Letter 879

To Gaudentius the Cellarer [the monastic official in charge of provisions]. From every quarter those who love God with the whole soul find joy of heart, and they take to their bosom the wealth of thanksgiving toward the Lord and of doxology. When, therefore, you behold the year completed, give thanks to the Master, that he has brought you into the circuit of the years. Pierce your own heart with compunction, reckon up the number of your life, say to yourself: The days run on, and they pass away, the years are filled up, we have advanced far along the road; have I, then, accomplished any good? Shall I perhaps depart from here destitute of all righteousness, and empty? The tribunal is already made ready; my life from now on hastens on toward old age. Let us therefore reckon up, O soul, the age that is to come. Let us be afraid, lest the Prophet cry out also concerning us, that "Their days were consumed in vanity, troubled with haste" [Psalm 77:33 LXX]. But these things I have discoursed to one who wishes his soul to be profited, not his body. For I know well that you never endure to keep festival at the popular public assembly, nor do you give yourself eagerly to the playthings of demons, and to the gain-mongers [actors and showmen who hawk for profit], and to the other countless deceptions of the eyes, and to the horse-races, but that then most of all you betake yourself to the houses of prayer, because you see all the more senseless people hastening to the contests of horses, and roaming off to the theaters worthy of the curse, and to the soul-snatching processions of the devil.

Πανταχόθεν οἱ ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπῶντες, χαρὰν καρδίας εὑρίσκουσι, καὶ τὴν τῆς εὐχαριστίας τῆς πρὸς τὸν Κύριον, καὶ τῆς δοξολογίας πλοῦτον διεγκολπίζονται. Ὅταν τοίνυν θεάσῃ πεπληρωμένον τὸ ἔτος, εὐχαρίστησον τῷ Δεσπότῃ, ὅτι σε εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐτῶν περίοδον ἤνεγκε. Κατάνυξον τὴν σεαυτοῦ καρδίαν, ἀναλόγισαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῆς ζωῆς, εἰπὲ πρὸς σεαυτόν· Αἱ ἡμέραι τρέχουσι, καὶ παρέρχονται, οἱ ἐνιαυτοὶ πληροῦνται, πολὺ τῆς ὁδοῦ προεκόψαμεν· ἆρά τί μοι κατείργασται ἀγαθόν; Ἆρα μήποτε ἔρημος δικαιοσύνης ἁπάσης, καὶ κενὸς ἐντεῦθεν ἀπέλθω; Τὸ δικαστήριον ἤδη προὐτρεπίσται, πρὸς γήρας μοι λοιπὸν ἐπείγεται ἡ ζωή. Ἀναλογισώμεθα λοιπόν, ὦ ψυχή, τὸν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα. Φοβηθῶμεν καὶ καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὁ Προφήτης βοήσῃ, ὅτι «Ἐξέλιπον ἐν ματαιότητι αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτῶν μετὰ σπουδῆς τεταραγμέναι. Ταῦτα πρὸς δὲ διελέχθην ὠφελεῖσθαι βουλόμενον τὴν ψυχήν, οὐ τὸ σῶμα. Εὖ γὰρ οἶδα, ὅτι οὐδέποτε δημοτικὴν πανήγυριν ἑορτάζειν ἀνέχῃ, οὐδὲ σπουδάζεις παιγνίοις δαιμόνων, καὶ κερδούλοις, καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις μυρίαις ὀφθαλμοπλανίαις, καὶ ταῖς ἱπποδρομίαις, ἀλλὰ τότε μάλιστα τοὺς (1) Εὖ γὰρ οἶδα ὅτι οὐδέποτε δημοτικὴν πανήγυριν ἑορτάζειν ἀνέχῃ. (2) Κερδούλοις. (3) Κερδούλοις. εὐκτηρίους οἴκους καταλαμβάνεις (4), ὅτι βλέπεις πάντας τοὺς ἀφρονεστέρους πρὸς τὰς τῶν ἵππων ἀμίλλας ἐπειγομένους, καὶ ῥεμβομένους εἰς τὰ ἄξια τῆς κατάρας θέατρα, καὶ τὰς ψυχολαβεῖς τοῦ διαβόλου πομπάς.