Letter 170: Theodore Studite, Letter 170; Greek heading: Ἡγουμένῳ Πανάγρου.

Love is a thing not to be endured [restrained]; for it is neither confined by place nor extinguished by the time of trial, as happens with those accustomed to love superficially and carnally, who, whenever some circumstance of difficulty comes around, become distant from and set against those they love. We the lowly are not such, even if in other respects we are worthy of groaning on account of our sins; rather, all the more in trials are we accustomed to intensify the bond of love. For this reason, though separated by so great a distance, and being moreover in confinement, we have not borne to leave unfulfilled the duty of love and to visit your holiness with a letter, O honored fathers. For we have learned that you have abandoned the monastery and have hidden yourselves away in the mountains, in obedience to the commandment that so ordered, on account of the persecutors who war against Christ. And blessed indeed are you, who have counted all things secondary for the sake of Christ and, to speak in the apostle's words, wander in mountains and caves and the holes of the earth [Hebrews 11:38]. But even if such a life is grievous to the flesh, nevertheless, brothers, it is a procurer of eternal life and rivals the manner of life of the saints; for who among those from the beginning of the ages has been shown to have been pleasing to God without trial? The apostle too bears witness, saying: And all who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted; but wicked men and impostors shall advance to the worse, deceiving and being deceived [2 Timothy 3:12-13]. Such are those who now play the heretic [hairesis = heresy; here the iconoclasts] and persecute Christ through his holy icon [eikon = image, the painted likeness venerated], together with his holy Mother and all the saints alike, and who treat them with utter contempt in all cities and regions. For this is the nature of an icon: to be an imitation of the archetype and of him whose name it bears, as Gregory the Theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus] says; and again the Great Basil [Basil of Caesarea]: for the honor paid to the icon passes over to the prototype. And it is not yet the time to speak at length, both because your excellency has already been sufficiently tried in the things of truth and because the measure of the letter has been exceeded. I exhort you therefore, holy fathers, to hold the confession of the faith unswerving unto the end, and not at all to be made slack by the tripping-up of the deluded false brethren; for they have been greatly deceived, having entered into communion against Christ. But pray that we sinners also may complete the contest set before us in Christ, who girds even the weak with power.