228

Christianity from the beginning of the apostles' preaching for more than the two hundredth year until Constantine the first emperor of the Christians was in a raging persecution. Those afterwards were more relaxed, but nevertheless long-lasting, except for the one under Julian the Apostate. The great Paul was persecuted for thirty-five years and died daily, and you have grown weak in five years? Clement, the much-suffering, bore witness for twenty-eight years, and you are gaping in a short time? Where is there time for me to speak of the other martyrs? Have you not heard of the patience of Job? Was he not tormented for fifteen years or more with a wicked sore in addition to the other tragedies brought upon him, and this while not being conscious of having done anything on the left, but rather indeed even of things exceedingly on the right? But what was the divine utterance to him? ‘That you may be revealed as righteous,’ it says. So also now providence as it were sifts those present, so that the tares might still be cast out, so that the wheat might remain pure. Do you not hear what he says to Jeremiah? Put them into the furnace and see if it is a proof, as I was tested for them. Let us bear it still, O noble soldiers of Christ. The days pass by like shadows, even if the persecutors think to persist. ‘If they persecuted me,’ he says, ‘they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.’ ‘But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake, because they do not know him who sent me.’ For in truth they do not know that God and the Father sent his only-begotten Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those under the law, that he might win the world for his own Father. For surely they would have denied that he be depicted. For no one born of a woman is undepictable, unless they were an abortion. Thus therefore, brothers, let us prepare ourselves and thus be comforted by the words of our savior Jesus Christ, awaiting the reward. But you know what sort Leontios is; a race of eunuchs not only dishonored, as one of the God-bearers has said, but also Christ-denying; and not even content with this, but also savagely punishing our brothers. The former disciple is now a Judaizing denier, he who among excelling brothers is against the brothers above all the punishers; he who used to say not simply ‘icon’, but ‘holy icon’ of Christ perhaps, of the Theotokos or of any of the saints, is now burning, destroying, blaspheming like a raging beast. As a result of which he is loved by the ruler and is head of our monasteries and does all things, the wretch, to the outrage of Christ. But woe is me; for his comedies are my own; nevertheless because he is like the one who begot him according to the flesh, since he too in former times was a first-fruit of impiety, just as also that of Hermias; for both are possessed by demons and God does not mix a crow and a dove, but like with like. They indeed are thus; and may the Lord give them knowledge of the truth, having been taken captive by the devil for his will. But may Christ, with those whom the apostate punishes, establish you, strengthen you, empower you to endure yet more, being hungry, thirsty, naked, beaten, homeless, toiling, reviled, persecuted, defamed, being as the refuse of the world, the scum of all, according to the great Paul, with whom may your portion also be. Brothers, pray for us sinners that we may be saved, being deemed worthy of the last rank of all those who stand firm. The brother with me, Nicholas, greets you. Grace be with all of you. Amen. 382 {1Catechetical. Theodore to the brotherhoods scattered everywhere}1 Rejoice, my longed-for brothers and fathers, for it is good news of joy. Again we, the unworthy, have been deemed worthy to confess the good confession, again we both have been tortured for the name of the Lord; for brother Nicholas also has contended most nobly and most faithfully. We, the lowly, saw our blood being poured out from our flesh upon the earth, we beheld welts, gore, and the things that follow these. Are not these things of joy? Are not these things

228

ὁ χριστιανισμὸς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς τοῦ κηρύγματος τῶν ἀποστόλων ὑπὲρ τὸ διακοσιοστὸν ἔτος μέχρι Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ πρώτου βασιλέως χριστιανῶν ἐν διωγμῷ βρέμοντι. οἱ μετέπειτα ὑφειμένως μέν, ὅμως μακροετίζοντες, πάρεξ τοῦ κατὰ Ἰουλιανὸν τὸν ἀποστάτην. Παῦλος ὁ μέγας τριακονταπέντε ἔτεσιν διωκόμενος καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκων, καὶ σὺ ἐν πέντε χρόνοις ἠτονηκώς; Κλήμης ὁ πολύαθλος εἰκοσιοκτὼ ἔτεσιν μαρτυρῶν, καὶ σὺ ἀχανιῶν ἐν βραχέσιν; ποῦ μοι καιρὸς τὰ τῶν ἄλλων μαρτύρων λέγειν; οὐκ ἤκουσας τὴν ὑπομονὴν Ἰώβ; οὐχὶ πεντεκαίδεκα ἔτη ἢ καὶ πρὸς ἕλκει πονήρῳ ἐβασανίζετο πρὸς τοῖς ἐπενεχθεῖσιν αὐτῷ ἄλλοις τραγῳδήμασιν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ συνειδώς τι πεπραχέναι τῶν ἀριστερῶν, μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν γε καὶ τῶν λίαν δεξιῶν; ἀλλὰ τί αὐτῷ ὁ χρηματισμός; ἵνα δίκαιος, φησίν, ἀναφανῇς. οὕτω καὶ νῦν κοσκινίζει ἡ πρόνοια οἱονεὶ τοὺς παρόντας, ἵνα τὰ ζιζάνια ἔτι ἐκριφῇ, ἵνα ὁ σῖτος ἐναπομείνοι καθαρός. οὐκ ἀκούεις τί λέγει τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ; κάθες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον καὶ σκέψαι εἰ δοκίμιόν ἐστιν, καθὼς ἐγὼ ἐδοκιμάσθην ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. ἐνέγκωμεν ἔτι, ὦ γενναῖοι στρατιῶται Χριστοῦ. αἱ ἡμέραι ὡσεὶ σκιαὶ παράγουσιν, κἂν οἱ διώκοντες ἐπιμένειν οἴωνται· εἰ ἐμὲ ἐδίωξαν, φησίν, καὶ ὑμᾶς διώξουσιν· εἰ τὸν λόγον μου ἐτήρησαν, καὶ τὸν ὑμέτερον τηρήσουσιν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα πάντα ποιήσουσιν ὑμῖν διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδασι τὸν πέμψαντά με. ἐπ' ἀληθείας γὰρ οὐκ οἴδασιν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ ἔπεμψεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ γενόμενον ἐκ γυναικός, γενόμενον ὑπὸ νόμον, ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον ἐξαγοράσῃ, ἵνα τὴν οἰκουμένην τῷ ἰδίῳ πατρὶ κατακτήσηται. ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἠρνοῦντο αὐτὸν ἐγγράφεσθαι· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐκ γυναικὸς γεννώμενος ἀνεικόνιστος, εἰ μηδ' ἂν εἶεν ἔκτρωμα. Οὕτω τοιγαροῦν, ἀδελφοί, καταρτίζωμεν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ οὕτω παρακαλούμεθα τοῖς λόγοις τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀναμένοντες τὴν ἀνταπόδοσιν. ἀλλ' οἴδατε οἷος ὁ Λεόντιος· εὐνούχων γένος οὐ μόνον ἄτιμον, ὥς τις τῶν θεοφόρων εἴρηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρνησίχριστον· καὶ οὐδ' οὕτως ἀρκούμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγρίως τιμωρούμενον ἀδελφοὺς ἡμῶν. ὁ πρὶν μαθητὴς νῦν ἀρνητὴς ἰουδαΐζων, ὁ ἐν ἀδελφοῖς ὑπερέχουσιν κατὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑπὲρ ἅπαντας τοὺς κολάζοντας· ὁ μὴ λέγων ἁπλῶς εἰκόνα, ἀλλὰ ἁγίαν εἰκόνα Χριστοῦ τυχόν, τῆς Θεοτόκου ἤ τινος οὖν τῶν ἁγίων ἄρτι ἐστὶ καίων, καθαίρων, ὡς θὴρ μαινόμενος βλασφημῶν. ἐξ οὗ καὶ τῷ κρατοῦντι φιλούμενος καὶ τῶν μοναστηρίων ἡμῶν ἄρχων καὶ πάντα πράττων ὁ τάλας εἰς Χριστοῦ ὕβριν. ἀλλ' οὐαί μοι· ἐμὰ γὰρ τὰ ἐκείνου κωμῳδήματα· ὅμως ὅτι τῷ κατὰ σάρκα φύσαντι ὅμοιος, ἐπεὶ κἀκεῖνος ἐν τοῖς πάλαι καιροῖς ἀκροθίνιον ἀσεβείας, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῦ Ἑρμίου· ἄμφω γὰρ δαιμονῶσιν καὶ οὐ μίγει ὁ θεὸς κορώνην καὶ περιστεράν, ἀλλὰ τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς ὁμοίοις. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὕτω· καὶ δοίη αὐτοῖς Κύριος ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας, ἐζωγρημένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου εἰς τὸ ἐκείνου θέλημα. ὑμᾶς δὲ Χριστὸς σὺν οἷς ὁ ἀποστάτης κολάζει στηρίξειεν, δυναμώσειεν, κρατύνειεν ὑπενεγκεῖν ἔτι πεινῶντας, διψῶντας, γυμνητεύοντας, κολαφιζομένους, ἀστατοῦντας, κοπιῶντας, λοιδορουμένους, διωκομένους, βλασφημουμένους, ὡς περικαθάρματα ὄντας τοῦ κόσμου, πάντων περίψημα κατὰ Παῦλον τὸν μέγαν, μεθ' οὗ εἶεν καὶ ἡ μερὶς ὑμῶν. ἀδελφοί, προσεύχεσθε περὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἵνα σῳζοίμεθα, ἀξιούμενοι πάντων τῶν ἐνισταμένων τοῦ ἐσχάτου βαθμοῦ. ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφὸς Νικόλαος. ἡ χάρις μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν. ἀμήν. 382 {1Κατηχητική. Θεόδωρος ταῖς πανταχοῦ διεσπαρμέναις ἀδελφότησιν}1 Χαίρετε, ἐπιπόθητοί μου ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, ὅτι χαρᾶς εὐαγγέλια. πάλιν ἠξιώθημεν οἱ ἀνάξιοι ὁμολογῆσαι τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν, πάλιν ᾐκίσθημεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Κυρίου ἀμφότεροι· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὁ ἀδελφὸς Νικόλαος ἐνήθλησεν κάλλιστα καὶ πιστότατα. εἴδομεν ἐκ σαρκῶν ἡμῶν κενούμενα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς αἵματα οἱ ταπεινοί, ἐθεασάμεθα μώλωπας, ἰχῶρας, τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα. οὐ ταῦτα χαρᾶς; οὐ ταῦτα