Letter 545: Theodore Studite, Letter 545; Greek heading: Εὐθυμίῳ Σάρδησ.

You, blessed one, employing your customary humility, do not cease to exalt us, who are unworthy of any such honor; but we, for our part, know you to be truly both a foundation of the word and a buttress of the Church, and especially now, when such-and-such and such-and-such [the names left unspecified], the illustrious fathers, the glory of the orthodox, have departed from us, and when you run your course almost as a single beacon shining above those who have been laid low among those in the city [Constantinople], giving light to many who are dim-sighted from want of light, and bringing still more to God through your honey-dripping teaching, which floods over like some river. But may you be preserved to us yet a while, thrice-longed-for one, and indeed to the whole Church as well, for its support and as a divine rejoicing. Now concerning the presbyter about whom you bade us give such-and-such indications: that he both exists and has been ransomed from barbarian captivity we are well aware, having learned each particular from the man himself. But the man does not wish, or rather will not endure, to be regulated according to the rule that prevails among us; for you know, God-honored one, that by the common vote both of those who are still above the earth and of those confessors who have recently departed to the Lord, it has been determined that those once-and-for-all taken captive into heretical communion, if they are ordained men, are to be excluded from sacred ministry, until, that is, the manifest season of the visitation of the providence from on high. And how could we annul the canon and, through the admission of the one, carry the rule over against all those who have been excluded, and in this matter act in opposition to our divine and primordial head and guide [Christ, or perhaps the ruling principle of the Church], who does not even simply allow such men so much as to bless common food, much less to perform anything more in priestly fashion, and scandalize the other confessors, and bring dissension upon those who hold fast to strictness? And even if perhaps some, in the discrimination practiced among them, on account of the narrowness of the time and the compelling force of those who were petitioning, have already released certain of the presbyters after the penalty, it is by no means for us to accomplish this apart from the presiding bishop, since the reasoning of the exclusion must also be reckoned to be sound. For where would there appear the difference between those who have betrayed the truth and those who have not, between those who have nobly contended and those who have in no way chosen to suffer hardship for the good? And where are Christ and Belial, light and darkness, if all things are mixed together, and there is judgment before a synodical judgment, and peace before peace? This is to be utterly abjured, O mightiest of fathers, as it seems to us, and we would say, to the truth as well. The penalty itself, that inflicted by the majority, as the Apostle says, is sufficient for such a man, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive grief. He is by no means to be promoted to the rank from which he was excluded on account of the transgression, until the proper season, so that both the form of the offense may still be punished in a manner that strikes home, and the manner of the healing may be intimated, having in the prior arrangement what suffices, even though by way of dispensation [oikonomia: the Church's discretionary accommodation in difficult circumstances] certain exceptional things, in case of necessity, when no one already saved [from captivity, i.e. ordained without taint] is present, have been conceded to be done in priestly fashion-things which your perfection also is aware of, this man having already been excluded by this rule. But this presbyter here, considering also the things done by him before the barbarians [his captivity], and that he gave light to many in this place, and that, as people say, for all these reasons he ought to be released, would not endure to come under the same affliction as those who have been excluded here; therefore we have left the matters concerning him to him, that he may decide for himself how to act, neither having released him nor having excluded him. Farewell in the Lord, all-laudable one; both we and the brethren with us salute you most warmly.

Σὺ μέν, ὦ μακάριε, τῇ συνήθει ταπεινοφροσύνῃ χρώμενος, οὐ διαλιμπάνεις ἀποσεμνύνειν ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀγεράστους· ἡμεῖς δέ σε ἴσμεν ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ κρηπῖδα τοῦ λόγου καὶ ἔρεισμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ μάλιστά γε ἄρτι, ὁπηνίκα ἀπολελοίπασιν ἡμᾶς ὁ δεῖνα καὶ ὁ δεῖνα, οἱ διαφανεῖς πατέρες, τὸ κλέος τῶν ὀρθοδόξων, καὶ ὡς εἷς σχεδὸν πυρσὸς ὑπερλάμπων τῶν ὑφειμένων διαθέεις τῶν ἐν ἄστει, πολλοὺς μὲν φωτίζων μυωπάζοντας ἐκ φωτολειψίας, πλείους δὲ προσάγων τῷ θεῷ διὰ τῆς ἐπικλυζούσης οἷον ῥεύματί τινι μελισταγοῦς διδαχῆς σου. Ἀλλὰ φυλαχθείης ἡμῖν ἔτι, ὦ τριπόθητε, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ εἰς στηριγμόν τε καὶ θεῖον ἀγαλλίαμα. περὶ οὗ δὲ πρεσβυτέρου ἐκέλευσας σημᾶναι οὕτως καὶ οὕτως, εἶναί τε καὶ ἐκλελυτρῶσθαι τῆς βαρβαρικῆς αἰχμαλωσίας συνίσμεν, πρὸς αὐτοῦ τούτου ἕκαστα ἐκμεμαθηκότες. ἀλλ' ὁ ἀνὴρ οὐ βούλεται εἴτουν οὐκ ἀνέχεται τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς τύπῳ κεκανονίσθαι· οἶσθα γάρ, θεοτίμητε, ὅτι κοινῇ ψήφῳ τῶν τε ἔτι ὑπὲρ γῆν ὄντων καὶ τῶν ἔναγχος ἐκδημησάντων πρὸς Κύριον ὁμολογητῶν τοὺς ἅπαξ ἑαλωκότας τῇ αἱρετικῇ κοινωνίᾳ ἱερωμένους εἶρχθαι τῆς ἱερουργίας διώρισται, ἕως δῆλον ὅτι καιροῦ ἐπισκοπῆς τῆς ἄνωθεν προνοίας. καὶ πῶς ἂν δυνηθείημεν λῦσαι τὸν κανόνα καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς παραδοχῆς νόμον ἐπὶ ἅπαντας τοὺς προειργομένους ἀποῖσαι κἀν τούτῳ ὑπεναντία μὲν δρᾶσαι τῷ θείῳ ἡμῶν καὶ πρωτάρχῳ καθηγεμόνι, ὅτι μηδὲ ἁπλῶς αὐτὸς τοὺς τοιούτους εὐλογεῖν κοινὴν βρῶσιν ἀνέχεται, μὴ ὅτι γε πλέον τι ἐνεργεῖν ἱερατικῶς, τοὺς ἄλλους τε τῶν ὁμολογητῶν σκανδαλίσαι καὶ ὑποῖσαι διχόνοιαν τοὺς ἀκριβείας ἀντεχομένους; κἄν τινες ἴσως ἔφθασαν τῇ κατ' αὐτοὺς διακρίσει διὰ τὸ στενὸν τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τὸ τῶν ἐπιζητούντων ἀναγκαστικὸν τινὰς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων μετὰ τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ἀπολελυκέναι, ἡμῖν δὲ οὐδαμῶς τοῦτο κατεργάσασθαι ἄτερ τοῦ προέδρου, ὅτι καὶ νομιστέον εὖ ἔχειν τὸν λόγον τῆς καθείρξεως. ποῦ γὰρ φανείη τὸ διάφορον τῶν προδωσάντων τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ μή, τῶν γενναίως ἐνηθληκότων καὶ μηδαμῶς ἑλομένων ὑπὲρ τοῦ καλοῦ τληπαθεῖν; καὶ ποῦ ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ ὁ Βελίαρ, τὸ φῶς καὶ τὸ σκότος, εἴπερ ἀναμὶξ τὰ πάντα καὶ πρὸ κρίσεως συνοδικῆς κρίσις καὶ πρὸ εἰρήνης εἰρήνη; ἀπώμοτον τοῦτο, ὦ πατέρων κράτιστε, ὡς ἡμῖν γε δοκεῖ, εἴποιμεν δ'ἄν, καὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ· ἀρκετόν γε τῷ τοιούτῳ ἡ ἐπιτιμία αὕτη ἡ ὑπὸ τῶν πλειόνων, ὥς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ὡς ἂν μὴ τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ καταποθῇ ὁ τοιοῦτος. οὐ μὴν προακτέον εἰς τὸν ἀφ' οὗ εἴρχθη διὰ τὴν παράβασιν βαθμὸν ἕως τοῦ δέοντος καιροῦ, ἵνα καὶ τὸ τοῦ πλημμεληθέντος εἶδος ἔτι κολάζοιτο παραπληκτικώτερον καὶ ὁ τῆς ὑγιώσεως τρόπος ὑποφαίνοιτο, διὰ τῆς προλήψεως τὸ ἱκανὸν ἔχων, εἰ καὶ ὅτι ἐξαίρετά τινα κατ' ἀπορίαν, μὴ παρόντος σεσωσμένου, συγκεχώρηται δρᾶν ἱερατικῶς, ἃ καὶ συνεπίσταται ἡ τελειότης σου, ὁ ἤδη εἰργμένος ταύτῃ. ἀλλ', οἷον ὅσδε ὁ πρεσβύτερος, καὶ πρὸ τῆς βαρβάρων πεπραγμένα αὐτῷ συννοῶν καὶ ὡς πολλοὺς τῇδε ἐφώτισε καὶ δεῖν, φασί, διὰ πάντα ταῦτα λελυμένον εἶναι, οὐκ ἠνέσχετο ὑπελθεῖν ὁμοιοπαθῶς τοῖς ἐνταῦθα εἰρχθεῖσι· διὸ παρακεχωρήκαμεν αὐτῷ τὰ κατ' αὐτόν, ὡς ἂν διακρίνοιτο πρᾶξαι, οὔτε λύσαντες οὔτε εἴρξαντες. Ἔρρωσο ἐν Κυρίῳ, ὑπερεύφημε, ἡμεῖς τε καὶ οἱ μεθ' ἡμῶν ἀδελφοὶ πλεῖστα προσαγορεύομεν.