Letter 253: That one ought not to do anything licentious or boyish, but to keep a temperate and disciplined manner of life in...

To Zosimus On why, at the Passion of the Master, inanimate things were scourged. Keenly do you inquire into the meanings. And who could suffice for you as you press them out, unless God should supply a word [and force] that keeps pace with your aim? The rocks were shattered at the Lord's Passion, and the tombs quaked toward the giving up of bodies, signifying that the One who was nailed [to the cross] is Master of the things upon the earth and the things beneath it.

Διὰ τί ἐν τῷ πάθει τοῦ Δεσπότου τὰ ἄψυχα ἐμαστίζετο. Δριμέως ζητεῖς τὰ νοήματα. Καὶ τίς σοι ἀρκέσει ἀμέλγοντι, εἰ μὴ Θεὸς παράσχοι (33) λόγον [καὶ τόνον] τῷ σκοπῷ σου συντρέχοντα; Αἱ πέτραι ἐν τῷ πάθει τῷ Κυριακῷ διεθρύβησαν, καὶ τὰ μνήματα πρὸς μεθοδείαν σωμάτων ἐτρόμαζον, τῶν ἐπιγείων καὶ ὑπογείων Δεσπότην σημαίνοντα τὸν ἡλούμενον.