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having presented the scribe, I have babbled out this letter to your Eloquence, as if in a dream; and I pray not through paper and ink, but through my own voice and tongue, to always recount the good things about you both to you yourself and to those who love you.

21. To Ablabius [bishop]

21.1 There is a certain art of hunting pigeons of this kind: when of one they gain control

those who are zealous in such things become, and have made it tame to the hand and a table-companion for themselves, then, having lightly smeared its wings with perfume, they allow it to flock with the ones outside; and the fragrance of the perfume makes this wild flock tame for the one who sent it forth; for toward the fragrant one(s) the rest both follow along 21.2 and are brought into the house. But with what intention do I begin from this? Because my son Basil, formerly Diogenes, having anointed the wings of his soul with divine perfume, I have sent out to your Dignity, so that you too might fly up with him and reach the nest, which the 21.3 aforementioned has built among us. If these things should happen and I should see in my lifetime your Nobility also transferred to the higher life, I would pay in full the thanksgiving owed by me to God.

22. To the bishops

22.1 Three were the days that held the prophet in the sea-monster, but nevertheless the

Jonah was disheartened; but I have been for so long a time among the unrepentant Ninevites, held in the bowels of the beast, and not yet have I been able 22.2 to be vomited from this gaping maw. Pray therefore to the Lord that the grace may be perfected, so that the command may come that delivers from this distress and I may reach my own tent and rest under it.

23. Without address

23.1 I spare many words, since I spare your labors.

Remember your own, and all will be well with Phaidimos. The favor needs speed; so far our exhortation.

24. To Heraclianus, a heretic

24.1 The doctrine of sound faith for those who piously the divinely-inspired

utterances accept has its strength in its simplicity and of no rational subtlety has need for the presentation of the truth, being in itself intelligible and clear from the first tradition, which we received from the voice of the Lord when he delivered the mystery of salvation in the bath of rebirth: For "Go," he says, "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." 24.2 For dividing the Christian way of life into two, into both the ethical part and the precision of dogmas, He secured the saving dogma in the tradition of baptism, and He commands our life to be set right through the observance of His 24.3 commandments. But the part concerning the commandments, as it brings lesser harm to the soul, has been left unassailed by the devil; but upon the more authoritative and greater part all the effort of the adversary has been placed, of the

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παραστησάμενος τὸν ὑπογράφοντα, ταύτην σου τῇ λογιότητι καθάπερ ἐνύπνιον τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀπελήρησα· εὔχομαι δὲ μὴ διὰ χάρτου καὶ μέλανος, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτῆς τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ φωνῆς τε καὶ γλώττης τὰ παρὰ σοὶ καλά σοί τε αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσί σε διὰ παντὸς διηγεῖσθαι.

21.τ Ἀβλαβίῳ [ἐπισκόπῳ]

21.1 Τέχνη τίς ἐστι περιστερῶν θηρευτικὴ τοιαύτη· ὅταν τῆς μιᾶς ἐγκρατεῖς

γένωνται οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα σπουδάζοντες χειροήθη τε ταύτην καὶ ὁμόσιτον ἑαυτοῖς ἀπεργάσωνται, τότε μύρῳ τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτῆς ὑποχρίσαντες ἐῶσι συναγελασθῆναι ταῖς ἔξωθεν· ἡ δὲ τοῦ μύρου τῇ εὐωδίᾳ τὴν αὐτόνομον ταύτην ἀγέλην τιθασὸν ποιεῖται τῷ προεμένῳ· πρὸς γὰρ τὰς εὐπνοούσας καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ συνεφέπονταί τε 21.2 καὶ εἰσοικίζονται. τί δὲ βουλόμενος ἐντεῦθεν προοιμιάζομαι; ὅτι τὸν υἱὸν Βασίλειον τόν ποτε ∆ιογένην τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ πτέρυγας διαχρίσας ἐξέπεμψα πρὸς τὴν σὴν σεμνοπρέπειαν, ὥστε καὶ σὲ αὐτῷ συναναπτῆναι καὶ καταλαβεῖν τὴν καλιάν, ἣν παρ' ἡμῖν ὁ 21.3 προειρημένος ἐπήξατο. εἰ ταῦτα γένοιτο καὶ ἴδοιμι ἐπὶ τῆς ἐμῆς ζωῆς καὶ τὴν σὴν εὐγένειαν πρὸς τὸν ὑψηλότερον βίον μεταθεμένην, τὴν χρεωστουμένην παρ' ἐμοῦ τῷ θεῷ εὐχαριστίαν <ἂν> ἀποπληρώσαιμι.

22.τ Τοῖς ἐπισκόποισ

22.1 Τρεῖς ἦσαν ἡμέραι αἱ τὸν προφήτην ἐν τῷ κήτει κατέχουσαι, ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ

Ἰωνᾶς ἠκηδίασεν· ἐγὼ δὲ τοσοῦτον χρόνον ἔχω ἐν τοῖς ἀμετανοήτοις Νινευΐταις, ἐν τοῖς σπλάγχνοις τοῦ θηρίου κρατούμενος, καὶ οὔπω ἐξεμηθῆναι 22.2 τῆς ἀχανοῦς ταύτης φάρυγγος ἠδυνήθην. εὔξασθε οὖν τῷ κυρίῳ τελειωθῆναι τὴν χάριν, ἵνα ἔλθῃ τὸ πρόσταγμα τὸ τῆς συνοχῆς ταύτης ῥυόμενον καὶ καταλάβω τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ σκηνὴν καὶ ὑπ' αὐτὴν ἀναπαύσωμαι.

23.τ Ἀνεπίγραφοσ

23.1 Φείδομαι πολλῶν λόγων, ἐπειδὴ φείδομαι τῶν σῶν καμάτων.

ὑπομνήσθητι τῶν σεαυτοῦ, καὶ πάντα ἕξει τῷ Φαιδίμῳ καλῶς. τάχους χρεία τῇ χάριτι· μέχρι τούτου ἡμῶν ἡ παράκλησις.

24.τ Ἡρακλειανῷ αἱρετικῷ

24.1 Ὁ τῆς ὑγιαινούσης πίστεως λόγος τοῖς εὐγνωμόνως τὰς θεοπνεύστους

φωνὰς παραδεχομένοις ἐν τῇ ἁπλότητι τὴν ἰσχὺν ἔχει καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς λόγου περινοίας εἰς παράστασιν τῆς ἀληθείας προσδεῖται, αὐτόθεν ὢν ληπτὸς καὶ σαφὴς ἐκ τῆς πρώτης παραδόσεως, ἣν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου φωνῆς παρελάβομεν ἐν τῷ λουτρῷ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας τὸ τῆς σωτηρίας μυστήριον παραδόντος· Πορευθέντες γάρ, φησί, μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, διδάσκοντες τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· 24.2 διαιρῶν γὰρ εἰς δύο τὴν τῶν Χριστιανῶν πολιτείαν, εἴς τε τὸ ἠθικὸν μέρος καὶ εἰς τὴν <τῶν> δογμάτων ἀκρίβειαν, τὸ μὲν σωτήριον δόγμα ἐν τῇ τοῦ βαπτίσματος παραδόσει κατησφαλίσατο, τὸν δὲ βίον ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς τηρήσεως τῶν ἐντο24.3 λῶν αὐτοῦ κατορθοῦσθαι κελεύει. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς μέρος, ὡς μικροτέραν φέρον τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν ζημίαν, ἠφείθη παρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου ἀπαρεγχείρητον· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ κυριωτέρου καὶ μείζονος ἡ πᾶσα γέγονε τοῦ ἀντικειμένου σπουδή, τοῦ