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resembling things divinely radiant. I see the place, where the pillar of fire was seen as the pillar of virtues, the victorious struggle against the invisible enemies, the drama of wonder-working, this and that one being varied by the timely workings of the Spirit. Oh, how many things desire compels me to say and my manner restrains me from letting the letter fall into immoderate length; oh, how many symbols and reminders of good deeds are among you, which are able, almost by their very sight, to exhort a soul to an increase of virtue. But let the first discourse have these things, even if it falls short of my desire; but I will turn to another, a lamenting one, not a joyful one, for the sake of which the former was prompted to exist by me. The wrath of God has seized us, O most holy fathers, because lawlessness has abounded, and love has grown cold, as the Lord has said, a persecution of a Hellenic kind, exceedingly harsh. Our chief shepherd has been driven from the fold, the sheep of Christ have been scattered; grievous wolves have crept into the flock, and indeed a wild boar has devoured it. What is this? Again here has been dishonored the sacred icon of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, of the Theotokos, of any saint whatsoever. Because of this, shepherds have acted foolishly and not because they did not seek the Lord, to speak prophetically (for the impiety would have been less), but because they gathered together in a Jewish manner against the Lord and against his Christ, rejecting his holy icon, and that of his mother and his servants. For this reason holy altars were destroyed and temples of the Lord were darkened in every city and region of the dominion here, set forth for mourning to those who see them, having been stripped of their own adornment of divine beauty; for this reason sacred vessels were melted down and divine vestments given over to fire along with the images on panels and books, in which anything was said concerning icons; for this reason the great mystery of the economy is mocked and the world-saving likeness of Christ is called an abomination (which I shudder to say), or rather Christ with his mother and servants, since in honor and name both are the same, icon and prototype; for this reason there are searches and inquiries, both man by man and house by house, and fears and threats, lest anyone or even any icon be left unconsumed by the heresy; for this reason priests transgressing the law and un-monkly monks rage against those of the same habit, students against their leaders, receiving the presidency as a prize for their apostasy, and he who raged most against Christ has been deemed worthy of greater honors; for this reason scourgings, bonds, imprisonments, starvations, exiles, deaths upon those who resist. The high priesthood is not venerable to the impious, nor grey hair pitiable, nor the practice of piety, nor anything else worthy of being spared; one law, the will of Caesar, and one endeavor, that all be captured in this. The deserts hold those who have fled, the rocks and the caves those who have been saved. Oh, how we have become like a pelican of the wilderness; Oh, how we were delivered into hands, to the teeth of the impious, and I have omitted most things for fear of satiety. But groan for us, O most compassionate ones, as fellow members of one body, extend a hand of intercession as lovers of the brethren. Our affairs are treated more barbarously than those there. We have already become as Sodom, and we have already been made like Gomorrah. For this reason, therefore, we the humble have cried out to your holiness as with one mouth of all the brethren who suffer with us; for we know that your righteous prayer is powerful in its working, so that by its propitiation the shattering of the heretical sword may cease, as the Lord leads our church back to peaceful orthodoxy. But so that you also may know in part, O revered ones, what the impious dogmas of the godless are, I have sent along with this letter these things in notebooks, which I, unlearned as I am, have decided to refute, having been urged on by the pious. And I ask that by your divine sagacity it may be examined and what is lacking be corrected, and that I may receive pardon for my faults, and be remembered in your prayers which are inclined toward God, and indeed also

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ἐοικὼς θεοφαέσιν. ὁρῶ τὸν χῶρον, ἐφ' ᾧ ὁ στῦλος τοῦ πυρὸς τῷ στύλῳ τῶν ἀρετῶν ὦπται, ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ἀοράτους ἐχθροὺς νικηφόρος πάλη, τὸ τῆς θαυματουργίας δρᾶμα, τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο ποικιλλόμενον ταῖς κατὰ καιρὸν ἐνεργείαις τοῦ Πνεύματος. ὤ, πόσα μοι ὁ πόθος ἐπιβάλλει λέγειν καὶ ὁ τρόπος εἴργει τοῦ μὴ εἰς ἄμετρον ἐκπεσεῖν τὴν ἐπιστολήν· ὤ, πόσων ἀγαθῶν πράξεων σύμβολα καὶ ὑπομνήματα ἐν ὑμῖν, μονονουχὶ καὶ ὑπὸ θέας αὐτῆς δυνάμενα παρακαλεῖν ψυχὴν εἰς ἐπίδοσιν ἀρετῆς. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν πρῶτος λόγος ἐχέτω ταῦτα, εἰ καὶ ἐνδεέστερον τῆς ἐπιθυμίας· ἐφ' ἕτερον δὲ μετελεύσομαι ὀδυρτικόν, οὐ περιχαρῆ, δι' ὃν καὶ ὁ πρότερος ὑφωρμήθη μοι ὑπάρξαι. ὀργὴ θεοῦ ἡμᾶς κατέλαβεν, ὦ πατέρες ἁγιώτατοι, διὰ τὸ πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν, ψυγείσης τῆς ἀγάπης, ὡς ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκε, διωγμὸς ἑλληνοειδής, χαλεπώτατος λίαν. ἀπηλάθη τῆς αὐλῆς ὁ ἀρχιποιμὴν ἡμῶν, διεσκορπίσθη τὰ Χριστοῦ πρόβατα· λύκοι βαρεῖς εἰσεφθάρησαν ἐν τῇ ποίμνῃ καί γε μονιὸς ἄγριος κατενεμήσατο αὐτήν. τί τοῦτο; πάλιν ἐνταῦθα ἠτιμάσθη ἡ σεπτὴ εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τῆς Θεοτόκου, παντὸς οὑτινοσοῦν ἁγίου. διὰ τοῦτο ποιμένες ἠφρονεύσαντο καὶ οὐχ ὅτι τὸν Κύριον, προφητικῶς εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἐξεζήτησαν (ἧττον γὰρ ἂν ἧν τὸ ἀσέβημα), ἀλλ' ὅτι συνήχθησαν ἰουδαϊκῶς κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἀποδοκιμάσαντες αὐτοῦ τὴν ἁγίαν εἰκόνα τῆς τε αὐτοῦ μητρὸς καὶ τῶν θεραπόντων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο θυσιαστήρια ἅγια ἠφανίσθη καὶ ναοὶ Κυρίου ἠμαυρώθησαν ἐν πάσῃ πόλει καὶ χώρᾳ τῆς τῇδε ἐξουσίας, εἰς πένθος προκείμενοι τοῖς ὁρῶσι, τὸν οἰκεῖον κόσμον τῆς θείας εὐμορφίας ἀφῃρημένοι· διὰ τοῦτο ἱερὰ σκεύη ἀναχωνευόμενα καὶ ἐσθὴς θεία πυρὶ παραδιδομένη σὺν τοῖς ἐν πίναξι χαρακτῆρσι καὶ βίβλοις, ἐν οἷς τι λεκτὸν περὶ εἰκόνων· διὰ τοῦτο γελᾶται τὸ μέγα τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον καὶ βδέλυγμα κέκληται (ὃ καὶ φρίττω λέγων) τὸ σωτηριόκοσμον ὁμοίωμα Χριστοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ Χριστὸς σὺν μητρὶ καὶ θεράπουσιν, εἴπερ ὡς τῇ τιμῇ καὶ τῇ κλήσει ταὐτὸν ἀμφότερα, εἰκὼν καὶ πρωτότυπον· διὰ τοῦτο ἐξερευνήσεις καὶ ἐκζητήσεις καὶ κατ' ἄνδρα καὶ κατ' οἶκον, καὶ φόβοι καὶ ἀπειλαί, μὴ ὑπολειφθῆναι ἀνάλωτον τῇ αἱρέσει τινὰ μηδ' αὖ πᾶσαν εἰκόνα· διὰ τοῦτο ἱερεῖς ἀνομοῦντες καὶ μοναχοὶ ἀμόναχοι κατὰ τῶν ὁμοσχήμων φερόμενοι, φοιτηταὶ κατὰ τῶν ἡγουμένων, ἆθλον τῆς ἀποστασίας τὴν προεδρίαν κομιζόμενοι, καὶ ὁ τὰ πλεῖστα μανεὶς κατὰ Χριστοῦ πλείους καὶ τιμὰς ἠξιωμένος· διὰ τοῦτο μάστιγες, δεσμοί, φυλακαί, λιμοκτονήσεις, ἐξορίαι, θάνατοι ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐνισταμένους. οὐκ ἀρχιερωσύνη τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν αἰδέσιμος, οὐ πολιὰ οἰκτειρήσιμος, οὐκ ἄσκησις εὐσεβείας, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν φειδοῦς ἀξίων· εἷς νόμος, τὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος θέλημα, καὶ μία σπουδή, ἅπαντας ἐν τούτῳ ἁλῶναι. αἱ ἐρημίαι τοὺς διαπεφευγότας ἔχουσιν, αἱ πέτραι καὶ τὰ σπήλαια τοὺς διασεσωσμένους. ὤ, πῶς ὡμοιώθημεν πελεκᾶνι ἐρημικῷ· ὤ, πῶς παρεδόθημεν εἰς χεῖρας, τοῖς ὀδοῦσι τῶν ἀσεβῶν, καὶ τὰ πλείω παρῆκα διὰ τὸ προσκορές. Ἀλλὰ στενάξατε ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, ὦ συμπαθέστατοι, ὡς σύσσωμοι, ὀρέξατε χεῖρα πρεσβευτικὴν ὡς φιλάδελφοι. τῶν αὐτόθι χείρονα τὰ ἡμέτερα βαρβαρίζεται. ὡς Σόδομα ἤδη γεγόναμεν καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἤδη ὡμοιώθημεν. διὰ τοῦτο τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἐπεβοησάμεθα τῇ ἁγιωσύνῃ ὑμῶν οἱ ταπεινοὶ ὡς ἐν ἑνὶ στόματι τῶν πάντων ἀδελφῶν καὶ συμπασχόντων· ἴσμεν γὰρ ὅτι ἰσχύει ἡ δικαία ὑμῶν δέησις ἐνεργουμένη, ὡς ἂν τῷ ἐξιλασμῷ αὐτῆς κοπάσῃ ἡ θραῦσις τῆς αἱρετικῆς ῥομφαίας, τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς εἰρηνικὴν ὀρθοδοξίαν ἐπανάγοντος καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐκκλησίαν. ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὦ σεβάσμιοι, ἐκ μέρους, οἷα τὰ ἀσεβῆ δόγματα τῶν ἀθέων, συναπέστειλα τοῖς γράμμασι ταῦτα ἐν τετραδίοις, ἃ καὶ ἔδοξα ὁ ἀμαθὴς ἀνατρέπειν, προτραπεὶς παρὰ εὐσεβῶν. αἰτῶ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς θείας ὑμῶν ἀγχινοίας ἐπισκεφθῆναι καὶ τὸ ἐλλιπὲς ἀνορθωθῆναι καὶ συγγνώμην τῶν ἐπωφλημένων δέξασθαί με, λαμβάνεσθαί τε εἰς μνήμην ἐν ταῖς θεοκλινέσιν ὑμῶν προσευχαῖς, καὶ μὴν καὶ