Love of enemies and forgiveness of wrongs in the early church

Loving enemies, not taking revenge, and forgiving those who wrong us. Part of Ethics.

Didache 1.3Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Bless and pray for enemies, and love those who hate you.
Didache 1.4Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Turn the other cheek, go the second mile, and do not demand back what is taken.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.23.4 (100.4)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · If God forgives those who confess, how can a sinner hold a grudge?
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.23.5 (100.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Put away grudges, and the Lord will heal your sins.
To the Ephesians 10.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Answer hostility with gentleness, humility, and prayer.
To the Ephesians 10.3Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Imitate the Lord, who suffered wrong more than anyone, and remain pure.
To the Philippians 6.2Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Those who ask forgiveness must forgive, since all will stand before Christ's judgment seat.
Epistle of the Apostles 18Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ gives the apostles a new commandment to love and obey one another, to love their enemies, and to do to no one what they would not have done to them.
First Apology 14Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Converted from immorality, magic, greed, and hatred, Christians now live in self-control, share their goods, and pray for enemies.
First Apology 15Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Christ's teaching on purity, divorce, celibacy, repentance, love of enemies, generosity, and trust in God.
Acts of John 81Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Drusiana asks that Fortunatus be raised too; Callimachus objects, and John teaches that evil is not to be repaid with evil.
Sentences of Sextus 105Anonymous · 2nd-early 3rd cent. · Consider no one an enemy.
Sentences of Sextus 213Anonymous · 2nd-early 3rd cent. · Pray that you may be able to do good to your enemies.
Sentence 105 (Greek)Anonymous · 2nd-early 3rd cent. · Consider no one an enemy.
Sentence 213 (Greek)Anonymous · 2nd-early 3rd cent. · Pray to be able to do good to your enemies.
Dialogue with Trypho 35.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christians pray for their enemies, that they may be saved at Christ's return.
Dialogue with Trypho 85.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ commanded love of enemies, which Isaiah also proclaimed.
Dialogue with Trypho 96.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christians pray for their enemies, as Christ taught.
Dialogue with Trypho 108.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christians do not hate the Jews but pray for their repentance.
Diatessaron, section 9Tatian · ca. 160-180
To Autolycus 3.14Theophilus of Antioch · ca. 180–185 · Christians are taught to love their enemies, to do good without boasting, and to obey and pray for the authorities.
A Plea for the Christians 1Athenagoras · ca. 176–180 · Every people may worship as it likes under the emperors' tolerant rule, yet Christians alone are persecuted for their name; they do not resist, but ask for a hearing.
A Plea for the Christians 11Athenagoras · ca. 176–180 · Christian teaching is shown by its fruit: even uneducated Christians love their enemies, do not retaliate, and love their neighbors, as the philosophers do not.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 28Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Simon fails to raise the dead Nicostratus while Peter raises him and refuses vengeance on Simon; the crowd honours Peter, gifts pour in for the poor, and Peter accepts money from a woman of ill repute as owed to Christ.
The Instructor 3.12.92Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Scripture condemns liars and the conceited, blesses the humble and merciful, and commands love of enemies and faith in prayer; servants must be treated as equals before God.
Against Heresies 2.32.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Lord's commands, which forbid even evil thoughts, refute the heretics' claim that they must experience every kind of deed.
Against Heresies 3.18.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s call to take up the cross and his warnings of persecution show that he truly suffered; those who despise the martyrs will be put to shame, and Christ’s prayer for his killers shows his goodness.
Against Heresies 4.13.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ deepened the law’s commands (no lust, no anger, giving all, loving enemies) so that freedom brings greater love and glory, not separation from God.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 22.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The God of peace, who commands love of enemies, does not command hatred of family.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 22.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · They do not conflict: the same disposition loves the enemy without revenge and puts Christ above one's father.
Miscellanies 2.18.90Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The law commands helping an enemy's burdened animal and returning his stray, training us not to rejoice at enemies' misfortunes but to pray for them; forgetting wrongs ends enmity and leads to concord.
Miscellanies 2.19.102Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Friendship is of gods, men, or animals; the one who does good is God's image and receives good in giving; we should help friends and enemies alike; the image of God lies in mind and reason, not the body.
Miscellanies 4.13.93Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Neither Valentinians nor Montanists should call other Christians “psychics”; the perfect practice love, which means loving enemies as God's creatures, not their sins, for sin lies in activity, not in substance.
Miscellanies 4.14.95Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ commands love of enemies to make us like the Father; the “adversary” to be reconciled on the way is not the body but the devil, whose servants will hand over those who profess Christ while doing the devil's works.
Miscellanies 7.11.62Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows uses created things with thanksgiving and restraint, bears no grudge, prays for those who wrong him, and grows through love from faithful servant into God's friend.
Miscellanies 7.12.69Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows treats everyone alike, helping those in need, even enemies and persecutors, with wise discernment; like God, he is no one's enemy, though the disobedient make themselves his enemies.
Miscellanies 7.12.74Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows labors in the Lord's vineyard, is tested only for the good of others, prays for those who hate him, shuns the cruel spectacles of the arena, and does God's will, holding future things more present than things at hand.
Miscellanies 7.14.84Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Clement closes his sketch of the one who knows and turns to 1 Corinthians 6: going to law before the unjust is seeking revenge, praying for retribution is better but still imperfect, and the perfect pray for their enemies.
Miscellanies 7.14.85Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · As God sends sun and Savior to the just and unjust alike, the one who knows forgives seventy times seven and asks forgiveness for his wrongdoers; to pray against them is itself to wrong and defraud them.
Miscellanies 7.14.86Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · All human beings are God's work and should be treated as brothers; retaliation in deed, word, or thought is wrong, and those washed and sanctified must, like the sun, show kindness to the just and unjust and forgive as they hope to be forgiven.
Apology 31Tertullian · ca. 197 · The Christian Scriptures command prayer for enemies and persecutors and, by name, for kings and rulers.
Apology 36Tertullian · ca. 197 · True loyalty to the emperors lies not in festival displays but in the conduct God requires toward everyone: never to wish, do, speak, or think ill of anyone.
Apology 37Tertullian · ca. 197 · Christians, commanded to love their enemies, never retaliate, though they are now so numerous everywhere that they could resist, or empty the empire by withdrawing.
On the Shows 16Tertullian · ca. 197–202 · The circus breeds frenzy, partisan passion, curses, and hatred, all of which contradict Christ's commands to love enemies and bless those who curse.
On Patience 6Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Patience proved Abraham's faith; Christ, bringing faith to the nations, replaced the law's “eye for an eye” with patience, commanding love of enemies.
On Patience 8Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Christians should bear blows and insults patiently, as Christ commanded; patience blunts every injury, so that the one who inflicts it loses his aim and is himself the one who grieves.
On Patience 10Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · The desire for revenge is a chief form of impatience; it makes the one provoked as guilty as the provoker and usurps God's right to judge and avenge.
Didascalia 1.2Anonymous · first half of the third century · Christians bless those who curse them, leave vengeance to the Lord, and love their enemies.
Didascalia 2.46Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 2.53Anonymous · first half of the third century
Against Marcion 1.23Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · True goodness is rational and just: it serves its own first and never wrongs another; Marcion's god, stealing the Creator's man like a kidnapper stealing another's slave, shows a goodness that is irrational and unjust.
Against Marcion 4.16Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Love of enemies, turning the other cheek, giving to all who ask, and the Golden Rule are the Creator's own law brought to fulfillment by Christ; a god who does not avenge would command patience in vain.
To Scapula 1Tertullian · 212 · Christians do not fear persecution; Tertullian writes out of love for his enemies, as Christ commanded, to warn them of what is coming.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 227Origen · ca. 220-254 · God repays according to the quality of deeds; the honey and honeycomb are the plain and the hidden meaning of Scripture; we must not exult over a fallen enemy; the sword of the Spirit crushes sinners for repentance.
PG 12:1065Origen · ca. 220-254 · The titles “for a pillar inscription” (humility, Psalms 55–56 LXX), “for a remembrance” (David’s sin), “a prayer,” and “do not destroy” (David’s forbearance toward Saul).
PG 12:1129 (Ps 3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Christ after his falling asleep was raised by the Father; the saint, like Christ in the passion, fears no multitude; on Ps 3:7 Origen notes that the Hebrew has “jaw” where the Septuagint has “without cause,” and discusses God “arising” and enmity “without cause.”
PG 12:1179 (Ps 7 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 7:3–8: the righteous man does not repay evil, being no longer a child under the law; the empty and the full; the enemy who tramples those who bear the image of the man of dust; God’s “arising” is his power to discipline, and the enmity of his enemies ends in reconciliation; Christ’s return on high after the resurrection.
PG 12:1607 (Ps 118 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 119:110–116 (LXX 118): the snares laid for Joseph and Daniel, the reward stored up, and hating the lawless man's sin while loving the image of God in him.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.23.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The initiate swears to revere God, wrong no one, hate no one but pray for enemies, and be faithful to rulers, since authority comes from God.
Commentary on John 20.142Origen · ca. 230–248 · Loving enemies makes one a son of the Father.
Commentary on John 20.147Origen · ca. 230–248 · Sonship is linked specifically to loving enemies.
Commentary on John 20.148Origen · ca. 230–248 · Loving enemies imitates God, who loves and spares all he has made.
Commentary on John 20.151Origen · ca. 230–248 · God's sons, like the Father, let their love shine and their prayer fall like rain even on enemies.
On Prayer 9.3Origen · ca. 233–234 · Coming to prayer free of grudges, as the prophet and Jesus command, already gives us the best of gifts.
On Prayer 28.6Origen · ca. 233–234 · Remembering our own unpaid debts to God and others should make us gentle toward those who fail in their duties to us.
On Prayer 28.7Origen · ca. 233–234 · Whoever will not forgive will be treated like the unforgiving servant in the parable; we must forgive the repentant even seven times a day and seek the healing even of the unrepentant.
Homilies on Numbers 9.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Moses and Aaron, standing for the law and for intercession, saved all Israel; when the law moves us to repentance and prayer, God's anger is turned away.
Homilies on Numbers 9.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Against heretics who say the God of the law is just but not good, Origen points to Moses and Aaron praying for their enemies, and teaches that the law understood spiritually is always a new testament.
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 7.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The penitent who confesses his sins openly is abandoned and mocked by friends who think themselves clean, but he should not fear them; it is better to accuse oneself before God, who sees all, and to repay with good those who seek one’s harm.
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 7.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The righteous man, cursed or slandered, acts deaf and mute, leaving vengeance to God; if we heard God as we should, he would hear us as he heard Elijah and Samuel, and we would be “gods” and sons of God.
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 7.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Not repaying evil keeps one from falling and from the mockery of enemies, who pounce at the least trembling; best is to stand firm on the rock, Christ, or at least to be only “almost moved.”
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 8.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Three degrees of response to insult: the small repay in kind, the advancing keep silent “even from good things,” and the perfect bless those who curse them, as Paul did.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.188Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Love for enemies is also graded; and men owe a chaste love to all women, in due order: wife, mother, sisters, and others.
Against Celsus 3.7Origen · ca. 248 · Origen denies that Christianity arose from rebellion, since Christ forbade his followers to kill anyone and they accepted death like sheep; and he suggests the Hebrew language was God's gift at the Exodus.
Against Celsus 5.63Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says Christian sects curse and hate one another; true followers of Jesus bless those who revile them, try to win back those in error, and only avoid a persistent heretic, as Paul commands.
Against Celsus 7.25Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus' command to turn the other cheek is not opposed to the Old Testament, which already teaches it in Lamentations; the same God speaks in both.
Against Celsus 7.58Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus claims the command to turn the other cheek is an old teaching better stated by Plato's Socrates in the Crito, that one must never return wrong for wrong.
Against Celsus 8.35Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus warns that the demons, like imperial officials, will harm those who neglect them; Origen replies that even Lycurgus and Zeno did not take revenge, and Jesus taught love of enemies.
Against Celsus 8.41Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus taunts that the gods punish blasphemers while Jesus' executioners went unpunished and his Father abandoned him; Origen answers that Christians revile no one, not even statues or demons.
Commentary on Matthew 16.29Origen · ca. 246–248 · Mark’s “it was not the season for figs” teaches that Christ seeks the fruits of the Spirit even out of season—love for enemies, joy in suffering—since God calls believers to be “gods” and more than human; we must ask for great and heavenly things.
Commentary on Romans 9.14Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Christians must not curse but bless those who persecute them; God's blessing gives a gift, while human blessing of God is praise, and Paul's example is to bless when cursed.
Commentary on Romans 9.19Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Returning evil for evil is as bad as inflicting it, or worse, since the avenger knows it is evil; vengeance belongs to the Lord.
Commentary on Romans 9.23Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Heaping coals on an enemy's head by kindness may mean his punishment, or better, the fire of remorse that helps him repent; evil is overcome by its contrary, and Paul joins moral precepts to the gifts to show that good conduct too is a gift of God's grace.
Commentary on Romans 10.36Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Christians should be wise in finding ways to do good and simple in evil, refusing crafty revenge; one can be wise toward God and foolish toward the world, and no one can serve both Christ and the belly.
To Quirinus 3.22Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Those who pray to be forgiven must forgive the injuries done to them.
To Quirinus 3.49Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Christians must love even their enemies, as God is good to all.
To Demetrian 20Cyprian of Carthage · 252–253 · Like Habakkuk, Christians rejoice in God even when crops fail, awaiting heaven; yet they pray day and night for rain, peace, and the safety of their persecutors.
On Jealousy and Envy 15Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 256 · The new birth must show itself in a life that reflects God the Father, loving even enemies, so that Christ may welcome us into the kingdom.
On the Good of Patience 5Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · Christ taught his followers to love their enemies so as to be perfect like the Father; patience restores in us the divine likeness Adam lost.
On the Good of Patience 16Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · Christ's commands to forgive, love enemies, and turn the other cheek require patience, as Stephen showed; patience keeps anger and discord out of the Christian heart.
Life of Cyprian 9Anonymous · ca. 258–265 · When plague struck Carthage and pagans abandoned the sick, Cyprian taught his people to show mercy to all, even to enemies and persecutors, after the example of God.
Against the Nations 1.6Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ's teaching not to repay evil with evil has reduced war, and if all obeyed it the world would live in peace.
Church History 2.9.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Clement (quoted): the accuser asked James's forgiveness; James blessed him, and both were beheaded.
Church History 2.23.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Hegesippus (quoted): James survived the fall and, as they stoned him, knelt and prayed for their forgiveness.
Church History 5.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The confessors humbly defended and forgave everyone and prayed for their persecutors, like Stephen.
Homilies 11.20Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Believers separated from their families do not hate them but, following Jesus' prayer from the cross, pray for and love even their persecutors.
Homilies 11.32Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Those who know the truth must surpass pagans in goodness, avoiding anger and lust and loving even enemies, or they will be shamed at the judgment.
Homilies 12.26Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter defines love for humanity as doing good even to enemies, in imitation of God who sends sun and rain on the just and the unjust.
Homilies 12.30Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter teaches that the wicked who afflict the righteous should be pitied and prayed for, not resisted, since suffering comes by God's providence.
Homilies 12.32Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter describes the righteous man who loves his enemies and his neighbour as himself, and the works of mercy that make up the female part of love for humanity.
Homilies 12.33Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter teaches that love for enemies is reached through the fear of God, which, by doing the deeds of love, comes to love itself and makes a person immortal.
Homilies 15.5Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · The father reports Clement's account of Jesus' teaching on non-retaliation, which seemed to him unjust.
Homilies 15.6Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter compares Christians to subjects of one king caught in a hostile king's land, for whom mild treatment is kindness.
Recognitions 6.5Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · The separation from unbelieving family comes from the side of ignorance, while believers, following Christ's prayer on the cross, pray for those who persecute them.
Letter to Zenas and Serenus 3Anonymous · 4th century (disputed) · Tranquillity comes from not seeking first places and from silence before the contentious; wrongdoer and wronged should hasten to be reconciled, and the believer must be free of fleshly desire.
Letter to Zenas and Serenus 10Anonymous · 4th century (disputed) · Counsel on forgiveness, on accepting admonition, on judging oneself, and on avoiding quarrels.
Divine Institutes 5.9.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christians are treated worse than enemies in war.
Divine Institutes 5.10.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · True piety is found among peacemakers who love even enemies.
Divine Institutes 5.12.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christians choose the 'folly' of loving those who hate them.
Divine Institutes 6.10.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God commands us to end enmities.
Divine Institutes 6.16.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Joy at an enemy's harm versus joy at liberation.
Divine Institutes 6.18.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Take no gifts from the poor; answer curses with blessing.
Divine Institutes 6.18.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Bear wrongs mildly and leave vengeance to God.
Divine Institutes 6.18.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Do not avenge wrongs; God the Judge sees all.
Divine Institutes 6.18.13Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The world despises the forbearing and honors the vengeful.
Divine Institutes 6.18.14Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The just man prefers contempt to wrongdoing.
Divine Institutes 6.18.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Returning injury is as bad as inflicting it.
Divine Institutes 6.18.25Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Retaliation imitates the wrongdoer.
Divine Institutes 6.18.35Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christians, candidates for immortality, should forgive all the more.
Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs 6Anonymous · 304 (12 February) · Asked who led the assembly, Thelica names Saturninus the presbyter and all of them; under torture he prays for his enemies and confesses that he cares only for the law of God.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.7.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · One must not return wrong or evil for wrong.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.7.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Socrates asks Crito to agree that retaliation is never right.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.7.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Scripture, like Plato, forbids returning evil for evil.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 60.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · As one family we must love all, not avenge wrongs, and pray for enemies.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.6.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Job loved his enemies before the gospel commanded it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.6.69Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses allowed retaliation; Christ forbids it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.6.71Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ commands love of enemies and prayer for persecutors.
Book 1, lines 546–570Juvencus · ca. 330 · Not retaliation but patience; give, lend, and love and pray for enemies, as the Father does good to all.
Demonstration 2.12Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ commanded his disciples to love one another, to love even enemies, and to forgive again and again.
Demonstration 2.17Aphrahat · 337-345 · Moses and David showed perfect love: Moses offered himself for the people, and David spared and mourned his enemy Saul.
Demonstration 2.18Aphrahat · 337-345 · Elisha fed his enemies and Jeremiah prayed for his persecutors; one who hates a brother tears himself from Christ's body.
Demonstration 4.13Aphrahat · 337-345 · Prayer is a sacrifice presented to God by an angel, who will not carry up the prayer of one who asks forgiveness but does not forgive.
Life of Constantine 2.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Before the battle Constantine withdrew to his tent to pray and fast, praying even for the enemy.
Catechetical Lecture 23.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Since our sins against God are great and others' against us small, we must forgive in order to be forgiven.
Long recension, Ephesians 8Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius praises the Ephesians for refusing false teachers, contrasts the Spirit of truth with the spirit of error, and urges them to pray for and answer their opponents with gentleness.
Long recension, Philadelphians 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius warns against schismatics and false teachers, urges the Philadelphians to receive the penitent gently, and forbids violence against God's enemies.
Commentary on Matthew 4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds the Sermon on the Mount from the Beatitudes to almsgiving: the apostles as salt and light, Christ fulfilling the law, and the Gospel’s stricter precepts on anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love of enemies.
On Saint Athanasius 1.14Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer compares the emperor to Saul, who slaughtered the priests of Nob, and contrasts David, who spared Saul in the cave and left vengeance to God.
On Saint Athanasius 1.15Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer continues with Saul's confession to David at Engedi and David's sparing of Saul a second time in his camp, showing how the persecutor raged when out of his right mind.
On Saint Athanasius 2.4Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · From the Sermon on the Mount (the beatitudes, anger, reconciliation, love of enemies, judging others, the speck and the beam), Lucifer shows that the bishops could not condemn Athanasius and remain Christians.
On Saint Athanasius 2.19Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer tells the emperor that even if Athanasius had wronged him he was bound to forgive, quoting the parable of the unforgiving servant, and places him among the wicked tenants who killed the servants and the son.
That One Must Die for the Son of God 5Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Answering the charge that a bishop should be gentle, Lucifer says that Christians do not curse or kill but are killed, calls Constantius a wolf in sheep's guise, and describes the martyrs standing in the armour of God against his tortures.
Homilies on the Psalms 7.6Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil explains Ps 7:8–12: the psalmist asks to be judged by human righteousness and pardoned for inexperience, prays that sinners' wickedness may end, and teaches that God tries heart and reins, helps the upright, and delays punishment out of patience.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 5Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's fifth rule: Christians must love even enemies, show their discipleship by mutual love, avoid grieving a brother to the harm of his faith, seek reconciliation, and sometimes grieve those they love for their good.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 53Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's fifty-third rule: Christians must forgive from the heart those who wrong them.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 56Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · A repetition in the scan of Basil's fifty-third rule, on forgiving from the heart.
Letter 143Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory urges a bishop to forgive those who wronged them, citing Phinehas, Moses, Nineveh, Manasseh, and Christ's refusal of vengeance.
Letter 147Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory urges a newly baptized man whose wife and daughter were wronged not to seek the offender's blood under Roman law but to forgive, leaving him to God.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.10.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Praying that the proud be put to shame is not a curse but a prayer for their repentance, in keeping with Christ's command to love enemies.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.15.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The fifteenth letter begins with an apparent conflict between "I have hated the wicked" and Christ's command to love enemies.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.18.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist treats as enemies those who forget God's law, for God's enemies must be ours, as he took Abraham's enemies as his own.
Tractates on the Psalms 119.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist kept peace with those who hated it, as Christ made peace, commanded love of enemies, and left his peace to his disciples.
Tractates on the Psalms 128.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · We should not be angry with those who wrong us, but recognize and resist the devil who prompts them, and pity his instruments.
Tractates on the Psalms 130.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · David did not walk 'in great things above him': raised from obscurity to be king and prophet, he loved persecutors and spared his sons rather than seek revenge.
Tractates on the Psalms 137.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'The Lord will repay for me' agrees with the Gospel: Christians leave vengeance to God and do not return evil for evil.
Oration 5.35Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges a festival of spiritual joy, not pagan revelry, and forbids revenge on the former persecutors, leaving them to God.
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 18.22Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory describes his father’s quick forgiveness, his mild punishments, and how those who wronged him were often struck by sudden misfortunes that led them to repent.
Oration 33.14Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory, who prayed for those who attacked him, says his sufferings are nothing beside Christ’s, whose meekness in his passion all Christians should imitate.
Oration 42.21Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory laments the factions that divide East and West, compares church parties to circus factions, answers those who blame him for not taking revenge on the Arians and for lacking episcopal pomp, and asks for a successor who will please the many.
Tractates 1.3.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno describes true justice, which works for others, ransoms captives, cares for the sick and the dead, gives alms secretly and returns good for evil.
Hexaemeron 8.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · The bees' commonwealth under a gentle king, their harmless gathering of honey, and their hexagonal combs teach Christians not to return evil for evil.
Homilies 10.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Basil's homily against anger opens: experience shows the wisdom of Scripture's warnings, since anger turns a man into a beast.
Commentary on Romans 12:17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christian righteousness exceeds the law’s justice by not repaying evil; and lawful things must be done so as not to scandalize a brother.
Commentary on Romans 12:18Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers should seek peace with all as far as they can, overcoming hostility with good, though they cannot be at peace with blasphemers who deny Christ’s coming in the flesh.
Question 69, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The moral commandments remain, while ritual laws have ceased; Christ fulfilled the law by adding a higher righteousness, such as turning the other cheek instead of just retaliation.
Letter 13.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome recalls Christ's command to be reconciled before offering one's gift at the altar.
Letter 121.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains why the Samaritans refused Jesus (their enmity with the Jews, and Christ's own will to hasten to his passion) and why he rebuked the apostles' wish for vengeance.
Apostolic Constitutions 1.2.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Believers must bless those who curse them.
Apostolic Constitutions 1.2.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The wronged must not retaliate but wait for the Lord.
Apostolic Constitutions 1.2.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ’s command to love enemies is quoted.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.21.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ, the way of peace, taught that those who forgive will be forgiven.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.21.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Those who refuse to forgive condemn themselves by their own prayer.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.46.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The parties must forgive each other without limit, as Christ told Peter.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.53.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ commands reconciliation before offering one’s gift.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.53.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Law and David forbid hatred, as Christ commands love even of enemies.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.53.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christians must forgive up to four hundred and ninety times.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.53.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · A grudge-bearer who will not forgive hinders his own prayer.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.2.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christians love and pray for their enemies.
On the Lord's Prayer 1129Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · To pray for harm to an enemy is to ask God to share our anger and become cruel; such prayers, like prayers for glory or victory, are “babbling”; Gregory turns to the objection that prophets prayed against their enemies.
On the Lord's Prayer 1131Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · The saints who seem to curse their enemies are praying against sin, not people: the Psalmist wants sin to fail, and the enemies he wishes put to shame are the demons and passions that war against the soul.
On the Lord's Prayer 1189Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · The parable of the unforgiving servant shows how small our neighbours’ debts are beside ours to God; the master who rages at a slave should remember that slavery comes from power, not nature, since God gave humans dominion only over animals, and that he himself has deserted his own divine Master.
On the Complaints of Job and David 2.6Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Paul went beyond Job’s laughter to blessing, taught by Christ, who prayed for his persecutors.
On the Life of Moses 411Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · Moses, untouched by envy, prays for Miriam and Aaron, armed with Christ as with armour; when the devil turns to the people with gluttony, Moses keeps his eyes on the promised land, trusting the good report of Joshua rather than the faithless spies.
On the Duties of the Clergy 1.5Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · When provoked, the just man stays silent and conquers by yielding, rather than letting the tempter stir him to retaliate.
On the Duties of the Clergy 1.6Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · David’s silence under Shimei’s curses shows that the righteous are better off despising abuse than resenting it.
On the Duties of the Clergy 1.48Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Those wronged fall into three classes—the weak who retaliate, the advancing who keep silent, and the perfect who bless—and David under Shimei’s curses reached the third, looking to the perfection of the life to come.
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.5Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Against Plato’s fable of Gyges’ ring, true examples show the just man avoiding sin even when he could escape detection: David sparing Saul and John the Baptist refusing to keep silent.
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.9Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Love of the honourable rules out hunting for inheritances and taking sides in money cases; David spared and mourned Saul, Naboth died rather than sell his inheritance, and all fraud is condemned.
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.14Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Elisha spared the captured Syrians, John rebuked Herod’s marriage, and Susanna chose death over disgrace: the honourable always proves useful.
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.15Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · As a Roman general refused to win by poison, Moses, gentler still, prayed for Pharaoh when asked; his rod and hand signs prefigure the incarnation and the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.13.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David, like the stag, fed on the slanders of his enemies and answered them with prayer.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.13.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David answered curses with blessing and with God’s word, which is food.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.20.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The righteous man treats his injurer as one sick with madness and pities him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.23.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The highest purpose of the righteous is to pray for persecutors, as Christ did on the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.4.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David told Abishai to let Shimei curse, trusting God to repay him with good.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.41.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · On verse 78: the psalmist does not curse his enemies but, like a physician, wishes them to blush and be healed.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.42.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Being exercised in God’s precepts means helping even an enemy; vengeance permitted by the law is not allowed by the gospel.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.28.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · We fight best by turning the other cheek, leaving vengeance to God, and disciplining ourselves.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.31.5Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Joseph forgave his brothers and could rightly say the psalm’s words.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.52.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The commandment of love, which includes enemies, is the broadest of all.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.52.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christians, unlike others, must be at peace with all and love even enemies.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.52.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The broad commandment is to bless persecutors, as David prayed for those who slandered him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 13.5.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Who are the prophet’s enemies, since he must love his people and invite the nations?
Exposition of Psalm 118 13.5.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · There must be a just reason for the prophet’s enemies, as he hated God’s enemies.
Exposition of Psalm 118 13.28.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · We rightly love God’s servants and our enemies, and rightly hate God’s enemies and sin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.27.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David prepared his mind for Christ by sparing Saul, the Lord’s anointed.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.27.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David asked his men to spare Absalom, who had sinned against him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.28.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God’s deep judgments are learned from Christ: repay injury with kindness.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.28.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ did not return evil for evil but prayed for his persecutors.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.15.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David, who never persecuted his own enemies, yet hated transgressors of God’s law.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.15.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David anticipated the Gospel: love personal enemies, but hate God’s enemies even among one’s kin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.22.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David hated lawlessness, not the lawless persons, in keeping with the Gospel command to love enemies.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.35.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Only God’s righteousness is eternal; true righteousness extends even to enemies.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.34.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Bear Christ’s image in deeds: turn the other cheek, love enemies, take up the cross.
Letter 88.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Hippo clergy state that captured Donatists are treated gently, instructed, and either reconciled without rebaptism or released unharmed, though some Catholic laity act more harshly.
Letter 93.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Leaving the Donatists unchecked would be repaying evil for evil, as letting a delirious man run off a cliff would be; many former Circumcellions and lethargic Donatists now thank the Catholics.
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 104.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · A Christian forgives readily and never seeks vengeance, but forgiveness does not exclude restraining and correcting.
Letter 134.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that executing the Donatists would discredit the church's martyrs and asks Apringius to spare them so that they may have time to repent.
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 138.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ's precepts of non-retaliation aim to overcome evil with good, so that the wrongdoer may be corrected and restored to concord.
Letter 138.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ and Paul, when struck, did not literally turn the other cheek, showing that the precept concerns the heart's readiness more than the outward act.
Letter 153.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God himself sends sun and rain on the wicked and waits patiently for their repentance, so intercession comes from religion.
Letter 153.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Loving and praying for the impious, as God commands, does not make one a partner in their impiety; the aim is their repentance.
Letter 153.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ called his disciples evil yet children of God; as Seneca says, to hate the wicked is to hate everyone, so the wicked must be loved in order to be healed.
Letter 192.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine replies to the deacon Caelestinus with a meditation on love as a debt always paid and always owed, even to enemies.
Letter 217.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine cites Cyprian's interpretation of "Thy will be done on earth as in heaven" as a prayer for the conversion of unbelievers, which would be empty if God did not convert their wills.
Letter 220.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine urges Boniface, whatever wrongs he has suffered from the court, not to repay evil for good or evil for evil, but to love his enemies as Christ commands.
Homilies on Matthew 15.9John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christians must shine by their lives, avoid the greed and vainglory that bring reproach on the faith, look to God as debtor for their alms, make peace between those who quarrel in public, and forgive their debtors.
Homilies on Matthew 18.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The law of retaliation was a wise concession that restrained violence, but Christ, transferring blame to the evil one, teaches us to overcome evil by suffering it and to offer the other cheek.
Homilies on Matthew 18.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Bearing a blow and yielding the cloak in a lawsuit disarm the aggressor and win him over, and the one who lives so will not be left naked.
Homilies on Matthew 18.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Going naked for virtue is no shame; yielding more than is demanded teaches the aggressor philosophy; the second mile, giving and lending, and love of enemies lead step by step to the summit of virtue.
Homilies on Matthew 18.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Love and prayer for enemies are the ninth and highest step of a ladder of virtue whose reward is likeness to God; Christ’s own forgiveness on the cross makes it possible, and the angry man is to be pitied as one sick, while the whole sermon is shown to uproot anger, desire, and greed.
Homilies on Matthew 18.6John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Praying for persecutors crowns the commands; Christ uses the rewards more than threats, shaming his hearers by comparison with tax collectors and Gentiles, and Christians are urged to greet their enemies first.
Homilies on Matthew 19.11John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Forgiving enemies is the easiest way to the remission of sins, while praying against them insults God and turns the tongue into a beast’s teeth; Chrysostom rebukes the noise of his congregation during the reading of Scripture and urges reconciliation.
Homilies on Matthew 29.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ heals soul and body and does not rebuke the slow crowds; so we must correct blasphemers and enemies of the truth with gentleness, as God himself does, and not with anger.
Homilies on Matthew 33.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Having freed the apostles from care, Christ foretells their sufferings and sends them as sheep among wolves, to conquer by gentleness and innocence through the power of the one who sends them.
Homilies on Matthew 51.6John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · No one can be wronged except by himself: the robber harms himself as a fevered man harms himself by snatching water, so the robbed should pray for the robber, and all should flee love of money, a madness worse than a madman’s sword.
Homilies on Matthew 60.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s promise to be among two or three gathered in his name shows him as giver equal with the Father, but it requires friendship whose chief ground is Christ; worldly friendships break under injury, while love for Christ’s sake, like his love for his enemies and executioners, never fails.
Homilies on Matthew 61.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · On Peter’s question about forgiving seven times, Chrysostom explains “seventy times seven” as limitless forgiveness, introduces the parable of the unforgiving servant, and begins to list God’s benefits to show how great our debt to him is.
Homilies on Matthew 61.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom urges his hearers to forgive from the heart: the one who wrongs us only harms himself, and Christ, Joseph, Moses, Paul and Stephen show how to love and pray for enemies.
Homilies on Matthew 79.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ softened the news of his betrayal by joining it to the Passover; the many chief priests show the decay of the Jewish order, and their plot proceeds from anger and blindness; Christ’s love for his crucifiers, whom he made sons of God, should shame us out of envy and revenge.
Homilies on Matthew 79.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Mindful of our own debts, we should hasten to forgive and even grieve with those who suffer, as God wills; reconciliation is to be sought first, grudges lead to death, and no wicked man can harm one who lives by Christian philosophy.
On Joseph 3Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's story teaches not to repay evil; before the gospel he loved his enemies as Christ later taught.
On Joseph 78Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's warning not to quarrel on the way teaches the avoidance of anger, as Christ left his disciples his peace and sent them without means of revenge.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.45.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Blessed is he who does not return insult, like Christ.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.45.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The just man imitates Christ, the silent lamb.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.45.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ answered a blow gently; it is better to overlook an injury.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.9.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The just man grieves for those who wrong him, as Jacob for Esau.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.10.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The just man is silent, prays, blesses, and loves his enemies.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.10.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Praying for enemies is more than silence.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.10.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Loving enemies is higher still; God is love.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.10.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Praying for persecutors is the fullness of the gospel, as Job prayed for his friends.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.11.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Pray when weak for yourself, when strong for your enemy.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.11.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Prayer for enemies returns as blessing into one's own bosom.
Tractates on Matthew 11.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that Christ replaces the law of retaliation with patience, which trains Christians for martyrdom.
Tractates on Matthew 12.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains Christ's command to love enemies, foreshadowed in Isaiah, the Psalms, Job and the law about an enemy's fallen ox.
Tractates on Matthew 12.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius teaches that Christian love must go beyond loving those who love us, imitating the Father's goodness.
On True Religion 47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · The man who loves in others only what he has perfectly in himself, and who clings to God alone, envies no one, uses all things and people rightly, and cannot be conquered or robbed of happiness.
Sermon 5.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those about to be baptized are warned to forgive, like the forgiven servant in the parable; forgiveness lies in the heart, and loving correction, as God practises it, is not hatred.
Sermon 15.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The good must bear with the bad outside the Church and within it until the winnowing, answer the slanders of pagans by good lives, and pray for their enemies as the Lord commands.
Sermon 15.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The command to love and pray for enemies is hard, but its promise is great, to be sons of the Most High; the willing heart is gold, and its struggle against the flesh is the dross God purifies.
Sermon 15.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The many wicked test the few good; while the wicked, like the dregs of an olive press, flow openly through the streets, the converted, like oil, pass hiddenly into God's house.
Sermon 49.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · When two of one’s friends fall out, one should remain the friend of both, betray neither, and gently show the angry friend that his real enemy is his own hatred.
Sermon 49.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Before the faithful pray “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive,” they must forgive from the heart; the hater should look on Christ on the cross, who prayed for his executioners.
Sermon 49.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · If imitating Christ seems too much, look at Stephen, a man like us, who spoke sharply to his hearers and yet loved them when they stoned him.
Sermon 49.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Stephen prayed standing for himself but knelt to pray for those who stoned him, because their sin was hard to forgive; this is the great work of the vineyard, to root out hatred of enemies.
Sermon 56.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In prayer one must ask from the right one, God, and ask for the right things, never for harm to enemies, for such prayer becomes sin.
Sermon 56.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The curses in the Psalms are prophecies, not wishes; we must pray for our enemies, as the Church prayed for the persecutor Saul until he became Paul.
Sermon 56.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “As in heaven, so on earth” can mean the mind and the flesh, the spiritual and the carnal in the Church, or the Church and its enemies, for whom we pray.
Sermon 56.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We must love our enemies, who share our nature and are our brothers; pray, as the Church prayed for Saul, against their malice but for themselves, so that an enemy becomes a friend.
Sermon 56.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Few love their enemies, yet all who receive the eucharist pray “as we forgive”; Augustine cannot tell them not to pray, so they must both say it and do it.
Sermon 56.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · At the very least, forgive an enemy who asks pardon; Christ on the cross and Stephen under the stones forgave even those who did not ask.
Sermon 56.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Forgiving means letting go of hatred, not of discipline; whoever refuses pardon to one who asks harms himself, like the unforgiving servant of the Gospel.
Sermon 57.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Other sins can be healed through the petition for forgiveness; but the desire for revenge is a dreadful temptation, because it destroys the very means of being forgiven.
Sermon 58.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “Your will be done” asks that we obey as the angels do, that our flesh agree with our spirit, and that unbelievers, the earth, become heaven like the Church.
Sermon 63.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · An insult is the wind and anger the wave; we must wake Christ, who forgave his crucifiers, so that he may calm the storm of revenge in the heart.
Sermon 90.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Following Christ and Stephen, who prayed for their killers, Christians should pray not for their enemies’ death but for the death of their enmity, since God hates the fault, not the nature he made.
Sermon 149.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ and Stephen loved their enemies; the old command to hate one’s enemy may be read as hatred of the devil, while human enemies, who may yet be converted, are to be loved and prayed for.
Sermon 149.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Every human being is a neighbor, enemies included, since we do not know whom God will bring to repentance; we love all men and hate only the devil.
Sermon 206.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Alms and fasting are the wings of prayer; the two kinds of alms are giving to the poor and forgiving offenses, and no one is too poor for the second.
Sermon 210.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · What is saved by fasting belongs to the poor, and forgiveness, which anyone can give since it needs only the will, must be granted especially in Lent.
Sermon 211.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Whoever hates his brother is in darkness and is a murderer, imprisoned in his own heart; if he seeks reconciliation and is refused, he is free.
Sermon 211.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · One refused pardon after sincerely asking may trust God; those who have wronged others must ask pardon without shame, and a master who wrongs his slave should at least show it by gentle speech.
Sermon 211.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · One who has been wronged should not falsely ask pardon, but should be ready to forgive from the heart and pray that the offender may seek pardon.
Sermon 211.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine asks that all be reconciled before Easter, following Christ who sinned against no one, and that prayers for vengeance become prayers for the enemy's conversion.
Sermon 254.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Sadness over lost money or prayer for an enemy’s death is dung in the wrong place; sadness over sin and mortal temptation is fruitful.
Sermon 302.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We are Christians not for temporal goods, which good and bad share alike, but for eternal ones; the cross marked on our foreheads recalls Christ, who prayed for those who killed him.
Sermon 302.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Raging against evil people only makes two evil people; Christians should conquer evil with good, and to vent fury even on the dead is madness, not justice.
Sermon 304.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christians can follow Christ without martyrdom by imitating his humility and obedience even to the cross, by not seeking revenge, and by setting their minds on things above.
Sermon 314.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The day after the Lord's birthday the Church keeps the birthday of Stephen, who saw heaven opened and Christ standing, and died praying for his enemies; his name means “crown”, and that crown still hangs from heaven for all who follow him.
Sermon 315.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Stephen's harsh words to his stony-hearted hearers seemed angry, but his heart was gentle: having seen Jesus standing, he commended his spirit to him and knelt to pray for those who stoned him.
Sermon 315.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · While Stephen claimed his reward, Saul, named after King Saul the persecutor of David, added to his own debt by guarding the stoners' clothes; later, as Paul, “the little one”, he became a preacher, while Stephen stood to pray for himself and knelt to pray for his enemies.
Sermon 315.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ taught from the cross the rule of praying for enemies, and Stephen, a fellow servant, followed it by God's gift; so no one may say it is too hard, for the same gift is open to all who ask.
Sermon 315.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Anger is a scorpion and our real enemy: an outward enemy can at worst kill us, as a fever would, and if we die loving him he only adds to our reward, as Stephen's stoners and the devil himself unwittingly did for the martyrs.
Sermon 316.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Stephen imitated Christ's two prayers on the cross, commending his spirit to Jesus as Mediator and asking forgiveness for his killers, perhaps because he himself had been among those forgiven at Pentecost for killing Christ; he stood for himself and knelt for the wicked.
Sermon 317.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Stephen's relics, now in Africa, bring many benefits, but his faith is what is to be imitated, above all his love of enemies; God, who gives sun and rain to good and bad alike, keeps for the good what he gave Stephen.
Sermon 317.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God the Father and the incarnate Son gave the example of loving enemies: Christ found only enemies, shed his blood for them to make them friends, and prayed on the cross for those blinded who crucified him.
Sermon 317.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who excuse themselves from loving enemies because Christ was God should look at Stephen, a man born and redeemed as they are, bought by the same Gospel, which is a deed of purchase for servants and a testament for sons.
Sermon 317.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those whose eyes are too weak for the sun should look at the lamp: Christ on the cross is the lamp on its stand, and Paul and Stephen shone from it; the love of enemies is God's gift, open to all who ask.
Sermon 317.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Like the Lord, who denounced the Pharisees yet prayed for his crucifiers, Stephen rebuked his hearers harshly but loved them, praying for them as they stoned him and falling asleep in peace.
The Lord's Sermon on the Mount 1.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393–396 · Augustine explains love of enemies as the summit of mercy, treats “hate your enemy” as an allowance for the weak, and argues that the imprecations of the prophets, of Christ, and of Paul are predictions, not wishes.
Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 394 · Augustine explains “eye for eye” as a first step that limited revenge, which the gospel completes with full forgiveness, already foretold in the Psalms and Lamentations.
Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani 17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 394 · Augustine answers the charge that the conquest commands contradict “love your enemies”: punishment can be given without hatred, as Paul, Peter, and even the Manichaeans' apocryphal Acts show, and David's sparing of Saul fulfilled Christ's command.
On Christian Doctrine 1.29Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · As a theater fan wants everyone to love his favorite actor, we should want all to love God with us, and so we love even our enemies.
On Christian Doctrine 1.30Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · The parable of the Good Samaritan shows that every human being is our neighbor, and so are the angels, and in a sense Christ himself.
On Christian Doctrine 3.16Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · A precept that seems to command wrongdoing or forbid kindness is figurative, as with eating Christ's flesh, heaping coals of fire, and losing one's life.
Life of Saint Martin 26Sulpicius Severus · ca. 396–397 · Sulpicius says Martin's inner life of unceasing prayer, fasting, and patience is beyond words.
Confessions 9.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Monica was a peacemaker who repeated nothing between quarreling women except what would reconcile them.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that Jesus fulfilled the ancient moral precepts given before Moses but destroyed the specifically Mosaic ones, such as retaliation and divorce.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reconciles “hate your enemy” with “love your enemies” by distinguishing the vice, which is hated, from the human nature, which is loved, and turns the precept against the Manichaean myth of the race of darkness.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine shows that Christ’s precepts on anger, harsh words, lust, non-retaliation, and love of enemies are already found in the Old Testament books.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine lists David's virtues alongside his sins: repentance, mercy to Saul, patience under Shimei's curses, love for his people, reverence for the Lord's anointed, and grief for Absalom.
Apology against Rufinus 3.1Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome begins Book 3 by answering Rufinus's threatening letter, applying to him Scripture's words about fools and promising not to answer slander with slander.
Apology against Rufinus 3.2Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome protests at what he takes as Rufinus's threat of death, citing apostles who disagreed without enmity, and says he had wished to keep silent at Chromatius's request.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As petitioners to the emperor have a lawyer draft their petition, Christ composed the Lord's Prayer for us with its condition of forgiving others; one who prays it falsely obtains nothing from God, who cannot be deceived.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 58.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Washing one another's feet means confessing sins to one another, praying for one another and forgiving one another, as Christ intercedes for and forgives us.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The commandment by which we know God is love, and its perfection is to love even our enemies so that they may become brothers, as Christ prayed for those who crucified him.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 8.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Augustine asks why John commends only brotherly love while the Lord commands love of enemies, love spreading like fire from the nearest to the furthest.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 8.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · To love one's enemy is to wish him to become a brother, as a craftsman loves the timber for what he will make of it; so love of enemies is brotherly love, as Christ showed in praying for his killers.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 8.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Love your enemy as a doctor loves a delirious patient, hating the disease but loving the man; the enemy is even God's instrument for healing you.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 9.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · We are 'as he is' by likeness, not equality: as God loves his enemies by sending sun and rain on all, we love ours by praying for them with tears.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 10.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · All the law hangs on love of God and neighbour; love may rebuke and even punish while hatred flatters, so we must look to the root; we love even enemies so that they may become brothers.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.22Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The command “Be perfect” shows that sinlessness is possible, not that anyone achieves it; Scripture calls people perfect in some respect or for their great progress, not as wholly sinless.
On the Christian Life 6Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · As every name comes from a deed, only one who imitates Christ in holiness, kindness and love of enemies is truly a Christian.
City of God 8.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues that demons, being subject to passions from which the true religion frees us, cannot rightly be worshipped, since religion means imitating what one worships.
Commentary on Jeremiah 5.63Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah's letter tells the exiles to build, plant, marry, multiply, and pray for Babylon's peace, since their stay will be long; Jeremiah himself was forbidden marriage because of the short time, as Paul says. Spiritually, those cast out of the church should build on rock, take wisdom and the virtues as wives, and seek the church's peace (Jer 29:1–7).
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.8.5Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The church prayed even for its persecutors.
On Adulterous Marriages 2.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Christians should spare adulterous wives out of forgiveness, not because remarriage is allowed; a Christian may neither kill an adulterous wife nor remarry while she lives.
The Institutes 8.8John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Right anger is anger against anger itself, as David showed in pouring out the water from Bethlehem and sparing Shimei.
Commonitorium 2.1–30Orientius of Auch · ca. 420-450 · Book 2 opens: whoever follows these admonitions will tread on the serpent and meet Christ the judge; the chief task is to despise human praise, seek approval from Christ alone, and return no evil for evil, as Christ, Stephen and James prayed for their killers.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 73Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · The greatest alms is forgiving from the heart and loving one's enemies; the petition of the Lord's Prayer is at least fulfilled by those who forgive whoever asks forgiveness.
Retractations 1.18Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Reviewing his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, Augustine qualifies statements on perfection in this life, the law, anger, hating relatives, the Lordly man, and daily food, and leaves open what kind of fornication permits putting away a wife.
The Conferences 7.21John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Demons too labor and suffer shame in defeat; the psalms that curse enemies must be read as prayers against these spiritual foes, not against human beings, whom the saints loved.
The Conferences 8.24John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · God's original creation was perfect and the natural law sufficed; the written law came when it was corrupted, and the Gospel's higher demands could only follow the law, which answers heretics who accuse the God of the Old Testament of changing his mind.
The Conferences 9.22John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The petition for forgiveness lets us set the measure of God’s judgment on ourselves, so whoever will not forgive others asks for his own condemnation, and it is vain to skip these words when the prayer is said in church.
The Conferences 11.9John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Those who reach the love of sons imitate God’s goodness, showing mercy rather than anger to sinners and loving enemies; the saying that those born of God do not sin refers to capital sins, since even the saints commit small faults.
The Conferences 11.10John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The perfect pray for their persecutors as Christ did, while harsh judgment of others is a sign of unpurified vices and brings one into the same sins.
The Conferences 16.14John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Joseph distinguishes agapē, the love owed to all, even enemies, from diathesis, special affection for a few; Jacob’s love for Joseph and Christ’s for John show that love can be ordered without hating anyone.
The Conferences 16.22John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Joseph explains that turning the other cheek means the inner man yielding in humility so as not to be moved within; patience must be inward and aim to calm the other, not win glory at his expense.
Instructions 1.8Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · The coals of fire are either the compunction kindled by kindness, or the guilt the impenitent enemy heaps on himself.
Part 2, chapter 25Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · David, anointed shepherd, harpist who calmed Saul, slayer of Goliath with a stone, persecuted fugitive who spared Saul, and feigned madman carried in his own hands, figures Christ the good shepherd, the cross, the victory over the devil, the persecuted martyrs, and the Eucharist.