Letter 39: Just as it is not safe to travel through a wilderness with a violent companion, so it is not easy to engage in...

To Athanasios. Why, having chosen the narrow way and having given pledges to God on its behalf, do you walk the broad road that leads to death? For extravagance here brings punishment from there. But present affliction and the narrowing of appetites prepare the future enjoyment of good things. Therefore turn back from the path of destruction and remember your vows, for the One who received your pledges is also the One who judges whether you have fulfilled them. To Theon. How should we understand: "I have repented that I anointed Saul as king." The maliciously idle and wickedly occupied mind of the godless leaves nothing divine without insult. Since therefore the things now brought forward as a problem are of this character, we must address them clearly. When Scripture says that God repented, it does not attribute to the divine nature the changeable passion of repentance that belongs to human beings. Rather, it uses human language to express divine acts in terms we can understand. God's so-called repentance is not a change of mind, for He who knows all things before they come to be cannot be surprised by outcomes. Instead, the word indicates a change in God's dealings with Saul — a withdrawal of favor that corresponds to Saul's own turning away from obedience. It is Saul who changed, not God; but Scripture, speaking in human terms, attributes the consequent change of relationship to God as well, so that we might understand the gravity of Saul's transgression.

PMA'. - ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΩ. (39) Τι τὴν στενὴν ἑλόμενος, καὶ [τὰς] συνθήκας ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς Θεῷ παρασχόμενος, τὴν πλατεῖαν ὁδεύεις ὁδὸν, τὴν εἰς θάνατον φέρουσαν; Ἡ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἀφείδεια, τὴν ἐκεῖθεν φέρει τιμωρίαν. Ἡ δὲ παρ- οῦσα κάκωσις, καὶ τῶν ὀρέξεων στένωσις, τὴν μέλ λουσαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἑτοιμάζει ἀπόλαυσιν. ΥΛΘ. – ΘΕΩΝΙ. Πῶς νοητέον, « Μεταμεμέλημαι ὅτι ἔχρισα τὸν Σαούλ εἰς βασιλέα. » Ἡ κακόσχολος καὶ φαυλοτριβὴς τῶν ἀθέων ἀπὸ νοια, οὐδὲν τῶν θείων καταλιμπάνει ἀνύβριστον. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν καὶ τὰ νῦν προβληθέντα σοι, τῆς αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἁμαρτίας γεώργια, ἐκεῖνα παρεὶς, μάν θανε τἀληθῆ. Το, « Μεταμέλομαι ὅτι ἔχρισα τὸν Σαούλ εἰς βασιλέα, » οὐκ ἔστι τῆς θείας προγνώσεως δια βολὴ, [οὐδὲ ἀγνοίας αὐτῆς,] ἅπαγε! ᾿Αλλὰ οἴκτου καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ὑπερβολή. Ἐπειδὴ, ἄξιοι μὲν ἦσαν Ἑβραῖοι, βασιλέα αἰτήσαντες, καὶ ἐμὲ ἀθετήσαντες, παιδευθῆναι, οὐχ οὕτω δὲ ὡς ἐποίησεν αὐτοῖς βασι λεύσας Σαούλ, οἰκτείρει κἀκείνους ὡς δεινὰ πεπον- θότας, καὶ τοῦτον ὡς χαλεπὸν αὐτοῖς γεγονότα. Τῆς τοίνυν ἐκείνων προαιρέσεως ἡ αἰτία, οὐ τῆς τοῦ δεν δωκότος τὸ αἴτημα φιλανθρωπίας. ΣΤ΄. ΙΩΑΝΝΗ ΤΩ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΩ. Ἔδει τῶν πεπειραμένων πρὸς τὸ ἐμποδίζειν προ ΞΔΩΡΟ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟ. Περὶ τῶν τριῶν Σολομῶντος βιβλίων, Παροιμιῶν, · Ἐκκλησιαστικῶν (27), Ασμάτων. · Ἐπειδὴ περὶ τῆς τάξεως τῶν τριῶν βιβλίων Σου λομῶντος ἠθέλησας μαθεῖν, ἴσθι, ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἠθικὴν παιδεύει ἀρετὴν · τὸ δὲ δεικνύει τῶν περὶ βιωτικά ἐπτοημένων τὴν ματαιοπονίαν · τὸ δὲ τῆς ταῦτα πε- παιδευμένης ψυχῆς τὸν περὶ τὰ θεῖα ἔρωτα. Διὰ τοῦτο τὸ μὲν πρῶτον, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον, τὸ δὲ τρίτον ΛΘ΄. – ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ Εἰ ἐδείξω καταφρονῶν τῶν εἰς σαυτὸν ἀδικημάτων, οὐ τοσοῦτον ἂν ἐλυπήθης ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων ἐγκαλουμένων. Ἄμεινον γὰρ τὰ οἰκεῖα ἀνορθοῦν, καὶ οὕτως ἐφέλκεσθαι τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ βοήθειαν. ΛΖ΄. - ΛΕΟΝΤΙΟ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟ. De bonis presbyteris contra malos disseritur, quique Εἰ μὲν τῶν ἀρχομένων τινὰς ἐχειροῦτο ἡ κακία, οὐδὲν (χρὴ γὰρ τἀληθῆ λέγειν ) ἂν ἦν τοσοῦτο δεινὸν, καίπερ ὂν δεινόν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔρπουσα πρὸς τὰ χείρω, καὶ τινας τῶν ἱερᾶσθαι λαχόντων ἐπιβόσκεται· καὶ ὡς γέγραφας (τὸ τῶν κακῶν κεφάλαιον, καὶ πάσης συμ- φορᾶς βαρύτερον) ἀπολογίαν, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως, τοῦτο τοῖς ὑπηκόοις τίκτει. ᾿Ακουέτωσαν οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες, μὴ τοῖς κακῶς ἱερωμένοις παραμετρεῖν τὸν οἰκεῖον βίον, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς. Ὁ γὰρ κριτὴς ἀδέκαστος ὢν, ἀπολογίαν ἄλογον οὐ δέξαιτο, ἀλλ᾽ ἐρεῖ μάλιστα μὲν ὅτι (59) πολλοὶ τῶν ἱερωμένων ηὐδοκίμησαν, οἷς ἐχρῆν προσέχοντας ὑμᾶς τὸν νοῦν διορθῶσαι τὸν οἱ- κεῖον βίον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐφωράθητε τῆς κακίας ὄντες ἐρασταὶ, ἐξ ὧν οὐ τοῖς ἀριστεύσασιν ἀτενῶς προσ- εσχήκατε, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πταίσασι, κἀκεῖνοι μὲν δώσουσι δίκην ἀξίαν ὧν ἔδρασαν, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπειδὴ ἀρετὴν ἡτοιμάσατε (60), καὶ κακίαν ἡσπάσασθε, καὶ οὔτε βασιλείας πόθος, οὔτε γεέννης φόβος ἐποίησε φύλακας τῶν ἐμῶν γένεσθαι νόμων, τὴν ἐσχάτην δώσετε τι- μωρίαν. ΡΝϚ΄. – ΚΟΜΙΤΙ Ἡ ταπεινοφροσύνη τὸ κράτιστον τῶν κατορθωμάτων.