Letter 269: Theodore Studite, Letter 269; Greek heading: Γρηγορίῳ τέκνῳ.

Only now do I answer what you wrote to me long ago, child, and I answer not on the basis of what you wrote (since it was not even in accordance with the principle of obedience), but on the basis of what has been reported to me: that a pastoral judgment hangs over me, and woe to me, wretch that I am, if I should not give a sufficient account. For if I saw that my word was directed toward one who had not been in obedience to me, perhaps I would not even once need to speak; but since it is directed toward such a one as you, then, as before God and the angels as witness, my letter is to me at once both an exhortation and a declaration, and I know that I shall be conversing with one who has an ear that hears. Brother Gregory, remember the days of old; remember your filial dedication; remember my love for you, humble indeed, but true, as all know. Remember that emperors and high priests [archiereis, the iconoclast hierarchs] did not find the strength to tear us apart from one another, though they were moved against us in many ways, the bond of love being in no way broken. Then, when our adversaries were many and our struggles more numerous, we were unconquered and victorious and undivided; but when there was respite, then came defeat and division? Alas for my misery! Alas for the demonic spite! How firm you were, from what you accomplished in submission [obedience]: honored, trustworthy, illustrious, bringing many gifts to those who encountered you. What has happened, my child? What has cut you in two, my own heart? Is it that I grieved you by rebuking you, by curbing your will? I confess it, but it was for God's sake and for your soul; and if perhaps I did it unjustly, forgive me. But remember also that, I will say it, I did violence even to my own nature, and I injured the very justice of obedience, in pursuing the things of your repose. I acknowledge your sufferings too, for I am not without gratitude, my son: that for my sake, in following Christ, you were reviled and struck and imprisoned, and you offered up your soul even unto blood. You know the imperial responses [interrogations], you know the prisons in the palace, the deportations to Hagios Mamas [a monastery and place of confinement in Constantinople]; you know the prison-life we both endured, our growing-together into one another, which both emperors and priests and everyone else marveled at. Then, what has broken this asunder? That, the persecutors having been swallowed up and the scandal removed out of the way, we made a reconciliation with the high priest [the patriarch]. Oh, the spite of it! And what did you want? "That," he says, "a synod should have been held and the guilty cause deposed." And who is to sit in council or to depose? Do you not see that you are saying things that cannot be? But you say the hierarch ought not to have come together with the emperor. Admittedly so, just as neither did the one before him, on whose account too the danger was greater, and from whom in turn the second one departs in his company, supposedly for the sake of dispensation [oikonomia, ecclesiastical accommodation]. Let these things be, child. It has happened as it has happened, and God is the judge of such matters. Therefore I believe before my God that the union of the one who stood firm has proved more illustrious and more holy for the man who is rightly minded and who knows the measure both of dignity and of firm resistance. And indeed time has shown it, the chief hierarch having bound on himself the crown of confession together with many others, while I, the humble one, accompanied the chief hierarch; whom I have both received and do receive, since he has referred the guilty cause back to the one who reigned. And do not think, brother, that I say these things out of love of authority, so as to exult or to gain a victory over you in your obedience; by no means. If it could be done in a way pleasing to God, I would accept not only to say to you "I have sinned," but even to submit myself to you. And I beg you, my beloved child, do not be hardened; God exhorts you through me. See that you bear the judgment also for my children who are with you. I beseech you, let me not fail of my hope in regard to you both, I mean also my beloved brother Basil, to whom I had nothing further to write separately. But if, which may it not be, you should disobey, then I, the humble one, hold myself guiltless of your blood, and you yourselves shall see, as indeed you know, what the judgment and the bond of disobedience is before God.

Ἄρτι ἀποκρίνομαι πρὸς ἃ ἐπέστειλας πάλαι, τέκνον, καὶ ἀποκρίνομαι οὐκ ἐξ ὧν ἔγραψας ὅτι μηδὲ κατὰ λόγον ὑποταγῆς, ἀλλὰ ἀφ' ὧν διήγγελμαι, ὅτι κρίμα μοι ἐπήρτηται ποιμενικὸν καὶ οὐαί μοι τῷ ἀθλίῳ, εἰ μὴ ἀρκούντως ἀναγγείλοιμι. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἑώρων πρὸς μὴ γεγονότα ἐν ὑπακοῇ μου εἶναι τὸν λόγον, οὐδὲ ἅπαξ τυχὸν ἐδεοίμην λέγειν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ πρὸς τοιοῦτον, ὡς ὑπὸ μάρτυρι θεῷ καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ πάλιν μοι τὸ γράμμα ὁμοῦ μὲν παρακλητικόν, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ διαγγελτικόν, καὶ οἶδ' ὅτι πρὸς ἔχοντα οὖς ἀκουστικὸν διαλέξομαι. Ἀδελφὲ Γρηγόριε, μνήσθητι ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων, μνήσθητι ἀναθέσεως υἱϊκῆς, μνήσθητι ἀγαπήσεώς μου, ταπεινῆς μέν, ἀληθινῆς δέ, ὡς πάντες ἴσασι· μνήσθητι ὅτι βασιλεῖς καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς οὐχ εὗρον ἰσχὺν διασχίσαι ἡμᾶς ἐξ ἀλλήλων πολλοῖς τρόποις κινηθέντες, τοῦ συνδέσμου τῆς ἀγάπης οὐδαμῶς ῥηγνυμένου. εἶτα, ὅτε πολλοὶ οἱ πολεμοῦντες καὶ πλείους οἱ ἀγῶνες, ἀήττητοι καὶ νικηταὶ καὶ ἀδιαίρετοι, ὁπότε δὲ παῦλα, τότε ἧττα καὶ διαίρεσις; φεῦ τῆς ταλαιπωρίας μου, ἀβάλε τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἐπηρείας· οἷος ἦς ὀχυρὸς ἐξ ὧν ἔδρασας ἐν ὑποταγῇ, τίμιος, ἀξιόπιστος, περιφανής, πολλὰ τὰ ἕδνα προσφέρων τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν. τί τὸ γεγονός, τέκνον μου; τί τὸ διατεμόν σε, σπλάγχνον μου; ὅτι ἐλύπησά σε ἐπιτιμῶν, κόπτων τὸ θέλημά σου; ὁμολογῶ, ἀλλὰ διὰ θεὸν καὶ ψυχήν· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀδίκως τυχόν, σύγγνωθι. μνήσθητι δὲ ὅτι καὶ τὴν φύσιν μου ἐξεβιασάμην, εἴπω, καὶ τὸ τῆς ὑποταγῆς δίκαιον ἐλυμηνάμην, τὰ τῆς ἀναπαύσεώς σου διώκων. καθομολογῶ καὶ τὰ σά, οὐ γὰρ εἰμὶ ἀγνώμων, υἱέ μου, ὅτι δι' ἐμὲ Χριστοῦ ἀκολουθήσει καὶ ὠνειδίσθης καὶ ἐρραπίσθης καὶ ἐφρουρήθης καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μέχρις αἵματος προήσω· οἶδας τὰς βασιλικὰς ἀποκρίσεις, οἶδας τὰ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ εἱρκτάς, τὰς ἐν τῷ Ἁγίῳ Μάμαντι ἀπαγωγάς· οἶδας τὴν φυλακιστικὴν ἀμφοτέρων ζωήν, τὴν εἰς ἀλλήλους συμφυΐαν, ἣν ἐθαύμασαν καὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ πᾶς τις ἄλλος. εἶτα, τί τὸ διαρρῆξαν; ὅτι τῶν διωξάντων καταποθέντων καὶ τοῦ σκανδάλου ἐκποδὼν ἀρθέντος σύμβασιν ἐποιησάμεθα μετὰ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως. ὢ τῆς ἐπηρείας· καὶ τί ἐβούλου; ἵνα, φησίν, ἐγένετο σύνοδος καὶ καθῃρέθη τὸ αἴτιον. καὶ τίς ὁ συνεδρεύων ἢ καθαιρῶν; οὐχ ὁρᾷς ἀνένδεκτα λέγων; ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐκ ὤφειλεν συνελθεῖν τῷ βασιλεῖ ὁ ἱεραρχῶν. ὁμολογουμένως, ὡς οὐδὲ ὁ πρὸ αὐτοῦ, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ὁ μείζων κίνδυνος, ἐξ οὗ καὶ συναπέρχεται δῆθεν οἰκονομίας ὁ δεύτερος. Ἔα ταῦτα, τέκνον. γέγονεν ὡς γέγονεν, καὶ κριτὴς θεὸς τῶν τοιούτων. τοίνυν περιφανεστέραν καὶ ὁσιωτέραν πιστεύω τῷ θεῷ μου ὑπάρξαι τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς ἐνστάσεως τῷ εὖ φρονοῦντι καὶ εἰδότι μέτρον καὶ ἀξιώματος καὶ ἐνστάσεως. καί γε ἔδειξεν ὁ χρόνος, ὁμολογίας στέφανον ἀναδησαμένου τοῦ ἀρχιεράρχου σὺν πολλοῖς ἄλλοις, κἀμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ συμπαρομαρτοῦντος τῷ ἀρχιεραρχοῦντι· ὃν καὶ ἐδεξάμην καὶ δέδεγμαι, ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλεύσαντα ἀνενεγκόντα τὸ αἴτιον. καὶ μὴ οἴου με, ἀδελφέ, φιλαρχοῦντα ταῦτα λέγειν, ὡς ἂν ἐναβρύνεσθαι ἢ νικᾶν ἐν τῇ ὑποταγῇ σου· μηδαμῶς. εἰ οἷόν τε γενέσθαι εὐάρεστον θεῷ, δέχομαι οὐ μόνον εἰπεῖν σοι τὸ "4ἥμαρτον"5 ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑποταγῆναί σοι. καὶ δέομαί σου, τέκνον μου ἀγαπητόν, μὴ σκληρυνθῇς, ὁ θεός σε παρακαλεῖ δι' ἐμοῦ· ἴδε ὅτι τὸ κρίμα καὶ τῶν ὄντων μετὰ σοῦ τέκνων μου ἔχεις. Παρακαλῶ σε μὴ ἀποτύχω μου τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐπ' ἀμφοτέροις, λέγω δὴ καὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μου Βασιλείου τοῦ ἠγαπημένου, ᾧ γράψαι ἰδίᾳ περισσότερόν τι οὐκ εἶχον. εἰ δέ, ὅπερ μὴ γένοιτο, ἀπειθήσητε, ἐγὼ μὲν ὁ ταπεινὸς ἀθωῶ ἐμαυτὸν τοῦ αἵματος ὑμῶν, ὑμεῖς δὲ ὄψεσθε, ὃ καὶ ἴστε, τί τὸ τῆς ἀπειθείας κρίμα καὶ δέσμημα παρὰ θεῷ.