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THEOD. By the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, what I am telling you, I and my lords, the patricians-designate, heard from the mouth of our lord the patriarch and of the pious Lord of the world.

MAX. Command, my lords, to say what you wish, and what you have heard. 3. 15Γ_018THEOD. The emperor and the patriarch ask through us, to learn

from you, for what reason you do not commune with the throne of Constantinople. MAX. Do you have a written commission about this from the most pious

emperor, or from the patriarch? THEOD. You ought not, lord, to have disbelieved us. For even if I am humble,

I am called a bishop; and my lords are part of the senate; and we did not come to test you; God forbid.

MAX. In whatever way you have come to your servant, I state without any reservation the reason for which I do not commune with the throne of Constantinople; Yet even if it were for others to ask me for what reason, it is for you, who surely know the reason better than I.

4. You know the innovations that have taken place since the sixth indiction of the

past cycle, beginning from Alexandria through the nine chapters set forth by Cyrus, who I know not how became prelate there, which were confirmed by the throne of Constantinople; and the other alterations, both additions and subtractions, that took place synodically under those who presided over the Church of the Byzantines, I mean Sergius, and Pyrrhus, and Paul; which innovations the whole world knows. For this reason I, your servant, do not commune with the Church of Constantinople. Let the stumbling blocks set by the said men be removed, together with those very men who set them, as God said: And cast the stones out of the way, and the smooth and trodden path of the Gospel, free from all thorny heretical wickedness, just as I was finding it, I travel without any human exhortation. But as long as the 0141 prelates of Constantinople pride themselves on the stumbling blocks that have been set, and on those who set them, there is no argument or way that will persuade me to commune with them.

5. 15Γ_020THEOD. For what evil do we confess, that you should be separated from the communion

of us? MAX. That in speaking of one energy of the divinity and humanity of God and

our Savior Jesus Christ, you confuse the doctrine of theology and of the economy. For if one must be persuaded by the holy Fathers, they say, ‘Of whom the energy is one, of these the substance is also one’; you make the holy Trinity a tetrad, since His flesh becomes of one nature with the Word, and departing from the natural identity kindred to us and to her who bore Him.

6. And again, by abolishing the energies, and ratifying one will of the divinity

and humanity of the same, you take away from Him the distribution of good things. If

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ΘΕΟ∆. Μά τήν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἅπερ λέγω σοι, ἐγώ τε καί οἱ δεσπόται μου μελλοπατρίκιοι ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ δεσπότου ἡμῶν τοῦ πατριάρχου καί τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς ∆εσπότου τῆς οἰκουμένης ἠκούσαμεν.

ΜΑΞ. Κελεύσατε, οἱ δεσπόται μου, εἰπεῖν ἅπερ βούλεσθε, καί ἅπερ ἠκούσατε. Γ'. 15Γ_018ΘΕΟ∆. Παρακαλεῖ ὁ βασιλεύς καί ὁ πατριάρχης δι' ἡμῶν, μαθεῖν

παρά σοῦ, διά ποίαν αἰτίαν οὐ κοινωνεῖς τῷ θρόνῳ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. ΜΑΞ. Ἔχετε περί τούτου ἐπιτροπήν ἔγγραφον παρά τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου

βασιλέως, ἤ παρά τοῦ πατριάρχου; ΘΕΟ∆. Οὔκ ὤφελες, δέσποτα, ἀπιστῆσαι ἡμῖν. Κἄν γάρ ταπεινός εἰμι,

ἐπίσκοπος ἀκούω· καί οἱ δεσπόται μου συγκλήτου μέρος τυγχάνουσι· καί οὐκ ἤλθομεν πειράσαι σε· μή δῴη Θεός.

ΜΑΞ. Οἱῳδήποτε τρόπῳ ἤλθατε πρός τόν δοῦλον ὑμῶν, ἐγώ χωρίς πάσης ὑποστολῆς λέγω τήν αἰτίαν δι' ἥν οὐ κοινωνῶ τῷ θρόνῳ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως· Πλήν κἄν ἄλλων ἦν τό ἐρωτᾷν με διά ποίαν αἰτίαν, ὑμῶν ἔστι, τῶν γινωσκόντων ἀσφαλῶς πλεῖον ἐμοῦ τήν αἰτίαν.

∆'. Γινώσκετε τάς γενομένας καινοτομίας ἀπό τῆς ἕκτης ἐπινεμήσεως τοῦ

διελθόντος κύκλου ἀρξαμένας ἀπό Ἀλεξανδρείας διά τῶν ἐκτεθέντων ἐννέα κεφαλαίων παρά Κύρου, τοῦ οὐκ οἶδα πῶς γεγονότος ἐκεῖσε προέδρου, τῶν βεβαιωθέντων ὑπό τοῦ θρόνου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως· καί τάς ἄλλας ἀλλοιώσεις, προσθήκας τε καί μειώσεις, τάς γενομένας συνοδικῶς ὑπό τῶν προεδρευσάντων τῆς τῶν Βυζαντίων Ἐκκλησίας, Σεργίου λέγω, καί Πύῤῥου, καί Παύλου· ἅστινας καινοτομίας πᾶσα γινώσκει ἡ οἰκουμένη. ∆ιά ταύτην τήν αἰτίαν οὐ κοινωνῶ, ὁ δοῦλος ὑμῶν, τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. Ἀρθῶσι τά προσκόμματα τά τεθέντα ὑπό τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνδρῶν, μετ' αὐτῶν ἐκείνων τῶν θεμένων αὐτά, καθώς εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Καί τούς λίθους ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ διαῤῥίψατε, καί τήν λείαν καί τετριμμένην, καί πάσης ἀκανθώδους αἱρετικῆς κακίας ἐλευθέραν ὁδόν τοῦ Εὔαγγελίου, καθάπερ καί ἦν εὑρίσκων, ὁδεύω πάσης δίχα προτροπῆς ἀνθρωπίνης. Ἕως δέ ἄν τοῖς 0141 τεθεῖσι προσκόμμασι, καί τοῖς τεθεικόσιν αὐτά σεμνύνωνται οἱ πρόεδροι Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, οὐδείς ἐστιν ὁ πείθων με λόγος ἤ τρόπος κοινωνεῖν αὐτοῖς.

Ε'. 15Γ_020ΘΕΟ∆. Τί γάρ κακόν ὁμολογοῦμεν, ἵνα χωρισθῇς τῆς κοινωνίας

ἡμῶν; ΜΑΞ. Ὅτι μίαν ἐνέργειαν λέγοντες θεότητος καί ἀνθρωπότητος τοῦ Θεοῦ καί

Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, συγχέετε τόν τε τῆς θεολογίας, καί τῆς οἰκονομίας λόγον. Εἰ γάρ πεισθῆναι δεῖ τοῖς ἁγίοις Πατράσι, λέγουσιν, Ὧν ἡ ἐνέργεια μία, τούτων καί ἡ οὐσία μία· τετράδα ποιεῖτε τήν ἁγίαν Τριάδα, ὡς ὁμοφυοῦς τῷ Λόγῳ γενομένης τῆς αὐτοῦ σαρκός, καί ἐκστάσης τῆς πρός ἡμᾶς καί τῆς αὐτόν τεκούσης συγγενοῦς κατά φύσιν ταυτότητος.

S'. Καί πάλιν, ἀναιροῦντες τάς ἐνεργείας, καί μίαν κυροῦντες θέλησιν θεότητος

τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἀνθρωπότητος, ἀφαιρεῖσθε αὐτοῦ τήν τῶν ἀγαθῶν διανομήν. Ἐάν