Letter 842

To the same person. For no short time you have lived according to the wishes of the devil. Live at last also according to the will of him who made you. Become a servant at last also to the laws of Christ, the Most High God. Nothing is of equal worth with a rational soul, nor equal in value to the kingdom of heaven. How long shall we prefer perishable things to imperishable ones? How long shall we suppose that the things which are seen are more precious than the unseen goods? How long shall we choose to be enslaved to irrational delusion and fantasy? How long shall we love Satan, the enemy and destroyer of our souls? How long shall we be persuaded by his counsels, which lead us by the hand toward destruction? No counselor is more trustworthy than the God who loves mankind; none is more prudent than the fountain of wisdom; none is more intimate and more beneficial than the good Master who fashioned us. But you, having despised him, have gone over to the apostate dragon, and you give heed to the worst as though to the best, and you embrace the murderer as though a friend, and you have taken the most foolish to be prudent; and you have reckoned the dark one to be a luminary; and you suppose the dreadful sickness to be the greatest health, and you think poverty to be great wealth, and, imitating Eve, you hold out your hearing to the whisperings of the spiritual serpent, having stopped up your ears against the divine commandments. What need is there to say much to a man whose ear of understanding has been put to death? For what shall we gain by singing to one who of his own will has been deafened against the noblest things?

Οὐκ ὀλίγον χρόνον τοῖς τοῦ διαβόλου θελήμασιν ἔζησας. Ζῆσόν ποτε καὶ τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ πεποιηκότος. κότος σε. Δουλεύσων ποτὲ καὶ τοῖς νόμοις Χριστοῦ τοῦ πανυψίστου Θεοῦ. Οὐδὲν ψυχῆς λογικῆς ἀντάξιον, οὐδὲ ἰσοστάσιον τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ἕως πότε τὰ φθαρτὰ τῶν ἀφθάρτων προκρίνομεν; Ἕως πότε τιμαλφέστερα τὰ βλεπόμενα, τῶν ἀοράτων ἀγαθῶν ὑπάρχειν οἰόμεθα; Ἕως πότε τῇ ἀλόγῳ πλάνῃ καὶ φαντασίᾳ δουλεύειν αἱρούμεθα; Ἕως πότε φιλοῦμεν τὸν ἐχθρὸν καὶ ὀλετῆρα τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν Σατανᾶν; Ἕως πότε πειθόμεθα ταῖς ὑποθήκαις αὐτοῦ ταῖς πρὸς τὴν ἀπώλειαν ποδηγούσαις; Οὐδεὶς ἀξιοπιστότερος σύμβουλος τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ· οὐδεὶς φρονιμώτερος τῆς πηγῆς τῆς σοφίας· οὐδεὶς οἰκειότερος καὶ ὠφελιμώτερος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ Δεσπότου τοῦ πεπλακότος ἡμᾶς. Σὺ δὲ καταφρονήσας τούτου, τῷ ἀποστάτῃ προσπεφοίτηκας δράκοντι, καὶ τῷ κακίστῳ ὡς καλλίστῳ προσέχεις, καὶ τῷ φονευτῇ ὡς φίλῳ περιπλέκῃ καὶ τὸν μωρότατον ὑπείληφας φρόνιμον· καὶ τὸν σκοτεινὸν, φωστῆρα νενομίκας· καὶ ὑγείαν μεγίστην τοπάζεις τὴν δεινὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν, καὶ πλοῦτον μέγαν ὑπάρχειν νομίζεις τὴν πτωχείαν, καὶ τὴν Εὔαν μιμούμενος τοῖς ψιθυρισμοῖς τοῦ νοητοῦ ὄφεως τὴν ἀκοὴν ὑπέχεις, βεβυκὼς τὰ ὦτα τοῖς θείοις ἐντάλμασι. Τί δεῖ τὰ πολλὰ λέγειν, ἀνθρώπῳ νεκρωθέντι τὸ οὖς τῆς διανοίας; Τί γὰρ ὠφελήσομεν ᾄδοντες τῷ αὐθαιρέτως κεκωφωμένῳ πρὸς τὰ κάλλιστα;