Letter 808

To the Same Person. "Eat your bread to the full," said the Lord through Moses, "and you shall dwell securely upon your land" [Leviticus 26:5]. Now you know what the more divine bread is, and what the security is. "For I will establish you," He says, "with my right hand, and I will give peace upon your land" -- naming as "peace" the freedom from the defiling passions -- "and you shall lie down to sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid" [cf. Leviticus 26:6], a sleep that brings benefit and dissolves the evils that had held sway. This is the sleep. "For you have given," He says, not into my mouth, but into my heart, into my mind, an undecaying and everlasting gladness [cf. Psalm 4:7], and for this reason "in peace I will both lie down and sleep" [Psalm 4:8], and I will sleep a sleep that mortifies all sin. "For when the Lord gives sleep to those whom He loves" [Psalm 127:2] -- behold, thereupon the inheritance of the Lord is prepared for those who have contended in the struggle.

Φάγεσθε τὸν ἄρτον ὑμῶν εἰς πλησμονήν, εἶπε Κύριος διὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως, καὶ κατοικήσετε μετὰ ἀσφαλείας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὑμῶν. Οἶδας δέ, τίς ὁ θειότερος ἄρτος, καὶ τίς ἡ ἀσφάλεια. Ἡφάλια μὲν γάρ σε, φησίν, ἐγὼ τῇ δεξιᾷ μου, καὶ δώσω εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὑμῶν (εἰρήνην προσαγορεύων τὴν τῶν μιαρῶν παθῶν ἐλευθερίαν)· καὶ κοιμηθήσεσθε, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἐκφοβῶν ὑμᾶς ὀνησιφόρος καὶ λυτικὸς τῶν κρατησάντων κακῶν. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ὕπνος. Ἔδωκας γάρ, φησίν, οὐκ εἰς τὸ στόμα μου, ἀλλ’ εἰς τὴν καρδίαν μου, εἰς τὴν διάνοιαν, ἄσηπτον καὶ διαιωνίζουσαν εὐφροσύνην, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο « ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κοιμηθήσομαι, » καὶ ὑπνώσω ὕπνον πάσης ἁμαρτίας νεκρωτικόν. « Ὅταν γὰρ δῷ Κύριος τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς αὐτοῦ ὕπνον, » ἰδοὺ αὐτόθεν ἡ κληρονομία Κυρίου ἡτοιμασμένη τοῖς ἀγωνισαμένοις.