Help And Teaching

Διὰ τί ἔφης, μετὰ τῶν τριῶν ὁσίων παίδων τὴν πυρκαῖὰν οὐ κατεδικάσθη ὁ μέγας Δανιὴλ παρὰ τοῦ Βαβυλωνίου, σύμφρων αὐτοῖς τυγχάνων καὶ συμφυλέτης, καὶ ὁμοδίαιτος, καὶ μᾶλλον τῆς εὐσεβείας διδάσκαλος; Ἐπειδὴ, φημὶ, κατὰ θείαν τοῦτο ᾠκονομήθη προμήθειαν, ἵνα μὴ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Βαβυλωνίου Θεοῦ, τὴν κατάκαυσιν τῆς φλοψὸς οἱ ἀσεβεῖς ἐπιγράφωσι· Βαλτάσαρ γὰρ αὐτὸν, εἰς τιμὴν τῆς τῶν ἀποῥῥητων σαφηνείας, ὠνόμαζον. Καὶ δόγμα τοιοῦτο παρ' ἐκείνοις κρατεῖ, ὠς καὶ μόνον ὀνομαζόμενον, θαυματουργεῖν τὸν Θεὸν αὐτῶν. Ἵνα ταύτην τοίνυν καταργησῃ τὴν δόξαν, ἐν τῇ κρίσει ταύτῃ τὸν Δανιὴλ ἐχώρισε, καὶ εὑρέθη γυμνὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ τῶν νέων εγκράτεια, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ βοήθεια, τὴν βροντῶσαν μαράνασα κάμινον. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΙΘ´ Ἡρακλειδῃ Ἐπισκοπῳ Source: Migne PG 78.193c-d

Concerning your enquiry about why the great Daniel was not condemned to the flames by the king of Babylon along with the three pious youths, the same sentence being given to all three who shared the same way of life, 1 it was that he might be a teacher of piety. And this, I say, was a matter of Divine providence, lest impious men should attribute the suppression of the flames to the name of a Babylonian God, the one who they called Baltazarus, and they proclaim it a mystery in his honour, and so with this teaching prevailing among them, in name only, their god be the wonder worker. Whence to suppress and abolish this opinion, Daniel was separated from the judgement of the others, and it was found that the roaring furnace was suppressed by the continence of the youths and the help of God. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 19, To The Bishop Heracleides 1 Dan 3