From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Peter
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Truth has its own force even when suppressed — the face and the involuntary sigh betray what the will tries to hide.
Truth is powerful, Peter — and often silent. Even those who most wish to conceal what is hidden are given away by a downcast expression and a groan they did not choose to make. The body confesses what the mouth refuses to say.
This is not a small observation. Those who trust to silence as their fortress of concealment do not reckon on what they carry in their faces. The soul under the pressure of guilt cannot maintain a composed exterior indefinitely. It leaks. A heaviness in the eyes, a tightening of the breath, a stillness that is not peace but suppression — these speak more plainly than words.
The man who lives in truth has nothing to conceal and no such burden to carry. His face is simply his face. Let us then prefer the lightness of transparency to the exhausting labor of concealment.
Context:Truth has its own force even when suppressed — the face and the involuntary sigh betray what the will tries to hide.
Truth is powerful, Peter — and often silent. Even those who most wish to conceal what is hidden are given away by a downcast expression and a groan they did not choose to make. The body confesses what the mouth refuses to say.
This is not a small observation. Those who trust to silence as their fortress of concealment do not reckon on what they carry in their faces. The soul under the pressure of guilt cannot maintain a composed exterior indefinitely. It leaks. A heaviness in the eyes, a tightening of the breath, a stillness that is not peace but suppression — these speak more plainly than words.
The man who lives in truth has nothing to conceal and no such burden to carry. His face is simply his face. Let us then prefer the lightness of transparency to the exhausting labor of concealment.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.