Letter 702

To Pharismanimus Decembrius. Even if no pagan tyrant [Greek Hellen, i.e. a heathen persecutor] is persecuting you, nevertheless be ready for martyrdom, so that you may not be deprived of the eager resolve. For even if persecution is not at hand as you would wish, even so matters will stand thus for you. Rather, persecution is at hand throughout the whole of life: anger is at hand, shameful desire is at hand, at hand is the tyranny of despondency and of grief and of listlessness [akedia, the spiritual weariness of the ascetic]; untimely fear is near you, and envy stands beside you; the ruler of vainglory has set himself upon you, and of gluttony, and of drunkenness, and of the other ruinous passions. For each of these drives the human soul out of eternal life. Contend, therefore, and play the man against them as a soldier of Christ.

Ἐὰν μηδεὶς διώκῃ σε τύραννος Ἕλλην, ἀλλ' ὅμως γίνου ἕτοιμος εἰς μαρτύριον, ἵνα μὴ στερηθῇς τῆς προθυμίας. Κἂν γὰρ μὴ παρῇ διωγμὸς ὥσπερ θέλεις, οὕτως ἔσται σοι τὰ πράγματα. Μᾶλλον δὲ πάρεστι διωγμὸς διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου· πάρεστιν θυμός, πάρ- εστιν ἐπιθυμία αἰσχρά, πάρεστιν ἀθυμίας, καὶ λύπης, καὶ ἀκηδίας τυραννὶς, ἐγγύς σου φόβος ἄκαιρος, καὶ βασκανία παρίσταται, ἐφέστηκε σε κενοδοξίας ἄρχων καὶ λαιμαργίας, καὶ μέθης, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων λυμαντη- ρίων παθῶν. Τούτων γὰρ ἕκαστον τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ψυχὴν ἐκδιώκει τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς. Ἀγωνίζου τοίνυν, καὶ ἀνδρίζου κατ' αὐτῶν ὡς στρατιώτης Χριστοῦ.