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you have been made beautiful with all the beautiful things of the earth. Angels too revere you, archangels too attend you, you are preeminent queens in the heavens, above all mothers and daughters who come from the flesh. Therefore, rejoice and rejoice with one another, bearing with good courage the labors from here of the ascetic life, or rather, of your bridal chamber, knowing that all flesh is grass, all glory of man as a flower of grass, and all the desires of this age come from corruption and end in corruption, but only your love and desire is infinite and incorruptible. For the little time that remains, wait, endure, submitting yourselves well and obediently to the lady, the first bride, who enjoins the loving characteristics and precepts of the bridegroom Christ, and she, the lady, as a bride-bearer and one who offers up her soul, not to mention any of the other things, for the preservation of the maidens, I do not say of soul only, but also of body, fulfilling what was said by the apostle: being affectionately desirous, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls in Christ Jesus our Lord; for whom you also ask for the salvation of our humble soul, so that we might be admonished by what we have admonished and we might all be saved from the evil one.

τ507-556 {1ΑΡΧΗ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΥ ∆ʹ 507 Φιλοθέῳ κτήτορι}1 The letters of your honor are well-pleasing both to God and to a pious man, because in the present time, in which there is a heretical night-battle and a storm of unbelief, it has made it clear to us that you appear like a star in those parts, not being darkened by heretical communion nor indeed having been submerged by the swell of unbelief. And blessed is the Lord, who has even in the lay order those who hold fast to His law during the present confusion and subversion of orthodoxy. You are blessed, most honored brother, and truly your name is aptly given, because you have both loved God and guarded the deposit of the faith. You reported in your letters that you were brought in this and that way by those blessed fathers, who departed to the Lord with a good end, whose names are in the book of life. And it would be well, and this is a characteristic of your fiery zeal. But since, by their departure, being as it were orphaned, you have sought again to be instructed by our humility, we are indeed worthless and of no account; nevertheless, since it is written, 'bearing with one another in love', for the sake of this love in the Lord we submit and accept your dedication, being truly good and praiseworthy. Therefore, to abstain completely from heretical communion, you both strove and abstained, as you say, by the grace of Christ, and abstain still; for in this way you would show your love and communion toward your God; for the opposite communion separates from Christ. But as for those things which you are compelled to do by the general, both to sing psalms with the heretics and to eat foods sealed by them, since otherwise the lord general would not be able to get through without danger, to this also we cannot easily reply; because strictness altogether forbids the orthodox to be unpartaking of the heterodox and to associate with them neither in food nor in drink nor in relationship. Knowing these things, let your goodness hold to its good zeal, building upon the good foundation the golden structures of strictness, praying also for our humility. 508 {1Εἰρήνῃ πατρικίᾳ}1 Since you have addressed us, the humble ones, lady, through the most reverend presbyter, we answer the address with a letter, accepting your good faith and warm confidence,

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πάντα τὰ ὡραῖα τῆς γῆς ὡραΐσθητε. αἰδοῦνται ὑμᾶς καὶ ἄγγελοι, περιέπουσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ ἀρχάγγελοι, προύχουσαι ὑμεῖς βασιλίδες ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὑπεράνω πασῶν μητέρων καὶ θυγατέρων τῶν ἀπὸ σαρκὸς ἐρχομένων. Οὐκοῦν χαίρετε καὶ συγχαίρετε ἀλλήλαις, τὰ ἐπίπονα ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ἀσκήσεως εἴτουν θαλαμεύσεως φέρουσαι εὐψύχως, εἰδυῖαι ὅτι πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου, πᾶσαί τε ἐπιθυμίαι τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐκ φθορᾶς καὶ εἰς φθορὰν καταλήγουσαι, μόνον δὲ ὑμῶν ὁ ἔρως καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία ἄπειρος καὶ ἄφθαρτος. μικρὸν λοιπὸν ὅσον ὅσον ἀναμείνατε, ὑπομείνατε, ὑποτασσόμεναι μὲν ὑμεῖς τῇ κυρίᾳ τῇ πρωτονύμφῳ καλῶς καὶ εὐηκόως, τὰ τοῦ νυμφίου Χριστοῦ ἐρωτικὰ ἰδιώματα καὶ φυλάγματα ἐπιταττούσῃ, αὐτὴ δὲ κυρία ὡς νυμφιοφόρος καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν προϊεμένη, μὴ ὅτι γέ τι τῶν ἄλλων, εἰς περιποίησιν τῶν νεανίδων, οὐ λέγω ψυχῆς μόνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ σώματος, πληροῦσα τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου εἰρημένον· ὀμειρόμενοι εὐδοκοῦμεν μεταδοῦναι ὑμῖν οὐ μόνον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχὰς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν· ὃν καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν αἰτεῖσθε τὴν σωτηρίαν τῆς ταπεινῆς ἡμῶν ψυχῆς, ἵνα οἷς ἐνουθετήσαμεν νενουθετήμεθα καὶ σῳζοίμεθα πάντες ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

τ507-556 {1ΑΡΧΗ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΥ ∆ʹ 507 Φιλοθέῳ κτήτορι}1 Εὐαπόδεκτα τὰ γράμματα τῆς τιμιότητός σου καὶ θεῷ καὶ εὐσεβεῖ ἀνθρώπῳ, ὅτι ἐν τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ, ἐφ' ᾧ νυκτομαχία αἱρετικὴ καὶ ζάλη ἀπιστίας, δήλωσιν ἡμῖν ἐποιήσατο ὅτι ὥσπερ τις ἀστὴρ φαίνοις ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι, μὴ ζοφωθεὶς τῇ αἱρετικῇ κοινωνίᾳ μηδὲ μὴν ὑποβρύχιος γεγονὼς τῷ τῆς ἀπιστίας σάλῳ. καὶ εὐλογητὸς Κύριος, ὃς ἔχει καὶ ἐν τῷ λαϊκῷ τάγματι τοὺς ἀντεχομένους τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν νῦν σύγχυσιν καὶ ἀνατροπὴν τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας. μακάριος εἶ, ἀδελφὲ τιμιώτατε, καὶ ὄντως φερωνύμως σοι ἡ κλῆσις, ὅτι καὶ θεὸν πεφίληκας καὶ τὴν παρακαταθήκην τῆς πίστεως πεφρούρηκας. Ἀπήγγειλας δὲ ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν οὕτως καὶ οὕτως ἦχθαί σε ὑπὸ τῶν μακαρίων πατέρων ἐκείνων, τῶν τέλει χρηστῷ ἐκδημησάντων πρὸς Κύριον, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα ἐν βίβλῳ ζωῆς. καὶ εὖ ἂν ἔχοι, καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ διαπύρου σου ζήλου ἰδίωμα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῇ ἐκδημίᾳ ἐκείνων οἷα ἀπορφανισθεὶς ἐπεζήτησας πάλιν πρὸς τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν στοιχειωθῆναι, ἡμεῖς μὲν εὐτελεῖς καὶ οὐδαμινοί, ὅμως, ἐπεὶ γέγραπται ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ, διὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀγάπην ὑπείκομεν καὶ προσιέμεθα τὴν ἀνάθεσίν σου, καλὴν οὖσαν τῷ ὄντι καὶ ἐπαινετήν. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀπέχεσθαί σε παντάπασιν τῆς αἱρετικῆς κοινωνίας καὶ ἠγωνίσω καὶ ἀπέσχου, ὡς φῆς, χάριτι Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἔτι ἀπόσχου· οὕτω γὰρ δείξειας τὸ πρὸς τὸν θεόν σου φιλητὸν καὶ κοινωνικόν· ἡ γὰρ ἐναντία κοινωνία διίστησιν ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ. εἰς ἃ δὲ ἀναγκάζεσθε ὑπὸ τοῦ στρατηγοῦντος, εἴς τε τὸ συμψάλλειν τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς καὶ τὰ πρὸς αὐτῶν σφραγιζόμενα βρώματα ἐσθίειν, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως δύνασθαι τὸν κύριον τὸν στρατηγὸν ἀκινδύνως διελθεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο οὐκ ἔχομεν εὐπετῶς ἀποκρίνεσθαι· διότι ἡ ἀκρίβεια ἀπείργει παντάπασιν ἀμέθεκτον εἶναι τῶν ἑτεροδόξων τὸν ὀρθόφρονα καὶ μήτε ἐν βρώσει μήτε ἐν πόσει μήτε ἐν σχέσει συνέρχεσθαι αὐτοῖς. Ταῦτα εἰδυῖα ἡ χρηστότης σου ἐχέσθω τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ αὐτῆς ζήλου, ἐποικοδομοῦσα τῷ καλῷ θεμελίῳ τὰς τῆς ἀκριβείας χρυσοειδεῖς ἐνδομήσεις, εὐχομένη καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν. 508 {1Εἰρήνῃ πατρικίᾳ}1 Ἐπειδὴ προσηγόρευσας ἡμᾶς τοὺς ταπεινούς, κυρία, διὰ τοῦ αἰδεσιμωτάτου πρεσβυτέρου, ἀμειβόμεθα τὴν προσηγορίαν γράμμασιν, ἀποδεχόμενοί σου τὴν καλὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν θερμὴν πεποίθησιν,