書信集 第 1 章 第 1/11 段

The prophetic word has joined the discerning hearer to the admirable counselor.

But I have given the book which I composed on the divine Apostle to your Holiness, not as to a discerning hearer, but as to a wise and true judge.

And just as goldsmiths bring gold to the touchstone, wishing to see whether it is unadulterated and pure, so I have brought my treatise to your Piety, wishing to know whether it is sound, or stands in need of some purification.

But though you read it and sent it back, you have made known to us nothing, O dear friend, of what has been said concerning it.

Your silence leads me to conjecture that you, the judge, having voted the contrary concerning it, did not wish to grieve me by disclosing it.

Dispel, then, my suspicion, and deign to make known to me your verdict concerning the treatise.

I do not think that those who love ardently judge rightly the birth-pangs of those they love;

for desire steals away justice.

For fathers think that their ill-favored children shine with beauty;

and children likewise do not see the unsightliness of their fathers;

so too does brother look upon brother, not as nature shows him, but as affection represents him.

Thus I have supposed that your Divinity has judged my words, affection having pronounced the verdict.

For truly greatest is the power of love, and it often overshadows not small faults of friends.

Possessing this wealth, O my dear friend, you have crowned our words with praises;

The divine Apostle forbids such comparisons.

For writing to the Romans he spoke thus:

'Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.'

And this he did very reasonably.

For we see only the deeds;

but the God of all things knows also the purpose of those who do them, and judging by this rather than by the deeds, He pronounces His verdict.

Thus He will crown the divine Apostle for having become to the Jews as a Jew, and to those under the law as one under the law, and to those without law as one without law;

not embracing the life of a flatterer, nor contriving for himself a gain that would prove his loss;

but seeking benefit for those to whom he offered his teaching.

The divinely-inspired Paul, then, as I have already said, bids us await the divine tribunal.

In praising him, then, we should do nothing improper in answering your inquiry.

You posited in your argument an impious judge, who had given to two contestants for piety a choice, that they should do one of two things: either sacrifice to demons, or cast themselves into the sea;

and that the one seized upon the second course, and eagerly plunged headlong into the deep;

while the other chose neither;

but, like the first, abhorred the worship of idols, yet did not deliver himself to the waves, but waited to suffer this by force at the hands of another.

Having thus set forth these things in your argument, you asked which of the two seemed to have acted better.

But I think that you too agree that the second is more admirable.

For no one, when so commanded, ought to remove himself, but should await either a natural or a violent death.

and again He bade them leave that city as well, and go to another.

Having been schooled in these things, the divine Apostle escaped the hands of the ethnarch, and did not even pass over in silence the manner of his flight;

but in his account he pointed to the basket and the wall and the window, boasting and taking pride in these things.

For the divine law made what seemed shameful into something honorable.

Thus at one time he called himself a Pharisee, and at another a Roman;

not out of fear of death, but contending according to the law.

Thus he appealed to Caesar, having learned beforehand of the plots of the Jews;

and he sent his nephew to the tribune and disclosed what had been contrived, not out of desire for the present life, but in following the divine laws.

And this he taught us not only by words, but also by deeds.

For often he turned aside the bloodstained hands of the Jews.

And the great Peter too, the first of the apostles, when he had been released from his chains and had escaped the hands of Herod, came to the house of John who was surnamed Mark; and having relieved their anxiety by his presence, and having bidden them keep silence, he moved to another house, attempting by this change of place to escape notice all the more.

This form of philosophy we shall find also in the Old Testament.

For that much-praised Moses, having on the first day used his courage against the Egyptian, and then on the following day learning that the killing had become known, fled, and completed a journey of many days, and reached the land of Midian.

Thus too the great Elijah, having learned of the threats of Jezebel, did not deliver himself up to those who wished to kill him, but left the inhabited world and fled into the wilderness.

But if to flee the hands of those making war is a holy thing and pleasing to God, then surely far holier is it not to obey one who commands a man to become his own murderer.

For neither did the Lord yield when the devil said to Him:

'Cast Thyself down from here.'

'Pray that ye enter not into temptation.'

And He taught us also to say:

'And lead us not into temptation.'

And, removing the sea from the argument, let us say that the judge placed a sword in the hand of each of the contestants, and commanded the one who would not consent to sacrifice to cut off his own head;

who then, in his right mind, would have endured to stain his right hand with his own blood, and to become his own executioner, and to make his own hand his enemy, and to yield to a judge who commanded unlawfully? By far, therefore, is the second more admirable,

for good judgment adorns his readiness of will.

These things I have determined according to the measure of understanding given to me;

but He who clearly knows both the deeds and the intentions will show, on the day of His appearing, which of the two took the better counsel.

For after the all-holy feast, He also gave the thrice-longed-for rain, that He might render the festival free of despondency.

Having yoked us to cares and griefs after sin, God who created us has furnished us with occasions of comfort, by setting the divine feasts in our midst.

For the themes of these feasts both remind us of the God-given gifts, and foretell the complete release from things grievous.

Having now too enjoyed these blessings, and having been filled with gladness of heart, we address your Excellency, and render the due measure of friendship according to the custom of the feast.

Knowing, then, the disposition of your Reverence toward us, I make this known to you by letter.

For those who are well disposed toward certain persons rejoice, whenever they hear something gladdening concerning them.

I would have written long ago, had I long ago known of the death of the most magnificent consort of your Gravity.

And even now I write, not that I might lull to rest the excess of your despondency with words of consolation;

for to those who know how to practice philosophy, and who have examined the nature of this life, reason alone suffices to disperse the towering waves of grief.

And even if it calls to mind that long companionship, it reads the divine laws, and sets against the tears it occasions both the course of nature, and the ordinance of God, and the hope of the resurrection.

Knowing this, I have no need of many words, but I exhort you to make timely use of your philosophy;

and to consider the death of the departed one a long journey abroad;

and to await the promise of God our Savior.

For he who promised the resurrection does not lie — or rather, he is the very fountain of truth.

I think it superfluous to offer spiritual incantations to your grief once again.

For the mere remembrance of the saving Passion suffices to quench even the most intense despondency.

For these things came to pass on behalf of the nature of mankind,

that it might effect the common resurrection and furnish us this hope made sure.

But if, even though the divine feasts offer every kind of consolation, you do not overcome the affliction of despondency, I entreat your Grace at least to read the clauses of the dowry-deed that come after its delivery, and to know clearly that the remembrance of death took precedence over the marriage.

For knowing the mortality of our nature, and providing for the peace of those still living, people prescribe the clauses called "alternatives," and are not troubled to mention death before the conjugal union;

but they declare expressly: "if the husband should die first, it has been agreed that such-and-such shall be done";

"but if the wife should undergo this fate, then such-and-such has been resolved."

Why then are we distressed at these things, having learned them before marriage — and, one might almost say, awaiting them every day? For it is altogether necessary that the union be dissolved, either by the husband dying first, or by the wife departing before him.

For this is the course that life runs.

Since, then, your Admirableness clearly knows both things divine and things human, let it disperse its despondency and await the common hope of the pious.

Your Piety is troubled and grieved on account of the sentence unjustly and without trial brought against us;

but this very thing consoles me.

For if I had been justly condemned, I would have grieved, as having furnished reasonable grounds to those who condemned me.

But since in this respect my conscience is clear, I rejoice and exult, and I look forward, through this injustice, to the remission of my other sins.

For Naboth too is not celebrated for any other virtue, but because he endured that unjust slaughter.

But I entreat you to pray to God that we may not be forsaken; and as for him who wages war, let him wage it.

For the favor of my God suffices me for all gladness;

and as long as he himself is present with us, we hold all griefs in contempt, as mere toys.

Lawgivers have written the laws for the aid of those who are wronged, and those who embrace the life of the courts practice the art of rhetoric, so that they may advocate for those in need of just help.

Since you, dear friend, have received a share of rhetorical eloquence and of the knowledge of the laws, use your art as is fitting: strike with your art those who commit injustice, and defend those struck by them, holding forth the laws before you like a shield;

and let no one who commits injustice enjoy your advocacy, even if he be your closest kin.

One of these is Abrames, the most wicked of men;

who, having occupied a farm belonging to the Church for a long time, and then having taken certain persons into partnership in his wrongdoing, has dared to do what he has plainly confessed to.

I have sent along with him also a record of what was done, and those who were wronged, and the most reverend Gerontius the subdeacon;

not that they may hand the wretch over to the laws, but that they may inform your Learning of what they have suffered, and, having moved you to share their grief, persuade you to compel the impious man to restore what was plundered.

The Maker and Governor of all things has revealed you as the most radiant luminary of the world, and has turned the empire from moonless darkness into clear noonday,

and you have appeared as the greatest comfort to those assailed for the sake of piety, and have shown forth the harbor of the apostolic faith, filling those who knew it with gladness, and freeing those who knew it not from the reefs.

But I especially sing the praises of the Giver of all good things, in that I have found a noble champion, one who by godly fear drives out human dread, who eagerly runs risk on behalf of the evangelic doctrines, and who gladly takes up the apostolic contests.

And now every tongue is moved to speak in praise of your Holiness.

For not only do the nurslings of piety admire the purity of your faith, but even the enemies of the truth greatly sing the praises of your manliness.

For falsehood yields before the lightning-flashes of truth.

I write these things now, knowing that the most honored and most reverend Hypatius the reader eagerly serves the biddings of your Holiness, and continually calls to mind your praiseworthy achievements, my lord.

And embracing your holy head, beloved of God, we entreat you to sustain us with your prayers, that we may live out at least what remains of our life according to the divine laws.

That greatest and adamantine tower — Job, I mean — that noble athlete of virtue, was not shaken even by the assault of frequent and manifold afflictions, but rather these showed him unmoved and unconquerable.

Yet after the end of his contests, the righteous Lawgiver made known the cause of his trials, speaking thus:

"Do you suppose that I have had dealings with you for any other purpose than that you might be shown to be righteous?" I take it that your Love-of-God likewise can hear these words, being able to bear many and various assaults of grievous circumstances;

not fleeing from them, but rather displaying the steadfastness and greater firmness that comes of the divine dispensation;

so that it might adorn your venerable head with the victorious crown, and present your struggles to others as an exemplary pattern of benefit.

As is your custom, then, dear friend, win this contest too, and bear nobly the death of your son-in-law, who was my most genuine friend.

And by your philosophy conquer both kinship and the memory of a character most excellently and nobly tempered — a memory surpassing even the painter's art and the writer's skill;

and dissolve the assault of despondency by remembering him who wisely orders our affairs, foresees the future, and directs all things toward what is beneficial.

And let us rejoice together with him who has been delivered from the surging billows of life;

or rather, let us give thanks, that being borne along by favorable winds, he has anchored in windless harbors, and has not experienced the bitter shipwrecks of which this life is full.

But indeed I know that I am doing a superfluous thing in exhorting to endurance the noble contestant of virtue, and the trainer of other athletes.

Yet I write nonetheless, offering through these words consolation also to myself.

For indeed I was grieved when I recalled our admirable companionship.

But again I praised the Governor of all things, who knows what is going to be beneficial, and who steers our affairs toward it.

I dictated these things after writing the earlier memorandum, since one of my friends in Antioch had reported to me the death.

But I was ignorant of the fruit of the vine cultivated there.

But now, through your Diligence, I have come to know it;

and I marvel both at the whiteness of its appearance and the delicacy of its taste;

and time will perhaps add to its pleasantness, unless it should turn sour.

For time works ruin also upon wines, just as, in turn, upon bodies and plants and buildings and other things made by hand.

But it is entirely useless to me, if indeed, as you say, it has the natural property of making those who drink it long-lived.

For I, at any rate, am no lover of long spans of time;

since the billows of this life are many and harsh;

but rather I was pleased to learn of the health of the solitary.

For indeed I had also this care that was pricking me;

yet I did not justly accuse the physicians.

For the ailment required just such treatment.

I have sent to your Nobility a small jar of honey, such as the Cilician bees produce, having gathered it from the flowers of the storax.

If I were reckoning only the nature of the affliction that has befallen you, I too should have needed words of consolation — not only because I regard whatever is yours as my own, whether joyful or otherwise, but also because I especially loved that admirable and truly praiseworthy person.

But since a divine decree has removed him from this life and translated him to the better existence, I too disperse from my own soul the cloud of despondency, and I entreat your Grace to conquer the affliction of despondency by right reasoning, and to apply in due season to your soul the healing charm of the divine words;

for it is precisely for this reason that, from our very swaddling-clothes, we draw upon Sacred Scripture as upon a kind of nursing breast, so that, whenever affliction befalls us, we may apply the Spirit's teaching as a remedy that wards off harm.

We know indeed how utterly grievous and exceedingly painful it is, when one has had experience of someone truly worthy of love, suddenly to be bereft of the beloved, and, having been in good fortune, to fall into misfortune.

But for those who possess understanding and make use of sound reasoning, nothing of human affairs is unexpected;

for none of these things is stable or secure — not beauty, not wealth, not bodily vigor, not the weight of rank;

nor anything else of what is admired by most people.

For some fell from the height of prosperity into extreme poverty;

others, having lost their health, wrestle with maladies of every kind;

And bodily beauty is disfigured by disease and ravaged by old age,

And very wisely the Ruler of all has allowed none of these things to be lasting or permanent,

so that those who have attained them, fearing their reversals, might restrain their pride, and, knowing their ebb and flow, might not put their confidence in things temporary, but might set their hopes on the Giver of good things.

Knowing these things, I ask your Admirableness to study well the nature of humankind;

for you will find that it is mortal, and from the beginning received the decree of death.

For to Adam the God of all said:

"You are earth, and to earth you shall return."

He who pronounced this sentence does not lie, and experience is witness.

For all have one entrance into life, according to the divine Scripture, and an equal exit, and everyone who is born awaits the grave.

Nor do all live for an equal span of time;

but some die prematurely, others after reaching manhood, and others again after experiencing the hardships of old age;

so also those who have taken up the yoke of marriage are separated; for of necessity either the husband must depart first, or the wife must receive the end of life before him.

And some received mourning immediately after the bridal chamber;

others, having lived together only a short time,

were afforded opportunity to overcome the affliction.

And besides these things, that he who departed had become a father of children, and left them near adulthood, and had risen to the very summit of dignities;

and that, though he became distinguished, he gave no occasion to envy, but rather increased [men's] affection for him, and left behind a renown for liberality, hatred of wickedness, gentleness, and the rest of moral virtue — these things are sufficient to console even those who are utterly enslaved to grief.

But if indeed we take to mind the divine promises and the hopes of Christians — I mean the resurrection, and eternal life, and life in the kingdom, and the things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him — what pretext for despondency will then remain? especially since the Apostle cries out explicitly:

"I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as do the rest, who have no hope."

But I know that many even of those who have no hope have overcome their suffering by reason alone;

and it is among the most absurd things that those who are borne up by such a hope should be found worse than those who have no hope.

Let us, then, I beg you, regard his death as a distant journey abroad, and just as we are accustomed, when he is away travelling, to grieve indeed, but to await his return, so also now let his separation grieve us moderately — for I counsel what is proportionate to nature — but let us not mourn him as a dead man; rather, let us rejoice with him in his departure and his release from this place, because he has been freed from uncertain affairs and fears no change — neither of soul, nor of body, nor of the things pertaining to the body — but, having passed beyond the contests, awaits the prizes.

And let orphanhood and widowhood not grieve you excessively;

for we have a greater guardian, who also legislates for others to take great care of orphans and widows:

"He will take up the orphan and the widow, but the way of sinners he will destroy."

Let us entrust our helm to him, and we shall obtain provision of every kind.

For he will be more solicitous for us than any man;

"Can a woman forget her infant, or fail to have compassion on the offspring of her womb? But even if a woman should forget these things, yet I will not forget you," says the Holy One.

For he is more intimately related to us than father or mother;

for he himself is our maker and creator.

For it is not marriage that makes fathers, but it is by his assent that fathers become fathers.

I have been compelled to write these things now, since my bonds do not permit me to hasten to you.

But it suffices that the most God-beloved and most holy bishop alone should procure every consolation for your most faithful soul, both by word and by deed, and by his presence, and by sharing your cares, and by his spiritual and God-given wisdom, through which I believe the storm of despondency will be lulled to rest.

I know that I have been tardy and have delayed my words of consolation;

but I did not do this without reason;

for I considered it profitable to yield to the affliction while it was still violent.

For not even the wisest physicians administer remedial medicines at the height of a fever;

but they bring the help of their art to bear at the proper time,

as a common remedy, both the hope of the resurrection and the will of him who wisely administers our affairs.

For one must love what is dispensed by ineffable wisdom, and must consider these things altogether beneficial;

for those who make use of these pious reasonings will both receive the recompense of piety and will live more contentedly, having been freed from the excess of lamentation.

But those who are enslaved to their suffering will gain nothing by their lamenting, but will live in misery and will provoke the Guardian of all.

"The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away;

as it seemed good to the Lord, so also it came to pass;

blessed be the name of the Lord forever."

It seems that there is nothing good left to be expected.

For not only has it not abated, but, so to speak, the storm of the Church reaches its climax nearly every single day.

And those who convene the synod have also arrived, and have delivered the letters of summons to certain other metropolitans, and to our own.

For this too is easy for him, but we are unworthy of the calm.

But the grace of endurance suffices for us, so that through it we may prove superior to those who make war against us.

For this is also what the divine Apostle taught us to ask for,

for, he says, "He will make, with the temptation, also the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

But I beseech your Piety to silence the fault-finders and to persuade them that those who are, as the saying goes, outside the range of the arrows, ought not to mock those who stand arrayed for battle, both being struck and striking.

But Samson, using the jawbone of a donkey, struck down a thousand men at once.

And no one finds fault with the victory, nor accuses the champion of cowardice, on the ground that he conquered his adversaries not by wielding a spear, holding forth a shield, hurling many javelins, or drawing a bow.

Thus, therefore, one must also judge those who contend for piety, and must not look for words that stir up strife, but for arguments that clearly proclaim the truth and fill with shame those who dare to gainsay it.

For what difference does it make to call the holy Virgin both Anthropotokos and Theotokos together, or to call her the mother and handmaid of him who was born, and to add that she is mother as of our Lord Jesus Christ as man, but handmaid as of God, and so to pass over in silence the term that affords a pretext for slander, while expressing the same sense, though employing a different appellation? Besides this, one must also observe that the one is a common name, while the other is proper to the Virgin;

and that the whole dispute has arisen concerning this — as it ought not to have.

And indeed most of the ancient Fathers applied to the Virgin the more honorable appellation;

and this your Godliness has also done, in two or three discourses,

and I have some of these, since your Piety sent them to me;

and you did not join Anthropotokos alongside Theotokos, my lord, but indicated the sense of this by other names.

For in the first place, O dear friend of mine, many other illustrious and exceedingly distinguished men have arisen,

And next one must also observe this: that it is fitting for the one who is accused to bring forward indisputable witnesses, whom not even any of the accusers can find fault with.

But if the one being prosecuted should call to testify persons who are themselves accused by the prosecutors, not even the judge himself would tolerate accepting such testimony.

For if, in writing a eulogy of the Fathers, I had omitted these saints, I would have done wrong, I confess, and would have proved ungrateful toward my teachers.

But if, being accused, I brought forward a defense and produced indisputable witnesses, why do those who are unwilling to see any of this find fault in vain? And as to how I revere these men, witness is the book written by me on their behalf, in which we refuted the writing composed against them, not fearing the power of the accusers nor the plots that were made against us.

Let those, then, who embrace idle talk find some other occasion for their trifling.

It is not my purpose to say and do everything to please this person or that;

for my conscience bears me witness that I do these things not for the sake of bodily comfort, nor because I cling to that care-ridden honor—which I hesitate to call wretched.

For long ago I would have withdrawn of my own accord, had I not feared the divine tribunal.

And now know well, my lord, that I await the compulsion of necessity.

And I think it draws near;

for the things now being concocted give proof of it.

If I looked only to the excess of your suffering, I would for now have put off this letter, so that I might take time as an ally in your healing;

but since I know the philosophic constancy of you, most God-beloved, I ventured to offer words of consolation, which I have learned both from nature and from the divine Scripture.

For nature itself has its mortality, and all of life is full of such calamities;

and full of these are the books of the holy Gospels, full too the writings of the holy Apostles, and the oracles of the thrice-blessed Prophets.

But I think it superfluous to gather these things and offer them to you, most reverend one, who from the beginning have been nurtured on the God-inspired words, and have ordered your own life according to them, and need no other teaching.

I exhort you, then, to call to mind those words which enjoin us to master our passions, and promise eternal life, and proclaim the abolition of death, and announce the common resurrection of us all;

For there are times when death is better than life, and what seems grievous is more gladdening than what is thought pleasant.

For all will marvel at the courage of reason, which nobly received the assault of suffering and dissolved its most violent onset by the magnanimity of its resolve.

We have consolation enough in the living images of the departed child;

for he has left us lovely offspring, able to put a stop to the excess of our grief.

Beyond this I entreat you also to measure your grief by the weakness of the body, and not to increase your sufferings through an excess of despondency.

When I look to the divine law, which calls those joined in marriage "one flesh," I do not know in what way I might console the member severed by the cutting;

for I reckon the magnitude of the pain.

"You are earth, and to earth you shall return;"