From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: An unnamed person
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore addresses someone troubled by the unevenness of this life and the apparent unevenness of the next — and argues that both point toward the same divine justice.
Just as the inequality we see in this present life — the righteous suffering, the wicked prospering — appears to be a deviation from equality, and thus cries out for a future settling of accounts, so too what seems like inequality in the age to come should be understood correctly: it is not arbitrary. The sorting that takes place at the judgment is precisely the restoration of true equality — each receiving exactly what corresponds to his life.
The problem is that we want equality now, on our own terms, before the full evidence is in. But the judge who rules prematurely does not produce justice — he produces the appearance of justice. The patient soul understands that the ledger is being kept, even if it is not yet visible, and waits for the day when both columns are finally shown.
Context:Isidore addresses someone troubled by the unevenness of this life and the apparent unevenness of the next — and argues that both point toward the same divine justice.
Just as the inequality we see in this present life — the righteous suffering, the wicked prospering — appears to be a deviation from equality, and thus cries out for a future settling of accounts, so too what seems like inequality in the age to come should be understood correctly: it is not arbitrary. The sorting that takes place at the judgment is precisely the restoration of true equality — each receiving exactly what corresponds to his life.
The problem is that we want equality now, on our own terms, before the full evidence is in. But the judge who rules prematurely does not produce justice — he produces the appearance of justice. The patient soul understands that the ledger is being kept, even if it is not yet visible, and waits for the day when both columns are finally shown.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.