A Fair Trial Before the Bishops
…and that he has been thrown out unlawfully; and he adds that all the money belonging to him was seized as well.
Let your holiness, then, bearing in mind what the divine canons decree and what befits the church and those appointed to sacred ministry, and yielding besides to our letters, stop the old man's tears. And if he chooses to go to trial against those who bring the charges against him, let him be tried in the customary way before your piety, with the most God-fearing bishops under your authority sitting with you, of course, unless he objects to some of them as suspect. For we do not believe that any of the most God-fearing bishops harbors hostility toward a brother; but so that this may not become a pretext that undoes the judgment he will receive, by making it seem not to have been…
Greek
καὶ ἀθέσμως ἐκβεβλῆσθαι, προσεπάγων ὅτι καὶ ἡρπάσθη πάντα τὰ προσήκοντα αὐτῷ χρήματα. Ἡ σὴ τοιγαροῦν ὁσιότης ἐννοοῦσα καὶ τὸ τοῖς θείοις κανόσι δοκοῦν καὶ τὸ πρέπον ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ τοῖς τεταγμένοις εἰς ἱερὰν λειτουργίαν, ἔτι τε πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν δυσωπηθεῖσα γράμματα, στη 279 σάτω τοῦ πρεσβύτου τὸ δάκρυον. Καὶ εἰ μὲν ἕλοιτο δικάσασθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐπάγοντας αὐτῷ τὰς αἰτίας, δικαζέσθω κατὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς ἐπὶ τῆς σῆς θεοσεβείας, συμπαρόντων δηλονότι τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτῆς χεῖρα θεοσεβεστάτων ἐπισκόπων, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ παραιτοῖτό τινας ὡς ὑπόπτους· οὐδένα μὲν γὰρ τῶν θεοσεβεστάτων ἐπισκόπων ἐχθρὰ φρονεῖν ἀδελφῷ πιστεύομεν, ἵνα δὲ μὴ πρόφασις αὕτη γένηται, τὴν ἐσομένην ἐπ' αὐτῷ κρίσιν παραλύουσα, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἐν