The Epistle of Theonas, Bishop
of Alexandria, to Lucianus, the Chief Chamberlain.1286
| 1286 In
Dacherii Spicilegium, iii. pp. 297–299. |
————————————
Bishop Theonas to Lucianus, the Chief
Chamberlain of Our Most Invincible Emperor.
I.
I give thanks to Almighty God and our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has not given over the manifesting of His faith throughout
the whole world, as the sole specific for our salvation,1287
| 1287
In salutis nostræ unicum remedium. |
and the
extending of it even in the course of the persecutions of
despots. Yea, like
gold reduced in the
furnace, it has only been
made to shine the more under the
storms of persecution, and its
truth
and grandeur have only become always the more and more illustrious, so
that now,
peace being granted to the
churches by our gracious
prince,
the works of
Christians are shining even in sight of the unbelieving,
and
God your
Father, who is in
heaven, is
glorified thereby;
1288
a thing
which, if we desire to be
Christians in
deed rather than in word, we
ought to
seek and aspire after as our first object on account of our
salvation. For if we
seek our own
glory, we set our desire upon a
vain and perishing object, and one which leads ourselves on to
death. But the
glory of the
Father and of the Son, who for our
salvation was
nailed to the
cross, makes us
safe for the
everlasting
redemption; and that is the greatest
hope of
Christians.
Wherefore, my Lucianus, I neither suppose nor
desire that you should make it a matter of boasting, that by your means
many persons belonging to the palace of the emperor have been brought
to the knowledge of the truth; but rather does it become us to give the
thanks to our God who has made thee a good instrument for a good work,
and has raised thee to great honour with the emperor, that you might
diffuse the sweet savour of the Christian name to His own glory and to
the salvation of many. For just the more completely that the
emperor himself, though not yet attached1289
to the
Christian religion, has
entrusted the care of his
life and person to these same
Christians as
his more
faithful servants, so much the more careful ought ye to be,
and the more
diligent and watchful in seeing to his
safety and in
attending upon him, so that the name of
Christ may be greatly
glorified
thereby, and His
faith
extended
daily through you who wait upon the
emperor. For in old
times some former
princes thought us malevolent and filled with all
manner of
crime; but now, seeing your good works, they should not be
able to
avoid glorifying Christ Himself.
1290
| 1290 [A
beautiful concern of our author for the honour of the Master seems to
have dictated this noble letter. Matt. v. 16.] |
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