27 (6). To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata
SAINT BASIL
27 To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata 1 When, by the grace of God and the aid of your prayers,
I seemed to recover somewhat from my sickness and had gathered strength, the winter came, confining us indoors and compelling us at the same time to remain in our country.
In fact, even if we had had a much milder winter than usual, it still would have been sufficient to hinder me not only from traveling during the season, but even from a possible venturing forth from my room.
Yet, it is no small privilege for me to be held worthy of conversing with your Reverence by letters, and to rest in the anticipation of your replies. Should the season permit it, however, and the span of life for us remain unbroken, and the famine not make our journey impracticable, with the help of your prayers we would quickly fulfill our desires. And if on our arrival we should find you at home, we would ill all leisure enjoy the benefit of your treasured wisdom.
28. A Letter of Condolence to the Church of Neo-Caesarea 1 Truly, that which has bdallen you demanded our presence. that we might pay to the full with you, our closest friends, the honors due to a blessed man, and might share with you, at the sight of your greater sorrow, the dejection caused by This is the first of twenty·two letters addressed by St. Basil to his life. long friend, Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata (about 260 miles from Cae. sa rea) , between 360 and 373. Cf. Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. 4.15 and 5.4.
It is of no importance except as one of the numerous letters testifying to St. Basil's almost continual state of ill health. It was written in the spring of 368; d. Schafer, op. cit. 34.
I This letter is assumed to have been written at the death of Musonius, Bishop of Neo.Caesarea, of whom St. Basil speaks in Letter 210. It was written in the spring of 368; d. Schafer, loc. cit.
LETTERS
your misfortune, and, also, that we might with you make necessary plans. But, since many things prevented our meeting in person, our only recourse was to share the present sorrows with you by letter.
The remarkable endowments of the man, which especially caused us to consider that his loss was unendurable, could not be enumerated within the limits of a letter; besides, it is untimely to bring forward a discourse on the great number of his noble deeds, so prostrate is our soul with grief. For, what deed of his is such that it would either escape our memory or be considered worthy of being passed over in silence? Yet, to tell them all at one time would be impossible, and to mention them in part would, I fear, be a betrayal of the truth.
A man has departed this life, one who has conspicuously surpassed all those about him in all human virtues, a mainstay of his country, an ornament of the churches, a pillar and support of truth, a solid foundation of faith in Christ, a sure protector of his friends, a most invincible foe of his opponents, a guardian of the laws of the Fathers, and an enemy to innovations. He showed in himself the ancient characteristics of the Church, fashioning the church under his charge according to its ancient constitution as after some sacred pattern, so that his associates seemed to live with those who shone like stars two hundred years ago and more.
Thus, the man brought forth nothing of his own nor any discovery of a more recent mind but, according to the blessing of Moses, he knew how to bring forth from the innermost goodly treasure of his heart 'the oldest of the old and the old apart from the new coming on.'2 Thus, he was deemed worthy of precedence in the assemblies of the bishops, not because of age but by common consent he enjoyed the first place, being above all in the age of his wisdom. And for the 2 Cf. Lev. 26.10
SAINT BASIL
measure of the value of such leading, no one who looks upon you need search further. For, you alone of all, or certainly, among the few we know, spent a life unshaken by the waves under his pilotage in the midst of such a great storm and stress of affairs. In fact, the squalls of heretical gusts which bring drownings and shipwreck to changeable souls did not affect you. And grant that they may never touch them, 0
Master of all, who didst give the favor of tranquillity in the highest degree to Gregory,3 Thy servant, who from the beginning made firm the foundation of the Church.
Do not you yourselves lose that tranquillity in this present time, and do not, by lamenting excessively and by giving yourselves up to sadness, afford the opportunity of constraining you to those lying in wait. But, if it is absolutely necessary to lament (which I, indeed, do not say, lest in this respect we be like those who have no hope 4 ), do you, if it seems best, appoint a leader for yourselves and in a more orderly manner bewail with him the sad event as a funeral chorus.
Furthermore, even if this man did not reach extreme old age, yet as far as regards the period of his charge over you, he did not have an incomplete life. And he was united with his body long enough to manifest his strength of soul in his sufferings. Perchance, some one of you may assume that time brings on an increase of fellow feeling and an augmentation of love, and that no occasion of satiety comes to the long experienced, so that you feel the loss more deeply in proportion to the length of time in which you have enjoyed his kindness.
Yet, to the pious, even the shadow of a just body is worthy of all honor. Would that many of you were of this opinion!
I say myself that you must not be negligent regarding him, but I advise you to bear your grief with moderation. At all
!J Gregorv Thaumaturgus.
4 Cf. 1 Thess. 4.1!J.
LETTERS
events, nothing that can be said by those lamenting the loss is unknown to me.
A tongue is silent, one that flooded our ears like a torrent, and a heart, whose depth hitherto no one was able to sound, now more unsubstantial than a dream, humanly speaking, has flown away. Who could more keenly foresee the future than he? Who else, of such a firm and steadfast disposition of soul as he, was able to accomplish his tasks more swiftly than the lightning? 0 city afflicted already by many calamities, but, in truth, by none so in jured in the very vitals of its life 1 How your ornament has faded. The church has become mute, the assemblies are sad of countenance, the sacred council longs for its leader. The mystical doctrines await an interpreter; sons, their father; old men, their companion; magistrates, their leader; the people, their champion; those lacking livelihood, their foster father. All call upon him, each in his own affliction and with his own appropriate name, and each raises a lament suitable and proper to himself.
But, whither is my speech carried by the comfort of tears?
Shall we not recover from our sorrow? Shall we not be masters of ourselves? Shall we not look to our common
Master, who has permitted each of His saints to minister to his own generation, recalling him to Himself again at the proper moment? Now, in the present circumstances, be mindful of his words who always, when he had called you to an assembly, gave express orders to you, saying: 'Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers.'5 The dogs are many. Why do I say dogs? Of a truth, they are fierce wolves, concealing their deception under the appearance of sheep, and scattering the flock of Christ throughout the whole world. Against these you, under the care of a watchful shepherd, must be on your guard. To seek him is your duty when you have purified
5 Phil. 3.2.
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your souls of all contention and ambition. But to reveal him is the work of the Lord, who from the time of Gregory, the great leader of your church, until this blessed man, has given one after another, always fitting them together as precious stones into a setting, and so has favored you with the wondrous beauty of your church. Therefore, we must not despair of their successors. The Lord knows His own, and He may lead into your midst those, perhaps, whom we do not expect.
Although I wished long since to bring my words to an end, the grief in my heart does not permit it. But I conjure you, by the Fathers, by the true Faith, and by this blessed man, to rouse your souls, each one judging as his own the present concerns and considering that he will have the first benefit, whatever the outcome of the affair may be. Do not thrust off to a neighbor the care of the public interests, as generally happens, for then, since each one in his own mind regards the matters as of no importance, all through their negligence unconsciously draw upon themselves a personal evil.
Accept these words with all good will, either as the expression of your neighbors' sympathy, or of the fellowship of those who share the same faith, or even, as is truer, of the fellowship of those obeying the law of love and shunning the danger of silence. Be persuaded that you are our ,glory, just as we also are yours, till the day of the Lord, and that through the shepherd that will be given you we shall be either still more closely united with you in the bonds of love or be subjected to a complete separation. May this never happen! And by the grace of God it will not; nor would I myself now speak anything offensive. But, this we wish you to know, that, even if we did not have this blessed man co-operating with us for the peace of the churches on account of certain preconceptions, as he himself declared to us, nevertheless,