မြန်မာ

Chromatius of Aquileia

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500

113 passages across 6 books of the Bible · Who was this?

On Matthew

20 of 95
  1. Matthew 4:10
    David also prefigures this rejection of temptation when he speaks of the Lord, saying, “And the scourge did not approach his tabernacle.” No sin of diabolical scourge could come close to the body of the Lord. Therefore the Lord withstood temptations from the enemy that he might restore victory to humankind. He thereby made sport of the devil, according to what David also proclaimed: “That Leviathan, whom you made to sport in it.” And again: “He will bring low the false accuser.” And also: “You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces on the water.” In the book of Job the Lord declared that this Leviathan would be made sport of and caught in this temptation, saying, “You will draw out Leviathan with a fishhook.”

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 14.5.62

  2. Matthew 4:16
    The Evangelist commemorated in this passage the prophet’s words: “Beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” In what darkness? Certainly in the profound error of ignorance. What great light did they see? The light concerning which it is written: “He was the true light that illumines every- one who comes into this world.” This was the light about which the just man Simeon in the Gospel declared, “A light of revelation to the Gentiles and a glory for your people Israel.” That light had arisen according to what David had announced, saying, “A light has arisen in the darkness to the upright of heart.” Also, Isaiah demonstrated that light about to come for the enlightenment of the church when he said, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Concerning that light also Daniel noted, “It reveals the profound and hidden things, knowing those things which are in darkness and the light is with it,” that is, the Son with the Father, for even as the Father is light, so too is the Son light. An…
    The Evangelist commemorated in this passage the prophet’s words: “Beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” In what darkness? Certainly in the profound error of ignorance. What great light did they see? The light concerning which it is written: “He was the true light that illumines every- one who comes into this world.” This was the light about which the just man Simeon in the Gospel declared, “A light of revelation to the Gentiles and a glory for your people Israel.” That light had arisen according to what David had announced, saying, “A light has arisen in the darkness to the upright of heart.” Also, Isaiah demonstrated that light about to come for the enlightenment of the church when he said, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Concerning that light also Daniel noted, “It reveals the profound and hidden things, knowing those things which are in darkness and the light is with it,” that is, the Son with the Father, for even as the Father is light, so too is the Son light. And David also speaks in the psalm: “In your light shall we see light,” for the Father is seen in the Son, as the Lord tells us in the Gospel: “Who sees me, sees the Father.” From the true light, indeed, the true light proceeded, and from the invisible the visible. “He is the image of the invisible God,” as the apostle notes.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 15.1.25

  3. Matthew 4:16
    Concerning this light, the Evangelist points out in the present passage: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” They see not with bodily contemplation—for the light is invisible—but with the eyes of faith and in the mind’s eye. Therefore he says, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” Therefore not only to those who were in darkness did this light appear, but he says that a light has arisen for those sitting in the region and shadow of death. This shows that there were others who were sitting in darkness—established in the region and shadow of death. And what is this region and shadow of death if not the region of the infernal abode, about which David speaks: “Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for you are with me”? He shall not fear any evil, that is, the punishments of hell. Therefore a saving light has arisen for those who are seated in the region and shadow of death, that is, Christ the Son of God who says in the Gospel: “I am…
    Concerning this light, the Evangelist points out in the present passage: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” They see not with bodily contemplation—for the light is invisible—but with the eyes of faith and in the mind’s eye. Therefore he says, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” Therefore not only to those who were in darkness did this light appear, but he says that a light has arisen for those sitting in the region and shadow of death. This shows that there were others who were sitting in darkness—established in the region and shadow of death. And what is this region and shadow of death if not the region of the infernal abode, about which David speaks: “Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for you are with me”? He shall not fear any evil, that is, the punishments of hell. Therefore a saving light has arisen for those who are seated in the region and shadow of death, that is, Christ the Son of God who says in the Gospel: “I am the true light. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness.”He who after his venerable and life-giving passion and death went down into the region of the infernal abode suddenly introduced the light of his majesty upon those who were shrouded in death, so that he might free those who were being held among the dead in expectation of his arrival, as the Lord himself in the person of Wisdom says through Solomon: “I will go down into the depths of the earth and gaze upon all those who are asleep, and I shall enlighten those who hope in God.”

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 15.2.31

  4. Matthew 4:17
    The voice of the Lord urging the people to repentance—the Holy Spirit made it known to the people that they might take heed, saying, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of testing in the wilderness.” In the same psalm above, he made clear that he was urging the sinful people to repentance and showed the state of a repentant soul, saying, “Come, let us fall down before him and lament before the Lord who made us, for he is our God.” The Lord urges the people to repentance, and he promises to pardon their sins, according to Isaiah’s words: “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your iniquities, and I will not be mindful of your sins. But you be mindful, declare first your iniquities that you may be justified.” Rightly then does the Lord urge the people to repentance when he says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” so that through this confession of sins they may be made worthy to approach the kingdom of heaven. For no one can receive the grace of the heavenly God unless one has been cleansed of every stain of sin by th…
    The voice of the Lord urging the people to repentance—the Holy Spirit made it known to the people that they might take heed, saying, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of testing in the wilderness.” In the same psalm above, he made clear that he was urging the sinful people to repentance and showed the state of a repentant soul, saying, “Come, let us fall down before him and lament before the Lord who made us, for he is our God.” The Lord urges the people to repentance, and he promises to pardon their sins, according to Isaiah’s words: “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your iniquities, and I will not be mindful of your sins. But you be mindful, declare first your iniquities that you may be justified.” Rightly then does the Lord urge the people to repentance when he says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” so that through this confession of sins they may be made worthy to approach the kingdom of heaven. For no one can receive the grace of the heavenly God unless one has been cleansed of every stain of sin by the confession of repentance, through the gift of the saving baptism of our Lord and Savior.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 15.3.47

  5. Matthew 4:19
    Here they proved that they were true sons of Abraham, because by a similar pattern they followed the Savior on hearing God’s voice. For they immediately gave up hope of material advantage that they might seek eternal rewards. They left behind their earthly father that they might have a heavenly Father, and hence not undeservedly were they chosen. So the Lord chose fishermen who in a better way of plying their fishing trade were converted from earthly to heavenly fishing, that they might catch the human race for salvation like fish from the deep waters of error, according to what the Lord himself said to them: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” It was the very same thing he had promised through Jeremiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them; and afterward I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them.” So we see that the apostles are called not only fishermen but also hunters: fishermen, for in the nets of gospel preaching they catch all believers like fish in the world; hunters, for they catch for salva…
    Here they proved that they were true sons of Abraham, because by a similar pattern they followed the Savior on hearing God’s voice. For they immediately gave up hope of material advantage that they might seek eternal rewards. They left behind their earthly father that they might have a heavenly Father, and hence not undeservedly were they chosen. So the Lord chose fishermen who in a better way of plying their fishing trade were converted from earthly to heavenly fishing, that they might catch the human race for salvation like fish from the deep waters of error, according to what the Lord himself said to them: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” It was the very same thing he had promised through Jeremiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them; and afterward I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them.” So we see that the apostles are called not only fishermen but also hunters: fishermen, for in the nets of gospel preaching they catch all believers like fish in the world; hunters, for they catch for salvation by heavenly hunting those people who are roving in this world as though in the woods of error and who are living like wild animals.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 16.2.56

  6. Matthew 4:21
    Oh, blessed are those fishermen whom the Lord chose from among so many doctors of the law and scribes, from among so many sages of the world, for the task of divine preaching and the grace of the apostolate! Worthy of our Lord, indeed, and appropriate for his preaching was that choice, so that in the preaching of his name all the greater might be the wonder of praise as the humble and lowly of the age preached his word—not that they might capture the world through the wisdom of the word but that they might liberate the human race from the error of death through the simple preaching of the faith, as the apostle says: “That your faith may not be in human wisdom but in the power of God.” And in another place: “But the foolish things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the strong, and the base things of the world and the despised has God chosen, and the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.” Therefore he has not chosen the noble of the world or the rich, lest their preaching be suspe…
    Oh, blessed are those fishermen whom the Lord chose from among so many doctors of the law and scribes, from among so many sages of the world, for the task of divine preaching and the grace of the apostolate! Worthy of our Lord, indeed, and appropriate for his preaching was that choice, so that in the preaching of his name all the greater might be the wonder of praise as the humble and lowly of the age preached his word—not that they might capture the world through the wisdom of the word but that they might liberate the human race from the error of death through the simple preaching of the faith, as the apostle says: “That your faith may not be in human wisdom but in the power of God.” And in another place: “But the foolish things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the strong, and the base things of the world and the despised has God chosen, and the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.” Therefore he has not chosen the noble of the world or the rich, lest their preaching be suspect; not the wise of the world, lest people believe that they persuaded the human race with their wisdom; but he chose illiterate, unskilled and untutored fishermen, so that the Savior’s grace might be open.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 16.1

  7. Matthew 4:23
    Isaiah predicted this would happen when he said, “He himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness.” To this end the teacher of life and heavenly physician Christ the Lord had come that by his direction he might educate people to life and with his heavenly medicine cure the sickness of body and soul, that he might free bodies beset by the devil and restore those persons afflicted by various infirmities to true and complete health. By the word of divine power he cured the weaknesses of the body, but by the medicine of heavenly teaching he healed the wounds of the soul. David clearly noted that the wounds of the soul are healed by God alone when he said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,” to which he added, “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.” He is the true and perfect physician therefore who gives healing to the body and restores the soul to health: our Lord and Savior.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 16.4.2

  8. Matthew 5:1
    From the low and humble to the high and exalted places, the Lord, ready to instruct his disciples, went up the mountain—specifically to the Mount of Olives—so that according to the very meaning of this word, he might present the gift of his divine mercy. The Lord went up the mountain that he might give the precepts of the heavenly commandments to his disciples, leaving the earthly and seeking the sublime things as though already placed on high. He went up that he might now give the divine gift of the long-promised blessing, according to what David had once declared: “For indeed he who gave the law will give blessings.”

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.1.1-2

  9. Matthew 5:1
    And that he might more openly show the grace of the apostles and the author of this very great blessing, he added, “They shall walk from strength to strength; God shall look down upon Zion.” That is to say, the Son of God, who gave blessings to the apostles on Zion. On this mountain he also gave his apostles a blessing. He is the One who had once handed down the Mosaic law on Mt. Sinai, showing that he was the author of both laws.… When the law was first given on the mountain, the people were forbidden to draw close. But now, as the Lord was teaching on the mountain, no one is forbidden. Rather, all are invited that they may hear, because there is severity in the law and grace in the gospel. In the former case, terror is instilled in the unbelievers. In the latter case, a gift of blessings is poured out on the believers.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.1.3-4.13

  10. Matthew 5:3
    We know many poor people, indeed, who are not merely poor but blessed. For the necessity of poverty does not produce blessedness in each of us, but a devout trust sustained through poverty does. Some, having no worldly resources, continue to sin and remain without faith in God. Clearly we cannot call these people blessed. We must inquire just who are these blessed of whom the Lord says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus means that those persons are truly blessed who, having spurned the riches and resources of the world to become rich in God, desire to be poor in the world. Indeed, such people seem to be poor in the sight of the world, but they are rich in God, needy in the world but wealthy in Christ.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.2.1-2

  11. Matthew 5:4
    As with Jesus’ earlier teaching on the poor, here too he speaks of those who mourn. The blessed of whom he speaks are not those bereaving the death of a spouse or the loss of cherished servants. Rather, he is speaking of those blessed persons who … do not cease to mourn over the iniquity of the world or the offenses of sinners with a pious, duty-bound sentiment. To those who mourn righteously, therefore, they will receive, and not undeservedly, the consolation of eternal rejoicing promised by the Lord.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.3.1-2

  12. Matthew 5:5
    The meek are those who are gentle, humble and unassuming, simple in faith and patient in the face of every affront. Imbued with the precepts of the gospel, they imitate the meekness of the Lord, who says, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Moses found the greatest favor with God because he was meek. It was written about him: “And Moses was the meekest of all people on earth.” Furthermore, we read in David’s psalm: “Be mindful, O Lord, of David and his great meekness.”

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.4.1-2.25

  13. Matthew 5:6
    He taught that we must seek after righteousness with earnest desire, not with fainthearted energy. Indeed, he calls those persons blessed who in their search for righteousness virtually burn with passionate longing in their hunger and thirst. For if each one of us really hungers and thirsts for righteousness with eager desire, we can do nothing else but think and seek after righteousness. It is necessary that we eagerly desire that for which we hunger and thirst.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.5.1

  14. Matthew 5:6
    Rightly then the One who is the heavenly bread and the fountain of living waters promises in return to those who thus hunger and thirst the fullness of perpetual refreshment: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” This indeed is that righteousness of faith that comes from God and Christ, of which the apostle says, “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ in all and upon all who believe in him.”

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.5.2.51

  15. Matthew 5:7
    By a great number of witnesses indeed, just as many in the Old Testament as the New, we are called by the Lord to show compassion. But as a shortcut to faith we deem enough and more than enough what the Lord himself in the passage at hand expresses with his own voice, saying, “Blessed are the compassionate, for God will have compassion for them.” The Lord of compassion says that the compassionate are blessed. No one can obtain God’s compassion unless that one is also compassionate. In another passage he said, “Be compassionate, just as your Father who is in the heavens is compassionate.”

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.6.1-2.54

  16. Matthew 5:8
    The pure of heart are those who have gotten rid of sin’s filth, have cleansed themselves of all the pollution of the flesh and have pleased God through works of faith and justice. As David testifies in a psalm, “Who will climb up the Lord’s mountain, or who will stand in his holy place? The one with innocent hands and a pure heart, who has not received his soul in vain.” And David, rightly knowing that God can be seen only with a pure heart, prays as follows in the psalm, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” So the Lord shows that it is pure-hearted people like this who are blessed. They are those who, living by faith in God with a pure mind and unstained conscience, will win the right to see the God of glory in the heavenly kingdom to come, “no longer in a mirror and in riddles, but face to face,” as the apostle has said.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.6.3-4.69

  17. Matthew 5:9
    The peacemakers are those who, standing apart from the stumbling block of disagreement and discord, guard the affection of fraternal love and the peace of the church under the unity of the universal faith. And the Lord in the Gospel particularly urges his disciples to guard this peace, saying, “I give you my peace; I leave you my peace.” David earlier testified that the Lord would give this peace to his church, saying, “I will listen to what the Lord speaks in me, for he will pronounce his peace to his people and upon his holy ones and to those who turn to him.”

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.7.1-2

  18. Matthew 5:10
    Not without reason did the Lord previously mention hungering and thirsting for justice. He instructs us so to thirst in our desire for justice that for its sake we should despise the world’s persecutions, the punishments of the body and death itself. The martyrs above all are the epitome of those who for the righteousness of faith and the name of Christ endure persecution in this world. To them a great hope is promised, namely, the possession of the kingdom of heaven. The apostles were chief examples of this blessedness, and with them all the just people who for the sake of righteousness were afflicted with various persecutions. Due to their faith they have come into the heavenly realms.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.8.1-2

  19. Matthew 5:12
    Not only should we patiently endure all the horrible treacheries of the persecutors that can be contrived in a time of persecution for Christ’s name against the just, or the various reproaches that can be heaped upon us, or the punishments that can be applied to the body, but we should even welcome them with exultation because of the coming glory. For he says, “Rejoice in that day and exult; I tell you this, because your reward is great in heaven.” How glorious is the endurance of this persecution, the reward for which the Lord says is in heaven! And so, taking into account the reward of the proposed glory, we should be ready with devout faith for every endurance of suffering, so that we may be ready to be made partners in the prophets’ glory.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.9.2-3

  20. Matthew 5:13
    He shows that those who have been educated for the faith and in heavenly wisdom ought to remain faithful and steadfast and not “lose their taste.” If they forsake the faith and divine wisdom, they either plunge headlong into heresy or return to the folly of unbelievers. And so Jesus says, “But if the salt loses its flavor, with what will it be seasoned?” For people of this sort, made tasteless by the devil’s treachery and having lost the grace of faith, are good for nothing. Though they once might have seasoned nonbelievers still foreign to the faith with the word of divine preaching, they instead showed themselves useless. Judas Iscariot deteriorated into this sort of useless salt. After he had rejected divine wisdom, having changed from an apostle into an apostate, he not only did not help others. He became wretched and useless even to himself.

    TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 18.4.1-2

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