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proposing the faith of the Fathers, to summon them to communion; and if we persuade them, to be united with them in common, but if we fail, to be content with one another, and to banish this wavering from our character, having taken up the evangelic and guileless way of life in which those who from the beginning came to the word lived together. "For," it says, "the heart and soul of those who believed was one." If then they are persuaded by you, these things are best. But if not, identify the warmongers and cease for the future writing to us about reconciliations.

129. To Meletius, Bishop of Antioch

129.1 I knew that the charge now brought against Apollinarius, who is ready to say anything, would seem strange to the ears of your perfection. For indeed I myself did not previously know that he held it, but now the men of Sebasteia, having investigated them from somewhere, have brought them into the open and are circulating a treatise from which they especially condemn us, as holding the same opinions, containing such statements as these: "so that it is necessary everywhere to conceive the first identity as conjoined, or rather united, with the otherness, and to say the second and third are the same. For that which the Father is primarily, this the Son is secondarily, and the Spirit thirdly. And again, that which the Spirit is primarily, this the Son is secondarily, inasmuch as the Lord is the Spirit; and thirdly the Father, inasmuch as God is Spirit. And, to express the ineffable more forcefully, that the Father is Son in a fatherly way, and the Son is Father in a sonly way. And likewise in the case of the Spirit, inasmuch as the Trinity is one God." These are the things being rumored, which I can never believe to be fabrications of those who are circulating them, even though from their slander against us I reckon nothing to be beyond their audacity. For in writing to some of their own party and adding the slander against us, they introduced these things, calling them the words of heretics, but concealing the father of the composition, so that to the many we might be thought to be the authors. Yet their ingenuity would not have gone so far as to compose the words, as I persuade myself. Therefore, in order both to refute the prevailing blasphemy against us and to show to all that we have nothing in common with those who say that, we were compelled to mention the man as approaching the impiety of Sabellius. And so much for that. 129.2 But from the camp someone has come with the news that after the first move of the emperor, to which those who poured out slanders against us moved him, there has also been a second opinion, that we should not be given up to our accusers nor be handed over to their will, which had been decreed from the beginning, but that for the time being there should be some delay. If, then, either this holds, or something more humane than this seems best, we will signify to your piety. But if the former plans prevail, not even this will escape your notice. 129.3 However, the brother Sanctissimus is surely with you long since and what he seeks has become clear to your perfection. If, then, the letter to the Westerners seems to have some necessity, please deign to draft it and send it through to us, so that we may have it signed by those of like mind, and to have the signature ready on a separate paper which we can attach to that which is being carried around by our brother the fellow presbyter. For since I found nothing cohesive in the memorandum, I had nothing about which to write to those in the West. For the necessary things have been anticipated, and to write superfluous things is utterly pointless. And to bother them about the same things, would that not also be ridiculous? But that subject seemed to me to be, as it were, unexercised and to provide room for a letter: to ask them not to receive into communion without examination those arriving from the East, but having once for all chosen one party, the rest from the testimony

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Πατέρων πίστιν προτεινομένους προκαλεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς εἰς συνάφειαν· κἂν μὲν πείσωμεν, κοινῶς αὐτοῖς ἑνωθῆναι, ἐὰν δὲ ἀποτύχωμεν, ἀρκεῖσθαι ἡμᾶς ἀλλήλοις, τὸν δὲ ἐπαμφοτερισμὸν τοῦτον ἐξορίσαι τοῦ ἤθους ἀναλαβόντας τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν καὶ ἄδολον πολιτείαν ᾗ συνέζων οἱ ἐξ ἀρχῆς προσελθόντες τῷ λόγῳ. «Ἦν γάρ, φησί, τῶν πισ τευσάντων καρδία καὶ ψυχὴ μία.» Ἐὰν μὲν οὖν πεισθῶσί σοι, ταῦτα ἄριστα. Εἰ δὲ μή, γνωρίσατε τοὺς πολεμο ποιοὺς καὶ παύσασθε ἡμῖν τοῦ λοιποῦ περὶ διαλλαγῶν ἐπιστέλλοντες.

129.τ ΜΕΛΕΤΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΙΑΣ

129.1 Ἤδειν ὅτι ξενίσει τὴν ἀκοὴν τῆς τελειότητός σου τὸ νῦν ἐπιφυὲν

ἔγκλημα τῷ πάντα εἰπεῖν εὐκόλῳ Ἀπο λιναρίῳ. Καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ αὐτὸς τὸν πρὸ τούτου χρόνον ἤμην ἐπιστάμενος ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οἱ Σεβαστηνοὶ διερευνησά μενοί ποθεν αὐτὰ ἤνεγκαν εἰς τὸ μέσον καὶ περιφέρουσι σύνταγμα ἐξ οὗ μάλιστα καὶ ἡμᾶς καταδικάζουσιν, ὡς τὰ αὐτὰ φρονοῦντας, ἔχον ῥήσεις τοιαύτας· «ὥστε πανταχῆ συνεζευγμένως, μᾶλλον δὲ ἡνωμένως τῇ ἑτερότητι νοεῖν ἀναγκαῖον τὴν πρώτην ταὐτότητα, καὶ δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην λέγοντας τὴν αὐτήν. Ὅπερ γάρ ἐστι πρώτως ὁ Πατήρ, τοῦτό ἐστι δευτέρως ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ τρίτως τὸ Πνεῦμα. Αὖθις δὲ ὅπερ ἐστὶ πρώτως τὸ Πνεῦμα, τοῦτο δευτέρως τὸν Υἱόν, καθὸ δὴ καὶ ὁ Κύριός ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα· καὶ τρίτως τὸν Πατέρα, καθὸ δὴ Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός. Καί, ὡς βιαιότερον σημαίνει τὸ ἄρρητον, τὸν Πατέρα πατρικῶς Υἱὸν εἶναι, τὸν δὲ Υἱὸν ὑϊκῶς Πατέρα. Καὶ ὡσαύτως ἐπὶ τοῦ Πνεύ ματος, καθὸ δὴ εἷς Θεὸς ἡ Τριάς». Ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ θρυλούμενα ἃ οὐδέποτε δύναμαι πιστεῦσαι πλάσματα εἶναι τῶν περιφερόντων, εἰ καὶ ὅτι ἐκ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς συκο φαντίας οὐδὲν λογίζομαι αὐτοῖς ἀτόλμητον εἶναι. Γρά φοντες γάρ τισι τῶν καθ' ἑαυτοὺς καὶ προσθέντες τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν διαβολὴν ἐπήγαγον ταῦτα, ῥήματα μὲν αἱρε τικῶν ὀνομάσαντες, τὸν δὲ πατέρα τῆς συγγραφῆς ἀπο κρυψάμενοι, ἵνα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἡμεῖς νομισθῶμεν εἶναι οἱ λογογράφοι. Πλὴν ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν τοῦ μέχρι ῥήματα συνθεῖναι προῆλθεν αὐτῶν ἡ ἐπίνοια, ὥς γε ἐμαυτὸν πείθω. Ὅθεν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν κρατοῦσαν βλασφημίαν ἀπώσασθαι καὶ δεῖξαι πᾶσιν ὡς οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἐστι κοινὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἐκεῖνο λέγοντας, ἠναγκάσθημεν μνησθῆναι τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὡς προσεγγίζοντος τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ τοῦ Σαβελλίου. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον. 129.2 Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ στρατοπέδου ἧκέ τις ἀγγέλλων, ἐπὶ τῇ πρώτῃ κινήσει τοῦ κρατοῦντος, ἣν ἐκίνησαν αὐτὸν οἱ τὰς διαβολὰς ἡμῶν καταχέοντες, γεγενῆσθαί τινα καὶ δευτέραν γνώμην, ὥστε μὴ δοθῆναι ἡμᾶς ἐκδότους τοῖς κατηγόροις μήτε παραδοθῆναι ἡμᾶς τῷ ἐκείνων θελήματι, ὅπερ ἦν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁρισθέν, ἀλλά τινα γενέσθαι τέως ἀναβολήν. Ἐὰν οὖν ἢ ταῦτα μένῃ ἢ τούτων τι δόξῃ φιλανθρωπότερον, σημανοῦμέν σου τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ. Ἐὰν δὲ κρατῇ τὰ πρότερα, οὐδὲ τοῦτό σε λήσεται. 129.3 Ὁ μέντοι ἀδελφὸς Σαγκτήσιμος πάντως ἐστὶ παρ' ὑμῖν πάλαι καὶ ἃ ἐπιζητεῖ δῆλα γέγονε τῇ τελειότητί σου. Εἰ οὖν φαίνεται ἀναγκαῖόν τι ἔχειν ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ∆υτικοὺς ἐπιστολή, καταξίωσον τυπώσας αὐτὴν διαπέμψασθαι ἡμῖν, ὥστε ποιῆσαι ὑπογραφῆναι παρὰ τῶν ὁμοψύχων, καὶ ἑτοί μην ἔχειν τὴν ὑπογραφὴν ἐν χάρτῃ κεχωρισμένῳ ὃν δυνά μεθα συνάψαι τῷ παρὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν τοῦ συμπρεσ βυτέρου περικομιζομένῳ. Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν εὑρὼν συνεκτικὸν ἐν τῷ ὑπομνηστικῷ οὐκ ἔσχον ὑπὲρ οὗ ἐπισ τείλω τοῖς ἐν τῇ ∆ύσει. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀναγκαῖα προείληπται, τὰ δὲ περιττὰ γράφειν παντελῶς μάταιον. Περὶ δὲ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐνοχλεῖν μὴ καὶ γελοῖον εἴη; Ἐκείνη δέ μοι ἔδοξεν ὥσπερ ἀγύμναστος εἶναι ἡ ὑπόθεσις καὶ χώραν παρέχειν γράμμασι, τὸ παρακαλέσαι αὐτοὺς μὴ ἀκρίτως δέχεσθαι τὰς κοινωνίας τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἀνατολῆς ἀφικνουμένων, ἀλλ' ἅπαξ μίαν μερίδα ἐκλεξαμένους, τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐκ τῆς μαρτυρίας