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you would dare to do something of the sort; for as the Lord has ordained, one must be content; or do you not know that God cares for our affairs for salvation more than we do? And the like-mindedness of a disciple is not known so much in being together physically, as in the inseparable disposition and affection of spiritual connection; For what? do we love one another carnally, that we may use the flesh as a helper? if so, we are more pitiful than all men. Our love is dispassionate, so that we may be known as belonging to the dispassionate God. Therefore, there is not always a need for physical connection. Thus, child, love, becoming as far as possible a helper to your brothers in humility, praying also for me, the humble one. Greet brother Lucian, brother Euodius; may the Trinity keep the three of you safe, along with the one whom you serve. Your brothers greet you warmly; greet the man of God. 221 {1Theodore to all the brotherhoods or communities scattered everywhere for Christ's sake, together with those held in prisons and exiles, greetings in the Lord}1 Grace to you and peace, to speak apostolically, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus. Christ, our hope; for whom and because of whom there is persecution, affliction and distress, desolation and exile, imprisonments and punishments and whatever other encounters and events lead daily to hardship. For this reason, my beloved brothers, having devised some consolation for the absence of our humble person, we send you this letter, letting you know that we make mention of you unceasingly in our humble prayers, calling to mind and considering each one, raising our hands to God with tears and groans, so that, just as we undertook the struggles for the truth and went forth in one spirit and one soul as from a nest from our holy hermitages, so we may remain until the end by the power of the Lord, having the same faith, the same love, being of one accord, holding the one mind and holding fast to the dogma of the truth, that which was preached and written and seen and heard in all creation under heaven, to worship, then, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the much-hymned and blessed Trinity according to the word of theology, and to confess that the one of the Trinity, the Son and Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, having been made in the likeness of men, to be depicted in an image according to us by the character of his body, inasmuch as the same one was at once perfect God and man, becoming circumscribed according to us, whose nature he also took, to the same extent that he is removed from this by the uncircumscribable quality of his divine nature. For surely, as the oracles say, he does not take hold of angels—even if they too can be depicted, as they have appeared to those who saw by the Spirit—but he takes hold of the seed of Abraham, wherefore he had to be made like his brothers in all things. Let the Christ-fighters say, then, how it is possible for the seed of Abraham not to be depicted, and how will he have that which is in all things like us, whose brother he is called, if he is not shown to have taken on the property of being circumscribed according to us, his brothers? Therefore he is not a brother, nor indeed like us, and for this reason not even a man. Thus it is concluded from their saying that Christ is not depicted according to us; and thus they reject the saving economy, on a par with the Manichaeans, Valentinians and Marcionites. May we flee their communion, brothers, as the venom of a serpent, which blackens not the body, as the Theologian somewhere says, but the depths of the soul; but thinking the same things as the apostolic and under-heaven church (for this Byzantine one is a heretical portion, as is its custom in many ways to be schismatic from the others) we depict our Lord Jesus Christ with a bodily character, in a sequence drawn from of old from his very appearance, from apostolic practice, transferring image from image just as with the life-giving cross, and not representing the one, who

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τολμήσειας ποιῆσαί τι τοιοῦτον· ὡς γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ᾠκονόμησεν, στερκτέον· ἢ οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν φροντίζει ἐν σωτηρίᾳ; καὶ τὸ ὁμόψυχον τοῦ μαθητοῦ οὐκ ἐν τῷ σωματικῶς συνεῖναι γνωρίζεται τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἐν τῷ ἀχωρίστῳ τῆς πνευματικῆς συναφείας φρονήματι καὶ φιλήματι· τί γάρ; σαρκικῶς ἐρῶμεν ἀλλήλους, ἵνα τῇ σαρκὶ χρώμεθα συνεργῷ; εἰ οὕτω, ἐλεεινότεροί ἐσμεν πάντων ἀνθρώπων. ἀπαθὲς ἡμῶν τὸ ἀγαπητικόν, ὡς ἂν τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς γνωριζώμεθα θεοῦ. διὸ οὐ πάντως χρεία καὶ σωματικῆς συναφείας. Οὕτω, τέκνον, στέργε, γινόμενος κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν βοηθὸς τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς σου ἐν ταπεινώσει, εὐχόμενος καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ. ἄσπασαι τὸν ἀδελφὸν Λουκιανόν, τὸν ἀδελφὸν Εὐόδιον· ἡ Τριὰς τοὺς τρεῖς περιφυλάξειεν μεθ' οὗ ὑπηρετεῖσθε. ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ ἀδελφοί σου πλεῖστα· ἄσπασαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ θεοῦ. 221 {1Θεόδωρος πάσαις ταῖς ἀδελφότησιν ἤτοι συνοδίαις ταῖς πανταχοῦ διὰ Χριστὸν διεσπαρμέναις σὺν τοῖς ἐν φυλακαῖς τε καὶ ἐξορίαις κρατουμένοις ἐν Κυρίῳ χαίρειν}1 Χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη, ἀποστολικῶς εἰπεῖν, ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. Χριστοῦ, τῆς ἐλπίδος ἡμῶν· ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ δι' ὃν ὁ διωγμός, ἡ θλῖψις καὶ ἡ στενοχωρία, ἡ ἐρημία καὶ φυγαδεία, αἱ εἱρκταὶ καὶ ποιναὶ καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα καθ' ἑκάστην εἰς ταλαιπωρίαν ὑπαντήματα καὶ συμβάματα. τούτου χάριν, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί, τῆς ἀπολείψεως τοῦ ταπεινοῦ ἡμῶν προσώπου παραμυθίαν τινὰ ἐπινοησάμενοι στέλλομεν ὑμῖν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ταύτην, γνωρίζοντες ὡς ἀδιαλείπτως μνείαν ὑμῶν ποιούμεθα ἐν ταῖς ταπειναῖς ἡμῶν προσευχαῖς, ἕνα ἕκαστον ἀναπολοῦντες καὶ ἀναλογιζόμενοι, δάκρυσι καὶ στεναγμοῖς αἵροντες χεῖρας εἰς θεόν, ἵνα, καθὼς ὑπεδυσάμεθα τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀγῶνας καὶ ἐξεληλύθαμεν ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι καὶ μιᾷ ψυχῇ ὡς ἐκ καλιᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν ἡμῶν ἀσκητηρίων, οὕτως διαμείνωμεν μέχρι τέλους δυνάμει Κυρίου, τὴν αὐτὴν πίστιν ἔχοντες, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες καὶ κρατοῦντες δόγμα τῆς ἀληθείας, τὸ κηρυχθὲν καὶ ἐγγραφὲν καὶ ὄψει καὶ ἀκοῇ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει τῇ ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν, προσκυνεῖν μὲν οὖν Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον, τὴν πολυύμνητον καὶ μακαρίαν Τριάδα κατὰ τὸν τῆς θεολογίας λόγον, ὁμολογεῖν δὲ τὸν ἕνα τῆς Τριάδος, τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ Λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ Κύριον δὲ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ἑαυτὸν κεκενωκέναι, δούλου τε μορφὴν ἀναλαβόντα ἐν ὁμοιώματί τε ἀνθρώπων γεγονότα ἐν εἴδει τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς εἰκονίζεσθαι χαρακτῆρι σώματος, καθότι ὁ αὐτὸς τέλειος θεὸς ὁμοῦ τε καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐχρημάτισε, τοσοῦτον περιγραφῆς εἴσω γενόμενος καθ' ἡμᾶς, ὧν καὶ τὴν φύσιν εἴληφεν, ὅσον ταύτης τῷ ἀπεριγράπτῳ τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀνῴκισται. οὐ γὰρ δήπου καθὰ τὰ λόγια ἀγγέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται, εἴπερ κἀκείνοις τὸ εἰκονίζεσθαι, ὡς ὦπται τοῖς βλέψασιν ὑπὸ Πνεύματος, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ ἐπιλαμβάνεται, ὅθεν ὤφειλε κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι. εἰπάτωσαν οὖν οἱ χριστομάχοι, πῶς οἷόν τε τὸ Ἀβραμιαῖον σπέρμα μὴ εἰκονίζεσθαι, πῶς δ' αὐτῷ ἕξει τὸ κατὰ πάντα ὅμοιον ἡμῖν, ὧν ἀδελφὸς κέκληται, εἴπερ οὐ τὸ περιγραφῆς ἰδίωμα καθ' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ εἰληφὼς δείκνυται; οὔκουν ἀδελφὸς οὐδ' οὐ μὴν ὅμοιος ἡμῖν, διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπος. οὕτω συνῆκται ἐκ τοῦ μὴ λέγειν αὐτοὺς Χριστὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς εἰκονίζεσθαι· καὶ οὕτως ἀποσκευάζονται τὴν σωτήριον οἰκονομίαν, ἐπ' ἴσης τῶν Μανιχαίων, Οὐαλεντίνων τε καὶ Μαρκιωνιστῶν. Ὧν φύγοιμεν τὴν κοινωνίαν, ἀδελφοί, ὡς ἰὸν ὄφεως, μελαίνουσαν οὐ σῶμα, ὥς πού φησιν ὁ Θεολόγος, ἀλλὰ τὰ βάθη τῆς ψυχῆς· τῇ ἀποστολικῇ δὲ καὶ ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ἐκκλησίᾳ τὰ ἴσα φρονοῦντες (αὕτη γὰρ ἡ Βυζαντιαία τμῆμα αἱρετικόν, ὡς εἴθισται αὐτῇ πολλαχῶς τῶν ἄλλων ἀποσχίζεσθαι) εἰκονίζομεν τὸ Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν σωματικῷ χαρακτῆρι, εἱρμῷ τῷ ἀνέκαθεν ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἐπιφανείας αὐτοῦ ἐξ ἀποστολικῆς πράξεως παρηγμένῳ, ἐξ εἰκόνος εἰκόνα μεταγράφοντες καθάπερ καὶ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ, καὶ μὴ τὸν μὲν τυποῦντες, ὅς