First Letter to the Monks

To those in every place who are living the monastic life, who are established in the faith of God and sanctified in Christ, and who say, “See, we have left everything and followed you,” brothers dearly beloved and longed for: warmest greetings in the Lord. [a]

In answer to your affectionate request, which you have often pressed on me, I have written a short account of the sufferings that we and the church have undergone, refuting, as well as I could, the accursed heresy of the Arian madmen, and proving how utterly foreign it is to the truth. I thought it necessary to tell your piety what pains the writing of these things has cost me, so that you may understand from it how truly the blessed apostle said, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” and may kindly bear with a man as weak by nature as I am. For the more I wanted to write, and the harder I forced myself to understand the divinity of the Word, the more the knowledge of it withdrew from me. The more I thought I grasped it, the more I saw that I was falling short of it. Besides, I was unable to put into writing even what I seemed to myself to understand, and what I wrote did not come up even to the imperfect shadow of the truth that was in my mind.

So I considered how it is written in the book of Ecclesiastes, “I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me; what is far off and exceedingly deep, who will find it out?” and what is said in the Psalms, “The knowledge of you is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it,” and that Solomon says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.” And many times I meant to stop and give up writing. Believe me, I did. But so that I would not be found to disappoint you, or by my silence lead into impiety those who have questioned you and are given to argument, I made myself write briefly what I have now sent to your piety. For although a perfect grasp of the truth is far from us at present because of the weakness of the flesh, it is still possible, as the Preacher himself has said, to perceive the madness of the impious, and, having found it, to say that it is “more bitter than death.” For this reason, then, since I perceive this and am able to find it out, I have written, knowing that for the faithful, to expose impiety is enough to show what piety is. For although it is impossible to comprehend what God is, it is possible to say what he is not. We know that he is not like a man, and that it is not right to imagine in him any nature that has come into being. So too with the Son of God: although by nature we are very far from being able to comprehend him, it is still possible and easy to condemn what the heretics assert about him, and to say that the Son of God is not like that. It is not right even to imagine in our minds such things as they say about his Godhead, much less to speak them with our lips. [c]

So I have written as well as I was able. And you, dearly beloved, receive what I send, not as containing a perfect account of the Godhead of the Word, but simply as a refutation of the impiety of the enemies of Christ, which holds and offers, to those who want them, pointers toward a godly and sound faith in Christ. If it falls short in anything, and I think it falls short in everything, forgive it with a pure conscience, and only receive kindly the boldness of my good intentions on behalf of godliness. For a complete condemnation of the heresy of the Arians, it is enough for you to know the judgment the Lord gave in the death of Arius, which others have already told you about. “For what the holy God has purposed, who will scatter?” And whom the Lord has condemned, who will justify? After such a sign has been given, who will not now admit that the heresy is hated by God, even though it may have men as its patrons? Now when you have read this account, pray for me, and urge one another to do so. And send it back to me at once. Do not let anyone at all make a copy of it, and do not copy it out for yourselves. Like good money changers, be content with the reading, but read it again and again if you wish. For it is not safe for the writings of babblers and private persons like us to fall into the hands of those who will come after. Greet one another in love, and also all who come to you in godliness and faith. For, as the apostle has said, “If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be anathema. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” [d]