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93.τ TO CAESARIA A PATRICIAN LADY CONCERNING COMMUNION

93.1 To commune every day and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ is good and beneficial, since He himself clearly says: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." For who doubts that to partake continually of life is nothing other than to live abundantly? We, however, commune four times each week, on Sunday, on Wednesday and on Friday and on Saturday, and on other days, if there is a memorial of any Saint. But that it is in no way a serious offense for one to be forced, in times of persecution, when there is no priest or minister present, to take the communion with one's own hand, it is superfluous to prove, because long-standing custom has confirmed this through the facts themselves. For all the monks in the deserts, where there is no priest, keeping communion at home, partake of it themselves. And in Alexandria and in Egypt, each of those among the laity, for the most part, has communion in his own house and partakes of it by himself when he wishes. For once the priest has completed the sacrifice and has given it, he who has received it as a whole at one time, partaking each day, ought to believe that he properly partakes and receives from the one who gave it. For even in the church, the priest gives the portion, and the one who receives it holds it with all authority and thus brings it to his mouth with his own hand. Therefore, it is the same in effect, whether one receives one portion from the priest or many portions at once.

94.τ TO ELIAS, GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE

94.1 I myself also was eager to visit your Honor, so that by my absence I might not be at a disadvantage compared to those who slander me; but since illness of the body prevented me, attacking me much more severely than usual, I have necessarily resorted to writing. Therefore, admirable sir, having met with your Honor previously, I was eager to communicate to your prudence about all the affairs of my life, and I was eager to say something on behalf of the Churches, so that no room might be left for subsequent slanders. But I restrained myself, reasoning that it is altogether meddlesome and excessively ambitious to impose even cares beyond the necessary ones upon a man on whom so great a multitude of affairs depends. At the same time, for the truth will be told, I was also otherwise hesitant lest we should come to the necessity of wounding your soul by our arguments against one another, a soul that ought to reap the perfect reward of piety in its pure reverence toward God. For in reality, if we were to turn you to our own concerns, we would leave you little leisure for public affairs and we would do something similar to someone who would weigh down with an addition of cargo a pilot steering a newly-built ship in a great surge, when he ought to be removing some of the freight and helping to lighten it as much as possible. Wherefore it seems to me that the great Emperor, understanding this meddlesomeness of ours, has allowed us to administer the Churches by ourselves. However, I wish those who trouble your guileless ears to be asked what harm the public affairs have from us, or what, small or great, of the common good has been diminished by our administration concerning the Churches, unless someone should say that it brings harm to affairs to have raised to our God a magnificently constructed house of prayer and around it a dwelling, one being a free residence set apart for the

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93.τ ΠΡΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΙΑΝ ΠΑΤΡΙΚΙΑΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑΣ 93.1 Καὶ τὸ κοινωνεῖν δὴ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν καὶ μετα λαμβάνειν τοῦ

ἁγίου σώματος καὶ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ καλὸν καὶ ἐπωφελές, αὐτοῦ σαφῶς λέγοντος· «Ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώ νιον.» Τίς γὰρ ἀμφιβάλλει ὅτι τὸ μετέχειν συνεχῶς τῆς ζωῆς οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἢ ζῆν πολλαχῶς; Ἡμεῖς μέντοιγε τέταρτον καθ' ἑκάστην ἑβδομάδα κοινωνοῦμεν, ἐν τῇ Κυριακῇ, ἐν τῇ τετράδι καὶ ἐν τῇ Παρασκευῇ καὶ τῷ Σαββάτῳ, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἡμέραις, ἐὰν ᾖ μνήμη Ἁγίου τινός. Τὸ δὲ ἐν τοῖς τοῦ διωγμοῦ καιροῖς ἀναγκά ζεσθαί τινα, μὴ παρόντος ἱερέως ἢ λειτουργοῦ, τὴν κοινωνίαν λαμβάνειν τῇ ἰδίᾳ χειρὶ μηδαμῶς εἶναι βαρὺ περιττόν ἐστιν ἀποδεικνύναι, διὰ τὸ καὶ τὴν μακρὰν συνήθειαν τοῦτο δι' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων πιστώσασθαι. Πάντες γὰρ οἱ κατὰ τὰς ἐρήμους μονάζοντες, ἔνθα μή ἐστιν ἱερεύς, κοινωνίαν οἴκοι κατέχοντες ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν μετα λαμβάνουσιν. Ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ δὲ καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἕκαστος καὶ τῶν ἐν λαῷ τελούντων, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον, ἔχει κοινωνίαν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅτε βούλεται μεταλαμβάνει δι' ἑαυτοῦ. Ἅπαξ γὰρ τὴν θυσίαν τοῦ ἱερέως τελειώσαν τος καὶ δεδωκότος, ὁ λαβὼν αὐτὴν ὡς ὅλην ὁμοῦ, καθ' ἑκάστην μεταλαμβάνων, παρὰ τοῦ δεδωκότος εἰκότως μεταλαμβάνειν καὶ ὑποδέχεσθαι πιστεύειν ὀφείλει. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπιδίδωσι τὴν μερίδα καὶ κατέχει αὐτὴν ὁ ὑποδεχόμενος μετ' ἐξουσίας ἁπάσης καὶ οὕτω προσάγει τῷ στόματι τῇ ἰδίᾳ χειρί. Ταὐτὸν τοίνυν ἐστὶ τῇ δυνάμει, εἴτε μίαν μερίδα δέξεταί τις παρὰ τοῦ ἱερέως εἴτε πολλὰς μερίδας ὁμοῦ.

94.τ ΗΛΙΑ ΑΡΧΟΝΤΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΠΑΡΧΙΑΣ

94.1 Ὥρμησα μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς καταλαβεῖν σου τὴν τιμιότητα, ὡς ἂν μὴ τῇ

ἀπολείψει ἔλαττόν τι ἔχοιμι τῶν διαβαλλόντων· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀρρωστία τοῦ σώματος διεκώλυσε, σφοδρό τερον πολλῷ τῆς συνηθείας ἐπιθεμένη, ἀναγκαίως ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὸ γράμμα. Ἐγὼ τοίνυν, θαυμάσιε, συντυχὼν πρῴην τῇ τιμιότητί σου, ὥρμησα μὲν καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον μου πραγμάτων ἀνακοινώσασθαί σου τῇ φρονήσει, ὥρμησα δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ἕνεκα ποιήσασθαί τινα λόγον, ὡς ἂν μὴ ταῖς μετὰ ταῦτα διαβολαῖς χώρα τις ὑπολείποιτο. Ἀλλ' ἐπέσχον ἐμαυτόν, λογιζόμενος περίεργον εἶναι παντελῶς καὶ πέρα τοῦ μέτρου φιλότιμον ἀνδρὶ τοσοῦτον πλῆθος πραγμάτων ἐξηρτημένῳ, ἔτι καὶ τὰς ἔξω τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐπιβάλλειν φροντίδας Ὁμοῦ τε, εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθές, καὶ ἄλλως ὤκνησα μήποτε εἰς ἀνάγκην ἔλθωμεν ταῖς κατ' ἀλλήλων ἀντιλογίαις τρῶσαι τὴν ψυχήν σου, ὀφείλουσαν ἐν τῇ καθαρᾷ περὶ τὸν Θεὸν εὐλαβείᾳ τέλειον τὸν μισθὸν τῆς θεοσεβείας καρποῦσθαι. Τῷ ὄντι γάρ, ἐάν σε πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιστρέψωμεν ἡμεῖς, ὀλίγην σοι σχολὴν πρὸς τὰ δημόσια καταλείψομεν καὶ παραπλήσιον ποιήσομεν ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις κυβερνήτην, νεοπαγῆ ναῦν ἐν μεγάλῳ κλύδωνι διευθύνοντα, τῇ προσθήκῃ τοῦ φόρτου καταβα ρύνοι, δέον ἀφαιρεῖν τι τῶν ἀγωγίμων καὶ συνεπικουφί ζειν ὡς δυνατόν. Ὅθεν μοι δοκεῖ καὶ Βασιλεὺς ὁ μέγας, τὴν πολυπραγμοσύνην ἡμῶν ταύτην καταμαθών, ἐᾶσαι ἡμᾶς ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν τὰς Ἐκκλησίας οἰκονομεῖν. Τοὺς μέντοι ταῖς ἀδόλοις ἀκοαῖς σου παρενοχλοῦντας ἐρωτηθῆναι βού λομαι τί χεῖρον ἔχει τὰ δημόσια παρ' ἡμᾶς ἢ τί μικρὸν ἢ μεῖζον τῶν κοινῶν ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας περὶ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας οἰκονομίας ἠλάττωται, πλὴν εἰ μή τις λέγοι βλάβην τοῖς πράγμασι φέρειν οἶκον εὐκτήριον μεγαλοπρεπῶς κατεσ κευασμένον ἀναστῆσαι τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν καὶ περὶ αὐτὸν οἴκησιν, τὴν μὲν ἐλευθέριον ἐξῃρημένην τῷ