Luke 2:1 (WEB)
Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
Fathers and councils · 24
Tertullian
“For He was from the native soil of Bethlehem, and from the house of David; as, among the Romans, Mary is described in the census, of whom is born Christ.” — editor's note: See Luke ii. 1–7.
Read the whole comment““Away,” says he, “with that eternal plaguey taxing of Cæsar, and the scanty inn, and the squalid swaddling-clothes, and the hard stable.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 1–7.
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Augustine of Hippo
“For acts issue from thought: nor can a man do anything or move his limbs to do aught, unless the bidding of his thought precede: just as in all things which ye see done throughout the provinces, whatsoever the Emperor biddeth goeth forth from the inner part of his palace throughout the whole Roman Empire.” — editor's note: [A striking illustration of (the Christmas morning Lesson, Anglican) Luke ii. 1.—C.]
Read the whole commentChapter V.—A Statement of the Manner in Which Luke’s Procedure is Proved to Be in Harmony with Matthew’s in Those Matters Concerning the Conception and the Infancy or Boyhood of Christ, Which are Omitted by the One…
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Catena Aurea on John
- John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
“(Luke 2:1) Nay, ask even Cherubim and Seraphim; thou wilt hear only in reply the mystic melody of devotion, and that heaven and earth are full of His glory.” — the author cites it
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Basil the Great
“Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us “in a mystery” by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force.” — editor's note: “τῶς ἐν τῇ Εκκλησί& 139· πεφυλαγμένων δογμάτων καὶ κηρυγμάτων.” To give the apparent meaning of the original seems impossible except by some such paraphrase as…
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Gregory of Nazianzus
“Revere the enrolment on account of which thou wast written in heaven, and adore the Birth by which thou wast loosed from the chains of thy birth, and honour little Bethlehem, which hath led thee back to Paradise; and worship the manger through which thou, being without sense, wast fed by the Word.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 1–5.
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Aphrahat
“And search out and see that also by the poll-tax He was enrolled amongst them.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 1, 2.
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Catena Aurea on Luke
- BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
The Son of God, about to be born in the flesh, as by His birth of a virgin He shewed that the grace of virginity was most pleasing in His sight, is therefore begotten in the most peaceful time of the world, because…
Read the whole comment - A Greek expositorCatena Aurea on Luke
Christ is born also at a time when the princes of Judah had failed, and the kingdom was transferred to Roman governors, to whom the Jews paid tribute; and then was fulfilled the prophecy, saying, There shall not fail…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
St. Luke points out, that this taxing was either the first of those which comprehended the whole world, for before this very many parts of the earth are often mentioned as having been taxed; or first began at that…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
He has rightly added the name of the governor, to mark the course of time. For if the names of the Consuls are affixed to the tables of prices, how much more ought the time to be noted down, of that event which was…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
Now the registration of property was so appointed by Divine guidance, that every one was ordered to go into his own country, as it follows, And they all went to be taxed, every one to his own city. Which so came to…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Luke
It was the Lord who directed Augustus to give this edict, that he might minister unto the coming of the Only-begotten; for it was this edict that brought Christ’s mother into her country as the prophets had foretold,…
Read the whole comment - A Greek expositorCatena Aurea on Luke
Now he added, a city of David, that he might declare that the promise made by God to David, namely, that from the fruit of his loins there should go before him a king for ever, (2 Sam. 7:12.) was already fulfilled.…
Read the whole comment - Cyril of AlexandriaCatena Aurea on Luke
It is said that she was espoused, to imply that nothing more than espousals preceded the conception; for it was not by man’s seed that the Holy Virgin conceived.
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
But the registering of the whole world when our Lord was about to be born was mystical; for He appeared in the flesh Who should write down the names of His own elect in eternity.
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
There is described a secular registration, implied a spiritual, to be laid before the King not of earth but of Heaven; a registering of faith: a census of souls. For the old census of the Synagogue was abolished, a…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
And He most perfectly fulfilled what the name Augustus signifies, in that He was both desirous and able to increase (augere) His own.
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
Because it was fit also that at Christ’s coming the worship of many Gods should cease, and one God only be worshipped, one king is described as ruling the world.
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
To those who attentively consider it, there seems to be expressed a kind of sacrament, in its being necessary that Christ should be put down in the registration of the whole world; in order that His name being…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
As at that time in the reign of Augustus and under the governorship of Cyrinus, every one went to his own city to make returns of his property; so now when Christ reigns through His teachers (the governors of the…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
This was then the first public enrolment of souls to the Lord, to Whom all enrol themselves not at the voice of the crier, but of the Prophet, who says, O clap your hands, all ye people. (Ps. 47:1.) But in order that…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
Our city and country is the resting-place of the blessed, to which we ought to be travelling with daily increasing virtues. But day by day does Holy Church wait upon her Teacher, and going up from the course of…
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Cross-references · 5
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 1:18 (3) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in A Greek expositor on Luke 2:1–5 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Ambrose of Milan on Luke 2:1–5 (2) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Ambrose of Milan on Luke 2:1–5 (3) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 1:18 (3) (Catena Aurea).