Nilus of Ancyra→Pharismanimus Decembrius|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Pharismanimus Decembrius.
Even if no pagan tyrant [Greek Hellen, i.e. a heathen persecutor] is persecuting you, nevertheless be ready for martyrdom, so that you may not be deprived of the eager resolve. For even if persecution is not at hand as you would wish, even so matters will stand thus for you. Rather, persecution is at hand throughout the whole of life: anger is at hand, shameful desire is at hand, at hand is the tyranny of despondency and of grief and of listlessness [akedia, the spiritual weariness of the ascetic]; untimely fear is near you, and envy stands beside you; the ruler of vainglory has set himself upon you, and of gluttony, and of drunkenness, and of the other ruinous passions. For each of these drives the human soul out of eternal life. Contend, therefore, and play the man against them as a soldier of Christ.
Even if no pagan tyrant [Greek Hellen, i.e. a heathen persecutor] is persecuting you, nevertheless be ready for martyrdom, so that you may not be deprived of the eager resolve. For even if persecution is not at hand as you would wish, even so matters will stand thus for you. Rather, persecution is at hand throughout the whole of life: anger is at hand, shameful desire is at hand, at hand is the tyranny of despondency and of grief and of listlessness [akedia, the spiritual weariness of the ascetic]; untimely fear is near you, and envy stands beside you; the ruler of vainglory has set himself upon you, and of gluttony, and of drunkenness, and of the other ruinous passions. For each of these drives the human soul out of eternal life. Contend, therefore, and play the man against them as a soldier of Christ.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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.