Letter 74: Theodore Studite, Letter 74; Greek heading: Εὐθυμίῳ Σάρδησ.

Your Holiness has been removed far from us, who are sinners, by the authority [the imperial power] that holds sway over all; yet not removed in the spirit, in which it is dearer to God that we be united. For many of those who are bodily united are nevertheless not with one another, because of their lack of the spirit. And so, even if the ruler should contend to carry us off to the very ends of the inhabited world, he could not separate us from one another, especially since God is well pleased that we should see and converse with one another by letters. This, then, is my first word. The second is this: the remote place to which you have been confined causes me anxiety for your safekeeping, because of the barbarian country nearby. Yet your affairs are in the hand of the Lord, who, watching over you, would keep you safe from every evil. And perhaps God, wishing to make His own elect dart about like stars in the firmament of the faith, has dispatched one manly man here and another there, men such as you, so that the radiance of orthodoxy might not be confined to one region only, but might give light to many of the uninitiated. Therefore rise like the bright morning star with your sun-like teachings, and create a day of salvation for those who fight in the night; or rather, strengthen those who are sick from the failing of the light. Become a bond [a fellow-bound companion] to Paul; or if not that, then a fellow-contender with Athanasius, for it was from the West that his great glory came to him. Thus we, loving the good father with affection, address him as sons, trying to stir up the sacred sparks that are in your love of God, so that the beacon of that very teaching may blaze forth the more. For, as you know, it is a grievous night and a deep darkness, far more destructive than the ninth plague in Egypt [the plague of darkness], gathering together and confounding and darkening - not bodies, but, most pitiable of all, souls themselves. The ruler roars: threats, blows, imprisonments, ill-treatment, trials, mockeries, flatteries, exiles, every kind whatever of fear and deceit. Yet who are they that shine forth and are made strong, other than the Nazirites among us [those consecrated to God; here the steadfast confessors], the sinews of the Church, the choicest first-fruits of holiness, of whom the world is not worthy? Among the many who are numbered is also the most pious abbot of the Kerameus [monastery]; for so must he be called who has fought back against defeat. And blessed be the Lord, who in the present persecution has many martyrs for the confirmation of the faith that is without blemish. Let not, then, your holy soul keep silent in petitioning - that the evils may be relieved by the shining forth of divine providence, and also indeed on behalf of me, the lowly one, that I may walk in the footsteps of you, the holy fathers.

Ἐμακρύνθη σου ἡ ὁσιότης ὑπὸ ἐξουσίας διὰ τὴν ἁπάντων ἐξουσίαν ἀφ' ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, ἀλλ' οὐ τῷ πνεύματι, ᾧ μᾶλλον ἑνοῦσθαι φίλον θεῷ· ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ τῶν σωματικῶς ἡνωμένων οὐ σὺν ἀλλήλοις διὰ τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος στέρησιν. ὥστε οὐδ' ἂν εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ τέρματα τῆς οἰκουμένης φιλονεικήσοι διάραι ἡμᾶς ὁ κρατῶν, χωρίσειεν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων, καὶ μάλιστα εὐδοκοῦντος θεοῦ γράμμασιν ὁρᾶν ἡμᾶς καὶ ὁμιλεῖν ἀλλήλοις. Οὗτος δή μοι ὁ πρῶτος λόγος. δεύτερος, ἡ ἐσχατιὰ εἰς ἣν περιωρίσθης, μέριμναν ἐμποιοῦσα τῆς διαφυλάξεώς σου διὰ τὴν ἐγγύθεν βαρβαρικὴν χώραν. πλὴν ἐν χειρὶ Κυρίου τὰ σά, ὅς σε περιέπων διαφυλάξειεν ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ. τάχα δὲ βουλόμενος ὁ θεὸς διᾴττειν ὥσπερ τινὰς ἀστέρας τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ ἐκλεκτοὺς ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τῆς πίστεως ἄλλον ἀλλαχοῦ τῶν ὡς σὺ ἀνδρικῶν ἀνδρῶν διεπέμψατο, ὡς ἂν μὴ περὶ ἕνα χῶρον ἡ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας λαμπηδὼν διαβαίνοι, πολλοὺς δὲ φωτίζοι τῶν ἀμυήτων. τοιγαροῦν ἀνάτειλον ὡς ὁ λαμπρὸς ἑωσφόρος τὰς ἡλιακάς σου διδασκαλίας καὶ δημιούργησον ἡμέραν σωτηρίας τοῖς νυκτομαχοῦσιν, ἢ καὶ ἐπίρρωσον τοὺς ἐκ φωτολειψίας ἀσθενοῦντας. γένοιο Παύλῳ σύνδεσμος, εἰ δ' οὖν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ Ἀθανασίῳ σύναθλος· ἐκ Δύσεως γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸ πολὺ κλέος. Οὕτως ἡμεῖς φιλοπαθοῦντες τῷ καλῷ πατρὶ υἱικῶς διαλεγόμεθα, τοὺς ἐν τῇ θεοφιλίᾳ σου ἱεροὺς σπινθῆρας ἀνασκαλεύειν πειρώμενοι, ὡς ἂν πλέον ὁ τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτῆς πυρσὸς ἀναλάμψειεν. ἐπειδή, ὡς οἶσθα, νὺξ χαλεπὴ καὶ σκότος βαθύ, πολὺ τῆς κατ' Αἴγυπτον ἐνάτης πληγῆς ὀλεθριώτερον, συμφέρουσα καὶ συγχέουσα καὶ ζοφοῦσα οὐ σώματα, ἀλλὰ ψυχὰς αὐτὰς τὸ ἐλεεινότατον. βρέμει ὁ κρατῶν, ἀπειλαί, πληγαί, φυλακαί, κακώσεις, δοκιμασίαι, ἐξεγχελήσεις, κολακεῖαι, ἐξορίαι, πᾶν ὁτιοῦν εἶδος φόβου καὶ ἀπάτης. διαλάμπουσι δὲ καὶ κεκραταίωνται τίνες ἄλλοι ἢ οἱ καθ' ἡμᾶς Ναζιραῖοι, τὰ νεῦρα τῆς ἐκκλησίας, τὰ ἀκροθίνια τῆς ὁσιότητος, ὧν οὐκ ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος; σὺν πολλοῖς τοῖς ἀριθμουμένοις καὶ ὁ εὐλαβέστατος ἡγούμενος τῶν Κεραμέα· οὕτω γὰρ κλητέον τὸν τὴν ἧτταν ἀναμαχησάμενον. καὶ εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ὁ πολλοὺς ἔχων μάρτυρας ἐν τῷ νῦν διωγμῷ εἰς στηριγμὸν τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἀμωμήτου. Μὴ οὖν παρασιωπησάτω σου ἡ ἁγία ψυχὴ δεομένη ὑπὲρ τοῦ λωφῆσαι τὰ κακὰ ἐπιλάμψει θείας προμηθείας, ἀλλά γε καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ, ἵνα κατ' ἴχνος ὑμῶν τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων πορεύσωμαι.