John Cassian: The Conferences (Ancient Christian Writers Series, No. 57) by Boniface Ramsey

Author:Boniface Ramsey
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-08-03T07:35:00+00:00

2. "He believed that in the first place he should mention fornication, which occurs in carnal union. He called the second member impurity, which sometimes creeps up on those who are sleeping or awake, without even touching a woman, due to the negligence of a heedless mind. Therefore it is noted and forbidden in the law, which not only deprived everyone who was impure of eating consecrated meat but also ordered them to be put outside the camp, lest holy things be polluted by contact with them. As it says: `Whatever soul in which there is uncleanness eats of the meat of the saving sacrifice, which is the Lord's, shall perish before the Lord, and whatever an unclean person touches shall be unclean.'' 3. Likewise in Deuteronomy: `If there is among you a man who has been polluted at night in a dream, he shall leave the camp and shall not return until he has washed himself in water at eventide, and after sunset he shall come back to the camp."Then, as the third member of sin he mentions wantonness, which grows in the recesses of the soul and which can even occur in a person without bodily passion. For there is no doubt that wantonness takes its name from what is pleasing.

4. "After this he descends from greater sins to lesser ones, bringing up evil desire as the fourth member. This can refer not only to the aforementioned passion of lewdness but also in general to every wicked lust; it is but the sickness of a corrupt will. The Lord says about it in the Gospel: `Whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' For it is a much greater thing to contain the desire of a wandering mind when an attractive appearance happens to present itself. 5. Hence it is clearly proven that the chastity of bodily abstinence alone is insufficient for perfect purity unless integrity of mind is also present.

"After all of these he speaks of avarice as the last member of that body, demonstrating beyond a doubt not only that the mind must be preserved from a desire for others' property but also that one's own must be high-mindedly disdained. For we read in the Acts of the Apostles that this was also done by the multitude of the believers, of whom it says: `The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul, and none of them said that anything that he possessed was his own, but all things were common to them. For as many as owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of what they sold and laid it at the feet of the apostles, and this was distributed to each just as each had need."" 6. And lest this perfection seem to be for just a few, he declares that avarice is slavery to idols. Not without reason. For whoever does not contribute to the needs of the poor and sets

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