From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Elaphius the Bishop
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the duty to admonish preachers whose conduct contradicts their words — and on the dangerous fashion for eloquent preaching divorced from virtuous living.
A terrible love of rhetoric has seized human souls in this age. People pursue beautiful speeches the way they once pursued beautiful deeds — as ends in themselves, admired for their craft without regard to whether the preacher who delivers them actually lives by what he says.
It is your duty to admonish those whose preaching is contradicted by their practice. The preacher who speaks brilliantly about self-control while living without it is not merely a hypocrite — he is actively harmful. His elegant words give the impression that the teaching is true while his life demonstrates that it is impossible. This is the most effective form of propaganda against the gospel.
Admonish them. And do it with the authority that comes from a life that cannot be similarly criticized.
Context:Isidore on the duty to admonish preachers whose conduct contradicts their words — and on the dangerous fashion for eloquent preaching divorced from virtuous living.
A terrible love of rhetoric has seized human souls in this age. People pursue beautiful speeches the way they once pursued beautiful deeds — as ends in themselves, admired for their craft without regard to whether the preacher who delivers them actually lives by what he says.
It is your duty to admonish those whose preaching is contradicted by their practice. The preacher who speaks brilliantly about self-control while living without it is not merely a hypocrite — he is actively harmful. His elegant words give the impression that the teaching is true while his life demonstrates that it is impossible. This is the most effective form of propaganda against the gospel.
Admonish them. And do it with the authority that comes from a life that cannot be similarly criticized.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.