165 (339). To Ascholius, Bishop of Thessalonica
SAINT BASIL
together in the opposite direction,7 God, being reconciled to His churches, may lead them back again to the ancient peace.
165 . To Asc holius, BJshop of T hessalonica1 The holy God has fulfilled our long-enduring prayer, having deemed us worthy to receive a letter from your true Reverence.
Now, the greatest privilege and one deserving of the highest esteem is to see you personally and to be seen by you, and in ourselves to en joy the graces of the Spirit in you. But, since both the distance of your country and also the circumstances detaining each of us respectively prevent this, it is worthy of a second prayer that our soul be nourished by frequent letters from your Charity in Christ. And this, as a matter of fact, happened to us when we took into our hands your Intelligence's letter. For, we have been more than doubly delighted with what was written, since it was really possible to behold even your very soul, as it were, shining through a sort of mirror of words. Our pleasure was made manifold not only by the fact that you are such a man as the testimony of all shows, but also because your virtues are the source of pride to our fatherland. For, like a thriving branch sprung from a noble root, you ha've filled the country beyond our frontier with spiritual fruits. Therefore, our fatherland rightly glories in its own offspring, and, when you struggled through the contests for the sake of the faith, it extolled God, hearing that 7 I.e .• to destruction.
I Cf. Letters 154 and 155. with notes. According to the Benedictine editors. this letter is undoubtedly addressed to Soranus. Duke of Scythia. and not to Ascholius. In Letter 155. St. Basil asks his relative. Julius Soranus. to send him the relics of the Gothic martyrs. The present letter is an answer to Soranus for promptly complying with his request and sending the relics of St. Sabas. The letter was written in 374.