Letter 257

257. To the Monks Harassed by the Arians

The things I said within myself when I heard of the trial brought upon you by the enemies of God, these I thought it well to make known to you by letter: that in a time supposed to be one of peace you have won for yourselves the blessedness laid up for those who are persecuted for the name of Christ. For because a name gentle and mild is laid upon those who work wickedness, we ought not for that reason to suppose that their deeds also are not the deeds of enemies. For I judge war from one's own kindred to be the more grievous, in that it is easy to guard against enemies openly proclaimed, but against those mingled among us we must of necessity be exposed to every harm — which is what you too have suffered. For our fathers also were persecuted, but by idolaters; their substance was plundered, their houses overturned, and they themselves driven into exile, by those who warred openly against us for the name of Christ. But the persecutors who have now appeared hate us no less than those did, yet for the deceiving of the many they put forward the name of Christ, so that the persecuted may not even have the consolation that comes from confession — since the many and simpler folk acknowledge indeed that we are wronged, but do not reckon to us death for the truth as a martyrdom. Therefore I am persuaded that a greater reward is laid up for you from the righteous Judge than for the martyrs of old, seeing that those had as well the acknowledged approval of men, and were awaiting the reward from God, whereas for you, for equal achievements, the honours from the peoples do not exist. So it is likely that a recompense many times greater is laid up in the age to come for your toils on behalf of true religion.

Therefore we exhort you not to lose heart in your afflictions, but to renew yourselves in the love of God, and day by day to add to your zeal, knowing that in you the remnant of true religion must be preserved, which the Lord at His coming will find upon the earth. And if bishops have been driven from the Churches, let not this shake you; if traitors have sprung up from among the clergy themselves, let not even this unsettle your trust in God. For it is not the names that save us, but our purposes and our true love toward Him who created us. Consider that in the plot against our Lord also it was the chief priests and scribes and elders who contrived the treachery, and that few of the common people were found who genuinely received the word; and that it is not the multitude that is saved, but the elect of God. So let no crowding of a multitude ever dismay you — men who, like the water of the sea, are carried this way and that by the winds. For even if one alone be saved, as Lot in Sodom, he ought to abide by the right judgment, holding unshaken his hope in Christ, since the Lord will not forsake His holy ones. Greet from me all the brotherhood in Christ. Pray genuinely for my pitiable soul.