Letter 51: Theodore Studite, Letter 51; Greek heading: Τῷ αὐτῷ.

Three things have I experienced in your present letter, beloved child: at once I was astounded, and I was filled with admiration, and I sang for joy: the first on account of the lawless men, the second on account of the law-abiding, the third on account of God, who gives strength to those who lean upon His law. And concerning my holy Athanasius and those thrice-longed-for ones with him, and moreover concerning my most manly Theosostos and the twice-fifteen [i.e. thirty] of his God-empowered company, since what I have written to them is sufficient, I must leave off speaking of it here, even though they would deserve more words and praises, having contended divinely and like athletes [of Christ], and contending still. But I pass on to the crowning point of my account. What Christian has ever heard of deeds so nearly lawless and outlandish as those which have been perpetrated by the ill-named Moechians [the "adulterers" party, Theodore's name for those who condoned the emperor's adulterous remarriage]-said indeed to be hierarchs [high priests], but being unconsecrated by every apostolic and patristic voice, even apart from the heresy? What man (I will not say a Christian hand, but a barbarian one) has ever beaten anyone as this man has beaten-twice a hundred lashes against sixty and six [266 lashes], and then, not long after, twice two hundred [400] strokes of the ox-sinew upon the back-as did the noble archbishop, or rather the alien-bishop [meddler in another's see] of Thessalonica? And the victim was not one of the common herd, but a monk, and indeed an abbot, and a most reverent one, by name Euthymios-truly answering to his name, the man of good cheer [Greek euthymia]. At this the heaven was struck with dismay, and I, wretch that I am, shuddered-and so, I think, did every man who possesses by nature gentleness and compassion, hearing of it. For he who, set as a type of Christ, ought, when beaten, not to beat back, has become more savage than the wild beasts, bearing no trace whatever of the Christian, much less of the hierarch. And for what reason the flogging? That he might persuade the athlete of Christ to consent to commemorate him as a hierarch. But oh, the nobility and the strength of the blessed man (for so it is right to call him), that even after so many blows and so great an outpouring of holy blood-so that the soles of the feet of those present there were reddened, and the crimson plaster was as it were made into mortar for the building up of the Church of God-lying now scarcely breathing and voiceless, and being asked by his torturers to commemorate the tyrant, I say, and not an archbishop, "No," says the blessed one; thus even nearly unto death he did not turn aside his mind, nor swerve in any of the things he had known in orthodox fashion. A necessary point nearly slipped past me: that the temple of God too has become a praetorium of Pilate. For there, you said-that is, in the so-called sacred house of the Archangel-the martyr was beaten; whom the untamed tormentors left half dead, but a certain imitator of Christ, taking him to his own house and applying to his hemorrhages and his flayed flesh the fleece of a newly slaughtered lamb, kindled the man back to life, and having restored him a little and by degrees, sent him away secretly on account of the summoning commandment-the man who had already died having fled and been paradoxically raised up into a monument [literally a stele/pillar] of orthodoxy and a triumph over the heterodox. What is more impious than these things? And who among the orthodox has ever done such things to a heretic? But that even from this their impiety may appear-how great is the impiety of those who play the Moechian's part, and who is the disciple of whom: of Christ, the one who is beaten as He was and bears it; of the devil, the one who beats thus, the hierarch, and from this wishes to terrify and to take vengeance on the things concerning himself. From whose portion may we be delivered, brother, and may we be of the first [portion] together with all the pious. And behold, O Lord, O Lord, this affliction, and spare Thy people, bestowing the peace of orthodoxy upon the Church among us; for we have nothing else to say in face of the present circumstances, together with bearing all things easily for the sake of His name. But you, O my beloved child, even if you have been transferred to another place of confinement, as you indicated, rejoice, because more crowns are being woven for you. And even if Leontios, the once-disciple but now-denier, shall be made abbot over those among whom you are shut up, do not be astonished: the present is a time of God's longsuffering, both that the approved may be made manifest, and that the son of Tabeel may rule over Bethlehem [allusion to Isaiah 7:6 and Micah 5:2-an unworthy man usurping]. Concerning the man who confessed and asked for the penance, it has been rightly granted. And I agree with you in what you said to him: if he does not wish to undergo penance for killing enemies, then let him not desist from killing, and we for our part are outside judgment [we incur no blame]. But if he chooses to submit to the canons of the Church, one of the two things is to be chosen by him: either to undergo penance for killing, or not to remain unpenanced. And not on this account is the first [course] to be censured; for they are worthy of praise, as the divine Father says, but they must accept the penance as well. Since long ago also Moses the beholder of God, when Israel returned with victory from the war against the Midianites, set them apart outside the camp for seven days-clearly being moved by God-saying thus: "Everyone who has slain a soul and who touches one that is slain shall be purified on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives." Whence it seems to me that Basil the Great, taking his start from this, or rather being inspired by God, gives the penance of three years-and as the one who imposes it may dispense by oikonomia [pastoral accommodation/dispensation]; for the imposing of such penance is permissible and not strictly necessary according to what is laid down. Farewell in the Lord, my longed-for son, praying for me the sinner and for my beloved child who joins in greeting you, your brother, Gregory.

Τρία ταῦτα πέπονθα ἐν τοῖς παροῦσί σου γράμμασι, ποθητὸν τέκνον· ὁμοῦ τε ἐξεπλάγην, ἠγάσθην τε καὶ ᾖσα, τὸ μὲν διὰ τοὺς παρανόμους, τὸ δὲ διὰ τοὺς εὐνόμους, τὸ τρίτον διὰ τὸν δυναμοῦντα θεὸν τοὺς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ ἐπερειδομένους. καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ ἱεροῦ μου Ἀθανασίου καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ τριποθήτων, ἔτι μὴν καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρικωτάτου μου Θεοσώστου τῆς τε αὐτοῦ δυοπεντεκαιδεκάδος θεοσθενοῦς συνοδίας, ὡς ἐν τοῖς πρὸς αὐτούς μοι γραφεῖσιν ἱκανοῦ ὄντος, ἐατέον ἐνταῦθα λέγειν, εἰ καὶ ὅτι πλειόνων δέοιντο λόγων καὶ ἐπαίνων, θείως καὶ ἀθλητικῶς διηγωνισμένοι καὶ ἔτι ἐναγωνιζόμενοι. Ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν κολοφῶνα τοῦ λόγου μέτειμι. τίς οὕτω ἀκήκοε σχεδὸν παράνομα καὶ ἔκτοπα χριστιανός, ἃ ὑπὸ τῶν δυσωνύμων μοιχειανῶν γεγένηται, λεγομένων μὲν ἱεραρχῶν, ὄντων δὲ ἀνιέρων ὑπὸ πάσης ἀποστολικῆς καὶ πατρικῆς φωνῆς καὶ ἄνευ τῆς αἱρέσεως; τύπτων οὕτω τίς τέτυφεν ἀνθρώπων (οὐ λέγω χριστιανικὴ χείρ, ἀλλὰ βαρβαρική), δὶς ἑκατοντάσι πρὸς ἑξήκοντα καὶ ἓξ μαστίγων, εἶτα μετ' οὐ πολὺ δὶς δύο ἑκατοντάσι βουνεύρων ἐπὶ τὸν νῶτον, ὡς ὁ γενναῖός γε ἀρχιεπίσκοπος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος Θεσσαλονίκης, καὶ οὐ τῶν ἀγελαίων τινά, ἀλλὰ μονάζοντα, καὶ τοῦτον ἡγούμενον καὶ μάλα τὸν εὐλαβέστατον, τοὔνομα Εὐθύμιον, τὸν τῆς εὐθυμίας ὄντως φερώνυμον; ἐξέστη ἐπὶ τούτῳ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἔφριξα ἐγὼ ὁ τάλας, οἶμαι δὲ καὶ πᾶς τις τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τὴν φυσικὴν ἡμερότητά τε καὶ ἐλεημοσύνην ἔχων καὶ ἀκούων. ὃς εἰς τύπον Χριστοῦ ὀφείλων κεῖσθαι καὶ τυπτόμενος μὴ ἀντιτύπτειν, καὶ τῶν θηρίων ὠμότερος γέγονεν, οὔ τί που ἴχνος χριστιανικὸν φέρων, πολλοῦ γε εἰπεῖν ἱεραρχικόν. Καὶ ὑπὲρ τίνος ὁ δαρμός; ἵνα τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀθλητὴν πείσῃ συνθέσθαι ἀναφέρειν αὐτὸν ὡς ἱεράρχην. ἀλλ' ὢ τῆς γενναιότητος καὶ κραταιότητος τοῦ μάκαρος (οὕτω γὰρ δίκαιον εἰπεῖν), ὅτι καὶ μετὰ τοσαύτας πληγὰς καὶ αἵματος ἁγίου ῥύσιν, ὡς φοινίσσεσθαι τὰ πέλματα τῶν ποδῶν τῶν ἐκεῖσε παρόντων καὶ οἱονεὶ πηλοποιεῖσθαι τὸ πορφύρεον κονίαμα εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας, κείμενος ἤδη βραχὺ ἄπνους καὶ ἄφωνος καὶ ἐρωτηθεὶς παρὰ τῶν κολαστῶν μνημονεύειν τὸν τύραννον, φημί, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀρχιεπίσκοπον, "4οὔ"5, φησὶν ὁ μακάριος, οὕτω μέχρι θανάτου σχεδὸν οὐ παρατρέψας τὸν νοῦν, οὐ παρεκκλίνας τι τῶν ὀρθοδόξως ἐγνωσμένων αὐτῷ. Μικροῦ δὴ παρέδραμέ με ἀναγκαῖόν τι, ὅτι καὶ ὁ ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ πραιτώριον γέγονε Πιλατικόν. ἐκεῖσε γάρ, ἔφης, ἤτοι εἰς τὸν λεγόμενον τοῦ Ἀρχαγγέλου ἱερὸν δόμον, τετύφθαι τὸν μάρτυρα· ὃν οἱ μὲν ἀτίθασσοι τιμωροὶ εἴασαν ἡμιθνῆτα, τὶς δὲ χριστομίμητος λαβὼν ἐπὶ τὸν ἴδιον οἶκον καὶ ταῖς αἱμορραγίαις καὶ ξεσμοσαρκίαις προσπλάσας κώδιον ἀρνοῦ ἀρτισφαγοῦς ἐζωοπύρησε τὸν ἄνδρα, μικρὸν δὲ καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ ἀναρρώσας ἐξαπέστειλε λάθρᾳ διὰ τὴν καλοῦσαν ἐντολήν, πεφευγότος τοῦ θανέντος ἤδη καὶ παραδόξως ἐξεγερθέντος εἰς στήλην ὀρθοδοξίας καὶ θρίαμβον τῶν κακοδόξων. Τί τούτων ἀσεβέστερον; τίς δὲ παρὰ ὀρθοδόξων εἰς αἱρετικὸν τοιαῦτα πέπραχεν; ἀλλ' ἵνα φανῇ κἀντεῦθεν αὐτῶν ἡλίκη ἡ ἀσέβεια τῶν μοιχειανιζόντων καὶ τίς τίνος μαθητής, Χριστοῦ μὲν ὁ τυπτόμενος κατ' αὐτὸν καὶ φέρων, διαβόλου δὲ ὁ τύπτων οὕτω ἱεράρχης καὶ ἔνθεν ἐκφοβεῖν βουλόμενος καὶ ἐκδικῶν τὰ κατ' αὐτόν· οὗ ῥυσθείημεν τῆς μερίδος, ἀδελφέ, τοῦ δὲ πρώτου εἴημεν σὺν πᾶσιν εὐσεβέσι. καὶ ἴδε, Κύριε, Κύριε, τὴν κάκωσιν ταύτην καὶ φεῖσαι τοῦ λαοῦ σου, πρυτανεύων εἰρήνην ὀρθοδοξίας τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐκκλησίᾳ· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἡμῖν λέγειν ἄλλο πρὸς τὰ παρόντα, μετὰ τοῦ καὶ πάντα φέρειν ῥᾴως ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ. Σὺ δέ, ὦ τέκνον μου ἠγαπημένον, εἰ καὶ μετεφρουρήθης ἑτέρωθι, καθὰ ἐσήμανας, χαῖρε, ὅτι οἱ στέφανοί σου πλείους πλέκονται. καὶ εἰ καὶ Λεόντιος ὁ ποτὲ μαθητής, νῦν δὲ ἀρνητής, ἡγουμενεύσει τῶν ἐν οἷς εἶ κεκλεισμένος, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· καιρὸς ὁ παρὼν μακροθυμίας θεοῦ, καὶ ὅπως οἱ δόκιμοι φανῶσι καὶ ἵνα ἄρξῃ ὁ υἱὸς Ταβεὴλ τῆς Βηθλεέμ. περὶ τοῦ ἐξαγορεύσαντος καὶ αἰτησαμένου τὸ ἐπιτίμιον, καλῶς δέδοται. σύμφημι δέ σοι εἰπόντι αὐτῷ, εἰ μὴ βούλοιτο ἐπιτιμιάζεσθαι ἐν τῷ κτένειν ἐχθρούς, μηδὲ ἀφιστάσθω τοῦ κτένειν, καὶ ἡμεῖς γε ἔξω κρίματος. εἰ δὲ ἕλοιτο ὑποπίπτειν τοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας κανόσιν, ἓν τοῖν δυοῖν αἱρετὸν αὐτῷ· ἢ κτένοντι ἐπιτιμᾶσθαι ἢ μὴ μένειν ἀνεπιτίμητον. καὶ οὐ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ πρῶτον διαβλητέον· ἐπαίνων γὰρ ἄξιοι, ὡς ὁ θεῖός φησι πατήρ, ἀλλὰ ληπτέον αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ ἐπιτίμιον. ἐπεὶ καὶ πάλαι Μωσῆς ὁ θεόπτης, ὑποστρέψαντα τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ τῶν Μαδιανιτῶν πολέμου μετὰ νίκης, ἀφορίζει ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας, ἐκ θεοῦ δῆλον ὅτι κινούμενος, λέγων οὕτως· πᾶς ὁ ἀνελὼν ψυχὴν καὶ ἁπτόμενος τοῦ τετρωμένου ἁγνισθήσεται τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ, ὑμεῖς καὶ ἡ αἰχμαλωσία ὑμῶν. ὅθεν μοι δοκεῖ ὁ Μέγας Βασίλειος ἀφορμηθείς, μᾶλλον δὲ θεοπνευσθείς, δίδωσι τὸ τῆς τριετίας ἐπιτίμιον καὶ ὡς ἂν οἰκονομήσῃ ὁ διδούς· ἐνδεχομένη γὰρ καὶ οὐκ ἀναγκαίως κατὰ τὸ κείμενον πάντως ἡ τῶν τοιούτων δόσις. Ἔρρωσο ἐν Κυρίῳ, υἱέ μου ποθητέ, εὐχόμενος περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ τοῦ συμπροσαγορεύοντός σε ἀγαπητοῦ τέκνου μου, σοῦ δὲ ἀδελφοῦ, Γρηγορίου.