[Ishoʿyahb of Hidyab, Ep. #15]
I have heard from the great humility with which you are endowed the cause of your trouble given to you and to the coenobium in which you live. This is not fair, indeed it is very disgraceful that a loss of this kind arises from a profitable work of men. For if humility is the mother of virtues, it is very fitting to feed the patience of one another as if it were an attractive child. He who is in a humble spirit has the virtue of prudence attached to his patience. For this reason, blessed one, let not the upsetting rumors which happened to you dislodge you from the beautiful state which you enjoy, by the man who is of today's error and the parent of yesterday's trouble, tossing the restless world through rumors. For the demonstration of his stupidity has been sufficiently recognized by all the people of our world: who, therefore, will make his words to a few of the wise men, and will count him in the number of those who are worthy of an answer, unless he be as a fool as he is? Or to whom among the honorable and the saints, who were from the beginning even to the present time, was there power, or even concern, to remove rejection from the mouth of the insane against the wise, or to ever prevent them from saying bad words of a bad tongue? However, it is absolutely necessary for him who wishes to live well, to persevere in a beautiful manner determined by prudence adorned with the fear of God, to strengthen in God himself the hope of his labor at all times, and to attend to his counsel.
Therefore, blessed man, persevere in your perfectly fitting order. Nor does order harm humility, nor does humility harm order. Espouse the order of leadership with the humility of your person. Mix the humility of your person with the rank of pre-eminence, and the king with the humility of the pre-eminence that was entrusted to you by the grace of God. Drive first, far from the face of your mind, all the vain and unsavory words of hearing, which some conceal and transmit, on account of that foolish man who wanders in his folly. Do not ever listen to them, nor answer them, nor do them to a few. Whether in the counsel of God or in the error of men, unless you have found some treasures of the grace of God, who descend into the monastery of your habitation, you will not be able to see how much your desire is. You have neither the opportunity to move away from thence nor neglect the works of its ministry. For the word of God, which is administered by us, forbids you all these things, gives you the right in all these things.
Therefore endeavor to do so nicely, as I have written, in the matter of that foolish old man mentioned above and in the government of the government. It is within you, I think, to obey the grace of God to be obedient to your brothers, and it is fitting for you, by your keen guidance, to provide them with all the advantages of their labors in life. What if, God forbid! Let him also excel in the evil of disobedience, as in other places; then, not with your usual meekness, but with useful severity, must he be used against the evil of disobedience; Let him advance before you from this time and beyond that rule brought by me. It is not lawful for any brother who will oppose your orders to live there and to wake you in the midst of a perilous tumult in the peace of your dwelling. But if there is a complaint against him which seems fair, and thinks that he has been wronged, let him send in peaceable words to our brother your bishop, who is near, and if necessary also to me; and thus he will undertake the task of correcting it, with the help of God.
Let the things which I wrote and write be read in the sight of all the brothers in the monastery, and let all take care of their own design and order of life, in all the fear of God and the chastity; He wants to live in Christ our Lord {2 Tim 3:12}. Let all division and discord and disobedience be cast out of the midst of you by the chastisement of the mighty Lord, by the chastisement of our God. Run to the harmony of the spirit and the bond of peace, and to the prompt obedience without which no one can please God; and most of all, run, pursue spiritual charity, reach to it, and hold it fast with all your strength and with all your diligence, so that by it you may grow "to the perfect measure of the perfect age of the perfect fulness of Christ." {Eph. 4:13}
Know also my good intention toward you; for I have sent to you those whom I long for to obtain extraordinary information at the beginning of their approach to the spiritual life. But if so, God forbid! they take a hurtful example from you as a stumbling block to your mind, or as a starting point for wicked behavior, a dangerous evil will fall upon you, like men who harm themselves and others. Take heed therefore, and for her sake, brothers, loving God, concerning all the beautiful order which your institution calls for, and about all friendly obedience, which is the source of spiritual life. Keep not only for yourselves a good deposit, in whose name you have been signed, but also to others who wish to acquire from you an example of virtue. Give both to me and to all, wherever God-fearing materials suitable for the glorification of God at all times. And the merciful God himself, who is able to make those who fear him abound with all grace, accomplish you in every good work, so that you may do his will at all times, throughout the days of your life, amen.
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