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Let the good men think that fellowship with us is an obstacle for them to the assumption of power. And since they were forestalled by a certain subscription of faith which we proposed to them, not because we distrusted their sentiment, I confess, but wishing to heal the suspicions about them which many of our like-minded brothers had, so that nothing from that confession might seem to them to be an obstacle to being accepted by those now in power, they renounced fellowship with us, and this letter, the pretext for the separation, was devised. And the clearest sign of what is being said is that, having separated from us and composed the reproaches they wanted against us, before they sent the letters to us, they sent them around everywhere. For the letter appeared seven days before it reached my hands, from those who, having received it from others, were about to send it on to others. For they devised it this way, for one to hand it to another, so that its dissemination throughout the whole country would be swift. And these things were being said even then by those who were reporting their affairs most clearly to us. But we decided to be silent, until he who reveals the deep things should make public the matters concerning them with the clearest and irrefutable proofs.

224. To GENETHLIUS THE PRESBYTER

224.1 I received the letters of your piety and praised the name which you aptly called the book written by them, calling it a book of apostasy. As for those who wrote it, what defense they have prepared for it before the infallible judgment seat of Christ, I cannot conceive. For having set forth an accusation against us and vehemently attacked us and related what they wanted, not what the truth holds, affecting great humility for themselves and clothing us with the weight of arrogance, as not having received those sent by them, all of it false, or at least most of it, so that I may not speak rashly, they wrote thus, as if persuading men and not God, and seeking to please men and not God, with whom nothing is more honorable than truth. Then they appended to their letter against us heretical sayings, having hidden the author of the impiety, so that the many and more simple-minded, from the aforementioned accusation against us, might think that the attached things are ours, because the name of the father of the wicked dogmas was kept silent by those who artfully slander us, while it was left to the suspicion of the more guileless that we are the ones who either thought or wrote these things. Therefore, knowing these things, we exhort you both not to be disturbed yourselves and to quiet the disturbances of those who are shaken, even though we know that our defense is hard to accept, because the wicked blasphemies against us have been preconceived by credible persons. 224.2 Concerning the fact, then, that the things being circulated as ours are not ours, I think that even if their anger against us greatly darkens their reasoning from perceiving what is expedient, nevertheless, if they are asked by you yourselves, they would not come to such a degree of hardness as to dare to utter the falsehood with their own mouth and say that the compositions are mine. But if they are not mine, why am I judged for what belongs to others? But they will say that I am a communicant of Apollinarius and have the perversion of such dogmas in myself. Let them be required to show the proofs. If they know how to search a man's heart, let them confess this, and you will know their truthfulness in all things. But if they convict me of communion from things that are apparent and manifest to all, let them show either canonical letters sent from me to him, or from him to me; or the mingling of his clergy with us, if we ever received any of them into the prayer of communion. If but a letter

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Νομιζέτωσαν οἱ χρηστοὶ ἐμπόδιον αὐτοῖς εἶναι πρὸς τὴν τῆς δυναστείας ἀνάληψιν τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς κοινωνίαν. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ὑπογραφῇ τινι πίστεως προελήφθησαν ἣν ἡμεῖς αὐτοῖς προετείναμεν, οὐκ αὐτοὶ ἀπιστοῦντες αὐτῶν τῷ φρο νήματι, ὁμολογῶ γάρ, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ὑπονοίας ἃς πολλοὶ τῶν ὁμοψύχων ἡμῶν ἀδελφῶν εἶχον θεραπεῦσαι βουλόμενοι, ἵνα μηδὲν ἐκ τῆς ὁμολογίας ἐκείνης δόξῃ αὐτοῖς ἐμπόδιον ἀπαντᾶν πρὸς τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν νῦν κρατούντων παραδεχθῆναι, ἀπείπαντο τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς κοινωνίαν, καὶ ἡ ὑπόθεσις τῆς ἀπορρήξεως, τὸ γράμμα τοῦτο, ἐπενοήθη. Σημεῖον δὲ τῶν λεγομένων ἐναργέστατον, ὅτι, ἀποστήσαντες ἡμᾶς καὶ συν θέντες τὰς μέμψεις ἃς ἠβούλοντο καθ' ἡμῶν, πρὶν ἡμῖν ἀποστεῖλαι τὰ γράμματα περιέπεμπον πανταχοῦ. Ἑπτὰ γὰρ πρότερον ἡμέραις τοῦ εἰς τὰς ἐμὰς ἀφικέσθαι χεῖρας ἐφάνη ἡ ἐπιστολή, οἳ ἐξ ἑτέρων διαδεξάμενοι ἑτέροις ἔμελλον παραπέμπειν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἐπενόησαν ἕνα ἑνὶ παρα διδόναι, ἵνα ταχεῖα αὐτῆς κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν γένηται ἡ διάδοσις. Καὶ ταῦτ' ἐλέγετο μὲν ἔτι τότε παρὰ τῶν σαφέστατα ἡμῖν τὰ ἐκείνων ἐξαγγελλόντων. Ἐκρίναμεν δὲ σιωπᾶν, ἕως ἂν ὁ ἀποκαλύπτων τὰ βαθέα σαφεστάτοις καὶ ἀναντιρρήτοις ἐλέγχοις δημοσιεύσῃ τὰ κατ' αὐτούς.

224.τ ΓΕΝΕΘΛΙΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ

224.1 Ἐδεξάμην γράμματα τῆς εὐλαβείας σου καὶ ἐπῄνεσα τὴν προσηγορίαν

ἣν εὐστόχως ὠνόμασας τὸ βιβλίον τὸ ὑπ' αὐτῶν συγγεγραμμένον, προσαγορεύσας βιβλίον ἀποστασίου. Ὅπερ οἱ συγγράψαντες, τίνα ηὐτρέπισαν τὴν ἀπολογίαν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀπαραλογίστου βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐννοεῖν οὐκ ἔχω. Προθέντες γὰρ ἡμετέραν κατηγορίαν καὶ σφοδρῶς ἡμῶν καταδραμόντες καὶ διηγησάμενοι ἃ ἐβού λοντο, οὐχ ἃ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἔχει, σχηματισάμενοι ἑαυτῶν πολλὴν ταπείνωσιν καὶ ἡμῖν περιθέντες ὑπερηφανίας ὄγκον, ὡς μὴ δεξαμένοις τοὺς παρ' αὐτῶν ἀποσταλέντας, πάντα ψευδῆ ἢ τάγε πλεῖστα, ἵνα μὴ ἐπικινδύνως φθέγξω μαι, ὡς ἀνθρώπους πείθοντες καὶ οὐχὶ Θεόν, καὶ ζητοῦντες ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσαι καὶ οὐχὶ Θεῷ παρ' ᾧ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀλη θείας προτιμότερον, οὕτω συνέγραψαν. Εἶτα ἐκεῖνοι τοῖς καθ' ἡμῶν γράμμασιν ὑπέταξαν ῥήματα αἱρετικὰ τὸν συγγραφέα τῆς ἀσεβείας ἀποκρυψάμενοι, ἵν' οἱ πολλοὶ καὶ ἁπλούστεροι ἐκ τῆς προγεγραμμένης ἡμῶν κατηγορίας ἡμέτερα εἶναι νομίσωσι τὰ συνημμένα, διὰ τὸ παρὰ τῶν τεχνικῶς ἡμᾶς διαβαλλόντων σιωπηθῆναι μὲν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν πονηρῶν δογμάτων, καταλειφθῆναι δὲ τῇ ὑπονοίᾳ τῶν ἀκεραιοτέρων τὸ ἡμᾶς εἶναι τοὺς ταῦτα ἢ ἐνθυμηθέντας ἢ γράψαντας. Ταῦτα οὖν γινώσκοντας ὑμᾶς παρακαλοῦμεν αὐτούς τε μὴ ταράσσεσθαι καὶ τῶν σαλευο μένων τοὺς θορύβους κατασιγάζειν, εἰ καὶ ὅτι οἴδαμεν δυσπαράδεκτον ἡμῶν οὖσαν τὴν ἀπολογίαν, διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ προσώπων ἀξιοπίστων προκατασχεθῆναι ἡμῶν τὰς πονηρὰς βλασφημίας. 224.2 Περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμέτερα τὰ ὡς ἡμέτερα περιφερόμενα νομίζω, εἰ καὶ πάνυ ὁ καθ' ἡμῶν θυμὸς ἐπι σκοτεῖ τοῖς λογισμοῖς αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ συνορᾶν τὸ συμφέρον, ὅμως, ἐὰν ἐρωτηθῶσι παρ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν, μὴ ἂν αὐτοὺς εἰς τοσοῦτον ἐλθεῖν σκληρότητος ὥστε τολμῆσαι φθέγξασθαι τῷ ἰδίῳ στόματι τὸ ψεῦδος καὶ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἐμά ἐστι τὰ συντάγ ματα. Εἰ δ' οὐκ ἐμά, διὰ τί κρίνομαι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων; Ἀλλ' ἐροῦσιν ὅτι κοινωνὸς Ἀπολιναρίου ἐγὼ καὶ τῶν τοιούτων δογμάτων τὴν διαστροφὴν ἔχων ἐν ἐμαυτῷ. Ἀπαιτη θήτωσαν τὰς ἀποδείξεις. Εἰ μὲν καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου διερευ νᾶν ἴσασι, τοῦτο ὁμολογείτωσαν, καὶ γνωρίσατε αὐτῶν τὴν περὶ πάντα ἀλήθειαν. Εἰ δὲ ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων καὶ πᾶσι προδήλων ἐλέγχουσί μου τὴν κοινωνίαν, δειξάτωσαν ἢ κανο νικὰ γράμματα παρ' ἐμοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν διαπεμπόμενα, ἢ παρ' ἐκείνου πρὸς ἐμέ· ἢ τῶν κληρικῶν τὰς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιμιξίας, εἴ τινα αὐτῶν εἰς κοινωνίας εὐχὴν ἐδεξάμεθά ποτε. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιστολὴν