{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-5033","native_reference":{"book_number":330,"chapter_from":34,"chapter_to":34,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":3,"verse_to":3},"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>Apostolic Constitutions</b>: Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has committed the disposition to him. Distribute to all those in want with righteousness, and yourselves use the things which belong to the Lord, but do not abuse them; eating of them, but not eating them all up by yourselves: communicate with those that are in want, and thereby show yourselves unblameable before God. For if you shall consume them by yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who says to such unsatiable people, who alone devour all, \"You eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool;\" [Ezekiel 34:3] and in another passage, \"Must you alone live upon the earth\"? [Isaiah 5:8] Upon which account you are commanded in the law, \"You shall love your neighbour as yourself.\" [Leviticus 19:18] Now we say these things, not as if you might not partake of the fruits of your labours; for it is written, \"You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treads out the grain;\" [Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9] but that you should do it with moderation and righteousness. As, therefore, the ox that labours in the threshing-floor without a muzzle eats indeed, but does not eat all up; so do you who labour in the threshing-floor, that is, in the Church of God, eat of the Church: which was also the case of the Levites, who served in the tabernacle of the testimony, which was in all things a type of the Church.<br/><i>— Apostolic Constitutions (Book II), Section 4, XXV</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: In the same way, everyone who leads a bad life for all those to see whom he has been put in charge of, as far as he is concerned is killing even the strong ones. Any who imitate him die; whoever does not imitate him lives.<br/><i>— SERMON 46:9</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: They do not look for what has perished. They do not desire to save the lost, any more than to devour those who are in the churches. They govern them harshly and infuriatingly, behaving haughtily as is expected of them. They adorn the dignity of their office with their works and take on pride instead of humility. They think that they have assumed honor rather than the burden of their work, and whoever they see coming forward in the church preaching the word of God, they set out to oppress.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 11:34.1-31</i></p><p><b>Symeon the New Theologian</b>: Hasten then to increase the flock of your master! Do not turn aside to relaxations or pleasures of the body or vilely squander the wool and the fat of Christ's sheep by hoarding up the goods of the monastery for your own benefit rather than of the brothers, so that you may enjoy yourself. Do nothing whatever, do not say anything for the sake of human glory, that does not pertain to the good of your monastery.<br/><i>— DISCOURSES 18:17</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"903f6950e41b9cad47ae1c043af02cce6f8ecc820fd52a52b1c51e22422be6ad","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":5033,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"e2ecf3b3861c31a52cf0db62359417cb1848a59d45166bfea1baea999f2780f4","translator":null,"work":null}