To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem 1
1 To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem PL 23, 350
1. If, according to theApostle Paul, we cannot pray as we feel, and speech does not express the thoughts of our own minds, how much more dangerous is it to judge of another man’s heart, and to trace and explain the meaning of the particular words and expressions which he uses? The nature of man is prone to mercy, and in considering another’s sin, every one commiserates himself. Accordingly, if you blame one who offends in word, a man will say it was only simplicity; if you tax a man with craft, he to whom you speak will not admit that there is anything more in it than ignorance, so that he may avoid the suspicion of malice. And it will thus come to pass that you, the accuser, are made a slanderer, and the censured party is regarded, not as a heretic, but merely as a man without culture. You know, Pammachius, you know that it is not enmity or the lust of glory which leads me to engage in this work, but that I have been stimulated by your letters and that I act out of the fervour of my faith; and, if possible, I would have all understand that I cannot be blamed for impatience and rashness, seeing that I speak only after the lapse of three years. In fact, if you had not told me that the minds of many are troubled at the “Apology” which I am about to discuss, and are tossing to and fro on a sea of doubt, I had determined to persist in silence.
Joannes Hierosolymitanus, qui ante adeptum episcopatum monachus, Arianis et Macedonianis adhaeserat, postquam ad pontificiam dignitatem evectus est, Origenistis, qui in ea provincia multi erant aures accomodavit. Id aegre admodum ferebant boni omnes, atque in primis S. Epiphanius, qui eum Hierosolymae convenit, et praesens praesentem hortatus est, ut se ab errore reciperet: ille e contrario ita excanduit, ut Epiphanium ipsum de Anthropomorphitarum haeresi publice incusare non dubitarit. Ad haec rixarum homo cupidus, causas quaerens vindictae, in eo se laesum ab Epiphanio conquestus est, quod ille Paulinianum sancti Hieronymi fratrem in Palaestinae monasterio agentem, extraditionem scilicet Salaminii episcopi presbyterum ordinaverit. Quod ille quamquam satis bene excusaret: quod non in Parochia Joanni subjecta id fecisset, unamque esse dissidii causam obtestaretur, violatam Origenianis dogmatibus rectam fidem, Joannes hanc unam ordinationem iracundiae suae causam praetexebat. Quamobrem et Hieronymum quoque, ejusdem Pauliniani fratris, multo vero magis Origenismi causa, odio habuit. Cum enim ab Epiphanii partibus staret S. Doctor, et non solum fratris sui ordinationem absque alterius injuria, sed ex recepta inter Cypri episcopos consuetudine factam probe sciret, sed etiam Origenis errores acribus qua verbis, qua scriptis jugularet, ita Joannis iracundiam movit, ut ab illo de Ecclesiae communione fuerit ejectus: tametsi cum tota Hierosolymitana Ecclesia continenter communicarit.