書信集 第 1 章 第 20/55 段

Let us not turn aside, O good fellow-combatants; let us not cower before imprisonments and hardships, and sometimes even penalties; let us not put Christ to shame in our defeat—far be it!—let us not shame the angels who contend alongside us; let us not grieve those of our own rank who have gone before us as forerunners and victors.

This, then, is the contest of the first double-course, in which, as you know, the many prizes belong to the lower, earthly race.

But may we at least attain to the second course.

But if we should fail even of this, may we at least receive the fourth palm.

Let us not, then, simply be left behind in shame, found at the fearsome judgment-seat of Christ without finding a second chance to wrestle again.

Since, then, the present time is a stadium, how can I, the lowly one, not rejoice, having now heard that our brothers who have departed this life have conducted themselves well and been victorious? I was glad in the case of the Medikiote monk, that he wrestled most excellently; and likewise at the exile of the bishop of Nicaea.

By whose prayers may I too, unworthy as I am, be strengthened.

If iconoclasts come upon you, do not open the door to them of your own accord;

but if, according to their custom, they act like robbers, you are innocent.

Do not withdraw, but remain still until persecution or forcible removal;

let destruction be upon their heads.

But do not withdraw from the temple, both to chant the psalms and to celebrate the liturgy.

I do not know whether they will not defile the temple by their own abomination, that is, by their liturgy.

Concerning the things for which you asked forgiveness, may it be granted you by God in all respects.

As for the pair of letter-carriers, since they do not travel together, I have taken them wholly into the service of the word of truth.

What is this? To preach the gospel by journeying here and there, bringing to the brothers the things of salvation.

Men of strength, going about over land and sea.

As for what lies ahead, we do not know where and how the Lord will order things — not only our own affairs, but also yours, and those of the archbishop, and of whatever other brother is contending in the struggle.

Since also in Thessalonica there are some, as you have written, we must go about everywhere with letters and with brothers.

Thus Christ loves, and thus it is our duty to be concerned.

And if the Lord would in this way grant success in opening for us a door under heaven...

But if someone goes away to help those in Thessalonica, we are eager for what is pleasing to God, and may He Himself grant a good outcome.

Even if we are all held under guard, He is able to raise up ministers from the stones.

Therefore let us not fall down in despair, but let us believe.

I ventured to compose an encomium for the Theologian, and certain chapters against the iconoclasts — the one out of duty, being moved also by the brothers, the other because it was stirring within my mind.

If there is anything good in them, it is by your prayers and those of the shepherd; but if anything is corrupt, it is from my own sins.

Therefore copy them out and keep them safe, at the opportune time when visitors come from Abba John.

The brothers greet you; I embrace those who are with you, and also the 4, and the 9, and also you, my beloved child Litoios.

{To his child Tithoios} Your letter is short, child, but it carries the weight of great affliction.

And I know that I grieved you, my son, but not by my own will, nor without compassion, but so that you might know that you have a father — even a sinful one — yet one who loves his child.

For out of the great love which I have for you, so that you might be perfect and lacking in nothing, I struck you, grieved you, reproached you, pressed heavily my indignation upon you, that I might make you into what the truth requires.

And indeed, by the grace of Christ, I found you tested as by fire through the affliction, and you appeared to me more precious than gold, through what you said in your defense, through what pierced you with compunction, through the brevity of your words.

For that one who is rebuked should let fall only a few words in his defense is a measure of great humility and virtue.

Do you see, child, how with the mattock of rebuke I dug up the treasures of your virtue, and brought them, unknown as they were, into full view before your brothers, revealing you again and again in new light? So that you even owe me thanks for the exaltation of your glory.

You turned my affliction, which you caused unwillingly, into great joy; you gladdened my heart far more by your warm friendship, as God is my witness.

So that I do not regret having struck you (for by it I opened a fountain of love), and so the apostolic law is not to be despised.

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

Thus, my beloved child, that letter turned out for good in every way.

I know that you love me, since I also love you.

I know that you live for my sake, since I also live for yours.

I know that even your own eyes, if it were possible to pluck them out, you would have given to me, since I would have done the same for you.

Thanks be to God, who has thus ordered these things.

Hold fast, my beloved child, to your ministry, ever more perfectly.

May every sin be forgiven you, as also to all.

And so that I might show you, even by way of example, the abundance of my love for you in the Lord, receive the encomium of our Master the Theologian, which — moved all the more on your account and through you — I, unworthy as I am, ventured to compose.

Copy it out, then, in a fair hand, and pray that forgiveness of sins may be sent down upon me, both for whatever I, wretched as I am, erred and fell short of in the encomium, and in every part, always, of my sinful life.

But above all I urge you to prepare yourselves daily for the persecution now at hand, for Christ's sake, so that none of you, by God's good pleasure, may be put to shame.

See, brother, how you exhort and remind one another in the contests for piety.

Greet my good Dometian.

Greet Euprepianos, my fellow-prisoner, my kindred spirit, and my companion in hardship.

Greet Theodoulos, my faithful child.

Greet Metrophanes, my beloved son.

Greet secretly Kasianos and Neilos, who formerly grieved me, but who now, through your defense of them, are once more my beloved children.

{To the same} I have no need of many words in this letter, beloved child, because in the letter sent before I already both received and answered what was made known to me through your letters.

Nevertheless your repeated letter is also most acceptable to me.

I pray, then, sinner that I am, that you may complete your course — not only that of your whole life, but especially now, the one presently at hand.

For see what your brothers have suffered: some were crowned through their endurance of pains, but others were put to shame through negligence.

Strengthen yourself yet more, strengthen yourself, my child, together with those under the hand of your ministry.

And be prepared, I urge you, each day, to suffer the same things.

But if anyone, through unbelief, wavers because of my sins, let him withdraw, lest, besides his own ruin, he also become the cause of defeat for others.

For how much better it would have been for those around Loukianos to have done this, rather than merely seeming to be able to endure hardship, and instead being brought to a fall.

For all these evils are on my account.

I have now also received your gifts, and they are many, and I am burdening you — forgive me.

Nevertheless, may you be filled with every good thing.

Greet the steward and the assistant steward and the rest, telling the steward that I received his letter with great pleasure.

Those with me greet you.

{To his child Dometian} You are always accustomed, my child, to call upon me in exile as a true-born child calls upon his own mother, although you have no need of milk, but are nourished on solid food in the Lord.

What then? This is the cause of your great love, which cannot bear the separation.

But may the Lord grant you His own kiss, and strengthen you to complete in the best way the contest for His sake that already lies before you.

For I know who you are, that you fervently seek Christ.

Behold, the time for finding Him is short; dispose yourself in the best way.

Let us drink, my child, the cup which our Lord drank, that we may be made sweet together with Him forever.

Let us burn fervently with the fire of divine love, and let us not fear the winter storm of unbelief.

For you know what the lukewarm brothers have suffered.

We shall be among the fervent ones, whose crowns are equal to those of the martyrs.

I have now also received your offerings, and especially the small flask of oil.

And why did you send that which you yourself possessed? Nevertheless, may my God repay you with eternal things.

Pray more fervently for me, the humble one.

The brothers with me send greetings.

{To Euthymios and the rest of the brothers} What is this report that has resounded in the ears of my lowliness? What is the news that has suddenly astounded my wretched soul? — that Euthymios, my true son, is among the martyrs, together with nine others, whose names are Ephraim, Aphrodisios, Ammonas, Hyperechios, Stephen, Parthenios, Hegesimos, Symeon, and Dorotheos.

I nearly disbelieve it; I am nearly hindered from writing, overcome at once by both tears and joy.

Glory to You, O God, who have made you shine round about through contests of martyrdom.

You yourselves, good children, bore the marks of Christ on your honored bodies; likewise you gave your backs to so many lashes;

The earth was sanctified by your blood.

Whence and how did you, out of all, obtain this glory as your portion? Great is your boldness, and prize-winning your answer to Antony the fighter against Christ.

Blessed are you by the Lord, holy firstfruits, a pillar of courage for the church of Christ, the good zeal and rekindling of the monastic order.

One hour is the punishment, but the recompense lasts forever; the pains are for a little while, but the good things are unending.

Go forth, you too, golden-born children; be ranked together with your Cretan martyrs, equal to you in number.

Pray, accordingly, that I too, your unworthy father, may by God's good pleasure follow after you.

Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Byzantium exulted; yes, east and west as well, calling blessed your God-crowned company of ten.

Thus I have spoken to you briefly, though you are worthy of many encomia;

the memory of these things the time to come will declare, to the boast of the orthodox and to the shame of the enemy.

Grieving together with you in disposition, since it is my own members that are pained by the blows, I exhort and I beseech, I embrace and I clasp you, I stretch out my hands to you: stand, my lords, stand;

Christ is still presiding over the contest, still wishing to multiply your crowns.

Whose beginning is admirable — may their end also be worthy of it.

He who strengthened you then is present also now, and will embrace you all the more, and will lighten your pains, and will exalt your horn.

Say, you too: their blows have become to us like the arrows of infants;

you are the seed of those who were bedewed with dew in the fire and who muzzled lions.

Let us not, having begun well and having been anointed with the blood of martyrs, thereafter grow negligent;

for it is a fearful thing, O children, to fall into the hands of the living God.

Human pains are to be reckoned as no more than gnats.

So then I too believe, and I, wretched as I am, shall be adorned through you, and indeed shall also be saved.

To conclude my discourse: consider that as much as you have been proclaimed abroad throughout the world, so great also is your contest for a good consummation — God, of course, giving the strength.

Greet one another with a holy kiss;

those who are with me, already loving you, love you.

{To Gennadios, my child} Late indeed, yet I received your letter, my longed-for child, and this was fitting.

But why were you so late? Do you not know that in absence, unless a written meeting of minds takes place, the good of love and the concord of faith are put at risk? Now if you had been unable to write from lack of skill in letters, that would have been pardonable — though even so it would not be entirely free of blame, since the duty could be discharged by another's hand;

but since by Christ's grace you are able, and even lend your services to others in this, the delay is not praiseworthy.

But let this, at least, be pardoned to you.

But why do you attach to me praises of which I have no share? Pray, then, that I may attain God through right conduct in every way;

and this too I ask on your behalf: that you may be preserved safe, taken captive neither by unseen enemies nor by those now visible, and that you may bring your deposit safe to the God who gave it.

{To Thaddaios, child and confessor} How good is your letter, my beloved child Thaddaios;

What is this? That your letters have both humility and sincere faith and warm love, and — what is admirable — also unfeigned knowledge;

for truly, child, your mind has laid hold of the truth concerning the icon of Christ;

and hold fast as you have grasped it, and as God has enlightened you;

for indeed his icon is inseparable from Christ, wherever it may be fashioned in matter, since in concept it remains outside of matter; and it is on this account that the honor and the veneration paid to both are one.

so that by the denial of the icon it is Christ who is denied, just as, conversely, by its confession Christ is confessed.

And blessed are you, that you have come to know the truth which God hid from the wise — or rather the foolish — of this age, and revealed to infants, that is, to the guileless, such as you.

This is our true worship, we the orthodox; and for this let us contend even unto blood, child, in no way frightened by our adversaries, nor growing slack.

I rejoice at your readiness, and that, though in prison, you glory in holding fast to your work.

As for us, we have not been deemed worthy to suffer anything for Christ's sake; but pray, child, that I may accomplish, in a manner befitting God, together with you, the contest set before us.

Your brothers greet you;

The Lord be with your spirit.

{To Ignatios, my child} I have recognized you now too, through your letter, that you are my child and my own inmost affection;

but may you be kept safe, wherever you may be;

for indeed your withdrawal is not to be blamed, especially since you were not even assigned there by the emperor, at Sakkoudion;

Nevertheless, my child, remove cowardice and dismay from your soul, hearing and believing him who says: 'Do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul;'

'but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in the hell of fire.'

so that, where the fear of God is, human fear is banished;

for the two cannot exist together in the same place, just as light and darkness cannot exist together.

'to serve two masters'? For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other.

What, then, is being said? That he who has the fear of men does not have the fear of God;

If, then, it is instilled by the enemy — as indeed happens without fail also with the other passions — nevertheless let him who has conquered the world be victorious.

One must therefore be diligent to prepare beforehand the provisions for fearlessness toward men, which are faith, hope, and love;

Love, it says, is kind, is patient;

love does not envy, love is not puffed up, is not arrogant, does not behave shamefully, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not reckon evil, does not rejoice at unrighteousness but rejoices together with the truth;

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

In these may you be preserved, together with me and all the brothers.

{To Sergios the notary} Hearing that your God-loving self keeps itself apart from communion with the heretics, and that it is zealous for the Lord, welcoming those who are right-minded and manly even unto blood, while disowning the unstable and the betrayers of the truth, I, the humble one, rejoice, giving thanks to God that you, my old and true friend, reach after and cherish what is dear and proper to God.

For you see how the persecution rises more and more to its peak, already producing martyrs too;

one of whom is our Thaddaios, now a companion in the same tabernacle as the saints.

That you love us, who because of our sins are as ones set aside, we know;

for we too love you; and it is not possible for one who loves not to be loved in return by the one loved.

But we exhort you also to pray that we may complete, by the mercy of God, the contest set before us.

{To Naukratios, my child} News upon news, word upon word;

What shall I say, and what shall I speak? How shall I, wretched one, be disposed at what has happened? Joy is mine, and grief; praise, and lamentation.

I have become caught in the space between two passions, and I do not know which I shall choose to speak.

Nevertheless, he who conquered Satan and the rulers and the tormentors of this age is victorious.

He was put to death for Christ's sake — the lamb of Christ, under the scourge — Thaddaios, my own young shoot, my inmost affection, the son of obedience, the stem of piety, the namesake of the Apostle.

Unbearable is the joy, unsurpassable the gladness — not to me, the humble one, alone, but also to angels and to men.

How great are your works, O Lord, that even now, in this lowly generation, you have shown forth an unimpeachable witness to your truth — and this one not from among the wise and well-born of this world, but from among those of the opposite condition, that the word of the Apostle might be fulfilled: that he chose the base things and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are.

Whither have you departed from me, O blessed child? To what heights have you so swiftly been exalted, having been numbered among the martyrs? O your good fortune!

In a single day you gained ages without end.

Through tormenting afflictions you acquired joys beyond words.

With a hundred and thirty stripes you have received the perfect wage of your labor together with the martyrs from the Holy Trinity — since the one number corresponds to perfection, and the other to the Trinity — so that even by that very chastisement of yours God might display your greatness of soul.

Your blood is myrrh; your relic imparts sanctification to those who touch it.

I beseech you, O Thaddaeus, saint of God, intercede on behalf of me, your unworthy servant.

For I no longer dare to call you 'child.'

See, my brothers, what has come to pass — what a treasure and what a member we have gained! The martyr of Christ, Thaddaeus, suffices both for the glory of God and for our boast, and likewise for the joy of the whole Church.

What of the rest? 'The first,' it is said, 'shall be last, and the last first.'

This I say concerning James and Lucian: the one has contended nobly (and may he go on contending to the very end) together with Dorotheus and Bessarion, while the other — because of my sins — has been shipwrecked, together with those of like disposition.

Alas, how the most pitiable ones fell in the midst of the luminaries!

They forgot, then, him who said, 'Do not fear those who kill the body.'

Is he not the sole Sovereign, who gives strength to the weak? And the martyrs are near at hand—

For does he not, of necessity, deliver those who are not yet strong — weak in nature, though not in resolve? And the martyr Thaddaeus is faithful in heaven.

Let us not, then, my brothers, be terrified, nor become fearful at the fall of those who were defeated, as though we too would not be able to endure the blows.

By the power of God we shall bear it, and we shall pass through, even fire, even the sword.

God goes before us and calls us to enter into the kingdom promised to us, just as he called Israel into the land of promise.

Do you not know what happened to those who then threw the people into turmoil, saying, 'We shall not be able to cross over, for there are walled cities there reaching to heaven, and giants, among them the sons of Anak'? And what came of it? Was it not for this reason that they themselves were consumed by fire, while all the murmuring people perished, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? Let there be no such agitator among you, no one faint-hearted, no one despairing.

We shall cross over, then, brothers; we shall cross over like Caleb, I say, and Joshua son of Nun, the heirs of the promise.

For us the spiritual walls will be brought down, as the walls of Jericho were then, by the trumpet of thanksgiving which the blessed Thaddaeus sounded, chanting from the very starting-line of his punishments, 'This is the day which the Lord has made.'

Thus I exhort, thus I entreat.

For, it is said, 'we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were exhorting through us.'

We beg you not to play the coward before death for his sake and with him, should it be necessary.

This letter is addressed to all, even though it is directed to you in person, my good child.

Therefore I greet all of you, and I rejoice with all of you in your sufferings.

And who is worthy to fill up in his own flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ? And woe to the one who denies and turns aside, even if it be death itself, for eternal death shall shepherd him, and the upright shall have dominion over him in the morning.

The peace of Christ be with you, and strength, and might, and comfort; pray for all the brothers and for me, that by the mercy of God I may prove myself a fulfiller of what I admonish.

The brothers who are with me send their greetings.

{To my child Cledonius} You have become anxiously concerned, my child, over the contest of your brothers, and this is no wonder.

For we too have felt the same thing.

For it is written, 'The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.'

So we must take courage and not be afraid.

By this very courage those who contended have gained the victory.

Indeed, Thaddaeus the saint, having been perfected by his own blood, has gone home to the Lord.

Is it not, then, the greatest of undertakings — enduring a hundred lashes, or even more, however much one's own reasoning may suggest, whether from within oneself or from a diabolical sowing that instills cowardice — to hold fast and so gain the kingdom of heaven and the exultation of ages without end? And is it not exceedingly hard, for the sake of sparing oneself the pains of the lash, to give up the faith, and thereby to have no relief even here, in the shame of one's fall and a trembling conscience, and besides to be punished throughout endless ages? Thus, my beloved child, steel your heart; and thinking in this way, may you have Christ as your helper — as indeed you truly do.

But if reasoning also suggests that, even after denial, there is again salvation through repentance — as indeed there is — yet who is it that promises us that we shall certainly find repentance, whether we are snatched away too soon, or rise again from our fall only with great difficulty? And how much weeping, and how many of the other remedies of repentance, shall we have to bring in order to reconcile the Judge — and all this while trembling at death, and being forever put to shame, and without confidence? Ask those around the pitiable Lucian, and then those around the blessed Dorotheus, what sort of heart is found in each.

And you will find and hear that, in the case of the former, there is anguish, darkness, shame, and they pray for the earth to split open and swallow them; but in the case of the latter, there is unbearable joy, light, a fair countenance, Christ himself — as though they had never, from birth, known such delight.

{To my child Dorotheus} I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you, Dorotheus — you who are truly, as your name says, a gift of God.

Your name has become for you a reality, your calling a deed.

You were flayed, my revered child, for the sake of Christ.

Well done, O steadfast-hearted athlete, golden-fleshed one, more precious than sapphire, more beautiful than purple!

Would that I might kiss the scraped wounds of your flesh, your sacred members, which you have made into members of Christ, whose blood your own blood is now mingled with!

Well done, you who are conformed to Christ, in that you did not hesitate to enter the stadium, nor did you prefer the present life to the eternal and immortal one.

For already, in resolve, you have departed to the Lord, whom your fellow-contestant and martyr Thaddaeus has already attained.

Perhaps it is for this reason that you have been left still in the flesh, so that you might glorify God the more in your members.

Hurrah! There is great joy in heaven and on earth, that you have become martyrs of Christ!

Oh, what a good thing it is, that you have been shown to be pillars and foundations of the truth! You have shone forth more brightly than the sun; you have radiated more precious than pearls.

I cannot bear the delight; I have gone out of myself in spirit.

I have reached you, sacred child; I kiss you, I crown you, I praise you.

I ask: how were the contests? How did you bear the pains? How was your precious soul in the midst of these things, and at the very entrance into them? And it seems to me that you would answer me something like this:

Where the fear of God is, there is contempt of death, disregard of the flesh, a rapture out of one's attachment to one's own members — the sharpness of the pains being overcome by faith and love and the hope of Christ.

So it is, my own dear one, lamb of Christ.

But I beg you, do not put me to shame — or rather, if it be bold to say so, do not put Christ to shame — but finish your contest, sealing what is yet to come upon what has already gone before.

Already, brother, like iron by fire, you have been tempered by the branding-iron of the lashes.

Christ wills, perhaps, that you, as a chosen vessel, be forged still further, that you may dance together with Paul.

Do not be afraid, my noble athlete.

He who saved you and brought you through in the trials that have already come will be with you all the more, and will deliver you from the mouth of the lion, both the intelligible and the sensible, crowning you together with the martyrs.

Just now has your name become known; just now has God begun to exalt you above high priests and priests, above pillar-saints and abbots, above patriarchs and herb-eating ascetics — orthodox ones, of course.

Do not fall, O pillar; do not desert your post, O confessor. Lift up your heart; let Christ be your breath. Let there be mighty humility, by which he who humbled himself unto death conquered the ruler of this world, and in himself has granted to us also the power to conquer him.

Pray for me, I beseech you as one who loves your father, that I too may live out my life following after you.

{To my child James} Well done, James, my revered child!

When did I ever hope that you — you who ranked last among your brothers in degree — would be among the martyrs of Christ? And what is more marvelous still, that you were the very first of your fellow-contestants to enter the arena for Christ's sake.

The lawless persecutor supposed that, through you, as one unable to bear labor and worth nothing, he already held the prizes of victory.

But the wretched man has been defeated, having encountered a man who had given up his own soul for the name of God, and who was found stronger than the blows dealt against him.

O child, what a manly soul is yours!

Like adamant you endured so many and so great lashes on your back, and on your chest, and likewise on your arms.

O the cruelty of those with the mind of beasts!

And O your blessed flesh!

You were pierced on every side; you were carried off as one dead, having become a burden wrapped in rags for those godless men.

Then, when threatened once more with punishment, you were not defeated, but made yourself ready, having settled your funeral arrangements.

You are a model and an encouragement also to your brothers who contend alongside you, of whom one has departed to the Lord, while the rest are engaged in the same contest as you.

You are not my child but my father, for you have served God.

But observe that it is the end that is sought after, and it is not enough to have begun well, even though that is a provision toward finishing well also.

Die, my child, for Christ; do not lose your God-given and great contest.

For indeed they would have remained with you in the Lord.

They became a mockery to the devil, whom they took in place of Christ, and a grief to me, sinner that I am, and a faltering to the whole brotherhood.

But may the Lord grant them repentance leading to their restoration, and grant you an end equal in worth to your beginning.

Pray, my child, for me in my lowliness, that together with you I too may find Christ.

{To my child Theodoulos} See where you have come round to, moving from place to place, my child Theodoulos.

The journey itself is nothing remarkable, but it is altogether remarkable that you contended in Thessalonica, struck with two hundred lashes by that unholy man.

Hearing this, I glorified God and loved you more than my own soul; yet I was also troubled, pondering what God's judgment might be, that you should be led about in that way in those parts.

Was it then folly, or divine providence? What has already come to pass was indeed by God's good pleasure — for whose sake, and on whose account, you were wounded, giving your back to the lashes, and are being guarded like a treasure of truth.

And blessed are you, my child, who neither pitied nor spared your flesh, but glorified Christ in your members, and carried off the prize of confession before God and men, and did not betray the faith.

And indeed Thessalonica proved true to her name in your case, granting the victory to you, a stranger, rather than to her own native sons.

But see, O my own heart, that we must bear witness to the end.

So do not be fainthearted, nor be ashamed of the testimony of Christ, but share in hardship like a good soldier of God; endure for him.

He is with you in prison, with you under the lash, should that come again, delivering you from every evil.