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will be wanting. All that you indicated in writing has been done by me. I have written to those of the bishops whom you wished, so that when they come they may share in your cares, I have sent Dionysius, of consular rank, who will also remind those that are obliged to come to the synod with you, and he will be present as an observer of the proceedings,4.42.4 and especially of the good order. For if anyone, as I do not suppose, trying even now to evade our command, should not wish to attend, one will be sent from here by us, who by imperial order shall expel him and teach him that it is not fitting to oppose the decrees of an emperor issued on behalf of the truth. 4.42.5 It shall be the remaining task of your holiness, by a unanimous judgment, with neither enmity nor favor, but in accordance with the ecclesiastical and apostolic canon, to devise a fitting remedy for things done amiss or which have occurred through error, so that you may both free the church from all blasphemy, and lighten my cares, and, by restoring the grace of peace to those now in discord, you may procure the greatest glory for yourselves. May God preserve you, beloved brothers. 4.43.1 And since the commands were being carried into effect, another imperial official arrived, pressing the synod with an imperial letter, urging them to hasten 4.43.2 and not to postpone their journey to Jerusalem. Therefore, all of them, setting out from the nation of the Phoenicians, traveled by the public roads toward the business at hand, and at that time the whole region here was filled with a great choir of God, as the distinguished bishops from every province were gathered together in Jerusalem.4.43.3 For the Macedonians sent the one from their metropolis; Pannonians and Moesians, the flourishing beauties of God’s new people among them; and there was also present a sacred personage of the Persian bishops, a man who had made a precise study of the divine oracles; and Bithynians and Thracians adorned the full company of the synod. 4.43.4 The most eminent men of the Cilicians were certainly not absent, and the first men of Cappadocia, distinguished by their learning in discourse, shone among them all; and all Syria and Mesopotamia, Phoenicia and Arabia with Palestine itself, Egypt and Libya, and those who inhabit the country of the Thebaid, all together filled the great choir of God, and an innumerable crowd from all the provinces followed them. And a certain imperial service attended all these, and approved men from the palace itself were sent to make the festival splendid with the emperor's provisions.4.44.1 And indeed, the one who presided over all these, the emperor’s right-hand man, eminent in faith and piety and in the practice of the divine words, who also, having been made glorious by his confessions for piety in the time of the tyrants, was fittingly entrusted with the direction of these things. And so he, serving the emperor’s will with all sincerity, honored the synod with a friendly reception, and with splendid banquets and convivial feasts, 4.44.2 and to the naked poor and to countless multitudes of needy men and women who were in want of food and other necessities, he made lavish distributions of money and clothing, and he also now adorned the entire church with rich and royal offerings. 4.45.1 But while he was fulfilling this service, the ministers of God adorned the festival with prayers as well as with discourses; some extolled the devotion of the God-beloved emperor to the Savior of all, and recounted in speech his magnificent works concerning the martyrium, while others, with festal theologies from the divine doctrines, presented a banquet of spiritual food to the hearing of all;4.45.2 others gave interpretations of the divine readings, revealing the secret mysteries; while those who were not able to proceed by these means propitiated the divinity with unbloody sacrifices and mystical rites, offering up to God supplicatory prayers for the common peace, for the church of God, for the emperor himself, the cause of so many good things, and for his God-beloved children.4.45.3 There indeed we also of things beyond our powers

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ἐνδεήσει. πάντα μοι πέπρακται ὅσα γράφοντες ἐδηλώσατε. ἐπέστειλα πρὸς οὓς ἐβουλήθητε τῶν ἐπισκόπων, ἵνα παραγενόμενοι κοινωνήσωσιν ὑμῖν τῶν φροντισμάτων, ἀπέστειλα ∆ιονύσιον τὸν ἀπὸ ὑπατικῶν, ὃς καὶ τοὺς ὀφείλοντας εἰς τὴν σύνοδον ἀφικέσθαι μεθ' ὑμῶν ὑπομνήσει, καὶ τῶν πραττο4.42.4 μένων ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τῆς εὐταξίας κατάσκοπος παρέσται. ἐὰν γάρ τις, ὡς ἐγὼ οὐκ οἴομαι, τὴν ἡμετέραν κέλευσιν καὶ νῦν διακρούσασθαι πειρώμενος μὴ βουληθῇ παραγενέσθαι, ἐντεῦθεν παρ' ἡμῶν ἀποσταλήσεται, ὃς ἐκ βασιλικοῦ προστάγματος αὐτὸν ἐκβαλὼν ὡς οὐ προσῆκεν ὅροις αὐτοκράτορος ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξενεχθεῖσιν ἀντιτείνειν διδάξει. 4.42.5 Λοιπὸν ἔσται τῆς ὑμετέρας ὁσιότητος ἔργον ὁμογνώμονι κρίσει, μήτε πρὸς ἀπέχθειαν μήτε πρὸς χάριν, ἀκολούθως δὲ τῷ ἐκκλησιαστικῷ καὶ ἀποστολικῷ κανόνι, τοῖς πλημμεληθεῖσιν εἴτ' οὖν κατὰ σφάλμα συμβεβηκόσι τὴν ἁρμόττουσαν θεραπείαν ἐπινοῆσαι, ἵνα καὶ πάσης βλασφημίας ἐλευθερώσητε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὰς ἐμὰς ἐπικουφίσητε φροντίδας καὶ τὴν τῆς εἰρήνης χάριν τοῖς νῦν στασιαζομένοις ἀποδόντες μεγίστην εὔκλειαν ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς προξενήσητε. Ὁ θεὸς ὑμᾶς διαφυλάττοι, ἀδελφοὶ ἀγαπητοί. 4.43.1 Ἐπεὶ δὲ δι' ἔργων ἐχώρει τὰ προστεταγμένα, κατελάμβανεν ἄλλος βασιλικὸς ἀνήρ, ἐπισπέρχων τὴν σύνοδον σὺν γράμματι βασιλικῷ, σπεύδειν 4.43.2 μηδὲ ἀναβάλλεσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα παρορμῶν γε πορείαν. ἄραντες οὖν οἱ πάντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Φοινίκων ἔθνους δημοσίοις δρόμοις ἤλαυνον ἐπὶ τὰ προκείμενα, ἐπληροῦτο δὲ τότε πᾶς ὁ τῇδε τόπος μεγίστης θεοῦ χορείας, ἐπὶ ταὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις συνηγμένων τῶν ἐξ ἁπάσης ἐπαρχίας δια4.43.3 φανῶν ἐπισκόπων. Μακεδόνες μὲν γὰρ τὸν τῆς παρ' αὐτοῖς μητροπόλεως παρέπεμπον, Παννόνιοί τε καὶ Μυσοὶ τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀνθοῦντα κάλλη τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ νεολαίας, παρῆν δὲ καὶ Περσῶν ἐπισκόπων ἱερὸν χρῆμα, τὰ θεῖα λόγια ἐξηκριβωκὼς ἀνήρ, Βιθυνοί τε καὶ Θρᾷκες τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς συνόδου 4.43.4 κατεκόσμουν. οὐ μὴν ἀπελιμπάνοντο Κιλίκων οἱ διαφέροντες, καὶ Καππαδοκῶν δ' οἱ πρῶτοι παιδεύσει λόγων μέσοι τοῖς πᾶσι διέπρεπον, Συρία τε πᾶσα καὶ Μεσοποταμία, Φοινίκη τε καὶ Ἀραβία σὺν αὐτῇ Παλαιστίνῃ, Αἴγυπτός τε καὶ Λιβύη, οἵ τε τὴν Θηβαίων οἰκοῦντες χώραν, πάντες ὁμοῦ ἐπλήρουν τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ θεοῦ χορείαν, οἷς ἀνάριθμος ἐξ ἁπασῶν τῶν ἐπαρχιῶν ἐπηκολούθει λεώς. παρῆν δὲ τούτοις ἅπασι βασιλική τις ὑπηρεσία, ἄνδρες τ' ἐξ αὐτῶν βασιλείων δόκιμοι κατεπέμποντο φαιδρῦναι τὴν ἑορτὴν 4.44.1 ταῖς βασιλέως χορηγίαις, ναὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ τούτοις ἅπασιν ἐφεστὼς βασιλεῖ δεξιὸς ἀνήρ, πίστει καὶ εὐλαβείᾳ λόγων τε θείων ἐμπρέπων ἀσκήσει, ὃς δὴ καὶ ταῖς ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ὁμολογίαις κατὰ τὸν τῶν τυράννων καιρὸν λαμπρυνόμενος εἰκότως τὴν τῶνδε διάταξιν ἐπιστεύετο. καὶ δὴ τῷ βασιλέως οὗτος νεύματι σὺν εἰλικρινείᾳ πάσῃ διακονούμενος, τὴν μὲν σύνοδον ἐτίμα φιλοφρόνῳ δεξιώσει ἑστιάσεσί τε λαμπραῖς καὶ συμποτικαῖς εὐωχίαις, 4.44.2 πτωχοῖς δ' ἀνείμοσι πενήτων τ' ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν μυρίοις πλήθεσι, τροφῆς καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν χρειῶν ἐν ἐνδείᾳ καθεστῶσι, πολυτελεῖς διαδόσεις χρημάτων καὶ περιβλημάτων ἐποιεῖτο, ἤδη δὲ καὶ τὸν πάντα νεὼν πλουσίοις καὶ βασιλικοῖς ἀναθήμασι κατεποίκιλλεν. 4.45.1 Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ταύτην ἐπλήρου τὴν ὑπηρεσίαν, οἱ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ λειτουργοὶ εὐχαῖς ἅμα καὶ διαλέξεσι τὴν ἑορτὴν κατεκόσμουν· οἱ μὲν τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς βασιλέως τὴν εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων σωτῆρα καθοσίωσιν ἀνυμνοῦντες, τάς τε περὶ τὸ μαρτύριον μεγαλουργίας διεξιόντες τῷ λόγῳ, οἱ δὲ ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν θείων δογμάτων πανηγυρικαῖς θεολογίαις πανδαισίαν λογικῶν τροφῶν ταῖς πάντων παρα4.45.2 διδόντες ἀκοαῖς· ἄλλοι δ' ἑρμηνείας τῶν θείων ἀναγνωσμάτων ἐποιοῦντο, τὰς ἀπορρήτους ἀποκαλύπτοντες θεωρίας, οἱ δὲ μὴ διὰ τούτων χωρεῖν οἷοί τε θυσίαις ἀναίμοις καὶ μυστικαῖς ἱερουργίαις τὸ θεῖον ἱλάσκοντο, ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς εἰρήνης, ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ, αὐτοῦ τε βασιλέως ὕπερ, τοῦ τῶν τοσούτων αἰτίου, παίδων τ' αὐτοῦ θεοφιλῶν ἱκετηρίους εὐχὰς τῷ θεῷ 4.45.3 προσαναφέροντες. ἔνθα δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς