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None of these things has happened, but he was a communicant with the heresy and did not manage to partake of the body and blood of the Lord (for that bread was heretical and not the body of Christ), one must not dare to speak of a synaxis for him (for divine things are not games), so that the one asking about such a person may not hear, you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly. I have nothing else to say, as far as it is for me to discern the truth; for there is no communion of light with darkness, nor will he who does not commune with Orthodoxy be ranked in the portion of the Orthodox, even at the last hour; for where he is found, there also he will be judged and, whatever provision he has received for eternal life, with this he will also be numbered. For the rest, pray for me. The lord archbishop and your brothers greet you. I address the brothers with you as my children, and also the lady Thekla as a daughter in Christ. 532 {1To the emperors Michael and Theophilos. To the most God-loving and most pious emperors, augusti and autocrators from God, an apology and address from those scattered here and there}1 It is known to those who partake of reason that the all-king of all, God, for this reason granted the thing and name of the earthly kingdom to human nature, so that, in imitation of the heavenly things, the earthly things also, possessing peace and freedom from sedition, might lead a harmonious doxology and worship to him; the reins of which your Christ-imitating empire, having received by God's judgment, has rightly summoned us, the least, to enter into discussion with those who are opposed to us in the word of faith, so that from this it might know which side holds the truth and to this side grant the prize of victory, so that there may be no schisms among us, but that all may think the same thing in an orthodox manner. For which we praised your love of learning in the faith, and we especially praised the peace-loving nature of your purpose, so desiring to establish your subjects for their benefit and salvation; for may there be for you from this a recompense, upon splendor, an ineffable splendor, and upon a kingdom, a kingdom without end. But, O most mighty and most God-loving masters, it is not possible for this great and much-prayed-for achievement to come about simply and without toil, because with the greatest matters appear also the greatest sufferings. What is this? First, that those who oppose us have for a long time and synodically been fixed in their own opinions, while we have been apostolically and patristically forbidden to join in discussion about the faith with those so held; then, that the judgment concerning it belongs to no others than only those who have received authority from the Lord through the Spirit, with you also assisting and co-ratifying, who have been called by God to lead in this. But what the sound and blameless doctrine of our most Christian religion is, it is necessary to set forth. We believe in one God, worshipped and glorified in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the much-hymned, all-creating, and originating Trinity according to the divinely inspired symbol handed down to us by the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers, through which every heresy has been driven out and on which every holy synod depends, like branches from a root and rivers from a spring. For from here the second made clear the authoritative voice of the Spirit; then the third proclaimed the holy Mary as Theotokos, as having given birth to the only-begotten Son of God himself; then the fourth dogmatized our Lord Jesus Christ as from two and in two natures in a single hypostasis; then the fifth, ratifying the one before it, anathematized Origen and the pre-existentialists with him; then the sixth, consistently with the two natures, taught two wills and energies in the one Christ; then later the seventh, following those before it, as all the natural properties of the one Christ are double, the same uncircumscribable according to the invisible and circumscribable according to the

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οὐδὲν τούτων γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ κοινωνῶν ἦν τῇ αἱρέσει καὶ οὐκ ἔφθασεν μετασχεῖν τοῦ σώματος καὶ αἵματος τοῦ Κυρίου (αἱρετικὸς γὰρ ὁ ἄρτος ἐκεῖνος καὶ οὐ σῶμα Χριστοῦ), οὐ τολμητέον εἰπεῖν σύναξιν περὶ αὐτοῦ (οὐδὲ γὰρ παίγνια τὰ θεῖα), ὡς ἂν μὴ ἀκούσῃ ὁ αἰτῶν περὶ τοῦ τοιούτου, αἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖσθε. ἄλλο τι λέγειν οὐκ ἔχω, ὅσον τὸ κατ' ἐμὲ διαγινώσκειν ἔστι τὸ ἀληθές· οὐδεμία γὰρ κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος, οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέρει τῶν ὀρθοδόξων τετάξεται ὁ μὴ κοινωνῶν τῇ ὀρθοδοξίᾳ κἂν ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ὥρᾳ· ὅπου γὰρ εὑρεθῇ, ἐκεῖ καὶ κριθήσεται καί, οἷον ἐφόδιον εἴληφε πρὸς τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν, τούτῳ καὶ συναριθμηθήσεται. Τὸ λοιπὸν εὔχου ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ. ἀσπάζεταί σε ὁ κύριος ὁ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου. τοὺς μετὰ σοῦ ἀδελφοὺς ὡς τέκνα μου προσαγορεύω, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν κυρίαν Θέκλαν ὡς θυγατέρα ἐν Χριστῷ. 532 {1Μιχαὴλ καὶ Θεοφίλῳ βασιλεῦσιν. Βασιλεῦσι θεοφιλεστάτοις καὶ εὐσεβεστάτοις ἐκ θεοῦ αὐγούστοις καὶ αὐτοκράτορσιν ἀπολογία τε καὶ προσφώνησις παρὰ τῶν ὧδέ τε κἀκεῖσε διεσπαρμένων}1 Ἐγνωσμένον ἐστὶ τοῖς λόγου μετέχουσιν ὅτι ὁ παμβασιλεὺς τῶν ἁπάντων θεὸς τὸ τῆς ἐπιγείου βασιλείας χρῆμά τε καὶ ὄνομα τούτου χάριν ἐδωρήσατο τῇ ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει, ἵνα, μιμήσει τῶν οὐρανίων καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια τὸ εἰρηναῖον καὶ ἀστασίαστον κεκτημένα, σύμφωνον ἄγοιεν τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν δοξολογίαν τε καὶ προσκύνησιν· ἧς τὰς ἡνίας λαχοῦσα θεοκρίτως ἡ ὑμετέρα χριστομίμητος βασιλεία εἰκότως προσκέκληκεν ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἐλαχίστους εἰς λόγους ἐλθεῖν μετὰ τῶν ἀντιδιατιθεμένων ἡμῖν τῷ τῆς πίστεως λόγῳ, ὡς ἂν ἐντεῦθεν γνοίη πότερον μέρος τὸ ἀληθὲς πρεσβεύοι καὶ ταύτῃ δοίη τὰ νικητήρια εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι σχίσματα ἐν ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν ὀρθοδόξως ἅπαντας. ἐφ' ᾧ ᾐνέσαμεν μὲν ὑμῶν τὸ φιλομαθὲς τῆς πίστεως, ὑπερῃνέσαμεν δὲ τὸ εἰρηνοθελὲς τῆς προαιρέσεως, οὕτως ἐφιεμένης ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ καὶ σωτηρίᾳ τὸ ὑπήκοον καταστήσασθαι· εἴη γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐντεῦθεν ἄμειψις, ἐπὶ λαμπρότητι λαμπρότης ἄρρητος καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείᾳ βασιλεία ἀτελεύτητος. Ἀλλ', ὦ δεσπόται κράτιστοι καὶ φιλοθεώτατοι, οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστι τοῦτο τὸ μέγα καὶ πολύευκτον κατόρθωμα ἁπλῶς οὕτως καὶ ἀκαμάτως γενέσθαι, διότι τῶν μεγίστων πραγμάτων μέγισται συναναφαίνονται καὶ αἱ τληπαθήσεις. τί τοῦτο; πρῶτον μὲν τὸ τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους ἡμῖν χρονίως τε καὶ συνοδικῶς πεπαγιῶσθαι ταῖς οἰκείαις δόξαις, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἀποστολικῶς τε καὶ πατρικῶς κεκωλῦσθαι συνᾶραι μετὰ τῶν οὕτω κεκρατημένων τὸν περὶ πίστεως λόγον· ἔπειτα, ὅτι καὶ ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ κρίσις οὐκ ἄλλοις ἀνήκει ἢ μόνοις τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν ἐξουσίαν διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος εἰληφόσι, συναιρομένων τε καὶ συνεπισφραγιζόντων καὶ ὑμῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ ὑπὸ θεοῦ προηγουμένων κεκλημένων. τὸ δὲ ὑγιὲς καὶ ἀμώμητον τῆς χριστιανικωτάτης ἡμῶν θρησκείας φρόνημα ὁποῖόν ἐστιν ἀναγκαῖον ἐκθέσθαι. Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα θεόν, τὸν ἐν πατρί τε καὶ υἱῷ καὶ Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ προσκυνούμενόν τε καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον, τὴν πολυύμνητον, παντουργὸν καὶ ἀρχικὴν Τριάδα κατὰ τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων τριακοσίων δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ πατέρων παραδοθὲν ἡμῖν θεόπνευστον σύμβολον, δι' οὗ πᾶσα αἵρεσις ἐκκέκρουσται καὶ παρ' οὗ πᾶσα ἁγία σύνοδος ἤρτηται, οἷάπερ ἀπὸ ῥίζης κλάδοι καὶ πηγῆς ποταμοί. ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ἡ δευτέρα τὴν κυρίαν φωνὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐτράνωσεν· εἶτα ἡ τρίτη τὴν ἁγίαν Μαρίαν Θεοτόκον, ὡς αὐτὸν τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀποκυήσασαν, ἐκήρυξεν· ἔπειτα ἡ τετάρτη ἐκ δύο καὶ ἐν δυσὶ φύσεσι καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἑνικὴν τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐδογμάτισεν· εἶτα ἡ πέμπτη, τὴν πρὸ αὐτῆς ἐπισφραγίσασα, Ὠριγένην τε καὶ τοὺς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν προϋπαρκτίτας ἀνεθεμάτισεν· ἔπειτα ἡ ἕκτη ἀκολούθως ταῖς δυσὶ φύσεσι δύο θελήματά τε καὶ ἐνεργείας ἐπὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς Χριστοῦ ἐξεδίδαξεν· εἶθ' ὕστερον ἡ ἑβδόμη ἑπομένως ταῖς πρὸ αὐτῆς, ὡς διπλᾶ πάντα τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς Χριστοῦ φυσικὰ ἰδιώματα, τὸν αὐτὸν ἀπερίγραπτον κατὰ τὸ ἀόρατον καὶ περιγραπτὸν κατὰ τὸ