Жизнь и подвиги преподобного отца нашего и исповедника Феодора, игумена Студийского, описанные монахом Михаилом 1 (Житие 1 – Vita A)

Preface. Special veneration to Rev. Theodora among the monks [PG. T. 99. Col. 113] Our great father and confessor Theodore is pleasing to everyone and worthy of all praise, who gloriously shone with his ascetic life and suffering for Christ and through his excellence in both, acquired superior and incomparable virtue. But it is much more pleasant and useful for those who lead a monastic life and have learned the best rules of life. Indeed, they [not only] honor and love him no less than anyone else, [but] they also keep his commandments like some immutable law, they always proudly pronounce the name of this husband and are united with him by bonds of ineffable love. For since he loved Christ for everyone, everyone loves him and gives him great honor. If anyone wants to know what glory this wondrous [husband] received here, not to mention the [life] there, the pleasure of which is inexpressible, then let him look at all the monks and laymen praising him, attaching themselves to him with all their love and offering up bright praise to the one who shines with virtue [St. Theodore]. I will not talk about the glorious Studite monastery, of which he was the leader and teacher, how they [the Studites] constantly give him loving honors and consider him, divinely inspired, to be a miracle. In turn, they themselves, due to the fact that they were raised by him and brought to a high level of life, became an example of piety and a model of virtue for many. For these good men collected in their souls, as if in a common treasury, all the best and most useful: [Col. 116] supernatural life, useful morals, joyful labors, harmonious psalmody and everything else that is honorable and desirable for the virtuous. But since the culprit and creator of all this is, of course, the father who laid the foundation and made the monks such, then, without a doubt, it will be fair to remember what was accomplished by him, to depict his labors and exploits and to tell about everything else that he suffered for Christ, Whose wounds he truly bore on his body, as the apostle says (Gal. 6:17). Thus, the purpose of my desire is not to be found wanting in undertaking the description of all the deeds (as happened, as far as I know, with those who narrated his deeds); I will tell you at least about a few of his deeds: in this case, if I do not achieve something else [more], then at least I will imagine what I have in mind. So, I have nothing to fear from the undertaking, relying on love for [the Reverend Father], for the sake of which most of all I have both the word and the story about such an important subject. Therefore, I will speak as best I can about what concerns the divine husband: on the one hand, [realizing that] it is completely impossible to present everything, on the other hand, [trying] not to omit [anything] important, which, of course, is not useful. Parents of Rev. Theodora, their virtues 1. So, the birthplace of this great father is this great Constantinople, which is mainly called the new Rome. The parents were noble by birth and owned enormous wealth. Having combined the nobility of their family with the nobility of their morals, they for the most part lived with God and were devoted to His commandments. The name of one of the parents is Fotin, the other is Theoktista. Like some others, they justified these names by their morals: the first by the fact that he enlightened many (φωτίσαι) to the Divine, the second by the fact that she was, as it were, a new creation of God (κτίσις Θεοΰ) and received the spirit of rights in the womb, according to the word of David (Ps. 50:12). Their piety was especially evident at a time when they preferred to endure everything rather than betray the faith in which they were raised. For although they saw that others were betraying the faith of the iconoclasts, they, however, did not submit and did not accept their speeches. After a little [time], in order to further show their love for God and actually manifest what their names indicated, they leave, as they [shake] the dust from their feet, the glory, wealth and honor that they enjoyed at court, and instead of everything they accept God, Whom they considered above all to achieve and have in themselves. Although Photinus held an important position for the emperor and was in charge of his treasury, both he himself and his wife of the same mind with him, having despised all this and abandoned everything, are imbued with one intention and choose a life estranged from the world, or a monastic life, uniting with God and enjoying the combination with God alone. [Col. 117] Not only these good spouses did this, but their children and other relatives were already predisposed to do the same, not considering anything preferable to God and virtue. Their way of life and the time when they renounced the world were best explained by the excellent Theodore in his mother’s funeral homily 2; the real word will say only a little about them. Iconoclast Emperor Constantine V Copronymus Birth and youth of Rev. Theodora 2. From such and such parents this wonderful husband was born 3; Then Constantine Copronymus 4 reigned and forced all Christians to renounce the holy icons. With an excess of malice, he tried in many ways to surpass his parent himself (this was Leo the Isaurian, the first who dared to overthrow divine images); extremely hostile to Christians, he was, to put it mildly, more cruel and fierce than [the parent]. So, when, by [the will of] evil fate, he received power - oh, if only this had never happened! - then, as we said, Theodore comes into the world, having to be, as it were, a common gift 5 to the fatherland and a radiance among the surrounding darkness. Having been granted divine baptism in his youthful body, and in the first years of childhood, well brought up by his parents, he was handed over for initial training to a teacher, with whom he studied very willingly, not finding pleasure in ridicule, not being carried away by shows or games and other entertainments that a young man, and precisely a young man from such a [noble] house, usually delights the soul. But caring only about mastering the sciences properly, he saturated [his] mind with them and obediently benefited from them. When, over the years, his understanding increased, accompanying each other and growing together, then he began to study external sciences 6, indulging in them with zeal equal to his talent; [he] studied grammar or, what is the same, became acquainted with Hellenic speech and very soon turned to reading poems. At the same time, assimilating not the fabulous, but the useful, he distinguished and condemned everything superfluous 7 . Then, having studied rhetoric in order, he did not think that he should imitate rhetoricians in morals. Thus, he did not use their deceitful methods or other idle talk and word disputes, but perceived only what serves to benefit, to [the ability to] compose words and [achieve] harmony, the rest he left to others, for whom empty thoughts and artificial beauty of speech are invented. Acquisition of virtues. The main virtues and those arising from them 3. When he turned to philosophers, like a hard-working bee collecting the best from everyone, he did not haphazardly and carelessly study them, but with all diligence he went through all of philosophy, both ethics and dogmatics, as well as departments involving dialectics and methods of proof 8. [Col. 120] Seeing that at that time many were wavering and perverting the faith with verbal tricks and false problems, he tried in every possible way not to communicate with such people and not to enter into conversations. For this reason, he carefully guarded against being caught by them even in the slightest, but in order to defeat and drive away opponents with great superiority and expose their sophistical speeches. But, despite the fact that he received such an education, his distinctive features were modesty, sedate behavior and care for his morals. Directing his thoughts upward, he attaches secondary importance to words and everything else, and turns all his worries to acquiring virtues, hourly applying care and effort to developing in himself chastity and courage, prudence and truthfulness, meekness and self-control, and all other virtues arising from the main ones. At the same time, Theodore diligently studied the Inspired Scriptures and marvelously comprehended their meaning, so that he could understand not only what is open to everyone in them, but also what lies in the depths. He often visited churches, exhausting his flesh with wakefulness and restoring his spiritual vigor with an all-night vigil. With the intention that sleep would not overpower him, he ate the lightest food, avoiding as a heavy and annoying burden everything that burdened the stomach; for even before the strictest [that is, monastic] life, I wanted to accustom myself to the most perfect labors, so that later they could be endured more easily and without sorrow. Emperor Leo Khazar and St. Queen Irina 4. After the emperor, who tormented Christians a lot and dishonored, alas, the icon of Christ, ended his life with a most shameful death 9, power was inherited by his son Leo, nicknamed Khazar after his mother 10; and this one imitated his father in everything and was in no way inferior to him. Soon he lost his life along with his kingdom. The scepter is received by his wife Irina together with their son Konstantin. Justifying her name with deeds 11, she frees the churches from turmoil and sadness; as having previously hated the evil-believers, she gives the churches peace (ειρηνην) and joy, restoring their former splendor and crown, which they lost. For, loving God, she, without delaying in the least, very quickly summons all the fathers to herself and, having consulted with them and together with the head of the Church (this was Tarasius 12, who shortly before took the throne) about what needs to be done, convenes a Council in Nicaea, in Bithynia, and wins in accordance with the right faith 13, commanding to honor and worship the icons as before. The number of fathers assembled extended to 350. [Col. 121] Among those gathered was His Holiness Plato, Theodore’s maternal uncle, who, having lived on Olympus from his youth, appeared at that time to take part in the Council. 5. Then this divine man attracted many to love-wisdom [for he, like no one else, was especially pleasant to those who communicated with him], before many and especially before many others - this good Theodore, his sister-nephew, and before, as has been said, already inclined to love-wisdom on his own, and not only him, but also Theodore's parents and brothers, Joseph and Euthymius, with their young sister. In addition, Plato also catches his own brothers, of whom there were also three. Thus, he takes all of them, as if by one agreement, to prefer a celibate life over a worldly life, and instructs them in a better life. Soon they, having distributed their property, wealth and other things to the poor and granted freedom to numerous servants, left Byzantium, obeying God and their leading father 14. 6. When Theodore set aside for holy life from his estate one piece of land called Voskition, in the vicinity of which was the so-called Sakkudion area 15, they all together, having arrived there, hastened to fulfill their vows to God. Nothing prevents us from speaking briefly about the area; this story will not be redundant. So, at the top of it there are multi-colored and different kinds of trees - some planted artificially, others grown on their own; located in a shady circle and intertwined everywhere, they form a moon-shaped space, leaving only one side for those entering. Below it unfolds a charming and pleasant plain, blown by quiet winds. Clean and drinkable water flows through it, not violently rushing down, but flowing silently. In order not to talk about other qualities of this area, [I will name] the best: it provides solitude to the living, so they are alone with God and find peace from sensual attractions. What should I say about the church built there? It would take me a very long time to talk about it and describe it. Monasticism and the works of St. Theodora 7. So, having arrived in the Voskition region together with these beautiful companions, the valiant Theodore indulged in ascetic labors, in which he had practiced before. Thinking not about effeminacy and laxity, but about vigor and courage, from the very beginning he showed strength of spirit and laid unshakable foundations for his subsequent life, of which he considered obedience and humility to be the most important. When, a little later, he was tonsured by Plato and put on monastic clothes, then he began even more severe feats, exhausting his flesh with fasting and depressing it with the most difficult labors. Not content with this, he took upon himself, of course from an excess of humility, all sorts of services, and even those that were considered the lowest. [Col. 124] Namely: he applied his previously pampered hands to the hardest work, not only cut down trees and carried water, but also dug the earth, both cultivated and uncultivated, then extracted stones from it and did everything else, and, moreover, deliberately the most difficult. He could often be seen carrying mule dung on his shoulders, doing this at night so as not to be noticed, or at noon. When this became known over time, it caused surprise among those who learned that such a man and from such a home very simply and humbly took up such a task, which no one imitated, considering it to be glory, and, moreover, the greatest, to live ingloriously. On the contrary, even doing this, he believed that he was doing nothing at all, so he did not limit his zeal to this, but began to help the brothers who lived with him, especially those whom he saw not completing their assigned tasks on time due to weakness or physical illness. He devoted himself [to serving] them, running hither and thither, keeping up everywhere and making everyone’s work easier, as if he was destined to receive gratitude from everyone and thus collect a great reward for such labors. Virtues Rev. Theodora 8. The subject of special care for the valiant [Theodore] was to reveal to his father every deed and movement of thoughts, since he was well aware that the confession of secrets and humility is the greatest thing. As a result of all this, he was very loved by everyone, most of all by Saint Plato, who became attached to him with all his love and in conversation with him found spiritual consolation. For he saw that the wondrous [Theodore] was very distinguished by his intelligence, more than others, he was adorned with humility and was especially immeasurably distinguished by spiritual courage. He, being so virtuous, gave preference to everyone around him and had in him a skillful assistant in business. All the harmony of virtues 9. Who else strove with the same zeal for everything beautiful in its unity, like this wondrous man, in whose single soul, like in a polyphonic and beautifully tuned lyre, all the virtues were harmoniously combined? For what modesty is there in his thoughts, everyone would say. What simplicity of morals, reasonableness, energy, as well as intelligence, meekness and ardor in love! All this, although in itself different and very heterogeneous, however, in him, combined together into one whole, formed one type of virtue, the most diverse and at the same time the most monotonous. But if, together with kind humility, he was so excellent in matters of love, then, it seems to me, he was inclined towards this not without an important reason. Namely: he reflected within himself that our Lord Jesus Christ, out of humility, put on the image of a servant, depriving Himself of unapproachable glory and becoming like us. Having endured dishonor, mockery, ridicule, and finally a shameful death for our sake, He did not diminish His love for us, but, humbling Himself more and more (Phil. 2:5-8) and condescending to us, until now generously bestows His mercy. [Col. 125] Having this in mind and giving thanks to the Lord, he was inflamed with ardent love for Him, warming it in the depths of his soul. He also cared no less about being friendly to his neighbors, bowing to everyone cordially and treating everyone with love. As a result of spiritual contrition, inner heartfelt grief never left him, visible evidence of which was the tears falling from his eyes, which flowed so abundantly that they washed his face like water. For, along with everything else, he was generously endowed with the grace of tenderness, which humility, rich in gifts, brought him. And most of all, he also had spiritual joy and consolation, light of mind and insight. An important foundation is imitation of Christ 10. Since Plato, as we said, among all those around him, used the monk as his assistant, entrusting everything to him for the sake of the greatness of his spiritual qualities, he entrusts to him the church then being built in Sakkudion; for he had a desire that from the very foundations he would erect a church to [John] the Theologian, his confidant (John 13:25), as a gift of gratitude and prayer. Relying on faith in his command, Theodore began building the church in a bright and joyful mood. And everything in the church was brilliant and very pleasant to look at - both on the ceiling, in the porticoes and equilateral corners; but great pleasure and pleasure was brought by the sight of the floor in the church, decorated with various colors and stones of various types and pouring out on everyone, as it were, a bright radiance. The grace that dwelt in the divinely inspired [Theodore] gave him the strength to accomplish extraordinary things, making for him the difficult things easy and the extremely difficult things manageable. Living in the prep. Grace to Theodore and his prayer 11. But if, in doing this, he surpassed everyone and no one else could equal him even in small things, then was he not negligent in church services or was he not later than everyone else in appearing at them? Not at all. It was here that he especially showed his zeal, leading everyone to the morning and afternoon praises, as if he had no other worries in his thoughts, and being the last to leave there, his body and gaze remaining motionless in a state of prayer and his mind completely focused on it. In order to bring something secret to God and hide from those living with him, he devoted another part of each day to Him and alone talked with Him, raising to God a mind pure and free from the admixture of earthly entertainments. And since virtue, like the rising sun, should not remain hidden, many learned about it and divulged it to many and pointed to the floor, watered with streams of tears, as the most unfalse witness of what was secret. Soul and flesh - the best and the worst 12. [Col. 128] Highly appreciating the abstinence with which he grew up and which he primarily honored as a co-worker and leader in virtues, the wondrous [Theodore] treated him very prudently, in a way that perhaps cannot be expressed: not thinking about extreme abstinence from food, but also not burdening the stomach with untimely satiation 16, of which the first produces weakness in the body, which, however, is needed for exercise in virtues and for work, the second inclines the mind to passions and angles the path to lusts. Therefore, on the one hand, he gave the flesh what it needed and as much as was needed just for its maintenance, on the other hand, he took every possible care of the soul united with it, how to free it from matter and how to subjugate the worst to the best. Sometimes, avoiding vain glory, he ate all the dishes offered, so that his companions would not think that he did not eat such dishes and so that they would not think that he was superior to others. For this reason, those who were with him, following his behavior as a law, tried to compete and imitate him as much as possible. The first among them was his brother, by nature and will, the beautiful Joseph, who, thanks to his virtue, became the head of the Thessalonian Church, receiving the throne as a reward for piety. Then follow Athanasius and Naucratius, the glorious Euthymius 17, Timothy and many other associates. All of them, unanimously choosing him as their leader and mentor in the best, adorned their lives with the greatest virtues and shone [with them]. Rev. Theodore is an admirer of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition 13. But since the servant of God, Theodore, along with others, was diligently engaged in the study of all Scripture, Old and New, as well as with the study of the works of all the fathers, the monuments that each of them left, and everything as it should be, which was diligently set forth by the divine fathers, then, under the guidance of the Spirit, he studied this, putting everything together in his comprehensive thought. More than others, he loved the words of Basil the Great and seasoned his speech with them, recognizing him as a man who most thoughtfully reasoned about the Divine and the most eloquent of all who had ever been. Although he listened to his other books with a feeling of high reverence and drew a lot of pleasure from each, it is impossible to express how highly he valued and loved the one that he wrote for monastics 18 ; he used it entirely and strictly conformed to it throughout his life, so that out of love for it he did not consider those who deviated from it even a little to be true monks, and thought that such people should not take vows upon themselves. Then there were some who transgressed many of the rules of this book, disdaining non-covetousness and a simple life and engaged in commercial affairs, like the laity. They were not satisfied unless they had slaves, mules, and any other completely useless items. [Col. 129] Grieving for them and struck by the unseemlyness of this, the valiant [Theodore] does not postpone the correction and does not give him time, but with his characteristic swiftness, coming to Plato and informing him of their condition, he is encouraged by him and begins to correct what was being done. With ardent enthusiasm, he removes, without any resistance, their excessive acquisitions and all slaves and expels from the monastery premises everything that was useless, especially when he sees that evil has crept even into a holy place and infects the very inside. Thus, with one action he corrected both his own and strangers; both of them really yielded out of respect for this husband and did not know what to object to his demands. The wondrous [Theodore] accomplished a truly praiseworthy deed and clearly showed them how they should live in the future, namely: first of all, to love diligence and simplicity, so that it would be possible to make the path to heaven without hindrance. And truly, from that time on, having become better, they reasoned and recognized his demand as Divine, and not human. However, the few who had perverted thoughts called this matter completely unnecessary and untimely - they did not even refrain from slander, but, of course, not openly, but in the corner, incited by secret hatred, destructive passion and committing deeds characteristic of an incurable soul. Not paying any attention to them, the righteous man continued his work, thinking not about what they would tell him, but about what he himself should do and how to please God with his deeds. Spiritual work Rev. Theodora 14. Meanwhile, since the wondrous one lived and shone with such virtues, Plato decides to honor him with the honor of the priesthood and make him primate before God. Having informed him of his intention, he initially met with refusal and resistance on his part, perhaps out of fear of the height of his rank; Only with difficulty and after a while did he achieve the point that he obeyed, realizing that Plato himself decided to do this not without God’s inspiration. Then both of them, having gone to Byzantium 19 and expressing their intention to the patriarch [it was Tarasius], resorted to him as a secret leader and executor of the priesthood and co-creator of anointing, and [Tarasius] himself was very happy about the good deed. Having accepted his ordination from him, as it should be, 20 and having received great grace from that time on, Theodore decided not to rest until he surpassed himself and added [new] purification to the [previous] purification. For he reflected within himself: what a lowly and insignificant creature man is and, however, is capable of perceiving such high dignity and grace, and how the greatness of the priesthood is incomprehensible and immense not only for earthly nature, but, perhaps, for the most heavenly, which is pure mind. Therefore, he strained his soul and completely removed his mind from feelings, exhausting the remainder of his flesh, just to make himself worthy of what he received by the grace of God, and to bring pure service to the Pure One. [Col. 132] Having renounced as much as possible from the material, he tried to live only with his soul, because he considered such high grace to belong only to the soul, and, moreover, purified from much. Hence he has contemplation and height of mind; hence his ascent to the best and, as far as achievable, union with God: he directly conversed with Him, never ceasing to sing hymns in praise of Him and communicate with Him, mentally composing long and incessant chants. For the love of God and the desire for heavenly things did not allow him to pay even the slightest attention to the body, but prompted the valiant to despise the most necessary things: sleep, either not at all, or only weak and as if feigned, barely touching food, and, moreover, for a short time and in very small quantities for the sake of union with the body. He despised all this, as if he had already passed on to another life and left the earth, although he was still on earth and existed in connection with the bodily church. The Difficulty and Responsibility of Spiritual Leadership 15. Plato, seeing that he had improved so much, and seeing something extremely great in his activity, was rightly amazed and praised him every day; He also revealed his behavior to many others, predicting the future of those around him. It was [Plato] who begged [Theodore] to accept the leadership of the brethren in his place, persuading him with words of exhortation and reasonable arguments - because he himself had already lost his strength from time and ascetic labors, and meanwhile the number of disciples was apparently increasing and therefore required a much more energetic abbot. But the wondrous one, observing humility in everything and not wanting to compromise modesty in anything, rejected this power, considering it as if it were a heavy burden, and with requests dissuaded his uncle, this time completely refusing him obedience, although otherwise being obedient. For he, the prudent one, knew that it was much more useful and better to be governed by others, as it had been from the beginning until now, than to lead others himself, and, moreover, men who had moved on to a new life in virtue, the leadership over whom requires a lot of sympathy, a lot of attention, even more experience and the most sophisticated mind. In fact, if we see that our monks are zealous in ascetic labors, then at the same time we know that managing them is all the more difficult, since it is necessary to test not only their deeds and words, but also their thoughts and internal movements and mental states, to bring everything to light, even the hidden; the slightest omission in this brings the greatest harm, and the evil remains within. This caused Theodore to withdraw into himself and reject the proposed power; not because he was not suitable for it - even in excess, for who was more capable of this than he? – [Col. 133] but because he did not want honor for himself and wanted to remain in last place, which he valued as highly as ambitious people - to be in sight of everyone. But Divine grace, arranging his life differently, entrusts him with power even against his wishes. How exactly this worked out will be discussed briefly. 16. After Plato did not convince him by word and deed, he comes up with something worthy of [Theodore’s] mind and grace for this purpose. Suddenly struck by illness and believing that his last hour is coming, he calls to him all the other monks and also this divine man. Having informed all of them about his serious and incurable illness by any force, he began to make orders regarding his death, inspired how they should live after his departure, and proposed a question regarding the abbot: who will be their abbot after him and who will they elect by a common vote? And he said: whoever, in their opinion, turns out to be worthy, will be so in his own opinion. For the wisest knew for whom they would vote. When everyone unanimously and unanimously said that Theodore is more capable of leadership than anyone else and is experienced in leading souls, as superior in life and word, Plato, recognizing this as a favorable act and corresponding to his intention and without adding anything else on his part, entrusts him, against his will, with his power, obviously having behind him all the disciples who gave their permission and, like him, their consent to this. Not being able to object to all of them and resist such unanimity, the divinely inspired one, with difficulty and heaviness in his heart, accepts what befell him at the age of thirty-five and a full thirteen years after entering monasticism 21 . Thought is the root and source of what happens in the body 17. Having thus assumed power, the wondrous [Theodore] from that time on was filled with even greater care, instilling in everyone in general and each individual that which would be useful, and leading [the monks] to greater and more perfect virtue. He devoted himself entirely to explaining to them how and with what spiritual tension they should fight against the enemy, and proclaimed to everyone the word of the apostle: for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the power and peacemaker of the darkness of this age (Eph. 6:12). And we must always be vigilant, attentive and ready to do anything in order to thus defeat the enemy and overthrow all his strength; not to be careless, on the contrary, to make more and more efforts and become more vigilant, since the evil one, once defeated, does not run away, but looks out for where to penetrate [us] again and with what [that is, what weapon] to attack us. [Col. 136] Therefore, one must resist it more, not only avoiding evil, but also doing good; or, better, try to reject the commission of evil in the state of not only its actual implementation, but also its origin in thought, because it is necessary to purify the thought much more, since it is the root and source of what is done in the body. By instilling all this in his students every day, the father excited them to exploits and filled them with a more courageous feeling. All of them, completely dependent on him alone, trusted him with their souls and informed him of every action, without doing anything at all, neither small nor great, that would be displeasing to him. Their first and most important concern was to reveal his thoughts to the smallest detail and purify the inner man. For his part, the wisest, accepting everyone’s confession with careful discussion, offered everyone appropriate healing, dissolving the strong with the weak and severity with meekness, because he considered it unhelpful and very harmful to relax more than one should, and also to use severity alone. Therefore, connecting one thing to another, looking at the face, character and condition of each, he approached everyone intelligently, as it could not be otherwise, and was varied in this regard and easy to manage [subordinates]. Together with his words, his father’s life was a silent edification, so that his teaching was confirmed either by his way of life, or by his word, and became perfect on both sides. He often announced [to the brothers] the most pleasant and highly timely teachings, borrowing occasions from the present state of affairs and from the cases presented every day, extending the teachings to other subjects and fulfilling his conversations with grace, so that they could touch even a stony heart, bringing as much benefit and consolation as they brought tenderness. The wise and experienced spiritual guidance of Rev. Theodora 18. But the time has come for us to begin [the story of] the exploits of the valiant, in order to better imagine his firmness in suffering. At this time, the son of the Christ-loving Irina, Konstantin, filled with youthful passions, having gathered around him a community of shameless people and removing his mother from governing the state, took power into his own hands. Due to bad manners and carelessness in life, he was devoted to sensual pleasures and, like a foal that does not know the yoke, was unbridled in his impulses. On top of everything else that he did, he, who did not stop at any, even extreme, evil, expelled his wife and forcibly clothed her in a monastic image, introduced another (the name of the adulteress is Theodota), who, they say, was a relative [Col. 137] father [that is, Theodore] and who occupied the empress’s bedroom; for his part, he, the all-vicious one, committed [this] adultery, and, moreover, the most grievous and hateful adultery 23. Perfect teaching - in word and way of life 19. Patriarch Tarasius refused to lay on hands and generally give his permission for what happened; for how could he do this, knowing that this combination is unholy, rejected by the sacred rules 24? A certain presbyter, named Joseph, who was at the same time the steward of the church, dreaming of himself more than was proper, and despising the Divine, instigates this lawless marriage, performs it and combines the marriage, servilely before the emperor in everything; this slave by faith and will, although, perhaps, not long later, he realized his foolishness, expelled from the sacred enclosure for what he did without permission. From that time on, the [emperor's] act opened the way for worse not only in the capital, but also in other cities, even in the most distant countries. Thus, the Bosphorus, the Gothic and other rulers of the regions and other city leaders fearlessly began to commit wickedness, driving out some wives, introducing others in their place and, to justify their passions, citing the example of the one who first did this. Rev. Theodore breaks off communication with the emperor 20. The Great Theodore, having learned about this and being sick in soul, sighed heavily, grieved and regretted those who did this, who fell into such a great crime, and, moreover, so many. He especially feared for the rest, lest evil spread to everyone and the lawlessness, which was thus protected by the authorities, turn, on the contrary, into law. Therefore, having strained his whole mind and considered, as far as possible, the means to stop evil, he performs a deed worthy of the nobility of his [soul]. In front of everyone, he excommunicates the emperor who committed the lawlessness, and denounces him and his act, ordering all the monks to consider him deposed. When word of this spread everywhere, the emperor himself learned about what had happened. Although he is inflamed with anger, he puts on a mask of meekness, pretending to have ignored it for a while. Particularly fearing that the monk was superior among everyone, he did not want to immediately reveal all his severity, but [preferred] to influence him better with flattery in order to win him over to his side, slyly and completely vainly assuming that if he only got the better of him, he would thereby easily win over the others. Venerable suffering Theodore and his students 21. [Col. 140] Therefore, he uses every possible means and invents vain tricks, showing his evil nature in everything. He inspired the wife herself to influence the monk. Obeying his advice, she made [such] an attempt, sending him gifts and a lot of gold and in return for the request, citing kinship with him. But when it turned out that the madman had started all this in vain, since the valiant [Theodore] did not hesitate at all, then he, quick to do evil, invents another means. He decided to go himself to the places where the monk lived, under the pretext of using the warm waters there, but in reality in order to enter into an interview with his father and, perhaps, subjugate him to his will, and with him all the others who acted like him. 22. But when neither his father nor anyone else who lived with him appeared to the emperor, did not enter into conversation with him, and did not even make a proper greeting, then he, inflamed with great anger, hastily returned to the palace and gave the order to one of his subordinates, who commanded the palace guard, to scourge the monk along with some of the monks whom he knew as the most daring and firm in spirit. Indeed, this villain, pleasing his command, without shame and without pity for the saints, scourges them so cruelly that he dissects their entire body and sheds streams of blood. Then, after scourging and wounding, he immediately exiled to Thessalonica 25 and imprisoned the eleven disciples along with his father in the prisons there, as he was ordered. These wonderful men suffered together with him and together with him they bore the brunt of grief with complacency. 23. But what a good result the feat of the valiant produced became clear to everyone a little later. The Kherson and Bosphorus presbyters and monks and all other leaders of the people in the surrounding places and islands, having heard about what happened to the saints and how the great Theodore, with unshakable firmness of spirit, opposed the shameless crime - and they compete with this man and do the same to him, declaring the lawless emperor excommunicated and alien to communication with them, not fearing his threats and not bowing their souls before the gifts. When the wicked man, having tried to influence them with both, despaired of [achieving] any change on their part, then he finally expels them from the fatherland, doing the same this time in order to further spread wickedness and the most evil way of life. What came of this? Many boldly come out in defense of the truth, so that confusion and fear attacked those who attempted to commit or have already committed such [wickedness]. Thus, evil is restrained and suppressed, since its obscenity has been openly exposed and many have come to the realization that they acted unwisely. 24. [Col. 141] As a result of this, the divine father becomes even more glorious to everyone. Even after suffering, he did not weaken his resistance, inciting many others to take revenge on what he had committed and encouraging those in exile with letters, so that they would not weaken in their labors, but would become more and more courageous. He also sent letters and persons who were to deliver them to the head of the Roman See; [in letters he] informed him about everything that had happened and about what he suffered from the authorities for his desire to curb their intemperance. He also received answers from him praising his prudent protest and inflexibility of thoughts. 25. But since, according to the word of the prophet, a daring king will fall into evil (Prov. 13:18) and his dark ways (Prov. 4:19), then shameless Constantine also suffered this, who rightly suffered punishment for what he did lawlessly, soon losing his kingdom and with it his eyes 26 so that, having seen evil with them when he had them, now he had them completely unseeing. He was removed from the palace, and his God-loving mother again received power. True to her name, striving for peace, she now took care of it no less than before. She immediately frees the fathers from exile - not just these or those, but all of them, and first of all, I say, our shepherd and teacher, who was superior to everyone in virtue 27. Upon his return from Thessalonica, everyone, as befits, solemnly greets him, he is awarded even greater honor upon entering [the capital] from the primate 28 and the empress herself. Therefore, more than anyone else, the well-known presbyter Joseph, who was guilty of discord, and in his daring self-will committed something that should not have been dared, is expelled from the divine fence and excluded from the list of priests, so that with his cutting off and ejection the remaining members would gather and unite. For this was the first concern of the empress, precisely so that everyone would unite and be in agreement, and not be cut apart and separated by schisms. Thus the good deed was soon completed, since everyone agreed and entered into better unity. 26. For his part, the patriarch himself did not personally approve of what happened [that is, the marriage with Theodota], did not deny that it was a bad act alien to the Church, and sympathized with the suffering fathers, but, wisely applying himself to the circumstances (οικονόμων), as befits a deep mind in general and his in particular, he has not yet taken measures to punish those who committed [wickedness], because time did not allow him to act as he wished. Therefore, the empress herself, recognizing the prudence of both [that is, Tarasius and Theodore] and placing this [them] in great praise, testified to the great virtue of both and [their] ability to discern what is useful. The Patriarch, having slightly weakened the severity [of church rules], thereby restrained the distraught emperor from greater evil, for he was already threatening, following the example of his predecessors, to become an enemy of divine icons if he did not achieve what he wanted; [Col. 144] Father [Theodore], having openly denounced wickedness and, with decisive resistance and denunciation, restraining it from further development, taught not only those who committed it, but also those who attempted to commit something similar, not to be incontinent in their passions. In general, making some relaxation (οικονομησαι) in court, on the one hand, is good, and not deviating from severity (την ακριβειαν), on the other, is very useful: both are equally directed towards benefit and observance of the best. Of course, having clearly understood this, our God-bearers, with the best reasoning available to us, arranged the upcoming affairs, so as not to break the love that they had accepted from the beginning and in which they were united with each other by the Divine Spirit. Undoubtedly, we should adhere to this and judge according to the circumstances of the time what is temporary. Thus, let us praise and acknowledge the intention of both, and teach those who think or behave differently to think differently. 27. After this, our father Theodore, leaving the capital, goes to his monastery 29 and, like an excellent shepherd, gathers to himself the separated sheep, which the predators of souls in his absence drove out and scattered throughout the mountain. Many other monks and even more laymen also flock in, [they] welcome the return of the great one, since rumors about him were spreading everywhere, proclaiming the name of Theodore and Saccudion. The experience justified the words and deeds - the rumor. Those who visited him, becoming spiritually better, were already moving on to a new, better life. From that time on, many of the inhabitants of Byzantium came out and, as quickly as possible, came to the saint; immediately caught by his words, as if by undeceiving sirens, they did not remember at all about returning, but, on the contrary, asked, begged and did everything that petitioners usually do, just to unite with him and live with him, considering it much better and more useful to live with him than to turn to the world. He, accepting everyone and recognizing their great faith, brought them to God and raised them in virtue. 28. But since at that time the most godless Arabs were attacking the Roman Empire and [thereby] forcing distant and nearby inhabitants to move under fear of captivity, it seemed necessary to my father to act in accordance with the circumstances and not expose himself and those living with him to obvious danger, which, of course, would be unreasonable. Therefore, he comes to the capital 30, where he is very cordially received by the patriarch and empress, to whom he brought the greatest pleasure with his arrival. They urgently ask him to take control of the Studite monastery, located in the same capital, in order to found a school of ascetic life in it and to adorn the foremost of the cities with such a great man. The monastery had a truly majestic church, both in beauty and in size, inferior to very few. [Col. 145] But it may not be superfluous to first talk about its foundation. Studite Monastery in Constantinople 29. A noble and very influential man arrived from Rome. This husband's name is TL Studios (Stuaius); when translated into our language they usually call him Euprepius. He was awarded the rank of patrician and consul [ipate] 31. Having settled here and, out of his great virtue, donating all his property to God, he built this glorious church to the great Forerunner and Baptist, designating it as a refuge for monks. Those who renounced the world (who came here at different times) never ceased to live together in it, demonstrating the greatest deeds of virtue, until the God-hating Constantine Copronymus expelled all the monks and these, along with others, from Byzantium. When the affairs of the Church returned to their previous state and the persecution by heresy 32 ceased, only a few monks settled here again, as they say, twelve, and no more. A true shepherd places his salvation in the salvation of his flock 30. So, the father, having found this place with a glorious church a most decent dwelling for monks, as it seemed to the founder, immediately accepts it and settles his disciples. For it was necessary that the one who was truly greater than all those born (Matt. 11:11; Luke 7:28) should provide his own church to the one who was more than all in virtue, and that in his person he should have an inhabitant and a shepherd, moreover, the best of shepherds, whose sheep are glorious in virtue and very numerous. His whole, and indeed greatest, concern was aimed at making his subordinates better every hour, instilling in them everything that is beautiful, teaching them and placing his salvation in their salvation; they should grow and multiply and achieve a better life. Thanks to this, their monastery became famous and became famous among everyone. As his fame grew, both laymen and monastics flocked to him every day, among them those who led a pampered life and full of pleasures and who did not have the slightest concern for virtue. Receiving them all cordially, the father filled them with instructions from the Divine Scriptures and taught them the best, urging them not to strive for anything other than one virtue, an immortal and permanent treasure. For, he said, the worldly, like spring flowers, disappears, deceiving us with sudden transformations and flying away before we look at it. Those who renounce the world [he said] need to be free from everything superfluous and, if possible, well prepared, so that they can more easily make the path straight to heaven and overcome every obstacle. [Col. 148] And he aroused in them such a love for virtue that without hesitation or hesitation, in an impulse that gripped them, abandoning everything, they surrender to God, considering it as a hindrance for the soul to even simply look at wealth. Having exchanged one life for another, the most pampered for the most severe, they learned the measure of humility and virtue, without bending their souls to anything earthly. Not only they, but also some of the monks who came to him wished to stay with him and have him as their mentor and abbot. These too he received with paternal mercy and honored with every care, treating them and loving them as his own children, and fulfilling everything that, in his opinion, they desired. Not giving preference to those who took monastic vows from himself and not putting them in second place, as perhaps another ambitious and vain person would have done, but knowing that the [monastic] image is the same, no matter where anyone puts on it, just as the endowment of baptism is the same and unchanged for everyone, he gave everyone their due and applied the measure of honor according only to virtue and diligence for good, so that only in this way whoever wants could become higher or lower in order to make them more zealous in virtue and show that great honor belongs only to it. 31. Their life seemed and was so high that everyone wanted to reflect in themselves at least a small part of their life and, guided by this, themselves be raised in virtue and improved. When they, growing in number, reached a huge number, extending to almost ten hundred, it became inconvenient and even almost impossible for the father to test and examine each one separately, to monitor their words and thoughts. For how was it possible for one person to observe so many, and in all the little things? He comes up with something better for us and worthy of his great mind, which should bring great benefit to him and us. Namely, having chosen the outstanding of the brethren, whose lives testified that they were superior to others in virtue, he appointed them to supervise the others, so that they could see if anything was done not for the good of others, and report it to the common teacher, and so that in this way nothing could be hidden, being open to so many eyes and supervised by so many. He called them by special and appropriate names, calling them observers [epistimonarchs], officials [taxiarchs], guardians [epitirites] and alarmists [diipnists]. Of these, he then awarded the more perfect and high in life another name, ordering one to be second after the abbot, another to bear the name of the steward, a third to bear the name of assistant steward, and another to be called by a different name in accordance with the service assigned to each and the work assigned to them. Establishment of the monastic hierarchy 32. [Col. 149] In addition, he set out in writing in iambic verses the commandments on how everyone should fulfill what was assigned to him. It is better [to say] that the text of these verses begins with the abbot himself, then, in order, embraces everyone until the very last of them. He also determined what penances, excommunications, or how many genuflections should be subject to those who are late for the Divine chants, or who breaks a vessel, or who recklessly throws it away and neglects it, or who in any way offends a brother, or in a conversation speaks an empty word unnecessarily and does not hold back his tongue. He assigned penance to all of them according to their misdeeds. Thus, the chiefs appointed by the father had their main task and concern to watch over all the actions of the brothers, to investigate everything, to help everyone in the appropriate way. The great [Theodore] himself takes part in their work as one who himself is even more burdened with the affairs of everyone and is, as it were, a helmsman, sitting on high and watching the blow of the wind, or an excellent commander, bearing labors and dangers for everyone and testing everyone, so that the saying of the divine Jeremiah is fulfilled on him: the tempter has given you to my people and weighed them down, so that you may not tempt their way. (Jer. 6:27). Monastic institutions of St. Theodora 33. Everyone marvels at Moses that, even having been honored with the Epiphany, he, when it was necessary to improve the people entrusted to him, appointed over them captains of hundreds, leaders of fifties and leaders of tens (Exodus 18:25), so that they would direct the affairs of the people for the better and resolve all disputes. But Moses did not come up with this on his own and not alone, but needed the advice of others and was led by them to what would benefit the people. Moreover, the leaders appointed by Moses gave orders only in small matters and more related to bodily needs, the organization of which in itself is of little importance. And our teacher [Theodore] alone [established these positions] and [had] the highest concern for everything, if only the purification of the soul and inner man is above all. So, having accomplished his plan, he is worthy of inexpressibly greater surprise and the most excellent praise. The beginnings of community and equality 34. Since there is nothing better for unity than equality and community in everything (for between those who live according to God there should not be the words “mine” and “yours,” “more” and “less” - all this is bad and hostile to unanimity), he decreed that everything should be common, including clothing, so that everyone would receive what he needs, without, however, appropriating it as property. [He] set aside one room for everyone, so that anyone who wanted could put clothes there when they should either throw them away [as worthless] or repair them, and in return take another, new or clean one, from the person in charge. [Col. 152] For whoever has a common life, food, meal and everything together, or, to put it more sublimely, who has a common soul, exaltation and ascent to God, should not they have had everything else in common, down to the smallest thing, so that through all this they would preserve the principles of community and equality, according to the saying of the Apostle: the people who believed had one heart and soul, and not one of them said their own from their possessions be, but everything is common to them (Acts 4:32). Therefore, the father himself did not have anything of his own or anything exceptional, but, like others, putting away his tunic in the same clothing storage room, he took in its place the first clothing he came across or the one that seemed to him the most coarse, so that in this too he could be a model of humility for his subordinates. 35. Always remembering the words of blessed Paul: the bread is dead (2 Thess. 3:8), but serve me and those who are with me with this hand (Acts 20:34), he himself wanted to constantly work, copying books with his own hands and applying his labor to the handicrafts of his disciples. Of these books, some are still preserved among us as excellent works of his own writing. He also composed other books, which he dictated in his own language, and showed that the meaning contained in them was filled with Divine grace. 36. His first book is the so-called “Small Announcement”, consisting of 134 teachings. It was presented to the brothers in oral conversations and in it, with excellent reasoning and the most divine words, it skillfully outlined what is appropriate for every day, namely: spiritual courage and contempt for adversity, constancy in ascetic deeds and mortification of the limbs, firmness of mind and resistance to attackers in the daily [spiritual] struggle. Three teachings from this book are read in our church every week, truly reminding us of what we should do and providing benefits in later life. Other works by Rev. Theodora 37. The second book after this was compiled by him, called the “Great Announcement” and consisting of three parts. She explains separately these and other good commandments of community life, offering inexpressibly useful instruction. The extent to which both of these books are filled with grace and supreme wisdom is known to everyone, even the least knowledgeable. And in fact, many others have compiled many useful books, distinguished by grace and beauty of speech, but I am convinced that from no other is the soul filled with enlightenment and tenderness to such an extent as from my father’s announcements, which are distinguished by great persuasiveness along with pleasantness and grace with usefulness. 38. The divinely inspired one also composed a praiseworthy book 33, where he talks about the Lord’s bright holidays and decorates them [the stories] with decent words; [Col. 153] and not only them, but also the feasts of the Mother of God and the Baptist Baptist, whose lofty life was gracefully sung. 39. He also compiled a book in iambic verses, describing the creation and fall of the progenitor, the envy of Cain, the hand - alas - he raised against his brother and the most lawless murder he committed; the piety of Enoch and Noah; the birth of children from them, life, behavior. In it he also enumerated all the heresies of the iconoclasts, anathematizing them as zealots of evil. 40. Five more books of his letters that we still have. They reveal the father's courage, variety of mental states and jealousy, and how he remained unshakable and invincible in suffering, not afraid of any troubles and not weakened in spirit in so many temporary trials and misfortunes. “Antirrhetics” Rev. Theodora 41. Besides all this, a lover of words has compiled a dogmatic book, which contains marvelously crafted strong adversarial (αντιρρητικοί) “Words” that refute the sophisms of the iconoclasts, oppress them, not allowing them to even breathe, and overthrowing their lies with true dogmatic arguments. Here he attacks the former wicked emperors a lot, denouncing them with appropriate words, in which their whole life is branded with shame. 42. These are the books that the God-bearing father dictated and clearly expounded in his wisest language. For he always had within himself true wisdom, which first sounded in him and illuminated him with the light of knowledge, and had little or no need for earthly wisdom, which he had long since despised, from the time he turned his eyes to heaven. Therefore, abounding in grace, he worked every day, wrote himself, dictated to others, instilling what needs to be done, urging them to exercise in the Divine - in a word, bringing benefit to everyone, teaching everyone what is salutary. 43. But the evil one could not endure and restrain himself, so as not to again plot intrigues against the righteous man, since he was always jealous of him and was annoyed at his good deeds. Having approached directly the one who then took possession of the scepter - I mean the malevolent Nikephoros, who deprived the God-loving Irene of the kingdom and appropriated it to himself for his own misfortune - the shameless [devil] acts through him to cause harm to the monk. How, this will now be discussed. [Col. 156] So, this Nikephoros, who in appearance was a Christian and had a common name with us, but in the essence of his very actions was a hater of Christ and, much worse than that, given himself over to the evil one, did not want to calm down until he tried to do everything that he had planned, even if he achieved nothing. Apart from everything else, he did not think at all that the Church would fall into disorder, as long as evil succeeded more and more, achieving what it wanted. For, impatient to see that she is in a world that not long before she had found with difficulty after the many turmoil that worried her before, the envious person tries in another way to again create turmoil and unrest in her. Namely, the famous Joseph, who once, as was said, on the basis of the general voice of the Church, was cast out by Saint Tarasius for the obvious self-will he committed, which everyone knows, this Joseph - alas - he [Nicephorus] dares to forcefully and contrary to the rules again introduce him into the Church and return to him the priesthood of which he was deprived. What didn't this new dogmatist say? What didn't you do? What kind of deceit did he not use to fulfill his plans? By the way, he said that the most absurd thing is the following: “We will not do anything new or daring if we ourselves accept what has been cast out by others, rather we will fulfill the law of love; in this, of course, everyone will be on our side, agreeing in thoughts and acting with us.” And here he, shameless, mentions law and love (oh, the justice of laws and sacred words!), having never known that there is law and love. He, unreasonable in all other respects, should have realized, if nothing else, then at least that if this [Joseph] was deposed by Patriarch Tarasius, who has now left us and gone to heaven, and if others condemned him, then we should not only not violate their decrees, but affirm them as much as possible, since we and them have the same grace, so that it does not seem that we are changing the laws of the fathers and acting with intention unholy. 44. Without thinking about any of this, he persistently approaches the patriarch - this was Nicephorus 35, the successor of Tarasius - and confronts him with the need to fulfill his will, even against his desire, and return the priesthood to Joseph. And indeed, the man of God is forced and with difficulty to do this, fearing, as I think, that the madman, not having received what he wanted, would do something worse and cause greater harm to the Church. 45. But this daring act again caused a schism in the Church and divided those previously united. Namely, our father Theodore, not accepting what happened, immediately, together with all the monks, separated from those who did this, having absolutely no communication with them, neither in thought nor will, nor in word, nor in deed, nor in any way whatsoever. [Col. 157] A very large part of the people also separates with him, mainly the best of all and the chosen ones in their lives. “It is not our business,” said the valiant and true champion of the laws of God, to transgress the limits set by the fathers, to cancel their good decrees and, to our own harm, to make any unnecessary and alien indulgences to the Church. Let us never allow the thought of becoming defenders of such an act and preferring the human to the Divine and ourselves doing what pleases some person and, in general, everyone who wants to make innovations, especially since we have before our eyes terrible disasters sent down to us from heaven, when the emperor and the people acted lawlessly in the same matter and when this very priest, his minion, dishonored the great sacrament of piety for the sake of insignificant glory. Hitherto feeling shocked by this, we should not again tempt the wrath of God by falling into the same thing and attempting to approve of what we tried to avoid as harmful.” 46. ​​The father, having explained to them in detail his opinion and intention, completely separates himself from them, as we said, not paying attention to anyone: neither to the emperor who threatens to do him harm, nor to his like-minded people who resort to various violence against him, nor to others who contribute to the power, spiritual and other dignitaries. Only he considered a break with the patriarch generally undesirable and even unbearable, feeling as if he was being cut in two and therefore tormented by inexpressible grief. But since he could not otherwise achieve what was needed for benefit, he patiently endured the grief, preferring to endure everything rather than to do something displeasing to God and find himself, on the contrary, honoring something above Him. 47. But perhaps someone will ask: which of the two observed goodness and directed the circumstances of the time in a favorable direction? Is it the one [Patriarch Nikephoros] who allowed adaptation (οικονομήσας) and relaxation against what was due, or the one [Theodore] who remained adamant in everything and never deviated from the severity [rules – ακριβείας] in anything? For our part, we will answer him like this: “Oh you! The entire human mind is not enough to understand something so difficult. God alone, to whom everything is accessible, is able to see what is best and can judge what is true in deeds.” It’s enough for me to say that the patriarch knew that this act was wrong and inconsistent with the sacred rules; for how could he not know this, having been taught from above the Divine in a way that no one else knows? But he could not disobey the emperor, having long known his evil nature and the evil variability of his thoughts, in which, it seemed to him, it cost nothing to upset and confuse everything. Theodore did not think about it at all; Devoted in everything to God alone, he believed that he should not at all change in relation to the circumstances of the time, nor yield to the authorities even in the slightest. [Col. 160] But the word of the testimony of God is before the kings themselves (Ps. 119:46), not fearing the day of man, according to the word of the divine Jeremiah (Jer. 17:16), not bowing to the authorities and not fearing anything else visible. Everyone praised and marveled at this height of his way of thinking, and even more so the patriarch, who always extolled the courage of this husband, combined with prudence, and therefore did not want to change his disposition towards him at any time, even during the breakup itself, nor change his opinion at all, nor belittle the honor that he gave him in abundance, or even deny it for a short time. However, the author of temptations and the sower of thorns did not derive much benefit from this general temptation in the Church; but as soon as his ally died, [Joseph] was deprived of the priesthood and expelled from the divine fence, suffering a more shameful defeat than before, in order to actually learn that it is impossible for those who commit lawlessness to escape the Judgment, even if it does not punish us immediately and not immediately. But let us return our speech to what we began to tell. 48. When the lawless emperor saw that the monk was in no way inferior to him and did not approve of his actions, then he cruelly expelled him from the monastery and from Byzantium and exiled him to an island near the capital; He did the same with brother Joseph and the wise Plato, imprisoning them not all together, but each separately, so that they could not even see each other, which serves as the only consolation for those in prison 36. 49. Seeing that the other disciples have lost their father, he first influences them with considerable threats, then imprisons them in dark dungeons, assigning soldiers to guard them, intending to interrogate them at an opportunity. On the appointed day, he orders them to be brought, and he himself first sits down with pompous pride and with a clear expression of inner severity in his eyes, in his face and in his entire appearance. First of all, he orders them to divide among themselves and stand on two sides, separating the best and outstanding in mind from the rest, so that in this way it will be easier for him to compete with them. And first he turns to the first, thinking that this will be more useful for him, for he calculated in his mind that after these submitted, the rest would follow them. Now with reasoning mixed with threats, now with caresses that could soften even the very firm, now with an indication of the torment awaiting him, he tried in every possible way to somehow distract them from their father and attract them to himself. 50. [Col. 161] When he saw that they were in no way inferior, but with their spiritual valor they reflected all his empty reasoning, then he took on the latter, hoping at least in them to find easy [opponents] and almost ready to submit to him. Immediately he tells them the following: “Those of you who want to obey the emperor and be in agreement with the patriarch and clergy, stand on the right side; and those who remain disobedient in soul and in thought, move to the left side, so that in this way it can be seen who is of the same mind with us and who persists in their own.” The seducer cunningly came up with this, believing that with a change of place their thoughts would also change. But, the valiant ones, not in the least touched by these words, without wavering in their thoughts, they unanimously answered the strong one with the following: “Autocrat! We, having placed our souls, bodies and everything together on our father and teacher and not wanting to do or even think anything, neither great nor small, that is not pleasing to him, will never submit to you who propose this, will not approve of what you have done and generally will not agree with anything new being introduced, especially when we see that the teacher is separated from us and preferred better real exile than to become a traitor in this and become on your side. And what could be worse for us than to neglect the sacred and so worthy of observance rules and become guilty of deeds that are harmful and dangerous in all respects? No, we swear by the deeds of virtue and the commandments of the fathers in which we were raised, we will not yield, we will not betray the truth, we will not stand with you. Of course, the present time is a test of our will and thought; Let us not reject it, let us not think cowardly and childishly, being in everything the brothers of those whom you have recently experienced, acting brotherly and thinking the same with them.” Virtue deserves respect even from enemies 51. When they said this, the emperor was amazed at their way of thinking and firmness and marveled at their steadfastness [in the face of] threatening disasters, for virtue is worthy of surprise even for the enemies themselves. In particular, he was amazed that he thought to find them compliant and ready to bow the first time, but meanwhile he met much more intractable, firm and in all respects unshakable. And so, well understanding that to openly execute everyone, besides the fact that it would be useless, would be insane, he only orders for a while to again imprison the valiant under the strictest guard, in order to subsequently either subject them all to punishment, or to deal with each at his leisure, not suddenly, but separately, and achieve what he wanted. However, he did not fulfill his intention, because soon, according to God’s determination, Judgment befell the lawless man. 52. [Col. 164] It was at that time that the barbarians fearlessly carried out devastation, and he set out on a campaign against them, in excessive arrogance, threatening now to capture everyone with cavalry and force of arms. The wicked man realized that he had directed the sword rather against himself than against them: he fell miserably in the war and brought unspeakable shame and immeasurable reproach on the Roman Empire and army 37 . Prophecy of Rev. Theodora 53. It is worth mentioning the father’s prediction regarding the bloodthirsty [emperor], for he predicted the future for him and predicted the danger, although the foolish one did not understand [the prediction] in this sense. Precisely, when he set out with great arrogance and arrogance on a campaign against the Scythians, then, as if ashamed of the defeat suffered from the monk, and not wanting to go there before he had taken possession of him and subjugated him, he sent some dignitaries in order, partly by persuasion, partly by violence, to attract the saint and force him to agree with what he had done. But then Theodore, even more inspired by hot jealousy and as if imbued with the inspiration of the Spirit, expresses to the proud man something that could fill him with fear and torment if he were not completely devoid of reason. “You, Emperor, should repent of what you have done and not leave evil without treatment, so that over time it does not become difficult to heal or even completely incurable. And since you are so insensitive that you not only push yourself into the net, but also try to catch others in it and subject those who do not want to torment, then the all-seeing Eye through me, the unworthy, predicts the following: “Know that you have not returned by the way you went (1 Kings 13:17).” And indeed, according to the word of the righteous, captured by barbarian hands, he not only shamefully lost his life, but also left his severed head for the amusement of the barbarian people, who drink toast from it and at every feast mock the defeat and shame of the unfortunate man. It would be fitting to say about him in the words of the prophet: “... and the house of kings has been put to shame (Hos. 5:1), for your princes will fall with the sword (Hos. 7:16), because you have been dishonest against My law (Hos. 8:1) and have tormented My people.” 54. So, after he ended his life unworthily and basely, as it is said, and Stavraki, his son, who received wounds, barely reached the capital and lived, as they say, up to two months, Michael 38 received the scepter, who then had the rank of Kuropalat, 39 a man truly worthy of imperial dignity and the most legitimate successor to power. He is primarily concerned about the position of the [holy] father, namely, about returning him from exile and honoring him with all honor. [Col. 165] Not only that, he is also immediately a most useful combiner of divided members, who knitted together the beautiful Body of the Church and gave the priests and monks the consent that they had once lost, while Joseph, who had previously been expelled from the Church, of course, and now, like some unfit member, was openly cut off from it. This was also very pleasing to the Roman primate, 40 who confirmed his opinion with letters and his ambassadors. It was he who the pious emperor used as a mediator and reconciliator in the union of the fathers. From that time on, the patriarch and the saint, having again restored good mutual relations and with ardent friendship strengthening mutual love more and more, subsequently remained inseparable from each other not only physically, but also much more spiritually, one rejoicing in the other and both in each other. 55. When around this time, the most sacred Plato, a man who had worked a lot and demonstrated great feats of virtue, ended his life 41, being 79 years old, then even on this occasion the patriarch showed a high degree and sincerity of love 42. He himself, together with the entire clergy, having arrived at the monastery and appearing to the dying saint, clings to him with his whole being, embraces all his members and tenderly kisses each of them. [Then], with countless candles and burning incense, having paid his last debt to him, as the father of fathers, he barely and with difficulty puts his body in the coffin, because many flocked, as it should be, and for a long time interfered with the situation, as if not wanting to part with the monk even after his death. 56. But let our speech move on to the next one. For although the thought suffers when it turns to many objects at the same time and does not know what to remember first, since each one encourages us to talk about ourselves and, moreover, forces us to talk about him first, nevertheless, having now mentioned in a word a little about each and as necessary, we will leave it to others to remember everything, and moreover clearly. However, in my opinion at least, it is difficult to achieve both even for those who are very experienced in words. 57. This was the situation in the affairs of the great Theodore, and again the glorious Studian church received everyone when the disciples gathered here and rejoiced at the good father. And again the wondrous [Theodore] talked kindly with them and outlined the difficulties of virtue, imagining how much effort is required to achieve it and what an endless struggle awaits those who wish to strive. He said that without labor nothing else is ever achieved, much less virtue, than which there is nothing more active, and that our sufferings showed the strength of our will and gave us more inspiration [in striving] for God, from Whom we will receive salvation and find greater help in goodness than we hope. [Col. 168] And since solitude and distance from others sometimes gives rise to certain thoughts and self-willed desires, which, due to pride, take root and remain in the recesses of the heart, the good farmer plucked them out and cut them off where he saw them, not allowing them to grow even for a short time, so as not to harm the noble and fruitful sprout. Therefore, all of them, good ones, from one received the good fruits of good deeds, then, putting the best shoots in their hearts and again enriching themselves with many virtues, they covered their previous deeds with subsequent ones. Many of them, in addition to active philosophy 43, diligently studied verbal philosophy, caring, as far as necessary, about education, and became literary figures; Having composed their own works, they left behind a valuable memory after their lives. Some of them, having diligently studied the Divine Scriptures and carefully examined the meaning contained in them, were enriched with Divine knowledge, ascending further [than others] and comprehending what is accessible to few. And others, in turn, devoting themselves, as far as they could, to church songs, melodies and other psalmody used in the Church (and we know that they also bring great benefit if almost the entire church structure is expressed in rhyme, order, beautiful and consonant singing), they not only benefited themselves by applying good diligence to this, but also made everyone else participants in their benefit. Moreover, these excellent workers were also engaged in all other manual crafts, considering the lowest of them to be of great value, in order to thereby acquire more humility, since the soul takes an imprint in accordance with the deeds, and also in order to obtain for themselves what is needed, and not to make frequent exits [from the monastery], which many usually do in order to acquire necessary things, while this causes great harm and often wandering outside [the monastery] makes the mind unsteady. Therefore, at home they were engaged in every necessary craft: architecture, coppersmithing, weaving and shoemaking, those that deal with production from rope or through a crucible; each of them, working with his hands, devoted his mouth to hymns and chanted the words of David, so that those who only looked at them received great benefit, seeing how marvelous and pleasantly they observed importance and modesty, constancy of morals and strict behavior during their handicrafts. But along with virtue [grew] their glory; spreading more and more, it filled almost the entire universe, as we said at the beginning of the word, especially since some of them, having retired to very many places, either because need required it, or because [Col. 169] that they were repeatedly scattered from persecution, wherever they came, they led many to virtue and built their own refuges for those who gathered to them, giving them the name studio. They bear this name to this day; This is how it will always be called, as a name that constitutes the pride of speech and attracts everyone to itself. 58. But alas! What I have to tell you about is again sad, terrible and even more than terrible; so I would rather omit this than to commit such a heavy and unbearable story to the word. However, since to say nothing at all about this would mean not to touch upon the most important thing, therefore I must especially remember this. And truly, I need to tell about my father’s greatest exploits (although this story is sad), so that it does not seem that my word is missing the most important thing. So, when the divine father, as we said, was with his disciples in the monastery, enjoying with them the best peace of mind and being filled with inexpressible joy, a fierce and destructive storm suddenly arose, depriving them of peace and upsetting all piety according to God. 59. Namely, the wicked Leo the Armenian, appointed by the Emperor Michael as the strategist of the East and appointed to go through Thrace on the occasion of the outbreak of war with the barbarians, a proud man, arrogant more than he was worthy, and suffering from extreme madness, bribing with flattery the army that was under his command, and deceiving others whom he found from the more frivolous, some with gifts, some with promises, declares himself emperor and - the enemy of God, alas, and the world - arrogates to himself supreme power. Immediately approaching the capital and not encountering resistance from anyone (since the pious Michael not only meekly resigned his kingdom, so as not to see anyone desecrating his right hand with the blood of his fellow tribesmen, but even changed his scarlet robe to a hair tunic and accepted the monastic life), he, shameless, becomes - oh the judgments of God! - the ruler of all 44. 60. Having seized power, he did not immediately decide to reveal all the bestiality, but, having first reconciled the rebels with himself, as well as among themselves, since he saw that many, being disposed towards the former emperor, were indignant at him for the usurpation of power, skillfully and cunningly deceiving the highest dignitaries and officials and everyone, as he pleased, attracting to himself, he then found it convenient to reveal the internal malice, showed, the wicked, all his wickedness, belched, cursed, like the lion of the same name, the following lawless saying: [Col. 172] “You should not, O my faithful servants, honor or worship, or even accept or allow images on icons, but rather destroy them and throw them to the ground as obvious likenesses of idols.” And this shameless one spewed out with an insane tongue, trying to communicate wickedness not only to his family, but to everyone as much as possible. 61. And so, whom he saw agreeing with him in everything and completely following his will, whom others, imitating Paul, would correctly call vessels of wrath, perfect for destruction (Rom. 9:22), he decided to take as allies and accomplices of atrocities. The leader of their circle was the famous John 45, nicknamed the Lecanomancer by his fellow tribesmen, because, as I think, he was devoted to fortune-telling and other shameful deeds. Having a tongue accustomed to lies, he was strong and skilled in sophistry, versed in external science and witty in trifles, and therefore received every honor from the tyrant, who used him as a tongue and had him as his assistant in business. 62. Having recognized that the circumstances had developed for him according to his wishes, he decided that he should also turn to the archpastor of the Church, at first approaching him not harshly and arrogantly, but rather humbly and flatteringly. When, having talked with him alone and tested him with all sorts of base means, he saw in him not only disobedient, but also the truest herald of the right faith, who, not only this, even showers him with considerable reproaches as an enemy of God, and condemns his hellish 46 insolence, then he retreats from the divine man, intending again with great preparation to enter into conversation with him and together with all [his] opponents. 63. One day he gathers to himself all the priests and monks, among them the most divine patriarch and the great Theodore. Seated with amazing arrogance, surrounded by defenders of wickedness and like-minded people of atrocity, the madman began to blaspheme with shameless lips and mock the worship of holy icons, calling those who erect them foolish, crazy and ignorant of what they are doing (Luke 23:34). “For the well-known law,” he says, “written by the finger of God and received from above by Moses, clearly and precisely prohibits serving anything man-made, erecting an icon and having its likeness, imposing a curse on those who dare to do this; depicting icons and calling them the Divine name is an invention of idolatry and ignorance; think that Indescribable [Col. 173] is described and that nowhere does the Incontainable One fit on boards the size of a cubit - this is not only obscene, but also full of contradiction. Realizing that this was obscene, the emperors who came before us, namely Leo, Constantine and their descendant, destroyed icons and rejected the worship of them.” The wicked man babbled and spat this and even more absurd things and, as if he had said something worthy, boasted of his shameful speeches, even more haughty by those whose assistance he enjoyed in everything, especially their leader and primate, whose words in particular, as was said, he had drunk in advance. Appeal of Orthodox bishops to the iconoclast emperor 64. But the divine assembly of the fathers, not embarrassed by any of this and not attaching any importance to the fact that the tyrant has many accomplices, denounced his idle talk and refuted his unreasonable teaching with many testimonies from the Divine Scriptures, calling this false and destructive teaching, which actually contains immeasurable absurdity and worthlessness, a subversion of the right dogma and a denial of the descent of the Lord to us. “For if,” they said, “we renounce the veneration of holy icons, then our faith is in vain, and our preaching is in vain (1 Cor. 15:14). It was in vain that the ancient fathers betrayed the Divine to us; all our activity and virtue, knowledge of the Divine and everything together will perish in vain. If the rejection of the Lord’s icon leads not only to the rejection of the commandments of God, but also, first of all, to the rejection of the Son of God Himself, Who, being with us in communion of the flesh, became man like us and showed us the features of His Divine image, then you, I don’t know why, by denying Him, not only conceived the greatest evil for yourself, but also led the souls of many simple people to a similar fall, so that your crime becomes even more obvious. We would consider it very indecent to even take part with you as such in this meeting; for let the divine David say to us today that we must not sit with the vain multitude, and not associate with the lawbreakers, and not attend the church of the wicked or gather in it (Ps. 25:4-5).” And so the fathers, with these words, together and unanimously, from the very first time refuted the teaching of the apostate, thereby exposing his great falsity and worthlessness. 65. But our father Theodore did not want to calm down until he showed great and excellent courage and until he finally overthrew all the intentions of the proud man and every thought, open and secret; being among those gathered first in power of speech and virtue, he began to do this with the greatest firmness of thought and courage in words. Speech by Rev. Theodora to the iconoclast emperor 66. [Col. 176] “Emperor! How did you dare to disturb and upset the Church of God, which is in the world? Did it not occur to you and prevent you from your intention that what happened to the former persecutors before you, whose names you have already mentioned? When they acted like you and dishonored the holy icons, they suffered, it is impossible to say what a grave punishment, leaving, moreover, the atrocity with which they lived perpetuated in writing. Doesn’t the openly expressed veneration of divine icons for a long time, and the constant confession of this by the God-bearing fathers and their consent, convince you, champion of new dogmas, to abandon these latter as worthless and harmful and choose the best, admit your error and know the truth? Haven't you heard what Blessed Paul writes in his Epistle to Timothy? I think you once knew this, although now you have put it out of your mind. If anyone teaches differently and does not come to sound words and doctrine out of good faith, being proud of such words, being deceived by empty words and engaging in contentious arguments (1 Tim. 6:3–4), to seduce the listeners. And in another place he [says]: command not to teach otherwise, but to pay heed to fables of endless and empty strife (1 Tim. 1:3-4), which deviate them from the right path and overthrow God’s building, hedgehog in faith (1 Tim. 1:3-4). 67. This is exactly what happened to you yourself, who inclined your mind to pernicious speeches and, alas, dared to call holy icons idols, as if they were some kind of fortress, resorting to the ancient Law and from there extracting evidence for yourself that one should neither reverence nor give any honor to a creature, or a man-made object, or any other of the objects depicted. But, firstly, you, emperor, had to take into account that with the coming of grace the Law was abolished; to observe it now would be completely absurd; otherwise we should be circumcised and keep the Sabbath, and do everything else that is written, so that it would not seem that we are keeping the Law halfway. Then [one must] keep in mind that the Law was given for people who had just come out of Egypt and had a tendency to imitate the customs of the Egyptians. And the Egyptians, among all the peoples who created idols, were the most unfortunate, extending veneration to the most vile objects compared to others. Therefore, giving the Law to people brought up among them, the prophet forbade the likeness of every kind (Exod. 20:4; Deut. 4:16–19, etc.), as very prone to deception and greedily striving for things made with hands. That is why, as it turns out, he did not always observe this, having arranged cherubim for the tabernacle (Ex. 36:8) and placed them over the atonement. They were then the subject of high veneration and fear. In His incarnation God showed the likeness of His glorious image 68. [Col. 177] But the grace that came to us delivered us from all this and led us to something better and much more worthy of honor. For what is higher and more glorious than that the eternal and incomprehensible God appeared to us in the flesh and showed everyone the likeness of His glorious image? It is better to say, in order to explain this to you from the very beginning, when our Creator and God, who created man for good, saw that he had been overthrown by sin and had lost what was in him in the image [of God], then He Himself deigned, through an ineffable Economy, to take on our flesh in order to raise up the fallen and transform the corrupted beauty of the image. Therefore, having assimilated our entire nature to Himself, He preserved the unfused properties of both natures, namely Divine and human, with an indescribable combination and mixing of them. By this, He gave us [the basis] to show honor, reverence and worship to the image of His holy flesh, so that on the icon with our very eyes we would see the miracle of His Economy and at the same time, from the image of Christ on the icon, we would turn our mental gaze to the mental and formless image of God, constantly striving towards Him and not being seduced by anything earthly. 69. And so that we would know the Divine image with accuracy, our Savior Himself, clothed in it, imprinted and depicted the appearance of His face, applying it to the urb, and sent it to Abgar at his request. This was a believing man, the leader of Edessa. Having touched this Divine image, he recognized its indescribable power and clearly told everyone its grace, thus being healed from a long and incurable illness with which he was obsessed, and receiving relief both bodily and mental. And Luke, who compiled the Holy Gospel, having drawn the icon of the Lord, left a valuable work for posterity. Also, very many others who lived after, depicting many of the holy icons, preserved their veneration everywhere in writing attested. And there is neither a place, nor a country, or anywhere or any dwelling whatsoever, where icons are not erected openly, because this work is sacred to everyone and, thanks to time and its dignity, has become venerable. So, the veneration of icons, preached for eight hundred years or more, approved by everyone and spread along with Christianity (since both, Christianity and the image on icons, were combined together), you have now decided in a short time and by the mere whim of your will to destroy and dishonorably mock what is worthy of honor. Difference between icon and idol 70. And you were not afraid of the saving name itself, but called divine and holy icons idols (oh, ignorant misunderstanding of words!). Where and from whom did you learn this? [Col. 180] Or who taught you that the name of an icon and an idol are one and the same? None of the divine fathers ever reasoned this way; Moreover, this does not correspond to the case itself. For how [can this be] when they differ inexpressibly from each other not only in name, but much more in the essence of their prototypes? Precisely, an idol is and is called so when it represents the likeness of a demon or something else that the Greeks shamefully idolized, that is, a vile [likeness] of the most vile, worthless of the worthless. For whatever is the cause, such is, of course, the derivative from it; whose prototype is vile, its derivative is no less vile. The prototype of the icon is worthy of veneration, for it depicts the features of some saint or even the Lord of saints, and the image on the board is worthy of contemplation. While this latter is really an image of the truth, [the first] is a semblance of lies and deception. This is how those knowledgeable about this understood the difference in names: they called a false image an idol, while an icon was a likeness of something true. 71. If you, Emperor, reject the honoring of the icon, and consider the cross worthy of veneration, then, firstly, I cannot understand this, because the veneration of both is inextricably linked together (for together the icon and together the cross, since the appearance of the Lord imparted glory to both), and now you single out one of the two: one received the best lot, while the other was thrown out and rejected. Then I ask you, O interpreter of the Old Scripture: how does the Law call the cross worthy of a curse (for it says: Cursed is he who hangs on it - Deut. 21:23), and you, while paying veneration to it, thereby allow yourself to disrespect the Law? It is better to say that you become guilty of two opposite actions when you do not fully agree with the Law, of which, however, you are an unchanging guardian, and in this case you half agree with us, whom you have decided to persecute in every possible way. Since you decided to be wicked, you should not confess either the cross or the icon, in order to act consistently with yourself and as befits a guardian of the Law. But such wickedness is contrary to common sense, which defeats itself and alienates those whom it possesses from all that is good. And you yourself, once captivated by him, did not think at all about what you should, listening only to the flatterers who try to attract your favor, say what pleases you and pursue only what is pleasant and fleeting. 72. I also have to wonder how you called us to court with such thoughts and intentions. Who will be the judge between both sides? Who will pronounce a verdict on which one won, if everyone is loyal to you in advance and bowed to the authorities for fear of punishment? For threats and torment await those who do not act in concert with you. [Col. 181] Someone who was before us said beautifully that the first good is a complete break with you, calling heretics beasts in human form and their words and morals pernicious and destructive, therefore you should avoid them as much as possible and, if possible, not even come into contact with them 47 . So, with such people, any interview is not only unnecessary, but also downright harmful.” 73. Having heard this speech of the monk and realizing what power lies in it, the emperor is filled with both anger and fear: he is inflamed with anger as a result of the words with which he denounced him; he feels fear from the strength of his arguments, finding it great and irresistible. However, yielding more to the anger with which he was most obsessed, he began to revile [Theodore] with obscene words and burst out with a very harsh speech against him, changing his voice in order to intimidate him as much as possible. “I know,” he said, “oh you,” calling him by name, “that, as always, full of madness, you talk and think a lot about yourself, and now on your part there is abusive speech and a desire to argue, and you call us unjust and unreasonable in our actions and boldly revile us with all sorts of blasphemies, saying that even an interview with us is not only unnecessary, but also harmful, as if you were speaking not to the emperor, but to to any of the common people. But, as I think, you dared to speak against us, wanting to declare yourself a martyr and challenging us to sentence you to death. However, we will not so easily fulfill what you desire, a hunter of this glory, and we will not subject you to exile or any other punishment before we again listen to you and, at a convenient time, do not examine the evidence of each side, so that the dogma that prevails is not subject to the slightest doubt and so that in your defeat you are deprived of all protection.” Thus spoke the wicked, leaning on the height of power and ready to punish everyone together and each separately, moreover (so that his intention would seem more convincing) like those who were first brought to trial and thus received a guilty verdict. Church power and secular power 74. But when the meeting of the fathers decided among themselves not to answer anything to the tyrant, for, they said, it is useless for us to enter into an interview with those who are already condemned, who are deaf to perceive the best and are completely incurable, and besides, it is indecent for us to give an account of faith at the request of man (1 Cor. 4:3) or the laity, the great Theodore began to speak again and again with the same boldness, reasoning like this: “We should not, Emperor, tell you anything else or answer you, since you are impervious to good. But since you yourself are now calling us to questions and answers, then, first of all, we answer you that church affairs are the responsibility of priests and teachers, while the emperor belongs to the management of external affairs; [Col. 184] for the apostle, laying down this law, says: God put in the church first the apostles, and the secular power second the prophets, third the teachers (1 Cor. 12:28) - and nowhere does he mention emperors. It is they 48 who must make decisions regarding dogmas and faith, and you must follow them and not at all arrogate these orders to yourself.” “So, are you throwing me out of the Church today?” - the emperor says to the monk, again calling him by name. “Not I,” the saint replies, “but her bride-guide and divine apostle, or, better yet, having preceded him, you yourself have cast yourself out with your deeds. If you want to be in it again, then stand with us, who honor the truth and worship the icon of Christ, following in everything the most holy patriarch and common father of all, whose word and morals, as you see, are entirely useful and very pleasant.” 75. Brought by all this to an extreme situation and not knowing what to say, the tyrant, with a cry and in embarrassment, drove everyone out of his sight, with a loud cry and threats, forbidding them to approach him or even say anything; and this was the only thing he did well and worthy of his hated soul. So, having gone out, all the blessed ones, together with the patriarch, surrounded the great Theodore, kissing him with their lips and souls and praising the courage and charm of his words, which so excellently put the tyrant to shame. Meanwhile, when they returned home, everyone was sent an order from the city bishop, commanding each of them to restrain themselves, not to enter into conversations with each other, not to communicate with each other, not to teach and not to talk about faith at all, for this, he says, was commanded by the emperor. 76. When the messengers came to the monk, he said to them: “If it is righteous to listen to you rather than to listen to God (Acts 4:19), you yourself, having thought about it, say. Know that we would rather lose our tongue first than not defend our faith as we should and not help it with our words to the best of our ability. For where is the rational basis for you to try to assert the worst, while we silently remain with our much better one? So, let us not allow ourselves to leave the word hidden even for a short hour and deprive the people of the benefit that comes from it.” Therefore, he fearlessly inspired everyone with their due, calling on some, appearing to others personally, encouraging others with letters, restoring those who were discouraged and exhorting with words as best he could. But more often he came to the patriarch, being his adviser in everything and an experienced leader in business. Seeing that he was despondent and seemed not to control himself, he lifted his spirit with appropriate words and reminded him of the goodness of the good God. [Col. 185] “The merciful and most compassionate will not allow,” he said, “that we should be tempted beyond our strength (cf. 1 Cor. 10:13) and that His inheritance might remain for the possession of the enemies. Those who plot against us will commit iniquity for a short time, but they will receive a quick and sudden end, although now they remain insensible towards themselves.” 77. Meanwhile, a little later, the patriarch is dethroned by the wicked and expelled from Byzantium for standing for the truth. Along with him, all Orthodox priests are also sentenced to exile on charges of only one thing - orthodoxy. Then one could see how the lawless committed deeds that were characteristic only of their minds and lawless souls. Precisely, sacred and holy icons, alas for me, held with desecrated hands (oh, how can I express Your, my Christ, long-suffering at that time?), shamelessly threw them to the ground, some of them were put on fire, others were covered with lime 49 and did everything that the likes of them could do. 78. So, our father Theodore, weeping bitterly and lamenting his soul over what was happening, wished that the earth would dissipate, just so as not to hear it with his ears and not heed it. However, so that it does not seem that he is only silently mourning grief and not looking for any means to ward off evil, he does something that could sadden his enemies and further encourage his own. Namely, he orders all the monks who were under his control to take the icons in their hands, raise them high and go around the entire monastery fence singing: “We worship Your Most Pure Image, O Good One,” etc. and other songs of victory in the glory of the conqueror Christ, for then there was the bright holiday of Vai, which we all celebrate before the suffering and resurrection of the Lord. 79. Irritated by all this (for nothing of what he had done was hidden from him, since the rumor about it had already spread among everyone), the tyrant immediately sends messengers to the saint with insults and threats so that he completely abandons such fabrications or, if he does not listen and does not change, so that he is ready to accept scourging and death as punishment. He not only does not weaken, but grows even more in courage, revealing to everyone the Orthodox faith, as it has already been defined, openly preaching the veneration of icons in word and deed and paying little attention to those who offend. When at that time many of the monks came to him, as the father of fathers, entrusting all their affairs to him and asking how to act in the present circumstances and how to refuse the invitation to the patriarchate, [Col. 188] for the leaders of wickedness called upon them to take part in their teaching, he gave them equally useful advice. “It’s good,” he told them, “to stay at home, not to go there, not to enter into conversation with heretics, from which they cannot be of the slightest benefit, and by letter to declare the refusal and the reason why they cannot come, despite the call.” 80. They also asked that he himself dictate letters to them and express in words what he wished. Therefore, he writes on their behalf and hands the two monks a message for delivery, the text of which is as follows: “Following the Divine commandments and church rules, which clearly say that without the consent of one’s bishop one must neither say, nor do, nor investigate, nor generally consider anything that relates to dogma or any other Divine subject of dispute, we cannot, in the absence of the patriarch [that is, Nicephorus], come and obey your call, so as not to incur accusations and fall into the guilt of violating [the law]. For the rewarder of this is God, who does not leave unpunished those who despise His commandments. Therefore, excuse us if we refuse to come, realizing that it would be harmful to us. Indeed, what will we answer or tell you if we do not have our own head, with which each of us is united as members and without which the rest of the body cannot do anything? For all of us together and each of us separately, great and small, are connected with the patriarch, we are and will always be under his authority.” When this message was delivered to this crowd of worthless people, it filled them with uncontrollable anger, so that they poured it out on those who brought it, subjecting them to unbearable beatings. But they returned from the face of the wicked men with joy that they were deemed worthy to endure this for the name of the Lord. 81. The preacher of Orthodoxy did not cease to do the usual, also offering what was due with his lips and hands 50 and again openly preaching the teaching of truth. Therefore, the tyrant, not knowing what to do, and not being able to bear the insolence of this man, orders him to be expelled from Byzantium, sent into exile and kept in prison. For, seeing that he alone was revered as a life-giving spark, he tried to [remove] him from the Orthodox so that there would be no one who would oppose his will. So, having received an order about this, the monk calls all his disciples to him and, having said a farewell greeting, indicates to each individual his duties and, first of all, commands everyone so that after his departure no one remains in the monastery, [Col. 189] and so that everyone seeks salvation as best he can; for time, he says, is evil (Eph. 5:16) and the feet of the wicked are very swift (Rom. 3:15; Proverbs 1:16). And finally, entrusting everyone to God and the best of the brethren, he leaves the monastery, sadly leaving them shedding tears and mourning. Immediately takes over his locality near Apollonia; [he] is taken into custody in a fortress located on the opposite side of the lake and called Metopes 51. Exile and imprisonment of Rev. Theodora 82. But perhaps, while he was free, he showed an extremely free and zealous teaching, and when he was imprisoned, he showed a lack of zeal or began to be careless about preaching, like someone else who is constrained by space and therefore holds his tongue as connected to the body? Not at all. But he remained as if he had not suffered any change, and was entirely devoted to the [Orthodox] teaching, talking with some orally about what was useful, with others by means of ink and hand, moving the pen [and copying] as if from the tablets of the mind, and with others otherwise, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, in general giving everyone the benefits that came from him, so that even while in prison, he would make everyone partakers of his words and ordinary teaching. 83. Of course, it was impossible that his words, spreading everywhere, would not reach the palace and become known to the emperor. Annoyed by this, as one would expect, since he knew exactly what was happening, he sends the famous Nikita, son of Alexy, to whom he trusted, as it seemed, everything, ordering the saint to be taken to a more distant place, whose name is Vonita 52, to be firmly imprisoned there and not allowed to see or talk with anyone, no less, and not give him freedom to do anything else. When he came to the monk with news of this, his father [told] him: “I will very willingly change the place, because I am not limited by place and I know that the whole land, wherever I am thrown, is mine and that the relocation serves as my reward. But I recognize that holding my tongue is not useful for myself, so I will never hold it and will not at all allow myself to agree with you, whether you demand it with a threat 53 or advise it. For how [can I] when I preferred the present precisely so that it would not seem that I had abandoned what I loved and abandoned good zeal? 84. The emperor learned about this daring answer of the righteous man and his inflexibility in everything. And so again, with as much haste as possible, he sends the same Nikita to the saint, ordering him to inflict the most severe blows, cut off his entire body piece by piece with whips, and torture him all over. When he arrived to the monk and told him what he had come for, he, before the speech ended, with spiritual joy began to take off his tunic and prepare his flesh for scourging, for “this,” he says, “I have long desired and waited for.” [Col. 192] But that compassionate and truly merciful man, as soon as he saw his naked honest flesh, extremely exhausted by time and fasting, was completely amazed and, feeling mental suffering, did not dare to come closer or touch it at all, much less beat it with his hands or whips. Therefore, having thought up some cunning in himself in order to appear to have carried out the order of the emperor and to deceive those present, as if he was beating a saint, he, taking a sheep's skin and placing it on the husband's shoulders, struck it as best he could, having previously arranged so as to remain alone with him, as he said, for the sake of respect for this husband and exhaustion of his body. And in order to show drops of blood from the wounds, he himself (oh, benevolent soul!), having pierced his hand with an iron tip, smears his hand with the blood flowing from it and, coming out in this form, shows how [the whip] turned purple with blood; he himself breathed heavily and pretended to be tired. Having received a blessing from the monk and guided by his prayers, this lover of God set off on his journey, thus being awarded a wondrous reward for a wonderful deed. 85. And after this the divine father did not seem cowardly or at least a little weak in speech, like someone else whose mind is shaken by fear; but the more evil he saw before his eyes, the more courageous he remained, to many others, if the opportunity presented itself, instilling useful things, and mainly to his other disciples, scattered in different places of the earth, to whom he especially reminded of the saving things and of the fact that one should not bow one’s thoughts to anything real, but observe confession with a fearless soul and preserve the unity of faith. For, he says, although the temptation that befell us is great, the reward for it for those who suffer is greater, ineffable, inexhaustible and worthy of the bountiful God, so that even if we died every day, it would be small in comparison with what we can receive. When I heard that one of them had fallen somewhat and weakened in thoughts, as happened with those who had been subjected to long imprisonment and violence, then, restoring them with appropriate words, he again strengthened them for future exploits and healed their cowardice, so that they themselves, in their response letters, asked for forgiveness for the fact that they had deviated a little in their thoughts. The father had such a disposition towards everyone, he maintained such care for everyone, although [he was] in difficult conditions. 86. [Col. 193] The valiant even sent letters to the four patriarchs, doing this very wisely and in good time, namely, to the patriarchs of ancient Rome 54, Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria, informing each separately how the icon of Christ was desecrated by the persecutors and how all the Orthodox were kept in prison and exile, and begging everyone to rise up for vengeance, to help the faith that is in danger, and the truth that has been so consumed lies. 87. And since many came to him in passing, due to the fact that his name was glorified everywhere and the guards, out of respect for their husband, did not forbid coming to him or weakened the guards for money, it happened that one cleric from the regions of Asia, walking that road, came, as naturally, to his father, for he had previously been carried away by his virtue. Having seen and talked with him, he received what he was looking for (and above all else, realizing in his soul the certainty of Orthodox teaching), and, extremely indignant at the heretics, he joyfully returned home, wanting to tell others what was useful. In addition to many others, he confides in his friend and relative, who had the same degree as himself, everything concerning the monk: how he saw him in prison, how he learned the truth more completely from him, and how he learned the great and valuable worship of honest icons. [He] persuaded him to his way of thinking, and both of them, without delaying the matter or hesitating, agreed among themselves not to meet with their bishop in the future and not to have communication with him, knowing that he had gone over to the iconoclasts. Having learned about what had happened, the bishop hastily goes to the head of Asia and tells him everything that concerned the clergy and the reason for their separation. He, without hesitating for an hour, hastily reported everything to the emperor, blaspheming the monk with slander and blaspheming his immeasurable rebellion. At the same time, he notifies the eastern strategist so that he punishes him according to the law, since, he says, he alone is to blame for the change that happened to the clergy. And overwhelmed with fear that he might suffer some kind of harm for this, he sends one of his subordinates to give the saint fifty blows of the whip in order to justify himself. 88. When he arrived and said for what purpose he came, the monk immediately unties his belt, without waiting for the servant, and, having taken off his clothes, offers to scourge his naked body. For, he says, the scourging of the flesh, and even complete liberation from it, is joyful for me, so that, he says, with a naked soul I can quickly come to what I desire. But this messenger, being a man of a God-loving soul, just like the previous one, heartily pities the righteous man and is ashamed to even look at the exhausted members of his body with his eyes, much less lay hands on him or do anything else according to the order. [Col. 196] Even more, he asks him for forgiveness (oh, kind soul!), falling at his feet and shedding tears from his eyes for just coming as a messenger of such [an order]. The father, praising him for his great faith and, as befits, rewarding him with prayers, sent him on his way back. Before he had time to go all the way, a bad messenger arrived from the emperor by another route - the name of the wicked is Anastasius - who reviled the general with considerable insults and frightened him with threats in the name of the emperor, because, he says, you are neglecting what was entrusted to you, and did not give a worthy punishment to the one who even now has in his thoughts something contrary to the emperor. When he said that he had sent him and subjected him to scourging, he, thirsting for his blood, quickly went to where the monk was imprisoned in order to see the wounds himself. Having undressed him and standing him naked, he says: “Show me, where are the recent wounds and the scars from them?” And when he did not find anything he wanted, laughing loudly and ridiculing the one who said that he had scourged, he himself, beast-like in soul, scourged the saint with his own hands, giving him a hundred powerful blows and bringing him to such a state that he lay completely motionless and almost lifeless. Then, throwing him into a gloomy and stinking prison, he imprisons with him the disciple Nicholas 55, for the great had him as his constant companion, who never left him; at the same time, he orders the guards to exhaust them both with hunger and other deprivations, so that if any spark of life remains in them, that too would quickly go out. Thus, having accomplished what he had in mind, the hated one left from there, taking with him two other disciples of the monk, whom he intended to imprison in custody in another place. 89. When the monster arrived to the local general and assured him with oaths that the saint had not been scourged by anyone before him, he, fearing that he would arouse the emperor’s anger against him, brings that good man whom he had previously sent, and scourges him in the face of the villain twice as much as was assigned to him. And thus satisfying the insatiable one, he sent him away with gifts and affection. Undoubtedly, although for such a good deed - I mean compassion for the righteous - the defender paid with wounds on his body, he received a truly great reward, far exceeding his suffering. 90. But let our word tell of the troubles of the father in prison. What suffering and misfortune he endured in this dark and very cramped room can only be understood by experience, because the word is weak to vividly imagine it. Who, in fact, can depict the chill in winter of his weak, cobweb-like body and the severe torment that results from this due to the removal of warmth from the limbs? Who will depict the sultry heat of summer and the resulting suffocation, feverish breathing and other breathing difficulties? Who are the hordes of lice and fleas and other small insects that this dark hiding place, so dirty and full of earth and dust, gave birth to and fed? [Col. 197] Who (in order to speak about the most difficult thing, which will move everyone to compassion) can separately depict and imagine the inflammation of wounds, the swelling of all members and the pain resulting from this? I am silent about the ridicule and abuse on the part of the guards, the pangs of hunger they brought to the monk, and how they did not neglect any evil, completely rejecting natural feeling. For they exhausted him so much with thirst and hunger that barely a small piece of bread, and not every day, but every other day, was thrown to them through a small hole, which they only left open. 91. They say that the father, exhausted by severe hunger, then said to the disciple: “I see, son, that these people, in addition to all other hostile actions against us, are trying to destroy us by starvation, knowing that it is the most pitiful of all. But let us now place our trust in God, Who knows how to nourish not only with bread, but also with other, better food, since every breath is supported by the wave of Him alone. Since for me, above all else, the communion of the Body of the Lord serves as support for body and soul (for my father had several particles of the Life-giving Body with him everywhere, or he himself performed the Divine Sacrament whenever he could perform it), then I will partake of them alone, without tasting anything else at all. And what is given to us as food for two, let it be food for you alone, and that will barely be enough for you due to the very small quantity. For in this way, perhaps, you will somewhat strengthen your body, save your life and inform the steward and brothers about my death, if such is the will of the Good One.” 92. But He who fulfills His good pleasure in every animal (Ps. 144:16) did not despise His servant and did not allow him to suffer longer from unbearable hunger, but honored him with providence and granted unexpected food. Namely, one of the nobles who had primary importance under the emperor, passing this road at that time and learning everything about the monk, in what position he was and how he was languishing with such a great hunger and other severe torments, took pity on him (of course, because God inclined him to mercy) and ordered, as one who had the boldness of the authorities, to give him and his disciple food in sufficient quantities, to provide other services and henceforth not to leave him without care. Thus, by the grace of God, he escaped the miserable fate that threatened him, somewhat strengthening his body. 93. For three whole years from that time, remaining in prison there, he suffered many hardships, as was natural, in particular due to the fact that his stomach was swollen and painful, which was a common illness for him. Before he had time to recover or recover a little, he was tested again (oh, the judgments of God!) in this body, withered and consisting of only bones. [Col. 200] It was precisely in the hands of the destroyer [the emperor], I don’t know where from where, that the saint’s letter fell and brought him, fierce, into extreme anger, since it contained an exposure of his madness and brought him to shame. He immediately sends him to the aforementioned eastern strategist, ordering him to go to the saint, show him the letter and subject him to severe scourging, until his last breath, so that, he says, he will no longer slander him. Arriving soon, [the strategist] first asks whether the letter in his hands is his or someone else’s. When the father answered that it was his, and not someone else’s, then, without deigning another word, he immediately ordered, naked, to first beat Nikolai’s student in front of the teacher, as his copyist. Then, having exposed the saint, he gives him a hundred blows with the whip, cutting off almost all the members and crushing the very bone joints that were the only ones left on him. Then he again goes to Nicholas, thinking that he will be more compliant as a result of the beatings he has suffered, and forces him with menacing words to renounce the holy icons and teacher. When he found him now even harder than before, he cut off his arms, legs and the rest of his body with plaited belts and fresh rods and covered him with secondary wounds, leaving him in this form in the open air to suffer doubly - from the pain after the scourging and from the cold, for then it was the month of February. 94. While the monk and his disciple were enduring this in the designated place, one woman, who lived in Bithynia and was possessed by a demonic spirit, began to writhe in convulsions under his influence, obscenely rolling her eyes, spewing foam from her mouth and uttering the following extravagant words: “My Leo again sent scourges to Theodore and tormented his body. But go, he says, and bring me the answer. However, do not approach him, lest he burn you with the flame that he holds in his mouth.” Then, after a short silence, she screamed again: “What is this? Wasn't there anything you wanted? I knew that even from scourging he would not submit, having the help ahead of him and the strength sitting in him.” And this was spoken and loudly proclaimed by the possessed woman, although she was somewhere far away and at a great distance from him, testifying, I think, that the saint has great grace and power, that he remains invincible in all sufferings, and that the evil spirits themselves knew their defeat, rebelling in vain and arming their servants against the invincible. 95. [Col. 201] But the divine father, having endured unbearable, in my opinion, pain from those severe blows, after that he lay on the ground completely dead and could not even catch his breath a little, was only able to feel pain, but not take food, drink, sleep, even for the shortest time, or anything else that is given to the dying. Seeing him in such a state and forgetting about his own, although he himself was very exhausted, the student begins to treat him. It was by asking for barley broth and moistening his father’s withered tongue with it and pouring a small amount of drink into his mouth that he little by little restored his strength and revived the dead man. When he saw that little by little his vitality was being restored, he turned to the treatment of already rotten members, for many of them, with his body completely dead, became black and festered. Seeing that they are hanging, separated from the rest, and are unusable, he therefore cuts them off with a small knife and removes them from the healthier ones, so that at least the remaining ones will somehow heal and grow together. 96. Having remained in such an unbearable painful state for ninety days and not receiving little rest from the [still] suffering, he, barely able to cross the threshold of the door, found new suffering, more severe imprisonments and other more distant journeys at the behest of the cruelest emperor, who generously multiplied his misfortunes. Namely, with great haste, one little man arrived from him, rude and ruthless, a slave of money and everywhere imagining gold, for such were supposed to be the servants of the lawless. As soon as he arrived, his first task was to search all the cracks of the prison, dig into the walls and examine the ground, feeling with his hands, to see if he could find gold somewhere. For the monster, supposing in others the insatiability of his soul inherent in him, thought that those who came received instruction for money and that his father had saved a lot of it. But when it turned out that he worked in vain and was nothing more than crazy (for where was there even a shadow, so to speak, of gold to look for!), then he takes out his evil on someone else. Namely, having brought the monk and his disciple out of prison with insults and beatings, he hands them over to the servants accompanying him to lead them both with great and inexpressible haste along the road to Smyrna, for he ordered them to be taken there 57 . 97. But the divine father, whose strength had completely dried up, nevertheless, trusting in the One who gives breath to the dead, followed these rude [people], who inhumanly persecuted him during the day, and at night, like some fugitive, they chained him in a wooden block. With difficulty and barely arriving in Smyrna, he and his disciple are handed over to its primate, a husband who was the patron of evil and the teacher of wickedness [heresy]. [Col. 204] Imprisoned by him in one basement and gloomy room, he looked at the one all-seeing Lord, Whom alone he had as a consolation in disasters and as a guardian, since for His sake he gave himself up to such suffering. 98. Meanwhile, a little later, the above-mentioned Anastasius arrived again, breathing anger and thirsting for the blood of a martyr. Having inflicted new blows on the saint, more terrible than the previous ones, he joyfully returned to the one who had sent him, subjecting the saint to scourging for the third time, each time a hundred blows with a whip, together with his disciple, his associate. The long-suffering one, having gratefully endured the present, sang within himself with a joyful mood of spirit the words of the apostle: for the passions of this present time are unworthy of the glory that desires to appear in us, and: for as long as we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:18, 17), and: I will require the patience of the imams, which we must not be put off (Heb. 10:36, 35), for the sake of bliss in which we hope and the achievement of which surpasses every word and thought. 99. At that time, the famous Vardas, a relative of the emperor, who was entrusted with the post of strategos there, fell into a serious illness and lay in bed in Smyrna, barely breathing and preparing to soon give up his life. Since he was looking for help from everywhere, being in such an illness, one of the employees, belonging to the Orthodox party, reminds him of the monk and what great grace he has from God. “Do you want,” he says, “to turn to him and ask him to help you, who are already in extreme danger?” Having received his consent to these words (for everyone tormented by need is compliant), he hastily goes to the saint, begs him and asks him to grant health to the sick. And since the monk knew about the patient, what he was like, he hesitated for now to give him healing, having long known the evil nature of this husband and recognizing the disease as especially useful for such a person. But he announces something that, if he came to some sense, could greatly contribute to his correction in life. “Look,” he says, “what will you say in your defense on the day of your departure [from the body], having spent your life like this and done so much evil to the Orthodox? For you, in addition to many others, subjected my monks to the most terrible disasters and brought to death by beatings the great and marvelous Thaddeus in virtue, 58 whose life and confession doubly adorned the crown. But blessed Thaddeus now enjoys eternal blessings together with the saints. And who will save you from punishment when you die with such marks? [Col. 205] Now know yourself, albeit in the end, and give an answer to God, to whom you have to give an account of your deeds.” 100. When the saint announced this to the sick man, he shook his mind with fear and made him realize what he had sinned in his life; for a firm word at an opportune time is much better than a soft one. Therefore, he immediately sends to ask the monk for forgiveness for what he has done badly, and for deliverance from obvious danger. “From now on,” he says, “I will live according to your commandments, just grant me your mercy.” Touched by compassion for the one who asked, the most compassionate heals his illness through frequent prayer to God and, together with his body, gives relief to his soul, sending him an icon of the Mother of God and commanding him to have it as the guardian of his entire life. “For,” he says, “by looking at her, you yourself will have success in business; by rejecting it, you will suffer the most terrible suffering, which no one would want to undergo.” 101. But he, unreasonable and very stupid, when no changes have occurred to him, changes again and returns to his previous opinion [of heresy], using a bad adviser, the Bishop of Smyrna, from whom he received oil in a certain vessel, of course, for blessing and better recovery. But as soon as he anointed himself with it, at the same time the disease attacked him and again returned to his unclean head. And immediately his father announced to him death and condemnation for treachery. “For,” he says, “it is not an unpunished thing to communicate with the evil ones.” Thus, the unfortunate man very soon ended his life and found a very bad end to bad advice. This is the outcome of his folly for him. And the servant of Christ, held for two and a half years in the Smyrna prison, endured everything with gratitude and spiritual courage, without bowing to any painful conditions. Then some of his longtime disciples came to him, among whom were the wondrous Dorotheus, who had labored in virtue since childhood, Vissarion and Jacob, Dometian and Typhoas and many others, all of whom had an excellent life and unshakable trust in their father. 102. When God took away the opponents, as the prophet says (Zeph. 1:3), remembered the groaning of his saints and punished with the punishment that justly befitted the most lawless, the proud and arrogant apostate, struck in the entrails in the very places where he humiliated the icon of the Lord, then Michael 59 who killed him immediately receives the kingdom. And then the misfortunes of the fathers immediately end, and they, by order of the emperor, return home completely freely. [Col. 208] For although he belonged to the party of evil believers, he was not shameless, like his predecessor, and did not at all want to cause grief to those who did not obey him, leaving everyone to do as they wish. Since, together with everyone else, the divine father was released from exile 60, in which he spent seven whole years, let us now see what his return was like, how everyone arranged a solemn meeting for him on the way, honoring and welcoming him as such a great man. Divided into clans and friendly groups, everyone argued among themselves who, ahead of others, would receive him in the house and who would be the first to prepare for him what was required for the reception, considering it a deprivation, and, moreover, the greatest, to be the second to meet him. When the valiant arrived at the place usually called Lake Mitata (Αάκκος Μηάτα), there he was met with much greater honor by the wondrous Leo and the neighboring inhabitants of the Xirolofi, who gave almost all their property to receive him. For nothing was so dear to them as to honor their father with dignity and accept his prayer, which they recognized nothing more valuable than. After he was received there according to his dignity, he then comes to a place in Pteleya, where he stayed for many days due to the fact that this place was favorable in its position and convenient for the gathering of many, and there he received other disciples who came to him, as well as his brother, I mean Joseph, who ruled Thessalonica. Considerably delighted [to meet with] all of them and comforted after a long separation by their present gathering, he was finally filled with spiritual joy. 103. But having reached this point in my speech, I want to tell about the miracles performed by the father, for the great one then had great grace from God, since God honored him in everything. But my word about them will be simple and brief, because it does not require external decoration or long circumlocutions, being clear in the deeds themselves. Now the mentioned Leo, who subsequently entered monastic life, taking the same name as his father, revered the saint with all love during his life and showed this by meeting him upon his return, and no less showed the same disposition towards him after his death, constantly coming to the tomb and hugging the stone lying on it, since he was not able to touch his naked body. One day, when he came in this way, according to his custom, to the shrine and when others gathered there, remembering the saint, telling how he lived among them and what labors he carried out in a body so weak as a spider’s web, he himself, as if wounded by an arrow in his heart, as soon as he heard his [Theodore’s] name, said to those present: “Since you remember the great, then I will tell you as clearly as possible about him, what I saw and what I experienced, for in this way you will be able to add something to the judgment about him that has formed in your souls.” 104. [Col. 210] “At that very time,” he says, “as the saint was returning from exile and had just left my house, it happened to me myself to marry a girl from my neighbors with my son, who had already reached marriageable age. Even during the wedding celebration, when songs were being sung, suddenly, on some occasion, the girl was overcome by a severe fever, which set her insides on fire and threatened her with a miserable death. When we were doubly grieving on the occasion of this misfortune, because the marriage joy was disrupted and we thought that the girl, so tender and young, was dying prematurely, I, for whom there was no consolation left in misfortune, hastily sent to the monk, not far from my house, asking him to help the young woman and before her me, who was seriously suffering. He immediately sent the oil he had blessed and ordered her to anoint the woman lying with it. I myself immediately fulfilled the command, anointing the girl’s body with oil. And at the same time with the anointing, the young woman receives relief and gets rid of the fever that was scorching her, even without suffering from it in the least after something that is more amazing than the healing itself. 105. At another time, when, out of necessity, I was walking alone to a remote village, a tiger suddenly appeared in front of me from somewhere. Looking at me with terrible eyes, he was just preparing to rush at me and, alas, make my body his food. I, not knowing what to do in this seemingly inevitable misfortune, turned to the great Theodore, pinning hopes on him alone for salvation, and, without hesitation, trusting in him, I say to the tiger in a fearless voice: “Get away, beast, from me and do not dare touch me, for I am going to the servant of Christ Theodore, whose slave I am and who is my guardian in everything.” And the beast, as soon as it heard the name of the saint, immediately, frightened and crouching to the ground, turns its back to me and makes way, like a rational creature, turning to the side and moving away. 106. There is one village called Ahirao. There lived a certain Leo, who was unhappily married to a wife who was possessed by an unclean spirit. The demon committed such violence against her that he sometimes forced her to tear her body apart and bite it without feeling suffering or regret. One day, the husband, taking it, went out to meet the saint, who was then traveling on a donkey along the local road, for on long journeys he usually traveled in this way. With sorrow and all in tears, he begged him to help the suffering woman if possible and save her from such a fierce demon. The monk, touched by compassion for his wife and condoling her misfortune, immediately lays his hand on her head, blessing her with the sign of the cross and saying a prayer against evil spirits. [Col. 212] And with the end of the prayer the woman found the end of her misfortune, since the crafty demon immediately fled and left the woman sane. And at that hour a new miracle was added to the miracle. Precisely, along with the expulsion of the unclean, all the nails came out of the hands and feet of the sufferer and fell to the ground, striking the audience with amazement and showing the most wonderful power of the performer.” 107. It would be enough for me, without saying anything else, to show on the basis of what has been said what grace the father had in performing miracles. In particular, their speed is amazing; even more amazing is the greatness; and even more than both, the compassion and greatest love of humanity of the giver, which is beyond words and surprise, so that he knew how to do good in a wide variety of ways. But since one should not, because some already know, remain silent about other [miracles], our word must set forth them too. 108. Adjacent to the Ptelei region is one river, in the common language called Onopnyktis, which received its name, I think, because many pack animals drowned in it 61 . Often swelling and spreading widely, it carries away not only livestock and pack animals, but devastates and floods almost the entire Ptelei region with the inhabitants themselves. So, when the local residents saw that the saint had arrived there, everyone, as if by agreement, turned to him with a common prayer, asking him to stop the disaster, which, they said, was bringing them death and ruin and if it continued, it would turn their whole lives into ruin. Without hesitating at all, he hurriedly goes to the river. Here, after singing evening songs to God, he erects a cross made of wood at its source. And indeed, after that, the water mass, seeing this image, remains in its channel, without protruding from the banks, without overflowing further and without causing harm, as before, with its overflow. 109. But leaving now the miracles that happened in Pteley, the narrative of which is not without reliability, since all of them were attested, as stated above, by that wondrous Leo and many others, I must now mention those that happened in other places, and first of all those about which the divine Sophronius, a great man in his life and who was the abbot of this monastery, told us in detail. The stories about them are as follows. 110. While his father, according to him, was in the monastery, his work and concern was frequent visits to the hospital for observation of the sick and other services. One day, having arrived there, he saw one of them, stricken with a serious illness and, due to severe pain, begging for death. [Col. 213] The one who was entrusted with the ministry [in the hospital] asked him whether he really wanted to give up his present life. When he replied that moving from this church [body] would be a spiritual pleasure and greatest joy for him, because his body was so heavy and sorrowful, he hastily conveyed these words to the monk and told him what the sick man was praying for. He immediately, touched by his soul and sympathizing with the sufferer, fervently began to pray and asked for his brother’s repose, saying most of the prayer with emotional excitement and slight crying. Having finished it, the monk says to the informer: “Go and prepare what is needed for the burial of your brother, since he died as he asked.” And when he returned, he found him having already given up his breath and betrayed his soul. 111. The Divine Sophronius also told the following about himself. “One day,” he says, “I had to go to the Paphlagonian region with my student Nikolai, my father’s servant and associate. In the evening we both stopped to rest in the same field, where there was a huge amount of hay. An armed army then came to this place, lit fires and began to prepare dinner. When the fire, I don’t know how, reached the hay and, due to the flammability of the substance, engulfed everything with it, a cry and disorderly movement immediately arose in the army. Randomly, they all rush at us and almost plot to kill us, without saying anything, without asking or engaging in any conversation, but only silently attributing to us all the blame for the arson. Therefore, as is natural, frightened by this intention against us and despairing of everything, we call on the great Theodore to deliver us from unexpected danger and open the way to salvation, for you alone, we said, the most sacred father, can restrain those who unjustly attack us and are plotting to commit the most unrighteous death of us. And - oh, the speed of goodness! “While we were still saying a prayer, a sudden heavy rain extinguished the spreading fire and produced a wonderful change in the mood of the soldiers who had previously been preparing to kill us, making them now humble and bowed down.” 112. And one of the noble women told the divine Sophronius about the miracle that happened to her, telling about it like this. “One day,” he says, “there was a fire in my house, located in Ravdos. The fire engulfed it all around, and I was in danger of seeing almost all my property fall prey to the flames, since neither pouring water nor any extinguishing implements could extinguish the fire, which thus consumed everything with a crash. In this situation, it occurred to me to take out my father’s hidden letter, which he had sent to me shortly before. [Col. 216] Taking it in my hands, I decided to throw it into the fire (hoping that he, ashamed of it, would retain the power of his heat). Indeed, as soon as I fulfilled this and threw the venerable letter into its destructive flame, exclaiming at the same time: “Saint Theodore, help me, your servant who is in danger,” it immediately became noticeable that the ferocious power of the fire faded, weakened and stopped, leaving only ashes and smoke.” Which of your contemporaries or ancestors saw such a miracle from a small letter? Everything amazing that can be invented is nothing in comparison with it, so the simplicity of our words cannot detract from the greatness of this incident. For, itself manifesting itself in actions as it is, it surpasses the power of words and all art of storytelling. 113. But it’s time for us to explain the miracle that happened on the island of Sardinia to one of the local residents, and to delight the ears of the lovers of God. What it is like is scary to hear, because along with the miraculous it also contains the terrifying. There was one man on the island who always loved and revered the great writings and, among other things, highly valued the [hymns] he composed for the Holy Pentecost, usually called the Trisongs. One day, monks stopped by his place to spend days of fasting; these were students of the famous Gregory of Syracuse 62. Possessing a reckless mind and filled with pride in their hearts, they began to condemn the works of the saint, calling them rude and not composed according to the rules of art. Captivated, I don’t know how, by them, the one who sheltered them soon changes and accepts their opinion, ceasing to honor them as before and to sing them at morning hymns, as was his custom. And when he became like this, his father appears to him at night, tall, as he once was, with a pale yellow face and no hair on his head; and several others followed him, holding rods in their hands, the very sight of which was a terrible and completely unbearable sight. He ordered them to immediately do what he wanted and to beat with rods someone so pliable and unsteady in his opinions. And when they were still beating him, the father who stood by exclaimed: “Why did you, infidel, reject and count my creations as nothing, although not long before you loved and honored them? If nothing else, then at least you should have understood on your own that the churches of God would not have accepted them and would not have passed them on to one another if they had not recognized their benefits. For it is not the pomp of speech and not the [artificial] decoration of expressions that usually crush the heart, but a humble word, composed for benefit and in all respects sound; being, in my opinion, above all learning, it seems to me worthy of all praise and seems much more respectable than that which is finished and amuses only the ear.” And after he had been beaten enough in this way and had paid such punishment for a change for the worse, the day had already come. [Col. 217] Feeling ill and in pain, he jumped out of bed with his heart shaken with fear and his body swollen with wounds. He immediately showed them to everyone and with great emotion told about what had happened to him, showering considerable abuse on those corrupters through whose fault he had suffered this, and driving them out of the house as quickly as possible. And wanting to appease his father, from that time on he became even stronger than before in his faith in him, worthy of loving the great creations, showing them inexpressible honor and [thus] truly healing the soul. 114. But since I see that my word wants to remember other miracles, I will offer the most concise and brief account of them, so that the word does not linger on them any longer. And let the first to come to mind is the one who was possessed and soon received healing, who was delivered from this illness by coming to the tomb and having a night vision of his father, for he later turned out to be sane and in control of himself. After this, let us talk about the one who tasted poisoned food, who, suffering from pain in all his insides and already preparing to die from torment, poured oil from the tomb into his mouth three times, then vomited that fatal poison and became completely healthy and unharmed. Another, suffering from similar stomach pains, found not a slow and insufficient cure for some serious illness, no, but faster than the others, and beyond all hope; namely, just by looking at the icon of his father and calling on his name, he immediately got rid of his torment and looked healthy again. But in comparison with them, it seems to me, no lower in speed of healing [is the case when someone] after drinking the same holy oil and calling on the Divine name, got rid of the stone disease. By the way, let me remember someone who was still possessed by the disease of fear and who was afraid of everything due to unreasonable fear, who, having anointed his entire body with oil and sat for a short time at the tomb, got rid of this serious illness and showed courage in everything. And why should I list everything? Based on what has been said, one can judge everything that is omitted and understand the grace of the giver, so, leaving this to the knowledgeable, for many already know about it, I will turn my word to something else, which should be narrated in order. 115. So, after the monk, as said, had been converted for a long time in the Ptelei region, he, leaving there, came to Prussa. Having learned of his arrival, the monks who lived on Olympus gathered together, wanting to see his face and listen to his voice, uttering beauty, [Col. 220] for he was a husband for them, long since desired in all respects and most pleasant. Having talked about what was necessary with all of them and repaid the debt of love as best he could, he, leaving Prussa, set off along the road to Chalcedon to see the famous Theoktistus, who had previously been honored with the title of master, and now accepted the monastic life under his teaching and shepherding. He was quite pleased to see such virtue and such a righteous life. Life after returning from exile 116. Then he visits the patriarch, I mean Nikephoros, an associate and friend who lived in his monastery, which was located near the strait 63. Considering the meeting with him to be the highest pleasure, he completely cleaves to him, expressing in ineffable words his affection for him and rewarding the previous separation with a real union. Having sufficiently enjoyed what he desired, he wanted to visit others in order to sow virtue; and while leaving him, contrary to his wishes, for a short time, he comes to the so-called Criscentian places. Here many monks and laymen gathered to see him, and he was busy giving everyone something useful and addressing them with his speech, abundantly pouring out the Divine. 117. At that time, together with all of them, the great Peter 64, incomparable in virtue, came to the great one to talk with him about many things, as well as about those who were spreading bad rumors about [Peter], blaming his life and reviling his deeds. For there were those who slandered this man because he led a high life and showed many signs. Having asked him separately on each of the points [of the accusation] and finding that he thinks correctly in everything and is even more distinguished by his virtue, thanks to which he received grace, the father tells him: “Listen to me, change a little this strange way of life and [refuse] from completely not eating [bread and wine]; It is better to choose a lifestyle similar to others, which combines with useful and convenient; eat bread, sometimes wine and other foods, as much as you should, so that you appear to be eating them, you can easily avoid vanity by abstaining from food, silence those who slander your life, and not be caught in anything. In addition, since you, by the way, still have the custom of walking barefoot, then, in my opinion, this is not at all necessary, because it is better to put shoes on your feet and keep them unharmed in the winter.” He gave him such useful advice, and to those, in turn, who slandered him, he admonished them in the proper words, so that they would not blaspheme such a man and would not incur condemnation upon themselves by plotting anything against him, but rather, they would praise and be justly amazed at such great deeds of him. 118. [Col. 221] When he has met with the chosen one from the bishops, then together with each other and together with the patriarch they form a meeting and decide to go to the one holding the scepter and report on their requests, namely that their churches be returned to them and the heretics who own them expelled. Personally explaining everything to the emperor, how they were forcibly expelled by the previous emperor and how the divine icons, whose veneration has been venerated since ancient times, were shamelessly insulted, besides this, setting out other things that were required, clearly and thoroughly, they, without knowing it, spoke to the deaf and kept their speeches to the unreasonable. For he, being until that time completely ignorant of the Divine word, was unable to understand what they said, or even listen to them in the slightest degree. And in fact, how [could he understand] neither one who knew anything better, nor one who had not been taught by others? Therefore, to the long speech of the fathers who spoke about faith, he, foolish, answered them only as follows: “Although your words are good, they are unacceptable for me, who until now has not revered icons or worshiped them. Therefore, I should remain as I was, and you should also remain as you are and follow your teaching, for I will not forbid any of you to do so. However, I do not at all want you to erect an icon in the capital, but far from it and outside, wherever you wish.” After this, the fathers, convinced of his foolishness, immediately left Byzantium; The monk returned to the Christian place and there he and his disciples passed through the ascetic life. 119. Meanwhile, a little later, the famous Thomas raises a rebellion against the Romans 65, conquering and devastating everything in order to seize power for himself. For fear of being captured outside the capital, everyone rushed here, some voluntarily, others prompted by others. Then, along with everyone else, the divine father came into it and remained in it until the uprising that arose and the division of power ended. But when Thomas's troops were defeated and he was captured by the emperor, he again left the capital and did not return to the Criscentian places, but chose the St. Peninsula as his place of residence. Tryphon near Akritos 66. From here he often visited the patriarch, talked with him about the needs of the time and strengthened love more and more, just as he responded to love in kind and in many ways showed his spiritual disposition towards him. 120. One day, wanting to show the power of his love, he, in the presence of many bishops, uttered various praises to the monk; told what suffering he had endured, surpassing everyone else in this, and listed his exiles, imprisonment and all sorts of other bodily torments. [Col. 224] And when they were supposed to taste the food and take part in the same meal, the patriarch, in the presence of his father, seated all the others below himself and allowed them to take their places after him, deigning only the monk to be his table companion in the same seat. For, he says, “in my eyes, this wondrous one is worthy of respect and deserves all honor, and whatever anyone does to him will never be fully repaid according to his merits due to his excellent virtue and incomparable humility; and if anyone offers him all the honor possible in people, he will never shake his modesty and convince him to abandon his humble opinion of himself. That is why he should be the most honorable among those present and most distinguished by love.” The patriarch had so much respect, so much affection and love for the great. So everyone conceded primacy to him, considering it great for themselves to even take a place after him. Let envy disappear, always indignant at the good and always pursuing the best with blasphemies! Let the tongue be silent, speaking empty nonsense and shamelessly pronouncing the unprecedented! For who, seeing the [mutual] goodwill and unanimity of these men and their close union with each other, will not laugh at the gossips who want to pervert matters so obvious and darken and distort the truth, shining like the sun, as if not knowing where to hide their [shortcomings] or how else to distinguish themselves, if not to attack others? But let them remain as they are; and we, who in all cases preferred the truth, will now better adhere to it; Relying on it, we set forth as it should the actions of the fathers and showed by our very deeds the purity and sincerity of their [mutual] favor. 121. But time calls us to the death of the blessed one; the word refuses to begin, but let’s begin, although the story is sad. So, living in nothing other than future hopes, and always having concern for this, he wished for death. But having such a desire and completely belonging to the future, even in his last days he did not want, at least a little, to hold his tongue or see it completely idle, but tried to use his words to everyone who came to him, offering what was supposed to be useful, and giving parting greetings; For those far away, he replaced the conversation with his hand and ink, entrusting them to God and praying for the salvation of his soul. For the great one tried not to leave anyone bypassed, but to devote his concerns to everyone; He considered this important and really took care of everyone. 122. When the news of his [imminent] death spread, countless numbers could be seen flocking to him, some coming from the capital, others gathered from surrounding places, others from other places. [Col. 225] At the same time, very many of the bishops did not stand aside; also, the heads of the monasteries and the monks under their control all hastily flocked here to listen to the father’s conversation, or to enjoy his catechumen teaching, or to see the dying person, or, finally, to receive relief from something [grief or illness] by their arrival, since they considered the greatest benefit for themselves even just being near him. For the wondrous one was pleasant in speech, even more pleasant in morals and very kind in his dealings with others, being honest in disposition, quiet, compassionate, meek, not angry, humble and having everything else that only a man of God is rich in. 123. So, having lived sixty-seven years, around the beginning of November 67 he fell into a serious illness, which intensified the suffering of his stomach and, completely bedridden, made him look almost like a dead man. But he, suffering from such an illness and all filled with pain, nevertheless focused his entire attention on the students, so that when he felt somewhat better and he recovered a little, he immediately [took up] the spoken word and again [for] the usual instruction. However, since his tongue, withered from the feverish heat, served him poorly, pronouncing even a few words with difficulty and weakly, he, dictating the words of the conversation to one of the scribes, conveys his instructions to others through him. His teaching begins like this. 124. “Brothers and fathers! I was weak and again strengthened by your prayers. You know how I was overcome with confusion and heat, even without being able to control myself. But how long will we return to this again? Death will come, of course, separating me from you and taking me to heaven.” Anyone who wishes to will find further words of teaching in his father’s “Acceptances” 68. 125. After the present public teaching was completed, the illness immediately left him, he felt relief in everything, walked on his own feet and performed the Divine Service on Sunday, for the sake of which God gave him even more health, so that he could make the [liturgical] Sacrifice in due time. 126. After this, having had a decent conversation with the fathers and others who were present and having taken part in the meal with them, he again went to bed and called for the steward; it was Naucratius, who after him took over as superior. [Col. 228] Having informed him of everything, he gave him many instructions on how to be skillful in managing all the brothers. Then he asks him about what he especially wanted to know. “Have we forgotten,” he says, “father and brother, any of our responsibilities? Have we omitted or neglected anything from our duty due to our negligence and laziness? Have we not ruined the salvation of those around us by despising the benefits of those measures that should have made them better? For my whole soul is tormented and trembling, thinking about how she will give an account of everyone and what answer will be sufficient for her at such a court, before which it is scary and unbearable to appear.” 127. After such a conversation with Naucratius, the next day, precisely November 6, on which the memory of the confessor Paul 69 is celebrated, he again comes to the church to perform the Divine service and teach a lesson to the brethren. When evening comes, having offered the usual hymns to God together with them, he alone enters the cell and converses alone [with God], not with his tongue, but [more] with his thoughts. And then, late at night, an attack of illness attacks him again and he feels more severe suffering than before. Unable to bear the pain, he calls the sleeping man in front of the cell and tells him about his torment. And when he suddenly cried out loudly and in great excitement from an excess of sadness, many disciples came running in tears and sobs, for they thought that their father had already died at that hour. Thus, for two days, tormented by suffering and knowing that his death would soon come, he, touched by separation from those present and shedding tears, announced his dying behests to the disciples. 128. “My fathers and brothers,” he says, “as you see, the end of my life is already coming, which I myself have always been waiting for; for this is the common cup of all, although some drink it sooner, others longer. Since we have entered into life, we will, of course, accept the end of life, because the Good One has arranged it so that those who have a part in life should also have a part in death. In turn, I must follow the same path as others and go to where there is eternal life, and more - where is my Master and Lord, Whom my soul loved, Whom I desired in my heart, Whom I called myself a slave, although I neglected serving Him, and to Whom I entrusted my whole life. But you, beloved children, remain faithful to my words, preserving what you have received and keeping your life and faith intact. For you need both if you want to be distinguished by both. You, of course, know that I have never shied away from proclaiming the truth to you, but I have given due testimony to everyone, both together and separately; this, I pray, may remain steadfast in your thoughts. [Col. 229] And I also promise you that if I, poor one, acquire any boldness on the Lord’s Day, I will not stop asking and praying for you, so that you improve and your monastery grows more and more, accepting one after another from you and leading you to the Savior - God.” Having said this to the disciples, the father concludes by saying the following: “Greet from us the absent fathers; also say a decent greeting to the bishops and priests who are not here; convey our last greetings to the brethren who are everywhere and to all others who have kept their confession.” Asked by the divine Naucratius regarding the monks and laity who were under penance, he answered: “God will forgive everyone, and let no one be charged with the fall.” 129. In this state, he spent the other two days, blessing those who came and making the sign of the cross, for many flocked to him at every hour, some coming from other places and new arrivals replacing those departing. When Sunday came, on which the memory of the Great Martyr Mina 70 was celebrated, precisely the eleventh day of the month, he felt that after a little he had to give up his life. Therefore, he orders the usual doxology to be performed; then he partakes of the Divine Mysteries, so that in Communion he may have parting words and joy for the soul 71 . After this, he commands the disciples to light the candles and begin chanting for the exodus of the soul. Standing in a circle, they sang: “Blessed, immaculate,” and while they sang: I will never forget Your justifications, for You have revived me in them (Ps. 119:1, 93), he betrayed his soul, leaving earthly things and moving on to heavenly bliss. And the venerable one is attached to the saints, to the priests the priest, to the martyrs the martyr, to the preachers a great voice, which announced almost the entire universe, to the confessors - glorious by confession and primarily receiving this name. His all-sacred body, transferred with indescribable honor to the island of Prinkipo 72, is placed in a coffin with difficulty, since the gathered people for a long time prevented the burial. 130. But you, most holy father, who lived and died in this way, now accept rewards in heaven, standing before the great Light and being illuminated by the rays of the blessed and initial Trinity, most brightly and most purely, fully perceiving with your mind all the radiance of the Divine and being deified by union with Him. [Col. 232] Remember also about your flock, which you loved very much, for whom you laid down your soul and for whom you promised to always help and be an intercessor. Trusting in you, we ask for your prayers to help us; for we know your care for us, O best and most loving of fathers, in order to lead us in everything to the best and lead us into the quietest haven, granting us as a reward the authority to complete this present life without stumbling and, through your mediation and intercession, to appear to the God of all and become participants in the radiance there. 131. And since the all-sacred and all-holy body itself should have received the best honor, then after eighteen years and after the end of the persecution of the Church, which was the last to be instigated by the hated Theophilus 73, it is solemnly transferred to the capital under the glorious Methodius and the pious Theodora, 74 who brought it from the island and placed it in the Studite monastery, where there is a valuable tomb of the great Plato and the blessed Joseph. When it was brought, the divine patriarch himself, the entire clergy and many monks and laity, leaving the city with lamps and incense, took it with raised hands and, having found it whole and intact, filled with an indescribable fragrance, laid it in the tomb of the fathers 75, giving glory to the King of all God, to whom honor and worship are due with His only begotten Word and the Life-giving Spirit now and ever and ever. Amen. In fact, this life was not written by the monk Michael, but probably by Theodore Daphnopatos. Rev. Theodore the Studite. Catechetical funeral oration in honor of his mother // Rev. Theodore the Studite. Creations. T. 2. – Ed. Constantine V Copronymus (719–775) – Byzantine emperor in 741–775. He pursued a policy of iconoclasm. – Ed. The Greek name "Theodore" translates as "gift of God." – Ed. That is, secular sciences, general education cycle. – Ed. Wed: St. Basil the Great. Conversation 22. To young men about how to benefit from pagan writings // St. Basil the Great. Creations. T. 1. pp. 1054–1069. – Ed. Three main traditional sections of philosophical knowledge in ancient philosophy: 1) dogmatics (in this case) - speculative, theoretical teaching; 2) ethics - the doctrine of human morals and behavior, practical knowledge; 3) dialectics - methods of proof and reasoning, as well as conducting disputes. – Ed. Leo IV Khazar (750–780) – Byzantine emperor in 775–780. – Ed. The Greek name "Irene" (Ειρήνη) translates as "peaceful", "peace". – Ed. St. Tarasius (c. 730–806) was Patriarch of Constantinople from 784 to 806 – Ed. In TFS: “according to the right faith.” – Ed. The family estate of Fotin (father of St. Theodore) was located on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, not far from Prussa. – Ed. In the text: ίνδεία, i.e. by hunger; but the meaning should read “saturation.” In the Old Slavic translation of the life (Cheti-Minei of Macarius on November 11) we read “food” in this place. Undoubtedly, the same meaning is in the corresponding place of the next life (§ 8). In the Vatican Codex: Αντώνιος. Most likely, we are talking about the Rules of St. Basil the Great, short and lengthy. See: St. Basil the Great. Creations. T. 2. pp. 149–319. – Ed. That is, to Constantinople. – Ed. In the Greek text επείληφε instead of επήλειφε. St. Tarasius accuses Emperor Constantine of: 1) expelling his wife in the form of forced tonsure into monasticism, 2) a new marriage while his wife was alive. The expulsion of a wife through her forced tonsure into monasticism was not accepted by St. Tarasiy as a legal reason for divorce, since such tonsure was not voluntary and in this case the principle that Constantine was counting on did not apply. Compare: “If one of the spouses takes monasticism, the other sends him a divorce bill” (Narbekov V. Nomocanon of Patriarch Photius of Constantinople with interpretations of Balsamon. Part 2. Kazan, 1899. P. 414). One of the short stories of St. imp. Justinian (B XXVIII, 7, 1 Nov. 117 c. 8. 9., text see in: Basilicorum Libri LX / Ed. H. J. Scheltema et N. Van Der Wal. Groningen-Graven-hage, 1962. P. 1357) establishes a limited number of reasons for legal divorce. A reference to this novella 117 is given by Patriarch Theodore Balsamon when, in his commentary on the fifth apostolic canon, he writes: “A marriage is dissolved only for the reasons listed in the said novella, which are the following: 1) a conspiracy of one of the spouses against the king; 2) adultery of the wife; 3) an attempt by one of the spouses on the life of the other; 4) if the wife, without her husband’s will, feasted or washed in a bathhouse with strangers; 5) if the wife remained outside her husband’s house and, moreover, not with her parents; 6) if the wife went to the horse races without her husband’s knowledge; 7) if one of the spouses wants to choose the monastic life” (Rules of the holy apostles and holy fathers with interpretations. [M.]: Pilgrim; Siberian Blagozvonnitsa, 2000. P. 21). Thus, in the eyes of Patriarch Tarasius, Constantine enters into an illegal marriage with a living wife, for which, according to patristic rules, he is subject to the penance of an adulterer. Rule 9 St. Basil the Great says: “If a husband, having departed from his wife, understands another, then he himself is an adulterer, since he commits adultery, and she who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has attracted someone else’s husband to herself” (Rules of the Apostle Saints and Father Saints with interpretations. [M.]: Pilgrim; Siberian Blagozvonnitsa, 2000. P. 195; also: St. Basil the Great. Letter 188 // St. Basil the Great. T. 2. P. 705–706). His rule 58: “He who has committed adultery for fifty years shall not partake of the Holy Mysteries” (Rules of the Holy Apostles and Holy Fathers with interpretations. [M.]: Pilgrim; Sibirskaya Blagozvovennitsa, 2000. P. 328; also: St. Basil the Great. Letter 217 // St. Basil the Great. Creations. Vol. 2. P. 776). – Ed. TFS places this expulsion in 798. The French edition of TSGC gives two dates for the first expulsion: from March to August 797 (p. 21) and 796–797. (p. 26). – Ed. Constantine VI (771 - after 797) - Byzantine emperor in 780–797. In 797, Constantine VI was dethroned, blinded and exiled to one of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of ​​Marmara. – Ed. This refers to the Patriarch of Constantinople, St. Tarasy. – Ed. About the founder of the Studian monastery, N. Grossu writes the following: “...there was a rich Roman patrician Studius. Having moved from Rome to Constantinople around the half of the 5th century, Studius, thanks to the wealth and nobility of his origin, entered the service at the imperial court and in 454, under the emperor Marcian, was already consul in the East with the same rights as Aetius in the West ... "(Grossu. Venerable Theodore Studite. P. 88). – Ed. Maybe instead of σχίσματος (“division”, “schism”) it is better to read σχήματος - “persecution of the monastic image.” The TFS added: “(panegyric).” – Ed. Emperor Nikephoros I. Reigned 802–811. – Ed. St. Nikephoros I, Patriarch of Constantinople in 806–815. – Ed. Second link Rev. Theodore and his associates lasted from 809 to 811 - Ed. In 811 Nikephoros set out on a campaign against the Bulgarians. The Byzantine army suffered a crushing defeat, and Nicephorus himself was killed. According to the chronograph Feofan, Khan Krum ordered his skull to be decorated with gold and turned into a bowl. – Ed. In 811, Michael I Rangave (?–844) ruled the Byzantine Empire from 811–813. – Ed. An important rank in the Byzantine court hierarchy. Initially - commander of the palace guards, later - an honorary position. – Ed. This refers to Leo III (750–816), who was Pope in 795–816. – Ed. If instead of ζνδιάΰζτον we read ζυδιάΰζτον, then we should translate “a high degree of love and favor.” Active philosophy (πρακτική φιλοσοφία), starting with St. the Cappadocian fathers and Evagrius of Pontus, in Christian teaching they called ascetic work - strict observance of fasting, handicrafts, implementation of the commandments, etc. - Ed. Leo V the Armenian (?–820) was a Byzantine emperor from 813–820. – Ed. John the Grammar (about 780 - after 860) - a theologian who opposed the veneration of icons. He was also called Lecanomancer (“fortuneteller”), as he was suspected of practicing magic. In 837–843 was Patriarch of Constantinople; deposed under Queen Theodora. – Ed. Greek ύπόγειον – “underground”; in other manuscripts ύπόγυιον – “new”. St. Ignatius the God-Bearer. Epistle to the Smyrnites, 4; cf.: Epistle to the Ephesians, 7. That is, the clergy of the Church. – Ed. In other manuscripts πηλφ means “dirt”. It's about writing messages. – Ed. In 815; at the Moesian Lake Apollonias. Third expulsion of Rev. Theodore lasted from 815 to 820 - Ed. In the Anatolian theme; in 816 In the text άπειθοΰοιν; we assume that it should be read άπειλοΰαιν. The Byzantines called Constantinople New Rome. – Ed. Rev. Nicholas the Studite, confessor (f 858). Memory – February 4/17. – Ed. In the text: εξωδηκυίας from εξοδάω, εξοδεω, εξοδεύω; if you read εξωδυίας, as in paragraph 113, from εξοιδαίνω, εξοιδεω, then it should be translated: “extremely swollen.” Rev. Thaddeus the Studite, confessor (f 818). Memory December 29 / January 11. – Ed. Michael II Travl - Byzantine emperor in 820–829. – Ed. In the French edition (TSGC. P. 26) - 820 - Ed. Όνοττνίχτης from ονος – “donkey” and – πνίγω – “soul”, “drown”. This refers to Gregory Asvesta; in the 40s–70s. 9th century, after the death of St. Theodore (826), he was Metropolitan of Syracuse, and in the late 70s - Metropolitan of Nicaea. – Ed. Thracian Bosphorus. St. Nikephoros I was here in exile from 815. – Ed. Rev. Peter of Atroi (773–837; according to other sources, 802–806). He labored in the region of Mount Olympus in Asia Minor. He was famous for his extreme asceticism. Memory in the Orthodox Church - September 13/27. – Ed. The Byzantines called themselves Romans (i.e., Romans). The revolt of the impostor Thomas occurred in 821–823. This Thomas pretended to be Constantine VI, who escaped blindness. Thanks to the intervention of the Bulgarian Khan, the uprising was suppressed and Thomas was executed. – Ed. Cape Akrit at Astaken Bay, in the north-west. In the “Small Annunciation”, lesson 31. St. Paul “occupied the See of Constantinople in the first half of the 4th century. Being strictly Orthodox in his convictions, he waged an irreconcilable struggle against Arianism and contributed to the establishment of the church teaching about the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father” (Grossu. Rev. Theodore the Studite, p. 257). – Ed. The memory of the Great Martyr Mina of Cotuan (Phrygian) is celebrated on November 11. – Ed. The Vatican Code adds: “and having anointed his members according to custom.” Near Constantinople, in the Sea of ​​Marmara, not far from the coast of Asia Minor. – Ed. Theophilus (813–842) – Byzantine iconoclast emperor; reigned 829–842 St. Methodius I (788 or 800–847) – Patriarch of Constantinople in 843–847. Canonized as a saint; commemoration in the Orthodox Church is celebrated on June 14/27. Theodora (815–867) – Byzantine empress, wife of the iconoclast emperor Theophilus; in 842–856 regent for her son Emperor Michael III. During the reign of Theodora, the icon-worshipers “succeeded in the deposition of the iconoclast patriarch John the Grammar and the elevation in his place of the confessor Methodius, and then brought the matter to the complete restoration of the holy icons and the final triumph of the Orthodox faith” (Grossu. Rev. Theodore the Studite, pp. 160–161). Theodora is revered as a saint for the restoration of icon veneration; Her memory in the Orthodox Church is celebrated on February 11/24. – Ed. In 845, January 26/February 8; On this day the memory of the transfer of his relics is celebrated.