Letter 811: The spiritual life is a journey with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

In brief syllables, God inscribed thoughts vaster than oceans. In ancient times, God did not speak to people through written letters, but through himself directly, finding their disposition pure and worthy of instruction without a mediator. And this is clear from the fact that he spoke without letters both to Noah and to Abraham, and to their successors. But when the whole of human nature had fallen into the very depths of wickedness, then at last letters and laws were required, like medicine for those who are sick. For to those who are healthy, the physician is superfluous; but to those who are ill, his art is indispensable. So too, when the human race was in a healthy condition, no written law was needed; but when it fell into corruption, the written word became necessary to recall it to virtue. And this is why Moses, that great servant of God, was commanded to write the law upon tablets, that the forgetful might be reminded and the careless might be corrected. For the letter, though it seems small, contains within itself the immensity of divine wisdom.

S. ISIDORI PELUSIOTE Α συλλαβαῖς, μέγιστα πελαγῶν νοήματα ένσημηνά- μενος. Τοῖς παλαιοῖς ὁ Θεὸς οὐ διὰ γραμμάτων διελέ- γετο, ἀλλὰ δι' ἑαυτοῦ, καθαρὰν εὑρίσκων αὐτῶν τὴν γνώμην, καὶ τῆς ἄνευ μεσίτου διδασκαλίας ἀξίαν. Και τοῦτο δῆλον ἐξ ὧν γραμμάτων ἄνευ διελέγετο, καὶ τῷ Νῶς, καὶ τῷ ᾿Αβραὰμ, καὶ τοῖς εὐδοκίμοις ἀπογό- νοις ἐκείνου, ὧν εἷς ἦν καὶ ὁ κορυφαιότατος ὁ πᾶσαν τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν δύναμιν συγκόψας, καὶ τὰ βέλη αὐτοῦ ἀναλώσας, καὶ τὴν φαρέτραν κενώσας, ὁ ἀοίδιμος, φημὶ, Ιώβ. "Ὅτε δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν τῆς κακίας τὸν πυ- θμένα κατηνέχθη ὁ δείλαιος τῶν Ἰουδαίων δῆμος, τότε λοιπὸν τὰ γράμματα ἀναγκαῖα εἶναι ἐνομίσθη, καὶ ἡ διὰ τούτων ὑπόμνησις. Εἰ δὲ νομίζεις ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ μόνον τοῦτο γεγενῆσθαι, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς Καινῆς μὴ κεκυ- ρῶσθαι, φήσαιμι, ὅτι μάλιστα πάντων τοῦτο καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ δείκνυται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῖς θεσπεσίοις ἀποστό λοις γραπτόν τι δέδοται, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ γραμμάτων ἡ τῶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπηγγέλθη χάρις. « Ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ἀναμνήσει πάντα. » Εἰ δὲ νομίζεις τοὺς ἐγγράφους τῶν ἀγράφων νόμων κυριωτέρους εἶναι (68), ἄκουσον τί φησιν αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεύς· «Δια- θήσομαι αὐτοῖς διαθήκην καινὴν, διδοὺς νόμους μου ἐπὶ διάνοιαν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίας αὐτῶν ἐπιγράψω αὐτούς.» – «Καὶ ἔσονται πάντες διδακτοὶ Θεοῦ. Ὅθεν καὶ ὁ Παῦλος Μωσέως μείζονα ἐμπεπιστεῦθαι δι ισχυριζόμενος, Ελεγεν εἰληφένας νόμον, οὐκ ἐν πλαξῇ λιθίναις ἐγγεγραμμένον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν πλαξί καρδίας σαρ κίναις ἐντυπωθέντα· οὗ ὁ καταφρονῶν οὐ καταλεύ- [σ]εται κατὰ τὸν παλαιὸν νόμον, ἀλλὰ πικροτάτη παραδίδοται κολάσει. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου διεκ πεύοντος, καὶ καθάπερ ἵππου ὀξυτάτου θέοντος, οἱ μὲν δογμάτων ἕνεκεν ἐξώκειλαν, οἱ δὲ βίου· ἀναγ καίως πάλιν (69) ἐδέησεν τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν γραμμάτων, διορθώσεως. Παραβεβασμένων γὰρ τῶν ἀγράφων ἐπὶ τὰ ἔγγραφα εἰκότως ὥρμησεν, ὁ παντὶ τρόπῳ τὸ ὑπήκοον εἰς ἀρετὴν ἐναγαγεῖν βουλόμενος. Εννοεῖν τοίνυν χρὴ ἡμᾶς, ἡλίκη ἐστὶ κατηγορία, τὸ τοὺς οὕτως ὀφείλοντας ζῇν εἰλικρινῶς, ὡς μηδὲ γραμμά των δεῖσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ βιβλίων παρέχειν τὰς ψυχὰς τῶ θείῳ Πνεύματι, ἐπειδὴ τὴν τιμὴν ἀπωλέσαμεν ταύτην, καὶ κατέστημεν εἰς τὴν τῶν γραμμάτων χρείαν, μηδὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ βοηθήματι χρῆσθαι πάλιν εἰς δέον. Εἰ γὰρ ἔγκλημα τὸ γραμμάτων δεῖσθαι, καὶ μὴ τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπισπᾶσθαι διὰ και θαροί η θαροῦ βίου διδασκαλίαν, σκοπῆσαι ἂν εἴημεν δίκαιοι ἡλίχον ἐστὶ κακὸν, τὸ μηδὲ μετὰ τοσαύτην καὶ τη λικαύτην βοήθειαν («Νόμον γὰρ, φησὶν, εἰς βοή θειαν ἔδωκεν »), ἐθέλειν κερδαίνειν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην κείμενα τὰ γράμματα (70) περιορᾷν, καὶ μεί ζoνα προκαλεῖσθαι τὴν κόλασιν.