Letter 321: Theodore Studite, Letter 321; Greek heading: Ἀθανασίῳ ἡγουμένῳ.

Why have I delayed to write to your Holiness? The causes are many: first, the strict confinement, as the letter-carrier too will recount; then the arrest of the steward [oikonomos, the monastery's chief financial officer], and other matters which it is laborious to write down. But now, since I have been counted worthy to break into speech, I give thanks to my God; for it has always been dear to me to address you and to hear your voice, because you are a good man, an athlete of Christ, of one soul with me, of one mind, blended together with me in a manner more intimate, beyond the others, in the love that is in the Lord. But come now, lament with me, O father, the present circumstances. You see how we have become as we were before, when the Lord did not rule over us: "they have all turned aside, they have together become worthless" [cf. Psalm 14:3]; every temple has been darkened, every sanctuary has been profaned, every sacred company blasphemes, and Christ sleeps. And there is no one who, by living worthily, may entreat him to rise up, to rebuke the winds and this wicked sea of heresy [hairesis]; and even if worthily, yet not at a fitting time, for he alone knows the profitable moment both for the healing and for the cutting away. Therefore we must wait and be patient for the best and all-knowing Physician, who in the end will not allow his Church to be tossed by the waves. But do you tell us what your confinement is like and how you live in it: whether indeed there is any remnant of piety in the places nearest to you, whether something newly consecrated by you or orthodox of its own accord; whether there are books in your hands; whether anyone is feeding an Elijah [cf. 1 Kings 17, the prophet sustained in hiding]; whether there is a right-minded disciple; whether, as Peter and John, someone has followed you when you were taken up [arrested]—not to Annas and Caiaphas, but to those equally Judaizing in mind [iudaiophrones, i.e. those minded like the Jews who condemned Christ; here the iconoclast persecutors]. Teach us these things, and for the rest pray that Christ may be wakened from sleep, that the Church may be brought to peace, that I may be saved—I who am utterly wretched, yet who loves you exceedingly.

Τίνος ἕνεκεν ἐχρόνισα ἐπιστεῖλαι τῇ ἁγιωσύνῃ σου; πολλὰ τὰ αἴτια· πρῶτον μὲν ἡ ἀσφαλὴς φυλακή, ὡς διηγήσεται καὶ ὁ γραμματηφόρος, ἔπειτα ἡ σύλληψις τοῦ οἰκονόμου ἄλλα τε, ἅττα γράφειν ἐργῶδες. ἀλλὰ νῦν, ὅτι ἠξιώθην ῥῆξαι φωνήν, εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου· ἐμοὶ γὰρ φίλον ἀεὶ προσφθέγγεσθαι καὶ ἀκούειν φωνῆς σου, διότι σὺ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός, ἀθλητὴς Χριστοῦ, σύμψυχος, ταὐτόφρων, ἰδιαίτερόν τι παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους κεκραμένος μοι τῇ ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀγάπῃ. Ἀλλὰ δεῦρό μοι, θρήνησον, ὦ πάτερ, τὰ παρόντα. ὁρᾷς ὅπως γεγόναμεν ὡς τὸ πρίν, ὅτε οὐκ ἦρχεν ἡμῶν Κύριος· πάντες ἐξέκλιναν ἅμα ἠχρειώθησαν, πᾶς ναὸς ἠμαύρωται, πᾶν ἱερὸν κεκοίνωται, πᾶς θίασος βλασφημεῖ καὶ Χριστός καθεύδει. καὶ οὐδεὶς ὁ ἀξίως διαναστῆναι αὐτὸν ἱλεούμενος, ἐπιτιμῆσαι τοῖς ἀνέμοις καὶ τῇ πονηρᾷ ταύτῃ θαλάσσῃ τῆς αἱρέσεως· εἰ καὶ ἀξίως, ἀλλ' οὐκ εὐκαίρως· οἶδεν γὰρ αὐτὸς μόνος τὸν ὠφέλιμον καιρὸν καὶ τῆς ἰατρείας καὶ τῆς ἐκτομῆς. διὸ ἀναμονητέον καὶ μακροθυμητέον τὸν ἄριστον καὶ παντεπιστήμονα ἰατρόν, ὃς ἐν τέλει οὐκ ἐάσει τὴν ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ κυμαίνεσθαι. Σὺ δὲ φράσον ἡμῖν οἵα σου ἡ φυλακὴ καὶ ὅπως ζῇς ἐν αὐτῇ, εἰ ἆρά γε ἔστι λείψανον θεοσεβείας ἐν τοῖς ἔγγιστα, ἢ παρὰ σοῦ ἱεροποιηθὲν νεωστὶ ἢ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ὀρθοδοξοῦν, εἰ ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου βίβλοι, εἰ τρέφει τις Ἠλίαν, εἰ εὐγνώμων μαθητής, εἰ ὡς Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἠκολούθηκεν αἰρομένῳ σοι οὐ πρὸς Ἄνναν καὶ Καϊάφαν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἴσους ἰουδαιόφρονας. ταῦτα δίδαξον καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν πρόσευξαι διυπνισθῆναι Χριστόν, εἰρηνευθῆναι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, σωθῆναί με, τὸν πανάθλιον μέν, φιλοῦντα δέ σε λίαν.