Letter 500: The pressure to accommodate, to soften, to avoid the fight that orthodoxy requires — I know this pressure, Herakleides.

To Theodosius the Deacon. On the saying: \"Who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple-keeper of the great Artemis?\" Since you wished to learn the meaning of the passage in the Acts of the Apostles: \"Who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple-keeper of the great Artemis and of the image that fell from heaven?\" know that this is not the voice of Scripture speaking its own teaching, but the voice of the town clerk of the Ephesians. And I consider it superfluous to interpret the charlatan's idle talk as though it were divine revelation. For the sacred writer Luke records these words not because they contain truth — the worship of Artemis was pure idolatry and the so-called image fallen from heaven was a fraud — but because they are part of the historical narrative, showing how the pagan authorities of Ephesus defended their profitable superstition against the threat of the Gospel. The distinction between what Scripture records and what Scripture approves is essential for right interpretation, and the careless reader who confuses the two will fall into many errors.

ΣΤ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΟΣΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ (42). Eἰς τὸ εἰρημένον· « Τις οὐκ οἶδε τὴν Ἐφεσίων πόλιν νεωκόρον οὖσαν τῆς μεγάλης Ἀρτέμιδος;» Ἐπειδὴ ἠθέλησας μαθεῖν τὸ ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων κείμενον· « Τις οὐκ οἶδε τὴν Ἐφεσίων πόλιν νεωκόρον εἶναι τῆς μεγάλης ᾿Αρτέμιδος, καὶ τοῦ διοπετους; » ἴσθι, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι τῆς Γραφῆς ἡ φωνή, ἀλλὰ τοῦ γραμματέως τῶν Ἐφεσίων · καὶ περιττὸν ποιοῦμαι, ἀγυρτικὰς λογοποιίας ἑρμηνεύειν περὶ ὧν οἶμαι καὶ τὸν Μελῳδὸν εἰρηκέναι · « Διηγήσαντό μοι παράνομοι ἀδολεσχίας: ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ὁ νόμος σου, Κύριε. ΚΓ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΟΣΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟпω. Οὐκ αἰσχρὸν ἡττᾶσθαι τούτων, ὧν ἀμήχανον πε- ριεἶναι· μὴ τοίνυν μηδὲ αὐτὸς ἡττᾶσθαι νομίσῃς τοὺς τοῖς σοῖς ἐπαίνοις τοὺς λόγους ἐξισῶσαι μὴ δυναμένους, ἀλλὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀποδεχόμενος συγγί νωσκε τῇ ἀσθενενίᾳ. "Αμεινον γὰρ ἡγούμενοι τὸ ἐν- δεῶς φράσαι τοῦ ὀλιγωρίας γραφὴν ὑποστῆναι, και –τατολμῶσιν ἀνεφίκτου πράγματος. ΣΤ΄. – ΚΑΣΣΙΑΝΟ. Οὐ ταυτὸν τὸ ἄβουλον, καὶ τὸ ἀβούλητον· το μεν γὰρ τὸ ἀπερίσκεπτον, τὸ δὲ τὸ ἀκούσιον μηνύει· καὶ τὸ μὲν εἰς τὸ πράττειν, τὸ δὲ εἰς τὸ πάσχειν βλέπει, Tὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐστιν ἄσκεπτος πρᾶξις, τὸ δὲ κατηναγ- κασμένον πάθος. ΣΤ'. - ΔΙΔΥΜΟ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΟ. Τὸν πρεσβύτατόν σου τῶν παίδων πρὸς τὸν νεώτα- τον διαφέρεσθαί τινές φασι, καὶ σὲ μὲν εἰδέναι, προσ ποιεῖσθαι δὲ μὴ εἰδέναι· θάττον τοίνυν ἀποθέμενος τὴν ἑκούσιον ἄγνοιαν, πειράθητι αὐτοὺς εἰς φιλίαν συναλλάξαι, μὴ ποτέ τι ἀνήκεστον τεχθείη κακόν· οὐ γὰρ τι χρηστὸν ἡ φιλονεικία ὠδίνει· ἐν᾿ ὥσπερ τοῦ εἶναι μετὰ τὴν πρόνοιαν αὐτοῖς κατέστης αίτιος, οὕτω καὶ τοῦ εὖ εἶναι καταστασης, ΣΟ΄. τάξιν, καὶ δουλεύειν ὀφείλουσα, ἡγεῖσθαι, μᾶλλον δὲ τυραννεῖν οἷα τε εἶναι νομίζοι, ἐξοστρακισθῆναι ἂν εἴη δικαία. Ρ. 500.- LIB. IV, ΕΡ. 96. Catenæ auctor incipit in hunc modum : Ὁ Ἰώ σηπος λέγει ὅτι ζῶντος. Cfr. p. 465, lit. A, lin. 3. P. 465, lit. A, lin. 4. Ρ. ἔσχε τὴν, cal. ἔσχεν Ήρωδης τήν. ibid. 4. Post γυναίκα bæc exstant in cal., πρὸς ὃν ἔστιν ἀπαντῆσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν, πῶς οὖν οὐχ. Cfr. lit. A, lin. 9, 10. ibid. 10. Ρ. γήμαντι ἐνεκάλει, και, γήμαντι τῷ Ἡρώδῃ ἐγκαλεῖ. – Lit. Β, lin. 1. πρὸς ὂν τις. ibid. 7. ἀποφαίνων. des. in cat. P. 465, lit. C, fin. 9, 10 ἦρα γὰρ αὐτῆς ἐκ πολ- λοῦ) des. in cat. ibid. 10. 6 deest in cat. - Lit. C, lin. 1, post προβεβλήσεται hæc exstant in cat. Δια τἱ γὰρ οὐχὶ καὶ τὸν φόνον αὐτῷ οὐκ ὠνείδισεν ὁ Βαπτιστής; πολλῷ χαλεπώτερον ὄντα τῆς μοιχείας καὶ μάλιστα ὅτι ἀδελφοκτονία ἦν. Ἔστι τοίνυν τὸ