Letter 301: Theodore Studite, Letter 301; Greek heading: Θεόδωρος τοῖς διὰ Κύριον ἐν διαφόροις φυλακαῖς τηρουμένοις ἀδελφοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς ἐν Κυρίῳ χαίρειν.

What of the present circumstances? Joy and exultation, because we have been counted worthy to contend in the contests of martyrdom for Christ; because we have been handed over to imprisonments and afflictions for the word of God; because we have been subjected to blows and insults for the sake of Christ, who was scourged and reviled on our behalf and afterward also crucified. Who would not praise? Who would not give glory? The East rejoices, the West is glad, every church of the four-cornered creation exults. And why do I speak of the world upon the earth? Heaven itself is filled with gladness, because not only the chief of the hierarchs among us [the patriarch], hierarchs too and priests, leaders and disciples, but also nuns together with their superiors have chosen the lists [the arena] of martyrdom—I leave aside speaking of those afflicted in deserts and mountains and caves and the hollows of the earth, in exile, in want, in ill-usage, on account of the persecution for Christ. Fittingly, then, my beloved and longed-for brothers, my joy and my crown, I rejoice and rejoice together with you; and do you likewise rejoice and rejoice together with me. The words are those of blessed Paul, fitting for the present season, since all things were written for our admonition and he earnestly entreats us to become imitators of him. First, then, it is true to say this: that we are not handed over to the afflictions and circumstances as much as those who do us harm purpose and wish (for in that case the trial would be unbearable, like that which assails us invisibly from the demons), but only as far as Christ permits, who presides over the contest and contends together with us, by measure and by weight letting loose the struggles in just judgment according to each one's strength, either for the payment of sins (even if we have come of our own free will to suffer) or for the recompense of the victor's crowns of contest, as we advance from glory to glory. For have we been tormented as Peter or Paul with those of their rank, or George and Theodore with those of like renown, or Thecla and Phebronia with those of like glory—to whom, since they loved much, proportionately the sufferings of Christ also abounded as a gift? But for those whose love is little, the suffering too is more deficient, so that one should rather grieve and be distressed that we do not suffer much, not that we ought to be altered and grow weary in those things in which we are moderately punished. But if we should fall away (which may it be far even to think), it is not from the divinely judged permission, but from the slackness and faintheartedness and godlessness of the one who has been made soft; for the one [Christ] has given the strength against the power of the evil one, wishing the contestant to be victorious, while the other, having through neglect cast away the weapons of endurance, has perished. A witness to this word is he who cries out: God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tried beyond what you can bear, but will make, together with the trial, the way out also, that you may be able to endure it. Here is endurance, O brothers; here are the God-woven crowns of good faith. Let us not, then, be ashamed of the martyrdom of our Lord, nor be left behind by Thaddaeus the newly-called martyr and those who confessed together with him and departed [from this life] following after him, whose names you indeed know. The church of God has now too been watered with the blood of martyrs, since it is also being watered through those still contending and pressed hard in many ways by afflictions. He pours out blood—the one shut up in confinement, the one left alone, the one straitened, the one snatched away from every face, the one deprived of the necessities of life, the one hungering, the one thirsting, the one not receiving the ray of the sun, dying daily, as Paul proclaims, and put to death all the day long, as David sings. But if we die, we shall also live together with Christ; if we endure, we shall also reign together with him. In the ages above, grace chose those whom it chose for the martyrdom of Christ; from generation to generation martyrs arise; for the scandals must come, Christ said, that the elect may shine forth like the sun and the tares become manifest like the night. Let us become, O brothers, in this crooked and perverse generation, as luminaries giving light to those in the moonless darkness of heresy [hairesis: heresy], just as Christ chose us for his boast, for the glory of orthodoxy. As those of old were to us, so may we be shown to those who come after as a support and a model, and may we be found dancing in joy on the day of Christ. And yet we have the martyrdom more manifest than those who came just before us; for it is no longer about the natures in Christ or the wills and such things as are disputed alongside these—whose error, being in the realm of concepts, furnished no demonstration perceptible to the senses—but now, together with the concepts, the matter disputed, or rather impiously denied, is also before the eyes. For the adversaries not only say and think perversely that Christ is not to be depicted in an icon [eikon: image, sacred image], together with the Theotokos [Theotokos: the God-bearer, the Virgin Mary] and any one of the saints whatsoever, but they even efface those already painted, decreeing that the divine likenesses are a deception and a destruction of souls. O the impiety of the Jews and of the Greeks [pagans], met together as opposites! Nothing at all, therefore, is the change apart from the difference of substance, in which the argument lies: the Jew, or the Greek, says to the Christian, "Deny Christ, deny Mary"; this too the iconoclast [eikonomachos: image-fighter] says. For the icon of Christ, just as also that of the Theotokos, is called by the same name, Christ and Theotokos. So that one who says that the icon is to be denied would require that the one whose icon it is be expressly denied. For is the argument mine, the worthless one? Hear what the God of all things says to Moses: Make Cherubim. And indeed he commanded an icon of Cherubim to be made; for no one would say that he was bidding him to set forth a cherubic nature. And again: Make a bronze serpent. And here too, indeed, he commands an icon of a serpent to be made. But this is the nature of the prototype and the derivative: that the thing produced, that is, the thing depicted, is called by the name of the archetype, and by the abolition of the one the other is abolished, as things existing together. Was there an angel? For this reason there is also an icon of an angel. Was there a serpent? For this reason there is also an icon of a serpent, and of anything else whatsoever among existing things. And in one respect they are called icons of the very things of which they are also [icons], but in another respect, on account of the relation, they are named as the archetypes themselves and not as icons of them. So says also the sacred Apostle: and above it Cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat, using the name of the prototypes for the icons. Hear also Basil the Great: Let there also be inscribed upon the panel Christ, the presider over the contests of wrestling. For he did not say, "Let there be inscribed the icon of Christ, the presider over the contests of wrestling," but "Christ." Hear also Gregory of Nyssa: Isaac is set forth—he having named the icon of Isaac "Isaac." Hear Chrysostom: I saw an angel in an icon; for he did not say that he saw an icon of an angel in an icon, but an angel. For in the icon the archetype is made manifest, as in the figure of the cross the life-giving cross [is made manifest], according to which the one is also inseparable from the other in veneration [proskynesis: veneration, reverence]. For this reason the icon also bears the name of the prototype; for the figure of the cross has been called "cross." So too in the case of an emperor and of every man and of every form it is true for us to say that both the emperor and the icon of the emperor are called "emperor." The divine Basil says: Peter too is the icon of Peter. Shall I say something even loftier? Man too is god as the icon of God. Therefore Basil said also: Christ too is the icon of Christ; for he said—and again I say it—"Let there be inscribed upon the panel" not "the icon of Christ," but "Christ." But if the impious do not endure this, first they set aside the divine utterances, and then, on this basis, they decree that Christ did not become man in deed, even if not in word. For if he is man, it is clear that he is also depicted in an icon; for to be depicted in an icon is the first property of man. But if he is not depicted in an icon, then he is not man but fleshless, and Christ has not yet come, as the Jews are deceived into thinking. For this reason they also banish the Theotokos when depicted in an icon, and every saint, as though she were not the Mother of God nor they servants of Christ. And the golden-mouthed one [Chrysostom] proclaims: The deeds of your words are more trustworthy to me [than the words]. It has been concluded, therefore, from the truth, that the iconoclasts Judaize, and that whoever suffers from them on account of Christ suffers also for Christ; on account of the Theotokos, also for the Theotokos; on account of every saint, also for all the saints. An indisputable martyr and confessor of Christ is the one who contends and stands firm. And no argument will gainsay it. The Maccabees are martyrs, having refused to taste swine's flesh unlawfully; the Forerunner [John the Baptist] is a martyr for the reproof of truth; another for not casting down an obol [a small coin] toward the building of an idol-temple; and another for the sake of another commandment. For what need is there to say many things? And here too, plainly, is the one who contends for Christ not a martyr, as some of the wretched ones say? He is a true martyr, lacking nothing of those who bore witness in the time of the Greeks or the Jews; and the martyr in heaven is faithful. Wholly, then, if the one who sets aside the figure of the cross refers his setting-aside to Christ, much more does the one who denies the icon of Christ direct his denial to Christ. So also the one who bears witness on either count is a most true martyr, and rather in the case of the icon, because the one [the cross] is a sign, but the other [the icon] is the form of Christ. And I exhort you, my holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, first to make remembrance of me, the lowly one, praying that I may be proved in deed in the things I say, in no way grown slack from either the invisible or the visible assaults; and then to attend to yourselves and to the contest now at hand, but not to be set ablaze by reasonings, through poverty of understanding, in the manifestation of events, which are governed deeply by providence and as is not attainable by the mind of man. Nor may you suffer what you sing: "As for me, my feet were almost moved, my steps had nearly slipped, because I was envious at the lawless," beholding this and that; but rather hear the Lord saying, "Wait for me until the day of my resurrection," and that "the one who endures to the end, this one shall be saved."