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Against the Latins

A discourse against the Latins by the great logothete George Akropolites, written by him when he was a captive in the West.

1.1 Men of Rome, who come from the elder Rome, I wished indeed to call you brothers as being of one mind and one opinion, since this, to be sure, is the purpose of the God who for our sake assumed our nature and showed in himself all the properties of the flesh, apart only from a life of sin; and this was the great mystery concerning us men, that he might unite all things in himself and gather them into a oneness of mind of the faith, wherein, according to the great Paul, there is neither Greek nor barbarian, Scythian nor Jew, nor is any other of the names of the nations accepted, but Christ alone and entirely is their distinction. I wished, then, for it to be so—for indeed we were, and long ago we had oneness of mind and thought as brothers, and were directed by the same rules or standards of piety, and were equal in all parts; but he who through envy separated the first man from God and cast evil strife among the brothers unto division, so that the villainy ended even in murder—alas for our weakness and the attack of Satan—has also separated us, O Roman friends, who were united, and dissolved us who were blended into an indivisible whole. And now we for our part lament your separation, and, as I am persuaded, the more reasonable and sympathetic among you also lament it. For what is better or more delightful than for brothers to dwell together in the same place? What is more gracious or more beneficial than for the same people to strive together with one mind for piety? What is more wretched or more pitiful than for those who are of one mind in Christ to be broken into discord, and for those united in spirit into an unnatural division? And if where two or three are gathered together in Christ, he is known in their midst, how much more will he not be present among two or three or even more nations that are of one mind in him, and fill them with good things, both those of peace that are found here, the fruit of which is the purification or ascent of those being initiated, and those from there of the higher and better life?

1.2 For these reasons, then, we are torn apart by your separation and we do not bear the suffering, because being members of Christ and being referred and joined to him as the one head, we no longer breathe together in the same things, nor do we move the whole body to one work, but we are carried against each other to different and contrary actions for the most part out of opposition, nor do we place the cornerstone in one corner, but as if having built the structure for one and another, we on the one hand hold certain opinions, while you on the other hand propound monstrous doctrines. And who is the Jeremiah that will lament us? And how many tears would be needed for this? For if, when Jerusalem was captured and the Jews were carried away from it, one city and a single nation, and they had suffered a visible captivity, he sought springs and seas for tears, with almost the whole world responding discordantly to piety and dogmatizing with contrary voices to the preaching according to Christ, how many seas would he have needed for tears? To me, then, this lament is not fitting for men nor for those who wear this mortal garment, but for angels or cherubim and all the powers above, that they might worthily bewail us who do not recognize the truth nor the mystery of Christ, through which he accomplished our salvation

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Contra Latinos

Τοῦ μεγάλου λογοθέτου Γεωργίου τοῦ Ἀκροπολίτου λόγος κατὰ Λατίνων, γραφεὶς αὐτῷ ὅτε ἐν τῇ δύσει κατάσχετος ἦν.

1.1 Ἄνδρες Ῥωμαῖοι, οἱ τῆς πρεσβυτέρας Ῥώμης ὁρμώμενοι,ἐβουλόμην μὲν καλεῖν ὑμᾶς ἀδελφοὺς ὡς ὁμογνώμονας καὶ ὁμόφρονας, ἐπεί τοί γε τοῦτο σκοπὸς τοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς προσειληφότος θεοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπιδείξαντος ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἰδιώματα ἄτερ μόνης τῆς ἐφαμάρτου ζωῆς· καὶ τοῦτο ἦν τὸ μέγα περὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους μυστήριον, ἵνα συνάψῃ τὰ πάντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ εἰς ὁμο φροσύνην συνάξῃ τῆς πίστεως, ὅπερ, κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Παῦλον, οὐχ Ἕλλην οὐ βάρβαρος οὐ Σκύθης οὐκ Ἰουδαῖος οὐδ' ἄλλο τι τῶν ἐθνικῶν ὀνομάτων παρείληπται, ἀλλὰ μόνον καὶ ὅλον Χριστὸς αὐτοῖς τὸ ἐπίσημον. ἐβουλόμην μὲν οὖν οὕτω-καὶ γὰρ ἐτυγχάνομεν καὶ πάλαι ἦν ἡμῖν τὸ ὁμόγνω μον καὶ ἀδελφὰ ἐφρονοῦμεν καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς κανόσι τῆς εὐσεβείας ἢ καὶ στάθμαις ἀπηυθυνόμεθα καὶ τοῖς μέρεσι πᾶσιν ἐξισαζόμεθα· ἀλλ' ὁ τῷ φθόνῳ διαχωρίσας τὸν πρῶ τον ἄνθρωπον ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς τὴν κακὴν ἔριν ἐπεμβαλὼν εἰς διάσπασιν, ὡς καὶ εἰς φόνον καταλῆξαι τὸ ῥᾳδιούργημα-φεῦ τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀσθενείας καὶ τῆς τοῦ σατᾶν προσβολῆς-καὶ ἡμᾶς, ὦ φίλοι Ῥωμαῖοι, ἡνωμένους ὄντας διέστησε καὶ εἰς ἀδιάσπαστον συγκεκρα μένους διέλυσε. καὶ νῦν ἀποκλαιόμεθα μὲν ἡμεῖς τὸν ὑμέτερον χωρισμόν, ἀποκλαίονται δέ, ὡς πείθομαι, τοῦτον καὶ ὑμῶν οἱ εὐγνωμονέστεροί τε καὶ συμπαθέστεροι. τί γὰρ χρηστότερον ἢ τερπνότερον ἢ ἀδελφοὺς ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ συνοι κεῖν; τί δὲ χαριέστερον ἢ ὀνησιμώτερον ἢ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ὁμοφρόνως ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀνταγωνίζεσθαι; τί δὲ ἀθλιώτερον ἢ ἐλεεινότερον ἢ ἀπορραγῆναι τοὺς ὁμονοοῦντας ἐν Χριστῷ εἰς διχόνοιαν καὶ τοὺς ἡνωμένους ἐν πνεύματι εἰς ἀξυμφυῆ τὴν διάστασιν; εἰ δὲ καὶ ὅπου δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἐν Χριστῷ συνηγμένοι, ἐν τούτοις μέσος γνωρίζεται, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἐν δυσὶν ἢ τρισὶν ἢ καὶ πλείοσιν ἔθνεσιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ συμφρονοῦσιν οὐ παρέσται καὶ πληρώσει τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὅσα τε ἐνταῦθα τῆς εἰρήνης εὑρίσκεται καὶ ὧν ὁ καρπὸς ἡ τῶν τελουμένων κάθαρσις ἢ ἀνάβασις, καὶ ὅσα ἐκεῖθεν τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας ζωῆς καὶ ἀμείνονος;

1.2 ∆ιὰ ταῦτα δὴ τῷ ὑμετέρῳ χωρισμῷ σπαραττόμεθα καὶ τὸ πάθος οὐ διαφέρομεν, ὅτι μέλη ὄντες Χριστοῦ καὶ πρὸς μίαν κεφαλὴν αὐτὸν ἀναγόμενοί τε καὶ συναρμολογούμενοι οὐκέτι συμπνέομεν τοῖς αὐτοῖς οὐδ' εἰς ἓν ἔργον τὸ ἅπαν σῶμα κινούμεθα, ἀλλ' ἀντιφερόμεθα ἑαυτοῖς εἰς ἑτεροίας πράξεις καὶ ἐναντιουμένας τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος ἐξ ἀντιθέσεως, οὐδ' εἰς μίαν γωνίαν τὸν ἀκρογωνιαῖον τιθέμεθα, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ εἰς ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην κατηρτισμένοι τὴν οἰκοδόμησιν ἄλλα μὲν ἡμεῖς γνωματεύομεν, ἄλλα δὲ ὑμεῖς τερατεύεσθε. καὶ τίς ὁ θρηνήσων ἡμᾶς Ἱερεμίας; καὶ πόσων ἂν χρεία δακρύων τούτῳ προσγένοιτο· εἰ γὰρ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἁλω θείσης καὶ Ἰουδαίων παραχθέντων αὐτῆς, μιᾶς πόλεως καὶ πολλοστοῦ ἔθνους καὶ τὴν φαινομένην πεπονθότων αἰχμα λωσίαν, πηγὰς ἐζήτει καὶ θαλάσσας εἰς δάκρυα, πάσης σχεδὸν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀντιφωνούσης εἰς τὴν εὐσέβειαν καὶ ἀντί φθογγα δογματιζούσης εἰς τὸ κατὰ Χριστὸν κήρυγμα, πόσων ἂν ἐκείνῳ χρεία θαλασσῶν ἐγένετο πρὸς τὰ δάκρυα; ἔμοιγε οὖν οὐκ ἀνθρώποις οὗτος ἁρμόδιος ὀδυρμὸς οὐδὲ τοῖς τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο φοροῦσιν ἔνδυμα, ἀλλ' ἀγγέλοις ἢ χερουβὶμ καὶ πάσαις ταῖς ὑπεράνω δυνάμεσιν, ἵν' ἀξίως ἡμᾶς ἀπο κλαύσωνται οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκοντας τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὐδὲ τὸ μυ στήριον τοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἐπραγμα