Letter 99: Although you have not yet met me in person, I believe your Excellency is already aware of the open slanders that...

To Claudianus the Antigrapharius. Although you have not yet met me in person, I believe your Excellency is already aware of the open slanders that have been published against me — for you have often heard me preaching in church, proclaiming the Lord Jesus and pointing out the distinct properties both of his Godhead and of his manhood. We do not divide the one Son into two; we worship the Only-begotten while recognizing the distinction between flesh and Godhead. Even the Arians, for that matter, acknowledge this much — they do not call the flesh Godhead, nor address the Godhead as flesh. Holy Scripture teaches us both natures clearly. Nevertheless, though I have always spoken in this way, certain men are uttering lies against me. I rely on my conscience, and I have as witness to my teaching the one who looks into the heart. And so, as the prophet says, I regard the devices of slander as a spider's web. I wait for the great judgment that needs no words but makes manifest what in the meanwhile is hidden. I send this letter through the devout bishops, thinking it worthwhile to greet your Excellency by means of them and to remind you of your promise. For even under attack I do not cease to cast the nets — knowing that the holy apostles themselves, even in the midst of every assault upon them, never abandoned the spiritual fisherman's work.

Letter 99