Nilus of Ancyra→Gaudentius (correspondent of Nilus of Ancyra)|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Gaudentius the Cellarer [the monastic official in charge of provisions].
From every quarter those who love God with the whole soul find joy of heart, and they take to their bosom the wealth of thanksgiving toward the Lord and of doxology. When, therefore, you behold the year completed, give thanks to the Master, that he has brought you into the circuit of the years. Pierce your own heart with compunction, reckon up the number of your life, say to yourself: The days run on, and they pass away, the years are filled up, we have advanced far along the road; have I, then, accomplished any good? Shall I perhaps depart from here destitute of all righteousness, and empty? The tribunal is already made ready; my life from now on hastens on toward old age. Let us therefore reckon up, O soul, the age that is to come. Let us be afraid, lest the Prophet cry out also concerning us, that "Their days were consumed in vanity, troubled with haste" [Psalm 77:33 LXX]. But these things I have discoursed to one who wishes his soul to be profited, not his body. For I know well that you never endure to keep festival at the popular public assembly, nor do you give yourself eagerly to the playthings of demons, and to the gain-mongers [actors and showmen who hawk for profit], and to the other countless deceptions of the eyes, and to the horse-races, but that then most of all you betake yourself to the houses of prayer, because you see all the more senseless people hastening to the contests of horses, and roaming off to the theaters worthy of the curse, and to the soul-snatching processions of the devil.
To Gaudentius the Cellarer [the monastic official in charge of provisions].
From every quarter those who love God with the whole soul find joy of heart, and they take to their bosom the wealth of thanksgiving toward the Lord and of doxology. When, therefore, you behold the year completed, give thanks to the Master, that he has brought you into the circuit of the years. Pierce your own heart with compunction, reckon up the number of your life, say to yourself: The days run on, and they pass away, the years are filled up, we have advanced far along the road; have I, then, accomplished any good? Shall I perhaps depart from here destitute of all righteousness, and empty? The tribunal is already made ready; my life from now on hastens on toward old age. Let us therefore reckon up, O soul, the age that is to come. Let us be afraid, lest the Prophet cry out also concerning us, that "Their days were consumed in vanity, troubled with haste" [Psalm 77:33 LXX]. But these things I have discoursed to one who wishes his soul to be profited, not his body. For I know well that you never endure to keep festival at the popular public assembly, nor do you give yourself eagerly to the playthings of demons, and to the gain-mongers [actors and showmen who hawk for profit], and to the other countless deceptions of the eyes, and to the horse-races, but that then most of all you betake yourself to the houses of prayer, because you see all the more senseless people hastening to the contests of horses, and roaming off to the theaters worthy of the curse, and to the soul-snatching processions of the devil.
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.