Letter 147

To Thessalius the Deacon. That the one who longs for the good must demonstrate his labor throughout the whole of his life not by reasoning and word alone, but also by deed, so that in this way he may attain to the heavenly rest and kingdom, having cultivated the fruits of manifold virtue. See what the patriarch Jacob says: "Issachar desired the good thing, resting himself between the inheritances; and seeing the land, that it was fertile, he set his shoulder to labor, and became a man who tills the soil" [Genesis 49:14-15]. And the prophet Jeremiah too says: "Give your heart to your shoulder" [Jeremiah, Lamentations]; that is, bring your good resolves into deed, becoming a man of action.

Ὅτι χρὴ τὸν τοῦ καλοῦ ἐφιέμενον, μὴ μόνον λογισμῷ, καὶ λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔργῳ τὸν κόπον ἐνδείκνυσθαι διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου, ἵν’ οὕτως ἐπιτύχῃ οὐρανίου ἀναπαύσεως καὶ βασιλείας, γεωργήσας τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς πολυειδοῦς ἀρετῆς. Βλέπε τί φησιν ὁ πατριάρχης Ἰακώβ· «Ἰσσάχαρ τὸ καλὸν ἐπεθύμησεν, ἀναπαυόμενος ἀνάμεσον τῶν κλήρων, καὶ ἰδὼν τὴν γῆν, ὅτι πίων ὑπάρχει, ὑπέθηκεν τὸν ὦμον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πονεῖν, καὶ ἐγενήθη ἀνὴρ γεωργός». Καὶ ὁ προφήτης δὲ Ἱερεμίας λέγει· «Δὸς τὴν καρ- διὰν σου εἰς τὸν ὦμον σου· τουτέστιν, τὰ ἀγαθὰ βουλεύματα εἰς ἔργον ἐξάγαγε πρακτικῶς γενόμενος.