Letter 994

To Anatolius. I do not know what it is that afflicts us, that when we read the writings of the saints we are not sanctified by the power of the Spirit, but are made bitter by the intensifying of the passions. Perhaps our heart, like some bad piece of farmland, receiving the seed of salvation, not only fails to yield the fruit of righteousness, but, being also full of thorns and thistles, chokes the seed of life, and, after the manner of the parable in the Savior [the Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13], casts away the seed of that divine teaching. But how could it ever come about that those consecrated to God do not enjoy His grace? For this reason, I think, such things befall us: because we do not read the divine Scripture with fear and trembling, but with a certain idle curiosity and instability of reasonings, scrutinizing the matters of Scripture, yet not giving thought to the matters of our own correction. Farewell, most honored one.

Οὐκ οἶδα τί δὴ πάσχοντες, ὅταν τὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀναγινώσκωμεν, οὐχὶ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁγιαζόμεθα, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῶν παθῶν ἐπιτάσει χαλεπαινόμεθα. Μήποτε γὰρ ἡμῶν ἡ καρδία, ὥσπερ τις γεωργία πονηρὰ, τὸν σπόρον τὸν τῆς σωτηρίας δεχομένη, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀποδίδωσι τὸν καρπὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀκανθῶν καὶ τριβόλων πλήρης ὑπάρχουσα, τὸν σπόρον τῆς ζωῆς ἀποπνίγει, καὶ δίκην τῆς παρὰ τῷ Σωτῆρι παραβολῆς, τὸν σπόρον ἐκείνης τῆς θείας διδασκαλίας ἀποβάλλεται. Ἀλλὰ πῶς ἂν εἴη ποτὲ, ὅτι οἱ τῷ Θεῷ ἀφιερωμένοι οὐχὶ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἀπολαύουσιν; Ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο, οἶμαι, τοιαῦτα ἡμῖν συμβαίνει, ὅτι οὐ μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου τὴν θείαν γραφὴν ἀναγινώσκομεν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ περιεργείας τινὸς καὶ ἀκαταστασίας λογισμῶν, τὰ τῆς γραφῆς ἐξετάζοντες, οὐχὶ δὲ τὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν διορθώσεως φροντίζοντες. Ἔρρωσο, τιμιώτατε.