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These things do not come idly to the servants of God from the Lord who watches over us, but for the testing of true love for God who created us. For as the toils of the contests bring the athletes to their crowns, so also the trial in temptations leads Christians to perfection, if with fitting patience in all thanksgiving we accept the things ordained by the Lord. All things are governed by the goodness of the Master. We should accept none of the things that befall us as grievous, even if for the present it touches our weakness. For even if we are ignorant of the reasons for which each of the things that happen is brought upon us by the Master as good; yet we ought to be persuaded of this: that what happens is in every way profitable, either for us because of the reward of patience, or for the soul that has been taken up, lest by lingering longer in this life it should be filled with the wickedness that is current in this life. For if the hope of Christians were confined to this life, the quicker separation from the body would reasonably have been considered a hardship; but if the beginning of the true life for those who live according to God is for the soul to be released from these fleshly bonds, why do we grieve "as those who have no hope"? Be comforted, therefore, do not succumb to passions, but show that you are superior and have risen above them.

102. TO THE CITIZENS OF SATALA

102.1 Moved by both your own entreaties and those of all the people, I both accepted the care of your Church and promised you in the presence of the Lord that I would omit nothing that is within my power. Therefore I was forced, as it is written, to touch as it were the pupil of my eye. Thus the surpassing honor I have for you permitted me to bring nothing to mind—not kinship, not the friendship existing with the man since childhood—before the things requested by you; but forgetting all the private matters of intimacy that exist for me with him, and not taking into account the great groaning with which my people, deprived of his leadership, will groan, nor the tears of all his family, nor taking to heart the affliction of his aged mother who is kept from tottering only by his care; disregarding all such and so many things at once, I became devoted to one purpose: to adorn your Church with the leadership of so great a man, and to help it, bent now to its knee from its long lack of leadership and in need of much strong guidance to rise up. Such, then, are our actions. What we now require from you is that you appear no less than our hope and the promises we made to the man, that we have sent him to his own people and friends, with each of you eager to surpass the other in zeal and love for the man. See to it, then, that you display this noble ambition and by the abundance of your care comfort his heart, so that forgetfulness of his fatherland comes upon him, and forgetfulness of his relatives, and forgetfulness of a people as dependent on his leadership as a young child on its mother's breast. We have sent Nicias ahead, so that he may make known to your honor what has been done and so that you may anticipate this by celebrating and giving thanks to the Lord who through us has deemed your prayer worthy to be fulfilled.

103. TO THE PEOPLE OF SATALA

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αὗται οὐκ ἀργῶς τοῖς δούλοις τοῦ Θεοῦ παρὰ τοῦ ἐπισκοποῦντος ἡμᾶς Κυρίου γίνονται, ἀλλὰ ἐπὶ δοκιμασίᾳ τῆς ἀληθινῆς πρὸς τὸν κτίσαντα ἡμᾶς Θεὸν ἀγάπης. Ὡς γὰρ τοὺς ἀθλητὰς οἱ τῶν ἀγώνων κάματοι τοῖς στεφάνοις προσάγουσιν, οὕτω καὶ τοὺς χριστιανοὺς ἡ ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς δοκιμασία πρὸς τὴν τελείωσιν ἄγει, ἐὰν μετὰ τῆς πρεπούσης ὑπομονῆς ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ πάσῃ τὰ οἰκονομούμενα παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καταδεξώμεθα. Ἀγα θότητι ∆εσπότου διοικεῖται τὰ πάντα. Οὐδὲν τῶν συμβαι νόντων ἡμῖν ὡς λυπηρὸν ὑποδέχεσθαι χρή, κἂν πρὸς τὸ παρὸν ἅπτηται τῆς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τοὺς λό γους ἀγνοοῦμεν, καθ' οὓς ἕκαστον τῶν γινομένων ὡς καλὸν παρὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῖν ἐπάγεται· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο πεπεῖσθαι ὀφείλομεν ὅτι πάντως συμφέρει τὸ γινόμενον, ἢ ἡμῖν διὰ τὸν τῆς ὑπομονῆς μισθόν, ἢ τῇ παραληφθείσῃ ψυχῇ, ἵνα μὴ ἐπὶ πλέον τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ ἐπιβραδύνασα τῆς ἐμπολι τευομένης τῷ βίῳ κακίας ἀναπλησθῇ. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ ἡ τῶν χριστιανῶν ἐλπὶς περιώριστο, εἰκότως χαλεπὸν ἂν ἐνομίσθη τὸ θᾶττον διαζευχθῆναι τοῦ σώμα τος· εἰ δὲ ἀρχὴ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ βίου τοῖς κατὰ Θεὸν ζῶσίν ἐστι τὸ τῶν δεσμῶν τούτων τῶν σωματικῶν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκλυθῆναι, τί λυπούμεθα «ὡς καὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα»; Παρακλήθητι οὖν μὴ ὑποπεσεῖν τοῖς πάθεσιν, ἀλλὰ δεῖξαι ὅτι ὑπέρκεισαι καὶ ὑπερῆρας.

102.τ ΤΟΙΣ ΣΑΤΑΛΕΥΣΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΑΙΣ

102.1 Ἐγὼ τάς τε ἰδίας ὑμῶν παρακλήσεις καὶ τὰς τοῦ λαοῦ παντὸς

δυσωπηθεὶς καὶ ἐδεξάμην τὴν φροντίδα τῆς καθ' ὑμᾶς Ἐκκλησίας καὶ ὑπεσχόμην ὑμῖν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου μηδὲν ἐλλείψειν τῶν εἰς δύναμιν ἐμὴν ἡκόντων. ∆ιὸ ἠναγκάσθην, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, οἷον τῆς κόρης τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ ἅψασθαι. Οὕτως τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τῆς καθ' ὑμᾶς τιμῆς οὐδενός μοι συνεχώρησεν εἰς μνήμην ἐλθεῖν, οὐ συγγενείας, οὐ τῆς ἐκ παιδὸς συνηθείας τῆς ὑπαρ χούσης μοι πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα, πρὸ τῶν παρ' ὑμῶν αἰτηθέν των· ἀλλὰ πάντων μὲν τῶν ἰδίᾳ μοι ὑπαρχόντων πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς οἰκειότητος λόγον ἐπιλαθόμενος, μὴ ὑπολογισά μενος δὲ μηδὲ τοῦ στεναγμοῦ τὸ πλῆθος ὃ καταστενάξει μου ὁ λαὸς ὁ τὴν προστασίαν αὐτοῦ ζημιωθείς, μὴ πάσης αὐτοῦ τῆς συγγενείας τὸ δάκρυον, μὴ μητρὸς αὐτοῦ γη ραιᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ μόνῃ τῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ θεραπείᾳ σαλευούσης τὴν θλίψιν εἰς καρδίαν λαβών· πάντων ὁμοῦ τοιούτων ὄντων καὶ τοσούτων ἀλογήσας ἑνὸς ἐγενόμην τοῦ τὴν ὑμε τέραν Ἐκκλησίαν κατακοσμῆσαι μὲν τῇ τοῦ τηλικούτου ἀνδρὸς προστασίᾳ, βοηθῆσαι δὲ αὐτῇ ἐκ τῆς χρονίας ἀπροστασίας εἰς γόνυ λοιπὸν κλιθείσῃ καὶ πολλῆς καὶ δυνατῆς χειραγωγίας εἰς τὸ διαναστῆναι δεομένῃ. Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα. Τὰ δὲ παρ' ὑμῶν ἀπαιτοῦμεν λοιπὸν μὴ ἐλάττονα φανῆναι τῆς ἡμετέρας ἐλπίδος καὶ τῶν ὑποσχέσεων ἃς πεποιήμεθα τῷ ἀνδρί, ὅτι πρὸς οἰκείους καὶ φίλους αὐτὸν ἐξεπέμψαμεν, ἑκάστου ὑμῶν ὑπερβαλέ σθαι τὸν ἕτερον ἐν τῇ περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα σπουδῇ καὶ ἀγάπῃ προθυμουμένου. Ὅπως οὖν ἐπιδείξησθε τὴν καλὴν ταύτην φιλοτιμίαν καὶ τῷ ὑπερβάλλοντι τῆς θεραπείας παρακα λέσητε αὐτοῦ τὴν καρδίαν, ὥστε λήθην μὲν αὐτῷ ἐγγε νέσθαι πατρίδος, λήθην δὲ συγγενῶν, λήθην δὲ λαοῦ το σοῦτον ἐξηρτημένου τῆς προστασίας αὐτοῦ ὅσον παιδίον νεαρὸν τῆς μητρῴας θηλῆς. Προαπεστείλαμεν δὲ Νικίαν, ὥστε τὰ γενόμενα φανερὰ καταστῆσαι τῇ τιμιότητι ὑμῶν καὶ προλαβόντας ὑμᾶς ἑορτάζειν καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Κυρίῳ τῷ δι' ἡμῶν καταξιώσαντι τὴν εὐχὴν ὑμῶν ἐκπλη ρωθῆναι.

103.τ ΤΟΙΣ ΣΑΤΑΛΕΥΣΙΝ