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the places of falls) with one or two of your brothers at all times; for it is written, Woe to him who is alone, for if he falls there is no one to raise him up; the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these, he says, are contrary to one another. Let us not give the prevailing tendency to the flesh (for it will lead us to the pit of Hades), but to the spirit; for we shall live in it, rejoicing for ever. Therefore let us eat and drink and sleep with measure and balance; to the one who conquers belongs the crown. Therefore, do not be ashamed, my child, but in everything present yourself blameless, as a servant of God. Be zealous with zeal for the Lord in orthodoxy, because denial of him happens through his icon for the present persecutors; flee all fellowship with them as the venom of a serpent. May Christ be your helper in all things. I received your present blessings just as the former ones, and may the God of my father bless you in return. Greet the brother Eleutherios and tell him that you have given me much rest in the shoes you made for your brothers, having obeyed the steward. But may the Lord give you rest in return. What I have admonished you, my child, let him also know; for I rejoice if you are especially together with one another. Pray for my lowliness; the grace of the Lord be with you. Your brothers who are with me greet you. 213 {1To Euthymios my child}1 From your letters I have learned, my beloved child, of your affliction, that you are led about from place to place, fleeing the impious and hiding yourself. How can you not live afflicted and in distress? But even so, being strengthened by hope, rejoice, because you suffer for Christ, for the one who chose death for you. You have arrived in the footsteps of the saints, who went about in many afflictions, being in want, being distressed, becoming wanderers, being sheltered by rocks, treading upon mountains, being fugitives, cityless, homeless, along with beatings and deaths, that they might gain Christ. So, child, whatever you may suffer, look there, from there receive comfort and stand bravely as an athlete of Christ; for it is a time of martyrdom, and blessed is he who has endured a few evil days, in which there is an eternal crown, unspeakable glory. But woe to the denier and betrayer of the icon of Christ, because his portion is with Judas. You therefore, child, strive yet the good fight in patience of the things that happen; see that others are in prisons, just as some of your brothers were scourged with Christ. Do not be cowardly, do not be terrified by the one who has power over the flesh; Christ is with you, who bears all things by his will. Pray also for my lowliness, that I may be saved in the Lord. Your brothers with me greet you. Grace be with you. 214 {1To Theophanes, hegoumen of Agros}1 Late in the day, yet I learned that you were arrested by the Judaizers and those falsely named Christians, O much-longed-for and much-renowned father; and oh, how were they not ashamed to lay a hand upon a man of God, upon a holy man, upon a tabernacle worn out both from many years of asceticism and from a very grievous disease? But those who stretched out hands of insolence and persecution against Christ himself, what will they spare, what unholy things will they not do? But thanks be to God for his indescribable gift, that he strengthened you, who are mortally ill in body, in spirit above many of the healthy to become a herald of the truth, fearlessly refuting a heretical tongue and remaining completely unshaken in the confession of Christ. This is the culmination of your ascetic struggles, this is the crown of your God-wise knowledge; you have gladdened God, your lover, you have delighted the angels, your overseers of your praiseworthy life, you have crowned your own head with the diadem of confession, you have become, with the church of Christ, a support of salvation also for me, your pitiable and least child. Therefore rejoice and be glad in your hopes of eternal and inexhaustible recompense, praying that I, your least son, may follow after you. I ask you, most holy one, to greet your fellow combatant, who is my father,

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τῶν πτωμάτων τόπους) μετὰ ἑνὸς πάντως ἢ δύο ἀδελφῶν σου· γέγραπται γὰρ οὐαὶ τῷ ἑνί, ὅτι ἐὰν πέσῃ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐγείρων αὐτόν· ἡ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός, ταῦτα δέ, φησίν, ἀντίκειται ἀλλήλοις. μὴ τὴν νικῶσαν τῇ σαρκὶ δῶμεν ῥοπὴν (ἄξει γὰρ ἡμᾶς εἰς πυθμένα ᾅδου), ἀλλὰ τῷ πνεύματι· ζησόμεθα γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ εἰς αἰῶνας εὐφραινόμενοι. διὸ μέτρῳ καὶ σταθμῷ ἐσθίωμεν καὶ πίνωμεν καὶ ὑπνώττωμεν· τῷ νικῶντι ὁ στέφανος. μὴ οὖν καταισχυνθῇς, τέκνον μου, ἀλλ' ἐν παντὶ σύστησον ἑαυτὸν ἄμεμπτον, ὡς θεοῦ διάκονον. ζηλῶν ζήλου τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν τῇ ὀρθοδοξίᾳ, ὅτι ἡ ἄρνησις αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ εἰκόνι αὐτοῦ γίνεται τοῖς νυνὶ διώκταις· φεῦγε πάσης κοινωνίας αὐτῶν ὡς ἰὸν ὄφεως. εἴη σοι Χριστὸς βοηθὸς ἐν πᾶσιν. Ἀπεδεξάμην καὶ τὰς νῦν εὐλογίας σου ὥσπερ καὶ τὰς πάλαι, καὶ ἀντευλογήσειέν σε ὁ θεὸς τοῦ πατρός μου. προσαγόρευσον τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἐλευθέριον καὶ εἰπὲ αὐτῷ ὅτι ἀνέπαυσάς με λίαν ἐν οἷς εἰργάσω ὑποδήμασι τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου, ὑπακούσας τῷ οἰκονόμῳ. ἀλλὰ ἀνταναπαύσειέν σε ὁ Κύριος. ἃ σοί, τέκνον, ἐνουθέτησα, γνώτω κἀκεῖνος· χαίρω γάρ, εἰ μάλιστά ἐστε σὺν ἀλλήλοις. προσεύχεσθε περὶ τῆς ταπεινώσεώς μου· ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου μεθ' ὑμῶν. ἀσπάζονται ὑμᾶς οἱ συνόντες μοι ἀδελφοὶ ὑμῶν. 213 {1Εὐθυμίῳ τέκνῳ}1 Ἐκ τῶν γραμμάτων σου ἐπέγνων, τέκνον μου ἠγαπημένον, τὴν θλῖψιν σου, ὅτι περιάγεις ἐκ τόπου εἰς τόπον, φεύγων τοὺς δυσσεβοῦντας καὶ ἐναποκρυβόμενος. πῶς οὐχὶ τεθλιμμένως καὶ στενοχωρητικῶς ἔστι σε διαζῆν; ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ οὕτως, τῇ ἐλπίδι νευρούμενος χαῖρε, ὅτι διὰ Χριστὸν πάσχεις, διὰ τὸν ὑπὲρ σοῦ θάνατον ἑλόμενον. ἐν ἴχνεσιν ἔφθασας τῶν ἁγίων, οἳ περιῆλθον ἐν πολλαῖς θλίψεσιν, ὑστερούμενοι, στενούμενοι, ἀλῆται γινόμενοι, πέτραις σκεπόμενοι, ὄρεσιν ἐμβατεύοντες, φυγάδες, ἀπόλιδες, ἄποικοι ὄντες μετὰ καὶ πληγῶν καὶ θανάτων, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσωσιν. οὕτω, τέκνον, καὶ αὐτὸς ὅ τι ἂν οὖν πάσχῃς, ἐκεῖ ἀπόβλεπε, ἐκεῖθεν λάμβανε παράκλησιν καὶ στῆθι γενναίως ὡς ἀθλητὴς Χριστοῦ· μαρτυ ρίου γὰρ καιρός, καὶ μακάριος ὁ ὑπομείνας μικρὰς καὶ πονηρὰς ἡμέρας, ἐν αἷς στέφανος αἰώνιος, δόξα ἀνεκλάλητος. οὐαὶ δὲ τῷ ἀρνητῇ καὶ προδότῃ τῆς εἰκόνος Χριστοῦ, ὅτι μετὰ τοῦ Ἰούδα ἡ μερὶς αὐτοῦ. Σὺ οὖν, τέκνον, ἀγώνισαι ἔτι τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ τῶν συμβαινόντων· ὅρα ὅτι ἄλλοι ἐν φυλακαῖς, ὥσπερ καί τινες τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου μαστιγωθέντες σὺν Χριστῷ. μὴ δειλιάσῃς, μὴ πτοηθῇς τὸν κρατοῦντα σαρκός· Χριστὸς μετὰ σοῦ, ὁ τὰ σύμπαντα φέρων τῷ νεύματι αὐτοῦ. προσεύχου καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐμῆς ταπεινώσεως ἵνα σῴζωμαι ἐν Κυρίῳ. προσαγορεύουσίν σε οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφοί σου. ἡ χάρις μετὰ σοῦ. 214 {1Θεοφάνει ἡγουμένῳ τοῦ Ἀγροῦ}1 Ὀψὲ τοῦ καιροῦ, ὅμως ἔμαθον συλληφθῆναί σε ὑπὸ τῶν ἰουδαιοφρόνων καὶ ψευδοχριστωνύμων, ὦ πάτερ πολυπόθητε καὶ πολυθρύλλητε· καὶ ὤ, πῶς οὐκ ᾐδέσθησαν ὑποῖσαι χεῖρα εἰς ἄνθρωπον θεοῦ, εἰς ἄνδρα ὅσιον, εἰς σκῆνος κατατετρυχωμένον ἔκ τε πολυετοῦς ἀσκήσεως καὶ νόσου δεινοπαθοῦς λίαν; ἀλλ' οἱ εἰς αὐτὸν Χριστὸν ἐκτείναντες χεῖρας ὕβρεως καὶ διωγμοῦ τί καὶ φείσονται, τί καὶ οὐ πράξωσι τῶν ἀνοσίων; χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ αὐτοῦ δωρεᾷ, ὅτι σὲ τὸν σώματι νοσηλευόμενον θανάσιμα ἐκραταίωσεν τῷ πνεύματι ὑπὲρ τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν ὑγιαινόντων κήρυκα γενέσθαι τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀπτοήτως ἐλέγξαντα γλῶσσαν αἱρετίζουσαν καὶ μένοντα ἀσάλευτον τὸ καθόλου ἐν τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ Χριστοῦ. τοῦτο τῶν ἀσκητικῶν σου ἀγώνων ὁ κολοφών, αὕτη τῆς θεοσόφου σου γνώσεως ἡ κορωνίς· ηὔφρανας θεόν, τὸν σὸν ἐραστήν, ἥδυνας ἀγγέλους, τοὺς σοὺς ἐφόρους τῆς αἰνετῆς ζωῆς, ἔστεψας τὴν σεαυτοῦ κάραν ὁμολογίας διαδήματι, ἐγένου σὺν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Χριστοῦ κἀμοὶ τῷ οἰκτρῷ καὶ ἐλαχίστῳ σου τέκνῳ στηριγμὸς σωτηρίας. ∆ιὸ χαῖρε καὶ εὐφραίνου ταῖς εἰς αἰῶνα ἀμήρυτον ἀμοιβαίαις σου ἐλπίσι, προσευχόμενος κατόπιν σου ἰέναι κἀμὲ τὸν σὸν ἐλάχιστον υἱέα. προσειπεῖν σε ἀξιῶ, ἁγιώτατε, τὸν σύναθλόν σου, πατέρα δὲ ἐμόν,