Letter 44

UnknownAper|c. 425 AD|paulinus nola
From: Paulinus and Therasia, Nola
To: Aper and Amanda, married couple
Date: ~425 AD
Context: Paulinus responds to a richly spiritual letter from Aper and Amanda, lamenting his inability to match their eloquence while meditating on the diverse gifts of the Spirit.

To our holy, venerable, and most dear brother and sister, Aper and Amanda — Paulinus and Therasia, sinners.

Who will give me a fountain of words to match your letter, woven as it is with the varied flowers of spiritual grace? Your words flow not with the eloquence of the schools but with divine speech, rich and abundant, as though from a land of promise — flowing with the milk of devotion and the honey of wisdom. I recognize your voices in these words, and yet I recognize something greater than you in them: the voice of the Spirit, teaching through your mouths.

You write that the burdens of property and children hinder your spiritual progress. But I say to you: these are not hindrances — they are the very field in which your faith is meant to bear fruit. The farmer does not curse his field for being full of work; he works it, and it feeds him. Your children are your vineyard. Your estate is your stewardship. And the love between you is the first and best evidence that the Spirit dwells in your house.

[The letter continues with an extended meditation on the diversity of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12), arguing that married life, when lived in faith, is no less a spiritual vocation than monastic celibacy. Paulinus interprets the parable of the talents to show that God measures not the size of the gift but the faithfulness with which it is used. He encourages Aper and Amanda to see their daily acts of charity, hospitality, and child-rearing as sacrifices pleasing to God, and closes with reflections on the mutual support that husband and wife can offer each other on the road to salvation — each strengthening the other where the other is weak, like two columns supporting a single arch.]

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

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