Letter 503: Theodore Studite, Letter 503; Greek heading: Κατηχητικὴ πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητάσ.

Since the holy Forty Days [Lent] is now upon us, I have thought it timely to speak a few words to you, O beloved children and most honored brothers, urged on as I am by the Apostle to exhort, to rebuke, to reprove, in season and out of season. But now the season of the fast has within it an exhortation that needs no teacher, for it knows how to prick to compunction even the hard-hearted. Receive then, brothers, with gladness the days of cheerfulness, each one in the lodging in which he is hosted carrying out the customary observances according to his ability, that through stillness [hesychia] and moderate diet we may purify the heart, give wings to the soul, and trip up the passions. For this is what the fast is, this is what stillness is, this is what the commandment seeks out, this is the chief point of our salvation; from which the partaking of the holy Mysteries [the Eucharist] would also become readily accessible to us, or rather a provision for eternal life. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, that is, not purely insofar as it is possible for our lowly nature, eats and drinks judgment to himself, according to the apostolic sentence, not discerning the body of the Lord. For this reason we must struggle, my brothers, to keep ourselves pure from inordinate desire, from envy that devours the soul, from love of money that sinks the mind, and from listlessness [akedia, spiritual sloth] that darkens the eye of the soul, ever awaiting the departure of the body, by which awaiting the passions are melted away and the soul is strengthened with sinew. Shut the entrances of the passions, flee the places of falls, flee conversations and dwellings shared with women; for how could a heart not be set ablaze, or rather burned up, giving and receiving words with a virgin, with a woman who chants the psalms, with any woman whatsoever? How, to speak in theological terms, as it is said, shall the woman who is another's save him whom his own has destroyed? For even if in outward conduct one might seem to keep himself guarded, yet in the heart he will not be preserved free from adultery, according to the sentence of the Lord. The persecution, therefore, is not for destruction but for salvation; nor is there such pressing necessity to share a dwelling with a woman, as among the fathers the surrounding circumstances compelled the renowned Athanasius [Athanasius of Alexandria] to spend seven years under the care of a virgin, or this or that holy man to be served by a woman. But now both cities and countrysides afford the liberty of being hosted by women in a manner free of any pairing. Yet you, who supposedly are in the cause of confession and persecution on behalf of Christ, while moving against Christ, are not aware that you are conversing frequently with women, perhaps chanting psalms together with them, and very likely even eating together or even living together, devouring the face of the woman you live with and being devoured by her unto ruin? Flee, both men from women and women from men, as from fire; and if some coming-together must occur, let it be only so much as necessity and need require, escaping also the laying of a stumbling block before others. For why, it is said, is my liberty judged by another's conscience? And, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, that I may not cause my brother to stumble. Conduct yourselves, therefore, without giving offense, O children, and beyond reproach, both toward Jews and Greeks and toward the Church of God, as it is written, taking thought also of the uncertainty of death. Brother Silas has already passed away, and before him the abbot Theosostos, and indeed brother Procopius, and no one will remain. And blessed is he who understands how to pass from this present life without condemnation. Pray for us, the lowly ones, unfailingly, that we may be saved.

Τῆς ἱερᾶς Τεσσαρακοστῆς ἤδη ἐπιούσης εὔκαιρον ἡγησάμην βραχέα φθέγξασθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὦ τέκνα ἠγαπημένα καὶ ἀδελφοὶ τιμιώτατοι, καίτοι γε ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου παρακαλεῖν, ἐλέγχειν, ἐπιτιμᾶν εὐκαίρως ἀκαίρως προτρεπόμενος. νῦν δὲ ὁ τῆς νηστείας καιρὸς αὐτοδίδακτον ἔχει τὴν παράκλησιν, κατανύσσειν εἰδὼς καὶ τὸν ἀτεράμονα. ὑποδέξασθε οὖν, ἀδελφοί, ἄσμενοι τὰς ἱλαρίου ἡμέρας, ἕκαστος ἐν τῷ καταλύματι ᾧ ξενίζεται τὰ εἰωθότα κατὰ δύναμιν ἐπιτελῶν, ὡς ἂν διὰ τῆς ἡσυχίας καὶ μετριοτροφίας καθάρωμεν καρδίαν, πτερώσωμεν ψυχήν, πτερνίσωμεν πάθη· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ νηστεία, τοῦτο ἡ ἡσυχία, τοῦτο ἡ ἐντολὴ ἐπιζητοῦσα, τοῦτο τὸ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν κεφάλαιον· ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ μετέχειν τῶν ἁγιασμάτων εἴη ἂν ἡμῖν εὐπρόσιτον, μᾶλλον δὲ ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἐφόδιον. ὁ γὰρ ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων ἀναξίως, ἤγουν μὴ καθαρῶς ὅσον ἐνδέχεται τῇ ταπεινῇ ἡμῶν φύσει, κρίμα ἑαυτῷ ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει κατὰ τὴν ἀποστολικὴν ἀπόφασιν, μὴ διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Κυρίου. Διὰ τοῦτο ἀγωνιστέον, ἀδελφοί μου, καὶ ἀπὸ ἐπιθυμίας ἐκτόπου καὶ ἀπὸ φθόνου κατεσθίοντος ψυχὴν καὶ ἀπὸ φιλαργυρίας βυθιζούσης νοῦν καὶ ἀπὸ ἀκηδίας σκοτιζούσης ὀφθαλμὸν ψυχῆς καθαροὺς ἑαυτοὺς διατηρεῖν, προσδεχομένους ἀεὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἔξοδον, ἐφ' ᾧ τήκεται τὰ πάθη καὶ νευροῦται ψυχή. κλείετε τὰς εἰσόδους τῶν παθῶν, φεύγετε τοὺς τῶν πτωμάτων τόπους, φεύγετε τὰς γυναικείας ὁμιλίας καὶ συνδιαιτήσεις· πῶς γὰρ ἂν καὶ μὴ φλεχθείη καρδία, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐμπυρισθείη, λόγους διδοῦσα καὶ λαμβάνουσα μετὰ παρθένου, μετὰ ψαλλούσης, μεθ' οἱασδήποτε γυναικός; πῶς, φησί, θεολογικῶς εἰπεῖν, σώσει ἡ ἀλλοτρία ὃν ἀπώλεσεν ἡ ἰδία; κἂν γὰρ πρακτικῶς δόξειέν τις φυλάττεσθαι, ἀλλά γε καρδιακῶς ἀμοίχευτος οὐ διασωθῇ κατὰ τὴν ἀπόφασιν τοῦ Κυρίου. Ὁ διωγμὸς οὖν οὐ δι' ἀπώλειαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ σωτηρίαν, οὐδὲ τοσαύτη ἀνάγκη κατεπείγουσα εἰς τὸ συνδιαιτᾶσθαι γυναικί, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς πατράσι τὸ περιστατικὸν ἠνάγκασεν ὑπὸ παρθένῳ τὸν ἀοίδιμον Ἀθανάσιον ἑπταετῆσαι ἢ τόνδε καὶ τόνδε τὸν ἅγιον ὑπὸ γυναικὸς ἐξυπηρετηθῆναι. ἀλλὰ νῦν καὶ πόλεις καὶ χῶραι τὸ ἐλευθέριον ἔχουσι τῆς ἀσυνδυάστῳ τρόπῳ γυναιξὶ ξενίας. σὺ δέ, δῆθεν ὁμολογίας καὶ διωγμοῦ τοῦ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ κινούμενος οὐκ ἐπαισθάνῃ γυναιξὶ πυκνῶς ὁμιλῶν, συμψάλλων ἴσως, τάχα δὲ καὶ συνεσθίων ἢ καὶ συνοικῶν, ἐσθίων τὴν ὄψιν τῆς συνοίκου καὶ ἐσθιόμενος ὑπὸ τῆσδε ὀλεθρίως; φύγετε ὡς ἀπὸ πυρὸς καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες ἀπὸ γυναικῶν καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνδρῶν, εἰ δὲ καὶ σύμβασιν δεῖ γενέσθαι, τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἡ ἀνάγκη καὶ ἡ χρεία ἀπαιτοίη, διαδιδράσκοντες καὶ τὸ τιθέναι σκάνδαλον ἄλλοις. ἱνατί γὰρ ἡ ἐλευθερία μου, φησί, κρίνεται ὑπὸ ἄλλης συνειδήσεως; καί, εἰ βρῶμα σκανδαλίζει τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, οὐ μὴ φάγω κρέα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἀδελφόν μου σκανδαλίσω. Ἀσκανδαλίστως οὖν πολιτεύεσθε, ὦ τέκνα, καὶ ἀποσκόπως καὶ Ἰουδαίοις καὶ Ἕλλησι καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ, καθὼς γέγραπται, ἐπινοοῦντες καὶ τὸ ἄδηλον τοῦ θανάτου. ἤδη παρῆλθεν καὶ ὁ ἀδελφὸς Σίλας, καὶ πρό γε τούτου ὁ ἀββᾶς Θεόσωστος καί γε ὁ ἀδελφὸς Προκόπιος, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπιμενεῖ. καὶ μακάριος ὁ συνιῶν ἀκαταγνώστως παρελθεῖν τὸν τῇδε βίον. προσεύχεσθε περὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ταπεινῶν ἀνεπιλήστως ἵνα σῳζοίμεθα.