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you have purposed to turn away from the grace of Christ; for now, to give the 0589 gifts made to you from me to Theopemptus the man, who was sent by me for this reason alone with a written command, so that you might have no doubt about this. And again, if it seems good to our most pious and Christ-loving and all-clement emperors, and to the most holy patriarchs, that they learn all things concerning you through me, who am with God beside their Serenity, concerning your apostasy, and of such great wickedness and ingratitude, I will judge it good to be done. For I will not pass over such an evil in silence. But if, taking to mind the dread judgment seat of Christ, before which, in the presence of angels and archangels and all the people of the heavenly hosts, and of all human nature, the case brought by me against you concerning this will be assembled, you should repent, and return again to God who called you in grace; and I wish you to have even now the very foundation given to you by me; and I will not cease, as long as I am appointed to live this present and fleeting life, devising ways for your greater establishment; and I would not refuse to give myself as a ransom for your souls, if ever time should call for this to happen of necessity. And (15B_350> I will indeed give it eagerly, when God calls me to this through grace; if only you will restore yourselves again to Christ our God; and well heal the cut and separation made for you from His body through your return.

LETTER 19. ... TO PYRRHUS THE MOST HOLY PRESBYTER ... 19. Of the same to Pyrrhus the most holy presbyter and hegoumen. (15B_352> Having read your holy letter, God-honored Father, whole with whole

I recognized your mind was made one with the Spirit; and I discerned it to be so far removed from natural understanding, as I apprehended it to be possessed of divine and supernatural wisdom. For through your letters I seemed to see your divinely-wise mind itself present, flashing only with the pure rays of the Spirit; by which he is naturally transformed to what is more divine, who is deemed worthy to be adopted as a son 0592 by the Father of all; and redeeming me from such ignorance concerning the divine dogmas, as I before seemed to hold to knowledge concerning them. Therefore, admiring your sagacity in all things, crying out that voice alone, I uttered, which a certain woman of old cried out to the Lord, being astounded at the power of his words: Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which you sucked. And not only do I call her blessed who bore you, honorable Father, as one deemed worthy to become the mother of such a one; but also your thought, which conceives, and is always pregnant with, and gives birth to the pious word; as having been shown to be a receptive womb by grace for the supernatural Word, through the affinity of your mind for the Word Himself. And truly, according to your solid dispositions which are given forth from your heart by which, like breasts, in both practice and contemplation you nourish the Word, being co-increased by the supply of pious thoughts and ways; (15B_354> and, to speak paradoxically, making its own growth the deification of the mind that nourishes it. For what else could I say to you, honorable Father, seeing you have become the begetter of such words; through which, as from a certain mountain of the height of knowledge, concerning the divine dogmas, like God-inscribed tablets, through the new Mediator and great Moses over us and priest of priests, and of the divine priesthood ruling over the whole world, you proclaimed the decree both brought and given forth; which the holy and only-adored Trinity dictated, as through an instrument, through the aforementioned high priest, and

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προέθεσθε τήν τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριν ἀποστραφῆναι· τέως τάς 0589 γινομένας εἰς ὑμᾶς παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ δωρεάς δοῦναι Θεοπέμπτῳ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἐπί τούτῳ καί μόνον παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ σταλέντι μετ᾿ ἐγγράφου ἐντάλματος, πρός τό μηδεμίαν ἀμφιβολίαν ἔχειν ὑμᾶς περί τούτου. Καί πάλιν, εἴ τι παρίσταται τοῖς εὐσεβεστάτοις καί φιλοχρίστοις καί πανημέροις ἡμῶν βασιλεῦσι, καί τοῖς ἁγιωτάτοις πατριάρχαις, τά καθ᾿ ὑμᾶς πάντα δι᾿ ἐμοῦ σύν Θεῷ παρά τήν αὐτῶν γαληνότητα γινομένου μανθάνουσι περί τῆς ἀποστασίας ὑμῶν, καί τῆς τοσαύτης κακουργίας καί ἀγνωμοσύνης, γενέσθαι καλῶς ἔχειν κρινῶ. Οὔτε γάρ παρασιωπήσομαι τοσοῦτον κακόν. Εἰ δέ τό φρικτόν τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατά νοῦν λαμβάνουσαι δικαστήριον, ἐφ᾿ οὗ παρουσίᾳ ἀγγέλων καί ἀρχαγγέλων καί παντός δήμου τῶν κατ᾿ οὐρανόν στρατιῶν, καί πάσης τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, ἡ παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ πρός ὑμᾶς περί τούτου συγκροτηθήσεται δίκη, μεταμελήθητε, καί πρός τόν καλέσαντα πάλιν ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι Θεόν ἐπανέλθετε· καί αὐτήν ἤδη τήν ἐμοῦ δωρηθεῖσαν ὑμῖν κτίσιν ἔχειν ὑμᾶς βούλομαι· καί οὐ παύσομαι ἕως τήν παροῦσαν καί πρόσκαιρον ταύτην ζωήν οἰκονομοῦμαι ζῇν, τρόπους ἐπινοῶν εἰς σύστασιν ὑμῶν περισσοτέραν· καί ἑμαυτόν ἀντίλυτρον τῶν ὑμετέρων ψυχῶν οὐκ ἄν παραιτήσομαι δοῦναι, εἴπερ ἀναγκαίως τοῦτο γενέσθαι καλέσοι καιρός. Καί (15Β_350> δώσω γε προθύμως πρός τοῦτό με καλοῦντος τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς χάριτος· εἰ μόνον ὑμεῖς ἑαυτάς Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ πάλιν ἀποκαταστήσητε· καί τήν γενομένην ὑμῖν ἀπό τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ διά τῆς ἐπανόδου, καλῶς ἐξιάσησθε τομήν καί διάστασιν.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΙΘ'. ... ΠΡΟΣ ΠΥΡΡΟΝ ΤΟΝ ΟΣΙΩΤΑΤΟΝ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΟΝ ... ΙΘ´Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Πύῤῥον τόν ὁσιώτατον πρεσβύτερον καί ἡγούμενον. (15Β_352> Τήν ἁγίαν σου, θεοτίμητε Πάτερ, ἐπιστολήν ἀναγνούς, ὅλον ὅλῳ

τῷ Πνεύματι τόν σόν νοῦν ἐπέγνων πεποιωμένον· καί τοσοῦτον τῆς φυσικῆς ἐξεστηκότα διέγνων συνέσεως, ὅσον τῆς θείας καί ὑπέρ τήν φύσιν κατέλαβον σοφίας ἐπειλημμένον. Αὐτόν γάρ σου παρόντα διά τῶν γραμμάτων οἷον ὁρᾷν ἐδόκουν τόν θεόσοφον νοῦν, μόναις ἀστράπτοντα ταῖς ἀκηράτοις ἀκτῖσι τοῦ Πνεύματος· αἷς μεταμορφοῦσθαι πρός τό θειότερον πέφυκεν, ὁ τῷ Πατρί τῶν ὅλων 0592 υἱοθετεῖσθαι καταξιούμενος· καί τοσοῦτόν με τῆς ἐπί τοῖς θείοις δόγμασιν ἀγνοίας λυτρούμενον, ὅσον τό πρίν τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἐδόκουν ἀντέχεσθαι γνώσεως. ∆ιό θαυμάσας σου τήν ἐν ὅλοις ἀγχίνοιαν, μόνην ἐκείνην ἀναβοήσας τήν φωνήν ἀπεφθεγξάμην, ἥν πάλαι γυνή τις πρός τόν Κύριον κέκραγε, τῶν αὐτοῦ ῥημάτων καταπλαγεῖσα τήν δύναμιν· Μακαρία ἡ κοιλία ἡ βαστάσασά σε, καί μαστοί οὕς ἐθήλασας. Οὐ μόνον δέ τήν τεκοῦσάν σε μακαρίζω, τίμιε Πάτερ, ὡς τοιούτου μητέρα γενέσθαι καταξιωθεῖσαν· ἀλλά καί τήν συλλαμβάνουσαν, καί κύουσαν ἀεί τόν εὐσεβῆ λόγον καί τίκτουσάν σου διάνοιαν· ὡς τοῦ ὑπέρ φύσιν Λόγου κατά χάριν κοιλίαν ἀποφανθεῖσαν χωρητικήν, διά τήν πρός αὐτόν τόν Λόγον τῆς γνώμης οἰκείωσιν. Καί μήν κατά τάς σάς παγίας ἕξεις τάς ἐκ τῆς σῆς καρδίας ἐκδιδομένας αἷς μαστῶν δίκην κατά τε τήν πρᾶξιν καί τήν θεωρίαν διατρέφεις τόν Λόγον, τῇ χορηγίᾳ τῶν εὐσεβῶν νοημάτων τε καί τρόπων συναυξανόμενον· (15Β_354> καί παραδόξως εἰπεῖν, τήν οἰκείαν αὔξησιν τοῦ διατρέφοντος νοῦ ποιούμενον θέωσιν. Τί γάρ ἕτερον εἶχον φθέγξασθαι πρός σέ, τίμιε Πάτερ, τοιούτων γεννήτορα λόγων γεγενημένον θεώμενος· δι᾿ ὧν, ὡς ἐξ ὅρους τινός τοῦ ὕψους τῆς γνώσεως τήν ἐπί τοῖς θείοις δόγμασι καθάπερ πλάκας θεοχαράκτους διά τοῦ νέου Μεσίτου καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν μεγάλου Μωϋσέως καί ἱερέων ἱερέως, καί τῆς καθ᾿ ὅλην τήν οἰκουμένην ἐξάρχου θείας ἱερωσύνης, κομισθεῖσάν τε καί ἐκδοθεῖσαν κατεμήνυσας ψῆφον· ἥν ἡ ἁγία καί μόνη προσκυνουμένη Τριάς, ὡς δι᾿ ὀργάνου τοῦ ῤηθέντος ὑπηγόρευσεν ἀρχιερέως, καί