Letter 50: To the Archimandrite Gerontius,

Theodoret of CyrrhusAquilinus, and Archimandrite|c. 440 AD|Theodoret of Cyrrhus|Human translated
monasticism

To the Archimandrite Gerontius,

The character of a soul is often painted in words, its unseen form revealed on the page. Your letter, reverend father, is exactly such a portrait -- it displays the piety of your holy soul. Your anticipation of that verdict, your anxiety, your search for advocates, your preparation of a defense: all of it clearly reveals your soul's passion for divine things.

We, by contrast, are practically asleep. We are nourished on idleness and stand in desperate need of the help that prayer provides. Give us that help, O man beloved of God, so that we may at last wake up and give some proper attention to the state of our souls.

Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)

Latin / Greek Original

Original text not yet available in this corpus.

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Revision history

  1. 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/2707050.htm

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