Letter 816

To Theophanes the Scholasticus [scholastikos, an advocate or lawyer]. "If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out" [Matthew 5:29] is similar to what was said through Moses, namely: "If your wife who is in your bosom, and if your friend who is as your own soul, should ever wish to draw you away from the Lord your God, do not spare them, nor pity them, nor shield them" [cf. Deuteronomy 13:6].

Ἐὰν σκανδαλίζῃ σε ὁ δεξιὸς ὀφθαλμός, ἔκβαλε αὐτόν· ὅμοιον τῷ εἰρημένῳ παρὰ τῷ Μωϋσῇ, ὅτι Ἐὰν ἡ γυνή σου ἡ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ σου, καὶ ἐὰν ὁ φίλος σου, ὁ ἴσος τῆς ψυχῆς σου θελήσῃ ποτὲ ἀποστῆσαί σε ἀπὸ Κυρίου Θεοῦ σου, μὴ φείσῃ αὐτῶν, μηδὲ κατελεήσῃς αὐτούς, μηδὲ περιποιήσῃ.