The tribes of Judah and Levi were united by a fusion of their lines of descent, and that is why Matthew assigns Christ's family to the tribe of Judah. And the Apostle says, 'for our Lord has sprung out of Judah' (Heb. 7:14).
St. Ambrose of Milan
Seven Exegetical Works, 4th Century
Thus, from the tribe of Levi may be counted a heritage that is priestly and filled with holiness, while from the tribe of Judah - to which David and Solomon and the rest of the kings belonged - there shines forth the splendor of a royal descent. And so, by the testimony of the Scriptures, Christ is shown to be at once both king and priest.
St. Ambrose of Milan
Seven Exegetical Works, 4th Century
Many scripture writers will tell you that the divinity is not only invisible (Col. 1:15 et. al.) and incomprehensible, but also 'unsearchable and inscrutable' (Rom. 11:13), since there is not a trace for anyone who would reach through into the hidden depths of this infinity. And yet, on the other hand, the Good is not absolutely incommunicable to everything. By itself it generously reveals a firm, transcendent beam, granting enlightenments proportionate to each being, and thereby draws sacred minds upward to its permitted contemplation, to participation and to the state of becoming like it. What happens to those who rightly and properly make this effort is this. They do not venture toward an impossibly daring sight of God, one beyond what is duly granted them. Nor do they go tumbling downward where their own natural inclinations would take them. No. Instead they are raised firmly and unswervingly upward in the direction of the ray which enlightens them. With a love matching the illuminations granted them, they take flight, reverently, wisely, in all holiness.
St. Dionysius the Areopagite
The Divine Names, Chapter One para. 2, Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works; Paulist Press pg. 50, 5th Century
I too will proclaim the greatness of this day: the Immaterial become incarnate, the Word is made flesh, the invisible makes itself seen, the intangible can be touched, the timeless has a beginning, the Son of God becomes the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, always the same, yesterday, today and forever. . . This is the solemnity we are celebrating today: the arrival of God among us, so that we might go to God, or more precisely, return to Him. . . Revere the nativity which releases you from the chains of evil. Honor this tiny Bethlehem which restores Paradise to you. Venerate this crib; because of it you who were deprived of meaning (logos) are fed by the divine Meaning, the divine Logos Himself.
St. Gregory the Theologian
Oration 38, For Christmas (Patrologia Graeca, 36, 664-5) found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, New City Press, NY, p. 41, 330-390
That God should have clothed Himself with our nature is a fact that should not seem strange or extravagant to minds that do not form too paltry an idea of reality. Who, looking at the universe, would be so feeble-minded as not to believe that God is all in all; that He clothes Himself with the universe, and at the same time contains it and dwells in it? What exists depends on Him Who exists, and nothing can exist except in the bosom of Him Who is.
If then all is in Him and He is in all, . . .Indeed, if the presence of God in us does not take the same form now as it did then, we can at least agree in recognizing that He is in us today no less tha He was then. Today, He is involved with us in as much as He maintains creation in existence. Then He mingled Himself with our being to deify it by contact with Him, after He had snatched it from death. . . For His resurrection becomes for mortals the promise of their return to immortal life.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Orations, 25 (Patrologia Graeca, Migne.)
Found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, New City Press, NY, pp. 37-38, 330-395
This is the reason why the Word of God was made flesh, and the Son of God became Son of Man: so that we might enter into communion with the Word of God, and by receiving adoption might become Sons of God. Indeed we should not be able to share in immortality without a close union with the Immortal. How could we have united ourselves with immortality if Immortality had not become what we are, in such a way that we should not be absorbed by it, and thus we should be adopted as Sons of God?
Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III. 19,1
Sources Chretiennes, Cerf, Paris, as found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, p. 38, 130-208
How could the human race go to God if God had not come to us? How should we free ourselves from our birth into death if we had not been born again according to faith by a new birth generously given by God, thanks to that which came about from the Virgin's womb?
Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, IV, 33,4
Sources Chretiennes, Cerf, Paris found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, p. 37., 130-208
Pray, my brethren, to the Mother of God when the storm of enmity and malice bursts forth in your house. She, Who is all-merciful and all-powerful, can easily pacify the hearts of men. Peace and love proceed from the one God, as from their Source, and Our Lady - in God, as the Mother of Christ the Peace, is zealous, and prays for the peace of the whole world, and above all - of all Christians.
St. John of Kronstadt
My Life in Christ: Part 1, Holy Trinity Monastery pg. 179, 19th century
Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance, suppresses anger, restrains pride and envy, draws down the Holy Spirit into the soul and raises man to heaven.
St. Ephraim the Syrian
Unknown, 4th century