Letter 19: Theodore Studite, Letter 19; Greek heading: Πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τοῦ λαοῦ Ἀντισάρχου.

We have received a letter from your honorable selves concerning our disciple, who long ago fled and who there among you was received, I know not how, with ignorance and impiety, and who set himself up in a single cave-not a monastery but a den of robbery of the passions-asking that we deem him worthy of release [from his monastic bond]. And our reply is brief. Marcian, our disciple, until he returns to his own monastery, in which he laid down the covenants of his renunciation [his monastic vows] with God as witness, remains bound and condemned and unworthy of communion, according to the God-ordained canons which he himself wrote out; for the threat that hangs over him does not come from us, but from the God-inspired Fathers. This man, therefore, if indeed you love to be saved, admonish to return back to his own place. Him, when he repents and returns, we are ready to receive with a father's tender mercies and to forgive him all the things he has sinned; for just as it is impossible for a sheep torn away from its own fold and led astray not to fall prey to wild beasts, so too it is impossible for one who departs from a monastery unlawfully by his own will, and who settles in a place over which the Lord does not keep watch, not to be seized by demons. His cell, then, is a den of demons, a hunting-ground of souls, a snare for women, a workshop of every lawlessness, whatever words and ways either he himself or you may try to employ to dress up what is said. If, then, he obeys and you obey, it would be well for both, for you will have fled the divine wraths and threats; but if not, you shall see before your own eyes the fruits of your disobedience. And the most holy bishop is blessed by the Lord, keeping the laws and driving the unholy man far off somewhere. For he is by no means worthy of ordination, even should he return here; for I know his affairs better than he himself does, having become his father.