Palladius of Helenopolis, Letter to Lausus

Copy of a letter written to Lausus the praepositus from Palladius the bishop

I call your purpose blessed; for it is fitting to begin the letter with a blessing; because while all are gaping at vanities and building with stones from which they have received no joy, you yourself wish to be taught words of edification. For only 7 the God of all is untaught, since he is also self-begotten and has no other before himself; but all other things can be taught, since they are made and created. And the first orders have the highest trinity as their teacher; the second learn from the first; the third from the second; and so on in order, down to the very last. For those who are superior in judgment and virtue teach those who are deficient in knowledge. Therefore, those who think they have no need of teachers, or who are not persuaded by those who teach in love, are sick with ignorance, the mother of pride; chief among whom in destruction are those who have fallen from the heavenly life by this same passion, the demons flying in the air who fled from the teachers in the heavens. For teaching is not words or syllables, which even the most wicked sometimes possess; but the right actions of one's character, freedom from grief and from fear and from cowardice and from anger, and boldness in all things, which also brings forth words like a flame of fire. For if this were not so, the great teacher would not have said to his own disciples: Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; not disciplining the apostles with eloquence, but with the piety of his character, grieving no one except those who hate reason and hate teachers. For the soul that exercises itself according to God must either faithfully learn what it does not know, or clearly teach what it has learned. But if it is unwilling to do either, when it is able, it is sick with madness. For the beginning of apostasy is a surfeit of teaching and a lack of appetite for the word, for which the soul of the one who loves God always hungers. Be strong, therefore, and be well, and be courageous, and may God grant you to pursue the knowledge of Christ.

Epistula ad Lausum

̓Αντίγραφον ἐπιστολῆς γραφείσης Λαύσῳ πραιποσίτῳ παρὰ Παλλαδίου ἐπισκόπου

Μακαρίζω σου τὴν προαίρεσιν· ἄξιον γὰρ ἀπὸ μακαρισμοῦ ἄρξασθαι τῆς ἐπιστολῆς· ὅτι πάντων εἰς τὰ μάταια κεχηνότων καὶ λίθους οἰκοδομούντων ἐξ ὧν οὐκ ἐχάρησαν, αὐτὸς λόγους οἰκοδομῆς διδάσκεσθαι θέλεις. ἀδίδακτος 7 γὰρ ἐστὶ μόνος ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεός, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αὐτοφυὴς καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἄλλον οὐκ ἔχων· τὰ δ' ἄλλα πάντα ἐστὶ διδακτά, ἐπειδὴ ποιητὰ καὶ κτιστά. καὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα τάγματα διδάσκαλον ἔχει τὴν ἀνωτάτω τριάδα· τὰ δὲ δεύτερα μανθάνει παρὰ τῶν πρώτων· τὰ τρίτα παρὰ τῶν δευτέρων· καὶ οὕτω καθεξῆς κατὰ τάξιν, μέχρι καὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων. οἱ γὰρ κρείττους ἐν γνώμῃ καὶ ἀρετῇ τοὺς ἐλαττουμένους ἐν γνώσει διδάσκουσιν. οἱ τοίνυν οἰόμενοι διδασκάλων μὴ χρῄζειν, ἢ μὴ πειθόμενοι τοῖς ἐν ἀγάπῃ διδάσκουσιν, ἄγνοιαν νοσοῦσι τὴν μητέρα τῆς ὑπερηφανίας· ὧν πρωτεύουσιν εἰς ἀπώλειαν οἱ τῷ αὐτῷ πάθει τῆς οὐρανίου διαγωγῆς ἐκπεσόντες, οἱ ἐν ἀέρι πετόμενοι δαίμονες τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἀποδράσαντες διδασκάλων. οὐ γὰρ αἱ λέξεις ἢ αἱ συλλαβαί εἰσι διδασκαλία, ἃ ἔχουσιν ἐνίοτε καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον φαῦλοι· ἀλλὰ τὰ τοῦ ἤθους κατορθώματα, ἥ τε ἀλυπία καὶ ἡ ἀπτοησία καὶ ἡ ἀδειλία καὶ τὸ ἀόργητον, καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ πάντων παρρησία, ἡ καὶ τοὺς λόγους ὡς πυρὸς φλόγα γεννῶσα. εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἦν τοῦτο, οὐκ ἂν ἔλεγεν ὁ μέγας διδάσκαλος τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς· Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὅτι πραΰ εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸ τῇ καρδίᾳ· οὐ τῇ εὐλεξίᾳ ῥυθμίζων τοὺς ἀποστόλους, ἀλλὰ τῇ εὐλαβείᾳ τοῦ ἤθους, μηδένα λυπῶν πλὴν τῶν μισολόγων καὶ διδασκάλους μισούντων. δεῖ γὰρ τὴν κατὰ θεὸν ἀσκουμένην ψυχὴν ἢ μανθάνειν πιστῶς ἃ οὐκ οἶδεν, ἢ διδάσκειν σαφῶς ἃ ἔγνω. εἰ δὲ ὁπότερον μὴ βούληται εἰ δύναται, μανίαν νοσεῖ. ἀρχὴ γὰρ ἀποστασίας διδασκαλίας κόρος καὶ ἀνορεξία λόγου, ὃν ἀεὶ πεινᾷ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ φιλοθέου. ἴσχυε οὖν καὶ ὑγίαινε καὶ ἀνδρίζου, καὶ χαρίσηταί σοι ὁ θεὸς τὸ μεταδιώκειν τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ.