Letter 544

To Thyrsus the Primicerius. [primicerius: the senior official or head of a department or guild] You say you are at a loss as to who the powerful and all-good man might be, about whom I wrote enigmatically some days ago, and who the robber is, and what the full armor [is for] him [...]. The robber, then, is the devil, who robbed us of the better things and carried us off as plunder. And his food, and his shelter, and his full armor are our sins, through which he butchers and destroys us. The Savior, therefore, who fashioned the world, having sojourned here in the flesh, being almighty, bound the robber, the devil, and snatched us out from his slavery; and having taken away the sins of the world and nailed them to the cross, he led the enemy in triumph and put him to shame with everlasting shame.

Διαπορεῖν φάσκεις, τίς τε ἂν εἴη ὁ δυνατὸς καὶ πανάγαθος ἀνήρ, περὶ οὗ πρὸ ἡμερῶν αἰνιγματωδῶς γέγραφα, καὶ τίς ὁ λῃστής, καὶ τίς ἡ πανόπλα ἀδ- τῷ. Λῃστὴς μὲν οὖν ὁ διάβολος ἐστίν, λῃστεύσας ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῶν κρειττόνων, καὶ λαφυραγωγήσας: Τρο- φῇ δὲ τούτου, καὶ σκέπῃ, καὶ πανόπλα τὰ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτήματα, δι᾽ ὧν κατασφάττεται, καὶ ἀπόλλυσιν ἡμᾶς. Ὁ οὖν τὸν κόσμον δημιουργήσας Σωτήρ, ἐπι- δημήσας ἐνταῦθα διὰ σαρκός, παντοδύναμος ὑπάρ- χων, ἔθησε μὲν τὴν λῃστὴν διάβολον, ἐξήρπασε δὲ ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς δουλείας αὐτοῦ, ἄρας δὲ τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τῷ σταυρῷ προσηλώσας, ἐθριάμ- δευσε τὸν ἐχθρόν, καὶ κατῄσχυνεν αἰσχύνην αἰώ- νιον.