Early Christian Beliefs About Asceticism
Early Christian writings support fasting, self-control, and sexual restraint as parts of a holy life. Hermas, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, and Cyprian all connect discipline with prayer, purity, and obedience. They also warn that harsh rules about food or marriage can become false teaching when they are done for show or pride.
118 early-church witnesses · 218 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about asceticism?
Early Christian writings treat asceticism as a real discipline, but not as a stand-alone badge of holiness. Writers like Hermas, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Hippolytus praise fasting, continence, self-control, and restraint of the body, while warning that empty or showy asceticism has no value. The Bible passages used most often for this theme stress self-denial, mortifying the flesh, prayer and fasting, and abstaining from sexual sin and evil desires.
At the same time, some early Christian texts push back hard against food restrictions and marriage bans when they come from false teaching or pride, so the evidence is broad but mixed in tone. Overall, the earliest Christian witness favors disciplined self-control for godliness, not harsh self-made rules that claim special merit. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians taught self-control, fasting, and continence as normal parts of discipleship.
- They did not praise empty or showy asceticism; true discipline had to fit obedience to God.
- Some texts warn against banning marriage or foods as a false teaching.
- The main Bible themes are self-denial, mortifying the flesh, prayer and fasting, and fleeing sexual sin.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians reject false asceticism that forbids marriage or foods?
The clearest evidence says some teachers promoted abstaining from foods and forbidding marriage, but the fathers treated this as deceptive or heretical rather than ordinary Christian holiness. The Bible passages used alongside them warn against asceticism that looks wise but does not actually stop the flesh.
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Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching
While I was fasting and sitting on a certain mountain, and giving thanks to the Lord for all His dealings with me, I saw the Shepherd sitting beside me. He said, "Why have you come here so early in the morning?" I answered, "Because, sir, I have a station." He asked, "What is a station?" I replied, "I am fasting, sir." He continued, "What is this fasting that you are observing?" I answered, "As I have been accustomed, sir, so I fast." He says, "You do not know how to fast to the Lord. This useless fasting that you observe to Him is of no value." I answered, "Why, sir, do you say this?" He continued, "I say to you that the fasting which you think you observe is not a fasting. But I will teach you what is a full and acceptable fasting to the Lord. Listen. God does not desire such an empty fasting. For by fasting to God in this way, you will do nothing for a righteous life. But offer to God a fasting of the following kind: Do no evil in your life, and serve the Lord with a pure heart. Keep His commandments, walking in His precepts, and let no evil desire arise in your heart. And believe in God. If you do these things, and fear Him, and abstain from every evil thing, you will live to G
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Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching
... to do good. And I will be with all those," he added, "who have such a desire." He continued, "This fasting is very good, provided that the commandments of the Lord are kept. Then this is how you must keep the fast you intend to keep. First of all, be on guard against every evil word and every evil desire, and purify your heart from all the vanities of this world. If you guard against these things, your fasting will be complete. And you must also do the following. After you have done what is written, on the day when you fast you must eat nothing except bread and water. Then calculate the cost of the food for that day which you intended to eat, and give that amount to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in need. In this way you will show humility, so that the one who has received help from your humility may refresh his own soul and pray to the Lord for you. If you keep the fast as I have commanded you, your sacrifice will be acceptable to God, and this fast will be recorded. And the service performed in this way is noble and holy and acceptable to the Lord. Therefore, you must keep these things in this way with your children and all your household. And by keeping them you wi
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
Therefore, human self-control, that is, the kind taught according to the judgment of the Greek philosophers, claims to fight against desire and not to serve it in actions. But the self-control according to our teaching is not to desire at all. It is not merely that a person, while desiring, should act bravely, but that he should hold himself back even from desiring. This self-control cannot be gained in any other way except by the grace of God. And therefore He said, "Ask, and it will be given to you," Matthew 7:7. Moses also received this grace. Though he was clothed with a body that needed food, for forty days he neither hungered nor thirsted. And just as it is better to be healthy than, while sick, to talk about health, so also it is better to be light than to speak about light, and better to have the self-control that comes from truth than the kind taught by philosophers. For where light is, there darkness is not. But where desire alone has settled, even if it rests from bodily action, still in memory it struggles over what is not present. In general, my discussion will proceed about marriage, food, and other matters, so that we may do nothing from desire, but may want only the
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness
...y and pursuit of every pleasure. Over all these, desire rules like a tyrant. And countless passions related to these increase, by which uncontrolled habits are carried to the highest degree. And Scripture says, "Whips are prepared for the intemperate, and punishments for the shoulders of fools," Proverbs 19:29, calling the powers of intemperance, and the steady endurance of it, "the shoulders of fools." Therefore, "Remove vain hopes from your servants," it says, "and turn away shameful desires from me. Let not appetite for food and intercourse take hold of me."
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness
... not come from ordinary human courage, and that no one can come after Jesus unless he has denied himself. A man denies himself when he wipes out, by a great change, his former life that was spent in wickedness. For example, a man who was once immoral denies that former immoral self when he becomes self-controlled in a lasting way. But someone may object and ask this: if he denied himself, does he also confess himself? That is, when he denied himself as the unrighteous man, does he confess himself as the righteous man? But if Christ is righteousness, then the man who has received righteousness confesses not himself, but Christ. In the same way, he who has found wisdom, by possessing wisdom itself, confesses Christ. Such a man believes with the heart to righteousness and makes confession with the mouth to salvation, as in Romans 10:10. And he bears witness to the works of Christ. By all these things he confesses Christ before men, and Christ will confess him before His Father in heaven, as in Matthew 10:32. In the same way, the man who has not denied himself, but has denied Christ, will experience the saying, "I also will deny him," in Matthew 10:33. For this reason, let every tho
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Matthew 6:16 Supporting witness
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
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Titus 2:12 Supporting witness
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
How did early Christians understand fasting and self-control?
Early Christian writers present fasting as something that must be joined to obedience, prayer, purity of heart, and restraint from evil desires. They also criticize people who fast in a showy or harmful way, or who keep outward fasts without inward discipline.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
But marriage, when by agreement it gives time to prayer, is a teaching of self-control. For he added the words “by agreement,” so that no one might dissolve a marriage. And he added “for a time,” in 1 Corinthians 7:5, so that a man who has taken a wife, if he practices self-control by necessity, may not slip into sin, and while sparing his own marriage, may desire another’s. For this reason, in the case of the man who thinks he is behaving improperly because he keeps his virgin unmarried, he rightly says that if she marries, he does not sin. But each person, whether he has chosen chastity, or whether he has joined himself in marriage for the begetting of children, must firmly remain in his own purpose and not turn aside to what is worse. For if he is able to increase and intensify the pattern of life he has chosen, he gains greater honor with God because of pure self-control that comes from reason. But if he goes beyond the rule he chose, he will then fall back into a lesser hope of glory. For just as chastity has its own duties and ministries, marriage also has its own duties and ministries that belong to the Lord. I mean the care of children and of a wife. For what properly occup
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
...ven to them. Yet virginity is not therefore lacking in the Church, nor does the glorious purpose of continence grow weak through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes, and chastity and modesty keep the course of their glory. Nor is the strength of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are made easier for the adulterer. It is one thing to wait for pardon, and another thing to attain glory. It is one thing, when thrown into prison, not to go out from there until one has paid the very last penny; another thing to receive at once the reward of faith and courage. It is one thing, when cleansed by long suffering for sins, to be purified and for a long time purged by fire; another thing to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, finally, to remain in uncertainty until the judgment of God on the day of judgment; another thing to be crowned at once by the Lord.
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
...s of virginity, and of those who had vowed and dedicated their virginity to Christ. He teaches that continence does not consist only in bodily purity, but also in proper clothing and appearance. He also teaches that wealth did not excuse excessive concern for dress in those who had already renounced the world. Rather, since the apostle commands even married women to keep their dress within proper limits, moderation ought to be observed even more by a virgin. Therefore, even if she is wealthy, she should carefully consider how to use wealth, but for good purposes, for the things that God has commanded; that is, for spending it on the poor. Moreover, he also forbids virgins those practices that had carelessly come into use, such as being present at weddings and going to public bathing places. Finally, in a brief conclusion, he declares what benefit the virtue of continence provides, and what an evil it is to be without it, and so he ends the book.
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness
But if the remaining in virginity and in the state of an eunuch brings nearer to God, while the indulgence of carnal thought and desire leads away from Him, in those cases in which we shun the thoughts, much more do we reject the deeds.
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Justin Martyr, The Second Apology Supporting witness
...rvants and indulging in drunkenness and vice and wanting him to do the same, accused her of being a Christian when she left without his consent. She presented a request to the Emperor, asking for permission to settle her affairs before defending against the accusation, which was granted. Unable to prosecute her, her husband targeted a man named Ptolemaeus, her teacher in Christian doctrines, with the help of a centurion who was friendly to him. The centurion took Ptolemaeus, interrogating him only on whether he was a Christian. Ptolemaeus, being truthful, confessed, was imprisoned, and later, when questioned by Urbicus, again affirmed his belief truthfully and was sentenced. Lucius, another Christian, witnessing this unjust judgment, questioned Urbicus: “What cause is there for this judgment? Why punish a man not guilty of adultery, immorality, murder, theft, or any crime, but only for being called a Christian? This judgment does not reflect well on Emperor Pius, nor the philosopher, son of Caesar, nor the sacred senate.” Urbicus responded, “You seem to be like this man,” to which Lucius replied, “Most certainly I am,” and was ordered to be executed. Lucius gave thanks, knowing
Did early Christians praise virginity and continence?
The sources show that virginity and continence were honored as forms of self-control, especially when paired with holiness, modesty, and prayer. At the same time, the evidence stays within ordinary Christian moral teaching and does not present the body as evil.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
...of those who belong to this heretic's school also keep away from animal food, and by this pretended asceticism they deceive many. And they say that the prophecies were spoken partly by the angels who made the world, and partly by Satan, who is also the very angel whom they think acts against the cosmic angels, and especially against the God of the Jews. These, then, are truly the teachings of Saturnilus.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
They suppose, that by meats they magnify themselves, while abstaining from animal food, (and) being water-drinkers, and forbidding to marry, and devoting themselves during the remainder of life to habits of asceticism.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
The majority, however, of those who belong to this (heretic's school) abstain from animal food likewise, (and) by this affectation of asceticism (make many their dupes).
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
...e rest of their lives to ascetic habits. But people of this kind are regarded as Cynics rather than Christians, since they do not pay attention to the words spoken against them through the Apostle Paul. For he, predicting the new teachings that certain heretics would later try to introduce without success, said this: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will depart from sound doctrine, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding marriage, and commanding people to abstain from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 1 Timothy 4:1-5. So then, this statement of the blessed Paul is enough to refute those who live in this way and pride themselves on being righteous, and also to prove that this teaching of the Encratites is a heresy. But although some other heresies have also been named—I mean those of the Cainites, Ophites, Noachites, and others of t
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Colossians 2:18 Supporting witness
Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
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Hebrews 13:9 Supporting witness
Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
What did early Christians mean by mortifying the flesh?
In these sources, mortifying the flesh means resisting sinful passions, evil desires, and works of the body, not rejecting creation itself. The selected Bible texts and fathers repeatedly tie this to self-denial, holiness, and life in the Spirit.
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Colossians 2:23 Direct teaching
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
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Colossians 3:5 Direct teaching
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
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1 Corinthians 7:5 Supporting witness
Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
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Matthew 18:8 Supporting witness
Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
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Matthew 5:30 Supporting witness
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
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Acts 21:25 Supporting witness
But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”
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Romans 8:13 Supporting witness
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
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Matthew 16:24 Supporting witness
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
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Romans 13:14 Supporting witness
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
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Mark 8:34 Supporting witness
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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1 Peter 4:1 Supporting witness
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
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Luke 9:23 Supporting witness
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
More related quotations from this section 23 shown
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
For man is made of flesh and spirit. The spirit must gain immortality by works of righteousness. But the flesh, since it is earthly and therefore mortal, pulls along with it the spirit joined to it, and leads it from immortality to death. Therefore, apart from the flesh, the spirit could in no way be a guide to immortality for man, since the flesh keeps the spirit from following God. For the flesh is weak and liable to sin, and sin is the food and nourishment of death. For this reason, a mediator came—that is, God in the flesh—so that the flesh might be able to follow Him, and so that He might rescue man from death, which rules over the flesh. Therefore He clothed Himself with flesh, so that, with the desires of the flesh subdued, He might teach that sinning was not the result of necessity, but of man's purpose and will. For we have one great and chief struggle to carry on against the flesh. Its endless desires press upon the soul and do not allow it to keep control, but make it a slave to pleasures and sweet temptations, and bring upon it everlasting death. And so that we might be able to overcome these things, God has opened and shown us the way to overcome the flesh. And this pe
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Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness
...he trunk no longer bears fruit, they are cut down, and just as, when the members of the body suffer mortification, they are cut off, because the poison of the mortification spreads from those members through the whole body, and unless some remedy is found for the disease by the skill of the physician, the whole body will be corrupted, so too, if you receive the law without understanding its origin, you will ruin your souls and lose your salvation. For the law and the prophets were until John. But since John, the law of truth, the law of the promises, the law of heaven, the new law, has been made known to the race of man. And in truth, as long as there was no one to show you this most true knowledge of our Lord Jesus, you had not sin. Now, however, you both see and hear, and yet you desire to walk in ignorance, in order that you may keep that law which has been destroyed and abandoned. And Paul too, who is held among us to be the most approved apostle, speaks to the same effect in one of his epistles, when he says, "For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a prevaricator." And in saying this he pronounces on them as Gentiles, because before the fullness of
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness
...y that it cannot live or subsist beyond the body. For this reason, they also say it is often called flesh. So they take the words, "The flesh lusts against the Spirit," to apply not to the flesh itself, but to this soul, which is properly the soul of the flesh. From these words, moreover, they still try to support the statement in Leviticus: "The life of all flesh is its blood." They argue that because the spreading of the blood throughout all the flesh produces life in the flesh, this soul, which is said to be the life of all flesh, is contained in the blood. They also say that the statement that the flesh struggles against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, along with the statement that the life of all flesh is its blood, is simply calling the wisdom of the flesh by another name. According to them, it is a kind of material spirit that is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be, because it has earthly wishes and bodily desires. They think it is with respect to this that the apostle spoke when he said, "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." And if someone were
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Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness
...u to understand, and if you do not agree with these statements, I can at least try to prove them by using illustrations. Think of man as a kind of temple, according to the likeness of Scripture. Then the spirit that is in man may be compared to the image that dwells in the temple. Now, a temple cannot be established unless an occupant for the temple is first recognized. On the other hand, an occupant cannot be settled in the temple unless the structure has first been built. Since these two things, the occupant and the structure, are both consecrated together, how can any opposition or conflict be found between them? Should it not instead appear that both have come from sources that are friendly and of one mind? And so that you may know this is the case, and that these sources are truly one both in fellowship and in lineage, He who knows and hears all made this reply: "Let us make man," and so on. For the one who builds the temple questions the one who fashions the image. He carefully asks about the measurements of magnitude, breadth, and bulk, so that he may mark out the space for the foundations according to those dimensions. No one begins the useless task of building a temple
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Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness
... law. And what application can be found in Christ for the command, Exodus 12:8, "They shall eat the flesh this night, roast with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread on bitter herbs," and, "Do not eat any of it raw, nor boiled with water, but roast with fire; the head with the feet and the entrails. You shall not leave any of it until the morning, and you shall not break a bone of it. But what is left of it until the morning you shall burn"? John appears to have used the sentence, "You shall not break a bone of it," in his Gospel as applying to what happened to Christ, connecting those events with the occasion spoken of in the law, when those who eat the sheep are told not to break a bone of it. He writes as follows: "The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true, and he knows that he says the truth, that you also may believe. And these things took place that t
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Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh Supporting witness
You may notice that the apostle everywhere condemns the works of the flesh in such a way that he seems to condemn the flesh itself. But no one can suppose that he means this, since he goes on at once to suggest another sense, even though it somewhat resembles that one. For when he actually declares that those who are in the flesh cannot please God, he immediately calls the statement back from a heretical sense to a sound one by adding, "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," in Romans 8:8-9. Now, by denying that they were in the flesh, though they obviously were in the flesh, he showed that they were not living among the works of the flesh. Therefore, those who could not please God were not those who were in the flesh, but only those who were living after the flesh. But those pleased God who, although they existed in the flesh, were still walking after the Spirit. And again, he says that the body is dead. But it is dead because of sin, just as the Spirit is life because of righteousness. When, however, he thus sets life over against the death that is established in the flesh, he unquestionably promises the life of righteousness to the same condition for which he assigned
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
...e undertook against the Creator, he refuses the use of worldly things. If this is even to be called self-control, then the Creator himself is the cause of his self-control. Thinking that he is opposing the Creator, this giant fighting against God is unwillingly self-controlled, while he attacks creation and the work of God. If they use the Lord’s saying to Philip, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you follow Me,” Matthew 8:22; Luke 9:60, then let them consider this also: Philip too had the same bodily form, yet he did not have a polluted corpse. How then, though he had flesh, did he not have a corpse? Because he had risen from the tomb. When the Lord put his faults to death, he lived to Christ. We also remember the wicked teaching from the school of Carpocrates about the sharing of women. But when we were speaking about the saying of Nicolas, we passed over this point. They say that he had a beautiful wife, and after the Savior’s ascension, when the apostles reproached him for jealousy, he brought the woman into their midst and allowed whoever wished to marry her. For they say that this action agreed with the saying that one must abuse the flesh. Therefore those who follow
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
...arvelous things. For it is true that not all people show themselves worthy of belief, and not all clearly show that they are telling people nothing but fictions and fables. Moreover, about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we say this: it is not at all surprising if, on such an occasion, one or two angels appeared to announce that Jesus had risen from the dead, and to provide for the safety of those who believed in this event, to the advantage of their souls. Nor does it seem at all unreasonable to me that those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus, and who show, as a fruit of their faith that should not be lightly valued, that they possess a virtuous life and have turned away from the flood of evils, should not be unattended by angels who lend their help in accomplishing their conversion to God.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
It is certain also that a Christian will not make use of the language of the flesh, having learned as he has to mortify the deeds of the body by the spirit, and to bear about in his body the dying of Jesus;
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
For the soul even in opposition to the body desires the worship of God, which consists in abstinence from desires and lusts, in the enduring of pain, in the contempt of death.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
For our bodies are both trained in Him and by Him to advance to immortality, by learning to govern themselves with moderation according to His decrees.
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1 Thessalonians 4:3 Supporting witness
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
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1 Timothy 4:3 Supporting witness
who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
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Galatians 5:24 Supporting witness
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
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1 Thessalonians 4:4 Supporting witness
that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
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Acts 15:20 Supporting witness
but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
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1 Corinthians 7:1 Supporting witness
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
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1 Corinthians 6:18 Supporting witness
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
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1 Peter 2:11 Supporting witness
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
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1 Timothy 4:8 Supporting witness
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
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1 Corinthians 5:5 Supporting witness
deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
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2 Maccabees 12:45 Supporting witness
And also in that he perceived that there was great favor laid up for those that died godly, it was a holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.
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Wisdom of Solomon 18:1 Background
Nevertheless thy saints had a very great light, Whose voice they hearing, and not seeing their shape, Because they also had not suffered the same things, they counted them happy.
Common Questions
Did early Christians practice asceticism?
Yes. Many early Christian writers praised fasting, continence, and self-control as part of a disciplined Christian life.
Did early Christians support fasting and self-denial?
Yes. Hermas, Clement, Origen, and others connected fasting and self-denial with prayer, purity, and obedience to God.
Did early Christians forbid marriage or certain foods?
Not as a general Christian rule. Some writers reject food and marriage bans when they come from false teaching.
Source Index for Asceticism
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 218 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 118
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 100
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.