Letter 66: Theodore Studite, Letter 66; Greek heading: Μαρίᾳ παρθενευούσῃ.

Since we have already, once and a second time, received messages from your Honor, we judged it necessary to address your venerable dignity not by a bare greeting alone, but also by a letter; and this not so much on account of the messages as on account of your gravity. For we learn that, having chosen the life of virginity, you have consented to serve the Lord in holiness and righteousness. For what is better than virginity, whose whole care is how she may please the Lord, how she may attain the good things to come, how she may be able to slip past the manifold stratagems of the devil? But she who lives under marriage, on the contrary, is concerned how she may please her husband, how she may order well the affairs of the world; she is one tossed about by the briny waves of this life, in caring for children and for menservants and maidservants, and before these things, the matters of pleasing her husband, being as yet unable to rise above the turnings of the world and to be borne aloft on the wing of the understanding toward the Lord. You therefore, O fairest of women, blessed in truth and thrice-blessed, because you have chosen the good portion together with that famed Mary [Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha; cf. Luke 10:39-42], as it were seated beside the feet of Jesus and hearing his word through a more untroubled life. You have sanctified yourself, dedicating your life to God as a treasured ornament. You have ennobled your blood in the Holy Spirit, setting yourself forth as a noble example. For what gain shall they who are under the yoke obtain, unless perhaps they too should seek out and grope after God, so far as is possible? Are not all wedded unions unyoked through death? Do not the beautiful things of this present life depart like a dream? And how pitiable are the things that pertain to marriage. Some are childless, others have wicked children. Poverties and riches: the one pressing down and, as it were, frying [people] in the pan, the others tossed about as in a game of dice from this man to that. Bridal chambers raised up, but also broken up after laments; dirges and beatings of the breast, calamities following one upon another, of which life is full, and the examples are before our eyes. But you have fled from all these things, fair virgin, dwelling in a single manner [as a solitary] in your house, kept like a fragrant rose for the Lord by your virginity, having indeed, by all means, afflictions also from enemies both seen and unseen; since wherever there is an offering dedicated to the Lord, there the robber lies in wait to steal and to plunder the holy thing. But take courage in the Lord, in whom you have trusted, in whom you cherish your labors, because he himself is the guardian of your life, your succor and helper in afflictions; who also, perfecting your course, will make you worthy of his heavenly kingdom. These things have been addressed to you by us who are sinners, that you may know that you, the handmaid of the Lord, have us also, who strive to serve the Lord, as your brothers according to the spirit, even as we are fellow servants according to nature, praying earnestly for your Honor.

Ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ἀποστολὰς ἐφθάσαμεν παρὰ τῆς τιμιότητός σου δέξασθαι, ἀναγκαῖον ἐκρίναμεν μὴ μόνον ψιλῇ προσρήσει, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ γράμματος προσαγορεῦσαι τὴν σεμνοπρέπειάν σου· καὶ οὐ τοσοῦτον διὰ τὰς ἀποστολάς, ὅσον διὰ τὴν σεμνότητά σου· μανθάνομεν γὰρ ὅτι τὸν ἐν παρθενίᾳ βίον εἱλαμένη δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ κατεδέξω ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ. τί γὰρ κρεῖττον παρθενίας, ἧς ἡ μέριμνα πῶς ἀρέσει τῷ Κυρίῳ, πῶς ἐπιτεύξεται τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, πῶς δυνηθείη διαδράσαι τὰς πολυπλόκους μεθοδείας τοῦ διαβόλου; ἡ δὲ ὑπὸ γάμον τελοῦσα τοὐναντίον, πῶς ἀρέσει τῷ ἀνδρί, πῶς τὰ τοῦ κόσμου εὖ διαθείη, ἡ περικλυζομένη τοῖς ἁλμυροῖς κύμασι τοῦ βίου ἐν τῷ φροντίζειν περὶ τέκνων τε καὶ δούλων καὶ δουλίδων καὶ πρό γε τούτων τὰ περὶ ἀρέσκειαν τοῦ ἀνδρός, οὕπω δυναμένη ὑπερανεστάναι τῶν στροφῶν τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῷ τῆς διανοίας πτερῷ κουφίζεσθαι πρὸς Κύριον. Σὺ οὖν, ὦ καλλίστη γυναικῶν, μακαρία ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ τρισμακαρία, ὅτι τὴν ἀγαθὴν μερίδα ἐξελέξω μετὰ Μαρίαν ἐκείνην τὴν ἀοίδιμον, οἱονεὶ παρακαθεζομένη παρὰ τοὺς πόδας Ἰησοῦ καὶ ἀκούουσα δι' ἀπραγμονεστέρου βίου τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ. ἡγίασας ἑαυτὴν ὡς κειμήλιον θεῷ ἀναθεμένη τὴν ζωήν σου. ἐξευγένισας, τὸ αἷμά σου ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ, καλὸν ὑπόδειγμα ἑαυτὴν προθεμένη. τί γὰρ καὶ κερδήσουσιν αἱ ὑπὸ ζυγόν, εἰ μή τι ἄρα ἐκζητήσοιεν καὶ ψηλαφήσοιεν καὶ αὐταὶ τὸν θεὸν καθ' ὅσον οἷόν τε; οὐχὶ πᾶσαι συζυγίαι ἀποζεύγνυνται διὰ θανάτου; οὐχ ὡς ὄναρ τὰ ὡραῖα τοῦ τῇδε βίου ἀπέρχονται; ὅσα δὲ περὶ τὸν γάμον ἐλεεινά. οἱ μὲν ἄπαιδες, οἱ δὲ κακόπαιδες. πενίαι καὶ πλοῦτοι, αἱ μὲν πιέζουσαι καὶ οἱονεὶ ἀποτηγανίζουσαι, οἱ δὲ μεταρριπτούμενοι ὡς ἐν κύβοις ἐκ τῶνδε εἰς τόνδε. παστάδες ἐγειρόμεναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ θρήνους καταλυόμεναι, θρῆνοι καὶ κοπετοί, ἀλλεπάλληλοι συμφοραί, ὧν πλήρης ὁ βίος καὶ τὰ παραδείγματα πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν. Σὺ δὲ τούτων πάντων ἀπέφυγες, καλλιπάρθενε, κατοικοῦσα μονοτρόπως ἐν οἴκῳ, φυλαττομένη ὡς ῥόδον εὐωδίας Κυρίῳ τῇ παρθενίᾳ, ἔχουσα μὲν οὖν γε πάντως καὶ θλιπτικὰ ἔκ τε ὁρατῶν καὶ ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν· ἐπειδὴ ὅπου ἀνάθημα Κυρίῳ, ἐκεῖ ὁ λῃστὴς ἐφεδρεύει κλέψαι καὶ συλῆσαι τὸ ἱερόν. ἀλλὰ θάρσει ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἐν ᾧ πέποιθας, ἐν ᾧ στέργεις τοὺς κόπους, ὅτι αὐτὸς φύλαξ τῆς ζωῆς σου, ἐπίκουρος καὶ βοηθὸς ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν· ὃς καὶ τελειῶν σου τὸν δρόμον ἀξίαν σε ποιήσει τῆς οὐρανίου βασιλείας αὐτοῦ. Ταῦτά σοι παρ' ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν προσπεφώνηται, ἵν' εἰδείης ὅτι, ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου δούλη, καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς σπεύδοντας δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ ἔχεις κατὰ πνεῦμα ἀδελφούς σου ὥσπερ καὶ ὁμοδούλους κατὰ φύσιν, ὑπερευχομένους σου τῆς τιμιότητος.