John Chrysostom

"Concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one." Look what a strait he hath fallen into! For indeed his mind is to prove both; that one ought to abstain from this kind of banquet, and that it hath no power to hurt those who partake of it: things which were not greatly in agreement with each other. For when they were told that they had no harm in them, they would naturally run to them as indifferent things. …

Homily on 1 Corinthians 20 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Again he generalizes knowledge, humbling them. We all know, he says, that an idol is nothing in the world. So then, are there no idols? Are there no graven images? There are, but they are nothing, that is, they have no power; they are not gods, but stones and demons. …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Ignatius of Antioch

The Evangelists, too, when they declared that the one Father was "the only true God," did not omit what concerned our Lord, but wrote: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. …

Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Antiochians ↗

Augustine of Hippo

For although man made gods, it did not follow that he who made them was not held captive by them, when, by worshipping them, he was drawn into fellowship with them,—into the fellowship not of stolid idols, but of cunning demons; for what are idols but what they are represented to be in the same scriptures, "They have eyes, but they do not see," and, though artistically fashioned, are still without life and sensation? …

The City Of God 8.24 ↗

Bonaventure

An idol is nothing, as is said in First Corinthians, chapter eight: therefore to think that God is an idol and that God does not exist is the same thing: but it is thinkable and is sometimes thought that God is an idol: therefore it is thinkable that God is nothing. …

Disputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity, Question 1 ↗