Ambrosiaster : A Christian ought not to engage in litigation at all, but if the matter is too serious to be disregarded he should bring the case to the church, so as not to incur an immediate penalty and personal downfall. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES Basil of Caesarea : In this manner we shall save our adversary also, even against his will, from evil consequences, and we ourselves will not violate the commandment of God, being as his ministers neither contentious nor avaricious, steadily intent upon the manifestation of truth and never overstepping the appointed limits of zeal. — THE LONG RULES 9 Clement of Alexandria : And how shall one "judge" the apostate "angels," who has become himself an apostate from that forgetfulness of injuries, which is according to the Gospel? "Why do ye not rather suffer wrong?" he says; "why are ye not rather defrauded? Yea, ye do wrong and defraud," manifestly by praying against those who transgress in ignorance, and deprive of the philanthropy and goodness of God, as far as in you lies, those against whom you pray, "and these your brethren,"—not meaning those in the faith only, but also the proselytes. — The Stromata Book 7 Cyprian : That believers who differ among themselves ought not to refer to a Gentile judge. In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Dares any of you, having a matter against other, to discuss it among the unrighteous, and not among the saints? Know ye not that the saints shall judge this world? " And again: "Now indeed there is altogether a fault among you, because ye have judgments one against another. Wherefore do ye not rather suffer injury? or wherefore are ye not rather defrauded? But ye do wrong, and defraud, and this your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not obtain the kingdom of God? " — Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews Fabian of Rome : And herein is the meaning of that word which the apostle speaks: "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? " John Chrysostom : The just man handles everything with restraint, demonstrating the remarkable degree of his own good sense and teaching not only those present at the time but also everyone in the future never to settle our differences with our relatives by feuding. — HOMILY 33.8 John Chrysostom : "Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you that ye have lawsuits one with another." Do you see for what place he reserved this point? And how he has cleared the discussion of it in good time? For "I talk not yet," saith he, "which injures, or which is injured." Thus far, the act itself of going to law brings each party under his censure, and in that respect one is not at all better than another. But whether one go to law justly or unjustly, that is quite another subject. Say not then, "which did the wrong?" For on this ground I at once condemn thee, even for the act of going to law. Now if being unable to bear a wrong-doer be a fault, what accusation can come up to the actual wrong? "Why not rather take wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?" — Homily on 1 Corinthians 16 Theodoret of Cyrus : By saying all this Paul is showing that the Corinthians were doing the exact opposite. — COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 196