All the above I have said, not because I myself can and am able to teach you anything, but because your diligence and diligence in learning, apart from any attitude towards me, is in itself worthy of approval. The ability to learn deserves praise regardless of the merit of the teacher. We pay attention not to what you have acquired, but to what you are looking for. Soft wax is suitable for stucco work, and even if it has not been touched by the hands of the artist and sculptor, it still contains in itself all that can be made of it. The Apostle Paul, according to his own testimony, learned the law of Moses and the prophets at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), so that, armed with these spiritual arrows, he could confidently say the following: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty of God to destroy strongholds: with them we overthrow schemes and every arrogance that rises up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ, and they are ready to punish every disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled" (2 Corinthians 10:4-6). In his Epistle to Timothy, who had studied the Holy Scriptures from an early age, the Apostle exhorted him to read them diligently, so that he would not neglect the grace that had been given to him through holy ordination. In the Epistle to Titus, having briefly depicted the episcopal virtues, the Apostle mentions among other things the knowledge of the Scriptures, saying that the bishop must be "holding fast to the faithful word, in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be strong both to instruct in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who resist" (Titus 1:9). Holy ignorance is useful only for itself, and to the extent that it creates the Church by a virtuous life, it harms the Church in the same way if it does not resist those who destroy it. Haggai was a prophet, and through him the Lord says: "Ask the priests about the law" (Haggai 2:11).

Thus, among the duties of the priest is the duty to answer those who ask about the law. And in Deuteronomy we read: "Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will tell you" (32:7). Likewise in Psalm 118: "Thy statutes were my songs in the place of my wanderings" (54). Also, in the description of the righteous man, whom David compares to the paradise tree of life, the following is mentioned among other virtues: "In the law of the Lord is his will, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). Daniel, at the conclusion of the most sacred vision, says that the righteous shine like stars, and those who understand, that is, the scientists, like the heavens. Do you see the difference between righteous ignorance and learned righteousness? Some are compared to the stars, while others are compared to the sky. However, according to the Hebrew original, both sayings can be attributed to scholars; for in the Hebrew text we read thus: "And the prudent shall shine like the lights in the firmament, and those who have turned many to righteousness shall be like the stars forever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). Why is the Apostle Paul called the vessel of election? Without a doubt, because it serves as the repository of the law and the Holy Scriptures. The Pharisees are amazed at the Lord's learning and wonder how the Apostles Peter and Paul know the law without studying. For what others had to acquire by labor and daily instruction in the law, the same was revealed to the apostles by the Holy Spirit, and they were, according to the words of the Holy Scriptures, θεοδίδακτοι [taught by God]. The Saviour was twelve years old when, in the temple, He asked the elders about the law, admonished them with His wise questions.

But can we call Peter or John uneducated, each of whom could say of himself: "Though I am ignorant of word, yet not of knowledge" (2 Corinthians 11:6)? John is uneducated, a fisherman, unlearned. But tell me, please, where does this saying come from: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1)? The Greek word λόγος has many meanings: it means a word, and reason, and calculation, and the cause of some thing through which something happens. All this we truly see in Christ. The learned Plato did not know this, the eloquent Demosthenes did not understand this. "I will destroy," says the Scriptures, "the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject" (1 Corinthians 1:19). True wisdom will destroy false wisdom. And although in the teaching about the cross there is a riot of preaching, the Apostle Paul says: "We preach the wisdom of the eye among the perfect, but the wisdom not of this world, nor of the powers of this world that pass away, but we preach the wisdom of God, which is secret, hidden, which God ordained before all ages for our glory" (1 Corinthians 2:6-7). And the wisdom of God is Christ, "the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). This wisdom was hidden in mystery, which is why the inscription of the ninth Psalm says: "On the mysteries of the Son," in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and understanding are hidden, and Who Himself was hidden in the Mystery, foreordained before the world. He was foreshadowed and foreshadowed by the Law and the Prophets. Wherefore the prophets are also called seers, for they have seen Him whom others have not seen. "Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day: and he saw, and rejoiced" (John 7:56). The heavens are opened for Ezekiel, which were closed for a sinful people. "Open my eyes," says David, "and I will see the wonders of Thy law" (Psalm 118:18). For the law is spiritual, and revelation is needed so that we may understand it and behold the glory of God with an open face.

In the Apocalypse, a book is shown sealed with seven seals (5:1); and if you give it to any of the people who know the writings to read, he will answer: "I cannot, because this book is sealed." How many people at the present time imagine themselves to know the writings, and yet hold a sealed book and cannot read it, unless he who opens it "has the key of David, which openeth and no one shuts, shuts and no one opens" (Rev. 3:7). In the Acts of the Apostles, the holy eunuch or man (for he is called by both names in the Scriptures), when reading Isaiah, to Philip's question: "Do you understand what you read?" answered: "How can I understand, if someone does not instruct me?" (Acts 8:30-31). I, I will say of myself, am not holier or more diligent than this eunuch, because he left the king's court, from Ethiopia, that is, from the ends of the world, came to the temple, and so loved the law and divine knowledge, that even in the carriage he read the Holy Scriptures, and yet, holding the book, meditating on the words of the Lord, speaking them with his tongue and lips, yet he did not understand Him Whom, unconsciously himself, he revered in the book. Philip came and showed him Jesus, who was hiding in a book. Oh, the amazing power of the teacher! At the same hour the eunuch believes, is baptized, becomes holy and faithful, is transformed from a disciple into a teacher, and finds more for himself in the solitary spring of the church than in the gilded temple of the synagogue.

I have written briefly about this (for the narrow limits of the letter do not permit any further extension), so that you may understand that in the discourse on the Holy Scriptures it is impossible to proceed without a predecessor and a guide. I am silent about grammarians, rhetoricians, philosophers, geometers, dialecticians, musicians, astronomers, astrologers and physicians, whose knowledge is useful to mortals and is divided into three parts: dogma, method and practice. I turn to the lesser arts, which are produced not so much by the ear as by the hand. Farmers, masons, craftsmen, sawyers, woodcutters, wool breakers, felters, cloth felters and other manufacturers of household utensils and various cheap things cannot do without a teacher. "Treatment is the business of doctors; and the arts of creation are created only by the artist" (Horace, Epistles II 1, 115-116, translated by N.S. Gunzburg). Only the knowledge of the Scriptures is appropriated by everyone everywhere. "But we, learned or unlearned, do not care, we all write poems" (Ibid., 117). The chattering old woman, the extravagant old man, and the verbose sophist, in a word, all ascribe to themselves the knowledge of the Scriptures, torment them, and teach others before they learn themselves. Some, assuming an important appearance and thundering with choice words, are inquisitive among women about the Holy Scriptures. Others, oh shame! learn from women what they pass on to men; Moreover, thanks to the ease of language and their courage, they teach others what they themselves do not understand. I am silent about those like me, who, after studying secular literature, turning to the Holy Scriptures and captivating the ears of the people with artificial speech, consider everything they say to be the law of God and are not vouchsafed to know the thoughts of the prophets and apostles, but look for inappropriate texts to their own thoughts, as if it were a good deed, and not the most vicious kind of doctrine – to distort the thoughts of the Scriptures and subject them to their own arbitrariness, despite obvious contradictions. As if we had not read the verses of Virgil and Homer, and we could not [following arbitrary interpretations] call even Maron, who did not believe in Christ, a Christian, who wrote: "The Virgin is coming to us again, the kingdom of Saturn is coming. Again a new tribe is sent from the high heavens" (Virgil, Bucolics IV, 6-7; translated by S. Sherwinsky), or to explain in the sense of the Father's words to the Son the following verse: "O thou, my birth, my strength, my only great might!", or to compare the words of the Saviour on the cross with the following verse: "So much did he endure in his memory and remained steadfast."

It is characteristic of children and charlatans to try to teach what they do not know, and even, submitting to their personal whims and tastes, not to know about their own ignorance.

The book of Genesis is written most clearly, which speaks of the nature of the world, the origin of the human race, the division of the earth, the confusion of languages and the migration of the Jewish tribe to Egypt. Next is the book of Exodus with ten plagues, with the Decalogue, with mysterious and divine commandments. Then comes Leviticus, in which every sacrifice, almost every syllable, both Aaron's garments and the entire order of the Levites, breathe heavenly mysteries. And does not the Book of Numbers contain the secret of all arithmetic and the prophecy of Balaam, and the forty-two camps in the wilderness? And does not Deuteronomy, the second law and the foreshadowing of the Gospel law, contain in itself that which has already been written before, but in such a way that from one old everything becomes new? Here are the Pentateuch, the five words that the Apostle wanted to "speak in the church" (1 Corinthians 14:19). Job is a model of patience – what mysteries does he not encompass in his speech? He begins with prose, continues with verse, ends with simple speech; fulfills all the laws of dialectics in the introduction, sentence, confirmation and conclusion. Every word in his speech is meaningful. I will mention one, the resurrection of the body. Job prophesies as clearly and at the same time restrained as no other. "I know," says Job, "my Redeemer lives, and he will raise up from the dust at the last day this decaying skin of mine. And I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself; my eyes, not the eyes of another, will see Him. My heart faints in my bosom!" (Job 19:25-27). I come to Joshua, who was a type of the Lord, not only in works, but also in name; he crossed the Jordan, overthrew the kingdoms of his enemies, divided the land to a victorious people, and under the name of various cities, villages, mountains, rivers, springs, and borders, he describes the spiritual kingdoms of the Church and the heavenly Jerusalem. In the book of Judges there are as many leaders of the people as there are types. Ruth the Moabite fulfills Isaiah's prophecy: "Send lambs to the ruler of the land from Sela in the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion" (Isaiah 16:1). Samuel, in the death of Elijah and in the murder of Saul, depicts the end of the Old Testament. And in the person of Zadok and David, he indicates the sacraments of the new priesthood and the new kingdom. Malachim, that is, the third and second books of Kings, describe the kingdom of Judah from Solomon to Jeconiah, and the kingdom of Israel from Jeroboam the son of Nebat to Uzziah, who was taken captive by the Assyrians. If we pay attention to history, the words are simple, but if we delve into the meaning hidden in the writings, we will read the legend about the small size of the church and about the attacks on it by heretics. The twelve prophets, enclosed within the narrow confines of one volume, pretend much more than the literal meaning gives. Hosea often mentions Ephraim, Samaria, Joseph, Israel, the harlot wife and the children of fornication, and the adulteress imprisoned on her husband's bed, who sits like a widow for a long time and waits for her husband's return in miserable clothes.

Amos, the shepherd, the peasant, the cultivator of the sycamore, cannot be described in brief words. For who can satisfactorily express the three or four transgressions of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, and Idumea, the sons of Ammon and Moabites, and the seventh and eighth, Judah and Israel? Amos addresses his speech to the fat cows on Mount Samarin, and prophesies the destruction of the house greater and smaller. Amos himself sees the locust producer, and the Lord standing on the poured out or adamantine mountain, and the couch of fruit drawing punishment upon sinners and famine on the earth, not the famine of bread, nor the thirst for water, but the hearing of the word of God. Obadiah, whose name means "servant of God," thunders against bloody Edom and earthly man. With a spiritual spear he strikes the one who is always jealous of his brother James. Jonah, the "dove," most beautiful in his shipwreck, foreshadows the sufferings of the Lord, calls the world to repentance, and under the name of Nineveh proclaims salvation to the Gentiles. Micah the Morasphite, the "joint heir" of Christ, announces the ruin of the robber's daughter and lays an ambush against her for having struck the judge of Israel on the cheek. Nahum, the "comforter" of the earth, prophesies a hail of blood, and after its destruction says: "Behold, on the mountains are the feet of the evangelist, announcing peace" (Nahum 1:15). Habakkuk, a courageous and firm "fighter," stands on his guard and sets his foot on the fortification, in order to behold Christ on the cross and say: "His majesty has covered the heavens, and the earth is filled with His glory. Its brilliance is like sunlight; from His hand are the rays, and here is the hiding place of His power!" (Hab. 3:3-4). Zephaniah, the "contemplator" and knower of the mysteries of the Lord, hears the cry at the gates of the fish, and the weeping in another part of the city, and the great devastation on the hills. He also commands the inhabitants of the ravine to weep, because all the people of Canaan have fallen silent, and all those laden with silver have perished. Haggai, the "solemn" and joyful one, who sowed tears to reap joy, renovates the ruined temple and brings in the Lord the Father, saying: "Once more, and it will be soon, I will shake heaven and earth, sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and He who is desired by all nations will come" (Hagg. 2:6-7). Zechariah, "remembering his Lord," manifold in his prophecies, contemplates Jesus clothed "in spotted garments," and a stone on which "seven eyes" (Zech. 3:3; 9), and a golden lampstand, and as many lamps as there are eyes on the stone, and two olive trees on it, one on the right and the other on the left (4:2-3). And after seeing the horses of black, white, and piebald, and the scattered chariots of Ephraim, and the horse of Jerusalem, he foresees and foretells a pale king sitting on a foal, the son of a foal. Malachi speaks openly, at the conclusion of all the prophets, about the rejection of Israel and the calling of the Gentiles: "I have no favor with you, says the Lord of hosts, and the offering from your hands is not pleasing to Me. For from the east of the sun to the setting of the sun my name shall be great among the nations, and in every place they shall offer incense to my name, a pure sacrifice" (Mal. 1:10-11). Who can understand or expound the teachings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel? Of these, the first, it seems to me, wrote not a prophecy, but a Gospel. The second sees a walnut cane, and a cauldron boiling on the north side, and a leopard stripped of its motleys; and in various meters it makes up the fourfold alphabet [Book of Lamentations]. The third [Ezekiel] contains so much hidden at the beginning and end of his prophecies, that the Jews were not allowed to read these chapters, as well as the beginning of the book of Genesis, until they were thirty years old. And the last of the four prophets, who knows the times and the whole world φιλοίστωρ [expert], proclaims in clear speech about the stone that was torn from the mountain without the help of hands and overthrew all kingdoms. David, our Simonides, Pindar, and Alcaeus, as well as Flaccus, Catullus, and Serenius, speaks of Christ on the lyre and on the ten-stringed psalter evokes His resurrection from the tomb. The peace-loving and God-loving Solomon corrects morals, studies nature, unites Christ with the Church, and sings the sweet wedding song (epithalamium) of Holy Matrimony. Esther, prefiguring the Church, relieves the people from danger, and, as a result of the execution of Haman, whose name "iniquity" erases, gives posterity the lot of the feast and the day of the feast. The book of Chronicles, that is, the επιτομή [abbreviation] of ancient documents, is such that if anyone who does not know it wants to appropriate the knowledge of the Scriptures, he laughs at himself. In almost every name and in every combination of words, the stories omitted in the books of Kings are touched upon, and innumerable Gospel questions are set forth. Ezra and Nehemiah, that is, "the helper and comforter of the Lord," are contained in the same volume; they build the temple, build the walls of the city; the whole crowd of people returning to their homeland, the census of the Levites, Israel, and the strangers, the division of labor in the building of walls and towers, these are the things that Ezra and Nehemiah depict partly on the bark of the tree, and partly in the heart of the tree.

You see that, carried away by my love of writing, I have overstepped the usual dimensions of a letter and still have not written all that I wanted. It was only a question of what we should know and what we should desire, so that we too could say: "My soul is weary for the desire of Thy judgments at all times" (Psalm 118:20). However, let the saying of Socrates be fulfilled in us: "I know only that I know nothing." I will touch briefly on the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are the chariot of the Lord and are truly cherubim, which means "the abundance of knowledge," full of eyes throughout the body, shining like sparks, swift as lightning, having straight feet and directed to grief: they are winged and capable of flying, they support each other, are mutually connected to each other, and like wheels, drawn one after another, they strive where the breath of the Holy Spirit directs them. Spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote to the seven Churches (for the eighth Epistle to the Hebrews is not included in this number by many). He gives instructions to Timothy and Titus, intercedes with Philemon on behalf of the runaway slave [Onesimus]. But about the Apostle Paul, I think, it is better to be silent than to write little. The book of the Acts of the Apostles seems to contain a simple history and narrates the infancy of the nascent church; but if we take into account that the author of this book is the physician Luke, whose "praise is in the Gospel," then we also see here that all his words provide healing for a feeble soul. The Apostles James, Peter, John, and Jude issued seven epistles, so mysterious as they were concise and concise, and at the same time extensive—brief in words, but vast in thought—that hardly anyone's spiritual gaze would fail to be struck by the reading of these epistles. The Apocalypse of John contains as many sacraments as there are words. I have said little, but in comparison with the merit of the book, all praise is insufficient, for in every word there are many meanings.

Please tell me, dear brother: to live among the divine scriptures, to learn from them, to know nothing else and not to seek anything else — does this not already mean here on earth to be an inhabitant of the Kingdom of Heaven? Do not be tempted in the Holy Scriptures by the simplicity and as it were coarseness of words, which occurred either as a result of the error of the translators, or as a result of deliberate adaptation to the edification of the common people; In one and the same saying, the learned will hear some things, and the unlearned will hear others. I am not so bold and stupid as to claim to myself a knowledge of the scriptures, and to boast of being able to pluck fruit from the earth, while the roots are fixed in heaven; But I confess that I want to know the Scriptures, I do not want to sit in one place: by refusing to be a teacher, I promise to be a companion. It is given to him who asks, it is revealed to him who knocks, he who seeks finds. Let us learn on earth that the knowledge of which will be inseparable from us in heaven.

I receive you with open arms, and (I will say inopportunely and with the command of Hermagoras) whatever you ask, I will try to find out with you. You have your most beloved brother Eusebius, who has redoubled for me the pleasure I received from your letter, telling me about the honesty of your morals and your contempt for this world, about faithfulness in friendship, about love for Christ. Your prudence and eloquence, in addition to the testimony of Eusebius, were made known by your letter itself. Hurry, I beg you, and quickly cross, and not untie the rope of the boat that has been lowered into the sea. No one, intending to renounce the world, can profitably sell what he has previously despised. If you suffer any loss, write it down as an acquisition. There is an old saying: "For a miserly there is no more what he has, nor what he does not have." For the believer, the whole world is full of riches, and the unbeliever needs even an obol. Let us live as having nothing and possessing everything. Clothing and food — these are Christian riches! If you have any thing in your hands, sell it; if you do not have, do not worry about gaining. The one who takes away the robe must also be given underwear. If you, constantly postponing until tomorrow, dragging day after day, carefully and little by little sell your possessions, then Christ will have nothing with which to feed your poor. Everything was given to God by the one who sacrificed himself. The apostles leave the ship and nets. A widow puts two mites into the treasury and is considered higher than the rich. Everything is easily despised by the one who is always thinking about his death.

Diesperov A. Blessed Jerome and his century. Appendix: Bl. Jerome. Featured Emails. (Series "History of Christian Thought in Monuments") — Moscow: Kanon+, 2002.

To Vigilantius

It will be quite normal if you are not in the least satisfied with the letter, after you have not believed your own ears: you cannot rely on a scrap of paper if you have not trusted the living speech. But Christ showed us an example of the greatest humility in kissing the betrayer and in accepting repentance from the thief from the cross; and I write to the absent as I have said to those present, that I have read or am reading Origen in the same way as Apollinaris or other writers whose books are not fully accepted by the Church. I do not mean by this that everything contained in their books should be condemned; but I confess that something must be blamed. Such is the purpose of my labors and studies, that I read to many, in order to gather various flowers from many, not so much to approve of everything, as to choose what good things come across; I take many into my hands, that I may learn many things from many, according to what is written: "As you read all, hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Therefore I am very surprised that you wanted to reproach me with the dogmas of Origen, whose errors, on many points, you do not know even at that age. Am I a heretic? And why, I ask, do the heretics not love me? Are you Orthodox? But if you, who have denounced me, even contrary to your own convictions and your words, did it under compulsion, then you are a turncoat, and if you voluntarily do so, you are a heretic. Thou hast left Egypt, hast forsaken all those provinces in which many stand with complete freedom for thy doctrine, and hast chosen me for thy attacks, and I condemn and publicly condemn all dogmas which are contrary to the Church.