Letter to the monks

Of the same. To those everywhere in each place practicing the solitary life and in the faith of God

established and sanctified in Christ and saying, "Behold, we have left all things and have followed you," to the beloved and most longed-for

brothers in the Lord, many greetings. 1.1 Persuaded by your disposition and often urged by you, I have written briefly concerning the things we and the church have suffered and, as was in my power, refuting the abominable heresy of the Ariomanites and showing how foreign it is to the truth. But what I suffered while writing, I thought it necessary to declare to your piety, so that from this you too might learn how truly the blessed apostle has said, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and 1.2 knowledge of God," and might forgive me, being a man weak in nature. For as much as I wished to write and forced myself to think about the divinity of the Word, so much did knowledge retreat far from me, and I knew myself to be left behind as much as I thought I was comprehending. For I was not even able to write what I thought I understood, but also what I wrote became less than even the brief shadow of the truth formed in my mind.

2.1 Seeing, therefore, as it is written in Ecclesiastes that, "I said: I will be wise, and it was far from me, far beyond what was, and a deep depth; who will find it?" and what is in the Psalms: "Your knowledge has become too wonderful for me; it is mighty, and I cannot attain to it," and Solomon says, "The glory of God conceals a matter," many times I considered holding back and ceasing from writing; yes, believe it. But lest I seem to grieve you, or to wear out by my silence those 2.2 among you who have sought and striven against impiety, I forced myself to write a few things, and these I have sent to your God-fearing piety. For even if, as is the case, the comprehension of the truth is now far from us because of the weakness of the flesh, yet it is possible, as Ecclesiastes himself said, "to know the folly of the impious 2.3 and, finding it, to say that it is more bitter than death." For this reason, then, as one who knows this and is able to find it, I have written, knowing that for the faithful the condemnation of impiety is sufficient knowledge for piety. For even if it is not possible to comprehend what God is, it is possible to say what He is not. We know that He is not like a man 2.4 and that it is not lawful to conceive of anything created in Him. So indeed also concerning the Son of God, even if we are by nature far from comprehending, yet it is possible and easy to condemn the things brought forward by the heretics and to say, that the Son of God is not these things, nor is it lawful even to think such things concerning His divinity as those men say, much less to utter them with the lips.

3.1 Thus, then, as much as I was able, I have written, but you, beloved, receive these things not as having a complete interpretation concerning the divinity of the Word, but only as refuting the impiety of the Christ-fighters, and as having and giving to those who wish it an occasion for piety in the sound faith in Christ. But if anything has been omitted (and I think everything has been omitted), forgive with a clear conscience and only accept 3.2 the boldness of my purpose toward piety. For for a complete condemnation of the heresy of the Arians, the judgment from the Lord concerning the death of Arius is sufficient, which we have already anticipated and

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Epistula ad monachos

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ Τοῖς ἁπανταχοῦ κατὰ τόπον τὸν μονήρη βίον ἀσκοῦσι καὶ ἐν πίστει θεοῦ

ἱδρυμένοις ἡγιασμένοις τε ἐν Χριστῷ καὶ λέγουσιν «ἰδοὺ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν πάντα καὶ ἠκολουθήσαμέν σοι» ἀγαπητοῖς καὶ ποθεινοτάτοις

ἀδελφοῖς ἐν κυρίῳ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. 1.1 Τῇ μὲν ὑμετέρᾳ διαθέσει πεισθεὶς καὶ πολλάκις παρ' ὑμῶν προτραπεὶς ἔγραψα δι' ὀλίγων περὶ ὧν πεπόνθαμεν ἡμεῖς τε καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία καὶ ὡς δύναμίς μοι διελέγχων τὴν μυσαρὰν αἵρεσιν τῶν Ἀρειομανιτῶν καὶ δεικνύς, ὅσον ἐστὶν ἀλλοτρία τῆς ἀληθείας αὕτη. ὃ δὲ πέπονθα γράφων, ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμην δηλῶσαι τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ ὑμῶν, ἵνα καὶ ἐκ τούτου μάθητε, πῶς ἀληθῶς εἴρηκεν ὁ μακάριος ἀπόστολος «ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ 1.2 γνώσεως θεοῦ», καὶ συγγνῶτε κἀμοὶ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀσθενεῖ τὴν φύσιν ὄντι. ὅσον γὰρ ἐβουλόμην γράφειν καὶ νοεῖν ἐβιαζόμην ἐμαυτὸν περὶ τῆς θεότητος τοῦ λόγου, τοσοῦτον ἡ γνῶσις ἐξανεχώρει μακρὰν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ καὶ ἐγίνωσκον ἐμαυτὸν τοσοῦτον ἀπολιμπανόμενον, ὅσον ἐδόκουν καταλαμβάνειν. καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ ὃ ἐδόκουν νοεῖν ἠδυνάμην γράφειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὃ ἔγραφον ἔλαττον ἐγίνετο τῆς ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ γενομένης κἂν βραχείας τῆς ἀληθείας σκιᾶς.

2.1 Ὁρῶν τοίνυν ὡς ἐν τῷ Ἐκκλησιαστῇ γέγραπται ὅτι «εἶπα· σοφισθήσομαι, καὶ αὕτη ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ' ἐμοῦ μακρὰν ὑπὲρ ὃ ἦν καὶ βαθὺ βάθος· τίς εὑρήσει αὐτό;» καὶ τὸ ἐν τοῖς Ψαλμοῖς· «ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ, ἐκραταιώθη, οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πρὸς αὐτήν», καὶ ὁ Σολομών φησι· «δόξα θεοῦ κρύπτει λόγον», πολλάκις ἐβουλευσάμην ἐπισχεῖν καὶ παύσασθαι τοῦ γράφειν· ναὶ πιστεύσατε. ἵνα δὲ μὴ δόξω μηδὲ ὑμᾶς λυπεῖν μήτε ἐκείνους 2.2 τοὺς παρ' ὑμῖν ζητήσαντας καὶ φιλονεικήσαντας ἐπιτρίβειν εἰς τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐκ τοῦ σιωπᾶν, ἐβιασάμην ἐμαυτὸν ὀλίγα γράψαι, καὶ ταῦτα ἀπέστειλα τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ θεοσεβείᾳ. εἰ γὰρ καί, ὡς ἔστιν ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας κατάληψις, μακράν ἐστι νῦν ἀφ' ἡμῶν διὰ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ἀσθένειαν, ἀλλὰ δυνατόν, ὡς εἶπεν αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστής, «γνῶναι τῶν ἀσεβῶν τὴν ἀφρο 2.3 σύνην καὶ εὑρόντα ταύτην εἰπεῖν πικροτέραν ὑπὲρ θάνατον εἶναι». τούτου γοῦν χάριν ὡς τοῦτο γινώσκων καὶ δυνάμενος εὑρεῖν ἔγραψα εἰδὼς ὡς τοῖς πιστοῖς ἡ τῆς ἀσεβείας κατάγνωσις αὐτάρκης πρὸς εὐσέβειάν ἐστι γνῶσις. καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ δυνατὸν καταλαβέσθαι τί ἐστι θεός, ἀλλὰ δυνατὸν εἰπεῖν, τί οὐκ ἔστιν. οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπός 2.4 ἐστι καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν τῶν γενητῶν θέμις ἐπινοεῖν ἐν αὐτῷ. οὕτω δὴ καὶ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰ καὶ πολὺ τοῦ καταλαβεῖν μακράν ἐσμεν τῇ φύσει, ἀλλὰ δυνατὸν καὶ εὔκολον καταγνῶναι τῶν προφερομένων παρὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν καὶ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα υἱὸς ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐδὲ θέμις περὶ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ τοιαῦτα κἂν ἐννοεῖν οἷα λέγουσιν ἐκεῖνοι, μήτιγε καὶ φθέγγεσθαι διὰ χειλέων.

3.1 Οὕτω τοίνυν, ὅσον ἠδυνήθην, ἐγὼ μὲν ἔγραψα, ὑμεῖς δέ, ἀγαπητοί, δέξασθε ταῦτα μὴ ὡς τελείαν ἔχοντα τὴν ἑρμηνείαν περὶ τῆς τοῦ λόγου θεότητος, ἀλλ' ὡς μόνον ἐλέγχοντα μὲν τὴν ἀσέβειαν τῶν χριστομάχων, ἔχοντα δὲ καὶ διδόντα τοῖς βουλομένοις ἀφορμὴν εἰς εὐσέβειαν τῆς ὑγιαινούσης ἐν Χριστῷ πίστεως. εἰ δέ τι παραλέλειπται (πάντα δὲ νομίζω παραλελεῖφθαι), συγγινώσκετε μετὰ συνειδήσεως καθαρᾶς καὶ μόνον ἀποδέξασθε 3.2 τὸ τολμηρὸν τῆς εἰς εὐσέβειαν προθέσεως. εἰς γὰρ τελείαν κατάγνωσιν τῆς αἱρέσεως τῶν Ἀρειανῶν αὐτάρκης ἡ περὶ τοῦ θανάτου Ἀρείου γενομένη παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου κρίσις, ἣν ἤδη φθάσαντες καὶ

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