In everything you go before me, my child, God in every way prospering the way; for the note and the imperial agent [basilikos, an officer dispatched on the emperor's business] arrived together, reporting to us all that he had been asked, and indeed also the things that had been enjoined upon him by the emperor. And these were: "If you find that he has been teaching certain people, or that he says, 'I am free to teach,' flog him with a hundred lashes." The man said these things too with respect, even begging pardon for the speech; but I answered, "Here, where I am confined, I have no one to converse with except, if anything, the birds," and, simply, as I made clear through the one who exiled me, the same things also through the lord Leo. But he declined to speak in this way. So I said to him, "For my part it is thus, and I am ready to strip for it." He himself, however, as you know. With these words I also dismissed the man. And I rejoiced that the archbishop and the brethren had been released. I had it in mind to write to him, but on account of the trial [peirasmos, the testing/temptation of persecution] I refrained. So make this apology to him; for as in a trial he too confined himself in those parts. And I know that he is grieved, just as the imperial agent also told me, but it is as the Lord has dispensed [ordained by His oikonomia, His providential dispensation]. Greet him sincerely and urge him to pray concerning my lowliness, and likewise the brethren who are with him, my brothers and children, and especially the chief presbyter [protopresbyteros] and the abba Timothy. Take pains yourself too, so far as is in your power, and those around the abba Tithoes, to give him rest, regarding him as you would me. And that you may have the knowledge of it: to the lord Isaac I wrote nothing other than, "May God give you the reward of the visit, because you alone wrote to me; and pray that I may please God even for a single day." Whether, then, for this reason or for some other, for Christ's sake I have this to say: that I am ready for the scourges, even though in every way I flee the trial out of sparing for my own weakness, and for yours and for that of those who carry it out. In this manner, then, do you yourself also continue, especially in your service toward me, both writing and sending, as much as you see to be the will of God. With this, all things are desirable to me, even if the ruler threatens fire, even sword, even wild beasts, even anything whatever; not that I am strong (for I am feebler than a spider's web), but because God wills that every Christian be so disposed; yet because what has happened came about by dispensation [oikonomia]; for the guards made themselves secure, and the elder who is here went out, and the monk too. We have God and your prayers. At a suitable time make known where the brethren have been scattered, and whether the ten and the seven received the letters, and whether it is possible to send to the ten as we said. Those who are with me send many greetings.
In everything you go before me, my child, God in every way prospering the way; for the note and the imperial agent [basilikos, an officer dispatched on the emperor's business] arrived together, reporting to us all that he had been asked, and indeed also the things that had been enjoined upon him by the emperor. And these were: "If you find that he has been teaching certain people, or that he says, 'I am free to teach,' flog him with a hundred lashes." The man said these things too with respect, even begging pardon for the speech; but I answered, "Here, where I am confined, I have no one to converse with except, if anything, the birds," and, simply, as I made clear through the one who exiled me, the same things also through the lord Leo. But he declined to speak in this way. So I said to him, "For my part it is thus, and I am ready to strip for it." He himself, however, as you know. With these words I also dismissed the man. And I rejoiced that the archbishop and the brethren had been released. I had it in mind to write to him, but on account of the trial [peirasmos, the testing/temptation of persecution] I refrained. So make this apology to him; for as in a trial he too confined himself in those parts. And I know that he is grieved, just as the imperial agent also told me, but it is as the Lord has dispensed [ordained by His oikonomia, His providential dispensation]. Greet him sincerely and urge him to pray concerning my lowliness, and likewise the brethren who are with him, my brothers and children, and especially the chief presbyter [protopresbyteros] and the abba Timothy. Take pains yourself too, so far as is in your power, and those around the abba Tithoes, to give him rest, regarding him as you would me. And that you may have the knowledge of it: to the lord Isaac I wrote nothing other than, "May God give you the reward of the visit, because you alone wrote to me; and pray that I may please God even for a single day." Whether, then, for this reason or for some other, for Christ's sake I have this to say: that I am ready for the scourges, even though in every way I flee the trial out of sparing for my own weakness, and for yours and for that of those who carry it out. In this manner, then, do you yourself also continue, especially in your service toward me, both writing and sending, as much as you see to be the will of God. With this, all things are desirable to me, even if the ruler threatens fire, even sword, even wild beasts, even anything whatever; not that I am strong (for I am feebler than a spider's web), but because God wills that every Christian be so disposed; yet because what has happened came about by dispensation [oikonomia]; for the guards made themselves secure, and the elder who is here went out, and the monk too. We have God and your prayers. At a suitable time make known where the brethren have been scattered, and whether the ten and the seven received the letters, and whether it is possible to send to the ten as we said. Those who are with me send many greetings.
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.