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the heterodox from the churches of God and for the holy patriarch Nikephoros to receive back his own throne; who, having sat in council with those with whom he contended (if it is not possible for a representative from the other patriarchs to be present; which is possible, if the emperor should wish the one from the West to be present, to whom also the authority of the ecumenical council is referred), would bring to completion the award of peace and of union, clearly through his own synodical letters, sent to the first-throned. But if this is not acceptable to the emperor and, as he says, our president Nikephoros has deviated from the truth along with us, an embassy must be sent from both sides to the one of Rome and from there let him receive the security of the faith. For so it is: if one of the patriarchs should deviate, by his peers, as the divine Dionysius says, he will receive correction, not be judged by emperors, even if all the orthodox emperors should rise up. And of this main point our emperor ought not to be neglectful, but rather to take thought for it before all things, in which both the blessedness of the empire and the power to rule lawfully has been granted. We the humble and unworthy think nothing else, praying earnestly for your much-desired well-being; and if there is anything lacking in the letter, the venerator of your precious footsteps and bearer of the letter will explain. 479 {1To Theodotos the Patrician}1 From your esteemed letter we have seen your all-honored excellence and from hearing what was signified we have recognized your good soul; for to use such honorable words toward us sinners, and to desire to see our humble person, and then also to hear a word of salvation, is the mark of a man truly inspired by God and of a soul that longs for God. And how wonderful are the works of the great and only God of us Christians; that he called you from an unholy nation to the holy knowledge of his truth in such a manner, seeming indeed involuntary, but in fact most voluntary, along with the kinsmen who came out with you, since otherwise it was not approved by the divine economy to snatch you away from godlessness. O wondrous calling! O praiseworthy redemption! you were brought from darkness into his marvelous light, having put off the old man with its absurd and pagan reasonings and practices, you put on Christ, being called a Christian instead of a pagan, a son of light and a son of day, instead of a son of darkness and of the night of impiety, worshiping one God, who is adored in Father and Son and Holy Spirit, having fled the impiety of polytheism and Bulgarian idolatry; and then also confessing that the one of the Holy Trinity, the very Son and Word of God, through his surpassing mercy for our race, became a man like us in all respects, while also being the same perfect God. For God is the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, one God, not three gods, perish the thought; the one because of the one divinity, the other because of the three persons. This is the true faith of the Christians, which abolishes every error and heresy. And since Christ is twofold, in that he is perfect God and perfect man, the one as begotten of the Father before the ages like radiance from the sun, the other from his mother at the end of time like our birth, or rather even beyond ours (since the one who bore him was a virgin both before and during and after the birth, for which reasons she is truly both conceived and called Theotokos), for this reason, just as according to the Father he is uncircumscribable, so according to his mother he is depicted on a panel and his depiction, that is, his icon, is to be venerated, in which he is seen by us Christians in the form which he took on and is glorified as having become like us in all things except sin, having abolished every likeness of an idol, by which the race of men, worshiping it from days of old, was being destroyed. He therefore who does not accept that he be depicted in an icon, O good friend, denies by his very actions, even if he agrees in word, that the

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τοὺς ἑτεροδόξους τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ ἀπολαβεῖν τὸν οἰκεῖον θρόνον Νικηφόρον τὸν ἱερὸν πατριάρχην· ὅς, συνεδρεύσας μεθ' ὧν συνήθλησεν (εἰ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων πατριαρχῶν παρεῖναι ἀντιπροσώπου· ὅπερ δυνατόν ἐστιν, εἰ θέλοι βασιλεὺς τὸν ἐκ ∆ύσεως παρεῖναι, ᾧ καὶ τὸ κράτος ἀναφέρεται τῆς οἰκουμενικῆς συνόδου), ἀποπεράνοι ἂν τὸ τῆς εἰρήνης καὶ τὸ τῆς συναφείας βραβευτήριον δῆλον ὅτι δι' οἰκείων συνοδικῶν, ἀποστελλομένων τῷ πρωτοθρόνῳ. εἰ δὲ οὐ τοῦτο καταδεκτέον τῷ βασιλεῖ καί, ὥς φησι, παρετράπη σὺν ἡμῖν τῆς ἀληθείας Νικηφόρος ὁ πρόεδρος, ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους ἀποσταλτέον πρὸς τὸν Ῥώμης κἀκεῖθεν δεχέσθω τὸ ἀσφαλὲς τῆς πίστεως. καὶ γὰρ οὕτως ἔχει· εἰ παρατραπῇ εἷς ἐκ τῶν πατριαρχῶν, ὑπὸ τῶν ὁμοταγῶν, καθά φησιν ὁ θεῖος ∆ιονύσιος, τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν λήψεσθαι, οὐχ ὑπὸ βασιλέων κρίνεσθαι, κἂν ἐξαναστῶσιν πάντες οἱ ὀρθοδοξήσαντες βασιλεῖς. καὶ τούτου τοῦ κεφαλαίου οὐκ ὀφείλει ἀφειδῆσαι ὁ βασιλεὺς ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ πάντων γε φροντίσαι, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸ βασίλειον μακάριον καὶ τὸ βασιλεύειν ἐννόμως δεδώρηται. Ἄλλο τι οὐ φρονοῦμεν οἱ ταπεινοὶ καὶ ἀνάξιοι, ὑπερευχόμενοι τῆς πολυεύκτου σου εὐζωΐας· εἰ δέ τι ἐλλιπὲς ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν, ὁ προσκυνητὴς τῶν τιμίων σου ἰχνῶν καὶ ἐπιστοληφόρος ἀπολογήσεται. 479 {1Θεοδότῳ πατρικίῳ}1 Ἀπὸ τοῦ τιμίου γράμματος εἴδομέν σου τὴν πανεύφημον ὑπεροχὴν καὶ ἀπὸ ἀκροάσεως τῶν σημαινομένων ἐπέγνωμέν σου τὴν καλὴν ψυχήν· τὸ γὰρ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τοιούτοις χρήσασθαι τιμητικοῖς λόγοις, ἐπιθυμεῖν τε ἡμῶν ἰδεῖν τὸ εὐτελὲς πρόσωπον, εἶτα καὶ ἀκουτισθῆναι λόγον σωτήριον, ἀνδρός ἐστιν ὄντως ἐνθέου καὶ ψυχῆς ἐπιποθούσης θεόν. καὶ ὡς θαυμαστὰ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ μόνου θεοῦ ἡμῶν τῶν χριστιανῶν· ὅτι ἐκάλεσέν σε ἐξ ἔθνους οὐχ ὁσίου εἰς τὴν σεπτὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτοῦ τρόπῳ τηλικούτῳ, δοκοῦντι μὲν ἀκουσίῳ, αὐθαιρέτῳ δ' ὅτι μάλιστα, σὺν τοῖς συνεξελθοῦσιν ἀγχιστεῦσιν, ἐπείπερ ἄλλως οὐ δεδοκίμασται τῇ θείᾳ οἰκονομίᾳ ἀφαρπάσαι ὑμᾶς τῆς ἀθεότητος. ὢ τῆς θαυμαστῆς κλήσεως· ὢ τῆς ἐπαινετῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως· ἠνέχθης ἐκ σκότους εἰς τὸ θαυμαστὸν αὐτοῦ φῶς, ἀπεκδυσάμενος τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον σὺν τοῖς ἀτόποις καὶ ἐθνικοῖς λογισμοῖς τε καὶ πράξεσιν, ἐνεδύσω τὸν Χριστόν, χριστιανὸς ἀντ' ἐθνικοῦ χρηματίζων, υἱὸς φωτὸς καὶ υἱὸς ἡμέρας, ἀνθ' υἱοῦ σκότους καὶ νυκτὸς ἀσεβείας, ἕνα θεὸν σέβων, τὸν ἐν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι προσκυνούμενον, πεφευγὼς τῆς πολυθεΐας καὶ Βουλγαρικῆς εἰδωλολατρείας τὴν δυσσέβειαν· εἶτα καὶ ὁμολογῶν τὸν ἕνα τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος, αὐτὸν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ, δι' ὑπερβάλλον ἔλεος τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς γένους ἄνθρωπον γεγενῆσθαι ὅμοιον ἡμῖν κατὰ πάντα μετὰ καὶ τοῦ εἶναι τὸν αὐτὸν θεὸν τέλειον. θεὸς γὰρ ὁ πατήρ, θεὸς καὶ ὁ υἱός, θεὸς καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, εἷς θεός, οὐ τρεῖς θεοί, ἄπαγε, τὸ μὲν διὰ τὴν μίαν θεότητα, τὸ δὲ διὰ τὰ τρία πρόσωπα. αὕτη ἡ ἀληθινὴ πίστις τῶν χριστιανῶν, καταργοῦσα πᾶσα πλάνην καὶ αἵρεσιν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ διπλοῦς ὁ Χριστός, καθὸ θεὸς τέλειος καὶ ἄνθρωπος τέλειος, τὸ μὲν ὡς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεννηθεὶς πρὸ αἰώνων ὡς ἐξ ἡλίου ἀπαύγασμα, τὸ δὲ ἐκ τῆς μητρὸς ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν χρόνων ὡς ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς γέννησις, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς (ἐπειδὴ παρθένος ἡ τεκοῦσα καὶ πρὶν καὶ ἐν τῷ τίκτειν καὶ μετὰ τὸν τόκον, ἐφ' οἷς καὶ Θεοτόκος ἀληθινῶς καὶ νενόηται καὶ προσηγόρευται), διὰ τοῦτο, ὥσπερ κατὰ τὸν πατέρα ἀπερίγραπτος, οὕτω κατὰ τὴν μητέρα ἐν πίνακι περιγραφόμενος καὶ ἡ περιγραφὴ αὐτοῦ, ἤτοι εἰκών, προσκυνητή, ἐν ᾗ βλέπεται ὑφ' ἡμῶν τῶν χριστιανῶν οἵαν μορφὴν ἀνέλαβεν καὶ δεδοξολόγηται ὡς ὅμοιος ἡμῖν κατὰ πάντα γεγονὼς πλὴν ἁμαρτίας, καταργήσας πᾶν εἰδωλικὸν ὁμοίωμα, ἐφ' ᾧ ὤλλυτο λατρεῦον ἐξ ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων. ὁ γοῦν μὴ καταδεχόμενος αὐτὸν ἐξεικονίζεσθαι, ὦ καλὲ φίλε, ἀπαναίνεται αὐτοῖς πράγμασι, κἂν λόγῳ συγκατατίθεται, γενέσθαι τὸν