Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary

1867 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

τὸ ἄσχημον σχῆμα (Isa. iii. 16, 17), Sept.

Editorial footnote · The Instructor, THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE INSTRUCTOR. / BOOK III. / CHAPTER XI. A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE., editorial note Footnote_728 · Original source

1870 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 9.

Editorial footnote · Epistle of Barnabas, The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers / THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS. / THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS. / Chap. vi.—The sufferings of Christ, and the new covenant, were announced by the prophets., editorial note f516 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 9 ff.

Editorial footnote · Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter XVII.—The Jews sent persons through the whole earth to spread calumnies on Christians., editorial note cite_note-40 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 9–15.

Editorial footnote · Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter CXXXIII.—The hard-heartedness of the Jews, for whom the Christians pray., editorial note cite_note-522 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 16–24.

Editorial footnote · The Five Books Against Marcion, Book 4, Chapter 15, editorial note cite_note-35 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 12.

Editorial footnote · The Five Books Against Marcion, Book 4, Chapter 15, editorial note cite_note-49 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 14, 15.

Editorial footnote · The Five Books Against Marcion, Book 4, Chapter 14, editorial note cite_note-16 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

See Isa. iii. 2, 3.

Editorial footnote · The Five Books Against Marcion, Book 5, Chapter 8, editorial note cite_note-19 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 13.

Editorial footnote · On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Chapter 20, editorial note cite_note-3 · Original source

1888 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 12, Vulgate.

Editorial footnote · Sermon XXV, Chapter uncertain, editorial note cite_note-25 · Original source

1888 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 16.

Editorial footnote · Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 17, editorial note cite_note-10 · Original source

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 10. Jess (p. 50) says, “Auch darin ist Hegesipp nur ein Kind seiner Zeit, dass er in ausgedehntem Masse im Alten Testamente Weissagungen auffindet. Aber mit Bezug darauf darf man nicht vergessen,—dass dergleichen mehr oratorische Benutzung als exegetische Erklärungen sein sollen.” Cf. the writer’s Dialogue between a Christian and a Jew (Papiscus and Philo), chap. 1.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XXIII.—The Martyrdom of James, who was called the Brother of the Lord.; original source section: Chapter 23, editorial note cite_note-22 · Original source

1894 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 14.

Editorial footnote · S. Cyril, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Lecture 13, editorial note cite_note-60 · Original source

1897 (latest original copyright year; printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 1–3.

Editorial footnote · Commentary on Matthew (surviving edition contents), Book 14, Chapter 19, editorial note cite_note-2 · Original source

1897 (latest original copyright year; printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Isa. iii. 11.

Editorial footnote · Commentary on Matthew (surviving edition contents), Book 13, Chapter 30, editorial note cite_note-14 · Original source

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

20. By this example, then, it is shown that not all can merit the miracles of divine power, but they who are aided by the pursuits of religious devotion, and that they lose the fruits of divine working who are devoid of reverence for heaven. It is also shown in a mystery that the Son of God, in order to restore the Church, took upon Himself the mystery of a human body, casting off the Jewish people, from whom the counsellor and the prophet and the miracles of the divine benefits were taken away, because that as it were by a kind of national blemish they were not willing to believe in the Son of God.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Concerning Widows, Chapter III., source paragraph 10 · Original source

Date uncertain | Clement of Alexandria

Some of these women eating mastich, going about, show their teeth to those that come near. And others, as if they had not fingers, give themselves airs, scratching their heads with pins; and these made either of tortoise or ivory, or some other dead creature they procure at much pains. And others, as if they had certain efflorescences, in order to appear comely in the eyes of spectators, stain their faces by adorning them with gay-coloured unguents. Such a one is called by Solomon “a foolish and bold woman,” who “knows not shame. She sits at the door of her house, conspicuously in a seat, calling to all that pass by the way, who go right on their ways;” by her style and whole life manifestly saying, “Who among you is very silly? let him turn to me.” And those devoid of wisdom she exhorts, saying, “Touch sweetly secret bread, and sweet stolen water;” meaning by this, clandestine love (from this point the Bœotian Pindar, coming to our help, says, “The clandestine pursuit of love is something sweet”). But the miserable man “knoweth not that the sons of earth perish beside her, and that she tends to the level of hell.” But says the Instructor: “Hie away, and tarry not in the place; nor fix thine eye on her: for thus shalt thou pass over a strange water, and cross to Acheron.” Wherefore thus saith the Lord by Isaiah, “Because the daughters of Sion walk with lofty neck, and with winkings of the eyes, and sweeping their garments as they walk, and playing with their feet; the Lord shall humble the daughters of Sion, and will uncover their form”—their deformed form. I deem it wrong that servant girls, who follow women of high rank, should either speak or act unbecomingly to them. But I think it right that they should be corrected by their mistresses. With very sharp censure, accordingly, the comic poet Philemon says: “You may follow at the back of a pretty servant girl, seen behind a gentlewoman; and any one from the Platæicum may follow close, and ogle her.” For the wantonness of the servant recoils on the mistress; allowing those who attempt to take lesser liberties not to be afraid to advance to greater; since the mistress, by allowing improprieties, shows that she does not disapprove of them. And not to be angry at those who act wantonly, is a clear proof of a disposition inclining to the like. “For like mistress like wench,” as they say in the proverb.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Instructor, THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE INSTRUCTOR. / BOOK III. / CHAPTER XI. A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE., source paragraph 593 · Original source

Date uncertain | Cyprian of Carthage (historical edition attribution)

13. Moreover Isaiah, full of the Holy Spirit, cries out and chides the daughters of Sion, corrupted with gold, and silver, and raiment, and rebukes them, affluent as they were in pernicious wealth, and departing from God for the sake of the world’s delights. “The daughters of Sion,” says he, “are haughty, and walk with stretched-out neck and beckoning of the eyes, trailing their gowns as they go, and mincing with their feet. And God will humble the princely daughters of Sion, and the Lord will unveil their dress; and the Lord will take away the glory of their apparel, and their ornaments, and their hair, and their curls, and their round tires like the moon, and their crisping-pins, and their bracelets, and their clusters of pearls, and their armlets and rings, and earrings, and silks woven with gold and hyacinth. And instead of a sweet smell there shall be dust; and thou shalt be girt with a rope instead of with a girdle; and for a golden ornament of thy head thou shalt have baldness.” This God blames, this He marks out: hence He declares that virgins are corrupted; hence, that they have departed from the true and divine worship. Lifted up, they have fallen; with their heads adorned, they merited dishonour and disgrace. Having put on silk and purple, they cannot put on Christ; adorned with gold, and pearls, and necklaces, they have lost the ornaments of the heart and spirit. Who would not execrate and avoid that which has been the destruction of another? Who would desire and take up that which has served as the sword and weapon for the death of another? If he who had drunk should die by draining the cup, you would know that what he had drunk was poison; if, on taking food, he who had taken it were to perish, you would know that what, when taken could kill, was deadly; nor would you eat or drink of that whence you had before seen that others had perished. Now what ignorance of truth is it, what madness of mind, to wish for that which both has hurt and always will hurt and to think that you yourself will not perish by those means whereby you know that others have perished!

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Treatises of Cyprian, Chapter uncertain; original source section: On the Dress of Virgins, source paragraph 16 · Original source

Date uncertain | Cyprian of Carthage (historical edition attribution)

14. But now, what wounds can those who are overcome show? what gashes of gaping entrails, what tortures of the limbs, in cases where it was not faith that fell in the encounter, but faithlessness that anticipated the struggle? Nor does the necessity of the crime excuse the person compelled, where the crime is committed of free will. Nor do I say this in such a way as that I would burden the cases of the brethren, but that I may rather instigate the brethren to a prayer of atonement. For, as it is written, “They who call you happy cause you to err, and destroy the paths of your feet,” he who soothes the sinner with flattering blandishments furnishes the stimulus to sin; nor does he repress, but nourishes wrong-doing. But he who, with braver counsels, rebukes at the same time that he instructs a brother, urges him onward to salvation. “As many as I love,” saith the Lord, “I rebuke and chasten.” And thus also it behoves the Lord’s priest not to mislead by deceiving concessions, but to provide with salutary remedies. He is an unskilful physician who handles the swelling edges of wounds with a tender hand, and, by retaining the poison shut up in the deep recesses of the body, increases it. The wound must be opened, and cut, and healed by the stronger remedy of cutting out the corrupting parts. The sick man may cry out, may vociferate, and may complain, in impatience of the pain; but he will afterwards give thanks when he has felt that he is cured.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Treatises of Cyprian, Chapter uncertain; original source section: On the Lapsed, source paragraph 17 · Original source

Date uncertain | Cyril of Jerusalem (historical attribution)

12. They bound Jesus, and brought Him into the hall of the High-priest. And wouldest thou learn and know that this also is written? Esaias says, Woe unto their soul, for they have taken evil counsel against themselves, saying, Let us bind the Just, for He is troublesome to us. And truly, Woe unto their soul! Let us see how Esaias was sawn asunder, yet after this the people was restored. Jeremias was cast into the mire of the cistern, yet was the wound of the Jews healed; for the sin was less, since it was against man. But when the Jews sinned, not against man, but against God in man’s nature, Woe unto their soul!—Let us bind the Just; could He not then set Himself free, some one will say; He, who freed Lazarus from the bonds of death on the fourth day, and loosed Peter from the iron bands of a prison? Angels stood ready at hand, saying, Let us burst their bands in sunder; but they hold back, because their Lord willed to undergo it. Again, He was led to the judgment-seat before the Elders; thou hast already the testimony to this, The Lord Himself will come into judgment with the ancients of His people, and with the princes thereof.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · S. Cyril, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Lecture 13, source paragraph 17 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

15. And they cried out, saying, ‘Oh! oh! the just man is also in error.’ And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take away the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.’

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Book II, Chapter XXIII.—The Martyrdom of James, who was called the Brother of the Lord.; original source section: Chapter 23, source paragraph 16 · Original source