not stop making the request of your soul, and you will receive it. But if you grow weary and waver in your request, blame yourself, and not Him who does not give to you.”

 

 

2 Clement 

(Early to Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 15:

 

Let us continue on the righteous and holy path in which we first believed so that we may, with confidence, ask God who said, "While you are still speaking, I will say, ‘Here I am.’" For these words are a token of a great promise, for the Lord said that He is more ready to give than he who asks is to receive.

 

 

Tertullian’s On Prayer 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 29:

 

What has God, who oversees all, ever denied to the person whose prayer is in "spirit and truth?" How many mighty examples of its power do we read and hear and believe! Indeed, old-world prayer used to free from fires and from beasts and from famine, yet it had not then received its form from Christ. 

 

But how much more effective is Christian prayer! And rightly so! It does not station the angel of dew in the middle of fires, nor muzzle lions, nor transfer the bakers' bread to the hungry. It has no delegated grace to ward off any sense of suffering, but rather it supplies the suffering and the grieving person with endurance. It amplifies grace by virtue, that faith may know what she obtains from the Lord, understanding that she suffers in the holy name of God. 

 

But in days gone by, with prayer, faith used to call down plagues, scatter the armies of enemies, and withhold the wholesome influences of the rainshowers. But now, the prayer of righteousness turns aside all God's anger, holds steady on behalf of personal enemies, makes requests on behalf of persecutors. Is it any wonder if it knows how to call down the rains of heaven-- prayer that before could call down heaven’s fires? 

 

Prayer alone is what conquers God. But Christ has willed that it be used for no evil: He has given it all its virtues in the cause of good. And so it knows nothing but how to recall the souls of the departed from the very path of death, to transform the weak, to restore the sick, to purge the possessed, to open prison-bars, to loose the bonds of the innocent. Likewise, it washes away faults, repels temptations, extinguishes persecutions, consoles the faint-spirited, cheers the high-spirited, escorts travelers, settles waves, makes robbers stand in submission, nourishes the poor, governs the rich, raises the fallen, catches the falling, confirms the standing. 

 

Prayer is the wall of faith: her arms and missiles are against the foe who keeps watch over us on all sides. And so, we never walk unarmed. By day, be mindful of your position; by night, keep watch. Under the arms of the guard of prayer, we, the General's example, wait in prayer for the angel's trumpet blast. 

 

The angels also all pray; every creature prays—cattle and wild beasts pray and bend their knees. When they emerge from their lairs, they look up to heaven with no idle mouth, making their breath vibrate in their own way. The birds, too, rising out of the nest, raise themselves toward heaven and expand the cross of their wings, and say something that seems like prayer. 

 

What else can we say about prayer? Even the Lord Himself prayed, to Whom be honor and virtue to the ages of the ages!

 

 

Origen’s On Prayer 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 5, Paragraphs 1-2:

 

One may not obtain certain things without prayer in a certain manner, with a certain frame of mind, with a certain faith, after a previous way of life. So, we are not to babble or ask for little things or pray for earthly things or enter into prayer with anger and disturbed thoughts.

 

Also, it is not possible to think of giving oneself to prayer apart from purification. Nor is forgiveness of sins possible to the person seeking forgiveness from God unless he forgives from his heart his brother who has done wrong and begs for his pardon. 

 

The person who prays rightly or tries to do so as best he can gets more from prayer than one who doesn’t. First of all, it is surely to our spiritual advantage to be determined and focused in prayer. And when we pray, we should present ourselves to God, and in His presence, speak to Him with a vivid sense that He sees us and is present.

 

 

Origen’s On Prayer

(Early to Mid-3rd Century)

Chapter 6, Paragraphs 1-2:

 

So far, I have said that, even on the assumption that nothing else is going to follow our prayer, we receive the best benefit when we have come to understand and follow the right way to pray. But it is inevitable that he who prays in this way, having set aside all discontent with Providence, will hear the response, “Here am I” if he is intent on paying attention to the inworking of the Lord. 

 

The above condition is expressed in the words, “If you withdraw your bonds and protests and murmuring remarks,” because he who is content with what comes to pass also becomes free from every bond and does not protest against God for ordaining what He wills for our discipline.

 

 

Origen’s On Prayer 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 6, Paragraph 6:

 

The Son of God is the high priest of our offerings and our pleader with the Father. He prays for those who pray and pleads along with those who plead. However, He will not agree to pray for those who do not pray through Him with some constancy. He will not be Pleader with the Father in the same way He pleads for people who are already His own, for those who do not obey His teaching to the level that they pray at all times and do not lose heart.

 

 

Origen’s On Prayer 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 11, Paragraph 11:

 

We should pray for the important and truly great and heavenly things. For less important matters concerning the needs of our perishable body, we commit them to the God who knows what we need before we ask Him.

 

 

Origen’s On Prayer 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 20, Paragraphs 3-6, 9, 11:

 

One who is about to enter into prayer should have paused awhile first and prepared himself to engage in prayer earnestly and intently. Cast aside every distraction and confusing thought. To the best of his ability, he should consider the greatness of the Lord and the ungodliness of approaching Him casually and carelessly and with disrespect. Put away everything that doesn’t have to do with prayer.

 

So, he should enter into prayer as if he held his soul out in front of him in his hands . His mind should be intent on God in front of him, and his intellect raised from earth and set toward the Lord of All. Let him put away all resentment against any real or imagined injurer in in the same way he wants God not to resent him for the injuries and sins he committed against many of his neighbors.

 

As you stretch out your hands raise your eyes, it’s best to stand—since that position mirrors your soul’s devotional attitude before God…

 

Moreover, one must know that kneeling is necessary when he is about to bring his personal sins against God with a request for to be healed from and forgiven of that sin because kneeling is a symbol of submission and subjection…

 

To make sure you can pray in peace and without distraction, the rule is for every man to find the most solemn spot in his house before he prays. And he should consider whether any violation of law or right has been done in that place that would make not only himself but also the place somewhere that God doesn’t want to be.

 

There is a certain helpful charm in a place of prayer being the spot where believers meet together. Also, it may be that in that place, the group of believers are visited by angelic powers, the powers of our Lord and Savior Himself, and the spirits of saints, including those already dead, and certainly of those still in life, though just how this happens is not easy to say.

 

 

Origen’s On Prayer

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 20, Paragraphs 20-21:

 

In the opening of your prayer, give glory to God according to your ability, through Christ who is to be glorified with Him, and in the Holy Spirit, who is to be proclaimed with Him.

 

After that, one’s prayers should include thanksgivings: common thanksgivings—those things given to men in general—and thanksgivings for things he has personally received from God. After thanksgiving, it appears to me that one ought to become a powerful accuser of his own sins before God and ask first for healing with a view to being released from the habit that brings on sin, and secondly for forgiveness for past actions. After confession, it appears to me that one should tag on as a fourth element the asking for the great and heavenly things, both personal and general, on behalf of one’s family and friends. And last of all, one should bring prayer to an end giving glory to God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Lord’s Prayer 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraphs 32, 35:

 

Those who pray should not come to God with fruitless or naked prayers. Asking for things in prayer is ineffective when it is an empty prayer that begs God. Just like a tree that does not yield fruit is cut down and cast into the fire, words that do not bear fruit cannot deserve anything from God because they do not turn out a result. And so, Holy Scripture instructs us, saying, “Prayer is good with fasting and serving others.” For He who will give us a reward for our work and charity on the day of judgment, mercifully hears the one who comes to Him in prayer associated with good works…

 

Besides the hours of prayer observed of old, both the times and the sacraments have now increased for us. For we must also pray in the morning, so that the Lord’s resurrection may be celebrated by morning prayer…In the afternoon and at the end of the day, we must pray again. Christ is the true sun and the true day. So, as the worldly sun and worldly day depart, when we pray and ask that light may return to us again, we are actually praying for the coming of Christ, which will give us the grace of everlasting light.

 

 

Arnobius’ Against the Heathen 

(Late 3rd Century) 

Book 1, Chapter 27:

 

According to our custom, we all bow down before Christ; we adore Him in joint prayers. From Him, we beg for things that are just and honorable and worthy of His ear. Not that He needs our appeals or loves to see the devotion of so many thousands laid at His feet. This is for our benefit and gives us an advantage. Since we are prone to err and to give in to various lusts and desires through the fault of our innate weakness, He allows Himself, at all times, to be felt and understood in our thoughts. While we pray to Him and strive to deserve or earn His blessings, we may receive a desire for purity and free ourselves from every stain by removing all our shortcomings.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Prophecy

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 11:

 

“Sir, can a man tell who is a true prophet and who is a false prophet?”

 

The angel answered, “I will tell you about both, and then you can test the true and the false prophet according to my directions. Test the man who has the Divine Spirit by his life. First, he who has the Divine Spirit coming from above is meek and peaceable and humble and refrains from all sin and the vain desire of this world but contents himself with fewer wants than those of other men. And when asked to prophesy, he doesn’t answer, nor does he give private prophecies, because the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak when man wants Him to, but He speaks only when God wishes Him to speak.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 52: 

 

There never failed to be a prophet among you [the Jewish people], who was lord and leader and ruler of your nation. For the Spirit who was in the prophets anointed your kings and established them. But after the coming and death of Jesus Christ in your nation, there is no longer any prophet among you.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 77:

 

The Holy Spirit oftentimes announces such events as the birth of Christ by parables and similes.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 82:

 

The prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time. And so you ought to understand that the gifts formerly among your nation [the Jews] have been transferred to us.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 87:

 

The Scripture says that all powers of the Spirit have come on Jesus, not because He needed them but because they would be completed in Him, so that there would be no more prophets in Israel; and this you can plainly see, for after Him no prophet has arisen among the Jews.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 42:

 

The Spirit of prophecy speaks of things that are about to happen as if they had already happened…The things He absolutely knows will happen, He predicts as if they had already happened.

 

 

Theophilus of Antioch’s Book 2 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 9:

 

Men of God, carrying in them the Holy Spirit and becoming prophets inspired and given wisdom by God, became God-taught as well as holy and righteous. So, they were also deemed worthy of receiving the reward of being instruments of God and containing the wisdom that is from Him, through which wisdom they spoke about the creation of the world and all other things. For they also predicted diseases and famines and wars. And there was not one or two only, but many, at various times and seasons among the Hebrews (and also among the Greeks, there was the Sibyl), and they all have spoken things consistent and harmonious with each other, both about what happened before them and what happened in their own time, as well as the things now being fulfilled in our own day. That’s why we are persuaded that what they said about the future will also happen, just as the first things have already been accomplished. 

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Purgatory

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Vision 3, Chapter 7:

 

Repentance is still possible, but they cannot find a suitable place in this Church. But in another and much less important place, they will be laid, and only when they have been tortured and completed the days of their sins. And on this account will they be transferred because they have partaken of the righteous Word. Only when the thought of repenting of the evil deeds they have done has come into their hearts will they be removed from their punishments. If it does not come into their hearts, they will not be saved because of the hardness of their heart.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 28:

 

The angel said, “All who once suffered for the name of the Lord in martyrdom are honorable before God, and their sins were canceled because they suffered for the name of the Son of God.”

 

 

The Acts of Paul

(Mid-2nd Century)

2:28:

 

And after the funeral procession, the Egyptian princess Tryphaena took Thecla again. For her daughter, Falconilla, who was dead, had said to her in a dream: “Mother, you shalt take Thecla, the stranger who is desolate, in my place so she may pray for me, and I will be moved into the place of the righteous.”

 

 

The Christian Sibylline Oracles

(2nd Century)

Book 2:384-387:

 

But the others, all to whom right and fair works

And devotion and just thoughts were dear,

Will angels, looking through the burning stream,

Lead to light and life exempt from care.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Resurrection of Man

Apocalypse of Peter 

(Early 2nd Century):

 

Jesus said, “Now see what will happen in the last days, when the day of God’s judgment comes. From the east to the west, all the children of men will be gathered together before My Father, who lives forever. And He will command hell to open its bars of adamant and give up all who are in it.

 

“And He will command the wild beasts and the birds to restore all the flesh they have devoured because He wills men to appear. Nothing perishes before God, and nothing is impossible with Him, because everything is His.

 

“All things will happen on the day of judgment at the word of God. As things were when God created them, so will they be in the last days, for all things are possible with God. As He says in the Scripture: ‘Son of man, prophesy to the bones and say to the bones: “bone to bone in joints, sinew, nerves, flesh and skin and hair.’”

 

“And the great Uriel will give them soul and spirit at the commandment of God, for God has set him over the rising of the dead at the day of judgment…

 

“God will raise those who believe in Him and are chosen by Him on the day of judgment because it is for their sake He has made the world.” 

 

 

Justin Martyr’s On the Resurrection 

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 4:

 

If, while on earth, He healed the sicknesses of the flesh and made the body whole, He will do it even more in the resurrection, so the flesh will rise perfect and whole.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s On the Resurrection 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 8:

 

It is evident that man made in the image of God was made of flesh. So isn’t it absurd to say that the flesh made by God in His own image is contemptible and worth nothing? 

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 80:

 

If you have fallen in with some who are called Christians…but who say there is no resurrection of the dead and that when they die, their souls are taken to heaven, do not imagine that they are Christians…But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies Book 2 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 29, Paragraph 1:

 

If souls would have perished unless they had been righteous, then righteousness must have the power to save the bodies also, which these souls inhabited. For why should it not save the bodies, since they, too, participated in righteousness?

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 3, Chapter 6, Paragraph 6:

 

The body we now use in its lowly and corrupt and weak state is the same body we will have in incorruption and power and glory…And we are to believe that, by the will of the Creator, it will live forever in this condition without any change.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on a Relationship with God

Odes of Solomon 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

14:1:

 

As the eyes of a son upon his father, so are my eyes, O Lord, at all times toward You.

 

 

Odes of Solomon 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

15:1-2:

 

As the sun is the joy of those who seek its daybreak, so the Lord is my joy;

 

He is my Sun, and His rays have lifted me up, and His light has dismissed all darkness from my face.

 

 

Fragments of Justin Martyr 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 7:

 

We will not do any harm to God by remaining ignorant of Him, but we will deprive ourselves of His friendship.

 

 

Acts of John 

(Mid to Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 107:

 

Let God rejoice with us because we walk rightly. Let Him be glad because we live purely. Let Him be refreshed because our conversation is serious. Let Him be without stress because we live in self-control. Let Him be pleased because we are in communion with one another. Let Him smile because we are chaste. Let Him be merry because we love Him.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 3

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 14, Paragraph 1

 

In the beginning, God formed Adam, not because He needed man but so that He would have someone on whom to confer His benefits.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Salvation

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 12:

 

"First of all, sir," I said, "explain this to me: What is the meaning of the rock and the gate I saw in my vision?"

 

"This rock," the angel answered, "and this gate are the Son of God." 

 

"How, sir?" I said, "The rock is old, and the gate is new." 

 

"Listen," he said, "and understand, O ignorant man. The Son of God is older than all His creatures, so that He was a fellow-councilor with the Father in His work of creation: for this reason, He is old." 

 

"And why is the gate new, sir?" I said. 

 

"Because," he answered, "He became manifest in these last days: for this reason, the gate was made new, that they who are to be saved by it might enter into the kingdom of God. Did you see," he said, "that those stones that came in through the gate were used for the building of the tower, and that those that did not come through the gate were thrown back again to their own place?" 

 

"I saw, sir," I replied. 

 

"In the same way," he continued, "no one will enter into the kingdom of God unless he receives His holy name. For if you desire to enter into a city, and that city is surrounded by a wall and has only one gate, can you enter into that city except through that one gate?" 

 

"Why, how can it be otherwise, sir?" I said. 

 

"If, then, you cannot enter into the city except through its gate, so, in the same way, a man cannot enter into the kingdom of God except by the name of His beloved Son. Did you see," he added, "the multitude who were building the tower?" 

 

"I saw them, sir," I said. 

 

"Those," he said, "are all glorious angels, and the Lord is surrounded by them. And the gate is the Son of God. This is the one entrance to the Lord. In no other way, then, shall anyone enter in to Him except through His Son. Did you see," he continued, "the six men, and the tall and glorious man in the midst of them, who walked around the tower and rejected the stones from the building?" 

 

"I saw him, sir," I answered. 

 

"The glorious man," he said, "is the Son of God, and those six glorious angels are those who support Him on the right hand and on the left. None of these glorious angels," he continued, "will enter in to God apart from Him. Whoever does not receive His name shall not enter into the kingdom of God."

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 13:

 

The angel said, “Since you take an interest in everything and examine all the details, hear about the stones that were rejected. These all received the name of God, and they also received the strength of these virgins [representing virtues]. Having received these spirits, they were made strong and were with the servants of God. And theirs was one spirit and one body and one clothing. They were of the same mind and did righteous deeds. 

 

“But after a while, they were persuaded by the women whom you saw clothed in black. These second women had their shoulders exposed and their hair disheveled, and they were beautiful in appearance. Having seen these women, they desired to have them and clothed themselves with their strength and put off the strength of the virgins. 

 

“So, these stones were rejected from the house of God and were given over to the black-robed women. But they who were not deceived by the beauty of these women remained in the house of God.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 15:

 

The angel continued: “Hear also the names of the women who had the black garments…The first is Unbelief, the second: No Self-Control, the third Disobedience, the fourth Deceit. And their followers are called Sorrow, Wickedness, Wantonness, Anger, Falsehood, Folly, Backbiting, Hatred. The servant of God who bears these names will see the kingdom of God but will not enter into it.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 18:

 

The angel said, “He who does not know God and does evil will be punished for his wickedness. But he who has known God should do evil no longer but should do good. If, when he should do good, he does evil, isn’t he doing greater evil than he who does not know God? So, those 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 will be punished doubly and will die forever.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 19:

 

The angel said, “Repentance is not open to apostates and those who blaspheme the Lord, nor to those who betray the servants of God.”

 

 

Odes of Solomon 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Ode 3:

 

I am putting on the love of the Lord.

 

And His members are with Him, and I am dependent on them; and He loves me.

 

For I should not have known how to love the Lord if He had not continuously loved me.

 

Who is able to distinguish love, except him who is loved?

 

I love the Beloved, and I myself love Him, and where His rest is, there also am I.

 

And I will be no stranger, because there is no jealousy with the Lord Most High and Merciful.

 

I have been united to Him, because the lover has found the Beloved. Because I love Him who is the Son, I will become a son.

 

Yes, he who is joined to Him who is immortal, truly will be immortal.

 

And he who delights in the Life will become living.

 

This is the Spirit of the Lord, which is not false, which teaches the sons of men to know His ways.

 

Be wise and understanding and awakened. 

 

Hallelujah.

 

 

Mathetes’ Letter to Diognetus

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 9:

 

As long as the former time endured, He allowed us to be carried along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts. He did not delight in our sins; He simply endured them…He wanted to make us conscious of righteousness, convincing us that in our unworthiness, we could not attain life by our own works. Now, through the kindness of God, that life is secure. He showed us that we weren’t able to enter the kingdom of God through our own power but only through His. 

 

When our wickedness had reached its limit, and it had been clearly shown that the consequence of punishment and death was looming over us, the time had come that God set for showing His own kindness and power. He showed that the unique love of God cared extremely for men and did not have any hatred toward us, nor did He want to thrust us away, nor remember our immorality against us. Instead, He showed great patience and bore with us. 

 

He Himself took on the burden of our sins. He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for those who are mortal. For what else could have covered our sins than His righteousness? Who else could have justified us, the wicked and ungodly, other than the only Son of God? 

 

O sweet exchange! O unsearchable change! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hidden in a single righteous One and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors! 

 

So, having convinced us in the former time that we couldn’t attain to life in our own nature, and having now revealed the Savior who is able to save even those who couldn’t be saved before, He desires to lead us to trust in His kindness and to count Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counselor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honor, Glory, Power, and Life so that we shouldn’t be anxious about anything, including clothing and food.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 3

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 20, Paragraphs 1-2:

 

God was patient when man sinned, foreseeing the victory He would gain through the Word. For, when strength was made perfect in weakness, it showed the kindness and transcendent power of God.

 

Take Jonah as an example. God patiently allowed Jonah to be swallowed by the whale, not that he should be swallowed up and die forever, but that, having been cast out again, he would be more obedient to God and glorify Him the more who had given him such an unhoped-for deliverance…

 

So also, from the beginning, God allowed man to be swallowed up by the great whale, the author of sin, not that he should die forever when swallowed up like this, but was arranging and preparing the plan of salvation that would be accomplished by the Word…

 

This was done so that man, receiving unhoped-for salvation from God, would rise from the dead and glorify God…and never adopt an opposite opinion with regard to God, thinking that the incorruptibility he now has is his due to his own nature, and so by not holding to the truth, boast with empty arrogance, as if he were naturally like God. For Satan caused man to be ungrateful toward his Creator and obscured the love God had for man and blinded man’s mind so that he couldn’t see what is really worthy of God, comparing himself with, and judging himself equal to, God.

 

So this is why God was patient with man: He wanted man to pass through all these things and gain the knowledge of moral discipline, then, attaining to the resurrection from the dead and learning by experience what the source of his deliverance is, always live in a state of gratitude to the Lord, having obtained from Him the gift of incorruptibility and so loving Him all the more; for "he who has been forgiven much, loves much." 

 

And He wanted man to know himself, how mortal and weak he is, while he also understands God to be immortal and powerful to such a degree that He can confer immortality upon what is mortal and eternity upon what is temporal.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Satan

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 7:

 

The angel said, “Don’t fear the devil; for, fearing the Lord, you will have dominion over the devil, for there is no power in him.”

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 12, Chapter 4:

 

The angel said, “Do not fear the devil, for there is no power in him against you, for I will be with you, the angel of repentance, who am lord over him. The devil has fear only, but his fear has no strength. So don’t fear him, and he will flee from you.”

 

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 12, Chapter 5:

 

I said, “Sir, man is eager to keep the commandments of God, and there is no one who does not ask the Lord to give him the strength to keep these commandments; but the devil is hard and holds sway over them.” 

 

The angel answered, “He cannot hold sway over the servants of God, who place their hopes in Him with all their heart. The devil can wrestle against these, but he cannot overthrow them. So, if you resist him, he will be conquered and flee from you in disgrace. 

 

“So, anyone who is empty fears the devil as if he possessed power. When a man has filled very suitable jars with good wine, and a few among those jars are left empty, then he comes to the jars and does not look at the full jars, for he knows that they are full; but he looks at the empty, being afraid they’ve gone sour. For empty jars quickly become sour, and the goodness of the wine is gone. 

 

“So also, the devil goes to all the servants of God to test them. Those who are full of faith resist him strongly, and he withdraws from them, having no way to enter them. He then goes to the empty, and finding an entrance into them, he produces in them whatever he wants, and they become his servants.” 

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 10, Paragraph 3:

 

Flee from wickedness, destroying the devil by your good works.

 

 

Fragments of Justin Martyr 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 3:

 

Before the coming of the Lord, Satan never ventured to blaspheme God because he was not yet sure of his own damnation since the prophets announced what was going to happen to him in parables and allegories only. But after the coming of the Lord, he learned plainly from the teachings of Christ and His apostles that eternal fire was prepared for him who voluntarily departed from God and for all who, without repentance, persevere in apostasy…Now, as if already condemned, he blasphemes the God who inflicts judgment upon him and blames the sin of his apostasy on his Maker instead of on his own will and decision.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 39:

 

“But you hesitate to confess that He is Christ, as the Scriptures proves, as do the events people saw and did in His name, because you don’t want to persecuted by the rulers, who, under the influence of the wicked and deceitful spirit, the serpent, will not cease putting to death and persecuting those who confess the name of Christ."

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 45:

 

The serpent who sinned from the beginning, and the angels like him, will be destroyed.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 28:

 

We call the prince of the wicked spirits the serpent, and Satan, and the devil, as you can learn by looking into our writings. And there, you’ll see Christ foretold that Satan will be sent into the fire with his host and the men who follow him, and he will be punished for an endless duration.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 24, Paragraph 1:

 

As the devil lied at the beginning, so did he also lie at the end, when he said, "I will give you all the authority and splendor of the kingdoms of the world; they have been given to me, and I can give them to anyone I want to." For he is not the one who gives and manages the kingdoms of this world, but God.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 24, Paragraph 3:

 

The devil, the apostate angel, can only go as far he did at the beginning, namely to deceive and lead the mind of man astray into disobeying the commandments of God and gradually to darken the hearts of those who would endeavor to serve Him so that they forget the true God and adore him as God.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5

(Late 2nd Century)

Chapter 24, Paragraph 4:

 

The devil was one of the angels placed over the spirit of the air, as the Apostle Paul has declared in his Epistle to the Ephesians. Becoming envious of man, he became an apostate from the divine law, for envy is a thing foreign to God. And as his apostasy was exposed by man, and man became the means of searching out his thoughts, he has set himself in opposition to man in greater and greater determination, envying his life, and wishing to involve him in his own apostate power. 

 

The Word of God, however, the Maker of all things, conquering him by means of human nature and showing him to be an apostate, has put him under the power of man. For He says, "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy," so that, as the devil obtained dominion over man by apostasy, so again the devil’s apostasy might be deprived of power by means of man turning back again to God.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching

(Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 16:

 

The man did not keep God’s commandment but was disobedient to God, being led astray by the angel. This angel was envious of man because of the great gifts God had given man. So, he brought himself to nothing and made man sinful, persuading him to disobey the commandment of God. 

 

So, the angel became the author and originator of sin by his lie and was struck down, having offended God, and he caused man to be cast out from Paradise. And because he apostatized and departed from God, he was called Satan, according to the Hebrew word; that is, Apostate: but he is also called Slanderer. 

 

God cursed the serpent, which carried the Slanderer. This curse came on the beast himself and on the angel hidden and concealed in him, on Satan. And He put man away from His presence, removing him and making him live outside of Paradise, because Paradise does not receive the sinful.

 

 

Theophilus of Antioch’s Book 2

(Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 28:

 

In the beginning, Eve was deceived by the serpent. The serpent became the author of sin, the wicked demon, who also is called Satan. He spoke to her through the serpent and works to this day in those men who are possessed by him. And he is called "demon" and "dragon" because of his revolting from God. For at first, he was an angel. 

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Preface, Paragraph 6:

 

Regarding the devil and his angels and the opposing influences, the teaching of the Church has laid down that these beings do exist; but what they are, or how they exist, it has not explained with sufficient clearness. This opinion, however, is held by most, that the devil was an angel, and that, having become an apostate, he induced as many of the angels as possible to fall away with himself, and these are called his angels up to the present time.

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 3, Chapter 2, Paragraph 1:

 

In the book of Genesis, the serpent is described as having seduced Eve to sin. In the work titled The Ascension of Moses (a little treatise the Apostle Jude mentions in his Epistle), the archangel Michael, when disputing with the devil regarding the body of Moses, says that the serpent, being inspired by the devil, was the cause of Adam and Eve's transgression.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Unity of the Church

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 1:

 

It is not persecution alone you should fear, nor those things that advance by open attack to overwhelm and cast down the servants of God. Caution is easier where danger is manifest, and the mind is prepared beforehand for the contest when the adversary shows himself. 

 

The enemy is more to be feared and to be guarded against when he creeps on us secretly; when, deceiving by the appearance of peace, he creeps forward. This is why he is called the Serpent. He is always subtle; that is his dark and stealthy cleverness for circumventing man. So, from the very beginning of the world, he deceived; and flattering with lying words, he misled inexperienced souls by an incautious trust.

 

 

Cyprian’s On Jealousy and Envy

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 2:

 

He walks around every one of us like an enemy besieging those who are shut up in a city, examining the walls and tests to see whether any part of the wall is less firm and trustworthy so that he can get inside. He presents to the eyes seductive forms and easy pleasures to destroy chastity by the sight of what is tempting. He tempts the ears with harmonious music, that by the hearing of sweet sounds, he may relax and drain Christian strength. He provokes the tongue by insults; he instigates the hand to murder by exasperating wrongs; to make us cheat, he presents dishonest gains; he heaps together mischievous hoards to take us captive by money; he promises earthly honors to deprive of heavenly ones; he makes a show of false things to steal away the true; and when he cannot hiddenly deceive, he threatens plainly and openly with the fear of turbulent persecution to vanquish God’s servants—always restless and always hostile, crafty in peace and fierce in persecution.

 

 

Cyprian’s On Jealousy and Envy

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 3:

 

At the very beginnings of the world, the devil was the first who both perished himself and destroyed others. He who was sustained in angelic majesty and was accepted and beloved of God, when he beheld man made in the image of God, broke into jealousy with hateful envy—not hurling down another by the instinct of his jealousy before he himself was first hurled down by jealousy, captive before he takes captive, ruined before he ruins others. While because of his jealousy, he robs man of the grace of immortality God gave man, he himself has lost what he previously had.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Schisms

Didache 

(1st Century)

4:3:

 

You must not start a disagreement or rift, but reconcile those at strife.

 

 

Barnabas’ Epistle

(1st Century)

Chapter 19:

 

You are not to make a schism or rift, but you should tame and calm those who argue by bringing them together.

 

 

Ignatius’ Letter to the Philadelphians

(Late 1st or Early 2nd Century)

Chapter 3:

 

If any man follows someone who makes a division in the Church, he will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter Concerning Schismatic Elders 

(Mid-3rd Century)

Paragraphs 5 and 7:

 

There is one God, and Christ is one, and there is one Church, and one chair of authority founded upon the rock by the word of the Lord. Another altar cannot be constituted, nor a new priesthood be made, except the one altar and the one priesthood. Whoever gathers elsewhere will scatter. Whatever is appointed by human madness, so that the divine will is violated, is adulterous, is unholy, is sacrilegious. Go far from the plague of this kind of men and run from their words, avoiding them as a cancer and a plague, as the Lord warns you and says, “They are blind leaders of the blind. But if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the ditch...”

 

But if anybody who is refusing to repent and to make satisfaction to God yields to the party of Felicissimus and joins himself to the unbelieving faction, he cannot return to the Church and take Communion with the bishops and the people of Christ.

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to the Roman Confessors

(Mid-3rd Century):

 

Do not think that you continue to maintain the Gospel of Christ when you separate yourselves from the flock of Christ and from His peace and unity…For as our consensus and unity should not be divided, and because we cannot forsake the Church and go outside her to come to you, we beg and urge you with what warnings we can, return to the Church, your Mother, and to our brotherhood.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Scripture

Justin Martyr’s Hortatory Address to the Greeks 

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 8:

 

The founders of our faith taught us nothing from their own private fancy, nor differed with one another, nor attempted to overturn one another's positions, but without wrangling and contention received from God the knowledge they taught to us. 

 

For it is impossible for men to know things so great and divine by nature or through human imagination. This knowledge came through the gift that descended from above and came on holy men. They didn’t need to make fancy arguments or speeches, nor speak in a contentious or quarrelsome manner. They simply had to present themselves pure to the energy of the Divine Spirit so that the divine musician, descending from heaven and using righteous men as an instrument like a harp or lyre, could reveal to us the knowledge of things divine and heavenly. 

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Hortatory Address to the Greeks 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 11:

 

But if anyone says that the writings of Moses and of the rest of the prophets were also written in the Greek language, let him read the secular histories and see that Ptolemy, king of Egypt, when he had built the library in Alexandria and filled it by gathering books from all over the world, he learned that very ancient histories written in Hebrew were carefully preserved. Wanting to know what they said, he sent for seventy wise men from Jerusalem, who knew both the Greek and Hebrew languages, and appointed them to translate the books. He made sure they were from all disturbance so they could finish the translation faster. He ordered the construction of as many little cots as there were translators, not in the city itself but seven stadia off, and so that each could complete his own translation; he ordered his officers to give them whatever they needed but to keep them from communicating with one another to ensure the accuracy of the translation by their agreement. 

 

And when he learned that the seventy men had not only provided the same meaning but had used the same words and had not failed to agree with one another in even one word, he was struck with amazement and believed the translation had been written by divine power. He understood the men were worthy of all honor, as beloved of God, and he sent them back to their own country with many gifts. And having marveled at the books (a reaction which was only natural) and concluding them to be divine, he consecrated them in that library…

 

It has been a work of Divine Providence for our good that the books relating to our religion are preserved among the Jews to this day.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 65:

 

if there seems to be a reason for saying that one Scripture contradicts another (since I am entirely convinced that no Scripture contradicts another), I will admit I do not understand the Scripture as it has been recorded.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 119:

 

Would you suppose that we could ever have understood the Scriptures if, by God’s will, we had not received grace to interpret them?

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies: Book 2 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 27, Paragraph 1:

 

A sound mind, and one that does not expose its owner to danger but is devoted to piety and the love of truth, will eagerly meditate upon the things God has placed within the power of mankind and subjected to our knowledge. And that person will advance in understanding, learning ever more easily through daily study.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies: Book 2 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 28, Paragraph 2:

 

If we can’t discover an explanation for everything in Scripture we want to study, we still should not look for any other God than the one who really exists. That would be the very greatest impiety. We should leave our questions to the God who created us in the full assurance that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God and His Spirit. But we, being inferior to and later in existence than the Word of God and His Spirit, lack the knowledge of His mysteries.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies: Book 3 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 11, Paragraph 8:

 

The number of the Gospels cannot be more or fewer than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world we live in, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the "pillar and ground" of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side and giving men new life. 

 

From this, it is evident that the Word, the Artificer of all, He who sits between the cherubim and contains all things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects but bound together by one Spirit.…For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the working of the Son of God. For, as the Scripture says, "The first living creature was like a lion," symbolizing His effective work, His leadership, and His royal power. The second living creature was like a calf, signifying His sacrifice and office of priest. “The third had, as it were, the face as of a man," an evident description of His coming as a human being. “The fourth was like a flying eagle," pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with His wings over the Church. 

 

And so the Gospels are in line with these things, among which Christ Jesus is seated. John relates His original, effectual, and glorious generation from the Father, declaring, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Also, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made…"

 

But Luke, highlighting His priestly character, started with Zachariah the priest offering sacrifice to God…Matthew relates His generation as a man, saying, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" and also, "The birth of Jesus Christ happened like this." So this is the Gospel of His humanity, showing Him to be a humble and meek man all through the whole Gospel. Mark, on the other hand, begins with reference to the prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men, saying, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet," pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel. It was for this reason that Mark made a briefer and cursory narrative, for such is the prophetical character.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 4 

(Late 2nd Century)

Chapter 31, Paragraph 1:

 

When we read about things people did but on which the Scripture gives no negative judgment but simply relates them as happening, we shouldn’t accuse the people of wrongdoing, for we are not a better judge than God.  

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 4, Chapter 1, Paragraph 1:

 

The Scriptures themselves are divine, meaning they were inspired by the Spirit of God.

 

 

Origen’s De Principiis 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 4, Chapter 1, Paragraph 16:

 

When some things in the Scriptures seem impossible and interrupt and break up the historical order of the narrative, the reader should look into the hidden meaning. To show our meaning by the facts themselves, let us examine the passages of Scripture. 

 

Please tell me who, if they have an understanding mind, would believe that the first day, and the second, and the third, in which both evening and morning are mentioned, existed without the sun, and moon, and stars – the first day even without a sky? And who would be so ignorant as to believe that God, like a gardener, planted trees in paradise, in Eden toward the east, and that a tree of life, meaning a visible and touchable tree of wood that you could eat its fruit with your physical teeth, would give you life – and that if you ate from another tree, you would gain the knowledge of good and evil? I don’t think anyone would doubt that we should interpret God walking in the afternoon in paradise and man lying hidden under a tree figuratively, indicating some mystical meaning. Cain leaving the presence of the Lord will obviously cause a careful reader to ask what the presence of God is and how anyone could go out from it. 

 

But not to extend the point too far, it is very easy for anyone who wants to separate out of holy Scripture what we should take as having really happened and what we can’t believe as literally happening according to the historical account. The same style of Scriptural narrative occurs abundantly in the Gospels, as when the devil is said to have placed Jesus on a high mountain to show Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. How could it literally happen that Jesus would be led up a high mountain by the devil, or that the devil would show Him all the kingdoms of the world as if they were in sight of His bodily eyes next to one mountain, i.e., the kingdoms of the Persians, and Scythians, and Indians? Or how could he show how the kings of these kingdoms are glorified by men? And anyone who pays attention can find many other examples like this in the Gospels. They will see spiritual meanings in those narratives that seem to be literal accounts of what happened but which can’t be actual history. 

 

 

Origen’s Letter to Gregory 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 3:

 

While you study these divine works with a believing attitude and the intent to please God, knock at any doors that are closed in them, and they will be opened to you…While you put time into this divine reading, seek carefully and with unwavering faith in God the hidden meaning that is contained in most passages of the divine Scriptures.

 

 

Origen’s Against Celsus 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 6, Chapter 60:

 

Even the ordinary reader of Scripture will see it contains many things that are too deep to grasp at first. Those who devote themselves to a careful study of the divine word will understand these deeper things. These matters become easier to understand in proportion to the pains and zeal readers spend in study.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Self-Control

Justin Martyr’s First Apology 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter29:

 

But if we marry, it is only to raise children; if we decline marriage, we live in abstinence.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria's Miscellanies, Book 3 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 1, Paragraph 4:

 

Abstinence is an ignoring of the body by the confession of faith in God. Abstinence is not just a matter of sexual fasting but also applies to the other things for which the soul has an evil desire because it is not satisfied with life's necessities. There is also abstinence of the tongue, of money, of use, and of desire. It does not only teach us to exercise self-control but that self-control is granted to us because it is a divine power and grace.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria's Miscellanies, Book 3 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 7, Paragraphs 1-3:

 

The human ideal of abstinence, which Greek philosophers set forth, teaches that one should fight desire and not give in to it, so you do not make it a common practice. But our ideal is not to experience desire at all. Our goal is not that while a man feels desire, he should conquer it, but that he should be under control even when it comes to desire itself. This decency cannot be attained in any other way except by God's grace. That was why He said, "Ask, and it will be given to you."

 

Our general argument concerning marriage, food, and other matters will show that we should do nothing "from desire." Our will is to be directed only towards what is necessary. For we are children not of desire but of will. A man who marries for the sake of having children must practice abstinence so that it is not desire he feels for his wife, whom he should love, but that he may have children with a decency and a controlled will. For we have learned not to "have thought for the flesh to fulfill its desires." We are to "walk honorably as in the way," that is in Christ and in the enlightened conduct of the Lord's way, "not in showy behaviors and drunkenness, not in seduction and lust, not in conflict and envy."

 

However, one should consider all forms of abstinence. It is not only concerning one form of it, sexual relations, but regarding all the other indulgences the soul craves. It is abstinence to despise money, luxury, property, outward appearance, to control one's tongue, and master evil thoughts.

 

 

Cyprian's On the Dress of Virgins

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 23:

 

The first instruction commanded by God was to increase and to multiply. The second was to rule over His creation. While the world was still rough and void, we were propagated by the fruitful increasing of numbers, and we increased to the enlargement of the human race. Now, when the world is filled, and the earth supplied, those who can abstain from sexual desires, living after the manner of eunuchs, are made eunuchs to the kingdom.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Sheol

 

The Gospel of Peter 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

Chapters 9-10:

 

At dawn, as the Lord's day was approaching, the soldiers were keeping guard two by two, and there was a great voice in the heaven, and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descended from heaven with great light and approached the tomb. And the stone that was put at the door of the tomb rolled away by itself. The tomb was opened, and both the young men entered in.

 

When the soldiers saw it, they woke the centurion and the elders, for they were also close by keeping guard. And, as they declared what things they had seen, they saw three men come out of the tomb. Two of them were supporting one, and a cross was following them. The heads of the two men reached to heaven, but the head of the one they were leading reached beyond the heavens. 

 

And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, “You have preached to them that sleep.” 

 

And a response was heard from the cross, “Yes.”

 

 

Odes of Solomon 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

42:8-20: 

 

Like the arm of the bridegroom over the bride, so is My yoke over those who know Me.

 

And as the bridal chamber is spread out by the bridal pair's home, so is My love by those who believe in Me.

 

I was not rejected, although I was considered to be so, and I did not perish, although they thought it of Me.

 

Sheol saw Me and was shattered, and Death ejected Me and many with Me.

 

I have been vinegar and bitterness to it, and I went down with it as far as its depth.

 

Then the feet and the head it released, because it was not able to endure My face.

 

And I made a congregation of living among his dead; and I spoke with them by living lips so that My word would not be unprofitable.

 

And those who had died ran toward Me; and they cried out and said, “Son of God, have pity on us.

 

“And deal with us according to Your kindness, and bring us out from the bonds of darkness.

 

“And open for us the door by which we may come out to You; for we perceive that our death does not touch You.

 

“May we also be saved with You, because You are our Savior.”

 

Then I heard their voice and placed their faith in My heart.

 

And I placed My name upon their head, because they are free and they are Mine.

 

 

The Christian Sibylline Oracles

(2nd Century) 

Book 2:280-315:

 

And then shall Uriel, mighty angel, break 

The bolts of stern and lasting adamant

Which, monstrous, bold the brazen gates of Hades,

Straight cast them down, and to judgment lead

All forms that have endured much suffering,

Chiefly the shapes of Titans born of old,

And giants, and all whom the deluge whelmed,

And all that perished in the billowy seas,

And all that furnished banquet for the beasts

And creeping things and fowls; these in a mass

Shall Uriel summon to the judgment-seat;

And also those whom flesh-devouring fire

Destroyed in flame, even these shall he collect

And place before the judgment-seat of God.

And when the high-thundering Lord of Sabaoth

Making an end of fate shall raise the dead,

Sit on his heavenly throne, and firmly fix

The mighty pillar, then amid the clouds,

Christ, who Himself is incorruptible,

Shall come to the Incorruptible

In glory with pure angels, and shall sit

At the right hand on the great judgment-seat

To judge the life of pious and the way

Of impious men. And Moses, the great friend

Of the Most High, shall come enrobed in flesh;

Also, great Abraham himself shall come,

Isaac and Jacob, Joshua, Daniel,

Elijah, Habakkuk and Jonah, and

Those whom the Hebrews slew. But He'll destroy

The Hebrews after Jeremiah, all

Who are to be judged at the judgment-seat,

So that worthy recompense they may receive

And pay for all each did in mortal life.

And then shall all pass through the burning stream

Of flame unquenchable; but all the just

Shall be saved.

 

 

The Epistle of the Apostles 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 27:

 

Jesus said, “That is why I went down to the place of Lazarus and preached to the righteous and the prophets: so that they would come out of the rest that is below and come up into that rest that is above; and I poured out upon them with My right hand the water of baptism of life and forgiveness and salvation from all evil, as I have done to you and to them that believe in Me.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 72:

 

“From the sayings of the same Jeremiah, these have been cut out [referring to Jews deleting passages from the Septuagint]: 'The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves, and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.'”

 

 

The Acts of Pilate 

(Mid-2nd Century to Early 3rd Century) 

Part 2: The Descent into Hell:

 

And Joseph arose and said to Annas and Caiaphas: “It is good for you to marvel at the news that Jesus has been seen alive after death and that He has ascended into heaven. Nevertheless, it is more marvelous that He did not rise alone from the dead but raised to life many other dead persons out of their tombs, and many people in Jerusalem have seen them. 

 

“Now listen to me, for we all know the blessed Simeon, the high priest who received the child Jesus in his hands in the temple. And this Simeon had two sons, brothers in blood, and we were all at their falling asleep and at their burial. So go look at their tombs, for they are open because they have risen, and look, they are in the city of Arimathea, living together in prayer. And indeed, men hear them crying out, yet they speak with no man but are silent as dead men. But come, let us go to them and with all honor and gentleness bring them back here, and if we beg them, maybe they will tell us about the mystery of their rising again.

 

When they heard these things, they all rejoiced. And Annas and Caiaphas, Nicodemus and Joseph and Gamaliel went and found them not in their tomb. So they went to the city of Arimathea and found them there, kneeling and giving themselves to prayer. And they kissed them, and with all reverence and in the fear of God, they brought them to Jerusalem into the synagogue. And they shut the doors and took the law of the Lord and put it into their hands and begged them by the God Adonai and the God of Israel who spoke to our fathers by the prophets, saying: “Do you believe it was Jesus who raised you from the dead? Tell us how you have risen from the dead.”

 

And when Karinus and Leucius heard this request, they trembled in their body and groaned, being troubled in heart. And looking up together to heaven, they made the seal of the cross with their fingers upon their tongues and then spoke, saying, “Give us each some paper and let us write we have seen and heard.” And they gave them to them, and each of them sat down and wrote the following.

 

“O Lord Jesu Christ, the life and resurrection of the dead, allow us to speak of the mysteries of Your majesty You performed after Your death on the cross because we have been requested to do so in Your Name. For You commanded us, Your servants, to not tell anyone the secrets of Your divine majesty You worked in Hell.

 

“When we were set together with all our fathers in the deep, in the obscurity of darkness, suddenly, there came a golden heat of the sun and a purple and royal light shining upon us. And immediately, the father of the whole race of men, together with all the patriarchs and prophets, rejoiced, saying, ‘This light is the author of everlasting light, who promised to send us His co-eternal light.’ 

 

“And Isaiah cried out and said, ‘This is the light of the Father, even the Son of God, as I prophesied when I lived upon the earth: ‘The land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali beyond Jordan, of Galilee of the Gentiles, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them did the light shine.” And now it has come and shone upon us that sit in death.’

 

“And as we all rejoiced in the light shining upon us, our father Simeon came to us, and rejoicing, he said to us, ‘Glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for I received Hm in my hands in the temple when He was born…

 

“And after that, someone who looked like he lived in the wilderness came up. Everyone asked, ‘Who are you?’ And he answered them and said, ‘I am John, the voice and the prophet of the Most High. I came before His coming to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people for the remission of their sins. And when I saw Him coming to me, being moved by the Holy Ghost, I said, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world.” And I baptized Him in the river of Jordan and saw the Holy Ghost descending upon Him in the likeness of a dove and heard a voice out of heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And now have I come before Him to declare to you that He is at hand to visit us, even the dayspring, the Son of God, coming from on high to us who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.’

 

“And when father Adam, who was first created, heard that Jesus was baptized in Jordan, he cried out to Seth, his son, saying, ‘Declare to your sons the patriarchs and the prophets all you heard from Michael the archangel when I sent you to the gates of paradise to ask God to send you His angel to give you the oil of the tree of mercy to anoint my body when I was sick.’ 

 

“Then Seth came near to the holy patriarchs and prophets and said, ‘When I, Seth, was praying at the gates of paradise, Michael, the angel of the Lord, appeared to me and said, “I was sent to you from the Lord. I am set over the body of man. And I say to you, Seth, do not be anxious with tears, praying and asking for the oil of the tree of mercy to anoint your father Adam for the pain of his body. You will not be able to receive it until the last days and times, when 5,500 years have passed. Then the most beloved Son of God will come to the earth to raise up the body of Adam and the bodies of the dead, and He will come and be baptized in Jordan. And when He comes out of the water of Jordan, He will anoint with the oil of mercy all who believe in Him, and that oil of mercy will be to all generations of them that will be born of water and of the Holy Ghost, to life eternal. Then the most beloved Son of God, even Christ Jesus, will come down upon the earth and will bring our father Adam into paradise to the tree of mercy.”’…

 

“And while all the saints were rejoicing, Satan, the prince and chief of death said to Hell, “Get ready to receive Jesus, who boasts that He is the Son of God but is actually a man who fears death. He said, ‘My soul is sorrowful even to death.’ And He has been a great enemy to me, doing me great hurt, and many that I had made blind, lame, dumb, leprous, and possessed, He has healed with a word, and some people I brought to you dead, He has taken away from you.”

 

“Hell answered and said to Satan the prince, ‘Who is He that is so mighty if He’s just a man who fears death? My power rules over all the mighty ones of the earth, including those you brought me. So, if you are mighty, what kind of man is this Jesus, who, though He fears death, resists your power? If He’s so mighty in His nature as a man, I say to you, He is indeed powerful in His nature as God, and no man can withstand Him. And when He says He fears death, He’s trapping you, and trouble will come to you forever.’ 

 

“But Satan, the prince of the underworld, said, ‘Why do you doubt and fear to receive this Jesus? He is your adversary and mine. I have tempted Him and have stirred up my ancient people, the Jews, with envy and wrath against Him. I have sharpened a spear to thrust Him through, have mixed gall and vinegar to give Him to drink, and I have prepared a cross to crucify Him and nails to pierce Him. His death is close at hand for me to bring Him to you to be my subject and yours.’

 

Hell answered and said, ‘You have told me He is the one who takes dead men away from me. There have been many who lived on the earth and took dead men from me, but it was not by their own power but by praying to God, and their almighty God took them from me. Who is this Jesus, who by His own word, without prayer, has drawn dead men from me? Maybe it was He, who, by the word of His command, restored Lazarus to life, who was dead for four days and stank and was rotting and whom I held here dead.‘

 

“Satan, the prince of death, answered and said, ‘It is that same Jesus.’

 

“When Hell heard that, he said to him, ‘I beg by your strength and mine not to bring Him to me. For at that time, when I heard the command of His word, I shook and was overwhelmed with fear, and all my servants were troubled. Neither could we keep Lazarus, but he, like an eagle shaking himself, leaped up with all agility and swiftness and departed from us. And the earth, which held the dead body of Lazarus, immediately gave him up alive. So, now I know that the man who was able to do these things is a God strong in command and mighty in manhood and that He is the savior of mankind. And if you bring Him to me, He will set free all who are here shut up in the hard prison and bound in the chains of their sins that cannot be broken, and He will bring them to the life of his God-head forever.’

 

“And as Satan the prince and Hell spoke together, suddenly there came a voice like thunder and a spiritual cry: ‘Remove, O princes, your gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in.’ 

 

“When Hell heard that, he said to Satan the prince, ‘Go away from me and get out of my realm. If you are a mighty man of war, go fight against the King of glory. But what have you to do with Him?’ And Hell cast Satan out of his dwelling. Then Hell said to his wicked servants, ‘Shut the hard gates of brass and put iron bars on them and stand strong so that we, the masters of captivity, won’t be taken captive.’

 

“But when all the multitude of the saints heard it, they rebuked Hell: ‘Open your gates so the King of glory may come in…’

 

“Then the Lord of majesty appeared in the form of a man and lightened the eternal darkness and broke the bonds that could not be loosed. And the help of His everlasting might visited us who sat in the deep darkness of our transgressions and in the shadow of the death of our sins.

 

“When Hell and death and their wicked servants saw this, they were struck with fear at the sight of the brightness of so great a light in their own realm, seeing Christ suddenly in their abode, and they cried out, saying, ‘You have overcome us. Who are You whom the Lord sent to confuse us like this? Who are You who hasn’t been hurt by death and has preserved the signs of Your majesty unblemished and now comes in wrath to condemn our power? Who are You who are so great and so small, both humble and exalted, both soldier and commander, a marvelous warrior in the shape of a bondsman, and a King of glory dead and living, whose dead body the cross bore? You lied dead in the grave but have come down to us alive, and at Your death, all creation quaked, and all the stars were shaken. And You have become free among the dead and send our armies backing away in retreat. Who are You who sets free the prisoners who are bound by original sin and restores them to their previous liberty? Who are You who shines Your divine and bright light on those who were blinded with the darkness of their sins?’

 

“In the same way, all the armies of devils were struck with fear and cried out together in the terror of their confusion, ‘ Where do You come from, Jesus, a man so mighty and bright in majesty, so excellent without spot and clean from sin? The earth, which has always been subject to us until now and paid tribute to us, has never sent us a dead man like You, nor ever sent such a gift to Hell. So who are You who so fearlessly crosses our borders, and not only is not afraid of our torments but purposes to free all men out of our bonds? Maybe You are that same Jesus who Satan, our prince, said would receive dominion over the whole world by Your death on the cross.’

 

“Then, in His majesty, the King of glory trampled on death and took hold of Satan the prince and delivered him to the power of Hell, and drew Adam toward Him, to His own brightness.

 

“Then Hell, receiving Satan the prince, reproached him strongly: ‘O prince of the damned and chief of destruction, Beelzebub, considered useless by angels and spat upon by the righteous, why would you do this? You would crucify the King of glory, and as He died, you promised us great benefits from His death. Like a fool, you didn’t know what you were doing. Now look, by the brightness of His majesty, this Jesus makes all the darkness of death flee, and He has broken the strong depths of the prisons and let out the prisoners and loosed those who were bound. All those who were sighing from our torments are now rejoicing over us, and in answer to their prayers, our kingdom is defeated, our realm is conquered, and no nation of men will fear us anymore. And besides this, the dead, who never used to be proud, triumph over us, and the captives, who never could be joyful, threaten us. 

 

“’O prince Satan, father of all the wicked and ungodly and renegades, why would you do this? Those who from the beginning until now have despaired of life and salvation – we can’t hear them roaring in pain anymore, neither do their groans sound in our ears, nor is there any sign of tears upon any of their faces. 

 

“’O prince Satan, holder of the keys of hell, those who were your riches you gained by the tree of transgression and the losing of paradise, you have lost by the tree of the cross, and all your happiness has died. When you hung up Christ Jesus, the King of glory, you were working against yourself and against me. From now on, you will know what eternal torments and infinite pains you are to suffer as my prisoner forever. 

 

‘”O prince Satan, author of death and head of all pride, you should have first looked for evil in this Jesus. Why did you venture to crucify Him without cause, unjustly, when you found no blame in Him and bring the righteous and innocent one into our realm only to lose those who were guilty and ungodly and unrighteous from across the whole world?’

 

“And when Hell had said this to Satan the prince, the King of glory said to Hell, ‘Satan the prince will be in your power forever to take the place of Adam and his children, all My righteous ones.’

 

“And the Lord stretched out His hand and said, ‘Come to Me, all you My holy ones who bear My image and My likeness. You who were condemned by the tree and the devil and death, see now the devil and death condemned by the tree.’

 

“And soon after, all the holy ones were gathered together under the hand of the Lord. And the Lord held the right hand of Adam and said to him, ‘Peace to you with all your children who are My righteous ones.’

 

“But Adam threw himself down at His knees and cried out in tears, ‘I will magnify You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up and not let my enemies triumph over me. O Lord my God, I cried to You, and You have healed me. Lord, You have brought my soul out of Hell. You have delivered me those who go down to the pit. Sing praises to the Lord, all you holy ones of His, and give thanks to Him for His holiness. For there is wrath in His indignation, and life is in His good pleasure.’

 

“In the same way, all the holy ones of God kneeled and threw themselves down at the feet of the Lord, saying together, ‘You have come, O redeemer of the world. You have accomplished what You foretold in the law and by Your prophets. You have redeemed the living by Your cross, and through Your death on the cross, You have come down to us to save us out of Hell and death through Your majesty. O Lord, just as You have set the name of Your glory in the heavens and set up Your cross for a token of redemption upon the earth, so, Lord, may You set the sign of the victory of Your cross in Hell so that death will no longer rule.’

 

“And the Lord stretched out His hand and made the sign of the cross over Adam and over all His holy ones, and He took the right hand of Adam and went up out of Hell, and all the holy ones followed Him…

 

“Then the Lord, holding Adam’s hand, delivered him to Michael the archangel, and all the holy ones followed Michael the archangel, and he brought them all into the glory and beauty of paradise. 

 

“And there they met two men, ancients of days. The holy ones asked, ‘Who are you who have not yet been dead in Hell with us but have been in paradise in the body?’

 

“Then one of them answered: ‘I am Enoch. I was brought here by the word of the Lord, and this person with me is Elijah the Tishbite, who was taken up in a chariot of fire. Up to this day, we have not tasted death but are waiting here until the coming of the Antichrist to fight against him with signs and wonders of God and to be killed by him in Jerusalem, and after three and a half days to be taken up again alive into the clouds.’

 

“And as Enoch and Elijah spoke with the holy ones, [the thief who believed in Jesus came up.] 

 

“These are the divine and holy mysteries we, Karinus and Leucius, saw and heard…Michael the archangel told us to go over Jordan to a rich and fertile place. Many who rose again with us for a testimony of the resurrection of Christ the Lord are there. But those of us who rose from the dead were given only three days to keep the Passover of the Lord in Jerusalem with our relatives who are living for a testimony of the resurrection of Christ the Lord. And we were baptized in the holy river of Jordan and received white robes, every one of us. And after the three days, when we had kept the Passover of the Lord, all those who had risen with us were caught up in the clouds and were taken over Jordan and were never seen again by men. But we were told to stay in the city of Arimathea and continue in prayer…”

 

And suddenly, they were transfigured and became bright white and were seen no more. And the writings of their experience were found to be exactly the same, not differing by even one letter.

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 31, Paragraph 1:

 

For three days, He stayed in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: "And the Lord remembered His dead holy ones who slept formerly in the land of the grave, and He descended to them to rescue and save them."

 

Hippolytus’s Against Plato, On the Cause of the Universe

(Early 3rd Century)

 Paragraphs 1-2:

 

We must speak of Hades, in which the souls of both the righteous and unrighteous are detained. Hades is an abusive place in the created system, a location beneath the earth, where the light of the world does not shine. Since the sun does not shine in this place, there is never-ending darkness there. This place has been destined to be a guard-house for souls, with angels stationed as guards, distributing according to each one's deeds the temporary punishments for different characters. 

 

And in this place, there is a certain place set apart by itself, a lake of unquenchable fire, into which we suppose no one has ever yet been thrown. It is prepared for the day determined by God, in which one sentence of righteous judgment will be justly applied to all. The unrighteous and those who did not believe in God, who have honored the vain works of their hands as higher than God and created idols by themselves, will be sentenced to this endless punishment. 

 

But the righteous will receive the incorruptible and unfading kingdom, who are currently detained in Hades, but not in the same place with the unrighteous. There is one descent at the gate where we believe an archangel is stationed with a host in this location. When those who are appointed to the souls are directed by the angels to pass through this gate, they do not continue on the same path as the unrighteous. The righteous are led in the light toward the right, sung to by the angels stationed there, and are brought to a place full of light. Those righteous from the beginning dwell there. They are not ruled by necessity, but always are enjoying the thoughts of the blessings in their view and delighting themselves with the expectation of others joining them, and deeming them better than these. And that place brings no troubles to them. In this place, there is neither fierce heat, nor cold, nor thorn, but the faces of the fathers and the righteous are seen always smiling as they wait for the rest and eternal revival in heaven, which follow this location. And we call it Abraham's bosom. 

 

The unrighteous are dragged to the left by angels who are ministers of punishment. They do not go on their own any longer but are dragged by force as prisoners. And the angels who are appointed over them send them along, reproaching them and threatening them with an eye of terror, forcing them down into the lower parts. And when they are brought there, those appointed to that service drag them on to the end or hell. And those who are near will hear the unrest endlessly and feel the hot smoke. And when that vision is near, as they see the terrible and excessively glowing spectacle of the fire, they shudder in horror at the expectation of the future judgment, as if they were already feeling the power of their punishment. And again, where they see the fathers and the righteous' place, they are also punished there. For a deep and vast abyss is set in the midst, so none of the righteous sympathizers think to pass it, nor any of the unrighteous dare to cross it.

 

Hades is where the souls of all are held until the time God has determined. He will accomplish a complete resurrection, not by transferring souls into other bodies, but by raising the bodies themselves.

 

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies, Book 6 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 6, Paragraphs 5-6:

 

If the Lord descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel (and He did descend), it was either to preach the Gospel to all people or to the Hebrews only…Souls, although darkened by passions, are able to perceive more clearly when released from their bodies since they are no longer obstructed by the weak flesh…

 

The Gospel says, "that many bodies of those that slept arose," plainly indicating that they were transferred to a better state.

 

 

Tertullian’s A Treatise on the Soul 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 55:

 

We don’t believe the lower regions of Hades are an empty cavern, nor some underground sewer of the world. We believe it is a vast, deep, hidden space in the center of the earth because we read that while dead, Christ spent three days in the heart of the earth…The depths of the Abyss are even lower down.

 

 

Tertullian’s A Treatise on the Soul 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 58:

 

All souls are shut up within Hades…There, they are already experiencing punishments and comforts.

 

 

Novatian’s On the Trinity 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 1:

 

What lies beneath the earth is not without power. For there is a place where the souls of the just and the unjust are taken, conscious of the future judgment.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Sin Nature

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 32:

 

The angel said, “What do you think the Lord will do to you, who gave you a sound spirit but which you have rendered completely useless so that it can’t be of any service to its possessor?”

 

 

Tertullian’s A Treatise on the Soul 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 40:

 

Every soul, through its birth, has its nature in Adam until it is born again in Christ. It is unclean as long as it is not regenerated in Christ, and because it is unclean, it is actively sinful and contaminates the flesh with its own shame.

 

 

Tertullian’s A Treatise on the Soul 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 41:

 

Besides the evil that comes later on the soul from the influence of the evil spirit, a prior, and in a certain sense natural, evil arises from the soul’s corrupt origin. For the corruption of our nature is another nature having a god and father of its own, namely the author of corruption. Still, there is a portion of good in the soul, of that original, divine, and genuine good, which is its proper nature. For that nature that was derived from God is obscured in us rather than completely extinguished. It can be obscured because it is not God Himself; it cannot be extinguished, however, because it comes from God.

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 35:

 

Adam was the first who fell. Belial tempted him with the desire of the tree so that he would shun the command of God. And Adam conferred on us what he did, whether of good or of evil, as being the chief of all who were born from him. So, we die by his means, as he himself, receding from the divine, became an outcast from the Word. 

 

 

Cyprian’s Letter to Fidus

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 5:

 

Regarding how early infants should be baptized, if remission of sins is given even to the greatest sinners, and to those who had sinned much against God, when they later believed—and nobody is hindered from baptism and from grace—how much more should we let an infant be baptized? 

 

An infant, having been born recently, has not sinned himself. His sin is a result of being born after the flesh according to Adam. He has contracted the contagion of the ancient death at his earliest birth. So, he receives the forgiveness of sins more easily because his own sins are not counted against him but only the sins of another.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Soul and the Spirit

 

The Epistle of the Apostles 

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapters 22, 24:

 

“Lord, is it true that the flesh will be judged together with the soul and the spirit, and that the one part shall rest in heaven and the other part be punished forever but still be alive?”

 

Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, the resurrection of the flesh will happen with the soul in it and the spirit.”

 

 

Justin Martyr’s On the Resurrection

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 10:

 

For the spirit does not die; the soul is in the body, and without a soul, it cannot live...For the body is the house of the soul, and the soul is the house of the spirit.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 5:

 

“But if the world is begotten, souls also are necessarily begotten; and perhaps at one time, they were not in existence, for they were made on account of men and other living creatures, if you will say that they have been begotten wholly apart and not along with their respective bodies…

 

"But I do not say, indeed, that all souls die, for that would be good fortune to the evil. What then? The souls of the pious remain in a better place, while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse place, waiting for the time of judgment. So, some who are worthy of God never die; but others are punished so long as God wills them to exist and to be punished.”

 

 

Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 5 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 6, Paragraph 1:

 

For by the hands of the Father, along with the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not merely a part of man, was made in the likeness of God. Now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man but are not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father, adding in the fleshly nature molded after the image of God.

 

 

Fragments of Irenaeus

(Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 49:

 

The soul is not less important than the body in its essence; nor does the body come before the soul when they are formed, but both are produced at the same time.

 

 

Tertullian’s A Treatise on the Soul

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 27:

 

How is a living being conceived? Is the substance of both body and soul formed together at one and the same time? Or does one of them precede the other in natural formation? 

 

We indeed maintain that both are conceived and formed perfectly simultaneously, as well as born together and that not a moment's interval occurs in their conception…As death is defined to be nothing else than the separation of body and soul, life, which is the opposite of death, is defined solely as the conjunction of body and soul.

 

 

Sentences of Sextus 

(Early 3rd Century)

346-347:

 

Repeat to yourself that your body is like clothing for your soul. Keep it pure because your soul is innocent. 

 

Whatever the soul will do while it is in the body, it has witnesses when it goes into judgment.

 

 

 

Lactantius’ The Divine Institutes Book 7

(Early 4th Century) 

Chapter 12, Paragraph 2:

 

The soul is not the same thing as the mind, for it is one thing that we live, another that we think. For it is the mind of those who are asleep which is at rest, not the soul; and in those who are insane, the mind is deadened, but the soul remains; so they have a soul but are deprived of their mind.

 

So, the mind, that is, the understanding, is either increased or lessened according to age. The soul is always in its own condition, and from the time when it receives the power of breathing, it remains the same even to the end, until, being sent forth from the confinement of the body, it flies back to its own abode. 

 

In the next place, the soul, although inspired by God, is shut up in a dark abode of earthly flesh and so does not possess knowledge, which belongs to divinity. So, it hears and learns all things, and it receives wisdom by learning and hearing.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Speech

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 2:

 

The angel said, “Don’t speak evil of anyone, nor listen with pleasure to anyone who speaks evil of another person. If you do listen and believe the slander you hear, you will be taking part in the sin of the one speaking, because if you believe it, then you too will have something to say against the person. 

 

Slander is an unsteady demon. It never abides in peace but always remains in discord. Keep yourself from it, and you will always be at peace with everyone.

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Commandment 3:

 

The angel said, “Love the truth and let nothing but truth come out of your mouth so that the spirit God has placed in your body may be found truthful before all men; and the Lord, who dwells in you, will be glorified, because the Lord is truthful in every word, and in Him is no lie. 

 

“Those who lie deny the Lord and rob Him by not returning the deposit He gave them. He gave them a spirit free of deceit. If they give the spirit back when it has been lying, they break the commandment of the Lord and become robbers.”

 

 

Fragments of Irenaeus 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Paragraph 9:

 

Always speaking well of the deserving, but never poorly of the undeserving, we strive for the glory and kingdom of God.

 

 

Sentences of Sextus 

(Early 3rd Century)

Selections:

 

(158/159) Love the truth, and use the lie like poison.

 

(161/162) Speak when it is not right to be silent but speak only concerning the things you know when the time is right. 

 

(163b) When it is the time to act, do not use a word.

 

(164a) Do not wish to speak first in a crowd.

 

(165a) It is better for you to be defeated while speaking the truth than to be victorious through deceit.

 

(165c) Untrue words are a characteristic of an evil person.

 

(165d) There has to be a great crisis before the lie is necessary.

 

(169) It is not possible for a faith-filled person to become fond of lying.

 

(171b) When you are with believing persons, desire to listen rather than to speak.

 

(354/356) Do not speak with a godless person about God; if you are polluted on account of impure works, do not speak about God.

 

(355) Speak about the word of God as if you were saying it in the presence of God.

 

(359) May your devout works precede every word about God.

 

(360) Do not wish to speak with a crowd about God.

 

(365) He who speaks the word of God to those for whom it is not lawful, is a betrayer to God.

 

(366) It is better for you to be silent about the word of God than to speak recklessly.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Suffering

Barnabas’ Epistle 

(1st Century) 

Chapter 8:

 

Jesus said, “Those who want to see Me and take part in My kingdom must obtain Me through tribulation and suffering.”

 

 

Didache 

(1st Century) 

3:8:

 

Accept whatever happens to you as good, realizing that nothing occurs apart from God.

 

 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Testament 11, Paragraph 2:

 

He will in no way forsake those who fear Him, neither in darkness, nor in bonds, nor in tribulations, nor in necessities. For God is not ashamed like a man, nor afraid like a son of man, nor weak like one born on the earth, and He can’t be thrust aside, but He is always at hand, and He comforts us in various ways, only departing from us for a little while to test the purpose of our soul.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Temptation

Secret Book of James 

(Early to Mid-2nd Century):

“Grant us, therefore, not to be tempted by the devil, the evil one." 

 The Lord answered and said, "What is your merit if you do the will of the Father and it is not given to you from him as a gift while you are tempted by Satan? But if you are oppressed by Satan, and persecuted, and you do his (i.e., the Father's) will, I say that he will love you, and make you equal with me, and reckon you to have become beloved through his providence by your own choice. So will you not cease loving the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? Or do you not know that you have yet to be abused and to be accused unjustly; and have yet to be shut up in prison, and condemned unlawfully, and crucified <without> reason, and buried as I myself, by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the Spirit is an encircling wall? If you consider how long the world existed <before> you, and how long it will exist after you, you will find that your life is one single day, and your sufferings one single hour. For the good will not enter into the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take thought for life! Remember my cross and my death, and you will live!"

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Early Christian Quotes on Thoughts

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century), 

Vision 1, Chapter 1:

"Is it not your opinion that a righteous man commits sin when an evil desire arises in his heart? There is sin in such a case, and the sin is great,” said she; “for the thoughts of a righteous man should be righteous. For by thinking righteously his character is established in the heavens, and he has the Lord merciful to him in every business."

Origen’s De Principiis 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Book 3, Chapter 2, Paragraph 4:

With respect to the thoughts which proceed from our heart, or the recollection of things which we have done, or the contemplation of any things or causes whatever, we find that they sometimes proceed from ourselves, and sometimes are originated by the opposing powers; not seldom also are they suggested by God, or by the holy angels. 

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Early Christian Quotes on the Trinity

Odes of Solomon 

(1st or 2nd Century) 

19:1-2:

 

A cup of milk was offered to me, and I drank it in the sweetness of the Lord's kindness. The Son is the cup, and the Father is He who was milked, and the Holy Spirit is She who milked Him.

 

 

Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho

(Mid-2nd Century) 

Chapter 61:

 

God begat a Beginning before all creatures. This Beginning was an intelligent power proceeding from Himself. This Beginning is sometimes called the Holy Spirit, or the Glory of the Lord, or the Son, or Wisdom, or an Angel, or God, or Lord and Logos. And on another occasion, He called Himself Captain, when He appeared in human form to Joshua, the son of Nun. 

 

For He can be called by all those names since He carries out the Father's will and is begotten of the Father by an act of will. It’s like what happens with us. When we speak a word, we beget the word without causing any loss in ourselves. Or take fire for an example. The first fire is not reduced when we use it to kindle another fire. And that second fire exists separately from the first.

 

 

Hippolytus’ Against the Heresy of One Noetus

(Early 3rd Century)

Paragraph 11:

 

There appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another, I do not mean that there are two Gods, but that it is only as light from light, or as water from a fountain, or as a ray from the sun.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Vanity

Clement of Alexandria’s Instructor, Book 2 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 11, Paragraph 4:

 

[After reading to Jesus’ words about God clothing the grass of the field and feeding the sparrows] If, then, He takes away all anxiety regarding clothes and food and superficial concerns in general, what should we think is to be said of the love of adornment, and dyeing of wool, and variety of colors, and an obsession with gems, and exquisite working of gold, and still more, of artificial hair and curled hair; and furthermore, of eye makeup, and plucking out hairs, and painting with all varieties of makeup, and dyeing of the hair, and the wicked arts that are employed in such deceptions?

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Instructor, Book 2 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 12, Paragraph 19:

 

And do not let their ears be pierced, contrary to nature, in order to attach ear-rings and ear-drops. For it is not right to force nature against her wishes. There could not be any better ornament for the ears than true instruction, which finds its way naturally into hearing passages. And eyes anointed by the Word, and ears pierced for perception, make a man a hearer and thinker of divine and sacred things, the Word truly exhibiting the beauty “which eye has not seen nor ear heard before.”

 

 

Cyprian's On the Lapsed 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraph 30:

 

Do we believe that a man is whole-heartedly regretting his sin and praying to the Lord with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, who from the first day of his sin daily visits the bathing-places with women; who, eating at rich banquets, gets bloated from indulging in rich delicacies and belches on the next day his indigestions and does not share his meat and drink to aid the needs of the poor? 

 

How does he who walks with joyous and glad step mourn for his death? And although it is written, "You will not ruin the figure of your beard," he plucks out his beard and styles his hair…

 

Or does she groan and complain in repentance when she still puts on the clothing of precious apparel and does not consider the robe of Christ. which she has lost; to receive valuable ornaments and richly made necklaces, and not to mourn the loss of divine and heavenly ornament? Although you clothe yourself in foreign garments and silk robes, you are naked; although you adorn and dress yourself to excess both in pearls and gems and gold, yet without the adornment of Christ, you are ugly. And you who dye your hair, now at least stop in the midst of sorrows; and you who paint the edges of your eyes with a line of black powder, now at least wash your eyes with tears. If you had lost any one of your dear friends to death, you would sob uncontrollably and cry with uncontrolled facial expressions. With the way you dress, with neglected hair, with a clouded face, you would show the signs of grief with a hurting, dejected appearance. Miserable creature, you have lost your soul. Spiritually dead here, you are continuing to live to yourself, and although you walk around, you have begun to carry your own death with you. And do you not bitterly moan; do you not continually groan; do you not hide yourself, either for shame of your sin or for the physical expression of your lamentation and sorrow? Behold, these are still worse wounds of sinning; behold, these are greater crimes—to have sinned and not to make atonement—to have committed crimes and not to mourn your crimes.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Women

Tertullian’s On the Apparel of Women 

(Late 2nd Century) 

Chapter 13:

 

Blessed sisters, let us meditate on hardships, and we will not feel them. Let us abandon luxuries, and we will not regret them. Let us stand ready to endure every violence, having nothing we fear to leave behind. It is these things that are the bonds that block our hope. 

 

Let us cast away earthly ornaments if we desire heavenly. Do not love gold, in which that one substance are branded all the sins of Israel's people. You should hate what your fathers mined from the earth, what was adored by them who were forsaking God. Gold is food for the fire. 

 

But Christians always, and now more than ever, pass their time bound in iron chains rather than surrounded with gold. The hoods covering us for martyrdom dress us for the occasion; the angels who are to carry us away are waiting! Would you go forward to meet them wearing makeup and accessories? The prophets and apostles don’t wear those things! Does your makeup give you simplicity or modesty? Do you paint your eyes with bashfulness and your mouth with silence, implanting in your ears the words of God, fitting on your necks the yoke of Christ?

 

Submit your head to your husbands, and you will be adorned enough. Busy your hands with spinning; keep your feet at home, and you will find more favor than by arraying yourselves in gold. Clothe yourselves with the silk of uprightness, the fine linen of holiness, the purple of modesty. Dressed like this, you will have God as your Lover!

 

 

Clement of Alexandria's Instructor, Book 3 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 11:

 

Women and men are to go to church dressed appropriately, with natural step, embracing silence, possessing honest love, pure in body, pure in heart, fit to pray to God. Women should observe this more. Let her be entirely covered, unless she is at home. For that style of dress lends to seriousness and protects from being gazed at. Is she puts modesty before her eyes, her shawl will never fall; nor will she invite another to fall into sin by uncovering her face. For this is the wish of the Word since it is becoming for her to pray veiled.

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies, Book 4 

(Early 3rd Century)

Chapter 20, Paragraph 8:

 

In perfect properness, Scripture has said that woman is given by God as "a help" to man. It is evident, then, in my opinion, that she will use kindness and persuasion to fix anything that annoys her husband in her management of the home. And if he will not pleased, she will strive to lead a sinless life, as far as possible for human nature, whether it be necessary to die or live, according to reason. Considering that God is her helper and associate in such a course of conduct. He is her true defender and Savior both for the present and for the future. If she makes Him the leader and guide of all her actions, and seriousness and righteousness her work, then the favor of God will be her end.

 

 

Didascalia Apostolorum 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 15, Paragraph 2:

 

It is neither right nor necessary that women should be teachers, and especially concerning the name of Christ and the redemption of His passion. For you have not been appointed to teaching, O women, and especially widows. Instead, your appointment is to pray and appeal to the Lord God. For He, the Lord God, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, sent us the Twelve to instruct the People and the Gentiles. There were women disciples with us, Mary Magdalene and Mary the daughter of James and the other Mary, but He did not send them to instruct the people with us. If it were required that women teach, our Master Himself would have commanded these to instruct us.

 

 

Didascalia Apostolorum 

(Early to Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 16, Paragraph 1:

 

Whether you, bishop, baptize people or command the deacons, elders, or ministers to baptize,- let a woman deacon anoint the women. But let a man pronounce over them the invocation of the divine Names in the water. And when she is being baptized and has come up from the water, let the deaconess receive her and teach and instruct her how the seal of baptism ought to be kept unbroken in purity and holiness. 

 

For this cause, we say that the ministry of a woman deacon is especially necessary and important. For our Lord and Savior was also ministered to by women ministers, Mary Magdalene, Mary the dauther of James and mother of Jose, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, among others. And you also need the ministry of a deaconess for many things. A deaconess is required to go into the houses of the heathen where there are believing women. A deaconess is needed to visit the sick, minister to the needy, and bathe those who have begun to recover from sickness.

 

 

Commodianus’ Instructions 

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Chapter 60:

 

You dye your hair; you paint the opening of your eyes with black; you lift up your pretty hair one by one on your painted brow; you brush your cheeks with some sort of pink color; and, moreover, earrings hang down with very heavy weights. You cover your neck with necklaces; with gems and gold, you bind hands worthy of God with an evil omen. Why should I tell of your dresses, or of the devil’s show? You are rejecting the law when you wish to please the world. You dance in your houses. Instead of psalms, you sing love songs. Although you may be honorable, you do not show it to be true when you follow evil things.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Dress of Virgins

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraphs 9, 13-15:

 

If your hair is done elegantly, and you walk so as to draw attention in public, and attract the eyes of youth, and draw the sighs of young men after you, and nourish the lust of sexual desire, and inflame the fuel of sighs, so that, although you yourself do not perish, you cause others to perish and offer yourself as a sword or poison to the spectators, you cannot be excused on the pretense that you are honorable and modest in mind. Your shameful dress and immodest jewelry accuse you. You cannot be counted now among Christ’s maidens and virgins, since you live in such a manner as to make yourselves objects of desire…

 

Having put on silk and purple, they cannot put on Christ; adorned with gold and pearls and necklaces, they have lost the jewelry of the heart and spirit…

 

God did not make the sheep scarlet or purple, or teach the juices of herbs and shell-fish to dye and color wool. He did not arrange necklaces with stones set in gold and with pearls distributed in a woven series or numerous cluster so that you could hide the neck which He made. What God formed on humans is covered, while what the devil has invented is seen. Has God willed that wounds should be made in the ears, so that ears that are innocent and unconscious of worldly evil may be put to pain? Or that afterward, from the scars and holes in the the ears precious beads may hang heavy, if not by their weight, then still by the amount of their cost? 

 

All these things, sinning and apostate angels put forth by their arts, when, lowered to the temptations of earth, they turned their back on their heavenly power. They taught them also to paint the eyes with blackness drawn round them in a circle, and to stain the cheeks with a deceitful red, and to change the hair with unnatural colors, and to drive out all truth, both of face and head, by the assault of their own corruption…

 

God says, “Let us make man in our image and likeness,” and does anyone dare to alter and change what God has made? They are laying hands on God when they try to re-form what He formed and transfigure it, not knowing that everything that comes into being is God’s work. Everything that is changed is the devil’s. If any artist were to complete a painting characterizing the demeanor, likeness, and bodily appearance of anyone, and another painter laid hands on it after it was painted to change it, that would be a serious wrong, and the original artist would be justified in his anger.

 

 

Cyprian’s On the Lapsed

(Mid-3rd Century) 

Paragraphs 6, 30:

 

[As to why God allowed a recent period of persecution:] Women’s complexion was dyed, the eyes were falsified from what God’s hand had made them, their hair was dyed with colors not given to them by God… 

 

Does she groan and lament who has time to put on the clothing of precious apparel, and not to consider the robe of Christ which she has lost; to receive valuable ornaments and richly made necklaces, and not to cry over the loss of divine and heavenly accessories? Although you dress yourself in foreign garments and silken robes, you are naked. Although you wear so much jewelry, pearls, gems, and gold, yet without the adornment of Christ, you are ugly. You who stain your hair, now at least show some sorrow; and you who paint the edges of your eyes with a line drawn around them of black powder, now at least wash your eyes with tears.

 

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Early Christian Quotes On Work

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 4:

 

Avoid working too much, and you will never sin. Those who work too much also commit many sins, being distracted by their affairs and not serving their Lord.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas 

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 9, Chapter 20:

 

Some of are rich, and others are immersed in their own work. The thistles are the rich, and the thorns are they who are immersed in their work. Those who are entangled in various kinds of business do not cling to the servants of God, but wander away, being choked by their business transactions; and the rich cling with difficulty to the servants of God, fearing something would be asked of them. Such persons will have difficulty entering the kingdom of God. For as it is unpleasant to walk among thistles with bare feet, it is also hard for such to enter the kingdom of God. But repentance is readily open to all these, so that what they did not do in former times, they may make up for in these days and do some good, and they will live to God.

 

 

 

Clement of Alexandria’s Exhortation to the Heathen 

(Early 3rd Century) 

Chapter 10, Paragraph 11:

 

Farm if you are a farmer, but while you work in your fields, know God. Sail the sea, you who are devoted to navigation, yet depend on God, your heavenly Pilot. Has Godly knowledge taken hold of you while engaged in military service? Listen to the Commander, Who orders what is right.

 

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Early Christian Quotes on Worship

 

Justin Martyr’s First Apology 

(Mid-2nd Century)

Chapter 67:

 

On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read for as long as time permits. Then, when the reader has finished, the president verbally instructs and encourages the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and when our prayer is over, we share bread and wine and water, and the president offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen. There is a distribution to each and participation of the elements. A portion is sent by the deacons to those who are absent. 

 

And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit. What is collected is deposited with the president, who helps the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in need. A portion is given to those in prison and the strangers staying among us. This takes care of all who are in need. 

 

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly because it is the first day on which God, having made a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ, our Savior, rose from the dead on the same day. He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday). On the day after that of Saturn (Saturday), which is the day of the Sun (Sunday), He appeared to His apostles and disciples. 

 

 

Fragments of Irenaeus

(Late 2nd Century)

Paragraph 7:

 

The custom of not kneeling on Sunday is a symbol of the resurrection, through which we have been set free from sins and death. This was done by the grace of Christ, who put our sins to death. This custom gained popularity in the days of the apostles, as the blessed Irenaeus, the martyr and bishop of Lyons, declares in his essay On Easter, in which he makes mention of Pentecost. He mentions the feast, during which we do not kneel, because it is of equal significance with the Lord's day.