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having enjoyed the sight of his father after a long time, he both embraced and kissed his eyes and lips and breast and head and the right hand that had crowned him; 287 and he also revealed the vision which he had seen. And having kindly greeted all the others, he asked them to deliberate about the matters at hand as fathers. At that time, he who had recently shepherded Nazianzus was staying in Constantinople, opposing the Arian blasphemies; and both watering the divine people with the evangelical teachings and catching those who were wandering outside the flock and freeing them from the deadly pasture, thus he made that flock great from being small. The divine Meletius, having seen him and knowing the intention of those who had written the canon (for cutting off the occasions for the love of rule, they forbade translation), confirmed for the most divine Gregory the presidency of Constantinople. But after a short time had passed, the divine Meletius passed over to the life without sorrow, crowned by all who had a share of reason with funeral praises. But Timothy, the bishop of the Alexandrians, who had succeeded Peter who had become the heir of the presidency of Athanasius, ordained a certain Maximus, a Cynic, instead of the wonderful Gregory, immediately having cut his Cynic locks; and this man was also full of the nonsense of Apollinaris. But those who had then gathered did not bear the absurdity of what had happened. They were admirable men, full of divine zeal and wisdom; Helladius, the successor to the presidency of the great Basil, and Gregory and Peter who boasted of the same fathers as Basil; and Amphilochius was leader of the Lycaonians, and Optimus of the Pisidians, and Diodorus of the Cilicians. And there were also present Pelagius of Laodicea, and 288 Eulogius of Edessa, and Acacius, and our Isidore, and Cyril of Jerusalem, and Gelasius of Caesarea in Palestine, adorned in word and life, and many other athletes of virtue. At that time, then, all these men, having separated themselves from the Egyptians, celebrated the divine festivals with the great Gregory. But the divine Gregory urged those who had gathered concerning concord to prefer harmony with one another over the injustice against one man. "For I," he said, "being freed from most cares, will receive the quiet that is dear to me, and you will receive the much-desired peace after that long and difficult war. For it is of the most absurd things for us, having just been freed from the missiles of war, to strike one another and to expend our own strength; for thus we shall be a cause of rejoicing to our enemies. Therefore, seeking out a praiseworthy and intelligent man, able both to receive and to arrange well the multitude of cares, propose him as archbishop." The best shepherds, having been persuaded by these suggestions, ordained Nectarius, a man of noble birth, adorned with the distinction of his family and made brilliant by the forms of virtue, as bishop of that greatest city; but Maximus, as having partaken of the madness of Apollinaris, they stripped of his archepiscopal dignity and deposed. And having written canons concerning ecclesiastical good order and having decreed that the faith set forth in Nicaea remain firm, they returned to their own native lands. But in the following summer, when most of these men had come again to that city (for ecclesiastical needs had again called them together) they received a synodical letter from the bishops of the West urging them to come to Rome, as a very great synod was being assembled there. But they declined the journey, as having no advantage; but they sent a letter, signifying the billow 289 that had risen against the churches and hinting at the negligence that had happened on their part, and in summary, they also put the apostolic mind into the letter. But the letter itself will more clearly declare the courage and wisdom of those who wrote. "To the Lords

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διὰ χρόνου μακροῦ θέας πατρικῆς ἀπολαύσας, περιεπτύσσετό τε καὶ κατεφίλει καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ χείλη καὶ στέρνα καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ τὴν στεφανώσασαν δεξιάν· ἐδήλωσε 287 δὲ καὶ τὴν ὄψιν ἣν εἶδε. φιλοφρονησάμενος δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας, βουλεύσασθαι περὶ τῶν προκειμένων ὡς πατέρας ἠξίωσε. Κατ' ἐκεῖνον δὲ τὸν χρόνον ὁ τὴν Ναζιανζὸν τὰ τελευταῖα ποιμάνας ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει διέτριβε, ταῖς Ἀρειανικαῖς ἀντιτατ τόμενος βλασφημίαις· καὶ τόν τε θεῖον λαὸν ταῖς εὐαγγελικαῖς ἄρδων διδασκαλίαις τούς τε τῆς ποίμνης ἔξω πλανωμένους ἀγρεύων καὶ τῆς ὀλεθρίου πόας ἐλευθερῶν, οὕτω τὴν ποίμνην ἐκείνην ἐξ ὀλίγης μεγάλην ἀπέφηνε. τοῦτον ἰδὼν ὁ θεῖος Μελέτιος καὶ τῶν τὸν κανόνα γεγραφότων τὸν σκοπὸν ἐπιστάμενος (τὰς γὰρ τῆς φιλαρχίας ἀφορμὰς περικόπτοντες ἐκώλυσαν τὴν μετάθεσιν), ἐβεβαίωσε τῷ θειοτάτῳ Γρηγορίῳ τὴν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως προεδρίαν. ὀλίγου δὲ διελθόντος χρόνου, ὁ μὲν θεῖος Μελέτιος εἰς τὴν ἄλυπον μετέστη ζωήν, ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν λόγου μετειληχότων ταῖς ἐπιταφίοις ταινιω θεὶς εὐφημίαις. Τιμόθεος δὲ ὁ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων ἐπίσκοπος, ὃς Πέτρον διεδέξατο τὸν τῆς Ἀθανασίου προεδρίας κληρονόμον γενόμενον, ἀντὶ τοῦ θαυμασίου Γρηγορίου Μάξιμόν τινα κεχειροτόνηκε κυνικόν, εὐθὺς αὐτοῦ τὰς κυνικὰς ἀποκείρας τρίχας· καὶ τῆς Ἀπολι ναρίου δὲ τερθρείας ἀνάπλεως οὗτος ἦν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἤνεγκαν τοῦ γεγενημένου τὴν ἀτοπίαν οἱ τηνικαῦτα συνειλεγμένοι. ἦσαν δὲ ἄνδρες ἀξιάγαστοι καὶ ζήλου θείου καὶ σοφίας ἀνάπλεοι· Ἑλλάδιος μὲν ὁ τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου προεδρίας διάδοχος, Γρηγόριος δὲ καὶ Πέτρος οἱ τοὺς αὐτοὺς Βασιλείῳ πατέρας αὐχήσαντες· Ἀμφιλόχιος δὲ Λυκαόνων ἡγεῖτο καὶ Πισιδῶν Ὄπτιμος καὶ Κιλίκων ∆ιόδωρος. παρῆν δὲ καὶ Πελάγιος ὁ Λαοδικείας καὶ 288 Εὐλόγιος ὁ Ἐδέσσης καὶ Ἀκάκιος καὶ Ἰσίδωρος ὁ ἡμέτερος καὶ Κύριλλοςὁ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων, καὶ Γελάσιος ὁ Καισαρείας τῆς Παλαιστίνης, λόγῳ καὶ βίῳ κοσμούμενος, καὶ ἕτεροι πλεῖστοι τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθληταί. τότε δὴ οὖν οὗτοι πάντες τῶν Αἰγυπτίων σφὰς αὐτοὺς ἀποκρίναντες, σὺν τῷ μεγάλῳ Γρηγορίῳ τὰς πανηγύρεις ἐπετέλουν τὰς θείας. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος παρεκάλει Γρηγόριος συμφωνίας πέρι συνηθροισμένους τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμόνοιαν προτιμῆσαι τῆς ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀδικίας. "ἐγώ τε γάρ", ἔφη, "τῶν πλειόνων φροντίδων ἀπαλλαγεὶς τὴν ἐμοὶ φίλην ἀπολήψομαι ἡσυχίαν, καὶ ὑμεῖς τὴν τριπόθητον εἰρήνην μετὰ τὸν μακρὸν ἐκεῖνον καὶ χαλεπὸν ἀπολήψεσθε πόλεμον. τῶν γὰρ λίαν ἀτοπωτάτων ἄρτι τῶν πολεμικῶν ἀπαλλαγέντας βελῶν ἀλλήλους βάλλειν καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀναλίσκειν ἰσχύν· ἐπίχαρτοι γὰρ οὕτω τοῖς δυσμενέσιν ἐσόμεθα. ἄνδρα δὴ οὖν ἐπιζητήσαντες ἀξιέπαινον καὶ νοῦν ἔχοντα, τῶν φροντίδων τὸ πλῆθος καὶ δέξασθαι καὶ εὖ δια θεῖναι δυνάμενον, ἀρχιερέα προβάλλεσθε." ταύταις οἱ ἄριστοι ποι μένες ταῖς ὑποθήκαις πεισθέντες, Νεκτάριον, εὐπατρίδην ἄνδρα καὶ περιφανείᾳ γένους κοσμούμενον καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἀρετῆς εἴδεσι λαμπρυ νόμενον, ἐπίσκοπον τῆς μεγίστης ἐκείνης ἐχειροτόνησαν πόλεως· τὸν δὲ Μάξιμον, ὡς τῆς Ἀπολιναρίου φρενοβλαβείας μετειληχότα, τῆς ἀρχιερατικῆς ἀξίας γυμνώσαντες ἀπεκήρυξαν. καὶ κανόνας δὲ περὶ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς γράψαντες εὐκοσμίας καὶ τὴν ἐκτεθεῖσαν ἐν Νικαίᾳ πίστιν βεβαίαν μένειν διαγορεύσαντες, εἰς τὰς οἰκείας ἐπανῆλθον πατρίδας. Τοῦ δὲ ἐπιγενομένου θέρους εἰς ἐκείνην αὖθις τὴν πόλιν οἱ πλεῖστοι τούτων παραγενόμενοι (ἐκκλησιαστικαὶ γὰρ αὐτοὺς πάλιν συνεκάλεσαν χρεῖαι) συνοδικὴν ἐπιστολὴν τῶν τῆς Ἑσπέρας ἐπισκό πων ἐδέξαντο εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην αὐτοὺς ἀφικέσθαι προτρέπουσαν, ὡς συνόδου μεγίστης αὐτόθι συγκροτουμένης. ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν ἀποδημίαν παρῃτήσαντο, ὡς οὐδὲν ἔχουσαν κέρδος· ἐπέστειλαν δὲ τόν τε κλύ 289 δωνα τὸν κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἐπαναστάντα σημαίνοντες καὶ τὴν γεγενημένην αὐτῶν ἀμέλειαν αἰνιττόμενοι, ἐν κεφαλαίῳ δὲ καὶ τὸ ἀποστολικὸν τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐνέθηκαν φρόνημα. σαφέστερον δὲ τὴν τῶν γεγραφότων ἀνδρείαν τε καὶ σοφίαν αὐτὰ δηλώσει τὰ γράμματα. "Κυρίοις