Ammonius of Alexandria
Early Fathers (Pre-Nicaea) · 300
70 passages of commentary across 5 books.
Books commented on
A few passages
Sometimes our Savior said "amen" once, at other times twice, when he wished to confirm what he was saying. This is a Hebrew manner of speaking, revealing that which was taking place, such as that "you have been found trustworthy" so as to see "the heavens opened," and so on. He says that it is possible to see the heavens opened not in a manner open to the…
He chides his mother for having importunely reminded God, who has no need to be reminded of anything. It is as if he had said, "Do not regard me only as a man but also as God. Not yet has the time of my manifestation come. Not as yet is it known who I am."
[The Hebrew word] baddim means an intricately woven cloak, just as believers, whom Christ wears as a robe, are eminent in the weave of virtues. God puts on the faithful and girds them with the precious and pure gospel so that they might believe in the resurrection. For Orphaz means "pure."
It is not odd that the saints flee from those intending to attack them. Nor, because of this, do they appear to flee from the martyr's battle.
He called himself "the light," not because "the light is in me"—lest someone split the one Christ into a duality of Sons. Christ, the Son, is one, both before the flesh and after the flesh. He is in truth the one and only Son of God the Father even when he became man since he did not partially embrace the human nature. For his body is his own, and it is…
It must be noted that whoever, with pure conscience, earnestly prays to God and gives alms, does not remain in the same condition, but God makes known, through the vision of an angel or through a pious person, the true faith through which we are saved. In the case where one does not know whether this or that action is pleasing to God, it is best earnestly…
It must be noted that the prophets do not know everything but only what the Holy Spirit reveals to them. So see how Paul, like a prophet, foretells "that chains and afflictions await me," and that the Ephesians will never see him again and that there will arise among them heretics and some of bad faith, and yet about the first of these he confesses not to…
As if in a court of law, it is said to the devil, "Granted, you have killed everyone else in the human race because they were sinners. But why did you kill the Lord?" The time of sojourning on earth is the "judgment of the world," since Christ is about to justify humanity and to remove the arrogance of the devil. The judgment he speaks of here then is not…
"In order to draw away the disciples after them." Heretics strive to make the people their own instead of the Lord's, so that they might boast in themselves, when the name of the heretics is attached to these people, and so that they can profit from the name. For example, from Mani comes Manichaean, from Arius, Arian, and from Nestorius, Nestorian, and…
How did this man, who had only been baptized according to John's baptism, have the Holy Spirit, but his followers did not? To this it must be said that for this reason was he boiling with the Spirit: being enlightened by the grace of God, he knew precisely and taught from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. And this very knowledge did not allow him…
It must be noted that we must believe that women passed on the faith: see how completely desirous of salvation Apollos was, for even though he was an educated man and was well versed in the Scripture's secrets, he did not consider it worthless to learn the fullness of the faith from a woman. He did not become conceited as if he were receiving a rebuke…
The prophet teaches us that fasting is a great virtue and so too is affliction with prayer. Through these things sometimes a person is deemed worthy even of visions.