Writings of Theodoret. Letters
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Translated with Notes by the Rev. Blomfield Jackson, M.A.
Vicar of St. Bartholomew's, Moor Lane, and Fellow of King's College,
London.
Under the editorial supervision of Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Church History in the Union Theological Semimary, New York,
and Henry Wace, D.D., Principal of King's College, London
Published in 1892 by Philip Schaff,
New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus.
I. To an Unknown Correspondent.
In the words of the prophet we find the wise hearer mentioned with the
excellent councillor. [1609] I, however, send the book I have written
on the divine Apostle, not as much to a wise hearer as to a just and
clever judge. When goldsmiths wish to find out if their gold is
refined and unalloyed, they apply it to the touchstone; and just so I
sent my book to your reverence, for I wish to know whether it is what
it should be, or needs some fining down. You have read it and returned
it, but have said nothing to me on this point. Your silence leads me
to conjecture that the judge has given sentence of condemnation, but
is unwilling to hurt my feelings by telling me so. Pray dismiss any
such idea, and do not hesitate to tell me your opinion about the book.
Footnotes
[1609] Isaiah iii. 3. Sept.
II. To the Same.
When men love warmly, I doubt whether in the case of the children of
those whom they love, they can be impartial judges. Justice is carried
away by affection. Fathers fancy that their ugly boys are beautiful,
and sons do not see the uncomeliness of their fathers. Brother looks
at brother in the light of affection rather than of nature. It is thus
that I am afraid your holiness has judged what I have written, and
that the sentence has been delivered by warmth of feeling. For truly
the power of love is very great, and not seldom it keeps out of sight
considerable errors in our friends. It is because you have so much of
it, my dear friend, that you have wreathed what I have written with
your kindly praises. All I can do is to ask your piety to beseech the
good Lord to ratify your eulogy, and make the man you have praised
something like the picture painted in the words of his admirers.
III. To Bishop Irenæus. [1610]
Comparisons of this kind are forbidden by the divine Apostle. In his
Epistle to the Romans he writes "Therefore judge nothing before the
time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden
things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart:
and then shall every man have praise of God." [1611] And he is quite
right; for we can see only outward deeds, but the God of all knows
also the intention of the doers, and when He delivers his sentence
judges not so much the work as the will. So He will crown the divine
Apostle who became to the Jews as a Jew, to them that were under the
law as under the law, and to them that were without law as without law
[1612] for his object in thus assuming an actor's mask was that he
might do good to mankind. His was no time-server's career. The gain he
got was loss, but he secured the good of them whom he taught. As I
said, then, the divine Paul bids us wait for the judgment of God. But
we are venturing on high themes; we are handling a theology passing
understanding and words; not, like the unholy heretics, seeking
blasphemous positions, but endeavouring to confute their impiety, and
as far as in us lies to give praise to the Creator; we shall therefore
do nothing unreasonable in attempting to reply to your enquiry.
You have suggested the case of an impious judge giving to two athletes
of piety the alternative of sacrificing to demons, or flinging
themselves into the sea. You describe the one as choosing the latter
and plunging without hesitation into the deep, while the other,
refusing both, shews quite as much abhorrence of the worship of idols
as his companion, but declines to commit himself to the waves, and
waits for this fate to be violently forced upon him. You have
suggested these circumstances, and you ask which of these two took the
better course. I think that you will agree with me that the latter was
the more praiseworthy. No one ought to withdraw himself from life
unbidden, but should await either a natural or a violent death. Our
Lord gave us this lesson when He bade those that are persecuted in one
city flee to another and again commanded them to quit even this and
depart to another. [1613] In obedience to this teaching the divine
Apostle escaped the violence of the governor of the city, and had no
hesitation in speaking of the manner of his flight, but spoke of the
basket, the wall, and the window, and boasted and glorified in the
act. [1614] For what looks discreditable is made honourable by the
divine command. In the same manner the Apostle called himself at one
time a Pharisee [1615] and at another a Roman, [1616] not because he
was afraid of death, but acting quite fairly in fight. [1617] In the
same way when he had learnt the Jews' plot against him he appealed to
Cæsar [1618] and sent his sister's son to the chief captain to report
the designs hatched against him, not because he clung to this present
life, but in obedience to the divine law. For assuredly our Lord does
not wish us to throw ourselves into obvious peril; and this is taught
us by deed as well as by word, for more than once He avoided the
murderous violence of the Jews. And the great Peter, first of the
Apostles, when he was loosed from his chains and had escaped from the
hands of Herod, came to the house of John, who was surnamed Mark, and
after removing the anxiety of his friends by his visit and bidding
them maintain silence, betook himself to another house in the
endeavour to conceal himself more effectually by the removal. [1619]
And we shall find just the same kind of wisdom in the old Testament,
for the famous Moses, after playing the man in his struggle with the
Egyptian and finding out the next day that the homicide had become
known, ran away, travelled a long journey, and arrived at the land of
Midian. [1620] In like manner the great Elias when he had learnt
Jezebel's threats did not give himself up to them which wished to kill
him, but left the world and hurried to the desert. [1621] And if it is
right and agreeable to God to escape the violence of our enemies,
surely it is much more right to refuse to obey them when they order a
man to become his own murderer. Our Lord did not give in to the devil
when he bade Him throw Himself down, [1622] and when he had armed
against Him the hands of the Jews by means of the scourge and the
thorns and the nails, and the creature was urging Him to bring
wholesale destruction on His wicked foes, the Lord Himself forbade,
because He knew that His Passion was bringing salvation to the world,
and it was for this reason that just before His Passion He said to His
Apostles "Pray that ye enter not into temptation," [1623] and taught
us to pray "Lead us not into temptation." [1624] Now let us shift our
ground a little, and we shall see our way more clearly. Let us
eliminate the sea from the argument, and suppose the judge to have
given each of the martyrs a sword, and ordered the one who refused to
sacrifice to cut off his own head; who in his senses would have
endured to redden his hand with his own blood, become his own
headsman, lift his hand against himself, in obedience to the judge's
order?
Clearly your second martyr deserves the higher praise. The former
indeed deserves credit for his zeal, but the latter is adorned by
right judgment as well.
I have answered you according to the measure of the wisdom given me;
He who knows thoughts as well as acts, will shew which of the two was
right in the day of His appearing.
Footnotes
[1610] Irenæus, Count of the Empire and afterwards bishop of Tyre, was
a friend and frequent correspondent of Theodoret. He was deposed at
the Latrocinium in 449. cf. Epp. XII, XVI, XXXV.
[1611] 1 Cor. iv. 5
[1612] 1 Cor. ix. 20, 21
[1613] Matt. x. 23
[1614] The word in the text for basket is sargane, a basket of twisted
work (G+R+Sh¹) commonly rope--the word used by St. Paul himself in 2
Cor. xi. 33. In Acts ix. 25 St. Luke writes en spuridi, spuris (?
speiro) being the large rope basket of Matt. xv. 37, and distinguished
from the kophinos of Matt. xiv. 20 and of Juvenal III. 14, "Judæis
quorum cophinus foenumque supellex," and VI. 542.
[1615] Acts xxiii. 6
[1616] Acts xxii. 25
[1617] "Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?" Virg Æn. ii. 390.
[1618] Acts xxv. 11
[1619] Acts xii. 12, etc.
[1620] Exod. ii. 11etc.
[1621] 1 Kings xix. 1 etc.
[1622] Matt. iv. 6
[1623] Matt. xxvi. 41
[1624] Luke xi. 4
IV. Festal.
The Creator of our souls and bodies has given His bounty to both, and
at one and the same time has overwhelmed us with good things that both
heart and senses can feel. At the time of the sacred feast He has
given us the rain we so much longed for, that our celebration might be
clear of sadness. We have praised our bountiful Lord, and now as we
are wont write a festal letter and address your piety with the request
that you will aid us with your prayers.
V. Festal.
The God who made us gives us care and sorrow after our sin. But He has
furnished us with divine occasions of consolation by appointing divine
feasts. The thoughts they suggest both remind us of God's gifts to us,
and promise complete freedom from all our troubles. Enjoying these
good things and filled with cheerfulness, we address your
magnificence, and, according to the custom of the festival, pay
friendship's debt.
VI. Festal.
Our loving Lord has allowed us, with the zeal of folks who love the
Christ, to celebrate the divine feast of salvation and enjoy the fruit
of the spiritual blessing that flows from it. Since we know the
disposition of your Piety toward us, we write to tell you this. For
they who have friendly thoughts to others are always pleased to hear
cheering intelligence of them.
VII. To Theonilla.
Had I heard of the death of your dignity's most honourable husband I
should have written long ago, and now my object in writing is not to
lull your great sorrow to sleep by consolatory words. They are
unnecessary. They who have learnt the wisdom of philosophers and
consider what this life is, find reason strong enough to meet and
break grief's rising surge. And even while you are remembering your
long companionship, reason recognises the divine decrees, and to meet
the forces of the tears of sorrow marshals at once the course of
nature, the law of God, and the hope of the resurrection. Knowing this
as I do, there is no necessity to use many words. I only beseech you
to avail yourself of good sense in the hour of need. Think of the
death of him who is gone as no more than a long journey, and wait for
the promise of our God and Saviour. For He who promised the
resurrection cannot lie, and is the fount of truth.
VIII. To Eugraphia.
It is needless for me to bring once more to bear upon your grief the
spells of the spirit. The mere mention of the sufferings that wrought
our salvation is enough to quench distress, even at its worst. Those
sufferings were all undergone for humanity. Our Lord did not destroy
death to make one body victorious over death, but through that one
body to effect our common resurrection, and make our hope of it a sure
and certain hope. And if even while our holy celebrations are bringing
you manifold refreshment of soul, you cannot overcome your sense of
sorrow, let me beg you, my honoured friend, to read the very words of
the marriage contract which follow on the mention of the dowry, and to
see how the wedding is preceded by the reminder of death. Knowing as
we do that men are mortal, and bethinking us of the peace of
survivors, it is customary to lay down what are called conditions, and
for no hesitation to be shewn at the mention of death before the
joining together in marriage. These are the plain words "If the
husband should die first it is agreed that so and so be done; if this
lot should first fall to the wife, so and so." We knew all this before
the wedding; we are waiting for it so to say everyday. Why then take
it amiss? The union must needs be broken either by the death of the
husband or the departure of the wife. Such is the course of life. You
know, my excellent friend, alike God's will and human nature; dispel
then your despondency and wait for the fulfilment of the common hope
of the just.
IX. To an Anonymous Correspondent.
Your piety is annoyed and distressed at the sentence passed on me
unjustly and without a trial. I am comforted that you are so feeling.
Had I been justly condemned I should have been sorry at having given
my judges reasonable grounds for what they have done, but, as it is,
my conscience is quite clear, and I feel joyful and exultant and look
forward to the remission of other sins on account of this injustice.
Naboth lives in men's memories only because he suffered that unjust
death. Only pray that we be not abandoned of God and let the enemy
continue to do his worst. God's good will is enough to make me very
cheerful and if He is on my side I despise all my troubles as trifles.
[1625]
Footnotes
[1625] Probably the condemnation referred to is the imperial Edict of
March 449 relegating Theodoret to the limits of his own diocese. cf.
Epp. 79. 80.
X. To the Learned Elias.
Legislators have made laws in aid of the oppressed, and advocates have
practised the orator's arts to help them that stand in need of fair
defence. You, my friend, have studied eloquence and the law. Now put
your art in practice, and by it put down the oppressors, help them
that are put down by them, and defend them with the law as with a
shield. Let no guilty client enjoy the benefit of your advocacy, even
though he be your friend.
Now one of these guilty men is that villain Abraham. After being
settled for a considerable time on an estate belonging to the church,
he then took several partners in his rascality, and has had no
hesitation in owning his proceedings. I have sent him to you with an
account of his doings, the parties he has wronged, and the reverend
sub-deacon Gerontius. I do not want you to deliver the guilty man to
the authorities, but in the hope that when his victims have told you
all they have had to put up with, and have made you, my learned
friend, feel sympathy for their case, you may be induced to compel the
wicked fellow to restore what he has stolen.
XI. To Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople.
The Creator and Guide of the Universe has made you a luminary of the
world, and changed the deep moonless night into clear noon. Just as by
the haven's side, the beacon light shews sailors in the night time the
harbour mouth, so shines the bright ray of your holiness to give great
comfort to all that are attacked for true religion's sake, and shews
them the safe port of the Apostles' faith. They that know it already
are filled with comfort, and they that knew it not are saved from
being dashed upon the rocks. I indeed am especially bound to praise
the giver of all good, because I have found a noble champion who
drives away fear of men by the power of the fear of God, fights
heartily in the front rank for the doctrines of the Gospel, and gladly
bears the brunt of the apostolic war. So to-day every tongue is moved
in eulogy of your holiness, for it is not only the nurslings of true
religion who admire the purity of your faith, but the praises of your
courage are sung even by the enemies of the truth. Falsehood vanishes
at truth's lightning flash.
I write thus knowing that the very reverend and pious Hypatius the
reader, both readily obeys the bidding of your holiness, and
constantly, my Lord, mentions your laudable deeds. I salute you as
holy and right dear to God. I exhort you to support us with your
prayers that we may lead the rest of our lives according to God's
laws.
XII. To the Bishop Irenæus. [1626]
Job, that famous tower of adamant and noble champion of goodness, was
not shaken even by blows of continuous troubles of every sort and
kind, but stood impregnable and firm. At the end however of all his
trials the righteous Law-giver explained the reason of them in the
words, "Dost thou think that I answered thee for any other reason than
that thou mightest appear just?" [1627] I think that these words are
known to your piety which is able to support the many and various
attacks of troubles and anxieties, and so far from shrinking from
them, exhibits the strength and stability of your administration. So
the bountiful Lord, seeing the bravery and holiness of your soul, has
refused to keep a worthy champion in concealment, and has brought him
forth to the contest to adorn your venerable head with a crown of
victory, and give your struggles as a high example of good service to
the rest. So, my dear friend, conquer in this battle too, and bear
bravely the death of your son-in-law, my own dear friend. Conquer in
your wisdom the claims of kinsmanship and the memory of a noble and
generous character, a memory which must always recall something beyond
painter's art or rhetorician's skill. Repel the assault of sorrow by
the thought of Him who wisely administers all the affairs of men, with
perfect knowledge of the future and right guidance of it for our good.
Let us join in the joy of him who has been delivered from this life's
storms. Let us rather give thanks because, wafted by kindly winds, he
has cast anchor in the windless haven and has escaped the grievous
shipwrecks whereof this life is full. But need I say all this to one
who is a tried gladiator of goodness? Need I, as it were, anoint for
endurance one who is a trainer of other athletes? Still I write. It is
a comfort to myself to write as I do. I am really and truly grieved
when I remember an intimacy that I esteemed so highly. Once more I
praise the great Guide of all, Who both knows what would be good for
us and guides our life accordingly. I have dictated this after writing
my former communication, on one of my friends in Antioch telling me
that the end had come.
Footnotes
[1626] Vide note on Letter III.
[1627] Job xl. 3, lxx.
XIII. To Cyrus.
I had heard of the island of Lesbos, and its cities Mitylene,
Methymna, and the rest; but I was ignorant of the fruit of the vine
cultivated in it. [1628] Now, thanks to your diligence, I have become
acquainted with it, and I admire both its whiteness and the delicacy
of its flavour. Perhaps time may even improve it, unless it turns it
sour; for wine, like the body, and plants, and buildings, and other
things made by hand, is damaged by time. If, as you say, it makes the
drinker longlived, I am afraid it will be of little use to me, for I
have no desire to live a long life, when life's storms are so many and
so hard.
I was however much pleased to hear of the health of the monk. Really
my anxiety about him was quite distressing, and I wrongly blamed the
doctors, for his complaint required the treatment they gave. I have
sent you a little pot of honey which the Cilician bees make from
storax flowers.
Footnotes
[1628] On the wine of Lesbos cf. Hor. Car. i. 17, "innocentis pocula
Lesbii;" Aulus Gellius tells the story how Aristotle, when asked to
nominate his successor, and wishing to point out the superiority of
Theophrastus to Menedemus, called first for a cup of Rhodian, and then
of Lesbian, and after sipping both, exclaimed hedion ho Lesbios. Nact.
Att. xiii. 5.
XIV. To Alexandra.
Had I only considered the character of the loss which you have
sustained, I should have wanted consolation myself, not only because I
count that what concerns you concerns me, be it agreeable or
otherwise, but because I did so dearly love that admirable and truly
excellent man. But the divine decree has removed him from us and
translated him to the better life. I therefore scatter the cloud of
sorrow from my soul, and urge you, my worthy friend, to vanquish the
pain of your sorrow by the power of reason, and to bring your soul in
this hour of need under the spell of God's word. Why from our very
cradles do we suck the instruction of the divine Scriptures, like milk
from the breast, but that, when trouble falls upon us, we may be able
to apply the teaching of the Spirit as a salve for our pain? I know
how sad, how very grievous it is, when one has experienced the worth
of some loved object, suddenly to be deprived of it, and to fall in a
moment from happiness to misery. But to them that are gifted with good
sense, and use their powers of right reason, no human contingency
comes quite unforeseen; nothing human is stable; nothing lasting; nor
beauty, nor wealth, nor health, nor dignity; nor any of all those
things that most men rank so high. Some men fall from a summit of
opulence to lowest poverty; some lose their health and struggle with
various forms of disease; some who are proud of the splendour of their
lineage drag the crushing yoke of slavery. Beauty is spoilt by
sickness and marred by old age, and very wisely has the supreme Ruler
suffered none of these things to continue nor abide, with the intent
that their possessors, in fear of change, may lower their proud looks,
and, knowing how all such possessions ebb and flow, may cease to put
their confidence in what is short lived and fleeting, and may fix
their hopes upon the Giver of all good. I am aware, my excellent
friend, that you know all this, and I beg you to reflect on human
nature; you will find that it is mortal, and received the doom of
death from the beginning. It was to Adam that God said "Dust thou art
and to dust thou shalt return." [1629] The giver of the law is He that
never lies, and experience witnesses to His truth. Divine Scripture
tells us "all men have one entrance into life and the like going out,"
[1630] and every one that is born awaits the grave. And all do not
live a like length of time; some men come to an end all too soon; some
in the vigour of manhood, and some after they have experienced the
trials of old age. Thus, too, they who have taken on them the marriage
yoke are loosed from it, and it must needs be that either husband
first depart or wife reach this life's end before him. Some have but
just entered the bridal chamber when their lot is weeping and
lamentation; some live together a little while. Enough to remember
that the grief is common to give reason ground for overcoming grief.
Besides all this, even they who are mastered by bitterest sorrow may
be comforted by the thought that the departed was the father of sons;
that he left them grown up; that he had attained a very high position,
and in it, so far from giving any cause for envy, made men love him
the more, and left behind him a reputation for liberality, for hatred
of all that is bad, for gentleness and indeed for every kind of moral
virtue. [1631]
But what excuse for despondency will be left us if we take to heart
God's own promises and the hopes of Christians; the resurrection, I
mean, eternal life, continuance in the kingdom, and all that "eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him"? [1632]
Does not the Apostle say emphatically, "I would not have you to be
ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not
even as others which have no hope"? [1633] I have known many men who
even without hope have got the better of their grief by the force of
reason alone, and it would indeed be extraordinary if they who are
supported by such a hope should prove weaker than they who have no
hope at all. Let us then, I implore you, look at the end as a long
journey. When he went on a journey we used indeed to be sorry, but we
waited his return. Now let the separation sadden us indeed in some
degree, for I am not exhorting what is contrary to human nature, but
do not let us wail as over a corpse; let us rather congratulate him on
his setting forth and his departure hence, because he is now free from
a world of uncertainties, and fears no further change of soul or body
or of corporeal conditions. The strife now ended, he waits for his
reward. Grieve not overmuch for orphanhood and widowhood. We have a
greater Guardian whose law it is that all should take good care of
orphans and widows and about whom the divine David says "The Lord
relieveth the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked He
turneth upside down." [1634] Only let us put the rudders of our lives
in His hands, and we shall meet with an unfailing Providence. His
guardianship will be surer than can be that of any man, for His are
the words "Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not
have compassion on the son of her womb? Yet will I not forget thee."
[1635] He is nearer to us than father and mother for He is our Maker
and Creator. It is not marriage that makes fathers, but fathers are
made fathers at His will.
I am now compelled thus to write because my bonds [1636] do not suffer
me to hasten to you, but your most God-loving and most holy bishop is
able unaided to give all consolation to your very faithful soul by
word and by deed, by sight and by communication of thought and by that
spiritual and God-given wisdom of his whereby I trust the tempest of
your grief will be lulled to sleep.
Footnotes
[1629] Gen. iii. 19
[1630] Wisdom vii. 6
[1631] The virtues specified are (i) eleutheria; (ii) misoponeria; and
(iii) praotes The more classical Greek for eleutheria, the character
of the eleutheros, was eleutheriotes,--eleutheria being used for
freedom, or license; Vide Arist. Eth. Nic. iv. 1. The misoponeros is a
hater of knavery, as in Dem. 584, 12. On the high character of the
praos cf. Aristotle. Eth. Nic. iv. 5. and Archbp. Trench, synonyms of
the N.T. p. 148.
[1632] 1 Cor. ii. 9
[1633] 1 Thess. iv. 13
[1634] Ps. cxlvi. 9
[1635] Isaiah xlix. 15
[1636] i.e. confinement to the limits of his own diocese by the decree
of March, 449.
XV. To Silvanus the Primate. [1637]
I know that in my words of consolation I am somewhat late, but it is
not without reason that I have delayed to send them, for I have
thought it worth while to let the violence of your grief take its
course. The cleverest physicians will never apply their remedies when
a fever is at its height, but wait for a favourable opportunity for
using the appliances of their skill. So after reckoning how sharp your
anguish must be, I have let these few days go by, for if I myself was
so distressed and filled with such sorrow by the news, what must not
have been the sufferings of a husband and yoke-fellow, made, as the
Scripture says, one flesh, [1638] at the violent sundering of the
union cemented both by time and love? Such pangs are only natural; but
let reason devise consolation by reminding you that humanity is frail
and sorrow universal, and also of the hope of the resurrection and the
will of Him who orders our lives wisely. We must needs accept the
decrees of inestimable wisdom, and own them to be for our good; for
they who reflect thus piously shall reap piety's rewards, and so
delivered from immoderate lamentations shall pass their lives in
peace. On the other hand they whom sorrow makes its slaves will gain
nothing by their wailing, but will at once live weary lives and grieve
the Guardian of us all. Receive then, my most honoured friend, a
fatherly exhortation "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. He
hath done whatsoever pleased Him. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
[1639]
Footnotes
[1637] cf. note on p. 261. Nothing is known of this Silvanus.
[1638] Gen. ii. 24
[1639] Job i. 21
XVI. To Bishop Irenæus. [1640]
There is nothing good, it seems, in prospect for us, so, far from
calming down, the tempest troubling the Church seems to rise higher
every day. The conveners of the Council have arrived and delivered the
letters of summons to several of the Metropolitans including our own,
and I have sent a copy of the letter to your Holiness to acquaint you
how, as the poet has it, "Woe has been welded by woe." [1641] And we
need only the Lord's goodness to stay the storm. Easy it is for Him to
stay it, but we are unworthy of the calm, yet the grace of His
patience is enough for us, so that haply by it we may get the better
of our foes. So the divine apostle has taught us to pray "for He will
with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to
bear it." [1642] But I beseech your godliness to stop the mouths of
the objectors and make them understand that it is not for them who
stand, as the phrase goes, out of range, to scoff at men fighting in
the ranks and giving and receiving blows; for what matters it what
weapon the soldier uses to strike down his antagonists? Even the great
David did not use a panoply when he slew the aliens' champion, [1643]
and Samson slew thousands on one day with the jawbone of an ass.
[1644] Nobody grumbles at the victory, nor accuses the conqueror of
cowardice, because he wins it without brandishing a spear or covering
himself with his shield or throwing darts or shooting arrows. The
defenders of true religion must be criticized in the same way, nor
must we try to find language which will stir strife, but rather
arguments which plainly proclaim the truth and make those who venture
to oppose it ashamed of themselves.
What does it matter whether we style the holy Virgin at the same time
mother of Man and mother of God, or call her mother and servant of her
offspring, with the addition that she is mother of our Lord Jesus
Christ as man, but His servant as God, and so at once avoid the term
which is the pretext of calumny, and express the same opinion by
another phrase? And besides this it must also be borne in mind that
the former of these titles is of general use, and the latter peculiar
to the Virgin; and that it is about this that all the controversy has
arisen, which would God had never been. The majority of the old
Fathers have applied the more honourable title to the Virgin, as your
Holiness yourself has done in two or three discourses; several of
these, which your godliness sent to me, I have in my own possession,
and in these you have not coupled the title mother of Man with mother
of God, but have explained its meaning by the use of other words. But
since you find fault with me for having left out the holy and blessed
Fathers Diodorus and Theodorus in my list of authorities, I have
thought it necessary to add a few words on this point.
In the first place, my dear friend, I have omitted many others both
famous and illustrious. Secondly this fact must be borne in mind, that
the accused party is bound to produce unimpeachable witnesses, whose
testimony even his accusers cannot impugn. But if the defendant were
to call into court authorities accused by the prosecutors, even the
judge himself would not consent to receive them. If I had omitted
these holy men in compiling an eulogy of the Fathers, I should, I own,
have been wrong, and should have proved myself ungrateful to my
teachers. But if when under accusation I have brought forward a
defence, and have produced unimpeachable witnesses, why do men who are
unwilling to see any of these testimonies lay me under unreasonable
blame? How I reverence these writers is sufficiently shewn by my own
book in their behalf, in which I have refuted the indictment laid
against them, without fear of the influence of their accusers or even
of the secret attack made upon myself. These people who are so fond of
foolish talk had better get some other excuse for their sleight of
words. My object is not to make my words and deeds fit the pleasure of
this man or that man, but to edify the church of God, and please her
bridegroom and Lord. I call my conscience to witness that I am not
acting as I do through care of material things, nor because I cling to
the honour with all its cares, which I shrink from calling an unhappy
one. I would long ago have withdrawn of my own accord, did I not fear
the judgment of God. And now know well that I await my fate. And I
think that it is drawing near, for so the plots against me indicate.
[1645]
Footnotes
[1640] cf. Epp. iii, xii, and xxxv.
[1641] Homer II. xvi. iii. kakon kako esterikto. For Theodoret's
knowledge of Homer cf. pp. 104 and 258.
[1642] 1 Cor. x. 13
[1643] 1 Sam. xvii
[1644] Judges xv. 16
[1645] This letter appears to be written shortly before the meeting of
the Robber Synod in 449.
XVII. To the Deaconess Casiana.
Had I only considered the greatness of your sorrow, I should have put
off writing a little while, that I might make time my ally in my
attempt to cure it, but I know the good sense of your piety, and so I
make bold to offer you some words of consolation suggested partly by
human nature, and partly by divine Scripture. For our nature is frail,
and all life is full of such calamities, and the universal Governor
and Ruler of the World,--the Lord who wisely orders our
concerns,--gives us by means of His divine oracles consolation of
various kinds, of which the writings of the holy Evangelists and the
divine utterances of the blessed prophets are full. But I am sure it
is needless to cull these passages, and suggest them to your piety,
nurtured as you have been from the beginning in the inspired word,
ruling your life in accordance with them, and needing no other
teaching. But I do implore you to remember those words that charge us
to master our feelings, and promise us eternal life, proclaim the
destruction of death, and announce the common resurrection of us all.
Besides all this, nay, before all this, I ask you to reflect that He
who has bidden these things so be is the Lord, that He is a Lord all
wise and all good, Who knows exactly what is best for us, and to this
end guides all our life. Sometimes death is better than life, and what
seems distressing is really pleasanter than fancied joys. I beg your
piety to accept the consolation offered by my humility, that you may
serve the Lord of all by nobly bearing your pain, and affording to men
as well as women an example of true wisdom. For all will admire the
strength of mind which has bravely borne the attack of grief and
broken the force of its violent assault by the magnanimity of its
resolution. And we are not without great comfort in the living
likenesses of your departed son; for he has left behind him offspring
worthy of deep affection, who may be able to stay the excess of our
sorrow.
Lastly I implore you to remember in your grief what your bodily
infirmity can endure, and to avoid increasing your sufferings by
mourning overmuch; and I implore our Lord of His infinite resources to
give you ground of consolation.
XVIII. To Neoptolemus.
Whenever I cast my eyes on the divine law which calls those who are
joined together in marriage "one flesh," [1646] I am at a loss how to
comfort the limb that has been sundered, because I take account of the
greatness of the pang. But when I consider the course of nature, and
the law which the Creator has laid down in the words "Dust thou art
and to dust thou shalt return," [1647] and all that goes on daily in
all the world on land and sea--for either husbands first approach the
end of life or this lot first befalls the wives--I find from these
reflections many grounds of consolation; and above all the hopes that
have been given us by our Lord and Saviour. For the reason of the
accomplishment of the mystery of the incarnation was that we, being
taught the defeat of death, should no more grieve beyond measure at
the loss by death of those we love, but await the longed-for
fulfilment of the hope of the resurrection. I entreat your Excellency
to reflect on these things, and to overcome the pain of your grief;
and all the more because the children of your common love are with
you, and give you every ground of comfort. Let us then praise Him who
governs our lives wisely, nor rouse His anger by immoderate
lamentation, for in His wisdom He knows what is good for us, and in
His mercy He gives it.
Footnotes
[1646] Gen. ii. 24
[1647] Gen. iii. 19
XIX. To the Presbyter Basilius.
I have found the right eloquent orator Athanasius to be just what your
letter described him. His tongue is adorned by his speech, and his
speech by his character, and all about him is brightened by his
abundant faith. Ever, most God-beloved friend, send us such gifts. You
have given me, be assured, very great pleasure through my intercourse
with him.
XX. To the Presbyter Martyrius.
Natural disposition appears in us before resolution of character, and,
in this sense, takes the lead; but disposition is overcome by
resolution, as is plainly proved by the right eloquent orator
Athanasius. Though an Egyptian by birth, he has none of the Egyptian
want of self-control, but shews a character tempered by gentleness.
[1648] He is moreover a warm lover of divine things. On this account
he has spent many days with me, expecting to reap some benefit from
his stay. But I, as you know, most God-beloved friend, shrink from
trying so to derive good from others, and am far from being able to
impart it to those who seek it, and this not because I grudge, but
because I have not the wherewithal, to give. Wherefore let your
holiness pray that what is said of me may be confirmed by fact, and
that not only may good things be reported of me by word, but proved in
deed.
Footnotes
[1648] On praotes vide note on p. 254.
XXI. To the Learned Eusebius.
The disseminators of this great news, with the idea that it would be
very distasteful to me, fancied that they might in this way annoy me.
But I by God's grace welcomed the news, and await the event with
pleasure. Indeed very grateful to me is any kind of trouble which is
brought on me for the sake of the divine doctrines. For, if we really
trust in the Lord's promises, "The sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in
us." [1649]
And why do I speak of the enjoyment of the good things which are hoped
for? For even if no prize had been offered to them that struggle for
the sake of true religion, Truth alone by her own unaided force would
herself have been sufficient to persuade them that love her to welcome
gladly all perils in her cause. And the divine Apostle is witness of
what I say, exclaiming as he does, "Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? As it is written, `For thy
sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter.'" [1650]
And then to teach us that he looks for no reward, but only loves his
Saviour, he adds straightway "Nay in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us." [1651]
And he goes on further to exhibit his own love more clearly. "For I am
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
[1652]
Behold, my friend, the flame of apostolic affection; see the torch of
love. [1653]
I covet not, he says, what is His. I only long for Him; and this love
of mine is an unquenchable love and I would gladly forego all present
and future felicity, aye, suffer and endure again all kinds of pain so
as to keep with me this flame in all its force. This was exemplified
by the divine writer in deed as well as in word and everywhere by land
and sea he has left behind him memorials of his sufferings. So when I
turn my eyes on him and on the rest of the patriarchs, prophets,
apostles, martyrs, priests, what is commonly reckoned miserable I
cannot but hold to be delightful. I confess to a feeling of shame when
I remember how even they who never learnt the lessons we have learnt,
but followed no other guide but human nature alone, have won
conspicuous places in the race of virtue. The famous Socrates, son of
Sophroniscus, when under the calumnious indictment, not only treated
the lies of his accusers with contempt, but expressed his cheerfulness
in the midst of his troubles in the words, "Anytus and Meletus [1654]
can kill me, but they cannot harm me." And the orator of Pæania,
[1655] who was as wise as he was eloquent, enriched both the men of
his own day and them that should come after him with the saying: "to
all the race of men the end of life is death, even though one shut
himself up for safety in a cell; so good men are bound ever to put
their hand to every honourable work, ever defending themselves with
good hope as with a shield, and bravely to bear whatever lot may be
given them by God." [1656]
Moreover a writer of earlier date than Demosthenes, I mean the son of
Olorus, wrote many noble sentiments, and among them this "We must bear
what the gods send us of necessity and the fortune of war with
courage." [1657] Why need I quote philosophers, historians, and
orators? For even the men who gave higher honour to their mythology
than to the truth have inserted many useful exhortations in their
stories; as Homer in his poems introduces the wisest of the Hellenes
preparing himself for deeds of valour, where he says
"He chid his angry spirit and beat his breast,
And said `Forbear my mind, and think on this:
There hath been time when bitterer agonies
Have tried thy patience.'" [1658]
Similar passages might easily be collected from poets, orators, and
philosophers, but for us the divine writings are sufficient.
I have quoted what I have to prove how disgraceful it were for the
mere disciples of nature to get the better of us who have had the
teaching of the prophets and the apostles, trusting in the Saviour's
sufferings and looking for the resurrection of the body, freedom from
corruption, the gift of immortality and the kingdom of heaven.
So, my dear friend, comfort those who are discouraged at the stories
bruited abroad, and if anybody is pleased at them, tell them that we
are happy too, that we are exulting and dancing with joy, and that
what they call punishment we are looking for as the kingdom of heaven
itself.
To inform those who do not know in what mind we are, be assured, most
excellent friend, that we believe, as we have been taught, in the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There is no truth in the slander
of some that we have been taught to believe, or have been baptized, or
do believe, or teach others to believe, in two Sons. As we know one
Father and one Holy Ghost so we know one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God, God the Word who was made man. We do not
however deny the properties of the natures. We hold them to be in
error who divide the one Lord Jesus Christ into two Sons, and we also
call them enemies of the truth who endeavour to confound the natures.
We believe an union to have been made without confusion, and we reckon
some qualities to be proper to the manhood and others to the Godhead;
for just as the man--I mean man in general--reasonable and mortal
being, has a soul and has a body, and is reckoned to be one being,
just so the distinction between the two natures does not divide the
one man into two persons, but we recognise in the one man both the
immortality of the soul and the mortality of the body, and acknowledge
the invisible soul and the visible body, but, as I said, one being at
once reasonable and mortal; so do we recognise our Lord and God, I
mean the Son of God our Lord Christ, even after His incarnation, to be
one Son; for the union is indivisible, as we know it is without
confusion. We acknowledge too that the Godhead is without beginning,
and that the manhood is of recent origin; for the one nature is of the
seed of Abraham and David, from whom descended the holy Virgin, but
the divine nature was begotten of the God and Father before the ages
without time, without passions, without severance. But suppose the
distinction between flesh and Godhead to be destroyed, what weapons
shall we use in our war with Arius and Eunomius? How shall we undo
their blasphemy against the only begotten? As it is, we apply the
words of humiliation as to man, the words of exaltation and divinity
as to God, and the setting forth of the truth is very easy to us.
But this disquisition on the faith is exceeding the limits of a
letter. Still even these few words are enough to show the character of
the apostolic faith. [1659]
Footnotes
[1649] Rom. viii. 18
[1650] Rom. viii. 35, 36
[1651] Rom. viii. 37
[1652] Rom. viii. 38, 39
[1653] erotos. The use of this word in this connexion is in contrast
with the spirit of the writers of the N.T., in which eros and its
correlatives never appear.
[1654] Apol. Soc. xviii. eme men gar ouden an blapseien oute Meletos
oute ,'Anutos, oude gar an dunaito
[1655] I.e. Demosthenes who belonged to Pæania a demus of Attica on
the eastern slope of Hymettus, and so was called ho Paianeus
[1656] Demosth. de Cor. 258. The sentiment finds various expression in
ancient writers e.g. Euripides, in a fragment of the lost "Ægeus,"
Katthanein d' opheiletai kai to kat' oikous ektos hemeno ponon and
Propertius El. III. 10. "Ille licet ferro cautus se condat et oere,
Mors tamen inclusum protrahit inde caput."
[1657] Thucydides II. lxiv. 3. pherein te chre ta te daimonia
anankaios, ta te apo ton polemion andreios The quotation is from the
speech of Pericles to the Athenians in b.c. 430 in which he encourages
and soothes them under adversity.
[1658] Homer Od. xx. 17. (Chapman's Translation.) cf. notes on pp.
104, 255, 258, 259, and 260.
[1659] Garnerius dates this letter in Sept. or Oct., 449.
XXII. To Count Ulpianus.
It is said that what is faulty in men's ways may be brought to order
and improved by words. But I think that characters made beautiful by
nature, themselves make words fair, though they stand in need of none,
just as bodies naturally beautiful need no artificial colouring. These
qualities are conspicuous in the right eloquent orator Athanasius, and
I have been the more pleased with him because he is an ardent lover of
your Excellency, and is constantly sounding your praises. Here,
however, I have striven with him, and in enumerating your high
qualities, have outdone him, for I know more about good deeds of yours
than he. I am however vexed at not being able to praise them all, and
to see that my summary of your virtues falls short of what might be
said in your praise, but if God grant it even to approach the truth
you will hold the pre-eminence in every kind of virtue among all your
contemporaries. [1660]
Footnotes
[1660] Nothing more seems to be known either of Ulpianus or of this
Athanasius.
XXIII. To the Patrician Areobindas. [1661]
In distributing wealth and poverty among men the Creator and Governor
of all gives no unjust judgment, but gives the poverty of the poor to
the rich as a means of usefulness. So He brings chastisement upon men
not merely in the infliction of punishment for their faults, but to
provide the wealthy with opportunities for shewing kindness to
mankind. This year the Lord has sent us scourges, far less than our
sins, but enough to distress the husbandmen, of whose sufferings I
lately made your magnificence acquainted through your own hinds. Pity,
I beseech you, the tillers of the ground, who have spent their toil
with but very little result. Be this bad year a suggestion of
spiritual abundance, and do ye through the exercise of compassion
gather in the harvest of the compassion of God. On this account the
excellent Dionysius has hurried to your greatness to tell you of the
trouble, that he may receive the remedy. He carries this letter, like
a suppliant's branch of olive, in the hope that by its means he may
receive greater kindness.
Footnotes
[1661] Areobindas was consul in 434, and died, according to
Marcellinus, in 449.
XXIV. To Andreas Bishop of Samosata.
Your piety, nursling of God's love, longs, I am sure, for my society.
But I am all the more eager for yours in proportion as I know that
from it more advantage will accrue to me. Want somehow naturally makes
our wishes the stronger, but the Lord of all is able to give us what
we long for. He rules all things Himself; knows what is sure to do us
good, and never ceases to give every man this boon. I really cannot
tell you how much delighted I was with your letter, and the very
honourable and devout deacon Thalassius increased my pleasure by
telling me what I was very anxious to know, for what can be more
welcome to me than news that all goes well with you? And what is it
that so increases your welfare as the moderation of the great men
among us? You have acted like a wise and active physician who does not
wait to be sent for, but comes of his own accord to them that need his
care. This has given me great pleasure, and I have learnt by my own
experience what the poet means when he says "laughing through her
tears." [1662] May the bountiful Giver of all good things grant your
holiness to excel in them, and to make us emulous of what is
praiseworthy in all good men. Help us then my dear friend, and
persuade him who can to grant our petition. [1663]
Footnotes
[1662] Hom. II. VI. 484, cf. quotations from Homer pp. 104, 255, 258,
259, 260.
[1663] It is to Andreas of Samosata that Theodoret addressed the
famous letter on the errors of Cyril numbered 162. He is mentioned by
Athanasius Sinaita.
XXV. Festal.
When the only begotten God had been made Man, and had wrought out our
salvation, they who in those days saw Him from whom these bounties
flowed kept no feast. But in our time, land and sea, town and hamlet,
though they cannot see their benefactor with eyes of sense, keep a
feast in memory of all He has done for them; and so great is the joy
flowing from these celebrations that the streams of spiritual gladness
run in all directions. Wherefore we now salute your piety, at once to
signify the cheerfulness which the feast has caused in us, and to ask
your prayers that we may keep it to the end.
XXVI. Festal.
The fountains of the Lord's kindness are ever gushing forth with good
things for them that believe; but some further good is conveyed by the
celebrations which preserve the memory of the greatest of benefits to
them that keep the feasts with more good will. We have just now
celebrated the rites and enjoyed their blessing, and thus salute your
piety, for so the custom of the feast and law of love enjoins.
XXVII. To Aquilinus, Deacon and Archimandrite.
No one who has won the divine adoption weeps for orphanhood, for what
guardian care can be more powerful than that of our Father which is on
high, because of Him fathers of earth are fathers. By His will some
are made fathers by nature, some by grace. To Him then let us hold
fast and keep alive the memory of them that are dead. For we shall be
the better for the recollection of them that have lived well, rousing
us to imitation of them.
XXVIII. To Jacobus, Presbyter and Monk.
They who have made the vigour of their manhood bright by virtuous
industry hasten happily towards old age, gladdened by the recollection
of their former victories, and for old age's sake rid of further
struggle. This joy I think your own piety possesses, and that you bear
your old age the more easily for the recollection of the labours of
your youth.
XXIX. To Apellion.
The sufferings of the Carthaginians would demand, and, in their
greatness, perhaps out-task, the power of the tragic language of an
Æschylus or a Sophocles. Carthage of old was with difficulty taken by
the Romans. Again and again she contended with Rome for the mastery of
the world, and brought Rome within danger of destruction. Now the ruin
has been the mere byplay of barbarians. Now dignified members of her
far-famed senate wander all over the world, getting means of existence
from the bounty of kindly strangers, moving the tears of beholders,
and teaching the uncertainty and instability of the lot of man.
I have seen many who have come thence, and I have felt afraid, for I
know not, as the Scripture says, "what the morrow will bring forth."
[1664] Not least do I admire the admirable and most honourable
Celestinianus, so bravely does he bear his misfortune, and makes the
loss of his happiness an occasion for philosophy, praising the
governor of all, and holding that to be good which God either ordains
or suffers to be. For the wisdom of divine Providence is unspeakable.
He is travelling with his wife and children, and I beg your excellency
to treat him with an hospitality like that of Abraham. With perfect
confidence in your benevolence I have undertaken to introduce him to
you, and I am telling him how generous is your right hand. [1665]
Footnotes
[1664] Prov. xxvii. 1
[1665] The name Celestinianus varies in the mss. with Celestiacus.
Theodoret's letter in his behalf may be placed shortly after the sack
of Carthage by Genseric in 439.
XXX. To Aerius the Sophist. [1666]
Now is the time for your Academy to prove the use of your discussions.
I am told that a brilliant assemblage collects at your house, of which
the members are both illustrious by birth and polished of speech, and
that you debate about virtue and the immortality of the soul, and
other kindred subjects. Show now opportunely your nobility of soul and
wealth of virtue, and receive the most admirable and honourable
Celestinianus in the spirit of men who have learnt the rapid changes
of human prosperity. He was formerly an ornament of the city of
Carthage, where he flung open the doors of his house to many priests,
and never thought to need a stranger's kindness. Be his spokesman, my
friend, and aid him in his need of your voice, for he cannot suffer
the advice of the poet which bids him that needeth speak though he be
ashamed. [1667]
Persuade I beg you any of your society who are capable of so doing to
emulate the hospitality of Alcinous, [1668] to remove the poverty
which has unexpectedly befallen him, and to change his evil fortune
into good. Let them praise our kindly Lord for making us wise by other
men's calamities, not having sent us to strangers' houses and having
brought strangers to our doors. To men that shew kindness He promises
to give what words cannot express and no intelligence can understand.
Footnotes
[1666] A Christian Sophist of Cyrus. cf. Letter LXVI.
[1667] This passage is corrupt, and I cannot discover the quotation.
There may not impossibly be a reference to Hom. Od. xvii. 345.
[1668] Hom. Od. vii.
XXXI. To Domnus Bishop of Antioch. [1669]
The most admirable and honourable Celestinianus is a native of the
famous Carthage, and of an illustrious family in that city. Now he has
been exiled from it. He is wandering in foreign parts, and has to look
to the benevolence of them that love God. He carries with him a burden
from which he cannot escape and which increases his care--I mean his
wife, his children and his servants, for whom he is at great expense.
I wonder at his spirit. For he praises the great Pilot as though he
were being borne by favourable breezes, and cares nothing for the
terrible storm. From his calamity he has reaped the fruit of piety,
and this thrice blessed gain has been brought him by his misfortune;
for while he was in prosperity he never accepted this teaching, but
when the evil day left him bare, among the rest of his losses he lost
his impiety too, and now possesses the wealth of the faith, and for
its sake thinks little of his ruin.
I therefore beseech your holiness to let him find a fatherland in
these foreign parts, and to charge them that abound in riches to
comfort one who once was endowed like themselves, and to scatter the
dark cloud of his calamity. It is only right and proper that among men
of like nature, where all have erred, they that have escaped
chastisement should bring comfort to them that have fallen on evil
days, and by their sympathy for these latter propitiate the mercy of
God.
Footnotes
[1669] cf Epp. 80 - 110 - 112.
XXXII. To the Bishop Theoctistus. [1670]
If the God of all had forthwith inflicted punishment on all that err
he would utterly have destroyed all men. But He spares; He is a
merciful Judge; and therefore some He chastises, and to others He
gives the lesson of the punishment of the chastised. An instance of
this merciful dealing has been shewn in our times. Exiles from what
was once known as Libya, but is now called Africa, have been brought
by Him to our doors, and by shewing us their sufferings He moves us to
fear, and by fear rouses us to sympathy; thus He accomplishes two ends
at once, for He both benefits us by their chastisement, and to them by
our means brings comfort. This comfort I now beg you to give to the
very admirable and honourable Celestinianus, a man who once was an
ornament of the Africans' chief city, but now has neither city nor
home, nor any of the necessaries of life. Now it is proper that those
who in the jurisdiction of your holiness have been entrusted with the
pastoral care of souls should bring before their fellow citizens what
is for their good, for indeed they need such teaching. For this
reason, as we know, the divine Apostle in his Epistle to Titus writes
"Let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses,"
[1671] for if our city, solitary as it is, and with only a small
population, and that a poor one, succours the strangers, much rather
may Beroea, [1672] which has been nurtured in true religion, be
expected to do so, especially under the leadership of your holiness.
Footnotes
[1670] Bp. of the Syrian Beroea. He succeeded Acacius in 437. cf. Ep.
134.
[1671] Titus iii. 14
[1672] i.e. The Syrian Beroea, Aleppo or Haleb.
XXXIII. To Stasimus, Count and Primate. [1673]
To narrate the sufferings of the most honourable and dignified
Celestinianus would require tragic eloquence. Tragic writers set forth
fully the ills of humanity, but I can only in a word inform your
excellency that his country is Libya, so long on all men's tongues,
his city the far famed Carthage, his hereditary rank a seat in her
famous council, his circumstances affluent. But all this is now a
tale, mere words stripped bare of realities. The barbarian war has
deprived him of all this. But such is fortune; she refuses to remain
always with the same men and hastens to change her abode to dwell with
others. [1674] I beg to introduce this guest to your excellency, and
beseech you that he may enjoy your far famed beneficence. I beg also
that through your excellency he may become known to all those who are
in office and opulence, in order that you may both become a means of
advantage to them and win the higher reward from our merciful God.
Footnotes
[1673] The title Primas was applied in civil Law to (a) the Decuriones
of a municipality, and (b) to the chiefs of provincial governments.
Cod. Theod. vii. 18. 13, ix. 40. 16 etc.
[1674] cf. Horace I. xxxiv. 14 and III. xxix. 52 "nunc mihi nunc alii
benigna."
XXXIV. To the Count Patricius.
All kinds of goodness are praiseworthy, but all are made more
beautiful by loving kindness. For it we earnestly pray the God of all;
through it alone we obtain forgiveness when we err; it makes wealth
stoop to the poor, and because I know that your Excellency is richly
endowed with it I confidently commend to you the admirable and
excellent Celestinianus, once lord of vast wealth and possessions and
suddenly stripped of all, but bearing his poverty as easily as few men
bear their riches. The subject of the tragedy involving the fall of
his fortunes is the barbarian invasion of Libya and Carthage. I have
introduced him to your greatness; pray suggest his case to others, and
move them to pity. You will win greater gain by giving many a lesson
in loving kindness:
XXXV. To the Bishop Irenæus. [1675]
You are conspicuous, my Lord, for many forms of goodness, and your
holiness is beautified in an especial degree by loving-kindness, by
contempt of riches, and by a generosity that gushes forth for the help
of them that need. I know too that you deem worthy of more than
ordinary attention those who have been brought up in prosperity and
have fallen from it into trouble. Knowing this as well as I do I
venture to make known to you the very admirable and excellent
Celestinianus. He was once well known in Carthage for wealth and
position, now stripped of these he is favourably known by his piety
and philosophy, for he bears what men call misfortune with resignation
because it has brought him to the salvation of his soul. He came to me
with a letter which described his former prosperity, and after he had
passed several days with me I proved the truth of what was said of him
by experience. I have therefore no hesitation in commending him to
your Holiness, and begging you to make him known to the well-to-do men
of the city. It is probable that when they have learnt what has
befallen him, in fear of a like fate befalling themselves, they will
endeavour to escape judgment by shewing mercy. He has no resource but
to go about begging, as he is put to the greater expense because he
has with him his wife and children, and the domestics who with him
escaped the violence of the barbarians.
Footnotes
[1675] i.e. of Tyre.
XXXVI. To Pompianus, Bishop of Emesa.
I know very well that your means are small and your heart is great,
and that in your case generosity is not prevented by limited
resources. I therefore introduce to your holiness the admirable and
excellent Celestinianus, once enjoying much wealth and prosperity, but
now escaped from the hands of the barbarians with nothing but freedom,
and having no means of livelihood except the mercy of men like your
piety. And cares crowd round him, for travelling with him are his
wife, children and servants, whom he has brought with him from no
motives but those of humanity, for he cannot think it right to dismiss
them when they refuse to abandon him. I beg you of your goodness to
make him known to our wealthy citizens, for I think that, after being
informed by your holiness and seeing how soon prosperity may fall
away, they will bethink them of our common humanity, and, in imitation
of your magnanimity, will give him such help as they can.
XXXVII. To Salustius the Governor. [1676]
When rulers keep the scales of justice true, and let them hang in even
balance, they confer all kinds of benefits upon their subjects; if
they are also gifted with prudence and further show loving-kindness to
him that needs it, manifold advantages accrue from their rule to them
that live under it. Having enjoyed these good things through your
excellency, and having experienced them in your former administration,
they have now been moved with joy at the information that to your
munificence the helm of government has been entrusted. I pray that
they may gain yet greater good, that your excellency may win still
higher praise, and that the encomiums of your eulogists may be
vindicated by the addition to all your other honourable titles to fame
of that colophon [1677] of good things--true religion. As I was
compelled to pass several days in Hierapolis I hoped to have the
pleasure of meeting your excellency, and persistently enquired of new
comers if the insignia of office had been conveyed to you. But I was
compelled by the divine feast of salvation to return in haste to the
city entrusted to me. Now however that I have received your
excellency's letter, with very great pleasure I return your
salutation, and without delay have sent, as you requested, the
honourable and pious deacon who is by God's grace a water-finder. May
the Lord in His loving kindness grant him both to do good service to
the city and increase your excellency's glory.
Footnotes
[1676] i.e. of the Euphratensis.
[1677] Colophon was one of the twelve Ionian cities founded by Mopsus
on the coast of Asia Minor and was one of the claimants for being the
birthplace of Homer. To put a colophon to anything became a proverbial
expression for to put the crowning touch, to complete--from the fact
according to Strabo (C. 643) that the Colophonian cavalry was so
excellent as at once to decide and finish a battle in which it
appeared. So the place and date of the edition of a book, with the
device of the printer, appended to old editions is called a colophon.
XXXVIII. Festal.
The divine feast of salvation has brought us the founts of God's good
gifts, the blessing of the Cross, and the immortality which sprang
from our Lord's death, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ which
gives promise of the resurrection of us all. These being the gifts of
the feast, such its exhibition of the bounty of divine grace, it has
filled us with spiritual gladness. But encompassed as we are on every
side by many and great calamities, the brightness of the feast is
dimmed, and lamentation and wailing are mingled with our psalmody.
Such sorrows does sin bring forth. It is sin which has filled our life
with pangs; it is on account of sin that death is lovelier to us than
life; it is on account of sin that when we think in imagination of
that incorruptible tribunal we shudder even at the life to come. So
may your piety pray that God's loving-kindness may light on us, and
that this gloomy and terrible cloud may be dispersed and sunshine
again quickly give us joy.
XXXIX. Festal.
My wish was to write in cheerful terms and sound the note of the
spiritual joy of the feast, but I am prevented by the multitude of our
sins, which are bringing on us the judgment of God. For who indeed can
be so insensible as not to perceive the divine wrath? May your piety
then pray that affairs may undergo a change for the better; that so we
too may change the style of our letter, and write words of
cheerfulness instead of those of wailing.
XL. To Theodorus the Vicar. [1678]
The custom of the feast bids me write a festal letter, but the cloud
of our calamities suffers me not to gather the usual happy fruit from
it. Who is so stony-hearted as not to be shocked and affrighted at the
anger and grief of the Lord? Who is not stirred to the memory of
faults? Who does not look for the righteous sentence? All this dims
the brightness of the feast, but the Lord is full of loving-kindness,
and we trust He will not actually fulfil His threats, but will look
mercifully on us, scatter our sadness, open the springs of mercy, and
shew His wonted long suffering. I salute your greatness, and beseech
you to send me news of the health I sincerely trust you are enjoying.
Footnotes
[1678] topoteretes, vicarius, or lieutenant, is used of "Vicars" both
civil and ecclesiastical.
XLI. To Claudianus. [1679]
The divine Celebration has as usual conferred on us its spiritual
boons; but the sour fruits of sin have not suffered us to enjoy them
with gladness. They have had their usual results; in the beginning
they caused thorns, caltrops, sweats, toil and pain to sprout; at the
present moment sin sets the earth quaking against us, and makes
nations rise against us on every side. And we lament because we force
the good Lord, who is wishful to do us good, to do us ill, and compel
Him to inflict punishment.
Yet when we bethink us of the unfathomable depths of His pity we are
comforted, and trust that the Lord will not cast off His people,
neither will He forsake His inheritance. [1680] While saluting your
magnificence I beseech you to give me news of your much-wished for
health.
Footnotes
[1679] In Vatican ms. to Salustianus. The mention of the earthquake
fixes the date of this letter in 447, a year when the Huns were
ravaging the eastern empire.
[1680] Psalm xciv. 14
XLII. To Constantius the Prefect. [1681]
Did no necessity compel me to address a letter to your greatness, I
might haply be found guilty of presumption, for neither taking due
measure of myself nor recognising the greatness of your power. But now
that all that is left of the city and district which God has committed
to my charge is in peril of utterly perishing, and certain men have
dared to bring calumnious charges against the recent visitation, I am
sure your magnificence will pardon the boldness of my letter when you
enquire into the necessity of the case, my own object in writing. I
groan and lament at being compelled to write against a man over whose
errors one ought to throw a veil, because he is of the clerical order.
Nevertheless I write to defend the cause of the poor whom he is
wronging. After being charged with many crimes and excluded from the
Communion, pending the assembly of the sacred Synod, in alarm at the
decision of the episcopal council he has made his escape from this
place, thereby trampling, as he supposed, on the laws of the Church,
and, by his contempt of the sentence of excommunication has laid bare
his motive. He has undertaken an accusation not even fit for men of
mean crafts, and in consequence of his ill-feeling towards the
illustrious Philip has proceeded against the wretched tax-payers. I
feel that it is quite needless for me to mention his character, his
course of life from the beginning and the greatness of his
wrong-doings, but this one thing I do beseech your Excellency, not to
believe his lies, but to ratify the visitation, and spare the wretched
tax-payers. Aye, spare the thrice wretched decurions who cannot exact
the moneys demanded of them. Who indeed is ignorant of the severity of
the taxation of the acres among us? On this account most of our
landowners have fled, our hinds have run away, and the greater part of
our lands are deserted. In discussing the land there will be no
impropriety in our using geometrical terms. Of our country the length
is forty milestones, and the breadth the same. It includes many high
mountains, some wholly bare, and some covered with unproductive
vegetation. Within this district there are fifty thousand free jugers,
[1682] and besides that ten thousand which belong to the imperial
treasury. Now only let your wisdom consider how great is the wrong.
For if none of the country had been uncultivated, and it had all
furnished easy husbandry for the hinds, they would nevertheless have
sunk under the tribute, unable to endure the severity of the taxation.
And here is a proof of what I say. In the time of Isidorus [1683] of
glorious memory, fifteen thousand acres were taxed in gold, but the
exactors of the Comitian assessment, unable to bear the loss,
frequently complained, and by offerings besought your high dignity to
let them off two thousand five hundred for the unproductive acres, and
your excellency's predecessors in this office ordered the unproductive
acreage to be taken off the unfortunate decurions, and an equivalent
number to be substituted for the Comitian; and not even thus are they
able to complete the tale.
So with many words I ask your favour, and beseech your magnificence to
put aside the false accusations that are made against the wretched
tax-payers, to stem the tide of distress in this unhappy district, and
let it once more lift its head. Thus you will leave an imperishable
memory of honour to future generations. I am joined in my supplication
to you by all the saints of our district, and especially by that right
holy and pious man of God, the Lord Jacobus, [1684] who holds silence
in such great esteem that he cannot be induced to write, but he prays
that our city, which is made illustrious by having him as neighbour
and is protected by his prayers, may receive the boon which I ask.
Footnotes
[1681] This and the five following letters may be placed in 446, after
the promulgation of the law of Theodosius "de relevatis, adæratis, vel
donatis possessionibus" late in 445.
[1682] i.e., 28,800 sq. ft. "jugum vocant quod juncti boves uno die
exarare possint." Varro R. R. i. 10.
[1683] For many years Prefect of the East.
[1684] Presumably the Jacobus of Relig. Hist. XXI, an ascetic disciple
of Maro.
XLIII. To the Augusta Pulcheria. [1685]
Since you adorn the empire by your piety and render the purple
brighter by your faith, we make bold to write to you, no longer
conscious of our insignificance in that you always pay all due honour
to the clergy. With these sentiments I beseech your majesty to deign
to show clemency to our unhappy country, to order the ratification of
the visitation which has been several times made, and not to accept
the false accusations which some men have brought against it. I
beseech you to give no credit to him who bears indeed the name of
bishop, but whose mode of action is unworthy even of respectable
slaves. [1686] He has been himself under serious charges and subject
to the bann of excommunication under the most holy and God-beloved
archbishop of Antioch, the Lord Domnus, pending the summoning of the
episcopal council for the investigation of the charges against him. He
has now made his escape, and betaken himself to the imperial city,
where he plies the trade of an informer, attacking the country which
is his mother country with its thousands of poor, and, for the sake of
his hatred to one, wags his tongue against all. Out of regard to what
is becoming to me I will say nothing as to his character and
education, and indeed he shows only too plainly what he has at present
in hand. But of the district I will say this, that when the whole
province had its burdens lightened, this portion, although it bore a
very heavy share of the burden, never enjoyed the benefit of
relaxation. The result is that many estates are deprived of
husbandmen; nay, many are altogether abandoned by their owners, while
the wretched decurions have demands made on them for these very
properties, and, being quite unable to bear the exaction, betake
themselves some to begging, and some to flight. The city seems to be
reduced to one man, and he will not be able to hold out unless your
piety supplies a remedy. But I am in hopes that your serenity will
heal the wounds in the city and add yet this one more to your many
good deeds.
Footnotes
[1685] Vide p. 155 n.
[1686] The delator referred to in these letters is presumably
Athanasius of Perrha, who was deposed by Domnus II bishop of Antioch,
in the middle of the fifth century. As Tillemont points out (Vol. XV.
pp. 261-3 ed. 1740) we cannot make the identification with certainty,
but the circumstances correspond with what is known of this
Athanasius. There was a Perrha, now Perrin, about twenty miles north
of Samosata (Samisat).
XLIV. To the Patrician [1687] Senator.
Thanks be to the Saviour of the world because to your greatness He is
ever adding dignity and honour. The reason of my not writing up to
this time to exhibit the delight which I have felt at the colophon
[1688] of your honour, has been my wish not to trouble your
magnificence. At the moment of my now thus writing, the district which
Providence has committed to my care stands as the proverb has it on a
razor's edge. [1689] You will remember the visitation which was made
at the time when we first were benefited by your presence among us;
how it was with difficulty established in the time of the most
excellent prefect the Lord Florentius; [1690] and how it was confirmed
by the present holder of the office. An individual who bears the name
of bishop, but of ways unworthy even of stage players, has fled from
the episcopal synod at a time when he was lying under sentence of
excommunication and is endeavouring to calumniate and discredit the
visitation, while through his hatred to the illustrious Philip he
assails the truth. I therefore beseech your excellency to make his
lies of none effect, and that the visitation lawfully confirmed may
remain undisturbed. It is indeed becoming to your greatness to reap
the fruit of this good deed among the rest, to receive the
acclamations of those whom you are benefiting, and so to do honour at
once to the God of all and to his true servant the very man of God the
Lord Jacob, [1691] who joins with me in sending you this supplication.
Had it been his wont to write he would have written himself.
Footnotes
[1687] From the time of the Emperor Constantine the title patrician
designated a high court functionary.
[1688] Cf. note on page 262.
[1689] Cf. note page 107.
[1690] To the same Florentius is addressed the important letter LXXXIX
wherein Theodoret defends himself from charges of heterodoxy. Before
449 he had six times attained the high position of Prefect of the
East.
[1691] i.e. the ascetic mentioned in letter XLI.
XLV. To the Patrician Anatolius. [1692]
Your greatness knows full well how all the inhabitants of the East
feel towards your magnificence, as sons feel towards an affectionate
father. Why then have you shewn hate to them that love you, deprived
them of your kindly care, and driven them all to weeping and
lamentation by putting your own advantage before the service of
others? In truth I think there is not one of them that fear the Lord
who is not much grieved at losing your official sway, and I think that
even all the rest, although they have not right knowledge about divine
things, when they reflect on the kindnesses you have conferred, share
in these sentiments of distress. I for my part am specially sorry when
I bethink me of your dignity and your unaffected character, and I pray
the God of all ever to bestow on you the bulwark of His invincible
right hand, and supply you with abundance of all kinds of blessings.
We beseech your excellency no less when absent than when present to
extend to us your accustomed protection, and to undo the rage of that
unworthy bishop of ours whose purposes are perfectly well known to
your greatness. He is endeavouring, as I am informed, to work the
entire ruin of our district, and has accepted the part of an informer
to culumniate the recent visitation, and this when all in a word know
that the taxation of our district is very heavy, and that in
consequence many estates have been abandoned by the husbandmen. But
this man, in contempt of his excommunication, and in flight from the
holy synod, has thrust out his tongue against the unhappy poor. May
your magnificence then consent to look to it that the truth be not
vanquished by a lie. And I bring the same supplication about the
Cilicians. For we cease not to wail till the iniquity be undone. The
Lord, who promises to reward even a drop of water, will requite you
for this trouble.
Footnotes
[1692] Anatolius, consul in 440, was Magister militum in the East. He
was a true friend to Theodoret. This letter may be placed in 444.
XLVI. To the Learned Petrus.
Nothing is able to stay the praiseworthy purpose of them that highly
esteem what is right. That this is the case is confirmed by the grief
shown by your magnificence at the news you have lately received, and
your refusal to overlook the attack that right has suffered. You have
opportunely put away your distress, and righteously stopped the mouth
of the enemy of the truth. No sooner did we hear of this, and found
true philosophy so coupled with rhetorical skill, than we felt the
more warmly disposed towards your excellence. Now we beseech you the
more earnestly to counteract this fine fellow's lies and confirm the
comfort given to the unhappy poor.
XLVII. To Proclus, [1693] Bishop of Constantinople.
A year ago, thanks to your holiness, the illustrious Philip governor
of our city was delivered from serious danger. After entering into the
enjoyment of the security which he owed to your kindness, he filled
our ears with your praises. But all your labour a certain most pious
personage was endeavouring to make null and void. The visitation made
several times twelve years ago he calumniates, and has adopted a style
of slander which would be unbecoming even in a respectable slave. Now
I beseech your sanctity to put a stop to his lies, and to induce the
illustrious præfects to ratify the decision which they duly and
mercifully gave. As a matter of fact our city was taxed more severely
than all the cities of the provinces, and after every city had been
relieved ours continued to this day assessed at over sixty-two
thousand acres. At last the occupants of that seat of honour were with
difficulty induced to send inspectors of the district; their report
was first received by Isidorus of famous memory and confirmed by the
glorious and Christ-loving lord Florentius, and the whole matter was
very carefully enquired into by our present ruler, whose equity adorns
the throne, and he confirmed the assessment by an imperial decree. But
this truth-loving person, all for his hatred of one single individual,
the excellent Philip, has declared war against the poor. Under these
circumstances I implore your holiness to array the forces of your
righteous eloquence against his eloquence of wrong, to throw your
shield over the truth which is attacked and at once prove her strength
and the futility of lies.
Footnotes
[1693] Proclus was enthroned at Constantinople in 434, on the death of
Maximianus.
XLVIII. To Eustathius, Bishop of Berytus. [1694]
I have gladly received the accusation, although I have no difficulty
in disproving the indictment. I have written not three letters only
but four; and I suspect one of two things; either those who promised
to convey the letters did me wrong in the matter of their delivery, or
else your piety, though in receipt of them, is yet anxious for more,
and so gets up a charge of idleness against me. I, as I said before,
am not distressed at the accusation, for it is plain proof to me of
the warmth of your affection. Continue then to ply your craft, cease
not to prefer your complaint and so to cause pleasure to myself.
Footnotes
[1694] Eustathius of Berytus (Beyrout) was a bad specimen of the
time-serving ecclesiastic. Fierce in his attacks on Ibas, and a
prominent member of the Latrocinium in 449, he narrowly escaped
deposition himself at Chalcedon in 451.
XLIX. To Damianus, [1695] Bishop of Sidon.
It is the nature of mirrors to reflect the faces of them that gaze
into them, and so whoever looks at them sees his own form. This is the
same too with the pupils of the eyes, for they shew in them the
likeness of other people's features. Of this your holiness furnishes
an instance, for you have not seen my ugliness, but have beheld with
admiration your own beauty. I really have none of the qualities which
you have mentioned. It is nevertheless my prayer that your words may
be vindicated by actual fact, and I beseech your piety by your prayers
to cause it to come to pass that your praises may not fall to the
ground through having no reality to correspond with them.
Footnotes
[1695] At Chalcedon Damianus of Sidon voted for the deposition of
Dioscorus. (Labbe Conc. IV. 443.) In this and in the preceding letter
we find Theodoret in friendly communication with representatives of
the two antagonistic parties. The date of the correspondence can only
be conjectured.
L. To the Archimandrite Gerontius. [1696]
The characters of souls are often depicted in words and their unseen
forms revealed; so now your reverence's letter exhibits the piety of
your holy soul. Your waiting for that sentence, your anxiety, your
search for advocates and preparation for a defence, clearly indicate
your soul's zeal about divine things. We on the contrary are in a
manner inactive and sleepy; we are nurtured in idleness, and stand in
need of much assistance from prayers. Give them to us, O man beloved
of God, that now at all events we may wake up and give some care to
the soul.
Footnotes
[1696] All that is known of Gerontius is his being the recipient of
the letter. "Archimandrite" = archon tes mandras, i.e. ruler of the
fold or byre.
LI. To the Presbyter Agapius. [1697]
The works of virtue are admirable in themselves, but yet more
admirable do they appear if they find an eloquence able to report them
well. Neither of these advantages has been lacking in the case of the
bishop beloved of God, the lord Thomas, for he himself has contributed
his own labours on behalf of piety, and has found in your holiness a
tongue to bestow meet praise on those labours. Coming as he did with
such testimony in his favour we have been all the more delighted to
see him, and, after enjoying his society for a short space, have
dismissed him to his charge.
Footnotes
[1697] Neither Agapius nor the bishop mentioned in this letter can be
identified.
LII. To Ibas, Bishop of Edessa. [1698]
It is, I think, of His providential care for our common salvation that
the God of all brings on some men certain calamities, that
chastisement may prove to be to them that have erred a healing remedy;
to virtue's athletes an encouragement to constancy; and to all who
look on a beneficial exemplar. For it is natural that when we see
others punished we should be filled with fear ourselves. In view of
these considerations I look on the trouble of Africa as a general
advantage. In the first place when I bear in mind their former
prosperity and now look on their sudden overthrow, I see how variable
are all human affairs, and learn a twofold lesson;--not to rejoice in
felicity as though it would never come to an end, nor be distressed at
calamities as hard to bear. Then I recall the memory of past errors,
and tremble lest I fall into like sufferings. My main motive in now
writing to you is to introduce to your holiness the very God-beloved
bishop Cyprianus, [1699] who starting from the famous Africa is now
compelled, by the savagery of the barbarians, to travel in foreign
lands.
He has brought a letter to us from the very holy bishop the lord
Eusebius, [1700] who wisely rules the Galatians. When your piety has
received him with your wonted kindness I beg you to send him with a
letter to whatever pious bishops you may think fit so that while he
enjoys their kindly consolation he may be the means of their receiving
heavenly and lasting benefits.
Footnotes
[1698] C. 435-457.
[1699] Nothing seems known of this Cyprian beyond this mention of his
expulsion by the Vandals. The letter is thus dated after 439.
[1700] Eusebius of Ancyra. The name also appears as Eulalius. Baron.
Ann. 440.
LIII. To Sophronius, Bishop of Constantina. [1701]
Since I know, O God-beloved, how generous and bountiful is your right
hand, I put a coveted boon within your reach; for just as men hungry
for this world's gain are annoyed at the sight of them that stand in
need of pecuniary aid, so the liberal are delighted, because the
riches they reach after are heavenly. A man who furnishes this
excellent opportunity is the God-beloved bishop Cyprianus, formerly
known among them that minister to others, but now, while he gives a
deplorable account of the African calamities, he has to look to the
benevolence of others, and depends on the bounty of pious souls. I
hope that he too will enjoy your brotherly kindness, and will be
forwarded with letters to other havens of refuge.
Footnotes
[1701] Tella or Constantina in Osrhoene. Sophronius was cousin of Ibas
of Edessa.
LIV. Festal.
By our divine and saving celebrations both the down-hearted are
cheered, and the joyous made yet more joyful. This I have learnt by
experience, for, when whelmed in the waves of despair, I have risen
superior to the surge at sight of the haven of the feast. May your
piety pray that I may be wholly rescued from this storm, and that our
loving Lord may grant me forgetfulness of my sorrow.
LV. Festal.
We are much distressed, for we are gifted with the nature not of rocks
but of men, but the recollection of the Lord's Epiphany has been to me
a very potent medicine; so at once I write, according to the custom of
the feast, and salute your magnificence with a prayer that you may
live in prosperity and repute.
LVI. Festal.
My grief is now at its height and my mind is seriously affected by it,
but I have thought it right to fulfil the custom of the feast, so now
I take my pen to salute your reverence and pay the debt of affection.
LVII. To the Præfect Eutrechius. [1702]
Besides other boons the Ruler of the universe has granted to us that
of hearing of your excellency's honour, and of congratulating at once
yourself on your elevation and your subjects on so gentle a rule. I
have thought it wrong to give no expression to my satisfaction and to
refrain from manifesting it by letter. Your magnificence knows quite
well how warm is our affection towards you--an affection most warmly
reciprocated. And being so filled with love we beseech the Giver of
all good things ever to pour on you His manifold gifts.
Footnotes
[1702] Prefect of the East in 447. Theodoret writes to him again when
in 448 or 449 Theodosius II had been induced to relegate him to his
own diocese. Vide Letters LXXX and LXXXI.
LVIII. To the Consul Nomus. [1703]
I am divided in mind at the idea of sending a letter to your
greatness. On the one hand I know how everything depends on your
judgment; I see you under the weight of public anxieties, and so think
it better to be silent. On the other hand, being well aware of the
breadth and capacity of your intelligence, I cannot bear to say
nothing, and am afraid of being charged with negligence. I am moreover
stimulated by the longing regret left with me by the short taste I had
of your society. My full enjoyment of it was prevented by the disease
and death of that most blessed man, so now I think writing will be a
comfort. I pray the Master of all to guide your life that it be ever
borne on favourable breezes and so we may reap the benefit of your
kindly care.
Footnotes
[1703] Nomus was consul in 445.
LIX. To Claudianus. [1704]
Sincere friendships are neither dissolved by distance of place nor
weakened by time. Time indeed inflicts indignities on our bodies,
spoils them of the bloom of their beauty, and brings on old age; but
of friendship he makes the beauty yet more blooming, ever kindling its
fire to greater warmth and brightness. So separated as I am from your
magnificence by many a day's march, pricked by the goad of friendship
I indite you this letter of salutation. It is conveyed by the
standard-bearer Patroinus, a man who on account of his high character
is worthy of all respect, for he endeavours with much zeal to observe
the laws of God. Deign, most excellent sir, to give us by him
information of your excellency's precious health, and of the desired
fulfilment of your promise.
Footnotes
[1704] cf. Epp. XLI and XCIX, but there are no notes of identity.
LX. To Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria. [1705]
Among many forms of virtue by which we hear that your holiness is
adorned (for all men's ears are filled by the flying fame of your
glory, which speeds in all directions) special praise is unanimously
given to your modesty, a characteristic of which our Lord in His law
has given Himself as an ensample, saying, "Learn of me; for I am meek
and lowly in heart;" [1706] for though God is high, or rather most
high He honoured at His incarnation the meek and lowly spirit. Looking
then to Him, sir, you do not behold the multitude of your subjects nor
the exaltation of your throne, but you see rather human nature, and
life's rapid changes, and follow the divine laws whose observance
gives us the kingdom of heaven. Hearing of this modesty on the part of
your holiness, I take courage in a letter to salute a person sacred
and dear to God, and I offer prayers whereof the fruit is salvation.
Occasion is given me to write by the very pious presbyter Eusebius,
for when I heard of his journey thither I immediately indited this
letter to call upon your holiness to support us by your prayers, and
by your reply to give us a spiritual feast, sending to us who are
hungry the blessed banquet of your words.
Footnotes
[1705] Dioscorus succeeded Cyril in 444, and this letter is probably
dated soon after.
[1706] Matt. xi. 29
LXI. To the Presbyter Archibius.
I did not let the two letters which I had just received from you go
unheeded, but wrote without delay, and gave my letter to the very
devout presbyter Eusebius. [1707] In consequence of some delay, it was
for the time postponed, for the weather kept the vessels within the
harbour, inasmuch as it indicated a coming storm at sea and bade
sailors and pilots wait awhile. So I discharged this debt for the
time, not that I may cease to be a debtor but that I may increase the
debt. For this obligation becomes many times greater by being
discharged, inasmuch as they who try to observe the laws of friendship
increase the potency of its love, and, blowing sparks into a flame,
kindle a greater warmth of affection, while all who are fired thereby
strive to surpass one another in love. Receive then my defence, my
venerable friend; forgive me; and send me a letter to tell me how you
are.
Footnotes
[1707] This name suggests correspondence of date with the preceding.
LXII. To the Presbyter John.
A saying of one of the men who used to be called wise was, "Live
unseen." I applaud the sentiment, and have determined to confirm the
word by deed, for I see no impropriety in gathering what is good from
others, just as bees, it is said, gather their honey and draw forth
the sweet dew from bitter herbs as well as from them that are good to
eat, and I myself have seen them settling on a barren rock and sucking
up its scanty moisture. Far more reasonable is it for them that are
credited with reason to harvest what is good from every source; so, as
I said, I try to live unseen, and above all men am I a lover of peace
and quiet. On his recent return from your part of the world the very
pious presbyter Eusebius announced that you had held a certain
meeting, and that in the course of conversation mention had been made
of me, and that your piety spoke with praise of my insignificant self.
I have therefore deemed it ungrateful, and indeed unfair, that he who
spoke thus well and kindly of me should fail to be paid in like coin;
for although we have done nothing worthy of praise still we admire the
intention of them that thus praise us, for such praise is the
off-spring of affection. Wherefore I salute your reverence, using as a
means of conveyance of my letter him who has brought to me the
unwritten words which you have spoken about me. When, most pious sir,
you have received my letter, write in reply. You were first in speech;
I in writing; and I answer speech by letter. It remains now to you to
answer letter for letter.
LXIII. Festal. [1708]
We have enjoyed the wonted blessings of the Feast. We have kept the
memorial Feast of the Passion of Salvation; by means of the
resurrection of the Lord we have received the glad tidings of the
resurrection of all, and have hymned the ineffable loving kindness of
our God and Saviour. But the storm tossing the churches has not
suffered us to take our share of unalloyed gladness. If, when one
member is in pain the whole body is partaker of the pang, [1709] how
can we forbear from lamentation when all the body is distressed? And
it intensifies our discouragement to think that these things are the
prelude of the general apostasy. May your piety pray that since we are
in this plight we may get the divine succour, that, as the divine
Apostle phrases it, we may "be able to withstand the evil day." [1710]
But if any time remain for this life's business, pray that the tempest
may pass away, and the churches recover their former calm, that the
enemies of the truth may no more exult at our misfortunes.
Footnotes
[1708] Garnerius gives the conjectural date 447.
[1709] Cf. 1 Cor. xii. 26
[1710] Eph. vi. 13
LXIV. Festal.
When the Master underwent the Passion of salvation for the sake of
mankind, the company of the sacred Apostles was much disheartened, for
they knew not clearly what was to be the Passion's fruit. But when
they knew the salvation that grew therefrom, they called the
proclamation of the Passion glad tidings, and eagerly offered it to
all mankind. And they that believed, as being enlightened in mind,
cheerfully received it, and keep the Feast in memory of the Passion,
and make the moment of death an opportunity for entertainment and
festivity. For the close connexion with it of the resurrection does
away with the sadness of death, and becomes a pledge for the
resurrection of all. After just now taking part in this celebration,
we send you these tidings of the feast as though they were some
fragrant perfume, and salute your piety.
LXV. To the General Zeno. [1711]
To be smitten by human ills is the common lot of all men; to endure
them bravely and rise superior to their attack is no longer common.
The former is of human nature; the latter depends upon resolution. It
is on this account that we wonder how the philosophers resolved on the
noblest course of life and conquered their calamities by wisdom. And
philosophy is produced by our reason's power, which rules our passions
and is not led to and fro by them. Now one of human ills is grief, and
it is this which we exhort your excellency to overcome, and it will
not be difficult for you to rise victorious over this feeling, if you
consider human nature, and take to heart the uselessness of sorrow.
For what gain will it be to the departed that we should wail and
lament? When, however, we reflect upon the common birth, the long
years of intercourse, the splendid service in the field, and the
far-famed achievements, let us reflect that he who was adorned by them
was a man subject to the law of death; that moreover all things are
ordained by God, who guides the affairs of men in accordance with His
sacred knowledge of what will be for their good. Thus have I written
so far as the limits of a letter would allow me, beseeching your
eminence for all our sakes to preserve your health, which is wont to
be maintained by cheerfulness and ruined by despondency. Wherefore in
my care for the advantage of us all I have penned this letter.
Footnotes
[1711] cf. Ep. LXXI. Zeno was consul in 448. Nothing is known of his
brother.
LXVI. To Aerius the Sophist. [1712]
She that gave you birth and nurtured you invites you to the longed-for
feast. The holy shrine is crowned by a roof; it is fitly adorned; it
is eager for the inhabitants for whom it was erected. These are
Apostles and Prophets, loud-voiced heralds of the old and new
covenant. Adorn, therefore, the feast with your presence; receive the
blessing which swells forth from it, and make the feast more joyous to
us.
Footnotes
[1712] cf. Ep. XXX. This letter, conveying an invitation to a church
which Aerius had built at Cyrus, his native city, was probably written
early in the episcopate of Theodoret.
LXVII. To Maranas.
It was thy work, my good Sir, to call the rest also to the feast of
the dedication. Through thy zeal and energy the holy temple has been
built, and the loud-voiced heralds of the truth have come to dwell
therein, and guard them that approach thither in faith. Nevertheless I
write and signify the season of the feast.
LXVIII. To Epiphanius.
It was my wish to summon you to the feast of holy Apostles and
Prophets, not only as a citizen, but as one who shares both my faith
and my home. But I am prevented by the state of your opinions.
Therefore I put forward no other claims than those of our country, and
I invite you to participate in the precious blessing of the holy
Apostles and Prophets. This participation no difference of sentiment
hinders.
LXIX. To Eugraphia. [1713]
Had I not been unavoidably prevented, I should no sooner have heard
that your great and glorious husband had fallen asleep than I should
straightway have hurried to your side. I have enjoyed at your hands
many and various kinds of honour, and I owe you full many thanks. When
hindered, much against my will, from paying my debt, I deemed it
ill-advised to send you a letter at the very moment, when your grief
was at its height; when it was impossible for my messenger to approach
your excellency, and when grief prevented you from reading what I
wrote. But now that your reason has had time to wake from the
intoxication of grief, to repress your emotion, and to discipline the
license of sorrow, I have made bold to write and to beseech your
excellency to bethink you of human nature, to reflect how common is
the loss you deplore, and, above all, to accept the divine teaching,
and not let your distress go beyond the bounds of your faith. For your
most excellent husband, as the Lord Himself said, "is not dead but
sleepeth" [1714] --a sleep a little longer than he was wont. This hope
has been given us by the Lord; this promise we have received from the
divine oracles. I know indeed how distressing is the separation, how
most distressing; and especially so when affection is made stronger by
sympathy of character and length of time. But let your grief be for a
journey into a far country, not for a life ended. This kind of
philosophy is particularly becoming to them that be brought up in
piety, and it is of this philosophy that I beseech you, my respected
friend, to seek the adornment. And I do not offer you this advice as a
man labouring himself under insensibility; in truth my heart was
grieved when I learnt of the departure of one I loved so well. But I
call to mind the Ruler of the world and His unspeakable wisdom, which
ordains everything for our good. I implore your holiness to take these
reflections to heart, to rise superior to your sorrow, and praise God
who is the Master of us all. It is with ineffable providence that He
guides the lives of men.
Footnotes
[1713] cf. Ep. VIII.
[1714] Luke viii. 52
LXX. To Eustathius, Bishop of Ægæ. [1715]
The story of the noble Mary is one fit for a tragic play. As she says
herself, and as is attested by several others, she is a daughter of
the right honourable Eudæmon. In the catastrophe which has overtaken
Libya she has fallen from her father's free estate, and has become a
slave. Some merchants bought her from the barbarians, and have sold
her to some of our countrymen. With her was sold a maiden who was once
one of her own domestic servants; so at one and the same time the
galling yoke of slavery fell on the servant and the mistress. But the
servant refused to ignore the difference between them, nor could she
forget the old superiority: in their calamity she preserved her kindly
feeling, and, after waiting upon their common masters, waited upon her
who was reckoned her fellow slave, washed her feet, made her bed, and
was mindful of other like offices. This became known to the
purchasers. Then through all the town was noised abroad the free
estate of the mistress and the servant's goodness. On these
circumstances becoming known to the faithful soldiers who are
quartered in our city (I was absent at the time) they paid the
purchasers their price, and rescued the woman from slavery. After my
return, on being informed of the deplorable circumstances, and the
admirable intention of the soldiers, I invoked blessings on their
heads, committed the noble damsel to the care of one of the
respectable deacons, and ordered a sufficient provision to be made for
her. Ten months had gone by when she heard that her father was still
alive, and holding high office in the West, and she very naturally
expressed a desire to return to him. It was reported that many
messengers from the West are on the way to the fair which is now being
held in your parts. She requested to be allowed to set out with a
letter from me. Under these circumstances I have written this letter,
begging your piety to take care of a noble girl, and charge some
respectable person to communicate with mariners, pilots, and
merchants, and commit her to the care of trusty men who may be able to
restore her to her father. There is no doubt that those who, when all
hope of recovery has been lost, bring the daughter to the father, will
be abundantly rewarded.
Footnotes
[1715] On the seaboard of Cilicia, now Ayas. The date may be 443 or
444.
LXXI. To Zeno, [1716] General and Consul.
Your fortitude rouses universal admiration, tempered as it is by
gentleness and meekness, and exhibited to your household in
kindliness, to your foes in boldness. These qualities indicate an
admirable general. In a soldier's character the main ornament is
bravery, but in a commander prudence takes precedence of bravery;
after these come self-control and fairness, whereby a wealth of virtue
is gathered. Such wealth is the reward of the soul which reaches after
good, and with its eyes fixed on the sweetness of the fruit, deems the
toil right pleasant. For to virtue's athletes the God of all, like
some great giver of games, has offered prizes, some in this life, and
some in that life beyond which has no end. Those in this present life
your excellency has already enjoyed, and you have achieved the highest
honour. Be it also the lot of your greatness to obtain too those
abiding and perpetual blessings, and to receive not only the consul's
robe, but also the garment that is indescribable and divine. Of all
them that understand the greatness of that gift this is the common
petition.
Footnotes
[1716] Zeno was Consul in 448. cf. Ep. LXV.
LXXII. To Hermesigenes the Assessor. [1717]
At the time when men were whelmed in the darkness of ignorance, all
did not keep the same feasts, but celebrated distinct ceremonies in
different cities. In Ælis were the Olympian games, at Delphi the
Pythian, at Sparta the Hyacinthian, at Athens the Panathenaic, the
Thesmophoria, and the Dionysian. These were the most remarkable, and
further some men celebrated the revel feast of some dæmons and some of
others. But now that those mists have been scattered by intellectual
light, in every land and sea mainlanders and islanders together keep
the feast of our God and Saviour, and whithersoever any one may wish
to travel abroad, journey he either towards rising or towards setting
sun, everywhere he will find the same celebration observed at the same
time. There is no longer necessity, in obedience to the law of Moses
which was adapted to the infirmity of the Jews, to come together into
one city and keep the feast in memory of our blessings, but every
town, every village, the country and the farthest frontiers, are
filled with the grace of God, and in every spot divine shrines and
precincts are consecrated to the God of all. So through every town we
observe our several festivals and communicate with one another in the
feast. It is the same God and Lord who is honoured in our hymns and to
whom our mystic sacrifices are offered. On this account, as is well
known, we neighbours address one another by letter and signify the joy
that comes to us in the feast. So now do I to you and offer the festal
salutation to your excellency. You will without doubt reply and honour
the custom of the feast.
Footnotes
[1717] "Nullus est sive temporis sive personæ index." Garnerius.
LXXIII. To Apollonius. [1718]
Themistocles the son of Neocles, the far-famed and admirable general,
is described by the admiring historian as endowed with natural virtue
alone. Of Pericles, however, the son of Xanthippus, it is said that he
also derived ability from his education to charm his hearers by his
persuasive eloquence, and was gifted with the power alike of knowing
what measures should be taken and of enforcing them by word of mouth.
In writing about him there is no impropriety in my using his own
words. These things illustrate your magnificence, for God, our
Creator, hath given you natural capacity, and your education makes its
brilliance the more conspicuous. Nothing then is wanting to the full
complement of your high qualities save only knowledge of their Author;
be but this added, and the tale of virtues which we shall have will be
complete. Thus I write to you on receiving news of your arrival,
beseeching the Giver of all good to grant a beam of light to your
soul's eye, to show you the greatness of His boon, to kindle your love
of that possession, and to grant the longed for favour to him that
longs for it. [1719]
Footnotes
[1718] cf. Ep. CIII. Apollonius was Comes Sacrarum Largitio. num in
436.
[1719] Thucydides, (I. 138,) writes of Themistocles that "to a greater
degree than any other man he was to be admired for the natural ability
which he displayed; for by his inborn capacity, he was an unrivalled
judge of what the emergency of the moment required, and unsurpassed in
his forecast of the future, and this without the aid of previous or
additional instruction." The same historian (II. 60) records the
speech of Pericles in his own vindication in which he says "I think
myself inferior to none in knowing what measures should be taken and
in enforcing them by word of mouth."
LXXIV. To Urbanus.
It has been granted to us by our generous Lord once again to enjoy the
feast and to send to your excellency the festal salutation. We pray
that you may be well and prosperous, and share the ineffable and
divine boon which to them that approach supplies the seeds of the
blessings hoped for, and gives the symbols of the life and kingdom
that have no end. These things we beseech the loving Lord to impart to
you, for it is natural for friends to ask that their friends may be
blessed.
LXXV. To the Clergy of Beroea.
I perceive that it is with reason that I am well disposed to your
reverences, for I have been assured by your kindly letter that my
affection was returned. For this affection of mine towards you I have
many reasons. First of all there is the fact that your father, that
great and apostolic man, was my father too. Secondly I look upon that
truly religious bishop, [1720] who now rules your church, as I might
on a brother both in blood and in sympathy. Thirdly there is the near
neighbourhood of our cities, and fourthly our frequent intercourse
with one another, which naturally begets friendship and increases it
when it is begotten. If you like, I will name yet a fifth, and that is
that we have the same close connexion with you as the tongue has with
the ears, the former uttering speech, and the latter receiving it; for
you most gladly listen to my words, and I am delighted to let fall my
little drop upon you. But the colophon [1721] of our union is our
harmony in faith; our refusal to accept any spurious doctrines; our
preservation of the ancient and apostolic teaching, which has been
brought to you by hoary wisdom and nurtured by virtue's hardy toil. I
beseech you therefore to take greater care of the flock, to preserve
it unharmed for the Shepherd, and boldly to utter the famous words of
the patriarch "that which was born of beasts I offered not unto Thee."
[1722]
Footnotes
[1720] Theoctistus; who, we learn from Letter CXXXIV, did not prove
himself a friend in need, succeeded Acacius in 438. Garnerius,
apparently on insufficient grounds, would therefore date the letter
before this year.
[1721] cf. p. 262 n.
[1722] Gen. xxxi. 39
LXXVI. To Uranius, Governor of Cyprus.
True friendship is strengthened by intercourse, but separation cannot
sunder it, for its bonds are strong. This truth might easily be shewn
by many other examples, but it is enough for us to verify what I say
by our own case. Between me and you are indeed many things, mountains,
cities, and the sea, yet nothing has destroyed my recollection of your
excellency. No sooner do we behold any one arriving from those towns
which lie on the coast, than the conversation is turned on Cyprus and
on its right worthy governor, and we are delighted to have tidings of
your high repute. And lately we have been gratified to an unusual
degree at learning the most delightful news of all: for what, most
excellent sir, can be more pleasing to us than to see your noble soul
illuminated by the light of knowledge? For we think it right that he
who is adorned with many kinds of virtue should add to them also its
colophon, and we believe that we shall behold what we desire. For your
nobility will doubtless eagerly seize the God-given boon, moved
thereto by true friends who clearly understand its value, and guided
to the bountiful God "Who wills all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth," [1723] netting men by men's means to
salvation, and bringing them that He captures to the ageless life. The
fisherman indeed deprives his prey of life, but our Fisher frees all
that He takes alive from death's painful bonds, and therefore "did he
shew himself upon earth, and conversed with men," [1724] bringing men
His life, conveying teaching by means of the visible manhood, and
giving to reasonable beings the law of a suitable life and
conversation. This law He has confirmed by miracles, and by the death
of the flesh has destroyed death. By raising the flesh He has given
the promise of resurrection to us all, after giving the resurrection
of His own precious body as a worthy pledge of ours. So loved He men
even when they hated Him that the mystery of the oeconomy fails to
obtain credence with some on account of the very bitterness of His
sufferings, and it is enough to show the depths of His loving kindness
that He is even yet day by day calling to men who do not believe. And
He does so not as though He were in need of the service of men,--for
of what is the Creator of the universe in want?--but because He
thirsts for the salvation of every man. Grasp then, my excellent
friend, His gift; sing praises to the Giver, and procure for us a very
great and right goodly feast.
Footnotes
[1723] 1 Tim. ii. 4
[1724] Baruch iii. 38
LXXVII. To Eulalius, Bishop of Persian Armenia. [1725]
I know that Satan has sought to sift you as wheat, [1726] and that the
Lord has allowed him so to do that He may shew the wheat, and prove
the gold, crown the athletes, and proclaim the victors' names.
Nevertheless I fear and tremble, not indeed distressed for the sake of
you who are noble champions of the truth, but because I know that it
comes to pass that some men are of feebler heart. If among twelve
apostles one was found a traitor, there is no doubt that among a
number many times as great any one might easily discover many falling
short of perfection. Thus reflecting I have been confounded and filled
with much discouragement, for, as says the divine Apostle, "whether
one member suffer all the members suffer with it." [1727] We are
members one of another," [1728] and form one body, having the Lord
Christ for head." [1729] Yet one consolation I have in my anxiety,
when I bethink me of your holiness. For brought up as you have been in
the divine oracles, and taught by the arch-shepherd what are the good
shepherd's marks, there is no doubt that you will lay down your life
for the sheep. For, as the Lord says, "he that is an hireling" when he
sees "the wolf coming," "fleeth because he is an hireling, and careth
not for the sheep," but "the good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep." [1730] Just so it is not in peace that the best general shews
his inborn valour, but in time of war, by at once stimulating others
and himself exposing himself to peril for his men. For it would be
preposterous that he should enjoy the dignity of his command, and, in
the hour of need, run out of danger's way. Thus the thrice blessed
prophets ever acted, making light of the safety of their bodies, and,
for the sake of the Jews who hated and rejected them, underwent all
kinds of peril and toil. Of them the divine apostle says "they were
stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain by the sword;
they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered
in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." [1731]
Thus the divine apostles travelled preaching over all the world,
without home, bed, bedding, board, or any of the necessaries of life,
but scourged, racked, imprisoned, and undergoing countless kinds of
death. And all this they underwent, not for the sake of their friends,
but voluntarily facing these perils for the sake of the men who were
persecuting them. A far stronger claim is made on you now to accept
the peril at present assailing you, for the sake of fellow-believers
and brothers and children. This affection is shown even by unreasoning
animals, for sparrows may be seen fighting with all their force in
behalf of their brood, and putting out in their defence all the
strength they have; other kinds of birds moreover undergo danger for
their young. But why do I speak of birds? Bears too, and leopards,
wolves, and lions, voluntarily suffer any pain for the safety of their
offspring, for instead of fleeing from the hunter they will await his
attack and do battle for their young.
I have adduced these instances not as though anointing your piety for
endurance and courage by the example of brute beasts, but to console
myself in my despondency, and to be assured that you will not leave
Christ's flock without a shepherd when wolves make their attack, but
will invoke the Lord of the flock to help you and will heartily do
battle in its behalf. A crisis like this proves who is a shepherd and
who a hireling; who diligently feeds the flock and who on the other
hand feeds on the milk and thinks little of the safety of the sheep.
"But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape
that ye may be able to bear it." [1732] But one thing I do beseech
your reverence, and that is to have greater heed of the unsound; and
not only to strengthen the unstable but also to raise the fallen, for
shepherds by no means neglect those of their flock who have fallen
sick, but keep them apart from the rest, and try in every possible way
to restore them, and so must we do. We must make them that are
slipping stand up, and give them a helping hand and a word of
encouragement. When they are bitten we must heal them; we must not
give up the attempt to save them nor leave them in the devil's maw.
Thus ever acted the divine Apostle Paul; and when the Galatians, after
receiving the baptism of salvation, and the gift of the divine Spirit,
fell away into the sickness of Judaism, and received circumcision, he
wailed and lamented more exceedingly than the most affectionate
mother, and tended them and freed them from that infirmity. We can
hear him exclaiming, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you." [1733] So too the teacher of the
Corinthians, who had committed that abominable fornication, he both
chastised as might a father, and very skilfully treated, and after
cutting him off in the first Epistle, readmitted him in the second and
says, "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort
him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch
sorrow." [1734] And again, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us
for we are not ignorant of his devices." [1735] In the same manner too
those who partook of things offered to idols he properly rebuked,
suitably exhorted, and freed from their grievous error.
Wherefore our Lord Jesus Christ permitted the first of the apostles,
whose confession He had fixed as a kind of groundwork and foundation
of the Church, to waver to and fro, and to deny Him, and then raised
Him up again. And thus He gave us two lessons: not to be confident in
our own strength, and to strengthen the unstable. Reach out,
therefore, I beseech you, a hand to them that are fallen, "draw them
out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set their feet upon
a rock," and "put a new song into their mouth, even praise unto our
God," [1736] that their example of life may become an example of
salvation, that "many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the
Lord." [1737] Let them be prevented from participating in the holy
mysteries, but let them not be kept from the prayer of the
catechumens, nor from hearing the divine Scriptures and the
exhortation of teachers, [1738] and let them be prohibited from
partaking of the sacred mysteries, not till death, but during a given
time, till they recognise their ailment, covet health, and are
properly contrite for having abandoned their true Prince and deserted
to a tyrant, and for having left their benefactor and gone over to
their foe.
The same lessons are given us by the precepts of the holy and blessed
Fathers. I write as I do, not to teach you piety, but to remind you as
a brother might, knowing well that even the best of pilots in the
moment of the storm needs monition even from his men. So the great and
famous Moses, renowned throughout the world, who did those mighty
works of wonder, did not refuse the counsel of Jethro, a man still
sunk in idolatrous error; for he did not regard his impiety, but
acknowledged the soundness of his advice. Moreover I implore your
piety to offer earnest prayer to God in my behalf that for the
remaining days of my life I may live in accordance with His laws.
Thus have I written by the most honourable and religious presbyter
Stephanus, whom on account of the goodness of his character I have
seen with great pleasure.
Footnotes
[1725] On the persecution in Persia see page 157.
[1726] Luke xxii. 31
[1727] 1 Cor. xii. 26
[1728] Eph. iv. 25
[1729] Col. i. 18
[1730] John x. 12, 13, 11
[1731] Heb. xi. 37, 38
[1732] 1 Cor. x. 13
[1733] Gal. iv. 19
[1734] 2 Cor. ii. 7
[1735] 2 Cor. ii. 11
[1736] Psalm xl. 2 and 3
[1737] Ps. xl. 3
[1738] "It is noticeable that with systematic discipline as to the
persons taught, there was no order of teachers. It was part of the
pastoral office to watch over the souls of those who were seeking
admission to the Church, as well as those who were in it, and thus
bishops, priests, deacons, or readers might all of them be found, when
occasion required, doing the work of a Catechist. The Doctor
Audientium of whom Cyprian speaks, was a Lector in the Church of
Carthage. Augustine's Treatise de Catechizandis Rudibus, was addressed
to Deogratias as a deacon; the Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem were
delivered by him partly as a deacon, partly as a presbyter. The word
catechist implies accordingly a function, not a class." Dean Plumptre
in Dict. Christ. Ant. i. 319.
LXXVIII. To Eusebius, Bishop of Persian Armenia.
Whenever anything happens to the helmsman, either the officer in
command at the bows, or the seaman of highest rank, takes his place,
not because he becomes a self-appointed helmsman, but because he looks
out for the safety of the ship. So again in war, when the commander
falls, the chief tribune assumes the command, not in the attempt to
lay violent hands on the place of power, but because he cares for his
men. So too the thrice blessed Timothy when sent by the divine Paul
took his place. [1739] It is therefore becoming to your piety to
accept the responsibilities of helmsman, of captain, of shepherd,
gladly to run all risk for the sake of the sheep of Christ, and not to
leave His creatures abandoned and alone. It is rather yours to bind up
the broken, to raise up the fallen, to turn the wanderer from his
error, and keep the whole in health, and to follow the good shepherds
who stand before the folds and wage war against the wolves. Let us
remember too the words of the patriarch Jacob; "In the day the drought
consumed me and the frost by night and my sleep departed from my eyes.
The rams of thy flock I have not eaten. That which was born of beasts
I brought not unto thee. I bare the loss of it. Of my hand didst thou
require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night." [1740] These
are the marks of the shepherd; these are the laws of the tending of
the sheep. And if of brute cattle the illustrious patriarch had such
care, and offered this defence to him who trusted them to his charge,
what ought not we to do who are entrusted with the charge of
reasonable sheep, and who have received this trust from the God of
all, when we remember that the Lord for them gave up His life? Who
does not fear and tremble when he hears the word of God spoken through
Ezekiel? "I judge between shepherd and sheep because ye eat the fat
and clothe yourselves with the wool and ye feed not the flocks."
[1741] And again, "I have made thee a watchman unto the house of
Israel; when thou speakest not to warn the wicked from his wicked way,
the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood shall I
require at thine hand." [1742] With this agree the words spoken in
parables by the Lord. "Thou wicked and slothful servant...Thou
oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming
I should have received the same with usury." [1743] Up then, I beseech
you, let us fight for the Lord's sheep. Their Lord is near. He will
certainly appear and scatter the wolves and glorify the shepherds.
"The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that
seeketh Him." [1744] Let us not murmur at the storm that has arisen
for the Lord of all knoweth what is good for us. Wherefore also when
the Apostle asked for release from his trials He would not grant his
supplication but said, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness." [1745] Let us then bravely bear
the evils that befall us; it is in war that heroes are discerned; in
conflicts that athletes are crowned; in the surge of the sea that the
art of the helmsman is shewn; in the fire that the gold is tried. And
let us not, I beseech you, heed only ourselves, let us rather have
forethought for the rest, and that much more for the sick than for the
whole, for it is an apostolic precept which exclaims "Comfort the
feeble minded, support the weak." [1746] Let us then stretch out our
hands to them that lie low, let us tend their wounds and set them at
their post to fight the devil. Nothing will so vex him as to see them
fighting and smiting again. Our Lord is full of loving-kindness. He
receives the repentance of sinners. Let us hear His own words: "As I
live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
that the wicked turn from his way and live." [1747] So He prefaced His
words with an oath, and He who forbids oaths to others swore Himself
to convince us how He desires our repentance and salvation. Of this
teaching the divine books, both the old and the new, are full, and the
precepts of the holy Fathers teach the same.
But not as though you were ignorant have I written to you; rather have
I reminded you of what you know, like those who standing safe upon the
shore succour them that are tossed by the storm, and shew them a rock,
or give warning of a hidden shallow, or catch