To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God 31–32

Translated by Claude from V. Ryssel's German translation (1880) of the Syriac; neither is shown

If, then, human philosophy teaches those who strive after perfection the healing of the soul's sicknesses, and does not allow them to despise or disdain even one suffering of one soul of one man, but they hasten and run diligently to restore those who have turned aside from virtue in their way of life, should we not be able to say of God, who is the teacher of all philosophy and at the same time truly perfect and beneficent, that he goes willingly to where the sufferings have settled in great numbers, to those who are struck down by the sufferings? Or is it not a suffering of the soul when someone does not perform deeds such as befit a virtuous way of life? See, therefore: Isocrates too said [already] long ago, writing to the Abderites: ‘A sickness of the soul is the love of money’; and he adds further the following: ‘Wretched is the life of men, because in each one, like winter storms, the love of money, which no one can endure, has found entrance.’ Concerning it he says: ‘Would that all physicians would gather and come to heal the torment of madness, and indeed the worst torment, because they sacrifice their happiness to it, while it only makes them sick and torments them.’ I too think that all sicknesses of the soul consist in the stubborn delusion that covetous pleasure and the fancy of the thoughts produce; only when he (man) is cleansed of it by virtue can he recover. Would that it were possible for you to root out the bitter root of the love of money, so that not a trace of it would be found any more; then you would see that men, and indeed together with their bodies also their sick souls, would be cleansed and purified! But since much evil in the world assails men, the perfect one can only be called perfect and beneficent when, by virtue of the impassibility of his nature, he is in a blessedness proceeding from himself, such as befits him as God, by reason of the thanks for the gifts that he imparts to men. For Plato too says thus: ‘Envy stands outside the bounds of the divine.’

Translated by Claude from V. Ryssel's German translation (1880) of the Syriac; neither is shown

Therefore, dear friend, Jesus came, he who is King over all, to heal the grievous sufferings of men, as the perfect and beneficent one; and he remained as he is, and the sufferings were scattered by his impassibility, as darkness is scattered by light. Therefore he came in haste and made (men) blessed and rich in goods, and instead of mortals made them immortals, and created them anew to be blessed for ever. To him, the most blessed King, be praise for all eternity. Amen.