Chastity And Cleanliness

Gloriosum et insignem inter caeteras virtutes locum castitas et munditia tenet, fratres charissimi, quia ipsa sola est quae mundas mentes hominum praestat videre Deum. Unde ipsa Veritas ait: Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt; ac si e contrario diceret: Illi vero miseri sunt quorum corda carnali concupiscentia sunt polluta, quia aeternas merguntur in tenebras. Castitas enim angelica est vita; castitas cum humilitate, Spiritus sancti merebitur habitationem, quem expellit immunditia libidinum, dicente Scriptura: Corpus peccatis subditum Spiritus sanctus effugiet. Membra nostra debent Deo esse dicata, non fornicationi: opponat homo desiderio carnis suae aeternorum flammas tormentorum; assuescat juvenis castitatem, ut sit dignus sapientiae Dei. Ubi immunditia est corporis, ibi habitatio diabolici spiritus, qui maxime gaudet in inquinatione carnis nostrae. Omnes immunditiae Deo displicent, et maxime quae non sunt naturales. Admonet itaque nos Scriptura sancta dicens: Post concupiscentias tuas non eas, et a voluntate tua avertere. Si praestes animae tuae concupiscentias ejus, faciet te in gaudium inimicis tuis venire. Ejus quoque modi Salomon sapientissimus proferebat sententias de cavenda immunditia carnis, dicens: Favus enim distillans labia meretricis, et nitidius oleo guttur ejus. Novissima autem illius amara quasi absinthium, et acuta quasi gladius biceps. Pedes ejus descendunt ad mortem, et ad inferos gressus illius penetrant. Per semitam vitae non ambulant, vagi sunt gressus ejus et investigabiles. Nunc ergo, fili, audi me, et ne recedas a verbis oris mei. Longe fac ab ea viam tuam, et ne appropinques foribus domus ejus. Hoc siquidem non solum de meretricum immunditia dixit, sed etiam de omni carnis concupiscentia, quae sollicitat animam suam consentire desideriis suis: sed ratio mentis prohibere debet impetus carnis et refrenare voluptates ejus iniquas. Item ille qui supra, prohibens cohabitationem feminarum juvenibus, dicit: Nunquid abscondere potest homo ignem in sinu suo, ut vestimenta illius non ardeant; aut ambulare super prunas et non comburantur plantae ejus: sic qui ingreditur ad mulierem proximi sui, non erit mundus cum tetigerit eam. Similiter et beatus Paulus admonet nos: Bonum est, inquiens, mulierem non tangere, quasi statim in tactu periculum esset: pulchra est enim casta juvenum pudicitia, et Deo amabilis, et ad omne bonum utilis. Qui filios habet spiritales, vel carnales, nutriat illos in castitate, Deo, non in fornicatione, diabolo. Quid prodest homini filium habere, nutrire, amare, si aeternis eum nutriat tormentis. Qui in castitate vivunt, angelicam habent in terris conversationem. Castitas hominem coelo conjungit, angelis facit civem. Rabanus Maurus, Homilia XLVII, De Castitate et Munditia Source: Migne PL 110.87a-88a

Chastity and cleanliness hold a glorious and wondrous place among the other virtues, dearest brothers, because it is only those with pure minds who are given the sight of God. Hence the Truth Himself says, 'Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God,' 1 as if on the contrary He had said, 'They are wretched whose hearts are defiled with carnal lusts, because they shall sink into eternal darkness.' Chastity is the angelic life, chastity with humility merits the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whom the uncleanliness of lust expels, with Scripture saying, 'The Holy Spirit flees a body ruled by sin.' 2 Our members should be dedicated to God not to a whore. A man sets himself in the flames of eternal torment with his carnal desires. Accustom a youth to chastity so that he might be worthy of the wisdom of God. When the body is unclean a diabolical spirit dwells there, one who loudly rejoices in the defilement of our flesh. All uncleanliness is displeasing to God, especially those which are not natural. Holy Scripture warns us, saying, 'Do not go after your desires, and turn away from your will. If you give your soul to its desires you shall come to be the joy of your enemy.' 3 The most wise Solomon also sets forth passages to warn against the uncleanliness of the flesh, saying, 'Honey drips for the lips of a whore and her neck shines with oil, but soon enough she shall be as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two edged sword. He feet lead down to death, and her steps walk into hell. They do not walk on the path of life, those steps wander and are unaccountable. Now then, my son, hear me, and do not turn from the words of my mouth. Keep her far from your way, and do not approach the doors of her house.' 4 Certainly he was not speaking only of the uncleanliness of a whore, but even of every lust of the flesh, which invites the soul to agree to its desires. But the rational mind should forbid the urging of the flesh and bind back its wicked pleasures. A little later the same author, prohibiting the cohabitation of women with young men, says, 'It is never possible for a man to hide a fire in his lap so that his clothing is not burnt, or to walk upon coals and not burn the soles of his feet, so he who goes to see the wife of his neighbour shall not be clean when he touches her.' 5 Likewise Paul warns us, 'It is good for one not to touch a woman,' 6 as if a touch were instant peril. Fair is the chastity of young men, loveable to God, and useful in everything. He who has spiritual sons and not carnal ones, shall nourish them on chastity for God, and not on fornication for the devil. What does it profit a man to have a son and to feed hm and to love hm, if he raises him for eternal torment? Those who live chastely, they have the way of angels on earth. A man of chastity is bound to heaven, a fellow citizen with angels. Rabanus Maurus, from Homily 47, On Chastity and Uncleanliness 1 Mt 5.8 2 Wisd 1.5 3 Sirach 18.30-31 4 Prov 5.3-8 5 Prov 6.27-29 6 1 Cor 7.1

The Mountain And The City

Dixitque Lot ad eos : Quaeso, domine mi, quia invenit servus tuus gratiam coram te, et magnificasti misericordiam tuam quam fecisti mecum, ut salvares animam meam, nec possum in monte salvari, ne forte apprehendat me malum, et moriar: est civitas hæc juxta, ad quam possum fugere, parva, et salvabor in ea: numquid non modica est, et vivet anima mea? Est civitas parva. Id est, Segor quae antea Bale dicebatur secundum quod dixit: Est civitas parva, quae vocata est Segor, id est parvula. Mystice mons celsitudinem virtutum, significat ad quem nos angelus cohortatur, dicens: In montem salvum te fac, sicut verbi gratia est contemptus omnium facultum. Ad quem perfectionem Dominus invitat dicens: Si vis perfectus esse, vade, et vende omnia quae habes, et da pauperibus, et veni, sequere me, et habebis thesaurum in caelo. Qui vero se viderit ad hunc montem non posse conscendere, melius est ut in Segor, hoc est, in parvula remaneat, contentus laicali vita et communi conversatione, quam post arreptum virtutis montem ad humilia, id est ad saecularia redeat. Virginitas quoque celsissimus mons est ad quem doctor gentium hortatur, dicens: Bonum est homini, si sic permanserit sicut et ego. Hortatur ergo angelus Lot ut ad hunc montem conscendat, fugiens incendia libidinum. Sed qui se viderit hoc non posse servare descendat ad Segor, hoc est, utatur legitimo conjugio, quia melius mediocri bono uti quam per abrupta libidinum praecipitari. Unde et Dominus apostolis dicentibus: Si sic est causa uxoris, non expedit nubere, respondit: Non omnes capiunt verbum hoc, sed quibus datum est: qui potest capere, capiat. Et Apostolus: Propter fornicationem, inquit, unusquisque suam uxorem habeat. Remigius Antissiodorensis, Commentarius In Genesim, Caput XIX Source: Migne PL 131.92a-c

And Lot said to them: 'I beg, my Lord, since your servant has found favour before you, and you have magnified your mercy which you showed to me, that you save my soul. I cannot go up the mountain and be saved, lest some evil seize me and I perish, but there is a city close by to which I can flee, a little city, and I shall be saved there. Is it not small, and shall my soul not live?' 1 'A little city.' That is, Segor, which was also called Bale, according to which he said. 'There is a little city which is called Segor,' that is, small. Spiritually the mount is the height of the virtues, signifying that to which the angel exhorts us, saying, 'On the mountain save yourself,' which for the sake of a word is contempt of things here. To which perfection the Lord invites us, saying: 'If you will be perfect, go, and sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and come, follow me, and you shall have treasure in heaven.' 2 But he who sees that he is not able to ascend this mountain, it is better that he should dwell in Segor, that is, in little things, content with the lay life and common intercourse, and so after considering the mountain of virtue he returns to humble things, that is, the world. Virginity is also a heavenly mountain to which the teacher of the Gentiles exhorts us, saying, 'It is good for a man if he shall remain as I am.' 3 Therefore the angel tells Lot to go up the mountain that he might flee the fire of lust. But he who looks on himself as one who cannot do this, he goes down to Segor, that is, he makes use of lawful marriage, because a lesser good is better than to be suddenly cast into lust. Whence when the Apostles said: 'If this is the case with a wife, it does not profit to marry,' the Lord answered: 'Not everyone can receive this word, but to those it is given. He who is able, let him do it.' 4 And the Apostle says: 'Because of fornication let each man have his own wife.' 5 Remigius of Auxerre, Commentary On Genesis, Chapter 19 1 Genes 19.18-20 2 Mt 19.21 3 1 Cor 7.8 4 Mt 19.10-12 5 1 Cor 7.2

Money And Treasure

Ubi enim est thesaurus tuus, ibi est et cor tuum. Hoc non solum de pecunia, sed et de cunctis passionibus sentiendum est. Gulosi deus venter est: ibi ergo habet cor, ubi et thesaurum. Luxuriosi thesaurus, epulae sunt. Lascivi, ludicra: amatoris, libido: Huic servit unusquisque a quo vincitur. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, Liber I, Cap VI Source: Migne PL 25.44c

Where your treasure is, there is your heart. 1 This is not only about money, but must be recognised of all the passions, The god of the glutton is his stomach, 2 therefore there he has his heart where is his treasure. The treasure of the luxurious man is feasts. Of the wanton it is pleasure, of the lover, lust, each one serving that by which he is conquered. 3 Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book 1 Chap 6 1 Mt 6.21 2 Phil 3.19 3 2 Pet 2.19

The Law And Sin

Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Erat enim et ante peccatum concupiscentia, sed non omnis erat. Fluvius per legem frenatus est, non siccatus. Quae te ducebat obicibus nullis, obruit te, obicibus ruptis. Minor erat, quando tuam movebat libidinem; omnis est, quando transcendit legem. Vis nosse quam magnus sit? Attende quid rupit. Praeceptum Dei dicentis, Non concupisces. Sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat, id est latebat, non apparebat, omnino tanquam sepultum erat in quibusdam ignorantiae suae tenebris. Ego autem vivebam sine lege aliquando, id est nulla ex peccato morte terrebar, quia non apparebat, cum lex non esset. Vivebam, id est vivere mihi videbat. Sed cum venisset mandatum, peccatum revixit. Eminuit, apparuit; non tamen vixit, sed revixit. Vixerat enim aliquando in paradiso, quando contra datum praeceptum, satis apparebat admissum. Cum autem a nascentibus trahitur, tanquam mortuum sit, latet, donec repugnans justitiae malum ejus prohibitione sentiatur. Cum enim aliud jubetur atque probatur, aliud delectat atque dominatur; peccatum quodammodo in notitia nati homnis revixit, quod in notitia primi facti hominis aliquando vixerat. Revixit, hoc est sentiri coepit: coepit rebellare, coepit apparere. Ego autem mortuus sum, id est praevaricator factus sum, vel quia mortuum me cognovi, vel quia reatus praevaricationis certum mortis supplicium comminavatur: quae ignorabam, cum concupiscentias meas sequerer sine cognitione, quia sine cohibitione. Et inventum est mihi mandatum quod erat ad vitam, si obedieretur, esse ad mortem, dum fit contra mandatum; et non solus peccatum fit sicut prius, sed etiam sciente et praevaricante peccatur. Bene autem mandatum est ad vitam, non concupiscere. Sola enim vera vita est non concupiscere. O vita dulcis et dulcior quam voluptas concupiscentiae. Felix anima, quae hujusmodi delectationibus oblectatur, ubi turpitudine nulla inquinetur, et veritatis serenitate purgetur, scilicet quando delectat lex Dei, et sic delectat, ut omnes lascivae delectationes vincantur. Hoc autem non fit statim cum venit homo ad gratiam, sed concupiscentia tanto fit in proficiente lentior, quanto justitiae fit proficiendo propinquior. Guillelmus S Theodorici Abbas, Expositio In Epistolam Ad Romanos, Liber IV, Caput VII Source: Migne PG 180.615c-616b

Taking the opportunity, sin through the commandment worked in me all covetousness... 1 There was desire before sin, but it was not everything. The flow was bridled by the Law, not dried up, that which had carried you off without any check, rushing over you, bursting through all obstacles. It was little once when it stimulated your lust, it is everything when it passed over to the Law. You wish to know how it becomes great? Attend to how it burst forth. The law of the Lord said, 'You shall not covert.' 2 Without the law sin was dead, that is, it was hidden, it did not appear, indeed it was as if it were buried in a tomb in the darkness of ignorance 'But I was living for a time without the Law.' 3 That is, I was not distressed by mortal sin, because it did not appear when there was no Law. 'I was living,' that is, it seemed to me that I was living. But when the commandment came, sin revived. It became manifest, it appeared, but it did not live, it revived. For it lived once in paradise, when against the commandment given, it appeared overtly by offence. When it is acquired from birth, as death is, it is hidden, until by the opposition of the prohibition of justice the evil is known. For when there is something which is commanded and approved and another thing which desires and dictates, sin, which is as born by knowledge, is revived in a man, because in the knowledge of the first made man it once lived. It revived, that is, it began to be known, it began to revolt, it began to appear. 'And I died,' 3 that is, I became a sinner, or because I knew my death, or because the guilt of the sinner threatened the sure punishments of death, which I had been ignorant of, when I followed my desires without sense, without restraint. 'And there was found in me a commandment to life, ' if he had obeyed it, 'which was to death,' 4 while he acted in opposition to the commandment. And he did not only sin as he had done at first, but now he even sinned with knowledge of trespass. Good indeed is the commandment to life, that one not covert. The only true life is not to covert. O sweet life, even sweeter than the pleasure of desire. Happy soul, which takes joy when it is not defiled by any lust and it is purged for the serenity of truth, that is, what delights the law of God, delights it, so that it it may conquer every delight of lust. But this does not happen instantly to a man, but as much as he has been tardy to advance in lust, so he is nearer to advancing in righteousness. William of St Thierry, Commentary on Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans, Book 4 Chapter 7 1 Rom 7.8 2 Exod 20.17 3 Rom 7.9 4 Rom 7.10

Teaching By Examples

Πολυτρόπως δὲ ὅμως ὠφελῶν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ὁ φιλάνθρωπος τὰ μὲν παρῄνεσεν, τὰ δὲ καὶ ὠνείδισεν, τὸ δὲ καὶ ἄλλων ἁμαρτανόντων τὸ αἶσχος αὐτῶν ὑπέδειξεν ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τούτῳ τιμωρίαν ψυχαγωγῶν τε ἅμα καὶ νουθετῶν ἐφανέρωσε, φιλάνθρωπον ἀποτροπὴν τῆς κακίας μηχανώμενος διὰ τῆς τῶν προπεπονθότων ἐνδείξεως· δι' ὧν εἰκόνων σαφέστατα τοὺς μὲν ἔπαυσεν κακῶς διατεθέντας, τοὺς δὲ τὰ ἴσα τολμῶντας ἐκώλυσεν, ἄλλους εἰς ὑπομονὴν ἐθεμελίωσεν, ἑτέρους ἔπαυσε κακίας, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἰάσατο τῇ τοῦ ὁμοίου θεωρίᾳ μεταθεμένους ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἄν τι παραφυλάξαιτο, ἑπόμενός τῳ καθ' ὁδόν, εἶτα μέντοι τοῦ προτέρου εἰς βόθρον ἐμπεσόντος, μὴ οὐχὶ ἀποκλῖναι τὸν ἴσον κίνδυνον, τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας φυλαξάμενος; Τίς δὲ αὖθις ἀσκητὴς ὤν, καταμαθὼν τῆς φιλοδοξίας τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ τὸ ἔπαθλον ἰδὼν τὸν πρὸ αὑτοῦ ἀγωνιστὴν εἰληφότα, οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸν στέφανον ἵεται καὶ αὐτός, μιμούμενος τὸν πρεσβύτερον; Πολλαὶ τοιαῦται τῆς θεϊκῆς σοφίας αἱ εἰκόνες· ἑνὸς δὲ ὑποδείγματος μνησθήσομαι καὶ διὰ βραχέων παραθήσομαι· τὸ Σοδομιτῶν πάθος κρίσις μὲν ἀδικήσασι, παιδαγωγία δὲ ἀκούσασιν. Οἱ Σοδομῖται ὑπὸ πολλῆς τρυφῆς ἐξοκείλαντες εἰς ἀσέλγειαν, μοιχεύοντες μὲν ἀδεῶς, περὶ δὲ τὰ παιδικὰ ἐκμανῶς ἐπτοημένοι, ἐπεῖδεν αὐτοὺς ὁ παντεπόπτης Λόγος, ὃν οὐκ ἔστι λαθεῖν ἀνόσια δρῶντας, οὐδὲ ἐπηρέμησεν τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ αὐτῶν ὁ ἄγρυπνος τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος φύλαξ· ἀποτρέπων δὲ ἡμᾶς τῆς μιμήσεως τῆς ἐκείνων, πρὸς σωφροσύνην τὴν αὑτοῦ παιδαγωγῶν, τίσιν τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἐπιβαλών, ὡς μὴ τὸ ἀτιμώρητον τῆς ἀκολασίας ἀδείας ἐπιρροὴν προσλάβῃ, καταφλεχθῆναι προσέταξε τὰ Σόδομα, ὀλίγον τι τοῦ φρονίμου πυρὸς ἐκείνου ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκολασίαν ἐκχέων, ὡς μὴ ἀκόλαστον αὐτῶν τὸ λάγνον γενόμενον πλατείας ἀναπετάσῃ κλισιάδας τοῖς εἰς ἡδυπάθειαν φερομένοις. Γέγονεν τοίνυν ἡ Σοδομιτῶν δικαία τιμωρία τῆς εὐλογίστου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις σωτηρίας εἰκών· οἱ γὰρ μὴ τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς κεκολασμένοις ἁμαρτήσαντες οὐ τὴν ὁμοίαν ποτὲ τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς ὑπόσχοιεν δίκην τῷ μὴ ἁμαρτεῖν τὸ μὴ παθεῖν πεφυλαγμένοι. Εἰδέναι γὰρ ὑμᾶς, φησὶν ὁ Ἰούδας, βούλομαι, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἅπαξ ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου λαὸν σώσας τὸ δεύτερον τοὺς μὴ πιστεύσαντας ἀπώλεσεν, ἀγγέλους τε τοὺς μὴ τηρήσαντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχήν, ἀλλὰ ἀπολιπόντας τὸ ἴδιον οἰκητήριον εἰς κρίσιν μεγάλης ἡμέρας δεσμοῖς ἀιδίοις ὑπὸ ζόφον ἀγρίων ἀγγέλων τετήρηκεν. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Ὁ Παιδαγωγός, Λογὸς Τρίτιος, Κεφ' Η' Source: Migne PG 8.631b-616c

But helping in many ways, the Teacher, the lover of mankind, partly exhorts, partly reproaches, and by the sins of others He shows us their baseness, and the punishment consequent upon it, openly warning and by love striving to turn us from evil, by the exhibition of those who have suffered before, by which examples He openly checked those inclined to wickedness, and hindered those venturing similar things, and others He established in endurance, and others He held from evil, and others He healed by the contemplation of likeness, bringing them over to what is better. For who, when following a man on the way, when the former tumbles into a pit, would not guard against similar danger, by taking care not to follow him in his fall? And again what athlete, who has learned the way to glory, and has seen the competitor before him receiving the prize, does not set himself for the crown by imitation of the elder one? Such images of Divine wisdom given are many, but I will recall one instance, and expound it in a few words. The ruin of the Sodomites is judgment to those who have done wrong, instruction to those who hear. The Sodomites having been by much luxury brought into licentiousness, practicing adultery without shame, and burning with love for boys, the All-seeing Word, from whose notice those who commit impieties cannot be hidden, nor did the sleepless guard of mankind ignore their licentiousness, 1 but dissuading us from the imitation of them to His own temperance, stuck at these sinners, lest lust being unavenged and fearlessness run rampant, so ordered Sodom to be burned, pouring forth a little of the prudent fire of chastisement, lest by lack of chastisement, lust throw wide the gates to those rushing into voluptuousness. So did the just punishment of the Sodomites become an image of the salvation which is well arranged for men. For those who have not sinned like those who are punished, will never receive a like punishment, but guarding against sinning have a guard against suffering. Jude says: 'For I wish you to know, that God, having once saved the people from the land of Egypt, destroyed those who did not believe, and the angels who held not to their original state, but left their own habitation, He has reserved to the judgment of the great day, in everlasting chains under darkness of the savage angels.' 2 Clement of Alexandria, The Teacher, Book 3, Ch 8 1 Gen 18-19 2 cf Jude 5-6

Goods And Marriage

Copulatio itaque maris et feminae generandi causa bonum est naturale nuptiarum. Sed isto bono male utitur, qui bestialiter utitur, ut sit eius intentio in voluptate libidinis, non in voluntate propaginis. Quamquam in nonnullis animalibus rationis expertibus, sicut in plerisque alitibus, et coniugiorum quaedam quasi confoederatio custoditur et socialis nidificandi sollertia vicissimque ovorum dispertita tempora fovendorum et nutriendorum opera alterna pullorum magis eas videri faciunt agere, cum coeunt, negotium substituendi generis quam explendae libidinis. Quorum duorum illud est in pecore simile homnis, hoc in homine simile pecoris. Verum quod dixi ad naturam pertinere nuptiarum, ut mas et femina generandi societate iungantur et ita invicem non fraudent, sicut omnis societas fraudulentum socium naturaliter non vult, hoc tamen evidens bonum cum infideles habent, quia infideliter utuntur, in malum peccatumque convertunt. Eo modo ergo et illam concupiscentiam carnis, qua caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, in usum iustitiae convertunt fidelium nuptiae. Habent quippe intentionem generandi regenerandos, ut qui ex eis saeculi filii nascuntur in Dei filios renascantur. Quapropter qui non hac intentione, hac voluntate, hoc fine generant filios, ut eos ex membris hominis primi in membra transferant Christi, sed infideles parentes de infideli prole gloriantur; etiamsi tanta sint observantia, ut secundum matrimoniales tabulas nonnisi liberorum procreandorum causa concumbant, non est in eis vera pudicitia coniugalis. Cum enim virtus sit pudicitia, cui vitium contrarium est impudicitia, omnesque virtutes etiam quae per corpus operantur in animo habitent, quomodo vera ratione pudicum corpus adseritur, quando a vero Deo ipse animus fornicatur? Quam fornicationem sanctus ille Psalmus accusat, ubi dicit: Ecce enim qui longe se faciunt a te peribunt; perdidisti omnem qui fornicatur abs te, vera igitur pudicitia, sive coniugalis sive vidualis sive virginalis, dicenda non est, nisi quae verae fidei mancipatur. Cum enim recto iudicio praeferatur nuptiis sacrata virginitas, quis non sobria mente christianus etiam non univiras christianas catholicas nuptas, non solum vestalibus, sed etiam haereticis virginibus anteponat? Tantum valet fides, de qua dicit Apostolus: Omne quod non est ex fide peccatum est; et de qua item scriptum est ad Hebraeos: Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo. Sanctus Augustinus Hippoensis, De Nuptiis et Concupisentia, Liber I Source: Migne PL 44.415-416

Thus the union of male and female for the purpose of procreation is the natural good of marriage. But he uses this good badly who uses it bestially, so that his intention is in the pleasure of lust, not in the wish for offspring. Nevertheless in not a few animals without reason, as in most birds, there is both maintained a certain confederation of pairs and a social combination of skill in nest building, and their sharing between one another of the time for cherishing their eggs and in the work of feeding their young give them the appearance of acting, when they come together, for the purpose of the continuance of their kind rather than satisfying lust. Of these two, the one is the likeness of man in a beast, the other the likeness of the beast in man. The truth which I ascribed to the nature of marriage, that the male and the female are bound together as associates for procreation, and thus do not deceive other, as all society has a natural dislike of a deceitful associate, although even faithless men possess this evident good of nature, yet, since they use it without faith, they only turn it to evil and sin. In like manner, therefore, that carnal concupiscence by which 'the flesh lusts against the Spirit.' 1 is converted to the use of righteousness by the marriages of the faithful. For they hold to the intention of generating to be regenerated, that those who are born of them as children of the world may be reborn as sons of God. Whence those who do not beget children with this intention, this will, this end, that they be transferred from being members of the first man into members of Christ, but glory as unbelieving parents over unbelieving children, even if they observe such things as the matrimonial tablets set forth, not laying together but the purpose of the procreation of children, there is no true conjugal chastity in them. For as much as chastity is a virtue, whose opposing vice is unchastity, and as all the virtues, even those which operate through the body, have their place in the soul, how can the body be in any true sense be claimed to be chaste, when the soul itself fornicates apart from the true God? Which fornication the holy Psalmist denounces when he says: 'Behold, they who place themselves far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all who fornicate apart from you.' 2 Therefore it must not be said that there is no true chastity, whether conjugal, or of a widow, or of a virgin, unless it is given to the true faith. For though consecrated virginity is rightly preferred to marriage, yet what Christian in his sober mind would not prefer catholic Christian women who have even been married more than once, to not only vestals, but also to heretical virgins? So great is the benefit of faith, concerning which the Apostle says, 'Whatever is not of faith is sin;' 3 and concerning which it is written to the Hebrews, 'Without faith it is impossible to please God.' 4 Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Marriage and Concupiscence, Book 1 1 Galat 5.17 2 Ps 72.27 3 Rom 14.23 4 Heb 11.6

Penances For Sodomites

Si quis fornicatus fuerit, sicut Sodomitae fecerunt, si episcopus, vigniti quinque annos poeniteat: quinque ex his in pane et aqua, ex omni officio deponatur, peregrinando finiat dies vitae suae. Presbyter quindecim annos poeniteat, quinque ex his in pane et aqua, superiori sententia deponatur. Diaconus et monachus duodecim annos, tres in pane et aqua, et deponatur. Theodorus Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus, Ex Poenitentiali Romano Source: Here

If someone fornicates in the manner that the Sodomites did, if he is a bishop, he shall do penance for twenty five years, five of them on bread and water, and he shall be removed from all his offices, that he may end his days a wanderer. If he is a presbyter he shall do penance for fifteen years, five of these on bread and water, and he shall removed from his position as the above. If he is a deacon or monk he shall do penance for twelve years, three on bread and water, and he shall lose his position. Saint Theodore of Tarsus, From the Roman Penitential

Falling And Rising

Vir enim in nobis sensus rationalis intelligitur. Caro autem quasi in typo mulieris accipitur. Si enim mulieri, id est, carni nostrae, blandiente libidine, vel aliis operibus, consenserimus, gratia spiritus, quae Nazaraei crine significatur, nudati spoliamur atque decipimur. Ita enim superbis et peccatoribus, violata Christi gratia, sicut Samson incisa coma, diabolus illudit. Sed quid est quod Samson ille ab Allophylis captus, postquam oculos perdidit, ad molam deputatus est? Quia nimirum maligni spiritus, postquam tentationum stimulis intus aciem contemplationis offodiunt, foris hominem in circuitum laborum mittunt. Quod si aliquando idem homo agendo poenitentiam redeat, illi velut coma reducitur, id est, gratia reflorescente, reparatur ad viritutem; deinde cupiditatis ac luxurise subversis columnis, victores hostes dejicit, et reparato certamine in finem fortissime de daemonibus triumphabit. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Librum Judicum, Caput X Source: Migne PL 83.390 b-c

The man Samson is understood as the rational sense in us. The flesh, however, is received as the type of woman. For if to a woman, that is, our flesh, to the allure of lust, or some other works, we consent, we are cut off from the grace of the spirit, which the hair of the Nazarite signifies, and stripped naked, For thus by the proud and sinners, violating the grace of Christ, as Samson's hair was shorn, does the devil ensnare. But why is Samson, having been captured by the Philistines, after his eyes have been put out, bound to the mill? Because certainly the wicked spirit, after the sharp point of the goad of temptation has expelled contemplation within, then drives man out to the circuit of exterior labours. But if the same man would return by the making of penance, so his hair grows back, that is, grace is renewed, and he is restored to virtue, and then overturning the columns of luxury and lust, he casts down the victorous enemy, for returned to the struggle, in the end, he shall strongly triumph over demons. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Judges, Chap 10 1

Errors And Darkness

Ὅτι παρὰ φύσιν ταύτας ἡγοῦνται οἱ πολλοὶ τρυφὰς, τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἁμαρτίας· οἱ δὲ τούτων ἐπιεικέστεροι γνωρίζουσι μὲν οὔσας αὐτας ἁμαρτίας, ἠττῶνται δὲ τῶν ἡδονῶν, καὶ τὸ σκότος αὐτοῖς ἐστὶ προκάλυμμα τῶν παθῶν· καὶ τὸ σκότος αὐτοῖς ἐστι προκάλυμμα τῶν παθῶν· μοιχεύει γὰρ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ γάμον ὁ ἑταιριζόμενος αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ ἀκούει τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ βοῶντος· Ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀναβαίνων ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης αὐτοῦ, ὁ λέγων ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ· Τίς με ὁρᾷ; Σκότος κύκλῳ μου, καὶ οἱ τοῖχοι σκέπη μου, καὶ οὐδεὶς βλέπει τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου· τί εὐλαβοῦμαι; Μὴ μνησθήσεται ὁ ὕψιστος. Ταλάντατος μὲν οὗτος, ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀνθρώπων δεδιὼς μόνους, λήσειν δὲ τὸν θεὸν ὑπονοῶν. Οὐ γὰρ γινώσκει, φησὶν ἡ γραφή, ὅτι ὀφθαλμοὶ κυρίου ὑψίστου μυριοπλασίως ἡλίου φωτεινότεροί εἰσιν, οἳ ἐπιβλέπουσι πάσας ὁδοὺς ἀνθρώπων καὶ κατανοοῦσιν εἰς ἀπόκρυφα μέρη. Ταύτῃ τε πάλιν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς αὐτοῖς ἀπειλεῖ διὰ Ἡσαΐου λέγων· Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐν κρυφῇ βουλὴν ποιοῦντες, καὶ ἐροῦσι· τίς ἡμᾶς ὁρᾷ; Λήσεται μὲν γὰρ ἴσως τὸ αἰσθητὸν φῶς τις, τὸ δὲ νοητὸν ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν, ἢ ὥς φησιν Ἡράκλειτος· Τὸ μὴ δῦνόν ποτε πῶς ἄν τις λάθοι; Μηδαμῶς τοίνυν ἐπικαλυπτώμεθα τὸ σκότος, τὸ γὰρ φῶς ἔνοικον ἡμῖν· καὶ ἡ σκοτία, φησίν, αὐτὸ οὐ καταλαμβάνει, καταυγάζεται δὲ αὐτὸ ἡ νὺξ τῷ σώφρονι λογισμῷ· λογισμοὺς δὲ ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν οὓς ἀκοιμήτους λύχνους ὠνόμασεν ἡ γραφή. Καίτοι τό γε πειρᾶσθαι λανθάνειν ἐφ' οἷς πράττει τις ὁμολογοῦντος ἁμαρτάνειν ἐστίν, πᾶς δὲ ὃς ἁμαρτάνει, καὶ ἀδικεῖ εὐθύς, οὐχ οὕτως τὸν πέλας, ἂν μοιχεύῃ, ὡς ἑαυτόν, ὅτι μεμοίχευκεν· ἀλλὰ πάντως αὑτὸν χείρονα ἀποφαίνει καὶ ἀτιμότερον. Ὁ γὰρ ἁμαρτάνων, παρ' ὅσον ἁμαρτάνει, χείρων καὶ ἀτιμότερος αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ· πάντως δὲ ἤδη που καὶ ἀκολασία πρόσεστι τῷ ἡττωμένῳ αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς· Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Ὁ Παιδαγωγός, Λογὸς Δεύτερος, Κεφ. Ι' Source: Migne PG 8 516a-517a

For many think that only those delights which are against nature are perversions, such as these sins of theirs. And even those who are better than them, knowing them to be sins, are yet overcome by pleasure, and darkness is a veil for their passions. For he who uses marriage in a whorish way commits adultery, and does not hear the Instructor crying out: 'The man who ascends his bed, who says in his soul, Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls shelter me, and no one sees my sins. Why do I fear? The Highest will not remember.' Indeed most wretched is this man: 'who dreads only the eyes of men, and thinks he will escape the observation of God. For he knows not,' says Scripture, 'that brighter ten thousand times than the sun are the eyes of the Most High, which look on all the ways of men, and cast their glance into hidden parts.' 1 Thus again the Instructor warns them, speaking by Isaiah: 'Woe be to those who take counsel in secret, and say: Who sees us?' 2 For one may escape the light of the senses, but from the mind it is impossible. 'For how,' says Heraclitus, 'can one escape the notice of that which never sets?' Let us, then, not cover ourselves with darkness, for the light dwells in us. 'For the darkness,' it is said, 'comprehends it not.' 3 And the night itself is illuminated by prudent reason, and so Scripture has named the thoughts of good men 'sleepless lamps.' And to attempt to hide something one does is to admit sin, and every one who sins directly wrongs not so much his neighbour, if he commits adultery, as himself, because he has committed adultery, besides making himself worse and of ill repute. For he who sins, in the degree in which he sins, is made worse and is of less worth than before, and he who has been overthrown by base pleasures, now has licentiousness wholly attached to him. Clement of Alexandria, from The Teacher, Book II, Ch 10 1 Sirach 23.18-19 2 Isaiah 29.15 3 Jn 1.5

A Chastisment Of Priests

Convenio vos, O prolectarii, uxorii, ac mulierum dominantium ditionibus inserviti, ut quid canonicae santionis jura confundtiis, et a sanctis Patribus institutam puritatis ecclesiasticae regulam violatis? Proh pudor! libidinis vestrae legibus colla submittitis, et promulgata per ora doctorum sancti Spiritus edicta calcatis. Ecce per vos apostolorum labour evertitur, et aedificium, quod doctores Ecclesiae fundaverunt, liquet quod, vobis impugnantibus, obruatur. Et ita fit, ut lex Ecclesiae quam clericalis ordo constituisse dignoscitur, per eumdem rursus ordinem e contrario destruatur. Amnon et Absalon fratres fuerunt, quos unus quidem pater genuit, sed alterum alter exstinguit. Cain trucidavit Abel, malus scilict justum; saepius etiam adulterinus legitimum perimit, sicut Jugurtha, perhibente Crispo, Hiempsal et Adherbal occidit; ita quodammodo spurii fratres legitimos perimuni, cum ii qui se solo nomine clericos prefitentur, sanctorum Patrum judicia destruunt, Et tamquam ipsos videntur exstinguere, quorum non metuunt sententias annullare. Quos videlicet apte significare videtur Abimelech filius Jerobaal, quem Scriptura genitum refert de concubina, quam habuerat in Sichem. Hic enim occidit fratres suos filios Jerobaal, septuaginta viros, super lapidem unum. Quid enim per septuaginta viros, nisi praedictorum Ecclesiae libra signatur? De quibus ait Lucas Evangelista: Quia designavit Dominus  septuaginta, et misit illos binos ante faciem suam in omnem civitatem, et locum, quo erat ipse venturus. Sanctus Peter Damianus, Contra Intemperantes Clericos Source: Migne PL 145.388c-389a

I call you to gather around, charmers, wife takers, servants of powerful women with wealth, and ask you why you cast from you the laws of canonical sanction, and violate the rules instituted by the fathers for the purity of the Church? For shame! You submit your necks to the laws of lust and tread under foot the laws of the teachers spoken through the mouth of the Holy Spirit. Behold, by you the labours of the Apostles are overturned, and the building, which the teachers of the Church founded, you dissolve, which by your battering has been overwhelmed. And thus it is that the ecclesiastical law which was established to distinguish clerics, by the opposition of the same order is destroyed. Amnon and Absalom were brothers and one father sired them, but the one slew the other. 1 Cain murdered Abel, the evil man the righteous man; and indeed more often the adulterous one destroys the law abiding one, so Jugurtha, as Sallust bears witness, killed Hiempsal and Adherbal; 2 and thus the spurious bothers destroy the legitimate ones, when those who are clerics only in name, destroy the laws of the holy fathers. And as they seem to have destroyed them, they do not fear to annul the sentences. Which openly seems to signify Abimelec the son of Jerobaal, whom Scripture tells was born from a concubine, which he had in Sichem. 3 He killed his brothers, the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men, over one stone. Why indeed seventy men, unless it signifies the scales of the  preachers of the church? Concerning which Luke said, 'The Lord chose seventy, and sent them in twos before his face into every city and place, which He was to come.' 4 Saint Peter Damian, Against Intemperate Clerics 1 2 Kings 13 2 cf Sallust, De Bello Jugurth 9-13 3 Judges 9 4 Lk 10.1

Trial By Prostitute

Ἄλλοτε πάλιν παριόντος τοῦ Ἐφραὶμ, ἐξ ὑποβολῆς τινος ἔρχεται μία ἑταιρὶς κολακεύειν αὐτὸν εἰς αἰσχρὰν μίξιν, εἰ δὲ μὴ, κἂν εἰς ἀγανάκτησιν κινῆσαι αὐτὸν, ὅτι οὐδέποτε τις εἶδεν αὐτὸν ὀργιζόμενον. Καὶ λέγει πρὸς αὐτήν· Ἀκολούθει μοι· πλησιάσας δὲ τόπῳ πολυοχλουμένῳ, εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Ἐν τῷ τοπῳ τούτῳ δεῦρο καθὼς ἠθέλνσας. Ἐκείνη δὲ θεασαμένη τὸν ὄχλον, λέγει αὐτῷ· Πῶς δυνάμεθα τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, τοσούτου ὄχλου ἑστῶτος, καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνόμεθα; Ὁ δὲ λέγει πρὸς αὐτήν· Εἰ ἀνθρώπους αἰσχυνόμεθα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὀφείλομεν αἰσχύνεσθαι τὸν Θεὸν, τὸν τὰ κρυπτὰ τοῦ σκότους ἐλέγχοντα. Ἡ δὲ ἐντραπεῖσα ἀπῆλθεν ἄπρακτος. Ἄποφθέγματα των Αγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Ελενουπόλεως Source: Migne PG 65.168c-d

Another time, when Ephrem was travelling, a prostitute tried by flattery to lead him to shameful intercourse, and if not that, at least to move him to anger, for no one had ever seen him angry. He said to her, 'Follow me,' and when they had reached a place where there were many people, he said to her, 'In this place, come, do what you wish.' But she, seeing the crowd, said to him, 'How can we do this in the presence of such a crowd and not be ashamed?' He said to her, 'If we are ashamed before men, how much more should we be before God, who knows what is hidden in darkness?' And abashed she went away without having achieved anything. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

An Errant Academic

Μὴ παῥῥησιάζου, ὦ ἄνθρωπε. Αἰσχύνεσθαι γὰρ ὀφείλεις κατὰ κράτος, καθ' ὅτι τὰς μοιχείας ἐπαινεῖς τῶν Θεῶν σου, καὶ τὰς παιδοφθορίας, καὶ προσκυνεῖς τὰ ὀλέθρια πάθη τῆς αἰσχρουργίας, καὶ οὐδὲν παντελῶς δύνῃ ὑπὲρ τὸ σῶμα διανοεῖσθαι Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ Ϛ' Ἡφαιστῳ Σκολαστικῳ

Do not speak freely, O man. Rather you should be ashamed of your achievements, for the gods you praise are adultery and the corruption of boys, and you venerate the ruinous passion of disgraceful deeds, and nothing more you are able to conceive than the body. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 6 To Hephaestus the Academic

Raising Thoughts

Μέμνησο τοῦ σοφωτάτου Παύλου γεγραφότος περὶ Χριστοῦ·  Τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς, ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Υἱὸν πέμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας, κατέκρινε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ, ἵνα τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου πληρωθῇ ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα.  Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ, ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρ τίας ἀπεστάλθαι λέγειν τὸν Υἱόν;  Ἐμφωλεύει μὲν τοῖς μέλεσι τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν, τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος, καὶ τῶν ἐμφύτων ἐπιθυμιῶν τὸ ἔκτοπον κίνημα·  ὁ δέ γε τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, ἁγίαν εἶχε τὴν σάρκα καὶ πάναγνον ἀληθῶς·  καὶ ἐν ὁμοιώσει μὲν τῆς ἡμετέρας σαρκὸς, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ κατ' αὐτήν·  ἀπήλλακτο γὰρ εἰς ἄπαν τῶν ἐμπεφυκότων τοῖς ἡμετέροις σώμασι μολυσμῶν, κινήματος καὶ ῥοπῆς τῆς ἡμᾶς ἀποφερούσης ἐφ' ἃ μὴ θέμις.  Ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν ἡ αἰτία τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος σαρκώσεως.  Καὶ ἐσπαργάνωσεν αὐτόν. Ὅταν ἴδῃς βρέφος ἐσπαργανωμένον, μὴ μέχρι μόνης τῆς κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσεως αὐτοῦ τὴν σεαυτοῦ διάνοιαν στήσῃς, ἀλλ' ἀναπήδησον εἰς θεωρίαν τῆς θεοπρεποῦς δόξης αὐτοῦ·  ἀνάβηθι τὸν οὐρανόν· οὕτως αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτάτω θεωρήσεις ὑψώμασι, τὴν ὑπερτάτην ἔχοντα δόξαν, ὄψει καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου· ἀκούσῃ τῶν Σεραφὶμ ὑμνολογούντων αὐτὸν, πλήρη τε εἶναι λεγόντων τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ.  Γέγονε δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· δόξα γὰρ Θεοῦ περιήστραψε τοὺς ποιμένας·  καὶ πλῆθος ἦν στρατιᾶς οὐρανίου δοξολογούντων Χριστόν. Πλεῖστοι μὲν γὰρ ἐγεννήθησαν κατὰ καιροὺς ἅγιοι προφῆται, ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἐκείνων ἐδοξολογήθη πώποτε διὰ φωνῆς ἀγγέλων· ἄνθρωποι γὰρ ἦσαν καὶ ἐν μέτροις τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκέται Θεοῦ γνήσιοι. Χριστὸς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως· Θεὸς γάρ ἐστι καὶ Κύριος καὶ προφητῶν ἁγίων ἀποστολεὺς, καὶ ὡς ὁ Ψάλλων φησὶ, Τίς ἐν  νεφέλαις ἰσωθήσεται τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ τίς ὁμοιωθήσεται ἐν υἱοῖς Θεοῦ;  Ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ὑπὸ ζυγὰ καὶ φυσικὴν δουλείαν, ἐν χάριτος τάξει προσνενέμηται παρ' αὐτοῦ τὸ τῆς υἱότητος ὄνομα·  Χριστὸς δ' ἐστὶν ἡ ἀλήθεια, τουτέστιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς κατὰ φύσιν Υἱὸς, καὶ ὅτε γέγονε σάρξ· μεμένηκε γὰρ ὂ ἦν, καίτοι προσλαβὼν ὃ οὐκ ἦν. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Λούκαν Εὐάγγελιον, Κεφ. Β'

Remember what the very wise Paul has written concerning Christ. 'For as to the powerlessness of the law, in which it was weak through the flesh, God having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and because of sin, has condemned the sin in the flesh, that the justice of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.' 1 What, then, is this, that the Son was sent 'in the likeness of sinful flesh? Why that the law of sin lies hidden in our fleshly members, together with the disordered movements of innate desires, but when the Word of God became man he had flesh all holy, so that being in the likeness of our flesh, He was not according to it, for He was completely free from the natural flaws of our bodies and from that inclination which turns us away us to what is not lawful. This then is the nature of the Savior's incarnation in which he swaddles himself. When, therefore, you see the child wrapped in swaddling cloth, do not hold your thought solely upon His birth according to the flesh, but rise up to contemplation of His Divine glory, ascend to heaven, for so will you see Him in highest exaltation, possessed of supernal glory, you will see Him 'sat upon a throne high and lifted up,' 2 you will hear the Seraphim praising Him, and saying that heaven and earth are full of His glory. And even upon earth this has come to be, for the glory of God shone upon the shepherds, and there was a multitude of the heavenly armies telling of Christ's glory. For many holy prophets have been born from time to time, but never had any one of them been glorified by the voice of angels, for they were men, and they were according to the same measure as ourselves, true servants of God. But it was not so with Christ, for God He is and Lord, and the Sender of the holy Prophets, and, as the Psalmist says, 'Who in the clouds shall be compared to the Lord, and who shall be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?' 3 For to those under the yoke and who are by nature servants in grace have the title of sonship bestowed by Him, but Christ is the true Son, that is, He is the Son of God the Father by nature, even when become flesh, for He remained what He was though He took upon Himself that which He had not been. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 2 1 Rom 8. 3-4 2. Is 6.1  3 Ps 88.7

Raising a Daughter

Sextus femineus suo jungatur sexui: nesciat, imo timeat cum pueris ludere. Nullum impudicum verbum noverit; et si forte in tumultu familiae discurrentis aliquid audiat, non intelligat. Matris nutum pro verbis ac monitis et pro imperio habeat. Amet ut parentem, subjiciatur ut dominae, timeat ut magistram. Cum autem virgunculam rudem et edentulam, septimus aetatis annus exceperit, et ceperit erubescere, scire quid taceat, dubitare quid dicat: discat memoriter Psalterium, et usque ad annos pubertatis, libros Salomonis: Evangelia, Apostolos, et Prophetas sui cordis thesaurum faciat. Nec liberius procedat ad publicum, nec semper ecclesiarum quaerat celebritatem. In cubiculo suo totas delicias habeat. Nunmquam juvenculos, nunquam cincinnatos videat, vocis dulcedines per aurem animam vulnerantes, puellerumque lacivia repellantur. Quae quanto licentius adeunt, tanto difficilius evitantur: et quod didicerunt, secreto doceat, inclusamque Danaem vulgi sermonibus violant. Sit ei magistra comes, paedagoga custos: non multo vina dedita: non, juxta Apostolum, otiosa atque verbosa; sed sobria, gravis, lanifica, et ea tantum loquens, quae animum puellarem ad virtutem instituant, Ut enim aqua in areola digitum sequitur praecedentem, ita aetas mollis, et tenera in utramque partem flexibilis est, et quocumque duxeris, trahitur. Solent lascivi et comptuli juvenes blandimentis, affabilitate, munusculis, aditum sibi per nutrices aut alumnas quaerere; et cum clementer intraverit, de scintillis incendia concitare, paulatimque peroficere ad impudentiam: et nequaquam posse prohiberi, illo in se versiculo comprobato: 'Aegre reprehendas, quod sinis consuescere.' Pudet dicere: et tamen dicendum est: Nobiles feminae, quae nobiliores habuere neglectui procos, vilissimae conditionis hominibus, et servulis copulantur; ac sub nomine religionis, et umbra continentiae, interdum deserunt viros, Helenae sequuntur Alexandros, nec Menelaos pertimescunt. Videntur haec, plaguntur, et non vindicantur: quia multitudo peccantium peccandi licentiam subministrat. Proh nefas, orbis terrarum ruit, in nobis peccata non ruunt. Sanctus Hieronymus, ex Epistola CXXVIII, Ad Gaudentium

A girl should associate with her own sex, she should not know boys, indeed she should fear to play with them. She should never hear an unclean word, and if amid the bustle of the house she should hear one, she should not understand it. Her mother's nod should suffice for words and warnings and commands. She should love her as a parent, obey her as a mistress, and reverence her as a teacher. She is now a toothless raw little girl, but with seven years passing, she should take to blushing knowing what she should not say and doubtful as to what she should say. Let her learn the Psalter by heart and in the years of adolescence the books of Solomon. The Gospels, the Apostles and the Prophets should be made the treasure of her heart. She should not go out in public too freely, nor always seek out crowded churches. In her own room should be all her pleasure. She must never look at young men, never at fashionable types, and the sweet voices which wound the soul through the ears and loose behaviour of young women must be driven away. The more freedom of access such women possess, so much harder is it to avoid them and what they have learned they will teach in secret, and our secluded Dana will be violated by vulgar talk. Let her have for guardians a companion a mistress and a governess, one not much given to wine, or in the Apostle's words idle and a gossip, but sober, grave, a spinner of wool, one who will establish a girl's soul in virtue. For as water follows a finger drawn through sand, so one of soft and tender years can be bent in two ways, and wherever you lead she is drawn. It is customary for impudent and well groomed young men to seek access for themselves by nurses or dependants with blandishments, friendliness, little gifts, and when they have thus gently effected their approach they blow up fire from the sparks and little by little advance to shamelessness, and it is impossible to stop it then, the verse being proved true: 'It is ill rebuking what you have allowed to become a habit.' I am ashamed to say it and yet it must be said: noble ladies who have rejected more noble suitors join themselves to men of the lowest condition and even with slaves, and sometimes in the name of religion and under the cloak of continence they abandon their husbands, Helen follows Paris without any fear of Menelaus. These things are seen, lamented, and not punished, for the multitude of sinners grants tolerance to it. For shame, the world goes to ruin, but in us sin does not. Saint Jerome, from Letter 128, To Gaudentius

Man and Change

Εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων, τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ εἰς σύνεσιν, ᾡδὴ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ.  Φαίνεται μὲν καὶ οὕτος ὁ ψαλμὸς τελειωτικός τος ὣν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, καὶ εἰς τὸ προκείμενον τέλος τοῖς κατ' ἀρετὴν βιοῦν προῃρημένοις τὴν ὠφέλειαν παρεχόμενος. Τοῖς γὰρ προκόπτουσι χρεία τῆς εἰς τὸ τελειωθῆναι διδασκαλίας, ἣν ὁ ψαλμὸς οὕτος παρέχεται, ἐπιγραφὴν ἐχων, 'Εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων.' Κεκρυμμένως δὲ εἶπεν, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν οἱ μάλιστα πάντων τῶν λογικῶν ἀλλοιώσεσί τε καὶ τροπαῖς ταῖς ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἡμέρας καὶ ὥρας σχεδὸν ὑποκεμενοι. Οὕτε γὰρ σώματι οὕτε γνώμῃ οἱ αὑτοί ἐσμεν ἑαυτοῖς, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ἡμῶν, ἀεὶ ῥέον καὶ σκεδανύμενον, ἐν κινήσει ἐστὶ καὶ μεταβολῇ ἢ ἀπὸ μικροῦ εἰς τὸ μεῖζον αὐξόμενον, ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ τελείου πρὸς τὸ ἔλαττον συστελλόμενον. Οὐ γὰρ ὁ αὐτός ἐστι τᾠ ἀρτιγενεῖ παιδίῳ ὁ εἰς διδακελεῖον φοιτῶν ἤδη παῖς, καὶ πρὸς τὰς τῶν τεχνῶν καὶ μαθημάτων ἀναλήψεις ἐπιτηδείως ἔχων· ἕτερος δὲ πάλιν παρὰ τοῦτον ὁμολογουμένως ἐστὶν ὁ ἔφηβος, ἤδη τῶν νεανικῶν ἄπτεσθαι δυνάμενος. Καὶ παρὰ τὸν ἔφηβον ὁ ἀνὴρ ἄλλος τίς ἐστι καὶ στεῥῥτητι καὶ μεγέθει σώματος, καὶ τῇ τοῦ λόγου συμπληρώσει. Εἰς ἀκμὴν δὲ ἐλθὼν, καὶ τὸ στάσιμον τῆς ἡλικίας ἀπολαβὼν, πάλιν ἄρχεται κατὰ μικρὸν ὑφαιρεῖν πρὸς τὸ ἔλαττον, ὑποῥῥεούσης αὐτῷ λεληθότως τῆς τοῦ σώματος ἔξεως, καὶ τῶν σωματικῶν τόνων ἐλαττουμένων, ἕως ἄν, ὑπὸ γήρως κατακαμφθεὶς, τὴν εἰς ἔσχατον δυνάμεως ὑφαίρεσιν ὑπομείνῃ. Ἡμεῖς τοίνυν ἐσμὲν οἱ ἀλλοιούμενοι, καὶ σοφῶς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διὰ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης ὁ ψαλμὸς παρῃνίξατο. Οὐ γὰρ ἄγγελοι ἐπιδέχονται τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν. Οὐδεις γὰρ παρ' ἐκείνοις παῖς, οὐδὲ νεανίσκος, οὐδὲ πρεσβύτης, ἀλλ' ἐν ᾗπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐκτίσθησαν καταστάσει, ἐν ταύτῃ διαμένουσιν, ἀκεραίας αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀτρέπτου τῆς συστάσεως σωζομένης. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀλλοιούμεθα, κατὰ μὲν τὸ σῶμα, ὡς δίδεικται, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, τοῖς ἀεὶ προσπίπτουσι πράγμαι συμμετατιθέντες τὰς διανοίας. Ἂλλοι μὲν γάρ ἐσμεν εὐθυμούμενοι, καὶ πάντων ἡμῖν τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον κατὰ ῥοῦν προϊόντων· ἄλλοι δὲ ἐν τοῖς περιστατικοῖς καιροῖς, ἐπειδάν τινι τῶν ἀβουλήτων προσπταίσωμεν. Ἀλλοιούμεθα δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὰς ὀργὰς, θηριώδη τινὰ κατάστασιν ἀναλαμβάνοντες. Ἀλλοιούμεθα καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας, κτηνώδεις γινόμενοι διὰ τοῦ καθ' ἡδονὴν βίου. Ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς ἐγενήθησαν οἱ ταῖς γυναιξὶ τῶν πλησίον ἐπιμαινόμενοι. Καὶ ὁ μὲν δολερὸς ἀλώπεκι παρεικάζεται, ὡς Ἡρώδης· ὁ δὲ ἀναιδὴς κύων προσαγορεύεται, ὡς Νάβαλ ὁ Καρμήλιος. Ὡρᾷς τὸ ποικίλον καὶ πολυειδὲς τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως ἡμῶν; Θαύμασον οὖν τὸν προσφόρως τὴν προσηγορίαν ταύτην ἡμῖν ἐφαρμόσαντα. Διόπερ δοκεῖ μοί τις τῶν ἑρμηνευτων καλῶς καὶ εὐθυβόλως τὴν αὐτὴν διάνοιαν δι' ἑτέρας προσηγορίας ἐκδεδωκέναι, ἀντὶ τοῦ,' Ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων,' εἰπὼν αὐτὸς, 'τοῖς υἱοῖς .' Τὸ ὠκόμορον τῶν ἀνθέων ἄξιον ἐνόμισε συγκρίνεσθαι τῷ ἐπικήρῳ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰς τὸν μέλλοντα χρόνον ἐγκέκλιται ἡ φωνὴ ( εἴρηται γὰρ Ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων, ὡς ὕστερόν ποτε τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως ταύτης ἀναφαινομένης ἡμῖν), ἐπισκεψώμεθα μήποτε τὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἡμῖν δοθήσεται· ἀλλοίωσις δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον καὶ πνευματικόν ' Σπείρεται γὰρ,' φησὶν, ' ἐν φθορᾷ, ἐγείρεται ἐν ἀφθαρσιᾳ.' Ὅρᾷς τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν; ' Σπείρεται ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ ἐγείρεται ἐν δυνάμει. ' Σπείρεται σῶμα ψυχικὸν, ἐγείρεται σθμᾶ μνευματικόν· ὅτε καὶ πᾶσα ἡμῖν ἡ σωματικὴ κτίσις συναλλοιοῦται. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ' Οἱ οὐρανοὶ ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται, καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἀλλάξει αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται. Τότε καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ἔσται ἐπταπλασίων ἑαυτοῦ, κατὰ τὸν Ἤσαῖσν, καὶ ἡ σελήνη κατὰ τὸ νῦν ὑπάρχον μέγεθος τοῦ ἡλίου. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐ πᾶσι γέγραπται τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἔχουσιν ὦτα κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, ' Τοῖς ἀλλοιωθησομένοις ἐπέγραψεν· ὡς οἶμαι, τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐπιμελομένοις, καὶ ἀεὶ διὰ τῶν γυμνασίων τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐπὶ τὸ μεϊζον προκόπτουσιν. Αὔτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ καλλίστη ἀλλοίωσις, ἣν ἡ δεξιὰ χαρίζεται τοῠ Ὑψίστου· ἧς καὶ ὁ μακάριος Δαβὶδ ἐπῄσθετο, ὅτε, γευσάμενος τῶν καλῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς, τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεξέτεινε. Τί γὰρ φησι; Καὶ εἶπα· Νῦν ἠρξάμην· αὔτη ἡ ἀλλοίωσις τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ Ὑψίστου. Ὥστε ὁ προκόπτων εἰς ἀρετὴν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτε οὐκ ἀλλοιοῠται. Ὅτε γὰρ ἥμην, φησὶ, νήπιος, ἐλάλουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐφρόνουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐλογιζόμην ὡς νήπιος. Ὅτε δὲ γέγονα ἀνὴρ, κατήργνκα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου. Καὶ πάλιν γενόμενος άνὴρ, οὐχ ἴστατο τῆς ἐνεργείας, ἀλλὰ Τῶν ὅπισθεν ἐπιλανθανόμενος, καὶ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος, κατὰ σκοπὸν ἐδίωκεν ἐπὶ τὸ βραδεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως.' Ἀλλοίωσις οὖν ἐστι τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου ἀνακαινουμένου ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ  Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον ΜΔ' Ψαλμον

To the master, for those who shall be changed, for the sons of Core, according to the understanding, a song of joy. 1 It seems this Psalm pertains to the perfection of human nature, and for those who direct their lives according to virtue this initial wording will be useful to understand. For by advancement the work of teaching is brought to perfection, which this Psalm shows. Its superscription is: 'To the master, for those who shall be changed.' And cryptically here he says 'for men' when he says 'for those', for we most of all rational creatures each day and each hour are subject to variety and changes We do not remain the same in body nor in mind, but the body of ours is ever altering with unseemly excretions and ejections and with motions and shifts, and from little much grows and there is reduction from a more perfect state to an inferior one. For a boy who attends to teaching and is able to grasp arts and disciplines suitable for him, is not the same as an infant. And different again from the boy it must be admitted is the youth who is attending to the exertions of young men. And different to the youth is the adult man who is strong and great in his body and in possession of mature reason. But when a man has come to vigour and has reached a stable age, again, little by little, the strength of the body begins to pass away, and his power decreases, until old age bends him, and this last most troublesome difficulty he must endure. We therefore are those who are changed and so we men are well designated through the voice of this Psalm. For angels are not permitted to change. Not among them is there a boy, a youth, or an old man, but in that state in which they were created so they remain, their simple substance being preserved unchanged. We however are changed, according to our body certainly, as has been shown, and it is also so with our thoughts, for always meeting with other things, they are subject to change. For one thing we are when we are cheerful and everything in life goes well, and another thing we are in times of calamity when we we find ourselves among adversities. And we are changed by anger, assuming a wild state. And we are changed by concupiscence, being made like beasts, who are mad for lust for of neighbours' wives. 2 And to the cunning fox we are compared, like Herod, and to the shamelessness of a dog like Nabal of Carmel 3 Do you see the variety and diversity of our changes? Admire, therefore, the one who chose this most apt and convenient superscription. And it seems to me that one may read well and correctly this same meaning expressed with other words, when in place of 'For those who will be changed,' he says 'for the sons.' Certainly a flower which quickly withers may be thought most apt to be compared with the mortality of human nature. Because the voice directs to future time, ( because it is said, for those who shall be changed, as if later this change had been declared to us) let us consider the teaching of the resurrection indicated to us, in which change shall be given to us, change even into something better and spiritual. For what is sown, he says,corruptible rises incorruptible. 4 Do you see the change? What is sown in infirmity rises in power. What is sown as animal body rises as a spiritual body, when every corporeal creation shall be changed. Indeed the heavens like a vestment worn old and like a covering, God shall change and they shall be changed. 5 Then the sun shall be seven times greater, according to Isaiah, and the moon shall be the size as the sun is now. 6 And because the words of God are not written for everyone but to those who have ears having according to the interior man, the superscription is, 'For those who shall be changed.' which I think is for those who have care for themselves and who ever through exertions of piety improve more and more. For this is the best of changes, which the right hand of the Most High bestows, which even blessed David experienced when tasting the good of virtues, to things ahead extending himself. What did he say? 'And I say now I have begun, here is a change is the right hand of the Most High' 7 He who has made progress in virtue, is he not changed? 'For when,' he says 'I was a little boy I spoke like a little boy and I thought like a little boy and I thought like a little boy. When I became a man, I rid myself of childish things.' 8 And again when he became a man he did not make an end of action but ' forgetting those things behind, and to those things ahead striving, intent on the goal, for the prize, the higher calling '. 9 Therefore he is changed, when the interior man is renewed from day to day. 10     Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 44 1   Ps 44 2 2 Jer 5.8 3. 1 Kings, 25, 3 LXX 4 1Cor 15.42 5 Ps 101.27  6 Is 30.26  7 Ps 76.11 8 1 Cor 13.11  9 Phil 3.13-14   10 2 Cor 4.16

The Monk and the Wife of Mud

Ὁ ἀββᾶς Ὀλύμπιος ὁ τῶν Κελλίων ἐπολεμήθη εἰς πορνείαν. Καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ λογισμός· Ὕπαγε, λάβε γυναῖκα, Καὶ ἀναστὰς ἐποίησε πηλὸν, καὶ ἔπλασε γυναῖκα, καὶ λέγει ἑαυτῷ· Ἰδοὺ ἡ γυνή σου· χρεία οὖν ἐργάζεσθαι πολλὰ, ἵνα θρέψεις αὐτήν. Καὶ ἠργαζετο κοπιῶν πολλά. Καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν, πάλιν ποιήσας πηλὸν, ἔπλασεν ἑαυτῷ θυγατέρα, καὶ λέγει τῷ λογισμῷ αὐτοῦ· Ἔτεκεν ἡ γυνή σου· χρείαν ἔχεις περισσότερον ἐργάσασθαι, ἵνα δυνηθῇς θρέψαι τὸ τέκνον σου, καὶ σκεπάσαι. Καὶ οὕτως ποιῶν ἔτηξεν ἑαυτὸν, καὶ λέγει τῷ λογισμῷ· Οὐκ ἐτι ἰσχύω ὑποφέρειν τὸν κόπον. Καὶ εἴπεν· Εἰ οὐκ ἰσχύεις ὑποφέρειν τὸν κόπον, μηδὲ γυναῖκα ζητήσῇς. Καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόπον αὐτοῦ, ἧρεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τὸν πόλεμον, καὶ ἀνεπάη. Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Olympios of the Cells was struggling with thoughts of fornication. A thought said to him, ' Go and take a wife.' And rising he took some mud and shaped it into the form of a woman. He said to himself, ' Behold a woman, and so begins much labour for you.' After a day again he took some mud and shaped it into a girl, and he said to himself, ' Your wife has given birth. Now are your labours greater, for you must nourish the child and protect her.' And in the doing of this he exhausted himself. He said to himself, ' I do not have the strength for this.' And then he thought, ' If you cannot bear this labour, do not seek a wife.' And beholding his troubles God took from him his struggle, and he had rest. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

A Lusty Man Chastised

Τί καὶ εἰκῆ βιβλιοφορεῖς, καὶ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν ἐκτρέπῃ οἶς ποιεῖς; Τοῦ Κυρίου γὰρ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν περίεργον θέαν κατακρίνοντος, σὺ οὐ μόνον ἐπιμαίνῃ τοῖς κάλλεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βίον, ὡς ἔγνων, ἀνδραποδώδη ἠγάπησας, πόρνην σύνοικον λαβὼν, καὶ αἰώνιον ἀτιμίαν ἀγαπῶν, δέον συνιδεῖν τὸ γεγραμμένον· Τίμιος ὁ γάμος ἐν πᾶσι, καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος· πόρνους δὲ καὶ μοιχοὺς κρινεῖ ὁ Θεός· καὶ τὸ μὲν ζηλῶσαι, τὸ δὲ μυσῆσαι. Φονερὸν τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ. Οὐχ ἥδεται τούτοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀντιτάσσεται προσέχων. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΛΔ' , Ἀμαζονιῳ

Why do you oppose the carrying and reading of the Book by what you do? For it is of the Lord that even a lingering look is condemned, but you are not only maddened by the sight of beauty but even your life, as I understand it, has been trodden underfoot by passion since you have taken to living with a whore, and so it is that you love endless ignominy rather than understanding of Scripture: ' Marriage honourable in everything and an immaculate bed.' Fornicators and adulterers shall be judged by God, and that for which they were eager He has despised. ' A fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of God.' Let not such things be desired but oppose those things about which you were warned. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 234, to Amazonios

Second Marriages

Quid igitur? Damnamus secunda matrimonia? Minime; sed prima laudamus. Abjicimus de Ecclesia digamos? Absit: sed monogamos ad continentiam provocamus. In Arca Noe non solum munda, sed et immunda fuerunt animalia. Habuit homines, habuit et serpentes. In domo quoque magna, vasa diversa sunt; alia in honorem, alia in contumeliam. Est crater ad bibendum; est matual ad secretiorae naturae. Nam cum in semente terrae bonae, centesimum, et sexagesimum et trigesimum fructrum Evangelia doceant; et centenarius pro virginitais corona, primum gradum teneat; sexagenarius pro labore viduarum, in secundo sit numero; tricenarius foedera nuptiarum, ipsa digitorum conjunctione testetur, digamia in quo erit numero? Imo extra numerum. Certe in bona terra non oritur, sed in vepribus, et spinetis vulpium, quae Herodi impiissimo comparantur, ut in eo se putet esse laudabilem, si scortis melior sit: si publicarum libidinum victimas superet, si uni sit prostituta, non pluribus.  Sanctus Hieronymus, ex Epistola CXXIII, Ad Ageruchiam Source: Migne PL 22 1052

What then? Do I condemn second marriages? Not at all; but I praise first ones. Do I expel the twice-married from the church? May it not be so; but I exhort to continence those who have been married once. In The Ark of Noah there were not only clean animals but unclean ones. It bore men and serpents. In a great house there are diverse vessels; some to honour, some to dishonour. There is bowl from which one drinks and a bowl for the excretions of nature. 1 The seed sown in good ground brings forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold, as the Gospel teaches. 2 The hundredfold is the crown of chastity and holds first place; the sixtyfold is the labour of widows and is numbered second; while the thirtyfold is the bond of marriage, indicated by the joining together of fingers. Where are second marriages numbered? They are not counted. They do not grow from good ground but among thorns and the bramble bushes of foxes, that creature to which the most impious Herod was compared. 3 A woman who marries more than once thinks herself praiseworthy if she is better than a whore, if she surpasses the victims of public lust by prostituting herself only to one, not to many. St Jerome, from Letter 123, To Ageruchia 1 2 Tim 2.20 2 Mt 13.8 3 Lk 13.32

Bad Ideas, Bad Bishops

Proh nefas! episcopos sui sceleris dicitur habere consortes: si tamen episcopi nominandi sunt, qui non ordinant diaconos, nisi prius uxores duxerint: nulli caelibi credentes pudicitiam, imo ostendentes quam sancte vivant qui male de omnibus suspicantur: et nisi praegnantes uxores viderint clericorum, infantesque de ulnis matrum vagientes, Christi sacramenta non tribuant. Quid facient Orientis Ecclesiae? Quid Aegypti et Sedis apostolicae, quae aut virgines clericos accipiunt aut continentes: aut si uxores habuerient, mariti esse desistunt? Hoc docuit Dormitantius, libidini frena permittens, et naturalem carnis ardorem, qui in adolescentia plerumque fervescit, suis hortatibus duplicans; imo exstinguens coitu feminarum; ut nihil sit quo distemus a porcis, quo differamus a brutis animantibus, quo ab equis, de quibus scriptum est, Equi insanientes in feminas facti sunt mihi: unusquisque in uxorem proximi sui hinniebat. Hic est quod loquitur per David Spiritus sanctus: Nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus, quibus non est intellectus. Et rursum de Dormitantio et sociis eius: In camo et freno maxillas eorum constringe qui non approximant ad te.  Sanctus Hieronymus, Contra Vigilantium Source: Migne PL 23 340-341

For shame, there are bishops who are said to consort with him in his crimes, if one should name them bishops, who do not ordain deacons unless they have married; who believe no celibate to be chaste, indeed who show in what a holy manner they live with this suspicion of evil with the many, and who unless they see the pregnant wives of candidates, and infants wailing in the arms of mothers, will not administer Christ's sacrament. What are the Churches of the East to do? What of Egypt and of the Apostolic Seat, who accept only virgins and continent men, or, if married men, those who abandon their conjugal rights? But such is the teaching of this Dormitantius, who loosens the reigns of lust, and the natural heat of the flesh, which in youth burns greatly, and which he would double; or rather he would have it extinguished by intercourse with women; and so then there is nothing to separate us from pigs, nothing whereby we differ from irrational animals, or from horses, of which it is written, 'They were to women like wild horses; everyone neighed after his neighbour's wife.'1 And This is what the Holy Spirit says through David, 'Do not be like horse and mule which have no understanding.' And then regarding this Dormitantius and his associates, 'With bit and bridle bind the jaws of those who will not come near you.'2 Saint Jerome, from Against Vigilantius 1 Jer 5.8 2 Ps 32.9