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blood in three cuts, as of one who had offended the Trinity through the outrage against the holy icon of Christ. Depart with Judas, you of Jewish mind, meet your father Ouralyphios Caballonymos; drink this first, as the prophet says, and the more bitter at the end. O his Christ-madness and your confession; you Christ-bearing men, nurslings of piety, fragrances of immortality, denunciations of the enemy; you are the sinews of the Church, the foundation of faith, the glory of the world. Your memory is auspicious, which may future time also receive, your crowning is heavenly, worthily intertwined with the flowers of song. What remains? God must be praised, the pious emperor must be thanked, because for the time being he has permitted a stop to imprisonments and pains, and it must be hoped that God who gave the right first-fruits will also bring the end together with the beginning, to make the horn of peace-pouring Orthodoxy rise. Only I entreat you to remember me more fervently in your prayers and to be on your guard always, because, as long as we breathe, the tempter is present. Your brother Nicholas greets you as is customary. 422 {1To Nicetas the Abbot}1 Your holiness wrote, as I learned, to my lowliness, but I did not receive it on account of some misadventure; but I, as if having received it, am penning for you this my humble little letter, bearing a greeting and uttering the "4hail"5. Why? Because he who was cutting us down has been shattered, or rather cut down, because the Lord has shown in the eyes of all that the rejecter of his holy icon is a denier of him; for as a ray is not separated from the sun, so neither is an icon from its archetype, except only in the difference of substance, I speak, of course, of artificial ones. But yet even though the truth has thus flashed forth, there is no looking up, nowhere any recovery of senses. And who would not groan? And who would not weep, not for the prize-winners (lest anyone suppose this; for how are the blessed of God to be wept for?), but for those who cannot see and who are propped up in the same gloom of impiety? I then, the wretched one, so think and so weep. But you, O sacred head and friend of my nothingness, may you not cease praying for a reconciliation to come from above for the people of God, and then also for us, the unworthy, to be saved, following after you the saints. The brother with me sends greetings. I greet my brothers who are with your holiness, and especially the holy Arsenios. 423 {1To the most holy patriarch Nicephorus}1 I, the wretched one, wrote a while ago, not looking for an exchange of letters, since there is not even an obligation for slaves from masters, but eager to reveal my own disposition, since my desire and the occasion so compelled me, not unreasonably. But you, O divine and foremost peak of sacred heads, not only deigned to write back to the unworthy one, acting in imitation of God, it is clear, but indeed also from the very address you showed us so great a divine height of your humility, that our wretched mind was astounded. O the wonder! If one so great and of such rank, having a virtue that shines forth equally with it, as the facts themselves bear witness, called himself son of a nobody, what would the nobody and obscure one name himself? And if the luminary of holiness were to subscribe himself a sinner, what indeed would the sinner and the destitute one reply? Therefore, even if nothing else had been written in the letter, this alone would have sufficed both to amaze the mind of the receiver and to celebrate the unsurpassable virtue of the sender. But when we, the humble ones, also discerned the whole style of the sacred book, then we were even more delighted, having found the whole body of the discourse suitably perfected in the heading. You know, O saint of God, what things you uttered, moved by the Spirit, how you strengthened our weak mind with the medicines of praise, how you firmly rooted us to not grow weary with patience in tribulations, and whatever else was signified, adorned with divine wisdom. But blessed be God, who in such a seismic shock of impiety such a great champion both

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αἷμα ἐν τομαῖς τρισίν, ὡς τῇ Τριάδι προσκρούσαντος διὰ τῆς ὕβρεως τῆς ἁγίας εἰκόνος Χριστοῦ. ἄπιθι μετὰ τοῦ Ἰούδα, ἰουδαιόφρον, σύντυχε τῷ πατρί σου Οὐραλυφίῳ Καβαλλωνύμῳ· πίε τοῦτο πρῶτον, ὥς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, καὶ τὸ δριμύτερον ἐπ' ἐσχάτῳ. Ὢ τῆς ἐκείνου χριστομανίας καὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας ὁμολογίας· ὑμεῖς ἄνδρες χριστοφόροι, θρέμματα εὐσεβείας, μυρίσματα ἀθανασίας, στηλιτεύματα τοῦ ἐχθροῦ· ὑμεῖς νεῦρα τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἑδραίωμα πίστεως, κλέος τῇ ὑφηλίῳ. ὑμῶν τὸ μνημόσυνον αἴσιον, ὃ καὶ ὁ μέλλων ὑποδέξοιτο χρόνος, ὑμῶν τὸ στεφάνωμα οὐράνιον, τοῖς ᾀσματικοῖς ἄνθεσιν ἀξιοχρέως συμπλεκόμενον. τί τὸ λοιπόν; αἰνητέον θεῷ, εὐχαριστητέον τῷ εὐσεβεῖ βασιλεῖ, ὅτι τῶν φυλακῶν καὶ ὀδυνῶν εἴασεν τέως, καὶ ἐλπιστέον ὅτι ὁ δοὺς θεὸς τὴν ἀπαρχὴν δεξιὰν συναποίσει τῇ ἀρχῇ καὶ τὸ τέλος, τῆς εἰρηνοχύτου ὀρθοδοξίας ἐξανατεῖλαι τὸ κέρας. μόνον παρακαλῶ μνημονεύειν μου ἐν προσευχαῖς θερμότερον καὶ προσέχειν ἑαυτοῖς πάντοτε, ὅτι, ἕως ἂν ἐμπνέωμεν, ὁ πειράζων πάρεστιν. ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν Νικόλαος ἀσπάζεται κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες. 422 {1Νικήτᾳ ἡγουμένῳ}1 Ἐπέστειλεν, ὡς ἔμαθον, ἡ ἁγιωσύνη σου πρὸς τὴν ταπείνωσίν μου, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐδεξάμην διά τινα περιπέτειαν· ἐγὼ δὲ ὡς δεξάμενος χαράσσω σοι τόδε τὸ εὐτελές μου γραμματεῖον, προσηγορίαν κομίζων καὶ τὸ "4χαῖρε"5 φθεγγόμενος. διατί; ὅτι συνετρίβη, μᾶλλον δὲ κατεκόπη ὁ κόπτων ἡμᾶς, ὅτι δέδειχε Κύριος ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἁπάντων ἀρνητὴν αὐτοῦ εἶναι τὸν τῆς ἁγίας αὐτοῦ εἰκόνος ἀθετητήν· ὡς γὰρ οὐ χωρίζεται ἀκτὶς ἀπὸ ἡλίου, οὕτως οὐδὲ εἰκὼν τοῦ πρωτοτύπου ἢ μόνον κατὰ τὸ τῆς οὐσίας διάφορον, ἐπὶ τῶν τεχνητῶν δὴ λέγω. ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ οὕτως ἀστραψάσης τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἔστιν ἄθρησις, οὐδαμοῦ ἀνάνηψις. καὶ τίς οὐ στενάξοι; καὶ τίς οὐκ ἀποκλαύσοιτο, οὐ τοὺς ἀθλοφοροῦντας (μή τί γέ τις τοῦτο ὑπολάβοι· πῶς γὰρ οἱ θεομακάριστοι ἐπικλαύσιμοι;), ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀβλεπτοῦντας καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ ζόφῳ τῆς ἀσεβείας ἐπερειδομένους; Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ὁ τάλας οὕτω καὶ διανοοῦμαι, οὕτω καὶ ἀποκλαίομαι. σὺ δέ, ὦ ἱερὰ κεφαλὴ καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς οὐθενότητος φίλη, μὴ ἀπολήξειας προσευχομένη καταλλαγὴν φθάσαι ἄνωθεν τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἔπειτα τοῦ καὶ ἡμᾶς διασῴζεσθαι τοὺς ἀναξίους, κατόπιν ὑμῶν τῶν ἁγίων ἰόντας. ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφὸς προσαγορεύει. τοὺς μετὰ τῆς ἁγιωσύνης σου ἀδελφούς μου ἀσπάζομαι καί γε μάλιστα τὸν ἱερὸν Ἀρσένιον. 423 {1Νικηφόρῳ τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ πατριάρχῃ}1 Ἐπέστειλα πάλαι ὁ τάλας, οὐ πρὸς ἀντίδοσιν γραμμάτων ἀποσκοπῶν, ὅτι μηδὲ δούλοις παρὰ δεσποτῶν ὀφειλή, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ διάθεσιν γλιχόμενος ὑπεκφάναι, οὕτω τοῦ πόθου καὶ τοῦ καιροῦ βιαζομένων, οὐκ ἀπεικότως. αὐτὸς δέ, ὦ θεία καὶ κορυφαία τῶν ἱερῶν κεφαλῶν ἀκρότης, οὐ μόνον ἀντεπιστεῖλαι ἠξίωσας τῷ ἀναξίῳ, θεομιμήτως δῆλον ὅτι φερόμενος, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς προγραφῆς τοσοῦτον ἡμῖν τὸ τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης σου θεῖον ὕψος ὑπέδειξας, ὡς καταπλαγῆναι ἡμῶν τὴν οἰκτρὰν διάνοιαν. ὢ τοῦ θαύματος· εἰ ὁ τοσοῦτος καὶ τηλικοῦτος τὴν ἀξίαν καὶ τῇδε συνισουμένην ἔχων τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀπαστράπτουσαν, ὡς αὐτὰ μαρτυρεῖ τὰ πράγματα, υἱὸν ἑαυτὸν τοῦ οὐθενοῦς ἀπεκάλεσεν, ὁ οὐθενὴς καὶ ἀφανὴς τί ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάσειεν; καὶ εἰ ὁ τῆς ἁγιωσύνης λαμπτὴρ ἁμαρτωλὸν ἑαυτὸν ὑπογράφοιεν, ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς καὶ ἠπορημένος τί δ' ἂν καὶ ἀποκριθήσεται; ἄρα, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἐγέγραπτο τῇ ἐπιστολῇ, ἤρκει τοῦτο μόνον τοῦ τε δεχομένου τὸν νοῦν ἐκθαμβῆσαι καὶ τοῦ πεπομφότος τὸ ἀνυπέρβλητον ἐν ἀρετῇ θριαμβεῦσαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὸ ὅλον ὕφος τοῦ ἱεροῦ βιβλίου διέγνωμεν οἱ ταπεινοί, τότε καὶ μᾶλλον ἥσθημεν, τῇ κεφαλίδι τὸ ὅλον σῶμα τῆς διαλέξεως καταλλήλως εὑρηκότες ἀπηρτισμένον. Οἶδας, ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ, οἷα ἐφθέγξω πνευματοκινήτως, ὡς ἐπέρρωσας ἡμῶν τὴν ἀσθενῆ διάνοιαν ἐπαίνων φαρμακεύμασιν, ὡς συνερρίζωσας ἡμᾶς ὑπομονητικῶς μὴ ἐκκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ὑπεσημαίνετο θεοσοφίᾳ καλλυνόμενα. ἀλλ' εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεός, ὃς ἐν τοιούτῳ σεισμῷ ἀσεβείας τηλικοῦτον ὑπέρμαχον ὁμοῦ καὶ