226

magnify with your arts; illumine with the colors of your wisdom the crowned one more dimly painted by me. Let me depart, defeated by the depiction of the martyr's heroic deeds. I rejoice today, being conquered by such a victory of your strength; let me see the struggle of the hand against the fire more accurately painted by you, let me see the combatant painted more brightly upon your image. Let demons weep even now, being struck by the heroic deeds of the martyr in you; let the burning and conquering hand be shown to them again. Do you see how one places painting before prose, in which the deification is so great that even demons weep, and how another has called the making of images venerable, as having been the chastening of a courtesan? Then again, how another does not depart tearless from the sight of the painting, seeing the martyr contending in the painting? Again, how another calls the encaustic painting beloved, as having seen the prototypes in it? Then also the one after them, how he himself does not depart tearless from this painting, as having taken it for the actual sight? See how many are the benefits, consider how great are the advantages. And since, having asked, you have heard not from this and that insignificant and worthless person, but from those themselves who spoke by the spirit of God and thundered under heaven, tell us also the conclusion of the argument, O dogmatist. "4But it is clear that such a notion is vain and an invention of diabolical method"5. It is opportune here to cry out loudly: Be astonished, O heaven, at this, that the sacred dogmas from the God-bearing fathers are declared a vain notion and an invention of the devil's method. But not so, O greatest of deceivers; on the contrary, the flashes of your tongue must be referred back to you. Since, therefore, the style has an end, I want you to know this, brother, that, as for the usages which the iconoclasts bring forward, some are manifestly of heretics (for it is not possible, it is not possible for falsehood not to stand alongside truth, as also tares with the wheat), others are of the holy fathers, distortedly understood by their darkened mind, and others are altogether strange, attributing things against idols to the icon of Christ; of which one must not accept a voice at random, nor indeed join in argument with heretics contrary to the apostolic legislation. For the rest, may you be saved, child, and pray for me to be saved. t381-429 {1BY THE SAME, BOOK II 381 Theodore to the brotherhoods scattered everywhere. Catechetical}1 Grace to you and peace be multiplied; for it is right to address with apostolic words those persecuted for Christ's sake. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who opened a door for us, the humble, although securely guarded, to be joined to you, our beloved brothers, through the communication of a letter. Truly the word of God is not bound, even if the rulers think to bind it; truly we ought greatly to rejoice, because we see in ourselves, sinners, the outcomes of the divine prophecies. Come, let us say, brothers, with the apostle: Who shall separate us from the love of God? Tribulation, or distress, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For did he say these things for himself alone, and not also for us, so that we too might have such a disposition towards God? So let us not lose heart in the afflictions we are in, but let us love to endure with joy even the sufferings that are lacking; for it is an unspeakable joy to suffer for Christ and with Christ, as all the saints have shown, down to Thaddeus our martyr and any other confessor who departed afterwards from prison or from some other place of exile with good zeal and a deed worthy of pursuit. Let us become, my brothers, we too martyrs in such a way as to be always prepared to be arrested, to confess, to be scourged, to die. This is to bear witness daily, this is to die daily, from which it follows that the soul is purified, withdraws from the passions,

226

ὑμετέραις μεγαλύνατε τέχναις· ἀμαυρότερον παρ' ἐμοῦ τὸν στεφανίτην γραφέντα τοῖς τῆς ὑμετέρας σοφίας περιλάμψατε χρώμασιν. ἀπέλθω τῇ τῶν ἀριστευμάτων τοῦ μάρτυρος νενικημένος γραφῇ. χαίρω τῇ τοιαύτῃ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἰσχύος σήμερον νίκῃ ἡττώμενος· ἴδω τῆς χειρὸς πρὸς τὸ πῦρ ἀκριβέστερον παρ' ὑμῶν γραφομένην τὴν πάλην, ἴδω φαιδρότερον ἐπὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας τὸν παλαιστὴν γεγραμ μένον εἰκόνος. κλαυσάτωσαν δαίμονες καὶ νῦν ταῖς τοῦ μάρτυρος ἐν ὑμῖν ἀριστείαις πληττόμενοι· φλεγομένη πάλιν αὐτοῖς ἡ χεὶρ καὶ νικῶσα δεικνύσθω. ὁρᾷς ὅπως ὁ μὲν προτίθησι τῆς λογογραφίας τὴν ζωγραφίαν, ἐν ᾗ ἡλίκη ἡ ἐκθείασις, ὡς καὶ κλαίειν τοὺς δαίμονας, ὁ δὲ πηλίκως πως σεβαστὴν τὴν εἰκονουργίαν κέκληκεν, ὡς ἑταιρίδος σωφρονισμὸν ὑπάρξασαν; εἶτα πάλιν πῶς ὁ ἕτερος οὐκ ἄδακρυς ἐκ τῆς γραφικῆς θέας ἄπεισιν, ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ἀθλοῦσαν βλέπων τὴν μάρτυρα; πάλιν πῶς ὁ ἄλλος ἠγαπημένην καλεῖ τὴν κηρόχυτον γραφήν, ὡς ἐν αὐτῇ ἰδὼν τὰ πρωτότυπα; ἔπειτα καὶ ὁ μετ' αὐτούς, πῶς οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἐκ τῆς γραφῆς τῆσδε ἄδακρυς ἄπεισιν, ὡς αὐτὴν ὑπολαβὼν τὴν αὐτοψίαν; ἴδε ὅσα τὰ ὀνησιφόρα, σκόπησον πηλίκα τὰ ὠφέλιμα. καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐρωτήσας ἤκουσας οὐ παρὰ τοῦδε καὶ τοῦδε σμικρῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ οὐδαμινῶν, πρὸς αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν πνεύματι θεοῦ φθεγξαμένων καὶ βροντώντων τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανόν, φράσον καὶ τὸ συμπέρασμα τοῦ λόγου, ὦ δογματιστά. "4ἀλλ' εὔδηλον ὡς ματαία ἡ τοιαύτη ἐπίνοια καὶ διαβολικῆς μεθοδείας εὕρεμα"5. εὔκαιρον ἐνταῦθα ἐκβοῆσαι μέγα· ἔκστηθι, οὐρανέ, ἐπὶ τούτῳ, ὅτι ματαίαν ἐπίνοιαν καὶ εὕρεμα μεθοδείας διαβόλου τὰ παρὰ τῶν θεοφόρων ἱερὰ δόγματα ἐκπέφασται. ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως, ὦ πλάνων μέγιστε, τοὐναντίον δὲ ἐπὶ σοὶ ἀναθετέον τὰ τῆς γλώσσης σου ἀμαρύγματα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τέλος ἔχει τὸ ὕφος, ἐκεῖνο βούλομαί σε, ἀδελφέ, εἰδέναι, ὅτι, ἅσπερ προφέρουσι χρήσεις οἱ εἰκονομάχοι, αἱ μὲν προδήλως αἱρετικῶν (οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι μὴ οὐχὶ παρυφίστασθαι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τὸ ψεῦδος, ὡς καὶ τῷ σίτῳ τὰ ζιζάνια), αἱ δὲ πατέρων ἁγίων, στρεβλῶς ὑπὸ τῆς ἐσκοτισμένης αὐτῶν διανοίας ἐκλαμβανόμεναι, αἱ δὲ παντάπασιν ἀλλόκοτοι, τὰ κατὰ εἰδώλων τῇ εἰκόνι Χριστοῦ ἀνάπτουσαι· ὧν οὐ δεῖ ὡς ἔτυχεν προσίεσθαι φωνὴν οὔτε μὴν συναίρειν λόγον αἱρετικοῖς παρὰ τὴν ἀποστολικὴν νομοθεσίαν. Τὸ λοιπὸν σῴζοιο, τέκνον, καί με σῴζεσθαι προσεύχου. τ381-429 {1ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ ˉˉΒ 381 Θεόδωρος ταῖς πανταχοῦ διεσπαρμέναις ἀδελφότησιν. κατηχητική}1 Χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη· δίκαιον γὰρ ἀπὸ φωνῶν ἀποστολικῶν τοῖς διὰ Χριστὸν δεδιωγμένοις ἐπιφθέγγεσθαι. εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ ἀνοίξας ἡμῖν τοῖς ταπεινοῖς θύραν, καίπερ τηρουμένοις ἀσφαλῶς, τῇ διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ὁμιλίᾳ συναφθῆναι ὑμῖν τοῖς ἠγαπημένοις ἀδελφοῖς ἡμῶν. ὄντως ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ δέδεται, κἂν δεσμεῖν οἱ κρατοῦντες οἴωνται· ὄντως μέγα ὀφείλομεν χαίρειν, ὅτι ὁρῶμεν ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς τὰς ἐκβάσεις τῶν θείων προρρήσεων. δεῦτε, εἴπωμεν, ἀδελφοί, μετὰ τοῦ ἀποστόλου· τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ; θλῖψις ἢ στενοχωρία ἢ λιμὸς ἢ διωγμὸς ἢ γυμνότης ἢ κίνδυνος ἢ μάχαιρα; μὴ γὰρ δι' ἑαυτὸν μόνον ταῦτα εἴρηκεν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς τοιαύτῃ διαθέσει τὰ πρὸς θεὸν ἔχωμεν; ὥστε μὴ ἐκκακῶμεν ἐν οἷς ἐσμεν θλιβεροῖς, ἀλλ' ἀγαπῶμεν καὶ τὰ ἐλλείποντα παθήματα ὑποῖσαι μετὰ χαρᾶς· χαρὰ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνεκλάλητος ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ καὶ μετὰ Χριστοῦ πάσχειν, καθὼς ἔδειξαν οἱ ἅγιοι πάντες μέχρι Θαδδαίου τοῦ ἡμετέρου μάρτυρος καὶ οὗτινος ἄλλου ὁμολογητοῦ μετόπισθεν ἀπάραντος ἢ ἐκ φυλακῆς ἢ καὶ ἔκ τινος ἄλλου φυγαδείας τόπου καλῇ προθυμίᾳ καὶ ἀξιοδιώκτῳ πράξει. Γενοίμεθα, ἀδελφοί μου, καὶ ἡμεῖς μάρτυρες τοιουτοτρόπως ἐν τῷ ἀεὶ παρεσκευάσθαι συλληφθῆναι, ὁμολογῆσαι, φραγελλωθῆναι, ἀποθανεῖν. τοῦτό ἐστι καθ' ἡμέραν μαρτυρεῖν, τοῦτο καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκειν, ἐξ οὗ καθαίρεσθαι συμβαίνει τὴν ψυχήν, ἀναχωρεῖν τῶν παθῶν,