Letter 312

To the same person. The Apostle's saying, "Exhort one another, as long as it is called Today" [Hebrews 3:13], and the fact that it is written in the book of Job, "And it came to pass, as on this day" [Job 1:6], indicate the whole present age; for the entire span of human life is a single day. Continually, then, and always, Satan asks leave [to test us]. "It came to pass," he says, "as on this day"—that is, something then happened to come about such as also now often happens among us to those who are tempted by the devil. So then it is good not to grow faint-hearted, but by the exhortation and the comfort of the Spirit to strengthen our resolve, so that the enemy may not swallow us up through despair.

Τὸ εἰπεῖν τὸν Ἀπόστολον «Παρακαλεῖτε ἑαυτοὺς ἄχρις οὗ τὸ σήμερον καλεῖται,» καὶ τὸ γεγράφθαι ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τοῦ Ἰώβ «Ἐγένετο δέ, ὡς ἡ ἡμέρα αὕτη, τὸν παρόντα αἰῶνα ὅλον δηλοῖ· μία γὰρ ἡμέρα πᾶς ὁ ἀνθρώπινος βίος. Διηνεκῶς τοίνυν, καὶ ἀεὶ ἐξαιτεῖται ὁ Σατανᾶς. Ἐγένετο οὖν, φησίν, ὡς ἡ ἡμέρα αὕτη, τουτέστι, τοιοῦτόν τι τότε συνέβη γενέσθαι, οἷον καὶ ἐφ’ ἡμῶν νῦν πολλάκις συμβαίνει τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου πειραζομένοις. Ὥστε οὖν μὴ ὀλιγωρεῖν καλὸν, τῇ παρακλήσει δὲ, καὶ τῇ παρηγορίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος ῥωννύειν τὸ φρόνημα, ἵνα μὴ καταπίῃ ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως.