This excerpt from St. Gregory of Agrigentum is an example of the Early Church Father's spiritual interpretation of Scripture whereby realities of the Old Covenant are seen as pointing beyond themselves to Jesus Christ and the realities of the new dispensation. In this case, the...
Gregory of Nyssa on the famous statement of Ecclesiastes "there is a time to be born and a time to die." He interprets this as a reference to the death and new birth of salvation, dying and rising with Christ through faith and baptism....
Athanasius here writes of the only begotten Son as the eternal Word, his perfect image, God's creative Wisdom Incarnate through whom the Father made the universe and all its creatures and in whom he takes delight. Athanasius is anxious to show that...
Procopius of Gaza on Proverbs declaration that wisdom has built herself a house. His explanation touches on many topics-- the divinity and humanity of Christ, the seven gifts of the holy Spirit, the value of prudence, and the gift of Christ's body and blood...
Ambrose on the experience of the absence of God expressed by the psalmist who asks "Why do you turn your face away?" (Psalm 43). In the midst of suffering, it is hard to believe that God is indeed present to us....
Cyril of Alexandria, commenting on the book of Haggai, speaks of the Church, the Body of Christ, as the new temple that we must busy ourselves with building and the peace that passes understanding as the reward given to those who rebuild it....
St. Ambrose here provides a poetic and moving description of the role of the book of psalms in the prayer life of the Church. Though many devotional prayers are are to be found in the treasury of the Christian Tradition, it is the psalter...
Gregory of Nyssa urges us here to follow Paul's command to keep your eyes fixed on Christ rather than be preoccupied with earthly trivialities. The wise man heeds this advice. The fool preoccupies himself with things destined to pass away....
Here St. Fulgentius of Ruspe shows how all the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were merely signs foreshadowing the ultimate sacrifice, the only sacrifice that could take away all sin and reconcile the human race with God, the self-offering of the Lord Jesus Christ...