1

Epistulae

To Flavian the bishop

1.1 Our affairs are not in a good state, O man of God; for the advancing evils among those who have stirred up an unjust and unprovoked hatred against us are no longer suspected through certain conjectures, but are pursued openly, just as if 1.2 it were some good achievement. But you, who have so far been outside such an evil, are neglectful in stopping the flame that is spreading in the neighborhood, as if you did not know that those who deliberate well concerning their own affairs suppress their neighbors' fire with great zeal, by which means, in helping those near them, they arrange not to need 1.3 help in similar circumstances. What then is it that I am saying? Holiness has left our life, truth has fled from us; and of peace, we formerly at least had the name passed about on our lips, but now not only does it not exist, but not even its name is left to us. So that you may know more clearly about what I am complaining, I will set out the tragedy for you in a few words. 1.4 There were some who were reporting that the most venerable Helladius was hostile towards us and was going about to everyone saying that I was the cause of his greatest troubles. I did not believe what was being said, looking to myself and the truth in the matters; but when the same things were reported to us unanimously by everyone and the facts coincided with the rumors, I thought it fitting not to overlook this rootless and unplanted hostility as unhealed. 1.5 Wherefore I also wrote to your God-fearing person, and I urged many others who were able to contribute something to the matter at hand to this same endeavor; and finally, after celebrating the commemoration of the most blessed Peter, held for the first time among the people of Sebasteia, and after having conducted with them at the same time the customary commemorations of the holy martyrs, back to my own 1.6 church I returned. And when someone reported that he was staying in the mountainous district, celebrating the commemorations of martyrs, at first I kept to my road, judging it more fitting for the meeting to happen in the metropolis; but when one of the brethren met me in haste and assured me that he was ill, leaving my vehicle in the place where I was overtaken by such a report, I crossed the intervening distance on horseback, a precipitous and almost impassable area with its 1.7 most rugged ascents. It was fifteen milestones, as we heard from the locals, by which the interval in between was measured. Having with difficulty traversed some of these on foot and some on horseback, at dawn, using also a part of the night, at the first hour of the day I arrived at Andaemonoi; for so is the place named, in which he was 1.8 holding church with two other bishops. And seeing from a distance, from a certain ridge overlooking the village, the gathering of the church in the open air, we crossed the intervening space at a walking pace, proceeding on foot, both myself and my retinue, and leading the horses by hand; so that two things happened at once, both his return from the church to his lodging and our approach 1.9 to the martyry. And with no delay, someone was sent by us to announce our presence to him; and after a short interval had passed, the deacon who was serving him met us, whom we asked to announce us quickly, so that we might spend more time with him, in order to find an opportunity for none of the matters between us to be overlooked as 1.10 unhealed.

1

Epistulae

Φλαβιανῷ ἐπισκόπῳ

1.1 Οὐκ ἐν καλοῖς, ὦ ἄνθρωπε τοῦ θεοῦ, τὰ ἡμέτερα· προϊ όντα γὰρ τὰ κακὰ ἐν τοῖς τὸ ἄδικόν τε καὶ ἀπροφάσιστον καθ' ἡμῶν κινήσασι μῖσος οὐκέτι διὰ στοχασμῶν τινων ὑπονοεῖται, ἀλλ' ἐν παρρησίᾳ σπουδάζεται, καθάπερ τι 1.2 τῶν ἀγαθῶν κατορθωμάτων. ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ τέως ἔξω ὄντες τοῦ τοιούτου κακοῦ καταρρᾳθυμεῖτε τοῦ παῦσαι νεμο μένην ἐν τῇ γειτονίᾳ τὴν φλόγα, ὥσπερ οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι οἱ καλῶς περὶ τῶν ἰδίων βουλευσάμενοι τὸν τῶν γειτόνων ἐμπρησμὸν ἐν πολλῇ τῇ σπουδῇ καταστέλλουσι, δι' ὧν τοῖς πλησίον βοηθοῦσι τὸ μὴ δεηθῆναι τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις 1.3 βοηθείας πραγματευόμενοι. τί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ λέγω; ἐπιλέ λοιπεν τὸν βίον ἡ ὁσιότης, πέφευγεν ἀφ' ἡμῶν ἡ ἀλήθεια· τῆς δὲ εἰρήνης πρότερον μὲν τὸ γοῦν ὄνομα εἴχομεν περι φερόμενον ἐν τοῖς στόμασιν, νῦν δὲ οὐ μόνον ἐκείνη οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς ἡμῖν ὑπολέλειπται. ὡς δ' ἂν εἰδείης σαφέστερον ὑπὲρ ὧν σχετλιάζω, δι' ὀλίγων σοι τὴν τραγῳδίαν ἐκθήσομαι. 1.4 Ἦσάν τινες οἱ τὸν αἰδεσιμώτατον Ἑλλάδιον δυσμενῶς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχειν καταμηνύοντες καὶ πρὸς πάντας διεξ ιέναι ὡς τῶν μεγίστων αὐτῷ κακῶν αἴτιος εἴην ἐγώ. οὐκ ἐπειθόμην τοῖς λεγομένοις, πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν ἀλήθειαν βλέπων· ὡς δὲ παρὰ πάντων ὁμοφώ νως τὰ αὐτὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀπηγγέλλετο καὶ συνέβαινεν ταῖς φήμαις τὰ πράγματα, πρέπειν ᾠήθην μὴ περιιδεῖν ἀθερά πευτον τὴν ἄρριζόν τε καὶ ἀφύτευτον ταύτην δυσμένειαν. 1.5 διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὴν σὴν ἐπέστειλα θεοσέβειαν, καὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς δυναμένους συμβαλέσθαι τι πρὸς τὸ προκεί μενον ἐπὶ τὴν σπουδὴν ταύτην παρώρμησα· καὶ τέλος, τὴν μνήμην τοῦ μακαριωτάτου Πέτρου παρὰ Σεβαστηνοῖς πρώ τως ἀγομένην ἐπιτελέσας, καὶ τὰς συνήθως παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπιτελουμένας τῶν ἁγίων <μʹ> μαρτύρων μνήμας κατὰ τὸν αὐ τὸν χρόνον συνδιαγαγὼν ἐκείνοις, ἐπὶ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ πάλιν 1.6 ἐκκλησίαν ὑπέστρεφον. καί τινος μηνύσαντος κατὰ τὴν ὀρει νὴν αὐτὸν ἐνορίαν διάγειν μαρτύρων ἐπιτελοῦντα μνήμας, τὰ μὲν πρῶτα τῆς ὁδοῦ εἰχόμην, εὐπρεπέστερον εἶναι κρί νων ἐπὶ τῆς μητροπόλεως γενέσθαι τὴν συντυχίαν· ὡς δέ τις τῶν γνησίων κατὰ σπουδήν μοι συντετυχηκὼς ἀρρωστεῖν αὐτὸν διεβεβαιώσατο, καταλιπὼν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τὸ ὄχημα, ἐν ᾧ παρὰ τῆς τοιαύτης κατελήφθην φήμης, ἵππῳ τὸ μεταξὺ διῆλθον διάστημα, κρημνῶδες καὶ ὀλίγου ἀπόρευτον ταῖς 1.7 τραχυτάταις ἀνόδοις. ἦν δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα σημεῖα, ὡς παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἠκούσαμεν, οἷς τὸ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ διεμετρεῖτο διάστημα. τούτων τὰ μὲν ἐκ ποδὸς τὰ δὲ διὰ τοῦ ἵππου μόλις διελθών, ὄρθριος, μέρει τινὶ καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς συγχρη σάμενος, κατὰ τὴν πρώτην τῆς ἡμέρας ὥραν ἐφίσταμαι τοῖς Ἀνδαημονοῖς· οὕτω γὰρ ὀνομάζεται τὸ χωρίον, ἐν ᾧ ἦν ἐκ 1.8 κλησιάζων ἐκεῖνος μετὰ ἄλλων ἐπισκόπων δύο. ἄποθεν δὲ κατιδόντες ἐξ αὐχένος τινὸς ὑπερκειμένου τῆς κώμης τὴν ἐν τῷ ὑπαίθρῳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας συνδρομήν, βάδην τὸν με ταξὺ διήλθομεν τόπον, ἐκ ποδός τε προϊόντες αὐτός τε καὶ ἡ μετ' ἐμοῦ συνοδία καὶ τοὺς ἵππους διὰ χειρὸς ἐφελ κόμενοι· ὥστε φθάσαι ὁμοῦ τὰ δύο γενέσθαι, ἐκεῖνόν τε ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ὑποστρέψαι καὶ ἡμᾶς πλη 1.9 σιάσαι τῷ μαρτυρίῳ. μηδεμιᾶς δὲ γενομένης ἀναβολῆς ἐπέμφθη παρ' ἡμῶν ὁ μηνύσων αὐτῷ τὴν παρουσίαν· καὶ μικροῦ διαγεγονότος διαστήματος ὁ ὑπηρετούμενος αὐτῷ διάκονος συνέτυχεν ἡμῖν, ὃν παρεκαλέσαμεν διὰ τάχους μηνῦσαι, ὥστε ἐπὶ πλεῖον αὐτῷ συνδιαγαγεῖν, ἐφ' ᾧ τε καιρὸν εὑρεῖν πρὸς τὸ μηδὲν περιοφθῆναι τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν 1.10 ἀθεράπευτον.