Letters 63–78
Greek text: PG 83.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 63
63PG 83
Τῶν μὲν ἄλλων τῆς ἑορτῆς ἀγαθῶν συνήθως ἀπελαύσαμεν. Καὶ γὰρ τὴν τῶν σωτηρίων παθημάτων ἑωρτάσαμεν μνήμην, καὶ διὰ τῆς Δεσποτιχῆῇς ἀναστάσεως ἐδεξάμεθα τὰ τῆς κοινῆς ἀναστάσεως εὐαγγέλια, καὶ τὴν ἄῤῥητον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν φιλανθρωπίαν ὑμνήσαμεν" ἡ δὲ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ζάλη καθαρᾶς μεταλαχεῖν εὐφροσύνης οὐκ εἴασεν. Εἰ γὰρ. ἑνὸς μέλους ἀλγοῦντος ὅλον χοινωνεξ τῆς ὀδύνης τὸ εῶμα, παντὸς ταραττομένου τοῦ σώματος πῶς ἕνεστι μὴ θρηνεῖν; Ἐπιτείνει δὲ ἡμῖν τὴν ἀθυμίαν τὸ νομίζειν εἶναε ταῦτα τῆς παντελοῦς ἀποστασίας προοἰμιον. Εὐξάσθω τοίνυν ἡ θεοσέδειά σου, εἰ μὲν ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει, τῆς θείας ἡμᾶς ἐπικουρίας τυχεῖν, ἕνα δυνηθῶμεν ε ἀντιστῆναι, κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ᾿Απόστολον, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ πονηρᾷ. » Εἰ δέ τις χρόνος ὑπολέ-. λειπται τῇ τοῦ βίου συστάσεε, λυθῆναι τὸν κλύδωνα, καὶ τὴν προτέραν γαλήνην τὰς Ἐκκλησίας ἀπολαδεῖν. ἵνα μὴ ἐπιπλεῖστον οἱ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθροὶ ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἐπαγάλλωνται συμφοραῖς. Ἡνίχα μὲν τὰ σωτήριον πάθος ὑπὲρ τοῦ γέ… λίαν ὁ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων χορός" οὗ γὰρ ἤδεσαν τὸν τοῦ πάθους καρπόν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔγνωσαν τὴν ἐντεῦθεν βλαστήσασαν σωτηρίαν, εὐαγγέλιον ἐκάλεσαν τὸ τοῦ πάθους κήρυγμα, καὶ τοῦτο πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις προθύμως προσήνεγκαν. Οἱ δὲ πεπιατευχότες, ἅτε δὴ τὸν νοῦν φωτισθέντες, ἀσπασίως τοῦτο δεξάμενοι, ἑορτάζουσι τοῦ πάθους τὴν μνήμην, καὶ τὸν θανάτου καιρὸν δημαθοινίας ἔχουσι καὶ πανηγύρεως ἀφορμὴν. Συνημμένῃ γὰρ ἣ ἀνάστασις ἀποδάλλει τοῦ θανάτου τὸν θρῆνον, καὶ τῆς χοινῆῇς ἀναστάσεως ἐχέγγυος γίνεται. Ταύτης ἐπὶ τοῦ … σου τὴν θεοσέδειαν, οἷόν τινα εὐοσμίαν τἧς ἑορτῆς μηνύματα.
Tōn men allōn tēs heortēs agathōn synēthōs apelausamen. Kai gar tēn tōn sōtēriōn pathēmatōn heōrtasamen mnēmēn, kai dia tēs Despotichēę̄s anastaseōs edexametha ta tēs koinēs anastaseōs euangelia, kai tēn arrhēton tou Theou kai Sōtēros hēmōn philanthrōpian hymnēsamen" hē de tōn Ekklēsiōn zalē katharas metalachein euphrosynēs ouk eiasen. Ei gar. henos melous algountos holon choinōnex tēs odynēs to eōma, pantos tarattomenou tou sōmatos pōs henesti mē thrēnein? Epiteinei de hēmin tēn athymian to nomizein einae tauta tēs pantelous apostasias prooimion. Euxasthō toinyn hē theosedeia sou, ei men tauta houtōs echei, tēs theias hēmas epikourias tychein, hena dynēthōmen e antistēnai, kata ton theion ᾿Apostolon, tę̄ hēmerą tę̄ ponērą. » Ei de tis chronos hypole-. leiptai tę̄ tou biou systasee, lythēnai ton klydōna, kai tēn proteran galēnēn tas Ekklēsias apoladein. hina mē epipleiston hoi tēs alētheias echthroi tais hēmeterais epagallōntai symphorais. Hēnicha men ta sōtērion pathos hyper tou ge… lian ho tōn hierōn apostolōn choros" hou gar ēdesan ton tou pathous karpon. Epeidē de egnōsan tēn enteuthen blastēsasan sōtērian, euangelion ekalesan to tou pathous kērygma, kai touto pasin anthrōpois prothymōs prosēnenkan. Hoi de pepiateuchotes, hate dē ton noun phōtisthentes, aspasiōs touto dexamenoi, heortazousi tou pathous tēn mnēmēn, kai ton thanatou kairon dēmathoinias echousi kai panēgyreōs aphormēn. Synēmmenę̄ gar hē anastasis apodallei tou thanatou ton thrēnon, kai tēs choinēę̄s anastaseōs echengyos ginetai. Tautēs epi tou … sou tēn theosedeian, hoion tina euosmian tēs heortēs mēnymata.
We enjoyed the other good things of the feast as usual. We celebrated the memory of the saving sufferings, received through the Master's resurrection the good news of the common resurrection, and praised the ineffable love of our God and Savior for humankind; but the storm of the churches did not let us share in pure joy. If, when one member suffers, the whole body shares the pain, how can one not lament when the whole body is in turmoil? Our despondency is increased by the thought that these things are the prelude to the complete apostasy. Let your Piety pray, then, that if this is so, we may obtain divine help so that we may be able, as the divine Apostle says, "to withstand in the evil day"; but if some time remains for the frame of this life, that the surge may be stilled and the churches may recover their former calm, so that the enemies of the truth may not exult over our calamities any longer.
[Letter 64] [Festal.] When the saving passion [was endured] for the race [of men], the choir of the holy apostles was [much disheartened], for they did not know the fruit of the passion. But when they knew the salvation that sprang from it, they called the proclamation of the passion 'gospel', and eagerly offered it to all people. Those who believed, enlightened in mind as they were, received it gladly; they celebrate the memory of the passion and make the time of death an occasion for a public banquet and festival. For the resurrection joined to it casts off the lament of death and becomes the pledge of the common resurrection. [Having just taken part in] this celebration, … [we send] your Piety the tidings of the feast as a kind of fragrance.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
1 Cor 12:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 6:13 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Thess 2:3 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Two Easter festal letters: one laments that the storm in the churches, perhaps the prelude to the final apostasy, has marred the feast; the other explains why Christians celebrate Christ's death as a feast.
- This passage holds two letters: Letter 63 and Letter 64, both festal; the heading of Letter 64 is lost in the scan amid Latin debris (removed by logged corrections). Several words of Letter 64 are lost and are supplied in brackets from the sense of NPNF² 3 (from a complete text).
- Letter 63 alludes to 1 Cor 12:26 and quotes Eph 6:13; 'the complete apostasy' alludes to 2 Thess 2:3. 'The storm of the churches' is probably the conflict of 448–449.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Greek lost in the scan; OCR debris; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column (the next letter's heading is lost); OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; Greek lost; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; ἔγνω-σαν rejoined): τοῦ (41} βίου → τοῦ βίου; ἰϊ. Τὰ ον. πὶ 6616" οπ θη} ἡ-τα ἰπ απ} ἰδία. ρυϊο πῇ 6886 ἰῃ- → ; πὸὸ Θηἶπ) 581 }18 → … ; οὐδιηἶ 08 418σε ει ϊ σοι 8 γοβυγγοοιοηΐβ. δος ἰ ῬΓΏΒΘΠ5 80οἰ ὁδὶ, ος οἱ ροῦν θα 0068 δ ποτὶ σαν → σαν ; Ταύτης ἐπὶ τοῦ σου → Ταύτης ἐπὶ τοῦ … σου.
Topics: Eschatology, Prayer
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 63 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/63). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/63
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 65
65PG 83
Τὸ μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρωπείοις παθήμασι βάλλεσθαι, πάντων ἀνθρώπων κοινόν" τὸ δὲ φέρειν γενναίως, καὶ τῆς τούτων περιγίνεσθαι προσδολῇς, οὐκ ἔτι χοινόνς. Ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ τῆς φύσεως, τοῦτο δὲ τῆς προαιρέσεως. Διὸ δὴ καὶ τοὺς φιλοσοφοῦντας θαυμάζομεν, ὡς τὰ βέλτιστα προαιρουμένονς, καὶ γνώμῃ τὰ πάθη νιχῶντας. Τὴν ὃὲ φιλοσοφίαν χκατασχευάζει τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν λογικὸν, ἡγούμενον τῶν παθῶν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀγόμενον ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν. Ἕν δὲ τῶν ἀνθρωπείων παθημάτων ἡ λύπη’ ταύτης περιγίνεσθαι παρακαλοῦμεν τὴν ὑμετέρᾶν μεγαλοπρέπειαν. Ῥάδιον δὲ τοῖς καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς νικῇσαι τὸ πάθος, τὴν τε φύσιν λογιζομένοις, καὶ τὸ ἀχερδὲς τοῦ πένθονς ἐνθυμουμένοις. Τίς γὰρ ὄνησις ἔσται τοῖς ἀπελθοῦσιν, ἡμῶν ὁλοφυρομένων καὶ θρήνοις χεχρηῃμένων; “Ὅταν τοίνυν τὸ κοινὸν τῶν ὠδίνων εἰς νοῦν λαμδάνωμεν, καὶ τὸν μακρὸν τῆς συνηθείας χρόνον, καὶ τὰς λαμπρὰς στρατηγίας, καὶ τὰς πολυθρυλλῇ» τους ἀριστείας, λογισώμεθα ὡς καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὃ τούτοῖς κοσμούμενος, καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν ὄρον τοῦ θανάτου τελῶν" καὶ πρὸς τούτοις, ὅτι Θεὸς πρυτανεύει τὰ σύμπαντα, καὶ τὸ συνοίσειν μέλλον ἀχριδέστερον μενας, πρὸς τοῦτο χυδερνᾷ τὰ ἀνθρώπεια, Ταῦτα ὡς ἐν ἐπιστολῆς μέτρῳ γέγραφα, παρακαλῶν τὴν ὑμετέραν μεγαλοφυῖΐαν χαρίσασθαι πᾶσιν ἡμῖν τὴν ὑμετέραν ὑγείαν, ἣν οἶδεν εὐθυμία φυλάττειν, ἀθυ- δὲ λύειν. Διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἔγραψα, τῆς χοινῇῆς προμηθούμενος ὠφελείας.
To men tois anthrōpeiois pathēmasi ballesthai, pantōn anthrōpōn koinon" to de pherein gennaiōs, kai tēs toutōn periginesthai prosdolę̄s, ouk eti choinons. Ekeino men gar tēs physeōs, touto de tēs proaireseōs. Dio dē kai tous philosophountas thaumazomen, hōs ta beltista proairoumenons, kai gnōmę̄ ta pathē nichōntas. Tēn hoe philosophian chkatascheuazei to en hēmin logikon, hēgoumenon tōn pathōn, all᾽ ouk agomenon hyp᾽ autōn. Hen de tōn anthrōpeiōn pathēmatōn hē lypē’ tautēs periginesthai parakaloumen tēn hymeteran megaloprepeian. Rhadion de tois kath᾽ hymas nikę̄sai to pathos, tēn te physin logizomenois, kai to acherdes tou penthons enthymoumenois. Tis gar onēsis estai tois apelthousin, hēmōn holophyromenōn kai thrēnois chechrēę̄menōn? “Hotan toinyn to koinon tōn ōdinōn eis noun lamdanōmen, kai ton makron tēs synētheias chronon, kai tas lampras stratēgias, kai tas polythryllę̄» tous aristeias, logisōmetha hōs kai anthrōpos ho toutois kosmoumenos, kai hypo ton oron tou thanatou telōn" kai pros toutois, hoti Theos prytaneuei ta sympanta, kai to synoisein mellon achridesteron menas, pros touto chyderną ta anthrōpeia, Tauta hōs en epistolēs metrǭ gegrapha, parakalōn tēn hymeteran megalophuiïan charisasthai pasin hēmin tēn hymeteran hygeian, hēn oiden euthymia phylattein, athy- de lyein. Dia gar touto kai tēn epistolēn egrapsa, tēs choinę̄ēs promēthoumenos ōpheleias.
To be struck by human sufferings is common to all human beings; but to bear them nobly and to get the better of their assault is no longer common. The one belongs to nature, the other to choice. That is why we admire those who live by philosophy: they choose what is best and conquer the passions by resolve. What builds up this philosophy is the rational part within us, which leads the passions and is not led by them. One of the human passions is grief, and we urge your Magnificence to get the better of it. It is easy for people like you to conquer the passion, if you consider both nature and how unprofitable mourning is. For what benefit will there be to those who have departed if we lament and give ourselves to dirges? When, then, we call to mind the common bond of birth, the long years of close companionship, the brilliant commands and the much-celebrated deeds of valor, let us reckon that the one adorned with these was also a human being and subject to the limit set by death; and besides this, that God governs all things and, knowing more exactly what will be beneficial, steers human affairs toward it. I have written this within the measure of a letter, urging your Magnanimity to grant all of us your health, which good cheer knows how to preserve and despondency how to undo. That is why I wrote the letter: out of concern for the common good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret consoles the general Zeno on a bereavement, urging him to master grief by reason and trust in God's providence.
- Migne Letter 65, To Zeno the general. The flag that Letter 64's heading is lost inside this passage does not hold: the passage is one letter (Letter 64, a festal letter, is not here).
- 'The common bond of birth' (τὸ κοινὸν τῶν ὠδίνων, literally 'the common birth-pangs') suggests the dead man was Zeno's brother; the letter does not name him.
- Lines of Migne's parallel Latin column read as Greek letters by the OCR are removed by logged corrections. The participle after 'more exactly' is damaged in the scan (…μενας, probably 'knowing'); translated by sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris (marginal letter) inside a hyphenated word; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; OCR slip: stray letter and τοὺ for τὸ; marginal letter removed; word rejoined): οἱ οἰδκδιι πὲ} ἴδηι, οἱ ἃ οὐδ, υἱ ὅδε, φυδη) υἱ σοηβοσναγο ἰϑ ἰἰἃ 50]οΐ, κἰο ἐγἰϑι εἰὰ δία. δυς αὐ ΠΟ δ ἸΔΙΊΟΓ δἰῖ βο᾽ → ; νικῇσαι Ο τοὺ πάθος → νικῇσαι τὸ πάθος; ἀθυ- Ως δὲ → ἀθυ- δὲ; ἔγρα- Ὁ ψα → ἔγραψα.
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 65 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/65). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/65
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 66
66PG 83
Εὶς τὴν τριπόθητον ὑμᾶς πανήγυριν ἧ τετοχυΐῖα καὶ θρεψαμένη καλεῖ. Ὁ γὰρ ἱερὸς σηχὸς καὶ τὸν ὄροφον ἔλαβε, καὶ τὸν προσήκοντα κόσμον προσἐλαόε καὶ τοὺς οἰκήτορας οἷς ἐδομήθη ποθεῖ. ᾿Απόστολοι δὲ οὗτοι, καὶ προφῆται, Παλαιᾷς καὶ Καιτοίνυν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τὴν ἑορτὴν, καὶ τὰς ἐκ ταύτης ἡμῖν ἐργάσασθε τὴν πανήγυριν. ἀν ἀπελαύνει
Eis tēn tripothēton hymas panēgyrin hē tetochyïia kai threpsamenē kalei. Ho gar hieros sēchos kai ton orophon elabe, kai ton prosēkonta kosmon proselaoe kai tous oikētoras hois edomēthē pothei. ᾿Apostoloi de houtoi, kai prophētai, Palaiąs kai Kaitoinyn tę̄ parousią tēn heortēn, kai tas ek tautēs hēmin ergasasthe tēn panēgyrin. an apelaunei
The mother who bore and nourished you calls you to the much-longed-for festival. For the sacred precinct has received its roof and taken on its fitting adornment, and it longs for the inhabitants for whom it was built. These are the apostles and prophets, of the Old and New … then, by your presence, the feast, and the … from it procure for us … the festival.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret invites the sophist Aerius to the festival dedicating a new church of the apostles and prophets in his home city.
- Migne Letter 66, To Aerius the sophist (the scan's heading reads 'Δερίῳ', a misreading of Ἀερίῳ). 'The mother who bore and nourished you' is the city of their birth.
- Lines are lost in the scan after 'of the Old and New' and in the last sentence; the gaps are marked '…' and not supplied. The scan's last words (ἀν ἀπελαύνει, '… drives away') do not fit the sentence and are not translated.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR θ for β): τὸν ὄροφον ἔλαθε → τὸν ὄροφον ἔλαβε.
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 66 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/66). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/66
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 67
67PG 83
Σὸν μὲν ἔργον, ὦ ἄριστε, τὸ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐγκαινίων πανήγυριν καλεῖν. Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς σῆς σπουδῆς τε καὶ προθυμίας καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἐδομήθη κήρυκες οἱ τοῦτον οἰχήσοντες, καὶ τοὺς πιστῶς προσἰόντας φρουρήσοντες. Γράφω δὲ ὅμως σημαίνων τῆς ἑορτῆς τὸν καιρόν.
Son men ergon, ō ariste, to kai tous allous eis tēn tōn enkainiōn panēgyrin kalein. Ek gar tēs sēs spoudēs te kai prothymias kai ho theios edomēthē kērykes hoi touton oichēsontes, kai tous pistōs prosiontas phrourēsontes. Graphō de homōs sēmainōn tēs heortēs ton kairon.
It is your task, excellent friend, to invite the others as well to the festival of the dedication. For by your zeal and eagerness the divine … was built … heralds who will dwell in it and guard those who approach in faith. Still, I write to tell you the time of the feast.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret writes to Maranas, whose zeal built the new church, about the time of its dedication festival.
- Migne Letter 67, To Maranas. A line is lost in the scan after 'the divine' (probably 'house' or 'shrine' and the bringing of the relics of the apostles and prophets, the 'heralds'); marked '…'.
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 67 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/67). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/67
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 68
68PG 83
Ἐδουλόμην μὴ μόνον ὡς πολίτας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ὁμοπίστους ὑμᾶς καὶ ὁμοσχήνους, εἰς τὴν τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν συγχαλέσαι πανήγυριν" ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸ τῆς προλήψεως πάθος. Οὗ δὴ χάριν τὰ τῆς ἐνεγκούσης μόνα προδάλλομαι δίκαια, καὶ παρακαλῶ τῆς ἀξιεράστου τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν μεταλαχεῖν εὐλογίας. Ταύτην γὰρ τὴν μετάληψιν οὐδεμία κωλύει διχόνοια.
Edoulomēn mē monon hōs politas, alla kai hōs homopistous hymas kai homoschēnous, eis tēn tōn hagiōn apostolōn kai prophētōn synchalesai panēgyrin" all᾽ ouk eą to tēs prolēpseōs pathos. Hou dē charin ta tēs enenkousēs mona prodallomai dikaia, kai parakalō tēs axierastou tōn hagiōn apostolōn kai prophētōn metalachein eulogias. Tautēn gar tēn metalēpsin oudemia kōlyei dichonoia.
I wished to call you together to the festival of the holy apostles and prophets not only as fellow citizens but also as sharing our faith and our tent; but the malady of your preconceived opinion does not allow it. For this reason I put forward only the claims of our native land, and I invite you to share in the blessing of the holy apostles and prophets, who are so worthy of love. For no dissension prevents this sharing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret invites Epiphanius, who is kept apart by a difference of belief, to share in the festival of the apostles and prophets as a fellow citizen.
- Migne Letter 68, To Epiphanius (the scan's heading reads 'Ἐπιρανίῳ'). Theodoret implies that the addressee does not share his faith; the letter does not say what he holds.
- OCR debris from Migne's Latin column is removed by logged corrections.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column inside παρα-καλῶ): παρα» οαν!. οἱ οτὸ υἱ καλῶ → παρακαλῶ; καὶ Β ΔΙ Δ} ]16 πὶ ΒΔηΟΙΟΓΌΠ; ἀροβίοϊογυμι οἱ προφητῶν → καὶ προφητῶν.
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 68 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/68). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/68
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 69
69PG 83
Εἰ μὴ με τὰ τῆς ἀνάγκης κατεῖχε δεσμὰ, εὐθὺς ἂν ἔδραμον, τὴν κοίμησιν γνοὺς τοῦ μεγαλοπρεποῦς καὶ ἀυμψδίμου ὁμοζύγον. τῆς σῆς θαυμασιότητος. Παμ»πόλλας γὰρ ὑμῖν ὀφείλω. χάριτας, διαφόρως ἐγὼ παντοδαπῆς τιμῆς παρ' ὑμῶν ἀπολαύσας. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἄκων ἐχωλύθην ἀποδοῦναι τὸ χρέος, ἄτοπον ᾧήθην Ὑράμματα πέμψαι παρ' αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ πένθους ἀκμὴν, οὔτε τοῦ γραμματοφόρου συντυχεῖν δυναμένου τῇ σεμνοπρεπείᾳ τῇ σῇ, οὔτε τῆς ὀδύνης συγχωρούσὴς τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐντυχεῖν. Τοῦ δὲ λογισμοῦ λοιραν οἰ ρα ὁπό πὶ. νο- Αἱ πὸν χώραν ἐσχηκότος ἀνανῆψαι, καὶ ἄγξαι τὸ πάθος, (, δεδηάϊΐ, καὶ κολάσαι τοῦ πάνθαυς τὴν ἀμετρίαν, ἐθάῤῥησα γράψαι, καὶ τὴν σὴν παρακαλέσαι θαυμααιότητα, καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἐπεσχεμμένην, καὶ τὸ χα: νὸν τοῦ πάθους λογιζομένην, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὰ θεῖα πεπαιδευμένην, μετρῆσαι τῇ πίστει τὴν ἀθυμίαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν ὁ πάντα ἄριστος ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνὴν, ἁλλὰ καθεύδει ὕπνον τοῦ συνήθους μακρότερον. Ταύτην γὰρ ἡμῖν ὁ ῥεσπότης ἔδωκε τὴν ἐλπίδα’ ταύτην ἐκ τῶν θείων Λογυίων δεδέγμεθα τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν. Οἷδα μὲν οὖν, ὡς ἀνιαρὸν ὁ χωρισμὸς, καὶ λίαν ἀνιαρὸν, καὶ διαφερόντως ὅταν καὶ ἠθῶν εὐαρμοστία, καὶ χρόνος μαχρότεβος τὴν φιλίαν (4θ) αὐξήσῃ" ἀλλ᾽ ἀποδημίας ἔστω, μὴ τελευτῆς, ἡ λύπη. Διαφερόντως δὲ τοῖς. ἐν εὐσεθείᾳ τεθραμμένοις ἡ τοιαύτη προσήκει φιλοσοφία" ἧ καὶ … τὴν ὑμετέραν σεμνοπρέπειαν χοαμηθῆνα; παρακαλῶ. Προσφέρω δὲ τὴν παραίνεσιν, οὐκ ὡς ἀναλγησίαν νοσῶν’ τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ἤλγησα τὴν ψυχὴν, τῆς φίλης ἐμοὺ κεφαλῆς τὴν ἐκδημίαν μεμαθηκώς. ᾿Αλλ᾽ εἰς νοῦν ἔβαλον τῶν ὅλων τὸν Πρύτανιν, καὶ τὴν ἄῤῥητον σοφίαν, τὴν ἅπαντα πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον οἰκονομοῦσαν Καὶ τὴν σὴν παρακαλῶ ὁσιότητα. ταῦτα λογίζεσθαι, καὶ τοῦ πάθους περιγενέσθαι, καὶ τὸν πάντων ἡμῶν Δεσπότην ὑμνῆσαι Θεόν’ ἀῤῥήτῳ γὰρ προμηθείᾳ κεχρημένος τὰ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς κυ… χαταστῇῆσαι τῷ πατρὶ δυναμένοις. Πάντως γὰρ ἐλπίδα τῷ πατρὶ τὴν παῖδα προσάγοντες. … Ο΄. --- Εὐσταθίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Αἰγῶν Τραγωδίας ἄξιον τὸ κατὰ τὴν εὐγενεστάτην Μαρίαν διήγημα. Αὕτη γὰρ ἔστι μὲν θυγάτηρ τοῦ μεγαλοπρεπεστάτου Ἐὐδαίμονος, ὡς καὶ αὐτῇ φησι, καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς μεμαρτυρήχασιν, Ἐν δὲ τῇ χαταλαδούσῃ συμφορᾷ τὴν Λιδύην, τῆς προγονιχῇς ἐλευθερίας ἐξἐπεσε, καὶ εἰς δουλείαν μετέπεσεν. Ἔμποροι δέ τινες, αὐτὴν παρὰ τῶν σάν τισι τὴν ἡμετέραν οἰκοῦσιν. Συνεπράθη δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ παιδίσκη, πάλαι τὴν οἰχετιχὴν τάξιν ἔχουσα πάρ᾽ αὐτῇ κοινῇ τοίνυν εἶλκον τὸν πικρὸν δουλείας ζυγὸν, ἥ τε θεράπαινα, καὶ ἡ δέσποινα. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐκ ἠθέλησεν ἀγνοῆσαι τὸ διάφορον ἡ θεράπαινα, οὐδὲ τῆς προτέρᾶς ἐπελάθετο δεσποτείας" ἀλλὰ τὴν εὔνοιαν τῇ συμ- - φορᾷ διεφύλαξε, καὶ μετὰ τὴν τῶν κοινῶν δεσποτῶν θεραπείαν. ἐθεράπευς τὴν νομιζομένην ὁμόδουλον, ἀπονίπτουσα πόδας, ἐπιμελομένη στρωμνῆς, καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ὡσαύτως ἐπιμελείας φροντίζουσα. Τοῦτο τοῖς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἦ τε ταύτης ἐλευθερία, καὶ τῆς θεραπαίνης ἡ εὑτροπία. Ταῦτα μεμαθηκότες οἱ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ἱδρυμένοι πιστότατοι στρατιῶται (ἐγὼ γὰρ τηνικαῦτα ᾿ ἀπῆν), καὶ τοῖς πριαμένοις ἀπέδοσαν τὴν τιμὴν, καὶ ταύτην τῆς δουλείας ἐξήρπασαν. Ἐγὼ δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον, διδαχθεὶς καὶ τὸ δρᾶμα τῆς συμφορᾶς, καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τὴν ἀξιέπαινον ὄρεξιν, τὰ ἀγαθὰ μὲν ἐπηυξάμην ἐκείνοις, τὴν εὐγενεστάτην δὲ κόρην τῶν εὐλαδεστάτων τινὶ διακόνων παρέδωκα, σιτηρέσιον ἀρκοῦν χορηγεῖσθαι παρεγγυήσας. Δέχα δὲ διεληλυθότων μηνῶν, μαθοῦσα τὸν πατέρα ζῆν ἔτι, καὶ ἄρχειν ἐν τῇ Δύσει, ἐπεθύμησεν εἰκότως πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἐπανελθεῖν᾽' καί τινων εἰρηκότων, ὡς ἀπὸ τῆς ρας ἔμποροι πλεῖστοι χαταίρουσιν εἰς τὴν νῦν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἐπιτελουμένην πανήγυριν, ἦτησε μετὰ γραμμάτων ἐμῶν τὴν ἀποδημίαν ποιήσασθαι. Τούτου χάριν ταύτην γέγραφα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν, παρακαλῶν σου τὴν θεοσέδειαν, ὡς εὐγενοῦς φροντίσαι βλαστήματος, καὶ ναι, καὶ πιστοῖς αὑτὴν ἀνδράσι παραδοῦναι, ἀποπάμπολλα χερδανοῦσι παρὰ πᾶσαν ἀνθρωπίνην
Ei mē me ta tēs anankēs kateiche desma, euthys an edramon, tēn koimēsin gnous tou megaloprepous kai aumpsdimou homozygon. tēs sēs thaumasiotētos. Pam»pollas gar hymin opheilō. charitas, diaphorōs egō pantodapēs timēs par' hymōn apolausas. Epeidē de akōn echōlythēn apodounai to chreos, atopon hǭēthēn Hyrammata pempsai par' autēn tēn tou penthous akmēn, oute tou grammatophorou syntychein dynamenou tę̄ semnoprepeią tę̄ sę̄, oute tēs odynēs synchōrousēs tois grammasin entychein. Tou de logismou loiran oi ra hopo pi. no- Hai pon chōran eschēkotos ananēpsai, kai anxai to pathos, (, dedēaïï, kai kolasai tou panthaus tēn ametrian, etharrhēsa grapsai, kai tēn sēn parakalesai thaumaaiotēta, kai tēn anthrōpeian physin epeschemmenēn, kai to cha: non tou pathous logizomenēn, kai pros toutois ta theia pepaideumenēn, metrēsai tę̄ pistei tēn athymian. Ou gar apethanen ho panta aristos ekeinos anēr, kata tēn tou Kyriou phōnēn, halla katheudei hypnon tou synēthous makroteron. Tautēn gar hēmin ho rhespotēs edōke tēn elpida’ tautēn ek tōn theiōn Loguiōn dedegmetha tēn hyposchesin. Hoida men oun, hōs aniaron ho chōrismos, kai lian aniaron, kai diapherontōs hotan kai ēthōn euarmostia, kai chronos machrotebos tēn philian (4th) auxēsę̄" all᾽ apodēmias estō, mē teleutēs, hē lypē. Diapherontōs de tois. en eusetheią tethrammenois hē toiautē prosēkei philosophia" hē kai … tēn hymeteran semnoprepeian choamēthēna? parakalō. Prospherō de tēn parainesin, ouk hōs analgēsian nosōn’ tǭ onti gar ēlgēsa tēn psychēn, tēs philēs emou kephalēs tēn ekdēmian memathēkōs. ᾿All᾽ eis noun ebalon tōn holōn ton Prytanin, kai tēn arrhēton sophian, tēn hapanta pros to sympheron oikonomousan Kai tēn sēn parakalō hosiotēta. tauta logizesthai, kai tou pathous perigenesthai, kai ton pantōn hēmōn Despotēn hymnēsai Theon’ arrhētǭ gar promētheią kechrēmenos ta kath᾽ hēmas ky… chatastę̄ēsai tǭ patri dynamenois. Pantōs gar elpida tǭ patri tēn paida prosagontes. … O΄. --- Eustathiǭ episkopǭ Aigōn Tragōdias axion to kata tēn eugenestatēn Marian diēgēma. Hautē gar esti men thygatēr tou megaloprepestatou Eudaimonos, hōs kai autę̄ phēsi, kai alloi tines memartyrēchasin, En de tę̄ chataladousę̄ symphorą tēn Lidyēn, tēs progonichę̄s eleutherias exepese, kai eis douleian metepesen. Emporoi de tines, autēn para tōn san tisi tēn hēmeteran oikousin. Syneprathē de autę̄ kai paidiskē, palai tēn oichetichēn taxin echousa par᾽ autę̄ koinę̄ toinyn eilkon ton pikron douleias zygon, hē te therapaina, kai hē despoina. ᾿All᾽ ouk ēthelēsen agnoēsai to diaphoron hē therapaina, oude tēs proteras epelatheto despoteias" alla tēn eunoian tę̄ sym- - phorą diephylaxe, kai meta tēn tōn koinōn despotōn therapeian. etherapeus tēn nomizomenēn homodoulon, aponiptousa podas, epimelomenē strōmnēs, kai tēs allēs hōsautōs epimeleias phrontizousa. Touto tois kata tēn polin ē te tautēs eleutheria, kai tēs therapainēs hē heutropia. Tauta memathēkotes hoi par᾽ hēmin hidrymenoi pistotatoi stratiōtai (egō gar tēnikauta ᾿ apēn), kai tois priamenois apedosan tēn timēn, kai tautēn tēs douleias exērpasan. Egō de meta tēn epanodon, didachtheis kai to drama tēs symphoras, kai tōn stratiōtōn tēn axiepainon orexin, ta agatha men epēuxamēn ekeinois, tēn eugenestatēn de korēn tōn euladestatōn tini diakonōn paredōka, sitēresion arkoun chorēgeisthai parengyēsas. Decha de dielēlythotōn mēnōn, mathousa ton patera zēn eti, kai archein en tę̄ Dysei, epethymēsen eikotōs pros ekeinon epanelthein᾽' kai tinōn eirēkotōn, hōs apo tēs ras emporoi pleistoi chatairousin eis tēn nyn par᾽ hymin epiteloumenēn panēgyrin, ētēse meta grammatōn emōn tēn apodēmian poiēsasthai. Toutou charin tautēn gegrapha tēn epistolēn, parakalōn sou tēn theosedeian, hōs eugenous phrontisai blastēmatos, kai nai, kai pistois hautēn andrasi paradounai, apopampolla cherdanousi para pasan anthrōpinēn
Were I not held by the bonds of necessity, I would have run to you at once on learning that the magnificent and … husband of your Admirableness had fallen asleep. For I owe you very many thanks, having enjoyed every kind of honor from you in many ways. But since I was prevented against my will from paying the debt, I thought it unfitting to send a letter at the very height of mourning, since the letter-carrier could not have met your Dignity, nor would your pain have allowed you to read letters. But now that reason has had room to recover, to ease the passion and to check the excess of mourning, I have taken courage to write and to urge your Admirableness, who has observed human nature, reckoned how common this suffering is, and above all been instructed in divine things, to measure your despondency by faith. For that most excellent man has not died, according to the Lord's word, but sleeps a sleep longer than usual. This is the hope the Master has given us; this is the promise we have received from the divine oracles. I know that separation is painful, very painful, especially when harmony of character and long years have increased the affection; but let the grief be that of a journey abroad, not of death. Such philosophy befits above all those brought up in piety; … I urge your Dignity … to be adorned. I offer this exhortation not as one without pain; I truly grieved in my soul when I learned of the departure of one so dear to me. But I brought to mind the Governor of the universe and his ineffable wisdom, which arranges all things for our good. And I urge your Holiness too to reckon these things, to get the better of the passion, and to praise God, the Master of us all; for with ineffable providence he steers our affairs …
[Letter 70] To Eustathius, bishop of Aegae. The story of the most noble Maria is worthy of a tragedy. She is the daughter of the most magnificent Eudaemon, as she herself says and as some others have testified. In the calamity that overtook Libya she fell from her ancestral freedom into slavery. Some merchants … her from the … to some who live in our region. A servant girl was sold together with her, who had long held the rank of household servant in her house. So the maid and the mistress bore the bitter yoke of slavery together. But the maid would not ignore the difference, nor did she forget her former mistress; she kept her goodwill through the calamity, and after serving their common masters she served the one who was reckoned her fellow slave, washing her feet, caring for her bed, and attending to every other care in the same way. This made known to the people of the city both the girl's free birth and the maid's good character. When they learned this, the most faithful soldiers stationed among us (for I was away at the time) paid the price to those who had bought her and snatched her out of slavery. On my return I was told both the drama of her calamity and the soldiers' praiseworthy eagerness; I prayed for blessings on them, and I entrusted the most noble girl to one of our most reverent deacons, giving orders that she be supplied with sufficient provision. When ten months had passed, she learned that her father was still living and held office in the West, and she naturally desired to return to him. Since some said that very many merchants from the … come down to the festival now being celebrated among you, she asked to make the journey with letters from me. That is why I have written this letter, asking your Godliness to take care of a noble offspring, and … and to entrust her to faithful men, who will gain very much … from every human … able to establish … for the father. For surely those who bring the child to the father beyond hope …
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Matt 9:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 11:11 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret consoles the widow Eugraphia with the Christian hope of resurrection; in a second letter he asks Eustathius of Aegae to help Maria, a noblewoman ransomed from slavery, return to her father in the West.
- This passage holds two letters: Migne Letter 69, To Eugraphia, and Letter 70, To Eustathius, bishop of Aegae (the scan prints its heading 'Ο΄', i.e. 70, inside the text; marked '[Letter 70]').
- 'Has not died … but sleeps' echoes the Lord's words in Matt 9:24 and John 11:11.
- The end of Letter 69 is garbled in the scan: after 'Such philosophy befits …' and after 'he steers our affairs' lines of Migne's Latin column replace the Greek; the gaps are marked '…'. The adjective before 'husband' is unreadable. Two fragments printed in the scan just before the heading of Letter 70 ('… able to establish … for the father'; 'for surely … bringing the child to the father … hope') belong to the end of Letter 70, which breaks off in the scan; they are translated there.
- Letter 70: lines are lost in the scan after 'Some merchants' (presumably from whom they bought her and to whom they sold her), after 'from the' (probably the West), and in the closing request; marked '…'. The calamity in Libya is probably the Vandal conquest of Africa (439); the letter does not say. Compared afterwards with NPNF² 3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's footnote marker; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column before the heading of Letter 70; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column inside νο-σῶν; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column inside οἰκονο-μοῦσαν; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; the Greek here is lost; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; the Greek words here are lost; marginal column letter; remainder of the rejoined word οἰκονομοῦσαν): ἃς ρίδηδ ρου] ϑίϑη : τεθραμμένοις → τεθραμμένοις; Ὦ 4υᾶ οἱ ργαν]ἀίο πὴ ἰυδῃι, αἱ οΥπδνὶ βία ἀοδϊ, οτο. Νδο → … ; παρακαλῶ. γέτο ἹΙροσφέρω → παρακαλῶ. Προσφέρω; ἀναλγησίαν νο- ταπι. Απίπηο πίῃ σῶν’ → ἀναλγησίαν νοσῶν’ ; εἰς νοῦν δηΐπιαμα ἔόαλον → εἰς νοῦν ἔβαλον; τὴν. ἄῤῥητον αὐ αυξ δὰ τοῦ σοφίαν → τὴν ἄῤῥητον σοφίαν; οἶκονο- Πιογίοῦ Θχοο]]οπεΐδπι, αἱ μος → οἰκονομοῦσαν; μουσαν. Καὶ → Καὶ; ταῦτα ἂὴ 46 νἱποοῖ, οἱ λογίζεσθαι → ταῦτα λογίζεσθαι; καὶ τὸν ἰδιάοί. [Π6 Δ }}}} χυΐρρα ργουϊἀθηιλ γα ποϑίγαϑ πάντων → καὶ τὸν πάντων; ἀῤῥήτῳ Βοτηβι. γὰρ → ἀῤῥήτῳ γὰρ; χυ- Επδϑὶ ἱρθη ἰπ ἴῃ Πρ] οβ 551 νυ → κυ… ; τυὰϑΐηα οἱ οἸοπηδηϊία ἰοπηρετγαίδηι, οἱ αι οὐρὰ ἡ" [δτῇ ἢ [ον ἀπο ργυάσηϊία, οἱ αὐτὰ 8 ἰδ ρα γλη 4 δἱ- Α Ο΄. --- → … Ο΄. --- ; (ἐἢ). Τραγωδίας → Τραγωδίας; Β θεραπείαν. → θεραπείαν..
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 69 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/69). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/69
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 71
71PG 83
Τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀνδρείαν θαυμάζουσιν ἅπαντες, ὡς ἡμερότητι καὶ πραότητι κεκραμένην, καὶ τοῖς μὲν οἰκείοις ἠπίως, τοῖς δὲ πολεμίοις ἀνδρείως προσφεηγόν. Στρατιώτην μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἀνδρία κοσμεῖ, τὸν δὲ στρατηγὸν πρὸ τῆς ἀνδρίας ἡ φρόνησις " καὶ «μετὰ τούτων σωφροσύνη καὶ δικαιοσύνη, δι᾽ ὧν ὁ τῆς ἀρετῆς συναθροίζξεται πλοῦτος. Συλλέγει δὲ τοῦτον ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὁρεγομένη Ψυχὴ " καὶ ἥδιστον ἡγεῖται τὸν πόνον, εἰς τὸ γλυκὺ τῶν καρπῶν ἀποθλέπουπα. Τοῖς γὰρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθληταῖς ἄθλα προτέθειχεν οἷά τις ἀγωνυθέτης φιλότιμος ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς, τὰ μὲν ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ, τὰ δὲ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ πέρας οὐκ ἔχοντι. Τῶν τῇδε μὲν οὖν τὸ ὑμέτερον ἀπήλαυσε μέγεθὸς, καὶ τὸ ἀκρότατον ἐδέξατο γέρας " εἴη δὲ καὶ τῶν φυῖΐαν τυχεῖν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ μετὰ τῆς ὑπατιχῆς Κοινὴ γὰρ πάντων εὐχὴ τῶν ἐκείνης τῆς δωρεᾶς ἐπι-
Tēn hymeteran andreian thaumazousin hapantes, hōs hēmerotēti kai praotēti kekramenēn, kai tois men oikeiois ēpiōs, tois de polemiois andreiōs prospheēgon. Stratiōtēn men gar hē andria kosmei, ton de stratēgon pro tēs andrias hē phronēsis " kai «meta toutōn sōphrosynē kai dikaiosynē, di᾽ hōn ho tēs aretēs synathroizxetai ploutos. Syllegei de touton hē tōn agathōn horegomenē Psychē " kai hēdiston hēgeitai ton ponon, eis to glyky tōn karpōn apothlepoupa. Tois gar tēs aretēs athlētais athla protetheichen hoia tis agōnythetēs philotimos ho tōn holōn Theos, ta men en tǭde tǭ biǭ, ta de en ekeinǭ tǭ peras ouk echonti. Tōn tę̄de men oun to hymeteron apēlause megethos, kai to akrotaton edexato geras " eiē de kai tōn phuiïan tychein agathōn, kai meta tēs hypatichēs Koinē gar pantōn euchē tōn ekeinēs tēs dōreas epi-
Everyone admires your courage, because it is blended with gentleness and mildness, and meets your own people kindly and the enemy bravely. Courage adorns a soldier, but a general is adorned, before courage, by prudence, and with these by temperance and justice, through which the wealth of virtue is gathered. The soul that longs for good things collects this wealth and counts the toil most pleasant, looking to the sweetness of the fruits. For the God of the universe, like a generous president of the games, has set prizes before the athletes of virtue, some in this life and some in the life that has no end. Your Greatness has enjoyed the prizes of this world and received the highest honor; may you also obtain the … goods, and together with the consular … For it is the common prayer of all … of that gift …
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret praises the general and consul Zeno for courage tempered by gentleness and prays that, having won earthly honors, he may also gain the eternal ones.
- Migne Letter 71, To Zeno, general and consul. The flag that Letter 70 is lost inside this passage does not hold: Letter 70 stands in the previous passage. A line is damaged after 'obtain the' (probably 'future'), and the letter breaks off unfinished in the scan; gaps marked '…'.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (marginal column letter; marginal letter): μὲν Ὁ οἰκείοις → μὲν οἰκείοις; μέγεθὸς, Α καὶ → μέγεθὸς, καὶ.
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 71 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/71). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/71
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 72
72PG 83
Ἡνίχα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁ τῆς ἀγνοίας χατεχέχυτο ζότος, οὐ τὰς αὐτὰς ἅπαντες ἑορτὰς ἐπετέλουν, ἀλλὰ διῃρημένας εἶχον κατὰ πόλεις τὰς πανηγύρεις. Ἐν Ἤλιδι μὲν γὰρ Ὀλύμπια ἦν, ἐν Δελφοῖς δὲ τὰ Πύθια, ἐν δέ γε τῇ Σπάρτῃ τὰ Ὑαχίνθια, ᾿Αθήνῃσ! δὲ τὰ Παναθήναια, καὶ τὰ θεσμοφόρια, καὶ τὰ Διονύσια. Ἐπίσημα δὲ ἦν" λουν δημοθοινίαν δαιμόνων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὸ νοερὸν φῶς τὴν ἀχλὺν ἐχείνην ἐσχέδασε, πανταχοῦ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἠπειρῶται καὶ νησιῶται κοινῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιτελοῦσι τὰς ἑορτάς " καὶ ἔνθα ἄν τις ἀποδημῆσαι θελήσῃ, κἂν πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα, κἂν πρὸς δνόμενον, πανταχοῦ τὴν αὐτὴν εὑρήσει κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ἐπιτελουμένην πανήγυριν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Μωύσέως νόρον, τὸν τῇ Ιουδαίων ἀσθενείᾳ συμδαίνοντα, εἰς μίαν ἀνάγκη συνιέναι πόλιν, καὶ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ἑορτάζειν τὴν μνήμην " ἀλλὰ πᾶσα πόλις, καὶ πᾶσα κώμη, καὶ ἀγροὶ, καὶ ἐσχατιαὶ, τῆς θείας ἐνεπλήσθησαν χάριτος" καὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ σηχοὶ θεῖοι καὶ τεμένη χαθιέρωνται τῷ τῶν ὅλων Θεῷ. Διά τοι τοῦτο καὶ κατὰ πόλεις διῃρηααΐ. … καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλων ἐπετέ- … μένοι πανηγυρίζομεν, καὶ αὖ πάλιν κοινωνοῦμεν ἀλλήλοις τῶν ἑορτῶν, Τὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν Θεόν τε καὶ Δεσπότην τοῖς ὕμνοις γεραίρομεν, καὶ τὰς μυστικὰς αὑτῷ θυσίας προσφέρομεν. Τούτον δὴ χάριν καὶ διὰ μῆθα, τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἑορτῆς ἐγγινομένην θυμηδίαν σημαίνοντες. Τοῦτο χἀγὼ νῦν ποιῶ, καὶ τὴν ἑορταστικἣν πρόσρησιν τῇ σῇ μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ προσφέρω. ᾿Αντιδώσει δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ πάντως τὴν ἴσην, καὶ τιμήσει ςὃν νόμον τῆς ἑορτῆς. Θεμιστοχλέα τὸν Νεοχλέους, τὸν ἄριστον ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἀξιάγαστον στρατηγὸν, θαυμάζων ὁ συγγραφεὺς, φυσικὴν αὐτῷ μόνην προσμεμαρτύρηχεν ἀρετὴν" Περικλέα δὲ, τὸν Ξανθίππου, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς παιδείας ἔφη προσειληφέναι δεινότητα, καὶ τὴν πειθὼ τοῖς λόγοις ἐπιστάζειν, καὶ ταύτῃ χαταχηλεῖν τοὺς ἀκούοντας, καὶ ἱκανὸν γενέσθαι γνῶναί τε τὰ δέοντα, καὶ ἑρμηνεῦσαι ταῦτα. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀπεικὸς περὶ αὐτοῦ γράφοντα τοῖς αὐτοῦ λόγοις κεχρῇσθαι. Ταῦτα καὶ τὴν σὴν λαμπρύνει μεγαλοπρέπειαν. Καὶ γὰρ δεξιάν σοι φύσιν ἔδωκεν ὁ δημιουργήσας Θεὸς, καὶ. τἧς παιδείας ἣ μετουσία τὸ ταύτης δείκνυσι κάλλος. Οὐδὲν τοίνυν ἐλλείπει τῷ πλούτῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἢ μόνη τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡ γνῶσις" ταύτης γὰρ προσγενομένης, τελευτάτην ἕξομεν τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν φοράν. … Ταῦτα γνοὺς ὑμῶν τὴν ἄφιξιν ἐπιστέλλω, τὸν τῶν … ἀγαθῶν ἀντιδολῶν χορηγὸν, καὶ φωτὸς ἀκτῖνα χαρίσασθαι τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀπτιχῷ, καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸ μέγεθος, καὶ τῆς κτήσεως ἐκείνης ἐξάψαι κὸν ἔρωτα, καὶ ποθήσαντι δωρήσασθαι τὸ ποθούμενον.
Hēnicha tōn anthrōpōn ho tēs agnoias chatechechyto zotos, ou tas autas hapantes heortas epeteloun, alla dię̄rēmenas eichon kata poleis tas panēgyreis. En Ēlidi men gar Olympia ēn, en Delphois de ta Pythia, en de ge tę̄ Spartę̄ ta Hyachinthia, ᾿Athēnę̄s! de ta Panathēnaia, kai ta thesmophoria, kai ta Dionysia. Episēma de ēn" loun dēmothoinian daimonōn. Epeidē de to noeron phōs tēn achlyn echeinēn eschedase, pantachou gēs kai thalattēs ēpeirōtai kai nēsiōtai koinę̄ tou Theou kai Sōtēros hēmōn epitelousi tas heortas " kai entha an tis apodēmēsai thelēsę̄, kan pros hēlion anischonta, kan pros dnomenon, pantachou tēn autēn heurēsei kata ton auton chronon epiteloumenēn panēgyrin. Oude gar kata ton Mōyseōs noron, ton tę̄ Ioudaiōn astheneią symdainonta, eis mian anankē synienai polin, kai tōn euergesiōn heortazein tēn mnēmēn " alla pasa polis, kai pasa kōmē, kai agroi, kai eschatiai, tēs theias eneplēsthēsan charitos" kai en panti topǭ sēchoi theioi kai temenē chathierōntai tǭ tōn holōn Theǭ. Dia toi touto kai kata poleis dię̄rēaaï. … kai alloi de allōn epete- … menoi panēgyrizomen, kai au palin koinōnoumen allēlois tōn heortōn, Ton gar auton Theon te kai Despotēn tois hymnois gerairomen, kai tas mystikas hautǭ thysias prospheromen. Touton dē charin kai dia mētha, tēn ek tēs heortēs enginomenēn thymēdian sēmainontes. Touto chagō nyn poiō, kai tēn heortastikēn prosrēsin tę̄ sę̄ megaloprepeią prospherō. ᾿Antidōsei de kai autē pantōs tēn isēn, kai timēsei son nomon tēs heortēs. Themistochlea ton Neochleous, ton ariston ekeinon kai axiagaston stratēgon, thaumazōn ho syngrapheus, physikēn autǭ monēn prosmemartyrēchen aretēn" Periklea de, ton Xanthippou, kai tēn apo tēs paideias ephē proseilēphenai deinotēta, kai tēn peithō tois logois epistazein, kai tautę̄ chatachēlein tous akouontas, kai hikanon genesthai gnōnai te ta deonta, kai hermēneusai tauta. Ouden gar apeikos peri autou graphonta tois autou logois kechrę̄sthai. Tauta kai tēn sēn lamprynei megaloprepeian. Kai gar dexian soi physin edōken ho dēmiourgēsas Theos, kai. tēs paideias hē metousia to tautēs deiknysi kallos. Ouden toinyn elleipei tǭ ploutǭ tēs aretēs, ē monē tou pepoiēkotos hē gnōsis" tautēs gar prosgenomenēs, teleutatēn hexomen tōn agathōn tēn phoran. … Tauta gnous hymōn tēn aphixin epistellō, ton tōn … agathōn antidolōn chorēgon, kai phōtos aktina charisasthai tǭ tēs psychēs optichǭ, kai tēs dōreas epideixai to megethos, kai tēs ktēseōs ekeinēs exapsai kon erōta, kai pothēsanti dōrēsasthai to pothoumenon.
When the darkness of ignorance was poured over humankind, not everyone celebrated the same feasts; they had their festivals divided city by city. At Elis there were the Olympia, at Delphi the Pythia, at Sparta the Hyacinthia, at Athens the Panathenaea, the Thesmophoria and the Dionysia. These were notable … a public banquet of demons. But since the spiritual light has scattered that mist, everywhere on land and sea mainlanders and islanders together celebrate the feasts of our God and Savior; and wherever one wishes to travel, toward the rising sun or the setting, one will find the same festival celebrated everywhere at the same time. For it is not necessary, as under the law of Moses, which accommodated itself to the weakness of the Jews, to gather in one city to celebrate the memory of the benefits; every city and every village, the fields and the remotest places, have been filled with divine grace, and in every place divine shrines and sacred precincts have been consecrated to the God of the universe. For this reason we keep the festival divided city by city, … each in our own place, and yet again we share the feasts with one another. For we honor the same God and Master with hymns and offer him the mystical sacrifices. That is why we also … one another by letter, conveying the gladness that the feast brings. This I too now do, and I offer my festal greeting to your Magnificence. You too will surely return the same and honor the custom of the feast.
[Letter 73] To Apollonius. The historian, admiring Themistocles son of Neocles, that excellent and admirable general, bore witness that he had natural ability only; but of Pericles son of Xanthippus he said that he had also gained the power that comes from education, that he distilled persuasion into his words and with it charmed his hearers, and that he was able both to know what was needed and to explain it. There is nothing unfitting in using the historian's own words when writing about him. These qualities also make your Magnificence illustrious. For God who made you gave you a gifted nature, and your share in education shows its beauty. Nothing, then, is lacking to your wealth of virtue except only the knowledge of the One who made it; when this is added, we shall have the fullest harvest of good things. … Having learned this, I write to you of your arrival, … entreating the giver of good things to grant a ray of light to the eye of your soul, to show the greatness of the gift, to kindle love for that possession, and to give to the one who longs for it what he longs for.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: A festal greeting to Hermesigenes contrasting the scattered pagan festivals with the one feast kept by Christians everywhere; then a letter to Apollonius praising his gifts and praying that he may come to know his Creator.
- This passage holds two letters: Migne Letter 72, To Hermesigenes the assessor, and Letter 73, To Apollonius, whose heading the scan lost (marked '[Letter 73]' where it begins, at 'The historian').
- Theodoret's remark that the law of Moses 'accommodated itself to the weakness of the Jews' (the single place of pilgrimage) is his own view, translated as written.
- Letter 73: 'the historian' is Thucydides, who praises Themistocles' natural ability (1.138) and says Pericles could 'know what was needed and explain it' (2.60). Theodoret implies that Apollonius is not yet a Christian.
- Lines of Migne's Latin column read as Greek by the OCR are removed by logged corrections. Gaps where the Greek is lost (after 'These were notable', after 'divided city by city', before 'one another by letter', and in the last sentence) are marked '…' and translated only as far as the words survive.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; the Greek here is lost; OCR slip; marginal letter removed; word rejoined; marginal letters removed; word rejoined): {1185 θυο οἱ → … ; αὶ ΤεδΠΟρΒοτία, οἱ οι! οἱ Υἱοὶ, οἱ ἀρτί, οἱ οἱ → … ; ἀλ- Ο λήλοις → ἀλλήλοις; παι- Ὦ 68ι; δείας → παιδείας; «οὔ πεποιηκότος → τοῦ πεποιηκότος; Ροῦ 6 δ᾽ ση αὶ αἱ σοηγνοη θη ἰἃ υἱ{]. ηἰνου δα ὡδὶ Α → … ; τὸν τῶν. εἰ ηὶ οἱ ναίογα ἃς ἤοτγογα ορίδηῃβ, οἱ ἰῃς Πα "116 ἃ 60 ἀοδίον, Ῥδῖογ [υἱ(. Βεϊπάς αυοά τε]! Εἰ οἰ δι πη ἐρ βοορανα, αυἱ ἰδία, εἰν δίυ → τὸν τῶν … .
Extrabiblical texts: Thucydides, 1.138 (Thucydides, History; allusion); Thucydides, 2.60 (Thucydides, History; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 72 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/72). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/72
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 74
74PG 83
Δέδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ μεγαλόδωρος Δεσπότης καὶ ταύτης πάλιν ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς ἑορτῆς, καὶ τὴν ἑορταστιχὴν πρόσρησιν πέμψαι τῇ μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ τῇ σῇ " ἦν ὑγιαίνειν τε καὶ διαλάμπειν εὐχόμεθα, καὶ τῆς ἀῤῥήτου καὶ θεοσδότου μεταλαχεῖν δωρεᾶς, ἣ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων ἀγαθῶν τοῖς. προσιοῦσι τὰ σπέρματα χορηγεῖ, καὶ τῆς τέλος οὗ δεξομένης ζωῆς τε καὶ βασιλείας τὰ σύμδολα δίδωσιν. Ταῦτα τὸν φιλάνθρωπὸν Δεσπότην ἀντιδολοῦμεν τῷ σῷ μεγέθει δωρή σασθαι" πεφύκασι γὰρ οἱ φιλοῦντες, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοῖς φίλοις αἰτεῖν. Ἕγνων ὡς εἰκότως περὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν διάκειμαι θεοσέδειαν. Πέπεικε γάρ μὲ τῆς εὐλαδείας ὑμῶν τὰ γράμματα, ὡς ἁγαπῶν ἀνταγαπῶμαι. Πολλὰς δὲ ἔχω τῆς περὶ ὑμῶν ἀγάπης τὰς ἀφορμάς. Πρῶτον μὲν, τὸ τὸν ὑμέτερον πατέρα, τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἀποστολικὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ ἐμὸν γεγενῆσθαι πατέρα. Δεύτερον δὲ, τὸ καὶ τὸν θεοσεδέστατον ἐπίσκοπον, τὸν νῦν τὴν ὑμετέραν Ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύνοντα, ὁμόψυχον ἔχειν καὶ γνήσιον ἀδελφόν, Τρίτον, τῶν πόλεων τὸ. Τέταρτον, τὸ θαμὰ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἡμᾶς φοιτᾷν. Ἱκανὸν δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τεκεῖν φιλίαν, καὶ τεχθεῖσαν αὐξῆσαι. Εἰ δὲ βούλεσθε, καὶ πέμπτην ἐρῶ " ἣν παρέχει συνάφειαν γλῶττα πρὸς ἀκοὴν (ἡ μὲν γὰρ προφέρει τοὺς λόγους, ἢ δὲ δέχεται τούτους), ταύτην καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔχομεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Καὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἥδιστα τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐπαχούετε λόγων, χἀγὼ τὴν αχω. Ὁ δὲ χολοφῶν τῆς ἑνώσεως, ἧ συμφωνία τῆς πίστεως" τὸ μηδὲν τῶν νόθων εἰσδέξασθαι δογμάτων, ἀλλὰ τὴν παλαιὰν ἐχείνην καὶ ἀποστολικὴν φυλάττειν διδασκαλίαν, ἣν ἡ σεδασμία ὑμῖν προσενήνοχε πολιὰ, ἣν ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτες ἐξέθρεψαν. Παρακαλῶ τοίνυν τὴν ὑμετέραν θεοσέδειαν νῦν πλείονα τῆς ποίμνης ποιήσασθαι προμήθειαν, καὶ φυλάξαι τῷ ποιμένι ταύτην ἀλώδητον, καὶ μετὰ παῤῥησίας εἰπεῖν τὸν ἀξιέπαινον τοῦ πατριάρχου λόγον' « Θηριάλωτον οὐκ ἐνήνοχά σοι. »
Dedōken hēmin ho megalodōros Despotēs kai tautēs palin apolausai tēs heortēs, kai tēn heortastichēn prosrēsin pempsai tę̄ megaloprepeią tę̄ sę̄ " ēn hygiainein te kai dialampein euchometha, kai tēs arrhētou kai theosdotou metalachein dōreas, hē tōn elpizomenōn agathōn tois. prosiousi ta spermata chorēgei, kai tēs telos hou dexomenēs zōēs te kai basileias ta symdola didōsin. Tauta ton philanthrōpon Despotēn antidoloumen tǭ sǭ megethei dōrē sasthai" pephykasi gar hoi philountes, ta agatha tois philois aitein. Hegnōn hōs eikotōs peri tēn hymeteran diakeimai theosedeian. Pepeike gar me tēs euladeias hymōn ta grammata, hōs hagapōn antagapōmai. Pollas de echō tēs peri hymōn agapēs tas aphormas. Prōton men, to ton hymeteron patera, ton megan ekeinon kai apostolikon andra, kai emon gegenēsthai patera. Deuteron de, to kai ton theosedestaton episkopon, ton nyn tēn hymeteran Ekklēsian ithynonta, homopsychon echein kai gnēsion adelphon, Triton, tōn poleōn to. Tetarton, to thama pros allēlous hēmas phoitąn. Hikanon de touto kai tekein philian, kai techtheisan auxēsai. Ei de boulesthe, kai pemptēn erō " hēn parechei synapheian glōtta pros akoēn (hē men gar propherei tous logous, ē de dechetai toutous), tautēn kai hēmeis echomen pros hymas. Kai gar hymeis hēdista tōn hēmeterōn epachouete logōn, chagō tēn achō. Ho de cholophōn tēs henōseōs, hē symphōnia tēs pisteōs" to mēden tōn nothōn eisdexasthai dogmatōn, alla tēn palaian echeinēn kai apostolikēn phylattein didaskalian, hēn hē sedasmia hymin prosenēnoche polia, hēn aretēs hidrōtes exethrepsan. Parakalō toinyn tēn hymeteran theosedeian nyn pleiona tēs poimnēs poiēsasthai promētheian, kai phylaxai tǭ poimeni tautēn alōdēton, kai meta parrhēsias eipein ton axiepainon tou patriarchou logon' « Thērialōton ouk enēnocha soi. »
The bountiful Master has granted us to enjoy this feast once more and to send the festal greeting to your Magnificence. We pray that you may be in health and prosper, and that you may share in the ineffable, God-given gift, which supplies to those who come to it the seeds of the good things hoped for and gives the tokens of the life and kingdom that will have no end. These we beg the loving Master to grant your Greatness; for those who love are by nature disposed to ask good things for their friends.
[Letter 75] To the clergy of Beroea. I knew that I am rightly disposed toward your Godliness, for the letters of your Reverence have persuaded me that, loving, I am loved in return. I have many grounds for my love toward you. First, that your father, that great and apostolic man, became my father as well. Second, that I have the most God-fearing bishop who now steers your church as a like-minded and true brother. Third, the … of our cities. Fourth, that we often visit one another. This is enough both to beget friendship and to increase it once begotten. And if you wish, I will name a fifth: the bond that the tongue has with the ear (the one utters words and the other receives them), this bond we too have with you. For you listen most gladly to our words, and I … The crown of our union is agreement in faith: to admit none of the spurious doctrines, but to guard that ancient and apostolic teaching which your venerable old age has passed on to you and the sweat of virtue has nurtured. I urge your Godliness, then, now to take greater forethought for the flock, to keep it uncaptured for the shepherd, and to say with confidence the praiseworthy word of the patriarch: 'What was torn by beasts I did not bring to you.'
Gen 31:39 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A festal greeting to Urbanus; then a letter to the clergy of Beroea recalling the ties between them and urging them to guard the apostolic faith and their flock.
- The scan's heading is that of Urbanus, Migne Letter 74 (the staged sequence number 73 is not Migne's). This passage holds two letters: Letter 74, To Urbanus, and Letter 75, To the clergy of Beroea, whose heading the scan lost (marked '[Letter 75]' at 'I knew').
- Letter 75: 'your father, that great and apostolic man' is probably Acacius of Beroea (d. ca. 437), and the bishop who 'now steers your church' probably Theoctistus; the letter names neither. 'Your venerable old age has passed on to you' is literally 'which the venerable grey hair has brought to you'.
- The word after 'Third, the' is lost (probably the nearness of the two cities), and the end of the sentence after 'and I' is garbled; marked '…'.
- 'What was torn by beasts I did not bring to you' is Jacob's word to Laban (Gen 31:39).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris from Migne's Latin column): ἡμᾶς ᾿ εἰ εἰᾳφαδπι [Δ πὶ οἱ γοσ πὶ φοιτᾷν → ἡμᾶς φοιτᾷν; « Θηριάλωτον οὐκ ἐνήνοχά σοι. » ᾽ν) (6 πὶ ἴᾶ- → « Θηριάλωτον οὐκ ἐνήνοχά σοι. ».
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 74 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/74). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/74
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 76
76PG 83
Τὴν εἰλικρινῆ φιλίαν κρατύνει μὲν συνουσία, τοπικὴ δὲ οὐ διατέμνει διάστασις " ἰσχυρὰ γὰρ τὰ ταύ» “ἧς δεσμά. αὶ τοῦτο γνοίη μὲν ἄν τις καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρων πολλῶν᾽ ἀπόχρη δὲ καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐπιδεῖξαι τοῦ λόγου τ᾽ ἀληθές. Πολλὰ γὰρ ἡμᾶς διίστησι καὶ ὄρη, καὶ πόλεις, καὶ θάλαττα " ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν ἔσόεσεν τῆς σῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας τὴν μνήμην. Εὐθὺς γὰρ ἦν τινα ἴδωμεν ἐξ ἐχείνων ἀφιγμένον τῶν πόλεων, αἵ τῆς θαλάττης εἰσὶν ἀγχιτέρμονες, τὴν Κύπρον καὶ τὸν ταύτης ἄριστον χυδερνήτην εἰς μέσον ὁ λόγος. πρὸφέρει, καὶ γαννύμεθα τὸ σὸν ἀκούοντες κλέος. Νῦν δὲ διαφερόντως πολλῆς ἐνεπλήσθημεν θυμηδίας " τὸ γὰρ πάντων ἡμῖν ἐρασμιώτερον μεμαθήκαμεν. Τί γὰρ ἡμῖν, ὦ ἄριστε, θυμηρέστερον τοῦ τὴν ἀξιέπαινόν σου ψυχὴν τῷ τῆς γνώσεως φωτὶ πεφωτισμένην ἰδεῖν; Τὸν γὰρ πολλοῖς χοσμούμενον εἴδεσιν ἀρετῆς, δίκαιον ἡγούμεθα καὶ τὸν ταύτης προσλαδεῖν φῶνα᾽ καὶ πιστεύομεν ὡς ὀψόμεθα τὸ ποθούμενον. ᾿Αρπάσει γὰρ δῆλον ὅτι προθύμως ἡ σὴ λαμπρότης τὴν θεόσδοτον δωρεὰν, παρὰ γνησίων φίλων καὶ σαφῶς ταύτης ἐπισταμένων τὸ μέγεθος προτρεπομένη, καὶ πρὸς τὸν μεγαλόδωρον ποδηγουμένη Θεὸν, ε ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, » καὶ δι᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἀνθρώπους σαγηνεύει πρὸς σωτηρίαν, εἷς ἀγήρω ζωὴν τοὺς ἀγρευομένους ἀπάγων. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἰχθνολχὸς τῶν θηρωμένων τὴν ζῳὴν ἀφαιρεῖται ὁ δὲ ἡμέτερος ἀσπαλιευτὴς, ὅπερ ἂν ζωγρήσῃ, τῶν πικρῶν ἐλευθεροῖ τοῦ θανάτου δεσμῶν. Τούτου χάριν ε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὥφθϑη, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη, » καὶ διὰ τῆς ὁρωμένης ἀνθρωπότητος τὴν ζωηφόρον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις διδασκαλίαν προσήνεγκεν, καὶ λογικοῖς πρέπουσαν πολιτείαν ἐνομοθέτησεν " καὶ τοὺς νόμους ταῖς θαυματουργίαις χρατύνας, κατέλυσε τῷ τῆς σαρκὸς θανάτῳ τὸν θάνατον " καὶ ταύτην ἀναστήσας, πᾶσιν ἡμῖν ὑπέσχετο τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ἐχέγγνον ἀξιόχρεων τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀναστάσεως τοῦ τιμίου σώματος αὑτοῦ δεδωκὼς τὴν ἀνάστασιν, Οὕτω δὲ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ταῦτα μισοῦντας, ἠγάπησεν, ὡς τὸ τῆς οἶκονομίας μυστήριον παρά τισιν ἀπιστεῖσθαι διὰ τὴν τῶν παθημάτων ὑπερδολήν. ᾿Απόχρη δὲ δεῖξαι τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τὴν ἄδυσσον, καὶ τὸ τοὺς ἀπιστοῦντας ἕτι καθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἑκάστην καλεῖν. Ποιεῖ δὲ τοῦτο, οὐκ ὡς ἀνθρωπίνης θεραπείας δεόμενος (τίνος γὰρ ἐνδεὴς τῶν ὅλων ὁ Ποιητής), ἀλλ᾽ ὡς διψῶν ἑκάστου τὴν σωτηρίαν. ἽἌρπασον τοίνυν, ὦ θαυμάσιε, τὸ δῶρον, καὶ τὸν φιλόδωρον ὕμνησον, καὶ μεγίστην
Tēn eilikrinē philian kratynei men synousia, topikē de ou diatemnei diastasis " ischyra gar ta tau» “hēs desma. ai touto gnoiē men an tis kai ex heterōn pollōn᾽ apochrē de kai ta kath᾽ hēmas epideixai tou logou t᾽ alēthes. Polla gar hēmas diistēsi kai orē, kai poleis, kai thalatta " all᾽ ouden esoesen tēs sēs megaloprepeias tēn mnēmēn. Euthys gar ēn tina idōmen ex echeinōn aphigmenon tōn poleōn, hai tēs thalattēs eisin anchitermones, tēn Kypron kai ton tautēs ariston chydernētēn eis meson ho logos. propherei, kai gannymetha to son akouontes kleos. Nyn de diapherontōs pollēs eneplēsthēmen thymēdias " to gar pantōn hēmin erasmiōteron memathēkamen. Ti gar hēmin, ō ariste, thymēresteron tou tēn axiepainon sou psychēn tǭ tēs gnōseōs phōti pephōtismenēn idein? Ton gar pollois chosmoumenon eidesin aretēs, dikaion hēgoumetha kai ton tautēs prosladein phōna᾽ kai pisteuomen hōs opsometha to pothoumenon. ᾿Arpasei gar dēlon hoti prothymōs hē sē lamprotēs tēn theosdoton dōrean, para gnēsiōn philōn kai saphōs tautēs epistamenōn to megethos protrepomenē, kai pros ton megalodōron podēgoumenē Theon, e hos pantas anthrōpous thelei sōthēnai, kai eis epignōsin alētheias elthein, » kai di᾽ anthrōpōn anthrōpous sagēneuei pros sōtērian, heis agērō zōēn tous agreuomenous apagōn. Ho men gar ichthnolchos tōn thērōmenōn tēn zǭēn aphaireitai ho de hēmeteros aspalieutēs, hoper an zōgrēsę̄, tōn pikrōn eleutheroi tou thanatou desmōn. Toutou charin e epi tēs gēs hōphthϑē, kai tois anthrōpois synanestraphē, » kai dia tēs horōmenēs anthrōpotētos tēn zōēphoron tois anthrōpois didaskalian prosēnenken, kai logikois prepousan politeian enomothetēsen " kai tous nomous tais thaumatourgiais chratynas, katelyse tǭ tēs sarkos thanatǭ ton thanaton " kai tautēn anastēsas, pasin hēmin hypescheto tēn anastasin, echengnon axiochreōn tēs hēmeteras anastaseōs tou timiou sōmatos hautou dedōkōs tēn anastasin, Houtō de tous anthrōpous, kai tauta misountas, ēgapēsen, hōs to tēs oikonomias mystērion para tisin apisteisthai dia tēn tōn pathēmatōn hyperdolēn. ᾿Apochrē de deixai tēs philanthrōpias tēn adysson, kai to tous apistountas heti kath᾽ hēmeran hekastēn kalein. Poiei de touto, ouk hōs anthrōpinēs therapeias deomenos (tinos gar endeēs tōn holōn ho Poiētēs), all᾽ hōs dipsōn hekastou tēn sōtērian. HiArpason toinyn, ō thaumasie, to dōron, kai ton philodōron hymnēson, kai megistēn
Sincere friendship is strengthened by being together, but distance of place does not cut it off; its bonds are strong. One could learn this from many other cases, but our own is enough to show the truth of the saying. Much separates us, mountains, cities and sea, yet none of it has quenched the memory of your Magnificence. For as soon as we see anyone who has come from the cities that border the sea, our conversation brings Cyprus and its excellent governor into our midst, and we rejoice to hear of your fame. But now above all we have been filled with great gladness, for we have learned what is dearest of all to us. For what, excellent friend, could delight us more than to see your praiseworthy soul illuminated by the light of knowledge? We think it right that one adorned with many forms of virtue should also receive its crowning touch, and we trust that we shall see what we long for. For your Brilliance will clearly seize the God-given gift eagerly, urged on by true friends who know its greatness well, and guided to the bountiful God, 'who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth', and who through human beings nets human beings for salvation, leading those he catches to an ageless life. The fisherman takes away the life of what he catches; but our fisherman frees whatever he takes alive from the bitter bonds of death. For this reason 'he appeared on earth and lived among human beings', and through the humanity that was seen he brought to human beings life-bearing teaching and gave a way of life fitting for rational beings; and having confirmed his laws by miracles, he destroyed death by the death of the flesh; and having raised the flesh, he promised resurrection to us all, giving the resurrection of his own precious body as a trustworthy pledge of our resurrection. So greatly did he love human beings, even though they hated him, that some disbelieve the mystery of the dispensation because his sufferings were so extreme. It is enough to show the abyss of his love for humankind that he still calls the unbelieving every single day. He does this not as one needing human service (for what does the Maker of the universe lack?), but as thirsting for the salvation of each one. Seize the gift, then, admirable friend, praise the generous Giver, and greatest …
1 Tim 2:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 5:10 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret rejoices that Uranius, governor of Cyprus, is turning to the Christian faith and urges him to seize the gift of salvation offered through Christ's death and resurrection.
- The scan's heading is that of Uranius, governor of Cyprus, Migne Letter 76 (the staged sequence number 74 is not Migne's). The letter breaks off unfinished in the scan ('and greatest …').
- 'Its crowning touch': the scan reads φῶνα, the end of a damaged word, evidently κολοφῶνα ('colophon, finishing stroke'); translated accordingly. Compared afterwards with NPNF² 3.
- 'He appeared on earth and lived among human beings' is Bar 3:38, which early Christian writers read of the incarnation. 'Takes alive' (ζωγρήσῃ) recalls Luke 5:10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; stray letter): Νῦν Α τηυτάυα δὲ → Νῦν δὲ; αὑτοῦ π δεδωκὼς → αὑτοῦ δεδωκὼς.
Extrabiblical texts: Bar 3:38 (Baruch [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 76 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/76). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/76
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 77
77PG 83
Ἔγνων ὡς ἐζήτησεν ὁ Σατανᾶς σινιάσαι καὶ ὑμᾶς ὡς τὸν σῖτον, καὶ ἐνδέδωχεν ὁ Δεσπότης, ἵνα δείξῃ τὸν σῖτον, ἵνα τὸν χρυσὸν δοχιμάσῃ, ἵνα τοὺς δοξάζοντας ἀντιδοξάσῃ, ἵνα τοὺς ἀθλητὰς στεφανώσῃ, ἵνα τοὺς ἀριστέας ἀναχηρύξῃ.ς. Ἐγὼ μέντοι δέδια καὶ φρίττω, οὐ περὶ ὑμῶν ἀγωνιῶν «ὧν γενναίων τῆς ἀληθείας ἀγωνιστῶν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰδὼς ὅτι συμδαίνει καὶ ἀσθενέστερον διακεῖσθαί τινας. Εἰ γὰρ ἐν δυοκαίδεκα ἀποστόλοις εἷς εὑρέθη προδότης, εὔδηλον ὅτι ἐν πολλαπλασίοις ἀνθρώποις πλείους εὗροι τις ἂν τῆς τελειότητος ἀποδέοντας. Ταῦτα λογιζόμενος συνεχύθην, καὶ ἀθυμίας ἐνεπλήσθην πολλῆς. « Εὶ γὰρ πάσχει ἕν μέλος, κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ᾿Απόστολον, συμπάσχει πάντα τὰ μέλη. ν Μέλη δὲ ἀλλήλων ἐσμὲν, καὰ εἰς ἐν σῶμα τελοῦμεν, κεφαλὴν ἔχοντες τὸν Δεσπότην Χριστόν. Μίαν δὲ ὅμως ἔχω τοῦ πάθους παραψυχὴν, τὴν ὑμετέραν εἰς νοῦν ὁσιότητα. Τοῖς γὰρ θείοις ἐντραφέντες … κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν" λόγοις, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ἀρχιποιμένος μεμαθηκότες τί τὸν ἀγαθὸν χαρακτηρίζει ποιμένα, εὔδηλον ὅτι τὴν Ψυχὴν ὑμῶν θήσετε ὑπὲρ τῶν προδάτων. ε« Ὃ τὰρ μισθωτὸς, ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν λύκον ἐρχόμενον, φεύγει, ὅτι μισθωτός ἔστι, καὶ οὐ μέλει αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν προῦάὁ δὲ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προδάτων. » Οὕτω καὶ στρατηγὸς ἄριστος οὐκ ἐν εἰρήνῃ δείκνυσι τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνδρίαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ τοῦ πολέμου χαιρῷ, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους διεγείρων, καὶ αὐτὸς προχινδυνεύων τῆς στρατιᾶς. ΓΆτοπον γὰρ, τῆς μὲν στρατηγιχῆῇς αὐτὸν ἀπολαύειν τιμῆς, ἐν δὲ τῷ τῆς χρείας χαιρῷ τοὺς κινδύνους ἀποδιδράσκειν. Ταῦτα καὶ οἱ τρισμαχάριοι προφῆται διετέλουν ποιοῦντες " καὶ τῆς μὲν σωματικῆς σωτηρίας ἠμέλουν" πάντα δὲ πόνον καὶ κίνδυνον ὑπὲρ τῶν μισούντων αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποστρεφομένων Ἰουδαίων ἀνεδέχοντο. Περὶ τούτων φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ᾿Απόστολος, ὅτι ε« Ἐλιθάσθησαν, ἐπρίσθησαν, ἐπειράθησαν, ἐν φόνῳ μακαίρας ἀπέθανον. Περιῆλθον ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἱχούμενοι, ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος οὗτος ἐν ἐρῆμίαις πλανώμενοι, καὶ ὄρεσι, καὶ σπηλαίοις, καὶ ταῖς ὁπαῖς τῆς γῆς. » Οὕτως οἱ θεῖοι ἀπόστολοι πᾶσαν περινοστηῦντες τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐκήρυττον, οὐκ οἱκίαν ἔχοντες, οὐ κλίνην, οὐ στρωμνὴν, οὐ τράπεζαν, οὐκ ἄλλην τινὰ τῶν ἀναγκαίων χρείαν" ἀλλ᾽ αἰκιζόμενοι, καὶ στρεθλούμενοι, καὶ χαθειργμένοι, καὶ μυρία θανάτων ὑπομένοντες εἴδη. Καὶ ταῦτα ὑπἔμενον, οὐκ ὑπὲρ γνωρίμων ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲο αὐτῶν ἐχείνων τῶν διωκόντων αὐτοὺς τοὺς κινδύνους αἱρούμενοι. Πολλῷ τοίνυν δικαιότερον ὑπὲρ ὁμοπίστων, καὶ ἀδελφῶν, καὶ τέχνων, τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρὀντος προσθδαλόντα κίνδυνον ἀναδέξασθαι. Ταύτην γὰρ τὴν φιλοστοργίαν ἔχει καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ἡ φύσις " ἔστι γὰρ ἰδεῖν καὶ στρουθοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν νεοττῶν ὑπερμαχοῦντας εἰς δύναμιν, καὶ ἣν ἔχουσιν ἰσχὺν ὑπὲρ τούτων εἰσφέροντας " καὶ τ᾽ ἄλλα δὲ τῶν πτηνῶν γένη τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐκγόνων κίνδυνον ἀναδέχεται. Καὶ τί λέγω τὰ πτηνά; Καὶ γὰρ ἄρκτοι, καὶ παρδάλεις, καὶ λύκοι, καὶ λέοντες, πᾶν ὁτιοῦν παθεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἐκγόνων σωτηρίας αἱροῦνται " οὗ γὰρ. φεύγουσι τοὺς ἐπιόντας, ἀλλὰ τὴν τούτων δέχονται προσδολὴν, καὶ τῶν τέχνων ὑπερμαχοῦσι. Ταῦτα δὲ διεξῆλθον, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀλόγων εἶκόνος εἰς ὑπομονὴν καὶ καρτερίαν τὴν ὑμετέραν φιλοθεῖαν ἀλείφων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀθυμέᾳ γῶν, καὶ πείθων, ὡς οὐ χαταλεΐίψετε τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν ποίμνην τῶν λύκων ἐπιόντων ἀποίμαντον " ἀλλὰ τὸν ταύτης Κύριον εἰς συμμαχίαν καλέσαντες, προθύμως ἀναδέξεσθε τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀγῶνα. Ὁ γὰρ “ποιοῦτος καιρὸς δείκνυσιν, τίς μὲν ποιμὴν, εἰς δὲ μεσθωτὸς, καὶ τίς μὲν φιλοπόνως: ποιμαίνει, τίς δὲ τὸ μὲν γάλα ἐσθίει, καὶ τὰ ἔρια περιδάλλεται, τῆς δὲ τῶν προδάτων σωτηρίας καταφρονεῖ. « ᾿Αλλὰ πιστὸς ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς οὐκ ἐάσει ὑμᾶς πειραθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὅ δύνασῦς, ἀλλὰ ποιήσει σὺν τῷ πειρασμῷ καὶ τὴν ἔχὅασιν τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑμᾶς ὑπενεγκεῖν. ν᾽ Εκεῖνο δὲ πα- «ἔρων πλείονα ποιήσασθαι πρόνοιαν " καὶ μὴ μόνον ποὺς σαλευομένους στηρίξαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πεπτωκότας ἐγεῖραι " οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ ποιμένες τῶν νενοσηχότων ἀμελοῦσι προδάτων, ἀλλὰ χωρίζουσι μὲν αὐτὰ τῶν ἄλλων, πᾶν δὲ εἶδος αὐτοῖς θεραπείας προσφέρουσι. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡμῖν ποιητέον. Τοὺς γὰρ ὁλισθαίνοντας ἀναστῆσαι προσήκει, καὶ χεῖρα ὀρέξαι, καὶ παραθαρσῦναι, καὶ τὰ ἐγγενόμενα δήγματα θεραπεῦσαι, καὶ μὴ ἀπαγορεῦσαι αὐτῶν τὴν σωτηρίαν, μηδὲ προδοῦναι τῷ στόματι τοῦ διαδόλου. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος Παῦλος διετέλει ποιῶν" καὶ Γαλάτας, μετὰ τὸ σωτήριον βάπτισμα, καὶ τὴν τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος χορηγίαν, εἰς τὴν Ἰόυδαϊκὴν ἀσθένειαν ἐξοχείλαντας, καὶ περιτομὴν δεξαμένους, ὠδύρατο μὲν καὶ πευσε δὲ, καὶ τῆς ἀῤῥωττίας ἐκείνης ἐλευθέρους ἀπἔφηνε. Καὶ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ βοῶντος ἀκοῦσαι" « Τεκνία μου, οὖς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄκρις οὗ βορφρωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν.» Οὕτω τῶν Κορινθίων διδάσκαλον, τὴν μυσαρὰν ἐχείνην τετολμηχότα πορνείαν, καὶ ἐπαίδευσε πατρικῶς, καὶ ἐπαίδευσε λίαν ἐπιστημόνως, καὶ ἀποχόψας ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ συνῆψεν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ, καί φησιν" ε« Ὥστε ὑμᾶς μᾶλλον χαρίσασθαι καὶ παρακαλέσαι, μήπως τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ καταποθῇ ὁ τοιοῦτος. » Καὶ πάλιν᾽ « “ἵνα μὴ πλεονεχτηθῶμεν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ" οὐ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰ νοήματα ἀγνοοῦμεν. » Οὕτω καὶ τοῖς τῶν εἰδωλοθύτων μεταλαμδάνηυσι, καὶ ἐπετίμησεν δεόντως, καὶ παρήνεσεν προσήκόντῶς, καὶ τῆ: χαλεπῆς ἠλευθέρωσε πλά- Τούτον χάριν καὶ ὁ Δεσπότης ἡμῶν Χριστὸς, τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸν πρῶτον, οὗ τὴν ὁμολογίαν οἷόν τινα κρηπῖδα καὶ θέμέλιον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας χατέπηξεν, συνεγώρησεν σαλευθῆναι καὶ ἀρνηθῆναι, καὶ πάλιν αὖντον ἀνώρθωσε, δύο κατὰ ταυτὸ διδάσκων᾽ μῆτε ἑαυτοῖς θαῤῥεῖν, καὶ τοὺς σαλενομένους στηρίζειν. "Ορέξατε τοίνυν χεῖρα, παρακαλῶ, τοῖς ὀλισθήσασιν, καὶ ἀνάγετε ἐκ λάχχονυν ταλαιπωρίας, καὶ ἀπὸ πηλοῦ ἰλύος, καὶ στῆσατε ἐπὶ πέτραν τοὺς πόδας αὑτῶν" καὶ ἐμδάλλετε εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ἄαμα καινὸν, ὕμνον τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν ἵνα γένηται αὐτῶν ὑπόδειγμα τῆς βλάδης ὑπόδειγμα σωτηρίας, καὶ ἴδωσι πολλοὶ, καὶ φοδηθῶσι, καὶ ἐλπίσωσιν ἐπὶ Κύριον τὸν ϑεὸν ἡμῶν. Καὶ χωλυέσθωσαν μὲν τῆς μεταλήψεως τῶν ἱερῶν μυστηρίων, μὴ χωλυέσθωσαν δὲ τῆς τῶν κατηχουμένων εὐχῆς, μηδὲ τῆς τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἀκροάσεως, μηδὲ τῆς τῶν διδασκάλων παραινέπεως. Τῶν δὲ ἱερῶν χωλυέσθωσαν μυστηρίων, μὴ μέχρι θανάτου, ἀλλὰ χρόνον τίνὰ ῥητόν" ἕως ἂν ἐπιγνῶσι τὴν νόσον, ως τὴν ὑγείαν ποθήσωσιν, ἕως ἂν ἀξίως θρηνήσωσιν, ὅτι τὸν ἀληθῆ βασιλέα καταλιπόντες πρὸς τύραννον ηὐτομόλησαν, καὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐάσαντες, τῷ πολεμίῳ προσεχώρησαν. Ταῦτα καὶ οἱ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ μακαρίων Πατέρων κανόνες διδάσκουσι. Γράφω δὲ ταῦτα, οὐ διδάσκων ὑμῶν τὴν ὁσιότητα, ἀλλ᾽ ἀδελφικῶς ἀναμιμνήσκων" καὶ εἰδὼς ὅτι καὶ χυδερνήτης ἄριστος, ἐν τῷ χαιρῷ τοῦ χειμῶνος, καὶ τῆς παρὰ τῶν ναυτῶν ὑπομνήσεως δεῖται. Οὕτω καὶ Μωῦσῆς ἐκεῖνος ὁ μέγας, ὁ πανεὐφημος, ὁ τὰ πολυθρύλλητα ἐκεῖνα θαυματουργήσας, τὴν τοῦ Ἰοθὸρ ἐδέξατο συμδουλῆὴν, ἀνδρὸς ἔτι τῇ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνῃ κατεχομένον, Οὐ γὰρ ἀπεἶδεν εἰς τὴν ἀσέδειαν, ἀλλὰ τῆς συμδουλῇς συνεῖδε τὸ χρήσιμον. Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις παρακαλῶ ὑμῶν τὴν ὁσιότητα, σπουδαίαν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ τῷ Θεῷ προσενεγκεῖν προσενχὴν, ἵνα τὰς λειπομένας μοι τῆς ζωῆζς ἡμέρας κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ πολιτεύσωμαι νόμους. Ταῦτα διὰ Στεφάνου γέγραφα" ὃν εἶδον ἡδέως διὰ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν κοσμιότητα.
Egnōn hōs ezētēsen ho Satanas siniasai kai hymas hōs ton siton, kai endedōchen ho Despotēs, hina deixę̄ ton siton, hina ton chryson dochimasę̄, hina tous doxazontas antidoxasę̄, hina tous athlētas stephanōsę̄, hina tous aristeas anachēryxę̄.s. Egō mentoi dedia kai phrittō, ou peri hymōn agōniōn «hōn gennaiōn tēs alētheias agōnistōn, all᾽ eidōs hoti symdainei kai asthenesteron diakeisthai tinas. Ei gar en dyokaideka apostolois heis heurethē prodotēs, eudēlon hoti en pollaplasiois anthrōpois pleious heuroi tis an tēs teleiotētos apodeontas. Tauta logizomenos synechythēn, kai athymias eneplēsthēn pollēs. « Ei gar paschei hen melos, kata ton theion ᾿Apostolon, sympaschei panta ta melē. n Melē de allēlōn esmen, kaa eis en sōma teloumen, kephalēn echontes ton Despotēn Christon. Mian de homōs echō tou pathous parapsychēn, tēn hymeteran eis noun hosiotēta. Tois gar theiois entraphentes … kata tēn tou Kyriou phōnēn" logois, kai para tou archipoimenos memathēkotes ti ton agathon charaktērizei poimena, eudēlon hoti tēn Psychēn hymōn thēsete hyper tōn prodatōn. e« Ho tar misthōtos, hotan idę̄ ton lykon erchomenon, pheugei, hoti misthōtos esti, kai ou melei autǭ peri tōn prouao de poimēn ho kalos tēn psychēn hautou tithēsin hyper tōn prodatōn. » Houtō kai stratēgos aristos ouk en eirēnę̄ deiknysi tēn oikeian andrian, all᾽ en tǭ tou polemou chairǭ, kai tous allous diegeirōn, kai autos prochindyneuōn tēs stratias. GAtopon gar, tēs men stratēgichēę̄s auton apolauein timēs, en de tǭ tēs chreias chairǭ tous kindynous apodidraskein. Tauta kai hoi trismacharioi prophētai dieteloun poiountes " kai tēs men sōmatikēs sōtērias ēmeloun" panta de ponon kai kindynon hyper tōn misountōn autous kai apostrephomenōn Ioudaiōn anedechonto. Peri toutōn phēsin ho theios ᾿Apostolos, hoti e« Elithasthēsan, epristhēsan, epeirathēsan, en phonǭ makairas apethanon. Periēlthon en mēlōtais, en haichoumenoi, hōn ouk ēn axios ho kosmos houtos en erēmiais planōmenoi, kai oresi, kai spēlaiois, kai tais hopais tēs gēs. » Houtōs hoi theioi apostoloi pasan perinostēuntes tēn oikoumenēn ekērytton, ouk hoikian echontes, ou klinēn, ou strōmnēn, ou trapezan, ouk allēn tina tōn anankaiōn chreian" all᾽ aikizomenoi, kai strethloumenoi, kai chatheirgmenoi, kai myria thanatōn hypomenontes eidē. Kai tauta hypemenon, ouk hyper gnōrimōn anthrōpōn, all᾽ hypeo autōn echeinōn tōn diōkontōn autous tous kindynous hairoumenoi. Pollǭ toinyn dikaioteron hyper homopistōn, kai adelphōn, kai technōn, ton epi tou parontos prosthdalonta kindynon anadexasthai. Tautēn gar tēn philostorgian echei kai tōn alogōn hē physis " esti gar idein kai strouthous hyper tōn neottōn hypermachountas eis dynamin, kai hēn echousin ischyn hyper toutōn eispherontas " kai t᾽ alla de tōn ptēnōn genē ton hyper tōn ekgonōn kindynon anadechetai. Kai ti legō ta ptēna? Kai gar arktoi, kai pardaleis, kai lykoi, kai leontes, pan hotioun pathein hyper tēs tōn ekgonōn sōtērias hairountai " hou gar. pheugousi tous epiontas, alla tēn toutōn dechontai prosdolēn, kai tōn technōn hypermachousi. Tauta de diexēlthon, ouk ek tēs tōn alogōn eikonos eis hypomonēn kai karterian tēn hymeteran philotheian aleiphōn, all᾽ emauton epi tę̄ athymeą gōn, kai peithōn, hōs ou chataleïipsete tou Christou tēn poimnēn tōn lykōn epiontōn apoimanton " alla ton tautēs Kyrion eis symmachian kalesantes, prothymōs anadexesthe ton hyper autēs agōna. Ho gar “poioutos kairos deiknysin, tis men poimēn, eis de mesthōtos, kai tis men philoponōs: poimainei, tis de to men gala esthiei, kai ta eria peridalletai, tēs de tōn prodatōn sōtērias kataphronei. « ᾿Alla pistos ho Theos, hos ouk easei hymas peirathēnai hyper ho dynasys, alla poiēsei syn tǭ peirasmǭ kai tēn echoasin tou dynasthai hymas hypenenkein. n᾽ Ekeino de pa- «erōn pleiona poiēsasthai pronoian " kai mē monon pous saleuomenous stērixai, alla kai tous peptōkotas egeirai " oude gar hoi poimenes tōn nenosēchotōn amelousi prodatōn, alla chōrizousi men auta tōn allōn, pan de eidos autois therapeias prospherousi. Touto kai hēmin poiēteon. Tous gar holisthainontas anastēsai prosēkei, kai cheira orexai, kai paratharsynai, kai ta engenomena dēgmata therapeusai, kai mē apagoreusai autōn tēn sōtērian, mēde prodounai tǭ stomati tou diadolou. Touto kai ho theios apostolos Paulos dietelei poiōn" kai Galatas, meta to sōtērion baptisma, kai tēn tou theiou Pneumatos chorēgian, eis tēn Ioudaïkēn astheneian exocheilantas, kai peritomēn dexamenous, ōdyrato men kai peuse de, kai tēs arrhōttias ekeinēs eleutherous apephēne. Kai estin autou boōntos akousai" « Teknia mou, ous palin ōdinō, akris hou borphrōthę̄ Christos en hymin.» Houtō tōn Korinthiōn didaskalon, tēn mysaran echeinēn tetolmēchota porneian, kai epaideuse patrikōs, kai epaideuse lian epistēmonōs, kai apochopsas en tę̄ proterą synēpsen en tę̄ deuterą, kai phēsin" e« Hōste hymas mallon charisasthai kai parakalesai, mēpōs tę̄ perissoterą lypę̄ katapothę̄ ho toioutos. » Kai palin᾽ « “hina mē pleonechtēthōmen hypo tou Satana" ou gar autou ta noēmata agnooumen. » Houtō kai tois tōn eidōlothytōn metalamdanēusi, kai epetimēsen deontōs, kai parēnesen prosēkontōs, kai tē: chalepēs ēleutherōse pla- Touton charin kai ho Despotēs hēmōn Christos, tōn apostolōn ton prōton, hou tēn homologian hoion tina krēpida kai themelion tēs Ekklēsias chatepēxen, synegōrēsen saleuthēnai kai arnēthēnai, kai palin aunton anōrthōse, dyo kata tauto didaskōn᾽ mēte heautois tharrhein, kai tous salenomenous stērizein. "Orexate toinyn cheira, parakalō, tois olisthēsasin, kai anagete ek lachchonyn talaipōrias, kai apo pēlou ilyos, kai stēsate epi petran tous podas hautōn" kai emdallete eis to stoma autōn aama kainon, hymnon tǭ Theǭ hēmōn hina genētai autōn hypodeigma tēs bladēs hypodeigma sōtērias, kai idōsi polloi, kai phodēthōsi, kai elpisōsin epi Kyrion ton ϑeon hēmōn. Kai chōlyesthōsan men tēs metalēpseōs tōn hierōn mystēriōn, mē chōlyesthōsan de tēs tōn katēchoumenōn euchēs, mēde tēs tōn theiōn Graphōn akroaseōs, mēde tēs tōn didaskalōn parainepeōs. Tōn de hierōn chōlyesthōsan mystēriōn, mē mechri thanatou, alla chronon tina rhēton" heōs an epignōsi tēn noson, ōs tēn hygeian pothēsōsin, heōs an axiōs thrēnēsōsin, hoti ton alēthē basilea katalipontes pros tyrannon ēutomolēsan, kai ton euergetēn easantes, tǭ polemiǭ prosechōrēsan. Tauta kai hoi tōn hagiōn kai makariōn Paterōn kanones didaskousi. Graphō de tauta, ou didaskōn hymōn tēn hosiotēta, all᾽ adelphikōs anamimnēskōn" kai eidōs hoti kai chydernētēs aristos, en tǭ chairǭ tou cheimōnos, kai tēs para tōn nautōn hypomnēseōs deitai. Houtō kai Mōysēs ekeinos ho megas, ho paneuphēmos, ho ta polythryllēta ekeina thaumatourgēsas, tēn tou Iothor edexato symdoulēēn, andros eti tę̄ peri ta eidōla planę̄ katechomenon, Ou gar apeiden eis tēn asedeian, alla tēs symdoulę̄s syneide to chrēsimon. Pros de toutois parakalō hymōn tēn hosiotēta, spoudaian hyper emou tǭ Theǭ prosenenkein prosenchēn, hina tas leipomenas moi tēs zōēzs hēmeras kata tous autou politeusōmai nomous. Tauta dia Stephanou gegrapha" hon eidon hēdeōs dia tēn tōn ēthōn kosmiotēta.
I learned that Satan has demanded to sift you too like wheat, and the Master has permitted it, to show the wheat, to test the gold, to glorify those who glorify him, to crown the athletes, to proclaim the champions. I, however, fear and shudder, not out of anxiety for you, noble contenders for the truth, but because I know that some happen to be rather weakly disposed. For if among twelve apostles one traitor was found, it is clear that among many times as many people one would find more who fall short of perfection. Reckoning this I was troubled and filled with great despondency. 'For if one member suffers,' according to the divine Apostle, 'all the members suffer with it.' We are members of one another and together make up one body, with the Master Christ as our head. Yet I have one consolation for this suffering, when I bring your Holiness to mind. For you have been nourished on the divine words … and have learned from the chief shepherd what marks the good shepherd; so it is clear that you will lay down your life for the sheep. 'For the hireling, when he sees the wolf coming, flees, because he is a hireling and does not care for the sheep; but the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.' So too an excellent general shows his courage not in peace but in time of war, both rousing the others and facing danger himself ahead of the army. For it is absurd to enjoy a general's honor and then run from the dangers when the need comes. This the thrice-blessed prophets did constantly: they neglected their bodily safety and undertook every toil and danger for the Jews, who hated them and turned away from them. Of them the divine Apostle says: 'They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they died by the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in … ill-treated, of whom this world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth.' So the divine apostles went round the whole world preaching, with no house, no bed, no bedding, no table, nor any other necessity, but being tortured, racked, imprisoned and enduring countless kinds of death. And they endured this not for people they knew, but chose the dangers for the sake of the very people who persecuted them. Much more just is it, then, to take on the present danger that has befallen, for those who share our faith, for brothers and children. Even irrational nature has this affection: one can see sparrows fighting for their young as far as they are able and spending what strength they have for them; and the other kinds of birds take on danger for their offspring. And why speak of birds? Bears, leopards, wolves and lions choose to suffer anything whatever for the safety of their offspring; they do not flee from attackers but take their assault and fight for their young. I have gone through this not to anoint your God-loving Reverence for patience and endurance with the example of irrational animals, but to console myself in my despondency and persuade myself that you will not leave Christ's flock without a shepherd when the wolves attack, but will call its Lord to your aid and eagerly take up the contest for it. For such a time shows who is the shepherd and who the hireling, who shepherds with toil and who eats the milk and wraps himself in the wool but despises the safety of the sheep. 'But God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also provide the way out, so that you may be able to bear it.' But I urge you … to take greater forethought, not only to steady those who are shaken but also to raise those who have fallen. For shepherds do not neglect the sick sheep; they separate them from the others and apply every kind of treatment to them. This we too must do. It is fitting to raise up those who slip, to stretch out a hand, to encourage them, to treat the bites they have received, and not to despair of their salvation nor betray them to the devil's mouth. This the divine apostle Paul did constantly. When the Galatians, after saving baptism and the supply of the divine Spirit, had run aground on Jewish weakness and accepted circumcision, he lamented over them … and tended them, and set them free from that sickness. One can hear him crying: 'My little children, for whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.' So too the teacher of the Corinthians who had dared that abominable sexual immorality he disciplined as a father, and disciplined very skilfully: having cut him off in the first letter, he joined him again in the second, and says: 'So you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.' And again: 'so that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.' So too those who partook of things offered to idols he both rebuked as was due and exhorted as was fitting, and freed them from that grievous error. For this reason too our Master Christ allowed the first of the apostles, whose confession he fixed as a kind of base and foundation of the church, to be shaken and to deny, and raised him up again, teaching two things at once: not to trust in ourselves, and to steady those who are shaken. Stretch out a hand, then, I beg you, to those who have slipped; 'lead them up from the pit of misery and from the miry clay, set their feet upon the rock, and put into their mouth a new song, a hymn to our God', so that the example of their harm may become an example of salvation, and 'many may see and fear and hope in the Lord' our God. Let them be barred from partaking of the sacred mysteries, but not from the prayer of the catechumens, nor from hearing the divine Scriptures, nor from the exhortation of the teachers. And let them be barred from the sacred mysteries not until death but for a certain fixed time, until they recognize their disease and long for health, until they lament as they should that they abandoned the true King and deserted to the tyrant, and left their benefactor and went over to the enemy. This is what the canons of the holy and blessed fathers also teach. I write this not to teach your Holiness but to remind you as a brother, knowing that even an excellent pilot, in time of storm, needs reminders from the sailors. So too that great Moses, the all-praised, who worked those famous wonders, accepted the counsel of Jethro, a man still held by the error of idols; he did not look at his impiety but saw the usefulness of the counsel. Besides this I beg your Holiness to offer earnest prayer to God for me, that I may live the remaining days of my life according to his laws. I have written this by Stephen, whom I was glad to see for the decency of his character.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Luke 22:31 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 12:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 12:5 (allusion, high confidence) · John 10:11 (allusion, high confidence) · John 10:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 11:37 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 11:38 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 4:19 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 5:1 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 2:7 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 2:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 16:18 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 26:69–75 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 40:2 (39:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 40:3 (39:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 18:13–24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret encourages Eulalius, bishop in Persian Armenia, to stand by his flock under persecution and to receive back, after a fixed penance, those who have lapsed.
- The scan's heading is that of Eulalius, bishop of Persian Armenia, Migne Letter 77 (the staged sequence number 75 is not Migne's). The persecution is probably that of the Persian king Yazdegerd II in Armenia (ca. 449–451); the letter does not name it.
- Quotations: Luke 22:31 (sifting like wheat); 1 Cor 12:26; Rom 12:5; John 10:11–12; Heb 11:37–38; 1 Cor 10:13; Gal 4:19; 2 Cor 2:7, 11; Ps 40:2–3 (39:3–4 LXX) and 40:3 (39:4 LXX). Peter's confession as the church's foundation alludes to Matt 16:16–18; the denial to Matt 26:69–75. Jethro's counsel is Exod 18:13–24.
- 'The teacher of the Corinthians' (τῶν Κορινθίων διδάσκαλον): Theodoret takes the man of 1 Cor 5:1 to have been one of the Corinthians' teachers and identifies him with the man forgiven in 2 Cor 2:5–11, as he does in his commentary; translated as written.
- Theodoret's discipline for the lapsed: excluded from communion for a fixed time, not until death, but admitted to the prayer of the catechumens, the reading of Scripture and the teachers' exhortation. 'The canons' are unnamed (perhaps Nicaea, canons 11–14).
- Lines of Migne's Latin column read as Greek by the OCR are removed by logged corrections. Gaps where the Greek is lost (after 'the divine words', inside the Hebrews quotation, and after 'I urge you') are marked '…'.
- After 'he lamented over them' some words are lost in the scan (καὶ πευσε: probably 'and tended', ἐθεράπευσε, with a comparison lost before it); marked '…'. Compared afterwards with NPNF² 3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column and marginal references; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column inside καταλιπόν-τες; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column inside νενοσηκότων; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; some Greek here is lost; OCR debris removed; word rejoined; marginal column letter; marginal letter): “1 Τί. τς 8. 5" Βαγυςῇ. μἱ, 5: Π ι ἰησοηι, ρα ΐο το δ τυ ἰρ] οἱ ταὶ δίί}} 1, οἱ γὰγἱρος (αυἃ (61 568 ὑπ᾿ γἱἷν οἱ πο ἀδ το ἱβ 50} ἢ αὶ → ; ἐντραφέντες νυ πὶ, οἰ 4 ἂς τ] τὰ ἀυκ πὶ δυάς 15, 566 φαΐ οἱ Θροϊυηοἷδ, οἱ ον Γη 8 ἰδῖτ λ 4.» 810 οἱ ἀϊνί πὶ βοὴ οἱ [ταμαθοῖ οὐδ) Νέος σταπων, → ἐντραφέντες … ; διετέλουν Β ποιοῦντες → διετέλουν ποιοῦντες; δέχονται Ὁ προσδολὴν → δέχονται προσδολὴν; τῆς δὲ Α ἰπΠϑΌρ6Γ Παθοαϊ. « Θεὰ τῶν → τῆς δὲ τῶν; νενοσηχότί μαι δ. 564 Πλ5 αᾳιϊάδπη Δ 111}18 βοϊ υησυηΐ, Ὠυ] απ γό το τῶν → νενοσηχότων ; ἀπὸ οί οἱ πὶ τηϊἴῃ συ 5 "δ.» Οὐ οἱ ρου 155: οἱ Δἰϊ εἴτ 516 οἵ ΔΡΟΒιΟΙοτΌΠι Ὀγ οἰ ρο πὶ, οἱ ἤυοἱ πηλοῦ → ἀπὸ πηλοῦ; τοὺς πό- Ὁ ἰῃ 05 Θογυπὶ δας αὑτῶν → τοὺς πόδας αὑτῶν; ἀξίως ἃ αἰ] 8 ἴθι Α θρηνήσωσιν → ἀξίως θρηνήσωσιν; καταλιπόνπιὸ τ ἢ 5]- Αἀ πο ἀϊβ5ϑ ἢ ἃ. το] ρ᾽ οϑἰβϑπηυπὶ ἃγπιῖϑ- αὶ εἰ] τὶ νυ χοροῦ : πὶ ἀπ πη ὑγρὰν οἱ Οὐ αὶ εἰν. Εξο τες πρὸς → καταλιπόντες πρὸς.
Topics: Persecution, Church office
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 77 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/77). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/77
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).
Chapter 78
78PG 83
Ὅταν ὁ χυδερνήτης τὶ πάθῃ, ἣ ὁ πρωρεὺς, ἣ τῶν ναντῶν ὁ πρῶτος, τὴν ἐχείνου χρείαν πληροῖ, οὐκ αὖτοχειροτόνητος χυδερνήτης γινόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ σκάφους προμηθούμενος σωτηρίας. θὕτω πάλιν ἐν πολέμῳ, τοῦ στρατηγοῦ πεσόντος, τῶν χιλιάρχων ὁ πρῶτος τὴν στρατηγίαν χοσμεῖΐ, οὐ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἀρπάζων, ἀλλὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων φροντίζων. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ τρισμαχάριος Τιμόθεος τοῦ θεσπεσίου Παύλου τὸν τόπον ἐπλήρου παρ᾽ ἐχείνου πεμπόμενος. Προσήκει τοίνυν τὴν σὴν θεοσέδειαν καὶ χυδερνῆτον, καὶ στρατηγοῦ, καὶ ποιμένος σπουδὴν ἀναδέξασθαι, καὶ πάντα κίνδυνον ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ προδάτων μεθ' ἡδονῆς καταδέξασθαι, καὶ μὴ χαταλυτεῖν ἔρημα μηδὲ μόνα τὰ θρέμματα: ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ συντεκαὶ τὸ πλανώμενον ἐπιστρέψαι, καὶ τὸ ὑγιαῖνον τῇ ὑγείᾳ φυλάξαι, καὶ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ποιμένας μιμήσασθαι, οἵ πρὸ τῶν ποιμνίων ἑστῶσι, καὶ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς λύκους ἀναδέχονται πόλεμον. ᾿Αναμνησθῶμεν δὲ καὶ τῶν τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἰαχὼδ ῥημάτων, ἃ τοῦ κηδεστοῦ τὴν ἀχαριστίαν διελέγχων προσήνεγκεν" ε« Ἐγὼ ἥμην συγκαιόμενος τῷ χαύματι τῆς ἡμέρας, καὶ τῷ παγετῷ τῆς νυκτός" καὶ ἀφίστατο ὁ ὕπνος τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν. Κριοὺς τῶν προδάτων σου οὐ κατέφαγον, θηριάλωτον οὐκ ἑνήνοχά σοι. Ἐγὼ ἀπετίννυον παρ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ ἁρπάγματα τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτός. » Οὗτοι ποιμενιχοὶ χαρακτῆρες, οὗτοι νόμοι τῆς τῶν προδάτων ἐπιμελείας. Εἰ δὲ ἀλόγων προδάτων τοσαὐτὴν ὁ θαυμάσιος ἀνὴρ ἐποιήσατο πρόνοιαν, καὶ ταύτην τῷ πεπιστευκότι τὴν ἀπολογίαν προσήνεγκεν" τί οὐ ποιητέον ἡμῖν, λογικὰ μὲν ἐγχειρισθεῖσιν πρόὄατα, παρὰ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων δεξαμένοις ταύτην τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν, καὶ λογιζομένοις ὅτι ὁ Δεσπότης ὑπὲρ τούτων ἔδωχς τὴν Ψυχήν; Τίς δὲ οὐ δέδιέ τε καὶ πέδὲ φριχεν ἀκούων τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ ᾿Ιεξεκιὴλ λέγοντός, ὅτι ε Κρινῶ ἀναμέσον ποιμένος καὶ προδάτου, διότι τὸ γάλα ἡσθίετε, καὶ τὰ ἔρια περιεδάλλεσθε, καὶ τὰ πρόὄατα οὐκ ἐδοσχήσατε. » Καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι ε Σκοπὸν δέδωκά σε τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐὰν μὴ διαστείλῃ τῷ ἀνόμῳ, τοῦ ἀποστρέψαι τὸν ἄνομον ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὖ τοῦ τῆς πονηρᾶς, ὁ ἄνομος ἐκεῖνος ἐν τῇ ἀνομίᾳ αὗτοῦ ἀποθανεῖται, τὸ δὲ αἷμα αὑτοῦ ἐκ τῆς χειρός δου ἐκζητήσω. » Τούτοις συμφωνεῖ καὶ τὰ παραθολιχῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰρημένα" « Δοῦλε ἀργὲ καὶ ὀκνηρὲ, ἔδει σε τὸ ἀργύριόν μου χαταδαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν τραπεζίτην, χἀγὼ ἐλθὼν μετὰ τόκου ἀπήτησα ἂν αὐτό. » Διαναστῶμεν τοίνυν, παρακαλῶ, καὶ τῶν τοῦ Δεσπότου προθάτων ὑπερμαχήσωμεν. Εγγὺς ὁ τούτων Δεσπότης, ἐπιφανεῖται πάντως, καὶ τοὺς λύκους ἀποσχεδάσει, καὶ τοὺς ποιμένας δοξάσει. «᾿Αγαθὸς γὰρ Κύριος τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν αὐτὸν, καὶ ψυχῇ, ἣ ζητήσει αὐτόν.» Καὶ μὴ δυσχεράνωμεν τὸν ἐπαναστάντα χειμῶνα᾽ οἷδε γὰρ τὸ συμφέρον ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων Δεσπότης. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ τῷ ᾿Αποστόλῳ αἰτήσαντι τῶν πειρασμῶν τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν, τὴν αἴτησιν οὐ παρέσχεν, ἀλλ᾽ εἶπεν’ « ᾿Αρχεῖ σοι ἡ χάρις μου" ἣ γὰρ δύναμίς μου ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται. » Ἐνέγκωμεν τοίνυν γενναίως τὰ προσπίπτοντα λυπηρά͵ Ἐν Τοῖς πολέμοις οἱ ἀριστεύοντες δείκνυνται" ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν οἱ ἀθληταὶ στεφανοῦνται᾽ ἡ τῆς θαλάττης ζάλη δήλην ποιεῖ τοῦ κυδερνήτου τὴν τέχνην᾽ τὸ πῦρ τὸν χρυσὸν δοκιμάζει. Μὴ μόνον δὲ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, παρακαλῶ, φροντίσωμεν, ἀλλὰ πλείονα τῶν ἄλλων ποιησώμεθα πρόνοιαν, καὶ μὴ μόνον τῶν ὑγιαινόντων, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῶν ἀσθενούντων. ᾿Ἀποστολικὸς γάρ ἔστι νόμος διαῤῥήδην βοῶν' ε Παρακαλεῖτε τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους, ἀντἔχεσθε τῶν ἀσθενῶν.» Ὀρέξωμεν τοίνυν χεῖρε τοῖς κειμένοις, θεραπεύσωμεν αὐτῶν τὰ τραύματα, στή- ΄σωμὲν καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ παρατάξει κατὰ τοῦ διαδόλον" οὐδὲν αὐτὸν οὕτως ἀνιάσει, ὡς τὸ πάλιν τούτους ἰδεῖν πολεμοῦντας καὶ βάλλοντας. Φιλάνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ Δεσπότης, δέχεται τῶν πλημμελούντων τὴν μεταμέλειαν ἀκούσωμεν αὐτοῦ λέγοντος" ε Ζῶ. ἐγὼ, λέγει Κύριος" εἰ θελήσει θελήσω τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι αὑτὸν καὶ ζῇν; » Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὄρκον τῷ λόγῳ προτέθειχεν, καὶ ὁ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπαγορεύων τοὺς ὄρκους, ὁμώμοχεν, ἵνα πείσῃ ὡς τῆς ἡμετέρας μεταμελείας καὶ σωτηρίας ἐφίεται. … Τούτων αἱ θεῖαι Βίόλοι μεσταὶ, καὶ αἱ παλαιαὶ, καὶ αἱ χαιναί. Ταῦτα καὶ οἱ κανόνες τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων διδάσκουσιν. Ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὰ οὐκ ὡς ἀγνοοῦσιν ὑμῖν γέγραφα, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς εἰδότας ἀνέμνησα“ καὶ ἐμιμησάμην τοὺς ἐπὶ τἧς γῆς ἑστῶτας, καὶ τοῖς χλυδωνιζομένοις κεκρυμμένον μηνύοντας, ἣ σχοῖνον δεχομένους καὶ ἕλχοντας. Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης συντρίψει τὸν Σατανᾶν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ὑμῶν ἐν τἀχεϊ, καὶ εὐφρανεῖ τὰς ἡμετέρας ἀκοὰς τῇ ὑμετέρ γαλήνῃ, εἰπὼν τῇ μαινομένῃ θαλάττῃ" ε Σιώπα, πεφίμωσο.» Ὑμεῖς δὲ … τὰς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσευχὰς αὐτῷ προσενέγχατε. Πλείονα γὰρ ἔχετε παῤῥησίαν, ὡς τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ κινδύνους ἀναδεξάμενοι.
Hotan ho chydernētēs ti pathę̄, hē ho prōreus, hē tōn nantōn ho prōtos, tēn echeinou chreian plēroi, ouk autocheirotonētos chydernētēs ginomenos, alla tēs tou skaphous promēthoumenos sōtērias. thytō palin en polemǭ, tou stratēgou pesontos, tōn chiliarchōn ho prōtos tēn stratēgian chosmeiï, ou tēn exousian arpazōn, alla tōn homophylōn phrontizōn. Houtō kai ho trismacharios Timotheos tou thespesiou Paulou ton topon eplērou par᾽ echeinou pempomenos. Prosēkei toinyn tēn sēn theosedeian kai chydernēton, kai stratēgou, kai poimenos spoudēn anadexasthai, kai panta kindynon hyper tōn tou Christou prodatōn meth' hēdonēs katadexasthai, kai mē chatalytein erēma mēde mona ta thremmata: alla kai to syntekai to planōmenon epistrepsai, kai to hygiainon tę̄ hygeią phylaxai, kai tous agathous poimenas mimēsasthai, hoi pro tōn poimniōn hestōsi, kai ton pros tous lykous anadechontai polemon. ᾿Anamnēsthōmen de kai tōn tou patriarchou Iachōd rhēmatōn, ha tou kēdestou tēn acharistian dielenchōn prosēnenken" e« Egō hēmēn synkaiomenos tǭ chaumati tēs hēmeras, kai tǭ pagetǭ tēs nyktos" kai aphistato ho hypnos tōn ophthalmōn. Krious tōn prodatōn sou ou katephagon, thērialōton ouk henēnocha soi. Egō apetinnyon par᾽ emautǭ harpagmata tēs hēmeras kai tēs nyktos. » Houtoi poimenichoi charaktēres, houtoi nomoi tēs tōn prodatōn epimeleias. Ei de alogōn prodatōn tosautēn ho thaumasios anēr epoiēsato pronoian, kai tautēn tǭ pepisteukoti tēn apologian prosēnenken" ti ou poiēteon hēmin, logika men encheiristheisin prooata, para de tou Theou tōn holōn dexamenois tautēn tēn epimeleian, kai logizomenois hoti ho Despotēs hyper toutōn edōchs tēn Psychēn? Tis de ou dedie te kai pede phrichen akouōn tou Theou dia tou ᾿Iexekiēl legontos, hoti e Krinō anameson poimenos kai prodatou, dioti to gala hēsthiete, kai ta eria periedallesthe, kai ta prooata ouk edoschēsate. » Kai palin, hoti e Skopon dedōka se tǭ oikǭ Israēl, kai ean mē diasteilę̄ tǭ anomǭ, tou apostrepsai ton anomon apo tēs hodou au tou tēs ponēras, ho anomos ekeinos en tę̄ anomią hautou apothaneitai, to de haima hautou ek tēs cheiros dou ekzētēsō. » Toutois symphōnei kai ta paratholichōs hypo tou Kyriou eirēmena" « Doule arge kai oknēre, edei se to argyrion mou chatadalein epi ton trapezitēn, chagō elthōn meta tokou apētēsa an auto. » Dianastōmen toinyn, parakalō, kai tōn tou Despotou prothatōn hypermachēsōmen. Engys ho toutōn Despotēs, epiphaneitai pantōs, kai tous lykous aposchedasei, kai tous poimenas doxasei. «᾿Agathos gar Kyrios tois hypomenousin auton, kai psychę̄, hē zētēsei auton.» Kai mē dyscheranōmen ton epanastanta cheimōna᾽ hoide gar to sympheron ho tōn hapantōn Despotēs. Dia touto gar kai tǭ ᾿Apostolǭ aitēsanti tōn peirasmōn tēn apallagēn, tēn aitēsin ou pareschen, all᾽ eipen’ « ᾿Archei soi hē charis mou" hē gar dynamis mou en astheneią teleioutai. » Enenkōmen toinyn gennaiōs ta prospiptonta lypēra͵ En Tois polemois hoi aristeuontes deiknyntai" en tois agōsin hoi athlētai stephanountai᾽ hē tēs thalattēs zalē dēlēn poiei tou kydernētou tēn technēn᾽ to pyr ton chryson dokimazei. Mē monon de hēmōn autōn, parakalō, phrontisōmen, alla pleiona tōn allōn poiēsōmetha pronoian, kai mē monon tōn hygiainontōn, alla pollǭ mallon tōn asthenountōn. ᾿Apostolikos gar esti nomos diarrhēdēn boōn' e Parakaleite tous oligopsychous, antechesthe tōn asthenōn.» Orexōmen toinyn cheire tois keimenois, therapeusōmen autōn ta traumata, stē- ΄sōmen kai autous en tę̄ parataxei kata tou diadolon" ouden auton houtōs aniasei, hōs to palin toutous idein polemountas kai ballontas. Philanthrōpos estin ho Despotēs, dechetai tōn plēmmelountōn tēn metameleian akousōmen autou legontos" e Zō. egō, legei Kyrios" ei thelēsei thelēsō ton thanaton tou hamartōlou, hōs to epistrepsai hauton kai zę̄n? » Dia touto kai orkon tǭ logǭ protetheichen, kai ho tois allois apagoreuōn tous orkous, homōmochen, hina peisę̄ hōs tēs hēmeteras metameleias kai sōtērias ephietai. … Toutōn hai theiai Bioloi mestai, kai hai palaiai, kai hai chainai. Tauta kai hoi kanones tōn hagiōn Paterōn didaskousin. Egō de auta ouk hōs agnoousin hymin gegrapha, all᾽ hōs eidotas anemnēsa“ kai emimēsamēn tous epi tēs gēs hestōtas, kai tois chlydōnizomenois kekrymmenon mēnyontas, hē schoinon dechomenous kai helchontas. Ho de Theos tēs eirēnēs syntripsei ton Satanan hypo tous podas hymōn en tacheï, kai euphranei tas hēmeteras akoas tę̄ hymeter galēnę̄, eipōn tę̄ mainomenę̄ thalattę̄" e Siōpa, pephimōso.» Hymeis de … tas hyper hēmōn proseuchas autǭ prosenenchate. Pleiona gar echete parrhēsian, hōs tous hyper autou kindynous anadexamenoi.
When the pilot meets with some mishap, the bow-officer or the first of the sailors fills his place, not making himself pilot by his own election but taking thought for the safety of the vessel. So again in war, when the general falls, the first of the tribunes takes up the command, not seizing authority but caring for his comrades. So too the thrice-blessed Timothy filled the place of the inspired Paul when he was sent by him. It befits your Godliness, then, to take on the zeal of pilot, general and shepherd, to accept every danger for Christ's sheep gladly, and not to leave the flock deserted and alone, but to … and turn back the straying, to keep the healthy in health, and to imitate the good shepherds who stand in front of their flocks and take up the war against the wolves. Let us remember also the words of the patriarch Jacob, which he spoke in reproof of his father-in-law's ingratitude: 'I was scorched by the heat of the day and by the frost of the night, and sleep departed from my eyes. The rams of your flock I did not eat; what was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I myself made good what was stolen by day and by night.' These are the marks of a shepherd, these the laws of caring for sheep. If that admirable man took such forethought for irrational sheep and offered this defense to the one who had entrusted them to him, what must we not do, we who have been entrusted with rational sheep, who received this charge from the God of the universe, and who reckon that the Master gave his life for them? Who does not fear and shudder hearing God say through Ezekiel: 'I will judge between shepherd and sheep, because you ate the milk and clothed yourselves with the wool, and did not feed the sheep'? And again: 'I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; and if you do not warn the lawless man, to turn the lawless man from his wicked way, that lawless man shall die in his lawlessness, but his blood I will require at your hand.' With this agree the words the Lord spoke in a parable: 'Idle and slothful servant, you ought to have deposited my money with the banker, and on my coming I would have demanded it back with interest.' Let us rise up, then, I beg you, and fight for the Master's sheep. Their Master is near; he will surely appear, scatter the wolves and glorify the shepherds. 'For the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that will seek him.' And let us not be vexed at the storm that has risen; the Master of all knows what is to our profit. That is why, when the Apostle asked for release from his trials, he did not grant the request but said: 'My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Let us bear nobly, then, the painful things that befall us. In wars the champions are revealed; in contests the athletes are crowned; the tossing of the sea shows the pilot's skill; fire tests gold. And let us not, I beg you, care only for ourselves, but take greater forethought for the others, and not only for the healthy but much more for the sick. For there is an apostolic law that cries out plainly: 'Encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak.' Let us stretch out a hand, then, to those who lie fallen, treat their wounds, and set them too in the battle line against the devil; nothing will grieve him so much as to see them fighting and striking again. The Master loves humankind; he accepts the repentance of those who offend. Let us hear him say: 'As I live, says the Lord, do I desire the death of the sinner, and not rather that he turn and live?' For this reason he set an oath before the word, and he who forbids others to swear has sworn, to persuade us that he longs for our repentance and salvation. … The divine books, both old and new, are full of such things. The canons of the holy fathers teach this too. I have written it not as to people who are ignorant, but I have reminded you as people who know; and I have imitated those who stand on land and point out the hidden danger to those tossed by the waves, or catch a rope and pull. 'And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet', and will gladden our ears with your calm, saying to the raging sea, 'Be silent, be still.' And you, … offer your prayers to him for us. For you have greater boldness, since you have taken on dangers for his sake.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
1 Cor 4:17 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Thess 3:2 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 31:40 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 31:38 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 31:39 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 34:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 34:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 3:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 3:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 4:5 (echo, low confidence) · Lam 3:25 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:8 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:9 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Thess 5:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 33:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:34 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 16:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Mark 4:39 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret urges Eusebius, bishop in Persian Armenia, to stand as shepherd of his persecuted flock and to restore with mercy those who have fallen.
- The scan's heading is that of Eusebius, bishop of Persian Armenia, Migne Letter 78 (the staged sequence number 76 is not Migne's). It is a companion to Letter 77 to Eulalius; Eusebius seems to have taken over the care of the church in the bishop's absence (the comparisons of the bow-officer, the tribune and Timothy).
- Quotations: Gen 31:40, 38–39; Ezek 34:3, 17 (combined); Ezek 3:17–18 (33:7–8); Matt 25:26–27 (with Luke 19:23); Lam 3:25; 2 Cor 12:8–9; 1 Thess 5:14; Ezek 33:11; Rom 16:20; Mark 4:39. 'Their Master is near' echoes Phil 4:5; 'he who forbids others to swear' Matt 5:34; 'fire tests gold' recalls Sir 2:5. Timothy sent in Paul's place: 1 Cor 4:17; 1 Thess 3:2.
- Some Greek is lost after 'but to' (probably 'bind up the broken', Ezek 34:4) and after 'and salvation' (a further quotation, unreadable); the scan's Latin debris is removed by logged corrections, and the gaps are marked '…'.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; OCR debris from Migne's Latin column; a line of Greek is lost; OCR debris: Migne's marginal references; OCR debris: Migne's marginal references and Latin column; marginal column letter; marginal letter removed; word rejoined; stray mark): τῷ παγε- Ὦ τῷ → τῷ παγετῷ; » οὑ- Ου 8 δ [(ογ. τν, 17; 1 ΤΊθ858. ἐπ, 1. Οὗτοι → » Οὗτοι; λέγοντός, Α ὅτι → λέγοντός, ὅτι; ᾿Αγαθὸς γὰρ Β Κύριος → ᾿Αγαθὸς γὰρ Κύριος; μᾶλλον ( τῶν → μᾶλλον τῶν; ον 6118 οὔῈ οἷς ἰοφιδηίθῃι : ε« δ δῃἃ Υἱὰ 508 ἰπ}- Οὐ μαῖ οπσυ], οἱ πιδυτῶι δὶ 805 ἢ πη Ϊ 511, Τούτων → … Τούτων; ἢ Ἐγρο ἀλλ᾽ → ἀλλ᾽; εἰπὼν τῇ [ἀπο πὶ Δι γα δ ΤΏτοι. μι, 925. 5011 (οτ. τιι, 9. ἐπιμέλειαν. Α μαινομένῃ → εἰπὼν τῇ μαινομένῃ; Ὑμεῖς δὲ ᾳυΐ οἱ τυ. θυάυπι ογμο Χο ] 6 ἢ [15 ν βίγο πα οαν. πὶ υἱ δὰ 4145 ἢ 1185 τ ἢ] πη ηθ πὶ 56] ρ] 1 χη τὰς → Ὑμεῖς δὲ … τὰς.
Extrabiblical texts: Sir 2:5 (Sirach [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; echo)
Topics: Persecution, Church office
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Ep. 78 (PG 83; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/78). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-epistulae/78
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 83 (archive.org OCR); compared afterwards with Blomfield Jackson's translation in NPNF² 3 (1892).