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of distinguished men and friends of ours, and among them was a certain man of those who wear the name and garb of piety. It was not yet a drinking-bout, and there was talk about us, as is wont to happen at banquets, where we are proposed instead of some other interlude; and while all were admiring your qualities and including me as philosophizing in a similar manner, and speaking of our friendship and Athens and our harmony and concord in all things, the pretended philosopher made it out to be a terrible thing. 58.5 "And what is this," he says, "O men?" shouting something very youthful, "How very false and flattering you are! Let the men be praised for other things, if you please; I myself do not contradict it. But the greatest thing I do not grant: their orthodoxy. In vain is Basil praised, and in vain is Gregory; the one betraying the faith by what he argues, the other co-betraying it by what he tolerates." 58.6 -"Whence is this," I said, "O you foolish man, and new Dathan and Abiram in your madness? Whence have you come to us as a dogmatist? How do you make yourself a judge of such great men?" 58.7 -"From the synod concerning Eupsychius the martyr," he said, "I have now come"—for so it was—"and there I heard the great Basil theologizing excellently and most perfectly about the Father and the Son, as scarcely anyone else could, but dragging aside the Spirit," and he added a certain simile, like that of rivers which run past the rocks but hollow out the sand. 58.8 "Or why on earth, my good sir, do you"—he said, looking at me—"already theologize so openly about the Spirit" (and he quoted one of my sayings, as one who had theologized in a crowded synod and then said to the Spirit that famous phrase: For how long shall we hide the lamp under the bushel?), "while he reveals the doctrine dimly and, as it were, sketches it in outline, but does not speak the truth boldly, more politically than piously deluging the ear and cloaking the duplicity with the power of his argument." 58.9 "Because I," I said, "being situated in a corner and unknown to the many, and scarcely being known for what I might say or that I say anything, philosophize without danger; but the account is greater for him, as he is more conspicuous both in himself and because of the Church. 58.10 And everything he says is public, and the war around him is great, as the heretics seek to seize upon a bare utterance of Basil himself, so that he might be driven from the Church—he who is almost the only remaining spark of truth and its vital power, since all around have been seized—and so that the evil might be rooted in the city and, as from a base of operations of this Church, might overrun the whole world. 58.11 It is better, therefore, for the truth to be managed with reserve, by our yielding a little to the time as to a cloud, than for it to be overthrown by the openness of the preaching. For to us there is no harm in knowing the Spirit to be God from other words that imply this (for the truth lies not in sound so much as in thought); but for the Church it is a great loss for the truth to be persecuted because of one man." 58.12 Those present did not accept this "economy" as being stale and making sport of them; but they even cried out against us as managing cowardice rather than doctrine. For it was much better to guard our own through the truth than to render this useless and not win over what is another's through this so-called "economy." 58.13 Now, the details of what I said and what I heard, and how I was vexed with those who opposed me almost beyond measure and my own habit, would be long to relate now and perhaps not necessary. 58.14 As an end to the discussion, I thus sent them away. But you, O divine and sacred head, teach us how far we must proceed in the theology of the Spirit, and what expressions we must use, and how far we must use "economy," so that we may have these things to use against those who contradict. 58.15 For if I should need to learn this now, I who of all men especially know you and your affairs, and have often both given and received full assurance concerning these things, I would be the most ignorant and wretched of all. 59.T TO THE SAME 59.1 This was what

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ἐπιφανῶν καὶ ἡμῖν φίλων, ἐν δὲ τούτοις καὶ ἀνήρ τις τῶν εὐλαβείας ὄνομα καὶ σχῆμα περικειμένων. Οὔπω πότος ἦν, καὶ λόγος ἦν περὶ ἡμῶν, ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς συμποσίοις φιλεῖ συμβαίνειν ἀντ' ἄλλου τινὸς ἐπεισοδίου προτιθεμένων· πάντων δὲ τὰ σὰ θαυμαζόντων καὶ προσ τιθέντων ἡμᾶς ὡς τὰ ἴσα φιλοσοφοῦντας καὶ τὴν φιλίαν λεγόντων καὶ τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ τὴν ἐν πᾶσι σύμπνοιάν τε καὶ ὁμόνοιαν, δεινὸν τὸ πρᾶγμα ποιεῖται ὁ δῆθεν φιλό σοφος. 58.5 «Καὶ τί τοῦτο, φησίν, ὦ οὗτοι;» μάλα τι νεανικὸν ἐκβοήσας, «Ὡς λίαν ὑμεῖς ψευδεῖς τε καὶ κόλακες· τἄλλα μὲν ἐπαινείσθωσαν οἱ ἄνδρες, εἰ δοκεῖ, οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ἀντιλέγω. Τὸ μέγιστον δὲ οὐ δίδωμι, τὴν ὀρθοδοξίαν μάτην μὲν ἐπαινεῖται Βασίλειος, μάτην δὲ Γρηγόριος, ὁ μὲν προδιδοὺς τὴν πίστιν οἷς διαλέγεται, ὁ δὲ συμπροδιδοὺς οἷς ἀνέχεται.» 58.6 -«Πόθεν τοῦτο, ἔφην, ὦ μάταιε σὺ καὶ νέε ∆αθὰν καὶ Ἀβειρὼν τὴν ἀπό νοιαν; Πόθεν ἡμῖν ἥκεις δογματιστής; Πῶς σεαυτὸν ποιεῖς τηλικούτων κριτήν;» 58.7 -«Ἐκ τῆς κατ' Εὐψύχιον, ἔφη, συνόδου νῦν ἥκω τὸν μάρτυρα»-καὶ γὰρ εἶχεν οὕτως-«κἀκεῖσε ἤκουσα τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου θεολογοῦντος τὰ μὲν περὶ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ ἄριστά τε καὶ τελεώτατα καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἄν τις ῥᾳδίως ἄλλος, τὸ Πνεῦμα δὲ παρασύροντος», καὶ προσετίθει τινὰ εἰκασίαν ὥσπερ τῶν ποταμῶν οἱ τὰς πέτρας μὲν παρατρέχοντες, τὴν δὲ ψάμμον κοιλαίνοντες. 58.8 «Ἢ τί δή ποτε, ὦ θαυμάσιε, σὺ μέν»-ἔφη πρὸς ἐμὲ βλέπων-«ἤδη φανερῶς οὕτω τὸ Πνεῦμα θεολογεῖς» (καί τινος ἀπεμνημόνευε τῶν ἐμῶν, ὡς ἐν συνόδῳ πολυανθρώπῳ θεολογήσαντος εἶτα ἐπειπόντος τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦτο δὴ τὸ περιβόητον τό· Μέχρι τίνος ὑπὸ τῷ μοδίῳ τὸν λύχνον κρύψομεν;), «ὁ δὲ ὑποφαίνει μὲν ἀμυδρῶς καὶ οἷον σκιαγραφεῖ τὸν λόγον, οὐ παρρησιάζεται δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν πολιτικώτερον ἢ εὐσεβέστερον τὴν ἀκοὴν ἐπικλύζων καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ λόγου τὴν διπλόην περικαλύπτων.» 58.9 «Ὅτι ἐγὼ μέν, ἔφην, ἐν παραβύστῳ κείμενος καὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀγνοούμενος καὶ μηδὲ ἃ λέγοιμι μηδὲ ὅτι λέγοιμι σχεδὸν γινωσκόμενος, ἀκινδύνως φιλοσοφῶ· τοῦ δὲ πλείων ὁ λόγος, ὡς περιφανεστέρου καὶ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ παρὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. 58.10 Καὶ δημοσίᾳ πᾶν τὸ λεγό μενον, πολύς τε περὶ αὐτὸν ὁ πόλεμος, ζητούντων λαβέσθαι τῶν αἱρετικῶν γυμνῆς τῆς φωνῆς καὶ αὐτοῦ Βασιλείου, ἵν' ὁ μὲν ἐξωσθῇ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ὁ μόνος σχεδὸν ὑπολει πόμενος τῆς ἀληθείας σπινθὴρ καὶ ἡ ζωτικὴ δύναμις, τῶν κύκλῳ πάντων κατειλημμένων, ῥιζωθῇ δὲ τὸ κακὸν ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος ὁρμητηρίου τῆς Ἐκκλη σίας ταύτης πᾶσαν καταδράμῃ τὴν οἰκουμένην. 58.11 Βέλ τιον οὖν οἰκονομηθῆναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, μικρὸν εἰξάντων ἡμῶν ὥσπερ νέφει τινὶ τῷ καιρῷ, ἢ καταλυθῆναι τῷ φανερῷ τοῦ κηρύγματος. Ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν βλάβος καὶ ἀπ' ἄλλων λέξεων τοῦτο συναγουσῶν Θεὸν τὸ Πνεῦμα γινώσκειν (οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἤχῳ μᾶλλον ἢ διανοίᾳ κεῖσθαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν)· τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ δὲ μεγάλην ζημίαν τὸ δι' ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς διωχθῆναι τὸ ἀληθές». 58.12 Οὐκ ἐδέξαντο τὴν οἰκονομίαν ὡς ἕωλον καὶ παί ζουσαν αὐτοὺς οἱ παρόντες· ἀλλὰ καὶ κατεβόων ἡμῶν ὡς τὴν δειλίαν μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν λόγον οἰκονομούντων. Πολὺ γὰρ εἶναι βέλτιον τὸ ἡμέτερον φυλάττειν διὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἢ τοῦτό γε ἀχρειοῦν καὶ μὴ προσλαμβάνειν τὸ ἀλλότριον διὰ τῆς δῆθεν οἰκονομίας. 58.13 Τὰ μὲν οὖν καθ' ἕκαστον, ὧν τε εἶπον, ὧν τε ἤκουσα, καὶ ὡς ἠγανάκτησα πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιτείνοντας πέρα τοῦ μετρίου σχεδὸν καὶ τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ συνηθείας, μακρὸν ἂν εἴη νῦν ἐκδιηγεῖσθαι καὶ ἴσως οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον. 58.14 Τέλος δὲ τοῦ λόγου, τοὺς μὲν οὕτως ἀπεπεμψάμην. Σὺ δὲ δίδαξον ἡμᾶς, ὦ θεία καὶ ἱερὰ κεφαλή, μέχρι τίνος προϊτέον ἡμῖν τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος θεολογίας καὶ τίσι χρηστέον φωναῖς καὶ μέχρι τίνος οἰκονομητέον, ἵν' ἔχωμεν ταῦτα πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας. 58.15 Ἐγὼ γὰρ εἰ δεοίμην νῦν τοῦτο μανθάνειν, ὁ πάντων μάλιστα σέ τε καὶ τὰ σὰ γινώσκων καὶ πολλάκις περὶ τούτων πληροφορίαν καὶ δεδωκὼς καὶ δεξάμενος, πάντων ἂν εἴην ἀμαθέστατός τε καὶ ἀθλιώτατος. 59.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 59.1 Τοῦτο ἦν ὅπερ