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of the city and of its leaders the nobility of their ways and the sincerity of their disposition toward God, so that we count blessed the Church that is completed by such people and pray that now spiritual peace may be given to you more abundantly, so that the things which you have now shown in the time of struggle, of these you may receive the enjoyment in the time of rest. For somehow difficulties in the experience are wont to bring pleasure to those who remember them. But for the present we exhort you not to lose heart, not to give up in the face of the continuation of evils. For the crowns are near and the help of the Lord is near. Do not pour out what you have already labored for, do not render useless the toil that is acclaimed throughout the whole world. The conditions of human affairs are short-lived; “All flesh is grass, and all human glory as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Let us, holding fast to the enduring commandment, despise the passing illusion. Your example has set many Churches aright. You have gathered for yourselves, secretly, a great reward through those whom you have called, being less experienced, to a similar zeal. Rich is the rewarder, able to bestow on you prizes worthy of your struggles.

221.t TO THE PEOPLE IN BEROEA

221.1 We have known you before, most beloved, from your acclaimed piety and the crown of your confession in Christ. And perhaps one of you might say: “And who is it that has conveyed this over such a long distance?” The Lord Himself, who, placing those who are pious toward Him like a lamp on a lampstand, makes them shine throughout the whole world. Or is not the prize of victory accustomed to proclaim the champions among contestants, and the ingenuity of the work its engineers? But if on these and such things an unforgotten memory remains, how will He not make those who are pious in Christ—concerning whom the Lord Himself says: “Those who honor me I will honor”—known and manifest to all, spreading out with the rays of the sun the brightness of their flashing radiance? But you have placed in us a greater longing for you by deeming us worthy of a letter, and such a letter, in which, in addition to your previous struggles for piety, you have lavished a rich and more vigorous fortitude for the true faith. At which things we rejoice with you and pray together that the God of all, whose is the contest and whose the wrestling ground and through whom are the crowns, may create readiness, may grant strength of soul, and may bring your work to a perfect success with Him.

222.t TO THE CHALCIDIANS

222.1 The letter of your piety, appearing to us in a time of affliction, has become such as often becomes for competing horses, at steady midday with fierce panting drawing up the dust in the middle of the stadium, water poured on their mouths. For we have caught our breath from the succession of trials, and at the same time we have been strengthened by your words and by the memory of your struggles we have become more vigorous to endure without yielding the contest set before us. For the conflagration that has spread over much of the East is now creeping up on our own land, and having burned everything all around it strives to lay hold also of the Churches in Cappadocia, which until now the smoke from the neighbors moved to tears. So then it hastens to lay hold of us also, which may the Lord turn away by His spirit

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πόλεως καὶ προπολιτευομένων αὐτῆς τὸ μεγαλο φυὲς τῶν τρόπων καὶ τὸ γνήσιον τῆς περὶ Θεὸν διαθέσεως, ὥστε μακαρίσαι ἡμᾶς τὴν ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων συμπληρουμέ νην Ἐκκλησίαν καὶ εὔχεσθαι νῦν πλέον δοθῆναι ὑμῖν τὴν πνευματικὴν γαλήνην, ἵνα, ἃ νῦν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἀθλήσεως ἐπεδείξασθε, τούτων ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀνέσεως χρόνῳ κομίσησθε τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. Πέφυκε γάρ πως τὰ δυσχερῆ κατὰ τὴν πεῖραν ἡδονὴν φέρειν τοῖς ὑπομιμνησκομένοις. Τὸ δὲ νῦν ἔχον παρακαλοῦμεν ὑμᾶς μὴ ἐκκακεῖν, μὴ ἀπαγορεύειν πρὸς τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν κακώσεων. Ἐγγὺς γὰρ οἱ στέφανοι καὶ ἐγγὺς ἡ ἀντίληψις τοῦ Κυρίου. Μὴ ἐκχέητε τὰ προπεπονη μένα ὑμῖν, μὴ ἀχρειώσητε τὸν κόπον τὸν διὰ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης βεβοημένον. Ὀλιγοχρόνιοι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων αἱ καταστάσεις· «Πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου. Ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσε, τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα Κυρίου μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.» Τῆς διαμενούσης ἐντολῆς ἀντεχόμενοι τῆς παρερχομένης φαντασίας καταφρονήσωμεν. Πολλὰς Ἐκκλησίας ἀνώρθωσε τὸ καθ' ὑμᾶς ὑπόδειγμα. Πολύν, κατὰ τὸ λανθάνον, ἑαυτοῖς συνηγάγετε τὸν μισθὸν δι' ὧν τοὺς ἀπειροτέρους εἰς τὸν ὅμοιον ζῆλον προσεκαλέσασθε. Πλούσιος ὁ μισθαποδότης, δυνάμενος ὑμῖν ἄξια χαρίσασθαι τῶν ἀγώνων τὰ ἔπαθλα.

221.τ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΝ ΒΕΡΟΙΑ

221.1 Ἔγνωμεν ὑμᾶς προλαβόντες, ποθεινότατοι, ἐκ τῆς ἐκβε βοημένης ὑμῶν

εὐλαβείας καὶ τοῦ στεφάνου τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν ὁμολογίας. Καὶ ἴσως ἄν τις ὑμῶν φαίη· «καὶ τίς ὁ εἰς τὴν μακρὰν ταύτην διαπορθμεύσας;» Κύριος αὐτός, ὃς τοὺς εὐσεβοῦντας εἰς αὐτὸν τρόπῳ λύχνου τιθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν φαίνειν ποιεῖ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης. Ἢ οὐχὶ τοὺς ἀριστέας τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν ἀνακηρύττειν εἴωθε τὸ τῆς νίκης βραβεῖον, καὶ τοὺς μηχανικοὺς ἡ τοῦ ἔργου ἐπίνοια; Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἄληστος ἡ μνήμη δια μένει, τοὺς κατὰ Χριστὸν εὐσεβοῦντας περὶ ὧν αὐτός φησιν ὁ Κύριος· «Τοὺς δοξάζοντάς με δοξάσω», πῶς οὐχὶ γνωρί μους καὶ διαφανεῖς τοῖς πᾶσι καταστήσει, ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τοῦ ἡλίου συνεφαπλῶν τῆς ἐξαστραπτούσης αὐτῶν λαμπηδόνος τὸ φαιδρόν; Μείζονα δὲ αὖθις ἡμῖν τὸν περὶ ὑμᾶς πόθον ἐνεθήκατε γραμμάτων ἡμᾶς ἀξιώσαντες, καὶ γραμμάτων τοιούτων, ἐν οἷς πρὸς τοῖς προλαβοῦσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας παλαίσμασι πλουσίαν καὶ ἀκμαιοτέραν τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθοῦς πίστεως καρτεροψυχίαν ἐπεδαψιλεύεσθε. Ἐφ' οἷς συνηδό μεθα ὑμῖν καὶ συνευχόμεθα ὅπως ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός, οὗ ὁ ἀγὼν καὶ οὗ τὸ σκάμμα καὶ δι' οὗ οἱ στέφανοι, προθυμίαν ἐμποιήσῃ, ῥῶσιν ψυχῆς παράσχῃ, καὶ εἰς τελείαν διευδο κίμησιν τὴν παρ' αὐτῷ τὸ ἔργον ὑμῶν ἀγάγῃ.

222.τ ΠΡΟΣ ΧΑΛΚΙ∆ΕΑΣ

222.1 Τὸ γράμμα τῆς εὐλαβείας ὑμῶν τοιοῦτον γέγονεν ἡμῖν ἐν καιρῷ

θλίψεως ἐπιφανέν, ὁποῖον γίνεται πολλάκις ἀγωνισ ταῖς ἵπποις, ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ σταθερᾷ λάβρῳ τῷ ἄσθματι κόνιν σπωμένοις ἐν μέσῳ τῷ σταδίῳ, ὕδωρ τοῖς στόμασι προσ χυθέν. Ἀνεπνεύσαμεν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς συνεχείας τῶν πειρασ μῶν, καὶ ὁμοῦ τε τοῖς ῥήμασιν ὑμῶν ἐπερρώσθημεν καὶ τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν καθ' ὑμᾶς ἀγωνισμάτων εὐτονώτεροι γεγόναμεν πρὸς τὸ ἀνενδότως ὑπενεγκεῖν τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα. Ὁ γὰρ ἐμπρησμὸς ὁ τὰ πολλὰ τῆς Ἀνατολῆς ἐπινειμάμενος ὑφέρπει ἤδη καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν, καὶ τὰ κύκλῳ πάντα περιφλέ ξας ἅπτεσθαι φιλονεικεῖ καὶ τῶν ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ Ἐκκλη σιῶν ἃς τέως ἐκίνει πρὸς δάκρυον ὁ ἐκ γειτόνων καπνός. Ἅπτεσθαι δ' οὖν λοιπὸν καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπείγεται, ὃν ὁ Κύριος ἀποστρέψειε τῷ πνεύματι