¹ It is a great testimony of piety and faith that you extend the breadth of your charity to us, despite the vast distances between our regions and the many obstacles in our way. In this exile of ours, the mercy of our God acts as a craftsman, exercising a dual role: with fatherly care, He removes our rust, while at the same time illuminating your faith and proving your piety. He refines us with His kind diligence; He strengthens you. He humbles us in a way that is spiritually beneficial; He expands you. We are reproached, while you make progress. Our losses become your gain.

² Since you are, in a sense, our creditors, you are now becoming our debtors as well, for we serve as the occasion for your devotion and the means of your spiritual reward. Your works reap profit from us, and your merits grow through our sufferings. The affection of your concern for us reaches God as its true fruit, and thus, in a twofold way—through our chastisement and through your recompense—we are bound by divine blessings.

³ Indeed, the completeness of your comfort had nearly imposed silence upon me in my response. For the very eagerness with which you inquire is already shaped by the way of life you daily absorb from the effective teachings and living example of my lord and your father, the holy bishop Leontius. Yet I am not surprised that you seek even my guidance, however unnecessary it may seem, for you are well aware of my singular devotion to you.

⁴ You believe that my teaching is as perfect as you desire it to be in aiding your faith. But though my speech—already made slower by my present weakness—may scarcely match your fervor, I will nonetheless briefly reflect upon your way of life, not so much to instruct you as to bring it again to your remembrance.

⁵ The recognition of sin brings great concern, along with the fear of judgment and the terror of eternal fire. Therefore, for offering the sacrifices of prayer, the silence of the night is a welcome companion to those who partake in it. After this, until the third hour, a measured reading should follow, so that the exercise of the spirit may never cease to be desired and may always increase.

⁶ Would that the Lord provide even two faithful companions with whom you might fulfil your daily and nightly duties and, at least twice a week, share in the salutary offices. The things we speak of arise from the fervor of the one who asks, and they are difficult, yet may the gracious Helper of those who labor make His yoke as light for you as His reward will be delightful.

⁷ Thus, if your early steps in devotion are still hesitant, let the winter days be spent fasting on alternating days. As much as moderation is fitting, it is also necessary that these fasts be doubled.

⁸ Yes, I say it must be doubled. For there are two kinds of abstinence: one is to restrain the desires of intemperance—curbing the appetite for food and drink, as well as the allurements of various carnal pleasures—and to subdue the body, that earth subjected to the burden of the cross. Moderation should be observed, serving necessity rather than indulgence. If weakness permits, one may take a meal on alternating days, until the force of long-standing habit is gradually unlearned.

⁹ As for the use of clothing, one’s austerity should be gradually adjusted to humbler garments, so that the sudden adoption of moderation does not cause offense. For it must be carefully observed that even excessive humility can give rise to pride, and that vice may be born from virtue. However, this danger can be easily overcome if the shameful history of one’s past way of life is constantly brought before one’s eyes, and if the guilty conscience is confronted with trembling awareness.

¹⁰ Thus, by recalling past evils, the presumption instilled by the devil will be chastened; and as pride is repelled by the powerful weapons of guilt, the very sins that once brought death will begin to serve the cause of salvation. Faults will become remedies, wounds will produce healing, and, as the Apostle has said, we shall strive through sin itself to condemn sin.

¹¹ Another form of abstinence is far more exalted and much more precious: to govern the movements of the soul, to subdue irrational disturbances, and to bring the rebellious tumults of conflicting thoughts under the rule of the mind; to expel the poison of malice from the innermost chambers of the heart, as if purging a deadly sorcery; to steer the soul with the discipline of steadfastness against the waves of various temptations; and to engage in a kind of struggle against hidden passions, as one would against enemies within their own household, wielding the authority of a righteous and zealous faith.

¹² It is to cast off useless worries, to abstain from harmful conversations and desires—those on which the devil feeds—and through gentleness, patience, and inner peace, to cultivate the image of God in the depths of one’s soul. It is for a person whose thoughts are fixed on spiritual and divine matters to remain unshaken, so that sorrow does not break him, nor joy cause him to waver, but so that the constancy of a heart firmly established in the fear of God displays the steadiness of greatness of soul. In this way, the remarkable opening of that little book may also be applied to us: “There was a man who kept himself from every evil thing.”

¹³ A man, it says—one man, meaning he was always the same, for in him there was nothing doubtful, nothing deceitful, nothing accidental, nothing fickle, nothing inconsistent. Rather, he remained steadfast in his virtues, maintaining the same order without change, and time did not alter him. Just as the winds do not drive the waves of the sea into opposite directions in shifting gusts, so too the devoted servant of God, firmly established on the solid foundation of faith, is transformed only by Christ working within him—so that he is continually clothed in new virtues.

¹⁴ Before all else, as much as we can with God’s help, let us overcome the enticements of the five senses within us. For whatever is pleasing to the eye, whatever seduces through scent, whatever is soft to the touch, whatever delights the taste, whatever flatters the ear—if we misuse these things, they turn our attention away from spiritual matters and toward earthly ones. Therefore, just as Abraham, the father of faith, defeated those five kings with three hundred and eighteen men, a number that contains a hidden mystery within the letters, so too must we fight against these leading vices in the name of Jesus and by the sign of the cross, for this number expresses both.

¹⁵ Thus, we may be worthy to hear from the Lord: “To the one who overcomes, I will give the crown of life”, and “The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death”, and “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force”. For the soul must make war against itself, subjecting carnal desires to the spirit, preferring the cross to pleasures, choosing watchfulness over sweet sleep, overcoming the adversary within its own members, and being transformed from one state to another, so that it may be found worthy of the Lord’s command: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself”. Whenever someone turns from wrath to patience, from lust to self-control, from cruelty to gentleness, from envy to kindness, from greed to generosity, they deny themselves as many times as they are converted to something better. Therefore, in order to rise to what we ought to be, we must first learn to hate what we once were. The one who desires to be changed into glory there must first be changed into life here.