Letter 55

Theodoret of CyrrhusUnknown|c. 440 AD|theodoret cyrrhus
illness
From: Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus
To: [unnamed recipient, a festal letter]
Date: ~440 AD
Context: A very brief Epiphany greeting acknowledging personal distress but finding solace in the feast.

Festal greeting.

We are in great distress -- for we are made of flesh, not stone. But the remembrance of the Lord's Epiphany [the feast celebrating Christ's baptism and manifestation to the world] has proved a powerful medicine. So at once I write, as the custom of the feast requires, and greet your magnificence with a prayer that you may live in prosperity and good repute.

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

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