319
different from the inferior or superior person. 492 {1To John the Grammarian}1 Your honor has shown the sincerity of your genuine love in the corrective notes on the treatise composed by us unlearned men. and those things are indeed composed in the treatise in this way or that. But since she was at a loss as to how the "subject" has been understood by us and that it is to be understood otherwise by her, as she indicated, we too were at a loss that the one who is wise in all things was at a loss; for the "subject," O admirable one, according to the blessed Leontius, whose commentaries are exceedingly beautiful, he says is substance with hypostasis. And does not Basil the Great also say "one in subject" concerning the Holy Trinity? But indeed also the all-wise Dionysius says somewhere thus, "many in accidents, one in subject;" and accidents are observed not in the universal substance, but in the hypostasis, as you know. Therefore, in saying, "many in accidents, one in subject," he has taken the "subject" as substance with hypostasis; and not without reason, as I think, for it to be posited in the treatise. For how could that which is not "one in subject" not be theologized as three in both names and realities, so that the "subject" is nothing other than substance with hypostasis? But if something more insightful should be discovered by your holiness, may she not refuse to teach the gift praised by her. 493 {1To an Abbot}1 God has given a very great gift in our province, most honored brother, the most renowned curator and most excellent in piety, because, having become an avenger of Christ, he brought under his hand the one living like a brigand among the Christians, although he was formerly a votive offering to God through monastic perfection, I mean Ammon, once our brother, but now placed under your hand through the mediation of the admirable man by the good pleasure of Christ himself, who rejoices in the salvation of the one who was lost. What a wondrous work has been accomplished by the God-loving curator and one worthy of his virtue, and not only so, but also by you, the spiritual father who like Christ took the lost one upon your shoulders. Therefore I, the humble one, rejoiced and was filled with gladness, because the lost has been found and the cast-out has been brought home. And thanks be to the power and mercy of the glory of God, who had mercy on him and delivered me, the humble one, from despondency; for I had been despondent for many years over the loss of my son. You, therefore, have now been named his father by the mercy of God with the help of the good mediator, and may you bring him to God for the future; for behold, I hand him over into your hands as if from the sight of my own eyes, and let him be called your disciple and he will be a disciple to you until the end, and you will inherit his reward unto the ages. And you will read this letter to him, so that he may have security, as I have also written to him himself. And let the word of the apostle be fulfilled, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ;" may he guard you with all your God-chosen brotherhood, as you pray also for better things for us sinners. 494 {1To Basil the abbot}1 Your fraternal honor is always accustomed to write things beyond our worth, dignifying our nothingness with honors and praises; but we have been taught not to depart from our own measure, but to consider ourselves nothing, which is what we are. And of these things, enough; but the tardiness of your honored letters has certainly not grieved us. For why and for what reason is the compulsion? But what has grieved us (for it is necessary to reveal what is at hand) is the stay in the city and the assertion and counter-assertion before the emperor and the departure under command, with our affairs being again the same under the subject possession of the heterodox, and we might add also the mission from the oikonomos in the presence of the emperor himself, the banqueting together and the being led astray. All these things have grieved us, O most honored one, and hinder us, forgive me, from communion with you henceforth and mingling and fellowship, taking and giving and if anything
319
διάφορον τοῦ ὑφειμένου ἤ προύχοντος προσώπου. 492 {1Ἰωάννῃ Γραμματικῷ}1 Τὸ ἀνυπόκριτόν σου τῆς εἰλικρινοῦς ἀγάπης δέδειχεν ἡ τιμιότης σου ἐν τοῖς ἐπανορθωτικοῖς σημειώμασι τοῦ πρὸς ἡμῶν τῶν ἀμαθῶν συνταχθέντος λόγου. καὶ ἔχει μὲν ἐκεῖνα οὕτως ἢ οὕτως συγκεκρίσθαι τῷ λόγῳ. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἠπόρησεν πῶς ἡμῖν νενόηται τὸ ὑποκείμενον καὶ ὡς ἄλλως ἐκλαμβάνεσθαι παρ' αὐτῆς, καθὰ ὑπεσημήνατο, συνηπορήσαμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς ὅτι ἠπόρησεν ὁ περὶ πάντα σοφός· τὸ γὰρ ὑποκείμενον, ὦ θαυμάσιε, κατὰ Λεόντιον τὸν μακάριον, οὗ τὰ σχόλια ὑπερκαλλῆ, οὐσίαν εἶναι λέγει μετὰ ὑποστάσεως. λέγει δὲ καὶ ὁ Μέγας Βασίλειος οὐχ ἓν τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος; ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ὁ πάνσοφος ∆ιονύσιος ὧδέ πού φησιν τό, πολλὰ τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν, ἓν τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ· συμβεβηκότα δὲ οὐκ ἐν τῇ καθόλου οὐσίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ ὑποστάσει τεθεώρηται, ὡς οἶσθα. ὥστε, εἰπὼν τό, πολλὰ τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν, ἓν τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ, τὸ ὑποκείμενον οὐσίαν μετὰ ὑποστάσεως εἴληφεν· καὶ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος, ὡς οἶμαι, τῷ κεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ λόγῳ. πῶς γὰρ ἂν τὸ μὴ ἓν τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ μὴ οὐχὶ τρισὶ καὶ ὀνόμασι καὶ πράγμασι θεολογηθήσεται, ὡς εἶναι τὸ ὑποκείμενον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ οὐσίαν μετὰ ὑποστάσεως; Εἰ δέ τι ὀπτικώτερον ἐξευρεθείη τῇ ἁγιωσύνῃ σου, μὴ παραιτήσηται διδάξαι τὸν δῶρον πρὸς αὐτῆς ἐγκωμιαζόμενον. 493 {1Ἡγουμένῳ}1 Μέγιστον δῶρον δέδωκεν ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπαρχίᾳ, τιμιώτατε ἀδελφέ, τὸν εὐκλεέστατον κουράτωρα καὶ κράτιστον ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ, ὅτι, Χριστοῦ ἔκδικος γεγονώς, εἷλκεν ὑπὸ χεῖρα τὸν λῃστρικῶς πολιτευόμενον ἐν τοῖς χριστιανοῖς, καίπερ ὄντα τὸ πρότερον ἀνάθημα θεοῦ διὰ τῆς μοναδικῆς τελειώσεως, Ἀμμοῦν λέγω, τόν ποτε ἡμέτερον ἀδελφόν, νῦν δὲ ὑπὸ χεῖρά σου τελοῦντα διὰ μεσιτείας τοῦ ἀξιαγάστου ἀνδρὸς τῇ εὐδοκίᾳ αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ χαίροντος ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ ἀπολωλότος. ὡς θαυμαστὸν ἔργον τετέλεσται πρὸς τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς κουράτωρος καὶ ἄξιον τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν ἀρετῆς, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ σοῦ, τοῦ πνευματικοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὸν ἀπολωλότα ὡς Χριστὸς ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἀναλαβόντος. Εὐφράνθην οὖν ὁ ταπεινὸς ἐγὼ καὶ ἠγαλλιασάμην, ὅτι τὸ ἀπολωλὸς εὑρέθη καὶ τὸ ἀπωσμένον εἰσῳκίσθη. καὶ χάρις τῷ κράτει καὶ ἐλέει τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δόξης, τοῦ κἀκεῖνον ἐλεήσαντος κἀμὲ τὸν ταπεινὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀθυμίας ἀνακομίσαντος· ἠθύμουν γὰρ ἀπὸ πολλῶν ἐτῶν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τοῦ υἱοῦ μου. σὺ οὖν ἄρτι πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐλέει θεοῦ κεχρημάτικας τῇ ἐπικουρίᾳ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μεσίτου καὶ σὺ αὐτὸν προσάξειας θεῷ πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς· ἰδοὺ γὰρ παραδίδωμι αὐτὸν εἰς χεῖράς σου ὡς ἀπὸ αὐτοψίας ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ καλείσθω σου μαθητὴς καὶ μαθητεύσει σοι ἕως τέλους καὶ κληρονομήσεις τὸν μισθὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. καὶ τήνδε τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐπαναγνώσεις αὐτῷ, ὡς ἂν ἔχοι τὸ ἀσφαλές, καθὰ κἀκείνῳ αὐτῷ γέγραφα. καὶ πληρούσθω τὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου, ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε καὶ οὕτως ἀναπληρώσατε τὸν νόμον τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ὃς φυλάξειέ σε μετὰ πάσης τῆς θεολέκτου σου συνοδίας, προσευχόμενον καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τὰ κρείττονα. 494 {1Βασιλείῳ ἡγουμένῳ}1 Τὰ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν ἡμῶν πάντοτε ἡ ἀδελφική σου τιμιότης ἐπιστέλλειν εἴωθεν, τιμαῖς καὶ εὐφημίαις ἀποσεμνύνουσα τὴν οὐθενίαν ἡμῶν· ἡμεῖς δὲ τῶν οἰκείων μέτρων μὴ ἐξίστασθαι δεδιδάγμεθα, ἀλλ' ἡγεῖσθαι ἑαυτοὺς οὐθέν, ὅπερ ἐσμέν. καὶ τούτων μὲν ἅλις· ἡ δὲ βραδυτὴς τῶν τιμίων σου γραμμάτων οὐ δήπου λελύπηκεν ἡμᾶς. διατί γὰρ καὶ ἐφ' ᾧτινι τὸ ἀναγκάζον; λελύπηκεν δὲ (δεῖν γὰρ ἐκκαλύψαι τὰ παριστάμενα) ἡ ἐν τῇ ἐν ἄστει διατριβὴ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸν κρατοῦντα φάσις καὶ ἀντίφασις καὶ ἡ ὑπὸ κέλευσιν ἔξοδος, ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πάλιν ὄντων ἡμῶν πρακτικευμάτων τῆς ὑποχειρίου τῶν ἑτεροδόξων κατοχῆς, προσθείημεν δ' ἂν καὶ ἡ πρὸς τοῦ οἰκονόμου ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κράτους ἀποστολή, συνεστίασίς τε καὶ συναπαγωγή. Ταῦτα πάντα λελύπηκεν ἡμᾶς, ὦ τιμιώτατε, καὶ εἴργει ἡμᾶς, σύγγνωθι, ἡ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀπάρτι καὶ συνανάκρασις καὶ συναναστροφή, λῆψίς τε καὶ δόσις καὶ εἴ τι