10. Do not then suffer those who give contrary advice. But rather hasten and delay not; the more so as the holy festival is approaching; so that the laity may not keep the feast without you, and you bring great danger upon yourself. For who will in your absence preach them the Easter sermon? Who will announce to them the great day of the Resurrection, if you art in hiding? Who will counsel them, if you are in flight, to keep the feast fittingly? Ah, how many will be the better if you appear, how many be injured if you fly! And who will think well of you for this? and why do they advise you not to take up the bishop's office, when they themselves wish to have presbyters [4632] ? For if you are bad, let them not associate with you. But if they know that you are good, let them not envy the others. For if, as they say, teaching and government is an occasion of sin, let them not be taught themselves, nor have presbyters, lest they deteriorate, both they and those who teach them. But do not attend to these human sayings, nor suffer those who give such advice, as I have often already said. But rather make haste and turn to the Lord, in order that, taking thought for his sheep, you may remember us also. But to this end I have bidden our beloved Hierax, the presbyter, and Maximus the reader go, and bid you by word of mouth also, that you may be able thus to learn both with what feelings I have written, and the danger that results from gainsaying the ordinance of the Church.
[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 (§10), when persecution was expected (§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.
[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 (§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.
[4619] Jer. xx. 9.
[4620] Gen. iii. 12.
[4621] In 353, see Fest. Ind. xxv.; Sozom. iv. 9.
[4622] Perhaps the Muis' of the Sardican subscriptions (Apol. Ar.) and the Move' of Vit. Pachom. c. 72.
[4623] Paulus, perhaps identical with the Philo' of Sard. subsc. and Vit. Pach. ubi supr. A Philo' and Muius' also occur close together in Apol. Fug. 7 (note 9).
[4624] Phil. iii. 14.
[4625] Matt. iv. 19.
[4626] Phil. iv. 12.
[4627] 1 Tim. v. 23.
[4628] 2 Cor. xi. 27.
[4629] semeia. At the end of §7 this word can only be rendered wonders.' But here it appears at least probable that it has the different sense of miracles.'
[4630] Probably the reference is to married men who had subsequently become monks. Or else, as monks at this time lived in many cases in the world, not in communities, it may refer to married men leading an ascetic life.
[4631] ex holoklerou genous.
[4632] This is not our earliest notice of ordained persons in monastic societies. see Apol. Ar. 67.