Augustine of Hippo

Hence the answer made to Moses is true that no one can see the face of God and live, that is, no one living in this life can see him as he is. Many have seen, but they saw what his will chose, not what his nature formed, and this is what John said, if he is rightly understood: “Dearly beloved, we are the sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is”; not as men saw him when he willed under the appearance that he willed; not in his nature under which he lies hidden within himself even when he is seen, but as he is. This is what was asked of him by the one who spoke to him face to face, when he said to him, “Show me yourself,” but no one can at any time experience the fullness of God through the eyes of the body any more than by the mind itself.

The forty-day fast of Lent draws its authority from the Old Testament, from the fasts of Moses and Elijah, and from the gospel, because the Lord fasted that many days, showing that the gospel is not at variance with the Law and the Prophets. The Law is personified by Moses, the Prophets by Elijah, between whom the Lord appeared transfigured on the mountain.

Sometimes, however, under one figure of either an act or an utterance, two terms may have one meaning. Thus the boards which were fitted together into the construction of the ark signify both the faithful and the eight souls who were saved in the same ark. Similarly, in the Gospel, in the parable of the sheepfold, Christ himself is both the shepherd and the door.