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But it is necessary for your holiness not to overlook those of the same mind who are unjustly persecuted, but with just assistance to put an end to the injustice, and to teach those who act insolently against the truth, that it is not permitted for those who try to do anything whatever with impunity to do everything. 118 TO THE ARCHDEACON OF ROME. A most grievous storm has burst upon the Churches among us; but those who hold fast to the apostolic faith have your holiness as a safe and calm harbor. For you not only champion the evangelical doctrines, but also you utterly detest the injustice that has been done against us. For while we were far away and distant by thirty-five stages, the most just judges condemned us as they wished, and having abandoned the teaching that has prevailed in the Churches from the advent of God the Savior until today, they introduced a certain new, and spurious, and openly contrary to the tradition of the apostles doctrine, and they openly wage war against those who hold to the ancient preachings. Deign, therefore, most God-loving one, to enkindle the zeal of the all-holy and most devout archbishop, so that the Churches of the East may also enjoy your care; and especially to champion the faith handed down from above by the holy apostles, and to keep inviolate the ancestral inheritance, and to disperse the impending mist, and instead of the darkness of the moonless night to bring about clear serenity, and to expose the slaughter unjustly committed against us. For it is fitting for your holiness to add this zeal to its other right actions. 119 TO ANATOLIUS THE PATRICIAN. Your greatness has surely learned of the things done by the most just judges in Ephesus. For their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their most correct verdict to the ends of the world. For what Church has not received the tempest that arose from there? For some have done wrong, and others have been wronged; but those who have neither suffered this nor done it, grieve with the wronged, and mourn for the wrongdoers, as having savagely and contrary to all laws, both divine and human, slaughtered their own members. For burglars caught in the act, the judges first try them, and then punish them; and indeed also murderers, and tomb-robbers, and those who defile the beds of others, they first bring into court, and command the accusers to draw up the charges, and they examine the intention of the witnesses, to see if they are not testifying to please the prosecutors, if they are not enemies of the accused, and in addition to this they command the accused to make their defense. And this is done twice and three times, and sometimes even four times; and then finally, having sought the truth in the words of both sides, they deliver their verdict. But how they judged others, I will say nothing, lest I seem to be superfluous and to meddle in others' affairs; but I am compelled to speak only on my own behalf, because of the unjust slaughter that constrains me. For while the imperial law confined me at home, and forbade me to go beyond the borders of the city I shepherd, they convened the synod against me, and condemned one who was thirty-five stages away. And the God of all said to the patriarch Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great before me, and their sins are very grievous. I will therefore go down and see, if
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Πρέπει δὲ ὑμῶν τῇ ὁσιότητι μὴ παριδεῖν τοὺς ὁμόφρονας ἀδίκως ἐλαυνομένους, ἀλλὰ παῦσαι τῇ δικαίᾳ βοηθείᾳ τὴν ἀδικίαν, καὶ διδάξαι τοὺς κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας θρασυνομένους, ὡς οὐ πάντα δρᾶν ἔξεστι τοῖς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἀδεῶς ποιεῖν πειρωμέ νοις. 118 ΤΩ ΑΡΧΙ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΩ ΡΩΜΗΣ. Παγχάλεπος χειμὼν ταῖς παρ' ἡμῖν Ἐκκλησίαις ἐπέσκη ψεν· οἱ δὲ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ἀντεχόμενοι πίστεως τὴν ὑμετέ ραν ἁγιωσύνην εὔστομον ἔχουσι λιμένα καὶ εὔδιον. Οὐ γὰρ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ὑπερμαχεῖτε δογμάτων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν γεγενημένην ἀδικίαν πάντως μυσάττεσθε. Πόρρω γὰρ ἡμᾶς διάγοντας καὶ πέντε καὶ τριάκοντα σταθμοῖς ἀφεστηκό τας, κατέκριναν ὡς ἠθέλησαν οἱ δικαιότατοι δικασταί, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ Σωτῆρος παρουσίας μέχρι καὶ τήμερον ἐν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις κρατήσασαν διδασκαλίαν παραλιπόντες, και νήν τινα, καὶ νόθον, καὶ ἄντικρυς ἐναντίαν τῇ παραδόσει τῶν ἀποστόλων εἰσήγαγον, καὶ τοῖς τὰ παλαιὰ κρατοῦσι κηρύγματα προφανῶς πολεμοῦσι. Καταξίωσον τοίνυν, θεοφιλέστατε, πυρ σεῦσαι τὸν ζῆλον τοῦ πάντα ἁγιωτάτου καὶ ὁσιωτάτου ἀρχι επισκόπου, ὥστε καὶ τὰς τῆς Ἀνατολῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀπολαῦσαι κηδεμονίας· καὶ διαφερόντως τῆς ἄνωθεν παρὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων παραδοθείσης ὑπερμαχῆσαι πίσ τεως, καὶ ἄσυλον τὸν πατρῷον κλῆρον διαφυλάξαι, καὶ τὴν ἐπικειμένην ὀμίχλην ἀποσκεδάσαι, καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς σκοτομήνης καθαρὰν αἰθρίαν ἐργάσασθαι, καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν ἀδίκως γεγε νημένην ἐξελέγξαι σφαγήν. Πρέπει γάρ σου τῇ ὁσιότητι τοῖς ἄλλοις αὐτῆς κατορθώμασι καὶ τοῦτον προσθεῖναι τὸν ζῆλον. 119 ΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΩ ΠΑΤΡΙΚΙΩ. Ἔγνω πάντως τὸ ὑμέτερον μέγεθος τὰ παρὰ τῶν δικαιοτά των ἐν Ἐφέσῳ γενόμενα δικαστῶν. Εἰς πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡ ὀρθοτάτη ψῆφος αὐτῶν. Ποία γὰρ Ἐκκλησία τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἐπαναστᾶσαν οὐκ ἐδέξατο ζάλην; Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἠδίκησαν, οἱ δὲ ἠδικήθησαν· οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μήτε ὑπομείναντες, μήτε δράσαντες, τοῖς μὲν ἠδικημένοις συναλγοῦσι, τοὺς δὲ ἠδικηκότας θρηνοῦ σιν, ὡς ὠμῶς ἄγαν καὶ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς νόμους, τούς τε θείους, τούς τε ἀνθρωπίνους, τὰ οἰκεῖα κατασφάξαντας μέλη. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ τοιχωρύχους ἁλισκομένους ἐπ' αὐτοφώρῳ κρί νουσι πρῶτον, εἴθ' οὕτω κολάζουσι οἱ δικάζοντες· καὶ μέντοι καὶ τοὺς ἀνδροφόνους, καὶ τοὺς τυμβωρύχους, καὶ τοὺς τὰς ἀλλοτρίας ἀποσυλῶντας εὐνάς, εἰσάγουσι πρότερον εἰς τὸ κριτήριον, καὶ τοῖς κατηγόροις ποιεῖσθαι κελεύουσι τὰς γρα φάς, καὶ τὸν τῶν μαρτύρων σκοπὸν ἐξετάζουσιν, εἰ μὴ πρὸς χάριν μαρτυροῦσι τῶν διωκόντων, εἰ μὴ τῶν φευγόντων εἰσὶ δυσμενεῖς, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἀπολογεῖσθαι τοῖς κατηγόροις κελεύουσι. Καὶ τοῦτο δὶς γίνεται καὶ τρίς, ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ τετράκις· καὶ τότε λοιπὸν ἐν τοῖς τούτων κἀκείνων λόγοις ζητήσαντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τὴν ψῆφον ἐκφέρουσι. Οὗτοι δὲ ὅπως μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐδίκασαν, οὐδὲν ἐρῶ, ἵνα μὴ δόξω περιττός τις εἶναι καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖν τὰ ἀλλότρια· ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ δὲ λέγειν μόνον βιάζομαι τῆς ἀδίκου με καταναγκα ζούσης σφαγῆς. Οἴκοι γάρ με τοῦ βασιλικοῦ καθείργοντος νόμου, καὶ περαιτέρω τῶν ὅρων τῆς ὑπ' ἐμοῦ ποιμαινομένης πόλεως προβαίνειν κωλύοντος, ἐκάθισαν μὲν κατ' ἐμοῦ τὸ συνέδριον, τὸν δὲ πέντε καὶ τριάκοντα σταθμοῖς ἀφεστηκότα κατέκριναν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην Ἀβραὰμ περὶ Σοδόμων ἔφη καὶ Γομόρρων· Κραυγὴ Σοδό μων καὶ Γομόρρων πεπλήθυνται πρός με, καὶ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι αὐτῶν μεγάλαι σφόδρα. Καταβὰς οὖν ὄψο μαι, εἰ