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| To the Presbyter Marcus.
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Letter XVII. To the Presbyter Marcus.
In this letter, addressed to one who seems to have had
some pre-eminence among the monks of the Chalcidian desert, Jerome
complains of the hard treatment meted out to him because of his refusal
to take any part in the great theological dispute then raging in Syria.
He protests his own orthodoxy, and begs permission to remain where he
is until the return of spring, when he will retire from “the
inhospitable desert.” Written in a.d.
378 or 379.
1. I had made up my mind to use the words of the
psalmist: “While the wicked was before me I was dumb with silence; I was
humbled, and I held my peace even from good”310
and “I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that
openeth not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not.”311
But charity overcomes all things,312
and my regard for you defeats my
determination. I am, indeed, less careful to retaliate upon my
assailants than to comply with your request. For among Christians, as
one has said,313
| 313 Cyprian, Letter LV.
Cf. Cic. T. Q. v. accipere quam facere præstat injuriam. | not he who endures an outrage is
unhappy, but he who commits it.
2. And first, before I speak to you of my belief (which
you know full well), I am forced to cry out against the inhumanity of
this country. A hackneyed quotation best expresses my meaning:
What savages are these who will not grant
A rest to strangers, even on their sands!
They threaten war and drive us from their coasts.314
I take this from a Gentile poet that one who disregards the peace of
Christ may at least learn its meaning from a heathen. I am called a
heretic, although I preach the consubstantial trinity. I am accused of
the Sabellian impiety although I proclaim with unwearied voice that in
the Godhead there are three distinct,315
real, whole,
and perfect persons. The Arians do right to accuse me, but the orthodox
forfeit their orthodoxy when they assail a faith like mine. They may,
if they like, condemn me as a heretic; but if they do they must also
condemn Egypt and the West, Damasus and Peter.316
Why do they fasten the guilt on one and leave his companions
uncensured? If there is but little water in the stream, it is the
fault, not of the channel, but of the source. I blush to say it, but
from the caves which serve us for cells we monks of the desert condemn
the world. Rolling in sack-cloth and ashes,317
| 317 Tert. Apol. 40, s.
f. |
we pass sentence on bishops. What use is the robe of a penitent if it
covers the pride of a king? Chains, squalor, and long hair are by right
tokens of sorrow, and not ensigns of royalty. I merely ask leave to
remain silent. Why do they torment a man who does not deserve their
ill-will? I am a heretic, you say. What is it to you if I am? Stay
quiet, and all is said. You are afraid, I suppose, that, with my fluent
knowledge of Syriac and Greek, I shall make a tour of the churches,
lead the people into error, and form a schism! I have robbed no man of
anything; neither have I taken what I have not earned. With my own
hand318
daily and in the sweat of my brow319
I labor for my food, knowing that it is
written by the apostle: “If any will not work, neither shall he
eat.”320
3. Reverend and holy father, Jesus is my witness with
what groans and tears I have written all this. “I have kept
silence, saith the Lord, but shall I always keep silence? Surely
not.”321
I cannot have so much as a corner of
the desert. Every day I am asked for my confession of faith; as though
when I was regenerated in baptism I had made none. I accept their
formulas, but they are still dissatisfied. I sign my name to them, but
they still refuse to believe me. One thing only will content them, that
I should leave the country. I am on the point of departure. They have
already torn away from me my dear brothers, who are a part of my very
life. They are, as you see, anxious to depart—nay, they are
actually departing; it is preferable, they say, to live among wild
beasts rather than with Christians such as these. I myself, too, would
be at this moment a fugitive were I not withheld by physical infirmity
and by the severity of the winter. I ask to be allowed the shelter of
the desert for a few months till spring returns; or if this seems too
long a delay, I am ready to depart now. “The earth is the
Lord’s and the fulness thereof.”322
Let them climb up to heaven alone;323
| 323 Was Jerome thinking
of Constantine’s rebuke to the Novatian bishop at Nicæa,
“Plant a ladder for thyself, Acesius, and mount alone to
heaven”? | for them
alone Christ died; they possess all things and glory in all. Be it so.
“But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the
world.”324
4. As regards the questions which you have thought fit
to put to me concerning the faith, I have given to the reverend Cyril325
| 325 Who this was is
unknown. The extant document purporting to contain this confession is
not genuine. | a written confession which sufficiently
answers them. He who does not so believe has no part in Christ. My
faith is attested both by your ears and by those of your blessed
brother, Zenobius, to whom, as well as to yourself, we all of us here
send our best greeting.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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