Letter 27

Theodoret of CyrrhusAquilinus, and Archimandrite|c. 440 AD|theodoret cyrrhus
grief death

To Aquilinus, Deacon and Archimandrite.

No one who has received the divine adoption mourns as an orphan, because no guardian care could be more powerful than that of our Father in heaven — the Father from whom all fathers on earth derive their fatherhood. By his will some are made fathers by nature, some by grace. Let us hold fast to him, then, and keep alive the memory of those who have died. The recollection of those who lived well will do us good — it will rouse us to imitate them.

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

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