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A pledge of this way of life of yours is the reception of the brothers; whom, when you shelter, consider that you are sheltering Christ (for their exile is for his sake), having also your native virtue for the glory of salvation. In which may you be preserved, growing still in good things, guarded in a manner befitting God, offering to the Lord the virtue of old age like the renowned Anna and any other of the praiseworthy women who served God in a rich old age. 332 {1To Symeon the monk}1 Having received into my hands the letter of your holiness and having read and been taught each of the things that have happened to it and to our holy fathers with it, whose names are in the book of life because of the sacred exile of all and their migration to a foreign land and the trying and afflictive abduction and imprisonment here and there by the action of the godless, I, the humble one, at once groaned at what trials the time, spying on the churches of God, has led to, and at the same time I blessed the prizes of those persecuted for Christ's sake, then you also, who have become for us a messenger of all that was enacted, not hesitating to come to me who am worthy of nothing and to put your hand to writing and to narrate the whole story of the affliction. For which things may the Lord bless you and strengthen you still more and make you firm in the unyielding resistance of the testimony of Christ. For I learned that after you engaged in resistance with the arch-heretic John you did not shrink back nor come off second in the verbal conflict, but standing firm against him you vanquished him and youthfully silenced him with the word of truth given to you by the working of the Holy Spirit. For there is no power of speech in the deceived, since there is neither light nor proof of truth nor anything straight or holy, as they walk in darkness with a foolish heart and a wisdom that has been made foolish, or to speak the truth, with unwisdom and ignorance and blindness. But one thing only, both first and last, is the power of darkness; this for them is both reason and rule and faith and glory and weapon. By their works you will know them, said the Lord. For what impious and Judaic thing did they not do? They insulted Christ, the Theotokos, the saints; for when their bodily images are dishonored, the insult is sent up to the very prototypes, and for this reason the iconoclasts might reasonably be called Antichrists, since the Theologian and Evangelist says, and now there are many Antichrists. These things are small in comparison to your understanding, but symbols of the love in one mind and one soul given to us by God. But pray for me, good brother, that I may contend in the same things as you, and deign to let me know again how you are getting on and how your sacred company is and will be. 333 {1To Joseph, brother and archbishop}1 As far as letters are concerned, I have not learned about your health. But alas for my sins, that it has turned out this way; for their loss along with others was made known to me by the brothers. And behold, the work of the devil. But glory to God who hid them from the authorities; for many were about to be in danger. But that the iambic verses were also lost, which you did well to compose against the iconoclasts (you were surely not going to send them untranscribed and unannotated), these things grieved us, as was likely. And I, the humble one, again greet your holiness, yearning for your precious face (for whose before yours? and not always?), not so much by nature as by cooperation, not one rising from the earth, but worked from heaven from the very starting-gate almost up to this point, as all know and as our parents, both bodily and spiritually, I might say, have formed. And may it be that we remain likewise for the future and that I not be separated from your virtue by the multitude of my sins, being held together by divine love for mankind and the intercession of those who brought us to the light. Such then are the things of my prayer. But the other things, such and as many as are worthy of groans and laments for the church of God, you surely already hear; for what even the ancient heretics did not do against Christ,

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ἐχέγγυον τῆς πολιτείας σου ταύτης ἡ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐστι πρόσληψις· οὓς σκέπουσα νόμιζε Χριστὸν σκέπειν (δι' αὐτὸν γὰρ ἡ φυγαδεία), ἔχουσα καὶ τὴν οἴκοθεν ἀρετὴν εἰς κλέος σωτηρίας. ἐφ' ᾗ φυλαχθείης αὔξουσα ἔτι ἐν ἀγαθοῖς, φρουρουμένη θεοπρεπῶς, πρεσβυτικὴν ἀρετὴν προσφέρουσα Κυρίῳ ὡς ἡ ἀοίδιμος Ἄννα καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλη τῶν ἐπαινετῶν ἐν γήρει πίονι λατρευσασῶν θεῷ. 332 {1Συμεὼν μονάζοντι}1 ∆εξάμενος ἐπὶ χεῖρας τὴν τῆς ἁγιωσύνης σου ἐπιστολὴν καὶ ἀναγνοὺς καὶ διδαχθεὶς ἕκαστα τῶν συμβεβηκότων αὐτῇ τε καὶ τοῖς σὺν αὐτῇ ἁγίοις πατράσιν ἡμῶν, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα ἐν βίβλῳ ζωῆς διὰ τὴν ἁπάντων ἱερὰν φυγαδείαν καὶ ἀλλοδαπῇ μετανάστασιν καὶ πειραστικὴν καὶ θλιπτικὴν διὰ τῆς ὧδέ τε κἀκεῖσε ἀπαγωγῆς τε καὶ φρουρητικῆς παρὰ τῶν ἀθέων καταπράξεως, ὁμοῦ μὲν ἐστέναξα ὁ ταπεινός, εἰς οἷα ἤγαγεν ὁ χρόνος πειραστήρια τὰς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ κατασκοπῶν, ὁμοῦ δὲ ἐμακάρισα τὰ ἆθλα τῶν δεδιωγμένων ἕνεκεν Χριστοῦ, ἔπειτα καὶ σέ, τὸν ἄγγελον ἡμῖν γεγονότα ἁπάντων τῶν δραματουργηθέντων, οὐκ ἀποκνήσαντα πρός με τὸν οὐδενὸς ἄξιον καὶ χεῖρα ἐπὶ τὸ γράψαι δοῦναι καὶ ἰχνομυθῆσαι ὅλην τὴν τῆς κακώσεως ὑπόθεσιν. ἀνθ' ὧν εὐλογήσαι σε Κύριος στηρίξαι τε ἐπὶ πλέον καὶ βεβαιώσαι ἐν τῇ ἀμειλίκτῳ ἐνστάσει τῆς μαρτυρίας Χριστοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ ἔμαθον ὅτιπερ συμβαλὼν μετὰ τὴν ἔνστασιν τῷ ἀσεβάρχῃ Ἰωάννῃ οὐχ ὑπεστάλης οὐδὲ δεύτερος ἦλθες τῆς εἰς λόγους συμπλοκῆς, ἀλλὰ στερρῶς ἀντικαταστὰς περιεῖλες αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπεστομάτισας νεανικῶς λόγῳ ἀληθείας τῆς δοθείσης σοι ὑπὸ ἐνεργείας τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος. καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ πάρεστιν ἐν τοῖς ἠπατημένοις δύναμις λόγου, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ φῶς οὐδὲ ἀληθείας ἀπόδειξις οὐδέ τι εὐθὲς οὐδὲ ὅσιον, ἐν σκότει διαπορευομένοις τῇ ἀσυνέτῳ καρδίᾳ καὶ μεμωραμένῃ σοφίᾳ, τἀληθὲς δὲ εἰπεῖν, ἀσοφίᾳ καὶ ἀμαθίᾳ καὶ τυφλότητι. ἓν δὲ μόνον καὶ πρῶτον καὶ τελευταῖον, ἡ ἐξουσία τοῦ σκότους· τοῦτο αὐτοῖς καὶ λόγος καὶ ὅρος καὶ πίστις καὶ δόξα καὶ ὅπλον. ἐκ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν ἐπιγνώσεσθε αὐτούς, ἔφη ὁ Κύριος. τί γὰρ οὐκ ἔδρασαν ἀσεβές τε καὶ ἰουδαϊκόν; Χριστὸν ἐνύβρισαν, τὴν Θεοτόκον, τοὺς ἁγίους· ὧν γὰρ οἱ σωματικοὶ χαρακτῆρες ἀτιμάζονται, αὐτοῖς ἐκείνοις ἡ ὕβρις ἀναπέμπεται τοῖς πρωτοτύποις, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰκότως Ἀντίχριστοι ῥηθεῖεν οἱ εἰκονομάχοι, ἐπειδὴ λέγει ὁ Θεολόγος καὶ εὐαγγελιστής, καὶ νῦν πολλοὶ Ἀντίχριστοι. Ταῦτα μικρὰ μὲν πρὸς τὴν σὴν σύνεσιν, τῆς ἀγάπης δὲ σύμβολα τῆς ἐν ἑνὶ φρονήματι καὶ μιᾷ ψυχῇ δοθείσης ἡμῖν ὑπὸ θεοῦ. ἀλλά μοι προσεύχου, ἀδελφὲ καλέ, τὰ ἴσα σοι ἐναθλεῖν, καὶ γνωρίσαι μοι πάλιν ἀξίωσον ὅπως σύ τε διάγοις καὶ ὅπως ἔχει καὶ ἕξει τὰ τῆς ἱερᾶς σου συνοδίας. 333 {1Ἰωσὴφ ἀδελφῷ καὶ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ}1 Ὅσον μὲν ἀπὸ γραμμάτων, οὐκ ἔμαθον τὰ τῆς ὑγείας σου. ἀλλὰ φεῦ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου, ὅτι οὕτω γέγονεν· ἐδηλώθη γάρ μοι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡ τούτων μεθ' ἑτέρων ἀπώλεια. καὶ ἴδε, τοῦ διαβόλου ἐνέργεια. ἀλλὰ δόξα τῷ θεῷ τῷ κρύψαντι αὐτὰ ἀπὸ τῶν κρατούντων· ἤμελλον γὰρ πολλοὶ κινδυνεύειν. ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ οἱ ἴαμβοι συναπώλοντο, οὓς εὖ ποιῶν ἐμέτρησας κατὰ τῶν εἰκονομάχων (οὐ πάντως δὲ ἀμεταγράφους καὶ ἀπαρασημειώτους ἔμελλες αὐτοὺς πέμπειν), ταῦτα μὲν ἐλύπησεν ἡμᾶς, ὡς τὸ εἰκός. ἐγὼ δὲ ὁ ταπεινὸς καὶ αὖθις προσαγορεύω τὴν ἁγιωσύνην σου, γλιχόμενός σου τὸ τίμιον πρόσωπον (καὶ τίνος γὰρ πρὸ σοῦ; καὶ οὐχὶ ἀεί;), οὐ τοσοῦτον ἐκ φύσεως ὅσον ἐκ συμπράξεως, οὐ τῆς χαμόθεν ἐγειρομένης, ἀλλ' οὐρανόθεν ἐνεργουμένης ἐκ πρώτης βαλβῖδος σχεδὸν μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο, ὡς ἴσασι πάντες καὶ ἐμόρφωσαν οἱ γεννήσαντες, εἴπω καὶ σωματικῶς καὶ πνευματικῶς. εἴη δὲ μένειν ἡμᾶς καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς ὡσαύτως καὶ μή με διαιρεῖσθαί σου τῆς ἀρετῆς πλήθει τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, ἐκ θείας φιλανθρωπίας συγκροτουμένους καὶ ἐντεύξεως τῶν εἰς φῶς ἐνεγκόντων. Τὰ μὲν δὴ τῆς εὐχῆς τοιαῦτα. τὰ δ' ἄλλα, οἷα καὶ ὅσα ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ στεναγμῶν καὶ ὀδυρμῶν ἄξια, ἤδη πάντως ἀκούοις· ἃ γὰρ οὐδὲ οἱ πάλαι αἱρετίσαντες ἔπραξαν κατὰ Χριστοῦ,