This letter follows I.15 to Antoninus and keeps Severus' characteristic mix of wit, reproach, and warmth. Source id I.16; Brooks page 61; source-facing English extracted by body markers from the Archive OCR text; original Syriac source-text backfill remains pending.
About the accusation that I stayed silent after the feast of salvation, which you attack as though it violated justice, the facts themselves will acquit me. Before any charge was made, I had already sent Your Holiness a letter through John, the eloquent scholastic. Still, you should know that the resurrection greeting should begin with a letter from you, just as it does with the other God-loving bishops. You cannot expect the harvest before you have sown the seed.
You also joked cleverly about our poverty, saying that the devout Mark came to us to give gifts, not to receive anything. I thanked your sacred soul even for that, and I showed him every duty of love that did not require expense. If some people use mildness as a mask for tolerating presumptuous acts against Christ, they contradict themselves. I return, then, to the beginning of the letter and pray for Your God-loving Reverence with affection that is both fervent and humble. Who could read your modest words and not be ashamed into love?
As for the accusation in the matter of the silence after the feast of salvation, which you attack as if it had been a violation of justice, I shall be acquitted by the experience of fact. For indeed before the charge itself was made at all I had already sent a letter to your sanctity by John the eloquent scholastic. Never- theless you must know that the greeting which is given at the festival of the saving Resurrection should always begin by a letter from you, as is the established rule with regard to the other God-loving bishops also. How is it then that, when you had not yet cast the ^ Ps. cxxxviii. 2 1. - De. xxiv. i6. ^ This clause is perliaps corrupt: the negative seems superfluous. seed, you were thinking- about the things that spring from that? With a clever jest at our poverty or our need you said that the devout Mark came to us in order to give presents, not in order to receive anything, and therefore we thanked your sacred soul in this matter also, and readily showed towards him too all the duties of love without expense, making the inter- course with him to consist of a cheerful face, a serene brought by him with torches and spices. Also on the subject^ of the estates that are near the hamlet called Beth Remsha but of right belong to your holy church, we are exerting all our ability, and will cause measures to be taken that will accord with justice and also satisfy you. As to the Jews, as soon as I received your letter and found a convenient time, I thouo-ht good to prescribe a course to you in a few words. You must apply the distinction made by the apostolic laws of the wise Paul, who in speaking of matters relating to us cries, " Avenge not yourselves, my beloved, but give place unto wrath,"' and " 'Mine is vengeance and I will repay,' saith the Lord," -^ but in speaking of pre- sumptuous deeds against God says, " If a man despise Moses' law, he dieth without mercy at the mouth of two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punish- ment think ye that he will be worthy who hath trampled on the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant whereby he was sanctified a 1 vTTo^co-ts - Ro. xii. 19. common thing", and hath done des])itc unto the Spirit of grace? " ^ All who took part in the sin should, in my opinion, be subjected to a penalty, in order that even in future time the action taken may be a lawful example to those who dare to do the same things. Knowing therefore that this is our mind on this matter, p. 70. carry out what ought to be done with the help of God, even though hereafter we appear to write something that goes farther in the way of concession or is more ambiguous, avoiding however the appearance of con- tradicting ourselves. This I say on account of certain men who show, as they think, philosophy and clemency in the case of presumptuous deeds done against Christ. But I bring my words back like some ship to the prelude"" or beginning" of the letter, and again pray on behalf of your love of God with a disposition that is at the same time fervent and humble, one that exacts from us the debts of love and stirs our coldness to spiritual affection. For who is there, even though he be a man of no feeling, who would not be put to shame by such modest words as are written by you
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About the accusation that I stayed silent after the feast of salvation, which you attack as though it violated justice, the facts themselves will acquit me. Before any charge was made, I had already sent Your Holiness a letter through John, the eloquent scholastic. Still, you should know that the resurrection greeting should begin with a letter from you, just as it does with the other God-loving bishops. You cannot expect the harvest before you have sown the seed.
You also joked cleverly about our poverty, saying that the devout Mark came to us to give gifts, not to receive anything. I thanked your sacred soul even for that, and I showed him every duty of love that did not require expense. If some people use mildness as a mask for tolerating presumptuous acts against Christ, they contradict themselves. I return, then, to the beginning of the letter and pray for Your God-loving Reverence with affection that is both fervent and humble. Who could read your modest words and not be ashamed into love?
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.
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