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in secret, but already reporting even to the ears of the high priests; which is a mark of your friendship and, so to speak, of your picking up strange words, but foreign to my unworthiness, which shudders even now at the praise from your God-fearing self. So much for this, as I make a kind of apology. What then of what follows? You, the father, were taken and transferred, confined and banished. Rumor upon approaching rumor has alarmed and terrified us your children, not knowing the manner, ignorant of the dispositions. For we the humble, as if on some anchor in the present storm-tossed and overwhelming heresy, have trusted in your greatness, which pilots and directs us with God-strengthened resistances toward a safe voyage. Make known to us then, O blessed one, cursorily, how things are with you, so that by your support we may be girded with power. And in addition to this, may you be strong in prayers, anoint us with exhortations, persuade us that the Lord will not finally abandon the rod of sinners striking his church; but if so, that we bear with endurance the delay, which through his inscrutable judgments of wisdom he knows is certainly brought upon us, the humble, for our benefit. 83 {1To the hegumen Joseph}1 The time has brought it about for me to use a friendly letter to your holiness; for previously, when grim matters were brought into the church of God by the rulers on account of my sins, we were so far separated from each other, that the drama of our division became heard from east to west. Alas for those days; alas for that dramatic spectacle; for it was a transgression of the gospel of God, on account of which the ends of the earth were shaken and heaven groaned. But now, since the things then stirred up have been removed by the nod of Providence—even if worse things have been kindled now by its permission, clearly springing from what went before—alas, however, for the present days, which must be considered nothing other than the prelude to the coming of the Antichrist. Nevertheless, since by the grace of the all-good God you have been seen to be of one mind with us, or rather with the truth, and to have chosen the same resistance for piety with all the orthodox, and this in old age and with boiling zeal, which is both unexpected and praiseworthy, I, the humble one, am returning to our former love and fellowship; for nothing is so strong for unity, as the divine mouth says, as agreement concerning God, and nothing so strong for division as disagreement concerning him. For this reason, having stripped off what went before like some wicked cloud, with great joy I make the serene light of concord rise for you in the present circumstances, and I address you as my beloved father, and I approach you as one persecuted and confined for the sake of righteousness, crowning you with praises and magnifying with encomiums your venerable grey hair, your long-standing ascetic practice. And oh, the great gift of God, which did not allow your luminous achievements to be hidden under the dark bushel as before. I now venerate you as a confessor of Christ, I praise you as a guardian of orthodoxy, rejoicing and exulting with you in your struggles for the good, since the greatest of gifts, according to the apostle, is to suffer for Christ; except that I pity your precious old age, which does not easily bear suffering. But nevertheless I am persuaded that you will be able to do all things in Christ who strengthens you for the victory of orthodoxy, for the boast of me the sinner and of those who love you equally, or rather of the whole church of God, for your eternal crown of righteousness. And if it is not possible to write back, at least grant me the best of what you have, your sacred prayers; for I am full of sins and more wretched than all men. 84 {1To Gregoras the layman}1 Your great and fervent service and attendance upon the brothers in the prisons has made you, O man of God, an exile, a fugitive, a wanderer. But take courage; you will lodge in the shelter of the God of heaven, the Jerusalem above for you as

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παραβύστῳ, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὰς τὰς ἀρχιερατικὰς ἀκοὰς ἀναφερούσης· ὃ τῆς σῆς μὲν φιλίας καί, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, ξενολογίας ἐπίσημον, τῆς δ' οὖν ἐμῆς ἀναξιότητος ἔκφυλον, ὑποφριττούσης εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν τὸν τῆς θεοφροσύνης σου ἔπαινον. Τοσαῦτα μὲν περὶ τούτου, εἶδος ἀπολογίας μοι ποιουμένῳ. τί δ' ἂν τὰ ἑξῆς; ἤρθης ὁ πατὴρ καὶ μετήρθης, περιωρίσθης καὶ μεθωρίσθης. ἀκοὴ ἐξ ἀκοῆς προσπελάζουσα ἐθρόησεν, ἐπτόησεν ἡμᾶς τὰ τέκνα σου, οὐκ εἰδότας τὸν τρόπον, ἀγνοοῦντας τὰς διαθέσεις. ἡμεῖς γὰρ οἱ ταπεινοὶ ὡς ἔν τινι ἀγκύρᾳ ἐν τῇ νῦν κλυδωνιζούσῃ καὶ καταποντιζούσῃ αἱρέσει πεποιθότες ἐσμὲν ἐπὶ τῇ μεγαλωσύνῃ σου, πηδαλιουχούσῃ καὶ ἀπευθυνούσῃ ἡμᾶς ταῖς θεοσθενέσιν ἐνστάσεσιν εἰς ἀκίνδυνον εὐπλοΐαν. γνώρισον οὖν ἡμῖν, ὦ μάκαρ, ἀκροθιγῶς ὅπως τὰ κατὰ σέ, ἵνα σου τῷ ἐρείσματι περιζωννύμεθα δύναμιν. καὶ πρὸς τούτοις σθένοις ταῖς προσευχαῖς, ἀλείφοις ἡμᾶς ταῖς παραινέσεσι, πείθοις ὡς οὐκ εἰς τέλος ἀφήσει Κύριος τὴν ῥάβδον τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν παίουσαν τὴν αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίαν· εἰ δ' οὖν, καρτερῶς ἡμᾶς φέρειν τὴν βραδυτῆτα, ἣν τοῖς ἀθεωρήτοις αὐτοῦ κρίμασι τῆς σοφίας οἶδεν συμφερόντως ἐπάγεσθαι ἡμῖν τοῖς ταπεινοῖς πάντως. 83 {1Ἰωσὴφ ἡγουμένῳ}1 Ἤνεγκεν ὁ καιρὸς χρήσασθαί με φιλικῷ γράμματι τῇ ἁγιωσύνῃ σου· πρότερον μὲν γάρ, ἡνίκα σκυθρωπαὶ ὑποθέσεις ὑπὸ τῶν κρατούντων εἰσεφθάρησαν ἐν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου, τοσοῦτον ἀπεσχοινίσθημεν ἐξ ἀλλήλων, ὡς ἀνατολῇ καὶ δύσει ἀκουστὸν γενέσθαι τὸ δρᾶμα τῆς διαστάσεως. φεῦ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐκείνων· φεῦ τῆς δραματουργίας ἐκείνης· εὐαγγελίου θεοῦ γὰρ ἦν παράβασις, δι' ἣν ἐδονήθη τὰ πέρατα καὶ οὐρανὸς ἐπεστέναξεν. νυνὶ δέ, ἐπὰν ἐκποδὼν γέγονε τὰ τηνικαῦτα τυρβασθέντα νεύσει τῆς προνοίας, εἰ καὶ τὰ χείρονα παραχωρήσει ταύτης ἐξεκαύθη τανῦν, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκ τῶν προλαβόντων ὡρμημένα, φεῦ μέντοι γε καὶ τῶν τῇδε ἡμερῶν, ἃς οὐδὲν ἄλλο ὑποληπτέον ἢ τῆς τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου παρουσίας προεισόδια. Ὅμως ἐπειδὴ χάριτι τοῦ ὑπεραγάθου θεοῦ εἰς ταὐτὸν ἡμῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ συμφρονοῦσα ὤφθη καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔνστασιν τῆς εὐσεβείας τοῖς πᾶσιν ὀρθοδόξοις αἱρησαμένη, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν γήρει καὶ προθυμίᾳ ζεούσῃ, ὃ καὶ παράδοξον καὶ αἰνούμενον, ἐπανατρέχων εἰμὶ ὁ ταπεινὸς εἰς τὴν πάλαι ἀγάπην καὶ συνάφειαν· οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἰσχυρὸν εἰς ὁμόνοιαν, ὥς φησι τὸ θεῖον στόμα, ὡς ἡ περὶ θεοῦ συμφωνία, καὶ οὐδὲν οὕτως εἰς διάστασιν ὡς ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ διαφωνία. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀπεκδυσάμενος ὥσπερ τι νέφος πονηρὸν τὰ προλαβόντα μετὰ χαρᾶς μεγάλης αἴθριόν σοι τὸ τῆς ὁμονοίας φάος ἀνατέλλω πρὸς τὰ παρόντα καὶ ὡς πατρί μου ἀγαπητῷ προσσφθέγγομαι καὶ ὡς δεδιωγμένῳ καὶ περιωρισμένῳ ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης πρόσειμι, στεφανῶν σε τοῖς ἐπαίνοις καὶ μεγαλύνων τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις τὴν πολιὰν τὴν αἰδέσιμον, τὴν ἄσκησιν τὴν μακροχρόνιον. καὶ ὢ τῆς μεγαλοδωρεᾶς τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐκ ἐασάσης ὑπὸ τὸν σκοτεινὸν μόδιον τὸν πρὶν καλυφθῆναί σου τὰ φωτοειδῆ ἀριστεύματα. ὁμολογητήν σε νῦν Χρι στοῦ προσκυνῶ, φύλακα ὀρθοδοξίας αἰνῶ, συγχαίρων καὶ συναγαλλόμενός σοι ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀγωνίσμασιν, εἴπερ τῶν χαρισμάτων τὸ μέγιστον κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ πάσχειν· πλὴν ὅτι τὸ τίμιόν σου γῆρας κατελεῶν εἰμι, κακοπαθεῖν οὐκ εὐχερῶς ἔχον. ἀλλ' ὅμως πέποιθα ὅτι πάντα ἰσχύσειας ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί σε Χριστῷ εἰς νῖκος ὀρθοδοξίας, εἰς καύχημα ἐμοῦ τε τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἴσου φιλούντων σε, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τῆς ὅλης ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰς στέφανον δικαιοσύνης σου αἰώνιον. Ἀντιγράψαι δὲ εἰ οὐχ οἷόν τε, ἀλλ' οὖν χαρίζου μοι τὸ κράτιστον ὧν ἔχεις, τὰς ἱερὰς προσευχάς σου· πλήρης γάρ εἰμι ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων οἰκτρότερος. 84 {1Γρηγορᾷ λαϊκῷ}1 Ἡ πολλή σου καὶ θερμὴ διακονία καὶ προσεδρία τῶν ἐν ταῖς φυλακαῖς ἀδελφῶν πεποίηκέν σε, ὦ ἄνθρωπε τοῦ θεοῦ, ἄποικον, φυγάδα, ἀλήτην. ἀλλὰ θάρσει· ἐν σκέπῃ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ αὐλισθήσῃ, ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ σοι εἰς