Letter 252: Just as those who are easily frightened are terrified even at the bare sound of danger, and cannot endure so much as...

To Alpheus the presbyter. Why the veil of the temple was torn. The way of the holy things, hidden within the temple and separated by the veil, indicated that sanctification had not yet been given, being reserved for the coming of our Lord. When he tore the veil and laid bare to the nations the secret mysteries of the holy things — which had been concealed from the Jews as ungrateful — he opened the way for us to our kinship above. To Theodotus the presbyter. If neither the noble athlete, having entered the arena and covered with dust and struck with blows, is to be mourned (for his labors end in crowns), nor is the champion going forth in war, about to endure wounds and slaughter, to be lamented (for he will return as a trophy-bearer, and will obtain monuments and proclamations) — but rather those are to be mourned who rush to robbery and murder, above all when they do evil, and then again when they are punished — how is it that you sought to learn why Christ not only did not accept but even rebuked the women who wept as he went to the cross like a trophy-bearer? For it is clear: to one who suffers unwillingly, sympathy brings consolation; but to one who suffers willingly, it brings insult. For sympathy is an insult to one whose suffering is not unwilled. Since therefore he went willingly to his passion, to extinguish death and to unnerve the devil — while those women mourned one who rightly deserved praise and acclaim — for this reason, as some think, he cursed them; but as the truth has it, he foretold what was about to befall them. To Eutonios the deacon. Above all, what one must not do, one must not even be suspected of doing. But if, despite such a disposition, and despite fleeing not only what is truly shameful but even what appears unseemly — if certain people still rage against you and nurse their envy through slander, let this not grieve you. For the many, for whom no shameful word is left unsaid and no unseemly deed undone, are accustomed to cover up their own faults through such behavior.

ΑΛΦΕΙΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Διὸ ἐσχίσθη τοῦ ναοῦ τὸ καταπέτασμα. Ἡ τῶν ἁγίων ὁδὸς ἐν τῷ ναῷ κρυπτομένη, καὶ καταπετάσματι διειργομένη, μήπω δεδόσθαι τὸν ἁγιασμὸν ὑπεδείκνυ τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν φυλαττόμενον παρουσίᾳ. Ἡνίκα διαῤῥήξας τὸ καταπέτασμα, καὶ γυμνώσας τοῖς ἔθνεσι τὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀπόῤῥητα, κεκαλυμμένα Ἰουδαίοις ὡς ἀγνώμοσιν, ὠδοποίησεν ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν ἄνω συγγένειαν. Β ΣΠΕ. – ΘΕΟΔΟΤΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Εἰ οὔτε τὸν γενναῖον ἀθλητὴν, εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα καθέντα καὶ κονιζόμενον (81) καὶ τυπτόμενον, θρηνητέον (εἰς στεφάνους γὰρ αὐτῷ οἱ πόνοι τελευτῶσιν)· οὔτε τὸν ἀριστέα ἐν πολέμῳ ἐξιόντα, καὶ τραύματα, καὶ σφαγὰς μέλλοντα ὑπομένειν, ὀλοφυρτέον (τροπαιοῦχος γὰρ ἐπανήξει, καὶ στηλῶν καὶ ἀναῤῥήσεων τεύξεται)· ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνους θρηνητέον, τοὺς ἐπὶ ληστείας καὶ ἀνδροφονίας θέοντας, μάλιστα μὲν, ὅταν κακουργῶσιν· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ὅταν κολάζωνται· πῶς ἐζήτησας μαθεῖν δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν, θρηνούσας τὰς γυναῖκας, ὅτε ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν, ὡς τροπαιοῦχος, ἀπῄε: ὁ Χριστὸς, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀπεδέξατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπετίμησε; Δῆλον γὰρ, ὅτι τῷ μὲν ἄκοντι πάσχοντι, ἡ συμπάθεια παράκλησιν· τῷ δ᾽ ἑκόντι, ὕβριν φέρει. Ύβρις γὰρ ἐκείνῳ τὸ συμπαθὲς, ᾧ μὴ τὸ πάθος ἀβούλητον. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ αὐτὸς ἑκὼν ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος ἤρχετο, καὶ τὸν θάνατον σβέτων, καὶ τὸν διὰ·βολον ἐκνευρίσων· ἐθρήνουν δ᾽ ἐκεῖναι τὸν εὐφημεῖσθαι καὶ κροτεῖσθαι δίκαιον ὄντα· διὰ τοῦτο, καὶ ὡς νομίζουσί τινες, κατηράσατο· ὡς δ᾽ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἔχει, προεμήνυσε τὰ μέλλοντα αὐταῖς συμβήσεσθαι. ΣΜΒ΄. – ΕΥΤΟΝΙΟ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΟ. Μάλιστα μὲν ὁ μὴ δεῖ ποιεῖν, μηδὲ ὑπονοοῦ ποιεῖν. Εἰ δ' οὕτω διακειμένῳ καὶ φεύγοντι μὴ μόνον τὸ κατ' ἀλήθειαν αἰσχρὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῆς δόξης ἄτοπον, ἐπιλυττῶσί τινες, καὶ τὸν φθόνον ἑαυτῶν κακηγορίαις θεραπεύουσί, τοῦτό σε μὴ λυπείτω. Εἰώθασι γὰρ οἱ πολλοὶ, οἷς οὔτε λόγος αἰσχρὸς ἄρ- ῥητος, οὔτε ἔργον ἀπρεπὲς ἄπρακτον, διὰ τούτων τὰ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς περιστέλλειν.