Letter 230: Victory over temptation brings relief — but relief can breed complacency, and complacency invites the next attack...
The commandment to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect is not a demand for sinlessness but a call to wholeness. Perfection in this life is not the absence of fault but the presence of love -- love that covers a multitude of sins, love that never fails, love that bears all things and endures all things. Aim for this perfection, and you will find that God supplies what you lack.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
ΣΛ'. – ΑΛΦΙΟ (23) ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟ.
Περὶ τοῦ Σεναχεφήμ.
Ἐπειδὴ ὁ Σεναχειρὴμ ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως καὶ
δυνάμεως μείζονα ἠπείλησε τῷ Ἐζεκίᾳ, διὰ τοῦτο
ἔγνω τῆς οἰκείας ἀσθενείας τὴν οὐδένειαν. Ὁ γὰρ
ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς καὶ αὐτοβοεὶ προσδοκήσας ἐλεῖν τὴν
Ἱερουσαλήμ, πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν στρατιὰν ἄνευ πολέ-
μου καὶ μάχης ἀποβαλὼν, ἀγαπητὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ
διασωθῆναι μόνον. Διαφυγὼν δ' οἴκαδε, ὑπὸ τῶν οἱ-
κείων ἀνῃρέθη (24), ἶν᾿ ὁμοῦ καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀσθέ-
νειαν γνοίη, καὶ μὴ διαφύγοι τὴν δίκην.
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