Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Isaiah 6:7

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

Tell me, then, whoever you are who deny the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit could not be liable to sin, who rather forgives sin. Does an angel forgive? Does an archangel? Certainly not, but the Father alone, the Son alone and the Holy Spirit alone [can forgive sins]. …

On the Holy Spirit 1.10.112 ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

But Dionysius the Areopagite, that ancient and venerable Father, is said to declare that from the lesser hosts of angels some are sent forth to fulfill their ministry either visibly or invisibly, namely because angels or archangels come for human consolation. For those higher hosts never withdraw from the inner places, since those who are preeminent have no function of external ministry. …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 34 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

222 [cont.]. Third, the manner of cleansing: and he touched my mouth, and said, just as in the sacraments there is an action and a form of words; behold this has touched your lips, he expresses the act, and your iniquities, against men, shall be taken away, and your sin, against God. And he does not say, "I shall take away," for to forgive sins belongs to God alone, below: I am he that blot out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins (Isa 43:25). …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗