Letter to Zenas and Serenus

Justin to Zenas and Serenus, his brothers, greeting. Concerning the irrational training that some hold through prejudice, and the useless learning inherited by human tradition from those who think and act like the Pharisees, I have set forth everything with all accuracy in my letter to Papas. But that I may not seem wholly given to censure, and may also offer handles of salvation to those who wish to do well, having composed the work written to the rulers with great care, as I think, I did not hesitate to write to you as well, that you may know the childish ways of life of some. For to know the conduct of those who do not live according to reason restrains those who are eager not to fall into the like. For you, then, it is well to act nobly from preparation.

But since our minds are thrown into confusion by the revolutions of the present age, as we are dragged down into the world (whence the Saviour, saying that he and we are not of it, turned [us] away from fellowship with it) … and receiving the fulfilment of the power in the heavens, to accomplish everything according to the will of the Father of the ages, [free] of the strife and jealousy of the world. For everyone who is angry is at odds with himself, and the form of anger is wont to come back upon himself. Indeed we know some who, at whatever their neighbours do to provoke them, though these know nothing of what has caused them grief, devour and torment themselves. To one who tries to oppose us, then, nothing harsh should be said, but with settled mind and untroubled disposition only this: “The power of your strength will not be so great as to move my purpose.” And we must take thought for peace with those who differ from us, and not, carried away by the doctrine of anger, say at one time, “I am of such a nature, and I cannot help being angry,” and at another … to live according to nature is the mark of one who has not yet believed; to be jealous through envy is to stand far from the truth. Everyone, then, must be taught without bearing grudges, making admonition one's study. And we know some who, having made progress according to the flesh, drag the Gospel to their own anger, and wish to fit the oracles of our Saviour to the doctrine of their own passion; if it had been granted them to be able to hand people over to Gehenna, the whole world would have been consumed by them; for, so far as lies in them, they both condemn and open the furnaces of fire. Therefore let us not be such. And I give you this advice too, to look into what is fitting and to instruct one's neighbour … that one must first consider again and again what one suspects, lest perhaps one is in error; and if one seems to think rightly, then admonish until the other is persuaded by the counsels, or makes himself self-condemned.

It can give us great tranquillity not to make it our study to enjoy the first places, nor to be grieved if some wish to be such, but to yield to those who reckon themselves fit for what the Saviour did not call believers to. To one who shouts we must be silent, and one who thinks he has won by words must be laughed at, lest, carried away by vain conceit because of those present and listening, he likewise strengthen his resistance by counter-arguments. For let the one who declares well reckon that he was wronged, and that I did not wish, or did not dare, to answer back. But may gladness and rest be mine for my good conscience itself. And let not the one who does wrong be too proud to persuade his brother; and let the one admonished not be angry, but let him himself entreat his kinsman. For it is fitting that the two should meet one another, hastening to be reconciled for peace; for the father too is seen to go to meet his repentant son, not waiting, but bringing himself to meet his repentance. For kindness according to faith works peace for both; and the one who did wrong persuades his friend because of his sin, and the one who was wronged will himself repent too, because he was angry with his kinsman. The believer, then, must be free of all desire and fleshly appetite. For he who is not such commits robbery and plunders the temple of God, and, to speak more boldly, himself drives God out from himself; and through his conscience he is past feeling, and toward those who admonish him he is disposed as to strangers; and he puts forward Adam and … the deed of Eve, when he ought to die with Christ.

It befits us, having considered much within ourselves, to make our conversation blameless, and not to talk from a love of chatter, but, keeping silence for the most part, to answer with measure those whom need presses on us. We must flee evil suspicions and test our own opinion, and keep quiet, being long-suffering and not angry. Nor must we envy anyone who is loved; and we must not court servility, nor be slaves as if through prejudice, swallowing the bitter cup, as they say, unwillingly. But we must do everything according to faith by a right rule. For everyone who is not such, like one walking on ropes, will very soon fall, even if he seems quite wonderful to those who through their own idleness gape at the boasting of others. We must know, then, what is practised for glory's sake, and of what sort is that which is done according to truth; and therefore we must expect everything that will turn out to the contrary. For we are still flesh, and no good thing dwells in us. We must call on the physician, then, for healing; for one so disposed will be healed and escape the disease. We must be eager neither to appear unskilled in speech nor to use an unbridled mouth. For the one shows sloth or unbelief, the other the pursuit of what is esteemed in the world.

We must use food not for enjoyment but from the wish to live for something useful. And if we are ever overtaken by want, let us be content with poverty; and if you wish to hear in brief the form of freedom from grief, be well-pleasing in all things; and neither, when rich, will you fall through boasting, nor, when living in want, will you be tripped up by grief, your mind remaining always of one face according to the virtuous reason. Further, we must regard the whole world as alien and not our own, more than faith [requires]. Neither, then, must earthly friendship be sought, nor extravagance counted blessed by fools, in the greatness of a city and abundance of provisions; nor are these to be desired. For we are not of this age … to be of this world. To put it briefly, he who wishes to live well, let him neither see many things nor make a study of hearing; and if he hears or sees, let him think he has not seen or heard. For the [state] of tranquillity takes its beginning from this. He who busies himself with many things wrongs himself, and makes his neighbour too sin unwillingly through his love of strife with him. We must often consider the suspected matter, and then scarcely separate from him whom neither by cautery nor by lancet one could escape. We must converse not about worldly things, but about what fits us for virtue. For if this is not done, it produces much frivolity in us; and the contentious man takes his occasion from it.

Indeed we know some who by the doctrine of their own heresy, so far as lies in them, make the day night, and through a hardened imagination … being persuaded by these things, and, as soon as they hear something evil, believing the slanderer rather. What need is there to speak of those who through a bad conscience draw to themselves the conversations of their neighbours, and if anyone says anything about anyone, think that what is said is aimed at them, and fashion from it, beyond all likelihood, a drama and a stage? With such people one must not speak or write by insinuation. I would laugh too at those who in a corner put together with one of their neighbours heads of arguments, and conversations that lead to nothing fitting but stir up quarrels and wars through whisperings, and stalk up and down as on a stage. Just as the man who plays Orestes very grandly is thought by fools to be fearsome and great because of his wooden feet, his padded belly, his strange robe and his monstrous mask, in the same way those who profess to have zeal and practise frankness, from the wish to win, put on every form of feigned freedom, the contentious having swallowed up the zealot; as the Bacchants carry their spears in their thyrsi under a peaceful appearance.

And this too must be guarded against: to come out at one time with a cheerful face and at another with a gloomy one; and, if the truth must be told, every daily drama that is announced each day must be refused. What seems right to me, at least, I would say: everyone who is worldly in mind and has gone outside the right rule is self-condemned, knowing what he does deliberately, and knowing the war within him, yet not drawing peace into his heart. All friends must be honoured; and reproof must not only be given but also heard. Wine must be used when we are no longer occupied with readings. For such a one is a wine-lover and carried away in mind, and grows heated. When one's neighbour is speaking, he must not be mocked or interrupted, but left alone until, abashed by the silence, he stops. What is profitable must be advised by each in common to all. The one who sins must be admonished, not in public, unless he needs it because of …

And with women one must converse more strictly because of their conceit. For as long as a woman makes herself conspicuous, and puts forward that she is a woman, and has practised idleness, she is female, and because of such a mind she is not faithful. Let us neither, then, persecute them nor flatter them; but … For the business of wickedness is manifold. Therefore we must be watchful, occupying ourselves with the oracles of the Saviour, neither saying nor hearing anything bad about anyone. For the mind is weak, and becomes full of much bad humour from other conversations. Therefore we must hear only what is profitable, and act according to the Gospel. What trips up the mind, as it were, must be refused. One must inquire into the oracles: well, if with understanding; but if not, even as an unlearned man. For “to a fool who asks for wisdom, wisdom will be reckoned.” But to one who in his own fancy thought himself wise, much dishonour will be ascribed. And he is called foolish by the Spirit who through lack of learning is carried astray in perception, so that foolishness is a mark of the unlearned, as is simplicity. And Paul also writes: “Who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him?” And again: “But we have the mind of Christ.” He who through thoughtlessness says or does what he should not, though he seemed wise, will be reckoned a fool.

We must humble ourselves not only in word but also in deeds, that we may not be impostors and flatterers, but meek, and not fawning. And further, it befits one who lives rightly to be quiet and free from business, not angry, nor silent out of quarrelsomeness, but considering everything that is needful, whether it can well be said, and then scarcely speaking. Hymns and psalms and songs and praise must be said; not, as some do, in riddles, to grieve one's neighbour through psalmody, so as not to seem to differ, and, thinking to have caught him by art, so making the quarrel unaccusable. One must also listen to him who counsels, and not only teach. One must persuade likewise, from the wish that one's neighbour too should come to agree. One must suppose others to be wise, and not assign understanding to oneself alone. One must not run risks through the doctrine of conceit about oneself; nor despise the one who instructs, but either show him that he does not think rightly about himself, or, if he speaks the truth, obey and follow him. For a contentious man doubles the wrong; and when he ought to change his mind, he has been eager to win, as the fable says, a Cadmean victory. And the cause is that he may be vainglorious, as if he were not sinning, and may rest on the doctrine of his own dangerous disposition. For ridiculous are those who shout every day through believing that they prevail in some matter; strife, casting its apple among them, troubles them when they think they are at peace, about the things in the world. And like mimes and wretched are some who say they are inexperienced in nothing, but claim to know now carpentry, now shoemaking, and every pursuit that is put to them, at the right moment, and become hostile to whoever checks their nonsense. [Like them] too are those who take care of their neighbours for the sake of praise from men …

Great is the danger for those who call on the day of the Lord. For one must either believe, so that … he may escape the judgment, or forgive his neighbour, so that he too may receive forgiveness of sins from God; but these, in the frenzy of anger, bind contracts against themselves. We must also guard against the arrogance of some who, when they ought to correct themselves, say: “I will not even defend myself to you; keep the suspicion you have of me.” What need is there to speak of those who please themselves when anyone wishes to admonish them? Who say, in a very worldly way, “Neither will you … me” … many, through a bad conscience and an impure mind, … are not angered at the sins of their neighbours; and of those who make a practice of speaking gently, but by their colour and their eyes and the hidden motion of head or hand … that no one may become an accuser of himself. Every believer, when he thinks he is being mocked by someone, even through psalmody, … outwits that man's wickedness by knowing the disposition of his ingratitude. To put it briefly, everyone who judges himself will be outside every fault. None of those who shout is self-controlled. He who is now pale, now red, changing in the complexion of his body, roams about like the chameleons in heat and desert. We must observe also the dispositions of some in the practice of reading. For as soon as someone reads, his manner of thinking becomes plain to those of strong judgment. … of souls are shown also from the life. For through the practice of conduct the realities of things unseen are also known. We must also refuse the contentious man, putting him off by art, by being defeated, by not contending in return, which is better than being eager to win at the risk of practising what is not according to right reason.

We must hold conversations with a good conscience. And let walks be taken for the body's sake, not for some business, cobbling together forcible contracts against one's neighbour. It is not out of place for us, by being gracious, to wipe away the perversity of those who are over-wise. For some are accustomed, on the pretext of a natural necessity, to withdraw to certain set-apart places to relieve themselves, and to compose in the privies the conclusion of their schemes against some. But as the father in the comedy says that he carries his profligate son, and if he smells the perfume says that he does not smell it, trying to confine the sin within a bad smell, so I advise those who are too hardened to show the wiser that they neither understand what they do nor know what they say. But he who thinks himself wise in his own eyes resists admonition … and meditates by himself what is human and faithless. Therefore let us make ourselves blameless, doing not only what seems good to ourselves but also what seems good to the many, that they may be saved. As for anger, it is good if never, for that form is one of madness; but if ever it presses, one must use reason with it … he who busies himself with it hates first himself and then his neighbour, troubling himself and paining the other. For it is written: “Everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgment.” Anyone can learn about this movement by being alone with himself. Indeed we know some who by their admonition of their neighbours condemn themselves. For what one teaches another, let him first do himself, lest unawares he pronounce sentence against himself through his neighbour. The sensible man must say to himself, when he applies his mind to the sins of others: “Am I perhaps such a one too?”

Let wine neither be drunk daily to the point of drunkenness, nor be sought like water. For both are works of God, but water is necessary, while wine was made to help the body. But he who first has his tongue bound, and flashes fire as it were from his eyes, and trembles in his steps and grows senseless, takes a deadly drug; he does not make iron into a sickle or some tool for working the earth, but fashions it into a sword or spear, and remakes the economy of God. For the wine-drinker, when he ought in winter to drink because of the cold, so as not to shiver, and in summer for the healing of the inward parts, misuses it and babbles, and like pigs or dogs boils over with the flood of the remedy. We must not, like profligates, misuse the works of God, dragging thirst into drunkenness, but partake of drink so as not to be thirsty. And those who gulp down wine, as the feverish drink when burning, will very soon die through their incontinence.

We must refuse gluttony too, partaking of a few necessary things. For as a sick body needs many and countless drugs, so the soul made unhappy by gluttony wishes almost to stuff itself even with hides. And if someone asks the reason, it invents a bodily ailment. To such we must say: does not every practice strengthened by a doctrine of the mind have a defence easily made, so that even for the adulterer and the murderer and the runaway much defence is found, that what they do is done well? But the one who answered the man asking the cause of the evil uttered a quite wonderful doctrine: “Food, then, is to be used so as not to be hungry.” But such a one wishes, so far as lies in him, to go about six-handed, … seeking six hands, with many hands and more mouths …

Wealth must by no means be praised, nor poverty reviled. For the one is strengthened by refined matter, and the end of matter is corruption: worms and maggots, fire and ruin, robbers and a tyrant; but the other is separated from the present age and seeks only the truth, distracted by nothing temporary. These things I have set before you in writing, wishing to admonish you to tranquillity, and eager to fit you for what is perfect and virtuous. For he who is not such runs outside the rule given him, and through disorder is disqualified; and even if, in great distress, he obtains help from noble athletes, enjoying food or drink or clothing, he is none the less without a crown. And those who have driven into the beloved city of the Father will partake of an everlasting prize; but for others it will be laid up not to partake, through the nourishment here, of true enjoyment.

Women must be honoured, taking care lest we be ensnared; and one must approach them soundly and without curiosity, fearing the danger of association with them, and the conscience about what they think has happened. Above all, worldly conversations in a corner must be guarded against … they are condemned even by them, and they come to devour their neighbours. … some women, stealing themselves away, because they do not dare to adorn their faces openly, do it by art. For bending over water or oil, they judge themselves whether they could war against chastity. But another manner of plotting is also practised by them: secretly, as if by stealth, they arrange their locks with curious care, and [touch] the cheeks and the chin with their fingertips, [the face] remaining unmoved. One must speak more robustly, then, to such women, cutting off their spreading branches; for as soon as they are caught, they nod assent, and the fruit is eaten by the foxes that lurk in the earth. Therefore, according to the prophet, the ass must be goaded and the horse whipped, that the sluggish may be roused and the unbridled rebel struck by admonitions. So, according to Jeremiah, let us not make ourselves woman-mad horses, nor [neigh] after our neighbour's wife …

Every woman is a sister; but by “the neighbour's wife” is meant the [church] of Jesus Christ our Saviour (whom, according to love toward God, the Father of all, one must honour and love because she is near to him); as Paul says: “I betrothed you all to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” And the neighbour's wife is also the flesh in us, at which one must not neigh; … even one who has not yet fulfilled the desire, while the appetite rises like smoke within him, even if he does not reach the end.

Attention must be paid to children too, because of such is the kingdom of heaven. The sick must not be neglected, nor must one say, “I have not learned to serve.” For let him who [pleads] softness or lack of habit know that he himself will suffer the same things; and when he suffers something of the kind, he too … his own mind self-condemned. Nor, then, must the negligent man be neglected; for God is the judge; and let him who wishes to be well treated lay up for himself by well-doing the kindness he will receive from his neighbour. It is not right to be ashamed lest someone think us wretched and helpless because we work with our own hands; only we must guard lest anyone slander for wickedness and an evil life those who say they know God.

To put it briefly, the grief of the world works death in those it masters; but grief according to God begets the mind of life. Above all, let us know that sickness is in store for our flesh, and loss and want, and … near. And therefore we must practise beforehand what … in our hearts. For such a one will say to the misfortune that befalls him: “I knew that you would come; I was not disappointed in my expectation; I foresaw your approach.” And if anyone is such, he will stand and not fall. But to be troubled at the sudden, or to cry out, and often even to lament, is the mark of a very wretched mind.

We must give heed to virtue alone, and approach those who expound it. But as for those in whom the practice of what they say is not present, … let us seek … in us. For he who makes a study of saying, “I am not a ruler and a judge,” but does nothing good, is, like one mastered by many tyrants, unawares a slave to sin, and runs away from those who are hastening to walk in the way. Blessed, then, is the pure in heart; for by him alone can the Divine be seen. The believer must be far removed from envy and jealousy, and pray daily to be found rich in word and powerful in deed; for we are members of one another. Therefore let us suffer with the one who suffers and rejoice with the one who is glorified, guarding against those who are strangers to the legislation of Christ. Counselling you, brothers, to do these things, I have exhorted the rest too, through you, to do the will of God. May the Lord of glory, who is for ever, grant you all to attain the honour and rest with the elect. Whose grace be with you all.