Attaining Purity & Its Importance
Bible Verses on Purity:
2 Corinthians 6: 6-9
By purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor; by evil report and good report, as deceivers, and yet true, as unknown, behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
1 Timothy 4: 12
Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to be the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 5: 1-2
Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
Psalm 86: 11
Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you.
1 Corinthians 5: 8
So let us celebrate the festival, not by eating the old bread of wickedness and evil, but by eating the new bread of purity and truth.
2 Corinthians 7: 1
Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete purity because we fear God.
1 Timothy 6: 14
that you obey his commands with all purity. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
John Cassian
Conferences Conference 1
Page 39 Paragraphs 5, & 6
In the same fashion the objective of our life is the kingdom of God, but we should carefully ask what we should aim for. If we do not look very carefully into this we will ware ourselves out in useless strivings. For those who travel without a marked road there is the toil of the journey-and no arrival at a destination.
Seeing our amazement at all this, the old man resumed: As we have said, the aim of our profession is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. But our point of reference, our objective is a clean heart, without which it is impossible for anyone to reach our target. If we keep to this point of reference we will proceed with all assurance, as though a carefully drawn line. If our minds wander a little from this we can come back to it again and keep our eye on it, using it as a standard by which to give ourselves sure guidance. This standard will draw our efforts toward the one point and will serve as a warning to us if our minds waver even a little from the proposed route.
Everything should be done and sought after by us for the sake of this. For this we must seek for solitude, for this we know that we ought to submit to fastings, vigils, toils, bodily [nakedness, reading, and all other virtues that through them we may be enabled to prepare our heart and to keep it unharmed by all evil passions, and resting on these steps to mount to the perfection of charity, and with regard to these observances, if by accident we have been employed in some good and useful occupation and have been unable to carry out our customary discipline, we should not be overcome by vexation or anger, or passion, with the object of overcoming which, we were going to do that which we have omitted. For the gain from fasting will not balance the loss from anger, nor is the profit from reading so great as the harm which results from despising a brother. Those things which are of secondary importance, such as fastings, vigils, withdrawal from the world, meditation on Scripture, we ought to practise with a view to our main object, i.e., purity of heart, which is charity, and we ought not on their account to drive away this main virtue, for as long as it is still found in us intact and unharmed.
Book IV Page 77 Paragraphs 1, & 4
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They told of the abbot Macarius that if he were making
holiday with the brethren, and wine was brought, and he
drank for the brethrens sake, he set this bond upon himself
that for one cup of wine, he would drink no water for a whole
day. And the brethren, eager to give him pleasure, would
bring him wine. And the old man would take it joyously, to
torment himself thereafter. But his disciple, knowing the reason,
said to the brethren, For Gods sake do not give it him, for he
brings under his body with torments thereafter in his cell. And
the brethren when they know it gave him wine no more.
The abbot Hyperichius said, The monk that cannot master
his tongue in time of anger will not be master of the passions
of his body at some other time.
Page 78 Paragraphs 3, & 4
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At one time a brother went to visit his sister that lay ill in
the convent. Now she was of great devotion. And being unwilling
ever to see man, or to bring her brother into temptation by his
coming for her sake into the midst of women, she sent him word,
saying, Go, my brother, and pray for me: for by Christs grace I
shall see thee in the kingdom of heaven.
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A monk met the handmaids of God upon a certain road,
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and at the sight of them he turned out of the way.
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And the Abbess said to him, Hadst thou been a perfect monk
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thou wouldst not have looked so close as to perceive that
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A certain brother was going on a journey, and he had his
mother with him, and she was old. They came to a certain river,
and the old woman could not cross it. And her son took off his
cloak and wrapped it about his hands, lest he should in any wise
touch the body of his mother, and so carrying her, he set her on
the other side of the stream. Then said his mother to him, Why
didst thou so cover thy hands, my son? He answered, Because
the body of a woman is fire. And even from my touching thee,
came the memory of other women into my soul.
