Letter CCLXXXIII.1506    Placed in the episcopate.

To a widow.

I hope to find a suitable day for the conference, after those which I intend to fix for the hill-country.  I see no opportunity for our meeting (unless the Lord so order it beyond my expectation), other than at a public conference.

You may imagine my position from your own experience.  If in the care of a single household you are beset with such a crowd of anxieties, how many distractions, think you, each day brings to me?

Your dream, I think, reveals more perfectly the necessity of making provision for spiritual contemplation, and cultivating that mental vision by which God is wont to be seen.  Enjoying as you do the consolation of the Holy Scriptures, you stand in need neither of my assistance nor of that of anybody else to help you to comprehend your duty.  You have the all-sufficient counsel and guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead you to what is right.

ΠΡΟΣ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΑΝ

[1] Ἡμέραν μὲν ἐπιτηδείαν τῆς συνόδου ἐλπίζομεν εὑρίσκειν μετὰ τὰς κατὰ τὴν ὀρεινὴν μελλούσας παρ' ἡμῶν τυποῦσθαι. Συντυχίας δὲ καιρὸς ἄνευ τῆς κατὰ τὴν σύνοδον λειτουργίας ἄλλος ἡμῖν οὐχ ὑποφαίνεται, πλὴν ἐὰν μή τι ἔξω τῶν ἐλπιζομένων ὁ Κύριος οἰκονομήσῃ. Στοχάζεσθαι δὲ ὀφείλεις ἐκ τῶν κατὰ σεαυτὴν πραγμάτων. Εἰ γὰρ τῇ σῇ εὐγενείᾳ μιᾶς φροντιζούσῃ τοσοῦτος περίκειται ὄχλος μεριμνῶν, πόσας νομίζεις ἡμᾶς τὰς ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἀσχολίας ἔχειν; Τὸ δὲ σὸν ὄναρ ἡγοῦμαι τελειότερον ἐνδείκνυσθαι ὡς ἄρα δέοι περὶ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν θεωρίας ποιεῖσθαί τινα ἐπιμέλειαν κἀκείνους τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς θεραπεύειν οἷς ὁ Θεὸς ὁρᾶσθαι πέφυκεν. Ἔχουσα δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν παράκλησιν, οὔτε ἡμῶν οὔτε ἄλλου τινὸς δεηθήσῃ πρὸς τὸ τὰ δέοντα συνορᾶν, αὐτάρκη τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἔχουσα συμβουλίαν καὶ ὁδηγίαν πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον.