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good things. But it is fitting for your Magnificence to bring to bear zeal for the apostolic faith, that you may receive in return for it a recompense from the God of all. 99 TO CLAUDIANUS THE ANTIGRAPHEUS. I think that your Magnificence, although not yet joined to us, also knows the obviousness of the slander that has arisen against us. For he has often heard us discoursing in church, both proclaiming the one Lord Jesus, and showing the properties of both the divinity and the humanity. For we do not divide the one into two sons, but adoring one Only-Begotten, we show the difference of the flesh and the divinity. But this, I think, even those who hold the opinions of Arius confess, and they do not call the flesh divinity, nor indeed do they address the divinity as flesh. For the divine Scripture clearly teaches us both this nature and that. But nevertheless, though these things are always said by us in this way, some people weave false reports against us. But we, trusting in our conscience and having as a witness of our teaching the Overseer of thoughts, consider the fabrics of slander to be a spider's web, according to the Prophet. For we await that judgment which does not need words, but makes clear the things that were previously hidden. I am writing these things through the most God-beloved bishops, thinking it a priority to greet your Magnificence through them and to remind you of the promise. For not even when I am being warred against do I refrain from hunting. For I know that the holy apostles also, while being cast at, always used the spiritual net. 100 TO ALEXANDRA. I recently received the letter from your august person, and having learned of the zeal you have shown on our behalf, I gave thanks, and I beseeched the Master of all both to preserve your present good things and to increase them with additions and to grant the enjoyment of those things that are to come and are eternal. But we believe that he hears even those who are in confinement, or rather much more than these, since it is for the sake of his divine teaching that they endure their apparent accusation. I am writing these things through the most God-beloved bishops, exhorting them to enjoy your care. For they chose this long journey for the sake of the evangelical faith and for the sake of the peace of the Churches. 101 TO CELERINA THE DEACONESS. The war against us has been kindled again, and the avenging spirit of men, having yielded for a little while, has again armed against us those who have been nurtured in falsehood. They, openly slandering us, say that we divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons. But we know the difference between the divinity and the humanity; and we confess one Son, the incarnate God the Word. And we say that he is God before the ages and became man at the end of the days not by a change of the divinity, but by the assumption of the humanity. But I am doing a superfluous thing in teaching your God-loving self what I think, since you know precisely what we preach and teach to those who are ignorant. I exhort, therefore, since the workers of falsehood have poured out their abuse upon all the most God-beloved bishops of the East together and have filled the Churches with a storm, that your God-fearing self bring to bear what zeal you can on behalf of the evangelical doctrines and the peace of the Churches. For it is indeed for these reasons that
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ἀγαθά. Τὴν δὲ σὴν μεγαλο πρέπειαν τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς πίστεως εἰσενεγκεῖν προσήκει σπουδήν, ἵνα τὴν ὑπὲρ ταύτης ἀντίδοσιν παρὰ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων κομίσηται. 99 ΚΛΑΥ∆ΙΑΝΩ ΑΝΤΙΓΡΑΦΕΙ. Οἶμαι καὶ τὴν σὴν εἰδέναι μεγαλοπρέπειαν, καίτοι μηδέπω συναφθεῖσαν ἡμῖν, τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν γεγενημένης συκοφαντίας τὸ προφανές. Πολλάκις γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ διαλεγομένων ἀκήκοεν, καὶ τὸν ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν κηρυττόντων, καὶ δεικ νύντων τά τε τῆς θεότητος, τά τε τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἴδια. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς δύο υἱοὺς τὸν ἕνα διαιροῦμεν, ἀλλ' ἕνα Μονογενῆ προσκυνοῦντες, σαρκὸς καὶ θεότητος δείκνυμεν τὸ διάφορον. Τοῦτο δέ, ὡς οἶμαι, καὶ οἱ τὰ Ἀρείου φρονοῦντες ὁμολογοῦσι, καὶ οὐ καλοῦσι τὴν σάρκα θεότητα, οὔτε μὴν τὴν θεότητα σάρκα προσαγορεύουσι. Σαφῶς γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἡ θεία Γραφὴ καὶ ταύτην κἀκείνην διδάσκει τὴν φύσιν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως, τούτων οὕτω παρ' ἡμῶν εἰρημένων ἀεί, ψευδεῖς τινες καθ' ἡμῶν ὑφαίνουσι λόγους. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τῷ συνειδότι θαρροῦντες καὶ μάρτυρα τῆς διδασκαλίας ἔχοντες τῶν ἐννοιῶν τὸν Ἐπόπτην, ἱστὸν ἀρά χνης, κατὰ τὸν Προφήτην, ὑπολαμβάνομεν τὰ τῆς συκοφαν τίας ὑφάσματα. Ἐκεῖνο γὰρ προσμένομεν τὸ κριτήριον, τὸ μὴ δεόμενον λόγων, ἀλλὰ δῆλα ποιοῦν τὰ τέως λανθάνοντα. Ταῦτα διὰ τῶν θεοφιλεστάτων ἐπισκόπων γράφω, προὔργου νομίσας προσειπεῖν τὴν σὴν δι' αὐτῶν μεγαλοπρέπειαν καὶ τῆς ὑποσχέσεως ἀναμνῆσαι. Οὐδὲ γὰρ πολεμούμενος τοῦ θηρεύειν ἀπέχομαι. Οἶδα γὰρ καὶ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀποστόλους μετὰ τοῦ βάλλεσθαι τῇ πνευματικῇ σαγήνῃ χρησαμένους ἀεί. 100 ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΑ. Ἐδεξάμην πρώην τῆς ὑμετέρας σεμνοπρεπείας τὰ γράμ ματα, καὶ μαθὼν τὴν γεγενημένην ὑμῖν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σπουδήν, χάριν ὡμολόγησα, καὶ τὸν τῶν ὅλων ∆εσπότην ἱκέτευσα καὶ τὰ παρόντα ὑμῖν ἀγαθὰ φυλάξαι καὶ ταῖς προσθήκαις αὐξῆσαι καὶ τῶν μελλόντων καὶ αἰωνίων χαρίσασθαι τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. Πιστεύομεν δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ τῶν περιωρισμένων ἀκούειν, μᾶλλον δὲ πολλῷ πλέον τούτων, ἐπειδὴ διὰ τὴν θείαν αὐτοῦ διδασκα λίαν τὴν δοκοῦσαν ὑπομένουσιν αἰτίαν. Ταῦτα διὰ τῶν θεοφι λεστάτων ἐπισκόπων γράφω, παρακαλῶν τῆς ὑμετέρας αὐτοὺς ἀπολαῦσαι κηδεμονίας. Τῆς γὰρ εὐαγγελικῆς ἕνεκα πίστεως καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν χάριν εἰρήνης τὴν μακρὰν ταύτην ἀποδημίαν εἵλοντο. 101 ΚΕΛΕΡΙΝΗ ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Ἐξήφθη πάλιν ὁ καθ' ἡμῶν πόλεμος καὶ σμικρὸν ἐνδοὺς ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀλάστωρ πάλιν ὥπλικεν καθ' ἡμῶν τοὺς τῷ ψεύδει συντεθραμμένους. Οἳ προφανῶς ἡμᾶς συκοφαντοῦντες εἰς δύο λέγουσι μερίζειν ἡμᾶς υἱοὺς τὸν ἕνα Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ θεότητος μὲν καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος τὸ διάφορον ἐπιστάμεθα· ἕνα δὲ ὁμολογοῦμεν Υἱόν, τὸν ἐναν θρωπήσαντα Θεὸν Λόγον. Καὶ αὐτὸν εἶναί φαμεν Θεὸν προαιώ νιον καὶ ἄνθρωπον ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν γενόμενον οὐ τῇ τροπῇ τῆς θεότητος, ἀλλὰ τῇ προσλήψει τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ περιττὸν ποιῶ τὴν σὴν διδάσκων φιλοθεΐαν ἅπερ φρονῶ, τὴν ἀκριβῶς εἰδυῖαν ἅπερ κηρύττομεν καὶ τοὺς ἀγνοοῦν τας διδάσκομεν. Παρακαλῶ τοίνυν, ἐπειδὴ πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν τῆς Ἀνατολῆς θεοφιλεστάτων ἐπισκόπων κατέχεαν τὴν λοι δορίαν οἱ τοῦ ψεύδους ἐργάται καὶ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας ζάλης ἐνέπλησαν, τὴν δυνατὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν δογμάτων καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν εἰρήνης εἰσενεγκεῖν σπουδὴν τὴν σὴν θεοσέβειαν. ∆ιὰ γὰρ δὴ ταῦτα καὶ