Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 11
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins & John Cassian
SECTION 401
Chapter V.
Chapter V. How those who live under the grace of the Gospel ought to go beyond the requirement of the law. Wherefore we ought to know that we from whom the requirements of the law are no longer exacted, but in whose ears the word of the gospel daily sounds: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give to t…
776 wordsSECTION 402Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. How the grace of the gospel supports the weak so that they can obtain pardon, as it secures to the perfect the kingdom of God. And as the word of the gospel raises those that are strong to sublime and lofty heights, so it suffers not the weak to be dragged down to the depths, for it secures to the perfect the fulne…
762 wordsSECTION 403Chapter IX.
Chapter IX. How he fled to a monastery when his wife would not consent. And when his wife was hard and would not consent to him as he constantly persisted with entreaties of this kind, but said that as she was in the flower of her age she could not altogether do without the solace of her husband, and further that supposing she…
1,087 wordsSECTION 404Chapter X.
Chapter X. An explanation that we may not appear to recommend separation from wives. But let no one imagine that we have invented this for the sake of encouraging divorce, as we not only in no way condemn marriage, but also, following the words of the Apostle, say: "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled," [2184]…
1,050 wordsSECTION 405Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIII. What kind of good fasting is. Wherefore we must now inquire what we ought to hold about the state of fasting, whether we meant that it was good in the same sort of way as justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance, which cannot possibly be made anything else, or whether it is something indifferent which sometime…
1,231 wordsSECTION 406Chapter XV.
Chapter XV. How a thing that is good in its own nature ought not to be done for the sake of some lesser good. For we ought not to practise pity, patience and love, and the precepts of the virtues mentioned above, wherein there is what is good in its own nature, for the sake of fasting, but rather fasting for the sake of them. …
874 wordsSECTION 407Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII. How fasting is not always suitable. Wherefore as we have premised this on the conditions of fasting, it seems well to subjoin the authority of Holy Scripture, by which it will be more clearly proved that fasting neither can nor should be always observed. In the Gospel when the Pharisees were fasting together wit…
764 wordsSECTION 408Chapter XXII.
Chapter XXII. The answer on the way to keep control over abstinence. Theonas: If we weigh everything that we do, by a reasonable judgment of the mind, and on the purity of our heart always consult not the opinions of other people but our own conscience, that interval for refreshment is sure not to interfere with our proper str…
945 wordsSECTION 409Chapter XXIII.
Chapter XXIII. Of the time and measure of refreshment. So then we should keep the observance of the days mentioned in such a way that the relaxation allowed may be useful rather than harmful to the good of body and soul, because the joy of any festival cannot blunt the pricks of the flesh, nor can that fierce enemy of ours be …
859 wordsSECTION 410Chapter XXV.
Chapter XXV. The answer to the effect that the fast of Lent has reference to the tithe of the year. Theonas: Although the pious simplicity of some folks would put aside a question on this subject, yet because you are more scrupulous in your examination of those things which another would consider unworthy to be asked about, an…
953 wordsSECTION 411Chapter XXVII.
Chapter XXVII. Why Lent is kept by very many with a different number of days. Further, as for what you say; viz., that in some countries Lent is kept in different ways, i.e., for six or seven weeks, it is but one system and the same manner of the fast that is preserved by the different observance of the weeks. For those who th…
788 wordsSECTION 412Chapter XXIX.
Chapter XXIX. How those who are perfect go beyond the fixed rule of Lent. By this law of Lent then the man who is upright and perfect is not restrained nor is he content with merely submitting to that paltry rule which the heads of the church have established for those who all the year round are involved in pleasure or busines…
784 wordsSECTION 413Chapter XXXII.
Chapter XXXII. The answer on the difference between grace and the commands of the law. Theonas: Your inquiry once more raises before us a question of no small extent. The explanation of which though I know that it cannot be taught to or understood by the inexperienced, yet as far as I can, I will try to set forth in words and …
1,431 wordsSECTION 414Chapter XXXIV.
Chapter XXXIV. How a man can be shown to be under grace. Whoever then strives to reach the perfection of evangelical teaching, this man living under grace is not oppressed by the dominion of sin, for to be under grace is to do those things which grace commands. But whoever will not submit himself to the complete requirements o…
1,045 wordsSECTION 415Chapter I.
Chapter I. Discourse of Abbot Theonas on the Apostle's words: "For I do not the good which I would." At the return of light therefore, as the old man was forced by our intense urgency to investigate the depths of the Apostle's subject, he spoke as follows: As for the passages by which you try to prove that the Apostle Paul spo…
1,091 wordsSECTION 416Chapter III.
Chapter III. What is really the good which the Apostle testifies that he could not perform. What then is that one thing which is so incomparably above those great and innumerable good things, that, while they are all scorned and rejected, it alone should be acquired? Doubtless it is that truly good part, the grand and lasting …
1,243 wordsSECTION 417Chapter V.
Chapter V. How no one can be continually intent upon that highest good. For who, when "delivering the poor from the hand of them that are too strong for him, and the needy and the poor from them that strip him," who when "breaking the jaws of the wicked and snatching their prey from between their teeth," [2248] can with a calm…
1,200 wordsSECTION 418Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. How those who think that they are without sin are like purblind people. As if we were to suppose that two men, one of whom was clear sighted with perfect vision, and the other, one whose eyesight was obscured by dimness of vision, had together entered some great house that was filled with a quantity of bundles, ins…
1,053 wordsSECTION 419Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. How it is given to but few to understand what sin is. Those on the other hand who make the sum of all their joy and delight and bliss consist in the contemplation of divine and spiritual things alone, if they are unwillingly withdrawn from them even for a short time by thoughts that force themselves upon them, pu…
769 wordsSECTION 420Chapter X.
Chapter X. How those who are on the way to perfection are truly humble, and feel that they always stand in need of God's grace. When then holy men feel that they are oppressed by the weight of earthly thoughts and fall away from their loftiness of mind, and that they are led away against their will or rather without knowing it…
747 wordsSECTION 421Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. Of this also: "But we know that the law is spiritual," etc. And this law the Apostle also calls spiritual saying: "But we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." [2269] For this law is spiritual which bids us eat in the sweat of our brow that "true bread which cometh down from heaven" [22…
765 wordsSECTION 422Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIII. Of this also: "But I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Because then the original curse of God has made us carnal and condemned us to thorns and thistles, and our father has sold us by that unhappy bargain so that we cannot do the good that we would, while we are torn away from the rec…
1,694 wordsSECTION 423Chapter XVI.
Chapter XVI. What is the body of sin. This then is that body of death from which we cannot escape, pent in which those who are perfect, who have tasted "how gracious the Lord is," [2279] daily feel with the prophet "how bad for himself and bitter it is for a man to depart from the Lord his God." [2280] This is the body of deat…
1,419 wordsSECTION 424Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII. That even good and holy men are not without sin. But that no one however holy is in this life free from trespasses and sin, we are told also by the teaching of the Saviour, who gave His disciples the form of the perfect prayer and among those other sublime and sacred commands, which as they were only given to th…
799 wordsSECTION 425Chapter XX.
Chapter XX. From whom we can learn the destruction of sin and perfection of goodness. Lastly if you would like to investigate more thoroughly whether it is possible for human nature to attain sinlessness, from whom can we more clearly learn this than from those who "have crucified the flesh with its faults and lusts," and to w…
967 wordsSECTION 426Chapter II.
Chapter II. How the old man exposed our errors. The feebleness of your ideas shows that you have not yet renounced worldly desires nor mortified your former lusts. For as the wandering character of your desires testifies to the sloth of your heart, this pilgrimage and absence from your kinsfolk, which you ought rather to endur…
892 wordsSECTION 427Chapter IV.
Chapter IV. What sorts of work should be chosen by solitaries. Everyone therefore who constantly perseveres in this watchfulness will effectually fulfil what is very plainly expressed by the prophet Habakkuk: "I will stand upon my watch, and ascend upon the rock, and will look out to see what He shall say to me, and what I may…
975 wordsSECTION 428Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. A question why the neighbourhood of our kinsfolk is considered to interfere with us, whereas it does not interfere in the case of those living in Egypt. Germanus: It is a very useful and needful rule that is given for the kind of works that can be done within the cells. For we have often proved the value of this n…
1,194 wordsSECTION 429Chapter X.
Chapter X. A question whether it is bad for a monk to have his wants supplied by his kinsfolk. Germanus: On this subject you have certainly left no room for any further uncertainty. For we are sure that we cannot possibly keep up our present wretched garb, or our daily going barefoot in their neighbourhood, and that there we s…
753 wordsSECTION 430Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. Of the value of work and the harm of idleness. And so though we also might have the protection of our kinsfolk, yet we have preferred his abstinence to all riches, and have chosen to procure our daily bodily sustenance by our own exertions rather than rely on the sure provision made by our relations, having less i…
1,302 wordsSECTION 431Chapter XIV.
Chapter XIV. A question how such wrong notions can creep into us. Germanus: Very aptly has your discussion shown the error of these illusions by this illustration: but we should like in the same way to be taught its origin and how to cure it, and we are equally anxious to learn how this deception has taken hold of us. For ever…
1,457 wordsSECTION 432Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII. A question whether we should be drawn back to our country by a proper desire for greater silence. Germanus: Among other kinds of illusions and mistakes on our part, which by the vain promise of spiritual advantages have fired us with a longing for our country (as your holiness has discovered by the keen insight …
898 wordsSECTION 433Chapter XXI.
Chapter XXI. How the Evangelist John is said to have shown the value of relaxation. It is said that the blessed John, while he was gently stroking a partridge with his hands suddenly saw a philosopher approaching him in the garb of a hunter, who was astonished that a man of so great fame and reputation should demean himself to…
948 wordsSECTION 434Chapter XXIV.
Chapter XXIV. Why the Lord's yoke is felt grievous and His burden heavy. But the fact that to us on the contrary the yoke of Christ seems neither light nor easy, must be rightly ascribed to our perverseness, as we are cast down by unbelief and want of faith, and fight with foolish obstinacy against His command, or rather advic…
970 wordsSECTION 435Chapter XXV.
Chapter XXV. Of the good which an attack of temptation brings about. And so by the struggle with temptation the kindly grace of the Saviour bestows on us larger rewards of praise than if it had taken away from us all need of conflict. For it is a mark of a loftier and grander virtue to remain ever unmoved when hemmed in by per…
2,663 wordsSECTION 436THE SEVEN BOOKS OF JOHN CASSIAN
In such terms the blessed Abraham discoursed on the origin of and remedy for our illusion, and exposed to our eyes the crafty thoughts which the devil had originated and suggested, and kindled in us the desire of true mortification, wherewith we hope that many also may be inflamed, even though all these things have been written …
1,169 wordsSECTION 437The SEVEN BOOKS OF JOHN CASSIAN
The SEVEN BOOKS OF JOHN CASSIAN ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD, AGAINST NESTORIUS. Book I. Chapter I. The heresy compared to the hydra of the poets. [2364] The tales of poets tell us that of old the hydra when its heads were cut off gained by its injuries, and sprang up more abundantly: so that owing to a miracle of a stra…
1,525 wordsSECTION 438Chapter III.
Chapter III. He describes the pestilent error of the Pelagian. At any rate we think that this fact ought not to be omitted, which was special and peculiar to that heresy mentioned above which sprang from the error of Pelagius; viz., that in saying that Jesus Christ had lived as a mere man without any stain of sin, they actuall…
943 wordsSECTION 439Chapter V.
Chapter V. By the case of Leporius he establishes the fact that an open sin ought to be expiated by an open confession; and also teaches from his words what is the right view to be held on the Incarnation. And from his confession or rather lamentation we have thought it well to quote some part, for two reasons: that their reca…
1,510 wordsSECTION 440Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. The united doctrine of the Catholics is to be received as the orthodox faith. This confession of his therefore, which was the faith of all Catholics was approved of by all the Bishops of Africa, [2384] whence he wrote, and by all those of Gaul, to whom he wrote. Nor has there ever been anyone who quarrelled with th…
851 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.