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the maker of all visible and invisible creation, who for our sake, through his ineffable love for humanity, as he himself was well-pleased, accepted death, and delivered us by his own blood from the power of darkness; may he hold your right hand, and guide you into his fear, and fill you with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and persuade you to walk worthy of himself, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of his truth, and strengthen you with all power according to the might of his glory for all edification and long-suffering; and having preserved you as you strive together with joy and thanksgiving for the Gospel of his grace, may he make you worthy of the portion of the saints in light, through the prayers and supplications of our all-glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and of all the saints. Amen.

EPISTLE 13. ...TO PETER THE ILLUSTRIOUS, A SUMMARY DISCOURSE... 13. Of the same, to Peter the Illustrious, a summary discourse against the dogmas of Severus

dogmas. (15B_228> My blessed master has truly shown that nothing

can diminish spiritual love, for those who are physically separated from each other, who are intellectually joined to one another according to God through love; not disdaining to visit me, the humble and sinful, through his precious syllables, and having nothing worthy of his love. Having received them, as if he were present in spirit, I joyfully embraced and greeted him, and as is my custom I gave thanks to the only God and Savior of all, Christ, having learned that he had completed the watery way with safety. For my blessed master is truly pleasant both when present and absent, and is no less beloved by all than if he were present, on account of the grace of the poverty of the Holy Spirit shining upon him; through which a holy temple for a dwelling place of God in the spirit is made, everyone who genuinely partakes of this virtue as of God, of him who humbled himself to the form of a servant, and in deed and word showed it in himself to men; whom my blessed master imitates, and he himself has acquired meekness and humility in his disposition. Meekness, indeed, so that by quenching the passionate movements of anger and desire, he might become well-pleasing to God and men. For meekness is established as nothing other than the complete (15B_230> 0512 immobility of anger and desire with respect to what is contrary to nature; through which the divine will becomes manifest to those who possess it. For the great David says in his psalm, He will guide the meek in judgment; he will teach the meek his ways. And humility, so that having cut away the callosities of pride, he might be pleasing to God, and accessible to all men. For humility is the knowledge of each person in relation to God by a side-by-side comparison of the transcendent and creative cause; through which the mutual disposition of men towards one another is naturally formed, and the forgiveness of transgressions is given to debtors. For see, says the same great David again, my humility and my labor, and forgive all my sins.

And so, with my blessed master living his life in this way, in the firmament of faith in Christ, I pray that he be kept unshaken, as his name suggests, and above every heretical tempest, as a genuine child of the holy catholic and apostolic Church of God; founded upon the pious confession; against which the wicked mouths of the heretics, opening like the gates of Hades, have no power at all. For concerning the illegitimate, and those illegitimately grafted from the wild olive into the good olive tree, I knew even before

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πάσης ὁρατῆς καί ἀοράτου κτίσεως ποιητής, ὁ τόν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν διά τήν ἄφατον αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, καθώς αὐτός ηὐδόκησε, καταδεξάμενος θάνατον, καί ῥυσάμενος ἡμᾶς τῷ ἰδίῳ αἵματι τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους· αὐτός κρατήσαι τῆς χειρός ὑμῶν τῆς δεξιᾶς, καί ὁδηγῆσαι ὑμᾶς εἰς τόν φόβον αὐτοῦ, καί πληρώσαι τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καί συνέσει πνευματικῇ, καί ἀξίως ἑαυτοῦ περιπατῆσαι πείσειεν, ἐν παντί ἔργῳ ἀγαθῷ καρποφορούντας, καί αὐξανομένους ἐν ἐπιγνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτοῦ, καί πάσῃ δυνάμει δυναμώσαι κατά τό κράτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ εἰς πᾶσαν οἰκοδομήν καί μακροθυμίαν· καί μετά χαρᾶς καί εὐχαριστίας συναθλοῦντας τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ τηρήσας, ἀξιώσαι τῆς μερίδος τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ φωτί, εὐχαῖς καί ἰκεσίαις τῆς πανενδόξου ∆εσποίνης ἡμῶν Θεοτόκου καί ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, καί πάντων τῶν ἁγίων. Ἀμήν.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΙΓ'. ...ΠΡΟΣ ΠΕΤΡΟΝ ΙΛΛΟΥΣΤΡΙΟΝ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΠΙΤΟΜΟΣ... ΙΓ´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Πέτρον ἰλλούστριον λόγος ἐπίτομος κατά τῶν Σευήρου

δογμάτων. (15Β_228> Ἔδειξεν ὡς ἀληθῶς ὁ εὐλογημένος μου δεσπότητς, ὡς οὐδέν

δύναται πρός μείωσιν τῆς ἀγάπης πνευματικῆς, τό ἀλλήλων ἀπεῖναι σωματικῶς· τούς κατά Θεόν δι'ἀγάπης νοερῶς ἀλλήλοις συνηρμοσμένους· μή ἀπαξιώσας διά τῶν τιμίων αὐτοῦ συλλαβών ἐπισκέψασθαί με τόν ταπεινόν καί ἁμαρτωλόν, καί μηδέν ἔχοντα τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀγάπης ἐπάξιον. Ἅσπερ δεξάμενος, ὡσπερ αὐτόν παρόντα τῷ πνεύματι γεγηθώς περιλαβών ἠσπασάμην, καί τῷ μόνῳ Θεῷ καί Σωτῆρι τῶν ὅλων Χριστῷ συνήθως ηὐχαρίστησα, γνούς μετά σωτηρίας αὐτόν τήν ὑγράν κέλευθον ἐξηνυκέναι. Ἡδύς γάρ ὄντως καί παρών ὁ εὐλογημένος μου δεσπότης, καί ἀπών, οὐχ ἦττον τοῦ παρεῖναι πᾶσίν ἐστιν ἐπέραστος, διά τήν ἐπιλάμπουσαν αὐτῷ χάριν τῆς πτωχείας τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· δι᾿ ἥν ναός ἅγιος εἰς κατοικητήριον Θεοῦ ἐν πνεύματι γίνεται, πᾶς ὁ ταύτης ὡς Θεοῦ τῆς ἀρετῆς γνησίως μεταποιούμενος, τοῦ ταπεινώσαντος ἑαυτόν μέχρι δούλου μορφῆς, καί ἔργῳ καί λόγῳ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αὐτήν ἐν ἑαυτῷ παραδείξαντος· ὅνπερ μιμούμενος ὁ εὐλογημένος μου δεσπότης, ἐνδιαθέτως καί αὐτός ἐκτήσατο τήν πραότητά τε καί τήν ταπείνωσιν. Τήν πραότητα μέν, ἵνα τάς ἐμπαθεῖς τοῦ θυμοῦ καί τῆς ἐπιθυμίας κατασβέσας κινήσεις, Θεῷ γένηται καί ἀνθρώποις εὐάρεστος. Ἡ πραότης γάρ οὐδέν ἕτερον οὖσα καθέστηκεν, ἤ θυμοῦ καί ἐπιθυμίας (15Β_230> παντελής 0512 πρός τά παρά φύσιν ἀκινησία· καθ᾿ ἥν φανερόν τό θεῖον τοῖς ἔχουσι γίνεται θέλημα. Φησί γάρ ψάλλων ὁ μέγας ∆αβίδ, Ὁδηγήσει πραεῖς ἐν κρίσει· διδάξει πραεῖς ὁδούς αὐτοῦ. Τήν καί ταπείνωσιν, ἵνα τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ἐκτεμών τά πωρώματα, εὐχάριστός τε τῷ Θεῷ γένηται, καί πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις εὐπρόσιτος. Ταπείνωσις γάρ ἐστιν, ἡ ἑκάστου πρός τόν Θεόν κατά παράθεσιν ἐκ παραλλήλου τῆς ὑπερεχούσης καί ποιητικῆς αἰτίας ἐπίγνωσις· καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ πρός ἀλλήλους τῶν ἀνθρώπων γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν συνδιάθεσις, καί ἡ τῶν πλημμελημάτων δίδοσθαι τοῖς ὀφείλουσιν ἄφεσις. Ἴδε γάρ, φησίν ὁ αὐτός μέγας πάλιν ∆αβίδ, τήν ταπείνωσίν μου καί τόν κόπον μου, καί ἄφες πάσας τάς ἁμαρτίας μου.

Οὕτω μέν οὖν ἔχοντα περί τόν βίον τόν εὐλογημένον μου δεσπότην, ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τῆς εἰς Χριστόν πίστεως, φερωνύμως ἀσάλευτον εὔχομαι διαφυλαχθῆναι, καί πάσης αἱρετικῆς τρικυμίας ἀνώτερον, ὡς γνήσιον τέκνον τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καθολικῆς καί ἀποστολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας· τεθεμελιωμένον ἐπί τῆς εὐσεβοῦς ὁμολογίας· καθ' ἧς οὐδέν τό παράπαν ἰσχύουσιν, ἀνοιγόμενα καθάπερ ᾅδου πύλαι, τά πονηρά τῶν αἱρετικῶν στόματα. Περί γάρ τῶν νόθων, καί νόθως ἐκ τῆς ἀγριελαίας παρενκεντρισθέντων εἰς τήν καλλιέλαιον ἐγίνωσκον, καί πρίν