Letter 194: Theodore Studite, Letter 194; Greek heading: Ἀθανασίῳ τέκνῳ.

Gladly did I receive your letter this time too, my beloved child. And when I had read it, I was the more gladdened, finding you to be such a man as I knew you to be from the beginning - or, to put it more intimately, such a one as I begot in the Holy Spirit. And this indeed is wonderful: that through a long absence the longing of the one who loves remains unchanged toward the one who is loved, and that the disciple thirsts to behold the face of the teacher, being so joined to the teacher that he keeps his affection unquenchable. But the cause of this is your unfeigned obedience [hypotage, monastic submission], and that, unwilling and against your wish, you were parted from me - unworthy as I am - for the sake of a higher dispensation [oikonomia, the providential ordering of affairs], which both the present occasion and the one preceding it have shown to stand well and altogether rightly. Love on, then, my child, toiling together and contending together with our brother and high priest [archiereus, the bishop] (for no small is the praise and the reward for you), and what is more, train yourself for the contest now at hand on behalf of Christ; for you see what manner of things are being done. It is a time of martyrdom, as you have heard, in addition to what went before, also the affairs of your brethren. Do not, then, my beloved and longed-for brother, be free of care as though you were far off from those who punish, but make a divine preparation: "My heart is ready, O God" [Psalm 56:7], adding, "for whatever you may also deem me worthy to come to." The brother Thaddaeus is a martyr of Christ, made perfect in the blood of an athlete; for even if anyone else from our community, or from outside as well, is still contending amid exiles, imprisonments, having been beaten, yet none is as Thaddaeus the crowned victor. Let us therefore glorify God for such a one as we have sent ahead from our choir into the heavens. We must groan over those who have slipped, and we must pray and keep watch over our own state, lest somehow, as Paul says, having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified [1 Corinthians 9:27]. Therefore, brother, make your prayer for me more fervent, that with firmness of soul I may war against the enemies both within and without; for as concerning my praying for you, the Lord is witness that seven times a day I take you up in my humble prayer, that you may be saved and may be greatly glorified in the Lord. Peace to you, wisdom, strength, my beloved; those with me greet you.