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presence of my master? And he said: Our good and God-supported master, caring for the peace of the holy Churches of God, made a command to the God-honored pope, sending also an offering to Saint Peter, urging him to be united with the president of Constantinople; which things his pious might deigned to be sent through my mediocrity. And I said: Glory to God who made you worthy of such a ministry. But, in what way did his God-crowned serenity command the union to take place? Again he said: If you know. And you said: On the basis of the Typos. And I said: This has become impossible, as I think; for the Romans do not tolerate the luminous voices of the holy Fathers to be abolished along with the voices of the impure heretics; or the truth to be extinguished with falsehood; or the light to vanish with the darkness. For there will be nothing for us to worship, if an abolition of the divinely taught words takes place. And you said: The Typos does not make an abolition of the sacred voices, but a silence, so that we may manage peace. And I said: In the divine Scripture, silence is also an abolition. For God said through David: There are no speeches, nor words, whose voices are not heard. Therefore, if the words about God are not spoken and heard, they do not exist at all, according to the scripture. And you said: Do not draw me into matters; I am content with the holy creed. And how can you be content with the holy creed, I said, while accepting the Typos? And what harm is there in accepting the Typos and saying the creed? you said. I say: That the Typos manifestly abolishes the creed. And you said: For the Lord's sake, how? Tell me the creed, I said, and know how it is abolished by the Typos. And you began to say: I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. Stop, I said, for a little, and learn how the faith of those in Nicaea is denied. For God would not be maker, if deprived of natural will and energy, if indeed willing, but not being forced, He made heaven and earth, if David speaks truth in the Spirit: Whatever the Lord willed, He did in heaven and on earth, in the seas, and in all the abysses. But if for the sake of economy the saving faith is abolished together with impiety, such a kind of so-called economy is a complete separation from God, but not a union with God. For tomorrow the ill-named Jews will say: Let us manage peace with one another, (117) and let us be united, and let us remove circumcision, and you baptism, and let us no longer fight one another. This the Arians once proposed in writing under the great Constantine, saying: Let us remove the Homoousion and the heteroousion, and let the Churches be united. And our God-bearing Fathers did not accept it; but they chose rather to be persecuted and to die, than to silence a voice expressive of the one super-essential divinity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And this while the great Constantine was joining in the attack on those who proposed such things, as has been recorded by many who diligently wrote of the events of that time. And none of the emperors was able by middle terms to persuade the divinely-inspired fathers to compromise with the heretics of their time; but they used clear and authoritative terms, and ones appropriate to the doctrine being sought, saying manifestly, that it is the task of Priests to investigate and to define concerning the saving doctrines of the Catholic Church. And you said: What then? is not every Christian emperor also a priest? And I said: He is not; for neither does he stand at the altar, and after the consecration of the bread, elevate it, saying: The holy things for the holy. Nor does he baptize, nor perform the rite of chrism, nor does he lay on hands, and make bishops and presbyters and deacons; nor does he anoint churches, nor does he bear the symbols of the priesthood, the omophorion and the Gospel, as he does of the kingship, the crown and the purple. And how does the Scripture say that Melchizedek is a king and a priest? you said. And I said: Of the one God who is by nature king of

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παρουσίας τοῦ δεσπότου μου; Καί εἶπεν· Ὁ ἀγαθός καί θεοστήρικτος ἡμῶν δεσπότης, φροντίζων τῆς εἰρήνης τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησιῶν, ἐποίησε κέλευσιν πρός τόν θεοτίμητον πάππαν, πέμψας καί προσφοράν εἰς τόν ἅγιον Πέτρον, προτρεπόμενος αὐτόν ἑνωθῆναι τῷ προέδρῳ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως· ἅπερ πεμφθῆναι διά τῆς ἐμῆς μετριότητος κατηξίωσε τό εὐσεβές αὐτοῦ κράτος. Καί εἶπον· ∆όξα Θεῷ τῷ ποιήσαντί σε ἄξιον τῆς τοιαύτης διακονίας. Πλήν, ἐπί ποίῳ τρόπῳ γενέσθαι τήν ἕνωσιν ἡ αὐτοῦ θεοστεφής ἐκέλευσε γαληνότης; Πάλιν εἶπε· Εἴπερ οἶδας. Καί εἶπας· Ἐπί τῷ Τύπῳ. Καί ἔφην· Ἀδύνατον, ὡς οἶμαι, τοῦτο καθέστηκεν· οὐ γάρ ἀνέχονται οἱῬωμαῖοι συναναιρεθῆναι ταῖς τῶν ἀκαθάρτων αἱρετικῶν φωναῖς, τάς τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων φωτοφόρους φωνάς· ἤ τῷ ψεύδει συναποσβεσθῆναι τήν ἀλήθειαν· ἤ τῷ σκότει συναφανισθῆναι τό φῶς. Οὐδέν γάρ ἡμῖν ἔσται τό προσκυνούμενον, εἰ γένηται τῶν θεοδιδάκτων λόγων ἀναίρεσις. Καί εἶπας· Οὐκ ἀναίρεσιν τῶν ἱερῶν τύπος ποιεῖται φωνῶν, ἀλλά σιωπήν, ἵνα τήν εἰρήνην οἰκονομήσωμεν. Καί εἶπον· Ἔστι παρά τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ σιωπή καί ἀναίρεσις. Ὁ Θεός γάρ εἶπε διά τοῦ ∆αβίδ· Οὔκ εἰσί λαλίαι, οὐδέ λόγοι, ὧν οὐκ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναί αὐτῶν. Οὐκοῦν εἰ μή λαλοῦνται καί ἀκούονται οἱ περί Θεοῦ λόγοι, οὐδέ ὅλως εἰσί κατά τήν γραφήν. Καί εἶπας· Μή βάλῃς με εἰς ὕλας· ἐγώ ἀρκοῦμαι τῷ ἁγίῳ συμβόλῳ. Καί πῶς δύνασαι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀρκεῖσθαι συμβόλῳ, ἔφην, δεχόμενος τόν τύπον; Καί τί βλάπτει τό δέχεσθαι τόν τόν τύπον, καί λέγειν τό σύμβολον; ἔφης. Λέγω· Ὅτι προφανῶς ἀναιρεῖ τό σύμβολον ὁ τύπος. Καί εἶπας· ∆ιά τόν Κύριον, πῶς; Εἰπέ μοι, ἔφην, τό σύμβολον, καί γνῶθι πῶς ἀναιρεῖται ὑπό τοῦ τύπου. Καί ἤρξω τοῦ λέγειν· Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ποιητήν οὐρανοῦ καί γῆς· ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καί ἀοράτων. Ἐπίσχε, εἶπον, μικρόν, καί μάθε πῶς ἡ τῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ πίστις ἤρνηται. Ποιητής γάρ οὐκ ἄν εἴη Θεός, θελήσεως καί ἐνεργείας φυσικῆς ἐστερημένος, εἴπερ θελήσας, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀναγκασθείς ἐποίησε τόν οὐρανόν καί τήν γῆν, εἴπερ ἀληθεύει ἐν Πνεύματι ∆αβίδ· Πάντα ὅσα ἠθέλησεν ὁ Κύριος, ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καί ἐν τῇ γῇ· ἐν ταῖς θαλάσσαις, καί ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἀβύσσοις. Εἰ δέ οἰκονομίας χάριν συναναιρεῖται τῇ κακοπιστίᾳ ἡ σωτήριος πίστις, χωρισμός Θεοῦ παντελής, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἕνωσις Θεοῦ ἐστι τό τοιοῦτον εἶδος τῆς λεγομένης οἰκονομίας. Καί γάρ αὔριον οἱ δυσώνυμοι Ἰουδαῖοι λέγουσιν· Οἰκονομήσωμεν τήν πρός ἀλλήλους εἰρήνην, (117) καί ἑνωθῶμεν, καί περιέλωμεν ἡμεῖς μέν τήν περιτομήν, καί ὑμεῖς τό βάπτισμα, καί μηκέτι ἀλλήλους πολεμήσωμεν. Τοῦτο Ἀρειανοί ποτε προέτειναν ἐγγράφως ἐπί τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου, λέγοντες· Περιέλωμεν τό Ὁμοούσιον καί τό ἑτεροούσιον, καί ἑνωθῶσιν αἱ Ἐκκλησίαι. Καί οὐ κατεδέξαντο οἱ θεοφόροι Πατέρες ἡμῶν· ἀλλ' εἵλκοντο μᾶλλον διώκεσθαι καί ἀποθανεῖν, ἤ σιωπῆσαι φωνήν παραστατικήν τῆς μιᾶς τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ὑπερουσίου θεότητος. Καί ταῦτα συνεπιτιθεμένου τοῖς τά τοιαῦτα προτείνουσι τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου, καθώς πολλοῖς ἱστόρηται τοῖς φιλοπόνως τά τότε γενόμενα γράψασι. Καί οὐδείς τῶν βασιλέων ἠδυνήθη μέσαις φωναῖς πεῖσαι τούς θεηγόρους πατέρας συμβιβασθῆναι τοῖς ἐπί αὐτῶν αἱρετίζουσιν· ἀλλά ταῖς τραναῖς καί κυρίαις, καί καταλλήλοις τῷ ζητουμένῳ δόγματι ἐκέχρηντο, λέγοντες προφανῶς, ὅτι Ἱερέων ἐστί τό ζητεῖν, καί ὁρίζεσθαι περί τῶν σωτηρίων δογμάτων τῆς καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Καί εἶπας· Τί οὖν; οὐκ ἔστι πᾶς βασιλεύς Χριστιανός καί ἱερεύς; Καί εἶπον· Οὔκ ἔστιν· οὐδέ γάρ παρίσταται θυσιαστηρίῳ, καί μετά τόν ἁγιασμόν τοῦ ἄρτου ὑψοῖ αὐτόν, λέγων· Τά ἅγια τοῖς ἁγίοις. Οὔτε βαπτίζει, οὔτε μύρου τελετήν ἐπιτελεῖ, οὔτε χειροθετεῖ, καί ποιεῖ ἐπισκόπους καί πρεσβυτέρους καί διακόνους· οὔτε χρίει ναούς, οὔτε τά σύμβολα τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἐπιφέρεται, ὠμοφόριον καί τό Εὔαγγέλιον, ὥσπερ τῆς βασιλείας, τόν τε στέφανον καί τήν ἁλουργίδα. Καί πῶς ἡ Γραφή βασιλέα καί ἱερέα λέγει εἶναι τόν Μελχισεδέκ; ἔφης. Καί εἶπον· Ἑνός τοῦ φύσει βασιλέως Θεοῦ τῶν