Letter 127: Theodore Studite, Letter 127; Greek heading: Λιτοΐῳ τέκνῳ.

My word to you will not run through a long preamble, for the emotion of my overflowing joy does not permit me, my child, to defer my voice. Since, then, you have said, "I have sinned," the Lord has put away your sin [cf. 2 Samuel 12:13], he who is slow to anger and swift to compassion. But what shall I render to my Lord, because he did not in the end overlook my lowliness so as to let me lose a sheep which I had won with much labor and longing, which I had in my flock among the distinguished ones, whose voice was heard and answered back most sweetly, whose bearing showed itself exceedingly well-ordered? And what need is there to say much? I have found what I had lost; I have clasped to my breast the one who had been snatched away from me. Our guardian angels rejoice together with me, my fellow members of the flock share in the gladness, those of godly mind are made glad, and Belial alone is sullen, the soul-destroying wolf. And even if the bites are many, the remedies are kindly and able to heal. Do not, therefore, be weighed down, O fair child: I, the lowly one, am with you; I lay down my own neck for the sake of your soul. Only take courage, only stand firm in the commandments of our God from this point onward. What is this? That you be together with the brother of yours with whom you have now chosen to live, that you give heed to the holy commandments, that you flee the places of harm, the deadly noose of the heresy [the iconoclast heresy, the controversy over the veneration of icons], gathering whatever is good, whatever is profitable, bearing patiently the afflictions of your wandering here and there because of the present necessity, and praying also for me the sinner. May you be kept safe, my beloved child, from now and unto the age.