Letters 1 part 4/11

For God the Creator gave you an apt nature, and your participation in education displays the beauty of it.

Nothing, therefore, is lacking to the wealth of your virtue, except only the knowledge of the One who made you;

for once this is added, we shall have the most perfect abundance of good things.

Knowing this, I write concerning your coming to it, entreating the Giver of good things both to grant a ray of light to the eye of your soul, and to show forth the greatness of the gift, and to kindle in you love for the possession of it, and, once you have desired it, to grant to you the very thing desired.

which soul we pray may be sound and may shine forth, and may partake of that ineffable, God-given gift, which supplies to those who draw near it the seeds of the goods that are hoped for, and gives the tokens of that life and kingdom which will receive no end.

for those who love are naturally disposed to ask good things for their friends.

I have come to know that I am rightly disposed toward your Piety.

For the letters of your Reverence have persuaded me that, loving, I am loved in return.

I have many grounds for my love toward you.

First, that your father, that great and apostolic man, became my father also.

Fourth, that we frequently visit one another.

This alone is sufficient both to beget friendship, and to increase it once begotten.

And if you wish, I will also mention a fifth reason;

the conjunction which the tongue provides with hearing — for the one utters the words, the other receives them — this same conjunction we too have with you.

gladly do I expend myself upon you.

But the crown of the union is the harmony of the faith;

namely, to admit none of the spurious doctrines, but to guard that ancient and apostolic teaching, which your venerable gray hairs have brought to you, which the sweats of virtue have nurtured.

I entreat, therefore, your Piety now to take even greater forethought for the flock, and to keep it unharmed for the Shepherd, and to say with boldness that praiseworthy word of the patriarch:

"That which was torn by wild beasts I have not brought to you."

Sincere friendship is indeed strengthened by personal company, but is not severed by distance of place;

for its bonds are strong.

And this one might learn also from many other instances;

but our own case suffices also to demonstrate the truth of this statement.

For much separates us — both mountains and cities and sea;

But nothing has extinguished the memory of Your Magnificence.

For as soon as we see anyone arrived from those cities that lie close to the borders of the sea, our conversation brings forward Cyprus and its excellent helmsman, and we rejoice to hear your renown.

But now we have been filled with especially great gladness;

for we have learned the thing most delightful of all to us.

For what, most excellent one, could be more delightful to us than to see your praiseworthy soul illumined with the light of knowledge? For we deem it right that one who is adorned with many forms of virtue should also attain the crowning summit thereof;

and we believe that we shall see the thing we have longed for.

For it is plain that Your Illustriousness will eagerly seize the God-given gift, being urged on by genuine friends who clearly know its greatness, and being guided toward God the great giver of gifts, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and who through men nets men for salvation, leading those who are caught away into unaging life.

For the fisherman takes away the life of what he catches;

but our angler, whatever he catches alive, frees it from the bitter bonds of death.

For this reason he appeared on earth, and lived among men, and through the humanity that was seen he brought to men the life-giving teaching, and legislated a way of life befitting rational beings;

and having confirmed his laws by wonderworking, he destroyed death by the death of the flesh;

and having raised that flesh, he promised to all of us the resurrection, having given the resurrection of his own precious body as an ample pledge of our resurrection.

And he so loved mankind, even while they hated these very things, that the mystery of the dispensation is disbelieved by some on account of the very excess of his sufferings.

But it suffices to show the abyss of his loving-kindness even in this, that he still calls the unbelieving every single day.

And he does this not as one in need of human service — for of what is the Maker of all things in need? — but as one thirsting for the salvation of each person.

Seize, then, O admirable one, the gift, and hymn the giver of every gift, and procure for us a greatest and most joyful feast.

I, however, am afraid and tremble — not being anxious about you, the noble contenders for the truth, but knowing that it happens that some are disposed more weakly.

one might find some falling short of perfection.

Pondering these things, I was thrown into confusion and filled with much despondency.

For if one member suffers, according to the divine Apostle, all the members suffer with it.

Yet I had one consolation for this suffering, when I called Your Holiness to mind.

For, having been nurtured on the divine oracles, and having learned from the Chief Shepherd what characterizes a good shepherd, it is quite plain that you will lay down your soul for the sheep.

For the hireling, when he sees the wolf coming, flees, because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep, according to the word of the Lord;

but the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

So too the best general does not display his own valor in time of peace, but in the time of war, both rousing the others and himself facing danger in front of the army.

For it would be absurd for him to enjoy the honor of command, yet in the time of need to flee from the dangers.

This is what the thrice-blessed prophets also continually did;

and they were careless of their own bodily safety;

but undertook every labor and danger on behalf of the Jews who hated and turned away from them.

Concerning these the divine Apostle says: They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they died by the slaughter of the sword;

they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated — men of whom this world was not worthy;

wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth.

So too the divine apostles, going about the whole (Roman) world, preached, having no house, no bed, no bedding, no table, nor any other of the necessities;

but were maltreated, and tortured, and imprisoned, and endured countless kinds of death.

And they endured these things, not on behalf of men known to them, but choosing to face dangers for the very sake of those who were persecuting them.

How much more just, then, is it for us to undertake, on behalf of those of the same faith, our brothers and children, the danger now confronting us at the present time.

For even the nature of irrational creatures possesses this affection;

for one may see even sparrows fighting for their fledglings with all their might, and contributing whatever strength they have on their behalf;

and the other kinds of birds likewise undertake danger on behalf of their offspring.

And why do I speak of birds? Even bears and leopards and wolves and lions choose to suffer anything whatsoever for the safety of their young;

for they do not flee those who attack, but receive their assault and fight in defense of their offspring.

I have related these things, not training Your Piety to endurance and fortitude by the example of irrational creatures, but consoling myself in my despondency, and persuading myself that you will not leave the flock of Christ without a shepherd when the wolves attack;

but that, calling its Lord to your aid, you will eagerly undertake the struggle on its behalf.

For such a time as this shows who is a shepherd and who a hireling, and who tends the flock diligently, and who eats the milk and wears the wool, yet despises the salvation of the sheep.

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

This too I entreat Your Reverence, that you take greater forethought for the more infirm;

and not only strengthen those who are wavering, but also raise up those who have fallen;

for even shepherds do not neglect the sheep that have fallen sick, but separate them from the rest, and apply to them every kind of treatment,

...their salvation, nor betray it to the mouth of the devil.

This too the divine apostle Paul continually did;

and when the Galatians, after their saving baptism and the bestowal of the divine Spirit, had run aground upon Jewish infirmity and received circumcision, he grieved and lamented for them beyond any loving mother, yet healed them and showed them free of that sickness.

And one may hear him crying out:

My little children, for whom I am again in travail, until Christ be formed in you.

So too, when the teacher of the Corinthians had dared that abominable fornication, Paul both disciplined him as a father and healed him most skillfully, and having cut him off in the first letter, reunited him in the second, saying:

So that you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

lest we be taken advantage of by Satan;

for we are not ignorant of his designs.

So too, to those who partook of things sacrificed to idols, he both rebuked them fittingly, and exhorted them appropriately, and freed them from that grievous error.

...neither to trust in themselves, but to strengthen those who are wavering.

Stretch out your hand, then, I beseech you, to those who have slipped, and bring them up out of the pit of misery and out of the miry clay, and set their feet upon a rock;

and put in their mouth a new song, a hymn to our God;

that their example of harm may become an example of salvation, and that many may see and fear, and hope in the Lord our God.

And let them be barred from partaking of the sacred mysteries, but let them not be barred from the prayer of the catechumens, nor from the hearing of the divine Scriptures, nor from the exhortation of teachers.

Let them be barred from the sacred mysteries, not until death, but for some fixed period of time;

until they recognize their sickness, until they long for health, until they lament worthily — because, having abandoned the true King, they deserted to the tyrant, and, having forsaken their Benefactor, they went over to the enemy.

These things also the canons of the holy and blessed Fathers teach.

I write these things, not instructing Your Holiness, but reminding you as a brother, and knowing that even the best helmsman, in time of storm, has need of reminder from his sailors.

So too that great Moses, all-renowned, who worked those celebrated wonders, accepted the counsel of Jethro, a man still held fast in the error of idols.

For he did not look to the man's impiety, but perceived the usefulness of his counsel.

In addition to this, I entreat Your Holiness to offer earnest prayer to God on my behalf, that I may spend the remaining days of my life according to his laws.

whom I saw with pleasure, on account of the good order of his character.

When some mishap befalls the helmsman, or the look-out at the prow, the foremost of the sailors fulfills his office — not becoming a self-appointed helmsman, but providing for the safety of the ship.

So again in war, when the general has fallen, the foremost of the tribunes discharges the office of general, not seizing the authority, but caring for his countrymen.

So too the thrice-blessed Timothy filled the place of the divinely-inspired Paul, being sent by him.

to undertake the zeal of a helmsman, a general, and a shepherd, and to accept with pleasure every danger on behalf of Christ's sheep, and not to leave the flock destitute of a guardian;

but also to bind up what is broken, and to raise up what has fallen, and to turn back what has strayed, and to keep what is healthy in health, and to imitate the good shepherds who stand before their flocks and take up the war against the wolves.

Let us also call to mind the words of the patriarch Jacob, which he uttered in exposing the ingratitude of his father-in-law.

"I was consumed by the heat of the day, and by the frost of the night;

and sleep fled from my eyes."

"I have not eaten the rams of your flocks; what was torn by wild beasts I have not brought to you."

"I myself made good the losses of the day and of the night."

These are the marks of a shepherd; these are the laws governing the care of sheep.

And again: "I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel, and if you do not warn the lawless man, to turn him back from his wicked way, that lawless man shall die in his lawlessness, but I will require his blood at your hand."

With these agree also the things spoken by the Lord in parables:

"For the Lord is good to those who wait for him, and to the soul that seeks him."

And let us not be vexed at the storm that has risen against us;

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

In wars the bravest are shown forth;

in the contests the athletes are crowned;

the raging of the sea makes plain the helmsman's skill;

fire tests gold.

Let us not, I beseech you, take thought only for ourselves, but let us make greater provision for others; and not only for those who are healthy, but much more for those who are weak.

For this is an apostolic law, crying aloud in plain words:

"Comfort the fainthearted, support the weak."

Let us, then, stretch out a hand to those who lie fallen, let us heal their wounds, let us set them once more in the battle-line against the devil;

for nothing will grieve him so much as to see these men again taking up arms and fighting.

let us hear him saying:

"I do not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he turn back and live."

Of these things the divine books are full, both the old and the new.

These things the canons of the holy Fathers also teach.

I have written these things to you not as to men who are ignorant of them, but I have reminded you as men who already know them;

as those who lend assistance — whether by pointing out a breakwater, or signaling a hidden reef, or taking hold of a rope and hauling it in.

And the God of peace will swiftly crush Satan under your feet, and will gladden our ears with the report of your calm, when he has said to the raging sea:

But do you offer up to him your prayers on our behalf.

For you have greater confidence before him, since you have undertaken dangers on his behalf.

Formerly, then, we made known to Your Magnificence how those about the most magnificent Count Rufus showed us a memorandum written in the imperial hand, instructing the most valiant general, with prudence and due measure, to arrange that we reside in Cyrrhus and depart to no other city — on the ground that we were continually gathering synods at Antioch and disturbing the orthodox.

At present I make known that, having obeyed the imperial letter, I have taken up residence in Cyrrhus;

and when six or seven days had passed, they sent to me the devoted Euphronius, a member of the general's staff, with letters demanding that I set down in writing my acknowledgment that the imperial letter had indeed been shown to me;

and I did this also, and I promised to reside in Cyrrhus and to remain in its territory, and to shepherd the souls entrusted to me.

I beseech Your Magnificence, therefore, to learn precisely both whether these things have truly been commanded, and for what reason.

For I am conscious in myself of many other sins, yet I am not aware of having offended in anything either against the Church of God or against the common good order.

And I write these things not as one vexed at residing in Cyrrhus;

for, in truth, I consider it more desirable than any city however splendid, because this is the portion given to me by God.

But to be bound to it by compulsion, and not by choice, seems somehow to be grievous; and besides this it gives wrongdoers occasion to grow bold and not to heed our exhortations.

For this reason, then, I beseech Your Greatness: if nothing of the kind has been commanded, to make this clear to me;

but if the letter is indeed from the ever-victorious Emperor, to instruct his Piety not to be readily persuaded by slanders, nor to lend his ear to the accusers alone, but to require the accused to render an account.

Indeed the very testimony of the facts would suffice to persuade his Piety that the things said against us are false.

For when have we troubled his Serenity about any matter, or become burdensome to the great magistrates, or to the landowners here — who are many and distinguished? And that we have spent much of the church's revenue on public buildings — erecting porticoes and baths, constructing bridges, and attending to other public works — Your Magnificence knows well.

But if some are vexed on this account, that we lament the ruin of the churches of Phoenicia, let Your Greatness be assured that it is not possible for us not to grieve, seeing the horn of the Jews lifted up on high, and the Christians in mourning and lamentation — even should we be sent to the very ends of the inhabited world for it.

Nor can we refrain from contending on behalf of the apostolic doctrines;

for we remember the apostolic voice which says:

"We must obey God rather than men."

for before him we shall all stand, rendering an account of what we have said and done.

For the hope of things to come is sufficient consolation for those who are wronged.

I was greatly astonished that Your Greatness did not disclose to us the plots being laid against us.

For to dissolve these perhaps had some difficulty for those unable to expose the falsehood;

but to make known what was being concocted required not power, but a well-disposed attitude.

We indeed hoped that, once Your Magnificence had been summoned to the imperial city and obtained the lofty throne of the prefects to adorn, every ecclesiastical storm would be lulled to rest.

But we have experienced tumults such as we had not even seen at the beginning of the schism.

For the churches of Phoenicia are in mourning;

and the churches of Palestine are also in mourning, as all report;

and the letters of the most God-beloved bishops also make plain this grief.

All the saints among us groan, and every pious assembly laments;

and while expecting a cessation of the former disturbances, we have received yet others in their place.

For we too have been confined within the bounds of Cyrrhus — if indeed the memorandum shown to us is genuine, which they say was written by our own ever-victorious Emperor —

"Since so-and-so, the bishop of such-and-such a city, continually gathers synods and thereby disturbs the orthodox, with due measure and prudence arrange that he reside in Cyrrhus, and that he not depart to another city."

I, then, have accepted the sentence, and I embrace this quiet.

And Your Greatness can bear witness to my disposition.

For it knows how, when I entered Antioch, I departed in disorderly haste, on account of those who wished to detain me there.

But those who gave both their ears to the slanderers, and did not keep the other for us, have manifestly done us wrong.

For even to murderers and to those who despoil the marriage-beds of others, room is granted for a defense, and they do not receive the sentence of punishment until they have been convicted while present, or have themselves confessed that the indictment is true.

But I, a chief priest who has held the episcopate for twenty-five years, and before that lived out the preceding time in an ascetic community, who never troubled a court, nor ever sustained an indictment from anyone, have become the prey of calumny — not even being judged worthy, unlike grave-robbers, to receive an inquiry as to whether the accusations are true.

But while they have done wrong, I have not been wronged;

indeed, I have been made ready even for greater unpleasantness.

For even if they are vexed ten thousand times because I lament the calamities of Phoenicia, I will not cease doing this so long as I see them continuing.

For the only thing fearful to me is the divine tribunal.

Yet I pray that they themselves may obtain forgiveness from the God of all;

and that Your Greatness may ever be held in good repute and excel in all good things, and speak boldly against falsehood and fight in defense of the truth.

But let those who have contrived these things know, that even should I depart to the very ends of the world, God will not allow impious doctrines to prevail, but will give His nod and overthrow those who reverence such abominable doctrines.

For a brief part of a day I enjoyed the presence of Your Magnanimity, a violent necessity having deprived me of what I longed for;

yet it shall serve as a kindling-spark of goodwill and of warm affection.

But by imperial decree I have been forbidden to cross the borders of the territory of Cyrrhus.

And no cause at all is attached to this seeming punishment, except that I assemble episcopal synods.

And the sentence was pronounced without any written charge being produced, without any accuser appearing, and without the defendant being convicted.

And I acquiesce in it, knowing the recompenses that await those who suffer injustice.

I know, however, that Festus — who was the Roman governor entrusted with the good order of the Jews — when the Jews had demanded the slaughter of the divinely-inspired Paul, said outright:

"It is not the custom of us Romans to give up any man before the accused has met his accusers face to face, and has had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge."

But I, without even being asked whether I assemble synods or not, for what purposes I assemble them, and how this harms either the affairs of the Church or of the state, am barred from cities just like those who have committed the gravest transgressions of the law;

or rather, every city is open to all others — not only to those who hold the views of Arius and Eunomius, but also to Manichaeans, and Marcionists, and those infected with the errors of Valentinus and Montanus, and indeed even to Greeks and Jews;

but I, who have contended earnestly on behalf of the evangelical doctrines, am barred from every city.

But some say that I hold contrary opinions.

Then let a tribunal be convened; let those among the most God-beloved bishops who know how to judge be present; let those among the officials and dignitaries who are instructed in divine matters be present;

let us state what we believe, and let the judges declare which opinion accords with the teaching of the apostles.

But I have written these things neither desiring to see the greatest city, nor longing to depart to another.

For in truth I embrace quiet retirement far more than do those who, under monastic guise, wish to administer the churches.

yet even when summoned five and six times, I scarcely obeyed;

and I obeyed only in compliance with the ecclesiastical canon, which enjoins that one who is summoned to a synod and is unwilling to attend runs into danger.

And upon entering, what have I done that is displeasing to God? That I removed from the sacred rolls such-and-such persons who had dared unspeakable transgressions? That I bring forward to the ordination of the priesthood those who are praised and adorned by good life? That I offer to the people the evangelical teaching? If these things are worthy of indictment and punishment, then for them too I most gladly accept even greater punishments.

But indeed the slanderers compel me to say this.

Even before my very conception, those who begot me had promised to offer me to God, and in accordance with their vows they dedicated me from swaddling-clothes, and deemed me worthy of such an upbringing.

Having spent in a monastery the time before my episcopate, I received the ordination to the episcopate unwillingly.

I have continued for twenty-five years, neither having had a complaint lodged against me by anyone, nor having accused another.

In all these years, not one of the most reverend clergy under me has appeared before a court of law.

I have received neither an obol nor a garment from anyone.

Not one of those who dwell with me has ever received even a single loaf of bread or an egg.

Except for the rags with which I am clothed, I have not allowed myself to acquire anything.

Finding that the city drew no water from the river flowing past it, I constructed the aqueduct, and filled the waterless city with water.

To leave these matters aside, I gladly guided eight villages of Marcion's heresy, and those lying round about them, to the truth;

another village filled with Eunomians, and another with Arians, I brought to the light of the knowledge of God; and through the divine grace, not a single weed of the heretics was left remaining among us.

And I have done these things not without danger, but having often shed my own blood, having often been stoned by them, and having come even to the very gates of Hades.

But indeed I have become foolish in boasting;

but what has been said belongs to necessity, not to my own will.

This also the thrice-blessed Paul was once compelled to do, in order to stop the mouth of his accusers.

Yet I bear this seeming dishonor, and account it the highest honor;

for I hear the apostolic voice crying out:

"All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

But I entreat Your Magnificence to give thought to the affairs of the Church, and to calm the storm that has arisen;

for in truth, not even at the beginning of the schism did such confusion overtake the Church.

No one informs you of the magnitude of the dangers, of the lamentations of the Christians in Phoenicia, of the wailings of the most holy monks among us.

For this reason I have used even more words, so that Your Magnanimity, upon learning of this, may still this billow of the Churches, and reap the benefit that comes from it.

I had hoped, in the present time, to receive frequent letters from Your Holiness.

For having endured the most manifest calumny, I was in need of brotherly consolation.

For those who are at present reviving the heresy of Marcion and Valentinus and Mani and the other Docetists, being vexed that we openly denounce their heresy, have attempted to deceive the imperial ears, calling us heretics, and slandering us with the charge that we divide our one Lord Jesus Christ, God the Word who became man, into two sons.

But they did not persuade, as they had hoped by saying these things.

For this reason a memorandum was written to the most magnificent and most glorious general and consul, containing no accusation of heresy, but certain other charges — and these too false.

For they said that I frequently gathered synods at Antioch, and that this grieved certain persons, and that on account of this I ought to keep quiet, and administer the churches entrusted to me.

When, then, this memorandum was shown to me, I seized upon the decree as a bringer of good things.

For first, I regained the thrice-longed-for tranquility.

And then, I hope that many of the stains of my own transgressions will be wiped away, on account of the injustice concocted against me by the enemies of the truth.

And even in the present life, the Ruler of all has shown very clearly how great a care he takes for those who are wronged.