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human affairs, and they act disgracefully in life by daring to do deeds for which the past has no precedents.

131. To OLYMPIUS

131.1 Truly the hearing of unexpected things is able to make both a man's ears tingle. This is what has now happened to me. Although these compositions circulating against us fell upon my ears which were now well-trained, because I myself had also previously received the letter, which was fitting for my sins, but certainly not one I ever expected to be written by those who sent it, nevertheless, the second ones seemed to us to have in themselves such an excess of bitterness as to overshadow the first. For how was I not nearly driven out of my own senses when I read the letter to the most reverend brother Dazinas, full of countless insults and unbearable accusations and attacks against us, as though we were found engaged in the most grievous plots against the Church? And immediately, proofs that the blasphemies against us were true were brought forward from a writing I do not know by whom it was written. For I recognized parts, I confess, to have been written concerning Apollinarius of Laodicea, and these I had never even actually read, but heard from others who reported them. But I found certain other things written in it which I had neither ever read nor heard another say, and of these things the witness in heaven is faithful. How then did those who turn away from falsehood, those taught that love is the fulfillment of the law, those who profess to bear the weaknesses of the powerless, deign to bring these slanders against us and to condemn us on the basis of others’ writings, after much reasoning with myself I am unable to conceive the reason, unless, as I said from the beginning, I judged it to be a part of the punishments owed to me for my sins and the grief on top of them. 131.2 For first I grieved in my soul, because truths have diminished from the sons of men; then I also became afraid for myself, lest I ever add misanthropy to my other sins, considering nothing trustworthy in anyone, if indeed those entrusted by me with the greatest matters have appeared to be such towards me, and such towards the truth itself. Know, therefore, brother, and everyone who is a friend of the truth, that the compositions are neither mine, nor do I approve of them, nor were they written with my consent. But if I ever wrote to Apollinarius or to anyone else many years ago, I ought not to be accused. For neither do I myself accuse anyone if from some company he has been separated into a heresy (and you certainly know the men, even if I do not name them), because each one will die for his own sin. For now I have replied these things to the tome that was sent, but so that you yourself may know the truth and may make it manifest to those who wish not to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And if it should be necessary to make a fuller defense concerning each of the charges brought against us, this too we shall do, with God as our helper. We, brother Olympius, neither speak of three gods nor do we have fellowship with Apollinarius.

132. To ABRAMIUS, BISHOP OF BATNAE

132.1 All the time since the autumn I have not known where your Reverence is staying. For I was finding the rumors to be misleading, with some reporting that your Reverence was staying in Samosata, others in the country, and still others affirming they had seen you around Batnae itself; for which reason I did not write continuously. But now

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ἀνθρώπινα, ἐνασχημονοῦσι δὲ τῷ βίῳ κατα τολμῶντες πράξεων ὧν ὁ παρελθὼν χρόνος οὐκ ἔχει τὰ ὑποδείγματα.

131.τ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΩ

131.1 Ὄντως ἡ τῶν ἀπροσδοκήτων ἀκοὴ ἱκανή ἐστι ποιῆσαι ἀνθρώπου

ἠχῆσαι ἀμφότερα τὰ ὦτα. Ὃ καὶ ἐμοὶ νῦν συνέβη. Εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα γεγυμνασμέναις μου λοιπὸν ταῖς ἀκοαῖς προσέπεσον τὰ περιφερόμενα καθ' ἡμῶν ταῦτα συντάγματα, διὰ τὸ καὶ πρότερον αὐτὸν ἐμὲ δεδέχθαι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν πρέπουσαν μὲν ταῖς ἐμαῖς ἁμαρτίαις, οὐ μὴν προσδοκηθεῖσάν ποτε γραφήσεσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἐπιστειλάν των, ἀλλ' ὅμως τὰ δεύτερα τοσαύτην ὑπερβολὴν ἐφάνη ἡμῖν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τῆς πικρίας ὥστε ἐπισκοτῆσαι τοῖς προλαβοῦσι. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ μικροῦ τῶν φρενῶν ἔξω ἐγενόμην τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ ἐντυχὼν τῇ πρὸς τὸν εὐλαβέστατον ἀδελφὸν ∆αζίναν ἐπιστολῇ μυρίων μὲν ὕβρεων καὶ κατηγοριῶν ἀφορήτων γεμούσῃ καθ' ἡμῶν καὶ ἐπαναστάσεων, ὡς ἐν τοῖς χαλεπωτάτοις ἡμῶν κατὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας βουλεύμασιν εὑρεθέντων; Εὐθὺς δὲ καὶ ἀποδείξεις τοῦ ἀληθεῖς εἶναι τὰς καθ' ἡμῶν βλασφημίας ἐπήχθησαν ἀπὸ συγγράμματος οὐκ οἶδα ὑπὸ τίνος γραφέντος. Μέρη μὲν γὰρ ἐπέγνων, ὁμολογῶ, περὶ τοῦ Λαοδικέως Ἀπολιναρίου γεγράφθαι, καὶ αὐτὰ οὐδὲ ἀναγνοὺς ἐξ ἔργου ποτέ, ἀλλ' ἀκούσας ἑτέρων ἀπαγγειλάντων. Ἄλλα δέ τινα εὗρον ἐγγεγραμμένα ἃ μήτε ἀνέγνων ποτὲ μήτε ἑτέρου λέγοντος ἤκουσα, καὶ τούτων ὁ μάρτυς ἐν οὐρανῷ πιστός. Πῶς οὖν οἱ τὸ ψεῦδος ἀποστρεφόμενοι, οἱ τὴν ἀγάπην πλήρωμα εἶναι τοῦ νόμου δεδιδαγμένοι, οἱ τὰ ἀσθενήματα βαστάζειν τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἐπαγγελλόμενοι ταύτας ἡμῖν κατεδέξαντο τὰς συκοφαντίας ἐπενεγκεῖν καὶ ἀπ' ἀλλοτρίων συγγραμμάτων ἡμᾶς κατα κρῖναι, πολλὰ λογισάμενος κατ' ἐμαυτὸν ἐπινοεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἔχω, εἰ μή, ὅπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἶπον, μέρος ἔκρινα εἶναι τῶν ὀφειλομένων μοι διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας κολάσεων καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις λύπην. 131.2 Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ κατεπένθησα τῇ ψυχῇ, ὅτι ὠλι γώθησαν αἱ ἀλήθειαι ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἐφοβήθην αὐτὸς περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ μή ποτε προσθῶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἁμαρτίαις καὶ τὴν μισανθρωπίαν πάθω, οὐδὲν πιστὸν ἐν οὐδενὶ λογιζόμενος εἶναι, εἴπερ οἱ εἰς τὰ μέγιστα παρ' ἐμοῦ πιστευθέντες τοιοῦτοι μὲν περὶ ἐμέ, τοιοῦτοι δὲ περὶ αὐτὴν ἐφάνησαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Γίνωσκε τοίνυν, ἀδελφέ, καὶ πᾶς ὅστις τῆς ἀληθείας φίλος, μήτε ἐμὰ εἶναι τὰ συντάγματα οὔτε ἀρέσκεσθαι αὐτοῖς μηδὲ τῇ ἐμῇ γνώμῃ συγγεγράφθαι. Εἰ δὲ ἐπέστειλά ποτε πρὸ πολλῶν ἐτῶν Ἀπολιναρίῳ ἢ ἄλλῳ τινί, ἐγκαλεῖσθαι οὐκ ὀφείλω. Οὔτε γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐγκαλῶ εἴ τις ἐκ τῆς ἑταιρείας τινὸς εἰς αἵρεσιν ἀπεσχίσθη (οἴδατε δὲ πάντως τοὺς ἄνδρας, κἂν ὀνομαστὶ μὴ λέγω), διότι ἕκαστος τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀποθα νεῖται. Ταῦτα νῦν μὲν ἀπεκρινάμην πρὸς τὸν ἀποσταλέντα τόμον, ἀλλ' ἵνα αὐτός τε εἰδείης τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τοῖς βουλομένοις μὴ κατέχειν ἐν ἀδικίᾳ τὴν ἀλήθειαν φανερὰν καταστήσεις. Ἐὰν δὲ δέῃ καὶ πλατύτερον ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου τῶν ἐπενεχθέντων ἡμῖν ἀπολογήσασθαι, καὶ τοῦτο ποιή σομεν τοῦ Θεοῦ συνεργοῦντος. Ἡμεῖς, ἀδελφὲ Ὀλύμπιε, οὔτε τρεῖς θεοὺς λέγομεν οὔτε Ἀπολιναρίῳ κοινωνοῦμεν.

132.τ ΑΒΡΑΜΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΒΑΤΝΩΝ

132.1 Πάντα τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ μετοπώρου χρόνον ἠγνόησα περὶ τῆς εὐλαβείας σου

ὅπου διάγεις. Καὶ γὰρ πεπλανημένας τὰς φήμας εὕρισκον, τῶν μὲν ἀπαγγελλόντων ἐν Σαμο σάτοις διατρίβειν σου τὴν εὐλάβειαν, τῶν δὲ ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ, ἄλλων δὲ περὶ τὰς Βάτνας αὐτὰς διαβεβαιουμένων ἑωρα κέναι· διὸ οὐδὲ συνεχῶς ἐπέστειλα. Νῦν δὲ