Letter 351: Theodore Studite, Letter 351; Greek heading: Ἡγησίμῳ τέκνῳ.

Grace be to you from God, Hegesimos, my beloved child. I have been slow to visit you, but the brothers will explain the reason. I ask you and beseech you to persevere and to endure with patience the exile, the confinement. Watch over the place and the manner of your dwelling, that it may be in the Lord; keep your eyes on the unseen enemies, lest they find a place in you through the admittance of wicked thoughts. Each day there is war, but also crowns, provided that we do not fall. Live thus, like an angel, like a martyr of Christ; and even if you grow slack and are wounded by the enemy, yet rise up the more quickly, be cleansed, make yourself secure, and so, passing through it, save yourself, praying also for me the sinner. He who is with me greets you. The Lord be with you.