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completing salutarily and blessedly; for indeed the Lord has called you blessed in the gospels. The praise is great, the hope is unsurpassable; for indeed it is the kingdom of heaven. Stand therefore, I beseech you, my brothers, stand unconquered by both visible and invisible enemies, preparing yourselves lest perhaps you be seized and in order that you may win the prize by the power of God, just as many of your brothers have done. But for now, as long as the Lord provides for you to remain uncaptured, remain living well, on the one hand having love for one another and with frankness, on the other hand submitting to one another in the fear of Christ, it being clear that you, brother, as head, are leading; for everything headless and without a ruler is disorderly and seditious, from which may we be delivered. Pray for the peace of the church of God, for all of your scattered brothers, and especially for those at Stoudios who are being oppressed by the godless Leontios and are exceedingly worn out and yet are resisting most strongly, then also for us sinners, that we may be saved in the Lord. Your brother Nikolaos sends many greetings. 369 {1To Constantine the layman}1 The blessing of the Lord be upon you and upon all your house in return for what you send to our lowliness, O man of God, lily of orthodoxy, fervent friend. If you acquire a friend, as the word says, acquire him in trial, since indeed he is a sharer in affliction, a guardian of faith, for whom there is no measure of his beauty. Such are you, confirming the word by what you do and say. But stop, I beseech you, do not pressure yourself. But if you do not stop, may the good God not stop benefitting you invisibly; who may also keep you still unharmed with your whole household. 370 {1To Kassia}1 What things your modesty has again uttered to us, at once wise and at the same time intelligent, so that I am rightly amazed and give thanks to the Lord, seeing such great knowledge within a newly-grown maiden, not indeed like those of old (for we of today, both men and women, fall very and infinitely short of their wisdom and learning), nevertheless, for the present, you have surpassed them as much as possible, and your speech is an adornment to you, more beautiful than any perishable comeliness. But the point is that your life also runs in harmony with your speech and you do not limp in the one, if indeed you have thus chosen in the present persecution to suffer for Christ, not that you are content with having been flogged before, but indeed you are again convulsing, as it were, and not having the strength to bear the burning love of the good confession. in which may you be kept fervent; for you truly know what is good and what is delightful, other than to suffer for the truth and to have an advantage in sufferings. But gold and silver, glory and comfort, and anything whatever of earthly things that seems to be good, is nothing at all, even if they are named as being among good things, since they are in flux and flowing away, like dreams and shadowy. What follows? Your choice of a life that loves the monastic way, as you say, after the cessation of the persecution. Which did not surprise me, even if it is strange; Why? Because from the preceding things one infers the following, and the proof is reciprocal. If there is smoke, certainly fire will come forth; and here, since there is a confession of Christ, it is clear that a life of monastic perfection will shine forth. How blessed are you in both respects. However, do not expect the laying on of my hand, since I am a sinner, but of hers, by whose venerable imposition you will be consecrated. Her who brought you into the light by the formation of the true light, as a mother of the day, I greet most warmly; from whom, along with those from you, having received the gifts, I have offered as a gift to my Lord thanksgiving and intercession on behalf of both. Except that I have burdened you much; but may he who takes away the sin of the world lighten for you the conceptual burden. 371 {1To Makarios the abbot}1 Being very eager to learn where on earth your holiness, having been transferred, is being kept, when I received your letter and learned it, I, the humble one, was filled with joy even before reading it; and when I had read it, how could I not rejoice, that you, my beloved father, are alive in the Lord, fighting the good fight, running the course trodden by God, and the faith

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διανύοντες σωτηρίως καὶ μεμακαρισμένως· καὶ γὰρ μακαρίους ὑμᾶς εἴρηκεν ἐν εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος. ἡ εὐφημία μεγάλη, ἡ ἐλπὶς ἀνυπέρβλητος· καὶ γὰρ βασιλεία οὐρανῶν. Στῆτε οὖν, παρακαλῶ, ἀδελφοί μου, στῆτε ἀκαταγώνιστοι ἔκ τε τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐχθρῶν καὶ ἀοράτων, παρασκευαζόμενοι μήπως καὶ συλληφθῆτε καὶ ἵνα ἀθλοφορήσοιτε δυνάμει θεοῦ, καθὰ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν. τέως δέ, ἕως ἂν οἰκονομῇ Κύριος ἀσυλλήπτους μένειν, μένοιτε εὐζωοῦντες, τοῦτο μὲν ἀγαπητῶς ἔχοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ ἀπαρρησιάστως, τοῦτο δὲ ὑποτασσόμενοι ἀλλήλοις ἐν φόβῳ Χριστοῦ, δῆλον ὅτι κεφαλῆς σοῦ, ἀδελφέ, προηγουμένου· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἀκέφαλον καὶ ἄναρχον ἄτακτον καὶ στασιῶδες, οὗ λυτρωθείημεν. προσεύχεσθε περὶ εἰρήνης τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας, περὶ πάντων τῶν διεσπαρμένων ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν εἰς τὰ Στουδίου ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀθέου Λεοντίου πιεζομένων καὶ λίαν τετρυχωμένων καὶ μέντοι ἐνισταμένων κραταιότατα, ἔπειτα καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, ἵνα σῳζοίμεθα ἐν Κυρίῳ. ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν Νικόλαος πλεῖστα προσαγορεύει. 369 {1Κωνσταντίνῳ λαϊκῷ}1 Εὐλογία Κυρίου ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν οἶκόν σου ἀνθ' ὧν ἀποστέλλεις τῇ ταπεινώσει ἡμῶν, ἄνθρωπε τοῦ θεοῦ, κρίνον ὀρθοδοξίας, φίλε διάπυρε. εἰ κτᾶσαι φίλον, ὥς φησιν ὁ λόγος, ἐν πειρασμῷ αὐτὸν κτῆσαι, ἐπειδήπερ ἐστὶ κοινωνὸς θλίψεως, πίστεως φύλαξ, οὗπερ οὐκ ἔστι σταθμὸς τῆς καλλονῆς. τοιοῦτος σύ, ἐξ ὧν ποιεῖς καὶ λέγεις πιστούμενος τὸν λόγον. ἀλλ' ἄνες, παρακαλῶ, μὴ ὑποπιέζεις σεαυτόν. εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἀνέχῃ, μηδὲ σὲ ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεός, ἀοράτως εὐεργετῶν· ὃς καὶ διαφυλάξειέν σε ἔτι ἀσινῆ πανοικί. 370 {1Κασσίᾳ}1 Οἷα ἡμῖν καὶ αὖθις ἐφθέγξατο ἡ κοσμιότης σου ὁμοῦ μὲν σοφά, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ συνετά, ὥστε με εἰκότως ἐστὶ ξενολογεῖσθαι καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἐπὶ κόρῃ ἀρτιφυεῖ τηλικαύτην γνῶσιν ἐνορῶνταν, οὐ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὰς πάλαι (πολλοῦ γὰρ ἀποδέομεν καὶ ἄπειρον καὶ ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες τῆς ἐκείνων σοφίας καὶ παιδεύσεως οἱ νῦν), ὅμως δ' οὖν ὅτι κατὰ τὸ παρὸν ὑπερῆρας ὅτι μάλιστα καὶ κόσμος σοι ὁ λόγος, πάσης ἐπικήρου εὐπρεπείας ὡραιότερος. ἀλλὰ τὸ ζητούμενον ὅτι σύνδρομος καὶ ὁ βίος τῷ λόγῳ καὶ οὐ σκάζοις περὶ θάτερον, εἴπερ οὕτω προείλου ἐν τῷ νυνὶ διωγμῷ πάσχειν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, οὐχ ὅτι ἐμαστιγώθης πάλαι ἀρκουμένη, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ αὖθις σφαδάζουσα οἱονεὶ καὶ φέρειν οὐκ ἰσχύουσα τὸν πυρπολούμενον ἔρωτα τῆς καλῆς ὁμολογίας. ἐν ᾗ φυλαχθείης διαζέουσα· ὄντως γὰρ οἶσθα τί καλὸν καὶ τί τερπνὸν ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ πάσχειν ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τοῖς παθήμασι. χρυσὸς δὲ καὶ ἄργυρος, δόξα καὶ εὐπάθεια καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν δοκοῦν εὖ ἔχειν τῶν ἐπιγείων οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς, κἂν ἐξωνόμηνται τῶν καλῶν εἶναι, ἐπείπερ ἐν ῥοῇ καὶ ἀπορροῇ, ὀνειρόμοια καὶ σκιόεντα. Τί τὸ ἑξῆς; ἡ φιλομόναχός σου αἵρεσις τοῦ βίου, ὡς φῆς, μετὰ τὴν παῦλαν τοῦ διωγμοῦ. ὅπερ οὐκ ἐξένισέν με, εἰ καὶ ξένον· διατί; ὅτι ἐκ τῶν προηγουμένων τὰ ἑπόμενά τις τεκμαίρεται καὶ διάλληλος ἡ δεῖξις. εἰ καπνός, πάντως πῦρ προελεύσεται· κἀνταῦθα, ἐπεὶ ὁμολογία Χριστοῦ, δῆλον ὅτι βίος τῆς μοναχικῆς τελειότητος ἀναλάμψειεν. ὡς μακαρία σὺ κατ' ἀμφότερα. πλὴν ἐπιβολὴν ἐμῆς χειρὸς μὴ ἀποκαραδόκει, ἐπειδὴ ἁμαρτωλός, ἀλλ' ἐκείνης, ἧς τῇ σεπτῇ ἐπιθέσει καθαγιασθήσῃ. Τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσάν σε εἰς φῶς διαπλάσει τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ὡς ἡμέρας μητέρα πλεῖστα προσαγορεύω· ἧς σὺν τοῖς ἀπὸ σοῦ εἰληφὼς τὰ δῶρα δῶρον ἀνεθέμην τῷ Κυρίῳ μου τὴν εὐχαριστίαν καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων ἔντευξιν. πλὴν ὅτι πολὺ ὑμᾶς κατεβάρησα· ἀλλὰ κουφίσειεν ὑμᾶς νοουμένου φορτίου ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. 371 {1Μακαρίῳ ἡγουμένῳ}1 Πάνυ ἐφιέμενος μαθεῖν ποῦ ποτ' ἂν μεθορισθεῖσά σου ἡ ὁσιότης τηρεῖται, ἐπειδὴ ἐδεξάμην αὐτῆς τὸ γράμμα καὶ κατέμαθον, χαρᾶς ἐνεπλήσθην ὁ ταπεινὸς καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως· ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἀνέγνων, πῶς οὐκ ἂν ἔμελλον γήθειν, ὅτι μου ὁ πεφιλημένος πατὴρ ζῇς ἐν Κυρίῳ, τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν καλὸν ἀγωνιζόμενος, τὸν θεοστιβῆ δρόμον διαυλίζων καὶ τὴν πίστιν