Letter CXXII.666    Placed in 373.

To Pœmenius,667    On the same subject as the preceding.  cf. Letters cii., ccxxvii., ccxxviii., ccxxix., and cxxx.bishop of Satala.

When the Armenians returned by your way you no doubt asked for a letter from them, and you learnt why I had not given the letter to them.  If they spoke as truth lovers should, you forgave me on the spot; if they kept anything back (which I do not suppose), at all events hear it from me.

The most illustrious Anthimus, who long ago made peace with me, when he found an opportunity of satisfying his own vain gloriousness, and of causing me some vexation, consecrated Faustus, by his own authority and with his own hand, without waiting for any election from you, and ridiculing my punctiliousness in such matters.  Inasmuch, then, as he has confounded ancient order and has made light of you, for whose election I was waiting, and has acted in a manner, as I view it, displeasing to God, for these reasons I felt pained with them, and gave no letter for any of the Armenians, not even for your reverence.  Faustus I would not even receive into communion, thereby plainly testifying that, unless he brought me a letter from you, I should be permanently alienated from him, and should influence those of the same mind with me to treat him in the same manner.  If there is any remedy for these things, be sure to write to me yourself, giving your testimony to him, if you see that his life is good; and exhort the rest.  If on the other hand the mischief is incurable, let me perfectly understand it to be so, that I may no longer take them into account; although really, as they have proved, they have agreed, for the future, to transfer their communion to Anthimus, in contempt of me and of my Church, as though my friendship were no longer worth having.

ΠΟΙΜΕΝΙῼ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠῼ ΣΑΤΑΛΩΝ

[1] Πάντως ἐπεζήτησας γράμματα παρὰ τῶν Ἀρμενίων, ὅτε ἐπανῆκαν διὰ σοῦ, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἔμαθες δι' ἣν οὐκ ἔδωκα αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐπιστολήν. Εἰ μὲν οὖν εἶπον φιλαληθῶς, ἔδωκας ἡμῖν αὐτόθεν τὴν συγγνώμην: εἰ δὲ ἀπεκρύψαντο ἐκεῖνοι, ὅπερ οὖν εἰκάζω, ἀλλὰ παρ' ἡμῶν ἄκουε. Ὁ τὰ πάντα γενναῖος Ἄνθιμος ὁ διὰ μακροῦ χρόνου τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς εἰρήνην σπεισάμενος, ἐπειδὴ εὗρε καιρὸν ἑαυτοῦ τε κενοδοξίαν ἐκπληρῶσαι καὶ ἡμῖν λύπην τινὰ προξενῆσαι, ἐχειροτόνησε τὸν Φαῦστον ἰδίᾳ αὐθεντίᾳ καὶ ἰδίᾳ χειρὶ οὐδενὸς ὑμῶν ἀναμείνας ψῆφον καὶ ἡμῶν καταγελάσας ἀκριβολογουμένων περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν συνέχεε μὲν παλαιὰν εὐταξίαν, κατεφρόνησε δὲ καὶ ὑμῶν παρ' ὧν ἀνέμενον ἐγὼ τὴν μαρτυρίαν δέξασθαι, ἐποίησε δὲ πρᾶγμα οὐκ οἶδα εἰ εὐάρεστον Θεῷ, τούτου ἕνεκεν λυπηθεὶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς οὐδεμίαν ἔδωκα ἐπιστολὴν πρὸς οὐδένα τῶν Ἀρμενίων οὐδὲ πρὸς τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ εἰς κοινωνίαν ἐδεξάμην τὸν Φαῦστον φανερῶς διαμαρτυρόμενος ὅτι, εἰ μὴ ὑμέτερά μοι κομίσειε γράμματα, πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἔσομαι καὶ αὐτὸς ἠλλοτριωμένος καὶ τοὺς ὁμοψύχους μοι οὕτω διαθήσω πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχειν. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἰάσιμα τὰ γενόμενα, σπούδασον αὐτός τε ἐπιστεῖλαι μαρτυρῶν αὐτῷ, εἰ ὁρᾷς ἀγαθὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὴν ζωήν, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους προτρέψασθαι. Εἰ δὲ ἀνίατα, καὶ τοῦτό μοι φανερὸν ποίησον, ὥστε μηκέτι με αὐτοῖς καθόλου προσέχειν, εἰ καὶ ὅτι, ὡς ἔδειξαν, ὥρμηνται λοιπὸν πρὸς τὸν Ἄνθιμον ἑαυτῶν μεταθεῖναι τὴν κοινωνίαν, ἡμῶν καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ταύτης ὡς ἑώλων εἰς φιλίαν καταφρονήσαντες.