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| To Theoctistus, Bishop of Berœa.
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CXXXIV. To
Theoctistus, Bishop of Berœa.1965
| 1965 This letter marks the change in the condition of affairs which
followed on the death of Theodosius on July 29, 450, and the accession
of Pulcheria and Marcian. Eutyches was exiled, the eunuch Chrysaphius
banished and executed, and Theodoret recalled. It may be placed in the
autumn of 450 or early in 451. The earlier letter (xxxii) to
Theoctistus claims on behalf of Celestinianus a kindness which
Theodoret in his then hour of need had failed to receive. |
Our Saviour, Lawgiver, and Lord,
was once asked, “What is the first commandment?” His reply
was “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” And He added
“This is the first commandment: and the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Then He said further
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.”1966
He then who keeps these,
according to the definition of the Lord, plainly fulfils the Law; and
he who transgresses them is guilty of transgressing the whole Law.
Let us then examine, before the exact and righteous tribunal of our
conscience, whether we have fulfilled the divine commandments. Now the
first is kept by him who guards the faith given by God in its
integrity, who abominates its assailants as enemies of the truth and
hates heartily all those who hate the beloved; and the second by him
who most highly esteems the care of his neighbour and who, not only in
prosperity but also in apparent misfortunes, observes the laws of
friendship. They, on the other hand, who look after their own safety,
as they suppose, who on its account make little of the laws of
friendship and take no heed of their friends when assaulted and
attacked, are reckoned to belong to the number of the wicked and of
them that are without. The Lord of all requires better things at the
hands of His disciples. “Love” He says “your enemies,
for if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? for the
sinners and the publicans do this.”1967
| 1967 cf. Matt. v. 44; 46
instead of τίνα μισθὸν
ἔχετε; the text
has τί
πλέον
ποιεῖτε | I, however, have not received even such
kindness as publicans receive. Publicans, do I say? I have not even
received the consolation given to murderers and wizards in their
dungeons. If every one had imitated this cruelty, nothing else would
have been left then for me in my life time but to be wasted by want,
and, at my death, instead of being committed to a tomb, to be made
meat1968
| 1968 The use of the somewhat rare and poetical word Βορά suggests a possible allusion to several well known passages in the
dramatists; e.g. Æsch. Pr. 583, Soph. Ant. 30 and Eur. Phœn.
1603. | for dogs and wild beasts. But I have
found support in those who care nought for this present life, but await
the enjoyment of everlasting blessings, and these furnish me with
manifold consolation. But the loving Lord “caused judgment to be
heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to
judgment.”1969
But the wicked
shall perish.1970
The falsehood of
the new heresy has been proscribed, and the truth of the divine Gospels
is publicly proclaimed. I for my part exclaim with the blessed David,
“Blessed be the Lord God who only doeth wondrous things, and
blessed be His glorious name: and let the whole earth be filled with
His glory; amen and amen.”1971
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