199. К пресвитеру Феофилу

It was very sad for me to hear that both you and Presbyter Salust do not always go to church. This made me incredibly sad. I earnestly ask you: if this is a lie, try to notify me; if it is true, leave such negligence. The higher the reward that is offered to you if you show, especially under the present circumstances, the due courage, the more severe the condemnation will be if you are a coward, hide and do not fulfill your duty. You know what the one who buried the talent given to him suffered. Not being guilty of anything else, he was convicted solely for this and had to inevitably suffer punishment. Try to get rid of my worries as soon as possible. How much I feel consolation and encouragement when I hear that you are protecting all our poor flock with complete zeal, so on the contrary, when I find out that one of you is careless, I grieve heavily for those who are careless. In fact, as for the flock itself, the grace of God constantly watches over it, as you see in practice; the bailiffs, who, through negligence, do not fulfill their duty, bring upon themselves great condemnation through their negligence. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: