Letter 128: Theodore Studite, Letter 128; Greek heading: Βησσαρίωνι τέκνῳ.
Theodore Studite→Recipient in Theodore Studite Letter 128: Βησσαρίωνι τέκνῳ|c. 817 AD|Theodore Studite|From Studios Monastery, Constantinople|AI-assisted
monasticismcorrespondenceexile
Joy is mine on your account, my beloved child Bessarion, because you have become one of God's elect among your brethren, choosing in every way what is most excellent and speaking boldly on behalf of the truth. You have entered through imprisonment like gold into the furnace; you played the man beforehand, you were imprisoned beforehand, you confessed, and the Lord has recorded your testimony [martyria, also "martyrdom"]. For what else did the martyrs do? To die, plainly, for the sake of Christ. This you too are doing in your resolve; for you are always dying in the prison. Glory to God who has glorified you, thanks to Him who has called you to so great a glory. Alas for those who have denied [the faith], for Orestes the wretched and for Aphratios: for the sake of a little ease they have fallen away from Christ, behaving disgracefully now, and in the age to come they will be denied by the very Christ whom they denied. They, then, are in such a state, like the old tares. But you, my child, complete your course, enduring the afflictions, choosing even to be perfected through blood, so that you may dance in the chorus together with the martyrs, so that through you I also, the sinner, may be glorified. Yes, my child, prove yourself the best, as you began, even to the end, praying also for me, the sinner. The brother Nicholas greets you.
Joy is mine on your account, my beloved child Bessarion, because you have become one of God's elect among your brethren, choosing in every way what is most excellent and speaking boldly on behalf of the truth. You have entered through imprisonment like gold into the furnace; you played the man beforehand, you were imprisoned beforehand, you confessed, and the Lord has recorded your testimony [martyria, also "martyrdom"]. For what else did the martyrs do? To die, plainly, for the sake of Christ. This you too are doing in your resolve; for you are always dying in the prison. Glory to God who has glorified you, thanks to Him who has called you to so great a glory. Alas for those who have denied [the faith], for Orestes the wretched and for Aphratios: for the sake of a little ease they have fallen away from Christ, behaving disgracefully now, and in the age to come they will be denied by the very Christ whom they denied. They, then, are in such a state, like the old tares. But you, my child, complete your course, enduring the afflictions, choosing even to be perfected through blood, so that you may dance in the chorus together with the martyrs, so that through you I also, the sinner, may be glorified. Yes, my child, prove yourself the best, as you began, even to the end, praying also for me, the sinner. The brother Nicholas greets you.
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.