Letter 822

To Macedonius the Deacon. The demons do not realize that, while they wish to wear others down and to rot them away through trials, it is they themselves who are rather rotted away and worn out by the endurance and good hope of those who struggle against them. For it is said: "He who wears down the blameworthy mountains, and they do not know it." [echoing Job 9:5 (Septuagint): "He who makes the mountains old, and they know it not"]

Ἀγνοοῦσιν οἱ δαίμονες, ὅτι ἄλλους βουλόμενοι παλαιῶσαι καὶ σαθρῶσαι διὰ πειρατηρίων, αὐτοὶ μᾶλλον σαθροῦνται καὶ ταλαιπωροῦνται διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ εὐελπιστίας τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων· «Ὁ παλαιῶν γάρ, φησί, τὰ ψεκτὰ ὄρη, καὶ οὐκ οἴ- δασιν.»