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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 08 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 28.02.04 Letter XXI-XXVIII
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Letter XXIhyperlink
To Leontius the Sophist.
The excellent Julianushyperlink seems to get some good for his private affairs out of the general condition of things. Everything nowadays is full of taxes demanded and called in, and he too is vehemently dunned and indicted. Only it is a question not of arrears of rates and taxes, but of letters. But how he comes to be a defaulter I do not know. He has always paid a letter, and received a letter-as he has this. But possibly you have a preference for the famous "four-times-as-much."hyperlink For even the Pythagoreans were not so fond of their Tetractys,hyperlink as these modern tax-collectors of their "four-times-as-much." Yet perhaps the fairer thing would have been just the opposite, that a Sophist like you, so very well furnished with words, should be bound in pledge to me for "four-times-as-much." But do not suppose for a moment that I am writing all this out of ill-humour. I am only too pleased to get even a scolding from you. The good and beautiful do everything, it is said, with the addition of goodness and beauty.hyperlink Even grief and anger in them are becoming. At all events any one would rather see his friend angry with him than any one else flattering him. Do not then cease preferring charges like the last! The very charge will mean a letter; and nothing can be more precious or delightful to me.
Footnotes
1 Of about the same date as the preceding.
2 cf. Ep. ccxcii.
3 The Ben. note quotes Ammianus Marcellinus xxvi. 6, where it is said of Petronius, father-in-law of Valens: "ad nudandos sine discretione cunctos immaniter flagrans nocentes pariter et insontes post exquisita tormenta quadrupli nexibus vinciebat, debita jam inde a temporibus principio Aureliani persrutans, et impendio maerens si quemquam absolvisset indemnem;" and adds: "Est ergo quadruplum hoc loco non quadrimenstrua pensio, non superexactio, sed debitorum, quae soluta non fuerant, crudelis inquisitio et quadrupli poena his qui non solverant imposita."
4 tetraktuj was the Pythagorean name for the sum of the first four numbers (1+2+3+4=10), held by them to be the root of all creation. cf. the Pythagorean oath:
Nai\ ma\ to\n a 9mete/pa yu\xa parado/nta tetraktu'n,
Paga\n a'ena/ou fu/sewj p 9izw/mat0 e!cousan.
cf. my note on Theodoret, Ep. cxxx. for the use of tetraktu/j for the Four Gospels.
5 Toi=j kaloi=j pa/nta meta\ th=j tou= kalou= prosqh/khj gi/nesqai. The pregnant sense of kalo/j makes translation difficult.
Letter XXIIhyperlink
Without address. On the Perfection of the Life of Solitaries.
1. Many things are set forth by inspired Scripture as binding upon all who are anxious to please God. But, for the present, I have only deemed it necessary to speak by way of brief reminder concerning the questions which have recently been stirred among you, so far as I have learnt from the study of inspired Scripture itself. I shall thus leave behind me detailed evidence, easy of apprehension, for the information of industrious students, who in their turn will be able to inform others. The Christian ought to be so minded as becomes his heavenly calling,hyperlink and his life and conversation ought to be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.hyperlink The Christian ought not to be of doubtful mind,hyperlink nor by anything drawn away from the recollection of God and of His purposes and judgments. The Christian ought in all things to become superior to the righteousness existing under the law, and neither swear nor lie.hyperlink He ought not to speak evil;hyperlink to do violence;hyperlink to fight;hyperlink to avenge himself;hyperlink to return evil for evil;hyperlink to be angry.hyperlink The Christian ought to be patient,hyperlink whatever he have to suffer, and to convict the wrong-doer in season,hyperlink not with the desire of his own vindication, but of his brother's reformation,hyperlink according to the commandment of the Lord. The Christian ought not to say anything behind his brother's back with the object of calumniating him, for this is slander, even if what is said is true.hyperlink He ought to turn away from the brother who speaks evil against him;hyperlink he ought not to indulge in jesting.hyperlink he ought not to laugh nor even to suffer laugh makers.hyperlink He must not talk idly, saying things which are of no service to the hearers nor to such usage as is necessary and permitted us by God;hyperlink so that workers may do their best as far as possible to work in silence; and that good words be suggested to them by those who are entrusted with the duty of carefully dispensing the word to the building up of the faith, lest God's Holy Spirit be grieved. Any one who comes in ought not to be able, of his own tree will, to accost or speak to any of the brothers, before those to whom the responsibility of general discipline is committed have approved of it as pleasing to God, with a view to the common good.hyperlink The Christian ought not to be enslaved by wine;hyperlink nor to be eager for flesh meat,hyperlink and as a general rule ought not to be a lover of pleasure in eating or drinking,hyperlink "for every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things."hyperlink The Christian ought to regard all the things that are given him for his use, not as his to hold as his own or to lay up;hyperlink and, giving careful heed to all things as the Lord's, not to overlook any of the things that are being thrown aside and disregarded, should this be the case. No Christian ought to think of himself as his own master, but each should rather so think and act as though given by God to be slave to his like minded brethren;hyperlink but "every man in his own order."hyperlink
2. The Christian ought never to murmurhyperlink either in scarcity of necessities, or in toil or labour, for the responsibility in these matters; lies with such as have authority in them. There never ought to be any clamour, or any behaviour or agitation by which anger is expressed,hyperlink or diversion of mind from the full assurance of the presence of God.hyperlink
The voice should be modulated; no one ought to answer another, or do anything, but in all thing roughly or contemptuously,hyperlink moderationhyperlink and respect should be shewn to every one.hyperlink No wily glances of the eye are to be allowed, nor any behaviour or gestures which grieve a brother and shew contempt.hyperlink Any display in cloak or shoes is to be avoided; it is idle ostentation.hyperlink Cheap things ought to be used for bodily necessity; and nothing ought to be spent beyond what is necessary, or for mere extravagance; this is a misuse of our property. The Christian ought not to seek for honour, or claim precedence.hyperlink Every one ought to put all others before himself.hyperlink The Christian ought not to be unruly.hyperlink He who is able to work ought not to cat the bread of idleness,hyperlink but even he who is busied in deeds well done for the glory of Christ ought to force himself to the active discharge of such work as he can do.hyperlink EveryChristian, with the approval of his superiors, ought so to do everything with reason and assurance, even down to actual eating and drinking, as done to the glory of God.hyperlink The Christian ought not to change over from one work to another without the approval of those who are appointed for the arrangement of such matters; unless some unavoidable necessity suddenly summon any one to the relief of the helpless. Every one ought to remain in his appointed post, not to go beyond his own bounds and intrude into what is not commanded him, unless the responsible authorities judge any one to be in need of aid. No one ought to be found going from one workshop to another. Nothing ought to be done in rivalry or strife with any one.
3. The Christian ought not to grudge another's reputation, nor rejoice over any man's faults;hyperlink he ought in Christ's love to grieve and be afflicted at his brother's faults, and rejoice over his brother's good deeds.hyperlink He ought not to be indifferent or silent before sinners.hyperlink He who shows another to be wrong ought to do so with all tenderness,hyperlink in the fear of God, and with the object of converting the sinner.hyperlink He who is proved wrong or rebuked ought to take it willingly, recognizing his own gain in being set right. When any one is being accused, it is not right for another, before him or any one else, to contradict the accuser; but if at any time the charge seems groundless to any one, he ought privately to enter into discussion with the accuser, and either produce, or acquire, conviction. Every one ought, as far as he is able, to conciliate one who has ground of complaint against him. No one ought to cherish a grudge against the sinner who repents, but heartily to forgive him.hyperlink He who says that he has repented of a sin ought not only to be pricked with compunction for his sin, but also to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.hyperlink He who has been corrected in first faults, and received pardon, if he sins again prepares for himself a judgment of wrath worse than the former.hyperlink He, who after the first and second admonitionhyperlink abides in his fault, ought to be brought before the person in authority,hyperlink if haply after being rebuked by more he may be ashamed.hyperlink If even thus he fail to be set right he is to be cut off from the rest as one that maketh to offend, and regarded as a heathen and a publican,hyperlink for the security of them that are obedient, according to the saving, When the impious fall the righteous tremble.hyperlink He should be grieved over as a limb cut from the body. The sun ought not to go down upon a brother's wrath,hyperlink lest haply night come between brother and brother, and make the charge stand in the day of judgment. A Christian ought not to wait for an opportunity for his own amendment,hyperlink because there is no certainty about the morrow; for many after many devices bare not reached the morrow. He ought not to be beguiled by over eating, whence come dreams in the night. He ought not to be distracted by immoderate toil, nor overstep the bounds of sufficiency, as the apostle says, "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content;"hyperlink unnecessary abundance gives appearance of covetousness, and covetousness is condemned as idolatry.hyperlink A Christian ought not to be a lover of money,hyperlink nor lay up treasure for unprofitable ends. He who comes to God ought to embrace poverty in all things, and to be riveted in the fear of God, according to the words, "Rivet my flesh in thy fear, for I am afraid of thy judgments."hyperlink The Lord grant that you may receive what I have said with full conviction and shew forth fruits worthy of the Spirit to the glory of God, by God's good pleasure, and the cooperation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Footnotes
1 Placed in 364.
2 cf. Heb. iii.
3 cf. Phil. i. 27.
4 cf. Luke xii. 29.
5 cf. Matt. v. 20.
6 Tit. iii. 2.
7 1 Tim. ii. 13.
8 2 Tim ii. 24.
9 Rom. xii. 19.
10 Rom. xii. 17.
11 Matt. v. 22.
12 James v. 8.
13 Tit. ii. 15.
14 Matt. xv. 18.
15 cf. 2 Cor. xii. 20 and 1 Peter ii. 15.
16 cf. 1 Peter iii. 16, 17, and James iv. 11.
17 Eph v. 4.
18 This charge is probably founded on Luke vi. 21 and 25, and James iv. 9. Yet our Lord's promise that they who hunger and weep "shall laugh," admits of fulfilment in the kingdom of God on earth. Cheerfulness is a note of the Church, whose members, "if sorrowful," are yet "alway rejoicing." (2 Cor. vi. 10.)
19 Eph. v. 4.
20 It is less easy to find explicit Scriptural sanction even for such a modified rule of silence as is here given by St. Basil. St. Paul can only be quoted for the "silence" of the woman. But even St. Basil's "silence" with a view to preserving his coenobium form vain conversation, is a long way off the "silence" of St. Bruno's Carthusians.
21 1 Pet. iv. 3.
22 Rom. xiv. 21.
23 2 Tim. iii. 4.
24 1 Cor. ix. 25.
25 cf. Acts iv. 32.
26 cf1 Cor. ix. 19.
27 cf. 1 Cor xv. 23.
28 cf. 1 Cor. x. 10.
29 cf. Eph. iv. 31.
30 cf. Heb. iv 13.
31 cf. Tit. iii. 2.
32 Phil. iv. 5, to\ e'pielike/j. In 1 Tim iii. 3, "patient" is e'pieikh\j.
33 Rom xii. 10 and 1 Pet. ii. 17.
34 Rom xiv. 10.
35 Matt. vi. 29, Luke xii. 27.
36 Mark ix. 37.
37 Phil. ii. 3.
38 Tit. i. 10.
39 2 Thess. iii. 10.
40 1 Thess. iv. 11.
41 1 Cor. x. 31.
42 1 Cor. xiii. 6.
43 1 Cor. xii. 26.
44 1 Tim. v. 20.
45 2 Tim. iv. 2
46 2 Tim. iv. 2.
47 2 Cor. ii. 7.
48 Luke iii. 8
49 Heb. x. 26, 27.
50 Tit. iii. 10.
51 tw= proestw$ti. o 9 proestw\j is the "president" in Justin Matryr's description of the Christian service in Apol Maj. i.
52 cf. Tit. ii. 8.
53 Matt. xviii. 17.
54 Prov. xxix. 16, LXX.
55 Eph. iv. 26.
56 cf. Matt. xxiv. 14; Luke xii. 40.
57 1 Tim. vi. 8.
58 Col. iii. 5.
59 cf. Mark x. 23, 24; Luke xviii. 24.
60 Ps. cxix. 120, LXX.
Letter XXIIIhyperlink
To a Solitary.
A Certain man, as he says, on condemning the vanity of this life, and perceiving that its joys are ended here, since they only provide material for eternal fire and then quickly pass away, has come to me with the desire of separating from this wicked and miserable life, of abandoning the pleasures of the flesh, and of treading for the future a road which leads to the mansions of the Lord. Now if he is sincerely firm in his truly blessed purpose, and has in his soul the glorious and laudable passion, loving the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his strength, and with all his mind, it is necessary for your reverence to show him the difficulties and distresses of the strait and narrow way, and establish him in the hope of the good things which are as yet unseen, but are laid up in promise for all that are worthy of the Lord. I therefore write to entreat your incomparable perfection in Christ, if it be possible to mould his character, and, without me, to bring about his renunciation according to what is pleasing to God, and to see that he receive elementary instruction in accordance with what has been decided by the Holy Fathers, and put forth by them in writing. See too that he have put before him all things that are essential to ascetic discipline, and that so he may be introduced to the life, after having accepted, of his own accord, the labours undergone for religion's sake, subjected himself to the Lord's easy yoke, adopted a conversation in imitation of Him Who for our sakes became poorhyperlink and took flesh, and may run without fail to the prize of his high calling, and receive the approbation of the Lord. He is wishful to receive here the crown of God's loves but I have put him off, because I wish, in conjunction with your reverence, to anoint him for such struggles, and to appoint over him one of your number whom he may select to be his trainer, training him nobly, and making him by his constant and blessed care a tried wrestler, wounding and overthrowing the prince of the darkness of this world, and the spiritual powers of iniquity, with whom, as the blessed Apostle says, is "our wrestling."hyperlink What I wish to do in conjunction with you, let your love in Christ do without me.
Footnotes
1 Written at Caesarea during his presbyterate.
2 2 Cor. viii. 9.
3 Eph. vi. 12.
Letter XXIVhyperlink
To Athanasius, father of Athanasius bishop of Ancyra.hyperlink
That one of the things hardest to achieve if indeed it be not impossible, is to rise superior to calumny, I am myself fully persuaded, and so too, I presume, is your excellency. Yet not to give a handle by one's own conduct, either to inquisitive critics of society, or to mischief makers who lie in wait to catch us tripping, is not only possible, but is the special characteristic of all who order their lives wisely and according to the rule of true religion. And do not think me so simple and credulous as to accept depreciatory remarks from any one without dueinvestigation. I bear in mind the admonition of the Spirit, "Thou shall not receive a false report."hyperlink But you, learned men, yourselves say that "The seen is significant of the unseen." I therefore beg;-(and pray do not take it ill if I seem to be speaking as though I were giving a lesson; for "God has chosen the weak" and "despised things of the world,"hyperlink and often by their means brings about the salvation of such as are being saved); what I say and urge is this; that by word and deed we act with scrupulous attention to propriety, and, in accordance with the apostolic precept, "give no offence in anything."hyperlink The life of one who has toiled hard in the acquisition of knowledge, who has governed cities and states, and who is jealous of the high character of his forefathers, ought to be an example of high character itself. You ought not now to be exhibiting your disposition towards your children in word only, as you bare long exhibited its ever since you became a father; you ought not only to shew that natural affection which is shewn by brutes, as you yourself have said, and as experience shews. You ought to make your love go further, and be a love all the more personal and voluntary in that you see your children worthy of a father's prayers. On this point I do not need to be convinced. The evidence of facts is enough. One thing, however, I will say for truth's sake, that it is not our brother Timotheus, the Chorepiscopus, who has brought me word of what is noised abroad. For neither by word of mouth nor by letter has he ever conveyed anything in the shape of slander, be it small or great. That I have heard something I do not deny, but it is not Timotheus who accuses you. Yet while I hear whatever I do, at least I will follow the example of Alexander, and will keep one ear clear for the accused.hyperlink
Footnotes
1 Placed before Basil's epsicopoate.
2 Vide note on Letter xxv. Nothing more is known of the elder of these two Athanasii than is to be gathered from this letter.
3 Ex. xxiii. 1, LXX. and marg.
4 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.
5 2 Cor. vi. 3.
6 cf. Plut., Vit. Alex
Letter XXVhyperlink
To Athanasius, bishop Ancyra.hyperlink
1. I Have received intelligence from those who come to me from Ancyra, and they are many and more than I can count, but they all agree in what they say, that you, a man very dear to me, (how can I speak so as to give no offence?) do not mention me in very pleasant terms, nor yet in such as your character would lead me to expect. I, however, learned long ago the weakness of human nature, and its readiness to turn from one extreme to another; and so, be well assured, nothing connected with it can astonish me, nor does any change come quite unexpected. Therefore that my lot should have changed for the worse, and that reproaches and insults should have arisen in the place of former respect, I do not make much ado. But one thing does really strike me as astonishing and monstrous, and that is that it should be you who have this mind about me, and go so far as to feel anger and indignation against me, and, if the report of your hearers is to be believed, have already proceeded to such extremities as to utter threats. At these threats, I will not deny, I really have laughed. Truly I should have been but a boy to be frightened at such bugbears. But it does seem to me alarming and distressing that you, who, as I have trusted, are preserved for the comfort of the churches, a buttress of the truth where many fall away, and a seed of the ancient and true love, should so far fall in with the present course of events as to be more influenced by the calumny of the first man you come across than by your long knowledge of me, and, without any proof, should be seduced into suspecting absurdities.
2. But, as I said, for the present I postpone the case. Would it have been too hard a task, my dear sir, to discuss in a short letter, as between friend and friend, points which you wish to raise; or, if you objected to entrusting such things to writing, to get me to come to you? But if you could not help speaking out, and your uncontrollable anger allowed no time for delay, at least you might have employed one of those about you who are naturally adapted for dealing with confidential matters, as a means of communication with me. But now, of all those who for one reason or another approach you, into whose ears has it not been dinned that I am a writer and composer of certain "pests"? For this is the word which those, who quote you word for word, say that you have used. The more I bring my mind to bear upon the matter the more hopeless is my puzzle. This idea has struck me. Can any heretic have grieved your orthodoxy, and driven you to the utterance of that word by malevolently putting my name to his own writings? For you, a man who has sustained great and famous contests on behalf of the truth, could never have endured to inflict such an outrage on what I am well known to have written against those who dare to say that God the Son is in essence unlike God the Father, or who blasphemously describe the Holy Ghost as created and made. You might relieve me from my difficulty yourself, if you would tell me plainly what it is that has stirred you to be thus offended with me.
Footnotes
1 Placed, like the former, before the episcopate.
2 This Athanasius was appointed to the see of Ancyra (Angora) by the influence of Acacius the one-eyed, bp. of Caesarea, the inveterate opponent of Cyril of Jerusalem, and leader of the Nomoeans. He therefore started his episcopate under unfavorable auspices, but acquired a reputation for orthodoxy. cf. Greg. Nyss., Contra Eunom. I. ii. 292. On Basil's high opinion of him, cf. Letter xxix.
Letter XXVIhyperlink
To Caesarius, brother of Gregory.hyperlink
Thanks to God for shewing forth His wonderful power in your person, and for preserving you to your country and to us your friends, from so terrible a death. It remains for us not to be ungrateful, nor unworthy of so great a kindness, but, to the best of our ability, to narrate the marvellous works of God, to celebrate by deed thekindness which we have experienced, andnot return thanks by word only. Weought to become in very deed what I,grounding my belief on the miracles wroughtin you, am persuaded that you now are. We exhort you still more to serve God, ever increasing your fear more and more, and advancing on to perfection, that we may be made wise stewards of our life, for which the goodness of God has reserved us. For if it is a command to all of us "to yield ourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead,"hyperlink how much more strongly is not this commanded them who have been lifted up from the gates of death? And this, I believe, would be best effected, did we but desire ever to keep the same mind in which we were at the moment of our perils. For, I ween, the vanity of our life came before us, and we felt that all that belongs to man, exposed as it is to vicissitudes, has about it nothing sure, nothing firm. We felt, as was likely, repentance for the past; and we gave a promise for the future, if we were saved, to serve God and give careful heed to ourselves. If the imminent peril of death gave me any cause for reflection, I think that you must have been moved by the same or nearly the same thoughts. We are therefore bound to pay a binding debt, at once joyous at God's good gift to us, and, at the same time, anxious about the future. I have ventured to make these suggestions to you. It is yours to receive what I say well and kindly, as you were wont to do when we talked together face to face.
Footnotes
1 Placed in 368.
2 Caesarius was the youngest brother of Gregory of Nazianzus. After a life of distinguished service under Julian, Valens, and Valentinian, he was led, shortly after the escape narrated in this letter, to retire from the world. A work entitled Pu/steij, or Quÿ\stionej (si/e Dialogi) de Rebuj Di/inuj, attributed to him, is of doubtful genuineness. Vide D>C>B> s.v. The earthquake, from the effects of which Caelsarius was preserved, took place on the tenth of October, 368. cf. Greg. Naz, Orat. x.
3 Rom vii. 13.
Letter XXVIIhyperlink
To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata.hyperlink
When by God's grace, and the aid of your prayers, I had seemed to be somewhat recovering from my sickness, and had got my strength again, then came winter, keeping me a prisoner at home, and compelling me to remain where I was. True, its severity was much less than usual, but this was quite enough to keep me not merely from travelling while it lasted, but even from so much as venturing to put my head out of doors. But to me it is no slight thing to be permitted, if only by letter, to communicate with your reverence, and to rest tranquil in the hope of your reply. However, should the season permit, and further length of life be allowed me, and should the dearth not prevent me from undertaking the journey,hyperlink peradventure through the aid of your prayers I may be able to fulfil my earnest wish, may find you at your own fireside, and, with abundant leisure, may take my fill of your vast treasures of wisdom.
Footnotes
1 Place in 368.
2 This, the first of twenty-two letters addressed by Basil to Eusebius of Samosata, has no particular interest. Eusebius, the friend of Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and of Melctius, was bishop of Samosata (in Commagene on the Euphrates, now Samsat) from 360 to 373, and was of high character and sound opinions. Theodoret (Ecc. Hist. iv. 15), in mentioning his exile to Thrace in the persecution under Valens, calls him "that unflagging labourer in apostolic work," and speaks warmly of his zeal. Concerning the singular and touching circumstance of his death, vide Theodoret, E.H. v. 4, and my note in the edition of this series, p. 134.
3 Samosata was about two hundred miles distant from Caesarea, as the crow flies.
Letter XXVIIIhyperlink
To the Church of Neocoesarea. Consolatory.hyperlink
1. What has befallen you strongly moved me to visit you, with the double object of joining with you, who are near and dear to me, in paying all respect to the blessed dead, and of being more closely associated with you in your trouble by seeing your sorrow with my own eyes, and so being able to take counsel with you as to what is to be done. But many causes hinder my being able to approach you in person, and it remains for me to communicate with you in writing. The admirable qualities of the departed, on account of which we chiefly estimate the greatness of our loss, are indeed too many to be enumerated in a letter; and it is, besides, no time to be discussing the multitude of his good deeds, when our spirits are thus prostrated with grief. For of all that he did, what can we ever forget? What could we deem deserving of silence? To tell all at once were impossible; to tell a part would, I fear, involve disloyalty to the truth. A man has passed away who surpassed all his contemporaries in all the good things that are within man's reach; a prop of his country; an ornament of the churches; a pillar and support of the truth; a stay of the faith of Christ; a protector of his friends; a stout foe of his opponents; a guardian of the principles of his fathers; an enemy of innovation; exhibiting in himself the ancient, fashion of the Church, and making the state of the Church put under him conform to the ancient constitution, as to a sacred model, so that all who lived with him seemed to live in the society of them that used to shine like lights in the world two hundred years ago and more. So your bishop put forth nothing of his own, no novel invention; but, as the blessing of Moses has it, he knew how to bring out of the secret and good stores of his heart, "old store, and the old because of the new."hyperlink Thus it came about that in meetings of his fellow bishops he was not ranked according to his age, but, by reason of the old age of his wisdom, he was unanimously conceded precedence over all the rest. And no one who looks at your condition need go far to seek the advantages of such a course of training. For, so far as I know, you alone, or, at all events, you and but very few others, in the midst of such a storm and whirlwind of affairs, were able under his good guidance to live your lives unshaken by the waves. You were never reached by heretics' buffering blasts, which bring shipwreck and drowning on unstable souls; and that you may for ever live beyond their reach I pray the Lord who ruleth over all, and who granted long tranquillity to Gregory His servant, the first founder of your church.hyperlink
Do not lose that tranquillity now; do not, by extravagant lamentation, and by entirely giving yourself up to grief, put the opportunity for action into the hands of those who are plotting your bane. If lament you must, (which I do not allow, lest you be in this respect like "them which have no hope,")hyperlink do you, if so it seem good to you, like some wading chorus, choose your leader, and raise with him a chant of tears.
2. And yet, if he whom you mourn had not reached extreme old age, certainly, as regards his government of your church, he was allowed no narrow limit of life. He had as much strength of body as enabled him to show strength of mind in his distresses. Perhaps some of you may suppose that time increases sympathy and adds affection, and is no cause of satiety, so that, the longer you have experienced kind treatment, the more sensible you are of its loss. You may think that of a righteous person the good hold even the shadow in honour. Would that many of yon did feel so! Far be it from me to suggest anything like disregard of our friend! But I do counsel you to bear your pain with manly endurance. I myself am by no means insensible of all that may be said by those who are weeping for their loss. Hushed is a tongue whose words flooded our ears like a mighty stream: a depth of heath never fathomed before, has fled, humanly speaking, like an unsubstantial dream. Whose glance so keen as his to look into the future? Who with like fixity and strength of mind able to dart like lightning into the midst of action? O Neocaearea, already a prey to many troubles, never before smitten with so deadly a loss! Now withered is the bloom of you, beauty; your church is dumb; your assemblies are full of mournful faces; your sacred synod craves for its leader; your holy utterances wait for an expounder; your boys have lost a father, your elders a brother, your nobles one first among them, your people a champion, your poor a supporter. All, calling him by the name that comes most nearly home to each, lift up the wailing cry which to each man's own sorrow seems most appropriate and fit. But whither are my words carried away by my tearful joy? Shall we not watch? Shall we not meet together? Shall we riot look to our common Lord, Who suffers each of his saints to serve his own generation, and summons him back to Himself at His own appointed that? Now in season remember the voice of him who when preaching to you used always to say "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers."hyperlink The dogs are many. Why do I say dogs? Rather grievous wolves, hiding their grille under the guise of sheep, are, all over the world, tearing Christ's flock. Of these you must beware, trader the protection of some wakeful bishop. Such an one it is yours to ask, purging your souls of all rivalry and ambition: such an one it is the Lord's to show you. That Lord, from the time of Gregory the great champion of your church down to that of the blessed departed, setting over you one after another, and from time to time fitting one to another like gem set close to gem, has bestowed on you glorious ornaments for your church. You have, then, no need to despair of them that are to come. The Lord knoweth who are His. He may bring into our midst those for whom peradventure we are not looking.
3. I meant to have come to an end long before this, but the pain at my heart does not allow me. Now I charge you by the Fathers, by the true faith, by our blessed friend, lift up your souls, each man making what is being done his own immediate business, each reckoning that be will be the first to reap the consequences of the issue, whichever way it turn out, lest your fate be that which so very frequently befalls, every one leaving to his neighbour the common interests of all; and then, while each one makes little in his own mind of what is going on, all of you unwittingly draw your own proper misfortunes on yourselves by your neglect. Take, I beg you, what I say with all kindliness, whether it be regarded as an expression of the sympathy of a neighbour, or as fellowship between fellow believers, or, which is really nearer the truth, of one who obeys the law of love, and shrinks from the risk of silence. I am persuaded that you are my boasting, as I am yours, till the day of the Lord, and that it depends upon the pastor who will be granted you whether I shall be more closely united to you by the bond of love, or wholly severed from you. This latter God forbid. By God's grace it will not so be; and I should be sorry now to say one ungracious word. But this I do wish you to know, that though I had not that blessed man always at my side, in my efforts for the peace of the churches, because, as he himself affirmed, of certain prejudices, yet, nevertheless, at no time did I fail in unity of opinion with him, and I have always invoked Iris aid in my struggles against the heretics. Of this I call to witness God and all who know me best.
Footnotes
1 Placed in 368.
2 ie.e on the death of Musonius, bp. of Necoaesarea. Musonius is not named, but he is inferred to be the bishop referred to in Ep. ccx., in which Basil asserts that sound doctrine prevailed in Neocaesarea up to the time of "the blessed Musonius, whose teaching still rings in your ears."
3 Lev. xxvi. 10.
4 i.e. Gregory Thaumaturgus.
5 1 Thess. iv. 13.
6 Phil. iii. 2.