Letter 433: Theodore Studite, Letter 433; Greek heading: Κατηχητική. Τοῖς ἠγαπημένοις πνευματικοῖς τέκνοις τε καὶ ἀδελφοῖς Λαυρεντίῳ, Συμεών, Διονυσίῳ, Ποιμένι, Λιτοΐῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ὧδε κἀκεῖσε διεσπαρμένοις Θεόδωρος ἁμαρτωλὸς μοναχὸς ἐν Κυρίῳ χαίρειν.

[A catechetical letter. To my beloved spiritual children and brothers Laurentius, Symeon, Dionysius, Poemen, Litoius, and the rest scattered here and there, Theodore, a sinful monk, sends greeting in the Lord.] It is always possible to rejoice for those who live according to God, even should they fall into circumstances contrary to joy, since one work of true gladness is hope in God and, for his sake and through him, both to live and to be moved and to do anything whatsoever else. And that you are such, the facts themselves bear witness; for on account of what else has there been your scattering and toil and turmoil, if not for the sake of our good God himself? Yet now, by his providence, the persecution has abated through the proclamation of the kindly sovereign power [the accession of a more lenient regime, after the death of Leo V in 820], and a door of free speaking has been opened to those who had been persecuted, and they enjoy a measure of release and peace throughout every city and region. For which things we are debtors, O fathers, to offer thanksgiving to the Lord and intercessions both for a richer peace and for the strengthening of our God-promoted emperors. This, then, is the first word. Second, that both we and you may not receive the release as a dissolution of virtue, but that, wherever each of us is, we may be of the same mind, may walk by the same rule, giving offense in nothing, that the ministry be not blamed, but in everything may commend ourselves, as it is written, as ministers of God in endurance, in afflictions, in distresses, in the other things to which the life of the present days is subject; for in this way we shall both keep unimpaired the things already accomplished, and shall bear lightly the things now befalling us, and shall meet the things to come in a manner befitting God. Here we are, dwelling before the city by the cognizance of the imperial authority, seeing and being seen by the brothers and fathers who frequent us; and our liberty has been ordained by the good emperor. As for what follows, according as the Lord may prosper, or the sovereign power may command us either to remain here or to be transferred elsewhere and to withdraw, so also shall we be carried along. Only do you yourselves, holding fast to your work, hold fast also to praying concerning our lowliness, that we may be without offense toward these and those and toward the Church of God. The brothers who formerly were rashly torn away from us in many ways, God the supremely good has been pleased to unite to us with the fitting account [profession]. And we, the unworthy, rejoiced with great joy, because we have seen with our eyes the things we did not hope for; and the limbs that had been torn apart have been knit together again, and we keep festival, a feast to the Lord, in the concourse of each one, and we make confession to the Lord and render thanks to those in power, because, even if nothing else, how great a gift this is as regards ourselves, and again, because we could not otherwise have obtained this reconciliation so fittingly than by our being thus released from the prisons and seated in so great a seat [station]. All things have run together for good for us, and may they run together, I am well assured, by your holy prayers. And since the word is about recall, there has been recalled and united to us, together with the others and more indeed than the others, the letter-bearer, our beloved son Clemens, the most reverent abbot, who has gladly received all the things that had to be spoken to him, and who has made the fitting defense concerning all matters; wherefore, being well pleased with him, we embraced him to our heart, hoping that through him too we sinners may have this very thing as a saving boast. And do you also receive him, I beg, the brother as brothers, the limb as limbs, the like-minded as the like-minded; for so will you find him, by the grace of Christ, faring well in all things and seeking God.

Χαίρειν ἔστι πάντοτε τοῖς κατὰ θεὸν ζῶσι, κἂν τοῖς τῆς χαρᾶς ἐναντίοις ὑποπέσειεν, ἐπειδὴ ἓν εὐφροσύνης ἀληθινῆς ἔργον, ἡ εἰς θεὸν ἐλπὶς καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι' αὐτὸν καὶ ζῆν καὶ κινεῖσθαι καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἄλλο πράττειν. ὅτι δὲ οὕτως ὑμεῖς, μαρτυρεῖ αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα· οὗτινος γὰρ ἄλλου ἕνεκεν ὁ σκορπισμὸς καὶ κόπος καὶ κλόνος ὑμῶν ἢ δι' αὐτὸν τὸν ἀγαθὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν; εἰ καὶ ὅτι νῦν τῇ αὐτοῦ προμηθείᾳ ἐλώφησεν ὁ διωγμὸς ἀναρρήσει τοῦ χρηστοῦ κράτους καὶ παρρησίας θύρα ἀνεῴχθη τοῖς δεδιωγμένοις, ἀπολαύουσι μετρίας ἀφέσεως καὶ εἰρήνης κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν καὶ χώραν. ἐφ' οἷς ὀφειλέται ἐσμέν, ὦ πατέρες, εὐχαριστίας προσάγειν Κυρίῳ καὶ πρε σβείας ὑπέρ τε πλουσιωτέρας εἰρήνης καὶ ἐπιστηρίξεως τῶν θεοπροβλήτων ἡμῶν βασιλέων. Οὗτος οὖν ὁ πρῶτος λόγος. δεύτερον, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς καὶ ὑμεῖς μὴ τὴν ἄφεσιν εἰς διάλυσιν ἀρετῆς δεξοίμεθα, ἀλλ' ὅπουπέρ ἐσμεν ἕκαστος τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν, τῷ αὐτῷ στοιχεῖν κανόνι, ἐν μηδενὶ διδόντες προσκοπήν, ἵνα μὴ μωμηθῇ ἡ διακονία, ἀλλ' ἐν παντὶ συνιστῶμεν ἑαυτούς, καθὰ γέγραπται, ὡς θεοῦ διάκονοι ἐν ὑπομονῇ, ἐν θλίψεσιν, ἐν στενοχωρίαις, ἐν ἄλλοις, οἷς ὁ βίος τῶν παρουσῶν ἡμερῶν ὑποπίπτει· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὰ προηνυσμένα φυλάττοιμεν ἀναφαίρετα καὶ τὰ ἤδη προσπίπτοντα εὐμαρίζοιμεν καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα θεοπρεπῶς ὑπαντήσοιμεν. Ὧδέ ἐσμεν πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως παροικοῦντες εἰδήσει τῆς βασιλείας, ὁρῶντες καὶ ὁρώμενοι ὑπὸ τῶν φοιτώντων ἀδελφῶν καὶ πατέρων ἡμῶν· καὶ ἡ ἐλευθερία πρὸς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιτεταγμένη. πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς, ὡς ἂν εὐοδοῖ Κύριος ἢ κελεύῃ τὸ κράτος ἐπιμένειν ἐνταῦθα ἢ ἀλλαχῇ μεταπίπτειν τε καὶ ὑποχωρεῖν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνεχθησόμεθα. μόνον αὐτοὶ τοῦ ἔργου ὑμῶν ἐχόμενοι ἔχεσθε καὶ τοῦ προσεύχεσθαι περὶ τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, ὡς ἂν ἀπρόσκοποι ὦμεν τοῖσδε κἀκείνοις καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ. τοὺς πρὶν ἀπορραγέντας ἀβούλως ἀδελφοὺς κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεὸς ὁ ὑπεράγαθος ἑνωθῆναι ἡμῖν μετὰ τοῦ προσήκοντος λόγου. καὶ ἐχάρημεν οἱ ἀνάξιοι χαρὰν μεγάλην, ὅτι ἃ οὐκ ἠλπίζομεν εἴδαμεν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν· καὶ συνουλώθη τὰ διασπασθέντα μέλη καὶ ἑορτάζομεν ἑορτὴν Κυρίῳ ἐν τῇ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου συνδρομῇ καὶ ἀνθομολογούμεθα τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ ἀπευχαριστοῦμεν τοῖς κρατοῦσιν, ὅτι, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο, ὅσον πρὸς ἡμᾶς μέγα τὸ δώρημα, καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως εὐθέτως ἔσχομεν τὴν σύμβασιν ἢ τῷ οὕτως ἀφεθῆναι ἡμᾶς τῶν φυλακῶν καὶ καθεσθῆναι ἐν καθίσματι τηλικούτῳ. Πάντα εἰς καλὸν ἡμῖν συνέδραμε καὶ συνδράμοιεν, εὖ οἶδ' ὅτι, εὐχαῖς ὑμῶν ἁγίαις. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ λόγος περὶ ἀνακλήσεως, ἀνεκλήθη καὶ ἡνώθη ἡμῖν σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ πλέον μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ὁ γραμματηφόρος, ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν υἱὸς Κλέμης, ὁ εὐλαβέστατος ἡγούμενος, πάντα ἀσμένως εἰσδεξάμενος, ἃ ἔδει αὐτῷ λαληθῆναι, καὶ περὶ πάντων ποιησάμενος τὴν προσήκουσαν ἀπολογίαν· ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ἀρεσθέντες ἠσπασάμεθα αὐτὸν ἐνστερνισμένως, ἐλπίζοντες καὶ δι' αὐτὸν αὔχημα ἔχειν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ σωτήριον αὐτὸ τοῦτο. καὶ ὑμεῖς προσήκασθε, παρακαλῶ, τὸν ἀδελφὸν ὡς ἀδελφοί, τὸ μέλος ὡς μέλη, τὸν ὁμόφρονα ὡς ὁμόφρονες· οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸν εὕροιτε χάριτι Χριστοῦ ἐν πᾶσιν εὖ ἔχοντα καὶ ζητοῦντα θεόν.