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The Trinity becomes a Tetrad, having received an addition, which is impious. But if the icon of Christ also has its own object of worship, then two objects of worship are found, which would lead us into the worship of created things, on par with the heresy of the Arians. But away with this impious way of thinking. May our good God keep you unharmed and without offense both in the orthodox faith and in the venerable way of life, which you have chosen through virginity for the pleasing of the Lord. 552 {1.................... [Solutions to various chapters]}1 Question. concerning a presbyter, and a deacon, and a lector, who held an orthodox mind, but communed with the heretics out of human fear, whether one should make an offering for them or a pannychis or a prayer. Answer. If they remained in communion with the heretics until their death, by no means; but if at their departure they both repented and confessed to have been overcome by fear, and thirdly, if they communed of the orthodox holy things, it is to be permitted that the aforementioned things be done for them. Question. concerning monks and nuns, who have died likewise in the communion of the heretics. Answer. The aforementioned answer should be observed for these as well, and likewise for the laity, men and women and children, and these things are said concerning the dead. For if one of all the aforementioned is still living and repents, casting out fear from now on and choosing to suffer for the good, if he is a presbyter or a deacon, let him be barred from celebrating the liturgy until a council of orthodoxy, and after a fitting penance let him partake of the orthodox holy things, and the force of the penance is non-partaking of the holy things for whatever time or times the one imposing the penance might dispense; for it is not possible to declare definitively, because one person differs from another in person and in knowledge and in zeal and in age. But if it be a monk or a lector or a nun, upon the completion of the penance, let divine communion be given immediately, and likewise for the laity, men and women and children. And it is clear that among these too there is a difference according to person and rank and age, so that for the one receiving it, the penance may be satisfied even in a single forty-day period; and it is clear that the penance of non-partaking of the holy things also involves prayers and prostrations and abstinence from foods according to the underlying nature of the one under penance. Question. concerning giving gifts in monasteries, both men's and women's. Answer. They are to be given, if they are protected from heretical communion. Question. concerning monks or nuns communing of the holy things on their own. Answer. It is not permitted for those outside the priesthood to touch even the divine offerings, except in a case of absolute necessity, if no presbyter or deacon can be found, to partake of the gift on their own. But how is this done? A sacred book having been placed and a clean cloth or sacred veil having been spread out, the gift having been set forth there from the hand with fear, after the hymnody it is to be taken from the mouth, and then a rinsing with wine is to be done for the one partaking. Question. concerning lay men and women who are orthodox and who commune from an orthodox [source], but out of human fear mingle in all other things with the heretics, how should the scrupulous conduct themselves concerning them. Answer. The scrupulous person must refrain from eating with one of the priestly order, that is, a presbyter and deacon, and a monk and a nun, unless perhaps by way of oikonomia, and this rather rarely, but with the laity, eating with them is a matter of indifference. And if it happens that one often communes with the heresy out of fear, while nevertheless holding an orthodox mind, yet, so that the sin might not be unchastised, a small penance should be imposed on those who indifferently [associate] with the heretics out of fear; and the penance is fifteen prostrations, and prayers likewise: "4Lord, forgive me my sin"5, "4Lord, be merciful to me a sinner"5, "4Lord, have mercy on me"5, from fifty or one hundred times. Question. Whether one should with those who sing psalms with the heretics,

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τετρὰς ἡ Τριάς, προσθήκην δεξαμένη, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀσεβές. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἰδιαζόντως ἔχει τὸ λατρευτὸν ἡ εἰκὼν Χριστοῦ, καὶ οὕτω δύο λατρεῖαι εὑρισκόμεναι εἰς κτισματολατρείαν ἡμᾶς ἀγάγοιεν ἐπ' ἴσης τῆς τῶν Ἀρειανῶν αἱρέσεως. Ἀλλ' ἄπαγε τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς φρονήματος. σὲ δὲ ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς ἡμῶν περιφυλάξειεν ἀσινῆ καὶ ἀπρόσκοπον τῇ τε ὀρθοδόξῳ πίστει καὶ τῇ σεμνοπρεπεῖ πολιτείᾳ, ἣν διὰ παρθενίας προείλου πρὸς εὐαρέστησιν Κυρίου. 552 {1.................... [Λύσεις διαφόρων κεφαλαίων]}1 Ἐρώτησις. περὶ πρεσβυτέρου, διακόνου τε καὶ ἀναγνώστου, ἐσχηκότων φρόνημα ὀρθόν, τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς δὲ κοινωνησάντων ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνου φόβου, εἰ χρὴ προσφορὰν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ποιεῖν ἢ παννυχίδα ἢ εὐχήν. Ἀπόκρισις. εἰ μέχρις ἀποβιώσεως κοινωνοῦντες τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς διέμειναν, οὐδαμῶς· εἰ δὲ ἐν τῇ ἐξόδῳ καὶ μετεμελήθησαν καὶ ὡμολόγησαν φόβῳ κεκρατῆσθαι, καὶ τρίτον, εἰ ἐκοινώνησαν τῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἁγιασμάτων, συγχωρητέον γίνεσθαι ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τὰ προειρημένα. Ἐρώτησις. περὶ μοναχῶν καὶ μοναζουσῶν, ὁμοίως τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν αἱρετικῶν ἀποβιωσάντων. Ἀπόκρισις. ἡ προειρημένη ἀπόκρισις φυλαττέσθω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖσδε, ὁμοίως καὶ ἐπὶ λαϊκῶν, ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων, εἴρηται δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τῶν τεθνεώτων. εἰ γὰρ ἔτι ζῶν ἐστιν ἐκ πάντων τῶν προειρημένων καὶ μεταμέλοιτο, ἔξω ῥίπτων τὸν φόβον ἀπὸ τοῦ δεῦρο καὶ αἱρούμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ κακοπαθεῖν, εἰ μὲν πρεσβύτερος ἢ διάκονος, εἰργέσθω τῆς ἱερουργίας ἕως συνόδου ὀρθοδοξίας, μετὰ δὲ ἐπιτιμίαν τὴν προσήκουσαν μετεχέτω τῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἁγιασμάτων, ἡ δὲ δύναμις τῆς ἐπιτιμίας ἀμεθεξία ἐστὶ τῶν ἁγιασμάτων καθ' ὃν καιρὸν ἢ καιροὺς ὁ ἐπιτιμῶν οἰκονομοίη· οὐ γὰρ ὁριστικῶς ἔστιν ἀποφήνασθαι διὰ τὸ ἄλλον ἄλλου διαφέρειν καὶ προσώπῳ καὶ γνώσει καὶ σπουδῇ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ. εἰ δὲ μονάζων εἴη ἢ ἀναγνώστης ἢ μονάζουσα, τοῦ ἐπιτιμίου πληρουμένου εὐθὺς διδόσθω ἡ θεία μέθεξις, ὡσαύτως καὶ ἐπὶ λαϊκῶν, ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων. δῆλον δὲ κἀν τούτοις διαφορότης κατά τε πρόσωπον καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα καὶ ἡλικίαν, ὡς καὶ μιᾷ τεσσαρακοστῇ ἱκανοῦσθαι τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν τῷ λαμβάνοντι· φανερὸν δὲ ὅτι τὸ ἐπιτίμιον τῆς ἀμεθεξίας τῶν ἁγιασμάτων συνεπιλαμβάνεται καὶ προσευχῶν καὶ γονυκλισιῶν καὶ ἐγκρατείας βρωμάτων κατὰ τὴν ὑποκειμένην φύσιν τοῦ ἐπιτιμωμένου. Ἐρώτησις. περὶ τοῦ διδόναι δῶρα ἐν μοναστηρίοις ἀνδρείοις τε καὶ γυναικείοις. Ἀπόκρισις. δοτέον, εἰ εἰσὶ πεφυλαγμένοι τῆς αἱρετικῆς κοινωνίας. Ἐρώτησις. περὶ τοῦ ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν κοινωνεῖν ἢ μονάζοντας ἢ μοναζούσας τῶν ἁγιασμάτων. Ἀπόκρισις. οὐκ ἐξὸν ἅπτεσθαι οὐδὲ τῶν θείων ἀναθημάτων τοὺς ἔξω ἱερωσύνης, πλὴν εἰ μή τι κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην, μὴ εὑρισκομένου πρεσβυτέρου ἢ διακόνου, ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν μετέχειν τοῦ δώρου. τοῦτο δὲ πῶς; τιθεμένης βίβλου ἱερᾶς καὶ ἐφαπλουμένης ὀθόνης καθαρᾶς ἢ ἱερᾶς ἐπικαλυμματίδος, ἐκεῖσε τοῦ δώρου ἀπὸ χειρὸς σὺν φόβῳ προτεθέντος, μετὰ τὴν ὑμνῳδίαν ἀπὸ στόματος ληπτέον, εἶθ' οὕτως διακλύσεως οἴνου γινομένης τῷ μεταλαμβάνοντι. Ἐρώτησις. περὶ λαϊκῶν ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἐξ ὀρθοδόξου κοινωνούντων, φόβῳ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνῳ τἆλλα πάντα τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς συναναμιγνυμένων, πῶς χρὴ τοὺς ἀκριβευομένους περὶ αὐτῶν ἔχειν. Ἀπόκρισις. ἀπὸ μὲν ἱερατικοῦ, ἤγουν πρεσβυτέρου καὶ διακόνου, μονάζοντός τε καὶ μοναζούσης, ἀφεκτέον συνεσθίειν τὸν ἠκριβωμένον, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ μή τι οἰκονομίας τρόπῳ, καὶ τοῦτο σπανιώτερον, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν λαϊκῶν ἀδιάφορον τὸ συνεσθίειν. κἂν τύχῃ πολλάκις καὶ κοινωνεῖν αὐτὸν φόβῳ τῇ αἱρέσει, ἔχοντα δὲ ὅμως ὀρθόδοξον τὸ φρόνημα, πλὴν ἵνα μὴ ἀκόλαστον εἴη τὸ ἁμάρτημα, μικρὸν ἐπιτίμιον ἐπιδιδόσθω τοῖς ἀδιαφοροῦσιν ἐκ φόβου τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς· τὸ δὲ ἐπιτίμιον γονυκλισίαι πεντεκαίδεκα, εὐχαὶ ὡσαύτως "4Κύριε, συγχώρησόν μοι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν"5, "4Κύριε, ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ"5, "4Κύριε, ἐλέησόν με"5 ἀπὸ πεντήκοντα ἤτοι ἑκατόν. Ἐρώτησις. εἰ χρὴ τοῖς συμψάλλουσι τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς,