Letter 813

To the Same Person. The face of the soul is its godlike form, that is, the purity of the mind, and that which is uniform in itself and resplendent in its holy and unstained nature; but the back is the vice that is compounded out of slothful negligence. This is why certain people are accused and reproached as having turned their backs toward God, and why it is necessary that vice be struck, so that we may not remain beyond all cure. For the Lord, Scripture says, struck His enemies [cf. Psalm 78(77):66] - and He did so well and profitably.

Πρόσωπον τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ θεοειδὴς μορφή, τουτέστιν. ἡ καθαρότης τοῦ νοῦ, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἀκηλιδώτου φύσεως αὐτοειδές τε καὶ ἔκλαμπρον· νῦτος δέ, ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς ῥαθυμίας συνισταμένη κακία. Διόπερ τινὲς ἐγκαλοῦνται, καὶ φέγονται, ὡς τὰ νῶτα, πρὸς τὸν θεὸν στρέψαντες, καὶ ἀναγκαῖον πλήττεσθαι τὴν κακίαν, ἵνα μὴ ἀνιάτρευτοι διαμένωμεν. Ἐπάταξε γὰρ Κύριος, φησί, τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ· εὖ γε καὶ ἐπωφελῶς.