Letter 845: The priesthood is a sacred trust, not a career.

To Strategios. Most people regard suffering wrong against one's will as cowardice, but to choose willingly to be wronged they reckon the greatest proof of forbearance and of the philosophic life. But those who know how to judge matters rightly-or rather, those who put their trust in the sacred Scriptures-do not deprive of rewards or of praise even the man who is wronged against his will, provided he bears it in a philosophic spirit; for Paul above all casts his vote and says: "And you accepted with joy the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and abiding possession in the heavens" [Hebrews 10:34]. But if you should say, What, then, could he have done, being wronged by one more powerful than himself?-I would answer: he could cry out against him, accuse him, call down curses, hold him up to ridicule, harass him with the courts. The man, then, who is able to do all these things, yet does not do them, would rightly, if not be counted together with the one who chose willingly to be wronged, at least be ranked just below him. And if one must use precise language and speak with exactness, perhaps he even surpasses that other man. For the one who is willing to be wronged finds in this the greatest consolation; for he would not have been wronged, had he not been willing. But the one who was not willing, yet endured it, and did nothing of the things by which he might have avenged himself on the man who wronged him-since he displayed the test of the utmost philosophy-for him a more brilliant crown might be woven.

Οἱ μὲν πλεῖστοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ μὲν ἄκοντα πάσχειν κακῶς, ἀνανδρίας· τὸ δὲ ἑκουσίως ἑλέσθαι ἀδικηθῆναι, ἐπιεικείας καὶ φιλοσοφίας τεκμήριον τίθενται εἶναι μέγιστον. Οἱ δὲ ἐπιστάμενοι περὶ πραγμάτων κρίνειν ὀρθῶς· μᾶλλον δὲ οἱ ταῖς ἱεραῖς πιστεύοντες Γραφαῖς, καὶ τὸν ἀκουσίως μὲν ἀδικούμενον, φιλοσόφως δὲ φέροντα, οὔτε μισθῶν, οὔτε ἐπαίνων ἀποστεροῦσιν, ἐπιψηφίζοντος μάλιστα τοῦ Παύλου καὶ λέγοντος· « Καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ὑμῶν μετὰ χαρᾶς προσεδέξασθε, γινώσκοντες ἔχειν ἑαυτοῖς κρείττονα ὕπαρξιν ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ μένουσαν. » Εἰ δὲ φαίης, Τί γὰρ ποιῆσαι ἠδύνατο, ὑπὸ τοῦ δυνατωτέρου ἀδικούμενος; (75) φαίην, καταβοῆσαι, κατηγορῆσαι, ἐπαράσασθαι, διασῦραι, ἐνοχλῆσαι δικαστηρίοις. Ὁ οὖν ταῦτα πάντα δυνάμενος, πρᾶξαι μέν, μὴ πράττων δὲ, τῷ ἑκουσίως ἑλομένῳ ἀδικηθῆναι εἰκότως ἂν εἰ καὶ μὴ συναριθμηθείη, ἀλλά γε ὑπαριθμη- θείῃ (76). Εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ δεινότητι χρήσασθαι, καὶ τὸ ἀκριβὲς εἰπεῖν, τάχα καὶ ὑπερακοντίσειν ἐκεῖνον. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ τὸ βούλεσθαι ἀδικεῖσθαι, μεγίστην φέρει παραμυθίαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἠδικήθη, εἰ γε μὴ ἠβουλήθη. Τῷ δὲ μὴ βουληθέντι μὲν, ὑπομείναντι δὲ, καὶ μηδὲν πεποιηκότι δι’ ὧν ἠδύνατο ἀμύνασθαι τὸν ἀδικήσαντα, ἅτε ἐσχάτης φιλοσοφίας βάσανον ἐπιδειξαμένῳ, λαμπρότερος πλακείη στέφανος.