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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
What means "holding fast the word of life"? i.e. "being destined to live, being of those that are gaining salvation." Observe how immediately he subjoins the rewards, which are in reserve. Lights [i.e. luminaries], he says, retain the principle of light; so do ye the principle of life. What means "the word of life"? Having the seed of life, i.e. having pledges of life, holding life itself, i.e. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
"Holding forth the word of life," that is, having within yourselves the seed of life and intending to continue living thus, and already now having within yourselves the pledge of salvation. Or: just as luminaries shine and enliven bodies by warming them, so you too strive to be a life-giving force for the rest of mankind. "To my boasting in the day of Christ." Let your virtue, he says, be such that it not only leads you to life, but also shows me more glorious at the coming of Christ. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
But they are light inasmuch as they have some of that light which was the light of men, i.e., of the Word of God radiating on us. Therefore he says, holding fast the word of life, i.e., the word of Christ: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn. 6:68); "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps. 119:105). …
Bonaventure
There is an order of levels intended for enlightenment, that of acolytes, subdeacons, and deacons. And these orders are for the sake of enlightenment. The second enlighten by word and example: "guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a depraved and perverse generation... among these shining like stars in the world, holding fast the word of life," as are the subdeacons who hold fast the words of the Epistles.
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