Writings of Basil - The Letters
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The Letters
Of Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Cæsaria,
Translated with Notes by
The Rev. Blomfield Jackson, M.A.
Vicar of Saint Bartholomew's, Moor Lane, and Fellow of King's College, London.
Under the editorial supervision of Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Church History in the Union Theological Semimary, New York,
and Henry Wace, D.D., Principal of King's College, London
Published in 1895 by T&T Clark,
Edinburgh
Introduction to the Letters.
Of Saint Basil the extant letters, according to popular ascription,
number three hundred and sixty-six. Of these three hundred and
twenty-five, or, according to some, only three hundred and nineteen
are genuine. They are published in three chronological divisions, the
1st, (Letters 1-46) comprising those written by Basil before his
elevation to the episcopate; the second (47-291) the Letters of the
Episcopate; the third (292-366) those which have no note of time,
together with some that are of doubtful genuineness, and a few
certainly spurious. [1736]They may be classified as (a) historical,
(b) dogmatic, (c) moral and ascetic, (d) disciplinary, (e)
consolatory, (f) commendatory, and (g) familiar. In the historic we
have a vivid picture of his age. The doctrinal are of special value
as expressing and defending the Nicene theology. The moral and
ascetic indicate the growing importance of the monastic institution
which Athanasius at about the same time was instrumental in
recommending to the Latin Church. The disciplinary, (notably 188,
199, and 217), to Amphilochius, illustrate the earlier phases of
ecclesiastical law. The consolatory, commendatory, and familiar, have
an immediate biographical value as indicating the character and faith
of the writer, and may not be without use alike as models of Christian
feeling and good breeding, and as bringing comfort in trouble to
readers remote in time and place. The text in the following
translation is that of Migne's edition, except where it is stated to
the contrary. Of the inadequacy of the notes to illustrate the
letters as they deserve no one can be more vividly conscious than
myself. But the letters tell their own story.
Footnotes
[1736] Fessler, Inst. Pat. i. 518.
Letter I. [1737]
To Eustathius the Philosopher. [1738]
Much distressed as I was by the flouts of what is called fortune, who
always seems to be hindering my meeting you, I was wonderfully cheered
and comforted by your letter, for I had already been turning over in
my mind whether what so many people say is really true, that there is
a certain Necessity or Fate which rules all the events of our lives
both great and small, and that we human beings have control over
nothing; or, that at all events, all human life is driven by a kind of
luck. [1739]You will be very ready to forgive me for these
reflexions, when you learn by what causes I was led to make them.
On hearing of your philosophy, I entertained a feeling of contempt for
the teachers of Athens, and left it. The city on the Hellespont I
passed by, more unmoved than any Ulysses, passing Sirens' songs.
[1740]
Asia [1741] I admired; but I hurried on to the capital of all that is
best in it. When I arrived home, and did not find you,--the prize
which I had sought so eagerly,--there began many and various
unexpected hindrances. First I must miss you because I fell ill; then
when you were setting out for the East I could not start with you;
then, after endless trouble, I reached Syria, but I missed the
philosopher, who had set out for Egypt. Then I must set out for
Egypt, a long and weary way, and even there I did not gain my end.
But so passionate was my longing that I must either set out for
Persia, and proceed with you to the farthest lands of barbarism, (you
had got there; what an obstinate devil possessed me!) or settle here
at Alexandria. This last I did. I really think that unless, like
some tame beast, I had followed a bough held out to me till I was
quite worn out, you would have been driven on and on beyond Indian
Nyssa, [1742] or any more remote region, and wandered about out
there. Why say more?
On returning home, I cannot meet you, hindered by lingering ailments.
If these do not get better I shall not be able to meet you even in the
winter. Is not all this, as you yourself say, due to Fate? Is not
this Necessity? Does not my case nearly outdo poets' tales of
Tantalus? But, as I said, I feel better after getting your letter,
and am now no longer of the same mind. When God gives good things I
think we must thank Him, and not be angry with Him while He is
controlling their distribution. So if He grant me to join you, I
shall think it best and most delightful; if He put me off, I will
gently endure the loss. For He always rules our lives better than we
could choose for ourselves.
Footnotes
[1737] Placed in 357.
[1738] Another ms. reading is "To Eustathius, Presbyter of Antioch."
The Benedictine note is "Eustathius was not a Presbyter, but a
heathen, as is indicated by Basil's words, `Are not these things work
of fate,--of necessity, as you would say?'"
[1739] The word tuche does not occur in the N.T.
[1740] hos oudeis 'Odusseus. The Ben. translation is "citius quam
quisquam Ulysses." But the reason of the escape of Ulysses was not
his speed, but his stopping the ears of his crew with wax and tying
himself to the mast. cf. Hom. Od. xii. 158. The "city on the
Hellespont," is, according to the Ben. note, Constantinople; but
Constantinople is more than 100 m. from the Dardanelles, and Basil
could hardly write so loosely.
[1741] Apparently not the Roman Province of Asia, but what we call
Asia Minor, a name which came into use in Basil's century. The
"metropolis" is supposed to mean Cæsarea.
[1742] Nusios='Indikos. cf. Soph. Aj. 707. Nyssa was in the Punjab.
Letter II. [1743]
Basil to Gregory.
1. [I recognised your letter, as one recognises one's friends'
children from their obvious likeness to their parents. Your saying
that to describe the kind of place I live in, before letting you hear
anything about how I live, would not go far towards persuading you to
share my life, was just like you; it was worthy of a soul like yours,
which makes nothing of all that concerns this life here, in comparison
with the blessedness which is promised us hereafter. What I do
myself, day and night, in this remote spot, I am ashamed to write. I
have abandoned my life in town, as one sure to lead to countless ills;
but I have not yet been able to get quit of myself. I am like
travellers at sea, who have never gone a voyage before, and are
distressed and seasick, who quarrel with the ship because it is so big
and makes such a tossing, and, when they get out of it into the
pinnace or dingey, are everywhere and always seasick and distressed.
Wherever they go their nausea and misery go with them. My state is
something like this. I carry my own troubles with me, and so
everywhere I am in the midst of similar discomforts. So in the end I
have not got much good out of my solitude. What I ought to have done;
what would have enabled me to keep close to the footprints of Him who
has led the way to salvation--for He says, "If any one will come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me" [1744]
--is this.]
2. We must strive after a quiet mind. As well might the eye
ascertain an object put before it while it is wandering restless up
and down and sideways, without fixing a steady gaze upon it, as a
mind, distracted by a thousand worldly cares, be able clearly to
apprehend the truth. He who is not yet yoked in the bonds of
matrimony is harassed by frenzied cravings, and rebellious impulses,
and hopeless attachments; he who has found his mate is encompassed
with his own tumult of cares; if he is childless, there is desire for
children; has he children? anxiety about their education, attention to
his wife, [1745] care of his house, oversight of his servants, [1746]
misfortunes in trade, quarrels with his neighbours, lawsuits, the
risks of the merchant, the toil of the farmer. Each day, as it comes,
darkens the soul in its own way; and night after night takes up the
day's anxieties, and cheats the mind with illusions in accordance.
Now one way of escaping all this is separation from the whole world;
that is, not bodily separation, but the severance of the soul's
sympathy with the body, and to live so without city, home, goods,
society, possessions, means of life, business, engagements, human
learning, that the heart may readily receive every impress of divine
doctrine. Preparation of heart is the unlearning the prejudices of
evil converse. It is the smoothing the waxen tablet before attempting
to write on it. [1747]
Now solitude is of the greatest use for this purpose, inasmuch as it
stills our passions, and gives room for principle to cut them out of
the soul. [1748][For just as animals are more easily controlled
when they are stroked, lust and anger, fear and sorrow, the soul's
deadly foes, are better brought under the control of reason, after
being calmed by inaction, and where there is no continuous
stimulation.] Let there then be such a place as ours, separate from
intercourse with men, that the tenour of our exercises be not
interrupted from without. Pious exercises nourish the soul with
divine thoughts. What state can be more blessed than to imitate on
earth the choruses of angels? to begin the day with prayer, and honour
our Maker with hymns and songs? As the day brightens, to betake
ourselves, with prayer attending on it throughout, to our labours, and
to sweeten [1749] our work with hymns, as if with salt? Soothing
hymns compose the mind to a cheerful and calm state. Quiet, then, as
I have said, is the first step in our sanctification; the tongue
purified from the gossip of the world; the eyes unexcited by fair
colour or comely shape; the ear not relaxing the tone or mind by
voluptuous songs, nor by that especial mischief, the talk of light men
and jesters. Thus the mind, saved from dissipation from without, and
not through the senses thrown upon the world, falls back upon itself,
and thereby ascends to the contemplation of God. [When [1750] that
beauty shines about it, it even forgets its very nature; it is dragged
down no more by thought of food nor anxiety concerning dress; it keeps
holiday from earthly cares, and devotes all its energies to the
acquisition of the good things which are eternal, and asks only how
may be made to flourish in it self-control and manly courage,
righteousness and wisdom, and all the other virtues, which,
distributed under these heads, properly enable the good man to
discharge all the duties of life.]
3. The study of inspired Scripture is the chief way of finding our
duty, for in it we find both instruction about conduct and the lives
of blessed men, delivered in writing, as some breathing images of
godly living, for the imitation of their good works. Hence, in
whatever respect each one feels himself deficient, devoting himself to
this imitation, he finds, as from some dispensary, the due medicine
for his ailment. He who is enamoured of chastity dwells upon the
history of Joseph, and from him learns chaste actions, finding him not
only possessed of self-command over pleasure, but virtuously-minded in
habit. He is taught endurance by Job [who, [1751] not only when the
circumstances of life began to turn against him, and in one moment he
was plunged from wealth into penury, and from being the father of fair
children into childlessness, remained the same, keeping the
disposition of his soul all through uncrushed, but was not even
stirred to anger against the friends who came to comfort him, and
trampled on him, and aggravated his troubles.] Or should he be
enquiring how to be at once meek and great-hearted, hearty against
sin, meek towards men, he will find David noble in warlike exploits,
meek and unruffled as regards revenge on enemies. Such, too, was
Moses rising up with great heart upon sinners against God, but with
meek soul bearing their evil-speaking against himself. [Thus, [1752]
generally, as painters, when they are painting from other pictures,
constantly look at the model, and do their best to transfer its
lineaments to their own work, so too must he who is desirous of
rendering himself perfect in all branches of excellency, keep his eyes
turned to the lives of the saints as though to living and moving
statues, and make their virtue his own by imitation.
4. Prayers, too, after reading, find the soul fresher, and more
vigorously stirred by love towards God. And that prayer is good which
imprints a clear idea of God in the soul; and the having God
established in self by means of memory is God's indwelling. Thus we
become God's temple, when the continuity of our recollection is not
severed by earthly cares; when the mind is harassed by no sudden
sensations; when the worshipper flees from all things and retreats to
God, drawing away all the feelings that invite him to self-indulgence,
and passes his time in the pursuits that lead to virtue.]
5. This, too, is a very important point to attend to,--knowledge how
to converse; to interrogate without over-earnestness; to answer
without desire of display; not to interrupt a profitable speaker, or
to desire ambitiously to put in a word of one's own; to be measured in
speaking and hearing; not to be ashamed of receiving, or to be
grudging in giving information, nor to pass another's knowledge for
one's own, as depraved women their supposititious children, but to
refer it candidly to the true parent. The middle tone of voice is
best, neither so low as to be inaudible, nor to be ill-bred from its
high pitch. One should reflect first what one is going to say, and
then give it utterance: be courteous when addressed; amiable in
social intercourse; not aiming to be pleasant by facetiousness, but
cultivating gentleness in kind admonitions. Harshness is ever to be
put aside, even in censuring. [1753][The more you shew modesty and
humility yourself, the more likely are you to be acceptable to the
patient who needs your treatment. There are however many occasions
when we shall do well to employ the kind of rebuke used by the prophet
who did not in his own person utter the sentence of condemnation on
David after his sin, but by suggesting an imaginary character made the
sinner judge of his own sin, so that, after passing his own sentence,
he could not find fault with the seer who had convicted him. [1754]
6. From the humble and submissive spirit comes an eye sorrowful and
downcast, appearance neglected, hair rough, dress dirty; [1755] so
that the appearance which mourners take pains to present may appear
our natural condition. The tunic should be fastened to the body by a
girdle, the belt not going above the flank, like a woman's, nor left
slack, so that the tunic flows loose, like an idler's. The gait ought
not to be sluggish, which shews a character without energy, nor on the
other hand pushing and pompous, as though our impulses were rash and
wild. The one end of dress is that it should be a sufficient covering
alike in winter and summer. As to colour, avoid brightness; in
material, the soft and delicate. To aim at bright colours in dress is
like women's beautifying when they colour cheeks and hair with hues
other than their own. The tunic ought to be thick enough not to want
other help to keep the wearer warm. The shoes should be cheap but
serviceable. In a word, what one has to regard in dress is the
necessary. So too as to food; for a man in good health bread will
suffice, and water will quench thirst; such dishes of vegetables may
be added as conduce to strengthening the body for the discharge of its
functions. One ought not to eat with any exhibition of savage
gluttony, but in everything that concerns our pleasures to maintain
moderation, quiet, and self-control; and, all through, not to let the
mind forget to think of God, but to make even the nature of our food,
and the constitution of the body that takes it, a ground and means for
offering Him the glory, bethinking us how the various kinds of food,
suitable to the needs of our bodies, are due to the provision of the
great Steward of the Universe. Before meat let grace be said, in
recognition alike of the gifts which God gives now, and which He keeps
in store for time to come. Say grace after meat in gratitude for
gifts given and petition for gifts promised. Let there be one fixed
hour for taking food, always the same in regular course, that of all
the four and twenty of the day and night barely this one may be spent
upon the body. The rest the ascetic [1756] ought to spend in mental
exercise. Let sleep be light and easily interrupted, as naturally
happens after a light diet; it should be purposely broken by thoughts
about great themes. To be overcome by heavy torpor, with limbs
unstrung, so that a way is readily opened to wild fancies, is to be
plunged in daily death. What dawn is to some this midnight is to
athletes of piety; then the silence of night gives leisure to their
soul; no noxious sounds or sights obtrude upon their hearts; the mind
is alone with itself and God, correcting itself by the recollection of
its sins, giving itself precepts to help it to shun evil, and
imploring aid from God for the perfecting of what it longs for.]
Footnotes
[1743] Placed circa 358, on Basil's retiring to Pontus. Translated in
part by Newman, The Church of the Fathers, p. 131, ed. 1840. With the
exception of the passages in brackets [], the version in the text is
that of Newman.
[1744] Matt. xvi. 24.
[1745] gunaikos phulake, rather "guardianship of his wife."
[1746] oiketon prostasiai, rather "protection of his servants."
[1747] Rather "for just as it is impossible to write on the wax
without previously erasing the marks on it, so is it impossible to
communicate divine doctrines to the soul without removing from it its
preconceived and habitual notions."
[1748] The following paragraph is altogether omitted by Newman.
[1749] Rather "season."
[1750] Omitted by Newman.
[1751] Clause omitted by Newman.
[1752] Omitted by Newman.
[1753] Here Newman notes that Basil seems sometimes to have fallen
short of his own ideal. His translation ends at this point.
[1754] Basil's admirable little summary of the main principles of
conversation may have been suggested by the recollection of many well
known writers. On such a subject no wide reader could be original.
cf. inter alios, the akoue polla lalei d' olina of Bias; the glotta me
protrecheto tou nou of Pittacus. Aulus Gellius (Noct. Att. i. 15),
referring to the Glosses toi thesauros en anthropoisin aristos
Pheidoles pleiste de charis kata metron iouses of Hesiod, says:
"Hesiodus poetarum prudentissimus linguam non vulgandam sed
recondendam esse dicit, perinde ut thesaurum. Ejusque esse in
promendo gratiam plurimam, si modesta et parca et modulata sit." On
the desirability of gentleness in blame, cf. Ambrose, In Lucam.:
"Plus proficit amica correctio quam accusatio turbulenta: illa
pudorem incutit, hæc indignationem movet."
[1755] This was the mark of the old heathen philosophers. cf.
Aristoph., Birds 1282, errupon esokraton.
[1756] asketes, firstly an artisan, came to=athletes, and by
ecclesiastical writers is used for hermit or monk. The eremites, or
desert dweller, lives either in retreat as an anchoret, or solitary,
monachos, whence "monk;" or in common with others, in a koinobion, as
a "coenobite." All would be asketai.
Letter III. [1757]
To Candidianus. [1758]
1. When I took your letter into my hand, I underwent an experience
worth telling. I looked at it with the awe due to a document making
some state announcement, and as I was breaking the wax, I felt a dread
greater than ever guilty Spartan felt at sight of the Laconian
scytale. [1759]
When, however, I had opened the letter, and read it through, I could
not help laughing, partly for joy at finding nothing alarming in it;
partly because I likened your state of affairs to that of
Demosthenes. Demosthenes, you remember, when he was providing for a
certain little company of chorus dancers and musicians, requested to
be styled no longer Demosthenes, but "choragus." [1760]You are
always the same, whether playing the "choragus" or not. "Choragus"
you are indeed to soldiers myriads more in number than the individuals
to whom Demosthenes supplied necessaries; and yet you do not when you
write to me stand on your dignity, but keep up the old style. You do
not give up the study of literature, but, as Plato [1761] has it, in
the midst of the storm and tempest of affairs, you stand aloof, as it
were, under some strong wall, and keep your mind clear of all
disturbance; nay, more, as far as in you lies, you do not even let
others be disturbed. Such is your life; great and wonderful to all
who have eyes to see; and yet not wonderful to any one who judges by
the whole purpose of your life.
Now let me tell my own story, extraordinary indeed, but only what
might have been expected.
2. One of the hinds who live with us here at Annesi, [1762] on the
death of my servant, without alleging any breach of contract with him,
without approaching me, without making any complaint, without asking
me to make him any voluntary payment, without any threat of violence
should he fail to get it, all on a sudden, with certain mad fellows
like himself, attacked my house, brutally assaulted the women who were
in charge of it, broke in the doors, and after appropriating some of
the contents himself, and promising the rest to any one who liked,
carried off everything. I do not wish to be regarded as the ne plus
ultra of helplessness, and a suitable object for the violence of any
one who likes to attack me. Shew me, then, now, I beg you, that
kindly interest which you have always shewn in my affairs. Only on
one condition can my tranquillity be secured,--that I be assured of
having your energy on my side. It would be quite punishment enough,
from my point of view, if the man were apprehended by the district
magistrate and locked up for a short period in the gaol. It is not
only that I am indignant at the treatment I have suffered, but I want
security for the future.
Footnotes
[1757] Placed at the beginning of the retreat in Pontus.
[1758] A governor of Cappadocia, friendly to Basil and to Gregory of
Nazianzus. (cf. Greg., Ep. cxciv.)
[1759] i.e. the staff or baton used at Sparta for dispatches. The
strip of leather on which the communication was to be made is said to
have been rolled slantwise round it, and the message was then written
lengthwise. The correspondent was said to have a staff of a size
exactly corresponding, and so by rewinding the strip could read what
was written. Vide Aulus Gellius xvii. 9.
[1760] Plutarch pol. parang xxii. e to tou Demosthenous hoti nun ouk
esti Demosthenes alla kai thesmothetes e choregos e stephanephoros.
[1761] Rep. vi. 10. hoion en cheimoni koniortou kai zales hupo
pneumatos pheromenou hupo teichion apostas.
[1762] Vide Prolegomena.
Letter IV. [1763]
To Olympius. [1764]
What do you mean, my dear Sir, by evicting from our retreat my dear
friend and nurse of philosophy, Poverty? Were she but gifted with
speech, I take it you would have to appear as defendant in an action
for unlawful ejectment. She might plead "I chose to live with this
man Basil, an admirer of Zeno, [1765] who, when he had lost everything
in a shipwreck, cried, with great fortitude, `well done, Fortune! you
are reducing me to the old cloak;' [1766] a great admirer of
Cleanthes, who by drawing water from the well got enough to live on
and pay his tutors' fees as well; [1767] an immense admirer of
Diogenes, who prided himself on requiring no more than was absolutely
necessary, and flung away his bowl after he had learned from some lad
to stoop down and drink from the hollow of his hand." In some such
terms as these you might be chidden by my dear mate Poverty, whom your
presents have driven from house and home. She might too add a threat;
"if I catch you here again, I shall shew that what went before was
Sicilian or Italian luxury: so I shall exactly requite you out of my
own store."
But enough of this. I am very glad that you have already begun a
course of medicine, and pray that you may be benefited by it. A
condition of body fit for painless activity would well become so pious
a soul.
Footnotes
[1763] Placed about 358. Olympius sends Basil a present in his
retreat, and he playfully remonstrates.
[1764] cf. Letters xii., xiii., lxiii., lxiv., and ccxi.
[1765] The founder of the Stoic school.
[1766] The tribon, dim. tribonion, or worn cloak, was emblematic of
the philosopher and later of the monk, as now the cowl. cf. Lucian,
Pereg. 15, and Synesius, Ep. 147.
[1767] Cleanthes, the Lydian Stoic, was hence called phreantlos, or
well drawer. On him vide Val. Max. viii. 7 and Sen., Ep. 44.
Letter V. [1768]
To Nectarius. [1769]
1. I heard of your unendurable loss, and was much distressed. Three
or four days went by, and I was still in some doubt because my
informant was not able to give me any clear details of the melancholy
event. While I was incredulous about what was noised abroad, because
I prayed that it might not be true, I received a letter from the
Bishop fully confirming the unhappy tidings. I need not tell you how
I sighed and wept. Who could be so stony-hearted, so truly inhuman,
as to be insensible to what has occurred, or be affected by merely
moderate grief? He is gone; heir of a noble house, prop of a family,
a father's hope, offspring of pious parents, nursed with innumerable
prayers, in the very bloom of manhood, torn from his father's hands.
These things are enough to break a heart of adamant and make it feel.
It is only natural then that I am deeply touched at this trouble; I
who have been intimately connected with you from the beginning and
have made your joys and sorrows mine. But yesterday it seemed that
you had only little to trouble you, and that your life's stream was
flowing prosperously on. In a moment, by a demon's malice, [1770] all
the happiness of the house, all the brightness of life, is destroyed,
and our lives are made a doleful story. If we wish to lament and weep
over what has happened, a lifetime will not be enough and if all
mankind mourns with us they will be powerless to make their
lamentation match our loss. Yes, if all the streams run tears [1771]
they will not adequately weep our woe.
2. But we mean,--do we not?--to bring out the gift which God has
stored in our hearts; I mean that sober reason which in our happy days
is wont to draw lines of limitation round our souls, and when troubles
come about us to recall to our minds that we are but men, and to
suggest to us, what indeed we have seen and heard, that life is full
of similar misfortunes, and that the examples of human sufferings are
not a few. Above all, this will tell us that it is God's command that
we who trust in Christ should not grieve over them who are fallen
asleep, because we hope in the resurrection; and that in reward for
great patience great crowns of glory are kept in store by the Master
of life's course. Only let us allow our wiser thoughts to speak to us
in this strain of music, and we may peradventure discover some slight
alleviation of our trouble. Play the man, then, I implore you; the
blow is a heavy one, but stand firm; do not fall under the weight of
your grief; do not lose heart. Be perfectly assured of this, that
though the reasons for what is ordained by God are beyond us, yet
always what is arranged for us by Him Who is wise and Who loves us is
to be accepted, be it ever so grievous to endure. He Himself knows
how He is appointing what is best for each and why the terms of life
that He fixes for us are unequal. There exists some reason
incomprehensible to man why some are sooner carried far away from us,
and some are left a longer while behind to bear the burdens of this
painful life. So we ought always to adore His loving kindness, and
not to repine, remembering those great and famous words of the great
athlete Job, when he had seen ten children at one table, in one short
moment, crushed to death, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken
away." [1772]As the Lord thought good so it came to pass. Let us
adopt those marvellous words. At the hands of the righteous Judge,
they who show like good deeds shall receive a like reward. We have
not lost the lad; we have restored him to the Lender. His life is not
destroyed; it is changed for the better. He whom we love is not
hidden in the ground; he is received into heaven. Let us wait a
little while, and we shall be once more with him. The time of our
separation is not long, for in this life we are all like travellers on
a journey, hastening on to the same shelter. While one has reached
his rest another arrives, another hurries on, but one and the same end
awaits them all. He has outstripped us on the way, but we shall all
travel the same road, and the same hostelry awaits us all. God only
grant that we through goodness may be likened to his purity, to the
end that for the sake of our guilelessness of life we may attain the
rest which is granted to them that are children in Christ.
Footnotes
[1768] Placed about 358.
[1769] cf. Letter 290. The identification of the two Nectarii is
conjectural. "Tillemont is inclined to identify Basil's correspondent
with the future bishop of Constantinople, but without sufficient
grounds." D.C.B. see.
[1770] cf. Luke xiii. 16 and 2 Cor. xii. 7.
[1771] cf. Lam. ii. 18.
[1772] Job i. 21.
Letter VI. [1773]
To the wife of Nectarius.
1. I hesitated to address your excellency, from the idea that, just
as to the eye when inflamed even the mildest of remedies causes pain,
so to a soul distressed by heavy sorrow, words offered in the moment
of agony, even though they do bring much comfort, seem to be somewhat
out of place. But I bethought me that I should be speaking to a
Christian woman, who has long ago learned godly lessons, and is not
inexperienced in the vicissitudes of human life, and I judged it right
not to neglect the duty laid upon me. I know what a mother's heart
is, [1774] and when I remember how good and gentle you are to all, I
can reckon the probable extent of your misery at this present time.
You have lost a son whom, while he was alive, all mothers called
happy, with prayers that their own might be like him, and on his death
bewailed, as though each had hidden her own in the grave. His death
is a blow to two provinces, both to mine and to Cilicia. With him has
fallen a great and illustrious race, dashed to the ground as by the
withdrawal of a prop. Alas for the mighty mischief that the contact
with an evil demon was able to wreak! Earth, what a calamity thou
hast been compelled to sustain! If the sun had any feeling one would
think he might have shuddered at so sad a sight. Who could utter all
that the spirit in its helplessness would have said?
2. But our lives are not without a Providence. So we have learnt in
the Gospel, for not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of
our Father. [1775]Whatever has come to pass has come to pass by the
will of our Creator. And who can resist God's will? Let us accept
what has befallen us; for if we take it ill we do not mend the past
and we work our own ruin. Do not let us arraign the righteous
judgment of God. We are all too untaught to assail His ineffable
sentences. The Lord is now making trial of your love for Him. Now
there is an opportunity for you, through your patience, to take the
martyr's lot. The mother of the Maccabees [1776] saw the death of
seven sons without a sigh, without even shedding one unworthy tear.
She gave thanks to God for seeing them freed from the fetters of the
flesh by fire and steel and cruel blows, and she won praise from God,
and fame among men. The loss is great, as I can say myself; but great
too are the rewards laid up by the Lord for the patient. When first
you were made a mother, and saw your boy, and thanked God, you knew
all the while that, a mortal yourself, you had given birth to a
mortal. What is there astonishing in the death of a mortal? But we
are grieved at his dying before his time. Are we sure that this was
not his time? We do not know how to pick and choose what is good for
our souls, or how to fix the limits of the life of man. Look round at
all the world in which you live; remember that everything you see is
mortal, and all subject to corruption. Look up to heaven; even it
shall be dissolved; look at the sun, not even the sun will last for
ever. All the stars together, all living things of land and sea, all
that is fair on earth, aye, earth itself, all are subject to decay;
yet a little while and all shall be no more. Let these considerations
be some comfort to you in your trouble. Do not measure your loss by
itself; if you do it will seem intolerable; but if you take all human
affairs into account you will find that some comfort is to be derived
from them. Above all, one thing I would strongly urge; spare your
husband. Be a comfort to others. Do not make his trouble harder to
bear by wearing yourself away with sorrow. Mere words I know cannot
give comfort. Just now what is wanted is prayer; and I do pray the
Lord Himself to touch your heart by His unspeakable power, and through
good thoughts to cause light to shine upon your soul, that you may
have a source of consolation in yourself.
Footnotes
[1773] To be placed with Letter V.
[1774] i.e.from his knowledge of what Emmelia had been to him. Yet to
the celibate the wife of Nectarius might have anticipated the well
known retort of Constance to Pandulph in King John.
[1775] Matt. x. 29.
[1776] 2 Mac. vii.
Letter VII. [1777]
To Gregory my friend. [1778]
When I wrote to you, I was perfectly well aware that no theological
term is adequate to the thought of the speaker, or the want of the
questioner, because language is of natural necessity too weak to act
in the service of objects of thought. If then our thought is weak,
and our tongue weaker than our thought, what was to be expected of me
in what I said but that I should be charged with poverty of
expression? Still, it was not possible to let your question pass
unnoticed. It looks like a betrayal, if we do not readily give an
answer about God to them that love the Lord. What has been said,
however, whether it seems satisfactory, or requires some further and
more careful addition, needs a fit season for correction. For the
present I implore you, as I have implored you before, to devote
yourself entirely to the advocacy of the truth, and to the
intellectual energies God gives you for the establishment of what is
good. With this be content, and ask nothing more from me. I am
really much less capable than is supposed, and am more likely to do
harm to the word by my weakness than to add strength to the truth by
my advocacy.
Footnotes
[1777] Written from the retirement in Pontus.
[1778] i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus.
Letter VIII. [1779]
To the Cæsareans. A defence of his withdrawal, and concerning the
faith.
1. I have often been astonished at your feeling towards me as you do,
and how it comes about that an individual so small and insignificant,
and having, may be, very little that is lovable about him, should have
so won your allegiance. You remind me of the claims of friendship and
of fatherland, [1780] and press me urgently in your attempt to make me
come back to you, as though I were a runaway from a father's heart and
home. That I am a runaway I confess. I should be sorry to deny it;
since you are already regretting me, you shall be told the cause. I
was astounded like a man stunned by some sudden noise. I did not
crush my thoughts, but dwelt upon them as I fled, and now I have been
absent from you a considerable time. Then I began to yearn for the
divine doctrines, and the philosophy that is concerned with them.
How, said I, could I overcome the mischief dwelling with us? Who is
to be my Laban, setting me free from Esau, and leading me to the
supreme philosophy? By God's help, I have, so far as in me lies,
attained my object; I have found a chosen vessel, a deep well; I mean
Gregory, Christ's mouth. Give me, therefore, I beg you, a little
time. I am not embracing a city life. [1781]I am quite well aware
how the evil one by such means devises deceit for mankind, but I do
hold the society of the saints most useful. For in the more constant
change of ideas about the divine dogmas I am acquiring a lasting habit
of contemplation. Such is my present situation.
2. Friends godly and well beloved, do, I implore you, beware of the
shepherds of the Philistines; let them not choke your wills unawares;
let them not befoul the purity of your knowledge of the faith. This
is ever their object, not to teach simple souls lessons drawn from
Holy Scripture, but to mar the harmony of the truth by heathen
philosophy. Is not he an open Philistine who is introducing the terms
"unbegotten" and "begotten" into our faith, and asserts that there was
once a time when the Everlasting was not; [1782] that He who is by
nature and eternally a Father became a Father; that the Holy Ghost is
not eternal? He bewitches our Patriarch's sheep that they may not
drink "of the well of water springing up into everlasting life,"
[1783] but may rather bring upon themselves the words of the prophet,
"They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them
out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water;" [1784] when
all the while they ought to confess that the Father is God, the Son
God, and the Holy Ghost God, [1785] as they have been taught by the
divine words, and by those who have understood them in their highest
sense. Against those who cast it in our teeth that we are Tritheists,
let it be answered that we confess one God not in number but in
nature. For everything which is called one in number is not one
absolutely, nor yet simple in nature; but God is universally confessed
to be simple and not composite. God therefore is not one in number.
What I mean is this. We say that the world is one in number, but not
one by nature nor yet simple; for we divide it into its constituent
elements, fire, water, air, and earth. [1786]Again, man is called
one in number. We frequently speak of one man, but man who is
composed of body and soul is not simple. Similarly we say one angel
in number, but not one by nature nor yet simple, for we conceive of
the hypostasis of the angel as essence with sanctification. If
therefore everything which is one in number is not one in nature, and
that which is one and simple in nature is not one in number; and if we
call God one in nature how can number be charged against us, when we
utterly exclude it from that blessed and spiritual nature? Number
relates to quantity; and quantity is conjoined with bodily nature, for
number is of bodily nature. We believe our Lord to be Creator of
bodies. Wherefore every number indicates those things which have
received a material and circumscribed nature. Monad and Unity on the
other hand signify the nature which is simple and incomprehensible.
Whoever therefore confesses either the Son of God or the Holy Ghost to
be number or creature introduces unawares a material and circumscribed
nature. And by circumscribed I mean not only locally limited, but a
nature which is comprehended in foreknowledge by Him who is about to
educe it from the non-existent into the existent and which can be
comprehended by science. Every holy thing then of which the nature is
circumscribed and of which the holiness is acquired is not
insusceptible of evil. But the Son and the Holy Ghost are the source
of sanctification by which every reasonable creature is hallowed in
proportion to its virtue.
3. We in accordance with the true doctrine speak of the Son as
neither like, [1787] nor unlike [1788] the Father. Each of these
terms is equally impossible, for like and unlike are predicated in
relation to quality, and the divine is free from quality. We, on the
contrary, confess identity of nature and accepting the
consubstantiality, and rejecting the composition of the Father, God in
substance, Who begat the Son, God in substance. From this the
consubstantiality [1789] is proved. For God in essence or substance
is co-essential or con-substantial with God in essence or substance.
But when even man is called "god" as in the words, "I have said ye are
gods," [1790] and "dæmon" as in the words, "The gods of the nations
are dæmons," [1791] in the former case the name is given by favour, in
the latter untruly. God alone is substantially and essentially God.
When I say "alone" I set forth the holy and uncreated essence and
substance of God. For the word "alone" is used in the case of any
individual and generally of human nature. In the case of an
individual, as for instance of Paul, that he alone was caught into the
third heaven and "heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a
man to utter," [1792] and of human nature, as when David says, "as for
man his days are as grass," [1793] not meaning any particular man, but
human nature generally; for every man is short-lived and mortal. So
we understand these words to be said of the nature, "who alone hath
immortality" [1794] and "to God only wise," [1795] and "none is good
save one, that is God," [1796] for here "one" means the same as
alone. So also, "which alone spreadest out the heavens," [1797] and
again "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou
serve." [1798]"There is no God beside me." [1799]In Scripture
"one" and "only" are not predicated of God to mark distinction from
the Son and the Holy Ghost, but to except the unreal gods falsely so
called. As for instance, "The Lord alone did lead them and there was
no strange god with them," [1800] and "then the children of Israel did
put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and did serve the Lord only." [1801]
And so St. Paul, "For as there be gods many and lords many, but to us
there is but one god, the Father, of whom are all things; and one Lord
Jesus Christ by Whom are all things." [1802]Here we enquire why
when he had said "one God" he was not content, for we have said that
"one" and "only" when applied to God, indicate nature. Why did he add
the word Father and make mention of Christ? Paul, a chosen vessel,
did not, I imagine, think it sufficient only to preach that the Son is
God and the Holy Ghost God, which he had expressed by the phrase "one
God," without, by the further addition of "the Father," expressing Him
of Whom are all things; and, by mentioning the Lord, signifying the
Word by Whom are all things; and yet further, by adding the words
Jesus Christ, announcing the incarnation, setting forth the passion
and publishing the resurrection. For the word Jesus Christ suggests
all these ideas to us. For this reason too before His passion our
Lord deprecates the designation of "Jesus Christ," and charges His
disciples to "tell no man that He was Jesus, the Christ." [1803]For
His purpose was, after the completion of the oeconomy, [1804] after
His resurrection from the dead, and His assumption into heaven, to
commit to them the preaching of Him as Jesus, the Christ. Such is the
force of the words "That they may know Thee the only true God and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent," [1805] and again "Ye believe in
God, believe also in me." [1806]Everywhere the Holy Ghost secures
our conception of Him to save us from falling in one direction while
we advance in the other, heeding the theology but neglecting the
oeconomy, [1807] and so by omission falling into impiety.
4. Now let us examine, and to the best of our ability explain, the
meaning of the words of Holy Scripture, which our opponents seize and
wrest to their own sense, and urge against us for the destruction of
the glory of the Only-begotten. First of all take the words "I live
because of the Father," [1808] for this is one of the shafts hurled
heavenward by those who impiously use it. These words I do not
understand to refer to the eternal life; for whatever lives because of
something else cannot be self-existent, just as that which is warmed
by another cannot be warmth itself; but He Who is our Christ and God
says, "I am the life." [1809]I understand the life lived because of
the Father to be this life in the flesh, and in this time. Of His own
will He came to live the life of men. He did not say "I have lived
because of the Father," but "I live because of the Father," clearly
indicating the present time, and the Christ, having the word of God in
Himself, is able to call the life which He leads, life, and that this
is His meaning we shall learn from what follows. "He that eateth me,"
He says, "he also shall live because of me;" [1810] for we eat His
flesh, and drink His blood, being made through His incarnation and His
visible life partakers of His Word and of His Wisdom. For all His
mystic sojourn among us He called flesh and blood, and set forth the
teaching consisting of practical science, of physics, and of theology,
whereby our soul is nourished and is meanwhile trained for the
contemplation of actual realities. This is perhaps the intended
meaning of what He says. [1811]
5. And again, "My Father is greater than I." [1812]This passage is
also employed by the ungrateful creatures, the brood of the evil one.
I believe that even from this passage the consubstantiality of the Son
with the Father is set forth. For I know that comparisons may
properly be made between things which are of the same nature. We
speak of angel as greater than angel, of man as juster than man, of
bird as fleeter than bird. If then comparisons are made between
things of the same species, and the Father by comparison is said to be
greater than the Son, then the Son is of the same substance as the
Father. But there is another sense underlying the expression. In
what is it extraordinary that He who "is the Word and was made flesh"
[1813] confesses His Father to be greater than Himself, when He was
seen in glory inferior to the angels, and in form to men? For "Thou
hast made him a little lower than the angels," [1814] and again "Who
was made a little lower than the angels," [1815] and "we saw Him and
He had neither form nor comeliness, his form was deficient beyond all
men." [1816]All this He endured on account of His abundant loving
kindness towards His work, that He might save the lost sheep and bring
it home when He had saved it, and bring back safe and sound to his own
land the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and so fell among
thieves. [1817]Will the heretic cast in His teeth the manger out of
which he in his unreasonableness was fed by the Word of reason? Will
he, because the carpenter's son had no bed to lie on, complain of His
being poor? This is why the Son is less than the Father; for your
sakes He was made dead to free you from death and make you sharer in
heavenly life. It is just as though any one were to find fault with
the physician for stooping to sickness, and breathing its foul breath,
that he may heal the sick.
6. It is on thy account that He knows not the hour and the day of
judgment. Yet nothing is beyond the ken of the real Wisdom, for "all
things were made by Him;" [1818] and even among men no one is ignorant
of what he has made. But this is His dispensation [1819] because of
thine own infirmity, that sinners be not plunged into despair by the
narrow limits of the appointed period, [1820] no opportunity for
repentance being left them; and that, on the other hand, those who are
waging a long war with the forces of the enemy may not desert their
post on account of the protracted time. For both of these classes He
arranges [1821] by means of His assumed ignorance; for the former
cutting the time short for their glorious struggle's sake; for the
latter providing an opportunity for repentance because of their sins.
In the gospels He numbered Himself among the ignorant, on account, as
I have said, of the infirmity of the greater part of mankind. In the
Acts of the Apostles, speaking, as it were, to the perfect apart, He
says, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the
Father hath put in His own power." [1822]Here He implicitly excepts
Himself. So much for a rough statement by way of preliminary attack.
Now let us enquire into the meaning of the text from a higher point of
view. Let me knock at the door of knowledge, if haply I may wake the
Master of the house, Who gives the spiritual bread to them who ask
Him, since they whom we are eager to entertain are friends and
brothers.
7. Our Saviour's holy disciples, after getting beyond the limits of
human thought, and then being purified by the word, [1823] are
enquiring about the end, and longing to know the ultimate blessedness
which our Lord declared to be unknown to His angels and to Himself.
He calls all the exact comprehension of the purposes of God, a day;
and the contemplation of the One-ness and Unity, knowledge of which He
attributes to the Father alone, an hour. I apprehend, therefore, that
God is said to know of Himself what is; and not to know what is not;
God, Who is, of His own nature, very righteousness and wisdom, is said
to know righteousness and wisdom; but to be ignorant of
unrighteousness and wickedness; for God who created us is not
unrighteousness and wickedness. If, then, God is said to know about
Himself that which is, and not to know that which is not; and if our
Lord, according to the purpose of the Incarnation and the denser
doctrine, is not the ultimate object of desire; then our Saviour does
not know the end and the ultimate blessedness. But He says the angels
do not know; [1824] that is to say, not even the contemplation which
is in them, nor the methods of their ministries are the ultimate
object of desire. For even their knowledge, when compared with the
knowledge which is face to face, is dense. [1825]Only the Father,
He says, knows, since He is Himself the end and the ultimate
blessedness, for when we no longer know God in mirrors and not
immediately, [1826] but approach Him as one and alone, then we shall
know even the ultimate end. For all material knowledge is said to be
the kingdom of Christ; while immaterial knowledge, and so to say the
knowledge of actual Godhead, is that of God the Father. But our Lord
is also Himself the end and the ultimate blessedness according to the
purpose of the Word; for what does He say in the Gospel? "I will
raise him up at the last day." [1827]He calls the transition from
material knowledge to immaterial contemplation a resurrection,
speaking of that knowledge after which there is no other, as the last
day: for our intelligence is raised up and roused to a height of
blessedness at the time when it contemplates the One-ness and Unity of
the Word. But since our intelligence is made dense and bound to
earth, it is both commingled with clay and incapable of gazing
intently in pure contemplation, being led through adornments [1828]
cognate to its own body. It considers the operations of the Creator,
and judges of them meanwhile by their effects, to the end that growing
little by little it may one day wax strong enough to approach even the
actual unveiled Godhead. This is the meaning, I think, of the words
"my Father is greater than I," [1829] and also of the statement, "It
is not mine to give save to those for whom it is prepared by my
Father." [1830]This too is what is meant by Christ's "delivering up
the kingdom to God even the Father;" [1831] inasmuch as according to
the denser doctrine which, as I said, is regarded relatively to us and
not to the Son Himself, He is not the end but the first fruits. It is
in accordance with this view that when His disciples asked Him again
in the Acts of the Apostles, "When wilt thou restore the kingdom of
Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or the
seasons which the Father hath put in His own power." [1832]That is
to say, the knowledge of such a kingdom is not for them that are bound
in flesh and blood. This contemplation the Father hath put away in
His own power, meaning by "power" those that are empowered, and by
"His own" those who are not held down by the ignorance of things
below. Do not, I beg you, have in mind times and seasons of sense but
certain distinctions of knowledge made by the sun apprehended by
mental perception. For our Lord's prayer must be carried out. It is
Jesus Who prayed "Grant that they may be one in us as I and Thou are
one, Father." [1833]For when God, Who is one, is in each, He makes
all out; and number is lost in the in-dwelling of Unity.
This is my second attempt to attack the text. If any one has a better
interpretation to give, and can consistently with true religion amend
what I say, let him speak and let him amend, and the Lord will reward
him for me. There is no jealousy in my heart. I have not approached
this investigation of these passages for strife and vain glory. I
have done so to help my brothers, lest the earthen vessels which hold
the treasure of God should seem to be deceived by stony-hearted and
uncircumcised men, whose weapons are the wisdom of folly. [1834]
8. Again, as is said through Solomon the Wise in the Proverbs, "He
was created;" and He is named "Beginning of ways" [1835] of good news,
which lead us to the kingdom of heaven. He is not in essence and
substance a creature, but is made a "way" according to the oeconomy.
Being made and being created signify the same thing. As He was made a
way, so was He made a door, a shepherd, an angel, a sheep, and again a
High Priest and an Apostle, [1836] the names being used in other
senses. What again would the heretics say about God unsubjected, and
about His being made sin for us? [1837]For it is written "But when
all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself
be subject unto Him that put all things under Him." [1838]Are you
not afraid, sir, of God called unsubjected? For He makes thy
subjection His own; and because of thy struggling against goodness He
calls himself unsubjected. In this sense too He once spoke of Himself
as persecuted--"Saul, Saul," He says, "why persecutest thou me?"
[1839] on the occasion when Saul was hurrying to Damascus with a
desire to imprison the disciples. Again He calls Himself naked, when
any one of his brethren is naked. "I was naked," He says, "and ye
clothed me;" [1840] and so when another is in prison He speaks of
Himself as imprisoned, for He Himself took away our sins and bare our
sicknesses. [1841]Now one of our infirmities is not being subject,
and He bare this. So all the things which happen to us to our hurt He
makes His own, taking upon Him our sufferings in His fellowship with
us.
9. But another passage is also seized by those who are fighting
against God to the perversion of their hearers: I mean the words "The
Son can do nothing of Himself." [1842]To me this saying too seems
distinctly declaratory of the Son's being of the same nature as the
Father. For if every rational creature is able to do anything of
himself, and the inclination which each has to the worse and to the
better is in his own power, but the Son can do nothing of Himself,
then the Son is not a creature. And if He is not a creature, then He
is of one essence and substance with the Father. Again; no creature
can do what he likes. But the Son does what He wills in heaven and in
earth. Therefore the Son is not a creature. Again; all creatures are
either constituted of contraries or receptive of contraries. But the
Son is very righteousness, and immaterial. Therefore the Son is not a
creature, and if He is not a creature, He is of one essence and
substance with the Father.
10. This examination of the passages before us is, so far as my
ability goes, sufficient. Now let us turn the discussion on those who
attack the Holy Spirit, and cast down every high thing of their
intellect that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. [1843]
You say that the Holy Ghost is a creature. And every creature is a
servant of the Creator, for "all are thy servants." [1844]If then
He is a servant, His holiness is acquired; and everything of which the
holiness is acquired is receptive of evil; but the Holy Ghost being
holy in essence is called "fount of holiness." [1845]Therefore the
Holy Ghost is not a creature. If He is not a creature, He is of one
essence and substance with the Father. How, tell me, can you give the
name of servant to Him Who through your baptism frees you from your
servitude? "The law," it is said, "of the Spirit of life hath made me
free from the law of sin." [1846]But you will never venture to call
His nature even variable, so long as you have regard to the nature of
the opposing power of the enemy, which, like lightning, is fallen from
heaven and fell out of the true life because its holiness was
acquired, and its evil counsels were followed by its change. So when
it had fallen away from the Unity and had cast from it its angelic
dignity, it was named after its character "Devil," [1847] its former
and blessed condition being extinct and this hostile power being
kindled.
Furthermore if he calls the Holy Ghost a creature he describes His
nature as limited. How then can the two following passages stand?
"The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world;" [1848] and "Whither shall
I go from thy Spirit?" [1849]But he does not, it would seem,
confess Him to be simple in nature; for he describes Him as one in
number. And, as I have already said, everything that is one in number
is not simple. And if the Holy Spirit is not simple, He consists of
essence and sanctification, and is therefore composite. But who is
mad enough to describe the Holy Spirit as composite, and not simple,
and consubstantial with the Father and the Son?
11. If we ought to advance our argument yet further, and turn our
inspection to higher themes, let us contemplate the divine nature of
the Holy Spirit specially from the following point of view. In
Scripture we find mention of three creations. The first is the
evolution from non-being into being. [1850]The second is change
from the worse to the better. The third is the resurrection of the
dead. In these you will find the Holy Ghost cooperating with the
Father and the Son. There is a bringing into existence of the
heavens; and what says David? "By the word of the Lord were the
heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."
[1851]Again, man is created through baptism, for "if any man be in
Christ he is a new creature." [1852]And why does the Saviour say to
the disciples, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost"? Here
too you see the Holy Ghost present with the Father and the Son. And
what would you say also as to the resurrection of the dead when we
shall have failed and returned to our dust? Dust we are and unto dust
we shall return. [1853]And He will send the Holy Ghost and create
us and renew the face of the earth. [1854]For what the holy Paul
calls resurrection David describes as renewal. Let us hear, once
more, him who was caught into the third heaven. What does he say?
"You are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you." [1855]Now
every temple [1856] is a temple of God, and if we are a temple of the
Holy Ghost, then the Holy Ghost is God. It is also called Solomon's
temple, but this is in the sense of his being its builder. And if we
are a temple of the Holy Ghost in this sense, then the Holy Ghost is
God, for "He that built all things is God." [1857]If we are a
temple of one who is worshipped, and who dwells in us, let us confess
Him to be God, for thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve. [1858]Supposing them to object to the word "God,"
let them learn what this word means. God is called Theos either
because He placed (tetheikenai) all things or because He beholds
(Theasthai) all things. If He is called Theos because He "placed" or
"beholds" all things, and the Spirit knoweth all the things of God, as
the Spirit in us knoweth our things, then the Holy Ghost is God.
[1859]Again, if the sword of the spirit is the word of God, [1860]
then the Holy Ghost is God, inasmuch as the sword belongs to Him of
whom it is also called the word. Is He named the right hand of the
Father? For "the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to
pass;" [1861] and "thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the
enemy." [1862]But the Holy Ghost is the finger of God, as it is
said "if I by the finger of God cast out devils," [1863] of which the
version in another Gospel is "if I by the Spirit of God cast out
devils." [1864]So the Holy Ghost is of the same nature as the
Father and the Son.
12. So much must suffice for the present on the subject of the
adorable and holy Trinity. It is not now possible to extend the
enquiry about it further. Do ye take seeds from a humble person like
me, and cultivate the ripe ear for yourselves, for, as you know, in
such cases we look for interest. But I trust in God that you, because
of your pure lives, will bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, and a
hundred fold. For, it is said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God. [1865]And, my brethren, entertain no other
conception of the kingdom of the heavens than that it is the very
contemplation of realities. This the divine Scriptures call
blessedness. For "the kingdom of heaven is within you." [1866]
The inner man consists of nothing but contemplation. The kingdom of
the heavens, then, must be contemplation. Now we behold their shadows
as in a glass; hereafter, set free from this earthly body, clad in the
incorruptible and the immortal, we shall behold their archetypes, we
shall see them, that is, if we have steered our own life's course
aright, and if we have heeded the right faith, for otherwise none
shall see the Lord. For, it is said, into a malicious soul Wisdom
shall not enter, nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin.
[1867]And let no one urge in objection that, while I am ignoring
what is before our eyes, I am philosophizing to them about bodiless
and immaterial being. It seems to me perfectly absurd, while the
senses are allowed free action in relation to their proper matter, to
exclude mind alone from its peculiar operation. Precisely in the same
manner in which sense touches sensible objects, so mind apprehends the
objects of mental perception. This too must be said that God our
Creator has not included natural faculties among things which can be
taught. No one teaches sight to apprehend colour or form, nor hearing
to apprehend sound and speech, nor smell, pleasant and unpleasant
scents, nor taste, flavours and savours, nor touch, soft and hard, hot
and cold. Nor would any one teach the mind to reach objects of mental
perception; and just as the senses in the case of their being in any
way diseased, or injured, require only proper treatment and then
readily fulfil their own functions; just so the mind, imprisoned in
flesh, and full of the thoughts that arise thence, requires faith and
right conversation which make "its feet like hinds' feet, and set it
on its high places." [1868]The same advice is given us by Solomon
the wise, who in one passage offers us the example of the diligent
worker the ant, [1869] and recommends her active life; and in another
the work of the wise bee in forming its cells, [1870] and thereby
suggests a natural contemplation wherein also the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity is contained, if at least the Creator is considered in
proportion to the beauty of the things created.
But with thanks to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost let me make
an end to my letter, for, as the proverb has it, pan metron ariston.
[1871]
Footnotes
[1779] This important letter was written a.d. 360, when Basil, shocked
at the discovery that Dianius, the bishop who had baptized him, had
subscribed the Arian creed of Ariminum, as revised at Nike (Theod.,
Hist. Ecc. II. xvi.), left Cæsarea, and withdrew to his friend Gregory
at Nazianzus. The Benedictine note considers the traditional title an
error, and concludes the letter to have been really addressed to the
monks of the Coenobium over which Basil had presided. But it may have
been written to monks in or near Cæsarea, so that title and sense will
agree.
[1780] patris seems to be used of the city or neighbourhood of
Cæsarea, and so far to be in favour of Basil's birth there.
[1781] i.e. the life of the city, presumably Nazianzus, from which he
is writing.
[1782] cf. the Arian formula en pote hote ouk en.
[1783] John iv. 14.
[1784] Jer. ii. 13.
[1785] cf. p. 16, note. This is one of the few instances of St.
Basil's use of the word theos of the Holy Ghost.
[1786] For the four elements of ancient philosophy modern chemistry
now catalogues at least sixty-seven. Of these, earth generally
contains eight; air is a mixture of two; water is a compound of two;
and fire is the visible evidence of a combination between elements
which produces light and heat. On the "elements" of the Greek
philosophers vide Arist., Met. i. 3. Thales (/-c. 550 b.c.) said
water; Anaximenes (/-c. b.c. 480) air; and Heraclitus (/-c. b.c. 500)
fire. To these Empedocles (who "ardentem frigidus Ætnam insiluit, c.
b.c. 440) added a fourth, earth.
[1787] Asserted at Seleucia and Ariminum.
[1788] cf. D. Sp. S. § 4 on Aetius' responsibility for the Anomoean
formula.
[1789] to homoousion.
[1790] Ps. lxxxii. 6.
[1791] Ps. xcvi. 5, LXX.
[1792] 2 Cor. xii. 4.
[1793] Ps. cii. 15.
[1794] 1 Tim. vi. 16.
[1795] Rom. xvi. 27.
[1796] Luke xviii. 19.
[1797] Job ix. 8.
[1798] Deut. vi. 13, LXX., where the text runs kurion ton theon sou
phobethese. St. Basil may quote the version in Matt. iv. 10 and Luke
iv. 8, proskuneseis. The Hebrew="fear".
[1799] Deut. xxxii. 39, LXX.
[1800] Deut. xxxii. 12, LXX.
[1801] 1 Sam. vii. 4.
[1802] 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
[1803] Matt. xvi. 19.
[1804] i.e. of His work on earth as God manifest in the flesh. Vide
note, p. 7.
[1805] John xvii. 3.
[1806] John xiv. 1.
[1807] cf. note, p. 7.
[1808] John vi. 57, R.V. The Greek is ego zo dia ton patera, i.e. not
through or by the Father, but "because of" or "on account of" the
Father. "The preposition (Vulg. propter Patrem) describes the ground
or object, not the instrument or agent (by, through dia tou p.).
Complete devotion to the Father is the essence of the life of the Son;
and so complete devotion to the Son is the life of the believer. It
seems better to give this full sense to the word than to take it as
equivalent to `by reason of;' that is, `I live because the Father
lives.'" Westcott, St. John ad loc.
[1809] John xi. 25.
[1810] John vi. 57, R.V.
[1811] With this striking exposition of Basil's view of the spiritual
meaning of eating the flesh and drinking the blood, cf. the passage
from Athanasius quoted by Bp. Harold Browne in his Exposition of the
XXXIX. Articles, p. 693. It is not easy for Roman commentators to
cite passages even apparently in support of the less spiritual view of
the manducation, e.g. Fessler, Inst. Pat. i. 530, and the quotations
under the word "Eucharistia," in the Index of Basil ed Migne.
Contrast Gregory of Nyssa, in chap. xxxvii. of the Greater Catechism.
[1812] John xiv. 28.
[1813] John i. 14.
[1814] Ps. viii. 5.
[1815] Heb. ii. 9.
[1816] Isa. liii. 2, 3, LXX.
[1817] cf. Luke x. 30.
[1818] John i. 3.
[1819] touto oikonomei.
[1820] to steno tes prothesmias. he prothesmia sc. hemera was in Attic
Law a day fixed beforehand before which money must be paid, actions
brought, etc. cf. Plat. Legg, 954, D. It is the "time appointed" of
the Father in Gal. iv. 2.
[1821] oikonomei.
[1822] Acts i. 7.
[1823] cf. John xv. 3, "Now ye are clean through the word."
[1824] Mark xiii. 32.
[1825] The Ben. note is Tota hæc explicandi ratio non sua sponte
deducta, sed vi pertracta multis videbitur. Sed illud ad excusandum
difficilius, quod ait Basilius angelorum scientiam crassam esse, si
comparetur cum ea quæ est facie ad faciem. Videtur subtilis
explicatio, quam hic sequitur, necessitatem ei imposuisse ita de
angelis sentiendi. Nam cum diem et horam idem esse statueret, ac
extremam beatitudinem; illud Scriptura, sed neque angeli sciunt,
cogebat illis visionem illam, quæ fit facie ad faciem, denegare; quia
idem de illis non poterat dici ac de Filio, eos de se ipsis scire id
quod sunt, nescire quod non sunt. Quod si hanc hausit opinionem ex
origenis fontibus, qui pluribus locis eam insinuat, certe cito
deposuit. Ait enim tom II. p. 320. Angelos in di'inum phachiem
chontinenter intentos ochulos eabere. Idem dochet in Chom. Is. p.
515, n. 185, et De Sp. S. cap. XVI.
[1826] dia ton allotrion. cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 12, where St. Paul's word
is esoptron. St. Basil's katoptron may rather be suggested by 2 Cor.
iii. 18, where the original is katoptrizomenoi.
[1827] John vi. 40.
[1828] kosmon. The Ben. note quotes Combefis as saying, "Dura mihi
hic vox: sit pro stoicheion, per cognata corpori elementa," and then
goes on, sed hac in re minus vidit vir eruditus; non enim idem sonat
illa vox acmundi, quasi plures ejusmodi mundos admittat Basilius; sed
idem ac ornatus, sive ut ait Basilius in Epist. vi. ta peri gen kalle,
pulchritudines quæ sunt circa terram. In Com. in Is. n. 58, p. 422.
Ecclesia dicitur prepousin heaute kosmiois kekosmemene, convenientibus
sibi ornamentis instructa eadem voce utitur Gregorius Nazianz. Ep.
cvii.
[1829] John xiv. 28.
[1830] Matt. xx. 23. cf. n. Theodoret, p. 28.
[1831] 1 Cor. xv. 24.
[1832] Acts i. 6, 7.
[1833] John xvii. 21 and 22, slightly varied.
[1834] Basil also refers to this passage in the treatise, C. Eunomium
i. 20: "Since the Son's origin (arche) is from (apo) the Father, in
this respect the Father is greater, as cause and origin (hos aitios
kai arche). Whence also the Lord said thus my Father is greater than
I, clearly inasmuch as He is Father (katho pater). Yea; what else
does the word Father signify unless the being cause and origin of that
which is begotten by Him?" And in iii. 1: "The Son is second in
order (taxei) to the Father, because He is from Him (apo) and in
dignity (axiomati) because the Father is the origin and cause of His
being." Quoted by Bp. Westcott in his St. John in the additional
notes on xiv. 16, 28, pp. 211 seqq., where also will be found
quotations from other Fathers on this passage.
[1835] The text of Prov. viii. 22 in the LXX. is kurios ektise me
archen hodon autou eis erga autou. The rendering of A.V. is
"possessed," with "formed" in the margin. The Hebrew verb occurs some
eighty times in the Old Testament, and in only four other passages is
translated by possess, viz., Gen. xiv. 19, 22, Ps. cxxxix. 13, Jer.
xxxii. 15, and Zec. xi. 5. In the two former, though the LXX. renders
the word in the Psalms ekteso, it would have borne the sense of
"create." In the passage under discussion the Syriac agrees with the
LXX., and among critics adopting the same view Bishop Wordsworth cites
Ewald, Hitzig, and Genesius. The ordinary meaning of the Hebrew is
"get" or "acquire," and hence it is easy to see how the idea of
getting or possessing passed in relation to the Creator into that of
creation. The Greek translators were not unanimous and Aquila wrote
ektesato. The passage inevitably became the Jezreel or Low Countries
of the Arian war, and many a battle was fought on it. The
depreciators of the Son found in it Scriptural authority for calling
Him ktisma, e.g. Arius in the Thalia, is quoted by Athanasius in Or.
c. Ar. I. iii. § 9, and such writings of his followers as the Letter
of Eusebius of Nicomedia to Paulinus of Tyre cited in Theod., Ecc.
Hist. I. v., and Eunomius as quoted by Greg. Nyss., c. Eunom. II. 10;
but as Dr. Liddon observes in his Bampton Lect. (p. 60, ed. 1868),
"They did not doubt that this created Wisdom was a real being or
person." ektisewas accepted by the Catholic writers, but explained to
refer to the manhood only, cf. Eustathius of Antioch, quoted in
Theod., Dial. I. The view of Athanasius will be found in his
dissertation on the subject in the Second Discourse against the
Arians, pp. 357-385 of Schaff & Wace's edition. cf. Bull, Def. Fid.
Nic. II. vi. 8.
[1836] Heb. iii. 1.
[1837] cf. 2 Cor. v. 21.
[1838] 1 Cor. xv. 28. i.e. Because the Son then shall be subjected,
He is previously anupotaktos, not as being "disobedient" (1 Tim. i.
9), or "unruly" (Tit. i. 6, 10), but as being made man, and humanity,
though subject unto Him, is not yet seen to be "put under Him" (Heb.
ii. 8).
[1839] Acts ix. 4.
[1840] Matt. xxv. 36.
[1841] cf. Isa. liii. 4 and Matt. viii. 17.
[1842] John v. 19.
[1843] 2 Cor. xi. 5.
[1844] Ps. xix. 91.
[1845] Rom. i. 4.
[1846] Rom. viii. 2.
[1847] In Letter cciv. The name of Diabolos is more immediately
connected with Diaballein, to caluminate. It is curious that the
occasional spelling (e.g. in Burton) Divell, which is nearer to the
original, and keeps up the association with Diable, Diavolo, etc.,
should have given place to the less correct and misleading "Devil."
[1848] Wisdom i. 7.
[1849] Ps. cxxxix. 7.
[1850] paragoge apo tou me ontos eis to einai. For paragoge it is not
easy to give an equivalent; it is leading or bringing with a notion of
change, sometimes a change into error, as when it means a quibble. It
is not quite the Ben. Latin "productio." It is not used
intransitively; if there is a paragoge, there must be ho paragon, and
similarly if there is evolution or development, there must be an
evolver or developer.
[1851] Ps. xxxiii. 6. to pneumati tou stomatos autou, LXX.
[1852] 2 Cor. v. 17.
[1853] cf. Gen. iii. 19.
[1854] cf. Ps. ciii. 30.
[1855] 1 Cor. vi. 19.
[1856] The Greek word naos (naio)=dwelling-place. The Hebrew probably
indicates capacity. Our "temple," from the latin Templum
(temenos--vTAM) is derivatively a place cut off.
[1857] Heb. iii. 4.
[1858] Matt. iv. 10. cf. note on p. .
[1859] 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. On the derivation of Theos from theo
(tithemi) or theaomai, cf. Greg. Naz. Skeat rejects the theory of
connexion with the Latin Deus, and thinks that the root of tithemi may
be the origin.
[1860] Eph. vi. 17.
[1861] Ps. cxviii. 16. P.B. "doeth valiantly," A.V. epoiese duna min,
LXX.
[1862] Ex. xv. 6.
[1863] Luke xi. 20.
[1864] Matt. xii. 28.
[1865] Matt. v. 8.
[1866] Luke xvii. 21, entos humon. Many modern commentators interpret
"in your midst," "among you." So Alford, who quotes Xen., Anab. I. x.
3 for the Greek, Bp. Walsham How, Bornemann, Meyer. The older view
coincided with that of Basil; so Theophylact, Chrysostom, and with
them Olshausen and Godet. To the objection that the words were said to
the Pharisees, and that the kingdom was not in their hearts, it may be
answered that our Lord might use "you" of humanity, even when
addressing Pharisees. He never, like a merely human preacher, says
"we."
[1867] Wisdom i. 4.
[1868] Ps. xviii. 33.
[1869] cf. Prov. vi. 6.
[1870] Ecclus. xi. 3. The ascription of this book to Solomon is said
by Rufinus to be confined to the Latin church, while the Greeks know
it as the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach (vers. Orig., Hom. in Num.
xvii.).
[1871] Attributed to Cleobulus of Lindos. Thales is credited with the
injunction metro chro. cf. my note on Theodoret, Ep. cli. p. 329.
Letter IX. [1872]
To Maximus the Philosopher.
1. Speech is really an image of mind: so I have learned to know you
from your letters, just as the proverb tells us we may know "the lion
from his claws." [1873]
I am delighted to find that your strong inclinations lie in the
direction of the first and greatest of good things--love both to God
and to your neighbour. Of the latter I find proof in your kindness to
myself; of the former, in your zeal for knowledge. It is well known
to every disciple of Christ that in these two all is contained.
2. You ask for the writings of Dionysius; [1874] they did indeed
reach me, and a great many they were; but I have not the books with
me, and so have not sent them. My opinion is, however, as follows. I
do not admire everything that is written; indeed of some things I
totally disapprove. For it may be, that of the impiety of which we
are now hearing so much, I mean the Anomoean, it is he, as far as I
know, who first gave men the seeds. I do not trace his so doing to
any mental depravity, but only to his earnest desire to resist
Sabellius. I often compare him to a woodman trying to straighten some
ill-grown sapling, pulling so immoderately in the opposite direction
as to exceed the mean, and so dragging the plant awry on the other
side. This is very much what we find to be the case with Dionysius.
While vehemently opposing the impiety of the Libyan, [1875] he is
carried away unawares by his zeal into the opposite error. It would
have been quite sufficient for him to have pointed out that the Father
and the Son are not identical in substance, [1876] and thus to score
against the blasphemer. But, in order to win an unmistakable and
superabundant victory, he is not satisfied with laying down a
difference of hypostases, but must needs assert also difference of
substance, diminution of power, and variableness of glory. So he
exchanges one mischief for another, and diverges from the right line
of doctrine. In his writings he exhibits a miscellaneous
inconsistency, and is at one time to be found disloyal to the
homoousion, because of his opponent [1877] who made a bad use of it to
the destruction of the hypostases, and at another admitting it in his
Apology to his namesake. [1878]Besides this he uttered very
unbecoming words about the Spirit, separating Him from the Godhead,
the object of worship, and assigning Him an inferior rank with created
and subordinate nature. Such is the man's character.
3. If I must give my own view, it is this. The phrase "like in
essence," [1879] if it be read with the addition "without any
difference," [1880] I accept as conveying the same sense as the
homoousion, in accordance with the sound meaning of the homoousion.
Being of this mind the Fathers at Nicæa spoke of the Only-begotten as
"Light of Light," "Very God of very God," and so on, and then
consistently added the homoousion. It is impossible for any one to
entertain the idea of variableness of light in relation to light, of
truth in relation to truth, nor of the essence of the Only begotten in
relation to that of the Father. If, then, the phrase be accepted in
this sense, I have no objection to it. But if any one cuts off the
qualification "without any difference" from the word "like," as was
done at Constantinople, [1881] then I regard the phrase with
suspicion, as derogatory to the dignity of the Only-begotten. We are
frequently accustomed to entertain the idea of "likeness" in the case
of indistinct resemblances, coming anything but close to the
originals. I am myself for the homoousion, as being less open to
improper interpretation. But why, my dear sir, should you not pay me
a visit, that we may talk of these high topics face to face, instead
of committing them to lifeless letters,--especially when I have
determined not to publish my views? And pray do not adopt, to me, the
words of Diogenes to Alexander, that "it is as far from you to me as
from me to you." I am almost obliged by ill-health to remain like the
plants, in one place; moreover I hold "the living unknown" [1882] to
be one of the chief goods. You, I am told, are in good health; you
have made yourself a citizen of the world, and you might consider in
coming to see me that you are coming home. It is quite right for you,
a man of action, to have crowds and towns in which to show your good
deeds. For me, quiet is the best aid for the contemplation and mental
exercise whereby I cling to God. This quiet I cultivate in abundance
in my retreat, with the aid of its giver, God. Yet if you cannot but
court the great, and despise me who lie low upon the ground, then
write, and in this way make my life a happier one.
Footnotes
[1872] To be ascribed to the same period as the preceding.
[1873] In Lucian (Hermot. 54) the proverb is traced to a story of
Pheidias, who, "after a look at a claw, could tell how big the whole
lion, formed in proportion would be." A parallel Greek adage was
ektou kraspedou to pan huphasma. Vide Leutsch., Corp. Paroemiog.
Græc. I. 252.
[1874] i.e. of Alexandria.
[1875] i.e. Sabellius. Basil is the first writer who asserts his
African birth. In Ep. ccvii. he is "Sabellius the Libyan." His
active life was Roman; his views popular in the Pentapolis.
[1876] ou tauton to hupokeimeno. Aristotle, Metaph. vi. 3, 1, says,
malista dokei einai ousia to hupokeimenon to proton. On the
distinction between homoousios and tauton to hupokeimeno, cf. Athan.,
Exp. Fid. ii., where the Sabellians are accused of holding an
huiopator, and Greg. Nyss answer to Eunomius, Second Book, p. 254 in
Schaff and Wace's ed. Vide also Prolegg. to Athan., p. xxxi. in this
series. Epiphanius says of Noetus, monotupos ton auton patera kai
Hui& 232;n kai hagion pneuma...hegsamenos (Hæres. lvii. 2) and of
Sabellius, Dogmatizei houtos kai hoi ap' aupou Sabellianoi ton auton
einai Patera ton auton Hui& 232;n ton auton einai hagion pneuma, hos
einai en mia hupostasei treis onomasias. (Hæres. lxii. i.)
[1877] Sabellius.
[1878] Dionysius of Rome.
[1879] homoion kat' ousian
[1880] aparallaktos.
[1881] i.e. at the Acacian council of Constantinople in 360, at which
fifty bishops accepted the creed of Arminum as revised at Nike,
proscribing ousia and hupostasis, and pronounced the Son to be "like
the Father, as say the Holy Scriptures." cf. Theod. II. xvi. and Soc.
II. xli. In 366 Semiarian deputies from the council of Lampsacus
represented to Liberius at Rome that kata panta homoios and homoousios
were equivalent.
[1882] lathe biosas is quoted by Theodoret in Ep. lxii. as a saying of
"one of the men once called wise." It is attributed to Epicurus.
Horace imitates it in Ep. I. xvii. 10: "Nec vixit male qui natus
moriensque fefellit." So Ovid, Tristia III. iv. 25: "crede mihi;
bene qui latuit, bene vixit," and Eurip., Iph. in Aul. 17: Zelo se,
geron, Zelo d' andron hos akindunon Bion exeperas' agnos aklees.
Plutarch has an essay on the question, ei kalos e& 176;retai to lathe
biosas.
Letter X. [1883]
To a widow. [1884]
The art of snaring pigeons is as follows. When the men who devote
themselves to this craft have caught one, they tame it, and make it
feed with them. Then they smear its wings with sweet oil, and let it
go and join the rest outside. Then the scent of that sweet oil makes
the free flock the possession of the owner of the tame bird, for all
the rest are attracted by the fragrance, and settle in the house. But
why do I begin my letter thus? Because I have taken your son
Dionysius, once Diomedes, [1885] and anointed the wings of his soul
with the sweet all of God, and sent him to you that you may take
flight with him, and make for the nest which he has built under my
roof. If I live to see this, and you, my honoured friend, translated
to our lofty life, I shall require many persons worthy of God to pay
Him all the honour that is His due.
Footnotes
[1883] Placed during the retreat.
[1884] pros eleutheran. The Benedictine note, after giving reasons
why the name Julitta should not be introduced into the address,
continues: "neque etiam in hac et pluribus aliis Basilii epistolis
eleuthera nomen proprium est, sed viduam matronam designat. Sic
Gregorius Naz. in Epist. cxlvii., eleutheran Alypii, id est viduam,
apellat Simpliciam quam ipsius quondam conjugem fuisse dixerat in
Epist. cxlvi." The usage may be traceable to Rom. vii. 3.
[1885] A second name was given at baptism, or assumed with some
religious motive. In the first three centuries considerations of
prudence would prevent an advertisement of Christianity through a name
of peculiar meaning, and even baptismal names were not biblical or of
pious meaning and association. Later the early indifference of
Christians as to the character of their names ceased, and after the
fourth century heathen names were discouraged. cf. D.C.A. ii. 1368.
"Dionysius," though of pagan origin, is biblical; but "martyrs often
encountered death bearing the names of these very divinities to whom
they refuse to offer sacrifice." So we have Apollinarius, Hermias,
Demetrius, Origenes (sprung from Horus), Arius, Athenodorus,
Aphrodisius, and many more.
Letter XI. [1886]
Without address. To some friends. [1887]
After by God's grace I had passed the sacred day with our sons, and
had kept a really perfect feast to the Lord because of their exceeding
love to God, I sent them in good health to your excellency, with a
prayer to our loving God to give them an angel of peace to help and
accompany them, and to grant them to find you in good health and
assured tranquillity, to the end that wherever your lot may be cast, I
to the end of my days, whenever I hear news of you, may be gladdened
to think of you as serving and giving thanks to the Lord. If God
should grant you to be quickly freed from these cares I beg you to let
nothing stand in the way of your coming to stay with me. I think you
will find none to love you so well, or to make more of your
friendship. So long, then, as the Holy One ordains this separation,
be sure that you never lose an opportunity of comforting me by a
letter.
Footnotes
[1886] Of the same period as X.
[1887] Possibly to Olympius, the recipient of XII. cf. Letter ccxi.
Letter XII. [1888]
To Olympius. [1889]
Before you did write me a few words: now not even a few. Your
brevity will soon become silence. Return to your old ways, and do not
let me have to scold you for your laconic behaviour. But I shall be
glad even of a little letter in token of your great love. Only write
to me.
Footnotes
[1888] Of the same date as the preceding.
[1889] Olympius was an influential friend of Basil's, and sympathized
with him in his later troubles, and under the attacks of Eustathius.
cf. Letters ccxi., lxiii., lxiv.
Letter XIII. [1890]
To Olympius.
As all the fruits of the season come to us in their proper time,
flowers in spring, corn in summer, and apples [1891] in autumn, so the
fruit for winter is talk.
Footnotes
[1890] Placed with the preceding.
[1891] melon. But, like the Latin malum, this word served for more
than we mean by "apple." So the malum Cydonium was quince, the malum
Persicum, peach, etc.
Letter XIV. [1892]
To Gregory his friend.
My brother Gregory writes me word that he has long been wishing to be
with me, and adds that you are of the same mind; however, I could not
wait, partly as being hard of belief, considering I have been so often
disappointed, and partly because I find myself pulled all ways by
business. I must at once make for Pontus, where, perhaps, God
willing, I may make an end of wandering. After renouncing, with
trouble, the idle hopes which I once had, [about you] [1893] or rather
the dreams, (for it is well said that hopes are waking dreams), I
departed into Pontus in quest of a place to live in. There God has
opened on me a spot exactly answering to my taste, so that I actually
see before my eyes what I have often pictured to my mind in idle
fancy. There is a lofty mountain covered with thick woods, watered
towards the north with cool and transparent streams. A plain lies
beneath, enriched by the waters which are ever draining off from it;
and skirted by a spontaneous profusion of trees almost thick enough to
be a fence; so as even to surpass Calypso's Island, which Homer seems
to have considered the most beautiful spot on the earth. Indeed it is
like an island, enclosed as it is on all sides; for deep hollows cut
off two sides of it; the river, which has lately fallen down a
precipice, runs all along the front and is impassable as a wall; while
the mountain extending itself behind, and meeting the hollows in a
crescent, stops up the path at its roots. There is but one pass, and
I am master of it. Behind my abode there is another gorge, rising
into a ledge up above, so as to command the extent of the plains and
the stream which bounds it, which is not less beautiful, to my taste,
than the Strymon as seen from Amphipolis. [1894]For while the
latter flows leisurely, and swells into a lake almost, and is too
still to be a river, the former is the most rapid stream I know, and
somewhat turbid, too, from the rocks just above; from which, shooting
down, and eddying in a deep pool, it forms a most pleasant scene for
myself or any one else; and is an inexhaustible resource to the
country people, in the countless fish which its depths contain. What
need to tell of the exhalations from the earth, or the breezes from
the river? Another might admire the multitude of flowers, and singing
birds; but leisure I have none for such thoughts. However, the chief
praise of the place is, that being happily disposed for produce of
every kind, it nurtures what to me is the sweetest produce of all,
quietness; indeed, it is not only rid of the bustle of the city, but
is even unfrequented by travellers, except a chance hunter. It
abounds indeed in game, as well as other things, but not, I am glad to
say, in bears or wolves, such as you have, but in deer, and wild
goats, and hares, and the like. Does it not strike you what a foolish
mistake I was near making when I was eager to change this spot for
your Tiberina, [1895] the very pit of the whole earth?
Pardon me, then, if I am now set upon it; for not Alcmæon himself, I
suppose, could endure to wander further when he had found the
Echinades. [1896]
Footnotes
[1892] Placed after Basil's choice of his Pontic retreat. Translated
by Newman, whose version is here given (Church of the Fathers, 126).
On the topography, cf. Letters iii., x., ccxxiii., and remarks in the
Prolegomena.
[1893] Omitted by Newman.
[1894] The hill, of which the western half is covered by the ruins of
Amphipolis, is insulated by the Strymon on the north-west and south,
and a valley on the east. To the north-west the Strymon widens into a
lake, compared by Dr. Arnold to that formed by the Mincio at Mantua.
cf. Thucyd. iv. 108 and v. 7.
[1895] Tiberina was a district in the neighbourhood of Gregory's home
at Arianzus. cf. Greg. Naz., Ep. vi. and vii.
[1896] "Alcmæon slew his mother; but the awful Erinnys, the avenger of
matricide, inflicted on him a long and terrible punishment, depriving
him of his reason, and chasing him about from place to place without
the possibility of repose or peace of mind. He craved protection and
cure from the god at Delphi, who required him to dedicate at the
temple, as an offering, the precious necklace of Kadmus, that
irresistible bribe which had originally corrupted Eriphyle. He
further intimated to the unhappy sufferer that, though the whole earth
was tainted with his crime and had become uninhabitable for him, yet
there was a spot of ground which was not under the eye of the sun at
the time when the matricide was committed, and where, therefore,
Alcmæon might yet find a tranquil shelter. The promise was realised
at the mouth of the river Achelous, whose turbid stream was
perpetually depositing new earth and forming additional islands. Upon
one of these Alcmæon settled permanently and in peace." Grote, Hist.
Gr. i. 381.
Letter XV. [1897]
To Arcadius, Imperial Treasurer. [1898]
The townsmen of our metropolis have conferred on me a greater favour
than they have received, in giving me an opportunity of writing to
your excellency. The kindness, to win which they have received this
letter from me, was assured them even before I wrote, on account of
your wonted and inborn courtesy to all. But I have considered it a
very great advantage to have the opportunity of addressing your
excellency, praying to the holy God that I may continue to rejoice,
and share in the pleasure of the recipients of your bounty, while you
please Him more and more, and while the splendour of your high place
continues to increase. I pray that in due time I may with joy once
more welcome those who are delivering this my letter into your hands,
[1899] and send them forth praising, as do many, your considerate
treatment of them, and I trust that they will have found my
recommendation of them not without use in approaching your exalted
excellency.
Footnotes
[1897] Written from the Pontic retreat.
[1898] Comes rei privatæ, "who managed the enormous revenues of the
fiscus and kept account of the privileges granted by the Emperor
(liber beneficiorum, Hyginus, De Const. Limit. p. 203, ed. Lachm. and
Du Cange s.v.)." D.C.B. i. 634.
[1899] There is confusion here in the text, and the Benedictines think
it unmanageable as it stands. But the matter is of no importance.
Letter XVI. [1900]
Against Eunomius the heretic. [1901]
He who maintains that it is possible to arrive at the discovery of
things actually existing, has no doubt by some orderly method advanced
his intelligence by means of the knowledge of actually existing
things. It is after first training himself by the apprehension of
small and easily comprehensible objects, that he brings his
apprehensive faculty to bear on what is beyond all intelligence. He
makes his boast that he has really arrived at the comprehension of
actual existences; let him then explain to us the nature of the least
of visible beings; let him tell us all about the ant. Does its life
depend on breath and breathing? Has it a skeleton? Is its body
connected by sinews and ligaments? Are its sinews surrounded with
muscles and glands? Does its marrow go with dorsal vertebræ from brow
to tail? Does it give impulse to its moving members by the enveloping
nervous membrane? Has it a liver, with a gall bladder near the
liver? Has it kidneys, heart, arteries, veins, membranes,
cartilages? Is it hairy or hairless? Has it an uncloven hoof, or are
its feet divided? How long does it live? What is its mode of
reproduction? What is its period of gestation? How is it that ants
neither all walk nor all fly, but some belong to creeping things, and
some travel through the air? The man who glories in his knowledge of
the really-existing ought to tell us in the meanwhile about the nature
of the ant. Next let him give us a similar physiological account of
the power that transcends all human intelligence. But if your
knowledge has not yet been able to apprehend the nature of the
insignificant ant, how can you boast yourself able to form a
conception of the power of the incomprehensible God? [1902]
Footnotes
[1900] Placed by the Ben. Ed. in the reign of Julian 361-363.
[1901] Eunomius the Anomoean, bp. of Cyzicus, against whose Liber
Apologeticus Basil wrote his counter-work. The first appearance of
the hairetikos anthropos, the "chooser" of his own way rather than the
common sense of the Church, is in Tit. iii. 10. hairetizein is a
common word in the LXX., but does not occur in Is. xlii. 1, though it
is introduced into the quotation in Matt. xii. 18. hairesis is used
six times by St. Luke for "sect;" twice by St. Paul and once by St.
Peter for "heresy." Augustine, C. Manich. writes: "Qui in ecclesia
Christi morbidum aliquid pravumque quid sapiunt, si, correcti ut sanum
rectumque sapiant, resistunt contumaciter suaque pestifera et
mortifera dogmata emendare nolunt, sed defensare persistunt hæretici
sunt."
[1902] As an argument against Eunomius this Letter has no particular
force, inasmuch as a man may be a good divine though a very poor
entomologist, and might tell us all about the ant without being better
able to decide between Basil and Eunomius. It is interesting,
however, as shewing how far Basil was abreast of the physiology of his
time, and how far that physiology was correct.
Letter XVII. [1903]
To Origenes. [1904]
It is delightful to listen to you, and delightful to read you; and I
think you give me the greater pleasure by your writings. All thanks
to our good God Who has not suffered the truth to suffer in
consequence of its betrayal by the chief powers in the State, but by
your means has made the defence of the doctrine of true religion full
and satisfactory. Like hemlock, monkshood, and other poisonous herbs,
after they have bloomed for a little while, they will quickly wither
away. But the reward which the Lord will give you in requital of all
that you have said in defence of His name blooms afresh for ever.
Wherefore I pray God grant you all happiness in your home, and make
His blessing descend to your sons. I was delighted to see and embrace
those noble boys, express images of your excellent goodness, and my
prayers for them ask all that their father can ask.
Footnotes
[1903] Placed during the reign of Julian.
[1904] Nothing is known of this Origen beyond what is suggested in
this letter. He is conjectured to have been a layman, who, alike as a
rhetorician and a writer, was popularly known as a Christian
apologist.
Letter XVIII. [1905]
To Macarius [1906] and John.
The labours of the field come as no novelty to tillers of the land;
sailors are not astonished if they meet a storm at sea; sweats in the
summer heat are the common experience of the hired hind; and to them
that have chosen to live a holy life the afflictions of this present
world cannot come unforeseen. Each and all of these have the known
and proper labour of their callings, not chosen for its own sake, but
for the sake of the enjoyment of the good things to which they look
forward. What in each of these cases acts as a consolation in trouble
is that which really forms the bond and link of all human
life,--hope. Now of them that labour for the fruits of the earth, or
for earthly things, some enjoy only in imagination what they have
looked for, and are altogether disappointed; and even in the case of
others, where the issue has answered expectation, another hope is soon
needed, so quickly has the first fled and faded out of sight. Only of
them that labour for holiness and truth are the hopes destroyed by no
deception; no issue can destroy their labours, for the kingdom of the
heavens that awaits them is firm and sure. So long then as the word
of truth is on our side, never be in any wise distressed at the
calumny of a lie; let no imperial threats scare you; do not be grieved
at the laughter and mockery of your intimates, nor at the condemnation
of those who pretend to care for you, and who put forward, as their
most attractive bait to deceive, a pretence of giving good advice.
Against them all let sound reason do battle, invoking the championship
and succour of our Lord Jesus Christ, the teacher of true religion,
for Whom to suffer is sweet, and "to die is gain." [1907]
Footnotes
[1905] Placed in the reign of Julian.
[1906] MS. variations are Macrinus and Machrinus.
[1907] Phil. i. 21.
Letter XIX. [1908]
To Gregory my friend. [1909]
I received a letter from you the day before yesterday. It is shewn to
be yours not so much by the handwriting as by the peculiar style.
Much meaning is expressed in few words. I did not reply on the spot,
because I was away from home, and the letter-carrier, after he had
delivered the packet to one of my friends, went away. Now, however, I
am able to address you through Peter, and at the same time both to
return your greeting, and give you an opportunity for another letter.
There is certainly no trouble in writing a laconic dispatch like those
which reach me from you.
Footnotes
[1908] Placed by the Ben. Ed. shortly after Basil's ordination as
priest.
[1909] i.e.Gregory of Nazianzus, and so Letter xiv.
Letter XX. [1910]
To Leontius the Sophist. [1911]
I too do not write often to you, but not more seldom than you do to
me, though many have travelled hitherward from your part of the
world. If you had sent a letter by every one of them, one after the
other, there would have been nothing to prevent my seeming to be
actually in your company, and enjoying it as though we had been
together, so uninterrupted has been the stream of arrivals. But why
do you not write? It is no trouble to a Sophist to write. Nay, if
your hand is tired, you need not even write; another will do that for
you. Only your tongue is needed. And though it does not speak to me,
it may assuredly speak to one of your companions. If nobody is with
you, it will talk by itself. Certainly the tongue of a Sophist and of
an Athenian is as little likely to be quiet as the nightingales when
the spring stirs them to song. In my own case, the mass of business
in which I am now engaged may perhaps afford some excuse for my lack
of letters. And peradventure the fact of my style having been spoilt
by constant familiarity with common speech may make me somewhat
hesitate to address Sophists like you, who are certain to be annoyed
and unmerciful, unless you hear something worthy of your wisdom. You,
on the other hand, ought assuredly to use every opportunity of making
your voice heard abroad, for you are the best speaker of all the
Hellenes that I know; and I think I know the most renowned among you;
so that there really is no excuse for your silence. But enough on
this point.
I have sent you my writings against Eunomius. Whether they are to be
called child's play, or something a little more serious, I leave you
to judge. So far as concerns yourself, I do not think you stand any
longer in need of them; but I hope they will be no unworthy weapon
against any perverse men with whom you may fall in. I do not say this
so much because I have confidence in the force of my treatise, as
because I know well that you are a man likely to make a little go a
long way. If anything strikes you as weaker than it ought to be, pray
have no hesitation in showing me the error. The chief difference
between a friend and a flatterer is this; the flatterer speaks to
please, the friend will not leave out even what is disagreeable.
Footnotes
[1910] Placed in 364.
[1911] cf. Letter xxxv.
Letter XXI. [1912]
To Leontius the Sophist.
The excellent Julianus [1913] 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." [1914] For even the Pythagoreans were not so
fond of their Tetractys, [1915] 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. [1916]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
[1912] Of about the same date as the preceding.
[1913] cf. Ep. ccxciii.
[1914] 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 perscrutans, et impendio mærens si
quemquam absolvisset indemnem;" and adds: "Est ergo quadruplum hoc
loco non quadrimenstrua pensio, non superexactio, sed debitorum, quæ
soluta non fuerant, crudelis inquisitio et quadrupli poena his qui non
solverant imposita."
[1915] tetraktus 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 ton hametera psucha
paradonta tetraktun, Pagan aenaou phuseos rhizomat' echousan cf. my
note on Theodoret, Ep. cxxx. for the use of tetraktus for the Four
Gospels.
[1916] Tois kalois panta meta tes tou kalou prosthekes ginesthai. The
pregnant sense of kalos makes translation difficult.
Letter XXII. [1917]
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, [1918] and his life and conversation ought to be
worthy of the Gospel of Christ. [1919]The Christian ought not to be
of doubtful mind, [1920] 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. [1921]He ought not to
speak evil; [1922] to do violence; [1923] to fight; [1924] to avenge
himself; [1925] to return evil for evil; [1926] to be angry. [1927]
The Christian ought to be patient, [1928] whatever he have to suffer,
and to convict the wrong-doer in season, [1929] not with the desire of
his own vindication, but of his brother's reformation, [1930]
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. [1931]He
ought to turn away from the brother who speaks evil against him;
[1932] he ought not to indulge in jesting; [1933] he ought not to
laugh nor even to suffer laugh makers. [1934]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; [1935] 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 free 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. [1936]The Christian ought not to be enslaved by wine;
[1937] nor to be eager for flesh meat, [1938] and as a general rule
ought not to be a lover of pleasure in eating or drinking, [1939] "for
every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things."
[1940]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; [1941]
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; [1942] but "every man in his
own order." [1943]
2. The Christian ought never to murmur [1944] 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, [1945] or diversion of mind from the full assurance of the
presence of God. [1946]
The voice should be modulated; no one ought to answer another, or do
anything, roughly or contemptuously, [1947] but in all things
moderation [1948] and respect should be shewn to every one. [1949]
No wily glances of the eye are to be allowed, nor any behaviour or
gestures which grieve a brother and shew contempt. [1950]Any
display in cloak or shoes is to be avoided; it is idle ostentation.
[1951]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. [1952]Every one ought
to put all others before himself. [1953]The Christian ought not to
be unruly. [1954]He who is able to work ought not to eat the bread
of idleness, [1955] 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. [1956]Every Christian, 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.
[1957]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; [1958] he ought in Christ's love to
grieve and be afflicted at his brother's faults, and rejoice over his
brother's good deeds. [1959]He ought not to be indifferent or
silent before sinners. [1960]He who shows another to be wrong ought
to do so with all tenderness, [1961] in the fear of God, and with the
object of converting the sinner. [1962]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. [1963]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. [1964]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. [1965]He, who
after the first and second admonition [1966] abides in his fault,
ought to be brought before the person in authority, [1967] if haply
after being rebuked by more he may be ashamed. [1968]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, [1969] for
the security of them that are obedient, according to the saying, When
the impious fall the righteous tremble. [1970]He should be grieved
over as a limb cut from the body. The sun ought not to go down upon a
brother's wrath, [1971] 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,
[1972] because there is no certainty about the morrow; for many after
many devices have 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;" [1973] unnecessary abundance gives appearance of
covetousness, and covetousness is condemned as idolatry. [1974]A
Christian ought not to be a lover of money, [1975] 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."
[1976]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
[1917] Placed in 364.
[1918] cf. Heb. iii.
[1919] cf. Phil. i. 27.
[1920] cf. Luke xii. 29.
[1921] cf. Matt. v. 20.
[1922] Tit. iii. 2.
[1923] 1 Tim. ii. 13.
[1924] 2 Tim. ii. 24.
[1925] Rom. xii. 19.
[1926] Rom. xii. 17.
[1927] Matt. v. 22.
[1928] James v. 8.
[1929] Tit. ii. 15.
[1930] Matt. xv. 18.
[1931] cf. 2 Cor. xii. 20 and 1 Peter ii. 1.
[1932] cf. 1 Peter iii. 16, 17, and James iv. 11.
[1933] Eph. v. 4.
[1934] 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.)
[1935] Eph. v. 4.
[1936] 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 from vain
conversation, is a long way off the "silence" of St. Bruno's
Carthusians.
[1937] 1 Pet. iv. 3.
[1938] Rom. xiv. 21.
[1939] 2 Tim. iii. 4.
[1940] 1 Cor. ix. 25.
[1941] cf. Acts iv. 32.
[1942] cf. 1 Cor. ix. 19.
[1943] cf. 1 Cor. xv. 23.
[1944] cf. 1 Cor. x. 10.
[1945] cf. Eph. iv. 31.
[1946] cf. Heb. iv. 13.
[1947] cf. Tit. iii. 2.
[1948] Phil. iv. 5, to epieikes. In 1 Tim. iii. 3, "patient" is
epieikes.
[1949] Rom. xii. 10 and 1 Pet. ii. 17.
[1950] Rom. xiv. 10.
[1951] Matt. vi. 29, Luke xii. 27.
[1952] Mark ix. 37.
[1953] Phil. ii. 3.
[1954] Tit. i. 10.
[1955] 2 Thess. iii. 10.
[1956] 1 Thess. iv. 11.
[1957] 1 Cor. x. 31.
[1958] 1 Cor. xiii. 6.
[1959] 1 Cor. xii. 26.
[1960] 1 Tim. v. 20.
[1961] 2 Tim. iv. 2.
[1962] 2 Tim. iv. 2.
[1963] 2 Cor. ii. 7.
[1964] Luke iii. 8.
[1965] Heb. x. 26, 27.
[1966] Tit. iii. 10.
[1967] to proestoti. & 233; proestos is the "president" in Justin
Martyr's description of the Christian service in Apol. Maj. i.
[1968] cf. Tit. ii. 8.
[1969] Matt. xviii. 17.
[1970] Prov. xxix. 16, LXX.
[1971] Eph. iv. 26.
[1972] cf. Matt. xxiv. 14; Luke xii. 40.
[1973] 1 Tim. vi. 8.
[1974] Col. iii. 5.
[1975] cf. Mark x. 23, 24; Luke xviii. 24.
[1976] Ps. cxix. 120, LXX.
Letter XXIII. [1977]
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 poor [1978] 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." [1979]What I wish to do
in conjunction with you, let your love in Christ do without me.
Footnotes
[1977] Written at Cæsarea during his presbyterate.
[1978] 2 Cor. viii. 9.
[1979] Eph. vi. 12.
Letter XXIV. [1980]
To Athanasius, father of Athanasius bishop of Ancyra. [1981]
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 due investigation. I bear in mind the
admonition of the Spirit, "Thou shalt not receive a false report."
[1982]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," [1983]
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." [1984]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 have 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. [1985]
Footnotes
[1980] Placed before Basil's episcopate.
[1981] Vide note on Letter xxv. Nothing more is known of the elder of
these two Athanasii than is to be gathered from this letter.
[1982] Ex. xxiii. 1, LXX. and marg.
[1983] 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.
[1984] 2 Cor. vi. 3.
[1985] cf. Plut., Vit. Alex.
Letter XXV. [1986]
To Athanasius, bishop of Ancyra. [1987]
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
[1986] Placed, like the former, before the episcopate.
[1987] This Athanasius was appointed to the see of Ancyra (Angora) by
the influence of Acacius the one-eyed, bp. of Cæsarea, the inveterate
opponent of Cyril of Jerusalem, and leader of the Homoeans. 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 XXVI. [1988]
To Cæsarius, brother of Gregory. [1989]
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 the kindness
which we have experienced, and not return thanks by word only. We
ought to become in very deed what I, grounding my belief on the
miracles wrought in 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," [1990] 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
[1988] Placed in 368.
[1989] Cæsarius 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 Pusteis, or
Quæstiones (sive Dialogi) de Rebus Divinus, attributed to him, is of
doubtful genuineness. Vide D.C.B. s.v. The earthquake, from the
effects of which Cæsarius was preserved, took place on the tenth of
October, 368. cf. Greg. Naz, Orat. x.
[1990] Rom. vii. 13.
Letter XXVII. [1991]
To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. [1992]
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 m