Letter 580

To Gerasimus the Eirenarch [a local magistrate responsible for keeping public order]. We the faithful have received a law of freedom, so that, free from compulsion, as true-born sons, and of our own will, we may labor more than those slaves who serve under fear and the lash according to the law of Moses. Be eager, therefore, to please God, and strive with your own ready willingness in the Gospel; for this is what is called the law of freedom [cf. James 1:25], that you may be counted blessed.

Νόμον ἐλευθερίας ἐλάδομεν οἱ πιστοί, ἵν’ ἐκτὸς βίας ὡς υἱοὶ γνησίως, καὶ ἑκουσίως πλείονα κοπιάσωμεν ἐκείνων, τῶν μετὰ φόβου, καὶ μαστίγων ἐξυπηρετουμένων δούλων κατὰ τὸν νόμον Μωσέως. Σπούδασον τοίνυν εὐαρεστεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἀγωνίζου οἰκείᾳ προθυμίᾳ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ· τοῦτο γὰρ εἴρηται νόμος ἐλευθερίας, ὅπως ἂν μακαρισθῇς.