Letters 1 part 21/32

And many things said concerning the union with man are referred by those who hear the writings without proper instruction to the discourse concerning the Godhead — such as also is this saying being circulated by them.

For one must know well that just as he who does not confess the commonality of the essence falls into polytheism, so he who does not grant the distinctiveness of the hypostases is carried down into Judaism.

For if one has not understood fatherhood, nor considered concerning whom this property is delimited, how is it possible to admit the concept of God the Father? For it is not enough to enumerate distinctions of persons, but one must confess each person as existing in a true hypostasis.

Since not even Sabellius refused this fabrication of persons without hypostasis, saying that the same God, being one in substrate, transforms Himself according to the needs that arise on each occasion, speaking now as Father, now as Son, now as Holy Spirit.

This error, long ago extinguished, is now being revived by the inventors of this nameless heresy, who reject the hypostases and deny the name of the Son of God.

And these men, unless they cease speaking iniquity against God, must be lamented along with those who deny Christ.

For indeed, if wicked teachings must be likened to deadly poisons, then these — as your dream-diviners themselves would say — are hemlock and aconite and whatever other man-slaying drug there may be.

These are the poisons of souls — not our words — which their wine-smitten brains cry out, being full of phantasms on account of their affliction;

and these men, if they were of sound mind, ought to know that the prophetic gift shines forth in souls that are undefiled and purified from every stain.

For neither can a dirty mirror receive the reflections of images, nor can a soul preoccupied with worldly cares and darkened by the passions of the carnal mind receive the illuminations of the Holy Spirit.

For not every dream is at once a prophecy, as Zechariah says;

'The Lord made visions and winter rain, because those who spoke oracles spoke of troubles, and told false dreams.'

These men, dreaming as Isaiah describes and loving to slumber on their couches, are ignorant also of this — that often a working of error is sent upon the sons of disobedience.

And there is a lying spirit which, having entered the false prophets, deceived Ahab.

Knowing these things, they ought not to be so puffed up as to attribute prophecy to themselves, seeing that they are shown to fall short even of the accuracy of the augur Balaam.

who, though summoned by the king of the Moabites with the greatest of gifts, would not endure to utter a word contrary to the will of God, nor to curse Israel, whom the Lord does not curse.

If, then, their visions in sleep agree with the commandments of the Lord, let them be satisfied with the Gospels, which need no assistance from dreams for their credibility.

But if the Lord has left us His own peace and given us a new commandment, that we love one another, while their dreams suggest strife and division and the disappearance of love, let them not give the devil an occasion, through sleep, to trample upon their souls, nor let them make the phantasms coming from him more authoritative than the saving teachings.

TO OLYMPIUS. Upon reading the letter of your Honor, I became more pleasant to myself and more cheerful than before; and in conversing with your most beloved sons, I seemed to behold you yourself.

These men, finding my soul greatly afflicted, so disposed it that I forgot the hemlock which, among you, the dream-sellers and dream-hawkers circulate against us, to gratify those who have hired them.

As for letters, some I have written, and others we shall give later, if you wish.

May there only be some benefit from them to those who receive them.

which we believe is preserved intact with you.

For indeed we see that most of the rest are divided, as in the horse-races, some for this side and some for that, and shouting along with the partisans.

For indeed I perceive that you are not indifferent to the affairs of the Churches, seeing that you even sent us a certain letter about these matters, as you indicated in these recent letters of yours — and I would gladly learn who it was that undertook to deliver it, so that I might know who has done the wrong.

For I have not yet received any letter of yours to us concerning these matters.

At what price, then, do you think I would purchase conversation with you, so that I might make known to you the things that grieve me (for, as you know, even the telling brings a certain relief to those in pain), and might answer concerning the matters under inquiry, not entrusting them to lifeless letters, but myself, in person, stating and pursuing each point clearly? For living words possess a more effective power of persuasion, and, as regards being easily assailed and vulnerable to calumny, they are no longer like written words.

For indeed nothing remains that anyone would not dare to attempt, seeing that even those who were entrusted with the greatest matters by us, whom we perceived people regarding as something greater than mere men, have consented to circulate certain writings — whatever they may be — as if they were mine, and to slander me on their account before the brotherhoods, so that nothing is now more to be shunned by the devout than my name.

For though from the beginning I made it my study to remain unknown — as, I know not, perhaps no other who has taken account of human weakness has done — now, as though I had chosen the opposite course, to make myself known to all men, I have become the talk of every land, and I will add, of the sea as well.

For those who pursue the utmost limit of impiety, and who bring in upon the Churches the godless doctrine of Anomoean dissimilarity, wage war against me.

And those who drive, as they suppose, a middle course — setting out from those same principles, yet not allowing themselves to follow the logical consequence, because it is contrary to the ears of the many — these too are indignant against me, and scour me with abuse as much as they are able, and refrain from no plot, even though the Lord has rendered their undertakings ineffective.

How are these things not grievous? How do they not render my life full of pain? I, for my part, count as one consolation amid these evils the weakness of my flesh, by which I am persuaded that I shall not long remain in this wretched life.

But let this suffice on these matters.

But as for you, in your bodily sufferings, I exhort you to bear yourself nobly and in a manner worthy of the God who has called us;

for He, if He sees us receiving present circumstances with thanksgiving, will either relieve our griefs, as in the case of Job, or will reward us with the great crowns of endurance in that state of ours which follows this life.

For it happened that my soul was somewhat afflicted, having observed, amid a great gathering of people, a certain brutish and wholly irrational indifference on the part of the people, and, in those who lead them, an old and hard-to-correct habituation to evil.

But when I saw your letter and the treasure of love contained in it, I recognized that He who orders our affairs had caused a sweet consolation to shine upon us who live in bitterness.

I beseech you, therefore, in every prayer to entreat God that we may be sober-minded in all things, lest we become a shame and a reproach to the name of Christ at the disclosure of the secrets of our hearts, on that great day of the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Know that I am in expectation of being summoned back to the camp, through the malicious contrivance of the heretics, under the pretext, indeed, of peace;

and having heard this, this bishop too has written urging us to make haste to go to Mesopotamia, and, having gathered together those there who share our faith and are upholding the affairs of the churches, to set out with them to the Emperor.

But as for me, perhaps not even my own body will suffice for a journey undertaken in the winter.

For the present, moreover, the matter has not appeared necessary, unless indeed you yourself should advise otherwise.

For I shall also await the counsel from your piety, so that my judgment may be confirmed.

TO TERENTIUS THE COUNT. When we heard that your excellency had once again been compelled to take charge of public affairs, we were at once troubled (for the truth shall be told), reflecting how it must be against your own wish, having once been released from public cares and having devoted your leisure to the care of your own soul, to be forced again to return to the same things.

Then, coming to the thought that perhaps the Lord, wishing to grant this one consolation amid the countless woes which now beset our churches, has again arranged that your dignified excellency should appear at the head of affairs, we were indeed the more cheerful, as being about, at least once more before departing this life, to meet with your honored self.

But then again another report reached us, that you were residing at Antioch and administering the affairs at hand together with the great officials.

In addition to this report, word also reached us that the brethren of the party of Paulinus are conferring with your rectitude concerning union with us — I mean us, of the party of the man of God, Meletius the bishop.

For some are entirely ignorant of matters here, while others, though they seem to know, explain them more out of contentiousness than truthfulness.

However, it is not unlikely that those men are ignorant of the truth, or even that they conceal the reason for which the most blessed bishop Athanasius came to write to Paulinus.

But since your perfection has there men able to relate accurately what took place among the bishops during the reign of Jovian, we beseech you to be instructed by them.

Nevertheless, since we accuse no one, but pray to have love toward all, and especially toward those of the household of the faith, we rejoice together with those who have received the letters from Rome.

And if that letter contains for them some solemn and weighty testimony, we pray that it may prove true, being confirmed by their very deeds.

...with a view to the aim of true religion.

For as for me, far from ever consenting to be intimidated because someone, having received a letter from men, prides himself greatly upon it, I could not consider him a partaker of the saints even if it came from heaven itself, if he does not conform to the sound doctrine of the faith.

For consider, admirable sir, that the counterfeiters of the truth, who introduce the Arian schism into the sound faith of the Fathers, put forward no other reason for not accepting the pious doctrine of the Fathers than the meaning of "homoousios," which they themselves wickedly and to the slander of the faith interpret, saying that we assert the Son to be homoousios according to hypostasis.

If, then, we give them any occasion by being carried along with those who say these things, or things similar to these, out of simplicity rather than out of malice, nothing prevents us from furnishing indisputable handles against ourselves, and from strengthening the heresy of those whose one concern, in matters pertaining to the Church, is not to establish their own position, but to slander ours.

What slander could be more grievous than this, or more able to unsettle the multitude, than if some of us should appear to say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one hypostasis — men who, even though they clearly teach the distinction of the persons, are nonetheless forestalled by the fact that Sabellius had previously said this same thing, when he said:

that God is one in hypostasis, but is personified variously by Scripture according to the particular character of the need present on each occasion — now assuming for himself the words befitting the Father, whenever it is the occasion for that person; now those befitting the Son, whenever he condescends toward our care or toward certain other dispensational activities; and now putting on the person of the Spirit, whenever the occasion demands the words proper to such a person;

But if we too must state our opinion briefly, we shall say this: that the relation which the common bears to the particular, this same relation the essence bears to the hypostasis.

For each of us both partakes of being by the common principle of essence, and is such-and-such a one by the properties peculiar to himself.

So too there, the principle of the essence is common — such as goodness, deity, or whatever else might be conceived;

whereas the hypostasis is contemplated in the property of fatherhood, or of sonship, or of sanctifying power.

If, then, they say that the persons are without hypostasis, the statement itself carries its own absurdity;

but if they concede that they exist in a true hypostasis — which indeed they do confess — let them also number them, so that the principle of homoousios may be preserved in the unity of the Godhead, and the true knowledge of piety may be proclaimed in the complete and perfect hypostasis of each of those named: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Nevertheless, I wish your excellency to be persuaded of this: that both you and everyone who, like you, is concerned for the truth and does not dishonor those who contend for true religion, ought to await, as the leaders of this union and peace, those champions of the Churches whom I hold to be pillars and the foundation of the truth — and I revere them all the more, the longer they remain exiled, since banishment is imposed upon them in place of punishment.

I beseech you, therefore, keep yourself free of prejudice for our sake, that we may have you, whom God has graciously given to us all as a staff and support, in whom to find rest.

I have therefore given this letter to the auditor of the prefectural staff, who is traveling by the public post, and whom I have also instructed to present the letter to you first of all.

As for the road to Rome, I do not know how it is that no one has reported to your intelligence that in winter it is entirely impassable, the country in between, from Constantinople as far as our own borders, being filled with enemies.

But if one must make use of the sea, there will be a suitable season;

only if the most God-beloved bishop Gregory, my brother, will consent to undertake both the voyage and the embassy on behalf of such matters.

For I, for my part, do not see who would travel with him, and I know him to be entirely without experience in the affairs of the Churches; and while to a fair-minded man his company would be respectable and well worth having, yet to one who is lofty and aloof, seated somewhere on high, and therefore unable to hear the truth spoken to him by those below, what benefit could the common cause derive from conversing with such a man, whose character is utterly foreign to base flattery? TO MELETIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH. Many other journeys, too, have taken us away from our homeland.

For indeed we crossed as far as Pisidia, so as to settle, together with the bishops there, the affairs concerning the brethren in Isauria.

We went also as far as the little estate of our brother, which, because of its proximity to the region of Neocaesarea, has both given occasion for much disturbance to the people there, and has furnished us beforehand with grounds for much insult.

For some were fleeing when no one pursued them, while we were thought to be forcing our way in uninvited, out of desire for the praises current among them.

In addition to these things, it was also reported to us that they had won over, to zealous action on their behalf, that man excellent in every way, Terentius, to whom I promptly wrote, as far as it was possible for me, restraining him from his impulse and instructing him as to the deception practiced by them.

TO AMPHILOCHIUS, CONCERNING THE CANONS. Having returned from a long journey (for I had gone as far as Pontus for the sake of ecclesiastical needs, and for the purpose of visiting acquaintances), and bringing my body back utterly worn out, and being somewhat afflicted in soul, when I received into my hands the letter of your piety, I forgot everything all at once, having received the tokens of that voice sweetest of all to me, and of that most beloved hand.

I am making plans for a meeting with you, which may the Holy One arrange to take place wherever it may be without burden, and where you yourself may summon us.

For indeed it would not be difficult for me, if you should occupy the house at Euphemias, to go there, at once escaping the troubles here and hastening toward your unfeigned love.

Perhaps, too, the sudden departure of the most God-beloved bishop Gregory makes a journey as far as Nazianzus necessary for me on other grounds as well — a departure whose cause remains unknown to me up to now.

As for the man about whom I too had spoken with your perfection, and whom you yourself now hoped to be ready, know that, having fallen into a long illness and now suffering in his very eyesight, he has, because of both the old affliction and the disease that has recently befallen him, remained entirely useless for ordinary tasks.

But there is no other man available with us.

So it would be better, even though they left the matter to us, that someone from among those very people be put forward.

For indeed one must consider that these words are the words of necessity, while their true wish, in their heart, is that which they sought from the beginning: that their leader be one of their own.

But if there is one among the newly baptized, whether it be pleasing to Macedonius or not, let him be put forward.

And you shall form him as is fitting, the Lord who cooperates with you in all things also supplying the grace needed for this.

Regarding the clergy, the canons have set forth the rule without distinction, commanding that a single punishment be determined for those who have fallen: deposition from ministry, whether they happen to hold a rank or persevere in an unordained ministry.

A woman who neglects her unborn child while on a journey — if, being able to preserve it, she disregarded it, either thinking thereby to conceal her sin, or acting altogether out of a brutish and inhuman reasoning — let her be judged as for murder.

But if she was unable to attend to it, and the child perished through desolation and lack of necessities, the mother is to be pardoned.

A widowed female slave has perhaps not committed a great fault in choosing a second marriage under the guise of abduction.

So that on this account no charge need be brought against her.

For it is not the outward forms that are judged, but the intention.

I know that some time ago I wrote to your piety concerning the distinctions among involuntary homicides, as far as was possible for me, and I am able to say nothing more than what was said then; but it belongs to your own discernment, according to the particular character of each circumstance, either to intensify the penances or to relax them.

Those who go out to resist robbers, if they are laymen, are excluded from the communion of the Good;

but if they are clergy, they are deposed from their rank.

For it is said, "All who take the sword shall perish by the sword."

He who has committed murder voluntarily, but afterward repented, shall be excluded from the holy mysteries for twenty years.

And the twenty years shall be dispensed for him as follows.

For four years he must weep, standing outside the door of the house of prayer, and begging the faithful as they enter to make prayer on his behalf, confessing his own transgression.

After the four years, he shall be received among the hearers, and for five years he shall go out together with them.

For seven years he shall pray among those in prostration, and then go out with them.

For four years he shall stand together with the faithful only, but shall not partake of the offering.

And when these years have been completed, he shall partake of the holy things.

He who has committed involuntary homicide shall be excluded from the holy mysteries for ten years.

And the ten years shall be dispensed for him thus.

He who has committed adultery shall be excluded from the holy mysteries for fifteen years;

weeping for four years, hearing for five, prostrate for four, and standing together with the faithful without communion for two.

He who has committed fornication shall be excluded from the holy mysteries for seven years;

weeping for two years, and hearing for two years, and prostrate for two years, and standing with the faithful for only one year;

in the eighth year he shall be received into communion.

Having confessed, and having fallen from her profession, she shall fulfill the time appointed for the sin of adultery, according to the dispensation proper to the course of her own life.

The same applies also in the case of those who have professed the monastic life and have fallen away.

He who has stolen, if of his own accord, having repented, he accuses himself, shall be barred from the communion of the holy things for one year only;

but if he is convicted by others, for two years.

And the time shall be divided for him between prostration and standing-with, and then let him be deemed worthy of communion.

He who practices indecency with males shall be subjected to the same period as one who transgresses in adultery.

He who confesses his impious act with irrational beasts shall confess for the same time, being kept under close watch.

The perjurer shall be excommunicated for ten years;

weeping for two years, hearing for three, prostrate for four, standing with the faithful for one year only, and then being deemed worthy of communion.

He who confesses sorcery or the use of poisons shall do penance for the time appointed for a murderer, being dealt with in the same way as one who has convicted himself of that sin.

The grave-robber shall be excommunicated for ten years;

weeping for two years, hearing for three, prostrate for four, standing with the faithful for one year, and then to be received.

Incest with one's own sister shall be confessed for the time appointed for a murderer.

The union of persons in forbidden degrees of kinship for marriage, if it is discovered to have arisen from sins, shall receive the penalties of adulterers.

If a reader has had relations with his betrothed before marriage, having ceased from reading for one year, he shall be received back, remaining without advancement.

But if he has stolen a marriage without a betrothal, he shall be removed from his ministry.

And the same applies also to a presbyter.

But if anyone is found to have sinned beyond this, whatever rank he may hold, he shall be deposed.

He who has knowledge of any of the aforesaid sins and does not confess it, but is convicted, shall himself be under the same penalty for as long a time as the doer of the evil was penanced.

He who has given himself over to diviners or to any such persons shall himself also be dealt with for the time appointed for murderers.

He who has denied Christ and transgressed the mystery of salvation ought to weep for the whole time of his life, and is bound to make confession, being deemed worthy of the sanctified rite at the moment he departs this life, through faith in the loving-kindness of God.

If, however, each of those who have fallen into the aforesaid sins becomes earnest in confessing, he who has been entrusted by the loving-kindness of God with the power to loose and to bind, should he, seeing the surpassing earnestness of the confession of the one who has sinned, become more merciful so as to lessen the time of the penalties, shall not be worthy of condemnation, since the history recorded in the Scriptures makes known to us that those who confess with greater anguish quickly obtain the loving-kindness of God.

He who has defiled himself with his own sister, whether by father or by mother, shall not be permitted to be present in the house of prayer, until he has desisted from the unlawful and forbidden act.

But after coming to a realization of the fearful sin, let him weep for three years, standing at the door of the houses of prayer and beseeching the people entering for prayer, so that each one, with compassion, may make fervent supplications to the Lord on his behalf.

After this, let him be admitted for another three years to hearing only, and, hearing the Scriptures and the teaching, let him be cast out and not be deemed worthy of prayer.

Then, if indeed he has sought it with tears and fallen before the Lord with contrition of heart and deep humility, let prostration be granted to him for another three years,

without the offering; and for two years standing with the faithful in prayer, thus at last let him be deemed worthy of the communion of the good gift.

The same pattern applies also concerning those who take their own daughters-in-law.

He, however, who abandons the wife lawfully joined to him and takes another, according to the Lord's judgment, is liable to the charge of adultery.

It has been established as a canon by our Fathers that such persons weep for one year, hear for two years, prostrate for three years, and in the seventh stand with the faithful, and thus be deemed worthy of the offering, if they repent with tears.

Let the same pattern also hold for those who take two sisters into marriage, even if at different times.

Those who lust after their own stepmothers are subject to the same canon as those who lust after their own sisters.

But the Fathers passed over polygamy in silence, as bestial and altogether foreign to the race of mankind.

Since many, in the invasion of the barbarians, transgressed the faith in God, performing pagan oaths and tasting certain forbidden things offered to them among the magical idols, let these be dealt with according to the canons already set forth by our Fathers.

For those who endured harsh compulsion from tortures, and, not bearing the pains, were maltreated into denial, are to be unreceived for three years, and to hear for two, and having prostrated for three, thus to be received into communion;

but those who, without great compulsion, betrayed the faith in God and touched the table of the demons and swore Greek oaths, are to be cast out for three years, and to hear for two, and having prayed in prostration for three years, and standing with the faithful in prayer for another three, thus to be admitted to the communion of the good gift.

And concerning those who have committed perjury, if they violated their oaths under force and compulsion, they are subject to lighter penalties, so that after six years they are received;

but if, without compulsion, having betrayed their own faith, having wept for two years, and heard for two years, and prayed in prostration for five, and for another two been admitted to the communion of prayer without the offering, thus at last, having shown notable repentance, they shall be restored to the communion of the Body of Christ.

Those who practice divination and follow the customs of the pagans, or who bring certain persons into their own houses for the discovery of sorceries and for purification, let them fall under the canon of six years:

having wept for one year, and heard for one year, and prostrated for three years, and stood with the faithful for one year, thus let them be received.

But we write all these things so that the fruits of repentance may be tested.

For we do not judge such matters altogether by time, but we pay attention to the manner of repentance.

But if they cling stubbornly to their own habits and wish rather to be enslaved to the pleasures of the flesh than to the Lord, and do not accept the life according to the Gospel, we have no common account with them.

For we have been taught, being among a disobedient and gainsaying people, to hear this:

"In escaping, save your own life."

Let us not, then, consent to perish together with such people, but fearing the heavy judgment and setting before our eyes the fearful day of the Lord's recompense, let us not be willing to perish along with the sins of others.

and it was given over to dispersion, because those who carried about the name of Christ dared to do these things;