Letters 1 part 27/55

For where the Overseer of souls and High Priest of all things was born, and performed all His divine works, and suffered, and was buried, and rose, and lived, and was taken up — there, clearly, is the dignity that surpasses all others.

But concerning these matters, I have dared to speak so much, with longing and trembling; now I shall turn to another report.

A persecution has overtaken us, O most blessed one, and the most pagan-like of persecutions.

For since Satan perceived that the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ was at the doors, he kindles ever greater flames of heresies, as preludes to the coming of the Antichrist.

What is this? The impiety that was long ago stirred up under Leo and Constantine, that raged for a long time and was broken by divine rebuke — this the one now ruling, who bears the same name and a name akin to that impiety, has renewed again, and to such a degree as to eclipse even their former fury.

He persecutes Christ as depicted, together with His Mother and His servants, and wherever he finds an image, he removes it, he burns it.

Hence altars are torn down, holy temples are defaced, and sacred vessels are burned.

There is no part of his kingdom that has not been left thoroughly purged; but if anyone should be found to have hidden a venerable icon or a book containing something said about it, he is immediately seized, torn apart by scourges, and made to undergo every other terror.

Hence there are fears and tremblings and terrors surrounding every person, so much so that brother avoids even saying 'greetings' to brother, and friend to friend.

A council confirming the most impious council of old, and anathematizing the orthodox one.

The priests acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord, but conspired together for what seemed good to Ahab.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless — except quite a few.

Who are these few? Bishops and abbots, monks and nuns, and — by the grace of God — your own most eminent self, our high priest.

...who, amid punishments, departed to the Lord, having taken up the athlete's crown.

What of the blasphemies? The venerable and awe-inspiring icon of Christ is mocked as 'the abomination of desolation', as 'an idol of deception'.

So it is with every other icon as well — that of the Lady, and of the holy ones.

'Just now,' they say, 'the faith is pure and blameless'; 'just now,' they say, 'the Lord has spoken peace upon his people, and upon his holy ones, and upon those who turn their heart to him.'

as though peace had already been taken away — the very peace Christ gave when he said, 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you,' a peace that had held until now — and as though his Church, which the holy Paul proclaims to have neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing, but to be holy and blameless, had become defiled: some have utterly made shipwreck concerning the faith, while others, though not drowned in their own reasoning, nevertheless perish together through communion with the heresy.

For indeed even those who are orthodox in mind grow dizzy over the truth through the persistence of the persecution, like men bewildered by the sea's raging waves through inexperience in sailing.

All things are pitiable to us, and worthy of lamentation.

The psalm-chants handed down from ancient tradition, in which something is sung about the icons, are being suppressed; in their place the new doctrines are sung, lying openly impious, while other things are being handed down to children by their teachers.

and a most godless transmutation of all things.

We have become, to speak precisely, like Sodom and Gomorrah because of our sins, and the storm of heresy, already at its height, rises higher still with each passing day, and no one has been found to rouse Christ our God to rebuke this wicked sea.

But be for us, O most blessed one, one of the twelve apostles: awaken the sleepless eye that slumbers only by dispensation, for we are perishing utterly.

If perhaps there is also some other remedy of help, hasten, as a skilled physician, to heal those who have grown weak.

Yes, we beg, O most holy one; we implore, we entreat.

We are members of you, since all the faithful are the body of Christ, and members individually.

Permit our other holy fathers as well to extend a hand of intercession, so that, from many persons, God's mercy toward us may come.

For this reason I send this letter, and the letter-bearer sent by the intention of all, even though at the sending of us alone, the least, who fulfill their common role.

But in order that your Eminence might know in part what sort of doctrines the godless hold, I have sent along with the letter these things in booklets, which I, unlearned as I am, thought good to refute, having been urged by others.

I ask of your God-given wisdom to examine this and set right what is lacking, and to grant me pardon for my failings; and moreover, that our brother and fellow-servant be assisted both in delivering the letters we have sent to the other holy persons, and indeed, God willing, in his safe return with an answer to us here.

{To the Lavra of Saint Sabas} To my God-honored, beloved, and spiritual father, the lord superior of the renowned Lavra of our all-blessed holy father Sabas, and to the venerable fathers under him: Theodore, least presbyter and abbot of the Studite monastery.

It is great joy to me, and a mantle of glory for one so unworthy, that I have been counted worthy to send my humble letter to a holy place, into the tents of the holy ones belonging to your greatly beloved fatherhood.

For since it was not possible for me to come in bodily presence to your very footsteps and behold the holy precinct, your sacred enclosure, which I, in my humility, hold in reverence as a city of God, the good God was pleased, through this letter's visitation, to fulfill the heart's desire of me, a sinner.

And thus, as one present before your feet, I embrace you with holy longing, and I venerate the divine ground in which is treasured up the chosen vessel of God — the light of monastics, the lamp of the inhabited world, the drowner of the intelligible Pharaoh, the guide of the holy nation, the master of the holy land, and the bequeather of the divine monasteries.

I see the place upon which the pillar of fire appeared united to the pillar of virtues; the victorious struggle against unseen enemies, the drama of wonder-working, this and that adorned in variety by the workings of the Spirit as occasion required.

Oh, how many things my longing urges me to say, and yet propriety restrains me, lest the letter fall into excess!

Oh, how many symbols and memorials of good deeds are among you, things almost able, by the very sight of them, to exhort the soul toward the increase of virtue!

But let the first part of this discourse rest with these things, even if it falls short of my desire.

But I shall pass on to another topic, one of lamentation, not of joy, on account of which the former discourse was in fact occasioned for me.

The wrath of God has overtaken us, O most holy fathers, because lawlessness has increased and love has grown cold, as the Lord said — a persecution in the manner of the pagans, exceedingly harsh.

Our chief shepherd has been driven out of the fold; the sheep of Christ have been scattered.

Grievous wolves have crept in and corrupted the flock, and indeed a wild boar has ravaged it.

What is this? Here too, once again, the venerable icon of God and our Savior Jesus Christ has been dishonored — as well as that of the Theotokos, and of every saint whatsoever.

For this reason 'the shepherds have become foolish' — and, to speak in the prophet's words, it is not that they 'sought not the Lord' (for the impiety would have been less), but that they 'gathered together, in the manner of the Jews, against the Lord and against his Christ,' rejecting his holy icon and that of his mother and of his servants.

For this reason holy altars have been obliterated and the temples of the Lord defaced, in every city and region under this authority, set forth as objects of mourning to those who see them, stripped of the ornament proper to their divine beauty.

For this reason sacred vessels are being melted down, and holy vestments given over to the fire, together with the figures carved on tablets, and the books in which anything is said about icons.

For this reason the great mystery of the divine economy is mocked, and — I shudder even to say it — the world-saving likeness of Christ has been called an abomination, or rather Christ himself, together with his mother and his servants, since in honor and in appellation both are one and the same — the icon and the prototype.

For this reason there are searches and interrogations, man by man and house by house, and fears and threats, lest anyone be left unconquered by the heresy, or any icon whatsoever be left behind.

For this reason lawless priests and unmonastic monks are turning against their own brethren of the same habit, disciples against their own abbots, carrying off the presidency as the prize of their apostasy; and he who has raged most madly against Christ is judged worthy of the greatest honors.

For this reason scourgings, bonds, imprisonments, starvation, exiles, and deaths [are inflicted] upon those who resist.

To the impious, neither the high priesthood is respected, nor gray hair pitied, nor ascetic piety, nor anything else worthy of being spared.

There is one law: the will of Caesar; and one aim: that all be ensnared in this.

The deserts hold those who have escaped; the rocks and the caves hold those who have been saved.

Oh, how we have become like a pelican of the wilderness!

Oh, how we have been handed over into hands, into the teeth of the impious! And the greater part of these things I have passed over, on account of the tedium it would cause.

But groan over us, O most compassionate ones, as fellow-members of the body; extend a hand of intercession as lovers of the brethren.

Our affairs here are being made more barbarous than those there.

We have already become like Sodom, and we have already been made like Gomorrah.

For this reason, therefore, we the humble ones have cried out to your holiness, as with one mouth of all the brethren and fellow-sufferers.

For we know that 'the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,' so that, through its propitiating power, the devastation of the heretical sword may cease, the Lord bringing back our Church too to peaceful orthodoxy.

But that you also, O venerable ones, might know in part what sort of impious doctrines the godless hold, I have sent along with the letters these things in booklets, which I, unlearned as I am, thought good to refute, having been urged by the pious.

...to be numbered as the last of all members in the fullness of your holy church.

{To the Lavra of Saint Chariton} To my God-honored, beloved, and spiritual father, the lord superior of the greatest Lavra of our all-blessed holy father Chariton, and to the venerable fathers under him: Theodore, least presbyter and abbot of the Studite monastery.

Since the reception of your letters was beyond hope, I shall cry out in wonder.

Whence is this to me, that I, the worthless one, should be deemed worthy to write to you, my holy fathers? For behold, this most grievous persecution has overtaken us because of our sins, the report of which has surely reached even as far as you.

I, the humble one, was considering and searching how, and through what person, I might be able to lament to you, the holy ones, the terrible things that have happened to us, for no other reason than to call your holy souls to compassion, that you might take our part through your prayers — since you clearly know how to suffer with us, according to the apostolic teaching, if indeed we are all the body of Christ, and members individually.

And just as I was pondering these things, the letter-bearer suddenly arrived, coming from your parts, and this one is my son in the spirit, and most faithful indeed.

How then was I, the sinner, not to be astonished at this windfall, and how was I not to render due thanks to the Lord my God, as is fitting? But before I tell the painful things, I, the humble one, shall first discharge my longing devotion toward you.

Rejoice, O most blessed fathers, dwellers of the holy land, the golden race, most approved in the faith, and all-conquerors of the passions.

Rejoice, O renowned assembly of Christ, laborers of the commandments of the Lord, imitating the God-like life of the dwelling in paradise.

Rejoice, O chosen city of God, since the Lord is in your midst, being served through the undertaking of good works.

I wished to take in with my own eyes your divine domain, and to touch your sacred footprints, to see the holy precinct, to venerate the divine ground, to survey each place — where the saint of God, who truly bears a name signifying one filled with graces, contended both as martyr and as ascetic, and where his sacred body lies treasured up — he who is the true treasury of virtues, the citizen of the desert and the lamp of the inhabited world, whose honored offspring has not failed, nor shall fail, until the consummation of the age.

Would that I had seen these things, and embraced the dust as though it were alive!

Would that I had been led also to the remaining tombs of the holy ones, being sanctified by that sight alone!

But since these things have been briefly praised by me, come, let me now relate also the things full of pain.

'There arose a new king,' as the sacred Scripture says somewhere, 'who did not know Joseph.'

Such indeed is our Pharaoh, O most holy ones — not ignorant of Joseph, but denying the Master who purchased him.

For it is clear that he who rejects his icon rejects him; thus he has rejected the Theotokos also, and every saint.

For, being by nature a denier, he could not endure not to sweep away, together with the head, all the members as well, so that by a Nebuchadnezzar-like decree his image alone might be set up for display.

From this arose the desolation of all the churches of God, every venerable icon everywhere being destroyed.

Hence the burning of sacred votive offerings, among which is an icon, and of books in which something is said concerning it;

hence the demanding of written statements of impiety, and participation in godless communion exacted through much inquisition and search, so that no man is left unconquered;

for one of two things is necessary: either to worship the golden image, or to be subjected to the evil flame of torments.

and yet those who do not bend are few enough to be counted.

Who are these? Our sacred patriarch, hierarchs and priests, monks and nuns;

for not even that shameless, harlot's face was ashamed to let its scourges loose even upon these.

A prophet, while he was still chief steward of Ahab, when Jezebel was murdering, is said to have hidden the sons of the prophets, fifty by fifty, in two caves, and to have provided for them there;

but here, if a man is discovered to have hidden even a single one, he is in great danger; and this even if he does so secretly, fleeing the impious communion, whether by guarding an icon or a book containing matters concerning it.

The mouths of the pious are silenced within, the blasphemous tongue is let loose, and the great mystery of the [divine] economy is made a mockery.

'Just now,' they say, 'the Lord has spoken peace upon his people, and upon his holy ones, and upon those who turn their heart to him' — he who from the beginning said to his own disciples:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.

'Just now,' he says, 'the abominations of Greek polytheism have been taken out of the midst,' since the apostle cried from the beginning: an idol is nothing in the world;

'Just now,' they say, 'the church has been purified' — the very church which the same apostle long ago declared to have no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but to be holy and blameless;

'Just now,' they say, 'the light has shone upon Christians,' who were held fast in the gloom of ignorance, to whom Christ, from above and from the beginning, had said: I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

Do you see, holy brothers, the apostasy which must come first, as the apostle says? Already before our eyes we see the forerunners of the entrance of the Antichrist.

We have utterly failed, we are being wasted away;

the bellows has given out; every hope, so far as it depends on man, has been driven away.

But groan over us, O most compassionate ones, as fellow members of one body; stretch out an interceding hand, as those who love the brethren.

Our situation is growing more barbarous than that in those parts.

We have already become like Sodom, and we have already been made like Gomorrah.

For this reason, then, we the humble have cried out to your holiness, as with one mouth belonging to all our brothers and fellow-sufferers;

for we know that your righteous supplication has power when it is set to work, so that by its propitiation the shattering blow of the heretical sword may be stilled, the Lord bringing our church too back to peaceful orthodoxy.

But that you too, O venerable ones, may know in part what sort of impious doctrines the godless hold, I have sent along with this letter these things in booklets, which I, unlearned as I am, thought fit to refute, having been urged to do so by pious men.

I ask to be visited by your divine sagacity, and to receive from you pardon for the debts I have incurred, and to be held in remembrance in your prayers that incline toward God, and indeed also to be numbered as the very last of all members within the fullness of your holy church.

{To Isaac and Arsenius, monks in the Holy City} It is dear to us, the humble, to address every father of the holy land, now that we have succeeded in sending one of our beloved brothers to those parts — not to speak of addressing you, most holy fathers, whose brief company was so lovingly implanted in our humble heart that it remains unforgettable in fond remembrance, because of the goodness manifest in every way in your manners and your words.

For where there is humility, there every good accomplishment is found; and in respect of this your holy pair, being fragrant, sends forth to us, not only then but even until now, a sweet-smelling scent of sanctification.

Such as you are, you appeared more praiseworthy than all who had come visiting from the East, leaving good remembrances behind in those who love you.

As for the reason for the brother's mission, he himself will explain it; though I suppose it is not unknown even to you, since the matter was already causing turmoil while you were still in Byzantium.

So then, the ruler has kindled the heretical flame against the venerable icons, so as to set the whole church ablaze and to destroy nearly every man led away into impiety, having become another Ahab or Nebuchadnezzar;

who, having pulled down every holy icon, has set up his own image alone in their place, which whoever is unwilling to worship is immediately handed over to the flame of torments.

...to open love and bowels of compassion to the letter-bearer, both for his approach to and veneration of the holy summit, and for whatever else your brotherly love may judge fitting;

for he also carries other letters to other persons, and indeed also a treatise of ours, unlearned as we are.

So then, as fellow members of the body and sharers in our humiliation, or rather as servants of God and guardians of the common good, deign to look upon the brother, to receive him, and to bear with him in every way, so that, God being well pleased, he may again be sent back to us.

We received the letter you sent us, and we learned for what reason, having set out from Constantinople, you did not succeed in going on to the West.

{To Niketas, Abbot} Having earlier learned what had befallen your holiness because of my sins, I groaned not a little, but even lamented greatly, shedding a tear of love and, wretched man that I am, chanting mournful sayings.

For what is more grievous than a friend's misfortune? But as for what followed, by the good pleasure of God, who did not allow your former contests to come to nothing, through your most excellent renewed struggle — hearing of it again, I was filled with a kind of exultation, giving thanks to the Lord who turned mourning into joy for all who are pious;

for the grief was no small matter, since it was from him — in whom, on account of the virtue dwelling in him, I had hoped for strength — that I had, from that very quarter, found a stumbling block.

But well done, noble one, that you have wrought a victory more glorious than the defeat, through which the church of God has again recognized you as her own nursling, numbering you among the roll of her own confessors;

for such is the loving-kindness of God: he both rewards generously those who run well, and firmly establishes those who run back to him.

Alas for that evil company, or rather, that evil fellowship!

For I know that it was from this that you were ensnared, O most honored one to me.

And indeed I had foretold the snare beforehand, conjecturing from what had happened before;

for such is he who stands foremost of all.

For he who long ago termed transgressions of the Gospel 'economy' — and that even amid persecutions — has himself now also reckoned as none of the destructive things the present communion with the heretics, and this openly, the very communion from which comes the denial of Christ, of the Theotokos, and of whatever saint, through their own icons; having thereby ensnared, and continuing to ensnare, by his own example, those who were ever unshaken.

For how was he, who had not condemned himself for his first impieties, going to present himself to God in his later contests as unshaken and as one who had not been impious? Therefore I ask you and entreat you, my father: complete your present divine confession by also confessing renunciation of the many things done in that former time, praying for me, the sinner.

{To Arsenius the Monk} I received the letters of your love, and having considered them carefully, I groaned at the drama that had taken place — or rather, at the collapse of those who seem to be men of some standing — by which your father too was ensnared, who is my brother of one soul;

whose earlier defeat pained me more than that of others, just as now his renewed struggle greatly gladdens me.

I greatly praised your diligent labor, brother, on behalf of the same spiritual father, because your heartfelt and fiery words of confession were truly the affections of a genuine disciple and the lamentations of an unfeigned child;

for indeed the collapse into, and embodiment of, the Christ-fighting heresy, and communion with it even once by one who has been ensnared — and this after a noble resistance, and this by one holding a rank both priestly and abbatial — is in truth the death of the soul.

Reasonably, then, O most understanding one, did I weep bitterly, and with clear discernment did I speak in pity, as one beholding the father's misfortune like a blood-stained garment, or rather a spiritual devouring by a beast, uttering words such as these: 'An evil beast has seized' — not Joseph, whom Jacob once mourned, sold by his own brothers through the contrivance of the coat that was shown to him — but my own father; a man-shaped beast, Joseph, who habitually hunts down those who agree in mind with his impieties, but not with genuine dispensations.

having by his transgressions brought down not a few; and now again, having decreed that communion with the heretics, in the rejection of the icon of Christ, is 'economy,' that man has cast down together with himself those who were unlawfully persuaded.

And such is he; but you are a blessed man, who, having lamented, drew your father up again with both hands together, and established him once more in the same confession;

and rejoice, because he is alive in the Lord, even though he had died before;

for he will strike, it says, and bind up the wound, and on the third day he will raise up.

Who did this? He who raised Lazarus, four days dead, from the tomb, and who now, in turn, has given life to your father and mine.

Rejoice, rejoice, and weep no longer as Martha did, but as far as possible help him also from now on — the one to whom I too have written.

{To Sergius, Consul of the Aerikon} I would long ago have written to your nobility, having been taught not to grow slack in the duty of friendship; but the change in circumstances has numbed my hand, lest perhaps I be unwelcome even to very close friends who have been changed — not with the good kind of change, whose effect is to move forward from what lies behind, but with the opposite kind, being led toward the contrary.

But since one so great in virtue is not of that kind, I have persuaded myself to proceed to writing.

And so, by this pen, I address you, my lord and especially beloved friend, whose knowledge is great and whose piety began from his father, and for whom to withdraw himself from the crowd and to be with God is more delightful, while to care little for Caesar and the affairs surrounding Caesar is most characteristic of him.

How then, dear friend (for my speech shall be frank), have you, so great as you are, been led astray in visible things? It is enough, for the present, to have made clear what lies before us, out of reverence for the honor that surrounds you.

But alas for the slippery nature of men!

These things belong to those who change their beliefs according to the occasion, but not to those who are steadfast and always hold the same way, unchanging, concerning the same matter.

Yet I, the humble one, pray for you nonetheless, that though you roll about amid the affairs of this world, you may be sprinkled but little by the salty waves of this life, and that you may keep the tunic of orthodoxy both unstained and unblemished together.

{To Naucratius, my Child} With few syllables I repay you, beloved child, for the many words of praise which I hear, greatly fearing that I am not such a one, but rather like the man cast down at the crossroads on account of the deadness of his sins, having never, in word or in deed, pleased my God.

May it be, through the working of your prayer, that I begin from now on to worship God, by acquiring a new heart, one that hates and abhors truly loathsome sin, and loves the only desirable and most lovely virtue, which is God himself.

But you, good child, be sober in all things, doing the work of an evangelist through your most excellent ministry;

for I know that you strain yourself here and there, taking thought for many things like a steward of God.

Even if the ruler roars with threats, do not be terrified;

for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and self-control.

And even if the adversaries do not yield to signs, do not marvel, but be long-suffering.

For those men do not relent, except so as to fill up the measure of their sins, nor do the people of God relent, except so as to obtain their reward;

for it is through hope and faith and endurance that all the saints have received the promises;

So do not seek times and appointed deadlines for the cessation of evils;

they will abate then, whenever it is beneficial for us.

Therefore let us run the race set before us, looking to Christ, the author and perfecter of faith;

who, I am confident, will bring our course to completion, being made gracious by fatherly supplications together with those of all the saints.

Greet all the brothers, especially no. 4, no. 9, and no. 30.

Those who are with me send you many greetings.

{To the Same} Although we did not receive a letter from you, beloved child, through brother Theodoulos, since he departed without your knowledge and as though by another road, nevertheless we thought it good to write to you, letting you know that by the grace of Christ we are well in body.

I have no strength of my own or from my own works, but God is able, for your sake, to save me also — he on whom you depend in love, just as I also depend on you;

For what other glory or joy or eagerness do I have apart from you, and especially from you, the faithful and beloved one, who after God are all things to me in this life? For this reason I rejoice at your life and progress, entreating my good God that he may grant you ever more understanding, with perfect prudence and most complete humility, so that neither my hopes nor, again, the expectations of many concerning you may be proven false;

for indeed you are spoken of in the mouths of not a few, on account of your excellence in speech.

Consider then, child, what sort of task is yours: that he who increases knowledge increases sorrow, and he who receives praise — if he is godly and wise — has conceived a fire of zeal with much trembling.

Keep yourself unconquered both with regard to the inner man, against the undeclared and unrelenting warfare of the devil, and with regard to the outer man, through good conduct and good counsel in all things.

We are now also awaiting brother Proterios, through whom, certainly — if God so orders that you still remain there — we shall both receive your letter and send back a reply.

As a son of peace, make peace, my child, among your brothers, in imitation of Christ.

Know that we have sufficiently what is needed.

May I have joy of you, child, in the Lord; give rest to my inmost heart by also being well in body.

Those who are with me greet you.

I embrace the brothers most warmly.