Letter 478: Theodore Studite, Letter 478; Greek heading: Λέοντι σακελλαρίῳ.

Since we are liable for a great debt of thanksgiving and of apologies, we consider that we are repaying some small portion of what we owe in the letters engraved by our lowliness to your most renowned and most longed-for Eminence. For indeed even now, concerning the brother Silvanus, what shall we offer by way of apology? First, that your God-loving soul received him so kindly, to see him as if he were one of your intimates, conversing with him in gentle manner and with an approachable countenance, and mingling together with our worthless self; and then, that you so examined together with him the matters concerning us sinners, disclosing both the weakness of the lowly body of us both and the rest of your loving disposition toward us, so as even to say this, that "I too am suspected of being a Studite by certain of those who are disposed in opposition to you," and your prayer that there might never come to be any wounding of so great a friendly fellowship. All this astonished us and rooted us still more and more in your sincere love, while we said the same things: never, O Master of all, may you grant us to forget our good benefactor, our faithful soul-companion, our tested lover, our holy man, our patron and guardian and lord and master in all things and in everything; but may the bond of affection remain seated within us even after death, or rather may it accompany us into the age to come, in which we believe that those who have loved one another by the moving of the Spirit will recognize one another and rejoice together in God. But from here let our discourse, passing on to the two questions, dwell upon them according to your command. As for the first, then, as you stand, our lord, so do we too dispose ourselves; but let the argument be set forth beforehand in this way. A little murderer, when he is caught, will justly pay by the law the punishment that counterbalances his deed. But now a civil war is at hand, which, like the other manifestations of God's wrath - earthquakes and famines, drownings and conflagrations - has been kindled by God for our chastening by a just judgment, having destroyed as great a number as also perished. Since, then, the Lord, moved to compassion, has stayed the destruction, He does not wish those who have been left to perish, since otherwise He would have wrought utter ruin, as in the case of the Flood; but what then? That those who have been spared should be saved and become worthy of His sparing mercy. For He says in the Gospels: forgive, and it shall be forgiven you; and through the blessed Paul: let no one render to anyone evil for evil, but always pursue what is good both toward one another and toward all. Yet not without rebuke; since Cain too, having murdered his brother, fittingly received the manifold and far-sung penalty. Lamech also was rebuked against himself; and Absalom, having killed his brother Amnon, was let go unpunished by his father, in accordance with the parable [put forward] by the woman of Tekoa. And David himself did not wish that Absalom the parricide be killed; nor is it written that he ordered to be slain those who had revolted along with him, after the cessation of the war. So much, by way of summary, concerning this matter; for God, being merciful, wills through rebukes - that is to say, through exiles, imprisonments, and certain other measures - that the means of repentance be preserved for them throughout their life. But since to the other question what shall we say, when you with your prudent and active mind know all things? To this very point: the insistence of the late-departed Leo [Leo V the Armenian, the iconoclast emperor] was that we should join in disputation with the heterodox, so that he might, as he supposed, render a judgment in adversarial fashion. But indeed the same insistence belongs already to the one now reigning as well, when, face to face, three years ago, he debated with us - he himself not claiming to judge the proceedings, but this one and that one of those supposedly of like mind with us; yet neither we who were present face to face, nor our renowned high priest, would tolerate it as unlawful and alien. And this is indeed true, our most longed-for master; for the discourse is not about worldly and fleshly matters, over which the emperor holds the authority of judging, and the worldly tribunal, but about divine and heavenly doctrines, which has been entrusted to no others than those to whom God the Word Himself says: whatever you bind upon the earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose upon the earth shall be loosed in heaven. Who, then, are these who have been so commissioned? The apostles and their successors. And who, then, are the successors? He who is now the first-enthroned of the Romans [the pope of Rome], the one who is second, of Constantinople, and those of Alexandria and Antioch and the one of Jerusalem. This is the five-summited authority of the Church; with these lies the tribunal of the divine doctrines; but it belongs to emperors and rulers to lend their aid and to set their seal together upon what has been decreed, and to reconcile things disputed in a fleshly manner. Nothing else in the divine doctrines has either been granted by God, nor shall anything that is to come find standing. For this reason there were rejected, on the doctrine of the divine icons [holy images], the things that were enacted in council and babbled by the imperial power and audacity under Constantine and Leo of old [Constantine V and Leo III, the earlier iconoclast emperors]; on account of which this church here was cut off from the other four, being made subject to eternal anathemas by the seal of the Holy Spirit. Then, by the mercy of God, a horn of orthodoxy was raised up under Irene the great, together with her offshoot [her son Constantine VI], under whom the things that stood apart were joined together, until the recent Leo; under whom this church here was again cut off, being anathematized by the former [patriarchates] in equal measure. It is therefore impossible, O master, that the divine tribunal be set alongside a worldly tribunal, or that this church here be joined back together unless the five patriarchs are of one mind. But if someone should ask, "And how can this come about?" - by the heterodox withdrawing from the churches of God, and Nicephorus the holy patriarch [Nicephorus I of Constantinople, deposed for upholding icons] recovering his own throne; who, sitting in council with those who have struggled together with him (if it is not possible for a representative from the other patriarchs to be present - which is possible, if the emperor should wish the one from the West to be present, to whom indeed the authority of the ecumenical council is referred), would bring to completion the prize of peace and of reunion, clearly through his own synodical letters sent to the first-enthroned. But if this is not to be accepted by the emperor, and if, as he says, Nicephorus the president has, along with us, turned aside from the truth, then from each side an envoy must be sent to [the bishop] of Rome, and from there let the security of the faith be received. For so it stands: if one of the patriarchs is turned aside, he will receive his correction from those of equal rank, as the divine Dionysius says, not be judged by emperors, even if all the orthodox-minded emperors should rise up against him. And of this principle our emperor ought not to be neglectful, but should take thought for it before all things, in which both his reign is blessed and the reigning lawfully is granted him. We lowly and unworthy ones think nothing else, praying earnestly for your much-prayed-for well-being; and if anything is lacking in this letter, the worshipper of your honored footsteps and the bearer of the letter will make the apology.

Πολλοῦ χρέους εὐχαριστιῶν καὶ ἀπολογιῶν ὑπεύθυνοι ὄντες μικράν τινα νομίζομεν ἀποδιδόναι ὀφειλὴν ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὴν πανεύφημον καὶ παμπόθητόν σου ὑπεροχὴν ὑπὸ τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν ἐγχαραττομέναις ἐπιστολαῖς. ἐπεὶ καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ Σιλουανῷ τί καὶ ἀπολογησόμεθα; πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι οὕτως αὐτὸν προσήκατο ἰδεῖν ἡ θεοφιλής σου ψυχὴ ὡς ἕνα τινὰ τῶν συνήθων, μειλιχίῳ ἤθει καὶ εὐπροσίτῳ προσώπῳ συλλαλήσασα καὶ συνανακραθεῖσα μετὰ τοῦ εὐτελοῦς· ἔπειτα τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν οὕτως συνανακρῖναι, τήν τε τοῦ ἀμφοτέρων ἡμῶν ταπεινοῦ σώματος ἀσθένειαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ὑποφῆναι ἀγαπητικὴν συνδιάθεσιν, ὡς τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν, ὅτι "4καὶ Στουδιώτης ὑποπτεύομαι πρός τινων τῶν ἀντιθέτως πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐχόντων"5 καὶ τὸ ἀπεύξασθαι μή ποτε γενέσθαι τινὰ τρῶσιν τῆς τηλικαύτης φιλικῆς ἀνακράσεως. τοῦτο ὅλον ἐξένισεν ἡμᾶς καὶ συνερρίζωσε μᾶλλον καὶ μᾶλλον ἐν τῇ εἰλικρινεῖ αὐτῆς ἀγαπήσει, τὰ αὐτὰ λέγοντες· μή ποτε, ὦ δέσποτα τῶν ἁπάντων, δῴης ἡμῖν ἐπιλαθέσθαι τοῦ καλοῦ εὐεργέτου, τοῦ πιστοῦ συμψύχου, τοῦ δοκίμου ἐραστοῦ, τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἀνθρώπου, τοῦ κατὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν καὶ προστάτου καὶ κηδεμόνος καὶ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ δεσπότου, ἀλλ' εἴη τὸ φίλτρον καὶ μετὰ πότμον ἐνιζάνον ἐν ἡμῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ συμμετερχόμενον ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, ἐν ᾧ πιστεύομεν γνωρίζειν ἀλλήλους καὶ συγχαίρειν ἐν θεῷ τοὺς φιλήσαντας ἑαυτοὺς πνευματοκινήτως. Ἀλλ' ἐντεῦθεν ὁ λόγος μετελθὼν ἐν ταῖς δυσὶν ὑποθέσεσιν ἐνδιατρίψειεν κατὰ τὴν κέλευσιν. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς πρώτης ὡς ἔχεις, ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν, οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς διατιθέμεθα· προδιαιτείσθω δὲ ὁ λόγος οὕτως. φονίσκος ἐπὰν κρατηθῇ, δικαίως ἀποτίσει πρὸς τοῦ νόμου τὴν ἀντισήκουσαν ποινήν. νυνὶ δὲ ἐμφύλιος πόλεμος πρόκειται, ὅς, ὥσπερ αἱ ἄλλαι θεομηνίαι, σεισμοί τε καὶ λιμοί, καταποντισμοὶ καὶ ἐμπρήσεις, παρὰ θεοῦ πρὸς σωφρονισμὸν ἡμῶν δικαίᾳ κρίσει ἀνερριπίσθη, ὀλέσασα τοσοῦτον ἀριθμόν, ὅσος καὶ ὤλλυτο. ἐπεὶ οὖν σπλαγχνισθεὶς κεκόπακεν τὴν θραῦσιν Κύριος, οὐ βούλεται τοὺς ὑπολειφθέντας ὄλλυσθαι, ἐπεὶ πάντως πανωλεθρίαν εἰργάσατο ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ· ἀλλὰ τί; τὸ διασεσῶσθαι τοὺς ἐαθέντας καὶ φειδοῦς γενέσθαι ἀξίους· φησὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις, ἄφετε καὶ ἀφεθήσεται ὑμῖν· καὶ διὰ τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου· μή τίς τινι κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ ἀποδιδότω, ἀλλὰ πάντοτε τὸ ἀγαθὸν διώκετε καὶ εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας. οὐ μὴν ἀνεπιτιμήτως· ἐπεὶ καὶ Κάιν φονεύσας τὸν ἀδελφὸν τὸ πολυειδὲς καὶ ᾀδόμενον ἐπιτίμιον εἰκότως εἴληφεν. ἐπιτετίμηται πρὸς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ Λάμεχ, καὶ Ἀβεσσαλώμ, τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἀμνὼν κτείνας, ἐάθη ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς κατὰ τὸ ὑπὸ τῆς Θεκωίτιδος πρόβλημα ἄκταντος. καὶ αὐτὸς Δαυὶδ οὐκ ἐβούλετο τὸν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τὸν πατρολῴαν κτένεσθαι, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοὺς συναποστατήσαντας αὐτῷ μετὰ τὴν παῦλαν τοῦ πολέμου γέγραπται προστάξαι φονεύεσθαι. τοσαῦτα ὡς κατ' ἐπιτομὴν περὶ τοῦδε· ἐλεήμων γὰρ ὢν ὁ θεὸς θέλει δι' ἐπιτιμήσεων, ἤγουν ἐξοριῶν, φυλακῶν, ἄλλων τινῶν ὑποθέσεων τὸ τῆς μετανοίας αὐτοῖς διὰ ζωῆς συντηρεῖσθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῇ ἑτέρᾳ ὑποθέσει τί καὶ φῶμεν, εἰδότος σου τοῦ ἐχέφρονος καὶ δραστηρίου νοῦ τὰ πάντα; εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἡ τοῦ προάρξαντος Λέοντος ἔνστασις συνᾶραι ἡμᾶς λόγον μετὰ τῶν ἑτεροδόξων, ἀντιθετικῶς κρίσιν ἀποίσοντος, ὡς ἐνόμιζεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ ἤδη τοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἡ αὐτὴ ἔνστασις, ὁπηνίκα κατὰ πρόσωπον πρὸ τριῶν ἐτῶν διελέχθη ἡμῖν, οὐκ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος κρίνειν τὴν διαδικασίαν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτον κἀκεῖνον τῶν δῆθεν ὁμοφρόνων ἡμῖν· ἀλλ' οὔτε ἡμεῖς οἱ παρόντες κατὰ πρόσωπον οὔτε ὁ κλεινὸς ἡμῶν ἀρχιερεὺς ἠνέσχετο ὡς ἔκθεσμον καὶ ὀθνεῖον. ὅπερ καὶ ἄληθες, παμπόθητε ἡμῶν δέσποτα· οὐδὲ γὰρ περὶ βιωτικῶν καὶ σαρκικῶν ὁ λόγος, ὧν βασιλεὺς τὸ κράτος ἔχει τοῦ κρίνειν καὶ τὸ βιωτικὸν κριτήριον, ἀλλὰ περὶ θείων καὶ οὐρανίων δογμάτων, ὃ ἄλλοις οὐκ ἐπιτέτραπται ἢ ἐκείνοις, οἷς φησιν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς λόγος· ὅσα ἂν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται δεδεμένα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ ὅσα ἂν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται λελυμένα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ. τίνες δὴ οὗτοι οἱ ἐντεταλμένοι; ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ τούτων διάδοχοι. τίνες δ' οὖν οἱ διάδοχοι; ὁ τῆς Ῥωμαίων νυνὶ πρωτόθρονος, ὁ τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως δευτερεύων, Ἀλεξανδρείας τε καὶ Ἀντιοχείας καὶ ὁ Ἱεροσολύμων. τοῦτο τὸ πεντακό-ρυφον κράτος τῆς ἐκκλησίας, παρὰ τούτοις τὸ τῶν θείων δογμάτων κριτήριον· βασιλέων δὲ καὶ ἡγεμόνων τὸ συνεπικουρεῖν καὶ συνεπισφραγίζειν τὰ δεδογμένα καὶ διαλλάττειν τὰ σαρκικῶς διαφορούμενα. οὐκ ἄλλο τι ἐν τοῖς θείοις δόγμασιν οὔτε δέδοται πρὸς θεοῦ οὔτε γενησόμενον στήσεται. διὰ τοῦτο ἀπεδοκιμάσθη ἐπὶ τοῦ δόγματος τῶν θείων εἰκόνων τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ πάλαι Κωνσταντίνου καὶ Λέοντος βασιλικῷ κράτει καὶ θράσει συνεδριασθέντα τε καὶ βατταρισθέντα· ἐφ' οἷς ἐτμήθη ἡ τῇδε ἐκκλησία τῶν ἑτέρων τεττάρων, ἀναθεματισμοῖς ὑποβαλλομένη αἰωνίοις σφραγῖδι τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος. εἶτα ἐλέῳ θεοῦ ἠγέρθη κέρας ὀρθοδοξίας ἐπὶ Εἰρήνης τῆς πάνυ σὺν τῷ αὐτῆς ῥαδάμνῳ, ἐφ' ἧς συνήφθη τὰ διεστῶτα μέχρις Λέοντος τοῦ προσεχοῦς· ἐφ' ᾧ αὖθις διετμήθη ἡ τῇδε ἐκκλησία, ἀναθεματιζομένη ὑπὸ τῶν προτέρων ἰσορρόπως. Ἀμήχανον οὖν ἐστιν, ὦ δέσποτα, βιωτικῷ κριτηρίῳ παραβάλλεσθαι τὸ θεῖον κριτήριον ἢ συναφθῆναι τήνδε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν μὴ οὐχὶ ὁμονοούντων τῶν πέντε πατριαρχῶν. εἰ δέ τις ἐρωτοίη "4καὶ πῶς ἐνδέχεται τοῦτο γενέσθαι;"5 τῷ ἐκστῆναι τοὺς ἑτεροδόξους τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ ἀπολαβεῖν τὸν οἰκεῖον θρόνον Νικηφόρον τὸν ἱερὸν πατριάρχην· ὅς, συνεδρεύσας μεθ' ὧν συνήθλησεν (εἰ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων πατριαρχῶν παρεῖναι ἀντιπροσώπου· ὅπερ δυνατόν ἐστιν, εἰ θέλοι βασιλεὺς τὸν ἐκ Δύσεως παρεῖναι, ᾧ καὶ τὸ κράτος ἀναφέρεται τῆς οἰκουμενικῆς συνόδου), ἀποπεράνοι ἂν τὸ τῆς εἰρήνης καὶ τὸ τῆς συναφείας βραβευτήριον δῆλον ὅτι δι' οἰκείων συνοδικῶν, ἀποστελλομένων τῷ πρωτοθρόνῳ. εἰ δὲ οὐ τοῦτο καταδεκτέον τῷ βασιλεῖ καί, ὥς φησι, παρετράπη σὺν ἡμῖν τῆς ἀληθείας Νικηφόρος ὁ πρόεδρος, ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους ἀποσταλτέον πρὸς τὸν Ῥώμης κἀκεῖθεν δεχέσθω τὸ ἀσφαλὲς τῆς πίστεως. καὶ γὰρ οὕτως ἔχει· εἰ παρατραπῇ εἷς ἐκ τῶν πατριαρχῶν, ὑπὸ τῶν ὁμοταγῶν, καθά φησιν ὁ θεῖος Διονύσιος, τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν λήψεσθαι, οὐχ ὑπὸ βασιλέων κρίνεσθαι, κἂν ἐξαναστῶσιν πάντες οἱ ὀρθοδοξήσαντες βασιλεῖς. καὶ τούτου τοῦ κεφαλαίου οὐκ ὀφείλει ἀφειδῆσαι ὁ βασιλεὺς ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ πάντων γε φροντίσαι, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸ βασίλειον μακάριον καὶ τὸ βασιλεύειν ἐννόμως δεδώρηται. Ἄλλο τι οὐ φρονοῦμεν οἱ ταπεινοὶ καὶ ἀνάξιοι, ὑπερευχόμενοι τῆς πολυεύκτου σου εὐζωΐας· εἰ δέ τι ἐλλιπὲς ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν, ὁ προσκυνητὴς τῶν τιμίων σου ἰχνῶν καὶ ἐπιστοληφόρος ἀπολογήσεται.