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Chapter 6FeodPech.1.6

Того же Федосиа к тому же Изяславу

The Call to Orthodox Purity

The author affirms his commitment to the Orthodox faith and warns against adopting the customs and communion of the Latin Church.

I, Fedos, a lowly monk, am a servant of the Most Holy Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and I was born into the pure and Orthodox faith. And I was raised well in the law by an Orthodox father and a Christian mother, who taught me to follow the good law and the ways of the Orthodox; not to join myself to the Latin faith, nor keep their customs; to flee their Communion, not to listen to any of their teaching, and to abhor and guard myself against all their custom and manner of life; not to give one's daughters to them in marriage, nor take wives from among them, nor make brotherhood with them, nor bow to them, nor kiss them, nor eat or drink with them from the same vessel, nor accept their food.12 So again, when they ask us for food and drink for God's sake, give them food and drink—but in their own vessels. But if they don't have a vessel, give it in your own, and afterward, having washed it, say a prayer. Because they believe wrongly and live uncleanly: they eat with dogs and cats; for they drink their own urine, and they eat turtles, wild horses, donkeys, strangled meat, carrion, bear meat, beaver meat, and beaver tail.34 During the fast, they even allow meat on Tuesday of the first week of the fast.5 And their monks eat animal fat, and they fast on Saturday, and after fasting, in the evening they eat milk and eggs.6 And for sins, they don't ask forgiveness from God; instead, their priests absolve them for a gift.7

Errors of the Latin Rite

A detailed list of specific liturgical and moral grievances against the Latin Church, including clerical conduct and sacramental differences.

And their priests don't marry a lawful wife, but father children with slave women and serve without being barred.8 Their bishops keep concubines and go to war. They celebrate the liturgy using unleavened bread.9 They don't kiss icons or the holy relics of the saints. They kiss the cross while lying down after drawing it on the ground, and when they stand up, they trample it underfoot.10 And they lay the dead with their feet toward the west, and they place the hands—but not on the breast.11 When they marry among themselves, they take two sisters.12 They are baptized with a single immersion, whereas we use three. But we, when we are baptized, are anointed with chrism and oil, while they pour salt into the mouth of the one being baptized.13 And they do not give a saint's name, but baptize in whatever name the parents call the child. They also say this: that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son.14 But we don't say: from the Son. There are many other things among them that are evil, false, and perverse, and their faith and their deeds are full of ruin; they do things that even the Jews don't do, and in many ways they also fall into the Sabellian heresy.15

The Necessity of the True Faith

The author exhorts the reader to remain steadfast in the Orthodox faith, warning that praising foreign faiths leads to spiritual ruin.

But my father said to me, "As for you, child, beware of those of the wrong faith and all their works, because even our land has been filled with people of that evil faith." So that whoever is being saved may also save his soul by living in the Orthodox faith.16 For there is no other faith better than this one pure, honorable, and holy Orthodox faith of ours alone. By living in this faith, one is freed from sins, escapes eternal torment, becomes a partaker of eternal life, and rejoices without end with the saints. But for anyone in another faith—whether Latin, Armenian, or Saracen—there is no seeing eternal life, nor any share with the saints.17 It is not right to praise other faiths.18 If anyone praises a foreign faith, then he is found to be reviling his own faith. If someone persistently praises both their own faith and another, they are considered to hold a dual faith and are close to heresy.19 But you, child, guard yourself against such actions; don't get involved with them, but flee from them as best you can, and unceasingly praise only your own faith, striving in it through good works.

Mercy Beyond Boundaries

While maintaining strict confessional boundaries, the author encourages showing mercy and almsgiving to all people, regardless of their faith.

Show mercy through almsgiving—not only to those of your own faith, but to those of other faiths as well. If you see someone naked, hungry, or gripped by cold or distress—whether they are a Jew, a Saracen, a Bulgarian, a heretic, a Latin, or a pagan—have mercy on them all and free them from their trouble as far as you can, and you won't miss your reward from God.✦✦20 For God himself even now provides for pagans, just as he does for Christians.✦21 Pagans and people of other faiths receive God’s care in this age, but in the age to come, they will be strangers to the good inheritance.22 But we who live in the orthodox faith are cared for by God even here, and in the age to come, we are saved by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Defending the Faith

The author instructs the reader to be prepared to suffer for the faith and to actively protect the unlearned from being led astray by heretics.

My father said to me, "Child, if it falls to you to die for the Lord's sake for this holy faith, then don't abandon this true faith, but die for Christ's faith with boldness." "For the saints also died for the faith," he said, "and so they are alive in Christ."✦ But you, child, if you see some of another faith disputing with the faithful and trying by deceit to draw them away from the true faith—while the faithful are unlearned—you who have knowledge must not hide it within yourself, but help the Orthodox against those of crooked faith.23 And if you help them, you will rescue them like sheep from the mouths of lions.✦ But if you keep silent, it's as if you snatch them from Christ and hand them over to Satan—for he is the one who taught those of crooked faith their crooked faith."✦24

The Living Sacrifice

A final theological confrontation regarding the nature of the Eucharist, contrasting the 'dead' sacrifice of the Latins with the 'living' sacrifice of the Orthodox.

And if a heretic says to you, "God has given both this faith and that one," then you, my child, reply: "So you of the false faith—do you think God has two faiths?"25 Don't you hear, you accursed one, corrupted by an evil faith, how Scripture says: "One God, one faith, one baptism," and the Lord said: "For so it is fitting for us to fulfill the will"—and when He had fulfilled all this, only then was He taken up, and He sent the disciples out to preach.✦✦2627 You held the right faith for so many years after the apostles' preaching, and then you turned aside into false belief through Satan's teaching. Don't you hear Paul saying: "Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches to you a gospel other than the one we preached, let him be accursed"?✦28 But you, having rejected the apostolic preaching and the ordinances of the holy fathers, accepted an unrighteous teaching and a corrupted faith filled with great ruin.29 For that reason you have also been cast off by us. And for that reason it isn't right for us to have fellowship with you, nor for us to approach the Divine Mysteries together with you—neither you to our liturgy nor we to yours—because you serve with a dead body, as though you think the Lord is dead.3031 But we perform the liturgy with a living body, seeing the Lord Himself alive and seated at the Father's right hand, and He will come again to judge the living and the dead.✦ But you, O Latins, are dead—you who offer a dead sacrifice. As for us, offering to the living God a living sacrifice, pure and unblemished, we seek to obtain eternal life.✦32 For so it is also written: "Each will be repaid according to their deeds in Christ."✦

Read the original Latin

Азъ, Федосъ, худый мнихъ, рабъ есмь пресвятой Троицѣ, Отца и Сына и Святаго Духа, въ чистѣй и въ правовѣрнѣй вѣрѣ роженъ есмь. и въспитанъ добрѣ въ законѣ правовѣрнымъ отцемь и матерью християною, наказывающа мя добру закону и норовмъ правовѣрныхъ послѣдовати, вѣрѣ же латиньской не прилучатися, ни обычая ихъ дьржати, и комькания ихъ бѣгати, и всякого ученья ихъ не слушати, и всего ихъ обычая и норова гнушатися и блюстися, своихъ же дьчерѣй не даяти за нѣ, ни поимаите у нихъ, ни брататися с ними, ни поклонитися, ни цѣловати его, ни с нимь въ одиномъ съсудѣ ясти, ни пити, ни борошна ихъ приимати. Тѣм же пакы у насъ просящомъ Бога дѣля ясти и пити, дати имъ ясти и пити, нъ въ своихъ съсудех. Аще ли не буде съсуда у нихъ, да въ своемь дати и потомъ, измывъши же, сътворити молитва. Занеже неправо вѣруют и нечисто живуть: ядять съ пьсы и съ кошьками, пьють бо свой сьчь и ядять жълвы, и дикѣи кони, и осьлы, и удавленину, и мертвьчи ну, и медвѣдину, и бобровину, и хвостъ бобровый ядять. Въ говѣнье и мяса пущають пьрвоѣ недѣлѣ поста въ вторникъ. И чьрьнци ихъ ядять лой и въ суботу постятся и, постившеся, вечеръ ядять молоко и яйця. А съгрѣшениемь не от Бога просять прощения, нъ пращають попове ихъ по дару.

А попове ихъ не женятся законьною женою, нъ съ робами дѣтей добываюче и служать невъзбраньно. И пискупи ихъ наложьницъ дьржать и на войну ходять. И опрѣснокомъ служать. И иконъ не цѣлують, ни святыхъ мощей. И крестъ цѣлують, лежаще, написавше на земли, а въставше, попирають ногами. Мертвеча же кладуть на западъ ногами, а руцѣ положать, а не на перьсѣхъ. Женящеся у нихъ поимають двѣ сестреницѣ. А крещаются въ одино погруженье, а мы въ три.

Мы же, крещающеся, мажемься мюромъ и масломъ, а они соль сыплють крещаемому въ ротъ. Имени же не нарицяють святаго, нъ како прозовуть родители, в то имя и крестять. Се же пакы глаголють и Духа Святаго исходящаго от Отца и от Сына. Мы же не глаголемъ: от Сына. И ина многа суть яже въ тѣхъ злая и неправая и развращеная, и погыбели полна вѣра ихъ и делеса ихъ; егоже ни жидове творять, то они творять, много же и въ Савьску ересь въступають.

Мнѣ же рече отець: «Ты же, чадо, блюдися кривовѣрныхъ и всѣхъ ихъ дѣлесъ, занеже исполнилася и наша земля злыя тоя вѣры людий. Да кто спасая и спасеть свою душю, въ правовѣрнѣй вѣрѣ жива. И нѣсть бо иноя вѣры, лучьши, якоже наша едина чистая и честная и святая си вѣра правовѣрная. Сею вѣрою живущи и грѣховъ избыти, и мукы вѣчьныя гонезнути, и жизни вѣчьнѣй причастникомъ быти и бес конця съ святыми радоватися. A сущему въ иной вѣрѣ – ли в латиньской, ли въ арменьской, ли въ срачиньской – нѣсть видѣти жизни вѣчьныя, ни части съ святыми.

He подобаеть же хвалити чюжѣ вѣры. Аще ли хвалить кто чюжюю вѣру, то обрѣтается свою вѣру хуля. Аще ли начьнеть непрѣстанно хвалити и свою и чюжюю, то обрѣтается таковый двовѣрье держа и близъ есть ереси. Ты же, чадо, такыхъ дѣяний блюдися, ни присвоися к нимъ, нъ бѣгай от нихъ, якоже можеши, и свою вѣру едину непрѣстанно хвали, подвизаяся въ ней добрыими дѣлы.

Милостынею же милуй, не токмо своея вѣры, нъ и чюжея. Аще ли видиши нага, ли голодна, ли зимою, ли бѣдою одьржима, аще ти будеть ли жидовинъ, ли сорочининъ, ли болгаринъ, ли еретикъ, ли латининъ, ли от поганыхъ,– всякого помилуй и от бѣды избави, якоже можеши, и мьзды от Бога не погрѣшиши. Богъ бо и самъ нынѣ набьдить поганыя, якоже и крестьяныя. Поганымъ же и иновѣрнымъ въ семь вѣцѣ попечение от Бога, въ будущемь же чюжи будуть добрыя дѣтели. Мы же, живущеи въ правовѣрнѣй вѣрѣ, и сдѣ есмы набьдими Богомь, и въ будущемъ вѣцѣ спасаеми Господемь нашимъ Исусъ Христомь».

Рече ми отець: «Чадо, аще ти ся лучить по вѣрѣ сей святѣй Господа ради умрети, то с дерьзновеньемь не останися правыя сея вѣры, нъ умри за Христову вѣру. И святии бо,– рече,– по вѣрѣ умроша, да и живи суть по Христѣ. Ты же, чадо, аще узриши нѣкыя иновѣрныя, съ вѣрными прю дѣюща и прѣльстию хотяща отвести от правыя вѣры, невѣжамъ сущемь вѣрнымъ, ты же, вѣдѣние имы, и не скрый въ собѣ, нъ помози правовѣрьныимъ на кривовѣрныя. И аще имъ поможещи, то яко овьця избавиши от устъ лвовъ. Аще ли умолчиши то яко отемь у Христоса, прѣдаеши ихъ сотонѣ, тъ бо есть кривовѣрныя кривѣй вѣрѣ научилъ».

И аще ти речеть прьць: «Сию вѣру и ону Богъ далъ есть», ты же, чадо, рци: «То ты, кривовѣрне, мниши ли Бога двовѣрна! He слыши ли, оканьне и развращене злою вѣрою, Писанье тако глаголеть: “Единъ Богъ, едина вѣра, едино крещенье“, и Господь рече: “Тако бо лѣпо есть намъ исполнити волю“, да сее все исполнивъ, толи възнесеся, а ученикы посла на проповѣданье. Ты по проповѣдании апостольстѣмъ толико лѣтъ дѣржавъ правую вѣру, съвратилъся еси на зловѣрье по научению сотонину. He слышите ли Павла глаголюща: «Аще и ангелъ пришедъ с небесе благовѣстить вамъ не якоже мы благовѣстихомъ, да будеть проклятъ». Вы же отринувше проповѣдание апостольское и святыхъ отець исправления, приясте неправедное ученье и вѣру развращену и исполнену многыя погыбели. Того ради и от нас бысте отвѣржени. Да того ради и намъ с вами недостоить сужатия имѣти, ни къ Божьствьнамъ Тайнамъ обьще с вами намъ не приступати, ни вамъ к нашей службѣ, ни намъ къ вашей, занеже мертвымъ тѣломъ служите, акы мертва Господа мняще. А мы службу творимъ живымъ тѣломъ, самого Господа жива видяще и одесную Отця сѣдяща, и пакы приидеть судить живымь и мертвымъ.

Вы же есте, о латинине, мрьтви иже мрьтву жертву съдѣваете. Намъ живу Богу живу жрьтву чисту и непорочну приносяще, животъ вѣчьный обрѣсти. Тако бо и писано есть: «Въздасться комуждо по дѣломъ ихъ о Христѣ».

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.25.35-Matt.25.36 — For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in; Matt.25.36 — I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.
  2. ↩Matt.10.42;Heb.6.10 — And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. Heb.6.10 — For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love you showed toward his name, having served the saints and still serving.
  3. ↩Matt.5.45 — so that you may become sons of your Father who is in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
  4. ↩Gal.2.20;Rom.6.8 — I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Rom.6.8 — Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
  5. ↩Amos.3.12;1Sam.17.34-1Sam.17.37 — Thus says the LORD: As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with only the corner of a couch and part of a bed. 1Sam.17.34 — But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd for his father among the sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 1Sam.17.35 — I would go after it and strike it, and rescue the sheep from its mouth. But if it rose against me, I would seize it by its beard, strike it, and kill it. 1Sam.17.36 — Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. 1Sam.17.37 — David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
  6. ↩1Cor.5.5;1Tim.1.20 — Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. 1Tim.1.20 — Among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.
  7. ↩Eph.4.5-Eph.4.6 — one Lord, one faith, one baptism Eph.4.6 — one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all
  8. ↩Matt.3.15 — But Jesus answered him, "Permit it now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted him.
  9. ↩Gal.1.8 — But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel to you beyond what we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.
  10. ↩Mark.16.19;Acts.10.42;2Tim.4.1 — So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. Acts.10.42 — And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. 2Tim.4.1 — I charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is about to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
  11. ↩Rom.12.1 — Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship.
  12. ↩Rom.2.6 — who will render to each one according to that person's works

Notes

  1. 1 ↩комькания: rendered as Communion (Eucharistic reception/fellowship), the usual East Slavic sense in anti-Latin polemic.
  2. 2 ↩The second half shifts into second-person plural imperatives (поимаите) and singular pronouns (его/нимь), addressing the prince/readers while still listing parental instruction.
  3. 3 ↩Normalized reading treats «мертвьчи ну» as «мертвьчину» (carrion).
  4. 4 ↩сьчь rendered as urine (съчь/сичь), the standard sense in this polemical catalogue; жълвы as turtles/tortoises.
  5. 5 ↩говѣнье: fasting season/Lent; пущають: allow/permit. The charge is that Latins permit meat on Tuesday in the first week of their fast.
  6. 6 ↩лой: animal fat/suet/tallow; чьрьнци: monks (chernetsy).
  7. 7 ↩по дару: «according to a gift» / «for a gift»—the polemic sense is priestly absolution in exchange for payment.
  8. 8 ↩«служать невъзбраньно» means they continue to celebrate the liturgy / serve as clergy without being restrained or deposed for that conduct.
  9. 9 ↩«опрѣснокомъ служать» is the azymes charge: Western use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, opposed to Eastern leavened bread.
  10. 10 ↩Polemical description of Latin practice: kissing a cross marked on the ground, then rising and walking over it—presented as desecration.
  11. 11 ↩«руцѣ положать, а не на перьсѣхъ» is slightly compressed: the point is that the hands are not laid on the chest in the Orthodox burial posture. Orientation «на западъ ногами» is feet-to-the-west.
  12. 12 ↩«сестреницѣ» can mean sisters or female cousins (sister-kin). Dual «двѣ сестреницѣ» marks forbidden-degree marriage in anti-Latin polemic; 'two sisters' is the plainest reading, but cousin-kin is possible.
  13. 13 ↩мюромъ rendered as chrism (holy myron), the consecrated oil of anointing; масломъ as oil.
  14. 14 ↩Filioque clause: Latin teaching that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; the point of Orthodox objection in the next sentence.
  15. 15 ↩Савьску ересь = Sabellian heresy (modalist monarchianism associated with Sabellius). жидове = Jews, retained as the source's comparative polemic term.
  16. 16 ↩правѣвѣрнѣй вѣрѣ rendered as 'Orthodox faith' for the East Slavic confessional sense of right belief; not modern denominational branding alone.
  17. 17 ↩срачиньской = Saracen (Muslim) in medieval East Slavic usage; арменьской = Armenian (non-Chalcedonian communion in this polemic).
  18. 18 ↩Opening surface reads 'He'; intended sense is ORV 'Не' ('not'), as required by the prohibition that follows.
  19. 19 ↩'двовѣрье' rendered as 'dual faith' (holding two faiths at once), not modern syncretism jargon.
  20. 20 ↩Historical ethnonyms retained in period sense: жидовинъ = Jew; сорочининъ = Saracen (Muslim); болгаринъ = Bulgarian (likely Volga Bulgar in this milieu); латининъ = Latin (Western/Roman Christian); поганый = pagan/unbaptized.
  21. 21 ↩набьдить rendered as 'provides for/cares for' (divine provision and watchful care), not mere observation.
  22. 22 ↩добрыя дѣтели taken as genitive after чуждъ: 'alien to the good portion/inheritance' of the age to come (eschatological share), not merely 'good deeds'.
  23. 23 ↩кривовѣрныя is rendered 'those of crooked faith' to keep the source contrast with правовѣрьныимъ (the Orthodox / right-believing) and later кривѣй вѣрѣ.
  24. 24 ↩отемь is read as отъемъ, 'as one who takes/snatches away'; the clause is taken as simultaneous with handing them over to Satan, not as a separate completed act.
  25. 25 ↩прьць rendered as 'heretic' from the polemical context of false/alien faith; двовѣрна as 'of two faiths' (double-faithed).
  26. 26 ↩Initial 'He' in the supplied text is treated as ORV 'Не' ('not'); Latin-letter H for Cyrillic Н is a common encoding/OCR slip.
  27. 27 ↩Source has 'исполнити волю' ('fulfill the will'); common Gospel wording is 'all righteousness' (Matt 3:15). Translated the supplied reading.
  28. 28 ↩Initial 'He' treated as ORV 'Не' ('not'), same Latin/Cyrillic slip as in s2.
  29. 29 ↩исправления rendered as 'ordinances' (canonical corrections/regulations of the fathers); could also be 'amendments' or 'discipline'.
  30. 30 ↩мертвымъ тѣломъ / 'dead body' is the East Slavic azymes polemic: Latin unleavened host cast as a dead body versus leavened bread as living. Kept literal to preserve the charge.
  31. 31 ↩сужатия rendered as 'fellowship' (close association/communion of life); Божьствьнамъ Тайнамъ as 'Divine Mysteries' (Eucharist).
  32. 32 ↩Намъ + dative participle construction is elliptical; rendered as contrastive 'As for us... we seek to obtain' to preserve the living-God / living-sacrifice force against the Latins' 'dead sacrifice' in s1.

Epistles of Theodosius of the Caves to Prince Iziaslav companion

Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat

Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.

Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.

  • A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
  • One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
  • Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →