Cain
historical figure · 9 works · 10 mentions · 15 anchored passages
the first murderer and the first fratricide
in the texts
Stromata
Biblical figure whose lesser sacrifice is contrasted with Abel's faithful offering.
"By faith Abel offered a fuller sacrifice than Cain, through which he was witnessed to be just, God bearing witness over his gifts;
"And Cain went out from the face of God and dwelt in the land of Naid over against Eden";
Does not God too, after the pardon over Cain, in consequence, not much later bring in Enoch the penitent, showing that repentance naturally begets pardon?
Letters
Biblical first murderer, subject of Basil's extended exegesis.
"Everyone who slays Cain shall loose seven vengeances.
for if Cain was avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy times seven.
that Cain must render a sevenfold punishment for the sins he committed.
Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?
Biblical figure invoked as the archetypal murderer of his brother, used as a negative exemplar.
He that loveth not his brother is a murderer, the seed of Cain, the nursling of the devil;
The Rights of War and Peace
Biblical figure whose punishment and protection from killing become a precedent discussed in relation to capital punishment.
” From a sense of this natural justice, Cain knowing himself guilty of his brother’s blood said, “whosoever finds me shall kill me.
The conjecture of the divine will taken from the remarkable instance of Cain, whom no one was permitted to kill passed into a law, so that Lanech, having perpetrated a similar deed, promised himself impunity from this example.
Adversus Judaeos
Elder son whose sacrifice God rejected; murderer of Abel; typifies the elder/Jewish people.
For the elder-born Cain offered to God gifts from the fruit of the earth, but the younger son Abel from the fruit of his sheep.
Therefore, since God instituted Adam neither circumcised nor keeping the Sabbath, he consequently also praised his offspring Abel, who offered him sacrifices, though uncircumcised and not keeping the Sabbath, accepting graciously what he offered in simplicity of heart, and rejecting the sacrifice of his brother Cain, who did not rightly divide what he offered.
Adversus Marcionem
The son of Adam who denied slaying his brother and was cursed, contrasted with Adam's confession and relief.
As of Cain He inquires where his brother is — as though He had not already heard the blood of Abel crying out from the earth;
Adversus Valentinianos
Son of Adam taken by the Valentinians as the type of the choic, unsavable nature.
The choic, degenerated from salvation, they reduce to Cain;
De Oratione
Cain, for whom sevenfold vengeance was reckoned in Genesis.
And when Peter had asked whether he must forgive his brother seven times, Nay, he said, seventy times seven — that he might reform the law for the better, since in Genesis vengeance was reckoned for Cain sevenfold, but for Lamech seventy times seven.
De Patientia
The first murderer, whose fratricide is presented as proof that anger derives from impatience.
In vain should I ascribe this to impatience, if that Cain, the first murderer and the first fratricide, bore with equanimity and without impatience the rejection of his offerings by the Lord;