A Letter to Domnus on the Death of Cyril, Ascribed to Theodoret

At last, and with difficulty, the villain has gone. The good and the gentle pass away all too soon; the wicked drag out their lives for years. [a] The Giver of all good, I think, takes the good away before their time from the troubles of humankind. He sets them free like victors from their contests and carries them over to the better life, that life free of death, sorrow and care which is the prize of those who strive for virtue. Those, on the other hand, who love and practice wickedness are allowed a little longer to enjoy this present life. This is either so that, sated with evil, they may afterward learn the lessons of virtue, or else so that even in this life they may pay the penalty for the wickedness of their ways, tossed to and fro for many years on the sad and wicked waves of this life.

This wretch, however, has not been dealt with by the ruler of our souls like other men, so that he might possess for a longer time the things that seem full of joy. The Lord knew that the fellow’s malice was growing daily and harming the body of the church, so he has cut him off like a plague and “taken away the reproach from Israel.” Those he leaves behind are indeed delighted at his departure. The dead, perhaps, are sorry. There is some cause for alarm that they may be so annoyed at his company that they send him back to us, or that he may run away from those escorting him, like the tyrant of Cyniscus in Lucian. [c] Great care must be taken, then, and it is especially the business of your holiness to undertake this duty: tell the guild of undertakers to lay a very big and heavy stone on his grave, for fear he should come back again and show his changeable mind once more. Let him take his new doctrines to the dead below and preach to them all day and all night. We are not at all afraid that he will divide them by making public speeches against true religion and by attaching death to an immortal nature. He will be stoned, not only by the spirits of the dead who are learned in God’s law, but also by Nimrod, Pharaoh and Sennacherib, or any other of God’s enemies. But I am wasting words. The poor fellow is silent whether he likes it or not: “his breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” He is doomed to silence of another kind too. His deeds, now exposed, tie his tongue, gag his mouth, curb his passion, strike him dumb, and make him bow down to the ground. [e]

I really am sorry for the poor fellow. Truly, the news of his death has not given me unmixed delight; it is tempered with sadness. When I see the church freed from a plague of this kind, I am glad and rejoice; but I am sorry and do mourn when I think that the wretch knew no rest from his crimes, but went on attempting greater and more grievous ones until he died. His idea, so it is said, was to throw the imperial city into confusion by attacking true doctrines a second time, and to accuse your holiness of supporting them. But God saw it and did not overlook it. “He put his hook into his nose and his bridle into his lips,” and turned him back to the earth from which he was taken. May it be granted, then, to the prayers of your holiness that he may obtain mercy and pity, and that the boundless clemency of God may surpass his wickedness. I beg your holiness to drive away the agitation of my soul. Many different reports are being spread abroad, to my alarm, announcing general misfortunes. Some even say that your reverence is setting out for the court against your will, but so far I have dismissed these reports as untrue. But since I find everyone repeating one and the same story, I have thought it right to try to learn the truth from your holiness, so that I may laugh at these tales if they are false, or grieve not without reason if they are true. [f]