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it will be well with you, having been named father of many and having led them to such a measure of virtue, that now they all are in exile for the commandment and law of the Lord. But pray earnestly for all of them to complete their course. 555 {1To Basil the renowned abbot with all the holy fathers of the venerable monastery of Saint Sabas}1 When the dogmas of piety are established, it is a love of disturbance to shake them, but when they are in strife, as now especially in our church, how is it not necessary to be roused up, sparing nothing, not only a long journey and other hardships but also despising death itself? This is the reason for the sending to you most holy ones of our spiritual children Litoius and Symeon; this is the manner of our confidence after God in their dangerous sojourn there. But, O holy fathers, how can I clearly recount to you the things dared and done here against the gospel of Christ? Jeremiah, the most lamenting, says somewhere in his prophecies: Shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord. But here it is something more grievous and exceedingly monstrous; for those who choose to seek him and who hold to his law, they have anathematized with an anathema as being estranged from him, and to which of them did they refer the anathema, though it is dreadful to say, if not clearly to the one who said: he who rejects you rejects me, and he who does not receive you does not receive the one who sent me? What then? A synod setting itself against the laws and words of the Lord; and how, I will tell. The Lord himself having said, what God has joined together, let not man separate, a certain priest, a monk, joined in marriage the adulterous emperor Constantine, against the word of the Lord, upon the casting out of his own wife and the bringing in of the adulteress, and crowned him, he fought through the prayerful invocation against the one who forbade adultery and threatened its dreadful eternal penalties, to forbid unreasonably and he strove to become, as it were, a corrector of his mistake, since Christ curses the adulterer, but he proclaimed blessings upon him in the hearing of all, and the one is angry at the lawless deed, but the other said that he was well-pleased with it, and the one declares through both prophets and apostles the transgressor of his law to be inglorious and unhonored, but the other showed how to crown such a one; wherefore also the final symbol of union, the immaculate body and blood of Christ, he gave to the adulterers as if to pure and unadulterated persons. Has such a most monstrous drama ever been known from of old? Or is it that the noble fellow did not offer the invocation to Christ, the pure joiner of the pure, but to Satan himself, the collaborator and co-worker of adultery, the unholy one calling him god and father and giving the prizes of victory against Christ our true God to his adversary through those who committed adultery according to Satan's will? This man having acted thus against God, both before and after, living with the adulterers until death and giving them a share of the divine gifts, even though he was restrained by his predecessor after the dissolution of the adulterous reign, what now happens under the new president with fifteen hierarchs at the instigation of the ruler? He is admitted again to serve as priest in the catholic church itself. And since the Lord did not so forsake our generation that all should bend the knee to Baal, but some were found, both before at the time of the adultery itself and right now, who rely on the laws of God, when these things became known to the one refusing communion with both, a catholic synod is convened by royal command. And indeed, before the synod, having guarded and surrounded with a military detachment those who had chosen not to join them in lawlessness, they place them before the council of iniquity, the advocates of adultery anathematize, they guard them in person, they send them into exile, they securely imprison them one from another, some they even put in iron chains, and some with

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καλῶς σοι ἔσται, πατὴρ χρηματίσας πολλῶν καὶ εἰς μέτρον ἀρετῆς τοσοῦτον ἀγαγών, ὥστε τανῦν ἐν ἐξορίᾳ ὑπάρχειν τοὺς πάντας δι' ἐντολὴν καὶ νόμον Κυρίου. ἀλλ' ὑπερεύχου πᾶσι τελειῶσαι αὐτοῖς τὸν δρόμον. 555 {1Βασιλείῳ τῷ ἀοιδίμῳ ἡγουμένῳ σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσι τῆς σεβασμίας μονῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου Σάβα}1 Τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας δογμάτων καθεστώτων φιλοτάραχον τὸ κινεῖσθαι, τούτων δὲ στασιαζόντων, ὡς νῦν ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς μάλιστα ἐκκλησίᾳ, πῶς οὐκ ἀναγκαίως διεγερτέον, φειδομένους οὐδενός, μὴ ὅτι γε μακρᾶς ὁδοῦ, τῶν τε ἄλλων τληπαθημάτων ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ θανάτου καταφρονεῖν; αὕτη ἡ αἰτία τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοὺς ὁσιωτάτους τῶν πνευματικῶν ἡμῶν τέκνων Λιτοΐου καὶ Συμεὼν ἀποστολῆς, οὗτος ὁ τρόπος τῆς μετὰ θεὸν πεποιθήσεως κινδυνώδους ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι ἐκδημίας. Ἀλλ', ὦ πατέρες ἅγιοι, πῶς ὑμῖν ἐναργῶς διηγήσαιμι τὰ κατὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐνταῦθα τολμηθέντα καὶ πραχθέντα; Ἱερεμίας ὁ πολυθρηνότατος ὧδέ πού φησιν ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ προφητείαις· ποιμένες ἠφρονεύσαντο καὶ τὸν Κύριον οὐκ ἐξεζήτησαν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ χαλεπώτερόν τι καὶ λίαν ἔκτοπον· τοὺς γὰρ ἐκζητεῖν αὐτὸν προαιρουμένους καὶ ἀντεχομένους τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ ὡς ἠλλοτριωμένους αὐτοῦ ἀναθέματι ἀνεθεμάτισαν, τίνι δ' αὐτῶν ἀνενέγκαντες, εἰ καὶ φρικτὸν εἰπεῖν, τὸ ἀνάθεμα ἢ δῆλον ὅτι τῷ εἰπόντι· ὁ ἀθετῶν ὑμᾶς ἐμὲ ἀθετεῖ, καὶ ὁ μὴ δεχόμενος ὑμᾶς οὐ δέχεται τὸν ἀποστείλαντά με; Τί οὖν; σύνοδος ἀντικαθισταμένη τοῖς τοῦ Κυρίου νόμοις καὶ λόγοις· καὶ τὸ πῶς ἐρῶ. αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος, οὓς ὁ θεὸς ἔζευξεν ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωριζέτω, ἱερεύς τις μονάζων τὸν μοιχεύσαντα βασιλέα Κωνσταντῖνον κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπὶ τῇ ἐκβολῇ τῆς οἰκείας γυναικὸς καὶ εἰσοικήσει τῆς μοιχαλίδος συνέζευξεν, ἐστεφάνωσεν, ἐμαχήσατο διὰ τῆς εὐκτικῆς ἐπικλήσεως τῷ ἀπαγορεύσαντι τὴν μοιχείαν καὶ δεινὰ ἀπειλήσαντι τὰ ταύτης αἰώνια ἐπιτίμια ἀλόγως ἀπαγορεῦσαι καὶ οἱονεὶ διορθωτὴς αὐτῷ τοῦ σφάλματος γενέσθαι πεφιλονείκηκεν, εἴπερ Χριστὸς ἀρᾶται μὲν τὸν μοιχεύοντα, ὁ δὲ εὐλογεῖν αὐτὸν ὑπεφώνησεν εἰς ὑπήκοον πάντων, καὶ ὁ μὲν ὀργίζεται ἐπὶ τῇ ἀθεμίτῳ πράξει, ὁ δὲ εὐδοκεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ ταύτῃ εἰρήκει, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀκλεᾶ καὶ ἀγέραστον διαγορεύει διά τε προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων τὸν τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ παραβάτην, ὁ δὲ ὑπέδειξε στεφανοῦν αὐτὸν τὸν τοιοῦτον· διὸ καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον τῆς συναφείας σύμβολον, τὸ ἄχραντον Χριστοῦ σῶμα καὶ αἷμα, ὡς ἁγνοῖς καὶ ἀκιβδήλοις μετέδωκε τοῖς μοιχωμένοις. Ἔγνωσται ἆρα ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐκτοπώτατον τοιοῦτον δρᾶμα; ἢ ὅτι οὐ Χριστῷ, τῷ καθαρῷ τῶν καθαρῶν συναρμοστῇ, ἀνήνεγκεν ὁ γεννάδας τὴν ἐπίκλησιν, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ τῷ συνεργῷ καὶ συναυτουργῷ τῆς μοιχείας σατανᾷ, θεὸν αὐτὸν καὶ πατέρα ὁ ἀνίερος ἀποκαλέσας καὶ δοὺς κατὰ Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν τῷ αὐτοῦ ἀντάρτῃ διὰ μέσου τῶν σατανοθελῶς μοιχευσάντων τὰ νικητήρια; οὕτω τοῦδε κατὰ θεοῦ πεπραχότος, πρότερόν τε καὶ ὕστερον ἕως θανάτου συνδιαιτουμένου τοῖς μοιχωμένοις καὶ μεταδιδοῦντος τῶν θείων δώρων, εἰ καὶ εἴρχθη ὑπὸ τοῦ προηγησαμένου μετὰ τὴν διάρρηξιν τῆς μοιχικῆς βασιλείας, τί νῦν γίνεται ὑπὸ τοῦ νέου προέδρου μετὰ καὶ πεντεκαίδεκα ἱεραρχῶν ἐκ ῥοπῆς τοῦ κρατοῦντος; εἰσκρίνεται πάλιν ἱερουργεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπε Κύριος τοσοῦτον τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς γενεάν, ὥστε πάντας κλῖναι γόνυ τῇ Βάαλ, ἀλλ' εὑρεθῆναί τινας ὡς καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς μοιχείας πρότερον καὶ αὐτίκα ἐρειδομένους τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ νόμοις, γνωσθέντων τούτων τῷ δὴ παραιτουμένῳ τὴν κοινωνίαν ἀμφοτέρων κροτεῖται ἐκ προστάγματος βασιλικοῦ καθολικὴ σύνοδος. καὶ δὴ πρὸ τῆς συνόδου φρουρήσαντες καὶ περιστοιχίσαντες στρατιωτικὸν τάγμα τοὺς μὴ συνανομεῖν αὐτοῖς ἀνελομένους ἱστῶσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ συνεδρίου τῆς παρανομίας, ἀναθεματίζουσιν οἱ μοιχοΐστορες, αὐτοφρουροῦσιν, ὑπερορίζουσιν, εἴργουσιν ἀσφαλῶς ἄλλον ἐξ ἄλλου, οὓς μὲν καὶ σιδηροδεσμίους θέμενοι, ἐνίους δὲ καὶ τῷ