Reading of the Letters of the Eastern Patriarchs

¹ Photios the most holy patriarch said: With the concurrence of our brothers and fellow-ministers, the most honorable legates, let your holiness deliver the letters of the most holy patriarchs. And when these had been delivered, Peter the most God-beloved presbyter and protonotary took them and read.

² [Letter of Theodosius patriarch of Antioch: It has become known to us—the things sent for the common peace and concord of the holy Church of God—together with our least bishops there who govern the City of the Martyrs of Christ; at that time we issued our present letter, and to your patriarchal headship, having entrusted our representative, we sent [word], that the affairs that concern us and our church, together with you, [are directed] toward the peace of God and toward ecclesiastical union and good order.]

³ It is not enough that one should render to Christ our true God, as is owed, the fullness of the Godhead bodily; for in him we live and are moved and have our being. And not only this, but I have been honored with the honor of likeness to him—a likeness we have come to know in our unworthiness—which he himself possesses by nature. Beyond the pattern of all others who have obtained every priesthood, we too have attained to the [free] dignity of this ministry.

⁴ …the substance of the request; lest we be found liable to those who would do us injury. And for the present, in the state in which we abide—yet if the Lord, who orders all things toward what is most profitable, should by his own hand decree what seems fitting, may he counsel what is pleasing in his sight. For the present, in the cause for which we stand according to the mind of God, our bishops being received who govern the City of the Martyrs of Christ, at that time we issued our present letter; and to your patriarchal headship, having entrusted our representative, we sent [word], that the affairs that concern us and our church, together with you, [are directed] toward the peace of God and toward ecclesiastical union and good order.

⁵ …[that] by the resurrection of Christ the fall of man, whatever it suffered, should be healed. And we do not deny that the suffering is common to the whole Church of our God. Even we who are the mother of all the churches grieve, and holy Sion herself; and now the grief among us has been laid bare. But ever since the holy man Theodosius, who before us [presided over] the holy [sees] of God, who was placed—so to speak—in the greatest agony and affliction for the faith, like Adam, whether for his own homeland or for the church through the schism that [was raised] against your patriarchate, most holy one and our fellow-minister—[against this] they snarl. And further, to one who would set forth his person [against it], he handed [it] over to the anathema. All that has been written and spoken against him we have rejected, and we depose those [who hold] them and who have communicated [with them]; and now we too wish to proceed to the same vote. For if with one soul he was confirmed in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, [and] upon her Creed he looked to himself by himself, he laid a contrivance, even if he saw his defender in fair form. But now we ask, from the God-protected and peace-making emperor and from your brotherly love, that a firm unity be brought about for us.

⁶ And after the reading of the letter, Gregory the most God-beloved archbishop of Ephesus said: This letter too we hierarchs and fellow-ministers have heard. The holy synod said: We—even before this letter, and not only before this one, but also before the letter that came through Andrew, which was read out earlier—have full assurance that the eastern thrones never separated from our most holy patriarch, but always held and proclaimed him as fellow-hierarch and fellow-minister. And for all this, thanksgiving be to God, who wills such and so great a concord unto the ends of the world.

⁷ Who would dare to pronounce decisions in [a state of] sin? [Is it] because this is the work of God, or because God did not [implant] it in them—in the hearts of the most holy patriarchs, and not in them alone, but also in all the people who love [Christ] throughout the whole eastern region? But why do I say that he implanted it in the hearts of the most holy patriarchs? Most of all, to our most holy and ecumenical patriarch Photios it [reached] even into the regions of the [rulers], so that the Saracens themselves, who are held [in those parts], sent letters to our most holy lord: some requesting instruction and holy baptism, and they surrendered themselves to the [protection] of our holy emperors; others confessing that they would convert to the faith, and showing themselves plainly […], you exhort us [to bring this] before our God-[guarded] emperor, through the mediation of our most holy patriarch. And as you see, behold, here are the very letters of the Emirs. And if [there is] a change for the better—is such a transformation also of God? The holy synod said: To all it has become manifest that God dwells in him; [whoever denies it] is ignorant.

⁸ The most holy legates of elder Rome said: The sun of God and [the radiance] that proceeds from it illumines the creation; for just as the sun, even though it is contained in [one place] only, nonetheless illumines the whole

⁹ world: so also our lord [the emperor], though he is seated in Constantinople, yet gives light as with torches to the whole creation, and shines forth, and rejoices at the union of all the holy churches of God, and in [the union] together with Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. For just as we heard at first through legates and through letters, so now we behold with our own eyes this lord bishop of Martyropolis, having come to the holy synod.