Letter 79

Isidore of PelusiumUnknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: An unnamed person
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore explains why Christ told the women of Jerusalem not to weep for him (Luke 23:28).

You seem unable to follow the common sense of the matter. When you ask why Christ did not accept the sympathy of the women who wept as he went to the cross, but actually rebuked them — the answer is a powerful proof that he did not go to his death involuntarily. He told them, "Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children" [Luke 23:28]. Christ was not a victim to be pitied — he was a conqueror to be revered. His tears were for them, not for himself, because he could see what was coming: the destruction of Jerusalem, the horrors their children would endure. He wept for the future they could not see.

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