Letter 483
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Eurthemon the Questor
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore urges Eurthemon — a legal official — that divine justice is not absent even when human justice is slow or corrupt, and that patience is not passivity but confidence in what is coming.
You have complained, Eurthemon, about the slowness of justice and the impunity of those who seem to act without consequence. I understand the complaint. The man who has been wronged and sees the wrongdoer flourishing has every reason to feel that the order of things is broken.
But the order of things is not broken. Divine justice does not work on human timescales, and it does not depend on human institutions — though it may use them. What appears to be impunity is usually a delay, and delays end. The man who has done wrong and has not yet been called to account is living on borrowed time, not on immunity.
Wait with confidence, Eurthemon. Patience in the face of apparent injustice is not weakness; it is the posture of a man who knows how the story ends.
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Eurthemon the Questor
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore urges Eurthemon — a legal official — that divine justice is not absent even when human justice is slow or corrupt, and that patience is not passivity but confidence in what is coming.
You have complained, Eurthemon, about the slowness of justice and the impunity of those who seem to act without consequence. I understand the complaint. The man who has been wronged and sees the wrongdoer flourishing has every reason to feel that the order of things is broken.
But the order of things is not broken. Divine justice does not work on human timescales, and it does not depend on human institutions — though it may use them. What appears to be impunity is usually a delay, and delays end. The man who has done wrong and has not yet been called to account is living on borrowed time, not on immunity.
Wait with confidence, Eurthemon. Patience in the face of apparent injustice is not weakness; it is the posture of a man who knows how the story ends.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.