From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: Boethes the Monk
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore reassures a monk troubled by the fact that many virtuous people suffer greatly in this life.
Do not be shaken by the fact that many who love virtue suffer countless terrible things in this world. Instead, bring to mind the analogy that should settle it: the friends of earthly kings are precisely the ones who take the greatest risks in war, who bear wounds through which the trophies were erected, and who are sent on long journeys far from home. Their suffering is the proof of their closeness to the king, not of his neglect of them.
And if that still does not satisfy you, consider that there are some among the righteous who prosper even here. So if the suffering of the godly scandalized you because it seemed like abandonment — here is the counter-evidence. The fact that some righteous people flourish in this world shows that God is watching and can bless; the fact that others suffer shows that he is training them and will reward. Neither group is forgotten.
Context:Isidore reassures a monk troubled by the fact that many virtuous people suffer greatly in this life.
Do not be shaken by the fact that many who love virtue suffer countless terrible things in this world. Instead, bring to mind the analogy that should settle it: the friends of earthly kings are precisely the ones who take the greatest risks in war, who bear wounds through which the trophies were erected, and who are sent on long journeys far from home. Their suffering is the proof of their closeness to the king, not of his neglect of them.
And if that still does not satisfy you, consider that there are some among the righteous who prosper even here. So if the suffering of the godly scandalized you because it seemed like abandonment — here is the counter-evidence. The fact that some righteous people flourish in this world shows that God is watching and can bless; the fact that others suffer shows that he is training them and will reward. Neither group is forgotten.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.