ACC ~ 1 Thessalonians 5 v19

THE SPIRIT IS HOLINESS OF LIFE. ATHANASIUS: We can thus see why Paul, not wanting the grace of the Spirit given to us to grow cold, exhorts us, “Do not quench the Spirit.” The only way we can continue to be partakers of Christ is to cling until the end to the Holy Spirit, who was given to us at the beginning. Paul said, “Do not quench” not because the Spirit is under the power of men but because evil and unthankful men certainly do wish to quench the Spirit. Demonstrating their impurity, they drive the Spirit away by their unholy deeds. FESTAL LETTERS 4.4.

FIRE AND FUEL. CHRYSOSTOM: As fire requires fuel, so grace requires our prompt response, that it may be ever fervent. “I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God that is in you by the putting on of my hands,” that is, the grace of the Spirit, which you have received, for presiding over the church, for the working of miracles and for every service. For this grace it is in our power to kindle or extinguish. For this reason Paul elsewhere says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” HOMILIES ON SECOND TIMOTHY 1.

CHRYSOSTOM: On this account Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit,” that is, the gift of grace, for it is his custom so to call the gift of the Spirit. But an impure life extinguishes the gift of grace. For as anyone who has sprinkled both water and dust upon the light of our lamp extinguishes it. … So it is also with the gift of grace. HOMILIES ON 1 THESSALONIANS 11.

MYSTICAL RECEPTION OF THE SPIRIT. MARK THE HERMIT: Learn from the apostle that we are the ones who grieve the Spirit, extinguishing him in our hearts. He says, “Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecy”; and again, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, in whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption.” We introduce these testimonies not as if to suggest that every man who has been baptized and obtained grace is henceforth immutable and no longer in need of repentance, but to say that through baptism, according to Christ’s gift, the complete grace of God is granted to us for the fulfillment of the commandments. Henceforth each one who receives baptism mystically and yet does not fully perform the commandments, is activated by sin in proportion to their failure—the sin not of Adam but of the one who is negligent. ON BAPTISM, RESPONSE 5.

PHILOXENUS OF MABBUG: That is to say, do not grieve him by sin, otherwise his light will be quenched from your soul—a light which, when kindled within you, gives you the possession of a power that is beyond expression; and you will be able to contend “with principalities and powers,” and fight against the evil spirits under heaven, and reject all the world with its pleasures and pains. All are effected by the fervor of the Spirit within us. MEMRA ON THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

1 Thess