Letter 371

To Menander the Ascetic. Being a [...] shoot, and one most beautiful and exceedingly praiseworthy, of the renowned and all-virtuous Abba Minoukianos [a revered ascetic father], you rightly display in yourself the exceedingly brilliant stamp of the man. For he was shown to be not only a disciple but also an imitator of this our man-loving Savior Christ, who demonstrated in deed and in word the true philosophy, by displaying a pure manner of life and by ever bearing the soul above the passions of the body.

Θύνοδον μόσχευμα, κάλλιστον δὲ καὶ ἄγαν ἐπαινετὸν ὑπάρχων, τοῦ ἀοιδίμου καὶ παναρέτου ἀββᾶ Μινουκιανοῦ, δικαίως τὸν χαρακτῆρα τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὑπέρλαμπρον δεικνύεις ἐν σεαυτῷ· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ οὐ μόνον μαθητής, ἀλλὰ καὶ μιμητὴς ἐδείχθη τοῦ φιλανθρώπου τούτου Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ, τοῦ παραδείξαντος ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ τὴν ἀληθῆ φιλοσοφίαν, ἐν τῷ πολιτείαν καθαρὰν ἐπιδείξασθαι, καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἀεὶ φέρειν τὴν ψυχὴν τῶν τὸ σώματος παθῶν.