91. К диакониссе Пентадии 61

I congratulate you for the crowns with which you have now again adorned yourself, having decided to courageously endure everything for the truth. Therefore, God Himself will help you with much power in the upcoming struggle, because it is said: “Strive for the truth until death, and the Lord God will fight for you” (“Strive even to death for the truth, and the Lord will fight for you”) (Sir.4:32). And so it came true. At least so far, having fought the good fight, you have already acquired great glory for yourself from above, which I sincerely rejoice at. But I found out that you are thinking about leaving and want to move from there. I earnestly ask your honesty not to think or even think about anything like that. Firstly, because you really are the affirmation of your city, a wide pier, a support, a strong wall of all the downtrodden. Do not let go of such an acquisition from your hands, do not run away from such rich profits, when every day you collect so many treasures thanks to your presence there. Both those who see your exploits and those who hear about them receive considerable benefit. And you know what reward this will bring you. So, firstly, as I said, we ask you to stay there because you have already sufficiently proven by experience the benefits that you bring by staying there. Then, the time of year does not allow this. You know the weakness of your health and you feel yourself how difficult it will be for you to move into such bad weather and cold. Moreover, Isaurian robberies, as we hear, are flourishing. Having realized all this, like a sensible woman, under no circumstances decide to go at this time. Please write to us soon and keep us updated about your health. We are already saddened by not having received a letter from your honesty, and we wondered whether illness had prevented you from doing this. In order to thus remove this burden from us, quickly send us a letter notifying us of this. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: