Nilus of Ancyra→Xenophon|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Xenophon the Deacon.
Having been a little negligent, you fell into sin, and you dimmed the glory of your self-control. But, quickly becoming sober and turning back as is fitting, you reckoned it right to run back to your former condition, not accepting the ruinous despair that was being prompted in you by the devil. For he is the very one who both urges a man on to sin, and, once the sin has been committed, drives the one who has sinned toward despair. To sin, then, is human; but to lose hope is satanic and utterly destructive. This is also why the devil himself was hurled out of his despair into such perdition, since he was unwilling to repent. But "play the man and be strong," and let your heart be made firm [Psalm 30:25 LXX], strengthened by the better hopes. For we believe that you, rather, will display greater labor, and will redeem your former defeat by your subsequent diligence, and will be crowned over the adversary who has envied you. And we shall see you, in place of fleabane and the meanest thornbush, a tall cypress, unrotting and fragrant, or a fruitful palm, by the prunings of self-mastery and by the hardship that is sweet to those who hasten to repent, striking the devil who struck you through sin. For the voluntary affliction, and the suffering and laborious pain of the good hardship that is undertaken by choice, is far sweeter and more to be preferred than involuntary rest and enjoyment. Therefore the glory of your spiritual house, the latter, shall be greater than the former [cf. Haggai 2:9], and you shall inherit a throne of glory, as the prophets say.
Having been a little negligent, you fell into sin, and you dimmed the glory of your self-control. But, quickly becoming sober and turning back as is fitting, you reckoned it right to run back to your former condition, not accepting the ruinous despair that was being prompted in you by the devil. For he is the very one who both urges a man on to sin, and, once the sin has been committed, drives the one who has sinned toward despair. To sin, then, is human; but to lose hope is satanic and utterly destructive. This is also why the devil himself was hurled out of his despair into such perdition, since he was unwilling to repent. But "play the man and be strong," and let your heart be made firm [Psalm 30:25 LXX], strengthened by the better hopes. For we believe that you, rather, will display greater labor, and will redeem your former defeat by your subsequent diligence, and will be crowned over the adversary who has envied you. And we shall see you, in place of fleabane and the meanest thornbush, a tall cypress, unrotting and fragrant, or a fruitful palm, by the prunings of self-mastery and by the hardship that is sweet to those who hasten to repent, striking the devil who struck you through sin. For the voluntary affliction, and the suffering and laborious pain of the good hardship that is undertaken by choice, is far sweeter and more to be preferred than involuntary rest and enjoyment. Therefore the glory of your spiritual house, the latter, shall be greater than the former [cf. Haggai 2:9], and you shall inherit a throne of glory, as the prophets say.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.