Resultados25 letters/passages
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
To Ibas, Bishop of Edessa [one of the major cities of Roman Mesopotamia, modern Urfa in southeastern Turkey], I believe it is part of God's providential care for our common salvation that he allows certain calamities to fall upon some people. For the chastened, such misfortunes become a healing remedy. For those alread …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
To Apellion. The sufferings of the people of Carthage would demand — and in their magnitude might exceed — the full power of tragic language, even of an Aeschylus or a Sophocles. Carthage was in the old days taken by the Romans only after tremendous effort. Time and again she contended with Rome for mastery of the worl …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
To Eustathius, Bishop of Aegae, The story of the noble Mary belongs in a tragedy. As she herself says, and as several others confirm, she is a daughter of the distinguished Eudaemon. In the catastrophe that has overtaken Libya [likely the Vandal conquest of North Africa], she has fallen from her father's free estate in …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
Theodoret to Ibas, Bishop of Edessa. What I have long feared has now come to pass. The enemies of the true faith, emboldened by the silence of those who should resist them, press their advantage with growing audacity. Yet I take comfort in the knowledge that Your Holiness stands firm, a rock amid the rising tide. I ask …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
To the Monks of Euphratensis, Osrhoene, Syria, Phoenicia, and Cilicia, When I contemplate the state of the Church at this present crisis -- the tempest that has struck the holy ship, the furious blasts, the beating waves, the deep darkness of the night, and beyond all this the strife of the sailors, the struggle among …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
To the Patrician Areobindas. In distributing wealth and poverty among human beings, the Creator and Governor of all renders no unjust judgment. He gives the poverty of the poor to the rich as an instrument of good — so that those who have wealth will have the means, and the occasion, to show kindness to mankind. This y …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
I have entrusted this message to the reverend and godly presbyters Hypatius and Abramius, chorepiscopi [rural bishops], and Alypius, head of our monks. I would come to you myself, but I am held back by the chains of the imperial order. Treat my messengers, I beg you, as a father treats his sons. Give them a kind and im …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To Anatolius the Patrician, Your excellency is fully aware of the acts of the "most righteous" judges at Ephesus. Their fame has spread to every land, and their "most just" verdict has reached the ends of the earth. What church has not felt this storm? One side inflicted the wrong; the other suffered it. But even those …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
God knew perfectly well the wickedness of those men, yet He said, "I will go down and see" -- teaching us to wait for the proof of facts. But these judges never summoned me to trial. They never heard the sound of my voice. They refused to let me state my beliefs. They handed me over, like a victim for slaughter, to the …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Even murderers, grave-robbers, and adulterers are not condemned by their judges until they have either confessed or been clearly convicted by testimony. Yet I, raised as I have been in the divine laws, was condemned at his pleasure while I was thirty-five days' journey away. Nor is this all. Just last year, when two me …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To Bishop Timotheus, The supreme Ruler does not allow the forces of evil to stir up waves of impiety without purpose. He does so to test the courage of His sailors: displaying some men's bravery, exposing others' cowardice, stripping the mask from those who put on an appearance of piety, and crowning others as champion …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To Renatus the Presbyter, We have heard of the warm and righteous zeal of your holiness -- the just and outspoken boldness you displayed in condemning the outrageous proceedings at Ephesus [the "Robber Synod" of 449 AD]. This is not known to us alone. The fame of your orthodoxy has spread everywhere, and people on all …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To Constantius, Prefect, If no pressing need compelled me to write to your greatness, I might rightly be accused of presumption -- of failing to measure myself or to recognize the weight of your office. But the last remnants of the city and district God has entrusted to my care are in danger of complete ruin, and certa …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Nevertheless, as long as I am here, I will not cease to serve the interests of this father of ours, knowing that the impious have wronged him. My wish is that both your piety and I could be done with all of this. There is nothing good to hope for, since all the judges put their trust in gold, and they all maintain that …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Command me to come to you, and let me prove that my teaching follows in the footsteps of the apostles. I have in my possession writings from twenty years ago, from eighteen, fifteen, twelve years ago -- works against Arians and Eunomians, against Jews and pagans, against the Persian magi, on divine Providence, on theol …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To Aerius the Sophist. Now is the moment for your Academy to prove the value of all your discussions. I am told that a brilliant circle gathers at your house — men distinguished by birth and polished in speech — and that you debate together about virtue, the immortality of the soul, and kindred themes. Show now, in a c …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To the Patrician Anatolius, Your greatness knows well how all the people of the East feel toward your magnificence -- as children feel toward a loving father. Why then have you shown coldness to those who love you, withdrawn your generous care, and driven everyone to tears by putting your own interests ahead of public …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Your recent writings, too, show your apostolic character. We have read what your holiness wrote concerning the incarnation of our God and Savior [Leo's famous "Tome"], and we marveled at the precision of your language. For both documents set forth both the everlasting Godhead of the Only-begotten, derived from the ever …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To the Monks of Constantinople, There is nothing new or surprising in the fact that men who have sharpened their tongues against our God and Savior should also aim their arrows of falsehood at His faithful servants. The servants who grieve deeply at the outrage to their Master must expect to share in it. The Lord Himse …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Festal. When the only-begotten God took on human flesh and accomplished our salvation, those who lived in those days and saw with their own eyes the source of these blessings held no particular feast in response. But in our time, land and sea, city and village, though unable to see their benefactor with bodily eyes, ke …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To the Learned Elias. Legislators have framed laws to protect the oppressed. Advocates have practiced the orator's art to defend those who need a fair hearing. You, my friend, have mastered both eloquence and the law. Now put your skill to use — bear down the oppressors, lift up those they have crushed, and shield the …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
I have authored more than thirty books -- against Arius and Eunomius, against Marcion, against Macedonius, against pagans and against Jews. I have interpreted the holy Scriptures, and anyone who wishes can easily verify that I have followed in the apostles' footsteps, proclaiming one Son, one Father, and one Holy Spiri …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Theodoret to Andreas, Bishop of Samosata. The storm that assails the churches does not abate, and the clouds grow thicker by the day. Those who should be pilots steering the ship through the tempest seem instead to be drilling holes in the hull. But let us not lose heart. He who rebuked the winds and the sea and brough …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To the Count Apollonius, The most devout bishops have been driven to travel to the capital by the slanders directed against me. Through their holinesses I send your excellency my greeting and pay the debt of friendship -- not to cancel that cherished obligation, but to increase it. For the debts of friendship grow larg …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To the Augusta Pulcheria [Pulcheria was the elder sister of Emperor Theodosius II and a powerful political figure in her own right, known for her staunch orthodoxy], Since you adorn the empire with your piety and make the imperial purple shine brighter by your faith, I am emboldened to write to you -- setting aside my …