Letter 566

To Eusebius the Dux [a military commander, addressed by his title dux]. Do not become a judge of the judges; for in the Church you occupy the place of the feet, not of the head. Do not, therefore, reject the priests because not all of them happen to be pure. For it does not in fact befit you to judge and to pass judgment upon the bishops of the Lord. Yet by divine forethought none of the bodiless angels is entrusted with the helm of the priesthood, lest, being themselves without sin, they should at once put to death the men who stumble, dealing with them by severity; but rather men of like passions to ourselves and compounded of blood receive the dignity of presidency, so that, whenever they take in hand someone who has fallen into accusations, being themselves pressed down by their own faults, they may show kindness toward those of their own kind. And consider for me that first Peter of the Church, the head of the chorus of the apostles, who was set in place out of repentance, for he was not sinless. Do not, then, demand that all the leaders of the Churches be irreproachable, and that they have no blemish nor any human stain.

Μὴ γίνου κριτὴς τῶν κριτῶν· ποδῶν γὰρ τόπον παρὰ τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, οὐ κεφαλῆς ἐπέχεις. Μὴ οὖν ἀποδοκίμαζε τοὺς ἱερεῖς, διότι οὐχὶ πάντες καθαροὶ τυγχάνουσιν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ σὺν τυγχάνει κρίνειν, καὶ διακρίνειν ἐπισκόπους Κυρίου. Πλὴν κατὰ θείαν προμήθειαν, οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀσωμάτων ἀγγέλων τοὺς τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἐγχειρίζεται οἴακας, ἵνα μὴ ἀναμάρτητοι ὄντες, φωνεύωσι παραχρῆμα τοὺς πταίοντας ἀνθρώπους, ἀποτομίᾳ χρώμενοι, ἀλλ’ ἄνθρωποι ὁμοιοπαθεῖς ἡμῖν καὶ ἐξ αἵματος συγκείμενοι, δέχονται τὸ τῆς προεδρίας ἀξίωμα, ἵν’ ὅταν λάβωσί τινα περιπεσόντα ἐγκλήμασιν, ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων πλημμελημάτων πεπιεσμένοι, φιλανθρωπίαν ἐνδείξωνται πρὸς τὸ ὁμόφυλον. Καὶ ὅρα μοι τὸν πρῶτον τοῦτο τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Πέτρον, τὴν κορυφὴν τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἀποστόλων, ἐκ μετανοίας τεθέντα, οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἀναμάρτητος. Μὴ τοίνυν πάντας ἀνεπιλήπτους ὑπάρχειν, καὶ μηδένα μῶμον, μηδὲ σπίλον ἀνθρώπινον ἔχοντας τοὺς τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν καθηγουμένους ἀπαιτεῖς.