Letters 2.49–2.73

To the same. Nor was Joseph, excellent friend, counted worthy of kingship as a favour. For even as a youth he flourished in many virtues, which is why his father loved him more than his other sons. But when he saw him envied, to heal their envy he said that the reason for his love arose not from the boy's virtue but from his being the last born. That this was a pretext of the father, who wished to quench the envy blazing against Joseph (for smouldering from this they even fabricated an evil report against him), is clear from this: if he was loved because he was late-born, the one born later still (that was Benjamin) would rather have deserved to be loved. But, as I said, Moses recorded the father's very wise pretext. That he flourished in exceptional virtues even as a youth was shown both by his youth and by all the rest of his life, which did not lose its first virtues but increased them and made them grow up with him. With what virtue was he not crowned? He was sold a second time, but he did not lose his nobility. He was loved by his master for the orderliness of his ways, and this did not lift him into arrogance. He was loved by his mistress, and he did not betray his chastity. He was slandered, and he bore it nobly. He became a prisoner, and he did not fall in spirit. He was proclaimed for his wisdom (for his interpretation of the dreams came true), and when he was neglected by the king's servants he was not vexed. He reigned, and bore it with moderation, not exacting punishment from the woman who had slandered him. He had his brothers in his power, and not only did not avenge himself on them as enemies, though he was unrecognized, but even repaid them as benefactors. He administered the government of Egypt and was proclaimed for wisdom and humanity, joining trophy to trophy through every age of his life. Let no one in misfortune, then, lose heart; let the seed of goodness be kindled within, and it will surely shine out, either here or there.

To John the deacon. Of those who boast of being servants and disciples of the gentle Master and wise Teacher, and who pride themselves on having been allotted the ministry of the priesthood, some have misused the office for tyranny, some for money-making, some for luxury; others so as to neglect both themselves and their friends, others so as to take vengeance on their enemies. And there are some who drive away those who live decently, while those caught in the most shameful things they deem worthy even of a higher rank. If Eusebius, as you wrote, has taken the impress of the faults of all of them together, admitting those he should not, making money and living in luxury, neglecting himself and his friends, avenging himself on his enemies, and misusing the priesthood for tyranny, and is adorned with no good quality (for those who do only some of these things are certainly adorned with some good deeds as well), do not wonder. For his neither seeing what is needed by himself nor bearing with anyone who advises him has run him aground in such wickedness that those who flourish in every virtue, who live the apostolic life and preserve the character of the Saviour's disciples (for they exist, they exist, even if some rave ten thousand times, insisting that all have fallen into vice), he not only does not welcome or emulate, but even reviles and banishes. For he regards their way of life as a refutation of his own, and thinks that by accusing them he can cover his own wickedness. Do not make light of it, then: he will undergo a punishment proportionate to his offences.

To Hermogenes the bishop. You will never be without genuine friends, who embrace friendships for the sake of high virtue, as long as you are the man you are. For you are a skilful hunter of the thing, having your character for nets. Use it, then, and all who care for virtue will have you as a friend.

To Theodosius the bishop. The priesthood is something divine and the most precious of all that exists. But those who handle it badly insult it most of all; they ought never to have been priests, so that fools might not dare to turn onto the priesthood the charges against those who pursue it badly. For, letting go of those who outrage it, they turn the accusations against the priesthood itself, which ought rather to be vindicated, since it is abused by defiled men to whom it is not lawful even to touch it. For if in worldly offices the office is one thing and the man who pursues it improperly another, and, while the office keeps its own rank and dignity, the one who abused it pays the ultimate penalty, why do they confuse things in the case of the priesthood and try to attribute to it the sins of those who handle it improperly? Let them stop, then, who belittle the priesthood because of Eusebius and Zosimus, Palladius and Maron, and let them not whet the sword of justice against themselves. Let them revile those men, if they will not live wisely, as accursed and as enemies of piety and virtue; but let them hymn and crown the priesthood as presiding over what is fitting for all. For through it we are reborn and share in the divine mysteries, without which it is impossible to share in the heavenly rewards, according to the unlying oracles of the Truth, who says at one time, "Unless someone is born of water and Spirit, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven," and at another, "Unless someone eats my flesh and drinks my blood, he has no part with me." If, then, without these one cannot be counted worthy of the divine inheritance, and these are performed by nothing other than the priesthood, how can anyone who despises it avoid sinning against divine things and despising his own soul? So, that this may not happen, let us revere the priesthood as divine, weep for those who pursue it unworthily, and not [blame] their failings on that which ought rather to be vindicated …

To Hierax the presbyter. [On the adornment of women.] Of women, those who cannot bear to hide the weaknesses of their sex, if they are beautiful and rich, pride themselves on the gleam of very costly stones set in gold; if they are ill-favoured and poor, they contrive an acquired beauty with ointments and eye-paint. Those who wish to have a reputation for dignity are content with their natural beauty but do not refuse to cultivate it for the better. But the truly chaste, giving all their zeal to the care of the soul, do not refuse to tend the body in moderation as the soul's instrument, but they do not deign to adorn and pamper it, lest, being a slave by nature, it grow insolent against the soul, which has been entrusted with true rule. Rather they train it to recognize its proper rank, and do not set it out like bait, as kindling and occasion for licentiousness; indeed they remove the fuel of this fire as far as they can. Now I heard from a truth-loving man a story worth telling and remembering, which I thought right to make known to your wife as well. Once a young man prone to lust and enslaved to women saw a most beautiful virgin, was overpowered, and set every device in motion to satisfy his desire. At first she refused; for she was noble and chaste, and had promised to keep both soul and body untouched for Christ. But when she heard that he was acting like a madman and raving, she found a device by which she herself would be kept intact and he would quench his fire. She cut off her hair, or rather shaved away all its beauty, smeared her face with ashes mixed with water, and bade him come in to her. When he came in, she said: "Is it this ugliness you love?" And he, as if recovering from madness, not only quenched the fire of his desire but became an ardent lover of chastity. So, then, the advice is (for it is better to find a way of averting evils to come than to punish those already done) not to use imported adornment, nor to add the fuel of cosmetics to the natural fire, lest women become the cause of monstrous falls.

To Apollonius. [That it is blessed to be reviled for Christ.] As the apostles, fenced about with courage and greatness of soul and armoured with the divine alliance, when they met so many wars had sufficient comfort in the cause of their contests (for they suffered what they suffered not for their own glory but for the Master's, and so not even envy, which is always in labour against the good, did them wrong), so we too, when we suffer not for our own folly but for piety and righteousness, ought not to be distressed. For the cause of our contests is adornment enough for us, even before the crowns to come.

To Ophelius the grammarian. [On humanity.] One must, my friend, make terms even with enemies when they supplicate. For whoever does not make terms, but punishes men who are suppliants, uttering the cries of necessity and no longer fighting on equal terms, and who neither shames his anger into pity nor turns to the kinship and affinity of nature, will both ruin the glory of his victory and be reviled by all as an untamed beast; and he will not escape divine justice.

To Alpheus the subdeacon. [Why Paul said, "Now I know in part."] "Now I know in part," said the holy Apostle, knowing that God would have shown the abundance of his own wisdom even here, if the one receiving it were able to receive the knowledge that cannot now be contained, but will be contained, as far as possible, in the age to come. [Letter 2.57] [On sufficiency in food.] The body, excellent friend, needs nourishment, not luxury; frugality, not surfeit; sufficiency, not extravagance. The former benefit both soul and body, producing health, strength and good condition; the latter harm both, not only destroying health but also breeding most grievous diseases. A clear proof is that those who practise frugality are more intelligent, more self-controlled and healthier than those who have chosen a delicate way of life.

To Ischyrion. You seem, from a low and mean way of thinking, to accept neither the magnanimity that is beyond all wonder nor the new and paradoxical apostolic love that has passed beyond all the heavens. For even if what was said now seems safe to you, I know well that when I explain it more clearly, what before seemed safe will seem incredible to you again, because you are so poorly disposed. He said that he would gladly, if it were possible, be estranged even from Christ, so that Christ himself might be glorified by all. But you dare to bring the apostolic eminence down to such lowliness as to say things I am ashamed even to mention. For he did not pray, as you say, to be a treasure laid up as an offering (who even among the very careless would not pray for that?); nor was he calling for bodily death, he who died daily; nor would he have affirmed it so strongly, as one who expected to be disbelieved, if what he meant were something cheap and mean. But since it was beyond all power and strength, he brought forward many witnesses that he was not lying or boasting: "I speak the truth in Christ," he says, "I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit." If, then, he set truth, Christ, his not lying, his conscience and the Holy Spirit as witnesses of what he was about to say, who would believe that, meaning something lowly and worthless, he was carried to such an excess of affirmation? But if you still think small and, crawling about on the ground, will conceive nothing great and bold, then, passing over Moses, beloved of God, who prayed to be blotted out of the divine book if those under him were given over to utter destruction (for the Apostle's prayer is greater: Moses prayed to perish with them, Paul to perish so that others might be saved), I will try to show it from a noble woman, as one might compare small things with great. Rebekah, having what one might call apostolic magnanimity, chose to undergo a curse so that her son might inherit a blessing. The good things she yielded to him, for she was not going to be blessed with him; the evils she prepared to endure alone. And she prepared the drama so eagerly that she was vexed at delay, rejoiced at speed and urged the boy on, and that while the greatest danger was at hand. For she left aside saying, "Your father has reached deep old age, has lost the sharpness of his senses, and will not detect the trick"; cutting all this short, she said to the boy, who was shrinking back and afraid, "Upon me be your curse, my son": only do not ruin the drama I have prepared, do not lose the quarry, swift as it is, do not betray the treasure. If, then, a woman, with no more than a woman's courage and magnanimity, chose to be cursed so that another might be blessed, would not so great an Apostle have prayed to suffer something of the kind, so that the Jews might believe, and God might not seem to be blasphemed, as having promised to some but raised others to such dignity? He said this, certainly, not as though the promise had really failed (for he said, "It is not as though the word of God has failed," the word given, that is, to the fathers; for the promise was fulfilled in those of them who believed, and in those like Isaac born from the nations through baptism; and Peter, the chief of the apostles, guarantees this, saying, "This promise God has fulfilled to their children by raising Jesus for us"). Not, then, as though the promise had failed did he say this, but to show his uncontrollable longing for Christ. And if you go through the apostolic passage carefully, you will find him establishing this.

To Zosimus the presbyter. I hear that, bidding farewell to those who give you the best advice and breaking all the bonds of shame, you are being swept away toward infamous and ill-named vice. I would wish this were not true; but if it is, hasten to come to your senses before you are completely overcome by such drunkenness, so that you may not have shame here and undergo punishment there.

To Palladius and Maron. Much talk is flowing, and is confirmed by trustworthy persons, that the one whose lot it was to lead you, knowing you very precisely from many signs, loving his own advantage and not what profits you, and without considering whether it would benefit the common good of the Church, ordained you as accomplices of his own greed. If this is so, stop stretching your bows against heaven and warring against the lawgiver of poverty by the means with which you trade in other people's misfortunes. [Letter 2.61] To Aphrodisius the monk. That in ourselves we perished, but in Christ we were saved, is clear to all. For when we owed punishment he justified us through baptism and adorned us with heavenly gifts. And that, if our own part does not follow, we will gain nothing from such a dispensation and grace, but will even pay a greater penalty, as not having been improved even by so great a benefaction, this too is clear.

To Paul the presbyter. I consider it pious to believe the divine oracles and to follow them earnestly, and not to prefer a harmless ambition to the Master's safeguard. If anyone testifies to himself such chastity that he is not harmed even by looking continually, let him learn the weakness of human nature and the safety of the divine oracles. Those who were caught I will pass over, lest I seem tiresome; for all the sacred Scriptures, the tragedies of outsiders and the dramas of every day are full of such examples. But those who used some forethought and overcame the passion (for chastity cannot be achieved without effort), these I will try to bring forward. If I point to some outside the faith who achieved this very thing by forethought and caution, and not by throwing themselves into the fire, perhaps they will set them aside as having achieved nothing great. But if I call the divine Paul as witness, who says, "I pommel my body and lead it as a slave, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified," every defence is closed to them; and perhaps they will be put to shame and take thought for their own safety. One ought to be content with the apostolic testimony. But since the achievements of outsiders also train us for chastity, I will not leave them unmentioned. I know from my reading that a certain king, seeing an Ephesian priestess who appeared exceedingly beautiful, at once left Ephesus, fearing that he might be forced against his will to do something unholy. And Cyrus the Persian did not even dare to look at Panthea, who was said to have a wonderful and irresistible beauty. If, then, both facts and outsiders bear witness to the saving oracle, that it is right and safe (for continual looking is a road that leads to the act; and even if it does not issue in the deed, it defiles the thought and makes the one who is caught an adulterer), who is so daring that, feasting continually on others' beauty, he would say he is not harmed at all? If this is difficult, one must above all avoid continual meetings with women; and if they are necessary, bridle the eyes.

To Timothy the reader. The divine and pure Power, the fountain of wisdom, the beginning, cause and root of understanding and of every virtue, wishing to weave predictions of the future into the older writings, carried out the task wisely and beyond all words and praise. Whenever a thing came to hand that could contain the image of the good things to come, in it he sketched some things in outline, while others he made distinct with colours, and showed the character of the image bright and living. Two very great results followed: that the people of old were not estranged and did not mock what was said, since they had something useful to gain from it; and that those to come would track down the infallibility of the prophecy. For this the divine grace is to be worshipped, and we must marvel at how easily it handled so difficult a matter. Interpreters, therefore, if they can go through everything without forcing it, should do so eagerly; if not, they should not force what does not fit, lest they cast suspicion of falsification even on what does fit, give handles to Jews, Greeks and heretics, and attribute to Christ lowly things below his dignity. Rather they should ride past the lowly things, or take them as belonging to the incarnation, if the passage admits that character fittingly, and grant that the lofty things were said for his dignity alone. And if something was said on account of events of that time, they should grant that it was said for those events, and not force it into what is unfitting.

To Theophilus. Those are the ones who profess to know God but deny him by their works, who pride themselves on the beauty of their doctrines but, by showing a life that does not agree with their faith, dishonour God as far as in them lies. For by spurning what he commanded, and by causing others to blaspheme him whom to bless worthily belongs not to all but to those at the summit of virtue, they prove themselves illegitimate sons of the faith.

To Zosimus the presbyter. I cannot bear the outcry against you from everyone because of your life. For they say, aiming their words at you as at a target: "How do you sanctify others, you who are accursed? How do you cleanse, being unclean? How do you make sons of God, being servile? You must be cleansed first and so cleanse; stop committing sacrilege, and then act as a priest." Hearing this, I am pained in my soul, both because they say this about you and because they think that those who come to the divine worship are harmed with respect to the mystical symbols. Stop, then, drowning not only your own soul but many others for whom Christ died. Consider where the evil leads, when you destroy by your life those whom he himself redeemed, giving not gold but his own precious blood.

To Epiphanius the deacon. Since you wrote asking what is meant by what is written in the 73rd psalm, "You dried up the rivers of Etham" (which stands in the old Psalters but was perhaps not written in some of the new ones as unintelligible, so that some think that superfluous and unacceptable things have been written in the Scriptures), I thought it right to reply. There was a region in Palestine watered by rivers, thick with trees and fruits, and rich in game, both animals and fish in abundance. Since, then, the divine will dried it up, well watered, well wooded and rich in game as it was, because of the prevailing impiety of its inhabitants, the psalmist proclaims this too among the other wonders. And since one ought not only to assert but also to give evidence, let us bring forward Josephus, who writes in the Antiquities: "There is a place about two schoeni from Jerusalem called Etham, most delightful and rich in gardens and in streams of running water," to which Solomon regularly went out to exercise and to hunt. That such a place existed, I offer as witnesses both Josephus and the Psalmist, who marvelled that it had been dried up (for he would not have counted its drying among the wonders unless it had been very well watered); that it was dried up, the Psalmist himself. For, as though unrolling a dance and passing in his words through the visible creation, he came to this place too, interpreting to the Hebrews (for he sang there) the invincible power of God from things they knew. [Letter 2.67] To Theophilus. That retaliation is not unjust I will agree; that it is not philosophical either, you would do well to agree. Still, if it happened easily and without many reverses, your argument would have some reason in it. But if, before the man who is to pay the penalty, the one who exacts it pierces himself with countless misfortunes, it is better, after being wronged, not to experience other evils as well. If what I have said seems a riddle to you, I will try to make it clear. Consider how many terrible things a man suffers who wishes to retaliate. First he is filled with rage; second, he is cut through by anger: for first the passion fumes up, then he grows angry and desires revenge. Third, he stirs up countless waves. Fourth, he travels countless roads of calculation. Fifth, fear comes upon him, and trembling and anguish, rage cutting through him and fear shaking him, as to how he may succeed and how he may carry it out. Does not such a man seem to you, before the other pays the penalty, to be paying it himself? But the one who bears it philosophically is free of all this, and very reasonably so: for this lies in his own power, and he has accomplished the whole. The other is not, but needs time and place, guile and villainy, weapons and devices, flattery, servility and hypocrisy. Do you see how difficult vice is and how easy virtue; how the one is full of turmoil and the other untroubled? As the wicked man suffers so much, so the lover of virtue enjoys calm. The one who retaliates makes the enmity endless; the one who bears it philosophically brings it to the swiftest end. And so he tames even the fool and calls him to friendship.

To Timothy the reader. You would do the greatest favour both to yourself and to me if you became better than yourself and ran up to the very summit of virtue, passing from goods that flow away, or rather are not even goods, to those that are and remain. [Letter 2.69] To Athanasius. I know some rulers (and perhaps you do too) who, though licentious and extravagant, make their subjects self-controlled by fixing great punishments for offenders; and others who have a disciplined and temperate way of life but fill those they govern with the passions they themselves master, by not prosecuting offenders and showing gentleness beyond measure. So both err: the first are worse than their own laws, the second make their subjects worse. For these teach them to do what they themselves do not deign to do, and evil things besides: to live in luxury, though they themselves stand far from luxury, and to farm the misfortunes of others, which they themselves set right. One must therefore advise the former to abide by their own words and not do the opposite, and the latter to check offences in advance by not granting everyone what they want. For one should grant pardon to those who are helped by kindness, and rebuke those who are harmed by it. [Letter 2.70] To Epimachus the reader. I think that gifts are not given at random, but in proportion to the prior preparation of the minds of those who receive them. And, if you like, let us consider the case of Moses the revealer of sacred things. Because he punished the Egyptian who did wrong and reconciled his kinsmen who were fighting, he was appointed by God punisher of the Egyptians and lawgiver of his kinsmen.

To Lampetius the bishop. You wrote that Eusebius the bishop does not acknowledge his fault by abandoning offences too great for pardon, but shows his shamelessness by seeming to defend himself, saying, "What did I lack, that I should sell ordinations? I enjoy everything a man could pray for, if not more than he could pray for, both glory and honour." One of our friends who was present, famous for his hatred of wickedness, said: "That the ministry of the episcopate, which he has enjoyed beyond his worth, is the limit of all that men pray for, I know and agree. But to those inclined to vice and overcome by gain, nothing is enough. Nor would some governors become wicked and criminal if they were content with what they had and knew how to measure their prosperity. But I think that more such men often come from these than from the poorer. For the more they are exalted above others, swollen with conceit, think themselves above the many and consider taking advice an insult, the more self-will, desire for more, and confidence that even if caught they will not pay the penalty come upon them." Let him, then, acknowledge his fault and not seem to defend himself unconvincingly. For the charges are not dismissed; rather he incurs ridicule besides. [Letter 2.72] Above all, Scripture compared neither nature with nature nor substance with substance, but quality with quality (which, by the philosophers' account, can come and go; for they define substance as the vehicle of quality, and say that without it quality has no existence), when it says: "If the Ethiopian will change his skin and the leopard her spots, then you too will be able to do good, having learned evil." But, so as not to be too precise about this, I will try to show that the very saying they bring forward overturns what they are trying to establish. For by the words "having learned evil" they overturn the doctrine they think irrefutable. If they had the knowledge of evil by nature, how could he say "having learned evil"? And if they had learned it, they will also be able to unlearn it. So too all the other texts that seem to the uneducated to support them will be overturned. For if "the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit," yet he will be able to. And if "a bad tree cannot bear good fruit," yet it will be able to. For "cannot" is not the same as "will not be able": the one indicates the present time, in which the careless man is careless; the other the future, in which one who was formerly bad can become good. Events cry this out, changing every day, and the Scriptures guarantee it. How did the Psalmist fall and rise again? How did Paul, a persecutor, fight back and become the herald of the one he persecuted? How did Peter, having denied, wipe away the stain? How was the wild olive grafted into the good olive? How were the Ninevites saved? How was the thief sent into paradise? Having learned, then, that, with the help from above going before, the one who wills, toils and leaves nothing untried (for bare willing is not enough) both learns and bears fruit and is saved, do everything in your power that looks to the correction of those who stumble.

To Paul the presbyter. Consider the reading of the sacred Scriptures a provision for the journey to salvation, which nourishes with glorious examples the love of the good and the manliness of those who listen earnestly.