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140.1 “Who will give me wings like a dove? And I will fly away” to you and I will still the longing which I have for meeting with your love. But now I not only lack wings, but my very body, long having been afflicted by a lengthy illness, is now completely crushed by continuous afflictions. For who has a soul so like adamant, who is so completely without sympathy and savage, as to hear the groaning that assails us from every side, as though from some sullen chorus sounding a common and harmonious lament, and not be affected in his soul and be bent down to the earth and be completely wasted away by these helpless cares? But the Holy One is able to give some solution to our difficulties and to grant us a respite from our long labors. So I ask you also to have the same comfort and, rejoicing in the hope of comfort, to endure the present pain of your afflictions. For if we are paying the penalty for our sins, the scourges are sufficient henceforth for the remission of God’s anger against us; or if we have been called through these trials to the contests for piety, the Judge of the contest is just, not to allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, but for the labors already endured to give us the crown of endurance and of hope in Him. Let us not therefore grow weary as we contend in the contests for piety, nor through despair let us cast away what we have achieved. For not one act of courage nor a brief toil demonstrates the endurance of the soul, but He who tests our hearts wishes us, through a long and protracted trial, to be shown forth as crowned victors of righteousness. Only let our resolve be kept unyielding, let the foundation of our faith in Christ be preserved unshaken, and He who will help us will come quickly; He will come and will not delay. “For expect affliction upon affliction, hope upon hope, yet a little while, yet a little while.” Thus the Holy Spirit knows how to encourage His own children with the promise of what is to come. For after the afflictions comes hope, and what is hoped for is close at hand. For even if one were to speak of the whole of human life, it is an altogether very small interval in comparison with that boundless age which is laid up in our hopes. 140.2 But we neither accept a newer faith written for us by others, nor do we ourselves dare to hand on the offspring of our own thought, lest we make the words of piety to be of human origin, but what we have been taught by the holy Fathers, this we proclaim to those who question us. There is, therefore, practiced in our Church from the Fathers the faith written by the holy Fathers who assembled for us at Nicaea; which we suppose is on your lips also, but we do not refuse, lest we incur a charge of laziness, to set down the very words in our letter. These are they: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the Only-begotten, that is, of the essence of the Father; Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten not made, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things on earth. Who for us men and for our salvation came down, was incarnate, was made man, suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended into the heavens, and is coming to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit. But those who say: there was a time when He was not, and before He was begotten He was not, and, that He came into being from things that were not, or who say that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or essence, or is created, or is subject to change or alteration; these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.” We believe these things. But since the statement concerning the Holy Spirit is indeterminate, not yet at that time

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140.1 «Τίς δώσει μοι πτέρυγας ὡσεὶ περιστερᾶς; Καὶ πε τασθήσομαι» πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ καταπαύσω τὸν πόθον ὃν ἔχω ἐπὶ τῇ συντυχίᾳ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης. Νυνὶ δὲ οὐχὶ πτερύγων ἐνδεῶς ἔχω μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος πάλαι μέν μοι ὑπὸ μακρᾶς τῆς ἀρρωστίας πεπονηκότος, νῦν δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν συνεχῶν θλίψεων παντελῶς συντετριμμέ νου. Τίς γὰρ οὕτως ἀδαμάντινος τὴν ψυχήν, τίς οὕτω παντελῶς ἀσυμπαθὴς καὶ ἀνήμερος ὡς ἀκούων τοῦ παντα χόθεν ἡμᾶς προσβάλλοντος στεναγμοῦ, οἷον ἀπό τινος χοροῦ κατηφοῦς κοινόν τινα θρῆνον καὶ σύμφωνον προση χοῦντος, μὴ οὐχὶ παθεῖν τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ κατακαμφθῆναι εἰς γῆν καὶ ταῖς ἀμηχάνοις ταύταις μερίμναις παντελῶς ἐκτακῆναι; Ἀλλὰ δυνατὸς ὁ Ἅγιος δοῦναί τινα λύσιν τῶν ἀμηχάνων καὶ χαρίσασθαι ἡμῖν τῶν μακρῶν πόνων ἀναπνοήν. Ὥστε καὶ ὑμᾶς τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχειν ἀξιῶ παρά κλησιν καὶ τῇ ἐλπίδι τῆς παρακλήσεως χαίροντας ὑμᾶς τὸ παρὸν ἀλγεινὸν τῶν θλίψεων ὑπομένειν. Εἴτε γὰρ ἁμαρτη μάτων ἀποτίννυμεν δίκας, ἱκαναὶ αἱ μάστιγες πρὸς παραίτησιν λοιπὸν τῆς ἐφ' ἡμῖν ὀργῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ· εἴτε εἰς τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγῶνας διὰ τῶν πειρασμῶν τούτων κεκλήμεθα, δίκαιος ὁ Ἀθλοθέτης μὴ ἐᾶσαι ἡμᾶς πειρασθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὃ δυνάμεθα ὑπενεγκεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοῖς προπεπονημένοις ἀποδοῦναι ἡμῖν τὸν τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπίδος στέφανον. Μὴ οὖν ἀποκάμωμεν ἐναθλοῦντες εἰς τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγῶνας μηδὲ δι' ἀνελπιστίας τὰ πονηθέντα ἡμῖν προώμεθα. Οὐ γὰρ μία πρᾶξις ἀνδρείας οὐδὲ βραχὺς πόνος τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς καρτερὸν διαδείκνυσιν, ἀλλ' ὁ δοκιμάζων ἡμῶν τὰς καρδίας διὰ μακρᾶς καὶ παρατεταμένης τῆς δοκιμασίας βούλεται ἡμᾶς τῆς δικαιοσύνης στεφανίτας ἀποδειχθῆναι. Μόνον ἀνένδοτον φυλασσέσθω τὸ φρόνημα ἡμῶν, ἄσειστον τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως διατηρείσθω, καὶ ἥξει ἐν τάχει ὁ ἀντιληψόμενος ἡμῶν· ἥξει καὶ οὐ χρονιεῖ. «Προσδέχου γὰρ θλίψιν ἐπὶ θλίψει, ἐλπίδα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, ἔτι μικρόν, ἔτι μικρόν.» Οὕτως οἶδε ψυχαγωγεῖν τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ τοῦ μέλλοντος τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ τροφίμους τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον. Μετὰ γὰρ τὰς θλίψεις ἡ ἐλπίς, ἐκ τοῦ σύνεγγυς δὲ πάρεστι τὰ ἐλπιζόμενα. Κἂν γὰρ ὅλον τις εἴποι τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον, σμικρότατόν ἐστι διάστημα παντελῶς συγκρίσει ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀπεράντου αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐν ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἀποκειμένου. 140.2 Πίστιν δὲ ἡμεῖς οὔτε παρ' ἄλλων γραφομένην ἡμῖν νεωτέραν παραδεχόμεθα οὔτε αὐτοὶ τὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας διανοίας γεννήματα παραδιδόναι τολμῶμεν, ἵνα μὴ ἀνθρώ πινα ποιήσωμεν τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας ῥήματα, ἀλλ' ἅπερ παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων δεδιδάγμεθα ταῦτα τοῖς ἐρωτῶσιν ἡμᾶς διαγγέλλομεν. Ἔστι τοίνυν ἐκ πατέρων ἐμπολι τευομένη τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἡμῶν ἡ γραφεῖσα παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων πίστις τῶν κατὰ τὴν Νίκαιαν συνελθόντων ἡμῖν· ἣν ἡγούμεθα μὲν διὰ στόματος εἶναι καὶ παρ' ὑμῖν, οὐ παραιτούμεθα δέ, ἵνα μὴ ὄκνου ἔγκλημα ἀπενεγκώμεθα, καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ ῥήματα ἐνσημᾶναι τῷ γράμματι. Ἔστι δὲ ταῦτα· «Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητήν. Καὶ εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς Μονογενῆ, τουτέστιν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Πα τρός· Φῶς ἐκ Φωτός, Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ· γεννηθέντα οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο τά τε ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ. Τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα, σαρκωθέντα, ἐνανθρωπήσαντα, παθόντα καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, ἀνελθόντα εἰς οὐρανούς, ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. Καὶ εἰς τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Τοὺς δὲ λέγοντας· ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν, καὶ πρὶν γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἦν, καί, ὅτι ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐγένετο, ἢ ἐξ ἑτέρας ὑποστάσεως ἢ οὐσίας φάσκοντας εἶναι, ἢ τρεπτόν, ἢ ἀλλοιωτὸν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ· τούτους ἀναθεματίζει ἡ καθολικὴ καὶ ἀποστολικὴ Ἐκκλησία.» Πιστεύωμεν τούτοις. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀδιόριστός ἐστιν ὁ περὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος λόγος, οὔπω τότε