Rulers and the state in the early church

Emperors, magistrates, and laws; the Christian's duties toward them; church and state. Part of Ethics.

1 Clement 61.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · A prayer for the rulers whose authority comes from God.
1 Clement 61.2Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · A prayer that God guide rulers to govern well.
First Apology 17Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Christians pay taxes and pray for the emperors, worshiping God alone; everyone will answer to God.
Oration to the Greeks 4Tatian · ca. 165–172 · Christians obey rulers and pay taxes but fear God alone, who is spirit, without beginning, known through creation, and in need of nothing.
Diatessaron, section 34Tatian · ca. 160-180
To Autolycus 1.11Theophilus of Antioch · ca. 180–185 · Christians honor the emperor, obey him, and pray for him, but worship God alone.
6Anonymous · 180 (17 July) · Speratus serves the invisible God, though he pays his taxes.
6Anonymous · Greek rendering of the Latin Passion; date uncertain · Speratus serves the invisible God and pays his taxes.
The Instructor 3.12.91Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Scripture teaches forgiveness, honesty for soldiers and tax collectors, impartial judgment, love that covers sins, and giving Caesar his due and God his.
Against Heresies 4.36.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The wedding garment is the righteousness on which the Spirit rests; the same God calls the unworthy in kindness and judges those who despise his gift, and all men, even rulers, are his.
Against Heresies 5.24.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The kingdoms of the world are appointed by God, not the devil, as Proverbs and Paul teach of earthly rulers and as Christ showed by paying the tax.
Against Heresies 5.24.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · God established human government and the fear of the sword to restrain violence among fallen men; rulers who act justly are blameless, but unjust ones will perish.
Against Heresies 5.24.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Since authorities are ordained by God, who gives good or bad rulers as the people deserve, the devil can only deceive men into forgetting the true God.
9Anonymous · ca. 180–185 · Christians pray daily for the emperor, who reigns by God's will.
Prophetic Extracts 24.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Caesar stands for the temporary ruler of this world, whose image is the old, earthy man.
On Idolatry 15Tertullian · ca. 196–211 · Hanging lamps and laurels on doors for public festivals honors the door-gods and demons; Christians owe obedience to rulers, but only within the bounds set by God.
On Idolatry 18Tertullian · ca. 196–211 · The insignia of Roman office are bound up with idolatry, unlike the honors Joseph and Daniel wore, and Christ's own humility teaches Christians to shun worldly rank and power.
Octavius 18.5Minucius Felix · ca. 197–250 · Earthly kingdoms help show whether heaven is ruled by one or many.
Octavius 18.6Minucius Felix · ca. 197–250 · Shared rule always ends in bloodshed, as history shows.
Apology 4Tertullian · ca. 197 · Tertullian challenges the law forbidding Christians to exist: human laws can err and are constantly amended, and no just law refuses examination.
Apology 5Tertullian · ca. 197 · The laws against Christians began with bad emperors like Nero and Domitian, while Tiberius and Marcus Aurelius are said to have favored them.
Apology 29Tertullian · ca. 197 · Idols, which are themselves protected and owned by Caesar, cannot protect him; Christians are accused only because they will not seek his welfare from them.
Apology 30Tertullian · ca. 197 · Christians pray to the true God, from whom the emperors have their power, for the emperor's long life, safe empire, and a quiet world, even while being tortured.
Apology 31Tertullian · ca. 197 · The Christian Scriptures command prayer for enemies and persecutors and, by name, for kings and rulers.
Apology 33Tertullian · ca. 197 · Caesar is appointed by the Christians' God, so they honor him the more by refusing to call him a god, which would deny that he is a man and an emperor.
Apology 35Tertullian · ca. 197 · Christians are called public enemies for refusing riotous imperial festivals, yet the conspirators and assassins of emperors have all come from the pagans who kept those festivals.
To the Nations 1.6Tertullian · 197 · Appealing to the laws does not help, because even laws require an inquiry into the deed, and a law that will not be examined is suspect and unjust.
To the Nations 1.17Tertullian · 197 · Christians are called disloyal because they will not swear by the emperor's genius or call him a god, yet it is pagans who rebel, mock, and curse the emperors.
Commentary on Daniel 3.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Do not trust in kings or seek their favour, for their gifts are passing and their friendship dangerous; hope in the living God.
Commentary on Daniel 3.21-23Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 6:10: Daniel prays openly despite the decree rather than hide his faith; Christians obey the authorities by doing no evil, but must die rather than deny God, as the apostles obeyed God rather than men.
Commentary on Daniel 4.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Rome imitates the church: as Christ gathered one people from all nations under the name Christian, Rome gathers men of all nations under the name Roman, a rivalry marked by the census at Christ's birth.
Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 14Tertullian · ca. 211–213 · Paul's command to obey the authorities is a call to live well, not an excuse to avoid martyrdom: Caesar receives taxes and honour, but man himself belongs to God alone.
To Scapula 2Tertullian · 212 · Christians worship the one God, hold that religion must not be compelled, pray for the emperor to their God, and are loyal and peaceable subjects who leave vengeance to God.
To Scapula 4Tertullian · 212 · Tertullian urges Scapula not to fight against God, citing lenient governors, Christian healings of pagans, the favor of Severus, the rain miracle under Marcus Aurelius, and the blameless life of Christians.
Against Celsus 2.30Origen · ca. 248 · Answering Celsus that the Son of God should have shone like the sun, Origen says he did, for the peace of Augustus's empire prepared the world for the spread of Jesus' teaching.
Against Celsus 5.37Origen · ca. 248 · When a city's law contradicts God's natural law, God's law must be obeyed even at the cost of death; so Christians reject the local gods, and Christ, unlike the newly invented Sarapis, is older than all creation.
Against Celsus 8.26Origen · ca. 248 · Christians must die rather than obey or sacrifice to demons; city laws that command it are not true laws, and prayer belongs to God alone, offered through the Son as high priest.
Against Celsus 8.63Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus contradicts himself, now saying the demons need nothing and that God must never be abandoned, then urging Christians to win the favour of rulers and kings as appointed by demonic power.
Against Celsus 8.65Origen · ca. 248 · Christians will not win rulers' favour by sin or servility, but neither do they provoke them, obeying Paul's command to be subject to the authorities; yet they will die rather than swear by the emperor's Fortune, which is either nothing or a demon.
Against Celsus 8.68Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus quotes Homer that kings are given by Zeus and warns that if all behaved like Christians the empire would fall to barbarians; Origen replies that kings are set up by God, Christians honour the king, and if all believed, even barbarians would become peaceable.
Against Celsus 8.74Origen · ca. 248 · Christians serve their country as commanders of prayer, offered in secret, and benefit it more than others by teaching piety and preparing citizens for the heavenly city.
Commentary on Matthew 17.25Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen sets the question about the census tax in its history: Jewish resistance to Roman statues in the temple and the debate, stirred by Judas the Galilean, over paying tribute.
Commentary on Matthew 17.26Origen · ca. 246–248 · The trap lay in the two groups sent: forbidding the tax would expose Jesus to the Herodians, allowing it to the Pharisees; he answered by examining the coin, teaching that both Caesar and God receive their due.
Commentary on Romans 9.25Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · The command to be subject to authorities is given to the 'soul' still bound to worldly goods, not to the spiritual; authority comes from God as our senses do, and those who misuse it will be justly judged.
Commentary on Romans 9.26Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Paul means ordinary authorities, not persecutors; the apostolic decree forbade only what human law left untouched, since the civil judge, as God's minister, punishes the other crimes, and the law-abiding will have praise from God at the judgment, while those who do good from love live under the law of the spirit.
Commentary on Romans 9.29Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Christians must be subject and pay taxes so as to live quietly; refusal would make their persecutors excusable and turn their death into a just penalty rather than martyrdom.
Commentary on Romans 9.30Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Taxes are paid to the world's ministers, including the spirits that exact the 'tribute' of temptation, by those who still live according to the flesh, as Christ himself paid; fear and honor belong to God, and the one debt never to be paid off is love.
To Donatus 10Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246 · Even the law courts are corrupt: advocates cheat, judges take bribes, and the innocent are condemned.
To Donatus 13Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246 · Rulers surrounded by guards live in greater fear than anyone, and their power turns against them.
Acts of Achatius (Disputation of Achatius) 1Anonymous · ca. 250–251 · Achatius professes loyal prayer for the emperor but refuses sacrifice, naming the God of Abraham.
Church History 7.11.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius: Christians worship the one Creator God, who gave the emperors their rule, and pray for their empire.
Church History 8.1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The emperors showed Christians favor, even appointing them provincial governors and excusing them from sacrifice.
Divine Institutes 5.2.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He flattered the emperors for suppressing Christianity.
Divine Institutes 6.9.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Without God, people take national law, based on expediency, for justice.
Divine Institutes 6.9.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Human laws vary with national interest.
Divine Institutes 6.9.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Rome won its empire by lawful injustice.
Appendix of Ten Documents on the Donatist Controversy 5Anonymous · documents of 303–330 · After the council of Arles (314), Constantine thanks the bishops, denounces the Donatists for appealing to him from the bishops' judgment as if from a secular court, and orders the obstinate to be brought to his court.
Appendix of Ten Documents on the Donatist Controversy 7Anonymous · documents of 303–330 · Constantine tells the vicar Celsus to leave the Donatist agitators alone for now, but to announce that he will come to Africa, judge the case, and punish those who disturb true worship.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.8.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Only those whose reason governs them should rule, whatever their learning.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.9.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Moses, Saul, and Jeremiah declined office; Plato explains why.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Plato’s Republic: true rule serves the ruled.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.9.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · No one willingly rules; rulers need reward or the threat of penalty.
Canon 7Anonymous · 1 August 314 · Christian governors and officials keep communion under the care of the local bishop, unless they act against Christian discipline.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God arranged the unified Roman empire so the apostles could travel safely and hostile locals were restrained.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Without Rome's restraint, pagans would have waged constant war and persecution against Christ's teaching.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God used fear of imperial authority to restrain the enemies of his word so that it might grow.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.20.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Egypt lost its independence to Rome under Augustus, at Christ's birth, fulfilling the prophecy of harsh lords.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.20.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aquila's and Symmachus's “strong king” means the Roman empire, which restrains the enemies of the church.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Augustan peace, which ended the old divided rule, coincided with Christ's coming as Micah foretold.
Theophany 3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 5.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Celebrating thirty years of rule, Constantine offers God not blood sacrifices but his own soul and the souls of his subjects brought to true worship.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As there is one God and one Word who governs his kingdom, so monarchy is the best rule; the Word bears many titles and has given humans a share in God's virtues.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Peter calls human rulers a “creation,” showing that the word can mean appointment.
Life of Constantine 2.56.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine grants peace to pagans as well as Christians: no one is to molest another over religion.
Encyclical Letter 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339 · Athanasius explains why he withdrew from the city, and describes how the churches were handed to Gregory, the faithful coerced, and a decree sent against him to Constantius.
Canon 7Anonymous · 343 or 347 · Bishops are not to go to the imperial court unless summoned by the emperor, though they may intercede for the oppressed and for condemned persons who seek the church's help.
Canon 8Anonymous · 343 or 347 · Bishops are not to go to the imperial court unless summoned by the emperor, though they may intercede for the oppressed and for the condemned who seek the church's mercy.
Defence against the Arians 55Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 349–357 · Athanasius tells of his reception by Constantius and quotes the emperor’s letters ordering the clergy and people of Alexandria to receive him and the magistrates to punish disturbers.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius urges repentance while there is time.
Long recension, Antiochians 11Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius warns against idleness and vice, urges obedience to Caesar where it is without danger, and forbids magic, pederasty and murder.
Commentary on Matthew 23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary treats the tribute to Caesar (we owe God body, soul, and will), the Sadducees’ question (in the resurrection women will be like angels; God of the living), the great commandment (the neighbor is Christ; love of Father and Son equal), and David’s Lord as showing unity of substance.
Life of Antony 81Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Constantine and his sons wrote to Antony, who was unimpressed but replied, urging them to remember the judgment, to rule justly, and to care for the poor.
On Saint Athanasius 1.7Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer denies that the emperor has any authority to judge bishops, citing the law of the king in Deuteronomy and the laws on murder and false witnesses.
On Saint Athanasius 1.22Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer sets Jehoshaphat, who sent priests through Judah to teach God's law, against the emperor, who sends his orders through the empire to overturn it.
On Saint Athanasius 1.35Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer explains that the bishops refused to condemn Athanasius because they trust God, not princes, and applies to the emperor the prophets' rebukes of unjust rulers in Ecclesiastes, Hosea, Amos, Micah and Habakkuk.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 19Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer says the bishops pray for the emperor as Paul commands, but must also rebuke him publicly without partiality, as Paul charged Timothy, and must, like the apostles beaten by the council, go on preaching Christ.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 29Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · From Paul's farewell charge to the Ephesian elders to guard the flock against fierce wolves, and his rebuke of the high priest Ananias, Lucifer argues that bishops must not spare the emperor or revere his regalia.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 32Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer warns Constantius of the river of fire, defends calling him a beast by Paul's words on the Cretans, and answers the emperor's appeal to the duty of obeying kings with Paul's command to Titus to rebuke with all authority.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 33Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer grants that Christians owe obedience to rulers, as Paul tells Titus, but only in good works, not in condemning the innocent unheard or denying the Son, and says no Christian may yield to an emperor who commands apostasy.
Letter to the Monks 1.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · The covering letter to the monks ends by asking them to treat the work as a refutation of the Arians, to return it uncopied, and to pray; then a fragment of the History describes how the emperor imposes unknown bishops on unwilling people.
History of the Arians 22Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius recounts his audience with Constantius, who swore to hear no more slanders, and cites the emperor’s letters restoring him, including one written after the murder of Constans.
History of the Arians 33Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius contrasts the devil’s violence with Christ’s gentleness and recounts how Constantius exiled Paulinus, Lucifer, Eusebius of Vercelli, and Dionysius for refusing to condemn him.
History of the Arians 44Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Hosius’s letter to Constantius: he recounts the fair challenge offered to Athanasius’s enemies at Sardica, urges the emperor to stop persecuting, and insists that church affairs belong to the bishops, not the emperor.
History of the Arians 48Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius recounts the assault of Syrianus, Constantius’s letter inciting Alexandria against him, and the emperor’s false claim that he had restored Athanasius only for his brother’s sake, contrasting his conduct with his father’s and brother’s.
History of the Arians 52Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius argues that the emperor has no place in church judgments and that the alliance of Constantius and the Arian bishops is a new and unprecedented spectacle.
Letter 225Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Writing for a synod of bishops, Basil asks the vicar Demosthenes to excuse the absence of his brother Gregory of Nyssa, who fell ill under arrest, and to hold any inquiry into Gregory's election and accounts in Cappadocia rather than abroad.
Letter 289Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil reports the complaint of a woman vowed to continence who has been publicly slandered by a man he has already excommunicated, and argues that such offenders should not be rescued from the civil authorities.
Letters 298, 299Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil warns a devout friend against superstition about a healing spring; in a second letter he urges a reluctant tax assessor in the district of Ibora to accept the task and to assess justly, fearing neither the powerful nor despising the poor.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 55Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · A postscript gives Constantius’s letter delaying the Ariminum envoys and the bishops’ reply refusing to change their decision and asking to return to their churches.
Versus paschales, lines 24-31Decimus Magnus Ausonius · ca. 360-395 · Ausonius compares the Trinity with the three emperors who share one rule, and commends them to Christ.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 31Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's thirty-first rule, on what is set apart for those dedicated to God, with Rules 32 (render to each what is due) and 33 (on causing others to stumble), whose headings the scan lost.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 79Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's seventy-ninth rule: rulers are avengers of God's ordinances, and one must obey them in everything that does not break God's commandment.
Letter 241Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory asks the governor to punish the guilty but pardon the city of Diocaesarea, whose citizens rioted in grief at losing its status, for the sake of all its people and its church.
Letter 303Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory asks Nectarius of Constantinople to settle the dispute over parishes himself and not let Bishop Bosporius's orthodoxy be tried in the civil courts.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The chair of pestilence is not Moses' chair but the judge's seat of worldly office, whose duties of punishment infect even a devout Christian.
Tractates on the Psalms 52.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The ungodly fear idols and powerful men instead of God; Christians who flatter kings and surrender the church's freedom for fear of bodily harm show the same ungodly fear.
Tractates on the Psalms 139.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The snares, ropes, and stumbling blocks are the plots of the Jewish leaders and the trick questions of Sadducees and Pharisees about resurrection, tribute, the law, and divorce.
Three Letters to Sympronianus 2.5Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian answers the charge that Catholics brought imperial persecution on the Novatians: Christian rulers acted on their own, as rulers in Scripture defended the righteous.
Titus of Bostra, Against the Manichees 2.20Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · God permits wicked rulers as a just punishment of sinful peoples, as Scripture declares.
Oration 4.32Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christians lost through prosperity what they had won in persecution; Gregory reproaches the dead Constantius for raising Julian, yet excuses him as acting from kindness.
Oration 17.4Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Human affairs change constantly under God’s hidden governance; the wise are trained by misfortune and keep hope, and Christians should be subject to God, one another, and the civil authorities.
Oration 17.7Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ is the same for all but brings fall or rising; the people should not blame authority for their own faults, and Gregory now turns with a bishop’s frankness to the Christian governor.
Oration 17.9Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges the governor, as God’s image ruling God’s images, to imitate God’s kindness, which can make him godlike, to temper threats with mercy, and to forgive as the parable of the unforgiving servant teaches.
Oration 18.32Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory tells how his father resisted the emperor Julian, defended the forced election of a bishop of Caesarea, and, near death, travelled to Caesarea to secure Basil’s election.
Oration 19.11Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory tells officials to be content with their lawful pay, urges mercy to the poor, and asks the tax assessor to deal humanely with his people, since Christ was born during a census and paid the temple tax.
Oration 36.11Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory tells his people that their orthodox faith and consistent life are his best defence, and exhorts emperors, courtiers, and nobles to use their positions under God.
Oration 43.47Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Valens' attack broke against Basil and Caesarea; Gregory recounts Basil's interview with the prefect Modestus, in which Basil refused to worship a creature, being himself bidden to become god.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.15Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Under a Christian emperor the church had been united and paganism suppressed, while the Donatist leaders were in exile and the devil grieved in his temples.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 7.6Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Macarius, a layman acting as an imperial agent, never exercised any episcopal function, so communion with him did not pollute the bishops; like a judge he was a minister of God's will, and Moses, Phinehas and Elijah were not excluded for their killings.
On the Destruction of Jerusalem 2.9Anonymous · ca. 370 · King Agrippa II's long speech urging the Jews not to make war on Rome, which rules the whole world; they agree to restore the porticoes and pay tribute, but reject obedience to Florus and drive Agrippa out.
On the Destruction of Jerusalem 5.15Anonymous · ca. 370 · Josephus urges the defenders to surrender, arguing that God has given rule to Rome, that Israel's history shows servitude preferred to ruin, and that nature teaches the weaker to yield.
Question 35, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · David honored Saul because royal office comes from God: the king bears God’s image as the bishop bears Christ’s, so even pagan rulers are to be honored for their office.
Question 110, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Lawful authority comes from God, while the “chair of pestilence” is the seat of those who reject the one God, as pagan priests who persecute Christians and Jezebel’s judges of Naboth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.4.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Earthly authorities show one ordering God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul says rulers serve God against evil.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.4.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Earthly rulers serve the king's good order.
Apostolic Canon 30Anonymous · ca. 380 · A bishop who gains a church through secular rulers is deposed.
Apostolic Canon 84Anonymous · ca. 380 · Unjustly insulting the emperor or a ruler is punished.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.45.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Disputes among Christians must not be judged by secular rulers.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.46.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christians must keep their disputes from pagans, while paying their taxes as Christ did.
Apostolic Constitutions 4.13.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christians must obey rulers in what pleases God and pay all their dues.
To a Young Widow, section 4John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom reminds the widow of the ruin of other great families and of the violent deaths of most recent emperors and the sorrows of their wives, to show that worldly rank is no security.
On the Beatitudes 1205Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · Mature men in office grow arrogant, imagining themselves lords of life and death, though they are like actors in a stage procession and are often carried from their thrones to the grave; the ruler who is poor in spirit, seeing the equality of human nature, gains the kingdom of heaven.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 56Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Paul commands obedience to authorities, manual work, love within the household, and silence of women in church.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 4Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · Ursinus was briefly recalled in 367 but exiled again; Damasus's men attacked his followers at Saint Agnes, the Italian bishops refused to condemn Ursinus unheard, and the presbyters Faustinus and Marcellinus, scattered in exile, addressed their petition to the emperors.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 5Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · Faustinus and Marcellinus open their petition by asking the emperors, who defend the Catholic faith by law, to protect truth even in the lowly against the powerful many.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 36Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · The petitioners ask only to be allowed to worship Christ in peace, even in humble places, and sign their petition; the emperors' rescript to the prefect Cynegius praises their petition and orders that Gregory of Elvira, Heraclidas and like-minded priests be protected from harassment.
Apology of the Prophet David 27Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · David spared Saul and waited for the kingdom God had promised; Ambrose contrasts this with the usurpations and civil wars of his own day.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 13Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Former magistrates who used the sword, torture or public shows must do penance and may not be made bishops; Nicaea excluded eunuchs and men fresh from public office; ordination must not be bought or won by popular favour.
On the Duties of the Clergy 2.29Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · The Church must guard the deposits of widows and orphans against the powerful, as God defended the temple treasury against Heliodorus and as the bishop of Ticinum did against an imperial order.
Letter 43.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers the objection that a bishop should not have been cleared by a civil court: the Donatists themselves appealed to the emperor.
Letter 43.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine recounts the Donatists' appeal from the Council of Arles to Constantine and the emperor's judgement at Milan in Caecilian's favour.
Letter 87.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues from Romans 13 that the state rightly punishes evil, and that the Donatists suffer not for righteousness but for the evil of schism.
Letter 87.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine defends Catholics’ appeals to imperial protection against Donatist violence, citing Paul’s armed escort and Romans 13, while disapproving of any immoderate Catholic action.
Letter 88.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · A copy of Constantine’s letter to the proconsul Probianus reporting the acquittal of Felix of Aptunga and summoning the forger Ingentius to court.
Letter 88.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Hippo clergy argue that the Donatists, who first appealed to the emperor, cannot complain of imperial laws against them, comparing Daniel’s accusers thrown to the lions.
Letter 88.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Hippo clergy explain that Catholics sought a peaceful conference and leniency for Donatists, but Donatist violence, especially against the bishop of Bagai, led to the harsher imperial laws.
Letter 89.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine recounts that the Donatists themselves first appealed to Constantine against Caecilian, were defeated at every stage, and now call the consequences persecution.
Letter 93.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers the Rogatist bishop Vincentius, defending the restraint of the Donatists by the civil authorities because many have been corrected by it.
Letter 93.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Penalties against Donatists (exile, fines) are milder than the capital laws against pagan sacrifice, for their aim is correction; like the Jews of Rom 10, they seek their own righteousness.
Letter 93.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Donatists' forebears first accused Caecilian before Constantine and, though defeated before bishops and the emperor, refused peace.
Letter 93.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine admits he first opposed compulsion, but was persuaded by the conversion of his own city and others through fear of the laws.
Letter 93.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The civil power is from God; Vincentius does not do good, for at Cartenna with ten followers he denies the worldwide church foretold by the prophets.
Letter 93.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Catholics disapprove of those who use the laws out of hatred or greed to seize Donatist property or receive their excommunicates, but they tolerate such people within the church.
Letter 97.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine, on behalf of the African bishops, urges Olympius to have the emperor confirm the laws quickly, before the bishops sent to court arrive.
Letter 100.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine welcomes the new proconsul Donatus but begs him not to punish Donatist crimes against the church with the full severity, still less with death.
Letter 100.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks Donatus to renounce the death penalty for Donatists, to publish that the laws remain in force, and to have them instructed by documents rather than merely compelled.
Letter 105.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Kings who hold the truth rightly legislate for it, as Nebuchadnezzar did after the furnace; the Donatists themselves say Amen to his edict in the liturgy.
Letter 133.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine urges Marcellinus, who obtained the confessions without torture, to show the same mildness in sentencing, so that Christian gentleness may be seen.
Letter 136.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Marcellinus reports Volusian's further objections: why God changed the sacrifices, and how Christ's teaching on non-retaliation can be compatible with the state, given the evils under Christian emperors.
Letter 138.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · To the charge that Christ's teaching on non-retaliation harms the state, Augustine replies that Roman authors themselves praised those who preferred to pardon injuries.
Letter 138.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The decline of Rome began long before Christ, as Sallust and Juvenal testify, through avarice and luxury, not through Christian teaching.
Letter 138.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God sent the cross of Christ as help against moral corruption; Rome's civic virtues built an earthly city, but true religion makes people citizens of the city whose king is truth and whose law is love.
Letter 141.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Donatists' own forefathers accused Caecilian before Constantine, so they cannot blame Catholics for appealing to emperors; and Caecilian was in fact cleared by bishops and by the emperor.
Letter 153.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The power of rulers, judges, and executioners has its proper use in restraining the wicked, and episcopal intercession presupposes rather than opposes it.
Letter 153.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Civil severity and episcopal intercession are both useful; Paul's teaching in Romans 13 shows the ruler's sword is from God, and both must act from love.
Letter 153.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Only the just truly possess what they have; civil law restrains bad possessors until the godly reach the eternal city, and Augustine closes his letter to Macedonius.
Letter 185.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Emperors' laws for the truth rightly punish the Donatists, as Nebuchadnezzar's law protecting the true God was just.
Letter 185.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · In the apostles' time kings opposed Christ; now, as Psalm 2 foretold, kings serve the Lord as kings by just laws, like Hezekiah, Josiah, and Darius.
Letter 185.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine recalls that he first favored only fining Donatist clergy for violence, not compelling conversion, and the council at first asked for this.
Letter 230.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Darius says he has at least postponed war, hopes for lasting peace through Augustine's blessing, and asks his prayers for the empire.
Homilies on Matthew 16.11John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The adversary is taken to be an earthly opponent and the threat of court and prison a deterrent from present things; virtue becomes light when done for Christ, who fights with us, as with the three youths in the furnace.
Homilies on Matthew 33.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ requires endurance to the end; the apostles, accused before tyrants as destroyers of the world, overcame by endurance, while Christians now, under pious emperors and in peace, grow soft.
Homilies on Matthew 58.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ again foretells his passion and the grieved disciples do not yet grasp the resurrection; asked for the temple tax, he shows Peter that as the King’s own Son he is exempt, yet pays it by a miracle so as not to give offense.
Homilies on Matthew 70.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Pharisees and Herodians, hoping to make Christ either a rebel against Caesar or an enemy of the people, flatter him and ask about the tax; Christ exposes their hypocrisy, showing he knows their secret intent.
Homilies on Matthew 70.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ answers the tax question from the coin itself, rendering to Caesar what does not harm godliness and to God what is God’s; he then refutes the Sadducees’ story of the seven brothers from Scripture and God’s power, and Chrysostom turns to the monks who already live like the angels, having slain the desires of the belly.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.52Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The cranes' rotation of duty mirrors an early human commonwealth corrupted by the lust for permanent power.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.68Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Bees have a king chosen by nature for his size and gentleness, whom they obey with unmatched devotion.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.19.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · God's wrath is punishment; emperors should be strict in law, merciful in punishing.
On Free Choice of the Will 1.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · Augustine distinguishes temporal law, which can justly change with the condition of a people, from the eternal law, the supreme reason by which it is just that all things be perfectly ordered.
On Free Choice of the Will 1.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · Lovers of eternal things live under the eternal law, lovers of temporal things under the temporal law, which can punish only by taking away temporal goods; such goods are not evil, but their bad use is.
Sermon 13.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Rulers and judges too must remember that they are sinners judging sinners, as Christ showed with the woman taken in adultery, turning the Pharisees' trap back on them as he did over Caesar's coin.
Sermon 13.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · All who hold authority are ordained by God; whoever does good will have praise, either from a just authority or from God, as the martyr Cyprian did, who was condemned on this very spot.
Sermon 37.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church speaks carefully and keeps love in order, praising each thing according to its rank, as the martyr Donata did when she gave honor to Caesar and fear to God.
Sermon 46.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Donatists’ appeal to Simon of Cyrene as an “African” fails, since Cyrene lies in the East and has no Donatists; and if being compelled to carry the cross pleases them, the Catholic emperors rightly compel them to unity.
Sermon 47.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s testament of peace cannot be divided; the Donatists, who grieve that imperial law voids their wills, should let God’s testament stand in their hearts and share the inheritance of peace.
Sermon 51.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jechoniah’s exile prefigures Christ, rejected by his own people, whose Gospel passed to the Gentiles through Jewish apostles; as Jeremiah told the exiles to pray for Babylon, the Church prayed for kings, who became Christian.
Sermon 62.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Fear of offending the powerful is no excuse: parents, country, and all superiors must be obeyed only within obedience to God, who is greater; the Church, healed and beautified by Christ’s blood, must forget her former people.
Sermon 62.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christians obey authorities, but when the emperor commands what God forbids, such as attending in an idol temple, the greater Authority must be obeyed.
Sermon 302.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · It is not enough not to do or want evil; Christians must prevent it; evil people have rulers to punish them, and ‘do good and you will have praise from the authority’ holds even for Lawrence, killed by it, since it gave him the occasion of praise.
Sermon 302.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Bishops must visit officials on behalf of their people’s needs, enduring humiliations; those who say Augustine should have warned the official do not know what he said to him in private.
Life of Saint Martin 20Sulpicius Severus · ca. 396–397 · At the court of the usurper Maximus Martin alone refuses flattery, passes the emperor's cup to his presbyter, and foretells Maximus's fall.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.74Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine defends Moses' wars as obedience to God and argues that what is evil in war is the love of violence, revenge, and domination, not war waged under God's or lawful authority, citing John the Baptist, Christ, and the centurion.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.76Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that the patriarchs waged wars to show that earthly kingdoms are God's gift, while Christ and the martyrs suffered without resisting to show that the heavenly kingdom is to be sought, and notes the victories of Christian emperors.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · The narration continues with the Babylonian captivity as a figure of the Church's service under the kings of this world, now Christian, until its final deliverance, and with the prophecies of Christ given to Israel.
Letters 1.5Anastasius I · ca. 400-402 · Rome cannot accept Origen's teaching; Anastasius quotes his letter to Venerius and reports the emperors' rescripts against reading Origen.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Against Parmenian’s complaint that Constantine ordered Donatists put to death, Augustine argues that punishment for schism is just and that suffering at the hands of the authorities does not make anyone a martyr.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 1.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Punishment by Christian emperors does not make the Donatists martyrs, any more than it makes punished pagans or the demons martyrs; Christ blessed only those persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 1.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Heresies are listed by Paul among works of the flesh, so rulers who bear the sword may punish them as they punish idolatry and sorcery; the Donatists themselves used imperial officers against the Maximianists and the usurper Firmus against Rogatus.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 1.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · If coercion of schismatics is permitted, as the Donatists’ own use of the courts against the Maximianists shows, their punishments are just; laws took their basilicas after they resisted imperial orders and attacked the bearers of the emperor’s gifts.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 1.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Only Julian the Apostate decreed in the Donatists’ favour, and they flattered him that justice alone had a place with him; later laws fined their clergy, confiscated their meeting places, and restricted their bequests.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 1.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Catholic mildness leaves the Donatists in many basilicas, and any excessive measures against them displease the faithful of the Catholic Church throughout the world.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 3.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Parmenian urged Tyconius to endure persecution with the Donatists, but punishment for schism is God’s merciful warning, not martyrdom; the Donatists’ own mistreatment of the Maximianist Salvius of Membresa and their acceptance of Maximianist baptism expose them.
Canon 93 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · The instructions to the legates of 404: they are to ask the emperors for protection against Donatist violence and the Circumcellions and for the enforcement of the laws against heretics.
Canon 104 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · A cleric who asks the emperor to have his case tried in the secular courts loses his rank; to ask for an episcopal court is permitted.
Letter 2, chapter 12Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Bishops should not ordain curials or public officials, who are bound to public duties and shows and may be reclaimed by the emperor.
Letter 6 to Exsuperius, chapter 3Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent declines to censure baptized magistrates who used torture or passed death sentences, since the sword is granted by God, leaving their deeds to God's judgment.
Dialogues 2.5Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · Valentinian I, influenced by his Arian wife, refused to see Martin; after fasting and prayer Martin entered the palace, and fire under the throne forced the emperor to rise and grant his requests.
Dialogues 3.11Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · After the execution of Priscillian, Martin goes to Trier to plead for the condemned and against sending armed tribunes to Spain; Maximus delays him.
Dialogues 3.12Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · The bishops press Maximus against Martin; the emperor tries persuasion and, failing, sends executioners against those Martin had pleaded for.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To Donatist complaints about confiscated church property, Augustine answers that property is held by human law, given through emperors, and imperial law forbids those outside Catholic communion to hold property as a church.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 6.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Those who reject the emperor cannot claim property held by imperial law, and by divine right they cannot claim to be the Church; Augustine invites them to the Catholic Church, where they will have both land and its Creator.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christian rulers rightly act against those who dishonor Christ, as Nebuchadnezzar decreed punishment for blasphemy against the God who saved the three young men.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 115.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Pilate asks Jesus whether he is king of the Jews, and Jesus answers that his kingdom is not of this world, removing both Jewish and Gentile fears.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 116.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jesus tells Pilate that his power is given from above and that the one who handed him over out of envy has the greater sin, though Pilate too sins.
City of God 2.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine ironically tests Sallust's claim that the early Romans were just by nature against the rape of the Sabine women, the expulsion of Collatinus, and the exile of Camillus.
City of God 2.18Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine quotes Sallust's own History to show that Rome suffered oppression and discord even in its best period and sank into utter corruption after Carthage fell, long before Christ.
City of God 2.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine contrasts the silence of the gods on morals with the Christian Scriptures' constant teaching against avarice and luxury, and says Christians must bear even a corrupt state while aiming at the heavenly commonwealth.
City of God 2.21Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine summarizes Cicero's argument in the Republic that without justice there is no true state, and Cicero's own admission that Rome had lost its state through vice before Christ, concluding that true justice exists only in the city of God.
City of God 3.15Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reviews the violent ends of most of Rome's kings and doubts Romulus's deification, noting Cicero's own skepticism and contrasting the eclipse at Romulus's death with the miraculous darkness at Christ's crucifixion.
City of God 3.16Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine describes the disastrous first year of the Republic, in which Brutus expelled his innocent colleague Collatinus, executed his own sons, and died in battle, and five consuls held office.
City of God 3.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine lists the calamities of the early Republic, from social strife, famine, and plague to the Gallic sack, the Caudine Forks, and the war with Pyrrhus, asking where the gods were.
City of God 3.21Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine recalls Rome's ingratitude to Scipio Africanus, the arrival of Asiatic luxury, the unjust Voconian law, and the disasters that followed Carthage's destruction, including the disgrace at Numantia.
City of God 4.3Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine compares a vast empire won by war to a rich man tormented by anxieties, and argues that the reign of the good benefits their subjects while the wicked ruler is himself a slave to his vices.
City of God 4.4Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues that kingdoms without justice are simply large robber bands, illustrating with the pirate's reply to Alexander the Great.
City of God 5.11Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine affirms that the triune God, whose providence orders even the smallest creatures, also governs human kingdoms.
City of God 5.12Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine describes the Romans' love of liberty, domination, and glory, from Sallust and Virgil, and argues that true virtue seeks the testimony of conscience, not human praise.
City of God 5.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues that Roman conquest brought the conquered little real harm or benefit, and that Christians should not boast of sacrifices for a far greater city.
City of God 5.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine distinguishes love of glory from lust for domination, teaches that even tyrants rule by God's permission, and holds that true virtue requires true piety.
City of God 5.21Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine attributes all earthly kingdoms, given to good and bad rulers alike, to the one true God's just though hidden providence.
City of God 5.24Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine defines the true happiness of Christian emperors as just, humble, and merciful rule directed to God and eternal life, not earthly success.
City of God 5.26Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine praises Theodosius' faithfulness, prayer, clemency, support of the church, and public penance, and closes the first five books with a warning to pagan critics.
City of God 19.6Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine shows the misery of human judgment, in which judges, unable to see consciences, torture and condemn the innocent, and says the wise judge must serve but should lament this necessity before God.
City of God 19.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that the heavenly city, while a pilgrim on earth, shares the use of temporal goods and obeys the laws of the earthly city for the sake of peace, but must dissent from it in religion, since it worships the one God alone.
City of God 19.21Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues that by Scipio's definition in Cicero's Republic, a commonwealth requires true justice, and since justice gives each his due and the Romans withheld worship from the true God, Rome was never a true commonwealth.
City of God 19.24Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine proposes his own definition of a people as a rational multitude united by agreement about the things it loves, by which Rome and other states are peoples and commonwealths, though without true justice.
City of God 19.26Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine says that the earthly city's peace, though not its final good, benefits the pilgrim people of God, who are therefore told to pray for rulers and for the peace of Babylon.
Commentary on Jeremiah 4.35Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah tells the king in person to do justice, protect the stranger, orphan, and widow, and shed no innocent blood, or the palace will be desolate; the warning applies to bishops, presbyters, and deacons (Jer 22:1–5).
Commentary on Jeremiah 5.51Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Nations refusing Nebuchadnezzar's yoke will be destroyed; as Paul handed sinners over to Satan, and as we must obey the authorities (Jer 27:8).
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 1.20.6Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christian emperors forgive even usurpers, unlike ancient tyrants.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 2.1.3Orosius · ca. 417–418 · All power, and so all kingdoms, come from God.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 3.8.5Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Under Augustus the whole world for the first time lived in peace under Roman law.
Letter 7, chapter 1Boniface I, bishop of Rome · 418–422 · Boniface asks Honorius to protect the Roman church against renewed disturbance by the rival party of Eulalius, sending legates to plead its cause.
Instructions 1.9Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · All authority is from God, but not all use it well, as all receive life from God but do not all live well.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 23.1Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine thanks the emperor for the victory of the faith at Ephesus, won by devotion rather than arms, and compares him to Abraham, David, and Elijah.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 23.3Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine asks the emperor to support Bishop Maximian, keep Nestorius from all fellowship, and protect the Asian estates that Proba left for the clergy and the poor.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 26.3Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine shares spiritually in Maximian's consecration, welcomes the emperor's approval, and praises Maximian's humble path to the episcopate.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 26.5Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine asks the council to enlist the emperors, to help Antioch, to condemn Nestorius and his named associates while allowing others to return, and to summon John of Antioch.
Letter to Valerian, paragraph 14Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 432 · Kings too have served God, David, Josiah and Hezekiah of old, and in the author's own day princes and princesses of the imperial court.
Part 2, chapter 23Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Samson’s victory with the jawbone, Delilah’s three tests and betrayal for silver, his blinding, and his death bringing down the temple figure Christ’s answers to the testing questions (the adulteress, tribute to Caesar, the levirate wife), his betrayal, passion, and victory over idolatry in death.
Part 2, chapter 24Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Ruth the Moabite, refused by the nearer kinsman and married by Boaz, figures the Church of the nations rejected by Israel; (chapter 24) Samuel, leader, priest, and prophet, figures Christ, while Eli’s sinful sons, the captured ark, and the demand for a king warn sinful priests and rulers.
Part 3, chapter 37Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalm’s call to kings to serve the Lord is fulfilled as rulers take up Christ’s yoke; justice, mercy, and prayer for rulers are commended, with a line of Virgil.