From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Pamprepius the Deacon
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore argues that the person who sins knowingly is in a better position than the one who sins without realizing it — because correct judgment about what is wrong is the necessary precondition for repentance.
The person who sins in full knowledge of it seems to me better off than the one who sins without knowing. This may sound strange, so let me explain.
The one who knows has correct judgment about what is happening. The one who doesn't know has corrupted judgment. The first will move toward repentance; the second will move toward insensibility. The first blushes when he stumbles; the second doesn't even blush — how could he blush over something he doesn't recognize as a stumble?
I would rather deal with a man who knows he has done wrong and is ashamed of it than with one who has no idea and no shame. The first can be helped. The second first has to be made to see — and that is the harder task by far.
Context:Isidore argues that the person who sins knowingly is in a better position than the one who sins without realizing it — because correct judgment about what is wrong is the necessary precondition for repentance.
The person who sins in full knowledge of it seems to me better off than the one who sins without knowing. This may sound strange, so let me explain.
The one who knows has correct judgment about what is happening. The one who doesn't know has corrupted judgment. The first will move toward repentance; the second will move toward insensibility. The first blushes when he stumbles; the second doesn't even blush — how could he blush over something he doesn't recognize as a stumble?
I would rather deal with a man who knows he has done wrong and is ashamed of it than with one who has no idea and no shame. The first can be helped. The second first has to be made to see — and that is the harder task by far.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.