Letter 136: Since small causes often ignite great wars, I advise you: do not throw sparks of contention.

To Maro. On the office of the bishop, and whose figure he bears. In the same measure that you are insatiable for learning, so am I eager to explain - if only God grant the discovery from above in answer to your prayers. The linen cloth with which the deacons minister at the holy things calls to mind the humility of the Lord, who washed the feet of the disciples and wiped them. But the bishop's omophorion [the woolen pallium worn over the shoulders], being made of wool and not of linen, signifies the skin of the sheep which, when it had strayed, the Lord sought out and took up upon his own shoulders. For the bishop, being in the figure of Christ, fulfills that one's work, and shows to all through his attire that he is an imitator of the good and great Shepherd, he who has been set forth to bear the infirmities of the flock; and attend carefully. For when the true Shepherd himself becomes present through the unfolding of the venerable Gospels, the bishop both rises up and lays aside the attire of imitation, declaring that the Lord himself is present, the leader of the pastoral office, and God and Master. On what was said by the Lord: "But to sit at the right hand and at the left is not mine to give." The Lord does not decline the request of the mother of the sons of Zebedee as though it were impossible for him; for what he wills, he is able to do; but he dismissed it as out of place. "For she said," it says, "that my two sons may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." But the just Rewarder, by some reasonable judgment, corrects what is out of place. It is not mine to give simply to those who ask, but to bestow a reward on those who have labored; for it is not the part of a just judge to overlook the sweat of toil and to bestow it on the slothful. If therefore they long for the seat, they are not ignorant of the contests for which it has been prepared as a prize for those who strive lawfully.

Περὶ τάξεως ἐπισκόπου, καὶ τίνος τύπον φέρει. Ὅσον αὐτὸ; ἄπληστος εἶ πρὸς τὴν μάθησιν, τοσοῦτον ἐγὼ πρόθυμος πρὸς τὴν δήλωσιν, μόνον εἰ Θεὸς δῷ ταῖς εὐχαῖς σου τὴν εὕρεσιν ἄνωθεν· ἡ ὀθόνη, μεθ᾽ ἧς λειτουργοῦσιν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις οἱ διάκονοι, τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἀναμιμνήσκει ταπεινῶσιν, νίψαντος τοὺς πόδας τῶν μαθητῶν, καὶ ἐκμάξαντος. Τὸ δὲ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου ὠμοφόριον ἐξ ἐρέας ὄν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ λίνου, τὴν τοῦ προβάτου δορὰν σημαίνει, ὅπερ πλανηθὲν ζητήσας ὁ Κύριος, ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκείων ὤμων ἀνέλαβεν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπίσκοπος εἰς τύπον ὧν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὸ ἔργον ἐκείνου πληροῖ, καὶ δείκνυσι πᾶσι διὰ τοῦ σχήματος, ὅτι μιμητής ἐστι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ μεγάλου ποιμένος, ὁ τὰς ἀσθενείας φέρειν τοῦ ποιμνίου προβεβλημένος· καὶ πρόσεχες ἀκριβῶς. Ἡνίκα γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ ἀληθινὸς ποιμὴν παραγένηται διὰ τῆς Εὐαγγελίων τῶν προσκυνητῶν ἀναπτύξεως, καὶ ὑπανίσταται καὶ ἀποτίθεται τὸ σχῆμα τῆς μιμήσεως ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, αὐτὸν δηλῶν παρεῖναι τὸν Κύριον, τὸν τῆς ποιμαντικῆς ἡγεμόνα, καὶ Θεὸν καὶ δεσπότην. Εἰς τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου, «Τὸ δὲ καθίσαι ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι.» Τὴν αἴτησιν τῆς μητέρος τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου οὐχ ὡς ἀδύνατον αὐτῷ παραιτεῖται ὁ Κύριος· ὁ γὰρ βούλεται δύναται· ἀλλ’ ὡς ἄτοπον ἀπεπέμψατο. «Εἶπε γάρ, φησίν, ἵνα οἱ δύο υἱοί μου καθίσωσιν, εἷς ἐκ δεξιῶν σου, καὶ εἷς ἐξ εὐωνύμων σου ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου.» Ὁ δὲ δίκαιος μισθαποδότης, εὐλόγῳ τινὶ κρίσει σωφρονίζει τὸ ἄτοπον. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι ἁπλῶς τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ παρασχεῖν μισθὸν τοῖς καμοῦσιν· οὐχ ἔστι γὰρ δίκαιου κριτοῦ τοὺς ἱδρῶτας παριδεῖν, καὶ ῥᾳθύμοις παρασχεῖν. Εἰ τοίνυν τῆς καθέδρας ἐρῶσι, τοὺς ἀγῶνας οὐκ ἀγνοοῦσιν, ὧν ἐκείνη βραβεῖον τοῖς νομίμως ἀθλοῦσιν ἡτοίμασται.