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of the same mind as Nestorius and Apollinarius, and those around them, which it supports by its dogmas; and that it rejects the divine ones, as I said, but inscribes the accursed ones as its own Fathers.

For whose sake, or for what compelling reason, has it introduced this against the pious confession? If it is because we have no faith, the statement is false; for all of us who hold to the right doctrine were Christians even before this. But if it is because we do have it, the manner is to be shunned, introducing what is superfluous, as if it were counterfeit, by which they obscure their own wickedness, and since they are unable to bring forward a single citation from any synod at all, or Father, or Scripture, in testimony of their own views, they say these things, fabricating the dogmas of piety, which were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, and their disciples and successors in turn, the divinely inspired teachers of the truth; which is to say, the five holy and ecumenical synods of the most blessed and God-bearing Fathers. But if they handed these things down, what is the proof, or whence comes the confirmation of such dogmas for them? Besides, since we hold to and confess the holy synods, it is clear that the invention of what has been introduced is counterfeit. But if these things are not from the holy synods, what is the pomposity of the drama, bending what is infamous by the name of the all-praised, so that it might be a bait for the more simple unto apostasy from the truth, this naming of the renowned Fathers and synods, (181) cleverly devised from the beginning by those of a different mind, both for the concealment, as I said, of their own views, and for the deceitful snatching away, as it were, of those who are led astray. Therefore, for the complete abolition of such things, I mean of those who from time to time devise deceitful inquiries against the faith, a synodical law of the holy assembly of the blessed Fathers in Chalcedon is most excellently defined, commanding something like this: "The holy and ecumenical synod has decreed that it is not permitted for anyone to bring forward, or to write, or to compose, or to think, or to teach a different faith to others. But those who dare either to compose a different faith, or to bring forward, or to teach, or to hand down a different creed to those who wish to turn to the knowledge of the truth from Hellenism or Judaism, or from any heresy whatsoever, these, if they should be bishops or clerics, the bishops are to be deprived of their episcopate, and the clerics of their clerical office; but if they should be monks or laymen, they are to be anathematized."

Who then among those who have any sense of God, and who are attached to His all-radiant glory, from whom, and through whom, and unto whom is the salvation of those who piously confess Him, would still abandon the orthodox faith handed down to us from above and from the beginning through the divine oracles and Fathers, and prefer the recent innovation; against which, just as against every other devised by those of a different mind contrary to pious reasoning, the lawful sentence of the approved and synodical curse has been pronounced by the holy Fathers assembled in Chalcedon, as the argument has shown; unless, having become numb to his own life, he has preferred alienation from the glory of God. Therefore, Master, seeing by the facts themselves, and understanding that it is openly and manifestly a progression and a proclamation toward the overthrow of all piety, and the denial of the true knowledge of the Only-Begotten, and of the final error and of the last beast, according to the prophecy of the holy men who held these things, from divine inspiration and most blessed illumination, for our protection, we who have reached the ends of the ages, let us each guard with all the strength of our own heart against this imported innovation, so that we may not be led away with it, as it were carelessly and negligently, but rather standing most gravely and manfully against all impiety,

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ὁμόφρονα Νεστορίῳ τε καί Ἀπολιναρίῳ, καί τοῖς ἀμφ᾿ αὐτοῖς οὖσαν, οἷς δογματίζει παρέστηκε· καί τούς μέν θείους παραγραφομένην, ὡς ἔφην, τούς δέ ἐναγεῖς, οἰκείους Πατέρας ἐπιγραφομένην.

Τίνος δέ ταύτην, ἤ ποίας ἐκβιασαμένης αἰτίας, κατά τῆς εὐσεβοῦς εἰσκεκόμικεν ὁμολογίας; Εἰ μέν ὡς οὐκ ἐχόντων πίστιν ἡμῶν, ψευδής ὁ λόγος· Χριστιανοί γάρ καί πρό ταύτης ἅπαντες, οἱ τόν ὀρθόν λόγον πρεσβεύοντες. Εἰ δέ ὡς ἐχόντων, φευκτός ὁ τρόπος, τό περιττόν, ὡς κίβδηλος, ἐπεισάγων, ᾧ τήν αὐτῶν συσκιαζοντες πανουργίαν, καί οὐδενός οὐδέ μίαν συνόδου καθάπαξ, ἤ Πατρός, ἤ Γραφῆς χρῆσιν προκομίζειν, εἰς τήν τῶν οἰκείων ἔχοντες μαρτυρίαν, ταῦτά φασι, πλαττόμενοι τῆς εὐσεβείας τά δόγματα, ἅ παρεδώκασιν ἡμῖν οἱ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται, καί ὑπηρέται τοῦ Λόγου γενόμενοι, καί οἱ τούτων μαθηταί καί διάδοχοι καθεξῆς, θεόπνευστοι τῆς ἀληθείας διδάσκαλοι· ταὐτόν δέ εἰπεῖν, αἱ ἅγιαι και οἰκουμενικαί ε´σύνοδοι τῶν μακαριωτάτων καί θεοφόρων Πατέρων. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ ταῦτα παρέδωκαν, τίς ἡ ἀπόδειξις, ἤ πόθεν ἐκείνοις τῶν τοιούτων δογμάτων ἡ πίστωσις; Ἄλλως τε τάς ἁγίας προσεχόντων ἡμῶν καί ὁμολογούντων συνόδους, δῆλον ὡς τῶν ἐπεισάκτων κίβδηλος ἡ ἐφεύρεσις. Εἰ δέ μή ταῦτα τῶν ἁγίων συνόδων, τίς ὁ τοῦ δράματος ὄγκος, κλήσει τῶν πανευφήμων τό δύσφημον ἐπικάμπτων, ὡς ἄν δέλεαρ ᾗ τοῖς ἁπλουστέροις εἰς τήν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπόστασιν, τῶν περιδόξων Πατέρων τε καί συνόδων ἡ προσηγορία, (181) τοῖς ἑτερόφροσιν ἄνωθεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὐμηχάνως ἐξηυρημένη, πρός τέ τήν τῶν οἰκείων, ὡς ἔφην, συγκάλυψιν, καί τῶν ὑπαγομένων δολεράν οἶον ὑφαρπαγήν. Ὅθεν εἰς παντελῆ τῶν τοιούτων κατάργησιν, λέγω δή τῶν κατά καιρούς τάς ἀπατηλάς ἐξερευνώντων ἐξερευνήσεις κατά τῆς πίστεως, καί συνοδικός ὁρίζεται κάλλιστα νόμος τῆς ἁγίας ἐν Χαλκηδόνι συνάξεως τῶν μακαρίων Πατέρων, ὧδέ πη κελευόμενος· " Ὥρισεν ἡ ἁγία καί οἰκουμενική σύνοδος, ἑτέραν πίστιν μηδενί ἐξεῖναι προφέρειν, ἤγουν συγγράφειν ἤ συντιθέναι, ἤ φρονεῖν ἤ διδάσκειν ἑτέρους· τούς δέ τολμῶντας ἤ συντιθέναι πίστιν ἑτέραν ἤγουν προκομίζειν, ἤ διδάσκειν ἤ παραδιδόναι ἕτερον σύμβολον, τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν ἐπιστρέφειν εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξ Ἑλληνισμοῦ ἤ Ἰουδα«σμοῦ, ἤγουν ἐξ αἱρέσεως οἱασδηποτοῦν, τούτους, εἰ μέν εἶεν ἐπίσκοποι ἤ κληρικοί, ἀλλοτρίους εἶναι τούς ἐπισκόπους τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς, καί τούς κληρικούς τοῦ κλήρου· εἰ δέ μονάζοντες ἤ λαϊκοί εἶεν, ἀναθεματίζεσθαι αὐτούς."

Τίς οὖν ἄρα τῶν ὁποσοῦν ᾐσθημένων Θεοῦ, καί τῆς αὐτοῦ παμφαοῦς δόξης ἐξηρτημένων, παρ᾿ οὗ, καί δι᾿ οὗ, καί εἰς ὅν ἡ σωτηρία τῶν εὐσεβῶς ὁμολογούντων αὐτόν, ἔτ᾿ ἄν τήν διά τῶν θεσπεσίων λογίων τε καί Πατέρων ἄνωθεν καί ἐξ ἀρχῆς παραδεδομένην ἡμῖν ὀρθόδοξον πίστιν ἀπολιπεῖν, καί προκρῖναι τήν πρόσφατον καινοτομίαν· καθ᾿ ἧς, ὥσπερ δή καί πάσης ἑτέρας παρά τόν εὐσεβῆ λογισμόν ἐξηυρημένης τοῖς ἑτερόφροσιν, ὁ τῆς ἐγκρίτου καί συνοδικῆς ἀρᾶς ἔνθεσμος ἐξενήνεκται τῶν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι συνειλεγμένων ἁγίων Πατέρων, ὡς ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξεν· αἱ μή που τῆς οἰκείας καταναρκήσας ζωῆς, τῆς ἀπό Θεοῦ δόξης τήν ἀλλοτρίωσιν προτετίμηκε. ∆ιό δή πράγμασιν αὐτοῖς θεώμενοι, ∆έσποτα, καί κατανοοῦντες πρόοδον οὖσαν φανερῶς ἀναφανδόν καί προκήρυξιν, εἴς τε θεοσεβείας ἁπάσης ἀνατροπήν, καί τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐξάρνησιν ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως, ἐσχάτης τε πλάνης καί τοῦ τελευταίου θηρός, κατά τήν τῶν ταῦτα φρονούντων ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν, ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας θείας καί μακαριωτάτης ἐλλάμψεως προαγόρευσιν, εἰς ἡμετέραν φρουράν τῶν τά τέλη τῶν αἰώνων κατειληφότων, ταύτην δή τήν ἐπείσακτον καινοτομίαν παντί σθένει τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστος καρδίας τηρήσωμεν, ὡς ἄν μή συναπαχθῶμεν ἀπεριμερίμνως οἶον καί ἀτημελῶς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐμβριθῶς λίαν καί ἀνδρικῶς κατά πάσης ἀσεβείας ἱστάμενοι,