Letter 202: I will not pass judgment, and I will not condemn, a man whom I have never heard speak and never met in person.
To Retheus
That you guide the young ministers of the Church well, I am persuaded; but you praise them badly. Take care that they not recline upon your encomiums and be robbed of the sweetness of their earnestness, becoming objects of admiration only to lose their intensity through conceit.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Καλῶς μὲν (95) ἄγεις τοὺς νέους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας λειτουργούς, πέπεισμαι· κακῶς δὲ τούτους ἐπαινεῖς. Πρόσεχε μὴ τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις ἀνακλιθῶσι, καὶ τῶν τόνων τὸ ἡδὺ συληθῶσιν, οἰθήσει τὴν συντονίαν ζηλωθέντες.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern isidore pelusium workflow v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/PatrologiaGraeca (PG vol.78)
Related Letters
Do not grow weary in the contest.
A treatise on the Forty-two Mansions or Halting-places of the Israelites, originally intended for Fabiola but not completed until after her death. Sent to Oceanus along with the preceding letter. These Mansions are made an emblem of the Christian's pilgrimage, the true Hebrew hastening to pass from earth to heaven.
Your brother, my admirable friend, is admired for his character; you are admired for your eloquence.
Chrysostom blesses Alphius for steady love, explains travel delays, and declines burdensome gifts.