Letter 480

To Xenophon the Deacon. Having been a little negligent, you fell into sin, and you dimmed the glory of your self-control. But, quickly becoming sober and turning back as is fitting, you reckoned it right to run back to your former condition, not accepting the ruinous despair that was being prompted in you by the devil. For he is the very one who both urges a man on to sin, and, once the sin has been committed, drives the one who has sinned toward despair. To sin, then, is human; but to lose hope is satanic and utterly destructive. This is also why the devil himself was hurled out of his despair into such perdition, since he was unwilling to repent. But "play the man and be strong," and let your heart be made firm [Psalm 30:25 LXX], strengthened by the better hopes. For we believe that you, rather, will display greater labor, and will redeem your former defeat by your subsequent diligence, and will be crowned over the adversary who has envied you. And we shall see you, in place of fleabane and the meanest thornbush, a tall cypress, unrotting and fragrant, or a fruitful palm, by the prunings of self-mastery and by the hardship that is sweet to those who hasten to repent, striking the devil who struck you through sin. For the voluntary affliction, and the suffering and laborious pain of the good hardship that is undertaken by choice, is far sweeter and more to be preferred than involuntary rest and enjoyment. Therefore the glory of your spiritual house, the latter, shall be greater than the former [cf. Haggai 2:9], and you shall inherit a throne of glory, as the prophets say.

Μικρὸν ἀμελήσας, πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν πέπτωκας, καὶ τὴν δόξαν τῆς σωφροσύνης ἠμαύρωσας· ἀλλὰ ταχέως νήψας, καὶ μεταβαλ[λ]όμενος προσηκόντως, πρὸς τὴν προτέραν κατάστασιν παλινδρομῆσαι δίκαιον ἐλογίσω, μὴ παραδεξάμενος τὴν ὀλέθριον ἀπόγνωσιν, ὑπαγο- ρευομένην σοι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου. Αὐτὸς γὰρ καὶ εἰς τὸ ἁμαρτῆσαι προτρέπεται, αὐτὸς καὶ μετὰ τὸ πρα- χθῆναι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ὠθεῖ πρὸς ἀπόγνωσιν τὸν ἐξ- αμαρτήσαντα. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἁμαρτῆσαι, ἀνθρώπινον ὑπάρχει· τὸ δὲ ἀπελπίσαι, σατανικὸν καὶ πανώλ- θριον. Ὅθεν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος ἐκ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως εἰς τοιαύτην ἐξηκοντίσθη ἀπώλειαν, μὴ θελήσας με- τανοῆσαι. Ἀλλ’ ἀνδρίζου καὶ ἴσχυε, καὶ κραταιοῦ- σθω ἡ καρδία σου, ταῖς χρηστοτέραις ἐλπίσι νευρού- μενος. Πιστεύομεν γὰρ πλείονα σὺ μᾶλλον ἐπ- δείξασθαι πόνεν, καὶ τὴν προτέραν ἦτταν ἀναπαλέ- σαι τῇ μετὰ ταῦτα σπουδῇ, καὶ καταστεφανωθῆναι τοῦ ἀντιπάλου τοῦ ἐφθονηκότος σοι. Καὶ ὀψόμεθα σ ἀντὶ κονύζης καὶ στοιβῆς ἐλαχίστης, κυπάρισσον ὑψηλήν, ἄσηπτον καὶ εὐώδη, ἢ φοίνικα εὔκαρπον τοῖς κόλοψι τῆς ἐγκρατείας, καὶ τῆς κακοπαθείας τῆς γλυκερᾶς τοῖς μετανοεῖν σπεύδουσιν, πλήττοντα τὸν πλήξαντά σε διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας διάβολον. Τὸ γὰρ ἑκού- σιον θλιβερὸν, καὶ τὸ κατὰ βούλησιν ὀδυνηρὸν καὶ ἐπίπονον τῆς καλῆς κακοπαθείας, πολλῷ γλυκύτερον τε καὶ προτιμώτερον τῆς ἀκουσίου ἀναπαύσεώς τε καὶ τέρψεως. Ἔσται τοίνυν ἡ δόξα τοῦ νοητοῦ οἴκου σου ἡ ἐσχάτη ὑπὲρ τὴν πρώτην, καὶ θρόνον δόξης κατακληρονομήσεις, ὡς οἱ προφῆται φασι.