Letter 269

To Thallianus the Illustris. [illustris: the highest senatorial rank in the late Roman official hierarchy] Others, rather, receive commands from monks with joy and eagerness than they impose commands of their own. For they know that in obeying they are obeying God, and that they are rendering the favor to God, and that they will be honored by God when they honor according to their worth. But you load down with heavy commands the ascetics who dwell beside your village, as though they were slaves. And how then am I to call you a lover of Christ?

Ἕτεροι μὲν ἐπιταγὰς μᾶλλον παρὰ μοναχῶν μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ προθυμίας δέχονται, ἥπερ ἐπιτάσσουσιν. Γινώσκουσι γὰρ Θεῷ ὑπακούοντες, καὶ Θεῷ τὴν χά- ριν παρέχοντες, καὶ τιμηθησόμενοι παρὰ Θεοῦ κατ' ἀξίαν τιμῶντες. Σὺ δὲ ταῖς βαρείαις ἐπιταγαῖς κα- ταφορτίζεις τοὺς παροικοῦντας τῇ κώμῃ σου ἀσκή- τας καθάπερ ἀνδράποδα. Καὶ πῶς σε καλέσω φιλό- χριστον;