Letter 344

To Hermolaus the Monk. Look upward, toward God. What have you to do with earthly things? Do not wish to look closely at what the worldly man is doing; for you have departed from the world, and from the strangling noose of this life. Do not, then, perform the work of daily existence, but attend to yourself alone, and take care that your work be done in the manner befitting ascetics. "For watch carefully how you walk, and how you conduct your life" [Ephesians 5:15] -- so cries the divine command.

Ἄνω βλέπε πρὸς Θεόν. Τί σοι καὶ τοῖς γηΐνοις; Μὴ θέλε καθορᾶν, τί πράττει ὁ κοσμικὸς· ἀπέστης γὰρ τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τῆς ἀγχόνης τοῦ βίου. Μὴ οὖν δρα τὸ βιωτικὸν ἔργον, ἀλλὰ πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ μόνη, καὶ φρόντιζε, ὅπως κατὰ τὸ πρέπον τοῖς ἀσκηταῖς, πραχθείη τὸ ἔργον σου. « Βλέπετε γὰρ ἀκριβῶς, πῶς περιπατεῖτε, καὶ πῶς πολιτεύεσθε, » βοᾷ τὸ θεῖον ἐπίταγμα.