Letter 91: Theodore Studite, Letter 91; Greek heading: Τοῖς Γραμματικοῖς τοῖς δυσὶν ἀδελφοῖσ.

My letter has no power to console a grieving soul such as yours, my revered fathers, grieving as it is from the experience of imprisonment and the torment of confinement at the hands of those who do you harm. And yet, since to speak out and to be heard brings a certain relief, it seemed good on both counts to write to you even now, showing you that the disposition within me has been most deeply stamped by love toward your reverence, and that I am not a little anxious for your safekeeping, reckoning the reason why you alone, of all the others, are held there under a lawless hand, by one who makes the holy ones of the Lord [the saints, the faithful confessors] live a dreadful life. O the long-suffering of God, who refuses by no means what is being done [permits these things to happen], in order that the proof of the sufferers' faith in him may be made known as more precious than gold, while for those who do these deeds a summons may be opened up toward repentance, or else the sentence for their sins may be filled up. You suffer, I know, my fathers, bitter and hard-to-bear things (for how could it be otherwise?), having for your tormentor one so dreadful, and as much surpassing all others in impiety, yet not having, as most of those who contend do, your own people and acquaintances near you, a thing which is known to console the afflicted greatly. What then shall we say in answer to these things? That which is sung to you clearly from the apostolic lips: "The sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" [Romans 8:18]. Therefore impart to us, O venerable ones, who are unsteady, a share of your manly endurance; strengthen our easily shaken souls with your holy prayers; propitiate God to hasten to compassion for those who have lost their patience and are anxious about the present moment, but not for their souls; and may the Lord indeed hearken, making his visitation swift and not slow to come.