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| To Diodorus (fragment). PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Letter
LXIV.—To Diodorus (fragment).
To my lord, son, and most beloved fellow-minister
Diodorus [bishop of Tyre]4805
4805 This
fragment (Migne xxvi. 1261) is given by Facundus, Def. Tr. Cap.
iv. 2, who claims it as addressed to Diodorus of Tarsus, the famous
Antiochene confessor and master of Chrysostom and Theodore.
Unfortunately this is impossible, as Diodore became bishop of Tarsus
not before 378, i.e. after Athan. was dead. The letter itself decides
for Diodorus of Tyre, whom Paulinus of Antioch had quite
unwarrantably ordained to this see (cf. Rufin, H. E. ii. 21).
Whether (as has been held on the authority of Rufinus) Diodorus, or (as
Le Quien, Or. Chr. ii. 865 sq. holds) Zeno, the nominee
of Meletius, was first in the field in the unseemly scramble, is
doubtful. Zeno is already bishop in 365 (Soz. vi. 12); the date of the
appointment of Diodorus, whose claim is at any rate no better than that
of Paulinus himself, is quite uncertain (see also Prolegg. ch. ii.
§§9, 10). Diodorus was the friend and correspondent of
Epiphanius, and of Timothy, bishop of Alexandria, second from
Athanasius. Facundus confuses him in these particulars also with his
namesake of Tarsus, but the mistake is thoroughly sifted by Tillemont,
Mem. viii. pp. 238, 712. The letter is important, along with
Letter 56, and the correspondence of S. Basil, as illustrating
the attitude of Athanasius with regard to the unhappy schism of
Antioch. | , Athanasius
greeting in the Lord.
I thank my Lord, Who is everywhere establishing
His doctrine, and chiefly so by means of His own sons, such as actual
fact shews you to be. For before your Reverence wrote, we knew how
great grace has been brought to pass in Tyre by means of your
perseverance. And we rejoice with you that by your means Tyre also has
learned the right word of piety. And I indeed took an opportunity of
writing to you, longed-for and beloved: but I marvel at your not having
replied to my letter. Be not then slow to write at once, knowing that
you give me refreshment, as a son to his father, and make me exceeding
glad, as a herald of truth. And enter upon no controversy with the
heretics, but overcome their argumentativeness with silence, their
ill-will with courtesy. For thus your speech shall be ‘with
grace, seasoned with salt4806 ,’ while they
[will be judged] by the conscience of all.…E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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