Theodoret of Cyrrhus→Taurus Patrician|c. 440 AD|theodoret cyrrhus
imperial politics
To Taurus the Patrician.
Slanderers have forced me past the bounds of moderation and compelled me to write to you — a man who has adorned the highest offices and received the most distinguished honors. I ask you to pardon the boldness of this letter; I write not in self-sufficiency but because necessity drives me forward.
I write not because I fear falling unjustly into trouble and distress — that is the common lot of all who have sincerely served God — but because I desire to persuade your Excellency that those who accuse my opinions are bringing false charges against me. From my mother's breast I was nurtured on apostolic teaching. The creed set down at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers I have both received and taught. All who hold any other opinion I charge with impiety. And if anyone persists in claiming that I teach otherwise, let him not bring an uncontested charge — let him convict me face to face. This is what the laws of both God and man require.
And to whom is it more fitting to champion the wronged than to you, O friend of Christ — to whom boldness of voice is given by the splendor of your lineage, the greatness of your rank, and your foremost place in the law?
Letter 88
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To Taurus the Patrician.
Slanderers have forced me to go beyond the bounds of moderation, and compel me to write to you who have adorned the highest offices, and obtained the most distinguished honours. I therefore implore you to pardon me, for I do not write in self sufficiency, but because I am thrust forward by necessity. It is not because I expect to fall unjustly into trouble and distress, for this is the common fate of all who have sincerely served God, but because I desire to persuade your excellency that those who accuse my opinions are producing false charges against me. From my mother's breast I have been nurtured on apostolic teaching, and the creed laid down at Nicæa by the holy and blessed Fathers I have both learned and teach. All who hold any other opinion I charge with impiety, and if any one persists in asserting that I teach the contrary, let him not bring a charge which I cannot defend, but convict me to my face. For this is agreeable to the laws alike of God and of man, but to whom is it so becoming to champion the wronged as to you, O friend of Christ, to whom boldness of utterance is given by the splendour of your lineage, the greatness of your rank and your foremost place in the law?
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To Taurus the Patrician.
Slanderers have forced me past the bounds of moderation and compelled me to write to you — a man who has adorned the highest offices and received the most distinguished honors. I ask you to pardon the boldness of this letter; I write not in self-sufficiency but because necessity drives me forward.
I write not because I fear falling unjustly into trouble and distress — that is the common lot of all who have sincerely served God — but because I desire to persuade your Excellency that those who accuse my opinions are bringing false charges against me. From my mother's breast I was nurtured on apostolic teaching. The creed set down at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers I have both received and taught. All who hold any other opinion I charge with impiety. And if anyone persists in claiming that I teach otherwise, let him not bring an uncontested charge — let him convict me face to face. This is what the laws of both God and man require.
And to whom is it more fitting to champion the wronged than to you, O friend of Christ — to whom boldness of voice is given by the splendor of your lineage, the greatness of your rank, and your foremost place in the law?
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.