Letter 761

To Ursacius the Defensor [ekdikos, a legal advocate/church official]. On the Lord's Day we pray standing, thereby imaging forth the steadfastness of the age to come. But on the other days we bend the knees, signifying the fall of the human race through sin. And as we rise up from kneeling, we make manifest the resurrection given to us through Christ, accomplished on the Lord's Day. You will be required to render account not only for an idle word on the coming day of the judgment of the world, but also for idle and vain hearing. For the divine oracles declare: "Do not accept vain talk" [cf. Exodus 23:1]. Let us not, therefore, lend belief readily to those who revile, nor without first putting them to the test.

Τῇ Κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἑστῶτες εὐχόμεθα, τὸ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος στάσιμον ἐκτυποῦντες. Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἡμέραις τὰ γόνατα κλίνομεν, τὴν διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας πτῶσιν δηλοῦντες τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου γένους. Ἐγειρόμενοι δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς γονυκλισίας, τὴν διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡμῖν δοθεῖσαν ἀνάστασιν ἐμφαίνομεν, τελεσθεῖσαν κατὰ τὴν Κυριακήν. Οὐ μόνον περὶ ἀργοῦ ῥήματος εὐθύνας ἀπαιτηθήσῃ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος ἡμέραν τῆς οἰκουμένης διαγνώσεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀργῆς, καὶ ματαίας ἀκοῆς. Φάσκουσι γὰρ τὰ θεῖα θεσπίσματα· Μὴ παραδέχῃ τὴν ματαίαν λαλιάν. Μὴ τοίνυν προχείρως τοῖς λοιδοροῦσι πειθώμεθα, μηδὲ ἀδοκιμάστως.