Nicene/Post-Nicene, Series I, Volume 13

Augustine, A.D. 354 - 430

... Nor, again, as we call the Son a Rock (for it is written, "And that Rock was Christ"), can we so call the Spirits dove or fire. For that rock was a thing already created, and after the mode of its action was called by the name of Christ, whom it signified; like the stone placed under Jacob's head, and also anointed, which he took in order to signify the Lord ... .
On the Trinity, Book II, Chapter 6, § 11

28. ... But whilst we are absent from the Lord, and walk by faith, not by sight, we ought to see the "back parts" of Christ, that is His flesh, by that very faith, that is, standing on the solid foundation of faith, which the rock signifies, and beholding it from such a safe watch-tower, namely in the Catholic Church, of which it is said, "And upon this rock I will build my Church."...
29. ... For even His enemies believe that that flesh died on the cross of His passion, but they do not believe it to have risen again. Which we believing most firmly, gaze upon it as from the solidity of a rock: whence we wait with certain hope for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body; because we hope for that in the members of Christ, that is, in ourselves, which by a sound faith we acknowledge to be perfect in Him as in our Head....
30. ... For what does that mean which the Lord says, "Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock?"... . But manifestly the Catholic Church itself is understood to be "the place by Him," wherein one stands upon a rock ... . "And thou shalt stand," He says, "upon a rock while my glory passeth by." For in reality, immediately after the majesty of the Lord had passed by in the glorification of the Lord, in which He rose again and ascended to the Father, we stood firm upon the rock. And Peter himself then stood firm, so that he preached Him with confidence, whom, before he stood firm, he had thrice from fear denied; although, indeed, already before placed in predestination upon the watch-tower of the rock, but with the hand of the Lord still held over him that he might not see....
On the Trinity, Book II, Chapter 17, §§ 28, 29, 30

... And although the serpent that came from Moses' rod signified the same thing as Jacob's stone, yet Jacob's stone signified something better than did the serpents of the magicians. For as the anointing of the stone signified Christ in the flesh, in which He was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows ... .
On the Trinity, Book III, Chapter 10, § 20

... In this manner the doctrine of the apostle constituted some to be, as it were, soldiers, and others to be, as it were, provincial tributaries, while it set Christ in the centre of them like the corner-stone (in accordance with what had been announced beforetime by the prophet), in whom both parties, like walls advancing from different sides, that is to say, from Jews and from Gentiles, might be joined together in the affection of kinship....
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed, Chapter 23, § 43

... It was also foretold that schisms and heresies would arise from His Church, and that under His name they would seek their own glory instead of Christ's, in such places as they might be able to command; and these predictions have been realized.
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed, Chapter 27, § 53
{note: a fitting description of the papacy}

... For why should I speak of the Apostle Paul, who in his first Epistle to the Corinthians shows that even the very history of the Exodus was an allegory of the future Christian People. "But I would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized into Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed with them; and that Rock was Christ....
On the Profit of Believing, § 8

17. We believe also "the resurrection of the flesh," which went before in Christ: that the body too may have hope of that which went before in its Head. The Head of the Church, Christ: the Church, the body of Christ. Our Head is risen, ascended into heaven: where the Head, there also the members....
On the Creed: a Sermon to the Catechumens, § 17
{note: This passage is included to show what is the Church's position regarding the Head of the Church, in contrast to Rome's claim that the 'pope' is the 'temporal' head of the Church.}

Home | Early Church Writings | Email