Letter 464: Theodore Studite, Letter 464; Greek heading: Μαριανῷ σπαθαρίῳ.

Your piety draws us to write, finding in it, as Scripture says, a benefit (though I think not, since with us our discourse, like our life, is useless), but rather being carried along by love; for love, the apostle says, reckons no evil. Yet, however that may be, I yield and am persuaded by our dear friend, the good man, the all-praiseworthy commander, the foster-child of piety, the nursling of orthodoxy, the man of God, the lover of monks. Many are your praises, most excellent your deeds of valor. But take heed, my lord, how you walk (for this is what the apostle cries aloud), not as unwise, but as wise; not as a lover of the flesh, but as a lover of God; not as one immortal, but as one mindful of his departure, the common debt, the boundary that cannot be overstepped; for there is no one, Scripture says, who shall live and not see death. What, then, are the marks of each of the two, you might ask? I will set them out for you, my friend. Of the first there are: dancings, jestings, games, foul talk, drunkenness, gluttony, vain elations, empty puffings-up, one ornamentation after another, the lusts of love of wealth, and the more numerous and weightier things I leave aside out of respect for your authority; and indeed those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, the apostle has declared. Come now, let me point out to you the powers of the other: poverty of spirit, tears of compunction [katanyxis: heartfelt contrition], gentleness, peace, almsgiving, the contemplation of the mind toward God, freedom from love of money, hatred of the world, self-sufficiency, self-control; according to the strength of one's ability in each thing, to love above one's spouse, above children, above parents, above brothers, above all simply, the Lord who made us, who for each single one gave himself over unto death. These things and the like belong also to the true Christian; for do not suppose, my master, that what has been said applies to the monk only, and not to the layman as well in all respects (even if in the monk it applies more intensely), except for celibacy and the renunciation of possessions, in which the man of the world is not condemned. Yet even here there are seasons for self-control and ordinances of self-sufficiency; for having, Scripture says, food and coverings, with these we shall be content, while those who wish to be rich fall into the inescapable pit. And again: that even those who have wives should be as though they had none. Behold, my master, you have compelled me to announce to you the ordinance of God. Let us both make haste to be saved; sufficient for us is the time of life that is past for having wrought the will of the flesh. Now, the apostle says, is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. Behold, the good God awaits our fruit until the last breath; let him not say, Cut it down, why does it even use up the ground? Let him not shut the door against us with no further opening; let not the devil take us to his own portion, to be punished together everlastingly; let us not be suddenly snatched away. How many times have we given pledges that, if we should be delivered from sickness, or from this danger, or from that affliction, we would live well, we would serve God genuinely, and again we forgot our covenants? Until when will he bear with us? How long will he allow it? It is altogether necessary that a little later we depart from this place. Let us not, then, be found unprepared in good works, lest the woe be for us everlasting and without end, but rather in the readiness of well-pleasing, so that we may be counted worthy to reign together with the Lord unto ages without end. So be it.