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having given genuine goodwill and unbreakable security to the promotion. For no one has been established as a more genuine servant of their pious majesty than he.

Farewell to me, most beloved, and to me most honored of all, genuine servant of God.

LETTER 45. ... TO THE SAME. 45. Of the same to the same. In every generation, from time to time, God, providing for human

nature, and caring for the salvation of us all, has revealed one who would live piously, flashing like light with virtues, as one capable according to His purpose of containing the divine laws; having given so much strength as the people who were being led likely needed for their conversion; so that the rest of men, paying attention as to some lamp of light of the works of righteousness, might also themselves order their life according to God, with no passion from ignorance tripping them up. And for us, in our time, a certain lamp and rule of virtue has been revealed: George the Christ-loving prefect; he who is great and so great in virtue, and who has received from God such power abounding in grace; and a power surpassing that of those formerly appointed and promoted for this 0649 by as much as we, that is, our generation, being oppressed by a great weight of evil, needed for recovery and from the multitude of those who harm us. A man, if any other of the most God-loving of old and of now, both good and philanthropic, merciful, gentle, forbearing, long-suffering, humble-minded, prudent, not given to anger, not a lover of money, loving, not remembering evils, beneficent, hospitable, (15B_448> a lover of the poor, sympathetic, sociable, most earnest, vigilant, a lover of the church; and what is indeed most honored of all, a most zealous advocate of the pious doctrine according to the right faith. And the rest is accordingly contained in the previous letter; in accordance with which I also, by means of another letter, indicated in part to my blessed lord. For it is among the impossible and impracticable things for all the man's achievements to be encompassed by the power of speech; and I have declared these things so that my God-guarded lord, knowing the piety of the man to be of divine grace through these very deeds, might both receive and honor him; and commend him to our pious and all-gentle emperors, who on earth represent the divine power; and to persuade them not to accept the unjust tongues of lawless men, which work deceit like a sharpened razor, and love wickedness more than goodness; so that no place may be given to falsehood against the truth, and injustice may not gain confidence against righteousness; and simply, that wickedness may not gain confidence against all virtue, through the interchange and confusion of these with one another. For it is written, To harm a just man is not good; nor is it holy to plot against just rulers. For to do this is fitting for my blessed lord, who is a lover of wisdom and prudence; which I pray may always be preserved for my God-guarded lord, being a guardian of his soul and of his body.

And I ask that the one carrying this, the dispatch from my nothingness, who has a wisdom of soul older than the age of his body, be received fittingly on account of the understanding that befits him, as one who partakes in the study of the divine words, and who does not disdain to have a genuine regard for me, the humble one.

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εὔνοιαν γνησίαν καί ἀσφάλειαν ἀῤῥαγῆ δεδωκώς τήν προβολήν. Οὐδείς γάρ αὐτοῦ καθέστηκε γνησιώτερος δοῦλος τῆς αὐτῶν εὐσεβοῦς βασιλείας.

Ἔῤῥωσό μοι, λίαν ἠγαπημένε, καί πάντων μοι τιμιώτατε δοῦλε γνήσιε τοῦ Θεοῦ.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΜΕ'. ... ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ. ΜΕ´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός τόν αὐτόν. Πάσῃ μέν γενεᾷ κατά καιρούς ὁ Θεός, τῆς τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων προνοούμενος

φύσεως, καί τῆς ἡμῶν ἁπάντων σωτηρίας ἐπιμελούμενος, φωτός δίκην ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἐξαστράπτοντα τόν ὁσίως πολιτευσόμενον, ὡς κατά πρόθεσιν χωρητικόν τῶν θείων νόμων ἀνέδειξε· τοσαύτην ἰσχύν δεδωκώς, ὅσον εἰκός πρός ἐπιστροφήν ἔχρῃζεν, ὁ λαός ὁ ἀγόμενος· ἵνα ὥσπερ λαμπτῆρί τινι φωτός ἔργων δικαιοσύνης οἱ λοιποί τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσέχοντες, κατά Θεόν καί αὐτοί βίον ῥυθμίζωσι· μηδενός αὐτούς ἐξ ἀγνοίας πάθους ὑποσκελίζοντος. Ἡμῖν δέ κατά καιρόν λαμπτήρ τις καί κανών ἀρετῆς ἀναδέδεικται Γεώργιος ὁ φιλόχριστος ἔπαρχος· ὁ πολύς καί τοσοῦτος τήν ἀρετήν, καί τοσαύτην πλουτοῦσαν τῇ χάριτι θεόθεν δεξάμενος δύναμιν· καί τῶν ἐπί 0649 τούτῳ πάλαι προκεχειρισμένων, καί προβεβλημένων ὑπεραίρουσαν τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἡμεῖς, ἤγουν ἡ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς γενεά πολλῷ βάρει κακίας καταπεπιεσμένοι ἐδεόμεθα πρός ἀνάνευσιν καί ἐκ τῆς τῶν κακούντων ἡμᾶς πληθύος. Ἀνήρ εἰ καί τις ἄλλος τῶν πάλαι τε καί νῦν φιλοθεωτάτων ἀγαθός τε καί φιλάνθρωπος, ἐλεήμων, πραΰς, ἀνεκτικός, μακρόθυμος, ταπεινόφρων, σώφρων, ἀόργητος, ἀφιλάργυρος, ἀγαπητικός, ἀμνησίκακος, εὐεργετικός, φιλόξενος, (15Β_448> φιλόπτωχος, συμπαθής, κοινωνικός, σπουδαιότατος, ἄγρυπνος, φιλεκκλήσιος· καί τό δή πάντων τιμιώτερον, τοῦ κατά τήν ὀρθήν πίστιν εὐσεβοῦς λόγου ζηλωτής ἐκθυμώτατος. Καί τά λοιπά ἀκολούθως ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ περιέχεται ἐπιστολῇ· καθ᾿ ἥν καί δι᾿ ἄλλης τῷ εὐλογημένῳ μου δεσπότῃ συλλαβῆς ἐκ μέρους ἐσήμανα. Πάντα γάρ τά τοῦ ἀνδρός κατορθώματα λόγου δυνάμει περιληφθῆναι τῶν ἀμηχάνων ἐστί καί ἀνεγχωρήτων· καί ταῦτα διά τό μόνον γινώσκοντα τόν θεοφύλακτόν μου δεσπότην τοῦ ἀνδρός τό φιλόθεον, ὡς θείας δι᾿ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων ὑπό τῆς χάριτος ὄντα, δέξασθαί τε καί τιμῆσαι δεδήλωκα· καί παραθέσθαι τοῖς ἐπί γῆς τό θεῖον εἰκονίζουσι κράτος εὐσεβέσι καί πανημέροις ἡμῶν βασιλεῦσι· καί πεῖσαι γλώσσας ἀδίκους ἀνδρῶν παρανόμων μή παραδέχεσθαι, ποιούσας δόλον ὡσεί ξυρόν ἠκονημένον, καί ἀγαπώσας κακίαν ὑπέρ ἀγαθωσύνην· ἵνα μή χώρα τῷ ψεύδει κατά τῆς ἀληθείας δοθῇ, καί παῤῥησίαν λάβῃ κατά τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἡ ἀδικία· καί ἁπλῶς κατά πάσης ἀρετῆς ἡ κακία, διά τῆς εἰς ἄλληλα τούτων ἐναλλαγῆς καί συγχύσεως. Γέγραπται γάρ, Ζημιοῦν ἄνδρα δίκαιον, οὐκ ἀγαθόν· οὐδ᾿ ὅσιον ἐπιβουλεύειν δυνάσταις δικαίοις. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐργάζεσθαι τῷ εὐλογημένῳ μου δεσπότῃ πρέπει, ὄντι σοφίας ἐραστῇ καί φρονήσεως· ἥν διά παντός φυλαχθῆναι τῷ θεοφυλάκτῳ μου δεσπότῃ εὔχομαι φύλακα τυγχάνουσαν τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ καί τοῦ σώματος.

Τόν δέ ταύτην ἐπιφερόμενον, τῆς ἐμῆς οὐδενίας συλλαβήν, πρεσβυτέραν ἔχοντα τῆς ἡλικίας τοῦ σώματος τῆς ψυχῆς τήν φρόνησιν, παρακαλῶ δεχθῆναι προσφόρως διά τήν ἐμπρέπουσαν αὐτῷ σύνεσιν, ὡς τῆς θείας τῶν λόγων σπουδῆς μεταποιούμενον, καί γνήσιον περί ἐμέ τόν ταπεινόν σχέσιν ἔχειν οὐκ ἀπαξιοῦντα.