Resultados25 letters/passages
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It seems an entirely honorable and necessary undertaking to petition a pious Emperor for the security of the Roman state, since it is fitting to seek from you what can benefit our liberty. For among all the blessings God has uniquely granted you, nothing is more glorious than the knowledge that you have the power to gi …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
We give thanks to God, to whom the peace of kings is always welcome, that you have declared our accession most pleasing to your clemency. It is clear that you can love one whom you are glad to see reach the summit of kingship. This is how a man should be received who presumed to be elevated through your favor. Grant th …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
My Senate grows in honors, increases ceaselessly in wealth. "Do not through discord scatter what you ought to defend through war. I have had many kings, but never one so learned. I have had wise men, but none so distinguished in both learning and devotion. I love this son of the Amal line [Witigis], nursed at my breast …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
You will recall, wisest of Emperors, that both through our ambassadors and through the very eloquent Peter, whom Your Piety recently sent to us, we have shown how earnestly we desire harmony with your August Serenity. Now again, through the same most holy man, I thought it right to repeat these appeals — so that you ma …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.02
3. What, then, could I do? Should I not hear? But I could not close my ears with the wax of ancient fables. Should I speak what I heard? But I was forced to guard my words against the very thing I feared from your commands — that some act of bloodshed would be carried out. Should I keep silent? But then my conscience w …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.02
For the one is a sign of humility, the other of contempt. For the Word of God Himself tells us that He prefers obedience to His commandments over the offering of sacrifice. God proclaims this, Moses declares it to the people, Paul preaches it to the Gentiles. Do what you understand to be most beneficial for the present …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
[1] The grace of Your Piety delights us so deeply that whatever might contribute to our honor, we gladly seek from your side — because such requests are more properly called marks of mutual friendship than signs of need. For the gifts exchanged between allies do not diminish the giver but enrich both parties, and what …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
… hing is hidden that will not be made known" (Luke 8:17). So I complied with the imperial will as respectfully as I could, taking care that you would have no reason for displeasure when I arranged that nothing of the imperial decrees would be reported to me. When present, I would either fail to hear — because everyone e …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
I dare not offer the sacrifice [the Eucharist] if you intend to be present. Is what is not permitted after shedding the blood of one innocent person, permitted after shedding the blood of many? I do not think so. 14. Finally, I am writing with my own hand what only you may read. As I hope that the Lord will deliver me …
epistulae_austrasicae · c. 534 · score 0.01
To the most august and ever-victorious Emperor Justinian, greetings in Christ from Theudebert, king of the Franks, The God who rules over kings has granted me the inheritance of my father's throne, and my first duty in assuming that inheritance is to secure the friendships that my father valued. Among those friendships …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Most merciful Emperor, how deeply I desire the sweetness of your favor can be understood from this alone: that after so many grievous injuries, after so much bloodshed, I still seek your peace as though no one on your side had ever harmed us. We have endured things that could offend even those who inflicted them — pros …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
And David too, when he held the kingdom and heard that innocent Abner had been killed by Joab, his army commander, said: "I am guiltless, and my kingdom is guiltless from this day forward of the blood of Abner, son of Ner," and he fasted in grief. 11. I have written this not to humiliate you, but so that the examples o …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
To Olympias Do not be anxious on my behalf, nor rack yourself with solicitude, on account of the severity of the winter, and the weakness of my digestion, and the incursions of the Isaurians. For the winter is only what it is wont to be in Armenia; nothing more need be said about it; and it does not very seriously inju …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
Isaiah 40:6 2. Nevertheless, you will say, adversity is a terrible thing and grievous to be borne. Yet look at it again compared with another image and then also learn to despise it. For the railings, and insults, and reproaches, and gibes inflicted by enemies, and their plots are compared to a worn-out garment, and mo …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
For since he had been an enemy and adversary what he wrote was above suspicion even in the opinion of enemies. 3. Do you see the abundance of resource belonging to God? His wisdom, His extraordinary power, His loving-kindness and care? Be not therefore dismayed or troubled but continue to give thanks to God for all thi …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
Yet I would rather have died than not wait two or three days for your arrival. But it was not possible for me to do so. 6. What was done in the city of Thessalonica [the massacre of approximately 7,000 people in the hippodrome in retaliation for the murder of the Gothic military commander Butheric] has no parallel in r …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
It follows therefore that you should deem this the greatest encouragement, and the crown of your consolation. Do not call your household desolate, which has now a higher place assigned to it in Heaven by reason of the sufferings which it endures. I was grievously distressed on account of Pelagius the monk. Consider the …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
For what is there grievous in inhabiting a prison and wearing a chain? Or in being ill-treated when it is the occasion of so much gain? Or why should exile be grievous or confiscation of goods? These are mere words, destitute of any terrible reality, words void of sorrow. For if you speak of death you only mention that …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
Letters to Olympias The deaconess Olympias to whom seventeen of Chrysostom's extant letters are addressed was the most eminent of his female friends. She belonged to a Pagan family of high rank, and was born about 368. Her father Seleucus who was a count of the Empire died when she was a young girl and she was brought …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
For as that poor woman when she had cast two mites into the treasury surpassed all those who had cast in more, because she used up her whole substance: even so they who devote themselves to the work in hand with all their might discharge it completely, so far as they are concerned, even if nothing results from it, and …
symmachus · c. 382 · score 0.01
Although I know that modesty is kin to virtue, I nevertheless wished to find in the letters of your highness an abundance befitting the glory of your great achievements. First, because friendship demanded it -- you should not have feared the stain of boasting before one who loves you. Second, because you are as eloquen …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
Yet I have survived all these things, and now I am in sound health, and great security, so that all Armenians are astonished that with such a feeble and flimsy frame as mine I can support such an intolerable amount of cold, or that I can breathe at all, when those who are habituated to the winter are suffering from it …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
Are you not aware how great an evil despondency is? As to the Isaurians, dismiss your fears in future concerning them: for they have returned into their own country: and the governor has done everything necessary in this respect; and I am in far greater security here than when I was in Cæsarea. For in future I have no …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
I beg you not to neglect what I am about to say, but to pay diligent heed to it. The Marsian and Gothic monks where the Bishop Serapion has constantly been concealed have informed me that Moduarius the deacon has come bringing word that Unilas, that excellent bishop whom I lately ordained and sent into Gothia, has been …
chrysostom · c. 405 · score 0.01
To My Lady The most reverend and divinely favored deaconess Olympias, I John, Bishop, send greeting in the Lord. 1. Come now let me relieve the wound of your despondency, and disperse the thoughts which gather this cloud of care around you. For what is it which upsets your mind, and why are you sorrowful and dejected? …