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TO ANASTASIUS THE MONK (132) Yesterday, on the eighteenth of the month, which was holy Pentecost, the patriarch declared to me, saying: Of which Church are you? Of Byzantium? Of Rome? Of Antioch

Of Alexandria? Of Jerusalem? Behold, all of them, together with the provinces under them, have been united. If, therefore, you are of the catholic Church, be united, lest by innovating a strange path in life, you suffer what you do not expect. To them I said: The God of all declared the Catholic Church to be the correct and salvific confession of faith in Him, having blessed Peter for what he confessed well about Him. But let me learn the confession upon which the union of all the Churches has taken place; and if it has been done well, I will not be estranged from it. And they say: Although we do not have an order concerning this, we speak so that you may be altogether without excuse. We say two energies on account of the difference, and one on account of the union. Do you say that the two have become one on account of the union, or another one besides these? I said. No, they say, but the two are one on account of the union. We are free of trouble, I said, having fashioned for ourselves an unsubstantial faith and a non-existent God. For if we confuse the two into one on account of the union, and again divide them into two on account of the difference, there will be neither a monad nor a dyad of energies, as they are always canceling each other out, and rendering that to which they belong inactive, and utterly non-existent. For that which has no movement that is inalienable by nature, and that is not altered or changed by any reason of change, is, according to the Fathers, deprived of all substance, not having an energy that essentially characterizes it. Therefore, I cannot say this, nor was I taught by the holy Fathers to confess it. Do what seems good to you, since you are the authorities. Therefore listen, they said: it has been decided by the emperor and the patriarch, through a precept of the pope of Rome, that you, for not obeying, be anathematized and suffer the appointed death. Having heard this, I answered them: May that which was ordained for me by God before all ages receive its fulfillment, bringing to Him glory known before all ages. And so that you may know, and may offer additional prayer and supplication to God, I have made known to you the things that were declared, exhorting you to make these things known to the lord Theios and to our holy fathers there with him, for the sake of the same cause.

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ΠΡΟΣ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΟΝ ΜΟΝΑΖΟΝΤΑ (132) Χθές ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνός, ἥτις ἦν ἡ ἁγία Πεντηκοστή, ὁ πατριάρχης ἐδήλωσέ μοι λέγων· Ποίας Ἐκκλησίας εἶ; Βυζαντίου;Ῥώμης; Ἀντιοχείας

Ἀλεξανδρείας; Ἱεροσολύμων; Ἰδού πᾶσαι μετά τῶν ὑπ' αὐτάς ἐπαρχιῶν ἡνώθησαν. Εἰ τοίνυν εἶ τῆς καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἑνώθητι, μήπως ξένην ὁδόν τῷ βίῳ καινοτομῶν, πάθῃς ὅπερ οὐ προσδοκᾷς. Πρός οὕς εἶπον· Καθολικήν Ἐκκλησίαν, τήν ὀρθήν καί σωτήριον τῆς εἰς αὐτόν πίστεως ὁμολογίαν, Πέτρον μακαρίσας ἐφ' οἷς αὐτόν καλῶς ὡμολόγησεν, ὁ τῶν ὅλων εἶναι Θεός ἀπεφήνατο. Πλήν μάθω τήν ὁμολογίαν, ἐφ' ἥν πασῶν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν γέγονεν ἡ ἕνωσις· καί τοῦ γενομένου καλῶς, οὐκ ἀλλοτριοῦμαι. Καί φασι· Κἄν οὐκ ἔχωμεν περί τούτου κέλευσιν, λέγομεν διά τό γενέσθαι σε πάντως ἀπροφάσιστον. ∆ύο λέγομεν ἐνεργείας διά τήν διαφοράν, καί μίαν διά τήν ἕνωσιν. Τάς δύο διά τήν ἕνωσιν μίαν φατέ γεγονέναι, ἤ παρά ταύτας, εἶπον, ἑτέραν Οὐ, φασίν, ἀλλά τάς δύο μίαν διά τήν ἕνωσιν, Ἀπηλλάγημεν πραγμάτων, ἔφην, ἑαυτοῖς ἀνυπόστατον πίστιν, καί Θεόν ἀνύπαρκτον πλάσαντες. Εἰ γάρ εἰς μίαν συγχέομεν τάς δύο διά τήν ἕνωσιν, καί πάλιν εἰς δύο διαιροῦμεν διά τήν διαφοράν, οὐκ ἔσται μονάς οὔτε δυάς ἐνεργειῶν, ἀλλήλαις ἀναιρουμένων ἀεί, καί ποιουσῶν ἀνενέργητον ᾧ προσπέφηκαν, καί παντελῶς ἀνύπαρκτον. Τό γάρ μηδεμίαν ἔχον ἐκ φύσεως ἀναφαίρετον, καί μηδενί λόγῳ τροπῆς ἀλλοιουμένην καί μεταπίπτουσαν κίνησιν, πάσης οὐσίας ἐστέρηται κατά τούς Πατέρας, οὐκ ἔχον ἐνέργειαν οὐσιωδῶς αὐτό χαρακτηρίζουσαν. Τοῦτο οὖν λέγειν οὐ δύναμαι, οὔτε ἐδιδάχθην παρά τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων ὁμολογεῖν. Τό δοκοῦν ὑμῖν, οὖσιν ἐξουσιασταῖς, ποιήσατε. Οὐκοῦν ἄκουσον, ἔφησαν· ἔδοξε τῷ δεσπότῃ καί τῷ πατριάρχῃ, διά πραικέπτου τοῦ πάππαῬώμης, ἀναθεματισθῆναί σε μή πειθόμενον, καί τόν ὁριζόμενον αὐτοῖς ἀπενέγκασθαι θάνατον. Τό τῷ Θεῷ πρό παντός αἰῶνος ὁρισθέν ἐν ἐμοί δέξοιτο πέρας, φέρον αὐτῷ δόξαν πρό παντός ἐγνωσμένην αἰῶνος, αὐτοῖς τοῦτο ἀκούσας ἀπεκρινάμην. Καί πρός τό γνῶναί σε, καί προσθήκην εὐχῆς τῷ Θεῷ ποιήσασθαι καί δεήσεως, ἐμφανῆ σοι τά δηλωθέντα πεποίηκα, παρακαλῶν τῷ κυρίῳ Θείῳ, καί τοῖς ἐκεῖ σύν αὐτῷ πατράσιν ἡμῶν ἁγίοις γνώριμα καταστῆσαι ταῦτα, τῆς αὐτῆς χάριν αἰτίας.