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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Theophylact of Ohrid
And here he puts them to shame. Having God as your teacher, he says, should you not live worthily of Him? This grace, he says, extends not only to the forgiveness of former sins, but also secures us for the future. It teaches us to live the rest of our time in sobriety, since we have utterly renounced ungodliness and worldly lusts. By the expression "having denied" he signifies a complete turning away, proceeding from the disposition of the entire soul. By "ungodliness" he means idolatry and perverted doctrines. …
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius
Whatever, therefore, wicked princes plan against us, God Himself permits to be done. And yet most unjust persecutors, to whom the name of God was a subject of reproach and mockery, must not think that they will escape with impunity, because they have been, as it were, the ministers of His indignation against us. …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
Now fasting, in its large and general sense, is to abstain from the iniquities and unlawful pleasures of the world, which is perfect fasting: "That, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately, and righteously, and godly in this present world." What reward does the apostle join to this fast? …
Jerome
This grace has shone upon all men in order to instruct us to renounce impiety and worldly desires and to live chastely, justly, and piously in this world. However, to deny impiety and worldly desires, as we have explained above, they confess to knowing God, but deny it by their deeds. I believe that this can be understood through opposing arguments. Therefore, worldly desires are those that are suggested by the prince of this world, and since they belong to this world, they pass through it like a cloud. …
Thomas Aquinas
Second, it appeared as an instruction to the human race, because before the coming of Christ, the world languished in ignorance and heresy: the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light (Isa 9:2). Hence he says, instructing us, as a father instructs his son. But he instructs us about two things, because all men are in need of two things, namely, good works and a right intention. First, he shows how Christ instructed us in regard to good works; second, in regard to a right intention, at looking for the blessed hope. …
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