Letters 1 part 35/55

And such a loving God we have, who in a single hour gave a dwelling-place to the thief—him who was of old, yet at the last—and who likewise justified the tax-collector.

But if, in accordance with what has just been said, the one who has sinned should give himself over to receive stripes upon his back and something even more, who would doubt that his sin has been forgiven him? For indeed to die in the confession of Christ properly makes one a martyr of the Lord.

But perhaps the question concerns the penance: that if he is subjected to torments but does not in fact die, let it be determined by the one who imposed the penance how much should be remitted on account of his sufferings—the whole, or the half;

for it is not possible for us to determine this.

Such is the word of our lowliness.

But if it ought to be otherwise, teach us, father, and enlighten us, the uninitiated.

Give abundant greetings to my brother, master Procopius.

{To Arcadius, Monk} This is now the second time I write, beloved, since you were seized by the Judaizers.

I pray that at least this letter may come into your hands.

For I, first of all, considering myself a debtor according to the common law of love—that those who are joined together in the same mind of the confession of Christ must encourage one another—am under necessity to write to you;

and secondly, on account of the particular bond, which you know how great and of what kind it has been between us from the beginning, I write in great urgency.

But thanks be to God, my most honored brother, that in this bitter winter of unbelief you have appeared as a flower of orthodoxy—or rather, a confessor of Christ;

once brought into the sight of the rulers, you did not cower, but confessed the good confession.

You were scourged severely, you were exiled, you were confined somewhere here in a hidden corner;

again you were led into the hands of your tormentors; you did not grow slack, you did not deny the faith; you were again torn to shreds with blows and have remained unconquered, fearing not those who kill the body, but the one Lord and God and King alone, according to what was commanded by him.

Blessed are you, and it shall be well with you;

for you are noble, and more noble than those from the risings of the sun.

But if they have counted you among the weavers, as an imperial servant, do not be astonished;

Moreover, that even without so intending, they truly showed the world that you are a servant of the King of heaven — a demonstration of God's testimony, a refutation of impiety.

Stand firm, then, noble soldier of Christ; contend perfectly, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your confession — invisibly having God as your helper, and the guardian angel of your life encircling you, attending upon you, rejoicing over you exceedingly, and offering up your prayers to God as a fragrant aroma.

we sinners indeed, yet those who long for you exceedingly.

{To the Hegoumenos} Since I have learned that you were brought in for questioning and beaten for Christ's sake, O thrice-beloved one, I rejoice and rejoice together with you;

for this is joy and exultation — not according to the joy of the world (for that joy is joyless, seeming to be but not truly being, since, flowing away, it does not stand firm, and in ending it brings about death), but the joy that is according to God;

for this alone is true gladness, and it remains ever the same, and its end is eternal life.

Fittingly, then, I exult and exult together with you, most honored father.

But because, as they say, the shower of blows numbering a hundred and grievously scourging you — behold, here again is an intensifying of my rejoicing:

I did not bear the report unmoved, even though I was absent.

Yet nevertheless, glory be to God who glorified you, that you were struck upon the back by the impious;

unquenchable is your renown, sacred is your suffering, a support to those who confess together with you, a spur to the orthodox, a rending-asunder of the heretics, an edification of the Church of God.

Holy stones roll upon the earth, as the prophet says;

What does this mean? It is for the leveling of piety, for the building up of the Church.

You too, then, are one among them all, being by the Holy Spirit fitted together and joined to the cornerstone.

But remember us sinners as well, most holy one, in your prayers, that we may not fall away from the building, but be found here somewhere, even if only as a bit of rubble, by the grace and loving-kindness of our good God.

{Theodore, to the brotherhoods scattered everywhere, together with those contending in the confession of Christ: greetings} Every joy is to be reckoned, my brothers, amid the present afflictions, since for Christ's sake there is the persecution of the persecuted, the imprisonment of the confined, and — I might add — the scourgings of the scourged.

I would not, therefore, cease to address, exhort, and remind you, both all together and each one individually, even though I know that you are established in the faith and possess within yourselves the power to exhort and admonish;

but nevertheless I, a sinner, am a debtor to add what is from myself as well, especially since longing compels me to do so;

for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, and I, unadorned as I am, am adorned by your confessional virtues.

You are my joy and my crown, my support and my unconquerable stronghold.

Yes, I ask and exhort that all remain unshaken in every good cheer and eagerness;

"Rejoice always," says the divine apostle, "pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks."

And are these not joy and exultation — that, if indeed we suffer together, we shall also be glorified together; if we die, we shall also live together; if we endure, we shall also reign together, as it is written? How great is the promise, beloved!

Even if we are cast into the fire, we shall bear it; even if we are given over to wild beasts, let us bear it.

For thus have those who from of old bore the prize in the contest endured — men and women alike — looking ahead to the things beyond, lightening the present pain with their hopes, counting their afflictions as delight, and even desiring the increase of their sufferings, not shrinking from them — just as those who, as you yourselves know, seize ever more wealth than their companions — having themselves tasted the immortal sweetness.

for bitter is your seeming sweetness, and deadly beyond every pleasure and delight;

for you are the blessing and the joy and the mastery, even over those who hold you fast.

See with what weighty words I, the worthless one, exhort you — not indeed words of any merit, but words of friendship.

Let all who consider the Lord's visitation to be slow in coming take this to heart: that the goodness of God leads the persecutors to repentance, but the sufferers to testing; and let them not lose heart, nor scrutinize the judgments of the Lord.

It is not [the part] of grateful servants to say, "How long?"

The celebrated Job did not say this, nor did Peter, nor Paul, those of countless contests, nor any of the martyrs.

The sleepless eye knows what is sufficient in both cases.

Do you not have pity on yourself, seeing that you store up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and revelation and the righteous judgment of God?

A declaration concerning the unbearable griefs in the unquenchable fire (and we must urge forbearance, so far as lies in our power, unless it be for the sake of those who are perishing and have fallen from endurance) — he who is eager to see the death of the sinner cannot have peace with God, than which nothing is worse;

for he is always in turmoil of soul, desiring what God abhors, and willing what he himself does not [truly] will.

From this spring listlessness, faintheartedness, blasphemies, and the rest of the offshoots of wickedness.

"Let your will be done," from the heart: "I have become like a beast before you, yet I am continually with you."

And thus the soul, being at peace, will have boldness before God, choosing to spend even a hundred years in sufferings endured on His behalf;

For neither, if we pray against its delay, will it come more swiftly, nor, if we pray for its delay, will it be delayed; rather, it will come at that time which God, who determined what is beneficial before the foundation of the world, knows to be the righteous judgment.

Pray for us sinners, I beseech you, that we may be saved.

Nicholas, brother of both you and me, greets you all.

{To my spiritual holy fathers who have been exiled for the Lord's sake, Theodore, least of presbyters and hegoumenos of the Studites, greetings in the Lord} Even to receive a letter from one Orthodox person in these harsh days — let alone from many gathered together as one — is something strange to these times, like a many-petaled rose in winter, and most delightful indeed to my lowliness, so that from the very superscription my spirit leapt for joy, and I gave due thanks and confession to the Lord;

he who, even in the present Ahab-like persecution, has kept for himself so many who have not bent the knee to Baal.

For I think that those unbending today are equal in number to those of that time — not only through those who stand openly manifest by their confession, but also through those preserved here and there in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth, to speak in the apostle's words — just as your company also, dwelling upon the three-peaked mountain, is adorned as bearing a thrice-blessed renown.

Thanks, then, be to God, who enriches you together with all who call upon His name;

I praise your sacred flight, I extol your mountain dwelling, because, even though it is full of suffering, it is nevertheless divinizing.

Moses on Mount Sinai conversed with God; Elijah on Mount Horeb was deemed worthy to see God as far as was possible;

Jesus Himself, the most sovereign over the Godhead, went up to the mountain to pray, in a manner befitting man.

What does this mean? To me it seems that this observation is a symbol of the soul's ascent;

For as the mountain rises high above the plain and hollow lying beneath the hills, by that same measure does the mind of the one who prays ascend toward God through the elevated place.

Do you see, O thrice-beloved ones, of what sort and how great your dwelling is? Remember also us sinners, dwellers upon the ground here below, that we too may be kindled together with you, the Lord's high-soaring eagles.

But let these things stand as they are, even though longing urges me to say more.

Yet why have you come to such a measure of humility, as to seek from me, the unlearned one, answers to the questions you have proposed? You yourselves, by the grace of Christ, already know from yourselves what is needful;

and if not, then from those who excel both in rank and in learning.

for there are very many, as the discussion has shown, who ought to be taught.

So then, that I may not seem to grieve you, and at the same time fearing to be disobedient, I submit myself to your command.

But first I must say this: that this heresy — even if it has appeared otherwise to those before us, or might even now seem to some to be somewhat middling in its evil and not too severe — to me, dim-sighted though I am, seems to be nothing other than a denial of Christ;

for if in the image the archetype is manifested, as the all-wise Dionysius says, and if the honor paid to the image passes on to the prototype, as the Great Basil says, and if the image of Christ is now despised, denied, and trampled underfoot by the Christ-fighters, then in His image and through the image, Christ Himself has been denied, dishonored, and rejected in the manner of the Jews;

and there is no other way to escape this conclusion.

Men, but women as well, [act] as though denying Christ both in reasoning and in deed — a thing which has not been seen in the heresies of old;

in reasoning, in that the impious assert it is not possible for Christ to be depicted by the form of a body; in deed, in that they tear down every holy image of Christ, of the Theotokos, of angels, of every holy man and holy woman from every church, and from every sacred votive offering, handing them over to the fire, mocking and laughing at the great mystery of piety, calling Christ, as depicted together with His mother and servants, an abomination.

and to think, to say, and to do such things belongs to the Jews and to the Greeks [pagans];

for even the Arabs and the Scythians, moved by a sense of shame, have not been shown to have done any such thing.

How then are these not a denial of the economy of Christ? But let the discourse turn to the propositions [at hand].

Some yielded of their own free choice, with no one compelling them;

others, however, through threat alone;

others, without threat or torture, through fear alone;

others, so as not to lose their own possessions;

and some also out of ignorance.

How ought these to be received when they return? Only when they all clearly show forth fruits worthy of repentance.

But what are these? Abstention from the holy things, together with weeping and laborious supplication — lasting three years for those in the first category, and two years for those in the second;

for the third, fourth, and fifth categories, the same period as the first; for the sixth, one year.

After the fulfillment of this, how should they be regarded? If he is of the priestly order and did not subscribe, no longer partaking of the impious communion, he is to remain in the clerical rank to which he had been appointed;

but if he had in fact signed, he is to be treated as one barred from priestly ministry until an orthodox synod, yet nonetheless partaking of the holy things.

Is it permitted, under the necessity of fear or of famine, or even without necessity, or under compulsion, to eat together with those who are wholly impious — who commune with others yet profess themselves to be orthodox? By no means whatsoever, except perhaps in the most extreme cases, and not indifferently, but out of some necessary manner, once or twice.

Is it permitted to eat the remains of the food eaten by them, whether under necessity or even without necessity, because the sign of the cross has already been made over it? If it was made by a priest, by no means;

but if not, it may be partaken of under compulsion.

Is it necessary to enter their oratory for the sake of prayer, and is it necessary to perform the holy offering in it with one's own table? Neither the one nor the other, by no means.

Should one say 'greetings' to them and embrace them? By no means; as the Great Basil says, the Lord forbade the common greeting;

so that this is permissible only as a matter of convention, but as an expression of love and friendship it must be avoided, so that in this may be fulfilled the word:

'One must not say greetings to the impious.'

There are some of the monasteries who joined neither in deed nor in word, procuring their salvation by flight, and who, after the withdrawal of the impious, return once more.

But if a church has had the liturgy celebrated in it by the impious — if this happened only once, let them enter it, performing in it only their prayers; but if it happened many times, let them keep far away from it.

There are certain laymen, or even monks, who vehemently abhor and even lament the impiety, but because of the threats of the godless they approach their communion, considering it to be poison, and they ask us to make prayer on their behalf;

is it permitted to impart the divine mysteries to them? It is permitted to make prayer, but by no means to give them communion, whatever they may say or do.

If they set up crosses along the public roads, should one venerate them? This should not be forbidden.

Should one present offerings brought by such people? By no means.

These things, then, we have uttered as the Lord brought them to our mind — not in the manner of lawgivers (since we are not among those who exercise hierarchical rule;

for it is theirs to establish canonically), but in the manner of counsel, since we are of the same rank as you, and since, for lack of those who are hierarchically bound to establish these things, we have been compelled by you and have come to undertake this.

But you, most holy fathers, forgive us if there is anything in what has been said that displeases you.

Let one take heed of the passion, and of the strength and weakness of each, and thus administer treatment and heal, employing now subtractions and now additions;

things which it is not possible to comprehend canonically in a single summary, just as our holy fathers themselves also determined.

[To Lucian, his son.] Our good God, knowing the proneness of human nature to slip, and that even one who seems to walk uprightly is, before he knows it, tripped up by a moment's negligence, has in his love for mankind granted repentance, which calls man back from his fall and restores him to soundness.

Since therefore you too, my brother, have suffered what you have suffered, and have completed the period of that notable repentance, propitiating God, as I have heard, with much compunction and abundant tears, and now seek release, as was made known to me both through the steward and the assistant steward, may this be granted you by the Lord;

and may you be sound of health from this time forward, my son, rejoicing in Christ and prospering in him, no longer offering pledges to the Master only to fall again, but rather resolved to die for him, just as he too suffered for you.

Formerly, then, by letter, I, unworthy as I am, spoke to you tearfully, echoing the divine voice, 'Adam, where are you?' — because you had fallen from a lofty life, one as it were paradisal;

but now it is necessary for me, wretched as I am, to venture boldly and say:

'Peace be to you; arise; Christ commands it; live forever.'

[To Albeneca, protospatharia.] The letter of your nobility astonished me not a little — dictated as it was from a God-loving heart, and put forth from so contrite and so humbled a disposition, that having read it through twice I said to myself:

'Who, and of what sort, and how great is this soul, which speaks such things to me, wretched as I am?' And when the letter-bearer also reported to me the things which you had entrusted to him to declare with a living voice, then I marveled all the more exceedingly, and I glorified our good God, who inspired in you such a resolve, and who kindled in you the longing to bring it into deed.

Great, then, my lady, is the work which you have longed for, and one hard to accomplish — not only because of the loftiness and heavenly character of that life (for renunciation is nothing other than a profession of the cross and of death for one who has truly become a monk), but also because you are bound to a husband, from whom it is not possible to be separated as though by chance, since it is plain that he was joined to you by God.

Who then could dissolve this bond, if not plainly he who joined it — when one is eager to advance to a greater way of life? It is necessary, therefore, as the ordinance of holy Basil directs, first to set matters well in order with one's spouse;

and what is this? To lay bare to him the reasoning behind your longing, to show him how vain and dream-like the world is, that nothing in it endures, but that all things pass away like shadows — however joyous a thing may be, however pleasurable, however abundantly prosperous, however delightful, even were it a kingdom itself;

for like the flower of the field, all things fly away;

and not only this, but an inexorable judgment also awaits those who have lived in this present age attached to such things, and not according to the commandments of Christ;

which is a difficult thing to accomplish while living the common life.

Say these things, entreat, soften his heart, so as to persuade him to join with you in supporting the aim of your renunciation ('for how do you know, wife,' it says, 'whether you will save your husband?'), and do so for a sufficient time;

and if he should agree, it would be well; but if not, then, if the longing for God so greatly enflames you, you may do as you have resolved, even without your spouse's consent.

But, as has been said, the matter is hard to bring to completion, especially in these days of persecution, and because you are no ordinary woman, but one of the eminent, indeed a blood-relative of the reigning empress;

wherefore it is also a matter for wonder, how, amid the very great glory of this present life, you abhor it and long instead to put on this lowliness of Christ.

Blessed be the Lord, who so persuades!

For indeed, in comparison with the glory of God, the glorious things of this vain life are truly an abomination.

Hold fast, then, to your most excellent course of life;

and continue on, not grieving your spouse, but rather bending him toward you through your godly conduct.

Concerning the sister, I have made known to her what has occurred to me as fitting;

concerning my steward and beloved child, I thank you exceedingly, for the compassion with which you have hastened to attend to him.

[To Maria, a nun.] I read your honored letter and recognized in it your pious reasoning, that in accordance with the same disposition as that blessed father, you too are resolved to suffer for Christ's sake;

and rightly so, that it might be shown that the one flesh also holds to one mind, not being unequally yoked with regard to the faith.

Thanks, then, be to God, who has thus, on account of fear and longing for him, separated you from one another bodily by the evangelic sword, and yet again has joined you together in soul by one spirit and one mind.

Strive, then, my lady, to be deemed worthy of the same portion as he, and to meet him there, and to be with him forever, choosing him just as he chose you;

for indeed he too, with great love, showed great concern for your salvation, as I myself also know, since he used to share with my humble self, as with a father, the matters that concerned him, as a son would.

Concerning your outward, pretended wearing of worldly dress, undertaken out of the necessity of persecution, for a short time and place — this is found among the saints as a response to some necessary occasion, but never as a permanent practice.

If I should permit you to cast off this pretense, you might well say that you cannot bear the martyrdom that would follow;

for you would also be brought to torments;

but again, if I should let you continue on in this way, I have no scriptural warrant for it.

Since, then, two evils lie before us, it is better to be a monk in secret than, unable to bear the blows, to commune with the sect of denial and fall away from Christ, in whom your portion shall be forever.

[Exhortatory letter to a nun.] The present time is such that it compels us to be concerned for one another, on account of the dignity of unanimity and common faith, since God has called together, as one church, that is, one company, all those who hold fast to the truth and confess it in it.

Just as, then, it is not without danger for one who belongs to a monastery not to be concerned for his fellow disciples, or for an abbot likewise not to be concerned for his students, so it is also for all of us, since, as has been said, we are one cenobitic church.

I visit you by this letter, and I ask how indeed you are faring in the Lord, O spiritual sister — whether you remain steadfast in the good confession of Christ, whether you keep the deposit of faith secure through the Holy Spirit, whether you are strengthened in God, not being frightened by the impious.

May you be established still further, and to such a degree that you might sing along with holy David:

'I will not fear when the earth is shaken and the mountains are moved into the heart of the seas.'

For indeed the one who is truly firm in faith is utterly unshaken in the love of Christ, from which neither tribulation, nor distress, nor famine, nor persecution, nor danger, nor sword is able to separate him.

By this confidence all the saints were made perfect; may your honored self also be made perfect by the same confidence;

for you are no less noble than Thecla, Febronia, and the blessed company that surrounded them.

You are a daughter of God, a bride of Christ, just as they were, and now too, for his sake, there is martyrdom, just as there was then.

Let us endure, then, I beseech you — not only in the afflictions we now bear, but even should all the aforesaid things come upon us as well.

God is no respecter of persons, loving us with the same love with which he also loved those of old.

These things I write briefly, knowing that your reverend dignity has consolations from your own household and from others as well;

yet nonetheless also from us, so that you may know that we owe you a fitting familial affection, and so that you may pray for the strengthening of us sinners as well.

[To Basil, patrician.] It is a work of your God-honored condescension not only to bring our brother in spirit into your sacred presence and to discuss with him what seemed fitting, so graciously and so temperately, but also that, having brought the lady — venerable to me as well, the patrikia — together with your most noble children, you have permitted them to bow before him not merely the head, but the knee.

Oh, your greatest humility!

Oh, your God-loving understanding!

Oh, your faith that so surpasses [that of] us sinners!

And for all these things you will not fail to obtain the reward of a warm welcome; and still more, my lord, with good reason, on account of virtue, have you become one beloved both in blood and in spirit, in the eyes of all who have come to know and to see you.

And witnesses to this claim are the distinctions you hold according to your rank, which have proved to be the prize of virtue.

In this regard, together with the law of nature, having formed sons and daughters along with your yoke-fellow, you have shown them forth as truly vivid images of your piety, being recognized most truly by the likeness to you that appears in them.

But such, then, is the word concerning this matter.

But what word of consolation could I, in my lowliness, find for the affliction over your most beautiful offshoot who bore the name of the Forerunner, to soften a little the grief of your honored souls? For it was reported to me by the brother himself what pain, what tears - hot tears dropping from his eyes - what cries, what pitiable words and groanings, so that, hearing each of the boy's excellences, I myself came near to suffering something like your own grief.

Oh, how we have become like the divine David, who sang a mournful psalm over his son!

But if that man mourned so for one who was reckless and rebellious and who paid a just penalty for rising against his father, what must be said here, and how great a store of words must be gathered? The boy has departed, in the very flower of the age fit for living, well trained both in manner and in speech, harmonious both in character and in voice, drawing the beholder into affection from his very appearance.

What is more, pure in body, white in soul: pure in body through virginity - which is truly admirable - not captured like those of reckless mind, but rising above passion; white in soul through having no part in the heresy now raging like frenzied revelers.

which wonderfully ran together into one: incorruption - incorruption of soul, of body.

How praiseworthy are the parents, who came to be called the father and mother of such a child, having brought forth a most well-formed offshoot not only in body but also in spirit!

How blessed is the offspring, who at once resembled his father and also fashioned himself after the image of Christ!

Christ, who by His virgin birth honored virginity, has taken your son as His attendant, as a son of light.

What then? Is this a drama of weeping, or of joy? Clearly of joy - even though his departure has caused you grief.

He now rejoices with joy in the heavens, being established there as an intercessor.

We must therefore rejoice together with him who rejoices from now on, and not grieve him by grieving ourselves.

Let the letter have its end here, carrying with it thanksgiving and apology for the blessing that was sent.

{To Gregoras, a layman} Rejoice, confessor of Christ!

Fittingly did I long ago proclaim you a man of God.

Behold, my humble word has not been proved false, having been shown lofty in you.

How is the prison? You bear even irons, as I hear, your flesh being pressed within.

But may you be strengthened in the Lord, contending devoutly and as a martyr.

Ah, ah, brother, how brightly you have shone forth, how greatly you have been exalted!

One out of all the laymen - I mean those under this present authority - you alone have been shown confessing to God, before both men and angels.

Do you see where your persecutors even hold you? In the palace, like a pearl, like a king over sufferings - even though they do not think of it that way.

Do not, then, friend, fear, nor again dread the scourges that are coming.

Christ is the one who lightens the load together with you, who helps you, who contends together with you and is struck together with you.

If, then, being held by one of your subordinates, you had the reigning emperor shielding you and, in your being beaten, suffering with you in his heart, would you not, as a lover of the world, rejoice to suffer, since by that suffering you would reap what you desired - money, honors, first places? How much more, then, must this be understood here!

This, then, we must of necessity love, so that we may obtain not these dream-like and vain things, but the eternal and true and ineffable goods, having fled the eternal punishments which those who deny Christ by subscribing [to the heresy] shall undergo.

From which may we be delivered, brother, praying for one another.

Making use of him, you have told how eager I, in my lowliness, would be to write to your unsurpassed eminence - learning this very news, of your longed-for health, and imagining that I see your beloved face and hear your sweetest voice, through your condescending conversation and audience granted to the letter-bearer (for you receive him most graciously for God's sake, and converse affably even with anyone who happens along).

He also reported to me how grieved you are at the things already dared on account of our sins, groaning and paining at heart over each of the things now happening.