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108.1 I was astonished to hear that, having forgotten those excellent promises which were fitting for your generosity, you now impose a most severe and unrelenting demand on this sister, and I do not know what to surmise from what is said. For I am aware of your great generosity, attested by those who have experience of you, and I remember the promises you made in my presence and his, saying that you would write a shorter time but would grant a longer one, because you wished to accommodate the necessity of the matter and to grant pardon to the free woman who was being forced to part with so great a sum from her household at once. Therefore, what the reason is for which so great a change has come about, I cannot understand. But whatever it may be, I ask you, remembering your own generosity and looking to the Lord who repays good intentions, to give the time of reprieve which you promised from the beginning, so that they may be able, by selling their property together, to discharge the debt. And it is clear that I remember those things also, that you promised, if you should receive the agreed-upon gold, to hand over to the aforesaid woman all the agreed-upon documents, both those transacted before the authorities and those done privately. I ask you, therefore, both to honor us and to acquire for yourself a great blessing from the Lord by remembering your own promises, knowing that you are also a man and must await the times in which you will need help from God; which you should not shut out from yourself through your present harshness, but prepare the mercies of God for yourself by showing all kindness and fairness to those who are oppressed.

109.τ TO HELLADIUS THE COMES

109.1 Though I very much beg off being a nuisance to your goodness because of the greatness

of your office, so that I might not seem to indulge immoderately in your friendship, nevertheless I am not permitted by necessities to keep silent. At any rate, this sister, who is both a kinswoman of ours and is worn down by widowhood and is taking care of the affairs of an orphan child—since I saw her now constrained beyond her power by unbearable necessities, having pitied her and suffered in my soul, I hastened to beseech you that, if there is any power, you would deign to cooperate with the man sent by her, to the end that she, having now through us paid that very thing which she herself, when present, promised, might be freed from further mistreatment. For she promised that if she gave the principal, the interest would be forgiven. Now, therefore, those who are managing her affairs on behalf of the heirs are attempting to exact the interest as well, after the principal. Therefore, as one who knows that it is the Lord who makes the cause of widows and orphans his own, so be eager to apply yourself with zeal for the matter in the hope of the reward from him, our God. For I think that the gentleness of the most admirable prefect, upon learning that the principal has been paid, will have sympathy for the henceforth pitiable and wretched household, which has been brought to its knees and is no longer sufficient for the external abuses brought against it. I ask you, therefore, both to forgive the necessity for which I have troubled you and to cooperate in the matter according to the power which Christ has given you, as one who is kind and good in character and who uses for good what you have received.

110.τ TO MODESTUS THE PREFECT

110.1 As much honor and confidence as you impart to us by the gentleness of your character

condescending to come down to us, we pray that so great and even greater an increase of your distinction may come to you in all your life from our good Master.

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108.1 Ἐθαύμασα ἀκούσας ὅτι, τῶν χρηστῶν ἐκείνων καὶ πρε πόντων τῇ σῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ ὑποσχέσεων ἐπιλαθόμενος, νῦν σφοδροτάτην καὶ ἀπαραίτητον ἐπάγεις τὴν ἀπαίτησιν τῇ ἀδελφῇ τῇδε, καὶ τί εἰκάσω ἐκ τῶν λεγομένων οὐκ ἔχω. Σοί τε γὰρ πολλὴν παρὰ τῶν πεπειραμένων σου μαρτυ ρουμένην ἐλευθερίαν σύνοιδα καὶ τῶν ὑποσχέσεών σου μέμνημαι ὧν ἐποίησας ἐπ' ἐμοῦ καὶ τοῦδε, λέγων ἐλάττονα μὲν γράφειν χρόνον, πλείονα δὲ συγχωρήσειν, διὰ τὸ βού λεσθαι συμπεριφέρεσθαι τῇ ἀνάγκῃ τοῦ πράγματος καὶ συγγνώμην παρέχειν τῇ ἐλευθέρᾳ ἀναγκαζομένῃ τοσοῦτον ἀθρόως ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας προΐεσθαι χρῆμα. Τίς οὖν ἡ αἰτία δι' ἣν ἡ τοσαύτη μεταβολὴ γέγονεν ἐγὼ νοεῖν οὐκ ἔχω. Πλὴν ὅπερ ἂν ᾖ, παρακαλῶ σε μεμνημένον τῆς σεαυτοῦ ἐλευθεριότητος καὶ πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ἀπιδόντα τὸν ἀμει βόμενον τὰς χρηστὰς προαιρέσεις δοῦναι τὸν καιρὸν ὃν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπέσχου τῆς ἀνέσεως, ἵνα δυνηθῶσι συμπωλήσαντες τὰ ἑαυτῶν διαλῦσαι τὸ χρέος. ∆ῆλον δὲ ὅτι κἀκείνων μέμνημαι, ὅτι ὑπέσχου, εἰ λάβοις τὸ ὁμολογηθὲν χρυσίον, πάντα τὰ ὁμολογηθέντα χαρτία, καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων πραχθέντα καὶ τὰ ἰδιωτικῶς γενόμενα, παραδώσειν τῇ προειρημένῃ. Παρακαλῶ οὖν, καὶ ἡμᾶς τίμησον καὶ κτῆσαι παρὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ μεγάλην ἑαυτῷ εὐλογίαν ἀναμνησθεὶς τῶν σεαυτοῦ ὑποσχέσεων γινώσκων ὅτι ἄνθρωπος εἶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀναμένειν ὀφείλεις τοὺς καιροὺς ἐν οἷς δεηθήσῃ τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀντιλήψεως· ἣν μὴ ἀποκλείσῃς σεαυτῷ διὰ τῆς παρούσης σκληρότητος, ἀλλ' εὐτρέπισον τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ σαυτὸν πᾶσαν χρηστότητα καὶ ἐπιείκειαν τοῖς καταπονουμένοις ἐπιδειξάμενος.

109.τ ΕΛΛΑ∆ΙΩ ΚΟΜΗΤΙ

109.1 Πάνυ παραιτούμενος δι' ὄχλου εἶναι τῇ χρηστότητί σου διὰ τὸ μέγεθος

τῆς περὶ ὑμᾶς ἀρχῆς, ἵνα μὴ δόξω ἀμέ τρως ἐμφορεῖσθαι τῆς φιλίας ὑμῶν, ὅμως ὑπὸ τῶν ἀναγκῶν ἡσυχάζειν οὐκ ἐπιτρέπομαι. Τὴν γοῦν ἀδελφὴν τήνδε, καὶ πρὸς γένος ἡμῖν οὖσαν καὶ διὰ χηρείαν καταπονουμένην καὶ παιδὸς ὀρφανοῦ πραγμάτων φροντίζουσαν, ἐπεὶ εἶδον λοιπὸν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἀφορήτοις ἀνάγκαις συνεχομένην, κατελεήσας καὶ παθὼν τὴν ψυχὴν ἔσπευσα παρακαλέσαι σε, ἵνα, εἴ τις δύναμις, τῷ ἀποσταλέντι παρ' αὐτῆς ἀνθρώπῳ καταξιώσῃς συμπρᾶξαι, πρὸς τὸ ὅπερ αὕτη περιοῦσα ὑπέσχετο ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἤδη τοῦτο αὐτὴν ἀποδοῦσαν τῆς εἰς τὸ πλέον ἐπηρείας ἀπαλλαγῆναι. Ὑπέσχετο γὰρ τὸ κεφάλαιον δοῦσα συγχωρεῖσθαι τοὺς τόκους. Νῦν τοίνυν οἱ φροντίζοντες αὐτῆς τῶν κληρονόμων μετὰ τὸ κεφάλαιον καὶ τὴν τῶν τόκων εἴσπραξιν ἐπιχειροῦσι ποιήσασθαι. Ὡς οὖν εἰδὼς ὅτι Κύριός ἐστιν ὁ τὰ τῶν χηρῶν καὶ ὀρφανῶν ἰδιοποιούμενος, οὕτω σπούδασον χρήσασθαι ἑαυτὸν τῇ σπουδῇ τῇ ὑπὲρ τοῦ πράγματος ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν μισθαποδοσίας. Οἶμαι γὰρ καὶ τὴν ἡμε ρότητα τοῦ θαυμασιωτάτου ἐπάρχου μαθοῦσαν ὅτι τὸ κεφάλαιον ἐκτέτισται συμπαθήσειν τῷ ἐλεεινῷ λοιπὸν καὶ ἀθλίῳ οἴκῳ εἰς γόνυ κλιθέντι καὶ οὐκέτι ἀρκοῦντι ταῖς ἔξωθεν αὐτῷ ἐπαγομέναις ἐπηρείαις. Παρακαλῶ οὖν, καὶ τῇ ἀνάγκῃ σύγγνωθι δι' ἣν ὤχλησά σοι καὶ τῷ πράγματι σύμπραξον κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν ἣν ἔδωκέ σοι ὁ Χριστὸς χρη στῷ καὶ ἀγαθῷ τὸν τρόπον ὄντι καὶ εἰς ἀγαθὸν οἷς ἔλαβες κεχρημένῳ.

110.τ ΜΟ∆ΕΣΤΩ ΕΠΑΡΧΩ

110.1 Ὅσης ἡμῖν τιμῆς καὶ παρρησίας μεταδίδως τῇ ἡμε ρότητι τοῦ τρόπου

καταβαίνειν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀνεχόμενος, τοσαύτην σοι καὶ ἔτι πλείω ἐν παντὶ τῷ βίῳ παρὰ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἡμῶν ∆εσπότου τὴν αὔξησιν γενέσθαι τῆς περι φανείας εὐχόμεθα.