Letter 148: Theodore Studite, Letter 148; Greek heading: Θεοδώρῳ σπαθαρίῳ.

I am only now setting down this letter to Your Piety, at the very moment when I received the report from the imperial agent who has arrived concerning the change of place, that is to say, the banishment of us, the lowly. And so far as it concerned the strictness [of the surveillance], I hesitated to write; but so far as it concerned my longing, I set the pen in motion. And indeed longing has prevailed over caution: for Your Magnificence now holds in hand this little document, which at once bears a friendly greeting and at once offers the discharge of a debt of thanksgiving on account of the gifts that I have received from your God-loving right hand. For I include also the honored person of the lady, your mother-in-law, whose great goodwill toward me, the sinner, I have come to know. May the Lord, then, preserve you both unharmed and prospering in the things that pertain to the Lord; for the things that pertain to this life have been granted to you. I was gladdened, moreover, to learn of your pious zeal, my master, and of your love of learning concerning the truth, and indeed also of your hospitality toward those who lead the monastic life [monks]. But even if the fruits of the tree are fair to behold, nevertheless the cause of them comes from the root; and what could this root be but the most holy metropolitan, our spiritual father? By whose prayers may we both be saved, together with our whole households. Farewell in the Lord, you who are to me in all things most longed-for and most renowned.