Letters 1 part 9/11

But if we take thought both of the divine sentence pronounced against the race, and besides this, of the commonness of such suffering — for life is full of such afflictions — we shall bear nobly what has happened, and repel the assaults of despondency, and shall sing that wondrous hymn:

"The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has come to pass;"

"blessed be the name of the Lord forever."

But we also have many more occasions for comfort.

For we have clearly received the hopes of the resurrection, and we await the reviving of the dead;

And if we believe, as indeed we do believe, the words of the Savior, we ought not to lament those who have fallen asleep, even if their sleep be longer than the accustomed one.

But we must await the resurrection;

and know that, since He who governs the universe is wise, and clearly knows not only the present but also the future, He directs all things toward what is beneficial.

Knowing this indeed, a certain wise man philosophizes concerning such deaths, and says:

"He was snatched away, lest wickedness should change his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul."

Let us, then, I entreat you, yield to the wise Pilot of the universe, and let us accept with contentment whatever is ordained, be it pleasant or painful.

For these things are advantageous and profitable, conducive to true philosophy, and, to those who endure, productive of crowns.

But Absalom, the father-slayer, the murderer, the impious and utterly wicked tyrant, did not take up his madness against his father for the sake of those reasons;

but, lusting after tyranny, he chose that most unjust war.

I too, then, am conscious in myself of certain other faults, but I have kept the doctrinal teaching of the apostles undefiled.

But they, having trampled underfoot both divine and human laws, and having condemned us in our absence, did not pronounce sentence for anything in which we had sinned;

for the hidden things were not manifest to them;

but they wove falsehood and calumny against us, or rather, openly warring against the apostolic doctrines, they publicly denounced the one who followed them.

But the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, and confuted His enemies, and gave them everlasting reproach.

And He scattered the counterfeit and spurious doctrines, while causing what He handed down to us in the sacred Gospels to be proclaimed with boldness.

For us, these things suffice for perfect gladness.

For we do not long for the city in which we toiled and spent our whole time;

but we long to see the truth of the Gospels prevailing.

As for us, we have gladly received the quiet retirement that fell to our lot, and we harvest its beneficial and most sweet fruits.

[...] has brought calm to the storm-tossed Churches, strength to the faith that had been warred against, victory to the evangelical doctrines.

And to these He has added the healing of the injustice done to us.

For who has ever heard of such, or so great, an injustice? What murderer was ever condemned while absent? What adulterer was ever convicted while not present? What burglar, or tomb-robber, or sorcerer, or temple-robber, or one who dared any other thing forbidden by the laws, though eager to run to the court, was prevented, yet was put to death by the judge's sentence while far away? But in those cases nothing of the sort ever happened;

for the laws command that both prosecutor and defendant stand near one another before the judge, and that the judge await manifest proofs, and only then, at last, either acquit as innocent, or punish as answerable to the charges.

But in our case, the very opposite of all this happened.

For the imperial letters prevented us from reaching that much-talked-of synod;

and the most just judges condemned the absent man, not having tried the case at all, but rather having greatly praised the writings supposedly submitted in accusation against us.

And neither divine law, nor human shame, prevented the slaughter.

But the presiding bishop gave the orders, having abandoned the truth, and courting temporary power;

and those who thought as we did, and shared in the same doctrines, and had greatly admired what was ours, obeyed him.

Yet nevertheless, that harsh season exposed the treachery of some, and the timidity of others;

but for us, our sufferings on behalf of the truth furnished occasion for boldness.

And the divine Apostle ranks these things even among the great marvels.

Moreover, entreat also their God-beloved Majesty to set the seal upon what has been rightly decreed, and to convene a synod — not again one filled with troublemakers and men swept together indiscriminately, but one wholly separated from all these, with judges who hold divine matters in high esteem, and who together prefer the truth above all human considerations.

And if their Majesty wishes to establish for the Churches their ancient peace, implore their Piety to be present at what is being done, so that by their presence they may strike fear into those who choose the opposite course, and the truth may have no adversary;

but that the truth itself may examine, all on its own, the nature of the matters, and the character of the apostolic doctrines.

But these things I ask of your Magnanimity, not because I long to see Cyrrhus again — for your Greatness knows the desolation of that little town, whose unsightliness we have somewhat concealed beneath the costliness of buildings of every kind — but so that what we proclaim may be shown to agree with the apostolic doctrines, and the inventions of our adversaries be shown spurious and counterfeit;

so that with commendable zeal they might strengthen their all-glorious sovereignty.

It was fitting that this too should be added to the other achievements of your valor: that our most pious and Christ-loving Emperor — whom divine grace has raised up for the benefit of his subjects — should learn, through your Magnanimity, the enormity of the injustice done against us, and should annul, by a just law, the law that is not just.

For even though we, upheld by divine Providence, turned what was deemed a punishment into an occasion for good things, and received the quiet gladly;

yet we have suffered things unjust and unlawful, having committed none of the offenses of which the enemies of truth falsely accused us, but having suffered the terrible things done by those who dared the greatest crimes;

or rather, we have endured things even harsher than these.

For we were judged without a trial, and condemned while absent;

and being prevented by imperial letters from reaching Ephesus, we received the most just verdict of the sacred judges.

But all this the most Serene Emperor has undone, through the zeal of your Magnificence.

And I, deeming it wrong to be silent and not even acknowledge my gratitude, have come to write this letter, by which I entreat your Greatness to convey the praises on our behalf both to the victorious and Christ-loving Emperor, and to the most God-beloved and most pious Augusta;

and let your Greatness be entreated to supplicate them, to grant a complete resolution to the Church's storm, and to command that a synod be assembled — not again with those accustomed to cause tumult troubling the assembly, but in quiet, by men instructed in divine things;

confirming the apostolic doctrines, and rejecting what is spurious and alien to the truth;

so that from this too your Greatness may reap gain.

I marveled greatly when I learned that your Magnificence, though wholly ignorant of our affairs, and having learned only of the injustice done against us, appeared as our advocate, and set every means in motion to dissolve the charges fabricated against us.

But to your Greatness the munificent Lord will surely render recompense.

For he who promised to give a reward for a mere cup of water will doubtless grant greater recompenses to those who have given greater things.

But we have suffered such things, not only at the hands of our most manifest enemies, but also at the hands of those we supposed to be genuine friends — warred against by the former, betrayed by the latter — such as either none, or very few, of the ancients have endured.

For who has ever heard of such a trial? Who, having confined the accused thirty-five stations away, ordered the judges to try the man who was not present? And who has become so cruel and savage a judge, as to try men whose voice he had never heard — and not only to try, but also to condemn them, and this most cruelly and savagely? For whereas the Lord commanded that the brother who offends, and who will not endure counsel, be, after a first, second, and third admonition, treated thereafter as the heathen and the tax-collector;

but the most upright and just judges did not grant even to men of the same faith what they grant to the heathen and the tax-collectors —

the very greatest honor, if indeed these possess any distinction of rank;

but us they ordered to be allowed neither roof, nor water, nor anything at all.

Thus did they wish to become imitators of our Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust.

But I entreat your Greatness to convey to the Christ-loving and victorious Emperor, and to the most pious and most God-beloved Augusta, the acknowledgment of our gratitude, because they have given piety a firm root within the pious sovereignty; and to entreat their Power to establish for the Churches an abiding peace, and to command that a synod be assembled — not with troublemakers again throwing the assembly into confusion, but with lovers of truth, confirming the apostolic teaching and renouncing this new and counterfeit heresy;

so that for these praiseworthy labors also you may receive the fruits from the loving Lord.

Your praiseworthy life indeed illumines your piety, displaying on earth an image of the angels' way of life;

but the zeal for the apostolic faith has rendered it even more radiant.

For what the keel is to a ship, and the foundation to a house, that the truth of the evangelical doctrines is to those who choose to live piously.

And when this truth was assailed, you contended for it with all your might — not as those defending something weak, but displaying your love for God.

For "the gates of Hades," it is said, "shall not prevail against her."

For her sake the loving and munificent Lord has deemed us worthy also to be dishonored and slain.

For we have accounted dishonor as honor, and slaughter as life.

For we have heard the Apostle saying, that "to us it has been granted by God, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake."

But swiftly he arose, like the Lord awaking from sleep, and stopped the mouths that spoke blasphemy against God, and injustice against us;

and caused the tongues of the pious to pour forth their streams once more into their accustomed apostolic office.

And we reap the delightful fruits of quiet;

and while we grieve to see the storm of the Churches, we are gladdened and rejoice, being freed from cares.

With your Piety — admired always for all things — we have ever shared in joy;

but until now we have not written, not out of neglect for the laws of love, but waiting to find some occasion for a letter.

Now, having just met the most pious and most prudent monks who were sent by your Holiness on other business, we have at once done what we desired, and, embracing your God-beloved person, we entreat you first to sustain us with your prayers, and then also to gladden us with letters.

And already, through another letter, we have addressed your Piety, having given the letter to your most honored brothers;

and now again we address your Holiness.

For this we are urged to do both by your admirable life, and by the praiseworthy zeal which you displayed for the apostolic faith, fearing neither imperial power, nor episcopal concord;

of those who had assembled, most, having been compelled, agreed; yet nevertheless by their signatures they confirmed the new heresy.

But none of these things shook your love of God;

These same boundaries we too pray to keep, and to preserve to the end the faith and confession in the one Father, and the one Son, and the one Holy Spirit.

For the Only-Begotten's becoming man did not increase the number of the Trinity, but the Trinity remained Trinity even after the taking of flesh.

For thus were we instructed from the beginning, thus we believed, thus we were baptized, thus we preached, thus we baptized, thus we continue to glorify God.

But concerning the father of those who speak the lie, the Lord said:

"Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own store."

What was said concerning the teacher fits the disciples as well.

For these men too, employing lying speech against us, speak from their own store, not saying what is ours.

"Blessed are you when they reproach you, and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely, for my sake;"

"rejoice and exult greatly, for your reward is great in the heavens."

And we entreat your Piety also to pray, that we may not become part of those who wrong us, but of those who are wronged for the truth of the Gospels.

Though I have never beheld your Reverence, nor conversed with you through letters, I have become its most ardent admirer.

This affection was wrought — and it continually kindles it — by the things said in unison by those who have tasted of your honey.

For all admire the rectitude of your faith, the splendor of your life, the steadfastness of your soul, the harmony of your character, the winsome sweetness of your company, and all the other marks that portray the perfect nursling of philosophy.

And this longing has made me begin a letter as well.

But, O head dear to me, share as quickly as possible what is desired, and grant us converse through letters.

For converse through letters affords ample consolation to those who are separated.

You will be writing not to one of differing belief, but to one nourished in the teaching of the apostles, and a herald not of a Tetrad, but of a Trinity.

For indeed I hold as equally impious both those who dare to unite the two natures of the Only-Begotten into one, and those who attempt to divide our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, God the Word incarnate, into two sons.

But this calumny the faction of Arius and Eunomius — and indeed also of Apollinarius — has ever shamelessly woven against the Church.

And it is easy for the diligent to know, that our all-glorious Fathers, the luminaries of the Churches, endured this very accusation from the enemies of truth, which we now endure from the champions of the new heresy, who deem themselves the best.

Persuaded then, Master, that you write as one of the same belief — and this is easy for you to learn also from many of our writings — send back a reply.

For these, so to speak with God's help, are again kindlings of love.

But before the letters, grant the help of your prayers, and entreat our good Lord to direct our feet in the unerring path, that with his laws we may complete the course that remains.

One is the nature of all men, but the choices of ways of life are many and diverse.

For some choose a seafaring life, others a military life;

and some an athletic life, others an agricultural life.

and some practice this skill, others that one.

And to pass over the other differences: some men are earnest and diligent concerning divine things, and are trained in the precision of the apostolic doctrines;

while others are slaves to the belly, and suppose the enjoyment of shameful pleasures to be prosperity;

and others still are midway between these and those, and neither emulate the praiseworthy zeal, nor embrace the licentious life, but honor the simplicity of the faith.

I judge, then, that those who have censured that statement which says that certain things are altogether impossible for God belong not to the earnest, who are trained in divine things, but either to those who do not know the precision of the apostolic doctrines, or to those who, enslaved to their pleasures, shift with the times, and now advocate these things, now those.

"For," it says, "give to everyone who asks of you."

We, then, say that the God of all is able to do all things;

but that by the word "all" only what is fair and good is comprehended.

For he who is by nature wise and good admits nothing of the contrary things, but only what befits that nature.

But if some contradict this statement, ask them whether the God of all, the lawgiver of truth, is able to lie;

and if they should say that falsehood is possible for God, expel them from your company as impious and blasphemous.

But if they too should agree that this is not possible for the God of all, ask them further whether it is possible for the fount of righteousness to become unjust.

And if they should concede that all these things, and things resembling them, are impossible for the God of all, one must say to them:

"Therefore many things are impossible for God";

and that these impossibilities are not indicative of weakness, but signify the greatest power.

For neither, when we say of our soul that it is impossible for it to die, do we thereby accuse it of weakness, but we proclaim the possibility of its immortality.

Thus, then, confessing God's immutability, impassibility, and immortality, we cannot attribute to that nature either change, or passion, or death.

As for "whatever he should will, God is able to do," one must say to them that he wills to do nothing except what is natural to him;

he is by nature good, therefore he does not will anything evil;

he is by nature just, therefore he does not will anything unjust;

he is by nature true, therefore he abhors falsehood;

he is by nature immutable, therefore he does not admit change;

and if he does not admit change, he is always in the same state and in like manner.

For this he himself also says through the Prophet:

"I am, I am, and I have not changed."

"But you are the same, and your years will not fail."

But if he is the same, he has not undergone change.

And if he is superior to change and alteration, he has not become mortal from immortal, nor passible from impassible.

For if this were possible to happen, he would not have assumed our nature —

a human soul together with a body.

And having kept each of these unstained by the blemishes of sin, he gave the soul for the sinning souls, and the body for the dead bodies.

And since the body that was assumed was called the body of the only-begotten Son of God himself, he refers the suffering of the body to himself.

That it was not the divine nature, but the body, that was nailed to the cross, the four evangelists bear witness.

For all of them teach this in agreement: that Joseph of Arimathea, coming to Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus;

and that he took the body of Jesus down from the wood, and that, having covered it with a linen cloth, he laid the body of Jesus in his own new tomb;

and that Mary Magdalene and those with her came to the tomb seeking the body of Jesus, and not finding the body of Jesus, ran to his disciples and reported these things.

These things the four evangelists proclaim in agreement.

But if those who object say that the angel had said:

"And devout men carried Stephen to his burial,"

and yet only the body was accounted worthy of burial, and the soul was not buried together with the body — nevertheless the body alone came to share the common name.

Thus the blessed Jacob said to his sons:

"There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife;"

"and there they buried Isaac, and Rebecca his wife;"

"and there they buried Leah."

And yet these names are common to both bodies and souls;

but nevertheless he applied the common names to the bodies alone.

And in common usage too this custom is to be found.

For we say, "So-and-so has died," and "So-and-so lies in this place,"

even though we know that the soul is immortal, and that it does not share the grave with the body.

— not enclosing the Godhead within the tomb, but naming the Lord's body by the Lord's own name.

And that this is also the judgment of the holy Fathers, let them hear Athanasius, the all-illustrious archbishop of Alexandria, who adorned his episcopate through his confession of the faith, crying out:

"Life cannot die; rather, it even gives life to the dead."

"If anyone should say that on the cross the Godhead endured suffering, and not the body together with the soul — the form of a servant, which he assumed entire — let him be anathema."

Let them hear also the most holy and most pious bishop of the Romans, the lord Leo, who has now written:

"That the Son of God suffered, insofar as he was able to suffer, not according to the nature that assumed, but according to the nature that was assumed."

"For the impassible nature took a passible body, and delivered it up for us, that he might work out our salvation, and kept his own nature impassible."

"For he did not come in order to lose his own nature, but in order to save ours."

If, then, they accuse us for having said that God is able to do whatever he wills, and that he wills what befits his nature, but neither wills nor is able to do what does not befit it, let them accuse also these saints, and all the others as many as advocate these same things.

Let them accuse also the Apostle, who cries out:

"...that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie..."

"...he remains faithful; he cannot deny himself."

Read these things aloud to those who object;

and if they should be persuaded, sing hymns to the good Lord, that through your diligence he has procured benefit for them as well.

But if they persist in their disobedience, hold no discussion with them concerning doctrines.

For the divine Apostle forbids disputing about words, which profits nothing but the ruin of the hearers.

But do you keep the evangelical teaching inviolate, that on the day of his appearing, having brought the deposit, together with fitting interest, to the righteous Judge, you may hear that thrice-longed-for voice:

"Well done, good and faithful servant;"

"you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many;"

"enter into the joy of your Lord."

Those who have armed their tongues against our God and Savior do nothing new or strange in also shooting his loyal servants with falsehood.

This the Lord himself also foretold beforehand, when he was heartening his sacred disciples.

"If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you;"

"if they called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household?" Then he encouraged them, showing how easily slander is exposed.

"for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that shall not be known."

The truth of this divine prediction we have seen clearly many times before, but especially now.

For those who wove the slander against us, and purchased our slaughter with vast sums of money, have been shown plainly to be wrapped in the taint of Valentinus and Bardaisan.

Yet they hoped to conceal their own impiety, if they whetted their tongues against us on the grindstone of falsehood.

For since we, seeing this long-extinguished heresy being revived by them, continued to cry out, testifying both privately and publicly, both in houses of greeting and in the divine sanctuaries, and refuting the plots being contrived against the faith, they poured reproaches upon us, as though we preached two Sons.

But they ought to have refuted us in person, and not to have slandered us in our absence.

But these men have done the opposite.

For by binding us to Cyrrhus by imperial letters, they compelled the most just of judges to try the case in our absence, and delivered their most upright verdict against a man thirty-five stages distant.

This is something that no one accused even of sorcery, or grave-robbing, no murderer, no violator of marriages, has ever had to endure.

But for the present I will leave the judges aside.

For the Lord is near, who judges the world in righteousness and the peoples in equity, and who exacts an accounting not only of words and deeds, but also of wicked thoughts.

What proof do they have that we speak of two Sons? For if we had been among those who kept silent, perhaps the suspicion might have had some ground.

But since our task was to contend for the apostolic doctrines, and we offer to the Lord's flocks the pasture of teaching, and besides this have composed thirty-five books, both interpreting the divine Scripture and refuting the falsehood of the heresies—

then the falsehood fabricated by these men is easily refuted.

For many tens of thousands of hearers bear witness for us, that we have proclaimed the truth of the evangelical doctrines.

And moreover, our writings lie open to the test for those who wish to examine them.

and against the Jews, that the prophets made their predictions concerning him;

and against the heirs of Arius and Eunomius, that he is consubstantial with the Father, of equal honor and equal power;

and against those who have partaken of the madness of Marcion, that he is not only good, but also just;

that he is Savior not of another's creatures, as their myth would have it, but of his own works.

And, in short, contending against each heresy, we charge all to worship the one Son.

And why should I speak at length, when it is possible to refute the falsehood briefly? For those who each year approach the all-holy baptism, we make ready to learn by heart the faith set forth at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers;

and initiating them into the mysteries as we have been commanded, we baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, offering each appellation in the singular.

Moreover, when we celebrate the divine liturgies in the churches, both at the beginning and at the end of the day, and dividing the day itself into three parts, we glorify the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

But if, according to their slander, we proclaim two Sons, which one do we glorify, and which do we leave unworshipped? For it would be the height of madness to believe there are two Sons, yet offer doxology to only one.

And who is so senseless as, on hearing the divine Paul cry out—

"one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things"—

legislate against the teaching of the Spirit, and cut the one into two? But indeed I am talking idly to no purpose.

For not even these men, though nurtured in falsehood, dare to say that they have ever heard us saying such things;

and they refuse to understand that every human being has both an immortal soul and a mortal body;

and that to this very day no one has called Paul "two Pauls," because he has both a soul and a body;

nor Peter "two Peters," nor Abraham, nor Adam.

But each person knows the difference of the natures, yet does not call the one man "two Pauls."