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103.1 The Lord has brought to effect the requests of his people, and has given them, through our lowliness, a pastor worthy of the name and not, like the majority, one who adulterates the word, but one able to please exceedingly us who love the orthodoxy of the preaching and have embraced the life according to the Lord's commandments, in the name of the Lord who filled him with his spiritual gifts.

104.τ TO MODESTUS THE PREFECT

104.1 The very act of writing to so great a man, even if no other reason were present, is the greatest of honors for those who perceive it, because conversations with those who vastly excel others procure the greatest distinction for those deemed worthy. But for me, who am struggling on behalf of my whole country, this petition to your magnanimity is necessary, by which I beseech you to bear with me gently and in your characteristic way, and to stretch out a hand to our country, which is already brought to its knees. The matter for which we beseech you is this. Those consecrated to our God, presbyters and deacons, the old census left exempt from tax. But those who now conducted the registration, as if they had not received an order from your extraordinary authority, registered them, unless perhaps some had exemption on account of their age. We ask, therefore, that this be left to us as a memorial of your beneficence, preserving a good memory of you for all time to come, and that those who minister be granted exemption from the tax according to the old law, and that the exemption not be made for the persons of those now enrolled (for thus the favor will pass on to successors who may not happen to be worthy of the ministry), but that, according to the form in the free registration, a certain common exemption for clergy be made, so that the exemption may be given by those who administer the Churches to those who are ministering at any given time. This will both preserve for your genius an immortal glory for your good deeds, and will provide for the imperial house many who pray for it, and will offer great benefit to the public revenues themselves, since we offer the consolation from the exemption not necessarily to the clergy, but to those who are continually in distress, which is in fact what we do in the case of the free status, as anyone who wishes may know.

105.τ TO THE DEACONESSES, DAUGHTERS OF TERENTIUS THE COUNT

105.1 When I arrived at Samosata, I expected to meet with your excellencies, and, since I missed the meeting, I bore the loss with no little grief, considering when it might be possible for me again to approach your regions or for you to choose to come to ours. But those things lie in the will of the Lord. As for the present, since I found my son Sophronius setting out for you, I gladly gave him this letter, bringing you a greeting and declaring our sentiment, that through the grace of God we do not cease to remember you and give thanks to the Lord on your behalf, because you are good shoots of a good root, fruitful in good works and truly like lilies among thorns. For to be surrounded by such great perversity from those who corrupt the word of truth and not to yield to their deceptions, nor to abandon the apostolic preaching of the faith and turn to the innovation now in vogue, how is this not worthy of great thanksgiving to God, and how does it not most justly procure for you great praise? You have believed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; do not

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103.1 Ἤγαγεν εἰς ἔργον ὁ Κύριος τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ τὰ αἰτή ματα, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας ταπεινώσεως ποιμένα ἄξιον μὲν τοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ οὐ κατὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς καπηλεύοντα τὸν λόγον, δυνάμενον δὲ καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς τὴν ὀρθότητα τοῦ κηρύγματος ἀγαπῶσι καὶ τὴν κατ' ἐντολὰς τοῦ Κυρίου ζωὴν καταδεξαμένοις ἀρέσκειν καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου τοῦ πληρώσαντος αὐτὸν τῶν πνευματικῶν αὐτοῦ χαρισμάτων.

104.τ ΜΟ∆ΕΣΤΩ ΕΠΑΡΧΩ

104.1 Αὐτὸ τὸ γράφειν πρὸς ἄνδρα τοσοῦτον, κἂν μηδεμία πρόφασις ἑτέρα

προσῇ, μέγιστόν ἐστι τῶν εἰς τιμὴν φε ρόντων τοῖς αἰσθανομένοις, διότι αἱ πρὸς τοὺς παμπληθὲς τῶν λοιπῶν ὑπερέχοντας ὁμιλίαι μεγίστην τοῖς ἀξιουμέ νοις τὴν περιφάνειαν προξενοῦσιν. Ἐμοὶ δ' ὑπὲρ πατρίδος πάσης ἀγωνιῶντι ἀναγκαία πρὸς τὴν σὴν μεγαλόνοιαν ἡ ἔντευξις, δι' ἧς ἱκετεύω πράως καὶ κατὰ τὸν σεαυτοῦ τρόπον ἀνασχέσθαι καὶ χεῖρα ὀρέξαι τῇ πατρίδι ἡμῶν εἰς γόνυ ἤδη κλιθείσῃ. Ἔστι δὲ ὑπὲρ οὗ ἱκετεύομέν σε τὸ πρᾶγμα τοιοῦτον. Τοὺς τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν ἱερωμένους, πρεσ βυτέρους καὶ διακόνους, ὁ παλαιὸς κῆνσος ἀτελεῖς ἀφῆκεν. Οἱ δὲ νῦν ἀπογραψάμενοι, ὡς οὐ λαβόντες παρὰ τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς σου ἐξουσίας πρόσταγμα, ἀπεγράψαντο, πλὴν εἰ πού τινες ἄλλως εἶχον ὑπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας τὴν ἄφεσιν. ∆εόμεθα γοῦν μνημόσυνον τῆς σῆς εὐεργεσίας τοῦτο ἡμῖν ἐναφεθῆναι παντὶ τῷ ἐπιόντι χρόνῳ ἀγαθὴν περὶ σοῦ μνήμην διαφυλάττον καὶ συγχωρηθῆναι κατὰ τὸν παλαιὸν νόμον τῆς συντελείας τοὺς ἱερατεύοντας, καὶ μὴ εἰς πρόσωπον τῶν νῦν καταλαμβανομένων γενέσθαι τὴν ἄφεσιν (οὕτω γὰρ εἰς τοὺς διαδόχους ἡ χάρις μεταβήσεται οὓς οὐ πάντως συμβαίνει τοῦ ἱερατεύειν ἀξίους εἶναι), ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν ἐν τῇ ἐλευθέρᾳ ἀπογραφῇ τύπον κοινήν τινα συγχώ ρησιν κληρικῶν γενέσθαι, ὥστε ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκονομούντων τὰς Ἐκκλησίας τοῖς ἑκάστοτε λειτουργοῦσι τὴν ἀτέλειαν δίδοσθαι. Ταῦτα καὶ τῇ σῇ μεγαλοφυΐᾳ ἀθάνατον τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς δόξαν διαφυλάξει καὶ τῷ βασιλικῷ οἴκῳ πολ λοὺς τοὺς ὑπερευχομένους παρασκευάσει καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς δημοσίοις μέγα παρέξει ὄφελος, ἡμῶν οὐ πάντως τοῖς κληρικοῖς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀεὶ καταπονουμένοις τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀτελείας παραμυθίαν παρεχομένων, ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ποιοῦμεν, ὡς ἔξεστι γνῶναι τῷ βουλομένῳ.

105.τ ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΟΙΣ ΘΥΓΑΤΡΑΣΙ ΤΕΡΕΝΤΙΟΥ ΚΟΜΗΤΟΣ

105.1 Ἐγὼ καὶ Σαμοσάτοις ἐπιστὰς προσεδόκησα συντεύ ξεσθαι τῇ κοσμιότητι

ὑμῶν καί, ἐπειδὴ διήμαρτον τῆς συντυχίας, οὐ μετρίως ἤνεγκα τὴν ζημίαν λογιζόμενος πότε ἢ ἐμοὶ δυνατὸν πάλιν πλησιάσαι τοῖς καθ' ὑμᾶς χωρίοις ἢ ὑμῖν αἱρετὸν τὴν ἡμετέραν καταλαβεῖν. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα μὲν κεῖται ἐν τῷ θελήματι τοῦ Κυρίου. Τὸ δὲ νῦν ἔχον, ἐπειδὴ εὗρον τὸν υἱὸν Σωφρόνιον πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐξορ μῶντα, ἡδέως αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐπέθηκα ταύτην, προσηγορίαν ὑμῖν κομίζουσαν καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν γνώμην δηλοῦσαν, ὅτι οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι μεμνημένοι ὑμῶν καὶ εὐχαριστοῦντες ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὅτι ἀγαθῆς ῥίζης ἀγαθὰ βλαστήματά ἐστε, ἔγκαρπα τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἔργοις καὶ τῷ ὄντι ὡς κρίνα ἐν μέσῳ ἀκανθῶν. Τὸ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοσαύτης διαστροφῆς τῶν παραφθειρόντων τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας περικυκλουμένας μὴ ἐνδοῦναι πρὸς τὰς ἀπάτας, μηδὲ τὸ ἀποστολικὸν τῆς πίστεως κήρυγμα καταλιπούσας πρὸς τὴν νῦν ἐπιπολάζουσαν καινοτομίαν μετατεθῆναι, πῶς οὐχὶ μεγάλης μὲν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν εὐχα ριστίας ἄξιον, μεγάλους δὲ ὑμῖν ἐπαίνους δικαιότατα προξενεῖ; Εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα πεπιστεύκατε· μὴ