Letter 17: Theodore Studite, Letter 17; Greek heading: Ἰωάννῃ σπαθαρίῳ.

Having heard that Your Lordship has accomplished a certain divine deed, we have marveled at your truly great faith, O man of God. For they say that the one who instructed you used the holy icon [eikon, sacred image] of the great martyr Demetrius in place of a sponsor [the godparent who stands surety at baptism], and that in this way you completed the illumination [baptism] of your God-protected child. And oh, what confidence! It seems to me that Christ would not only have said then, to the centurion, "Not even in Israel have I found so great faith," but would say it now to you also, who rival him in faith. That man, then, obtained what he sought, and you yourself have attained what you trusted in. There the divine command stood in place of the bodily presence, and here the bodily icon in place of the prototype [the original whom the image represents]; there the great Word was present together with his word, invisibly by his divinity working the marvel of the healing, and here too the great martyr was present in spirit, receiving the infant through his own icon. But to profane ears and unbelieving souls these things are unacceptable as incredible, and most of all to the iconoclasts [eikonomachoi, image-fighters]; yet to your piety the tokens and the proofs of them have been made plainly manifest. For what is impossible for God to grant to those who believe? And how is the one depicted not seen in the icon, bearing the same name, and believed to be present? For the honor of the icon, says the great Basil [Basil of Caesarea], passes over to the prototype. So that clearly the martyr was the one receiving the infant through his own icon, inasmuch as you have so believed. But what is the glory of your greatness, that you have gained for yourself, as the saying goes, so great a co-sponsor [literally a co-parent, the fellow godparent of your child] -- not this or that ruler, perhaps, or potentate; one might say not even him who wears the diadem [the emperor]; for greater and higher is the one you have found out. For he is the mightiest of the martyrs, the most resounding of the wonderworkers, the genuine one among the friends of Christ, the fellow-citizen of the angels, who has both been able to do and is able to do things so many and so great among those beneath heaven, that from one end of the earth to the other he is celebrated by the trumpet of his miracles. Truly blessed are you, most pious man, that you have obtained such a sponsor; and thrice blessed too is your offspring, having one who received him so great in renown and in power. But may we see your son, namesake also of Saint Demetrius, if indeed you come down, so that, embracing him as the saint's son, we too, sinners as we are, may address to him what is fitting, and may have the account to pass on to others as well; for good things ought not to be kept silent, but to be set before others as plain examples of pious faith.