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a seizure, by producing letters, namely, the one to Marinus the presbyter, which they say was written by us; and of the letter to Pyrrhus, it is necessary to say a few things about these as well; fully informing your holiness in all things, that to Marinus the presbyter we have written in various ways, about various scriptural topics; but certainly not in any way whatsoever has it been said (by us) concerning the contrary and opposing dogmas thus; I mean, of the one and the two, that is, of the three energies or wills fabricated by them for the same and one Christ; as if we were establishing these in Him, on a par with them, or to anyone else at all. "For if I build up again the things I tore down, I prove myself a transgressor," says the chosen vessel. Therefore, the letter brought forth, or rather fabricated, as if from us to Marinus, being entirely foreign and not ours, we ourselves both reject, and we exhort all who piously confess the Lord to reject it likewise with us; so that we may block every occasion for our opponents, who make pretexts in their sins, and who make the slander against us a covering for their own contradiction; who, since they cannot stand by their own teaching, which is destroyed by the assault of the truth, with the mask of a supposed letter of ours, work for themselves a deceitful infiltration among the more simple; which they would no longer suffer or do, those who prefer the truth over the falsehood, choosing our defense concerning these matters.

And again, to Pyrrhus, who had previously written us a tome of many lines, and honored us exceedingly in it, I know not how; and who in that very tome made an argument concerning the one and two energies of the same [Christ], by way of examination, and not of declaration; (132) and who was, as it were, seeking and inviting our judgment and opinion on each argument, we too, reasonably, honored him in return in the preface of our letter to him, fulfilling the apostolic exhortation. For "outdo one another in showing honor," says the divine Apostle; where indeed the divine word commands us to love and bless even those who hold different views or write to us. And at the same time I was eager not to exasperate him, but rather to smooth the man over with praises directed to him, so that he might come to assent to what has been piously defined by me, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers; whence also in the treatise written by me to him, I acknowledged that I had understood in this way what had been written to me by him; urging him, as it were, as I said, and inviting him, to an affirmation of the pious teaching, which would procure for him the greatest salvation, if he, accepting this, would confess with us (should confess), as we have written; that is, two natural energies of the same and one Christ our God, just as there are also two natures united without confusion and without division, a divine and a human, an uncreated and a created; but not one and the same, however it may be called. For the teaching of one and the same energy or will or nature in the same and one Lord our God is not Patristic, but rather heretical.

Such, then, was the manner of our praise to him, that is, to Pyrrhus, being eager to gently separate him from the contrary opinion, and to bring him back to the orthodox teaching of the faith. But if anyone, missing our aim, is still vexed at the praise, not accepting the reason for our economy in this matter above all, let the praise be set aside for him, and let it be rejected as he sees fit, since it is no longer pleasing to us either, but rather troublesome after the

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συναρπαγήν, ποιούμενοι γραμμάτων προσαγωγήν, ἤγουν τῆς πρός Μαρῖνον, ὡς φασί, γεγονυίας ἡμῖν τόν πρεσβύτερον· καί τῆς πρός τόν Πύῤῥον ἐπιστολῆς, ἀναγκαῖον καί περί τούτων βραχέα εἰπεῖν· τήν ὑμετέραν ἐν πᾶσι πληροφοροῦντες ἁγιωσύνην, ὡς πρός Μαρῖνον μέν τόν πρεσβύτερον διαφόρως, περί διαφόρων ἐπεστάλκαμεν γραφικῶν κεφαλαίων· οὐ μήν γέ τοι καθ᾿ οἷον δήποτε τρόπον, ἤ λέλεκται ( ἡμῖν ) περί τῶν ἀντιῤῥόπων οὑτωσί, καί ἐναντίων δογμάτων· τῆς τε μιᾶς λέγω καί τῶν δύο, τουτέστι, τῶν πλαττομένων αὐτοῖς ἐπί τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἑνός Χριστοῦ τριῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἤ θελήσεων· ὡς ταύτας ἐπ'αὐτοῦ συνιστώντων ἡμῶν, ἐκείνοις ἐφάμιλλον, ἤ πρός ἕτερόν τινα παντελῶς. "Εἰ γάρ ἅ κατέλυσα, ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ, παραβάτην ἑμαυτόν συνιστάνω," φησί τό σκεῦος τῆς ἐκλογῆς. Ὅθεν καί οὑτωσί προφερομένην, ἤτοι πλαττομένην, ὡς ἐξ ἡμῶν δῆθεν πρός Μαρῖνον ἐπιστολήν, ἀλλοτρίαν οὖσαν πάντη καί οὐχ ἡμετέραν, ἡμεῖς τε αὐτοί διαῤῥίπτομεν, καί πάντας ὁμοίως ἡμῖν διαῤῥίπτειν παρακαλοῦμεν, τούς εὐσεβῶς ὁμολογοῦντας τόν Κύριον· ἵνα πᾶσαν τοῖς ἐναντίοις διατειχίσωμεν ἀφορμήν, προφάσεις προφασιζομένοις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις, καί τῆς οἰκείας ἀντιλογίας συγκάλυμμα, τήν καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ποιουμένοις συκοφαντίαν· οἵ ἐπειδή τῷ οἰκείῳ μή συνίστανται λόγῳ, τῇ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς προσβολῇ φθειρομένῳ, τῷ τοῦ ἡμετέρου δῆθεν γράμματος προσωπείῳ, τήν κατά τῶν ἀφελεστέρων ἑαυτοῖς ἀπεργάζονται δολίαν παρείσδυσιν· ἥν οὐκ ἄν πάθοιεν λοιπόν, ἤ δράσοιεν, οἱ τοῦ ψεύδους τό ἀληθές, τήν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς περί τούτων ἀπολογίαν προκρίνοντες.

Πρός δέ τόν Πύῤῥον πάλιν, γεγραφότα πρότερον ἡμῖν τόμον πολύστιχον, καί ἄγαν ἡμᾶς, οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως, ἐν τούτῳ τιμήσαντα· κατ᾿ ἐξέτασιν δέ, καί οὐκ ἀπόφασιν, ἐν αὐτῷ δή τῷ τόμῳ τόν περί μιᾶς καί δύο τοῦ αὐτοῦ ποιησάμενον λόγον ἐνεργειῶν· (132) καί τήν ἡμετέραν οἷον ἐπιζητοῦντα, καί προσκαλούμενον περί ἑκατέρου λόγου κρίσιν τε καί ὑπόληψιν, εἰκότως καί ἡμεῖς αὐτόν ἐν προοιμίοις, τοῦ πρός αὐτόν ἡμετέρου γράμματος, ἀντετιμήσαμεν, ἀποστολικήν ἐκπληροῦντες παραίνεσιν. Τῆ τιμῇ γάρ ἀλλήλους προηγούμενοί φησιν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· ὅπου γε καί τούς ἑτέρως ἔχοντας, ἤ ἐπιστέλλοντας πρός ἡμᾷς ἀγαπᾷν τε καί εὐλογεῖν ὁ θεῖος παρακελεύεται λόγος. Καί ἅμα σπουδή μοι καθειστήκει, μή ἐκτραχύνειν· ὁμαλίζειν δέ μᾶλλον τόν ἄνδρα, τοῖς εἰς αὐτόν ἐγκωμίοις, πρός συγκατάθεσιν ἰέναι τῶν εὐσεβῶς μοι δεδογματισμένων, κατά τήν τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων διδασκαλίαν· ὅθεν καί οὕτω νενοηκέναι κατά τήν γεγονυῖαν αὐτῷ παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ συγγραφήν, τά ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνου μοι γραφέντα διωμολόγουν· παρορμῶν αὐτόν οἷον, ὡς ἔφην, καί προσκαλούμενος, εἰς τήν τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς ἐπίνευσιν λόγου, σωτηρίαν αὐτῶ μεγίστην προξενοῦντος, εἴγε τοῦτο στέρξας σύν ἡμῖν ὡμολόγησεν ( ὡμολογήσειεν), ὡς γεγράφαμεν· τουτέστι δύο τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἑνός Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατά φύσιν ἐνεργείας, ὥσπερ οὖν καί φύσεις ἡνωμένας ἀσυγχύτως καί ἀδιαιρέτως, θείαν καί ἀνθρωπίνην· ἄκτιστον καί κτιστήν· ἀλλ'οὐ μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ὁπωσοῦν λεγομένην. Οὐ γάρ Πατρικός, αἱρετικός δέ μᾶλλον ὁ περί μιᾶς καί τῆς αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας ἤ θελήσεως ἤ φύσεως λόγος, ἐπί τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἑνός Κυρίου ἡμῶν καί Θεοῦ.

Τῆς μέν οὖν πρός αὐτόν ἐκεῖνον, ἤγουν τόν Πύῤῥον, ἡμετέρας εὐφημίας τοιοῦτος ὁ τρόπος καθέστηκε, τῆς ἀντιῤῥόπου δόξης αὐτόν ἠρέμα διϊστᾷν ἐπειγόμενος, καί πρός τόν ὀρθόν ἐπαναβιβάζειν λόγον τῆς πίστεως. Εἰ δέ τις τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, διαμαρτάνων σκοποῦ, πρός τήν εὐφημίαν ἔτι δυσφορεῖ, τήν τῆς ἡμετέρας οἰκονομίας ἐν τούτῳ δή μάλιστα λόγον οὐκ ἀποδεχόμενος, παρείσθω δή τούτω, καί διαῤῥιπτέσθω κατά τό δοκοῦν ἡ εὐφημία, μηδέ ἡμῖν λοιπόν ἐπέραστος οὖσα, προσάντης δέ μᾶλλον μετά τήν