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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 84 Pages
Page 41
3. I beseech you, spare yourself and us. Yourself, lest you run into peril; us, lest we be grieved because of you. Take thought of the Church, lest many of the little ones be injured on your account, and the others be given an occasion of withdrawing. Nay but if you feared the times and acted as you did from timidity, your mind is not manly; for in such a case you ought to manifest zeal for Christ, and rather meet circumstances boldly, and use the language of blessed Paul: 'in all these things we are more than conquerors [4606] ;' and the more so in that we ought to serve not the time, but the Lord [4607] . But if the organising of the Churches is distasteful to you, and you do not think the ministry of the episcopate has its reward, why, then you have brought yourself to despise the Saviour that ordered these things. I beseech you, dismiss such ideas, nor tolerate those who advise you in such a sense, for this is not worthy of Dracontius. For the order the Lord has established by the Apostles abides fair and firm; but the cowardice of the brethren shall cease [4608] .
4. For if all were of the same mind as your present advisers, how would you have become a Christian, since there would be no bishops? Or if our successors are to inherit this state of mind, how will the Churches be able to hold together? Or do your advisers think that you have received nothing, that they despise it? If so surely they are wrong. For it is time for them to think that the grace of the Font is nothing, if some are found to despise it. But you have received it, beloved Dracontius; do not tolerate your advisers nor deceive yourself. For this will be required of you by the God who gave it. Have you not heard the Apostle say, 'Neglect not the gift that is in thee [4609] ?' or have you not read how he accepts the man that had doubled his money, while he condemned the one that had hidden it? But may it come to pass that you may quickly return, in order that you too may be one of those who are praised. Or tell me, whom do your advisers wish you to imitate? For we ought to walk by the standard of the saints and the fathers, and imitate them, and to be sure that if we depart from them we put ourselves also out of their fellowship. Whom then do they wish you to imitate? The one who hesitated, and while wishing to follow, delayed it and took counsel because of his family [4610] , or blessed Paul, who, the moment the stewardship was entrusted to him, 'straightway conferred not with flesh and blood [4611] ?' For although he said, 'I am not worthy to be called an Apostle [4612] ,' yet, knowing what he had received, and being not ignorant of the giver, he wrote, 'For woe is me if I preach not the gospel [4613] .' But, as it was 'woe to me' if he did not preach, so, in teaching and preaching the gospel, he had his converts as his joy and crown [4614] . This explains why the saint [4615] was zealous to preach as far as Illyricum, and not to shrink from proceeding to Rome [4616] , or even going as far as the Spains [4617] , in order that the more he laboured, he might receive so much the greater reward for his labour. He boasted then that he had fought the good fight, and was confident that he should receive the great crown [4618] . Therefore, beloved Dracontius, whom are you imitating in your present action? Paul, or men unlike him? For my part, I pray that you, and myself, may prove an imitator of all the saints.
[4606] Rom. viii. 37.
[4607] Rom. xii. 11, and Westcott and Hort on various reading.
[4608] It should be observed that the fear of Dracontius was, not that he would suffer in dignity by becoming a bishop, but lest he should deteriorate spiritually (S:8, init.). Cf. the dying soliloquy of Pope Eugenius IV.: 'Gabriele, hadst thou never been Pope nor Cardinal it had been better for thy salvation.' See also S. Bernard, de Consideratione.
[4609] 1 Tim. iv. 14.
[4610] Luke ii. 61.
[4611] Gal. i. 16.
[4612] 1 Cor. xv. 9.
[4613] Ib. ix. 16.
[4614] 1 Thes. ii. 19.
[4615] Reading to hagi& 251; as proposed by Montf.
[4616] Rom. i. 15.
[4617] Ib. xv. 19, 28.
[4618] 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/letters-2.asp?pg=41
