TO THE BISHOPS, PRESBYTERS, AND DEACONS WHO HAVE BEEN IMPRISONED FOR PIETY.
A Blessed are you for the prison, for the chains, and for the cause of these bonds: blessed, I say, and thrice blessed, and more often than that. You have hung the whole world upon yourselves by the love you have inspired, and have made even those who are far away your lovers. Throughout the earth and the sea, your triumphs, your courage, your unshaken resolve, and your indomitable spirit are sung. Nothing of what is considered terrible has struck you with fear: not the tribunal, not the executioner, not the showers of tortures, not the threats pregnant with countless deaths, not the judge breathing fire from his mouth, not the enemies gnashing their teeth and devising myriad forms of conspiracy, not the many slanders, not the shameless accusations, not death appearing daily before your eyes. Rather, the cause of these things was enough for you to find consolation. Therefore, all men openly crown you and proclaim you; not only your friends, but even your very enemies—those, indeed, who plot against you; even if they do not say so openly, if one should open up their conscience, he would find great admiration for you even among them. For such is virtue, that it is admired even by those who fight against it; and such is vice, that it is condemned even by those who pursue it.
And these things are here, but what of those in heaven? What words will be able to describe them? Your names have been inscribed in the book of life; you have been numbered with the holy martyrs. I know these things clearly—not by having ascended into heaven, but by having learned them from divine oracles. For if that man who stood by a marriage being conducted unlawfully, and was unable to correct the lawlessness but only to rebuke it—the fruit of the barren woman, the citizen of the wilderness—because he lived in the dungeon for this reason and was beheaded B and is a martyr, and the first of the martyrs, you who stood by the laws of the fathers and by the institutions which were being transgressed, and by the priesthood which was being insulted and treated lawlessly, and have suffered so much for the sake of the truth and for the sake of ending shameless slanders—consider how great a reward you will receive. "It is not lawful for you to have the wife of Philip your brother," said that generous and sublime man, and it was enough for him for unspeakable boldness.
Say also to yourselves: "Our bodies are set before us for punishments, for torments, for tortures; waste, consume these with whatever punishments you wish; we do not choose to slander, but to die ten thousand times." But you have not been beheaded, yet you have suffered things far more grievous. For it is not the same thing in the short moment of time to lay down one's head, as to struggle for so long a time with such pains, fears, threats, imprisonments, abductions, tribunals, the hands of executioners, the shameless tongues of sycophants, insults, revilings, and taunts. For this too is a very great form of athletic contest, and the blessed Paul places it in the order of the great contests, speaking thus: "Call to mind the former days, in which after you were illuminated you endured a great fight of afflictions" (Heb. 10. 32). Then, describing the contest, he laid this down, saying thus: "Partly, whilst you were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst you became companions of them that were used so" (Ib. v. 33). And if those who were companions fought, much more did those who endured them. For you have endured not one, not two, not three, but many deaths in your resolve, even if not by experience.
Rejoice, therefore, and leap for joy; for this the Lord of the heavens commanded—not only not to feel pain or to fall, but also to leap for joy and be glad when they cast your name out as evil (Matth. 5. 12). If, then, one must rejoice at slander, when also so many things are added—slanders, blows, tortures, whetted swords, prisons, chains, abductions, being led about, and so many hosts of enemies—consider how great the reward is, and where the summit of the recompense is. Rejoice, therefore, leap for joy, be manly, be strengthened. Consider how many you have anointed through what you have suffered, whose spirits you have raised up, whom you have steadied when they were wavering—not only those present, but even those absent, not only through the sight of what you have endured, but even through hearing alone, and have greatly profited those who are far away.
Continuously carry about that apostolic saying: "That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8. 18). Look forward to the swiftest release from these temptations and a perfect deliverance, and pray continuously for us. For even if we are separated from you by the length of the road and have been parted from you for a long time, yet as if present and living with you, we so embrace you; we so kiss the dear head of each one of you, receiving you as victors with open hands, and expecting from this source a very great profit for us from the great love you have for us. For if those who love you have to wait for a great reward, consider how great will be the requital for you who have shone forth in such contests.