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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Cyril of Alexandria
The soldiers, then, divided our Saviour's garments among themselves, and this is indicative of their brutal ferocity and inhuman disposition. For it is the custom of executioners to be unmoved by the misery of condemned criminals, and to obey orders sometimes with unnecessary harshness, and to show a masculine indifference to the fate of the sufferers, and to divide their garments among themselves, as though the lot fell upon them by some sufficient and lawful reason. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
What the devil contrives in his cunning serves to fulfill the prophecies. And behold the truth. There were three who were crucified, and yet the words of the prophets are fulfilled in Him alone. And note the precision of the prophecy. The prophet spoke not only about what they divided, but also about what they did not divide. The other garments they divided into parts, but the tunic they did not, instead leaving its fate to the casting of lots (Ps. 22:18). Soldiers acted according to their own folly.
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
That they cast lots for his tunic alone, "woven from the top without seam," rather than dividing it, demonstrated clearly enough that the visible sacraments, even though they too are the garments of Christ, can still be had by anybody, good or bad. …
Thomas Aquinas
2430 The Evangelist says that lots were cast for Christ's tunic, they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. There is one way of casting lots which is a form of divination; this is unlawful because there is no necessity for it. Sometimes lots are cast to know how things should be allotted or divided up; and this is lawful in earthly matters but not in spiritual things. The purpose of this is to submit to God's plan and will those matters that we cannot decide by ourselves. …
Bonaventure
Here is noted the division of the tunic made by lot: and the reason is given: Now the tunic was seamless, woven from the top throughout, that is, entirely continuous: and because it could not be conveniently divided, the soldiers said to one another: Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be: because, as is said in Proverbs 18, "the lot suppresses contradictions and judges even among the powerful." And lest it be thought that this happened by chance, it is shown that this was foretold by the Prophet, when he …
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