Послание 23. К нему же 35

Of all that you have now told us, holy father, nothing is more regrettable than the fact that our pious rulers do not want us, according to custom, to arrive and be worthy of respectfully greeting them and making parting and benevolent speeches upon their departure, as all people do. But, of course, their condescending and unforgiving and Christ-like heart will not always act this way with our humility; for it knows how to make peace with its enemies, and not only with us, who love and honor them from a sincere heart. Thy holiness has done wonderfully, offering the answers of our humility to their sacred ears. And the fact that they approved them depends on their great divine prudence. They know how to judge rightly about divine objects, as full of wisdom and full of the knowledge of God. However, it is ordered to ask why we accepted the bishopric when the calamitous circumstance is known. To this we respectfully respond that, as far as it depended on us, we did not want this, bearing in mind both the danger of such dignity and the very matter of the steward already mentioned. But when the Thessalonians came with a request, as if from the whole city, and our good rulers agreed to the election, we were afraid to disobey and resist God and our pious rulers, judging that it was possible to avoid the above-mentioned danger when the ordination was performed by our bishops. To the rest we answer: firstly, he lives far from here; secondly, a person living in a foreign country can protect himself in various ways; thirdly, deaths also occur, and the temptation ceases, as happened to us, the humble ones who are here, who have been careful until now, acting in accordance with the circumstances. For one must, as far as possible, avoid temptations, especially those that do not have episcopal dignity. Therefore, as if in the presence of God the Witness, we accepted what was proposed, thinking - let us add - that this, of course, is not unknown to our pious rulers, who know what is absent and distant, in their high wisdom, as well as to His Holiness the Patriarch himself. For then we also wrote to him about this matter, who for non-communication with the one who married the adulterer and with the former patriarch, when he first communicated with him, were expelled in various ways; Moreover, their own venerable lips often pronounced judgment and explained that this was really so. This is our justification, which you can present, as you please, to their benevolent power. Written in 808 on behalf of Joseph, Archbishop of Thessalonica, brother of St. Theodore, on the same occasion as the two previous letters, and regarding the criticism against him for accepting the bishopric. You might be interested in: