First Christian Voices: Practices of the Apostolic Fathers

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First Christian Voices

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. (Ps 34:11–17) And “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord” (Ps 32:10). F irst C lement 45: You are fond of contention, friends, and full of zeal about things which do not pertain to salvation. Look carefully into the Scriptures which are the true utterances of the Holy Spirit. See that nothing of an unjust or counterfeit character is written in them. There you will not find that the righteous were cast off by men who themselves were holy. The righteous were indeed persecuted, but only by the malicious. They were cast into prison, but only by the unholy. They were stoned, but only by transgressors. They were slain, but only by the accursed, and by those who had conceived an unrighteous envy against them. Exposed to such sufferings, they endured them gloriously. For what will we say, friends? Was Daniel cast into the den of lions by those who feared God? Were Ananias and Azarias and Mishael shut up in a furnace of fire by those who practiced the great and glorious worship of the Most High? Far from us be such a thought! Who, then, were they that did such things? The hateful and those full of all wickedness were roused to such a tone of fury that they inflicted torture on those who served God with a holy and blameless purpose. They did not know that the