Letter 416

To Eustathius the Archimandrite. [an archimandrite is the superior of a monastery] You diligently beautify a bulky little sack [the body], and you eagerly pamper the fat of the flesh, fattening yourself like a fowl in the darkness of ignorance. And what boldness, then, will you find, when he comes who judges all things?

Ὀγκῶδες θυλάκιον σπουδαίως φιλοκαλεῖς, καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ λίπος προθύμως περιποιῇ, δίκην ὄρνιθος σιτίζων σεαυτὸν ἐν σκότῳ τῆς ἀγνοίας. Καὶ ποίαν ἄρα παῤῥησίαν εὑρήσεις, ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ κρίνων τὰ σύμπαντα;