Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 8
Basil — Letters and Select Works
SECTION 201
Letter CCXVIII. [2853]
[2843] Here we see "binding and loosing" passing from the Scriptural sense of declaring what acts are forbidden and committed (Matt. xvi. 19 and xxiii. 4. See note of Rev. A. Carr in Cambridge Bible for Schools) into the later ecclesiastical sense of imposing and remitting penalties for sin. The first regards rather moral obliga…
1,174 wordsSECTION 202Letter CCXIX. [2862]
Letter CCXIX. [2862] To the clergy of Samosata. The Lord ordereth "all things in measure and weight," [2863] and brings on us the temptations which do not exceed our power to endure them, [2864] but tests all that fight in the cause of true religion by affliction, not suffering them to be tempted above that they are able to be…
1,168 wordsSECTION 203Letter CCXXI. [2871]
Letter CCXXI. [2871] To the Beræans. You were previously known to me, my dear friends, by your far-famed piety, and by the crown won by your confession in Christ. Peradventure one of you may ask in reply who can have carried these tidings of us so far? The Lord Himself; for He puts His worshippers like a lamp on a lamp-stand, …
998 wordsSECTION 204Letter CCXXIII. [2876]
Letter CCXXIII. [2876] Against Eustathius of Sebasteia. [2877] 1. There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak, [2878] is the saying of the Preacher. Time enough has been given to silence, and now the time has come to open my mouth for the publication of the truth concerning matters that are, up to now, unknown. The ill…
2,359 wordsSECTION 2056. Even if they did come forward to accuse me, because they had been deceived, and thought that I was associated with the writers of those w
6. Even if they did come forward to accuse me, because they had been deceived, and thought that I was associated with the writers of those words of Sabellius which they are carrying about, they were guilty of unpardonable conduct in straightway attacking and wounding me, when I had done them no wrong, before they had obtained pl…
1,093 wordsSECTION 206Letter CCXXIV. [2903]
Letter CCXXIV. [2903] To the presbyter Genethlius. 1. I have received your reverence's letter and I am delighted at the title which you have felicitously applied to the writing which they have composed in calling it "a writing of divorcement." [2904] What defence the writers will be able to make before the tribunal of Christ, …
1,037 wordsSECTION 207Letter CCXXV. [2910]
Letter CCXXV. [2910] To Demosthenes, [2911] as from the synod of bishops. I am always very thankful to God and to the emperor, under whose rule we live, when I see the government of my country put into the hands of one who is not only a Christian, but is moreover correct in life and a careful guardian of the laws according to …
784 wordsSECTION 208Letter CCXXVI. [2914]
Letter CCXXVI. [2914] To the ascetics under him. It may be that the holy God will grant me the joy of a meeting with you, for I am ever longing to see you and hear about you, because in no other thing do I find rest for my soul than in your progress and perfection in the commandments of Christ. But so long as this hope remains…
2,105 wordsSECTION 209Letter CCXXVII. [2929]
Letter CCXXVII. [2929] Consolatory, to the clergy of Colonia. [2930] What is so goodly and honourable before God and men as perfect love, which, as we are told by the wise teacher, is the fulfilling of the law? [2931] I therefore approve of your warm affection for your bishop, for, as to an affectionate son the loss of a good …
796 wordsSECTION 210Letter CCXXVIII. [2933]
Letter CCXXVIII. [2933] To the magistrates of Colonia. I have received your lordships' letter, and offered thanks to God most holy, that you, occupied as you are with affairs of state, should not put those of the Church in the second place. I am grateful to think that every one of you has shewn anxiety as though he were acting…
871 wordsSECTION 211Letter CCXXX. [2937]
Letter CCXXX. [2937] To the magistrates of Nicopolis. The government of the Churches is carried on by those to whom the chief offices in them have been entrusted, but their hands are strengthened by the laity. The measures which lay with the God-beloved bishops have been taken. The rest concerns you, if you deign to accord a h…
952 wordsSECTION 212Letter CCXXXII. [2947]
Letter CCXXXII. [2947] To Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. Every day that brings me a letter from you is a feast day, the very greatest of feast days. And when symbols of the feast are brought, what can I call it but a feast of feasts, as the old law used to speak of Sabbath of Sabbaths? I thank the Lord that you are quite wel…
1,210 wordsSECTION 213Letter CCXXXIV. [2955]
Letter CCXXXIV. [2955] To the same, in answer to another question. Do you worship what you know or what you do not know? If I answer, I worship what I know, they immediately reply, What is the essence of the object of worship? Then, if I confess that I am ignorant of the essence, they turn on me again and say, So you worship y…
821 wordsSECTION 214Letter CCXXXV. [2960]
Letter CCXXXV. [2960] To the same, in answer to another question. 1. Which is first in order, knowledge or faith? I reply that generally, in the case of disciples, faith precedes knowledge. But, in our teaching, if any one asserts knowledge to come before faith, I make no objection; understanding knowledge so far as is within …
1,078 wordsSECTION 215Letter CCXXXVI. [2975]
Letter CCXXXVI. [2975] To the same Amphilochius. 1. Enquiry has already frequently been made concerning the saying of the gospels as to our Lord Jesus Christ's ignorance of the day and of the hour of the end; [2976] an objection constantly put forward by the Anomoeans to the destruction of the glory of the Only-Begotten, in or…
2,383 wordsSECTION 216Letter CCXXXVII. [3002]
Good men take sickness as athletes take their contest, waiting for the crowns that are to reward their endurance. To ascribe the dispensation of these things to any one else is as inconsistent with true religion as it is with common sense. [2975] This letter is also dated in 376, and treats of further subjects not immediately r…
1,477 wordsSECTION 217Letter CCXXXVIII. [3011]
Letter CCXXXVIII. [3011] To the presbyters of Nicopolis. [3012] I have received your letter, my reverend brethren, but it told me nothing that I did not already know, for the whole country round about was already full of the report announcing the disgrace of that one among you who has fallen, and through lust of vain glory has…
1,168 wordsSECTION 218Letter CCXL. [3022]
Letter CCXL. [3022] To the Presbyters of Nicopolis. 1. You have done quite right in sending me a letter, and in sending it by the hands of one who, even if you had not written, would have been perfectly competent to give me considerable comfort in all my anxieties, and an authentic report as to the position of affairs. Many va…
1,033 wordsSECTION 219Letter CCXLI. [3029]
Letter CCXLI. [3029] To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. It is not to increase your distress that I am so lavish of painful topics in my letters to your excellency. My object is to get some comfort for myself in the lamentations which are a kind of natural means of dispersing deep-seated pain whenever they are produced, and furth…
1,169 wordsSECTION 220Letter CCXLIII. [3036]
Letter CCXLIII. [3036] To the bishops of Italy and Gaul concerning the condition and confusion of the Churches. 1. To his brethren truly God-beloved and very dear, and fellow ministers of like mind, the bishops of Gaul and Italy, Basil, bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has deigned to style the univer…
2,013 wordsSECTION 221Letter CCXLIV. [3051]
Letter CCXLIV. [3051] To Patrophilus, bishop of Ægæ. [3052] 1. I have read, and read with pleasure, the letter which you have sent by Strategius the presbyter. How should I not so read it, written as it is by a wise man, and dictated by a heart which has learned to observe the universal love taught by the commandment of the Lo…
2,367 wordsSECTION 2228. I will not, however, omit to tell you, my dear friend, in what a state I have been. Last year I suffered from a very violent fever, and c
8. I will not, however, omit to tell you, my dear friend, in what a state I have been. Last year I suffered from a very violent fever, and came near to the gates of death. When, by God's mercy, I was restored, I was distressed at coming back to life, as I bethought me of all the troubles before me. I considered with myself for w…
1,314 wordsSECTION 223Letter CCXLV. [3081]
Letter CCXLV. [3081] To Theophilus the Bishop. [3082] It is some time since I received your letter, but I waited to be able to reply by some fit person; that so the bearer of my answer might supply whatever might be wanting in it. Now there has arrived our much beloved and very reverend brother Strategius, and I have judged it…
1,081 wordsSECTION 224Letter CCXLIX. [3092]
Letter CCXLIX. [3092] Without address. Commendatory. I congratulate this my brother, in being delivered from our troubles here and in approaching your reverence. In choosing a good life with them that fear the Lord he has chosen a good provision for the life to come. I commend him to your excellency and by him I beseech you to…
1,834 wordsSECTION 225Letter CCLII. [3114]
Letter CCLII. [3114] To the bishops of the Pontic Diocese. [3115] The honours of martyrs ought to be very eagerly coveted by all who rest their hopes on the Lord, and more especially by you who seek after virtue. By your disposition towards the great and good among your fellow servants you are shewing your affection to our com…
900 wordsSECTION 226Letter CCLV. [3121]
Letter CCLV. [3121] To Vitus, bishop of Charræ. [3122] Would that it were possible for me to write to your reverence every day! For ever since I have had experience of your affection I have had great desire to converse with you, or, if this be impossible, at least to communicate with you by letter, that I may tell you my own n…
729 wordsSECTION 227Letter CCLVII. [3129]
Letter CCLVII. [3129] To the monks harassed by the Arians. 1. I have thought it only right to announce to you by letter how I said to myself, when I heard of the trials brought upon you by the enemies of God, that in a time reckoned a time of peace you have won for yourselves the blessings promised to all who suffer persecutio…
2,005 wordsSECTION 228Letter CCLIX. [3142]
Letter CCLIX. [3142] To the monks Palladius and Innocent. From your affection for me you ought to be able to conjecture my affection for you. I have always desired to be a herald of peace, and, when I fail in my object, I am grieved. How could it be otherwise? I cannot feel angry with any one for this reason, because I know th…
2,243 wordsSECTION 229Thus I have investigated this point to the best of my ability, though I have passed by matters therein that might be investigated, for fear
Thus I have investigated this point to the best of my ability, though I have passed by matters therein that might be investigated, for fear of prolonging my observations beyond the limits of my letter. But for your intelligence little seeds are enough. "Give instruction," it is said, "to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser." [3…
1,040 wordsSECTION 230Letter CCLXI. [3167]
Letter CCLXI. [3167] To the Sozopolitans. [3168] I have received the letter which you, right honourable brethren, have sent me concerning the circumstances in which you are placed. I thank the Lord that you have let me share in the anxiety you feel as to your attention to things needful and deserving of serious heed. But I was…
1,512 wordsSECTION 231Letter CCLXII. [3183]
Letter CCLXII. [3183] To the Monk Urbicius. [3184] 1. You have done well to write to me. You have shewn how great is the fruit of charity. Continue so to do. Do not think that, when you write to me, you need offer excuses. I recognise my own position, and I know that by nature every man is of equal honour with the rest. Whatev…
2,036 wordsSECTION 232Letter CCLXIV. [3195]
Letter CCLXIV. [3195] To Barses, bishop of Edessa, in exile. [3196] To Barses the bishop, truly God-beloved and worthy of all reverence and honour, Basil sends greeting in the Lord. As my dear brother Domninus [3197] is setting out to you, I gladly seize the opportunity of writing, and I greet you by him, praying the holy God …
2,161 wordsSECTION 233Letter CCLXVI. [3209]
Letter CCLXVI. [3209] To Petrus, bishop of Alexandria. [3210] 1. You have very properly rebuked me, and in a manner becoming a spiritual brother who has been taught genuine love by the Lord, because I am not giving you exact and detailed information of all that is going on here, for it is both your part to be interested in wha…
961 wordsSECTION 234Letter CCLXVII. [3213]
Letter CCLXVII. [3213] To Barses, bishop of Edessa, in exile. For the sake of the affection which I entertain for you, I long to be with you, to embrace you, my dear friend, in person, and to glorify the Lord Who is magnified in you, and has made your honourable old age renowned among all them that fear Him throughout the worl…
796 wordsSECTION 235Letter CCLXIX. [3218]
Letter CCLXIX. [3218] To the wife of Arinthæus, the General. Consolatory. 1. It had been only proper, and due to your affection, that I should have been on the spot, and have taken part in the present occurrences. Thus I might have at once assuaged my own sorrow, and given some consolation to your excellency. But my body will …
755 wordsSECTION 236Letter CCLXX. [3221]
Letter CCLXX. [3221] Without Address. Concerning Raptus. [3222] I am distressed to find that you are by no means indignant at the sins forbidden, and that you seem incapable of understanding, how this raptus, which has been committed, is an act of unlawfulness and tyranny against society and human nature, and an outrage on fre…
789 wordsSECTION 237Letter CCLXXII. [3226]
Letter CCLXXII. [3226] To Sophronius the magister officiorum. [3227] 1. It has been reported to me by Actiacus the deacon, that certain men have moved you to anger against me, by falsely stating me to be ill-disposed towards your excellency. I cannot be astonished at a man in your position being followed by certain sycophants.…
726 wordsSECTION 238Letter CCLXXIII. [3229]
Letter CCLXXIII. [3229] Without address. Concerning Hera. I am sure that your excellency loves me well enough to regard all that concerns me as concerning you. Therefore I commend to your great kindness and high consideration my very reverend brother Hera, whom I do not merely call brother by any conventional phrase, but becau…
768 wordsSECTION 239Letter CCLXXVII. [3233]
Letter CCLXXVII. [3233] To the learned Maximus. The excellent Theotecnus has given mean account of your highness, whereby he has inspired me with a longing for your acquaintance, so clearly do his words delineate the character of your mind. He has enkindled in me so ardent an affection for you, that were it not that I am weigh…
849 wordsSECTION 240Letter CCLXXX. [3239]
Letter CCLXXX. [3239] To Modestus the Prefect. I feel my boldness in pressing my suit by letter upon a man in your position; still the honour that you have paid me in the past has banished all my scruples. Accordingly I write with confidence. My plea is for a relative of mine, a man worthy of respect for his integrity. He is …
811 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.