# Letters

- Author: [Isidore of Pelusium](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/isidore-of-pelusium/)
- Latin title: *Epistolae*
- Date: ca. 393-ca. 435 (approximate)
- Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca, vol. 78 (Paris, 1857-1866), cols. 177-1674, from the edition of Conrad Rittershausen and Andreas Schott (1605, 1629) and Pierre Possin (Paris, 1638)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Editions and translations: Pierre Evieux, ed., Isidore de Péluse: Lettres, vol. 1, SC 422 (Paris: Cerf, 1997) (copyrighted; cited only)
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/
- Passages: 4

## Letter 1.213 (to Sosander)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/1-213/#p-1-213
- Source: PG 78 78:317
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: To a man whose wife has died: the Lord has loosed the bond; do not seek another wife (1 Cor 7:27), but save your soul and come to the monastic life.

### Greek text

Ἔσχες μὲν δεσμὸν τὴν συνάφειαν· ἔλυσε δὲ ταύτην ὁ Κύριος συμφερόντως καὶ ψυχωφελῶς · οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἀκερδὲς τῶν αὐτοῦ. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν μέριμναν ἔχει κοσμικὴν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ θεϊκὴν, ἡ συμβίωσις, λέλυσαι ἀπὸ γυναικός; μὴ ζήτει γυναῖκα, μήπου σε ἱὸς γυναικὸς φαρμακεύσῃ, πρὸς ἑτέραν γοητεύων συνέλευσιν ἡδυπαθείας, καὶ σαρκικὰς διδάσκων κολακείας, καὶ ἀνονήτους φροντίδας καὶ ὑπονοίας. ᾿Αλλὰ σώζων σῶζε τὴν σεαυτοῦ ψυχὴν πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον ὄρος.

### English translation (Claude)

You had a bond, your marriage; but the Lord has loosed it, for your good and the profit of your soul, for nothing of his is without gain. Since, then, living together brings worldly care and not godly care, "are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife", lest the venom of a woman poison you, bewitching you into another union of pleasure and teaching you the flatteries of the flesh and useless anxieties and suspicions. Rather, save your soul by all means, and come to our mountain.

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 7:27: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:32: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 7:33: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- "The Lord has loosed it": the context ("you had a bond") implies that the wife has died; Isidore advises the widower not to remarry, quoting 1 Cor 7:27.
- "Our mountain": the monastic settlement near Pelusium where Isidore lived.

### Citation (SBL)

Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 1.213 (PG 78 78:317; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/1-213).

## Letter 3.76 (to Archontius)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/1-213/#p-3-76
- Source: PG 78 78:783
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Moses permitted the bill of divorce not as right but to prevent a worse evil, the murder of hated wives and secret adultery; Christ defended Moses ("because of your hardness of heart"), allowing a wife to be put away only for adultery and requiring every other fault to be borne.

### Greek text

Ἔοικας τοῦ νομοθέτου Μωσέως, μήτε τὴν σοφίαν, ἣν ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, κεχωρηκέναι, μήτε τὴν διάνοιαν τεθηρευκέναι, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον αὐτοῦ ἀπολελεῖφθαι τῆς μεγαλονοίας, ὅσον καὶ τῆς πολιτείας. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς δέον τὰς μὴ εἰς τὸν τῶν γάμων θεσμὸν παρανομούσας ἐκβάλλειν, ἀλλὰ μεῖζον καὶ ἀργαλεώτερον βουλόμενος ἀναστεῖλαι κακὸν, τὸ ἔλαττον οὐκ ἐθέσπισεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπέτρεψεν· οὐ μόνον κρείττονα κρίνας τῆς λαθραίου παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἂν τολμηθείσης μοιχείας (οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἄκνησαν ταῖς ἀλλήλων χρῆσθαι γυναιξὶ) τὸν φανερὸν γάμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἅμεινον ἡγησάμενος ἐκβληθῆναι αὐτὰς ἔξω, ἢ σφαγῆναι ἔνδον. Διέστησε γὰρ τοὺς συνεῖναι μὴ δυναμένους. Οἱ γὰρ προφητικῶν αἱμάτων γευσάμενοι, οὐκ ἂν γυναικῶν μισουμένων ἐφείσαντο· οὐδ᾽ οἱ αὐτὸν τὸν νομοθέτην ἀνελεῖν πολλάκις φανερῶς ἐπιχειρήσαντες, τοῦ ἢ φανερῶς ἢ δόλοις ἀνελεῖν, ἢ μοιχείας γράψασθαι ἐκείνας ἀπέσχοντο. Τὸ οὖν μείζον κακὸν προαναστέλλων, τὸ ἔλαττον συνεχώρησε μᾶλλον, ἢ διηγόρευσεν. Ὅτι δὲ οὐχ ἁπλῶς καταστοχάζομαι τῆς τοῦ πανσόφου ἐκείνου διανοίας, μάλιστα μὲν δῆλον, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τοὺς προφήτας ὡς αἱμάτων διψῶντας, καὶ τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους γάμους διορύττοντας, αὐτοὺς διαῤῥήδην αἰτιᾶσθαι, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ λεχθησομένου. Ὁ γὰρ Χριστὸς δεῦρ᾽ ἐπιφοιτήσας, ταύτης αὐτῷ προσενεχθείσης τῆς πεύσεως, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐμέμψατο τὸν Μωσέα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπεραπελογήσατο, τὸ ἔγκλημα εἰς ἐκείνους τρέψας, δι' οὓς ἠναγκάσθη κἀκεῖνος τὸ πρέπον τῇ φύσει παριδεῖν, καὶ συγχωρῆσαι ἀπολῦσαι τὴν σύνευνον. Ἔφη γάρ· · Μωσῆς πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ὑμῶν ἐπέτρεψεν ὑμῖν ἀπολύειν τὰς γυναῖκας ὑμῶν, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, διὰ τὸ ἀπειθὲς ὑμῶν καὶ ἀνάγωγον· Ἐξ ἀρχῆς δὲ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐγένετο οὕτως. Εἰς τὸν τῶν γάμων μὲν θεσμὸν παρανομούσας, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκβάλλειν ἐκέλευσε· τούτου δὲ μὴ συμβαίνοντος, πάντα τὰ ἄλλα ἐλαττώματα τῶν γυναικῶν φέρειν προσέταξε, μᾶλλον δ᾽ ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι ἀπεφήνατο. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς, οὐδὲ εἰκῆ. Εἰς ἕκαστον μὲν γὰρ τῶν νόμῳ γάμου συνιόντων τὰ ἄλλα ἁμαρτήματα [οὐ] βλέπει· ἡ δὲ μοιχεία εἰς τὰς τοῦ γάμου συνθήκας ὁρᾷ καὶ τὴν τῶν παίδων καθυβρίζει εὐγένειαν, καὶ τὰς συγγενείας διασπᾷ, καὶ πάντα τὸν βίον ἀνατρέπει τὸν ἀνθρώπινον.

### English translation (Claude)

[Why the lawgiver allowed husbands to give a bill of divorce to wives they hated.] You seem neither to have grasped the wisdom that the lawgiver Moses received from God nor to have tracked down his meaning, but to fall as far short of his greatness of mind as of his way of life. For he did not allow it on the ground that wives who do not transgress against the ordinance of marriage ought to be put out; rather, wishing to check a greater and more grievous evil, he did not command the lesser but permitted it. He judged an open marriage better than the secret adultery they would have dared (for they would not have hesitated to use one another's wives), and he also thought it better that the women be put out of doors than slaughtered inside. So he separated those who could not live together. For men who had tasted the blood of the prophets would not have spared wives they hated; and those who more than once openly tried to kill the lawgiver himself would not have refrained from killing these women, openly or by treachery, or from indicting them for adultery. So, checking the greater evil in advance, he conceded the lesser rather than ordained it. That I am not merely guessing at the mind of that all-wise man is clear above all from the fact that the prophets expressly accuse these people of thirsting for blood and of breaking into other men's marriages, and not least from what will now be said. For Christ, when he came among us and was asked this question, not only did not blame Moses but even defended him, turning the charge against those because of whom Moses had been forced to overlook what befits nature and to allow a man to put away his wife. For he said: "Moses, because of your hardness of heart, allowed you to put away your wives", that is, because of your disobedience and lack of discipline; "but from the beginning it was not so." Wives who transgress against the ordinance of marriage he himself also commanded to be put out; but where this does not happen, he ordered all the other faults of wives to be borne, or rather declared it necessary. And not simply or without reason. For each of the other sins of those who come together by the law of marriage looks only to the one who commits it; but adultery looks to the covenant of marriage itself: it outrages the good birth of the children, tears kinships apart, and overturns the whole of human life.

### Scripture references

- Deut 24:1: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 19:8: quotation, high confidence
- Mark 10:5: allusion, medium confidence
- Matt 5:32: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 19:9: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 23:31: allusion, low confidence
- Jer 5:8: allusion, low confidence

### Translation notes

- The bracketed heading is the letter's title as printed in the edition.
- "Wives who transgress against the ordinance of marriage he himself also commanded to be put out": Isidore reads the exception of Matt 5:32 and 19:9 as permitting (indeed requiring) a husband to put away an adulterous wife; he says nothing here about remarriage.
- "The other sins … look only to the one who commits it": the printed text has a bracketed [οὐ] ("do not look"), the editor's supplement; the sense requires the contrast with adultery and is translated so.

### Citation (SBL)

Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 3.76 (PG 78 78:783; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/3-76).

## Letter 4.96 (to Martianus)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/1-213/#p-4-96
- Source: PG 78 78:1157
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Herod the tetrarch's crimes against John the Baptist; three explanations of why his marriage to Herodias was unlawful (Philip had children, so the levirate did not apply; she left a living husband; Herod killed his brother), with Isidore preferring the first.

### Greek text

Οὐκ ὀλίγα, οὐδὲ μικρὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὰ, καὶ μεγάλα, τῷ τετράρχῃ πεπλημμέλητο. Ὠμοῦ γὰρ λέοντος ἦν δυσγενὲς βλάστημα Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ δεδιὼς μὴ νόθος υἱὸς τοῦ οἰκείου πατρὸς νομισθείη, τοῦ τὰ βρέφη τὰ ἐν Βηθλεὲμ ἀνελόντος, τοιαύτην ἔπλεξε τραγῳδίαν, ὡς ἂν ἁμιλληθῇ σχεδὸν τῷ τεκόντι, καὶ οἶμαι τετράρχης καὶ διὰ τοῦτο λελέχθαι, οὐχ ὅτι τετάρτην μοῖραν τῆς πατρώας βασιλείας μόνον διεῖπεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν τεσσάρων γενικῶν εἰδῶν τῆς κακίας ἤρχθη. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ παρανόμως ἄγεται τὴν Ἡρωδιάδα· εἶτα ἐλεγχθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ, δέον σωφρονισθῆναι, εἰς δεσμωτήριον ἐμβάλλει οὐ παρανομοῦντα, ἀλλὰ παρανομίαν ἐλέγχοντα. Ἔπειτα, βουλόμενος ἀποκτεῖναι, φοβεῖται τὸν ὄχλον, τὸν ἀδέκαστον ὀφθαλμὸν μὴ φοβηθείς. Εἶτα ἀπερισκέπτως καὶ ἀορίστως ὀμνύει, τῇ θυγατρὶ τῆς τὸ δρᾶμα συνθησάσης καὶ ἄξια τὰ μέρη τοῦ γάμου παρασκευάσαι οἰηθείσης, πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν αἰτήσηται, παρασχεῖν τὸ δὲ ὀρθὰ καὶ δίκαια δώσειν, οὐ προσδιώρισεν· ἀλλ᾽ οὕτως ἀπροβούλευτον ἔχει τὸν λογισμὸν, ὡς καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ τῆς βασιλείας ἐπαγγείλασθαι · οὐ λογισάμενος, ὅτι ἀργαλεώτερόν ἐστι δικαιοσύνης ἐκπεσεῖν ἢ βασιλείας. Εἶτα εὐορκίας προσχήματι πᾶσαν ἐπιορκίαν ὑπερβαίνει. ῎Αμεινον γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐναγέσι τὰ κακῶς ἐπαγγελθέντα σατο. Ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐσιωπήθη, ἀλλὰ λαμπροτέρως λύειν καλῶς, ἢ τὸ δοκεῖν εὐορκεῖν κακῶς μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦτο σκῆψις ἦντοῦ φόβου. Ωσπερ γὰρ οἰκέτης που νηρός δεδιὼς τὸν δεσποτικὸν ἔλεγχον, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος ἐδεδοίκει τὸν Βαπτιστήν. ᾿Αληθὴς γὰρ δεσπότης, ὁ τὰ δέοντα πράττων τε καὶ προστάττων, οὐχ ὁ τὴν ἁλουργίδα περικείμενος, καὶ τῶν ὅπλων τὸ κράτος ἔχων. Παραπέτασμα οὖν τοῦ φόβου τὸν ὅρκον προ βαλλόμενος, καὶ ἐπιτειχίσας τῇ προαιρέσει τὸν ἐκ τοῦ δοκεῖν ἐπιορκεῖν κίνδυνον, ἐπὶ τὸν φόνον ὥρμης σεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ σχῆμα δικαστηρίου, οἷα πολλοὶ πεποιήκασι, προὔθηκεν, οὐδὲ κατηγόρους ἔστησεν, οὐδὲ μάρτυρας ἐμισθώσατο· ᾔδει γὰρ κολάζων οὐκ ἀδικοῦντα, ἀλλ' ἀδικίαν στηλιτεύοντα. ᾿Αλλ' ὁ μὲν ὡς κρύψων τὸν ἔλεγχον, ἀκρίτως τὸ ἄγος εἰργά κηρύσσεται. Κατὰ πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν ὑφ᾽ ἥλιον ἔτι καὶ νῦν βοᾷ· Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐθέλεις μαθεῖν (πολύτροπος δὲ εἶναι λέγεται), δῆλον ὅτι οἱ μὲν τὸν Μωσέως φασὶ βεβηλωκέναι νόμον. Ἔχοντος γὰρ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ σπέρμα, τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ ἠγάγετο, ὅπερ οὐκ ἐξῆν. ᾿Ατέκνου γὰρ ὄντος, ἐπέτρεψεν ὁ νόμος λαβεῖν, ἕως ἀναστήσει σπέρμα τῷ τετελευτηκότι· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ ἀτεκνία μέγιστον κακὸν εἶναι ἐνομίζετο, ὡς παντελῶς σθεννυμένης τῆς μνήμης τῶν τεθνεώτων. Πῶς δὲ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ τὸν γεννήτορα ἀφεῖσα, καὶ τῷ μοιχῷ καὶ τῇ μοιχαλίδι συνῆν, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ τες κόντος λόγον πεποιημένον ἀνελεῖν ἐσπούδαζε Δεδόσθω γὰρ, ὡς μήτηρ τῷ πόθῳ ἐμέθυε · πῶς καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ συγκατεσκεύαζε τὸ δρᾶμα; Οἱ δὲ, ὧν ἐστι καὶ Ἰώσηπος, λέγουσιν ὅτι, ζῶντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, καὶ θυγάτριον ἔχοντος, ἔσχε τὴν γυναῖκα· λέγει γοῦν ὁ Ἰώσηπος, ἐν τῇ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτη ἱστορίᾳ, ὅτι μετὰ Σαλώμης γονὰς Ἡρωδιὰς ἐπὶ συγχύσει φρονήσασα τῶν πατρίων, Ἡρώδῃ γαμεῖται, τῷ ὁμοπα τρίῳ ἀδελφῷ διαστασιάζοντι ᾧ ἀπαντῆσαί τις δύνα· ται, λέγων· Πῶς οὖν οὐχ ὡς μοιχῷ, ἀλλ' ὡς παρανόμως γήμαντι ἐνεκάλει ὁ Ἰωάννης; Πρὸς ὄν τις δύναται ἀπαντῆσαι λέγων· Ἴσως διὰ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου ἦν ἀποστᾶσα. ᾿Ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλιν ἀπαντήσει· Πῶς οὖν τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου συγκεχωρημένον, παράνομον καλεῖ ὁ Ἰωάννης; Οὐδέπω γὰρ ἦν ὁ τοῦ Εὐαγ γελίου χρησμὸς δοθεὶς, ὁ τὴν τοιαύτην συνάφειαν μοιχείαν ἀποφαίνων. Οἱ δὲ φασιν, ὅτι φονεύσας τὸν ἀδελφὸν· δι᾽ ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς βασιλείας, καὶ τὴν γυν ναῖκα (ἤρα γὰρ αὐτῆς ἐκ πολλοῦ προσαφείλετο οἷς εὐτρεπὴς ὁ ἔλεγχος προβεβλήσεται· Πῶς οὖν τὸν φόνον αὐτῷ οὐκ ὠνείδισεν ὁ Βαπτιστής; Τοσοῦτον γὰρ χαλεπώτερον εἶναι δοκεῖ, ὅσῳ καὶ ἀδελφοκτονία φόνου ἐναγεστέρα. Εἴτε οὖν τὴν πρώτην, ὡς ἔγωγε οἶμαι, εἴτε τὴν δευτέραν, εἴτε τὴν τρίτην αἰτίαν εἶχεν ὁ ἔλεγχος, ὁ ἀνδρεῖος καὶ γενναῖος καὶ ἐλέγξας καὶ ἀποθανὼν, ὡς τοῖς θείοις νόμοις συνηγορήσας, ἀδέσθω. Εἰ δὲ τις φαίη · Διὰ τί οὖν συνεχωρήθη τοῦτο παθεῖν; φήσαιμι, ὅτι αὐτὸς μὲν ἐβλάβη οὐδέν. Εἰ γὰρ πάντως χρὴ τὸν βίον ἐξελθεῖν ὁ λαμπρῶς διεξιὼν μακαριστότερος ἂν εἴη. Ἔπειθ᾽ ὅτι ἡ θεία ἐνδίδωσι τοῖς πλημμελοῦσι καιρὸν μετανοίας. Εἰ δὲ μηδ' οὕτως μετανοήσαιεν, χαλεπωτέρας ὁριεῖ τὰς τιμωρίας · καὶ γὰρ, ὡς φασί τινες, ἡ κακία ἐν κόσμῳ βασιλεύουσα ἀντικαθίσταται πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν, φέρειν τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ὀνειροπολοῦσα· διὸ ἀρίστῳ ἀνδρὶ φαῦλος πολεμεῖ, ἀλλὰ ῥᾳδίως ἁλίσκεται. Ἵνα γὰρ τὰ λαμπρὰ ὡς δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἅπαντα μηνύσω, τῷ γὰρ βασιλεῖ τῆς δικαιοσύνης δεῦρ᾽ ἐπιφανέντι προσεπολέμησαν οἱ τῆς ἀδικίας ὑπασπισταί· ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ἑάλωσαν καὶ ἐσβέσθησαν, ὡς ἐκεῖνον μὲν πανταχοῦ ἀνυμνεῖσθαι · τοὺς δὲ νομίσαντας τὴν ζωὴν ἄπρακτον εἶναι, πάσαις ταῖς ψήφοις ἡττᾶσθαι.

### English translation (Claude)

[On Herod the tetrarch, the Baptist, and Herodias.] Not few nor small but many and great were the sins of the tetrarch. He was the base offspring of a savage lion. As if afraid that he might be thought not the true son of his own father, who killed the infants in Bethlehem, he wove a tragedy such as almost to rival his begetter. And I think he was called tetrarch for this reason too: not only because he ruled a fourth part of his father's kingdom, but because he was ruled by the four general kinds of vice. First, he takes Herodias unlawfully; then, rebuked by the Baptist, when he ought to have come to his senses, he throws into prison not a lawbreaker but one who rebuked lawbreaking. Next, wanting to kill him, he fears the crowd, without fearing the incorruptible eye. Then he swears rashly and without limit to give the daughter of the woman who had contrived the drama, and who thought she had prepared parts worthy of the marriage, whatever she might ask; he did not add that he would give what was right and just, but had his reason so unadvised as to promise even half of his kingdom, not reckoning that it is worse to fall from righteousness than from a kingdom. Then, under the pretext of keeping his oath, he goes beyond every perjury. For in wicked matters it is better to break well what was badly promised than to seem to keep an oath badly; or rather this was a pretext of his fear. For as a worthless servant fears his master's rebuke, so he feared the Baptist; for the true master is the one who does and commands what is right, not the one clothed in purple and holding the power of arms. So, putting forward his oath as a screen for his fear, and fortifying his resolve with the danger of seeming to forswear himself, he rushed to murder. He did not even set up the form of a court, as many have done, nor put up accusers nor hire witnesses; for he knew he was punishing not a wrongdoer but one who denounced wrongdoing. He wrought the crime without trial, meaning to hide the rebuke. But the rebuke was not silenced; it is proclaimed more brightly. For throughout all the world under the sun it still cries out even now: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip's wife." Since you wish to learn the cause (for it is said to be of several kinds): some say that he profaned the law of Moses, for he took his brother's wife although his brother had offspring, which was not lawful. When a brother was childless, the law permitted him to take her, so as to raise up seed for the dead man; for childlessness was thought the greatest evil, as if the memory of the dead were wholly extinguished. But how, then, did the daughter leave her father, live with the adulterer and the adulteress, and seek to kill the man who had spoken on her father's behalf? Grant that the mother was drunk with desire; how did the daughter too join in contriving the drama? Others, among whom is Josephus, say that he had the woman while her husband was alive and had a little daughter. Josephus says, in his eighteenth book, that after Salome's birth Herodias, minded to confound the ancestral customs, married Herod, separating from his brother by the same father. Someone might answer this by saying: Then why did John charge him not as an adulterer but as one who had married unlawfully? To him one might reply: Perhaps she had left him by a bill of divorce. But he will answer again: Then how does John call unlawful what the law allowed? For the oracle of the Gospel, which declares such a union adultery, had not yet been given. Others say that he killed his brother out of desire for the kingdom and took his wife as well (for he had long loved her); against them this refutation lies ready: Then why did the Baptist not reproach him with the murder? It seems so much worse, as fratricide is more accursed than murder. Whether the rebuke had the first cause, as I think, or the second or the third, let the brave and noble man who rebuked and died, as an advocate of the divine laws, be sung. And if someone says, "Why, then, was he allowed to suffer this?", I would say that he himself was harmed in nothing; for if one must leave life in any case, the one who passes through it gloriously would be the more blessed. Then, divine providence grants sinners a time for repentance, and if not even so they repent, it will appoint harsher punishments. And, as some say, vice reigning in the world sets itself against the good, dreaming of bearing off the glory; therefore the wicked man wars against the best man, but is easily taken. To show all the glorious examples in one: against the King of righteousness when he appeared here the shield-bearers of injustice made war; but they were so taken and extinguished that he is praised in hymns everywhere, while those who thought his life fruitless are defeated by every vote.

### Scripture references

- Matt 14:3: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 14:4: quotation, high confidence
- Mark 6:18: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 14:5: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 14:7: allusion, high confidence
- Mark 6:23: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 2:16: allusion, high confidence
- Deut 25:5: allusion, high confidence
- Lev 18:16: allusion, medium confidence
- Deut 24:1: allusion, medium confidence
- Matt 5:32: allusion, medium confidence
- Luke 16:18: allusion, medium confidence

### Extrabiblical texts

- Josephus, Ant. 18.136 (Josephus (works)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The bracketed heading is the letter's title as printed in the edition.
- In the scan text a few lines are displaced (part of the sentence on breaking a bad oath appears inside the passage on the rebuke not being silenced); they are translated in their natural order.
- "Separating from his brother by the same father": Josephus, Ant. 18.136, says Herodias married Herod (Antipas) after divorcing his half-brother, while her first husband was alive.
- "The oracle of the Gospel, which declares such a union adultery": Matt 5:32; 19:9; Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18. Isidore notes that under Moses' law a woman divorced by a bill could lawfully marry another, so John's charge must rest on another ground: he prefers the levirate explanation (Lev 18:16; 20:21; Deut 25:5).

### Citation (SBL)

Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 4.96 (PG 78 78:1157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/4-96).

## Letter 4.129 (to Strategius)

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/1-213/#p-4-129
- Source: PG 78 78:1205
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Ten explanations of 1 Cor 6:18; the tenth: married partners are one body, so adultery alone is a sin against the spouse, which is why Christ allowed a wife to be put away for fornication only.

### Greek text

Πολλὰς, ὦ μακάριε, δυνατὸν εἰς τὸ· Παν ἁμάρτημα, ὁ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πορνεύων, εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει, ἀνοῖξαι τῷ βουλομένῳ νοημάτων θύρας. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ταύτην· οὐκ εἶπε, Διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἁμαρτάνει, ὅπερ οἱ πολλοὶ νομίζοντες πράγματα παρέχουσι τοῖς ἑρμηνεύουσιν, ἀλλ᾽, Εἰς αὐτὸ ἁμαρτάνει, εἰς αὐτὸ σφάλλεται, αὐτὸ μολύνει, αὐτὸ ἐναγὲς ἀποφαίνει. Ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι· Ὁ δεῖνα ἑαυτὸν ὑβρίζει, ἄλλον δοκῶν ὑβρίζειν. Νῦν γὰρ βλέπει τῷ ᾿Αποστόλῳ ὁ λόγος οὐ πρὸς τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα͵ ἐψομένην τῷ ἁμαρτήματι τιμωρίαν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἐν τῇ πράξει γινομένην τῷ σώματι ἐκ τῆς συμπλοκῆς ὕβριν, τουτέστιν, τὸν μολυσμόν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ φονεύων, ἄλλον φονεύει· ὁ δὲ πορνεύων, ἑαυτὸν καθυβρίζει. Καὶ ὁ τὰ ἄλλα πταίσματα δρῶν, εἰς ἄλλον δρᾷ· ὁ δὲ λαγνεύων, ἑαυτὸν ᾿καταισχύνει, ἑαυτὸν μιαίνει. Ὅθεν καὶ ἀπολούονται τὸν μολυσμὸν ἐννοοῦντες, καὶ τὴν ἀτοπίαν βδελυττόμενοι. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα πλημμελήματα καὶ εἰς τὸν ἀδικούμενον βλέπει· τοῦτο δ' εἰς τὸν ἀδικοῦντα. Τὰ ἄλλα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστι τοῦ δρῶντος · τοῦτο δὲ τὸν δρῶντα μολύνει · ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄλλους ἀδικεῖ · ἐν τῇ πορνεία ἑαυτόν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ δευτέραν βούλει σοι ἀνοιγῆναι θύραν, ἐννόει, ὅτι, ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις ἀνθρώπῳ οὐ συγγνώμης μείζονα ἔχοντι ἁμαρτήματα παραινοῦντες λέγομεν· ᾿Αδελφὲ, ἀπόστηθι ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ νοσήματος· τοῦτο πάντων ἐστὶ κάκιον · οὐκ ἐπειδὴ πάντα ὑπερβαίνει, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι κἀκείνου αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάξαι βουλόμεθα· μήποτε καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἐπὶ τῆς πορνείας τοῦτο ἔφη. Τὸν γὰρ πορνεύσαντα παρὰ Κορινθίοις σωφρονίσαι βουλόμενος, ταύτην ἔρβηξε τὴν φωνήν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τρίτην, ἐννόει, ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ εἰς θάλατταν σἶτον ἢ ἕτερόν τι σπέρμα ῥίπτων εἰς τὸν σπόρον ἁμαρτάνει, κωλύων αὐτὸν εἰς γένεσιν ἐλθεῖν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ εἰς ἑταίραν ῥίπτων τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σπέρμα, εἰς τὸ οἰκεῖον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει, ἐκείνης οὐ τὸ τεχθὲν ἀναιρούσης μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τεχθῆναι κωλυούσης Εἰ δὲ τετάρτην· ἐννοεῖν χρὴ, ὅτι καθ᾽ ὅ δρᾷ, καὶ πάσχει Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἔπαθεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔῤῥευσεν · εἰ δὲ ἔῤῥευσεν, ἐφθάρη· εἰ δὲ ἐφθάρη, ὑβρίσθη. Αμέλει ἐπ᾿ οὐδεμιᾷ ἄλλῃ πράξει, ἢ ἐπὶ μόνῃ τῇ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς γυναῖκα συνόδῳ λέγεται ἐφθάρθαι τὴν παρθένον καὶ τὸν νεανίσκον πειραθέντας. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πέμπτην, ἐννόει, ὅτι τῷ” πόρνῃ συνερχομένῳ εἰ τεχθείη παιδίον, εἰς πορνείαν τρέφεται, καὶ ὁ ὁρῶν μετὰ ταῦτα, λέξει· Ὄντως ἑαυτὸν ἐκεῖνος ἠδίκησεν· ἰδοὺ γὰρ τὸ σπέρμα, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ πορνεύει. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔκτην, ἐπίστησον, ὅτι εἰ δούλῃ τις κοινωνήσειε, δοῦλον ἔσται τὸ τικτόμενον · πῶς οὖν οὐκ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἁμαρτάνει, ὁ δοῦλον σπουδάζων τεκεῖν; Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἑβδόμην, ὅρα ὅτι καὶ τὸ τικτόμενον ἀδικεῖται, νόθον καλούμε νον, καὶ ἄτιμον πανταχοῦ γινόμενον, κἂν ἐν βουλευτηρίῳ, κἂν ἐν δικαστηρίῳ δὲ εἰσέλθῃ, ἐκβάλλεται · δι᾽ οὗ καὶ ὁ φυτευσάμενος συναπολαύει τῆς αἰσχύνης · ὑπόμνημα γὰρ τῆς οἰκείας λαγνείας κατέλειψεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὀγδόην, δοκιμάσωμεν καὶ τὸ ῥηθησόμενον · ἐπειδὴ ὁ πορνεύων, ἓν πρὸς τὴν πορνευομένην γίνεται, ὡς τὰ σἰκεῖα μέλη ποιῶν πόρνης μέλη, εἰς ἑαυτὸν τῷ ὄντι ἁμαρτάνει. Φόνῳ μὲν γάρ τινες εὗ ἐχρήσαντο (ὡς Μωσῆς καὶ Φινεὲς), καὶ ὀργῇ (ὁ Πέτρος καὶ Παῦλος)· πορνείᾳ δὲ οὐδεὶς πώποτε εὖ ἐχρήσατο. Διὸ καὶ τὸν δρῶντα μολύνει. Σιωπῶ γὰρ, ὅτι τοὺς ἐν πολέμῳ φονεύοντας καὶ στηλῶν καὶ ἀναῤῥήσεων ἀξιοῦσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τραπῆναι ἡμᾶς βούλει εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀλληγορίας ὁδὸν, ἐννάτη ἔστω ἡ λεχθησομένη. Ἐπειδὴ ἓν σῶμά ἐστιν ἡ Ἐκκλησία, οἱ δὲ καθεῖς ἀλλήλων μέλη, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς πάντας ἁμαρτάνει · ἀνατρέχει γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸ σφάλμα ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πλήρωμα, οὗ καὶ ἐκκοπῆναι αὐτὸν προσέταξεν, ἕως ἂν μετανοήσῃ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ δεκάτην βούλει, λεχθείη ἂν, ὅτι ἐπειδὴ οἱ νόμῳ τοῦ τιμίου γάμου συνιόντες ἓν σῶμα γίνονται Ἔσονται γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ δύοεἰς σάρκα μίαν·, διὸ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ ἀνήρ· οὐδ᾽ ὁ ἀνὴρ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος ἐξουσιάζει, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ γυνή)· εἰκότως ὁ πορνεύων μὲν ἀνὴρ, εἰς τὴν γαμετὴν, τουτέστιν εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει · ἡ δὲ πορνευομένη, εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα, τουτέστι, τὸν ἄνδρα, σῶμα αὐτῆς γενόμενον, ἁμαρτάνει. Διὸ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἁμαρσυνεζευγμένον ἀνατρεχούσης. τήματα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστι τοῦ ἰδίου τοῦ ἐννόμου συναχθέντος εἰς ἕν.· Οὔτε γὰρ ἐὰν ἐπιορκήσῃ, ἢ φονεύσῃ, ἢ κλέψῃ, ἢ ἄλλο τι δράσῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ χαλεπὸν, εἰς τὴν γυναῖκα φθάνει τὸ ἁμάρτημα · ὡς αὖ πάλιν οὐδὲ γυνή, ἐὰν φονεύσῃ, ἢ ἐπιορκήσῃ, εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα ἀνατρέχει τὸ ἁμάρτημα· ἡ δὲ πορνεία μόνη τῆς συνοικήσεως καὶ τῆς συνόδου ἅπτεται, καὶ θάτερος θάτερον ἀδικεῖ, εἰ ταύτην δράσειε, καὶ τὴν τῶν τέκνων γνησιότητα ὑποπτεύεσθαι παρασκευάζει, καὶ πάντα ἐκ βάθρων τὸν οἶκον σαλεύει · διὸ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς πάντα τὰ ἐλαττώματα τὰ τῆς γυναικὸς καταδέχεσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα ἀναγκαῖαν εἶναι ἔφη · οὐ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν βλέπει τὰ γινόμενα· ἐπὶ δὲ πορνείᾳ μόνῃ ἐκβάλλειν ἐκέλευσεν, ὡς τῆς ἀδικίας ταύτης εἰς τὸν

### English translation (Claude)

[On "Every sin that a man commits is outside the body."] Many doors of meaning, blessed one, can be opened for whoever wishes on "Every sin that a man commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against his own body." First this one: he did not say, "He sins through the body", which many suppose and so give trouble to interpreters, but "He sins against it": he offends against it, defiles it, makes it accursed; as one might say, "So-and-so insults himself while he thinks he insults another." For here the apostle's word looks not to the punishment that will follow the sin afterwards, but to the outrage done to the body in the act by the union, that is, the defilement. The murderer kills another; the fornicator outrages himself. The man who commits other offences commits them against another; the lecher shames himself, defiles himself. Hence people wash, thinking of the defilement and loathing the indecency. Other offences look to the one wronged; this one to the wrongdoer. The others are outside the body of the doer; this defiles the doer. In the others one wrongs others; in fornication, oneself.

If you wish a second door to be opened to you, consider that often, when we exhort a man who has sins greater than can be pardoned, we say, "Brother, keep away from this disease; it is worse than all", not because it surpasses all, but because we want to free him from that one too; perhaps the apostle said this too about fornication, for he burst out with this saying when he wished to correct the man who had committed fornication among the Corinthians.

If a third: consider that as one who throws grain or any other seed into the sea sins against the sowing, preventing it from coming to birth, so one who throws his seed into a harlot sins against his own body, since she not only destroys what is born but prevents it from being born.

If a fourth: one must consider that in what he does he also suffers. For if he did not suffer, he would not have flowed; if he flowed, he was corrupted; if he was corrupted, he was outraged. Indeed, in no other act but only in the union of man with woman are the virgin and the young man said to be corrupted when they have had experience of it.

If a fifth: consider that if a child is born to one who goes in to a harlot, it is brought up for harlotry, and whoever sees it afterwards will say: "Truly that man wronged himself; see, his seed, or rather his body, plays the harlot."

If a sixth: observe that if a man has intercourse with a slave woman, what is born will be a slave; how then does he not sin against himself who takes pains to beget a slave?

If a seventh: see that the child too is wronged, being called a bastard and dishonoured everywhere; whether he enters a council chamber or a law court, he is thrown out; so his begetter shares the shame, for he has left behind a memorial of his own lust.

If an eighth, let us test what will be said: since the fornicator becomes one with the woman with whom he fornicates, making his own members the members of a harlot, he truly sins against himself. Some have used killing well (as Moses and Phinehas), and anger well (Peter and Paul); but no one has ever used fornication well. Therefore it defiles the doer. I pass over the fact that people judge those who kill in war worthy even of monuments and proclamations.

If you wish us also to turn to the road of allegory, let the ninth be what follows. Since the church is one body, and we are each members of one another, the fornicator sins against all; for his fault runs back to the fullness of the church, from which he also commanded him to be cut off until he repents.

If you wish a tenth too, it might be said: since those who come together by the law of honourable marriage become one body (for "the two," it says, "shall become one flesh"; therefore "the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband; nor does the husband have authority over his own body, but the wife"), it is fitting that the husband who commits fornication sins against his wife, that is, against his own body, and the wife who commits fornication sins against her own body, that is, against her husband, who has become her body. Therefore the other sins are outside the body that is one's own, the one joined to oneself lawfully into one. For if the husband perjures himself, or kills, or steals, or does any other grievous thing, the sin does not reach his wife; nor again, if the wife kills or perjures herself, does the sin run back to her husband. But fornication alone touches the marriage and the union: each wrongs the other if one commits it; it makes the legitimacy of the children suspect and shakes the whole house from its foundations. Therefore Christ said that the husband must accept all the faults of his wife, for what is done does not look to him; but for fornication alone he commanded her to be put away, since this injustice … [the rest of the letter is lost in the scan].

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 6:18: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 5:1: allusion, high confidence
- 1 Cor 5:13: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Cor 6:15: allusion, high confidence
- 1 Cor 6:16: allusion, high confidence
- Exod 32:27: allusion, low confidence
- Num 25:7: allusion, high confidence
- Rom 12:5: allusion, high confidence
- Gen 2:24: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Cor 7:4: quotation, high confidence
- Matt 5:32: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 19:9: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The bracketed heading is the letter's title as printed in the edition.
- The last words of the letter are lost in the scan text; nothing is supplied.
- In the tenth explanation a line of the scan is displaced ("since it runs back to the one joined" appears in the middle of a sentence); it is translated in its natural place.
- "For fornication alone he commanded her to be put away": Matt 5:32; 19:9, read (as in Letter 3.76) as a command to put away an adulterous wife; remarriage is not discussed.

### Citation (SBL)

Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 4.129 (PG 78 78:1205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/4-129).