Letter 362: Theodore Studite, Letter 362; Greek heading: Μακαρίῳ ἡγουμένῳ.

The time of silence has been galloping by in full measure; therefore I have deemed it necessary to send forth my voice, pitiable indeed, yet loving, to your paternal holiness. For who is more closely joined to us in the things that pertain to the Lord than you, adorned both in life and in word? And I would add, one long since bound to us by a common suffering [the persecution under iconoclasm]. But what, best of fathers, do the present circumstances seem to you to be, if not the preludes to the coming of the Antichrist? Christ has been taken away from our midst, [Christ] who is depicted together with his Mother and his attendant servants — which is the practice of Judaism, or rather of paganism [the iconoclasts' rejection of icons]. Those who rule are not shepherds but wolves, holding all who are under their hand to be like themselves; and if anywhere a sheep of Christ is found, they hasten to make it the prey of wild beasts. Two of those who were once my disciples, now shepherding godlessly, rage more savagely than the rest, devouring some of their fellow-disciples by snatching them away into the heresy [hairesis, a doctrine that departs from orthodox faith — here, iconoclasm], and chastising others as no other among those who chastise. And what need is there to recount it all? Everything has been thrown into confusion and brought to ruin, the things now impiously done having been bound up, in excess upon excess, with the entanglement of the evils that went before. For what reason have I told these things? On the one hand, that I might find some relief through the recounting of the things that grieve my humble soul; and on the other, that by the pricking of my words I might make your holiness more assiduous in interceding for the loosing of these constraints with our good God. For he, the lover of mankind, is readily made merciful, since you are righteous — of this I am sure.