The Letters of St. Jerome 17
17.0 To the Presbyter Marcus PL 22, 359
In this letter, addressed to one who seems to have had some pre-eminence among the monks of the Chalcidian desert, Jerome complains of the hard treatment meted out to him because of his refusal to take any part in the great theological dispute then raging in Syria. He protests his own orthodoxy, and begs permission to remain where he is until the return of spring, when he will retire from “the inhospitable desert.” Written in a.d. 378 or 379.
17.1 To the Presbyter Marcus PL 22, 359
1. I had made up my mind to use the words of the psalmist: “While the wicked was before me I was dumb with silence; I was humbled, and I held my peace even from good” and “I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not.” But charity overcomes all things, and my regard for you defeats my determination. I am, indeed, less careful to retaliate upon my assailants than to comply with your request. For among Christians, as one has said, not he who endures an outrage is unhappy, but he who commits it.
Decreveram quidem utendum mihi Psalmistae voce dicentis: Cum consisteret adversum me peccator, obmutui, et humiliatus sum, et silui a bonis . Et iterum: Ego vero tanquam surdus non audiebam, et tanquam mutus non aperiens os suum, et factus sum ut homo non audiens . Sed quia caritas omnia superat, et propositum vincit affectus: non tam injuriam facientibus reddo vicem, quam tibi respondeo postulanti. Apud Christianos enim, non qui patitur, ut ait quidam, sed qui facit contumeliam, miser est. 44
17.2 PL 22, 359
2. And first, before I speak to you of my belief (which you know full well), I am forced to cry out against the inhumanity of this country. A hackneyed quotation best expresses my meaning:
What savages are these who will not grant
A rest to strangers, even on their sands!
They threaten war and drive us from their coasts.
I take this from a Gentile poet that one who disregards the peace of Christ may at least learn its meaning from a heathen. I am called a heretic, although I preach the consubstantial trinity. I am accused of the Sabellian impiety although I proclaim with unwearied voice that in the Godhead there are three distinct, real, whole, and perfect persons. The Arians do right to accuse me, but the orthodox forfeit their orthodoxy when they assail a faith like mine. They may, if they like, condemn me as a heretic; but if they do they must also condemn Egypt and the West, Damasus and Peter. Why do they fasten the guilt on one and leave his companions uncensured? If there is but little water in the stream, it is the fault, not of the channel, but of the source. I blush to say it, but from the caves which serve us for cells we monks of the desert condemn the world. Rolling in sack-cloth and ashes, we pass sentence on bishops. What use is the robe of a penitent if it covers the pride of a king? Chains, squalor, and long hair are by right tokens of sorrow, and not ensigns of royalty. I merely ask leave to remain silent. Why do they torment a man who does not deserve their ill-will? I am a heretic, you say. What is it to you if I am? Stay quiet, and all is said. You are afraid, I suppose, that, with my fluent knowledge of Syriac and Greek, I shall make a tour of the churches, lead the people into error, and form a schism! I have robbed no man of anything; neither have I taken what I have not earned. With my own hand daily and in the sweat of my brow I labor for my food, knowing that it is written by the apostle: “If any will not work, neither shall he eat.”
Queritur suam offendi fidem, quae eadem esset cum illa Damasi et Petri Alex. --Et primo quidem antequam de fide mea, quam optime nosti, tecum loquar, adversus barbariem istius loci, versu cogor clamare vulgato:
Quod genus hoc hominum? quaeve hunc tam barbara morem
Permittit patria? hospitio prohibemur arenae.
Bella cient; primaque vetant consistere terra. etc.
.
Quae idcirco de Gentili Poeta sumpsimus, ut qui Christi pacem non servat, pacem saltem discat ab Ethnico. Haereticus vocor, homousian praedicans Trinitatem. Sabellianae impietatis arguor, tres subsistentes, veras, integras, perfectasque personas, indefessa voce pronuntians. Si ab Arianis, merito: si ab Orthodoxis, qui hujusmodi arguunt fidem, Orthodoxi esse desierunt, aut si eis placet, haereticum me cum Occidente, haereticum cum Aegypto, hoc est, cum Damaso, Petroque condemnent. Quid unum hominem exceptis sociis, criminantur? si rivus tenuiter fluit, non est alvei culpa, sed fontis. Pudet dicere: de cavernis cellularum damnamus orbem. In sacco et cinere volutati, de Episcopis sententiam ferimus. Quid facit sub tunica poenitentis regius animus? Catenae, sordes, et comae non sunt diadematis signa, sed fletus. Permittant me, quaeso, nihil loqui. Cur eum lacerant, qui non meretur invidiam? Haereticus sum, quid ad te? quiesce, jam dictum est. Plane times, ne eloquentissimus homo in Syro sermone, vel Graeco Ecclesias circumeam, populos seducam, schisma conficiam. Nihil alicui praeripui, nihil otiosus accipio. Manu quotidie et proprio sudore quaerimus cibum, scientes ab Apostolo scriptum esse: Qui autem non operatur, nec manducet .
17.3 PL 22, 360
3. Reverend and holy father, Jesus is my witness with what groans and tears I have written all this. “I have kept silence, saith the Lord, but shall I always keep silence? Surely not.” I cannot have so much as a corner of the desert. Every day I am asked for my confession of faith; as though when I was regenerated in baptism I had made none. I accept their formulas, but they are still dissatisfied. I sign my name to them, but they still refuse to believe me. One thing only will content them, that I should leave the country. I am on the point of departure. They have already torn away from me my dear brothers, who are a part of my very life. They are, as you see, anxious to depart—nay, they are actually departing; it is preferable, they say, to live among wild beasts rather than with Christians such as these. I myself, too, would be at this moment a fugitive were I not withheld by physical infirmity and by the severity of the winter. I ask to be allowed the shelter of the desert for a few months till spring returns; or if this seems too long a delay, I am ready to depart now. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” Let them climb up to heaven alone; for them alone Christ died; they possess all things and glory in all. Be it so. “But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.”
Haec, venerabilis et sancte Pater, cum quali gemitu, cum quali dolore conscripserim, testis est Jesus. Tacui, nunquid 45 semper tacebo, dicit Dominus ? Non mihi conceditur unus angulus eremi. Quotidie exposcor fidem, quasi sine fide renatus sim. Confiteor, ut volunt, non placet. Subscribo, non credunt. Unum tantum placet, ut hinc recedam. Jamjam cedo: abruperunt a me partem animae meae, carissimos fratres: ecce discedere cupiunt, imo discedunt, melius esse dicentes, inter feras habitare, quam cum talibus Christianis: et ego ipse, nisi me et corporis imbecillitas, et hyemis retineret asperitas, jam modo fugerem. Verumtamen dum vernum tempus adveniat, obsecro ut paucis mihi mensibus eremi concedatur hospitium: aut si et hoc tardum videtur, abscedo. Domini est terra, et plenitudo ejus . Ascendant soli coelum, propter illos tantum Christus mortuus sit, habeant, possideant, glorientur. Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi, per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo .
17.4 PL 22, 360
4. As regards the questions which you have thought fit to put to me concerning the faith, I have given to the reverend Cyril a written confession which sufficiently answers them. He who does not so believe has no part in Christ. My faith is attested both by your ears and by those of your blessed brother, Zenobius, to whom, as well as to yourself, we all of us here send our best greeting.
De fide autem quod [al. quam ] dignatus es scribere sancto Cyrillo dedi conscriptam fidem. Qui sic non credit, alienus a Christo est. Caeterum ego fidei meae testes habeo aures tuas, et beati fratris Zenobii, quem tecum omnes, qui hic sumus, plurimum salutamus.