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 II.

Conferences XI.-XVII.


1. On Honoratus and Eucherius, see the Introduction.

2. Cf. the Preface to Conference I.

3. A group of islands off the coast of France opposite Marseilles; mentioned by Pliny, H. N. III. V., now known as Les Isles d'Hieres.

4. It is very doubtful whether Cassian ever carried out the intention, of which he here speaks, of visiting the Thebaid. So far as we can trace the course of his wanderings, he does not seem to have penetrated farther into Egypt than the desert of Scete.

5. Thennesus, a town at the Tanitic mouth of the Nile near Lake Menzaleh. For the description of the neighbouring country compare Conference VII. c. xxvi.

6. Archebius has already been mentioned in Conference VII. xxvi.; and in the Institutes V. xxxvii., xxxviii., two stories are told illustrative of his kindness and goodness of disposition; but he is not known to us from any other source except Cassian's writings.

7. For the situation of Panephysis, see the note on the Institutes, Book IV. c. xxx.

8. Ps. 106 (107):33 sq.

9. Chæremon is perhaps the same person of whom a short account is given in the Lausiac History of Palladius, c. xcii.

10. Prov. 8:13.

11. Ps. 33 (34):23.

12. 1 Cor. 13:8.

13. 1 Pet. 4:8.

14. 1 Cor. 13:13.

15. Prov. 16:4.

16. S. Luke 17:10.

17. S. Luke 15:17-19.

18. S. John 16:15.

19. 1 Cor. 3:22.

20. St. Matt. 5:48.

21. 1 John 4:18, 19.

22. Mal. 1:6.

23. S. Luke 12:47.

24. Ps. 115:7, 8 (116:16, 17); 93 (94):17.

25. S. Matt. 5:44.

26. S. Matt. 5:45.

27. 1 John 4:17.

28. 1 John 3:9; 5:18.

29. 1 John 5:16.

30. 1 John 1:8, 10.

31. S. Luke 23:34.

32. Gal. 6:2.

33. 1 Cor. 13:4-7.

34. Prov. 12:10 (LXX).

35. Prov. 13:17; 21:13.

36. Ps. 33 (34):10.

37. Ps. 118 (119):112.

38. Heb. 11:24-26.

39. 1 Cor. 15:41, 42.

40. Ps. 127 (128):1.

41. 1 John 4:18.

42. Ps. 2:11; Is. 49:6; S. Matt. 24:46.

43. S. John 15:14, 15.

44. S. John 15:13.

45. Ps. 83 (84):8.

46. S. Matt. 24:45.

47. S. John 14:2.

48. 1 Cor. 12:31; 13:1-8.

49. Is. 33:6.

50. Ps. 33 (34):10.

51. 1 John 4:18.

52. Ps. 110 (111):10.

53. 1 John 4:18.

54. Mal. 1:6 (LXX).

55. S. John 15:15; 8:35.

56. 2 Tim. 1:7.

57. Rom. 8:15.

58. Homo Dominicus. See the note on Against Nestorius, V. v.

59. Is. 11:2, 3.

60. Homo Dominicus.

61. 1 Pet. 2:22.

62. Cf. Ps. 1:2.

63. Cf. S. Matt. 15:32.

64. S. Matt. 26:41.

65. HTML transcriber's note: The sections of John Cassian's works which Edgar C.S. Gibson did not see fit to include in his translation in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, are available in English translation as Cassian on Chastity: Institute 6, Conference 12, Conference 22, by John Cassian, translated and with an introduction by Terrence G. Kardong (Richardton, N.D.: Assumption Abbey Press, 1993). In addition, an English translation of the omitted sections of the Conferences may be found in John Cassian: The Conferences, translated and annotated by Boniface Ramsey, Ancient Christian Writers 57 (New York: Paulist Press, 1997).

66. Of the Semi-Pelagianism of this Conference and the erroneous passages from it extracted by Prosper, see the Introduction.

67. Deut. 28:23; Joel 1:4.

68. S. James 1:17.

69. 2 Cor. 9:10.

70. Acts 7:51.

71. Jer. 8:4, 5.

72. The source of these stories of Socrates and Diogenes has not been traced.

73. 1 Thess. 2:18.

74. 2 Cor. 12:8, 9; Rom. 8:26.

75. 1 Tim. 2:4; S. Matt. 18:14; 2 Sam. 14:14.

76. Ezek. 33:11.

77. Ezek. 33:11.

78. S. Matt. 23:37; Jer. 8:5.

79. S. Matt. 11:28.

80. Rom. 3:23; 5:12.

81. Wisdom 1:13.

82. Hosea 2:5-7.

83. Jer. 3:19, 20.

84. Ps. 58 (59):11.

85. Is. 65:24; 30:19.

86. Is. 1:19.

87. Rom. 9:16.

88. Rom. 2:6.

89. Phil. 2:13.

90. Eph. 2:8, 9.

91. S. James 4:8.

92. S. John 6:44.

93. Prov. 4:26 (LXX).

94. Ps. 5:9; 16 (17):5.

95. Ezek. 18:31.

96. Ezek. 1:19, 20.

97. Jer. 4:14.

98. Ps. 50 (51):12, 9.

99. Hos. 10:12 (LXX).

100. Ps. 93 (94):10.

101. Ps. 145 (146):8.

102. Ps. 12 (13):4.

103. Rom. 7:18.

104. Prov. 4:23.

105. Phil. 4:7.

106. Ps. 118 (119):112.

107. Ps. 118 (119):36.

108. 1 Kings 8:58.

109. Ps. 33 (34):14.

110. Ps. 140 (141):3.

111. Is. 52:2.

112. Ps. 145 (146):7; 115 (116):16, 17.

113. S. Matt. 11:28.

114. S. John 6:44.

115. 1 Cor. 9:24.

116. S. John 3:27.

117. Jer. 17:21.

118. Ps. 126 (127):1.

119. Phil. 2:12, 13.

120. Ps. 67 (68):29; 89 (90):17.

121. Gen. 45:5-8; 50:19, 20.

122. Ps. 104 (105):16, 17.

123. Is. 30:19; Ps. 49 (50):15.

124. Gen. 3:22.

125. Eccl. 7:29 (LXX).

126. Rom. 2:14-16.

127. Is. 42:18, 19.

128. Is. 43:8; Jer. 5:21.

129. S. Matt. 13:13.

130. Is. 6:9, 10.

131. S. Luke 12:57.

132. 1 Kings 8:17-19.

133. 1 Cor. 3:7.

134. Cf. Conf. VIII. c. xvii.

135. Phil. 2:12, 13.

136. 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6.

137. 2 Cor. 6:1.

138. Acts 8:22, 23.

139. Ps. 58 (59):11.

140. Ps. 87 (88):14; 118 (119):147, 148.

141. Rom. 10:21.

142. Ps. 87 (88):10.

143. Is. 30:18.

144. Ps. 39 (40):2; 118 (119):166.

145. Hosea 7:15.

146. Is. 35:3.

147. S. John 7:37.

148. Ps. 68 (69):4.

149. Cant. 5:6.

150. Cant. 3:1.

151. 2 Sam. 12:13.

152. 2 Cor. 4:17.

153. Rom. 8:18.

154. 1 Cor. 15:10.

155. Job 1:9-11.

156. S. Matt. 8:7-10.

157. Gen. 22:1.

158. Gen. 22:12.

159. Deut. 13:1-3.

160. 1 Cor. 10:12, 13.

161. Eph. 6:12.

162. Judg. 3:1, 2; 2:22.

163. Rom. 11:33.

164. S. Matt. 8:3.

165. S. Matt. 8:8.

166. S. Matt. 8:13.

167. S. John 5:6.

168. S. Matt. 20:32.

169. S. John 11:40.

170. S. Matt. 14:14.

171. S. Mark 6:5, 6.

172. S. Matt. 9:29.

173. S. Matt. 8:13.

174. S. Matt. 15:28.

175. S. Luke 18:42.

176. S. John 4:48-50.

177. S. Matt. 9:2-6.

178. S. John 5:6-8.

179. Acts 3:6.

180. Rom. 11:33, 34.

181. Is. 49:15.

182. Eccl. 9:11 (LXX); 1 Cor. 12:11.

183. Ezek. 20:43, 44.

184. Is. 7:9.

185. Nesteros. In the Vitae Patrum there are some stories of one or two of this name (for it is not quite clear whether they are distinct persons or one and the same to whom the stories refer). One was known as `o megaV, and was a friend of St. Antony, and is supposed by some to be the same whose Conferences Cassian here relates, but nothing certain is known of him.

186. Wisdom 1:4, 5.

187. Jer. 1:10.

188. It is doubtful whether this is the same John who was mentioned in the Institutes V. xxviii. and to whom the xixth Conference is assigned. Thmuis is the coptic Thmoui, a little to the south of the Mendesian branch of the Nile. See Rawlinson's note to Herod. ii. c. 166 and cf. Ptolemy IV. v. § 51.

189. On the two Macarii see the note on the Institutes V. xli.

190. Rom. 12:4-8.

191. Cf. 1 Cor. 12:28.

192. Prov. 31:21 (LXX).

193. The meaning of the four senses of Scripture here spoken of; viz., the historical, tropological, allegorical, and anagogical, is well summed up in these lines:

Litera, gesta docet; quid credas, allegoria;
Moralis, quid agas; quo tendas anagogia.

Or, as the lines are sometimes given:

Litera scripta docet; quod credas, allegoria;
Quod speres, anagoge; quid agas, tropologia.

Both Origen and Jerome had spoken of the threefold sense of Scripture, referring to the LXX. rendering of Prov. 22:20 (which Cassian quotes below): but in general the Latin Fathers, and the Schoolmen after them, separated the third of Origen's senses; viz., the spiritual, into two, the allegorical and the anagogical: and so the "fourfold" sense became the established method of interpretation in the West.

194. Prov. 22:20 (LXX).

195. Gal. 4:22-27.

196. Ps. 147:12.

197. 1 Cor. 14:6.

198. 1 Cor. 10:1-4.

199. 1 Cor. 11:13.

200. 1 Thess. 4:12-15.

201. 1 Cor. 15:3-5.

202. Gal. 4:4, 5.

203. Deut. 6:4.

204. S. Matt. 5:8.

205. Dan. 12:3; Hos. 10:12.

206. Ps. 118 (119):104; 100 (101):1, 2.

207. S. James 1:19.

208. Prov. 29:20 (LXX).

209. Acts 1:1.

210. S. Matt. 23:3, 4.

211. S. Matt. 5:19.

212. Cf. Heb. 9:4, 5.

213. Instrumentum is a favourite word with Tertullian, who uses it more than once of the two Testaments, e.g., Apol. xix.; and, Against Marcion iv. where he speaks of the "Two Instruments, or as it is usual to speak, of the Two Testaments."

214. Lev. 21:12.

215. 2 Cor. 5:16.

216. Exod. 20:14.

217. Jer. 3:6.

218. Is. 47:13.

219. Hos. 4:12.

220. Gal. 4:10; Col. 2:21.

221. 2 Cor. 11:2.

222. 2 Cor. 11:3.

223. Acts 20:29, 30.

224. Prov. 27:7.

225. Prov. 5:15, 16.

226. Is. 58:11, 12.

227. Is. 30:20, 21.

228. Ps. 132 (133):2.

229. Ps. 18 (19):11.

230. 2 Cor. 6:14, 15.

231. Jer. 5:21; Hos. 4:6.

232. Col. 2:3.

233. Wisd. 1:4, 5.

234. Hos. 10:12.

235. Ps. 118 (119):1, 2.

236. 1 Tim. 6:20.

237. Prov. 11:22.

238. Ecclus. 15:9.

239. Ps. 49 (50):16.

240. Prov. 15:33.

241. Prov. 17:16.

242. Acts 4:13.

243. Prov. 14:33; Ecclus. 32:20.

244. 2 Cor. 6:5, 6.

245. Is. 30:23.

246. Prov. 24:15; 19:10; 18:2; 29:19; 23:9 (LXX).

247. S. Matt. 7:6.

248. Ps. 118 (119):11.

249. Prov. 31:6, 7.

250. Ps. 103 (104):15.

251. 2 Cor. 2:7.

252. Prov. 19:23.

253. Ps. 14 (15):5.

254. Ps. 11 (12):7.

255. S. Matt. 25:27.

256. Is. 6:10.

257. 1 Tim. 2:4.

258. S. Matt. 10:8.

259. S. Matt. 7:22, 23.

260. S. Mark 6:5, 6.

261. S. Luke 4:27.

262. Deut. 13:1-3.

263. S. Matt 24:24.

264. 1 Cor. 12:8-10.

265. 1 Cor. 12:31.

266. This was the "Egyptian," not the "Alexandrian" Macarius. See the note on the Institutes, V. xli. The story is also given by Rufinus, History of the Monks, c. xxviii.; as well as Sozomen, H. E. III. xiv., and by both of these writers is expressly ascribed to the Egyptian Macarius.

267. 1 Cor. 4:20.

268. Cf. S. James 2:14.

269. Possibly the same person as the author of Conference xxiv., but nothing further appears to be known of him.

270. I.e., the fifty days from Easter to Whitsuntide; cf. the note on the Institutes, II. xviii.

271. Acts 3:12.

272. S. Luke 9:49, 50.

273. S. Matt. 7:22, 23.

274. S. Luke 10:20.

275. S. Matt. 11:28, 29.

276. S. John 13:34, 35.

277. Prov. 10:4.

278. Prov. 35:14.

279. S. Luke 10:20.

280. Cf. the note on Conferences III. i.

281. Athera. This is noticed by Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxii. 25, 57, § 121) as the Egyptian name for a decoction made from grain.

282. I.e., the sign of the cross.

283. Nothing further appears to be known of this Joseph than what Cassian here states.

284. Viz., the first of the Second Part of the Conferences, i.e., Conference XI.

285. See [note 188, above] on Conference XIV. c. iv.

286. Ps. 67 (68):7.

287. Ps. 132 (133):1.

288. Acts 4:32.

289. Ex persona. See note on IX. xxxiv.

290. S. John 6:38.

291. S. Matt. 26:39.

292. S. John 13:35.

293. S. Matt. 5:23, 24.

294. Eph. 4:26; S. Matt. 5:22.

295. 1 Tim. 2:4.

296. Prov. 10:12.

297. 2 Cor. 11:14.

298. Phil. 2:1-3; Rom. 12:10.

299. 1 John 4:16.

300. Rom. 5:5.

301. Rom. 8:26, 27.

302. Gal. 6:10.

303. S. Matt. 5:44.

304. Gen. 37:4.

305. S. John 13:23.

306. S. John 13:34, 1.

307. Cant. 2:4.

308. S. Matt. 5:22-24.

309. S. James 4:11.

310. Eph. 4:26.

311. Hab. 2:15, 16.

312. Jer. 9:4, 5.

313. Ps. 54 (55):22; Prov. 26:22; Jer. 9:8; Prov. 29:5; 26:27.

314. S. Luke 22:48.

315. Ps. 54 (55):13-15.

316. Deut. 32:17.

317. S. Matt. 5:39.

318. S. Matt. 5:39.

319. Rom. 12:21.

320. 1 Cor. 13:5.

321. Rom. 15:1; Gal. 6:2.

322. S. Luke 4:23.

323. Ps. 86 (87):5; 38 (39):2, 3.

324. Hab. 3:2.

325. Prov. 29:11.

326. Rom. 12:19.

327. 1 Cor. 13:7.

328. Eccl. 7:9; Prov. 25:8.

329. Prov. 12:16.

330. Ps. 118 (119):32.

331. Prov. 14:29.

332. 1 Kings 4:29.

333. Prov. 26:11.

334. Gen. 40:7.

335. Compare [notes] on the Institutes IV. c. xxxi.

336. S. John 13:8.

337. S. Matt. 5:37.

338. S. Matt. 26:24.

339. Rom. 2:15, 16; Is. 66:18.

340. 1 Tim. 4:8.

341. Ps. 5:7; Wisd. 1:11.

342. Cf. S. Matt. 1:5.

343. 1 Sam. 21:1, 2, 8, 13.

344. S. Matt. 5:37; Col. 3:9.

345. Ps. 5:7; Prov. 20:17; Exod. 23:7.

346. Gen. 1:28.

347. 1 Sam. 24:7.

348. 2 Sam. 17:14.

349. 2 Sam. 17:20.

350. Prov. 24:11.

351. 1 Cor. 10:24; 13:5; 1 Cor. 10:33.

352. 1 Cor. 9:20-22.

353. Gal. 5:2.

354. Acts 21:20-24.

355. Gal. 2:19.

356. Acts 17:23, 29.

357. Cf. 1 Cor. 7:5.

358. Cf. 1 Cor. 3:2; 2:3.

359. Rom. 14:3; 1 Cor. 8:38; 2 Cor. 11:29; 1 Cor. 10:32, 33.

360. Nudipedalia non exercere. The expression is also used by Jerome of S. Paul's purification in Jerusalem (in Gal. Book II. c. iv.), though there is nothing in the account in the Acts about his going barefoot. Compare also Jerome against Jovinian, Book I. c. viii., and for the word, in connexion with the rites of the Christian Church, see Tertullian Apologeticum, c. xl.

361. Gal. 2:18.

362. 1 Sam. 22:7-10.

363. Ps. 51 (52):7.

364. Micah 2:7.

365. S. Matt. 6:18, 3.

366. S. Matt. 6:2.

367. On Piamun see the note on XVIII. i.

368. 2 Cor. 12:2-4.

369. Gen. 42:9, 16.

370. Gen. 42:21.

371. 1 Kings 3:24-27.

372. 1 Sam. 25:22, 34.

373. 1 Cor. 16:5, 7.

374. 2 Cor. 1:15-17, 23; 2:1.

375. Gen. 19:2, 3.

376. 2 Kings 20:1-6.

377. Jonah 3:4 (LXX).

378. Ezek. 33:14, 15.

379. Jer. 18:7, 10; 26:2, 3.

380. 1 Sam. 15:11, 35.

381. Ezek. 33:13-16.

382. Exod. 32:31-33.

383. Ps. 68 (69):29.

384. S. Luke 10:20.

385. Jer. 17:13; Ezek. 13:9.

386. Ps. 118 (119):106.

387. Cf. 1 Tim. 4:8.

388. Rom. 4:15.

389. In this last chapter Cassian certainly makes his own the sentiments of Abbot Joseph on the permissibility of lying; and is therefore not unreasonably attacked for the teaching of this Conference by Prosper. "Contra Collatorem," c. ix.

 


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