Letters 1 part 11/32

To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata. Though I was quite eager to reach Nicopolis, after I received the letter from your Excellency containing a refusal as to your coming, I was unstrung by despondency, and reminded at once of the whole of my infirmity.

It also came to my mind how perfunctory was the invitation of those who had called me, since, having made their invitation to us only in passing, through the most reverend brother Hellenius, who represents Nazianzus, they did not think it worthwhile to send a second time someone to remind us of the same matter or to guide us.

Since, then, we are suspect to them on account of our sins, we feared that we might, by our presence, cloud over the brightness of their festival.

For with your greatness of spirit at my side, I do not hesitate even to strip for the greatest trials; but without you I am not sufficiently able even to face ordinary tribulations.

Since, then, our meeting with them was going to take place for the sake of Church business, we passed over the time of the festival, and postponed our meeting to a season of quiet and undisturbed occupation; and we resolved, upon reaching Nicopolis, to confer about the necessities of the Churches with the most God-beloved bishop Meletius, in case he should decline the journey to Samosata;

but if not, we would hasten there together with him, if this should be made clear to us by both parties—by him writing back to us on this matter (for we have written to him) and by your Piety.

We also intended to meet with the bishops from Second Cappadocia;

but they, since they were named after a different province, at once supposed themselves to have become foreigners and aliens to us in race;

they who came to disregard us as completely as men who had never at all had experience of us, nor ever come into conversation with us.

Another meeting was also expected, with the most reverend bishop Eustathius, and it did in fact take place for us.

As for the letters of the bishops, they were not conveyed to your Honor, through the fault of those very persons who ought to have forwarded what came from us; and this even escaped my own memory, driven out by the constant press of cares.

I too wished Gregory to govern a Church commensurate with his own nature.

But such a Church would have been the whole world under the sun gathered together into one.

But since this is impossible, let him be a bishop who is not dignified by his place, but who dignifies his place by his own worth.

For it is truly the mark of a great man not only to be sufficient for great things, but also to make small things great by his own power.

But what must be done about Palmatius, who, despite so many entreaties from the brethren, still serves Maximus in the matter of the persecutions? Yet even now they do not hesitate to write;

for they are prevented from coming, both by bodily weakness and by domestic occupations.

Know, however, most God-beloved Father, that our affairs greatly need your presence, and it is necessary for you once more to bestir your venerable old age, in order to steady Cappadocia, which is now reeling and close to collapse.

To Terentius the Count. Although I applied very great earnestness to obey, at least in part, both the imperial command and the friendly letter of your Honor—every word and every sentiment of which I believe to be full of right purpose and good intention—I was not permitted to carry my zeal into effect.

The reason for this—the first and truest—is my own sins, meeting me everywhere and tripping up my steps; and then, also, the estrangement toward us of the bishop who had been given to us as a fellow-worker.

For I do not know what came over our most reverend brother Theodotus, who from the beginning had promised to cooperate with us in everything, and had eagerly brought us down from Getasa to Nicopolis; yet, once he saw us in the city, he so recoiled and so feared our sins that he could not bring himself to receive us either at the morning or the evening prayer—acting justly indeed as regards me, and fittingly for my manner of life, but not deliberating what was profitable for the common state of the Churches.

The reason he gave us for this was that we had consented to receive the most reverend bishop Eustathius into communion.

What actually took place on our part, however, was as follows.

Having been invited to a synod being held by our brother Theodotus, and setting out out of love to obey the summons, in order that we might not seem to make our meeting fruitless and idle, we made it our concern to enter into discussion with the aforementioned brother Eustathius.

And we set before him the accusations concerning the faith which those around brother Theodotus bring against him, and we requested that, if he does hold to the right faith, he make this clear to us, so that we might be in communion with him;

but if he stands estranged from it, he should know for certain that we too will stand estranged from him.

Then, after many words had passed between us and the whole of that day had been spent in deliberation over these matters, when evening at last overtook us we parted from one another, having brought the discussion to no agreed conclusion.

But on the following day, having again sat down together from early morning, we discoursed on the same matters, since by then brother Poemenius also, the presbyter of Sebasteia, had joined us and was vigorously exercising the opposing argument against us.

Little by little, then, we were released from the charges we had thought it right to bring, and we brought them to agreement upon the points we sought, so that, by the grace of the Lord, we were found to differ from one another not even in the smallest degree.

Thus, then, at about the ninth hour we rose up for prayers, giving thanks to the Lord, who had granted us to think the same thing and to say the same thing.

But I myself wished, out of great exactness, upon meeting with the brethren around Theodotus, to obtain from them a written statement of faith and to set it before the aforesaid, so that both things might come about—that the right faith be confessed by him, and that they themselves be fully assured, having no ground left for objection, since their own propositions had been accepted.

But before learning for what purpose we had met and what had been accomplished by us through our conference, those around bishop Theodotus no longer thought it worthwhile to urge us further to attend the synod.

So we turned back from the middle of our journey, disheartened that they were rendering fruitless our labors on behalf of the peace of the Churches.

After this, then, when the necessity of the journey to Armenia overtook us, knowing the man's peculiar temperament and wishing, in the presence of a trustworthy witness, both to give an account myself of what had been done and to satisfy him fully, I went to Getasa, the estate of the most God-beloved bishop Meletius, with the aforesaid Theodotus himself also present with me;

and so there, when we were accused by him concerning our association with Eustathius, I related the success that had resulted from our meeting—namely, that I had found him to be of one mind with us in all things.

But when he insisted that the man had become a denier after our departure, and that he affirmed to his own disciples that he had by no means come to any agreement with us concerning the faith, I answered to this (and consider, most admirable sir, whether I did not make my replies to this most just and irrefutable) that I, for my part, am persuaded, judging from the man's constancy in other respects, that he is not so lightly turned about to the opposite positions, nor does he now confess a thing and then deny what he has said, since he is a man who shuns even an ordinary lie as a thing to be dreaded—let alone that he would ever choose to oppose the truth concerning matters of such magnitude and so widely proclaimed among all.

But if it should turn out that what is being rumored by you is indeed true, then it is necessary to set before him a written document containing the complete demonstration of the right faith.

If, then, I find him assenting to it in writing, I will continue in communion with him;

but if I find him drawing back, I will withdraw from association with him.

How, then, was it possible for me, most honored Sir, to do any of the things enjoined upon me and to give bishops to Armenia, when the one who shared with me the responsibility was so disposed toward me—the very man from whose diocese I expected to find suitable men, since among his flock there were those who were reverent, prudent, skilled in the language, and acquainted with the other peculiarities of the nation?

though I know their names, I will deliberately keep silent, lest some obstacle arise to Armenia's being served at some other time at least.

And now, having come, in such bodily condition, as far as Satala, I have thought myself, by the grace of God, to have set the remaining matters in order—having reconciled the bishops of Armenia and discoursed with them on what was fitting, so that they might lay aside their customary discord and take up the genuine zeal of the Lord on behalf of the Churches, and having also given them regulations concerning the things being lawlessly and indifferently practiced throughout Armenia, that they might be attentive to them as was fitting.

I also received resolutions from the Church of Satala, containing a request that a bishop be given to them by us.

by the grace of God we found that it had been stirred up falsely, through the slander of those who hate him;

and this they openly confessed in our presence.

And we thought we had, to a moderate degree, calmed the people of Satala toward him, so that they no longer shunned communion with him.

But if these are small things and worth nothing, still nothing more was possible on our part, because of the discord among ourselves that arose from the meddling of the devil.

I ought to have kept silent about these things, lest I should seem to be publicizing my own reproaches; but since there was no other way to give an account to your greatness of spirit, I have been compelled to relate the whole truth of what has happened.

To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata. I beheld the letters of your love, while in the neighboring country of the Armenians, just as those who sail the sea would behold a beacon-fire kindled far off upon the deep—especially if the sea should happen to be somehow made savage by the winds.

For the letter of your Reverence is by nature sweet and full of much comfort, but the occasion at that time increased still further the grace derived from it—an occasion of what sort it was, and how it grieved us, I would not say, having once resolved to forget things that cause pain;

our fellow-deacon, however, will relate it to your Piety.

As for me, my body had failed me completely, so that I could not bear even the smallest movements without pain.

Nevertheless, I pray that my long-standing desire may now at last, through the help of your prayers, be fulfilled—even though this journey abroad has caused me much difficulty, the affairs of our own Church having been neglected for so long a time.

But if God, while we are yet above the earth, should count us worthy to see your Piety in our own Church, we shall have truly good hopes for the future as well, that we shall not become altogether rejected from the gifts of God.

This, then, if it be possible, we beg may take place at the synod which we hold yearly in memory of the most blessed martyr Eupsychius, now drawing near, on the seventh day of the month of September.

For matters worthy of concern beset us as well, requiring your cooperation—both for the appointment of bishops, and for counsel and consideration regarding the things being plotted against us through the 'benevolence' of Gregory of Nyssa, who is convening synods throughout Ancyra and leaves no manner of scheming against us untried.

A Consolatory Letter. It would have been a thing to be prayed for, that in sending our first letter to you, we should have a more cheerful subject for our correspondence.

For in that case things would have turned out according to our wish, since we desire that for all who choose to live in piety, their whole life should prosper unto good.

But since the Lord who governs our life, in accordance with His ineffable wisdom, has certainly ordained, for the benefit of our souls, those things through which He has made your life sorrowful, and has brought us—who are joined together by love in God—to share your feeling, having learned from our brethren of what has befallen you, it seemed necessary to us to offer you what consolation we are able.

If, then, it had been possible even to cross over as far as the place where your Excellency happens to be residing, I would have made this my chief concern above all else.

these things do not come upon the servants of God idly, from the Lord who watches over us, but for the testing of our true love toward the God who created us.

For just as the labors of the contests bring athletes to their crowns, so too the testing that comes through trials brings Christians to perfection, provided that we receive with fitting endurance and with all thanksgiving the things ordained by the Lord.

We ought to receive none of the things that befall us as grievous, even though for the present it touches upon our weakness.

but we ought to be persuaded of this: that what happens is always beneficial—either to us, for the sake of the reward of endurance, or to the soul that has been taken away, lest, by lingering longer in this life, it be filled with the wickedness that pervades this present existence.

For if the hope of Christians were confined to this present life, it would reasonably be considered a hard thing to be parted from the body sooner.

But if the beginning of the true life for those who live according to God is the release of the soul from these bodily bonds, why do we grieve like those who have no hope? Take comfort, therefore, not to succumb to your sufferings, but to show that you are superior to them and have risen above them.

TO THE CITIZENS OF SATALA. Being moved by your own entreaties and those of the whole people, I have both accepted the charge of the church among you and promised you before the Lord that I would fail in nothing that lies within my power.

So great was the honor shown me by you that it allowed nothing else to come to my mind — neither kinship, nor the friendship I have had with the man from childhood — to be preferred before what was asked of me by you;

but forgetting all the private ties of intimacy I myself had with him, and taking no account either of the abundance of groaning with which my own people will lament being deprived of his protection, or of the tears of all his kindred, or laying to heart the grief of his aged mother, who leans upon his care alone;

disregarding all these things, so many and so great as they were together, I became intent upon one thing alone: to adorn your church with the leadership of so great a man, and to help her — who through long lack of leadership had at last sunk to her knees and needed much and powerful guidance to rise again.

Such, then, is what has been done on our part.

As for what remains on your part, we now require that you show yourselves not inferior to our hope and to the promises we made to the man — namely, that we were sending him to kinsfolk and friends — each of you eagerly striving to outdo the other in zeal and love toward him.

See, then, that you display this noble ambition, and by the abundance of your attentiveness console his heart, so that forgetfulness of his homeland may come upon him, forgetfulness of his kindred, forgetfulness of the people who now depend upon his care as much as an infant depends upon its mother's breast.

We have sent Nicias on ahead, so that he may make known to your honored selves what has taken place, and that you, being forewarned, may celebrate and give thanks to the Lord, who through us has deigned to fulfill your prayer.

The Lord has brought to fulfillment the petitions of his people, and has given them, through our lowliness, a shepherd worthy of the name — one who does not, like so many, peddle the word — but who is able exceedingly to please even us who love the correctness of the preaching and have embraced the life according to the Lord's commandments, in the name of the Lord who has filled him with his spiritual gifts.

For me, who am anxious on behalf of my whole homeland, this petition to your Greatness is necessary, whereby I beseech you to bear with us gently and according to your own character, and to extend a hand to our homeland, which has already sunk to its knees.

The matter concerning which we entreat you is this:

Those consecrated to our God — presbyters and deacons — the old census left exempt from taxation.

But those now conducting the registration, as they have received no directive from your surpassing authority, have registered them, except where some were otherwise exempt on account of age.

This will preserve for your Greatness an undying reputation for good deeds, will procure for the imperial house many who pray on its behalf, and will provide great benefit to the public treasury itself, since we do not extend the relief of this exemption to the clergy exclusively, but always to those who are hard-pressed — as indeed we do also in the matter of the freeborn, as anyone who wishes may learn.

But these things lie in the will of the Lord.

As things now stand, since I found my son Sophronius setting out to visit you, I gladly entrusted him with this letter, bringing you a greeting and making known my own disposition — that by the grace of God we do not cease to remember you and to give thanks to the Lord on your behalf, because you are good shoots of a good root, fruitful in good works, and truly as lilies among thorns.

For that you, though surrounded by so great a perversion of those who corrupt the word of truth, have not yielded to their deceits, nor, abandoning the apostolic preaching of the faith, have gone over to the innovation now prevailing — how is this not worthy of great thanksgiving to God, and does it not most justly win for you great praise? You have believed in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit;

you must not betray this deposit of faith entrusted to you.

the Only-begotten Son, begotten of him, true God, perfect from perfect, a living image, showing forth in himself the whole Father;

the Holy Spirit, existing from God, the source of holiness, a power granting life, a grace that perfects, through whom man is adopted as a son and mortality is made immortal, joined to the Father and the Son in all things — in glory and in eternity, in power and in kingship, in lordship and in godhead — as the tradition of saving baptism also bears witness.

But those who say that the Son or the Spirit is a creature, or in any way reduce it to the rank of a ministering and servile order, are far from the truth; it is fitting to flee their communion and to shun their teachings, as being poisons of souls.

If ever the Lord grants us to be together in person, we will set forth for you at greater length our discourse concerning the faith, so that, with scriptural proofs, you may come to recognize both the strength of the truth and the rottenness of the heresy.

For we have come to know a man who shows that even in the military life it is possible to preserve the perfection of love toward God, and that a Christian ought to be marked out not by the garb he wears, but by the disposition of his soul.

So then, we met with you at that time with the utmost longing, and now, as often as we call you to mind, we enjoy the greatest delight.

Be courageous, then, and strong, and always be zealous to nourish and multiply your love toward God, so that his supply of good things to you may also advance to something greater.

As for the fact that you remember us also, we need no other proof, having the testimony that comes from the facts themselves.

TO JULITTA, A FREEDWOMAN. I was greatly disheartened upon reading the letter of your nobility, because the same troubles again beset you.

And what is one to do with men who show such a fickle character, saying different things at different times and not abiding by their own agreements? For if, after the promises made in my presence and that of the former prefect, he now, as though nothing had been said, so straitens the time allowed, the man seems to have become altogether shameless toward us.

Nevertheless, I have written to him, putting him to shame and reminding him of his own promises.

I have also written to Helladius, the intimate of the prefect, so that through him the prefect may be informed of your affairs.

For I myself did not think it fitting for me to venture so far as to approach so great a judge directly, since I have not yet written to him concerning any private matter, and I am wary of a certain censure, as you know, since great men easily grow harsh over such things.

If, however, there is to be any benefit, it will come through Helladius, a man both worthy and well disposed toward us, one who fears God and has boundless freedom of speech with the governor.

I was astonished to hear that, forgetting those kind promises befitting your noble freedom, you now bring the most violent and inexorable demand upon this sister, and I do not know what to conjecture from what is reported.

For I am aware of the great generosity attested to you by those who have had experience of it, and I remember the promises you made in my presence and that of so-and-so, saying that you would write down a shorter term but would allow a longer one, wishing to accommodate yourself to the exigency of the matter and to grant indulgence to the freedwoman, who was being compelled to pay out from her household so great a sum all at once.

What, then, the reason is for so great a change, I am unable to understand.

Nevertheless, whatever the reason may be, I entreat you, mindful of your own generosity and looking to the Lord who rewards good intentions, to grant the period of relief which you promised from the beginning, so that they may be able, by selling off their possessions together, to discharge the debt.

I entreat you, then, honor us as well, and gain for yourself a great blessing from the Lord, by recalling your own promises and knowing that you too are a man, and that you yourself must look forward to the times in which you will need the help that comes from God;

which help do not shut off from yourself by your present harshness, but rather prepare for yourself the compassion of God, by showing all kindness and equity toward those who are hard-pressed.

As for this sister, then, who is related to us and is hard-pressed by widowhood and is caring for the affairs of an orphaned child, since I saw her, beyond her strength, beset by unbearable necessities, I was moved to compassion and, being touched in soul, hastened to entreat you that, if it be at all possible, you would deign to cooperate with the man sent by her, so that she, having already fulfilled through us what she promised while managing her own affairs, might be freed from further oppression.

For she promised that, upon paying the principal, the interest would be remitted.

But now those of the heirs who are managing this affair are attempting, even after the principal, to collect the interest as well.

Knowing, then, that it is the Lord who makes the cause of widows and orphans his own, be zealous accordingly to devote yourself to earnest effort on behalf of this matter, in hope of the reward that comes from our God himself.

For I think that the gentleness of the most admirable prefect too, upon learning that the principal has been paid, will have compassion on this now pitiable and wretched household, which has sunk to its knees and can no longer bear the further oppressions being brought upon it from outside.

I beseech you, then, both forgive the necessity for which I have troubled you, and cooperate in this matter according to the power which Christ has given you, who are kind and good in character, and who make good use of what you have received.

As for me, though I have long desired to write and to enjoy the honor that comes from you, I have been restrained by reverence toward one so eminent, fearing lest I should be thought to indulge immoderately in familiarity.

But now, both my having received permission to write from your incomparable Greatness, and at the same time the need of those who are hard-pressed, have together compelled me to take courage.

If, then, there be any power at all in the petitions of the small on behalf of the greatest matters, I entreat you, most admirable one, by a kindly nod to grant salvation to a pitiable rustic populace, and to ordain that for those who inhabit the iron-bearing Taurus the payment of iron be made bearable, so that they may not be worn out all at once, but that their service to the public treasury may endure.

of which we are persuaded that your admirable benevolence is concerned above all else.

Since I saw a friend of mine in great anguish at having been recalled, I made bold to give him this letter, so that, presenting it in place of a supplication, he might obtain some measure of humane treatment.

And surely, even if we ourselves are worthy of no consideration, yet moderation itself is enough to move the most humane of prefects, and to grant pardon for our sake as well, so that, if the man has committed no fault, he may be saved by the truth itself, but if he has indeed sinned, it may be forgiven him for the sake of us who have interceded.

— that I should discharge the debt of an old promise (for I recall having agreed to be present at Sebastea and to enjoy your perfection of character, which indeed I did, but I missed the meeting, arriving a little after your excellency had departed) — and, further, that I should fulfill in my own person the embassy which I had until now hesitated to send, judging myself too small to obtain such a favor, and at the same time reckoning that no one speaking through letters on behalf of anyone, whether to a ruler or a private person, could ever persuade so effectively as one who is present in person, at once clearing him of the charges, at another moment entreating, and at another begging that pardon be granted;

none of which could easily be accomplished by letter.

Setting against all these considerations one thing alone — you, the godly head — and reckoning that it will suffice merely to make known to you the judgment we hold concerning the matter, while you yourself will supply the rest, I did not shrink from the undertaking.

But you see how I go round about it, hesitating and shrinking from disclosing the reason for which I am making this appeal.

For why should one not speak the truth? When we learned the reason from which he has suffered these things, we said that he deserved to suffer thus.

For let there be no one who, having shown neglect, whether small or great, toward your excellence, should escape punishment.

But seeing him living in great fear and dishonor, and his safety hanging upon your verdict, we have judged that he has already had punishment enough, and we beseech you to think of him with both magnanimity and humanity.

— of one who is truly a ruler, and who surpasses all in magnanimity and gentleness by being kind and mild toward those who have fallen.

So that it will be in your power, should you wish, to display in one and the same act both the magnanimity of vengeance and that of saving, just as you desire.

We beseech you to add nothing further to his punishment beyond these things.

For consider this also, that many before now have already become masters over those who have wronged them, yet none of these has had their fame transmitted to later generations;

but those who, by their philosophy, rose above the multitude and let go of their anger — their memory has been handed down as immortal to all of life.

Let this too, then, be added to the accounts told of you.

So too Croesus is said to have let go his anger against the slayer of his son when the man surrendered himself for punishment, and Cyrus the Great is said to have become a friend to this very Croesus after his victory.