Letter 318

Nilus of AncyraTheopompus|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted

To Theopompus the Senator [synkletikos, a man of senatorial rank].

Figuratively, or rather prophetically, Joshua the son of Jozadak [the high priest in Zechariah 3] was once seen wearing filthy garments; but the soiled garments were stripped off, and he was clothed with clean garments. This came to pass so that we might recognize and learn that, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one [1 Corinthians 15:49]; for Christ by his own virtues conquers in great measure the stains of human beings. Therefore one must pray to be delivered and ransomed from long-standing prejudice [or: the inveterate hold of habitual sin], and to die to the soiled and blameworthy condition.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

Τυπικῶς, μᾶλλον δὲ προφητικῶς ὁ τοῦ Ἰωσεδὲκ ποτε Ἰησοῦς ὤφθη φορῶν ἱμάτια ῥυπαρά, ἀλλ᾽ ἐξέδυθη τὰ ῥυπανθέντα, καὶ ἐνεδύσατο ἱμάτια καθαρά. Τοῦτο δὲ γέγονεν, ἵνα γνῶμεν καὶ μάθωμεν, ὅτι καθὼς ἐφορέσαμεν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, φορέσομεν καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου· κατὰ πολὺ γὰρ νικᾷ Χριστὸς ταῖς οἰκείαις ἀρεταῖς τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων κηλίδας, ὅθεν εὔχεσθαι δεῖ ῥυσθῆναι καὶ λυτρωθῆναι χρονίας προλήψεως, καὶ ἀποθανεῖν τῇ ἐρῥυπωμένῃ, καὶ ψεχτῇ καταστάσει.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern nilus ancyra workflow v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: project source import

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