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leading to darkness, and depriving of the life in Christ through their deceived plausible speaking. But He Himself (509) our Lord and God Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word of God the Father, the maker of all visible and invisible creation, who for our sake, through his ineffable love for mankind, as he himself was pleased, accepted death, and delivered us by his own blood from the power of darkness; may he take hold of your right hand, and guide you into his fear, and fill you with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and persuade you to walk worthy of himself, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of his truth, and strengthen you with all power according to the might of his glory for all edification and long-suffering; and having kept you striving together with joy and thanksgiving for the gospel of his grace, may he deem you worthy of the portion of the saints in light, by the prayers and supplications of our all-glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and of all the saints. Amen.

XIII. By the same, to Peter the Illustrious, a summary discourse against the dogmas of Severus.

My blessed master has truly shown how being physically absent from one another can do nothing to diminish spiritual love, for those who are intellectually joined to one another according to God through love; not disdaining through his precious syllables to visit me, the humble and sinful one, who has nothing worthy of his love. Having received which, I rejoiced, embraced and kissed him as though he were present in the spirit, and as is my custom I gave thanks to the only God and Savior of all, Christ, knowing that he had completed his journey on the watery path in safety. For my blessed master is truly sweet both when present and, when absent, is no less beloved by all than when he is present, because of the grace of the poverty of the Holy Spirit that shines upon him; through which everyone who genuinely partakes of this virtue as of God becomes a holy temple for a dwelling place of God in the spirit, of him who humbled himself to the form of a servant, and in deed and word showed it in himself to men; imitating whom my blessed master has also acquired with his whole heart both meekness and humility. Meekness, so that having extinguished the passionate movements of anger and desire, he might become well-pleasing to God and to men. For meekness is nothing other than the complete (512) stillness of anger and desire with respect to what is contrary to nature; by which the divine will becomes manifest to those who possess it. For the great David says in song, He will guide the meek in judgment; he will teach the meek his ways. And humility, so that having cut out the calluses of pride, he might become acceptable to God and accessible to all men. For humility is the knowledge of each one's self in comparison with God, through a parallel juxtaposition of the pre-eminent and creative cause; by which the mutual disposition of men toward one another naturally comes to be, and the forgiveness of transgressions is given to debtors. For Behold, says the same great David again, my humility and my labor, and forgive all my sins.

Thus, therefore, I pray that my blessed master, being so disposed concerning the poison, be preserved unshaken, true to his name, in the firmament of faith in Christ, and above every heretical tempest, as a genuine child of the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of God; founded upon the pious confession;

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σκότους παραπέμπουσαν, καί τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ζωῆς διά τῆς ἠπατημένης αὐτῶν χρηστολογίας ἀποστεροῦσαν. Αὐτός δέ ὁ (509) Κύριος ἡμῶν καί Θεός Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός μονογενής Υἱός καί Λόγος, ὁ πάσης ὁρατῆς καί ἀοράτου κτίσεως ποιητής, ὁ τόν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν διά τήν ἄφατον αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, καθώς αὐτός ηὐδόκησε, καταδεξάμενος θάνατον, καί ῥυσάμενος ἡμᾶς τῷ ἰδίῳ αἵματι τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους· αὐτός κρατήσαι τῆς χειρός ὑμῶν τῆς δεξιᾶς, καί ὁδηγῆσαι ὑμᾶς εἰς τόν φόβον αὐτοῦ, καί πληρώσαι τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καί συνέσει πνευματικῇ, καί ἀξίως ἑαυτοῦ περιπατῆσαι πείσειεν, ἐν παντί ἔργῳ ἀγαθῷ καρποφορούντας, καί αὐξανομένους ἐν ἐπιγνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτοῦ, καί πάσῃ δυνάμει δυναμώσαι κατά τό κράτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ εἰς πᾶσαν οἰκοδομήν καί μακροθυμίαν· καί μετά χαρᾶς καί εὐχαριστίας συναθλοῦντας τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ τηρήσας, ἀξιώσαι τῆς μερίδος τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ φωτί, εὐχαῖς καί ἰκεσίαις τῆς πανενδόξου ∆εσποίνης ἡμῶν Θεοτόκου καί ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, καί πάντων τῶν ἁγίων. Ἀμήν.

ΙΓ´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Πέτρον ἰλλούστριον λόγος ἐπίτομος κατά τῶν Σευήρου δογμάτων.

Ἔδειξεν ὡς ἀληθως ὁ εὐλογημένος μου δεσπότητς, ὡς οὐδέν δύναται πρός μείωσιν τῆς ἀγάπης πνευματικῆς, τό ἀλλήλων ἀπεῖναι σωματικῶς· τούς κατά Θεόν δι'ἀγάπης νοερῶς ἀλλήλοις συνηρμοσμένους· μή ἀπαξιώσας διά τῶν τιμίων αὐτοῦ συλλαβών ἐπισκέψασθαί με τόν ταπεινόν καί ἁμαρτωλόν, καί μηδέν ἔχοντα τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀγάπης ἐπάξιον. Ἅσπερ δεξάμενος, ὡσπερ αὐτόν παρόντα τῷ πνεύματι γεγηθώς περιλαβών ἠσπασάμην, καί τῷ μόνῳ Θεῷ καί Σωτῆρι τῶν ὅλων Χριστῷ συνήθως ηὐχαρίστησα, γνούς μετά σωτηρίας αὐτόν τήν ὑγράν κέλευθον ἐξηνυκέναι. Ἡδύς γάρ ὄντως καί παρών ὁ εὐλογημένος μου δεσπότης, καί ἀπών, οὐχ ἦττον τοῦ παρεῖναι πᾶσίν ἐστιν ἐπέραστος, διά τήν ἐπιλάμπουσαν αὐτῷ χάριν τῆς πτωχείας τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· δι᾿ ἥν ναός ἅγιος εἰς κατοικητήριον Θεοῦ ἐν πνεύματι γίνεται, πᾶς ὁ ταύτης ὡς Θεοῦ τῆς ἀρετῆς γνησίως μεταποιούμενος, τοῦ ταπεινώσαντος ἑαυτόν μέχρι δούλου μορφῆς, καί ἔργῳ καί λόγῳ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αὐτήν ἐν ἑαυτῷ παραδείξαντος· ὅνπερ μιμούμενος ὁ εὐλογημένος μου δεσπότης, ἐνδιαθέτως καί αὐτός ἐκτήσατο τήν πραότητά τε καί τήν ταπείνωσιν. Τήν πραότητα μέν, ἵνα τάς ἐμπαθεῖς τοῦ θυμοῦ καί τῆς ἐπιθυμίας κατασβέσας κινήσεις, Θεῷ γένηται καί ἀνθρώποις εὐάρεστος. Ἡ πραότης γάρ οὐδέν ἕτερον οὖσα καθέστηκεν, ἤ θυμοῦ καί ἐπιθυμίας παντελής (512) πρός τά παρά φύσιν ἀκινησία· καθ᾿ ἥν φανερόν τό θεῖον τοῖς ἔχουσι γίνεται θέλημα. Φησί γάρ ψάλλων ὁ μέγας ∆αβίδ, Ὁδηγήσει πραεῖς ἐν κρίσει· διδάξει πραεῖς ὁδούς αὐτοῦ. Τήν καί ταπείνωσιν, ἵνα τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ἐκτεμών τά πωρώματα, εὐχάριστός τε τῷ Θεῷ γένηται, καί πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις εὐπρόσιτος. Ταπείνωσις γάρ ἐστιν, ἡ ἑκάστου πρός τόν Θεόν κατά παράθεσιν ἐκ παραλλήλου τῆς ὑπερεχούσης καί ποιητικῆς αἰτίας ἐπίγνωσις· καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ πρός ἀλλήλους τῶν ἀνθρώπων γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν συνδιάθεσις, καί ἡ τῶν πλημμελημάτων δίδοσθαι τοῖς ὀφείλουσιν ἄφεσις. Ἴδε γάρ, φησίν ὁ αὐτός μέγας πάλιν ∆αβίδ, τήν ταπείνωσίν μου καί τόν κόπον μου, καί ἄφες πάσας τάς ἁμαρτίας μου.

Οὕτω μέν οὖν ἔχοντα περί τόν ιον τόν εὐλογημένον μου δεσπότην, ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τῆς εἰς Χριστόν πίστεως, φερωνύμως ἀσάλευτον εὔχομαι διαφυλαχθῆναι, καί πάσης αἱρετικῆς τρικυμίας ἀνώτερον, ὡς γνήσιον τέκνον τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καθολικῆς καί ἀποστολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας· τεθεμελιωμένον ἐπί τῆς εὐσεβοῦς ὁμολογίας·