Letter 75: Theodora the wife of the learned Spaniard Lucinius (for whom see Letter LXXI.) had recently lost her husband, a bereavement which suggested the present letter. In it Jerome recounts the many virtues of Lucinius and especially his zeal in resisting the gnostic heresy of Marcus which during his life was prevalent in Spain. The date of the letter i...

Letter 75: To Theodora (399 AD, Bethlehem) [Jerome writes to console Theodora on the death of her husband Lucinius, a wealthy Spaniard who had been a devoted student of Scripture and a fierce opponent of the Gnostic heresy of Marcus in Spain. Jerome praises Lucinius's virtues, his generosity to the churches of Jerusalem and Alexandria, and his eagerness to collect Jerome's writings — then urges Theodora to persevere in faith.] 1. The news of holy Lucinius's falling asleep has struck me so hard that I can barely manage even a short letter. Not that I mourn his fate — I know he has passed to better things and can say with Moses, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight" [Exodus 3:3]. No, what torments me is that I never got to see the face of a man I fully expected would soon visit us here. The prophetic warning about death rings true: it divides brothers, and with a harsh, cruel hand tears apart those bound together in love. But we have this consolation — death itself is slain by the word of the Lord: "O death, I will be your plague; O grave, I will be your destruction" [Hosea 13:14]. For our Rose — the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley [Song of Songs 2:1] — is the destruction of death. He died so that death itself might die in His dying. So when we face the hard, cruel necessity of death, we are sustained by this: we shall shortly see again those whose absence we now grieve. Their end is not called death but a slumber, a falling asleep. The blessed apostle forbids us to sorrow over those who sleep [1 Thessalonians 4:13], telling us to trust that those who sleep now will one day be roused, and when their slumber ends will keep watch with the saints and sing with the angels: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will" [Luke 2:14]. 2. So although you are already running the race, I urge a willing horse — as the saying goes — and beg you: while you mourn in Lucinius a true brother, rejoice that he now reigns with Christ. "He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding... for his soul pleased the Lord... and in a short time he fulfilled a long time" [Wisdom 4:11-14]. We should weep rather for ourselves — we who stand daily in battle with our sins, who are stained with vices, who take wounds, and who must render account for every idle word [Matthew 12:36]. Victorious now and free from care, he looks down upon you from on high and supports you in your struggle. Indeed, he prepares a place for you near himself, for his love toward you is the same as when — setting aside his claim on you as a husband — he resolved to treat you even on earth as a sister, or rather as a brother. For difference of sex, while essential to marriage, means nothing in a continent union. And since even in the flesh, if we are born again in Christ, we are no longer Greek or barbarian, slave or free, male or female, but all one in Him [Galatians 3:28], how much truer this will be when "this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality" [1 Corinthians 15:53]. In the resurrection, the Lord tells us, "they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven" [Matthew 22:30]. Mark that He says "as the angels," not that they will be angels — likeness is promised, not identity. Paul will still be Paul, Mary will still be Mary. Glorious and graced with angelic splendor they shall be, but still human. 3. And now that I have mentioned heresy — where can I find a trumpet loud enough to proclaim the eloquence of our dear Lucinius? When the filthy heresy of Basilides raged in Spain like a pestilence ravaging every province between the Pyrenees and the ocean, Lucinius upheld the faith of the Church in all its purity and flatly refused to embrace the absurd names their teachers bandy about: Armagil, Barbelon, Abraxas, Balsamum, and the preposterous "Leusibora." These are the monstrous names they pretend to draw from Hebrew sources, designed to terrify the simple with barbarous combinations they admire all the more for understanding them not at all. The growth of this heresy is described by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, a man of apostolic times and disciple of Papias who had heard the evangelist John. Irenaeus tells us that a certain Mark, of the stock of the Gnostic Basilides, came first to Gaul and contaminated the regions watered by the Rhone and the Garonne — targeting particularly high-born women, winning their affection through magic arts and the hidden indulgence of illicit relations. Later Mark crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, deliberately seeking out the houses of the wealthy and especially the women, of whom the apostle says they are "led away with various lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" [2 Timothy 3:6-7]. 4. From all this, you in your wisdom can see how worthy of praise Lucinius showed himself. He "dispersed his substance and gave to the poor, that his righteousness might endure forever" [Psalm 112:9]. And not content with generosity in his own country, he sent gold enough to the churches of Jerusalem and Alexandria to relieve the want of vast numbers. But while many will admire his liberality, I for my part would rather praise his zeal for the study of Scripture. With what eagerness he sought out my poor works! He actually sent six copyists — for in this province Latin scribes are desperately scarce — to copy everything I have dictated from my youth to the present day. The honor, of course, was not paid to me, the least of all Christians, huddled in the rocks near Bethlehem because I know myself a sinner, but to Christ, who is honored in His servants and who promises: "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives Him who sent me" [Luke 9:48]. 5. Therefore, my beloved daughter, regard this letter as the epitaph that love compels me to write for your husband. And if there is any spiritual work you think me capable of, command me boldly — so that ages to come may know that He who says in Isaiah, "He has made me a polished shaft; in His quiver He has hidden me" [Isaiah 49:2], has with His sharp arrow so wounded two people separated by a vast expanse of sea and land that, though they have never met in the flesh, they are knit together in the spirit by love. May the Samaritan — that is, the Savior and Keeper, of whom the psalm says, "He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" [Psalm 121:4] — keep you holy in body and spirit. May the Watcher and Holy One who descended to Daniel descend also to you, that you too may say: "I sleep, but my heart keeps watch" [Song of Songs 5:2].

To Theodora Theodora the wife of the learned Spaniard Lucinius (for whom see Letter LXXI.) had recently lost her husband, a bereavement which suggested the present letter. In it Jerome recounts the many virtues of Lucinius and especially his zeal in resisting the gnostic heresy of Marcus which during his life was prevalent in Spain. The date of the letter is 399 A.D. 1. So overpowered am I by the sad intelligence of the falling asleep of the holy and by me deeply revered Lucinius that I am scarcely able to dictate even a short letter. I do not, it is true, lament his fate, for I know that he has passed to better things: like Moses he can say: I will now turn aside and see this great sight, Exodus 3:3 but I am tormented with regret that I was not allowed to look upon the face of one, who was likely, as I believed, in a short time to come hither. True indeed is the prophetic warning concerning the doom of death that it divides brothers, and with harsh and cruel hand sunders those whose names are linked together in the bonds of love. But we have this consolation that it is slain by the word of the Lord. For it is said: O death, I will be your plagues; O grave, I will be your destruction, and in the next verse: An east wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up. Hosea 13:14-15 For, as Isaiah says, there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and He says Himself in the Song of Songs, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. Song of Songs 2:1 Our rose is the destruction of death, and died that death itself might die in His dying. But, when it is said that He is to be brought from the wilderness, the virgin's womb is indicated, which without sexual intercourse or impregnation has given to us God in the form of an infant able to quench by the glow of the Holy Spirit the fountains of lust and to sing in the words of the psalm: as in a dry and pathless and waterless land, so have I appeared unto you in the sanctuary. Thus when we have to face the hard and cruel necessity of death, we are upheld by this consolation, that we shall shortly see again those whose absence we now mourn. For their end is not called death but a slumber and a falling asleep. Wherefore also the blessed apostle forbids us to sorrow concerning them which are asleep, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 telling us to believe that those whom we know to sleep now may hereafter be roused from their sleep, and when their slumber is ended may watch once more with the saints and sing with the angels:— Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men of good will. In heaven where there is no sin, there is glory and perpetual praise and unwearied singing; but on earth where sedition reigns, and war and discord hold sway, peace must be gained by prayer, and it is to be found not among all but only among men of good will, who pay heed to the apostolic salutation: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:7 For His abode is in peace and His dwelling place is in Zion, that is, on a watchtower, on a height of doctrines and of virtues, in the soul of the believer; for the angel of this latter daily beholds the face of God, Matthew 18:10 and contemplates with unveiled face the glory of God. 2. Wherefore, though you are already running in the way, I urge a willing horse, as the saying goes, and implore you, while you regret in your Lucinius a true brother, to rejoice as well that he now reigns with Christ. For, as it is written in the book of Wisdom, he was taken away lest that wickedness should alter his understanding...for his soul pleased the Lord...and he...in a short time fulfilled a long time. Wisdom 4:11-14 We may with more right weep for ourselves that we stand daily in conflict with our sins, that we are stained with vices, that we receive wounds, and that we must give account for every idle word. Matthew 12:36 Victorious now and free from care he looks down upon you from on high and supports you in your struggle, nay more, he prepares for you a place near to himself; for his love and affection towards you are still the same as when, disregarding his claim on you as a husband, he resolved to treat you even on earth as a sister, or indeed I may say as a brother, for difference of sex while essential to marriage is not so to a continent tie. And since even in the flesh, if we are born again in Christ, we are no longer Greek and Barbarian, bond and free, male and female, but are all one in Him, Galatians 3:28 how much more true will this be when this corruptible has put on incorruption and when this mortal has put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:53 In the resurrection, the Lord tells us, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels...in heaven. Matthew 22:30 Now when it is said that they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels in heaven, there is no taking away of a natural and real body but only an indication of the greatness of the glory to come. For the words are not they shall be angels but they shall be as the angels: thus while likeness to the angels is promised identity with them is refused. They shall be, Christ tells us, as the angels, that is like the angels; therefore they will not cease to be human. Glorious indeed they shall be, and graced with angelic splendour, but they will still be human; the apostle Paul will still be Paul, Mary will still be Mary. Then shall confusion overtake that heresy which holds out great but vague promises only that it may take away hopes which are at once modest and certain. 3. And now that I have once mentioned the word heresy, where can I find a trumpet loud enough to proclaim the eloquence of our dear Lucinius, who, when the filthy heresy of Basilides raged in Spain and like a pestilence ravaged the provinces between the Pyrenees and the ocean, upheld in all its purity the faith of the church and altogether refused to embrace Armagil, Barbelon, Abraxas, Balsamum, and the absurd Leusibora. Such are the portentous names which, to excite the minds of unlearned men and weak women, they pretend to draw from Hebrew sources, terrifying the simple by barbarous combinations which they admire the more the less they understand them. The growth of this heresy is described for us by Irenæus, bishop of the church of Lyons, a man of the apostolic times, who was a disciple of Papias the hearer of the evangelist John. He informs us that a certain Mark, of the stock of the gnostic Basilides, came in the first instance to Gaul, that he contaminated with his teaching those parts of the country which are watered by the Rhone and the Garonne, and that in particular he misled by his errors high-born women; to whom he promised certain secret mysteries and whose affection he enlisted by magic arts and hidden indulgence in unlawful intercourse. Irenæus goes on to say that subsequently Mark crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Spain, making it his object to seek out the houses of the wealthy, and in these especially the women, concerning whom we are told that they are led away with various lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:6-7 All this he wrote about three hundred years ago in the extremely learned and eloquent books which he composed under the title Against all heresies. 4. From these facts you in your wisdom will realize how worthy of praise our dear Lucinius showed himself when he shut his ears that he might not have to hear the judgement passed upon blood shedders, and dispersed all his substance and gave to the poor that his righteousness might endure forever. And not satisfied with bestowing his bounty upon his own country, he sent to the churches of Jerusalem and Alexandria gold enough to alleviate the want of large numbers. But while many will admire and extol in him this liberality, I for my part will rather praise him for his zeal and diligence in the study of the scriptures. With what eagerness he asked for my poor works! He actually sent six copyists (for in this province there is a dearth of scribes who understand Latin) to copy for him all that I have ever dictated from my youth until the present time. The honour was not of course paid to me who am but a little child, the least of all Christians, living in the rocks near Bethlehem because I know myself a sinner; but to Christ who is honoured in his servants Luke 9:48 and who makes this promise to them, He that receives you receives me, and he that receives me receives him that sent me. 5. Therefore, my beloved daughter, regard this letter as the epitaph which love prompts me to write upon your husband, and if there is any spiritual work of which you think me to be capable, boldly command me to undertake it: that so ages to come may know that He who says of Himself in Isaiah, He has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he hid me, Isaiah 49:2 has with His sharp arrow so wounded two men severed by an immense interval of sea and land, that, although they know each other not in the flesh, they are knit together in love in the spirit. May you be kept holy both in body and spirit by the Samaritan— that is, saviour and keeper — of whom it is said in the psalm, He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. May the watcher and the holy one who came down to Daniel come also to you, that you too may be able to say, I sleep but my heart wakes. Song of Songs 5:2 About this page Source. Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001075.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) 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