Letters 1 part 17/55

May Christ be with your spirit, through the intercession of my father.

I do not think he is going to move me, unless perhaps it is to have me flogged or exiled elsewhere.

Pray for my lowliness, that Christ may become my strength, freely given to one who is truly an untimely-born wretch.

The brothers greet you sincerely.

{To the Same} As much as the news of your illness distressed us, so much did the report of your recovery gladden us, beloved child.

Even if it does last for you, still do not let it, because of the brothers' importuning, bring about your return too soon.

For I supposed that this was also why you fell ill—from having drunk so much water, and from the change of place.

It was good that you were bled.

For how else could you have found relief from the affliction of your bowels, seeing that even after the bloodletting, unless you apply a vigorous liniment, you would not remain in good health for long?

Therefore take care in all things, so that you may serve God and also minister to me, the sinner.

As for me, I am being purged more and more of the disease; may it be so also for the soul.

For concerning this soul, every discourse is addressed to every man.

For the body is nothing, as the Lord said.

Provision '600' and send him to those in the city, safeguarding him with wisdom and prudence to do what has been assigned to him.

I, wretched man, lie in the middle ground between two passions: proper fear, and fearlessness for the sake of the commandment, as I often tell you.

For imprisonment does not suffice as an excuse for me, since I am able to speak.

For if the enemies of the Lord, having Caesar as their helper, speak out boldly in their impiety, turning the people of God aside and setting every church ablaze, what shall we suffer—we who have the King of all—when we do not even dare speak secretly to those who share our zeal? For this reason the Theologian says: 'The mouths of the pious are silenced,' reckoning this itself as a grave accusation.

But again, we have been commanded to flee temptation.

One must therefore walk the middle course, as has been said, and after that, even to fall into it is blessed.

Let no one, then, take note of what I write—not even the archbishop himself—and let it be as the Lord grants success.

Even if 'No. 1' and 'No. 2' avoid the metropolitan, you, my child, secretly unite with him in friendship, making known also my own disposition toward him.

For he contended greatly for God among the bishops.

We have very great needs; do not waste words in idle talk.

The brothers greet you most warmly; from us, greet Callistus.

{To the Same} I have also heard what happened, and I marveled—not so much at the apostate Nectarius, as at the impious steward, whom the Lord has made an object of wonder, if indeed the report is entirely true—in these evil days.

But anxiety steals over me concerning the seven, as I watch closely to see how things will turn out for them.

For separation is the work of testing.

May the Lord strengthen them to come through unshaken the assaults now being brought against them—not only them, but also all who have loved his manifestation, which is seen and clearly venerated in his image in human form.

You did well in reporting to us what you heard.

For she is styled our spiritual mother.

since likewise everyone who suffers in the same way is father and mother and brother.

Let us now take care concerning '600', whom may the Lord bring safely and fittingly.

To her who remembered us, give the little mantle as a blessing, and keep the contents for yourself.

For we did not have anything else ready at hand.

Those here greet you.

Greet those with you on our behalf.

for whom I also grieve, as I look to the outcome.

Where and how are the seven, and how have they been getting on? I am greatly distressed.

But God is good, and will set the obstacles right.

since I also groan on account of the Agrinites, at what the evil one has done.

But the Lord knows how to turn even the causes of evils into forces for good.

There is sorrow in these things, but joy in the confessors—if indeed those you mentioned truly are such.

And may the Lord fulfill their course.

Well done also to the man of Medikion, who answered well; greet him also on my behalf.

Concerning counsel it is written: many are the counsels that come from one's neighbor, but for each person nothing is more fitting than his own counsel.

Let us hold firmly to this, then, not accepting anything from those who signed, even should they send something.

And we have learned for certain that they did sign.

As for fears, my child, dismiss them, looking only to what is pleasing to God.

For he who does not seek this will not even have the things of this present life.

Those with us send greetings.

{To the Same} The first part of your letter, my child, I read with a smile; but coming to the latter part, I was dismayed, beholding the magnitude of the evil.

Yet blessed is God, who orders all things for our benefit.

Let us prepare ourselves as soldiers of Christ, even though we are sinners.

Sweet are the nails of the Master, even though they are exceedingly painful.

Since we must in any case die the common death, let us choose to die the voluntary death for Christ's sake, lest, by fleeing to suffer temporal, human things for him, we be eternally punished with undying torments.

But note that the host of Loupadion likewise foretold this long ago, as I also told you by word of mouth; so what you heard is indeed true.

Hasten, my child, to strengthen yourself and the brothers.

Pray for me, the weak one.

{To John, Monk of the East} Since you have written to me again, O dearest of children and brothers, I too once more move my pen to you, a letter both of greeting and of admonition, [to say] that it is always good and pleasing to God for each person to blame himself in all things, and not his neighbor;

from which it follows naturally that what exists is diminished, and what does not exist does not accrue.

And so, enough concerning this.

For give the wise man an opportunity, and he will become wiser still; and for the man of understanding, from small seeds comes a great harvest of spiritual grain.

And what comes next? Thanksgiving from me, a sinner, and praise for the reception of my beloved child Meletius;

for I do not merely give ear to your petition, but I also confess to you, beloved, my deepest gratitude for this offering, brought about through your well-tuned persuasion, which has carried him from unguided zeal into the harbor of good order and truth.

O the providence of God, which does not allow those who humbly seek their own salvation to go altogether astray!

I have therefore received him through your word, and I have incorporated him among my own members; indeed I rejoice over him more than over those who have been joined to me from the beginning;

and if he also writes to me—as indeed he ought to do—he will receive in return what is fitting.

I ask you to greet him, praying unceasingly for my salvation.

To Nicetas the Mandator. Having learned of the safe passage of my beloved master, together with the brothers, as far as Byzantium—how he made his report and was received in audience by the emperor, and how everything proceeded for him without danger, by the good pleasure of God—I glorified my God, who kept you free from ambushes and a Caiaphas-like ordeal, through the mediation of the good man who serves as head of the courier service.

Know, my lord, that you have implanted in our humble soul no ordinary sting of love;

For though I have encountered many men on many occasions, in no imperial official have I found such admiration and delight as I have found in you—I mean in understanding, prudence, and gentleness, uprightness and adroitness, and whatever else belongs to virtue.

I would go beyond all bounds, were I to enumerate everything in you that makes for true nobility of character;

so much so that I, for my part, would say that truth itself is done an injustice if you do not hold the foremost rank in the senate—or if not that, then at least the second.

Yet virtue, even if it is exalted by no one, possesses by its own nature what is royal and lofty.

This is what I think concerning your noble character, and, as I persuade myself, I say it without guile, out of love.

Therefore hold fast to your virtue, and do not envy any of those who wield power alongside the emperors;

but also do not cease to remember us sinners, giving aid to abbot Hypatius and those with him as far as is possible.

This we ask; and together with it, that you greet on our behalf those close to you who, through you, have done good to me.

To the Wife of the Logothete. The times are harsh for a letter from my lowliness to be carried to you there;

but nevertheless, the godly love of your ladyship has persuaded us to write and to let you know that your piety is not forgotten by us, nor is the abundant confidence which you have shown toward us the unworthy, though we possess nothing attractive to draw anyone to such trust.

But nevertheless you have not been deprived of your reward on account of our unworthiness, for God measures and accepts the deed that came of your confidence.

Therefore we also pray that you may be well, and untroubled in soul, in the peace of the Lord.

But it is not possible for a human being to be without afflictions, which God permits as a place of instruction for us, so that thereby the proof of our love and faith toward him may be made manifest.

Bear, then, whatever befalls you, and rejoice in patient endurance, for it procures for you the hope of salvation.

Guard also your orthodoxy, I beg you, lest you be carried away with those who disobey the truth through the outrage committed against the holy icon of Christ, or of the Theotokos, or of any of the saints whatsoever;

for I know your rectitude in all things.

May God keep you, my lady, in all things, as his own holy treasure.

To the Canonical Women. That I have not forgotten your godly love, I reckon you yourselves know well;

for I do not go through my prayers without remembering you—not that there is anything good in me, sinner that I am, but, as I have said, on account of our love and acquaintance in the Lord—and I might add, also our common way of life.

And I have many reasons to remember you, because you are both pious and devout, and indeed also compassionate toward my lowliness;

for indeed I do not forget your kindnesses and favors, nor, so to speak, the pains and tears occasioned by our separation at the time of, and because of, the exile.

For these reasons, then, we remember, cherish, and regard you as a spiritual mother—and not only you, but also her who holds the second place after you—praying for you both health, and God's blessing and prosperity in your ascetic way of life;

for we know that you fear God, and love Christ, who is beloved by you and who loves you in return.

Therefore we are also anxious on your behalf, because of the present distress caused by the Christ-fighting heresy;

for this must be fled, O mother, by every possible means;

for communion with it separates us from Christ.

I am persuaded, then, in your case, and I rejoice that you are handmaids and servants of Christ;

and I ask that you make your intercessions to God on behalf of my lowliness all the more fervent, that I may be delivered from all the snares of the enemy.

To an Abbess. Your dignified reverence is known to us from the account given by Hypatius, our spiritual child, not from having seen you with our own eyes;

But now your piety has become very well known to us indeed, through your steadfastness for God's sake, in that you chose to be deprived of both your monastery and the leadership of the sisters—and even to undergo the imprisonment to which you were condemned—rather than to fall away from faith in Christ.

For truly, the denial of his holy icon is a falling away from Christ himself—a denial which these new Jews demand, imprisoning those who will not comply, beating them, choking them, oppressing them, putting them to trial, exiling them, binding them in irons, devising every conceivable form of ill-treatment.

By means of this present letter, [we wished] to visit you, offering you words of peace.

May Christ be with you—he whom you have longed for, and for whose sake you suffer.

Take heart, be strong, be powerful in Christ who strengthens you—not only in what you now endure, but also in whatever else Christ may yet permit to be brought upon you for the testing of your unfeigned faith.

Do not say: 'Bishops, priests, abbots have run aground—and I, a woman of weak nature, what am I to do? How shall I bear up?' By no means, O mother;

each of us has received power from God—man and woman, young and old alike—to contend even unto blood on behalf of the divine law and our orthodox faith.

and the fall of our neighbor will not suffice as an excuse for us.

How many, men and women, there were among the martyrdoms of old for Christ's sake! And yet few—not to name them one by one—are the women who carried off the crown of the contest.

Being like them, then, stand firm yourself too, courageously, I beg you;

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

And you, too, give us in return for this word your supplications, so that we, the lowly, may also arrive, somewhere behind our holy fathers who are contending in the struggle.

To Hypatissa. Considering myself a debtor to your godly worthiness, on account of having enjoyed the gifts of your piety, I have written this present letter, offering my ladyship an account of my gratitude.

For what is this about? That your compassionate soul was so deeply moved as, first, to open the door of your God-protected house to brother Proterius, for his complete rest—and that at just such a time when many friends and kin shut their houses, out of human fear, against those persecuted for Christ's sake;

and then also to send to us the lowly what serves for rest and comfort.

This, then, is indeed a work of great compunction and goodness on your part, a proof of great love for piety and for the commandments—to do good to a man who is not personally known to you, and who, moreover, is a sinner.

But this is no isolated act; rather, it springs from the good treasury of your many other good works and of your orthodox faith, as the bearer of this letter also reports to us.

We therefore glorify God on your account (since your virtuous life of widowhood redounds to the glory of God), and we further pray that your blessings may remain with you unremoved, so that, living ever more gloriously, you may attain to the measure of perfection and obtain the kingdom of heaven, whose works you are already accomplishing.

To Sergius, Consul and Cousin. What you wrote to me, most genuine and most beloved cousin, I have taken note of, welcoming your good intention—namely, that you have the courage to write in these days, and console me with words born of your great solicitude and of your mercy toward us, the lowly.

But I, leaving aside my own affairs—for by the grace of Christ they are not, in truth, grievous, even if they may seem so, because of the hope laid up in them—turn, sinner that I am, to your own circumstances.

How is it that your misfortunes come thus one upon another—from without, from within your household, even from your own children, from whom above all was owed the keeping and increase of your household, the guiding hand and staff of your old age, and whatever else is dear to fathers? Alas, for my own distress, to see into what state your life has fallen!

Believe me, good cousin, your affairs touch my very soul, as though our blessed father himself were feeling them;

for if anyone grieved over your misfortunes, he did.

Do not, then, lose heart; rather bear it with thanksgiving—endure it.

for the good God knows how to arrange what is beneficial for us even through adversities and afflictions; but above every task, flee the communion of the Christ-fighting heresy, participation in which blackens the soul and destroys it.

As far, then, as you are able, take care of yourself; for as to everything else, even if it is taken from us, it is no great matter—for whether we wish it or not, we shall all leave everything behind, passing over naked before the Judge, just as we were born—but if we suffer the loss of our faith, that is the greatest, and indeed the only, real danger;

for it is with this that we shall depart this life, and may it alone stand by us, together with our works, on the day of judgment, unto eternity.

And again, greet those who belong to us, for whom, sinner that I am, I ever pray for salvation.

To Naucratius, My Child. Your zeal, my child, both for love of God and for the comfort of my lowliness, you never cease to display—as also now, in sending brother Callistus into the city for what is urgently needed;

Having received him, together with the letters both from you and from those who sent them, we learned of things both grievous and joyful: grievous, on account of the wretched deserter Orestes, who, unable to bear even the slightest affliction for the name of God, deserted to the adversaries, becoming a laughingstock to demons and to the impious alike; joyful, on account of our brothers who are being preserved and who bear their maltreatment for God's sake, and indeed on account of our common fathers.

But if so-and-so, or so-and-so, has stumbled, do not be astonished; rather, if anyone is preserved safe to the very end, glorify God for that.

for one must labor much, to gain immortality.

Therefore take courage, and do not grow weary in encouraging others as far as it is in your power.

But since there is also talk of our removal, I know it is grievous to you, child, as it is also to your brothers.

But thanks be to the Lord, I take no account of it, even though I am a sinner, for the sake of the glory of Christ, for whom lowly Greece is greatly shaken.

But to what purpose? That the elect may be shown for what they are, the trial not consuming them as with fire.

Within, the fathers are being beaten and starved.

What great matter is it if they should also transfer us useless ones elsewhere? The earth is the Lord's, wherever I may be cast, whether alone or together with others.

But whom I shall choose as a fellow traveler when permitted from among the brothers, I do not know, because my humble heart is divided toward each one.

However, as the brother will report, such is my counsel.

But if the Lord should grant us success in seeing one another before our departure, let us settle more securely both this matter and others.

But if not, may Christ be with your spirit.

Pray for me, the lowly one.

{To the same} We have already arrived safely, my beloved child, at the place where our good God, for the sake of His holy name, was pleased that we should be confined, having completed the journey in fifteen days without much hardship, both because of the waterless and dustless path, and because the one leading us was disposed most compassionately, sympathetically, and honorably toward our lowliness.

So we have taken up lodging in Bonita, at the hearth of the patrikia, the wife of Tourkos, being received by her with great and warm kindness, and indeed also by the neighboring officials.

The water of the lake is brackish and fishless, but nevertheless, for Christ's sake, even the salty water is sweet to us, and the fishless lake seems to us teeming with fish.

Give us, then, your prayers, that we may live here in a manner pleasing to God, sheltered under His mighty hand, and that we may be moved in every deed and word of ours according to His will.

The brothers around Archippus have remained behind.

I do not know whether they will manage to come; and we are not writing entirely through them, being afraid.

The way is long, and we do not know whether you are free to send other brothers again, even if some are indeed eager.

However, even if they can be found, it is difficult for them to bring anything needed — I do not know what, unless it be books or something else necessary, which is not to be had in this place, even in the smallest measure.

For from coastal Lycia to here it happens to be a hundred miles.

I also need materials for writing.

But I am content with whatever lies within your power.

So that, even if I do not yet receive a reply from you, perhaps because of a blockage or some other difficulty, I bear it while giving thanks to the Lord.

For I know that, as far as your intention goes, you would even have plucked out your own eyes, if need required, and given them to me — you who are my dearly longed-for inward parts.

As long as you have strength, my child, do not allow yourself rest from helping your brothers — strengthening them, admonishing them, anointing them (for we must be watchful over their souls, as those who will render an account to the Lord), and especially devote yourself to those who are held fast in bondage.

Christ is with us, He who has conquered the world, who also charges us to conquer.

Let us by no means lose heart, even if we are bodily separated from the world, even if we are confined to desolate and uninhabited places, even if we are afflicted, even if we are in want, even if we are shut up.

The more sufferings are accumulated, the more the crowns are multiplied.

Who then is worthy even to be cut limb from limb for God's sake, and to die? For such a one shall be conformed all the more to Christ.

Know these things; in these let your meditation, your good cheer, your joy, and your crown consist.

Deliver the letters enclosed within your letter, each according to its name.

Greet the 4, the 30, Ignatius, your company beloved to me, and all who keep the mystery.

The three who are with me send you their heartiest greetings, together with those of your company.

The Lord be with your spirit, my most beloved child.

{To the Abbess} Having beheld the force of your honored letter — how great and how mighty it is toward my lowliness, proceeding from your utmost humility and compunction — this came to my mind to say, even though it be bold, what Christ says:

'O woman, great is your faith; let it be done for you as you have believed.'

For indeed it is the faith of the one who receives that is tested before God, and it is according to this faith that He grants the requests, even if they are made on behalf of one unworthy.

This very contrite address and prostration of yours, then, one might rightly both praise and justify.

For, it says, the righteous man is his own accuser at the outset of his pleading.

And again Christ says, 'He who humbles himself shall be exalted.'

But since you have also chosen the monastic life, exchanging the perishable things for the eternal, rejoice in your good resolve, ever tracking and reaching after the paths that lead to the kingdom of heaven through the acquisition of deifying virtues, by which the ascent to God has come to belong to the holy fathers.

And it is possible for us to improve every day and to transform ourselves into better things.

On these matters, then, is my first word.

But what worthy thing could we offer you in return for all that, out of confidence in us, you have taken up with such great toil on behalf of our insignificance — so that you count blessed those who host us, and consider yourself wretched by comparison? Not yet great is the kindness of those who have received us, such as is yours.

For they, being near at hand and having things ready, provide food; but you, though separated by the greatest distance, outstrip them on the wing of compassion, arriving first to nourish us, to fatten us, to warm us — at one time from Laodicea with your directives (for I have received them), at another from Bithynia with your dispatches.

Thus you have utterly astonished us with this whole wonder, well-nigh surpassing the Shunammite woman in grace, even though she hosted a prophet, while you host a lawless man.

But if a word must be added to this image, may you conceive in the womb of your mind the fear of God most fully, and may you travail with heavenly love, and may you bring forth the spirit of your fullest salvation.

Do you see what sort of expressions I am gathering, not knowing how I might repay you the rewards due? But why do you so admire our word, which is rustic and merely stitched together out of the passion of love? Far are we sinners from those to whom you compare us, as far as heaven is from earth, both in deed and in word.

But if our little words are pleasing to you, make use of them, but do not exalt yourself before others because of them.

You rightly extol my lord the spatharios (for he is most excellent indeed), whom I also greet most heartily, together with his offshoots, sprung up from a good root...

The God of peace shall be with you.

{To Theodore the Spatharios} I am just now inscribing this letter to your piety, when I received the report from the imperial official who arrived, concerning the relocation — that is, the exile — of us the lowly ones.

And insofar as I considered the harshness of the moment, I hesitated to write; but insofar as I considered my longing, I set my pen in motion.

And indeed longing has conquered the circumstance.

For your greatness now has in hand this letter, which at once bears a friendly address and also carries an expression of thanksgiving for the gifts which I have received from your God-loving right hand.

For I also include the honored person of the lady, your mother-in-law, whose great goodwill toward me, the sinner, I have come to know.

May the Lord, then, keep both of you unharmed and prospering in the things pertaining to the Lord.

For the things pertaining to this life have already been granted to you.

Having learned of your pious zeal, master, and your love of learning concerning the truth, and indeed also your hospitality toward monastics...

But even if the fruits are beautiful to behold upon the tree, nevertheless the cause is from the root.

And who might this be but the most holy metropolitan, our spiritual father? By whose prayers may both of us, with our whole households, be saved.

Farewell in the Lord, you who are to me most longed-for and most glorious in every way.

{To the Monastics} In this time, in which Christ is persecuted through His icon, not only ought the one who excels in rank and knowledge to contend, speaking and teaching the doctrine of orthodoxy, but also the one who occupies the rank of a disciple owes it to speak the truth boldly and to speak freely.

This word is not mine, the sinner's, but that of the divine Chrysostom, since it is also the word of other fathers.

But that the lords who are abbots, having been seized by the emperor, did not do the aforementioned things — although they surpassed in rank and knowledge all the leaders of this land — but on the contrary rather kept silent; and not only this, terrible though it be, but also made a written pledge neither to assemble with one another nor to teach: this is a betrayal of the truth, and a denial of their pastoral office, and a destruction of their subordinates, indeed also of their peers.

The apostles, having been commanded by the Jews not to teach in the name of Christ, said the following:

'You judge whether it is right to listen to you rather than to our God.'

And again, 'We must obey God rather than men.'

Such things and similar ones they ought to have spoken, so that God might have been glorified through them, so that they might have built up the orthodox, so that they might have strengthened the monasteries, so that they might have empowered those suffering in exile.

But instead what happened? That we preferred the monasteries rather than God, and preferred the resulting ease to the suffering endured for the sake of the good.

Where is that saying, 'I spoke of your testimonies before kings and was not ashamed'? Where is that saying, 'Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know'? Where is the glory and strength of our order? How did the blessed Sabas and Theodosius, at that time when the emperor Anastasius chose to be impious, take their stand, fervently fighting for the faith — on the one hand, joining with those who anathematized the wicked-minded in the church, and on the other, in what they wrote to the emperor, protesting that they would choose death rather than move anything from what was established? And the lord abbots say, as they claim:

Who are we? First of all Christians, who ought by all means to speak out right now; then monks, who are not to be carried off by any trifle, as being unbound to the world and unrestrained by it; then abbots, who both remove the stumbling-blocks of others and are obliged to give offense to no one, 'lest,' as it says, 'the ministry be blamed.'

But what sort of offense and blame — or rather, capitulation — they have given by their own handwritten document, what need is there even to say? For if silence is a part of assent, how grave a thing it is to ratify that assent in writing before the whole church! And do you say that he, offering the sacrifice in secret, commemorates Nicephorus? By that 'secretly,' even all the patricians — to say nothing of the rest — hold to orthodoxy!

But what does Christ say? 'Whoever confesses me before men, I too will confess him before my Father who is in heaven.'

just as, conversely, the same holds true concerning denial —

even if they made the written pledge only about not assembling with one another, it amounts to the same thing.

For how will they keep what Christ says, 'The one who comes to me I will not cast out'? Someone comes inquiring, seeking to learn the truth — whether an abbot or anyone else —

what will the abbot answer? Clearly, 'I have received an order not to speak.'