Letter CCXXVIII.1197    Of the same date as the preceding.

To the magistrates of Colonia.

I have received your lordships’ letter, and offered thanks to God most holy, that you, occupied as you are with affairs of state, should not put those of the Church in the second place.  I am grateful to think that every one of you has shewn anxiety as though he were acting in his own private interest, nay, in defence of his own life, and that you have written to me in your distress at the removal of your very God-beloved bishop Euphronius.  Nicopolis has not really stolen him from you; were she pleading her cause before a judge she might say that she was recovering what is her own.  If honourably treated she will tell you, as becomes an affectionate mother, that she will share with you the Father who will give a portion of his grace to each of you:  he will not suffer the one to be in any way harmed by the invasion of their adversaries, and at the same time will not deprive you, the other, of the care to which you have been accustomed.  Bethink you then of the emergency of the time; apply your best intelligence to understand how good government necessitates a certain course of action; and then pardon the bishops who have adopted this course for the establishment of the Churches of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Suggest to yourselves what is becoming you.  Your own intelligence needs no instruction.  You know how to adopt the counsels of those who love you.  It is only natural that you should be unaware of many of the questions that are being agitated, because of our being situated far away in Armenia; but we who are in the midst of affairs and have our ears dinned every day on all sides with news of Churches that are being overthrown, are in deep anxiety lest the common enemy, in envy at the protracted peace of our life, should be able to sow his tares in your ground too, and Armenia, as well as other places, be given over to our adversaries to devour.  For the present be still, as not refusing to allow your neighbours to share with you the use of a goodly vessel.  Ere long, if the Lord allow me to come to you, you shall, if it seem necessary to you, receive yet greater consolation for what has come to pass.

ΠΟΛΙΤΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΙΣ ΚΟΛΩΝΕΙΑΣ

[1] Ἐδεξάμην τὰ γράμματα τῆς κοσμιότητος ὑμῶν καὶ ηὐχαρίστησα τῷ παναγίῳ Θεῷ, ὅτι, ἄσχολοι ὄντες περὶ τὴν μέριμναν τῶν δημοσίων, οὐκ ἐν παρέργῳ τίθεσθε τὰ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος, ὡς ὑπὲρ ἰδίου πράγματος καὶ συνέχοντος αὐτοῦ τὴν ζωήν, οὕτως ἐμερίμνησε, καὶ ἐπεστείλατε ἡμῖν ἀνιώμενοι ἐπὶ τῷ χωρισμῷ τοῦ θεοφιλεστάτου ἐπισκόπου ὑμῶν Εὐφρονίου, ὃν οὐκ ἀφείλετο ὑμῶν ἡ Νικόπολις, ἀλλὰ δικαιολογουμένη μὲν εἴποι ἂν ὅτι τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀπέλαβε, θεραπευομένη δὲ φθέγξεται ὑμῖν φωνὴν μητρὶ φιλοστόργῳ πρέπουσαν, ὅτι κοινὸν ἕξει πρὸς ὑμᾶς τὸν πατέρα, ὃς ἐν μέρει ἑκατέροις τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μεταδώσει χάριτος, οὔτε ἐκείνους ἐάσει τι παθεῖν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιδρομῆς καὶ ὑμᾶς τῆς συνήθους κηδεμονίας οὐκ ἀποστερήσει. Τοῦ τε οὖν καιροῦ τὴν χαλεπότητα λογισάμενοι καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἀναγκαῖον σώφρονι γνώμῃ καταμαθόντες σύγγνωτε μὲν τοῖς ἐπισκόποις ἐπὶ ταύτην ἐλθοῦσι τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς καταστάσεως τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, παραινέσατε δὲ ἑαυτοῖς ὃ πρέπει ἀνδράσι τέλειον μὲν τὸν οἰκεῖον νοῦν κεκτημένοις, εἰδόσι δὲ καὶ τὰς παρὰ τῶν ἀγαπώντων ὑποθήκας προσίεσθαι. Ὑμᾶς μὲν γὰρ εἰκὸς πολλὰ τῶν κινουμένων ἀγνοεῖν διὰ τὸ ἐν ἐσχατιᾷ τῆς Ἀρμενίας τετάχθαι: ἡμεῖς δέ, οἱ μέσοις ἐμβεβηκότες τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ πανταχόθεν ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ταῖς ἀκοαῖς βαλλόμενοι τῶν καταστρεφομένων Ἐκκλησιῶν, ἐν πολλῷ ἀγῶνί ἐσμεν, μήποτε ὁ κοινὸς ἐχθρὸς τῇ μακρᾷ εἰρήνῃ τοῦ βίου ἡμῶν βασκήνας ἐπισπεῖραι δυνηθῇ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ζιζάνια καὶ τοῖς καθ' ὑμᾶς τόποις, καὶ γένηται καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἀρμενίων μέρος κατάβρωμα τῶν ὑπεναντίων. Ἀλλὰ νῦν μὲν ἡσυχάσατε, ὥσπερ σκεύους ἀγαθοῦ χρῆσιν κοινὴν ἔχειν πρὸς τοὺς γείτονας ὑμῶν καταδεξάμενοι. Μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον, ἂν δῷ ὁ Κύριος τὴν ἐπιδημίαν ἡμῶν, καὶ τελεωτέραν παραμυθίαν τῶν γενομένων ἐκδέξεσθε, ἐὰν τοῦτο ὑμῖν ἀναγκαῖον καταφανῇ.