Letter CCXXX.1201    Of the same date as the preceding.

To the magistrates of Nicopolis.

The government of the Churches is carried on by those to whom the chief offices in them have been entrusted, but their hands are strengthened by the laity.  The measures which lay with the God-beloved bishops have been taken.  The rest concerns you, if you deign to accord a hearty reception to the bishop who has been given you, and to make a vigorous resistance to attacks from outside.  For nothing is so likely to cause discouragement to all, whether rulers or the rest who envy your peaceful position, as agreement in affection to the appointed bishop, and firmness in maintaining your ground.  They are likely to despair of every evil attempt, if they see that their counsels are accepted neither by clergy nor by laity.  Bring it about then that your own sentiments as to the right1202    τοῦ καλοῦ, or “the good man:”  i.e. Euphronius. may be shared by all the city, and so speak to the citizens, and to all the inhabitants of the district, in confirmation of their good sentiments, that the genuineness of your love to God may be everywhere known.  I trust that it may be permitted me one day to visit and inspect a Church which is the nursing mother of true religion, honoured by me as a metropolis of orthodoxy, because it has from of old been under the government of men right honourable and the elect of God, who have held fast to “the faithful word as we have been taught.”1203    Tit. i. 9.  cf. 1 Tim. i. 15; 1 Tim. iii. 1; 2 Tim. ii. 11; and Tit. iii. 8.  You have approved him who has just been appointed as worthy of these predecessors, and I have agreed.  May you be preserved by God’s grace.  May He scatter the evil counsels of our enemies, and fix in your souls strength and constancy to preserve what has been rightly determined on.

ΠΟΛΙΤΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΙΣ ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ

[1] Αἱ περὶ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας οἰκονομίαι γίνονται μὲν παρὰ τῶν πεπιστευμένων τὴν προστασίαν αὐτῶν, βεβαιοῦνται δὲ παρὰ τῶν λαῶν. Ὥστε ὃ μὲν ἦν ἐπὶ τοῖς θεοφιλεστάτοις ἐπισκόποις πεπλήρωται: τὸ δὲ λειπόμενον ἤδη πρὸς ὑμᾶς βλέπει, ἐὰν καταξιώσητε ἐκθύμως περιέχεσθαι τοῦ δεδομένου ὑμῖν ἐπισκόπου καὶ τὰς παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν πείρας ἰσχυρῶς ἀποκρούεσθαι. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω δυσωπεῖ οὔτε ἄρχοντας οὔτε τοὺς λοιπούς, ὅσοι βασκαίνουσιν ὑμῶν τῇ εἰρηνικῇ καταστάσει, ὡς τὸ σύμφωνον περὶ τὴν τοῦ δεδομένου ἀγάπην καὶ τὸ ἰσχυρὸν τῆς ἐνστάσεως. Ἀπόγνωσιν γὰρ ἐμποιεῖ αὐτοῖς πάσης ἐπιχειρήσεως πονηρᾶς, ἐὰν ἴδωσι μήτε κλῆρον μήτε λαὸν τὰς αὐτῶν ἐπινοίας παραδεχόμενον. Ἣν οὖν γνώμην ἔχετε περὶ τοῦ καλοῦ, ταύτην κοινὴν ποιήσασθε τῆς πόλεως: καὶ τοῖς δήμοις καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς οἰκοῦσι τὴν χώραν διαλέχθητε τὰ πρέποντα ἐπιρρώσοντες αὐτῶν τὰς καλὰς προαιρέσεις, ὥστε διαβοηθῆναι παρὰ πᾶσι τὸ γνήσιον ὑμῶν τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπης. Ἐὰν δὲ καταξιωθῶμεν καὶ αὐτοί ποτε παραγενέσθαι καὶ ἐπισκέψασθαι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τὴν τροφὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας, ὡς μητρόπολιν τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας τιμῶμεν, διὰ τὸ ἐκ παλαιοῦ ὑπὸ τιμιωτάτων ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐκλεκτῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκονομεῖσθαι αὐτὴν ἀντεχομένων τοῦ κατὰ τὴν διδαχὴν πιστοῦ λόγου, ὧν ἄξιον εἶναι τὸν νῦν ἀναφανέντα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐδοκιμάσατε καὶ ἡμεῖς συνεθέμεθα. Μόνον φυλαχθείητε παρὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ παραλύοντες μὲν τὰ πονηρὰ βουλεύματα τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ἰσχὺν δὲ καὶ εὐτονίαν πρὸς φυλακὴν τῶν καλῶς δεδομένων ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν ἐμποιοῦντες.