Letters 1 part 5/11

For while I was keeping quiet, and confined within the borders of my homeland, and while all in the East were grieved indeed, and bitterly lamenting, yet were compelled to remain silent through the fear that had befallen them (for what had happened against me instilled in all a fear of cowardice), the Lord Himself looked down from heaven, and exposed the calumny of those who had woven the slander, and laid bare their impious mind.

These men have even armed Alexandria against me, and through their worthy agents din into everyone's ears the charge that we preach two sons instead of one.

But I am so far removed from this abominable opinion, that even when I have found some of the holy Fathers who assembled at Nicaea, in their treatises directed against the madness of Arius, being compelled by their contest against those men to employ a greater degree of distinction, I am displeased and do not accept such a distinction;

for it was the vehemence of that contest which produced the excess of such distinction.

And so that no one may suppose that I say these things now out of fear, whoever wishes may examine my old writings — those before the Synod of Ephesus, and those after it, again written twelve years ago.

For I wrote long ago against those who hold the views of Arius, and against those infected with the errors of Macedonius, and against the sophistry of Apollinarius, and against the frenzy of Marcion;

and in each of these writings, by the grace of my God, the ecclesiastical mind shines forth.

I have also composed a mystical book, and another on Providence, and another in reply to the questions of the Magi, and the Lives of the Saints, and besides these many other works, that I need not mention each one.

I have enumerated these, not out of vainglory, but offering a challenge, both to my accusers and to those willing to judge, to examine whichever of these writings they wish.

For they will not find, by the grace of my God, that I hold any opinion other than what I have received from Holy Scripture.

Having learned this from us, then, let your Holiness teach those who are ignorant, and instruct the unbridled tongues that revile us, and persuade those who have been deceived not to hold such opinions about us as they have learned from the slanderers, but rather to yield to the Lawgiver who cries out:

‘You shall not accept a false report,’ and to await the examination of the facts.

For my part, I pray that the churches may enjoy calm, and that this long and grievous storm may be dispelled.

But if the multitude of our sins does not permit this, and we have for this reason been given over to him who sifts us, we pray to have a share in the dangers endured for the faith;

And we entreat your Holiness to join us in praying for these things.

For whenever someone, struck by the false accusations of an unbridled tongue, receives the sharp barbs of despondency, he calls to mind the story of the admirable Joseph, and, seeing the very image of chastity and the teacher of every kind of virtue enduring an indictment of slander—as though he had violated another man's marriage—and being shut up, fettered, and spending a very long time in prison, he heals his pain with the remedy of this narrative.

And when he sees the Lord Christ himself—the Maker of the ages, the Creator of all things, the true God and Son of the true God—called a deceiver by the wicked Jews, he reaps no longer mere consolation but the greatest cheerfulness, inasmuch as he is deemed worthy of fellowship with his Master.

For this too was added to their charges: that certain persons, having come to the great city governed by your Reverence, indicted us as dividing our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons, and this while we were discoursing at Antioch, where many tens of thousands of hearers fill the congregation.

And your godly Perfection did not keep the other of your two ears unbiased toward me, but believed the falsehoods spoken by them.

And yet they are three, or four, or fifteen, while I have many tens of thousands of men who testify to the orthodoxy of my teaching.

For six years I continued teaching under Theodotus, bishop of Antioch, of blessed and holy memory, who was adorned both with a splendid life and with knowledge of the divine doctrines;

and again another thirteen years under the blessed John, who so rejoiced when we discoursed that he would move both his hands and rise up repeatedly.

And that he, having been nurtured from childhood in the divine oracles, possessed a most exact knowledge of the divine doctrines, your Holiness has testified in your letters.

And with how much delight the Christ-loving peoples hearken to our words, it is easy for your godly Perfection to learn from those who come from there to here, and indeed also from those who go from here to there.

And I say these things not boasting, but being compelled to defend myself, attesting to my own words not brilliance but orthodoxy alone.

Indeed even the great teacher of the world, the divinely-inspired Paul, who always called himself the least of the saints and the first of sinners, was compelled, in order to stop the mouths of liars, to insert a catalogue of his own labors;

and, showing that the narration of his sufferings was a matter of necessity and not of choice, he added:

‘I have become foolish in boasting.’

But I know myself to be wretched, indeed thrice wretched;

for I am subject to many offenses;

yet on account of faith alone I hope to obtain some measure of clemency on the day of the divine manifestation.

For I am eager and I pray to follow in the footsteps of the holy Fathers, and I strive to keep undefiled the evangelical teaching which the most holy Fathers who assembled at Nicaea in Bithynia handed down to us in summary.

And just as I believe there is one God the Father, and one Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father, so too I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before the ages, the radiance of his glory and the very stamp of the Father's hypostasis, who for the salvation of mankind was made flesh and became man, and according to the flesh was born of Mary the Virgin.

For thus the all-wise Paul also taught us:

‘Whose are the fathers,’ he says, ‘and of whom, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.’

And likewise we call counterfeit those who divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two persons, or two sons, or two lords, and we separate them from the company of those who love Christ.

‘One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.’

‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’

‘He who descended is the same who also ascended far above all the heavens.’

And countless other such sayings can be found in him, proclaiming the one Lord.

Thus the divine evangelist also cries out:

‘as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

And his namesake—I mean the Baptist—cries out, saying:

‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’

And having shown the one person, he has set forth both the divine and the human attributes.

For ‘man’ and ‘comes’ are human expressions, while ‘because he was before me’ is divine.

Yet he does not know one as him who comes after and another as him who was before, but he knows the same one—pre-eternal as God, and man born after him of the Virgin.

Thus also the thrice-blessed Thomas, when he touched the Lord's flesh with his hand, called him Lord and God, coming to know the invisible nature through the visible one.

Thus we too know the difference between his flesh and his divinity, yet we know one Son, God the Word who became man.

For these things we have been taught both by divine Scripture and by the Fathers who interpreted it—Alexander and Athanasius, the loud-voiced heralds of truth, who adorned your apostolic throne, and Basil and Gregory and the other luminaries of the world;

and that, making use also of the writings of the blessed Theophilus and Cyril, we silence through these too those who dare to contradict, the letters themselves bear witness.

For as to those who deny the difference between the Master's flesh and his divinity, and say now that the divine nature has been changed into flesh, now that the flesh has been transformed into the nature of divinity, we strive to heal them with the remedies of these admirable men.

For they clearly teach us the difference of the two natures, and they proclaim the immutability of the divine nature, and they call the Master's flesh divine, inasmuch as it has become the flesh of God the Word;

but they reject as impious the notion that it has been transformed into the nature of divinity.

And that Cyril, of blessed and holy memory, wrote to us many times, I think your Holiness also knows clearly.

And when he sent to Antioch his treatises against Julian, and likewise also the writings composed against the Apopompaios, he asked the blessed John, bishop of Antioch, to show them to the teachers distinguished throughout the East; and indeed the blessed John, complying with the letter, sent us the books, and having read them we marveled, and we wrote to Cyril of blessed memory.

And he wrote back to us again, testifying to our accuracy and our disposition, and these letters are preserved with us.

And that we subscribed twice to the tomes concerning Nestorius dictated by John of blessed memory, our own hands bear witness.

But these men keep repeating these things about us, trying to conceal their own sickness behind the slander they cast against us.

Let your Piety, then, turn away from those who speak falsehood, and take thought for the tranquility of the Church, and either heal with remedies that ward off evil those who dare to corrupt the doctrines of truth, or, if they do not accept the cure, as being incurably disposed, drive them out from the flocks, lest the sheep partake of their disease;

but let him deem us worthy of the customary greeting.

For that we have written what we believe, our own writings on the divine Scriptures, and those against those who hold the opinions of Arius and Eunomius, bear witness.

And in addition to these, I append a brief conclusion:

If anyone does not call the holy Virgin Theotokos, or calls our Lord Jesus Christ a mere man, or divides the one Only-begotten and firstborn of all creation into two sons, let him fall from the hope in Christ—and let all the people say:

These things having thus been declared by us, deign, my lord, to grant me your sacred prayers, and to gladden me with a reply, making clear that your Holiness has turned away from the slanderers.

I myself, together with those who are with me, greet the whole brotherhood in Christ that is with your Godliness.

For those who hold opinions contrary to the truth say that we divide our one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, into two sons.

And some say that they take the occasions for their slander from certain few in number among you who hold this opinion, and who divide God the Word who became man into two persons.

They must give heed to the apostolic voice, which cries out explicitly:

‘One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.’

For the Lord himself also speaks thus:

‘No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.’

‘If then you should see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before…’

And the tradition of holy baptism also teaches us that there is one Son, just as there is one Father, and one Holy Spirit.

Let your love of God, then, deign—if indeed there are any such persons at all (for I myself am not persuaded there are), disobedient to the apostolic doctrines—both to stop their mouths and to correct them in an ecclesiastical manner, and to teach them to follow in the footsteps of the holy Fathers, and to keep undefiled the faith set forth at Nicaea in Bithynia by the holy and blessed Fathers, inasmuch as it teaches in summary the evangelical and apostolic doctrine.

For it is fitting for you, most God-beloved ones, to take thought both for the glory of God and for the common good repute, and not to overlook the reproach that is spreading against the community on account of the ignorance—or contentiousness—of these few men, if indeed there are any such at all, even if the slanderers have sharpened their tongues not against these men in particular but, just as against us.

And deign to remember us in your prayers to the Lord.

For this the law of love enjoins.

The divinely-inspired Paul called love the chief of good things, and he enjoined that the nurslings of the faith be nourished by it.

Your Godliness, possessing the riches of this love, has both counseled what was needful and communicated what was gratifying.

For what is more gladdening to those who fear the Lord than the health and harmony of orthodox doctrines? Know well, then, most God-beloved one, that we rejoiced exceedingly on learning what concerns our common friend;

and just as we grieved before, on hearing that he says there is one nature of flesh and Godhead, and that he directly attaches the saving passion to the impassible Godhead, so we rejoiced on meeting with the letters of your Holiness, and learning that he keeps the properties of the natures intact, and says neither that God the Word has been turned into flesh, nor that the flesh has been changed into the nature of Godhead;

but says that in the one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Word who became man, the properties of each nature have remained unconfused;

and we hymned the God of all for the harmony of the divine faith.

We have, moreover, written to both Cilicias, although we do not clearly know whether there are indeed any who hold opinions contrary to the truth, and we have instructed the most God-beloved bishops to track down and inquire whether there are in fact any who divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons;

and by way of exhortation bring them to their senses, or else remove them from the roll of the brethren.

For in truth we equally reject both those who dare to say that there is one nature of flesh and Godhead, and those who divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons and attempt to step outside the apostolic boundaries.

And that we are also ready for peace, let your Holiness be assured.

"With those who hate peace I was peaceable" (Ps 120:6 LXX 119:6) — much more gladly do we welcome that peace which is according to God.

Since, moreover, certain men bred up in falsehood have run to Alexandria and stitched together slanders against us, and the most God-beloved bishop of that city, though he had been fully informed by our letters, was nevertheless led astray by such reports and sent one of the most God-fearing bishops to the imperial city;

may your Piety deign, as is your custom, to show your accustomed goodwill and to set the truth against the falsehood.

In the present time, O most God-beloved one in all things, we have received many onslaughts of great waves, and by calling upon the Pilot of the universe, we have been able to withstand the surge;

but what has now been attempted against us surpasses every tragic narrative.

and, even before these matters, the faith set forth at Nicaea in Bithynia by the holy and blessed Fathers —

And we exhorted those who were unwilling to abide by these to prepare themselves to abide by them.

But a certain one of those who hold the opposite opinion and are stirring up these disturbances ran off from here, deceived some of the people there, and, having woven countless slanders against us, brought it about that unlawful outcries were raised against us.

For having believed the things said against us, as though he had accurately examined each of them and had learned the truth through testing, he thus passed judgment against us.

But we bore the slander nobly, and answered with kindly letters, and persuaded his Piety that all these things are false, and that none of the most God-beloved bishops of the East holds opinions contrary to the apostolic doctrines.

And the most reverend clergy sent by him were also persuaded through the very experience of the facts themselves.

But he, bidding farewell to all this and giving his ears over to the slanderers, has done a thing that could in no way be believed, were it not that the whole Church bears witness to it.

For he tolerated those who anathematized us;

and rising up and addressing them, he confirmed their outcries.

In addition to this, he also sent, as we have learned, some of the most God-beloved bishops to the imperial city, hoping thereby to increase the disturbances against us.

But we, first of all, have the Overseer of all things as our champion;

for we are contending on behalf of his divine doctrines.

For the blessed Fathers, having assembled in that imperial city, in agreement with those gathered at Nicaea, distinguished the dioceses and assigned to each diocese what belonged to it, expressly forbidding that anyone should intrude from one diocese into another, but ordaining that the bishop of Alexandria should administer only the affairs of Egypt, and that each diocese should administer its own affairs.

But he is unwilling to abide by these boundaries, and everywhere puts forward the throne of the blessed Mark;

and this although he clearly knows that the great city of Antioch holds the throne of the great Peter, who was also the teacher of the blessed Mark, and the first and foremost of the chorus of the apostles.

But we, for our part, know the loftiness of that throne, yet we also know ourselves and take our own measure.

For we have learned apostolic humility from of old.

We entreat your Holiness neither to overlook the holy canons being trampled underfoot, but to fight zealously on behalf of the divine faith.

For in this we place our hope of salvation, and through this we expect to obtain [God's] loving-kindness.

And that your Holiness may not be ignorant even of this, know, my lord, that he has held ill will toward us ever since we assented to the synodical decrees made among you under Proclus of blessed memory, following the canons of the holy Fathers;

and concerning this he has reproached us once and twice, as having betrayed, so he says, the rights both of the Church of Antioch and of the Church of Alexandria.

Remembering these things, and having found an occasion, as he supposed, he displayed his hostility.

But nothing is stronger than the truth.

For she knows how to conquer even by slender means.

I entreat your Holiness also to remember us in your prayers to the Lord, that we may be able to withstand these various waves.

The law of brotherly love required that we should have received many letters from your love of God in the present time.

For the divine Apostle enjoins us to weep with those who weep, and to rejoice with those who rejoice (Rom 12:15).

Yet I received not a single one, although the most God-fearing monks of your monastery have recently come to us, as well as the most God-fearing Elias the presbyter.

For in truth, even if we had as many mouths as the hairs of our head, we would not be able to hymn him worthily, for having been deemed worthy, on account of our confession of him, of what seems dishonor — which we consider more venerable than any honor.

And even if we should be condemned to dwell at the ends of the (Roman) world, we shall hymn him all the more, in proportion as we are deemed worthy of greater blessings.

Nevertheless, let your Holiness pray and ask calm for the holy Churches.

For on account of the storm afflicting them, we too lament and groan and wail.

For indeed, as we have learned, the clergy from Osrhoene have driven this calm away, pouring out countless charges against all of us, even though I neither sat in judgment with the others nor shared in the vote against them, but rather, as your Holiness knows, even pleaded that communion be granted to them at Pascha.

But it is easy for slanderers to say whatever they wish.

"Blessed are you," he says, "when they revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake" (Matt 5:11).

"Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven" (Matt 5:12).

The slanderers force me to overstep my bounds, and compel me to write to you, who have adorned the greatest offices and obtained the most exalted honors.

For this reason, then, I beg to obtain your pardon.

For I write not out of presumption, but driven by necessity;

nor because I fear falling unjustly into some grievous plight — for this is what, for the most part, all who have genuinely served God have suffered — but because I wish to persuade your Greatness that those who accuse us of our doctrines are travailing to bring forth false words against us.

For after our mother's breast, we received the apostolic nourishment, and we have both learned and teach the faith set forth at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers;

and we indict as impious those who hold anything other than this.

But if anyone insists that we teach otherwise than this, let him not accuse us in our absence, but let him refute us to our face.

For this is the judgment of both the divine laws and the human ones.

And to whom does it so befit to defend the wronged as to you, O lovers of Christ, to whom the distinction of your lineage, the loftiness of your dignities, and, moreover, your foremost place among the laws, afford such freedom of speech? TO FLORENTIUS, PATRICIAN

I am undertaking a matter greater than befits my own standing, in sending letters to your Greatness.

But it is not audacity that is the cause of this boldness, but rather those who have resorted to reviling us.

For we thought it profitable to inform your unswerving ears that those who accuse us of our doctrines are slandering us outright.

As for us, we confess that we have erred in very many other respects;

for on behalf of this faith we have continually contended against heresies of every kind;

and through it, having transformed countless wolves into sheep, we have offered them up to the Chief Shepherd and Saviour of us all.

These things were handed down to us not only by the apostles and prophets, but also by those who interpreted their writings — Ignatius, Eustathius, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, John, and the other luminaries of the (Roman) world;

and, even before these, the holy Fathers who assembled at Nicaea;

whose confession of faith we guard inviolate as our paternal inheritance, and we call those who dare to transgress these doctrines counterfeit, and enemies of the truth.

I entreat, therefore, your Greatness, now instructed by us in these matters, to silence those who have resorted to reviling us.

For I think it absurd to believe, as though true, things said against those who are absent;

but it is lawful and just that those who wish to prosecute should bring their accusations against the defendants in their presence, and produce their proofs.

For in this way those who judge will easily be able to find the truth.

Having passed through the contests of youth and come within the bounds of old age, and having expected to enjoy greater honor as one grown old, we are struck by the arrows of calumny, and are compelled to offer a defense against the accusations that have been made;

for this reason we also entreat Your Magnificence not to give credence to the false accusations of those who accuse us.

For if I happened to be one who embraces silence, perhaps the suspicion of holding false doctrine might have some room to stand.

We have tens of thousands who bear witness to the correctness of our doctrines.

For we follow the apostolic definitions and laws, and, applying to our words the faith set forth at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers as a kind of rule and standard, we keep our teaching straight.

But if anyone maintains that we hold opinions other than these, let him accuse us to our face; let him not slander us in our absence.

I too entreat, through Your Magnificence, to be granted these things.

But if some wish to condemn us by default, in absentia, we gladly accept even that unjust verdict.

For all things are naked and laid bare before him, according to the divine Apostle.

I know clearly the disposition of Your Magnificence toward us, and I have no need of words to teach me this.

But I should like to learn the cause of the injustice that has been done to us.

For we are enduring a most strange thing, being attacked at one and the same time as both unmarried and twice-married.

But if those who have now woven calumnies against us say that we are falsifying the evangelical teaching, why then do they not refute us to our face, but accuse us in our absence? For this above all convicts their falsehood.

For knowing that we would have tens of thousands testifying to our apostolic doctrines, they made their indictment in our absence.

But it is necessary that those who judge according to law keep one of their two ears unimpaired for the accused.

But if they lend both ears to the words of our adversaries, and pronounce the verdict that seems good to them, we shall gladly accept the injustice, as a thing procuring for us the kingdom of heaven;

and we shall await that unswerving tribunal, where there is neither accuser, nor advocate, nor witness, nor distinction of rank, but a judgment of deeds and words, and a recompense according to merit.

For, it says, we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each may receive back what he has done through the body, whether good or evil.

But at the present time we especially entreat Your Excellency, since the Lord of all has given you a sincere faith, and a fervent zeal on its behalf, and a mind adorned with understanding, and besides these a power that serves your good counsels.

Come, therefore, to the aid of those who are wronged, contend against the falsehood, and fight on behalf of the apostolic teaching that is under attack.

But even if he should permit the storm to prevail, Your Greatness will receive a perfect reward, while we shall be content with the surge, and wherever it casts us ashore, we shall pass our days with contentment, awaiting the divine tribunal and looking for that right and just verdict.

And through the most God-beloved and most holy bishops I address Your Magnificence, whose memory I carry about unextinguished.

On behalf of their peace I entreat Your Excellency to strive.

For it would have been easy for the God of all, with but a nod, to dissolve these grievous troubles;

but he delays, both displaying the courage of those under attack, and affording you occasions for profit.

And he has increased this trial at the present time, so that Your Greatness may the more readily fight on behalf of the truth that is under attack, and overthrow the falsehood, and dispense to the Churches the longed-for calm.

For how great a storm the Churches of the East have been filled with, Your Excellency has already learned from many others; but you will learn it more precisely from the most God-beloved bishops, who have endured this long journey in this wintry season for this very purpose, trusting, next after the divine grace, in the providence of your authority.