Letter 235: Theodore Studite, Letter 235; Greek heading: Βησσαρίωνι τέκνῳ.

I read your letter with gladness, my child, in that I found in it your good health and zeal, your patient endurance and encouragement. Blessed are you, my child Bessarion, because you suffer for Christ's sake, having been condemned to prison by the impious [the iconoclasts] - which is glory and a crown for you. What do you suppose the Cretans are learning, when they hear that you are a confessor of Christ? You have brought honor to your family and to your homeland, and to me, the unworthy one, and indeed to your brethren. Sharpen yourself toward the knowledge of God; muzzle the heretics who assail you, [explaining] that the icon of Christ is Christ by appellation, not by nature, in which respect it is honored (as also is the contrary case); so it is with the icon of the Theotokos [the God-bearer, the Virgin Mary], and so with that of each of the saints. In your patient endurance acquire your reward, remembering me also, the sinner, that I may be preserved in all things.