書信集 第 1 章 第 18/55 段

'nor even to receive you into the monastery and let you gather together with us.'

But Christ says, 'Receive and teach.'

'For if he draws back,' it says, 'my soul takes no pleasure in him.'

So they have made a written document, so that they obey the emperor in opposition to Christ.

These, O brothers and fathers, are the things which I know for certain that they have truly done.

You have determined that I should tell what has come before me; I have reported it with God as witness, having received the account as well — how it is being kept as a secret, like a mystery, out of consideration to spare us from the trial.

For the rest, save your own souls by all means, praying also for me, the humble one.

{To Naucratius, his son} Know, my son, that the good man who exiled us has come upon us again, bearing the emperor's threat on account of what was reported to him about us — though the imperial agent did not tell everything — a threat to beat me with a hundred lashes, and to carry off the two brothers, Lucian and Hypatius, together with all the books, down to even the tropologion, and moreover also an icon found within my breast-reliquary, and gold as well, leaving me ten coins.

In response to these things I gave thanks to my good God, who knows what is beneficial and thus orders all our affairs in every way.

I answered him that I am ready not only to be beaten, but also to die, for the name of God.

This, then, he has done just as he wished;

but as for the brothers, I proposed that Nicholas himself also be taken away with them, but he did not accept this;

He took away books — the Ladder and a tropologion.

Concerning the gold, I said to him, 'If I had put my trust in it, why then would I be enduring these things?' So, having been separated from them, I am now with Nicholas, always having a guard sitting together with us.

Pray, then, and pray fervently, that we may live through this with patience and thankfulness, well arrayed against all afflictions even unto death, and moreover that we may be unharmed with one another, having God in our midst;

for wherever He is, there all things are bearable.

For the trial will certainly come to you as well, on account of which I suppose I have even been transferred into exile here.

But you have the Lord helping you, for whose sake also is the suffering.

Do not be terrified, my children, at threats, as is their custom, nor again at blows, looking to Christ, who was wounded for our sake — nor indeed at death itself;

for it is provision for eternal life.

As for me, weak and full of suffering, yet having your prayers together with those of our blessed father and of all the brothers, I rejoice at whatever else I may suffer.

Only keep watch, praying, being strengthened in the spirit, so as to meet all things in a manner pleasing to God.

Greeting this very one secretly, address also 'the 4' and 'the 30,' Ignatius, and any other faithful one.

May God, through the prayers of my father, be your defender and guardian in all things.

{To the same} Beloved child, I was gladdened by all that you wrote — good things and things not good, joyful things and grievous things, hopeful things and things without hope, matters known and matters unknown;

For I pass over speaking of the praises concerning my wretchedness — I who neither do nor indeed ever did any good upon earth — even though it is your custom to extol what concerns me, out of both love and faith.

Seeing the face of your soul marked by these qualities, I glorify my God, who confirms you in the confidence of His fear.

As for our own affairs, they stand thus, in lowliness and wretchedness.

For what indeed have we suffered? Not even as much as my fathers and those of the same rank suffered, and far behind them at that, since we also fall short of the worth of their virtue;

nevertheless, by the mercy of God and by paternal supplication — and indeed also fraternal — exile and solitude have proven fruitful for us, since besides this the goodness of God has guided the disposition of our lowliness.

which I would not have attained, had I not been left alone — a solitude which I have embraced as sweeter than honey.

And oh, the loving-kindness of Him who grieves us a little for our benefit, and then afterward shows the gain that comes from affliction, and the sweetness that comes from bitterness!

So then, wretched as I am, I will no longer be grieved at whatever things Christ, the joy of all, may lead me through; rather I cry out, 'I have become like a brute beast before You, yet I am continually with You.'

Therefore I will not be anxious about anything, just as I am not anxious about the emperor's malicious scheming, even though he has stretched out a snare with cords for my feet, setting stumbling-blocks close along my path;

for it is written, 'You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon.'

May it be granted to me, O good child, through your prayers, and by the utmost loving-kindness of God covering the abyss of my sins, that this command be effective throughout my whole life, against every power, both visible and invisible.

I am sitting here, just as I have already reported word for word; and the letter-bearer will himself relate in his own voice, quite fully, who it is that is the patron of my hospitality in many ways — persons whom I also beg you to remember in your prayers.

But why have you toiled, O lover of your father, over the things you sent, being many and varied? My God will repay you, both with spiritual things from here, and with eternal things from there.

You grow weary, I know, being pulled this way and pulled that, pressed and stretched between those present and those absent, between word and deed, between admonition and reconciliation, between superiors and subordinates, in the face of whatever presents itself and whatever befalls you — and all this together with readiness to bear a burden, or even danger.

But take courage: great is your reward; a martyr's crown awaits you.

And oh, the providence of God, who has made use of the ruler's malicious scheming for the salvation of many!

Only be exceedingly watchful, together with the rest;

for nets are not spread out for winged creatures without purpose.

But may the Lord grant you to fly above the snare until the end.

Truly the fall of the man of Chrysopolis has touched my pitiable soul.

But may the Lord be a helper to the Grammatici, and to Lord Joseph, and to whoever else is being tempted by the new Jannes;

to whom indeed I have also written, if only the delivery of these letters might succeed — you reading the letters first.

Lend yourself also to that of St. Phocas, in the Lord and for the Lord's sake, doing what is possible, since it too is being kept under guard, along with the others;

for they are servants of God, fulfilling the work of confession.

May the grace of the Lord be a safeguard for you in all things, beloved.

Lord John greets you, together with brother Nicholas.

{To the same} I am now writing for the fourth time since I was separated from you, my beloved child, making known both our situation and the removal of the brothers, and how I was left alone with brother Nicholas.

Therefore I have no need of many words, but only to note, now that I have found the letter-bearer, who is both a brother and faithful, that we are well in body, awaiting day by day the salvation of God;

For where else should we look about, or gaze intently, or in whom should we take breath, for ready help and comfort in affliction? Hence the removal of the brothers has not even become a hardship for us — on the contrary, beyond expectation, it has been restful, as we are drawn tightly to God alone, just as a pipe, when compressed, sends the water up on high.

Wherefore we would even choose to be separated from brother Nicholas as well; nevertheless we embrace, in what has already come to pass, no longer our own will, but the dispensation of God, who has in every way ordered our humble little dwelling to our benefit.

I have, then, always with me, in weekly rotation, also one of the gatekeepers;

with him we eat, we sing psalms, we sleep.

Thus we pass the day, as the God who watches over all things knows — working, reading, keeping stillness, and at the proper time conversing about whatever comes up, both among ourselves and with the good men who visit us, and indeed also with monks;

For God has stirred up people, not only from among the local inhabitants, but also from beyond the border, and even farther still, to comfort us both bodily and spiritually, in ample measure, and some to such a degree of like-mindedness that they have even given their right hand in pledge unto death in the struggles for piety.

For even though we are unworthy even to draw breath, yet the good Lord in every way goes before, guards, provides for, and cares for those exiled for His sake, beyond what anyone hopes for;

Thus He fed Elijah, when hungry, by means of a raven; thus He fed Daniel, having carried Habakkuk through the air, and thus He has cared for whatever other of His servants.

Do not, then, O children, grieve over us, the lowly ones, as though we had been abandoned.

When I am severed from this wretched body by the persecutors of Christ (for this too, unworthy though I am, I am preparing to suffer), then shall I be saved, then shall I be received into life, then shall I conquer my persecutor — both the one within and the one without — forever.

With God as our overseer let us think, speak, and act.

This is what I too do not cease entreating with tears, night and day, on your behalf — my beloved and like-hearted one beyond your other brothers — and on theirs as well: that we all, well-pleasing to the Lord, might endure this good contest also, manfully and as martyrs, not disgracing, by what now stands before us, the things already accomplished.

Therefore labor also yourself on my behalf among the brothers, drawing some by living voice and strengthening them, and calling back others even by ink, and in short give yourself wholly to whatever the need may call for.

Do not trouble yourself about any bodily need whatsoever (we have sufficiency by God's providence); nor should you send the books — I am not sure whether even the lexicon and the notebook, in which I wrote out a discourse by means of shorthand signs, which Hypatios also showed to Kallistos so that he might copy it out.

And again we make known how the Lord is disposing matters:

for through friends we have been able even here to have something for reading.

May God reward you well, for you sent [word] to α.

But I have also written again, and whenever someone can be found, you will send it on.

But I am anxious about the two brothers, how things stand with them; therefore, when you find out, let me know — likewise concerning the nine and the ten.

May God, my child, shelter you under his mighty hand.

Greet those who keep the word, especially δ, λ, and ι.

{To the same} You have hastened, child, to visit our humble self, but longing is an unbearable thing, reckoning the days as mere hours and the years as fleeting moments.

I thank my God, therefore, that though unworthy I am thus loved and cherished by you.

You have sent the good Adrian for my courage and comfort (clearly not without toil, on account of the joining and parting of those who traveled with him;

I thank you for this too), whom indeed I have kept with me, though he goes about somewhere outside.

But those with the brother Silvanus I have sent back again, having been comforted among them.

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of peace, who bring the good news of good things!

Such are these men, that I may set forth their case in brief.

As for us, the humble, bodily health is present with us; may it also be so for the soul, through your prayers.

Whatever was reported to me both by letter and by word of mouth, I have learned.

And I, sinner that I am, still beg that all our fathers and brothers — those of our own body and those of the common fullness — be confirmed in our unshakeable faith of the truth.

Blessed is he who abounds in sufferings for Christ's sake and brings the contest to its end.

Behold, now is the time of martyrdom; for the one who conquers, the crown comes from God.

Rejoice, then, and contend, O good Naukratios, living up to your name as a 'mastery of mind,' always sober, accomplishing all things according to the divine will;

for it says, 'giving no occasion for stumbling in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed, but in everything commending ourselves as ministers of God.'

For the present, let no one at all come through to us because of the incursion of the [foreign] nation, until it withdraws.

How much I wept over the suffering of the two brothers, the letter to Abba Athanasios also makes clear.

Let the good Silvanus depart on his journey in the Lord with thanksgiving, provisioned also by you with letters.

The discourse which I sent, let it be copied out elsewhere as well, that it may be preserved.

I ventured to compose it out of longing, wondering whether perhaps it is not too repugnant to those who read it, or an insult to the Mother of the Lord.

But may you be moved to entreat her mercy on my behalf.

Greet δ, greet θ, greet the fellow cell-dwellers, greet the keepers of the mysteries;

Those with me greet you.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

{To Litoios, my child} From both of your letters, beloved child, I have now come to know your complete repentance and return, especially that you have escaped the entanglements in the city, attaching yourself to the steward.

Do not, then, fall back into your former ways, into those very circumstances by which you were tripped up because of my sins.

For is there no balm in Gilead, it says? Or does he who turns away not return? 'Return to me,' cries God.

A soldier who has fought back after a fall is a soldier once more; likewise also a helmsman.

For it is not the case that, even if we have sinned a sin unto death, it is no longer possible to live.

We live again through repentance;

for he who cannot lie has said: 'As I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner so much as that he turn and live.'

So it is possible to live after the death of sin, but no longer after departure from this life here; for it says, 'it has closed him in.'

Come, then, brother, let us come before his face with confession; the Lord is near to those who call upon him.

Be content, my child, to remain with the steward, if you will obey me;

for those who long ago urged you toward departure were enemies and not friends — neither yours nor God's.

Labor a little, I beg you; take hold of a beginning, of a disposition mindful of salvation, for at the hour we do not expect, the Lord comes;

Remember, child, your renunciation, your submission, the cutting off of your own will, and your remaining labors and struggles.

I, the sinner, am the guarantor of your salvation;

Only stand firm yourself; only swim up from beneath the weight of despondency; only take heed to yourself; only do not isolate yourself any further, even should it happen that you do not work together with the steward, nor again in some way live with him.

This for now, since also, whenever a letter-carrier happens by, I will not hesitate to write back to you in reply to your writing.

May the Lord of our salvation himself, touching your heart, bring about light in your soul, comfort, arousal, and activity as far as possible, and save you into his heavenly kingdom.

My child, pray for me, that I too may be saved.

Your brothers greet you.

{To the same} How I, the humble one, rejoice to receive word from you, my child, and to hold in my heart the one I had long ago lost!

But thanks be to God who has joined us together again.

Would that I had also seen your face; would that I could also hear your living voice.

So much do I long for you, and rejoice that you have been called back.

Do not then grow slack, my son, but go forward with good cheer on the soul's journey in the Lord, casting far away the obstacles and stumbling-blocks set forth by the hinderer of salvation, and making for yourself a road of entrance to God;

for it has already been opened to you, the bolts of sin having been removed.

Anoint your noetic feet, and moving little by little, I am confident that you will also become swift of foot and succeed in entering into the things you desire.

The contest already lies before you;

What then would be so strange, even for you to attain to the roll of the martyrs? Yes, my child Litoios, stand firm, be saved, be glorified.

It is exceedingly good that, out of difficulty, it has been arranged for you to be with the steward;

You have been joined together with brother Proterios — a work of humility; and humility is the destructive remedy against the adversary.

Peace and strength to you from God.

Those with me greet you.

{To Irene the Patrician} Whether we write or not, it is our task to remember your honored self unforgettably, not only on account of the benefaction which you long ago showed toward our humble self, but also on account of your confession of Christ, ranking you among those who, here and there, are confined for Christ's sake and who contend in the struggle;

For are you not yourself persecuted, exiled, without a city, confined, ever prepared for dangers? Yes, truly so, and for this reason blessed, because yours is the kingdom of heaven.

Who among the confessors does not know that you have confessed together with them? Where has it not been heard that even a woman of senatorial rank is among the martyrs? The orders of monastics have marveled at you; the assemblies of the laity have praised you;

But what is this? The very ranks of angels and saints have rejoiced over you.

And do not think that this word is flattery.

See then, O martyr of Christ, how greatly you have been honored, how greatly you have been exalted.

Therefore I remind you not to turn at all from your firm resolve, since you are grounded upon the unshaken rock of orthodoxy, nor to become easily alarmed and wavering at the falls of certain persons, whether laypeople or monastics, whether those who seem to be someone, or simply anyone whatsoever.

For such people are false brothers, false apostles, having a form of piety but having denied its power.

Many who seemed wise, and appeared as high priests, and were reputed to be holy, were caught out in former times.

But few, and truly wise, shone as lights in the world — those who live continually in the fear of God, since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and who did not suppose themselves to be worth much.

since man looks upon the face, but God looks upon the heart.

I entreat you further: temper yourself with the coal of divine love, cutting off every worldly attachment.

For thus you will cut short the assaults that are yet to come.

For do not by any means suppose that you will remain altogether untested, whether in word or in deed.

For the devil is envious of you, having received a mortal wound because of you.

'Even my own wife,' he says, 'rises up against me, and she under the yoke, and that publicly' — speaking somewhat in this manner:

'I cannot bear it; I will still set in motion many devices against her — the husband, the child, the whole kindred, her fellow senators' wives, her acquaintances, the menservants, the maidservants, the estate — and besides these, pitiable tears, entreaties, promises.'

'And if I fail even in this, I move on to another kind of attack: I bring forward imperial threats, the envy of those of equal rank, who say, "Oho! Shall she alone surpass everyone? Who is she, and what sort of person is she?" — further insults, mockery, sneers, ridicule, sometimes even spittle, perhaps also slaps, perhaps also blows, perhaps even death.'

See to it, sister in the Lord, that you do not give way.

These are the marks of Christ, these are heavenly crowns, making you a new martyr.

For were not those women too of the same flesh as you — noblewomen, women of great wealth — cut off from husband by the sword of the Spirit? Thus my word suggests that you be prepared, sister-and-mother, lest the tempter, the devil, ensnare you in anything, so that you may strengthen many by your own example, and save them, that you may dance forever in the kingdom of God.

I greet in the Lord your offshoot and fellow-contestant.

{To John, Bishop of Sardis} Up to now it has not yet reached my ears where in the world your fatherly holiness may be confined.

Therefore I have endured, holding back my hand, unable to find a way to fulfill my desire.

Winged then by hope of attaining what I longed for, I have sent this present letter, and I know that I shall not be disappointed of my hope in the Lord.

But come now, tell me, O great father, what your exile is like, and where, and what sort of place it is that has received you — both the natives and those nearby. Are they favorable, of the elect portion, both of them, or are both the opposite and perverse? Yet because it is for Christ's sake, even hardships become easy, and sorrows become full of joy.

Blessed are you, persecuted for the truth's sake out of your own church, and exiled far away from the land that bore you.

Blessed are you, for the Lord's sake mocked and struck with fists by the impious before the Caiaphas-like council.

With Christ you were made a spectacle together with your fellow contenders; with Christ you were condemned.

And you did not ascend the cross, for it was not yet the time, but you went forth bearing the cross, insulted and dragged about by the lawless.

From this too comes the crown of righteousness for you, woven by angels from heaven.

Come then, crown of the fathers, bring forth into the midst your divine contests, and join to them those that follow.

For it is still a time of martyrdom in the world for the Church of Christ.

Be unturning (I remind you with reverence, having long ago received leave to speak on account of your utmost humility) from the good confession, for which you received honorable dishonors as your prizes, and which you confessed before God and men.

To contend on behalf of his holy icon is to suffer for Christ's sake.

For, as the great Basil says, neither is the dominion divided between the two, nor is the glory apportioned.

By dishonoring the one through the other, they deny both; judaizing obliquely, and overturning the mystery of the divine economy.

For if Christ is not depicted in images as we are, then he is uncircumscribable, as being outside a body.

For everything embodied is circumscribed.

And where then is the truth that the Word became flesh? Or how could the doctrine of the incarnation be recognized, if Christ has remained uncircumscribable — that is, unable to be depicted with the form proper to us — both before embodiment and after it? For there must be a difference between two things of differing nature, such as water and fire, matter and immateriality, composition and simplicity, and all things that stand apart from one another by contrariety.

So also, then, there must be a difference between incorporeality and embodiment — a difference expressed in terms of the circumscribable and the uncircumscribable — according to which Christ, the mediator of God and men, bears the properties of the two natures incorrupt in one hypostasis.

And the immaterial became material, the simple became composite, the fleshless became fleshly; he who has no likeness and cannot be imaged became like us in all things.

But if he is not depicted in images, then there is as yet no difference between the two natures, as yet no union of the opposites brought about by divine good pleasure and power.

For this reason there is not even an incarnation, and he who says, 'God was manifested in the flesh,' is lying, as is he who says that he himself likewise partook of flesh and blood as we do.

Thus it is concluded from their doctrines that the iconoclasts judaize, and have proven themselves to be forerunners of Antichrist.

May we flee their impiety, O father, which is equal to Judaism, not growing faint before sufferings, nor again before the long duration of the heresy, imitating the saints who, through patient endurance and many sufferings, inherited the divine promises.

You will surely forgive me, O sacred head, for what I have discoursed on, since I was but doing what was enjoined on me.

But do also pray earnestly for me, that I may pass through this present life in the forgiveness of sins, and without falling in word or deed.

{To Peter of Nicaea} Your holiness bids me to write, and I hold this as a most delightful thing.

For what reason, I ask, most holy one, and for what cause — is it that you wish altogether to draw me toward love, which is a gift God has granted you above many, the gift of forming friendships and thereby being loved in return? I yield to your fatherly command as a least son.

But what word of mine, foolish as I am, could be worth anything, capable of benefiting one who benefits many — especially now, when by his very deeds he suffers for the truth and prefers nothing above it? You have shone as a sun amid the heretical battle of night; you have been raised up as a pillar in the church, upholding those who are crumbling.

I beseech you, O Peter, namesake of the great Peter: may this present earthquake of impiety find you an unshaken rock of piety, so that we too, who are easily overcome, may be firmly grounded in you.

Complete the double-course of confession — not, to be sure, without sweat.

For in this too are the crowns.

If those who race chariots on earth, completing the course in seven circuits, are crowned, what wonder is it if, for those who run toward the goal above, Christ, the true judge of the contest, prolongs the times — as he has been accustomed to do from of old? So it seems to me, unlearned as I am, in order that he may test the diligence of those who run, and restrain — or else punish — the madness of those who drive them on.

So much, then, from me to you, blessed one, by way of exhortation.

As for me, it would suffice to receive the offering of your holy prayers, even if I should fail to receive a letter.

{To Macarius the Abbot} It is a joy for me to converse by letter with any other pious person; how much more with a father so great and of such stature, whose love is mighty within me, and whose prayer is as welcome as rain upon parched grass! For indeed, my most holy one, I need continually to share in your supplications, because I am unprepared and easily overcome, that I might escape both the unseen persecution and the visible one.

For whenever we are in hunger and thirst, in exiles and prisons, in irons upon the foot and solitary confinements, in the plundering of possessions and in persecutions, in sojournings amid desert dwellings, in mountains and in caves, according to what is written — and I do not even yet speak of the shedding of blood through scourgings — how are these not martyrdoms? How many are the crown-bearers! Lift up, on every side, O most blessed one, the eyes of your mind, and behold all these things, and beyond them, confirming the word from your own contest.

But nevertheless, be victorious in victory, O thrice-beloved one, whatever things have been and shall yet be brought upon you, so that the monastic way of life may possess you as its crown, and the whole Church of Christ may acknowledge you as a crowned champion of confession, and we, the least, may receive an adornment of comeliness.

{The friend to his friend} There is for me a proper season for writing, but every season is fitting for remembering your good love.

And this is not a gift but a debt owed — not only because of the sparing care which you showed toward us (which who, learning of it, would not admire, as being a fulfillment of that commandment, that one should lay down his soul for his friend?), but also because of your fine character.

For just as fragrance follows perfumed oil, so also graciousness and lovableness follow your honored self.

And this is not an empty word.

For who, seeing you, was not delighted? And who, having experienced you, was not wounded into friendship? I hear that even by report alone you captivated someone, so that he desired to become your kinsman by marriage.

For they say that, though you entered the bathhouse naked, you were nonetheless taken as a son-in-law, nothing else being sought, because of the great worth of the one being invited.

For indeed, he who is clothed with virtue is richer than all — just as, somewhere, those who tell the story of Odysseus say that he, saved naked from shipwreck, spoke these words:

'Behold, I have not been proven false in what I said before.'

But when I learned that you had also been advanced to the office of komes, I did not rejoice greatly (for the office of tourmarches would have been but a small thing for your piety and evenhandedness), but I was grieved that you are moving farther away.

Nevertheless, by the wing of a letter it is possible to fly and be joined to one another.

Guard for me, then, O good child — if it does not displease you to be so addressed — the deposit of the orthodox faith and communion.

Remembering me in equal measure, may you always be saved in the Lord.

{To the sisters Irene and Kale} That your honored pair has been comforted from your fraternal affliction — thanks be to God who granted the comfort.

For this the letter-bearer made clear, who also brought to us the things sent by you.

Seeing these things, we thought we were beholding that blessed man himself and speaking with him.

And indeed we keep them as an unforgettable memorial of him.

May God grant him rest among the saints, whose portion he chose to share while yet living; and may He give you also the reward, since you strive on behalf of a true brother through such benefaction, sending up to him his due portion in the age to come — he who, even while still living, laid up beforehand his inviolable inheritance.

But how is it that you too, who have chosen the same life of virginity, leave nothing to the world, storing up everything for God, and holding fast likewise to right belief? Blessed be your trio, and blessed too the pair who brought you into the light!

Good is your prudence, blessed is your conduct.

Pray for me, holy women.