Letter 341

To Nicodemus. You ought to give thanks to God that you have no money, so that you may not be required to render this account on the day of judgment. "For to whom much has been entrusted," he says, "the more will the collecting angels demand of him." [paraphrase of Luke 12:48] And the rich man will pay a heavy penalty for the money given to him, and there will be an exact rendering of accounts, and a fearful audit [the Greek word here is garbled in the manuscript], whether he managed well or badly the things that came to him by the providence of God.

Ὀφείλεις εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχεις χρήματα, ἵνα μὴ ἀπαιτηθῇς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως τὸν τοῦτον λόγον· « Ὢ γὰρ, φησὶ, πολὺ δέδεται, περισσότερον ἀπαιτήσουσιν οἱ πράκτορες ἄγγελοι· » καὶ πολλὴν δίκην ὑφέξει τῶν δοθέντων χρημάτων ὁ πλούσιος, καὶ ἀκριβὲς λογοθέσιον, καὶ φρικτὴν δυσκουσλόνα, πότερον καλῶς, ἢ κακῶς διῴκησε τὰ εἰς αὐτὸν περιελθόντα κατὰ πρόνοιαν Θεοῦ.