Two Cities

Cognovit autem Cain uxorem suam, et concepit, et peperit Henoch, et aedificavit Cain civitatem Quid ergo sibi per figuram vult, quod impiorum progenies civitatem in ipsa mundi origine construxit? Nisi quod noveris impios in hac vita esse fundatos, sanctos vero hospites esse et peregrinos. Unde et Abel tanquam peregrinus in terris, id est, populus Christianus non condidit civitatem. Superna enim est sanctorum civitas, quamvis hic pariat cives, in quibus peregrinatur, donec regni ejus tempus adveniat. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis, Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Genesin, Caput VI Source: Migne PL 83.227a

Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Henoch, and Cain built a city. 1 What, then, does he wish to convey with this figure, that the offspring of the wicked built a city at the beginning of this world? What but that you understand that the wicked are established in this life and the holy are as guests and passers by. Whence Abel also was a wanderer on the earth, that is, the Christian people have not founded a city here. For the city of the holy is above, 2 although it brings forth citizens here, among whom it wanders about, until the time of its kingdom shall come. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Genesis, Chapter 6 1 Gen 4.17 2 Heb 12.22-24, Apoc 21.2-4

Cain's Grief

ΕΡΩΤ ΚΜΑ’ Εἰ ἐλυπήθη Κάϊν μὴ δεχθέντων τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ προσενεχθέντων, δῆλον ὅτι μετεμελήθη· τῶν γὰρ μεταμελουμένων ἡ λύπη. Ἠνίασεν αὐτὸν οὐχ ἡ αὐτοῦ πλημμέλεια, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ εὐπραξία. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ Ἀκύλας ᾐνίξατο· ἔφη δὲ οὕτως, Καὶ ὀργίλον τῷ Κάϊν σφόδρα, καὶ ἔπεσε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Κάϊν, Εἰς τί τὸ ὀργίλον σοι. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Εἰς Τὴν Γένεσιν Source: Migne PG 80.143b

Question 41 If Cain grieved because his offerings were not accepted, therefore he was penitent, for penitence is sorrowful. He was not anguished because of his own fault, but because of the good of his brother. To this Aquila alludes when he translates it in this way: 'And Cain was gravely angered, and he cast down his face. And the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry?' 1 Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Questions On Genesis 1 Gen 4.5-6

Gifts And Offerings

Respexit Dominus ad Abel et ad munera eius... Sed quaeri potest quare Deus respexit ad munera Abel, ad Cain vero munera non respexit? Nunquid enim plus placet peculiaris hostia quam sacrificium Deo de fructibus? Sed sciendum quia Deus plus mentes offerentium, quam id quod offerebatur, attendit, et ideo respexit, id est, acceptum habuit et placuit illi munus ejus. Potest et aliud dici, quia avaritia detestatus est in labore Cain. Sunt enim quidam qui plus justo desudant in laborando, non tantum ut habeant sufficientiam, sed ut superflua quaeque et minus necessari congregent. Hunc laborem superfluum vidit Deus in Cain et ideo ad munus ejus non respexit. Ars vero pastoralis simplex est et innocua, quam post Abel sancti Patres habuisse leguntur. Remigius Antissiodorensis, Commentarius In Genesim, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 131.68d-69a

The Lord looked on Abel and his gift... 1 But one may ask: why did God look on the gifts of Abel but not on the gifts of Cain? Shall it be that the offering of one's own animals is more pleasing to God than a sacrifice of fruits? But it must be understood that God looks more on the mind of those who offer, than what is offered, and therefore He looked on, that is, he accepted and was pleased, by his gift. It is possible to say something else, that the avarice that was in the labour of Cain was detested. For there are some who toil more in their labour than the righteous man, so that they might not only have what is sufficient, but that they even gather to themselves what is superfluous and quite unneeded. God sees this superfluous labour in Cain and therefore He does not look on his gift. The art of the shepherd is simple and harmless, which one reads that the holy patriarchs possessed after Abel. Remigius of Auxerre, Commentary On Genesis, Chapter 4 1 Gen 4.4

Farmers And Workers Of The Earth

Et coepit Noe homo agricola esse terrae. Videtur quidem prima specie Adae illi qui de terra factus est, comparari Noe vir justus; quia et de illo scriptum est quod de paradiso ejectus coeperit operari terram: de isto quoque quoniam egressus ex arca factus sit agricola. Et propemodum in utroque praecesserat quaedam forma diluvii, quia et Noe post diluvium, et Adam post mundi constitutionem secundum figmentum corporis. Nam ut mundus fieret, congregata est aqua in unam congregationem, ut videretur terra quae ante non poterat per aquarum confusionem videri. Ergo sicut ille primigenes magister terram videtur operatus, ita etiam egressus ex arca Noe seminationis et culturae auctor est factus. Haec putantur similia: sed si verba consideres quae jam vim sensus altioris exprimunt, aliud est operatorem terrae esse, aliud agricolam. Alius enim tamquam mercenarii, alius tamquam patrisfamilias loco fungitur. Denique Cain qui fratrem occidit, erat operarius terrae. Et ut scias quia operari terram magis servile quam liberum sit, maledicto parricidalis ejus operatio comprehenditur. Denique scriptum est: Quoniam operaberis terram, et non augebit virtutem suam dare tibi: gemens et tremens eris super terram. Terra autem caro nostra est quam improbus operatur, bonus autem excolit. Ille quasi mercedem quaerat e terra; iste quasi bonae fructus capiat et gratiam disciplinae; ut magis fructiferum faciat agrum suum, et qui Domini possit respondere culturis, et indulgentiam cultoris ostendat. Operator autem quid aliud nisi escam tantummodo corporis sui quaerit, ventris magis usui studens, atque id solum explicare contentus, quod sibi prodesse possit ad victum? Ille vero alius fructuum utilitate pascitur. Quos fructus habeat justus agnoscis. Fructus autem spiritus, charitas, gaudium, pax, patientia, bonitas. Bonus ergo agricola habet continentiam, castitatem, ut si quae arbores cito curvantur in terram, et effusius germinant, eas velut quadam temperantiae suae falce succidat, ut abjiciant quod infirmum est, germinent quod decorum. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Noe et Arca, Caput XXIX Source: Migne PL 14.409b-410c

And Noah became a farmer of the earth. 1 It seems at first that this is a likness of that Adam who was made from earth, to whom the righteous man Noah is compared, because concerning the first it is written that being cast out of paradise he began to work the earth, 2 and also this man coming out of the ark was made a farmer. And near enough both were preceded by a certain type of deluge, Noah after his flood, and Adam after the establishment of the world according to the body, because so that the world might be, the waters were gathered into one place, that the earth appear, which was not able to before amid the confusion of the waters. Therefore as that first born teacher seems to have worked, so indeed coming out of the ark Noah was an author of the sowing of seed and farming. These things are thought to be similar, but if you consider the words, they will express a higher meaning, for a worker of the earth is one thing, and a farmer another. One is as a hireling, the other is as one who performs his duty as father of a family. Then Cain, who murdered his brother, was a worker of the earth. And that you know that to work the earth is more servile than to be a free man, his work is bound up in the the curse of the kin slayer. Then it is written: 'Because you will work the earth and it will not give its strength to you, but in groaning and in fear you shall be on the earth. 3 The earth is our flesh which as one wicked works, but he who is good cultivates. The former as a hireling seeks from the earth, the latter would gain the good fruits and the grace of discipline, so that he might make his field more fruitful, and he who is able to answer to the Lord for farming, he shall show the cares of the farmer. For what is a hireling but he who seeks food for his body alone, desiring the employment of his stomach more than all, and is not happy unless it is full; how would restraint profit such a fellow? The latter pastures for the utility of another. And what fruits the just man shall have, you know. The fruits of the spirit, charity, joy, peace, patience, and benevolence. The good farmer thus has continence, chastity, that if some trees sudddenly bend down to earth to pour out their seed, he with a certain sickle of temperance cuts them back, that he cut off what is weak, and they germinate what is fitting. Saint Ambrose, Noah and the Ark, Chapter 29 1 Gen 9.20 2 Gen 3.23 3 Gen 4.12

Evaluating Offerings

Concluso ergo illo et convicto Cain crimine, aliud oblationis vitium discutiamus. Obtulit, inquit, ex fructibus terrae, non a primis fructibus primitias Deo. Hoc est primitias sibi prius vindicare: Deo autem sequentia deferre. Itaque cum vere anima corpori tamquam servo domina sit praeferenda, utique primitias ejus, hoc est, animae prius quam corporis offerre debemus. Primitiae animae primatus sunt bonarum disciplinarum. Quae licet tempore posteriores sint, quam corporis primitiae, quae sunt esca, incrementum, visus, auditus, et tactus, odor, vox (mens autem et sensus pars animae) pars corporis, tamen prioris sunt disciplinis. Quarum primitiva est pure corde et simplici sermone oblata Deo gratiarum actio. Haec munera obtulit Abel, et ideo respexit Deus in munera ejus, quoniam e primitivis obtulit. Accedit ergo quia de primitivis ovium, et de adipibus earum. Considera quia non de insensibilibus, sed de animantibus obtulit. Plus est enim animalis, quam terrenus; siquidem animalis proximus spiritali est. Non enim prius quod spiritale est, sed quod animale, deinde quod spiritale. Quod animale spirat, habet vitalem spiritum: non ita quod de terrarum est fructibus. Deinde obtulit non secunda, sed prima; non exigua, sed pinguia:. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Cain et Abel, Liber I, Caput X Source: Migne PL 14. 377a-b

For that end and the criminal conviction of Cain we may discern some fault of offering. He offered offerings to God, it is said, from the fruit of the land, but not from the first fruits. 1Yet this is the offering that first vindicates one, he however brought to God the things that come after. Thus it truly is that the soul to the body, as that which rules to that which serves, must be preferred, and so his offering should have been an offering of the soul not of the body. The great offering of the soul are the goods of discipline. And the things after are the offerings sacrifices of the body, which are food, growth, sight, hearing, touch, smell, voice, all parts of the body, for mind and reason are parts of the soul, however by the former the things of the body are disciplined, of which the greatest are the pure heart and the simple word for offering to God the deed of thanks. And these gifts Abel offered and therefore God looked on his gifts, because from the first of them he offered. It happened so because it was from the first of the sheep, and from the fat of them. And consider that he offered not from insensible things but from animate creatures. For greater indeed is the animal than the earth, as nearer is the animal to the spiritual. For what is spiritual does not come before but what is animal, and then what is spiritual. Since the animal breathes it has the vital spirit, which is not so concerning the fruit of the earth. Thus he offered not what comes second but what comes first, not poor things, but rich things. Saint Ambrose, Cain and Abel, Book 1, Chap 10 1 Gen 4.3

Cain's Exile

Exiit ergo Cain a facie Domini, et habitavit in terra Naid. Quod LXX Naid transtulerunt, in Hebraeo נוֹד dicitur, et interpretatur σαλευόμενος, id est, instabilis et fluctans, et sedis incertae. Non est igitur Naid terra, ut vulgus nostrorum putat, sed expletur sententia Dei, quod huc atque illuc vagus et profugus oberravit. Contra quod malum Dominus rogatur in Psalmo: Ne dederis in motu pedes meos, et manus peccatorum non moveant me. Nune ergo Judaei, et omnes diviersis erroribus contumaces sunt, resistendo veritati exeunt a facie Dei, id est, a misericordia dilectionis ejus, vel a participatione lucis ejus, et habitant profugi in terra commotionis, id est, in perturbatione carnali, contra jucunditatem Dei, hoc et contra Eden, quod interpretatur epulatio, id est, plantatus paradisus. Rabanus Maurus, In Genesim Libri Quatour, Liber II, Cap I Source: Migne PL 107.507a-b

Therefore Cain went away from the face of God and dwelt in the land of Naid.' 1   What the Septuagint translates as 'Naid', in Hebrew is written נוֹד, that is Nod, and is interpreted as σαλευόμενος that is unstable and fluxing, and an uncertain seat. Therefore Naid is not a land, as the common ones among us may think, but a dismissal from the knowledge of God, because of which he wandered here and there as a fugitive and vagrant. Against which evil the Lord in the Psalm says, 'Do not give my feet to wandering and let not the hands of sinners move me.' 2 Now therefore the Jews and those who persist in varied errors, by their opposition to truth, go out from the face of God, that is, from the mercy of His love, or from participation in His light, and they dwell outcasts in an unstable land, that is, in the clamour of the flesh, against the joy of God, that is, against Eden, which interpreted is 'feast,' that is, a paradise firmly planted. Rabanus Maurus, from the Commentary On Genesis, Book 2, Chapter 1 1 Gen 4.16 2 Ps 35.12

Prayers And Thanks

Et factum est, post dies obtulit Cain ex fructibus terrae munus Domino. Duplex culpa: una quod post dies obtulit, altera quod ex fructibus, non ex primis fructibus. Sacrificium autem et celeritate commendatur et gratia. Unde praeceptum est: Si voveris votum, non faciasmoram reddere illud. Melius est enim non vovere votum, quam vovere, et non reddere. Cum enim moram facis, non reddis. Votum est autem postulatio bonorum a Deo cum solvendi muneris promissione. Et ideo cum impetraveris quod petisti, ingrati est tardare promissum. Sed interdum aut negligentibus irrepit oblivio impetratorum, aut tumidis et elatis. Arrogare eventus sibi hebetis cordis est, et bonum quod agit vel quod a Deo consequitur, propriis virtutibus vindicare, nec auctoris deputare gratiae, sed ipsum se suorum bonorum auctorem ducere. Tertium genus est peccati quidem minoris, sed supparis arrogantiae eorum scilicet qui datorem bonorum Deum non negant: sed quae acciderint, ea sibi propter prudentiam suam, caeterarumque merita virtutum jure delata arbitrantur. Propterea etiam divina dignos habitos gratia, quod nequaquam viderentur indigni quibus talia divinis beneficiis provenirent. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Cain et Abel, Liber I, Caput VII

And it was that after some days Cain brought from the fruits of the earth as a gift for the Lord. 1   A double fault: one, that he brought after some days, the another that it is was from fruits and not the first fruits. A sacrifice and thanks is commendable when quickly given, whence the command says, 'If you make a vow, do not delay to make it good. Better it is not to make a vow at all, than to make a vow and not to make it good.' 2 For when you delay you do not do. A vow is a request of goods from God with the promise of the performance of a gift. And therefore when you have asked for what you seek, ungrateful it is to be tardy in what you promised. But sometimes either forgetfulness inclines the one who has asked to negligence, or it comes about by pride and elation. But to claim success for oneself is of the foolish heart, when the good which happens, which comes from God, a man claims is through his own strength, not giving thanks to the author of it but accounting himself the author of his own goods. The third class is a lesser sin, it is the arrogance of those who do not deny that God is a giver of good things, but that things have happened on account of his own prudence, and among other things the merit of virtues they judge to be nothing. Because the Divine grace which the worthy have, never appears in the unworthy, by which grace such things from the Divine good are provided. Saint Ambrose, Cain and Abel, Book 1, Chap 7 1 Gen 4.3 2 Eccl 5 3-4

Acceptable Sacrifices

Ut exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam vivam, sanctam, placentem Deo, rationabile obsequiam vestrum.   Quia non homo ex eo quod vivit placet, sed placet ex eo bene vivet; nec ex eo fit homo hostia si se Deo offerat, sed si sancte offerat Deo. Quantum enim immaculata victima placat Deum, tantum Deum victima, si maculata fuerit, exacerbat. Audi dicentem Deum: Non offeras mihi claudum, non lusum, non mortis contagione pollutum, sed maturum sine macula. Hinc est quod Apostulus vivam Deo petit hostiam. Probat hoc Cain, qui cum Deo parva a quo totum perceperat ingratus pontifex sic divisit, ut quod erat pessimum, hoc adoleret altari; quod erat optimum, in suam reservaret offensam; denique cum sua suo male partitur cum auctore, se suosque posteros et a vita et ab humano genere perdivisit. Ergo Abel sequamur ad praemium, non Cain comitemur ad poenam. Abel agnum portans ad Dei sacrificium, sicut agnus assumitur: Cain gestans sibi stipulam, fomentum sibi, per quod exureretur, invenit. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo CIX

'That you present your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God.' 1  Because man does not please by the fact that he lives, but that he lives well. He does not offer a sacrifice of himself to God unless he offers himself to God in a holy manner. As much as an unblemished victim pleases God, so a spotted victim makes God angry. Hear God saying, 'Do not offer me a lame thing, or something half blind, or polluted because it is intended for death, but something mature without blemish.' 2 Hence it is the Apostle seeks a living sacrifice for God. Cain gives proof of this; he who as an ungrateful priest shared so few of his possessions with God, from whom he had received everything, that he offered the worst of them upon the altar, since what was best he kept for himself, and so offended. Thus wickedly arranging this division with his Creator, he separated himself and his descendants from life and from the human race. Therefore let us follow Abel to reward and let us not accompany Cain to punishment. Abel bringing a lamb to sacrifice to God was accepted as a lamb; Cain, bearing his stubble, found it to be kindling for himself, by which he was to burn. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 109 1 Rom 12.1 2 Lev 22.20

The Cainites

Caiani propterea sic appellati quoniam Cain honorant dicentes eum fortissimae esse virtutis. Simul et Iudam traditorem divinum aliquid putant, et scelus eius beneficium deputant, asserentes eum praescisse quantum esset generi humano Christi passio profutura, et occidendum Iudaeis propterea tradidisse. Illos etiam qui schisma facientes in primo populo Dei terra dehiscente perierunt et Sodomitas colere perhibentur. Blasphemant legem et Deum legis auctorem, carnisque resurrectionem negant. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum Source: Migne PL 42.29

The Cainities are so named because they honour Cain saying that he was the strongest in virtue. Likewise they think the traitor Judas divine and consider his crime a benefit, asserting that he was as much foretold for the human race as was the passion of Christ, and that this is why he handed Jesus over to the Jews. They hold to the reverence of those who first made division among the people of God, those for whom the earth opened and they were destroyed, 1 and they also revere the Sodomites. They speak evil of the Law and God the author of the Law and they deny the resurrection of the flesh. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Heresies, To Quodvultdeus 1 Num 16.1-40