Basil of Caesarea, on 2Tim 4:7

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

“"Turn, O my soul, into your rest: for the Lord has been bountiful to you." The brave contestant applies to himself the consoling words, very much like to Paul, when he says: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice." These things the prophet also says to himself: Since you have fulfilled sufficiently the course of this life, turn then to your rest, "for the Lord has been bountiful to you." For, eternal rest lies before those who have struggled through the present life observant of the laws, a rest not given in payment for a debt owed for their works but provided as a grace of the munificent God for those who have hoped in him.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.