85 (305). Concerning the Fact That It Is Unnecessary to Take an Oath
LETTERS
business and inexorable necessity. Certainly, it is not characteristic of you, even if the affairs of men press upon you, either to disregard those who fare ill, or to take no heed of the laws, or to refuse to yield to the appeals of friends.
85. Concerning the Fact That It Is Unnecessary to Take an Oath l We do not cease protesting in every synod and urging in private conferences this matter-that, in the case of public taxes, collectors must not exact oaths of farmers. My last resort is to protest solemnly before God and man by letter concerning this same subject, that it is your duty to cease bringing death upon the souls of men, to contrive some other methods of exacting payment, and so to allow men to keep their souls unharmed. Weare writing this to you, not on the ground that you need a verbal exhortation (for you have present with you inducements for fearing the Lord), but in order that through you all those who depend on you may be taught not to rouse the Holy One to anger, by evil practice reducing a forbidden act to a matter of indifference. For, men have no benefit at all from the oaths in the matter of exactions and they are taking upon their souls an admitted evil, since they become practiced in perjury, no longer striving to make the payment, but believing that the oath has been devised for them as a weapon of deceit and an opportunity for delay.
1 For a further elaboration on the sufferings of the Cappadocians under the heavy burden of taxation, d. Letter 74. One feature of the system of taxation was the practice of putting the people under oath as to their inability to pay. This taking of oaths the Church condemned.
The date of this letter is the year 372.