Letter 506: Theodore Studite, Letter 506; Greek heading: Εὐφροσύνῃ ἡγουμένῃ.

That we are concerned for your honor, this our humble letter here is the witness; for it would not be holy to falsify the word we promised to that blessed and holy mother, namely that your venerable dignity should attend us in a visitation through a word, so far as is possible, whether we be far off or near at hand. And yet, even if we did not have the obligation from that source, we would have been persuaded, from your trust in and care for us, lowly as we are, on its own, to offer you our attention through a letter. Fare well, therefore, O most honored one to me, and may you lead the flock that the holy amma [a monastic mother; "amma" is the feminine of "abba"] entrusted to you - or rather, God through her - in a godly and diligent manner. Know that the undertaking of your governance [prostasia, the office of presiding over the community] is a very great thing; understand the contemplation of the souls under your hand, that it is a bridal chamber-keeping of the King of the heavens, of Christ the only beautiful and incorruptible Bridegroom; who has entrusted to you not one bride for the day of his marriage through the union in the Holy Spirit, but as many as you may have, you yourself being the first bride [protonymphos]. For Jesus, as one of many brides and of countless brides, weds also those who have come, as you have, through a whole life [in the ascetic vocation], loving to join to himself all souls, both of men and of women, in order to fill the bridal chamber on high; in which many are the dwelling-places, prepared by the Father like so many chambers for the souls that shall be made worthy through a pure life and sincere faith, when the season of the revelation of the Bridegroom shall arrive, to run after him and to enter in with him into the bridal chamber and to enjoy that unending joy unto ages of ages. Behold, your ministry has been shown to you, which you received from the Lord, great and recompensed by many heavenly wages, so that not only yourself but also many brides you may offer to the immortal Bridegroom. For these things, how great and how vast is the recompense: he will rank you among the foremost brides, among the chosen maidens; may he grant you headbands, the eternal graces of the Spirit, garments full of light, incorruption flashing forth; he will crown you with the crown of righteousness; you shall dance an indissoluble dance, equal even to the angels, with exultation that cannot be unraveled. Look then, lady, and take heed to yourself and guard the brides of Christ with all solicitude; feed them with the pure bread of orthodoxy, give them to drink the water of right conduct, that they may be well-nourished and fair of form. The discourse concerns the beauty of the soul, which Christ our God also desires, as holy David promises [Psalm 44(45) is here quoted]; for he says: "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father, and the King will desire your beauty; for he is your Lord, and you shall venerate him." Do you see that, in your forgetting - that is, in your renouncing of parents, brothers and kinsfolk, friends and all the things of this life - the King desired the beauty of your soul for a marriage? And the saying, "he is your Lord, and you shall venerate him," will come to pass for you on the day of his manifestation [epiphaneia, his appearing]. Oh, oh, what a thing you have purposed, having forgotten all things; wonderful, wonderful, what a Bridegroom you have obtained! Clap your hands, shout aloud to God with a voice of exultation, for you have been exalted above all the kingdoms upon earth, you have been made fair above all the fair things of the earth. Even angels reverence you, and archangels attend upon you; you who are the foremost are queens in the heavens, above all mothers and daughters who come from the flesh. Therefore rejoice and rejoice together with one another, bearing courageously henceforth the toils of the ascetic discipline - that is, of the bridal-chamber life - knowing that all flesh is grass, all the glory of man is as the flower of grass, and all the desires of this age end from corruption and into corruption, but only your love and your desire is boundless and incorruptible. For a little while longer, only so very little, wait, endure: you [the maidens] being subject to the lady, the first bride, well and obediently, as she enjoins the amorous proprieties and observances of the Bridegroom Christ; and you, lady, as bride-bearer, even giving up your very soul - not to say any of the other things - for the protection of the maidens, I mean not of their soul alone but also of their body, fulfilling what was said by the Apostle: "yearning over you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own souls" [1 Thessalonians 2:8], in Christ Jesus our Lord; from whom do you also ask, concerning us, the salvation of our humble soul, that, in the things wherein we have admonished, we ourselves may be admonished, and that we may all be saved from the evil one.

Ὅτι μέλει ἡμῖν περὶ τῆς τιμιότητός σου μαρτύριον τὸ τῇδε ἡμῶν ταπεινὸν γράμμα· οὐδὲ γάρ, ὃν λόγον ὑπεσχόμεθα τῇ μακαρίᾳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ ἁγίᾳ μητρὶ ἐπὶ τὸ περιέπειν ἡμᾶς τὴν σεμνοπρέπειάν σου ἐν τῇ διὰ λόγου ἐπισκέψει καθ' ὅσον οἷόν τε, μακρόθεν ἢ ἐγγύθεν ὄντας, ὅσιον διαψεύσασθαι. καίτοι γε, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐκεῖθεν εἴχομεν τὸν λόγον, κἀξ αὐτῆς σου μόνης τῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς εὐτελεῖς πεποιθήσεώς τε καὶ περιποιήσεως ἐπειθόμεθα ἂν τὴν διὰ τοῦ γράμματος προσοίσειν ἐπιμέλειαν. Ὑγίαινε τοιγαροῦν, ὦ τιμιωτάτη μοι, καὶ ἄγοιο τὸ ποίμνιον, ὃ παρέθετό σοι ἡ ἁγία ἀμμάς, μᾶλλον δὲ δι' αὐτῆς ὁ θεός, θεοπρεπῶς καὶ ἐπιμελῶς. ἴσθι ὡς μέγιστον τὸ τῆς προστασίας σου ἐγχείρημα, γνῶθι τῶν ὑπὸ χεῖρά σου ψυχῶν τὸ θεώρημα, ὅτι νυμφοφυλακτήριόν ἐστι τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν οὐρανῶν, τοῦ μόνου ὡραίου καὶ ἀφθάρτου νυμφίου Χριστοῦ· ὃς οὐ μίαν νύμφην σοι παρέθετο εἰς ἡμέραν νυμφεύσεως αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι συναφείας, ἀλλὰ τοσαύτας, ὅσας γε καὶ ἔχοις, σοῦ τε αὐτῆς πρωτονύμφου τυγχανούσης. νυμφεύεται γὰρ Ἰησοῦς καὶ τὰς ὡς σὺ διὰ βίου ἐληλυθυίας ὡς πολύνυμφος καὶ ἀπειρόνυμφος καὶ πάσας ψυχὰς ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν ἐρῶν ἁρμόζεσθαι εἰς τὸ πληρῶσαι τὸν ἄνω νυμφῶνα· ἐν ᾧ πολλαὶ αἱ μοναὶ οἷά τινες θάλαμοι παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡτοιμάσθησαν ταῖς ἀξιωθησομέναις ψυχαῖς διὰ βίου καθαροῦ καὶ πίστεως εἰλικρινοῦς, ἡνίκα φθάσῃ ὁ καιρὸς τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως τοῦ νυμφίου, ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ δραμεῖν καὶ συνεισελθεῖν ἐν τῷ νυμφῶνι καὶ τῆς ἀπεράντου χαρᾶς ἐκείνης ἀπολαῦσαι εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων. ἰδοὺ ὑποδέδεικταί σου ἡ διακονία, ἣν παρέλαβες παρὰ Κυρίου, μεγάλη τε καὶ πολλῶν ἀμοιβαία μισθῶν οὐρανίων, ὡς μὴ μόνον σέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὰς νύμφας προσοῖσαι τῷ ἀθανάτῳ νυμφίῳ. ὑπὲρ ὧν ὅση καὶ ἡλίκη ἡ ἀνταπόδοσις· τετάξεταί σε ἐν προυχούσαις νύμφαις, ἐν ἐκλεκταῖς νεάνισιν, ἐμπλόκιά σοι παράσχοι, τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀίδια χαρίσματα, ἐπιβλήματα φωτοειδῆ, ἀφθαρσίαν ἀστράπτοντα, στεφανώσει σε τῷ τῆς δικαιοσύνης στεφάνῳ, χορεύσεις χορείαν ἄλυτον ἴσα καὶ ἀγγέλοις σὺν ἀγαλλιάσει ἀμηρύτῳ. Βλέπε λοιπόν, κυρία, καὶ πρόσεχε σαυτῇ καὶ τὰς νύμφας τοῦ Χριστοῦ φυλάττοιο περιμερίμνως· τρέφοις αὐτὰς τῷ καθαρῷ ἄρτῳ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας, ποτίζοις τῷ νάματι τῆς εὐπραξίας, ὡς ἂν εἶεν πίονες, ὡραιοειδεῖς. πρὸς τὸ κάλλος τῆς ψυχῆς ὁ λόγος, οὗ καὶ ἐπιθυμεῖ, καθὼς ὑπισχνεῖται ὁ ἅγιος Δαυίδ, Χριστὸς ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν· φησὶ γάρ· ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, καὶ ἴδε καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου καὶ ἐπιθυμήσει ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου· ὅτι αὐτός ἐστι Κύριός σου καὶ προσκυνήσεις αὐτῷ. ὁρᾷς ὅτι ἐν τῷ ἐπιλαθέσθαι ὑμᾶς, ἤγουν ἀποτάξασθαι γονεῦσιν, ἀδελφοῖς καὶ συγγενέσιν, φίλοις τε καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον, ἐπεθύμησεν ὑμῶν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς νυμφίωσιν; τὸ δέ, "4αὐτός ἐστι Κύριός σου καὶ προσκυνήσεις αὐτῷ"5 γενήσεται ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐπιφανείας αὐτοῦ. ὤ, ὤ, οἷον ἐφρονήσατε, ἐπιλαθόμεναι τῶν ἁπάντων· βαβαί, βαβαί, οἵου ἐπετύχετε νυμφίου· κροτήσατε χεῖρας, ἀλαλάξατε τῷ θεῷ ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως, ὅτι ὑπὲρ πάσας τὰς ἐπὶ γῆς βασιλείας ὑψώθητε, ὑπὲρ πάντα τὰ ὡραῖα τῆς γῆς ὡραΐσθητε. αἰδοῦνται ὑμᾶς καὶ ἄγγελοι, περιέπουσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ ἀρχάγγελοι, προύχουσαι ὑμεῖς βασιλίδες ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὑπεράνω πασῶν μητέρων καὶ θυγατέρων τῶν ἀπὸ σαρκὸς ἐρχομένων. Οὐκοῦν χαίρετε καὶ συγχαίρετε ἀλλήλαις, τὰ ἐπίπονα ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ἀσκήσεως εἴτουν θαλαμεύσεως φέρουσαι εὐψύχως, εἰδυῖαι ὅτι πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου, πᾶσαί τε ἐπιθυμίαι τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐκ φθορᾶς καὶ εἰς φθορὰν καταλήγουσαι, μόνον δὲ ὑμῶν ὁ ἔρως καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία ἄπειρος καὶ ἄφθαρτος. μικρὸν λοιπὸν ὅσον ὅσον ἀναμείνατε, ὑπομείνατε, ὑποτασσόμεναι μὲν ὑμεῖς τῇ κυρίᾳ τῇ πρωτονύμφῳ καλῶς καὶ εὐηκόως, τὰ τοῦ νυμφίου Χριστοῦ ἐρωτικὰ ἰδιώματα καὶ φυλάγματα ἐπιταττούσῃ, αὐτὴ δὲ κυρία ὡς νυμφιοφόρος καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν προϊεμένη, μὴ ὅτι γέ τι τῶν ἄλλων, εἰς περιποίησιν τῶν νεανίδων, οὐ λέγω ψυχῆς μόνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ σώματος, πληροῦσα τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου εἰρημένον· ὀμειρόμενοι εὐδοκοῦμεν μεταδοῦναι ὑμῖν οὐ μόνον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχὰς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν· ὃν καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν αἰτεῖσθε τὴν σωτηρίαν τῆς ταπεινῆς ἡμῶν ψυχῆς, ἵνα οἷς ἐνουθετήσαμεν νενουθετήμεθα καὶ σῳζοίμεθα πάντες ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.