Letter 643

To Polychronius the Deacon. I count you blessed for your friendship toward God, and for that love which is incorruptible and heavenly, in that you demand of us discourses concerning compunction of soul. A request of this kind is a sign of purity in the soul. For it is not possible for one to arrive at this desire for such discourses unless he has first been thoroughly purified and become superior to all the affairs of this life. And this is easy to perceive from the case of those who are held by this love even for a little while, who receive so great a change all at once that they at once pass over toward heaven and walk the upper air with their blessed mind. Wherefore I, having eagerly received the charge of your sincere love, composed a whole book concerning the soul's ascent toward God and have sent it to you and to the God-fearing friends who dwell with you, beseeching and exhorting you, since you have boldness of access toward God, to requite us with your holy prayers; for you are able, I know well, to make the Most High propitious on our behalf.

Μακαρίζω σε τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν φιλίας, καὶ τοῦ ἔρωτος τοῦ ἀφθάρτου καὶ οὐρανίου, καθότι τοῖς περὶ κατανύξεως ψυχῆς ἀπαιτεῖς ἡμᾶς λόγους. Σημεῖον δέ ἐστι τὸ τοιοῦτον αἴτημα τῆς ἐν ψυχῇ καθαρότητος. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατὸν μὴ πρότερον ἐκκαθαρθέντα καλῶς, καὶ τῶν βιωτικῶν ἁπάντων ἀνώτερον. γενόμενον, εἰς ταύτην τῶν λόγων τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐληλυθότα. Καὶ τοῦτο ῥάδιον συνειδεῖν ἐκ τῶν καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὀλίγον τούτῳ κατεχομένων τῷ ἔρωτι, οἳ τοσαύτην ἐξ ἀθρόον δέχονται τὴν μεταβολήν, ὡς εὐθέως πρὸς τὸ οὐρανὸν μεταστῆναι, καὶ αἰθεροβατεῖν τῇ μακαρίᾳ γνώμῃ. Ὅθεν προθύμως ἐγὼ δεξάμενος τὸ ἐπίταγμα τῆς σῆς εἰλικρινοῦς ἀγάπης, βιβλίον ὁλόκληρον περὶ τῆς ἐπὶ Θεὸν ἀνατάσεως συντάξας ἀπέσταλκα ὑμῖν τε, καὶ τοῖς σὺν ὑμῖν διατρίβουσι φίλοις θεοσεβέσιν, δυσωπῶν καὶ παρακαλῶν ὑμᾶς, παρρησίαν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἔχοντας, ταῖς ὁσίαις ἡμᾶς ἀμείψασθαι προσευχαῖς· δύνασθε γάρ, εὖ οἶδα, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐξιλεοῦσθαι τὸ Κρεῖττον.