Letter 80: If the poison of greed has caught you — and it is the root of every evil — and it is driving you into idolatry,...

The prayer of holy souls who struggle through their confession from that place, crying out to God in supplication: "Let not the throne of the lawless be exalted before you, Lord, causing us troubles contrary to your command, as the Babylonian tyrant was to your holy children." So too our prayer must arise not from comfort but from the depths of our struggle against the powers that oppose God's will.

Α σων (80) ἐπὶ πρόσταγμα. «Προσευχὴ τῶν ἁγίων ἐστὶ ψυχῶν, τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ὁμολογίας ἀγωνιζομένων, πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐν ἱκετηρίᾳ βοώντων· Μὴ ὑψούσθω θρόνος ἀνόμων ἐναντίον σου, Κύριε, κατὰ [τοῦ] σοῦ προστάγματος κόπους ἡμῖν παρεχόμενος, ὁποῖος ὁ Βαβυλώνιος ἦν τοῖς ὁσίοις [σου παισὶ] τύραννος, ἢ τοῖς ἁγίοις μάρτυσιν οἱ ἀλάστορες, καὶ τῶν εἰδώλων ὑπέρμαχοι. ΡΠ'. - ΘΕΟΦΡΟΝΙΟ. ῞Οτι διὰ τῆς πράξεως γνωρίζονται αἱ ἀρεταὶ, ἤπερ διὰ λόγου. Οὐ ῥημάτων ἀπαγγελία, ἀλλὰ πραγμάτων διακονία τὸν τῆς θείας παιδεύσεως ζηλωτὴν ἀποφαίνει. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ ἀρχαῖος ἀντάρτης, ἐπειδὴ τῶν θείων χρησμῶν ἐμέμνητο πειράζων τὸν Κύριον, ἐπαινετὸς ἦν ἄρα τῆς τούτων μαθήσεως, ἀλλ' ἀπόκριτος (75) καὶ ἀπόβλη- τος, ὅτι τὴν γνῶσιν ἔχων, τὴν πρᾶξιν ἀρνεῖται. Εἰ τοίνυν μὴ κοῦφος φαίνεσθαι βούλει, καὶ ἐπὶ γλώττης μόνης ἔχων τὴν παίδευσιν, ἔργῳ ἐπίδειξον ταύτην. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τῆς ἔξωθεν ὁπλοφορίας ὁ Γολιάθ ἀπώνατό τι, τοῖς ἔσωθεν ἀσθενῶν βοηθήμασιν. ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΙΩ Κατὰ τῶν πολεμούντων τὴν ἀλήθειαν μάχου, ΡΜΖ΄. – ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΩ Μεμνῆσθαι χρὴ, ὅτι πάντας ἡμεῖς χρὴ φίλους ἡγεῖσθαι.