53

the vital matters and almost loosened from my own release, I besought both before and now my lords the most God-beloved bishops, my countrymen, I say, to give the Church a head, whom, with God, they have given, worthy both of my desire and of your prayers. 183.8 Therefore, know these things yourself, most honorable lord, and instruct the other bishops both to accept and to vote along with, and not to burden our old age by being persuaded by slanders. 183.9 Let this also be added to the letter: my lord the most God-beloved fellow minister Bosporius, if indeed the examination by you finds something wrong regarding the faith, which it is not even right to say (for I pass over the long time and our testimony), judge this yourselves. 183.10 But if the dispute over the parishes creates the evil reputation and the new accusation, do not be carried away by the slanders, nor make them stronger than the truth, I beseech you, do not cast into despondency many of those who have chosen to do well. 183.11 In good health, cheerful, advancing according to God, may you be granted to us and to the Church, our common boast. 184.T TO AMPHILOCHIUS 184.1 20May the Lord fulfill all your requests20, and do not disdain a father's prayer; for you have sufficiently refreshed our old age both by going as far as Parnassus, as you were invited, and by refuting the slander brought against the most honorable and most God-beloved bishop; since the wicked are fond of turning their own charges upon those who refute them. 184.2 For stronger than any accusation are the man's length of time and his life, and we who have often both heard the same things from him and taught them, and those who have been brought back from error and added to the common body of the Church; 184.3 yet the time, being wicked, was in need of a more exact proof because of the insolent and malicious men, which you yourself have granted to us, or rather, also to the more fickle who are easily deceived by such men. 184.4 And if you should wish to bear witness to these things yourself, having undertaken a longer journey, and to arbitrate the disputed matters with the other bishops, you will do a spiritual work worthy of your perfection. I and all those with me greet the brotherhood with you. 185.T TO NECTARIUS 185.1 When one praises one of your qualities and another another, and all, as in the marketplace, set forth your good repute, I contribute what is my own, and less than no one, that you deign to honor us and, as a beloved child, to comfort a father's old age. 185.2 For this reason I have now dared to bring forward this plea on behalf of the most reverend and most God-beloved bishop Bosporius, being ashamed, on the one hand, if such a man needs a letter from us, for whom both his way of life and his age confirm his reverence, but being no less ashamed to be silent and to say nothing about him, having a voice and honoring faith and knowing the man above all others. 185.3 The dispute, then, concerning the parishes you yourself will of course resolve according to the grace of the Spirit in you and the sequence of the canons. 185.4 But let it not seem tolerable to your reverence that our affairs be publicly disgraced. For even if the judges of such matters are Christians, as indeed they are by the loving-kindness of God, what has the sword in common with the Spirit? 185.5 And if we should concede this also, how or where is it just for a discussion of faith to be entwined with other disputes? Is the most God-beloved bishop Bosporius of evil repute to us today? Today is his grey hair held in the balance--he who has brought back so many from error, and has given such proof of orthodoxy, and is a teacher of us all? 185.6 Do not, I beseech you, do not give place to such slanders; but if it is possible, bring to peace the things that are at variance and let this be added to your praises; but if not, at least do not accept that all of us are being insulted through such insolence, we with whom he both lived and grew old together, whom you know to be exact in the

53

τὰ καίρια καὶ λελυμένην σχεδὸν ἐκ τῆς ἐμῆς λύσεως, ἐδεήθην καὶ πρότερον καὶ νῦν τῶν κυρίων μου τῶν θεοφιλεστάτων ἐπισκόπων, τῶν πατριωτῶν λέγω, δοῦναι τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ κεφαλήν, ἣν σὺν Θεῷ δεδώκασιν, ἀξίαν καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς ἐπιθυμίας καὶ τῶν ὑμετέρων εὐχῶν. 183.8 Ταῦτ' οὖν αὐτὸς γίνωσκε, κύριε τιμιώτατε, καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐπισκόπους ἀναδίδαξον καὶ ἀποδέχεσθαι καὶ συνεπιψηφίζειν καὶ μὴ βαρεῖν τὸ ἡμέτερον γῆρας ταῖς διαβολαῖς πειθομένους. 183.9 Προσκείσθω δὲ κἀκεῖνο τοῖς γράμμασι· τὸν κύριόν μου τὸν θεοφιλέστατον συλλειτουργὸν Βοσπόριον, εἰ μὲν ἡ παρ' ὑμῶν ἐξέτασις εὑρίσκει περὶ τὴν πίστιν κακόν, ὃ μηδὲ λέγειν ἐστὶ θεμιτὸν (ἐῶ γὰρ τὸν μακρὸν χρόνον καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν τὴν ἡμετέραν), αὐτοὶ τοῦτο κρίνατε. 183.10 Εἰ δὲ ἡ τῶν παροικιῶν ζήτησις τὴν κακοδοξίαν δημιουργεῖ καὶ νέον τὸ ἔγκλημα, μὴ ταῖς διαβολαῖς παρασύρεσθε, μηδὲ ἰσχυροτέρας τῆς ἀληθείας ποιεῖσθε, παρακαλῶ, μὴ πολλοὺς εἰς ἀθυμίαν καταστήσητε τῶν εὖ πράττειν προῃρημένων. 183.11 Ἐρρωμένος, εὔθυμος, προκόπτων κατὰ Θεὸν χαρισ θείης ἡμῖν καὶ τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, τὸ κοινὸν σεμνολόγημα. 184.Τ ΑΜΦΙΛΟΧΙΩΙ 184.1 20Πληρώσαι Κύριος πάντα τὰ αἰτήματά σου20, καὶ μὴ ἀπαξιώσῃς πατρὸς εὐχήν· ἱκανῶς γὰρ τὸ γῆρας ἡμῶν ἀνέπαυσας καὶ γενόμενος μέχρι Παρνασσοῦ, καθὼς προεκλήθης, καὶ τὴν ἐπενεχθεῖσαν τῷ τιμιωτάτῳ καὶ θεοφιλεστάτῳ ἐπισκόπῳ συκοφαντίαν ἐλέγξας· ἐπειδὴ φιλοῦσιν οἱ πονηροὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν αἰτίας περιτρέπειν εἰς τοὺς ἐλέγχοντας. 184.2 Ἰσχυρότερος μὲν γὰρ πάσης κατη γορίας ὁ χρόνος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ ὁ βίος καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ πολλάκις τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ἀκούσαντες παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ διδά ξαντες, οἵ τε ἐκ τῆς πλάνης ἐπαναχθέντες καὶ προστε θέντες τῷ κοινῷ σώματι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· 184.3 ἐδεῖτο δὲ ὅμως πονηρὸς ὁ καιρὸς ὤν, καὶ ἀκριβεστέρας ἀποδείξεως διὰ τοὺς ἐπηρεαστὰς καὶ κακοήθεις ἣν αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ἐχα ρίσω, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τοῖς κουφοτέροις καὶ ῥᾳδίως ὑπὸ τῶν τοιούτων ἀπατωμένοις. 184.4 Ταῦτα δὲ εἰ θελήσειας καὶ μακροτέραν ὁδὸν ὑποστὰς διὰ σεαυτοῦ μαρτυρῆσαι καὶ διαιτήσεις τοῖς ἀμφισβητουμένοις μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐπισκόπων, ἔργον ποιήσεις πνευματικὸν καὶ τῆς σῆς τελειότητος ἄξιον. Τὴν σὺν σοὶ ἀδελφότητα ἐγώ τε καὶ οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες προσαγορεύομεν. 185.Τ ΝΕΚΤΑΡΙΩΙ 185.1 Ὅταν ἄλλος ἄλλο τι τῶν σῶν ἐπαινῇ καὶ πάντες ὡς ἐν ἀγορᾷ προβάλλωνται τὴν σὴν εὐφημίαν, ἐγὼ τὰ κατ' ἐμαυτὸν συνεισφέρω, καὶ οὐδενὸς ἔλαττον, ὅτι καὶ τιμᾶν ἡμᾶς ἀξιοῖς καὶ ὡς τέκνον ἀγαπητὸν πατρὸς γῆρας παραμυθεῖσθαι. 185.2 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ νῦν ἐθάρρησα ταύτην προσαγαγεῖν τὴν παράκλησιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ αἰδεσιμωτάτου καὶ θεοφιλεστάτου ἐπισκόπου Βοσπορίου, αἰσχυνόμενος μὲν εἴ γε τοσοῦτος ἀνὴρ τῶν ἡμετέρων δεῖται γραμμάτων, ᾧ καὶ πολιτεία καὶ χρόνος βεβαιοῖ τὸ αἰδέσιμον, αἰσχυνό μενος δὲ οὐχ ἧττον τὸ σιωπᾶν καὶ τὸ μή τινα περὶ αὐτοῦ ποιήσασθαι λόγον, φωνὴν ἔχων καὶ πίστιν τιμῶν καὶ πάντων μάλιστα τὸν ἄνδρα γινώσκων. 185.3 Τὴν μὲν οὖν περὶ τῶν παροικιῶν ἀμφισβήτησιν δηλαδὴ αὐτὸς διαλύσεις κατὰ τὴν ἐν σοὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριν καὶ τὴν τῶν κανόνων ἀκολουθίαν. 185.4 Ἐκεῖνο δὲ μὴ ἀνεκτὸν φανήτω τῇ σῇ εὐλαβείᾳ στηλιτεύεσθαι τὰ ἡμέτερα. Κἂν γὰρ ὦσι χρισ τιανοί, ὥσπερ οὖν εἰσι τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, οἱ τῶν τοιούτων κριταί, τί κοινὸν ξίφει καὶ Πνεύματι; 185.5 Ἂν δὲ καὶ τοῦτο συγχωρήσωμεν, πῶς ἢ ποῦ δίκαιον τὸν περὶ πίστεως λόγον συμπλέκεσθαι τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀμφισβητήμασι; Σήμερον ἡμῖν κακόδοξος ὁ θεοφιλέστατος ἐπίσκοπος Βοσπόριος; Σήμερον πολιὰ ταλαντεύεται τοῦ τοσούτους μὲν ἐκ τῆς πλάνης ἐπαναγαγόντος, τοσαύτην δὲ ἀπόδειξιν δεδωκότος ὀρθοδοξίας, διδασκάλου δὲ πάντων ἡμῶν; 185.6 Μή, παρακαλῶ, μὴ δῷς χώραν ταῖς τοιαύταις συκο φαντίαις· ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν δυνατόν, εἰρήνευσον τὰ διεστῶτα καὶ προστεθήτω τοῦτο τοῖς σοῖς ἐπαίνοις· εἰ δὲ μή, τοῦτό γε μὴ δέξῃ καθυβρίζεσθαι πάντας ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης ἐπηρείας, οἷς καὶ συνεβίωσε καὶ συνεγήρασεν, οὓς οἶδας ἀκριβεῖς τῆς