Patristic Quote of the Day

They must preach the resurrection of the dead, that great and truly glorious sign by which testimony is borne him that the Emmanuel is truly God and by nature the Son of God the Father. He utterly abolished death and wiped out destruction. He robbed hell, and overthrew the tyranny of the enemy. He took away the sin of the world, opened the gates above to the dwellers upon earth, and united earth to heaven.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 49 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

The feeding of the multitudes in the desert by Christ is worthy of all admiration. But it is also profitable in another way. We can plainly see that these new miracles are in harmony with those of ancient times. They are the acts of one and the same power.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 48 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

A man who has an evil spirit is a figure of the Gentile people, covered in vices, naked to error, vulnerable to sin.—St. Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of Luke 

Patristic Quote of the Day

We may also learn this from what befell the herd of swine. Wicked demons are cruel, mischievous, hurtful, and treacherous to those who are in their power. The fact clearly proves this, because they hurried the swine over a precipice and drowned them in the waters. Christ granted their request that we might learn from what happened that their disposition is ruthless, bestial, incapable of being softened, and solely intent on doing evil to those whom they can get into their power.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 44 on St. Luke 

Patristic Quote of the Day

It will never happen that those who love Christ will become subject to them [that is, the demons].—Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 44 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

He calls the holy church “a lamp stand.” By its proclamation, the Word of God gives light to all who are in this world and illuminates those in the house with the rays of the truth, filling the minds of all with divine knowledge.—Origen, Fragments on Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

The parable points out to the eyes of the mind what is impossible to see with the eyes of the body. It beautifully shapes out the subtlety of intellectual things by means of the things of sense and palpable to touch.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 41 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

Christ is our love. Love is good, since it offered itself to death for transgressions. Love is good, which forgave sins. Let our soul clothe herself with love of a kind that is “strong as death.”—St. Ambrose, Issac or the Soul 8:75

Patristic Quote of the Day

He came that He might forgive the debtors much and little and show mercy upon small and great, that there might be no one whatsoever who did not participate in His goodness.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 40 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

The kingdom of God signifies, as we affirm, the grace that is by faith, by means of which we are accounted worthy of every blessing and of the possession of the rich gifts which come from above from God. It frees us from all blame and makes us to be the children of God, partakers of the Holy Spirit, and heirs of a heavenly inheritance.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 38 on St. Luke 

Patristic Quote of the Day

While it is people’s duty to examine themselves and to order their conduct according to God’s will, they leave this alone to busy themselves with the affairs of others. He that judges the brother, as the disciple of Christ says, speaks against the law and judges the law…. Whoever therefore is guided by good sense does not look at the sins of others, does not busy himself about the faults of his neighbor, but closely reviews his own misdoings.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 29 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

If you propose a choice between these two things, which is better, to laugh or to cry? Is there anybody who wouldn’t prefer to laugh? Because repentance involves a beneficial sorrow, the Lord presented tears as a requirement and laughter as the resulting benefit. How? When He says in the Gospel, “Blessed are those who cry, because they shall laugh.” So crying is a requirement, laughter the reward, of wisdom. He wrote laughter to mean joy.—St. Augustine, Sermon 175.2

Patristic Quote of the Day

The nature of an envious person is such that he makes the praises of others the food for his disease and is wickedly maddened by their reputation.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 23 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

For if grace comes from penitence, surely the one who scorns penitence renounces grace. Those who make themselves out to be holy will be wounded. The Bridegroom is taken from them.—St. Ambrose, Exposition of Luke 5:20-22

Patristic Quote of the Day

So the Lord prays, not to entreat for himself but to intercede for me. Although the Father placed all things in the power of his Son, yet the Son, in order to fulfill the form of a man, thinks that the Father must be entreated for us, because he is our Advocate… If he is an Advocate, he must intercede on account of my sins.—St. Ambrose, Commentary on Luke, Homily 23

Patristic Quotes of the Day

He has not called those who, wishing to establish their own justice, have not been made subject to the justice of God. He calls those who, being conscious of their weakness, are not ashamed to confess that we have all offended in many things. In them too is fulfilled his saying that he had not come to call the just but sinners. That is, he does not call the exalted but the humble. He does not call those puffed up about their own justice but those showing themselves devotedly subject to the one who justifies the wicked. Such people, when they are converted, bear witness with a sincere heart that they must not be regarded as just, but sinners.—The Venerable Bede, Homilies on the Gospels

Patristic Quote of the Day

When the Savior says to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you,” he addresses this to humankind in general. For those who believe in him, being healed of the diseases of the soul, will receive forgiveness of the sins which they formerly committed.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 12 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

Being at once God and man, he both gives the Spirit to the creation in his divine nature and receives it from God the Father in his human nature. It is he who sanctifies the whole creation, both by shining forth from the Holy Father and by bestowing the Spirit.—St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 12 on St. Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

What clearer evidence is there of divine generation than that before speaking of Jesus’ generation, Luke has the Father himself saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”?—St. Ambrose, Exposition of Luke

Patristic Quote of the Day

Adam brought death through the tree. Christ brought life through the cross.—St. Ambrose, Exposition of Luke 4.7