Letter 1543: A terrible love of words has flooded the souls of people in this time — words, I say, not of the kind that bring...
To the bishop who inquires about the responsibilities of his office: the shepherd must feed the flock, not fleece it. The bishop who enriches himself from the offerings of the faithful is worse than a common thief, for the thief steals from strangers, but the bishop steals from those who trust him. His position makes his crime more heinous, not less, for he perverts the very institution that was established for the salvation of souls and the relief of the poor. The offerings of the people are not the bishop's private property but a sacred trust, to be distributed to the needy, the orphans, the widows, and the strangers. The bishop who diverts these funds to his own use commits sacrilege, and his punishment will be proportionate to the sanctity of the trust he has betrayed. Let the bishop therefore live simply, dress modestly, eat temperately, and give generously, remembering that he will render an account to God for every coin that passed through his hands.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Ο(βεὶξ τμὶ αὐπιοκεπάος ἐδ26 οοποϊοπαίογεξ, εἰεσαπιὶ ἐμαάεῖ ἐρὶ εἴ. φμοτγμπι Ῥγασϊοαιἷο μὲ ε ἰπ ρεγεμαεὶδε δι πμηβιαπα δαρίεπιΐα νεγϑέδ, ΝΟῊ ἐπ οδίοπεῖοηθ δρίτί μι οἰ υἱγίμϊ. ν (] Οοτ. τ΄, .) γεμαπιθῦβ ἀΐοοηάϊ βιυάϊαπι τηδπῖ68 ἰοπηΐηιπὶ τοῖο βοςὺ βθουϊο ἰηναβὶὶ, ϑογηιοηυπ, ἱπαθδη), διυάΐυ, ποθὴ αυἱ δά ργυάδηςίδπι, 56ἀ δὰ γοϊυρί8- Δεινὸς λόγων ἔρως ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαὶς εἰς τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν ἑπεχώμασε " λόγων δὲ, φημὶ, οὗ τῶν σωφρονίζειν, ἀλλὰ τῶν τέρπειν τοὺς ἀχούοντας ΥΑΒΙΦΕ ΓΕΟΤΙΟΝῈΒ ΕΤ ΝΟΤΑ͂. () Ἃθ.λος ἐγένετο. ϑυδρίοον Ἰ6(. ὕθλος, ἱπεριΐα, ΥΟΣ ἄθηυο Γοροίδίυν, ἀἰοδίαυθ, πἰεὶ δεοϊδεϊαδιϊεἰξ δαποίοπῖϑμε ἰμάοε [ἐςετὶϊ. οὶ, ἄθλος, ργίναπυβ βΒο!!οἱ στλάυ Ῥγοδυγιογί!, διιΐ 5Βδογὶβ ΥΌΘΉ : υἱ ἀθ Ζοείπιο 6ρ. οἱ δ09, ραᾳ. . Ουἱά ] ἄθε- τος ἰθβ88, ἰά 6βὲ ἐγγίίμ, αὐτοσαίμε, αϑάϊεραίαε. ΒΟΗΟΤΤ. () Ργο φημὶ οοἀά. γαι. θ5ὺ οἱ ΑἸι. εογίυσαι φήσαιμι δὲ Υ6Γ8. . ῥΓῸ ὠραίας, ὡραιαις. ῬΟΒΞΙΝ. ἘΡΙΘΤΟΙΑΒΟῸΝ .. 0Υ.Ψ -- ἘΡΙΘΤ. ΟΥἿ. βϑυναμένων, οὗ πνευματιχῶν, ἀλλὰ σοςιστιχῶν" οὐχ Α (ἐπὶ ἀεϊδοιδιϊοπο16 δι ον ἰηροποραπάδιπ ἀποστολιχῶν, ἀλλὰ Δημοσθενιχῶν' οὐ προφητιχῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐριστιχῶν᾽ οὐ τῶν τὴν ψυχὴν εὐφρᾶναι δυναμέ- νων, ἀλλὰ τῶν τὴν ἀχοὴν θέλγειν εἰωθότων᾽ οὐ τῶν διὰ τοῦ ἐμπνεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν πράξεων τοῦ λέγοντος ζώντων, ἀλλὰ τῶν διὰ τὴν εὐγλωττίαν εἰς ἀχοὰς νε- χρὰς ἐνηχουμένων, Τί οὖν ποιητέον ; σιωπητέον, καὶ οὐδὲν λεχτέον ; ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιχίνδυνον. ᾿Αλλὰ ῥητέον ; ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ εἰς ὠφέλειαν ὁ λόγος χαὶ ἔργων ἐπίδειξιν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς χρότον μόνον τελευτᾷ " ἀλλ᾽ εἰ χαὶ οὕτω ταῦτα ἔχει, ἄμεινον, ὡς οἶμαι, εἰπόντα μὴ ἀχουσθῇ- ναι, ἣ μὴ εἰπόντα ἐγχληθῆναι" ε« ἀιατί τὸ ἀργύ- ριόν μου οὗ χατέδαλες ἐπὶ τοὺς τραπεζίτας, χἀγὼ ἐλθὼν ἀπήτησα ἂν αὐτὸ σὺν τῷ τόχῳ ;» Λεγέτιυ τοι": γαροῦν ὁ δυνάμενος, ἵνα πρὸς τοὺς ἀχούοντας ἧ τῷ κριτῇ ὁ λόγος.
Revision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from Patrologia Graeca 78 OCR.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/PatrologiaGraeca
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