Letter 239: Theodore Studite, Letter 239; Greek heading: Δωροθέῳ τέκνῳ.

Once again I begin to write to you, my beloved child; for the letter of yours that I received was a reply to my earlier message. How, then, are you faring, I ask; how do you pass your days? Well, I know (and I speak according to God: for what is sweeter than to suffer for the truth?), but as regards the body, even most grievously, since the confinement is itself of the harshest kind, and moreover the bread given to you is hard to eat, as has been reported to me. But what is to be expected of the man who holds you in custody, who is unbending and a soldier of the guard, not a monk - one who reckons it a great matter even to speak? Yet the season has brought it about that the men of God should be made manifest, and the tares as well, on the opposing side. At the adulterous synod [the council that condoned the unlawful marriage of the emperor] they put forward pretexts in their sins; now they have been refuted, that even those things they did were acts of impiety. So much for those men. But you, O my beloved child, just as in former times you suffered thus for Christ's sake, so also now you suffer, dwelling in a prison for his sake, alone in it - yet not alone; for Christ is with you, and the angel who guards your life. Let us endure, I beg you, him who is preparing for us the crowns of endurance; even if we are choked by deprivation, yet let us be made sweet by hope; even if we are pressed by want, yet let us take heart by eager expectation. For why not? Is the Lord not able to rain down loaves out of the unseen, and every other thing that is edible? But he awaits our endurance, so that he may crown us, that he may glorify and gladden us unto the ages. Yes, child, I beseech you, bear it nobly, passing day by day, and not, through the long stretch of time, bringing on listlessness [akedia: spiritual sloth or despondency] in your soul. Behold, this world is like a dream; all things will pass away, but he who does the will of the Lord will live forever and will not die. Renewing your soul always with these reflections, rejoice, for great is your reward in the heavens.