Letter 52: Theodore Studite, Letter 52; Greek heading: Φιλίππῳ διακόνῳ.

Do not suppose, O priestly man, that we are closing the gate of repentance (for that is the work of the Novatians [a third-century rigorist sect that denied readmission to those who had lapsed]), but rather that we are unwilling to open the door of sin to those who wish it. For is it not of this sort, the matter you have set forth through your earlier letter: that the young woman, having vowed a vow that, should her betrothed recover his health, she would be wedded to Christ [that is, enter the monastic life], and then, when that man had recovered, wishing to be joined to him in violation of the second vow, seeks a remedy for this? We answered you, then, in the best way, and it is not possible to render any other account for one who sets the things of men before the things of God. For who would impose a penance upon one who has not yet sinned, except in the wishing? Or what physician applies a dressing before the disease, and does not rather restrain from falling sick the one who is inclining toward it? Indeed, the very definition of the healing art is either to preserve the health that is present or to recall the health that is absent. But it is unreasonable, pardon us, to treat as already present a disease that is not yet present but only contemplated; for that is not the deed of a physician, but of a quack who, by drawing one on, contrives to entangle in suffering the very thing that is still free of suffering. Consider the case of the girl to be of this same sort. And I do not yet add that even merely to have conceived some good purpose, and not to carry it through to its end, incurs judgment, as the divine Basil [Basil of Caesarea, the great fourth-century church father] determined. But here the thing resolved upon has, as it were, even advanced into a deed, through the petition and the divine compact [that is, the vow]. Refrain, therefore, O beloved ones, from making sport of such matters, hearing him who says: it is better not to vow than to vow and not to pay [Ecclesiastes 5:5]. "Did it not remain yours while it remained unsold?" he says; "why is it that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?" [Acts 5:4, the words of Peter to Ananias] - and what follows I pass over because of its ill omen. And it is not that I hold the girl in contempt (for I cherish her as the apple of my eye, both for her own sake, since she desires to be ministered to out of my poverty, and for the sake of the lady her mother, whom I revere and attend upon as my own holy mother), but because I dread the judgment that will stand before each one on the day of judgment, both the one asking and the one answering; for it cannot be escaped, that even down to an idle, chance word we must render an account to the impartial Judge. If, then, the young woman has not yet been joined in marriage, our word is the same and no other, before God and men, which you too must hold in reverence. But if she has been joined (alas for my wretchedness), it must be declared, and then we shall impose the penance; for nothing is incurable to those who are willing to be healed.