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FROM JOHN TO INNOCENT
To Innocent, Bishop of Rome, greeting in the Lord.
Our body it is true is settled in one place, but the pinion of love
wings its way round every part of the world. Even so we also although
we be separated by a journey of such great extent are nigh to your
Piety, and in daily communion with you, beholding with the eyes of
love the courage of your soul, the sterling nature of your
disposition, your firmness and inflexibility, the great consolation,
constant and abiding, which you bestow upon us. For in proportion as
the billows mount higher, and concealed reefs increase, and the
hurricanes are many does your vigilance wax stronger: and neither the
great length of the journey between us, nor the large amount of time
consumed, nor the difficulty in dealing with events has disposed you to
become supine: but ye continue to imitate the best class of pilots who
are on the alert at those times most especially when they see the waves
crested, the sea swelling, the water dashing vehemently, and the
deepest darkness in day-time. Therefore also we feel great gratitude
towards you, and we long to send you showers of letters, thus
affording ourselves the greatest gratification. But since we are
deprived of this, owing to the desolation of the place; (for not only
of those who arrive from your regions, but even of those who dwell in
our part of the world no one could easily have intercourse with us,
both on account of the distance, the spot in which we are confined
being situated at the very extremity of the country, and also the
terror of robbers acting as a bar to the whole journey:) we beseech
you rather to pity us because of our long silence, than to condemn us
for indolence on that account. For as a proof that our silence has not
been due to negligence, we have now at last after a long time secured
our most honoured and beloved John the presbyter, and Paul the
deacon, and we send a letter through them, and continue to express our
gratitude to you, that you have surpassed even affectionate parents in
your good will and zeal concerning us. And indeed so far as your
Piety is concerned all. things would have been duly amended, and the
accumulation of evils and offences have been swept away, and the
Churches would have enjoyed peace and a glassy calm, and all things
would have floated along with a smooth stream, and the despised laws
and violated decrees of the fathers would have been vindicated. But
since in reality none of these things has taken place, they who
perpetrated the former deeds striving to aggravate their former
iniquities, I omit any detailed narrative of their subsequent
proceedings: for the narrative would exceed the limits not merely of a
letter but even of a history; only this I beseech your vigilant soul,
even if they who have filled everything with confusion be impenitently
and incurably corrupt, let not those who have undertaken to cure them
become faint-hearted or despondent, when they consider the magnitude
of the thing to be accomplished. For the contest now before you has to
be fought on behalf of nearly the whole world, on behalf of Churches
humbled to the ground, of people dispersed, of clergy assaulted, of
bishops sent into exile, of ancestral laws violated. Wherefore we
beseech your Diligence, once, twice, yea many times, in proportion
as the storm increases, to manifest still greater zeal. For we expect
that something more will be done for the purpose of amending these
wrongs. But even if this should not take place, ye at least have your
crown made ready for you by the merciful God, and the resistance
offered by your love will be no small consolation to those who are
wronged: for now that we are passing the third year of our sojourn in
exile exposed to famine, pestilence, wars, continual sieges,
indescribable solitude, daily death, and Isaurian swords, we are not
a little encouraged and comforted by the constant and abiding nature of
your disposition and confidence, and by revelling in your abundant and
genuine love, This is our wall of defence, this is our security,
this our calm haven, this our treasure of infinite blessings, this our
gladness, and ground of much joy. And even if we should be carried
off again to some spot more desolate than this, we shall carry this
love away with us as no small consolation of our sufferings.
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