Letter 664

To Andreas the Presbyter. The monk is said to be an altar of the Lord, an altar on which and from which pure prayers are offered to the Most High God, an altar spiritually established and founded upon the place, as David says, where the feet of the Lord stood and were not moved [cf. Psalm 132:7]. For "our feet," he says, "were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem" [Psalm 122:2].

Θυσιαστήριον Κυρίου λέγεται ὑπάρχειν ὁ μοναχός, θυσιαστήριον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐξ οὗ εὐχαὶ καθαραὶ προσφέρονται τῷ πανυψίστῳ Θεῷ, θυσιαστήριον πνευματικῶς ἱδρυμένον, καὶ τεθεμελιωμένον εἰς τὸν τόπον, καθὼς φησιν ὁ Δαυΐδ, οὗ ἔστησαν οἱ πόδες Κυρίου· οὗ μὴν ἐσαλεύθησαν. «Ἑστῶτες γάρ, φησίν, ἦσαν οἱ πόδες ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς σου, Ἰερουσαλήμ.»