Letter CCLXIX.1482    Placed in 378.

To the wife of Arinthæus, the General.  Consolatory.

1.  It had been only proper, and due to your affection, that I should have been on the spot, and have taken part in the present occurrences.  Thus I might have at once assuaged my own sorrow, and given some consolation to your excellency.  But my body will no longer endure long journeys, and so I am driven to approach you by letter, that I seem not to count what has happened as altogether of no interest to me.  Who has not mourned for that man?  Who is so stony of heart as not to have shed a warm tear over him?  I especially have been filled with mourning at the thought of all the marks of respect which I have received from him, and of the general protection which he has extended to the Churches of God.  Nevertheless, I have bethought me that he was human, and had done the work he had to do in this life, and now in the appointed time has been taken back again by God Who ordains our lots.  All this, I beseech you, in your wisdom, to take to heart, and to meet the event with meekness, and, so far as is possible, to endure your loss with moderation.  Time may be able to soothe your heart, and allow the approach of reason.  At the same time your great love for your husband, and your goodness to all, lead me to fear that, from the very simplicity of your character, the wound of your grief may pierce you deeply, and that you may give yourself up entirely to your feelings.  The teaching of Scripture is always useful, and specially at times like this.  Remember, then, the sentence passed by our Creator.  By it all we who are dust shall return to dust.1483    Gen. iii. 19.  No one is so great as to be superior to dissolution.

2.  Your admirable husband was a good and great man, and his bodily strength rivalled the virtues of his soul.  He was unsurpassed, I must own, in both respects.  But he was human, and he is dead; like Adam, like Abel, like Noah, like Abraham, like Moses, or any one else of like nature that you can name.  Let us not then complain because he has been taken from us.  Let us rather thank Him, who joined us to him, that we dwelt with him from the beginning.  To lose a husband is a lot which you share with other women; but to have been united to such a husband is a boast which I do not think any other woman can make.  In truth our Creator fashioned that man for us as a model of what human nature ought to be.  All eyes were attracted towards him, and every tongue told of his deeds.  Painters and sculptors fell short of his excellence, and historians, when they tell the story of his achievements in war, seem to fall into the region of the mythical and the incredible.  Thus it has come about that most men have not even been able to give credit to the report conveying the sad tidings, or to accept the truth of the news that Arinthæus is dead.  Nevertheless Arinthæus has suffered what will happen to heaven and to sun and to earth.  He has died a bright death; not bowed down by old age; without losing one whit of his honour; great in this life; great in the life to come; deprived of nothing of his present splendour in view of the glory hoped for, because he washed away all the stain of his soul, in the very moment of his departure hence, in the laver of regeneration.  That you should have arranged and joined in this rite is cause of supreme consolation.  Turn now your thoughts from the present to the future, that you may be worthy through good works to obtain a place of rest like his.  Spare an aged mother; spare a tender daughter, to whom you are now the sole comfort.  Be an example of fortitude to other women, and so regulate your grief that you may neither eject it from your heart, nor be overwhelmed by your distress.  Ever keep your eyes fixed on the great reward of patience, promised, as the requital of the deeds of this life, by our Lord Jesus Christ.1484    cf. Ep. clxxix and Theod., H.E. iv. 30.

ΠΡΟΣ ΤΗΝ ΟΜΟΖΥΓΟΝ ΑΡΙΝΘΑΙΟΥ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΗΤΙΚΗ

[1] Τὸ μὲν ἀκόλουθον ἦν καὶ ὀφειλόμενόν σου τῇ διαθέσει αὐτοὺς ἡμᾶς παρεῖναι καὶ συμμετέχειν τῶν γινομένων. Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἑαυτῶν τε τὴν λύπην κατεπραΰναμεν καὶ τῇ σῇ σεμνότητι τὸ τῆς παρακλήσεως εἰκὸς ἀπεπληρώσαμεν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκέτι μου φέρει τὸ σῶμα τὰς μακροτέρας κινήσεις, ἐπὶ τὴν διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ἦλθον ὁμιλίαν, ὡς ἂν μὴ παντάπασι δόξαιμεν ἀλλοτρίως ἔχειν πρὸς τὰ συμβάντα. Τίς μὲν οὖν τὸν ἄνδρα ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ἐστέναξε; Τίς δὲ οὕτω λίθινος τὴν καρδίαν ὡς μὴ θερμὸν ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἀφεῖναι δάκρυον; Ἐμὲ δὲ καὶ διαφερόντως κατηφείας ἐπλήρωσε τάς τε ἰδίας περὶ ἐμὲ τιμὰς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς λογιζόμενον καὶ τὴν κοινὴν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ προστασίαν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐλογισάμεθα ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ὢν καὶ λειτουργήσας τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ τὰ ἐπιβάλλοντα τοῖς καθήκουσι χρόνοις πάλιν ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκονομοῦντος τὰ ἡμέτερα Θεοῦ προσελήφθη. Ἃ καὶ τὴν σὴν φρόνησιν ἐνθυμουμένην πράως ἔχειν τὸ συμβὰν παρακαλοῦμεν καί, ὡς οἷόντε, μετρίως φέρειν τὴν συμφοράν. Ἱκανὸς μὲν οὖν καὶ ὁ χρόνος μαλάξαι τὴν καρδίαν καὶ τὴν πάροδον δοῦναι τοῖς λογισμοῖς: ἀλλ' ὅμως ὕποπτον ἡμῖν ἐστι τὸ ἄγαν σου φίλανδρον καὶ περὶ πάντας χρηστόν, μή ποτε ἔκδοτον δῷς σεαυτὴν τῷ πάθει δι' ἁπαλότητα ἠθῶν βαθεῖαν τὴν πληγὴν δεξαμένη τῆς λύπης. Πάντοτε μὲν οὖν χρήσιμον τὸ τῶν Γραφῶν διδασκάλιον, μάλιστα δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων καιρῶν. Μνήσθητι τοίνυν τῆς τοῦ κτίσαντος ἡμᾶς ἀποφάσεως δι' ἣν πάντες ἐκ τῆς γῆς φύντες πάλιν εἰς γῆν ὑποστρέφομεν, καὶ οὐδεὶς οὕτω μέγας ὥστε βελτίων φανῆναι τῆς διαλύσεως.

[2] Καλὸς μὲν οὖν καὶ μέγας ὁ θαυμάσιος ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἐφάμιλλος τῇ ῥώμῃ τοῦ σώματος τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετήν, φημὶ κἀγώ, οὐμενοῦν ἔχων ὑπερβολὴν εἰς ἑκάτερον, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἄνθρωπος καὶ τέθνηκεν ὡς Ἀδάμ, ὡς Ἄβελ, ὡς Νῶε, ὡς Ἀβραάμ, ὡς Μωσῆς, ὡς ὅν τινα ἂν εἴποις τῶν τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως μετεχόντων. Μὴ οὖν, ἐπειδὴ ἀφῃρέθημεν αὐτόν, ἀγανακτῶμεν, ἀλλ', ὅτι τὴν ἀρχὴν συνῳκήσαμεν, χάριν ἔχωμεν τῷ συζεύξαντι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ στερηθῆναι ἀνδρὸς κοινόν σοι πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας γυναῖκας, ἐπὶ δὲ τοιαύτῃ συνοικήσει οὐκ οἶμαι ἄλλην γυναικῶν τὰ ἴσα ἔχειν σεμνύνεσθαι. Ἓν γὰρ τῷ ὄντι ὑπόδειγμα τῆς ἀνθρωπείας φύσεως τὸν ἄνδρα ἐκεῖνον ὁ δημιουργήσας ἡμᾶς ἔκτισεν, ὥστε πάντες μὲν ὀφθαλμοὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐφέροντο, πᾶσα δὲ γλῶσσα τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν διεξῄει, γραφεῖς δὲ καὶ πλάσται τῆς ἀξίας ἀπελιμπάνοντο, ἱστορικοὶ δὲ ἄνδρες τὰ κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους ἀνδραγαθήματα διηγούμενοι πρὸς τὴν τῶν μύθων ἐκπίπτουσιν ἀπιστίαν. Ὅθεν οὐδὲ πιστεύειν ἠνείχοντο οἱ πολλοὶ τῇ φήμῃ τὴν σκυθρωπὴν ἐκείνην ἀγγελίαν περιαγούσῃ οὐδὲ καταδέχεσθαι ὅλως ὅτι τέθνηκεν Ἀρινθαῖος. Ἀλλ' ὅμως πέπονθεν ἃ καὶ οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ καὶ ἡλίῳ συμβήσεται. Οἴχεται καταλύσας λαμπρῶς μὴ ὑπὸ γήρως καμφθείς, μὴ καθυφείς τι τῆς περιφανείας: μέγας μὲν ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ, μέγας δὲ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι, μηδὲν ἐκ τῆς παρούσης λαμπρότητος πρὸς τὴν ἐλπιζομένην δόξαν ζημιωθεὶς διὰ τὸ πᾶσαν κηλῖδα τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς αὐταῖς ταῖς ἐξόδοις τοῦ βίου τῷ λουτρῷ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας ἀποκαθήρασθαι. Ὧν αὐτὴ πρόξενος αὐτῷ καὶ συνεργὸς γενομένη μεγίστην ἔχε τὴν παραμυθίαν, καὶ μετάθες τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τῶν παρόντων ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν μελλόντων μέριμναν, ὥστε καταξιωθῆναι δι' ἔργων ἀγαθῶν τὸν ὅμοιον αὐτῷ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως τόπον καταλαβεῖν. Φείδου μητρὸς γηραιᾶς, φείδου θυγατρὸς νεαρᾶς, αἷς μόνη πρὸς παραμυθίαν λέλειψαι. Γενοῦ ὑπόδειγμα ἀνδρείας ταῖς λοιπαῖς γυναιξὶ καὶ οὕτω τὸ πάθος μέτρησον ὡς μήτε ἐκβαλεῖν τῆς καρδίας μήτε καταποθῆναι ὑπὸ τῆς λύπης. Ἐπὶ πᾶσι πρὸς τὸν μέγαν τῆς ὑπομονῆς μισθὸν ἀπόβλεψον, τὸν παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀνταποδόσει τῶν βεβιωμένων ἡμῖν ἐπηγγελμένον.