Letters 1 part 44/55

From these things it has been shown that you have loved both your mother and God.

But come now, lady, walk your path both rejoicing and trembling: rejoicing because you have been deemed worthy to be called the daughter of such a mother, but trembling because the responsibility of leadership now rests upon you, in which the struggle is no ordinary one, nor is the reward to be despised, but for those who have understanding, the stakes are exceedingly high on both sides.

You, then, as one prudent, as one wise, as one raised by your mother in the spirit, carry through an excellent and well-ordered life, setting yourself forth as a model of good work for the sisters.

Let not the eye of your heart grow drowsy in keeping the commandments of God; do not stop up the ear of your soul from hearkening to the voice of instruction — being taught and teaching, being enlightened and enlightening, being led by the hand and leading by the hand, being brought near to God and bringing others near.

May your name be heard of for a good manner of life, so that God may be glorified in you and in your monastery — not becoming common through the lukewarmness of the many, but being made exact according to the ordinance of the Spirit, in one mind, in one will, in one heart and soul, in imitation of the saints recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

For it says, 'the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own.'

This is the good life, this is the portion of the Lord, this is the true cenobium.

But where these things are not found, it is clear that the opposite is true.

How great is the joy and glory for you, most honored one — indeed also for your children — to live after the manner of the apostles, to be guided in the tradition handed down from the fathers, in a manner befitting your noble birth.

to live in a manner pleasing to God, to conduct yourselves in a manner befitting saints, to be called a chosen race, an honored seed — of whom? Of that Thecla, the protomartyr, of Febronia, of Eupraxia, of the sacred and blessed company after their pattern.

For if you have forsaken the world, if you have renounced your parents, if you have chosen virginity, if you have been betrothed to Christ, if you have loved the kingdom of heaven, why should you not devote all your zeal and concern to this, rejoicing that you have been deemed worthy of such a God-given gift, a rank beyond comparison — I do not mean according to human standards (for these are shadows and dreams, dissolved together with the present age), but according to spiritual things, since virginity and non-possession are the choicest of the greatest gifts.

And if those who live according to the world are insatiable in partaking of vain and perishing things, how much more, and to what degree, ought we to be insatiable for the boundless and ineffable good things? Yes, I entreat you, yes, I beseech you: lay hold of the heavenly things, become daughters of God, queens honored by heaven, brides of Christ, joint-heirs of Christ, light in the world, a holy utterance, a commonwealth worthy of praise — both you, the lady abbess who rules in Christ, and you, her fair children, daughters of the Jerusalem above, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory unto the ages.

{Catechesis to his own disciples} I, the humble one, perform this work in my catecheses not out of a practice of ostentation, nor from the conceit of a perverse mind, but out of fear and trembling, out of a laboring heart and love, brothers and fathers — since it is indeed a mark of one who loves, to instruct with diligence.

'Reprove,' it says, 'rebuke, in season, out of season.'

and also, 'exhort,' 'admonish,' and whatever else the law of God contains and enjoins.

What, then, does my discourse intend to indicate? It concerns disorderly conduct.

For when you are summoned by pious people to psalm-singing, you do not gather together and keep vigil in a fitting manner, but engage in disputes over words and in claims to the first place at table.

'You went ahead,' one says, 'and did not wait for me.'

'You ate your own supper and did not invite me along.'

'Let me be the one to lead the chant, not you,' says another.

And this happens in the church, and this in the hearing of those who invited you — on account of which there is, unseen, the wrath of God, and, admittedly, grief and harm to those who invited you.

For do you not have opportunity, if something distressing should occur, to bring your complaints to one another privately and to reconcile what has happened through explanation and due humility? But instead, brother fights with brother, grows angry, insults, and behaves disgracefully in front of everyone.

O what contempt for the divine laws!

Then the blame falls upon the abbot.

'Such is the teacher,' it is said, 'so also are the disciples of like measure.'

Have you not made me hateful even to those in the city? Has not the good name, which has been given to your holy brotherhood, been turned into its opposite? You quarrel and make war; you eat and drink not reverently, not quietly, but indecorously, in a manner unbecoming monks.

'Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do,' says the apostle, 'do all to the glory of God.'

But you do not act thus, and you bring shame upon the holy habit, and you scandalize the devout — or rather, even the undevout as well.

Would that it were heard concerning each one of you: 'Oh, what a reverent countenance so-and-so bears!' 'Ah, how great is the silence of so-and-so!' 'Well done, the reticence of that one!' 'The orderliness of this one!' 'The dignified psalm-singing of another!' 'The gracious approachability of yet another!'

These things both adorn those who possess them and benefit those who behold them; they gladden God and bring honor even to me, a sinner.

But now, according to my sins, the opposite is the case.

And I do not lay hold of all of you in blame, since many, by the grace of God, are such as this discourse seeks; but I mean those who are held fast in carelessness.

I exhort you, then — or rather, I command you — change your evil habits and characters, your manners and your words, your postures and your bearing.

Shall I then also distinguish myself from the one who is disobedient? Or do I speak simply and, as it happens, conduct myself indifferently, not distinguishing the holy from the unholy?

Do you not fear God? Shall we not give account even for an idle word? Our God is a consuming fire, brothers.

Him let us fear, and to him let us henceforth render holy service, so that, abstaining from all wickedness even to idle talk, and holding fast to virtue, we may become heirs of eternal life, having fled the punishments threatened against those who show contempt — in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages.

{To the monks of Photinoudion} The salutation is one of joy for you, brothers, but the occasion for writing is above all one of sorrow, in that the good shepherd has departed from you — the father in the Lord, the guide and luminary, who for many years shepherded a great flock and left the fold full of sheep, numbering, indeed, one hundred and eighty; the venerable man, sharer of divine grace, exceedingly white of hair and yet whiter still in heart, rich in love and richer still in almsgiving, truly adorned with more virtues than I could enumerate one by one without being found to draw out a lengthy discourse.

O, O, how are these things not distressing? How are they not lamentable? How, as far as what has happened is concerned, is the sight of the flock not one of desolation? But what then? Shall we persist in mourning? Shall we grow more downcast and despondent? Shall we abandon ourselves to grief? Certainly not, O brothers.

But rather, knowing that it is God's decree that all who have come into being must in turn depart and pass to the better and unafflicted life, of which Christ our God, the author of life, is the firstfruits, let us be comforted with the comfort of God; let us come to ourselves and say:

'The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away' the good teacher, the holy guide.

For what man is there who shall live and not see death, that we should consider our father's fate as something strange? We must give thanks that we were deemed worthy of such a man, that his span of life was extended to old age and advanced years, and that when he departed he did not leave you without protection or forsaken, but he pronounced a blessing at his departure, offered fitting prayers, and established one from among your own number to watch over you as protector.

We exhort him to gird his loins like a mature man, and to hold fast to the ministry entrusted to him with a humility that imitates Christ, walking according to the rule and footsteps of that blessed man, in accordance with the word of God's commandment.

Likewise we exhort you also, the good brotherhood, to submit in the Lord to the newly-established leader with a like-minded faith and love, and to show that God is indeed among you, along with your holy father, who was eager and bound you all together into concord and unity of spirit.

Yes, beloved brothers, be thus, be established thus; even though every beginning does not immediately have ease, yet as time goes on it settles into an assured, well-grounded habit.

And do not become like those who, out of love of rule, are unstable and lacking in sound knowledge.

But since the matter of the persecution stands on a razor's edge, do not betray, I beg you, your faith nor your piety; but if it should come to pass that you must in no way be drawn along with the heretics in any manner whatsoever, bear it nobly, counting all things as secondary — not only the monasteries and everything within them, however exceedingly precious they might be, but even your own bodies — choosing the good path of flight and being crowned with the beatitude of persecution, that most glorious and most wondrous beatitude, just as the blessed man also enjoined upon you.

But if it be objected that that man was captured (yes, and alas for the defeat!), nevertheless he has been called back, he has been rebuked and reunited with the pious, and he is one of our brothers and fathers, since he has also been received back by our most blessed patriarch, the celebrant of sacred rites.

Knowing these things, then, brothers, be of good courage, be orderly, and may you fare well in Christ Jesus our Lord, who may grant that man rest with the righteous and equip you in all good things, our beloved brothers.

To your fatherly holiness — concerning when we returned from our exile.

For since the invasion of the Arabs, together with many others, also drove us, the humble ones, away from our place of hospitality and carried us off to the island of Prinkipo, before reaching the city.

On that island, how greatly we suffered from the crowd of refugees pressing around us, from the heat, and from the ill-tasting water — what need is there even to say? Then, when we had advanced further, near Chalcedon, there, one of the two of us fell into an unbearable sickness, kidney pains disciplining our wretched flesh for the space of a week, and, simply put, our journey had become quite grievous.

Nevertheless, by the grace of God, we achieved three things: to venerate our most blessed high priest, obtaining his sacred prayers; then, to see this one and that one of the sacred fathers and brothers; and third, by the mercy of God, to dissolve the objections and counter-representations which, I know not from where, the very makers of peace had kindled against us.

They had painted us beforehand as schismatics, cut off from communion with our divinely-inspired high priest; they declared us to hold our own peculiar rule regarding the penances of those who had been captured by heretical communion; and other such things, which it would be too laborious to set forth fully in this letter.

Nevertheless, as has been said, through your prayers we responded to each point directly, and we have proven that we are in communion with our sacred patriarch, who, with exceeding condescension, both received us and treated us with kindness, and sent us on our way, without any mention being made of the malicious accusations that had been contrived — and moreover, the lord Tarasius too was commemorated among the saints.

For those who claim to be devoted to the fathers said that we had also broken away from this man, and that we called the Second Holy Synod of Nicaea merely a local council.

But we established, both in writing and unwritten, that we hold him among the holy fathers and confess the synod to be ecumenical — even if to someone, somewhere, at some time, in some manner, we may have answered otherwise.

which things — just like other matters handled differently at that time — ought not now to be sought out and raked up again.

For it is a cause of disturbance and brings no benefit, but rather strife of words and offense to the Church of God, to say that in this way and that way, such and such persons acted and wrote, each supposing that they possessed the truth.

For many years now, as you know, thrice-longed-for one, the much-discussed matter has been accomplished, having become known to East and West.

It is not possible for either side to overturn what has been done and written.

Now is the time for concord, now is the time for joint struggle.

As for the remnants left by the writer, if they seem to those who come after to be well-disposed, they are justly worthy of praise; but if not, the opposite.

Faithful is the word, and concerning this we wish to say nothing else, either now or hereafter.

And, it is said, the day of revelation will make it clear, and the final fire, by which our affairs are judged and purified.

These things have been written of necessity, both as to a father who is of one mind with me and a peacemaker, and also because to speak out one's griefs is known to bring relief to those who suffer.

But if, being entreated, you should show yourself to us who are lowly, taking up the labor of love, you would surely make all things more pleasant for us.

Those who are with us greet your holiness most abundantly.

We too, most holy one, greet most abundantly those who are with you.

{To Nicetas the Spatharios} It has been made known to me by your good brother that a certain one of our hierarchs slandered me before your honored self, saying that I deify the icon of Christ, and that this is stated in my letter to brother Athanasius.

At this slander I, the humble one, groaned, considering how those who have been told that they will give account even for an idle word on the day of judgment speak so carelessly and unguardedly about matters so very great (for what is greater than the faith?), wounding the innocent with the arrow of accusation, rather than lovingly admonishing them, as it is written, if indeed there had been any fault:

'You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and you shall not bear sin because of him.'

But indeed, by the very name of 'slander' he shows himself worthy to be so named.

What could be worse than this among men? But let the discourse turn to the accusation itself.

'He deifies,' he says, 'the icon of Christ.'

This is nowhere to be found in my letter, O thrice-longed-for one; rather, [I wrote] that the icon of Christ is not to be worshiped with the worship due to God alone (for this is the mindset of idolatry;

for this must be reserved for the Holy Trinity alone), and that Christ, who is venerated in his own icon, is worshiped together with the Father and the Spirit, whereas the icon of Christ is to be venerated with a relative veneration, and that in venerating it we venerate Christ, not divided as to hypostasis, but differentiated as to the principle of essence, which is indeed true.

For the archetype is manifested in the image, and each is present in the other, apart from the difference of essence, as the all-wise Dionysius says.

How then, since the letter stands thus, could my accuser slander me and show himself opposed to the saints? But what does he want? That we, in venerating the icon of Christ, should confess that we venerate another hypostasis? Alas, what absurdity!

For this would be to divide what is indivisible.

For neither is the power split nor the glory divided, as the Great Basil again says.

Therefore, when the icon is venerated, it is Christ who is venerated, whose likeness it is, and not the matter that has received the likeness, as is also shown in the case of the figure of the cross.

For he who supposes he is venerating the matter itself is childish and without reason.

Therefore, in both cases, it is neither the matter on which the image rests that is venerated, nor is there any other hypostasis apart from that of the one who is depicted.

For the deviation, whichever way it goes, equally involves impiety.

Therefore, for this reason, the figure of the cross is called 'the cross,' and the icon of Christ is called 'Christ,' not properly, but by way of a figure of speech.

If, then, this should persuade us not to call the figure of the cross 'the cross,' it would likewise persuade us not to call the icon of Christ 'Christ.'

And if, in the first case, it were true that in venerating the figure we do not venerate the cross, then neither, in the second case, would it be true that in venerating the icon of Christ we venerate Christ.

But the first is indeed true, that its own figure both is called 'the cross' and is venerated as the cross; therefore the second too is true, that its own icon both is called 'Christ' and is venerated as Christ; and whoever thinks or says anything more novel than this speaks idly in vain.

I have written these things, both to set myself outside of blame, and at the same time out of concern for your beloved excellency, so that you may hold fast to the orthodox faith and not be swept away by words of heterodox teaching.

{To Theodore the Monk} I received your letter, esteemed sir, which was entitled 'Encyclical Letter,' or rather 'Therapeutic Letter,' and immediately, right from the starting line, I was astonished, brother.

And when I went on through what followed, I very nearly lost my wits altogether, not knowing what to think or how to answer my beloved friend.

And may you bear with me patiently, even if what is about to be said is somewhat harsh, since I have no other way fittingly to give voice to what has befallen my humble heart, and to say what must be said.

They have dealt with truth and repentance thus: transfixing them with harsh words and dragging in a rabble of wretched notions, stirring up divisions, wronging the blameless faith, dishonoring the charioteer, overseer, and creator of all things, quarrelling with one another, overcome by love of gain, devising avenues of profit, giving offense to those who share the sentiments of the impious for favor's sake, preferring and setting above those who confessed the faith and had earlier risked themselves for the truth, those who have most grievously wronged and persecuted it; being harsh toward those who act for the truth, counting suffering for Christ's sake as nothing, being wickedly ignorant, and having cruelly and unfittingly forgotten those for whose sake they have run their risks.

Heaven was astonished at this, and I, wretched one, shuddered all the more.

And, had I not been hearing your own words, I would not have believed the one who had told me beforehand that a letter had been composed by your esteemed self against the church of God.

For it is a thing done against her, to hurl such babblings against those illustrious confessor-men who went about amid manifold trials, in want, afflicted, ill-treated, persecuted, wandering in deserts and mountains and the caves of the earth, of whom the world was not worthy, to speak in the Apostle's words.

And the more accusatory and more inhuman parts have not even yet been disclosed.

Does anyone, I ask, who is enrolled among the soldiers, dare, on his own authority, to pronounce this and that about an imperial decree, and to insult those in positions of authority as behaving in a disorderly and reckless manner? And if he should be caught having done this, he is immediately seized and led away as one condemned to death.

What, then, will a mere monk not suffer at the tribunal of the church, having dared something similar to that man? For do we not have a high priest able to sympathize with our weaknesses, according to what is written, and able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and go astray? — whose encyclical letter [was written] according to the authority of the Spirit given to him.

He, if he had known that in the things being done there was anything unlawful and unprofitable, would certainly have spoken as was fitting.

But since he sees the prevailing heresy and the straits pressing in from both sides, he has allowed all who are eager to do so to heal the maladies that have befallen, each according to the power he has, this most divinely-inspired one acting well in this — so that what is done is neither made into legislation, nor is a soul, for whom Christ died, left uncured — and this, of course, only until an orthodox synod, when both what has been rightly done will be approved and what is otherwise will be rejected.

And this matter is especially pleasing to God, who desires all to be saved, let alone those who run to the medicine of repentance — he who also assists the one who loves his brother and stretches out a hand, and joins in raising up, together with the one who lifts up the sick person.

'Comfort, comfort, O priests, my people; speak into the ears of Jerusalem.'

And what else would this 'comfort' be but the preservation of those who stand firm, and the correction, through repentance, of those who have turned aside? Then, to those who have sinned:

'When you turn back and groan, then you shall be saved, and you shall know where you were.'

'While you are still speaking the words of your prayer, he will say, Behold, I am here.'

And he is a helper to those who turn back from the evil way, and he lifts the wandering sheep upon his shoulders, and, for as long as it is called 'today,' he sets before us the medicines of repentance.

And he deemed the thief worthy of paradise in a single moment of time, and he received back the great Peter, who had denied him, through his bitter weeping, and again poured into David the gift of prophecy, as though he had sinned in nothing at all.

And why is it necessary to bring forward many examples and lengthen the discourse? He is kind to those who are kind to their fellow-servants, and severe toward those who are without compassion.

For this reason, the healings, the penances carried out at the present time, are not, as your esteemed self has mockingly portrayed them (far be such blasphemy!), nor are the things being done occasions of scandal, but rather proofs of true love.

'...that one should lay down his life for his friends.'

So then, the healers, according to that true saying, lay down their lives on behalf of those being treated, not trading on the God-ordained dispensation like traffickers in Christ.

And the people of God is daily being purified anew, and the house of Saul, growing weak, has been diminished, while the house of David, being magnified, has increased, as the one who has come to his senses passes over from the one to the other.

But what would you wish, admirable one — that in so many years, while the heresy has prevailed and God's creature has been perishing, no physician anywhere should appear? That there should be no methods of healing? That the one groping in blindness should not be led by the hand? That the sick one should not be made whole? That the wounded one should not have his wound dressed? That the lame one should not be set upright? That the broken one should not be bound up? That the one who has strayed should not be turned back? That the one who is willing should not strive, as far as possible, against every kind of disease? And yet we see among physicians of the body much diligence, and many remedies.

And one is entrusted to treat this patient, another that one, and not even the one ranked in the position of an assistant is prevented from applying his hand, according to whatever medical knowledge they possess, whether greater or lesser.

And every day the sick throng in, and the establishments that receive them are full, and no one finds fault with such diligent care, nor blames the one earnestly occupied with the healing art; rather, chief officials and chief physicians and those of middle and lowest rank alike carry out this work of philanthropic care.

And if it is so there, then how much more, proportionately, ought everything in the affairs of the soul both to be seen and to happen; and whoever would hinder this shall be reckoned as a kind of destroyer and common enemy of the race, as one collaborating with the murderer from the beginning.

'No,' he says, 'that is not our position; but this is what I ask: if the Lord, on account of his goodness, did not dare to grant repentance — which is a departure from the strictness of justice — before he himself had, through himself, paid in full the just penalty owed to the scales and balances of justice, then who is so bold and arrogant as to permit himself to cleanse through repentance those who have denied the sufferings which our Savior Christ endured on our behalf, without their first rendering full satisfaction to the inviolable severity of justice?' Alas for such a bold and senseless objection!

When has Christ ever been seen proclaiming repentance? When has he said to the paralytic, 'Take courage, child, your sins are forgiven you'? When has this same forgiveness been granted to the weeping harlot who bathed his divine feet with her tears, rebuking Simon the host? When has it been said to the man who had lain ill for thirty-eight years, 'See, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse befall you' — as though his illness had plainly come upon him from sin? As for other examples, it is not opportune to unfold and set forth the works of the divine signs, whether before the Passion or after the Passion. But if it is clear and agreed by all that these happened before the Passion — just as he also sent forth his disciples and gave them authority to heal every disease and every infirmity, an authority that had been granted through the repentance and submission of those who came to him — then what bold tongue would presume to declare that Christ did not dare to grant it before first paying, through himself, the just penalty owed to the scales and balances of justice, and on this ground rebuke those who have taken up the ministry of repentance as bold and arrogant for not having first paid in full the severity of justice? Is it not plain that this rebuke belongs to a Pharisaic mind, and this prohibition to a Novatianist misanthropy? Behold, then, O man, how, having been lifted up on high, you have been cast down headlong, having departed from your own proper measure and having failed to preserve for yourself the dignity that lay within your reach.

Or have you not read that every meddler in another's bishopric is to be cast out? And, 'I did not send them,' he says, 'yet they prophesied.'

And, 'no one takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God.'

...as it is written: 'but he who spoke to him,'

'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'

But you, brother, who has called you? Who has appointed you a lawgiver over the church of God — you who have perhaps not even learned to be ruled, and for this reason have not even been deemed fit to rule over anyone — you who ought rather to be given laws than to give laws, to be led by the hand rather than to lead by the hand, to be enlightened rather than to enlighten, to be taught rather than to teach, and to advance to the second stage from experience of the first — just as indeed is the divine law, one that holds most excellently both in divine and in human ranks.

For let us not suppose, friend, that speaking with some knowledge derived from a wisdom that has become foolish, and throwing in an accursed word besides, makes men lawgivers (since on that basis even the Moabites and Ammonites would have access to the divine altar) — but rather [lawgivers are] those whom Christ-imitating obedience has approved, and long-enduring patience has attested, and the evangelical word has perfected.

And even if such a one is a mere outsider, he is not without grace, provided he is adorned with humility and is governed by the evangelical spirit, rather than priding himself on his own honors — honors on which those who pride themselves, leaning as it were upon a reed staff, are fittingly wounded and cast down.

'But,' he says, 'I have been very zealous for the Lord, and the things I see are unbearable.'

And where, most excellent one, is the gift of prophecy for us? And where is Mount Carmel? And where are the keys of heaven? And where is the sheepskin mantle that parted the Jordan, having come upon Elisha with a double portion of grace? But as for us, even if some gift is present, to whom should it be left, since we do not even have a disciple? Whence let us take heed already, lest, reaching after things beyond our power, we should also fail of what is moderate, and — while straining out the gnat — swallow the camel, or, while attempting to remove the splinters from our brothers' eyes, fail to perceive that we ourselves carry the beam in our own eyes — that is, as the saying goes, being condemned here and there by those with whom we associate and eat.

'So-and-so,' he says, 'has confessed falsely, concealing his most shameful sin;'

and another, having hidden his impious act, recounts other things in place of the real ones.

And how can the one supposedly acting as physician be able to say that these men have obtained healing? It is not to be believed, my good sir — rather they are to be greatly condemned;

for no one who goes of his own free will to seek healing will choose not to lay bare his own affliction.

But even if in some case it is true, the judging of it belongs not to us but to God who oversees all;

the manifest things belong to God and to us, but the hidden things belong to the Lord your God;