Alcuin of York (740-804) on Genesis 4 and the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain

  

(Gen. 4:1-4). WHY WAS ABEL’S SACRIFICE ACCEPTED AND CAIN’S REJECTED?—Answer. Because Abel offered God excellent and natural things, where as Cain offered things of lesser worth and devised by human invention, as is supposed. (Alcuin of York, “Questions and Answers on Genesis,” trans. Sarah Van Der Pas, in Questions and Answers on Genesis by Augustine, Ambrosiaster, and Alcuin, ed. John Litteral [2018], 167)