Letter 83: Theodore Studite, Letter 83; Greek heading: Ἰωσὴφ ἡγουμένῳ.

The occasion has brought me to make use of a friendly letter to Your Holiness. For formerly, when grievous affairs were brought to ruin in the Church of God by those in power, for my sins, we were so far fenced off from one another that the drama of our separation became audible to East and West. Alas for those days! Alas for that play-acting! For it was a transgression against the Gospel of God, on account of which the ends of the earth were shaken and heaven groaned over it. But now, since the things that were then thrown into turmoil have been removed out of the way by the inclination of Providence-even though the worse things [the renewed iconoclasm] have, by its permission, been kindled at the present time, clearly set in motion from what went before; alas, indeed, for these present days too, which we must suppose to be nothing other than the forerunners of the coming of the Antichrist-nevertheless, since by the grace of the supremely good God you have been seen to be of one mind with us, or rather to think in agreement with the truth, and to have chosen the same firm stand [enstasis: steadfast resistance] of piety as all the orthodox, and that too in old age and with fervent eagerness, which is both marvelous and praiseworthy, I, the humble one, am hastening back to the love and union of old. For nothing is so strong for concord, as the divine mouth [Scripture] says, as agreement concerning God, and nothing is so productive of division as discord concerning Him. For this reason, having stripped off the things that went before as one strips off a wicked cloud, with great joy I cause the clear light of concord to dawn upon you for the present circumstances, and I address you as my beloved father, and I draw near to you as to one persecuted and confined for righteousness' sake, crowning you with praises and magnifying with encomia your venerable gray hair, your long-enduring ascetic discipline. And oh, the great bounty of God, who did not allow your luminous deeds of valor, which were hidden before, to remain under the dark bushel! I now venerate you as a confessor of Christ, I praise you as a guardian of orthodoxy, rejoicing together with you and exulting with you in your contests on behalf of the good-if indeed, according to the Apostle, the greatest of the gifts of grace is to suffer for Christ's sake-except that I have compassion on your honored old age, which does not easily bear hardship. But nevertheless I am confident that you may be strong to do all things in Christ who strengthens you, unto the victory of orthodoxy, unto the boasting both of me the sinner and of those who love you equally, or rather of the whole Church of God, unto your eternal crown of righteousness. And if it is not possible for you to write back, yet grant me freely the best of what you possess, your holy prayers; for I am full of sins and more pitiable than all men.