Letter 2001: Thanks be to God that the merit of your faith grows in works just as it advances in devotion.

From: Graecus, bishop To: Ruricius (before he became bishop) Date: ~480 AD Context: A short letter from Bishop Graecus praising Ruricius for his charity toward those in need — a window into the aristocratic Christian networks of late fifth-century Gaul. Graecus to his lord Ruricius, a son to be honored for the distinction of his faith and magnified for the merits of his devotion. Thanks be to God that the merit of your faith grows in works just as it advances in devotion. You anticipate the needs of those who are struggling with your care, nurture them with your kindness, and sustain them with your generosity. By these things, as the apostle says, you are "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope" [Romans 12:11-12], and you are storing up for yourselves the divine rewards of eternal life. But in your excellence these things are nothing new. Your spirit, as full of the fear of God as it is of love — love, I say, which alone grows by being practiced and increases by being given away, knowing its full weight yet feeling no loss. For when it is spent, it is not used up; rather, the more it is extended, the more it grows. Its grace so rewards the one who receives it that the one who gives it is not diminished. Like the divine nature itself, it gives what it has, and still has what it gave.

I. DOMINO RELIGIONIS HONORE SUBLIMI AC FIDEI MERITIS MAGNIFICANDO FILIO RURICIO GRAECUS. Gratias domino, quod fidei uestrae meritum sicut proficit deuotione ita crescit et opere. laborantium necessitates sollicitudine praeuenis, benignitate foues, humanitate sustentas. his enim rebus iuxta apostolum spiritu feruentes, domino seruientes, spe gaudentes diuinas uobis (uitae) aeternae retributiones adquiritis. sed in sublimitate uestra ista non noua sunt, quia animus uester, sicut plenus est dei timore, ita plenus est caritate, caritate, inquam, quae sola usu proficit et largiendo succrescit et pensum sciens et detrimenta non sentiens. dum enim dependitur, non expenditur, sed magis, dum prorogatur, augetur eiusque gratia ita muneratur percipiens, ut non minoretur inpertiens, quae ad similitudinem diuinitatis dat, quod (habet), habetque, quod dederit.