Letter 435: Theodore Studite, Letter 435; Greek heading: Ἐπισκόποις τοῖς διὰ Κύριον φυγαδευθεῖσιν ἐν Χερσῶνι.

It is a work of true love and a proof of unfeigned faith that, across so great a distance of place, your fatherly holiness should have sent one of the brethren who have been persecuted along with you, Agapetus the most reverend monk (or rather most blessed, according to what is sung by the Lord concerning those persecuted for righteousness' sake [Matthew 5:10]), to make a visitation, first to the divine and most exalted head [the see of Rome], and then to us, the least among brothers and spiritual sons. O the goodness of your good counsel! O the sincerity of your love! And of whom else but of those who for Christ's sake have chosen even to depart from their own homes and to flee into a foreign land, cut off by so great a stretch of sea, and to suffer hardship there in whatever measure is likely to befall, has this stood forth as the clearest token? Blessed therefore be the Lord God, who has pierced you with such compunction toward our lowliness, and who gave strength and grace to the apostle [here, the monk sent as messenger] to make known to us all things, both what you have accomplished and what you still endure, thrice-blessed fathers, for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; on hearing of which we rejoiced, we gave praise, we returned thanks, we said that God is truly in you, well pleased and served by your confession on behalf of the truth. And to me it seems that your exile was dispensed [oikonomia: the divine economy or dispensation] by the Providence that saves all things, not for the sake of your own salvation only, but indeed also for the salvation of those in that place; since by your coming you appeared as luminaries to those in the darkness and error of life, as guides of the blind, as trainers in virtue, as heralds of piety, as teachers concerning the fearful crimes here committed against Christ. So both in that place and everywhere on land and sea the Lord has made the confessors to shine forth, for a demonstration of the truth, for a turning away from impiety, just as in the times of old; and his name was magnified, and the chosen people of Christ was tested and approved, and the Christ-hating company was rejected, and the great dragon, the Assyrian mind, received at last an end of life worthy of the audacity which he committed against God. As for how matters stand here now, it would be superfluous to tell, since the letter-bearer is competent, by the grace of Christ, to set forth each thing carefully; to him also we have entrusted, together with the letter, a certain distribution [an alms or gift], which may you deign to receive, granting to us your precious prayers for the strengthening of the soul.