Letter 69: You care for Pentapolis — you truly do.
To Theophilus.
You care for Pentapolis — you truly do. You will therefore read the official correspondence. But beyond what those letters contain, the messenger will tell you that the disasters that have already occurred are greater and more numerous than those the letters threaten.
He was sent to request military reinforcements, but the enemy did not even wait for his departure. They have already spread across the entire country. Everything is lost. Everything is destroyed. At the moment I write this, nothing remains but the cities themselves — and what may happen tomorrow, God alone knows.
Your prayers are needed: the kind of prayers that have power to move the Almighty. As for me, I have prayed many times, in private and in public, and always in vain. Why do I say "in vain"? Everything is turning against me. Our sins are too many and too heavy.
Human translation - Livius.org
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 Livius.org.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: project source import
Related Letters
Jerome congratulates Theophilus on the success of his crusade against Origenism, and speaks of the good work done in Palestine by his emissaries Priscus and Eubulus. He then (by a singular change in his sentiments) asks Theophilus to forgive John of Jerusalem for having unwittingly received an excommunicated Egyptian. The date of the Letter is 4...
It is some time since I received your letter, but I waited to be able to reply by some fit person; that so the bearer of my answer might supply whatever might be wanting in it. Now there has arrived our much beloved and very reverend brother Strategius, and I have judged it well to make use of his services, both as knowing my mind and able to co...
Correction that actually corrects must come from those with the authority and standing to give it — from teachers,...
I was prepared to place my hand and my judgment at the service of your fatherly command.
Justice has departed from humanity.