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Lent Day 39: Leo the Great: Sermon XLIX (On Lent XI)

...ction and discipline, a time where we look at the life of Jesus and mourn his death as the disciples did, before we realise the reality of the resurrection which comes in a few short days. “Who is there who would not wish for additions to his virtue, or removal of his vice?” Leo asks rhetorically, referring to the benefits of the Lenten fast and discipline. “Blessed, therefore, is the mind that passes the time of its pilgrimage in chaste sobriety, and loiters not in the things through which it has to walk”. Leo refers this back to what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 as a way of living in such a way that we don't get too caught up in this life and...

Lent Day 22: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 11-20

...rn of his discipline. On seeing Anthony, though, they were all amazed because he had the “habit of body as before, and was neither fat, like a man without exercise, nor lean from fasting and striving with the demons”; and being full of the Spirit, “through him the Lord healed the bodily ailments of many present, and cleansed others from evil spirits” and with godly wisdom he countless counselled many various people in need. He began preaching from Romans 8:32 about how God didn’t hold anything back, but gave up even his only Son, and continued “exhorting all to prefer the love of Christ before all that is in the world”, which led many to prefer...

Lent Day 26: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 51-60

...s for his discipline: Believe on the Lord and love Him; keep yourselves from filthy thoughts and fleshly pleasures, and as it is written in the Proverbs, be not deceived "by the fullness of the belly." Pray continually; avoid vainglory; sing psalms before sleep and on awaking; hold in your heart the commandments of Scripture; be mindful of the works of the saints that your souls being put in remembrance of the commandments may be brought into harmony with the zeal of the saints. He also encouraged them to live by the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:26, where he said not to let the sun go down on your anger. Anthony interpreted this further to mean not just an...

Lent Day 29: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 81-94

...ep in the discipline and to “observe the traditions of the fathers, and chiefly the holy faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, which you have learned from the Scripture”. The monks “wept, and embraced, and kissed the old man” and he advised them on how to bury him, since the Egyptians liked to wrap their dead and display revered men in their homes as a display. Anthony instructed them that since Jesus was buried in the ground, that that was the only proper way to treat the dead; not to display them. So he left for the inner mountain where he had his two companions promise to bury him secretly, and then he lay down and died with a smile upon his face, “as...

Lent Day 20: Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 19-27

...h lack of discipline or temptation, then you can repent and be forgiven, but the intentional heretics risk unforgiveness and their souls; hence why it is written, he says, “hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown” (Rev 3:11). Speaking more about the crowns we attain, Cyprian delves into confessing sins and how that the mere act of confession doesn’t save us or give us the “full desert of the crown”, but “it initiates our dignity” which is why Jesus said, “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt 24:13). Everything we do and say during our Christian walk in this life is a “step by which we ascend to the summ...

Lent Day 24: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 31-40

...rough our discipline to God to keep ourselves pure so that when our “soul is perfectly pure and in its natural state, it is able, being clear-sighted, to see more and further than the demons--for it has the Lord who reveals to it”. How do we distinguish between the good and the evil? “When, therefore, they come by night to you and wish to tell the future, or say, "we are the angels," give no heed, for they lie …  but rather sign yourselves [with the cross] … and pray, and you shall see them vanish.” “But if they shamelessly stand their ground”, Anything warns, then fear them not and don’t think that they may be good spirits. “For the...