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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
And that you may learn that we know this from the first, the Lawgiver, when He afterwards gave laws, and said, "Thou shalt not kill," did not add, "since murder is an evil thing," but simply said, "Thou shalt not kill;" for He merely prohibited the sin, without teaching. How was it then when He said, "Thou shalt not kill," that He did not add, "because murder is a wicked thing." The reason was, that conscience had taught this beforehand; and He speaks thus, as to those who know and understand the point.
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
It is significant that in Holy Scripture no passage can be found enjoining or permitting suicide either in order to hasten our entry into immortality or to void or avoid temporal evils. God's command, "You shall not kill," is to be taken as forbidding self-destruction, especially as it does not add "your neighbor," as it does when it forbids false witness, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Thomas Aquinas
In the divine law which tells us we must love God and our neighbor, it is commanded that we not only do good but also avoid evil. The greatest evil that can be done to one's neighbor is to take his life. This is prohibited in the Commandment: "You shall not kill." In connection with this Commandment there are three errors. Some have said that it is not permitted to kill even brute animals. But this is false, because it is not a sin to use that which is subordinate to the power of man. …
Bonaventure
And because the lower portion of the soul is informed by the higher and is given to it as a help, it is necessary that the lower have commandments by which it would be conformed to the higher, so that it behave piously, truly and holily. Piously toward superiors, most of all parents, hence, Honor your father and your mother. Truly and justly toward equals, hence: You shall not kill, which precludes any harm. Holily toward inferiors, hence, You shall not commit adultery, which forbids any act of impudicity.
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