Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Jeremiah 2:27

Eastern Fathers

Cyril of Jerusalem

With unspeakable mercy, God deigned to be called the Father of humankind. He is in heaven, they on earth. He is the eternal Maker. They are made in time. He holds the earth in the hollow of his hand. They are like grasshoppers on the earth. Yet people forsook their heavenly Father and said to wood, "you are my father, and to the stone, you have begotten me." And for this reason, I think, the psalmist says to humankind, "Forget your own people as well, and your father's house."

Catechetical Lecture 7:12 ↗

Clement of Alexandria

It is adultery, if you abandon the ecclesiastical and true knowledge and the opinion about God, and consent to false and incompatible opinion, either by deifying any created object or by making an idol of anything that does not exist, so as to overstep, or rather step away from, knowledge.… For this reason, the noble apostle calls one of the kinds of fornication, idolatry. In following the prophet says, "My people have committed fornication with wood and stone. …

The Stromata Book 6 ↗

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

How is a person wise who looks not for his Maker but says to a stone, "You are my father"? Who says to the devil as the Manichaean does, "You are the author of my being"? How is Arius wise, who prefers an imperfect and inferior creator to one who is a true and perfect one? How can Marcion or Eunomius be wise, who prefer to have an evil rather than a good God? And how can one be wise who does not fear his God? For "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

On the Duties of the Clergy 1.25.117 ↗