Letter 35: Theodore Studite, Letter 35; Greek heading: Βασιλείῳ ἡγουμένῳ.

To Basil, the most reverend abbot and archimandrite [head of a monastery] of Rome, Plato, a lowly recluse, and Theodore, a most insignificant presbyter and abbot of the monastery of Stoudios. We, the lowly, were waiting in such eager expectation to receive a letter from your fatherly holiness, as the thirsting earth awaits its rain; and since we were disappointed of our hope, we were grieved, as was natural. Nevertheless, having learned the reason from Epiphanius, our most beloved and most faithful son, namely that it was out of necessity and not out of contempt for us, the worthless and the exceedingly ardent lovers of your love of God, we transformed the grief of our heart, acquiring sufficient joy. For he announced to us that he himself continues in his disposition and love toward us, and indeed even adds the more to it in goodness in various ways. And when he related the rousing of the zeal for piety, how great it is in your holy soul, both our ears rang. And blessed be the Lord of hosts, who set you in the foremost of cities [Rome], a divinely shining luminary holding forth the word of life by the abundance of good deeds, who gave you a tongue that proclaims with free speech the divine teachings of orthodoxy with lofty preaching. In whom we also beseech you to help our Church, both by your own strength and by your mediation with the most holy apostolic see. For your manly vindication on behalf of the word of truth is the strengthening of the Church under heaven, and the zeal that proceeds from you is by nature ever able to kindle the whole world to the fervent confession, in the Holy Spirit, of our faith. So let your reverence for God conjecture how great is the account you must give of the power of piety, and how great the praise from God along with worthy recompenses in the guarding and proclaiming of it; which may you both guard and not cease to proclaim, you most divine and most admirable fathers of ours. And for what reason have we sent again the brother and venerator of your footsteps, Epiphanius? That the same man may report back our affairs, how by your holy prayers it goes well, while we sinners rejoice and are glad of heart amid the persecution and the prisons, so that we dare to say that it has been granted to us not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for his sake; and that he may incite you to a more earnest prayer both for the manly courage of us the weak and for the common benefit, on behalf of which our discourse and our petition to you, the most holy, is now made for the third time, not that we may be released from the prison, since we do not even reckon it a disgrace, but the greatest glory and one beyond our unworthiness, but that it may have its profit for the common good, even though we are among the least. For everywhere, says the Theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus], one's own interests must be disregarded in favor of the benefit of the many. And it would be a benefit, as is our aim and longing, that there be a synodical censure through the most preeminent apostolic see, just as in earlier times and from the beginning those were censured who conspired against the gospel of Christ and anathematized those who held fast to it and did not accept the adultery, the adulterous marriage union, and the adulterous collusion as an economy [oikonomia: dispensation, the principle of pastoral accommodation] of the saints, as the Moechians [the "adulterers' party," partisans of the disputed second marriage of Emperor Constantine VI] decreed, thereby calling the saints transgressors of the law; for no saint ever set his portion with an adulterer, nor did any crown men who were committing adultery and impart the divine gifts to them, when they have publicly declared that one ought not even share roof and fire with such men, even were they emperors. And in this they outraged the very Divine Being by the marriage-crowning mystagogies [the liturgical rites of marriage], carrying up the anathema against Him through the anathematizing of those who hold fast to His law. But if this is not done, we for the rest pray for the strength of your prayers, the authority of the bonds of love, the power of your written replies, which by all means may you be entreated to make, comforting the fainthearted and strengthening the feeble, our most holy and beloved and ever-revered fathers.

Βασιλείῳ τῷ εὐλαβεστάτῳ ἡγουμένῳ καὶ ἀρχιμανδρίτῃ Ῥώμης Πλάτων ταπεινὸς ἐγκλειστὸς καὶ Θεόδωρος ἐλάχιστος πρεσβύτερος καὶ ἡγούμενος τῶν Στουδίου.}1 Οὕτως ἀπεκαραδοκοῦμεν οἱ ταπεινοὶ δέξασθαι γράμματα τῆς πατρικῆς σου ὁσιότητος, ὡς γῆ διψῶσα τὸν ἑαυτῆς ὑετόν· καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀπετύχομεν τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἠλγήσαμεν, ὡς τὸ εἰκός. ὅμως μαθόντες τὴν αἰτίαν παρὰ Ἐπιφανίου τοῦ ποθεινοτάτου καὶ πιστοτάτου ἡμῶν υἱοῦ, ὅτι ἐξ ἀναγκαίου καὶ οὐκ ἐκ καταφρονήσεως ἡμῶν τῶν εὐτελῶν καὶ λίαν ἐραστῶν τῆς θεοφιλίας σου, μετεβάλομεν τὸ ἄλγος τῆς καρδίας, χαρὰν προσκτησάμενοι ἱκανουμένην. ἀνήγγειλε γὰρ ἡμῖν τὸν αὐτὸν διαμένειν ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς διαθέσει τε καὶ ἀγάπῃ, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ προστιθέμενον μᾶλλον ἀγαθότητος ποικίλοις τρόποις. τὴν δὲ τοῦ ζήλου τῆς εὐσεβείας διανάστασιν, ὅση ἐστὶ τῇ ἁγίᾳ σου ψυχῇ ἐξηγησάμενος, ἤχησεν ἡμῶν ἀμφότερα τὰ ὦτα. καὶ εὐλογητὸς Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων, ὁ θέμενός σε ἐν τῇ πρωτίστῃ τῶν πόλεων, φωστῆρα θεολαμπῆ λόγον ζωῆς ἐπέχοντα ἀμφιλαφείᾳ τῶν ἀγαθῶν πράξεων, ὁ δούς σοι γλῶσσαν ἐλευθεροστομοῦσαν τὰ θεῖα τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας διδάγματα μετὰ ὑψηλοῦ κηρύγματος. ἐν ᾧ καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν βοηθεῖν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ τε οἰκείᾳ κραταιότητι καὶ τῇ πρὸς τὸν ἁγιώτατον ἀποστολικὸν μεσιτείᾳ. ἡ γὰρ ὑμῶν ἀνδρικὴ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκδίκησις τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ἐκκλησίας ὑπάρχει στερέωσις, καὶ ὁ ἀφ' ὑμῶν ζῆλος ἀνάπτειν πέφυκεν ἀεὶ ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην εἰς τὴν διάπυρον ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν ὁμολογίαν. ὥστε εἰκαζέτω σου ἡ θεοσέβεια, ὅσος ὁ λόγος ὑμῖν τοῦ τῆς εὐσεβείας κράτους καὶ ὁπόσος ὁ ἔπαινος ἀπὸ θεοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀξίων ἀμοιβῶν ἐν τῇ ταύτης φυλακῇ καὶ ἀναρρήσει· ἣν καὶ φυλάττοιτε καὶ κηρύσσειν οὐ λήγοιτε, οἱ θειότατοι καὶ ἀξιάγαστοι ἡμῶν πατέρες. Οὗ δὲ χάριν ἀπεστείλαμεν πάλιν τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ προσκυνητὴν τῶν ἰχνῶν σου Ἐπιφάνιον; ἵν' ἀνταναγγείλῃ ὁ αὐτὸς τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, ὡς εὐχαῖς ὑμῶν ἁγίαις εὖ ἔχει, χαιρομένων ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ θυμηδιώντων ἐν τῷ διωγμῷ καὶ ταῖς φυλακαῖς, ὡς τολμᾶν λέγειν, ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσθη οὐ μόνον εἰς Χριστὸν πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχειν· ἵνα εἰς ὡς ἐκτενεστέραν ὑμᾶς προσευχὴν παρακινήσῃ ὑπέρ τε ἡμῶν τῶν ἀσθενῶν εὐανδρίας καὶ τοῦ κοινῇ συμφέροντος, ὑπὲρ οὗ ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοὺς ἁγιωτάτους δέησις τρὶς ἄρτι γινομένη οὐχ ἵνα ἀφεθῶμεν τῆς φυλακῆς, ὅτι μηδὲ λογιζόμεθα αὐτὴν ἀδοξίαν, ἀλλὰ μέγιστον καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀναξιότητα κλέος, ἀλλ' ὅπως ἕξει τὸ ἐπωφελὲς ἐν τῷ κοινῷ, κἂν τῶν ἐσχάτων ἐσμέν. πανταχοῦ γάρ, φησὶν ὁ Θεολόγος, τὸ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς παρορατέον πρὸς τὸ τῶν πολλῶν συμφέρον. συμφέρον δ' ἂν εἴη, ὡς ὁ ἡμέτερος σκοπὸς καὶ πόθος, ἐπιτιμηθῆναι συνοδικῶς διὰ τοῦ κορυφαιοτάτου ἀποστολικοῦ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοὺς συνεδρεύσαντας κατὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀναθεματίσαντας τοὺς ἀντεχομένους αὐτοῦ καὶ μὴ τὴν μοιχείαν καὶ μοιχοζευξίαν καὶ μοιχοσυνδρομίαν δεξαμένους ὡς οἰκονομίαν τῶν ἁγίων, καθὰ οἱ μοιχειανοὶ ἐδογμάτισαν, ἀποκαλέσαντες ἐν τούτῳ τοὺς ἁγίους παρανόμους· ὅτι μηδεὶς ἅγιος τὴν μερίδα μετὰ μοιχοῦ ἔθετο, οὐχ ὅτι καὶ μοιχωμένους ἐστεφάνωσε καὶ δώρων τῶν θείων μεταδέδωκεν, ὁπότε οὐδὲ στέγης καὶ πυρὸς μεταδιδόναι αὐτοῖς, κἂν βασιλεῖς εἶεν, διηγορεύκασι. καὶ ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον ἐξύβρισαν ταῖς στεφανικαῖς μυσταγωγίαις, ἀνενεγκόντες τὸ ἀνάθεμα ἐπ' αὐτὸ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀντεχομένων τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ ἀναθεματίσεως. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο οὔ, ἡμεῖς τὸ λοιπὸν εὐχόμεθα ὑμῶν τῶν προσευχῶν τὸ σθένος, τῶν τῆς ἀγάπης θεσμῶν τὸ κῦρος, τῶν ἀντιγράφων τὸ κράτος, ὃ πάντως παρακληθείητε ποιῆσαι, παραμυθούμενοι τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους καὶ ἐπιρρωννύντες τοὺς ἀνάλκιδας, ἁγιώτατοι ἡμῶν καὶ ποθητοὶ καὶ ἀεισέβαστοι πατέρες.