Letter 212

Isidore of PelusiumUnknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: An unnamed correspondent
Date: ~410 AD
Context: On why public sin is graver than private sin — using Moses as the supreme example: all his earlier failures did not prevent him from entering the Promised Land, but his single public failure at the waters of Meribah did.

Why, best of men, do you place divine assistance second to human support? Why do you give precedence to the friendship of mortals over the help of God? Surely reason, looking to what is right, ought not to entrust the decision of victory to the weak capacity of human beings, but to cling to the invincible right hand of God — the one who holds to that hand will surely be shown stronger than his trials.

Now let me tell you something astonishing and paradoxical — yet true. The person who has sinned greatly but in secret, having scandalized no one, will receive a lighter sentence than the person who has sinned in smaller ways but openly, with presumption, having caused many to stumble. If you disbelieve this and think I am exaggerating, I will bring you this verdict from heaven and read you this law from on high.

Consider the supremely excellent Moses, who had traversed every virtue. Nothing else prevented him from entering the Promised Land — for which he was both guide and leader of the whole people — except what happened at the waters. Yes, there had been certain things before: he argued with God when sent to Egypt, more than once. And afterward he said: "There are six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and you said, 'I will give them meat, and they shall eat for a full month.' Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered for them?"

And after all this he grew negligent and asked to be relieved of leading the people. But none of these things prevented him from entering the Promised Land. It was only what happened at the waters that stopped him. And the divine mind, exposing the nature of that sin and showing why it became unforgivable, declared: "You did not sanctify me before the children of Israel; therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land I have given them."

For in its own nature, that failing was less than his previous ones. But because it was mixed with the harm it caused to others — it became not only greater than those, but beyond pardon as well. For the others were sins committed privately and in secret; this one was committed before the whole people.

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