Letter 91: An exultant letter from Epiphanius in which he describes the success of his council (convened at the suggestion of Theophilus), sends Jerome a copy of its synodical letter. and urges him to go on with his work of translating into Latin documents bearing on the Origenistic controversy. Written in 400 A.D.
To his most dearly beloved lord, son, and brother, the presbyter Jerome — Epiphanius sends greeting in the Lord.
The circular letter addressed to all Catholic believers belongs especially to you; for you, with your burning zeal against every heresy, have been fighting the disciples of Origen and Apollinaris with particular intensity. Their poisoned roots and deeply embedded impiety, God Almighty has now dragged into the light, so that being unearthed in Alexandria they might wither throughout the world. Know, my beloved son: Amalek has been utterly destroyed, and the trophy of the cross has been raised on the hill of Rephidim (Exodus 17:8–14). Just as Israel prevailed when Moses held his hands high, so the Lord has strengthened His servant Theophilus to plant His standard against Origen on the very altar of the Church of Alexandria — fulfilling the word: "Write this as a memorial, for I will blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
Rather than repeat myself and make this letter tedious, I am sending you the actual letter written to me, so that you may see for yourself what Theophilus has said and appreciate what a great blessing the Lord has granted to my final years: the vindication of principles I have always proclaimed, now confirmed by the testimony of so great a bishop.
I imagine that by now you yourself have published something on this matter — that, as I urged in my previous letter, you have written a treatise in Latin for your own readers. For I hear that certain shipwrecked souls (1 Timothy 1:19) have also made their way westward. Do not spare them. The truth does not need to be gentle with those who have made a career of deceiving the simple.
Please write to me and let me know what you have done. The final years of an old man's life are sweetened by the triumphs of his friends.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
Original text not yet available in this corpus.
This letter still needs a Latin or Greek source-text backfill. The source link, when available, is preserved so the text can be checked and added later.
View sourceRevision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001091.htm
Related Letters
Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, had compiled an invective against John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople who was nosy (largely through his efforts) an exile from his see. This he now sends to Jerome with a request that the latter will render it into Latin for dissemination in the West. The invective (of which only a few fragments remain) is...
1. I thank you that, instead of a mere formal salutation, you wrote me a letter, though it was much shorter than I would desire to have from you; since nothing that comes from you is tedious, however much time it may demand. Wherefore, although I am beset with great anxieties about the affairs of others, and that, too, in regard to secular matte...
1. Never since I began to write to you, and to long for your writing in return, have I met with a better opportunity for our exchanging communications than now, when my letter is to be carried to you by a most faithful servant and minister of God, who is also a very dear friend of mine, namely, our son Cyprian, deacon. Through him I expect to re...
1. Never was the face of any one more familiar to another, than the peaceful, happy, and truly noble diligence of your studies in the Lord has become to me. For although I long greatly to be acquainted with you, I feel that already my knowledge of you is deficient in respect of nothing but a very small part of you — namely, your personal appeara...
Damasus addresses five questions to Jerome with a request for information concerning them. They are: 1. What is the meaning of the words Whosoever slays Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold?