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likewise and most honorable, but I, the humble one, do not cease to pray to the king above of all that you may be a dear friend to him through piety; because it is better to be ranked even in the lowest place in the highest heavenly realm than in the first place in the earthly one. And I trust, knowing your care for your salvation, that you are suffering no loss in your soul, but are even gaining from your high office, since there are not a few ways to profit. For to the poor taxpayer it is enough not only to have a remission of taxes, but also a kindly look from the one who collects the imperial funds and a gentle voice and a word of greeting. And I do not yet mention the loosing of the bond of injustice, and whatever other things a ruler may easily do for the one he rules. Therefore, do not neglect, my lord, the ways in which you are able to benefit yourself through kindness to others, but, as one who is prudent and knows that a little later we shall depart from this life, taking nothing else with us but our deeds, let us be devoted to them, and let us treasure them up, I mean, those that will be our provision for eternal life and the enjoyment of ineffable good things. Yes, I beseech you, my own blood, my own desire, the offspring of a truly good root, of that Anna, who is to me most revered and most beloved, and praised for her dignity by all who knew her, my truly blessed mother on both sides. 45 {1To my child Naucratius}1 46 {1To the abbess Anna}1 47 {1To my child Naucratius}1 48 {1To my child Athanasius}1 I have read your letter, beloved brother, with patience, and I was greatly astonished at your sudden change. I will leave aside the past, that when we met you agreed with me that the Moechian false doctrine is a heresy, pleading ignorance and your meeting with others, but that even after this, having read the Pentalogus, you declared it to be five-lighted. But now, it seems, you take the opposite view of it, breathing out your whole discourse as similar to your former ignorance, or rather, even more hostile to the things said by my humility. And if they were my words, since I am obscure, it would be no wonder; but since through the voice of the Lord, and of the apostles and prophets, and in addition has been demonstrated by the God-bearing fathers that it is a most grievous heresy, let your understanding and that of anyone else who agrees with you see where you are about to stumble. For your propositions that it is not a heresy, forgive me, are not from the voice of the Lord nor from the mouth of a saint, but, to speak prophetically, from those who speak from the earth and from strange laws, and of the multitude which is permitted to say everything out of human fear. For you would say that all friends and pious men, both learned and unlearned, are driven mad on hearing that it is a heresy, putting forward this argument, that, "4since no one resists and teaches that one should commit adultery and absolve the unholy, how shall we call them heretics? For it is right to call them transgressors of the Lord's commandments and tramplers of the divine canons and unholy."5. How then is it not possible to be amazed first at your persistence, which often brings forward the same arguments of those men and hears in reply the truth, which could persuade even children, and then again the same things, as if forgetting what was heard before, adding them with a more vehement perplexity and criticism of us, as if we irrationally call it a heresy? So this is what is amazing to me concerning you. But concerning our opponents I say these things; how is it that they say they do not preach nor teach what they preached in a synod and confirmed under anathema of those who oppose the dogma, that is, their economy, and are still teaching in practice every day? For what reason am I, the humble one, shut up here? For what reason has my father the recluse suffered, being isolated before, and then cast aside in the place where he is confined? For what reason is the archbishop, according to them, deposed and in great hardship by order and under guard, so that those who provide his food were ordered to have him receive a measure of food, and then he was transferred to confinement in the palace, and now in

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ὁμοῦ καὶ τιμιώτατε, ἐγὼ δὲ ὁ ταπεινὸς οὐ διαλιμπάνω προσεύχεσθαι τῷ ἄνω καὶ πάντων βασιλεῖ φίλον οἰκεῖόν σε δι' εὐσεβείας ὑπάρχειν· διότι κρεῖσσον καὶ τὸ πολλοστὸν τετάχθαι κατὰ τὸ ἀκρότατον ἔσχατον τῷ οὐρανίῳ ἢ κατὰ τὸ πρώτιστον τῷ ἐπιγείῳ. πιστεύω δὲ εἰδώς σου τὸ φιλομέριμνον τῆς σωτηρίας μηδὲν παραζημιοῦσθαι εἰς ψυχήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρακερδαίνειν ἐκ τοῦ ἀξιώματος, ὄντων τρόπων οὐκ ὀλίγων εἰς λυσιτέλειαν. ἤρκεσε γὰρ τῷ πτωχῷ ὑποτελεῖ οὐ μόνον ἀνοχὴ φόρων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὄψις εὐμενὴς τοῦ τὰ βασιλικὰ χρήματα αἴροντος καὶ φωνὴ ἠπία καὶ φθόγγος χαιρετιστικός. καὶ οὔπω λέγω λύσιν συνδέσμου ἀδικίας, ἄλλα τε ὅσα ἐπακολουθοῦσιν εὐχερῶς ποιεῖν τῷ ἄρχοντι τῷ ἀρχομένῳ. Μὴ τοίνυν ἐφ' ὧν δύνῃ εὖ ποιεῖν σαυτὸν διὰ τῆς εἰς ἑτέρους χρηστότητος ἀμελοίης, κύριέ μου, ἀλλ' ὡς συνετὸς καὶ εἰδὼς μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐξελεύσεσθαι ἡμᾶς τοῦδε τοῦ βίου, μηδὲν ἄλλο συναίροντας ἢ τὰς πράξεις, ταύταις καὶ προσκείμεθα, τάσδε καὶ θησαυρίζοιμεν δῆλον ὅτι, τὰς ἐφόδιον ἡμῖν ζωῆς αἰωνίου καὶ ἀπολαύσεως ἀπορρήτων ἀγαθῶν μελλούσας ἔσεσθαι. ναί, παρακαλῶ τὸ ἐμὸν αἷμα, τὸ ἐμὸν πόθημα, τὸ ἀγαθῆς ὄντως ῥίζης βλάστημα, Ἄννης ἐκείνης, τῆς ἐμοὶ μὲν σεβασμίας καὶ ἐρασμιωτάτης ὅτι μάλιστα, πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς γνωρίμοις ἐπαινουμένης διὰ σεμνότητα, τῆς ἐμῆς ὡς ἀληθῶς μακαρίας μητρὸς ἀμφοτέρωθεν. 45 {1Ναυκρατίῳ τέκνῳ}1 46 {1Ἄννῃ ἡγουμένῃ}1 47 {1Ναυκρατίῳ τέκνῳ}1 48 {1Ἀθανασίῳ τέκνῳ}1 Ἐνέτυχόν σου τοῖς γράμμασιν, ἀδελφὲ ἠγαπημένε, μακροθύμως, καὶ ἐξέστην ἐπὶ τῇ ἀθρόᾳ σου μεταβολῇ λίαν. ἀφήσω τὸ πρότερον, ὅτι συνοψισθείς μοι ὡμοφώνησας αἵρεσιν εἶναι τὴν μοιχειανικὴν ψευδοδοξίαν, ἄγνοιαν προβαλλόμενος καὶ τὴν ἀπ' ἄλλων συντυχίαν, ἀλλ' ὅτι γε καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀναγνοὺς τὴν Πεντάλογον ἀπέφηνας αὐτὴν πεντάφωτον εἶναι. νῦν δέ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀντιθέτως αὐτὴν ὑπολαμβάνεις, ὅλην σου τὴν ὁμιλίαν ὁμοίαν σοι τῆς πρὶν ἀγνοίας, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πλέον ἀπεχθανομένην τοῖς ὑπὸ τῆς ταπεινώσεώς μου ῥηθεῖσι πνεύσας. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐμοῦ λόγια, ἐπειδὴ σκοτεινός, οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ διὰ φωνῆς Κυρίου, ἀποστόλων τε καὶ προφητῶν, πρὸς καὶ θεοφόροις πατράσιν ἐναποδέδεικται, ὅτι αἵρεσις χαλεπωτάτη, βλεπέτω σου ἡ σύνεσις καὶ εἰτινοσοῦν ἄλλου ὁμογνωμονοῦντός σοι ποῦ προσκρούειν μέλλετε. αἱ γὰρ παρ' ὑμῶν προτάσεις περὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αἵρεσιν, σύγγνωτε, οὐκ ἐκ φωνῆς Κυρίου οὐδὲ ἐκ στόματος ἁγίου, προφητικῶς δὲ εἰπεῖν ἐκ γῆς φωνούντων καὶ ἐκ νόμων ἀλλοκότων, πληθύος τε τῆς φόβῳ ἀνθρωπίνῳ πάντα λέγειν ἐπιτρεπομένης. φαίης γὰρ ὅτι πάντες φίλοι καὶ εὐσεβεῖς, γνωστικοί τε καὶ ἰδιῶται ἐκμαίνονται ἀκούοντες ὅτι αἵρεσις, παράστασιν ταῦτα προβαλλόμενοι, ὅτι "4μηδενὸς ἀνθισταμένου καὶ διδάσκοντος τοῦ μοιχεύειν καὶ λύειν τοὺς ἀνιέρους, πῶς καλέσομεν αὐτοὺς αἱρετικούς; παραβάτας γὰρ τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ καταπατητὰς τῶν θείων κανόνων καὶ ἀνιέρους δίκαιον"5. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκπλαγῆναι πρῶτον εἰς τὴν ὑμῶν ἐμμέλειαν, τὰ αὐτὰ πολλάκις δῆθεν ἐκείνων προσάγουσαν καὶ ἀντακούουσαν τἀληθῆ, ἃ καὶ παῖδας πείθειν δύναιτ' ἄν, εἶτα αὖθις τὰ αὐτά, ὥσπερ ἐπιλαθομένην τὰ πρότερον ἀκουσθέντα, ἐπάγουσαν μετὰ σφοδροτέρας τῆς ἀπορίας καὶ καθάψεως ἡμῶν, ὡς ἀλόγως λεγόντων αἵρεσιν; οὕτω μέν μοι τὸ περὶ ὑμᾶς ἐκπληκτικόν. περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐκεῖνα εἰμὶ λέγων· πῶς, ὃ ἐκήρυξαν συνοδικῶς καὶ ἐβεβαίωσαν ὑπ' ἀναθέματι τῶν ἀντιπιπτόντων τῷ δόγματι, ἤτοι τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔτι καθ' ἑκάστην ἐμπράκτως διδασκόντων, μὴ κηρύσσειν μηδὲ διδάσκειν λέγουσιν; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἐγὼ ὁ ταπεινὸς ἐνταῦθα ἀπόκλειστος; ὑπὲρ τίνος ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ ἐγκλειστὸς τεταλαιπώρηται, μεμονωμένος τὸ πρίν, ἔπειτα παραρρεριμμένος ἐν ᾧ περιώρισται τόπῳ; ὑπὲρ τίνος ὁ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος ὡς κατ' αὐτοὺς καθῃρημένος καὶ ἐν πολλῇ στενοχωρίᾳ παραγγελίᾳ τε καὶ ἀσφαλείᾳ, ὡς καὶ τροφὴν μέτρου λαμβάνειν αὐτὸν παρακελευσθέντων τῶν τροφοδοτῶν, εἶτα ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ μετεγκλεισθείς, ἄρτι τε ἐν