Letter 328: Theodore Studite, Letter 328; Greek heading: Ἰακώβῳ τέκνῳ.

You have written to me this and that, praising me in many words; but I am conscious of no good thing in myself. For you, however, I pray that, having made a beginning, you may also bring to completion the work of God, the martyrdom of the confession of Christ. Therefore endure, my beloved child, the hardships of imprisonment, purifying the inner man through the taking captive of contrary thoughts [logismoi: the inward suggestions and reasonings opposed to virtue]; for thus you will be ever ready for death on behalf of Christ. Blessed is not, simply, the one who has begun well, but the one who has completed the work of Christ. As for brother Lucian, I too mourn for him; yet nonetheless he has been overcome on account of my sins, and to call back a defeat is difficult. Pray both for him and for me the sinner, without ceasing.