Letter 163: Theodore Studite, Letter 163; Greek heading: Γρηγορίῳ κληρικῷ.

Rejoice, soldier of Christ! You have become an exile for his sake; for since you were smelted like a kind of gold and tried by fire, as it were, through the scourgings, the imprisonments, the revilings, the spittings, and whatever else followed upon these foremost trials (for it is not even possible to enumerate them all), you have received also the glory of banishment, like a diadem. The island holds you as a free gift of orthodoxy; the land that bore you boasts of you, proclaiming abroad the might of your manliness. O the wonder! You alone out of the clergy of the imperial city [Constantinople] are a divine offering. Where, then, is the presbytery? Where are the subordinate orders? O the ruin! All have given themselves to the present moment, all to the things here below, all to the flesh, all to fear, but not so the holy Gregory, the holy minister of Christ; for I call upon your name too, to set it down in record like some divine thing to hear. You are numbered together with the great Gregories, having, as your name signifies, kept watch [Greek gregoreo, to be watchful, the root of the name Gregory] over divine things and endured for God's sake toils and sweats, and I would add even sheddings of blood. Rejoice, apostles of the Lord, the divine and far-famed temple; for from you came the herald of the truth, you who brought forth as fruit the noble man and your minister. Rejoice, martyrs of Christ, to whom his eloquent tongue many times chanted melodiously through the night, whose virtue is piercing and whose knowledge is renowned and whose sweet music is worthy of love. Come to me, initiate [into the divine mysteries]; initiate there too those things worthy of initiation, teach the unlearned, enlighten those wrapped in darkness, for whose sake God was pleased to grant the exile. Have you those who support your weak little body of flesh, or have you been stripped of everything for Christ's sake? Yet Christ is your hearth, Christ your helper, Christ the giver of the crown; may you not cease to pray to him that I too may be kept safe and unharmed from the dragon that is forever roaring.