Letter 544: Theodore Studite, Letter 544; Greek heading: Ἰωσὴφ καθηγουμένῳ τῶν Κεραμένων.

Even before the arrival of the good Sergius your grief over the blessed metropolitan was made to be heard by us, O most honored brothers, and how greatly we groaned, and we would add that we even wept, the Knower of hidden things knows, since this father was common to you and to us, and a faithful friend, the thing sought by all and found but rarely. Oh, how has the unshakable pillar of the Church fallen, and how has the light of those in darkness been extinguished, and that radiance most peculiarly your own? The sweet-spoken tongue has fallen silent, the most prudent mind has departed, the buttress of the faith has been pulled away, the champion of the churches, the gentle word, the persuasive voice, all that is fine and is sung and is known concerning the man. And we have become (I do not speak of your case alone, but also throughout the whole body of the orthodox) orphans upon orphanings that went before; this blessed father went on ahead, another followed after, yet another flew off together with them, and nearly all the luminaries of the faithful have set, with very few left remaining. And the heaven is overcast, wrapped about with cloud, but overcast above all is the Church now, having cast off her stars. Yet nevertheless the Sun of righteousness [Christ; cf. Malachi 4:2] has received the stars, who have departed life by a blessed end, and He Himself has promised to be with us until the consummation of the age [cf. Matthew 28:20]; so that, even if the present things are grievous, yet again they are full of joy, because of the hope that we have in God our fathers as defenders, watching over us graciously from above and bending His goodness toward compassion concerning us. For the rest, the word must be turned back upon you. You are not a flock left destitute, O brothers; for your good chief shepherd, the namesake of the blessed Apostle Peter [his abbot, also named Peter], has already both stamped you with form and instructed you in first principles, and while still living he set a superior over you and gave order concerning everything whatsoever that was owed; and for a whole year, as one already departing, day by day, uttering his words of farewell, he made each one ready. And it is a matter for prayer that, in accordance with the difficulty of the time, affairs may not turn out otherwise, but that both you and they may abide as he ordered. Yet, even if it should come to the contrary, not for this reason are you to give up the truth, but, just as he too gave order in writing, you are to count all things as refuse for Christ's sake [cf. Philippians 3:8] and not to betray the words concerning faith and truth. These things must be said to you all, but foremost to you, lord superior, since the ruling part and the ruled are by nature of such a kind as to become so. And indeed once already we were caught in the heretical communion [participation in the iconoclast church, here called heresy], out of sparing the things that are seen; let us not again, we beseech and remind you, for the sake of monasteries and vineyards and olive groves and fig orchards, which a little later we too, like our fathers, shall leave behind (and shall leave behind forever), betray the strictness of our profession and be defiled by the heterodox communion, gazing round about at the crooked examples on every side. These things will not come to our aid in the time of death, in the hour of judgment, but rather the good conscience and the blameless manner of life. And these things we urge not as wishing you to suffer anything dreadful, but as brothers choosing to help brothers according to the commandment that bids us so. Since indeed we also pity and have compassion on the lord Gregory, our spiritual brother, as one already grown utterly aged and being such as you know both in respect of the duties of the flesh and of his spiritual achievements, even though, with a humility that imitates Christ, he has preferred to bear all things rather than to do anything contrary to the fathers' ordinances. May the peace of God be granted to you, the very peace which He uttered to His holy apostles as He departed into the heavens, and indeed also love toward one another; for by this, He says, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among one another [John 13:35]. Be of good cheer, the lord superior, the lord Gregory himself, then each one of the rest in order, all of you lifting up your heads from grief and making a road, as it were some new road, for your spiritual struggle, praying also for us the lowly the better things and those that pertain to salvation.

Καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐλεύσεως τοῦ καλοῦ Σεργίου ἠκουτίσθη ἡμῖν τὸ περὶ τὸν μακάριον μητροπολίτην πένθος ὑμῶν, ὦ ἀδελφοὶ τιμιώτατοι, καὶ ὅσον ἐστενάξαμεν, προσθείημεν δ' ἂν καὶ ἐδακρύσαμεν, οἶδεν ὁ τῶν ἀφανῶν γνώστης, ἐπειδὴ κοινὸς ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὑμῶν καὶ ἡμῶν φίλος τε πιστός, τὸ παρὰ πᾶσι ζητούμενον καὶ σπάνιον εὑρισκόμενον. ὤ, πῶς κατέπεσε στῦλος τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀκράδαντος, πῶς δὲ ἀπεσβέσθη φῶς τῶν ἐν σκότει καὶ τὸ ὑμέτερον ἰδιαίτατον αὔγασμα; σεσίγηκε γλῶσσα ἡδυεπής, ᾤχετο νοῦς ἐμφρονέστατος, ὑπεσπάσθη ἔρεισμα πίστεως, πρόμαχος ἐκκλησιῶν, μειλίχιος λόγος, πειθήνιος φωνή, πᾶν ὅσον καλὸν καὶ ᾄδεται περὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ γνωρίζεται. καὶ γεγόναμεν (οὐ λέγω τὸ ὑμῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων πλήρωμα) ὀρφανοὶ ἐπὶ προλαβούσαις ὀρφανίαις· προύλαβεν ὅσδε ὁ μακάριος πατήρ, ἐπηκολούθησεν ἕτερος, συναπέπτη ἄλλος, σχεδὸν πάντες οἱ φωστῆρες τῶν πιστῶν ἔδυσαν κομιδῇ ὀλίγων ἐναπολειφθέντων. καὶ στυγνάζει μὲν ὁ οὐρανός, νέφει περιεχόμενος, στυγνάζει δὲ ὅτι μάλιστα ἡ ἐκκλησία νῦν, τοὺς ἀστέρας αὐτῆς ἀποβεβληκυῖα. πλὴν ὅμως ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος εἴληφε τοὺς ἀστέρας, μακαρίῳ τέλει ἀποβιώσαντας, καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπέσχετο ἕως συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος ἔσεσθαι μεθ' ἡμῶν· ὥστε, εἰ καὶ λυπηρὰ τὰ παρόντα, ἀλλὰ πάλιν περιχαρῆ διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα ὅτι ἔχομεν εἰς θεὸν τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν ὑπερασπιστάς, ἄνωθεν ἐποπτεύοντας ἡμᾶς ἵλεως καὶ κάμπτοντας εἰς τὸν περὶ ἡμᾶς οἶκτον τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητα. Λοιπὸν ἐφ' ὑμῖν ἐπιστρετέος ὁ λόγος. οὐ ποίμνιόν ἐστε ἠπορημένον, ὦ ἀδελφοί· ὁ γὰρ καλὸς ἀρχιποιμὴν ὑμῶν, ὁ τοῦ μακαρίου Πέτρου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ὁμώνυμος, ἤδη καὶ ἐτύπωσεν καὶ ἐστοιχείωσεν, ἔτι τε ζῶν ἡγούμενον ὑμῖν προεστήσατο καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ὀφειλόμενον διετάξατο· καὶ ὅλον ἐνιαυτὸν ὡς ἤδη ἀπαίρων καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τοὺς συντακτηρίους λόγους ἐπιφωνῶν κατήρτισεν ἕνα ἕκαστον. καὶ εὐχῆς μὲν ἔργον μὴ κατὰ τὴν δυσκολίαν τοῦ χρόνου ἄλλως ἀπαντήσοι τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλ' ὡς διετάξατο διαμεῖναι καὶ ὑμᾶς καὶ αὐτά. οὐ μήν, εἰ δι' ἐναντίας ἔλθοι, τούτου χάριν προέσθαι ὑμᾶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλά, καθὼς κἀκεῖνος διετάξατο ἐγγράφως, πάντα σκύβαλα ἡγήσασθαι διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ μὴ προδοῦναι τοὺς περὶ πίστεως καὶ ἀληθείας λόγους. Ταῦτα μὲν πᾶσιν ὑμῖν λεκτέον, προηγουμένως δὲ σοί, τῷ κυρίῳ καθηγεμόνι, ἐπειδὴ οἷον τὸ ἄρχον καὶ τὸ ἀρχόμενον πέφυκε γίνεσθαι. καί γε ἅπαξ ἑαλώκαμεν ἐπὶ τῇ αἱρετικῇ κοινωνίᾳ φειδοῖ τῶν ὁρω μένων, μὴ πάλιν, δεόμεθα καὶ ὑπομνήσκομεν, διὰ μοναστήρια, ἀμπελῶνάς τε καὶ ἐλαιῶνας καὶ συκῶνας, ἃ μικρὸν ὕστερον καὶ ἡμεῖς ὡς οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν καταλείψομεν (καὶ καταλείψομεν εἰς αἰῶνας), προδῶμεν τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ ἐπαγγέλματος καὶ χρανθῶμεν τῇ ἑτεροδόξῳ κοινωνίᾳ, τὰ σκαμβὰ ὑποδείγματα κυκλόθεν περιβλέποντες. οὐ προστήσεται ἡμῖν ἐν καιρῷ θανάτου, ἐν ὥρᾳ κρίσεως εἰς βοήθειαν ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ τὸ χρηστὸν συνειδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀκατάγνωστος πολιτεία. καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς βουλόμενοι ὑμᾶς πάσχειν τι δεινὸν προτρεπόμεθα, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀδελφοὶ ἀδελφοῖς βοηθεῖν προαιρούμενοι κατὰ τὴν κελεύουσαν ἐντολήν. ἐπεὶ καὶ κατελεοῦμεν καὶ οἰκτείρομεν τὸν κύριον Γρηγόριον, τὸν πνευματικὸν ἡμῶν ἀδελφόν, ὡς ἤδη λιπαρῶς γεγηρακότα καὶ τοιοῦτον ὄντα οἷον ἴστε ἀπό τε τῶν σαρκικῶν καθηκόντων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν πνευματικῶν κατορθωμάτων, εἰ καὶ ὅτι χριστομιμήτῳ ταπεινώσει οἴσειν πάντα προέκρινεν ἤ τι ἐναντίον τῶν πατρικῶν ὁρισμῶν διαπράξασθαι. Χαρισθείη ὑμῖν ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ θεοῦ, ἥνπερ ἐπεφθέγξατο τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ ἀποστόλοις ἀπαίρων ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἡ εἰς ἀλλήλους ἀγάπη· ἐν τούτῳ γάρ, φησί, γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις. εὐθύμει, ὁ κύριος ὁ ἡγούμενος, αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος Γρηγόριος, εἶτα εἷς ἕκαστος τῶν ἑξῆς, ἀνανεύοντες ἅπαντες ἀπὸ τῆς λύπης καὶ ὁδοποιοῦντες ὥσπερ νέαν τινὰ ὁδὸν τὸν πνευματικὸν ὑμῶν ἀγῶνα, προσευχόμενοι καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ταπεινῶν τὰ κρείττονα καὶ ἐχόμενα σωτηρίας.