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of this is the account, neither is it safe to reject (for he says, him who comes to me I will by no means cast out) nor is it holy to accept simply and randomly and to tonsure unskillfully; for if no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the affairs of life, that he may please the one who enlisted him, as it is written, how much more then in this God-chosen army? It is necessary to renounce all things, one must be stripped of all things, it is necessary to be severed from all things, both relationships and household members and friends and relatives, and for the one who is truly going to follow Christ to be alienated in disposition from the entire world, and then thus be formed and shaped into the God-formed and God-molded monastic state and, having given proof and test of virtue, thus to be introduced by the witness of the many into the monastic perfection and to become one of Christ's sheep. But to be tonsured uninitiated and unlearnedly, as it has been reported to us, is dangerous and most destructive both for the one being tonsured and for the one tonsuring; but indeed also to defrock a monk is equal to un-baptizing. Is this ever dared to happen? It is dreadful even to hear. But if after being duly tonsured, since some return to worse things, such men, persisting in evil and not healing themselves of the soul's sicknesses, must be cut off from the brotherhood in the likeness of rotten members, so that by their proximity the healthy part may not be harmed; for the Lord says: It is better for you that one of your members be cut off and not your whole body be thrown into the Gehenna of fire. But if it is possible for another to receive the one who was cut off in a way of love for mankind, it is not unreasonable, if indeed he should be found to be healing more skillfully, and not being indulgent with one who is perishing. But those who otherwise leap away from the common life out of frivolity, let them be unacceptable to the other brotherhoods, so that there may be a joining of shields and harmony in all things for all men, and not destroying one another's endeavors by one another, from which Christ, who binds all things together with peace, is not the head, but who? It is abominable even to say. But for a monk and a monastery to have a slave is as foreign as to have a wife; for both are inventions of disobedience. And for those desiring to return to the beginning through the monastic way of life and who are zealous to imitate the untroubled life of paradise, the aforementioned things are to be rejected. These things we have spoken not from ourselves, but having gathered them from what the God-bearing fathers utter, we have spoken by way of reminder, asking you, the all-holy ones, to pray that we not only say good things, but also do them in the Lord. 487 {1To Stephen the abbot}1 The frequency of the letters shows the increasing love of your honor, resting on a fatherly custom; for that blessed man also, in addition to his other achievements, was also by this practice creating the good of love towards the brothers. Write, therefore, O thrice-desired one, imitating your father in this, and making us happier by the continuity of your utterance; do not, however, praise nor compare lead with gold nor clay with a pearl, but rather pray that I may follow after you, his followers, because I am unprofitable in all things, even if you yourself say you are benefited by us who are of no benefit, being carried away by affection. And if any benefit should come to you, the matter must be attributed to God, who administers things according to need through one another and in one another. Let this be so. And concerning those who have recovered from repentance, for a seal upon a table or in some other circumstance to receive those who have already escaped the fall, this has already, in the time of the holy fathers, been discussed synodically, so to speak, and it was approved to be good, and for us the humble the matter is well-accepted and observed and transmitted to others. If, therefore, you yourself also wish to hold to this, we both praise and accept it; for for some to refuse is a work of will-worship, condemned by the apostle, but having neither lawfulness nor brotherly love. For on what do they base the

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τούτου λόγος, οὔτε τὸ ἀποσείεσθαι ἀκίνδυνον (φησὶ γάρ, τὸν ἐρχόμενον πρός με οὐ μὴ ἐκβάλω ἔξω) οὔτε τὸ προσίεσθαι ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν καὶ ἀποκείρειν ἀνεπιστημόνως ὅσιον· εἰ γὰρ οὐδεὶς στρατευόμενος ἐμπλέκεται ταῖς τοῦ βίου πραγματείαις, ἵνα τῷ στρατολογήσαντι ἀρέσῃ, καθὰ γέγραπται, πόσῳ δὴ οὖν μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῇδε τῇ θεολέκτῳ στρατιᾷ; πᾶσιν ἀποτάξασθαι δεῖ, πάντων ἀπογυμνωθῆναι χρή, πάντων ἀπορραγῆναι δέον καὶ σχέσεων καὶ οἰκείων καὶ φίλων καὶ συγγενῶν καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου κατὰ διάθεσιν ξενωθῆναι τόν γε ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀκολουθεῖν μέλλοντα τῷ Χριστῷ, εἶθ' οὕτως στοιχηθῆναι καὶ διαπλασθῆναι τὴν θεοστοιχῆ καὶ θεόπλαστον μοναδικὴν ἕξιν καί, πεῖραν δόντα καὶ βάσανον ἀρετῆς, οὕτως εἰσαχθῆναι τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ τῶν πολλῶν εἰς τὴν μοναδικὴν τελείωσιν καὶ ἕνα γενέσθαι τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ προβάτων. ἀμυήτως δὲ καὶ ἀμαθῶς, ὡς ἀπήγγελται ἡμῖν, ἀποκείρεσθαι ἐπικίνδυνον καὶ ὀλεθριώτατον καὶ τῷ κειρομένῳ καὶ τῷ κείροντι· ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀποσχηματίζειν μοναχὸν ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ ἀποβαπτίζειν. ὅλως τολμᾶται τοῦτο γίγνεσθαι; φρικτόν ἐστι καὶ ἀκουόμενον. εἰ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ δεόντως ἀποκεῖραι, ἐπειδὴ ὑπονοστοῦσί τινες πρὸς τὰ χείρονα, τοὺς τοιούτους, ἐπιμένοντας τῇ κακίᾳ καὶ μὴ ἰωμένους ἑαυτοὺς ἐν τοῖς ψυχικοῖς ἀρρωστήμασιν, ἐκκόπτεσθαι χρὴ τῆς ἀδελφότητος καθ' ὁμοίωσιν τῶν σεσηπότων μελῶν, ὡς ἂν μὴ τῇ συνεχείᾳ καὶ τὸ ὑγιὲς βλάπτοιτο· φησὶ γὰρ ὁ Κύριος· συμφέρει σοι ἵνα ἓν τῶν μελῶν σου ἀποκοπῇ καὶ μὴ ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου βληθῇ εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός. ἐὰν δὲ ἄλλῳ δυνατὸν ᾖ τὸν ἐκκοπέντα προσήκασθαι κατὰ φιλανθρωπίας τρόπον, οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος, εἴ γε εὑρεθείη ἐπιστημονικωτέρως ἰατρεύων, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀπολλυμένῳ συμπεριφερόμενος. οἱ δὲ ἄλλως κουφότητι ἀποπηδῶντες τοῦ κοινοβίου ἀπρόσδεκτοι ἔστωσαν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀδελφότησιν, ἵνα συνασπισμὸς ᾖ καὶ συμφωνία κατὰ πάντα τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ μὴ ὑπ' ἀλλήλων τὰ ἀλλήλων καταλύοντες σπουδάσματα, ἐξ ὧν οὐ κεφαλὴ ὁ Χριστός, ὁ τῇ εἰρήνῃ συνδέων τὰ πάντα, ἀλλὰ τίς; ἀπευκταῖον καὶ λέγειν. δοῦλον δὲ ἔχειν μοναχὸν καὶ μοναστήριον τοσοῦτον ξένον, ὡς καὶ τὸ ἔχειν γυναῖκα· ἀμφότερα γὰρ τῆς παρακοῆς εὑρήματα. καὶ τοῖς εἰς τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἀναδραμεῖν ἐφιεμένοις διὰ τῆς μοναδικῆς πολιτείας καὶ τὴν ἀπήμονα τοῦ παραδείσου ζωὴν μιμεῖσθαι ἐζηλωκόσιν ἀπόβλητα τὰ προειρημένα. Ταῦτα οὐκ οἴκοθεν, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν οἱ θεοφόροι πατέρες φθέγγονται συνειληχότες ὑπομνηστικῶς ἐφθεγξάμεθα, αἰτούμενοι ὑμᾶς τοὺς πανιέρους προσεύχεσθαι μὴ μόνον λέγειν ἡμᾶς τὰ καλά, ἀλλὰ καὶ πράττειν ἐν Κυρίῳ. 487 {1Στεφάνῳ ἡγουμένῳ}1 Ἡ συχνότης τῶν γραμμάτων πυκνουμένην δείκνυσι τὴν ἀγάπην τῆς τιμιότητός σου, πατρικῷ ἔθει ἐπερειδομένην· κἀκεῖνος γὰρ ὁ μακάριος πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις αὐτοῦ κατορθώμασι καὶ τῷδε τῷ ἐπιτηδεύματι δημιουργῶν ἦν πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης καλόν. γράφε τοίνυν, ὦ τριπόθητε, πατρῴζων ἐν τούτῳ, ἡμᾶς τε ἡδείους ποιῶν τῷ συνεχεῖ τοῦ φθέγματος· μὴ μέντοι ἐπαίνει μηδὲ σύγκρινε χρυσῷ μόλιβδον μηδὲ μαργαρίτῃ πηλόν, προσεύχου δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ὑμῶν τῶν ἐκείνου ὀπαδῶν κατόπιν ἰέναι διὰ τὸ ἀχρεῖόν με εἶναι ἐν πᾶσι, κἂν αὐτὸς ὠφελεῖσθαι λέγοις πρὸς ἡμῶν τῶν ἀνωφελῶν, ἀγαπητικῶς φερόμενος. εἰ δὲ καί τι ὀνησιφόρον σου γίνοιτο, θεῷ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀναθετέον, τῷ δι' ἀλλήλων καὶ ἐν ἀλλήλοις οἰκονομοῦντι τὰ κατὰ χρείαν. Εἶεν δὴ ταῦτα. πρὸς δὲ τῶν ἐκ μετανοίας ἀνασφηλάντων, σφραγῖδα ἐπὶ τραπέζης ἢ κατὰ ἄλλην τινὰ περιπέτειαν δεδέχθαι τοὺς ἤδη διαπεφευγότας τὸν ὄλισθον, ἤδη ἐπὶ πατέρων ἁγίων, σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν, συνοδικῶς συνεζητήθη καὶ συνεκροτήθη εὖ ἔχειν, καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς ταπεινοῖς εὐαπόδεκτον τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ φυλαττόμενον καὶ ἄλλοις μεταδιδόμενον. εἰ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς οὕτω βούλοιο κρατεῖν, καὶ ἐπαινοῦμεν καὶ ἀποδεχόμεθα· τὸ γάρ τινας ἀπαναίνεσθαι ἐθελοθρησκείας ἐστὶν ἔργον, κατηγορουμένης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐχούσης οὔτε τὸ ἔννομον οὔτε τὸ φιλάδελφον. πόθεν γὰρ ἐρείδονται τὸ