Letter 980

To Epiphanius the Monk. Now we have been handed over to the devil and to the savage powers around him, being put to the test for our benefit. Now there is need of struggle, of the pancratium [an all-out contest], and of wrestling against our adversaries; now let us display our spiritual courage. Yet a little while, as the Scripture says, and we shall obtain great help from above, and we shall crush the various stings of the devil, and we shall set our feet upon the necks of our spiritual enemies, and we shall tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy that opposes us; only let us not grow faint. Blessed are you, for your great stillness and tranquillity, and for your deep freedom from terror, because you have spat upon all the things that whirl about in this corruptible life, and have anchored yourself, rejoicing, in the calm of the fairest harbor of that remote retreat there, having fled the open sea and the wave upon wave of human misery, and making one and only one concern your own: how you may please the Master, Christ, that with him you may be glorified together and reign together.

Νῦν τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ ταῖς ἀμφ’ αὐτὸν ἀγρίαις δυνάμεσι παρεδόθημεν πειρασθέντες πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον ἡμῖν. Νῦν ἀγῶνος χρεία καὶ παγκρατίου καὶ πάλης πρὸς τοὺς ἀνταγωνιστάς· νῦν τὴν πνευματικὴν ἐπιδειξώμεθα ἀνδρείαν. Ἔτι μικρὸν, καθὰ φησιν ἡ Γραφὴ, καὶ βοηθείας ἄνωθεν μεγάλης τευξόμεθα, καὶ τὰ διάφορα κέντρα τοῦ διαβόλου συντρίψομεν, καὶ ἐπιθησόμεθα ἐπὶ τραχήλους τῶν νοητῶν ἡμῶν ἐχθρῶν, καὶ πατήσομεν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τὴν ἀντικειμένην ἡμῖν· μόνον μὴ ὀλιγωρήσωμεν. Μακάριος σύ, τῆς πολλῆς ἡσυχίας καὶ ἀταραξίας, καὶ τῆς βαθείας ἀπτοησίας, καθότι διέπτυσας πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ φθειρομένῳ βίῳ στροβδούμενα πράγματα, καὶ ἐν εὐδίᾳ λιμένος τῆς καλλίστης αὐτόθι ἐσχατιᾶς χαίρειν ἐγκαθωρμίσθης, πεφευγὼς μὲν τὸ πέλαγος καὶ τὰ ἐπάλληλα κύματα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ταλαιπωρίας, μίαν δὲ καὶ μόνην φροντίδα ποιούμενος, πῶς τῷ Δεσπότῃ ἀρέσεις Χριστῷ, ὅπως αὐτῷ καὶ συνδοξασθείῃς καὶ συμβασιλεύσειας.