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to suffer, and that those who suffer well are wronged. 135.2 Such then are our affairs. And if we do not persuade others, we wish at least you yourself to know above all, to whom we gladly render an account of our affairs, or rather we are persuaded that you know and persuade those who are ignorant. 135.3 But for you, I beg, let there be every effort now at least, even if not before, to be of one mind and to bring to unity the parts of the world that are grievously divided, and especially if you should find them divided not over the doctrine of the faith, but over their own pettinesses, which is what I have observed. 135.4 Thus, your ability to do so would also be rewarded; and for us our withdrawal would be less painful, if we might appear not to have seized it in vain, but to have voluntarily cast ourselves into the sea, like that Jonah, so that the surge might cease and those who sail might be safely saved. But if they are tossed by the storm no less, our part at least has been contributed. 136.T TO MODARIUS 136.1 To us you are both kinsman and friend and whatever else of this sort one might say. For piety has joined us, and the renown of your virtue, which we have come to know in you, as you have clearly shown that "Greek" and "barbarian" are a difference of bodies, not of souls, and a separation of places, but not of manners or of principles. 136.2 Would that many of our race might imitate your nobility, and I know that all things will be well with us, both in public and in private. 136.3 But I ask that, just as you end the external war with your own right hand and intelligence, nobly standing up for us, so too may you resolve our own, as much as lies in your power, by striving for a peaceful outcome for the bishops who have now gathered. 136.4 For to come together often, but to find no end to the evils but always to add disturbances to disturbances, is a matter of greater shame, as you yourself know. 137.T TO THE SAME 137.1 For a long time I have longed to greet your honor, and thanks be to God who has given the opportunity. And seeking how I might repay the one who is delivering the letter to you, I found this to be the best way, to entrust him to your authority. 137.2 Deign to look upon him with favor, partly for our sake as well, since he is both mine and yours; our housemate, but your soldier (I mean Theodore, who now approaches you through us), so that he too may be sensible of the honor with which we have always been honored by you and are still honored now. 138.T TO BOSPORIUS 138.1 I thought indeed that an apology was owed to me by you even for former matters, so old-fashioned and foolish am I. But since you do not cease making war on us, but always contend against our former efforts and devise new insults upon insults, I do not know for what reason, whether hating us, or gratifying others with our dishonor, 138.2 these things we will leave for God both to know and to judge, from whom nothing of existing things is hidden, as the divine Scripture says, even if we stir up the face of truth for the sake of decorum before the many. 138.3 But we announce good news to your reverence: we are defeated, and we shall not hesitate, if God grants, to care for the Church as far as we are able (since this is what you are contending for, and especially as the time is pressing because of the expected invasion of the enemy, as you yourself write); 138.4 but we will make use of this humble body for God, as long as it lasts and we have strength, so that we may not have a burden, being thus condemned by you and cried down by the whole clergy who oppress us with all sorts of lamentations, and seeing the Church neglected and offending the many, as if we were despising the affairs of the Church; nor may you grow weary any longer dishonoring us. 138.5 And this we will do by your prayers, if you yourself shrink from the leadership of the Church, as you both say yourself and the facts persuade. For it is better to die in those cares than in these, since it is altogether necessary to suffer hardship, as God so shapes our affairs. 139.T TO THEODORE 139.1 He who took up David His own servant from being a shepherd to a kingdom, and your reverence to be a shepherd from the flock, who orders according to His own will the things

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πάσχειν, καὶ καλῶς πάσχοντας ἀδικεῖσθαι. 135.2 Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα. Καὶ εἰ μὴ τοὺς ἄλλους πείθομεν, αὐτόν γέ σε ἀντὶ πάντων εἰδέναι βουλόμεθα, ᾧ λόγον ὑπέχομεν ἡδέως τῶν ἡμετέρων, μᾶλλον δὲ εἰδέναι πεπείσμεθα καὶ πείθειν τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας. 135.3 Ὑμῖν δέ, παρακαλῶ, πᾶσα σπουδὴ γενέσθω νῦν γοῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον, συμφρονῆσαι καὶ εἰς ἓν ἐλθεῖν τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης τμήματα κακῶς διεστῶτα, καὶ μάλιστα εἰ λάβοιτε αὐτοὺς οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων μικροψυχιῶν διεστῶτας, ὅπερ ἐγὼ τετήρηκα. 135.4 Οὕτω καὶ ὑμῖν ἔμμισθον ἂν εἴη τὸ δύνασθαι· καὶ ἡμῖν ἡ ἀναχώρη σις ἀλυποτέρα, εἰ φανείημεν μὴ κενῶς ταύτην ἁρπάσαντες, ἀλλ' ἑκοντὶ ῥίψαντες ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς κατὰ πελάγους, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰωνᾶς ἐκεῖνος, ἵν' ὁ κλύδων παύσηται καὶ σωθῶσιν ἀσφαλῶς οἱ ἐμπλέοντες. Εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον χειμάζονται, τό γε ἡμέτερον εἰσενήνεκται. 136.Τ ΜΟ∆ΑΡΙΩΙ 136.1 Ἡμῖν σὺ καὶ συγγενὴς καὶ οἰκεῖος καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἂν εἴποι τοιοῦτόν τις. Ἡ γὰρ εὐσέβεια συνῆψεν ἡμᾶς καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς εὐδόκιμον, ἣν ἐν σοὶ κατεμάθομεν δείξαντι σαφῶς ὅτι τὸ ἑλληνικὸν καὶ τὸ βάρβαρον σωμάτων, οὐ ψυχῶν ἐστι διαφορά, καὶ τόπων διάστασις, ἀλλ' οὐ τρόπων οὐδὲ προαιρέσεων. 136.2 Ἦ γένοιτο πολλοὺς τῶν ἡμετέρων τὸ γένος τὴν σὴν μιμήσασθαι καλοκἀγαθίαν, καὶ πάντα ἡμῖν οἶδ' ὅτι ἕξει καλῶς, τά τε κοινὰ καὶ τὰ ἴδια. 136.3 Παρακαλῶ δέ, ὥσπερ τὸν ἔξωθεν πόλεμον τῇ σεαυτοῦ δεξιᾷ καὶ συνέσει καταλύεις γενναίως ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἱστάμενος, οὕτω λῦσον καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον, ὅσα γέ ἐστιν ἐπὶ σοί, εἰρηνικὸν γενέσθαι τὸ τέλος τοῖς συνελθοῦσι νῦν ἐπισκόποις ἀγωνισάμενος. 136.4 Τὸ γὰρ συνιέναι μὲν πολλάκις, μηδὲν δὲ πέρας εὑρίσκεσθαι τῶν κακῶν ἀλλ' ἀεὶ προστιθέναι ταραχαῖς ταραχάς, μείζονος τῆς αἰσχύνης, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸς γινώσκεις. 137.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 137.1 Ἐπόθουν διὰ πολλοῦ προσειπεῖν σου τὴν τιμιότητα, καὶ χάρις τῷ Θεῷ δεδωκότι τὴν ἀφορμήν. Ζητῶν δὲ ὅπως ἂν ἀμειψαίμην τὸν ἐγχειρίζοντά σοι τὴν ἐπιστολήν, κάλλιστον τοῦτο εὗρον παραθέσθαι αὐτὸν τῇ σῇ ἐξουσίᾳ. 137.2 Ὃν μέρος τι καὶ δι' ἡμᾶς ἡδέως ὁρᾶν ἀξίου, ἐμόν τε ὄντα καὶ σόν· σύνοικον μὲν ἡμέτερον, στρατιώτην δὲ σὸν (λέγω δὲ τὸν νῦν προσιόντα σοι δι' ἡμῶν Θεόδωρον), ὅπως ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς αἴσθηται τῆς τιμῆς, ἣν ἀεὶ τετιμήμεθα παρὰ σοῦ καὶ νῦν ἔτι τιμώμεθα. 138.Τ ΒΟΣΠΟΡΙΩΙ 138.1 Ἐνόμιζον μὲν καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν προτέρων χρεωστεῖσθαί μοι παρ' ὑμῶν ἀπολογίαν, οὕτως ἀρχαῖός τίς εἰμι καὶ μάταιος. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐκ ἀνίετε πολεμοῦντες ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ τοῖς προτέροις ἐπαγωνίζεσθε καὶ ταῖς ὕβρεσιν ὕβρεις προσεξευρίσκετε, οὐκ οἶδα δι' ἥντινα αἰτίαν, εἴτε ἡμᾶς μισοῦντες, εἴτε ἄλλοις τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἡμῶν χαριζόμενοι, 138.2 ταῦτα μὲν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ εἰδέναι καὶ κρίνειν παρήσομεν, ὃν λανθάνει τῶν ὄντων οὐδέν, ὅ φησιν ἡ θεία Γραφή, κἂν κυκῶμεν τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας πρόσωπον εὐπρεπείας ἕνεκεν τῆς πρὸς τοὺς πολλούς. 138.3 Εὐαγγελιζόμεθα δὲ τὴν ὑμετέραν εὐλάβειαν· ἡττήμεθα, καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἂν διδῷ Θεός, τὰ δυνατὰ φροντίζειν οὐ κατοκνήσομεν (ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο ἀγωνίζεσθε, καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ καιροῦ κατεπείγοντος διὰ τὴν προσδοκωμένην τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιδρομήν, ὡς αὐτὸς γράφεις)· 138.4 ἀλλὰ τὸ ταπεινὸν τοῦτο σῶμα χρήσομεν τῷ Θεῷ, μέχρις ἂν διαρκῇ καὶ σθένωμεν, ἵνα μήτε ἡμεῖς βάρος ἔχωμεν, οὕτω κατακρινόμενοι παρ' ὑμῶν καὶ παρὰ παντὸς τοῦ κλήρου καταβοώμενοι παντοίοις ὀδυρμοῖς ἐκθλίβοντος ἡμᾶς, καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ὁρῶντες ἀμελουμένην καὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς πλήσσοντες, ὥσπερ ὑπερορῶντες τὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· μήτε ὑμεῖς μακρότερα κάμνητε ἀτιμοῦντες ἡμᾶς. 138.5 Καὶ τοῦτο πράξομεν ταῖς ὑμετέραις εὐχαῖς, εἰ αὐτὸς ὀκνεῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὴν προστασίαν, ὡς αὐτός τε λέγεις καὶ πείθει τὰ πράγματα. Βέλτιον γὰρ ἐκείναις ἐναποθανεῖν ταῖς φροντίσιν ἢ ταύταις, ἐπειδὴ δεῖ πάντως ταλαιπωρεῖν, οὕτω τυποῦντος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ ἡμέτερα. 139.Τ ΘΕΟ∆ΩΡΩΙ 139.1 Ὁ ἀναλαβὼν ∆αυῒδ μὲν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δοῦλον ἐκ ποιμαντικῆς εἰς βασιλείαν, τὴν δὲ σὴν εὐλάβειαν εἰς ποιμαντικὴν ἀπὸ ποίμνης, ὁ οἰκονομῶν κατὰ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ θέλημα τὰ