Sirach 44:8-15

Some of them have left behind a name, so that others declare their praise. But of others there is no memory; they have perished as though they had never existed; they have become as though they had never been born, they and their children after them. But these also were godly men, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten; their wealth will remain with their descendants, and their inheritance with their children's children.Their descendants stand by the covenants; their children also, for their sake.Their offspring will continue for ever, and their glory will never be blotted out.

Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name lives on generation after generation.The assembly declares their wisdom, and the congregation proclaims their praise.

#Bible_verse
#Sirach

In order to restore man’s communion with God, in other words, for salvation, redemption was necessary. The redemption of the human race was accomplished not by an angel, not by an archangel, not by some other of the higher but still limited and created beings, –it was accomplished by the infinite God Himself. Execution was the lot of the human race, commuted by His execution; the insufficiency of human merit was compensated by His endless worth.

All feeble works of men, which lead to hell, are compensated by a single powerful good work: faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews asked the Lord: “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?” And the Lord answered them: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent” (St. John 6:29). One good work is necessary to us for salvation: faith; but faith is work!, By faith, and by faith alone, may we enter into communion with God, with the aid of the sacraments which He has granted us.- St Ignatius Brianchaninov:

#Orthodox
#Soteriology

For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from the root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of God rest upon Him, and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as He was God, He did not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of speech. For “He needed not that any should testify to Him of man,for He Himself knew what was in man.” For He called all men that mourn; and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity by their sins, He loosed them from their chains, of whom Solomon says, “Every one shall be holden with the cords of his own sins.”

Therefore did the Spirit of God descend upon Him, [the Spirit] of Him who had promised by the prophets that He would anoint Him, so that we, receiving from the abundance of His unction, might be saved. Such, then, [is the witness] of Matthew.- St Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus Heresies III, IX

#Biblical_commentary
#St_Irenaeus
#Baptism_of_Christ

Jeremy Taylor(Anglican)

“He who knows beforehand that the Personal Word is everywhere in the written Word, could we but discern Him, will feel it an awful thing to open the Bible”—Rev. John Keble(Anglican)

#Anglican #Scripture

Song of Songs 1:5-6
I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.


St Hippolytus:
You saw the word of their congregations, who/which [they] confessed the past, “do not look upon the sinner,” and “for this reason Christ did not despise me.”

And for this reason truly she says “the sun.” For it says thus, “And to you who fear my name the sun of righteousness will appear.”

#Biblical_Commentary
#St_Hippolytus #Song_of_Songs

Update
You may have noticed that on posts where I quote from the Bible, Church Fathers & Anglican theologians, I have added tags.

This is done for ease of searching. Unfortunately due to the limited word count, I'm unable to do this more extensively and leave a few previous quotes from St John Chrysostom out.

I also like to create a sort of topical glossary of sorts to compile a database over time of Patristic views on various topics of faith.

So far these are
1)Soteriology- How we are saved, Final Judgement, sanctification, Atonement, Theosis

2)Baptism

3) Eucharist

4)Liturgy-This will include descriptions of beneficial functions of hymns, posture of prayer, mention of altar

5)Church-Nature of the Church, her order

6)Biblical Commentary-How a Church Father approach verses of Scripture.

7)Iconology-Role of images in the Christian life, symbolic function of gestures and actions

8)Mariology-What a Church Father have to say on Mary.

9)Veneration saints- Anything relating to the commemoration of saints, advocation of them or their relics and efficacy of the prayers of the saints.

I also plan to supplement these with extracts from Early Christian and Biblical Studies as well. At least those which I find interesting.

Generally for quotes I provide, the goal is to provide quotations that are not commonly used.

Over time through reading the Fathers and studies, I hope to have a nice and extensive database here that will contain numerous quotes or allusions to the topics as listed above.

Statue of St Hippolytus
This statue was found by the Renaissance antiquarian Pirro Ligorio (1500-1583) in a ruined church. Originally it was found mutilated and hypothesized to be a statue of the late 2nd-3rd cent. bishop St Hippolytus.

The statue bears an inscription dated to the mid-early 3rd cent. Next to it is a list of works of St Hippolytus and a Paschal calander dating from 222AD-333AD. Strangely, this statue based on the sketch by Ligorio indicates the original model of the statue depicts a female. Posture and exposed breast give rise to the possibility it originally represented a seated Amazon queen.

Regardless of the oddities of the statue, the fact remain it's dated to the 3rd cent. and clearly belonged to a Christian community in Rome. So what is its purpose? What does the statue represent?

(1/2)

#Iconology
#Early_christian_studies

One possibility is that the statue represents the Church in a way analogous to how Rome/Roma is impersonated. The 3rd cent. marked a rise in Roman patriotism with surge of the epithet Roma aeterna. Rome as administrative centre of the Roman Empire also occupies an important place. Roman Christians in the 3rd cent. would not have missed that, viewing the Roman Church as queen of the Churches.

The paschal calender found next to the statue also bear markers of being dedicated to the Roman Emperor Alexander, as it began at the first year of his reign. It may be suggestive of referring the Christian celebration of Pascha to him.

Moreover, St Hippolytus' own Commentary on Daniel(4.21.2) shows he appreciates Rome's role in keeping order. This is similar to St Irenaeus (Against Heresies).

This ofc means the statue is not meant to represent St Hippolytus. However the presence of the Paschal calender and list of his writings suggest the community that it belongs to, honours St Hippolytus and may very well be linked to him.

Sources
Hippolytus' commentary on the Song of songs in social and critical context, Yancey W Smith

Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century: Communities in Tension Before the Emergence of a Monarch-Bishop(Allen Brent)

Note: I'm not giving pages here as where they are taken from are easily searchable by chapter title.

(2/2)

#Iconology
#Early_christian_studies

How long, O foolish man, wilt thou not acknowledge Christ? Thou avoidest the fertile field, and castest thy seeds on the sterile one. Thou seekest to abide in the wood where the thief is delaying.

Thou sayest, I also am of God; and thou wanderest out of doors. Now at length, after so many invitations, enter within the palace. Now is the harvest ripe, and the time so many times prepared. Lo, now reap! What! dost thou not repent? Thence now, if thou hast not, gather the seasonable wines. The time of believing to life is present in the time of death. The first law of God is the foundation of the subsequent law. Thee, indeed, it assigned to believe in the second law. Nor are threats from Himself, but from it, powerful over thee. Now astounded, swear that thou wilt believe in Christ; for the Old Testament proclaims concerning Him. For it is needful only to believe in Him who was dead, to be able to rise again to live for all time.-Commodianus

#Soteriology
#Commodianus

Righteousness and goodness, peace and true patience, and care concerning one’s deeds, make to live after death. But a crafty mind, mischievous, perfidious, evil, destroys itself by degrees, and delays in a cruel death. O wicked man, hear now what thou gainest by thy evil deeds. Look on the judges of earth, who now in the body torture with terrible punishments; either chastisements are prepared for the deserving by the sword, or to weep in a long imprisonment. Dost thou, last of all, hope to laugh at the God of heaven and the Ruler of the sky, by whom all things were made? Thou ragest, thou art mad, and now thou takest away the name of God, from whom, moreover, thou shalt not escape; and He will award punishments according to your deeds. -ibid.

#Soteriology
#Commodianus

For “the Sun of Righteousness,” who drives his chariot over all, pervades equally all humanity, like “his Father, who makes his sun to rise on all men,” and distills on them the dew of the truth. He has changed sunset into sunrise, and through the cross brought death to life; and having wrenched man from destruction, he hath raised him to the skies, transplanting mortality into immortality, and translating earth to heaven—he, the husbandman of God. ‘Pointing out the favorable signs and rousing the nations To good works, putting them in mind of the true sustenance.’ (Clement of Alexandria, Protr., ANF 11)

#Clement_Alexandria
#Christ
#Soteriology

And so the Word, beloved, when he dwelt a body, because he was great, though he appeared abased that he might be revealed, he was indeed revealing the new grace of the economy. The rich was made poor for us, that by his wealth we might be made rich.

Then, beloved, from that time suspended there on a tree, he gave off a pleasing aroma of anointing oil. For he humbled himself and having stood up, the Word began to sing forth and in that time filled [the people]; the aroma was poured out that also the mercy of the economy might always appear bringing joy in the outpouring of the fragrant anointing for it was sent from the heart of the father and made known good news to the earth. (St Hippolytus, In Cant. 13.3).

#St_Hippolytus
#Soteriology
#Christ

Now the followers of Basilides consider faith as natural (φυσικὴν), insofar as they also relate it to choice (ἐpὶ τῆς ἐκλογῆς τάττουσιν), taking it as the discovery of things learned by noetic comprehension without demon stration. The followers of Valentinus assign faith to us, the simple-minded, but profess that knowledge originates in themselves, being saved by nature, according to the advantage of a different seed, saying that it is as removed from faith by such a degree as the spiritual is from the psychic.

Furthermore the followers of Basilides say that faith is a choice proper to each interval (ἐκλογὴν οἰκείαν εἶναι καθ’ ἕκαστον διάστημα), and as a consequence of the supramundane choice mundane faith accompanies every nature, and the gift of faith is appropriate to the hope of each. Faith is not then the virtuous action belonging to will (pροαιρέσεως κατόρθωμα), if it is an advantage of nature(Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.3.10.1–11.1)

#Clement_Alexandria
#Soteriology
#Free_will

Clement of Alexandria vs Basilides on free choice

Here it needs to be said that Basilides does believe in a form of free will. It just isn't taken as such according to Clement. Especially given the fact that Basilides states that we are saved by nature. However, Basilides is observed to have similarities with the Stoic view. Clement records him speaking of Faith as assent(Strom. 2.6.27.2). Stoic free will is considered determinist. A good illustration of this is via Chryssipus' analogy of the cylinder.

A cylinder and cone can only roll down a hill when pushed by something. However how they roll down depends on their natures.

Given this, it would seem that Clement(also Irenaeus) and Basilides both have a different understanding of what makes a person responsible for their acts. To Clement and Irenaeus, the Stoic and Gnostic concept just would not do. It has the implications of the idle argument(i.e since we are controlled by fate, what we do is pointless) and making God the author of evil.

While this may imply that Clement is indeterminist, there is some caution that needs to be taken. His comments on the subject doesn't seem to indicate that the possibility to choose to the contrary is necessary for responsibility(Irenaeus does imply this). Yet Clement does approximate contemporary incompatabilist, Robert Kane's notion of Ultimate Responsibility.

This is due to Clement's view that Faith is voluntary preconception. Stoics don't consider preconceptions as voluntary but as preconditions for voluntary assent. Thus compared to Stoics and Basilides, Clement has a higher sense of autonomy when it comes to responsibility as moral or character formation requires the voluntary and intentional exercise of the will. Stoic views just does not provide this as preconceptions are preconditions. There's just no control at all.

Further reading:
The Moral Psychology of Clement of Alexandria Mosaic Philosophy, Katherine Gibbons, chapter 6, Clement’s idiosyncratic concept of autonomy in the context of ancient thought

#Clement_Alexandria
#Soteriology
#Free_will
#Early_Christian_Studies

Today, Genbot 11 in Ethiopian calendar, Saint Yared is commemorated. Yared is a priest, composer, scholar, and pioneer of musical notation in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He was born in 513 AD to an Axumite Priestly family of Yeshaq and Krestina (Isaac and Christina).

Yared is notable for composing a system of musical notation and authoring several religious hymns and songs, based on a combination of local traditions and the concept of the Holy Trinity. His hymns were divided into four segments representing the four seasons of the year, each with their own melodies. He compiled these works into a pamphlet he called The Book of Digua (chants of sorrow and tearful songs in the language of Ge’ez). There were 3 modes of compositions (displaced major scales) reflecting the Holy Trinity. The system had 10 notes and consisted of dashes, curves, and dots each having a particular meaning related to the pains of Christ during good friday.

St. Yared died this day, in AD 584, at the age of 71.

Moreover, in the ecclesiastical observances there are some things of this sort, which everyone is obliged to do, and yet not everyone understands the reason for them. For the fact that we kneel to pray, for instance, and that of all the quarters of the heavens, the east is the only direction we turn to when we pour out prayer, the reasons for this, I think, are not easily discovered by anyone.

Moreover, who would readily explain the reasons for the way we receive the Eucharist, or for the rite of explanation by which it is celebrated, or for the things that are done in baptism, the words, actions, sequences, questions and answers? And yet, we carry all these things on our shoulders, though they are covered and veiled, when we fulfill them and follow them in such a way that we have received them as handed down and commended by the great high priest and his sons.(Origen, Homily V on Numbers, 1.4)

#Origen
#Liturgy
#eucharist
#Baptism
#Biblical_commentary
#Numbers

Ceremonies are advancements of order, decency, modesty, and gravity in the service of God, expressions of those heavenly desires and dispositions, which we ought to bring along with us to God's house, adjuments of attention and devotion, furtherances of edification, visible instructors, helps of memory, exercises of faith, the shell that preserves the kernel of religion from contempt, the leaves that defend the blossoms and the fruit; but if they grow over thick and rank, they hinder the fruit from coming to maturity, and then the gardener plucks them off. There is great difference between the hearty expressions of a faithful friend, and the mimical gestures of a fawning flatterer; between the unaffected comeliness of a grave matron, and the fantastical paintings, and patchings, and powderings, of a garish courtesan.

From The Works of The Most Reverend Father in God, John Bramhall, Volume III.

#Anglican
#Liturgy