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will be joined to the bridegroom; there those who practiced submission and obedience will dance for eternity as rulers of Christ, while the contrary will clearly suffer the contrary. So, cross-bearing sisters, let us not be unaware that for ourselves, instead of life and infinite joy, we are storing up eternal punishment and fire through neglect and corruption of the flesh, both disobedience and a passionate way of life. Virtue is from God and divine, vice is from Satan and satanic; those who choose the first are of God and gods, those who choose the second are demons and of Satan. Thus we greet you now. And may I not be considered burdensome to you for speaking harsh things, but rather pleasant for exhorting on behalf of God. And my word is not to the ladies (for they are teachers even of others), but to the whole of the sisterhood, which may be preserved yet and still, being in good condition, prospering for a boast both for me as an exhorter for the day of Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 63 {1To the monks Aboliοs and John}1 Having received a greeting from you, the holy ones, from the most God-beloved bishop and spiritual father Isaiah, not only was I taught who your pious and fatherly pair is, but I was also urged to write this wretched syllable to you. And we, though humble and sinful, yet loving to kindle you to love, than which nothing is more precious, and especially fulfilling an obedience, have given ourselves to writing. And indeed we thank God that you too in the earthquake of the iconoclastic heresy remained unshaken, holy fathers, not being caught in its soul-destroying communion, but by flight receiving the divinely-blessed crown of persecution, truly worthy of virtue and a clear sign of the ascetic struggles previously accomplished by you; because from what has already transpired everyone brings forth proof of their former life. It is well and as it should be otherwise; you who were clothed in piety have also put on the confession of Christ, becoming beautiful on both sides. For the confession of Christ, fathers, is the defense of his holy icon, just as conversely he who denies it rejects Christ; because, says Basil the Great, the honor of the icon passes over to the prototype, and in each the other is both seen and venerated, even if Leo, the beast-named and servant of Satan, maddened with zeal for the impiety of the former Constantine, raged against Christ, his holy mother, and every saint; whose memory may perish with the sound of an eternal anathema. But may you be preserved for the church of God as pillars and foundations, and for us the humble, as defenders and comforters before the good God, so that having faith working through love we may be saved from the evil one. But since we have written, fulfilling the work of love, may we also receive a written word in return, that we may both know each other better and, as seeing and being seen through written address, we will remain in Christ Jesus our Lord; whose immaculate icon is the salvation of the world, the opposite of idolatrous error. 64 {1To the brotherhood around the spiritual son Gregory}1 Brothers and fathers, having been called upon by your father as a father both to him and to you through him to speak to you the things for salvation, I was rightly persuaded and I, the humble one, speak, taking it from here. Our salvation, beloved children, is to believe rightly in the Holy Trinity and to have works testified to by the holy commandments of God. For in Christ Jesus, as the apostle says, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any strength, but faith working through love; and the word of faith refers to the dogma of orthodoxy, while that of love refers to the contemplation of good practice. We believe then in Father and Son and Holy Spirit, which are three persons, one nature, one power, one ruling kingdom of all things, venerated in one might and glory as by nature and will and energy. we believe that the One of the Holy Trinity, the Son and Word of God and the Father, through extreme goodness emptied himself, the form

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νυμφίῳ συναφθήσονται· ἐκεῖ αἱ τὴν ὑποταγὴν καὶ ὑπακοὴν ἐξασκήσασαι ὡς ἄρχουσαι Χριστοῦ χορεύσουσιν αἰώνια, αἱ δὲ ἐναντίαι τὰ ἐναντία δῆλον ὅτι πείσονται. Ὥστε, ἀδελφαὶ σταυροφόροι, μὴ λάθωμεν ἑαυταῖς ἀντὶ ζωῆς καὶ χαρᾶς ἀπείρου κόλασιν καὶ πῦρ αἰώνιον θησαυρίζουσαι δι' ἀμελείας καὶ φθορᾶς σαρκός, παρακοῆς τε καὶ ἐμπαθοῦς ἀναστροφῆς. ἡ ἀρετὴ ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ θεία, ἡ κακία ἐκ σατανᾶ καὶ σατανᾶς· οἱ τὴν πρώτην ἑλόμενοι θεοῦ καὶ θεοί, οἱ τὴν δευτέραν δαίμονες καὶ τοῦ σατανᾶ. οὕτως ὑμᾶς καὶ νῦν δεξιούμεθα. καὶ μὴ βαρὺς ὑμῖν λογισθείην ὡς φορτικὰ λαλῶν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἡδὺς ὡς ὑπὲρ θεοῦ παραινῶν. καὶ οὐ πρὸς τὰς κυρίας ὁ λόγος (αὐταὶ γὰρ διδάσκαλοι καὶ ἑτέρων), ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἀδελφότητος πλήρωμα, ὅπερ φυλαχθείη ἔτι τε καὶ ἔτι εὐεκτοῦν, εὐθηνοῦν εἰς καύχημα καὶ ἐμοὶ ὡς παρακλήτορι εἰς ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ· ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν. 63 {1Ἀβολίῳ καὶ Ἰωάννῃ μονάζουσιν}1 Προσηγορίαν ὑμῶν τῶν ἁγίων κομισάμενος παρὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ θεοφιλεστάτου ἐπισκόπου καὶ πνευματικοῦ πατρὸς οὐ μόνον ἐξεδιδάχθην, τίς ἡ ὁσία καὶ πατρικὴ ὑμῶν δυάς, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ προετράπην χαράξαι ὑμῖν τήνδε τὴν οἰκτρὰν συλλαβήν. ἡμεῖς δὲ ταπεινοὶ μὲν καὶ ἁμαρτωλοί, ὅμως φιλοῦντες ὑμᾶς ἀνάψαι εἰς ἀγάπην, ἧς οὐδὲν προτιμότερον, ἄλλως τε καὶ ὑπακοὴν πληροῦντες, ἐπεδώκαμεν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ γράμματι. καὶ δὴ εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ θεῷ ὅτι καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν τῷ σεισμῷ τῆς εἰκονομαχικῆς αἱρέσεως ἄσειστοι διεμείνατε, ἅγιοι πατέρες, μὴ ἁλόντες τῇ κατ' αὐτὴν ψυχοφθόρῳ κοινωνίᾳ, ἀλλὰ τῇ φυγῇ τὸν τοῦ διωγμοῦ θεομακάριστον στέφανον κομισάμενοι, ἄξιον ὄντως τῆς. ἀρετῆς καὶ κατάδηλον τῶν προδιηνυσμένων ὑμῖν ἀσκητικῶν ἀγώνων· διότι ἐκ τῶν ἤδη φθασάντων ἀπόδειξιν ἐκφέρει πᾶς τις τοῦ προτέρου βίου. εὖ τε καὶ ὡς ἑτέρως ἔχει· οἱ τὴν ὁσιότητα ἀμπεχόμενοι ἐνεδύσασθε καὶ τὴν ὁμολογίαν Χριστοῦ, ἀμφικαλλεῖς γενόμενοι. ὁμολογία γὰρ Χριστοῦ, πατέρες, ἡ τῆς ἁγίας αὐτοῦ εἰκόνος ὑπερμάχησις, ὡς καὶ ἔμπαλιν ἀθετῶν ἐστι Χριστὸν ὁ ταύτην ἐξαρνούμενος· διότι, φησὶν ὁ Μέγας Βασίλειος, ἡ τῆς εἰκόνος τιμὴ ἐπὶ τὸ πρωτότυπον ἀναβαίνει, καὶ ἐν ἑκατέρῳ ἑκάτερον καὶ ὁρώμενόν ἐστι καὶ προσκυνούμενον, κἂν Λέων ὁ θηριώνυμος καὶ τοῦ σατανᾶ ὑπηρέτης ζήλῳ τῆς τοῦ πάλαι Κωνσταντίνου δυσσεβείας μανεὶς ἐμάνη κατὰ Χριστοῦ, τῆς τε ἁγίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ παντὸς ἁγίου· οὗ τὸ μνημόσυνον ὄλοιτο μετ' ἤχους ἀναθέματος αἰωνίου. ὑμεῖς δὲ φυλαχθείητε τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ στῦλοι καὶ ἑδραιώματα, ἡμῖν τε τοῖς ταπεινοῖς πρὸς θεὸν τὸν ἀγαθὸν προασπισταί τε καὶ παρακλή τορες, ὡς ἂν τὴν πίστιν ἐνεργουμένην δι' ἀγάπης ἔχοντες σωθείημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐπεστείλαμεν, τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης ἔργον πληροῦντες, καὶ ἀντιδεξοίμεθα λόγον ἐγγράμματον, ἵνα μᾶλλον καὶ γνωρίσωμεν ἀλλήλους καὶ ὡς ὁρῶντες ὁρώμενοι τῇ γραμματικῇ προσφωνήσει διαμενοῦμεν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν· οὗ ἡ ἄχραντος εἰκὼν σωτηρία κόσμου, τῆς εἰδωλικῆς πλάνης ἀντίθετος. 64 {1Τῇ περὶ τὸν πνευματικὸν υἱὸν Γρηγόριον ἀδελφότητι}1 Ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, παρακληθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν ὡς πατὴρ κἀκείνου καὶ ὑμῶν δι' ἐκείνου λαλῆσαι ὑμῖν τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν, καὶ ἐπείσθην εἰκότως καὶ φθέγγομαι ὁ ταπεινός, ἔνθεν ἑλών. ἡ σωτηρία ἡμῶν, τέκνα ἀγαπητά, πιστεύειν ὀρθῶς εἰς τὴν Ἁγίαν Τριάδα καὶ ἔργα ἔχειν μαρτυρούμενα ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων ἐντολῶν τοῦ θεοῦ. ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, οὔτε περιτομή τι ἰσχύει οὔτε ἀκροβυστία, ἀλλὰ πίστις δι' ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη· καὶ ὁ μὲν τῆς πίστεως λόγος εἰς τὸ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας δόγμα, ὁ δὲ τῆς ἀγάπης εἰς τὸ τῆς εὐπραξίας θεώρημα ἀναφέρεται. Πιστεύομεν οὖν εἰς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἅπερ ἐστὶ τρία πρόσωπα, μία φύσις, μία δύναμις, μία ἀρχικὴ τῶν ἁπάντων βασιλεία, ἐν ἑνὶ ὡς φύσει καὶ θελήσει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ προσκυνουμένη κράτει καὶ κλέει. πιστεύομεν ὡς ὁ εἷς τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος, ὁ υἱὸς καὶ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρός, δι' ἄκραν ἀγαθότητα κενώσας ἑαυτόν, μορφὴν