Letter 610

To the same person. "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me." [John 21:22, Christ's words to Peter concerning John] That is to say: if I want John to live in the flesh until I come to take him from his body, what concern is it to you, Peter, that he lives a long time in the present life? But you, O Peter, follow me, to be honored by suffering in the same manner as I, in Rome the imperial city: just as I was crucified, you too shall most certainly be impaled upon a stake.

«Ἐὰν αὐτὸν θέλω μένειν, ἕως ἔρχομαι, τί πρὸς σέ; σύ μοι ἀκολούθει.» Τουτέστιν, ἐὰν θέλω ἐν σαρκὶ ζῆν τὸν Ἰωάννην, ἕως ἔλθω παραλαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, τί σοι μέλλει τῷ Πέτρῳ, μα- κροχρονοῦντος αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ; Σὺ δὲ, ὦ Πέτρε, ἀκολούθησόν μοι, τιμηθησόμενος τῇ ὁμοιο- παθείᾳ κατὰ τὴν βασιλεύουσαν Ῥώμην, ὥσπερ ἐγὼ ἐσταυρώθην, καὶ σὺ πάντως ἀνασκολοπισθήσῃ.