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we enjoy so much relief here, that in two days we washed away all the unpleasantness that came to us from the journey.

7.t LETTER 7 7.1 Come now, let us again drain the wound of your despondency and scatter the thoughts that gather this cloud. For what is it that confuses your mind? That the storm that has seized the Churches is savage and gloomy and has made everything a moonless night, and that each day it culminates in some bitter shipwrecks of birth-pangs and the utter ruin of the world increases? I know this too, and no one will deny it, and if you wish, I will also fashion an image of what is happening, so as to make the tragedy clearer to you. I see a sea raging from every side, churned up from the very abyss below, sailors floating dead upon the waters, others sunk beneath the waves, the planks of the ships broken apart, the sails torn, the masts shattered, the oars flown from the sailors' hands, the pilots sitting on the decks instead of at their rudders, clasping their hands around their knees and wailing at the helplessness of the situation, shrieking, lamenting, mourning only, with neither sky nor sea visible, but everything deep and lightless and gloomy darkness, not even allowing them to see those nearby, and the great crashing of the waves and sea monsters from all sides attacking those who are sailing. But rather, how long do we pursue unattainable things? For whatever image of the present situation I seek, my speech retreats, overcome by the evils. But yet, knowing these things, I do not despair of a better hope, thinking of the pilot of this universe, who overcomes the storm not by skill, but with a nod he puts an end to the tempest. And if not from the beginning nor immediately, it is his custom not to end terrible things at the start, but when they have increased and come to their end and have been despaired of by most, then to work wonders and do paradoxical things, both demonstrating his own power and training the endurance of those who fall into them. Do not, therefore, lose heart, I beg you. For there is one thing, Olympias, that is fearful, one temptation: sin alone; and I have not ceased to chant this saying to you continuously; but all other things are a fable, whether you speak of plots, or enmities, or deceits, or slanders, or insults, or accusations, or confiscations, or exiles, or sharpened swords, or the sea, or the war of the whole world. For whatever these things may be, they are both temporary and fleeting, happening to a mortal body and in no way harming a sober soul. For this very reason, wishing to show the worthlessness of both the good and the grievous things of the present life, the blessed Paul revealed the whole matter in one phrase, saying: “For the things which are seen are temporal.” Why then do you fear temporary things, which flow by like river streams? For such are present things, whether good or grievous. And another prophet compared all human prosperity not even to grass, but to another, more worthless substance, calling all of it together the flower of grass. For he did not set down a part of it, such as only wealth, or only luxury, or only power, or only honors, but encompassing all things among humans that seem to be glorious under the one name of 'glory,' he thus introduced the image of grass, saying: “All the glory of man as the flower of grass.” 7.2 But is adversity terrible and grievous? But see this again in another

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πολλῆς ἐνταῦθα ἀνέσεως ἀπολαύομεν, ὡς καὶ ἐν δύο ἡμέραις ἅπασαν τὴν ἀηδίαν ἀπονίψασθαι τὴν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ γεγενημένην ἡμῖν.

7.t ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ Ζʹ 7.1 Φέρε δὴ πάλιν ἀπαντλήσωμέν σου τῆς ἀθυμίας τὸ ἕλκος καὶ διασκεδάσωμεν τοὺς λογισμοὺς τοὺς τὸ νέφος τοῦτο συνάγοντας. Τί γάρ ἐστιν ὃ συγχεῖ σου τὴν διάνοιαν; Ὅτι ἄγριος ὁ χειμὼν ὁ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας καταλαβὼν καὶ ζοφώδης καὶ νύκτα ἀσέληνον πάντα εἰργάσατο καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην κορυφοῦται τὴν ἡμέραν πικρά τινα ὠδίνων ναυάγια καὶ αὔξεται ἡ πανωλεθρία τῆς οἰκουμένης; Οἶδα τοῦτο κἀγὼ καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ, καὶ εἰ βούλει καὶ εἰκόνα ἀναπλάττω τῶν γινομένων, ὥστε σαφεστέραν σοι ποιῆσαι τὴν τραγῳδίαν. Θάλασσαν ὁρῶ μαινομένην πάντοθεν ἀπ' αὐτῆς κάτωθεν ἀναμοχλευομένην τῆς ἀβύσσου, πλωτῆρας τοῖς ὕδασι νεκροὺς ἐπιπλέοντας, ἑτέρους ὑποβρυχίους γενομένους, τὰς σανίδας τῶν πλοίων διαλελυμένας, τὰ ἱστία διαρρηγνύμενα, τοὺς ἱστοὺς διακλωμένους, τὰς κώπας τῶν χειρῶν τῶν ναυτῶν ἀποπτάσας, τοὺς κυβερνήτας ἀντὶ τῶν οἰάκων ἐπὶ τῶν καταστρωμάτων καθημένους, τὰς χεῖρας τοῖς γόνασι περιπλέκοντας καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀμηχανίαν τῶν γινομένων κωκύοντας, ὀλολύζοντας, θρηνοῦντας, ὀλοφυρομένους μόνον, οὐκ οὐρανόν, οὐ πέλαγος φαινόμενον, ἀλλὰ σκότος πάντα βαθὺ καὶ ἀφεγγὲς καὶ ζοφῶδες, οὐδὲ τοὺς πλησίον ἐπιτρέποντα βλέπειν, καὶ πολὺν τὸν πάταγον τῶν κυμάτων καὶ θηρία θαλάττια πάντοθεν τοῖς πλέουσιν ἐπιτιθέμενα. Μᾶλλον δὲ μέχρι τίνος διώκομεν ἀκίχητα; Οἵαν γὰρ ἂν ζητήσω τῶν παρόντων εἰκόνα, ἡττώμενος τῶν κακῶν ὁ λόγος ἀναχωρεῖ. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ ταῦτα εἰδὼς οὐκ ἀπογινώσκω τῆς χρηστοτέρας ἐλπίδος τὸν κυβερνήτην τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς ἐννοῶν, ὃς οὐ τέχνῃ περιγίνεται τοῦ χειμῶνος, ἀλλὰ νεύματι λύει τὴν ζάλην. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἐκ προοιμίων μηδὲ εὐθέως, ἔθος αὐτῷ τοιοῦτο μὴ ἐν ἀρχῇ τὰ δεινὰ καταλύειν, ἀλλ' ὅταν αὐξηθῇ καὶ πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἔλθῃ καὶ παρὰ τῶν πλειόνων ἀπογνωσθῇ, τότε θαυματουργεῖν καὶ παραδοξοποιεῖν, τήν τε οἰκείαν ἐνδεικνύμενος δύναμιν καὶ τῶν ἐμπιπτόντων τὴν ὑπομονὴν ἐγγυμνάζων. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀναπέσῃς, παρακαλῶ. Ἓν γὰρ ἐστίν, Ὀλυμπιάς, φοβερόν, εἷς πειρασμός, ἁμαρτία μόνον· καὶ τοῦτο συνε χῶς ἐπᾴδων σοι τὸ ῥῆμα οὐκ ἐπαυσάμην· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα πάντα μῦθος, κἂν ἐπιβουλὰς εἴπῃς, κἂν ἀπεχθείας, κἂν δόλους, κἂν συκοφαντίας, κἂν λοιδορίας, κἂν κατηγορίας, κἂν δημεύσεις, κἂν ἐξορίας, κἂν ξίφη ἠκονημένα, κἂν πέλαγος, κἂν τὸν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης πόλεμον. Οἷα γὰρ ἂν ᾖ ταῦτα, πρόσκαιρά τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐπίκηρα καὶ ἐν θνητῷ γενόμενα σώματι καὶ τὴν νήφουσαν οὐδὲν παραβλάπτοντα ψυχήν. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ τῶν χρηστῶν καὶ τῶν λυπηρῶν τῶν κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον τὸ εὐτελὲς ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος δεῖξαι βουλόμενος μιᾷ λέξει τὸ πᾶν ἐνέφηνεν εἰπών· «Τὰ γὰρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα.» Τί τοίνυν τὰ πρόσκαιρα δέδοικας, τὰ ποταμίων ῥευμάτων δίκην παραρρέοντα; Τοιαῦτα γὰρ τὰ παρόντα, κἂν χρηστὰ ᾖ, κἂν λυπηρά. Προφήτης δὲ ἕτερος ἅπασαν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην εὐημερίαν οὐδὲ χόρτῳ, ἀλλ' ἑτέρᾳ ὕλῃ εὐτελεστέρᾳ παρέβαλεν ἄνθος αὐτὴν ὀνομάσας χόρτου πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ μέρος αὐτῆς ἔθηκεν, οἷον πλοῦτον μόνον, ἢ τρυφὴν μόνον, ἢ δυναστείαν μόνον, ἢ τιμὰς μόνον, ἀλλὰ πάντα τὰ ἐν ἀνθρώποις δοκοῦντα εἶναι λαμπρὰ μιᾷ προσηγορίᾳ τῇ τῆς δόξης περιλαβὼν οὕτως ἐπήγαγε τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χόρτου εἰπών· «Πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου.» 7.2 Ἀλλ' ἡ δυσημερία δεινὸν καὶ βαρύ; Ἀλλ' ὅρα καὶ ταύτην πάλιν ἑτέρᾳ