Letter 174: Theodore Studite, Letter 174; Greek heading: Ἐφραὶμ τέκνῳ.

Greetings, child Ephraim, good soldier of Christ. How are you? How fares the exile? How fares your endurance? Do you give thanks to God that you have been counted worthy to suffer for His name the things you have suffered? Do you glorify Him and praise Him that out of the whole brotherhood you have become one of the ten, second in being flogged and first in the [monastic] habit? Do you hymn Him and cherish Him that you saw your blood poured out upon the ground and your flesh scraped away for the sake of the holy icon [eikon = sacred image, here of Christ, whose veneration the iconoclasts condemned] of Christ? Thanks be to the Lord, my brother, who called you into the confession of Him together with the rest. You have shone among your brothers, or rather in the Church of God. Look, then, upon your calling; look upon your glory: where you were, below, and to what height Christ has raised you. For consider yourself and your own circumstances, and give glory to the good God, because it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy [cf. Romans 9:16]. Stand fast, then, still, my child, bearing the toil of the thoughts within; for this is a great war, and unceasing until the end of life. As you fought nobly outwardly, having borne the blows and imprisonments, fight nobly also against those who war invisibly, who are more bitter than the bodily tyrants, that you may receive the reward of your crowning. The contest still lies before you; do not grow faint, whatever God may permit or be pleased to have laid upon you. Do not be persuaded by anyone, even by an angel, to think anything other than what you all received from God: to venerate [proskynein = to do reverence, the act of icon-veneration at issue in the controversy] the icons of the saints together with that of Christ and of the all-holy Theotokos [Mother of God]. And may the peace of God govern your heart in all endurance and consolation. Pray for me, the humble one, that I may be preserved. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings. Grace be with you. Amen.