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understanding befitting him, as one laying claim to the divine study of the scriptures, and not disdaining to have a genuine regard for me, the humble one.

THREE DIALOGUES ON THE HOLY TRINITY Pg. (652)

To the most God-loving and one who has attained the summit of learning, lord Maximos Margounios, bishop of Kythera, David Hoeschel, may you live happily.

In all the sacred scriptures, most God-loving master, we find precepts on how one must live in a well-ordered and virtuous manner; and especially what the divine Apostle exhorts, to walk honestly toward them that are without. And again, that all things be done decently and in order. For if even those uninitiated in the divinely-inspired teaching rightly declared that to honor Being fittingly, to walk in an orderly way in one's paths, and to be kindly to one another is the proper work of man; much more surely does it befit those taught by God to be thankful and honoring toward God. To live one's life piously, to be philanthropic toward all, and always to have good conduct among the Gentiles; so that, wherein they speak against them [as Saint Peter somewhere says] as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. This very thing the men of old always preserved even in the Synaxes of the saints; thus accomplishing each thing with all reverence, so that things that seem both great and small might show something befitting God and beyond man. As one might infer also from the book which Maximos, surnamed the Confessor, left behind, having then also depicted the sacred rites very correctly. The edition of which I have now dedicated to you, most reverend Father; inscribing your namesake, as a kind of savior Zeus, and attaching it as an amulet against the envy of the ignorant. This little treatise, first sent to me by you, then procured here on parchments, is dedicated to you. I think that Maximos himself, if he were to live again now, would be overjoyed at the outcome which has now come to his priestly work, that it was dedicated to the most excellent of the archbishops of Greece, and for this reason would not disagree with my opinion. Therefore, receive this little gift gladly and with affection, and you will receive (if God wills) after not long, a mystical interpretation by the same holy Maximos on the "Our Father," addressed to a certain Christ-lover, and other things from the ancient (653) writers. The Myriobiblos of Photios, in Greek, is now with us, by my labor and diligence, using three different copies, being printed. May you be preserved in health for the Church of God, by His grace, all-praised and God-guarded master.

In Augsburg, on the seventh day of the waning month of Munichion, in the year 1599 from the Incarnation of the Word.

Maximos Margounios, humble bishop of Kythera, to David Hoeschel, a most wise man, wishes well.

Concerning the dedication of the works of the holy Maximos, it would indeed be most gratifying to me, if just as in name with that blessed one, so also I could share in the grace lavishly granted to him from above. And then in this way would the fellowship of persons be

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ἐμπρέπουσαν αὐτῷ σύνεσιν, ὡς τῆς θείας τῶν λόγων σπουδῆς μεταποιούμενον, καί γνήσιον περί ἐμέ τόν ταπεινόν σχέσιν ἔχειν οὐκ ἀπαξιοῦντα.

DE SANCTA TRINITATE DIALOGI TRES Σελ. (652)

Τῷ θεοφιλεστάτῳ καί εἰς ἄκρον παιδείας ἐληλακότι, κυρίῳ Μαξίμῳ τῷ Μαργουνίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Κυθήρων, ∆αβίδ ὁ Ἐσχέλιος, εὐδαιμόνως διαζῇν.

Ἐν πᾶσι μέν τοῖς ἱεροῖς λόγοις, θεοφιλέστατε δέσποτα, ὑποθήκας εὑρίσκομεν, ὡς χρή ζῇν κοσμίως τε καί ἐναρέτως· μάλιστα δέ οἷς ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος παραινεῖ, εὐσχημόνως περιπατεῖν πρός τούς ἔξω. Καί πάλιν εὐσχημόνως καί κατά τάξιν πάντα γίνεσθαι. Εἰ γάρ καί οἱ τῆς θεοπνεύστου διδασκαλίας ἀμύητοι, τό, πρεπόντως τιμῆσαι τό Ὄν, εὐτάκτως ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς βαδίσαι, φιλοφρονήσασθαι ἀλλήλους ἴδιον ἔργον ἀνθρώπου καλῶς ἀπεφήναντο· μᾶλλον πάντως τοῖς θεοδιδάκτοις πρέπει εὐχαριστικῶς τε καί τιμητικῶς ἔχειν Θεοῦ. Ὁσίως διάγειν τόν βίον, φιλανθρωπεύεσθαι πρός πάντας, καί ἑκάστοτε τήν ἀναστροφήν ἔχειν καλήν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· ἵνα, ἐν ᾧ καταλαλοῦσιν αὐτῶν [καθά φησίν που ὁ ἅγιος Πέτρος] ὡς κακοποιῶν, ἐκ τῶν καλῶν ἔργων ἐποπτεύοντες, δοξάσωσι τόν Θεόν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς. Τοῦτο αὐτό οἱ πάλαι πάντοτε κἀν ταῖς Συνάξεσι τῶν ἁγίων διετήρουν· οὕτω τά καθ᾿ ἕκαστον τε μετά πάσης εὐλαβείας διαπραξάμενοι, ὥστε μεγάλα τε καί μικρά δοκοῦντα, θεοπρεπές τι καί ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον ὑποδεικνύναι. Οἷον τεκμήραιτ᾿ ἄν τις καί ἐξ ἧς κατέλιπε βίβλου Μάξιμος ὁ τήν ἐπίκλην Ὁμολογητής, καί τότε ἱεροτελεστίας λίαν ὀρθῶς ἀναζωγραφήσας. Ἧς τήν ἔκδοσίν σοι, αἰδεσιμώτατε Πάτερ, τά νῦν προσπεφώνηκα· τό ὁμώνυμόν σου, ὥς τινα σωτῆρα ∆ία, ἐπιγραφομένην, καί κατά τῆς τῶν ἀμαθῶν βασκανίας ὡς παράρτυμα περιαπτομένην. Τοῦτο τό συναταγμάτιον, πρώτως μέν παρά σοῦ μοι πεμφθέν, εἶτα δ᾿ ἐν μεμβράναις κἀνταῦθα προσπορισθέν, ἀνάκειταί σοι. Οἶμαι δέ ἄν αὐτόν τόν Μάξιμον, εἴπερ νῦν ἀναβιῴη, τοῦ ἱερατικοῦ πάλαι γεγονότος τέλους περιχαρῆναι, ὅτι ἐπεφωνήθη τῶν ἀρχιερέων τῆς Ἑλλάδος τῷ πάνυ, καί οὐκ ἄν διά τοῦτο τῆς ἐμῆς γνώμης διαφωνήσαι. Ἀσμένως οὖν, τάδε τό δωρίδιον καί προσφιλῶς ἀπόδεξαι, ληψόμενος (ἐάν Θεός θελήσῃ) μετ᾿ οὐ πολύ, μυστικήν τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὁσίου Μαξίμου εἰς τό, Πάτερ ἡμῶν, πρός τινα φιλόχριστον, ἑρμηνείαν, καί ἄλλα τῶν πάλαι (653) συγγραφέων. Ἡ τοῦ Φωτίου Μυριόβιβλος ἤδη Ἑλληνιστί παρ᾿ ἡμῖν, πόνῳ και ἐπιμελείᾳ μου, ἀντιγράφοις γ´ διαφόροις χρωμένου, ἐντυποῦται. Ἐῤῥωμένος διαφυλάσσοιο τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι, πανεύφημε καί θεοφρούρητε δέσποτα.

Ἐν Αὐγούστῃ Οὐϊνδελικῶν Μουνιχιῶνος ἑβδόμῃ φθίνοντος, ἔτει ἀπό τῆς Ἐνσαρκώσεως τοῦ Λόγου αφηθ´.

Μάξιμος ὁ Μαργούνιος, ταπεινός Κυθήρων ἐπίσκοπος, ∆αυΐδῃ τῷ Ἐσχελίῳ, σοφωτάτῳ ἀνδρί, εὖ πράττειν.

Περί τῆς τῶν τοῦ ἱεροῦ Μαξίμου προσφωνητικῆς, ὑπέρχαρι μέν ἔμοιγ᾿ ἄν εἴη, εἰ ὥσπερ τοῦ ὀνόματος τῷ μακαρίῳ ἐκείνῳ, οὕτω, καί τῆς ἄνωθεν αὐτῷ δαψιλῶς χορηγηθείσης συγκοινωνοίην χάριτος. Καί ἦν ἄν ἄρα ταύτῃ ἡ τῶν προσώπων κοινωνία