Letter 191: For those of moderate virtue, suspicion is an inconvenience.
When the power of the soul departs, not only does the body remain dead, but it also dissolves. And in medical remedies too -- for one must draw the proof from your own art -- the power, being incorporeal, is stronger than the body. When it has done its work and departed, the poultice lies utterly useless. For without the power contained within it, the material is nothing. So too faith: without the Spirit that animates it, all outward observance is a lifeless shell.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΡΑΓ΄. – ΛΑΜΠΕΤΙΟ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟ
Εἰ μὲν δυνατὸν σωφρονισθέντας Ζώσιμον, καὶ Μάν
ρωνα, καὶ Εὐστάθιων τοὺς ἐπὶ τοσούτοις καὶ τηλι
κούτοις κακοῖς ἁλόντας, ἐπανελθεῖν ὅθεν ἐξέπεσεν,
ἄμεινον. Εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἔκκοψαν, ὥσπερ μέλη ἀνίατα
σπεύδοντα βαδίσαι ἐπὶ τὰ καίρια.
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Prayer does not always obtain what it seeks — and this is itself a mercy.