Letter 38: Knowing full well that indulgence breeds passions and gluttony drags a person toward sexual immorality, I think you...

To Anthousa. She should have directed her zeal toward this end, applying her efforts to the pursuit of holiness with all diligence. To Aphrodisios the Presbyter. Since, as you have written, a certain Jew full of ignorance, having condemned as excessive the words of the divine evangelist who said, "I do not think that even the world itself could contain the books that would be written," has caused you trouble, it is necessary to bring forward from the Old Testament — which he himself also approves and considers divine — the things that are said hyperbolically, so that he may know that the evangelist, following that ancient Scripture, wrote what he wrote. For hyperbole is a figure of speech common in Scripture: when it says that the cities were walled up to heaven, it does not mean their walls literally reached the sky, but expresses their great height. Likewise when the prophet says the mountains melted like wax, or that the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, these are hyperbolical expressions conveying the magnitude of divine power. Therefore, the evangelist's words about the world not containing all the books are of the same character — an expression of the inexhaustible richness of Christ's deeds and teachings, not a literal measurement of physical space.

Ε΄. ΑΝΘΟΥΣΗ. Ἔδει τὴν ἑαυτῆς σπουδὴν πρὸς τοῦτο ἀποῤῥαχε Θ. – ΑΦΡΟΔΙΣΙΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Ἐπειδὴ, ὡς γέγραφας Ἰουδαῖός τις ἀπαιδευσίας ἀνάπλεως, ὡς ὑπερβολὴν καταγνοὺς τοῦ εἰρηκότος θείου εὐαγγελιστοῦ, « Οὐδ᾽ αὐτὸν οἶμαι τὸν κόσμον χωρῆσαι τὰ γραφόμενα βιβλία, » πράγματά σοι παρ- έσχεν· ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν ἐκ τῆς Παλαιᾶς Διαθήκης, ἣν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐγκρίνει καὶ θείαν ἡγεῖται, τὰ ὑπερ- βολικῶς εἰρημένα εἰς μέσον ἀγαγεῖν, ἵνα εἰδῇ ἐκεῖνος, ὅτι καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς τῇ Παλαιᾷ ἐκείνῃ ἑπόμενος Γραφῇ, γέγραφεν ἃ γέγραφε. Τί οὖν γέγραπται,μά- θωμεν. Περὶ μὲν τῶν πόλεων τῶν Χαναναίων, «Πόλεις τετειχισμέναι ὑπάρχουσιν ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ·» περὶ δὲ τῆς γῆς αὐτῶν λέλεκται, «Γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι.» Περὶ δὲ τῶν πλεόντων, « ᾿Αναβαίνουσιν ἕως τῶν οὐρα- νῶν, καὶ καταβαίνουσινἕως τῶν ἀβύσσων.» Ἑρμηνευέ- τω τοιγαροῦν ἐκεῖνος ταῦτα ὁ ἀγροικόσοφος (93), μὴ καταφεύγων εἰς θεωρίαν, μηδὲ τροπολογεῖν πειρώμε- νος, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὰ φράζων τὰ πράγματα. Εἰ δ' οὐ δύ- ναται (ἀνάγκη γὰρ αὐτὸν λέγειν ἢ ὑπερβολικῶς εἰ- ρῆσθαι, ἢ ἐρμηνείας δεῖσθαι), τίνος ἕνεκεν ἀμαθίας ἐσχάτης καθ' ἑαυτοῦ δείγμα φέρων ἔδοξεν ἐπιλαμ- βάνεσθαι τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, τοῦ καὶ εἰ δόξαντος ὑπερβολῇ κεχρῆσθαι κολάσαντος αὐτὴν, διὰ τοῦ εἰ- ρηκέναι, Οἶμαι; Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἄκρατός ἐστιν ἡ ὑπερ- βολή, ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ κεκραμένη. Οὐ γὰρ ἀφῆκεν αὐτὴν ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκόλασεν. Ὁ δὲ τὰς ὑπερβολὰς κολάζων, δύο ποιεῖ · καὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δεικνύει πόθον, καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἅπτεται. Εἰκὸς δὲ μηδὲ ὑπερβολικῶς εἰρῆσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ ἐῤῥέθη, πολλὰ καὶ ἄλλα σημεῖα πεποιηκέναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ ἀδιορίστως πεποιηκέναι. Ἔστι δὲ αὐτοῦ ἄλλα τὰ ἔργα τοῦ κόσμου πρεσβύτερα, ἅτινα οὔτε γραφῇ, οὔτε βιβλίοις παραδοθῆναι οἷόν τε, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὸ ---CONTINUES--- ΟΒ΄. – ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠρ. Οἱ ἑκόντων ἄρχοντες (36), οὗτοί μοι δοκοῦσιν ὄντως ἄρχειν, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν περίοπτοι ὦσι δι' ἀρετὴν ``` ΛΘ΄.- ΝΕΜΕΣΙΟ. Εἰς τὸ αὐτό. Χρὴ τὸν βουλόμενον καθαρὰν εὐθυμίαν καρπώσα- σθαι, πρῶτον βουλόμενον οὕτως ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὰ λέγειν τε καὶ πράττειν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐχ οἷον τὲ τὰ λεχθέντα ἢ πραχθέντα ἀνακαλέσασθαι βαδίως, χρὴ πειθόμενον τῷ Παροιμιαστῇ, λέγοντι· « Μετὰ βουλῆς πάντα ποίει· · τὸν μὴ βουλόμενον διὰ τῆς μεταγνώσεως ἑαυτὸν νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν μαστίζειν, τὴν παρ- αίνεσιν διὰ πραγμάτων ἐπιδείξασθαι. ΛΗ΄. – ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ Εἰ ἡ σὴ ἐλπὶς ἐν τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ στηρίζεται, πρὸ πολλῶν ἕτοιμος ἂν εἴης καὶ ἄλλοις τοῦ σπέρματος τοῦ ἁγίου, ὅσον ἐφικτὸν, ἀπονειμᾶν ἀναγκαζόμενος, ἵνα καὶ οἱ σοι συζῶντες διὰ τῆς χάριτος πληρωθῶσιν, ἢ μᾶλλον ἐπικρατηθῶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις. ΡΝΕ΄. – ΠΕΤΡΩ Χρὴ τοὺς σωφροσύνης ἐραστὰς τὰς ἀναγκαίας ὀφειλὰς διδοὺς ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦτο γινομένοις, ὡς ἀλλοτρίων ἀπέχεσθαι.