書信集 第 1 章 第 52/55 段

The account further notes that the rest of the apostles also did the same in cities and villages, adorning with images the whole narrative of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ from the beginning, when the angel cried 'Hail' to the Virgin, until the time he was also taken up;

which images, it says, they also exhorted the people to honor with reverent fear.

Do you see, O most God-loving ones, that together with the setting up of the holy icons, their veneration with reverent fear was likewise handed down by the apostles from the beginning? For indeed, to be honored is clearly acknowledged as of equal weight with being venerated.

The voice of the much-suffering Athanasius, from his address concerning the events at Berytus:

'Lift up the eyes of your understanding and behold this new spectacle:'

'Then the Jews, having taken down the icon of our Lord Jesus Christ, said: Just as our fathers once spat upon him, so let us also spit upon him.'

'Then they began to spit upon the face of the icon of the Lord, and struck it upon the face before those gathered from this side and that—that is, they struck the icon of the Lord—saying:'

'Whatever our fathers did to him, let us do all these things to his icon.'

'And they say that our fathers mocked him:'

'let us also do the same.'

So with countless mockeries they mocked the icon of the Lord, things which we have not even dared to relate to you.

'Then they say: We have heard that they nailed his hands and his feet:'

'let us also do this to him.'

'Then they fastened with nails the hands and feet of the icon of the Lord.'

'Again, raving mad, they say: We have heard that they gave him vinegar and gall to drink with a sponge:'

'And they did so, applying to the mouth of the icon of the Lord a sponge filled with vinegar.'

We have learned that our fathers struck his head with a reed;

let us also do the same thing

a reed—they struck at the head of the Master

Finally they say, 'since we learn precisely that they pierced his side with a spear, let us omit nothing, but let us add this also.'

And, having had a spear brought, they permitted one of them to take up the spear and strike against the side of the icon of the Lord;

and when this was done, immediately there gushed forth from it a great quantity of blood and water.

The account is trustworthy, O most wise ones—on the one hand, because signs are for unbelievers, not for believers; and on the other, so that we too might know that through the outrage done to the icon, the prototype is outraged, just as, conversely, through the honor given to the icon, it is honored.

The voice of the Great Basil, from the encomium on the martyr Barlaam:

Let Christ, the judge of the contests, also be inscribed upon the panel.

Here too, O most serene ones, the definition of the setting-up of icons is secure.

For it is not, as some idly claim, that the God-bearing father said that Christ is inscribed upon the tablet of the soul;

for we do not have Christ inscribed in us, but dwelling in our hearts through faith, as the Apostle proclaims.

Then, that by the addition of the conjunction 'and' he also indicated the preceding things, which are these:

Arise for me now, you brilliant painters of athletic achievements; magnify with your own arts the image of the general that has been diminished;

illumine with the colors of your own skill the crowned victor who has been painted too dimly by me;

let me depart, defeated by you in the depiction of the martyr's exploits;

I rejoice today, defeated by such a victory of your power.

Let me see the struggle of the hand against the fire depicted more accurately by you; let me see the wrestler painted more radiantly in your icon.

Let the demons weep now too, struck by the martyr's exploits in you; let the hand, once again burning and victorious, be shown to them.

He would surely not say that these things are inscribed in us;

and even if this were granted, he would not have enjoined the servant first and then the master afterward in this way; especially since, by saying straightaway at the very beginning, 'Arise for me now, you brilliant painters of athletic achievements,' he clearly signified the icon-makers, not the writers, just as the same father also says the following in the encomium on the Forty Martyrs:

since both writers and painters often set forth the manly deeds of wars, the one adorning them with speech, the other engraving them upon panels.

Since, then, the second mode has also reached its conclusion, what is the third? The voice of the fathers who convened in Constantinople after the Sixth Council:

In certain depictions of the venerable icons, a lamb is engraved, pointed to by the finger of the Forerunner, which was taken up as a type of grace, foreshowing to us in advance, through the Law, the true Lamb, Christ our God.

Embracing, then, the ancient types and shadows as symbols and prefigurations of the truth handed down to the Church, we give preference to grace and truth, having received it as the fulfillment of the Law.

So then, that the perfection may also be depicted in the works of color before the eyes of all, we decree that the likeness according to the human nature of Christ our God, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, be set up in the icons from now on in place of the old lamb, being led by it to understand the height of the humility of God the Word, and, in remembrance of his life in the flesh, of his Passion and saving death, and of the redemption of the world that comes from it.

Here, together with the icon of Christ, an argument attaches also for the icons of all the saints: first, because the decree that he be set up in place of the old lamb presupposes one already prefigured beforehand, so that it only remained for him to be set up; and secondly, because the icon of this one is called not only 'to be embraced,' as the symbols and prefigurations in the Law are called embraceable, but also 'to be venerated'—both his own icon and that of any and every saint whatsoever.

one would confess; and further, that every icon is called by the same name as its prototype, through the saying 'a lamb is engraved, pointed to by the finger of the Forerunner,' as also the divine Gregory of Nyssa says somewhere thus:

Isaac lies before his father, right there at the altar.

The voice of the fathers who convened in Antioch:

not as different in form, but as the same one Lord existing in a single form; according to which also the imprint, being by nature one, of the Father's hypostasis, was one both before the flesh, incorporeal, and is one in the flesh, and the same one likewise exists in the icon—not divided into two imprints, nor split into two glories, but gathered into one.

but just as he himself is one out of two opposite natures and is gathered into one person, so also his icon is one, and belongs to that same one Christ.

And we shall not say that the imprint that appeared to us according to the flesh is one thing, and the imprint formed in the icon according to the form of his appearance is another, but that it is the same one, since the imprint is spoken of not insofar as it is body, but insofar as it is incorporeal.

And this will be made clearer still through the divine Chrysostom, who calls the imprint 'heavenly,' since indeed the Only-Begotten God, coming down from the heavens not insofar as body but insofar as incorporeal, was made flesh and appeared, putting on our body.

Therefore, since it shows the imprint by way of relation, we venerate Christ himself, and not the matter that is artfully shaped in the icon.

Here, then, the dogmatic clarification is plainer: first, that there is one form in both, in Christ and in the icon; and next, that the very imprint of the Father's hypostasis, being manifested in the icon in the form of his appearance, is at the same time also venerated with undivided glory.

There remains the fourth mode of the ancient legislation.

Lift up your eyes round about, O most benevolent one, and see the world beneath heaven, bearing, from that very apostolic proclamation, everywhere on land and sea, through holy temples, divine vessels, and venerable votive offerings, Christ depicted in image, and sending forth by its very works the voice that Christ has become king over those on earth, according to what is sung in the words of David: 'Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession';

and that there is no idol in the world, according to what was said by the Apostle, and that all things have been filled with blessed light, since he who said, 'I have come as light into the world,' has come.

For what are the things seen? Here, born in a cave and glorified by angels; there, carried on the arm by his mother and worshiped by the Magi;

then, among the youths, when he was seen sitting in the midst of the teachers;

then baptized by the Forerunner; then working wonders with the apostles; going up onto the cross; breathing his last; being buried; rising again; ascending into the heavens.

Gazing intently, then, upon all these things in icons, just as the apostles then gazed with their own eyes, we too might fittingly say:

'We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.'

This, then, is the faith proclaimed from of old; this the holy synods embraced, and with this all the churches everywhere, in every place, agree in vote—in the East and the West, in the North and by the Sea;

which we also, the least of all, embracing, pray and offer supplication, as is our due, for your God-beloved sovereignty.

{To Peter of Nicaea} Your sacred hearing has surely heard of the suffering concerning our blessed and common father, the Metropolitan of Synnada, and your holy soul has grieved over him as is fitting, since it would not yet cease from groaning, nor would it leave off the pain that has come as if from a severing of limbs.

But come, be instructed more fully by us as well, O thrice-beloved one, so that we too may pay the debt that is owed, and you yourself, learning more exactly, in narrative form, the things concerning him, may receive some relief from the account.

A mournful report? The father was in good health, performing his customary acts of unfeigned love and hospitality toward the brothers and fathers.

For who embraced hospitality more than he, and cared for those he loved—whom the repeated presence and persistence of visitors did not wear down, but rather their scarcity and swift departure grieved him all the more? And why should one need to illustrate what is said to you, who know it well? He was, then, as has been said, occupied in these things.

But when the festal day of the second Sunday after Pentecost arrived, having risen from the meal, he was seized with the pains of a catarrh, which passed from the head down to the vertebra and the regions of the back;

upon which, we the humble ones, being moved, went and found him indeed suffering, and explaining the causes of his collapse.

Then, after we had returned home, arriving again the next day, we found him still assailed by more violent pains and a burning fever, scarcely able to speak gently to us, and hinting at his despair of living in the flesh.

What followed? On the third day, a complete binding of the tongue, and, not long after, bitter death.

But let it be called 'bitter' for us, on account of the loss of the holy man, while for him it was altogether sweet, on account of his departing and being with Christ;

than which what could be more blessed? So the blessed one lay (for it is good to record this too) like some strange spectacle—venerable in appearance, angel-like in form, his soul, having gone forth to be with the Lord, having as it were imprinted certain sun-like marks upon his sacred body, with which and upon which he had served the Holy Trinity.

Suddenly a crowd gathered, of monks together with laypeople, exceedingly great, and poured itself around him, gazing upon him as upon a sacred treasure, or rather—to put it more fittingly—as upon one still breathing and able to speak.

Tears were shed—silently by the reverent, more violently by his attendants.

Thus, then, with fitting psalmody and hierarchical invocations, he was delivered to the tomb, in the very place where the blessed one had been accustomed to minister to the Lord;

and indeed the father was added to the fathers, the confessor to the confessors, the teacher to the teachers, the expositor to the expositors; and we might add also these: the self-controlled to the self-controlled, the chaste to the lovers of chastity, the hospitable to the hospitable, the moderate to the moderate-minded—he who had, as far as possible, become all things to all people, in order that he might gain all, or the greater number, resting upon apostolic achievements.

And now we, the humble ones, mourn as orphans him who was truly a lover of his father and a lover of his brothers; and his church, that is, the little flock, is greatly at a loss and calls out for its shepherd and father, as is fitting for fledglings who have lost those who bore them, chirping continually and wandering distressed, and having no one able to feed them, both intellectually and sensibly.

in view of which, his friends must also take care, as far as is possible, of the matters concerning them.

But you, O blessed one, what do you say to these things? Do you remain in the flesh, or do you judge it more necessary to depart from here? Since we have just now learned again that you are exceedingly weary,

or is it rather better that we, who have grown old and are of no use to life—or rather, who are even drawing sin upon sin—should depart from this wretched flesh, while you, and those like you, since you are radiant both in life and in word, should still continue to dwell as citizens among men? Answer us on these matters, O most longed-for one; nay rather, let the sacred children of your brother, fellow-contender, and kindred soul also hear from you a word of consolation;

for thus we might both become more at ease, offering up to God, with joyful grief, our thanksgivings and our prayers.

{To Symeon the Monk} The question posed by your honor ought to have received its clarification from within itself;

for it belongs not to the uninitiated, but to those who are able also to benefit others.

It belongs to the body of Christ; it is clear, therefore, that the heretical cup and the bread also is a communion with the adversary.

And if these things are thus admittedly so, it is evident that, in the case of those who have fallen asleep in communion with either side, it is in that same communion that they would also receive their allotted portion.

But we must be careful, in such cases, to make the commemoration with approval, lest we hear: 'You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly.'

{To Philotheos, ktetor} When it is not possible for those who love one another to converse face to face, it is no small consolation also to speak by letter — which your truly God-loving soul, in doing this, affords us the impression of seeing and embracing it.

Hence we too, paying our due of affection, do not cease to ply the pen and be joined with it in spirit, rejoicing that we possess so great a friend, whose praise resounds throughout all Macedonia, among monks and pious laity alike, who carry on their tongues the beauty and virtue of your piety.

But may the Lord still grant you to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, to share, laying up for yourself a good foundation for the future, so that you may attain eternal life.

O most excellent Philotheos, keep securely the deposit of the faith, ever being made radiant by godly deeds.

But since the matter again concerns the presbyter, your honor requesting the release of the ban so that he might resume the priestly ministry — if indeed what was sought were merely a human matter, it would be well;

for we would readily comply with every request of yours, since we love to serve you, who have so often served us.

But since what is at issue concerns God, and there is a transgression of the boundary set by the divine canons, forgive us, dearest brother: we are not able to render a judgment contrary to God and the sacred canons, especially since in former times, on this very same matter, we staked our whole life, choosing to go toward dangers, exiles, and deaths rather than to consent to lawlessness and the dissolution of the gospel of Christ.

Therefore, neither the priest who joins in marriage an adulterer, nor one who joins a bigamist, has been released by us from the ban on performing the sacred ministry;

for if the sacred canon does not allow a presbyter even to feast at the wedding of one who is remarrying, much more does it forbid him to perform the marriage rite for such a one.

But if others judge otherwise, let them see to what they are doing;

for, it says, 'we, and the churches of God, have no such custom.'

Therefore, knowing the dangerous judgment involved, do not force our humble self;

for if for the sake of the word of truth we have been arrayed against dangers every day, how shall we now move in a contrary way against the truth? It is not in our nature, O master, to do or say anything contrary to what has been divinely determined by the canons.

But we believe that you yourself too, seeking one thing — the divine will and the salvation of your soul — will agree with us in what has been said, and will rather pray that we hold fast to the divine law, and not give way in the least to any transgression of the commandment of God and of the canon.

{To Eirene, hegoumene} Far from your praises are the manners and words of my way of life, most honored among women;

but it is the habit of a faithful soul, seeking the Lord, to kindle praises for those who do not deserve them, so that from this it might gather for itself the glory of humility.

Such, then, have you shown yourself to us, sister in the Lord, since we, knowing our own condition, do not judge ourselves to be equal even to the least of those now living, much less to be inserted into so great a height, as you have written.

But let these things stand thus here.

Now we must turn our discourse to the matter of the presbyter.

It is not at all the case, O amma, that we say one thing now and another tomorrow, but our word is always the same;

as concerning the holy gifts, already consecrated by a presbyter who has been kept safe in orthodox communion —

and this, as I said, out of necessity, since, if a priest not implicated in that communion can be found, it is not permitted even to do what has just been said.

Such, then, is our position.

But if others think or judge otherwise, whether of equal rank or of higher rank (since no definition has been issued by the high priest, to which all would be obliged to adhere), they are masters of their own authority, and we for our part will keep silence.

But we entreat your honor to draw out precision in orthodoxy just as in good conduct, hearing the apostle say:

'Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'

For you know that no small persecution has been kindled by the heresy that rages even to the present, but also blood has been poured out, flesh has been torn, and martyrs have been produced;

as for all the afflictions in the prisons and dungeons, why need one even speak of them — the exiles, the assaults, the seizures, the shackling in irons, the starvations, the solitary confinements, and all the rest, the full account of which is no small task of history.

If then these things are so, and the presbyter too ought to have gone through the like sufferings, so as to obtain the unfading crown of glory — on the contrary, since he was caught in communion and in signing against Christ, and his Mother, and all the saints (for this is what the reference to the prototypes means, through their proper icons), how does he not consider it a great thing merely to be alive at all, and that the transgression has been forgiven him at all — shunning even to touch, by way of humane concession, the things aforementioned, let alone being fully released to perform the sacred ministry? Otherwise all things would be stale, the martyrdoms in vain, and the athletic contests of the saints to no purpose.

And the martyr is a martyr by this confession, and the one who has denied is fallen by this denial, and everyone who has been caught in the offense must weep until death — if indeed he would be persuaded by me as a good counselor.

{To Maria, spatharea} Your honor knows that the church is a refuge of salvation, and that just as into the hands of God, the fugitive flees there, when beset by dire necessities.

Neither, therefore, in the Old Testament was it permitted for anyone to drag away one who had escaped safely into a city of refuge, nor much more is it lawful in the New Testament to tear away from the church those who take refuge there;

for this is an outrage against the divine laws and against the divine altar.

So let your piety consider how great an audacity this was.

But what is the remedy? First, to set for yourself a rule never again to dare do this, even if everything should be turned upside down;

next, abstain for the whole of a forty-day fast from the holy gifts, kneeling each day ten times and fifty times, saying, 'Lord, forgive me my sin,' 'Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner,' and likewise, 'Lord, have mercy on me freely,' and recite three psalms, especially the sixth, the thirty-seventh, and the fiftieth; and thus God will forgive you your sin, my lady.

And if you also have the means, give forty silver coins to the poor.

...the formed creature is portrayed in like manner to us, so that nothing of the human properties may be wanting in him, while as God he remains himself uncircumscribable, just as he also possesses all the paternal properties in a single person — wherein he has also appeared as mediator of God and men, communing through his middle position with both extremes, and through himself making us partakers of the divine nature.

For just as it is not possible that he, being God and equal to the Father, should not be beyond circumscription (for the divine is infinite, undefined, and incomprehensible), in the very same way it is impossible that he, being truly man and having become like us in all things, should not remain within circumscription;

for his body is circumscribable, being perceived by touch and by color.

By not confessing this, the icon-fighters have plainly shown themselves to be deniers of Christ, supposing him who is embodied to be bodiless, and dogmatizing that he who became one with us is outside our nature.

From this the world has been shaken; Christ has been denied through the rejection of his venerable icon, as has the Theotokos and every one of the saints;

for by the acceptance of the icon, the one depicted is accepted, just as, conversely, by its rejection he is rejected.

From this persecution has boiled up, and the divinely-inspired patriarch has been driven out in disgrace; priests and hierarchs, monks and most godly lay-folk — some being exiled and imprisoned, others scourged and starved, and some even put to death;

from this, those who prefer nothing of the things here below to God are made fugitives in mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth;

from this, temples are being torn down, holy things profaned, and divine offerings given over to fire, and everything, to put it briefly, is full of outcry and plunder.

Such are the undertakings of this impiety, that the tree may be known by its fruit.

But since, as has been said, divine grace has embraced you through the good confession which you made to the fathers — for which you are ready to resist even unto blood — we too, humble as we are, precisely by this confessional conviction, have received both you, my lady mistress, and you, lord master, together with the rest of the glorious branches, and have numbered you with the portion of orthodoxy, or rather with the church of God;

and, since you have come to our humble self, we venerate you and hold communion with you, sending up thanksgivings to the good God, who does great and unsearchable things without number, who leads from darkness into light and transfers from the path of error to the path of piety everyone who with a true heart desires to be saved.

But since the island of Chalkitis was given to you by the great emperor as a dwelling-place, it grieved not only us but many of the fathers as well, not a little, that a whole brotherhood together with its abbot was expelled from its long-held proper monastery and is now carried about hither and thither, and that we appeared to open our mouths concerning earlier slanders.

Nevertheless, since you gave your defense through our spiritual son Clement, the most devout hegoumenos, explaining that the matter came about thus and thus by imperial authority, we have been released from our grief.

But this we entreat, insofar as it is possible for us to press you, that you heal the pain of those who are departing, since it is written, 'Do not give a man occasion to curse you,' and, it says, 'Why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?' {To Cassia, kandidatissa} Long overdue is the letter of your honor, and it too is one of reproach — in one part self-abasing, in another rising up against our nothingness, as though we simply and without examination accept slanders against you, and moreover utter words without judgment, and these on the most essential matters.

But we, being accustomed to bid such things farewell, declare this: that we hear the things being noised about as a kind of child's play, and thus we speak, not seeking to please men but God, who tests our hearts, even though in other respects we happen to be sinners;

the will of God even condescended to answer Balak, king of the foreigners; how then could we, who hold the rank of priesthood and shall render account on the day of judgment for what we answer when questioned, possibly speak crookedly, departing from what is due? Thus, then, we answered those who asked, not having ourselves on our own authority determined that this or that should happen, as you yourself were led to say.

And what would you have — that we answer each person in a mercenary manner, to please them, or rather that we rightly divide the word of truth? Do not, then, either you yourself strike out unseasonably at us, the humble, nor the lady your sister, nor anyone else who chooses to mock and deride us; but know that we hold even the ever-memorable general in no hostility, but rather with much affection, as also his consort.

But we grieve, and we counter-accuse with good reason, that you, who excel in knowledge and lay claim to piety, were not led by true love toward him at the end;

since before all things and above all things you ought to have striven for the salvation of his soul, that he might partake of the holy gifts, counting all else as refuse, so that he might be found within orthodox communion — since it is written, 'Wherever I find you, there I will judge you.'

We, for our part, think and say thus.

But if others think otherwise, they are masters of their own voice, and we for our part keep silence.

'The Lord knows those who are his,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness,' as it is written.

{To Hypakoe, a nun} Those who have taken up the solitary life and have thus been crucified to the world, as having already risen above fleshly relations and connections, are not naturally inclined to be bent down by the ordinary circumstances of their kin, nor to grieve at their deaths.

But since we find that even the saints themselves were bent by suffering over their own kin, and shed warm tears at their deaths, we do not judge it strange that we too should have felt the same, especially over a brother — and a most excellent brother both in prudence and in distinction, who held, as it were in the position of a father, responsibility for the care of you all.

Grievous indeed is this suffering, sister in the Lord, and the wound has touched your heart just as if cut by a sword.

What is this? For the matter must be made plain.

The lord brother, as they say, has fallen asleep;

a good man has departed, the eye of the family has been extinguished, your consolation has flown away.