BY
New York, 1894
1. 1 Kings 4:29.
2. 1 Kings 7:13.
3. Papa. The title was at an early period confined to bishops in the West, but was not limited to the Bishop of Rome till a later date.
4. Petschenig's text reads muto. Another reading is multo.
5. Cf. Dan. 5:2.
6. Castor, at whose request this work was written, was Bishop of Apta Julia in Gallia Narbonensis.
7. The reference is to Basil's `oroi kata platoV (the greater monastic rules), and `oroi kata epitomhn (the lesser rules), written in the form of answers to questions of the monks. Jerome translated the rule of Pachomius, besides writing the lives of the hermits Paul, Malchus, and Hilarion.
8. In veritate. Another reading is veritatem.
9. Cf. Basil's Greater Monastic Rules, Q. xxii., from which a considerable portion of this chapter is taken.
10. 2 Kings 1:1-8.
11. S. Matt. 3:4.
12. Acts 12:8.
13. Acts 21:11.
14. 1 Tim. 6:8. The Greek is skepasmata, for which Jerome's version has "quibus tegamur." Sabbatier gives "victum et vestitum" as the rendering of the old Latin, but it is often quoted as "victus et tegumentum" by Augustine. "Alimenta et operimenta" must be Cassian's own rendering from the Greek. "Vestimenta," which he speaks of as being found in some Latin copies, is not given by Sabbatier at all, though Jerome quotes the text with "vestimentum" in Ep. ad Titum, III.
15. 2 Kings 6:30.
16. Jonah 3:8.
17. Quia nisi insolens sit diversitas, non offendit æqualitas (Petschenig). The text of Gazæus has inaequalitas.
18. The hood, or cowl (cuculla), was anciently worn by children and peasants, and thus was said to symbolize humility. Compare the account of the Egyptian monks given by Sozomen, Hist. III. xiv.: "They wore a covering on their heads called a cowl, to show that they ought to live with the same innocence and purity as infants who are nourished with milk and wear a covering of the same form."
19. Ps. 130 [131]:1, 2.
20. Colobium (kolobion), a tunic with very short sleeves. Cf. Dorotheus (Migne, Patrol. Graeca lxxxviii, 1631). To schma o foroumen kolobion esti, mh econ ceiridia, kai zwnh dermatinh kai analaboV kai koukoulion.
21. Col. 3:5, 3. Gal. 2:20; 6:14. Cf. Sozomen l. c.: "They wore their tunics without sleeves in order to teach that the hands ought not to be ready to do evil."
22. Rebracchiatoria. The whole passage is somewhat obscure, and the various synonyms do not help us much in the elucidation of it. Analaboi is given in Petschenig's text, but anabolai has some MS. authority. AnaboleuV is the word used by Sozomen, who also mentions this cord. "Their girdle also and cord, the former girding the loins, the latter going round the shoulders and arms, admonish them that they ought always to be ready for the service of God and their work."
23. Resticulæ.
24. Succinctoria.
25. Redimicula.
26. Rebracchiatoria.
27. Acts 20:34; 2 Thess. 3:8, 10.
28. The mafors (mafwrion or maforion) is the monkish scapular, or working-dress. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. 55: "Scapulare propter opera." In form it was a large, coarse cape, or hood.
29. The melotes (mhlwthV), a sheepskin garment hanging down on one side, was the usual dress of monks. S. Anthony bequeathed his, at his death, to S. Athanasius. Ath. Vita Anton, 91.
30. Pera can hardly be used here in its ordinary sense of scrip or wallet phra. Gazæus suggests that it may be a transcriber's error for poenula, while Ducange would read, "quæ melotes appellatur, vel pera, et baculus." Mr. Sinker, in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (Vol. II. p. 1619), suggests that possibly the word may be Egyptian.
31. Heb. 11:37, 38.
32. 2 Kings 4:29.
33. Ps. 73 [74]:19.
34. Ps. 61 [62]:5; Jer. 17:16 [LXX].
35. Rom. 13:14.
36. Exod. 3:5; Josh. 5:16.
37. This and the following chapter are altogether omitted in the edition of Gazæus.
38. Gallica.
39. Sacramentum.
40. S. Luke 12:35.
41. Col. 3:5.
42. Ps. 118 [119]:83.
43. Cf. Rom. 6:12; Gal. 5:17. S. Benedict's rule about the dress of the monks is as follows: "Let the dress of the brethren be adapted to the character of the place or climate in which they live, as more clothing is required in cold than in hot countries. Hence we leave this to the abbot to determine. However, in temperate climates we are of opinion that it will be enough for each monk to have a hood and a frock, a rough one for the winter, and in the summer a simple or old one; a scapular also for work; and the covering of the feet, shoes and socks. And the monks are not to complain of the colour or size of these articles, but to be satisfied with whatever can be found or got cheapest in the country where they live." Regula S. Bened. c. lv.
44. See Book I. c. xi.
45. 1 Thess. 5:17.
46. Rom. 10:2.
47. Antiphona. In this passage the word appears to mean the actual Psalms sung antiphonally, rather than what is generally meant in later writings by the term. Cf. the Rule of Aurelian, "Dicite matutinarios, i.e., primo canticum in antiphona, deinde directaneum, judica me Deus...in antiphona dicite hymnum, splendor patudæ gloriæ." And see the use of the word later on by Cassian himself, c. vii.
48. The third, sixth, and ninth hours were observed as hours of prayer from the earliest days. Cf. Tertullian De Oratione, c. 25; Clem. Alex. Stromata, VII., c. 7, § 40.
49. I.e., that at Tierce there should be three Psalms, at Sext six, and at Nones nine.
50. Castor had founded a monastery about the year 420.
51. Cf. S. Matt. 18:3.
52. Cf. 1 Thess. 4:11.
53. The rule of Cæsarius also prescribes twelve Psalms on every Sabbath, Lord's day, and festival (c. 25); so also, according to the Benedictine rule, there are twelve Psalms at mattins, besides the fixed ones, 3 and 95 (see c. 9 and 10), as there are still in the Roman Breviary on ordinary week-days.
54. The custom of having two lessons only appears to have been peculiar to Egypt. Most of the early Western rules give three, e.g., those of Cæsarius and Benedict, while in the Eastern daily offices there are no lections from Holy Scripture.
55. Acts 4:32-34.
56. Petschenig's text has inedia, others inediam.
57. Cf. Eusebius, Book II. c. xv., xvi. Sozomen, Book I. c. xii., xiii.
59. Cumque . . . undecim Psalmos orationum interjectione distinctos contiguis versibus parili pronunciatione cantassat.
60. So, according to the Benedictine rule, the Psalms at mattins are ended with Alleluia (c. ix.): "After these three lessons with their responds there shall follow the remaining six Psalms with the Alleluia." Cf. c. xi. and xv.
61. This story is referred to in the Eighteenth Canon of the Second Council of Tours, A.D. 567. "The statutes of the Fathers have prescribed that twelve Psalms be said at the Twelfth (i.e., Vespers), with Alleluia, which, moreover, they learnt from the showing of an angel."
62. Apostolus, the regular name for the book of the Epistles.
63. Cf. the note above on c. iv.
64. Totis Quinquagessimae diebus; i.e., the whole period of fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide (cf. c. xviii. and the Conferences XXI. [title], xi., xx.). This is the usual meaning of the term Pentecost in early writers, though it is also used more strictly for the actual festival of Whitsunday. Cf. the Twentieth Canon of the Council of Nicæa, and see Canon Bright's Notes on the Canons, p. 72, for other instances.
65. Ad celeritatem missae. The word "missa" is here used for the breaking up of the congregation after service, as it is again in Book III. c. vii., where Cassian says that one who came late for prayer had to wait, standing before the door, for the "missa" of the whole assembly. Cf. III. c. viii., "post vigiliarum missam," and the rule of S. Benedict (c. xvii.): "After the three Psalms are finished, let one lesson be read, a verse, and Kyrie Eleison: et missae fiant." A full account of the various meanings given to the word will be found in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 1193 sq.
66. Colligere orationem. The phrase corresponds to the Greek sunaptein, but Ducange gives but few instances of its use in Latin. It is found, however, in Canon XXX. of the Council of Agde. "Plebs collecta oratione ad vesperam ab Episcopo cum benedictione dimittatur."
67. Antiphona. The word must certainly be used here not in the later sense of "antiphon," but as descriptive of the whole of the Psalmody of the office. Cf. note on c. i.
68. In the Eastern offices the Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kaqismata, each of which is subdivided into three staseiV, at the close of each of which the Gloria is said, and not, as in the West, after every Psalm. This Western custom which Cassian here notices seems to have originated in Gaul, and thence spread to other churches, as, according to Walafrid Strabo, at Rome it was used but rarely after the Psalms in the ninth century. See Walafrid Strabo, c. xxv. ap. Hittorp. 688. The earliest certain indications of the use of the hymn itself are found in the fourth century. See S. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, c. xxix.; Theodoret, Eccl. Hist., II. xxiv.; Sozomen, Eccl. Hist., III. xx. The Greek form is Doxa patri kai uiw kai agiw pneumati, kai nun kai aei kai eiV touV aiwnaV twn aiwnwn, amhn. The additional words in use in the West, "sicut erat in principio," were first adopted in the sixth century, being ordered by the Council of Vaison, A.D. 529, "after the example of the apostolic see."
69. Synaxis (sunaxiV), a general name for the course of the ecclesiastical offices.
70. Consummatur.
71. Cf. Augustine, Ep. cxxx., § 20 (Vol. II. 389): "Dicuntur fratres in Ægypto crebras quidem habere orationes, sed eas tamen brevissimas, et raptim quodammodo jaculatas, ne illa vigilantes erecta, quæ oranti plurimum necessaria est, per productiores moras evanescat atque hebetetur intentio;" and Hooker, Eccl. Polity, Book V. c. xxxiii.: "The brethren in Egypt (saith S. Augustine) are reported to have many prayers, but every of them very short, as if they were darts thrown out with a kind of sudden quickness, lest that vigilant and erect attention of mind which in prayer is very necessary should be wasted or dulled through continuance, if their prayers were few and long. . . . Those prayers whereunto devout minds have added a piercing kind of brevity, as well in that respect which we have already mentioned, as also thereby the better to express that quick and speedy expedition wherewith ardent affections, the very wings of prayer, are delighted to present our suits in heaven, even sooner than our tongues can devise to utter them," etc.
72. This plan of dividing some of the longer Psalms (as is still done with the 119th in the English Psalter) was adopted sometimes in the West also. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. xviii., and the Third Council of Narbonne (A.D. 589), Canon 2: "Ut in psallendis ordinibus per quemque Psalmum Gloria dicatur Omnipotenti Deo, per majores vero Psalmos, prout fuerint prolixius, pausationes fiant, et per quamque pausationem Gloria Trinitas Domino decantetur." Further, the rule that prayers should be intermingled with Psalms, which was perhaps introduced into the West by Cassian, was widely adopted both in Gaul and in Spain.
73. 1 Cor. 14:15.
74. Cum rationabili assignatione.
75. Viz.: Pss. 104, 105, 106, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 134, 135, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, in the LXX. and the Latin.
76. This arrangement by which the Psalm was sung by a single voice, while the rest of the congregation listened, is that which was afterwards known by the name of Tractus.
77. Missae. The use of this word for the offices of the Canonical Hours, though not common, is found also in the Thirtieth Canon of the Council of Agde, A.D. 506. "At the end of the morning and evening missae, after the hymns, let the little chapters from the Psalms be said."
78. Pinguetudo.
79. Exterioris hominis stipendia cum emolumentis interioris exaequant.
80. Post orationum missam. See note on c. vii.
81. Cf. III. vii., and the description of this penance in IV. xvi.
82. 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:20.
83. The rule of S. Benedict is similarly careful that the brethren may not oversleep themselves. See c. xi. and xlvii.
84. Quae lucescit in die dominicum. The phrase is borrowed by Cassian from the Latin of S. Matt. 28:1.
85. Totis Quinquagesimae diebus. See above on c. vi.
86. That this was the rule of the primitive Church is shown by Tertullian, De Corona Militis, c. iii. "We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful. We rejoice in the same privilege, also, from Easter to Whitsunday." And even earlier, in a fragment of Irenæus, there is a mention of the fact that Christians abstained from kneeling on Sunday in token of the resurrection. For later testimonies see Ambrose, Ep. 119, ad Januarium. Epiphanius, on Heresies, Book III. (Vol. III. p. 583, ed. Dindorf). Jerome, Dial: Adv. Lucif. c. iv.; and the Twentieth Canon of the Council of Nicæa, with Canon Bright's notes (Notes on the Canons of the First Four General Councils, p. 72).
87. Cf. the Conferences XXI. xi.
88. According to S. Jerome, Hilarion was the first to introduce the monastic life into Palestine (Vita Hilar.). His work was carried on by his companion and pupil Hesycas, and Epiphanius, afterwards Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. In Asia Minor S. Basil was the greater organizer of monasticism, though, as he tells us, there were already many monks, not only in Egypt, but also in Palestine, Coelosyria, and Mesopotamia (Ep. ccxxiii.). See also on the early monks of Palestine and the East, Sozomen, H. E., Book VI., cc. xxxii.-xxxv.
89. The Saturday Communion (in addition to that of Wednesday and Friday, as well as Sunday) is also mentioned by S. Basil (Ep. xciii.), and cf. the Forty-ninth Canon of the Council of Laodicæa (circa 360 A.D.): "During Lent the bread shall not be offered except on Saturday and Sunday." In the West there is no trace of a special Saturday celebration of Holy Communion.
The third hour was the ordinary time for Holy Communion, as may be seen from the decree (falsely) ascribed to Pope Telesphorus (A.D. 127-138) in the Liber Pontificalis: "Ut nullus ante horam tertiam sacrificium offere præsumeret," and many other testimonies.
90. Ps. 53 [54]:8; 118 [119]:108.
91. Cf. Daniel 6:10.
92. Acts 2:14-18.
93. The whole passage is alluding to Col. 2:14, 15, which runs as follows in the Vulgate: "Delens quod adversum nos erat chirograffum decretis, quod erat contrarium nobis, et ipse tulit de medio, affigens illud cruci, expolians principatus et potestates traduxit confidenter, palam triumphans illos in semet ipso."
94. Acts 10:11 sq.
95. Ps. 15 [16]:10.
96. S. John 10:18.
97. The belief that by the descent into hell our Lord released some who were there detained was almost, if not quite, universal in the early ages, and is recognized by a large number of the Fathers. It is alluded to by so early a writer as Ignatius (Ad Magn. ix.), and appears in Irenæus (IV. c. xlii.) as a tradition of those who had seen the Apostles. See also Tertullian, De Anima, c. lv., and a host of later writers.
98. Sacramentum. This word is used by Cassian, as by other Latin writers, as the regular equivalent of the Greek musthrion, and as such is applied to sacred truths equally with sacred rites. See Book V. xxxiv.: "Sacramenta scriptorum:" Conferences IX. xxxiv.: "Sacramentum resurrectionis Dominicæ." And again and again the word is used of the mystery of the Incarnation in the books against Nestorius.
99. Acts 3:1.
100. Ps. 140 [141]:2.
101. S. John 12:32.
102. Ps. 62 [63]:2, 7; 118 [119]:147, 8. In both East and West Ps. 62 [63] has from very early times been used as a morning hymn. See the Apost. Constitutions II. lix., VIII. xxxvii. In the East it is still one of the fixed Psalms at Lauds, as it is also in the West, according to the Roman use. But in Cassian's time it had apparently been transferred from Lauds to Prime. See below, c. vi.
103. S. Matt. 20:1-6.
104. Lucernaris hora; i.e., the hour for Vespers, which is sometimes called lucernarium or lucernalis. S. Jerome in Ps. 119. S. Augustine, Sermo i ad fratres in er.
105. It will be noticed that in this chapter Cassian alludes to five offices: (1) A morning office; (2) the third hour; (3) the sixth; (4) the ninth; and (5) Vespers; and gives the grounds for their observance. Similar grounds are given by Cyprian, De Orat. Dominica sub fine: "For upon the disciples, at the third hour, the Holy Spirit descended, who fulfilled the grace of the Lord's promise. Moreover, at the sixth hour, Peter, going up to the housetop, was instructed as well by the sign as by the word of God, admonishing him to receive all to the grace of salvation, whereas he was previously doubtful of the receiving of the Gentiles to baptism. And from the sixth hour to the ninth the Lord, being crucified, washed away our sins by His blood; and that He might redeem and quicken us, He then accomplished His victory by His passion. But for us, beloved brethren, besides the hours of prayer observed of old, both the times and the sacraments have now increased in number. For we must also pray in the morning, that the Lord's resurrection may be celebrated by morning prayer. . . . Also at the sun-setting and decline of day we must pray again. For since Christ is the true Sun and the true Day, as the worldly sun and day depart, when we pray and ask that light may return to us again, we pray for the advent of Christ, which shall give us the grace of everlasting light." Cf. also S. Basil, The Greater Monastic Rules, Q. xxxvii., where the same subject is discussed, and Apost. Const. Book VIII. c. xxxiv. In later times the Seven Canonical Hours were all connected with the events of our Lord's passion, and supposed to commemorate His sufferings, as the following stanzas show:--
At Mattins bound, at Prime
reviled,
Condemned to death at Tierce,
Nailed to the Cross at Sext, at
Nones
His blessed side they pierce.
They take Him down at Vesper-tide,
In grave at Compline lay;
Who thenceforth bids His Church observe
Her sevenfold hours alway.
106. The allusion is to the monastery at Bethlehem, where Cassian had himself been educated. See the Introduction.
107. Trinae confessionis exemplo. The words appear to mean that the three Psalms used at these offices are significant of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. So somewhat similarly Cyprian (on the Lord's Prayer) speaks of the third, sixth, and ninth hours being observed as a sacrament of the Trinity.
108. Ps. 118 [119]:164.
109. This second "Mattins" of which Cassian has been speaking is the service which the later Church called Prime, Cassian's first Mattins corresponding to Lauds, and his Nocturns, or "Vigiliæ," to Mattins. Thus the "seven hours" are made up as follows: (1) Nocturns, or Mattins, (2) Lauds, (3) Prime, (4) Tierce, (5) Sext, (6) None, (7) Vespers. Compline, it will be noticed, had not yet been introduced. This appears for the first time in the Rule of S. Benedict (c. xvi.) a century later. By its introduction the "day hours" were made up to seven, Nocturns belonging strictly to the night, and answering to the Psalmist's words, "At midnight will I rise to give thanks to Thee." Ps. 119:62.
110. The introduction of Prime appears to have been very gradual, even in the West; for, though an office for it is prescribed in S. Benedict (c. xviii.), yet there is no mention of it in the Rule of Cæsarius of Arles for monks, nor in that of Isidore of Seville, and it is omitted by Cassiodorus in his enumeration of the seven hours observed by the monks. After Benedict the next to mention it appears to be Aurelius, a successor of Cæsarius at Arles, and by degrees it made its way to universal adoption in the West. In the Greek Church the office for it is said continuously with Lauds (to orqron).
112. Missa.
113. I.e., Prime. Some confusion is likely to be caused by the fact that Cassian speaks of both "Lauds" and "Prime" by the same title of Mattins. Immediately below, where he speaks of the "Mattin service at the close of the nocturnal vigils" he is referring to Lauds, which always followed immediately (or after a very short interval) after Nocturns, or Mattins. At this service Pss. 148-150 have always been sung; indeed, they form the characteristic feature which gives the service its name of "Lauds" (`oi `ainoi). Of the other three Psalms, 50 [51], 62 [63], and 89 [90], which Cassian says had been transferred from Lauds to the newly instituted service of Prime, 62 has already been spoken of as a morning hymn of the early Church (see the notes on c. iii.), and we learn from S. Basil that in his day Ps. 50 (`o thV exomologhsewV yalmoV) was regularly sung after Mattins when the day began to break (Ep. ccvii. ad clericos Neo-Caes.), and it is still a Lauds Psalm in both East and West. 89 [90] is now one of the fixed Psalms at Prime in the East, but in the West it is, according to the Roman rule, sung at Lauds on Thursdays only. Thus it would appear that the transfer of these three Psalms from Lauds to Prime, of which Cassian speaks, never obtained widely, but that the older arrangement, whereby, at any rate, 50 and 62 were assigned to Lauds, has generally been adhered to both in the East and West. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, according to which Ps. 50 is sung daily at Lauds, and 62 as well on Sundays (c. xii., xiii.).
114. Missa.
115. Congregationis missam.
116. The Rule of S. Benedict has similar provisions, allowing a late arrival at Mattins till the Gloria after the Venite (the second Psalm, as it is preceded by Ps. 3), and at other services till the Gloria after the first Psalm. "If any come later than this, he is not to take his usual place in the choir, but stand last of all, or take whatever place the Abbot may have appointed for those who are guilty of a similar neglect, so that he may be seen of all; and in this place he is to remain until he shall have made public satisfaction, at the end of the office. We deem it necessary," the Rule proceeds, "to place such offenders thus apart, that, being thus exposed to the view of all their brethren, they may be shamed into a sense of duty. Moreover, if such were allowed to remain outside the church, they might either sit down at their ease, or while away their time in chatting, or perhaps return to the dormitory and compose themselves to sleep, and thus expose themselves to the temptations of the enemy." Rule of S. Benedict, c. xliii.
117. Vigiliae is here used as the equivalent of Nocturns.
118. I.e., the office of Lauds.
119. Tria Antiphona. The word is here used (as above, II. c. ii.), not in the modern sense of antiphon, but to denote a Psalm or Psalms sung antiphonally.
120. In this chapter Cassian describes two of the different methods of Psalmody employed in the ancient Church: (1) Antiphonal singing, where the congregation was divided into two parts, or choirs, which sang alternate verses; (2) the method according to which one voice alone sang the first part of the verse, and the rest of the congregation joined in at the close. Both methods are described in a well-known passage in an Epistle of S. Basil (Ep. ccvii. ad clericos Neo-Caes.), where he tells us that in the morning service, at one time, the people divide themselves into two parties, and sing antiphonally to each other (antiyallousin allhloiV), while at another time they entrust to one person the duty of beginning the strain, and the rest respond (uphcousi). The latter method seems to have been a very favourite one, the Psalms which were thus sung being called Responsoria. See Isidore, De Offic., i. 8; and compare the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 1745; and Bingham, Antiquities, Book XIV. c. i. A third method has been already described by Cassian in Book II. c. xi.; viz., that called Tractus, where the Psalm was executed by a single voice, while all the rest of the congregation listened.
121. The observance of a vigil for the whole or greater part of the night was a regular part of the preparation for the greater festivals, and as such was usual in the East before the Sabbath (Saturday) and Lord's Day, as well as Pentecost and Easter. See Socrates, H. E., VI. viii., where there is an allusion to this.
122. Saturday, as well as Sunday, was long regarded as a festival in the East, and, indeed, originally in most churches of the West as well. See the Apost. Const. II. lix. 1; VIII. xxxiii. 1. Apost. Canons lxvi; Council of Laodicæa, Canons xvi., xlix., li.
123. Eccl. 11:2.
124. Viz., Rome.
125. The Saturday fast was observed at Rome in very early days, being noticed by Tertullian, who seems to suggest that it originated in the prolongation of the Friday fast (on Fasting, c. xiv.). But it seems to have been almost peculiar to Rome, and at Milan, in the time of S. Ambrose, the Eastern custom prevailed. See the important letter of Augustine to Casulanus (Ep. xxxvi.), where the whole subject of the difference of usage on this matter is fully discussed. The reason here given by Cassian for the origin of the local Roman custom (viz., that S. Peter's traditional encounter with Simon Magus took place on Sunday, and was prepared for by the apostle with a Saturday fast) is also there alluded to by Augustine as being the opinion of very many, though he tells us candidly that most of the Romans thought it false. "Est quidem et hæc opinio plurimorum, quamvis eam perhibeant esse falsam plerique Romani, quod Apostolus Petrus cum Simone Mago die dominico certaturo, propter ipsum magnæ tentationis periculum, pridie cum ejusdem urbis ecclesia jejunaverit, et consecuto tam prospero gloriosoque successu, eundem morem tenuerit, eumque imitatæ sunt nonnullæ Occidentis ecclesiæ." Cf. also Augustine, Ep. ad Januarium, liv.
126. Missa.
127. Collecta. This word, from which our word "Collect" is possibly derived, is used for an assembly for worship in the Vulgate in Lev. 22:36; Deut. 16:8; 2 Chron. 7:9; Neh. 8:18; and compare the phrase, "Ad Collectam," in the Sacramentary of Gregory for the feast of the Purification.
128. In sollemnibus prandiis. The phrase must here refer to their dinner on ordinary days (cf. solemnitatem ciborum, "their usual food," Book IV. c. xxi.). Among the early monks it was the custom ordinarily to have but one meal a day on the fast days (viz., Wednesday and Friday); this was at the ninth hour; on other days, at the sixth (i.e., midday). Cf. the Conferences XXI. c. xxiii. On festivals (viz., Saturday, Sunday, and holy days), beside the midday meal, a supper was allowed as well. And on these days, as we learn from the passage before us, the ordinary grace before and after meat was shortened by the omission of the customary Psalms at other times included in it. On the meals of the monks, cf. S. Jerome's Preface to the Rule of Pachomius and the Rule of S. Benedict, cc. xxxix.-xli., the former of which tells us that, except on Wednesday and Friday, dinner was at midday, and a table was also set for labourers, old men, and children, and (apparently) for all, in the height of summer. For the use of Psalms at grace, see Clement of Alexandria, Paedog. II. iv. 44; Stromateis VII. vii. 49.
129. Tabenna, or Tabennæ, was an island in the Nile, where was founded a flourishing monastery by Pachomius c. 330 A.D. Of Pachomius there is a notice in Sozomen H. E., Book III. c. xiv., and his Rule was translated into Latin, with a preface by S. Jerome, who mentions his fame in Ep. cxxvii. There is a Life of Pachomius given by Rosweyde (Vitae Patrum), which is said to be a translation of a work by a contemporary of his.
130. Cf. the Rule of Pachomius, c. xxvi.: "If any one comes to the door of the monastery wanting to renounce the world, and to join the number of the brethren, he shall not be allowed to enter, but the Abbot of the monastery must first be told, and he shall stay for a few days outside before the gate, and shall be taught the Lord's Prayer, and as many Psalms as he can learn, and shall diligently give proof of himself that he has not done any thing wrong and fled in trouble for the time, and that he is not in any one's power, and that he can forsake his relations and disregard his property. And if they see that he is apt for everything, then he shall be taught the rest of the rules of the monastery,--what he ought to do, whom he is to obey." See also the Rule of S. Benedict, c. lviii., which is to much the same effect; and S. Basil's Longer Monastic Rules, Q. x.
131. So the Rule of Pachomius (c. xxvi.) orders that on the admission of a monk "they shall strip him of his secular dress, and put on him the garb of the monks;" and that of S. Benedict (c. lviii.), "He shall then be clothed in the religious habit, and his secular clothes deposited in the wardrobe, that if, at the instigation of the devil, he should ever leave the monastery, they may be given back to him, and the religious dress be taken from him."
132. See the quotation from the Rule of S. Benedict in the note on the last chapter.
133. In the same way the Rule of S. Benedict (c. lviii.) directs that the novice is to be placed in the guest house for a few days, while that of S. Isidore is more precise in ordering him to be placed there "for three months," and to wait on the guests there. Two months is the period fixed by other rules, but a few days was all that was ultimately required, and Cassian stands alone in mentioning a full year as the duration of this service, though Sozomen speaks of the monks of Tabenna as having to undergo a probation of three years. H. E., III. xiv.
134. Cf. Exod. 18:25. The office of "Dean" (Decanus), which is here spoken of by Cassian, is also referred to by Augustine (de Mor. Eccl. xxxi.) and Jerome (Ep. xxii. ad Eustoch.), and recognized by the Rule of S. Benedict, c. xxi., where directions for his appointment are given.
135. Compare the Conferences, Book II. c. x., where Cassian returns to the same subject. A similar rule that the brethren are to lay bare all the secrets of their hearts to their superior is given by S. Basil in the Longer Monastic Rules, Q. xxvi., and in the Rule of S. Isaiah (cc. vi., xliii.), printed in Holsten's Codex Regularum, Vol. 1.
136. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. v., where it is said that "the first degree of humility is ready obedience. This is peculiar to those who . . . prefer nothing to Christ,and fulfil the injunctions of their superiors as promptly as if God Himself had given them the command," etc.
137. The Rule of S. Benedict has a chapter to explain what is to be done if a brother is commanded to perform impossibilities (c. lxviii.). "If a brother is commanded to do anything that is difficult, or even impossible, let him receive the command with all meekness and obedience; meanwhile, should he see that he is utterly unequal to the task laid upon him, let him represent the matter to his superior calmly and respectfully, without pride, resistance, or contradiction. If the superior, after hearing what he has to say, still insists on the execution of the command, let the junior be persuaded that it is for his spiritual good, and accordingly, trusting in God's assistance, let him for His love undertake the work."
138. Labsanion. Cf. below, c. xxii., where cherlock is mentioned again, together with other delicacies (!) of the Egyptians.
139. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. v.: "Those who choose to tread the path that leads to life eternal immediately quit their private occupations at the call of obedience, and renouncing their own will so far as to cast away unfinished out of their hands whatever they may be occupied with, hasten to execute the orders of their superiors," etc.
140. Psiathium. The rush mats which served as a seat by day and a bed by night for the monks. See Book V. xxxv., and the Conferences I. xxiii.; XV. i.; XVII. iii.; XVIII. xi. S. Jerome mentions it in his preface to the Rule of Pachomius as one of the very few articles contained in the cells of the monks of Tabenna. "They have nothing in their cells except a mat and what is described below: two `lebitonaria,' a kind of garment without sleeves which the Egyptian monks use (the colobium, or shirt), one old one for sleeping or working, a linen garment and two hoods, a sheepskin, a linen girdle, shoes, and a staff."
141. Paxamatium, a biscuit. The word comes from the Greek paxamadion, and is said to derived from the name of a baker, PaxamoV (See Liddell and Scott, c. v.). These biscuits formed an important part of the diet of the Egyptian monks, as we see from the Conferences, where they are often mentioned; e.g., II. xi., xix., xxiv., xxvi.; XII. xv.; XIX. iv.
142. Ps. 16 [17]:4.
143. From this passage we gather that in Egypt two monks were often the joint occupants of a single cell. Cf. II. xii. and Conferences XX. i., ii.
144. Many of these faults are noticed in the Rule of Pachomius as deserving censure, e.g., unpunctuality at or carelessness in service (c. viii., ix.), breaking anything (c. cxxv.), murmuring (c. lxxxvii.), taking the hand of another (c. xliv.). So also in the Rule of S. Benedict (cc. xliii.-xlvi.) similar directions are given, while in c. xliv. the nature of the penance is more fully described: "He who in punishment of a grievous fault has been excluded from the Refectory and the Church, shall lie prostrate at the door of the latter at the end of each office, and shall there remain in silence with his forehead touching the ground, until the brethren retiring from church have all walked over him. This penance he shall continue to perform till it be announced to him that he has made due satisfaction. When commanded by the Abbot to appear before him, he shall go and cast himself at his feet and then at the feet of all the brethren, begging of them to pray for him. He shall then be admitted to the choir, if the Abbot so order, and shall take there whatever place he may assign him: but let him not presume to intone a Psalm, read a lesson or perform any similar duty, without the special permission of the Abbot. He shall, moreover, prostrate himself in his place in choir at the end of every office, until the Abbot tells him to discontinue this penance. Those who for light faults are excluded merely from the common table, shall make satisfaction in the church according as the Abbot shall direct, and shall continue to do so until he gives them his blessing and tells them that they have made sufficient atonement."
145. It is quite in keeping with what is here said by Cassian that in the Rule of Pachomius there is no mention of reading at meals, but only of the strict silence observed, so that anything wanted might not be asked for but only indicated by a sign (cc. xxxi., xxxiii.), while in the shorter Monastic Rules of S. Basil the custom of reading at meals is distinctly alluded to (Q. clxxx.). It is of course also ordered in most of the later monastic rules, e.g., that of Cæsarius of Arles "ad Monachos" c. xlix., "ad Virgines" c. xvi.; that of S. Aurelian, c. xlix.; S. Isidore, c. x.; and S. Benedict, c. xxxviii. The regulations in the last mentioned are as follows:--"A book should be read in the Refectory while the brethren are at meals. Let no one presume to read of his own accord; but let there be one appointed to perform that duty, who, commencing on Sunday, will read during the entire week. . . Profound silence shall be observed during meals, so that no voice save that of the reader may be heard. The brethren will so help each other to what is necessary as regards food and drink that no one may have occasion to ask for anything; should, however, anything be wanted, let it be asked for by sign rather than word. Let no one presume to make any observation either on what is being read or on any other subject, lest occasion be given to the enemy. The Prior, however, should he think fit, may say a few words to edify the brethren."
146. So Pachomius (c. xxix.). "While they are eating they shall sit in their right places and shall cover their heads."
147. Similarly we find in the Rule of Pachomius that no one is allowed to keep any food in his cell besides what he receives from the steward (c. lxxix.); and the Benedictine Rule also says: "let no one presume to take any food or drink out of the regular hours of meals" (c. xliii.). Cf. also the Rule of Pachomius cc. lxxv. and lxxviii., S. Basil's longer Monastic Rules Q. xv., `Ayato brwmatwn para kairon; epi pleiston thV `hmeraV apositoV estw, the Rule of Aurelian (c. lii.), that of Isidore (c. xiii.), etc.
148. The weekly officers here spoken of were termed "Hebdomadarii" (see next chapter). According to most rules their duties included cooking, serving, and reading at meals. They are mentioned in S. Jerome's preface to the Rule of Pachomius (cf. also Ep. xxii. ad Eustochium), but it would appear from what Cassian says below in c. xxii. that in Egypt the office of cook was assigned to some one brother and not undertaken by all in turn. According to Cassian they entered upon office on Monday morning, but the Benedictine (c. xxxv.) and other rules speak of them as beginning their duties on Sunday morning. The custom of washing the feet of the brethren, which Cassian here describes, is also mentioned by S. Benedict. l. c.
149. Hebdomadarius.
150. Xerophagia (xhrofagia), "dried food," distinguished from what is raw (omophagia) in the next chapter. Cf. for the word, Tertullian on Fasting c. i. and xvii.
151. This shows that Cassian is here writing about the monks of Palestine, not those of Egypt, who (according to the next chapter) had a permanent cook. There is a further allusion to and description of this desert in the Conference VI. i.
152. The distinction between the xerophagia and omophagia is shown by the following passage from S. Jerome's Life of Hilarion, describing his food: "From his twenty-first year to his twenty-seventh for three years . . . . his food was dry bread and water (xerophagia). Further from his twenty-seventh to his thirtieth year he supported himself on wild herbs, and the raw roots of certain plants (omophagia)."
153. Sal frictum, "rubbed salt," i.e., table salt as distinct from rough or block salt.
154. Moenomenia (Petschenig) or Moenidia (Gazæus). The word comes from the Greek mainomena or mainidion, dimin. from mainh, a small salted fish.
155. Lycon or Lycopolis in the Thebaid is the modern El Syout on the west banks of the Nile, S.E. of Hermopolis (= Minieh).
156. This John of Lycopolis was one of the most celebrated hermits of the fourth century. Originally a carpenter, he retired at the age of twenty-five into the wilderness, and after the death of his instructor settled near Lycopolis. Here, as Cassian tells us, he received as a reward for his obedience the gift of prophecy; and was consulted by crowds who came to him for this purpose and among others by the Emperor Theodosius, to whom he foretold (1) his victory over the usurper Maximus (A.D. 388), and (2) his success against Eugenius in A.D. 395. He is mentioned again by Cassian in the Conferences I. xxi., XXIV. xxvi., etc. A full account of him is given by Rufinus in his history of the monks c. i., and by Palladius in the Lausiac History 43-60; he is also mentioned by Augustine De Civitate Dei, Book V. c. xxvi.; De Cura pro mortuis gerenda, c. xxii., and Jerome Ep. cxxxiii. ad Ctesiphontem, as well as by Theodoret H. E. VI. xxviii.
157. A somewhat similar story is told by Sulpitius Severus (Dialogi I. c. xix.) of an Egyptian monk, only in that case the story terminates in a more satisfactory manner, as in the third year the stick took root and sprouted!
158. Lenticula; the word is used for a cruse of oil in the Vulgate. 1 Sam. 10:1; 2 Kings 9:1, 3.
159. Patermucius (Petschenig) or Mucius (Gazæus); probably a different person from the man of this name of whom we read in Rufinus, History of the Monks, c. ix.; as there is no allusion there to the narrative which Cassian gives here, nor any hint that that Patermucius had a son.
160. Affectionem . . . . charitatem.--Petschenig. The text of Gazæus reads the ablative.
161. Cassian repeats this story in the Conferences XX. c. i., as an introduction to the Conference "On the End of Penitence and the Marks of Satisfaction," which he gives as the work of the said Abbot Pinufius.
162. Panephysis is more fully described in the Conferences VII. xxvi.; XI. iii. It is mentioned by Ptolemy (IV. v. § 52), but not by many other ancient writers. It was situated in the Delta between the Tanitic and Mendesian arms of the Nile, and was identified by Champollion with the modern Menzaleh.
163. On Cassian's connection with the monastery at Bethlehem, see the Introduction.
164. On the Cave of the Nativity, see Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, c. lxxviii. Origen against Celsus, I. c. li.
165. S. Matt. 5:14.
166. Eccl. 5:4 [LXX]; Jer. 48:10 [LXX].
167. Cf. Gal. 6:14.
168. Sacramentum.
169. Cf. Gal. 2:20.
170. Cf. Ps. 118 [119]:120, where the Gallican Psalter has "Confige timore tuo carnes meas."
171. S. Matt. 10:38.
172. Elementa.
173. Elementa.
174. Cf. S. Matt. 24:18.
175. S. Luke 9:62.
176. Cf. Gal. 2:18.
177. Cf. S. Matt. 24:13.
178. All through this chapter Cassian is alluding to Gen. 3:15: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shalt bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel:" the last clause of which is rendered by the LXX. autoV sou thrhsei kefalhn kai su thrhseiV autou pternan, where the Vulgate has "Ipsa conteret caput tuum et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejus."
179. Ecclus. 2:1.
180. Acts 14:22; S. Matt. 7:14.
181. S. Matt. 20:16; S. Luke 12:32.
182. Prov. 9:10.
183. Cf. 1 John 4:18.
184. With this chapter there should be compared the Rule of S. Benedict c. vii., where a very similar description is given of twelve grades "on the mystic ladder [of humility] which Jacob saw," evidently suggested by the chapter before us.
185. Quarum debilitatum similitudinem suscipere debeat qui en coenobio commoratur.--Petschenig. The text of Gazæus gives as the title of this chapter: "In congregatione coenobitica constituti quid tolerare ac sustinere debeant."
186. Ps. 37 [38]:14, 15.
187. Nec (Petschenig). Gazæus reads ne.
188. Ps. 38[39] [39]:2, 3.
189. Cf. 1 Cor. 3:18.
190. Ps. 111:10.
191. Acedia. It is much to be regretted that the old English word "Accidie" has entirely dropped out of use. It is used by Chaucer and other early writers for the sin of spiritual sloth or sluggishness. See "The Persone's Tale," where it is thus described: "After the sinne of wrath, now wol I speke of the sinne of accidie or slouth: for envie blindeth the herte of a man, and ire troubleth a man, and accidie maketh him hevy, thoughtful, and wrawe. Envie and ire maken bitternesse in herte, which bitternesse is mother of accidie, and benimeth him the love of alle goodnesse; than is accidie the anguish of a troubled herte." The English word lingered on till the seventeenth century, as it is used by Bishop Hall (Serm. V. 140), in the form "Acedy," which is etymologically more correct as being nearer the Latin Acedia and the Greek Akhdia, a word which occurs in the LXX. version of the Old Testament in Isaiah 61:3; Ps. 118 [119]:28; Baruch 3:1; Ecclus. 29:6 (cf. the use of the verb akhdiazw in Ps. 60 [61]:2; 101 [102]:1; 142 [143]:4; Ecclus. 22:14). In ecclesiastical writers the term Acedia is a favourite one to denote primarily the mental prostration induced by fasting and other physical causes, and afterwards spiritual sloth and sluggishness in general. It forms the subject of the tenth book of the Institutes, and is treated of again by Cassian in the Conferences V. iii. sq.; cf. also the "Summa" of S. Thomas, II. ii. q. xxxv., where there is a full discussion of its nature and character.--cf. Dr. Paget's essay "Concerning Accidie" in "The Spirit of Discipline."
192. Isa. 45:2, 3.
193. 1 Cor. 4:5.
194. Ps. 45 [46]:12.
195. S. Antony, the "founder of asceticism" and one of the most famous of the early monks, was born about 250 A.D. at Coma, on the borders of Egypt, and died about 355, at the great age of 105. He is frequently mentioned by Cassian in the Conferences.
196. 1 Cor. 15:28.
197. 1 Cor. 1:30.
198. Eph. 4:13.
199. See especially Conferences XVIII. and XIX.
200. Ezek. 16:49.
201. Petschenig's text in this passage is as follows: "Facilius vidimus viros qui ab escis corpulentioribus omnimodis temperarent, quam moderate usos pro necessitate concessis, et qui totem sibi pro amore continentiæ denegarent, quam qui eas sub infirmitatis occasione sumentes mensuram sufficientiæ custodirent." Gazæus gives something quite different: "Facilius vidimus victos qui ab escis corpulentioribus omnimodis temperarent, quas moderate usus pro necessitate concedit, et qui totum sibi pro continentiæ amore denegarent; quam qui eas sub infirmitatis occasione sumentes mensuram sufficientiæ custodirent."
202. Quidquid enim fortitudinis.--Petschenig. Gazæus has "Quid quid enim fortitudinis causa."
203. Quod pro perfectae continentiae fine esca sumenda sit.--Petschenig. Quomodum cibum appetere, ac sumere liceat is the title as given by Gazæus.
204. Rom. 13:14.
205. Operis contritione (Petschenig): cordis contritione (Gazæus).
206. 2 Tim. 2:5.
207. 1 Cor. 9:25.
208. 2 Pet. 2:19.
209. John 8:34.
210. Cf. Dan. 3:6; and see below Book VI. c. xvii. where Cassian once more speaks of the devil as the Babylonish king.
211. Compare a similar illustration in the Conferences I. v.
212. S. John 8:34.
213. 1 Cor. 10:13.
214. Mentis robore non quaesito.--Petschenig. Gazæus omits the negative and reads conquisito.
215. S. Jerome's version, which was certainly known to Cassian (cf. Conferences XXIII. viii.) has "Temptatio vos non apprehendat nisi humana."
216. 1 Cor. 9:26, 27.
217. Quia (Petschenig): Qui (Gazæus).
218. Phil. 3:13, 14.
219. Properatione, others Praeparatione.
220. 2 Tim. 4:7.
221. Cant. 1:3.
222. 2 Tim. 4:8.
223. John 14:23.
224. Rev. 3:20.
225. Cant. 1:3.
226. Ps. 62 [63]:9.
227. Eph. 6:12.
228. 1 Cor. 9:26, 27.
229. Eph. 6:12.
230. 1 Cor. 10:13.
231. Statio. This is properly the term for the weekly fasts on Wednesday and Friday, observed by the early Church in memory of our Lord's betrayal and crucifixion. See Tertullian on Prayer c. xix.; on Fasting c. x. In this place the word appears to be used by Cassian for the close of the fast; while elsewhere he uses it for fasting generally (not specially on Wednesday and Friday,) as in c. xxiv. of the present book, and in the Conferences, II. xxv.; XXI. xxi. The origin of the word is somewhat uncertain (a) because the fast was observed on stated days (statis diebus); or (b) as S. Ambrose suggests, because "our fasts are our encampments which protect us from the devil's attacks: in short, they are called stationes, because standing (stantes) and staying in them we repel our plotting foe" (Serm. 25). See Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 1928.
232. Extra mensam.
233. Eph. 3:16, 17.
234. Prov. 20:13 [LXX].
235. Job 5:2.
236. Statio.
237. The allusion is here to the sparing diet and the voluntary fasts of the monks, among whom but one meal a day was usual (see the note on III. xii.); and though this was ordinarily taken at midday, yet many of the more celebrated anchorites never broke their fast till the evening; e.g. S. Antony is said never to have eaten till sunset (Vit. Anton. c. vii.), and S. Jerome gives a similar account of Hilarion (Vita Hil. § 4), while other instances of voluntary fasts are given by Cassian in the following chapters, xxv.-xxvii. The "station" days, however, viz., Wednesday and Friday, being of ecclesiastical authority, were strictly observed as a matter of rule, but these other voluntary fasts at other times were to be freely broken through on account of the arrival of visitors. See the Conferences II. xxvi., XXI. xiv., XXIV. xx., and cf. Rufinus, History of the Monks II. vii., Palladius, the Lausiac History, c. lii. So the Rule of S. Benedict (c. liii.) orders that on the arrival of visitors the Superior is to sit at table with them and break his fast, unless it be a special day which may not be broken; but the brethren are to observe the regular fasts.
238. S. Matt. 9:15. The Latin has sponsus in each clause.
239. There is a Pæsius mentioned by Palladius in the Lausiac History, but it is not clear whether he is the same man whom Cassian mentions. John is a different person from the one already mentioned in Book IV. xxiii. He is mentioned again below in xl., and the Nineteenth Conference is assigned to him.
240. Rom. 14:10, 4; S. Matt. 7:1, 2.
241. Nothing further is known for certain of this Theodore. He may be the author of the VIth of the Conferences; but must be carefully distinguished from his more celebrated namesake, the friend of Pachomius, and third Abbot of Tabenna, who died before Cassian's visit to Egypt.
242. Sacramenta.
243. Diolcos is mentioned again in the Conferences XVIII. i. Sozomen (VI. xxix.) speaks of two celebrated monasteries near there presided over by Piamun and John.
244. Somewhat similar stories are told of others by Palladius, (Lausiac History, cc. ii. 1, lxx.); and Rufinus, History of the Monks, I. xxiii.
245. Apostolus.
246. The Mareotic nome is the district round Lake Mareotis, a lake in the north of the delta bordering upon the Libyan desert (the modern Birket el Mariout), and running parallel to the Mediterranean, from which it is separated by a long and narrow ridge of sand.
247. On Paphnutius see the note on Conference III. i.
248. Socrates (H. E. Book IV. c. xxiii.) gives an account of two monks of the name Macarius, one of whom was from Upper Egypt, and the other from Alexandria. Compare also Rufinus, History of the Monks, cc. xxviii., xxix. It is not certain to which of them Cassian's stories refer, here and in the Conferences V. xii., VII. xxvii., XXIV. xiii. The story told in Conference XV. iii. refers to the "Egyptian" Macarius (cf. Sozomen H. E. III. xiv., where the miracle is expressly assigned to him: that in XIV. iv. evidently belongs to the "Alexandrian" Macarius. The two are mentioned together in Conference XIX. ix., and by various other writers.
249. 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).
250. 1 Tim. 6:10.
251. 2 Cor. 7:10.
252. 1 Tim. 6:10.
253. The same danger is strongly spoken of by S. Basil in the "Monastic Constitutions" c. xxxiv., a passage which should be compared with the one above.
254. Col. 3:5.
255. 1 Tim. 6:8-10.
256. Cur prohibes (Petschenig). Gazæus omits Cur.
257. Pulsarentur (Petschenig). The text of Gazæus has pulsaremur.
258. Deut. 20:8.
259. S. James 1:8.
260. S. Luke 14:31, 32.
261. Eccl. 5:4 [LXX].
262. S. Matt. 6:24.
263. S. Luke 9:62.
264. Acts 20:35.
265. S. Matt. 19:21.
266. 2 Cor. 2:27.
267. Rom. 15:25-27.
268. 1 Cor. 16:1-4.
269. Gal. 2:9, 10.
270. Acts 15:20.
271. 2 Cor. 11:9.
272. Phil. 4:15, 16.
273. Petschenig's text has Syncletium as a proper name. Gazæus, however, thinks that it should be Syncleticum; i.e. SunklhtikoV or Senator: and in the saying of S. Basil at the close of the chapter actually reads (apparently without any MS. authority), Et Senatorem, inquit, perdidisti.
274. Gen. 3:15.
275. S. Matt. 5:28.
276. Negationis (Petschenig). Another reading is necationis.
277. Cf. Acts 5.
278. Matt. 19:21.
279. Cf. S. Luke 9:62.
280. Cf. S. Luke 17:31.
281. 1 Tim. 6:8.
282. 1 Thess. 5:4.
283. S. Luke 12:20.
284. Ps. 30 [31]:10.
285. Eccl. 7:10 [LXX].
286. Prov. 15:1 [LXX].
287. S. James 1:20.
288. Prov. 11:25 [LXX].
289. Prov. 14:17 [LXX].
290. Prov. 29:22 [LXX]. Anhr qumwdhV egeirei neikoV, anhr de orgilos exwruxen `amartian. The old Latin as given by Sabatier has "Vir animosus parat zixas: vir autem iracundus effodit peccata." The verse is quoted by Gregory the Great in a passage which seems a reminiscence of Cassian's words, with the reading effundit for effodit (Moral. V. xxxi.). Jerome's rendering in the Vulgate is quite different: "Vir iracundus provocat zixas: et qui ad indignandum facilis est erit ad peccandum proclivior."
291. Ps. 105 [106]:40.
292. Ps. 6:2.
293. Ps. 43 [44]:23.
294. Ps. 120 [121]:4.
295. Isa. 46:1.
296. Isa. 40:12.
297. Ps. 77 [78]:65.
298. 1 Tim. 6:16.
299. On the heresy of the Anthropomorphites see the notes on Conference X. c. ii.
300. Eph. 4:31.
301. S. Luke 4:23.
302. Cf. S. Matt. 7:3-5.
303. Ps. 4:5.
304. 2 Sam. 23:17.
305. 2 Sam. 16:10-12.
306. Ps. 4:5.
307. Eph. 4:26.
308. Mal. 4:2.
309. Amos 8:9.
310. On the different senses see the note on Conference XIV. viii.
311. S. Matt. 5:22.
312. Petschenig's text is as follows: Ceterum si usque ad occasum solis licitur sit irasci, ante furoris satietas et utrices irae commotionem poterunt noxiae perturbationis explere, quam sol iste ad locum sui vergat occasus. That of Gazæus has "ante perturbationes noxiae poterunt furoris satietatem et ultricis irae commotionem explere," etc.
313. S. Matt. 5:23, 24.
314. 1 Thess. 5:17.
315. 1 Tim. 2:8.
316. Lev. 19:17, 18.
317. Prov. 12:28 [LXX].
318. Reading non innoxia (Petschenig).
319. S. Matt. 5:8.
320. S. Matt. 5:22.
321. 1 John 3:15.
322. Isaiah 66:18.
323. Et rursum (Petschenig): et Apostolus (Gazæus).
324. Rom. 2:15, 16.
325. S. Matt. 5:22. The word eikh is said by Westcott and Host to be "Western and Syrian." It is wanting in ['aleph = the Sinaiticus], B, Origen, and was not admitted by Jerome in the Vulgate.
326. Prov. 25:20 [LXX].
327. Totidem is used here by Cassian for itidem, as in III. ix.
328. Ps. 132 [133]:2.
329. 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:16.
330. Cant. 1:16 [LXX].
331. Incuriam (Petschenig): Injuriam (Gazæus).
332. Job 5:23.
333. Ps. 118 [119]:165.
334. 2 Cor. 7:10.
335. Gal. 5:22, 23.
336. See the note on Book V. c. i.
337. Ps. 90 [91]:6, where the Latin "et dæmonio meridiano" follows the LXX. Kai daimoniou meshmbrinou, instead of "the destruction that wasteth at noonday."
338. Velut taetra suppletur caligine (Petschenig); the text of Gazæus reads terra for taetra.
339. 2 Tim. 2:4.
340. Ps. 118 [119]:28, where the LXX. has enustaxen `h yuch mou apo akhdiaV.
341. Quousque is used as equivalent to donec, again in Conf. XXIII. xii.
342. 1 Thess. 4:9, 10.
343. 2 Thess. 3:6.
344. Increpationis (Petschenig). Interpretationis (Gazæus).
345. 1 Cor. 9:14.
346. S. Matt. 10:10.
347. 2 Thess. 3:8.
348. Permissum (Petschenig). Promissum (Gazæus).
349. 2 Cor. 10:2, 8.
350. A mistake on Cassian's part: the reference being to 2 Thess. 3:6.
351. The text of Gazæus has oratio, but the reading which Petschenig gives, operatio manuum, is clearly so.
352. S. Matt. 5:43-45.
353. Eph. 4:28.
354. Acts 18:1-3.
355. Acts 20:33-35.
356. The reference is probably to Ecclus. 23:29, "Idleness hath taught much evil."
357. 1 Cor. 15:33.
358. Prov. 28:19.
359. 1 Cor. 1:5.
360. Prov. 23:21 [LXX].
361. Rom. 13:14.
362. 1 Thess. 5:8.
363. Isa. 52:1.
364. S. John 6:27.
365. S. John 4:34.
366. Prov. 31:25 [LXX].
367. Prov. 15:19 [LXX].
368. Prov. 13:4 [LXX].
369. 1 Thess. 4:11.
370. Ecclus. 33:29.
371. 2 Thess. 3:11, 6; 1 Thess. 4:11.
372. The monks of Egypt were famous for their labours, and Cassian's language might be illustrated from many passages in the Fathers; e.g., Epiphanius, in his third book against heresies, compares the monks, and especially those in Egypt, to bees, because of their diligence. So S. Jerome, writing to Rusticus (Ep. cxxv.), says that no one is received in a monastery in Egypt unless he will work, and that this rule is made for the good of the soul rather than for the sake of providing food. Compare also Sozomen H. E. VI. xxviii., where it is said of Serapion and his followers in the neighbourhood of Arsinöe that "they lived on the produce of their labour and provided for the poor. During harvest-time they busied themselves in reaping: they set aside sufficient corn for their own use, and furnished grain gratuitously for the other monks." S. Basil also, in his Monastic Constitutions cc. iv. and v. speaks strongly of the value of labour; and the Rule of S. Benedict (c. xlviii.) enjoins that "as idleness is the enemy of the soul, the brethren are to be employed alternately in manual labour and pious reading."
373. This Paul is perhaps the same as the one mentioned in connection with Abbot Moses in Conference VII. xxvi. As he was a contemporary of Cassian he must be carefully distinguished from his more illustrious namesakes, the first hermit and the disciple of S. Antony.
374. Also called the desert of Calamus, Conference XXIV. iv., but its position has not been ascertained.
375. Mansio used here and again in Conference XXIV. iv. for the stage of a day's journey.
376. This Abbot Moses is probably the one to whom the first two Conferences are attributed (cf. also Conference VII. xxvi.); and possibly the second of this name (Moses the Libyan) mentioned by Sozomen, H. E. VI. xxix. Cf. also Palladius, the Lausiac History, c.xxii.
377. 2 Cor. 6:7, 8.
378. Prov. 4:27 [LXX].
379. Phil. 3:19.
380. Ps. 141 [142]:4.
381. Phil. 3:14.
382. Cf. 2 Kings 20.
383. 2 Chron. 32:24-26.
384. 2 Chron. 26:15, 16.
385. Gal. 5:26.
386. S. John 5:44.
387. Ps. 52 [53]:6.
388. Viz., by fasting.
389. Celebrare velut diaconum catechumenis missam. Missa is here used for the dismissal of the catechumens, which it was the deacon's office to proclaim. The whole service was divided into two parts, (1) the mass of the catechumens, containing the Scripture lessons, sermon, and prayers for the catechumens; and (2) the mass of the faithful, or the Eucharist proper. At the end of the first part the deacon warned the catechumens to depart, in words varying slightly in different churches, but substantially the same in all, both east and west: e.g. in the Liturgy of S. Chrysostom the form is "Let all the catechumens depart: let not any of the catechumens --- Let all the faithful ---"; in that of S. Mark it is still briefer: "Look lest any of the catechumens." The Roman missal does not now contain this feature, but it was certainly originally found in it, for it is alluded to by Gregory the Great (Dial. Book II. c. xxiii.), who gives the form as follows: "Si quis non communicat det locum." It was also customary in Spain and Gaul, as well as in Africa, being alluded to by Augustine in Sermon xlix.: "Ecce post sermonem fit missa catechumenis: manebunt fideles, venietur ad locum orationis."
390. Ps. 52 [53]:6.
391. Isa. 14:13, 14.
392. Ps. 51 [52]:6-9.
393. Protoplastum cf. Wisdom 7:1; 10:1, where Adam is called prwtoplastoV. From these passages the term came to be used as the designation of our first parents. So Clem. Alex. Strom. iii. 17: and in its Latin form it is found in the early translation of Irenæus. Haer. III. xxi. 20.
394. Cf. Milton's "last infirmity of noble minds." (Lycidas.)
395. Hab. 1:16 [LXX].
396. Ps. 130 [131]:1, 2.
397. Ps. 100 [101]:1, 2.
398. Ps. 35 [36]:1, 2.
399. S. James 4:6.
400. Prov. 16:5 [LXX].
401. Isa. 14:13.
402. Ps. 43 [44]:25.
403. Phil. 2:6-8.
404. S. Matt. 11:29.
405. Exod. 5:2.
406. S. John 8:55.
407. Ezek. 29:3 [LXX].
408. S. John 5:30; 14:10.
409. S. Luke 4:6.
410. 2 Cor. 8:9.
411. Isa. 10:14.
412. Ps. 101 [102]:7, 8.
413. Isa. 37:25.
414. S. Matt. 26:53.
415. 1 Cor. 15:10.
416. Phil. 2:13.
417. S. John 15:5.
418. Ps. 126 [127]:1, 2.
419. Rom. 9:16.
420. Quamvis ferventis et cupientis (Petschenig): Quamvis volentis et currentis (Gazæus).
421. S. James 1:17.
422. 1 Cor. 4:7.
423. Cf. S. Luke 23:40.
424. Cf. 2 Sam. 12:13.
425. The language in this chapter is perilously near semi-Pelagianism, on which compare the Introduction.
426. Ps. 88 [89]:20.
427. S. Matt. 7:7.
428. Ps. 89 [90]:17.
429. Ps. 67 [68]:29.
430. S. John 14:10; 5:30.
431. Ex persona hominis assumpti. See the note on Against Nestorius, I. v.
432. Ps. 117 [118]:13, 14.
433. Ps. 93 [94]:17-19.
434. Ps. 17 [18]:20 sq.
435. Erexit (Petschenig). Gazæus reads correxit, with the Vulgate.
436. Ps. 17 [18]:33 sq.
437. Gazæus adds cornu after the Vulgate.
438. Ps. 43 [44]:6-8.
439. Ps. 17 [18]:40, 41.
440. Ps. 34 [35]:2-4.
441. Ps. 17 [18]:35.
442. Ps. 43 [44]:4, 5.
443. Ps. 17 [18]:2-4.
444. The allusion is to the Pelagians. Cf. S. Jerome Contra Pelag. I. c. ix.; and in Jerem. c. xxv.; and S. Augustine De Gratia Christi contra Pelag.
445. Viz., that of the priesthood.
446. 2 Chron. 24:17, 18; 23-25.
447. Rom. 1:26, 28.
448. Prov. 16:5 [LXX].
449. Intellectuales.
450. See Book X. c. xviii.
451. Acts 20:35.
452. Col. 3:5; 1 Tim. 6:10.
453. Serietas (Petschenig): Taciturnitas (Gazæus).
454. Phil. 2:6, 8.
455. Isa. 66:2. It is noteworthy that Cassian after giving a rendering which differs but slightly from that of the old Latin, as given in Sabbatier's great work, adds the version of "those copies which express the Hebrew accurately," and thus shows his acquaintance with Jerome's new translation which he quotes. He does the same thing again in the Conferences, XXIII. viii.; and On the Incarnation Against Nestorius IV. iii.; V. ii.; xv. Compare also Institutes VIII. xxi., and Conf. VIII. x., where he also betrays a knowledge of the Vulgate. As a general rule, however, his translations are taken from the old Latin, or possibly in some cases are made by him from the LXX.
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