Bishops And Women

Πάσας μὲν, εἰ οἶόν τε, ὁμιλίας γυναικῶν ἐκτρέπεσθαι χρὴ, ὡς ἐχούσας τινὰ πρὸς χαύνωσιν ἐπιτήδευσιν· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀδύνατον διὰ περιστάσεις χρειῶν, ἤ οἰκνομίας πτωχῶν, κάτω νεύοντας διαλέγεσθαι. Τοῖς γὰρ πλείοσιν, ἤ καὶ πᾶσι σχεδὸν τοῖς ἡττηθεῖσι κάλλους γυναικῶν, δια τῶν θυρίδων ἀνέβη ὁ θάνατος, ὃς καὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Προφήτου καὶ βασιλέως ἐκράτησεν, ὅτε πρὸς τὸ λουτρὸν ἐκεῖνο τὸ θανατηφόρον ἀπέβλεψε. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΠΘ' Ἰσιδωρῳ Ἐπισκοπῳ Source: Migne PG 78.244c

All must, if it is possible, flee association and talk with women, as they have a certain power and ability for softening. But if on account of the necessity of the affair, or dispensation to the poor, it is not possible to avoid this, we must have care to fix our eyes on the ground when we speak to them. So many, indeed almost all, have been overwhelmed by female beauty, so that it happens to them that 'death rises up through the windows,' 1 even he who was a great prophet and king was conquered when he looked upon that fatal bath. 2 Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 89, To the Bishop Isidore 1 Jerem 9.21 2 2 Kings 11.2