of selection and of industrious and careful zeal, may our Christ-loving regiments and themes be brought to a better and stronger state, so as to terrify the adversary by reputation alone.

3 But since we have been informed by the letters of the same most illustrious men and our most worthy servants that, already according to our command, or rather according to the nod and inclination of God, they have cast off everything useless and unfit for war, and have selected and set apart for war all that is noble and useful and ready to face danger before others, and have applied all diligence and zeal and industrious vigils for your good order and establishment, and since these servants of our majesty are about to take you up, as you are already equipped and prepared, and to set out on campaign and rush against the enemies wherever they have been appointed by our majesty, our joy has increased infinitely, and being overcome by tears and pleasure at the same time, we have considered ourselves unworthy for supplication to God, but have summoned to entreaties the most honorable and holy fathers who dwell in mountains and caves and the holes of the earth, and urging them to supplications, we have commanded them to pray for you unceasingly and vigilantly. But we have also commanded this very thing to be done in the churches of the God-guarded city and in the holy monasteries, so that as the prayer of all these ascends to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and is mixed and united with your zeal, and falls upon us, the present way may become easy and without stumbling for you. Since, therefore, we have our courage from the providence and help of the man-loving God, and from the holy prayer of the sacred and holy fathers, and from your praiseworthy manliness and boldness, receive also our exhortation as from a loving father whose heart burns for you and who is afflicted daily with countless cares on your behalf.

4 Faithful and beloved little children, sacred and God-gathered army; now—if ever—the time has come for your manliness to be revealed, for your boldness to be recognized, for your praiseworthy courage to be made manifest to all. For even if many times in the past you have acted bravely against the enemies and been pre-eminent against them, yet some things were done by chance and by unsteady and uneven fortune, and others by a practice and art colored with the name of manliness, but known in deed as cowardice, and neither were the deeds of the brave clearly discerned, nor were those of the cowardly distinguished, but just as in confusion and in the dark of the moon or in a night-battle, your affairs were darkened and concealed. But since the selection now made through our most faithful and genuine servants has revealed the manliness and nobility of each of you, and has brought into the light those formerly hidden and unknown—whether out of envy or (I know not whether to say it) love of truth—and has caused the manliness, the boldness, and the endurance of each of you to be recognized, and you have been chosen for selection like pure wheat, while the others, like tares that grew up with the wheat, have been cast aside and rejected, show your irresistible charge and endurance against the enemies. Go against them, and go not hesitating, not shrinking back and turning to what is behind, but straining toward what is ahead. You have those who will behold your manliness, the representatives of our majesty who are filling our place.

ἐκλογῆς καὶ φιλοπόνου καὶ ἐμμερίμνου σπουδῆς τὰ φιλόχριστα ἡμῶν τάγματά τε καὶ θέματα πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον καὶ ἄμεινον μεταγάγωσιν, ὡς ἐκ μόνης φήμης καταπτοεῖν τὸ ἀντίπαλον.

3 Ἐπεὶ δὲ διὰ γραμμάτων τῶν αὐτῶν περιφανεστάτων ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἀξιολογωτάτων ἡμῶν θεραπόντων ἀνεδιδάχθημεν, ὡς ἤδη κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν πρόσταξιν, μᾶλλον δὲ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ νεῦσιν καὶ ῥοπὴν πᾶν μὲν τὸ ἀχρεῖον καὶ πρὸς πολέμους ἀνεπιτήδειον ἀπεβάλοντο, ὅσον δὲ γενναῖον καὶ χρήσιμον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων προκινδυνεῦον προὔκρινάν τε καὶ εἰς πολέμους ἀφώρισαν, καὶ πάσῃ ἐπιμελείᾳ καὶ σπουδῇ καὶ φιλοπόνοις ἀγρυπνίαις πρὸς εὐταξίαν καὶ κατάστασιν ὑμῶν ἐχρήσαντο, -καὶ μέλλουσιν οἱ τοιοῦτοι τῆς βασιλείας ἡμῶν δοῦλοι ἀναλαβέσθαι ὑμᾶς, ὡς ἤδη κατηρτισμένους καὶ ἡτοιμασμένους καὶ πρὸς ταξείδιον ἀποκινῆσαι καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὁρμῆσαι, ὅπου παρὰ τῆς βασιλείας ἡμῶν διωρίσθησαν, ἡ μὲν χαρὰ ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ ἀπειροπλάσιον ηὐξήθη, καὶ δάκρυσιν ἅμα καὶ ἡδονῇ συσχεθέντες ἑαυτοὺς μὲν ἀναξίους εἰς ἱκεσίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡγησάμεθα, τοὺς δὲ τιμιωτάτους καὶ ἁγίους πατέρας τοὺς ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς προσκαθεζομένους πρὸς δεήσεις ἐκκαλεσάμενοι καὶ πρὸς ἱκεσίας προτρεψάμενοι αὐτοὺς ἀδιαλείπτως καὶ ἀγρύπνως ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν προσεύχεσθαι διεταξάμεθα. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῆς θεοφυλάκτου πόλεως ἐκκλησίαις καὶ τοῖς εὐαγέσι μοναστηρίοις τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιεῖν διεκελευσάμεθα, ἵνα τῆς τούτων πάντων δεήσεως εἰς ὦτα κυρίου Σαβαὼθ ἀναβαινούσης καὶ συγκιρναμένης καὶ συνενουμένης τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ προθυμίᾳ καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς πίπτει, εὔκολος ὑμῖν καὶ ἀπρόσκοπος ἡ παροῦσα γένηται ὁδός. ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ θαρρεῖν ἔκ τε τῆς τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ προνοίας καὶ βοηθείας ἔχομεν, ἔκ τε τῆς ἁγίας εὐχῆς τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ ὁσίων πατέρων, ἔκ τε τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐπαινετῆς ἀνδρείας καὶ εὐτολμίας, δέξασθε καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν παραίνεσιν ὡς ἐκ πατρὸς φιλοστόργου καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα περὶ ὑμῶν διακαιομένου καὶ μυρίαις φροντίσι καθ' ἑκάστην ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν συνεχομένου.

4 Τεκνία πιστὰ καὶ ἀγαπητά, στράτευμα ἱερόν τε καὶ θεοσύλλεκτον· νῦν-εἴπερ ποτὲ-καιρὸς ἥκει τὴν ὑμῶν ἀνδρείαν φανερωθῆναι, τὴν ὑμῶν εὐτολμίαν διαγνωσθῆναι, τὸ ἐπαινετὸν θάρσος πᾶσι δῆλον γενέσθαι. εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλάκις ἐν τοῖς παρελθοῦσι χρόνοις κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἠνδραγαθήσατε καὶ κατ' αὐτῶν ἠριστεύσατε, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἐπράττετο κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς καὶ τύχην ἄστατον καὶ ἀνώμαλον, τὰ δὲ κατ' ἐπιτήδευσιν καὶ τέχνην ἀνδρείας μὲν ὀνόματι κεχρωσμένην, ἀνανδρίας δὲ πράγματι γνωριζομένην, καὶ οὔτε τὰ τῶν ἀνδρείων καθαρῶς διεγινώσκετο, οὔτε τὰ τῶν ἀνάνδρων διεκρίνετο, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν συγχύσει καὶ σκοτομήνῃ ἢ νυκτομαχίᾳ τὰ καθ' ὑμᾶς συνεζοφοῦτο καὶ συνεκαλύπτετο. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ νῦν διὰ τῶν πιστοτάτων ἡμῶν δούλων καὶ γνησίων θεραπόντων γεγονυῖα ἐκλογὴ ἑκάστου ὑμῶν τήν τε ἀνδρείαν καὶ γενναιότητα ἐφανέρωσεν, καὶ τοὺς πάλαι φθονερῶς (οὐκ οἷδα εἰπεῖν ἢ φιλαλήθως) καλυπτομένους καὶ ἀγνοουμένους εἰς φῶς προελθεῖν καὶ ἀναγνωρισθῆναι ἑκάστου ὑμῶν τὸ ἀνδρεῖον, τὸ εὔτολμον, τὸ καρτερι κόν, καὶ ὑμεῖς μὲν δίκην καθαροῦ σίτου εἰς ἐκλογὴν προεκρίθητε, οἱ δ' ἄλλοι ὥσπερ ζιζάνια συναυξηθέντα τῷ σίτῳ ἀπερρίφησάν τε καὶ ἀπεβουκολήθησαν, δείξατε τὴν ὑμῶν κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀνυπόστατον ὁρμὴν καὶ καρτερίαν. χωρήσατε κατ' αὐτῶν, καὶ χωρήσατε οὐκ ἐνδοιάζοντες, οὐ μετοκλάζοντες καὶ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω χωροῦντες, ἀλλ' εἰς τὰ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενοι. ἔχετε τοὺς τὴν ὑμῶν κατοψομένους ἀνδρείαν τοὺς ἀντιπροσώπους τῆς βασιλείας ἡμῶν καὶ τὸν τόπον ἡμῶν ἀναπληροῦντας.