THE

CONFERENCES

OF

JOHN CASSIAN

Notes by Edgar C.S. Gibson


From: A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, Volume 11

New York, 1894


Part I.

Conferences I.-X.


1. Papa. See note 3 on the Preface to the Institutes.

2. The see of which Leontius was Bishop is uncertain, possibly Fréjus.

3. Helladius was afterwards raised to the Episcopate, but of what see is unknown. See the Preface to Conf. XVIII.

4. The allusion is rather forced and strained. But Cassian means to say that those who have got the better of their carnal sins by perusing his former work, are already fit to be named Jacob (the supplanter), who got the better of his brother: and he hopes that this new work of his will give them such a view of God and insight into His dealings that they may be worthy to have their name changed, as Jacob's was, to Israel, which he takes to mean the man seeing God. Cf. the note on Against Nestorius, VII. ix. (intelligibilis here = spiritualis, cf. intellectualis. Conf. XII. xi., and elsewhere).

5. On this Moses see the note on the Institutes, Book X. xxv.

6. Rom. 6:22.

7. Phil. 3:13, 14.

8. 1 Cor. 13:3.

9. S. Luke 10:40-42. The reading which Cassian here follows is found in ['aleph = the Sinaiticus]BC,² but has not much Latin authority. It is however followed by Jerome Ep: ad Eustochium, xxii. 24, though the Vulgate has simply Porro unum est necessarium. For Mary as the type of the contemplative life, and Martha of the practical, compare S. Gregory the Great. Moralia VI. c. xxviii.

10. S. Matt. 25:34, 35.

11. S. Matt. 10:42.

12. Gal. 5:17.

13. 1 Cor. 15:53.

14. 1 Cor. 15:44.

15. 1 Tim. 4:8.

16. S. Matt. 5:8.

17. 1 Cor. 13:8.

18. S. Luke 17:20, 21.

19. Rom. 14:17.

20. Is. 45:17, 18.

21. Is. 51:3; 66:23.

22. Is. 35:10.

23. Is. 60:17-20.

24. Cf. Rom. 14:17.

25. S. John 16:20.

26. S. Luke 6:25.

27. S. Luke 19:17, 19.

28. S. Matt. 19:28.

29. 1 Cor. 15:28.

30. S. John 12:26.

31. Ps. 113:17, 18; 6:6.

32. 1 Tim. 5:6.

33. Dan. 3:86 (LXX).

34. Ps. 150:6.

35. Cf. Rev. 6:9, 10.

36. S. Matt. 22:31, 32.

37. Heb. 11:16.

38. Cf. S. Luke 16:19 sq.

39. S. Luke 23:43.

40. The punctuation which Cassian here mentions only to reject, and which is rightly characterized by Alford as "worse than silly," is also mentioned by Theophylact. Com. in loc.

41. S. John 3:13.

42. Augustine (De Haeres. c. lix.) speaks of "Seleuciani" or "Hermiani" as denying a visible Paradise, and a future resurrection; and again in c. lxxxiii. he speaks of some Arabian heretics, as teaching that the soul died and was dissolved (dissolvi) with the body, and that it would at the end of the world be revived and rise again. These were the heretics of whom Eusebius speaks in his Eccl. History Book VI. c. xxxvii., where he tells us that they were successfully refuted by Origen. It is probably to this last error that Cassian is here making allusion.

43. Cf. 1 Cor. 11:7; Col. 3:10.

44. Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:6.

45. Heb. 12:22, 23.

46. Heb. 12:9.

47. Mysteriorum.

48. Exod. 33:20.

49. Cf. S. Matt. 6:21.

50. Cf. Esth. 6:1 sq.

51. Ps. 84 (85):9.

52. Zech. 1:14.

53. Cf. S. John 14:23.

54. S. Matt. 10:20.

55. 2 Cor. 13:3.

56. Cf. 2 Cor. 11:4.

57. S. John 13:2.

58. S. John 13:27.

59. Acts 5:3.

60. Eccl. 10:4.

61. 1 Kings 22:22.

62. Ps. 76 (77):6, 7. Scobebam (which Petschenig edits from the MSS.) = scopebam, which is found in the Gallican Psalter as in the old Latin in this passage. It is clearly a Latinized form of skopein.

63. Ps. 93 (94):11.

64. Prov. 12:5.

65. S. Matt. 9:4.

66. Ut efficiamur secundum praeceptum Domini probabiles trapezitae. The saying to which Cassian here alludes, ginesqe trapexitai dokimoi, is not found anywhere in the Gospels, but "is the most commonly quoted of all Apocryphal sayings, and seems to be genuine." Westcott, Introd. to the Gospels, p. 454. It is quoted among others by Origen in Joann. xix., and in Jerome Ep. 152. See these and other reff. in Anger's Synopsis, p. 274; and cf. the note of Gazæus here.

67. Obrizum. The word occurs in the Vulgate five times for "pure gold." See 2 Chr. 3:5; Job 28:15; 31:24; Isa. 13:12; Dan. 10:5; and is akin to the Greek obruzon. Cf. Pliny Nat. Hist. xxxiii. c. 3, And Jerome De Nom. Hebr. s. v. Ophaz.

68. 1 John 4:1.

69. Cf. Josh. 7.

70. S. Matt. 4:6; Ps. 90:11, 12.

71. Cf. S. Matt. 18:8.

72. Prov. 16:25 (LXX).

73. Prov. 11:15 (LXX).

74. Prov. 11:15 (LXX).

75. On this John of Lycon or Lycopolis see the note on Inst. IV. xxiii.

76. S. Matt. 6:19.

77. Embrimium. The word is possibly of Egyptian origin. It occurs also in Cyril in Vita S. Euthymii Abbati, n. 90, and in Apophthegm. Patrum num. 7, and is possibly the same word as "Ebymium," which occurs in the Rule of Pachomius, c. xiv. See Ducange, sub voce.

78. Prov. 23:1, 2 (LXX).

79. 1 Cor. 12:8-11.

80. Cf. the note on the Institutes, V. iv.

81. S. Matt. 25:36, 35.

82. S. Matt. 6:22, 23.

83. S. Matt. 6:22, 23.

84. Cf. 1 Sam. 15.

85. Cf. 1 Kings 20.

86. Eph. 4:26.

87. Prov. 11:14 (LXX).

88. Ps. 103 (104):15.

89. Prov. 31:3 (LXX).

90. Prov. 25:28 (LXX).

91. Prov. 24:3, 4 (LXX).

92. Heb. 5:14.

93. Heb. 4:12.

94. Gazæus thinks that this is a different person from the man of the same name mentioned by Palladius, Hist. Laus. c. xxxii.

95. On Paphnutius see the note on III. i.

96. Pausantium, i.e., those at rest. The word is used for the departed in a similar way in the 6th Canon of the Council of Aurelia (Orleans) A.D. 511. "Quando recitantur pausantium nomina." And the phrase "Pausat in pace" is occasionally found in sepulchral inscriptions. Inscr. Boldetti Cimeter. p. 399; Inscr. Maff. Gall. Antiq. p. 55.

97. Mazices: a people of Mauritania Cæsariensis, who joined in the revolt of Firmus, but submitted to Theodosius in 373. See Ammianus Marcellinus XXIX. v. § 17.

98. Cf. I. xx.

99. Cf. what is said on this subject in the Institutes, Book IV. c. ix.

100. Probably the author of Conference V., where see the note on c. i.

101. See the note on Conference XXI. i.

102. Eccl. 8:11 (LXX).

103. Eccl. 10:11 (LXX).

104. Ecclus. 25:5; Wisdom 4:8, 9.

105. Hos. 7:9.

106. Apollos or Apollonius was a most celebrated hermit of the fourth century, who finally became the head of a monastery of five hundred brethren in the Thebaid. Some account of him is given by Palladius (Hist. Laus. c. lii.) and Rufinus (Hist. Monach. c. vii.). Cf. also Sozomen III. xiv.; and VI. xx., whence we learn that his life was written by Timothy, Bishop of Alexandria. Cassian relates another story of him in XXIV. ix.

107. Prov. 24:11.

108. Cf. S. Matt. 12:20.

109. Is. 50:4.

110. Job 5:18; 1 Sam. 2:6, 7.

111. Acts 9:6.

112. Gal. 2:2.

113. Deut. 32:7.

114. 2 Cor. 6:7.

115. It has been thought best to leave the first part of the following chapter untranslated.

116. On the Statio see the note on the Institutes V. xx.

117. Paphnutius. The name is not uncommon in the annals of the fourth century: (1) A Deacon who bore it suffered in the persecution of Diocletian; and (2) a Bishop of the same name, who had been a confessor, was mainly instrumental in preventing the rule of celibacy being forced on the clergy by the Council of Nicæa; (3) another was a prominent member of the Meletian schism; while (4) a fourth was present, as Bishop of Sais in Lower Egypt, at the Council of Alexandria in 362; and (5) the life of a fifth is given by Palladius (Hist. Laus. lxii.-lxv.) and Rufinus (Hist. Monach. c. xvi.). The one whom Cassian here mentions, surnamed the Buffalo, is apparently a different person from the last mentioned. Further details of his history are given in the Institutes IV. c. xxx. xxxi., and in Conference X. ii., iii. Cassian tells the interesting story of his share in the Anthropomorphite controversy, and the beneficial influence which he then exercised.

118. I.e., his solitariness.

119. Gen. 12:7.

120. The story, to which allusion is here made, is given in the Vita Antonii of Athanasius. We are there told that six months after the death of his parents Antony, the a young man of eighteen, chanced to enter a church just as the gospel for the day was being read: and hearing the words, "If thou wilt be perfect," etc., he took them as addressed specially to himself, and at once proceeded to act upon them, selling all that he had except a small portion which he reserved for his sister's maintenance. Shortly after he was struck by the words, "Take the thought for the morrow," which he heard in church, and acting upon this, made away with the little property which was left, committed his sister to the care of certain faithful virgins, and betook himself to the ascetic life.

121. S. Luke 14:26; S. Matt. 19:21.

122. Judg. 3:15, 9.

123. Ps. 77 (78):34, 35; 106 (107):19.

124. Moses. This Abbot is possibly a different person from the author of the first two Conferences, who had in his youth been a pupil of Antony; whereas the one here mentioned only took the monastic life out of fear of death on a charge of murder. He is mentioned again in Conferences VII. xxvi.; XIX. xi., and some account of him is given in Sozomen H. E. VI. xxix.

125. Calamus, mentioned again in the Institutes X. xxiv. (where see note), and cf. Conf. VII. xxvi.; XXIV. iv.

126. Gen. 12:1.

127. Ps. 44 (45):11.

128. 2 Cor. 4:18.

129. Phil. 3:20.

130. Eph. 2:3.

131. Ezek. 16:3.

132. S. John 8:44.

133. 2 Cor. 5:1.

134. Phil. 3:20, 21.

135. Ps. 118 (119):19; Ps. 38 (39):13.

136. S. John 17:16.

137. S. John 15:19.

138. Gen. 5:24 (LXX); Heb. 11:5; S. John 11:26.

139. Acts 7:39, 40.

140. Numb. 11:18; Exod. 16:3; Numb. 11:5.

141. S. Matt. 22:14.

142. 1 Cor. 13:3.

143. S. Matt. 19:21.

144. 1 Cor. 13:4-7.

145. Ps. 44 (45):12.

146. Ps. 37 (38):6.

147. Jer. 8:22.

148. Ps. 33 (34):11.

149. S. Luke 6:24.

150. S. Matt. 5:3.

151. Ps. 33 (34):7.

152. Ps. 73 (74):21.

153. Ps. 111 (112):2, 3.

154. Prov. 13:8.

155. Rev. 3:16-18.

156. 1 Tim. 6:17-19.

157. Cf. S. Luke 14:19 sq.

158. S. Luke 16:12.

159. The MSS. vary between visibilibus and invisibilibus.

160. S. Matt. 19:27.

161. S. Matt. 19:28.

162. 2 Cor. 4:18.

163. Gen. 12:1.

164. Ps. 16 (17):5.

165. Ps. 39 (40):3.

166. Ps. 117 (118):13.

167. Ps. 93 (94):18.

168. Ps. 93 (94):19.

169. Ps. 93 (94):17.

170. Ps. 36 (37):23, 24.

171. Ps. 24 (25):5; 6:9.

172. Jer. 10:23.

173. Hos. 14:9.

174. Ps. 24 (25):4; 118 (119):18; 142 (143):10; 93 (94):10.

175. Ps. 118 (119):125.

176. Phil. 2:13.

177. Phil. 1:29.

178. Ps. 67 (68):29.

179. Ps. 145 (146):7, 8, 9; 144 (145):16.

180. Prov. 21:31.

181. 1 Sam. 2:9.

182. Ps. 117 (118):14.

183. 2 Cor. 3:5, 6.

184. S. Luke 17:5.

185. S. Luke 22:31, 32.

186. S. Mark 9:23.

187. S. John 15:4.

188. S. John 15:5.

189. S. James 1:17.

190. Zech. 9:17 (LXX).

191. 1 Cor. 4:7.

192. 1 Cor. 10:13.

193. Heb. 13:20, 21.

194. 2 Thess. 2:15, 16.

195. Jer. 32:39, 40.

196. Ezek. 11:19, 20.

197. Deut. 7:1-3.

198. S. Matt. 20:31.

199. Rom. 1:26, 28.

200. Ps. 80 (81):12, 13.

201. Ps. 80 (81):12, 13.

202. Ps. 80 (81):15.

203. Is. 65:2.

204. Nothing further appears to be known of Daniel than what is here told us by Cassian. There has been some discussion as to the action of Paphnutius in having him raised to the priesthood, as Cassian here narrates. Was Paphnutius really a bishop, or is it a case of presbyterian orders, or do Cassian's expressions merely mean that Paphnutius procured his ordination first to the Diaconate and then to the Priesthood? Probably the latter, for (1) all the evidence goes to show that presbyters had not the power of ordination; and (2) there are many instances, in which it is said even of the laity that they "ordained" men to the ministry when all that can possibly be meant is that they "procured their ordination;" further (3) it will be noticed that it is not even said that Paphnutius ordained Daniel, but merely that he "promoted" him to the priesthood; an expression which might equally well be used of nomination as of actual ordination. See the subject discussed in Bingham's Antiquities, Book II. c. iii. § 7, and C. Gore's "Church and the Ministry," p. 374.

205. Rom. 9:16.

206. Ps. 118 (119):8.

207. Ps. 118 (119):71.

208. Job 1:9, 10.

209. 1 Cor. 10:13.

210. Judg. 3:1-4.

211. Gal. 5:17.

212. Prov. 17:28 (LXX).

213. S. John 1:14.

214. S. Luke 3:6.

215. Gen. 6:3.

216. Rom. 8:9.

217. 1 Cor. 15:50.

218. 2 Sam. 5:1.

219. Rom. 11:14.

220. Gal. 5:17.

221. Rev. 3:15, 16.

222. Suo nos rursum quamvis quieto ac simplici visitans fluxu.

223. 1 Cor. 3:2, 3.

224. 1 Cor. 2:14, 15.

225. Gal. 6:1.

226. Rev. 3:15, 16.

227. Rev. 3:17.

228. Jer. 4:3.

229. Cf. S. Matt. 15:14.

230. Serapion when young was a pupil of Theonas, and an anecdote of his youthful indulgence in good things in secret has already been told in Conference II. c. xi. Another story of him is given in XVIII. xi. One of this name is mentioned by Palladius in the Lausiac History, c. lxxvi., and by Rufinus in the History of the Monks, c. xviii., where we are told that he lived at Arsinöe, and that he had ten thousand monks subject to his rule; a number which Sozomen also gives (H. E. VI. xxviii.). It is, however, doubtful whether this Serapion of Arsinöe is the person whose Conference Cassian here gives. Gazet identifies, Tillemont distinguishes the two. Jerome, it should be noticed, speaks in Ep. cviii. (Epistaphium Paulae) as if there was not only one of this name famous among the monks of Egypt at that time.

231. For this word see the note on the Institutes V. i.

232. S. James 1:14, 15.

233. S. Matt. 4:3.

234. Job 40:16.

235. Cf. Gal. 5:19.

236. Eph. 2:3.

237. Heb. 4:15.

238. The following from D. Mozley's profound work on the Augustinian Theory of Predestination may serve to illustrate the remarks in the text: "Scripture says that our Lord was in all points tempted like as we are. But the Church has not considered it consistent with piety to interpret this text to mean that our Lord had the same direct propension to sin that we have, or that which is called by divines concupiscence. Such direct appetite for what is sinful is the characteristic of our fallen and corrupt nature; and our Lord did not assume a corrupt, but a sound humanity. Indeed, concupiscence, even prior to and independent of its gratification, has of itself the nature of sin; and therefore could not belong to a perfect Being. Our Lord had all the passions and affections that legitimately belong to man; which passions and affections, tending as they do in their own natures to become inordinate, constituted of themselves a state of trial; but the Church has regarded our Lord's trial as consisting in preserving ordinate affections from becoming inordinate, rather than in restraining desire proximate to sin from gratification" (p. 97).

239. S. Luke 1:35.

240. Gen. 3:5.

241. Imaginarium.

242. S. Luke 4:9.

243. 1 Tim. 6:10.

244. Cf. Gen. 3:5 with S. Matt. 4:6, 8.

245. Is. 14:13, 14.

246. Such is the heading which Gazet gives. Petschenig edits "De ira atque tristitia, quod inter accedentia vitia plerumque [non] inveniantur;" where "non" is his own insertion, and as he frankly tells us, the heading does not suit the chapter.

247. Cf. Phil. 4:11.

248. 1 Cor. 7:8, 9.

249. S. Matt. 5:28.

250. Col. 3:5.

251. Eph. 5:3-5.

252. Col. 3:8.

253. Is. 48:9.

254. Cf. note on the Institutes V. xli.

255. Baruch 3:11.

256. Pancarpus (pagkarpos). The word was originally applied to an offering of all kinds of fruit. Cf. Tertullian ad Valent. xii. It is also used in the general sense "of all sorts" by Augustine, Adv. Secund. xxiii. Cassian here speaks as if it had become the popular name for the conflicts of gladiators with all kinds of beasts, though there is apparently no other authority for this.

257. Deut. 7:21-23.

258. Deut. 8:12-15.

259. Prov. 24:17, 18 (LXX).

260. Ps. 73 (74):19.

261. Deut. 9:4, 5.

262. Cf. 1 Cor. 10:6.

263. Deut. 7:1, 2.

264. 1 Cor. 10:9, 10.

265. Prov. 20:13 (LXX).

266. Eph. 4:19.

267. Eph. 4:31.

268. Eph. 4:12.

269. Ps. 90 (91):7.

270. Rom. 13:14.

271. Cf. 1 Tim. 6:8.

272. Deut. 23:7.

273. Eph. 4:31; 5:3, 4.

274. Cf. Gen. 15:18-21.

275. 2 Cor. 6:14.

276. Cf. the note on Against Nestorius VII. ix.

277. The "ancient tradition" to which Cassian here alludes is given in the Clementine Recognitions I. xxix., xxx.; and in Epiphanius "Heresies," c. lxvi. § 83, sq., where it is given as an answer to the Manichæan objection against the cruelty and injustice of the extermination of the Canaanites by the Israelites.

278. S. Matt. 12:43-45.

279. Prov. 26:25 (LXX).

280. This Abbot Theodore is probably the same person as the one mentioned in the Institutes, Book V. cc. xxxiii.-xxxv.; but nothing further is known of him, and there is no reason for identifying him with any of the other monks of this name of the fourth century.

281. Cf. Amos 1:1.

282. Saraceni (Sarakhnoi): a name given by the classical geographers to a tribe of Arabia Felix, famous for its predatory propensities. Jerome speaks of the "mons et desertum Saracenorum quod vocatur Pharan" (Liber de situ nominibus sub voce Choreb) and elsewhere describes their predatory habits (Liber Heb.Quaest. in Genesim) "Saracenos vagos . . . qui universas gentes . . . incursant." By the seventh century the name had become a merely general name equivalent to Arab, and was accordingly adopted and applied indifferently to all the followers of Mohammed by the writers of the middle ages (cf. the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, sub voce).

283. There is no mention of these martyrs in the so-called Martyrologium Hieronymianum, but they are commemorated on May 28, in the Roman Martyrology.

284. Cellæ, which was, according to the passage before us, between the deserts of Scete and Nitria, apparently derived its name from the cells of the monks who congregated there. This at least is the explanation of the name given by Sozomen (H. E. VI. xxxi.) who speaks of a region called Kellia, throughout which numerous little dwellings (oikhmata) are dispersed, whence it obtains its name. Sozomen also speaks (c. xxix.) of Macarius as priest of Cellæ, a fact which gives some ground for conjecturing that Cellæ may be identified with Dair Abu Makâr, one of the four monasteries still existing in the deserts of Nitria and Scete, probably founded by the saint whose name it bears (Macarius). See A. J. Butler's "Coptic Churches of Egypt," vol. i. c. vii.

285. 1 Cor. 15:19.

286. Zeph. 1:12.

287. Mal. 2:17.

288. Mal. 3:14, 15.

289. 1 Tim. 6:17-19.

290. S. Luke 16:9.

291. S. Luke 1:14.

292. S. Matt. 26:24.

293. Ps. 115:6 (116:15).

294. Ps. 33 (34):32.

295. Cf. S. Luke 16:20.

296. 2 Cor. 12:9, 10.

297. Is. 45:6, 7.

298. Amos 3:6.

299. Heb. 12:6-11.

300. Jonah 3:10 (LXX).

301. Joel 2:13 (LXX).

302. Is. 26:15 (LXX).

303. Jer. 11:11.

304. Job 3:23 (LXX).

305. Rom. 8:28.

306. 2 Cor. 6:7-10.

307. Ps. 118 (119):165.

308. Ecclus. 27:11.

309. Rom. 8:28.

310. Prov. 14:7 (LXX).

311. Judg. 3:15, where the LXX has amfoterodexion.

312. Job 29:15.

313. Job 2:10; 1:21.

314. Cant. 2:6.

315. Phil. 4:11-13.

316. Deut. 8:2.

317. Ps. 80 (81):7.

318. Job 40:3 (LXX).

319. Ps. 33 (34):19.

320. Heb. 12:5-8.

321. Rev. 3:19.

322. Jer. 30:11.

323. Ps. 25 (26):2.

324. The passage is not from Isaiah, but from Jer. 10:24.

325. Is. 12:1.

326. Deut. 32:24.

327. Jer. 2:30.

328. Ps. 31 (32):10.

329. S. John 5:14.

330. S. John 9:3.

331. S. John 11:4.

332. Rom. 1:26, 28.

333. Ps. 72 (73):5.

334. Eph. 4:19.

335. Amos 4:11.

336. Jer. 15:7.

337. Jer. 5:3.

338. Jer. 6:29, 30.

339. Ezek. 24:11-13.

340. Ezek. 16:42.

341. Hos. 7:12 (LXX).

342. 1 Kings 21:21-24.

343. 1 Kings 13:22.

344. Cf. Numb. 15:32.

345. Eph. 4:23.

346. Phil. 3:13.

347. Job 15:14, 15.

348. Ps. 101 (102):27.

349. Mal. 3:6.

350. Ecclus. 11:30.

351. Prov. 16:8 (LXX).

352. Eccl. 10:18 (LXX).

353. Prov. 27:15 (LXX).

354. Very little is known of Serenus but what is here told. Cf. the Vitae Patrum, c. l.

355. Wisdom 9:15.

356. Eccl. 7:29 (LXX).

357. Prov. 19:7 (LXX).

358. Ps. 83 (84):6.

359. S. Matt. 9:4.

360. Is. 1:16; Jer. 4:24.

361. Is. 66:18.

362. Rom. 2:15, 16.

363. S. Matt. 8:9.

364. Exod. 8:21.

365. 1 Cor. 10:4-6.

366. Eph. 6:16.

367. 1 Thess. 5:8.

368. 1 Cor. 13:7.

369. 1 Thess. 5:8.

370. Eph. 6:17.

371. Heb. 4:12.

372. Baruch 3:11.

373. Joel 2:10, 11 (LXX).

374. 2 Cor. 12:9, 10.

375. Zech. 12:8.

376. Heb. 10:36.

377. Ps. 42 (43):9; 118 (119):31; 71 (72):28; 1 Cor. 6:17.

378. Prov. 28:19.

379. Prov. 14:23; 16:26 (LXX).

380. S. Matt. 11:12.

381. Job 5:7.

382. Eph. 4:13.

383. Eph. 4:13.

384. 1 Cor. 15:28.

385. 1 John 4:4.

386. Eccl. 8:11 (LXX).

387. S. James 4:7.

388. Job 2:6 (LXX).

389. 1 Cor. 15:40, 44.

390. Heb. 4:12, 13.

391. Ps. 32 (33):15; 43 (44):22.

392. 2 Chron. 6:30.

393. Eccl. 10:4.

394. S. John 13:2.

395. Prov. 14:6; Deut. 32:31; Prov. 21:30 (LXX).

396. 1 Cor. 10:13.

397. Eph. 6:12; 1 Cor. 9:26; 2 Tim. 4:7.

398. Ps. 139 (140):10; 7:17; 34 (35):8.

399. Ps. 12 (13):4, 5; 34 (35):24, 28, 16, 17; 9 (10):9; 103 (104):21.

400. Ps. 39 (40):15; 34 (35):26; 39 (40):15.

401. Jer. 17:18.

402. Ps. 17 (18):38, 39.

403. Ps. 34 (35):1-3.

404. Micah 5:9.

405. S. Matt. 8:31.

406. S. John 19:11.

407. So centuries later it is told of a Jesuit father that when one wanted to relax the strictness of his fast, he replied, "Eat an ox, but be a Christian."

408. Is. 1:25, 26; Prov. 17:3 (LXX); Ecclus. 2:5; Heb. 12:6.

409. 1 Kings 13:26.

410. Cf. [note] on the Institutes X. xxiv.

411. Cf. [note] on the Institutes IV. xxx.

412. On Archebius cf. the note on XI. ii.

413. On Macarius see the note on the Institutes V. xli.

414. Humanas egestiones.

415. 1 Cor. 5:5.

416. S. Matt. 7:6.

417. 1 Cor. 12:26.

418. Heb. 11:39, 40.

419. S. Matt. 7:6.

420. The question whether the Holy Communion should ever be given to those possessed is discussed by S. Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa @III. Q. lxxx. Art. 9, and answered in the affirmative, the authorities quoted in its favour being this passage from Cassian, and the third Canon of the 1st Council of Orange (A.D. 441).

421. Rom. 2:5; Is. 66:24.

422. Ps. 72 (73):2-5.

423. Jer. 12:1-2.

424. Jer. 51:8, 9.

425. Is. 1:6.

426. "Planoi," "Seducers," if the reading be correct: but some MSS. have "Fauni."

427. The origin of this term is obscure.

428. 1 Kings 22:22.

429. 1 Tim. 4:1, 2.

430. Hos. 4:12.

431. Ps. 90 (91):5, 6.

432. Cf. Is. 13:21, 22; 34:13, 15; Ps. 90 (91):13; S. Luke 10:19; S. John 14:30; Eph. 6:12.

433. Eph. 6:12.

434. Cf. Horace, De Arte Poetica, l. 249.

435. Eph. 6:12.

436. Rom. 8:38, 39.

437. Deut. 6:4, 5.

438. S. Luke 12:35; 22:36; S. Matt. 10:38.

439. Rom. 10:2.

440. S. Matt. 5:39; 10:23; 19:21.

441. Ps. 35 (36):7.

442. Cf. S. Matt. 11:14.

443. See Dan. 9:27; 2 Macc. 6:2; S. Matt. 24:15 sq.

444. Gen. 1:31.

445. Job 38:7 (LXX).

446. S. John 1:3.

447. Col. 1:16.

448. Ezek. 28:11-18.

449. Is. 14:12-14.

450. Cf. Rev. 12:4.

451. S. Jude 6.

452. Ps. 81 (80):7.

453. Gen. 3:1.

454. Dan. 10:12-14.

455. Dan. 10:20, 21.

456. Dan. 12:1.

457. S. Luke 11:15.

458. Eph. 6:12.

459. S. John 14:30.

460. 1 Cor. 15:24.

461. S. Luke 11:19.

462. S. John 8:44.

463. S. Matt. 18:10.

464. Ps. 33 (34):8.

465. Acts 12:15.

466. The reference is to the Pastor or Shepherd of Hermas, a work of the second century. The passage to which Cassian alludes is found in Book II. Commandm. vi.; where it is said that "there are two angels with a man, one of righteousness and the other of iniquity," and suggestions are given how to recognize each of them and to distinguish the suggestions of the one from those of the other. The passage is also alluded to by Origen, De Principiis, Book III. c. ii. and Hom. xxxv. in (Lucam); and Cassian refers to it again in Conf. XIII. c. xii.

467. Ps. 108 (109):6.

468. S. John 8:44. We find from Augustine (Tract. xxiv. in Johan.) that the Manichees interpreted this text as implying that the devil had a father, translating it "For he is a liar, and so is his father." Augustine himself explains it as Abbot Serenus does below in c. xxv.; viz., that the devil is not only a liar himself but the parent of lies.

469. Eccl. 1:9, 10.

470. Gen. 5:4-40.

471. Gen. 4:17-21.

472. In Gen. 6:2 the MSS. of the LXX. fluctuate between aggeloi tou Qeou and `uioi tou Qeou. The interpretation of the passage which Cassian here rejects is adopted by Philo and Josephus, the book of Enoch, and several of the early fathers, including Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius and others. The explanation, which Cassian here gives, taking the "sons of God" of the Sethites, and the "daughters of men" of the line of Cain, is apparently first found in Julius Africanus (`oi apo tou Shq dikaioi), and is adopted among others by Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Book XV. xxiii., where the passage is fully discussed.

473. Ps. 81 (82):6, 7.

474. Wis. 7:17-21.

475. Deut. 8:3; Exod. 34:16; cf. 1 Kings 11:2.

476. Is. 8:20 (LXX).

477. Cf. Gal. 3:24.

478. Gen. 4:4.

479. Gen. 7:2.

480. Gen. 5:22.

481. Gen. 9:23; Lev. 18:7.

482. Gen. 14:20, 22.

483. Gen. 18, 19; cf. S. John 13:34.

484. Deut. 4:4.

485. Exod. 20:4-17.

486. Eccl. 3:14 (LXX).

487. 1 Tim. 1:9.

488. S. Matt. 5:39.

489. S. Matt. 5:44.

490. S. John 8:44.

491. Heb. 12:9.

492. Ps. 118 (119):73.

493. Job 10:10, 11.

494. Jer. 1:5.

495. Eccl. 12:7.

496. Is. 14:14.

497. S. John 8:44.

498. Gen. 3:5.

499. Eccl. 7:25.

500. See the Institutes Book II. c. ix.

501. Isaac was, as we gather from c. xxxi., a disciple of St. Antony, and is mentioned by Palladius Dial. de vita Chrysost. There are also a few stories of him in the Apophthegmata Patrum (Migne, Vol. lxv. p. 223); and see the Dictionary of Christian Biography, Vol. iii. p. 294.

502. Cf. S. Luke 14:28.

503. Cf. S. Luke 6:48.

504. 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 2:8.

505. S. Luke 21:34.

506. Joel 1:5.

507. Is. 29:9.

508. Deut. 32:32, 33.

509. Sinentes, though the reading of almost all MSS. must be an error either of the author or of a copyist for sinentia.

510. 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 2:8.

511. 1 Tim. 2:1.

512. Ps. 115:4 (116:14).

513. Eccl. 5:3.

514. Eccl. 5:4.

515. 1 Tim. 2:1, 2.

516. Cf. S. Luke 7:47.

517. Acts 1:1.

518. S. Matt. 26:39; Ps. 21 (22):2.

519. S. John 17:4, 19.

520. S. John 17:24; S. Luke 23:34.

521. S. Matt. 11:25, 26; S. John 11:41, 42.

522. Phil. 4:6.

523. S. John 7:18.

524. Cf. Rom. 9:3.

525. 2 Cor. 13:9.

526. Micah 2:11.

527. Exod. 32:31, 32.

528. S. Matt. 5:16.

529. S. Matt. 25:34.

530. 1 Tim. 2:4.

531. Is. 46:10.

532. Here Cassian is relying entirely on Jerome's revised text of the Latin, which has supersubstantialis in S. Matt. 6:11, as the rendering of epiousios but translates the same word by quotidianum in the parallel passage in S. Luke 11:3. It is curious that Cassian should have been thus misled, with his knowledge of Greek, as well as his acquaintance with the old Latin version which has quotidianum in both gospels. Cf. Bishop Lightfoot "On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament," p. 219.

533. S. James 2:13.

534. Ecclus. 34:11.

535. S. James 1:12.

536. 1 Cor. 10:13.

537. Petschenig's text reads "amittat." v. l. emittat.

538. Ps. 6:7.

539. Lam. 2:18.

540. Ps. 42 (43):3, 4.

541. Ps. 119 (120):5, 6.

542. Ps. 142 (143):2.

543. Jer. 9:1.

544. Ps. 101 (102):10.

545. S. Matt. 5:3.

546. Ps. 101 (102):1.

547. S. Mark 11:24.

548. S. Matt. 18:19.

549. S. Matt. 17:19.

550. S. Luke 11:8.

551. Ecclus. 29:15.

552. Is. 58:6, 9.

553. Ps. 119 (120):1.

554. Exod. 22:21, 27.

555. S. Luke 9:9, 10.

556. S. Matt. 21:22; 17:20.

557. Cf. Dan. 10:2 sq.

558. S. Matt. 21:22.

559. 1 John 5:16.

560. Rom. 8:26.

561. 2 Cor. 12:8, 9.

562. Ex persona hominis assumpti. The language is scarcely accurate, but it must be remembered that the Conferences were written before the rise of the Nestorian heresy had shown the need of exactness of expression on the subject of the Incarnation. Compare the note on Against Nestorius, Book III. c. iii.

563. S. Matt. 26:39.

564. S. Matt. 18:11; 20:28.

565. S. John 10:18.

566. Ps. 39 (40):9.

567. 1 John 3:16.

568. Gal. 1:4.

569. Rom. 8:32.

570. Is. 53:7 (Lat.).

571. Gal. 1:1.

572. S. John 2:19.

573. S. Matt. 26:39.

574. "Non" though wanting in most MSS. must be read in the text.

575. Reading "curvationis" with Petschenig: the text of Gazæus has "orationis."

576. Micah 7:5.

577. Ps. 50 (51):19, 21; 49 (50):23; 65 (66):15; 140 (141):2.

578. The observance of Epiphany can be traced back in the Christian Church to the second century, and, as Cassian tells us here, in the East (in which its observance apparently originated) it was in the first instance a double festival, commemorating both the Nativity and the Baptism of our Lord. From the East its observance passed over to the West, where however the Nativity was already observed as a separate festival, and hence the special reference of Epiphany was somewhat altered, and the manifestation to the Magi was coupled with that at the Baptism: hence the plural Epiphaniorum dies. Meanwhile, as the West adopted the observance of this festival from the East, so the East followed the West in observing a separate feast of the Nativity. Cassian's words show us that when he wrote the two festivals were both observed separately in the West, though apparently not yet (to the best of his belief) in the East, but the language of a homily by S. Chrysostom (Vol. ii. p. 354 Ed. Montfaucon) delivered in A.D. 386 shows that the separation of the two festivals had already begun at Antioch, and all the evidence goes to show that "the Western plan was being gradually adopted in the period which we may roughly define as the last quarter of the 4th and the first quarter of the 5th century." Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Vol. i. p. 361. See further Origines de Culte Chrétien, par L'Abbé Duchesne, p. 247 sq.

579. The "Festal letters" (`eortastikai epistolai, Euseb. VII. xx., xxi.) were delivered by the Bishop of Alexandria as Homilies, and then put into the form of an Epistle and sent round to all the churches of Egypt; and, according to some late writers, to the Bishops of all the principal sees, in accordance with a decision of the Council of Nicæa, in order to inform them of the right day on which Easter should be celebrated. Cassian here speaks of them as sent immediately after Epiphany, and this was certainly the time at which the announcement of the date of Easter was made in the West shortly after his day (so the Council of Orleans, Canon i., A.D. 541; that of Braga A.D. 572, Canon ix.; and that of Auxerre A.D. 572, Canon ii.), but there is ample evidence in the Festal letters both of S. Athanasius and of S. Cyril that at Alexandria the homilies were preached on the previous Easter, and it is difficult to resist the inference that Cassian's memory is here at fault as to the exact time at which the incident related really occurred, and that he is transferring to Egypt the custom with which he was familiar in the West, assigning to the festival of Epiphany what really must have taken place at Easter.

580. Theophilus succeeded Timothy as Bishop of Alexandria in the summer of 385. The festal letters of which Cassian here speaks were issued by him in the year 399.

581. The Anthropomorphite heresy, into which the monks of Egypt had fallen, "supposed that God possesses eyes, a face, and hands and other members of a bodily organization." It arose from taking too literally those passages of the Old Testament in which God is spoken of in human terms, out of condescension to man's limited powers of grasping the Divine nature and appears historically to have been a recoil from the allegorism of Origen and others of the Alexandrian school. The Festal letter of Theophilus in which he condemned these views, and maintained the incorporeal nature of God is no longer extant, but is alluded to also by Sozomen, H. E. VIII. xi., where an account is given of the Origenistic controversy, of which it was the occasion, and out of which Theophilus came so badly. On the heresy see also Epiphanius, Haer. lxx.; Augustine, Haer. l. and lxxvi.; and Theodoret, H. E. IV. x.

582. Gen. 1:26.

583. Rom. 1:23.

584. Jer. 2:11.

585. Gen. 1:26.

586. 2 Cor. 5:16.

587. 1 Cor. 15:28.

588. S. John 17:26, 21.

589. 1 John 4:16.

590. S. John 17:22-24.

591. Ps. 69 (70):2. It is not improbable that this chapter suggested to S. Benedict the use of these words as the opening versicle of the hour services, a position which it has ever since occupied in the West. See the Rule of S. Benedict, cc. @ix., @xvii., and @xviii.

592. Ps. 35 (36):12.

593. Deut. 6:7.

594. S. Matt. 5:3.

595. Ps. 73 (74):21.

596. Ps. 39 (40):17 (LXX).

597. Ps. 103 (104):18.

598. Prov. 30:26 (LXX).

599. 1 Thess. 5:17.

 


John Cassian Index


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