Letter 456: Theodore Studite, Letter 456; Greek heading: Τοῖς μονάζουσι Μυέλησ.

The falling asleep of our beloved brother Dionysius received its appointed limit long ago, by the determined counsel of God before the foundation of the world. But may the Lord do good to you, brothers, because you received him when he fell ill while passing through, in the monastery that belongs to you, and this until he laid aside the tabernacle [his body] in the earth and flew up to heaven. And that the brother was worthy of the journey to that place there are many testimonies. First, his approved submission, from youth even to old age. Then, he was twice imprisoned; once he set out into the West as an apostle on behalf of the Church among us, the very man whom the apostolic mouth [the see of Rome] blessed and whom the Church of the Romans praised. He has also been attested by the great brotherhood of his to be a man powerful in deed and in word, a worker of the commandments of God, a pillar and foundation of his own community [his coenobitic monastery], having shown forth many distinguishing marks of virtue; and now this very thing, in the present persecution, going about cities and lands, suffering want, being afflicted in his ministering of the word of truth, until he breathed his last, having taken up his dwelling with the Lord. Such a servant of the Lord, then, as the truth has it, did you receive as a guest, and so great a holy relic was, by the divine dispensation [oikonomia], laid up in store with you. Therefore we have been the more drawn to your love that is according to God, and we pray for you the good things of the Jerusalem above, in return for which you received with a true heart the holy Dionysius, whose memorial is with the saints of his own rank.