Letter 323

"I will shield this city," says God, "for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant." [Isaiah 37:35] Once again let us now consider the most faithful soul. To Timon the Bishop. Let us by no means refuse God when he reproves and scourges us, nor let us turn away from our spiritual father, so that we may not, through some brief slackness and faintheartedness, fall away from that eternal and inalienable inheritance which has been prepared for us in the heavens, and from the unceasing gladness.

«Ὑπερασπιῶ, φησὶν ὁ Θεός, τῆς πόλεως ταύτης, δι' ἐμὲ, καὶ διὰ Δαυῒδ τὸν δοῦλόν μου.» Πάλιν νῦν νοήσωμεν τὴν πιστοτάτην ψυχήν. ---LETTER Γ.--- Μηδαμῶς παραιτώμεθα ἐλέγχοντα τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ μαστίζοντα, μηδ' ἀποστρεφώμεθα τὸν πνευμα- τικὸν πατέρα, ἵνα μὴ διὰ βραχεῖάν τινα ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ ὀλιγοψυχίαν ἐκπέσωμεν τῆς αἰωνίου ἐκείνης καὶ ἀναφαιρέτου κληρονομίας, τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς εὐπρεπισθείσης ἡμῖν, καὶ τῆς ἀκαταπαύστου εὐφρο- σύνης.