Sophia Scriptura

On the Christian Life

De vita christiana

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Contents

Reading pages: 0–9 · 10–15

  1. 0The author, writing to a widow, apologizes for his lack of skill and offers his plain teaching on what a Christian should be.
  2. 1"Christ" means "anointed"; all the baptized share his anointing, and only those who imitate Christ truly bear the name Christian.
  3. 2God's patience with sinners is not indifference but mercy that waits for their conversion, as the prophets show.
  4. 3God's patience is no ground for security: the wicked, especially unjust judges who plundered widows and orphans, are often punished even in this life.
  5. 4Each sinner is judged when the measure of his sins is full, as with Sodom and the Amorites; God loves the righteous, not the wicked.
  6. 5When the righteous die early they are freed and brought to rest, while the wicked are taken away to punishment.
  7. 6As every name comes from a deed, only one who imitates Christ in holiness, kindness and love of enemies is truly a Christian.
  8. 7From Cain and Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Lot, Scripture shows that God is pleased by righteousness and offended by wickedness.
  9. 8God let Israel suffer as strangers in Egypt to teach them mercy toward strangers, orphans and widows; the whole law hangs on love of God and neighbour.
  10. 9To love God is to keep his commands and live so holily that his name is glorified, not blasphemed, among the gentiles.
  11. 10To love one's neighbour is not only to avoid evil but to do good; those who neglect works of mercy are condemned, and innocence is what commends us to God.
  12. 11The oppressor who approaches church with hands stained by injustice prays in vain; only pure hands and an innocent conscience are heard.
  13. 12Alms given from plunder do not justify; God approves only alms from just labour.
  14. 13Against those who hold that faith alone saves without works of righteousness, the author argues from both Testaments that God condemns sin, and that Paul's "works of the law" are ceremonial works, not righteousness.
  15. 14A true Christian imitates Christ in works of mercy, hospitality and detachment from the world.
  16. 15The author applies his teaching to the widow he addresses: of three kinds of widows, she should be the true widow of 1 Tim 5, devoted to prayer and works of mercy.

About this work

Author
Fastidius
Attribution
disputed · Gennadius (De viris illustribus 56) says Fastidius, bishop of the Britons, wrote a book on the Christian life for a widow Fatalis, and the work is printed under his name. Modern scholars have assigned it to Pelagius or his circle; the question is open.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Gennadius, writing a generation later, praised the doctrine of the work as sound; no tradition's calendar honours Fastidius.
Date
ca. 411-430 (approximate) · Migne heads the work A.D. 430; the date depends on the author.
Written at
Britain, Britain (disputed)
Addressed to
a widow named Fatalis (according to Gennadius)
Language
Latin
Genre
treatise
Reference system
preface (ref 0) and chapters 1-15, as in Migne; the chapter titles are the editor's and are not part of the text
SBL abbreviation
Vit. chr.Not yet checked
Text from
J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, vol. 50 (Paris, 1845-1846), digital text of the printed volume; column range not yet checked (Printed edition (Migne, 1844-1864) in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)