St Athanasius the Great LETTERS, Part II, Complete

Translated by Cardinal Newman.

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Page 40

Letter XLIX.--Letter to Dracontius [4599] . Written a.d. 354 or 355.

I am at a loss how to write. Am I to blame you for your refusal? or for having regard to the trials, and hiding for fear of the Jews [4600] ? In any case, however it may be, what you have done is worthy of blame, beloved Dracontius. For it was not fitting that after receiving the grace you should hide, nor that, being a wise man, you should furnish others with a pretext for flight. For many are offended when they hear it; not merely that you have done this, but that you have done it having regard to the times and to the afflictions which are weighing upon the Church. And I fear lest, in flying for your own sake, you prove to be in peril in the sight of the Lord on account of others. For if 'he that offendeth one of the little ones, should rather choose that a mill stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea [4601] ,' what can be in store for you, if you prove an offence to so many? For the surprising unanimity about your election in the district [4602] of Alexandria will of necessity be broken up by your retirement: and the episcopate of the district will be grasped at by many,--and many unfit persons, as you are well aware. And many heathen who were promising to become Christians upon your election will remain heathen, if your piety sets at nought the grace given you.

2. What defence will you offer for such conduct? With what arguments will you be able to wash away and efface such an impeachment? How will you heal those who on your account are fallen and offended? Or how will you be able to restore the broken peace? Beloved Dracontius, you have caused us grief instead of joy, groaning instead of consolation. For we expected to have you with us as a consolation; and now we behold you in flight, and that you will be convicted in judgment, and when upon your trial will repent it. And 'Who shall have pity upon thee [4603] ,' as the Prophet says, who will turn his mind to you for peace, when he sees the brethren for whom Christ died injured on account of your flight? For you must know, and not be in doubt, that while before your election you lived to yourself, after it, you live for your flock. And before you had received the grace of the episcopate, no one knew you; but after you became one, the laity expect you to bring them food, namely instruction from the Scriptures. When then they expect, and suffer hunger, and you are feeding yourself [4604] only, and our Lord Jesus Christ comes and we stand before Him, what defence will you offer when He sees His own sheep hungering? For had you not taken the money, He would not have blamed you. But He would reasonably do so if upon taking it you dug and buried it,--in the words which God forbid that your piety should ever hear: 'Thou oughtest to have given my money to the bankers, that when I came I might demand it of them [4605] .'

[4599] Dracontius, Bishop of Hermupolis Parva, was one of the bishops expelled from their sees, 356-7. His place of exile was the desert near 'Clysma,' i.e. the gulf of Suez (Hist. Ar. 75, cf. Hieron. Vit. Hilar. 30). We find him in 362 at the Council of Alexandria. The present letter, written to urge Dracontius not to refuse the Episcopate, was written just before Easter (S:10), when persecution was expected (S:3), and after the mission of Serapion, Ammonius and others to Constantius, a.d. 353. It was probably written, therefore, early either in 354 or 355. The letter is one of the masterpieces of Athanasius: its unforced warmth, vigour, and affection can fail to touch no one who reads it. It is, like the letter to Amun, one of our most important documents for the history of Egyptian Monasticism. (Migne xxv. 524 sqq.)

[4600] Cf. Joh. iii. 2; xix. 38.

[4601] Matt. xviii. 6.

[4602] Hermupolis Parva was in the nome, or department, of Alexandria (anciently called the nome of Hermupolis in the Delta), and lay on a canal 44 miles east of the Capital; it is identified with Damanhur. Agathammon, a Meletian bishop of this 'district,' is mentioned in the list, Apol. Ar. 71, where the district of 'Sais' seems to include a much wider area than the ancient Saite nome (Maspero. Hist. Anc. 4, p. 24).

[4603] Jer. xv. 5.

[4604] Cf. Ezek. xxxiv. 2.

[4605] See Matt. xxv. 27, and Luke xix. 23. It is not clear whether by the 'money' received by Drac. is meant his actual consecration, or merely his election.

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