Letter 111: God will repay your excellency for the kindness you have shown me -- everything done for His sake carries its reward.

To Anatolius the Patrician, God will repay your excellency for the kindness you have shown me -- everything done for His sake carries its reward. As for my slanderers, I laugh at them. When a man has been beaten badly enough, the flesh goes numb and the pain stops. But I do grieve for them -- people whose mouths run so freely with lies. What have the accusers of the godly bishop Ibas suffered at my hands that they should heap such false charges on me? To begin with, I was not even one of the judges. I was living in Cyrrhus in obedience to the imperial decree. In fact, as I have heard from many people, they actually resented my absence. I had arranged for them to receive Holy Communion at the Easter celebration, and since they often expressed a wish to see me, I welcomed them warmly and advised them on the proper course of action. And let me speak also in defense of the godly bishop Domnus. What was he supposed to do? He was being openly attacked. He saw men who had been deposed by a synodical sentence show up in another diocese and resume their priestly duties in flagrant violation of church law. He saw sacred things mocked and ridiculed by enemies of the Church. So what did he do? He handed the case over to others -- not only to the godly lord Ibas, but also to the holy bishop Symeon of Amida, so that the metropolitans of both provinces could hear the charges together. How is it fair to accuse the same people of being both too harsh and too lenient? If we excommunicate, we face danger. If we do not excommunicate, we still face danger. We alone in all the world are singled out for attack. Other dioceses enjoy peace. We alone are exposed to accusers -- and I most of all, though I took no part in the trial and bear absolutely no responsibility for it. I write all this because your lordship's letter tells me a great commotion has been stirred up against me -- a man confined to his own diocese, a man of peace, one who does not even deliberate with the bishops of his province. There have already been two episcopal ordinations in our province, and I participated in neither. If I were not restrained by the imperial decree, I would have left long ago and spent my remaining days in some remote place. I am worn out by the plots against me. I am certain those Edessenes did not invent their slander on their own -- their truly "truthful" neighbors put them up to it. I thank our Savior that He has deemed me worthy of the beatitudes of the Gospel, unworthy though I am. For this reason I have gladly accepted the sentence of relegation. I am ready for exile. For the sake of the hope that awaits me, I welcome whatever they may inflict. I pray constantly for your excellency, and I beg all the saints to join in my petitions.

Letter 111