Letter 261: Theodore Studite, Letter 261; Greek heading: Πάρδῳ μιθανῇ.

I write to Your Honor as in duty bound, because you are a man of God and, among friends, the true and faithful one; for indeed such a friend is tested in trials, not turning aside from friendship, but preserving the proof of love toward God and toward one's neighbor. But those who are not so are perverse and misanthropic, altered according to the times and circumstances. You know in your own heart what good things you do; and witnesses to them are also our brethren who share in them, who burden you much, but who also give thanks most greatly, because you become for them a refuge and a nurse of the young [literally a 'rearer of children,' here meaning their sustainer], very kind and exceedingly able, not cowering before the present time as the rest do, but trembling before God, the only one to be feared, whom you also serve through the brethren, and who will likewise proclaim you publicly in the time of recompense as his benefactor, as his host and entertainer of strangers, as his giver of nourishment. Having, then, such hopes, O man of God, rejoice and be glad, and consider that you are gathering together much wealth in this most excellent enterprise of yours, wealth that is not perishable, but that abides unto the ages, for the acquisition of the kingdom of the heavens. Farewell in the Lord.