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I bear the scourges of the accusation, being content that I have the Lord, the knower of secrets, as a witness to the slander. But since I see that many have now taken our silence as a confirmation of the slanders and have not thought that we are silent out of long-suffering, but because we are unable to open our mouths to the truth, for this reason I have attempted to write to you, exhorting your love in Christ not to accept in every way as true the slanders coming from one side, because, as it is written, the law judges no one, unless it first hears him and knows what he does. 226.2 And yet for a fair judge the facts themselves are sufficient for the manifestation of the truth. So that even if we are silent, it is possible for you to look closely at what is happening. For those who accuse us of heterodoxy have now been shown to be openly attaching themselves to the party of the heretics; those who condemn us on behalf of the writings of others are shown to be contradicting their own confessions, which they deposited with us in writing. Consider the habit of those who dare these things, that it is their custom always to change to the powerful side, and to trample on the weak among their friends, but to court the powerful. For those who wrote those much-talked-about letters against Eudoxius and all his party and sent them around to all the brotherhoods and testified that their communion should be fled as the destruction of souls and for this reason did not accept the votes cast for their deposition, since they had come from heretics, as they then persuaded us, these men now, having forgotten everything, have joined them. And no denial is left for them; for they have openly revealed their own purpose, in Ancyra embracing their house-communions, since they have not yet been received by them into the public communion. Ask them then if Basilides, the communicant of Ecdicius, is now orthodox, why when they returned from Dardania they moved the altars in the region of the Gangrenes and set up their own tables; why even to this day they attack the Churches of Amaseia and Zela and install presbyters and deacons of their own. For if they are in communion with them as orthodox, why do they attack them as heretics? But if they have supposed them to be heretics, how do they not turn away from their communion? Are not these things clear even to a child’s mind, most honored brothers, that looking always to their own advantage they attempt either to slander some or to recommend them? And so they have departed from us, not because they were vexed that we did not write back (for this is what they say most provokes them), nor because we did not receive the chorepiscopi whom they say they sent. And yet those who fabricated this will give an account to the Lord. For a certain Eustathius was sent and delivered letters to the office of the Vicarius, and after spending three days in the city and being about to depart for his own home, late in the evening, it is said he approached our dwelling while I was sleeping. But having heard that I was sleeping, he went away, and did not approach us the next day, but having thus done his duty towards us, he returned. And this is the crime we have committed, and the long-suffering men did not counterbalance our former service, which we served them in love, with this fault; but they so weighed down their anger against us for this sin that, as far as it was in their power, they made us proclaimed to all the Churches throughout the world. 226.3 However, this is not in truth the cause of the division; but, since they thought they would then be well-regarded by Euzoius, if they alienated themselves from us, they contrived those pretexts for themselves, in order to find some standing with them through their war against us. These men now also slander the faith of Nicaea and call us Homoousians because in that faith the Only-begotten Son is confessed to be of one substance with God the Father, not as from one substance divided into two brothers, may it not be; nor

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φέρω τὰς τῆς κατηγορίας μάστιγας, ἀρκούμενος ὅτι ἔχω Κύριον, τὸν τῶν κρυπτῶν γνώστην, μάρτυρα τῆς συκοφαντίας. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁρῶ ὅτι πολλοὶ ἤδη τὴν σιωπὴν ἡμῶν εἰς βεβαίωσιν τῶν διαβολῶν παρεδέξαντο καὶ οὐ διὰ μακροθυμίαν ἐνόμισαν ἡμᾶς σιωπᾶν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν διᾶραι στόμα πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τούτου ἕνεκεν ἐπειράθην ἐπιστεῖλαι ὑμῖν, παρακαλῶν τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ ἀγάπην ὑμῶν ὥστε τὰς ἐξ ἑνὸς μέρους γινο μένας διαβολὰς μὴ πάντη παραδέχεσθαι ὡς ἀληθεῖς, διότι, καθὼς γέγραπται, οὐδένα κρίνει ὁ νόμος, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον ἀκούσῃ καὶ γνῷ τί ποιεῖ. 226.2 Καίτοι εὐγνώμονι κριτῇ ἀρκεῖ αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας φανέρωσιν. Ὥστε κἂν ἡμεῖς σιωπῶμεν, ἔξεστιν ὑμῖν διαβλέψαι πρὸς τὰ γινόμενα. Οἱ γὰρ ἡμῖν κακοδοξίαν ἐγκαλοῦντες ἐφάνησαν νῦν ἐκ τοῦ προφανοῦς τῇ μερίδι τῶν αἱρετικῶν προστιθέμενοι· οἱ ὑπὲρ ἀλλοτρίων συνταγμάτων ἡμᾶς κατακρίνοντες ταῖς ἰδίαις ὁμολογίαις, ἃς ἐγγράφους ἡμῖν κατέθεντο, ἐναντιούμενοι φαίνονται. Νοήσατε τὴν συνήθειαν τῶν ταῦτα τολμώντων, ὅτι ἔθος αὐτοῖς ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ δυνατὸν μετατίθεσθαι μέρος, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀσθενοῦντας τῶν φίλων καταπατεῖν, θεραπεύειν δὲ τοὺς κρατοῦντας. Οἱ γὰρ τὰς πολυθρυλήτους ἐκείνας ἐπι στολὰς κατὰ Εὐδοξίου καὶ πάσης αὐτῶν τῆς μερίδος συγ γράφοντες καὶ περιπέμποντες πάσαις ταῖς ἀδελφότησι καὶ διαμαρτυρόμενοι φεύγειν τὴν κοινωνίαν αὐτῶν ὡς ὄλεθρον τῶν ψυχῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ καταδεξάμενοι τὰς ἐπὶ τῇ καθαιρέσει αὐτῶν ἐξενεχθείσας ψήφους, ἐπειδὴ παρ' αἱρε τικῶν ἦσαν γενόμεναι, ὡς ἔπειθον ἡμᾶς τότε, οὗτοι νῦν πάντων ἐπιλαθόμενοι μετ' αὐτῶν γεγόνασι. Καὶ οὐδεμία αὐτοῖς ἄρνησις καταλείπεται· φανερῶς γὰρ ἀπεκάλυψαν ἑαυτῶν τὴν προαίρεσιν, ἐν Ἀγκύρᾳ τὰς κατ' οἶκον αὐτῶν κοι νωνίας ἀσπαζόμενοι, ἐπειδὴ εἰς τὸ κοινὸν ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐκείνων οὔπω ἐδέχθησαν. Ἐρωτήσατε οὖν αὐτοὺς εἰ ὀρθόδοξος νῦν Βασιλείδης ὁ κοινωνικὸς Ἐκδικίου, διὰ τί ἀπὸ τῆς ∆αρδανίας ἐπανιόντες τὰ θυσιαστήρια ἐκίνουν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Γαγγρηνῶν καὶ ἑαυτῶν τραπέζας ἐτίθεσαν· διὰ τί μέχρι καὶ νῦν ἐπέρχονται ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Ἀμασείας καὶ Ζήλων καὶ παρ' ἑαυτῶν ἐγκαθιστῶσι πρεσβυτέρους καὶ διακόνους. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὡς ὀρθοδόξοις κοινωνοῦσι, τίνος ἕνεκεν ὡς αἱρετικοῖς ἐπέρχονται; Εἰ δὲ αἱρετικοὺς ὑπειλήφασι, πῶς τὴν κοινωνίαν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐκτρέπονται; Ταῦτα οὐχὶ καὶ παιδικῇ διανοίᾳ δῆλά ἐστιν, ἀδελφοὶ τιμιώτατοι, ὅτι ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον συμφέρον βλέποντες ἢ διαβάλλειν τινὰς ἢ συνι στᾶν ἐπιχειροῦσι; Καὶ ἡμῶν τοίνυν ἀπέστησαν οὔτε ἀγανα κτήσαντες ὅτι οὐκ ἀντεγράψαμεν (τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὑφ' οὗ μάλιστα λέγουσι παροξύνεσθαι), οὔτε ὅτι τοὺς χωρεπι σκόπους οὓς λέγουσιν ἀπεσταλκέναι οὐκ ἐδεξάμεθα. Καίτοι δώσουσι λόγον τῷ Κυρίῳ οἱ τοῦτο κατασκευάζοντες. Εἷς γάρ τις Εὐστάθιος ἀποσταλεὶς καὶ γράμματα διαδοὺς τῇ τάξει τοῦ Οὐικαρίου, τρεῖς ἡμέρας ποιήσας ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως καὶ μέλλων ἀπαίρειν ἐπὶ τὰ ἴδια, ἑσπέρας ἤδη βαθείας, καθεύδοντί μοι λέγεται πλησιάσαι τῷ οἰκήματι ἡμῶν. Ἀκούσας δὲ ὅτι καθεύδω, ἀπελθών, οὐκέτι τῇ ὑστε ραίᾳ ἡμῖν προσήγγισεν, ἀλλ' οὕτως ἀφοσιωσάμενος τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπανῆλθε. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἔγκλημα ὃ ἠδικήσαμεν ἡμεῖς, καὶ οἱ μακρόθυμοι οὐκ ἀντεστάθμισαν τὴν πρὸ τού του δουλείαν ἡμῶν, ἣν ἐδουλεύσαμεν αὐτοῖς ἐν ἀγάπῃ, τῷ πταίσματι τούτῳ· ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον ἐβάρυναν τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν ὀργὴν ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὥστε πάσαις ταῖς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην Ἐκκλησίαις, τό γε εἰς αὐτοὺς ἧκον, ἐκκηρύκ τους ἡμᾶς ποιῆσαι. 226.3 Οὐ μὴν αὕτη γέ ἐστι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν τῆς διαστάσεως ἡ αἰτία· ἀλλ', ἐπειδὴ ἐνόμισαν εὐδοκιμήσειν τότε παρὰ τῷ Εὐζωΐῳ, εἰ ἡμῶν ἑαυτοὺς ἀλλοτριώσειαν, ἐκείνας ἑαυτοῖς ἐπενόησαν τὰς προφάσεις, ἵνα εὕρωσί τινα σύστασιν παρ' αὐτοῖς διὰ τοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς πολέμου. Οὗτοι νῦν καὶ τὴν ἐν Νικαίᾳ διαβάλλουσι πίστιν καὶ ὁμοουσιάστας ἡμᾶς ἀποκα λοῦσι διὰ τὸ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ πίστει τὸν Μονογενῆ Υἱὸν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ ὁμοούσιον ὁμολογεῖσθαι, οὐχ ὡς ἀπὸ μιᾶς οὐσίας μερισθείσης εἰς δύο ἀδελφά, μὴ γένοιτο· οὐ