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a common possession, both the hope of the resurrection and the will of the one who wisely orders our affairs. For one must accept the things decreed by ineffable wisdom and consider these things in every way advantageous; for those who use these pious reasonings will both receive the rewards of piety and will live more cheerfully, having been freed from the immoderation of laments. But those who have been enslaved by passion will gain nothing by lamenting, but will live grievously and will provoke the guardian of all things. Let your magnificence therefore accept a fatherly exhortation, and utter that wonderful saying: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has come to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. 16 TO BISHOP IRENAEUS. It is not possible, as it seems, to expect anything good. For not only has it not ceased, but also each day, so to speak, the storm of the Church reaches its peak. And those who are calling the synod have come, and they have delivered the letters of summons to some other metropolitans, and to ours. And I have sent a copy of the letters to your holiness, so that you may know, master, that according to the poetic saying, evil is supported by evil, and we need only the goodness of the Master to stop the surge. For this is easy for him, but we are unworthy of the calm. But the grace of endurance is sufficient for us, so that through it we may become stronger than those who fight against us. For the divine Apostle also taught us to ask for this. For he will, he says, with the trial also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. But I beseech your God-lovingness to silence the fault-finders and to persuade them that it is not right for those who are, as the saying goes, outside the range of the arrows, to mock those who are drawn up for battle, both being shot at and shooting. For what difference does it make for the combatant to use this weapon or that and to strike down the opponent? For not even the great David, using full armor, brought down the champion of the foreigners. But Samson, using the jawbone of a donkey, struck down a thousand at one time. And no one finds fault with the victory nor accuses the champion of cowardice, because he did not conquer his opponents by brandishing a spear and holding forth his shield and throwing many javelins or drawing bows. So therefore one must also examine those who contend for piety, and not seek names that stir up strife, but thoughts clearly proclaiming the truth and filling with shame those who dare to oppose. For what difference does it make to name the holy Virgin bearer of man and at the same time bearer of God, or to call her mother and servant of the one born, and to add that she is mother as of the man, our Lord Jesus Christ, but servant as of God, and to be silent on that which provides a pretext for slander, but to express the same thought, using a different appellation? In addition to these things, one must also consider that the one is a common name, but the other is proper to the Virgin; and that about this the whole dispute has arisen, as it ought not to have. And most of the ancient Fathers have applied the more honorable appellation to the Virgin; and your God-fearingness has done this both in two and in three discourses. And I have some of these, which your God-lovingness sent to me; and you did not pair "bearer of man" with "bearer of God," master, but with other names you indicated its meaning. But since you find fault with me also for having left out the holy and blessed Fathers Diodore and Theodore in the list of teachers, I considered it necessary to discuss this briefly also. For in the first place, O dear friend to me, many other men, distinguished and exceedingly illustrious, who have lived.

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κοινὸν καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ τοῦ σοφῶς τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκονομοῦντος τὸ βούλημα. Στέργειν γὰρ χρὴ τὰ παρὰ τῆς ἀρρήτου σοφίας πρυτανευόμενα καὶ ταῦτα πάντως νομίζειν συμφέροντα· οἱ γὰρ τοῖς εὐσεβέσι τούτοις χρώμενοι λογισμοῖς, καὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας κομιοῦνται τὰς ἀντιδόσεις καὶ θυμηρέστε ρον βιοτεύσουσι, τῆς τῶν θρήνων ἀμετρίας ἀπαλλαγέντες. Οἱ δὲ τῷ πάθει δουλωθέντες, οὐδὲν μὲν κερδανοῦσιν ὀλοφυρόμε νοι, ἀνιαρῶς δὲ βιώσονται καὶ παροξυνοῦσι τῶν ὅλων τὸν κηδεμόνα. ∆εξάσθω τοίνυν ἡ μεγαλοπρέπειά σου παραίνεσιν πατρικήν, καὶ τὴν θαυμασίαν ἐκείνην εἰπάτω φωνήν· Ὁ Κύ ριος ἔδωκεν, ὁ Κύριος ἀφείλετο· ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ ἔδο ξεν, οὕτως καὶ ἐγένετο· εἴη τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου εὐλο γημένον εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας . 16 ΕΙΡΗΝΑΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ. Οὐκ ἔστιν, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐδὲν προσδοκῆσαι χρηστόν. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον οὐκ ἐλώφησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ἡμέραν κορυφοῦται τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡ ζάλη. Ἧκον δὲ καὶ οἱ τὴν σύνοδον συγκαλοῦντες, καὶ ἀπέδωκαν ἄλλοις τέ τισι τῶν μητροπολιτῶν, καὶ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ, τὰ τῆς κλήσεως γράμματα. Ἀπέστειλα δὲ καὶ τῶν γραμμάτων τὸ ἴσον τῇ σῇ ὁσιότητι, ἵνα γνῷς, δέσποτα, ὡς κατὰ τὸν ποιητικὸν λόγον, κακὸν κακῷ ἐστήρικται, καὶ δεῖ μόνης ἡμῖν τῆς ∆εσποτικῆς ἀγαθότητος, ἵνα παύσῃ τὸν κλύδωνα. Ῥᾴδιον μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦτο, ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς τῆς γαλήνης ἀνάξιοι. Ἀρκεῖ δὲ ἡμῖν τῆς ὑπομονῆς ἡ χάρις, ὡς ἂν διὰ ταύτης κρείττους τῶν πολεμούντων γενοί μεθα. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος ἐδίδαξεν ἡμᾶς ἐξαι τεῖν. Ποιήσει γὰρ, φησί, σὺν τῷ πειρασμῷ καὶ τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑπενεγκεῖν . Τὴν δὲ σὴν φιλο θείαν παρακαλῶ ἐπιστομίζειν τοὺς μωμοσκόπους καὶ πείθειν ὡς οὐ χρὴ τοὺς ἔξω τῶν βελῶν, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, ὄντας σκώ πτειν τοὺς παραταττομένους, καὶ βαλλομένους καὶ βάλλον τας. Τί γὰρ διαφέρει τῷ τοιῷδε ὅπλῳ ἢ τοιῷδε τὸν ἀγωνιζό μενον χρήσασθαι καὶ καταβαλεῖν τὸν ἀντίπαλον; οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ παντευχίᾳ χρησάμενος κατήνεγκε τῶν ἀλλοφύ λων τὸν πρόμαχον. Ὁ δὲ Σαμψὼν ὄνου σιαγόνι χρησάμενος χιλίους κατὰ ταὐτὸν κατηκόντισε. Καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπιμέμφεται τῇ νίκῃ οὐδὲ δειλίαν τοῦ ἀριστέως κατηγορεῖ, ὅτι μὴ δόρυ κινῶν καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα προβαλλόμενος καὶ πολλὰ ἀκοντίζων ἢ τόξα τείνων τοὺς ἀντιπάλους νενίκηκεν. Οὕτω τοιγαροῦν καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγωνιζομένους ἐξετάζειν χρή, καὶ μὴ ζητεῖν ὀνόματα τὴν ἔριν ἐγείροντα, ἀλλ' ἐνθυμήματα σαφῶς κηρύττοντα τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τοὺς ἀντιτείνειν τολμῶντας αἰσχύνης ἀναπιμπλάντα. Τί γὰρ διαφέρει ἀνθρωποτόκον ὁμοῦ καὶ Θεοτόκον ὀνομάσαι τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον, ἢ καλέσαι αὐτὴν τοῦ τεχθέντος μητέρα καὶ δούλην, καὶ ἐπαγαγεῖν ὅτι μήτηρ μέν ἐστιν ὡς ἀνθρώπου τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δούλη δὲ ὡς Θεοῦ, καὶ τὸ μὲν πρόφασιν συκοφαντίας παρέχον σιγῆ σαι, τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ φάναι διάνοιαν, ἑτέρᾳ κεχρημένον προσ ηγορίᾳ; Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις κἀκεῖνο χρὴ συνιδεῖν, ὡς τὸ μὲν κοι νόν ἐστιν ὄνομα, τὸ δὲ ἴδιον τῆς Παρθένου· καὶ ὅτι περὶ τούτου πᾶσα ἡ διαμάχη γεγένηται, ὡς οὐκ ὤφελεν. Καὶ οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ τῶν ἀρχαίων Πατέρων τὴν ἐντιμοτέραν ἐπέθεσαν τῇ Παρθένῳ προσηγορίαν· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἡ σὴ πεποίηκε θεοσέ βεια καὶ ἐν δύο καὶ ἐν τρισὶ λόγοις. Ἔχω δὲ τούτων ἐνίους, τῆς σῆς μοι πεμψάσης φιλοθεΐας· καὶ τῷ Θεοτόκος τὸ ἀν θρωποτόκος οὐ παρέζευξας, δέσποτα, ἑτέροις δὲ ὀνόμασι τὴν τούτου διάνοιαν παρεδήλωσας. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐπιμέμφεσθέ μοι καὶ ὡς τοὺς ἁγίους καὶ μακα ρίους καταλελοιπότι Πατέρας ∆ιόδωρον καὶ Θεόδωρον ἐν τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν διδασκάλων, ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμην καὶ περὶ τού του βραχέα διεξελθεῖν. Πρῶτον μὲν γάρ, ὦ φίλη μοι κεφαλή, πολλοὺς καὶ ἄλλους περιφανεῖς ἄνδρας καὶ λαμπροὺς ἄγαν γεγενημένους.