Letter 41: Theodore Studite, Letter 41; Greek heading: Σιλουανῷ καὶ Εὐπρεπιανῷ τέκνοισ.

Since I seek to learn about the brethren, my children, and since you yourselves also often wish to inform me concerning them, I have judged it good, both for the sake of greater brevity and of greater concealment, that these be indicated by means of the letters of the alphabet, that is, the twenty-four letters [the Greek alphabet, here used as a cipher for the names of the imprisoned and scattered monks during the iconoclast persecution]. And so I declare: A [alpha] for our father; B [beta] for the archbishop; G [gamma] for Kalogeros; D [delta] for Athanasios; E [epsilon] for Barsanouphios; Z [zeta] for Nikolaos; E [eta] for Sophronios; Th [theta] for Euthymios; I [iota] for John; K [kappa] for Dometianos; L [lambda] for the steward [oikonomos]; M [mu] for Arsenios; N [nu] for Akakios; X [xi] for Meletios; O [omicron] for Loukianos; P [pi] for Epiphanios; R [rho] for Litoes; S [sigma] for Basil; T [tau] for Euschemon; Y [upsilon] for Silvanos; Ph [phi] for Euprepianos; Ch [chi] for Gregory; Ps [psi] for Eustathios; O [omega] for myself. Whenever, therefore, a letter of the alphabet stands in the heading, whose the epistle is has thereby been wholly made known: for instance, A is our father's, and each one likewise. Again, when I ask, "How is B doing?", it is clear that the inquiry has been made known to be about the archbishop. Likewise, when I again ask, "How are those around B?", it is plain that the inquiry concerns those who are with him; and so with the rest of the letters. Again, another inquiry: "What do you hear about P, or about R, or about Ps?"; the answer corresponds to each single letter. Again I ask, "Who has come from those outside?"; you ought to answer according to the letter, either that it is E [eta], or that it is O [omicron], or one of the rest; or that E [eta] or O [omicron] did not come in, but rather so many of those around E [eta] or O [omicron], that such-and-such a thing has happened to so-and-so's letter. So too when there is a death again: "such-and-such a letter has died," or "is ill," or "is grieving," and whatever else. And if there is someone from among those around the letter who has suffered something, you indicate the name as well, as in the case of Christophoros, that he has run away from E [epsilon], which has indeed happened. Receiving, therefore, the letters sent by us, if it is one of those in the alphabet, the epistle will bear the heading of that letter. So when you yourselves also send the epistles belonging to the same alphabet-letters, place the same letter upon your own epistle; and if those who send are ignorant of it, you yourselves smooth over the heading and insert the letter of the one who has written. But if it is not one of those in the alphabet, let the heading remain; just as also in my writing, if it is not one of those in the alphabet, let the heading stand addressed to the one to whom the epistle is sent. Again it must be observed that on each of my epistles to those who are under the letters the heading will stand thus: O [omega] to A [alpha], and so on in order. And the epistles sent to me let them stand thus: A [alpha] to O [omega], or another of the letters. This too must be known: that, since there are also these three characters which are outside the twenty-four letters, the [...], the [...], the [sampi], the [...] signifies all those, both formerly and at some later time, who have renounced [their faith] [the apostates], our brethren; the [...] signifies the patriarch; the [sampi] signifies the one in power [the reigning emperor]. Whenever, therefore, the need arises either for me to ask or for you to inform concerning one of the three, the disclosure shall be made by means of [that] character.

Ἐπειδὴ ζητῶ μανθάνειν περὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, τέκνα, ἢ καὶ αὐτοὶ πολλάκις θέλετε δηλοῦν περὶ αὐτῶν, ἐσκόπησα καλὸν εἶναι ὁμοῦ τε διὰ τὸ συντομώτερον καὶ ἐπικρυπτότερον ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων, ἤγουν τῶν εἰκοσιτεσσάρων γραμμάτων, τούτους ἐπιδηλοῦσθαι. καὶ δὴ λέγω. Τὸ ˉα τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν, τὸ ˉβ τοῦ ἀρχιεπισκόπου, τὸ ˉγ τοῦ Καλογήρου, τὸ ˉδ τοῦ Ἀθανασίου, τὸ ˉε τοῦ Βαρσανουφίου, τὸ ˉζ τοῦ Νικολάου, τὸ ˉη τοῦ Σωφρονίου, τὸ ˉθ τοῦ Εὐθυμίου, τὸ ˉι τοῦ Ἰωάννου, τὸ ˉκ τοῦ Δομετιανοῦ, τὸ ˉλ τοῦ οἰκονόμου, τὸ ˉμ τοῦ Ἀρσενίου, τὸ ˉν τοῦ Ἀκακίου, τὸ ˉξ τοῦ Μελετίου, τὸ ˉο τοῦ Λουκιανοῦ, τὸ ˉπ τοῦ Ἐπι-φανίου, τὸ ˉρ τοῦ Λιτόη, τὸ ˉσ τοῦ Βασιλείου, τὸ ˉτ τοῦ Εὐσχήμονος, τὸ ˉυ τοῦ Σιλουανοῦ, τὸ ˉφ τοῦ Εὐπρεπιανοῦ, τὸ ˉχ τοῦ Γρηγορίου, τὸ ˉψ τοῦ Εὐσταθίου, τὸ ˉω τὸ ἐμόν. Ὅτε τοίνυν κεῖται ἐν τῇ ἐπιγραφῇ τι στοιχεῖον, οὗτινός ἐστιν ἡ ἐπιστολὴ πάντως ἐγνωρίσθη· οἷον, τὸ ˉα τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ ἕκαστον ὡσαύτως. πάλιν ἐρωτῶντός μου, πῶς ἔχει τὸ ˉβ; δῆλον ὅτι ἐγνωρίσθη περὶ τοῦ ἀρχιεπισκόπου εἶναι τὴν ἐρώτησιν. ὁμοίως ἐν τῷ πάλιν ἐρωτῆσαί με, πῶς ἔχουσιν οἱ περὶ τὸ ˉβ; φανερὸν ὅτι περὶ τῶν ὄντων μετ' αὐτοῦ ἡ ἐρώτησις· ὡσαύτως ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν στοιχείων. πάλιν ἑτέρα ἐρώτησις· τί ἀκούετε περὶ τοῦ ˉπ ἢ περὶ τοῦ ˉρ ἢ περὶ τοῦ ˉψ; πρὸς ἓν ἕκαστον στοιχεῖον ἡ ἀπόκρισις. πάλιν ἐρωτῶ, τίς ἦλθεν ἐκ τῶν ἔξω; δέον ὑμᾶς ἀποκριθῆναι κατὰ τὸ στοιχεῖον, ἢ ὅτι τὸ ˉη ἢ ὅτι τὸ ˉο ἢ ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν· ἢ ὅτι οὐκ εἰσῆλθε τὸ ˉη ἢ τὸ ˉο, ἀλλ' οἱ περὶ τὸ ˉη ἢ τὸ ˉο τόσοι, ὅτι γέγονε τόδε κἀκεῖνο εἰς τὸ ὁ δεῖνα στοιχεῖον. ὅτε οὖν θάνατος πάλιν, "4ἀπέθανε τόδε τὸ στοιχεῖον"5 ἢ "4ἀσθενεῖ"5 ἢ "4λυπεῖται"5, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα. εἰ δέ τίς ἐστιν ἐκ τοῦ περὶ τὸ στοιχεῖον παθών τι, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα δηλοῦντες, οἷον ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοφόρου, ὅτι ἀπέδρασεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ˉε, ὃ καὶ γέγονε. Δεχόμενοι οὖν τὰς παρ' ἡμῶν πεμπομένας ἐπιστολὰς πάντως, ἐάν ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων, τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν τοῦ στοιχείου ἕξει ἡ ἐπι στολή. πέμποντες οὖν καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν στοιχείων ἐπιστολάς, τὸ αὐτὸ στοιχεῖον θέσθε ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἐπιστολῇ· κἂν δὲ ἀγνοῶσιν οἱ πέμποντες, ὑμεῖς λειοῦτε τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν καὶ ἐντιθεῖτε τὸ στοιχεῖον τοῦ ἐπιστείλαντος. εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων, μενέτω ἡ ἐπιγραφή· ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῷ γράφειν με, ἐὰν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων, μενέτω ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ πρὸς ὃν ἡ ἐπιστολή. πάλιν σκεπτέον ὅτι ἐφ' ἑκάστης μου ἐπιστολῆς πρὸς τοὺς ὄντας ὑπὸ τὰ στοιχεῖα οὕτως ἕξει ἡ ἐπιγραφή· τὸ ˉω τῷ ˉα, καὶ καθεξῆς. καὶ πεμπόμεναί μοι αἱ ἐπιστολαὶ οὕτως ἐχέτωσαν· τὸ ˉα τῷ ˉω, ἢ ἄλλο τῶν στοιχείων. Γνωστέον καὶ τοῦτο, ὅτι, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ταῦτα τὰ τρία εἰσὶ γράμματα, ἅτινά εἰσιν ἔξω τῶν εἰκοσιτεσσάρων στοιχείων, τὸ ˉ , τὸ , τὸ ˉϠ, τὸ ˉ δηλοῖ τοὺς ἀθετήσαντας πάντας καὶ πρότερον καὶ ὕστερόν ποτε ἀδελφοὺς ἡμῶν, τὸ τὸν πατριάρχην, τὸ ˉϠ τὸν κρατοῦντα. ὅταν οὖν χρεία γένηται εἴτε ἐρωτῆσαί με εἴτε δηλῶσαι ὑμᾶς περὶ ἑνὸς τῶν τριῶν, διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ἔσται ἡ δήλωσις.