Letter 215: On "heap burning coals on his head" [Romans 12:20]: repaying evil with good is not merely a clever strategy for...
To Proairesios. The Creator set a boundary for nature, and the law threatened the evildoers with fear. Those, therefore, who abide by the boundaries have honored nature; but those who have thrust aside the law have received the fear. To Thomas the Monk. On the text, "Let your loins be girded." Since you wish to learn the greatest and most divine things briefly, know that for this reason the Savior said, "Let your lamps be burning" — that practicing virtue, both the spoken and the inner word...
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
ΣΙΕ΄. – ΠΡΟΑΙΡΕΣΙΩ.
Ὅρον τῇ φύσει ὁ Πλάστης ἐνέθηκε, καὶ φόβον ὁ
νόμος τοῖς κακοσχόλοις ἠπείλησεν. Ὅσοι τοίνυν (64)
τοῖς ὅροις ἐμμένουσι, τὴν φύσιν ἐτίμησαν· ὅσοι δὲ
τὸν νόμον παρώσαντο, τὸν φόβον ἐδέξαντο.
ΧΕ΄. – ΕΥΑΓΡΙΩ ΚΟΜΙΤΙ
ΣΙΕ΄. – ΘΩΜΑ MONAZONTI.
Εἰς τὸ, « Εστωσαν ὑμῶν αἱ ὀσφύες περιεζω-
σμέναι (75). »
Ἐπειδὴ τὰ μέγιστα καὶ θειότατα συντόμως μα-
θεῖν βούλει, ἴσθε, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἔφη ὁ Σωτήρ· "Εστω-
σαν ὑμῶν οἱ λύχνοι καιόμενοι, ἵν᾿ ἀρετὴν ἀσκοῦντες,
καὶ τὸν προφορικὸν, καὶ τὸν ἐνδιάθετον λόγον (76)
διὰ παντὸς ἀστράπτοντες (77) ἐν τε τῇ ψυχῇ, ἐν τε
τῇ γλώττῃ ἔχωμεν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἔνδον, ῶν, ἡμᾶς
φωτίζει· ὁ δ᾽ ἔξω, τοὺς ἄλλους ὁ μέντοι διδάσκα-
λικὸς λύχνος ψυχούσθω, καὶ ἀρδευέσθω, καὶ τρε-
φέσθω ὑπὸ τῆς πατρικῆς ἀρετῆς, ἵνα μὴ σκοτεινὸς
εἴη καὶ ἀλαμπής.
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