Letter 978

To Theocles. You asked what the written words might mean: "And the hungry abandoned the earth." Know, then. All those who hunger and reach out eagerly for the divine righteousness give no thought at all to the goods of dust [earthly possessions]; they spit upon all the visible earth, and they have left it behind, soaring above all things. With pious reasoning they have run past everything that is seen, and they walk the upper air, keeping festival together with the angels.

Πρώτησας, τί ἂν εἴη τὸ γεγραμμένον· «Καὶ οἱ πεινῶντες παρῆκαν γῆν.» Γνῶθι οὖν. Ὅσοι τῆς θείας δικαιοσύνης ἐρέγονται πειναλέως, ἀφροντι- στοῦσι πάντως τῶν χοϊκῶν ἀγαθῶν, καταπτύουσι πάσης τῆς φαινομένης γῆς, καὶ κατέλιπον ταύτην ὑπερπάντες· τῷ εὐσεβεῖ λογισμῷ παρέδραμον πάντα τὰ ὁρώμενα, καὶ αἰθεροβατοῦσι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις συμπανηγυρίζοντες.