Letter 232: Theodore Studite, Letter 232; Greek heading: Φιλίππῳ μονάζοντι.

The things that have befallen you, spiritual child, have become known to us. And what are they? That, after you confessed before God and the elect angels, in the hearing both of the steward [oikonomos, the monastery's administrator] and of the brotherhood present together, that you are our child and numbered together with the others, it came about, upon the falling asleep [death] of your father according to the flesh, that you were taken up into the charge of the brothers in that place there, through the mediation of brother Theodoulos, our child also, he having been sent by the steward, and by my deputy, and by the brothers under him, all of them cooperating toward this very thing. And indeed we too, the lowly, have received the vote, sealing in the Holy Spirit what has been done, namely that you are to be abbot of the monastery there, as one put forward by our very selves and given as head of the body of that same brotherhood, having through you taken them all to ourselves. We rejoice, therefore, in these things, and we hold you as one who in that place follows and is being made a disciple to us, yet who goes before the rest in the Lord. See then, child, how you are to live: in a manner befitting God and according to the rule [canonically], in imitation of our brotherhood, being directed straight toward every commandment of God. And since what is now sought is the guarding of orthodoxy, guard yourself, child, keeping altogether away from communion with the heretics, being ready for every affliction and constraint for the sake of Christ, on whose account is also the war of persecution everywhere. Stand firmly against the assaults of the adversaries of the faith; do not be terrified; do not betray Christ by betraying the truth. If it is necessary to be persecuted, be persecuted rejoicing; it is good to be driven into exile together with Christ. If the occasion should demand yet something further, give your body to the scourges, your blood to the witness [martyrdom] of Christ, rousing up in this also those under your hand to suffer the same things, teaching, admonishing, exhorting, anointing, arming them like a good front-line soldier of Christ. Please the God who has enlisted you for this good campaign, not binding yourself together with the desire for earthly things, because all things pass away and are foreign to us, since we are all sojourners and pilgrims. Where is the one who brought you forth into the light? Has he not passed away? Did he not leave all things behind, taking up one thing only, the burden of his works, whether good or otherwise? If you are directed straight to conduct your life in this way, behold, the spirit of my humility is with you. I confess you to be a precious member of mine, a genuine child in the portion of our brotherhood, or, to speak more intimately, in the lot of the saints. You have received the flock of Christ: keep watch, shepherd it, labor like Jacob in the frost of the spiritual night and in the burning heat of the day, strengthening what is sick, turning back what has gone astray, binding up what is broken, driving off the spiritual beasts with prayers, presenting yourself in all things as a pattern of good works, so that through your well-pleasing shepherding you may be worthy of the kingdom of the heavens, praying at the same time also for us, that as we have been entrusted by God to teach, so we may walk doing it also. Farewell, man.