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of spiritual exultation? But who am I, the wretched one, to be enrolled with you, the worthy confessors of Christ, being more worthless than all men? The reason for what has happened is the old catechism, which the emperor received into his hands and sent to the general, ordering the count of the cohort to come to us. Who, having come with rulers and soldiers at an untimely hour and having surrounded the little house where we were, suddenly with a shout, as if at some prey found by hunters, they quickly broke down the barrier, then he brought us out, interrogated us, and showed us the catechism. We confessed that we had made it, as God willed. He sought one thing only, that we should submit to the emperor's will. We said what the truth demanded (may it not be; we do not reject our God), and whatever else it was fitting to answer upon hearing him. During this, he beat us severely. And the brother, after the immediate imprisonment and enclosure, suffered no such terrible pains; but I, the humble and infirm, seized by violent fevers and unbearable pains, was almost at a loss even to live. Nevertheless, the good God, little by little, pitying me, had mercy on me, with my brother also assisting in what was needed, even though the wounds still remain, not having received a complete healing. So much for that, and I have recounted our suffering to you, knowing that you desire to learn it for the sake of shared grief. What then? Since things are so, the threat is more terrible and the security stricter. For there are beatings for the guards and the assistant guard if we so much as mutter, let alone write to anyone. Shall we then shrink back and keep silent, obeying men in fear and not God? Certainly not; but as long as the Lord opens a door for us, we will not cease to fulfill our duty as far as we are able, fearing and trembling at the judgment that hangs over silence. "If he shrinks back," he says, "my soul has no pleasure in him." And again the apostle: "But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." For this reason, my present letter is to all the scattered brethren who are bearing the persecution grievously, but especially to you, the confessors of Christ. Let us endure, my beloved brethren, being strengthened yet more and more, and not cowering in our sufferings. It is flesh, let us not spare it; being tortured for Christ, let us rejoice. Let him who abounds in pains rejoice the more, as one who has the advantage in rewards. Let him who is fearful of enduring the pains of scourgings shake off his dread for this reason, by considering the eternal torments. For their blows compared to those are a dream, the arrows of infants. Yes, I pray, I beseech you; let us find sweetness in the pains for Christ, even if they are very painful to the flesh. Let us contemplate the things to come that abide, and not the things present that pass away. Let us long to mix our blood with the blood of the martyrs, our part with the portion of the confessors, that we may dance with them eternally. Who is prudent, who is wise, who is a good merchant, to give blood and receive spirit, to despise the flesh and obtain the kingdom of God? "He who loves his life will lose it," said the Lord, "and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Let us give ear to His words, let us follow Him. "Where I am," He says, "there my servant will be also." Where is He? On a cross; and we the humble are there, as His disciples. I exhort you to bear with the word of exhortation; for the letter is brief. Know that we sinners rejoice, and are not disheartened, as long as you stand firm in the Lord. Nicholas, my fellow prisoner and fellow sufferer and fellow soldier, but your most true brother, greets you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The athletes greet their fellow athletes, the persecuted the persecuted, all greet those who love us in faith. If anyone does not confess the Lord Jesus Christ circumscribed in body, let him be anathema from the

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ἀγαλλιάσεως ψυχικῆς; ἀλλὰ τίς εἰμι ἐγὼ ὁ τάλας σὺν ὑμῖν τοῖς ἀξίοις Χριστοῦ ὁμολογηταῖς ἐνταγῆναι, πάντων ἀνθρώπων ὢν ἀχρειότερος; τὸ δὲ αἴτιον, οὗ χάριν τὸ συμβάν, ἡ πάλαι κατήχησις, ἣν ἐπὶ χεῖρας δεξάμενος ὁ κρατῶν πέπομφε πρὸς τὸν στρατηγοῦντα, παραγενέσθαι ἐγκελευσάμενος τὸν τῆς κόρτης κόμητα πρὸς ἡμᾶς· ὃς ἐληλυθὼς σὺν ἄρχουσι καὶ στρατιώταις ἐν ἀωρίᾳ καὶ περιστοιχίσας τὸ οἰκίδιον ἐν ᾧ ἦμεν ἀθρόως μετὰ κραυγῆς ὡς ἐπί τι θηράσιμον εὕρεμα ὀρυκτῆρσι κατέαξαν τὸ ἀνάφραγμα τάχιστα, εἶτα ἐξήνεγκεν, ἀνέκρινεν, ὑπέδειξεν τὴν κατήχησιν. ὡμολογήσαμεν ἡμεῖς αὐτὴν πεποιηκέναι, ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἠθέλησεν. ὁ μὲν ἓν ἐζήτει μόνον, ἐλθεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως θέλημα. εἴπομεν ὅπερ ἀπῄτει ἡ ἀλήθεια (μὴ γένοιτο· οὐκ ἀθετοῦμεν τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν), ὅσα τε ἄλλα ἦν ἀκούοντας ἀνταποκρίνασθαι. ἐν τούτοις ἔδειρεν βαρέως. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀδελφὸς οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον μετὰ τὴν εὐθὺς κάθειρξιν καὶ ἀναφραγὴν δεινὸν ἐν πόνοις ὑπέστη· ἐγὼ δὲ ὁ ταπεινὸς καὶ σαθρὸς πυρετοῖς λάβροις συσχεθεὶς καὶ πόνοις δυσυποίστοις μικροῦ δεῖν ἐξηπορήθην καὶ τοῦ ζῆν. ὅμως ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς κατὰ μικρὸν ἐλεῶν ἠλέησέν με, συνυπουργοῦντος καὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἐν τοῖς καθήκουσιν, κἂν ἔτι αἱ πληγαὶ ἐπιμένωσιν, μὴ λαβοῦσαι τελείαν ἴασιν. Ταῦτα μὲν ἐν τούτοις, καὶ ἐξηγόρησα ὑμῖν τὸ πάθος, εἰδὼς ἐφιεμένους μαθεῖν εἰς συνάλγησιν· τί οὖν; ἐπειδὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα, καὶ ἡ ἀπειλὴ δεινοτέρα καὶ ἡ ἀσφάλεια κραταιοτέρα· δαρμοὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς φύλακας καὶ τὸν παραφύλακα τοῦ μὴ γρύξαι ἡμᾶς, μὴ ὅτι γε καὶ γράφειν τινί. ὑποπτήξομεν ἆρα καὶ ἀποσιωπήσομεν, πειθαρχοῦντες τῷ φόβῳ ἀνθρώποις καὶ οὐχὶ θεῷ; οὐ μὲν οὖν· ἀλλ' ἕως ἂν ἀνοίγῃ ἡμῖν θύραν ὁ Κύριος, οὐ παυσόμεθα τὸ δέον ἀποπληροῦν κατὰ τὸ ἐφικτὸν ἡμῖν, φοβούμενοι καὶ τρέμοντες τὸ ἐπηρτημένον τῆς σιωπῆς κρίμα. ἐὰν ὑποστέλληται, φησίν, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ. καὶ πάλιν ὁ ἀπόστολος· ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐσμὲν ὑποστολῆς εἰς ἀπώλειαν, ἀλλὰ πίστεως εἰς περιποίησιν ψυχῆς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό μοι καὶ ἡ παροῦσα ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς μὲν πάντας τοὺς διεσπαρμένους ἀδελφοὺς καὶ διαφέροντας τὸν διωγμὸν θλιπτικῶς, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ εἰς ὑμᾶς τοὺς ὁμολογητὰς Χριστοῦ. ἐνέγκωμεν, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί, ἔτι μᾶλλον καὶ μᾶλλον δυναμούμενοι, ἀλλ' οὐ καταπτήσσοντες ἐν τοῖς παθήμασι. σάρκες εἰσί, μὴ φεισώμεθα· ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ βασανιζόμενοι ἀγαλλιώμεθα. ὁ περισσεύων ἐν τοῖς πόνοις χαιρέτω μᾶλλον ὡς πλεονεκτῶν ἐν τοῖς μισθοῖς· ὁ δειλαινόμενος μαστίγων ἐνεγκεῖν πόνους διὰ τοῦτο ἀποσειέτω τὸ δέος, τὰς αἰωνίους ἀνίας ἐννοούμενος· αἱ γὰρ πληγαὶ αὐτῶν πρὸς ἐκείνας ὄναρ, βέλη νηπίων. ναί, δέομαι, ἀντιβολῶ· γλυκανθῶμεν ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἀλγήμασι, κἂν λίαν ὀδυνηρὰ κατὰ σάρκα· ἀναθεωροῦμεν τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ μένοντα, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὰ παρόντα καὶ παρερχόμενα. ποθήσωμεν τὸ αἷμα ἡμῶν μίξαι τῷ τῶν μαρτύρων αἵματι, τὸ μέρος ἡμῶν τῇ τῶν ὁμολογητῶν μερίδι, ἵνα χορεύσωμεν σὺν αὐτοῖς αἰώνια. τίς φρόνιμος, τίς σοφός, τίς καλὸς πραγματευτής, δοῦναι αἷμα καὶ λαβεῖν πνεῦμα, καταφρονῆσαι σαρκὸς καὶ ἐπιτυχεῖν βασιλείας θεοῦ; ὁ φιλῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν, εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ ὁ μισῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον φυλάξει αὐτήν. ἐνωτισθῶμεν τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ, ἀκολουθήσωμεν αὐτῷ· ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, φησίν, ἐκεῖ ἔσται καὶ ὁ διάκονος ὁ ἐμός. ποῦ ἐκεῖνος; ἐπὶ σταυροῦ· καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ταπεινοὶ ἐκεῖ, ὡς μαθητιῶντες αὐτῷ. Παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς ἀνέχεσθαι τοῦ λόγου τῆς παρακλήσεως· καὶ γὰρ διὰ βραχέων ἡ ἐπιστολή. γινώσκετε ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς χαίρειν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀθυμεῖν, ἕως ἂν ὑμεῖς μόνον στήκετε ἐν Κυρίῳ. ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς Νικόλαος ὁ σύγκλειστος καὶ σύμπονος καὶ συστρατιώτης μου, ὑμῶν δὲ ἀδελφὸς ἀληθέστατος. ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους ἐν φιλήματι ἁγίῳ. οἱ ἀθληταὶ τοὺς συναθλητάς, οἱ δεδιωγμένοι τοὺς δεδιωγμένους, οἱ πάντες τοὺς φιλοῦντας ἡμᾶς ἐν πίστει. εἴ τις οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐγγραφόμενον σώματι, ἤτω ἀνάθεμα ἀπὸ τῆς