Early Christians acknowledged a tension between feeling compassion deeply, and attaining emotional tranquility according to the ideals of ascetic practice. The tension resided in combining two rather different world-views. The Gospels had recorded instances of Jesus’ feeling profound compassion when he performed healings in his ministry. Yet the pagan Stoics were wary of such emotional displays because they thought the wise man might be damaged emotionally if he were to sympathize with human suffering. Reconciling these ideas in a Christian framework proved difficult. Chapter 1 introduces the early Christians studied here in the context of this challenge. Among those who addressed the philosophical tension, Nemesius of Emesa at the end of the fourth century confirmed that emotions were the components of a living creature and that life could not be sustained without them. Because they defined the human experience they were necessary for our moral integrity. Such early Christians as the Cappadocians, Augustine, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and Maximus the Confessor were equally committed to articulating the role that our emotions play in the life of Christian perfection. Each according to his particular concerns and preoccupations struggled with, and articulated the necessity of, feeling compassion for human suffering.