Letter 397: Theodore Studite, Letter 397; Greek heading: Μοναζούσῃ παραινετική.

The present time is of such a kind that it compels us to be anxious on one another's behalf, because of the dignity of our shared soul and shared faith, since God has called together as one Church, that is, as one community, all who hold fast to the truth and confess it within her. Just as, therefore, it is not without danger for a member of the same monastery not to be concerned for his fellow disciples, or for a superior not likewise to be concerned for his pupils, so it is for all of us, since, as has been said, we are one cenobitic [communal-monastic] Church. I visit you by means of this letter, and I ask how it is that you fare in the Lord, O spiritual sister, whether you remain in the good confession of Christ, whether you keep the deposit of the faith secure through the Holy Spirit, whether you stand firm in God, not being terrified by the impious. Well done, well done! May you be strengthened still more, and to such a degree that you may sing together with the holy David: "I will not fear when the earth is troubled and the mountains are removed into the hearts of the seas" [Psalm 45/46]. For one who is truly steadfast in faith is altogether immovable from the love of Christ, from which neither tribulation, nor distress, nor famine, nor persecution, nor peril, nor sword is able to separate him [cf. Romans 8:35]. By this confidence all the saints were made perfect, and may your honored self be of the same; for you are not less noble than Thecla [first-century virgin-martyr], than Phebronia [martyred nun], and than the blessed choir that is gathered around them. A daughter of God, a bride of Christ as those women were, are you yourself also; and for His sake the martyrdom is even now just as it was then. Let us endure, therefore, I beseech you, not only in the afflictions in which we now are, but even if all the things foretold above should come upon us. God is no respecter of persons, loving us with the same love with which He loved those of old. These things I write in brief, knowing that from your own household and from others your venerable dignity has its consolations; yet receive them from us also, that you may know that we are bound to feel for you as our own, as is fitting, and so that you may pray that we sinners too may be strengthened.