Ep. CLXIII.

(This letter was read to the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 and was accepted by the Fathers, wherefore it is regarded as having almost the force of a Canon of the Church Universal.)

God grant you to the Churches, both for our glory, and for the benefit of many, being as you are so circumspect and cautious in spiritual matters as to make us also more cautious who are considered to have some advantage over you in years.  Since, however, you have wished to take us as partners in your spiritual inquiry (I mean about the oath which George of Paspasus appears to have sworn), we will declare to Your Reverence what presents itself to our mind.  Very many people, as it seems to me, delude themselves by considering oaths which are taken with the sanction of spoken imprecations to be real oaths, but those which are written and not verbally uttered, to be mere matter of form, and no oaths at all.  For how can we suppose that while a written schedule of debts is more binding than a verbal acknowledgment, yet a written oath is something other than an oath?  Or to speak concisely, we hold an oath to be the assurance given to one who asked for and obtained it.  Nor is it sufficient to say that he suffered violence (for the violence was the Law by which he bound himself), nor that afterwards he won the cause in the Law Court—for the very fact that he went to law was a breach of his oath.  I have persuaded our brother George of this, not to pretend excuses for his sin, and not to seek out arguments to defend his transgression, but to recognize the writing as an oath, and to bewail his sin before God and Your Reverence, even though he formerly deceived himself and took a different view of it.  This is what we have personally argued with him; and it is evident that if you will discourse with him more carefully, you will deepen his contrition, since you are a great healer of souls, and having treated him according to the Canon for as long a time as shall seem right, you will afterwards be able to confer indulgence upon him in the matter of time.  And the measure of the time must be the measure of his compunction.

[163] ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ

Ὁ Θεὸς χαρίσαιτό σε ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις, εἰς δόξαν τε ἡμῶν καὶ πολλῶν ὄφελος, οὕτως ὄντα περιεσκεμμένον καὶ ἀσφαλῆ τὰ πνευματικά, ὥστε καὶ ἡμᾶς ποιεῖν ἀφελεστέρους, τοὺς πλέον ἔχειν τι τῷ χρόνῳ νομιζομένους. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἠθέλησας κοινωνοὺς ἡμᾶς λαβεῖν πνευματικοῦ σκέμματος (λέγω δὴ τοῦ ὅρκου ἕνεκεν, ὃν Γεώργιος ὁ Πασπασινὸς ἄνθρωπος ὀμωμοκὼς φαίνεται), τό γε παραστὰν ἡμῖν τῇ σῇ εὐλαβείᾳ δηλώσομεν. Παίζουσιν ἑαυτοὺς οἱ πολλοί, κατὰ τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον, τοὺς μὲν κατὰ τῶν ἀρῶν προκειμένους ὅρκους ὅρκους νομίζοντες, τοὺς ἐγγράφους δὲ δίχα τῶν ῥημάτων ἀφοσίωσιν ἀλλ' οὐχ ὅρκον ὑπολαμβάνοντες. Πῶς γὰρ τὸ μὲν τῶν χρεῶν χειρόγραφον δεσμεῖ πλέον τῆς ἁπλῆς ὁμολογίας, τὸν δὲ ἐγγεγραμμένον ὅρκον, ἄλλο τι ἢ ὅρκον ὑποληψόμεθα; Καί, συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ὅρκος ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ ἐπερωτήσαντος καὶ πεισθέντος πληροφορία. Οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὸ βεβιᾶσθαι φάσκειν ἱκανὸν εἰς παραίτησιν (ἡ βία γὰρ ἦν ὁ νόμος ὃν ἔδεισεν), οὐδὲ τῷ δικαστηρίῳ ὕστερον ὑπερέχειν: αὐτὸ γὰρ τὸ δικάσασθαι, παρορκίας. Τοῦτο καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Γεώργιον ἐπείσαμεν μὴ « προφασίζεσθαι προφάσεις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις », μηδὲ λόγους ἀνευρίσκειν συνηγόρους τοῦ πλημμελήματος, ἀλλ' ὅρκον εἰδέναι τὸν ἐγγεγραμμένον καὶ ὑποκλαίειν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τῇ σῇ εὐλαβείᾳ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, εἰ καὶ πρότερον ἄλλως ὑπελάμβανεν, ἑαυτὸν ἀπατῶν. Ταῦτα οὖν αὐτοί τε διελέχθημεν τῷ ἀνδρί: καὶ σὺ δῆλον ὅτι διαλεχθεὶς ἐπιμελέστερον, ἐπὶ πλέον αὐτὸς κατανύξεις, ὡς μέγας τῶν ψυχῶν θεραπευτὴς καὶ τῷ κανόνι φαρμακεύσας αὐτὸν ἐφ' ὅσον ἂν δοκῇ χρόνον, οὕτως ἐποίσεις τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ χρόνου: τοῦ χρόνου δὲ μέτρον, τὸ μέτρον τῆς κατανύξεως.