Letter 889
To Cyprian.
It is a great thing never to admit a fall; but if ever, through the enemy's act of snatching one away, one incurs some stumble, one must take refuge in the more wholesome hope. For the inclinations of men always tip toward contrary things. Would that spiritual teaching might also drive out the smoke of vice that has settled in souls. And in like manner the all-holy words [the Scriptures] carry with them a divine power, and they have the strength to transform the one who reads with longing out of a diseased condition into a fresh blossoming.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Μέγα μὲν τὸ μηδέποτε καταδέχεσθαι πτῶμα· εἰ δὲ κατὰ συναρπαγὴν ποτε τοῦ ἐχθροῦ πταίσματί τινι προσγένηται, προσφευκτέον τῇ χρηστοτέρᾳ ἐλπίδι. Ἀεὶ γὰρ πρὸς τὰ ἐναντία ῥέπουσιν αἱ ῥοπαὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Εἴθε δὲ καὶ ἡ πνευματικὴ διδασκαλία ἐξ-ελαύνειν τὸν ἐναποτεθέντα ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῆς κακίας καπνόν. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ πανάγιοι λόγοι δύναμιν θείαν ἐπιφέρονται, καὶ ἰσχύουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς καχεξίας μεταρρυθμίσαι εἰς ἀναθαλλοξίαν τὸν ἀναγιγνώσκοντα μετὰ πόθου.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern nilus ancyra workflow v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: project source import
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