Letters of Theodoret (continuation, letters 96–181)

XCV. — To Antiochus the Prefect

^A You have indeed laid aside the cares of the highest magistracy, but your glory flourishes among all. For those who have been graced by your benefactions frequently commemorate them—and there are very many of them, and everywhere—and they proclaim your praises to others, and move the tongues of those people as well to celebrate your name. I, for my part, rejoice greatly, seeing this desirable fruit that adorns the root so celebrated by the mouths of many. For this reason, I invite your magnificence to greater and more perfect things, and I beseech you to take care of the peace of the Churches. For those who have woven slanders against us have filled these with a great storm. Because of this, the most God-beloved bishops also, having ^B disregarded the length of the journey, the infirmity of their health, and their advanced age, and having left their own flocks without a shepherd, have undertaken this long pilgrimage, hastening to refute the lie fabricated against us all. May your greatness, therefore, assist them, both by providing for the East, now oppressed by slander, and by looking to the apostolic faith. For it is fitting for you, in addition to your other illustrious deeds, to add this glory as well.

XCVI. — To Nomus the Patrician

I have already written twice, and I think even three times, but I have not received a reply; and although I had decided to remain silent thereafter, yet now, upon finally realizing that I should know—and acknowledging the greatness of your authority—I thought it better to write again, and to ask you to teach me the reason for your silence. For in truth, I ^C know of nothing in which I have sinned against your magnificence. But since we stumble not only willingly but also unwillingly, and are sometimes ignorant of cases in which we have done wrong, may your magnificence, mindful of the divine laws which explicitly command, "If your brother sins against you, rebuke him between you and him alone," deign to show me the reason for your displeasure, so that either I may show myself innocent, or, having acknowledged the fault, I may ask for forgiveness. I trust, however, that the former will be the case, relying on the testimony of my conscience. For while magnanimity embellishes all men, it does so no less for those who, like your magnificence, are leaders, having been ^D cultivated by secular studies and instructed in divine truths, and who hearken to the apostolic laws, reciting in a clear voice: "Do not let the sun go down upon your anger," and keeping in mind the Homeric lines:

"But do you restrain your great-hearted spirit; For gentleness of mind is better."

These things I have said not with the desire to teach, but to remind your magnificence, occupied as you are with many things; and also remembering the laws of the Lord, which command these things: "If you offer your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go, first be reconciled

to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." ^A Following these words, I thought it necessary to greet your Magnificence also through the most God-beloved bishops, and to entreat you to take care for the peace of the Churches. For they have been filled with a great storm.

^B XCVII. — To Sporacius the Count. Your Magnificence’s letters have brought me joy; and the most God-beloved priest and monk Jamblichus has further increased my gladness, recounting your fervent zeal, your study of divine things, and your sincere disposition towards us. Having learned this, and hearing of the toils endured for our sake by the most glorious and Christ-loving Lord Patricius, I offer you the apostolic blessing which the blessed Onesiphorus drew from that holy tongue: "The Lord grant mercy (to your house), for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; may the Lord grant you to find mercy from the Lord on that day." This I pray for you, even if the enemies of the truth think they are involving me in greater hardships. For we have been taught to look at the intention. And let your Magnificence know this too, that together with piety, death—and even the furthest ends of the earth—is most sweet to us. Yet we are distressed by the tempest of the Church, which the Lord of all is able to calm.

^C XCVIII. — To Pancharius. We are indeed distressed, seeing the storm of the Churches; but their Master and helmsman is accustomed to demonstrate His own wisdom and power to men through the great waves. For He suddenly rebukes the winds and creates a calm; this He also did on the ship of the Apostles. But since we are aware of this power of our Savior, and know His other dispensations, even if something adverse happens, we give thanks and receive it as a gift bestowed by God. For we have been taught to despise present things and to await the goods that are hoped for. But it is fitting for your Magnificence to bring your own zeal to the defense of the apostolic faith, that you may obtain the reward for it from the God of all.

^D XCIX. — To Claudianus the antigrapharius. I think that your Magnificence, even though you have not yet met with us, is aware of the obviousness of the calumny that has been cast against us. For you have often heard us discoursing in the church, and proclaiming our one Lord Jesus Christ, and showing what things are proper to His divinity and what to His humanity. For we do not divide the one into two sons, but adoring the one Only-begotten, we demonstrate the properties of both flesh and divinity.

^A This, as I suppose, even the followers of Arius confess, and they do not call the flesh divinity, nor on the other hand do they apply the name of flesh to the divinity, since the divine Scripture clearly teaches us both natures. And yet, though these things are always stated by us in this way, certain men weave false reports against us. But we, relying on our conscience, and having as a witness of our doctrine the Inspector of our thoughts, judge the webs of slander, according to the Prophet, to be a spider's web. For we look forward to that judgment seat which has no need of arguments, but will make manifest the things that are for the time being hidden. I write these things through the most God-beloved bishops, thinking it useful to greet your magnificence ^B through them and to remind you of your promise. For even though I am warred against, I do not cease to hunt; for I know that the holy apostles, even when they were being beaten, used the spiritual net.

C. — To Alexandra.

I received the letter of your gravity a short time ago, and having learned the zeal you have displayed on our behalf, I rendered thanks and besought the Lord of all both to preserve the goods you presently have, and to increase them with additions, and to grant you the enjoyment of those that are future and eternal. We believe, moreover, that He hears even those who have been banished, and much more so these, since it is on account of His divine doctrine ^C that they endure the reputation of infamy. I write these things through the most God-beloved bishops, requesting that you extend your care to them. For it is for the sake of the evangelical faith, and for the sake of the peace of the Churches, that they have undertaken this long pilgrimage.

CI. — To Celerina the deaconess.

The war against us has been kindled again, and the enemy of men, though he had let up for a little while, has again armed against us men nurtured in falsehood. Those who openly slander us say that we divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons. But we, ^D while we know the distinct difference between divinity and humanity, nonetheless confess one Son, the God the Word who became man. And we say that He is God before the ages, and became man at the end of the days, not by any mutation of the divinity, but by the assumption of the humanity. But it is superfluous for me to teach your piety what I think, since you know precisely what we preach, and whom we teach, even those who were ignorant. I entreat you, therefore, since the artificers of falsehood have bespattered with insults all the most God-beloved bishops of the East together, and have filled the Churches with turmoil, that your piety should contribute whatever effort you can for the sake of the evangelical dogmas and the peace of the Churches. For it is for this very reason that the most God-beloved bishops have left the Churches over which they preside, and, with the winter

^A of the storm now risen, have endured the labors of the journey, so that they might calm the storm. ^B These, I know well, your God-fearing ^C perfection shall behold, for they are defenders of piety and governors of the Churches.

CII. — To Basil the Bishop

^B That those who do not know us should listen in silence to the slanders against us is nothing strange; but that your holiness should not refute the falsehood of those who slander us, or should do so only tepidly and not with intent zeal, is something no one who knows your custom would easily believe. This is not because one ought to prefer friendship to truth, but because the testimony of truth also accompanies friendship. For your God-fearing self has frequently heard us speaking in church, and in other assemblies when dogmatic discourses were initiated by us, you have heard what was said by us, and I do not recall that your God-fearing self has ever blamed us, as having used incorrect dogmas. What, then, has happened at this present time? Why, O dear head, do you not move your tongue against the falsehood, but overlook both a friend being slandered and the truth being fought against? If you do this as one who despises the poor and the lowly, it is fitting to listen to the Master’s command, which clearly proclaims: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones who believe in me. For I say to you, their angels daily behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." But if the power of those who accuse us imposes silence upon your piety, one ought to hear the other law, which says: "You shall not accept the person of the powerful"; and, "Judge righteous judgment"; and, "You shall not be with the many for evil"; and, "Closing his eyes that he may not see evil, and closing his ears that he may not hear the judgment of unjust blood." And ten thousand other such things can be found in ^C Holy Scripture. I have considered it superfluous to collect these, writing as I am to a man who has worn out his life in divine oracles, and who waters the Christ-loving peoples with the irrigation of doctrine. This, therefore, I will say alone: that we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall render an account for words and deeds; but as for me, while I dread this judgment on account of all other things, in those matters said against me, I find grounds for comfort from the memory of this [fact].

CIII. — To Apollonius the Count

^D The slander that has been directed against us all has drawn the most God-beloved bishops to the royal city; but I, through their holiness, offer a greeting to your magnificence, and pay the debt of friendship, not that I may settle a most desirable debt, but that I may make it greater. For the debts of friendship, when paid, are increased. That we, too, have tasted the fruits of slander is nothing strange. For one who is a man, it is fitting to expect everything. Therefore

for those who have learned to philosophize, all such things are bearable. Only one thing is grievous: that any harm should reach the soul.

CIV. — To Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople

^A And already I have informed your holiness through other letters how those who slander our teaching are openly misrepresenting us; and now I do the same again through the most God-beloved bishops, having them as witnesses to the orthodoxy of our dogmas, along with other countless thousands of men who hear our words in the churches of the East; and before them all, my conscience, and the Inspector of conscience. I know also that the divine Apostle very often made use of the testimony of conscience: "For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience"; and again: "I tell the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit."

^B Let your sacred and God-beloved head know, then, that no one has ever heard us preaching two sons. For to me this dogma seems indeed detestable and impious. For there is one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things. Him I know both as God before the ages, and as man at the end of the days, and I offer one worship to Him as the Only-begotten. I have been taught, however, the distinction between the flesh and the divinity; for the union is unconfused. Thus, arrayed against the rabidness of Arius and Eunomius, we most easily refute the blasphemy rashly uttered by them against the Only-begotten, by adapting to man those things which were said humbly and fittingly about the Lord concerning the assumed nature, and conversely, by adapting to God those things which are worthy of God and demonstrative of that nature. ^C We do not divide Him into two persons, but teach that these and those [attributes] belong to the one Only-begotten: some as to God, and Maker, and Lord of all; others as to [one who] became man for our sake. Divine Scripture says that He became man, not that the divinity was changed, but that the human nature was taken from the seed of Abraham. For the divine Apostle clearly shouts this, saying: "For surely He does not take hold of angels, but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham; hence He had to be made like His brothers in all respects." And again: "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your seed, who is Christ.'"

These and suchlike passages of divine Scripture, Simon, and Basilides, and Valentinus, and Bardesanes, and Marcion, and he who is named after madness (Manes), have cut away; they call Christ the Lord God only, as having nothing human, but as having appeared to men as a man only in phantasy and appearance. ^D But those who hold the views of Arius and Eunomius claim only a body...

^A to have been assumed by God the Word, and that He Himself filled the need of the soul within the body. Apollinarius, however, calls the Lord’s body ensouled, but deprives it of the mind in the matter of salvation achieved, having learned, I know not where, the division of soul and mind. Yet the teaching of the divine Apostles instructs that a rational and intelligent soul was assumed along with the flesh, and it promises perfect salvation to those who believe.

There is also another ^B band of heretics that professes the opposite of these things. For Photinus, and Marcellus, and Paul of Samosata say that our Lord and God is man only. When we dispute against these, it is necessary for us to bring forward testimonies asserting His divinity, and to teach that the Lord Christ was God even before the ages. But when we contend against the other troop, which calls our Lord Jesus Christ God only, we must set against them the divine Scripture, and gather from it the testimonies regarding the humanity that was assumed. For a physician must use remedies suitable to the diseases, and apply to each what is appropriate. I beseech your holiness, therefore, to dissolve the calumny that has been composed against us, and to bridle the tongues that are slandering us in vain. For we, even after the incarnation, worship one Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and we name those who think otherwise impious. Deign also, Lord, to impart to us your holy prayers, that, supported by divine favor, we may cross the sea full of dangers, and anchor in the calm harbors of the Savior. ^C

CV. — To Eulogius the Steward.

We have learned from many of the struggles your God-loving mind sustains for the sake of religion. It is right, however, even for one who is suffering calumny on its account, to come to the aid with a ready mind, and to refute the falsehood of the detractors. For you know very well, most dear to God, what we think and what we teach, and that no one has ever heard us preaching two sons. Let your piety therefore manifest divine zeal here also, and block the mouths of those speaking unjustly. For in such struggles it is fitting to contend not only for one’s friends, but also for those who have caused injury. ^D

CVI. — To Abraham the Steward.

I speak to your piety through the God-beloved bishops, and I beseech you to take care for the tranquility of the Churches, and to break the waves of calumny. "For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap," as the divine Apostle says. Therefore, whoever struggles for the apostolic doctrines, it is clear that he will reap the apostolic blessing, and enjoy their communion.

EP. CVII. — TO THEODOTUS THE PRESBYTER

The struggles which your piety has undertaken for the apostolic dogmas do not lie in darkness; but not only do those who have experienced them at first hand proclaim them, but also those who have heard of them from such persons. Proceed, therefore, O beloved soul, in these struggles and defend the dogmas of the fathers. For these things we too are struck from every side; and, receiving the billows, we implore the Pilot either to nod and calm the storm, or to grant strength of spirit to those who are tossed by the waves.

CVIII. — TO ACACIUS THE PRESBYTER

The promise of the Davidic song is indeed true; for the Spirit of truth brought it forth through him for those who believe: "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your light as the day, and your justice as the noonday" (Ps. XXXVI, 5). We perceive this has also come to pass in your piety. For how great a care your piety takes of those mourning their bereavement, and in what manner you struggle for the apostolic dogmas, is in everyone's mouth, making manifest, according to the prophecy, what was hidden. For this reason, I too, who have learned of your praiseworthy labors, write to you, greeting you, most beloved of God, and exhorting you to increase your glory by the addition of more labors, and to struggle for the evangelical doctrine, so that we may preserve unimpaired the paternal inheritance, and offer the talent to the Lord with notable earnings.

CIX. — TO EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF ANCYRA

Many are the things plotted against us, and through us, against the apostolic faith. But the sufferings of the saints—of the prophets, apostles, martyrs, and those who have been illustrious in the Churches in the doctrine of grace—do refresh us; and in addition to these, the promises of God and our Savior. For He promised us nothing pleasant or agreeable in this present life, but rather tribulations, labors, dangers, and the assaults of enemies. "In the world," He says, "you shall have tribulation" (Joan. XVI, 33). And: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (Joan. XV, 20). And: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household" (Matth. X, 25)? And: "The hour comes, that whosoever kills you will think that he does a service to God" (Joan. XVI, 2). And: "Narrow is the gate, and straight is the way that leads to life" (Matth. VII, 14). And: "When they persecute you in this city, flee into another" (Matth. X, 23). And all things similar to these. The divine Apostle speaks in harmony with this: "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution; but evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived" (II Tim. III, 12). These things, then, have afforded us the greatest consolation in this storm. But since it is likely that the calumnies against us have reached even your holiness, I implore your

^A holiness not to lend your ears at all to the falsehoods of slanderers. For I am not conscious of having ever taught until this present time that one should believe in two sons. For I was taught to believe in the one Only-begotten Lord our Jesus Christ, the Word of God who became man. I know, however, the distinction between the flesh and the divinity, and it seems to me impious—both to those who divide the one Lord our Jesus Christ into two sons, and to those who take the opposite path, calling the divinity of the Lord Christ and his humanity one nature. These are opposing precipices; the middle path of the evangelical doctrines is adorned with the footsteps of the holy prophets and apostles, and of those who shone out after them with the gift of teaching. I desired to bring forward the sentiments of these men too, and to show that they agree with our own opinion. But this would require more words than the length of a letter permits. For this reason, I have summarized what we have learned concerning the incarnation of the Only-begotten, and sent it to your divinely-inspired perfection. I have written this not to teach others, but to make an apology for the calumny that has occurred, and to show my own opinion to those who are ignorant of it. Therefore, when your holiness reads this, if you find that what is written is in agreement with apostolic dogmas, may you confirm our opinion in your reply to us. But if anything inserted therein does not agree with the divine doctrine, I ask to be taught this also by your holiness. For although we have spent a long time 1179 in learning, we still stand in need of a teacher. "For we know in part," says the divine ^B Apostle. And we have heard him say again, "If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet learned as he ought to know." We therefore ask to learn the truth from your holiness, and that you take thought for ecclesiastical tranquility, and that you contend for the divine dogmas. For the sake of these things, the most beloved bishops, scorning the hardships of the journey and the severity of winter, have hastened to the queen of cities, seeking to find some resolution to the storm. Do not, therefore, refuse to equip them with the provision of your prayers, and to confirm and establish us with the same, master.

CX. — To Domnus, Bishop of Antioch

^D Having read your letter, I was reminded of the most blessed Susanna, who, when she saw those wicked men and believed that the God of all was present, uttered that glorious cry: "I am in distress on every side." Yet she preferred to fall into the snares of calumny rather than despise the just Judge. And now, master, as we have often said, there are two things set before us: either to offend God and injure my conscience, or to fall into the unjust judgments of men. To me, however, it does not seem that the most pious emperor knows anything of these things. For what would have prevented him from writing and ordering an ordination to take place, if he truly wished him to be...

^A served by this? And why do they threaten and intimidate us from without, yet do not send letters openly commanding this? For one of two things must be the case: either the most pious emperor cannot be persuaded to write, or they are contriving to make us transgress the law, so that they may later demand from us the penalties for the transgression. For we have before us the example of the blessed Principius: there, even when they had commanded it in writing, they nonetheless demanded penalties from him who had obeyed. But the letters which I read on the very day the litter-bearer arrived are contrary to these. For a certain holy monk, one of the eminent ones, wrote to some person that he had received letters both from the most magnificent spatharius and from the most glorious ex-magister, indicating that the matters regarding the most God-beloved bishop, the lord Irenaeus, would reach a better resolution; and in return for this effort, they demanded their prayers on their behalf. ^B I therefore think it necessary to write to the clerics who have written from the imperial city, saying that, persuaded by the vote of the most God-beloved bishops of Phoenicia, I ordained the most God-beloved bishop Irenaeus, having knowledge of his zeal, his magnanimity, his love for the poor, his other virtues, and furthermore, the orthodoxy of his doctrines. For we do not know him to have ever refused to call the holy Virgin Theotokos, or to have held any other view contrary to the evangelical dogmas. As for the matter of digamy, we have followed those who preceded us. For indeed, Alexander of blessed and holy memory, who adorned this apostolic throne, together with the most blessed Acacius, bishop of Beroea, ordained Diogenes of blessed memory, who was a digamist; and in the same way the blessed Praylius ordained Domninus of Caesarea, who was likewise a digamist. We have therefore followed custom, and men who were eminent and famous for their knowledge and life. And Proclus of blessed memory, the bishop of the Constantinopolitans, not being ignorant of ^C many other such things, himself also accepted the ordination, and wrote praising and admiring it. Likewise also the foremost most God-beloved bishops of the Pontic diocese, and all the Palestinians; and no controversy has arisen regarding this. And we consider it impious to condemn a man who is distinguished by many and varied noble achievements. These things and such as these, in my opinion, ought to be written. But if your holiness considers anything else, let that which seems best be done. For I, who have been subjected to one penalty, as they suppose, am prepared, with God helping me, to undergo another. And if they wish for a third, and a fourth, I shall endure them, with divine grace sustaining me, while praising the Lord. But if your holiness approves, let us also see what answer comes from Palestine; and having more accurately considered what is to be done, let us then write to Constantinople. ^D

^A Your greatness shall receive the recompense for the benefits done to us from the God of all. For whatever is done for His sake has a reward attached to it. For my part, I laugh at the multitude of my calumniators. For bodies that are more violently beaten do not feel the pain, once the flesh being beaten has become deadened. Nevertheless, I do lament those totally unrestrained mouths bringing forth falsehoods. For what injury have the accusers of the God-beloved Bishop Ibas sustained from us, that they have used these falsehoods against us? First, I was not even among the number of the judges; for I was remaining in Cyrrhus by the command of the prince. Secondly, as I have heard from many, they were even distressed by my absence. For I took care that they should become participants in the mystical communion during the saving Feast of ^B Pascha, and as often as they desired our meeting, I received them kindly and made such suggestions as were necessary. But, to reply also on behalf of the God-beloved Bishop Domnus, what was he to do, who was being so openly attacked, and who saw men deposed by synodical sentence being sent into another province, and there resuming the priesthood contrary to the ecclesiastical laws, and the sacred and divine things being mocked and ridiculed by the enemies of the truth? For this reason, as he learned, he transferred the judgment to others, not only to the God-beloved lord Ibas, but also to the most holy Bishop of Amida, the lord Simeon, so that ^C the metropolitans of the two provinces might hear the case in its entirety. But how is it just for the same persons to be accused of both cruelty and humanity? For if we expel them, we are in danger: and if we do not, we do not escape the danger; and we alone are attacked in all the world. And while other dioceses are living in peace, we alone are exposed to calumniators, and I especially, although I have not judged even once, and am entirely free of all guilt.

I was compelled to write these things having read the letters of your greatness, and having learned from them that a very great disturbance has been raised against us on this account, with men being relegated—men who were leading a quiet life and not even meeting with the God-beloved bishops of the province. For in truth, two episcopal ordinations have already taken place in our province, at which ^D I was not present. And if I were not held by the imperial law, I would certainly have departed, and seeking some remote retirement, I would have spent there the remaining days of my life. For I am weary of these things which are being plotted against me. For I do not think that these Edessenes themselves concocted this calumny against us of their own accord, but that they were taught these things against us by men who are lovers of the truth there. But thanks be to the Saviour of all, that He has deemed me worthy of the evangelical beatitudes, though I am unworthy. For this reason I accepted the relegation with pleasure, and I await the exile; and

^A I gladly embrace the hope laid up for me. For your magnanimity, I offer prayers without ceasing, and I pray that all the saints come into the communion of prayers.

CXII. To Domnus, Bishop of Antioch

We hoped that the sorrowful things had ceased, since some had informed us that the pusillanimity ^B of the victorious emperor had been extinguished, and a reconciliation had taken place between him and the God-beloved bishop, and that the calling of the synod had ceased, and the peace of the Churches had returned. But the things which have just been written by your holiness have greatly grieved us. For there is nothing good to be expected from the heralded synod, unless the merciful Master, using His accustomed providence, destroys the machinations of the turbulent demons. For even in the great synod—I mean the one gathered at Nicaea—the party of Arius voted with the orthodox, and gave their hands in assent to the apostolic exposition of the faith. Nevertheless, they continued to wage war against the truth, until they tore the body of the Church asunder. And for thirty years they continued to communicate with one another, both those who held fast to the apostolic dogmas and those who were infected with the blasphemy of Arius. At Antioch, however, after the last synod had been held, when they had installed the great man of God, Meletius, on that apostolic throne, and a few days later cast him out by royal authority, Euzoius, who was clearly infected with the plague of Arius, was promoted, while those who defended the evangelical dogmas departed at once, and from that time the division has remained. ^C

Beholding these things and foreseeing similar [calamities], my wretched soul groans and laments, expecting nothing good. For those who are from other dioceses do not know the venom implanted in the twelve chapters; but, heeding the eminence of the one who wrote these things, they suspect nothing evil; and I think that he who has succeeded to his throne is moving everything so as to confirm those [chapters] in another synod. For if he who wrote such things by imperial mandate not long ago—and pronounced anathema upon those who were unwilling to abide by them—what will he not do when presiding over an ecumenical synod? But know, lord, that none of those who have recognized the heresy embedded in them can be induced to receive them, even if twice as many should decree it. For already, even though more people had rashly sanctioned these things, we resisted at Ephesus; and we did not enter into communion with the author of these things until, assenting to what we had set forth, he adapted a doctrine consonant with them, making no mention of those [twelve] chapters. ^D And it will be easy for your holiness to discern this, if you bid the acts to be sought out; for they are kept in the customary manner with the subscriptions of the synod. Moreover, there are more than fifty synodical letters that demonstrate the accusation against the twelve chapters. For even before we went to Ephesus, the blessed John wrote to the God-beloved bishops...

Eutherius of Tyana, Firmus of Caesarea, and Theodotus of Ancyra, calling these chapters the teaching of Apollinaris. ^B And the deposition/removal of the Alexandrian and the Ephesian which took place by our hand at Ephesus, had as its cause the publication and confirmation of these chapters. Furthermore, many synodical [letters] were written at Ephesus to the victory-crowned Emperor, and to the great magistrates concerning these matters; likewise also to the people in Constantinople, and to the most reverend clergy. Indeed, when we were summoned to Constantinople, we had five hearings in the presence of the Emperor himself, and later we sent to him three protestations. We wrote regarding these matters also to the God-beloved bishops of the West—I mean those of Milan, Aquileia, and Ravenna—demonstrating that these things were full of the innovation of Apollinaris. And the blessed John himself, writing to the author of these things through the blessed Paul, openly rebuked them; and similarly did Acacius of blessed memory. And so that your holiness may quickly learn, I have sent a copy both of the letter of the blessed Acacius and of that which the blessed John wrote to the blessed Cyril, so that you may know that even when they wrote to him concerning the reconciliation, they made an accusation of these chapters. The blessed Cyril himself, too, writing to the blessed Acacius, indicated the aim of these chapters, ^C saying, "These things we wrote against his innovations, and that when peace is made, they will be clarified." Thus, this defense confirms the accusation. I have also sent a copy of those things written by him at the time of the reconciliation, so that you may know, Lord, that he made no mention of these; and that it is necessary for those who are going to the synod to bring forward what was written at the time of the reconciliation and to state clearly what it was that caused the separation, and on what terms those who were separated were joined. For those who are called to the struggle for piety ought to undertake every labor and invoke divine assistance, so that we may keep intact the inheritance left to us by the ancients. ^D You should also consider, your holiness, those God-beloved bishops who are of the same mind, and take them as companions of your journey, along with those of the most reverend clergy who are endowed with zeal for the defense of piety, so that we may not be betrayed by our own, or be compelled to do something that is displeasing to the God of all, or, being left alone, fall easily into the hands of those who war against us. It is the Faith, I implore you, in which we have placed our hopes of salvation, and it is necessary to leave no stone unturned so that nothing spurious may be introduced into it, nor the apostolic teaching be corrupted. These things I write from afar, groaning and weeping, and I beseech the common Master to dissolve this sad cloud and grant us a clear sky.

CXIII. — TO LEO, BISHOP OF ROME

ran to the great Peter, that he might bring from him the explanation to those at Antioch who were in doubt about the legal conversation ^A, how much more do we, humble and lowly, run to your apostolic throne, to receive from you the remedy for the sores of the Churches. For it is fitting for you to hold the primacy in all things. For your throne is adorned with many prerogatives. For while magnitude, or beauty, or the multitude of inhabitants adorn other cities, and some cities that lack these are illuminated by certain spiritual gifts, the Giver of good things has bestowed an abundance of blessings upon ^B yours. For it is the greatest and most illustrious of all, presiding over the whole world, and overflowing with a multitude of inhabitants; in addition to this, it has sent forth the empire which now holds sway, and has given its own name to those who are subjects. But above all, the faith adorns it, of which the divine Apostle is a sufficient witness, crying out: "Your faith is proclaimed in the whole world" [Rom. 1, 8]. And if, having just received the seeds of the saving proclamation, it brought forth such admirable fruits so abundantly, what speech could be equal to praising the piety which now flourishes in it? It also holds the shrines of the common Fathers and masters of the truth, Peter and Paul, which illuminate the souls of the faithful. This blessed and divine pair, moreover, rose in the East and sent forth their rays everywhere; but in the West they willingly underwent the sunset of life, and from there now illuminate the whole world. These have rendered your throne ^C most illustrious; this is the summit of your blessings. And their God has now also illuminated their throne, while He established your holiness in it, pouring forth the rays of the true faith.

And while there are many other proofs of this matter to be found, your zeal against the infamous Manichaeans, which your holiness displayed recently, demonstrating the care of your God-loving heart for divine things, is sufficient. The things now written by you are also sufficient to show your apostolic character. For we have encountered the writings from your holiness concerning the incarnation of our God and Savior, and we have admired the accuracy ^D of the things written. For both revealed the same thing: both the eternal divinity of the Only-Begotten from the eternal Father, and the humanity from the seed of Abraham and David; and that the nature which was assumed was like us in all things, but was unlike only in that it remained uninitiated in all sin—since that is not of nature, but is born of deliberate choice. And the letters also contained this, that the only-begotten Son of God is one, and that His divinity is impassible, and immutable, and unchangeable, just as the Father who begat Him, and the all-holy Spirit; and for this reason He assumed a passible nature,

in order to bestow impassibility in His own suffering upon those who have believed in Him. These things, and others akin to them, were contained in the letters. But we, having admired your spiritual wisdom, have praised the grace of the holy Spirit which spoke through you, and we beseech, and entreat, and pray, and supplicate your holiness to bring aid to the Churches of God which are being tossed by the storm. ^B

For having looked for the ending of the storm through those whom your holiness sent to Ephesus, we have fallen into a more grievous tempest. For the most righteous president of Alexandria was not content with this lawless and most unjust deposition of the most holy and God-beloved bishop of Constantinople, the lord Flavian, nor did the similar slaughter of other bishops satisfy his soul, but he likewise butchered me also, who was absent, with his pen; neither having summoned me to a tribunal, nor having judged me when present, nor having asked what I think concerning the incarnation of our God and Saviour. And as for murderers, and tomb-robbers, and those who have violated the nuptial beds of others, jurors do not condemn them before either they themselves confirm the charges by their own confession, or they are clearly convicted by others. But me, having been reared in the divine laws, he condemned at a distance of thirty-five stations, just as he wished. And he did not do this only now, but even last year, when there had gone to him two men infected with the disease of Apollinaris, and having woven slanders against us, he rose up in church and anathematized us; and this, even though I had written to him and explained in letters what I think. ^C

I, for my part, indeed lament the storm of the Church, but I seek after quiet. For having governed for twenty-six years the Church committed to me by the God of all, with the assistance of your prayers, I did not sustain the slightest blame under the most blessed Theodotus, the prelate of the East, nor under those who succeeded him in the see of Antioch, but with the divine grace cooperating with me, I freed more than a thousand souls from the disease of Marcion, and I brought many others from the faction of Arius and Eunomius to the Master Christ; and I received the pastoral care of eight hundred churches; for such is the number of parishes Cyrrhus has, in which by the assistance of your prayers no tare has been left, but our flock has been snatched away from all heretical error. He who sees all things knows how many stones I have received cast at me by the unspeakable heretics; how many contests I have had in many cities of the East against the pagans, against the Jews, and against every heretical error. And after so many sweats and labors I have been condemned without a hearing. ^D

But I await the decision of your apostolic see; and I beseech and entreat your holiness, to bring aid to me who appeal to your upright and just tribunal, and to command me to come to you, and

to show that my doctrine follows the apostolic footprints. For I have works written twenty years ago, others eighteen, others fifteen, and others twelve; some against the Arians and Eunomians, some against the Jews and the Gentiles, others against the magi in Persia, others regarding universal Providence, and still others regarding theology and the divine incarnation. By the grace of God, I have also interpreted both the apostolic writings and the prophetic oracles. ^A And it is easy from these to know whether I have preserved the rule of faith unshaken, or whether I have diverted from its straight path. But do not, I beseech you, reject my supplication, nor despise my miserable gray hairs, treated so abusively after so many labors.

Above all, I beg to learn from you whether I ought to acquiesce in this unjust deposition, or not; for I await your decision. If you command me to abide by the judgment of those who have condemned me, I will abide, and I shall be troublesome to no man thereafter, but I shall wait for the unerring judgment of God and our Savior. As for me, God the Master is my witness, I care not for honor or glory, but only for the scandal that has been caused; because many of the simpler folk, and especially those who have been won over by us from various heresies, looking to the throne of those who have condemned me, will perhaps suspect us of being heretics, not being able to discern the precision of the dogma. And that during all the time I have been a bishop, I have acquired no house, no field, no obol, no tomb, but have embraced voluntary poverty, and that I distributed immediately after their death whatever came to me from my parents, all who dwell in the East know. ^B

Above all, I implore your sacred and God-beloved head to grant me the aid of your prayers. I have made these things known to your holiness through the most reverend and God-beloved presbyters Hypatius and Abramius, chorepiscopes, and Alypius, the exarch of the monks who are with us; since the bonds of the imperial letters have prevented me from rushing to you, just as they have others. And I entreat your holiness to see them with fatherly affection, and to lend your sincere and benevolent ears to them, ^C and to deign with your care and providence to protect my old age, which is vexed by calumnies and attacked without cause; and above all, to take the greatest possible care for the besieged faith, and to guard the paternal inheritance of the Churches undefiled; so that your holiness may receive from the munificent and liberal Lord the rewards prepared for these deeds. ^D

^A Leo the Bishop to the most beloved brother, Theodoret the Bishop.

As our brethren and fellow priests, whom the see of blessed Peter sent to the holy council, have returned to us, we have recognized that your charity, with supernal aid, has been victorious together with us over both the Nestorian impiety and the Eutychian madness. Whence we glory in the Lord, singing with the Prophet: "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth," who did not permit us to suffer any detriment among our brethren, but confirmed what He had previously defined through our ministry with the irrevocable assent of the whole fraternity, in order to show that what had first been formed by the see of all, and had received the judgment of the whole Christian world, had truly proceeded from Himself, so that in this too the members might agree with the head. In which there grows for us more abundant matter for rejoicing, since the enemy has struck himself the more severely the more savagely he rose up against the ministers of Christ. For, lest the agreement of other sees with that which the Lord determined to preside over all others might be seen as mere obsequiousness, or lest any other adverse suspicion might creep in, there were found those who would doubt our judgments beforehand. And while some, incited by the author of dissension, leap into wars of contradiction, a greater good has been reached, with the Author of all goodness directing his own evil. For the gifts of divine grace are more sweetly received as often as they are not acquired without great struggles: and peace continued through ease is accustomed to seem a lesser good than that which is restored through labor. Truth itself also shines more clearly and is held more firmly when an examination confirms what the faith had previously taught. Finally, the merit of the priestly office shines much more when the authority of the highest is preserved in such a way that the liberty of those below is in no way thought to be diminished; and the end of an examination redounds to the greater glory of God, when confidence of exercising it is accepted to this end, that adversity may be conquered, lest what is proved to be reprobate by its own nature should seem to be suppressed by the prejudice of silence.

Exult, therefore, most dear brother, and exult as a victor in the only Son of God. He for whom the truth of the flesh was being denied has conquered through us for Himself: He for whom we have conquered has conquered through us and for us. This festival is the second for the world since the advent of the Lord. ^B The mystery of the divine incarnation, which the enemy of the human race could not take away by the facts themselves because he obscured it by calumnies, has been restored to the age, the plunderer being prostrated. Nay, rather, the immortal mystery had perished from the heart of the unbelieving, because such great salvation profits nothing to the unbelieving, since Truth itself says to its disciples: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned."

The light of the Sun of Justice, hindered by the thick clouds of Nestorius and Eutyches throughout the East, has shone purely from the West, where it has placed the highest summit principally among the apostles and doctors. Although one must not believe that it was ever lacking even there, where He reserved for Himself excellent confessors: so that, while the ancient enemy again attempted, through the impenitent heart of a second Pharaoh, to extinguish the seed of Abraham and the children of promise in the faith, he, languishing by God's mercy, could harm nothing unless to himself. Regarding which the Almighty wrought a yet more wondrous thing, because those whom he had taken to himself as allies for the slaughter of the Israelite people, He did not drown with the author of the tyranny, but gathered with His own people, and, as was truly worthy of Him, and possible only to Him, the fountain of mercy knew how to make those conquered by us to be victors with us.

For while the spirit of falsehood is truly the only enemy of the human race, there is no doubt that all whom truth has claimed for itself now triumph over him. Now it appears how much the divine authority of those words of our Redeemer has, being thus fitted against the enemies of the faith, so that it is not permitted to doubt that it was said of them: "You are," He says, "of your father the devil, and you wish to fulfill the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he did not stand in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own, because he is a liar, and his father is."

Therefore, it is no wonder if these men, who have believed a lie regarding the truth of the nature of our God, agree with their father also in these things, claiming that everything which was seen, everything which was heard, and lastly everything which was touched and handled by the testimony of the Gospel, in the only Son of God, ^C was not His of whom it is proved, but of a substance coeternal and coessential with the Father: as if the nature of the divinity were either transfixed to the wood of the cross, or, being unchangeable, could grow through the ages and increase in the wisdom of eternal wisdom, or could be filled little by little with God the Spirit, who is spirit. In this, too, that bitter madness reveals from whom it derived its author, in that, as far as it lay in it, it plotted to harm everyone. For he who afflicted you by persecuting you, perverted the others by driving them to consent to his crime. But not even us, although he had wounded us in individual brethren because they are our members, has he made exempt from special sorrow, for he plotted to bring injury against his own head with daring new and unheard of before, and incredible. ^D But I wish that, repenting even after so many most base things, he had not saddened us also with the ruin of his eternal damnation. What measure of wickedness has he omitted, to whom this was not enough, that he, not sparing the living, nor the dead, has long since polluted even the blood of an innocent and Catholic priest, having cast off...

truth and approved falsehood, ^A in a stubborn mind, if indeed they can persuade anyone, though not now along with the devil doomed for his impiety.

Therefore, it is worthy that we provide for this also against the enemies of the Church, so that we leave them no opening for calumny, as far as concerns us; nor that we should ever appear to have turned our backs on the others while acting against the Nestorians or the Eutychians, but that we may avoid and condemn both enemies of Christ with an equal balance; so that, as often as the utility of those who hear requires it, we may strike them most promptly and most evidently with a fitting anathema along with their dogmas, lest, if this should seem to be done by us either too obscurely or too tardily, it might be thought to be unwilling. Although the matter itself is enough to admonish your prudence, yet experience has already taught it.

^B But blessed be our God, whose invincible truth has shown you to be cleansed from every stain of heresy, according to the judgment of the apostolic see. To Him you shall render worthy thanks for so many labors, if you preserve yourself for the defense of the universal Church such as we have deemed and do deem you to be. For in that God dissolves the fallacies of all calumniators, we all recognize the great care of most blessed Peter for us, he who, after he confirmed the judgment of his own see in the definition of the faith, did not permit anything reprehensible to appear regarding the person of any one of you who have labored with us for the Catholic faith; because, with the Holy Spirit judging, no one of those whose faith He had already conquered could possibly fail to emerge victorious.

^C For what remains, we exhort you, since we have learned that some relics of the Eutychian and Nestorian error have remained there, that you now also work together with the apostolic see. For the victory which Christ our Lord has given to His Church, as long as we dwell in this world, although it grants greater confidence, yet it does not destroy solicitude entirely, nor was it given so that we might sleep, but so that we might labor more sweetly. Therefore, in this also we wish to be aided by the solicitude of your vigilance, so that, as your report comes in, you may hasten to inform the apostolic see what progress the Lord's doctrine is making in those regions: so that we may aid the priests of that region, in whatever way their need may require. Regarding those things, however, which in the often-mentioned council were attempted with illicit presumption against the venerable Nicene canons, we have written to our brother and fellow bishop, the prelate of the Antiochene see, adding also that which you commanded us by word through your vicars on account of the wickedness of certain monks of your region, and determining this especially, that apart from the priests of the Lord, no one may dare to preach, whether he be a monk or a layman who prides himself in the name of any science. We have desired, however, that these letters, for the utility of the universal Church, should reach the notice of all through the aforementioned brother and our fellow bishop, Maximus: and for this reason we have been unwilling to add a copy of them here, because those things which to the aforementioned brother and

our fellow bishop we have enjoined, we doubt not will be fulfilled. And in another hand: May God keep you safe, most dear brother. Given on the third of the Ides of June, in the consulship of the most illustrious Opilio.

CXIV. — To Andiberius

The most religious presbyter Peter is indeed adorned with the dignity of the priesthood, but he is also adorned with the art of healing bodies. Having spent a long time with us, he bound everyone to himself by the elegance of his character. Now, having learned of my departure, he has decided to leave Cyrrhus. Wherefore I commend him to your magnificence, and I pray that you may cherish him with your providence, so that he may be able to be useful to the city: for he is one who, living in Alexandria, applied himself to this art. ^A

CXV. — To Apelles

Having undertaken the governance of Cyrrhus, I obtained from everywhere the arts necessary for it; furthermore, I encouraged those skilled in medicine to inhabit it. One of these is the most religious presbyter Peter, who both practices the art prudently and adorns it with his character. But now, as we are leaving, many others also are deserting it, and he too has decided to depart. For this reason I pray your magnificence that you may take care of him. For he is capable of bringing aid to the sick and of fighting against diseases. ^B

CXVI. — To Renatus the Presbyter

We have learned of the ardent and just zeal of your holiness, and of the most just and lawful freedom with which you used, my lord, when you reproved those things which were rashly and licentiously done at Ephesus. Nor have we alone learned these things, but into all the earth the sound of your right mind has gone out, and all sing of the justice, the zeal, the freedom, and the threats cast by you against iniquity. And these things indeed your piety did, when it had seen but one slaughter. But if you had seen the others also which were committed after your departure, perhaps you would have imitated that Phinehas. ^C But among those who were condemned after these things, I am one, prohibited by royal letters from going thither, and yet condemned while absent. For after six and twenty years of the episcopate, after infinite labors, after struggles undertaken for piety, after offering to the Saviour of all many myriads of heretics led away from their former error, they have stripped me of the priesthood, and cast me out of the city, having revered neither old age, nor gray hair nourished in piety. For which cause I pray your holiness that you may persuade the most holy and ^D most blessed archbishop to use his apostolic authority and to command that I fly to your council. For that most holy see has the primacy of the churches which are in the whole world for many reasons, and this before all others: that it has remained free from heretical contagion, and no one holding contrary sentiments has ever sat in it,

^A but it has preserved the apostolic grace undefiled. For we shall gladly accept whatever is judged by you, whatever it may be, trusting in the equity of your judgment; and we ask that the judgment be formed from our writings. For I have written more than thirty books, against Arius and Eunomius, against Marcion, against Macedonius, against the Gentiles, against the Jews. I have also interpreted the divine Scripture; and it is easy for anyone who wishes to perceive that I have walked in the apostolic footsteps, preaching one Son, as one Father, and one Holy Spirit; one Godhead of the Trinity, one kingdom, one power, eternity, immutability, impassibility, one will, the perfect Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the perfect humanity, which was assumed for our salvation, and delivered to death for our sake. I know no other Son of man, and another Son of God; but the same one, a Son of God and God begotten of God; but a Son of man, because of the form of a servant taken from the seed of Abraham and David. I continue to teach these things and others similar to them. I found these same things set forth in the letters of my most holy and beatified lord, Leo, and I praised the God of all that I agree with his apostolic decrees. Therefore, I entreat you, receive my supplication, and do not despise one who has been unjustly treated. For this very reason, I have sent the most God-beloved presbyters Hypatius and Abramius, the chorepiscopi, and Alypius, the exarch of the monks who are among us, to your God-loving selves, men who are adorned with a brilliant life, and are able to teach you accurately through their speech regarding our circumstances. ^{B C}

CXVII. — To Bishop Florentius.

The human race has not been entirely abandoned by the grace of God and our Savior; but He has left us a seed in your holiness, so that we may not become like Sodom or be likened to Gomorrah. This does not allow our spirit to fail entirely, but bids us await the end of the troublesome storm: this raises us to good hope. For this reason, we have sent the most religious presbyters Hypatius and Abramius, the chorepiscopi, and Alypius, the exarch of the monks who are with us, to your holiness, that you may dispel the calamity which has occupied the Churches of the East. And first of all, confirm the faith once delivered to us by the holy apostles, and proscribe the heresy that has arisen, and openly refute those who have dared to adulterate the proclamation of the economy; then, thereafter, undertake the patronage and defense of those who are being vexed for the sake of piety. For the sake of the apostolic faith, most holy one, we have endured this unjust slaughter, because we do not wish to abandon the truth of the evangelical dogmas. ^D It befits your holiness not to overlook those who hold the same sentiments as yourselves and have been driven away by injustice, but to repress the injury with just assistance, and to defend the truth resolutely.

^A

CXVIII.—To the Archdeacon of Rome.

A truly savage storm has assailed our Churches: but those who adhere to the apostolic faith have in your holiness a convenient and tranquil haven. For you do not only fight for the evangelical dogmas, but you also utterly detest the injustice that has been done to us. For those most equitable judges have condemned us, while we were living at a distance, and separated by an interval of thirty-five stages, as they pleased; and having cast aside the doctrine which from the coming of God and our Savior down to this very day has prevailed in the Churches, they have introduced a certain new, spurious, and utterly contrary-to-apostolic-tradition teaching, and they openly declare war on those who hold fast to the ancient documents. Deign, therefore, most God-beloved, to kindle the zeal of the most holy and blessed archbishop in every respect, so that the Churches of the East may also enjoy your care; and especially to defend the faith handed down from the beginning by the holy apostles, and to preserve the paternal inheritance intact, and to dissipate the cloud that is pressing upon us, and to bring about a clear serenity in place of a dark night, and to rebuke the unjust slaughter committed against us. For it befits your holiness to add this zeal to your other excellent accomplishments.

CXIX.—To Anatolius the Patrician.

The deeds of the most just judges at Ephesus are surely known to your greatness. For "their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world," ^B even their most righteous judgment. For what Church has not felt the storm that arose from thence? For some inflicted injury, and others received it; but those who were neither injured themselves, nor did they injure others, both sympathize with those to whom the injury was done, and mourn for those who did it, as having most cruelly and against all laws, both divine and human, slaughtered their own members. For judges first examine those caught in the act of burglary, and then punish them: and ^C in the same way they also treat murderers, and violators of sepulchers, and those who violate alien marriages; they first bring them into court and order the accusers to frame their accusation: and they examine the intention of the witnesses, whether they are testifying in favor of the accusers, or whether they are hostile toward the accused; and after this, they order the accused to reply to the accusers. And they do this twice, or three times, and sometimes even four times; and only then, having investigated the truth through the words of both sides, do they deliver their verdict. ^D As for how these men judged others, I will say nothing, lest I appear too meddlesome and curious in the affairs of others; yet I am compelled to speak regarding the unjust vexation that drives me alone. For when the royal law constrains me at home

and forbids me from proceeding beyond the bounds of the city placed under my pastoral care, they constituted a tribunal against me, and condemned me to exile at a distance of thirty-five stages. The God of all, speaking to the patriarch Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, said: ^A "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is multiplied unto me, and their sins are very great. I will go down therefore, and I will see whether they have done according to the cry that is come to me; but if not, that I may know" (Gen. xviii, 21, 22). Although He clearly knew the wickedness of those men, nevertheless He said, "I will go down and I will see," teaching us to await the proof of events. But these men, without summoning us to trial, without hearing our voice, and without desiring to learn what we think from us, have ^B surrendered us to be slaughtered by the fury of the enemies of the truth.

I, for my part, welcome silence, especially at the present time, when apostolic dogmas have been corrupted among many, and a new heresy has gained strength and power. But, lest any of those who do not know us believe the slanders cast against us to be true, and be scandalized, thinking we believe other things contrary to evangelical doctrine, I entreat your Magnificence, that you might ask this favor of the victorious Augustus: that I may come to the West, and there be judged by the bishops, who are most dear to God and most holy; and if I should be seen to deviate even in the slightest from the rule of faith, let me be cast into the depths of the sea. But if he will not grant even this request of yours, let him at least command me to dwell in our own monastery, which ^C is distant one hundred and twenty miles from Cyrrhus, and seventy-five from Antioch, and is situated three miles from the city of Apamea. Of these choices, if it is possible, I ask through your Magnificence that the former be granted to me; if not, at least the latter. We carry your memory continually in both our mind and on our tongue, beseeching the Lord of Hosts to reward your Magnificence with both present and future goods. I have been driven to write these things now because I have learned that some are plotting my departure from this place as well.

CXX. — To Lupicius

I think that even the enemies of the truth themselves must be indignant at the unjust and iniquitous vexations which we are suffering. But much more, as is fitting, are the disciples of piety, among whom your Magnificence is preeminent, saddened by this new and unheard-of tragedy. ^D It is appropriate that those who grieve more severely apply greater effort and zeal, so that those things which have been done impiously and iniquitously may be dissolved, and that the body of the Church, which is in danger of being torn apart, may return to its former concurrence.

For this reason, ^A I entreat your Magnificence to consider the present time an opportunity for spiritual commerce, and to bring forth the zeal that is required for the defense of piety, and to receive in turn from the munificent Master both the greatest providence in the present life and the kingdom of heaven in the life to come.

CXXI. To Anatolius the Patrician.

The Master, who oversees and governs all things, has revealed both the apostolic truth of our doctrines and the falsity of the slander cast against us. For the writings sent by the most God-beloved and most holy Archbishop of great Rome, Lord Leo, to Flavian of holy memory and to others gathered at Ephesus, agree entirely with those things which we have written and which we have always preached in the Churches. For this reason, as soon as I read those letters, ^B I praised the benevolent Lord, because He has not utterly forsaken the Churches, but has preserved this spark of orthodoxy—or rather, not a spark, but a great torch, capable of kindling and illuminating the whole world. For he has truly maintained in his writings the apostolic character, and we have found in these letters the same things that were delivered by the holy and blessed prophets and apostles, and by those who preached the Gospel after them, and indeed by the holy Fathers gathered at Nicaea; to these we profess to adhere, and those who think anything different from these we accuse of impiety. I have appended to these my own letters one of the epistles sent by him to Ephesus, so that your Magnificence, having read it, may be reminded of what has often been said by us in the Church, and may recognize the concurrence of the doctrines, and may hate those who speak falsehood and those who have founded a new heresy against the apostolic doctrines.

CXXII. To Uranius, Bishop of Emesa.

That we have been joined in letters, being already joined in spirit, has gladdened me greatly. But I did not understand the phrase, "Are these not my words?" For if it was said only for the sake of greeting, the statement does not trouble me; but if it brings to mind the counsel by which you urged silence, and what is called "dispensation" (oikonomia), we are grateful, but we do not accept the suggestion. For the divine Apostle commands the contrary: ^D "Be urgent in season and out of season." And the Master said to this very herald: "Speak, and do not keep silent." And to Isaiah: "Cry aloud with your strength, and do not spare." And to Moses: "Go down and bear witness to this people." And indeed also to Ezekiel: "I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel; and it shall be if you do not warn the wicked," and what follows; for it is superfluous to prolong the discourse for one who knows. Therefore, not only are we not cast down, being accustomed to speaking with boldness, but we even rejoice, and

we act trustfully; nay, rather, we rejoice and are glad, ^A and we praise Him who has deemed us worthy of these tribulations, and we exhort our associates to [join in] the same struggles. For if they know that we do not keep the apostolic canon of the faith, but turn aside to the right or to the left, let them indeed hate us, and let them take the opposing part, and let them be ranked with those who fight against us. But if they acknowledge that we hold the correct doctrine of the evangelical proclamation, we shout to them: "Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace," and the rest. For they say that virtue comprises not only temperance, justice, and prudence, but also courage, and that through this [courage] the others are brought to perfection. For justice, in the war against injustice, needs courage as an ally, and temperance, using courage as a coworker, overcomes licentiousness. Therefore, the God of all said to the Prophet: "But my just one shall live by faith; and if he draws back, my soul takes no pleasure in him." And he called ^B shrinking "timidity." Cling therefore, O dear heart, to the apostolic dogmas: "For yet a little while, and He who is to come will come, and will not delay, and will render to everyone according to his works. For the form of this world is passing away," and the truth of things shall appear.

CXXIII. — To the same.

The letter was long, and gracious, and displayed the warmth and genuineness of your love. And it filled me with such delight that I do not at all regret having conjectured a different meaning in the opening of the previous [letter]. For the ignorance of the meaning of the letters ^C revealed the treasure of brotherly affection, and manifested the sincerity of the faith, and made known the zeal for piety. However, we have divided the words and the temptations of the prophet between us; and indeed your holiness has used the words, while we are tossed by storms and billows, and against those who ply the oars of the ship, we cry out with him: "Those who observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." But perhaps our Lord, and his [the Prophet's] Lord, will grant that we also may emerge and be delivered from the whale. But if the raging storm should continue, we hope that even so we shall be partakers of divine providence, and learn by experience that His power is made perfect in weakness; for He has measured the very dangers according to our weakness. For all those who were sailing with that divine prophet cast him ^D into the sea; but to me He has provided the consolation of your holiness, and also of other God-beloved men; and I pray, together with your piety, that they may reach the blessing of the admirable Onesiphorus, because you were not ashamed of my chain, but were partakers in the tribulations which we suffered for piety's sake. This, indeed, Lord, thus

understand: that when other most God-beloved bishops also sent me eulogies, I did not receive them—not because I despised those who had sent them, perish the thought!—but because I was meanwhile obtaining necessary sustenance from Him who provides it abundantly even unto the ravens. Yet with regard to your piety, I have done nothing of the sort. For in truth, the warmth of charity has overcome the resolve I had long proposed to myself. For as to the fact that from the time our acquaintance increased, the fire of love has burned more vehemently, may your God-beloved soul be persuaded.

^D

CXXIV. — To Maranas the Scholastic.

I too lament the ecclesiastical calamities, and I mourn the tempests that press upon us. I congratulate myself, however, that I have escaped from the tumults and am enjoying a tranquility that is dear to me. As for those whom your learning has written are still hostile even now, they will shortly pay the penalty for the things they are currently doing iniquitously. For God, who governs all things, rules everything by weight and measure; and when any have lapsed into immoderate lawlessness, He no longer forbears, but subsequently acting as judge, He inflicts the penalty of vengeance. Foreseeing these things, we pray that they might cease from their immoderation, so that we may not be compelled to grieve again when we see them punished. We make constant mention of your admirableness, and we entreat the common Lord to fill your house with blessing.

CXXV. — To Aphthonius, Theodoret, Nonnus, Scylacius, Aphthonius, and John, holding the magistracy of Zeugma.

I have learned of the firm and stable strength of your faith, and I have been filled with the greatest possible joy. For since we are one body, as we are worshippers of the eternal Trinity, it is surely fitting that when some members are healthy, the other members rejoice with them. The divine Apostle says the same thing: "If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it" (I Cor. XII, 26). I rejoice, therefore, with you, as you struggle on behalf of the apostolic doctrines, and as you imitate that most famous Naboth (89) in better things. For he underwent a most iniquitous slaughter on behalf of a vineyard, refusing to be deprived of his paternal inheritance. But you are not defending vineyards, ^D but divine doctrines, and you turn away from this new and adulterate heresy, as something that stains the brightness of evangelical teaching; and you permit the number of the sacrosanct Trinity to be neither diminished nor increased. For they diminish it who apply passion to the divinity of the Only-begotten; and they increase it who dare to introduce another Son. But you believe in one Only-begotten, just as in one Father and one holy Spirit. And in the Only-begotten who was incarnate, you contemplate the assumed nature, which He took from us and offered for us. For the denial of this makes our salvation void. For if the divinity of the Only-begotten is impassible (impassible

and we do not acknowledge that which can suffer, then the suffering, which never occurred, is reported in vain. Indeed, if there is no one suffering, how can there be suffering? For we proclaim the divine nature to be impassible. And they themselves acknowledge this, just as we do. How, then, could suffering exist if there be no subject that suffers? For [by such reasoning] the great mystery of the Economy would appear to be mere semblance and phantasy rather than truth. But this fable was brought forth by Valentinus, Bardesanes, Marcion, and Manes. Yet the teaching delivered to the churches from the beginning knows one Son, even after the incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ; and it confesses the same to be God before the ages, and man become [so] at the end of the days; and he became man by the assumption of humanity, not by the change of divinity. For if the divine nature were changed into the human nature, It did not remain what It was; but if It is not what It was, those who venerate such things call Him God falsely. But we know the only-begotten Son of God to be immutable, as God, and as the Son of the true God. For we have learned from divine Scripture that, being in the form of God, He took the form of a servant, and took hold of the seed of Abraham, yet was not changed into the seed of Abraham; and that He partook, just as we do, of flesh and blood, and of an immortal and immaculate soul. Having preserved these, He offered His own sinless body for the bodies that had sinned, and for the souls, a soul free from all stain. Therefore we also have the hope of the universal resurrection; for the whole race will surely share in the first fruits; and just as we shared in the death of Adam, so too shall we share in the life of the Savior Christ. The divine Apostle has clearly taught us this. "For now," he says, "Christ is risen from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, and by man came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." I write these things now, not to teach, but to remind you; and by striving to be brief, I have, as I think, exceeded the limit of a letter. The author of my writing was the altogether most reverend and most religious presbyter and archimandrite Mecimas, who, led by the law of charity, traveled such a long journey, and, commemorating the zeal of your worthiness, asked that we kindle this same [zeal] by our letters. I, therefore, have complied with the request, and have written this letter, and I pray the Lord of all to preserve you in the faith, and to make you victorious over the winnower. ^D

TO SABINIANUS THE BISHOP

I have praised your holiness for leaving the enviable throne. For what was once venerable has now become ridiculous; for we have made it [like] a venal thing

^A that we have done. However, I was surprised, after I learned that you had run to those who had cast you out. For you ought to have done the opposite: when asked to retain the helm, you should have fled from the governance, as those in the same ship had become enemies. Or do you not know, most God-beloved, what our Savior taught us to proclaim through the holy apostles, and what those who inherited the apostolic dogmas decreed must be celebrated? For what teacher of old, from the time when the Gospel was proclaimed until this darkness in which we now find ourselves, has heard anyone preach one nature of flesh and divinity, or has ever dared to call the divinity of the Only-Begotten passible? Yet these things are now openly and confidently said by some, while others despise what they hear, and by their silence share in the wickedness. What then, someone might say, should those who detest these things do? I say one of two things: either join battle and refute the falsehood of the dogmas, or flee as from the communion of those who are openly impious. For I myself accepted the injustice done to me as a divine blessing: not, of course, having gratitude toward the authors of the injury (for how could one [have gratitude] toward fratricides and those who have taken the part of Cain?), but praising my Lord, who counted me worthy of the lot of those who suffer injustice, and separated me from the wicked and blasphemous, and granted me a most beloved quiet.

^B

CXXVII. — To Jobius the presbyter and archimandrite

The patriarch Abraham even after his senile years attained victory; and the great Moses, already advanced to old age, by stretching out his hands in prayer, struck down the Amalekite; and the divine Samuel, already gray-headed, put the foreigners to flight. Your venerable old age emulates them, which acts bravely in the wars undertaken for the sake of piety, and fights for the evangelical dogmas, and excels the young in the alacrity of its spirit. Hearing these things, I rejoice and am glad, and I truly wish to embrace your most venerable gray hair. But because I cannot do this, for the reason that old age keeps your piety at home, and the royal law restrains me here, I soothe my longing with letters, and I bid your piety a most loving greeting, and I pray that you may assist the Churches, which are filled with confusion and tumult, with your prayers, and procure for me as well divine help, for I am vexed for the sake of the apostolic dogmas and have need of supernal defense. ^{C D}

CXXVIII. — To Candidus the presbyter and archimandrite

Old age, it seems, has overcome the alacrity of your God-beloved soul, and you do not have your hands extended according to custom, and for that reason Amalek also strives to win. Let some helpers of your infirmity arise, therefore, just as once long ago Hur and Aaron sustained the hands of the lawgiver, so that you may both destroy Amalek and preserve Israel. For now there is need of more earnest prayers than ever, as Greeks and Jews and all heretics—

are at peace, while the Church alone is tempest-tossed and has fallen into a most grievous storm. We, too, stand in need of the help of your prayers ^A more than the rest, since those who were thought to be our defenders are attacking us.

CXXIX. — To Magnus Antoninus, presbyter and archimandrite.

Torches in the ports provide comfort to those who sail by night; but for those who endure danger for the sake of the apostolic faith, the zeal of their fellow-believers is a comfort. We therefore have abundant consolation when we hear of your holy zeal in the struggles ^B for the divine doctrines. For the munificent Giver has inspired this mind in you, that you shrink from no labor for their preservation. I, indeed, being refreshed by your zeal, offer a small return by exhorting you to persist in these divine contests, and to despise our opponents as easily conquered (for what is weaker than those who are destitute of the truth?), while trusting in Him who said: "I will not fail you, nor forsake you 43;" and: "Lo, I am with you ^C always, even unto the end of the world 44." Help me also with your prayers, that I may confidently add: "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me 45."

CXXX. — To Timotheus, bishop.

It is not without purpose, clearly, that the Ruler of all permits the opposing spirits to stir up the waves of impiety; but it is for the purpose of testing the minds of the voyagers, and that He may reveal the courage of some and expose the cowardice of others; and that He may strip off the masks of those who possess only ^D an outward form of piety, but proclaim as champions those who stand for the truth. This we have seen come to pass even now. For when the storm arose, some laid bare their hidden impiety, while others abandoned the truth they held and passed over to the ranks of the enemy, and with them strike those whom they used to call champions. Those who observe these things hate the enemies and mourn for the deserters, but they are afraid to bring aid to those who are being warred against for the sake of the apostolic doctrines. If, however, the deserters should be more violent in their onslaught, perhaps they themselves will join the number of those shooting, and will not spare their fellow-believers, but will shoot their arrows against them together with those whom they themselves accuse; and this despite having learned from the divine Scripture that to do wrong to one's neighbor brings punishment, while to be wronged is a provider of great and lasting rewards. This storm has demonstrated both your piety, and your zeal for the faith, and your benevolence toward us. For you have written to us twice, despising those who would deter you, and you have shown your brotherly love through your letters, and you have indicated the struggles which you were undergoing for the sake of the apostolic doctrines. For you commanded us to write, that...

one ought to proclaim or believe regarding the saving Passion. ^A I have gladly accepted your request, and I will readily relate the things which I have learned from divine Scripture and from the Fathers who have interpreted it, not in order to teach, but to call to remembrance that head which is dear to God.

Know then, most God-beloved, that before all else one must know the difference between the names, and in addition to this, the cause of the divine incarnation. For when these things have been clearly distinguished, no ambiguity regarding the Passion will remain. ^B Therefore, let us first ask those who attempt to gainsay: which of the names of the Only-Begotten Son of God are older than the incarnation, and which are newer, or rather, joined to the work of the economy? They will certainly say that "God the Word," and "Only-Begotten Son," and "Omnipotent," and "Lord of all creation" are older; but "Jesus Christ" is proper to the incarnation. For when God the Word, the Only-Begotten Son of God, became man, he was named Jesus Christ. "For behold," he says, "there is born to you this day a Christ the Lord." ^C For since others also were called Christs—both priests, and kings, and prophets—lest anyone might suppose him to be like them, the angels joined the name "Lord" to "Christ," showing the sovereign dignity of the one being born. And again, to the all-praised Virgin, Gabriel said: "Behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus, for he himself shall save his people from their sins." Before the incarnation, he was called neither Christ nor Jesus. For the divine prophets, while prophesying the things that were to come, used these terms, just as they also foretold the things surrounding the birth, the cross, and the Passion, although the events had not yet occurred. Yet even after the incarnation, he is called God the Word, Lord, Omnipotent, Only-Begotten Son, Maker, and Creator. For he did not change and become man, but remaining what he was, he took on what we are. "For, being in the form of God," as the divine Apostle says, "he took the form of a servant." For this reason, even after the incarnation, he is called by the names he had before the incarnation, because he has an unchanging and immutable nature. ^D Indeed, declaring the Passion, the divine Scripture never applies the name "God," since it is the name of the simple nature. For no one, having heard, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," and other things of this sort, would say that the flesh existed before the ages, or that it is consubstantial with the God of the universe, or that it created creatures; rather, he understands that these things are proper to the Godhead. Nor, again, when anyone hears Matthew explaining the genealogy, would he suppose David and Abraham to be ancestors of God according to nature; for the nature that was assumed is derived from them.

^A Just as these things are clear and indisputable, even to the most extreme heretics, and we know on the one hand the pre-eternal nature, and on the other the recent nature; so it is necessary to know both the passibility of the flesh and the impassibility of the Godhead, not dividing the union, nor splitting the Only-begotten into two persons, but contemplating in the one Son the properties of the natures. For if we are accustomed to do this in the case of soul and body, which are natures equal in time and naturally joined, and we call the soul simple, rational, and immortal, while we name the body composite, passible, and mortal, and we do not divide the union, nor split the man in two—how much more is it appropriate to do this in the case of the Godhead, which was begotten of the Father before the ages, and the humanity, which was assumed from the seed of David; and clearly to know of the one that it is eternal and everlasting, simple and uncircumscribed, immortal and unchangeable, but of the other that it is recent and composite, and circumscribed, and fluid, and mortal. For even if we now know the flesh to be immortal and incorruptible, yet before ^B the resurrection and death and passion it was subject to them; for how else would it have been nailed to the tree, and committed to the tomb? But although we perceive the difference of the natures, we must adore the one Son, and know the selfsame one to be Son of God and Son of man, form of God and form of a servant, son of David and Lord of David, seed of Abraham and maker of Abraham. For the union makes the names common, but the communion of the names does not confuse the natures. For it is manifest to those who think rightly that some things befit Him as God, and others as man. Thus both being passible and being impassible befit Christ the Lord. For He suffered according to humanity, but remained impassible as God. But if, according to the doctrine of the impious, He suffered according to the Godhead, the assumption of the flesh was surely superfluous. For He would not have needed a passible humanity, if the divine nature were able to receive ^C passion. But if, even by their own confession, the Godhead is impassible, and the passion was real, let them not deny that He suffered, lest they deny also the reality of the passion; for the passion is false if there be no one suffering. And that the divine Scripture openly proclaims the passion of the body, it is easy for anyone who wishes to open the quaternion of the holy Gospels, and to learn from them how Joseph of Arimathea approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; and how Pilate ordered the body of Jesus to be given, and how Joseph took down the body of Jesus from the tree, and how he wrapped the body of Jesus in a linen cloth, and how he laid it in the new tomb. These things the four evangelists have written, making frequent mention of the body. But if they bring forward the words spoken by the angel to those with Mary: "Come, see the place where the Lord ^D was lying," let them hear the history of the Acts saying that "devout men took up Stephen," and let them observe how it was not the soul of the victorious Stephen...

but the body that they deemed worthy [of honor]. ^A And even to this present day, when entering the shrines of the triumphant martyrs, we are accustomed to ask who it is that is named as being stored in the casket; and those who know the truth answer, perhaps Julian the martyr, or Romanus, or Timothy; and although often complete bodies are not lying there, but very small relics, we nevertheless address the body by the common name. Thus, the angel of the Lord called the body "Lord," since it was the body of the Lord of all. And the Lord Himself promised to give—not the invisible nature, but—the body for the life of the world: “For the bread,” He says, “which I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” And in the tradition of the divine mysteries, having taken the symbol, He said: “This is my body, which is given for you,” ^B or, according to the Apostle, “is broken.” And nowhere, when He discoursed concerning the passion, did He make mention of the impassible divinity.

But those who attempt to contradict ought, before all other things, to be asked whether they confess that a perfect human nature was assumed by God the Word, and whether they say that the union has been made without confusion. For if these things be granted, the rest also will proceed in order, and the passion will be attributed to the passible nature. These things I have now dictated in summary, and have exceeded the measure of a letter. I have also sent what I wrote recently, having been encouraged by the most religious and most holy man of God, the lord N., a brief instruction which is itself sufficient to teach the truth of the apostolic dogmas. And if I find a calligrapher, I shall send to your holiness those things also which I have written in the manner of a dialogue, that is, by question and answer, both extending the discourse and fortifying our arguments with the doctrines of the Fathers. I have now also sent a few quotations from the ancient teachers, which are sufficient to demonstrate the scope of their teaching. Deign, therefore, most God-beloved, to repay us with the aid of your prayers, that we may cross the savage tempest and reach the tranquil harbors of the Savior.

CXXXI. To Longinus, Archimandrite of Doliche.

^C Your godliness has manifested both zeal for piety and love toward your neighbor. For both are joined together at the present time. We are being fought against for the sake of the apostolic dogmas, because we do not cast away our paternal inheritance, but prefer to suffer anything whatsoever rather than allow one iota of the evangelical faith to be taken away. You have, therefore, shared in our sufferings, both by consoling us through letters, and by sending to us the most honorable and most religious deacons Matthew and Isaac; and, I know well, you shall hear from the just Judge: “I was in prison, and you came to me.” For although we are vile and lowly and burdened with a great load of sins, yet magnificent and liberal is the ^D

^A Master. For this reason, He makes mention not of great ones, but of the small, and says: “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these little ones who believe in me, you did it to me.” Since, therefore, you excel in right doctrines and shine with a commendable life, and have consequently great boldness before God, help me with your prayers, that I may be able to stand firm, according to the apostolic ^B voice, against the wiles of error, and may escape the snares of the slanderer, and with small confidence may stand before the just Judge on the day of His appearing.

CXXXII. — To Ibas, Bishop of Edessa.

The Master has commanded those who suffer injury not to be discouraged, but to rejoice, and to draw the motives of their consolation from ancient examples. For from the first men who were born until the present time, one can find that those who have been zealous to worship the God of all have always been vexed by injuries from those with whom they lived, and have fallen into very many and grave troubles. I would detail the whole catalogue of these, were I writing to a man who was not thoroughly versed in the divine Scriptures. But since you have been nurtured from childhood in the divine oracles, most God-beloved, I consider it superfluous to do this. I ask only that you look to those who are of the most humane priests, that you mourn for those who do injury, and have pity on those who disdain; that you lament ^C the storm of the Church, but for the fact that we have been partakers of sufferings for the sake of piety, you should rejoice, and be glad, and never cease to praise Him who has assigned us to this lot. Let us yield to the murderers both honor and luxury, and the prerogative of the see, and their wretched glory. Only let us cling to the evangelical doctrines, and with them, if need be, let us endure any hardship whatsoever, and prefer precious poverty to a life of anxious riches. I do not write this to offer exhortation (for I know your Holiness's boldness in painful matters), but to make my own mind clear to your God-loving heart, and to teach you, my Lord, that you have fellow soldiers who readily expose themselves to dangers for the truth. I had wanted to write this long ago, but I did not find anyone to carry the letters. But having now encountered the most honorable and pious presbyter Ozeas, a man who ^D both defends piety and is most devoted to you, I write, and I embrace your Holiness, and I beseech you to support me with your prayers and confirm me with your letters.

CXXXIII. — To John, Bishop of Germanicia.

That you are not unmindful, my Lord, of our friendship, I knew and I know clearly. But nonetheless I wanted and prayed that your God-fearing soul...

^A should be concerned for precision, and should flee the communion of those who have betrayed the faith, and should entrust the care for us to the Protector of all. For while we were silent and kept our peace, He dissolved the most bitter and cruel punishments, and instead of the harsh storm, He provided this bright calm. And since this calm has been provided to us by the philanthropic Master, we consider this silence most desirable. For we deem it necessary to persuade those who have been led astray by the slanders against us, and to show the truth of the evangelical dogmas, and to refute the falsehood which has waged war against them. Yet, after the refutations and the prevalence of the truth, it is our intention to flee the concern of public affairs and to return to the silence, which is most desired by us. Concerning the enemies of the truth, let us cry out with the Prophet: “Their memory has perished with a sound, and the Lord remains forever.” And for ourselves, let us sing that: “He sent from on high, and took me; He drew me out of many waters, and delivered me from my mighty enemies.” I write these things now, having received two letters from your God-fearing self, one through Anastasius, the presbyter of Beroea, and the other through Theodotus the ^B draconarius. For no one has delivered another to us, about which you indicated in your latest letters. Regarding my journey there, I can write nothing before I know what the most pious emperor has commanded concerning us. For those letters have not yet arrived.

CXXXIV. To Theoctistus, Bishop of Beroea

Someone asked the Savior, Lawgiver, and Lord, which is the greatest commandment. And He answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, and with all your heart, and with all your mind;” and He added, “This is the first commandment; and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And He subjoined: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” ^C Therefore, he who keeps these, clearly fulfills the whole law according to the Master’s definition; but he who transgresses, is proved a transgressor of the whole law. Let us consider, therefore, with our conscience judging rightly and justly, whether we have fulfilled the divine commandments. He fulfills the first, then, who keeps the God-given faith uncorrupted, and abhors those who war against it as enemies of the truth, and hates with zeal those who hate the Beloved; and the second, he who deems the care of his neighbor of the highest importance, and observes the laws of friendship not only in prosperous times, but also in those that seem adverse. But those who, caring for their own security as they suppose, make the rights of friendship of little account for that reason, and despise afflicted friends, these are counted among the wicked even by the profane. Furthermore, the Lord of all ^D from His disciples

demands more perfect things. "Love," He says, "your enemies. For if you love those who love you, what more do you do? Behold, even the sinners and the tax collectors do this." ^A But we have not even experienced the love of tax collectors. And why do I speak of tax collectors? We have not received even that consolation which murderers and sorcerers in prisons enjoy. If everyone had followed such cruelty, nothing else would have remained but that we, while living, would be consumed by want, and when dead, would lack burial, and become prey for dogs and wild beasts. But there were those present with us who despise this life and await the enjoyment of eternal goods, and they deemed us worthy of every kind of consolation. And the philanthropic Lord "from heaven caused judgment to be heard; the earth feared and was silent when God arose to judgment." ^B "But His enemies, as soon as they were honored and exalted, failing like smoke, they failed." The falsehood of the new heresy has been condemned, and the truth of the divine Gospels is openly proclaimed. But we, with the blessed David, cry aloud: "Blessed be the Lord, who alone does great wonders, and blessed be the name of His glory, and all the earth shall be filled with His glory. So be it, so be it."

CXXXV. To Romulus the bishop.

Since you have reminded us of ancient history, and say that the king of the Syrians, when he considered the humanity of the king of Israel, assumed the form of a suppliant and did not fail in his request; remember also, master, the divine wrath and vengeance. For Ahab, who had used mercy, He delivered to utter destruction ^C and pronounced sentence against him through the prophet: "For it shall be," He says, "your life for his life, and your people for his people." But we are commanded by these things to temper mercy with judgment, since not every mercy pleases the God of all. In the present matter, however, there is need, above all, for prudent counsel. For we are contending about divine dogmas, in which we have our hope of salvation. Yet a great difference among men can be seen even in these things. For some are truly suffering from the common impiety, while others, without any discrimination, ^D bring forward both these things and their opposites. Others, while they have grasped the truth, hide it in the storehouses of their mind, and profess impious things along with others. Others again, touched by envy, seize the opportunity of their rivalries to attack the truth, and practice every kind of wickedness against the heralds of the truth. There are also those who indeed embrace the truth of the apostolic dogmas, but, fearing the power of those in authority, shrink from making it public; and they groan and grieve at the frequency of the evils,

but at the same time associate with those who stir up such tempests. We judge your piety to be of this number; for we believe it to be sound in divine doctrines, and we assume it preserves its love for us, but that it yields to the times out of mere timidity. ^A For this reason, although we write to no one else, we both write to your devout self and receive letters from you, knowing your intent and in some way pardoning your fear. But the benevolent Lord has now completely cut away even the pretexts for fear, having exposed the newly introduced impiety and shown forth the naked truth of the Gospels. ^B We, even if we had as many mouths as there are hairs, could not praise the benevolent Lord as He deserves, because He has forced even those most strongly opposed to openly preach the very things we preach. For we heard that even the housemate of your devout self, having learned of the anathemas issued in the great cities, ceased mimicking the crooked gait of crabs and walked the straight path when he discoursed on doctrines at a certain assembly. One must not adapt one’s words to the times, but always preserve the straight rule of truth.

CXXXVI. — To Cyrus the Magisterian.

^C I grieved deeply when I learned of the sadness with which you are struggling. For how could I not grieve, I who make all your concerns my own, and who am mindful of the apostolic precept which commands us not only to rejoice with those who rejoice, but also to weep with those who weep? [Rom. XII, 15] And the very severity of this tragedy is enough to draw even the most hostile to sympathy. For what could be as grievous as to be deprived of a spouse who has lawfully drawn the yoke of matrimony, rendered life pleasant for her husband, shared ^D the cares of the household, handled the domestic matters and helped govern all else together with him, and who suggested what was useful and was obedient to her husband’s counsels? But that, along with her, the one who was born of her, who had been diligently nurtured and instructed in literature, and who was hoped to be the solace of old age, should be consigned to the tomb in the very spring of his life, with the first down of youth just appearing—what excess of grief does this not surpass? Therefore, if we look only at the force and nature of the evil, it admits of no consolation. But if we call to mind the mortality of our entire race, and the sentence passed upon the whole of mankind, and furthermore the universal nature of this evil—for life is full of such afflictions—we shall bear what has happened bravely, blunt the stings of our distress, and sing that admirable song of praise: «The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has come to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.» [Job I, 21, 22] And for us there are many more causes for consolation.

For we have clearly received the hopes of the resurrection, and we await the rising again of the dead; and we have often heard the Master calling death a sleep. If we believe, as we do indeed believe, the words of the Savior, we must not mourn those who have fallen asleep, even if the sleep is longer than ^A usual. But we must look for the resurrection; and we must know that the Ruler of all, being wise and clearly knowing not only the present but also the future, directs all things toward what is beneficial. A certain wise man, knowing this, philosophizes regarding such deaths and says: «He was snatched away before wickedness could change his understanding.» Let us therefore yield, I beseech you, to the wise Governor of the universe, and let us embrace his decrees, ^B whatever they may be, whether pleasant or grievous. For these things are useful and profitable, and they bring about perfect virtue and provide crowns for those who endure.

To John the Archimandrite.

The blessed David truly fell into other transgressions, which God, who wisely directs all things, caused to be written down for the benefit of those to come. Yet Absalom, the parricide, the bloodthirsty, impious, and most wicked tyrant, did not flare up with madness against his father for the sake of those things; but because he craved the tyranny, for that reason he embarked upon that most unjust war. Nevertheless, the divine David, even while these things were happening, kept in mind the transgression he had committed. ^C I, therefore, am conscious of other sins I have committed, but I have kept the dogmatic teaching of the apostles unsullied. Those, however, who trampled upon both divine and human laws, and condemned us in our absence, did not pass judgment because of what we had sinned—for those things that were hidden were not manifest to them—but they wove lies and calumny against us, or rather, openly warring against the apostolic dogmas, they excommunicated him who followed them. «But the Lord was awakened as one sleeping, ^D and he struck his enemies, and gave them everlasting reproach.» And he dispersed the counterfeit and spurious dogmas, but he saw to it that those which he handed down to us in the holy Gospels be preached with boldness. For us, these things suffice for perfect gladness. For we are not possessed by a yearning for the city in which we have spent all our time laboring; but we desire to see the truth of the Gospels being firmly established. And the Master has fulfilled this our desire. For this reason we rejoice and are glad, and we praise the generous Lord, and we exhort your piety to do the same with us, and to pray earnestly while praising, so that the merciful Lord may confirm those who now say one thing and now another, and who change according to the times, like chameleons that take on the color of leaves,

^A and may He grant that they prefer the truth above all things.

CXXXVIII. To Anatolius the Patrician.

We indeed have gladly embraced the quiet which we have attained, and we are reaping its profitable and most sweet fruits. But our Christ-loving emperor, having harvested the empire as the fruit of piety, has offered the first-fruits of that empire to the Giver of the empire—the tranquility of the Churches which were being tossed by the storm, the triumph of the faith which was under attack, and the victory of the evangelical dogmas. He has also added to these the healing of the injustice done to us. For who has ever heard of such or so great an injustice? Who has been condemned for murder in his absence? Who has been condemned for plotting against a marriage without being present? Who, being a house-breaker, or a spoiler of tombs, or a sorcerer, or a temple-robber, or having committed anything else prohibited by the laws, has been prevented from coming forward when he wished to appear at the tribunal, and has been condemned by the judge’s sentence while being far away? Yet in those cases, nothing of the sort has happened. For the laws command that the accuser and the accused stand nearby, face to face, before the judge, and that the judge await clear proofs, and only then either dismiss the accused as innocent or punish him as guilty. But with us, everything happened in the contrary manner. For royal letters forbade us to come to that most celebrated synod; while the most just judges condemned the absent, not rendering a balanced judgment, but rather greatly praising the writings which had been presented for our accusation. ^B And neither divine law nor human shame inhibited such violence. But the president—rejecting the truth and serving a power that was destined to endure only for a short time—gave the order; and men who held the same opinions as we did, and who shared our dogmas, and who had highly praised our positions, obeyed him. But that time exposed the betrayal of some and the cowardice of others. As for us, the things we suffered for the sake of the truth have provided us with an occasion for confidence. For Christ the Lord has granted to us not only that we should believe in Him, but also that we should suffer for Him ^C; for to suffer for the Lord is the greatest gift, ^D which the divine Apostle places even above great miracles.

In these things I too take glory, base and small as I am, and having no other cause for boasting, I entreat your magnificence that you may offer thanks in special words on behalf of my insignificance to the Christ-loving emperor and to the most pious and God-beloved Augusta, teacher of good things, because they have rewarded the munificent Lord with such gifts, and have established zeal for piety as the foundation and base of the empire. ^D In addition to this, I entreat you to beseech their God-beloved highness to put a fitting end to what has been well-instituted, and to convene a synod, not again of turbulent and

chaotic men, but one ^A separated from all these, consisting of those who judge divine matters and hold them in high esteem, and who prefer the truth above all human things together. If their Sovereignty desires to restore the ancient peace to the churches (and it certainly does desire this), beseech their piety to be present at the proceedings, so that they may inspire fear in those who choose the opposite by their presence, and so that the truth may have no adversary, but may itself, by its own nature, examine the essence of the matters and the character of the apostolic dogmas.

I seek these things from your magnificent lordship, not because I desire to see Cyrus again (for your highness knows the desolation of the little town, the ugliness of which we have hidden in some measure with the great expense of various buildings), but so that it may be demonstrated that the things preached by us accord with the apostolic dogmas, and that the inventions of our opponents are spurious and adulterated. For once this is accomplished (and may it be spoken with God’s help), we shall pass the remaining days of our life, wherever the Lord may bid us reside, with a cheerful heart. It is fitting for you, who have been reared in piety and possess the riches of virtue, to take up this zeal and, having the required readiness, to make the most pious emperor and the Christ-loving Augusta more ready through your exhortations, so that by their praiseworthy zeal they may strengthen their most renowned empire.

CXXXIX. — To Aspar, Consul and Patrician.

^C It was fitting that this, too, should be added to the other praiseworthy achievements of your fortitude: that our most pious and Christ-loving emperor, whom divine grace has appointed for the benefit of his subjects, should learn, through your magnificent lordship, of the magnitude of the injustice done against us, and by a just law rescind a law that is not just. For although we, relying upon Divine Providence, have turned the punishment thought to be intended for us into an opportunity for good, and have gladly embraced our tranquility, yet we have suffered things that are altogether unjust and lawless. None of the things for which the enemies of the truth slandered us were admitted, and yet we suffered things that those who have committed the greatest crimes are accustomed to suffer; nay, we have even endured things more grievous than these. For we were judged without a hearing, and condemned in our absence, and being forbidden by royal letters to reach Ephesus, ^D we received the decision of the most just holy judges. But the most serene emperor has rescinded all these things through the zeal of your magnificence. I, considering that I would do wrong if I were to keep silent and failed to offer thanks, have been moved to write these letters, by which I beseech your highness to offer words of favor on our behalf both to the victorious and Christ-loving emperor and to the God-beloved and most religious Augusta, for whom I pray the good God that they may possess the everlasting kingdom.

^A I invoke the Lord to preserve their empire firm, both that it may mercifully profit their subjects and strike terror into their enemies, and procure a peaceable existence for all. May your Magnificence also suffer yourself to be moved to ask this of them, that they may put a perfect end to the storm of the Church, and command a synod to be gathered—not again of those accustomed to create disturbances and trouble the council, but of those who are peaceably instructed in divine things, who may confirm the apostolic doctrines and reject those that are spurious and alien to the truth, that from this your Magnificence may also reap gain.

CXL. — To Vincomalus the Master.

I was greatly astonished, ^B when I learned that your Magnificence, while entirely ignorant of our circumstances and having learned only of the injustice done to us, has appeared as our advocate and moved every resource to overturn the engines devised against us. But for your Magnificence, the munificent Lord will surely render fitting rewards. For He who promised to give a reward for a little water will doubtless bestow greater recompense upon those who have given greater things. We, however, have suffered such things—not only from our most manifest enemies, but also, as we supposed, from our own true friends—assailed by the former and betrayed by the latter—such as no one, or very few of the ancients, have ever endured. For who has ever heard of such a judgment? Who has ordered judges to pass sentence upon an absent defendant whom they kept detained more than five and thirty stages away? And who has been so cruel and savage a judge ^C as to pass judgment upon men whose voice he had not heard, and not only to judge, but to condemn, and that too most cruelly and inhumanly? For whereas the Lord has commanded that he who sins against his brothers and does not accept counsel, after the first, and second, and third admonition, should thereafter be held as a heathen and a publican, these most upright and just judges have not even granted to their fellow-believers what they grant to heathens and publicans. For they do see them, and sometimes even converse with them, and with the greatest possible honor, if they should possess any appearance of dignity: but us, they ordered to be excluded from shelter, ^D and water, and all things. This, forsooth, is how they wished to become imitators of our Father who is in heaven, ‹who makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.› But I shall let these men be. For the judgment of the Lord is near, in which not the simulation of gestures, but the truth of facts is sought. I entreat your Magnificence, however, to render thanks in my name to the Christ-loving and victorious emperor, and to the most religious and God-beloved Augusta, for that by their pious rule they have given a firm root to piety, and to their

the potential that you might entreat them to grant a firm peace to the Churches, and command a synod to be assembled—not of those who create disturbances and confound the meeting, but of those who are lovers of the truth, who will establish the apostolic teaching and repudiate this new ^A and counterfeit heresy: so that you may also reap the fruits of these desirable labors from the benevolent Lord.

CXLI. To Marcellus, Archimandrite of the Acoemetae.

Your laudable life, showing on earth an image of the angelic way of life, truly makes your piety illustrious; but the zeal for the apostolic faith makes it yet more illustrious. For what the keel is to a ship, and the foundation to a building, that is the truth of the evangelical dogmas to those who choose to live piously. You have fought spiritedly for this when it was assailed, not as though you were protecting something weak, but as demonstrating a love for God. For the teaching of the Lord Christ is stable and firm, according to the promise of the Savior Himself, saying: ^B "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" [Matt. XVI, 18]. The benevolent and generous Lord deemed us worthy also to be disgraced and slaughtered for its sake. For we have considered disgrace to be honor, and slaughter to be life, as those who have heard the Apostle saying: "For it has been granted to us by God not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" [Phil. I, 29]. The Lord arose most quickly, as one sleeping, and stopped the mouths that were speaking blasphemy against God and injustice against us [cf. Ps. XCIII, 4], and He spurred on ^C the tongues of the pious to pour forth the streams onto their accustomed course. We, for our part, are reaping the desirable fruits of quiet and silence; and while we grieve to behold the storm of the Churches, we rejoice and are glad to be relieved of cares. We have always congratulated your piety, which is to be admired in all respects. Hitherto, however, we have not written—not that we slighted the laws of charity, but because we were awaiting an opportunity to write. But now, having met with the most religious and prudent monks who were sent by your holiness for other matters, we immediately did what we desired, and embracing your God-beloved person, ^D we ask, first, that you protect us with your prayers, and then that you also gladden us with letters. For through divine grace it is on behalf of the apostolic dogmas that we have been assailed.

CXLII. To the same.

We have already addressed your piety through other letters, having given the epistle to your most honorable brothers; and now again we address your holiness. For your admirable life urges us, and also

^A that praiseworthy zeal which you have shown for the apostolic faith, fearing neither royal power nor the agreement of the bishops. For even if most of those who had gathered together gave their consent under duress, yet by their signatures they strengthened the common heresy. But your devotion was shaken by none of these things; rather, you remained in the ancient dogmas, which the Lord taught the Churches to hold through the prophets and apostles. These definitions we too pray to keep, and to maintain our faith and confession in the one Father, and ^B the one Son, and the one Holy Spirit until the end. For the incarnation of the Only-Begotten did not increase the number of the Trinity, but the Trinity remained even after the incarnation what the Trinity was. For thus we learned from the beginning, thus we believed, thus we were baptized, thus we preached, thus we baptized, and thus we continue to worship. Concerning the father of those who speak falsehood, the Lord says: "When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own." And what was said about the Master is appropriate for the disciples. For they too, using false words against us, speak from their own, and do not speak our things. But the Lord consoles us, saying: "Blessed are you when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven." And we beseech your piety to pray that we may not be counted among those who commit injury, but among those who suffer injury for the truth of the Gospel. ^C

CXLIII.—To Andrew, monk of Constantinople.

Although I have never seen your piety, nor have I conversed with you by letter, I have nonetheless become a most ardent lover of it. This love for us was created, and is continually rekindled, by the things said with one voice by those who have tasted your honey. For everyone admires the correctness of your faith, the brightness of your life, the constancy of your soul, the harmony of your morals, the pleasant and alluring sweetness of your company, and all the other things which depict the perfect student of philosophy. On account of these things, I remain attached ^D to your devotion. And love has made me begin also to write letters. But, my dear head, share with me as quickly as possible that which is desired, and grant us the conversation of letters; for the habit of correspondence brings great comfort to those who are separated. You will write, moreover, not to a man of another opinion, but to one who is educated in the discipline of the apostles, and a preacher of a Trinity, not a Quaternity. For in truth I have judged both these to be equally impious: those who dare to force the two natures of the Only-Begotten into one, and those who attempt to divide our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the God-Word who became man, into two sons, if such persons indeed exist.

^A For I do not think so; but the partisans of Arius and Eunomius, and indeed also those of the Apollinarian faction, have always shamelessly woven this calumny against the Church. And it is easy for those who are diligent to perceive that our most renowned Fathers, the luminaries of the Churches, endured this same accusation from the enemies of the truth, which we at this time are undergoing from the excellent defenders of the new heresy. Their impiety, however, the all-wise Master has exposed, not allowing the nefarious heresy to be strengthened by long-suffering. Having therefore considered it settled, my lord, that you write to your fellow-believers (which is easy for you to know from our many writings), return the letters; for these, God willing, will be incentives to charity. But before writing, provide the help of your prayers, and entreat our good Lord to direct our feet to the straight path, that we may accomplish the remainder of our course according to His laws. For possessing the confidence that comes from a pure life, you will most easily persuade Him who is prepared to bestow benefits. ^B

CXLIV. — To the Soldiers.

One, indeed, is the nature of all men, but the choices of life are many and diverse. Some choose a nautical life, others a military one; to some, an athletic life is pleasing, to others a rustic one, and some practice this craft and others that. And, that I may pass over other differences, some men are diligent and exact regarding divine things, and are schooled in the precision of the apostolic dogmas; others are slaves to the belly, and deem the enjoyment of base pleasures to be prosperity; others still are intermediate between these, and neither pursue that praiseworthy diligence nor are addicted to an intemperate life, but cherish the simplicity of faith. I think, therefore, that those who have found fault with that saying which declares that there are certain things altogether impossible for God are not among the number of the diligent and those learned in divine things, but rather among those who do not know the precision of the apostolic dogmas, or those who, having been taken captive by pleasures, change with the times, and now profess these things, now others. But since you asked me to write about these matters, although I had decided to remain silent for the present, I am compelled to say a few words, obeying the Master's command: "Give to everyone who asks you." (Luke vi, 30.) ^C

We, therefore, say that the God of the universe can do all things, but that with the word "all," only what is honorable and good is included. For He who is by nature wise and good admits nothing of the contrary, but only what is appropriate to His nature. But if any should contradict this reasoning, ask them if the God of the universe, who is the lawgiver of truth, can lie. And if they should say that it is possible for God to lie, cast them out of your assembly as impious and blasphemous. But if they themselves also agree that this is not possible for the God of the universe, ^D

one must ask again whether it is possible for the abyss of wisdom to become unwise, and for God not to be God, and for the Lord likewise not to be Lord, and for the Creator not to be Creator, and for the Good not to be good, but evil, and for the true light not to be light, but its opposite. ^A If they concede that all these things, and those similar to them, are impossible for the God of the universe, then one must say to them: "Therefore, there are many things impossible for God; but these impossibilities do not argue for weakness, but demonstrate the greatest power." For we do not, when we say concerning our soul that it is impossible for it to die, declare its weakness, but we proclaim the power of its immortality. ^B Thus, therefore, acknowledging that God is immutable, impassible, and immortal, we cannot attribute either change, or passion, or death to that nature. But if they say, "God can do whatever He wills," one must say to them that He does not will to do anything that is not in accord with His nature. Now, His nature is good, therefore He does not will any evil; His nature is just, therefore He does not will anything unjust; His nature is true, therefore He rejects a lie; His nature is immutable, therefore He does not admit of change; and if He does not admit of change, He always remains in the same way and in the same state. For this is what He Himself says through the Prophet: "I am, I am, and I am not changed." And the blessed David: "But You are the same, and Your years will not fail." If He is the same, He has not received change. And if He is greater than change and alteration, He has not become mortal from immortal, nor passible from impassible. For if it were possible for this to happen, He would not have assumed our nature. ^C But since He possesses an immortal nature, He took a body capable of suffering, and with the body a human soul. And having kept both of these unstained by the spots of sin, He gave His soul for the souls that had sinned, and His body for the bodies that had died. And because the body taken by the only-begotten Son of God was called the body of God, He transfers the passion of the body to Himself. ^D But that the divine nature was not nailed to the cross, but the body, the four evangelists are witnesses. For all unanimously teach this: how Joseph of Arimathea approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; and that he himself took down the body of Jesus from the wood, and having covered it in a linen shroud, placed the body of Jesus in his own new tomb; and how the women around Mary Magdalene came to the tomb seeking the body of Jesus, and not finding the body of Jesus, ran to His disciples and reported these things. These things the four evangelists unanimously proclaim. But if those who contradict object that the angel said: "Come, see the place where the Lord was lying," let the ignorant ones learn that even concerning the beauti-

- ^A ful Stephen, the divine Scripture says: "And religious men buried Stephen" (Acts VIII, 2). Although only the body was deemed worthy of burial, and the soul was not buried with the body, nevertheless the body alone obtained the common name. In the same way, the blessed Jacob said to his sons: "Bury me with my fathers" (Gen. XLIX, 29); and he did not say, "Bury my body." And he added: "There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; and there they buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife; and there they buried Lia" (Gen. XLIX, 31); and he did not say, "Their bodies." And yet, the names are common to bodies and souls, but he called only the bodies by these common names. Thus, we also very often name the shrines of the holy apostles, and prophets, and martyrs, saying, "This one is Dionysius's, perhaps, and that one Julian's or Cosmas's," although we know that only small relics of their bodies lie in these, while their souls repose in more divine places. This custom is also to be found in common usage. For we say, "So-and-so has died," and, "So-and-so lies in this place," and this, although we know that the soul is immortal, and does not share in the tomb with the body. Thus also the angel said: "Come, see the place where the Lord was lying" (Matt. XXVIII, 6)—not enclosing the divinity in the tomb, but calling the body of the Lord by the name of the Lord.

^B That these things seem so to the holy Fathers as well, let them listen to Athanasius, the most praiseworthy archbishop of Alexandria, who also adorned the episcopate with his confession, crying out: "Life cannot die, but rather it even brings the dead to life." Let them also listen to the much-heralded Damasus, bishop of Rome, crying out: "If anyone should say that the divinity endured pain on the cross, and not the body with the soul—the form of a servant which he took up in its perfection—let him be anathema." Let them listen also to the most holy and most religious bishop of the Romans, the lord Leo, now writing: "That the Son of God suffered as he was able to suffer, not according to the nature which took up, but according to that which was taken up. For the impassible nature took up ^C a passible body, and handed it over for us, so that it might work our salvation, and preserved its own nature unharmed." And again: "For he did not come that he might lose his own nature, but that he might save ours." If, therefore, they accuse us for having said that God can do everything that he wills, but that he wills what is fitting to his nature, and what is not fitting he neither wills nor can do, let them also accuse these holy ones, and all the others who uphold the same things. Let them accuse also the Apostle crying out: "That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie" (Heb. VI, 18). And again: "If we believe not, he continueth faithful, he cannot deny himself" (II Tim. II, 13). ^D

^A Read these things to those who contradict; and if they should be persuaded, praise the good Lord, because through your diligence He has bestowed the benefit upon them as well. But if they persist in their unbelief, do not enter into any discussion with them concerning dogmas. For the divine Apostle forbids "striving about words to no profit, to the subversion of the hearers" (II Tim. II, 14). But do you keep the evangelical doctrine inviolate, so that on the day of His appearing, having rendered the deposit with the corresponding profit to the just Judge, you may hear the most desirable voice: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many; enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matth. XXV, 21).

CXLV. To the monks in Constantinople.

^B Those who have armed their tongues against God and our Savior do nothing new or surprising when they pierce His benevolent servants with lies. For it is necessary that those servants who grieve intensely for the Lord's sake should partake of the Lord's own reproach. And the Lord Himself predicted this, comforting His holy disciples with these words: "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" (John XV, 20; Matth. X, 25). Then He encouraged them, showing how easily calumny is detected; for He added: "Fear them not therefore; for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known" (Matth. X, 26). ^C And we have seen the truth of this divine prediction clearly, not only at other times, but especially now. For those who wove calumny against us, and who bought our slaughter with vast sums of money, have been clearly recognized as infected with the plague of Valentinus and Bardesanes. Yet they hoped that their impiety could be hidden if they sharpened their tongues against us on the whetstone of lies. Because we, seeing the heresy long suppressed being renewed by them, never cease to cry out, protesting both privately and publicly, both in the salutation houses and in the sacred temples, and exposing the snares laid against the faith, they heaped abuse upon us, as if we were preaching two sons. Yet they ought to have refuted us in person, and not maligned us ^D while we were absent. But they have done the opposite. For having enclosed us with royal letters at Cyrus, they compelled the judges to pass sentence without a hearing, and they pronounced a most "righteous" verdict against one who was thirty-five stations away. Never did any person accused of sorcery, never any grave-robber, murderer, or adulterer undergo such a thing. But I will pass over the judges for the present. "For the Lord is near, who judges the world in righteousness, and the people in equity" (Ps. XCV, 13), and who demands an account not only of words and deeds, but also of wicked thoughts. But I think it is right to refute the calumny that has been concocted. What proof do they have that we say two

^A sons? If we were among the silent, perhaps suspicion would have had a place. But since our labor has been to contend for the apostolic dogmas, and to offer the pasture of doctrine to the Lord’s flocks, and furthermore, since we have written five and thirty books, both expounding the divine Scripture and refuting the falsehood of the heresies, the false speech composed by these men is easily refuted. For many myriads of hearers testify to us that we have upheld the truth of the evangelical dogmas. The written works, too, are available for those who wish to examine them. For we have not ceased to contend, not for two sons, but for the only-begotten Son of God: against the Greeks, against the Jews, against those who have contracted the disease of Arius and Eunomius, against those who embrace the madness of Apollinarius, and indeed against those who are held fast by the contagion of Marcion. ^B We persuade the Greeks that He is the Creator of all things, the co-eternal Son of the ever-existing God; the Jews, that the prophecies of the prophets were made concerning Him; the heirs of Arius and Eunomius, that He is of the same substance, same honor, and same power as the Father; and those who have shared in the frenzy of Marcion, that He is not only good but also just, and that He is the Savior not of foreign works, as their fable has it, but of His own. And, to say it in a word, contending against every heresy, we exhort men to worship one Son.

And what need is there to be long-winded, when one can refute the falsehood in a few words? For those who approach ^C the most holy baptism every year, we bid them learn the faith set forth at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers; and initiating them as we were commanded, we baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, pronouncing each name singularly. Moreover, in performing the divine liturgies in the churches, both at the beginning and the ending of the day, and even dividing the day itself into three parts, we glorify the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But if, according to their calumny, we preach two sons, whom do we glorify, and whom do we leave without adoration? For it is the height of madness to believe that there are two sons, and yet to offer the doxology to only one. And who is so stupefied that, hearing the divine Paul crying out, ^D "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephes. IV, 5), and again, "One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things" (I Cor. VIII, 6), he would counteract the teaching of the Spirit and divide the One in two? But I am being long-winded in vain. For not even they themselves, although accustomed to lying, dare to say they have ever heard such things from our own mouths; but because we confess the two natures of the Lord Christ, they say we preach two sons. And they do not wish to observe that every human being comprises both a soul and a mortal body; and no...

one to this day has been found who calls Paul two Pauls because he has a soul and a body, or Peter two Peters, or Abraham, or Adam. But all know the distinction between the natures, yet they do not call the one man two Pauls. ^A Thus, therefore, when we call our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, the God-Word who became man, both Son of God and Son of man, just as we have been taught by the divine Scripture, we do not at all say there are two sons, but we confess the properties of the divinity and the humanity. But these men, denying the nature assumed from us, are vexed when they hear these things from us.

We must, however, point out from where they have drawn this impiety. For Simon, and Menander, Cerdon and Marcion, deny the incarnation entirely, and call the birth from the Virgin a fable. But Valentinus, and Basilides, and Bardesanes, and Harmonius, and those of their faction, admit the conception and the birth of the Virgin; but they say that the God-Word assumed nothing from the Virgin, but simply passed through her as if through a certain channel, and appeared to men, using a phantom and appearing to be a man, in the same manner as he was seen by Abraham and certain others of the ancients. ^B But Arius and Eunomius said that he did indeed assume a body, but that the divinity took the place of the soul, so that they might attribute to that [the divinity] all the humble words and deeds. Apollinarius, indeed, said that he assumed a soul together with a body, but not the rational one, but rather the animal, or what is called the vegetative soul: for the divinity, he says, fulfilled the need of the mind. He learned the distinction between soul and mind from the philosophers of the world, whereas the divine Scripture teaches that ^C man consists of soul and body. "For God," it says, "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." And the Lord said to the apostles in the holy Gospels: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul."

The dogmas of the heretics, therefore, have such great conflict and dissension among themselves. But these men, contending to surpass even Apollinarius, and indeed Arius and Eunomius, in impiety, have now attempted to bring forward the heresy long ago sown by Valentinus and Bardesanes, afterwards rooted out by the most excellent farmers. For in similar fashion to them, they denied that the Lord’s body was assumed from our nature. But the Church, following the apostolic footprints, considers both perfect divinity and perfect humanity in Christ the Lord. ^D And just as the heart...

^A of the body, so He took a soul that governs the body, so that every soul through it might partake of immutability. For even though souls are immortal, they are not immutable. They undergo many and rapid changes, now being pleased by these things, now by others. It is on account of this that we also sin, turning aside and welcoming the inclination toward things that are worse. After the resurrection, however, the bodies indeed enjoy immortality and incorruption, while the souls obtain impassibility and immutability. For this reason, the only-begotten Son of God ^B both took a body and a soul, kept these free from every stain, and offered them as a sacrifice for the whole race. For this very reason He also was called our high priest; and He is called high priest not as God, but as man. And He Himself offers as man, but He receives the sacrifice with the Father and the Holy Spirit as God. For if the body of Adam alone had sinned, it alone would have needed to attain the cure. But since the soul not only sinned along with it, but even sinned first (for the thought ^C designs the sin first, and then it is performed through the body), it was surely just that it, too, should receive the cure. But perhaps it is superfluous to prove this by reasoning, since divine Scripture openly proclaims it. For both the divine David and the most divine Peter teach this explicitly—the former prophesying from afar, and the latter interpreting the prophecy. The prince of the apostles says thus: "Being a prophet, David, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins he would raise up the Christ according to the flesh, to sit upon his throne, foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection ^D of Christ: for neither was his soul left in hell, nor did his flesh see corruption."

In these few words He taught us many things at the same time. First, that the nature assumed draws its lineage from the loins of David; next, that He assumed not only a body, but also an immortal soul; and furthermore, that He delivered these to death, and having taken them again, He raised them up as He willed. For His own is the voice: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." We have learned that the divine nature is immortal. For He suffered that which was passible, and the impassible remained impassible. For God the Word became man, not in order to make the impassible nature passible, but in order to bestow impassibility upon the passible nature. And the Lord Himself says in the holy Gospels now: "I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of myself, that I may take it again"; and now: "For this reason the Father

^A loves me, because I lay down my life for the sheep." And again: "Now my soul is troubled." And again: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death." And concerning the body, he says: "And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." And delivering the divine mysteries, and having broken and distributed the symbol, he added: "This is my body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins." And again: "This is my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." And again: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you." And: "He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life in himself." And it is possible to find infinite other examples of this kind, both in the Old and New Testaments, demonstrating the assumption of soul and body, and how this lineage draws its origin from Abraham and David. Joseph of Arimathea also, coming to Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus; and the quaternity of the holy Gospels teaches us openly how he received the body, and how he wrapped it in a linen cloth, and how he delivered it to the tomb.

I weep and lament, ^B that the arguments which I formerly brought forward against those corrupted by the contagion of Marcion (and whom, by the grace of God, I persuaded and brought to holy baptism, in number more than ten thousand), I am now compelled to bring forward against those who are considered of the same faith, among whom this heresy has sprung up. For has there ever been any doubt concerning these matters among the children of the Church? ^C Or which of the holy Fathers has not handed down this teaching? For the works of the great Basil are full of it, as are those of his fellow-warriors Gregory and Amphilochius, and those who in the West shone forth in the doctrine of grace: Damasus of great Rome, and Ambrose of Milan, and Cyprian of Carthage, who even received the crown of martyrdom for these doctrines. That most celebrated Athanasius was five times driven from his flock, and compelled to live in exile. And Alexander, his teacher, struggled for the same doctrines. Eustathius and Meletius and Flavian, the luminaries of the East, and Ephraim, the lyre of the Spirit, who daily irrigates the Syrian nation with the waters of grace, and John and Atticus, the loud-voiced heralds of the truth; and those ^D more ancient than these, Ignatius and Polycarp, and Irenaeus, and Justin, and Hippolytus, most of whom shine not only among the pontiffs, but also adorn the choir of the martyrs. And indeed, he who now guides great Rome, and spreads the rays of the orthodox doctrines from the West in every direction, the most holy Leo, has explained to us this rule of faith in his own writings. All of these have openly taught that the only-begotten Son of God is one, Son and God, begotten ineffably from the Father before the ages; and that after the incarnation, also, the Son

was named Son of Man and man, not by being changed into this (for He possesses an immutable nature) but by assuming what is ours; and that He was both impassible and immortal as God, but mortal and passible as man; yet after the resurrection, He received impassibility and immortality also in accordance with His human state. For although His body remained a body, it is nonetheless impassible and immortal, and a body truly divine, and one glorified with divine glory; and the blessed Paul has clearly taught us this. "For our conversation," he says, "is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change the body of our lowliness, that it may be made conformable to the body of His glory" (Phil. iii, 20, 21). And he did not say, "to His glory," but "to the body of His glory." And the Lord Himself, when He had said to the apostles, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in the glory of His Father" (Matth. xvi, 28), ^B took them after six days into an high mountain, and was transfigured before them; and His face shone as the sun, and His garments were as white as the light. By these things He revealed the manner of His second coming. And although the nature that was assumed is not uncircumscribed (for this is the property of the Divinity alone), nevertheless it will emit the splendours of divine glory and will flash forth rays of light, dazzling the gaze of eyes. With this glory He ascended: thus the angels said He would come. For their voice is: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts i, 11). And having appeared again to the divine apostles after the resurrection, He showed them His hands and feet, and to Thomas, also, His side, and the marks of the nails and of the spear. For because of those who flatly deny the assumption of the flesh, and likewise the others who say that after the resurrection the nature of the body was changed into the nature of the Divinity, He kept the marks of the nails and of the spear intact. And while He raises other bodies free from every blemish, in His own body He left the signs of His sufferings, that He might convict those who deny the assumption of the body ^C to be in error by means of those wounds, and might teach those who think the body was changed into another nature that it remained in the characteristics of its own form by means of the marks of the nails. But if anyone thinks that it can be proven that the Lord's body did not remain a body after the resurrection because He entered to the disciples with the doors shut, let him remember how He walked upon the sea while still possessing a mortal body; how, likewise, He was born while keeping the seals of virginity intact; and how, in the same way, He often escaped the hands of those who were lying in wait for Him. And why do I speak of the Lord, who was not only man, but also God before the ages, to whom it was easy to accomplish all things that He willed? Let them say by what means Habakkuk passed from Judea into Babylon in a moment of time, and penetrated a covered pit, and brought food to Daniel, and...

^A again returned without having broken the seals of the pit. But it is manifest madness to investigate the modes of the Lord’s miracles. It behooves one to know, in addition to what has been said, that after the resurrection our own bodies shall be incorruptible and immortal, and, being set free from earthly weight, shall become light and ethereal. And the divine Paul has taught us this clearly and plainly: “It is sown,” he says, “in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body.” And in another place: “We shall be caught up in the clouds into the air, to meet the Lord.” If then the bodies of the saints become light and ethereal, and pass through the air with ease, it is not to be wondered at if the Lord’s body, which is united to the divinity of the Only-Begotten, having become immortal after the resurrection, entered when the doors were shut.

Furthermore, it is easy to produce countless other prophetic and apostolic testimonies; but what has been said is sufficient to demonstrate the aim of our teaching. For we believe in one Father, in one Son, in one Holy Spirit; and we confess one divinity, one lordship, one essence, three hypostases. For the incarnation of the Only-Begotten has not increased the number of the Trinity, nor made the Trinity a quaternity, but the Trinity has remained the Trinity even after the incarnation. And believing that the Only-Begotten Son of God was made man, we do not deny the nature which He assumed, but we confess, as I have said, both that which assumed and that which was assumed. For the union did not confound what belonged to the natures. For if the air, receiving the light through and through, does not cease to be air, nor again does it corrupt the nature of the light, but we behold the light with our eyes and perceive the air by touch—for it approaches us either cold, or hot, or moist, or dry—it is the height of folly to call the union of the divinity and the humanity a confusion. For if natures that are fellow-servants and coeval and created, when united and, as it were, intermingled, remain entire, and when the light departs, the nature of the air remains by itself, how much more fitting is it to confess that the Nature which created all things, having been joined and united to the nature which He took from us, has remained itself pure, and has likewise preserved that which it assumed untainted? For gold, when brought into contact with fire, partakes of the fire’s color and power of acting, yet it does not lose its own nature, but remains one, both gold and acting like fire. So too the Lord’s body is indeed a body, but it is impassible, incorruptible, and immortal, and Lordly, and divine, and by the divine

^A nature, and divine glory glorified. For it is not separated from the divinity, nor does it belong to any other, but to the Only-Begotten Son of God himself. For he does not show us another person, but the Only-Begotten himself, clothed in our nature.

We continue to preach this doctrine. But those who deny the dispensation which has taken place for us have called us heretics, doing something similar to unchaste women. For they, while having their form for sale, harass chaste women with harlot-like reproaches, and impose the names of their own wantonness upon those who loathe that wantonness. This is what the Egyptian woman also did. For having embraced the slavery of foul desire, and having brought slavish flattery to the chaste man, then, when she had not ensnared him nor caught him in the traps of pleasure, she called the lover of continence a thief of another’s bed. But these men shall give an account to God both for the machines they have devised against the faith, and for the plots they have woven against us. But I exhort those who have been led astray by the falsehoods that have been spread, to keep one of their ears ^B for the accused, and not to yield both to the accusers. For thus they will fulfill the divine law, which explicitly cries aloud: "Thou shalt not receive a vain report," and: "Judge a righteous judgment between a man and his neighbor." For by these the divine law mandates not to believe slanders against the absent, but to judge the accused when they are present.

CXLVI. — To John the Oeconomus.

To me, quiet is agreeable, and a life free from cares. For this reason, I ^C have even walled up the courtyard gate of the monastery, and I avoid the meetings of acquaintances. But since I have learned that an innovation is being stirred up against the evangelical faith, I do not consider silence to be free from danger. For if peril hangs over those who, when a mortal king has been insulted by some, not only do not defend against those who did the insulting, but even against those who were present and did not in the least repel the perpetrators of the outrage—what punishment would those not justly undergo who do not hesitate to overlook the blasphemies dared against God and our Savior? ^D This fear has compelled me at the present time to write and to point out what I have learned is being innovated by some.

For many, as some say, are reporting in the city that when certain presbyters were praying, and adding the customary ending to the prayer, and when some were saying, "For to you is due glory, and to your Christ, and to your Holy Spirit," and others, "By the grace and loving-kindness of your Christ, with whom to you is due glory with your Holy Spirit," the most wise archdeacon intervened, saying that one ought not to say "Christ," but should glorify "the Only-Begotten." And if this is true, there is no

^A limit to his impiety. For he either divides our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons, and while he considers the Only-Begotten to be the legitimate and natural Son, he considers Christ to be adoptive and illegitimate, and therefore unworthy of glorification; or he attempts to stabilize the heresy that has now crept in. And if a severe storm were hanging over us, one might suspect that he, intimidated by the power of those who authored the heresy, was indulging in blasphemy for the sake of the times. But since He who is being blasphemed rebuked the winds and the sea, and gave tranquility to the tossed Churches, and the preaching of the apostles is being proclaimed everywhere on land and sea, what place does blasphemy have? For not even those who now perversely ^B insert the "one nature" of flesh and divinity into ecclesiastical dogmas forbid the Lord Christ to be praised; and it is easy to learn this very thing from those who have returned from there. But he who presided over the ecclesiastical order ought to have known the divine Scripture, and to have learned from it that just as the heralds of the truth join the Only-Begotten Son with the Father, so too, when they use the name of Christ in place of the name of the Son, they count Him now with the Father, and now with the All-Holy Spirit; since, without a doubt, Christ is none other than the Only-Begotten Son of God. And it is possible to hear the most divine Paul, while writing to the Corinthians ^C but teaching the whole world, saying: "one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things" (I Cor. VIII, 6), calling the same one both Christ and Jesus and Lord and Creator of all. And writing to the Thessalonians, he said: "Now may God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you" (I Thess. III, 11). And in the second Epistle to them, he even placed Christ before the Father, not overturning the order, but teaching that the order of the names does not teach a difference of dignities and natures. He says as follows: "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope in grace, comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word" (II Thess. II, 15). And toward the end of the Epistle to the ^D Romans, after having admonished them about certain things, he added: "I beseech you therefore, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit" (Rom. xv, 30). But if he had known Christ to be someone other than the Son, he certainly would not have placed Him before the All-Holy Spirit. And writing to the Corinthians, in the very proemium, he placed the name of Christ alone, inasmuch as it was sufficient and alone enough to move the faithful: "Now I beseech you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing" (I Cor. I, 10). And having written to them twice, he included this as the end in the letters: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spi-

Spirit be with all of you." ^A And he has placed here not only of the Spirit, but also of the Father himself, the appellation of Christ. This, moreover, in all the Churches is the beginning of the mystical liturgy. It is fitting therefore, according to this admirable law, to set forth from the mystical letters the most worshipful name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. But it is superfluous to speak at length about this. For the divine Apostle brightens the beginning of each Epistle with this name, now saying: "Paul, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle"; now indeed: "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ"; and again: "Paul, a bond-servant of God, but an apostle of Jesus Christ." And connecting the blessing to the preface, he draws it from this very fountain, and joins the appellation of the Son with God and the Father, saying: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." And he adorns the ends of the Epistles also with this blessing: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen."

And one may find many other testimonies also, by which it is easy to learn that our Lord Jesus Christ is no other person than the one who completes the Trinity as Son. ^B For the same one, before the ages, was the only-begotten Son and God the Word; but after the incarnation, he was named both Jesus and Christ, having received these names from the facts themselves. For Jesus is interpreted as Savior. "For you shall call his name Jesus, because he himself will save his people from their sins." And he is called Christ, as one who, according to his humanity, was anointed by the all-holy Spirit, and who became our high priest, and apostle, and prophet, and king. For the divinely inspired Moses cries out from afar: "The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet from among your brethren, like me." And the divine David cries out, saying: "The Lord swore and will not repent: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." The divine Apostle also confirms the prophecy, saying again: ^C "Having therefore a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession." That he is also King before the ages as God, the prophetic melody again teaches us: "For thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." But he shows us also his human power. For since he has the lordship of all things as God and Creator, he receives this as man. For which cause he added: "You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." And in the second psalm, the one anointed himself says thus: "But I have been established as King by him over Zion his holy mountain, proclaiming the commandment

of the Lord. The Lord said to me: You are my Son, this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession." ^A And he said these things as a man. For as a man he receives those things which he possesses as God. And in the very prologue of the psalm, prophetic grace joins him with God and the Father. "For why," he says, "have the nations raged, and the peoples meditated vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ."

Let no one, therefore, foolishly think that Christ is anyone other than the only-begotten Son; nor let us imagine ourselves to be wiser than the grace of the Spirit, but let us hear the great Peter crying out: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And let us hear Christ the Lord confirming this confession. "For upon this rock," he says, "I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." ^B For this reason, the most wise Paul, the excellent architect of the churches, fixed not another, but this very foundation. For, he says, "as a wise architect I have laid the foundation, and another builds upon it. But let everyone see how he builds upon it. For no one can lay another foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." How then do they devise another foundation, those who were bidden not to lay a foundation, but to build upon the foundation that is laid? But that divine man recognized Christ as the foundation, and is glorified by this very name. And now indeed he says: "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me." ^C And now: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." And again: "For I judged not myself to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." And a little before these: "But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness: but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." And indeed writing to the Galatians he said: "But when it pleased him, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles." But writing to the Corinthians he did not say: We preach the Son, but Christ crucified: not doing contrary to what he was commanded, but knowing that it is the same Jesus, and Christ, and Lord, and Only-begotten, and God the Word. ^D For this reason, also beginning to write to the Romans, he called himself a servant of Jesus Christ, and said: "separated unto the Gospel of God, which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was ordained Son of God in power," and the rest. And the

is from the seed of David according to the flesh: who was predestined to be the Son of God with power, and what follows. ^A And he called the same both Jesus Christ, and the Son of David, and the Son of God, as God and Lord of all. And indeed, in the middle of the Epistle, when he had made mention of the Jews, he added: "Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen." And he says that the same person draws his lineage from the Jews according to the flesh, but that he is eternal God, and the Lord of all created things at once, being celebrated by those of upright mind. He offered us this same teaching also through what he wrote to the ^B admirable Titus: "Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." And he named the same person both Saviour, and great God, and Jesus Christ. And in another place: "In the kingdom of Christ and of God." Moreover, the choir of angels also said to the shepherds: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

But it is superfluous to write all such testimonies to men who meditate in the law of the Lord day and night; and these suffice to persuade even the most stubborn not to divide the divine appellations. Yet I shall not suffer this to be passed over. For they say that he stated that there are indeed many christs, but one Son. I consider that he erred in this out of ignorance. For if he had read ^C the divine Scripture, he would certainly have known that the name of Son was also bestowed by the bountiful Lord upon many. For Moses the lawgiver, who wrote the ancient history, says: "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." And God, the Lord of all, said to this same prophet: "Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Israel is my son, even my firstborn." And in the great Song he says: "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people, and let all the sons of God be strengthened in him." And through Isaiah the prophet he says: "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." And through the thrice-blessed David: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." But the all-wise Paul wrote to the Romans in this manner: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs ^D with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." And writing to the Galatians he said thus: "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Fa-

- ^A ther. So that thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Jesus Christ." He taught these same things also to the Ephesians: "In love," he says, "having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself." If, therefore, because the name of Christ is common, it is not fitting to glorify Christ as God, neither shall we worship Him as the Son, for many have shared in this name as well. And what do I say of the Son? For many received the very name of God, given by God. "The Lord, even the God of gods, hath spoken, and called the earth." And: "I have said, Ye are gods." And: "Thou shalt not revile the gods." And many also have usurped this title for themselves. For the demons who deceived men bestowed this title upon their idols. For which cause Jeremiah cries: "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens." And again: "They have made themselves gods, silver and gods, gold." And Isaiah, having mocked the manufacture of idols, and saying that "he hath burned the half thereof in the fire, and when he hath roasted flesh, he ate, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire," then added: "And the residue thereof he hath made a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, saying, Deliver me; for thou art my god." For which cause, lamenting them, he says: "Know that their heart is ashes." And the poet of the hymns, David, taught us to sing: "For all the gods of the nations are demons: but the Lord made the heavens."

^B But the equivocality of names does not harm those who know how to cultivate piety. For we know that the demons falsely gave the divine appellation to themselves and to their idols, but the saints received this honor by grace; yet truly and by nature the God of all is the God, and His only-begotten Son, and the all-holy Spirit. And the most praised Paul clearly taught us this. For his words are these: "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." And the Spirit of God is indeed called Spirit, but so is the soul of man also. "For his spirit," he says, "shall go forth." And: "Bless the Lord, ye spirits and souls of the righteous." And the composer of the hymns, David, also called the angels spirits: "Who makest his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire." And why do I speak of the angels and the souls of men? For the Master so named the demons also: "He will take," he says, "seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they shall enter into him: and the last state of that man shall be worse than the ^D first." But this equivocality does not harm the pious. For there is one God by nature, the Father,

^A and his only-begotten Son, and his all-holy Spirit. And there is one Son by nature, the only-begotten of God, the God Word who became man, our Lord Jesus Christ; and one Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who fills the number of the Trinity. Thus, while many are called fathers, we worship one Father, the Father before the ages, who also gave this title to men, according to the voice of the Apostle: "I bow," he says, "my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every paternity in heaven and on earth is named."

Therefore, let us not, because others are named Christs, deprive ourselves of the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. For just as, though many ^B gods and fathers are named, there is one God who is over all, and a Father before the ages; and though many are called sons, there is one true and natural Son; and though many spirits are spoken of, there is one all-holy Spirit; so also, though many have been called Christs, there is one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things. Most rightly, therefore, the Church is attached to this name. For she heard Paul, the bridegroom's friend, crying out: "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." And again: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church." And again, having said: "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh," he ^C added: "This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church." Hear Him saying: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." And elsewhere: "Know you not that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death?" And elsewhere: "As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ." And again: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences."

Having learned these things and things like these, those who have obtained divine gifts, out of love for the munificent Master, carry His most desirable title upon their lips, and cry out those words from the Song of Songs: ^D "My beloved to me, and I to him: I sat down under his shadow, and I desired, and his fruit was sweet to my palate." In addition to this, the lovely name which we bear we have received from the title of Christ. For we are called Christians. Concerning this name, the God of the universe prophesied, saying: "To those who serve me a new name shall be called, which shall be blessed upon the earth." For this reason the Church is attached to this title above all others. For when the only-begotten Son of God became man, then He was called Christ; then the nature of man received the rays of intellectual light; then the heralds of the truth illuminated the world. The Church

s teachers, however, have always used the designations of the Only-Begotten indiscriminately. For at times they glorify the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; at other times, the Father with Christ and the Holy Spirit. Yet this carries no difference in meaning. Therefore, when the Lord ordered them to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, ^A the thrice-blessed Peter, being asked by those who had received the preaching what they ought to do, said: "Believe, and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," as if this name contained the whole power of the divine command. And the great Basil, the light of Cappadocia, or rather of the whole world, clearly taught us this. For he says: "The appellation of Christ is a confession of the whole." For it indicates the Father who anointed, the Son who was anointed, and the Holy Spirit with whom He was anointed. And the thrice-blessed Fathers, who met at Nicaea, when they had said that one must believe in one God the Father, added: "And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God," teaching that the Lord Christ Himself is the only-begotten Son of God. "And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God," Christ Himself is the only-begotten Son of God.

^B But it must also be added to what has been said, that one should not say that after the ascension the Lord Christ is no longer Christ, but only the only-begotten Son. For after the ascension, the divine Gospels were written, as well as the history of the Acts, and the Epistles of the Apostle himself. After the ascension, the divine Paul cries out: "Having a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ our Lord, let us hold fast our confession." And again: "For Christ did not enter into holy places made by hands, which are copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." And again, ^C having said something about hope in God, he added: "Which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, Jesus, having become high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." And writing to blessed Titus about the second coming, he said this: "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." And he wrote similar things to the Thessalonians: "For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." And again: "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, to ^D

^A establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." And again, having written to the same people, he set down these words: "Now we ask you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him." And after a few words, prophesying the destruction of the Antichrist, he added: "Whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming." And exhorting the Romans to harmony, he also added these words: "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.'" And the Lord Himself, foretelling His second coming, among many other things said this: ^B "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!', do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and appears to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." And after the immortality and incorruptibility of the body, He called Himself the Son of Man, naming Himself from the nature that is perceived by the eyes. For this will appear even then; for the divine nature is invisible even to the angels. "For no one has seen God at any time," according to the voice of the Lord Himself, and He said to the great Moses: "No one shall see My face and live." For the statement, "We have known no one according to the flesh, and even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him no longer," was not spoken by the divine Apostle to negate the nature that was assumed, but to confirm the incorruptibility, immortality, and spiritual life that is to ^C come for us. Wherefore he added: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." He spoke of things future as if they had already occurred, for we have not yet attained immortality, but we will attain it; and when we have attained it, we shall not become bodiless, but we shall put on immortality. "For we do not wish," says the divine Apostle, "to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." And again: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Thus, therefore, he did not say the Lord is bodiless, but taught us to believe that the nature which is seen is also incorruptible, immortal, and glorified with ^D divine glory. For he explained this to us more clearly in the Epistle to the Philippians: "For our citizenship," he said, "is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body." By these words, he clearly taught that the Lord’s body is indeed a body, yet it is a divine body, and one glorified with divine

^A glory. Let us not, therefore, shun the invocation through which we have enjoyed salvation, through which all things were renewed, as the teacher himself said when writing to the Ephesians: "According to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself in the administration of the fullness of the times, to gather together [recapitulate] all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, in Him." Let us learn, moreover, from this blessed tongue how we ought also to glorify the Benefactor, by joining the name of Christ to God and ^B the Father. For when writing to the Romans, he says thus: "My Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the prophetic Scriptures, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, to God only wise, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen." And when writing to the Ephesians, he gave praise in this way: "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." And a little before this, he said thus: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." And after many things, "We give thanks," he says, "always for you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and the Father." And indeed, he also recompensed the generosity of the Philippians with blessings: "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." And to the Hebrews he prayed thus: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." ^C And not only when he is glorifying, but also when he is exhorting and testifying, he joins Christ with God and the Father. And writing to the blessed Timothy, he cries out: "I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ." And again: "I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." ^D We have learned these things from the divine apostles; this doctrine both John and Matthew, the greatest rivers of the evangelical proclamations, have brought to us: the one saying, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;" the other, those things which were before the ages.

^A “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; and that all things were made through Him” (Jn. 1, 1-3).

Epistle CXLVII

To John, Bishop of Germanicia

I replied to the former letters of your Holiness as soon as I received them. Regarding the present state of affairs, one is permitted to hope for nothing good; I believe these to be the beginnings of an absolute defection. For when those who lament what was done by force, as they say, at Ephesus, do not change their minds, but remain in those things which they perpetrated against the laws—and build up injustice and impiety at the same time—and when others neither offer counsel to abjure what has been done, nor avoid the communion of those who persist in these wrongdoings, what good is permitted one to hope for? For if they praised what was done, as if it had been carried out well and rightly, they would justly persist in the things they themselves praised. But if they lament, as they say, and claim they acted out of necessity and force, why do they not renounce what they did against the laws, but instead prefer the present, though it be of very short duration, to the future? And why, moreover, do they lie openly and say that no innovation has been made regarding the doctrine? On account of what murders and sorceries was I expelled? Who committed adulteries here? Which man dug up graves? ^B It is evident even to the barbarians that they cast out both me and others for the sake of doctrines. For the best of men even deposed the lord Domnus because he did not accept the Chapters, asserting that these were worthy of all praise and professing to acquiesce in them; for I have read their declarations. As for me, they denounced me as the leader of the heresy, and for the same reason they likewise cast out others. That they supposed the active virtue was commanded by the Savior to the Hamaxobii [nomads] rather than to themselves, the facts themselves cry out. For when some presented libels against Candidianus the Pisidian, accusing him of many adulteries and other crimes, they say the president of the synod responded: "If you are accusing them of doctrines, we accept the libels; for we have not come to judge adulteries." From this, they ordered both Athenius and Athanasius, who had been deposed by the Eastern synod, to recover their own churches; as if our Savior had established no law regarding the life, but had commanded only that the doctrines be kept, the malice of which [is]...

these most wise men have perverted. Let them not, therefore, mock, nor conceal the impiety which they have confirmed with both their tongues and their hands. But if these things are not so, let them declare the causes of the slaughters, ^A and let them confess in writing the distinction of the natures of our Savior, and the union without confusion; and let them declare that both the divinity and the humanity remained pure and unadulterated even after the union. God is not mocked. Let them now repudiate those chapters which they had often condemned before, but which they have recently approved at Ephesus. Let them not deceive your Holiness with lying words. They used to praise the things said by me in public at Antioch, being then among the number of the brethren, and having become readers, and ordained deacons, and presbyters, and bishops; and when the sermon was finished, they would embrace and kiss my head, and breast, and hands; ^B and some of them would even touch my knees, calling our doctrine apostolic; and this they have now condemned, this they have anathematized. And I, whom they used to call a light—not only of the East, but of the whole world—have been proscribed, and do not even enjoy, in so far as it depends on them, the benefit of bread. For they have pronounced anathema even upon those who speak to us. But the man whom they deposed a little while ago, and whom they pronounced infected with the errors of Valentinus and Apollinarius, him they honored as a victor of the faith, and threw themselves at his feet, and asked for pardon, and called him their spiritual father. ^C What kind of water-polyp so changes its own color against the rocks, or chameleon its color to the leaves, as these men change their minds and opinions according to the times? We, for our part, yield to them their chairs, and dignities, and the delights of a brief time; but along with our apostolic dogmas, we await the exiles that are deemed burdensome, possessing as sufficient consolation the tribunal of the Lord. For we hope that the Lord, for the sake of this injustice, will forgive us many of our sins. I beseech thy Holiness, moreover, to avoid communion with this impiety, and to demand that they abjure what has been done. But if they are unwilling, flee from them as from traitors to the faith. ^D I would in no wise blame your piety for waiting a while to see if there might be any change in the storm. For after the ordination of the president of the East, the mind and sentiment of each one will certainly be made manifest. Deign to pray for us, my Lord. For now we stand in greatest need of this help, that we may be able to resist the things being devised against us.

CXLVIII. — A Memorandum of the most holy Bishop Cyril, given to Posidonius when he was sent to Rome regarding the business of Nestorius.