Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Deuteronomy 23:13
There is 1 footnote for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 136, footnote 2 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)
Book IX. (HTML)
The Tenets of the Esseni Concluded. (HTML)
... nor ease nature; nay, some would not even rise from a couch. On other days, however, when they wish to relieve nature, they dig a hole a foot long with the mattock,—for of this description is the hatchet, which the president in the first instance gives those who come forward to gain admission as disciples,—and cover (this cavity) on all sides with their garment, alleging that they do not necessarily insult the sunbeams. They then replace the upturned soil into the pit; and this is their practice,[Deuteronomy 23:13] choosing the more lonely spots. But after they have performed this operation, immediately they undergo ablution, as if the excrement pollutes them.