Work and idleness in the early church

Labour, idleness, and earning one's living, including the work of monks. Part of Ethics.

Didache 12.3Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Settlers with a trade must work for their food.
Didache 12.4Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Find work for settlers without a trade.
Didache 12.5Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Those unwilling to work are exploiting Christ.
1 Clement 33.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Faith is no excuse for idleness; hurry to do good.
The Instructor 3.10.51Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Reading aloud and plain wrestling are good exercise, not for rivalry or show; in exercise as in everything, the mean between idleness and excess is best.
On Idolatry 5Tertullian · ca. 196–211 · Idol-makers' excuses, that they must earn a living, that Paul told each to remain as he was called, or that Moses made the bronze serpent, do not excuse them.
On Idolatry 8Tertullian · ca. 196–211 · Craftsmen who build or furnish temples share the guilt of idolatry, but they can earn a living through the many other uses of their skills, and must refuse knowingly to make anything for idols.
Didascalia 2.60 (English)Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 2.63Anonymous · first half of the third century
Instructions 2.31Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The healthy poor should work, be humble toward the powerful, and give from their labor, like the widow in the Gospel.
Fragment E III (on Ecclesiastes)Dionysius of Alexandria · ca. 248–265 · Fragments of a commentary on Ecclesiastes 1–4: true advantage lies in toil ‘above the sun’; worldly wisdom and pleasure are vanity; only God's wisdom stands fast; the wise man fixes the eyes of his mind on Christ; and the ‘times’ of chapter 3 are read of passion and resurrection, law and gospel.
Canon 19Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · Clergy are not to travel for trade; they may trade through agents or within their own province.
Church History 3.20.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Hegesippus (quoted): they owned only a small farm, which they worked themselves.
Preparation for the Gospel 8.11.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Each works diligently from dawn to dusk.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 34.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Diogenes and the Cynics chose begging over honest work.
Life of Antony 3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Antony placed his sister with consecrated virgins, began an ascetic life near his village, learned from older ascetics, worked, prayed, and memorized the Scriptures.
Life of Antony 50Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Antony made the mountain his home, grew his own grain and vegetables so as not to burden others, and gently commanded the wild beasts to stop damaging his crops.
Hexaemeron 3.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Basil opens the second day, assuring the working people in his audience that time lent to God is repaid.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 2:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul worked with his hands day and night to set a pattern for Christian life and to expose idle false apostles.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul urges quiet, industrious lives with their own hands so that their conduct may win the respect of unbelievers.
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:7–9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul worked for his own bread, though entitled to support, to give a pattern of freedom that makes a preacher’s words respected.
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Teachers must practice what they preach, and the poor should work to keep their freedom rather than living by flattery at others’ tables.
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The idle go about as gossips to win meals in rich houses, making their belly their god.
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The idle are to work quietly; the generous must keep doing good; and the disobedient are to be shunned without insult and admonished as brothers until they amend.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:28Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The former thief must not only stop stealing but work to give to the needy, which alone earns merit.
Letter 125.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome tells Rusticus not to live with his mother, to read and pray constantly, and to keep busy with manual work—gardening, basket-weaving, bee-keeping, copying books—as the Egyptian monasteries require.
Letter 130.15Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome sets out a daily rule for Demetrias: fixed hours of prayer, memorizing and reading Scripture, and working wool with her own hands.
On Paradise 77Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Not man but the serpent is cursed; the earth is cursed in our works, bearing thorns unless tilled, and by labour we eat bread and reap what we sow.
Apostolic Constitutions 1.4.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Believers should not roam the streets prying, but work at their trade and meditate on Christ’s words.
Apostolic Constitutions 1.5.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Even the rich must not wander idly, but converse with fellow believers about life-giving words.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.4.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Proverbs on the sluggard is quoted.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.4.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Idleness and drunkenness bring poverty.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.36.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Honour God with the fruit of honest work.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.63.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Younger members must work to support themselves and the needy, as the apostles themselves did.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.63.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Solomon points the idle to the industrious ant.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.63.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · More sayings of Scripture against idleness.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.63.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Idleness is hateful to God; whoever will not work should not eat.
Apostolic Constitutions 4.4.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Those who take alms through idleness or pretence rob the poor.
Homilies on Matthew 8.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Closing exhortation of Homily 8: Egypt, once worshiping cats and onions, now has monks who work with their hands to feed the poor and shame wealthy Christians; Antony's Life proves the truth of the faith; no birthplace or ancestry excuses us from virtue.
Homilies on Matthew 35.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ asks his disciples to hate even their own lives and promises rich rewards to those who receive them, even for a cup of cold water; Chrysostom then rebukes those who give to entertainers but abuse the poor as idle.
Homilies on Matthew 35.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Paul’s “if anyone will not work, let him not eat” was addressed to the idle, not to the givers, who are told not to grow weary in doing good; the poor should not be insulted for their importunity.
Sermon 103.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Martha received the Lord in the flesh while Mary chose to be fed by him; Christ still receives hospitality in the least of his own, and he judged that of the two good offices Mary chose the one thing needful.
Homily 15.1 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains why Paul refuses to enroll younger widows and wishes them to remarry: remarriage is not forbidden and is better than broken vows and idle gossip.
The Lord's Sermon on the Mount 2.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393–396 · Augustine explains that providing for necessities is not forbidden, as the examples of Christ’s purse and Paul’s collections and manual work show, provided one does not serve God for the sake of these things.
On the Work of Monks 1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine writes at the request of Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, on whether monks who refuse to work, contrary to 2 Thess 3:10, should be tolerated.
On the Work of Monks 2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The monks who refuse manual work argue from Matt 6:25–34 that Paul's command in 2 Thess 3:10 refers only to spiritual work, such as reading, prayer, and encouraging others.
On the Work of Monks 3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The monks' figurative reading of Paul could as easily be turned against their literal reading of the gospel; Paul's other letters make plain that he meant bodily work.
On the Work of Monks 4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · In 2 Thess 3:6–12 Paul, who had a right to be supported but worked night and day, commands those who walk in disorder to work quietly and eat their own bread.
On the Work of Monks 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul's question whether only he and Barnabas lack the right not to work shows that the other apostles rightly lived by the gospel without manual work, while these two chose to work.
On the Work of Monks 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul refused the right to reap material support for spiritual sowing, so he must have earned his food by manual work.
On the Work of Monks 13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul refused support from the Thessalonians and Corinthians and worked with his hands, as he also told the Ephesian presbyters, to cut off any pretext of greed and spare the weak.
On the Work of Monks 14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul's trade is secondary; he did honest work such as craftsmen and farmers do, which neither Jews, Greeks, nor the church despise, since the patriarchs were shepherds and Joseph a carpenter.
On the Work of Monks 15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul worked day and night while carrying the care of all the churches, unlike these monks who, living at leisure, ask when he found time to work.
On the Work of Monks 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul urged the faithful to support servants of God who are in need, and assured Timothy, too weak for manual work, that taking support from those he served was his right, not begging.
On the Work of Monks 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Monks who say they are occupied with prayer, psalms, and reading can sing psalms while working with their hands, and should obey the apostle whom they read.
On the Work of Monks 21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Not all monks can teach, and those who can should do so in turn; Paul himself, as Acts shows, kept set times for preaching and worked at others.
On the Work of Monks 22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Acts 18 records that Paul was a tentmaker; weakness, real or feigned, may be borne with, but the doctrine that manual work is contrary to the gospel is an error that misleads the weak.
On the Work of Monks 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Those who gave up wealth may be excused from manual work for weakness, but many monks now come from slavery, farming, or crafts and use a misread gospel to avoid work.
On the Work of Monks 26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Idle monks become busybodies like the idle younger widows of 1 Tim 5:13 and corrupt vigorous novices by their talk, mocking those who work.
On the Work of Monks 27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The monks who cite the birds of the sky keep storehouses, grind, cook, and draw water, which birds do not do, and expect others to serve them as no one serves birds.
On the Work of Monks 31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The monks rightly cite Christ's purse, the famine relief, and Paul's collection to justify storing for tomorrow, and so cannot use Matt 6 to justify idleness.
On the Work of Monks 33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Former rich men in monasteries may be excused manual work but should work if they can, to shame the lazy; those who worked before entering have no excuse, for senators must not labor while peasants live in ease.
On the Work of Monks 35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · The birds and lilies teach trust in God's providence, not refusal to work; just as the apostles fled persecution rather than tempt God, those who can work should not expect to be fed like birds.
On the Work of Monks 37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Augustine insists that he lays no burden he would not bear, for he would rather work with his hands than spend his days judging disputes as bishops must, and he urges the monks to obey Paul.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 8.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Adam was placed in paradise to work it, not with the toil of punishment but with the delight of farming, which shows that God gives the growth.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 122.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The apostles were free to earn their living by their trade, as Paul did, since living from the Gospel was a right and not a command.
The Institutes 2.12John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The monks sit during the psalms because they are worn out by work and fasting, and after the office continue praying in their cells until dawn.
The Institutes 2.14John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Manual work anchors the wandering mind in the cell, so that work and meditation support each other.
The Institutes 5.39John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · An elder commissioned a useless Latin copy of Paul's letters from the Italian monk Symeon so that he could support him without shaming him.
The Institutes 10.2John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Acedia makes the monk hate his cell and brothers, long for other monasteries, feel hungry and tired at midday, watch the sun, and invent pious reasons to go visiting.
The Institutes 10.7John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Cassian expounds 1 Thess 4:9–12 and 2 Thess 3:6–7: Paul gently, then sternly, rebukes idleness as the source of restlessness, meddling, dishonour, and greed.
The Institutes 10.8John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Paul, though entitled to live by the gospel, worked night and day for his bread; how much more should monks, who preach nothing, work.
The Institutes 10.9John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Silvanus and Timothy worked as Paul did, putting to shame idle monks who burden others.
The Institutes 10.10John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Paul gave up his right to support in order to be an example of work.
The Institutes 10.11John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Paul also taught plainly: whoever will not work shall not eat.
The Institutes 10.12John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Paul's command "let him not eat" is an apostolic sentence meant to force the idle to work through fear of hunger.
The Institutes 10.13John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Paul names the disease of the idle: restlessness, rooted in not working and branching into meddling.
The Institutes 10.14John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Paul's single remedy for all these ills is to work quietly and eat one's own bread.
The Institutes 10.17John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Paul commanded manual work in Ephesians and practised it at Corinth as a tentmaker with Aquila and Priscilla.
The Institutes 10.18John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · At Miletus Paul told the Ephesian presbyters he had worked for himself and his companions, to teach them to support the weak by their own labour.
The Institutes 10.19John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · "More blessed to give" means giving from one's own labour; the idle, by Paul's sentence, are unworthy even of bread.
The Institutes 10.20John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · An idle monk drove away zealous newcomers by persuading them to leave with him and then staying behind himself.
The Institutes 10.21John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Solomon condemns idleness as the source of poverty, rags, thorns, and desires; the idle misuse sayings about spiritual food to excuse themselves.
The Institutes 10.22John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Egyptian monks never allow idleness, and from their labour they feed guests, famine-stricken Libya, and prisoners.
The Institutes 10.23John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Gallic monasteries stay small because they do not live by their own work; a working monk faces one demon, an idle one countless.
The Institutes 10.24John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Abba Paul of Porphyrio worked daily at weaving palm leaves he could not sell and burned the year's work, solely to keep his heart pure and conquer acedia.
The Conferences 10.14John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Isaac names vigils, meditation, and prayer, supported by work and freedom from cares, as what steadies the mind; Cassian reflects that the single-verse method proved harder than it looked but is open to the unlearned.
The Conferences 24.2John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Abraham tells them their longing shows they have not truly renounced the world; the monks of Scete could have had comfort from families, patrons, the Nile, or gardens, but chose hardship for eternal gain, renouncing daily.
The Conferences 24.4John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Even hermits of the remote deserts of Calamus and Porphyrion, who farm in the open, cannot bear the cell and silence of Scete, because outdoor work has let their thoughts run loose.
The Conferences 24.11John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Abraham cites Antony, who told a monk living on his family’s support that he would share their lot in the next world, that their fortunes would drag his mind to earthly things, and that he was cheating himself of the reward of manual labor that Paul modeled.
The Conferences 24.12John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Antony adds that a healthy monk living on others’ gifts takes alms meant for the weak, since all food not earned by one’s own hands is charity (agape); so the monks chose barren desert where no one owns the land and nothing tempts them to farm.