Letter 527: Theodore Studite, Letter 527; Greek heading: Εὐδοκίμῳ σπαθαρίῳ.

We have been late in writing back to your Honor, so that we have very nearly been thrown off from the force of what was written to us. But the cause was that there was no trustworthy letter-carrier at hand. Now, however, since out of necessity we have sent the steward [oikonomos, the monastery's administrative officer] of our monastery to the place where you are, we fittingly make good our deficiency, saying this first: that we are not such as can administer a remedy to a soul that is grieved and worn down by many sufferings. Nevertheless we must attempt to discover healing out of the God-inspired oracles [the Scriptures]. What, then, does the greatest steward of these things [the Apostle Paul] say? "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks" [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]. If, then, in every season and in every circumstance and unceasingly the rejoicing and giving thanks and praying have been enjoined upon us, no span of time will pass away, not even the briefest instant, in which the true Christian is not bounded within rejoicing and giving thanks. Therefore the present things are no longer afflicting, whatever sort they may be, even if they bear the excessive weight of misfortune. And these things have been said by me not as to your good soul as though it were ignorant, but by way of reminder, since a weary soul sometimes grows feeble toward the elevated work of contemplation [theoria]. My second word is this: that even if those in power have stripped you of many of your possessions, yet they have in no way been able to deprive you of the more honorable property. Do you not see, and give thanks, what kind of knowledge God has stored up as treasure for you, how great a tongue, from which, as from the inmost treasuries of the heart, it brings forth its utterances and reflections, and that most freely? This is the most excellent thing, more productive of wealth than all riches and more above all being than every substance; and if anyone possesses it, he is more to be chosen, in the judgment of one who has understanding, than those who are exceedingly rich in substance, even if he is clothed in mere rags. And this the whole choir of the righteous has shown, and among external persons that famous Odysseus, who was seen naked by the queen after his shipwreck [an allusion to Odyssey 6, where the shipwrecked Odysseus, naked, appeals to Nausicaa, daughter of the king]. But the discourse must turn to your question. And indeed, though you know of yourself what is good, you are eager to be instructed by us, who are unlearned. For you say that "in one respect my reasoning urges me on toward prayer, but in another it checks me"; on the grounds that, since God knows what we wish to ask, prayer would on that account be superfluous. In addition to these things, since you are a sinner, praying profits nothing; and in short, whatever else your letter set forth-for it was not at hand for me to hold in my hands. What, then, is there to say concerning these matters? That such reasoning carries the appearance of chance and of fate and, to speak of the whole, the abolition of free will [autexousion, self-determination]; but that we ought not to lean upon this opinion, being sensible people and enriched with the knowledge of God. Rather, concerning the second problem, we must be persuaded that God does indeed hear sinners who have made use of the best repentance (for how, in the case of those over whom He rejoices when they repent according to the sacred oracles, should He not also hear their petition?); but concerning the foregoing problem the answer must be made thus: that the divine foreknowledge does not abolish free will. For it is not because He foreknows that we do what we do, but rather He foreknows what we shall do; and in this both the definition of foreknowledge and the principle of free will stand firm. For in the things that are not in our power, the determination of God concerning time and place and manner is antecedent; but in the things that are in our power, in which free will lies, the foreknowledge of God is, as it were, consequent upon both virtue and vice. So that we must both love and pray for the better things, that we may from thence have God following after us, and not the contrary; for from the contrary He will follow after us, here chastising and punishing, but there crowning and rendering to us the kingdom of heaven.

Ὠψίσαμεν τοῦ ἀντεπιστεῖλαι τῇ τιμιότητί σου, ὥστε μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ ἐκκεκροῦσθαι ἡμᾶς τῆς τῶν ἐπεσταλμένων δυνάμεως. ἀλλὰ τὸ αἴτιον, τοῦ μὴ παρεῖναι πιστὸν γραμματηφόρον. νῦν δέ, ἐπειδὴ ἐξ ἀναγκαίου ἀπεστείλαμεν τὸν οἰκονόμον τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς μονῆς ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι, εἰκότως τὸ ἐλλιπὲς ἀποπληροῦμεν, ἐκεῖνο πρῶτον λέγοντες, ὅτι οὐχ οἷοί ἐσμεν φαρμακεύειν ψυχὴν λυπουμένην καὶ πολλοῖς τετρυχωμένην πάθεσιν. ὅμως πειρατέον ἐκ τῶν θεοπνεύστων λογίων τὴν θεραπείαν ἐξευρίσκειν. Τί οὖν φησιν ὁ τούτων μέγιστος ταμίας; πάντοτε χαίρετε, ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε, ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖτε. εἰ οὖν ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ καὶ ἐν παντὶ πράγματι καὶ ἀδιαλείπτως τὸ χαίρειν καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν καὶ προσεύχεσθαι ἡμῖν διατέτακται, οὐκ ἂν ἐξοιχήσεται χρόνος, οὐδὲ ὁ ἀκαριαῖος, μὴ οὐχὶ περιοριζόμενος ἐν τῷ χαίρειν καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν τὸν ἀληθινὸν χριστιανόν. οὔκουν λοιπὸν θλιπτικὰ τὰ παρόντα, κἂν οἷά ποτ' ἂν εἶεν, τῆς δυσπραγίας ἔχοντα τὸ ὑπέρογκον. καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς ἀγνοούσῃ τῇ ἀγαθῇ σου ψυχῇ, ἀλλ' ὑπομνηστικῶς εἴρηταί μοι, ἐπειδὴ κάμνουσα ψυχὴ ἔσθ' ὅτε ἀτονεῖ πρὸς τὸ ἀνηγμένον τῆς θεωρίας. δεύτερος λόγος μοι ὅτι, εἰ καὶ πολλῶν τῶν ἐνόντων ἀπεγύμνωσάν σε οἱ ἐξουσιάζοντες, ἀλλ' οὐδαμῶς ἀποτερῆσαί σε τοῦ τιμιωτέρου κτήματος ἠδυνήθησαν. οὐχ ὁρᾷς καὶ εὐχαριστεῖς, οἵαν σοι γνῶσιν ὁ θεὸς ἐθησαύρισεν, πηλίκην γλῶσσαν, ἐξ ἧς ὡς ἐξ ἀδύτων θησαυρῶν τῆς καρδίας προφέρει τὰ ἀγορεύματα καὶ διανοήματα προὶξ ὅτι μάλιστα; τοῦτο προφερέστατον καὶ πάντων χρημάτων χρηματιστικώτερον καὶ πάσης οὐσίας ὑπερουσιώτερον· ὅ, εἴ τις κέκτηται, τῶν ἄγαν πολυουσίων αἱρετώτερός ἐστι τῷ νοῦν ἔχοντι, κἂν ῥακίοις μόνον ἀμπεχόμενος. καὶ τοῦτο δέδειχε σύμπας μὲν ὁ τῶν δικαίων χορός, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐξωτερικοῖς προσώποις ὁ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἐκεῖνος, ἐκ ναυαγίου γυμνὸς ὀφθεὶς τῇ βασιλίδι. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ ἐρώτημά σου ἐπιστρεπτέον τὸν λόγον. καίτοι εἰδὼς ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸ εὖ ἔχον, φιλοπευστεῖς πρὸς ἡμῶν τῶν ἀμαθῶν ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι. φῆς γὰρ ὅτι "4πῇ μὲν ὁ λογισμὸς προτρέπεταί με εἰς προσευχήν, πῇ δὲ ἀνακόπτει"5, ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ εἰδότος ὅπερ βουλόμεθα αἰτεῖσθαι, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν παρέλκον ἂν τὸ προσεύχεσθαι. πρὸς τούτοις, ἐπεὶ ἁμαρτωλὸς εἶ, οὐδὲν ὀνίνησι τὸ προσεύχεσθαι, καὶ ἁπλῶς εἴ τι ἄλλο ἐδήλου τὸ γράμμα· οὐ γὰρ παρῆν μοι ἐπὶ χεῖρας ἔχειν. τί οὖν ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ἐν τούτοις; ὅτι τύχης καὶ εἱμαρμένης ἔμφασιν ἔχει ἡ διάνοια καί, τὸ ὅλον εἰπεῖν, τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου ἀναίρεσιν, οὐ μὲν οὖν ταύτῃ τῇ δόξῃ ἐπερείδεσθαι ἡμᾶς δεῖν, ἐχέφρονας ὄντας καὶ γνῶσιν θεοῦ πεπλουτισμένους· ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τοῦ δευτέρου προβλήματος πεπεῖσθαι ὅτι καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν ἀκούει ὁ θεὸς μετανοίᾳ κεχρημένων ἀρίστῃ (πῶς γὰρ ἐφ' οἷς χαίρει μετανοοῦσι κατὰ τὰ ἱερὰ λόγια μὴ οὐχὶ καὶ εἰσακούειν τῆς τούτων δεήσεως;), περὶ δὲ τοῦ προηγουμένου προβλήματος οὕτως ἀπαντητέον, ὅτι ἡ θεία πρόγνωσις οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον· καὶ γὰρ οὐχ ὅτι προγινώσκει πράττομεν ἃ πράττομεν, ἀλλ' ὅ τι πράξομεν προγινώσκει, καὶ ἔρρωται ἐν τούτῳ καὶ ὁ τῆς προγνώσεως ὅρος καὶ ὁ τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου λόγος. ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν προηγούμενός ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ὅρος ἐπί τε χρόνου καὶ τόπου καὶ τρόπου, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν, ἐφ' οἷς τὸ αὐτεξούσιον, οἱονεὶ ἑπομένη ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόγνωσις ἐπί τε ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας. ὥστε δεῖ ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐρᾶν καὶ εὔχεσθαι τὰ κρείττονα, ἵνα ἔχωμεν ἐντεῦθεν τὸν θεὸν ἐφεπόμενον ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοὐναντίον· ἐξ ἐναντίου γὰρ ἕψεται ἡμῖν, ὧδε μὲν κολάζων καὶ τιμωρῶν, ἐκεῖ δὲ στεφανῶν καὶ ἀποδιδοὺς ἡμῖν βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν.