Letter 109: Marathonios. Against the Macedonians or Spirit-Contesters.

To Theodore the Domestikos. The constitution of affairs overturns what happens by chance, while disobedience to these things destroys the orderly movement of the other. For this reason I say that you must guard the city, so that through you the splendor of civic virtue may be displayed for all to see. I know indeed that you understand how to adorn the dispositions of the soul, but I do not know whether you also strive for the active accomplishment of what is fitting for the display of worthy endeavors. For knowledge without action is like a lamp hidden under a bushel, and virtue conceived in the mind but never expressed in deeds remains a barren seed that produces no harvest. Therefore let your governance be marked not merely by good intentions but by vigorous execution, so that the citizens under your care may see in you a living example of the justice, temperance, and courage that you would have them practice.

Marathonios. Against the Macedonians or Spirit-Contesters. If our God and Saviour after becoming Incarnate transmitted the Most Holy Spirit, counted as completing the Holy Trinity and by His invocation in Holy Baptism as freeing from sins, but on the Sacramental Table revealing ordinary bread to be His own Body in Taking Flesh, how is it then that you teach, you crackbrained fellow, that (the Spirit) is made or created or belongs to subject nature and is not parent to and of the same substance as the royal nature? For if subject, let it not be counted with the Master. And if it is a creature, let it not be compounded with the Creator. But it is united and counted together, since an exact exponent of such belief must believe Christ, when He teaches infallibly concerning His own substance, even if you do not accept it, as one who would be wiser and boasts of knowing heavenly (realities) better than God or who rather prates insolently against God.

ΜΒ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΥ ΔΟΜΕΣΤΙΚΩ. Ἡ μὲν τῶν πραγμάτων σύστασις ἀνατρέπει τὸ ὡς ἔτυχεν, ἡ δὲ τούτων παρακοὴ ἀφανίζει τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου [εὐτάκτῳς] κίνησιν. Διὰ τοῦτο φημὶ δεῖν σε φυλάττειν τὴν πόλιν, ἵνα διὰ σοῦ πᾶσι καταφανὴς ἡ τῆς πολιτείας ἐπιδεικνύηται λαμπρότης. Οἶδα μὲν τοίνυν ὅτι ἐπίστασαι τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς καλλωπίζειν σχήματα, ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδα εἰ καὶ ἐφίεσαι τῆς ἐνεργείας, πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐνεργεῖν. ΡΘ. – ΜΑΡΑΘΩΝΙΟ ΜΟΝΑΧΟ. Κατὰ Μακεδονιανῶν, ἤτοι Πνευματομάχων. Εἰ ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν ἐνανθρωπήσας παρ- έδωχε συμπληρωτικὸν εἶναι τῆς θείας Τριάδος τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦμα, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐπικλήσει τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος σὺν Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ ὡς ἐλευθεροῦν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, ἀριθμούμενον, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης τῆς μυστικῆς τὸν ἄρτον τὸν κοινὸν, σῶμα ἰδικὸν τῆς αὐ- τοῦ σαρκώσεως ἀποφαῖνον (7)· πῶς διδάσκεις, ἐμ- βρόντητε, ποιητὸν, ἢ κτιστὸν, ἢ τῆς δούλης φύσεως εἶναι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τῆς δεσποτικῆς, καὶ δημιουργοῦ, καὶ βασιλίδος οὐσίας συγγενὲς καὶ ὁμοούσιον τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; Εἰ γὰρ δοῦλον, μὴ ἀριθμείσθω μετὰ τοῦ Δεσπότου. Καὶ [εἰ] κτίσμα, μὴ συγκείσθω τῷ Κτίστη. "Ηνωται δὲ καὶ συνηρίθμηται, ἐπειδὴ τῷ ἀκριβεῖ τῶν τοιούτων δογματιστῇ τῷ Χριστῷ πείθεσθαι χρή, ἀσφαλῶς τὰ περὶ τῆς οἰκείας οὐσίας διδάσκοντι· εἰ καί σοι μὴ δοκεῖ, τῷ σοφωτέρῳ τε καὶ τὰ οὐράνια πλέον Θεοῦ εἰδέναι κομπάζοντι, ἢ μᾶλλον τολμηρῶς ῥητορεύοντι κατὰ Θεοῦ. ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ. Διὰ τὶ τῷ ἀκουσίως φονεύσαντι δρος φυγῆς ἡ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως ὑπάρχει ζωή. Διὰ τοῦτ᾽ οἶμαι τοῦ ἀρχιερέως τὸν βίον ὄρον τῆς φυγῆς τοῦ ἀκουσίως φονεύσαντος ἐθέσπισεν εἶναι, μηνύων ἐναργεῖ τεκμηρίῳ, ὅτι εἰ ὁ ἀκούσιος τοῦ ἀρχιερέως θάνατος τοὺς ἀκουσίως φονεύσαντας τη πατρίδι ἀποδίδωσι, καὶ κάθοδον αὐτοῖς χαρίζεται τοῦ μεγά: ἀρχιερέως ὁ ἑκούσιος θάνατος, ὁ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως σβεσθεὶς, καὶ τὰ ἀκούσια πλημμε λήματα ἀφανιεῖ, καὶ ἀποδώσει πάντας τοὺς πιο στεύοντας αὐτῷ τῇ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ. « Ἡ γὰρ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ, φησὶν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, Ελευθέρα ἐστὶν, ἥτις ἐστὶ μήτηρ ἡμῶν. » ΡΟϚ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΩΡΩ Μὴ ῥαθυμεῖν μὴ διδάσκειν τοὺς ἀμελοῦντας.