Letter 392

To Zosas the Ascetic. The blessed Peter, in place of the charcoal fire in the court of Caiaphas [the high priest at whose house Peter denied Christ], where he was also tempted, afterward found a divine charcoal fire at Tiberias [the Sea of Tiberias, where the risen Christ appeared to the disciples]; for he was naked because of the denial. But do not think that I am setting aside the narrative of the Gospels and reckoning up only the spiritual meaning. Being naked, then, the blessed Peter girds himself with the upper garment of hope in Christ, and casts himself into the sea of God's mercies, and came to Jesus as though drawn by some chain by his longing; and since he had grown weary at the time of the denial, and had toiled, and had been made bitter by his weeping, and through grief had been deprived of the Lord, his own Master restored him by the wondrous bread and the marvelous fish; and after the meal the Savior speaks to him, who longed to hear the blessed voice, and gives him rest, and consoles him according to the multitude of the pains of Peter's heart; and having thus sweetened him, he establishes him as shepherd of the whole inhabited world.

Ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος ἀντὶ τῆς ἀνθρακιᾶς τῆς ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ Καϊάφα, ἔνθα καὶ ἐπειράσθη, θείαν ηὗρεν ὑστε- ρον ἀνθρακιὰν ἐν τῇ Τιβεριάδι· γυμνὸς γὰρ ὢν διὰ τὴν ἄρνησιν· ἀλλὰ μὴ νομίσῃς με ἀθετεῖν τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἱστορίαν, καὶ τὸ νοητὸν καταλέγειν· γυμνὸς τοίνυν ὑπάρχων ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος, τὸν ἐπενδύτην εἰς Χριστὸν ἐλπίδος περιζώννυται, καὶ βάλλει ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἦλθε πρὸς Ἰησοῦν ὥσπερ ἁλύσει τινὶ τῷ πόθῳ ἑλκόμενος, καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἦν κεκοπιακὼς ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἀρνήσεως, καὶ μοχθήσας, καὶ πικρανθεὶς τῷ κλαυθμῷ, καὶ τῇ λύπῃ στερηθεὶς τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀνεκτήσατο αὐτὸν ὁ Ἴδιος Δεσπότης τῷ θαυμασίῳ ἄρτῳ, καὶ παραδόξῳ ἰχθῦϊ, καὶ μετὰ τὸ ἄριστον λα- λεῖ αὐτῷ ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐπιθυμοῦντι ἀκοῦσαι τῆς μακα- ρίας φωνῆς, καὶ ἀναπαύει, καὶ παρηγορεῖ αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὀδυνῶν τῆς καρδίας τοῦ Πέτρου, καὶ οὕτω καταγλυκαίνας αὐτόν, ποιμένα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης καθίστησιν.