Letter 100 TO EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF SAMOSATA
prelude 1: the letters of basil . . . I had also wished that my brother Gregory21 were governing a church commensurate with his gifts. But that would have been the whole Church under the sun gathered into one! But since this is impossible, let him be a bishop who does not receive his dignity from the place but from whom the place receives it's dignity. For it is the part of a truly great man not only to be equal to great things, but also to make little things great by his own power. . . .
Letter 100 TO EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF SAMOSATA22 According to Loofs23 this letter was written from Armenia in July or August
372. Fedwick24 places it at the end of June, 373, in the same circumstances as letter 98.
Basil, in speaking of his brother's 'plotting against' him (100.7), uses hyperbole. It means that Gregory, newly a bishop, is still displaying that 'simplicity' or 'naïvité', that want of politic judgment, this time in ecclesiastical affairs, for which Basil upbraided him in letter 58 before his brother had became a bishop. Here it appears that, against Basil's wishes, Gregory has made contact with the Old Nicenes who had been associated with Marcellus of Ancyra.
Versification is supplied here in the absence of any in Courtonne.
1. I beheld the letter of your Charity in this neighbouring country of Armenia with the same feelings with which those at sea behold a beacon fire shining from afar over the deep, especially if the sea also happened to be whipped up by the winds. 2. For though the letter of your Reverence possessed sweetness and great consolation in itself, its charm was enhanced by its timeliness. What the circumstances were, and how they pained us, I will not myself say, having decided once and for all to forget my griefs. Our deacon, however, will give your Piety a full account.
3. My body has failed me so completely that I am unable to bear even the slightest movement without pain. Nevertheless, I pray that 21 tÚn dÉ édelfÚn GrhgÒrion. The early printed editions inserted §mÒn, tÒn (the personal pronoun made explicit). Tillemont thought Gregory of Nyssa was meant.
Maran (V. Basilii xxiv) however, argued that it refers to Gregory Nazianzen. Courtonne
(xi) is also of this opinion. Note, however, that Basil implies that 'Gregory' is still governing his see; this cannot mean Nazianzen, who never took up the appointment.
22 Mss.: VPBM, LC, ed.: Courtonne II, 206–207, Def 2.182–187 at 132–133, tr.: NPNF 2nd ser. 8.184.
23 Op. cit., p. 30.
24 Op. cit, p. 16.