3. Епископам, пресвитерам и диаконам, заключенным за благочестие в темницу ****

Blessed are you in prison, in chains and bonds; Blessed are you three times, a thousand times blessed, you who have aroused genuine sympathy for yourself throughout the entire universe and have made even people who are far from you your followers! Everywhere, on sea and land, your exploits, your courage, your unyielding will, your way of thinking without servility are glorified. Nothing has broken you - of all that is considered terrible - neither the trial, nor the executioner, nor countless tortures, nor thousands of death threats, nor judges with fire in their mouths, nor enemies gnashing their teeth and raising all sorts of intrigues, nor unscrupulous slander, nor shameless accusations, nor death appearing before your eyes every day; for consolation in all this, the reason for all this was enough for you. For this, everyone openly places crowns on you and proclaims your glory - not only friends, but also the enemies themselves and the perpetrators of your tortures; if others do not openly, then you only have to look into their conscience, in the depths of it, and they will be very surprised at you. This is the property of virtue: even those who pursue it are surprised by it. This is the nature of evil: it is despised even by those who do it. And it's all still here; and what is there, in heaven, what word can express it? Your names are already inscribed in the book of life and you are numbered among the host of holy martyrs. I know all this clearly, not because I entered heaven, but because I learned from divine broadcasts. If (John), this barren fruit, this citizen of the desert, who rebelled against the lawless marriage (Herod Philip) and could not turn away lawlessness, but only expose it, being thrown into prison and beheaded, became a martyr and the first of the martyrs, then think what reward will you receive, who rebelled for the crime of the laws and decrees of your fathers, for trampling and violating the rights of the priesthood, and who suffered so much for the truth and for the righteous denunciation of shameless slander! “You are not worthy to have... the wife of Philip, your brother” (Matthew 14:4) - this virtuous and great man said then, and this was enough to give him unspeakable boldness. So you said: here are our bodies - they can be subjected to punishment, torment, torment - destroy them, torment them with whatever torments you want; but we do not agree to slander and are better prepared to die a thousand times. True, you are not beheaded; but you are subjected to much greater cruelties. It is not the same thing to lay down your head in a short moment of time, or to struggle for so long with so many sorrows, fears, threats, prisons, exiles, trials, the efforts of executioners, the shameless lips of slanderers, with so many censures, reproaches, ridicule. This is a much higher type of asceticism, and Blessed Paul considers it among the great feats, saying this: “Remember... your first days, in which you were enlightened, you performed many feats under suffering.” Speaking further about the feat itself, he described it in the following words: “the shame of those who were reproached and sorrows was former, but those who were in common with those who suffered were already so” (Heb. 10:32–33). If those who shared the reproaches were already ascetics, then even more so those who endured them. You have not suffered one, not two, not three, you have suffered many deaths, if not in reality, then in the soul. “Rejoice for now and rejoice” (Matthew 5:12): this is what the Lord of heaven commanded - not only to grieve and not to lament, but to rejoice and rejoice when your name is called out as evil. If one should rejoice during slander, then when slander comes with blows, torment, sharpened swords, prisons, shackles, exiles, new exiles, countless crowds of enemies, think what a reward then, how high the reward will be then! So, rejoice, have fun, take courage, strengthen yourself, think how many other people you have raised to the feat of your sufferings, how many you have raised the spirit of, how many have strengthened those who wavered - not only those who are with you, but also those who were absent - bringing the greatest benefit not only to those who could see everything that you suffered, but also to those who, in their distance, could only hear about it. Let this apostolic word be constantly in your mouth, that “the passions of this present time are not worthy of the glory that would be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). Hope that the end of trials and perfect liberation will come very soon, and always pray for us. Although we are separated from you by a large stretch of space and have been separated from you for a long time, we embrace you, as if living and being with you, and kiss each of you on the dear head, receiving the crowned fighters with open arms and hoping even from here, from our great love for you, to receive the greatest benefit. If those who love you should expect a great reward for themselves, then think about what rewards are in store for you, who have shone in so many deeds. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” This letter is believed to have been written in Cucuza in 404. St. John Chrysostom also addressed them with another letter, which is placed below. You might be interested in: