Letter 188: Theodore Studite, Letter 188; Greek heading: Δωροθέῳ τέκνῳ.

I rejoice and I rejoice together with you, Dorotheus, you who are truly a gift of God [the name Dorotheos means "gift of God"]. For you your name has become a reality, your appellation has become a deed: you were flogged, my revered child, for the sake of Christ. Well done, athlete of steadfast heart, you whose flesh is gold, you more precious than sapphire, more beautiful than purple. Would that it were mine to embrace the scraping of your flesh, your holy limbs, which you have made into members of Christ, you whose blood is mingled with His blood! Well done, you who have been conformed to Christ, because you did not hesitate to enter the contest [the arena of martyrdom], nor did you prefer the present life to the eternal and undying one. For already in your resolve you have departed to the Lord, whom your fellow contestant and martyr Thaddaeus has reached; for it was perhaps for this reason that you were left still in the flesh, so that you might glorify God the more abundantly in your members. Oh, great joy in heaven and upon earth, that you have become martyrs of Christ! Oh, what a fine thing, that you have been shown to be pillars and foundations of the truth, that you have shone forth brighter than the sun, that you have given off radiance more precious than pearls! Oh, the magnitude of the gift! Oh, the praise! I cannot bear the delight; I have become carried out of myself in spirit. I have reached you, holy child, I embrace you, I crown you, I praise you. I ask: how went the contests, how did you bear the pains, how was your precious soul amid these things and at the very entrance of the ordeal? And it seems to me that you answer me thus: "Where there is the fear of God, there is contempt of death, disregard of the flesh, an ecstasy from one's attachment to the limbs, an attachment overcome by the sharpness of the pains by faith and love and hope in Christ." So it is, my own heart, lamb of Christ. But I beseech you, do not put me to shame, or rather, if it be bold to say it, do not put Christ to shame, but complete your struggle, setting your seal upon what is to come by what has gone before. Already you have been tempered like iron in fire, brother, by the searing of the scourges; Christ wishes you, as a vessel of election [the phrase Paul applies to himself, Acts 9:15], perhaps still to be wrought further upon the anvil, to dance together with Paul. Do not be afraid, my noble athlete; He who saved you and brought you through in the things that have already come upon you will be with you the more abundantly, and will rescue you from the mouth of the lion, both the spiritual and the perceptible one, crowning you among the martyrs. Now your name is heard abroad; now indeed God has begun to exalt you above high priests and priests, above stylites and teachers, above patriarchs and herbalists [or wonder-workers] -- the orthodox ones, that is. Do not fall, you who are a pillar; do not desert your post, you who are a confessor. Lift up your heart; let Christ be your breath, let your humility be mighty, the humility by which He who humbled Himself unto death conquered the ruler of this world, and granted to us also in Himself the power to conquer him. Pray for me, I entreat you as a lover of his father, that I may end my life in company with you all.