Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 8
Basil — Letters and Select Works
SECTION 161
Letter CXXXVIII. [2450]
Letter CXXXVIII. [2450] To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. [2451] 1. What was my state of mind, think you, when I received your piety's letter? When I thought of the feelings which its language expressed, I was eager to fly straight to Syria; but when I thought of the bodily illness, under which I lay bound, I saw myself unequal…
804 wordsSECTION 162Letter CXXXIX. [2456]
Letter CXXXIX. [2456] To the Alexandrians. [2457] 1. I have already heard of the persecution in Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and, as might be expected, I am deeply affected. I have observed the ingenuity of the devil's mode of warfare. When he saw that the Church increased under the persecution of enemies and flourished a…
815 wordsSECTION 163Letter CXL. [2463]
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 c…
1,315 wordsSECTION 164Letter CXLII. [2470]
Letter CXLII. [2470] To the prefects' accountant. [2471] I assembled all my brethren the chorepiscopi at the synod of the blessed martyr Eupsychius [2472] to introduce them to your excellency. On account of your absence they must be brought before you by letter. Know, therefore, this brother as being worthy to be trusted by yo…
809 wordsSECTION 165Letter CXLVI. [2481]
Letter CXLVI. [2481] To Antiochus. [2482] I cannot accuse you of carelessness and inattention, because, when an opportunity of writing occurred, you said nothing. For I count the greeting which you have sent me in your own honoured hand worth many letters. In return I salute you, and beg you earnestly to give heed to the salva…
838 wordsSECTION 166Letter CXLIX. [2488]
Letter CXLIX. [2488] To Trajan. [2489] You yourself have seen with your own eyes the distressing condition of Maximus, once a man of high reputation, but now most of all to be pitied, formerly prefect of my country. Would that he had never been so! Many, I think, would be likely to shun provincial governorships, if their digni…
1,872 wordsSECTION 167Letter CLI. [2499]
Letter CLI. [2499] To Eustathius the Physician. [2500] If my letters are of any good, lose no time in writing to me and in rousing me to write. We are unquestionably made more cheerful when we read the letters of wise men who love the Lord. It is for you to say, who read it, whether you find anything worth attention in what I …
1,134 wordsSECTION 168Letter CLV. [2508]
Letter CLV. [2508] Without address. [2509] In the case of a trainer. I am at a loss how to defend myself against all the complaints contained in the first and only letter which your lordship has been so good as to send me. It is not that there is any lack of right on my side, but because among so many charges it is hard to sel…
1,331 wordsSECTION 169Letter CLVII. [2515]
Letter CLVII. [2515] To Amiochus. [2516] You may well imagine how disappointed I was not to meet you in the summer; not that our meeting in former years was enough to satisfy me, but even to see loved objects in a dream brings those who love some comfort. But you do not even write, so sluggish are you, and I think your absence…
989 wordsSECTION 170Letter CLX. [2526]
Letter CLX. [2526] To Diodorus. [2527] 1. I have received the letter which has reached me under the name of Diodorus, but in what it contains creditable to any one rather than to Diodorus. Some ingenious person seems to have assumed your name, with the intention of getting credit with his hearers. It appears that he was asked …
1,606 wordsSECTION 171Letter CLXI. [2540]
Letter CLXI. [2540] To Amphilochius on his consecration as Bishop. 1. Blessed be God Who from age to age chooses them that please Him, distinguishes vessels of election, and uses them for the ministry of the Saints. Though you were trying to flee, as you confess, not from me, but from the calling you expected through me, He ha…
1,017 wordsSECTION 172Letter CLXIII. [2546]
Letter CLXIII. [2546] To Count Jovinus. One can see your soul in your letter, for in reality no painter can so exactly catch an outward likeness, as uttered thoughts can image the secrets of the soul. As I read your letter, your words exactly characterized your steadfastness, your real dignity, your unfailing sincerity; in all…
1,040 wordsSECTION 173Letter CLXV. [2551]
Letter CLXV. [2551] To Ascholius, bishop of Thessalonica. [2552] God has fulfilled my old prayer in deigning to allow me to receive the letter of your veritable holiness. What I most of all desire is to see you and to be seen by you, and to enjoy in actual intercourse all the graces of the Spirit with which you are endowed. Th…
957 wordsSECTION 174Letter CLXIX. [2559]
Letter CLXIX. [2559] Basil to Gregory. [2560] You have undertaken a kindly and charitable task in getting together the captive troop of the insolent Glycerius (at present I must so write), and, so far as in you lay, covering our common shame. It is only right that your reverence should undo this dishonour with a full knowledge…
739 wordsSECTION 175Letter CLXX. [2564]
Letter CLXX. [2564] To Glycerius. How far will your mad folly go? How long will you counsel mischief against yourself? How long will you go on rousing me to wrath, and bringing shame on the common order of solitaries? Return. Put confidence in God, and in me, who imitate God's loving-kindness. If I rebuked you like a father, l…
761 wordsSECTION 176Letter CLXXIII. [2572]
Letter CLXXIII. [2572] To Theodora the Canoness. [2573] I should be more diligent in writing to you but for my belief that my letters do not always, my friend, reach your own hands. I am afraid that through the naughtiness of those on whose service I depend, especially at a time like this when the whole world is in a state of …
929 wordsSECTION 177Letter CLXXV. [2576]
Letter CLXXV. [2576] To Count Magnenianus. [2577] Your excellency lately wrote to me, plainly charging me, besides other matters, to write concerning the Faith. I admire your zeal in the matter, and I pray God that your choice of good things may be persistent, and that, advancing in knowledge and good works, you may be made pe…
727 wordsSECTION 178Letter CLXXVII. [2586]
Letter CLXXVII. [2586] To Saphronius the Master. To reckon up all those who have received kindness at your excellency's hand, for my sake, is no easy task; so many are there whom I feel that I have benefited through your kind aid, a boon which the Lord has given me to help me in these very serious times. Worthiest of all is he…
760 wordsSECTION 179Letter CLXXXI. [2593]
Letter CLXXXI. [2593] To Otreius, bishop of Melitene. [2594] Your reverence is, I know, no less distressed than myself at the removal of the very God-beloved bishop Eusebius. We both of us need comfort. Let us try to give it to one another. Do you write to me what you hear from Samosata, and I will report to you anything that …
809 wordsSECTION 180Letter CLXXXV. [2603]
Letter CLXXXV. [2603] To Theodotus, bishop of Beræa. [2604] Although you do not write to me, I know that there is recollection of me in your heart; and this I infer, not because I am worthy of any favourable recollection, but because your soul is rich in abundance of love. Yet, as far as in you lies, use whatever opportunities…
2,306 wordsSECTION 181VIII. The man who in a rage has taken up a hatchet against his own wife is a murderer. But it is what I should have expected from your intel
VIII. The man who in a rage has taken up a hatchet against his own wife is a murderer. But it is what I should have expected from your intelligence that you should very properly remind me to speak on these points more fully, because a wide distinction must be drawn between cases where there is and where there is not intent. A ca…
2,313 wordsSECTION 182[2620] tous en bathmo. cf. note on p. 218.
[2620] tous en bathmo. cf. note on p. 218. [2621] As being one of Basil's predecessors in the see of Cæsarea. [2622] "Hoc Encratitarum facinore non corrupta essentialis baptismi forma. Sed novæ quædam adjectæ cærimoniæ." Ben. Ed. [2623] i.e.those who used water instead of wine in the Eucharist, as Tatian and his followers. cf…
1,556 wordsSECTION 183Letter CLXXXIX. [2651]
Letter CLXXXIX. [2651] To Eustathius the physician. [2652] Humanity is the regular business of all you who practise as physicians. And, in my opinion, to put your science at the head and front of life's pursuits is to decide reasonably and rightly. This at all events seems to be the case if man's most precious possession, life…
2,203 wordsSECTION 1847. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost alike hallow, quicken, enlighten, and comfort. No one will attribute a special and peculiar operat
7. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost alike hallow, quicken, enlighten, and comfort. No one will attribute a special and peculiar operation of hallowing to the operation of the Spirit, after hearing the Saviour in the Gospel saying to the Father about His disciples, sanctify them in Thy name. [2659] In like manner all other …
755 wordsSECTION 185Letter CXC. [2663]
Letter CXC. [2663] To Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. [2664] 1. The interest which you have shewn in the affairs of the Isaurian Church is only what might have been expected from that zeal and propriety of conduct which so continually rouses my admiration of you. The most careless observer must at once perceive that it is in …
1,134 wordsSECTION 186Letter CXCI. [2671]
Letter CXCI. [2671] To Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. [2672] On reading the letter of your reverence I heartily thanked God. I did so because I found in your expressions traces of ancient affection. You are not like the majority. You did not persist in refusing to begin an affectionate correspondence. You have learned the gr…
934 wordsSECTION 187Letter CXCIV. [2681]
Letter CXCIV. [2681] To Zoilus. What are you about, most excellent sir, in anticipating me in humility? Educated as you are, and able to write such a letter as you have sent, you nevertheless ask for forgiveness at my hands, as though you were engaged in some undertaking rash and beyond your position. But a truce to mockery. C…
1,468 wordsSECTION 188Letter CXCVIII. [2690]
Letter CXCVIII. [2690] To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. After the letter conveyed to me by the officiales [2691] I have received one other despatched to me later. I have not sent many myself, for I have not found any one travelling in your direction. But I have sent more than the four, among which also were those conveyed to m…
2,251 wordsSECTION 189XXIX. It is especially desirable that attention should be given to the case of persons in power who threaten on oath to do some hurt to thos
XXIX. It is especially desirable that attention should be given to the case of persons in power who threaten on oath to do some hurt to those under their authority. The remedy is twofold. In the first place, let them be taught not to take oaths at random: secondly, not to persist in their wicked determinations. Any one who is ar…
2,090 wordsSECTION 190Letter CC. [2723]
Letter CC. [2723] To Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. I am attacked by sickness after sickness, and all the work given me, not only by the affairs of the Church, but by those who are troubling the Church, has detained me during the whole winter, and up to the present time. It has been therefore quite impossible for me to send …
865 wordsSECTION 191Letter CCIII. [2727]
Letter CCIII. [2727] To the bishops of the sea coast. [2728] I have had a strong desire to meet you, but from time to time some hindrance has supervened and prevented my fulfilling my purpose. I have either been hindered by sickness, and you know well how, from my early manhood to my present old age, this ailment has been my c…
1,529 wordsSECTION 192Letter CCIV. [2733]
Letter CCIV. [2733] To the Neocæsareans. [2734] 1. [There has been a long silence on both sides, revered and well-beloved brethren, just as if there were angry feelings between us. Yet who is there so sullen and implacable towards the party which has injured him, as to lengthen out the resentment which has begun in disgust thr…
2,562 wordsSECTION 193Letter CCV. [2751]
[2733] Placed in 375. [2734] Newman introduces his extracts from the following letter with the prefatory remark: "If Basil's Semi-Arian connexions brought suspicion upon himself in the eyes of Catholic believers, much more would they be obnoxious to persons attached, as certain Neocæsareans were, to the Sabellian party, who wer…
1,028 wordsSECTION 194Letter CCVII. [2754]
Letter CCVII. [2754] To the clergy of Neocæsarea. You all concur in hating me. To a man you have followed the leader of the war against me. [2755] I was therefore minded to say not a word to any one. I determined that I would write no friendly letter; that I would start no communication, but keep my sorrow in silence to myself…
1,686 wordsSECTION 195Letter CCVIII. [2766]
Letter CCVIII. [2766] To Eulancius. You have been long silent, though you have very great power of speech, and are well trained in the art of conversation and of exhibiting yourself by your eloquence. Possibly it is Neocæsarea which is the cause of your not writing to me. I suppose I must take it as a kindness if those who are…
2,331 wordsSECTION 1966. I have felt compelled to write to you in these terms, that you may be on your guard against the mischief arising from bad teaching. If we
6. I have felt compelled to write to you in these terms, that you may be on your guard against the mischief arising from bad teaching. If we may indeed liken pernicious teachings to poisonous drugs, as your dream-tellers have it, these doctrines are hemlock and monkshood, or any other deadly to man. It is these that destroy soul…
1,173 wordsSECTION 197Letter CCXI. [2798]
Letter CCXI. [2798] To Olympius. [2799] Truly when I read your excellency's letter I felt unwonted pleasure and cheerfulness; and when I met your well-beloved sons, I seemed to behold yourself. They found me in the deepest affliction, but they so behaved as to make me forget the hemlock, which your dreamers and dream mongers a…
960 wordsSECTION 198Letter CCXIII. [2804]
Letter CCXIII. [2804] Without address. 1. May the Lord, Who has brought me prompt help in my afflictions, grant you the help of the refreshment wherewith you have refreshed me by writing to me, rewarding you for your consolation of my humble self with the real and great gladness of the Spirit. For I was indeed downcast in soul…
1,915 wordsSECTION 199Letter CCXV. [2821]
Letter CCXV. [2821] To the Presbyter Dorotheus. I took the earliest opportunity of writing to the most admirable Count Terentius, thinking it better to write to him on the subject in hand by means of strangers, and being anxious that our very dear brother Acacius shall not be inconvenienced by any delay. I have therefore given…
2,288 wordsSECTION 200LXXVI. The same rule applies to those who take their own daughters in law.
LXXVI. The same rule applies to those who take their own daughters in law. LXXVII. He who abandons the wife, lawfully united to him, is subject by the sentence of the Lord to the penalty of adultery. But it has been laid down as a canon by our Fathers that such sinners should weep for a year, be hearers for two years, in kneeli…
2,298 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.