English · KJV

John Damascene

Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · 201 passages across 33 books

Commentary

41–60 of 201
Ecclesiastes 10:18

By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.

But as long as we are among the living, while the foundation of our true faith continues unshattered, even if somewhat of the outer roofwork or inner building be disabled, it is allowed to renew by repentance the part rotted by sins.

BARLAAM AND JOSEPH 11:94

Ephesians 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

For in regards to the works of God, meaning he and his apostolic commission from God, he surely declared, I work only but through Christ, being empowered by God. The introduction of the epistle, is to teach them in regards to the grace of Christ. Now this grace, we received from Him, and our sanctification, inasmuch as we have become partakers of His body, and have taken on His understanding. And the cause of this grace, is the goodness of God, Who is praised forever. Now the path to her (i.e. Grace), is through the blood of Christ that redeems.

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

He has thus, it is declared, blessed us; it is a gift from God, it is our holy and spiritual redemption. And this redemption is not of this earth; nor is it of the flesh, but eternal from the heavenly place of our Lord. "...

Ephesians 1:4

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

The grace of the Spirit is now indeed made manifest, whereas before hand and from the very beginning God has chosen His elect, whom He knew and that God foreordained to be, and to be given over to holiness.

Ephesians 1:5

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

He willingly gave us His grace, it was not given do to any work on our part, for we have been appointed as His sons.

Ephesians 1:6

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

For as it is above so it is below, says the Scriptures, that we may become obedient unto the Father even unto death, and because, as Christ said, "O God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" That He did not rescue Him, but truly abandoned Him on the cross; If and in favor of us this was done, then before His face, as such, the voice of God said loudly, This One’s grace is everywhere. He who is loved and His beloved is proclaimed by the Holy Scriptures.

Ephesians 1:9 · 2 passages

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Thus for us alone the grace of Christ has been set aside for knowledge; and that for the unenlightened it cannot be comprehended.

For His favor was upon her good works before the ages, as well as on her and for a long time, for that which was foreordained has come, and has been greatly accepted.

Ephesians 1:10

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

As much as Adam’s sin had never tainted Him, we are then truly renewed in Christ. We therefore are cleansed through Christ; His very being is incorruptible, even though He came into corruption, His is eternal, even though He died, and from paradise He came, and left paradise for us. These things proceed from God, therefore to summarize and repeat, and truly on behalf of the Only-Begotten Son of Man, if He has destroyed death, and destroyed corruption, and sin He has cast out, we can truly be born again in Christ. This One, therefore, is in the heavens; This One had the means; for the world’s sorrow was great and unceasing, and His message of redemption was for sinners, and by Him being cursed. And I declare it was truly said of the Lord "Grace is born of heaven and comes upon the repentant sinner." It is said, therefore, that when the Lord came, that the whole earth came to life, and the very heavens themselves, that the sorrow of the angels came to and end, and the anguish of mankind went away. It was upon them that God’s grace first touched, and healed!

Ephesians 4:8-9

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

The soul when it was deified descended into Hades, in order that, just as the Sun of Righteousness [Malachi 4:2] rose for those upon the earth, so likewise He might bring light to those who sit under the earth in darkness and shadow of death [Isaiah 9:2]: in order that just as He brought the message of peace to those upon the earth, and of release to the prisoners, and of sight to the blind , and became to those who believed the Author of everlasting salvation and to those who did not believe a reproach of their unbelief [1 Peter 3:19], so He might become the same to those in Hades: That every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things in earth and things under the earth. [Philippians 2:10] And thus after He had freed those who had been bound for ages, straightway He rose again from the dead, showing us the way of resurrection.
Exodus 3:5

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

The burning bush was an image of God’s mother, and when Moses was about to approach it, God said, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Now if the ground where Moses saw an image of the Theotokos is holy ground, how much more holy is the image itself? Not only is it holy, I daresay, but the holy of holies.

ON DIVINE IMAGES 20

Exodus 7:1

And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

I say that they are gods, lords and kings not by nature but because they have ruled over and dominated sufferings and because they have kept undebased the likeness of the divine image to which they were made—for the image of the king is also called a king. Finally … they have freely been united to God and [by] receiving him as a dweller within themselves have through association with him become by grace what he is by nature.

ORTHODOX FAITH 4.15

Exodus 12:23

For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

This [cross] we have been given as a sign on our forehead, just as Israel was given the circumcision. For by it we faithful are set apart from the infidels and recognized. It is a shield and armor and a trophy against the devil. It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us, as Scripture says.

ORTHODOX FAITH 4.11

Exodus 25:40

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

Behold, the glorification of matter, which you despise! What is more insignificant than colored goatskins? Are not blue and purple and scarlet merely colors? Behold the handiwork of men becoming the likeness of the cherubim! Was not the meeting tent an image in every way? “And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.” Yet all the people stood around it and worshiped! Were not the cherubim kept where all the people could see them? Did not the people gaze upon the ark, and the lampstand, and the table, the golden urn and Aaron’s rod, and fall down in worship? I do not worship matter. I worship the Creator of matter, who became matter for me, taking up his abode in matter and accomplishing my salvation through matter.

ON DIVINE IMAGES 14

Exodus 34:17

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

“You shall make for yourself no molten gods.” You see that he forbids the making of images because of idolatry and that it is impossible to make an image of the bodiless, invisible and uncircumscribed God. “You saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke.…” And St. Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, says, “Being therefore God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man.”

ON DIVINE IMAGES 8

Ezekiel 20:25

Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

God finds fault with the commandments of the Old Testament, for he says, “I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not have life,” because of their hardness of heart.

ON DIVINE IMAGES 2:15

Ezekiel 28:12-13

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

One of the angel powers, the marshal of one host, bore in himself no trace of natural evil from his Maker’s hand but had been created for good, yet by his own free and deliberate choice he turned aside from good to evil and was stirred up by madness to the desire to take up arms against his Lord God.

BARLAAM AND JOSEPH 7

Ezekiel 33:8

When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Although it is best for us to be ever aware of our unworthiness and to confess our sins before God, nevertheless it is good and necessary to speak when the times demand it, for I see the church that God founded on the apostles and prophets, its cornerstone being Christ his Son, tossed on an angry sea, beaten by rushing waves, shaken and troubled by the assaults of evil spirits. Impious people seek to rend asunder the seamless robe of Christ and to cut his body in pieces: his body, which is the Word of God and the ancient tradition of the church. Therefore I think it unreasonable to keep silence and hold my tongue.

ON DIVINE IMAGES 1:1

Ezekiel 33:11

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

For the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him in the day that he turns from his wickedness. If he acts righteously and walks in the statutes of life, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins that he committed shall be remembered against him. Because he has made the decree of righteousness, he shall live by it.

BARLAAM AND JOSEPH 32

Ezekiel 44:1-2

Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

But just as He who was conceived kept her who conceived still virgin, in like manner also He who was born preserved her virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her closed. [Ezekiel 44:2] The conception, indeed, was through the sense of hearing, but the birth through the usual path by which children come, although some tell tales of His birth through the side of the Mother of God. For it was not impossible for Him to have come by this gate, without injuring her seal in anyway.

The ever-virgin One thus remains even after the birth still virgin, having never at any time up till death consorted with a man.

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