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Your holy letter arrived and comforted me, O holy Father; on the one hand, bringing good news of your health, desired by all; on the other, indicating the steadfastness of the right confession of our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God. Which, having been confirmed by the trial of sufferings, has been transformed for you into immutability, you who have considered as nothing the misery of the present life, whose prosperity you have long held in easy contempt, and have moored the whole desire of your soul on the things hoped for alone. Which desire, faith and a good conscience are by nature wont to characterize; the one preserving the pious word, stained in no way by false opinion; the other, creating a life pleasing to God, made right by the keeping of the commandments. For there is need of both, I mean of word and of life, for one who is zealous to prefer above all things the living with wisdom; so that we may piously proclaim the mystery of the immutable emptying of the God of all through the flesh for our sake; confessing Christ to be in truth both God and man at once; the one, being without cause through Himself, the other, having become so for our sake later. Neither putting aside what He was, on account of what He became; for He is immutable. Nor denying what He became on account of what He was; for He is the lover of mankind. For to Him alone, being properly existent, was it possible by an abundance of power to become without change and without confusion what He was not, and to remain properly both what He was and what He became; the ultimate unity of His own hypostatic monad admitting no division, because of the difference of those things from which He was composed, which is naturally preserved in Him after the union; since, having been united hypostatically to flesh intellectually ensouled, by His miracles He was shown to remain immutably what He was; by His sufferings He appeared to preserve unalterably what He had become; and through both, I mean miracles and sufferings, He bestowed upon us both the annulment of sin, and the grace of deification. And let us honor the call of grace by a way of life made splendid by the commandments, being shaken in no way by any pleasure or any pain whatsoever; and let us show by what we do or suffer, that we are possessed by God alone, Who gave Himself for us as a ransom and a substitute, having entrusted to Him our whole life, both the present and the future; as being from Him by the principle of our production, and through Him by the manner of our upbringing; and ending in Him by the mystery according to grace of the hoped-for deification; and let us receive that which is eternally well, through that which now seems to be woe, showing through what we suffer our hidden disposition toward God, which is altered in no way by the painful things that befall us.

(580) Let us not, then, lose heart in our tribulations, honored Father, knowing that tribulation produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not put to shame, having the sure enjoyment of eternal goods for which we suffer; but let us bear nobly the things that happen, looking to Jesus, the founder of our salvation; Who, being true God, willingly accepted death for our sake; so that in suffering we might rejoice, having become united with Him through death, being leavened for a resurrection of indestructible life. Since it has been established as the will of the divine law that we, while doing good, suffer unjustly, as disciples of Christ for the condemnation of sin; which sin the intelligible serpent introduced through deceit, having persuaded man to transgress the divine commandment and to prefer the temporary things to the eternal; whom we have received authority to trample, guarding the grace that guards us, which is protected by the keeping of the commandments; which grace is achieved for those who love the Lord only by the suffering of the flesh, both voluntary and involuntary, with a sober mind. To Whom you have nailed your every desire, you do not feel the grievous things, O holy Father; possessing one that overcomes the present affliction,

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φθάσαν παρεμυθήσατο τό γράμμα σου τό ἱερόν, ὅσιε Πάτερ· τοῦτο μέν, τῆς ποθουμένης σου πᾶσιν ὑγείας εὐαγγέλια φέρον· τοῦτο δέ, τῆς εἰς Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν τόν ἀληθινόν ἡμῶν Θεόν ὀρθῆς ὁμολογίας μηνύον τό βάσιμον. Ὅπερ παθημάτων δοκιμασίᾳ βεβαιωθέν, πρός ἀτρεψίαν σοι μετεποιήθη, παρ᾿ οὐδέν θεμένῳ τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς τήν δυσημερίαν, ἧς πάλαι τήν εὐημερίαν ἔχων εὐκαταφρόνητον, πρός μόνα τά ἐλπιζόμενα τῆς ψυχῆς ὅλον τόν πόθον μεθώρμισας· ὅντινα πίστις καί ἀγαθή πέφυκε χαρακτηρίζειν συνείδησις· ἡ μέν τόν εὐσεβῆ φυλάττουσα λόγον, μηδενί τρόπῳ ψεύδους δόξης χραινόμενον· ἡ δέ, τόν θεάρεστον δημιουργοῦσα βίον, τῇ τηρήσει τῶν ἐντολῶν κατορθούμενον. Ἀμφοτέρων γάρ, λόγου τέ φημι καί βίου χρεία, τῷ προτιμᾷν ἐσπουδακότι πάντων τήν τῆς σοφίας συμβίωσιν· ἵνα καί τό μυστήριον τῆς ὑπέρ ἡμῶν διά σαρκός τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἀτρέπτου κενώσεως, εὐσεβῶς καταγγέλλωμεν· ὁμολογοῦντες τόν Χριστόν κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν Θεόν ὁμοῦ τε καί ἄνθρωπον· τό μέν ἀναιτίως ὄντα δι᾿ ἑαυτόν, τό δέ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς γενόμενον ὕστερον. Οὔθ᾿ ὅπερ ἦν, δι᾿ ὅπερ γέγονεν ἀποθέμενον· ἄτρεπτος γάρ. Οὔθ᾿ ὅπερ γέγονε δι᾿ ὅπερ ἦν ἀπαρνούμενον· φιλάνθρωπος γάρ. Αὐτῷ γάρ μόνῳ κυρίως ὄντι περιουσίᾳ δυνάμεως γενέσθαι δυνατόν ἦν δίχα τροπῆς ἀσυγχύτως ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν, καί ἄμφω μεῖναι κυρίως ὅπερ ἦν τε καί γέγονε· τό κατ᾿ ἄκρον τῆς οἰκείας ὑποστατικῆς μονάδος ἑνικῷ μή δεχομένη διαίρεσιν, διά τήν φυσικῶς σωζομένην ἐν αὐτῷ μετά τήν ἕνωσιν τῶν ἐξ ὧν συνετέθη διαφοράν· εἴπερ σαρκί νοερῶς ἐψυχωμένῃ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἑνωθείς, τοῖς μέν θαύμασιν ὅπερ ἦν ἀτρέπτως μένων ἐδείκνυτο· τοῖς δέ παθήμασιν ὅπερ γέγονεν ἀναλλοιώτως σώζων ἐφαίνετο· καί δι᾿ ἀμφοτέρων, θαυμάτων τε λέγω καί παθημάτων, τήν τε τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν, καί τήν τῆς θεώσεως ἡμῖν ἐδωρήσατο χάριν. Καί τιμήσωμεν ἀναστροφῇ βίου κατηγλαϊσμένου ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τήν κλῆσιν τῆς χάριτος, ὑπ᾿ οὐδεμιᾶς ἡδονῆς, ἤ τῆς οἱασοῦν ὀδύνης καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν δονούμενοι· καί δείξωμεν δι᾿ ὧν ποιοῦμεν ἤ πάσχομεν, ὅτι μόνου Θεοῦ τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτόν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν λύτρον τε καί ἀντάλλαγμα περιεχόμεθα, πᾶσαν αὐτῷ πιστεύσαντες ἠμῶν τήν ζωήν, τήν παροῦσάν τε καί τήν μέλλουσαν· ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τῷ τῆς παραγωγῆς ὄντες λόγῳ, καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τῷ τῆς ἀγωγῆς ὑπάρχοντες τρόπῳ· καί εἰς αὐτόν τῷ κατά τήν χάριν μυστηρίῶ τῆς ἐλπιζομένης θεώσεως λήξοντες· καί τό ἀεί εὖ εἶναι, διά τοῦ νῦν φεῦ εἶναι δοκοῦντος, ἀπολάβωμεν, δείξαντες ἡμῶν, δι᾿ ὧν πάσχομεν, τήν περί Θεόν κεκρυμμένην διάθεσιν, μηδενί τρόπῳ τῶν συμπιπτόντων ἡμῖν ἀλγεινῶν ἀλλοιουμένην.

(580) Μή τοίνυν ἐκκακήσωμεν ἐν τοῖς θλίψεσι, τίμιε Πάτερ, εἰδότες ὡς ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονήν τατεργάζεται, ἡ δέ ὑπομονή δοκιμήν, ἡ δέ δοκιμή ἐλπίδα, ἡ δέ ἐλπίς οὐ καταισχύνει, βεβαίαν ἔχουσα τήν ὑπέρ ὧν πάσχομεν αἰωνίων ἀπόλαυσιν ἀγαθῶν· ἀλλά γενναίως ἐνέγκωμεν τά συμβαίνοντα, πρός τόν ἀρχηγόν ἀφορῶντες τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν· ὅς Θεός ὤν ἀληθινός, τόν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν θέλων κατεδέξατο θάνατον· ἵνα πάσχοντες χαίρωμεν, σύμφυτοι αὐτῷ γενόμενοι διά θανάτου πρός ἀνάστασιν ζυμούμενοι ζωῆς ἀκαταλύτου. Ἐπειδή θείου νόμου καθέστηκε βούλησις, καλοποιοῦντας ἡμᾶς πάσχειν ἀδίκως, ὡς Χριστοῦ μαθητάς εἰς τήν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάκρισιν· ἥν δι᾿ ἀπάτης ὁ νοητός ὄφις παραβῆναι τήν θείαν ἐντολήν, καί τῶν αἰωνίων προτιμῆσαι τά πρόσκαιρα παραπείσας τόν ἄνθρωπον, ἐπεισήγαγεν· ὅν πατεῖν ἐξουσίαν ἐλάβομεν, τήν φυλάττουσαν χάριν φυλάττοντες τῇ τηρήσει τῶν ἐντολῶν φρουρουμένην· ἥτις μόνῃ κακοπαθείᾳ σαρκός ἑκουσίῳ τε καί ἀκουσίῳ, συλλογισμῷ σώφρονι κατορθοῦται τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τόν Κύριον. Ὧ πᾶσαν προσηλώσας σου τήν ἐπιθυμίαν, οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ τῶν θλιβερῶν, ὅσιε Πάτερ· νικῶσαν ἔχων τήν παροῦσαν θλίψιν,