“When Peter preached the Word publicly at Rome and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had been a long time his follower and who remembered his saying, should write down what had been proclaimed.” St. Clement of Alexandria (2nd-3rd centuries) “The study...
“Pray without ceasing on behalf of other men…for cannot he that falls rise again.” St. Ignatius of Antioch (1st -2nd centuries) “In charity, follow the deceased with sorrow and with offerings, and pray that he may have rest in the hidden place where he is going.” St. Ephraim the Syrian...
“Realize, O Christian, your dignity. Once made a partaker in the divine nature, do not return to your former baseness by a life unworthy of that dignity.” Pope St. Leo the Great (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “Obviously, those who claim to abide in Christ ought to walk as...
“The Son of God is the Word of the Father in thought and activity. By Him and through Him all things were made, the Father and the Son being one. Since the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son by the unity and power of...
“What among all things that exist is unoriginate? The Godhead. For no one can tell the origin of God, that otherwise would be older than God. But what is the cause of the Manhood, which for our sake God assumed? It was surely our salvation. What else could it be?”...
“Christ suffered all that He had to suffer; nothing at all is lacking to the number of His sufferings. Therefore His sufferings are complete, but in Him as in the head; there remain even now sufferings of Christ to be endured in the body.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries,...
“They [the Montanist heretics] affirm that they are showing great reverence for God, to Whom alone they reserve the power of forgiving sins. But in truth none do Him greater injury than they who choose to prune His commandments and reject the office entrusted to them [i.e. to the priests]....
“The time which interposes between the death of a man and the final resurrection holds souls in hidden retreats, accordingly as each is deserving of rest or hardship, in view of what is merited when it was living in the flesh. Nor can it be denied that the souls of...
“What is this great mystery about you, O holy Mother and Virgin?…You are the royal throne, around which angels stand to see their Lord and Creator seated upon it. You are called the spiritual Eden…for in the former Eden the earthly Adam dwelt, but in you the Lord from Heaven.”...
“O Love, Who are ever burning and are never extinguished, O Charity, my God, set me totally afire.” St. Augustine (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “Lucky the man who loves and longs for God as a smitten lover does for his beloved…Someone truly in love keeps before his mind’s...