Letter 340

To Isidore the Reader. Peter, the foremost of the apostles, says: "If you are reproached in the name of Christ, blessed are you" [1 Peter 4:14]. And the Lord has said through Isaiah: "[Fear not] the reproach of men; be in no way afraid" [Isaiah 51:7]. [The text here is interrupted by an editorial note of Cotelerius (Monumenta Ecclesiae Graecae II, 556), proposing that a phrase be read "your own" in this sense: "Since you readily supply food and clothing to your own servants, why on earth do you make a show of yourself, as though you were squandering your resources upon strangers coming in from outside, wicked men and triflers?"] And through him He cries out in the Gospel: "Blessed are you when they reproach you; rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in the heavens" [Matthew 5:11-12]. And the apostle Paul too, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, greatly praised those who hold a fervent faith toward Christ the Savior. If, then, these things are so, by no means be downcast, nor be alarmed when you are reproached on account of your good repute, the goodness of your character, and your shining piety, by foolish and godless and abominable men. For indeed the fornicators laugh at those who are chaste, and the impious mock those who are pious, and the wicked sneer at the good, and the blind call themselves keen-sighted, and the basest of men applaud and proclaim aloud their sins and the most shameful passions of dishonor, reckoning the bitter to be sweet. But we, rather, will laugh at them and condemn them, and we will mourn and lament the destruction of such men.

Πέτρος ὁ πρωτοστάτης τῶν ἀποστόλων φησίν· «Εἰ ὀνειδίζεσθε ἐν ὀνόματι Χριστοῦ, μακάριοί ἐστε.» Καὶ ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκε διὰ τοῦ Ἠσαΐου· «Ὀνειδισμὸν (1) Lege τοὺς ἰδίους, ad hunc sensum: Quandoquidem propriis famulis victum et vestitum libenter suppeditas, cur tete scilicet ostentas quasi in alienos extrinsecus advenientes, improbos et nugatores, fercultates tuas profundas? COTELERIUS Monum. E. G. II, 556. ἀνθρώπων· μηδαμῶς φοβηθῆτε. » Δι’ αὐτοῦ δὲ βοᾷ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ · « Μακάριοί ἐστε, ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν ὑμᾶς· χαίρετε, καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε, ὅτι ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. » Καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος δὲ Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους Ἐπιστολῇ, σφόδρα ἐπῄνεσε τοὺς εἰς τὸν Σωτῆρα Χριστὸν ἔχοντας ζέουσαν πίστιν. Εἰ τοίνυν ταῦθ’ οὕτως ἔχει, μηδέλως ἀθυμήσῃς, μηδὲ πτοηθῇς ἐξονειδιζόμενος δι’ εὔκλειαν, καὶ τρόπων χρηστότητα, καὶ λαμπρὰν εὐσέβειαν, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀθελτέρων τε, καὶ ἀθέων, καὶ μυσαρῶν ἀνθρώπων· καὶ γὰρ οἱ πόρνοι καταγελῶσι τῶν σωφρονούντων, καὶ οἱ ἀσεβεῖς σκόπτουσι τοὺς εὐσεβοῦντας, καὶ οἱ πονηροὶ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς μυκτηρίζουσιν, καὶ οἱ τυφλοὶ πολυβλέποντας κικλήσκουσιν ἑαυτούς, καὶ οἱ φαυλότατοι κροτοῦσι, καὶ ἀνακηρύττουσι τὰς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ τὰ ἀχιστά πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας, ψηφιζόμενοι τὸ πικρὸν γλυκὺ εἶναι. Ἀλλ’ ἡμεῖς μᾶλλον αὐτῶν καταγελάσομεν, καὶ καταγνωσόμεθα, πενθήσομέν τε, καὶ καταθρηνήσομεν τὴν τῶν τοιούτων ἀπώλειαν.