Letter 117: Theodore Studite, Letter 117; Greek heading: Τῷ αὐτῷ.

You have been vigilant, my child, to grant me a little freedom from care; and may the God of my father have mercy on you and give you rest. When I learned what you reported, I gave thanks to the Lord. They are all glad tidings of joy: both the exiles of the most holy bishops, endured for Christ's sake, and the steadfast resistance of our good brethren. Concerning these things there is also much anxiety for me, and much brooding for me in my lowliness, as I consider how matters will turn out for them; for they are contending more strenuously than all the rest. But Christ will be the defender both of these, and indeed of the abbots as well, to say nothing of those of the region. But you, O my child, since you are helped and sheltered by God, do not spare yourself in writing letters, in visiting, in giving support, in admonishing, in consoling, in rousing from sleep, in instructing, in anointing those outside, those within, those who are afflicted, those who run their course well; and not only thus far, but indeed also those who are not subject to our hand. For you must press on still further for Christ's sake, that is to say, employing dispensation [oikonomia, the prudent management or accommodation permitted in pastoral and disciplinary matters] and right timing; for now the disciples too must become teachers. As for me, then, the useless one, if I should obtain an opportunity and a trustworthy letter-carrier, whether from within or from without, I am eager to write to all the exiled fathers (for it greatly benefits both the one who writes and the one who receives it, since it is both customary for the saints and useful for the Church); but indeed I, the dog and the flea, am preparing to cry out even to the ends of the inhabited world. And who would be my fellow-worker in this except you, who beyond all the brethren are the ardent lover both of Christ and of me, the wretched one? We are living here by the grace of Christ and by your prayers, as I wrote beforehand through Adrian, lacking in nothing except books; but these too will come, whenever the Lord makes the way prosper. Pray for me, my child, more fervently, that I may be saved.