from the Fathers, an inheritance as it were, by succession from the Apostles
through he saints who came after them.”
Sermon on the Baptism of Christ (C. 383 AD):
(Jurgens # 1062)
“The bread again is at first common bread; but when the mystery sanctifies it, it is
called and actually becomes the Body of Christ. So too the mystical oil, so too the
wine; if they are things of little worth before the blessing, after their sanctification
by the Spirit each of them has its own superior operation. This same power of the
word also makes the priest venerable and honorable, separated from the generality
of men by the new blessing bestowed upon him. Yesterday he was but one of the
multitude, one of the people; suddenly he is made a guide, a president, a teacher of
piety, an instructor in hidden mysteries.”
The Great Catechism (Post 383 AD):
31
“Some are saying that God, if He wanted to, could by force bring even the
disinclined to accept the kerygmatic message. But then where would their free
choice be? Where their virtue? Where their praise for their having succeeded? To
be brought around to the purpose of another’s will belongs only to creatures
without a soul or irrational.”
37
“Rightly then, do we believe that the bread consecrated by the word of God has
been made over into the Body of God the Word. For that body was, as to its
potency, bread; but it has been consecrated by the lodging there of the Word, who
pitched His tent in the flesh…not through its being eaten does it advance to become
the Body of the Word, but it is made over immediately into the Body by means of
the word, just as was stated by the Word, ‘This is my Body!’”
The Life of Moses (C. 390 AD):
2
“There is a certain opinion, having credence from its having been handed down
from the Fathers, which says that when our nature fell into sin God did not leave
us without protection in our misery. Rather, a certain angel from among those to
whom is allotted an incorporeal nature, was appointed by Him to assist in the life
of each man; but contrariwise, too, the corrupter of our nature, destructive of
human life, fights against the same by the agency of a certain evil and malicious
demon.”
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