Letter 87: I confess that I am a friend to both of you.

To the Alexandrian nuns called the Sandalmakers. Nature does not admit refusal. The female sex has no excuse for weakness. For women are able to rise up nobly against the passions and to fight the good fight with no less courage than men, since virtue is not a matter of bodily strength but of the resolve of the soul. The martyrs among women have proven this beyond all doubt, enduring torments that would break the strongest of men, and prevailing through faith rather than force. To Ehstos the Deacon. Say and do such things by which you may both be and be called a true servant of God. To Diodoros. The sharpness of speech and the display of understanding are valuable only when they serve the cause of truth and the edification of the Church, not when they serve the vanity of the speaker. To Panhellenios. From Exodus: \"Let each one ask from his neighbor vessels of silver and gold,\" and so forth. And this too, the text explains not as theft but as just compensation for the centuries of slave labor the Israelites had performed in Egypt, and as a foreshadowing of how the Church would take from pagan learning whatever was useful and consecrate it to the service of truth.

ΠΖ'. – ΜΟΝΑΣΤΡΙΑΙΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΙΝΑΙΣ [ΤΑΙΣ ΣΑΝΔΑΛΑΡΙΑΙΣ (86)]. Οὐκ οἶδε παραίτησιν ἡ φύσις. Οὐκ ἔχει συγγνώ- μην τὸ θῆλυ. Δύναται γὰρ γενναίως κατεξανίστασθαι ΠΣ. – ΕΗΣΤΟ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΟ. Τοιαῦτα καὶ λέγε, καὶ πρᾶττε, δι' ὧν καὶ εἴης καὶ [...] ΔΙΟΔΩΡΩ Τοῦ λόγου μὲν ὀξύτης καὶ ἡ συνέσεως ἔμφασις ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟ. Τῆς ᾿Εξόδου. « Αἰτήσασθε ἕκαστος παρὰ τοῦ πλησίον σκεύη ἀργυρᾶ καὶ χρυσᾶ, » καὶ τὰ λοιπά. Καὶ σὐτὸ, ὁ φὴς προβεβλῆσθαι τὸν πρὸς σὲ διενεχθέντα, δικαιοσύνης ἀκροτάτης πνεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις (77) μακρὸν δουλεύσασιν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι χρόνον τὸν μισθὸν οὐκ ἀπέδοσαν, ἄκοντας αὐτοὺς εἰσπραχθῆναι παρεσκεύασεν ἡ τῆς δικαιοσύνης πηγή. Διὰ τοῦτ᾽, ἔφη, χρησάσθω ἕκαστος παρὰ τῆς γείτονος. ΠΖ΄. -- ΗΣΑΙΑ. Μὴ ἀπὸ τούτων, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον τρέ που, ἀφ᾿ ὧν χρὴ σωφρονέστερον καθεστάναι· μηδὲ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τῆς σωτηρίας πρόφασιν ἀπωλείας ἡγοῦ· ἀλλ' αἰδεσθεὶς τὴν θείαν μακροθυμίαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀντιλαβοῦ · οὐ γὰρ εἰς τέλος οἴσει καταφρονούμενος ὁ Κριτὴς, ἀλλ᾽ ἑπείσει τὴν χεῖρα τὴν κραταιάν. Διὸ καὶ προμηνύει καὶ προαπολογεῖται, ὡς οὐκ ἄκριτος αὐτοῦ ἡ ψῆφος κατὰ τῶν ὑπευθύνων φέρεται· « Τί ΠΗ΄. – ΠΑΥΛΩ. Τὸν εὐδόκιμον κρείττονα εἶναι χρὴ τῶν συμφορῶν. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔσται, εἰ τὸν λογισμὸν ὑψηλότερον τῶν πα- θῶν κατακτήσαιτο, καὶ καθάπερ κυβερνήτῃ μετα- χειρίζειν τοὺς οἴακας καὶ οἰακίζειν ἐπιτρέψειεν. Εἰ δὲ τὸν κυβερνήτην καταβαπτίσειε, ναυάγιον ἄργα λεώτατον ὑποστήσεται, τῶν παθῶν χορυφουμένων, καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν εἰς αὐτὸν τοῦ πελάγους τὸν πυ- θμένα παραπεμπόντων. ΡΝΔ΄. – ΔΙΟΔΩΡΩ ΣΟΦΙΣΤΗ Διδόναι μὴ παρὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν.