December 28, 2025 – Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

OVERVIEW: People are saved, not by nominal membership in those known as God’s people, but by virtue of their fear of the Lord and by their walking in his ways (THEODORET). People who fear loss of temporal possessions are not blessed, but those who fear the Lord experience true joy. When the psalmist says that the man who fears the Lord is blessed, he also included the female (CASSIODORUS).

DIVINE FEAR. THEODORET OF CYR: “Blessed are all who fear the Lord.” The inspired word declared blessed not the one from Abraham’s stock or from Israel’s seed but the person adorned with the fear of God. Blessed Peter also says this in the book of Acts: “In truth I grasp the fact that God shows no partiality, but in every nation the person fearing him and performing righteousness is acceptable to him.” The inspired word also gave a glimpse of the character of the fear of God, adding “those walking in his ways”: “Not everyone saying to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in heaven.” So it is typical of those fearing the Lord not to stray from the ways of God but to travel in them without fail. _{COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 128.2}
FEAR OF GOD IS BORN OF CHARITY. CASSIODORUS: When he says, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord,” he shows that they are not blessed who fear with troubled mind the dangers of the world when temporal property is lost. For those dangers make people wretched when they torment them with groundless fear. They have no advantage, but rather a dimunition. They do not know an ascent, but rather destruction. In contrast, the fear of the Lord descends from love, is born of charity and is begotten of sweetness. A pious fear comforts the fearful and refreshes the afflicted, and does not know how to lack joy unless such fruit of fear has been put aside. About this fear it is written, “Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” How advantageous fear is, if children are taught by it! What sort of learning there is which is given with sweet affection! _{EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 127.1}

INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE. CASSIODORUS: Next: “Your sons will be as olive shoots around your table.” In regards to Wisdom, the wife, rightly are the children called “sons,” not “daughters.” By the male sex strength of mind is often indicated. Or it may be because whenever this sex is named, it embraces both male and female, as elsewhere he says, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord.” Not only is a man blessed who fears the Lord, but also a woman is blessed who fears the Lord. _{EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 127.3}

OVERVIEW: Paul’s purpose now is to describe the new life incumbent on those who have been baptized. We are to live under Christ and for Christ as the one focus of our striving, manifesting this new life by our attention to heavenly things and to the practical work of love (CHRYSOSTOM, SEVERIAN). We share in the resurrection of Christ (ISAAC OF NINEVEH). In what follows we see how glorious is the Christian life compared with the wretchedness of the life under the law (ORIGEN, THEODORET). The new life about to be described is the life of the baptized (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM), who contemplate heavenly things in order to rise to that place where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father (AMBROSIASTER). Paul reminds us that the new life in Christ is always a matter of new perceptions, of seeing through earthly things to heavenly things (ORIGEN, BASIL, ATHANASIUS, AMBROSE, APHRAHAT, BABAI). In the new life in Christ, the creation is restored and reason is back in control of the human mind (GREGORY OF NYSSA). Renewal in Christ happens in the inner person, such that, while the struggle with sin always continues, progress in virtue is possible (AUGUSTINE), looking toward full responsiveness to grace (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, GREGORY OF NYSSA).

WITHOUT LOVE, NOTHING IS POSSIBLE. CHRYSOSTOM: Now what Paul wishes to say is that there is no benefit in those things, for all those things fall apart, unless they are done with love. This is the love that binds them all together. Whatever good thing it is that you mention, if love be absent, it is nothing, it melts away. The analogy is like a ship; though its rigging be large, yet if it lacks girding ropes, it is of no service. Or it is similar to a house; if there are no tie beams, of what use is the house? Think of a body. Though its bones be large, if it lacks ligaments, the bones cannot support the body. In the same way, whatever good our deeds possess will vanish completely if they lack love. _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 8}
SEVERIAN OF GABALA: When love does not lead, there is no completion of what is lacking; but, where love is present we abstain from doing evil to one another. Indeed we put our minds in the service of doing good, when we love one another. _{PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH}
AMBROSIASTER: When love is in command, the way of the law is followed: when the full mind does the operation, it is done with love. _{COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS}

THE CHRISTIAN SAGE. CHRYSOSTOM: Nothing is wiser than the person who lives virtuously. Observe how wise he is, says one. He gives what he owns, he is compassionate, he is loving to all. He has understood well that he shares a common human nature with others. He has thought through how to use his wealth wisely. He realizes the position of wealth makes him no one special. He knows that the bodies of his relatives are more valuable than his wealth. The one who despises glory is wholly wise, for he understands human affairs. This is genuine philosophy, the knowledge of things divine and human. So then he comprehends what things are divine and what are human. From the one he keeps himself, and to the other he devotes his labors. And he also knows how to thank God in all things. He considers the present life as nothing; therefore he is neither delighted with prosperity nor grieved with the opposite condition. _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 9}

NOTHING UNCLEAN. CHRYSOSTOM: For if we act this way, there will be nothing polluted, nothing unclean, wherever Christ is called on. If you eat, if you drink, if you marry, if you travel, do all in the name of God, that is, calling him to help you: in everything first pray, then conduct your business. _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 9}
THEODORET OF CYR: It is because the Colossians were being directed to worship angels that Paul felt compelled to teach what we read here. This is that they should adorn their words and deeds with the remembrance of Christ the Lord, that is, they should offer to God the Father the activity of grace through Christ, not through angels. _{INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS}

OVERVIEW: Paul turns to practical matters in this part of Colossians, as well as in Ephesians and the letters to Timothy and Titus, because these churches were at peace and were already well-grounded in basic doctrine. The relations of wives, husbands, children, servants and masters are to be grounded in the love that God has for each, as well as in the social order that God has commanded (CHRYSOSTOM, THEODORET). Love is to be properly spiritual in nature; there is no license here for lustful or self-serving relations (AUGUSTINE). Those in authority are to operate with great humility and forbearance, those under authority with great respect and eagerness to serve (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, AMBROSE, GREGORY THE GREAT).

FOR GOD’S GLORY. CHRYSOSTOM: That is, be subject for God’s sake, because this adorns you, Paul says, not them. For I mean not that subjection which is due to a master nor yet that alone which is of nature but that offered for God’s sake. _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 10}
THEODORET OF CYR: Paul is particularly concerned here with believing women who are married to unbelieving men: thus, their subjection is in service to the Lord, that is, as the Lord commands. _{INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS}
THE NATURAL ORDER. AUGUSTINE: Nor can it be doubted that it is more consonant with the order of nature that men should bear rule over women than women over men. It is with this principle in view that the apostle says, “The head of the woman is the man” ; and, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands.” _{ON MARRIAGE AND CONCUPISCENCE 1.9.10}

RECIPROCITY THE KEY. CHRYSOSTOM: Observe again that Paul has exhorted husbands and wives to reciprocity. As with wives toward husbands, here too he enjoins fear and love. For it is possible for one who loves to be bitter. What Paul says then is this. Don’t fight; for nothing is more bitter than fighting in marriage, when it takes place on the part of the husband toward the wife. For disputes between people who love another are bitter. These arise from great bitterness, when, Paul says, any one disagrees with his own member. To love, therefore, is the husband’s part, to yield pertains to the other side. If, then, each one contributes his own part, all stand firm. From being loved, the wife too becomes loving; and from her being submissive, the husband learns to yield. _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 10}
PROCREATION IMPOSSIBLE ALONE. CHRYSOSTOM: See again a mystery of love! If the two don’t become one, so long as they continue two, they have no children, but when they come together, many children result. What do we learn from this? That the power of union is great. At the beginning God’s wise counsel divided the one into two; and yet even after this division God desired to show that humanity was still one. To do so he determined that human procreation could not be accomplished by only one person. . . . For man and wife are not two men, but one humanity. . . . If he is the head, and she the body, how are they two? . . . Moreover, from the very fashioning of her body, one may see that they are one, for she was made from his side, and they are, as it were, two halves. . . . The child is a sort of bridge, so that the three become one flesh, the child connecting on either side, each to the other. For just as two cities divided by a river can be united by a bridge, so it is in this case; and the reality is more than the analogy; the very bridge in this case is formed from the substance of each. _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 12}
LOVE SHOULD BE SPIRITUAL. AUGUSTINE: God forbid that a man who possesses faith should, when he hears the apostle bid men “love their wives,” love that disordered sexual desire in his wife which he ought not to love even in himself. He may know this if he listens to the words of another apostle: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” _{ON MARRIAGE AND CONCUPISCENCE 1.18.20}

FOR GOD’S GLORY. CHRYSOSTOM: Again Paul has written, “in the Lord,” at once laying down the laws of obedience, producing shame in them. For this, he says, is well-pleasing to the Lord. See how Paul would have us live not only according to natural principles but, prior to this, according to what is pleasing to God. In this way we also gain a reward. _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 10}
TRUE LOVE OF GOD AND OF ONE’S PARENTS NOT INCOMPATIBLE. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: But while honoring our heavenly Father, let us also honor the “fathers of our flesh,” since the Lord in the Law and the Prophets has clearly laid this down, saying: “Honor your mother and your father, that it may be well with you, and that you may have a long life in the land.” Let those present who have mothers and fathers pay attention to this command. “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord.” For our Lord did not say: “He who loves father or mother is not worthy of me,” else what was well written you might interpret falsely out of ignorance, but he added “more than me.” _{CATECHETICAL LECTURES 7.15}

RECIPROCITY AGAIN. CHRYSOSTOM: Again here Paul mentions submission and love. And he did not say, “Love your children,” for this would have been unnecessary, seeing that nature itself causes us to do so. Rather he corrected what needed correction; that the love shown in this case should be much stronger, because the obedience commanded is greater. Here Paul does not use the example of a husband and wife. Instead, hear the prophet saying, “Like a father pities his children, so the Lord pitied those that fear him.” _{HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 10}
A MESSAGE IMPLANTED BY NATURE, PERVERTED BY CULTURE. AMBROSE: We have here the message of the Scriptures which declares: “Children, love your fathers; parents, do not provoke your children to anger.” Nature has implanted in beasts the instinct to love their own brood and hold dear their own progeny. But the beasts know nothing of relations-in-law. Here, parents do not become estranged from their offspring by the act of changing their mates. They know nothing of preferences given to children of a later union to the neglect of those of a former marriage. They are conscious of the value of their pledges and are unacquainted with distinctions in respect to love, to incentives due to hate and to discriminations in acts that involve wrongdoing. Wild creatures have a nature that is simple and one which has no concern in the perversion of truth. And so the Lord has ordained that those creatures to whom he has bestowed a minimum of reason are endowed with the maximum of feeling. _{SIX DAYS OF CREATION 6.22}
THE WISE EXERCISE OF ADMONISHMENT. GREGORY THE GREAT: Subjects are to be admonished in one way, superiors in another, but the former in such a way that subjection may not crush them; the latter, that their exalted position may not lift them up; the former; that they should not do less than is ordered; the latter, that they should not command more than is just; the former, that they submit with humility; the latter, that they be moderate in the exercise of their superiority. For it is said to the former, and this can be understood figuratively: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord.” But superiors are commanded: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.” Let the former learn to order their interior dispositions before the eyes of the hidden Judge; the others, how to set outwardly the example of a good life to those committed to them. _{PASTORAL CARE 3.4}

Overview: Egypt, which under Pharaoh stood stubbornly against Yahweh, now became a witness to and abode of Christ (Chromatius). It was not to escape death that he went down into Egypt but that he might put demons to flight and demolish death-dealing idols (Anonymous). The devil, who foresaw the future of Christ, tried desperately to stop him even in his infancy. Christ fled that, in time, he might bestow on us the eternal hope of escape from oppression. In the face of persecution, it is better to flee than to recant. Yet as a grown man he would not flee the death he escaped as an infant (Peter Chrysologus). The babies slain by Herod did not fail to attain glory immediately because of their martyrdom (Hilary). They were the first martyrs of Christ’s coming (Chromatius). It was Herod, not Christ, who killed the children (Theodore of Mopsuestia). Whatever the source of unjust suffering, as exemplified by the slain children, the ultimate cause is either God devising a release for us from our sins or it is God offering an exchange of sin (Chrysostom). For the babes, death brought a blessed end to their grief. For the mothers, however, the memory of their babes ever renewed their grief (Anonymous). Thus it was prophetically foretold that Herod would have no power over the Lord (Chromatius).

Babylon and Egypt. Chrysostom: But why was the Christ child sent into Egypt? The text makes this clear: he was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” From that point onward we see that the hope of salvation would be proclaimed to the whole world. Babylon and Egypt represent the whole world. Even when they were engulfed in ungodliness, God signified that he intended to correct and amend both Babylon and Egypt. God wanted humanity to expect his bounteous gifts the world over. So he called from Babylon the wise men and sent to Egypt the holy family. Besides what I have said, there is another lesson also to be learned, which tends powerfully toward true self-constraint in us. We are warned from the beginning to look out for temptations and plots. And we see this even when he came in swaddling clothes. Thus you see even at his birth a tyrant raging, a flight ensuing and a departure beyond the border. For it was because of no crime that his family was exiled into the land of Egypt.
Similarly, you yourself need not be troubled if you are suffering countless dangers. Do not expect to be celebrated or crowned promptly for your troubles. Instead you may keep in mind the long-suffering example of the mother of the Child, bearing all things nobly, knowing that such a fugitive life is consistent with the ordering of spiritual things. You are sharing the kind of labor Mary herself shared. So did the magi. They both were willing to retire secretly in the humiliating role of fugitive. _{The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 8.2}
Why Christ Fled. Peter Chrysologus: His flight then was not occasioned by fear but by what had come through the mystery of prophecy. The Evangelist planted the seed when he thus spoke: “ Take the boy and his mother and flee into Egypt.” And later, “that what was written might be fulfilled: ‘From Egypt have I summoned my son.’ ” Christ fled so that he might establish the truth of the law, faith in prophecy and the testimony of the psalter. The Lord himself says, “It was needful that what was written in the law and the prophets and the psalms be fulfilled by me.” Christ fled for us, not for himself. Christ fled so that at the right time he might serve as a steward of the sacraments [the divine mysteries]. Christ fled so that by granting absolution he might take away the source of abuses to come and that he might give proof of faith to those who would believe. And finally, Christ fled so that he might bestow on us faith even when we have to flee, because in the face of persecution it is better to flee than to deny the faith. For Peter, because he was unwilling to flee, denied the Lord. John, lest he deny the Lord, fled. _{Sermons 150.11}
The Devil Foresaw the Future of Christ. Peter Chrysologus: Was it Herod seeking the child, or the devil working through Herod? When Herod saw the magi for himself, he imagined in his fantasy that they had fled their governors. For Christ, though bound in swaddling clothes, though busy at his mother’s breast, though keeping quiet, concealing his words, unable to walk, nevertheless transformed the magi (who had been standard-bearers of the devil) into his most faithful servants. The devil instantly realized what Christ could do when he came of age. So he spurred the Jews against him and, clever contriver that he was, impelled Herod that he might get the jump on Christ in his infancy. He hoped to deprive him of the coming emblem of his virtue, the cross, the banner of the greatest victory for us. The devil perceived that Christ would soon be restoring life to all the world with his teaching and his virtue. Even while still whimpering as a baby, Jesus was taking possession of this world from top to bottom. It was as the prophet said: “Before the child knows to cry to his father and mother he shall take the pride of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria.” The Jews themselves attest to this when they say, “You see how the whole world hastens after him.” _{Sermons 150.9}
Putting to Flight the Demons of Egypt. Anonymous: “Go into the land of Egypt.” For, just like a doctor, the Lord went down into Egypt that he might visit it as it languished in error, not that he might stay there. For at first blush it seems as if he went down into Egypt in flight from Herod. The fact is that he went in order to put to flight the demons of Egypt’s error, just as Isaiah gives witness when he says, “Behold, the Lord goes down into Egypt, seated atop a swift cloud, and the idols of Egypt shall fall.” Do you see then that it was not to escape death that he went down into Egypt but that he might eradicate their deadly idols? For this is the only time that the Lord traveled to Egypt.
It must be noted, moreover, why he fled into Egypt by night but returned during the day. This is because, when he fled, he was fleeing the persecution of Herod. He began his return, however, after the persecutor had died. For night symbolizes the tightening of the heat of persecution, while the day represents a cooling off. _{Incomplete Work on Matthew, Homily 2}

While Palestine Plots, Egypt Receives.
Chrysostom: Mary, who had never even passed beyond the threshold of her own house, was commanded to undergo this long ordeal of adversity for the sake of this wonderful birth and for her own spiritual labor and development. Isn’t this remarkable: While Palestine plots, it is Egypt that receives and preserves the One for whom the plots are designed! This is reminiscent of the patriarch Jacob, who also sought succor in Egypt, anticipating the coming of our Lord. _{The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 8.2}
As a Man Christ Would Not Flee Death.
Peter Chrysologus: Christ promised that he would come incarnate, that he would go through the phases of life, that he would announce the glory of the kingdom of heaven, that he would proclaim the way of faith and that by the power of his word alone he would put demons to flight. He promised that he would give sight to the blind, gait to the lame, speech to the mute, hearing to the deaf, remission for sinners and life to the dead. All these things he promised through the law and the prophets. Thus it was that Christ, when he was to become a man, was not to flee the death he escaped as an infant. _{Sermons 150.10}

Fugitives East and West. Chrysostom:
There is something else here worth noticing, one touching the magi and the other touching the Child. The issue is why didn’t the magi remain with the Child? And why didn’t the Child remain in Bethlehem? Both had to escape as fugitives shortly after they were received with joy: the magi to Persia and the holy family to Egypt. Why? This is worthy of close examination. The magnificence of God’s plan of salvation would not have been believed if he had not come in the flesh. If Jesus had fallen into the hands of Herod, his life in the flesh might have been cut off. Many circumstances were quietly ordered providentially within human history. Even while the flesh of the Christ child was in danger, some dared to imagine that he never assumed our common human flesh, that his coming was like that of a ghost. These impious ideas will ultimately destroy those who do not confess that God has come to us in the flesh in a way becoming to his deity.
As to the wise men, they were sent off quickly, commissioned to teach in the land of the Persians, having thwarted the madness of the king. Herod was allowed the opportunity to learn that he was attempting things impossible, against prophecy, and that there was still time to quench his wrath and desist from his demented plot. It is fitting to God’s power not only to subdue his enemies but to do so with ease, deceiving the deceivers in a way fitting to God’s almighty power. In the same way the Egyptians had earlier been deceived, their wealth transferred secretly and with craft and God’s power made awesome to them. _{The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 8.1}
Egypt the Abode of Christ. Chromatius:
Joseph therefore was commanded to accept this boy about whom Isaiah had said, “For a boy has been born to you; a son has been given to you, whose rule has extended over his shoulders.” Now he said “a son has been given to you” because Christ the Lord was born as a boy and was counted a son of Joseph and Mary. As to his going down into Egypt, Isaiah predicted this long before the fact when he said, “Behold, the Lord sits atop a swift cloud and will come into Egypt.” By this statement the promise of the Lord’s incarnation was clearly revealed. Since the Lord himself is invoked as “arising from on high, the sunlight of justice,” it is right that he would come on a swift cloud. By this Isaiah means he would come in a hallowed body, a body weighed down by no sin and through which he covered the light of his own majesty with the envelope of the cloud of his body. Hosea as well points to this very fact when he says, “ The king of Israel has been thrown down. Because Israel was small, I took delight in him. And I called my son from Egypt.”
After Egypt’s ancient, grave sin, after many blows had been divinely inflicted upon it, God the omnipotent Father, moved by devotion, sent his Son into Egypt. He did so that Egypt, which had long ago paid back the penalty of wickedness owed under Moses, might now receive Christ, the hope for salvation. How great was God’s compassion as shown in the advent of his Son! Egypt, which of old under Pharaoh stood stubborn against God, now became a witness to and home for Christ. God’s compassion toward Egypt was like that shown toward the magi, who deserved to know Christ the Lord. For, although the magi had for a long time dared resist the divine goodness under Moses, they now, having seen but a single star in heaven, believed in the Son of God. The cavalier magicians were handed over to punishment for their lack of faith. Others were brought to glory through faith, since they believed that God had been born in the flesh—God whom the Egyptian magicians were unwilling to recognize in all his divine excellence. _{Tractate on Matthew 6.1}

Overview: While Joseph fled into Egypt in the night of persecution, he returned from Egypt during the day of safety (Anonymous). Joseph prefigured the ministry of the apostles (Hilary). Every impulse led Joseph away from Bethlehem toward Galilee (Chrysostom). Ironically it was the child who was nourishing his mother and watching over his father (Anonymous). The child had priority over the parents (Anonymous). The whole sense of the Scriptures attests that the expected Messiah was to be holy and hence the prototype of the Nazarene (Jerome, Anonymous), a term that suggests the dual meanings of holiness and blooming (Cyril of Alexandria). Those are called Nazarenes who make an extraordinary vow of chastity to God, affirming that vow with the hair of their heads, which the law had commanded them to offer as a sacrifice (Chromatius).

How Joseph Prefigured the Apostolate.
Hilary: After the death of Herod, Joseph was advised by the angel to return to Judea with the boy and his mother. When he returned he heard that Archelaeus, son of Herod, was king. So he was afraid to go, but the angel admonished him to cross over into the region of Galilee, and they lived in the city of Nazareth. . . . Joseph resembles the apostles to whom Christ entrusted the spreading of the news about him. Similar to what happened with Joseph after the death of Herod, they must deal with the same people who caused the Lord to suffer. The apostles are commanded to preach to the Jews, for they were sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But when they saw that the power remained in the hands of inherited faithlessness, they became afraid and retreated. _{On Matthew 2.1}

The Priority of the Child to the Mother. Anonymous: Do you see why Joseph was not chosen to be the husband of Mary, but her attendant? When she was going to and returning from Egypt, had she not been married, who would have attended her in such great need? For indeed, at first glance, Mary was nourishing a child, and Joseph was looking after her. In point of fact, however, the boy was nourishing his mother, and Joseph was being watched over. . . . Nor was it the son’s glory to have that mother, but rather it was her blessing to have that son. She herself used to say as much: “Behold, now every generation will call me blessed.” _{Incomplete Work on Matthew, Homily 2}

In Place of His Father Herod. Chrysostom: Do you perceive the alternation between relief and danger? Joseph left foreign territory and returned to his ancestral land, discovering the slaughter of the children in the process. Having left his household in Bethlehem, he again discovers remnants of his first dangers. He finds that the son of the tyrant is alive and ruling as king. And how was it possible that Archelaus should be king of Judea, when Pontius Pilate was in charge? Herod’s death had recently occurred, and the kingdom had not yet been divided. But no sooner had Herod died than his son took power in his father’s place. . . . But if Joseph had feared to make his way to Judea, they say, on account of Archelaus, he ought to have been equally wary of Galilee on account of Herod Antipas. But let us leave unexamined for now the rest of the question as to whether he changed his place of residence, for his every impulse led away from Bethlehem and its confines. _{The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 9.4}
Joseph Withdrew to Galilee. Chrysostom: After the slaughter of the children occurred, the young Archelaus was under the impression that everything else had been taken care of. Both the children in Bethlehem had been eliminated and the one they were seeking to kill. But once he saw how his father had lost his life, Archelaus became most conscious of the precedent and much more diligent in contending with lawlessness. Therefore Joseph left Judea for Nazareth, both in flight from the danger and at the same time out of love for his home country. And that he might be more confident, he received a divine pronouncement from the messenger about it. _{The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 9.4}

The Sense of Prophetic Scriptures Summarized. Jerome: If this could have been found in the Scriptures, he never would have said, “Because it has been spoken by the prophets,” but he would rather have spoken more plainly: “Because it has been spoken by a prophet.” As it is now, in speaking of prophets in general he has shown that he has not taken the specific words but rather the sense from the Scriptures. “Nazarene” is understood as “holy.” Every Scripture attests that the Lord was to be holy. We can also speak in another way of what was written . . . in Hebrew in Isaiah: “A branch will blossom from the root of Jesse, a Nazarene from his root.” _{Commentary on Matthew 1.2.23}
Why a Nazarene? Chromatius: Our Lord and Savior is called “the Nazarene” as much after the name of the place, the city of Nazareth, as from the mystery of the law. For, according to the law, those are called Nazarenes who make an extraordinary vow of chastity to God, maintaining that vow with the hair of their heads, which the ordained law had commanded them to offer as a sacrifice. Therefore, because the author and ruler of every act of sanctity and piety is Christ the Lord, who said through the prophet, “Let them be holy, since I am holy, says the Lord,” it was not undeservedly that he was called “the Nazarene.” It was he who, following truly what was preordained in the law, offered as a pledge to God the Father the sacrifice of his own body. David spoke about this pledge when he said of the Lord, “Just as Jacob swore an oath to the Lord, he was offered a pledge to God.” The Lord would show himself as the Nazarene at the time when he became a creature of flesh. _{Tractate on Matthew 7.2}
Blooming in Holiness. Cyril of Alexandria: But if “the Nazarene” is interpreted to mean “holy” or, according to some, as “flower,” this is the designation found in many instances. For Daniel calls him “holy” or “of the holy ones.” Likewise we find in Isaiah: “A branch from the stock of Jesse and its flower.” Even the Lord says of himself in the Song of Songs, “I am the bloom of the plain, the lily of the valleys.” _{Fragment 16}
Nazarene Understood Through All the Prophets. Anonymous: When he says “through the prophets,” not “through a prophet,” he clarifies a term derived from no specific prophetic authority. He speaks instead of the implied meaning he has gathered from all the prophets. For Jesus was called “the Nazarene” by all the prophets because he was holy. Or, perhaps, they read other prophets, whom we do not recognize as canonical, making this assertion. For thus some have prophesied and have written, such as Nathan and Esdras. And inasmuch as it had been prophesied, this very thing Philip makes clear when he says to Nathanael, “We have found the one of whom Moses wrote in his law, as well as the prophets, and he is Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth.” Thus did Nathanael, knowing that it had been prophesied, respond in confirmation of this very thing: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” _{Incomplete Work on Matthew, Homily 2}