Letter CXL. [2463]
To the Church of Antioch.
1. "Oh that I had wings like a dove for then would I fly away" [2464] to you, and satisfy my longing to meet you. But now it is not only wings that I want, but a whole body, for mine has suffered from long sickness, and now is quite worn away with continuous affliction. For no one can be so hard of heart, so wholly destitute of sympathy and kindness, as to hear the sigh that strikes my ear from every quarter, as though from some sad choir chanting a symphony of lamentation, without being grieved at heart, being bent to the ground, and wasting away with these irremediable troubles. But the holy God is able to provide a remedy for the irremediable, and to grant you a respite from your long toils. I should like you to feel this comfort and, rejoicing in the hope of consolation, to submit to the present pain of your afflictions. Are we paying the penalty of our sins? Then our plagues are such as to save us for the future from the wrath of God. Are we called upon through these temptations to fight for the truth? Then the righteous Giver of the prizes will not suffer us to be tried above that which we are able to bear, but, in return for our previous struggles, will give us the crown of patience and of hope in Him. Let us, therefore, not flinch from fighting a good fight on behalf of the truth, nor, in despair, fling away the labours we have already achieved. For the strength of the soul is not shewn by one brave deed, nor yet by effort only for a short time; but He Who tests our hearts wishes us to win crowns of righteousness after long and protracted trial. Only let our spirit be kept unbroken, the firmness of our faith in Christ be maintained unshaken, and ere long our Champion will appear; He will come and will not tarry. Expect tribulation after tribulation, hope upon hope; yet a little while; yet a little while. Thus the Holy Ghost knows how to comfort His nurslings by a promise of the future. After tribulations comes hope, and what we are hoping for is not far off, for let a man name the whole of human life, it is but a tiny interval compared with the endless age which is laid up in our hopes.
2. Now I accept no newer creed written for me by other men, nor do I venture to propound the outcome of my own intelligence, lest I make the words of true religion merely human words; but what I have been taught by the holy Fathers, that I announce to all who question me. In my Church the creed written by the holy Fathers in synod at Nicæa is in use. I believe that it is also repeated among you; but I do not refuse to write its exact terms in my letter, lest I be accused of taking too little trouble. It is as follows: [2465] This is our faith. But no definition was given about the Holy Ghost, the Pneumatomachi not having at that date appeared. No mention was therefore made of the need of anathematizing those who say that the Holy Ghost is of a created and ministerial nature. For nothing in the divine and blessed Trinity is created.
[2463] Placed in 373.
[2464] Ps. lv. 6.
[2465] Here follows in the text the Nicene Creed with the anathemas. The Ben. note points out that the Nicene Creed was brought to Cæsarea by St. Leontius, and was vigorously defended by his successor Hermogenes. cf. Letter lxxxi. Dianius, who next followed in the see, signed several Arian formulæ. The Nicene Creed, however, had been maintained at Cæsarea, and in Letter li. Dianius is described as supporting it.
Letter CXLI. [2466]
To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. [2467]
1. I have now received two letters from your divine and most excellent wisdom, whereof the one told me clearly how I had been expected by the laity under the jurisdiction of your holiness, and what disappointment I had caused by failing to attend the sacred synod. The other, which from the writing I conjecture to be of the earlier date, though it was delivered later, gave me advice, at once honourable to yourself and necessary to me, not to neglect the interests of God's Churches, nor little by little to allow the guidance of affairs to pass to our opponents, whereby their interests must win, and ours lose. I think that I answered both. But, as I am uncertain whether my replies were preserved by those who were entrusted with the duty of conveying them, I will make my defence over again. As to my absence, I can put in an unimpeachable plea, as to which I think intelligence must have reached your holiness, that I have been detained by illness which has brought me to the very gates of death. Even now as I write about it, the remains of sickness are still upon me. And they are such as to another man might be unendurable.
2. As to the fact of its not being owing to my neglect that the interests of the Churches have been betrayed to our opponents, I wish your reverence to know that the bishops in communion with me, from lack of earnestness, or because they suspect me and are not open with me, or because the devil is always at hand to oppose good works, are unwilling to cooperate with me. Formerly, indeed, the majority of us were united with one another, including the excellent Bosporius. [2468] In reality they give me no aid in what is most essential. The consequence of all this is, that to a great extent my recovery is hindered by my distress, and the sorrow I feel brings back my worst symptoms. What, however, can I do alone and unaided, when the canons, as you yourself know, do not allow points of this kind to be settled by one man? [2469] And yet what remedy have I not tried? Of what decision have I failed to remind them, some by letter and some in person? They even came to the city, when they heard a report of my death; when, by God's will, they found me yet alive I made them such a speech as was proper to the occasion. In my presence they respect me, and promise all that is fit, but no sooner have they got back again than they return to their own opinion. In all this I am a sufferer, like the rest, for the Lord has clearly abandoned us, whose love has grown cold because iniquity abounds. For all this may your great and powerful intercession with God be sufficient for me. Perhaps we shall either become of some use, or, even if we fail in our object, we may escape condemnation.
[2466] Placed in 373.
[2467] On his being hindered from traveling by ill health, and on his difficulties with the bishops in communion with him.
[2468] cf. Letter li.
[2469] The Ben. note is: "Canones illos qui apostolis afficti fuere, nonnunquam citat Basilius in Epistolis canonicis. Videtur hoc loco respicere ad vigesimum (?xxxvii.) septimum, ubi præscribitur, ut in unaquaque provincia episcopi nihil majoris rei incipiant sine sententia illius, qui inter eos primus, ac unus quisque iis contentus sit, quæ ad paroeciam suam pertinent: sed nec ille absque omnium voluntate quidquam faciat. Erat Basilius hujus canonis observandi studiosus, et quamvis nominis fama et sedis dignitate plurimum posset, nunquam ab eo communionis restitutionem impetrare potuerunt Marcelli discipuli, antequam Petri Alexandrini auctoritates accessisset: et cum ab Episcopis in Palæstina Exsulantibus non ex spectato aliorum Episcoporum consensu restituti fuissent, factum moleste tulit et libere reprehendit." Epist. cclxv.