Letter 240: Theodore Studite, Letter 240; Greek heading: Δωροθέῳ τέκνῳ ἑτέρῳ.

Good Dorotheus, greetings. May grace and mercy be yours from God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who has strengthened you to give yourself up on his behalf to scourgings and blows, to imprisonment and exile. Whence has this good come to you? From obscurity you have become conspicuous, from the inglorious you have become glorious, and from being the least of your brethren in the Lord you have become great and honored. Do you see how I, the lowly one, converse with you? Many of those who rank above you long to receive a single syllable of mine, yet to you goes a letter, and that with words of praise; for thus does God glorify those who glorify him. Praise God, give thanks, that he has done great and marvelous things for you, so that you are now named among Christians a confessor [homologetes, one who suffers for the faith without being put to death] of his. You have outshone many bishops, many abbots, many hermits, shining forth in the Church; look to your calling, look to your glory. Do not grow drowsy, do not fall away, but struggle in endurance unto death; for he who endures to the end, this man, it says [cf. Matthew 10:22], shall be saved. With all watchfulness keep yourself from slipping into any passion of dishonor; for this too is a great martyrdom, to keep one's conscience pure from sin. Cleanse it continually through repentance, through tears, through prayers, praying also for me the sinner, that I may be saved from every evil work. Your brethren who are with me greet you many times over. May God, my beloved child, preserve you in all things unharmed and unscathed, fulfilling the contest set before you in the Lord. Amen.