Annotation LXXXIV

”For of such is the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 19:14

Whether every corporeal thing is evil.

The author of the Opus imperfectum, homily 32, at the end writes thus: “The reason why foods are to be sanctified is this — that the whole world is placed in [the power of] the evil one. Therefore also every corporeal thing, since it is a part of the world, is placed in [the power of] the evil one, and it too must be sanctified.” Peter, bishop of Crete, in the second [book] of the Sentences, in the question On Evil, says that this passage is wont to be adduced, under the name of Chrysostom, by those who — according to the dogma of Mani — asserted this world to be by nature evil and founded by an evil principle. And he adds that this saying is to be interpreted not according to the nature of the world (which is good, and proceeds from a good author), but according to the malignity of those who use the goods of the world badly.