Letter 431

To Anastasia the Virgin. Report speaks well of you, shining in your way of life more brightly than the moon, and exceedingly humble in mind. For it would be among the most marvelous of things to see a soul in an earthly body practicing the citizenship of the bodiless angels. And I once heard that such is the meaning of what is written: "You laid the foundation of the earth, and it abides. By your ordinance the day abides" [Psalm 118(119):90-91, Septuagint]. For he says we must understand "the day" to be virginity, which grows like a plant, set fast in the mortal flesh and founded by the right hand of the Most High. But pray over me, O unblemished bride of Christ the King, you who, by long time and by unbending toils, and by moderation of conduct, and by vigils, by sprinkling tears, and by the other countless right achievements, have acquired an unspeakable boldness of access toward the invisible and undefiled and holy Bridegroom.

Εὔφημά σε ὑπὲρ τὴν σελήνην τῷ βίῳ λαμπρυνο- μένην, καὶ ταπεινοφρονοῦσαν ὑπερβαλλόντως. Τῶν γὰρ παραδοξοτάτων ἂν εἴη βλέπειν ψυχὴν ἐν σώματι γηΐνῳ πολιτείαν ἐξασκοῦσαν ἀγγέλων ἀσωμάτων. Καὶ τοιοῦτον ἐγὼ ἠκούσέ ποτε εἶναι τὸ γεγραμμένον, ὅτι « Ἐθεμελίωσας τὴν γῆν, καὶ διαμένει. Τῇ διατάξει σου διαμένει ἡ ἡμέρα. » Ἡμέραν γάρ, φησίν, ἡμῖν νοητέον τὴν φυτοειδῆ παρθενίαν, ἐδραζομένην ἐν τῷ θνητῷ σαρκίῳ, καὶ θεμελιουμένην τῇ δεξιᾷ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, Ἀλλ' ὑπερεύχου μου, ἄμωμε νύμφη, τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοῦ, πολλῷ χρόνῳ, καὶ πόνοις ἀκαμ- πέσι, καὶ μετριότητι τρόπων, καὶ ἀγρυπνίαις, δά- κρυσι ψεκαζομένοις, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις μυρίοις, κατορ- θώμασι, παρρησίαν ἄρρητον κεκτημένη, πρὸς τὸν ἀόρατον, καὶ ἀμόλυντον, καὶ ἅγιον νυμφίον.