John Cassian

“ Having been established in this purity of chastity, sin will not longer control us. [4] For we are not under the law, which while it commends the permitted rights of marriage, even that by the help of which the drive for illicit fornication is assuaged, nevertheless feeds and preserves the fire deep within us ”

“ And finding the fault to be neither one of the soul nor of the flesh, they most confidently judged that he ought to take part in the sacred feasts, lest that is in persisting in this determination, he should be bound by the clever snares of the enemy, and unable to participate in sanctification and the body of Christ, and so through this deceit be forever defrauded of the medicine of saving remedy. ”

“ Which done, the pantomime of diabolical operation was so completely exposed, that soon by the protecting virtue of the Lord's body the previous pattern of illusion ceased. In which the deceit of the enemy was clearly revealed and exposed, and equally the belief of the elders was confirmed, which teaches that often this impure emission is the fault neither of the body nor of the soul, but is impelled by deceits of the scheming adversary. ”

“ But so that it might be more clearly demonstrated, that this inpurity can be elicited even by the action of the enemy: we know a brother, who though he constantly possessed chastity of heart, acquired by the greatest circumspection and humility, and was never tempted by nocturnal illusions, yet whenever he was preparing to receive the Lord's communion, he was polluted with an emission while sleeping. ”

“ And so it may happen that as with the discharge of them, so even the illusions disturb the sleepers more rarely or less strongly, because not only does the emptying derive from the imagination, but also the imagination derives from the excess of the emptying. ”