Letter 31: Theodore Studite, Letter 31; Greek heading: Τοῖς ἐν τῷ Σακκουδίωνι ἀδελφοῖσ.

As long as there was occasion for managing by dispensation [oikonomia, the church's discretionary accommodation] and for concealing the matter of our non-communion with Joseph the steward [oikonomos], we did this, children and brothers, not constrained by fear, even if we happen to be sinners, but out of a dispensatory condescension, imitating in some way our holy fathers, just as they too, employing this at the fitting time, withdrew temptation from themselves, on the one hand sparing the weaker and those being harmed, and on the other yielding a little for the sake of governance, so that a little later they might gain the success that was sought. But now that our good God has been pleased that the matter come out into plain view, we are now also writing about it openly. And how? Through the inquiry of the logothete of the course [logothetes tou dromou, the official in charge of communications and foreign affairs] and the archbishop's reply to him. For he says: "Why up to the present have you not communicated with us and with the patriarch, when so many feasts have passed by?"; and that, "Tell openly the cause." And the archbishop confessed and did not deny, and he confessed that, "I have nothing against our pious emperors, nor again against the patriarch, but against the steward who crowned the adulterer and was for this reason deposed by the sacred canons." To which the logothete's reply was that, "Our pious emperors have no need of you, neither in Thessalonica nor anywhere else." Up to this point, with neither an immediate counter-reply being given nor another question being put forward, up to the present, thirteen days having passed by, except only that we have sent letters to lord Symeon, which we have dispatched within the [present] letters, so that you may discern the whole import of the affair. And the matter has been bruited abroad, both before the patriarch and before nearly the whole city, and there are indeed many who are distressed along with us and speak in agreement with us, but they are night-time God-fearers, unable to speak freely in the light. But we, children and brothers, by our trust in God and by the firm establishment of the truth, and by that very outcome of justice which previously came about and was declared according to what was demonstrated in the world against the man who committed adultery and those who cooperated with him, are unbending in the commandment and in the fathers' canons; and we will not give way nor betray piety, nor indeed will we tear down what we rightly built up beforehand through our resistance in exile, lest we be shown to be transgressors of the law. But held fast by the divine law, we hold fast, as we have held fast before, loving all things, enduring all things, if indeed God should so permit, rather than partaking of the communion of that man and of those who concelebrate with him, until the deposed man cease from the sacred ministry. Many things, then, will the people prate, and they will mock and laugh, and what is the more pitiable, not a few of those of the same habit and the same rank and who seem to be friends. But nothing strange: it is written, and a man's own household are his enemies [Matthew 10:36]. And [it is no wonder] that these very men acted as panders and cooperated and ate together and drank together at the adulterous wedding, and dipped their pen against us at our exile. But the Lord, who was then roused up to the vindication of His own law, who shattered the kingship of the adulterer by his blinding, and put to shame his accomplices like the priests of Baal, and gathered up our lowliness into its own monastery beyond hope, He is present even now, He Himself. Even if for a little while He again permitted the unlawful union, yet again He was pleased that the exultation of the adulterous-yokers and the adulterer-loving Nazirites be rejected, through the just judgment of our pious emperors, who after death restored the adulterer to his lawful wedded wife, and disowned the lustful adulteress and left the adulterously-begotten child without inheritance as unlawful and most lawless, as their honored mouth has spoken in my hearing according to the Roman laws. But nevertheless those who acted lawlessly are not put to shame, nor is he who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit in the sacred prayer at the crown-uniting [the nuptial blessing] submerged [in shame], but, having sprung in like a wildcat into the church of God, he again leaps and again begins to defile the holy things through the sacred ministry, and he contends to make lawlessness known as righteousness and, as the saying goes, to prove himself more holy than the Forerunner and Baptist; for whereas that one [John] reproved the adultery of Herod and died for the sake of truth, this man both crowned the second Herod, manifest in his adultery, and embraced him until death, declaring not in words, but in his very deeds, that John the Forerunner was mistaken, having reproved unlawfully and unseasonably, and having died [for it]. And why indeed do I speak of John, the greatest of all the saints? Against Christ Himself, even if it is bold to say it, he spoke in contradiction and fought against Him through his accursed mouth; for whereas Christ called the man who dismisses his lawful wife an adulterer (and adultery is a grievous sin, equivalent to that of a murderer and a corrupter of males and one who lies with beasts and a sorcerer and an idolater, as the canon of Saint Basil [declares]), this man, presenting that very man at the altar in the midst of all the people, dared to break forth into those accursed cries against the Holy Spirit, speaking thus (and consider the dreadful and monstrous thing): "Do Thou Thyself, O Master, send forth Thy hand from Thy holy dwelling-place and join Thy servant to Thy handmaid. Yoke them together in concord, unite them into one flesh, those whom Thou hast been pleased to join to one another; show their marriage to be honorable, preserve their bed undefiled, be pleased that their life together remain unstained in a pure heart." Did you not then shudder when you understood? How greatly do you think the Holy Spirit was provoked at this blasphemy, and the holy angels were stirred to anger together [with Him]? Or how did the earth not at once, as with Dathan and Abiram [Numbers 16], gaping open swallow up the instructor of falsehood, who both displays the darkness as light and attempts to make Christ fall into self-contradiction? For assuredly, whatever the priest signifies below, these things God too undertakes to ratify, according to the great Dionysius [the Areopagite]. But nevertheless, having done such an evil thing and having given an example of wickedness to his subordinates for imitation in like manner (which has indeed come to pass, and rather even among those who rule and govern far off, in likeness of which it was carried out also in Longobardia [the Lombard lands] and Gothia [Gutthia] and the regions belonging to it; for not even among the heathen has any such thing been dared), and the wretch is not put to shame, but, as has been said, the unholy man performs the sacred ministry, and he presses on to exile those who rightly turn away from him. But the Lord is the helper of those who stand firm for the sake of His commandment, who will exhort the hearts of our pious emperors to carry out the vindication of His church, just as in the case of the adulterer, so that He may be pleased that this man too be cast out of the sacred ministry, both for the benefit of the most holy patriarch and of the whole catholic church. Therefore take courage, children and brothers, and do not be afraid, nor fall down. It is a time of confession, a time of standing firm, a time perhaps of contest and of other sufferings, but also of crowns and of heavenly glory; for it says, But I will glorify those who glorify me, and he who despises me shall be dishonored [1 Samuel 2:30]; and, Blessed are those who do not turn aside from his commandments. Therefore rejoice and exult, for your reward, for you who endure, is great in the heavens [Matthew 5:12]. Hold fast to your works, pray fervently for our emperors, for the high priest, for Joseph to be cast out of the altar, for the peace of the church, walking in the blameless way in his commandments, having greatly willed it, in every good condition and canonical manner of life, until you hear something further, or until we ourselves shall give a sign. May Christ be with you, the Theotokos [Mother of God] sheltering you, the Forerunner and the Theologian [John the Evangelist] guarding you, all the saints, by the prayer of my father and your father. I greet you all by name; may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, beloved children. Amen.