Letter 537

To Philo. One man inclines toward one of the vain things of the world, and another is wounded by another of the things that profit the soul nothing. But you are zealous with longing about one thing only: to spend your substance insatiably upon the ascetics of Christ. For this reason, therefore, you are going to receive your recompenses in abundance; and it is plain that the grace of the Lord will show you, before your death, those things which, foreknowing what is to come, both prompts you to do the things profitable to the soul, and reveals beforehand the everlasting requitals.

Ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλο τι νένευκε τῶν ματαίων τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ ἄλλος ἐπ᾽ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τέτρωται τῶν μηδὲν τὴν ψυχὴν ὠφελούντων. Σὺ δὲ περὶ ἓν μόνον σπου- δάζεις μετὰ πόθων, τὸ τοῖς ἀσκηταῖς τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν σὴν ἐκδαπανᾶν ὕπαρξιν ἀκορέστως. Πλήθει τοίνυν διὰ τοῦτο μέλλεις ἀπολαμβάνειν τὰς μισ αποδοσίας, δῆλον ὅτι ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου δείξει σοι πρὸ τελευτῆς, ἅ τις προγιγνώσκουσα τὰ μέλλοντα, καὶ ὑποφθέγγεταί σοι πράττειν τὰ ψυχοφελή, καὶ προσαποκαλύπτει τὰς διαωνιζούσας ἀνταμείψεις.