Letters 1 part 36/55

For you are a man of God, having a sacred mind, a soul that loves Christ, knowledge perfected in God, an understanding fitly framed, a sincere renown - and in these you writhe, unable to help matters as you were once accustomed, but seeing the church so endangered, the church which the Lord acquired through His own blood.

O master, into what terrible things have we come, and how great evils have we beheld!

These are the recompenses of sins committed beforehand.

For since we did not approve of holding God in true knowledge through the keeping of His commandments, but broke not one but many of them, tearing apart the Gospel of Christ both privately and publicly (you know, wise one, what I mean), God has handed us over to what we now suffer, so that we might not be condemned together with the world - even we who seem to be something.

So let not those who act impiously be exalted in themselves as though they were acting piously, but let them know full well that, by their rejection of His venerable icon, they deny Christ.

He still delays to let loose vengeance, out of sparing and merciful love for mankind and for the sake of repentance, but He knows how, in the end, to requite those who do not turn back.

Do you yourself, then, as one beloved of God, pray for the resolution of these hardships, but do not entrust it to us, who are not even sufficient to propitiate the good God concerning our own sins.

Nevertheless, [pray], since we too make this same request.

{To Anastasios, protospatharios} How good is friendship, among other things because, though absent, it is accustomed to benefit those who are loved just as if it were present.

Such indeed is your illustrious love and piety toward me, the wretched one, from of old and even until now - both present before my eyes and, though separated by so boundless a distance, nonetheless benefiting me: from Sicily when I was in Byzantium, and from Byzantium now that I am confined here and there, as also at this present time.

And what is this, that you act thus toward a sinful man unworthy of your nobility? Only that I love you exceedingly for your virtue in all things and your love of God, which not only Sicily and this land and that one sing, but indeed the very Reigning City itself.

For this reason you are beloved both by emperors and by those in authority, and your dignities come to you from virtue.

Thus, loving God, you are loved both by Him and by those who are His.

But I am at once an outcast, and at the same time an orphan.

My father left me, having departed to the Lord, as you yourself certainly also know full well, and likewise Kalogeros.

My brother, the archbishop, alone has been left to me.

But even he, because of the terrible things now besetting us, has been torn away, very far off.

Narrow straits are mine on both sides; yet, because they are for Christ's sake, they are also exceedingly sweet and most spacious.

But what is this compared to the surge of unbelief, upon which rests the worldwide shipwreck, as vast as reaches the whole extent of our present authority? Behold, master, into what evils we have been consigned, falling short of Judaism by nothing, or but a little, since the icon of Christ, and of the holy Theotokos, and of every saint, has been set aside, treated as nothing, and insulted.

For it is Christ Himself, together with His mother and His servants, who undergoes these things, even though it does not seem so to those who deny it.

But may the Lord keep you unsubmerged in right thinking, even though sprinkled from without by the heretical waves (since it is not possible for you to escape it altogether, moving about as you do in its midst), and may He grant you a manifold reward for your care of my lowliness, both here and in the age to come.

Nobly [enduring] the most terrible imprisonment, you are being punished by Leontios the accursed.

Oh, the apostasy of that Judaizing mind!

If he were a wild beast, having for so long a time drained you by ill-treatment and drunk your blood, he would have been sated.

But he remains an insatiable drinker of blood, growing ever more savage, possessed by a demon, receiving no sense of mercy, no compassion of loving-kindness toward you, the lambs of Christ, but squeezing you and, in every way, contriving together with Satan to swallow you up, so that the dragon might boast, so that through you he might terrify all of us as well.

For God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will, together with the temptation, also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Remember the saints of every age, that none pleased God without trials and many afflictions.

One was sawn in two, another was stoned, another was burned with fire, another was beaten to death with clubs.

And where is there time to number the cloud of witnesses surrounding us? Since you also are partakers and fellow-contestants of these, rejoice, my brothers, with inexpressible joy, reigning as kings over the heresy, over the passions.

You, my Karterios, aptly named for your steadfast soul; you, Aphthonios, most ungrudgingly enriched in endurance; you, Agapios, most truly made strong by divine love.

The gloom of your imprisonment procures for you the eternal and unapproachable light; the starving [deprivation] procures the delight of paradise; the being stripped bare procures the garment of immortality; the isolation procures converse with God; the shearing of your hair procures that fitting divine beauty, enabling you, with unveiled face, to mirror the glory of the Lord.

Are these not joy? Is there not exultation, surpassing every exultation? Perhaps we ought even to be grieved, that the foot has not also been put in the stocks, with a chain placed around it.

For as much as sufferings abound, so much also does the consolation of the glory of God.

These things, in brief, knowing that you have endurance of your own, I have exhorted you, dearest ones.

But do you, in return, give me - together with Nicholas, our brother who is with me, who also greets you - your holy prayers for our preservation.

{To the nuns} It is a debt, if anything else is, for me, the humble one, to exhort you with words and to anoint you with encouragement - you who are, in truth, as He Himself, the Truth, declared, sisters and mothers of the Lord - as you endure, for Christ's sake, the deprivation of your spiritual mother, and separation from one another, and the removal of your holy monastery, and even the keeping of imprisonment, having already been scourged for the confession of the truth.

But let me say this much, in extolling the praise you so well deserve:

That the whole brotherhood of a single monastery, thirty in number, in the present time—when rulers and ruled alike turned aside, out of fear of death having falsified the word of the Lord—when monks and nuns alike, even if only a few were left, should thus be of one soul and bind upon themselves the contest for Christ's sake: this is a thing to be compared with the times of old.

A likeness of the Holy Forty, or the very image of certain other blessed prize-winners.

How blessed are you, each surpassing the other in burning zeal, and all together spurring one another on into the arena of confession!

A spectacle worthy of an angelic choir, a martyrs' assembly beloved of God, for whose sake indeed are these sufferings.

Come, then, daughters of the Jerusalem above, branches of the true vine, disciples of the Word without falsehood, let us exult in a manner worthy of God, let us give thanks in return to Christ who has enabled us to bear what has already befallen us, and let us also prepare ourselves for what is yet to come.

What is this? Even if scourges come again, even bonds, even fire, even the sword, in no way to shrink back, but to be eager to endure all things together with Christ.

To the one who believes, all things are possible.

Do you see what manner of praises these are? What then shall be the future recompenses—the kingdom of heaven, joy unspeakable? Let no one, then, fall prey to Satan, let no one be a lover of life, like the one of the Forty, out of the thirty.

A pattern, apportioned by tens in threefold measure.

Such is our worthless exhortation.

But do you, O thrice-blessed mothers, repay me with your prayers, as provision for the journey of salvation.

{To the Canonesses} From what has gone before, we have already received sufficient proof of your pious disposition toward our lowliness; but now especially so, so that we are truly amazed, beholding your gifts, how many and how great they are; and moreover, having been informed by the letter-bearer, who has himself seen with his own eyes how great is the sparing care and concern that abounds in you—to show mercy, to have compassion, to feed, to give drink, to clothe, and whatever else is needful for life—being eager to do these things for our meanness, and seeking to learn how to bring them to completion.

Is it not, then, fitting that I should give thanks to God in these matters, having found spiritual mothers and sisters? Is it not duly proper for me to dedicate hymns to you, who seek God with your whole heart? Rejoice, mothers and daughters in the Lord; rejoice, diligent laborers of the gospel commandments; rejoice, lilies of the spiritual field, planted in place amid thorns, yet in manner running far from the thorn-bush of heresy.

Rejoice, O fair pair, holding fast to one another and bound together, through one another, unto God.

How great is your concord according to God, your loving bond, your monastic manner of life!

Rejoice, O lady of the lady, mother of the mother, abbess of the abbess, at once ruling and also being ruled.

How good is your labor and your discipline, that you both gather in the reward that comes from submission, and are also a security to her who presides.

Rejoice, you who are both abbess and subject—the one, over the many; the other, to the one.

Blessed is your understanding, both steering and being steered, and directed toward the harbor of salvation.

Brief are these praises, but from the few, the many are understood together with them.

May the Lord repay you the reward due on our behalf, on behalf of the steward, and on behalf of whoever else fares well through you.

Guard yourselves still, I beg you, from the soul-destroying heresy, communion with which is estrangement from Christ.

Together render your manner of life more radiant, the golden chain woven for the many as well, so that, adorned by both, you may come with shining lamps into the bridal chamber of the Lord, enjoying the eternal good things.

{To my child Naukratios} You have found so faithful a letter-bearer that through him I too, lowly as I am, considered it a dispensation of our good God to write to you, O sacred child.

Now, the very fact of learning that you are in good health along with all your fellow confessors and brothers—how great a joy would this not be to us sinners, especially since you, the foremost among them, remain steadfast and conduct yourself toward all in a manner befitting God, in the word of love and care? Then also, that brother Adrian has been brought safely as far as that place, we have been released from our anxiety, giving thanks to the Lord—although indeed, because of brother Epiphanios, as you had previously indicated, we remain ever concerned and prepared for trial, suspecting, as is likely, the dangers lying in wait.

But however it is pleasing to God, so let these things stand and be conducted.

All things work together for good to those who love God, as the sacred word says.

Pray, brother, that we may become such people, even though we are far from God because of our sins;

and we shall not fear what man might do to us.

We have, then, undergone nothing such as that of which you sang to us, crowning us with your praises.

But if there is indeed something favorable, this too is because of you, and it is by your prayers that we were strengthened and made worthy of it.

May the mercy of the Lord be upon us, the unworthy, also in what follows.

I rejoiced that you conducted yourself well toward the patrician lady in the Lord, and this for our sake.

For she too has made this very thing known to me, and has become even more inclined to do good.

For our sake you live, brother, but we too live for your sake.

Do not marvel that the persecutors of Christ rage in frenzy, nor that Christ bears with it.

It is necessary that all things be brought to fulfillment, so that both the approved may shine forth the more manifestly, and the lawless may fully pay back the recompense for what they have done.

Discourses and lives of the brothers, in metrical verses.

Once you and some of the faithful brothers have read these, hide them away securely.

I do nothing, brother, worthy of mention;

but since I have leisure, and since I am, as it were, pricked on by my holy father, and since I hear again the divine Paul saying to holy Timothy, 'Do not neglect the gift that is in you,' unworthy as I am, I do with fear and trembling what I do.

Greet brother Athanasios along with the assistant steward.

And if I wrote that brother Adrian had arrived, I spoke in ignorance; I learned afterward that he had not yet reached there when you wrote your letter.

Brother Nicholas greets you most warmly, holding your words in reverence.

The Lord be with your spirit, brother-father.

{Catechesis} Formerly reading to you from the Anatolikon theme, I now appear to you from the Thrakesion theme.

For in Smyrna the rulers of this age have transferred us to a place even more secure, and more testing, than our former confinement.

But the word of God is not bound, nor does our longing grow quiet, nor does the commandment fall silent;

therefore I, the lowly one, speak out again.

Rejoice in the Lord, fathers and brothers; rejoice, you who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake; rejoice, you who dwell in mountains and caves, and indeed also you who lie hidden in cities and yet more desolate places.

For if the Apostle permits that we should rejoice always, how much more now, when the sufferings are for Christ's sake—of him who is inscribed upon the panel, who is manifested in his own icon, who is honored through it? For are these not, indeed, the words of my own wretched self, but rather those of the all-wise Dionysius and of Basil the Great?

And it is not yet the time in this letter to introduce the citations of the other God-bearing fathers.

Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth:

'Moab has rebelled'—that is, plainly, the city of Byzantium has cast off the evangelical yoke, and like a heifer maddened by the gadfly, has grown unruly.

'I do not wish to know your ways'—this it has declared, both in deed and in word.

She rages in frenzy, she is mad, she drinks blood like a lioness, she stops up her ears like an asp; when rebuked, she shakes herself free.

A reminding voice came to her, as if from heaven, from the very highest, from the Roman throne, crying out, 'What have you done?'

'You have denied Christ, rejecting the icon of Christ, of the Theotokos, and of all the saints.'

'Open an attentive ear, give heed to the words of the Gospels, of the Apostles, of the Prophets, of the Fathers.'

But she did not accept it, did not receive it; rather, tearing herself away from the five-headed body of the Church (since the sacred Nikephoros still lives too), she stiffens her neck against God almighty, insulting Christ, trampling upon the holy things.

Such are the things done by her, O thrice-beloved ones.

But God is with us—in the east, in the west, in the north, and by the sea.

But if indeed there is lamentation for those who perish, come now, stand firm for me, you noble ones, you grateful ones, seizing the sufferings for Christ's sake as though they were treasures.

Oh, what a good season this is for those who contend—sweet of breath, perfuming the prizes of victory beyond all spices!

Martyrs' blood flows upon the Church, watering her more than Eden, which is watered by a spring of four rivers.

The choirs of the martyrs from ages past are being added to; what was formerly blessed only in report concerning the confessors is now seen with our own eyes.

Is not, then, the one who hears this urged on toward the contest, though he be vexed at the mountainous region, or the desert, or whatever hidden place? But nevertheless, remain where you are;

you too have your own blessing, however great it may be.

Pray, and praise those most blessed ones; strike down, for me, the invisible dragon; turn back, for me, the civil war of the flesh.

Let the spirit conquer, let the body be enslaved, so that the soul, the mistress and sovereign lady, may be free, having peace with God.

If it is so, there is martyrdom every day, crowns woven by God.

Do not be grieved concerning us sinners, even if you have heard that we have again been scourged.

By your prayers we bore it with thanksgiving and great joy, though the sting was sharp for a little while.

Only do not cease stretching out your holy hands in prayer.

Nicholas, your brother, sends you many greetings.

Greet one another with a holy kiss, company greeting company, the young the elders, and indeed the fathers who are near you.

And when this letter has been read among you, do not refuse to have it read among them also, provided only that it is worthy, since all are of one soul and one body, even though the members are diverse.

The Lord Jesus Christ be with you and with us sinners.

{To my son Naucratius} My ear will never be filled with hearing the sound of your voice.

For what you speak of is necessary and urgent.

Having now given ear to these things also, O good child, I, the lowly one, sang a hymn of thanksgiving, seeing that the Lord has not utterly abandoned his Church, but has shown that he still possesses her strength, having stirred up our brothers from the West to be a rebuke of the drunken insolence of those here and a light for those fighting by night with heresy.

Even though the unyielding ones shook it off, even though they did not open the eyes of their heart (I testify to this now before God and men), they have torn themselves away from the body of Christ, from the supreme throne on which Christ placed the keys of the faith — against which the gates of Hades have not prevailed from of old, nor shall they prevail unto the end, that is, the mouths of the heretics, as is the promise of him who cannot lie.

Let the most blessed and apostolic Paschal, who truly bears his name, rejoice, for he has fulfilled the work of Peter.

Let every company of the Orthodox leap for joy, for it has seen with its own eyes the visitation of Christ, according to our holy fathers of old.

As for the rest, let it be conducted however is pleasing to God.

Let the blood of the martyrs water the Church; let the choir of confessors increase.

This is the good pleasure of God, this is joy and exultation, even though, on account of those who are perishing, it is most pitiable.

What could our opponents say? They have not the East, they are bereft of the West; they have been torn away from the five-headed body of the Church (for the holy Nicephorus still lives).

Therefore they have been alienated from Christ; therefore they have been deadened; therefore they walk in darkness.

But if it is because they hold sway over a desolate heresy that they claim legitimacy — robbers too do this, since they likewise kill, shedding blood, so to speak, every single day.

And how great a hymn shall I sing over the conversion of Leontius? O the greatest of God's wonders!

You, my friend, transformed the ill-fated Dyschristos into this shape and that; but as for me, I thought that in this matter he was playing the part of Cyprian — having been rebuffed by the emperor, running to those who bear the prize and are contending, after the manner of the celebrated Justina.

May the Lord grant that, in the end, both things be fully declared concerning both of them.

That your imprisonment became more severe was grievous to me, because you are ill.

Nevertheless, be strong and be strengthened, O confessor of Christ, as we have foretold.

But that you may know still more clearly, I add this also: that the commander of the guard still keeps close watch over us.

Why and how? For since it is necessary to employ accommodation in matters of necessity — when we were brought face to face with the heresiarch of Chonae (for there we were first led away by those from the Anatolikon theme who had taken us), we bent the knee, he too bending the knee with us, and we embraced him.

And since he allowed lord Athanasius and me to come together into the same place, we drank with him once and twice, but we did not eat with him, though the serpent kept beseeching and whispering deceitful things.

We employed this same measure when we were led away from there to the dragon in whose power we now are.

He, having learned beforehand the sequence of events, did not compel us further, since he was unable to persuade us; nevertheless, upon seeing us, he did stir up discussion concerning the matter.

'It is nothing,' he said, 'and the matter in dispute is something quite small.'

To this I replied that it was in fact among the very greatest of matters, and, if he wished, let him speak, and hear the answer in turn.

But let us leave aside for now that which has already happened.

To recount the rest would take a great deal; but my discourse tends toward the more essential point, for the sake of which I began.

The terrible man thought to draw us in little by little, not by engaging in discourse about the icons, but perhaps by doing us favors, by speaking in a friendly manner, by relating the affairs of his exarchate (for he has been set over five themes), and moreover by extolling the deeds of the ruler.

He came and stirred up such conversations; and further — something he had not done even once in the prison — he offered us something to drink.

I took it with misgiving, and drank after sealing myself three times with the cross (for I feared some trickery in the affair).

Alas — little by little, imperceptibly, it drags one down! — I then entered into discourse concerning the truth.

He too was roused, and we shot citations at one another like arrows — he mockingly trying to silence me, while I proceeded more gently in certain points, because the discourse was directed toward the emperor and so that we might not be torn apart from one another in turmoil; and indeed, when I put forward a proposition, he was at a loss.

'What blasphemy is this? Have the Father and the Spirit had part in what Christ did in human fashion — yes or no?' And he nodded assent and insisted that it was so.

On account of these things, then, came the relaxation, and also the separation as in battle.

Not at all — rather, I also silenced his mouth.

But I knew him to be irrational, especially in his impiety; yet one thing I sought — to lay aside pretense and to show another countenance, as one must toward a chief of impiety.

Since it is not lawful to cast pearls before swine.

Hence came the strict confinement and the order that we should see no one, even though God may otherwise arrange things.

These things, even though somewhat digressive, have nevertheless been necessarily said, so that you might fervently pray that we be delivered from the ambush of the impious one.

Your brother greets you.

{Theodore, sinful monk, to my spiritual fathers and brothers, who have confessed and are contending in prisons, whose names are in the book of life} Having heard, O thrice-longed-for ones, of the martyrdom of your good confession on behalf of Christ, I sang a hymn, I glorified God who called you from a foreign land in the imperial city, as rational lambs, to pour out your blood as a fragrant offering to him, a light for those in the darkness of the heretical night-battle.

Then I, the lowly one, greatly desired to see you, the contestants, and to embrace each one of you individually, drawn by fervent longing.

But since this is bodily impossible, being carried away through this letter and standing as it were in your midst, I both embrace your holy footsteps and kiss your sacred faces with a holy kiss.

O good soldiers of Christ, called as it were from a heavenly levy!

O shining stars, radiating orthodoxy in the night of impiety, more precious than gold, more brilliant than emeralds and pearls!

Though I long to crown you worthily with many names, I am not able, being constrained by the limits of this letter; but summing up the whole in one word, let me say that your martyrdom is of equal weight with the martyrdoms of old, since he who confesses that he accepts the icon of Christ manifestly confesses Christ himself — just as the same holds for denial.

For the honor given to the image passes over to the prototype, as Basil the Great said, and the archetype is manifested in the image, as, in turn, the all-wise Dionysius said.

And since Christ is perfect man, lacking nothing of what is observed in man, he has the capacity to be depicted in an image, as every man does, just as he also has the capacity not to be circumscribed, inasmuch as the same one is also perfect God.

But if he could not be inscribed with a bodily character, he would then in no way be man.

For the first and true sign that he is man is that he can be depicted in an image.

And I have not yet even spoken concerning the Lady of all, the Theotokos, and, in short, all the saints together, whose rejection consists in the abolition of their venerable icons.

But he who understands, understands; and he who rejects, rejects to his own ruin, speaking against the sacred oracles, and power always acts in a tyrannical manner.

And though those who belong to God are few — even though all are his creatures — still, from of old and from the beginning, the gates of Hades dash themselves against the God-called rock; yet they have in no way prevailed, nor shall they ever prevail against it, as is the promise of him who cannot lie.

Therefore, my fathers and brothers, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strengthened in the Lord.

The choirs of the martyrs are calling you to themselves, and likewise the choirs of the confessors.

...through prayers to follow after your precious footsteps.

{To my son Naucratius} Since I learned from the letter-carrier, O good brother, that quarrels have sprung up among you (I say this, because one says, 'I venerate the icon of Christ as Christ himself,' while another refuses to say so), I did not receive it without grief, knowing that such disputes, sown by the devil, are wont to cut even the healthy part of orthodoxy — a thing which brings joy to our opponents, who from our own ailments confirm to themselves that their own impiety is sound — nor again did I think it good to hold in silence what I had heard, but rather to seek out, on my own part also, some remedy for its healing, by God's good pleasure.

The proposition, then, is as follows:

That the word 'as' is used at times in the God-inspired Scripture to denote likeness, and at other times to denote confirmation.

'I have become like a lonely sparrow on the housetop,' and 'I am like a fruitful olive tree.'

'How good is the God of Israel!' and 'How beloved are your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!'

For here the word is used not to denote likeness, but confirmation.

If, then, someone says that he venerates the icon of Christ 'as Christ himself' in this sense, he is sound in his judgment; but if he means it assertorically, he is not sound at all.

For the icon and the archetype are not the same in nature, but the same in likeness.

For if the two were identified in essence, they would be utterly dissolved — I mean, of course, in the case of man-made icons.

How then will one venerate the icon assertorically as Christ himself, when Christ is present in it not naturally but relatively — that is, by way of likeness? What is said is also false to the truth on other grounds.

In the icon the archetype is manifested, and in the icon Christ is venerated;

so to say 'in the icon' is to declare that one thing is shown in another, and that one thing is venerated through another.

Chrysostom saw an angel in an icon, but Cornelius saw the angel himself;

We see Christ in an icon, but the apostles saw Christ himself;

'For we have seen,' he says, 'the Lord.'

We venerate him in his own icon, but they venerated him himself;

'And when they saw him,' it says, 'they worshipped him.'

Christ, then, is venerated in the icon by way of likeness, whether one calls it 'relatively' or 'homonymously' (for both terms converge upon the same thing), and not by direct sight.

And so he is also venerated mentally, apart from an icon;

for he is not always and altogether necessarily seen by means of a sensible icon.

But if someone should say, 'Then, since it is possible for me to venerate mentally, veneration in an icon is superfluous,' let such a person know that he has thereby also denied mental veneration of Christ;

For unless the mind should mirror him, in the likeness of a man, as seated at the right hand of God the Father, it will not offer up veneration — unless, that is, one is intent on stripping away the truth that the Word became flesh.

And that he has been made like a man, his faithful icon bears witness;

and by the acceptance and veneration of it, Christ is accepted and venerated — just as, conversely, in its rejection he is rejected.

Abgar, having received the faith, venerated Christ mentally; but he venerated him still more manifestly in the not-made-by-hands icon sent to him by Christ himself.

so that in it Christ has been venerated both by way of likeness and mentally at once — thus now, but in the age to come by direct sight, being fulfilled, as the most wise Dionysius says, in all-pure contemplations by his visible theophany, which flashes about us with its most radiant gleams, as it did the disciples in that most divine Transfiguration, while we partake of his intelligible bestowal of light with a mind that is impassible and immaterial.

These things have been said by us, whether inadequately or sufficiently.

But I exhort you, in matters concerning God, to make your inquiries both reverently and attentively, and to seek out the truth either from yourselves or from others, casting far away all wrangling; and moreover, if anything in what has been said is mistaken, that it receive correction, since I am a man of little understanding and a sinner.