The Institutes, Book V

Book V

• The Institutes V.1 — The transition from the Institutes of the monks to the struggle against the eight principal faults. The transition from the Institutes of the monks to the struggle against the eight principal faults. This fifth book…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.2 — How the occasions of these faults, being found in everybody, are ignored by everybody; and how we need the Lord's help to make them plain. How the occasions of these faults, being found in everybody, are ignored by…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.3 — How our first struggle must be against the spirit of gluttony, i.e. the pleasures of the palate. How our first struggle must be against the spirit of gluttony, i.e. the pleasures of the palate. And so the first…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.4 — The testimony of Abbot Antony in which he teaches that each virtue ought to be sought for from him who professes it in a special degree. The testimony of Abbot Antony in which he teaches that each virtue ought to be…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.5 — That one and the same rule of fasting cannot be observed by everybody. And so on the manner of fasting a uniform rule cannot easily be observed, because everybody has not the same strength; nor is it like the rest of…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.6 — That the mind is not intoxicated by wine alone. The belly when filled with all kinds of food gives birth to seeds of wantonness, nor can the mind, when choked with the weight of food, keep the guidance and government…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.7 — How bodily weakness need not interfere with purity of heart. Bodily weakness is no hindrance to purity of heart, if only so much food is taken as the bodily weakness requires, and not what pleasure asks for. It is…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.8 — How food should be taken with regard to the aim at perfect continence. And so it is a very true and most excellent saying of the Fathers that the right method of fasting and abstinence lies in the measure of…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.9 — Of the measure of the chastisement to be undertaken, and the remedy of fasting. The perfection then of abstinence is not to be gathered from calculations of time alone, nor only from the quality of the food; but…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.10 — That abstinence from food is not of itself sufficient for preservation of bodily and mental purity. That abstinence from food is not of itself sufficient for preservation of bodily and mental purity. In order to…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.11 — That bodily lusts are not extinguished except by the entire rooting out of vice. For it is an impossibility that the fiery motions of the body can be extinguished, before the incentives of the other chief vices are…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.12 — That in our spiritual contest we ought to draw an example from the carnal contests. “One who strives in the games is not crowned unless he has contended lawfully.” One who wants to extinguish the natural desires of…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.13 — That we cannot enter the battle of the inner man unless we have been set free from the vice of gluttony. That we cannot enter the battle of the inner man unless we have been set free from the vice of gluttony. We…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.14 — How gluttonous desires can be overcome. First then we must trample under foot gluttonous desires, and to this end the mind must be reduced not only by fasting, but also by vigils, by reading, and by frequent…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.15 — How a monk must always be eager to preserve his purity of heart. It is like the case when one endeavours to strike some mighty prize of virtue on high, pointed out by some very small mark; with the keenest eyesight…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.16 — How, after the fashion of the Olympic games, a monk should not attempt spiritual conflicts unless he has won battles over the flesh. How, after the fashion of the Olympic games, a monk should not attempt spiritual…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.17 — That the foundation and basis of the spiritual combat must be laid in the struggle against gluttony. That the foundation and basis of the spiritual combat must be laid in the struggle against gluttony. Would you like…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.18 — Of the number of different conflicts and victories through which the blessed Apostle ascended to the crown of the highest combat. Of the number of different conflicts and victories through which the blessed Apostle…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.19 — That the athlete of Christ, so long as he is in the body, is never without a battle. The athlete of Christ, as long as he is in the body, is never in want of a victory to be gained in contests: but in proportion as…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.20 — How a monk should not overstep the proper hours for taking food, if he wants to proceed to the struggle of interior conflicts. How a monk should not overstep the proper hours for taking food, if he wants to proceed…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.21 — Of the inward peace of a monk, and of spiritual abstinence. For it is not an external enemy whom we have to dread. Our foe is shut up within ourselves: an internal warfare is daily waged by us: and if we are…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.22 — That we should for this reason practise bodily abstinence that we may by it attain to a spiritual fast. That we should for this reason practise bodily abstinence that we may by it attain to a spiritual fast. And so…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.23 — What should be the character of the monk's food. We should then choose for our food, not only that which moderates the heat of burning lust, and avoids kindling it; but what is easily got ready, and what is…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.24 — How in Egypt we saw that the daily fast was broken without scruple on our arrival. When we had come from the region of Syria and had sought the province of Egypt, in our desire to learn the rules of the Elders, we…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.25 — Of the abstinence of one old man who took food six times so sparingly that he was still hungry. Of the abstinence of one old man who took food six times so sparingly that he was still hungry. When one of the elders…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.26 — Of another old man, who never partook of food alone in his cell. We have seen another who lived alone, who declared that he had never enjoyed food by himself alone, but that even if for five days running none of the…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.27 — What the two Abbots Pæsius and John said of the fruits of their zeal. When the aged John, who was superior of a large monastery and of a quantity of brethren, had come to visit the aged Pæsius, who was living in a…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.28 — The lesson and example which Abbot John when dying left to his disciples. When the same old man, as one who was readily going to depart to his own, was lying at his last gasp, and the brethren were standing round,…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.29 — Of Abbot Machetes, who never slept during the spiritual conferences, but always went to sleep during earthly tales. Of Abbot Machetes, who never slept during the spiritual conferences, but always went to sleep during…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.30 — A saying of the same old man about not judging any one. The same old man, when he was teaching us that no one ought to judge another, remarked that there were three points on which he had charged and rebuked the…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.31 — The same old man’s rebuke when he saw how the brethren went to sleep during the spiritual conferences, and woke up when some idle story was told. The same old man made clear by this proof that it was the devil who…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.32 — Of the letters which were burnt without being read. Nor do I think it less needful to relate this act of a brother who was intent on purity of heart, and extremely anxious with regard to the contemplation of things…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.33 — Of the solution of a question which Abbot Theodore obtained by prayer. We knew also Abbot Theodore, a man gifted with the utmost holiness and with perfect knowledge not only in practical life, but also in…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.34 — Of the saying of the same old man, through which he taught by what efforts a monk can acquire a knowledge of the Scriptures. Of the saying of the same old man, through which he taught by what efforts a monk can…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.35 — A rebuke of the same old man, when he had come to my cell in the middle of the night. The same Theodore came unexpectedly to my cell in the dead of night, with paternal inquisitiveness seeking what I—an unformed…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.36 — A description of the desert in Diolcos, where the anchorites live. And so when we had come, while still beginners, from the monasteries of Palestine, to a city of Egypt called Diolcos, and were contemplating a large…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.37 — Of the cells which Abbot Archebius gave up to us with their furniture. Having then seen this, as we were inflamed with the desire of imitating them, the aforesaid Archebius, the most famous among them for the grace…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.38 — The same Archebius paid a debt of his mother's by the labour of his own hands. It seems to me worth while to hand down another charitable act of the same man, that the monks of our land may be taught by the example…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.39 — Of the device of a certain old man by which some work was found for Abbot Simeon when he had nothing to do. Of the device of a certain old man by which some work was found for Abbot Simeon when he had nothing to do.…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.40 — Of the boys who when bringing to a sick man some figs, died in the desert from hunger, without having tasted them. Of the boys who when bringing to a sick man some figs, died in the desert from hunger, without having…vatican.va
• The Institutes V.41 — The saying of Abbot Macarius of the behaviour of a monk as one who was to live for a long while, and as one who was daily at the point of death. There is still one valuable charge of the blessed Macarius to be…vatican.va