Letter 828

To Paul the Reader [lector, a minor clerical office]. Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will act [Psalm 36:5 LXX]. Show him your blameworthy life; display, you leper, to the great High Priest the sores of your soul, and hope in him, and he will act: he will make the filthy man clean, and will show the bitch to be a true child, and the bilious man gentle, and the impatient steadfast; and he will restore your mind, cleansed of every stain.

Ἀποκάλυψον πρὸς Κύριον τὴν ὁδόν σου, καὶ ἔλπισον ἐπ’ αὐτόν, καὶ αὐτὸς ποιήσει. Δεῖξον αὐτῷ τὸν σὸν ἐπίμωμον βίον· ἐπίδειξον, ὁ λεπρός, τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ τῷ μεγάλῳ τὰ στίγματα τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ ἔλπισον ἐπ’ αὐτόν, καὶ αὐτὸς ποιήσει τὸν ῥυπαρὸν καθαρόν, καὶ τὴν κῦνα γνήσιον τέκνον δείξει, καὶ πρᾶον τὸν χολικόν, καρτερικὸν τῶν ἀνυπομόνων· ἀποκαταστήσει δέ σου τὸν νοῦν, καθαρὸν σπιλωμάτων.