Letter 310: Liking cannot see far ahead, while dislike cannot see clearly.

Since you said my previous reflections appeared most excellent to you, receive also another interpretation not unworthy of that one. God repaid the murder of the Hebrew males with a fitting retribution, drowning all the Egyptian males in the Red Sea, so that the punishment might correspond even in the bodies of those who suffered it. Attend carefully, therefore, and do not find fault rashly. To Emperor Theodosius, concerning the safeguarding of the council: If you yourself find opportunity to be present at the proceedings in Ephesus, blamelessness will attend them, I am certain. But if the votes are surrendered to the hostility of the mob... To Bishop Lampetius, on how to understand the saying in Ecclesiastes, "Be not overly righteous": Just as the measure of bodily beauty is the proportion of the limbs, so too the ultimate measure of the soul's beauty is the proportion of the virtues. For if extremes fall into vice, as certain wise men have declared -- for one wishing to be thrifty falls into miserliness, and one wishing to be magnanimous falls into prodigality -- therefore they defined the virtues as mean states. For between impiety and false piety, the mean is true piety. Rightly, then, the wise man counseled: "Be not overly righteous." And if he also advises this: do not become a bitter and exacting judge in the wrongs committed against you by your neighbors, but surpass strict justice with goodness, granting pardon even to those who transgress against you beyond what pardon might seem to warrant. To Nemessianus the Scholasticus: Just as I judge the Greeks and Jews -- and any who have emulated them -- to be impious and foolish when they declare that the prophets said nothing concerning the Savior, so too I do not hold blameless those who attempt to apply the entire Old Testament to him, since they in a certain way collaborate with our opponents in the battle against us. For by forcing onto him what was not spoken about him, and being refuted by those adversaries, they breed suspicion even regarding what was truly and explicitly spoken about him. One must not proceed thus, but rather state clearly what was said concerning him, and acknowledge that what was said about other matters was indeed said about those other matters. For this is the boundary of both truth and demonstration. Those who adduce what is irrelevant cause even what is relevant to be overthrown.

Liking cannot see far ahead, while dislike cannot see clearly. So if you wish to remedy both of these sight problems, do not spout out such vehement statements, instead be more fair in your accusations. Even God All Knowing, before his birth, thought it best out of his love for man to come down and see the boisterousness [1] of the Sodomites, teaching us a lesson in fully inquiring. Many of the people who have come to Ephesus (are) ridiculing you for acting out of personal enmity and not for the doctrine of Jesus Christ. “Here’s this nephew of Theophilus, they say, imitating his way of thinking. Like him, he falls into a rage against the God-loving John, inspired by God, and he desires ever so much to lecture, even though there is a great difference between the people (who are) deciding.” [1] There should be a better word for this.

Ρ.Π. – ΤΟ ΑΥΤΩ (91). Ὅτι τὴν ἴσην δίκην οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ἀπέλαβον ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς, ἀντὶ τῆς ἀῤῥενοφορίας (Γ. ἀῤῥε- νοφονίας, veὶ ἀῤῥενοφθορίας) τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Ἐπειδὴ ἄριστά σοι εἶπας πεφηνέναι τὰ πρότερα, δέχου καὶ ἄλλην οὐκ ἀναξίαν ἐκείνης διάνοιαν. Τὴν τῶν Ἑβραίων ἀῤῥένων μιαιφονίαν ὁμοίᾳ Θεὸς ἀντ- ημείψατο ἐκδικήσει, ἐν τῇ Ἐρυθρᾷ πάντας ἄῤῥενας ἀποπνίξας, ἵνα καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν ἔχῃ ἡ δίκη τὸ ὅμοιον. Πρόσεχε τοίνυν ἀσφαλῶς, καὶ μὴ μέμφου προπετώς. ΤΙΑ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΟΣΙΟ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙ. Περὶ τοῦ ποιήσασθαι ἀσφάλειαν τῆς συνόδου. Εἰ μὲν αὐτὸς λαμβάνῃ καιροῦ παρεῖναι τοῖς κρι- νομένοις ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, προσέσται τούτοις εὖ οἶδα τὸ ἄμεμπτον. Εἰ δὲ ὀχλώδει ἀντιπαθείᾳ τὰς ψήφους ΛΑ΄. – ΛΑΜΠΕΤΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ. Πῶς νοητέον τὸ τῷ ᾿Εκκλησιαστικῷ γεγραμμέν ενον, Μὴ γίνου δίκαιος πολύ. Ὥσπερ τοῦ σωματικοῦ κάλλους ὄρος ἡ τῶν με- λῶν συμμετρία· οὕτω καὶ τοῦ ψυχικοῦ κάλλους ἔσχα τος ὅρος, ἡ τῶν ἀρετῶν συμμετρία. Εἰ γὰρ αἱ ἀκρό- τητες εἰς κακίαν ἐκπίπτουσιν, ὡς τινες τῶν σοφῶν Β ἀπεφήναντο (θέλων γὰρ εἶναί τις οἰκονομικὸς εἰς φειδωλίαν ἐκπίπτει, καὶ θέλων εἶναι μεγαλόψυχος εἰς ἀσωτίαν. Διὸ καὶ μεσότητας εἶναι τὰς ἀρετὰς ὠρίσαντο. Ασεβείας γὰρ καὶ δυσσεβεία, μέση ἐστὶν ἡ εὐσέβεια· εἰκότως καὶ ὁ σοφὸς παρήνεσε· · Μή γίνου δίκαιος πολύ. » Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο παραινεῖ, μὴ ἐν τοῖς εἰς σὲ παρὰ τῶν πέλας πλημμελουμένοις πικρὸς γίνου καὶ ἀκριβὴς δικαστῆς, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπέρβαινε τὸ δίκαιον τῇ ἀγαθότητι, συγγνώμην νέμων τὰς συγγνώμης μείζονα εἰς σὲ πταίουσι. ΤΑΘ΄. – ΝΕΜΕΣΣΙΑΝΟ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΟ. Ὥσπερ Ἕλληνας, καὶ Ἰουδαίους, καὶ εἴ τινες τὰ ἐκείνων ἐζήλωσαν, ἀσεβεῖς τε καὶ ἀνοήτους (67) ὀρί- ζομαι, ἀποφαινομένους μηδὲν περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τοὺς προφήτας εἰρηκέναι οὕτως τοὺς πᾶσαν τὴν Παλαιὰν εἰς αὐτὸν μεταφέρειν πειρωμένους, οὐκ ἔξω αἰτίας τίθημι, ἅτε δὴ ἐν τῇ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν μάχῃ τρόπον τινὰ τοῖς διαδίκοις συμπράττοντας. Τῷ γὰρ ἐλέγ- χεσθαι παρ' ἐκείνων περὶ αὐτοῦ μὴ εἰρημένα εἰς αὐτὸν ἕλκειν ἐκβιαζόμενοι, τρύτων κὰν τοῖς περὶ αὐ- τοῦ ἀληθῶς καὶ διαῤῥήδην εἰρημένοις, ὑπόνοιαν τί- κτουσι. Χρὴ δ' οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἐἰς αὐτὸν εἰρη- μένα, σαφῶς λέγειν, τὰ δὲ περὶ ἄλλων πραγμάτων ἐξν περὶ ἐκείνων εἰρῆσθαι, περὶ ὧν εἴρηται. Οὗτος γὰρ καὶ ἀληθείας καὶ ἀποδείξεως ὄρος. Οἱ δὲ τὰ μὴ πρὸς- ήκοντα προφέροντες, καὶ τὰ προσήκοντα ἀνατρέ- πεσθαι παρασκευάζουσι.