CONCERNING SAINT ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM, MONK AND PRIEST IN EGYPT,
IN THE FIFTH CENTURY OF CHRIST.
A HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Isidore of Pelusium, monk and Priest in Egypt (S.)
By the author G. H.
Section I. The sacred veneration of Saint Isidore, his birthplace, monastic life, and priesthood.
[1] Pelusium, from which Saint Isidore received his cognomen of Pelusiota, was a city of Egypt properly so called (which is Lower Egypt, and roughly corresponds to the Delta), considered among the chief cities after Alexandria. It is believed to have been imbued with the Christian faith from Apostolic times, and was honored with an episcopal throne from antiquity. For among the Bishops of the province of Egypt who attended the first Council of Nicaea in the year of Christ 325, Dorotheus of Pelusium is found. Saint Isidore himself writes in Book 2, letter 127, that Eusebius succeeded Ammonius in his time. When the province of Augustamnica was separated from this Egypt — a division mentioned by the Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius Augustus in their rescript in Book 4 of the Code, On Customs and Commissions — then Pelusium was established as the metropolis of Augustamnica. After this city the "Pelusiac mouth" of the Nile is named. For after the Nile has traversed the rest of Egypt in a single channel, when it reaches the Delta it divides into two streams, as it were, from which the remaining mouths owe their origin. One, flowing toward the East and called the Bubastic River from the city of Bubastis, empties into the sea not far from Pelusium. Hence Stephanus, in his work on Cities: "Pelusium, a city of Egypt, to which flows the first mouth" — that is, of the Nile toward the East, or toward Palestine. In the Ecumenical Synod of Ephesus, according to the given division, some Bishops are assigned to Augustamnica, others to the province of Egypt. And Saint Isidore, in Book 1, letter 152, calls it "neighboring Egypt."
[2] The Greeks venerate Saint Isidore with a primary cult on February 4 in their Menaea, and in the following verses they allude to the name of Pelusium:
"Rejoice, Pelusiota, greatly rejoice, O my friend, Having escaped the clay, and having found new joy. On the fourth they placed Isidore in a mournful tomb"
— that is, of February, on which day they give us a brief summary of his Life with this eulogy: "The memory of our holy Father Isidore of Pelusium. This Saint, an Egyptian by nation, born of illustrious and pious parents, was recognized as a kinsman of Theophilus and Cyril, Bishops of Alexandria. Having advanced to the highest summit of erudition in all divine and human knowledge, he left to students of letters very many monuments of his genius, worthy of praise and remembrance. Rejecting also his enormous wealth and leaving behind his most splendid lineage with all the happiness of the present life, he retired to the Pelusiac mount. Having embraced the monastic life, he devoted himself there to solitude and, entering upon familiarity with God, illuminated the whole world by teaching through his divine discourses. He brought sinners to repentance, confirmed the just, reproved the obstinate with the sword of the Word of God, and stirred them to virtue. He even suggested and persuaded Emperors concerning what was useful for the administration of the Empire. In short, he most wisely answered all who consulted him from the fountains of sacred Scripture. Ten thousand letters are said to have been composed by him. Having thus lived his life so gloriously according to the law of God, he departed this life in advanced old age." So far the Menaea, which are nearly the same as what is read in the new Greek Anthologion printed at Rome under Clement VIII. The remaining Greek Menologia and Horologia also mention him on this day.
[3] The Latins likewise enrolled him in the sacred registers. The Roman Martyrology: "At Pelusium in Egypt, Saint Isidore, monk, distinguished for his merits and learning." Galesinius adorns him with a larger eulogy, but one largely transcribed from the Menaea: "At Pelusium, Saint Isidore, Confessor. Born of pious parents, a kinsman of Cyril, Bishop of the Church of Alexandria, well educated in both domestic and foreign disciplines, out of zeal for pious religion, having despised and contemned worldly things, he hid himself on a mountain, where, having adopted the monastic manner of life, he spent all his time now in holy prayers, now in commenting on sacred books, now in writing letters. By this type of letter-writing — for he composed a nearly infinite number of them — he was wonderfully useful not only to private persons but to magistrates, prefects, and bishops. Having thus led a most holy life, and having done many wonderful things by the help of God, he fell asleep in the Lord." Molanus, in his Supplement to Usuard, more briefly preserves the words of the Greek Horologion, which he cites: "On the fourth day, of the holy Father Isidore of Pelusium." This supplement of Molanus was confused with Usuard himself by Antonio Possevino in his Sacred Apparatus, by Andreas Schottus in his edition of Saint Isidore's letters, and by Joannes Chatardus — who led these into error — in his judgment on the life and writings of Saint Isidore prefixed to the letters rendered into Latin by Billius, which Chatardus had printed at Paris after Billius's death. "Usuard the Martyrologist," he says, "recorded five persons of the same name (Isidore) in the roll of the Saints, among whom he mentioned our Pelusiota, and records that his feast is celebrated on the fourth day of February." These five are listed together in the Index, from which Molanus also added from Metaphrastes, on February 5, Saint Isidore, Martyr of Alexandria, whom Usuard had not mentioned. We shall present more Saints of the same name throughout this entire work.
[4] Marcus Antonius Alegraeus, in his Paradise of Carmelite Glory, state 3, chapter 6, enrolls Saint Isidore of Pelusium among the Carmelite monks, citing an old Catalogue of illustrious Carmelites and a most reliable manuscript on the illustrious men of the Carmelites composed by the Bishop of Alghero. He complains that the Basilians claim this man, as well as others from the Carmelites, as though they were natives of another's glory, with no right to do so — citing in the margin the Sacred Apparatus of Possevino, who treats of Saint Isidore without any mention of either the Carmelites or the monks of Saint Basil, whom the same Alegraeus, in state 2, chapter 103, numbers among the Carmelites. "Indeed," he says in an appended note, "Basil professed the Carmelite institute among the true Carmelites for at least fourteen years. Although afterward, having summoned Brothers from Carmel, he established a monastery on Mount Didymus, and composing the monastic institute in a double form, he gave a rule in the manner of a dialogue to those who, choosing him as their Patron, were afterward called of the Order of Saint Basil, constituting from that time a Basilian religion different from the Carmelites, but truly derived from the Carmelites," etc. Lezana writes similar things about Saint Basil in volume 2 of the Annals of the Carmelites, at the year 363. We would prefer these claims to be proved by more ancient writers, and we set them aside here, to be more conveniently examined in the Life of Saint Basil on June 14. But whatever may be said of both monastic orders — the Carmelites among the Syrians and Palestinians, and Saint Basil's among the Cappadocians and neighboring peoples of Asia — the monks who lived in Egypt and the Thebaid in those times were of a different kind, distinguished from them and from each other by a great variety of ways of life, as we show passim in various Acts of the Saints, and as the Lives of the Fathers published by Rosweyde in ten books confirm, in which the monastic history of Egypt is chiefly contained, without any mention of Carmel.
[5] Alegraeus believed him to have been Greek by origin, asserting that he was buried in the parts of Greece where he had been born, among his Heliades — if, however, this author distinguishes Greece as a European region from Egypt, in which he makes him Abbot of the mount of Pelusium. The remaining authorities, with the Menaea, establish that he was Egyptian by race. Facundus, Bishop of Hermiana, in Book 2 of his Defense of the Three Chapters, calls him "a most holy man and of great glory in the Church of Christ, an Egyptian Priest of Pelusium." The Menaea moreover make him a kinsman of the Alexandrian Bishops Cyril and Theophilus. Alegraeus also conjectures that Cyril was Greek by nation and Constantinopolitan by birth, which we rejected on January 28, in the Life of Cyril, Section 2, and preferred to say that he was born at Alexandria with his uncle Theophilus, where it has been shown from contemporary authors that his sisters and other blood-relatives lived. And so Ephrem, who was Patriarch of Antioch in the time of the Emperor Justinian, testifies in Photius, excerpt 228, that Isidore the monk was "illustrious, an Alexandrian by house, and venerable to the high priests."
[6] Nicephorus Callistus, in Book 14 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 30, lists as disciples of John the Great, or Chrysostom, "the venerable ascetic Nilus, Isidore of Pelusium, and Mark the monk, celebrated by the speech of many." The same author pursues this at greater length in chapter 53: "At that time there flourished men not only outstanding in virtue, but distinguished also by learning consonant with their deeds. For if both forms of philosophy converge, they more swiftly raise the mind to the sublime and unite and join it to the Good which we seek with all desire and prayer. For as with two wings, whoever has attained both employs them, and flying up to heaven arrives most swiftly with full progress. Such men that age produced, who achieved great glory through both virtue and learning. Such was that Isidore who presided on the mount of Pelusium. Nilus and Mark, distinguished ascetics, and likewise Theodoret, the most wise Bishop of the Church of Cyrus — whose glory is great, to use the words of the Poet. These used as their teacher in both forms of philosophy the great Chrysostom." So far Nicephorus, who in the following chapter treats of these three fellow-disciples and their published books. Of these, we have given on January 14 the History of the slaughter of the holy Fathers killed by the Saracens near Mount Sinai in Arabia, written by Saint Nilus.
[7] That many places near Pelusium were long cultivated by monks is indicated by Saint Jerome in the Life of Saint Hilarion the Abbot, in whose journey through Egypt, made after the death of Saint Anthony (who died in the year 356), he writes: "Bidding farewell to many, with an infinite throng accompanying him, he came to Bethelia, where, having persuaded the crowds to return, he chose forty monks... On the fifth day, then, he came to Pelusium, and having visited the Brothers who were in the neighboring desert and dwelt in the place called Lychnos, he proceeded in three days to the fortress of the Thebans," etc. Saint Isidore himself, in Book 1, letter 318, calls it an "eschatiа" — that is, an extreme retreat. Evagrius briefly touches upon the monastic life of Saint Isidore spent there in Book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 15: "During the reign of the same younger Emperor Theodosius, Isidore" (whom he calls Pelusiota in the title) "was held in great honor, whose glory, on account of both his deeds and his words, had spread far and wide and was celebrated in the speech of all. He so mortified his flesh with labors and so nourished his soul with the secrets of divine learning that he led an angelic life on earth, and continually set before all a living and expressed image of monastic life and divine contemplation." So far Evagrius, whom Nicephorus, cited above, largely copied: "The divine Isidore," he says, "from his very adolescence so labored in monastic disciplines and so mortified his flesh, and nourished his soul with secret and sublimer doctrines, that he led a life utterly angelic, and was a living and animated pillar of the monastic institute and of divine contemplation, and as it were a primary exemplar of ardent emulation and spiritual learning." Facundus, cited above, and Suidas call him a Priest by rank. Nicephorus writes that he "presided over, instructed, or was the teacher of the Pelusiac mount" — just as Strabo, in Book 14 of his Geography, said "Athenodorus was the teacher of Caesar." Sixtus of Siena in Book 4 of his Sacred Library, Possevino, Alegraeus, Ferrarius in his Topography, and others call him Abbot — a title not used by more ancient writers.
Section II. The honor of Saint Chrysostom defended by Saint Isidore. Admonitions given to Saint Cyril of Alexandria.
[8] Photius, in excerpt 232, in his selections from the book of Stephanus Gobarus the Tritheist, writes: "He adduces also testimonies showing how Theophilus and the whole Synod with him were disposed toward Saint John Chrysostom; what opinion Cyril and Atticus had of Saint John; what Saint Isidore of Pelusium thought of Theophilus and Cyril, Bishops of Alexandria, and of Saint John Chrysostom — that he accused them of hatred toward Chrysostom, but praised and honored him. Severus, impelled to censure Saint Isidore, found no grounds and therefore falsely attributed to him agreement with Origen, although the same man later, by his own accord, overcome by the truth, retracted this." So far Stephanus in Photius. There exists a letter of Saint Isidore to Severus, letter 368 in Book 1, in which he teaches that arrogance must be suppressed, in these words: "Just as nature has not permitted a sheep to graze with a lioness, so it is in no way possible for pride to dwell in the same house as the monastic life. For the former is bestial and impatient of the bridle; the latter receives all good things with a submissive spirit, and admits painful and bitter things with great patience and fortitude. Therefore, if you have girded yourself for the study and practice of this life, depart from that vice, lest through it he punish you with some evil — he who has raised his neck against the Lord and strives and labors that all may be imitators of his pride and his fall." So writes Saint Isidore to Severus, if indeed he is the same man mentioned in Photius.
[9] That he openly defended Chrysostom, vehemently reproved Arcadius, Cyril, and the latter's uncle Theophilus, and censured their sinister machinations undertaken against that man, the aforementioned Cyril himself is our witness. Isidore himself greatly extols the doctrine of Saint Chrysostom: thus in Book 4, letter 224, he writes that "the glory of the writings which the most wise John left behind him, scattered throughout the whole world, has penetrated to the uttermost ends of land and sea. For who is there that is not captivated by them? Who among men born after him does not have gratitude to Divine Providence that he was born after him — and that he did not depart deprived and ignorant of that divine lyre, which, by the greatness of the things celebrated about it, has surely claimed for itself a reputation surpassing all belief? For he did not captivate wild beasts with his divine music, but he made men of brutish habits gentle, rendering their ferocity mild and tame, and leading it to gentleness and a certain harmony," etc. And in Book 1, letter 156, he commends with distinction his book On the Priesthood, together with praise of the author: "No heart has this reading penetrated which it has not wounded with divine love, as one who shows the priesthood to be an august, venerable, and difficult thing to approach, yet teaches that it must be pursued without any stain of blame. For that wise and learned interpreter of the secrets of God, John — the eye of the Church of Byzantium and indeed of all the Churches — composed that book so subtly, prudently, and carefully that all who exercise the priesthood in a manner pleasing to God, as well as those who administer the priestly dignity negligently and lazily, may find herein both their virtues and their offenses." The same author extols the admirable eloquence of Chrysostom in Book 2, letter 42, inserting a letter of the Sophist Libanius written to Chrysostom while he was still a young man, when he had delivered an oration in praise of the Emperors, as Nicephorus explains, both letters being inserted into his history.
[10] The same Isidore writes in Book 1, letter 152, to Symmachus: "You ask me to explain to you the tragedy of the divine man John. But I cannot explain it, for the matter surpasses the mind. Yet hear a few things. Neighboring Egypt has always had this custom: to behave wickedly and destructively — namely, rejecting Moses and embracing Pharaoh; lacerating with whips the humble and lowly, oppressing the laborers, commanding cities to be built, and refusing wages — and to this very time persisting in the same pursuits. For, bringing forward Theophilus, burning with an insane love of precious stones and holding gold as a deity, surrounded and fortified by four associates — or rather, co-apostates — she overthrew a pious man endowed with the teaching of divine things, having seized upon the hatred and enmity which he displayed against him who bears the same name as I, as a bulwark of wickedness and effrontery. But the house of David grows stronger, while the house of Saul, as you see, grows weaker — although that man, having weathered the storm of life, has departed to heavenly tranquility." So far the letter. Saint Chrysostom died on the 18th day before the Kalends of December in the year 407. Theophilus survived until the year 412, when he departed this life on October 15, in the consulship of Honorius Augustus IX and Theodosius Augustus V. The other man harassed by Theophilus is Saint Isidore the monk and Priest of Alexandria, a disciple of Saint Anthony the Great, whose feast we celebrated on January 15, where in Section 3 we demonstrated the calumnies he suffered from Theophilus and showed that he is wrongly confused by some with Saint Isidore of Pelusium.
[11] Saint Cyril succeeded Theophilus among the Alexandrians, at which time Saint Atticus presided over the Church of Constantinople. We treated of the latter on January 8 and of the former on January 28, where we said that the Roman Pontiff labored long and hard for the name of Saint Chrysostom to be inscribed in the sacred registers by them. That Cyril was moved to do this by the admonition of Saint Isidore and by an apparition of the Virgin Mother of God is taught by Nicetas the Philosopher in Nicephorus Callistus, Book 14, chapter 28, in these words: "Since this dissension indeed arose from emulation, though not according to knowledge, and not from envy or diabolic contention, it seemed good to God that a man preeminent in both learning and virtue should not limp in this one thing so as to fail to attain the summit of perfection. For they were men and subject to human passions. Wherefore, some time later, Cyril was reconciled with that great man even after his death, and corrected his error — partly through many others who urged him, but most of all through Isidore of Pelusium, who exhorted him now with reproof, now with admonition — aided also by a divine and more secret revelation. For he seemed to see himself expelled from the sacred buildings by John, who was greatly strengthened by his retinue and the divine guard around him; and the Mother of the Lord interceding with John on his behalf, citing among many other things this especially: that he had fought very greatly for His glory — and praying that he might be received back into the sacred temples," etc. So far Nicetas, of whom we shall say more on October 23, in the Life of Saint Ignatius, Patriarch of Constantinople, written by him.
[12] Facundus, mentioned above, writes that Saint Isidore, on account of the merits of his life and wisdom, was both honored and called "Father" by Cyril himself. The same is confirmed by Anastasius of Sinai in his Guide, chapters 9 and 10. Alluding to this paternal appellation, Saint Isidore admirably admonishes Cyril in Book 1, letter 370: "The examples of Scripture strike me with terror and compel me by necessity to write what is needed. For if I am a father, as you yourself say, I fear the condemnation of Eli, because he did not chastise his sons when they sinned 1 Samuel 3-4. But if, as I am more persuaded, I am your son — since you bear the appearance and manner of that great Mark — the punishment of Jonathan causes me anguish and anxiety, because he did not prevent his father from consulting the witch of Endor 1 Samuel 28, 31; and on that account, he who could have prevented it perished in battle before the one who committed the crime. Therefore, lest I too be condemned and you undergo divine judgment, suppress your feuds and dissensions. Do not divert upon the living Church the revenge for private and domestic insults, to which you are bound as by a certain debt among mortals; and do not procure for it an eternal dissension under the appearance and pretext of piety." In a somewhat sharper style he admonishes him in letter 310 of the same first book, which Facundus also published along with the preceding letter in his works: "Misguided favor does not see sharply, but hatred sees nothing at all. Therefore, if you wish to be free and immune from both forms of dimness, do not pronounce violent judgments; rather, commit the charges brought forward to a just and impartial trial. Since God Himself, who knows all things before they arise, in His condescension willed to descend and examine the outcry of Sodom — hereby instructing us to scrutinize and weigh matters carefully. For many of those who have assembled at Ephesus accuse you of pursuing and avenging your own enmities, and of not orthodoxly seeking the things that are of Jesus Christ. 'He is the nephew of Theophilus on his sister's side,' they say, 'and he imitates his mind and opinion; for just as Theophilus poured out manifest fury against the divinely inspired and God-beloved man John, so this one also desires to glory and vaunt himself — although otherwise there is a wide difference between those who are accused.'" So far the letter. Saint Cyril was present at Ephesus at the Ecumenical Synod convened in the year of Christ 431 against Nestorius, who asserted that Christ consisted of a double person and denied that Saint Mary could be called the Mother of God. Which mystery the same Saint Isidore admirably explains to Saint Cyril in Book 1, letter 323, which Anastasius of Sinai cites at the places mentioned above. We omit other letters sent to him. This single maxim completes letter 306 of Book 3, written to the same Cyril: "Just as a king who obeys the laws is a living law, so a priest who is subject to the authority of ecclesiastical decrees is a tacit norm and rule."
Section III. The letters written by Saint Isidore. Praise of virginity. Exhortations to the virtues.
[13] Very many authors extol the learning of Saint Isidore with great praises. Evagrius reports that he wrote many works full of every kind of usefulness. Facundus records that two thousand letters were written by him for the edification of the Church. Suidas increases the number: "Isidore," he says, "a Priest of Pelusium, a most eloquent man, a Philosopher and Rhetorician, wrote three thousand letters interpreting the Divine Scripture, and certain other things." Nicephorus has the following about his writings: "Many things were written by him, full of varied usefulness; but especially nearly ten thousand letters of every kind, filled with both divine and human grace, in which he expounds all of Scripture more clearly and instructs the morals of all manner of men — since he employs in them a style of discourse adapted to teaching. He also amply demonstrates with what ardor he burned for virtue, for the Church, and for those who were rashly wronged. Moreover, he inveighs greatly in his lucubrations against those who did not rightly discharge the episcopal and priestly office." The same number of letters is expressed in the Greek Menaea and in Sixtus of Siena; but could this number be attributed to a Greek letter that crept into the place of another? Certainly individual Greek characters, iota, gamma, and beta, subscripted with points, signify two, three, or ten thousand. Indeed, by a similar error, one might infer that Suidas attributes only three letters to him, since in the Greek editions — the Venetian by Aldus, the Basel editions of both Froben and Wolf, and the Geneva edition prepared by Aemilius Portus — that same gamma is read with a superior accent, not a subscripted point. There now exist in print 2,113 letters of Saint Isidore, divided into five books, of which the first three, from the translation of Jacobus Billius Prunaeus, the fourth by Cunradus Rittershusio, and the fifth by Andreas Schottus, a Priest of our Society, were previously published separately. Ephraem, Bishop of Antioch, mentioned above in Photius, testifies that heretics are accustomed to calumniate these letters of Saint Isidore as impious.
[14] Illustrious is the eulogy of Billius concerning these letters and their author: "These letters of Isidore are nearly all very brief and woven with a certain perpetual Laconism, yet rich in doctrine and usefulness. For he everywhere sprinkles and seasons them with testimonies and examples from Scripture. He occasionally refutes certain heresies briefly and as if in passing. For, as a true disciple and imitator of Saint John Chrysostom, he is entirely occupied in forming morals — a wealthy praiser and herald of virtue, and a most keen pursuer of vices. For which reason he testifies in some places that he incurred the offense and hatred of many, and that many snares were set for him. 'If,' he says Book 2, letter 122, 'any fruit arose from the freedom of reproof, I would not have yielded to anyone in this matter, even though on that account I was very often assailed by plots. But since this time demands silence, let us await the Judge.' From the writings of the pagans he inserts little here, content with the sacred Scriptures — as having both greater force and being more worthy of a Christian teacher and reader. He is also accustomed to conclude these letters of his with some notable maxim or some elegant little exhortation, and thus to plant, as it were, a certain sting in the reader." So Billius prefaced the letters he published. Schottus writes similar things in his preface to the letters he unearthed, addressed to the Most Eminent Cardinal Alfonso de la Cueva: "You will perceive, believe me, in reading these sacred letters — because they are moral and explain very many passages of sacred Scripture — a singular fragrance of piety; moreover, you will hear with pleasure the voice of the disciple of Saint John Chrysostom, nearest to him in eloquence. For me certainly, I will say frankly, all his letters hitherto published in print by the Abbot Jacques Billius Prunaeus, when I read them — and I read them frequently — so affect me that I have read and heard nothing in this genre more pious than his ascetical writings together with those of the great Basil, for taming the passions of the soul and most powerfully deterring from vices; nothing, in short, more illustrious for instilling virtue. For he castigates through letters, sharpening his pen by exhortation, the vices of his age, especially of the clergy: thus he splendidly and frequently reproves Zosimus, the most wicked of bipeds, and the yoked pairs of his crimes — Maro, Martinianus, Eustathius, and Eusebius, those burdens of the earth. Meanwhile he applies strong spurs of love to induce repentance; in short, he endeavors to amend morals and compels those who have strayed from the right way to return to the path and to better ways." So far Schottus. Among the vices of the clergy, he sharply reproves the stain of simony. Possevino now says: "Since the letters of Isidore of Pelusium, with their maxims and brief exhortations, plant a most useful sting in the reader, I would advise upright and learned schoolmasters not to let such an opportunity escape them — that they might from time to time read them aloud to their pupils, and thus instill in them their morals, diction, and piety."
[15] The great authority of Saint Isidore with the Emperor Theodosius, with magistrates, and with bishops is attested by the letters written to them. Of these bishops, very many attended the Council of Ephesus: Theon of Heracleus Sethretum, Hermogenes of Rhinocorura, Abrahamius of Ostracina, Lampetius of Cassium, Alipius of Sella, Strategius of Athribis — all from the province of Augustamnica; Macarius of Metelitae and Theopemptus of Cabasa, from neighboring Egypt; Heraclides of Heraclea in Arcadia; Euoptius of Ptolemais in the Pentapolis, etc. Of his letters, we are pleased to include the one he wrote to the Emperor Theodosius when he learned that certain things were being done improperly at the Synod of Ephesus by his Counts. It is found in Book 1, number 311, with this inscription: "To the Emperor Theodosius, on providing security for the Synod. If you devote enough of your time to be present at what is to be decided at Ephesus, I have no doubt that things will turn out in such a way that they can be censured by no one. But if you allow turbulent hatreds to cast the votes, who will defend the council from cavils and jests? You will apply a remedy to this evil if you remove your ministers from the prescribing of dogmas (since they are far removed from the ability to serve both Emperor and God at the same time), lest they otherwise bring agitation and upheaval to the Empire as well, dashing the machines of their perfidy against the rock of the Church. For it is fixed in a firm place, and its foundation is such that not even the gates of hell shall prevail against it — as He who established it has promised." So much to the Emperor Theodosius. In Book 3, letter 5 to the Deacon Eutonius, on that saying of the Savior about the Church, that the gates of hell, etc., we add it here: "It was not said as though no one would declare war against the Church and strive to extinguish it; but that many would indeed fight against it, but would be conquered and routed. 'And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' Matthew 16:18 — understand, the Church. For so it has come to pass. It has been attacked but not overcome; indeed, it has shone forth more splendidly from those very persons who tried to extinguish it. Why then do you wonder if holy men also are harassed by war? For from wars, it seems, come more glorious trophies and more distinguished spoils."
[16] A contest of this kind, together with a distinguished encomium of perpetual virginity, he presents in Book 3, letter 351, addressed to Antonius Scholasticus, a part of which we give here, so that we may have the author himself as witness and testimony of how deep roots this virtue had struck in his soul. He begins thus: "The contest of virginity is indeed great, illustrious, and divine — for it wages war against the pleasure inherent in the body — yet it diminishes the labors in other contests. For she who does not care about bodily adornment, or a husband and children, for the sake of which the pursuit of wealth seems necessary to those not given to philosophy, will easily conquer the love of money. She will in no way be subject to grief, for she has not put forth branches with which cares and sorrows blossom. For while children live, parents are compelled to be anxious; and when they die, to dwell in mourning." And after inserting many remarks about the troubles of marriage, he adds: "Yet I do not say these things in order to reject and proscribe those who embrace honorable marriage — God forbid — but to reprove those who dare, with a slippery and impudent tongue, to prefer marriage to virginity. For by as much as heaven surpasses earth and the soul surpasses the body, by so much does virginity surpass marriage. For virginity holds the front rank in the battle line, adorns the front of the phalanx, and erects illustrious trophies; while marriage, being something moderate and granted as a support to the weaker, can indeed preserve those who keep it undefiled, but cannot raise them to the summit of virginity... Therefore, let them not think they can compete with those who are free and unbound; nor let those who have devoted their entire life to increasing wealth and adorning the body imagine that they will receive the same rewards as those who have consecrated themselves entirely to God and care for the things of the Lord. Rather, keeping themselves in their appropriate rank, let them not sharpen their tongue against those who have ascended to the heavenly summit... nor array it against virginity; but let them honor it as a Queen and submit to it, so that they may have it both as a defender and an intercessor. For to the sun those who have embraced virginity may be compared, to the moon those who have embraced continence, and finally to the stars those who have embraced and preserved honorable marriage — especially since Saint Paul adds his vote and says that there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars 1 Corinthians 15:41."
[17] So much on virginity. Similar teachings on individual virtues the reader will find interspersed in his letters, and will recognize him as a great estimator of the virtues, who placed more weight in them than in eminent learning or in any outstanding knowledge of writing and speaking — which he teaches in brief to the monk Patrimius in Book 1, letter 14: "You are, as I hear, endowed with such a disposition and natural goodness that you learn studiously and speak excellently. But the path of the spiritual life proceeds happily through action rather than through speech. Therefore, if immortal rewards are your concern, thinking little of speaking well, strive to act well." He prescribes the same method to Bishop Apollonius in Book 3, letter 363: "Since it is neither seemly nor expedient to drag unwilling and resistant people to piety when they have been so constituted as to have freedom of choice, therefore take care, by using persuasion when the occasion presents itself, to illuminate through your life and conduct those who dwell in darkness." How humbly and lowly a man devoted to acquiring virtue ought to think of himself, he admirably teaches in letter 373 of Book 3: "He who cultivates virtue has a glorious crown; but he who performs the duties of virtue and yet does not consider himself to have performed them will receive an even more splendid crown by this very disposition. For it is no less praiseworthy than the virtues themselves, when you have done something virtuous, to consider that you have not done it. Indeed, to speak more correctly, when this attitude is present, it indicates that the virtues too are great; but when it is absent, it diminishes even the greatest things. Therefore, whoever wishes to make his virtues great, let him not consider them great, and then they will be great."
Section IV. Saint Isidore's zeal against heretics, his sincere doctrine, avoidance of women, and books written.
[18] From these letters of Saint Isidore, Baronius frequently inserted distinguished testimonies into his Annals: thus at the year of Christ 146, number 29, he excellently refutes the malicious attacks of the pagans, conceived on account of the various heresies that had arisen in the Christian religion, by citing letter 90 of Book 2. He adds that Saint Isidore hit upon the target of this question when he instructed Bishop Apollonius on why there are many heresies and what should be done in each case. Omitting this letter, we substitute another, which is letter 389 of Book 1, addressed to a certain calumniator named Therasius, a witness of his extraordinary zeal against the Arians: "I would gladly ask you," he says, "who assail us with cavils and present yourself as a bitter and hostile judge against us, if the Emperor had placed you at a fortification and made you the guardian of a tower of the city, and it were being undermined and shaken so that entry to the city would lie open to the enemy — would you not employ all the instruments and weapons that you had stored up or could devise, blocking and hurling projectiles, breaking such an attempt, and thus both rescuing the city and yourself from danger and preserving your fidelity and goodwill toward the Emperor? Yet you are angry at us, whom God has set as teachers of His Church, because we resist Arius, who not only wages war against the pious flock but has even slain very many? I, indeed, for this reason despise every danger, and would sooner cease doing anything else than not strike him as hard as I can."
[19] The same Baronius, at the year of Christ 404, number 78, cites a letter of Saint Isidore to Cassian, when the latter had undertaken to profess the monastic life, in which he admonished him that he must above all control his tongue. This letter exists in Book 1, number 309, addressed to the monk Cassian, whom Baronius believes to be the author of the Conferences of the Fathers, and to have drawn his subject matter while then in Egypt. We shall treat of him on February 28, and more fully on July 23, on which day he is venerated at Marseilles in the monastery of Saint Victor. Then at the year of Christ 415, numbers 27 and following, after Baronius had described from Saint Jerome how Palladius, a Galatian, Bishop of Helenopolis, though he was accustomed to associate constantly with religious women, yet boasted with great arrogance that he was entirely free of all concupiscence, he adds that for this reason he was also rebuked by letter by Isidore of Pelusium. This letter exists in Book 2, number 284, from which we transfer here some admonitions, as being, in Baronius's testimony, a monument of so great a man useful to all: "Flee, excellent man, the company of women as much as possible. For those who discharge the priestly office ought to be holier and purer than those who have fled to the mountains. For the former have the care of both themselves and the people, while the latter have care only of themselves... But if some necessity compels you to meet with them, keep your eyes cast down upon the ground, and teach them also how they ought to look. And when you have said a few words that can discipline and illuminate their minds, fly away at once — lest perhaps prolonged familiarity soften and break your strength... But if you desire to be honored by women — though this indeed by no means befits a spiritual man — whatever the case may be, have no commerce with women, and then you will obtain honor from them... For the female nature shows herself intolerable when someone flatters her; but on the contrary, she most of all respects and admires those who are endowed with greater freedom and use greater authority with her. But if you say that you associate frequently with them and suffer no harm from it, I may perhaps allow myself to be persuaded of that. But I would also like everyone to believe this: that stones are worn away and rock is hollowed out by drops of water falling continually. The meaning of these words is this: What can be imagined harder than a rock? What softer than water, and indeed than a drop of water? And yet persistence conquers nature. If nature, which can scarcely be moved, is moved, and suffers what it least ought to suffer, by what art or reasoning will the will, which is easily moved, not be conquered and overthrown by habit?"
[20] Golden is this maxim of his, proclaimed in the Second Council of Nicaea, Action 1, and repeated from Saint John Damascene's book On Images, in which it is recorded that Saint Isidore of Pelusium said: "No account should be taken of a temple that is not adorned with an image." To this should be appended part of letter 55 of Book 1, whose inscription reads: "To the most illustrious Hierax, On the Miracles of the Relics of the Martyrs." It begins thus: "If it offends you that we honor the ashes of the bodies of the Martyrs on account of their love for God and their constancy, ask those who receive healing from them, and learn how many diseases they remedy. Thus it will come about that you will not only not mock what we do and assail it with cavils, but you will even imitate what is rightly and laudably done." Let the heretics of these times take note of this, to whom would that the letters of Saint Isidore might become more familiar! They would more easily perceive how unjust is the war they wage against monks and priests, temples and monasteries, images and relics of the Saints, in short against all religion and the orthodox faith, and also against Christ the Lord, the giver of all heavenly graces, offered in the sacrifice of the Mass. Concerning this mystery, it is pleasing to add his letter addressed to Count Dorotheos, in which he briefly explains the altar cloth — which is called the Corporal because the sacred Eucharist is placed upon it. It is letter 123 of Book 1: "That pure Linen Cloth," he says, "which is spread out under the ministry of the Divine gifts, represents the sacred service of Joseph of Arimathea. For just as he committed the body of the Lord, wrapped in a linen cloth, to burial — through which the entire mortal race received the resurrection — so we, sanctifying the Bread of Proposition upon the linen cloth, find without doubt the body of Christ, bringing forth for us that immortality in the manner of a fountain which Jesus the Savior, after being carried to burial by Joseph and returning from death to life, bestowed upon us." So far his own words. Let orthodox Catholics venerate the body of Christ "without doubting" present in the most sacred Eucharist, and against the fury and insult of impious heretics let them take this consolation from letter 100 of Book 3, written to Maro the Priest: "It is not those who receive injury who are in danger, but those who inflict it, and they are the ones who ought to tremble and quake. If this is so, to suffer injury is not an evil, but to inflict it, and not to know how to endure injuries that are inflicted." Let it suffice to have drawn these few passages from his distinguished letters, as an incentive for everyone to read them frequently.
[21] Besides the letters, we gather from the letters themselves that Saint Isidore also wrote other books. One of these is addressed to the Gentiles, which he mentions in Book 2, letter 137, written to Count Herminus, in which he explains the subject of that book: "That a wicked man should have all things going well, while on the contrary a good man, heaped with all the praises that can befall a man, should be involved in the bitterest evils — this is truly a matter difficult to conjecture and comprehend, and far exceeding the measure of human nature. For it is necessary to leave this to the Divine judgments. And if we wish to think rightly, leaving to that sole supreme mind, free from all fault, the knowledge of this counsel weighed and committed to it, we shall betake ourselves to those things that are in our hands — things which are scarcely found even by us. But since you think that we ought to bring aid to right doctrine as much as our powers allow, we too have brought aid, in our own small measure, in that book which we published against the Gentiles. If you read it, you will understand the solution of this question." He writes further about what he treats in the same book to the Scholastic Arpocras in letter 228 of the same book, in these words: "That the art of divination among the Gentiles was full of trifles and was vainly celebrated by everyone's mouth has been demonstrated by me in the book against the Gentiles" — and there, with several examples adduced, he mocks the stupidity of the Gentiles. But in Book 3, letter 233, he writes to the same Count Herminus about his small work against Fate: "Since you write that I have composed an Oration — or, to speak more truly, a little Oration — on the subject that Fate does not exist, which is praised to the skies by some, and is held by others to be superior to the books elaborated by certain authors on this subject; and you beg me earnestly to send it to you — therefore I send it. But do not follow the judgment of fame in pronouncing your verdict; rather, examine and test it carefully. And if it has been competently written by me, give thanks to God; but if something seems to be wanting in it, pardon human weakness, which cannot speak as it wishes."
[22] The Copts of Egypt venerate on this day in their Martyrology Saint Andrew the Egyptian, who could be conjectured to be confused with Saint Isidore of Pelusium from the Coptic encomium which we add here. It is the 10th day of the month Mechir for the Copts, which is our February 4. "On this day," they say, "the holy Father, the Religious and wise man, the Catholic Doctor Andrew, went to rest. This Saint was from Grania in Egypt, and was a kinsman of the holy Patriarchs Philip and Cyril, Bishops of Alexandria. No boy was equal to him in genius; and therefore they educated him in every kind of discipline, both spiritual and civil, and educated him also in Ecclesiastical books — then in every discipline of the Greeks, in which he surpassed all his peers. And with all this, he was an excellent Religious and most devoted to divine worship. Indeed it came about that he quickly turned the eyes of all upon himself, so that they tried by every means to seize him and set him over the Patriarchate, or the See of Alexandria. But he, dead to the world, fled by night and came to the mount of Pharma, where he led the monastic life in the monastery of that place. Then he betook himself from this place to a certain small cave, in which he remained alone for the space of two years; in which he also composed books singular in number and quality, which he sent to princes and kings, so that they might be formed to a better life from them. He also explained many other books — very many Ecclesiastical commentaries, namely on the old and new Law — which are read in the Church of Egypt to this day. He also sent to Patriarchs, Bishops, and other men letters numbering eighteen thousand. And when he had accomplished these glorious exercises with the highest praise and fruit, he consecrated himself entirely to God, intent upon prayers day and night; and while occupied in these exercises, overtaken and overwhelmed by illness, he departed to the Lord. May his prayer and blessing be with us. Amen."
He who is here called Philip is Theophilus, uncle of Cyril. Mount Pharma is, in Palladius's Lausiac History, chapter 23, Mount Pherme in Egypt, leading into the vast solitude of Scetis, where at that time five hundred men were exercising the ascetic life.