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to have partaken in communion, and that this was a matter of *oikonomia* through a relaxation of strictness, but not a falling away from the truth."5. What is this, O most honored father? Does he not confess, so to speak, that "4out of consideration for my old age I have ruined my soul, having partaken in communion on the basis of the denial of the icon of Christ, and of the Theotokos and of all the saints; for this is the iconoclastic heresy, and in this I was gathered with the impious, then I also remained until the end in my monastery unpersecuted, while our world was being shaken"?5 Does he not confess and lament in this way, but he would utter those stammerings and, as the interpreter says, he even brings forward in his defense a certain Dianius of the fathers who had done the same thing, whom, he says, Saint Basil received, as also the father of Gregory the Theologian. O the righteous indignation of both our holy prelate and of the whole body of confessors! For if that was not communion nor a falling away, what is the benefit of their struggles and contests, of their blood and hardships? And why was he himself censured? And why does he leave the monastery? And why is he barred from the sacred ministry? O, I say again, the divine indignation! Because, holding the truth in unrighteousness, he thinks that the fathers have suffered the same thing as he. Come then, let us see this irrational argument: "4I partook, but I did not enter into communion."5. Thus the renowned of theologians says somewhere: I partook of the image and I did not keep it. He partakes of my weakness, so that He might both save the image and make the flesh immortal; therefore He partakes in a second communion, and one much more wondrous than the first. Behold, "4I partook"5 has been shown to mean "to be in communion"; for partaking (metalepsis) and communion (koinonia) are the same, the one named from being shared in, the other from the participants being made common. And so the divine apostle: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion in the body of the Lord? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Behold, here too the light of the world has shown that participation is communion, and no one in his right mind would not call participation partaking. As, therefore, the divine bread, when partaken of by the orthodox, makes all the participants one body, so too the heretical bread, making those who partake of it communicants of one another, presents one body opposed to Christ, and the idle talker talks idly in vain. But if it is that his mind, when he partook, was not in agreement with what was being done, this is all the more a denial, because, although knowing he was acting improperly, nevertheless he sinned with knowledge, not fearing the one who kills both soul and body by casting them into Gehenna, but the one who for a time strikes the body. What profits these incompatible things? Why does he think the saints who oppose him are his advocates? Indeed, merely a nod or a shake of the head in either confession or denial is decreed by them to be the fulfillment of the deed, and they did not even accept the hypocrisy in martyrdom of merely touching a sacrifice, not of an idol, but not even of one's own sacrifice; and the examples are countless. What else then was this in the recent persecution? The holy patriarch was deposed, ostracized, exiled in a remote place; an anti-throne Christ-fighter, a synod of apostates, an anathema of the holy synod of Nicaea, a proclamation of the long-standing opposition to Christ, exiles of the holy bishops and abbots, of monks and nuns; blood being shed, untimely deaths, imprisonments, starvations, plunderings; the more terrible thing both seen and heard, the revered icon of Christ being outraged, trampled upon, that of the Theotokos, of all the saints, both the churches and the altars being ruined, the holy things being profaned, handed over to fire. these things being so, is not everyone who partook in communion, that is, who partook of the venomous bread, a denier of Christ, cast out, unholy, unless he be recalled through repentance? Thus is the truth, and for this the martyrs were killed and those who held fast endured all things.

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κοινωνῆσαι, καὶ οἰκονομίαν εἶναι καθ' ὕφεσιν ἀκριβείας, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔκπτωσιν ἀληθείας τοῦτο"5. τί ταῦτα, ὦ πάτερ τιμιώτατε; οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ, ὡς ἐν τύπῳ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι "4φειδοῖ τοῦ γήρους ὤλεσά μου τὴν ψυχήν, κοινωνήσας ἐπὶ τῇ ἀρνήσει τῆς εἰκόνος Χριστοῦ, τῆς τε Θεοτόκου καὶ πάντων ἁγίων· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ εἰκονομαχικὴ αἵρεσις, κἀν τούτῳ συνηλίσθην τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν, εἶτα καὶ ἕως τέλους ἐνέμεινα ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ μου ἀδίωκτος, δονουμένης τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης"5; οὐχ οὕτως ἐξομολογεῖται καὶ προσκλαίει, ἀλλὰ τὰ βατταρίσματα ἐκεῖνα φαίη καί, ὥς φησιν ὁ ἐξηγούμενος, ὅτι γε καὶ παράγει εἰς συνηγορίαν αὐτοῦ ∆ιάνιόν τινα τῶν πατέρων τὸ αὐτὸ πεποιηκότα, ὅν, φησίν, εἰσεδέξατο ὁ Ἅγιος Βασίλειος, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν πατέρα Γρηγορίου τοῦ Θεολόγου. Ὢ δικαίας ἀγανακτήσεως τοῦ τε ἱεροῦ ἡμῶν ἀρχιερέως καὶ παντὸς τοῦ ὁμολογητικοῦ πληρώματος· εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο οὐ κοινωνία οὐδὲ ἔκπτωσις, τί τὸ ὄφελος τῶν ἐκείνοις ἀγώνων τε καὶ ἄθλων, αἱμάτων τε καὶ ταλαιπωρημάτων; τί δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπετιμήθη; τί δὲ καὶ ἀφίησι τὸ μοναστήριον; τί δὲ καὶ εἴργεται τῆς ἱερουργίας; ὤ, καὶ αὖθις λέγω, τῆς θείας ἀγανακτήσεως· ὅτι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐν ἀδικίᾳ κατέχων οἴεται καὶ τοὺς πατέρας ταὐτοπαθεῖν αὐτῷ. φέρε οὖν, ἴδωμεν τὸν ἀλόγιστον λόγον· "4μετέλαβον, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκοινώνησα"5. λέγει τοιγαροῦν ὧδέ που τῶν θεολόγων ὁ διαβόητος· μετέλαβον τῆς εἰκόνος καὶ οὐκ ἐφύλαξα. μεταλαμβάνει τῆς ἐμῆς ἀσθενείας, ἵνα καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα σώσῃ καὶ τὴν σάρκα ἀθανατίσῃ· δευτέραν οὖν κοινωνίαν κοινωνεῖ, καὶ πολὺ τῆς προτέρας παραδοξοτέραν. ἰδού, τὸ "4μετέλαβον"5 κοινωνεῖν ἐκπέφασται· μετάληψις γὰρ καὶ κοινωνία ταὐτόν, ἡ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ μετέχεσθαι, ἡ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ τοὺς μετέχοντας κοινοποιεῖσθαι ὀνομαζομένη. καὶ τοίνυν ὁ θεσπέσιος ἀπόστολος· τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας, ὃ εὐλογοῦμεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν; τὸν ἄρτον, ὃν κλῶμεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Κυρίου ἐστίν; ὅτι εἷς ἄρτος, ἓν σῶμα οἱ πολλοί ἐσμεν· οἱ γὰρ πάντες ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου μετέχομεν. Ἰδού, δέδειχε κἀνταῦθα τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου ὅτι κοινωνία ἐστὶν ἡ μετοχή, οὐκ ἄν τις δὲ φρενῶν εἴσω ὢν οὐχὶ τὴν μετοχὴν μετάληψιν εἴποι. ὡς οὖν ὁ θεῖος ἄρτος ὑπὸ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων μετεχόμενος πάντας τοὺς μετόχους ἓν σῶμα ἀποτελεῖ, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ αἱρετικὸς ἄρτος κοινωνοὺς τοὺς αὐτοῦ μετέχοντας ἀλλήλων ἀπεργαζόμενος ἓν σῶμα ἀντίθετον Χριστοῦ παρίστησι, καὶ ὁ κενολόγος μάτην κενολογεῖ. εἰ δὲ ὅτι ὁ νοῦς, ὁπότε μετελάμβανεν, οὐ συνδιετίθετο τῷ πραττομένῳ, τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ μᾶλλον ἀρνητικόν, ὅτι, καίπερ εἰδὼς ἐκτοπουργεῖν, ὅμως ἐν γνώσει ἡμάρτανεν, μὴ φοβηθεὶς τὸν ἀποκτένοντα θεὸν καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα διὰ τῆς ἐν γεέννῃ ἐμβολῆς, ἀλλὰ τὸν προσκαίρως σῶμα τύπτοντα. τί συμφέρει τὰ ἀσύμβατα; τί οἴεται συνηγόρους τοὺς ἀντηγόρους αὐτοῦ ἁγίους; ἤδη καὶ μόνον κατάνευσις ἢ ἀνάνευσις ἐπί τε ὁμολογίας καὶ ἀρνήσεως ἔργου πλήρωσις αὐτοῖς δογματίζεται καὶ οὐδὲ ὑπόκρισιν εἰς μαρτύριον προσήκαντο τοῦ μόνον ἅψασθαι θύματος, οὐκ εἰδωλικοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἰδιοθύτου· καὶ τὰ παραδείγματα ἄπειρα. Τί δὴ οὖν ἄλλο ἢ τοῦτο ἦν ἐν τῷ προλαβόντι διωγμῷ; ὁ ἱερὸς πατριάρχης κατηνέχθη, ἐξωστρακίσθη, περιωρίσθη ἐν παραβύστῳ τόπῳ· ἀντίθρονος χριστομάχος, σύνοδος ἀθετούντων, ἀναθεματισμὸς τῆς ἐν Νικαίᾳ ἁγίας συνόδου, ἀνάρρησις τῆς πάλαι ἀντιχριστούσης, ὑπερορίαι τῶν ἁγίων ἐπισκόπων τε καὶ ἡγουμένων, μοναζόντων καὶ μοναζουσῶν· αἵματα χεόμενα, θάνατοι ἄωροι, εἱρκταί, λιμαγχονήσεις, λεηλασίαι· τὸ φοβερώτερον καὶ ὁρώμενον καὶ ἀκουόμενον, ἡ σεπτὴ εἰκὼν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνυβριζομένη, καταπατουμένη, τῆς Θεοτόκου, τῶν ἁπάντων ἁγίων, οἵ τε ναοὶ καὶ τὰ θυσιαστήρια ἐρειπούμενα, τὰ ἅγια βεβηλούμενα, πυρὶ παραδιδόμενα. τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων, οὐ πᾶς ὁ κοινωνήσας, ἤγουν μεταλαβών, τοῦ ἰοβόλου ἄρτου ἀρνησίχριστος, ἔκθετος, ἀνόσιος, εἰ μή τι διὰ μετανοίας ἀνακληθῇ; οὕτως ἔχει ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ταύτῃ ἀπεκτάνθησαν οἱ μάρτυρες καὶ ὕποισαν ἅπαντα οἱ ἀντεχόμενοι.