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 Claudianus, The divine celebration [Easter or a major feast] has brought us its usual spiritual blessings, but the bitter fruits of sin have not allowed us to enjoy them with a glad heart. Sin has always produced the same harvest: in the beginning it brought forth thorns, thistles, sweat, toil, and pain. Now it shak …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
To Candidus, Presbyter and Archimandrite, I am afraid that the vigor of your godly spirit has been overcome by old age, and that you can no longer keep your hands stretched out as you once did. So Amalek is trying to prevail. May there be people to support your weakness, just as Aaron and Hur once held up the hands of …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.02
To Bishop Romulus, You have reminded me of the ancient story -- how the king of Syria, knowing the merciful reputation of the kings of Israel, assumed the posture of a suppliant and did not fail to obtain his petition [1 Kings 20:31-34]. But remember, my lord, the divine wrath that followed: God delivered Ahab to utter …
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 0.02
Festal greeting. We are in great distress -- for we are made of flesh, not stone. But the remembrance of the Lord's Epiphany [the feast celebrating Christ's baptism and manifestation to the world] has proved a powerful medicine. So at once I write, as the custom of the feast requires, and greet your magnificence with a …
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 John, Bishop of Antioch, I have been deeply distressed reading the anathemas you sent me and asked me to refute in writing, making their heretical meaning plain to all. I am distressed at the thought that a man appointed to the shepherd's office, entrusted with the care of so great a flock, and charged with healing …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
But I will say no more about these men. The Lord's tribunal is near, where what is required is not stage performance but the reality of life. I beg your excellency to express my thanks to the Christ-loving emperor and the godly Augusta for making true religion the firm root of their pious empire. Implore their majestie …
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
I see where you stand, and to some extent I pardon your timidity. But the loving Lord has now removed all grounds for cowardice. He has exposed the fraudulent heresy and revealed the plain truth of the Gospels. I have heard that the man who shares your holiness's roof, when he learned that anathemas had been published …
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
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
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
To the Patrician Anatolius, The Lord God has given your excellency to us as a great source of comfort in these times, providing a safe harbor in the storm. We therefore have confidence in bringing our distress to your lordship's attention. Not long ago I informed your excellency that the right honorable Count Rufus had …
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
To the Master Vincomalus, I am deeply astonished to learn that your magnificence, though quite unacquainted with me personally and knowing only that I had been wronged, stood up as my advocate and left no means untried to undo the conspiracy against me. Your excellency will surely receive recompense from our generous L …
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 …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Report of the Bishops of the East to the Emperor, On receiving your piety's letter we hoped that the Egyptian storm which has struck the churches of God would be driven away. But we have been disappointed. Those men have been made even more reckless by their madness. They have paid no attention to the sentence of depos …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To Eulalius, Bishop of Persian Armenia, I know that Satan has sought "to sift you as wheat" [Luke 22:31], and that the Lord has allowed it -- so that he might display the wheat, prove the gold, crown the athletes, and proclaim the victors' names. Nevertheless, I fear and tremble. Not for your sake -- you are noble cham …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
Theodoret, Festal Letter. The feast of our salvation has once again dawned upon us, bringing with it the light that scatters the darkness of sin and the warmth that thaws the chill of despair. Even amid the troubles that beset us on every side, the celebration of the Lord's mighty works renews our strength and lifts ou …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
To Andiberis, The reverend presbyter Peter is distinguished not only by his priestly rank but also by his skill as a physician. During his long residence with us he has won everyone over with his agreeable character. When he learned of my departure, he decided to leave Cyrrhus as well. I commend him to your excellency. …