104

To the most honored and most reverend brothers and fellow-ministers, Damasus, Ambrose, Britton, Valerian, Acholius, Anemius, Basil, and the rest of the holy bishops assembled in the great city of Rome, the holy synod of orthodox bishops assembled in the great city of Constantinople, greeting in the Lord. To teach your Reverence as though you were ignorant, and to recount the multitude of sufferings brought upon us by the might of the Arians, is perhaps superfluous. For we neither suppose your Piety to judge our affairs so superficially as to need to learn these things with which you ought to sympathize, nor were the storms which have beset us of such a kind as to be unnoticed on account of their insignificance; and the time of the persecutions is recent, still preserving a vivid memory not only for those who have suffered, but also for those who through love make the sufferings of others their own. For, so to speak, only yesterday and the day before, some, freed from the chains of exile, have returned to their own churches through countless tribulations, while of others who had died in exile, the relics have been brought back. And some, even after their return from exile, falling in with the still seething rage of the heretics, endured things more bitter in their own land than in the foreign land, being stoned to death by them after the manner of the blessed Stephen; others, mangled by various tortures, still bear the marks of Christ and the bruises 290 on their bodies. And as for losses of money, and the fining of cities, and the confiscations of individuals' property, and conspiracies, and insults, and imprisonments, who could possibly count them all? For truly all tribulations were multiplied upon us beyond number, perhaps because we were paying the penalty for our sins, but perhaps also because the merciful God was training us through the multitude of our sufferings. For these things, then, thanks be to God, who through so many tribulations has instructed His own servants, and according to the multitude of His mercies has again brought us out to a place of rest . But we needed long leisure and much time and labor for the restoration of the churches, so that, as from a long sickness, by gradual care, nursing the body of the Church back to health, we might restore it to its ancient health of piety. For even if we seem for the most part to have been delivered from the violence of the persecutions and to be just now recovering the churches which have long been held by the heretics, yet the wolves are grievous to us, and even after being driven from the fold, they snatch the flocks in the glens, daring to hold rival assemblies, stirring up popular uprisings, shrinking from nothing for the injury of the churches. It was necessary, then, as we have said, for us to be occupied for a longer time. But since, showing your brotherly love for us, you are assembling a synod in Rome by the will of God, and have summoned us also as your own members through the letters of the most God-beloved Emperor, 291 so that, since we then were alone condemned to tribulations, now in the concord of the emperors concerning piety you might not reign without us, but we also with you might reign together, according to the apostolic voice, it was our prayer, if it were possible, for all of us together to leave our churches and gratify our desire or the need. For who will give us wings like a dove, that we may fly away and be at rest with you? But since this would have left the churches completely bare, just as they are beginning their renewal, and the matter was altogether impossible for most (for we had gathered in Constantinople in consequence of the letters sent last year from your Honor after the synod in Aquileia to the most God-beloved Emperor Theodosius, having prepared ourselves for this journey only as far as Constantinople, and bringing with us the consent of the bishops who remained in the provinces for this synod only, but of a greater

104

τιμιωτάτοις καὶ εὐλαβεστάτοις ἀδελφοῖς καὶ συλλει "τουργοῖς, ∆αμάσῳ, Ἀμβροσίῳ, Βρίττωνι, Οὐαλεριανῷ, Ἀχολίῳ, "Ἀνεμίῳ, Βασιλείῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἁγίοις ἐπισκόποις τοῖς συνελη "λυθόσιν ἐν τῇ μεγαλοπόλει Ῥώμῃ, ἡ ἁγία σύνοδος τῶν ὀρθοδόξων "ἐπισκόπων τῶν συνεληλυθότων ἐν τῇ μεγαλοπόλει Κωνσταντινου "πόλει, ἐν κυρίῳ χαίρειν. "Τὸ μὲν ὡς ἀγνοοῦσαν διδάσκειν τὴν ὑμετέραν εὐλάβειαν καὶ δι "ηγεῖσθαι τῶν παθημάτων τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπαχθέντων ἡμῖν παρὰ "τῆς τῶν Ἀρειανῶν δυναστείας, περιττὸν ἴσως. οὔτε γὰρ οὕτω πάρ "εργον τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς κρίνειν τὴν ὑμετέραν ἡγούμεθα θεοσέβειαν ὡς "δεῖσθαι τοῦ μαθεῖν ταῦτα οἷς ἐχρῆν συναλγεῖν, οὔτε τοιοῦτοί τινες "οἱ περισχόντες ἡμᾶς χειμῶνες ὡς λανθάνειν ὑπὸ σμικρότητος· ὅ τε "χρόνος τῶν διωγμῶν νεαρός, ἔναυλον ἔτι φυλάττων τὴν μνήμην οὐ "τοῖς πεπονθόσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς δι' ἀγάπην τὰ τῶν πεπονθό "των οἰκειουμένοις. χθὲς γὰρ ὡς εἰπεῖν ἔτι καὶ πρώην οἱ μὲν τῶν "τῆς ἐξορίας λυθέντες δεσμῶν εἰς τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἐκκλησίας διὰ μυρίων "ἐπανήκασι θλίψεων, τῶν δὲ καὶ τελειωθέντων ἐν ταῖς ἐξορίαις ἐπανε "κομίσθη τὰ λείψανα. τινὲς δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὴν τῆς ἐξορίας ἐπάνοδον, "ἔτι βράζοντι τῷ τῶν αἱρετικῶν περιπεσόντες θυμῷ, πικρότερα τῶν "ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοτρίας ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκείας ὑπέμειναν, λίθοις παρ' αὐτῶν "τελειωθέντες κατὰ τὸν μακάριον Στέφανον· ἄλλοι διαφόροις κατα "ξανθέντες αἰκίαις ἔτι τὰ στίγματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τοὺς μώλω 290 "πας ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέρουσι. χρημάτων δὲ ζημίας καὶ προστιμή "σεις πόλεων, καὶ τὰς τῶν καθ' ἕνα δημεύσεις καὶ συσκευὰς καὶ ὕβρεις "καὶ δεσμωτήρια τίς ἂν ἐξαριθμήσασθαι δύναιτο; πᾶσαι γὰρ ὄντως "ἐφ' ἡμᾶς αἱ θλίψεις ἐπληθύνθησαν ὑπὲρ ἀριθμόν, ἴσως μὲν ἐπειδὴ "δίκας ἁμαρτημάτων ἐτίναμεν, ἴσως δὲ καὶ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου θεοῦ "διὰ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν παθημάτων ἡμᾶς γυμνάζοντος. "Τούτων μὲν οὖν τῷ θεῷ χάρις, ὃς καὶ διὰ τοσούτων θλίψεων "τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ δούλους ἐπαίδευσε, καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν "αὐτοῦ πάλιν ἐξήγαγεν ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀναψυχήν . ἡμῖν δὲ μακρᾶς μὲν "ἔδει σχολῆς καὶ πολλοῦ χρόνου καὶ πόνου πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν "ἐπανόρθωσιν, ἵν' ὥσπερ ἐκ μακρᾶς ἀρρωστίας ταῖς κατὰ μικρὸν ἐπι "μελείαις τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκνοσηλεύοντες, πρὸς τὴν ἀρχαίαν "τῆς εὐσεβείας ὑγίειαν ἐπαναγάγωμεν. καὶ γὰρ εἰ τὰ μάλιστα δοκοῦ "μεν τῆς τῶν διωγμῶν ἀπηλλάχθαι σφοδρότητος καὶ τὰς ἐκκλησίας "χρονίως παρὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν κατασχεθείσας ἀρτίως ἀνακομίζεσθαι, "πλὴν ἀλλὰ βαρεῖς ἡμῖν οἱ λύκοι καὶ μετὰ τὸ τῆς μάνδρας ἐξωσθῆναι "κατὰ τὰς νάπας τὰ ποίμνια διαρπάζοντες, ἀντισυνάξεις τολμῶντες, "δήμων κινοῦντες ἐπαναστάσεις, ὀκνοῦντες οὐδὲν εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐκκλη "σιῶν βλάβην. ἦν μὲν οὖν, ὅπερ εἰρήκαμεν, ἀναγκαῖον πλείονα ἡμᾶς "προσασχοληθῆναι χρόνον. "Ἐπειδὴ μέντοι τὴν ἀδελφικὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἀγάπην ἐπιδεικνύμενοι, "σύνοδον ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥώμης θεοῦ βουλήσει συγκροτοῦντες καὶ ἡμᾶς ὡς "οἰκεῖα μέλη προσεκαλέσασθε διὰ τῶν τοῦ θεοφιλεστάτου βασιλέως 291 "γραμμάτων, ἵν' ἐπειδὴ τότε τὰς θλίψεις μόνοι κατεδικάσθημεν, νῦν "ἐν τῇ τῶν αὐτοκρατόρων περὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν συμφωνίᾳ μὴ χωρὶς "ἡμῶν βασιλεύσητε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑμῖν κατὰ τὴν ἀποστολικὴν "φωνὴν συμβασιλεύσωμεν, εὐχὴ μὲν ἦν ἡμῖν, εἰ δυνατόν, ἅπασιν "ἀθρόως καταλιποῦσι τὰς ἐκκλησίας, τῷ πόθῳ ἢ τῇ χρείᾳ χαρίσα "σθαι. τίς γὰρ ἡμῖν δώσει πτέρυγας ὡσεὶ περιστερᾶς, καὶ "πετασθησόμεθα καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς καταπαύσομεν ; ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο "παντελῶς ἐγύμνου τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἄρτι τῆς ἀνανεώσεως ἀρχομένας "καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα παντάπασιν ἦν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀδύνατον (συνδεδραμή "κειμεν γὰρ εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν ἐκ τῶν πέρυσι γραμμάτων "τῶν παρὰ τῆς ὑμετέρας τιμιότητος μετὰ τὴν ἐν Ἀκυληΐᾳ σύνοδον "πρὸς τὸν θεοφιλέστατον βασιλέα Θεοδόσιον ἐπισταλθέντων, πρὸς "μόνην ταύτην τὴν ἀποδημίαν τὴν μέχρι Κωνσταντινουπόλεως πα "ρασκευασάμενοι, καὶ περὶ ταύτης μόνης τῆς συνόδου τῶν ἐν ταῖς "ἐπαρχίαις μεινάντων ἐπισκόπων συγκατάθεσιν ἐπαγόμενοι, μείζονος "δὲ