Letter 672

To Euthalius the Monk. There are times when, as a person is about to fall into a trial of the soul and into affliction, the grace of the Holy Spirit, anticipating it, consoles the soul beyond measure, and exhorts the soul in gladness of heart, and gives it rest with an outpouring of honey-sweet tears. Then it hands the soul over to the enemy to be tried, and afflicted, and thrown into confusion; and at that point the soul finds itself in bitterness, and fear, and anger, and desires for evil things, and unseemly impulses, and perplexity of heart, and, to put it all in a word, in evils beyond number. So then, when the person has come to the very limit, since the enemy has prevailed, and has lost heart, and has despaired of himself, then once again the grace of God alights upon him, putting the demon to flight, but tending richly the one who has labored, and restoring, and renewing, and giving rest, in the same way that a tender-hearted mother does for the infant she carries when it weeps, longingly and affectionately embracing it, and offering it her own breast, and bringing sufficient comfort to the babe, and much assurance. And these things happen in this way so that, hemmed in by the consolation of God's grace already received beforehand, and by the sweet visitation that comes after the trial, and by the most blessed encouragement, and by the springing forth of the ever-flowing and eternal hope, the wickedness of Satan may be straitened, and at last, having been brought to nothing, may be shown to have utterly vanished by the providence of the One who is Mightier.

Ἔστιν ὅτε μέλλοντος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πειρασμῷ ψυχικῷ καὶ θλίψει περιπίπτειν, προλαβοῦσα ἡ χάρις τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος παρηγορεῖ τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπερβαλλόντως, καὶ παρακαλεῖ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ καρδίας, καὶ ἀναπαύει ἐπιρροῇ δακρύων μελισταγῶν. Εἶτα παραδίδωσι τῷ ἐχθρῷ πειράσαι, καὶ θλίψαι, καὶ διαταράξαι, καὶ τότε εὑρίσκει ἑαυτὴν ἡ ψυχὴ ἐν πικρίᾳ, καὶ φόβῳ, καὶ θυμῷ, καὶ κακῶν ἐπιθυμίαις, καὶ ἀπρεπέσι κινήσεσι, καὶ ἀπορίᾳ καρδίας, καὶ συλλήβδην φράσαι, ἀναριθμήτοις κακοῖς. Ὅταν τοίνυν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τῷ παντὶ γένηται, ἐπικρατήσαντος τοῦ πολεμίου, καὶ ἀθυμήσῃ, καὶ ἀπογνῷ ἑαυτοῦ, τότε πάλιν ἡ χάρις ἐφίπταται τοῦ Θεοῦ, φυγαδεύουσα μὲν τὸν δαίμονα, θάλπουσα δὲ πλουσίως τὸν κεκοπιακότα, καὶ ἀνακτωμένη τε, καὶ ἀνακαινίζουσα, διαπαυουσά τε, ὅν τρόπον εὐσπλαγχνος μήτηρ τὸ κλαυθμιζόμενον νήπιον, ποδεινῶς καὶ φιλοστόργως ἐναγκαλιζομένη, καὶ τὸν ἑαυτῆς μαστὸν. παρέχουσα, καὶ παράκλησιν ἱκανὴν τῷ βρέφει προσαγομένη, καὶ πολλὴν πληροφορίαν. Ταῦτα δὲ οὕτως γίνεται, ὅπως τῇ τε προσειληφυίᾳ παρακλήσει τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτος, καὶ τῇ μετὰ τὸν πειρασμὸν γλυκεία ἐπισκέψει, καὶ τῇ μακαριωτάτῃ παραμυθίᾳ, καὶ τῷ πηγασμῷ τῆς ἀεννάου, καὶ αἰωνίου ἐλπίδος, στενοχωρηθεῖσα ἡ πονηρία τοῦ Σατανᾶ, καὶ λοιπὸν καταργηθεῖσα, φροῦδος ἀποδειχθείη τῇ προνοίᾳ τοῦ Κρείττονος.