Letter 614

To Aristarchus the Tribune. Do not despise the company of holy men. For their mere glance can heal your soul, decayed as it is amid the falls that surround it, and the very sound of their voice bestows the greatest gifts upon the one who believes. For the voice of the saints has broken up wars, driven out demons, and brought the heavenly bodies to a halt, just as Joshua the son of Nun cried out, "Let the sun stand still, and the moon," and at once they stood still; so too the three young men [the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace, Daniel 3], in the sight of those who watched, changed the flames into dew. In like manner even now those who are imitators of them in their way of life have power, and merely by speaking they are able to quench the burning of sin, to dry up the springs of pleasures, to soften wrath, to drive out desire, to unstring vainglory, to wither the inflammation of the love of money, to deliver from despondency and grief, and to instill a deep calm in souls that are storm-tossed.

Μὴ κατάφρονει τῆς συντυχίας τῶν ἁγίων ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ βλέμμα αὐτῶν μόνον ἰᾶσθαι δύναται τὴν ψυχὴν σοῦ σάθρωθεῖσαν ἐν τοῖς πέριξ πτώμασι, καὶ ὁ φθόγγος τούτων μεγίστας χαρίζεται δωρεὰς τῷ πιστεύοντι. Ἡ γὰρ φωνὴ τῶν ἁγίων πολέμους κατέλυσε, δαίμονας ἐξήλασε, τὰ στοιχεῖα ἔστησεν, ὥσπερ Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ βοήσας · « Στῆτω ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη » καὶ παραχρῆμα ἐστάθησαν· οὕτω καὶ οἱ παῖδες οἱ τρεῖς τοὺς ὀρῶντας καὶ τὰς φλόγας τὴν δρόσον μετέβαλον · ὁμοίως καὶ νῦν οἱ ἐκείνων μιμηταὶ κατὰ τὸν βίον ὑπάρχοντες ἰσχύουσιν, καὶ μόνον φθεγγόμενοι, κατάσβεσαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν πύρωσιν, καὶ ξηρᾶναι τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ἡδονῶν, καὶ τὸν θυμὸν μαλάξαι, καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκδιῶξαι, καὶ τὴν κενοδοξίαν ἐκνευρίσαι, καὶ μαρᾶναι τὸν φλόγμον τῆς φιλοχρηματίας, καὶ ἀθυμίας καὶ λύπης λυτρώσασθαι, καὶ ταῖς χειμαζομέναις ψυχαῖς γαλήνην βαθεῖαν ἐμποιοῦσαι.