{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-1581","native_reference":{"book_number":590,"chapter_from":5,"chapter_to":5,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":6,"verse_to":6},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: Wherefore also the Lord enjoins \"to watch,\" so that our soul may never be perturbed with passion, even in dreams; but also to keep the life of the night pure and stainless, as if spent in the day. For assimilation to God, as far as we can, is preserving the mind in its relation to the same things... Wherefore the mysteries are for the most part celebrated by night, indicating the withdrawal of the soul from the body, which takes place by night. \"Let us not then sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as an helmet the hope of salvation.\" And as to what, again, they say of sleep, the very same things are to be understood of death. For each exhibits the departure of the soul, the one more, the other less... \"For blessed are those that have seen the Lord,\" according to the apostle; \"for it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light.\" By day and light he designates figuratively the Son, and by the armour of light metaphorically the promises.<br/><i>— The Stromata Book 4</i></p><p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: We must therefore sleep so as to be easily awaked... For there is no use of a sleeping man, as there is not of a dead man. Wherefore we ought often to rise by night and bless God. For blessed are they who watch for Him, and so make themselves like the angels, whom we call \"watchers.\" But a man asleep is worth nothing, any more than if he were not alive. But he who has the light watches, \"and darkness seizes not on him,\" nor sleep, since darkness does not. He that is illuminated is therefore awake towards God; and such an one lives... \"Let us not then sleep, as do others, but let us watch,\" says the Scripture, \"and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night,\" that is, in the darkness of ignorance. \"But let us who are of the day be sober. For ye are all children of the light, and children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of the darkness.\"<br/><i>— The Instructor Book 2</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: \"So then let us not sleep, as do also the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.\"</p><p>Here he shows, that to be in the day depends on ourselves. For here indeed, in the case of the present day and night, it does not depend on ourselves. But night comes even against our will, and sleep overtakes us when we do not wish it. But with respect to that night and that sleep, it is not so, but it is in our power always to have it day, it is in our power always to watch. For to shut the eyes of the soul, and to bring on the sleep of wickedness, is not of nature, but of our own choice.</p><p>\"But let us watch,\" he says, \"and be sober.\" For it is possible to sleep while awake, by doing nothing good. Wherefore he has added, \"and be sober.\" For even by day, if any one watches, but is not sober, he will fall into numberless dangers, so that sobriety is the intensity of watchfulness. The drunkenness he here speaks of is not that from wine only, but that also which comes of all vices. For riches and the desire of wealth is a drunkenness of the soul, and so carnal lust; and every sin you can name is a drunkenness of the soul.<br/><i>— Homily on 1 Thessalonians 9</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: So that you may know that the prayers which are uttered in time of affliction would have the best chance of being heard, hear what the prophet says, \"In my affliction I cried to the Lord, and he listened to me.\" Therefore, let us stir up our conscience to fervor, let us afflict our soul with the memory of our sins, not so that it is crushed with anxiety but so that we may make it ready to be heard, so that we make it live in sobriety and watchfulness and ready to attain heaven itself. Nothing puts carelessness and negligence to flight the way grief and affliction do. They bring together our thoughts from every side and make our mind turn back to ponder itself. The man who prays in this way, in his affliction, after many a prayer, can bring joy into his own soul.<br/><i>— ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OF GOD 5.6</i></p><p><b>Leo the Great</b>: Wherefore, let us honor this sacred day, the day on which the author of our salvation appeared. Whom the wise men revered as an infant in his crib, let us worship as all-powerful in heaven. Just as they offered to the Lord mystical kinds of gifts from their treasures, let us bring forth from our hearts things that are worthy of God. Although he himself bestows all good things, he nevertheless asks for the fruit of our effort. For the kingdom of heaven comes not to those who sleep but to those who work and watch according to the Lord's command. If we do not render his gifts ineffective, we may deserve to receive what he promised through the very things which he has given.<br/><i>— SERMONS 32.1</i></p><p><b>Prudentius</b>: The winged messenger of day<br/>Sings loud, foretelling dawn's approach,<br/>And Christ in stirring accents calls<br/>Our slumbering souls to life with him.<br/>\"Away,\" he cries, \"with dull repose,<br/>The sleep of death and sinful sloth;<br/>With hearts now sober, just and pure,<br/>Keep watch, for I am very near.\"<br/><i>— HYMNS 1.1-8</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"03e5dcb7a5573bc4781d402bba3add0c34c4a48218b4bf67902e902334c44fa8","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":1581,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"b0c068a5ac0461a6002e5eb15fc4ff0044d4cc0b5703cdc16298a51479c34670","translator":null,"work":null}