INTRODUCTION
These two texts by St Theodore remind us both of what we believe and what it cost our forebears in the Faith to hold to that belief.
The first of these letters of St Theodore to his exiled monks is a vivid reminder of the second of point. The year is 819. St Theodore, aged sixty, is imprisoned with one of his monks, Nicolas, in exile in Boneta in Anatolia. His community is also in exile and the monks are scattered. Nevertheless he still manages to communicate with them by letter, still manages in this way to give them his ‘catecheses’, or ‘instructions’. One of these, no doubt a vigorous defence of the veneration of icons, has reached the Emperor, the iconoclast Leo the Armenian, who has decided that St Theodore needs dealing with. This letter describes the result. There is also a vivid account of the incident in the two lives of St Theodore. Life B tells us that the beatings, one hundred lashes with rawhide whips, took place on 23 February. St Theodore spent many weeks between life and death. Nicolas ‘his outstanding servant, fellow athlete and companion’, says the Life, ‘could make him take hardly one small cup of water a day. But, as they were quite without medical care, he was allowed by his spiritual Father, like another Silas or Timothy, to cut away with a knife as was necessary the gangrenous bits of skin where it was hanging loose, so that in time the rest of his body might return little by little to stable health. In such constraint of bodily agonies then, Theodore, that pillar of fire of orthodoxy, passed through the whole stadium of the sacred Forty Days [Lent] and beyond, and his body had hardly been restored to a condition of wholeness until around the final days of the holy Fifty Days [Pentecost]’. In 819, 28 February would have been the first day of Lent, Clean Monday. Pascha was on 17 April and Pentecost 5 June.
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Theodore to his brotherhoods scattered everywhere
Rejoice, my brethren and fathers so greatly longed for, because the good news is of joy. Once again we, the unworthy, have been found worthy to confess our fair confession. Once again we have both been tortured for name of the Lord. For brother Nicolas too competed bravely and faithfully. We, lowly though we are, have seen blood emptied on the ground from our flesh; we have looked on weals, gore and all that goes with them. Is not this cause for joy? Is not this cause for gladness of soul? But who am I, poor wretch, to be ranked with you, Christ’s worthy confessors, I the most unprofitable of men? The reason that all this has happened is my former instruction, which the ruler got into his hands and sent to the military governor with orders that the commander of the cohort should come to us. He came with his officers and soldiers at dead of night and suddenly surrounded the little house where we were, with loud shouts, just as though he had suddenly flushed an animal when out hunting. With his diggers he rapidly smashed down the fence, produced, examined and displayed the instruction. We confessed that we had composed it, as God wished. He was only seeking one thing: that we come to the emperor’s wish. We said precisely what the truth demanded: God forbid that we deny our God, and whatever was required to reply to our hearers. At this he flogged us savagely. The brother had sustained nothing serious like this in his toils since his first imprisonment and registration, while I, lowly and enfeebled, afflicted by raging fevers and scarcely endurable pains, was within a little of despairing of my life. Nevertheless the good God had mercy on me little by little, the brother helping in what was fitting, even though the wounds are still there and have not yet completely healed. So much for us. I have recounted our suffering to you knowing that you are keen to learn in order to share our pain. What next? The threat is more serious, the confinement stricter. For beatings have been added to the duties of the guards and the gaoler. We are not to grumble, we are not to write to anyone. Shall we cower down then and keep silent, in fear obeying human authority rather than God’s? Certainly not. But until the Lord opens a door for us, we shall not cease to fulfil our duty according to our possibilities, fearing and trembling at the judgement that hangs over silence. ‘If he draw back, it says, my soul will not be well pleased in him’ [Heb. 10,38, quoting Hab. 2,4]. And again the Apostle says, ‘We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith to the possession of their soul’ [Heb. 10,39].
For this reason this present letter of mine is for all the scattered brethren, and who are enduring persecution under pressure, but especially you, the confessors of Christ. Let us endure, my beloved brothers, gaining yet greater power in our sufferings, rather than quailing. They are flesh. Let us not spare them. As we are tormented for Christ, let us be glad. The one who abounds in pains, let him rejoice the more, as he will have a greater share in the rewards. The one who shrinks to bear the pains of scourges, let him then shake off fear as he considers the eternal sorrows. For their wounds in comparison with those are a dream, the arrows of infants. Yes, I beg, I entreat: let us find sweetness in our sufferings for Christ, even though they may be very severe in terms of the flesh. Let us fix our gaze on things to come and which abide. Let us long to mingle our blood with that of the martyrs, our part with that of the confessors, that we may dance with them eternally. Who is prudent? Who is wise? Who is a good business man, to give blood and receive spirit, to despise the flesh and acquire the kingdom of God? ‘He who loves his soul will lose it, says the Lord, and he who hates his soul in this age will keep it to eternal life’ [Jn 12,25]. Let us hearken to his words, and let us follow him. ‘Where I am’, he says, ‘there also will my servant be’ [Jn 12,26]. Where is he? On a Cross. And we, in our lowliness, as we wish to be his disciples, are there too. I ask you to be content with this word of exhortation. For this is only a short letter. Know that we sinners rejoice, we are not cast down, so long only as you stand fast in the Lord. Nicolas my fellow prisoner, my fellow sufferer, my fellow soldier and your most true brother, greets you. Greet one another with a holy kiss [Cf. 1 Thess. 5:26], athletes their fellow athletes, the persecuted their fellows in persecution, all of you those who love you in faith. If any one does not confess our Lord depicted in body, let him be anathema from the Trinity. ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen’ [Thess. 5:28].
INTRODUCTION
This letter is undated, but according to the MSS all the letters in the second book were written during St Theodore’s third exile, after 815. It is in fact an ‘Instruction’, or ‘Catechesis’, and is the sort of letter that could have provoked the wrath of the Emperor Leo, described in the previous letter.
The last part of the letter contains a number of allusions to the promises made by the monk or nun in the rite of monastic tonsure.
I translate the Greek verb proskynein by ‘worship’. To translate it ‘worship’ when it refers to God and ‘venerate’ it when it refers to icons is unwarranted, and reflects the damaging influence of the Protestant reformation on theological English. There is an interesting discussion of this question on David Melling’s page Arimathea.
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To the brethren with his son Patrikios.
Brothers and Fathers, I have been requested by your father, as I am both his father and through him yours, to talk to you about the things which concern salvation. And naturally I agreed. So in all humility I begin from these words: Our salvation, beloved children, is to believe rightly in the holy Trinity and act in ways which have the approval of God’s holy commandments. For, as the Apostle says, in Christ Jesus circumcision is worth nothing, nor is uncircumcision; what counts is faith put into practice love [Gal. 5:6]. Now the logic of the faith leads to orthodox doctrine, while the logic of love to the principle of good action. We believe, then, in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are three persons, one nature, one power, one sovereign majesty of all things; worshipped as one, as to nature, will, activity, might and glory. We believe that one of the holy Trinity, the Son and Word of God the Father, emptied himself and took the form of a servant [Phil. 2,7], manifested in our form. For this is what the Theologian says, the Word became flesh [John 1:14], and the great Apostle writes, God was manifested in the flesh [1 Tim. 3:16]. And he is one and the same in two natures, perfect God and perfect man; and in each perfection he left nothing that is proper to them both unassumed, but rather, as genuinely a son he possessed as God everything which pertains to the Father, as human everything which pertains to his Mother. And so, just as he is uncircumscribed like his Father, so like his Mother he is circumscribed, that is to say formed in the image in the likeness of his Mother. Now the Iconoclasts, concerning whom this doctrine is laid down, since they do not confess that he was circumscribed, are found quite certainly not to confess that he is the genuine son of his Mother. For what is a genuine offspring, and not one that is completely different, except one that is like the one who gives it birth in all its natural properties. For as regards his being circumscribed he has nothing in common with his Father, but everything with his Mother; and the opposite is true of his being uncircumscribed. Here his communion is with his Begetter, and not with her who gave him birth.
Such is the right doctrine of the truth; this is the apostolic faith: to confess that Christ is circumscribed in the flesh. So wrote Basil the Great, "Let there be inscribed on a tablet Christ, the umpire of the contests." And to honour the image inscribed, as Christ is worshipped in it. For Chrysostom the golden declares that he has seen an angel in an image [For these two passages see St Theodore’s Refutation of the Poems of the Iconoclasts [PG 99:468-469], where they are quoted in full. St John uses the word "picture", graphê]. And if [he saw] one who is without a body in an image, how much more the Word who was embodied? And if he sees, it is clear that he also worships the angel in an image; just so Christ. For to be granted to see in a depiction is equivalent to worshipping, "since the honour of the image ascends to its prototype", as Basil the Great also says. Those who insult Christ’s image, deny him, for through their rejection of the image they apply their rejection to him, even though they claim to confess Christ; in as much as the demons confess God [Cf. James 2:19], Scripture says, while they deny him by their works [Titus 1:16]. Great therefore, brothers, is their impiety, and great our confession, and in no way falls short of that of the martyrs of old. Therefore stand firm without wavering at all over those things whose truth has already been demonstrated; but submit yourselves to the struggles for this faith to shedding of blood, should occasion demand. From here there also dawns the radiant life, a sun from a sun; since the one is indeed proof of the other, as the Brother of God has declared [Cf. James 2:18]. Love God with the totality of your three powers[Cf. Matt. 22:37], as the commandment orders. Love yourselves also, as limbs of Christ. For by this, as Scripture says, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among each other [John 13:35]. Treat your superior with faith; let there be no one who has not confessed to him: such a person nourishes serpents. Let no one be tepid in his faith: such a person has no share in the fervour of the Holy Spirit. Let no one have secret possessions: such a person is no monk. Let no one be over confident in speech: such a person is a worker of destruction. Let no one be a secret eater: such a person is like a slave. Let no one give offence in anything, lest his service be brought into discredit, as the Apostle declares, but in everything let him conduct himself as God's servant, with great endurance, in tribulations, in difficulties [2 Cor. 6:3-4], and in all the other circumstances, which he enumerates, so perfecting himself as a true Christian. Now if this is how the subject should be, what and how much should be required of the abbot, who should be held up as good exemplar for those he teaches? The struggle is great; but the reward is infinite, the kingdom of heaven, of which may we, both rulers and ruled, be found worthy by living godly lives in Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom be glory and might with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.