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the voices of the Fathers' faith, I was for the time unable to insert in the letter, (533) on account of the great lack of books in my possession. For you have there my blessed master, father and teacher, the lord abba Sophronius, the truly temperate and wise advocate of the truth, and invincible champion of the divine dogmas, able to contend in deed and in word against every heresy, along with all his other good qualities, being rich in a multitude of divine books, and readily enriching those who wish to learn divine things. By visiting him, therefore, I know well, you will receive all the right and unerring knowledge of the divine and saving dogmas. Farewell.

14. By the same, to the same, a dogmatic letter. God, being good by nature, none of what He is by nature to do is evil.

But man, becoming good by the care of his will, is always shown to rejoice in what God is by nature to do. For man has no other test of being good, than only the disposition toward what is done by God. For the making of good things is proper to God; but the disposition toward them is proper to man. For the virtue of a man is to show that what has been made by God is loved by the disposition of his will. Therefore, if everything that has God as the cause of its own generation is good, then it is reasonable that the union of things that were separated is good, and the greatest of good things, because it is established as a manifest work of God. And if this is entirely true, I know that you rejoice to see those who were scattered gathered into one, being good, on account of your disposition toward good things.

Receive therefore, I beseech you, who are God-guarded, as good men, the most God-beloved deacon, my lord (536) Cosmas, who brings this my humble missive, a good and prudent man, and adorned with habits according to God, and number him among your own friends; and if there be need to make supplication on his behalf to the God-honored pope, that he might receive his own rank of the diaconate, in which Church he was ordained, do not hesitate. For so genuinely did he accept the pious doctrine of the divine dogmas of the Church, that he also fervently champions it, and knows this to be the definition and rule of piety: to deny in thought nothing of what Christ is after the ineffable union; being truly the same one, at once both God and man. For He did not cast off what He was, when He truly became what He was not; for He is unchangeable. Nor did He alter what He had become, while remaining what He was; for He is loving-kindness; but He is wholly both by nature, according to hypostasis; as one from two, and through his one self saving both, without change and diminution, as truly being them in the hypostatic union. For the hypostatic union, having its opposition to division, but not to the natural difference of the things united in it, brings about the perfect annulment of the one, but effects the firm preservation of the other; of which number is the manifestation. Since no one could ever conceive of a difference entirely devoid of quantity, even if he were most wise in arguments and most formidable. For as long as the parts of the whole according to composition are preserved without confusion, from which the whole is constituted, the natural difference toward one another of the parts of the whole preserved in union is not unknown. And as long as the principle of the essential difference of the parts remains preserved in the whole, it is impossible for the quantity of the parts of the whole which differ essentially from one another to be unknown, of which number is by nature to make a manifestation, but not a division, except of the relation of things, that is, of union or of division, but only of that which is simply, but

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πίστεως τῶν Πατέρων φωνάς, τέως οὐκ ἠδυνήθην ἐνθεῖναι τῷ γράμματι, (533) διά τήν παρ᾿ ἐμοί τῶν βίβλων πολλήν ἀπορίαν. Αὐτόθι γάρ τόν εὐλογημένον μου δεσπότην ἔχετε, Πατέρα τε καί διδάσκαλον κύριον ἀββᾶν Σωφρόνιον τόν ὄντως σώφρονα καί σοφόν τῆς ἀληθείας συνήγορον, καί ἀήττητον τῶν θείων δογμάτων ὑπέρμαχον, καί ἔργῳ καί λόγῳ κατά πάσης αἱρέσεως δυνατόν ἀγωνίζεσθαι, μετά πάντων τῶν ἄλλων καλῶν, καί πλήθει βίβλων θείων πλουτοῦντα, καί τούς βουλομένους μανθάνειν τά θεῖα προθύμως πλουτίζοντα. Πρός αὐτόν οὖν φοιτῶντες, πᾶσαν τῶν θείων καί σωτηρίων δογμάτων, εὖ οἶδα, κομίσεσθε τήν ὀρθήν καί ἄπταιστον γνῶσιν. Ἔῤῥωσθε.

Ι∆´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, πρός τόν αὐτόν, ἐπιστολή δογματική. Ὁ μέν Θεός κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχων ἀγαθός, οὐδέν ὧν ποιεῖν πέφυκεν, ἐστί πονηρόν.

Ὁ δέ ἄνθρωπος, ἐπιμελείᾳ γνώμης γινόμενος ἀγαθός, οἷς πέφυκε ποιεῖν ὁ Θεός, ἀεί δείκνυται χαίρων. Ἄλλην γάρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἔχει τοῦ ἀγαθός εἶναι διάγνωσιν, ἤ μόνην τήν πρός τό γινόμενον ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ συνδιάθεσιν. Θεοῦ γάρ ἴδιον ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ποίησις· ἀνθρώπου δέ, ἡ πρός αὐτά συνδιάθεσις. Ἀρετή γάρ ἀνδρός ἐστι, τό δεῖξαι τό πεποιημένον ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ διαθέσει γνώμης στεργόμενον. Οὐκοῦν εἴπερ ἀγαθόν ἅπαν τό τόν Θεόν ἔχον τῆς οἰκείας γενέσεως αἴτιον, ἀγαθόν εἴκότως, καί τῶν ἀγαθῶν τό μέγιστον, ἡ τῶν διεστηκότων ἕνωσίς ἐστιν, ὅτι Θεοῦ προφανές ἔργον καθέστηκεν. Εἰ δέ τοῦτο πάντως ἐστί ἀληθές, οἶδ᾿ ὅτι χαίρετε θεώμενοι τούς διεσκορπισμένους συναγομένους εἰς ἕν, ἀγαθοί τυγχάνοντες, διά τήν ὑμῶν πρός τά καλά συνδιάθεσιν.

∆έξασθε τοίνυν ὡς ἀγαθούς παρακαλῶ τούς θεοφυλάκτους ὑμᾶς, τόν ταύτην μου τήν μετρίαν ἐπιφερόμενον συλλαβήν θεοφιλέστατον διάκονον κύριόν (536) μου Κοσμᾶν, ἄνδρα καλόν καί συνετόν, καί τοῖς κατά Θεόν ἤθεσιν ὡραϊσμένον, καί εἰς τούς οἰκείους αὐτόν κατατάξασθαι φίλους· καί εἴπερ γένηται χρεία πρός τόν θεοτίμητον πάπαν ὑπέρ αὐτοῦ καταθέσθαι παράκλησιν, ἵνα τόν ἴδιον ἀπολάβῃ βαθμόν τῆς διακονίας, ἐν ᾗ τεταγμένος ἦν Ἐκκλησίᾳ, μή κατοκνῆσαι. Τοσοῦτον γάρ γνησίως τόν εὐσεβῆ τῶν θείων τῆς Ἐκκλησίας δογμάτων προσήκατο λόγον, ὥστε καί διαπύρως αὐτοῦ ὑπερμάχεσθαι, καί τοῦτον εἰδέναι τῆς εὐσεβείας ὅρον τε καί θεσμόν, τή μηδέν ἠρνῆσθαι φρονεῖν ὧν ἐστι Χριστός μετά τήν ἄφραστον ἕνωσιν· Θεός ὁμοῦ κατά ταυτόν ἀληθῶς ὁ αὐτός ὑπάρχων καί ἄνθρωπος. Οὐ γάρ ἀπέβαλεν ὅπερ ἦν, γενόμενος ἀληθῶς ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· ἄτρεπτος γάρ. Οὐδ᾿ ἠλλοίωσεν ὅπερ γέγονε, διαμείνας ὅπερ ὑπῆρχε· φιλάνθρωπος γάρ· ἀλλ᾿ ἄμφω φυσικῶς καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ὅλος ἐστίν· ὡς εἷς ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, καί δι᾿ ἑνός ἑαυτοῦ σώζων ἀμφότερα, δίχα τροπῆς καί μειώσεως, ὡς αὐτά καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ὤν ἀληθῶς τήν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν. Ἡ γάρ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσις, πρός τήν διαίρεσιν ἔχουσα τήν ἀντιδιαστολήν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πρός τήν φυσικήν τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἡνωμένων διαφοράν, τῆς μέν ποιεῖται τελείαν ἀναίρεσιν, τῆς δέ παγίαν ἐργάζεται τήρησιν· ἧς ὁ ἀριθμός καθέστηκε δήλωσις. Ἐπειδή ποσοῦ παντελῶς ἀμοιροῦσαν οὐκ ἄν ποτέ τις διαφοράν ἐπινοήσειε· κἄν ὁ σοφώτατος ᾗ περί λόγους καί δυσμαχώτατος. Ἕως γάρ ἄν τοῦ κατά σύνθεσιν ὅλου τά μέρη σώζεται δίχα συγχύσεως, ἐξ ὧν τό ὅλον συνέστηκεν, ἡ πρός ἄλληλα φυσική τῶν καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν σωζομένων τοῦ ὅλου μερῶν οὐκ ἀγνοεῖται διαφορά. Ἕως δ᾿ ἄν ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ τῆς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν διαφορᾶς τῶν μερῶν ὁ λόγος μένῃ σωζόμενος, ἀγνοεῖσθαι τό ποσόν τῶν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἀλλήλων διαφερόντων τοῦ ὅλου μερῶν ἀμήχανον, οὗ ποιεῖσθαι πέφυκεν ὁ ἀριθμός δήλωσιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ διαίρεσιν ὅτι μή τῆς σχέσεως τῶν πραγμάτων, τουτέστιν ἑνώσεως ἤ διαιρέσεως, ἀλλά μόνης τῆς ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ᾿