Actually, as we have recorded in our Scriptures, the sun itself stood still when the holy man, Joshua the son of Nun, asked that favor of God, and it remained where it was until a battle, already begun, ended in victory.… Such are the miracles which God grants as favors to his saints; although our adversaries would attribute them—if they believed them—to the arts of magic.…

In regard, then, to human knowledge of the natures of things, the unbelievers have no right to becloud the issue by their assumption that nothing, even by the power of God, can happen to a nature beyond what is known already by human experience. And remember, too, that there are qualities and powers in the natures of the commonest things that are nothing less than stupendous and would, in fact, be reckoned portents by anyone who examined them, except that humans have accustomed themselves to have no wonder to spare save for things that are unusual—St Augustine

Pay attention to me; how strange was the preaching of God‘s love toward humanity! He who says in the law, "You shall not commit adultery" and "You shall not commit prostitution," changes the commandment by clemency and proclaims through the blessed Joshua, "Let Rahab the prostitute live." Joshua the son of Nun, who says, "Let the prostitute live," prefigured the Lord Jesus, who says, "The prostitutes and tax collectors go into the kingdom of the heavens before you." If she must live, how can she be a prostitute? If she is a prostitute, why should she live? "I speak about her previous condition," he says, "so you may marvel at her subsequent change." He asks, "What did Rahab, to whom he granted salvation, do?" She accepted the spies peacefully? Even an innkeeper does this. However, she reaped the fruits of salvation not only by speech but beforehand by faith and by her disposition before God.

And so you may learn the abundance of her faith, listen to the very Scripture that describes in full and bears witness to her achievements. She was in a brothel, like a pearl mixed up in mire, like gold thrown in mud, the rose of piety hidden in thorns, a pious soul enclosed in a place of impiety. Pay attention so you may understand well. She accepted the spies and the One whom Israel denied in the desert; Rahab preached this One in the brothel―St John Chrysostom

And do not imagine that these deeds are only in former times and nothing so great as this is brought forth in you who are now the hearer of them. For all things are fulfilled in you according to a mystical reckoning. Indeed you who long to draw near to the hearing of the divine law have recently forsaken the darkness of idolatry and are now for the first time forsaking Egypt. When you are reckoned among the number of catechumens and have undertaken to submit to the precepts of the church, you have parted the Red Sea and, placed in the stations of the desert, you daily devote yourself to hearing the law of God and to looking upon the face of Moses, through which the glory of the Lord is revealed. But if, you also have entered the mystic font of baptism and in the presence of the priestly and levitical order have been instructed by those venerable and magnificent sacraments, which are known to those who are permitted to know those things, then, with the Jordan parted, you will enter the land of promise by the services of the priests. In this land, Jesus receives you after Moses and becomes for you the leader of a new way—Origen

Moses‘ death is recorded to have been even more sublime than his life. He died on a mountain peak and left behind neither trace nor memorial of his earthly burden in life. The impress of beauty was not altered by time but remained unchangeable in the changeable nature―St Gregory of Nyssa

Pay attention to what comes next: "Without love, a measure of money is sufficient for present needs, because he himself said, 'I will not forsake you; I will not desert you.‘ " "You were afraid of all kinds of evils, against which you were saving money; count me as your guarantor." That‘s what God says to you. God—not a man, not your equal or you yourself—says to you: "I will not forsake you; I will not desert you." If a person made such a promise, you would trust him. God makes it, and you hesitate? He made the promise, put it in writing, made out the bond; you needn‘t worry at all―St Augustine

The good God reveals an understanding of this gift to his saints and gives it "from his good treasury," as the sacred law attests, when it says, "The Lord swore to your fathers to give to you" and to open "his good treasury." From this heavenly treasury he gives rain to his earth "to bless all the works of your hands." The rain is this: "the utterance" of the law, which falls like dew upon the soul that is fecund and fertile with good works, so that it may possess the moisture of grace―St Ambrose

What does Scripture mean by these riddles? That it is not right for evil and virtue to grow together in the same soul. Nor is it right, dividing one‘s life between opposites, to reap thorns and grain from the same soul. Nor is it right for the bride of Christ to commit adultery with the enemies of Christ or to bear light in the womb and beget darkness―St Gregory of Nyssa

If any of our own people also inquire, not from love of debate but from love of learning, why he suffered death in no other way except on the cross, let him also be told that no other way than this was good for us and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he himself came to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have ―become a curse‖1 unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross. For this is exactly what is written: "Cursed is he that hangs on a tree."―St Athanasius