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in charge of the men's monastery, and she in charge of the women's monastery, be sober, be vigilant, be courageous, be strong; let all your things be in love, all in the keeping of the commandments according to the instructions of Saint Basil between you two monasteries, so that, leading a life without offense and without blame, you may glorify God in your body and in your spirit, one monastery being divinely established and constituted by the other, that is, with you, brother Basil, who has both written to us and is known, being present and assisting both monasteries as much as is possible; and not because you do not hold the position of a superior, but, as your desire was fulfilled through the acceptance of the one appointed, rather involving yourself and helping with what is necessary. You have, therefore, good examples for progress in virtue, those women or men who have departed; you have the lives of the saints, the laws of the fathers; you have what is greater than them, God the maker of all things in your midst according to his unfailing promise; you have the holy Theotokos as a helper, all the saints as intercessors; you have also our nothingness, eager to help you in what is good. Therefore do all things well, complete all things peacefully, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, cries the great apostle; by whose prayers may both we and you be saved. 516 {1To Elias the presbyter}1 Your kiss, O holy man of God, is most venerable and preserves the sign of our union of soul, but the question, I know not how to say it, is unsuitable and not known to our humility; for even to this day we have not heard of children being tonsured by a father by force and not willingly. For if they are completely infants or under age, the will is not in them; for they are not able to discern good and evil, but the matter must be referred to the choice of their parents, as in the case of Hannah, who brought Samuel to God, and those like her not fearing the future, as Gregory, surnamed the Theologian, somewhere says; for he himself was also given to God before his birth. Their offering is not always successful, because some have sinned; and here there is consideration of the person and the time of those who will make the offering, on account of the failures, since some things, as has been known both of old and now, turned out well, but others the opposite. But when the children are sensible and of legal age, for their parents to impose monastic perfection on them by force has neither been heard of nor is it according to reason. And since we are bidden to give an account of things contrary to nature, lest we ourselves be considered unnatural, or rather foolish, by those who are unrefined, we shall pass over the explanation concerning this. But we remind you, the trusty and God-loving, and beseech you to rightly divide the word of truth, having the word like fire in imitation of your namesake. And the monk who has given himself over to fornication, admonish, exhort, enlighten him to recover from his fall and not to make the members of Christ members of a harlot; whose word, perhaps touching him late at some time like a spark on drier matter, might enkindle the love of Christ in the inner man, having an easy recall from the fact that the outer man has been made a monk. But as for the one who has completely rejected his profession, having sinned against the Holy Spirit himself, from whom also comes grace, you yourself should refuse him, and every one of the pious should refuse to even share salt with him according to the commandments of the divinely delivered oracles. 517 {1To Macarius the monk}1 Because we heard your brotherly voice, we were pleased, beloved; for nothing is sweeter than spiritual friendship, and especially when one mind and one soul have been observed in words and deeds according to God. Thus you yourself have been known to us from the beginning and from of old; for which we the humble also pray that you in the same

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καθηγήσει τοῦ ἀνδρῶνος, ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀφηγήσει τοῦ παρθενῶνος, νήφετε, γρηγορεῖτε, ἀνδρίζεσθε, κραταιοῦσθε· πάντα ὑμῶν ἐν ἀγάπῃ, πάντα ἐν φυλακῇ ἐντολῶν κατὰ τὰς ὑποθήκας τοῦ Ἁγίου Βασιλείου μεταξὺ ὑμῶν τοῖν δυοῖν μοναστηρίων ἔστωσαν, ἵνα, ἀπρόσκοπον καὶ ἀνένοχον βίον διανύοντες καὶ διανύουσαι, δοξάσητε τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν καὶ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ὑμῶν, ἕτερον ὑφ' ἑτέρου μοναστήριον θεοπρεπῶς συγκροτούμενόν τε καὶ συνιστάμενον, δηλονότι σοῦ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ Βασιλείου, τοῦ καὶ γεγραφότος ἡμῖν καὶ συνεγνωσμένου, συμπαρόντος καὶ συναντιλαμβανομένου ἑκατέρας τῶν μονῶν καθ' ὅσον οἷόν τε· καὶ μὴ ὅτι οὐχ ὑπέχεις λόγον προεστῶτος, ἀλλ', ὡς τῆς ἐφέσεώς σου πληρωθείσης διὰ τῆς τοῦ προβληθέντος ἀναδοχῆς, μᾶλλον ἑαυτὸν συνεισβάλλων καὶ συνεπαμύνων τὰ δέοντα. Ἔχετε τοιγαροῦν καλὰ παραδείγματα εἰς ἀρετῆς ἐπίδοσιν, τὰς ἐκδημησάσας εἴτουν ἐκδημήσαντας· ἔχετε τοὺς βίους τῶν ἁγίων, τὰς νομοθεσίας τῶν πατέρων· ἔχετε τὸ μεῖζον αὐτῶν, τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδῆ αὐτοῦ ἐπαγγελίαν· ἔχετε τὴν ἁγίαν Θεοτόκον ἐπίκουρον, τοὺς πάντας ἁγίους πρεσβευτάς· ἔχετε καὶ τὴν ἡμῶν οὐθενότητα, προθυμουμένην ὑμῖν ἐν τἀγαθῷ. πάντα οὖν εὖ πράξατε, πάντα εἰρηνικῶς διατελέσατε, πάντοτε χαίρετε, ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε, ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖτε, βοᾷ ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος· οὗ ταῖς πρεσβείαις σωθείημεν καὶ ἡμεῖς καὶ ὑμεῖς. 516 {1Ἠλίᾳ πρεσβυτέρῳ}1 Τὸ μὲν φίλημά σου, ὦ ἱερὲ ἄνθρωπε τοῦ θεοῦ, σεπτὸν ὅτι μάλιστα καὶ τὸ τῆς συμψυχίας ἀποσῷζον γνώρισμα, τὸ δὲ ἐρώτημα, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως εἴπω, ἀκατάλληλον καὶ οὐ συνεγνωσμένον τῇ ταπεινώσει ἡμῶν· οὐδέπω γὰρ καὶ τήμερον ἀκηκόαμεν πρὸς πατρὸς ἀναγκαστικῶς καὶ οὐκ ἐθελουσίως ἀποκαρθῆναι παῖδας. εἰ μὲν γὰρ κομιδῇ νήπιοι εἴτουν πρὸ τῆς ἡλικίας, οὐκ ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸ θελητόν· οὐδὲ γάρ εἰσι διαγνωστικοὶ καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῶν φυσάντων προαιρέσει ἀνενεκτέον τὸ πρᾶγμα, ὡς ἐπὶ Ἄννης, τῆς τὸν Σαμουὴλ προσαγούσης θεῷ, καὶ τῶν ἐφαμίλλων ταύτῃ οὐκ εὐλαβουμένων τὸ μέλλον, καθά πού φησιν ὁ τῆς θεολογίας ἐπώνυμος Γρηγόριος· δοτὸς γὰρ καὐτὸς πρὸ γεννήσεως τῷ θεῷ. ὧν ἡ προσφορὰ οὐ πάντως ἐπιτευκτὴ διὰ τὸ ἡμαρτῆσθαι παρά τινων· καὶ νοῦς ὧδε τῶν προσοισομένων προσώπου τε καὶ καιροῦ διὰ τὰ ἀποτεύγματα, ἐπειδὴ τὰ μέν, ὡς πάλαι τε καὶ νῦν διέγνωσται, εἰς καλὸν ἀπέβη, τὰ δὲ εἰς τοὐναντίον. οὕτω δὲ ἐμφρόνων ὄντων καὶ ἐννόμων τῇ ἡλικίᾳ τῶν παίδων, ἀναγκαστικῶς τὴν μοναχικὴν τελειότητα τοὺς γεννήτορας ἐπιθεῖναι αὐτοῖς οὔτε ἤκουσται οὔτε φύσεως ἔχει λόγον. καὶ ἐπεὶ περὶ τῶν ἔξω φύσεως ἐπιτετράμμεθα δοῦναι λόγον, ὡς ἂν μὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀφύσικοί τινες, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀσύνετοι, λογισθείημεν τοῖς ἀσυφήλοις, παραπεμποίμεθα τὴν περὶ τούτου διασάφησιν. Σὲ δὲ τὸν πισύνιον καὶ θεοφιλῆ ὑπομνήσκομεν καὶ ἀντιβολοῦμεν ὀρθοτομεῖν τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας ὡς πῦρ ἔχοντα τὸν λόγον μιμήσει τοῦ ὁμωνύμου. καὶ τὸν μὲν πορνείαις ἑαυτὸν ἐκδεδωκότα μονάζοντα νουθετεῖν, παρακαλεῖν, φωταγωγεῖν ἀνασφῆλαι τῆς πτώσεως καὶ μὴ τὰ Χριστοῦ μέλη πόρνης ποιεῖν μέλη· οὗ ἴσως ἁψάμενος ὁ λόγος ὀψέ ποτε καθάπερ σπινθῆρα ὕλης τῆς ξηροτέρας ἀνάψειεν τὸν Χριστοῦ ἔρωτα εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, εὐμαρῆ τὴν ἀνάκλησιν ἔχοντα ἐκ τοῦ τὸν ἔξω ἄνθρωπον ἔχειν μεμοναχημένον. τὸν δὲ παντάπασι τὴν ὁμολογίαν ἠθετηκότα, ὡς εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, παρ' οὗ καὶ ἡ χάρις, ὀφλήσαντα, παραιτήσειας καὐτὸς καὶ πᾶς τις τῶν εὐσεβούντων μηδὲ ἁλῶν μετασχεῖν κατὰ τὰ ἐντάλματα τῶν θεοπαραδότων λογίων. 517 {1Μακαρίῳ μονάζοντι}1 Ὅτι ἠκούσαμέν σου τῆς ἀδελφικῆς φωνῆς, ἥσθημεν, ἠγαπημένε· οὐδὲν γὰρ φιλίας πνευματικῆς γλυκύτερον, καὶ μάλιστα ὁπηνίκα ἓν φρόνημα καὶ μία ψυχὴ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ θεὸν λόγοις καὶ πράγμασιν ἐπιτεθεώρηται. οὕτως αὐτὸς ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐγνωσμένος ἡμῖν ὑπάρχεις· ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ προσευχόμεθα οἱ ταπεινοὶ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ σε