17. Better to pray in a building than in the desert.

Now then, I would also meet the other and only remaining objection of my accuser. He says, the building was not completed, and prayer ought not to have been made there. But the Lord said, ‘But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and shut the door54    Matt. vi. 6..’ What then will the accuser answer? or rather what will all prudent and true Christians say? Let your Majesty ask the opinion of such: for it is written of the other, ‘The foolish person will speak foolishness55    Is. xxxii. 6. Sept.;’ but of these, ‘Ask counsel of all that are wise56    Tob. iv. 18..’ When the Churches were too small, and the people so numerous as they were, and desirous to go forth into the deserts, what ought I to have done? The desert has no doors, and all who choose may pass through it, but the Lord’s house is enclosed with walls and doors, and marks the difference between the pious and the profane. Will not every wise person then, as well as your Piety, Sire, give the preference to the latter place? For they know that here prayer is lawfully offered, while a suspicion of irregularity attaches to it there. Unless indeed no place proper for it existed, and the worshippers dwelt only in the desert, as was the case with Israel; although after the tabernacle was built, they also had thenceforth a place set apart for prayer. O Christ, Lord and true King of kings, Only-begotten Son of God, Word and Wisdom of the Father, I am accused because the people prayed Thy gracious favour, and through Thee besought Thy Father, who is God over all, to save Thy servant, the most religious Constantius. But thanks be to Thy goodness, that it is for this that I am blamed, and for the keeping of Thy laws. Heavier had been the blame, and more true had been the charge, had we passed by the place which the Emperor was building, and gone forth into the desert to pray. How would the accuser then have vented his folly! With what apparent reason would he have said, ‘He despised the place which you are building; he does not approve of your undertaking; he passed it by in derision; he pointed to the desert to supply the want of room; he prevented the people when they wished to offer up their prayers.’ This is what he wished to say, and sought an occasion of saying it; and finding none he is vexed, and so forthwith invents a charge against me. Had he been able to say this, he would have confounded me with shame; as now he injures me, copying the accuser’s ways, and watching for an occasion against those that pray. Thus has he perverted to a wicked purpose his knowledge of Daniel’s57    Dan. vi. 11. history. But he has been deceived; for he ignorantly imagined, that Babylonian practices were in fashion with you, and knew not that you are a friend of the blessed Daniel, and worship the same God, and do not forbid, but wish all men to pray, knowing that the prayer of all is, that you may continue to reign in perpetual peace and safety.

17 Τὴν γοῦν ἑτέραν καὶ ὑπολειπομένην ἀντιλογίαν αὐτοῦ βούλομαι προλαβεῖν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ κατειρηκώς φησιν· Οὔπω τετελείωτο τὸ ἔργον, καὶ οὐκ ἐχρῆν εὐχὰς γενέσθαι· ὁ δὲ Κύριος εἶπε· «Σὺ δέ, ὅταν προσεύχῃ, εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖόν σου, καὶ ἀπόκλεισον τὰς θύρας». Τί τοίνυν φήσειεν ὁ κατήγορος; Μᾶλλον δὲ τί ἂν εἴποιεν οἱ φρόνιμοι καὶ ἀληθῶς Χριστιανοί; Τούτους γὰρ ἐρώτησον, βασιλεῦ· ἐπειδὴ γέγραπται περὶ μὲν ἐκείνων ὅτι «Ὁ μωρὸς μωρὰ λαλήσει»· περὶ δὲ τούτων, «Παρὰ παντὸς φρονίμου συμβουλίαν λάμβανε». Τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν στενῶν οὐσῶν, καὶ τῶν λαῶν τοσούτων ὄντων, καὶ βουλομένων εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους ἀπελθεῖν, τί ποιεῖν ἐχρῆν; Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἔρημος ἄθυρος, καὶ τῶν βουλομένων δίοδός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ Κυριακὸς τόπος καὶ τετείχισται καὶ τεθύρωται, καὶ τὴν διαφορὰν τῶν εὐσεβῶν καὶ τῶν βεβήλων δείκνυσιν. Ἆρα, βασιλεῦ, οὐ μετὰ τῆς σῆς εὐσεβείας πᾶς ὁστισοῦν φρόνιμος ἐπινεύει τούτῳ; Ἴσασι γὰρ ὅτι ὧδε μὲν νόμιμος εὐχή, ἐκεῖ δὲ ἀταξίας ὑποψία· εἰ μὴ ἄρα, τόπων μὴ ὄντων, μόνοι τὴν ἐρημίαν ἂν οἰκοῖεν οἱ εὐχόμενοι, ὥσπερ ἦν ὁ Ἰσραήλ· ἀλλὰ κἀκείνοις τῆς σκηνῆς γενομένης περιώριστο λοιπὸν τῆς εὐχῆς ὁ τόπος. Ὦ ∆έσποτα καὶ ἀληθῶς βασιλεῦ τῶν βασιλευόντων Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ μονογενές, Λόγε καὶ Σοφία τοῦ Πατρός, ἐπειδὴ τὴν σὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ὁ λαὸς ηὔξατο, καὶ διὰ σοῦ τὸν σὸν Πατέρα τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸν παρεκάλεσε, περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας τοῦ σοῦ θεράποντος τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου Κωνσταντίου, κατηγοροῦμαι. Ἀλλὰ τῇ σῇ ἀγαθότητι χάρις, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τοῖς σοῖς νόμοις διαβέβλημαι. Μειζόνως γὰρ ἂν διεβλήθην, καὶ ἦν ἀληθῶς ἔγκλημα, εἰ ὃν ᾠκοδόμησε τόπον ὁ βασιλεὺς παρηρχόμεθα, καὶ τὴν ἔρημον ἐζητοῦμεν εἰς εὐχήν. Πῶς ἂν ὁ κατήγορος ἐφλυάρησε τότε, πῶς ἂν ἦν πιθανὸς λέγων· Ἐξουθένησέ σου τὸν τόπον· παρὰ γνώμην ἐστὶν αὐτοῦ τὸ γινόμενον· ἐγέλασε παρερχόμενος· ἔδειξε τὴν ἔρημον πληροῦσαν τοῦ τόπου τὴν χρείαν· θέλοντας εὔξασθαι τοὺς λαοὺς κεκώλυκε. Ταῦτα ἤθελεν εἰπεῖν, ταῦτα ἐζήτει· καὶ μὴ εὑρὼν ἄχθεται, καὶ λοιπὸν λόγους πλάττει. Ταῦτα γὰρ εἰ ἔλεγεν ἐδυσώπει κἀμέ· ὥσπερ νῦν ἀδικεῖ, τὸν διαβόλου τρόπον ἀναλαβὼν καὶ παρατηρούμενος τοὺς προσευχομένους· διὸ καὶ ἐσφάλη παραναγνοὺς τὸ τοῦ ∆ανιήλ· ἐνόμισε γὰρ ὁ ἀμαθὴς, ὅτι καὶ ἐπὶ σοῦ τὰ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων κρατεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνω ὅτι φίλος εἶ τοῦ μακαρίου ∆ανιήλ· καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν αὐτῷ Θεὸν προσκυνεῖς, καὶ οὐ κωλύεις, ἀλλὰ θέλεις πάντας εὔχεσθαι, εἰδὼς ὅτι πάντων ἐστὶν εὐχὴ σώζεσθαί σε καὶ βασιλεύειν ἐν εἰρήνῃ διαπαντός.