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of the evils that have seized the Churches of the East. And this you have shown by what you have done, having offered so much diligence of your own accord. But since the evils still remain uncorrected, on account of the folly of those who have transgressed so greatly, we thought it necessary to exhort your piety, that you not grow weary, nor lose heart, but use a vigorous zeal, and to contribute all things again from your part. For the more incurably sick are those who stir up sedition against the state of the Churches, the greater will be their judgment, and for you who do not grow weary, the brighter the reward, and the greater the crowns. ΡΝΒʹ. To Bishops. Both to each of you individually, and to all of you collectively, we owe thanks, not only we, but also all the bishops throughout the East, the clergy of various cities, peoples variously persecuted, because showing a father's compassion, you have sympathized, you have stood nobly, you have contributed all things from your part. For these things all proclaim you, crown you, carry your good deeds upon their lips. If such are the honors from men, consider how many are the recompenses for you from the philanthropic God. Knowing these things, therefore, my most honored and most pious masters, even if those who trouble the Churches are incurably sick, do not cease offering the cure from your part. For the more the hindrances and the greater the difficulty, the greater your reward. For if someone giving a cup of cold water will not be without reward for the small kindness; you who have chosen to do and suffer so much for the sake of the troubled Churches, consider how great a recompense you will receive, and how many prizes await you for your good labors. 52.702 ΡΝΓʹ. To the same. We do not cease giving thanks to you continually. For though we have been much wronged by our enemies, yet still we have enjoyed much alliance from you, abundant love, genuine kindness, most fervent zeal; and these things we have as no small comfort both for the most grievous exile, in which we are held, and for the other terrible things brought upon us. Wherefore we exhort your piety to persist in showing the same disposition and zeal toward us. For what is done will not stop with us alone, but will also pass on to the common good of the Churches. For not one, and two, and three cities, but whole nations everywhere on earth are being troubled. And it is right that such great zeal be shown by you, as is fitting for those who have been diligent and toiled for so many souls to show. And if you have labored much, and have contributed from your own, we know this too, and we do not cease giving thanks to you; but we ask you not to cease doing this. For your endurance, and patience, and vigorous spirit will be able to turn away even those who are extremely contentious and incurably sick from the madness that now possesses them. But if they should persist, being thus incurable, yet for you the reward will be perfected, and the recompense full, and the crown for these good things complete. ΡΝ∆ʹ. To the same. We for our part longed to see you even with the eyes of the body; but since this is not possible, as we are held by the bond of exile, with the eyes of love we imagine you each day, and we embrace, and we do not cease to applaud and admire, because you have remained showing such great readiness and zeal from the beginning until now on behalf of the Churches of the East; and we exhort you to show an end worthy of the beginnings. For if those who have troubled all things, and filled them with disturbances, use such great contentiousness, much more is it right for you, who have been zealous to correct the things that have been done wickedly, to use much patience, and endurance concerning such zeal. For thus your reward will be greater, and your recompense larger, when, though many hindrances arise, you do not draw back, but remain, walling off the difficulty of the situation by your own vigilance and zeal.

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τῶν τὰς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ἀνατολῆς κατειληφότων κακῶν. Καὶ τοῦτο δι' ὧν πεποιήκατε, ἐπεδείξασθε, αὐτοπαράκλητοι τοσαύτην παρασχόντες σπουδήν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὰ κακὰ ἔτι μένει ἀδιόρθωτα, διὰ τὴν ἄνοιαν τῶν τοσαῦτα παρανομησάντων, ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι ἐνομίσαμεν παρακαλέσαι ὑμῶν τὴν εὐλάβειαν, ὥστε μὴ ἀποκαμεῖν, μηδὲ περικακῆσαι, ἀλλ' ἀκμαζούσῃ χρήσασθαι τῇ προθυμίᾳ, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν πάλιν ἅπαντα εἰσενεγκεῖν. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν ἀνίατα νοσῶσιν οἱ πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν κατάστασιν στασιάζοντες, τοσούτῳ κἀκείνων πλέον ἔσται τὸ κρῖμα, καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς μὴ ἀποκάμνουσι λαμπρότερος ὁ μισθὸς, καὶ μείζους οἱ στέφανοι. ΡΝΒʹ. Ἐπισκόποις. Καὶ ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστῳ, καὶ κοινῇ πᾶσιν ὑμῖν ὀφείλομεν χάριτας, οὐχ ἡμεῖς δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἀνατολὴν ἐπίσκοποι, κληρικοὶ διαφόρων πόλεων, λαοὶ ποικίλως ἐλαυνόμενοι, ὅτι πατρικὰ σπλάγχνα ἐπιδειξάμενοι, συνηλγήσατε, ἔστητε γενναίως, τὰ παρ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν πάντα εἰσηνέγκατε. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα πάντες ὑμᾶς ἀνακηρύττουσι, στεφανοῦσιν, ἐπὶ στόματος φέρουσιν ὑμῶν τὰ κατορθώματα. Εἰ δὲ παρὰ ἀνθρώπων τοιαῦται αἱ τιμαὶ, ἐννοήσατε παρὰ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ πόσαι ὑμῖν αἱ ἀντιδόσεις. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες, τιμιώτατοι δέσποταί μου καὶ εὐλαβέστατοι, κἂν οἱ θορυβοῦντες τὰς Ἐκκλησίας ἀνίατα νοσῶσι, μὴ παύσησθε τὴν παρ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν εἰσφέροντες θεραπείαν. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν πλείονα τὰ κωλύματα ᾖ καὶ πλείων ἡ δυσκολία, τοσούτῳ καὶ μείζων ὑμῖν ὁ μισθός. Εἰ γὰρ ποτόν τις ψυχρὸν ἐπιδοὺς, οὐκ ἄμισθον ἕξει τὴν βραχεῖαν φιλοφροσύνην· οἱ τοσαῦτα καὶ ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν ἑλόμενοι ὑπὲρ Ἐκκλησιῶν ταρασσομένων, ἐννοήσατε ἡλίκην λήψεσθε τὴν ἀμοιβὴν, καὶ πόσα ὑμᾶς ἀναμένει τῶν καλῶν πόνων τὰ βραβεῖα. 52.702 ΡΝΓʹ. Τοῖς αὐτοῖς. Οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν χάριν ὑμῖν ὁμολογοῦντες διηνεκῶς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλὰ παρανενομήμεθα παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ἀλλ' ὅμως πολλῆς παρ' ὑμῶν ἀπηλαύσαμεν τῆς συμμαχίας, δαψιλοῦς τῆς ἀγάπης, γνησίας φιλοφροσύνης, θερμοτάτης σπουδῆς· καὶ ταῦτα οὐ μικρὰν παράκλησιν καὶ τῆς χαλεπωτάτης ἐξορίας, ἐν ᾗ κατεχόμεθα, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπενεχθέντων ἡμῖν δεινῶν, ἔχομεν. ∆ιὸ παρακαλοῦμεν ὑμῶν τὴν εὐλάβειαν ἐπιμεῖναι τὴν αὐτὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπιδεικνυμένους διάθεσίν τε καὶ σπουδήν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς ἡμᾶς στήσεται τὸ γινόμενον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν διαβήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ μία, καὶ δύο, καὶ τρεῖς πόλεις, ἀλλ' ὁλόκληρα ἔθνη πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς ταράττεται. Καὶ τοσαύτην παρ' ὑμῶν ἐπιδειχθῆναι δίκαιον σπουδὴν, ὅσην εἰκὸς ὑπὲρ τοσούτων ψυχῶν ἐσπουδακότας καὶ κάμνοντας ἐπιδείξασθαι. Εἰ δὲ πολλὰ πεπονήκατε, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσηνέγκατε, ἴσμεν τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ εὐχαριστοῦντες ὑμῖν οὐ παυόμεθα· ἀξιοῦμεν δὲ μὴ διαλιπεῖν τοῦτο ποιοῦντας. Ἡ γὰρ καρτερία ὑμῶν, καὶ ὑπομονὴ, καὶ ἡ εὔτονος γνώμη δυνήσεται καὶ τοὺς σφόδρα φιλονείκως διακειμένους καὶ ἀνίατα νοσοῦντας ἀποστῆσαι τῆς κατεχούσης αὐτοὺς νυνὶ παραφροσύνης. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιμένοιεν καὶ οὕτως ἀνιάτως ἔχοντες, ἀλλ' ὑμῖν ἀπηρτισμένος ὁ μισθὸς ἔσται, καὶ πλήρη τὰ τῆς ἀμοιβῆς, καὶ ὁλόκληρος τῶν καλῶν τούτων ὁ στέφανος. ΡΝ∆ʹ. Τοῖς αὐτοῖς. Ἡμεῖς μὲν ἐποθοῦμεν καὶ ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ὄψεσιν ὑμᾶς θεάσασθαι· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔνι, τῷ τῆς ἐξορίας δεσμῷ κατεχομένων ἡμῶν, τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμᾶς καθ' ἑκάστην φανταζόμεθα τὴν ἡμέραν, καὶ περιπτυσσόμεθα, καὶ κροτοῦντες καὶ θαυμάζοντες οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν, ὅτι τοσαύτην προθυμίαν καὶ σπουδὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς μέχρι νῦν μεμενήκατε ἐπιδεικνύμενοι ὑπὲρ τῶν τῆς Ἀνατολῆς Ἐκκλησιῶν· καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν ἄξιον τῶν προοιμίων ἐπιδείξασθαι τὸ τέλος. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ πάντα ταράξαντες, καὶ θορύβων ἐμπλήσαντες, τοσαύτῃ κέχρηνται τῇ φιλονεικίᾳ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς, τοὺς τὰ κακῶς γεγενημένα διορθοῦν ἐσπουδακότας, πολλῇ δίκαιον κεχρῆσθαι τῇ ὑπομονῇ, καὶ καρτερίᾳ τῇ περὶ τὴν τοιαύτην σπουδήν. Οὕτω γὰρ πλείων ὑμῖν ἔσται ὁ μισθὸς, καὶ μείζων ἡ ἀμοιβὴ, ὅταν καὶ πολλῶν κωλυμάτων γινομένων, μὴ ἀνακρούησθε, ἀλλὰ μένητε τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων δυσκολίαν τῇ παρ' ἑαυτῶν ἀποτειχίζοντες ἀγρυπνίᾳ τε καὶ σπουδῇ.