143

having condescended, is crowned. Therefore, so that we may not be left behind in good zeal, behold we too answer your Reverence and show our purpose, that, by the grace of God, since our agreement in the faith is firm, there is nothing else preventing us from being one body and one spirit, as we were called in one hope through our calling. It is therefore for your Love to add what follows to this good beginning: to assemble around yourself those of like mind, and to declare both a time and place for the meeting, so that thus, by the grace of God, receiving one another in the ancient manner of love, we may manage the Churches, welcoming the brethren traveling from either side as our own members, sending them on as to our own people and receiving them again as from our own people. For this was once the boast of the Church, that brethren from each Church, supplied with small tokens, found fathers and brothers everywhere from one end of the inhabited world to the other; which now, along with other things, the enemy of Christ's Churches has taken from us, and we are circumscribed city by city, and each of us holds his neighbor in suspicion. And what else is it but that we have grown cold in that love by which alone our Lord said His disciples are characterized? And if you please, first make yourselves known to one another, so that we may know with whom our agreement will be. And so by common consent, having chosen some place burdensome to neither party and a time suitable for travel, we shall hasten to one another, and the Lord will prosper us. May you be strong and cheerful, praying for me, and may you be granted to me by the loving-kindness of the Holy One.

192. To Sophronius the Magister 192.1 If you yourself received a double grace, as you yourself with unsurpassed eagerness

wrote to us about the good works—one in receiving the letters, a second in ministering to our need—how great a grace should we think we have, having come upon the letters of your most pleasant voice and seeing our requested need fulfilled with such speed? So while we gladly received what was sent because of its own nature, we accepted it much more gladly because you were the one presiding over its preparation. May the Lord grant that we see you soon, so that we may confess our gratitude with our tongue and enjoy all the good things in you at once.

193. To Meletius the Chief Physician 193.1 We do not have even so much as the cranes have to escape the hardships of winter,

for while in foreseeing the future we are perhaps no worse than the cranes, in the freedom of our life we are so far behind the birds as almost to lack the ability to fly. For first, certain occupations of worldly affairs held me, and then continuous and raging fevers so wasted my body that something appeared even thinner than I, myself of myself. Then attacks of quartan fever, lasting for more than twenty cycles. And now, when I seem to be rid of the fevers, I am in such a state of weakness that in this I am in no way short of a spider's web. Whence every road is impassable for me, and every blast of wind brings more danger than raging seas do to sailors. It is necessary, therefore, to be hidden in a little room and to await the spring, if indeed we are able to last until then, and not perish beforehand from the evil that is settled in my vitals. But if the Lord saves us with His mighty hand, we shall most gladly reach your remote region, and most gladly embrace you, our beloved friend. Only pray that life may be for the benefit of the soul

143

καταδεξάμενος στεφανοῦ ται. Ἵνα οὖν μὴ ἀπολειφθῶμεν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ζήλου, ἰδοὺ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀντιφθεγγόμεθά σου τὴν σεμνότητα καὶ δείκ νυμεν τὴν προαίρεσιν ἡμῶν, ὅτι, Θεοῦ χάριτι τῆς κατὰ τὴν πίστιν συμφωνίας ἐρρωμένης ὑμῖν, οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστι τὸ ἐμποδίζον πρὸς τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἓν σῶμα καὶ ἓν πνεῦμα, καθὼς ἐκλήθημεν ἐν μιᾷ ἐλπίδι διὰ τῆς κλήσεως. Τῆς οὖν σῆς ἐστιν ἀγάπης τῇ ἀγαθῇ ἀρχῇ καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς ἀποδοῦναι, συντάττειν μὲν περὶ σεαυτὸν τοὺς ὁμοψύχους, δηλῶσαι δὲ καὶ χρόνον καὶ τόπον τῆς συντυχίας, ἵνα οὕτω τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι ἀπολαβόντες ἀλλήλους τῷ ἀρχαίῳ εἴδει τῆς ἀγάπης τὰς Ἐκκλησίας οἰκονομήσωμεν, τοὺς παρ' ἑκα τέρου μέρους βαδίζοντας τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὡς ἴδια μέλη προσιέμενοι, προπέμποντες ὡς ἐπὶ οἰκείους καὶ ὑποδεχό μενοι πάλιν ὡς παρ' οἰκείων. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ποτὲ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸ καύχημα, ὅτι ἀπὸ τῶν περάτων τῆς οἰκου μένης ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα μικροῖς συμβολαίοις ἐφοδιαζόμενοι οἱ ἐξ ἑκάστης Ἐκκλησίας ἀδελφοὶ πάντας πατέρας καὶ ἀδελφοὺς εὕρισκον· ὃ νῦν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀφῄρηται ἡμῶν ὁ ἐχθρὸς τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ κατὰ πόλεις περιγεγράμμεθα καὶ ἕκαστος δι' ὑποψίας ἔχομεν τὸν πλησίον. Καὶ τί γὰρ ἄλλο ἢ ἐψύξαμεν τὴν ἀγάπην ἀφ' ἧς μόνης τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν εἶπε χαρακτηρίζεσθαι; Καὶ εἰ δοκεῖ, πρότερον αὐτοὶ μετ' ἀλλήλων γνωρίσατε ἑαυτούς, ἵνα γνῶμεν πρὸς τίνας ἡμῖν ἔσται ἡ συμφωνία. Καὶ οὕτως ἐκ κοινῆς συγκαταθέσεως τόπον τινὰ τὸν ἀμφοτέροις ἀνεπαχθῆ καὶ χρόνον ταῖς ὁδοιπορίαις πρέποντα ἐκλεξάμενοι, δραμούμεθα παρ' ἀλλήλους καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμᾶς κατευοδώσει. Ἐρρωμένος καὶ εὔθυμος εἴης ὑπερευχόμενός μου, καὶ χαρισθείης μοι τῇ τοῦ Ἁγίου φιλανθρωπίᾳ.

192.τ ΣΩΦΡΟΝΙΩ ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡΩ 192.1 Εἰ αὐτὸς διπλῆν ἔλαβες χάριν, ὡς αὐτὸς τῇ ἀνυπερ βλήτῳ προθυμίᾳ

περὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἔργα ἐπέστειλας ἡμῖν, μίαν μὲν τῷ δέξασθαι γράμματα, δευτέραν δὲ τῷ ὑπουργῆ σαι τῇ χρείᾳ ἡμῶν, πόσην τινὰ χρὴ νομίζειν ἡμᾶς ἔχειν τὴν χάριν, γράμμασί τε τῆς ἡδίστης φωνῆς ἐντυχόντας καὶ τὴν ἐπιζητηθεῖσαν χρείαν τοσούτῳ τάχει πληρωθεῖσαν ὁρῶντας; Ὥστε ἡδέως δεξάμενοι τὸ ἀποσταλὲν διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν αὐτοῦ φύσιν, πολλῷ ἥδιον αὐτὸ προσηκάμεθα τῷ σὲ εἶναι τὸν τῆς κατασκευῆς αὐτοῦ προεστῶτα. Παρά σχοι δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ Κύριος ἰδεῖν σε ἐν τάχει, ὥστε ἀπὸ γλώττης ὁμολογῆσαι τὴν χάριν καὶ πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ἐν σοὶ καλῶν ἀπολαῦσαι.

193.τ ΜΕΛΕΤΙΩ ΑΡΧΙΑΤΡΩ 193.1 Ἡμῖν οὐδ' ὅσον ταῖς γεράνοις ὑπάρχει τὰ δυσχερῆ τοῦ χειμῶνος

διαφεύγειν, ἀλλ' ἕνεκεν μὲν τοῦ προϊδέσθαι τὸ μέλλον οὐδὲν ἴσως χείρους τῶν γεράνων ἐσμέν, τῷ δὲ κατὰ τὸν βίον αὐτεξουσίῳ τοσοῦτον τῶν ὀρνίθων ἀπο λιμπανόμεθα ὅσον καὶ τοῦ πέτεσθαι δύνασθαι μικροῦ δεῖν. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀσχολίαι μέ τινες τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον πραγμάτων κατέσχον, ἔπειτα δὲ πυρετοὶ συνεχεῖς καὶ λά βροι οὕτω μου τὸ σῶμα κατεδαπάνησαν, ὥστε ἐφάνη τι καὶ ἐμοῦ λεπτότερον, αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ἐμαυτοῦ. Εἶτα τεταρταίων προσβολαὶ πρὸς πλεῖον ἢ εἴκοσι διαρκέσασαι κύκλους. Νυνὶ δέ, ὅτε δοκῶ τῶν πυρετῶν ἀπηλλάχθαι, οὕτως ὑπὸ τῆς ἀδυναμίας διάκειμαι ὥστε μηδὲν ἐν τούτῳ ἀποδεῖν ἀραχνίου. Ὅθεν μοι πᾶσα μὲν ὁδὸς ἄβατος, πᾶσα δὲ πνεύματος προσβολὴ πλείονα φέρει τὸν κίνδυνον ἢ αἱ τρικυμίαι τοῖς πλέουσιν. Ἀνάγκη τοίνυν ὑπὸ δωματίῳ κεκρύφθαι καὶ ἀναμένειν τὸ ἔαρ, ἐάνπερ διαρκέσαι πρὸς αὐτὸ δυνηθῶμεν, ἀλλὰ μὴ προδιαμάρτωμεν ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ τοῦ τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ἐνιδρυμένου. Ἐὰν δὲ διασώσῃ ἡμᾶς ὁ Κύριος τῇ μεγάλῃ ἑαυτοῦ χειρί, ἀσμενέστατα μὲν τὴν ἐσχατιὰν ὑμῶν καταληψόμεθα, ἀσμενέστατα δὲ σὲ τὴν φίλην ἡμῖν κεφαλὴν περιπτυξόμεθα. Μόνον εὔχου πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν ζωὴν