Letter 173

To the Same Person. By your chastity and your purity you have imitated the wondrous Elijah [Old Testament prophet, 1-2 Kings], who, having become the founder of all ascetic discipline, was the first to show us self-control and that celibacy which is equal to the angels, on account of which he was even snatched up in a fiery chariot.

Ἐμιμήσω τῇ ἁγνείᾳ, καὶ τῇ καθαρότητι τὸν θαυ- μαστὸν Ἠλίαν, ὅστις πάσης ἀσκήσεως ἀρχηγὸς γενό- μενος, πρῶτος ἡμῖν τὴν σωφροσύνην, καὶ τὴν ἰσάγ- γελον ἀγαμίαν ὑπέδειξε, δι’ ἥνπερ καὶ πυρίνῳ ἅρ- ματι ἀνηρπάγη.