Letter 9
To Archbishop Theophilus.
Most holy and wise prelate — may you enjoy a long and comfortable old age! The continuation of your life is a great blessing to us in many ways, but the greatest contribution to Christian teaching is this growing series of Paschal letters, which expands with each passing year. The one you sent us this year has both instructed and charmed our cities, as much by the grace of its language as by the grandeur of its ideas.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
Jerome forwards to Theophilus a translation of the latter's paschal letter for 404 A.D. and apologizes for his delay in sending it, on the ground that ill-health and grief for the death of Paula have prevented him from doing literary work. The date of the letter is 404 A.D.
Two years after his former attempt (see Letter LXIII.) Theophilus again wrote to Jerome urging him to be reconciled with John of Jerusalem. Jerome replies that there is nothing he desires more earnestly than peace but that this must be real and not a hollow truce. He speaks very bitterly of John who has, he alleges, intrigued to procure his bani...