Four Chariots

Deut. 11:4 and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lrd hath destroyed them unto this day.

Judg. 4:7 And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thy hand.

Is. 43:17 who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick).

Jer. 51:24-25 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lrd. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lrd, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

Dan. 2:35b And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
Dan. 2:44-45a And in the days of those kings shall the Gd of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

Rev. 17:9-10 Here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sitteth: and they are seven kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a little while.

Deut. 8:7-10 For the Lrd thy Gd bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou mayest dig copper. And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless the Lrd thy Gd for the good land which he hath given thee.

Is. 11:11-16 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lrd will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria [north], and from Egypt [south], and from Pathros [south], and from Cush [south], and from Elam [east], and from Shinar [east], and from Hamath [north], and from the islands of the sea [west]. And he will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and they that vex Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. And they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the children of the east: they shall put forth their hand upon Edom [south] and Moab [east]; and the children of Ammon [east] shall obey them. And the Lrd will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea [south]; and with his scorching wind will he wave his hand over the River, and will smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria [north]; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt [south].

Psa. 48:7 With the east wind Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish.

Is. 11:15 And the Lrd will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind will he wave his hand over the River, and will smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod.

Jer. 51:1-4 Thus saith the Lrd: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind. And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

Gen. 13:17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.

Josh. 18:3-4 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go in to possess the land, which the Lrd, the Gd of your fathers, hath given you? Appoint for you three men of each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall arise, and walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; and they shall come unto me.

1Sam. 28:17 And the Lrd hath done unto thee, as he spake by me: and the Lrd hath rent the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David.

2Sam. 5:12 And David perceived that the Lrd had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.

1Kings 2:11 And the days that David reigned over Israel were 40 years; 7 years reigned he in Hebron, and 33 reigned he in Jerusalem.

1Kings 2:12 And Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.

1Kings 9:4-5 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and mine ordinances; then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, according as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

2Chr. 13:5 Ought ye not to know that the Lrd, the Gd of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

Is. 11:14 And they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the children of the east: they shall put forth their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

2Kings 3:22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water over against them as red as blood.

Nah. 1:1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

Nah. 2:1-10 He that dasheth in pieces [Babylonian Army] is come up against thee [Nineveh]: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. For the Lrd restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches. The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings. He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts. But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, they cry; but none looketh back. Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.

Nah. 3:1-3 Ah, the city of blood [Nineveh]! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not. The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots, the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble upon their bodies.

Jer. 25:9-11 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lrd, and I will send unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land [against Israel], and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years.

Jer. 6:22-23 Thus saith the Lrd, Behold, a people [the Babylonians] cometh from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion [against Israel].

Jer. 10:22 The voice of tidings, behold, it cometh, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals.

Jer. 23:7-8 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lrd, that they shall no more say, As the Lrd liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, As the Lrd liveth, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land.

Ezek. 26:7 For thus saith the Lrd Gd: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and much people.

Is. 1:24 Therefore saith the Lrd, the Lrd of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies;

Ezek. 5:13 Thus mine anger shall be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted; and they shall know that I, the Lrd, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath upon them.

Ezek. 16:42 So will I cause my wrath toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

Jer. 51:11 Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: the Lrd hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of the Lrd, the vengeance of his Temple.

Jer. 50:11-15 Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder my heritage, because ye are wanton as a heifer that treadeth out the grain, and neigh as strong horses; your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. Because of the wrath of the Lrd she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the Lrd. Shout against her round about: she hath submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lrd: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.

Jer. 14:1-6 The word of the Lrd that came to Jeremiah concerning the scarcity. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are put to shame and confounded, and cover their heads. Because of the ground which is cracked, for that no rain hath been in the land, the plowmen are put to shame, they cover their heads. Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no grass. And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

Ex. 10:12-15 And the Lrd said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lrd brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

Jer. 51:27-29 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the prickly locust. Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion. And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of the Lrd against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

Is. 13:17-19 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall be as when Gd overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

“Babylon, the capital of the nations of Chaldea, long enjoyed the greatest celebrity of all cities throughout the whole world: and it is from this place that the remaining parts of Mesopotamia and Assyria received the name of Babylonia. The circuit of its walls, which were 200 feet in height, was 60 miles. These walls were also 50 feet in breadth, reckoning to every foot three fingers’ breadth beyond the ordinary measure of our foot. The river Euphrates flowed through the city, with quays of marvellous workmanship erected on either side. The temple there of Jupiter Belus is still in existence; he was the first inventor of the science of Astronomy. In all other respects it has been reduced to a desert, having been drained of its population in consequence of its vicinity to Seleucia, founded for that purpose by Nicator, at a distance of 90 miles, on the confluence of the Tigris and the canal that leads from the Euphrates.”
——Pliny the Elder (pagan Roman), Natural History, Book 6, Chapter 30, Written 77 AD.

“And it happened, after that Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Chettiim, had smitten Darius king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece.”
——First Book of Maccabees (Jewish apocrypha), Chapter 1, Verse 1, Written c. 100 BC.

“Now when Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion of the Persians, and had settled the affairs of Judea after the forementioned manner, he ended his life.”
——Josephus (Jewish Pharisee), Antiquities of the Jews, Book 12, Chapter 1, Section 1, Written c. 93 AD.

Joel 1:6-7 For a nation has risen up against my land, strong, and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the jaw-teeth of a lioness. It has laid my vine to waste and my fig-tree to splintering. It has utterly stripped it, and cast it away; its branches are made white.

“And he [Alexander the Great] made many wars, and won many strong holds, and slew the kings of the earth. And he went through to the ends of the earth, and took spoils of many nations, insomuch that the earth was quiet before him; whereupon he was exalted and his heart was lifted up.”
——First Book of Maccabees (Jewish apocrypha), Chapter 1, Verses 2-3, Written c. 100 BC.

“Persepolis was the capital of the Persian kingdom. Alexander described it to the Macedonians as the most hateful of the cities of Asia,​ and gave it over to his soldiers to plunder, all but the palaces. It was the richest city under the sun and the private houses had been furnished with every sort of wealth over the years. The Macedonians raced into it slaughtering all the men whom they met and plundering the residences; many of the houses belonged to the common people and were abundantly supplied with furniture and wearing apparel of every kind. Here much silver was carried off and no little gold, and many rich dresses gay with sea purple or with gold embroidery became the prize of the victors. The enormous palaces, famed throughout the whole civilized world, fell victim to insult and utter destruction. The Macedonians gave themselves up to this orgy of plunder for a whole day and still could not satisfy their boundless greed for more. Such was their exceeding lust for loot withal that they fought with each other and killed many of their fellows who had appropriated a greater portion of it. The richest of the finds some cut through with their swords so that each might have his own part. Some cut off the hands of those who were grasping at disputed property, being driven mad by their passions.”
——Diodorus Siculus (pagan Greek), Bibliotheca Historica, Book 17, Chapter 70, Written c. 60 BC.

“To the victor belong the spoils of war, and no conqueror ever captured more people and property in so short a lifespan as Alexander the Great of Macedonia (356-323 BC).”
——Frank L. Holt (American archaeologist), The Treasures of Alexander the Great, Page 1, Written 2016.

“Coming to terms with Alexander’s reported wealth has never been an easy prospect. Modern historians generally use such adjectives as ‘enormous,’ ‘colossal,’ and ‘fabulous‘; one scholar describes the king’s loot as ‘enough to stagger the imagination.’ Ancient writers similarly expressed their awe by labeling the king’s wealth ‘incredible‘ or ‘unimaginable.’ The historian Diodorus of Sicily said of the first city captured and destroyed by the young king: ‘More than 6,000 Thebans were killed, more than 30,000 souls were enslaved, and the amount of wealth that he plundered was unimaginable.’ Regarding the treasures Alexander looted in Persia, the historian Quintus Curtius Rufus wrote, ‘The reports of captured wealth are so enormous that the amounts strain credulity.’ In the end, however, Curtius did believe the figures.”
——Frank L. Holt (American archaeologist), The Treasures of Alexander the Great, Page 4, Written 2016.

“The king’s estimated total wealth would mean that if every person alive in 323 BC owned a drachma’s worth of silver, Alexander would be eleven times richer than all of them together.”
——Frank L. Holt (American archaeologist), The Treasures of Alexander the Great, Page 5, Written 2016.

“When Alexander marched south and took control of Egypt unopposed, he proclaimed himself ‘the ruler of the rulers of all the lands; the mighty lion who seizes possession of the mountains, fields, and deserts; the strong bull who protects Egypt; the master of the sea and all the sun encircles; beloved of Re and chosen of Ammon; the son of Ammon, Alexander.'”
——Frank L. Holt (American archaeologist), The Treasures of Alexander the Great, Page 58, Written 2016.

“The earliest ecumenical meditation about Alexander’s plundering seems to have hinged upon the pique of an imaginary pirate: ‘When Alexander the Great captured a certain pirate and scolded him for molesting the seas, the fellow retorted by saying, “We both are in the same business, you and I. But because I do mischief with a little ship, you call me a pirate, while you plunder the world with a giant armada and hail yourself a conqueror!”‘ The first known iteration of this story can be found in the works of Cicero.”
——Frank L. Holt (American archaeologist), The Treasures of Alexander the Great, Page 147, Written 2016.

“He [Augustus] delayed at Brundisium only 27 days — just long enough to satisfy all the demands of the soldiers — and then went to Egypt by a roundabout way through Asia and Syria, laid siege to Alexandria, where Antony had taken refuge with Cleopatra, and soon took the city. Although Antony tried to make terms at the eleventh hour, Augustus forced him to commit suicide, and viewed his corpse. He greatly desired to save Cleopatra alive for his triumph, and even had Psylli brought to her, to suck the poison from her wound, since it was thought that she had died from the bite of an asp.”
——Suetonius (pagan Roman), The Twelve Caesars, Life of Augustus, Paragraph 17, Written 121 AD.

“He [Augustus] reduced Egypt to the form of a [Roman] province, and then to make it more fruitful and better adapted to supply the city with grain, he set his soldiers at work cleaning out all the canals into which the Nile overflows, which in the course of many years had become choked with mud.”
——Suetonius (pagan Roman), The Twelve Caesars, Life of Augustus, Paragraph 18, Written 121 AD.

Dan. 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, it shall break in pieces and crush.

Dan. 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

Rev. 13:7-8 And it was given unto him [the Beast] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain.

Dan. 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, it shall break in pieces and crush.

The Hebrew word for “he-goats” is atudim.

Is. 14:9 Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the he-goats [atudim] of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

Ezek. 39:18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats [atudim], of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

Psa. 77:16-20 The waters saw thee, O Gd; The waters saw thee, they were afraid: The depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound: Thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lightened the world: The earth trembled and shook. Thy way was in the sea, And thy paths in the great waters, And thy footsteps were not known. You led your people like a flock, By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psa. 78:52 But he [Gd] led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

Psa. 80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; Thou that sittest above the cherubim, shine forth.

Jer. 23:2-3 Therefore thus saith the Lrd, the Gd of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lrd. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

Ezek. 36:37-38 Thus saith the Lrd Gd: For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock. As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the Lrd.

Zech. 9:16 And the Lrd their Gd will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted on high over his land.

Zech. 10:3 Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for the Lrd of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle.

Josh. 22:33 And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed Gd, and spake no more of rising up against them to war to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and the children of Gad dwelt.

2Kings 18:25 Am I now risen up without the Lrd against this place to destroy it? The Lrd said unto me, Rise up against this land and destroy it.

Is. 36:1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria rose up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

Jer. 50:21 Rise up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: slay and utterly destroy after them, saith the Lrd, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

Ezek. 26:3-4 therefore thus saith the Lrd Gd, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to rise up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.

The Hebrew word (‘al) for “upon” is the same word used for “against.”

Gen. 31:4-12 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto them, I see your father’s [Laban’s] countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the Gd of my father hath been with me. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages 10 times; but Gd suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The dotted shall be thy wages; then all the flock bare dotted: and if he said thus, The striped shall be thy wages; then bare all the flock striped. Thus Gd hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats [atudim] which rise up upon the flock were striped, dotted, and spotted. And the angel of Gd said unto me in the dream, Jacob: and I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the he-goats [atudim] which rise up upon the flock are striped, dotted, and spotted: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

Dan. 7:19-25 Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was diverse from all of them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and concerning the 10 horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which 3 fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And as for the 10 horns, out of this kingdom 10 kings shall arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the Law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.

Rev. 13:4-7 And they worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? and who is able to war with him? and there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given to him authority to act 42 months. And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against Gd, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

Rev. 11:3-7 And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the Lrd of the earth. And if any man desireth to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed. These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them.

Is. 1:21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

Jer. 3:6-10 Moreover the Lrd said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, She will return unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lrd.

Ezek. 16:1-3 Again the word of the Lrd came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; and say, Thus saith the Lrd Gd unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was a Hittite.
Ezek. 16:8-37 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lrd Gd, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with sealskin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and covered thee with silk. And I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a ring upon thy nose, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper unto royal estate. And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put upon thee, saith the Lrd Gd. But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and you playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and you poured out thy whoredoms on every one that passed by; his it was. And thou didst take of thy garments, and you madest for thee high places decked with divers colors, and you playedst the harlot upon them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. Thou didst also take thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and you madest for thee images of men, and didst play the harlot with them; and thou tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them, and didst set mine oil and mine incense before them. My bread also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou didst even set it before them for a sweet savor; and thus it was, saith the Lrd Gd. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire unto them? And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast weltering in thy blood. And it is come to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lrd Gd), that thou hast built unto thee a vaulted place, and hast made thee a lofty place in every street. Thou hast built thy lofty place at the head of every way, and hast made thy beauty an abomination, and you have opened wide your legs to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredom. Thou have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy whoredom, to provoke me to anger. Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, that are ashamed of thy lewd way. Thou hast played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because thou wast insatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet thou wast not satisfied. Thou hast moreover multiplied thy whoredom unto the land of traffic, unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. How weak is thy heart, saith the Lrd Gd, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an impudent harlot; in that thou buildest thy vaulted place at the head of every way, and makest thy lofty place in every street, and hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire. A wife that committeth adultery! that taketh strangers instead of her husband! They give gifts to all harlots; but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and bribest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredoms. And thou art different from other women in thy whoredoms, in that none followeth thee to play the harlot; and whereas thou givest hire, and no hire is given unto thee, therefore thou art different. Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lrd: Thus saith the Lrd Gd, Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness uncovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers; and because of all the idols of thy abominations, and for the blood of thy children, that thou didst give unto them; therefore behold, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them against thee on every side, and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

Rev. 17:1-3 And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication. And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns.

Rev. 18:3 For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness.

Rev. 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning,

“Since the grace of Gd and the most pious emperor Constantine have called us together from different provinces and cities to constitute the great and holy synod in Nicaea, it seemed absolutely necessary that the holy synod should send you a letter so that you may know what was proposed and discussed, and what was decided and enacted. First of all the affair of the impiety and lawlessness of Arius and his followers was discussed in the presence of the most pious emperor Constantine.”
——The Letter of the Synod in Nicaea to the Egyptians, Written c. 325 AD.

“‘And you will consider not only that the number of churches is far greater in the regions I [Constantine the Great] have enumerated than in any other, but also that it is most fitting that all should unite in desiring that which sound reason appears to demand, and in avoiding all participation in the perjured conduct of the Jews. In fine, that I may express my meaning in as few words as possible, it has been determined by the common judgment of all, that the most holy feast of Passover should be kept on one and the same day. For on the one hand a discrepancy of opinion on so sacred a question is unbecoming, and on the other it is surely best to act on a decision which is free from strange folly and error. Receive, then, with all willingness this truly Divine injunction, and regard it as in truth the gift of Gd. For whatever is determined in the holy assemblies of the bishops is to be regarded as indicative of the Divine will. As soon, therefore, as you have communicated these proceedings to all our beloved brethren, you are bound from that time forward to adopt for yourselves, and to enjoin on others the arrangement above mentioned, and the due observance of this most sacred day; that whenever I come into the presence of your love, which I have long desired, I may have it in my power to celebrate the holy feast with you on the same day, and may rejoice with you on all accounts, when I behold the cruel power of Satan removed by Divine aid through the agency of our endeavors, while your faith, and peace, and concord everywhere flourish. Gd preserve you, beloved brethren!’ The emperor [Constantine] transmitted a faithful copy of this letter to every province, wherein they who read it might discern as in a mirror the pure sincerity of his thoughts, and of his piety toward Gd.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Life of Constantine, Book 3, Chapters 19-20, Written 337 AD.

“The sacred and great and universal synod by Gd’s grace and by decree of your most religious and Chrst-loving emperors Valentinian Augustus and Marcian Augustus assembled in Chalcedon, metropolis of the province of Bithynia, in the shrine of the saintly and triumphant martyr Euphemia, issues the following decrees. In establishing his disciples in the knowledge of the faith, our Lrd and savior Chrst said: ‘My peace I give you, my peace I leave to you,’ so that no one should disagree with his neighbor regarding religious doctrines but that the proclamation of the truth would be uniformly presented. But the evil one never stops trying to smother the seeds of religion with his own tares and is for ever inventing some novelty or other against the truth; so the Master, exercising his usual care for the human race, roused this religious and most faithful emperor to zealous action, and summoned to himself the leaders of the priesthood from everywhere, so that through the working of the grace of Chrst, the master of all of us, every injurious falsehood might be staved off from the sheep of Chrst and they might be fattened on fresh growths of the truth.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“For the selfsame who is truly Gd, is also truly man; and there is no illusion in this union, while the lowliness of man and the loftiness of Godhead meet together. For as Gd is not changed by the compassion [exhibited], so Man is not consumed by the dignity [bestowed]. For each form does the acts which belong to it, in communion with the other; the Word, that is, performing what belongs to the Word, and the flesh carrying out what belongs to the flesh; the one of these shines out in miracles, the other succumbs to injuries.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“The birth of the flesh is a manifestation of human nature; the Virgin’s child-bearing is an indication of Divine power. The infancy of the Babe is exhibited by the humiliation of swaddling clothes: the greatness of the Highest is declared by the voices of angels. He whom Herod impiously designs to slay is like humanity in its beginnings; but he whom the Magi rejoice to adore on their knees is Lrd of all. Now when he came to the baptism of John his forerunner, lest the fact that the Godhead was covered with a veil of flesh should be concealed, the voice of the Father spake in thunder from heaven, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ Accordingly, him whom, as man, the devil’s subtlety tempts, is the same to whom, as Gd, angels pay duteous service. To hunger, to thirst, to be weary, and to sleep, is evidently human. But to satisfy 5,000 men with 5 loaves, and give to the Samaritan woman that living water, to draw which can secure him that drinks of it from ever thirsting again; to walk on the surface of the sea with feet that sink not, and by rebuking the storm to bring down the ‘uplifted waves,’ is unquestionably Divine. As then—to pass by many points —it does not belong to the same nature to weep with feelings of pity over a dead friend and, after the mass of stone had been removed from the grave where he had lain 4 days, by a voice of command to raise him up to life again; or to hang on the wood, and to make all the elements tremble after daylight had been turned into night; or to be transfixed with nails, and to open the gates of paradise to the faith of the robber; so it does not belong to the same nature to say, ‘I and the Father are one,’ and to say, ‘the Father is greater than I.’“
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“From what belongs to us he has that manhood which is inferior to the Father; while from the Father he has equal Godhead with the Father.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“Accordingly, on account of this unity of Person which is to be understood as existing in both the natures, we read, on the one hand, that ‘the Son of Man came down from heaven,’ inasmuch as the Son of Gd took flesh from that Virgin of whom he was born; and on the other hand, the Son of Gd is said to have been crucified and buried, inasmuch as he underwent this, not in his actual Godhead; wherein the Only-begotten is coeternal and consubstantial with the Father, but in the weakness of human nature.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“If then he [Eutyches, the Pope’s opponent] accepts the Christian faith, and does not turn away his ear from the preaching of the Gospel, let him see what nature it was that was transfixed with nails and hung on the wood of the cross; and let him understand whence it was that, after the side of the Crucified had been pierced by the soldier’s spear, blood and water flowed out.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“But when Eutyches, on being questioned in your examination of him, answered, ‘I confess that our Lrd was of two natures before the union, but after the union I confess one nature’; I am astonished that so absurd and perverse a profession as this of his was not rebuked by a censure on the part of any of his judges, and that an utterance extremely foolish and extremely blasphemous was passed over, just as if nothing had been heard which could give offence: seeing that it is as impious to say that the Only-begotten Son of God was of two natures before the Incarnation as it is shocking to affirm that, since the Word became flesh, there has been in him one nature only.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“So, following the saintly fathers, we all with one voice teach the confession of one and the same Son, our Lrd Jsus Chrst: the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly Gd and truly man, of a rational soul and a body; consubstantial with the Father as regards his divinity, and the same consubstantial with us as regards his humanity; like us in all respects except for sin; begotten before the ages from the Father as regards his divinity, and in the last days the same for us and for our salvation from Mary, the virgin Mother of Gd as regards his humanity; one and the same Chrst, Son, Lrd, only-begotten, acknowledged in two natures which undergo no confusion, no change, no division, no separation; at no point was the difference between the natures taken away through the union, but rather the property of both natures is preserved and comes together into a single person and a single subsistent being; he is not parted or divided into two persons, but is one and the same only-begotten Son, Gd, Word, Lrd Jsus Chrst, just as the prophets taught from the beginning about him, and as the Lrd Jsus Chrst himself instructed us, and as the creed of the fathers handed it down to us.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“It [the synod of bishops at Chalcedon] has accepted … the letter of the primate of greatest and older Rome, the most blessed and most saintly Archbishop Leo, written to the sainted Archbishop Flavian to put down Eutyches’ evil-mindedness, because it is in agreement with great Peter’s confession and represents a support we have in common.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“There are those who are trying to ruin the proclamation of the truth, and through their private heresies they have spawned novel formulas: some by daring to corrupt the mystery of the Lrd’s economy on our behalf, and refusing to apply the word ‘Mother of Gd’ to the Virgin; and others by introducing a confusion and mixture, and mindlessly imagining that there is a single nature of the flesh and the divinity, and fantastically supposing that in the confusion the divine nature of the Only-begotten is able to suffer.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“It [the synod of bishops at Chalcedon] expels from the assembly of the priests those who dare to say that the divinity of the Only-begotten is able to suffer, and it stands opposed to those who imagine a mixture or confusion between the two natures of Chrst.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“But you say that the synod at Chalcedon also placed the faith of the 318 before its definition. But in that case the innovation is obvious. First it says in plain words, and that twice and three times, that it is itself making a definition; secondly, because it said that our one Lrd Jsus Chrst is made known in two natures; thirdly, to omit the other points, because it called Leo’s letter, which is full of the blasphemies of Nestorius, ‘a pillar of orthodoxy.’“
——Severus of Antioch, Letter 36, Written 510 AD.

“But this you may keep firmly and fixedly in your mind, that no one shall be our fellow-communicant, nor will we consent to greet by letter any man who at the same time receives the wicked synod at Chalcedon contrary to the Law, and does not condemn the Tome of Leo. But, if any concession is necessary, I will stand within the ordinances of the holy Timothy, considering the general benefit of a union of the holy churches, and demanding an open condemnation of the things done at Chalcedon against the orthodox faith, and of the wicked Tome of Leo, and of those who speak of two natures after the union, and the operations of these and their properties.”
——Severus of Antioch, Letter 47, Written 516 AD.

“Our observations prompted us to correct what was happening. We assembled in this imperial city, summoned here by the will of Gd and the command of the most religious emperor [Justinian].”
——Second Council of Constantinople, Written 553 AD.

“If anyone confesses a belief that a union has been made out of the two natures divinity and humanity, or speaks about the one nature of Gd the Word made flesh, but does not understand these things according to what the fathers have taught, namely that from the divine and human natures a union was made according to subsistence, and that one Chrst was formed, and from these expressions tries to introduce one nature or substance made of the deity and human flesh of Chrst: let him be anathema.”
——Second Council of Constantinople, Canon 8, Written 553 AD.

“[I]f anyone, so as to remove the human flesh or to mix up the divinity and the humanity, monstrously invents one nature or substance brought together from the two, and so worships Chrst, but not by a single adoration Gd the Word in human flesh along with his human flesh, as has been the tradition of the church from the beginning: let him be anathema.”
——Second Council of Constantinople, Written 553 AD.

“If anyone will not confess that the Word of Gd has two births, that which is before all ages from the Father, outside time and without a body, and secondly that birth of these latter days when the Word of Gd came down from the heavens and was made flesh of holy and glorious Mary, Mother of Gd and ever-virgin, and was born from her: let him be anathema.”
——Second Council of Constantinople, Written 553 AD.

“Our most mild emperor, champion of right belief and adversary of wrong belief, guided in godly wisdom by this teaching of peace spoken by Gd, has brought together this holy and universal assembly of ours and set at one the whole judgment of the church.”
——Third Council of Constantinople, Written 680-681 AD.

“This same holy and universal synod, here present, faithfully accepts and welcomes with open hands the report of Agatho, most holy and most blessed pope of elder Rome, that came to our most reverend and most faithful emperor Constantine [IV], which rejected by name those who proclaimed and taught, as has been already explained, one will and one principle of action in the incarnate dispensation of Chrst our true Gd; and likewise it approves as well the other synodal report to his Gd-taught serenity, from the synod of 125 bishops dear to Gd meeting under the same most holy pope, as according with the holy synod at Chalcedon and with the Tome of the all-holy and most blessed Leo, pope of the same elder Rome, which was sent to Flavian, who is among the saints, and which that synod called a pillar of right belief, and furthermore with the synodal letters written by the blessed Cyril against the impious Nestorius and to the bishops of the East.”
——Third Council of Constantinople, Written 680-681 AD.

“And we proclaim equally two natural volitions or wills in him and two natural principles of action which undergo no division, no change, no partition, no confusion, in accordance with the teaching of the holy fathers. And the two natural wills not in opposition, as the impious heretics said, far from it, but his human will following, and not resisting or struggling, rather in fact subject to his divine and all powerful will. For the will of the flesh had to be moved, and yet to be subjected to the divine will, according to the most wise Athanasius. For just as his flesh is said to be and is flesh of the Word of Gd, so too the natural will of his flesh is said to and does belong to the Word of Gd, just as he says himself: I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me, calling his own will that of his flesh, since his flesh too became his own. For in the same way that his all holy and blameless animate flesh was not destroyed in being made divine but remained in its own limit and category, so his human will as well was not destroyed by being made divine, but rather was preserved, according to the theologian Gregory, who says: ‘For his willing, when he is considered as savior, is not in opposition to Gd, being made divine in its entirety.’ And we hold there to be two natural principles of action in the same Jsus Chrst our Lrd and true Gd, which undergo no division, no change, no partition, no confusion, that is, a divine principle of action and a human principle of action, according to the godly-speaking Leo, who says most clearly: ‘For each form does in a communion with the other that activity which it possesses as its own, the Word working that which is the Word’s and the body accomplishing the things that are the body’s.’ For of course we will not grant the existence of only a single natural principle of action of both Gd and creature, lest we raise what is made to the level of divine being, or indeed reduce what is most specifically proper to the divine nature to a level befitting creatures for we acknowledge that the miracles and the sufferings are of one and the same according to one or the other of the two natures out of which he is and in which he has his being, as the admirable Cyril said. Therefore, protecting on all sides the ‘no confusion’ and ‘no division,’ we announce the whole in these brief words: Believing our Lrd Jsus Chrst, even after his incarnation, to be one of the holy Trinity and our true Gd, we say that he has two natures shining forth in his one subsistence in which he demonstrated the miracles and the sufferings throughout his entire providential dwelling here, not in appearance but in truth, the difference of the natures being made known in the same one subsistence in that each nature wills and performs the things that are proper to it in a communion with the other; then in accord with this reasoning we hold that two natural wills and principles of action meet in correspondence for the salvation of the human race. So now that these points have been formulated by us with all precision in every respect and with all care, we definitely state that it is not allowable for anyone to produce another faith, that is, to write or to compose or to consider or to teach others; those who dare to compose another faith, or to support or to teach or to hand on another creed to those who wish to turn to knowledge of the truth, whether from Hellenism or Judaism or indeed from any heresy whatsoever, or to introduce novelty of speech, that is, invention of terms, so as to overturn what has now been defined by us, such persons, if they are bishops or clerics, are deprived of their episcopacy or clerical rank, and if they are monks or layfolk they are excommunicated.”
——Third Council of Constantinople, Written 680-681 AD.

“The holy, great and universal synod, by the grace of Gd and by order of our pious and Chrst-loving emperor and empress, Constantine [VI] and his mother Irene, assembled for the second time in the famous metropolis of the Nicaeans in the province of the Bithynians, in the holy church of Gd named after Wisdom, following the tradition of the catholic church, has decreed what is here laid down.”
——Second Council of Nicaea, Written 787 AD.

“Therefore the Lrd Gd, not bearing that what was subject to him should be destroyed by such a corruption, has by his good pleasure summoned us together through the divine diligence and decision of Constantine [VI] and Irene, our faithful emperor and empress, we who are those responsible for the priesthood everywhere, in order that the divinely inspired tradition of the catholic church should receive confirmation by a public decree.”
——Second Council of Nicaea, Written 787 AD.

“[W]e decree with full precision and care that, like the figure of the honored and life-giving cross, the revered and holy images, whether painted or made of mosaic or of other suitable material, are to be exposed in the holy churches of Gd, on sacred instruments and vestments, on walls and panels, in houses and by public ways. These are the images of our Lrd, Gd and savior, Jsus Chrst, and of our Lady without blemish, the holy Gd-bearer, and of the revered angels and of any of the saintly holy men. The more frequently they are seen in representational art, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models, and to pay these images the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration. Certainly this is not the full adoration in accordance with our faith, which is properly paid only to the divine nature, but it resembles that given to the figure of the honored and life-giving cross, and also to the holy books of the gospels and to other sacred cult objects. Further, people are drawn to honor these images with the offering of incense and lights, as was piously established by ancient custom. Indeed, the honor paid to an image traverses it, reaching the model, and he who venerates the image, venerates the person represented in that image. So it is that the teaching of our holy fathers is strengthened, namely, the tradition of the catholic church which has received the gospel from one end of the earth to the other. So it is that we really follow Paul, who spoke in Chrst, and the entire divine apostolic group and the holiness of the fathers, clinging fast to the traditions which we have received. So it is that we sing out with the prophets the hymns of victory to the church: Rejoice exceedingly O daughter of Zion, proclaim O daughter of Jerusalem; enjoy your happiness and gladness with a full heart. The Lrd has removed away from you the injustices of your enemies, you have been redeemed from the hand of your foes. The Lrd the king is in your midst, you will never more see evil, and peace will be upon you for time eternal. Therefore all those who dare to think or teach anything different, or who follow the accursed heretics in rejecting ecclesiastical traditions, or who devise innovations, or who spurn anything entrusted to the church (whether it be the gospel or the figure of the cross or any example of representational art or any martyr’s holy relic), or who fabricate perverted and evil prejudices against cherishing any of the lawful traditions of the catholic church, or who secularize the sacred objects and saintly monasteries, we order that they be suspended if they are bishops or clerics, and excommunicated if they are monks or lay people.”
——Second Council of Nicaea, Written 787 AD.

“If anyone does not confess that Chrst our Gd can be represented in his humanity, let him be anathema. If anyone does not accept representation in art of evangelical scenes, let him be anathema. If anyone does not salute such representations as standing for the Lrd and his saints, let him be anathema. If anyone rejects any written or unwritten tradition of the church, let him be anathema.”
——Second Council of Nicaea, Written 787 AD.

“That Hebrews ought not to be received unless they have been converted in sincerity of heart.
Since certain, erring in the superstitions of the Hebrews, have thought to mock at Chrst our Gd, and feigning to be converted to the religion of Chrst do deny him, and in private and secretly keep the Sabbath and observe other Jewish customs, we decree that such persons be not received to communion, nor to prayers, nor into the Church; but let them be openly Hebrews according to their religion, and let them not bring their children to baptism, nor purchase or possess a slave. But if any of them, out of a sincere heart and in faith, is converted and makes profession with his whole heart, setting at naught their customs and observances, and so that others may be convinced and converted, such an one is to be received and baptized, and his children likewise; and let them be taught to take care to hold aloof from the ordinances of the Hebrews. But if they will not do this, let them in no wise be received.”
——Second Council of Nicaea, Canon 8, Written 787 AD.

“All those childish baubles and bacchic rantings, the false writings composed against the venerable icons, should be given in at the episcopal building in Constantinople, so that they can be put away along with other heretical books. If someone is discovered to be hiding such books, if he is a bishop, priest or deacon, let him be suspended, and if he is a lay person or a monk, let him be excommunicated.”
——Second Council of Nicaea, Canon 9, Written 787 AD.

Dan. 2:43-44 And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings shall the Gd of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Dan. 7:13-14 I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Dan. 7:17-18 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

Dan. 7:21-22 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

Dan. 7:26-27 But the judgment shall be set, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Ezek. 43:5-7 And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lrd filled the house. And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places;

Rev. 20:1-6 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jsus, and for the word of Gd, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Chrst a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of Gd and of Chrst, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Gen. 30:31 And he [Laban] said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again shepherd thy flock and keep it.

Jer. 3:14-15 Return, O backsliding children, saith the Lrd; for I am a husband unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Eph. 4:11 And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

1Pet. 2:25 For ye were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Gen. 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with Gd and with men, and hast prevailed.

Rom. 9:6-8 But it is not as though the word of Gd hath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel: neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of Gd; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed.

Gal. 6:15-16 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of Gd.

Eph. 2:11-19 Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Chrst, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without Gd in the world. But now in Chrst Jsus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body unto Gd through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh: for through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father. So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of Gd.

Joel 1:6-7 For a nation has risen up against my land, strong, and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the jaw-teeth of a lioness. It has laid my vine to waste and my fig-tree to splintering. It has utterly laid it bare, and cast it away; its branches are made white.

The Hebrew name “Laban” has the exact same spelling as the standard Hebrew word for “white”: laban.

Gen. 31:26-35 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword? Wherefore didst thou flee secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp; and didst not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters? now hast thou done foolishly. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet why have you stolen my gods? And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken the idols, and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but he did not find the idols.

Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after 3 days rise again.

Jer. 1:11-12 Moreover the word of the Lrd came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a staff of an almond-tree [shaqed]. Then said the Lrd unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over [shoqed] my word to perform it.

Zech. 11:10 And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

Hos. 4:11-13 Fornication and wine and new wine take away the understanding. My people ask counsel at their piece of wood, and their staff declares unto them; for the spirit of fornication hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their Gd. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.

Prov. 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters; The wellspring of wisdom is as a flowing brook.

Is. 55:1-4 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.

Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lrd Gd, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lrd.

Eph. 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Chrst also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

The fourth chariot of “spotted” horses represents the Roman Army.

Gen. 30:31-34 And he [Laban] said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed thy flock and keep it. I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing from there every dotted and spotty one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotty and dotted among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer for me hereafter, when thou shalt come concerning my hire that is before thee: every one that is not dotted and spotty among the goats, and black among the sheep, that if found with me, shall be counted stolen. And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

Gen. 30:35-36 And he [Laban] removed that day the he-goats that were striped and spotty, and all the she-goats that were dotted and spotty, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons; and he [Laban] set 3 days’ journey between himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Gen. 30:37-43 And Jacob took him a staff of fresh poplar [Hebrew: libneh, from laban: “white”], and of the almond, and of the plane-tree [Hebrew: ‘ermon, from ‘erom: “naked, bare”]; and he stripped white, stripped-spots in them laying bare the white which was on the staffs. And he set the staffs which he had stripped over against the flocks in the troughs in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived at the staffs, and the flocks brought forth striped, dotted, and spotty. And Jacob separated the lambs, and he set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban’s flock. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the staffs before the eyes of the flock in the troughs, that they might conceive at the staffs; but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and asses.

1Kings 12:28-33 Whereupon the king [Jeroboam] took counsel, and he made two calves of gold; and he said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the 8th month, on the 15th day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made. And he went up unto the altar which he had made in Beth-el on the 15th day in the 8th month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up unto the altar, to burn incense.

2Kings 17:21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lrd, and made them sin a great sin.

Jer. 2:4-7 Hear ye the word of the Lrd, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lrd, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? Neither said they, Where is the Lrd that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man dwelt? And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

Hos. 4:6-13 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy Gd, I also will forget thy children. As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. They feed on the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings. And they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall play the harlot, and shall not increase; because they have left off taking heed to the Lrd. Fornication and wine and new wine take away the understanding. My people ask counsel at their piece of wood, and their staff declares unto them; for the spirit of fornication hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their Gd. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.

Col. 2:8 Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Chrst.

“These are the doctrines of men and of demons produced for itching ears of the spirit of this world’s wisdom: this the Lrd called foolishness, and chose the foolish things of the world to confound even philosophy itself. For [philosophy] it is which is the material of the world’s wisdom, the rash interpreter of the nature and the dispensation of Gd. Indeed heresies are themselves instigated by philosophy. From this source came the Æons, and I known not what infinite forms, and the trinity of man in the system of Valentinus, who was of Plato’s school. From the same source came Marcion’s better god, with all his tranquillity; he came of the Stoics. Then, again, the opinion that the soul dies is held by the Epicureans; while the denial of the restoration of the body is taken from the aggregate school of all the philosophers; also, when matter is made equal to Gd, then you have the teaching of Zeno; and when any doctrine is alleged touching a god of fire, then Heraclitus comes in. The same subject-matter is discussed over and over again by the heretics and the philosophers; the same arguments are involved. Whence comes evil? Why is it permitted? What is the origin of man? And in what way does he come? Besides the question which Valentinus has very lately proposed — Whence comes Gd? Which he settles with the answer: From enthymesis and ectroma. Unhappy Aristotle! Who invented for these men dialectics, the art of building up and pulling down; an art so evasive in its propositions, so far-fetched in its conjectures, so harsh, in its arguments, so productive of contentions — embarrassing even to itself, retracting everything, and really treating of nothing! Whence spring those fables and endless genealogies, and unprofitable questions, and words which spread like a cancer? From all these, when the apostle would restrain us, he expressly names philosophy as that which he would have us be on our guard against. Writing to the Colossians, he says, ‘See that no one beguile you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, and contrary to the wisdom of the Holy Ghost.’ He had been at Athens, and had in his interviews [with its philosophers] become acquainted with that human wisdom which pretends to know the truth, while it only corrupts it, and is itself divided into its own manifold heresies, by the variety of its mutually repugnant sects. What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church? What between heretics and Christians?”
——Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, Chapter 7, Written c. 200 AD.

Acts 17:16-21 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with them that met him. And certain also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, What would this babbler say? others, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached Jsus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him, and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by thee? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)

“‘And even if there is a war, it would not be dreadful not to have the gods as allies.’ And again, ‘To lead a pure life and to pass it with Matron himself having the gods as allies.’ And against the same one concerning Charinus: ‘But to their [the gods’] incorruptibility follows the inability to suffer by anything causing them a certain pleasure or bringing upon them pain from outside.'”
——Epicurus (pagan Greek), Fragment 99, Written c. 300 BC.
——Quoted by Hermann Usener, Epicurea, Page 132, Written 1887.

“On the same principle of reasoning, we think that the gods are happy and immortal; for that nature which hath assured us that there are gods has likewise imprinted in our minds the knowledge of their immortality and felicity; and if so, what Epicurus hath declared in these words is true: ‘That which is eternally happy cannot be burdened with any labor itself, nor can it impose any labor on another; nor can it be influenced by resentment or favor: because things which are liable to such feelings must be weak and frail.'”
——Cicero (pagan Roman), On the Nature of the gods, 1.44, Written 45 BC.

“Surely the mighty power of the Infinite Being is most worthy our great and earnest contemplation; the nature of which we must necessarily understand to be such that everything in it is made to correspond completely to some other answering part. This is called by Epicurus ἰσονομία; that is to say, an equal distribution or even disposition of things. From hence he draws this inference, that, as there is such a vast multitude of mortals, there cannot be a less number of immortals; and if those which perish are innumerable, those which are preserved ought also to be countless. Your sect, Balbus, frequently ask us how the gods live, and how they pass their time? Their life is the most happy, and the most abounding with all kinds of blessings, which can be conceived. They do nothing. They are embarrassed with no business; nor do they perform any work. They rejoice in the possession of their own wisdom and virtue. They are satisfied that they shall ever enjoy the fulness of eternal pleasures.”
——Cicero (pagan Roman), On the Nature of the gods, 1.50, Written 45 BC.

“But they [the gods] are free from pain. Is that sufficient for beings who are supposed to enjoy all good things and the most supreme felicity? The deity, they say, is constantly meditating on his own happiness, for he has no other idea which can possibly occupy his mind.”
——Cicero (pagan Roman), On the Nature of the gods, 1.114, Written 45 BC.

Lucretius wrote the poem De Rerum Natura in order to explain Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience.

“For all the gods must of themselves enjoy immortal aeons and supreme repose, withdrawn from our affairs, detached, afar: immune from peril and immune from pain, themselves abounding in riches of their own, needing not us, they are not touched by wrath they are not taken by service or by gift.”
——Lucretius (pagan Roman), De Rerum Natura, Book 2, Lines 642-648, Written c. 50 BC.

“In contrast, the god of the Greek philosophers, according to this reading, takes no interest in human affairs and is entirely immune from suffering. This deity cannot be influenced by anything external. It is useless to pray to it, except for the psychological benefit of moral exercise. Being incapable of feelings and emotions, such a god is also incapable of love and care.”
——Paul L. Gavrilyuk (Orthodox Christian), The Suffering of the Impassible god, Page 2, Written 2004.

“Divine impassibility [inability to suffer] makes its debut on the philosophical scene in the writings of Aristotle, twice with reference to the opinion of Anaxagoras that the divine mind remains unmixed and in this narrow sense apathes [inability to suffer]. Building upon Anaxagoras’ insight, the Stagirite [Aristotle] argued that since the Unmoved Mover cannot be moved by anything else, he remained impassible [unable to suffer] in the sense of not being acted upon.”
——Paul L. Gavrilyuk (Orthodox Christian), The Suffering of the Impassible god, Pages 34-35, Written 2004.

Col. 2:8-9 Take heed lest there shall be any one who takes you captive through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Chrst: for in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Gen. 6:5-7 And the Lrd saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lrd suffered grief that he had made man on the earth, and it pained him to his heart. And the Lrd said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for I suffer grief that I have made them.

Is. 43:24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices; but you have made me labor with thy sins, you have made me weary with thine iniquities.

Is. 63:10 But they rebelled, and they grieved his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.

Ezek. 6:9-10 And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their fornicating heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the Lrd: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

Psa. 78:40-41 How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And they caused him pain in the desert! And they turned again and tempted Gd, And they pained the Holy One of Israel.

Eph. 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of Gd, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.

“Without exception, biblical authors ascribe to Gd strong emotions. Gd becomes angry and repents, feels sorrow and rejoices. Above all else, he is the Gd of self-sacrificial love and self-giving compassion. He hears prayers and responds to them. The Gd of the Bible is deeply involved in history. The prophetic writings speak of him as actually suffering with and for humanity. In contrast, the god of the Greek philosophers, according to this reading, takes no interest in human affairs and is entirely immune from suffering. This deity cannot be influenced by anything external. It is useless to pray to it, except for the psychological benefit of moral exercise. Being incapable of feelings and emotions, such a god is also incapable of love and care.”
——Paul L. Gavrilyuk (Orthodox Christian), The Suffering of the Impassible god, Page 2, Written 2004.

Matt. 26:37-38 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be grieved and to be in anguish. Then saith he unto them, My soul is deeply grieved, even unto death: abide ye here, and watch with me.

Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

John 4:5-6 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: and Jacob’s well was there. Jsus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the 6th hour.

1Pet. 2:21-23 For hereunto were ye called: because Chrst also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

1Cor. 11:23-24 For I received of the Lrd that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lrd Jsus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

1Pet. 4:1 Forasmuch then as Chrst suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

Rom. 14:9 For to this end Chrst died and lived again, that he might be Lrd of both the dead and the living.

Rev. 1:17-18 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 

2Cor. 5:14-15 For the love of Chrst constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.

Rom. 5:6-8 For while we were yet weak, in due season Chrst died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. But Gd commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Chrst died for us.

Rom. 14:9 For to this end Chrst died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Rom. 14:15 For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Chrst died.

1Cor. 8:11 For through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake Chrst died.

1Cor. 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Chrst died for our sins according to the scriptures;

Gal. 2:21 I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Chrst died for nought.

Mic. 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art not yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jsus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am.

John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Is. 7:14 Therefore the Lrd himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Matt. 1:23 Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, Gd with us.

Is. 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty Gd, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Gd, and the Word was Gd. The same was in the beginning with Gd. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the one of a kind from the Father), full of grace and truth.

John 1:18 No man hath seen Gd at any time; the one-of-a-kind Gd, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

John 3:16 For Gd so loved the world, that he gave his one-of-a-kind Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the one-of-a-kind Son of Gd.

1John 4:9 Herein was the love of Gd manifested in us, that Gd hath sent his one-of-a-kind Son into the world that we might live through him.

1John 1:1-3 That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life (and the Life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the Eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jsus Chrst:

John 14:28 Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I.

John 5:19 Jsus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner.

John 20:17 Jsus saith to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my Gd and your Gd.

1Cor. 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Chrst; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Chrst is Gd.

Matt. 26:39 And he went forward a little, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will.

Luke 22:41-42 And he was parted from them about a stone’s cast; and he kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

John 5:30 I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

Matt. 24:34-36 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.

John 3:13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven.

John 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

John 6:47-51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.

John 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 

Phil. 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lrd Jsus Chrst: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.

1John 3:2 Beloved, now are we children of Gd, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, when he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.

Rom. 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

1Cor. 15:39-49 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a body of the soul; it is raised a body of the spirit. If there is a body of the soul, there is also a body of the spirit. So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-preserving spirit. Howbeit that is not first which is of the spirit, but that which is of the soul; then that which is of the spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Luke 24:39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having. 

Phil. 2:5-8 Have this mind in you, which was also in Chrst Jsus: who, being in the form of Gd, counted not the being on an equality with Gd a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the similarity of men; and being found in figure as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.

Rom. 8:3-4 For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Gd, sending his own Son in the similarity of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Col. 1:15-19 who is the image of the invisible Gd, the firstborn of all creation; for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure that in him should all the fullness dwell;

Col. 2:8-9 Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Chrst: for in him dwells all the fullness of the divine nature bodily.

James 1:13-14 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of Gd; for Gd cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own desire, and enticed.

1John 3:9 Everyone who has been fathered by Gd does not do sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he has been fathered by Gd.

Luke 23:46 And Jsus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up breathed his last.

Luke 20:34-36 And Jsus said unto them, The sons of this world marry and are given in marriage, but they who are accounted worthy to attain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For neither can they die any more; for they are like angels and are sons of Gd, being sons of the resurrection. 

John 10:17-18 Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father.

Matt. 10:28 And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Gen. 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Rom. 5:12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned:—

1Cor. 15:21-22 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Chrst shall all be made alive.

Eph. 2:1-5 And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But Gd, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Chrst (by grace have ye been saved).

Col. 2:13 And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;

The entire dictionary entry for monogenes (μονογενής) in the premier dictionary of the Ancient Greek language is below.

“μονο-γενής, ές, Ep. and Ion. μουνο-, (γένος) the only member of a kin or kind: hence, generally, only, single, παῖς Hes. Op. 376, Hdt. 7.221, cf. Ev.Jo. 1.14, Ant.Lib. 32.1; of Hecate, Hes. Th. 426.
2) unique, of τὸ ὄν, Parm. 8.4; εἷς ὅδε μ. οὐρανὸς γεγονώς Pl. Ti. 31b, cf. Procl. Inst. 22; θεὸς ὁ μ. Sammelb. 4324.15.
3) μ. αἷμα one and the same blood, dub. l. in E. Hel. 1685.
4) Gramm., having one form for all genders, A.D. Adv. 145.18.
5) name of the foot¯ ¯ ¯, Heph. 3.3.
II Adv. -νῶς, φέρεται μ. ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ grows only in one place, Peripl.M.Rubr. 56, cf. 11.
2) in a unique manner, Aët. 15.13, 14.”
——Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones; A Greek-English Lexicon; Written 1940.

1 John 3:9 Everyone fathered [gegennemenos] by Gd does not do sin.

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wants, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know from where it comes, and to where it goes. So is every one fathered [gegennemenos] by the Spirit.

1John 5:1 Every one who believes that Jsus is the Chrst has been fathered by Gd, and every one who loves him who fathered also loves the fathered [gegennemenos] by him.

1John 5:4 For every one fathered [gegennemenos] by Gd overcometh the world. And this is the victory that hath overcome the world: our faith.

1John 5:18 We know that every one fathered [gegennemenos] by Gd does not sin; but he who was fathered by Gd keeps himself, and the evil one toucheth him not.

Jsus “was begotten” (“was fathered”) by the Holy Spirit before he was born.

Matt. 1:20 But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lrd appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which was fathered in her is by the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Therefore also the holy one which is fathered shall be called the Son of Gd.

Matt. 2:1 Now when Jsus was fathered in Beth-lehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Wise-men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

John 1:12-13 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of Gd, even to them that believe on his name: who were fathered, not by blood, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by Gd.

John 3:3-8 Jsus answered and said unto him, Truly, truly, I say unto thee, Except one be fathered over again, he cannot see the kingdom of Gd. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be fathered when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be fathered? Jsus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be fathered by water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of Gd. That which is fathered by the flesh is flesh; and that which is fathered by the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be fathered over again. The wind bloweth where it wants, and thou hearest the sound of it, but you do not know from where it comes, and to where it goes. So is every one who has been fathered by the Spirit.

1Pet. 1:3 Blessed be the Gd and Father of our Lrd Jsus Chrst, who according to his great mercy fathered us over again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jsus Chrst from the dead,

1Pet. 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: having been fathered over again, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible, through the word of Gd, which liveth and abideth.

James 1:17-18 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

1John 2:29 – 3:2 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness has been fathered by him. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of Gd; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, we are children of Gd now, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.

1John 3:9-10 Everyone who has been fathered by Gd does not do sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he has been fathered by Gd. In this the children of Gd are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of Gd, neither he that loveth not his brother.

1John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of Gd; and every one that loves has been fathered by Gd, and knoweth Gd.

1John 5:1-5 Every one who believes that Jsus is the Chrst has been fathered by Gd, and every one who loves him who fathered also loves him who has been fathered by him. Hereby we know that we love the children of Gd, when we love Gd and do his commandments. For this is the love of Gd, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For every one who has been fathered by Gd overcomes the world: and this is the victory that hath overcome the world: our faith. And who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jsus is the Son of Gd?

1John 5:18 We know that every one who has been fathered by Gd does not sin; but he who has been fathered by Gd keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.

1Cor. 4:15 For though ye have 10,000 tutors in Chrst, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Chrst Jsus I fathered you through the gospel.

Philem. 10 I beseech thee for my child, whom I have fathered in my bonds, Onesimus,

Phil. 2:5-8 Have this mind in you, which was also in Chrst Jsus: who, being in the form of Gd, counted not the being on an equality with Gd a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the similarity of men; and being found in figure as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.

Rom. 8:3-4 For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Gd, sending his own Son in the similarity of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Gd, and the Word was Gd. The same was in the beginning with Gd.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the one of a kind from the Father), full of grace and truth.

John 1:18 No man hath seen Gd at any time; the one-of-a-kind Gd, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.

John 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

John 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

Phil. 2:5-8 Have this mind in you, which was also in Chrst Jsus: who, being in the form of Gd, counted not the being on an equality with Gd a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the similarity of men; and being found in figure as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.

Rom. 8:3-4 For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Gd, sending his own Son in the similarity of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Phil. 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lrd Jsus Chrst: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.

Rom. 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

1Cor. 15:39-49 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a body of the soul; it is raised a body of the spirit. If there is a body of the soul, there is also a body of the spirit. So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Howbeit that is not first which is of the spirit, but that which is of the soul; then that which is of the spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

John 20:24-29 But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jsus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lrd. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after 8 days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jsus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lrd and my Gd. Jsus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Luke 24:36-43 And as they spake these things, he himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and they supposed that they beheld a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and wherefore do questionings arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: touch me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish. And he took it, and ate before them.

Psa. 16 Michtam of David. Preserve me, O Gd; for in thee do I take refuge. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lrd, Thou art my Lrd: I have no good beyond thee. As for the saints that are in the earth, They are the excellent in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that give gifts for another god: Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, Nor take their names upon my lips. The Lrd is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; Yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lrd, who hath given me counsel; Yea, my heart instructeth me in the night seasons. I have set the Lrd always before me: Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; My flesh also shall dwell in safety. For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; In thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Acts 2:25-32 For David saith concerning him, I beheld the Lrd always before my face; For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, Neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou madest known unto me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of gladness with thy countenance. Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that Gd had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Chrst, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jsus did Gd raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.

Acts 13:32-37 And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, that Gd hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jsus; as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, today I have fathered you. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead no longer about to to return to corruption, he hath spoken on this wise, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Because he saith also in another psalm, Thou wilt not give thy Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of Gd, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: but he whom Gd raised up saw no corruption.

John 2:19-21 Jsus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in 3 days I will raise it up. The Jews therefore said, Forty six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in 3 days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

John 6:47-51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the one of a kind from the Father), full of grace and truth.

John 3:16 For Gd so loved the world, that he gave his one-of-a-kind Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 20:11-18 But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jsus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lrd, and I know not where they have laid him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and sees Jsus standing, and knew not that it was Jsus. Jsus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jsus saith unto her, Mary. She turneth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Teacher. Jsus saith to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my Gd and your Gd. Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples, I have seen the Lrd; and that he had said these things unto her.

Luke 24:13-16 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was 60 furlongs from Jerusalem. And they communed with each other of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, while they communed and questioned together, that Jsus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were kept that they should not know him.

Luke 24:30-31 And it came to pass, when he had reclined with them, he took the bread and blessed; and breaking it he gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Matt. 17:1-2 And after 6 days Jsus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and he was transformed before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as the light.

Luke 9:28-29 And it came to pass about 8 days after these sayings, that he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up into the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was different, and his clothing was white and dazzling.

Mark 9:2-9 And after 6 days Jsus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transformed before them; and his garments became glistering, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jsus. And Peter answereth and saith to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he knew not what to answer; for they became sore afraid. And there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son: hear ye him. And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jsus only with themselves. And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of man should have risen again from the dead.

Rev. 1:12-18 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his face was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 

Acts 8:9-24 But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who beforetime in the city used sorcery, and amazed the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is that power of Gd which is called Great. And they gave heed to him, because that of long time he had amazed them with his sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of Gd and the name of Jsus Chrst, they were baptized, both men and women. And Simon also himself believed: and being baptized, he continued with Philip; and beholding signs and great miracles wrought, he was amazed. Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of Gd, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit: for as yet it was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lrd Jsus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of Gd with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right before Gd. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray the Lrd, if perhaps the thought of thy heart shall be forgiven thee. For I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. And Simon answered and said, Pray ye for me to the Lrd, that none of the things which ye have spoken come upon me.

“After Chrst’s ascension into heaven the devils put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods; and they were not only not persecuted by you, but even deemed worthy of honours. There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome: — Simoni Deo Sancto, To Simon the holy god. And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him, and acknowledge him as the first god.”
——Justin Martyr (Roman Christian), First Apology, Chapter 26, Written 156 AD.

“He [Simon] represented himself, in a word, as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the Father Over All, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased to address him.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 23, Written 180 AD.

“Simon of Samaria — from whom all sorts of heresies derive their origin.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 23, Written 180 AD.

“All those who in any way corrupt the truth, and injuriously affect the preaching of the Church, are the disciples and successors of Simon Magus of Samaria. Although they do not confess the name of their master, in order all the more to seduce others, yet they do teach his doctrines. They set forth, indeed, the name of Chrst Jsus as a sort of lure, but in various ways they introduce the impieties of Simon; and thus they destroy multitudes, wickedly disseminating their own doctrines by the use of a good name, and, through means of its sweetness and beauty, extending to their hearers the bitter and malignant poison of the serpent, the great author of apostasy.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 27, Written 180 AD.

“The beginning of heresies was thus. Satan possessed a man, Simon, who was a magician, and who had formerly been his servant.”
——Didascalia Apostolorum, Chapter 24, Written c. 230 AD.

“To those I betake myself who have chosen to make the gospel the starting-point of their heresies. Of these the first of all is Simon Magus, who in the Acts of the Apostles earned a condign and just sentence from the Apostle Peter. He had the hardihood to call himself the Supreme Virtue, that is, the Supreme Gd.”
——Pseudo-Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against All Heresies, Chapter 1, Written c. 300-350 AD.

“For since the angels ruled the world ill because each one of them coveted the principal power for himself, he [Simon] had come to amend matters, and had descended, transfigured and assimilated to powers and principalities and angels, so that he might appear among men to be a man, while yet he was not a man; and that thus he was thought to have suffered in Judæa, when he had not suffered.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 23, Written 180 AD.

“He [Simon] had the hardihood to call himself the Supreme Virtue, that is, the Supreme Gd; and moreover, that the universe had been originated by his angels; that he had descended in quest of an erring dæmon, which was Wisdom; that, in a phantasmal semblance of Gd, he had not suffered among the Jews, but was as if he had suffered.”
——Pseudo-Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against All Heresies, Chapter 1, Written c. 300-350 AD.

Around 65 AD, Paul commanded Timothy to avoid the falsely-called “knowledge” [“gnosis“].

1Tim. 6:20-21 O Timothy, guard that which is committed unto thee, turning away from the profane babblings and the oppositions of falsely-called “knowledge” [“gnosis“], which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with you.

“Among these heretics who are Simonians, and of whom we have already spoken, a multitude of Gnostics have sprung up, and have been manifested like mushrooms growing out of the ground.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 29, Written 180 AD.

“According to Marcion, and those like him, neither was the world made by Him [by Jsus]; nor did He come to His own things, but to those of another. And, according to certain of the Gnostics, this world was made by angels, and not by the Word of Gd.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 11, Written 180 AD.

“But when the sacred college of apostles had suffered death in various forms, and the generation of those that had been deemed worthy to hear the inspired wisdom with their own ears had passed away, then the league of godless error took its rise as a result of the folly of heretical teachers, who, because none of the apostles was still living, attempted henceforth, with a bold face, to proclaim, in opposition to the preaching of the truth, the ‘knowledge [gnosis] which is falsely so-called.'”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Church History, Book 3, Chapter 32, Written 312-324 AD.

“This world has been defectively constructed by wicked principalities and authorities, he [Simon] says. But he teaches that there is a decay and destruction of flesh, and a purification only of souls—and of these (only) if they are established in their initiation through his erroneous “knowledge” [“gnosis“]. And thus the imposture of the so-called Gnostics begins.“
——Epiphanius (Greco-Roman Christian), Panarion, Book 1, Chapter 21, Written 375 AD.

“But according to the opinion of no one of the heretics was the Word of Gd made flesh. For if anyone carefully examines the systems of them all, he will find that the Word of Gd is brought in by all of them as not having become incarnate [made flesh] and impassible [unable to suffer], as is also the Chrst from above. Others consider Him to have been manifested as a transfigured man; but they maintain Him to have been neither born nor to have become incarnate; while others [hold] that He did not assume a human form at all, but that, as a dove, He did descend upon that Jsus who was born from Mary. Therefore the Lrd’s disciple, pointing them all out as false witnesses, says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 11, Written 180 AD.

“There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lrd, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 3, Written 180 AD.

“John, the disciple of the Lrd, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that ‘knowledge’ [‘gnosis’] falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is but one Gd, who made all things by His Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was one, but the Father of the Lrd another; and that the Son of the Creator was, indeed, one, but the Chrst from above another, who also continued impassible [unable to suffer], descending upon Jsus, the Son of the Creator, and flew back again into His Pleroma.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 11, Written 180 AD.

“Cerinthus, again, a man who was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians, taught that the world was not made by the primary Gd, but by a certain Power far separated from him, and at a distance from that Principality who is supreme over the universe, and ignorant of him who is above all. He represented Jsus as having not been born of a virgin, but as being the son of Joseph and Mary according to the ordinary course of human generation, while he nevertheless was more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. Moreover, after his baptism, Chrst descended upon him [Jsus] in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler, and that then he proclaimed the unknown Father, and performed miracles. But at last Chrst departed from Jsus, and that then Jsus suffered and rose again, while Chrst remained impassible [unable to suffer], inasmuch as he was a spiritual being.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 26, Written 180 AD.

“It [the opinion of Cerinthus] was, however, that ultimately Chrst departed from Jsus, and that Jsus suffered and rose again; whereas that Chrst, being spiritual, remained beyond the possibility of suffering.”
——Hippolytus (Roman Christian), Refutation of All Heresies, Book 7, Chapter 21, Written 225 AD.

“After him [Carpocrates] broke out the heretic Cerinthus, teaching similarly. For he, too, says that the world was originated by those angels; and sets forth Chrst as born of the seed of Joseph, contending that He was merely human, without divinity; affirming also that the Law was given by angels; representing the Gd of the Jews as not the Lrd, but an angel.”
——Pseudo-Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against All Heresies, Chapter 3, Written c. 300-350 AD.

“For it was fitting to him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all from one source: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brothers, In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold, I and the children whom Gd hath given me. Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same things; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like the brothers in all things, that He might become a kind and faithful high priest in the things related to Gd, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to help them that are tempted.”
——Book of Hebrews, Chapter 2, Verses 10-18, Written c. 70 AD.

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot feel for our weaknesses; but one who hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
——Book of Hebrews, Chapter 4, Verse 15, Written c. 70 AD.

“Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard because of his godly fear, though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation.”
——Book of Hebrews, Chapter 5, Verses 7-9, Written c. 70 AD.

“For the Law appoints men high priests, having weakness; but the word of the oath, which was after the Law, appoints a Son, having been made perfect forever.”
——Book of Hebrews, Chapter 7, Verse 28, Written c. 70 AD.

“He [Saturninus] has also laid it down as a truth, that the Saviour was without birth, without body, and without figure, but was, by supposition, a visible man.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 24, Written 180 AD.

“And he [Saturninus] supposed the Saviour to be unbegotten and incorporeal, and devoid of figure, however, was manifested as man in appearance only. And he says that the Gd of the Jews is one of the angels, and, on account of the Father’s wishing to deprive of sovereignty all the Archons, that Chrst came for the overthrow of the Gd of the Jews.”
——Hippolytus (Roman Christian), Refutation of All Heresies, Book 7, Chapter 16, Written 225 AD.

“Afterwards, again, followed Saturninus: he, too, affirming that the innascible Virtue, that is Gd, abides in the highest regions, and that those regions are infinite, and in the regions immediately above us; but that angels far removed from Him made the lower world; and that, because light from above had flashed refulgently in the lower regions, the angels had carefully tried to form man after the similitude of that light; that man lay crawling on the surface of the earth; that this light and this higher virtue was, thanks to mercy, the salvable spark in man, while all the rest of him perishes; that Chrst had not existed in a bodily substance, and had endured a quasi-passion in a phantasmal shape merely; that a resurrection of the flesh there will by no means be.”
——Pseudo-Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against All Heresies, Chapter 1, Written c. 300-350 AD.

“He [Cerdo] maintains that Chrst who came was the Son of the superior Gd; affirms that He was not in the substance of flesh; states Him to have been only in a phantasmal shape, to have not really suffered, but undergone a quasi-passion, and not to have been born of a virgin, nay, really not to have been born at all. A resurrection of the soul merely does he approve, denying that of the body.”
——Pseudo-Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against All Heresies, Chapter 6, Written c. 300-350 AD.

“For to call our Lrd Chrst [that he is] Gd only is the way of Simon, of Cerdo, of Marcion, and of others who share this abominable opinion.”
——Theodoret (Greco-Roman Christian), Dialogues, Prologue, Written 451 AD.

“Simon, Menander, Cerdo, and Marcion absolutely deny the incarnation, and call the birth from a Virgin fable.”
——Theodoret (Greco-Roman Christian), Letter 145, Written 451 AD.

“And there is Marcion, a man of Pontus, who is even at this day alive, and teaching his disciples to believe in some other god greater than the Creator. And he, by the aid of the devils, has caused many of every nation to speak blasphemies, and to deny that Gd is the maker of this universe, and to assert that some other being, greater than He, has done greater works. All who take their opinions from these men, are, as we before said, called Christians.”
——Justin Martyr (Roman Christian), First Apology, Chapter 26, Written 156 AD.

“After him emerged a disciple of his [Cerdo’s], one Marcion by name, a native of Pontus, son of a bishop, excommunicated because of a rape committed on a certain virgin. He, starting from the fact that it is said, Every good tree bears good fruit, but an evil evil, attempted to approve the heresy of Cerdo; so that his assertions are identical with those of the former heretic [Cerdo] before him.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), On the Flesh of Chrst, Chapter 6, Written 205 AD.

“And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion and said ‘Do you know me?’ ‘I do know you, the first-born of Satan.'”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 3, Written 180 AD.

“There he [Polycarp] led back to the faith many of the believers who had been deceived through the persuasion of Marcion and Valentinus, and when Marcion met him by chance and said ‘Do you know us?’ he replied, ‘I know the firstborn of the devil.’
——Jerome (Roman Christian), On Illustrious Men, Chapter 17, Written 393 AD.

“But Marcion, mutilating that according to Luke, is proved to be a blasphemer of the only existing Gd, from those [passages] which he still retains. Those, again, who separate Jsus from Chrst, alleging that Chrst remained impassible [unable to suffer], but that it was Jsus who suffered, preferring the Gospel by Mark, if they read it with a love of truth, may have their errors rectified.”
——Irenaeus (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 11, Written 180 AD.

“But, Marcion, consider well this Scripture, if indeed you have not erased it: Gd has chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise. Now what are those foolish things? Are they the conversion of men to the worship of the true Gd, the rejection of error, the whole training in righteousness, chastity, mercy, patience, and innocence? These things certainly are not foolish. Inquire again, then, of what things he spoke, and when you imagine that you have discovered what they are will you find anything to be so foolish as believing in a Gd that has been born, and that of a virgin, and of a fleshly nature too, who wallowed in all the before-mentioned humiliations of nature? But some one may say, These are not the foolish things; they must be other things which Gd has chosen to confound the wisdom of the world. And yet, according to the world’s wisdom, it is more easy to believe that Jupiter became a bull or a swan, if we listen to Marcion, than that Chrst really became a man.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), On the Flesh of Chrst, Chapter 4, Written 205 AD.

“Have you [Marcion], then, cut away all sufferings from Chrst, on the ground that, as a mere phantom, He was incapable of experiencing them? We have said above that He might possibly have undergone the unreal mockeries of an imaginary birth and infancy. But answer me at once, you that murder truth: Was not Gd really crucified? And, having been really crucified, did He not really die? And, having indeed really died, did He not really rise again? Falsely did Paul determine to know nothing among us but Jsus and Him crucified; falsely has he impressed upon us that He was buried; falsely inculcated that He rose again. False, therefore, is our faith also. And all that we hope for from Chrst will be a phantom.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), On the Flesh of Chrst, Chapter 5, Written 205 AD.

“He [Marcion] alleges Chrst to be a phantom. Except, indeed, that this opinion of his will be sure to have others to maintain it in his precocious and somewhat abortive Marcionites, whom the Apostle John designated as antichrists, when they denied that Chrst had come in the flesh; not that they did this with the view of establishing the right of the other god (for on this point also they had been branded by the same apostle), but because they had started with assuming the incredibility of an incarnate Gd. Now, the more firmly the antichrist Marcion had seized this assumption, the more prepared was he, of course, to reject the bodily substance of Chrst.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 8, Written 208 AD.

“The sufferings of Chrst will be found not to warrant faith in Him. For He suffered nothing who did not truly suffer; and a phantom could not truly suffer. Gd’s entire work, therefore, is subverted.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 8, Written 208 AD.

“Now, if His death be denied, because of the denial of His flesh, there will be no certainty of His resurrection. For He rose not, for the very same reason that He died not, even because He possessed not the reality of the flesh, to which as death accrues, so does resurrection likewise. Similarly, if Chrst’s resurrection be nullified, ours also is destroyed.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 8, Written 208 AD.

“If Chrst suffered evasively, as a phantom; evasively, too, might He have been born. Such are Marcion’s chief arguments by which he makes out another chrst.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 11, Written 208 AD.

“In a laborious work by one of these writers against the heresy of Artemon, which Paul of Samosata attempted to revive again in our day, there is an account appropriate to the history which we are now examining. For he criticizes, as a late innovation, the above-mentioned heresy which teaches that the Savior was a mere man, because they were attempting to magnify it as ancient.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Church History, Book 5, Chapter 28, Written 312-324 AD.

“After Xystus had presided over the church of Rome for 11 years, Dionysius, namesake of him of Alexandria, succeeded him. About the same time Demetrianus died in Antioch, and Paul of Samosata received that episcopate. As he held, contrary to the teaching of the Church, low and degraded views of Chrst, namely, that in his nature he was a common man, Dionysius of Alexandria was entreated to come to the synod. But being unable to come on account of age and physical weakness, he gave his opinion on the subject under consideration by letter. But all the other pastors of the churches from all directions, made haste to assemble at Antioch, as against a despoiler of the flock of Chrst.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Church History, Book 7, Chapter 27, Written 312-324 AD.

“He [Paul of Samosata] is unwilling to acknowledge that the Son of Gd has come down from heaven. And this is not a mere assertion, but it is abundantly proved from the records which we have sent you; and not least where he says ‘Jsus Chrst is from below.’ But those singing to him and extolling him among the people say that their impious teacher has come down an angel from heaven. And he does not forbid such things; but the arrogant man is even present when they are uttered.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Church History, Book 7, Chapter 27, Written 312-324 AD.

“So when the Samosteans [followers of Paul of Samosata] say only that the man is one and Gd is another, let us not accept this. For if they also say that Gd dwells in the man, let us not accept this.”
——Apollinaris of Laodicea (Greco-Roman Christian), On the Incarnation of the Word of Gd, Written 370 AD.

“We must not therefore think, because He said He did not know the day and the moment, that the Son did not know. As man He wept, and slept, and sorrowed, but Gd is incapable of tears, or fear, or sleep. According to the weakness of His flesh He shed tears, slept, hungered, thirsted, was weary, and feared, yet without impairing the reality of His Only-begotten nature; equally so must we refer to His human nature, the words that He knew not the day or the hour.”
——Hilary of Poitiers (Roman Christian), On the Trinity, Book 9, Section 75, Written 360 AD.

“He triumphs in Himself, that is in that flesh which He stripped from Himself. Do you see that thus are proclaimed His humanity and His divinity, that death is attributed to the man, and the quickening of the flesh to the Gd, though He Who dies and He Who raises the dead to life are not two, but one Person? The flesh stripped off is the dead Chrst: He Who raises Chrst from the dead is the same Chrst Who stripped from Himself the flesh. See His divine nature in the power to raise again, and recognise in His death the dispensation of His manhood. And though either function is performed by its proper nature, yet remember that He Who died, and raised to life, was one, Chrst Jsus.”
——Hilary of Poitiers (Roman Christian), On the Trinity, Book 9, Section 11, Written 360 AD.

“It is this preaching of the double aspect of Chrst’s Person which the blessed Apostle emphasises. He points out in Chrst His human infirmity, and His divine power and nature. Thus to the Corinthians he writes, For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives through the power of Gd, attributing His death to human infirmity, but His life to divine power.”
——Hilary of Poitiers (Roman Christian), On the Trinity, Book 9, Section 13, Written 360 AD.

“We have now expounded the Dispensation of the Mysteries, through which the heretics deceive certain of the unlearned into ascribing to infirmity in the divinity, what Chst said and did through His assumed human nature, and attributing to the form of Gd what is appropriate only to the form of the servant.”
——Hilary of Poitiers (Roman Christian), On the Trinity, Book 9, Section 15, Written 360 AD.

“Marcion, the founder of the Marcionites, taking his cue from Cerdo, appeared in the world as a great serpent himself and became the head of a school by deceiving a throng of people in many ways, even to this day. The sect is still to be found even now, in Rome and Italy, Egypt and Palestine, Arabia and Syria, Cyprus and the Thebaid—in Persia too moreover, and in other places. For the evil one in him has lent a great deal of strength to the deceit.”
——Epiphanius (Greco-Roman Christian), Panarion, Book 1, Chapter 42, Written 375 AD.

“When we read, then, that the Lrd of glory was crucified, let us not suppose that He was crucified as in His glory. It is because He Who is Gd is also man, Gd by virtue of His Divinity, and by taking upon Him of the flesh, the man Chrst Jsus, that the Lrd of glory is said to have been crucified; for, possessing both natures, that is, the human and the divine, He endured the Passion in His humanity, in order that without distinction He Who suffered should be called both Lrd of glory and Son of man, even as it is written: ‘Who descended from heaven.'”
——Ambrose of Milan (Roman Christian), Exposition of the Christian Faith, Book 2, Chapter 7, Written 379 AD.

“Let us take heed to the distinction of the Godhead from the flesh. In each there speaks one and the same Son of Gd, for each nature is present in Him; yet while it is the same Person Who speaks, He speaks not always in the same manner. Behold in Him, now the glory of Gd, now the affections of man. As Gd He speaks the things of God, because He is the Word; as man He speaks the things of man, because He speaks in my nature.”
——Ambrose of Milan (Roman Christian), Exposition of the Christian Faith, Book 2, Chapter 9, Written 379 AD.

“It is not the Human Nature that raises up Lazarus, nor is it the power that cannot suffer that weeps for him when he lies in the grave: the tear proceeds from the Man, the life from the true Life. It is not the Human Nature that feeds the thousands, nor is it omnipotent might that hastens to the fig-tree. Who is it that is weary with the journey, and Who is it that by His word made all the world subsist? What is the brightness of the glory, and what is that that was pierced with the nails? What form is it that is buffeted in the Passion, and what form is it that is glorified from everlasting? So much as this is clear, that the blows belong to the servant in whom the Lrd was, the honours to the Lrd Whom the servant compassed about, so that by reason of contact and the union of Natures the proper attributes of each belong to both , as the Lrd receives the stripes of the servant, while the servant is glorified with the honour of the Lrd.”
——Gregory of Nyssa (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Eunomius, Book 5, Chapter 5, Written 383 AD.

“This is our doctrine, which does not, as Eunomius charges against it, preach a plurality of christs.”
——Gregory of Nyssa (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Eunomius, Book 5, Chapter 5, Written 383 AD.

“For we do not say that he is of one nature in his divinity and flesh, as in the absurdities of those who say he is of ‘blended substance,’ but that he has a twofold existence and is susceptible to suffering in the one and not subject to it in the other.”
——Gregory of Nyssa (Greco-Roman Christian), Letter 32, Written 383 AD.

“Christ then, existing in two natures and truly made known in them, has the person of his sonship as a single entity, yet bears in himself the unconfusible and indivisible distinction between the Word and the ensouled flesh, through which the principle of the properties is preserved integrally.”
——Gregory of Nyssa (Greco-Roman Christian), Letter 32, Written 383 AD.

“Here he [Jsus] shows us the weakness of human nature, which was absolutely unwilling to be separated from the present life, and trembled and hesitated because of the love of the present life, put in it from the beginning by Gd. For if, when He had said so many such things, some have dared assert that He had not assumed flesh, if He had spoken none of these things, what would they not have said? Therefore here, He predicts as Gd and desires the passion to approach; but He hesitates and beseeches as man. For that He comes willingly to the Passion, He affirms in saying: ‘I have power to lay down my life: and I have power to take it up again.'”
——John Chrysostom (Greco-Roman Christian), Contra Anomoeos, Chapter 7, Section 6, Written 385 AD.

“But if what is said refers to the divinity, a certain contradiction arises, and absurd consequences result. But if it be said of the flesh, it takes on a reasonable sense and no one will find anything to reprehend. For the flesh is not to be condemned for its unwillingness to die, for this is of nature.”
——John Chrysostom (Greco-Roman Christian), Contra Anomoeos, Chapter 7, Section 6, Written 385 AD.

“Consequently, in saying, ‘If it is possible let this chalice pass from me’ and ‘Not as I will, but as Thou wilt,’ He indicates nothing else than that He is truly clothed with flesh which fears death; for to fear death, and to hesitate and have a horror of it, is a property of this. Sometimes therefore, He leaves it destitute and deprived of His own operation in order that, having shown its weakness, He might bring faith to its nature; sometimes He hides this same weakness in order that you may learn that He is not a mere man.”
——John Chrysostom (Greco-Roman Christian), Contra Anomoeos, Chapter 7, Section 6, Written 385 AD.

“Therefore He varies and mingles both words and actions, that no pretext may be given to the disease and madness of Paul of Samosata, nor of Marcion nor of Manes: therefore He predicts what is to be, as Gd, and again He trembles (before death) as man.”
——John Chrysostom (Greco-Roman Christian), Contra Anomoeos, Chapter 7, Section 6, Written 385 AD.

“Therefore, just as He was hungry and tired, just as He slept and ate and drank, so also did He turn away from death, indicating what is human and the weakness of nature, which does not endure without pain, being torn away from the present life. For if He had spoken none of these things, it could be said: ‘If He were a man, He should have suffered what a man suffers.’ But what are these things? Since He was going to be crucified, He should have been seized with fear and with anguish, and should not be torn painlessly from the present life, for the love of present things is inserted in nature.”
——John Chrysostom (Greco-Roman Christian), In illud: Pater, si possibile est, transeat, Chapter 3, Written 385 AD.

“I have never left the assumed humanity unharmonized with the divine operation: now as man, now as Gd, both indicating the nature, and bringing faith to the economy, teaching that the humbler things are to be referred to the humanity, and the nobler to the divinity, and by this unequal mixture of actions, interpreting the unequal union of the natures, and by power over sufferings, declaring that my own sufferings are voluntary; as Gd, I curbed nature, supporting a fast for 40 days, but afterwards, as man, I was hungry and tired; as Gd, I calmed the raging sea, as man, I was tempted by the devil; as Gd, I expelled devils; as man, I am about to suffer for men.”
——John Chrysostom (Greco-Roman Christian), In quatriduanum Lazarum, Chapter 1, Written 385 AD.

“[Theodore said]: For as albeit He was of Bethlehem, He was called a Nazarene because of His abidance and growing up there: so [He is called] man too, because He sojourned in man.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Book 2, Written 430 AD.

“[Theodore said]: A body is not incorporeal, what is from below is not from above, what is before the ages is not out of the seed of David, what suffered is not impassible [unable to suffer], nor are those things directed to the same understanding: what belong to the Body are not Gd’s the Word, and what are Gd’s the Word have not the body as their seat. Let us confess the natures and not deny the economies.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Book 2, Written 430 AD.

“[Theodore said]: But they argue with us, If ye say two things perfect, we shall surely be also saying Two sons. But lo he is called son too by himself in the divine Scripture, without the Godhead, co-numbered with the rest of men, and we do not say Two sons. But One Son there rightly is in our confession, seeing that division of natures must needs remain and union of person be kept indissoluble.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Book 3, Written 430 AD.

“[Theodore said]: When therefore they ask, ‘Is Mary mother of man or Gd’s mother?’ let answer be made them, Both; one from the nature of the thing, the other by reference. For she is mother of man by nature, because he was man in the womb of Mary, who also proceeded thence: but mother of Gd because Gd was in the man who was born, not circumscribed within him by Nature, but in him in the affection of the will. Hence it is right to reply, Both, but not in like wise. For not as man took in the womb a beginning of his being, did Gd the Word too, for He was before every creature. Hence it is right that both be said, each according to their proper notion.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Book 3, Written 430 AD.

“What are you [Theodore] saying, o mighty man? was the holy Virgin mother of Gd because Gd was in what was born of her, indwelling in mere good-pleasure of the will? dost thou call that union? then when the Word being Gd makes His habitation in ourselves too, dost thou confess that in like wise ourselves too have union with Him?”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Book 3, Written 430 AD.

“For what does he [Paul] say ? ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Chrst Jsus who though he was in the form of Gd, did not count equality with Gd a thing to be grasped,’ and so on until, ‘he became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.’ For when he [Paul] was about to mention the death, to prevent anyone supposing that Gd the Word suffered, he says ‘Chrst,’ which is a title that expresses in one person both the impassible [not able to suffer] and the passible [able to suffer] natures, in order that Chrst might be called without impropriety both impassible and passible: impassible in godhead, passible in the nature of his body.”
——Nestorius (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Second Letter of Nestorius to Cyril, Written 430 AD.

“Ten thousand other expressions witness to the human race that they should not think that it was the godhead of the Son that was recently killed but the flesh which was joined to the nature of the godhead.”
——Nestorius (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Second Letter of Nestorius to Cyril, Written 430 AD.

“For it is necessary for such as are attracted by the name ‘propriety’ to make Gd the Word share, because of this same propriety, in being fed on milk, in gradual growth, in terror at the time of his passion and in need of angelical assistance. I make no mention of circumcision and sacrifice and sweat and hunger, which all belong to the flesh and are adorable as having taken place for our sake. But it would be false to apply such ideas to the deity and would involve us in just accusation because of our calumny.”
——Nestorius (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Second Letter of Nestorius to Cyril, Written 430 AD.

“For the selfsame who is truly Gd, is also truly man; and there is no illusion in this union, while the lowliness of man and the loftiness of Godhead meet together. For as Gd is not changed by the compassion [exhibited], so Man is not consumed by the dignity [bestowed]. For each form does the acts which belong to it, in communion with the other; the Word, that is, performing what belongs to the Word, and the flesh carrying out what belongs to the flesh; the one of these shines out in miracles, the other succumbs to injuries.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“The birth of the flesh is a manifestation of human nature; the Virgin’s child-bearing is an indication of Divine power. The infancy of the Babe is exhibited by the humiliation of swaddling clothes: the greatness of the Highest is declared by the voices of angels. He whom Herod impiously designs to slay is like humanity in its beginnings; but he whom the Magi rejoice to adore on their knees is Lrd of all. Now when he came to the baptism of John his forerunner, lest the fact that the Godhead was covered with a veil of flesh should be concealed, the voice of the Father spake in thunder from heaven, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ Accordingly, him whom, as man, the devil’s cunning tempts, is the same to whom, as Gd, angels pay duteous service. To hunger, to thirst, to be weary, and to sleep, is evidently human. But to satisfy 5,000 men with 5 loaves, and give to the Samaritan woman that living water, to draw which can secure him that drinks of it from ever thirsting again; to walk on the surface of the sea with feet that sink not, and by rebuking the storm to bring down the ‘uplifted waves,’ is unquestionably Divine. As then—to pass by many points —it does not belong to the same nature to weep with feelings of pity over a dead friend and, after the mass of stone had been removed from the grave where he had lain 4 days, by a voice of command to raise him up to life again; or to hang on the wood, and to make all the elements tremble after daylight had been turned into night; or to be transfixed with nails, and to open the gates of paradise to the faith of the robber; so it does not belong to the same nature to say, ‘I and the Father are one,’ and to say, ‘the Father is greater than I.'”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“From what belongs to us he has that manhood which is inferior to the Father; while from the Father he has equal Godhead with the Father.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“Accordingly, on account of this unity of Person which is to be understood as existing in both the natures, we read, on the one hand, that ‘the Son of Man came down from heaven,’ inasmuch as the Son of Gd took on [assumo] flesh from that Virgin of whom he was born; and on the other hand, the Son of Gd is said to have been crucified and buried, inasmuch as he underwent this, not in his actual Godhead; wherein the Only-begotten is coeternal and consubstantial with the Father, but in the weakness of human nature.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“If then he [Eutyches, the Pope’s opponent] accepts the Christian faith, and does not turn away his ear from the preaching of the Gospel, let him see what nature it was that was transfixed with nails and hung on the wood of the cross; and let him understand whence it was that, after the side of the Crucified had been pierced by the soldier’s spear, blood and water flowed out.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“But when Eutyches, on being questioned in your examination of him, answered, ‘I confess that our Lrd was of two natures before the union, but after the union I confess one nature’; I am astonished that so absurd and perverse a profession as this of his was not rebuked by a censure on the part of any of his judges, and that an utterance extremely foolish and extremely blasphemous was passed over, just as if nothing had been heard which could give offence: seeing that it is as impious to say that the Only-begotten Son of God was of two natures before the Incarnation as it is shocking to affirm that, since the Word became flesh, there has been in him one nature only.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Tome of Leo, Written 449 AD.

“There are those who are trying to ruin the proclamation of the truth, and through their private heresies they have spawned novel formulas: some by daring to corrupt the mystery of the Lrd’s economy on our behalf, and refusing to apply the word ‘Mother of Gd’ to the Virgin; and others by introducing a confusion and mixture, and mindlessly imagining that there is a single nature of the flesh and the divinity, and fantastically supposing that in the confusion the divine nature of the Only-begotten is able to suffer.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“It [the synod of bishops at Chalcedon] has accepted … the letter of the primate of greatest and older Rome, the most blessed and most saintly Archbishop Leo, written to the sainted Archbishop Flavian to put down Eutyches’ evil-mindedness, because it is in agreement with great Peter’s confession and represents a support we have in common.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“It [the synod] expels from the assembly of the priests those who dare to say that the divinity of the Only-begotten is able to suffer, and it stands opposed to those who imagine a mixture or confusion between the two natures of Chrst.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“It [the synod] anathematises those who concoct two natures of the Lrd before the union but imagine a single one after the union.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“So, following the saintly fathers, we all with one voice teach the confession of one and the same Son, our Lrd Jsus Chrst: the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly Gd and truly man, of a rational soul and a body; consubstantial with the Father as regards his divinity, and the same consubstantial with us as regards his humanity; like us in all respects except for sin; begotten before the ages from the Father as regards his divinity, and in the last days the same for us and for our salvation from Mary, the virgin Gd-bearer as regards his humanity; one and the same Christ, Son, Lrd, only-begotten, acknowledged in two natures which undergo no confusion, no change, no division, no separation; at no point was the difference between the natures taken away through the union, but rather the property of both natures is preserved and comes together into a single person and a single subsistent being; he is not parted or divided into two persons, but is one and the same only-begotten Son, Gd, Word, Lrd Jsus Chrst, just as the prophets taught from the beginning about him, and as the Lrd Jsus Chrst himself instructed us, and as the creed of the fathers handed it down to us.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“Since we have formulated these things with all possible accuracy and attention, the sacred and universal synod decreed that no one is permitted to produce, or even to write down or compose, any other creed or to think or teach otherwise. As for those who dare either to compose another creed or even to promulgate or teach or hand down another creed for those who wish to convert to a recognition of the truth from Hellenism or from Judaism, or from any kind of heresy at all: if they be bishops or clerics, the bishops are to be deposed from the episcopacy and the clerics from the clergy; if they be monks or layfolk, they are to be anathematised.”
——Council of Chalcedon, Written 451 AD.

“If anyone confesses a belief that a union has been made out of the two natures divinity and humanity, or speaks about the one nature of Gd the Word made flesh, but does not understand these things according to what the fathers have taught, namely that from the divine and human natures a union was made according to subsistence, and that one Chrst was formed, and from these expressions tries to introduce one nature or substance made of the deity and human flesh of Chrst: let him be anathema.”
——Second Council of Constantinople, Canon 8, Written 553 AD.

“If anyone, so as to remove the human flesh or to mix up the divinity and the humanity, monstrously invents one nature or substance brought together from the two, and so worships Chrst, but not by a single adoration Gd the Word in human flesh along with his human flesh, as has been the tradition of the church from the beginning: let him be anathema.”
——Second Council of Constantinople, Canon 9, Written 553 AD.

“This same holy and universal synod, here present, faithfully accepts and welcomes with open hands the report of Agatho, most holy and most blessed pope of elder Rome, that came to our most reverend and most faithful emperor Constantine [IV], which rejected by name those who proclaimed and taught, as has been already explained, one will and one principle of action in the incarnate dispensation of Chrst our true Gd; and likewise it approves as well the other synodal report to his Gd-taught serenity, from the synod of 125 bishops dear to Gd meeting under the same most holy pope, as according with the holy synod at Chalcedon and with the Tome of the all-holy and most blessed Leo, pope of the same elder Rome, which was sent to Flavian, who is among the saints, and which that synod called a pillar of right belief, and furthermore with the synodal letters written by the blessed Cyril against the impious Nestorius and to the bishops of the East.”
——Third Council of Constantinople, Written 680-681 AD.

“And we proclaim equally two natural volitions or wills in him and two natural principles of action which undergo no division, no change, no partition, no confusion, in accordance with the teaching of the holy fathers. And the two natural wills not in opposition, as the impious heretics said, far from it, but his human will following, and not resisting or struggling, rather in fact subject to his divine and all powerful will. For the will of the flesh had to be moved, and yet to be subjected to the divine will, according to the most wise Athanasius. For just as his flesh is said to be and is flesh of the Word of Gd, so too the natural will of his flesh is said to and does belong to the Word of Gd, just as he says himself: I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me, calling his own will that of his flesh, since his flesh too became his own. For in the same way that his all holy and blameless animate flesh was not destroyed in being made divine but remained in its own limit and category, so his human will as well was not destroyed by being made divine, but rather was preserved, according to the theologian Gregory, who says: ‘For his willing, when he is considered as savior, is not in opposition to Gd, being made divine in its entirety.’ And we hold there to be two natural principles of action in the same Jsus Chrst our Lrd and true Gd, which undergo no division, no change, no partition, no confusion, that is, a divine principle of action and a human principle of action, according to the godly-speaking Leo, who says most clearly: ‘For each form does in a communion with the other that activity which it possesses as its own, the Word working that which is the Word’s and the body accomplishing the things that are the body’s.’ For of course we will not grant the existence of only a single natural principle of action of both Gd and creature, lest we raise what is made to the level of divine being, or indeed reduce what is most specifically proper to the divine nature to a level befitting creatures for we acknowledge that the miracles and the sufferings are of one and the same according to one or the other of the two natures out of which he is and in which he has his being, as the admirable Cyril said. Therefore, protecting on all sides the ‘no confusion’ and ‘no division,’ we announce the whole in these brief words: Believing our Lrd Jsus Chrst, even after his incarnation, to be one of the holy Trinity and our true Gd, we say that he has two natures shining forth in his one subsistence in which he demonstrated the miracles and the sufferings throughout his entire providential dwelling here, not in appearance but in truth, the difference of the natures being made known in the same one subsistence in that each nature wills and performs the things that are proper to it in a communion with the other; then in accord with this reasoning we hold that two natural wills and principles of action meet in correspondence for the salvation of the human race. So now that these points have been formulated by us with all precision in every respect and with all care, we definitely state that it is not allowable for anyone to produce another faith, that is, to write or to compose or to consider or to teach others; those who dare to compose another faith, or to support or to teach or to hand on another creed to those who wish to turn to knowledge of the truth, whether from Hellenism or Judaism or indeed from any heresy whatsoever, or to introduce novelty of speech, that is, invention of terms, so as to overturn what has now been defined by us, such persons, if they are bishops or clerics, are deprived of their episcopacy or clerical rank, and if they are monks or layfolk they are excommunicated.”
——Third Council of Constantinople, Written 680-681 AD.

“Also they teach that the Word, that is, the Son of Gd, did take on [assumo] human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably enjoined in one Person, one Chrst, true Gd and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men”
——Augsburg Confession (Lutheran Church), Article 3, Written 1530 AD.

“Secondly, as to the execution of the office of Chrst, the person does not act and work in, with, through, or according to only one nature, but in, according to, with, and through both natures, or, as the Council of Chalcedon expresses it, one nature operates in communion with the other what is a property of each.”
——Formula of Concord (Lutheran Church Statement of Faith), Article 8, Written 1577 AD.

“The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal Gd, and of one substance with the Father, took on [assumo] human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Chrst, very Gd and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.”
——Thirty-Nine Articles (Church of England), Article 2, Written 1571 AD.

“The Son of Gd, the second person of the Trinity, being very and eternal Gd, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man’s nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very Gd, and very man, yet one Chrst, the only Mediator between Gd and man. The Lrd Jsus, in His human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure, having in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
——Westminster Confession of Faith (Reformed/Presbyterian Church), Chapter 8, Written 1646 AD.

“Chrst, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.”
——Westminster Confession of Faith (Reformed/Presbyterian Church), Chapter 8, Written 1646 AD.

“The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal Gd, of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures—that is to say, the Godhead and manhood—were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very Gd and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for the actual sins of men.”
——Twenty-Five Articles (Methodist Church), Article 2, Written 1784.

“Chrst is the eternal Son of Gd. In His incarnation as Jsus Chrst He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jsus perfectly revealed and did the will of Gd, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of Gd where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of Gd and of man, and in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between Gd and man.”
——Baptist Faith and Message (Baptist Church), Article 2, Written 1963.

“There is no division of the Word and his flesh brought forth at all in the divine Scriptures, but there is one nature, one hypostasis, one activity, one person, the same one wholly Gd and wholly man.”
——Apollinaris of Laodicea (Greco-Roman Christian), De fide et incarnatione contra adversarios, Written c. 375 AD.

“But he [a person] falls away because of the body, and because of the suffering he changes our Savior and thinks of him as a man instead of as Gd. For whoever calls the one who was born of Mary a man and calls the one who was crucified a man makes him to be a man instead of Gd. And in a man you cannot find the life which is given by Gd.”
——Apollinaris of Laodicea (Greco-Roman Christian), De fide et incarnatione contra adversarios, Written c. 375 AD.

“Those who claim that a union of the flesh and the addition of a man are the same thing are wrong.”
——Apollinaris of Laodicea (Greco-Roman Christian), Demonstratio de divina incarnatione ad similitudinem hominis, Written c. 375 AD.

“If the heavenly man is from all the things equal to us men of dust such that he also has the spirit equal to men of dust, he is not heavenly, but a holder of a heavenly Gd.”
——Apollinaris of Laodicea (Greco-Roman Christian), Demonstratio de divina incarnatione ad similitudinem hominis, Written c. 375 AD.

“But when we are conceiving of the Only-Begotten Word, as united to His flesh, we do not take it as being like a garment nor do we say that He cast it upon Him like cloaks which are external, as though it were alien: but it is rather a demonstration of the declaration that He was made flesh, i. e. man. The Word therefore had a natural presence in the body which was united to Him and is His, just as also the soul of man is his, albeit the nature is alien.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Book 1, Written 430 AD.

“For we who hold the Right and Immaculate Faith, and ever cleave to the Divine Scriptures, and follow the tracks of the Faith of the Fathers, when we hear ‘Jsus,’ we understand the Only-Begotten Word made Man.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Book 1, Written 430 AD.

“For scripture does not say that the Word united the person of a man to himself, but that he became flesh. The Word’s becoming flesh means nothing else than that he partook of flesh and blood like us; he made our body his own, and came forth a man from woman without casting aside his deity, or his generation from Gd the Father, but rather in his assumption of flesh remaining what he was.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Second Letter of Cyril to Nestorius, Written 430 AD.

“We confess the Word to have been made one with the flesh hypostatically, and we adore one Son and Lrd, Jsus Chrst. We do not divide him into parts and separate man and Gd in him, as though the two natures were mutually united only through a unity of dignity and authority; that would be an empty expression and nothing more. Nor do we give the name Chrst in one sense to the Word of Gd and in another to him who was born of woman, but we know only one Chrst, the Word from Gd the Father with his own flesh.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Third Letter of Cyril to Nestorius, Written 430 AD.

“This we receive not as ordinary flesh, heaven forbid, nor as that of a man who has been made holy and joined to the Word by union of honour, or who had a divine indwelling, but as truly the life-giving and real flesh of the Word. For being life by nature as Gd, when he became one with his own flesh, he made it also to be life-giving, as also he said to us: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood.’ For we must not think that it is the flesh of a man like us (for how can the flesh of man be life-giving by its own nature?), but as being made the true flesh of the one who for our sake became the Son of Man and was called so. For we do not divide up the words of our Saviour in the gospels among two hypostases or persons. For the one and only Chrst is not dual, even though he be considered to be from two distinct realities, brought together into an unbreakable union.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Third Letter of Cyril to Nestorius, Written 430 AD.

“For if it is necessary to believe that being Gd by nature he became flesh, that is man ensouled with a rational soul, whatever reason should anyone have for being ashamed at the expressions uttered by him should they happen to be suitable to him as man? For if he should reject words suitable to him as man, who was it that forced him to become a man like us? Why should he who submitted himself to voluntary self-emptying for our sake, reject expressions that are suitable for such self-emptying? All the expressions, therefore, that occur in the gospels are to be referred to one person, the one enfleshed hypostasis of the Word.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Third Letter of Cyril to Nestorius, Written 430 AD.

“If anyone distributes between the two persons or hypostases the expressions used either in the gospels or in the apostolic writings, whether they are used by the holy writers of Chrst or by him about himself, and ascribes some to him as to a man, thought of separately from the Word from Gd, and others, as befitting Gd, to him as to the Word from Gd the Father, let him be anathema.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Twelve Anathemas, Written 430 AD.

“If anyone dares to say that Chrst was a Gd-bearing man and not rather Gd in truth, being by nature one Son, even as ‘the Word became flesh,’ and is made partaker of blood and flesh precisely like us, let him be anathema.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Twelve Anathemas, Written 430 AD.

“If anyone does not confess that the flesh of the Lrd is life-giving and belongs to the Word from Gd the Father, but maintains that it belongs to another besides him, united with him in dignity or as enjoying a mere divine indwelling, and is not rather life-giving, as we said, since it became the flesh belonging to the Word who has power to bring all things to life, let him be anathema.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Twelve Anathemas, Written 430 AD.

“If anyone does not confess that the Word of Gd suffered in the flesh and was crucified in the flesh and tasted death in the flesh and became the first born of the dead, although as Gd he is life and life-giving, let him be anathema.”
——Cyril of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Council of Ephesus, Twelve Anathemas, Written 430 AD.

“Therefore we do not condemn those who confess the properties of the natures of which the one Chrst consists, but those who separate the properties, and apportion them to each nature apart. When the one Chrst has once been divided (and he is divided by the fact that they speak of two natures after the union), with the natures which have been cut asunder into a duality and separated into a distinct diversity go the operations and properties which are the offspring of this division, as the words of Leo’s impious letter state in what he said: ‘For each of the forms effects in partnership with the other that which belongs to itself, the Word doing that which belongs to the Word, and the body performing the things which belong to the body.'”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 1, Written 510 AD.

“But we must condemn those who confine the one Chrst in two natures and say that each of the natures performs its own acts. Between the things performed and done by the one Chrst the difference is great. Some of them are acts befitting the divinity, while others are human. For example, to walk and travel in bodily form upon the earth is without contention human; but to bestow on those who are maimed in the feet and cannot walk upon the ground at all the power of walking like sound persons is Gd-befitting. Yet the one Word incarnate performed the latter and the former, and the one nature did not perform the one, and the other the other; nor, because the things performed are different, shall we on this account rightly define two natures or forms as operating. Again the Tome of Leo says: ‘For each of the natures preserves its own property without diminution,’ distributing the properties to the two natures severally, as one who divides the one and only Chrst into two natures.”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 1, Written 510 AD.

“We must condemn those who divide the one Chrst: and they divide him by speaking of two natures after the union, and consequently apportioning the operations and properties between the natures.”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 1, Written 510 AD.

“But, if we speak of two natures after the union, which necessarily exist in singleness and separately, as if divided into a duality, but united by a conjunction of brotherhood (if we ought to call such a thing unity), the notion of difference reaches to the extent of division, and does not stop at natural characteristics.”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 10, Written 517 AD.

“For we must confess the one our Lrd Jsus Chrst, out of two natures the Godhead and the manhood, to be one and the same invariably and unconfusedly Gd and man, since not being again divided after the union; for duality is a dissolver of unity, although it is obscured by countless devices. For he who has been united is fixedly one, and does not become again two. For Chrst is not divided, but is one person, one hypostasis, one incarnate nature of Gd the Word.”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 18, Written 515 AD.

“We confess that flesh possessing an intelligent soul was taken by Gd the Word, and he united this to him hypostatically, but not so that anything should be added to his divine essence, as if it were deficient (for he is truly complete in everything), but that from the unmixed union of the Incarnation, and the composition out of two elements, the Godhead and the manhood, Emmanuel should be made up, who in one hypostasis is ineffably composite; not simple, but composite: as the soul of a man like us, which by nature is bodiless and rational, which is naturally intertwined with the body, remains in its suprasensual and bodiless nature, but by reason of the composition with the body makes up one composite animal, man.”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 25, Written 515 AD.

“But you say that the synod at Chalcedon also placed the faith of the 318 before its definition. But in that case the innovation is obvious. First it says in plain words, and that twice and three times, that it is itself making a definition; secondly, because it said that our one Lrd Jsus Chrst is made known in two natures; thirdly, to omit the other points, because it called Leo’s letter, which is full of the blasphemies of Nestorius, ‘a pillar of orthodoxy.'”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 36, Written 510 AD.

“But this you may keep firmly and fixedly in your mind, that no one shall be our fellow-communicant, nor will we consent to greet by letter any man who at the same time receives the wicked synod at Chalcedon contrary to the law, and does not condemn the Tome of Leo. But, if any concession is necessary, I will stand within the ordinances of the holy Timothy, considering the general benefit of a union of the holy churches, and demanding an open condemnation of the things done at Chalcedon against the orthodox faith, and of the wicked Tome of Leo, and of those who speak of two natures after the union, and the operations of these and their properties.”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 47, Written 516 AD.

“But perhaps it is good to say, both to our people and to all strangers, that, if the time of concession call, to catch one who is separated and to gain him, I prescribe a formula that does not exceed what is right, but goes in the middle of the king’s highway, a formula which condemns by name the things done at Chalcedon against the orthodox faith, and against those who contended on behalf of this, and the wicked Tome of Leo, who became chief of the church of the Romans, and those who call our one Lrd and Gd Jsus Chrst two natures after the divine and ineffable union, there being also expressly joined with these things the right confession contained in the edict of Zeno of pious ending, for the rejection of the wicked synod at Chalcedon. If the things blasphemously and unlawfully done at that synod, and the polluted Tome of Leo, and those who after the union divide the one Chrst into a duality of natures, are not condemned, though the edict or Henotikon is taken as a rejection of these things, I do not consider this sufficient for persuasion, as was also declared in the proceedings held among you.”
——Severus of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox Christian), Letter 49, Written 516 AD.

“Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of the Divine [Julius Caesar], Pontifex Maximus, emperor for the 12th time, consul for the 11th, with the power of the Tribune for the 14th, upon the subjection of Egypt to the power of the Roman people, he gave [this obelisk] as an offering to the Sun god.”
—–Roman Emperor Augustus (pagan), Latin Inscription on North Face of Base of Flaminio Obelisk, Written 10 BC.

“The third obelisk at Rome is in the Vaticanian Circus, which was constructed by the Emperors Caius [Caligula, c. 40 AD] and Nero; this being the only one of them all that has been broken in the carriage. Nuncoreus, the son of Sesoses, made it; and there remains another by him, 100 cubits in height, which, by order of an oracle, he consecrated to the Sun, after having lost his sight and recovered it.”
——Pliny the Elder (pagan Roman), Natural History, Book 36, Chapter 15, Written 77 AD.

“Publius Aelius Amandus dedicated this to the god Sol Invictus in accordance with the vow he had made, upon his honorable discharge from the equestrian guard of the emperor, during the consulship of Tertullus and Sacerdos.”
——Publius Aelius Amandus (pagan Roman), Marble Altar Inscription Bearing Image of Sol Invictus, Written in Rome in 158 AD.

“275 AD: [Roman Emperor] Aurelian builds a Temple to the Sun and surrounds Rome with stronger walls. The first Games of the Sun established by Aurelian. After Aurelian had initiated a persecution against us, a thunderbolt falls next to him and his companions; and not long after, he is slain at Caenophrurium on the old road between Constantinople and Heraclea.”
——Jerome (Roman Christian), Chronicon, Entry for 275 AD, Written c. 380 AD.

“Wherefore he [Aurelian] not only established temples there, dedicating gifts of great value, but he also built a temple to the Sun at Rome, which he consecrated with still greater pomp, as we shall relate in the proper place.”
——Historia Augusta, Book 2, Chapter 25, Written c. 400 AD.

“He [Aurelian] enacted very many laws, and salutary ones indeed.​ He set the priesthoods in order, he constructed the Temple of the Sun,​ and he founded its college of pontiffs;​ and he also allotted funds for making repairs and paying attendants.”
——Historia Augusta, Book 2, Chapter 35, Written c. 400 AD.

“At this period also he [Aurelian] erected that sumptuous Temple of the Sun, which he ornamented with all the sacred spoils that he brought from Palmyra; placing in it the statues of the Sun and Belus.”
——Zosimus (pagan Greco-Roman), New History, Book 1, Chapter 61, Written c. 500 AD.

“Now as to the Temple of the Sun​ at Palmyra, which has been pillaged by the eagle-bearers of the Third Legion, along with the standard-bearers, the dragon-bearer,​ and the buglers and trumpeters, I [Aurelian] wish it restored to the condition in which it formerly was. You have 300 pounds of gold from Zenobia’s coffers, you have 1,800 pounds of silver from the property of the Palmyrenes, and you have the royal jewels. Use all these to embellish the temple; thus both to me and to the immortal gods you will do a most pleasing service. I will write to the senate and request it to send one of the pontiffs to dedicate the temple.”
——Historia Augusta, Letter From Aurelian Augustus to Cerronius Bassus, Book 2, Chapter 31, Written c. 400 AD.

“Emperor Aurelian, in his 5th year, 4th month, 20th day, distributed 10 days’ worth of gifts. He surrounded the city with a wall, dedicated the Temple of the Sun and the camp in the Campus Agrippae, and placed a golden statue of the genius of the Roman people in the Rostra. The porticoes of the Baths of Antoninus burned down and were rebuilt. He ordered bread, oil, and salt to be given to the people free of charge. He established the Games of the Sun. Caenophurius was killed.”
——Furius Dionysius Filocalus, Chronograph of 354, Part 16, Written 354 AD.

In 270-275 AD, the Roman Empire minted coins with an image of the bust of the Sun god on the front with the inscription “Sol [Roman Sun god], lord of the Roman Empire” and on the back an image of Emperor Aurelian sacrificing at a pagan altar with an inscription “Aurelian Augustus Consul.”
——Roman Empire Coins, RIC V Aurelian 319 and RIC V Aurelian 322, Minted 270-275 AD.

“In correspondence with the manner of the sun’s rising, prayers are made looking towards the sunrise in the east. Whence also the most ancient temples looked towards the west, that people might be taught to turn to the east when facing the images. Let my prayer be directed before You as incense, the uplifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice, say the Psalms.”
——Clement of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Stromata, Book 7, Chapter 7, Written c. 200 AD.

“What the Lrd says, ‘I am the light of the world,’ I think is clear to those who have eyes, from which they become partakers of this light: but those who have eyes only in the flesh do not understand what the Lrd Jsus Chrst said, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And perhaps it is not said that the Lrd is this sun, which completes the day with its rising and setting? For there have been heretics who thought this. They believed that the visible and public sun, exposed to the eyes of the flesh, was Chrst the Lrd. But the right faith of the Catholic Church rejects such a notion and recognizes it as a diabolical doctrine: not only recognizing it by belief but also by disputing where possible. Therefore, we condemn such an error, which the holy Church has anathematized from the beginning. We do not make the Lrd Jsus Chrst this sun that we see rising from the east and setting in the west, whose course is marked by its rays being obscured by clouds; this is not the Lrd Chrst. The Lrd Chrst is not made the sun, but through whom the sun was made.”
——Augustine (Roman Christian), In the Gospel of John, Tractate 34, Chapter 2, Patrologia Latina 35, Page 1652, Written c. 408-420 AD.

“From such a system of teaching proceeds also the ungodly practice of certain foolish folk who worship the sun as it rises at the beginning of daylight from elevated positions: even some Christians think it is so proper to do this that, before entering the blessed Apostle Peter’s basilica, which is dedicated to the One Living and true Gd, when they have mounted the steps which lead to the raised platform, they turn round and bow themselves towards the rising sun and with bent neck do homage to its brilliant orb. We are full of grief and vexation that this should happen, which is partly due to the fault of ignorance and partly to the spirit of heathenism: because although some of them do perhaps worship the Creator of that fair light rather than the Light itself, which is His creature, yet we must abstain even from the appearance of this observance: for if one who has abandoned the worship of gods, finds it in our own worship, will he not hark back again to this fragment of his old superstition, as if it were allowable, when he sees it to be common both to Christians and to infidels?”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Sermon 27, Chapter 4, Written c. 450 AD.

“Woe to those who worship the sun, the roof, and the stars! For I have seen many who worship and pray to the sun. When the sun rises, they pray and say, ‘Have mercy on us, rejoice, O sun-knower!’ And heretics do this, but also Christians, abandoning the faith and reading with heretics. Why do you abandon the Creator of the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the stars, to worship what is created? One must not worship the creation rather than the Creator.”
——Eusebius of Alexandria (Orthodox Christian), Sermons, Patrologia Graeca 86, Page 453, Written c. 550 AD.

“Dedicating the days [of the week] to the seven stars called planets was instituted by the Egyptians, but is now found among all mankind, though its adoption has been comparatively recent; at any rate the ancient Greeks never were acquainted with it, so far as I am aware. But since it is also now no doubt the custom both with all other men and also with the Romans themselves, and is to them already in a way an ancestral tradition, I wish to write briefly of it, telling how and in what way it has been so arranged.”
——Cassius Dio (pagan Greco-Roman), Historia Romana, Book 37, Chapter 18, Written c. 220 AD.

“The days [of the week] are called after the gods, whose names the Romans consecrated to certain stars. Indeed, they named the first day after the sun, which is the chief of all the stars, just as the same day is the head of all the days.”
——Isidore of Seville (Roman Christian), Etymologiae, Book 5, Chapter 30, Written c. 620 AD.

“The order of the stars with respect to the days [of the week] is thus: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn.”
——Vettius Valens (pagan Greco-Roman), Anthologia, Book 1, Chapter 10, Written c. 155 AD.

“When Nero Caesar Augustus and Cossus Lentulus son of Cossus were consuls, 8 days before the ides of February, the Day of the Sun, 16th day of the moon, the nundinae at Cumae, 5 days before the ides of February the nundinae at Pompeii.”
——Graffito Within Private House Casa delle Nozze d’Argento at Pompeii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Volume 4, Part 2, Page 515, Entry 4182, Written 60 AD.

“The 9th day before the Kalends of June [May 24], the Emperor … It was the Day of the Sun.”
——Wall Inscription at Pompeii and Herculaneum, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Volume 4, Part 2, Page 717, Entry 6838, Written Before 79 AD.

Ex. 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the 7th day is a sabbath unto the Lrd thy Gd: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in 6 days the Lrd made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the 7th day: wherefore the Lrd blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

“If, then, those who had lived according to ancient practices came to the newness of hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath but living in accordance with the Lrd’s day [Day of the Sun], on which our life also arose through him and his death.”
——Ignatius of Antioch (Greco-Roman Christian), Epistle to the Magnesians, Chapter 9, Written c. 120 AD.

“[Justin Martyr writing to Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius] But the Day of the Sun is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which Gd, changing the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jsus Chrst our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn; and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the Day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.”
——Justin Martyr (Roman Christian), First Apology, Chapter 67, Written c. 156 AD.

“But if all nations are blessed in Chrst, and we of all nations believe in Him, then He is indeed the Chrst, and we are those blessed by Him. Gd formerly gave the sun as an object of worship, as it is written, but no one ever was seen to endure death on account of his faith in the sun; but for the name of Jsus you may see men of every nation who have endured and do endure all sufferings, rather than deny Him. For the word of His truth and wisdom is more ardent and more light-giving than the rays of the sun, and sinks down into the depths of heart and mind. Hence also the Scripture said, ‘His name shall rise up above the sun.'”
——Justin Martyr (Roman Christian), Dialogue with Trypho, Section 121, Written 155 AD.

“Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the Sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make the Day of the Sun a day of festivity. What then? Do you do less than this? Do not many among you, with an affectation of sometimes worshipping the heavenly bodies likewise, move your lips in the direction of the sunrise? It is you, at all events, who have even admitted the sun into the calendar of the week; and you have selected its day, in preference to the preceding day as the most suitable in the week for either an entire abstinence from the bath, or for its postponement until the evening, or for taking rest and for banqueting. By resorting to these customs, you deliberately deviate from your own religious rites to those of strangers. For the Jewish feasts on the Sabbath and the Purification, and Jewish also are the ceremonies of the lamps, and the fasts of unleavened bread, and the littoral prayers, all which institutions and practices are of course foreign from your gods. Wherefore, that I may return from this digression, you who reproach us with the Sun and the Day of the Sun should consider your proximity to us. We are not far off from your Saturn and your days of rest.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), Ad Nationes, Book 1, Chapter 13, Written 197 AD.

“Others, in turn, surely with more knowledge and greater plausibility, think that the Sun is our god. We may be considered Persians perhaps, though we do not revere the orb of day depicted on a piece of fabric, having himself present everywhere in his own sphere. The notion undoubtedly stems from our practice of facing East in prayer. But you, many of you, also under the guise sometimes of honoring the celestial bodies, move your mouths toward the sunrise. Similarly, if we dedicate the Day of the Sun to celebration, for a vastly different reason than Sun-worship, we bear some resemblance to those among you who set aside the day of Saturn for relaxation and indulgence, though they too stray far from Jewish traditions, of which they are unaware.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), Apology, Chapter 16, Written 197 AD.

From 309-318, the Roman Empire minted coins with the bust of Constantine the Great on the front and a nude image of the Sun god on the back, with the inscription “To the unconquered Sun, my companion.”
——Roman Empire Coins; RIC VI Lugdunum 307, RIC VI Londinium 121a, RIC VI Treveri 899, RIC VI Rome 335a, RIC VII Ticinum 7, RIC VII Lugdunum 20, RIC VII Arelate 58, RIC VII Treveri 102, RIC VII Treveri 134, RIC VII Arelate 164; Minted 309-318 AD.

In 320-321 AD, the Roman Empire minted a coin with the bust of Constantine the Great on the front and on the back a nude image of the Sun god presenting a personification of Victory standing on a globe to Constantine who is in military attire, with the inscription “To the Sun god, my companion, our Augustus.”
——Roman Empire Coin, RIC VII Ticinum 108, Minted 320-321 AD.

“On the venerable Day of the Sun [venerabili die solis] let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.”
——Constantine the Great to Elpidius, Code of Justinian, Book 3, Chapter 12, Written March 321 AD.

“Just as it appears to Us most unseemly that the Day of the Sun, which is celebrated on account of its own veneration, should be occupied with legal altercations and with noxious controversies of the litigation of contending parties, so it is pleasant and fitting that those acts which are especially desired shall be accomplished on that day. Therefore, all men shall have the right to emancipate and to release from slavery on this festive day, and the legal formalities thereof are not forbidden.”
——Constantine the Great to Elpidius, Theodosian Code, Book 2, Chapter 8, Written July 321 AD.

“He [Constantine] ordained, too, that one day should be regarded as a special occasion for prayer: I mean that which is truly the first and chief of all, the day of our Lrd and Saviour [Day of the Sun]. The entire care of his household was entrusted to deacons and other ministers consecrated to the service of Gd, and distinguished by gravity of life and every other virtue: while his trusty body guard, strong in affection and fidelity to his person, found in their emperor an instructor in the practice of piety, and like him held the Lrd’s salutary day [Day of the Sun] in honor and performed on that day the devotions which he loved. The same observance was recommended by this blessed prince to all classes of his subjects: his earnest desire being gradually to lead all mankind to the worship of Gd. Accordingly he enjoined on all the subjects of the Roman empire to observe the Lrd’s day [Day of the Sun], as a day of rest, and also to honor the day which precedes the Sabbath; in memory, I suppose, of what the Saviour of mankind is recorded to have achieved on that day. And since his desire was to teach his whole army zealously to honor the Saviour’s day (which derives its name from light, and from the sun), he freely granted to those among them who were partakers of the divine faith, leisure for attendance on the services of the Church of Gd, in order that they might be able, without impediment, to perform their religious worship. With regard to those who were as yet ignorant of divine truth, he provided by a second statute that they should appear on each Lrd’s day on an open plain near the city, and there, at a given signal, offer to Gd with one accord a prayer which they had previously learned. He admonished them that their confidence should not rest in their spears, or armor, or bodily strength, but that they should acknowledge the supreme Gd as the giver of every good, and of victory itself; to whom they were bound to offer their prayers with due regularity, uplifting their hands toward heaven, and raising their mental vision higher still to the king of heaven, on whom they should call as the Author of victory, their Preserver, Guardian, and Helper. The emperor himself prescribed the prayer to be used by all his troops, commanding them, to pronounce the following words in the Latin tongue: ‘We acknowledge you the only Gd: we own you, as our King and implore your succor. By your favor have we gotten the victory: through you are we mightier than our enemies. We render thanks for your past benefits, and trust you for future blessings. Together we pray to you, and beseech you long to preserve to us, safe and triumphant, our emperor Constantine and his pious sons.’ Such was the duty to be performed on the Day of Light [Day of the Sun] by his troops, and such the prayer they were instructed to offer up to Gd.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Life of Constantine, Book 4, Chapters 18-20, Written 337 AD.

“He [Constantine] also enjoined the observance of the day termed the Lrd’s day, which the Jews call the first day of the week, and which the pagans dedicate to the Sun, as likewise the day before the seventh, and commanded that no judicial or other business should be transacted on those days, but that Gd should be served with prayers and supplications. He honored the Lrd’s day, because on it Chrst arose from the dead, and the day above mentioned, because on it he was crucified.”
——Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, Book 1, Chapter 8, Written c. 440 AD.

“And at dawn, at the same sunrises of our own light, we proclaim the mercy of Gd upon us, and during the nights, we demonstrate His truth through a sober and pure way of life. Moreover, all the other observances that were necessary to perform on the Sabbath, we ourselves have transferred to the Lrd’s Day [the Day of the Sun], considering it more authoritative, superior, and honorable than the Jewish Sabbath. For Gd spoke in the creation of the world, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And in accordance with this, the Sun of righteousness has dawned upon our souls. Therefore, it has been handed down to us also to gather together on this day.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Commentary on the Psalms, 23.1172, Written c. 320 AD.

“Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Ld’s Day [the Day of the Sun]; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema from Chrst.”
——Council of Laodicea, Canon 29, Written 363 AD.

“For he [Jsus] did in fact come to abolish the Sabbath, but he could not have abolished it if it had been other than his own. No one destroys someone else’s work unless he is a renter and a nuisance, the kind of person who asks for punishment. But since the Sabbath belonged to him he said, ‘The Son of Man is Lrd of the Sabbath’; and he said, ‘Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.’ Now if Gd made the Sabbath for man, and valued man more highly than the Sabbath, then [there is one Gd, who made the law of the Sabbath] so that everyone would be aware of the rest [Gd has given us now], and the repose of the things to come; for the things here are types of the heavenly things. Here things are partial, but there is all perfection. So the Sabbath of the Law was in force until Chrst’s arrival. But he abolished that Sabbath and gave us the supreme Sabbath, the Lrd himself, our Rest and Sabbath Repose.”
——Epiphanius (Greco-Roman Christian), Panarion, Book 2, Chapter 66, Section 85, Written 375 AD.

“If any of you, whether you are here present or not, shall go to the spectacle of the [feast of] Trumpets, or rush off to the synagogue, or go up to the shrine of Matrona, or take part in fasting, or share in the Sabbath, or observe any other Jewish ritual great or small, I call heaven and earth as my witnesses that I am guiltless of the blood of all of you. These words will stand by your side and mine on the day of our Lrd Jsus Chrst. If you heed them, they will bring you great confidence; if you heed them not or conceal anyone who dares to do those things, my words shall stand against you as bitter accusations.”
——John Chrysostom (Greco-Roman Christian), Against the Jews, Homily 1, Section 8, Written 387 AD.

“It is Our will that no Christian shall be sued by tax collectors on the Day of the Sun, which has recently been considered fortunate/lucky [faustus], and by this interdict of Our statute We sanction peril against any person who should dare to commit this offense.”
——Roman Emperors Valentinian and Valens to Florianus, Governor of Venetia; Theodosian Code; Book 8, Chapter 8; Written 368, 370, and 373 AD.

“On the Day of the Sun, which our ancestors rightly called the Lrd’s Day, the prosecution of all litigation, court business, and suits, shall be entirely suspended. No person shall demand the payment of a public or a private debt, nor shall there be any cognizance of controversies before arbitrators, whether they have been requested in court or chosen voluntarily. That person shall be adjudged not only infamous but also sacrilegious who turns aside from the inspiration and ritual of holy religion.”
——Roman Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius to Principius, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 2, Chapter 8; Written 386 AD.

“Contests in the circuses [horse race-track] shall be prohibited on the festal Days of the Sun [festis solis diebus], except on the birthdays of Our Clemency, in order that no concourse of people to the spectacles may divert men from the reverend mysteries of the Christian law.”
——Roman Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius to Proculus, Prefect of the City; Theodosian Code; Book 2, Chapter 8; Written 392 AD.

“On the Lrd’s Day, which is commonly called the Day of the Sun, We permit absolutely no amusements to be produced, even if by chance as the ends of the years return upon themselves this day should be the anniversary of the day when the beginning of Our reign shone forth, or if it should be the day to which are assigned the solemn rites that are due to the birthday.”
——Roman Emperors Honorius and Theodosius to Jovius, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 2, Chapter 8; Written 409 AD.

“On the following occasions all amusements of the theaters and the circuses shall be denied throughout all cities to the people thereof, and the minds of Christians and of the faithful shall be wholly occupied in the worship of Gd: namely, on the Lrd’s day [Day of the Sun], which is the first day of the whole week, on the Natal Day [natali; 25 December] and Epiphany of Chrst, and on the day of Passover and of Pentecost, as long as the vestments that imitate the light of the celestial font attest to the new light of holy baptism; at the time also when the commemoration of the Apostolic Passion, the teacher of all Christianity, is duly celebrated by everyone. If any persons even now are enslaved by the madness of the Jewish impiety or the error and insanity of stupid paganism, they must know that there is a time for prayer and a time for pleasure. No man shall suppose that in the case of spectacles in honor of Our Divine Majesty he is, as it were, under some major compulsion by reason of the necessity in his duty to the Emperor, and that he will incur for himself the displeasure of Our Serenity unless he should neglect the divine religion and should give attention to such spectacles and if he should show less devotion to Us than customary. Let no one doubt that then especially is devotion paid to Our Clemency by humankind, when the reverence of the whole earth is paid to the virtues and merits of the omnipotent Gd.”
——Roman Emperors Honorius and Theodosius and Valentinian Caesar to Asclepiodotus, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 15, Chapter 5; Written 425 AD.

Ex. 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Passover unto the Lrd.

Ex. 12:18-19 In the 1st month, on the 14th day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and 20th day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land.

Ex. 12:26-27 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Passover unto the Lrd, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

Lev. 23:5 In the 1st month on the 14th day of the month at evening is the Passover unto the Lrd.

“A question of no small importance arose at that time [c. 189 AD]. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the 14th day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Savior’s Passover. It was therefore necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Savior [first day of the week]. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on this account, and all, with one consent, through mutual correspondence drew up an ecclesiastical decree, that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lrd should be celebrated on no other but the Lrd’s day [the Day of the Sun], and that we should observe the close of the paschal fast on this day only. There is still extant a writing of those who were then assembled in Palestine, over whom Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea, and Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, presided. And there is also another writing extant of those who were assembled at Rome to consider the same question, which bears the name of Bishop Victor; also of the bishops in Pontus [area in modern-day northeastern Turkey] over whom Palmas, as the oldest, presided; and of the parishes in Gaul [area of modern-day France] of which Irenaeus was bishop, and of those in Osrhoëne and the cities there; and a personal letter of Bacchylus, bishop of the church at Corinth, and of a great many others, who uttered the same opinion and judgment, and cast the same vote. And that which has been given above was their unanimous decision.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Quotations of Irenaeus, Church History, Book 5, Chapter 23, Written 312-324 AD.

“In the first place, concerning the celebration of Passover of the Lrd’s Day: That it be observed by us on one day and at one time in all the earth, and that you should send out letters to all, as is the custom.”
——Council of Arles, Canon 1, Written 314 AD.

“We [the bishops assembled at Nicaea] have also gratifying intelligence to communicate to you relative to unity of judgment on the subject of the most holy feast of Passover: for this point also has been happily settled through your prayers; so that all the brethren in the East who have heretofore kept this festival when the Jews did [on the 14th day], will henceforth conform to the Romans and to us, and to all who from the earliest time have observed our period of celebrating Passover.”
——Bishops Assembled at Nicaea, Letter to Alexandrian Church, Written 325 AD.

“At the council we also considered the issue of our holiest day, Passover, and it was determined by common consent that everyone, everywhere should celebrate it on one and the same day. For what can be more appropriate, or what more solemn, than that this feast from which we have received the hope of immortality, should be kept by all without variation, using the same order and a clear arrangement? And in the first place, it seemed very unworthy for us to keep this most sacred feast following the custom of the Jews, a people who have soiled their hands in a most terrible outrage, and have thus polluted their souls, and are now deservedly blind. Since we have cast aside their way of calculating the date of the festival, we can ensure that future generations can celebrate this observance at the more accurate time which we have kept from the first day of the passion until the present time. Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd.”
——Constantine the Great, Letter to the Churches, Written 325 AD.

“We all have a most sacred obligation, to unite in desiring whatever common sense seems to demand, and what has no association with the perjury of the Jews. But to sum up matters briefly, it was determined by common consent that the most holy festival of Passover should be solemnized on one and the same day [on the Day of the Sun]; for it is not at all decent that there should be in such a sacred serious matter any difference. It is quite commendable to adopt this option which has nothing to do with any strange errors, nor deviates from what is right. Since these things are consistent, gladly receive this heavenly and truly divine command. For whatever is done in the sacred assemblies of the bishops can be traced to Divine will.”
——Constantine the Great, Letter to the Churches, Written 325 AD.

“In this manner numberless assertions were put forth by each party [at the Council of Nicaea], and a violent controversy arose at the very commencement. Notwithstanding this, the emperor [Constantine] gave patient audience to all alike, and received every proposition with steadfast attention, and by occasionally assisting the argument of each party in turn, he gradually disposed even the most vehement disputants to a reconciliation. At the same time, by the affability of his address to all, and his use of the Greek language, with which he was not altogether unacquainted, he appeared in a truly attractive and amiable light, persuading some, convincing others by his reasonings, praising those who spoke well, and urging all to unity of sentiment, until at last he succeeded in bringing them to one mind and judgment respecting every disputed question. The result was that they were not only united as concerning the faith, but that the time for the celebration of the salutary feast of Passover was agreed on by all. Those points also which were sanctioned by the resolution of the whole body were committed to writing, and received the signature of each several member. Then the emperor, believing that he had thus obtained a second victory over the adversary of the Church, proceeded to solemnize a triumphal festival in honor of Gd.”
——Eusebius (Greco-Roman Christian), Life of Constantine, Book 3, Chapters 13-14, Written 337 AD.

“For they [Audian Christians] choose to celebrate the Passover with the Jews – that is, they contentiously celebrate the Passover at the same time that the Jews are holding their Festival of Unleavened Bread. And indeed, that this used to be the church’s custom – even though they tell churchmen a slanderous thing in this regard and say ‘You abandoned the fathers’ Passover observance in Constantine’s time from deference to the emperor, and changed the day to suit the emperor.'”
——Epiphanius, Panarion, Book 3, Chapter 70, Section 9, Written 375 AD.

“They [the bishops assembled at Nicaea] passed certain ecclesiastical canons at the council besides, and at the same time decreed with regard to the Passover that there must be one unanimous concord in the celebration of Gd’s holy and supremely excellent day. For it was variously observed by people; some kept it early, some between [the disputed dates], but others, late. And in a word, there was a great deal of controversy then. But through the blessed Constantine, Gd directed the right ordering of these things for the sake of peace.”
——Epiphanius, Panarion, Book 2, Chapter 69, Written 375 AD.

“In fact Gd accomplished two highly important things through Constantine, the most beloved of Gd and forever the most blessed. [One was] the gathering of an ecumenical council, and the publication of the creed that was issued at Nicaea and confessed the assembled bishops with their signatures – the deposition of Arius and the declaration to all of the purity of the faith. [The other was] their correction of the Passover for our unity’s sake. For long ago, even from the earliest days, its various celebrations in the church differed, occasioning ridicule every year, with some keeping it a week early and quarreling with the others, others a week late—some celebrating it in advance, some in between, others afterwards. And in a word, as is not unknown to many scholarly persons, there was a lot of muddle and tiresomeness every time a controversy was aroused in the church’s teaching about this festival—as in the time of Polycarp and Victor the East was at odds with the West and they would not accept letters of commendation from each other. But in as many other times—as in the time of Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, and Criscentius, when each is found writing to the other and quarreling, and down to our own day. This has been the situation ever since [the church] was thrown into disorder after the time of the circumcised bishops [c. 135 AD]. And so [bishops], gathering then from every quarter and making a precise investigation, determined that the festival be celebrated with one accord, as befits its date and rite.”
——Epiphanius, Panarion, Book 3, Chapter 70, Written 375 AD.

“No person shall convoke such secret and hidden assemblies; they shall be forbidden in the country, they shall be prohibited within the walls, they shall be condemned in public and private habitations. Furthermore, investigation shall be made with the greatest care, so that if any persons should not convene on the same day for Passover, in obedience to religion, they shall undoubtedly be considered as persons whom We have condemned by this law.”
——Roman Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius to Postumianus, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 16, Chapter 5; Written 382 AD.

“We do not permit to go unavenged that transgression which was disregarded by the Emperors in former times and is practiced by accursed men in violation of the sacred law, and especially by those deserters and fugitives from the company of the Novatians who strive to be considered the authors rather than the more powerful persons of the aforesaid sect, whose name is derived from the crime, inasmuch as they wish to be called Protopaschites. But if the Novatians should suppose that the day of Passover, noteworthy and commemorated through the ages, ought to be celebrated on another day than that observed by the bishops of the orthodox, deportation as well as confiscation shall pursue the authors of such assemblies. Against such persons an even more severe punishment ought to have been promulgated, since in this crime they even surpass the insanity of the heretics by observing the festival of Passover at another time than that of the orthodox, and thus they venerate almost another Son of Gd than the one whom We worship.”
——Roman Emperors Honorius and Theodosius to Anthemius, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 16, Chapter 6; Written 413 AD.

“We punish with confiscation of their goods and exile, Manichaeans and those persons who are called Pepyzites. Likewise, those persons who are worse than all other heretics in this one belief, namely, that they disagree with all others as to the venerable day of Passover shall be punished with the same penalty if they persist in the aforesaid madness.”
——Roman Emperors Honorius and Theodosius to Asclepiodotus, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 16, Chapter 10; Written 423 AD.

“On the following occasions all amusements of the theaters and the circuses shall be denied throughout all cities to the people thereof, and the minds of Christians and of the faithful shall be wholly occupied in the worship of Gd: namely, on the Lrd’s day, which is the first day of the whole week, on the Natal Day [natali; 25 December] and Epiphany of Chrst, and on the day of Passover and of Pentecost, as long as the vestments that imitate the light of the celestial font attest to the new light of holy baptism; at the time also when the commemoration of the Apostolic Passion, the teacher of all Christianity, is duly celebrated by everyone.”
——Roman Emperors Honorius and Theodosius and Valentinian Caesar to Asclepiodotus, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 15, Chapter 5; Written 425 AD.

“Indeed, their Passover and Feast of Tabernacles, and whatever else they do, are profane and abominable; what they carry out is not worship, but lawlessness and transgression and outrage committed on Gd.”
——John Chrysostom, Against the Jews, Homily 2, Written 387 AD.

“The movement of the sun is different from that of the sky, as it moves from the winter solstice [bruma] to the summer solstice. It is called ‘bruma’ [winter solstice] because the day is shortest then; ‘solstitium’ [solstice] because the sun was seen to stand still on that day, when it is closest to us. When the sun comes to the midpoint between the winter solstice and the summer solstice, where the day becomes equal to the night, it is called the ‘equinox.’
——Marcus Terentius Varro (pagan Roman), De Lingua Latina, Book 6, Chapter 2, Written c. 45 BC.

“Winter solstice [bruma] is the first of the new sun and the last of the old: Phoebus and the year begin at the same time.”
——Ovid (pagan Roman), Fasti, Book 1, Lines 163-164, Written 8 AD.

“From the setting of the Pleiades until the winter solstice, which is commonly completed around 25 December, in the 8th part of Capricorn, they use the stored honeycombs, and they sustain themselves with it until the rising of Arcturus.”
——Columella (pagan Roman), De Res Rustica, Book 9, Chapter 14, Section 12, Written c. 65 AD.

“The winter solstice begins December 25, at the 8th degree of Capricorn, in general.”
——Pliny the Elder (pagan Roman), Natural History, Book 18, Chapter 59, Written 77 AD.

“At the beginning of summer with the new sun: for the new sun is properly on 25 December. But at that time there are no ears of grain, which are known to be called “aristae” due to their dryness.”
——Servius the Grammarian (pagan Roman), Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil, Book 7, Line 720, Written c. 410 AD.

“December 25: Birthday of Invictus [Invincible Sun god], games ordered, 30 races.”
——Furius Dionysius Filocalus, Chronograph of 354, Part 6, Written 354 AD.

“To follow out my plan in regard to places: the circus [horse-track arena] is chiefly consecrated to the Sun, whose temple stands in the middle of it, and whose image shines forth from its temple summit; for they have not thought it proper to pay sacred honours underneath a roof to an object they have itself in open space. Those who assert that the first spectacle was exhibited by Circe, and in honour of the Sun her father, as they will have it, maintain also the name of circus was derived from her.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), De Spectaculis, Chapter 8, Written c. 200 AD.

“The huge [Flaminio] Obelisk, as Hermeteles affirms, is set up in public [at the circus horse-track arena] to the Sun; its inscription, like its origin, belongs to Egyptian superstition.”
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), De Spectaculis, Chapter 8, Written c. 200 AD.

“Not to mention among our great works, the Circus Maximus, that was constructed by the Dictator Cæsar, one stadium in width and three in length, and occupying, with the adjacent buildings, no less than four jugera, with room for 260,000 spectators seated.”
——Pliny the Elder (pagan Roman), Natural History, Book 36, Chapter 24, Written 77 AD.

“The same populace, if the goddess Nortia had favored the Etruscans, if the secure old age of the ruler had been suppressed, in this very hour they would call Sejanus Augustus. Long ago, since we no longer sell our votes, it has cast off its cares. For the one who once gave power, authority, armies, everything, now restrains himself and anxiously desires only two things, bread and circuses.”
——Juvenal (pagan Roman), Book 4, Satires 10, Written c. 110 AD.

“That is the only pain for those fleeing their homeland [of Rome], that is the sorrow, to have missed a single year of the Circus.”
——Juvenal (pagan Roman), Book 4, Satires 11, Written c. 110 AD.

In the following letter, King Theodoric the Great provides an extensive description of the Circus at the time of his reign (471-526 AD).

“The sight of a chariot-race drives out morality and invites the most trifling contentions; it is the emptier of honourable conduct, the ever-flowing spring of squabbles: a thing which ancient times considered sacred, but which a contentious future generation has made to be a mockery. For Aenomaus is said first to have exhibited this sport at Elis, a city of Asia, and afterwards Romulus, at the time of the rape of the Sabines, displayed it in rural fashion to Italy, no buildings for the purpose being yet founded. Long after, Augustus, the lord of the world, raising his works to the same high level as his power, built a fabric marvellous even to Romans, which stretched far into the Vallis Murcia. This immense mass, firmly girt round with hills, enclosed a space which was fitted to be the theatre of great events. Twelve Ostia at the entrance represent the 12 signs of the Zodiac. These are suddenly and equally opened by ropes let down by the Hermulae [little pilasters]. The four colours worn by the four parties of charioteers denote the seasons: green for verdant spring, blue for cloudy winter, red for flaming summer, white for frosty autumn. Thus, throughout the spectacle we see a determination to represent the works of Nature. The Biga [two-horse chariot] is made in imitation of the moon, the Quadriga [four-horse chariot] of the sun. The circus horses, by means of which the servants of the Circus announce the heats that are to be run, imitate the herald-swiftness of the morning star. Thus it came to pass that while they deemed they were worshipping the stars, they profaned their religion by parodying it in their games. A white line is drawn not far from the ostia to each Podium [balcony], that the contest may begin when the quadrigae pass it, lest they should interrupt the view of the spectators by their attempts to get each before the other. There are always seven circuits round the goal-posts to one heat, in analogy with the days of the week. The goal-posts themselves have, like the decani of the Zodiac, each three pinnacles, round which the swift quadrigae circle like the sun. The wheels indicate the boundaries of East and West. The channel which surrounds the Circus presents us with an image of the glassy sea, whence come the dolphins which swim hither through the waters. The lofty obelisks lift their height towards heaven; but the upper one [the Lateran Obelisk] is dedicated to the sun, the lower one [the Flaminio Obelisk] to the moon: and upon them the sacred rites of the ancients are indicated with Chaldee signs for letters.”
——Theodoric the Great to Faustus (Praetorian Prefect), Cassiodorus, Variae, Book 3, Chapter 51, Written c. 540 AD.

“And there are those who have determined not only the year of our Lrd’s birth, but also the day, and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of Pachon [20 May]. And the followers of Basilides hold the day of his baptism as a festival, spending the night before in readings. And they say that it was the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, the 15th day of the month Tubi [10 January]; and some that it was the 11th of the same month [6 January]. And treating of his passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth; and others the 25th of Pharmuthi and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi the Saviour suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [19 or 20 April].”
——Clement of Alexandria (Greco-Roman Christian), Stromata, Book 1, Chapter 21, Written c. 200 AD.

“December 25: Birth of Chrst in Bethlehem of Judea.”
——Furius Dionysius Filocalus, Chronograph of 354, Part 12, Written 354 AD.

“But the Lrd was born on 25th December in the winter. This is when the ripe olives are pressed to produce ointment or crisma; this is the season when [the field is sown with various seeds] and when bleating lambs are born; this is when the vines are pruned with sickles so that they produce the sweet juice which made the drunk. I am the vine and my Father is the gardener. Every branch which does not bear fruit will be cut off and thrown in the fire. They also call it ‘Birthday of the Unconquered [Sun god].’ But who is unconquered if not our Lrd, who suffered death and then conquered it? Or when they call it ‘Birthday of the Sun’ – well, Chrst is the sun of righteousness that the prophet Malachi spoke of: The sun of righteousness shall arise for all you who fear his name; salvation is in his wings.”
——On the Solstices and Equinoxes (Roman Christian homily), Chapter 9, Written c. 350 AD.

“Come then, and let us celebrate in the best way we can the anniversary festival [the Festival of the Birthday of the Sun on 25 December] which the imperial city is keeping by sacrifices, with unusual splendour. And yet I feel how difficult it is for the human mind even to form a conception of that Sun who is not visible to the sense, if our notion of Him is to be derived from the Sun that is visible; but to express the same in language, however inadequately, is, perhaps, beyond the capability of man!”
——Roman Emperor Julian (pagan), Oration to the Sovereign Sun, Written 362 AD.

“Immediately at the end of the last month [December], which is Saturn’s, and previous to the festival in question [New Year’s], we celebrate the most solemn of our Games [on 25 December], dedicating it to the honour of the Invincible Sun god, during which it is not lawful for anything cruel (although necessary), which the previous month [December] presented in its shows, should be perpetrated on this occasion. The Saturnalia [held from 17-23 December], being the concluding festival, are closely followed in cyclic order by the Festival of the Sun [on 25 December], that which I hope that the Powers above will grant me frequently to chant, and to celebrate, and above all others, may the Sovereign Sun, lord of the universe!“
——Roman Emperor Julian (pagan), Oration to the Sovereign Sun, Written 362 AD.

“Let us repeat it yet again: ‘This is the day which the Lrd hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ On this day darkness begins to diminish, and the duration of the night is contracted by the waxing of the sun’s rays. Not fortuitously or arbitrarily did Gd ordain, in connection with this Feast, that the Divine life should now be made manifest in human life.”
——Gregory of Nyssa (Greco-Roman Christian), Homily on the Nativity, Written c. 375 AD.

“For the Redeemer was brought forth during the 42nd year of the Roman Emperor Augustus — in the 13th consulship of the same Octavian Augustus and the consulship of Silanus, as the Roman consul records state. For these record thus: ‘During their consulships,’ I refer to Octavian’s 13th and the consulship of Silanus, ‘the Anointed One was born on 6 January, 13 days after the winter solstice and the increase of the illumination and the day.’ Greeks, I refer to the idol worshipers, observe this day on 25 December, which Romans name Saturnalia, Egyptians call Cronia, and Alexandrians refer to as Cicellia. For this division between signs of the zodiac, which is a solstice, occurs on 25 December, and the day starts to lengthen because the light is gaining its increase. And it finishes a span of 13 days until 6 January, the day of the Anointed One’s birth, with a 30th of an hour added to each day. The Syrian scholar, Ephrem, confirmed this computation in his writings when he stated, ‘Thus the arrival of our Master Jsus the Anointed One, his birth in the flesh or perfect incarnation known as the Epiphany, was disclosed after a period of 13 days from the beginning of the increase of the light. For this too must symbolize the number of our Master Jsus the Anointed One and his 12 followers, since, [added to the followers], he completed the number of the 13 days of the light’s increase.’ And how many other things have been done and are happening because of, and in proof of this calculation, I refer to the Anointed One’s birth? Indeed, those who cunningly oversee the service of idols are compelled to admit part of the truth, and in various places deceitfully hold a significant celebration on the night of the Epiphany, to mislead the idolaters who trust them into believing in the falsehood and not seeking the truth. First, at Alexandria, in the Coreum, as they call it; it is a very large temple, the sanctuary of Kore [Isis]. They stay awake all night singing praises to the idol with a flute accompaniment. And when they conclude their all-night vigil torchbearers descend into an underground sanctuary after the rooster crows and bring up a wooden figure which is seated unclothed [on] a platform. It bears a sign of the cross embedded in gold on its forehead, two other such marks, [one] on each hand, and two other marks, [one] actually [on each of] its two knees — in total five marks with a gold inlay. And they carry the figure itself seven times around the innermost sanctuary with flutes, tambourines, and songs, hold a banquet, and return it to its underground place. And when you inquire what this ritual signifies they answer that today at this moment Kore [Isis] — that is, the maiden — gave birth to Aeon. This is similarly done in the city of Petra, in the temple of the idol there. (Petra is the capital city of Arabia, the scriptural Edom.) They laud the maiden with songs in the Arab tongue calling her, in Arabic, Chaamu — that is, Kore, or virgin. And the child born of her they call Dusares, meaning ‘the lord’s only-begotten.’ And this is similarly performed that night in the city of Elusa, as it is there in Petra, and in Alexandria.”
——Epiphanius (Greco-Roman Christian), Panarion, Book 2, Chapter 51, Section 22, Written 375 AD.

“For in religious rites, it is observed as a sacred secret that when the sun is in the upper hemisphere, that is, the diurnal hemisphere, he is called Apollo; but when in the lower hemisphere, that is, the nocturnal hemisphere, he is considered Dionysus, who is Liber Pater. Moreover, the images of Liber Pater are sometimes depicted as a child and sometimes as a young man; furthermore, in a bearded and old age, as the Greeks call him βασσαρέα and Βρισέα, and as the Neapolitans in Campania celebrate him, calling him Ἥβωνα. These variations in age are referred to the sun, so that at the winter solstice it appears as a child, as the Egyptians present it from a certain day in the temple, when, on the shortest day, it appears like a small and infant-like figure. From there, as the increases proceed, the spring equinox similarly acquires the strength of a youth and is adorned with the figure of a young man. Later, it reaches its fullest age with the appearance of a beard at the summer solstice, when it attains its greatest growth. From then on, through decreases, it is depicted in the fourth form as an old man.”
——Macrobius (pagan Roman), Saturnalia, Book 1, Chapter 18, Written c. 430 AD.

“But there is another account concerning the Pythia [the Oracle of Delphi] and the tripod and the other so-called gods among the Greeks. When Chrst was born, some were rejoicing, saying that Aphrodite [Isis] had given birth. But after clarifying the matter, they were weeping since Aphrodite had not given birth, but it was someone named Mary, which put an end to their deception. And this is likely, for it is reasonable that each received certain confirmation from wherever they were informed. For a long time the Greeks have celebrated this day as festival, which they were performing at midnight, when they secretly enter into certain innermost sanctuaries. When they came out from there, they were shouting, ‘The virgin has given birth! Light increases.’ Epiphanius the Great, the high priest of the Cypriots, says the Saracens [of the Arabs] also observe this festival for their venerated Aphrodite, whom they indeed address as ‘Chamara’ in their language.”
——Cosmas of Maiuma (Orthodox Christian), To the Poems of Saint Gregory the Theologian, Logos 52, Written c. 750 AD.

“So the day which bestowed so great a gift by setting Felix in the heights of heaven is the day of our yearly ritual. It comes after the solstice, the time when Chrst was born in the flesh and transformed the cold winter season with a new sun, when He granted men His birth that brings salvation, and ordered the nights to shorten and the daylight to grow with Himself.”
——Paulinus of Nola (Roman Christian), Poem 14, Section 13, Written c. 400 AD.

“Let us celebrate, brethren; let the peoples be joyful and exalt. It is not this visible sun, but its unseen maker, who has sanctified this day (footnote 2), when the virgin mother brought forth from her fruitful and unblemished womb the one who appeared for us, by whom in his hiddenness she herself was formed.”
Footnote 2: “The connection of 25 December, the winter solstice in those centuries, when the days begin once more to lengthen, with a pagan festival in honor of the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus, was still very fresh in people’s minds.”
——Augustine (Roman Christian), Sermon 186: On the Birth of the Lrd, Written c. 400 AD.
——Footnote of Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine, Sermons 184-229, Page 26, Written 1993.

“For we were night when we lived in unbelief. And since that unbelief, which had covered the whole world like a night, had to be diminished as faith grew, on the day of the birth of our Lrd Jsus Chrst, the night begins to suffer loss, and the day begins to grow. Therefore, brothers, we celebrate this solemn day, not as unbelievers because of this sun (footnote 2), but because of Him who made this sun. For the Word was made flesh, so that for our sake He might be under the sun. He was under the sun in His flesh, but above the whole world in His majesty, in which He created the sun. Now, even in His flesh, He is above this sun, which those who are blind in mind worship as a god, not seeing the true Sun of justice.”
Footnote 2: “25 December was the pagan festival of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun.”
——Augustine (Roman Christian), Sermon 190: On the Birth of the Lrd, Chapter 1, Patrologia Latina 38, Page 1007, Written c. 410 AD.
——Footnote of Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine, Sermons 184-229, Page 41, Written 1993.

“On the following occasions all amusements of the theaters and the circuses shall be denied throughout all cities to the people thereof, and the minds of Christians and of the faithful shall be wholly occupied in the worship of Gd: namely, on the Lrd’s day, which is the first day of the whole week, on the Natal Day [natali; 25 December] and Epiphany of Chrst, and on the day of Passover and of Pentecost, as long as the vestments that imitate the light of the celestial font attest to the new light of holy baptism; at the time also when the commemoration of the Apostolic Passion, the teacher of all Christianity, is duly celebrated by everyone.”
——Roman Emperors Honorius and Theodosius and Valentinian Caesar to Asclepiodotus, Praetorian Prefect; Theodosian Code; Book 15, Chapter 5; Written 425 AD.

“Having therefore so confident a hope, dearly beloved, abide firm in the Faith in which you are built: lest that same tempter whose tyranny over you Chrst has already destroyed, win you back again with any of his wiles, and mar even the joys of the present festival [25 December] by his deceitful art, misleading simpler souls with the pestilential notion of some to whom this our solemn feast day [25 December] seems to derive its honour, not so much from the nativity of Chrst as, according to them, from the rising of the new sun. Such men’s hearts are wrapped in total darkness, and have no growing perception of the true Light: for they are still drawn away by the foolish errors of heathendom, and because they cannot lift the eyes of their mind above that which their carnal sight beholds, they pay divine honour to the luminaries that minister to the world. Let not Christian souls entertain any such wicked superstition and portentous lie.”
——Pope Leo I (Roman Christian), Sermon 22: On the Feast of the Nativity, Chapter 6, Written c. 450 AD.

Ex. 12:1-2 And the Lrd spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month [Abib; Mar/Apr] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Ex. 23:15 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep: 7 days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it thou camest out from Egypt); and none shall appear before me empty:

Deut. 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lrd thy Gd; for in the month of Abib the Lrd thy Gd brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

“Having in this way obtained the crown, Numa [715–672 BC] prepared to found as it were anew by laws and customs that City [Rome] which had so recently been founded by force of arms he saw that this was impossible whilst a state of war lasted, for war brutalised men. Thinking that the ferocity of his subjects might be mitigated by the disuse of arms, he [Numa, c. 715 BC] built the temple of Janus at the foot of the Aventine as an index of peace and war, to signify when it was open that the State was under arms, and when it was shut that all the surrounding nations were at peace.”
——Livy (pagan Roman), History of Rome, Book 1, Chapter 19, Written c. 25 BC – 15 AD.

“And then besides, King Numa dedicated the statue of the two-faced Janus; a deity who is worshipped as presiding over both peace and war. The fingers, too, are so formed as to indicate 365 days, or in other words, the year; thus denoting that he is the god of time and duration.”
——Pliny the Elder (pagan Roman), Natural History, Book 34, Chapter 16, Written 77 AD.

“See Janus comes, Germanicus, the herald of a lucky year to thee, and in my song takes precedence. Two-headed Janus, opener of the softly gliding year, thou who alone of the celestials dost behold thy back, O come propitious to the chiefs whose toil ensures peace to the fruitful earth, peace to the sea.”
——Ovid (pagan Roman), Fasti, Book 1, Lines 63ff, Written 8 AD.

“Janus is thought to have possessed two faces and thus could perceive in front of him and behind his back—a reference, surely, to the foresight and cunning of the ruler, as one who not only understood the past but could also anticipate the future, much like Antevorta and Postvorta are revered in Rome as divine beings most aptly connected with prophecy.”
——Macrobius (pagan Roman), Saturnalia, Book 1, Chapter 7, Written c. 430 AD.

“Nigidius asserted that Apollo [the Sun god] is Janus and that Diana is Jana, meaning Jana with the addition of the letter ‘D,’ which is often appended to the letter “i” for the sake of smoothness (as, for instance, in terms such as reditur, redhibetur, redintegratur, and others). Some hold the view that Janus represents the sun and that his two faces (geminus) symbolize his dominion over both of the two celestial portals, as the sun’s rising opens and its setting closes the day. The fact that people invoke the name Janus first when any deity is honored is believed to indicate that it is through him that access is gained to the god being offered sacrifice, and that it is, as it were, through his gateways that he allows the prayers of petitioners to pass to the gods. Likewise, it is in recognition of his association with the sun that a statue of Janus frequently shows him indicating the number 300 with his right hand and 65 with his left; for these figures represent the length of a year, and it is a key function of the sun to define this span.”
——Macrobius (pagan Roman), Saturnalia, Book 1, Chapter 7, Written c. 430 AD.

“Apollo has been named ‘Father of the People,’ not as venerated according to the distinct religious practice of a specific nation or state but as the originating cause of all things, since the sun, by evaporating moisture, is the universal cause of creation—in the words of Orpheus: Having the mind and wise counsel of a father, and it is for this reason that we also call Janus ‘Father’ and honor the sun under that designation.”
——Macrobius (pagan Roman), Saturnalia, Book 1, Chapter 17, Written c. 430 AD.

“Men refer to Apollo as ‘the Twin god’ because he embodies a dual form of his own divinity, by himself providing light and form to the moon, for, as a double star shining from a single source, he illuminates the cycles of day and night. And this too explains why the Romans honor the sun under the title and form of Janus, with the epithet of the Didymaean Apollo [Sun god].”
——Macrobius (pagan Roman), Saturnalia, Book 1, Chapter 17, Written c. 430 AD.

“Next I asked, ‘Why, Janus, while I propitiate other divinities, do I bring incense and wine first of all to thee?‘ Quoth he, ‘It is that through me, who guard the thresholds, you may have access to whatever gods you please.’ ‘But why are glad words spoken on thy Kalends? and why do we give and receive good wishes?‘ Then, leaning on the staff he bore in his right hand, the god replied: ‘Omens are wont,’ said he, ‘to wait upon beginnings. At the first word ye prick up anxious ears; from the first bird he sees the augur takes his cue. (On the first day) the temples and ears of the gods are open, the tongue utters no fruitless prayers, and words have weight.’ So Janus ended. I kept not silence long, but caught up his last words with my own: ‘What mean the gifts of dates and wrinkled figs?’ I said, ‘and honey glistering in snow-white jar?’ ‘It is for the sake of the omen,’ said he, ‘that the event may answer to the flavour, and that the whole course of the years may be sweet, like its beginning.’ ‘I see,’ said I, ‘why sweets are given. But tell me, too, the reason for the gift of cash, that I may be sure of every point in thy festival.’ The god laughed, and ‘Oh,’ quoth he, ‘how little you know about the age you live in if you fancy that honey is sweeter than cash in hand! Why, even in Saturn’s reign I hardly saw a soul who did not in his heart find lucre sweet.'”
——Ovid (pagan Roman), Fasti, Book 1, Lines 171ff, Written 8 AD.

“These are the festivals of gentiles: Kalends, Saturnalia, Cratesis [the commemoration of the empire], and the emperor’s anniversary, his birthday, ‘and the day of his death,’ the words of R. Meir.”
——Mishnah (Jewish oral law), Avodah Zarah, Chapter 1, Verse 13, Written c. 200 AD.

“Different nations calculate the beginning of the annual cycle [New Year’s Day] in different ways, some taking for it the spring equinox, others the middle point of summer, others again the end of autumn. They celebrate the most conspicuous blessings of the deity [the sun god] in all this: in the first, the opening of the favourable season for work, when the earth blossoms and rejoices, with all the crops just springing up. The seas do then become fit for navigation, and the never-smiling and sulky face of winter is transformed into a more cheerful aspect. The second sort have done this honour to Midsummer Day, as having it then in their power to rejoice securely over the success of their crops: the seed-crops being by this time got in, and the fruit-crops already ripe, and the produce still hanging on the trees now drawing to maturity. The third, yet more acute than they, have established for the end of the year the most complete maturity and decay of all productions; for this cause do they hold their annual festivals when the autumn is now drawing to an end. But our ancestors, from the time of that most religious King Numa [second king of Rome c. 700 BC], paying special honour to the god in question [the Sun god], cast aside the common practice, and as they were of superior understanding, they recognized this deity [the Sun god], and settled to hold the New Year’s festival in the present season [on 1 January], at what time the Sun returns to us, leaving the extreme distance of the meridian, and bending his course around Capricorn as his goal, moves from the South towards the North, being about to give us our share of his annual blessings. And that they have thus fixed the time of the New Year’s festival out of an accurate understanding of the case, may be easily discerned from the following circumstance: they did not fix the festival [New Year’s on 1 January] upon the actual day [25 December] when the Sun makes the turn, when it is apparent to all that he is making his progress from the South towards the North. For not yet known to them was the subtlety of those rules which the Chaldaeans and Egyptians invented, but which Hipparchus and Ptolemy brought to perfection; but they trusted to their senses, and followed the guidance of natural phenomena. And in this way, as I have said, the matter was discovered to be of such a nature by those who came after them.”
——Roman Emperor Julian (pagan), Oration to the Sovereign Sun, Written 362 AD.

“The festival itself [the Kalends of January], by bringing itself, brings us good, and we have not yet made a tribute for it before now. And knowing these things, that this is an honor for both the gods themselves to whom the festivals belong, and especially for a great deity, this festival happens.”
——Libanius (pagan Greco-Roman), Oration 9: On the Kalends, Written 392 AD.

“You would find this festival [the Kalends of January], O young people, stretched out over the entire extent of the Roman Empire, and each person is moved and rejoices and is glad.”
——Libanius (pagan Greco-Roman), Oration 9: On the Kalends, Written 392 AD.

“And the festival [the Kalends of January] blossoms in all fields, in all meadows, in all mountains, lakes, and rivers, in which sailboats and those sailing, and in the sea as well, if the sea were not impassable due to the season, sailors and merchants would join together, cutting the waves and celebrating. Drinking parties, extravagant meals, and laughter are everywhere. Such things occur among the rich, and it’s also better than the usual among the poor. For a certain love of spending money seizes people. At other times they rejoice in accumulation, but at this time with their profit they engage in consumption. And at former times they accustomed themselves to punish their belly, but at this time they give their belly as much as they are able.”
——Libanius (pagan Greco-Roman), Oration 9: On the Kalends, Written 392 AD.

“And for some, the enjoyment of giving and receiving is the same, but for others, even if they may not receive, the act of giving itself is sweet indeed, to be able to give. This makes the earth beautiful: the flowers in the spring and the gifts that are everywhere coming from all sides at the festival [the Kalends of January]. And indeed, someone would not be mistaken in saying that this time of the year is the most delightful.”
——Libanius (pagan Greco-Roman), Oration 9: On the Kalends, Written 392 AD.

The [Kalends of January] festival deems its days worthy to reject all that is connected work, and it allows men to have enjoyment with undisturbed thoughts. These [days of the festival] release young people from two kinds of dread: the dread of school-teachers and the guardian who urges him on.”
——Libanius (pagan Greco-Roman), Oration 9: On the Kalends, Written 392 AD.

“Another great quality of the festival is this: it becomes a teacher to men not to hold too tightly to their money but to give it away freely and put it into the hands of others.”
——Libanius (pagan Greco-Roman), Oration 9: On the Kalends, Written 392 AD.

“Rav Ḥanan bar Rava says: When are these festivals celebrated? Kalenda is celebrated during the 8 days after the winter solstice, and Saturnalia is celebrated during the 8 days before the winter solstice. And your mnemonic to remember which festival is that the one that occurs after the solstice is mentioned first in the mishnah, and the festival that takes place before the solstice is mentioned after, as in the verse: ‘You have hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Your Hand upon me,’ where the word ‘before’ appears after the term ‘behind.'”
——Babylonian Talmud (Rabbinic Jewish law), Avodah Zarah 8a:6, Written c. 500 AD.

“The Sage taught in a baraita in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Although they said that Rome has established the festival of Kalenda and all of the nearby towns are ruled by Rome, it is prohibited to engage in business only with its worshippers. The baraita continues: With regard to the festivals Saturnalia and Kratesis, and the day of the festival of their kings, and the day on which the king was crowned, the halakha is that before the festival it is prohibited to engage in business transactions, whereas after the festival it is permitted. But in the case of a gentile who prepared a feast for his son and celebrates on that day, engaging in business is prohibited only on that day itself and with that man.”
——Babylonian Talmud (Rabbinic Jewish law), Avodah Zarah 8a:13-14, Written c. 500 AD.

“With regard to the dates of these festivals, the Sages taught: When Adam the first man saw that the day was progressively diminishing, as the days become shorter from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice, he did not yet know that this is a normal phenomenon, and therefore he said: Woe is me; perhaps because I sinned the world is becoming dark around me and will ultimately return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven, as it is written: “And to dust shall you return” (Genesis 3:19). He arose and spent 8 days in fasting and in prayer. Once he saw that the season of Tevet, i.e., the winter solstice, had arrived, and saw that the day was progressively lengthening after the solstice, he said: Clearly, the days become shorter and then longer, and this is the order of the world. He went and observed a festival for 8 days. Upon the next year, he observed both these 8 days on which he had fasted on the previous year, and these 8 days of his celebration, as days of festivities. He, Adam, established these festivals for the sake of Heaven, but they, the gentiles of later generations, established them for the sake of idol worship.”
——Babylonian Talmud (Rabbinic Jewish law), Avodah Zarah 8a:7-8, Written c. 500 AD.

“By us [Christians], to whom are strange the Sabbaths and new moons and festivals formerly beloved by Gd, the Saturnalia and New Year’s and Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are frequented — presents come and go — New Year’s gifts — games join their noise — banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself! Not the Lrd’s day, not Pentecost, even it they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens!“
——Tertullian (Roman Christian), On Idolatry, Chapter 14, Written c. 205 AD.

“And they honor the years in this way, when they say that the New Year begins on the Kalends of January, as if the years are not completed day by day: but in order to recall the memory of that two-faced Janus, they use this superstition, which must be far from the servants of Gd.”
——Ambrose (Roman Christian), Commentary on Galatians 4:10, Written c. 380 AD.

“On 1 January: Against the Pagans. I would encourage your excellencies, brothers and sisters, since I notice that you have assembled here today [on 1 January] as though it were a festival, and you have gathered for this specific day [on 1 January] in greater numbers than usual, to recall what you chanted just now. Don’t let it be a matter of noisy tongues and mute minds; rather, what your voices have been proclaiming in each other’s ears, let your hearts cry out in the ears of Gd. This, after all, is what you were saying: Save us, Lrd our Gd, and bring us together from among the nations, that we may declare your sacred name. And now, if the festival of the nations [New Year’s on 1 January] which is occurring today in the delights of the world and the flesh, with the noise of silly and shameful songs, with shameful feasting and dancing, with the celebration of this false holiday—if the actions the nations are engaging in today do not have your approval, you will be brought together from among the nations. You certainly chanted—and the sound of the sacred song must still be resonating in your ears—Save us, Lord our God, and bring us together from among the nations.”
——Augustine (Roman Christian), Sermon 198, Chapters 1-2, Written c. 420 AD.

“Are you going to partake in the celebrations [on 1 January] of good luck gifts like a heathen, going to gamble—and get yourself intoxicated? How then can you truly believe something else, hope for something else, love something else? How can you have the honest face to say Save us, Lrd our Gd, and bring us together from among the nations? You’re separated from the nations, you see, when you mix physically with the nations, by a different way of life. And you can see how far apart this separation sets you, if only you act accordingly to prove it. It’s like this: our Lrd Jsus Chrst, who became human for us, has already paid the price for us. And so he’s paid his price; the reason he paid it was to redeem us, to gather us from among the nations. But if you get mixed up with the nations, it means you don’t want to follow the one who has redeemed you; instead, you’re mingling with the nations in lifestyle, actions, mind, and heart, by believing such things, hoping for such things, loving such things; you are being ungrateful to your Redeemer, you are not acknowledging the price paid for you, the blood of the Lamb without blemish. So in order to follow your Redeemer, who redeemed you with his blood, don’t mix with the nations by the same kind of morals, habits, and deeds. They give good luck gifts; see to it you give alms. They are entertained by lewd songs; see to it you are entertained by the words of the scriptures. They rush to the theater, you to the church; they get intoxicated, see to it you fast. Or if you can’t fast today, at least eat with moderation. If you do this, you have well and truly and sincerely chanted Save us, Lrd our Gd, and bring us together from among the nations.”
——Augustine (Roman Christian), Sermon 198, Chapter 2, Written c. 420 AD.

“Similarly, that error crept in among the ignorant and rustic people, who believe that the beginning of the year falls on the Kalends of January, which is entirely false. For, as the Holy Scripture declares, the beginning of the first year was established on the 8th day before the Kalends of April, precisely at the equinox. For it is written: ‘And Gd separated the light from the darkness.’ However, every proper division has equality, just as on the 8th day before the Kalends of April, the day and the night have an equal duration of hours. Therefore, it is false to consider the Kalends of January as the beginning of the year.”
——Martin of Braga (Roman Christian), De correctione rusticorum, Section 10, Written c. 570 AD.

“It shall be lawful for only those days to remain as holidays which throughout 2 months a very indulgent year has recognized as a respite from toil for the mitigation of summer heat and for the harvesting of the autumn crops. We also set aside the Kalends of January [from 1-5 Jan] as customary rest days. To the aforementioned days We add the birth days of the greatest cities, Rome and Constantinople, to which the law ought to defer, since it also was born of them. We count in the same category the holy days of Passover, of which 7 precede and 7 follow Passover; likewise the Days of the Sun which revolve upon themselves at regular intervals. It is necessary for Our anniversaries also to be held in equal reverence, that is, both the day which brought forth the auspicious beginning of Our life [the Emperor’s birthday] and the day which produced the beginning of Our imperial power [the Emperor’s first day in office].”
——Roman Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius to Albinus, Prefect of the City; Theodosian Code; Book 2, Chapter 8; Written 389 AD.