Theognostus

Theognostus is known only as a correspondent of Isidore of Pelusium, who addresses at least eleven letters to him and repeatedly names him as a presbyter (priest), placing him in the early-to-mid-5th-century milieu of Pelusium and the eastern Nile Delta. The letters cast Theognostus as a teacher and pupil at once: Isidore answers his questions on Scripture (how to read Paul's "treasure in earthen vessels"), instructs him on the distinction between divine command and prudent ecclesiastical accommodation (oikonomia), and presses on him themes of humility against arrogance, the worthlessness of wealth and rank without divine wisdom, and the duty of instructors to teach by their conduct as much as their words. Isidore also holds up to him the example of Timothy the Reader as a model of virtue, suggesting a sustained relationship of spiritual and pastoral direction. Beyond this body of correspondence he is otherwise unattested.