Letters 1 part 23/55

We the faithful do not venerate the icons as gods (God forbid), as the Greeks do, but only manifest the relation and the longing of our love toward the character of the face depicted in the icon.

This is the voice of Chrysostom:

I too have loved the encaustic painting, filled as it is with piety;

for I saw in an image an angel driving off hordes of barbarians, I saw the tribes of barbarians trampled underfoot, and David speaking the truth:

'Lord, in your city you will set their image at nought.'

which is precisely what the icon-fighters now do against Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints (O what a dreadful thing to hear!), setting at nought their holy icons.

And that I may pass over the sayings of others (for they are many), let me add one more and turn my discourse to another matter.

This is the voice of the holy fathers of the sixth council:

In certain depictions of the venerable icons, a lamb is engraved, pointed to by the finger of the Forerunner;

which was taken up as a type of grace, prefiguring for us beforehand, through the law, the true Lamb, Christ our God.

Embracing, therefore, the ancient types and shadows as symbols and prefigurations of the truth handed down to the Church, we prefer grace and truth, receiving this as the fulfillment of the law.

Therefore, so that what is perfect may be depicted even in painted images before the eyes of all, we decree that henceforth, instead of the ancient lamb, the figure of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, Christ our God, be set up in the icons in human form, according to his human character, so that through it we may perceive the height of the humility of God the Word, and be led by the hand to the remembrance of his life in the flesh, his passion and saving death, and the redemption thereby wrought for the world.

Having, then, beloved, these testimonies together with the undeniable proof both from our own experience and from the truth itself, as has already been demonstrated, I exhort you: be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, frightened by nothing on the part of your adversaries, nor again by the false brothers who have been tripped up and deceived in mind (which is indeed to them a sign of perdition, but to us of salvation, and this from God, as it is written, that it has been granted to us, on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake); having the same struggle you saw in me, a sinner, and now hear of, being of one mind, of one soul, striving together for the faith of the gospel, working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, so that hearing about you I, the sinner, may rejoice.

Watch out for Satan, watch out for his boldness; take heed lest anyone in anything provoke God to anger.

For the great dragon is full of cunning and full of experience;

when on the one hand he cannot destroy someone through faith, on the other he runs to accomplish the same evil through transgression, by means of the law of sin warring against the law of our mind.

He roars, he watches like a lion to seize his prey, he provokes, he kindles fire, he longs to set ablaze the house of the soul.

But we have from God the weapons for his destruction: water for the head, a fountain of tears, supplications, prayers.

Above all, let the fear of God be as iron and nails driven into our flesh;

let envy lodge nowhere, nor strife again, nor indeed vainglory, nor any of the works of darkness.

While the passions are still only skirmishing at a distance, let them be struck away, lest, once they have taken up residence and poisoned the soul, they become hard to dislodge.

Everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things.

So run, that you may obtain the prize.

Let those who are last yield to those who are first;

for God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.

You who lead those who follow should exact submission and obedience not by authority, but by virtue and goodness.

Do not be separated from one another, exchanging many leaders and being useful nowhere.

Paul did not choose to take Mark the evangelist along with him, as it is written, because he had not gone along with them but had turned back home before.

How much more, then, are we obliged to cherish one another? Brothers, let each one remain in the calling in which he was called.

Let us cleanse ourselves, beloved, from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Hold fast to the traditions you were taught, instruct one another, and always keep death in remembrance.

Pray, then, I beg you, for all; bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse, going about from place to place, in want, afflicted, mistreated, wandering in deserts and mountains, or perhaps even hiding in holes of the earth.

Boast that it is for Christ's sake, that the world is not worthy of you.

Bear up, my little children, little children, bear up a little longer, and the Lord will come, the giver of crowns, the rewarder, whose fellow heirs we have been promised to become (if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him); praying in all things also for me, wretched as I am, that my heart may be strengthened in the Lord to bear even unto death the things brought upon us, so that Christ may not reject me because of my unworthiness, and that I may be delivered from the evil one always, in every way.

Now I live, beloved, if you stand firm in the Lord.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting, if not you, both in this present age and in the age to come? Yes, for you are the comfort of my love and my consolation.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entire, without blame.

Faithful is our God, who will also bring this about, brothers: greet one another with a holy kiss.

My greeting, that of lowly Theodore, to all my members, from the lips of my heart.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

Grace be with your spirit.

{To Joseph, brother and archbishop} To write to your holiness is always desired by me, and all the more, the longer the interval of our exile grows;

for it brings me near to your honored face and grants relief through this address, as now too, when I am grieved by the betrayal of the truth on the part of certain abbots.

For your holiness knows that the old company — I mean Joseph, the priest of the unlawful union, the man of Photeinoudion, the man of Herakleia, the man of Medikion, the Mylian, the man of Hypolychnion, the man of Goulaia (but alas for my sin, even the man of Phlouboutene too, ensnared through foolish simplicity) — having stood firm together for a little while, but then, under the pretext of economy, being set in motion by that same Joseph who is accustomed to contrive such things, turned back after Satan, communing once and even twice with the impious;

in which, having also been graciously released, they now ensnare the unstable in their own downfall.

But, as it seems, the bishop of Nicaea also now lies fallen among the bishops;

for they are recalling those in exile to do the same things, and unless the sustaining hand of God arrives in time, even we who remain will perish.

What, then, is the outcome? That once again, as it appears, the whole drama falls upon us lowly ones, together with a few others.

Arise, then, O man of God, as high priest of Christ the true chief shepherd, and by so much as you surpass all others in the primacy of the high-priesthood, except for the one who lies hidden away in obscurity.

Glorify God, then, in your body and in your spirit; you will surely not be left behind on the island;

perhaps you must be tried as in former times, so that here too you may be styled a more resplendent crown-bearer.

Yes, yes, brother, into what times we have been reserved!

But thanks be, nonetheless, to him who has so reserved us;

and this is from God, says the apostle, that it has been granted to us, on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.

He will not overlook your honored self, but, as then, so also now, Christ will be magnified in your body, working his mercy exceedingly abundantly as a display of your virtue.

Therefore, holy father, extend to me also an interceding hand, that I may be strengthened and saved from the present bitter storm.

Stand firm, and by your intercession bring it to pass that the tempest be turned into the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit.

Greeting the brothers most warmly, and I beg them to pray earnestly for my lowliness;

Those who are with me fall down at your feet.

{To Naukratios, my son} Grievous is the news of your letter, O my son;

which, laying hold of my lowly soul, truly caused it pain and drew forth heartfelt tears, rendering nearly sleepless for me the night in which I received the letter into my hands.

This applies indeed to all who have fallen, but especially to the man of Phlouboute; for while the others have now done things similar to what they did before, he had been reckoned to be among those who seemed to stand firm securely.

I therefore marveled, while they still stood firm, that, without having confessed their former defeat over the adultery and the unlawful marriage-union, they laid claim to being right in the present matter; and I supposed, perhaps, that privately and by themselves they had come to repentance, and I, in my lowliness, rejoiced at their walking uprightly.

But, as it seems, having built their house upon rotten foundations, they have fallen, at the whirlwind of the heresy that assailed them, with a most grievous fall, again calling the rejection of the truth 'economy.'

The same men who before became a scandal to the church of God have now, through their actions, done the same thing again, calling everyone to perdition.

And indeed most people are ready for participation in the evil, seeking in times of hardship to find some pretext by which the struggle for piety might be made free of affliction and hardship for them.

They entered into communion upon the denial of Christ, of the Theotokos, and of all the saints;

For this is the denial of the icon, whosesoever it may be.

Woe is me, how have those who began well turned back? Woe is me, for how many of equal and higher rank will he prove a ruin—laymen, clergy, and monks alike? But the ancient plague, the evil nursed in the bosom, Joseph, once rightly called the 'adultery-joiner,' but now the 'mocker of Christ,' has himself become a guide to the men of the ancient guard.

What then in the face of this? Shall we grow slack, shall we fall down, shall we grow weary in our confession of Christ and our steadfastness? By no means, O brothers, by no means!

For if, when the impious fall, the righteous become fearful, yet the fall of one's neighbor brings the greatest security to the one who stands.

Let us therefore stand in the Lord all the more firmly, I beg you, being frightened by nothing on the part of our adversaries.

For surely our confession does not depend on those who have been tripped up, nor is it by leaning on their standing that we are made firm—so that we too should be shaken down by their stumbling? God forbid!

Christ is our foundation, in whom we stand, in whom we boast, saying together with Paul:

Who shall separate us from the love of God? Tribulation, or distress, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Thus he who is not arrayed for battle will not contend on behalf of Christ; he cannot be a Christian.

Not in vain were the contests of the martyrs, their trophies, their torments;

For were they not of the same flesh as we? Did they not suffer pain when subjected to so many punishments? Were they not, as the Apostle says, in despair even of life? Yet, by fear of eternal punishments and by longing for the heavenly rewards, they chose, as men of sound mind, the death of the flesh rather than the eternal death.

They endured; they were not terrified; they were not dismayed;

And picturing to themselves the things to come as though already present, they went to their torments with joy, and considered their manifold sufferings to be gifts.

For to us it has been granted, on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake;

for in much trial of affliction lies the abundance of their grace.

Let us too, beloved, taste the love of Christ; let us walk in the footsteps of the saints; let us tear away the attachments of this present age.

We have no abiding city here; the Jerusalem above is our homeland and our city.

O men mighty in spirit, O children of God (for these are not the words of me, a humble and sinful man), let us not falter, even should all others turn away—which God forbid—but let us, as of old strengthened by God, now too fight our single combat.

God is with us; all the saints from every age are with us; east and west are with us.

It is but a small part that has broken itself off from the Church under heaven—and this on account of fear, on account of temporal things, on account of the flesh, which a little while hence we shall hand over to the eternal fire together with the soul, if we do not hold fast to the truth.

So be it—let us be tried, let us be scourged, and this many times over, and in the end let us even die;

Then is it not unspeakable joy for us to obtain the kingdom of heaven, and from this to carry away undying glory? Or, on the contrary, is it not—should we flee the things aforesaid—to be mocked to the very end, and to bear a shame without end? Yes, I beseech you, my little children, whom I begot in the Lord, whom Christ has raised up through labors and toils, not only ascetic ones, but also those of the arena;

fulfill my joy, that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, doing nothing through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind esteeming one another better than yourselves.

These are apostolic precepts, even though it is I, a wretched man, who call them to your remembrance.

Pray also for me, I beg you, that strength, power, and speech may be given me for your sake (even though I am unworthy of divine grace), so that with one accord, in one spirit, God may be glorified in our body and in our spirit.

Send word to the good archbishop Dionysius.

Greet abba Peter, abba Ignatius, and abba Tithoius, and show them this letter.

Furthermore, prepare yourself together with the rest, and especially with those written of above, because, now that those near you have slipped into error, it will not be possible for you to be left in peace, since you will be denounced by those very persons.

May the Lord grant you strength, power, understanding, insight, discernment—whatever it takes—to act well, for the praise and glory of Christ, for my boast, and for your eternal renown.

Those who are with me send greetings to you both.

{To the Same} What is my life and account, that you so besiege me, O child, and take such pains for me—from so great a distance, and amid so great a trial, disregarding every toil and danger in order to visit my lowliness, and this unceasingly, and this with so abundant a bringing of gifts? You have made the far near, the hard to accomplish easy, the desert places easy to traverse; you have astonished those who beheld it, you have opened mouths to praises of the Lord, as they considered the good deeds of your faith and love.

For where else have any others been so moved as to show toward their own fathers such marks of sincere friendship? Blessed is God, who has thus made you renowned—in accordance with your virtue, yet beyond the merit of my own wretchedness.

For I confess that I am a sinner, the least of all men, even though you, carried along by love, would seek to crown me with so many praises.

I have received, then, O longed-for one, the tokens of your confidence; I have received the tokens of your care for my old age;

As a child you have borne me, as a brother you have tended me; I would add, as a father you have treasured and provided for me;

and if, as a fellow-worker, you have labored together with me, and if, as a disciple, you have supplied what was lacking, may the Lord, the God of my father, do you good, and may he add to you spirit upon spirit, power upon power, understanding upon understanding, even to the end.

For the rest, pray for my lowliness, that I may walk in a manner well-pleasing to the Lord, at least for the remainder of my life.

I was greatly refreshed concerning brother Adrian, if indeed it should be granted me to be together with him;

Hold off from sending anyone here until September, for many reasons—unless something proves necessary; I cannot say.

Learning of the doings of certain superiors, I, wretched man, groaned;

while the rest of the fathers, by their own example, strengthen us who are fainthearted.

Those who are with me greet you most heartily.

Fare well in the Lord; but also take careful heed of your body;

for on learning of the affliction of your inward parts, I was grieved not a little.

{To the Same} Beyond expectation I saw your letter, beloved child, and the brothers;

for you did not, as I had written beforehand, wait until September.

Nevertheless, I welcomed your eagerness, the overwhelming intensity of your love, the fervor of your longing, your love of God in all things—I would add, your love for your father as well.

You are my joy and my comfort; you are, in the Lord, in all dangers and afflictions, my support and my crown of boasting, together with all your fellow contestants, and above all, our brothers and children in Christ Jesus.

Therefore I also rejoice, blessing the God of my father, that you are healthy in soul and body, since it has thus been ordained by God that you be released from bonds, so that you might anoint those who are in bonds, and, by binding yourself to those who have been released, might strengthen them;

which indeed you do, by the grace of Christ, exhorting, admonishing, and comforting each one, as a true steward of God.

I beg of you, then, this very thing—that you not grow weary in laboring, for the glory of Christ, for the securing of your own salvation, and for a boast to me, who am at a loss in every good thing.

However, brother, know that we did not run in vain, and we do not now run in vain, as before, nor do we labor in vain;

for it is for Christ and through Christ, for whom to suffer is a Passover, for whom to be afflicted is joy.

if indeed we suffer with him, he says, that we may also be glorified together with him;

for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

For whatever affliction there is here is shadowy and dreamlike, but the recompense there is life without end, together with eternal glory.

Let us not, therefore, O child, be ashamed of the present testimony;

Many, out of love for Christ, have desired to see this, but did not obtain it; yet we have been counted worthy.

What is this? To suffer for his sake, to be persecuted, to be taken captive, to be imprisoned, to be confined in exile from place to place, or perhaps even to be beaten, to become a spectacle to both angels and men.

And if it is that they have also cast out our name as evil, anathematizing us both privately and publicly, together with the saints—is there not joy in this? Is there not cause to leap for joy? You know, child, the beatitude of the Lord;

in these things rejoice, you too, and take delight, together with all the children.

for you are the body of Christ, and members in particular;

and whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or whether one member is glorified, all the members rejoice together with it.

Seek, it says, the things that remain—the spittings, the buffetings, and finally the cross, the sweet nails of my Christ.

Oh, who could be counted worthy to be crucified together with him, to be pierced by the lance together with him, a servant with his Master, to mingle blood with blood, a man with the living God? Proceeding with such a disposition, the saints rejoiced as they were cut down, and sang as their limbs were hewn off.

Our joy, therefore, has now arrived as well;

in part we have been tried (if indeed we should also be tried to the end) by the grace and loving-kindness of Jesus Christ our Lord;

for let the victory in whatever respect belong to grace, so that no one may boast of having anything of his own.

So that we draw down the mercy of God in Christ Jesus through humility and active confidence.

If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of faith, if any affection and compassion, fulfill my joy—I, wretched man, say together with the Apostle—by being of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, in nothing acting against one another or opposing one another through strife or vainglory.

For it is natural that, even in the very contests waged on behalf of piety, the love of preeminence and the love of contention creep in.

But you, as ministers of God (for in addressing you I include also those of higher rank, who will also read this letter), give occasion for stumbling in nothing whatsoever, lest your ministry be found fault with;

Concerning those about whom you wrote to me that they have come to repentance: as for the members of our own body, even though unworthy, yet we are physicians.

...the voice of the brothers (for we have not judged it good to be reconciled with him, for many reasons), let the rest also hold to this: that they be excluded from participation in the sanctified gifts, and likewise in the other observances.

You ask, until when? Until the clear sky of orthodoxy shines forth again.

But if, one says, death should occur? Let them be given communion.

We believe that their sin has been forgiven them.

But since you have written that you dispute this and that among yourselves, resolve your differences and be at peace among yourselves.

These are not to be received as those who return from heresy (if indeed there too a distinction of no small difference between this case and that one must be observed), but as those who have denied the name of the Lord — that is, who on account of that denial have communed with the Christ-fighters, whether out of fear or some other calamity;

For by their denial of him they have plainly communed with those who deny his holy image.

For the denial of the image passes up to the prototype, as he who proclaims it cries aloud, and it is not otherwise, even if some should wish to make light of the denial.

If, then, those who formerly were not orthodox, nor had been initiated into the truth, but who by divine providence were illumined with the truth and passed over to us — with such it would be otherwise;

even those are not to be received at random, unless with the agreement of a great many of the orthodox, as the divine Basil has shown, writing to those in Mesopotamia who had been exiled from Egypt, rebuking them for having admitted persons without due caution.

Or are you ignorant of what the same father says in another letter? 'I do not know him as bishop, nor would I number him among bishops, who for the overthrow of the faith has been advanced to the presidency by profane hands;'

such as they are now — men who leap upon thrones not out of ignorance but out of love of power, willingly abandoning the truth and laying hold instead of the presidency of impiety.

'If after the manner of man I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus,' says the Apostle, 'what advantage is it to me?' I too say:

if, according to your view, after the denial — that is, communion with the Christ-fighters — such persons are to be received at once without censure, why do I put myself in danger in vain every day, instead of deserting to the adversaries and then, through repentance, being reckoned once more among the orthodox without censure? Do not be deceived: 'evil companionships corrupt good morals.'

But what fellowship has light with darkness, that our practice should be measured alongside that of the Christ-fighters? For, it is said, they themselves receive with joy and without censure those who pass over from orthodoxy to them (alas!) — so then we ought also to crown us who deny Christ, and hold festival as they do for some of their own!

Brothers, I beseech you, do not become children in your minds, but be made perfect through the true knowledge.

Concerning those outside our brotherhood, who am I to render judgment? But if someone should even press me, since love, being the fulfillment of the law, also carries persuasive power, I say this, which applies also to our own:

A presbyter, whether he signed or communed out of fear, being unable to bear the ill-treatment, let him be barred from communion;

for having communed against Christ, how could he possibly commune with Christ? For the release from the restraint on his priestly ministry rests with synodal examination.

He who seems, after his defeat, to have wrestled his way back up, let him withdraw from the place in which he formerly sat;

since otherwise how will the denial he underwent be made known both to himself and to others? I cannot allow this, especially since his recovery did not take place through any notable act, such as in the case of the bishop of Laodicea;

for indeed I would not advise even him to perform the priestly ministry, but only to commune, on account of the notoriety of his case.

So also in the case of an ordinary monk, so also in the case of a layman:

exclusion from communion, together with the other fruits worthy of repentance, and to await the time of orthodoxy.

However, since it is possible for both a relaxation and an increase to be made by the one imposing the penalty — I mean with regard to communion — as the times of the heresy are prolonged according to the unsearchable judgments of the just wrath of God, it is also possible to grant release in the Lord even before a synod, according to how the person's case has fallen out, more gravely or more lightly, and according to what repentance he in turn shows;

Those outside are not to be prevented from sharing a meal with them, though not so that they should also give the blessing until their release.

So much has appeared to me concerning these matters, in the fear of God and in truth.

But if there is anything newer from you or from others, let me be instructed;

for I confess that, as one who sins much, I also admit that I am ignorant of much.

Greet your brothers, who are also my children, Abba Peter and Ignatius and Tithoios, my beloved in the Lord and fellow-workers;

Greet those of your holy company who are dear to me;

Greet the keepers of the mysteries, my beloved inward parts;

Greet her who labors in the Lord, from whom, though I am far away, I yet abound in good things.

Greet all the brothers in Christ, even if they are laymen, among whom is Sergius, the pious one and surety.

The brothers who are with me greet you and the others.

The Lord Jesus Christ be with you, ever-beloved brothers;

Remember my lowliness.

[To Ignatius, his child] From your letters I behold your heart, O my good Ignatius, and I rejoice indeed at your confidence and sincere love, but I grieve that, unworthy as I am, I have such sons who love me in the Lord, choosing everything for me, wretched as I am — so that, if it were possible, you would even have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

Who among disciples is glorified as I am, and who is more inferior than I on account of his sins? No one.

But pray, child, and pray earnestly, that I may walk uprightly, so that in me you may have not reproach, but boasting;

And I too exhort you, through our Lord Jesus Christ, you who are the leading boughs of the brotherhood, to be steadfast now, immovable in the faith, abounding always in the work of the Lord, so that from you uprightness may flow to those beneath you.

May you be examples to all in doing good, in steadfastness;

Watch those who fall into impiety, and be fearful — or rather, be attentive, warm-hearted, apt to teach, and stirring up your neighbors, so that you may be crowned every day.

You have served me, child, with the quires, but I have sent them back to you again, so that, once they are completed, you may send them to me.

Your brothers who are with me greet you.

[To Maria, Augusta] Now it is fitting to glorify God for every person who stands firm on behalf of the truth of Christ, in that nothing on earth — not even one's own flesh — is preferred above the blameless faith of us Christians;

But especially is God to be glorified because you, who might have seemed — on account of your royal dignity, and I would add also your feminine nature, and all the difficulties arising from both — likely to cower and betray piety, have on the contrary stood nobly, choosing the crown of confession and being mastered by no earthly desire.

Truly royal is your mind, my lady, and surpassingly excellent is the dignity of your soul;

Blessed are you, who are completing your contest.

You have given a standard in this generation of your God-honored virtue; your name has become praiseworthy in heaven and on earth.

You appeared to reign in the world through virtue even more truly than when the gold-studded diadem was placed upon you.

Blessed are you among queens; now the glory of nuns, now a light in the world — since you were so before as well, but not to such a degree.

Stand still further, I beseech you; do not be terrified, you who have God as your helper, on account of whom he who seems to terrify you shall himself be terrified of you.

You have suffered before an incurable wrong at the hands of the emperor, who was also your husband, on account of which how much and how greatly has the church of God been troubled!

Was it not so even now? At that time he had the power.