Letter 524: Theodore Studite, Letter 524; Greek heading: Θεοφάνει μονάζοντι.

If a letter from us, lowly as we are, is dear to you, receive it once again, O thrice-longed-for one, a letter that has nothing decorous or eloquent about it, as you graciously claim, but that is nonetheless, by full and avowed agreement, a token of love; and just as far as the exchange of letters takes place, so far may the disposition of love increase, than which what could be more worthy of zeal? But let this now be left here, and let our discourse proceed to what comes next. What is the novelty that has now been contrived in those parts, and who are the newly-appeared dragons, swallowing down, after the manner of Charybdis [the devouring whirlpool of myth], souls that are not firmly established in the word of truth? You yourself did not name him by name; but we, even before the disclosure of your letter, had groaned deeply, above all over one heretical man -- or rather one who is in truth a blasphemer against God -- who has been allotted by the imperial power to serve as chartularius [a high financial-administrative official] in those parts; and we said this, that destruction has now overtaken famous Sicily. This calamity is not one wrought from any expert grounding in doctrine -- for the little manikin is without learning -- but one filled out of an impious mind and, to speak more truly, one led into impiety from his father's side, and that together with two other brothers of the same blood. But these men the Trinity, I know, will smite back through the inspired mouths both of you and of those here who do battle on behalf of the truth. But let neither you, nor anyone such as you, be at all startled that the heresy still rages; for the evil has not yet been worn out, nor has the God-loving devotion of the faithful been sufficiently tested, and, thirdly, we are not such as to step into the abyss of God's judgments -- to know in what ways he allows his people to be tossed at their height by the surge of unbelief -- except, as the conclusion of the argument, that the approved may be made manifest, as Paul, the steward of wisdom, has said [1 Corinthians 11:19]. Therefore we also exhort and beseech you not to grow weary in thoroughly refuting the adversaries, bringing forth from the inmost storehouses of your heart the divine teachings, and showing from there with full clarity that Christ is not Christ unless he be circumscribed according to our own form. For if indeed he had become flesh, then assuredly he is also circumscribed as flesh; but that which is not circumscribed is plainly not within humanity, but outside both place and time -- God bare, both spoken of and conceived in his incomprehensibility and indefiniteness. And this is bound fast, for an indisputable demonstration of the truth, being compelled by natural consequences: that Christ is circumscribed, and is venerated [proskynesis: the reverent veneration owed to the icon, distinct from the worship due to God alone] also in the icon [eikon: the image], since in it the archetype is made manifest, as Dionysius the revealer of God says somewhere [Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite]; and elsewhere: each is in the other, apart from the difference of substance. So that he who refuses to have Christ depicted has denied that he became man, and he who does not venerate his icon does not in any way venerate him at all, even if he supposes that he venerates -- since the sacred word says: the unbelievers confess that they know God, but by their works they deny him [Titus 1:16]. These things I have intimated not as to one ignorant of them -- your Honor -- but as to one who is of the same mind with us, and as though I had drawn up a single drop from a sea of doctrines; besides which there is also a boundless swarm of patristic testimonies, together with the ancient record of history, from the very starting-line of the preaching [of the Gospel], for the confirmation of our blameless faith of us Christians.

Εἴ σοι φίλον τὸ πρὸς ἡμῶν τῶν εὐτελῶν γράμμα, δέχοιο καὶ αὖθις, ὦ τριπόθητε, οὐδὲν μὲν ἔχον εὐπρεπές τε καὶ εὐφραδές, ὡς χάριτι φῆς, τὸ δ' οὖν τῆς ἀγάπης σύμβολον καὶ πάνυ ὁμολογουμένως· καί γε ὅσον ἡ ἀντίδοσις τῶν γραμμάτων γίνοιτο, τοσοῦτον ἡ τῆς ἀγάπης διάθεσις αὔξοιτο· οὗ τί ἂν εἴη σπουδαιότερον; Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο νῦν κείσθω ἐνταῦθα, πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἑξῆς βαδιστέος ὁ λόγος. τί τὸ νῦν καινοτομηθὲν ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι καὶ τίνες οἱ νεοφανεῖς δράκοντες, χαρυβδηδὸν καταπίνοντες ψυχὰς μὴ ἐστηριγμένας τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας; αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐξωνομάτισας, ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς δηλώσεως τῶν γραμμάτων κατεστενάξαμεν ὅτι μάλιστα ἐφ' ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ αἱρετικῷ, μᾶλλον δὲ βλασφήμῳ τῷ ὄντι εἰς θεόν, λαχόντι ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι παρὰ τοῦ κράτους χαρτουλαρεύειν, ἐκεῖνο εἰπόντες, ὅτι γε τῆς περιβοήτου Σικελίας ἔφθασεν ὄλεθρος. τόδε τὸ πῆμα οὐκ ἐκ δογματικῆς πείρας τετεχνωμένον· ἄπειρον γὰρ τὸ ἀνδριαντάριον, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀσεβοῦς γνώμης πεπληρωμένον καί, ἵνα τἀληθέστερον ῥηθείη, πατρόθεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀσεβεῖν ἠγμένον καί γε σὺν δυσὶν ἄλλοις ὁμαίμοσιν. Ἀλλὰ τούτους μὲν ἡ Τριὰς οἶδ' ὅτι ἐπιρραπίσειεν ἐνθέοις στόμασιν ὑμῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα ὑπερμαχούντων τῆς ἀληθείας. σὲ δὲ καὶ τὸν οἷος σὺ μηδὲν ξενιζέτω ἡ ἔτι λυττῶσα αἵρεσις· οὔπω γὰρ ἐκτέτριπται τὸ κακὸν οὔτε δεδοκίμασται ἱκανῶς τῶν πιστῶν τὸ φιλόθεον καί, τρίτον, οὐχ οἷοί ἐσμεν ἐμβατεύειν εἰς ἄβυσσον κριμάτων θεοῦ, καθ' οὓς τρόπους ἀνέχεται ἀκμὴν κλυδωνίζεσθαι τῷ σάλῳ τῆς ἀπι στίας τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, πλήν, συμπέρασμα τοῦ λόγου, ἵνα οἱ δόκιμοι φανεροὶ γίγνοιντο, ὡς ὁ τῆς σοφίας ταμίας Παῦλος λέλεχεν. διὸ καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν καὶ ἀντιβολοῦμεν μὴ ἐκκακεῖν διακατελέγχειν σε τοὺς ὑπεναντίους, ἐκ τῶν ἀδύτων ταμείων τῆς καρδίας σου προφέρων τὰ θεῖα διδάγματα καὶ ὑποδεικνύων ἐντεῦθεν ἀριδήλως ὅτι Χριστὸς οὐ Χριστός, εἰ μὴ περιγράφοιτο τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς εἰδέᾳ· εἴπερ γὰρ σὰρξ ἐγεγόνει, πάντως καὶ ὡς σὰρξ περιγράφεται, ὃ δὲ μὴ περιγράφοιτο, τοῦτο οὐκ εἴσω ἀνθρωπότητος, ἀλλ' ἔξω δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τόπου καὶ χρόνου, θεὸς γυμνὸς τῇ ἀπεριληψίᾳ τε καὶ ἀοριστίᾳ καὶ λεγόμενος καὶ νοούμενος· καὶ τοῦτο ἀραρότως εἰς ἀναμφίλεκτον ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἀληθείας φυσικαῖς ἀκολουθίαις ἀναγκαζόμενον, περιγράφεσθαι Χριστόν, κἀν τῇ εἰκόνι προσκυνούμενον, ἐπείπερ ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἐκπέφασται, ὥς πού φησιν ὁ θεοφάντωρ Διονύσιος· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· ἑκάτερον ἐν ἑκατέρῳ παρὰ τὸ τῆς οὐσίας διάφορον. ὥστε ὁ ἀπαναινόμενος ἐγγράφεσθαι Χριστὸν ἤρνηται ἄνθρωπον γεγονέναι καὶ ὁ μὴ προσκυνῶν αὐτοῦ τὴν εἰκόνα οὔ τί που προσκυνεῖ αὐτὸν τὸ καθόλου, κἂν νομίζῃ προσκυνεῖν, ἐπεί φησιν ὁ ἱερὸς λόγος, οἱ ἄπιστοι ὁμολογοῦσι θεὸν εἰδέναι, τοῖς δὲ ἔργοις ἀρνοῦνται. Ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς ἀγνοούσῃ τῇ τιμιότητί σου ὑπεδήλωσα, ἀλλ' ὡς συνομογνωμονούσῃ καὶ ὥσπερ ῥανίδα ἐκ πελάγους δογμάτων ἀνελκύσας, πρὸς τῷ καὶ ἄπειρον ἑσμὸν εἶναι πατρικῶν μετὰ καὶ τῆς ἀρχαιολόγου ἱστορίας ἀπ' αὐτῆς βαλβῖδος τοῦ κηρύγματος εἰς σύστασιν τῆς ἀμωμήτου ἡμῶν τῶν χριστιανῶν πίστεως.