Letter to Dracontius

I do not know how to write. Am I to blame you for your refusal? Or for looking to the trials, and hiding for fear of the Jews? In any case, however it may be, what you have done deserves blame, beloved Dracontius. For it was not fitting that you should hide after receiving the grace, nor that you, a wise man, should give others an excuse for flight. For many are offended when they hear of it: not merely that you have done this, but that you have done it out of regard for the times and for the troubles weighing on the church. And I fear that in fleeing for your own sake, you may turn out to be in danger before the Lord on account of others. For if “whoever offends one of the little ones would rather choose to have a millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea,” what can be in store for you, if you prove a cause of offense to so many? For the remarkable unanimity of your election in the district of Alexandria will of necessity be broken up by your withdrawal. And many will grab at the episcopate of the district, and many of them unfit people, as you well know. And many pagans who were promising to become Christians upon your election will remain pagans, if your piety treats the grace given you as nothing. [a] What defense will you offer for such conduct? With what arguments will you be able to wash away and erase such a charge? How will you heal those who have fallen and been offended because of you? Or how will you be able to restore the broken peace? Beloved Dracontius, you have caused us grief instead of joy, groaning instead of comfort. For we expected to have you with us as a comfort; and now we see you in flight, and see that you will be convicted at the judgment, and when you are on trial you will regret it. And “Who will have pity on you,” as the prophet says? Who will turn his mind to you for peace, when he sees the brothers for whom Christ died injured because of your flight? For you must know, and not be in doubt, that before your election you lived for yourself, but after it, you live for your flock. Before you had received the grace of the episcopate, no one knew you; but after you became a bishop, the laity expect you to bring them food, namely instruction from the Scriptures. So when they are waiting and going hungry, and you are feeding only yourself, and our Lord Jesus Christ comes and we stand before him, what defense will you offer when he sees his own sheep hungry? For if you had not taken the money, he would not have blamed you. But he would rightly blame you if, after taking it, you dug a hole and buried it, in words which God forbid your piety should ever hear: “You ought to have given my money to the bankers, so that when I came I might demand it from them.” [d]

I beg you, spare yourself and us: yourself, so that you do not run into danger; us, so that we are not grieved because of you. Think of the church, so that many of the little ones are not injured on your account, and the others are not given an occasion to withdraw. No, if you feared the times and acted as you did out of timidity, your mind is not manly. For in such a case you ought to show zeal for Christ, and rather meet circumstances boldly, and use the language of blessed Paul, “In all these things we are more than conquerors”; and all the more so since we ought to serve not the time, but the Lord. But if organizing the Churches is distasteful to you, and you do not think the ministry of the episcopate has its reward, why, then you have brought yourself to despise the Savior who ordered these things. I beg you, put such ideas away, and do not put up with those who advise you along these lines, for this is not worthy of Dracontius. For the order the Lord established through the apostles stands fair and firm; but the cowardice of the brothers will come to an end. [f] For if everyone were of the same mind as your present advisers, how would you have become a Christian, since there would be no bishops? Or if those who come after us inherit this state of mind, how will the Churches be able to hold together? Or do your advisers think that you have received nothing, that they despise it? If so, they are certainly wrong. At this rate it is time for them to think that the grace of the font is nothing, if some are found to despise it. But you have received it, beloved Dracontius. Do not put up with your advisers, and do not deceive yourself. For this will be required of you by the God who gave it. Have you not heard the apostle say, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you”? Or have you not read how he accepts the man who had doubled his money, while he condemned the one who had hidden it? But may it come to pass that you quickly return, so that you too may be one of those who are praised. Or tell me, whom do your advisers want you to imitate? For we ought to walk by the standard of the saints and the fathers, and imitate them, and be sure that if we depart from them, we put ourselves out of their fellowship as well. Whom, then, do they want you to imitate? The one who hesitated, and who, while wishing to follow, put it off and took counsel because of his family? Or blessed Paul, who, the moment the stewardship was entrusted to him, “immediately did not consult with flesh and blood”? For although he said, “I am not worthy to be called an apostle,” yet, knowing what he had received, and not ignorant of the giver, he wrote, “For woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” But as it was “woe to me” if he did not preach, so, in teaching and preaching the gospel, he had his converts as his joy and crown. This is why the saint was eager to preach as far as Illyricum, and did not shrink from going on to Rome, or even as far as Spain, so that the more he labored, the greater the reward he might receive for his labor. So he boasted that he had fought the good fight, and was confident that he would receive the great crown. Therefore, beloved Dracontius, whom are you imitating in what you are now doing? Paul, or men unlike him? For my part, I pray that both you and I may prove imitators of all the saints. [h]

Or perhaps there are some who advise you to hide because you gave your word on oath not to accept the office if you were elected. For I hear that they are buzzing in your ears to this effect, and think that in this they are acting conscientiously. But if they were truly conscientious, they would above all have feared God, who laid this ministry on you. Or if they had read the divine Scriptures, they would not have advised you against them. At this rate it is time for them to blame Jeremiah too, and to bring charges against the great Moses, because these did not listen to such advice, but feared God, fulfilled their ministry, and in prophesying were made perfect. For they too, when they had received their mission and the grace of prophecy, refused. But afterward they were afraid, and did not disregard the one who sent them. So whether you are of stammering speech and slow of tongue, still fear God who made you; or if you call yourself too young to preach, still revere the one who knew you before you were made. Or if you have given your word (and to the saints their word was as good as an oath), still read Jeremiah, how he too had said, “I will not name the name of the Lord.” Yet afterward he feared the fire kindled within him. He did not do as he had said, nor hide himself as though bound by an oath, but revered the one who had entrusted his office to him, and fulfilled the prophetic call. Or are you not aware, beloved, that Jonah also fled, but met the fate that befell him, after which he returned and prophesied? [k] So do not entertain counsels contrary to this. For the Lord knows our situation better than we do ourselves, and he knows to whom he is entrusting his Churches. For even if a man is not worthy, let him not look at his former life, but let him carry out his ministry, so that, besides his former life, he does not also incur the curse of negligence. I ask you, beloved Dracontius: knowing this, and being a wise man, are you not pricked in your soul? Are you not anxious that any of those entrusted to you might perish? Do you not burn as with a fire in your conscience? Are you not afraid of the day of judgment, when none of your present advisers will be there to help you? For each will give an account of those entrusted to his hands. For how did his excuse help the man who hid the money? Or how did it help Adam to say, “The woman deceived me”? Beloved Dracontius, even if you really are weak, you still ought to take up the charge, so that the enemies do not injure the church while it stands vacant, taking advantage of your flight. You should gird yourself up, so as not to leave us alone in the struggle; you should labor with us, so as to receive the reward along with all the rest. [l]

Hurry, then, beloved, and delay no longer, and do not let those who would hold you back have their way. Remember the one who has given, and come here to us who love you, who give you advice from the Scriptures, so that you may be installed by us, and may remember us as you minister in the churches. For you are not the only one who has been elected from among the monks, nor the only one to have presided over a monastery, or to have been loved by monks. You know that Serapion was a monk, and presided over so many monks; you were not unaware of how many monks Apollos was father to; you know Agathon, and are not ignorant of Ariston. You remember Ammonius, who went abroad with Serapion. Perhaps you have also heard of Muitus in the upper Thebaid, and you can learn about Paul at Latopolis, and many others. And yet these men, when elected, did not refuse. They took Elisha as an example, knew the story of Elijah, and had learned all about the disciples and apostles; and so they grappled with the charge and did not despise the ministry. They were not worse than they had been before, but rather they look for the reward of their labor, advancing themselves and guiding others onward. For how many have they turned away from the idols? How many have they caused, by their warnings, to give up their familiarity with demons? How many servants have they brought to the Lord, so that those who saw such wonders marveled at the sight? Or is it not a great wonder to make a young woman live as a virgin, and a young man live in self-control, and an idolater come to know Christ? [m] So do not let monks hold you back, as though you alone had been elected from among the monks; and do not make excuses that you will grow worse. For you may even grow better, if you imitate Paul and follow the actions of the saints. For you know that men like these, when appointed stewards of the mysteries, pressed on all the more toward the goal of their high calling. When did Paul meet martyrdom and expect to receive his crown, if not after being sent to teach? When did Peter make his confession, if not when he was preaching the gospel and had become a fisher of men? When was Elijah taken up, if not after completing his prophetic career? When did Elisha gain a double share of the Spirit, if not after leaving everything to follow Elijah? Or why did the Savior choose disciples, if not to send them out as apostles? [n]

So take these as an example, beloved Dracontius. Do not say, or believe those who say, that the bishop’s office is an occasion of sin, or that it gives rise to temptations to sin. For it is possible for you, too, as a bishop, to hunger and thirst, as Paul did. You can drink no wine, like Timothy, and fast constantly too, like Paul, so that, fasting after his example, you may feast others with your words, and while thirsting for lack of drink, you may water others by teaching. So do not let your advisers make these claims. For we know both bishops who fast and monks who eat. We know bishops who drink no wine, as well as monks who do. We know bishops who work miracles, as well as monks who do not. Many of the bishops, too, have not even married, while monks have been fathers of children; just as, the other way around, we know bishops who are fathers of children and monks “of the most complete kind.” And again, we know clergy who go hungry, and monks who fast. For it is possible in the latter way, and not forbidden in the former. But let a man, wherever he is, strive earnestly; for the crown is given not according to position, but according to action. [o] So do not let those who give contrary advice have their way. Rather, hurry and do not delay, all the more since the holy festival is approaching. Do not let the laity keep the feast without you, and so bring great danger on yourself. For who will preach them the Easter sermon in your absence? Who will announce to them the great day of the Resurrection, if you are in hiding? Who will counsel them to keep the feast fittingly, if you are in flight? Ah, how many will be the better for it if you appear, and how many will be injured if you flee! And who will think well of you for this? And why do they advise you not to take up the bishop’s office, when they themselves want to have presbyters? For if you are bad, let them not associate with you. But if they know that you are good, let them not envy the others. For if, as they say, teaching and governing are an occasion of sin, let them not be taught themselves, nor have presbyters, so that they do not grow worse, both they and those who teach them. But do not pay attention to these human sayings, and do not let those who give such advice have their way, as I have already said many times. Rather, hurry and turn to the Lord, so that, as you take thought for his sheep, you may remember us too. And to this end I have told our beloved Hierax, the presbyter, and Maximus the reader to go and urge you in person as well, so that in this way you may learn both with what feelings I have written, and the danger that comes from opposing the ordinance of the church. [r]