The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection Quotes

“And as the blood of the passover saved those who were in Egypt, so also the blood of Christ will deliver from death those who have believed.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“And again, by what Moses and Joshua did, the same thing was symbolically announced and told beforehand. For the one of them, stretching out his hands, remained till evening on the hill, his hands being supported; and this reveals a type of no other thing than of the cross: and the other, whose name was altered to Jesus (Joshua), led the fight, and Israel conquered.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“So the worthless rose up against the honoured, those of no reputation against such as were renowned, the foolish against the wise, the young against those advanced in years.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“In doing so, however, they disregard the order and the connection of the Scriptures, and so far as in them lies, dismember and destroy the truth. By transferring passages, and dressing them up anew, and making one thing out of another, they succeed in deluding many through their wicked art in adapting the oracles of the Lord to their opinions. Their manner of acting is just as if one, when a beautiful image of a king has been constructed by some skilful artist out of precious jewels, should then take this likeness of the man all to pieces, should rearrange the gems, and so fit them together as to make them into the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but poorly executed; and should then maintain and declare that this was the beautiful image of the king which the skilful artist constructed, pointing to the jewels which had been admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image of the king, but have been with bad effect transferred by the latter one to the shape of a dog, and by thus exhibiting the jewels, should deceive the ignorant who had no conception what a king’s form was like, and persuade them that that miserable likeness of the fox was, in fact, the beautiful image of the king.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself. One far superior to me has well said, in reference to this point, “A clever imitation in glass casts contempt, as it were, on that precious jewel the emerald (which is most highly esteemed by some), unless it come under the eye of one able to test and expose the counterfeit. Or, again, what inexperienced person can with ease detect the presence of brass when it has been mixed up with silver?”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“Speak not in the ears of a fool, lest when he hear thee he should despise the wisdom of thy words;”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“And let us therefore, conscientiously gathering together in harmony, cry to Him earnestly, as with one mouth, that we may be made partakers of His great and glorious promises. For [the Scripture] saith, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which He hath prepared for them that wait for Him.” Chapter XXXV Immense is this reward. How shall we obtain it? How blessed and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts of God! Life in immortality, splendour in righteousness, truth in perfect confidence, faith in assurance, self-control in holiness! And all these fall under the cognizance of our understandings [now]; what then shall those things be which are prepared for such as wait for Him? The Creator and Father of all worlds, the Most Holy, alone knows their amount and their beauty. Let us therefore earnestly strive to be found in the number of those that wait for Him, in order that we may share in His promised gifts.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“I entreat thee, by the grace with which thou art clothed, to press forward in thy course, and to exhort all that they may be saved. Maintain thy position with all care, both in the flesh and spirit. Have a regard to preserve unity, than which nothing is better. Bear with all even as the Lord does with thee. Support all in love, as also thou doest. Give thyself to prayer without ceasing. Implore additional understanding to what thou already hast. Be watchful, possessing a sleepless spirit. Speak to every man separately, as God enables thee. Bear the infirmities of all, as being a perfect athlete [in the Christian life], even as does the Lord of all. For says [the Scripture], “He Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Where the labour is great, the gain is all the more.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“He was truly of the seed of David according to the flesh, and the Son of God according to the will and power of God; that He was truly born of a virgin, was baptized by John, in order that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him; and was truly, under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, nailed [to the cross] for us in His flesh. Of this fruit we are by His divinely-blessed passion, that He might set up a standard for all ages, through His resurrection, to all His holy and faithful [followers], whether among Jews or Gentiles, in the one body of His Church.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“Christianity is not a thing of silence only, but also of [manifest] greatness.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“he who trusts in the really existent God makes no account of those that do not exist.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“Deviations of heretics from the truth 1. The rule of truth which we hold, is, that there is one God Almighty, who made all things by His Word, and fashioned and formed, out of that which had no existence, all things which exist. Thus saith the Scripture, to that effect “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the might of them, by the spirit of His mouth.” And again, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” There is no exception or deduction stated; but the Father made all things by Him, whether visible or invisible, objects of sense or of intelligence, temporal, on account of a certain character given them, or eternal; and these eternal things He did not make by angels, or by any powers separated from His Ennoea. For God needs none of all these things, but is He who, by His Word and Spirit, makes, and disposes, and governs all things, and commands all things into existence,—He who formed the world (for the world is of all),—He who fashioned man,—He [who] is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, above whom there is no other God, nor initial principle, nor power, nor pleroma,—He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall prove. Holding, therefore, this rule, we shall easily show, notwithstanding the great variety and multitude of their opinions, that these men have deviated from the truth; for almost all the different sects of heretics admit that there is one God; but then, by their pernicious doctrines, they change [this truth into error], even as the Gentiles do through idolatry,—thus proving themselves ungrateful to Him that created them. Moreover, they despise the workmanship of God, speaking against their own salvation, becoming their own bitterest accusers, and being false witnesses [against themselves]. Yet, reluctant as they may be, these men shall one day rise again in the flesh, to confess the power of Him who raises them from the dead; but they shall not be numbered among the righteous on account of their unbelief.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“since He knew that it would be good, He created both angels and men free to do that which is righteous, and He appointed periods of time during which He knew it would be good for them to have the exercise of free-will; and because He likewise knew it would be good, He made general and particular judgments; each one’s freedom of will, however, being guarded.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“since He knew that it would be good, He created both angels and men free to do that which is righteous, and He appointed periods of time during which He knew it would be good for them to have the exercise of free-will;”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“The Scripture says that these enumerated powers of the Spirit have come on Him, not because He stood in need of them, but because they would rest in Him, i.e., would find their accomplishment in Him, so that there would be no more prophets in your nation after the ancient custom: and this fact you plainly perceive.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“But our Jesus, who has not yet come in glory, has sent into Jerusalem a rod of power, namely, the word of calling and repentance [meant] for all nations over which demons held sway, as David says, The gods of the nations are demons.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“Therefore, behold, I will proceed to remove this people, and I shall remove them; and I shall take away the wisdom of their wise men, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent men.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul?” Now these things did indeed make man glorious, by supplying what was wanting to him, namely, the friendship of God; but they profited God nothing, for God did not at all stand in need of man’s love. For the glory of God was wanting to man, which he could obtain in no other way than by serving God.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“calling them to the things of primary importance by means of those which were secondary; that is, to things that are real, by means of those that are typical; and by things temporal, to eternal; and by the carnal to the spiritual; and by the earthly to the heavenly;”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“sketching out, like an architect, the plan of salvation to those that pleased Him.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“in a variety of ways, He adjusted the human race to an agreement with salvation.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“God formed man at the first, because of His munificence;”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“as much as God is in want of nothing, so much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is the glory of man, to continue and remain permanently in God’s service.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“service [rendered] to God does indeed profit God nothing, nor has God need of human obedience; but He grants to those who follow and serve Him life and incorruption and eternal glory, bestowing benefit upon those who serve”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“to follow the Saviour is to be a partaker of salvation, and to follow light is to receive light.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“In the beginning, therefore, did God form Adam, not as if He stood in need of man, but that He might have [some one] upon whom to confer His benefits.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“the friendship of God imparts immortality to those who embrace it.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“the more we have loved Him, the more glory shall we receive from Him, when we are continually in the presence of the Father.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection

“the more extensive operation of liberty implies that a more complete subjection and affection towards our Liberator had been implanted within us.”
― The Church Fathers, The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection