What the Monks of the Thebaid Reported
By the same, to the bishops in Libya and the Pentapolis.
Preface
We must take care over everything that is useful and needful for building up the people, and that also contributes to the good name of the holy churches. For it is written, “Make the children of Israel careful” (Leviticus 15:31). Now fathers of monasteries in the province of the Thebaid, devout men whose way of life deserves admiration, came to Alexandria; and when I asked them about the state of the monasteries there, they told me that many are taking offence, for the following reason.
1. That no one should be ordained without examination
Some men who have only just married, and who have come down, as it were, straight from the bridal chamber, sweep along some of the most God-loving…
Greek
ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΤΟΙΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΛΙΒΥΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΝΤΑΠΟΛΙΝ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΙΣ ∆ [Προοίμιον] Παντὸς τοῦ χρησίμου καὶ ἀναγκαίου πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τῶν λαῶν, τελοῦντος δὲ καὶ εἰς ὑπόληψιν τῶν ἁγίων ἐκκλησιῶν, φροντίδα ποιεῖσθαι χρή· γέγραπται γάρ, ὅτι εὐλαβεῖς ποιεῖτε τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραήλ. Μοναστηρίων τοίνυν πατέρες τῶν κατὰ τὴν Θηβαίων ἐπαρχίαν, ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς καὶ 282 οὐκ ἀθαύμαστον ἔχοντες πολιτείαν , ἐλθόντες ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ, ἐρωτώμενοί τε παρ' ἐμοῦ τὴν κατάστασιν τῶν αὐτόσε μοναστηρίων, ἐδίδασκον ὅτι σκανδαλίζονται πολλοὶ διὰ τοιαύτην αἰτίαν. (α) Περὶ τοῦ ἀνεξετάστως μὴ χειροτονεῖν. Νεωστὶ γεγαμηκότες τινὲς καὶ οἷον ἐξ αὐτῶν καταβάντες τῶν νυμφώνων, συναρπάζουσί τινας τῶν θεοφιλεστάτων