7 (2). To His Companion, Gregory
SAINT BASIL
7. To His Companion, Gregoryl Even when I was writing to your Eloquence, I knew well that every theological expression is less than the thought in the mind of the speaker and less than the interpretation desired by him who seeks, because speech is in some way too weak to serve perfectly our thoughts.' If, therefore, our thought is deficient, and the tongue more so than the thought, what ought we to have expected in regard to our utterances except criticism for poverty of words? For this reason it really was not possible to pass over your question in silence. For, there is danger of disloyalty to Him in not really answering those who love the Lord when they ask questions concerning God.
My former explanation, then, whether it seems to be adequate or to be in need of more accurate elaboration, requires an appropriate occasion for revision.
For the present, however, we urge you, as we already have done, to employ yourself whole-heartedly in the support of truth and in the intensifying of desires engendered in your mind by God for the strengthening of the good, being satisfied with this and seeking nothing more from us. For, since we are much inferior to what anyone suspects, we obscure the meaning on account of our weakness rather than add any strength to the truth through our support.
I Written in 358. in the early days of St. Basil's retirement.
2 For an elaboration of this statement. cf. the homily. On the Holy Birth Of Christ.