Letter 86: Jerome congratulates Theophilus on the success of his crusade against Origenism, and speaks of the good work done in Palestine by his emissaries Priscus and Eubulus. He then (by a singular change in his sentiments) asks Theophilus to forgive John of Jerusalem for having unwittingly received an excommunicated Egyptian. The date of the Letter is 4...

Letter 86: To Theophilus (400 AD) [Jerome congratulates Theophilus on the success of his anti-Origenist crusade, praises the work of his emissaries Priscus and Eubulus in Palestine, and then — in a surprising reversal — asks Theophilus to forgive John, Bishop of Jerusalem, for having unknowingly received an excommunicated Egyptian. Jerome had been feuding bitterly with John for years; this request for leniency is a rare instance of Jerome extending an olive branch.] Jerome to the most blessed Pope Theophilus. I have recently received dispatches from your blessedness, breaking your long silence and recalling me to my duty. The reverend brothers Priscus and Eubulus have done excellent work here in Palestine on behalf of the faith... [Jerome congratulates Theophilus, then asks clemency for Bishop John of Jerusalem.]

To Theophilus Jerome congratulates Theophilus on the success of his crusade against Origenism, and speaks of the good work done in Palestine by his emissaries Priscus and Eubulus. He then (by a singular change in his sentiments) asks Theophilus to forgive John of Jerusalem for having unwittingly received an excommunicated Egyptian. The date of the Letter is 400 A.D. Jerome to the most blessed Pope Theophilus. I have recently received dispatches from your blessedness setting right your long silence and summoning me to return to my duty. So, though the reverend brothers Priscus and Eubulus have been slow in bringing me your letters, yet, as they are now hastening in the ardour of faith from end to end of Palestine and scattering and driving into their holes the basilisks of heresy, I write a few lines to congratulate you on your success. The whole world glories in your victories. An exultant crowd of all nations gazes on the standard of the cross raised by you at Alexandria and upon the shining trophies which mark your triumph over heresy. Blessings on your courage! blessings on your zeal! You have shown that your long silence has been due to policy and not to inclination. I speak quite openly to your reverence. I grieved to find you too forbearing, and, knowing nothing of the course shaped by the pilot, I yearned for the destruction of those abandoned men. But, as I now see, you have had your hand raised and, if you have delayed to strike, it has only been that you might strike harder. As regards the welcome given to a certain person, you have no reason to be vexed with the prelate of this city; for as you gave no instructions on the point in your letter, it would have been rash in him to decide a case of which he knew nothing. Still I think that he would neither wish nor venture to annoy you in any way.