Letter 276

To Philoromus the Count. If you were able to comprehend the labor of the wars, and the strenuous battle of the monks against the avenging demons [the alastores, hostile spirits], who are unrelenting and malevolent, and the ceaseless and unyielding anxiety and care for salvation, and the innumerable wastings-away of the soul, and the bitterness that arises amid the manifold temptations of the adversary powers, then you would reckon that table of the ascetics, which now and again appears to you rich and abundant, to be the greatest affliction, and grievous want, and a squalid manner of living, when you set it side by side and compare it with your own continual and unrestrained luxuries and lavish banquets. Do not, therefore, condemn them; but consider that the monks who have proven themselves over days do but provide some small consolation to the worn-out body by partaking of good food, together with divine liberty, and wholesome boldness of spirit, and good thoughts.

Ἐὰν ἰσχύσεις ξυνιδεῖν τὸν μόχθον τῶν πολέμων, καὶ τῆς καρτερᾶς μάχης τῶν μοναχῶν, τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀλάστορας δαίμονας, τοὺς διηνεκεῖς, καὶ δυσμενεῖς, καὶ τὴν ἄπαυστον, καὶ ἀνένδοτον τῆς σωτηρίας μέριμναν, καὶ φροντίδα, καὶ τὰς ἀναριθμήτους τῆς ψυχῆς τηκεδόνας, καὶ τὴν πικρίαν τὴν ἐπιγινομένην ἐν τοῖς ποικίλοις πειρασμοῖς τῶν ἐναντίων δυνάμεων, τὸ τηνικαῦτα τὴν διὰ χρόνου λιπαρὰν τῶν ἀσκητῶν φαινομένην σοι καὶ δαψιλῆ τράπεζαν, κακουχίαν μεγίστην, καὶ βαρεῖαν ἔνδειαν, καὶ δίαιταν αὐχμηρὰν νομίσειας, παρασυμβάλλων ταύτην, καὶ συγκρίνων ταῖς σαῖς διηνεκέσι, καὶ ἀκωλάστοις τρυφαῖς καὶ πανδαισίαις. Μὴ τοίνυν κατάκρινε, καὶ σκόπει τοὺς δι’ ἡμερῶν δοκιμάσαντας μοναχούς, παραμυθίαν τινὰ μεταλήψεως σίτων καλῶν, σὺν θείᾳ ἐλευθερίᾳ, καὶ παρρησίᾳ χρηστῇ, καὶ λογισμοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τῷ καταπονηθέντι σώματι χωρηγῆσαι.