Letter 908

To Eleutherius the Bishop. We ourselves shall be our own accusers on the day of judgment, convicted by our own conscience. What defense, then, shall we find, or what aid in that helplessness, except faith in Christ alone, the most loving Lord? For this is a great defense; a great aid, and security, and boldness, and a countenance for those who have made themselves faceless through the countless heap of their offenses. For in the hour of our struggle and of our measureless fear, like some gracious and peaceable, luminous and gentle angel appearing in our midst, the remembrance of Christ the beloved Master, and our well-rooted and unshakable faith in him, cast out the trembling and the shame, and filled us with good cheer and joy, and reconciled to God the one who had been estranged. Reckon, then, that this is the very thing you wished to learn from the Apostle [Paul, in Romans 2:15-16], as thoughts accuse or defend one another on the day when God shall judge the secret things of men.

Κατήγοροι αὐτοὶ ἑσόμεθα ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκείου ἐλεγχόμενοι συνειδότος. Ποίαν τοίνυν ἀπολογίαν εὑρήσομεν, ἢ βοήθειαν ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἀπορίᾳ, πλὴν μόνης τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν τὸν φιλανθρωπότατον Κύριον πίστεως; Μεγάλη γὰρ αὕτη ἀπολογία; μεγάλη βοήθεια, καὶ ἀσφάλεια, καὶ παῤῥησία, καὶ πρόσωπον τὰ ἀπρόσωπα ποιησάντων διὰ τὴν ἀμύθητον συλλογὴν τῶν πταισμάτων. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ ὥρᾳ τῆς ἀγωνίας ἡμῶν, καὶ τοῦ ἀμέτρου φόβου καθάπερ τις εὐμενὴς, καὶ εἰρηνικὸς, φωτεινός τε, καὶ προσηνὴς ἄγγελος ἐν μέσῳ παραφανεῖσα ἡμῖν ἡ μνήμη Χριστοῦ τοῦ ποθεινοῦ Δεσπότου, καὶ ἡ εἰς αὐτὸν εὔριζος καὶ ἀσάλευτος πίστις, τὸν τρόμον καὶ τὴν αἰσχύνην ἐξέβαλε, καὶ εὐθυμίας ἐνέπλησε καὶ χαρᾶς, καὶ τὸν ἠλλοτριωμένον ᾠκείω. σε τῷ θεῷ. Τοιοῦτον τοίνυν λογίζου εἶναι, ὅπερ μαθεῖν ἠθέλησας παρὰ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου, μεταξὺ τῶν λογισμῶν κατηγορούντων, ἢ ἀπολογουμένων ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, ὅτε κρινεῖ ὁ Θεὸς τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.