Letter 361

To Faustinus the Monk. Why are you distressed? Why are you in anguish? Why do you complain, and find fault, you grumbler? Why do you show yourself incapable of endurance, and utterly faint-hearted, not bearing what has befallen you? Remember him who says in the admonitions: "My child, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for trial; make your heart straight, and endure, and do not be troubled, nor [...] in the time of calamity" [Sirach 2:1-2]. For know that, apart from the judgment of God, none of these grievous things comes upon anyone. Therefore, "Be courageous, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord" [Psalm 26:14 LXX], that He may have mercy on you. How can you say that to be a small sin, by which God is set at naught, and God is dishonored through the transgression of the divine commandments? For even if someone murders a man, or kills an infant, he is in every case a murderer, and is judged as a murderer. How, then, do you commit the offense by which you are shut out of the kingdom of heaven?

Τί θλίβῃ; τί ἀλύεις; τί μέμφῃ, καὶ καταμέμφῃ, μεμψίμοιρε; τί ἀνυπομόνητον σαυτὸν δεικνύεις, καὶ μικροψυχότατον, μὴ φέρων τὰ συμβάντα; «Μνήσθητι τοῦ λέγοντος ἐν ταῖς παραινέσεσι· «Τέκνον, ἐὰν προσέρσῃ δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἑτοίμασον τὴν ψυχήν σου εἰς πειρασμόν, εὔθυνον τὴν καρδίαν σου, καὶ καρτέρησον, καὶ μὴ ταράττου, μὴδὲ τάχιστα ζήσεις λύσιν ἐν καιρῷ ἐπαγωγῆς.» Γίνωσκε γάρ, ὅτι ἄνευ κρίσεως Θεοῦ, οὐδὲν τῶν θλιβερῶν ἐπέρχεταί τινι. Διόπερ «Ἀνδρίζου, καὶ κραταιούσθω ἡ καρδία σου, καὶ ὑπόμεινον τὸν Κύριον,» ἵνα σε ἐλεήσῃ. Πῶς μικρὸν λέγεις ὑπάρχειν ἁμάρτημα, δι’ οὗ Θεὸς ἀθετεῖται, καὶ θεὸς ἀτιμάζεται διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως θείων ἐνταλμάτων; Κἂν γάρ τις ἄνδρα φονεύσῃ, καὶ βρέφος ἀποκτείνῃ, φονεὺς πάντως ὑπάρχει, καὶ ὡς φονεὺς κρίνεται. Πῶς τοίνυν ποιεῖς τὸ πταῖσμα, δι’ οὗ ἐκκλείῃ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν;