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I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them that are evil, and thou hast tried them, who say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
St. Victorinus
I know your works, and your labour, and your patience. In the first epistle He speaks thus: I know that you suffer and work, I see that you are patient; think not that I am staying long from you.
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St. Gregory the Great
Thus the Lord scans those ways with exact scrutiny, that in each one of us He should neither pass over those good points that are for Him to recompense, nor leave without rebuke the evil things, that are doubtless displeasing to Him. For hence it is that the Angel of the Church of Pergamos He at once commends in somethings, and in some rebukes, saying, 'I know thy works... 'And a little while after 'But I have a few things against you...' Hence it is said to the angel of Thyatira, 'I know thy works...but I have this much against you...'. Observe how He records good things, nor yet lets go without penance evil things, that require to be cut off, surely because He so views the ways of each, and so takes account of their steps, 'counting them up' that by exact counting He thoroughly estimates both how far each one is advancing to what is good, or how far, by deviating to what is evil, he may contravene his advances. For the increase of merits, which is heightened by the aims of a good life, is very often held back by a mixture of evil; and the good which the mind builds up by practicing, it overthrows by committing other things. (Morals 21.5 10)
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Oecumenius
The Ephesians were fulfilling the divine command: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, to see whether they are of God.(1John 4:1)” Therefore they used to test those among them who were proclaiming the gospel, and after testing them they found some false apostle who were imparting spurious belief. He is referring to the followers of Cerinthus, who were contemporaries of John and were preachers of profane doctrines.
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St. Bede
I know. I see, that is, that thou art diligent in the practice of good works, and bearest calmly the insufferable injuries of the wicked, for thou hast diligently examined the words and works of the false Apostles, and hast not been willing to give way to them in anything.
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St. Beatus of Liébana
But to the same church [of Ephesus], He says, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience.” ‘He states Himself to recognize the effect of good work, and care for labor and spiritual study, and patience by which she endures temptation, or overcomes it. And He commends the purity of His church by the judgment of Truth, of which church Isaiah has already spoken: “Give praise, O thou barren that bearest not; sing forth praise… thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband.” [Is. 54:1] Of which labor of the church, He said, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” [Mt. 5:5] ‘Yet already of this in the present place, the Lord says, “And how thou canst not bear them that are evil; and thou hast tried them who say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars. (Verse 3) And thou hast patience, and hast endured for My Name, and hast not fainted.” ‘We accept this dictum as about heretics, without a doubt, because the same seducers desert the truth, and are authors of crooked lies. They testify themselves to be good, and the same are proved to be worse than demons. But Catholic faith finds out their lying and perversity; and many who put up with it hurt themselves with the same evil, through tolerance. All this she suffers for the sake of Christ’s Name, nor is her faith disappointed. For to this same Church, through the Prophet, it says of the heretics, “Every weapon that is formed against thee will not be aimed; and every tongue that resisteth thee in judgment, thou shalt judge.” [Is. 54:17]‘ “Thou hast tried”, it says, “them.” Not ‘they have been tried’, nor ‘those who are within’. For those who are outside are shown to be outside without any trial. Nor is the work to test them if they be not inside in the Church, because they are recognized from their fruits, not their place. Of whom the Lord says, “By their fruits you shall know them”, because “an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit.” [Mt. 7:16] The work is in the fruit; the word speaks on the page. They will be very great when they are found; they are closed to the evil. They are not those same ones who said “themselves to be Apostles”, as if they should be seen to serve the Lord; but yet in fact, they serve themselves and not the Lord. ‘But it is cleverly asked of us, ‘Who are they who serve the Lord?” For neither all who read, all who preach, all who give of their own, all who chastise the body through abstinence from flesh, serve the Lord. For those who are reading or preaching or giving what he has and wearing down the body with abstinence, and strive for their own glory — they desire to receive praise from men. They serve themselves and not the Lord. ‘For the Lord says against them, through the Psalmist, “The man walking in the perfect [immaculata, "spotless"] way, he served Me.” [Ps. 100:6] For he who in the good work that he does, puts himself forward in the first place in earthly glory, has a spot in the way — he who demands to receive mercy in this world, and dirties his good works with the spot of crooked intentions in the sight of God. And indeed, perhaps he who burns intensely with enthusiasm of study, cuts back his faults and failings. Yet he who is led to this urging, not by love for Omnipotent God, but from his own zeal [to be better than others], serves himself in this, and not the Lord. ‘The other would appear not to be rough; many gently tolerate him who perpetrates what is crooked. And so this one — because he does not want to be seen busy for the Lord, his study is for himself and he does not serve the Lord — through their gentleness. Therefore, what remains is either that we weary ourselves by ministry in words or give bountifully what is ours to the needy, or subdue the flesh by abstinence; or we will be stirred to want to be first, or by patience, gently tolerate something crooked. ‘So we very much ought to discuss our intention, to the point that all we do, that we do not urge ourselves toward what serves us instead of the Lord, For Paul said of those who served not the Lord but themselves, “All seek the things that are their own; not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.” [Phil. 2:21] Truly, when the brothers chosen would not serve themselves, but the Lord, and he hastened living and dying, the same Paul, saying, “None of us liveth to himself; and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Therefore, whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” ‘For the saints neither live nor die for themselves, who by all that they urge, pant for spiritual gain along with praying, preaching, attending to holy works; they desire to multiply the citizens of the heavenly homeland. They die to themselves a little, because they glorify God over their death, in the sight of men; and already they hasten to dying, to reach Him. And so we may ponder in the death of the saints, that there was not so much opprobrium of them from the unfaithful, but so much praise of the Lord grew in the hearts of the faithful. Who, if they had sought their praise, surely would have feared such suffering and rebukes in death. But no one of us lives for himself, no one dies for himself; they who neither living nor dying sought their own glory.’ _____________________________________________________________
Nicholas of Lyra
I know thy works That is, I approve. and thy labour That is, the tribulation from the adversaries of the faith. and thy patience In the tribulation raised up for you. and how thou canst not bear them that are evil By communing with them, but you reject them from the fellowship of the faithful lest they too be corrupted by their evil. and thou hast tried them By considering their results from their life and teaching. who say they are apostles That is, sent by Christ to teach the people. and are not They are not truly sent by Christ but are subverters of the faithful like Ebion, Cerinthis, and the rest of the heretics who surfaced in Asia and, similarly, the false apostles who said that they were sent by the apostles, Peter and James, who remained in Jerusalem. Under this pretext, they taught falsely that the observervance of the law together with the Gospel was necessary for salvation, as is clear above in the epistles of Paul in many places. and hast found them liars Not only in doctrine, but in life, because they simulate an exterior sanctity better to deceive the simple.
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Rupert of Deutz
Obviously these works are to labor in the rule of the Catholic faith, to exercise patience in this labor, even when disputing against perverse dogmas, the wicked fabricators of which are so many and so loquacious, that thou canst not endure them; such as were Marcion, Cerinthus, and many other heretics. Thy works I say indeed are good in trying those mendacious teachers, and convicting them as false apostles; but yet it is not in this that perfection consists, whatever patience you may have in enduring them and not fainting, if you are without the primary ornament of charity. For, says the apostle, 'Though I had all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and though I gave my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.' And the apostle James says, ' Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?' For, however it may seem to work, faith is dead unless it work by love.
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