Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
Read Chapter 4
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
God was with them, like a shepherd, when they were in need. He looked after their interests, so that their enemies would not get the better of them. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
Persecuted, but not forsaken. S. Gregory of Nyssa (de Beatitud.), explaining the last of the Beatitudes, "Blessed are they that suffer persecution," acutely and piously weighs the meaning of the word persecution, which etymologically points to some running, or rather running before. He puts before our eyes a holy man and tribulation, like two runners running side by side. When the saint does not give place to tribulation, he says that he goes before it, as victorious over it, and that tribulation follows hard after him, and Isaiah , therefore, called persecution, not consecution, for it follows after but does not reach the holy man. He says that this word points out that the saints, through patience, run with great swiftness for the prize of glory, display their vigour and strength most brightly in the midst of persecutions. He goes on: "Martyrdom shows us the arena, and marks out the course to be run by faith; for "persecution" denotes an ardent desire for swiftness, nay, it even indi...
