Letter 709

To Peter the Reader [anagnostes, lector]. You have said that, after having dried out your body excessively by fasting, you were heavily weighed down by the lust of the evil demon, which had slipped through to the very depths of your members and kindled a flame of pleasure, so that you were greatly disturbed about this. But do not be disturbed; for such things often happen through the envy of the devil. And attend to your reading. For Ezekiel says, addressing the enemy of our life, that "You have crushed every loin" [Ezekiel 29:7] -- that is, you have dared to befoul with the lusts of intercourse and with disordered movements, and to rot away, those who are contending [in the ascetic struggle]. And Jeremiah, speaking of the Lord, who at times hands us over to the demons for training, and permits our secret things to be searched out by him, and all the hidden storehouses of matter, uttered: "The Lord humbled me in the day of his wrath, he sent fire into my ears and brought it down" [cf. Lamentations 1:12-13] -- that is, into the depths of the body, even as the translator Symmachus rendered it: "He chastened me, he spread out a net for my feet, he turned me back, he made me as one annihilated and in pain the whole day long." It is necessary, then, that the one contending be much afflicted by the demons who hate virginity, and be tested, and be plundered, and be darkened, and be handed over, and be made to pass through water and fire, and through mist -- a refreshing, and an air of freedom, and to behold the light of blessedness. The swiftness of a horse goes unnoticed unless there is a contest, and the strength of an athlete is not made manifest unless there is an opponent, and gold proves genuine [when tested], as did Job, as did Joseph, and all the saints.

Εἴρηκας μετὰ τὸ ἄγαν καταξηρᾶναι τὸ σῶμα τῇ νηστείᾳ, βεβαρήσθαι πάνυ τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τοῦ πονηροῦ δαίμονος, μέχρι τοῦ βάθους τῶν μελῶν διαδύντος, καὶ φλόγα ἡδονικὴν ἐξάψαντος, ὥστε σε οὐ μικρῶς περὶ τούτου θορυβηθῆναι. Ἀλλὰ μὴ θορυβηθῇς· τοιαῦτα γὰρ πολλάκις γίνεται φθόνῳ τοῦ διαβόλου, καὶ πρόσχες τῇ ἀναγνώσει. Ἰεζεκιὴλ μὲν γάρ φησιν, ἀποτεινόμενος πρὸς τὸν ἐχθρὸν τῆς ἡμετέρας ζωῆς, ὅτι « Συνέκλασας πᾶσαν ὀσφὺν, » τουτέστι συνουσι- ασμῶν ἐπιθυμίας, καὶ ἀτόποις κινήσεσι καταρυ- παίνειν, καὶ σαθροῦν τετόλμηκας τοὺς ἀγωνιζομέ- νους. Ἰερεμίας δὲ περὶ Κυρίου ἔσθ᾽ ὅτε τοῦ ἐδιδόν- τος ἡμᾶς πρὸς διαγυμνασίαν τοῖς δαίμοσι, καὶ πα- ραχωροῦντος διερευνᾶσθαι ἡμῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἀπόρ- ῥητα, καὶ πάσας τὰς κρυφίας τῆς ὕλης ἀποθήκας, φθεγξάμενος, « Ὁ Κύριος ἐταπείνωσέ με ἐν ἡμέ- ρᾳ ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ, ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰ ὦτά μου πῦρ, καὶ κατήγαγεν αὐτὸ, » τουτέστιν, εἰς τὰ βάθη τοῦ σώματος, ᾗ ὥσπερ ἐξέδωκεν ὁ ἑρμηνεὺς Σύμμαχος, ὅτι « Ἐπαίδευσέ με, διεπέτασε δίκτυον τοῖς ποσί μου, ἀπέστρεψέ με εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, ἔδωκέ με ἠφανισμένον, καὶ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ὀδυνώμενον. Χρὴ τοίνυν τὸν ἀγωνιζόμενον, πολλὰ θλιβῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν μισούντων τὴν παρθενίαν δαιμόνων, καὶ δοκιμασθῆναι, καὶ σκυλθῆναι, καὶ γνοφωθῆναι, καὶ παραδοθῆναι, καὶ διαδιασθῆναι δι᾽ ὕδατος, καὶ πυρὸς, καὶ ζηχλύης, ἀνάψυξεν, καὶ ἀέρα ἐλευθερίας, καὶ θεάσασθαι τὸ φῶς τῆς μακαριότητος. Δανθάνει καὶ ἵππου ὀξύτης, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ ἅμιλλα, καὶ ἀθλητοῦ δῆλος ῥώμη, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ ἀνταγωνιζόμενος, καὶ χρυσὸς δόκιμος ὤν, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰώβ, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰωσήφ, καὶ πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι.