Letter 815

To John the Bishop. Do not be carelessly disposed, nor unfeeling, amid the things that have befallen you. For through your own negligence the king of Egypt [Shishak, who plundered the Temple in the days of Rehoboam] went up against your soul, and took the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the golden spears which David long ago took, by the law of war and after many struggles and sweat, from the hand of the servants of the foreigner Hadadezer [Hadadezer of Zobah, defeated by David]. And yet you are at ease over these things, over which you ought rather to grieve and to be downcast.

Μὴ ἀμερίμνως, μηδὲ ἀναλγήτως διατεθῇς ἐν τοῖς συμβεβηκόσι σοι. Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς σῆς ἀμελείας ἀνέθη πρὸς τὴν ψυχήν σου ὁ βασιλεὺς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἔλαβε τοὺς θησαυροὺς οἴκου Κυρίου, καὶ τὰ χρυσᾶ δόρατα, ἅπερ μετὰ πολλῶν ἀγώνων καὶ ἱδρώτων νόμῳ πολέμου πρῴην ὁ Δαυΐδ ἔλαβεν ἀπὸ τῆς χειρὸς τῶν παίδων ἀλλοφύλου Ἀδραζάρ. Καὶ ὅμως αὐτὸς τέρην ἐπὶ τούτοις, ἥπερ ἀλγῆσαι βούλει καὶ κατηφῆσαι.