Letter 468

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

To Gaudentius the Deacon.

The demon of fornication is accustomed, like a greedy little cur, to stay close beside the one whom it is tempting, and indeed not to be driven off. It lies, therefore, within you, and within your own authority and will, either to feed this demon through that dishonorable practice, or to drive it into flight with wrath by means of prayers and psalmody, of fastings and vigils, and of sleeping on the ground. "For resist the enemy," as the great James writes, "and he will flee from you." [James 4:7]

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Ὁ τῆς πορνείας δαίμων δίκην λήχνου κυνιδίου τῷ ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ πειραζομένῳ εἴωθε παραμένειν, οὐ μὴν ἐκδιώξεσθαι. Ἐν σοὶ τοίνυν ὑπάρχει, καὶ τῇ σῇ ἐξουσίᾳ, καὶ βουλήσει, ἡ τρέφειν τοῦτον διὰ τῆς ἐργασίας τῆς ἀτίμου, ἢ φυγαδεύειν μετ’ ὀργῆς δι’ εὐχῶν καὶ ψαλμῳδιῶν, νηστειῶν τε καὶ ἀγρυπνιῶν, καὶ τῆς χαμαικοιτίας. « Ἀντίστητε γὰρ τῷ ἐχθρῷ, καθὼς γράφει ὁ μέγας Ἰάκωβος, καὶ φεύξεται ἀφ’ ὑμῶν. »

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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