Letter 789

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

To Theocles the Presbyter.

Why are you astonished, when you are reproached and bitterly censured even by the very friends who once were of one mind with you? Remember the invincible Job; remember all the saints who made their way through every affliction. But why do I say these things? Call to mind Christ, the Master of all, who endured so great a trial at the hands of his own servants - mockery and ridicule, sneering and derision, spittings, humiliations, taunts, blows, countless outrages, and at last a dishonorable death - while practicing an unspeakable philosophy. And cease, then, from being so distressed [the final clause is damaged in the source].

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Τί θαυμάζεις, καὶ παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν ὁμοψύχων τὸ
πρὶν φίλων κατονειδιζόμενος καὶ ἄγαν ψεγόμενος;
Μνήσθητι τοῦ ἀηττήτου Ἰώβ· μνήσθητι πάντων τῶν
ἁγίων τῶν ὁδευσάντων διὰ πάσης θλίψεως. Τί ταῦτα
λέγω; μνημόνευον τοῦ Δεσπότου τῶν ὅλων Χριστοῦ,
τοῦ τοσαύτην ὑπὸ δούλων ἰδίων ὑπομεμενηκότος
περίστασιν καὶ σκώπην, μυκτηρισμόν τε καὶ χλευα-
σμόν, ἐμπτυσμούς, εὐτελισμούς, παροιμίας, κολα-
φισμούς, ὕβρεις μυρίας, καὶ τέλος τὸν ἄτιμον θάνα-
τον, καὶ φιλοσοφοῦντος φιλοσοφίαν ἀῤῥητον· καὶ λύ-
φησον ἀσχάλλων.

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

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