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here, in order to forestall the perception of the enemies of peace. 69.2 And that other thing is also sought by some of those from here, necessarily, as it also seems to us, for them to cast out the heresy of Marcellus as being grievous and harmful and foreign to the sound faith. For, up to now, in all the letters they send, they never cease anathematizing the ill-named Arius up and down and casting him out of the Churches, but against Marcellus, who showed an impiety diametrically opposed to that man and who acted impiously against the very existence of the divinity of the Only-Begotten and who wrongly understood the title of the Word, they appear to have brought no censure. He grants that the Only-Begotten is called the Word, having come forth for a need and for a time, and again having returned to whence he came out, neither existing before his going forth nor subsisting after his return. And proofs of this exist in the books of that unjust writing that are laid up with us. But yet they nowhere appeared to slander him, and this while having the accusation against them that from the beginning, through ignorance of the truth, they had even received him into ecclesiastical communion. The present circumstances therefore demand that he be mentioned fittingly, so that those who wish for a pretext may have no pretext, from the fact that your Holiness joins together the sound and makes clear to all those who are wavering in the true faith; so that for the future we may know who is of like mind and who is not, and not, as in a night battle, have no distinction between friends and enemies. We only ask that the aforementioned deacon be sent out at once on the first voyage, so that he may be able, at least in the coming year, for something of what we pray for to happen. But that you will both understand yourself even before our words and will clearly take care of, so that when they arrive, God willing, they do not leave the schisms in the Churches, but drive into union in every way those who think the same things, even if they should find them having some private causes of differences with one another, in order that the orthodox people not be cut into many parts, separating along with their leaders. For it is necessary to strive to consider all things of secondary importance to peace and above all to care for the Church at Antioch, so that the orthodox party in it may not be weakened by being divided over persons. Rather, you yourself will also take care of all these things later, when, as we pray, with God working with you, you receive all men entrusting to you the affairs of the state of the Churches.

70. UNTITLED, CONCERNING A SYNOD

70.1 To renew the ordinances of ancient love and the peace of the Fathers, the heavenly and saving gift of Christ which has faded with time, to bring it back again to its prime is necessary and beneficial for us, and I know well that it will also appear pleasant to your Christ-loving disposition. For what could be more pleasing than to see those who are divided by so great a multitude of places bound together by the union of love into one harmony of members in the body of Christ? Nearly the whole East, most honored Father, (and I mean by the East the parts from Illyricum to Egypt) is shaken by a great storm and surge, of the heresy long ago sown by Arius, the enemy of truth, but now having appeared in its shamelessness and, as it were, a bitter root giving forth destructive fruit, now prevailing because the leaders of the right doctrine in each diocese have fallen from the Churches through slander and insult, and the control of affairs has been handed over to those who take captive the souls of the more simple. For these things we expected one solution, the visitation of your compassion, and we have always been comforted by the

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ὧδε, ὑπὲρ τοῦ φθάσαι τὴν αἴσθησιν τῶν ἐχθρῶν τῆς εἰρήνης. 69.2 Ἐπιζητεῖται δὲ κἀκεῖνο παρά τινων τῶν ἐντεῦθεν, ἀναγκαίως, ὡς καὶ αὐτοῖς ἡμῖν καταφαίνεται, τὸ τὴν Μαρκέλλου αἵρεσιν αὐτοὺς ὡς χαλεπὴν καὶ βλαβερὰν καὶ τῆς ὑγιαινούσης πίστεως ἀλλοτρίως ἔχουσαν ἐξορίσαι. Ἐπεί, μέχρι τοῦ νῦν, ἐν πᾶσιν οἷς ἐπιστέλλουσι γράμμασι, τὸν μὲν δυσώνυμον Ἄρειον ἄνω καὶ κάτω ἀναθεματίζοντες καὶ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ἐξορίζοντες οὐ διαλείπουσι, Μαρκέλ λῳ δέ, τῷ κατὰ διάμετρον ἐκείνῳ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐπιδειξα μένῳ καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν ὕπαρξιν τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς θεότητος ἀσεβήσαντι καὶ κακῶς τὴν τοῦ Λόγου προσηγο ρίαν ἐκδεξαμένῳ, οὐδεμίαν μέμψιν ἐπενεγκόντες φαί νονται. Ὃς Λόγον μὲν εἰρῆσθαι τὸν Μονογενῆ δίδωσι, κατὰ χρείαν καὶ ἐπὶ καιροῦ προελθόντα, πάλιν δὲ εἰς τὸν ὅθεν ἐξῆλθεν ἐπαναστρέψαντα, οὔτε πρὸ τῆς ἐξόδου εἶναι οὔτε μετὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον ὑφεστάναι. Καὶ τούτου ἀποδείξεις αἱ παρ' ἡμῖν ἀποκείμεναι βίβλοι τῆς ἀδίκου ἐκείνης συγγραφῆς ὑπάρχουσιν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως τοῦτον οὐδαμοῦ διαβάλλοντες ἐφάνησαν, καὶ ταῦτα αἰτίαν ἔχοντες ὡς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, κατ' ἄγνοιαν τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ εἰς κοινωνίαν αὐτὸν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν παραδεξάμενοι. Ἐκείνου τε οὖν μνησθῆναι πρεπόντως ἀπαιτεῖ τὰ παρόντα, ὥστε μὴ ἔχειν ἀφορμὴν τοὺς θέλοντας ἀφορμήν, ἐκ τοῦ τῇ σῇ ὁσιότητι συνάπτειν τοὺς ὑγιαίνοντας καὶ τοὺς πρὸς τὴν ἀληθῆ πίστιν ὀκλάζοντας φανεροὺς πᾶσι ποιῆσαι· ὥστε τοῦ λοιποῦ γνωρίζειν ἡμᾶς τοὺς ὁμόφρονας καὶ μή, ὡς ἐν νυκτομαχίᾳ, μηδεμίαν φίλων καὶ πολεμίων ἔχειν διάκρισιν. Μόνον παρακαλοῦμεν εὐθὺς ὑπὸ τὸν πρῶτον πλοῦν ἐκπεμφθῆναι τὸν προειρημένον διάκονον, ἵνα δυνηθῇ κατὰ γοῦν τὸ ἐφεξῆς ἔτος γενέσθαι τι ὧν προσευχόμεθα. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων λόγων συνήσεις τε αὐτὸς καὶ φροντιεῖς δηλονότι ὅπως ἐπισ τάντες, ἐὰν Θεὸς θέλῃ, μὴ ἐναφῶσι ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις τὰ σχίσματα, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τὰ αὐτὰ φρονοῦντας παντὶ τρόπῳ εἰς ἕνωσιν συνελάσωσι, κἄν τινας ἰδίας τῶν πρὸς ἀλλή λους διαφορῶν ἀφορμὰς εὕρωσιν ἔχοντας, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ τὸν ὀρθοδοξοῦντα λαὸν εἰς πολλὰ κατατέμνεσθαι μέρη τοῖς προεστῶσι συναφιστάμενον. Πάντα γὰρ δεῖ σπουδάσαι δεύτερα ἡγήσασθαι τῆς εἰρήνης καὶ πρὸ πάντων τῆς κατὰ Ἀντιόχειαν Ἐκκλησίας ἐπιμεληθῆναι, ὡς μὴ ἀσθενεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ τὴν ὀρθὴν μερίδα περὶ τὰ πρόσωπα σχιζομένην. Μᾶλλον δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς ὕστερον ἐπιμελήσῃ, ἐπειδάν, ὅπερ εὐχόμεθα, Θεοῦ συνεργοῦντος, σοὶ πάντας λάβῃς τὰ τῆς καταστάσεως τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ἐπιτρέποντας.

70.τ ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΣΥΝΟ∆ΟΥ

70.1 Ἀρχαίας ἀγάπης θεσμοὺς ἀνανεοῦσθαι καὶ Πατέρων εἰρήνην, τὸ

οὐράνιον δῶρον Χριστοῦ καὶ σωτήριον ἀπομαρανθὲν τῷ χρόνῳ, πάλιν πρὸς τὴν ἀκμὴν ἐπαν αγαγεῖν ἀναγκαῖον μὲν ἡμῖν καὶ ὠφέλιμον, τερπνὸν δὲ εὖ οἶδα ὅτι καὶ τῇ σῇ φιλοχρίστῳ διαθέσει καταφανήσεται. Τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο χαριέστερον ἢ τοὺς τοσούτῳ τῷ πλήθει τῶν τόπων διῃρημένους τῇ διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης ἑνώσει καθορᾶν εἰς μίαν μελῶν ἁρμονίαν ἐν σώματι Χριστοῦ δεδέσθαι; Ἡ Ἀνατολὴ πᾶσα σχεδόν, τιμιώτατε Πάτερ, (λέγω δὲ Ἀνατολὴν τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰλλυρικοῦ μέχρις Αἰγύπτου) μεγάλῳ χειμῶνι καὶ κλύδωνι κατασείεται, τῆς πάλαι μὲν σπαρείσης αἱρέσεως ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τῆς ἀληθείας Ἀρείου, νῦν δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἀναίσχυντον ἀναφανείσης καὶ οἱονεὶ ῥίζης πικρᾶς καρπὸν ὀλέθριον ἀναδιδούσης, κατακρατούσης λοιπὸν διὰ τὸ τοὺς μὲν καθ' ἑκάστην παροικίαν προεστῶτας τοῦ ὀρθοῦ λόγου ἐκ συκοφαντίας καὶ ἐπηρείας τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ἐκπεσεῖν, παραδοθῆναι δὲ τοῖς αἰχμαλωτίζουσι τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀκεραιοτέρων τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἰσχύν. Τούτων μίαν προσεδοκήσαμεν λύσιν τὴν τῆς ὑμετέρας εὐσπλαγχνίας ἐπίσκεψιν, καὶ ἐψυχα γώγησεν ἡμᾶς ἀεὶ τὸ