Letter 262

To the Same Person. You prostitute your whole mind to the carnal way of thinking, and you cite the words "He knew her" [Matthew 1:25], and you insinuate that this hints at intercourse, if indeed it actually says "he knew her." But understand, my most refined fellow, that Joseph was no lover of pleasure, nor was he lustful, but rather he was thoroughly God-fearing and righteous. For when he had heard the angel say concerning the Virgin, who happened to be under his guardianship, that "That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she shall bear, and he shall save his people, and he shall reign forever" [cf. Matthew 1:20-21; Luke 1:33], he was moved still further to reverence before the presence of the Lord, shuddering at this very mystery, so astounding and most marvelous. For this reason, no longer as a betrothed man and husband, but as a worshipper and a most weighty minister of God, binding up his own thoughts with self-control, he served with all holiness and great purity and divine fear the one called, though not in fact being, his wife, Mary.

Ὅλην τὴν διάνοιαν πρὸς τὸ σαρκικὸν φρόνημα λατανεύεις, καὶ λέγεις τό· Ἔγνω αὐτήν· εἴ γε καὶ ἔγνω, μίξιν ὑπαινίττεσθαι. Ἀλλὰ γνῶθι, κομψότατε, ὅτι οὐ φιλήδονος, οὐδὲ λάγνος ὑπῆρχεν ὁ Ἰωσήφ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάνυ θεοσεβὴς τε καὶ δίκαιος. Ἀκούσας δὲ παρὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου εἰπόντος περὶ τῆς Παρθένου ἐπισκόπῳ τυγχανούσης, ὅτι Τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ Πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου, καὶ τεχθήσεται, καὶ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ βασιλεύσει εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, προσέθετο εὐλαβείσθαι ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου, φρίξας τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἔκπληκτον, καὶ παραδοξότατον μυστήριον. Διόπερ οὐκ ἔτι λοιπὸν ὡς μνηστὴρ, καὶ ἀνὴρ, ἀλλ’ ὡς λατρευτής, καὶ διάκονος Θεοῦ ἐμβριθέστατος, συσφίγξας τῇ σωφροσύνῃ τοὺς οἰκείους λογισμούς, ἐξυπηρετεῖτο σὺν πάσῃ ὁσιότητι, καὶ πολλῇ ἁγνότητι, καὶ φόβῳ θείῳ τῇ λεγομένῃ, οὐ μὴν καὶ οὔσῃ, γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ Μαρίᾳ.