Letter 553

To Eulabius the Presbyter. If we await new heavens and a new earth, according to the promise of Christ, in which unchangeable righteousness conducts its citizenship unto endless ages, and it will be granted to us, delivered without fear from the hand of our enemies, to serve God unceasingly in holiness and in righteousness, and in unspeakable joy and inexpressible glory, how is it that you yourself teach, on the contrary, that there exists there fear of men and of demons, and a judge, and a falling away, and sin, and the rest of such things?

Εἰ οὐρανοὺς καινούς, καὶ γῆν καινὴν κατὰ τὸ ἐπάγγελμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσδοκῶμεν, ἐν οἷς δικαι-οσύνη ἄτρεπτος πολιτεύεται εἰς ἀπεράντους αἰῶνας, καὶ δοθήσεται ἡμῖν ἀφόβως ἐκ χειρὸς ἐχθρῶν ῥυσθέντας λατρεύειν τῷ Θεῷ ἀκαταπαύστως ἐν ὁσιότητι, καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ χαρᾷ ἀνεκλαλήτῳ, καὶ δόξῃ ἀνεκφράστῳ, πῶς αὐτὸς διδάσκεις πάλιν φόβον ἀνθρώπων, καὶ δαιμόνων ὑπάρχειν ἐκεῖσε, καὶ κρί-την, καὶ ἔκπτωσιν, καὶ ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς;