Letter 128: The pleasures of the body are smooth-tongued and dangerously enchanting.
Isidore of Pelusium→Orion|c. 400 AD|Isidore of Pelusium|To Orion (recipient)|AI-assisted
monasticism
To Orion.
That in former times the Church of Christ had both illustrious teachers and approved disciples, I know with great precision; for in my own time too, and not only long ago, both of these things have come to pass. And that even now this is not impossible to come about, as you say, but possible, is not in doubt. For if the foundation is firmly laid down by the instructors, and they cease from their tyranny and display a fatherly solicitude, then it will be permitted to consider in what manner their subjects shall be saved; but before the foundation has been rightly laid, I consider it quite superfluous to make a discourse about the coping-stone [the topmost finishing stone of a structure, here a figure for the final, crowning matter]. For those men will not be willing to be persuaded, even if they hear it ten thousand times, unless they learn it through deeds. The present occasion, then, has need of much counsel and forethought; yet I do not consider it the most difficult thing to know what one ought to advise. But this is my perplexity: in what manner to speak to them. For I am persuaded with precision, from the things of which I am aware both as a present witness and by inquiry, that they hold most of the divine ordinances [Scripture's commandments] in contempt, because they have no wish to do what is required, and so they do not understand. I exhort them, therefore, if I should speak with frankness, to bear with this, seeing whether I speak the truth, and also that they may become better. For it is from flattering certain men that the affairs of the Christians have fallen into such confusion. What, then, must one do? I will say it concisely, and I will not conceal it. If they consider the divine Scriptures to be myths, let them practice silence; but if they consider them to be truly heavenly statutes, let them first act, and then let them harangue the people; for if they themselves are not such men, the divine law shuts their mouth.
That in former times the Church of Christ had both illustrious teachers and approved disciples, I know with great precision; for in my own time too, and not only long ago, both of these things have come to pass. And that even now this is not impossible to come about, as you say, but possible, is not in doubt. For if the foundation is firmly laid down by the instructors, and they cease from their tyranny and display a fatherly solicitude, then it will be permitted to consider in what manner their subjects shall be saved; but before the foundation has been rightly laid, I consider it quite superfluous to make a discourse about the coping-stone [the topmost finishing stone of a structure, here a figure for the final, crowning matter]. For those men will not be willing to be persuaded, even if they hear it ten thousand times, unless they learn it through deeds. The present occasion, then, has need of much counsel and forethought; yet I do not consider it the most difficult thing to know what one ought to advise. But this is my perplexity: in what manner to speak to them. For I am persuaded with precision, from the things of which I am aware both as a present witness and by inquiry, that they hold most of the divine ordinances [Scripture's commandments] in contempt, because they have no wish to do what is required, and so they do not understand. I exhort them, therefore, if I should speak with frankness, to bear with this, seeing whether I speak the truth, and also that they may become better. For it is from flattering certain men that the affairs of the Christians have fallen into such confusion. What, then, must one do? I will say it concisely, and I will not conceal it. If they consider the divine Scriptures to be myths, let them practice silence; but if they consider them to be truly heavenly statutes, let them first act, and then let them harangue the people; for if they themselves are not such men, the divine law shuts their mouth.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.