Ep. LXV.

Our reverend brother Eupraxius has always been dear to me and a true friend, but he has shewn himself dearer and truer through his affections for you, inasmuch as even at the present time he has hurried to your reverence, like, to use David’s words, a hart to quench his great and unendurable thirst18    Ps. xliii. 1. with a sweet and pure spring at your patience in tribulations.  Deign then to be his patron and mine.

Happy indeed are they who are permitted to come near you, and happier still is he who can place upon his sufferings for Christ’s sake and upon his labours for the truth, a crown such as few of those who fear God have obtained.  For it is not an untested virtue that you have shown, nor is it only, in a time of calm that you have sailed aright and steered the souls of others, but you have shone in the difficulties of temptations, and have been greater than your persecutors, having nobly departed from the land of your birth.  Others possess the threshold of their fathers,—we the heavenly City; others perhaps hold our throne, but we Christ.  O what a profitable exchange!  How little we give up, to receive how much!  We went through fire and water, and I believe that we shall also come out into a place of refreshment.  For God will not forsake us for ever, or abandon the true faith to persecution, but according to the multitude of our pains His comforts shall make us glad.  This at any rate we believe and desire.  But do you, I beg, pray for our humility.  And as often as occasion shall present itself bless us without hesitation by a letter, and cheer us up by news of yourself, as you have just been good enough to do.

[65] ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ

Τὰ πάντα τίμιος ὢν ἡμῖν καὶ τῶν φίλων ἐν τοῖς γνησίοις, ὁ αἰδεσιμώτατος ἡμῶν Εὐπράξιος ὁ ἀδελφὸς τιμιώτερος ὤφθη καὶ γνησιώτερος ἐκ τῆς περὶ σὲ διαθέσεως, ὅς γε καὶ νῦν οὕτως ὥρμησε πρὸς τὴν σὴν θεοσέβειαν, ἵν' εἴπω τὸ τοῦ Δαυΐδ, ὡς ἔλαφος πολὺ δίψος, τὸ οὐ φορητόν, ποτίμῳ καὶ καθαρᾷ τῇ πηγῇ καταψύχουσα. Καὶ μακάριος ὁ σοὶ πλησιάζειν ἠξιωμένος, μακαριώτερος δὲ ὁ τοῖς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ παθήμασι καὶ τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἰδρῶσι τοιαύτην ἐπιθεὶς κορωνίδα ἧς ὀλίγοι τῶν φοβουμένων τὸν Θεὸν τετυχήκασιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀβασάνιστον ἐπεδείξω τὴν ἀρετήν, οὐδὲ ἐν εὐδίας καιρῷ μόνον ὄρθιος ἔπλευσας καὶ τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ψυχὰς ἐκυβέρνησας, ἀλλ' ἐν ταῖς δυσχερείαις τῶν πειρασμῶν διεφάνης καὶ τῶν διωκόντων γέγονας ὑψηλότερος τῷ γενναίως μεταναστῆναι τῆς ἐνεγκούσης. Καὶ ἄλλοι μὲν τὸ πατρῷον ἔδαφος ἔχουσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἄνω πόλιν: ἄλλοι τὸν ἡμέτερον ἴσως θρόνον, ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸν Χριστόν: ὢ τῆς πραγματείας, οἵων ὑπεριδόντες οἷα κεκομίσμεθα. « Διήλθομεν διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος », πιστεύω δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἐξελευσόμεθα « εἰς ἀναψυχήν ». Οὐ γὰρ εἰς τέλος ἐγκαταλείψει ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός, οὐδὲ περιόψεται τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον δεδιωγμένον, ἀλλὰ « κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὀδυνῶν ἡμῶν » αἱ « παρακλήσεις » αὐτοῦ « εὐφρανοῦσιν » ἡμᾶς. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν καὶ πιστεύομεν καὶ εὐχόμεθα. Σὺ δέ, παρακαλῶ, ὑπερεύχου τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν: καὶ ὁσάκις ἂν ἐμπίπτῃ καιρός, καὶ εὐλογεῖν ἡμᾶς διὰ γραμμάτων μὴ κατόκνει καὶ εὐθυμοτέρους ποιεῖν τὰ κατὰ σαυτὸν δηλῶν, ὃ ποιῆσαι καὶ νῦν κατηξίωσας.