Parents and children in the early church

Parents and children: children's upbringing and education, and the duties of parents and children. Part of Marriage.

Didache 4.9Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Discipline your children and teach them the fear of God from youth.
1 Clement 21.8Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Children should be raised in Christ's discipline.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1.3.1 (3.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · God is angry because Hermas failed to correct his family.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1.3.2 (3.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Keep admonishing your children; if they repent they will be written in the book of life.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 2.3.1 (7.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Hermas must forgive his family and stop neglecting them.
To the Ephesians 16.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Those who destroy households will not inherit God's kingdom.
To the Philippians 4.2Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Wives are to be taught to live in faith, love, and purity, to cherish their husbands, and to raise their children in the fear of God.
Sentence 254 (Greek)Anonymous · 2nd-early 3rd cent. · Let children who live badly grieve you more than children who are not alive.
Didascalia 4.11Anonymous · first half of the third century
Homily on Luke 20Origen · ca. 233–250 · Jesus’ words about being in his Father’s things refute the heretics and show that the true temple is the souls and churches that belong to the Father; his subjection to Joseph and Mary teaches obedience to parents and to the church’s clergy, and his growth in wisdom calls us to spiritual maturity.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 37Origen · 235 · Christ's sword and fire divide the heavenly from the earthly in us; Ambrose must “hate” wife, children, and his own life, in the Gospel's sense, so as to gain them for eternity.
Homilies on Leviticus 11.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Cursing father or mother deserves death because God is our spiritual Father and the heavenly Jerusalem our mother; earthly parents must be honoured, and those who blaspheme the Creator are worse still.
Against Celsus 8.55Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says Christians must either leave life altogether or honour the demons who govern it; Origen answers that the only reasonable death is martyrdom, that Christians may marry and must raise their children, and that they resist the demons with God's armour.
Commentary on Matthew 11.9Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen explains Corban from what a Hebrew told him: a gift dedicated to the poor released a son from supporting his parents, a tradition that annulled God’s commandment; he warns church leaders who misuse the fund of the poor, like Judas.
Commentary on Matthew 11.10Origen · ca. 246–248 · The Corban tradition annuls both commandments, since calling one’s gift to parents Corban treats them as sacrilegious, and so speaks evil of them.
On Works and Almsgiving 17Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 253 · The widow of Zarephath fed Elijah before her own children and was rewarded; Christians, redeemed by Christ, have still less excuse to put their children before him.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 56Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus answers that Jesus did not rebuke the messenger but simply would not leave his work of teaching and healing for his family, as he taught his disciples to put God first.
Letter to Zenas and Serenus 17Anonymous · 4th century (disputed) · Counsel on care for children and the sick, and on not being ashamed of manual work.
Divine Institutes 3.21.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Plato argued common families would make the city harmonious.
Divine Institutes 3.21.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Common children destroy love between parents and children.
Preparation for the Gospel 8.8.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Children are raised soberly and taught the laws and their ancestors' deeds.
Preparation for the Gospel 8.8.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Honoring parents comes next after God; the ungrateful son is stoned.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.36.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Moses and Plato both command honour and fear toward parents and elders.
Life of Constantine 3.47.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine gave Helena free use of the treasury, fulfilling the command to honor one's parents.
Long recension, Tarsians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius gives brief instructions to husbands, wives, children, parents, virgins, widows, slaves and masters.
Long recension, Antiochians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Instructions to husbands, wives, parents and children, grounding monogamy in the creation.
Tractates on the Psalms 127.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Taken literally, a fruitful wife and children cannot be the blessedness of those who fear God, since the patriarchs lacked it, sinners enjoy it, and virgins forgo it.
Oration 2.41Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory explains his return: love for his people, duty to his aged parents, and above all fear of disobedience learned from Jonah and the ancient examples; he submits and asks his father's blessing.
Oration 7.2Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory begins his funeral oration for his brother Caesarius by praising the piety of their parents.
Oration 8.8Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gorgonia united the advantages of marriage and of celibacy, won her husband to God, and consecrated her whole household.
Oration 43.9Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Basil's parents were known for charity, hospitality, self-control and dedication of property to God, and above all for their children; Gregory will praise Basil not for bodily gifts but for what truly matters.
Tractates 1.3.7Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno answers the excuse of providing for one's children from the Psalms, the widow of Zarephath and Abraham's love of God above his son.
Tractates 1.9.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno describes how avarice overrides every law and bond, sets families against each other, and ends in shameful death.
Hexaemeron 8.5Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Cranes keep watch in turns, storks care for their aged, the swallow builds with ingenuity, and the halcyon calms the sea: lessons in hospitality, filial love, hope, and prayer.
Hexaemeron 9.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Virtue is natural to the soul as health to the body; animals' love for their young and the dog's reasoning and loyalty shame ungrateful and impious men.
Commentary on Colossians 3:20Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Children please God by honouring and obeying their parents.
Commentary on Colossians 3:21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Fathers should be moderate, remembering they were once sons, so that children may be submissive.
Commentary on Ephesians 6:1–2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Children must obey and honour the parents through whom they exist.
Commentary on Ephesians 6:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Honouring parents is the 'first' commandment as the first of the second tablet, concerning duties to people.
Commentary on Ephesians 6:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Fathers must raise children in the Lord's discipline without provoking them, remembering that they too were sons.
Letter 14.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome acknowledges the family ties that hold Heliodorus back but argues from Scripture that love for Christ must come first.
Letter 85.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that the children of believers are called 'holy' in the sense of being clean and set apart, as vessels in the tabernacle are called holy.
Letter 107.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Writing to Laeta, daughter of the pagan pontiff Albinus and wife of Toxotius, Jerome cites Paul on mixed marriages, rejoices in her Christian household and daughter Paula, and hopes her father too will convert as Rome turns from its temples.
Letter 107.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome turns to his purpose, advice on raising little Paula, who was vowed to Christ before birth, comparing her to Samuel, Samson, and John the Baptist.
Letter 107.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome gives detailed advice on teaching the little girl her letters through play and praise, choosing a learned teacher and sober nurses, and guarding her from early bad habits, which are hard to unlearn.
Letter 107.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome argues that parents answer for the upbringing of children not yet able to judge, including their baptism, and that a child vowed to God must be guarded with special care.
Letter 107.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome prescribes daily Scripture study, Greek then Latin, the parents' example, constant supervision, a grave older companion, and a round of prayer at the set hours.
Letter 108.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Inspired by the bishops Paulinus and Epiphanius, whom she met at Rome, Paula left her home and weeping children at the harbour and sailed for the East with Eustochium.
Letter 117.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome recounts how a brother from Gaul asked him to write to his estranged mother and sister, each of whom lived with a cleric, and how he reluctantly agreed.
Letter 117.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome tells the mother and daughter that he writes to prevent scandal, not from suspicion, and holds up Christ's obedience to his parents.
Letter 117.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome answers the daughter's complaints about her worldly mother: she should bear with her, or live among virgins, but not leave her mother for a man.
Letter 117.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome insists that a truly holy man would never separate a daughter from her mother, and that her brother, a monk, should be her protector rather than a stranger.
Letter 117.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges the mother not to answer her daughter's fault with her own, but to dismiss her companion and bring the family together under one roof with her son the monk.
Letter 125.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome tells Rusticus to honor his widowed mother and warns against ascetics who form suspect partnerships with women under the name of spiritual kinship.
Letter 127.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Marcella loves Scripture and puts it into practice, lives with moderate asceticism, avoids society, and obeys her mother even in giving her property to rich relatives.
Letter 128.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome says a letter to the infant Pacatula must wait until she can read, and sets out how to teach her letters, spinning, and psalms with rewards.
Letter 128.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome sets out Pacatula's upbringing: seclusion from boys, obedience to her mother, the Psalter and Scripture from age seven, a sober governess; he warns of seducers and of women who desert their husbands.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.14.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Refusing childbearing contradicts Paul.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.16.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They forbid chaste marriage and childbearing.
Apostolic Constitutions 4.11.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Fathers must raise their children in the Lord and teach them a fitting trade.
Apostolic Constitutions 4.11.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Parents must discipline their children firmly, as Proverbs and Sirach teach.
Apostolic Constitutions 4.11.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Children must be taught Scripture, kept under discipline and away from carousing.
Apostolic Constitutions 4.11.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Negligent parents share the guilt of their children’s sins.
Apostolic Constitutions 4.11.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Parents should arrange their children’s marriages in good time to prevent sexual sin.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.13.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Parents must teach their children the fear of God; masters must not be harsh, and slaves must obey.
On Widows, chapter 15Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose answers widows who would remarry for the sake of children, describing the griefs and divided loyalties of second marriage, and argues from Gen 2:24, Christ and the Church, Isaac and Jacob that Scripture honours the first marriage.
On Virgins 1.7Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose urges parents to dedicate daughters as virgins; he does not condemn marriage (those who do condemn their own birth), but praises virginity, whose bridegroom is the King of Ps 45 and the Song of Songs.
On Virgins 1.12Ambrose · ca. 377 · Virginity is best when chosen even against parents, whose resistance is a training ground; Ambrose tells of a noble girl who fled to the altar to escape marriage and whose kinsman died after challenging her.
On not marrying again, section 4John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom answers the objection that a widow cannot manage her husband's affairs by arguing that God gave women the management of the household, and that a widow who remarries draws more reproach than one who disciplines her servants.
On not marrying again, section 5John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom concludes that second marriage, though not punishable, is not praiseworthy, sets out the troubles it brings to a widow and her children, answers the case of a woman widowed young, and urges widows to remain free for Christ.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.4Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Jacob showed temperance in yielding his food to Esau, and piety, scruple, and respect toward his parents.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.5Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Parents must not favor one child over another, since partiality breeds hatred among brothers, as Esau's murderous anger shows.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.6Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Rebecca preferred the just son for God's purpose, sparing Esau greater guilt; the parents' rivalry was one of affection and judgment.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.7Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Isaac and Rebecca balanced their love, so that each son was cherished equally.
On the Duties of the Clergy 1.32Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Scripture is a banquet to be repaid in good works; benevolence, which can return gratitude even without means, binds friendship and human life from the family outward.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.16.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · An objector asks how Christ can command hatred of parents when the law commands honoring them.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.17.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ did not teach children to hate parents or husbands to disdain wives.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.17.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Love of children, wife and brothers is the law of nature and of God; marriage makes one flesh.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.20.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The time to hate is martyrdom, when God must come before kin; Christ means loving him more than parents.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.20.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, the author of parents themselves, must be loved more than parents.
Letter 33.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine laments that the schism divides Christian households and that bishops who settle worldly disputes cannot agree about Christ himself.
Letter 243.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that renouncing all one's own includes hating private family ties, since a mother as mother is temporal, but as a sister in Christ is shared eternally.
Letter 243.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that hating and losing one's parents, like hating one's own soul, means killing the fleshly affection that binds them to the world, not harming them.
Letter 243.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine contrasts Laetus's mother, who holds him back from God's service, with the mother of the Maccabees and the Spartan mothers.
Letter 243.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine urges Laetus to kill the fleshly affection his mother appeals to, while still showing her filial gratitude where higher duties do not call.
Homilies on Matthew 27.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ everywhere answers the purpose behind a request; he forbids the disciple to go and bury his father because nothing may come before heavenly things, and the dead, an unbeliever, would not lack burial.
Homilies on Matthew 33.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ shows his power by sending the apostles as sheep and doves, joining serpent-like wisdom that guards the faith to dove-like innocence that never retaliates; he foretells councils, kings, and family betrayals, and consoles them with his name, the Spirit, and endurance to the end.
Homilies on Matthew 35.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains Christ’s “sword” and the division of families (Matt 10:34–38) as the cutting off of the diseased part so that heaven may be joined to the better, and shows that the Old Testament teaches the same.
Homilies on Matthew 44.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s answer to those who told him his mother and brothers were outside does not deny his mother but corrects the vainglory with which they called him away from his teaching, and teaches that kinship with him profits nothing without doing God’s will.
Homilies on Matthew 51.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Jerusalem scribes, guardians of human traditions, accuse the disciples of eating with unwashed hands; Christ answers not by defending the act but by turning on them a greater charge, that their tradition voids God’s command to honor parents.
Homilies on Matthew 51.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ exposes the Corban practice, by which sons robbed their parents in the name of an offering, as a tradition contrary to God’s law, confirms the charge from Isaiah, and only then, after many proofs of his Godhead, turns to the question of foods.
Homilies on Matthew 59.6John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · We must not call a brother wicked or give up on him after two warnings, since God never stops exhorting us; Chrysostom rebukes parents who care for possessions rather than the souls of their households, leave their sons unbridled instead of marrying them early to keep them pure, and educate them only for money.
On what sort of wives to marry, section 9John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom describes Rebekah's simple wedding journey and Isaac's love for her, and urges parents and bridegrooms to seek virtue and to banish wedding excesses, so that there will never be a bill of divorce or suspicion of adultery.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.55Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Young storks feed and carry their aged parents, shaming men; the Greek word for returning kindness comes from “stork.”
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.58Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Crows care for their young; human mothers refuse to nurse, expose infants, or procure abortions, and fathers disinherit sons.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.61Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The phēnē adopts the rejected eaglet, while humans abandon children they know to be theirs.
Hexameron (Exameron) 6.18Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The bear licks its shapeless cubs into shape, a lesson for parents to form their children.
Hexameron (Exameron) 6.22Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Beasts love and defend their young without the favouritism and disinheritance found among humans.
On Joseph 5Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Parents should love their children equally, since favoritism, as with Joseph's tunic, breeds envy among brothers.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 1Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · The patriarchs' blessings teach reverence for parents, whose final blessing is a greater inheritance than wealth.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.8.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The promise of long life for honouring parents must mean eternal life, since in this life the dutiful often die young.
On the Catholic Way of Life and the Manichaean Way of Life 1.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–389 · Augustine praises the catholic Church as mother of Christians, who teaches worship of God alone and love of neighbor in every human relationship, wives and husbands, parents and children, slaves and masters, rulers and peoples, and so kindles the fire of divine love.
On True Religion 46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Whoever loves God above all and his neighbor as himself cannot be conquered, because what he loves cannot be taken from him; the neighbor is to be loved as a man, not for fleshly ties or advantage.
Sermon 9.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · "I am keeping it for my children" is often a cloak for avarice: a parent who loses a child should send that child's share ahead to Christ by giving it to the poor.
Sermon 13.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As a father who loves his son disciplines him, and would be cruel to spare him, so judges must combine love with discipline.
Sermon 45.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The promised land and mountain must not be understood as earthly estates, for restraining desire now in hope of greater earthly gain is still avarice, like children who serve rich parents for their inheritance; true piety serves for nothing, like Job.
Sermon 51.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jesus was subject to both Mary and Joseph as his parents, an example of obedience for children.
Sermon 51.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Israel had a duty to multiply until Christ; with Mary the dignity of virginity began; Joseph was all the more truly a father, as adoption and lawful marriage show that a father’s bond is not made by the flesh.
Sermon 51.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Adoption is found in Scripture: Sarah, Rachel, and Leah adopted their slave women’s sons, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses, Jacob adopted Joseph’s sons, and Paul speaks of our adoption by grace.
Sermon 62.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Fear of offending the powerful is no excuse: parents, country, and all superiors must be obeyed only within obedience to God, who is greater; the Church, healed and beautified by Christ’s blood, must forget her former people.
Sermon 94.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Too tired to preach at length, Augustine applies the parable of the talents: bishops pay out God’s word, and every head of a household must act as a bishop at home, guarding the faith of wife, children, and slaves.
Sermon 100.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ called the silent man whose heart he saw to be faithful and would not let him delay even to bury his father, since love must be set in order and God put before parents, as the mother of the Maccabees taught her sons.
Sermon 284.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Unlike relatives who tried to call martyrs back, the mother of the martyr Marian, rightly named Mary, urged her son on and rejoiced at his death as sending him ahead.
On the Profit of Believing 26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391–392 · Children must believe, without being able to know, who their parents are, which shows that human society depends on belief.
Homily 14.1 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains that neglecting one's own family is a denial of faith, and begins on Paul's qualifications for enrolled widows: sixty years, wife of one husband, known for good works.
Homily 20.1 on EphesiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom opens his homily on marriage by praising the God-made bond of husband and wife and explaining that wives are to be subject to their husbands as the body to the head.
Homily 20.5 on EphesiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom teaches that each spouse must do his or her part even if the other fails, cites 1 Cor 7:15 for an unbeliever who departs, allows second marriages as a concession, and holds up Abraham's household as a model.
Homily 1.4 on TitusJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains Paul's charge to Titus to appoint bishops in every Cretan city, reading “the husband of one wife” as both honouring marriage against heretics and barring the twice married from office.
Section 5John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom insists that the church does not forbid second marriage, which Paul permits, but advises against it for the peace of the household, describing stepmothers' jealousy, and teaches that widowhood without good works is worthless.
Commentary on Titus 1:6Theodore of Mopsuestia · 392–428 · Theodore refers his readers to his fuller treatment of "husband of one wife" in the commentary on 1 Timothy, and explains that a presbyter's care for his children shows his fitness to care for the church.
Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani 6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 394 · Augustine reconciles the command to honor parents with Christ's “let the dead bury their dead”: parents are honored in their place but set aside for the love of God, as Deuteronomy 33:9 also teaches.
Confessions 9.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine begins his account of Monica, trained in her youth by a strict old servant.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 3.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains the two genealogies by adoption: Joseph could have had a natural father and an adoptive father, as adoption is common in Scripture and is central to the Christian faith.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that Sarah was Abraham's half-sister, as he told Abimelech, and that Scripture calls blood-relations brothers and sisters, as with Tobias, Lot, and the Lord's brothers.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 3.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Individuals can be excluded from the clergy, the church’s poor roll, the congregation, or a household table for their correction, but a multitude of sinners is better rebuked in public preaching, especially in times of calamity, as Cyprian did, while keeping unity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 119.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · By providing for his mother from the cross, Christ teaches children to care for their parents.
City of God 19.14Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that the earthly city uses temporal things for earthly peace and the heavenly for eternal peace, and that love of God and neighbour produces an ordered household in which those who command actually serve.
City of God 19.16Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine says that righteous fathers cared equally for children and slaves in regard to God, that household discipline serves the good of the one corrected, and that domestic peace is ordered to the peace of the city.
The Institutes 4.27John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Patermutus, received with his young son, endured seeing the boy mistreated and obeyed an order to throw him into the river, from which brothers stationed there rescued him.
The Institutes 5.38John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Archebius, who had not seen his mother in fifty years, tripled his work for a year to pay off his dead father's debt and free her from creditors.
The Conferences 16.2John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Joseph lists the ordinary kinds of friendship, from recommendation, contract, shared work, or kinship, shared even by animals and criminals, which do not last because distance, time, or quarrels dissolve them.
The Conferences 24.26John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Abraham explains the promised hundredfold in this life as the far greater spiritual love, possessions, and honor that monks receive in place of what they renounced, and Cassian closes the Conferences commending them to the holy brothers.
Sermon on the Barbarian Time 3Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The good suffer with the wicked because none is perfectly good but God; their trials are a refining, while parents who love their children more than Christ and tolerate blasphemy and the shows share the blame.