The Errors of a Bishop

Τί θαυμάζεις, ὅτι δι' ἑνος ἁμαρτίαν ὅλη μαστίζεται; ὅπερ καὶ ἐπὶ Δαβὶδ γενόμενον, ἕγνως. Ὅταν γὰρ ἕπὶ τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ τῶν πραγμάτων ὁ ἔξαρχος ὑπερηφανεύηται, εἰς ἀθυμίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ κατάκρισιν τὸ ὑπήκοον ἐλαττοῦται, οὐκ ἀδίκως παιδευόμενον, ἀλλ' ἐκάστου τὰ ἐπίχειρα τῆς οἰκείας πράξεως παραλαμβάνοντες, καὶ τῆς θείας μακροθυμίας ἀποτυγχάνοντς, διὰ τὰς τοῦ ἄρχοντος ψήφους. Μὴ τοίνυν ἐπισυνηγόρει ταῖς Εὐσεβίου τοῦ, ὡς οἴεται, ἐπισκόπου φαυλότησιν, εἰ δι' ἐκεῖνον καὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον λειτουργῶν, καὶ ἡ πόλις οἰκητόρων χηρεύει. Οἱ γὰρ ἀκρίτως τὸν ἀνάξιον προβαλλόμενοι δίκαιοι εἰσι, καὶ τοὺς πόνους τῶν καρπῶν αὐτῶν φαγεῖν, ἀρετὴν ἀτιμάσαντες, καὶ κακίαν οὕτω προφανῆ προστησάμενοι. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΛΘ', Θεοδοσιῳ Μοναζοντι

Why are you amazed that for one sin a whole city is punished? Certainly you know of David. For when on account of great wealth and a flourishing state he grew proud, to sickness and condemnation those beneath him were reduced. They were not admonished for iniquity, for truly each one receives the rewards of his own actions, but because of the census of a ruler.1 And the faults of your bishop, let it be thought, do not benefit you, on account of which the ministry of the altar and the city lacks inhabitants. For those who dare without judgement to select unworthy men shall eat the fruit of their labours of which they are worthy. He who is contemptuous of virtue shall choose even obvious evils. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 39, To Theodosis the Monk 1 2 Kings 24, 13