Letter 655

To the same person. That both king and subject, sinner and righteous man, the powerful and the weak, shall be nourished by the same faith, Isaiah declares; for then, that is, after the coming of Christ, the wolf shall feed together with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the lamb, and the young calf and the lion and the bull shall graze together [Isaiah 11:6-7]. And that, for the simpler people too, and rather for those blessed and guileless men who choose to be as children in plainness, the opposing powers [demonic forces] become easy to overcome through an uncurious and untroubled life and through unhesitating prayer, the same prophet says, that "And an infant child shall lay his hand upon the hole of asps, and upon the den of the offspring of asps, and they shall do no harm, nor shall they be able to injure anyone upon my holy mountain" [Isaiah 11:8-9] -- by "mountain" understanding the Church of Christ, on account of the height of its faith.

Ὅτι μὲν καὶ βασιλεύς, καὶ ὑπήκοος, ἁμαρτωλός τε καὶ δίκαιος, δυνατός τε καὶ ἀσθενής, τῇ αὐτῇ πί στει τραφήσονται, φησὶν ὁ Ἡσαΐας· τότε, δηλαδὴ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίαν, συμβοσκήσεται λύκος μετὰ ἀρνός, καὶ πάρδαλις συναναπαύσεται ἄρνι, καὶ μόσχαριον, καὶ λέων, καὶ ταῦρος ἅμα βοσκήσονται. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἁπλουστέροις, καὶ μᾶλλον τῇ φαυλότητι νηπιάζειν προαιρουμένοις μακαρίοις καὶ ἀκάκοις ἀνθρώποις, διὰ τοῦ [ἀ]περιέργου καὶ ἀπράγμονος βίου καὶ δι᾽ εὐχῆς ἀδιστάκτου εὐχείρωτοι γίνονται αἱ ἐναντίαι δυνάμεις, λέγει ὁ αὐτὸς προφήτης, ὅτι « Καὶ παιδίον νήπιον, ἐπὶ τρώγλην ἀσπίδων, καὶ ἐπὶ κοίτην ἐκγόνων ἀσπίδων τὴν χεῖρα ἐπιβαλεῖ, καὶ οὐ μὴ κακοποιήσουσιν, οὐδ᾽ οὐ μὴ δύνωνται ἀδικῆσαι οὐδένα ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ ἅγιόν μου » δρος νοῶν τὴν Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίαν διὰ τὸ ὕψος τῆς πίστεως.