Letter 151: What you call unreasonable, I consider to be wisdom.

To Theophilos the Reader. A funeral oration for one who lived distinguished in virtue. The blessed Timothy, your brother, has departed from among humankind, leaving behind in the earth everything mortal that he had, while with his soul he walks in heaven, and dances, as I believe, with the divine and supramundane powers. Therefore we too have set aside our grief — though it was very great and nearly overpowered us even as we resisted as much as we could — reflecting that the end of things here has become for him the beginning of the greatest goods there. For the man did not live his life here haphazardly.

ΡΝΑ΄. – ΘΕΟΦΙΛΩ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΗ. Ἐπιτάφιος πρὸς διαφόρῳ ἐν ἀρετῇ ζήσαντα. Ο μακάριος Τιμόθεος ὁ σὸς ἀδελφὸς, ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ᾤχετο, πᾶν μὲν ὅσον εἶχε θνητὸν, ἐν γῇ καταλείψας, τῇ δὲ ψυχῇ οὐρανοβατῶν· καὶ ταῖς θείαις καὶ ὑπερ- κοσμίοις, ὡς πιστεύω, συγχορεύων δυνάμεσι. Διὸ καὶ ἡμεῖς τὴν λύπην, καίτοι μεγίστην ἦσαν, [καὶ] εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν ἀντέχοντας, σχεδόν χειρωσαμένην, παρεγρα ψάμεθα, ἐννοήσαντες, ὅτι ἡ τῶν ἐνθάδε τελευτὴ, ἀρχὴ τῶν μεγίστων αὐτῷ ἐκεῖσε καθέστηκεν ἀγαθῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἔτυχεν ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐνθάδε βίον διήθλησεν· ἀλλ᾽ ἀνδρείως καὶ γενναίως, καὶ παρὰ πάντων ἐπὶ ταῖς Κ΄. – ΑΛΥΠΙΩ. Περὶ ἀναγνώσεως. Κατὰ Ἑλλήνων. Περι τῆς χά μιτος τῶν θεοπνεύστων Γραφῶν, καὶ τῆς ἐξ D αὐτῶν ὠφελείας. Καὶ τοῖς ἕως τῶν τῇδε ὁριζομένοις εἶναι τὰ πρά- γματα, μετριωτέρα (80), οἶμαι, ἡ τοῦ βίου τελευτή ---CONTINUES--- ΕΥΤΟΝΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Εἰ ἐν οἷς ἐπαίνων εἶ μεγίστων ἄξιος, ἐν τούτοις αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείας νομιζόντων συμφορὰς τὰς ἑτέρων ἀρετὰς ψέγῃ, μὴ ἀθύμει. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸ μάλιστα δείγμα μέγιστόν ἐστιν ἀρετῆς. ΡΟΗ΄. – ΚΟΜΙΤΙ Σὺν τῷ φρονεῖν ἴδιον τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίας ὁρᾶν ἀκριβῶς.