138 (8). To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata
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son IS III safe custody and is held by the soldiers, to grant us this favor, a favor free from offense and from reproach.
138. To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata 1 How do you think I felt when I received the letter from your Reverence? Considering the spirit of your message, I immediately wanted to fly straight to Syria, but, looking at the weakness of my body, which fettered me, I perceived that I was incapable not only of flying but even of turning over in bed. For, that day on which the beloved and zealous brother, our fellow deacon Elpidius,2 came to us was the fiftieth day of my illness. I was much exhausted by the fever which, because of lack of material to nourish it, concentrated itself in this dry flesh as in a burnt wick and brought on a decline and a long-continued weakness. Then, immediately, my former plague, this liver complaint, succeeding, turned me away from food, chased away sleep from my eyes, and held me on the border line between life and death, permitting me to live only so much as to be sensible of the hardships of life. And, so, I have not only made use of the hot springs but have also received some treatments from doctors. But, this mighty evil has got the best of all these. Another, indeed, might bear it if he were accustomed to it, but, when it makes an unexpected assault, no one is so invincible as to stand it.
Although I have been troubled by this disease for a long time, I was never so distressed as now, when I am hindered
1 On Eusebius. Bishop of Samosata. d. Letters 27. 30. 31. 34. 47, etc. This lelter was written in 373.
2 Elpidius is the deacon at whose hands St. Basil received the present letter from Eusebius and by whom he sent a letter of consolation to the Egyptian bishops who were in exile for the Faith in Palestine (Letter
265) .
SAINT BASIL
by it from meeting your true Charity. For, of what pleasure we have been deprived I myself know, even though with but the tip of my finger I took a taste of the very sweet honey of your church a year ago.
I also wanted to confer with your Reverence with regard to some other urgent affairs, and both to communicate and to learn many things. For, it is not even possible here to meet with true charity. Moreover, when I find a person who shows very great love, he is not one who is able to give us advice concerning the business before us with anything like the perfect wisdom and the experience which you have gathered from your many toils for the churches.
Now, there are other matters which I cannot put in writing; but those which, at all events, it is safe to set forth are as follows. The presbyter Evagrius,3 the son of Pompeianus4 of Antioch, who formerly accompanied the blessed Eusebius5 to 3 Evagrius of Antioch, as he is known. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. He was consecrated bishop over one of the parties at Antioch in 388-389. He went to Italy with Eusebius, Bishop of VerceU.~, and at the death of that prelate returned to Antioch in company with St. Jerome. He was probaoly the ascetic who trained St. John Chrysostom in monastic discipline. He belonged to the Eustathian division of the Orthodox Church at Antioch. After nine or ten years spent in aiding
Pope Damasus against his rival Ursinus, he returned to the East, stopping at Caesarea to visit St. Basil (373). Later, from Antiocb, Evagrius wrote St. Basil a harsh letter, accusing him of love of strife and controversy. St. Basil's reply is a model of courteous sarcasm. Evagrius afterwards became the instrument for prolonging the schism. Cf. Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. 5.23, and St. Basil, Letter 156.
4 Pompeianus, the father of Evagrius, was, according to St. Jerome, a descendant of the officer of that name who accompanied Aurelian against Zenobia of Palmyra in 273.
5 St. Eusebius. Bishop of Vercelli. 283-371. According to St. Ambrose, he Was the first bishop of the West to unite the mon:tstic w!th the clerical life; cf. St. Ambrose. Letter 63, Ad Vercellenses. Bemg enttrely orthodox. he refused at the synod of Milan in 355 to sign the document condemning St. Athanasius. In 363, on his return to Vercelli from exile, he became one of the chief opponents of the Arian bishop Amentius of Milan. The Church honors him as a martyr on December 16.
LETTERS
the West, has now returned from Rome asking us for a letter containing the same things word for word which they have written (moreover, he brought back to us our own letter, as it was not acceptable to the very strict brethren there).
He also asks that a sort of embassy of important men be hastily summoned, so that they may have a fair pretext for visiting us.
Those at Sebaste who hold our opinions, having laid bare the festering wound of Eustathius' heterodoxy,S are asking us for some ecclesiastical care.
!conium is a city of Pisidia, formerly the second city in importance, and now the capital of a part, composed of different sections, which has received the administration of its own government. This city is inviting us for a visit so that we may give it a bishop, for Faustinus is dead.
Therefore, whether I should not refuse to perform ordinations beyond our boundaries, and what sort of an answer I should give the Sebastenes, and how I should be disposed toward the proposals of Evagrius I wanted to learn through a personal interview with your Honor. But, of all of this I have been deprived through my present illness. If, then, it is possible for you to secure someone who is soon coming to us, be so kind as to write me the answers to everything; if not, pray that that which is pleasing to the Lord may come to my mind. Moreover, order a remembrance to be made for us in the synod and do you yourself pray for us and invite the people also to pray, so that for the remaining days and hours of our sojourning it may be granted us to serve in a manner well pleasing to the Lord.
6 For Euslalhius of Sebaste. cf. Letters 79 n. 1 and 119 n. 1.