Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

Letter CCLXIX. 3218
To the wife of Arinthæus, the General. Consolatory.
1. It had been only proper, and due to your affection, that I should have been on the
spot, and have taken part in the present occurrences. Thus I might have at once assuaged
my own sorrow, and given some consolation to your excellency. But my body will no longer
endure long journeys, and so I am driven to approach you by letter, that I seem not to count
what has happened as altogether of no interest to me. Who has not mourned for that man?
Who is so stony of heart as not to have shed a warm tear over him? I especially have been
filled with mourning at the thought of all the marks of respect which I have received from
him, and of the general protection which he has extended to the Churches of God. Nevertheless,
I have bethought me that he was human, and had done the work he had to do in
this life, and now in the appointed time has been taken back again by God Who ordains our
lots. All this, I beseech you, in your wisdom, to take to heart, and to meet the event with
meekness, and, so far as is possible, to endure your loss with moderation. Time may be able
to soothe your heart, and allow the approach of reason. At the same time your great love
for your husband, and your goodness to all, lead me to fear that, from the very simplicity
of your character, the wound of your grief may pierce you deeply, and that you may give
yourself up entirely to your feelings. The teaching of Scripture is always useful, and specially
at times like this. Remember, then, the sentence passed by our Creator. By it all we who
are dust shall return to dust. 3219 No one is so great as to be superior to dissolution.
2. Your admirable husband was a good and great man, and his bodily strength rivalled
the virtues of his soul. He was unsurpassed, I must own, in both respects. But he was human,
and he is dead; like Adam, like Abel, like Noah, like Abraham, like Moses, or any one else
of like nature that you can name. Let us not then complain because he has been taken from
us. Let us rather thank Him, who joined us to him, that we dwelt with him from the beginning.
To lose a husband is a lot which you share with other women; but to have been united
to such a husband is a boast which I do not think any other woman can make. In truth our
Creator fashioned that man for us as a model of what human nature ought to be. All eyes
were attracted towards him, and every tongue told of his deeds. Painters and sculptors fell
short of his excellence, and historians, when they tell the story of his achievements in war,
seem to fall into the region of the mythical and the incredible. Thus it has come about that
most men have not even been able to give credit to the report conveying the sad tidings, or
to accept the truth of the news that Arinthæus is dead. Nevertheless Arinthæus has suffered
what will happen to heaven and to sun and to earth. He has died a bright death; not bowed
3218 Placed in 378.
3219 Gen. iii. 19.
To the wife of Arinthæus, the General. Consolatory.
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