Nilus of Ancyra→Callinicus|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Callinicus the Monk.
"The high mountains are for the deer." [Psalm 103:18 LXX (104:18)] And "The voice of the Lord that perfects the deer." [Psalm 28:9 LXX (29:9)] If, then, through the Lord's teaching and the divine rules of ascetic discipline you have been made a deer, and, stripped of the thickets of vice, you have taken courage against the intelligible beasts and will slay them, do not stop at this point, but hasten to run up to the high mountains of unceasing psalmody, and of perfection, and of that most blessed contemplation, than which nothing is higher; since indeed "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." [Matthew 5:8] And "Upon the high places the Lord visits me," so as to conquer the destroying demons in his way; and he sets me upon the high places, or, as another of the copies has it, he sets me upon the high places, "teaching my hands for war" [Psalm 17:35 LXX / 2 Samuel 22:35] against the devil. For it has been said also in the Gospels that "Those in Judaea," that is, those enlightened in the Church, "let them flee to the mountains" [Matthew 24:16] - the height of the virtues, and of the heavenly contemplation. For they are kindred.
"The high mountains are for the deer." [Psalm 103:18 LXX (104:18)] And "The voice of the Lord that perfects the deer." [Psalm 28:9 LXX (29:9)] If, then, through the Lord's teaching and the divine rules of ascetic discipline you have been made a deer, and, stripped of the thickets of vice, you have taken courage against the intelligible beasts and will slay them, do not stop at this point, but hasten to run up to the high mountains of unceasing psalmody, and of perfection, and of that most blessed contemplation, than which nothing is higher; since indeed "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." [Matthew 5:8] And "Upon the high places the Lord visits me," so as to conquer the destroying demons in his way; and he sets me upon the high places, or, as another of the copies has it, he sets me upon the high places, "teaching my hands for war" [Psalm 17:35 LXX / 2 Samuel 22:35] against the devil. For it has been said also in the Gospels that "Those in Judaea," that is, those enlightened in the Church, "let them flee to the mountains" [Matthew 24:16] - the height of the virtues, and of the heavenly contemplation. For they are kindred.
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.