Collection

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity.

Saint Methodius of Olympus

86 reading units in this historical edition. Units are chapters, letters or homilies, not separate complete books.

1. Introduction.
2. Chapter I: The Difficulty and Excellence of Virginity; The Study of Doctrine Necessary for Virgins.
3. Chapter II: Virginity a Plant from Heaven, Introduced Late; The Advancement of Mankind to Perfection, How Arranged.
4. Chapter III: By the Circumcision of Abraham, Marriage with Sisters Forbidden; In the Times of the Prophets Polygamy Put a Stop To; Conjugal Purity Itself by Degrees Enforced.
5. Chapter IV: Christ Alone Taught Virginity, Openly Preaching the Kingdom of Heaven; The Likeness of God to Be Attained in the Light of the Divine Virtues.
6. Chapter V: Christ, by Preserving His Flesh Incorrupt in Virginity, Draws to the Exercise of Virginity; The Small Number of Virgins in Proportion to the Number of Saints.
7. Chapter I: Marriage Not Abolished by the Commendation of Virginity.
8. Chapter II: Generation Something Akin to the First Formation of Eve from the Side and Nature of Adam; God the Creator of Men in Ordinary Generation.
9. Chapter III: An Ambiguous Passage of Scripture; Not Only the Faithful But Even Prelates Sometimes Illegitimate.
10. Chapter IV: Human Generation, and the Work of God Therein Set Forth.
11. Chapter V: The Holy Father Follows Up the Same Argument.
12. Chapter VI: God Cares Even for Adulterous Births; Angels Given to Them as Guardians.
13. Chapter VII: The Rational Soul from God Himself; Chastity Not the Only Good, Although the Best and Most Honoured.
14. Chapter I: Passages of Holy Scripture Compared.
15. Chapter II: The Digressions of the Apostle Paul; The Character of His Doctrine: Nothing in It Contradictory; Condemnation of Origen, Who Wrongly Turns Everything into Allegory.
16. Chapter III: Comparison Instituted Between the First and Second Adam.
17. Chapter IV: Some Things Here Hard and Too Slightly Treated, and Apparently Not Sufficiently Brought Out According to the Rule of Theology.
18. Chapter V: A Passage of Jeremiah Examined.
19. Chapter VI: The Whole Number of Spiritual Sheep; Man a Second Choir, After the Angels, to the Praise of God; The Parable of the Lost Sheep Explained.
20. Chapter VII: The Works of Christ, Proper to God and to Man, the Works of Him Who is One.
21. Chapter VIII: The Bones and Flesh of Wisdom; The Side Out of Which the Spiritual Eve is Formed, the Holy Spirit; The Woman the Help-Meet of Adam; Virgins Betrothed to Christ.
22. Chapter IX: The Dispensation of Grace in Paul the Apostle.
23. Chapter X: The Doctrine of the Same Apostle Concerning Purity.
24. Chapter XI: The Same Argument.
25. Chapter XII: Paul an Example to Widows, and to Those Who Do Not Live with Their Wives.
26. Chapter XIII: The Doctrine of Paul Concerning Virginity Explained.
27. Chapter XIV: Virginity a Gift of God: the Purpose of Virginity Not Rashly to Be Adopted by Any One.
28. Chapter I: The Necessity of Praising Virtue, for Those Who Have the Power.
29. Chapter II: The Protection of Chastity and Virginity Divinely Given to Men, that They May Emerge from the Mire of Vices.
30. Chapter III: That Passage of David Explained; What the Harps Hung Upon the Willows Signify; The Willow a Symbol of Chastity; The Willows Watered by Streams.
31. Chapter IV: The Author Goes on with the Interpretation of the Same Passage.
32. Chapter V: The Gifts of Virgins, Adorned with Which They are Presented to One Husband, Christ.
33. Chapter VI: Virginity to Be Cultivated and Commended in Every Place and Time.
34. Chapter I: The Offering of Chastity a Great Gift.
35. Chapter II: Abraham's Sacrifice of a Heifer Three Years Old, of a Goat, and of a Ram Also Three Years Old: Its Meaning; Every Age to Be Consecrated to God; The Threefold Watch and Our Age.
36. Chapter III: Far Best to Cultivate Virtue from Boyhood.
37. Chapter IV: Perfect Consecration and Devotion to God: What It is.
38. Chapter V: The Vow of Chastity, and Its Rites in the Law; Vines, Christ, and the Devil.
39. Chapter VI: Sikera, a Manufactured and Spurious Wine, Yet Intoxicating; Things Which are Akin to Sins are to Be Avoided by a Virgin; The Altar of Incense (a Symbol Of) Virgins.
40. Chapter VII: The Church Intermediate Between the Shadows of the Law and the Realities of Heaven.
41. Chapter VIII: The Double Altar, Widows and Virgins; Gold the Symbol of Virginity.
42. Chapter I: The Excellence of the Abiding Glory of Virginity; The Soul Made in the Image of the Image of God, that is of His Son; The Devil a Suitor for the Soul.
43. Chapter II: The Parable of the Ten Virgins.
44. Chapter III: The Same Endeavour and Effort After Virginity, with a Different Result.
45. Chapter IV: What the Oil in the Lamps Means.
46. Chapter V: The Reward of Virginity.
47. Chapter I: What the True and Seemly Manner of Praising; The Father Greater Than the Son, Not in Substance, But in Order; Virginity the Lily; Faithful Souls and Virgins, the One Bride of the One Christ.
48. Chapter II: The Interpretation of that Passage of the Canticles.
49. Chapter III: Virgins Being Martyrs First Among the Companions of Christ.
50. Chapter IV: The Passage Explained; The Queens, the Holy Souls Before the Deluge; The Concubines, the Souls of the Prophets; The Divine Seed for Spiritual Offspring in the Books of the Prophets; The Nuptials of the Word in the Prophets as Though Clandestine.
51. Chapter V: The Sixty Queens: Why Sixty, and Why Queens; The Excellence of the Saints of the First Age.
52. Chapter VI: The Eighty Concubines, What; The Knowledge of the Incarnation Communicated to the Prophets.
53. Chapter VII: The Virgins, the Righteous Ancients; The Church, the One Only Spouse, More Excellent Than the Others.
54. Chapter VIII: The Human Nature of Christ His One Dove.
55. Chapter IX: The Virgins Immediately After the Queen and Spouse.
56. Chapter I: Methodius' Derivation of the Word Virginity: Wholly Divine; Virtue, in Greek--ἀρετή, Whence So Called.
57. Chapter II: The Lofty Mind and Constancy of the Sacred Virgins; The Introduction of Virgins into the Blessed Abodes Before Others.
58. Chapter III: The Lot and Inheritance of Virginity.
59. Chapter IV: Exhortation to the Cultivation of Virginity; A Passage from the Apocalypse is Proposed to Be Examined.
60. Chapter V: The Woman Who Brings Forth, to Whom the Dragon is Opposed, the Church; Her Adornment and Grace.
61. Chapter VI: The Works of the Church, the Bringing Forth of Children in Baptism; The Moon in Baptism, the Full Moon of Christ's Passion.
62. Chapter VII: The Child of the Woman in the Apocalypse Not Christ, But the Faithful Who are Born in the Laver.
63. Chapter VIII: The Faithful in Baptism Males, Configured to Christ; The Saints Themselves Christs.
64. Chapter IX: The Son of God, Who Ever Is, is To-Day Begotten in the Minds and Sense of the Faithful.
65. Chapter X: The Dragon, the Devil; The Stars Struck from Heaven by the Tail of the Dragon, Heretics; The Numbers of the Trinity, that Is, the Persons Numbered; Errors Concerning Them.
66. Chapter XI: The Woman with the Male Child in the Wilderness the Church; The Wilderness Belongs to Virgins and Saints; The Perfection of Numbers and Mysteries; The Equality and Perfection of the Number Six; The Number Six Related to Christ; From This Number, Too, the Creation and Harmony of the World Completed.
67. Chapter XII: Virgins are Called to the Imitation of the Church in the Wilderness Overcoming the Dragon.
68. Chapter XIII: The Seven Crowns of the Beast to Be Taken Away by Victorious Chastity; The Ten Crowns of the Dragon, the Vices Opposed to the Decalogue; The Opinion of Fate the Greatest Evil.
69. Chapter XIV: The Doctrine of Mathematicians Not Wholly to Be Despised, When They are Concerned About the Knowledge of the Stars; The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac Mythical Names.
70. Chapter XV: Arguments from the Novelty of Fate and Generation; That Golden Age, Early Men; Solid Arguments Against the Mathematicians.
71. Chapter XVI: Several Other Things Turned Against the Same Mathematicians.
72. Chapter XVII: The Lust of the Flesh and Spirit: Vice and Virtue.
73. Chapter I: Chastity the Chief Ornament of the True Tabernacle; Seven Days Appointed to the Jews for Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles: What They Signify; The Sum of This Septenary Uncertain; Not Clear to Any One When the Consummation of the World Will Be; Even Now the Fabric of the World Completed.
74. Chapter II: Figure, Image, Truth: Law, Grace, Glory; Man Created Immortal: Death Brought in by Destructive Sin.
75. Chapter III: How Each One Ought to Prepare Himself for the Future Resurrection.
76. Chapter IV: The Mind Clearer When Cleansed from Sin; The Ornaments of the Mind and the Order of Virtue; Charity Deep and Full; Chastity the Last Ornament of All; The Very Use of Matrimony to Be Restrained.
77. Chapter V: The Mystery of the Tabernacles.
78. Chapter I: Chastity Alone Aids and Effects the Most Praiseworthy Government of the Soul.
79. Chapter II: The Allegory of the Trees Demanding a King, in the Book of Judges, Explained.
80. Chapter III: The Bramble and the Agnos the Symbol of Chastity; The Four Gospels, that Is, Teachings or Laws, Instructing to Salvation.
81. Chapter IV: The Law Useless for Salvation; The Last Law of Chastity Under the Figure of the Bramble.
82. Chapter V: The Malignity of the Devil as an Imitator in All Things; Two Kinds of Fig-Trees and Vines.
83. Chapter VI: The Mystery of the Vision of Zechariah.
84. Chapter I: The True and Chaste Virgins Few; Chastity a Contest; Thekla Chief of Virgins.
85. Chapter II: Thekla Singing Decorously a Hymn, the Rest of the Virgins Sing with Her; John the Baptist a Martyr to Chastity; The Church the Spouse of God, Pure and Virgin.
86. Chapter III: Which are the Better, the Continent, or Those Who Delight in Tranquillity of Life? Contests the Peril of Chastity: the Felicity of Tranquillity; Purified and Tranquil Minds Gods: They Who Shall See God; Virtue Disciplined by Temptations.