Послание 35. К Василию, игумену 63

To Basil, the most reverent abbot and archimandrite of Rome, the humble Plato, the prisoner, and Theodore, the lowest presbyter and abbot of Studium. We, humble ones, expected to receive a letter from your fatherly reverence, like the earth thirsting for its rain. Having lost hope, they grieved, as they should, but when they learned the reason from Epiphanius, our most beloved and most faithful son, namely, that this happened out of necessity, and not out of contempt for us, humble and very fond of your piety, they left the sorrow of their hearts and received great joy. He informed us that you remain in the same disposition and love for us, and even showed even more kindness. With a story about the zeal for piety inherent in your holy soul, he occupied our entire ear. Blessed is the Lord of Powers, who has placed you in the first of all cities as a divinely illuminated lamp, spreading the word of life through an abundance of good deeds, who has given you a language that freely proclaims the divine truths of Orthodoxy with sublime preaching! Therefore, we ask you to help our Church both through your own efforts and through mediation before the Holy Apostolic See. For your courageous intercession for the word of truth serves as a support for the Church in heavenly places, and your zeal usually always excites the whole universe to a fiery confession of our faith in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, let your reverence imagine what kind of achievement this is for you for piety and what praise from God with worthy rewards for His protection and confession. Preserve and do not cease to preach Him, our most divine and venerable fathers. For this purpose, we sent again the brother who worships your feet, Epiphanius, so that he would inform about our circumstances, since they are good according to your holy prayers, how we, sinners, rejoice and are content in the midst of persecution and in prison, so that we dare to say: “it has been given to us for the sake of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. 1:29), so that he will endear you to the most zealous prayer for the strengthening of us, the weak, and the common good, which we are talking about for the third time. Our request to you, most holy ones, is not for us to be freed from imprisonment - for we consider this not dishonor, but the greatest glory that exceeds our unworthiness - but for the achievement of common good, although we are among the last. For everywhere it must, as St. Gregory the Theologian, to prefer what is useful for oneself to what is useful for many 64. But it would be useful - which is our goal and desire - for those who formed a council against the Gospel of Christ and anathematized those who adhere to the Gospel and who did not accept either adultery, or the combination of adulterers, or an adulterous congregation, to be condemned by the Supreme Apostolic See (as was the case from ancient times and from the beginning). So that they would be condemned for the economy allowed by the “saints” - as the adulterers claim, while calling the lawless saints - for none of the saints had a “part” with the adulterer, did not marry such people and did not partake of the Divine Gifts to them. The saints taught not to give such people either shelter or fire, even if they were kings. Moreover, those who transgressed insulted the Divine Himself during the ceremony of the wedding - and uttered anathema against Him when they anathematized those who adhere to His law. If this condemnation does not happen, then we finally ask for your strong prayers, a strong union of love, powerful answers to console the faint-hearted and strengthen the weak, which, of course, you will not refuse us, our most holy, beloved and ever-honored fathers. This and the next six letters were probably written in 809. Creations in Russian translation. T.I. pp.252–253. You might be interested in: