Letter 50

Nilus of AncyraPlutinus|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted

The two and a half tribes strive together with the nine and a half tribes for the inheritance [Numbers 32; Joshua 1:12-15]. For just as we wage war in faith, and in prayers, and in more divine works (for the weapons of our warfare, says the Apostle, are not carnal, but spiritual and powerful [2 Corinthians 10:4]), so too do those who of old were well-pleasing to God through the Law wage war and contend together with us in our zeal and in our most excellent hopes. For the mystical matters and the words of the Law and of the prophets run together with the preaching according to the Gospel, and the achievement becomes shared in common. Therefore the Israelites say to Joshua the son of Nun, when he is about to cross the Jordan with the whole army, that "As we obeyed Moses, so we will obey you also" [Joshua 1:17]. And Joshua the son of Nun bore the type of Jesus Christ, the Master of all things. Hence, when he was at first called Ausis [Hoshea], the all-wise Moses, foreseeing things to come with the eyes of his soul, named him Joshua [Jesus], so that he might signify the true Jesus, the Son of God, who beginning from his baptism proclaims the kingdom of heaven, and freely grants to us the inheritance above, unfading and eternal [Numbers 13:16].

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

Συναγωνίζονται ταῖς ἐννέα ἡμίσευ φυλαῖς πρὸς τὴν κληρονομίαν αἱ δύο ἥμισυ. Ὡς γὰρ ἡμεῖς στρατευόμεθα ἐν πίστει, καὶ εὐχαῖς, καὶ θειοτέροις ἔργοις (τὰ γὰρ ὅπλα τῆς στρατείας ἡμῶν, φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, οὐ σαρκικά, ἀλλὰ πνευματικὰ τε καὶ δυνατά), οὕτω στρατεύονται, καὶ συναγωνίζονται ἡμῖν ταῖς προβουμίαις, καὶ ταῖς καλλίσταις ἐλπίσιν οἱ πρώην εὐηρεστηκότες τῷ Θεῷ διὰ τοῦ νόμου. Τὰ γὰρ μυστικὰ πράγματα, καὶ οἱ λόγοι οἱ νόμοι, καὶ προφητῶν συντρέχουσι τῷ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν κηρύγματι, καὶ γίνεται κοινὸν τὸ κατόρθωμα. Διὸ φασὶν Ἰσραηλῖται Ἰησοῦ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ Ναυῆ μέλλοντι διαβαίνειν τὸν Ἰορδάνην πανστρατιᾷ, ὅτι «Καθὼς ἠκούσαμεν Μωϋσέως, οὕτως ἀκουσόμεθα καὶ σοῦ.» Ἰησοῦς δὲ ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ τύπον ἐφέρετο Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Δεσπότου τῶν ὅλων. Ὅθεν αὐτὸν Ἀσὶν τὸ πρῶτον καλούμενον, ὁ πάνσοφος Μωϋσῆς προβλέπων τὰ μέλλοντα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς Ἰησοῦν ἐπωνόμασεν, ὅπως σημαίνῃ τὸν ἀληθινὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀρχόμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος κηρύσσειν τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ δωρούμενον ἡμῖν τὴν ἄνω κληρονομίαν ἀπάνθητον, καὶ αἰώνιον.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern nilus ancyra workflow v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: project source import

Related Letters