Temptation in the early church

Dialogue with Trypho 103.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · After the baptism the devil tempted Christ, who rebuked him.
Diatessaron, section 4Tatian · ca. 160-180
19Anonymous · ca. 161–180 or 249–251 · The devil tempts humanity by God's permission.
Exhortation to the Greeks 12.118Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Flee custom and pleasure like Odysseus sailing past the Sirens; bound to the wood of the cross, the Christian passes safely to the harbor of heaven.
Against Heresies 5.21.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · In the temptation in the desert Christ conquered the devil three times with the words of the law, undoing Adam’s transgression by his obedience.
Against Heresies 5.22.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s answers in the temptation teach humility and trust in God’s gifts; the devil’s promise of the kingdoms was a lie, since all is ruled by God.
Excerpts from Theodotus 85.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · After his baptism Christ was tempted among the wild beasts, as a pattern for us; having overcome, he was served by angels.
Miscellanies 4.12.85Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Basilides virtually deifies the devil and makes the Lord a sinner; the devil is permitted to tempt only to test our free choice, shame himself, and strengthen the church; if martyrdom were punishment, faith, love, and virtue would lose their meaning.
Miscellanies 7.11.61Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Taught by the Lord, the one who knows never prefers pleasure to what is right, resisting temptation as Joseph did, and remains unshaken by disease or death, which God uses as a saving medicine.
On Baptism 20Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Candidates should prepare for baptism with prayer, fasting, vigils, and confession of sins; after baptism they should pray for spiritual gifts and remember Tertullian in their prayers.
On the Psalms, fragment 12Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Ps 119:32: trials enlarge the heart by cutting away the thorns of thought, so that we run the way of God's commandments.
Exhortation to Chastity 8Tertullian · ca. 208 · What is merely lawful is not thereby good; license tests discipline, and Paul, who did not use his right to a wife, calls us to follow his example.
On Flight in Persecution 2Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · The devil's iniquity is only the instrument of persecution, not its author: as Job, Peter, the Lord's Prayer, and Paul's thorn show, Satan can do nothing to God's servants except by God's permission.
On First Principles 3.2.3Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Some sins arise from the flesh warring against the spirit; God, like a just president of the games, lets each be tempted only according to his strength, while the use of that strength is in our power.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 289Origen · ca. 220-254 · God tests for good, the devil to destroy; the Sabbath read of the righteous man's rest from sin; Christ the rock; Exod 20:5 troubles Jews, Samaritans, and heretics alike.
PG 12:1235 (Ps 17 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 17 LXX (18):29–34: the lamp of the soul, life as trial, the fiery sayings of the Lord, and feet like a deer’s.
PG 12:1383 (Ps 38 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Beginning of Ps 38 LXX (39):3–5: silence from good things in temptation, and the heart that grows hot without anger.
On Prayer 29.1Origen · ca. 233–234 · Since all human life is a time of testing, Origen asks how we can pray not to enter into temptation.
On Prayer 29.2Origen · ca. 233–234 · Scripture teaches that all life on earth is a trial; God does not spare us temptation but keeps it within our strength, whether we wrestle against the flesh or, as the mature do, against spiritual powers.
On Prayer 29.3Origen · ca. 233–234 · God tests everyone, as Judith, the Psalms, and Acts all show, so the petition cannot mean escaping every test.
On Prayer 29.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · If the petition meant escaping all trials, the apostles, who suffered countless hardships, would have prayed in vain.
On Prayer 29.9Origen · ca. 233–234 · Since all life is a trial, we pray not to escape temptation but not to be overcome by it; Christ enters the net of temptation to call his bride out of it.
On Prayer 29.11Origen · ca. 233–234 · We pray not to escape temptation but not to be overcome; Origen then asks how the good God can be said to “lead” anyone into temptation.
On Prayer 29.12Origen · ca. 233–234 · Paul says God “gave up” sinners to their desires; this refutes those who divide the Godhead into a just God of the law and a merely good Father who never judges.
On Prayer 29.14Origen · ca. 233–234 · God gave Israel meat until they were sick of it, so that they would be cured of their craving; so he may let sinners be sated with sin until they hate it and return to heavenly food.
On Prayer 29.17Origen · ca. 233–234 · Temptations reveal what is hidden in our souls, even from ourselves, so that we can recognize our evils and give thanks for our good.
On Prayer 30.2Origen · ca. 233–234 · God delivered Job from the evil one not by sparing him temptation but by keeping him faithful through two great trials; the threefold victory over the tempter was reserved for Christ.
Homily on Luke 26Origen · ca. 233–250 · Christ is spirit to those who turn to him and fire to sinners; his winnowing wind is temptation, which does not make but reveals chaff and wheat, so the foundations must be laid before persecution comes.
Homily on Luke 29Origen · ca. 233–250 · Jesus was full of the Spirit beyond all others; the devil’s stone offered as bread stands for heretical doctrine; and Christ, tempted as man, now no longer subject to death, is God, and believers who become like him will become divine.
Homilies on Exodus 2.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Pharaoh's order to drown the Hebrew boys figures the devil's attack on the soul's good beginnings, and good deeds done for human praise are boys handed over to the Egyptians.
Homilies on Exodus 3.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The three days' journey out of Egypt is Christ and the purification of word, deed, and thought; Pharaoh resists and mocks those who leave the world, but the word of God stirs up a war against vice in which believers must stand firm.
Homilies on Exodus 5.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The way between Epauleum and Magdalum, the winding ascent and the tower, shows the hardship of virtue and faith, and on that road the soul comes to the sea of temptations.
Homilies on Exodus 11.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The Christian, always under attack, must live as a soldier in God's camp; the journey from Sin (“temptation”) to Rephidim (“soundness of judgment”) is the passage of one tested and unwounded in temptation.
Homilies on Exodus 11.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Amalek's attack after the gift of water from the rock shows that temptations follow grace, and Moses calling “Jesus” to choose mighty men figures the law calling Christ, who alone chooses his soldiers.
Homilies on Leviticus 9.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The Lord's lot means what God chooses, the other lot what he rejects; each person, like the 'ready man', must cast evil thoughts out of the heart.
Homilies on Leviticus 16.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The righteous need fear nothing; the 'evil beasts' and 'wars' God removes are the devil, demons, and the inner battles of the passions, which fall when we put our earthly members to death.
Homilies on Numbers 20.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Phinehas’s spear becomes the sword of the Spirit with which the Christian must at once strike down sinful thoughts at their source, and so calm God’s anger before the day of judgment.
Homilies on Numbers 27.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The stations bear mystical names; after death the soul, led by the Son and the Holy Spirit, is illuminated more at each dwelling until it can bear the true light, while in this life the soul passes through trial after trial, going “from strength to strength.”
Homilies on Numbers 27.10Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The crossing of the Red Sea is the frightening temptation through which the law of God brings the believer safely, and the bitter waters that follow are the healing bitterness of discipline, which yields the sweetness of salvation.
Homilies on Numbers 27.12Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Origen runs through the remaining stations, reading each name as a stage of the soul’s advance (health, labours, praise of judgment, the law, the burial of cravings, blessedness, vision, temptation, and so on) down to the plains by the Jordan, and defends this method by comparing the graded stages of a school.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.203Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The Word comes and goes in the soul's understanding until he abides; the Bride once saw him in the winter of trials, now in the springtime of spiritual graces, the devil's snares broken.
On the Singleness of Clerics 3Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · In the battle against the allurements of women, prudent fear and flight, not confident faith, bring victory; the clergy must separate themselves from women.
On the Singleness of Clerics 9Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · No cleric should seek the challenge of living with a woman to prove his chastity; his own flesh is enough to fight, and Scripture commends bearing the yoke alone.
On the Singleness of Clerics 10Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · Paul's “bear one another's burdens” does not license cohabitation; Christ himself left celibacy to those to whom it is given, and the daily intimacies of a shared household inflame desire.
On the Singleness of Clerics 42Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · Temptation must be forestalled before it begins; the Holy Spirit strengthens those who flee occasions of sin, not those who rashly seek them.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 93Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The disciples slept when Jesus left them, so we must pray that he never leave us; to “enter into temptation” is to be overcome by it, for whoever comes to Jesus is not overtaken by evils; “the spirit is willing, the flesh weak” describes the saints, whose flesh has been weakened and put to death, and who must the more fear a fall.
Commentary on Matthew 11.5Origen · ca. 246–248 · Only the disciples, true “Hebrews” who cross over to the unseen, are sent to the other side; the boat is the struggle of temptation, in which they cannot overcome the contrary wind without Jesus.
Commentary on Matthew 11.6Origen · ca. 246–248 · Jesus prays for the crowds and the disciples; Origen applies the storm to the believer’s temptations, three watches of struggle against evil powers, until the Word comes in the fourth watch and rescues the doubting “Peter” in us.
Commentary on Matthew 16.27Origen · ca. 246–248 · Every obedient soul is a Bethany where Jesus rests; each person is a fig tree from which Christ seeks the fruits of the Spirit, and those who fail him in temptation—by denial or sexual sin—wither at once.
Commentary on Romans 7.12Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains each power that cannot separate the believer from God’s love—death and the life of sin, hostile angels and powers, things present and to come, height and depth, and any other creature—and warns that the flesh is the enemy most to be feared.
Fragment E V (on Luke 22:42 ff.)Dionysius of Alexandria · ca. 248–265 · From a commentary on Luke 22:42–48: Christ asked that the cup pass, yet as the Father willed, the two wills being one in the divinity; his bloody sweat and the strengthening angel show his true humanity; ‘not entering temptation’ means not being overcome by it; and his gentle words to Judas teach forbearance.
Fragment Z III (on the Epistle of James)Dionysius of Alexandria · ca. 248–265 · On James 1 and 4: God tests to crown, the devil tempts to kill; God foreknows but leaves man free; and jealous rivalry shows people to be fleshly.
On the Lord's Prayer 26Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · Temptation is permitted either as punishment or as testing; praying against it keeps us humble.
On Jealousy and Envy 2Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 256 · The devil probes every weakness, tempting through the senses, greed, and ambition, and, when deceit fails, threatening with persecution.
Symposium, epilogueMethodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · In the closing dialogue, Euboulion argues against Gregorion that the soul that feels desire and masters it is better than one that never feels it; they agree to continue another day.
Res. 2.2Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Methodius explains Romans 7: the devil used the commandment in paradise to stir up desire, and Paul's 'I do what I do not want' refers to unwanted thoughts that assail the mind, not to evil deeds.
Res. 2.4Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Paul did not mean that he actually committed sins he hated, since he urged others to imitate him as he imitated Christ; he meant the unwanted thoughts that assail us and must be resisted like besieging enemies.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 30Anonymous · 4th century · Catechumens must be ready to forsake family and suffer death; the three temptations of Christ are read as desire, pride, and avarice; a long description of Christian conduct follows, with counsel for those seeking perfection and rules for Sunday communion.
Homilies 8.21Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter recounts the temptation of Jesus by the devil, who could gain power over him only if he worshipped him or accepted his gifts.
Recognitions 2.18Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter teaches that God permits the devil's deceptions to test whether men remain loyal to their true Father and Creator.
Recognitions 7.37Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter insists that all fast one day before Mattidia's baptism, and explains Christ's saying about plucking out the eye as cutting off the purpose and causes of sin, not limbs.
Divine Institutes 3.29.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Believers he attacks with temptation or violence.
Divine Institutes 4.24.13Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · An immortal teacher could be answered that he has no temptations.
Divine Institutes 4.24.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ, sharing our flesh, overcame sin, desire, pain and death and so removes every excuse.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The devil opposed Christ at the temptation and again at the passion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm speaks of Christ as man, who took refuge in the Father when tempted in the wilderness among wild beasts.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The troubling word is the tempter’s speech in the Gospel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ was tempted so that, before healing humanity, he might openly defeat the devil and all demonic powers, who therefore recognized him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm’s night terrors and day arrows correspond to the forty days and nights of Christ’s temptation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The devil quoted this Psalm in tempting Christ, who answered from Deuteronomy.
Book 1, lines 373–399Juvencus · ca. 330 · The first two temptations: stones into bread and the leap from the temple.
Demonstration 3.16Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ, greater than every angel, fasted for us and defeated the adversary, and commands us to fast and watch so as to reach his rest.
Demonstration 6.2Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 6.3Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 6.17Aphrahat · 337-345
Letter 9Ammonas · ca. 340-360 · Temptation follows every blessing, as with Jacob, Abraham and the saints; those who keep praying through the Spirit’s withdrawal receive a greater joy.
Letter 10Ammonas · ca. 340-360 · Temptations lead the soul upward through orders of light; the first, unruly fervour must give way to a calmer second fervour, recovered by self-rebuke and prayer.
Letter 13Ammonas · ca. 340-360 · The Spirit, given only to the pure, is the Gospel’s pearl and treasure; those who receive him are tested as Christ and Joseph were, and the four faces of Ezekiel’s creature picture the perfect soul.
Catechetical Lecture 0.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril praises the gifts of baptism and warns of the dragon who lies in wait, urging prayer, vigilance, and resistance to mockery of the rite.
Catechetical Lecture 3.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · After baptism the believer may wrestle with evil powers; as Christ began preaching only after his baptism, so the baptized become sons by adoption, while Christ is Son by nature.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 12Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The twelfth anathema condemns saying that Christ appeared only in seeming; the explanation recounts his human life and passions, and an epilogue urges believers to glorify Father and Spirit, avoid disputes, and believe the mystery of the incarnation without prying into it.
Long recension, Philippians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · The devil, confused by Christ's lowly birth and fast, tempts him to turn stones into bread; but Christ's hunger shows that he truly took a body.
Long recension, Philippians 10Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · The devil, fallen like lightning, tempts Christ to throw himself down, quoting the psalm but suppressing its prophecy of his own defeat.
Long recension, Philippians 11Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · The devil dares to claim the world as his own and to ask Christ to worship him.
Cento, lines 422–445Proba · ca. 360 · Proba declares her devotion to Christ; then the serpent confronts him in the wilderness, questions who he is, and tempts him to throw himself from the height of the temple.
Commentary on Matthew 3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary interprets Christ’s temptation: the devil, unsure of who he was, was defeated by the flesh he could see; then the call of the four fishermen and the Galilean ministry.
Commentary on Matthew 31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · In Gethsemane, Hilary argues against those (who deny the Son’s eternity) who say Christ feared death: his sorrow “even to death” was for the disciples, lest they deny his divinity, and his prayer that the cup pass from him asks that his strength in suffering pass to them.
Life of Antony 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The devil tempted the young Antony with memories, pleasures, and finally sexual thoughts and apparitions, but Antony overcame them by faith, prayer, fasting, and the thought of judgment.
On the Trinity 10.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sorrow and prayer in Gethsemane were for his disciples, who would be offended and needed to watch and pray (Matt 26:31–41).
Letter 42Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Counsel to a young hermit: persevere to the end, advance gradually, avoid relatives, crowds, and money, read Scripture, and answer the thought that urges a return to the city with the evils seen there.
Homilies on the Psalms 1.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil expounds the three steps of Ps 1:1 (counsel, way, seat): sin begins in thought, life is a way in which we cannot stand still, and the pestilent are those who spread their vice to others; he closes promising to continue.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 62Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's sixty-second rule, on preparing for temptation after baptism, not seeking it, fleeing at the right time and answering it from Scripture, with Rule 63 on courage in danger, whose heading the scan lost.
Tractates on the Psalms 63.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · We must pray always, not only when trouble comes, so that God rescues us from the fear of being overcome; faith, not fear, merits mercy.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ’s fasting, temptations, and tears became occasions of reproach; he wept at Lazarus’s tomb over unbelief, and all kinds of people spoke of him.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.1.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Though God lets us be tested, we must pray, as the psalmist and the Lord's Prayer do, not to be forsaken beyond our strength.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.17.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Temptation leads to glory, as with Abraham, Job, and Joseph; the psalmist accepts temptation but fears being ruled by sin.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.17.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Slander from those closest to us, brothers, friends, sons, spouses, is the hardest temptation, as Abel, Noah, Jacob, Job, and David found.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ was proved by humbling himself in baptism, temptation, and the passion, and each time acknowledged: by the Father's voice, by the angels, and at the transfiguration.
Sermon on Baptism 3Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian explains grace as the gift of forgiveness and describes Christ, sinless from his birth, overcoming the devil’s temptations in the wilderness.
Commentary on Ephesians 6.11Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Against the spiritual powers, faith alone in Christ is armor enough, and having it is within the believer’s power; the “evil day” is the time of temptation.
Oration 40.9Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · It is better to keep baptismal grace than to rely on the uncertain remedy of later penance; the baptized, armed with the seal, can repel the devil's temptations as Christ did.
Homilies 6.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Prosperity is a trial like affliction; the rich fool, blessed by God's kindness, answered with miserliness and was as troubled by his plenty as the poor by their want.
Homilies 12.16Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Christians are merchants carrying the cargo of good works; without the skill of steering, years of virtue can be lost in one shipwreck of sin.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · A 'human temptation' is suffering for Christ while trusting God rather than men; the faithful God never lets it exceed what believers can bear.
Question 99, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · “Human temptation” is being tested by people for God’s sake, which is wholesome; “divine temptation” is putting God to the test, which brought death on the Israelites in the wilderness.
Question 118, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Job’s goodness had not yet been tested by suffering, so the tempter asked to try him with many afflictions, as torturers do to force a confession.
Question 118, section 8Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · When Satan struck Job’s body with sores and still could not make him curse God, he tried, as with Adam, to deceive him through his wife.
Question 119, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · God permits trials out of love, to increase our merit and reward, as Paul learned that power is perfected in weakness.
Letter 3.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome describes how Scripture will arm Bonosus against every temptation and prays to share a lowly place among the saints.
Letter 14.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome warns Heliodorus that the Christian is always under attack from the devil and his own passions, even when there is no open persecution.
Letter 22.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome warns Eustochium that the Christian life is a constant spiritual battle, in which God's help is greater than all the enemy's forces.
Letter 22.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome describes in prophetic images the shame of a consecrated virgin who falls, and urges Eustochium to crush sinful thoughts at their first stirring.
Letter 22.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome recounts how, even in the harshest desert life, he was tormented by memories of Rome and sexual temptation, and found relief only in prayer and fasting.
Letter 79.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Salvina to avoid dangerous company, to keep to Scripture and prayer, and explains that first stirrings of passion are unavoidable but must be mastered.
Letter 130.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome praises Proba's generosity amid the sack of Rome and the extortions of the count of Africa, and begins his counsel to Demetrias: love Scripture and keep her baptismal renunciation.
Letter 130.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Demetrias to hold her ground against temptation and to crush sinful thoughts before they become deeds.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 37.2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The devil exploits pleasure and desire.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.58.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Troubling thoughts test us for the kingdom.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.58.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Resist evil thoughts like brave soldiers.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.58.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The devil sends thoughts to test us.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.59.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Since temptation is unavoidable, we must not yield.
On Cain and Abel 1.16Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Christ taught us to resist the snares of gluttony, boasting and ambition by his answers to the devil's three temptations.
On Paradise 9Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · The devil was in paradise by God's permission, and God turns his malice to the good of the saints, as with Job, Joseph and Abraham.
On Paradise 10Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · The devil cannot shut the saints out of heaven; he may tempt but cannot overthrow unless we slip by our own will.
On Paradise 55Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · The devil tempts in many ways: by false wisdom, by feigned friendship, and by open struggle, which Paul resisted like a good athlete.
On the Christian Faith 2.11Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose turns to persuasion: Christ took on flesh, temptation, sorrow, and the curse for our healing, while his divinity shone even on the cross; his being “sent” to Israel did not bind his free will.
Homily 8Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 379–394 · On Eccl 3:8–13 Gregory explains how sense-perception, ruling the mind from infancy, misleads human judgment of the beautiful, so that love must be directed to what is truly lovable (God, and Christ given as food) and hatred to the enemy; he describes the spiritual war against the passions and peace with God, and reads the rest of the passage as teaching that God made all things good and the misuse of free choice turns them to evil.
On the Beatitudes 1237Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · Christ accepted hunger but refused the devil’s suggestion to turn stones into bread, that is, to turn appetite toward what is unnatural; those who load their tables with silver plate and luxury beyond need are “eating stones.”
On the Lord's Prayer 1185Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · All die in Adam and so share his need of forgiveness; but each person’s own conscience suffices, for no one is sinless in sight, hearing, taste, or touch, the “windows” through which death enters the soul.
On the Lord's Prayer 1191Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · We must be able to say truly that we have forgiven; “temptation” and “the evil one” are names for the same enemy, who rules the world, so to pray against temptation is to ask to be kept apart from the world, as one who fears war or the sea keeps away from them.
Chapter 14Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas ends by urging the candidates to keep the creed always in their hearts and to answer the devil’s temptations by renewing their baptismal renunciation.
Eleven Tractates 4.81Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ's answers to the tempter show what Christians must reject during Lent.
On the Complaints of Job and David 2.8Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · After losing goods and health, Job overcame the third trial of hurtful words, and God crowned him victor.
Apology of the Prophet David 36Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · David’s many good works covered his one bloodguilt, which arose not from cruelty but from temptation; his honoring of Abner shows his mildness.
On the Life of Moses 341Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · Since “brother” and “angel” can be used in good and bad senses, the difficulty about Aaron is eased; Moses’ address to the people teaches that one must be trained before teaching, and Pharaoh’s harsher oppression shows how the devil assails new believers.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.45.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The evil powers plot against the righteous and ask leave to tempt them.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.7.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Hope consoles in the time of humiliation, which is the time of temptation.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.11.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David himself was once tempted by the prosperity of sinners.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.39.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Solomon prayed to be spared both riches and poverty, the two greatest temptations.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.47.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · At night the body is heavy and the tempter lays his nets.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.47.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · At night evil spirits tempt with the example of saints who sinned and were forgiven.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.47.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The tempter promises future pardon to urge present sin, then suggests God does not see.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.50.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Midnight is the hour of temptation and of heavenly help, so we must rise and pray.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.32.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David knew that both adversity and prosperity are tests, and stayed humble in both.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.31.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph to adultery and had him imprisoned; then prosperity tempted him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.33.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Daily reading of Scripture is the soul’s training and food against temptation.
Exposition of Psalm 118 17.25.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Joseph was both tempted to adultery and falsely accused of it.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.5.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God lets us be tempted so as to crown those who strive.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.42.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · As Moses alone climbed Sinai, the soul that rises above temptation in contrition draws near to God.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.46.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Inner persecutors that tempt are worse than open tyrants; many martyrs fell to them.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.46.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The inner war against desire is grievous; Paul was freed only by Christ’s grace.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.47.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Every victory over temptation makes one a martyr, a witness of Christ.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.50.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Inner persecutions have their own kings and judges, as in Christ’s temptation.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.20.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The prosperity of the wicked tempts many; only Lot in Sodom resisted, and his wife did not.
Letter 95.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine agrees that one must die to the world, but asks how to live among worldly people without being drawn into their pleasures, and notes the temptation of inner self-praise.
Letter 140.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · As with Job, the devil first attacks external goods and then the body, so as to reach the goods of the mind; Job spoke differently when the tribulation came near.
Letter 218.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine tells Palatinus that prayer itself shows our need of God's help to resist temptation, and that the beginning and completion of the good life are God's gifts.
Homilies on Matthew 8.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · God's deceiving of Herod, like his despoiling of Egypt, displays his power; the flight to Egypt fulfills Hos 11:1, signals the conversion of Egypt and Babylon, and teaches that spiritual service brings trials; God alternates joys and dangers; prophecy often finds fulfillment in later persons.
Homilies on Matthew 10.7John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Closing exhortation of Homily 10: persevere in prayer, for God delays and permits trials to draw us to himself, as parents frighten wandering children back to their arms; the saints shone in trials; bear afflictions with thanksgiving.
Homilies on Matthew 13.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is led by the Spirit into the wilderness after his baptism to teach the baptized that temptation follows grace, that it should not be sought, and that fasting is the weapon against the devil.
Homilies on Matthew 13.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ fasts forty days, no more, to avoid making the incarnation incredible, and answers the devil’s first temptation, which played on his hunger and flattered him as Son of God, with Scripture.
Homilies on Matthew 13.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ refuses the second temptation, exposing the devil’s misuse of the psalm, and dismisses him at the third when he claims the kingdoms of the world as his own.
Homilies on Matthew 13.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The three temptations sum up all temptation (belly, vainglory, greed), the devil works also through people, and as with Job he uses both wealth and poverty, but is overcome by refusing him in deed as well as word.
Homilies on Matthew 28.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ takes only the disciples into the storm to train them; he sleeps so that their fear may make them feel the miracle, rebukes their little faith before calming the sea, and the calm reveals him as God.
Homilies on Matthew 42.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Each night, alone on his bed, a Christian should judge his own thoughts and deeds; instead we let evil thoughts defile the soul like adulterers, though even the easy parts of virtue, such as not speaking evil, cost no toil.
Homilies on Matthew 83.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · In Gethsemane Christ prays apart, rebukes Peter and the sleeping disciples for their weakness, and by his sorrow, sweat and repeated prayer shows the truth of his humanity, while his “not as I will, but as you will” teaches us to follow God even when nature resists.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.21.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Sudden suggestions from the enemy are not yet guilt; deliberate thoughts are.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.37.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ passed through four temptations, figured by the four rivers.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.38.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · To return to paradise one must cross these rivers of temptation.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.21.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The arrows are the Lord's because he permits the devil to test us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.22.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Temptation is like the sword of God's word, which pierced even Mary's soul.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.41.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Peter was winnowed by Satan and denied Christ in word, but was grounded the more firmly in heart.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.41.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Peter’s tears washed his fault, and the temptation won him Christ’s intercession; the devil’s temptations make the saints better.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.73.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Even the righteous stagger, and God allows their testing so that they may be proved.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.84.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The righteous ask for help when tempted, as the apostles woke Christ in the storm, as if praying this psalm.
On Genesis against the Manichaeans 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 388–390 · The serpent is the devil, who approaches not bodily but through suggestions; every sin follows the same pattern as the first, suggestion (serpent), delight (woman), and the consent of reason (man).
On Genesis against the Manichaeans 2.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 388–390 · The serpent's eating earth signifies his hold on earthly sinners or the temptation of curiosity; enmity is set with the woman because the devil tempts only through the soul's lower part, and the two seeds are evil suggestion and good work.
Tractates on Matthew 14.7Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains the petitions against temptation and evil, sums up the Lord's Prayer, and stresses that forgiveness depends on forgiving others.
On True Religion 38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Augustine argues that even those who worship nothing are slaves to the threefold desire of pleasure, pride and curiosity (1 John 2:16), which Christ overcame in his three temptations.
Life of Malchus 3Jerome · ca. 390–392 · Malchus tells how he fled marriage to become a monk at Chalcis, and later left the monastery against his abbot's pleading to claim his inheritance.
Sermon 2.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against those who reject the Old Testament because God "tempted" Abraham, Augustine points out that Christ also "tempted" Philip, to bring out what was in him.
Sermon 2.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God tempts not to learn but to reveal to a man what is hidden in him; the devil tempts to deceive, but has power only if given room.
Sermon 4.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The exodus is a figure of baptism: sins are drowned like the Egyptians, and the baptized walk through this world's desert in hope, resisting temptations, toward the homeland.
Sermon 15.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The world is a furnace in which the wicked are chaff, the good are gold, and tribulation is the fire; trusting God's mercy, the righteous ask to be tested, for God gives a way out by enabling them to endure.
Sermon 32.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · When threats tempt us to sin, we should remember that God either averts the danger or permits it for our good, as with the three young men in the furnace and the Maccabean martyrs.
Sermon 46.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The weak are strengthened by being warned that temptations will come, not by promises of worldly prosperity; their model is Christ’s sufferings.
Sermon 46.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Bad shepherds promise worldly happiness and so build on sand; God scourges every son he receives, as he scourged his sinless Son; the weak must be told to expect trials, and the frightened that God will not let them be tempted beyond their strength.
Sermon 56.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The petition for forgiveness covers past sins, which cannot be undone; the petitions against temptation and evil guard against future ones.
Sermon 57.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God tempts no one to evil, though he tests; but by hidden judgment he abandons some to the tempter; after baptism concupiscence remains, and we must fight it within, asking God not to abandon us.
Sermon 57.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “Lead us not into temptation” and “deliver us from evil,” joined by “but,” form one petition.
Sermon 57.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Other sins can be healed through the petition for forgiveness; but the desire for revenge is a dreadful temptation, because it destroys the very means of being forgiven.
Sermon 58.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Temptation conceives sin only by our consent; we must refuse concupiscence its embrace, for we leave behind what we sin for and carry the sin itself into death.
Sermon 63.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In every temptation we should wake Christ, whom wind and sea obey, and obey him ourselves, so as to sail in calm to our homeland.
Sermon 81.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A stumbling block is a dear one who urges evil, as Peter urged Christ not to suffer; such a member must be “cut off” by refusing consent.
Sermon 91.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The devil slanders even the good to make the weak despair of virtue, but in Job’s case his charge failed, for Job proved that he loved God freely.
Sermon 115.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The parable of the unjust judge teaches persistent prayer, which springs from faith and in turn strengthens faith; the faith Christ asked whether he would find on earth is perfect faith, which even the apostles lacked.
Sermon 123.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s humility is the medicine for human pride; he who changed water into wine at the wedding refused to turn stones into bread at the devil’s suggestion, because his disciples would believe but the devil would not.
Sermon 125.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Temptation tests whether one possesses innocently, as recent troubles showed when some who had listened gladly turned to abuse; Augustine must pay out God’s word or be condemned as the lazy servant, and God, not the preacher, will question each heart.
Sermon 128.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Since desires cannot yet be removed, sin must not be allowed to reign: by the Spirit we hold back our members from serving lust, which, finding no consent, learns not to rise.
Sermon 210.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's baptism by John is inferior to Christian baptism, as circumcision and the old Passover are to their fulfilments; his fast after baptism teaches us to fast in times of temptation.
Sermon 210.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In this present night, exiled from Christ and beset by the devil, the roaring lion, believers must mourn, fast, and pray.
Sermon 256.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Even amid temptation Alleluia must be sung, for God is faithful; then the risen body will be immortal and the praise secure, but now we sing like travelers, to console our labor as we walk on in good.
Sermon 318.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The martyrs overcame not only the world's delights but its torments, fighting against the sin of denying Christ to the point of blood, as Susanna and Joseph resisted adultery; denying the truth is adultery of the heart, the corruption that began with Eve, and the martyrs turned her punishment, death, into victory.
The Lord's Sermon on the Mount 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393–396 · Augustine explains the sixth petition as a prayer not to be led into temptation, not to escape all testing, answers the heretics’ objections from God’s testing and from Job, and explains the seventh petition as deliverance from the evil we are already in.
Against Jovinianus 2.1Jerome · 393 · Jerome states Jovinian's second proposition: the baptized cannot be tempted by the devil.
Against Jovinianus 2.3Jerome · 393 · Jerome gathers New Testament texts showing that the baptized can be tempted, fall, and repent, against Jovinian, Montanus, and Novatian.
Against Jovinianus 2.4Jerome · 393 · Jerome gives Old Testament examples of holy men who sinned after God's favor, and describes the devil's power from Job, to show that the baptized must still guard against temptation.
Confessions 10.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Not yet full of God, Augustine finds life a constant trial in both prosperity and adversity.
Confessions 10.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Though he has renounced sexual relations, Augustine confesses that sexual images still trouble him in dreams.
Confessions 10.54Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Curiosity, the "lust of the eyes," is a desire to experience and know through the senses.
Confessions 10.57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Curiosity about trivial things, a hare hunted or a spider with flies, distracts Augustine even at prayer.
Confessions 10.61Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine is pleased by praise and wonders whether his pleasure is for his neighbor's good or his own.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that Abraham protected his own life by human means rather than tempting God, as Christ and Paul fled danger, and entrusted Sarah's chastity to God.
On the Trinity 12.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Errors in temporal action made with a good will are human temptations, but setting one's final good in bodily things is a spiritual fornication into which the soul slides by degrees.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Matthew and Luke narrate the temptation in different orders, Mark only briefly; the order is uncertain but does not matter.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 11.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine confesses he cannot fathom why God allowed the temptation, but suggests that a virtue never tested would win little praise, and that God rightly uses even evil wills.
On Holy Virginity 53Augustine of Hippo · 401 · Augustine urges virgins to follow the Lamb humbly, trusting God to keep his gifts, praying against temptation, and confessing their sins.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 43.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · God tempts to prove, not to deceive; he tempts “that he may know” in the sense of making us know ourselves, as with Job, by a common figure of speech.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's prayer in his trouble teaches the tempted to set God's will above their own, as he did in Gethsemane and as Peter did in martyrdom.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The devil still attacks believers from without but cannot reign within, and God heals and guards them through Christ and prayer.
Against Vigilantius 16Jerome · 406 · Jerome defends flight to the desert as a means of avoiding temptation.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Christ was tempted by the devil in the same three ways and answered each from Scripture; we too must resist them and love God, for each person becomes like what he loves.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.4Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Concupiscence remains after baptism without guilt, harming only those who consent to it; the Lord's Prayer asks forgiveness for past consent, help against present temptation, and final deliverance from concupiscence.
City of God 9.21Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that Christ made himself known to the demons not as eternal light but by signs of power, enough to terrify them, and that Satan tempted him because he was not sure who he was.
City of God 14.9Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Citizens of God's city rightly fear, desire, grieve, and rejoice out of charity, as Paul and Christ himself did; Stoic apatheia belongs not to this life but, as freedom from fear and grief, to the life to come, where love and joy remain.
City of God 19.10Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine says that the saints' struggle with temptation makes them long for the final peace, in which body and soul will be perfected and virtue will no longer fight, and that true virtue refers everything to that end.
City of God 22.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Besides the common evils, the righteous must fight constantly against their own vices by God's grace, and still pray for forgiveness, until in the kingdom there will be neither battles nor debts.
On Nature and Grace 68Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine agrees with Pelagius that the devil flees those who resist him, but insists that resistance itself requires prayer for God's help, which the Pelagian stress on the will takes away.
On Nature and Grace 80Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine owns the passage of his On Free Choice cited by Pelagius, but explains that sin is avoided only with God's help, sought in the Lord's Prayer both to prevent and to heal it.
Apologetic Book 16.4Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Christ was tempted again; Pelagius claims to be beyond temptation.
The Institutes 5.16John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Only those who have conquered gluttony may face the spiritual powers; Paul's words "no temptation but what is human" are a rebuke, not a wish.
The Conferences 1.19John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Thoughts come from three sources, God, the devil, and ourselves, each illustrated from Scripture.
The Conferences 1.20John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Like skilled money-changers, monks must test every thought and teaching for its true metal, its lawful stamp, and its weight, since the devil disguises harmful projects, even pious ones, as good.
The Conferences 2.13John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Not every old man is a sound elder: Moses tells how an elder crushed a young monk struggling with lust, until Abba Apollo prayed that the elder himself be assailed, teaching him compassion.
The Conferences 3.17John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Paul teaches that our endurance in temptation and our fitness for every good work come from God.
The Conferences 4.6John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · David prayed not to be forsaken “utterly,” knowing that brief desertion by God is useful for humility and training, as God left the Canaanite nations to train Israel.
The Conferences 5.6John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ, the second Adam, was tempted in the same vices as the first Adam, gluttony, vainglory, and pride (or, in Luke's order, love of money and pride), but not in the passions that follow from sin; he came in the likeness of sinful flesh.
The Conferences 6.11John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Temptations come for testing, for purification, for punishment of sins, or to reveal God's glory; some sinners are beyond correction and are abandoned, and some are punished in this life as a warning to others.
The Conferences 10.10John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Isaac gives the verse “O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me” as the formula for continual remembrance of God, shows how it fits every temptation and every consolation, and urges that it be repeated at all times, even in sleep.
The Conferences 13.14John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · God tests people as he did Job, the centurion, and Abraham, not shielding them so completely that no room is left for their own strength; like a nurse teaching a child to walk, he supports, lets them struggle, and rescues them.
The Conferences 18.13John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Piamun teaches that patience rests on humility, not on solitude, and is proven in trials, as the parable of the two houses shows.
The Conferences 19.16John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · John answers that lust, unlike anger, must be starved of every memory, and that only the fully mature may test their chastity by an imagined temptation, and ends the conference at the ninth hour.
The Conferences 20.9John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Pinufius forbids deliberately recalling past sins, which defiles the mind and can rekindle pleasure; such memories must be fled at once and the mind raised to heavenly things.
The Conferences 22.9John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Theonas distinguishes being holy, that is, consecrated to God, from being sinless, which belongs to Christ alone, who was tempted like us but without sin.
The Conferences 22.10John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ was tempted like us by gluttony, vainglory, and pride in the desert, by the offer of kingship, and by the sufferings of his passion, yet always without sin.
The Conferences 24.17John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The devil attacks each soul at its weakest part, as Balaam did Israel through lust and the Syrians deceived Ahab through vain mercy; he tempted Christ in all three parts but found nothing to seize.
The Conferences 24.25John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Temptation brings greater reward, and the Lord’s road, though it seems hard, gives rest to those who take his yoke humbly; it is our own worldly ways that make it heavy, as a comparison of monastic peace with worldly cares shows.
In Praise of the Desert 22Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 427-428 · Christ, though sinless, was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert after his baptism, an example for sinners.
Instructions 1.64Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · God's cold signifies temptations.
On the Gift of Perseverance 6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Answering the objection that perseverance must be able to be merited by prayer and lost by obstinacy, Augustine argues that perseverance to the end, once given, cannot be lost, and that “Lead us not into temptation” asks God to keep us from the temptation of our own evil will.
Sermon on the Barbarian Time 6Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Job conquered temptation and blessed God when he lost everything; (chapter 7) in the parable of the prodigal son the younger son is the repentant robber on the cross and the elder son Peter, who denied and was restored, and all may enter paradise through Christ’s opened side.