The Great Letter

XII.1 For the goal and hope of Christians is to become sons of Light, to be deemed worthy to be children and heirs of God, to become fellow heirs with Christ, to become sons of the heavenly bridal chamber, and, by the grace of God, to be called brothers of Christ, according to the ineffable promises of the divinely inspired and holy Scriptures. [Heb. 2:11-12] This is attained not by some other spiritual achievements or by some other manner of life, but by those things of which we have spoken, adducing many testimonies from Scripture.

XII.2 Having therefore learned from these testimonies the highest and perfect goal of the pious life, let us believe, with love, hope, and zeal in every virtue, the God who does not lie: that according to his good pleasure and goodness he will deem us worthy of those promises that surpass our nature and power. Let us grow daily in the Lord and make our progress in the Lord manifest to all, so that we may perhaps receive the Spirit of adoption, placing our whole and complete hope in God with the full assurance of faith. Through him alone can we be delivered from the passions of dishonor, whether manifest or hidden, from sins committed in deed and from evil thoughts carried out within; through him alone can we be deemed worthy to acquire a pure heart, according to one of the Lord's beatitudes: "Blessed are the pure in heart." [Matt. 5:8] Voluntarily taking upon ourselves the labor of the contest in the manner already described, and being deemed worthy through communion and mingling with the Holy Spirit to become children of God, sons of the Kingdom, and brothers of Christ, we shall find rest and reign together with him for endless ages.