Nilus of Ancyra→Panegyrius|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Panegyrius the Monk.
Having perceived from certain signs that you have obtained a rational blessing through your good labor, and have received grace from heaven, just as Jacob did, and as all who have genuinely served God have done, the Wicked One, the hater of mankind, struck with malice and wounded with envy, has kindled great trials against you, wishing both to crush your virtue-loving soul, and, suggesting wicked thoughts, hastening to drive you out toward harmful deeds. And this is nothing strange.
The things you endure, most excellent one. For it is written: As we are now entering into the spiritual holy land of the divine promise, then the leaders of Edom hastened, and the rulers of the Moabites [demonic powers, figured by Israel's enemies on the road to the promised land], certain bitter and lordly demons, wishing to drive us back, and to turn us away from the blessed entrance, and to estrange us from eternal joy. But you, remaining undisturbed, be a man, and be strong, crushing through endurance, and through intense prayer, those who desire to crush us, ceaselessly speaking the prophetic words: "By no means rejoice, you foreigners, the yoke of those who strike us is being broken" [cf. Isaiah 14:29]; for Christ, the God who loves mankind, will be propitious to us, and the evil agents of the spiritual Pharaoh together with their own king will cease and be brought to nothing, and their strength will at last be crushed, so that they may no longer drive us down into the chaff, and the clay, and the brickmaking of sin [the bondage in Egypt, Exodus 1:14]; for the closer we draw to God, the more do the demons rage against us.
Having perceived from certain signs that you have obtained a rational blessing through your good labor, and have received grace from heaven, just as Jacob did, and as all who have genuinely served God have done, the Wicked One, the hater of mankind, struck with malice and wounded with envy, has kindled great trials against you, wishing both to crush your virtue-loving soul, and, suggesting wicked thoughts, hastening to drive you out toward harmful deeds. And this is nothing strange.
The things you endure, most excellent one. For it is written: As we are now entering into the spiritual holy land of the divine promise, then the leaders of Edom hastened, and the rulers of the Moabites [demonic powers, figured by Israel's enemies on the road to the promised land], certain bitter and lordly demons, wishing to drive us back, and to turn us away from the blessed entrance, and to estrange us from eternal joy. But you, remaining undisturbed, be a man, and be strong, crushing through endurance, and through intense prayer, those who desire to crush us, ceaselessly speaking the prophetic words: "By no means rejoice, you foreigners, the yoke of those who strike us is being broken" [cf. Isaiah 14:29]; for Christ, the God who loves mankind, will be propitious to us, and the evil agents of the spiritual Pharaoh together with their own king will cease and be brought to nothing, and their strength will at last be crushed, so that they may no longer drive us down into the chaff, and the clay, and the brickmaking of sin [the bondage in Egypt, Exodus 1:14]; for the closer we draw to God, the more do the demons rage against us.
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.