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having endured persecutions and imprisonments for the sake of the gospel? nothing other than to crucify and put to death. May the bond of lawlessness not be reckoned to them, but, as you have said, not bearing the offenses of those subject to them and so that a light of truth may not shine for them, but that they may pass their lives in the darkness of ignorance, they send away our brothers, lest some holy word of truth and justice should be heard by them, that is, a reminder. It will not be, nor will this counsel of theirs remain, but the word of God, which they have trampled on, will be spoken and will be established forever. For heaven, he says, and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. And who is able to oppose these things, except the tyrant Satan and his prophets, who have ratified adultery as a saving economy for the church of Christ, who are truly foolish and most hateful? The discourse must be turned to your questions. You asked for what reason the divine Cyril managed not to separate from those of the East who mentioned Theodore of Mopsuestia, being a heretic, in the diptychs, when the dogmas of piety were preserved among them most correctly and most opportunely; for so it is written also by the one who records these things, Eulogius, archbishop of Alexandria among the saints, in his discourse On Economy, which we also made use of in the treatise On the Universal Economy specially composed by us. Therefore he who also related it has given the solution (for it has not yet been said elsewhere, and it is sufficient not to seek another, but for the sake of clarity let our words hold to the same meaning) that of economies, some have been made by the fathers for a time, while others are perpetual. For example, a perpetual one, as the concession of 'persons' instead of 'hypostases' by Saint Athanasius to the Italians; but for a time, as that of the apostle concerning circumcision, that of Basil the Great concerning the Holy Spirit, and as this present one of the divine Cyril; which, being done for a certain time, has nothing blameworthy nor anything discordant and unlawful, yet is nevertheless relaxed and not exceedingly precise; for this is the economy for a time. For it is not possible for a physician to quickly deliver the sick from his illness, nor again to make an unruly horse easy to bridle or a dry sapling straight at once, unless the one most experienced in such things uses gradual clicks and coaxings, soft applications and invocations. So it is also with the saints in their economies, as with Cyril the Great in this case; for he surely waited a little for the slowness or attachment of the easterners not to regard as heretical one who was truly a heretic. For what else was intervening, when they preached the faith orthodoxly and in this anathematized him who was commemorated by them? since everyone who is orthodox in all things anathematizes every heretic in effect, even if not in word. Then, when the perfect mind dawned on them, then perhaps the saint was united with them in all things. Or do we not also appear to do the same thing? There are times when some who are of one mind with us differ in some respect, where there is not much that is grievous or that deviates from precision, and yet we accept communion with them, so that we may not for a small thing, which can be corrected a little later, lose the whole; but this is the mark of the unskilled and not of stewards of the mysteries of God. Such is the economy for a time of words and ways in judgment and truth and law, but not at all in lawlessness and falsehood. Let the Moechians not stick out their tongues here, nor suppose the guide a pusher-down-a-cliff, nor the pilot a drowner, nor again the physician a maker of disease; to which they themselves have become like, having committed adultery with the adulterer, having joined with the joiner-in-adultery, having accused God with the accuser of God, having raged cynically with the destroyer of the gospel; for it is more fitting to speak thus. But where or how did the divine Cyril receive Dioscorus, the heretic of Alexandria, as the Moechians say, who are about the light

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εὐαγγελίου διωγμοὺς καὶ φυλακὰς ὑπομείναντας; οὐδὲν ἢ τὸ σταυρῶσαι καὶ θανατῶσαι. μὴ αὐτοῖς λογισθῇ ὁ σύνδεσμος τῆς ἀνομίας, ἀλλ', ὡς εἴρηκας, μὴ φέροντες τὰς τῶν ὑποτασσομένων αὐτοῖς προσκρούσεις καὶ ὡς ἂν μὴ ἀνάψῃ αὐτοῖς φῶς ἀληθείας, ἀλλ' ἐν σκότει ἀγνοίας διαπορεύωνται, ἀποπέμπονται τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἡμῶν, μή πως λόγος ὅσιος ἀληθείας καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἀκουστὸς αὐτοῖς, ἤγουν ὑπομνηστικός, γένηται. οὐκ ἔσται, οὐδὲ μὴ μείνῃ ἡ βουλὴ αὐτῶν αὕτη, ἀλλ' ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃν πεπατήκασι, λαληθήσεται καὶ στερεωθήσεται εἰς αἰῶνα. ὁ οὐρανὸς γάρ, φησί, καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται, οἱ δὲ λόγοι μου οὐ μὴ παρέλθωσι. καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα τίς ἱκανὸς ἀντιφέρεσθαι, εἰ μὴ ὁ τύραννος σατανᾶς καὶ οἱ τούτου ὑποφῆται, τὴν μοιχείαν οἰκονομίαν σωτήριον τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Χριστοῦ κεκυρωκότες, οἱ ματαιόφρονες ὄντως καὶ ἐχθίστατοι; Ἐπὶ τὰς ἐρωτήσεις σου τρεπτέον τὸν λόγον. ἔφης ἀνθ' ὅτου ὁ θεῖος Κύριλλος ᾠκονόμει μὴ ἀποσχίζεσθαι τῶν τῆς ἑῴας ἐν διπτύχοις ἀναφερόντων τὸν Θεόδωρον τὸν Μοψουεστίας, αἱρετικὸν ὄντα, ἐπὰν ὀρθότατα καὶ καιριώτατα τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας δόγματα παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐσέσωστο· οὕτω γὰρ γέγραπται καὶ ὁ ὑπομνηματίζων ταῦτα, ὁ ἐν ἁγίοις Εὐλόγιος ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Ἀλεξανδρείας, ἐν τῷ Περὶ οἰκονομίας αὐτοῦ λόγῳ, οὗ καὶ χρῆσιν ἐνεθέμεθα ἐν τῇ ὑφ' ἡμῶν πονηθείσῃ ἰδίως Περὶ τῆς καθόλου οἰκονομίας πραγματείᾳ. τὴν λύσιν οὖν αὐτὸς δέδωκεν ὁ καὶ ἱστορήσας (οὐ γάρ πω ἀλλαχόσε λέλεκται, καὶ ἱκανὸν μὴ ἐπιζητεῖν ἄλλο, σαφηνείας δὲ ἕνεκεν ἔστω τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν ἐχόμενα τῆς αὐτῆς ἐννοίας) ὅτι τῶν οἰκονομιῶν αἱ μὲν πρὸς καιρὸν γεγόνασι παρὰ τῶν πατέρων, αἱ δὲ τὸ διηνεκὲς ἔχουσιν. οἷον διηνεκὲς μέν, ὡς ἀντὶ τῶν ὑποστάσεων παραχωρεῖσθαι τὰ πρόσωπα πρὸς τοῦ Ἁγίου Ἀθανασίου τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς· πρὸς καιρὸν δέ, οἷον τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπὶ τῆς περιτομῆς, τοῦ Μεγάλου Βασιλείου ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, οἷον καὶ τὸ νῦν τοῦ θείου Κυρίλλου· ἃ μέχρι τινὸς καιροῦ γινόμενα, οὐδὲν ἔχει τὸ μεμπτὸν οὐδὲ τὸ κατά τι ἀπηχὲς καὶ ἔκνομον, ὑφειμένον δ' οὖν ὅμως καὶ οὐκ ἄγαν ἀκριβές· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ οἰκονομία ἡ πρὸς καιρόν. μηδὲ γὰρ δυνατὸν ἰατρὸν τὸν ἠρρωστηκότα θᾶττον ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς νόσου μήτ' αὖ ἵππον ἀκρατῆ ἢ ξηρὸν πτόρθον τὸν μὲν εὐχάλινον, τὸ δὲ εὐθύτομον ἐξαυτῆς καταστήσασθαι, εἰ μὴ τοῖς κατὰ μικρὸν ποππυσμοῖς τε καὶ κολακεύμασι, μαλαγαῖς τε καὶ ἐπικλήσεσι χρώμενον τὸν τῶν τοιούτων ἐμπειρότατον. οὕτω κἀν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐν ταῖς οἰκονομίαις, ὡς καὶ Κυρίλλῳ τῷ μεγάλῳ ἐν τῷδε· μικρὸν γὰρ πάντως ἀνέμενε τῶν ἀνατολικῶν τὸ βραδύνουν ἢ προσπαθὲς πρὸς τὸ αἱρετικὸν μὴ ὑπολαμβάνειν τὸν ὄντως αἱρετικόν. τί γὰρ ἦν ἄλλο τὸ μεσολαβοῦν, ἐπὰν ὀρθοδόξως ἐκήρυττον τὴν πίστιν κἀν τούτῳ αὐτὸν τὸν μνημονευόμενον αὐτοῖς ἀναθεματίζοντες; ἐπειδὴ πᾶς ὀρθοδοξῶν κατὰ πάντα πάντα αἱρετικὸν δυνάμει, κἂν οὐ ῥήματι, ἀναθεματίζει. ἔπειτα, ὅτε αὐτοῖς ἀνῆψεν ὁ τέλειος νοῦς, τότε αὐτοῖς συναφθέντος κατὰ πάντα τοῦ ἁγίου ἴσως. ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦντες φαινόμεθα; ἔσθ' ὅτε τινῶν ὁμογνωμόνων ἡμῖν κατά τι διαφερομένων, ἔνθα οὐ πολὺ τὸ λυποῦν ἢ ἐξιστῶν τῆς ἀκριβείας, καὶ ὅμως καταδεχόμεθα τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς κοινωνίαν, ἵνα μὴ διὰ μικρόν τι, μικρὸν ὕστερον δυνάμενον κατορθωθῆναι, ἀπολέσωμεν τὸ πᾶν· τοῦτο δὲ ἀτέχνων καὶ οὐ μυστηρίων θεοῦ οἰκονόμων. Τοιοῦτον μὲν τὸ πρὸς καιρὸν οἰκονομεῖν τοὺς λόγους καὶ τοὺς τρόπους ἐν κρίσει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ νόμῳ, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν παρανομίᾳ καὶ ψεύδει τὸ καθόλου. μὴ προβαλλέσθωσαν τὰς γλώσσας οἱ μοιχειανοὶ ἐνταῦθα, μηδὲ τὸν χειραγωγὸν κρημνιστὴν οἰέσθωσαν, μηδὲ τὸν κυβερνήτην καταποντιστήν, μηδ' αὖ τὸν ἰατρὸν νοσοποιόν· ᾧπερ αὐτοὶ ὡμοιώθησαν, τῷ μοιχῷ συμμοιχεύσαντες, τῷ μοιχοζεύκτῃ συζεύξαντες, τῷ θεοκατηγόρῳ συνθεοκατηγορήσαντες, τῷ εὐαγγελιολύτῃ συνευαγγελιολυττήσαντες κυνικῶς· οὕτω γὰρ φράσαι οἰκειότερον. ∆ιόσκορον δὲ ποῦ ἢ πῶς, τὸν Ἀλεξανδρείας αἱρετικόν, Κύριλλος ὁ θεῖος ἐδέξατο, ὥς φασιν οἱ μοιχειανοί, οἱ περὶ τὸ φῶς