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

...ay of the heavenly road”. But if they don't, then those Christians who have not been deceived should heed the advice of Paul when he says, “withdraw yourself from all brethren who walk disorderly” (2 Thess 3:6) and to also “let no man deceive you with vain words” (Eph 5:6), for the wrath of God is upon these people. Therefore, flee from them, “lest, while anyone is associated with those who walk wickedly … should be found in like guilt”. And just as Paul also wrote in Eph 4:4-6, Cyprian echoes this sentiment to back his point of keeping in unity with one another; God is one, and Christ is one, and His Church is one, and the faith is one, and...

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

...ritten in heaven. Those who boasted in their works rather than in Christ who has sealed them (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13; 4:30) were those who will be turned away by Jesus in judgement (Matt 7:22); and so because of this, Anthony urges that we seek the gift of discernment as John wrote in his letter (1 John 4:1) that we may not be deceived. Anthony goes on to give some of his personal testimony to show that he is not just speaking at random, but from experience and from what the Lord had shown him. From visions and visitations of demons in disguise as angels or monks to trick him, to appearances of soldiers and beasts to scare him, to physical beatings; he spoke...

Lent Day 25: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 41-50

...o much on heaven and on the thought of eventually going to be fully spiritual with no need to support the body through food and drink, he withdrew from the other monks to be in solitude again, feeling shame for eating in front of them and trying to be sure not to give into the pleasures of the body. Desire for martyrdom at Alexandria during the Persecution (311 AD) The Church came under persecution from Maximinus II, who took many Christians away to Alexandria to be martyred. Anthony, having not been caught, followed anyway hoping to either be a witness or to at least minister to those who had been taken, and ended up going to those in the mines and the priso...

Lent Day 27: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 61-70

...eading to heaven who were accountable to the devil but those who belonged to God could pass by without issue. Anthony against heretics and heresy, such as Arianism When schisms and heresies arose, such as the  Meletian schismatics, or the Manichæan heretics, Anthony would have no part of it nor would be even meet with them except to try and have them convert to the truth. He also despised the Arians and their heresy, and warned that none should go near them nor hold to their belief. But at one point, certain “madmen” came to him so that he could learn of their doctrine more, Anthony drove them away saying their “words were worse than the poison of s...

Lent Day 33: Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXII

...Day Thirty-three: St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXII Who: Bishop of Jerusalem and Doctor of the Church, born about 315; died probably 18 March, 386. Little is known of his life, except from his younger contemporaries, Epiphanius, Jerome, and Rufinus, as well as from the fifth-century historians, Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret. What: Each of the lectures deal with a different topic to teach converts the mysteries of the Church, particularly: rites of the renunciation of Satan and his works, of anointing with oil, of baptism, of anointing with the holy chrism, and of partaking of the body and blood of Christ. Why: Cyril delivered to ne...

Evidence of the Trinity in the Hebrew Scriptures

...eated the heavens and the earth,” is also used in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods (Elohim) before Me,” and in Deuteronomy 13:2, “…Iet us go after other gods (Elohim)…” While the use of the plural Elohim does not prove a Tri-unity, it certainly opens the door to a doctrine of plurality in the Godhead since it is the word that is used of the one true God as well as for the many false gods. Plural Verbs used with Elohim Virtually all Hebrew scholars do recognize that the word Elohim, as it stands by itself, is a plural noun. Nevertheless, they wish to deny that it allows for any plurality in the Godhead whatsoever. Their line of reasoni...