4th-century Theologian Quotes

Jerome

John Chrysostom

Basil of Caesarea

Gregory of Nyssa

Ephrem the Syrian

John Cassian

The enemy of reflection is the breakneck pace - the thousand pictures.

O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, vain curiosity, lust for power and idle talk, but give to me, Thy servant, a spirit of soberness, humility, patience and love. O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother: for blessed art Thou to the ages of ages. Amen. O God, cleanse me, a sinner.

Ephrem the Syrian

Among irrational animals the love of the offspring and of the parents for each other is extraordinary because God, who created them, compensated for the deficiency of reason by the superiority of their senses.

Basil of Caesarea

If then we have Angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors; for there is a demon present also.

John Chrysostom

Unless the grace of God comes to the help of our frailty, to protect and defend it, no man can withstand the insidious onslaughts of the enemy nor can he damp down or hold in check the fevers which burn in our flesh with nature's fire.

The perfection of learning is to know God in such a way that, though you realize he is knowable, yet you know him as indescribable.

Hilary of Poitiers

In regard to the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not the least part may be handed on without the Holy Scriptures. Do not be led astray by winning words and clever arguments. Even to me, who tell you these things, do not give ready belief, unless you receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of the things which I announce. The salvation in which we believe is not proved from clever reasoning, but from the Holy Scriptures.

Cyril of Jerusalem

There have been delivered to us in the Gospel three Persons and names through Whom the generation of the birth of believers takes place, and he who is begotten by this Trinity is equally begotten of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ? for thus does the Gospel speak of the Spirit, that 'that which is born of the Spirit is spirit' (Jn. 3:6), and it is 'in Christ' (I Cor. 4:15) that Paul begets, and the Father is the 'Father of all.'

Gregory of Nyssa