Letter 1580
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: An unnamed person
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore explains how the one who reproves another should do it — with frankness only, not with violence, and without letting either shame or fear dilute the rebuke.
I believe that the one who reproves another should neither strike, nor revile, nor come to physical confrontation — but should rebuke only, with frankness, neither from a sense of embarrassment nor from fear. If you doubt this principle, I will read you what the divine scriptures say.
The man who rebukes from shame — hedging, softening, afraid to give offense — has not really rebuked at all. He has performed a rebuke, and the person he was speaking to knew it. And the man who rebukes in fury has substituted self-expression for correction, and the one being rebuked will notice. Only the rebuke that comes from genuine concern for the other, delivered plainly and without self-interest, has any chance of being received as the gift it is.
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: An unnamed person
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore explains how the one who reproves another should do it — with frankness only, not with violence, and without letting either shame or fear dilute the rebuke.
I believe that the one who reproves another should neither strike, nor revile, nor come to physical confrontation — but should rebuke only, with frankness, neither from a sense of embarrassment nor from fear. If you doubt this principle, I will read you what the divine scriptures say.
The man who rebukes from shame — hedging, softening, afraid to give offense — has not really rebuked at all. He has performed a rebuke, and the person he was speaking to knew it. And the man who rebukes in fury has substituted self-expression for correction, and the one being rebuked will notice. Only the rebuke that comes from genuine concern for the other, delivered plainly and without self-interest, has any chance of being received as the gift it is.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.