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the holy angels and the guardian angel of your life whom you have, that he may guard and protect you, the Forerunner, the apostles, all the saints and those whom you are especially accustomed to invoke, and the one commemorated for the day. These things, then, seem to me to have the power of prayer, even if each one prays with other words and not at all with the same ones; because not even the one praying always utters the same things to himself, but the same power has been reckoned by me as necessary for all. May you be protected, therefore, by praying for what is needful and being improved each time and presenting your whole self through a precise way of life as pleasing to the Lord. 43 {1To Joseph, brother and archbishop}1 And the first letter from your brotherly and fatherly holiness, though it was small in the number of its syllables, was yet complete in the breadth of its allegorical thought; and the second of all knowledge and humility, having only one blameworthy thing, the unworthy praises concerning me, the wretched one. I, however, not by way of contradiction (may it not be), but in truth have said that you shone forth in our generation in the dignity of the high priesthood in the likeness of the holy fathers. And I would not be wrong in calling you a pillar and foundation of the church, my most excellent brother; for everyone who stands for the truth and suffers all things is a support and a height for it. But it was well that you examined the tetrads. For your reminder, or rather command, was for us the occasion for a supervision and dissolution of such a proposal, which, with other things submitted through the remembrance of our father in the aforementioned tetrads, I sent to your holiness, having introduced no opinion of my own in the whole composition (for it is not right to be more legal than the law nor more straight than the canon) but only to weave together and connect the teachings and injunctions of the divine fathers, even if unlearnedly, to that which the proposition of the opposition calls forth. And, if you should not decline to read it on account of the labor, I know that it would be profitable. That peace is admittedly a good thing (for I love it, even though I am a sinner) and that we must incline towards it, as far as was possible, we have done, having laid aside much of the burden according to the divine Cyril, on the one hand, when they formerly acquitted the adulterer-uniter, with me being present there and, as we had counselled, keeping silent (for silence is a part of consent; which the opposing party seized upon, as you know, and tried to exclude us from our opposition), on the other hand, when his second acquittal was applauded by those who had trampled on the laws of God, we saying, "4let him only cease from sacred ministry, enjoying the honor according to the canon of Basil the Great, since he has already concelebrated for two years with the patriarch"5; which was a fearful thing and beyond oikonomia. I forbear to mention the false pretexts for his flight and the partaking of blessings as from a presbyter at banquets, and the report of the patriarch. But nevertheless, even if we were brought down so far for the sake of oikonomia, they on the contrary by their harshness were lifted up with the sin, God having foreseen something better, so that we, the humble, might not endure the first exile for nothing, nor that the adultery dared in the world be belittled, as it were, through the excessive oikonomia of the one who joined them. So now is the time for us to say that, beloved: How long will you practice oikonomia? And, be zealous to build up at some time; and according to the divine Basil, for us to be subject to the precision of the canons (for some words are for before a war and others for after a war) and to live out our days in patience, as you have admonished, and to pray for our persecutors. And your three honorable sayings are welcome to me and of one mind, that of not rending the church on account of the suspicion of one man, that of not communing with the absolution of such a one, and that of partaking from any blameless priest, my thought being altogether thus. And forgive me, O brother, not didactically, but

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τοὺς ἁγίους ἀγγέλους καὶ ὃν ἔχεις τῆς ζωῆς σου φύλακα ἄγγελον ἵνα σε φρουρῇ καὶ σκέπῃ, τὸν Πρόδρομον, τοὺς ἀποστόλους, τοὺς ἁγίους πάντας καὶ οὓς ἔχεις ἐξαιρέτως συνήθως ἐπικαλεῖσθαι, καὶ τὸν κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν μνημονευόμενον. Ταῦτα οὖν μοι δοκεῖ ἔχειν τῆς προσευχῆς τὴν δύναμιν, κἂν ἕκαστος ἄλλοις λόγοις καὶ οὐχὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς πάντως προσεύχηται· ὅτι μηδὲ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ ὁ προσευχόμενος τὰ αὐτὰ φθέγγεται πάντοτε, ἡ δὲ δύναμις ἡ αὐτὴ ἀναγκαία πᾶσι λελόγισταί μοι. φυλαχθείης οὖν προσευχομένη τὰ δέοντα καὶ βελτιουμένη ἑκάστοτε καὶ ὅλην ἑαυτὴν παριστῶσα διὰ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς βιώσεως ἀρέσκουσαν τῷ Κυρίῳ. 43 {1Ἰωσὴφ ἀδελφῷ καὶ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ}1 Καὶ ἡ πρώτη ἐπιστολὴ τῆς ἀδελφικῆς καὶ πατρικῆς σου ἁγιωσύνης, εἰ καὶ μικρὰ ἦν τῷ πλήθει τῶν συλλαβῶν, ἀλλ' οὖν γε ἀπήρτιστο τῷ πλάτει τῆς ἀλληγορικῆς διανοίας· καὶ ἡ δευτέρα πάσης γνώσεως καὶ ταπεινώσεως, ἓν ἔχουσα μόνον ψεκτόν, τοὺς περὶ ἐμὲ τὸν δείλαιον ἀναξίους ἐπαίνους. ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ κατ' ἀντίφρασιν (μὴ γένοιτο), ἀλλ' ἀληθείᾳ ἐκλάμψαι σε ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς γενεᾷ ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης ἀξιώματι καθ' ὁμοίωσιν τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων εἴρηκα. καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοιμι, στύλον καὶ ἑδραίωμα κεκληκώς σε τῆς ἐκκλησίας, κάλλιστέ μου ἀδελφέ· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἐνιστάμενος καὶ πανθάνων ἔρεισμα καὶ ὕψωμα αὐτῆς τυγχάνει. Εὖ δὲ γέγονεν, ὅτι ἐπεσκέψω τὰς τετράδας. ὑπῆρξεν γὰρ ἡμῖν ἡ ὑπόμνησις, μᾶλλον δὲ κέλευσίς σου, ἐπιστασίας καὶ διαλύσεως τῆς τοιαύτης προτάσεως ἀφορμή, ἣν μεθ' ἑτέρων ὑποβληθέντων δι' ὑπομνήσεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς προγραφεῖσι τετράσιν ἀπέστειλα τῇ ἁγιότητί σου, μηδὲν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ συντάγματι φρόνημα εἰσκεκομικὼς (ὅτι μηδὲ θέμις τοῦ νόμου νομιμώτερον μηδὲ τοῦ κανόνος εὐθύτερον γίνεσθαι) ἢ μόνον τὸ ὑφεῖναι καὶ συνάψαι τὰ τῶν θείων πατέρων, κἂν ἀμαθῶς, διδάγματά τε καὶ παραγγέλματα εἰς ὅπερ ἡ πρότασις ἐκκαλεῖ τῆς ἀντιθέσως. καί, εἰ μὴ παραιτήσοιτο διὰ κόπον ἀναγνῶναι, οἶδ' ὅτι λυσιτελήσειεν. Ὅτι δὲ ἡ εἰρήνη καλὴ ὁμολογουμένως (φιλῶ γὰρ αὐτήν, κἂν ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι) καὶ ὅτι πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀποκλιτέον, ἕως ἐξῆν, πεπράχαμεν, πολλὰ τοῦ φόρτου ἀποσκευασάμενοι κατὰ τὸν θεῖον Κύριλλον, τοῦτο μὲν ἡνίκα τὸ πρότερον ἠθώουν τὸν μοιχοζεύκτην, παρόντος μου ἐκεῖ καί, καθὰ συνεβουλευσάμεθα, ἀποσιωπήσαντες (ἡ δὲ σιωπὴ μέρος συγκαταθέσεως· ἣν καὶ δραξάμενοι οἱ ἐξ ἐναντίας, ὡς οἶσθα, ἀποκλείειν ἡμᾶς ἐπειρῶντο τῆς ἐνστάσεως), τοῦτο δὲ ἐπειδὰν ἐκροτεῖτο ἡ δευτέρα ἀθώωσις αὐτοῦ παρὰ τῶν πατησάντων τοὺς νόμους τοῦ θεοῦ, λεγόντων ἡμῶν ὅτι "4στήτω μόνον τῆς ἱερουργίας, ἀπολαύων τῆς τιμῆς κατὰ τὸν κανόνα τοῦ Μεγάλου Βασιλείου, ἤδη συλλειτουργήσαντος αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς δυσὶν ἔτεσι τῷ πατριάρχῃ"5· ὃ ἦν φοβερὸν καὶ ὑπὲρ οἰκονομίαν. ἐῶ λέγειν τὰς ψευδοπροφάσεις τῆς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ φυγῆς καὶ τὸ ὡς παρὰ πρεσβυτέρου τὰς εὐλογήσεις ἐν ταῖς ἑστιάσεσιν κοινωνεῖν, τήν τε ἀναφορὰν τοῦ πατριάρχου. ἀλλ' ὅμως, εἰ καὶ ἡμεῖς δι' οἰκονομίαν τοσοῦτον κατηγόμεθα, ἐκεῖνοι τοὐναντίον τῇ σκληρότητι συνεπαίροντο τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, τοῦ θεοῦ κρεῖττόν τι προβλεψαμένου, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ταπεινοὶ μὴ ἀνόνητον τὴν πρώτην ἐξορίαν ὑποίσωμεν μηδὲ ἡ τολμηθεῖσα ἐπὶ τοῦ κόσμου μοιχεία ὡς ἔτυχεν διὰ τῆς τοῦ συνάψαντος αὐτὴν περισσοτέρας οἰκονομίας κατασμικρυνθῇ. Ὥστε καιρὸς ἄρτι ἐκεῖνο ἡμᾶς, ἠγαπημένε, λέγειν· ἕως πότε οἰκονομήσεις; καί, οἰκοδομῆσαί ποτε προθυμήθητι· καὶ κατὰ τὸν θεῖον Βασίλειον ἀκριβείᾳ κανόνων ἡμᾶς δουλεύειν (ἄλλοι γὰρ λόγοι πρὸ πολέμου καὶ ἄλλοι μετὰ πόλεμον) ἐν ὑπομονῇ τε διεξάγειν τὰς ἡμέρας ἡμῶν, καθὼς νενουθέτηκας, καὶ εὔχεσθαι ὑπὲρ τῶν διωξάντων. ἀσπασταὶ δέ μοι καὶ ὁμογνωμονικαὶ αἱ τρεῖς σου τιμίαι ῥήσεις, ἥ τε τοῦ δι' ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ὑπόπτωσιν μὴ σχίζειν τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἥ τε τοῦ μὴ συγκοινωνεῖν τῇ λύσει τοῦ τοιούτου καὶ ἡ ἐκ παντὸς ἀδιαβλήτου ἱερέως μεταλαμβάνειν, οὕτως ἐχούσης πάντως τῆς διανοίας. Καὶ σύγγνωθί μοι, ὦ ἀδελφέ, οὐ διδακτικῶς, ἀλλὰ