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to come together was unfitting, but not so great an evil; but in this case it is the deposition from our priesthood, if we should celebrate the liturgy with him. Let him be the oikonomos; why does he also celebrate the liturgy unworthily? Is there no priest left? But if it seems as nothing to those celebrating the liturgy with him, they will see what they are doing. They will spare our humility, who are content and have said nothing until the present, but have managed things through these two years, since he entered, so that we might get through it more peacefully, our good masters, mediators and judges of what is just, lovers of those who speak freely in truth, as their own precious mouth often declares. Let the priests bear things in a priestly manner, either let them persuade or they will be persuaded. But if nothing of the sort happens, but even for us just to mutter is intolerable, God is watching, than whom no one is greater, whose fear alone is fearful and the tribunal from there, before which we will all stand to be judged for all things. But we beg your goodness and, as if rolling before your precious footsteps, we entreat and beseech you to show mercy to us and a common benefit to our pious emperors themselves, to the most holy patriarch, and to the whole church, not only our own but also that throughout the whole world, so that this one man may cease for the glory of God and His church may not be disturbed. But if not, then the second best thing is for us to remain in the same state as in these ten years. For the rest, even if they are ten thousand, hierarchs and priests and abbots in communion with him, it is not surprising; since they themselves even associated with the adulterer and no one has said anything. These things God, through us, even if it is bold to say, both exhorts and proclaims and as you command. 23 {1To the same}1 Nothing of what you have now shown us, holy father, is so grievous as the unwillingness of our pious masters for us to come as is customary and be deemed worthy of their precious veneration and to give the farewell and prayerful words as everyone does on their departure. But surely their gentle and unresentful and Christ-imitating heart would not do this whole thing to our humility; since it knows how to be reconciled even with enemies, and surely not us, who love and revere them with a true heart. Your holiness has submitted our humble replies most excellently to their sacred ears. And that they have consented, may this be due to their magnanimous, God-given understanding; for they know how to judge divine things rightly, as they are filled with wisdom and replete with the knowledge of God. He commands to ask for what reason we gave ourselves over to the hierarchy, when the error was known. And to this we answer with reverence that, as far as it concerned us, we did not wish it, on the one hand because of the danger of the office, and on the other because of this very matter of the oikonomos. But since the Thessalonians came, beseeching as if from the whole city, and our good masters agreeing with the decree, we were afraid not to obey and to oppose both God and our pious masters, reasoning that it is possible, when the ordination takes place by our own bishops, to escape the aforementioned danger. For as to what comes after, on the one hand because he is settled far from here, and on the other because it is possible even while visiting to be on one's guard in many ways, then also because deaths occur and the scandal is removed from the midst, just as it has happened for our own humble selves sitting here to have been preserved until the present by using economy; for one must give way to temptations as much as possible, especially for those not holding the rank of a bishop. For these reasons, with God as our witness, we gave ourselves over, thinking, so that we might also say this, that it was not at all unknown to our pious masters, who know things that are distant and far away through their extreme astuteness, and indeed not even to the most holy patriarch himself, since we had also written the matter to him at that time; as we, for this reason, in order not to have communion with the one who crowned the adulterer and with the one who preceded him

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μὲν συνελθεῖν ἄτοπον ἦν, πλὴν οὐ τοσοῦτον κακόν, ὧδε δὲ καθαίρεσις ἡμῶν τῆς ἱερωσύνης, ἐὰν συλλειτουργήσωμεν. ἔστω οἰκονόμος· τί καὶ ἀναξίως συλλειτουργεῖ; ἐξέλιπεν πρεσβύτερος; εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν δοκεῖ τοῖς συλλειτουργοῦσιν αὐτῷ, ὄψονται ἐφ' οἷς πράττουσιν. φείσονται ἡμῶν τῆς ταπεινώσεως, στεργόντων καὶ μηδὲν ἕως τοῦ παρόντος λαλησάντων, ἀλλ' οἰκονομησάντων ἐν τοῖς δυσὶν ἔτεσι τούτοις, ἐξ ὅτε εἰσῆλθεν, ἵνα οὕτως εἰρηνικώτερον διεξέλθωμεν, οἱ δεσπόται ἡμῶν οἱ ἀγαθοί, μεσῖται καὶ κριταὶ τοῦ δικαίου, φιληταὶ τῶν παρρησιαζομένων ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ὡς αὐτὸ τὸ τίμιον αὐτῶν στόμα πολλάκις διαγορεύει. ἐνέγκωσιν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἱερῶς, ἢ πείσωσιν ἢ πεισθήσονται. εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ γρύξαι ἡμᾶς μόνον οὐκ ἀνεκτόν, θεὸς ἐφορᾷ, οὗ μείζων οὐδείς, οὗ μόνος ὁ φόβος φοβερὸς καὶ τὸ ἐκεῖθεν δικαστήριον, ᾧ πάντες παραστησόμεθα εὐθυνόμενοι κατὰ πάντα. Ἀλλὰ δεόμεθά σου τῆς ἀγαθότητος καὶ ὡς προκυλινδούμενοι τοῖς τιμίοις σου ἴχνεσιν παρακαλοῦμεν καὶ ἀντιβολοῦμεν ποιῆσαι ἔλεος μεθ' ἡμῶν καὶ κοινὸν ὄφελος αὐτοῖς τε τοῖς εὐσεβέσιν ἡμῶν βασιλεῦσιν τῷ τε ἁγιωτάτῳ πατριάρχῃ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, οὐ τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ ἀνὰ πάσῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ, ἵνα παύσῃ ὁ εἷς εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ καὶ μὴ ταραχθῇ ἡ αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησία. εἰ δὲ μή γε, ἀλλὰ τό γε δεύτερον τὸ ἐπιμεῖναι ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς δέκα ἔτεσι τούτοις. οἱ γὰρ λοιποὶ κἂν μυρίοι ὦσιν, ἱεράρχαι καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ ἡγούμενοι κοινωνοῦντες αὐτῷ, οὐ θαυμαστόν· ἐπεὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ συνῆλθον τῷ μοιχεύσαντι καὶ οὐδείς τι λελάληκεν. ταῦτα θεὸς δι' ἡμῶν, εἰ καὶ τολμηρὸν εἰπεῖν, καὶ παρακαλεῖ καὶ προσφθέγγεται καὶ ὡς κελεύεις. 23 {1Τῷ αὐτῷ}1 Οὐδὲν ὧν δεδήλωκας ἡμῖν τὸ παρόν, ἅγιε πάτερ, λυπηρόν, ὅσον τὸ μὴ θέλειν τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς ἡμῶν δεσπότας ἐλθεῖν ἡμᾶς κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες καὶ ἀξιωθῆναι τῆς τιμίας αὐτῶν προσκυνήσεως καὶ τοὺς προπεμπτικοὺς καὶ εὐκτηρίους ὡς πᾶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατὰ τὴν ἔξοδον αὐτῶν ἀποδοῦναι λόγους. ἀλλ' οὐ πάντως ἡ εὐμείλικτος καὶ ἀμνησίκακος καὶ χριστομίμητος αὐτῶν καρδία τοῦτο ὅλον ποιήσειεν εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν ταπείνωσιν· ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς οἶδεν διαλλάττεσθαι, οὐχὶ δὲ ἡμᾶς, τοὺς ἀληθινῇ καρδίᾳ φιλοῦντας καὶ σέβοντας αὐτούς. ἄριστα δὲ ὑπέβαλεν ἡ ἁγιωσύνη σου τὰς τῆς εὐτελείας ἡμῶν ἀποκρίσεις ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς αὐτῶν ἀκοαῖς. καὶ ὅτι κατένευσαν, τῆς αὐτῶν εἴη μεγαλόφρονος θεοσυνεσίας· καὶ γὰρ ἴσασι τὰ θεῖα κρίνειν εὐθυβόλως, ὡς σοφίας μεμεστωμένοι καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ ἀνάπλεοι. κελεύει δὲ ἐρωτᾶν, τίνος χάριν ἐπεδώκαμεν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὴν ἱεραρχίαν, ἐγνωσμένου ὄντος τοῦ σφάλματος. καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο μετ' αἰδοῦς ἀποκρινόμεθα ὅτι, ὅσον τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς, οὐκ ἐβουλόμεθα, τὸ μὲν διὰ τὸ ἐπικίνδυνον τοῦ ἀξιώματος, τὸ δὲ δι' αὐτὸ ἤδη τὸ λεγόμενον τοῦ οἰκονόμου. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐλήλυθαν οἱ Θεσσαλονικεῖς, ἱκετεύοντες ὡς ἐκ πάσης τῆς πόλεως, οἵ τε δεσπόται ἡμῶν οἱ ἀγαθοὶ συνεπιτιθέμενοι τῷ ψηφίσματι, δέος ἡμῖν ἐγένετο μὴ ὑπακοῦσαι καὶ ἀντιφέρεσθαι θεῷ τε καὶ τοῖς εὐσεβέσιν ἡμῶν δεσπόταις, λογισάμενοι ὅτι δυνατός ἐστιν, ἡνίκα ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων ἐπισκόπων ἡ χειροτονία γίγνεται, φυγεῖν τὸν προκείμενον κίνδυνον. πρὸς γὰρ τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα, τὸ μὲν ὅτι πόρρω τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἀποικίζεται, τὸ δὲ ὅτι ἐγχωρεῖ καὶ ἐπιδημοῦντα φυλάττεσθαι κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους, εἶτα ὅτι καὶ θάνατοι συμβαίνουσιν καὶ ἐκ μέσου γίνεται τὸ σκάνδαλον, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν τῶν ταπεινῶν ὧδε καθημένων συνέβη διαφυλαχθῆναι ἕως τοῦ παρόντος οἰκονομίᾳ χρωμένων· δεῖ γὰρ ἐφ' ὅσον οἷόν τε ὑποχωρεῖν τοὺς πειρασμούς, ἄλλως τε καὶ μὴ ἐπισκοπῆς ἐχόντων ἀξίωμα. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ὡς ἐπὶ μάρτυρι θεῷ ἐπεδώκαμεν ἑαυτούς, δοκοῦντες, ἵνα καὶ τοῦτο εἴπωμεν, μηδὲ ἠγνοημένον εἶναι πάντως τοῖς εὐσεβέσιν ἡμῶν δεσπόταις, εἰδόσι τὰ πόρρω καὶ μακρὰν δι' ἄκραν ἀγχίνοιαν, ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ αὐτῷ τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ πατριάρχῃ, ἐπεὶ κἀκείνῳ τηνικαῦτα γεγράφαμεν τὴν ὑπόθεσιν· ὡς ἡμεῖς γε τούτου χάριν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ κοινωνῆσαι τῷ στεφανώσαντι τὸν μοιχὸν καὶ τῷ προηγησαμένῳ