Letter 167

Isidore of PelusiumUnknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Tione the Monk
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on Christ's declaration "I am the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11:25) — what it meant to those who heard it and what it means now.

Since it was not obvious to all who heard it what "I am the Resurrection and the Life" [John 11:25] meant, and since brevity compels me to pass over the rest — I will say only this: those who heard it were given a sign immediately [the raising of Lazarus]. Those who hear it now must take the sign already given and understand it correctly.

The statement is not a promise about the future only. It is a claim about what is already true. He who is the Life does not merely promise life — he constitutes it. The resurrection is not something he will do; it is something he is.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.