Theophylact: Paul Went to Jerusalem to Correct Others - Not to Check if He was Right

2b. And communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. By gospel he means his teaching, which did not include circumcision. Why does Paul wait fourteen years before meeting the apostles in Jerusalem to confirm that his preaching of the Gospel was correct? If this were his reason for returning to Jerusalem now, it would indeed be absurd. But Paul perceived that many were scandalized that Peter accepted circumcision while he himself did not, and that they suspected Paul of transgressing the law. And so he went up to Jerusalem by revelation, the Spirit suggesting to him how those who had been offended could be persuaded that there was no discord in the preaching of the two apostle. Those who made allowance for circumcision did so by economy, because they were preaching to the circumcised. Therefore, there was nothing absurd about his going up to Jerusalem. The Spirit moved Paul to go so that others might be corrected, and he obeyed, quite rightly. Theophylact, The Explanation of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians (at Gal. 2:2b), Chrysostom Press (House Springs, Missouri 2011), trans. Christopher Stade, p. 37

Theophylact: Paul Visited Peter Out of Respect - Not to Learn

18a. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Peter. When one as accomplished as Paul visits Peter, not to obtain help, but to honor Peter as greater than himself, it betokens great humility. Therefore he did not say "to see Peter," but to visit him. Visit (ἰστσρήσαι) is the word used by those who seek knowledge of the great and magnificent cities, and as we go to see holy men. But whereas we go for help, Paul went only out of respect. Theophylact, The Explanation of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians (at Gal. 1:18a), Chrysostom Press (House Springs, Missouri 2011), trans. Christopher Stade, p. 35

Theophylact: Incarnation Permits Imputation

3c. And from our Lord Jesus Christ. Not the law, but Jesus Christ, is our Lord. His very names indicate that He is our Benefactor. He is called Jesus, because He has saved His people from their sins; He is called Christ, from the anointing of the Spirit which He received for our sake. By taking on our nature, He sanctified it, allowing us to be called holy. Theophylact, The Explanation of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians (at Gal. 1:3c), Chrysostom Press (House Springs, Missouri 2011), trans. Christopher Stade, p. 29

Theophylact: Bulgaria's Highest Ecclesiastical Authority is its own Archbishop

.. for what relations are there between the Church of Bulgaria and the Patriarch of Constantinople? None at all. Constantinople possess neither right of ordination, nor any other rights, in Bulgaria. Bulgaria recognizes only its own archbishop as its head. Theophylact, The Life of Blessed Theophylact (from the Russian edition, Blagovestnik, Vol. 1, pp. 3-13) in The Explanation of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians, Chrysostom Press (House Springs, Missouri 2011), quoting from an unspecified writing of Theophylact, section trans. Johnson and Shawki, p. xviii

Bede the Venerable: God Loves Voluntarily

For he begot us willingly by the word of truth. The Lord says also in the Gospel, You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16); and in the prophet Hosea, I shall love them voluntarily (Hosea 14:5). Consequently he expands what he had said, therefore, that every best gift and every perfect gift comes down from God by adding that he has changed us from sons of darkness into sons of light through the water of regeneration, not because of our merits but because of the generosity of his will. Bede the Venerable, Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, at James 1:18 (Cisterian Studies Series, #82, pp. 16-17), translated by Dom David Hurst, O.S.B.

Bede the Venerable: All Saving Wisdom Must be Begged from God

If anyone of you, however, stands in need of wisdom, let him beg it from God, who gives to all abundantly and does not reproach, and it will be given to him. All saving wisdom, indeed, must be begged from the Lord, because, as the wise man says, All wisdom is from the Lord God and was always with him (Sirach 1:1), and no one is able to understand be wise of his own free will without the help of divine grace ... . Bede the Venerable, Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, at James 1:5 (Cisterian Studies Series, #82, p. 9), translated by Dom David Hurst, O.S.B.

Bede the Venerable: The Death of His Body Substituted for the Death of Our Soul

We who have come into the world with fault cannot exist in the world without fault, but the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin, that our sins may not keep us under the authority of the enemy for the reason that mediator between God and man, the man, Jesus Christ, gave up for our sake what he did not owe. For he who for our sake gave up the death of his body, which he did not owe, freed us from the death of the soul, which we owed. Bede the Venerable, Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, at 1 John 1:8 (Cisterian Studies Series, #82, p. 164), translated by Dom David Hurst, O.S.B.