Letter VI.37    To be placed with Letter V.

To the wife of Nectarius.

1.  I hesitated to address your excellency, from the idea that, just as to the eye when inflamed even the mildest of remedies causes pain, so to a soul distressed by heavy sorrow, words offered in the moment of agony, even though they do bring much comfort, seem to be somewhat out of place.  But I bethought me that I should be speaking to a Christian woman, who has long ago learned godly lessons, and is not inexperienced in the vicissitudes of human life, and I judged it right not to neglect the duty laid upon me.  I know what a mother’s heart is,38    i.e.from his knowledge of what Emmelia had been to him.  Yet to the celibate the wife of Nectarius might have anticipated the well known retort of Constance to Pandulph in King John. and when I remember how good and gentle you are to all, I can reckon the probable extent of your misery at this present time.  You have lost a son whom, while he was alive, all mothers called happy, with prayers that their own might be like him, and on his death bewailed, as though each had hidden her own in the grave.  His death is a blow to two provinces, both to mine and to Cilicia.  With him has fallen a great and illustrious race, dashed to the ground as by the withdrawal of a prop.  Alas for the mighty mischief that the contact with an evil demon was able to wreak!  Earth, what a calamity thou hast been compelled to sustain!  If the sun had any feeling one would think he might have shuddered at so sad a sight.  Who could utter all that the spirit in its helplessness would have said?

2.  But our lives are not without a Providence.  So we have learnt in the Gospel, for not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of our Father.39    Matt. x. 29.  Whatever has come to pass has come to pass by the will of our Creator.  And who can resist God’s will?  Let us accept what has befallen us; for if we take it ill we do not mend the past and we work our own ruin.  Do not let us arraign the righteous judgment of God.  We are all too untaught to assail His ineffable sentences.  The Lord is now making trial of your love for Him.  Now there is an opportunity for you, through your patience, to take the martyr’s lot.  The mother of the Maccabees40    2 Mac. vii. saw the death of seven sons without a sigh, without even shedding one unworthy tear.  She gave thanks to God for seeing them freed from the fetters of the flesh by fire and steel and cruel blows, and she won praise from God, and fame among men.  The loss is great, as I can say myself; but great too are the rewards laid up by the Lord for the patient.  When first you were made a mother, and saw your boy, and thanked God, you knew all the while that, a mortal yourself, you had given birth to a mortal.  What is there astonishing in the death of a mortal?  But we are grieved at his dying before his time.  Are we sure that this was not his time?  We do not know how to pick and choose what is good for our souls, or how to fix the limits of the life of man.  Look round at all the world in which you live; remember that everything you see is mortal, and all subject to corruption.  Look up to heaven; even it shall be dissolved; look at the sun, not even the sun will last for ever.  All the stars together, all living things of land and sea, all that is fair on earth, aye, earth itself, all are subject to decay; yet a little while and all shall be no more.  Let these considerations be some comfort to you in your trouble.  Do not measure your loss by itself; if you do it will seem intolerable; but if you take all human affairs into account you will find that some comfort is to be derived from them.  Above all, one thing I would strongly urge; spare your husband.  Be a comfort to others.  Do not make his trouble harder to bear by wearing yourself away with sorrow.  Mere words I know cannot give comfort.  Just now what is wanted is prayer; and I do pray the Lord Himself to touch your heart by His unspeakable power, and through good thoughts to cause light to shine upon your soul, that you may have a source of consolation in yourself.

ΠΡΟΣ ΤΗΝ ΟΜΟΖΥΓΟΝ ΝΕΚΤΑΡΙΟΥ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΗΤΙΚΗ

[1] Ἔμελλον ἀποσιωπᾶν πρὸς τὴν κοσμιότητά σου, λογιζόμενος ὅτι, ὥσπερ ὀφθαλμῷ φλεγμαίνοντι καὶ τὸ ἁπαλώτατον τῶν παρηγορημάτων ἀνίαν ἐμποιεῖ, οὕτω καὶ ψυχῇ ὑπὸ θλίψεως βαρείας κεκακωμένῃ, κἂν πολλὴν παράκλησιν φέρῃ, ὁ λόγος ὀχληρός πως εἶναι δοκεῖ, ἐν τῇ περιωδυνίᾳ προσφερόμενος. Ἐπεὶ δέ με εἰσῆλθεν ὅτι πρὸς χριστιανήν μοι ὁ λόγος ἔσται πάλαι πεπαιδευμένην τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἐμπαράσκευον οὖσαν πρὸς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, οὐκ ἐνόμισα δίκαιον εἶναι παραλιπεῖν τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μοι. Οἶδα ποταπὰ τῶν μητέρων τὰ σπλάγχνα, καί, ὅταν ἰδίως τὸ σὸν περὶ πάντας χρηστὸν καὶ ἥμερον ἐνθυμηθῶ, λογίζομαι πόσην εἰκὸς ἐπὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν εἶναι τὴν ἀλγηδόνα. Παῖδα ἐζημιώθης ὃν περιόντα μὲν ἐμακάρισαν πᾶσαι μητέρες καὶ ηὔξαντο τοὺς ἑαυτῶν τοιούτους εἶναι, ἀποθανόντα δὲ ἐστέναξαν, ὡς ἑκάστη τὸν ἑαυτῆς γῇ κατακρύψασα. Ἐκείνου ὁ θάνατος πληγὴ ἐγένετο πατρίδων δύο, τῆς τε ἡμετέρας καὶ τῆς Κιλίκων. Ἐκείνῳ τὸ μέγα καὶ περιφανὲς γένος συγκατέπεσεν, ὥσπερ ἐρείσματος ὑφαιρεθέντος κατασεισθέν. Ὢ συνάντημα πονηροῦ δαίμονος, πόσον ἴσχυσε κακὸν ἐξεργάσασθαι. Ὦ γῆ τοιοῦτον ἀναγκασθεῖσα ὑποδέξασθαι πάθος. Ἔφριξε τάχα καὶ ὁ ἥλιος, εἴ τις αἴσθησις αὐτῷ, τὸ σκυθρωπὸν ἐκεῖνο θέαμα. Καὶ τί ἄν τις τοσοῦτον εἴποι ὅσον ἡ ἀμηχανία τῆς ψυχῆς ὑποβάλλει;

[2] Ἀλλ' οὐ γὰρ ἀπρονόητα τὰ ἡμέτερα, ὡς μεμαθήκαμεν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ, ὅτι οὐδὲ στρουθίον πίπτει ἄνευ θελήματος τοῦ Πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ὥστε, εἴ τι γέγονε, θελήματι γέγονε τοῦ κτίσαντος ἡμᾶς. Τῷ δὲ βουλήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ τίς ἀνθέστηκε; Καταδεξώμεθα τὸ συμβάν: δυσανασχετοῦντες γὰρ οὔτε τὸ γενόμενον διορθούμεθα καὶ ἑαυτοὺς προσαπόλλυμεν. Μὴ κατηγορήσωμεν τῆς δικαίας κρίσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἀμαθεῖς ἐσμεν ὥστε τὰ ἄρρητα αὐτοῦ κρίματα δοκιμάζειν. Νῦν σου λαμβάνει τὴν δοκιμὴν ὁ Κύριος τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπης. Νῦν πάρεστί σοι καιρὸς διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς τὴν μερίδα τῶν μαρτύρων λαβεῖν. Ἡ τῶν Μακκαβαίων μήτηρ ἑπτὰ παίδων εἶδε θάνατον καὶ οὐκ ἐστέναξεν οὐδὲ ἀφῆκεν ἀγεννὲς δάκρυον, ἀλλ' εὐχαριστοῦσα τῷ Θεῷ ὅτι ἔβλεπεν αὐτοὺς πυρὶ καὶ σιδήρῳ καὶ ταῖς χαλεπωτάταις αἰκίαις τῶν δεσμῶν τῆς σαρκὸς λυομένους, εὐδόκιμος μὲν παρὰ Θεῷ, ἀοίδιμος δὲ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἐκρίθη. Μέγα τὸ πάθος, φημὶ κἀγώ, ἀλλὰ μεγάλοι καὶ οἱ παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου μισθοὶ τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν ἀποκείμενοι. Ὅτε ἐγένου μήτηρ καὶ εἶδες τὸν παῖδα καὶ ηὐχαρίστησας τῷ Θεῷ, ᾔδεις πάντως ὅτι θνητὴ οὖσα θνητὸν ἐγέννησας. Τί οὖν παράδοξον, εἰ ἀπέθανεν ὁ θνητός; Ἀλλὰ λυπεῖ ἡμᾶς τὸ παρὰ καιρόν. Ἄδηλον εἰ μὴ εὔκαιρον τοῦτο, ἐπειδὴ ἡμεῖς ἐκλέγεσθαι τὰ συμφέροντα ταῖς ψυχαῖς καὶ ὁρίζειν προθεσμίας ἀνθρωπίνῃ ζωῇ οὐκ ἐπιστάμεθα. Περίβλεψαι τὸν κόσμον ἅπαντα ἐν ᾧ κατοικεῖς, καὶ ἐννόησον ὅτι πάντα θνητὰ τὰ ὁρώμενα καὶ πάντα φθορᾷ ὑποκείμενα. Ἀνάβλεψον πρὸς τὸν οὐρανόν: καὶ οὗτός ποτε λυθήσεται: πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον: οὐδὲ οὗτος διαμενεῖ. Οἱ ἀστέρες σύμπαντες, ζῶα χερσαῖα καὶ ἔνυδρα, τὰ περὶ γῆν κάλλη, αὐτὴ ἡ γῆ, πάντα φθαρτά, πάντα μικρὸν ὕστερον οὐκ ἐσόμενα. Ἡ τούτων ἔννοια παραμυθία ἔστω τοῦ συμβεβηκότος. Μὴ καθ' ἑαυτὸ μέτρει τὸ πάθος: ἀφόρητον γὰρ οὕτω φανεῖταί σοι: ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πᾶσι συγκρίνουσα, ἐντεῦθεν εὑρήσεις αὐτοῦ τὴν παραμυθίαν. Ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν ἰσχυρὸν ἔχω, φεῖσαι τοῦ ὁμοζύγου: ἀλλήλοις ἐστὲ παραμυθία: μὴ ποιήσῃς αὐτῷ χαλεπωτέραν τὴν συμφοράν, τῷ πάθει ἑαυτὴν ἀναλίσκουσα. Ὅλως δὲ οὐκ οἶμαι λόγον ἐξαρκεῖν εἰς παράκλησιν, ἀλλ' εὐχῆς ἡγοῦμαι χρείαν εἶναι πρὸς τὰ παρόντα. Εὔχομαι οὖν αὐτὸν τὸν Κύριον, τῇ ἀφάτῳ αὐτοῦ δυνάμει ἐφαψάμενόν σου τῆς καρδίας, ἐμποιῆσαι φῶς τῇ ψυχῇ σου διὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν λογισμῶν, ἵν' οἴκοθεν ἔχῃς τῆς παραμυθίας τὰς ἀφορμάς.