Letter 992

To Heliodorus the Reader [a lector, the cleric appointed to read Scripture aloud in church]. The rules of reading [public lection of Scripture] demand not only a well-measured voice, but also a well-ordered manner of life. For just as the kithara-player, keeping his strings well-tuned, makes the song seemly, so too the reader, by tuning his life in harmony with the word of God, renders the hearing both delightful and profitable to those who listen. Considering these things, be earnest to keep the order of reading worthily of the ministry, so that you yourself may share in good things, and may urge those who hear toward the recognition of the divine commandments. ...of those who come from Arabia to the ascetic discipline, so that we may not, by injuring through our toil unto the destruction that is from the demons, [yet] gain the benefit that comes from the ascetic discipline. Farewell, dearest one.

Οἱ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως θεσμοί, οὐ μόνον τὴν φωνὴν εὔρυθμον ἀπαιτοῦσι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τρόπον εὐάγωγον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ κιθαριστὴς, τὰς χορδὰς εὐαρμόστους ἔχων, τὴν ᾠδὴν εὐπρεπῆ ποιεῖ· οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἀναγνώστης, τὸν βίον εὐαρμοστῶν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὴν ἀκρόασιν τοῖς ἀκούουσι τερπνήν τε καὶ ὠφέλιμον ἀπεργάζεται. Ταῦτα ἐννοῶν, σπούδαζε τὴν τῆς ἀναγνώσεως τάξιν ἀξίως τῆς διακονίας φυλάττειν, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν ἀγαθῶν μετέχῃς, καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας εἰς τὴν τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν ἐπίγνωσιν προτρέπῃς. τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀραβίας εἰς τὴν ἄσκησιν ἀφικνουμένων, ὅπως ἂν μὴ πρὸς τὸν τῶν δαιμονίων ὄλεθρον τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ πόνου βλάπτοντες, τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀσκήσεως ὠφέλειαν ἐπικτώμεθα. Ἔρρωσο, φίλτατε.