Letter 440

To Elpidius the Monk. "All things," he says, "are pure to the pure" [Titus 1:15]; but to the faithless, and to those enslaved to the passions, and to lovers of sin, and to the defiled, all things appear impure and evil, and everything drags them toward sin. Whether it be food, or drink, or clothing, or a season, or a face, or a deed, or a glance, or a touch, or a smell, or a sound, or a taste—to speak comprehensively, every thing, or shape, or movement—pushes such people toward sin and summons them toward lawlessness. Just as, on the contrary, the faithful, and the chaste, and the reverent, and the sound in mind—all things rouse them toward thanksgiving to God and toward unceasing confession, and lead them by the hand toward all righteousness, and dispose their minds toward perfect piety. The spirit of cowardice sought you often and did not find you, because you had not yet been delivered up to be trained by it; but now it has found you, and it throws you into confusion, all night long and all day long. But do not lose heart; rather, wait upon the Lord in prayers, expecting that he will deliver you, while you continually keep yourself, drenched in tears, before his eyes.

« Πάντα, φησί, καθαρὰ τοῖς καθαροῖς, » τοῖς δὲ ἀπίστοις, καὶ ἐμπαθέσι, φιλαμαρτήμοσί τε, καὶ μεμολυσμένοις, πάντα ἀκάθαρτα, καὶ πονηρὰ φαίνεται, καὶ πάντα αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν ἐξέλκει, εἴτε βρῶμα, εἴτε πόμα, εἴτε φόρεμα, εἴτε χρόνος, ἢ πρόσωπον, ἢ πρᾶγμα, ἢ βλέμμα, ἢ ἁφή, ἢ ὄσφρησις, ἢ ἀκοή, ἢ γεῦσις, πᾶν συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν πρᾶγμα, ἢ εἶδος, ἢ κίνημα, ὠθεῖ τοὺς τοιούτους πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ ἐκκαλεῖται πρὸς τὴν παρανομίαν. Ὥσπερ τοὐναντίον τοὺς πιστούς, καὶ ἁγνούς, καὶ εὐλαβεῖς, καὶ σώους τὸ φρόνημα, πάντα διεγείρει πρὸς εὐχαριστίαν Θεοῦ, καὶ ἁπλήστον ὑμολογίαν, καὶ χειραγωγεῖ πρὸς πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην, καὶ νοηματίζει πρὸς τὴν τελείαν εὐσέβειαν. Εζήτησέ σε πολλάκις τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς δειλίας, καὶ οὐχ ηὗρε, διότι οὔπω ἐξεδέθης πρὸς γυμνασίαν αὐτῷ, νῦν δέ σε ηὗρε, καὶ ἐκταράττει, παννύχιον τε καὶ πανημέριον. Ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀθυμήσης, ὑπόμεινον δὲ ἐν εὐχαῖς τὸν Κύριον, προσδοκῶν, ὅπως ἐξέληται σε, συνεχῶς κατέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ φυρόμενον δάκρυσι.