Letter 72: Theodore Studite, Letter 72; Greek heading: Ἰωσὴφ ἀδελφῷ καὶ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ.

I have received the letter of Your Holiness, in which, learning of your disputation with the ruler [the emperor Leo V the Armenian, the iconoclast] and, to put it briefly, of your blessed exile, I, humble man that I am, groaned (for how could I not?), yet I glorified God, who has glorified you in this. I rejoice, therefore, and I rejoice together with you, beloved brother, at your good repute, and I take pride in your good fortunes—or rather your exiles—as much as kings do in their diadems. And who would grant me to see your longed-for face? For I would embrace you insatiably, now that you are being exiled for the third time and imprisoned on behalf of the truth of God. Truly your virtue was being wronged and was, as it were, set under a bushel [cf. Matthew 5:15] while you were sitting in the monastery; now it rises up upon the lampstand and shines for the whole Church. Thus those who think to hide your virtue have made it blaze forth. Good, indeed, and not unworthy of praise, is the exile of the other most holy bishops as well, yet it is not of equal weight with yours. Why? Because it is a single-stemmed thing, and not one advancing from strength to strength [cf. Psalm 83:8 LXX] like yours, which is both three-stemmed and three-crested. For this reason your name is praiseworthy, your achievement renowned, your exultation eternal. We have been estranged from one another and removed to a distance, but God is good, able to unite us and to settle us together everlastingly; and perhaps even here it will not be impossible for Him for us to see one another again face to face. We sent ahead the holy fathers and brothers, and indeed the good Kalogeros, in whose case the expiring breathed its last in your hands, as though by the command of God and not of a perishable emperor, after he had departed from Thessalonica and gone out at Sakkoudion [the monastery of Sakkoudion in Bithynia]. We two have been left behind, a topic of talk—I know not of what sort—to men, but at any rate a good thing to the pious, even though I myself am unrewarded because of my sins. But you, O most blessed one, may you ever advance in the good, praying unceasingly for my salvation; and that I too remember you—for what else should there be, after God, but to breathe you? They have torn from your side the brother Athanasios (an addition of suffering, but also of crowns), and likewise Nektarios; but if it was against their will, the grief is not great, whereas if it was by agreement, alas for my misery; yet in whichever way it was carried out, time will show. You have been left almost alone, having my good Anthos and Epiphanios. May the Lord bestow grace upon them for the service of your sanctity; whom also I greet many times, and I pray that they may be shown to follow along with you even unto death. What of the rest? May God look upon His own inheritance and award peace in His Church. The brothers who are with me greet you in the manner of servants.