Saint Methodius of Olympus

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity

4th c.

Classic translation

Moral & Pastoral · English translation, 1890

Contents

• Introduction
• Marcella.
• The Difficulty and Excellence of Virginity; The Study of Doctrine Necessary for…
• Virginity a Plant From Heaven, Introduced Late; The Advancement of Mankind to…
• By the Circumcision of Abraham, Marriage With Sisters Forbidden; In the Times…
• Christ Alone Taught Virginity, Openly Preaching the Kingdom of Heaven; The…
• Christ, by Preserving His Flesh Incorrupt in Virginity, Draws to the Exercise…
• Theophila.
• Marriage Not Abolished by the Commendation of Virginity
• Generation Something Akin to the First Formation of Eve From the Side and…
• An Ambiguous Passage of Scripture; Not Only the Faithful But Even Prelates…
• Human Generation, and the Work of God Therein Set Forth
• The Holy Father Follows Up the Same Argument
• God Cares Even for Adulterous Births; Angels Given to Them as Guardians
• The Rational Soul From God Himself; Chastity Not the Only Good, Although the…
• Thaleia.
• Passages of Holy Scripture Compared
• The Digressions of the Apostle Paul; The Character of His Doctrine: Nothing in…
• Comparison Instituted Between the First and Second Adam
• Some Things Here Hard and Too Slightly Treated, and Apparently Not Sufficiently…
• A Passage of Jeremiah Examined
• The Whole Number of Spiritual Sheep; Man a Second Choir, After the Angels, to…
• The Works of Christ, Proper to God and to Man, the Works of Him Who is One
• The Bones and Flesh of Wisdom; The Side Out of Which the Spiritual Eve is…
• The Dispensation of Grace in Paul the Apostle
• The Doctrine of the Same Apostle Concerning Purity
• The Same Argument
• Paul an Example to Widows, and to Those Who Do Not Live With Their Wives
• The Doctrine of Paul Concerning Virginity Explained
• Virginity a Gift of God: the Purpose of Virginity Not Rashly to Be Adopted by…
• Theopatra.
• The Necessity of Praising Virtue, for Those Who Have the Power
• The Protection of Chastity and Virginity Divinely Given to Men, That They May…
• That Passage of David Explained; What the Harps Hung Upon the Willows Signify…
• The Author Goes on With the Interpretation of the Same Passage
• The Gifts of Virgins, Adorned With Which They Are Presented to One Husband…
• Virginity to Be Cultivated and Commended in Every Place and Time
• Thallousa.
• The Offering of Chastity a Great Gift
• Abraham's Sacrifice of a Heifer Three Years Old, of a Goat, and of a Ram Also…
• Far Best to Cultivate Virtue From Boyhood
• Perfect Consecration and Devotion to God: What It Is
• The Vow of Chastity, and Its Rites in the Law; Vines, Christ, and the Devil
• Sikera, a Manufactured and Spurious Wine, Yet Intoxicating; Things Which Are…
• The Church Intermediate Between the Shadows of the Law and the Realities of…
• The Double Altar, Widows and Virgins; Gold the Symbol of Virginity
• Agathe.
• The Excellence of the Abiding Glory of Virginity; The Soul Made in the Image of…
• The Parable of the Ten Virgins
• The Same Endeavour and Effort After Virginity, With a Different Result
• What the Oil in the Lamps Means
• The Reward of Virginity
• Procilla.
• What the True and Seemly Manner of Praising; The Father Greater Than the Son…
• The Interpretation of That Passage of the Canticles
• Virgins Being Martyrs First Among the Companions of Christ
• The Passage Explained; The Queens, the Holy Souls Before the Deluge; The…
• The Sixty Queens: Why Sixty, and Why Queens; The Excellence of the Saints of…
• The Eighty Concubines, What; The Knowledge of the Incarnation Communicated to…
• The Virgins, the Righteous Ancients; The Church, the One Only Spouse, More…
• The Human Nature of Christ His One Dove
• The Virgins Immediately After the Queen and Spouse
• Thekla.
• Methodius' Derivation of the Word Virginity: Wholly Divine; Virtue, in…
• The Lofty Mind and Constancy of the Sacred Virgins; The Introduction of Virgins…
• The Lot and Inheritance of Virginity
• Exhortation to the Cultivation of Virginity; A Passage From the Apocalypse is…
• The Woman Who Brings Forth, to Whom the Dragon is Opposed, the Church; Her…
• The Works of the Church, the Bringing Forth of Children in Baptism; The Moon in…
• The Child of the Woman in the Apocalypse Not Christ, But the Faithful Who Are…
• The Faithful in Baptism Males, Configured to Christ; The Saints Themselves…
• The Son of God, Who Ever Is, is To-Day Begotten in the Minds and Sense of the…
• The Dragon, the Devil; The Stars Struck From Heaven by the Tail of the Dragon…
• The Woman With the Male Child in the Wilderness the Church; The Wilderness…
• Virgins Are Called to the Imitation of the Church in the Wilderness Overcoming…
• The Seven Crowns of the Beast to Be Taken Away by Victorious Chastity; The Ten…
• The Doctrine of Mathematicians Not Wholly to Be Despised, When They Are…
• Arguments From the Novelty of Fate and Generation; That Golden Age, Early Men…
• Several Other Things Turned Against the Same Mathematicians
• The Lust of the Flesh and Spirit: Vice and Virtue
• Tusiane.
• Chastity the Chief Ornament of the True Tabernacle; Seven Days Appointed to the…
• Figure, Image, Truth: Law, Grace, Glory; Man Created Immortal: Death Brought in…
• How Each One Ought to Prepare Himself for the Future Resurrection
• The Mind Clearer When Cleansed From Sin; The Ornaments of the Mind and the…
• The Mystery of the Tabernacles
• Domnina.
• Chastity Alone Aids and Effects the Most Praiseworthy Government of the Soul
• The Allegory of the Trees Demanding a King, in the Book of Judges, Explained
• The Bramble and the Agnos the Symbol of Chastity; The Four Gospels, That Is…
• The Law Useless for Salvation; The Last Law of Chastity Under the Figure of the…
• The Malignity of the Devil as an Imitator in All Things; Two Kinds of Fig-Trees…
• The Mystery of the Vision of Zechariah
• Arete.
• The True and Chaste Virgins Few; Chastity a Contest; Thekla Chief of Virgins
• Thekla Singing Decorously a Hymn, the Rest of the Virgins Sing With Her; John…
• Which Are the Better, the Continent, or Those Who Delight in Tranquillity of…
• Elucidations