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Luke 22:31

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Read Chapter 22

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397
Although Peter was ready in spirit, he still was weak in physical love. Christ rebuked him before he denied the Lord. Not even Peter could equal the steadfastness of the divine purpose. The Lord’s Passion has imitators but no equals. I do not criticize Peter’s denial, but I praise his weeping. The one is common to nature, but the other is peculiar to virtue.
< 1 min1/20
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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397
Beware then of boasting, beware of the world; he is commanded to strengthen his own brethren, who said, Master, wehave left all, and followed you. Now Peter although earnest in spirit, yet still weak in bodily inclination, is declared about to deny his Lord; for he could not equal the constancy of the Divine will. Our Lord's Passion has rivals, but no equal.
< 1 min2/20
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
What else does the Lord’s passion present us with in our head Christ Jesus, but supremely the tests and trials of this life? That is why, as the time of his death drew near, Christ said to Peter, “Satan has asked for you all to sift you like wheat. And I have prayed, Peter, for you, that your faith should not fail. Go and strengthen your brothers.” He certainly has strengthened us by his apostolate, martyrdom and letters. In them he also warned us to fear the night I am speaking of and instructed us to be carefully vigilant, having the consolation of prophecy like a light in the night. “We have,” he said, “the more certain prophetic word, to which you do well to attend, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star rises in your hearts.”
1 min3/20
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
Now what is here said concerning the foregoing denial of Peter is contained in all the Evangelists, but they do not all happen to relate it upon the same occasion in the discourse. Matthew and Mark subjoin it after our Lord had departed from the house where He had eaten the Passover but Luke and John before He went out from thence. But we may easily understand either that the two former used these words, recapitulating them, or the two others anticipating them: only it rather moves us, that not only the words but even the sentences ofour Lord, in which Peter being troubled used that boast of dying either for or with our Lord, are given so differently, as rather to compel us to believe that he thrice uttered his boast at different parts of our Lord's discourse, and that he was thrice answered by our Lord, that before the cock crowed he should deny Him thrice. Now what is here said concerning the foregoing denial of Peter is contained in all the Evangelists, but they do not all happen to...
2 mins4/20
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Basil the Great

AD 379
We must know then, that God sometimes allows the rash to receive a fall, as aremedy to previous self-confidence. But although the rash man seems to have committed the same offense with other men, there is no slight difference. For the one has sinned by reason of certain secret assaults and almost against his will, but the others, having no care either for themselves or God, knowing no distinction between sin and virtuous actions. For the rash needing some assistance, in regard to this very thing in which he has sinned ought to suffer reproof. But the others, having destroyed all the good of their soul, must be afflicted, warned, rebuked, or made subject to punishment, until they acknowledge that God is a just Judge, and tremble.
1 min5/20
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Bede

AD 735
As if tosay, As I by prayer protected your faith that it should not fail, so do you remember to sustain the weaker brethren, that they despair not of pardon. Because the Lord said He had prayed for Peter's faith, Peter conscious of present affection and fervent faith, but unconscious of his coming fall, does not believe he could in any way fall from Christ. As it follows, And he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with youto prison and to death.
< 1 min6/20
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Clement Of Alexandria

AD 215
Says: "You will escape the energy of the wild beast, if your heart become pure and blameless. "Also the Lord Himself says: "Satan hath desired to sift you; but I have prayed."
< 1 min7/20
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Cornelius a Lapide

AD 1637
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have You. Sift—that is vex, afflict, agitate, cast you down as wheat in a sieve that it may be cleared of chaff and dust. Satan in the same manner asked God to permit him to sift and afflict Job , and in some degree he obtained his end. He did the same again to Peter and the other Apostles, and again, in part succeeded, when he stirred up the Jews to seize Christ, for then the Apostles themselves fled in fear and were dispersed. The temptation is well compared to sifting and a sieve, because, as by means of the sieve the grains of wheat are separated from the chaff, and remain in the sieve, while the chaff is scattered to the wind, and dispersed in air, so the faithful and the saints in temptation remain constant, but the wicked fail and fly off. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. For thee, because I destine thee to be the head and chief of the Apostles and of My Church, that thy faith fail not in believi...
4 mins8/20
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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258
But He so prayed for us, that in another place we read, "And the Lord said to Peter, Behold, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."
< 1 min9/20
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
In the passion of his zeal, Peter professed steadfastness and endurance to the last extremity, saying that he would courageously resist the terrors of death and count chains as nothing. In so doing, he erred from what was right. When the Savior told Peter that he would be weak and contradict the Lord, he should not have loudly protested the contrary. The Truth could not lie. Peter should have rather asked strength from Christ, either that he might not suffer this or that he might be rescued immediately from harm. He was fervent in spirit, warm in his love toward Christ, and of unrestrained zeal in rightly performing those duties which fit a disciple in his service to his master. Peter declares that he will endure to the last extremity. Christ rebuked him for foolishly speaking against what was foreknown and for his unreasonable haste in contradicting the Savior’s words. For this reason he says, “Truly I tell you, that the rooster will not crow tonight, until you have three times denied...
1 min10/20
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
To humble our tendency for pride and to repress ambitious feelings, Christ shows that even he who seemed to be great is nothing and infirm. He therefore passes by the other disciples and turns to him who is the foremost and sat at the head of the company. He says, “Satan has many times desired to sift you as wheat, that is, to search and try you and expose you to intolerable blows.” Satan usually attacks people who are above average. Like some fierce and arrogant barbarian, Satan challenges to onetoone combat those of high reputation in the ways of piety. He challenged Job, but his patience defeated him. The boaster fell. The endurance of that triumphant hero conquered him. Satan preys on human nature, because it is infirm and easy to overcome. He is harsh, pitiless and unappeasable in heart. As the sacred Scripture says of him, “His heart is hard as a stone, and he stands like an anvil that cannot be beaten out.” Christ’s might, however, places him under the feet of the saints. He has...
1 min11/20
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
Admire the beautiful skill of the passage and the surpassing greatness of the divine gentleness! He fears that Peter’s impending fall would lead the disciple to desperation, as though he would be expelled from the glories of the apostleship. Peter’s former following of Christ would then lose its reward, because of his inability to bear the fear of death and his denying him. Christ therefore immediately fills him with good hope. He grants him the confident assurance that he will be counted worthy of the promised blessings and gather the fruits of faithfulness. He says, “When you are converted, strengthen your brothers.” O what great and incomparable kindness! The affliction of faithlessness had not yet made the disciple ill, and already he has received the medicine of forgiveness. Commentary on Luke, Homily
1 min12/20
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
Or to show that men being as nought, (as regards human nature, and the proneness of our minds to fall,) it isnot meet that they should wish to be above their brethren. Therefore passing by all the others, He comes to Peter, who was the chief of them, saying, But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. Marvel then at the superabundance of the Divine forbearance: lest He should cause a disciple to despair, before the crime was committed, He granted pardon, and again restored him to his Apostolic rank, saying, Strengthen your brethren.
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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. In these words is expressed both what Satan desired, and what God permitted. Satan desired leave to tempt them, that he might make them fall from their faith in Christ. Almighty God permitted this temptation, this trial, to convince them how weak they were of themselves: he permitted their frailty to be partly overcome, yet so that rising again by his grace, they should be cleansed and purified as wheat when it is sifted: and that shortly after, being strengthened and confirmed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, they might become new men, enabled to stand firm against all the attacks of their greatest adversaries. (Witham)
1 min14/20
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Ignatius of Antioch

AD 108
The son of Josedech, who sought to "sift the faith"
< 1 min15/20
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John Chrysostom

AD 407
Now He said not, 'I have granted,' but I have prayed. For He speaks humbly as approaching to His Passion, and that He may manifest His human nature. For He who had spoken not in supplication, but by authority, Upon this rock I will build my Church, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom, how should He have need of prayer that He might stay one agitated soul? He does not say, &#8220;I have prayed that you deny not,&#8221; but that you do not abandon your faith.
< 1 min16/20
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
The devil also asked for power to tempt the apostles, since he did not have it except with divine permission. In the Gospel, the Lord said to Peter, “Behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” That is to say, the devil could not have so much power as to be able to endanger the faith of Peter. We thus see that the threat to our faith as well as its protection are in the power of God.
< 1 min17/20
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
"So he asked in the case of the apostles likewise an opportunity to tempt them, having it only by special allowance, since the Lord in the Gospel says to Peter, "Behold, Satan asked that he might sift you as grain; but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not; "
< 1 min18/20
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The Apostolic Constitutions

AD 375
And he oftentimes sought to sift us, that our faith might fail.
< 1 min19/20
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Theophilus of Antioch

AD 184
Now this was said to Peter, because he was bolder than the rest, and might feel proud because of the things which Christ had promised. For albeit you are for a time shaken, yet you hold stored up, a seed of faith; though the spirit has shed its leaves in temptation, yet the root is firm. Satan then seeks to harm you, because he is envious of my love for you, but notwithstanding that I have prayed for you, you shall fall. Hence it follows, And when you are converted, strengthen your brethren. As if He says, After that you have wept and repented your denial of Me, strengthen your brethren, for I have deputed you to be the head of the Apostles. For this befits you who are with Me, the strength and rock of the Church. And this must be understood not only of the Apostles who then were, but of all the faithful who were about to be, even to the end of the world that none of the believers might despair, seeing that Peter though an Apostle denied his Lord, yet afterwards by penitence obtained t...
2 mins20/20
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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20

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