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On Jealousy and Envy
St Cyprian of Carthage, ANF 5
d1
After Pointing Out that Jealousy or Envy is a Sin All the More Heinous in Proportion as Its Wickedness is Hidden, and that Its Origin is to Be Traced to the Devil, He Gives Illustrations of Envy from the Old Testament, and Gathers, by Reference to Special Vices, that Envy is the Root of All Wickedness. Therefore with Reason Was Fraternal Hatred Forbidden Not in One Place Only, But by Christ and His Apostles. Finally, Exhorting to the Love of One’s Enemies by God’s Example, He Dissuades from the Sin of Envy, by Urging the Rewards Set Before the Indulgence of Love
Notes
- The deacon Pontius thus briefly suggests the purpose of this treatise in his Life of Cyprian: “Who was there to restrain the ill blood arising from the envenomed malignity of envy with the sweetness of a wholesome remedy?”