Letter 519: Theodore Studite, Letter 519; Greek heading: Εὐδοκίμῳ σπαθαρίῳ.

Even of ourselves we were aware how great was the suffering and the pain that has befallen your Honor; but now, since we have heard from you also and from your much-groaning words, which intimate each one of the grievous things that have happened, we have perceived it the more and have suffered along with you, as was fitting. Nevertheless, in whatever way you may manage the affairs that have met you according to the just dispensation [oikonomia: God's ordering of events] of God, you do well in this too, since the calamities have been brought upon you as a trial of wickedness rather than of virtue. We for our part, then, will not cease even further to bring forward our discourse toward what is clear and easy to discern. You have been deprived, accordingly, of your sight; and it is painful (for how could it not be?) to have lost the lamp of the body, yet again it is a cause for thanksgiving, that we are unseeing toward the vain things of the world, by which every mind is naturally borne away in a manner not to be wished for. You have been shut off from public processions and gatherings, both civic and imperial; but then you have been ransomed from the assembly of those who work evil and from association with transgressors of the law (you know what I mean). You have been stripped bare of your possessions; and this too is most hard to bear, but you have the power to be carried lightly and to sail above the circumstances and transactions of this life. Where ever, O admirable one, could you have found such a place as now, in which it is possible for you to be at leisure for God and to know him so far as is possible? And where such an occasion for prayer, for groaning, for compunction [katanyxis: piercing remorse and contrition], for the stretching out of hands, of all the things which it lies before you to enjoy from the insult that has been inflicted upon you? Do you not see that affairs have turned out for good for you, the wickedness of men having been turned about into your salvation? One thing above all is to be discerned, that according to your former manner of life it was hard to attain to the saving covenant, since there were many, as you know, who worked against the pious aim; but now there has been opened to you not only the door of repentance alone, but also the entrance of the heavenly kingdom, and everyone of right mind will rank you in the portion of those who are being saved, for which every earnest man strives, and than the attaining of which nothing among all things is more worthy. Would that there were some way for an exchange to come about, that we might exchange our senses with one another; and it would have been to me a great work of prayer, that together with the removal of your sight there might also be removed the goads of sin that lie before the sight. But these things, indeed, are said in the manner of friendship; and may our good God comfort you with much comfort to bear all things thankfully in imitation of the blessed Job, and may he count us worthy to come at some time also to converse face to face, so that whatever now escapes us in writing we may fill up with the living voice, and may then the more come to know one another, having before tasted of your sweet love from a small earlier experience.

Καὶ ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν ἐπαισθανόμεθα ὅσον τὸ πάθος καὶ τὸ ἄλγος, τὸ συμπεσὸν τῇ τιμιότητί σου· νῦν δέ, ἐπειδὴ ἠκούσαμέν σου καὶ τῶν πολυστενάκτων φωνῶν, ὑποδηλουσῶν ἕκαστα τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἀνιαρῶν, πλέον ἐπαιστάνθημεν καὶ συνηλγήσαμεν κατὰ τὸ εἰκός. ἀλλ' ὅμως, ὅπως ἂν μεθοδεύοις τὰ πράγματα, κατὰ δικαίαν ἔκτισιν θεοῦ ἀπαντήσαντά σοι, εὖ πράττων κἀν τούτῳ, ὡς κακίας μᾶλλον καὶ οὐκ ἀρετῆς βάσανον τὰς ἐπιφορὰς ἐνεχθῆναι. Ἡμεῖς δ' οὖν οὐ παυσόμεθα καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τὸ εὔσημον καὶ εὐδιάγνωστον ἀνθυποφέρειν τὸν λόγον. ἐστέρησαι τοιγαροῦν ὄψεως· καὶ ἀλγεινὸν (πῶς γὰρ οὔ;) τὸν λύχνον τοῦ σώματος ἀπολελωκέναι, ἀλλὰ πάλιν εὐχαριστήριον, ὅτι ἀβλεπτοῦμεν τὰ τοῦ κόσμου μάταια, ἐξ οὗπερ ὑποφέρεσθαι πέφυκεν πᾶς νοῦς οὐκ εὐκταίως. εἴρχθης προόδων καὶ συνόδων ἀστικῶν τε καὶ ἀνακτορικῶν; ἀλλ' οὖν γε λελύτρωσαι ἐκκλησίας πονηρευομένων καὶ συναναστροφῆς παρανομούντων (οἶδας ὃ λέγω). ἐψιλώθης τὰ ὑπάρχοντα; καὶ τοῦτο δυσφορώτατον· ἀλλ' ἔχεις τὸ κούφως φέρεσθαι καὶ ὑπερπλέειν τῶν βιωτικῶν περιστάσεων καὶ συναλλαγμάτων. ποῦ ποτ' ἂν εὗρες, ὦ θαυμάσιε, τόπον τοιοῦτον οἷον νῦν, ἐν ᾧ ἔστι σε σχολάζειν θεῷ καὶ γνῶναι αὐτὸν καθ' ὅσον οἷόν τε; ποῦ δὲ καιρὸν τοιοῦτον προσευχῆς, στεναγμοῦ, κατανύξεως, ἐκπετάσεως χειρῶν, ὅσων πρόκειται ὑμῖν ἀπολαύειν ἐκ τῆς ἐπενεχθείσης ἐπηρείας; οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὅτι εἰς καλόν σοι ἀπήντηκεν τὰ πράγματα, περιτραπείσης τῆς κακίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς σωτηρίαν σου; ἓν ἐπὶ πάντων διαγνωστέον, ὅτι κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν δυστέκμαρτον ἦν ἐπιλαβέσθαι τοῦ σωτηρίου συντάγματος, πολλῶν ὄντων, ὡς οἶσθα, τῶν ἀντιπραττόντων τῷ εὐσεβεῖ σκοπῷ· νῦν δὲ ἤνοικται ὑμῖν οὐχὶ μόνη τῆς μετανοίας ἡ θύρα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς οὐρανίου βασιλείας ἡ εἴσοδος, καὶ πᾶς τις τῶν εὖ φρονούντων ἐν τῷ μέρει τῶν σῳζομένων σε τετάξεται, περὶ οὗ πᾶς σπουδαῖος ἐπείγεται καὶ οὗ τοῦ τυχεῖν οὐδὲν τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνταξιώτερον. εἴθε ἦν πως ἀντάλλαγμα γενέσθαι εἰς τὸ ἀμείψασθαι ἀλλήλοις τὰς αἰσθήσεις· καὶ πολλοῦ ἂν εὐχῆς μοι ἔργον ἦν τῇ ἀφαιρέσει τῆς ὄψεως συναφαιρεθῆναι καὶ τῶν πρὸ τῆς ὄψεως κέντρων τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ φιλίας τρόπον· σὲ δὲ ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς ἡμῶν παρακαλέσειε παρακλήσει πολλῇ οἴσειν πάντα εὐχαρίστως κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ μακαρίου Ἰὼβ καὶ ἀξιώσειεν καὶ εἰς τὴν κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁμιλίαν ἐλθεῖν ἡμᾶς ποτε, ἵνα, ὅσα νῦν διαφεύγει τοῖς γράμμασι, ζώσῃ φωνῇ ἀναπληρώσαιμεν καὶ μᾶλλον τηνικαῦτα γνωρίσωμεν ἀλλήλους, ἐκ μικρᾶς πρότερον πείρας ἀπογευσάμενοί σου τῆς γλυκείας ἀγάπης.