Letter 970

To Lesbius. Do not despair of being changed for the better, nor quench, as one would a bright lamp, the soul's good expectation toward God and its steadfast hope. For even if you did not know that Lazarus also came back to life from the dead [John 11], and that faithful women received back their dead alive through a resurrection [the widow's son at Nain, and the Shunammite's son raised by Elisha], you will nevertheless certainly be able, you too, though deadened in your hope, to be delivered one day from the deadness of sin that lies in the tomb.

Μὴ ἀπογνῷς μεταληφθῆναι ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον, μηδὲ σβέσῃς τρόπον φαιδρᾶς λαμπάδος τὴν καλὴν πρὸς Θεὸν τῆς ψυχῆς προσδοκίαν, καὶ σταθηρὰν ἐλπίδα. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἔγνως, ὅτι καὶ Λάζαρος ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνέβλω, καὶ γυναῖκες πισταὶ ἐξ ἀναστάσεως τοὺς νε- κροὺς αὐτῶν ἀπειλήφασι ζῶντας, δυνήσῃ πάντως καὶ αὐτός, νεκρωθεὶς τῇ ἐλπίδι ἀπαλλαγῆναί ποτε τῆς ἐν τῷ τύμβῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας νεκρώσεως.