Half of my desire was fulfilled by the Holy God, who gave me the opportunity to meet with our most reverent sister, your concubine. But He is able to grant the rest also, so that, seeing your nobility, I may give full thanks to God. For this is highly desirable to me, especially now that I have heard that thou hast been honored with great honor, with the immortal robe, which, having clothed our humanity, has destroyed death in the flesh, and the mortal has become swallowed up by the robe of incorruption.

For it is said: "If you are baptized into Christ, you will put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). Wherefore let all thy members be holy, that it may be fitting for them to be clothed in holy and bright garments.

285 (293). To Julian

(He wants to know whether Julian has begun to control the hand; he discusses the firmness and constancy of thoughts; he asks Julian to write to him more often)

What was your bodily condition during this time? Have you completely regained the possession of your hand? How are other things going in life? Is everything fulfilled according to your thoughts, as I wish you and as it should be according to your will? For those whose minds are inclined to change, it is not in the least strange if their lives are not ordered. And whoever has a firm opinion, always constant and the same, should lead his life in accordance with his own will. It is true that it is not given to the helmsman to make silence when he pleases; but it is very convenient for us to make our life undisturbed, if we silence the rebellions of the passions that arise within us, and become a spirit above all that is attached to us. For neither loss, nor illness, nor other troubles in life will touch a diligent person, as long as his mind abides in God, penetrates into the future, easily and effortlessly overcomes the storm that rises from the earth; while people who are strongly devoted to the cares of life, like fattened birds, having wings in vain, drag along the earth with the cattle.

My deeds allowed me to see you as much as one can see each other meeting on the sea. However, since it is possible to recognize a whole lion by its claws, I think that I have sufficiently recognized you by a short experience. And therefore I highly appreciate that you have some attention to my affairs and do not distance me from your thoughts, but constantly keep me in your memory. And the proof of your remembrance are letters, which, the more often you send them, the more you will give me pleasure.

286 (294). To Fist and Magnus

(He expresses his strong desire that the piety instilled by St. Basil in their young souls grow to perfection, and proves the usefulness of the teaching set forth in writing, because it benefits both those who are absent and posterity)

It is proper for fathers to provide for their own children, and for farmers to care for plants or seeds, and for teachers to care for their disciples, especially when they give beautiful hopes for themselves according to their gifts. And the farmer rejoices in his labors when the ears of corn ripen and the trees grow; both the pupils of teachers and the children of their fathers rejoice, some succeeding in valour, and others in age. And I have all the greater care for you, and the better hope in you, the more precious is the piety which I have rooted and cultivated in your tender and pure souls, and which I wish to see attain to perfect maturity and bear ripe fruit in accordance with my desires for your love. For you know that both my goodwill towards you and God's cooperation depend on your will; as soon as it takes its proper direction, and God is your helper, whether you call on Him or not, and every God-loving person will volunteer to teach you; for zeal in people who are able to teach something useful is irresistible when the souls of the disciples are pure from all stubbornness. Therefore, bodily separation does not hinder this; for the Creator, in the abundance of wisdom and love for mankind, has not limited our thoughts to bodies, nor the power of words to the tongue, but is capable of being useful, and has given us some advantage in relation to the time itself, so that they can transmit the teaching not only to those who are remote in place, but also to the most recent descendants. And this idea is confirmed to us by experience, because many years before us those who lived instruct our contemporaries with the teaching preserved in writing. And I, so far removed from you in body, am always inseparable in thought and converse comfortably with you; and the teachings will not stop either the land or the sea, if only there is some concern in you for your own souls.

287 (295). To the monastics

(He convinces them to introduce a community and beware lest anyone shake them in the faith of their fathers)