Theodorus of Tabennese

Truly, if a person guards his mouth and acquires humility, the angels will be his friends here below; his soul will be a perfume poured out; the angels will carry his remembrance before God day and night, whether he is a monk or a secular. Besides, many persons in the world are watchful on this point. As for me, I know many who have acquired a great humility and have watched themselves not to speak evil of anyone. On the contrary, they underestimate themselves constantly and praise the others, saying, “It is within the power of God that we should find a little place in heaven.”

“Theodore to the beloved brothers in Mount Nitria: priests, deacons and monks, greetings in the Lord. I want you to know that “the pride of” the Arians “has gone up” to God and that “God has visited his people and seeing the afflictions” that they endure he has had mercy on them. He has promised to have mercy on his church and to deliver it from these afflictions. The time has come, therefore, when the church will be delivered from these persecutions. Indeed, God said of the Arians, “I will punish Babylon and will take from its mouth what its has swallowed.” And of the church, “Who is there among you that saw this house in its former glory?” “For the last glory of this house is going to surpass the first.” Therefore, brothers, “since we have these promises,” comfort those who are suffering from the Arians in those parts, that no one’s faith may be turned aside, for “the sins of the” Arians “have not yet ended.”

Let us not allow what is according to the flesh to persecute what is according to the spirit; neither let us, using the body as a pretext, quench the lamp that has been lit in us. We must therefore not contradict to the point of thinking or of speaking contrary to the faith in the holy Scriptures. But “those whom he loves, God chastises”; he afflicts and puts them to the test in everything to see “whether they will keep his commandments or not.” Yet, what God is looking for in us are “the fruits of the Holy Spirit”; we must not be negligent concerning them, for it is about them that we shall be questioned.