130 (196). To Theodotus, Bishop of Nicopolis
LETTERS
130. ToT heodotus, Bishop of Nicopolis 1 Deservedly and fittingly have you reproached us, our truly most honorable and beloved brother, because from the time that we departed from your Reverence carrying those propositions concerning the faith to Eustathius/ we have let you know nothing either little or great about his affairs. However, I did not overlook the matter on the ground that the acts which he committed against us were negligible, but because the report had been published abroad to alI men already, and there was no need of any explanation from us to learn the intention of the man. For, he even contrived this himself, as if fearing lest he might have few witnesses of his views, sending the letters which he had written against us to every farthest corner of the world. At all events, he has cut himself off from communion with us, since he refused to meet us at the appointed place and did not bring his disciples as he had promised, but, together with the Cilician Theophilus,;; even denounced us in the general synods, saying with plain and undisguised slander that we were sowing in the souls of the people doctrines which were foreign to his teachings.
Thcodotus, Bishop of Nicopolis, a staunch friend of St. Basil, died in 375. He is mentioned in Letters 92, 95, 99, 121, 229, and 237. For the da te of th is letter, s,ee Letter 129 n. I.
2 Eustathius of Sebaste (300.377). He was Bishop of Sebasle in 356 and was one of the founders of monasticism. He had studied under Arius and was all his life inclined toward Semi.Arianism. St. Basil had been a dose friend of his until about 372 or 373, when he learned the real character of the man. Eustathius had once signed the Nicene Creed. for he had gone with Theophilus and Silvanus on a mission to Rome in 36")-366, and they had acknowledged their adherence to the Nicene
Creed before Pope Liberius. Cf. Letter 245. However, he seems to have been a vacillating character and to have signed practically all the creeds of his age.
3 Theophilus was Bishop of Castabala or Hieropolis on the River. Pyramis in Cilicia. where he had been transferred from Eleutheropohs. Cf.
Letters 244 and 245. He was on friendly terms with St. Basil at one time. and was sent to Rome on all embassy. See note above.
SAINT BASIL
Now, this was, in truth, sufficient to dis~lve all our connection with him. Furthermore, when he had come into Cilicia where he met a certain Gelasius,4 he offered him a creed which could have been written by an Arius only or some true disciple of his; then we were even more firmly fixed in our separation. For, we considered that neither will the Ethiopian ever change his skin, nor the leopard his spots,5 nor can he who has been nourished with perverse doctrines get rid of the evil of heresy.
Moreover, in addition to this he has committed further outrages by writing against us, or, rather, by composing long treatises full of every abuse and slander. Up to this time we have made no answer concerning them because we have been taught by the Apostle 6 not to avenge ourselves but to give place to the wrath. At the same time, too, reflecting on the depths of the hypocrisy which always marked his dealings with us, we were seized with a sort of speechlessness in our consternation.
But, even if there had been none of those abuses, in whom would this recent bold act which he dared have not inspired absolute horror and aversion for the man? He has even, as I hear (at least, if the report is true and is not a fiction based on slander), had the effrontery to reordain some men, a thing which until today no one of the heretics appears to have done.
How, then, is it possible for us to endure such acts calmly, and to think that the errors of the man can be remedied?
Do not, therefore, be misled by his lying words, and do not trust the suspicions of men who easily accept everything in a bad sense, as, for insance, that we regard such matters as indifferent. For, be assured, most beloved and honorable
4 This Gelasius is otherwise unknown.
5 Cf. Jer. 13.23.
6 Cf. Rom. 12.19.