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Lent Day 30: Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XIX

...rsary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. Cyril recounts how that when they went into the baptistery, they were instructed to “stretch forth [their] hand, and as in the presence of Satan [and] renounced him”, and then proceeds to break down each of the different statements which the baptised have to declare. This practice is contrasted with Moses who was sent by God to Egypt, with Christ who was sent by the Father to the world, and how the Hebrews put lambs blood on their doorposts to be delivere...

Does Christmas have pagan origins?

...ny of the devil is frequented. Who will think that these things are befitting to a Christian teacher? —Tertullian, ~200 AD As you can see from the various festivals listed (which happened throughout the year), all were considered as pagan worship and giving honour to idols and the devil. Tertullian, again, had even stronger words for those Christians who did get involved in the pagan celebrations out of a misguided attempt to avoid unbelievers blaspheming God by their inaction. Yet Tertullian goes on to make the point that Christians have their own calendar with certain days which are recognised (Pascha/Easter and Passover) and that even pagans wouldn’t k...

On the Feast of the Nativity, a sermon by Leo the Great

...eath, the devil, might be conquered through that (nature) which he had conquered. And in this conflict undertaken for us, the fight was fought on great and wondrous principles of fairness; for the Almighty Lord enters the lists with His savage foe not in His own majesty but in our humility, opposing him with the same form and the same nature, which shares indeed our mortality, though it is free from all sin. Truly foreign to this nativity is that which we read of all others, no one is clean from stain, not even the infant who has lived but one day upon earth (Job 19:4). Nothing therefore of the lust of the flesh has passed into that peerless nativity, nothing of...

God before ages becomes an infant!

...nded, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been ‘in planted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels.Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive. He was placed in a...

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

...it of the devil; but we shall reign with Christ in His kingdom as servants that watch. This message holds just as much truth for the Church today, even after all this time. Cyprian's words ring true throughout history and serve as a timeless reminder to not forsake our first love and turn back to Jesus with our passion and joy renewed (Rev 2:4-5)!  ...

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

...s and the devil attacked him again. Twenty years of solitude After going into the desert, Anthony arrived at the Nile and found an abandoned fort on the other side of the river, where he set up camp to live, surviving only on bread which was brought to him by some friends every so often. Anthony spent twenty years alone in this fort, save for the demonic attacks he suffered. At one point they were so much that the villagers thought he was under physical attack from men, but discovered him alone and in prayer, singing praises and hymns to God. When two decades has passed, he finally left the fort to find a great crowd had amassed waiting for him so they co...