Letter to George, Prefect of Africa 1 part 14/14

But who will be able to measure the tears poured forth in streams from every eye by those who dwell in this land, at his departure—all clinging to him and dragging him back by force toward themselves, and in some manner not permitting him to board the ship;

and wailing with lamentations, as it were each seeking him according to his own class and age;

some, seeking the provider of their poverty;

others, the steward of their prosperity;

the poor sought the lover of the poor, and the strangers, the lover of strangers;

and the brothers, the lover of brothers.

the sick [need] the physician;

those in misfortunes [need] consolation;

and, simply, all [need] him who became all things to all, that he might win all, and on behalf of all be won for God.

having endowed his advancement [to office] with genuine goodwill and unbreakable security.

For no one has proved a more genuine servant of their pious majesty than he.

Farewell to you, most beloved to me, and to me most honored of all, genuine servant of God.

In every generation, at the appointed times, God — providing for the nature of mankind, and caring for the salvation of us all — has shown forth him who would live a devout life, flashing like light in his virtues, as one capable, by resolve, of containing the divine laws;

having given him as much strength as the people being led were likely to need for their conversion;

so that, as toward a lamp shining with the light of works of righteousness, the rest of mankind, giving heed, might themselves also order their life according to God;

with no passion born of ignorance tripping them up.

And to us, in due season, has been shown forth as a certain lamp and rule of virtue, George, the Christ-loving eparch;

great, and so great in virtue, and having received from God, by grace, a power so abounding;

and [a power] surpassing that of those formerly chosen and put forward for this [office], to just such a degree as we — that is, our generation, weighed down by a heavy burden of wickedness — needed, both for recovery, and for deliverance from the multitude of those who wrong us.

A man — if indeed any other — comparable to those most devoted to God, of old and now alike: good and benevolent, merciful, gentle, forbearing, patient, humble-minded, self-controlled, free from anger, free from love of money, loving, unmindful of wrongs, beneficent, hospitable, a lover of the poor, compassionate, sociable, most diligent, watchful, a lover of the Church;

and, indeed, most honorable of all, a most ardent zealot for the devout doctrine according to the right faith.

And the rest accordingly is contained in the former letter;

according to which I have also, in part, indicated by another letter to my blessed lord.

For to comprehend all the man's achievements by the power of speech is among the things impossible and impracticable;

and I have declared these things because my God-guarded lord alone knows the man's devotion to God — as being, through the very facts themselves, of divine grace — and so would both receive and honor it;

and to set it before our pious and most gentle emperors, who image the divine dominion on earth;

and to persuade [them] not to accept the unjust tongues of lawless men, working deceit like a sharpened razor, and loving evil more than goodness;

lest room be given to falsehood against the truth, and injustice take boldness against righteousness;

and, simply, evil [take boldness] against every virtue, through the interchange and confusion of these things with one another.

For it is written: 'To harm a righteous man is not good;

nor is it holy to plot against just rulers.'

For it is fitting for my blessed lord to do this, being a lover of wisdom and of prudence;

which [prudence] I pray may be preserved always for my God-guarded lord, being a guardian of his soul and of his body.

And him who carries this letter of my nothingness — having a prudence of soul older than the age of his body — I beseech [you] to receive fittingly, on account of the discernment that becomes him, as one who partakes of divine zeal for discourse, and who does not disdain to hold a genuine bond toward me, the humble one.

TO ANASTASIUS THE MONK. Yesterday, the eighteenth of the month, which was holy Pentecost, the patriarch informed me, saying:

'Behold, all [the sees], together with the provinces under them, have been united.'

'If therefore you are of the catholic Church, be united, lest, by innovating a strange path for [your] life, you suffer what you do not expect.'

'The God of all declared the catholic Church [to be] the right and saving confession of faith in him — [that] for which he blessed Peter, because he had well confessed him.'

'However, let me learn the confession on which the union of all the churches has come about;

and from that which has come about well, I am not alienated.'

'Even though we have no directive concerning this, we say [it] so that you may be altogether without excuse.'

'Do you say that the two have become one through the union, or is there, besides these, another?' I said.

'No,' they say, 'but the two [became] one through the union.' 'Then we are rid of the matter,' I said, 'having fashioned for ourselves a faith without hypostasis, and a non-existent God.'

'For if we confuse the two into one because of the union, and again divide into two because of the difference, there will be neither a unity nor a duality of operations, since they are forever annulling one another, and rendering that to which they are attached without operation, and altogether non-existent.'

'For that which has no motion that is inalienable by nature and in no way altered or displaced by any manner of change is, according to the Fathers, deprived of all substance, not having an operation that essentially characterizes it.'

'This, therefore, I cannot say, nor was I taught by the holy Fathers to confess it.'

'Do what seems [good] to you, since you are those who hold authority.'

'It has been decided by the master and the patriarch that, by a precept from the pope of Rome, you, if you are not persuaded, shall be anathematized, and shall undergo the death determined by them.'

'May that which was determined by God before all ages come to its fulfillment in me, bringing to him the glory known [to him] before all ages.' Having heard this, I answered them thus.

And in order that you may know [these things], and make an addition of prayer and supplication to God, I have made known to you what was declared, imploring the divine Lord, and our holy fathers there together with him, to make these things known, for the sake of that same cause.