A king, for when a certain friend of his, Aeropus, had died, he did not bear it with moderation; though he claimed that the man had only suffered what is human, he blamed himself for delaying and putting things off, and failing to give him his due reward. How much more, then, does he [the Emperor], being from Epirus, but most pious; and a sovereign, but a lover of Christ; and a ruler, but most magnificent, count not any mere friend, but Christ, the Lord and King of all, in return for the earthly and spiritual goods he has received, worthy of receiving such gratitude, and through it to seal his love toward God and his neighbor, than which nothing among the pleasant and great things in the world is of equal value or equal standing? But since this fruit is for you that of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, as has been said, may you be deemed worthy always to bear fruit in the fullness of the Church, and to stretch forward to the things that are before, and after a most profound old age, having departed from the body, may you enjoy divine blessedness. Amen. In the year 1673, in the month of March. From Adrianople.
Dositheus, by the mercy of God, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and one who prays for your magnificence.
Dositheus' Preface to the Reader
Dositheus, by the mercy of God, Patriarch of the Holy City, and a worshipper of our Savior Christ and of the God of the Resurrection, to the Orthodox Christians who shall read this present work, both clergy and laity, brothers and children of our humility in the Holy Spirit, grace from above for salvific works.
B Every skilled hunter, and one who is a master craftsman in the art of hunting, necessarily uses the tools appropriate to him if he wishes to succeed in the end of his craft. For the sake of argument, to catch birds he uses nets; for land animals, snares and traps; for fish, likewise nets, casting-nets, hooks, draw-nets, and whatever else the art teaches, so that he may take and gain what he wishes. And if someone wished to hunt men, what instruments would he use? Since men are also hunted, and are captured like fish (as the Lord said: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” [Matt. IV, 19]), it is obvious that there are no others, except teaching and the Word. For there is no casting-net or net for man like instruction, woven of words and testimonies, in which man is caught and reconciled to God, and eternally blessed. This casting-net (instruction) is cast to both sides, the right and the left, and concerning present things and future things. This is a hook; for with the words and testimonies of the Spirit, it takes man from his inmost parts and fishes him into the light of the knowledge of God. Regarding this, the God of all says in the book of Numbers: “Make for yourself two silver trumpets, you shall make them of beaten work, to summon the congregation, and to set out the camps, and it shall be for you a perpetual law for your generations” [Num. X, 2]. By the trumpets, he means the teachers of the Church. For just as trumpets use breath coming from within (and not as cymbals or lyres are struck), so the teachers do not C deliberate for the salvation of men from outward wisdom or the mythology of some; but, having within themselves teaching full of the Holy Spirit, they effect the salvation of men, just as it is said to them through Isaiah: “Cry out in strength, and do not spare; as with a trumpet lift up your voice” [Isa. LVIII, 1]. He does not say, “as a cymbal and lyre,” but “as with a trumpet lift up your voice.” That is, with sounds coming from within, which are the Holy Scripture, both Old and New; the seven mysteries; and the traditions of the Catholic Church, received from the Lord and the apostles; the canons of the holy apostles. The definitions of the ecumenical councils and the proceedings (Acta), the definitions of local councils and of certain Fathers, whom the ecumenical councils accepted. The writings and interpretations of Scripture by the holy Fathers, in which they agree with one another, and with the ecumenical councils. Ecclesiastical histories. Imperial laws which concur with the definitions of the holy Fathers, which, when gathered together, have the power of the right, true, and orthodox, catholic and apostolic faith, and they fish man into eternal life. D There are two trumpets because, with the one, he hints at the return of those who have added to or taken away from such faith, toward orthodoxy; and the other signifies the return of the pious who have sinned, to true repentance. Whence it says: “Declare to my people their sins” [Isa. LVIII, 1]. They are “silver” because the words of such teaching are tested, as silver is refined and tested. They are “beaten” because they drive those who are persuaded from things present to things eternal. And whatever of the voice seems to you to be temporary, there you must understand it as referring to those in the heavens. This is the voice of the trumpets, and these are the instruments which the Lord uses in the Church, and He teaches always through the teachers, and lifts up their voice in strength, and with trumpets He shall summon the congregation which He acquired with His precious blood, and to set out the camps...
A of the nations, from the lower realms to the higher: where He Himself sits at the right hand of the Father. Of these, one is the author of this present book, the Archbishop of Thessalonica of divine and celebrated memory, Symeon. Having compiled a synopsis of both Scripture and the Fathers, most excellently and securely, it serves the need for easy instruction for the unlearned, the graspable nature of the matter for those who are studious, and the easy memorization for the wise. For, having most fully received the ray of the most divine radiance, he shines forth as a spiritual sun to the Church of God, illuminating both the wise and the simple with the rays of his teaching. And as the royal image is most perfectly set in gold, so in the purity of his blessed soul the image of God is seen stamped. Therefore, he rejoices with the God-bearing Fathers in the Church of the first-born, standing by Christ, B the all-cause of such trumpets. Until now, he was as a garden enclosed and a fountain sealed, unknown to the many. But the all-excellent, the most illustrious and most pious master and governor of all Moldovlachia and the Ukraine, Lord John Doukas Voivode, who even now acts as an ambassador for Christ—as God, C having exhorted through us, yielding like a Christ-lover to the entreaty—brought him forth into the light, having determined that he should be printed at his own expense, and presented as a precious gift to his mother, the holy Church of God. Therefore, those of you who read this book (to which is also added the synopsis of the ecclesiastical office by the wisest Mark, Metropolitan of Ephesus) will know its usefulness and necessity. Whence give glory to God, who always bestows various gifts upon the holy nation, the orthodox people. And pray for the salvation and peaceful state D of the most illustrious master and benefactor. Strive, moreover, not merely in possession, but much more in the use of this book, so that acting according to it, you may attain divine blessedness in Him, in the God who is in Trinity, to whom belongs glory eternal unto eternal ages. Amen.