Letter 888

To Kyriakos. Sin mingles itself into human life in manifold ways and by many devices. The cause of this is that the alliance of God is not taken up by men for the things that are being earnestly pursued in hand. For if prayer goes before the effort, the easily-besetting and many-formed sin will find no passage against the soul. For when the remembrance of God is firmly seated in the heart, the contrivances of the adversary [the devil] remain without effect, since righteousness mediates everywhere in the matters you dispute. And every man is separated from God who is not willing to join himself to God through prayer.

Ἡ ἁμαρτία πολυσχεδῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως τῇ ἀν- θρωπίνῃ ζωῇ καταμίγνυται. Ταυτησὶ δέ ἐστιν αἴτιον τὸ μὴ παραλαμβάνεσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ συμμαχίαν πρὸς τὰ ἐν χερσὶ σπουδαζομένα. Ἐὰν γὰρ τῆς σπουδῆς ἡ εὐχὴ προηγήσεται, οὐχ εὑρήσει πάροδον κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ εὐπερίστατος καὶ ποικίλη ἁμαρτία. Τῆς γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμης τῇ καρδίᾳ καθιδρυμένης, ἀπρακτοὶ μένουσιν αἱ τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ἐπίνοιαι, πανταχοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐν σοῖς ἀμφισβητουμένοις μεσιτευούσης. Χωρίζεται δὲ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, ὁ μὴ βουλόμενος διὰ προσευχῆς τῷ Θεῷ συνάπτειν ἑαυτόν.