Trouble And Endurance

Ἀλγεῖς ἀπολειφθέντων ἡμῶν, ὡς εἰκός· ἡμεῖς δὲ πλέον ἐπὶ τῷ χωρισμῷ τῆς σῆς εὐλαβείας. Πλὴν εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ Θεῷ μέχρι σοῦ φθάσαντες, καὶ οὐκ μεμψάμεθα τῷ κόπῳ. Εἴδομεν γάρ σου τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως καὶ τὴν ἐπαινετὴν ἐρημίαν καὶ τὸν φιλόσοφον ἰδιασμόν, ὅτι πάντων χωρισθεῖσα τῶν τοῦ κόσμου τερπνῶν Θεῷ μόνῳ συνέκλεισας ἑαυτὴν καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις μάρτυσιν, οἷς παροικεῖς, καὶ προσήγαγες τῷ Θεῷ καὶ προσάγεις μετὰ τῶν ἀγαπητῶν σου τέκνων θυσίαν ζῶσαν, εὐάρεστον. Ταῦτα οὖν ἔστω σοι καὶ παρα μυθία τῶν λυπηρῶν, ἐπεὶ καὶ Δαυῒδ ὁ μέγας ἐγκρύπτει τοῖς ἐκεῖθεν ἀγαθοῖς, εἰς ἃ πέμπει τοὺς λογισμούς, τὰ ἐντεῦθεν ὀδυνηρά, ὅταν λέγη· Ὅτι ἔκρυψέ με ἐν σκηνῇ αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κακῶν· καὶ οὐκ ἀποτίθεται μόνον τὸ ἀλγεινὸν ὅταν μνησθῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐφραίνεται· Ἐμνήσθην γάρ, φησι, τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ εὐφράνθην. Ἀλγοῦσι καὶ οἱ τῷ κόσμῳ προστετη κότες καὶ πολὺ πλείονα τῶν τῷ Θεῷ δουλευόντων· ἀλλ' ἄμισθον αὐτοῖς τὸ ἀλγεῖν· ἡμῖν δὲ καὶ τὸ πάσχειν ἔμμισθον, ὅταν διὰ τὸν Θεὸν καρτερῶμεν. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Ἐπιστολή ΣΚΓ´ Θεκλῃ Source: Migne PG 37.364c-365a

You grieve at our parting, as we expect, but we more that you have been separated from your piety. We give thanks to God, however, that we came to you, and we did not object to the labour. For we know you have a firm faith in Christ and the praiseworthy desert and the philosophy of the recluse, that separated from every worldly pleasure, you gather yourself to God alone, and to the holy martyrs, enclosing yourself with God with your beloved children, a living sacrifice, well pleasing. 1 Let these things, then, be a comfort to you in your troubles. Since even the great David by means of future goods on which he set his thoughts covered the bitter things of this world, when he said: 'Because He hides me in His tabernacle on the day of evil.' 2 Yet when he meditates in his soul and memory on God, he does not dispose of griefs and troubles only, but indeed he is moved by joy: 'I was mindful of God,' he says, 'and I delighted.' 3 They grieve who are bound to the world, and most of all when in the service of God, and to grieve is their reward, but to us to suffer enriches when we endure through God. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, from Letter 223, To Thecla 1 Peter 3.4 2 Ps 26.5 3 Ps 76.4