Letter 28

To the same person. Just as the living man must breathe without ceasing, so one must continually practice and apply oneself to the good work of wakefulness, and imitate, in psalms and hymns, the sleeplessness of the honey-voiced nightingale, when it cries out through the whole night without ever pausing from its song. For when you do this, the enemy will not endure to lie in wait beside you for long, seeing himself worn down and set at naught by you, and pierced each night by the goads of sleepless prayer.

Ὥσπερ χρὴ τὸν ζῶντα διὰ παντὸς ἀναπνεῖν, οὕτω χρὴ διηνεκῶς ἐπιτηδεύειν καὶ μεταχειρίζεσθαι τὴν καλὴν ἀγρυπνίαν, καὶ μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς ψαλμοὺς καὶ τοῖς ὕμνοις τὸ τῆς μελιφθόγγου ἀηδόνος ἄγρυπνον, ἡνίκα ἂν ἐπυάζει δι’ ὅλης νυκτὸς οὐκ ἀποπαυομένης τοῦ μελῳδεῖν. Τοῦτο γάρ σου ποιοῦντος, οὐκ ἀνέξεται ὁ ἐχθρὸς πολυχρονίως παρεδρεύειν σοί, ὁρῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑπολιβδόμενον τε καὶ ἐξουθενούμενον ὑπὸ σοῦ, καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἀγρυπνου εὐχῆς κεντητηρίοις καθ’ ἑκάστην τιτρωσκόμενον νύκτα.