Letter 274: Theodore Studite, Letter 274; Greek heading: Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπῳ Μονοβασίας καὶ Μεθοδίῳ ἡγουμένῳ.

To my fathers honored of God and spiritual, John the most God-loving bishop of Monemvasia [a fortress city in the southeastern Peloponnese] and Methodius the most reverent abbot, Theodore, sinful monk and abbot of the monastery of Stoudios [the principal monastery of Constantinople]. A good counsel did your harmonious holiness take, when you set out from the soul-destroying surge of heresy here and ran a straight course toward the calm harbor of her who holds the first seat among all the churches [the see of Rome], not so much securing your own safety as considering, by God's will, the common advantage, which is a matter of the highest praise; for this is what both your sacred letter and indeed the tongue of our beloved sons who have returned [from heresy] made clear. But blessed be God, who both planted the resolve and supplied the manner and graciously prospered your being well received in those parts, even if the one of you ran ahead of the other, as at the God-receiving tomb [an allusion to the disciples running to Christ's tomb]; for both were tidings of joy, through which those of the heretical guard [the iconoclast authorities] were thwarted and our petition, the petition of us the lowly, entered more readily into the ears of the apostolic man [the pope], and from both of you was imprinted upon the apostolic heart what had been resolved by the finger of God. How venerable your voyage, how glorious the contest, having wrought a more precious achievement than those who struggle here, seeing that by two men the salvation of all has been accomplished. Not a wild-olive [...] but a hymnic crown from a rose-garden woven by God [be] to the one who treads in the footsteps of the Forerunner [John the Baptist], and one might say to him who bears the same name [John], and to him who is truly Methodius, since your deed, a method of virtues, is profitable to the Church of Christ. What then remains, you who are wise know it, even though we keep silent: may God, who began in you a good work and one so great and salutary for his own Church, bring it to completion. Therefore we remind and we exhort you, in what we by no means are ignorant that you are altogether doing, that you not slacken, but persist, pressing close and entreating, until there be brought to fulfillment the things in a godlike manner approved by the holy first throne [the see of Rome]; for to this very end we have sent Euphemianus, our beloved son, so that he might also become an exact messenger of all the things being transacted here. Deign to greet all those of like zeal and holy, and most of all my most venerable archimandrite [the chief abbot]; since we too, concerning you, if anywhere we are able, will be eager to announce the good things as glad tidings and to address you as is fitting.

Τοῖς θεοτιμήτοις καὶ πνευματικοῖς μου πατράσι Ἰωάννῃ τῷ θεοφι-λεστάτῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Μονοβασίας καὶ Μεθοδίῳ τῷ εὐλαβεστάτῳ ἡγουμένῳ Θεόδωρος ἁμαρτωλὸς μοναχὸς καὶ ἡγούμενος τῶν Στουδίου. Καλὴν βουλὴν ἐβουλεύσατο ἡ ἐμμελὴς ὑμῶν ἁγιωσύνη, ἀπάρασα τοῦ τῇδε αἱρετικοῦ ψυχοφθόρου κλύδωνος καὶ πρὸς τὸν εὔδιον λιμένα τῆς πασῶν ἐκκλησιῶν πρωτοβαθρούσης εὐθυδρομήσασα, οὐ μᾶλλον τὸ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἀσφαλισαμένη ἢ τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον σκοπήσασα θεοβούλως, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω εὐφημίας· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδήλωσεν ἥ τε ἱερὰ ὑμῶν συλλαβὴ καὶ μὴν καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα τῶν παλινοδησάντων ἀγαπητῶν ἡμῶν υἱῶν. Ἀλλ' εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεός, ὁ καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν ἐνσκήψας καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὑποθέμενος καὶ εὐμενῶς ὑμᾶς προσδεχθῆναι ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι εὐοδώσας, εἰ καὶ θάτερος θατέρου προέδραμεν ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοδόχου μνήματος· καὶ γὰρ χαρᾶς εὐαγγέλια ἄμφω, δι' ὧν οἵ τε τῆς αἱρετικῆς κουστωδίας ἠπράκτησαν ἥ τε ἡμετέρα δέησις τῶν ταπεινῶν εὐμαρεστέρως εἰς τὰ ὦτα τοῦ ἀποστολικοῦ εἰσελήλυθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἐτυπώθη τὰ δακτύλῳ θεοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀποστολικῇ καρδίᾳ βεβουλευμένα. ὡς γεραρὸς ὑμῶν ὁ πλοῦς, ὡς εὐκλεὴς ὁ ἀγών, τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἐναθλούντων τιμαλφέστερον τὸ κατόρθωμα ἐργασάμενος, εἴπερ δυοῖν ἀνδροῖν ἡ πάντων σωτηρία κατέπρακται. οὐ κότινος ὑμῖν †ἐξολογικὸς ἀλλ' ὑμνικὸς ἐκ ῥοδωνίας θεοπλόκου στέφανος τῷ ἰχνηλάτῃ τοῦ Προδρόμου, εἴη δὲ εἰπεῖν καὶ συνωνύμῳ, καὶ τῷ ὡς ἀληθῶς Μεθοδίῳ, εἴπερ μέθοδος ἀρετῶν ὠφέλιμος τῇ Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἡ σὴ πρᾶξις. Τί οὖν τὸ λειπόμενον, ἴστε οἱ σοφοί, κἂν ἡμεῖς σιγῶμεν· ὁ ἐναρξάμενος ἐν ὑμῖν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν καὶ τηλικοῦτον σωτήριον τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ θεὸς τελειώσειεν. διὸ ὑπομνήσκομεν καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν, ὃ πάντως ποιεῖν ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀγνοοῦμεν, μὴ ὑφεῖτε προσκείμενοι καὶ ἐκλιπαροῦντες ἕως ἂν περαιωθῇ τὰ θεοειδῶς ἐγκεκριμένα τῷ ἁγίῳ πρωτοθρόνῳ· εἰς αὐτὸ γὰρ τοῦτο ἀπεστείλαμεν Εὐφημιανόν, τὸν ἀγαπητὸν ἡμῶν υἱόν, πρὸς τὸ καὶ ἄγγελον γενέσθαι ἀκριβῆ πάντων τῶν ἐνταῦθα πραττομένων. προσειπεῖν ἅπαντας τοὺς ὁμοζήλους καὶ ἁγίους, μάλιστα τὸν σεβασμιώτατόν μου ἀρχιμανδρίτην, ἀξιώσατε· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς περὶ ὑμῶν, εἴ που δυνηθείημεν, εὐαγγελίσασθαι τὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ προσαγορεῦσαι τὰ εἰκότα σπουδάσομεν.