Letter 240
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Serenus the Deacon
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the relationship between sacred and secular learning — arguing that they are not rivals but that the first gives the second its proper foundation.
Those who labor sincerely at both sacred and secular learning will find that they illuminate each other. The sacred gives the secular its proper weight and context; the secular, rightly ordered, equips the person to communicate and apply the sacred more effectively.
The danger is not in knowing both. The danger is in thinking that secular learning suffices on its own — or in rejecting secular learning as irrelevant to the life of faith. Both errors leave the person with less than he needs.
αυ! γϑροϊρίλίυν. Οἱ νγὸ οἱ η}}}} βοῖγὰ δἱ ἀοοθΓα ΡΓΟ- [ ὲ ἰῃδοὶᾳ ἰΔΌΟΓΙΠ, π΄υ ἀΐδοῦγα ΘΟΠ Π) ροίοτῖ!, αυοὰ Ιοουηὶ ποθὴ ργαθθαὶ, υἱ δείΓα Υἱάοτὶ ιιραί. ΟΡΠΧΎΙΙ, --- ΒΕΆΕΝΟ ἸἸΑΘΟΟΝΟ. διρεγὺὶ εἰ οἰαιὶ ἀερτὶπιοπάϊ. Εἰ ὧν ἡμφιτθήτησας μὴ τυχὼν, ἀλλὰ λαμπρῶς ἡττηθεὶς, νῦν χάριν δοχεῖς αἰτεῖν, δῆλος εἶ τῷ τῆς χάριτος ὀνόματι λῦσαι τὰ χριθέντα πειρώμενος. Εἰ δὲ λέγοις καὶ παρὰ τοῦ διχάσαντος ἠδικῆσθαι (τὸ μὲν ὡς διχαίως ἡττηθεὶς, ἐάσω λέγειν), τὸ δὲ, ὡς χέχριται, λέξω. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν οὐδ᾽ οὕτω κεχριμένον ἣν, τοῦ δικχάσαντος ἀδεχάστου τυγχάνοντος, εἰ μὴ τὸ διχαίως προσῆν. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ χαὶ μετὰ τὸ νιχῆσαι τὴν χάριν δίδωμι, ὅς γε οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡγωνισά» μην, εἴγε χαταγνοὺς σαυτοῦ συγγνώμην ἤτησας. Χρὴ γὰρ τὸ φρόνημα τῶν σφαλλομένων μὲν, μὴ οἰομένων δὲ ἐσφάλθαι, καθαιρεῖν" γνωσιμαχοῦσι δὲ συγγνώμην νέμειν.
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Serenus the Deacon
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the relationship between sacred and secular learning — arguing that they are not rivals but that the first gives the second its proper foundation.
Those who labor sincerely at both sacred and secular learning will find that they illuminate each other. The sacred gives the secular its proper weight and context; the secular, rightly ordered, equips the person to communicate and apply the sacred more effectively.
The danger is not in knowing both. The danger is in thinking that secular learning suffices on its own — or in rejecting secular learning as irrelevant to the life of faith. Both errors leave the person with less than he needs.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.