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| Letter to Dracontius. Written A.D. 354 or 355.
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Letter
XLIX.—Letter to Dracontius4599
| 4599 Dracontius, Bishop of Hermupolis Parva, was one of the bishops
expelled from their sees, 356–7. His place of exile was the
desert near ‘Clysma,’ i.e. the gulf of Suez (Hist.
Ar. 75, cf. Hieron. Vit. Hilar. 30). We find him in 362 at
the Council of Alexandria. The present letter, written to urge
Dracontius not to refuse the Episcopate, was written just before Easter
(§10), when persecution was expected (§3), and after the
mission of Serapion, Ammonius and others to Constantius, a.d. 353. It was probably written, therefore, early either
in 354 or 355. The letter is one of the masterpieces of Athanasius: its
unforced warmth, vigour, and affection can fail to touch no one who
reads it. It is, like the letter to Amun, one of our most important
documents for the history of Egyptian Monasticism. (Migne xxv. 524
sqq.) | . Written a.d. 354 or 355.
I am at a loss how to
write. Am I to blame you for your
refusal? or for having regard to the trials, and hiding for fear of the
Jews4600
? In any case, however it may be, what you
have done is worthy of blame, beloved Dracontius. For it was not
fitting that after receiving the grace you should hide, nor that, being
a wise man, you should furnish others with a pretext for flight. For
many are offended when they hear it; not merely that you have done
this, but that you have done it having regard to the times and to the
afflictions which are weighing upon the Church. And I fear lest, in
flying for your own sake, you prove to be in peril in the sight of the
Lord on account of others. For if ‘he that offendeth one of the
little ones, should rather choose that a mill stone were hanged about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea4601
,’ what can be in store for you, if you
prove an offence to so many? For the surprising unanimity about your
election in the district4602
| 4602 Hermupolis Parva was in the nome, or department, of Alexandria
(anciently called the nome of Hermupolis in the Delta), and lay on a
canal 44 miles east of the Capital; it is identified with
Damanhur. Agathammon, a Meletian bishop of this
‘district,’ is mentioned in the list, Apol. Ar. 71,
where the district of ‘Sais’ seems to include a much wider
area than the ancient Saite nome (Maspero. Hist. Anc. 4, p.
24). | of Alexandria will
of necessity be broken up by your retirement: and the episcopate of the
district will be grasped at by many,—and many unfit persons, as
you are well aware. And many heathen who were promising to become
Christians upon your election will remain heathen, if your piety sets
at nought the grace given you.
2. What defence will you offer for such conduct?
With what arguments will you be able to wash away and efface such an
impeachment? How will you heal those who on your account are fallen and
offended? Or how will you be able to restore the broken peace? Beloved
Dracontius, you have caused us grief instead of joy, groaning instead
of consolation. For we expected to have you with us as a consolation;
and now we behold you in flight, and that you will be convicted in
judgment, and when upon your trial will repent it. And ‘Who shall
have pity upon thee4603
,’ as the
Prophet says, who will turn his mind to you for peace, when he sees the
brethren for whom Christ died injured on account of your flight? For
you must know, and not be in doubt, that while before your election you
lived to yourself, after it, you live for your flock. And before you
had received the grace of the episcopate, no one knew you; but after
you became one, the laity expect you to bring them food, namely
instruction from the Scriptures. When then they expect, and suffer
hunger, and you are feeding yourself4604
only, and our
Lord Jesus Christ comes and we stand before Him, what defence will you
offer when He sees His own sheep hungering? For had you not taken the
money, He would not have blamed you. But He would reasonably do so if
upon taking it you dug and buried it,—in the words which God
forbid that your piety should ever hear: ‘Thou oughtest to have
given my money to the bankers, that when I came I might demand it of
them4605
.’
3. I beseech you, spare yourself and us.
Yourself, lest you run into peril; us, lest we be grieved because of
you. Take thought of the Church, lest many of the little ones be
injured on your account, and the others be given an occasion of
withdrawing. Nay but if you feared the times and acted as you did from
timidity, your mind is not manly; for in such a case you ought to
manifest zeal for Christ, and rather meet circumstances boldly, and use
the language of blessed Paul: ‘in all these things we are more
than conquerors4606
;’ and the
more so in that we ought to serve not the time, but the Lord4607
| 4607 Rom. xii. 11, and Westcott and
Hort on various reading. | . But if the organising of the Churches is
distasteful to you, and you do not think the ministry of the episcopate
has its reward, why, then you have brought yourself to despise the
Saviour that ordered these things. I beseech you, dismiss such ideas,
nor tolerate those who advise you in such a sense, for this is not
worthy of Dracontius. For the order the Lord has established by the
Apostles abides fair and firm; but the cowardice of the brethren shall
cease4608
| 4608 It
should be observed that the fear of Dracontius was, not that he would
suffer in dignity by becoming a bishop, but lest he should
deteriorate spiritually (§8, init.). Cf. the dying
soliloquy of Pope Eugenius IV.: ‘Gabriele, hadst thou never been
Pope nor Cardinal it had been better for thy salvation.’ See also
S. Bernard, de Consideratione. | .
4. For if all were of the same mind as your
present advisers, how would you have become a Christian, since there
would be no bishops? Or if our successors are to inherit this state of
mind, how will the Churches be able to hold together? Or do your
advisers think that you have received nothing, that they despise it? If
so surely they are wrong. For it is time for them to think that the
grace of the Font is nothing, if some are found to despise it. But
you have received it, beloved
Dracontius; do not tolerate your advisers nor deceive yourself. For
this will be required of you by the God who gave it. Have you not heard
the Apostle say, ‘Neglect not the gift that is in thee4609
?’ or have you not read how he accepts
the man that had doubled his money, while he condemned the one that had
hidden it? But may it come to pass that you may quickly return, in
order that you too may be one of those who are praised. Or tell me,
whom do your advisers wish you to imitate? For we ought to walk by the
standard of the saints and the fathers, and imitate them, and to be
sure that if we depart from them we put ourselves also out of their
fellowship. Whom then do they wish you to imitate? The one who
hesitated, and while wishing to follow, delayed it and took counsel
because of his family4610
, or blessed Paul,
who, the moment the stewardship was entrusted to him,
‘straightway conferred not with flesh and blood4611
?’ For although he said, ‘I am
not worthy to be called an Apostle4612
,’ yet,
knowing what he had received, and being not ignorant of the giver, he
wrote, ‘For woe is me if I preach not the gospel4613
.’ But, as it was ‘woe to
me’ if he did not preach, so, in teaching and preaching the
gospel, he had his converts as his joy and crown4614
. This explains why the saint4615
| 4615 Reading τῷ
ἁγί& 251· as proposed
by Montf. | was zealous to preach as far as Illyricum,
and not to shrink from proceeding to Rome4616
,
or even going as far as the Spains4617
, in order that
the more he laboured, he might receive so much the greater reward for
his labour. He boasted then that he had fought the good fight, and was
confident that he should receive the great crown4618
. Therefore, beloved Dracontius, whom are you
imitating in your present action? Paul, or men unlike him? For my part,
I pray that you, and myself, may prove an imitator of all the
saints.
5. Or possibly there are some who advise you to
hide, because you have given your word upon oath not to accept the
office if elected. For I hear that they are buzzing in your ears to
this effect, and consider that they are thus acting conscientiously.
But if they were truly conscientious, they would above all have feared
God, Who imposed this ministry upon you. Or if they had read the divine
Scriptures, they would not have advised you contrary to them. For it is
time for them to blame Jeremiah also, and to impeach the great Moses,
in that they did not listen to their advice, but fearing God fulfilled
their ministry, and prophesying were made perfect. For they also when
they had received their mission and the grace of Prophecy, refused. But
afterwards they feared, and did not set at nought Him that sent them.
Whether then you be of stammering utterance, and slow of tongue, yet
fear God that made you, or if you call yourself too young to preach,
yet reverence Him Who knew you before you were made. Or if you have
given your word (now their word was to the saints as an oath), yet read
Jeremiah, how he too had said, ‘I will not name the Name of the
Lord4619
,’ yet afterwards he feared the fire
kindled within him, and did not do as he had said, nor hid himself as
if bound by an oath, but reverenced Him that had entrusted to him his
office, and fulfilled the prophetic call. Or are you not aware,
beloved, that Jonah also fled, but met with the fate that befel him,
after which he returned and prophesied?
6. Do not then entertain counsels opposite to
this. For the Lord knows our case better than we ourselves, and He
knows to whom He is entrusting His Churches. For even if a man be not
worthy, yet let him not look at his former life, but let him carry out
his ministry, lest, in addition to his life he incur also the curse of
negligence. I ask you, beloved Dracontius, whether knowing this, and
being a wise man, you are not pricked in your soul? Do you not feel
anxious lest any of those entrusted to you should perish? Do you not
burn, as with a fire in your conscience? Are you not in fear of the day
of judgment, in which none of your present advisers will be there to
aid you? For each shall give account of those entrusted to his hands.
For how did his excuse benefit the man who hid the money? Or how did it
benefit Adam to say, ‘The woman beguiled me4620
?’ Beloved Dracontius, even if you are
really weak, yet you ought to take up the charge, lest, the Church
being unoccupied, the enemies injure it, taking advantage of your
flight. You should gird yourself up, so as not to leave us alone in the
struggle; you should labour with us, in order to receive the reward
also along with all.
7. Make haste then, beloved, and tarry no longer,
nor suffer those who would prevent you: but remember Him that has
given, and come hither to us who love you, who give you Scriptural
advice, in order that you may both be installed by ourselves, and, as
you minister in the churches make remembrance of us. For you are not
the only one who has been elected from among monks, nor the only one to
have presided over a monastery, or to have been beloved by monks. But
you know that not only was Serapion a monk, and presided over that number of monks; you were not unaware
of how many monks Apollos was father; you know Agathon, and are not
ignorant of Ariston. You remember Ammonius who went abroad4621
| 4621 In
353, see Fest. Ind. xxv.; Sozom. iv. 9. | with Serapion. Perhaps you have also heard
of Muitus4622
| 4622 Perhaps the ‘Muis’ of the Sardican subscriptions
(Apol. Ar.) and the ‘Move’ of Vit. Pachom. c.
72. | in the upper Thebaid, and can learn
about Paul4623
| 4623 Paulus, perhaps identical with the ‘Philo’ of Sard.
subsc. and Vit. Pach. ubi supr. A ‘Philo’ and
‘Muius’ also occur close together in Apol. Fug. 7
(note 9). | at Latopolis, and many others. And yet
these, when elected, did not gainsay; but taking Elisha as an example,
and knowing the story of Elijah, and having learnt all about the
disciples and apostles, they grappled with the charge, and did not
despise the ministry, and were not inferior to themselves, but rather
look for the reward of their labour, advancing themselves, and guiding
others onward. For how many have they turned away from the idols? How
many have they caused to cease from their familiarity with demons by
their warning? How many servants have they brought to the Lord, so as
to cause those who saw such wonders to marvel at the sight? Or is it
not a great wonder to make a damsel live as a virgin, and a young man
live in continence, and an idolater come to know Christ?
8. Let not monks then prevent you, as though you
alone had been elected from among monks; nor do you make excuses, to
the effect that you will deteriorate. For you may even grow better if
you imitate Paul, and follow up the actions of the Saints. For you know
that men like those, when appointed stewards of the mysteries, all the
more pressed forward to the mark of their high calling4624
. When did Paul meet martyrdom and expect to
receive his crown, if not after being sent to teach? When did Peter
make his confession, if not when he was preaching the Gospel, and had
become a fisher of men4625
? When was Elijah
taken up, if not after completing his prophetic career? When did Elisha
gain a double share of the Spirit, if not after leaving all to follow
Elijah? Or why did the Saviour choose disciples, if not to send them
out as apostles?
9. So take these as an example, beloved
Dracontius, and do not say, or believe those who say, that the
bishop’s office is an occasion of sin, nor that it gives rise to
temptations to sin. For it is possible for you also as a bishop to
hunger and thirst4626
, as Paul did. You
can drink no wine, like Timothy4627
, and fast
constantly too, like Paul4628
, in order that thus
fasting after his example you may feast others with your words, and
while thirsting for lack of drink, water others by teaching. Let not
your advisers, then, allege these things. For we know both bishops who
fast, and monks who eat. We know bishops who drink no wine, as well as
monks who do. We know bishops who work4629
| 4629 σημεῖα. At
the end of §7 this word can only be rendered
‘wonders.’ But here it appears at least probable that it
has the different sense of ‘miracles.’ |
wonders, as well as monks who do not. Many also of the bishops have not
even married, while monks have been4630
| 4630 Probably the reference is to married men who had
subsequently become monks. Or else, as monks at this time lived
in many cases in the world, not in communities, it may refer to married
men leading an ascetic life. | fathers of
children; just as conversely we know bishops who are fathers of
children and monks ‘of the completest kind4631
| 4631 ἐξ
ὁλοκλήρου
γένους. | .’ And again, we know clergy who suffer
hunger, and monks who fast. For it is possible in the latter way, and
not forbidden in the former. But let a man, wherever he is, strive
earnestly; for the crown is given not according to position, but
according to action.
10. Do not then suffer those who give contrary
advice. But rather hasten and delay not; the more so as the holy
festival is approaching; so that the laity may not keep the feast
without you, and you bring great danger upon yourself. For who will in
your absence preach them the Easter sermon? Who will announce to them
the great day of the Resurrection, if you art in hiding? Who will
counsel them, if you are in flight, to keep the feast fittingly? Ah,
how many will be the better if you appear, how many be injured if you
fly! And who will think well of you for this? and why do they advise
you not to take up the bishop’s office, when they themselves wish
to have presbyters4632
| 4632 This
is not our earliest notice of ordained persons in monastic societies.
see Apol. Ar. 67. | ? For if you are
bad, let them not associate with you. But if they know that you are
good, let them not envy the others. For if, as they say, teaching and
government is an occasion of sin, let them not be taught themselves,
nor have presbyters, lest they deteriorate, both they and those who
teach them. But do not attend to these human sayings, nor suffer those
who give such advice, as I have often already said. But rather make
haste and turn to the Lord, in order that, taking thought for his
sheep, you may remember us also. But to this end I have bidden our
beloved Hierax, the presbyter, and Maximus the reader go, and bid you
by word of mouth also, that you may be able thus to learn both with
what feelings I have written, and the danger that results from
gainsaying the ordinance of the Church.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
