Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 11
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins & John Cassian
SECTION 361
Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. How nothing should be put before love, or after anger. As then nothing should be put before love, so on the other hand nothing should be put below rage and anger. For all things, however useful and necessary they seem, should yet be disregarded that disturbing anger may be avoided, and all things even which we thi…
765 wordsSECTION 362Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. Why inferiors should not be despised in Conference. For it often happens either by an illusion of the devil or by the occurrence of a human mistake (by which every man in this life is liable to be deceived) that sometimes one who is keener in intellect and more learned, gets some wrong notion in his head, while he…
962 wordsSECTION 363Chapter XV.
Chapter XV. Of those who only increase their own or their brother's grievances by hiding them. On the other hand we know (and O! would that we did not know) some of the brethren who are so hard and obstinate, that when they know that their own feelings are aroused against their brother, or that their brother's are against them…
962 wordsSECTION 364Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII. Of those who pretend to patience but excite their brethren to anger by their silence. But what sort of a thing is this, that sometimes we fancy that we are patient because when provoked we scorn to answer, but by sullen silence or scornful motions and gestures so mock at our angry brothers that by our silent loo…
922 wordsSECTION 365Chapter XIX.
Chapter XIX. Of those who fast out of rage. There is too another evil sort of vexation which would not be worth mentioning were it not that we know it is allowed by some of the brethren who, when they have been vexed or enraged actually abstain persistently from food, so that (a thing which we cannot mention without shame) tho…
986 wordsSECTION 366Chapter XXIII.
Chapter XXIII. How he is the strong and vigorous man, who yields to the will of another. But you must certainly know that in general he plays a stronger part who subjects his own will to his brother's, than he who is found to be the more pertinacious in defending and clinging to his own decisions. For the former by bearing and…
815 wordsSECTION 367Chapter XXVII.
Chapter XXVII. How anger should be repressed. We ought then to restrain every movement of anger and moderate it under the direction of discretion, that we may not by blind rage be hurried into that which is condemned by Solomon: "The wicked man expends all his anger, but the wise man dispenses it bit by bit," [2005] i.e., a fo…
722 wordsSECTION 368Chapter XXVIII.
Chapter XXVIII. How friendships entered upon by conspiracy cannot be lasting ones. This too has been often proved by many experiments; viz., that those who entered the bonds of friendship from a beginning of conspiracy, cannot possibly preserve their harmony unbroken; either because they tried to keep it not out of their desir…
818 wordsSECTION 369Chapter IV.
Chapter IV. Abbot Joseph's question and our answer on the origin of our anxiety. Then the venerable Joseph saw that we were in rather low spirits, and, guessing that this was not the case without reason, addressed us in these words of the patriarch Joseph: "Why are your faces sad today?" [2014] to whom we answered: We are not …
751 wordsSECTION 370Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. How those who are perfect ought not to make any promises absolutely, and whether decisions can be reversed without sin. Joseph: It is good indeed and right and altogether in accordance with our profession, for us effectually to perform what we decided to do in the case of any promise. Wherefore a monk ought not t…
819 wordsSECTION 371Chapter XI.
Chapter XI. The answer that we must take into account the purpose of the doer rather than the execution of the business. Joseph: In every case, as we said, we must look not at the progress of the work but at the intention of the worker, nor must we inquire to begin with what a man has done, but with what purpose, so that we ma…
767 wordsSECTION 372Chapter XIV.
Chapter XIV. The discourse of the Elder showing how the plan of action may be changed without fault provided that one keeps to the carrying out of a good intention. Joseph: As we premised, the intent of the mind brings a man either reward or condemnation, according to this passage: "Their thoughts between themselves accusing o…
776 wordsSECTION 373Chapter XVII.
Chapter XVII. How the saints have profitably employed a lie like hellebore. And so we ought to regard a lie and to employ it as if its nature were that of hellebore; which is useful if taken when some deadly disease is threatening, but if taken without being required by some great danger is the cause of immediate death. For so…
722 wordsSECTION 374Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII. An objection that only those men employed lies with impunity, who lived under the law. Germanus: It is no wonder that these schemes were properly employed in the Old Testament, and that some holy men laudably or at any rate venially told lies, as we see that many worse things were permitted to them owing to the …
1,373 wordsSECTION 375Chapter XX.
Chapter XX. How even Apostles thought that a lie was often useful and the truth injurious. Instructed by which examples, the blessed Apostle James also, and all the chief princes of the primitive Church urged the Apostle Paul in consequence of the weakness of feeble persons to condescend to a fictitious arrangement and insiste…
1,734 wordsSECTION 376Chapter XXI.
Chapter XXI. Whether secret abstinence ought to be made known, without telling a lie about it, to those who ask, and whether what has once been declined may be taken in hand. And to bring forward some instances from our unavoidable and almost daily wants which with all our care we can never so guard against as not to be driven…
872 wordsSECTION 377Chapter XXV.
Chapter XXV. The evidence of Scripture on changes of determination. It is impossible for us briefly to run through everything. For who could count up almost all the patriarchs and numberless saints, some of whom for the preservation of life, others out of desire for a blessing, others out of pity, others to conceal some secret…
2,561 wordsSECTION 378Chapter XXVI.
[2049] Gen. xlii. 9, 16. [2050] Ib. ver. 21. [2051] 1 Kings iii. 24-27. [2052] 1 Sam. xxv. 22, 34. [2053] 1 Cor. xvi. 5, 7. [2054] 2 Cor. i. 15-17, 23; ii. 1. [2055] Gen. xix. 2, 3. [2056] 2 Kings xx. 1-6. [2057] Jonah iii. 4 (LXX.). [2058] Ezek. xxxiii. 14, 15. [2059] Jer. xviii. 7, 10; xxvi. 2, 3. [2060] 1 Sam. xv. …
731 wordsSECTION 379Chapter XXIX.
Chapter XXIX. How we ought to do those things which are to be kept secret. You must also provide with the same care that if by chance some word has slipped out of your mouth which you want to be a secret, no injunction to secrecy may trouble the hearer. For it will be more likely to be unheeded if it is let pass carelessly and…
1,099 wordsSECTION 380Chapter I.
Chapter I. How we came to Diolcos and were received by Abbot Piamun. [2071] After visiting and conversing with those three Elders, whose Conferences we have at the instance of our brother Eucherius tried to describe, as we were still more ardently desirous to seek out the further parts of Egypt, in which a larger and more perf…
753 wordsSECTION 381Chapter III.
Chapter III. How the juniors ought not to discuss the orders of the seniors. Wherefore if, as we believe, the cause of God has drawn you to try to copy our knowledge, you must utterly ignore all the rules by which your early beginnings were trained, and must with all humility follow whatever you see our Elders do or teach. And…
1,108 wordsSECTION 382Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. Of the system of the Anchorites and its beginning. Out of this number of the perfect, and, if I may use the expression, this most fruitful root of saints, were produced afterwards the flowers and fruits of the anchorites as well. And of this order we have heard that the originators were those whom we mentioned just…
1,962 wordsSECTION 383Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. Of a fourth sort of monks. There is however another and a fourth kind, which we have lately seen springing up among those who flatter themselves with the appearance and form of anchorites, and who in their early days seem in a brief fervour to seek the perfection of the Coenobium, but presently cool off, and, as …
967 wordsSECTION 384Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. A question how true patience can be gained. Germanus: We should like to know how that calmness can be secured and maintained, that, as when silence is enjoined on us we shut the door of our mouth, and lay an embargo on speech, so also we may be able to preserve gentleness of heart, which sometimes even when the to…
758 wordsSECTION 385Chapter XIV.
Chapter XIV. Of the example of patience given by a certain religious woman. Of this patience then I want to give you at least two examples: one of a certain religious woman, who aimed at the virtue of patience so eagerly that she not only did not avoid the assaults of temptation, but actually made for herself occasions of trou…
767 wordsSECTION 386Chapter XV.
Chapter XV. Of the example of patience given by Abbot Paphnutius. Now let us give the other instance of Abbot Paphnutius, who always remained so zealously in the recesses of that renowned and far-famed desert of Scete, in which he is now Presbyter, so that the rest of the anchorites gave him the name of Bubalis, [2090] because…
1,030 wordsSECTION 387Chapter XVI.
Chapter XVI. On the perfection of patience. A twofold reason however led me to relate this fact, first that we may weigh this steadfastness and constancy of the man, and as we are attacked by less serious wiles of the enemy, may the better secure a greater feeling of calmness and patience, secondly that we may with resolute de…
2,064 wordsSECTION 388Chapter I.
Chapter I. Of the Coenobium of Abbot Paul and the patience of a certain brother. After only a few days we made our way once more with great alacrity, drawn by the desire for further instruction, to the Coenobium of Abbot Paul, where though a greater number than two hundred of the brethren dwell there, yet, in honour of the fes…
798 wordsSECTION 389Chapter III.
Chapter III. Abbot John's answer why he had left the desert. The system of the anchorites, which you are surprised at my leaving, I not only neither reject nor refuse, but rather embrace and regard with the utmost veneration: in which system, and after I had passed thirty years living in a Coenobium, I rejoice that I have also…
793 wordsSECTION 390Chapter V.
Chapter V. Of the advantages of the desert. So long then as owing to the fewness of those who were then living in the desert, a greater freedom was afforded to us in a wider expanse of the wilderness, so long as in the seclusion of larger retreats we were caught up to those celestial ecstasies, and were not overwhelmed by a gr…
1,032 wordsSECTION 391Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. A question on the fruits of the Coenobium and the desert. Germanus: Since it is evident that you have not, like so many, just touched the mere outskirts of each mode of life, but have ascended to the very heights, we should like to know what is the end of the Coenobite's life and what the end of the hermit's. For …
923 wordsSECTION 392Chapter X.
Chapter X. Of those who while still imperfect retire into the desert. But some are sometimes so tantalized by the silence of the desert lasting all through the day that they altogether dread intercourse with men, and, when they have even for a little while broken through their habit of retirement owing to the accident of a vis…
961 wordsSECTION 393Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIII. A question how a man can be cured who has entered on solitude without having his faults eradicated. Germanus: We very clearly and plainly see the proofs by which the signs of infirmities are inferred, and the method of discerning diseases, i.e., how the faults which are concealed in us can be detected: for our ev…
1,124 wordsSECTION 394Chapter XV.
Chapter XV. A question whether chastity ought to be ascertained just as the other feelings. Germanus: As the cure for other ailments, viz., anger, vexation, and impatience, has been shown to consist in opposing to them their contraries, so also we should like to learn what sort of treatment we ought to use against the spirit o…
1,470 wordsSECTION 395Chapter II.
Chapter II. Of our coming to him. When then after no long time a desire for holy instruction had urged us also to visit Egypt, we sought him out with the utmost eagerness and devotion and were welcomed by him with such kindness and courtesy that he actually honoured us, as former sharers of the same cell with him, with a lodgi…
782 wordsSECTION 396Chapter V.
Chapter V. Of the method of penitence and the proof of pardon. Wherefore in order to satisfy as briefly and shortly as possible, your desire and question, the full and perfect description of penitence is, never again to yield to those sins for which we do penance, or for which our conscience is pricked. But the proof of satisf…
1,049 wordsSECTION 397Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. Of the various fruits of penitence. For after that grace of baptism which is common to all, and that most precious gift of martyrdom which is gained by being washed in blood, there are many fruits of penitence by which we can succeed in expiating our sins. For eternal salvation is not only promised to the bare fa…
1,476 wordsSECTION 398Chapter IX.
Chapter IX. How valuable to the perfect is the forgetfulness of sin. But with regard to this that you said a little way back; viz., that you of set purpose go over the recollections of past sins, this ought certainly not to be done, nay, if it forcibly surprises you, it must be at once expelled. For it greatly hinders the soul…
920 wordsSECTION 399Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. Wherein we must do penance for a time only; and wherein it can have no end. But that description of the forgetfulness spoken of only has to do with capital offences, which are also condemned by the mosaic law, the inclination to which is destroyed and put an end to by a good life, and so also the penance for them …
899 wordsSECTION 400Chapter II.
Chapter II. The exhortation of Abbot John to Theonas and the others who had come together with him. I am indeed delighted, my children, with the duteous liberality of your gifts; and your devout offering, the disposal of which is entrusted to me, I gratefully accept, because you are offering your firstfruits and tithes for the…
868 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.