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they also had and were expecting their reward from God, and for us, for equal achievements, the honors from the peoples do not exist; so it is likely that the recompense for the labors for piety laid up in the age to come will be many times greater. 257.2 Therefore we beseech you not to lose heart in afflictions, but to be renewed in love for God and day by day to add to your zeal, knowing that in you the remnant of piety must be saved, which the Lord will find on the earth when He comes. And if bishops have been driven from the Churches, let this not shake you; or if traitors have arisen from among the clergy themselves, let not this weaken your confidence in God. For it is not the names that save us, but our moral purposes and true love for Him who created us. Remember that even in the plot against our Lord, chief priests and scribes and elders contrived the treachery, while a few from the people were found who genuinely received the word, and that it is not the multitude that is saved, but the elect of God. So let not the crowd of people ever frighten you, who are carried about like the water of the sea by the winds. For if even one is saved, like Lot in Sodom, he ought to remain in right judgment, holding unshaken the hope in Christ, because the Lord will not abandon His holy ones. Greet all the brotherhood in Christ from me; pray genuinely for my wretched soul.

258. TO EPIPHANIUS THE BISHOP

258.1 That which was long ago expected from the Lord's prophecy, but now at last

confirmed by the experience of events, that "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold," already prevailing among us, the letter brought from your Honor seemed to dispel. For truly it is no small token of love first, to have remembered us who are so small and worthy of nothing, and then also to send brothers to visit us, fit to be ministers of letters of peace. For there is no sight rarer than this, since everyone is now suspicious of everyone else. For nowhere is there compassion, nowhere sympathy, nowhere a brotherly tear for a suffering brother. Not persecutions for the sake of the truth, not Churches groaning all together, not this long list of difficulties surrounding us is able to move us to concern for one another. But we leap upon the fallen, we scratch at their wounds, we who seem to share the same mind intensify the outrages from the heretics, and those who are in agreement on the most crucial points are in every way divided from one another over some one thing. How then can we not admire the one who in such circumstances displays a pure and sincere love for his neighbors, and across so much sea and land which separates us bodily, bestows possible care on our souls? 258.2 And I admired that in you too, that you also received with sorrow the division of the brothers on the Mount of Olives and wish some reconciliation to come about for them with each other. And that the pretexts found by some and which caused disturbances in the brotherhood did not escape your notice, but that you also undertook concern for these things, this too I approved. But that other matter I no longer considered worthy of your wisdom, namely, entrusting to us the correction of such important matters, men who are neither led by the grace of God, because we live with sins, nor possess any power in discourse, because we have gladly abstained from vain things, but have not yet acquired the proper grasp of the doctrines of truth. We have therefore already written to our beloved brothers on the Mount of Olives, to our Palladius and to Innocentius the Italian,

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εἶχον καὶ τὸν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ μισθὸν ἐξεδέχοντο, καὶ ἡμῖν δὲ ἐπ' ἴσοις τοῖς κατορθώμασι αἱ παρὰ τῶν λαῶν τιμαὶ οὐχ ὑπάρχουσιν· ὥστε εἰκὸς πολυπλασίονα ἀποκεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι τῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας πόνων τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν. 257.2 ∆ιὸ παρακαλοῦμεν ὑμᾶς μὴ ἐκκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψε σιν, ἀλλ' ἀνανεοῦσθαι τῇ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπῃ καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν προστιθέναι τῇ σπουδῇ, εἰδότες ὅτι ἐν ὑμῖν ὀφείλει τὸ λεί ψανον τῆς εὐσεβείας σωθῆναι, ὃ ἐλθὼν ὁ Κύριος εὑρήσει ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Καὶ εἴτε ἀπεδιώχθησαν ἐπίσκοποι τῶν Ἐκκλη σιῶν, τοῦτο ὑμᾶς μὴ σαλευέτω· εἴτε προδόται ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐφύησαν τῶν κληρικῶν, μηδὲ τοῦτο τὴν πεποίθησιν ὑμῶν τὴν εἰς Θεὸν σαθρούτω. Οὐ γὰρ τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστι τὰ σώζοντα ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' αἱ προαιρέσεις καὶ ἡ ἀληθινὴ περὶ τὸν κτίσαντα ἡμᾶς ἀγάπη. Ἐνθυμήθητε ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῇ κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλῇ ἀρχιερεῖς μὲν καὶ γραμματεῖς καὶ πρεσβύτεροι τὸν δόλον συνεσκευάσαντο, ὀλίγοι δὲ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ εὑρίσκοντο οἱ γνησίως τὸν λόγον καταδεχόμενοι, καὶ ὅτι οὐ τὸ πλῆθός ἐστι τὸ σωζόμενον, ἀλλ' οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὥστε μηδέποτε ὑμᾶς πτοείτω λαοῦ πολυοχλία, οἱ ὥσπερ ὕδωρ θαλάσσης ὑπὸ πνευμάτων μεταφερόμενοι. Ἐὰν γὰρ καὶ εἷς σωθῇ ὥσπερ Λὼτ ἐν Σοδόμοις, μένειν ὀφείλει ἐπὶ τῆς ὀρθῆς κρίσεως ἀμετακίνητον ἔχων τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ ἐλπίδα, διότι οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει Κύριος τοὺς ὁσίους αὐτοῦ. Πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ ἀδελφότητα ἀσπάσασθε ἐξ ἐμοῦ· προσεύχεσθε γνησίως ὑπὲρ τῆς ψυχῆς μου τῆς ἐλεει νῆς.

258.τ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ

258.1 Τὸ πάλαι προσδοκηθὲν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου προρρή σεως, νῦν δὲ λοιπὸν

τῇ πείρᾳ τῶν πραγμάτων βεβαιούμενον, ὅτι «∆ιὰ τὸ πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν ψυγήσεται ἡ ἀγάπη τῶν πολλῶν», ἤδη κεκρατημένον παρ' ἡμῖν, ἔδοξε λύειν τὰ γράμματα τῆς τιμιότητός σου κομισθέντα. Ὄντως γὰρ ἀγάπης ἔνδειγμα οὐ τὸ τυχὸν πρῶτον μὲν μνησθῆναι ἡμῶν τῶν οὕτω μικρῶν καὶ μηδενὸς ἀξίων, ἔπειτα καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ἀποστεῖλαι εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν ἡμετέραν πρέποντας εἶναι διακό νους εἰρηνικῶν γραμμάτων. Οὐδὲν γὰρ τούτου σπανιώτερον θέαμα, πάντων πρὸς πάντας λοιπὸν ὑπόπτως διακειμένων. Οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ εὐσπλαγχνία, οὐδαμοῦ συμπάθεια, οὐδαμοῦ δάκρυον ἀδελφικὸν ἐπ' ἀδελφῷ κάμνοντι. Οὐ διωγμοὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας, οὐκ Ἐκκλησίαι στενάζουσαι πανδημεί, οὐχ ὁ πολὺς οὗτος τῶν περιεχόντων ἡμᾶς δυσχερῶν κατάλογος κινεῖν δύναται ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων μέριμναν. Ἀλλὰ τοῖς πτώμασιν ἐναλλόμεθα, τὰ τραύματα ἐπιξαίνο μεν, τὰς παρὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν ἐπηρείας οἱ δοκοῦντες τῷ αὐτῷ κοινωνεῖν φρονήματι ἐπιτείνομεν, καὶ οἱ ἐν τοῖς και ριωτάτοις ἔχοντες συμφωνίαν ἑνί γέ τινι πάντως διεστή κασιν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων. Πῶς οὖν μὴ θαυμάσωμεν τὸν ἐν τοιού τοις πράγμασι καθαρὰν καὶ ἄδολον τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πλησίον ἀγάπην ἐπιδεικνύμενον, καὶ διὰ τοσαύτης θαλάσσης καὶ ἠπείρου τῆς χωριζούσης ἡμᾶς σωματικῶς τὴν ἐνδεχομένην ἐπιμέλειαν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν χαριζόμενον; 258.2 Ἐθαύμασα δέ σου κἀκεῖνο ὅτι καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἐλαιῶνι τῶν ἀδελφῶν διάστασιν λυπηρῶς ἐδέξω καὶ βούλει τινὰ αὐτοῖς γενέσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους συμβιβασμόν. Καὶ ὅτι σε οὐδὲ τὰ παρευρεθέντα ὑπό τινων καὶ ταραχὰς ἐμποιήσαντα τῇ ἀδελφότητι παρέλαθεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις μέρι μναν ἀνεδέξω, καὶ ταῦτα ἀπεδεξάμην. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ οὐκέτι τῆς σῆς ἐνόμισα εἶναι συνέσεως ἄξιον, τὸ ἡμῖν τὴν περὶ τῶν τηλικούτων διόρθωσιν ἐπιτρέπειν, ἀνθρώποις οὔτε χάριτι Θεοῦ ἀγομένοις διὰ τὸ ἁμαρτίαις συζῆν, οὔτε τινὰ κεκτημένοις περὶ τοὺς λόγους δύναμιν διὰ τὸ τῶν μὲν ματαίων ἀγαπητῶς ἀποστῆναι, τῶν δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας δογ μάτων μήπω τὴν προσήκουσαν ἕξιν ἀναλαβεῖν. Ἐπεστεί λαμεν οὖν ἤδη τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἡμῶν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν Ἐλαιῶνα, Παλλαδίῳ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ καὶ Ἰννοκεντίῳ τῷ Ἰταλῷ,