Gregory the Dialogist : Whence it is well said to Ezekiel, "Take unto thee a tile, and thou shalt lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the dry Jerusalem." And immediately it is subjoined, "And thou shalt lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast a mount, and set camps against it, and set battering rams against it round about. And do thou take unto thee an iron frying-pan, and thou shalt set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city." But although the ruler may nicely insinuate all these things, he procures not for himself lasting absolution, unless he glow with a spirit of jealousy against the delinquencies of all and each. For by the frying-pan is denoted a frying of the mind, and by iron the hardness of reproof. — Pastoral Rule, Part 2, Chapter 10 Gregory the Dialogist : To such men it is rightly said through the prophet: "You have not gone up against the enemy, nor have you set up a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord." To go up against the enemy is to oppose with the free voice of reason any powers that act wickedly. And we stand in battle on the day of the Lord for the house of Israel and set up a wall if we defend the faithful and innocent against the injustice of the perverse with the authority of justice. Because the hireling does not do this, when he sees the wolf coming, he flees. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 14 Jerome : Whom does he mean by all those who have come before me? Those who say, "Thus says the Lord!" But the Lord has not sent them; they who have come on their own authority and have not been sent are the thieves and robbers. — HOMILY 87 (ON John 1:1-14)