Reply to the letter of Proclus (Sahak and Mashtotsʿ)

Letters of Response to the Letter of the Blessed Proclus, from Sahak and from Maštocʿ, the Holy Vardapets of the Armenians To the true and God-loving honorable lord and father, the holy bishop Proclus, greetings from Sahak and Maštocʿ. The rays of your eternal and everlasting light, which appeared to our weakness from your luminous sanctity, greatly strengthened our weakness at their rising, and multiplied the power of our feeble thought, and greatly renewed the weakened side from there, kindling it anew. For immediately it seemed to us as if some new event had come upon the much-desired mercy, as when events pass like the sweet-bearing plants of the fields of sweetness, descending upon the dews, and turning the suffering of the fruitful plant in the unseasonable, mixed winds into a healing remedy for health through its own sweetness. Now up to this point, it was a beautiful and desirable thing for us, by covenant, to hear and to speak of the power of your letters in the midst, which brought the ineffable messages from you to us, and that our prayers might daily be worthy in all things to receive and enjoy the spiritual blessings of your magnificent sanctity. For it had become sweet for us to remain here in this familiar ignorance, as if fallen into some strong fortress and mighty tower, fleeing into ignorance.

Now, having taken your holiness’s prayers as a safeguard for ourselves, we are confirmed and strengthened to preserve the steadfastness of the faith which from the beginning we received from your true teaching, and not to admit any confusion concerning the ignorance of our simple-mindedness regarding baptism. And we absolutely do not accept these vain, pernicious, and erroneous delusions, especially the harmful, novel-speaking, novel-sounding heresies, which this misshapen, abundant impiety still sows the shoots of bitterness from its seeds upon the holy seeds of the tainted teaching of those who have learned in a mind-destroying, satanic manner. Now, because the first and chief of the wicked has dared to spread the rust of his filth, we have considered this a matter of our own sins. And, sharing in the sorrow of your many great and immeasurable letters according to our weakness, we have lamented, and to all places where people dwelt around us we have sent, with a great and threatening command, not to listen at all to such barbarians, and absolutely not to accept the harmful, pernicious, and erroneous teaching of that heresy. But we believe in one God, the Almighty Father, creator of heaven and earth, of visible and invisible creatures.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, that is to say, essence from essence, begotten essence through which everything came to be, God from God, light from light, begotten and not made, coeternal with the Father, who for the sake of our humanity descended and became incarnate, took upon himself sufferings, rose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is coming to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit we believe. But those who say that there was a time when he was not, and that before he was begotten he was not, and who say that he came into being from non-existence, and from some other substance and power, or who speak of dissolution and change—such persons we anathematize. For always Father, always Son, always Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Holy Spirit, perfect, intercessory, uncreated, incorruptible, who spoke through the Law and the prophets and the apostles, who descended upon the Jordan. And concerning the incarnation of the Son, we believe thus: that he became a perfect man from the God-bearing Mary by the Holy Spirit, having taken breath and body truly and not deceptively, and thus he accomplished the salvation of our humanity, and truly suffered. Not that he himself was subject to suffering, for the divinity is free from suffering, but for our sake he took upon himself the sufferings, was crucified and buried, and on the third day rose, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and is to come to judge the living and the dead.

But regarding the completion of the creeds, we believe in one baptism of repentance, and in one catholic church, and in the resurrection of the dead, and in the kingdom of heaven, and in the eternal judgments. And we confess God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one divinity of the Holy Trinity, for the Spirit is God, and manifested by will, spoken through laws, prophets, and apostles. We believe truly in ignorance and incomprehensibility, for every human is according to the image of God, but how or in what manner, it is for God alone to know; yet I am amazed at those who, beyond their own measure, strive and attempt to grasp the ungraspable, the incomprehensible. But we consider such persons, as in our ignorance we suppose, that such persons do not at all know the Scriptures, nor the power of the Spirit that is in the Scriptures, but if they are heretics, they only observe the surface. And we regard their minds as stolen by the enemy, for they are intoxicated with the intoxication of evil sickness, whose sense of taste, from much and thick intoxication, has been blunted, and they cannot even perceive the taste of the wine; from much burning with anger, they have lost their senses. Or we know this in our supposition, that the knowledge of much learning is in vain and superfluous, for they have fallen into the error of satanic delusion.

reaching the unattainable measures of pride. For it is nothing other than ignorance, but darkness of mystery and the cunning of all falsehood, and the work of satanic activity. They contrive to find two sons and two temples in their minds, devising with fearlessness and shamelessness, and openly recount their own shame with impudence. For our Lord Jesus Christ, by the will of the Father, had compassion on the error of men. The Word, which flowed from the heart of the Father, willing to give pleasure, consenting to the Holy Spirit, became flesh in the womb of the Virgin in holiness, and received the aged body, which according to the deception of Satan had turned to corruption, to renew it with body, breath, and soul, so that the first-created without corruption might appear at the second birth of the resurrection of the dead. For he put on true flesh for our sake, and sowed in us through faith the divinity, and performed signs and arts, that we might be faithful through his divinity. He himself took upon himself hunger and thirst, labor and sleep, not because the divinity in the body was subjected to the sufferings of defeat, but to stop the shameless mouths and tongues sharpened with lawlessness, which are already ready to speak blasphemies.

Those who say that it was not in truth but by deceit, appearing to the eyes as if in madness, that the coming occurred, having taken upon themselves to endure slaps and insults, the cross and death, as if he himself were not obligated and worthy of this. And he was not worthy of the death by which he died, for the Divinity is immortal, but rather that our insults which arose from our sins, by the holy Gospel and the precious blood, he might make worthy to wipe away from us and wash clean. And that which from the wood became a stumbling block in the garden, in the midst of the assembly of the people, he set up the cross, wood against wood, and tree against tree. And the fruit of life, in place of the corruptible fruit, he hung from the life-giving wood, willingly and with deliberate intent, and not unwillingly did he surrender himself; he placed himself, and from there he himself received himself into his own charge, the holy body and the precious blood, a feast of life for us (who have truly believed), preparing for his beloved the sacrificial path which is in the heavens. But concerning the alien and useless, especially concerning the accursed error of those, why is it necessary to fall into many words, and to defile the holy freedom of hearing, the steadfastness of untroubled minds, for us to be able to muddy? For those who once became wanderers from the path of truth, and having strayed from the pure faith, were cast out. But what should they think, or what should they say, if not that which is prepared for the fire of Gehenna is the punishment for them?

for we are here, who would take such authority upon ourselves. And if anywhere, in any place, such things are found to be thought or spoken, not only do we not accept or tolerate them, but we do not delay in inflicting great and severe punishment and chastisement. How much more is it fitting and proper for you, who enjoy great authority, to emulate the zeal of God and to bring to completion the vengeance of such zeal, and to strive with spirit and body that the stumbling blocks of the lawless impiety, which bear the name of Christ, be removed from the midst of the Church of Christ. Especially since you have a king who bears the spirit of God upon himself, and who is established in the equality of the Trinity with heart and mind, and is able to cleanse the tares from the midst, so that the holy plant of the seeds of faith, having grown and blossomed and become luxuriant, full of the sweetness of the fruits, may cast off the grain of the sowers, withered, and may cause the abundant fruit to be multiplied and bring joy to the Lord of the harvesters, and render the laborer worthy of the just reward of recompense.

For if there are servants of earthly kings who, when something crooked occurs—especially concerning the purple—do not take it upon themselves to dismiss it lightly, but rather seek vengeance with great punishment and chastisement, how much more is it fitting and proper that those who attempt to turn the uncreated and immaculate faith to corruption, who strive to reach the inaccessible, who presume to be above the eternal light, and who dare to subject the holy, ineffable, and indivisible Trinity to scrutiny and debate, should receive punishment and chastisement according to their designs. For the sanctity of the Trinity is worshipped by the incorporeal angels and the invisible cherubim and seraphim with pure glorification and benediction alone. Therefore, our lord and true God-loving father, and the accepted one of the whole Church of God, be ever mindful to remember us in your holy prayers, and do not delay in strengthening our weakness; and if anything in this letter has erred through ignorance, be ever ready to correct it.

And if there are those who are disciples of Theodore of Mopsuestia, at the time of the grace of God, such a thing has not yet been revealed; but if it is concealed in the filth of the rust, it is necessary for us to remove the thorn and to eradicate that stumbling block from the midst, so that unity may be glorified in the midst of you, and may make us worthy to attain the same equal glory before God. All the covenant that is with your holiness, we and the brothers who are with us, greet you with your letter and beseech, that you pray for the common brotherhood.