Letter 379

To Athanasius the Monk. Return quickly to the monastery from which you wrongly departed, lest, having lingered too long outside the fold, you become food for the spiritual beasts [the demons]. But if you say that you are withdrawing from the monastery in expectation of some greater virtue, remember him who said: "There is a way that seems good to a man, but its ends lead down to the depths of Hades" [Proverbs 16:25, LXX]. For Satan, for the most part, always hooks, by means of plausible-seeming pretexts, those who have had no experience of his evil contrivance.

Ταχέως ἐπάνελθε εἰς τὸ μοναστήριον, ὅθεν κακῶς ἐξῆλθες, μή ποτε ἔξω τῆς μάνδρας ἐπὶ πολὺ διατρίψας, βρῶμα γένῃ τῶν νοητῶν θηρίων. Εἰ δὲ λέγεις προσδοκίᾳ κρείττονός τινος ἀρετῆς ἀφίστασθαι τῆς μονῆς, μνήσθητι τοῦ εἰπόντος ὅτι, Ἔστιν ὁδὸς δοκοῦσα ἀγαθὴ εἶναι ἀνδρὶ, τὰ μέντοι τελευταῖα αὐτῆς φέρει εἰς τὸν πυθμένα τοῦ ᾅδου. Ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ Σατανᾶς ὡς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ταῖς εὐλογοφανίαις ἀγιστρεῦει τοὺς τῆς κακομηχανίας αὐτοῦ μὴ ἐσχηκότας πεῖραν.