Letter 224
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Alupius the Bishop
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the cross of Christ as the permanent standard against which all things are measured — in this world and the next.
The cross of Christ stands as the measure against which everything else is evaluated — in this world, and in the one to come. What you see in this world — the apparently punished innocent and the apparently rewarded guilty — will be finally evaluated against what the cross reveals: that the suffering of the innocent is not the last word, and that the apparent success of the guilty is not the final accounting.
This is the confidence of the martyrs, who went to death as though walking toward something rather than away from it. They knew which standard was real. We should know the same.
δοιογηππὶ ΟΥγιοϊδθυγ. Ουοά οι οὐδ ἐνὶ ὁγυοίδηι ἰη δἰιογα γῆ Δ, νἱάθ ἰη ἰθγγὰ ρῬυηΐ!ο οἱ Ρυηΐοπάος, οἱ ραάση ΠῈΓ ΟΣ Ὀάγϑι ΓΟ Εἰ] ἀ ηἷ. ΟΟΟΧΙΥ͂ΙΙ. --- ΑὈΤΡΙΟ ΕΡΙΒΟΟΘΡΟ. ᾿Απόνοια μπᾶ ἀἰεία εἰ Νουθεσία. Ἐπειδὴ χαὶ ἡ ἀπόνοια τῆς συμμετρίας χαὶ τοῦ δέοντος ἐχπεσοῦσα, χαὶ ἄπο, τουτέστι, πόῤῥω τοῦ γοῦ γιγομόγη, δι ὃ χαὶ ἀπόνοια λέγεται, ἀλαζονείαν ἐργάζεται, τὴν νουθεσίαν παραληπτέον, ἧπερ εἴρηται παρὰ τὴν τοῦ νοῦ θέσιν. Τάχα πως ἀχούσαντες οἵ τοιοῦτοι, ἔνθεσθε χαρδίαν, εἰς ταπεινοφροσύνην ἀσμένως βαδίσωσιν.
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Alupius the Bishop
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the cross of Christ as the permanent standard against which all things are measured — in this world and the next.
The cross of Christ stands as the measure against which everything else is evaluated — in this world, and in the one to come. What you see in this world — the apparently punished innocent and the apparently rewarded guilty — will be finally evaluated against what the cross reveals: that the suffering of the innocent is not the last word, and that the apparent success of the guilty is not the final accounting.
This is the confidence of the martyrs, who went to death as though walking toward something rather than away from it. They knew which standard was real. We should know the same.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.