Letter 869: The priesthood is a sacred trust, not a career.

To Thomas the Monk: It was fitting that your holiness, O sacred temple of the hatred of evil, should have consigned to silence the things worthy of oblivion and deep forgetfulness. But since you have been terribly provoked by the impiety of the one called Eusebius by a strange inversion of his name — for in truth he is anything but well-named — I shall not blame you for speaking out. For there are times when silence is not a virtue but a betrayal, when to hold one's peace is not modesty but complicity. When error parades itself boldly and truth cowers in corners, the faithful servant of God must open his mouth and speak, regardless of the consequences. Eusebius — or rather, Dyssebes, as he ought to be called — has sown the seeds of heresy in soil that was once fertile with orthodoxy, and the weeds he has planted threaten to choke the good grain. It is therefore not merely your right but your duty to expose his teaching for what it is: a corruption of the apostolic faith, a distortion of the divine economy, and a snare laid for the souls of the simple. Speak therefore boldly and without fear, knowing that the truth has nothing to fear from examination and that error has everything to fear from exposure.

ΡΟ΃. – ΘΩΜΑ ΜΟΝAZONTI Ἐχρῆν μὲν τὴν σὴν ὀσιότητα, ὦ μισοπονηρίας ἱερὸν τέμενος, σιωπῇ παραδοῦναι τὰ λήθης ἄξια καὶ βαθείας σιγῆς. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν τοῦ κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν Εὐσεβίου καλουμένου ἀσέβειαν δεινῶς ἐξετραγῴδησας, ὅτι δὴ Χαιρήμονα, τὸν παρὰ τοῦ ἀοιδίμου Ἀμμωνίου τοῦ ὄντως ἐπισκόπου ἐπὶ τέτρασι μεγίστοις ἐγκλήμασι καθαιρεθέντα, καὶ ὡς ἀναγνώστην ἐδέξατο, καὶ διάκονον, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως, ἐχειροτόνησε, τὸν καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἔξωθεν νόμους δοῦναι δίκην δίκαιον ὄντα, τοῦτον εἰς τὴν τῶν ἱερῶν μυστηρίων ὑπηρεσίαν ἀδεῶς χωρῆσαι παρασκευάσας· διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ μέμψασθαι, καίτοι βουλόμενος, δίκαιον ψήθην. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ, ὡς ἔφης, ἕκαστον τῶν ἐγκλημάτων οὕτω μέγιστον ἦν, ὡς μὴ μόνον καθαιρέσεως ἄξιον εἶναι τὸν δράσαντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν διὰ ξίφους ὑπομεῖναι τιμωρίαν· ἀλλ᾽ οὖν γε ἄῤῥητον ἂν ἄμεινον ἂν ἦν. Ῥηθῆναι γὰρ ὀφείλει, ὅσα ἀξιάκουστα, καὶ εἰς δικαιοσύνην καὶ σωφροσύνην τοὺς ἀκροωμένους ἀλείφει. ΡΟΘ. - ΠΟΙΜΕΝΙΟ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. (14) Εἰς τὴν τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης κορυφήν άναβησόμεθα (οὐ γὰρ ἂν κατάβασιν, ἀλλ' ἀνάβασιν ταύτην ἔγωγε ὁρισαίμην), εἰ τὸν ὀλέθριον τῆς ὑπερηφανίας όγκον, καὶ τὴν εἰς ἄδου καταβιβάζουσαν τῆς ἀλαζονείας φλεγμονὴν σβέσοιμεν, καὶ διὰ πάντων ἀσκοῦμεν τὸ μέτριον, καὶ μηδὲν παρίδωμεν, ὡς οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο βλαβησόμενοι (15). Τοῖς γὰρ πραττομένοις ἀκολουθεῖν εἴωθεν ἡ ψυχή, καὶ πρὸς ὁ ἐπιτηδεύει, τυποῦσθαί τε καὶ σχηματίζεσθαι πέφυκεν. Οὐκ-οὖν ἔστω ἡμῖν καὶ σχῆμα σεμνὸν, καὶ βλέμμα ἤμερον, καὶ ὀφρὺς κατεσταλμένη, καὶ βάδισμα μὴ σεσοβημένον, καὶ ἱμάτιον χρειῶδες, καὶ καθέδρα ταπεινή, καὶ τροφὴ λιτή, καὶ στρωμνή μὴ τῆς χρείας κρείττων, καὶ ἔπιπλα πρὸς εὐτέλειαν ἡσκημένα, καὶ οἶκος πρέπων Χριστιανοῖς, καὶ μὴν καὶ λόγος καὶ φωνὴ, καὶ ἡ πρὸς τοὺς πέλας ἔντευξις πρὸς μετριό-τητα μᾶλλον, ἢ πρὸς φλεγμονὴν βλεπέτω. Ούτω γὰρ διὰ πάντων ἀσκοῦντες τὸ μέτριον εἰς τὴν οὐράνιων κορυφὴν ἀναβησόμεθα. ΡΙΓ. ΑΛΥΠΙΩ. Εἰς τὸ εἰρημένον, « Τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι τῷ Ἀβραάμ, ὅτι ἡ Σάῤῥα θηλάζει, Ἐπειδὴ ἔφης, Δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ἡ Σάῤῥα ὀψίγονος γεγενημένη, καὶ παρόντος τοῦ ᾿Αβραάμ τεκοῦσα, ἔφη· « Τις ἀγγελεῖ ᾿Αβραάμ, ὅτι Σάῤῥα θηλάζει παιδίον; ·· » ἐχρῆν γὰρ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τέτοκε; φημὶ, ὅτι τὸ μὲν, « Τις ἀναγγελεῖ ᾿Αβραάμ, » τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ὦ Ἀβραὰμ, τίς ἀναγγελεῖ εἰς τὴν Περσίδα ὅτι Σάρρα