Jerome : Or according to the Septuagint: You were not like a prostitute gathering wages, but you gave what you should have received, so that you would not be protected by the help of those with whom you fornicated and followed demons, but rather, oppressed by various captivities, you would feel your calamities. And this can indeed be applied to every Christian soul, which, having abandoned the worship of God, has given itself over to vices and luxury, and pursuing a worldly life, did not even thrive in it, but lost the riches of religion and did not receive the riches of the world. And there was no difficulty at all in prostituting yourself to it, but you yourself embraced your lovers. — COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 5:16.30-31 Origen of Alexandria : Ecclesiastics who are leaders in the church build the house of God, the church, in their own way of life as well as those of their faithful, and their work is the building of God. — HOMILIES ON Ezekiel 8:2 Peter Chrysologus : These Gentile peoples through their desire of worldly eloquence, through the brothels of the schools, through senseless disputation at the meeting places of the philosophical sects, dissipated the property of God the Father. By their conjectures they exhausted everything there was in the line of speech, knowledge, reason and judgment. But, even after that, these poor wretches still suffered the greatest need and most intense hunger to know the truth. Philosophy enjoined the task of seeking God, but of that truth to be learned it gathered no fruit. — SERMON 5