Letter 478
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Antiochos
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore insists that correct doctrine divorced from virtuous life is not genuine orthodoxy — the heretic who lives well is in some respects less dangerous than the orthodox believer who lives badly.
Correct belief and correct life are not the same thing, Antiochos, but neither are they separable in the end. A man who holds all the right doctrines and lives badly has something that matters — the truth — but has failed to do anything with it. A man who holds some errors in doctrine but lives with genuine virtue has something worth more — the practice — but lacks the foundation that would make it fully coherent.
The ideal is both: right doctrine that issues in right living. Neither one alone is sufficient. The orthodoxy that becomes a label enabling its possessor to look down on others while himself living without integrity has corrupted the doctrine it claims to protect. For doctrine is not a trophy; it is a way of life.
Examine yourself on both counts, Antiochos. What do you believe, and what do you do? Are they speaking the same language?
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Antiochos
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore insists that correct doctrine divorced from virtuous life is not genuine orthodoxy — the heretic who lives well is in some respects less dangerous than the orthodox believer who lives badly.
Correct belief and correct life are not the same thing, Antiochos, but neither are they separable in the end. A man who holds all the right doctrines and lives badly has something that matters — the truth — but has failed to do anything with it. A man who holds some errors in doctrine but lives with genuine virtue has something worth more — the practice — but lacks the foundation that would make it fully coherent.
The ideal is both: right doctrine that issues in right living. Neither one alone is sufficient. The orthodoxy that becomes a label enabling its possessor to look down on others while himself living without integrity has corrupted the doctrine it claims to protect. For doctrine is not a trophy; it is a way of life.
Examine yourself on both counts, Antiochos. What do you believe, and what do you do? Are they speaking the same language?
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.