Letter 219

Isidore of PelusiumUnknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Peter
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the obligation to give thanks not just in blessings but in trials — arguing that even the difficult circumstances are gifts not yet understood.

We owe thanks for everything — not merely for the blessings we recognize as blessings, but also for the trials we cannot yet understand.

This is not a comfortable teaching, and it is not meant to make suffering feel pleasant. It is meant to change the posture from which we face it. The person who meets difficulty with gratitude has not pretended that the difficulty is not difficult. He has said something more radical: that whoever is managing his life is not making mistakes, even when the evidence looks otherwise.

Paul learned this. "I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content" [Philippians 4:11]. That word "learned" is important. It was not natural. It was acquired.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.