Nicene/Post-Nicene, Series I, Volume 17

Augustine, A.D. 354 - 430

... They did not think that he was the Christ; but they did not think that Christ would not come at all. When they were hoping that He would come, they were offended at Him when He was present, and stumbled at Him as on a low stone. For He was as yet a small stone, already indeed cut out of the mountain without hands; as saith Daniel the prophet, that he saw a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. But what follows? "And that stone," saith he "grew and became a great mountain and filled the whole face of the earth."... The stone was cut out from thence, because from thence was the Lord born on His advent among men. And wherefore without hands? Because without the cooperation of man did the Virgin bear Christ. Now then was that stone cut out without hands before the eyes of the Jews; but it was humble. Not without reason; because not yet had that stone increased and filled the whole earth: that He showed in His kingdom, which is the Church, with which He has filled the whole face of the earth. Because then it had not yet increased, they stumbled at Him as at a stone: and that happened in them which is written, "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever that stone shall fall, it will grind them to powder."...
Tractates on John, Tractate IV, § 4

14. ... Is it a great matter that He changed his name, and converted it from Simon to Peter? Peter is from petra, a rock, but the petra [rock]; is the Church; in the name of Peter, then, was the Church figured. And who is safe, unless he who builds upon the rock? And what saith the Lord Himself? "He that heareth these my words, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man building his house upon a rock" (he doth not yield to temptation). "The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.... if he hears and does, he builds upon the rock; if he hears and does not, he builds upon the sand. There are two kinds of builders, those building upon the rock, and those building upon the sand.... It is then the only security, both to build, and to build upon the rock.... unless a man hears and does, he builds not upon the rock ... . if Simon had been called Peter before, thou wouldest not have so clearly seen the mystery of the rock, and thou wouldest have thought that he was called so by chance, not by the providence of God ... .
20. ... for his words, "Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel," were not dissimilar to those of Peter so long afterwards, when the Lord said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." And there He named the rock, and praised the strength of the Church's support in this faith....
23. ... Jacob saw a ladder in a dream; and on a ladder he saw angels ascending and descending: and he anointed the stone which he had placed at his head. You have heard that the Messias is Christ; you have heard that Christ is the Anointed. For Jacob did not place the stone, the anointed stone, that he might come and adore it: otherwise that would have been idolatry, not a pointing out of Christ. What was done was a pointing out of Christ, so far as it behoved such a pointing out to be made, and it was Christ that was pointed out. A stone was anointed, but not for an idol. A stone anointed; why a stone? "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded."...
Tractates on John, Tractate VII, §§ 14, 20, 23

15. ... Daniel saw a stone that had been cut from a mountain without hands, and had broken all the kingdoms of the earth; and he saw the stone grow and become a great mountain, so as to fill the whole face of the earth. What can be plainer, my brethren? The stone is cut from a mountain: the same is the stone which the builders rejected, and is become the head of the corner. From what mountain is it cut, if not from the kingdom of the Jews, of which our Lord Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh? And it is cut without hands, without human exertion; because Christ sprung from a virgin, without a husband's embrace....
17. ... "Christ became the corner-stone, in order to make peace in Himself."...
Tractates on John, Tractate IX, §§ 15, 17

... When, therefore, He had said to His disciples, "Will ye also go away?" Peter, that Rock, answered with the voice of all, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."...
Tractates on John, Tractate XI, § 5

... Understand that wall to which another is joined, that they may be joined together, resting on the corner-stone, which is Christ....
Tractates on John, Tractate XV, § 26

... our Saviour Jesus Christ, is called the corner-stone, to build up two in Himself. He is called also a rock, from which water flowed forth: "And that rock was Christ." What wonder, then, if Christ is called rock, that neighbor is called wood? Yet not any kind of wood whatever; as neither that was any kind of rock soever, but one from which water flowed to the thirsty; nor any kind soever of stone, but a corner-stone ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate XVII, § 9

... they that are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone," are brought into a state of peace in Christ ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate XX, § 7

1. ... the Lord says that the prudent hearer of His word ought to be like a man who, wishing to build a house, digs deeply until he comes to the foundation of stability on the rock ... . let us dig deeply until we come to the rock: "And that rock was Christ."
4. ... God reveals His Son through the Son Himself, He reveals Himself through the Son. To Him, if a man shall have been able to reach, he shall need no lamps; and by truly digging deep, he will carry down his building to the rock.
6. ... to the best of our abilities, digging into until we should come to the rock. The Word Christ, Christ the Word of God with God, Christ the Word and the Word God, Christ and God and Word one God....
Tractates on John, Tractate XXIII, §§ 1, 4, 6

... when questioning His disciples, He saith: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they answered, Some John, some Elias, some Jeremias, or one of the prophets. And He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." He declared Himself Son of man, Peter declared Him the Son of the living God....
Tractates on John, Tractate XXV, § 11

5. ... One whom the Father has drawn says: "Thou art Christ, Son of the living God." Not as a prophet, not as John, not as some great and just man, but as the only, the equal, "Thou art Christ, Son of the living God." See that he was drawn, and drawn by the Father. "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven."...
12. ... "They drank," saith he "of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." Thence the bread, thence the drink. The rock was Christ in sign; the real Christ is in the Word and in flesh. And how did they drink? The rock was smitten twice with a rod; the double smiting signified the two wooden beams of the cross....
Tractates on John, Tractate XXVI, §§ 5, 12

... Peter answered in behalf of all, one for many, unity for the collective whole: "Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go?"... "Thou hast the words of eternal life."... "And we have believed and have known."... "That Thou art Christ, the Son of God;"...
Tractates on John, Tractate XXVII, § 9

... And our thirst is quenched from the rock in the wilderness: for "the Rock was Christ," and it was smitten with a rod that the water might flow. But that it might flow, the rock was smitten twice: because there are two beams of the cross....
Tractates on John, Tractate XXVIII, § 9

... and God cleanses not, either from the vice with which we are born, or from the vices which we add thereto by ill living, except by the stony knife, the Lord Christ. For Christ was the Rock, Now they used to circumcise with stone knives, and by the name of rock they prefigured Christ ... . being circumcised by the Rock, why do you still set your affections on the earth?...
Tractates on John, Tractate XXX, § 5

... "For they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ." See, then, how that while the faith remained, the signs were varied. There the rock was Christ ... . they, as a great sacramental sign of the same Christ, drank the water flowing from the rock ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate XLV, § 9

... It is a common thing to see the shepherds sitting on a rock, and there guarding the cattle committed to their care. Surely the shepherd is better than the rock that he sits upon; and yet Christ is both the Shepherd and the rock....
Tractates on John, Tractate XLVI, § 3

5. ... Of these two flocks, as of two walls, is the corner-stone formed. And thus is He both door and the corner-stone ... .
6. ... Metaphorically Christ is both a rock, and a door, and a corner-stone, and a shepherd, and a lamb, and a lion....
Tractates on John, Tractate XLVII, §§ 5, 6

... And yet a little before, in confessing the Son of God, he had merited commendation: for he heard the words, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." To whom He had said, "Blessed art thou," He now says, "Get thee behind me, Satan;" because it was not of himself that he was blessed. But of what then? "For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven."...
Tractates on John, Tractate XLIX, § 8

... For if in Peter's case there were no sacramental symbol of the Church, the Lord would not have said to him, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." If this was said only to Peter, it gives no ground of action to the Church. But if such is the case also in the Church, that what is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven, - for when the Church excommunicates, the excommunicated person is bound in heaven; when one is reconciled by the Church, the person so reconciled is loosed in heaven: - if such, then, is the case in the Church, Peter, in receiving the keys, represented the holy Church....
Tractates on John, Tractate L, § 12

... Let us listen, then, to the voice of the Cornerstone: "And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified."...
Tractates on John, Tractate LI, § 8

2. ... How biddest Thou my soul follow Thee if I behold Thine own troubled? How shall I endure what is felt to be heavy by strength so great? What is the kind of foundation I can seek if the Rock is giving way?...
13. ... "And he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." So may he stumble on that stone of stumbling and rock of offence which the Lord Himself became to the blinded Jews: just as to those who believed, the stone which the builders despised was made the head of the corner.
14. ... but from those who saw and hated Him, for they saw Him not, but only stumbled on that stone in their blindness....
Tractates on John, Tractate LII, §§ 2, 13, 14

9. ... For it was not by faith, but as it were by works, that they were puffed up; and blinded by this very self-elation, they stumbled against the stone of stumbling....
11. ... and thus blinded in order that they might stumble on the stone of stumbling, and have their faces filled with shame ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate LIII, §§ 9, 11

... For who can fail to know that the most blessed Peter was the first of the apostles?...
Tractates on John, Tractate LVI, § 1

... But if thou sayest so, thou forgettest, heretic, thy measurements.... For there the Truth hath left you no shadow of distance between the Begetter and the Only-begotten; there Christ Himself hath erased your measurements, and the rock hath broken your staircase to pieces.
Tractates on John, Tractate LIX, § 2

1. ... "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour." And accordingly, just as then His soul was troubled as the hour of His passion approached ... .
2. He was troubled, then, who had power to lay down His life, and had power to take it again. That mighty power is troubled, the firmness of the rock is disturbed ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate LX, §§ 1, 2

2. ... Now is prefigured the glorification of the Son of man; but expressly, "Now is the Son of man glorified:" just as it was not said, The Rock signified Christ; but, "That Rock was Christ."...
Tractates on John, Tractate LXIII, § 2

... in His next words He confirmed, by proceeding to say, "Thou shall follow me afterwards." Why such haste, Peter? The Rock (petra) has not yet solidified thee by His Spirit....
Tractates on John, Tractate LXVI, § 1

... In another place, also, He says, "He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who buildeth his house upon a rock;" ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate LXXII, § 2

... For it is by similitude, and not by any personal propriety, that He is thus called a vine; just as He is also termed a sheep, a lamb, a lion, a rock, a corner-stone, and other names of a like kind ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate LXXX, § 1

3. We are therefore to understand that their faith in Him was not yet such as He wished it to be, inasmuch as even Peter himself, to whom, on making the confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," He had borne so excellent a testimony, was disposed rather to hinder Him from dying than to believe in His resurrection when dead, and hence was called immediately thereafter by the same of Satan....
Tractates on John, Tractate CIX, § 3

... For the Lord said not to Peter, Thou shall deny that thou art my disciple; but, "Thou shall deny me."... How many afterwards ... could do ... what at that moment he was unable to do, who received the keys of that kingdom....
Tractates on John, Tractate CXIII, § 2

... when the question was put to all of them, Peter was the only one that answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;" and to whom it was said, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," as if he alone received the power of binding and loosing: seeing, then, that one so spake in behalf of all, and received the latter along with all, as if personifying the unity itself; therefore one stands for all, because there is unity in all....
Tractates on John, Tractate CXVIII, § 4

5. ... So does the Church act in blessed hope through this troublous life; and this Church symbolized in its generality, was personified in the Apostle Peter, on account of the primacy of his apostleship. For, as regards his proper personality, he was by nature one man, by grace one Christian, by still more abounding grace one, and yet also, the first apostle; but when it was said to him, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven," he represented the universal Church, which in this world is shaken by divers temptations, that come upon it like torrents of rain, floods and tempests, and falleth not, because it is founded upon a rock (petra), from which Peter received his name. For petra (rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, "On this rock will I build my Church," because Peter had said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." On this rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed. I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself also built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church. This Church, accordingly, which Peter represented, so long as it lives amidst evil, by loving and following Christ is delivered from evil....
7. Let no one, however, separate these distinguished apostles. In that which was signified by Peter, they were both alike; and in that which was signified by John, they will both be alike hereafter.... And these two states of life were symbolized by Peter and John ... . For the whole body of the saints, therefore, inseparably belonging to the body of Christ, and for their safe pilotage through the present tempestuous life, did Peter, the first of the apostles, receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven for the binding and loosing of sins; and for the same congregation of saints, in reference to the perfect repose in the bosom of that mysterious life to come did the evangelist John recline on the breast of Christ. For it is not the former alone but the whole Church, that bindeth and looseth sins ... .
Tractates on John, Tractate CXXIV, §§ 5, 7

... The Stone which was "cut out of the Mountain without hands," is it not Christ, who came of the kingdom of the Jews, without the work of man? Has not that Stone broken in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, that is, all the dominations of idols and demons? Has not that Stone grown, and become a great mountain, and filled the whole earth?...
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily I, § 13

3. When we say to them, If ye be Catholic Christians, communicate with that Church from which the Gospel is spread abroad over the whole earth: communicate with that Jerusalem ... .
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily II, § 3

... The coming of this Christ was hoped for by the people of the Jews: and because He came in lowliness, He was not acknowledged; because the stone was small, they stumbled at it and were broken. But "the stone grew, and became a great mountain;" and what saith the Scripture? "Whosoever shall stumble at this stone shall be broken; and on whomsoever this stone shall come. it will grind him to powder."...
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily III, § 6

... He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And this he heard from the Lord: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." See what praises follow this faith. "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church." What meaneth, "Upon this rock I will build my Church"? Upon this faith; upon this that has been said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Upon this rock," saith He, "I will build my Church."...
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily X, § 1

... Where remission of sins, there the Church is. How the Church? Why, to her it was said, "To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, and whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven."...
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily X, § 10

... Thus, if we should say, the rock and the water are one, meaning by the Rock, Christ; by the water, the Holy Ghost: who doubts that rock and water are two different substances? yet because Christ and the Holy Spirit are of one and the same nature, therefore when one says, the rock and the water are one ... .
Homily 10, Contra Maximinum, Lib. II. C. 22 §3

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