Letter 498

To Olympius the Bishop. Do not be harsh, lest you ever fall upon the rock of divine indignation, even though you suppose yourself to be ablaze with zeal for the fear of God. For the most blessed Jonah, too, had the excessive heat of his zeal softened by means of the great fish [the sea-monster that swallowed Jonah]. You yourself, then, take heed, lest through your want of compassion you be handed over to the captor by some unexpected and inescapable trial. And by "the sea-monster" I now mean the devil. Yet, so that I may not seem to overstep due measure, I shall tell the story briefly— an ancient one; and perhaps you will be put to shame into sparing those who are sick in soul. There was a certain Carpus, a bishop contemporary with the apostles. In his time two young men, having turned away from the error of the Greeks [pagan religion] and from the schools of those outside, came to the Church of Christ, and upon entreaty they obtained the divine baptism. But as soon as their fellow-students learned this, they were corrupted [...] most impious and most unholy men. While these things were being spoken by him in this way, behold, a most great spectacle of fear and astonishment. Christ, therefore, came down from heaven, and the fiery serpents fled, while he took hold of the young man with kindness, and with much gentleness raised him up out of the chasm, and set him upon the earth, thereby showing forth their salvation. For in truth, having afterward been converted, they appeared as great Christians. And he reproached Carpus, both for his melancholy and for his harshness, and moreover because, without compassion, he had cursed [them] severely. Knowing these things, therefore, look to this here: do not anathematize without mercy, nor drive away from the Church perpetually the people who are entangled in impiety. But rather, having barred those who offend against the canons of the holy apostles from the Church for a set time, reprove, admonish, instruct, bind up, pour out upon them the mercy of Christ, exhort, renew, strengthen, wash them clean with their own lamentations and tears, adorn them with fastings, brighten them with many vigils, clothe with prayers those who have been stripped bare of the fear of God by the malice of the devil and the plotting of lawless men; sow good hopes within them as they make their petitions, as they make supplication, as they give alms, and as they propitiate our only tender-hearted and man-loving and exceedingly merciful Savior Christ.

Μὴ ἔσο ἀπότομος, μήποτε πέτρῃς θείας ἀγανακτήσεως, κἂν δοκεῖς ζήλῳ περιφλέγεσθαι θεοσεβείας. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ μακαριώτατος Ἰωνᾶς τὸ ἄγαν θερμὸν τοῦ ζήλου διὰ τοῦ κήτους μεμάλακται. Καὶ αὐτὸς οὖν βλέπε, μή ποτε διὰ τὸ ἀσυμπαθὲς τῷ κτήτει παραδοθῇς, πειρασμῷ τινὶ ἀπροσδοκήτῳ, καὶ ἀνυποσίτῳ. Κῆτος δὲ νῦν τὸν διάβολον λέγω. Πλὴν ἵνα μὴ τὴν συμμετρίαν ἐκβαίνειν δόξω, συντόμως λέγω ἱστορίαν. ἀρχαίαν· καὶ τάχα δυσωπηθήσῃ φείδεσθαι τῶν κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀσθενούντων. Κάρπος τις γέγονεν ἐπίσκοπος σύγχρονος τῶν ἀποστόλων. Ἐπὶ τούτου δύο τινὲς νεανίσκοι ἐπιστρέψαντες ἐξ Ἑλληνικῆς πλάνης, καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν παιδευτηρίων προσῆλθον τῇ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ παρακαλέσαντες τυγχάνουσι τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος. Εὐθὺς δὲ τοῦτο μαθόντες οἱ τούτων συμφοιτηταὶ διεφθάρ. ἀσεβέστατοι, καὶ ἀνοσιώτατοι. Τούτων οὕτως παρ’ αὐτοῦ λεγομένων, ἰδοὺ θέαμα μέγιστον φόβου καὶ καταπλήξεως. Κατῆλθεν οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς οὐρανόθεν, καὶ φεύγουσι μὲν οἱ φλογώδεις δράκοντες, ἐπιλαμβάνεται δὲ τὸν νέον μετ’ εὐμενείας, καὶ πρᾳότητος πολλῆς ἀναφέρει τοῦ χάσματος, καὶ τίθησιν ἐπὶ γῆς, διὰ τοῦτο δεικνύων τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῶν. Ἀληθῶς γὰρ Χριστιανοὶ ἐς ὕστερον μεταβληθέντες, μεγάλοι πεφήνασι. Μέμφεται δὲ τὸν Κάρπον, τῆς τε μελαγχολίας, καὶ τῆς ἀποτομίας, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτι ἀσυμπαθῶς ἐπηράσατο στιβαρῶς. Ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν γνούς, ὧδε ἐπί σκοπε, μὴ ἀναθεμάτιζε ἀσπλάγχνως, καὶ δίωκε ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας διηνεκῶς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς περιπλεκομένους τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ. Ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον καὶ τοὺς κανόνας τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων πρὸς χρόνον τακτὸν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀπείρξας, ἔλεγξον, νουθέτησον, ἐπίτρεψον, στῦψον, ἐπίχεε τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔλεον, παρακάλεσον, ἀνανέωσον, στήριξον, ἀπόπλυνον αὐτοὺς τοῖς αὐτῶν ὀδυρμοῖς, καὶ δάκρυσι, κόσμησον ταῖς νηστείαις, φαίδρυνον ταῖς πολλαῖς ἀγρυπνίαις, ἐπένδυσον ταῖς προσευχαῖς τοὺς τῆς θεοσεβείας κατ’ ἐπήρειαν τοῦ διαβόλου, καὶ ἐπιβουλὴν ἀνδρῶν ἀνόμων γεγυμνωμένους, ἀγαθὰς αὐτοῖς ὑπόσπειρον ἐλπίδας δεομένους, ἱκετεύουσιν, ἐλεημοσύνας ποιοῦσι, καὶ ἐξιλεουμένους τὸν μόνον εὔσπλαγχνον, καὶ φιλάνθρωπον, καὶ ὑπεράγαν οἰκτίρμονα Σωτῆρα ἡμῶν Χριστόν.