Letter 154: Theodore Studite, Letter 154; Greek heading: Λιτοΐῳ τέκνῳ.

Through both of your letters, beloved child, I have now learned of your complete repentance and conversion, and especially that you have escaped from the haunts of the city by attaching yourself to the steward [oikonomos: the monastic official in charge of administration]. This has persuaded me to love you wholly, or rather to love God, on whose account I love and am loved, and in whom I have begotten you, my beloved son Litoios. So then, do not fall back into the things that went before, by which also you were tripped up through misfortunes that came from my sins. For is there no balm in Gilead? as it says; or does he who turns away not turn back? Turn back to me, God cries out. A soldier who has wrestled himself up is a soldier again, and likewise a helmsman; for even if we have committed the sin unto death, it is not the case that we can no longer live. We live again through repentance; for he who said it does not lie: As I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner so much as that he should turn back and live. So that after the death of sin it is possible to live again, but no longer after the departure from this life; for he has shut him in against himself, it says. Come then, brother, let us go before his face in confession; the Lord is near to those who call upon him. Be content, my child, with the steward, if you obey me; for those who long ago were overturning your exit [departure from the world] are enemies and not friends, neither yours nor God's. Labor a little, I beg you; lay hold of a beginning, of a habit watchful for salvation, because in the hour when we do not expect it the Lord comes. Remember, child, your renunciation, your subjection, the cutting away of your own will, and the rest of your labors and struggles. I am the guarantor of your salvation, I the sinner; I begot you, I will heal you. Only stand firm yourself, only swim up from the weight of despondency, only attend to yourself, only do not become solitary any longer, even if it should happen that you do not work alongside the steward, nor again in some way be together with him. These things for now, since also, whenever a letter-carrier turns up, I will not be slow to write back to you when you write. May the Lord himself of our salvation, having touched your heart, make light in your soul, comfort, awakening, and labor as far as is possible, and may he save you into his heavenly kingdom. My child, pray for me, that I too may be saved. Your brothers greet you.