Letter 446: Theodore Studite, Letter 446; Greek heading: Θεοδώρῳ μονάζοντι.

I was pleased, not stung, by the things in which you took me to task, most honored sir; for I am not so incapable of being corrected as to be vexed by the gentle rebukes of love. And if I was indeed stung, it was not on account of the reminder, but on account of the heresy [hairesis, i.e. iconoclasm] of each person, by which the body of Christ has been cut up, divided into ten thousand opinions. I, then, that I may give my account from the starting line (for I must defend myself, since I have been accused), having imposed a penance [epitimion, the canonical discipline laid on a penitent], being compelled from the very first day, and this from prison by letters (since it is also by letter that the appeals of monks and clergy are made), made this reply: that the penance was imposed by me not in a definitive manner, but by way of counsel. Why? Because I am not a hierarch [bishop], but a presbyter, who toward my own disciples acts with legislative authority, but toward others not so, but, as has been said, deferring the matter to them until a time of peace, and then to receive whatever is determined by the most holy patriarch together with the judgment of the holy synod, whether the penance be given an increase or a remission. And I have not, I think, acted outside what is fitting, in stretching out a hand to those who have fallen with humane compassion, yet not arrogating the authority to myself, which would be out of place. And what is the penance? Various, in accordance with the various transgressions, which the measure of a letter could not set forth; but to put it summarily: that the priest, or simply the deacon, who has been caught either in [giving] a signature or in heretical communion, is to be barred altogether from priestly ministry, and indeed from communion as well; and after the completion of the penance he is to partake of the sacred gifts [the consecrated elements], but in no way of the liturgy, until [the convening of] a holy synod; and he is to bless or even to pray as a common monk, not as one ordained, and this too only after the fulfillment of the penance; and he is not to enter the churches held by the heretics, nor, if a church should be permitted to be held by an orthodox man after heretical offerings [anaphorai, the eucharistic oblations] have been made there, is the orthodox man to celebrate the liturgy without an absolution from an orthodox-minded bishop. Since, therefore, by the good pleasure of God we were released from the prisons and were joined again to the most holy patriarch and to the holy bishops, and moreover to the holy abbots, we deferred the matter to them and were blamed by no one in anything, except only by one person concerning the matter of blessing; to whom we replied that, "if it is blameworthy, let a ruling be issued by the head, and we will keep silent." So let those who bring accusations bring them not against us, but against the lord bishops; whom we, the lowly and humble, following, and being constrainedly urged on by them to this very day, both have imposed penances according to the aforesaid sequence and continue to impose them whenever the occasion arises. But let the fault-finders take care lest, while straining out the gnat, they unwittingly swallow the camel, and, while feeling for the specks, fail to perceive that they are carrying about the beam. We, then, in this way, brother honored of God, have conducted ourselves, as under God who is our witness, with compassion and brotherly love, not according to any partisan summons or any other human turn of circumstance; and he who troubles you, says the Apostle, shall bear the judgment, whoever he may be.