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Had we spent much of the year with one another, both according to the ancient agreements and according to the care now owed by us to the Churches, we would not have given an opportunity to the slanderers. But you, if you please, let them go, and you yourself be exhorted to labor with us in the struggle that lies before us and to meet with us the one who is warring against us. For either by just being seen you will check his assault, or you will disperse those who are gathering to overthrow the affairs of our country, making it known to them that you yourself, by the grace of God, will lead our assembly, and you will shut every unjust mouth of those speaking iniquity against God. And if these things happen, the facts themselves will show who is the one following you for good things, and who is the one shrinking back and betraying through cowardice the word of truth. But if the affairs of the Church are being betrayed, it is of little concern to me to persuade by words those who consider me worthy of as much as men would value who have not yet been taught to measure themselves. For after not long, by the grace of God, the proof through deeds will expose the slanders, because we expect on behalf of the word of truth perhaps to suffer something even greater; but if not, at any rate to be driven from the Churches and our countries. But if none of the expected things happens, the judgment seat of Christ is not far off. Therefore, if you seek the meeting for the sake of the Churches, I am ready to run together wherever you may call; but if it is so that I may refute the slanders, I have no leisure now to answer concerning these things.

72.τ TO HESYCHIUS

72.1 I know both your love for us and your zeal for good things; therefore, needing to entreat our most beloved son Callisthenes, I thought that if I might take you as a partner in the matter, I would more easily accomplish what is being sought. The man is grieved against the most learned Eustochius, and he is grieved with a just grief. He accuses his servants of insolence and recklessness against him. We ask that he be entreated, being content with the fear with which he has frightened both those who acted insolently and their masters, to put an end to the contention by granting this favor. For thus both will result: both honor among men and favor with God, if he is willing to mix long-suffering with fear. Therefore you yourself, if you have any pre-existing friendship and acquaintance with the man, ask this favor from him, and, whomever in the city you know to be able to entreat him, take them as partners in the matter, telling them that what is done will be most pleasing to me. And send back the fellow deacon, having accomplished the things for which he was sent. For I am ashamed, since the men have fled to me for refuge, to have been unable to be of any use to them.

73.τ TO CALLISTHENES

73.1 I have thanked God upon reading the letter of your nobility, first because an address has come to me from a man choosing to honor us (for indeed we consider the acquaintance of the best men to be of great worth), and second for gladness, to receive a good remembrance. And letters are a symbol of remembrance, and when I received them and understood the thought in them, I marveled how, in reality, according to everyone's opinion, you have rendered to us a fatherly reverence. For the fact that you, being inflamed and angered and having rushed to take vengeance on those who had grieved you, have checked much of your vehemence and have made us masters of the affair, has given us cause to rejoice as over a spiritual child. In return for these things, therefore, what else is left

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κατά τε τὰς ἀρχαίας συνθήκας καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὀφειλομένην νῦν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις παρ' ἡμῶν ἐπιμέλειαν τὰ πολλὰ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ μετ' ἀλλήλων διήγομεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐδώκαμεν πάροδον τοῖς διαβάλλουσι. Σὺ δέ, εἰ δοκεῖ, τούτους μὲν ἔα χαίρειν, αὐτὸς δὲ παρακλή θητι συγκαμεῖν ἡμῖν εἰς τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα καὶ συντυχεῖν μεθ' ἡμῶν τῷ καθ' ἡμῶν στρατευομένῳ. Ἢ γὰρ ὀφθεὶς μόνον ἐφέξεις αὐτοῦ τὴν ὁρμήν, ἢ τοὺς συγκροτουμένους ἐπὶ τῷ καταστρέψασθαι τὰ τῆς πατρίδος πράγματα διαλύσεις γνώριμον αὐτοῖς καταστήσας ὅτι αὐτός, τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι, τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς συλλόγου κατάρ ξεις, καὶ φράξεις πᾶν ἄδικον στόμα τῶν λαλούντων κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνομίαν. Κἂν ταῦτα γένηται, αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα δείξει τίς μὲν ὁ κατακολουθῶν σοι ἐπὶ τὰ καλά, τίς δὲ ὁ μετοκλάζων καὶ προδιδοὺς δειλίᾳ τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας. Ἐὰν δὲ τὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας προδιδόμενα ᾖ, ὀλίγος μοι λόγος διὰ ῥημάτων πείθειν τοὺς τοσούτου με τιθεμένους ἄξιον ὅσου ἂν τιμήσωνται ἄνθρωποι οὔπω ἑαυτοὺς μετρεῖν δεδιδαγμένοι. Μετ' οὐ πολὺ γάρ, τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι, ἡ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἀπόδειξις τὰς συκοφαντίας ἐλέγξει, διότι προσδοκῶμεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἀληθείας τάχα μέν τι καὶ μεῖζον πείσεσθαι· εἰ δὲ μή, πάντως γε τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῶν πατρίδων ἀπελαθήσεσθαι. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ μηδὲν τῶν ἐλπιζομένων γένηται, οὐ μακράν ἐστι τὸ Χριστοῦ δικαστήριον. Ὥστε, τὴν συντυχίαν εἰ μὲν διὰ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας ἐπιζητεῖς, ἕτοιμος συνδραμεῖν ὅπουπερ ἂν προκαλῇ· εἰ δὲ ἵνα τὰς συκοφαντίας διαλύσω, οὐ σχολή μοι νῦν ἀποκρίνασθαι περὶ τούτων.

72.τ ΗΣΥΧΙΩ

72.1 Οἶδά σου καὶ τὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἀγάπην καὶ τὴν περὶ τὰ καλὰ σπουδήν·

διόπερ, χρῄζων δυσωπῆσαι τὸν ποθεινότατον υἱὸν Καλλισθένην, ἡγησάμην, εἰ κοινωνόν σε λάβοιμι τῆς φροντίδος, ῥᾷον κατορθώσειν τὸ σπουδαζόμενον. Λελύπη ται ὁ ἀνὴρ κατὰ τοῦ λογιωτάτου Εὐστοχίου, καὶ λελύπηται δικαίαν λύπην. Ἐγκαλεῖ αὐτοῦ τοῖς οἰκέταις θράσος κατ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπόνοιαν. Τοῦτον ἀξιοῦμεν παρακληθῆναι, ἀρκεσθέντα τῷ φόβῳ ὃν ἐφόβησεν αὐτούς τε τοὺς θρασυ νομένους καὶ τοὺς τούτων δεσπότας, καταλῦσαι τὴν φιλονεικίαν δόντα τὴν χάριν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἀμφότερα ὑπάρχει· καὶ τὸ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις σεμνὸν καὶ τὸ παρὰ Θεῷ εὐδόκιμον, ἐὰν τῷ φόβῳ θελήσῃ τὸ μακρόθυμον ἀναμίξαι. Αὐτός τε οὖν, εἴ τίς σοι προυπάρχει φιλία πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ συνήθεια, αἴτησον παρ' αὐτοῦ τὴν χάριν ταύτην, καί, οὓς ἐὰν γνῷς ἐν τῇ πόλει δυναμένους αὐτὸν δυσωπῆσαι, κοινωνοὺς λαβὲ τῆς φροντίδος εἰπὼν αὐτοῖς ὅτι τὸ γινόμενον ἐμοὶ μάλιστα κεχαρισμένον ἔσται. Καὶ ἀπόπεμψαι τὸν συνδιάκονον πράξαντα ὧν ἕνεκεν ἀπεσ τάλη. Αἰσχύνομαι γάρ, καταφυγόντων πρός με τῶν ἀνθρώπων, μὴ δυνηθῆναι αὐτοῖς γενέσθαι τι χρήσιμον.

73.τ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΘΕΝΕΙ

73.1 Ηὐχαρίστησα τῷ Θεῷ τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐντυχὼν τῆς εὐγενείας σου,

πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἀνδρὸς τιμᾶν ἡμᾶς προαιρουμένου ἀφίκετό μοι προσηγορία (καὶ γὰρ πολλοῦ μὲν ἀξίαν τιθέμεθα τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν τὴν συντυχίαν), δεύτερον δὲ εἰς εὐφροσύνην, τὸ μνήμης ἀγαθῆς τυγχάνειν. Σύμβολον δὲ μνήμης γράμματα, ἅπερ ἐπειδὴ ἐδεξάμην καὶ κατέμαθον τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς νοῦν, ἐθαύμασα ὅπως, τῷ ὄντι, κατὰ τὴν πάντων ὑπόληψιν, πατρικὴν ἡμῖν ἀπένειμας τὴν αἰδῶ. Τὸ γὰρ φλεγμαίνοντα καὶ ὠργισμένον καὶ ὁρμήσαντα πρὸς τὴν τῶν λελυπηκότων ἄμυναν παραλῦσαι μὲν τὸ πολὺ τῆς σφοδρότητος, ἡμᾶς δὲ τοῦ πράγματος κυρίους ποιήσασθαι, ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν εὐφρανθῆναι ὡς ἐπὶ τέκνῳ πνευματικῷ. Ἀντὶ οὖν τούτων τί ἄλλο λειπόμενόν ἐστιν