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of righteousness in the day of the Lord's just retribution. You fear, O father, the internal and invisible enemies more than the visible ones, and not unreasonably, but as one who is prudent, as one experienced in war, as one who is cautious; these I, wretched one, also dread and fear, because breathing and the fiery dart are simultaneous, not idle for me in my sleep through images, let alone when I am awake. But there is one helper, the fear of God; for where this is awake, there the passions sleep. I beseech your holiness, therefore, to aid me with your prayers, that I may be unceasingly kept safe, beyond the snare of the enemy; for as to we unworthy ones being drawn to your memory in every matter, what need is there even to speak, except that even before our own salvation we ask in the Lord with a contrite heart for your success and preservation in all things. The brothers with me greet with reverence your sacred head. I send many greetings to the brothers, especially the good Athanasius, who ardently chooses in the Lord to suffer with you in deed and word. 266 {1To Anthus, my child}1 Your short little letter, beloved child, is for me a very great reason for acceptance; for it is enough for me that you indicate that you are alive and well, serving the most holy archbishop and father. Therefore, be well, dearest child, both in body and in spirit, so that I, the humble one, may rejoice upon hearing it. Pray unceasingly for my salvation, as a beloved son, as a flower of virtues, as one who has loved purity from the beginning. May you be saved. 267 {1To Ignatius, bishop of Miletus}1 Because I did not know precisely the place of exile of your paternal holiness, I was not deemed worthy to write until the present, although having the desire and being distressed in spirit over this very thing; but just now that Dionysius our brother has somehow come from those parts and announced to us that he has both seen your holiness and had a greeting from it for our nothingness, and what and of what sort the place is that holds it, we, the humble ones, rejoiced with joy and cheerfully penned this letter. For we, O most honored one, have long been possessed by love for you and we revere you not only as an acquaintance and of like habit, but indeed also as a confessor of Christ, for whom and because of whom is the persecution and exile, but thanks be to the Lord who has revealed you in the present time as a pillar and foundation of the truth, not shaken by the attacks of the adversaries, but preserving the mystery of piety unadulterated in the might of the Holy Spirit; for you surely know how many and how great are those who on account of my sins have slipped; over whom who would not shed a tear of lament? And especially over the one of Medikion, who was plundered by the circle of Joseph into acting impiously toward Christ for the sake of oikonomia. But this, O God-wise one, is very dissonant and out of place; for if someone does evil under the guise of good, he works a double sin, because he both does what is not good and uses the name of good as a kind of screen; this is a saying of the divine Basil. Thus they, in addition to their own fall, became a stumbling block to many others, except that the one of Medikion, recognizing his defeat, has both confessed that he has slipped and has repented exceedingly, as I have learned, and for this reason has gone into exile, leaving a very great example of repentance and benefit both to his own disciples and to those who think rightly. But by the grace of Christ, those who have fought before in the Lord stand firm among the bishops; among the abbots, the one of Kathara, of Pikridion, of Paulopetrion, of Agros, the one of Delmatos, Macarius of Pelekete. Pray therefore, O most longed-for father, for the peace of the church, and then also for me, the sinner and least, that with you, the holy fathers, I might attain to God, being deemed worthy to walk behind you. 268 {1To John the Abbot}1 The present letter is payment for two letters from your holiness because I did not happen upon a letter-carrier, or to speak more truly, because we received a phantom-like encounter, which the one who brought the letter reported. Thanks therefore to God that

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δικαιοσύνης ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τῆς δικαίας τοῦ Κυρίου ἀνταποδόσεως. δέδιας, ὦ πάτερ, τοὺς οἴκοθεν καὶ ἀοράτους ἐχθροὺς παρὰ τοὺς ὁρωμένους, καὶ οὐκ ἀπεικότως, ἀλλ' ὡς ἔμφρων, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐμπειροπόλεμος, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀσφαλής· τούτους κἀγὼ ὁ τάλας πτοοῦμαι καὶ δέδοικα, ὅτι ὁμοῦ τὸ ἀναπνεῖν καὶ ἡ βολὶς πυρπολουμένη, οὔτε καθεύδοντί μοι ἀργοῦσα διὰ τῶν ἰνδαλμάτων, μὴ ὅτι γρηγοροῦντι. ἀλλ' εἷς ἐπαρωγός, ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ φόβος· οὗ γὰρ οὗτος γρηγορεῖ, ἐκεῖ κοιμᾶται τὰ πάθη. ∆έομαί σου οὖν τῆς ὁσιότητος ἐπαμῦναί μοι ταῖς προσευχαῖς ἀδιαλείπτως περισῴζεσθαι ἀνώτερον τῆς παγίδος τοῦ ἐχθροῦ· πρὸς γὰρ τὸ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀναξίους ἕλκεσθαι εἰς μνήμην σου πρὸς ἕκαστα τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν, εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τῆς οἰκείας σωτηρίας τὴν σὴν ἐξαιτούμεθα ἐν Κυρίῳ συντετριμμένῃ καρδίᾳ εὐδοκίμησιν καὶ διάσωσιν ἐν πᾶσιν. προσαγορεύουσιν οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφοὶ μετ' αἰδοῦς τὴν ἱεράν σου κορυφήν. πλεῖστα ἀσπάζομαι τοὺς ἀδελφούς, μάλιστα τὸν καλὸν Ἀθανάσιον, ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ συμπεπονθέναι σοι ἐν Κυρίῳ θερμῶς προαιρούμενον. 266 {1Ἄνθῳ τέκνῳ}1 Τὸ μικρὸν ἐπιστολίδιόν σου, τέκνον ἠγαπημένον, μέγιστόν μοι εἰς ἀποδοχῆς λόγον· ἀρκεῖ γάρ μοι τὸ σημαίνειν σε ὅτι ζῇς καὶ ὑγιαίνεις, ὑπηρετῶν τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ καὶ πατρί. ἔτι οὖν ἔρρωσο, φίλτατον τέκνον, καὶ σώματι καὶ πνεύματι, ἵνα ἀκούων χαίρω ὁ ταπεινός. προσεύχου ἀνεπιλήστως τὴν σωτηρίαν μου ὡς υἱὸς ἀγαπητός, ὡς ἄνθος ἀρετῶν, ὡς ἠγαπηκὼς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς τὴν ἁγνείαν. σωθείης. 267 {1Ἰγνατίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Μιλήτου}1 Παρὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι με ἀκριβῶς τὸν τῆς ἐξορίας τόπον τῆς πατρικῆς σου ἁγιωσύνης οὐκ ἠξιώθην ἐπιστεῖλαι μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος, καίτοι ἐπιθυμίαν ἔχων καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἀσχάλλων τῷ πνεύματι· ἄρτι δέ πως ἐληλυθότος ∆ιονυσίου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν ἐκ τῶν αὐτόθι καὶ ἀναγγείλαντος ἡμῖν ὅτι καὶ ἑώρακέν σου τὴν ὁσιότητα καὶ προσηγορίαν αὐτῆς ἔσχεν ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὐθενότητι, τίς τε καὶ οἷος ὁ χῶρος αὐτὴν ὁ κατέχων, καὶ χαρᾷ ἐχάρημεν οἱ ταπεινοὶ καὶ εὐθύμως τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐχαράξαμεν. Ἡμεῖς γάρ, ὦ τιμιώτατε, ἔκπαλαι κάτοχοι τῆς ἀγάπης σού ἐσμεν καὶ σέβομεν οὐ μόνον ὡς γνώριμον καὶ ὁμόσχημον, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ὡς ὁμολογητὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ δι' ὃν ὁ διωγμὸς καὶ ὑπερορισμός, ἀλλὰ χάρις Κυρίῳ τῷ γνωρίσαντί σε ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ στῦλον καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας, μὴ κατασεισθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν προσβολῶν τῶν ὑπεναντίων, ἀλλὰ διασῴζοντα τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστή ριον ἐν τῇ κραταιότητι τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἀκαπήλευτον· πάντως γὰρ ἔγνως ὅσοι καὶ πηλίκοι οἱ κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου ὠλισθηκότες· ἐφ' οὓς τίς οὐ στενάξειεν δάκρυον; καί γε ἐπὶ τῷ Μηδικιώτῃ, συληθέντι ἐκ τῶν περὶ Ἰωσὴφ οἰκονομίας χάριν ἠσεβηκέναι εἰς Χριστόν. τοῦτο δέ, ὦ θεόσοφε, ἀπηχὲς πάνυ καὶ ἔκτοπον· ἐὰν γάρ τις τὸ κακὸν ἐν προσχήματι ἀγαθοῦ ποιῇ, διπλοῦν ἐργάζηται τὸ ἁμάρτημα, ὅτι αὐτός τε τὸ οὐκ ἀγαθὸν ποιεῖ καὶ κέχρηται οἱονεὶ παραπετάσματι τῷ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ὀνόματι, φωνή ἐστι τοῦ θείου Βασιλείου. οὕτω μὲν ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς τῇ οἰκείᾳ πτώσει καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις ὄλισθος γενόμενοι, πλὴν ὅτι ὁ Μηδικιώτης, ἐπιγνοὺς τὴν ἧτταν, καὶ ὡμολόγηκεν ὠλισθηκέναι καὶ μεταμεμέληται σφόδρα, ὡς μεμάθηκα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φυγὰς ᾤχετο, μέγιστον δεῖγμα μετανοίας καὶ ὠφελείας ἐγκαταλείψας τοῖς τε οἰκείοις φοιτηταῖς καὶ τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσιν. ἵστανται δὲ χάριτι Χριστοῦ ἐρηρεισμένοι ἐν ἐπισκόποις οἱ προηγωνισμένοι ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἐν ἡγουμένοις ὁ τῶν Καθαρᾶ, τοῦ Πικριδίου, τοῦ Παυλοπετρίου, τοῦ Ἀγροῦ, ὁ τῆς ∆ελμάτου, ὁ τῆς Πελεκητῆς Μακάριος. Προσεύχου τοίνυν, ὦ ποθεινότατε πάτερ, ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης τῆς ἐκκλησίας, εἶτα καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ ἐλαχίστου ἵνα σὺν ὑμῖν τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσιν ἐπιτύχοιμι θεοῦ, κατόπιν ὑμῶν ἀξιούμενος βαίνειν. 268 {1Ἰωάννῃ ἡγουμένῳ}1 ∆ύο ἐπιστολῶν τῆς ἁγιωσύνης σου ἔκτισις τὸ παρὸν γραμματεῖον διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐπιτυχεῖν με γραμματηφόρου, ἀληθέστερον δὲ εἰπεῖν, διὰ τὸ φασματικὴν ἡμᾶς συντυχίαν δέξασθαι, ἣν ἀπήγγειλεν ὁ ἐνεγκὼν τὴν ἐπιστολήν. χάρις οὖν τῷ θεῷ ὅτι