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having been permitted to act. Therefore he again invokes the help of your prayers. But you, be entreated to provide your usual assistance, both on account of your own compassion for the afflicted and on account of us who intercede on his behalf, and, if it is possible, to summon to yourself the most devout of the brethren, so that under your own eyes care may be brought to him, but if this is impossible, deign to send him forth with letters and to commend him to those in authority.

32.t TO SOPHRONIUS THE MAGISTER

32.1 Our most God-loving brother Gregory the bishop is also experiencing the troubles of the time. For he, along with everyone, is distressed, being struck by successive vexations, as if by some unexpected blows. For men who do not fear God, perhaps also constrained by the magnitude of their troubles, are vexing him on the grounds that he has received property of Caesarius from them. And it is not the burden of the loss; for he learned long ago to despise money, but that, having received a very small part of that man’s property—because his estate was in the hands of his servants and men whose character was no better than that of slaves, who, dividing among themselves with great impunity the things of most value, saved very little indeed for them—which they, thinking it was not liable to anyone, immediately spent on the needy, both because of their own choice and because of the words of the deceased. For he is said to have said this when he was dying, “I wish all my things to belong to the poor.” As ministers of the command of their lord, therefore, they immediately administered it profitably, and now the result is the poverty of a Christian, but the meddlesomeness of some man of the marketplace. Therefore it occurred to me to declare everything to your praiseworthy nobility, so that, honoring the man whom you have long known, and glorifying the Lord who takes upon himself the things that happen to his servants, and honoring us who are your special friends; you might both discuss with the Count of the Treasury the appropriate things concerning him, and devise with your great wisdom a way of deliverance from these insulting and unbearable annoyances. 32.2 Surely no one is so ignorant of the man as to suspect anything unseemly about him, as if, for instance, clinging to the money, he is feigning such things. For the proof of his generosity is close at hand. He gladly relinquishes the remains of his property to the treasury, so that his property might be received, and the advocate for the treasury might speak to his accusers and demand the proofs, because of our unsuitability for such matters. For it is possible for your Perfection to learn that, as long as it was possible, no one went away having failed to obtain what he wanted, but each person carried off what he sought without effort, so that many even regretted that they had not asked for more from the beginning; which is especially what has created so many of these vexatious persons. For looking to the example of those who came before, one after another succeeds in slandering him. Therefore, in response to all these things, we ask your Reverence to stand firm and to check it as if it were some stream, and to cut off the continuity of the evils. But you know how to help in this matter, so you do not wait to be taught the way by us, who, through inexperience of the affairs of life, are ignorant of this very thing: how we might obtain deliverance. Therefore, be both a counselor and a protector yourself, finding the form of assistance through your own great wisdom.

33.t TO ABURGIUS

33.1 And who knows how to honor an old friendship and to respect virtue and to suffer with the afflicted as you yourself do? Since, therefore, our most God-loving brother,

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ἐνερ γῆσαι συγχωρηθέντων. ∆ιὸ πάλιν τῶν σῶν προσευχῶν τὴν βοήθειαν ἐπικαλεῖται. Σὺ δὲ τὰ συνήθη προστῆναι, καὶ διὰ τὴν σεαυτοῦ περὶ τοὺς κάμνοντας εὐσπλαγχνίαν καὶ δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πρεσβεύοντας, παρακλήθητι, καί, εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε, πρὸς ἑαυτὸν μεταστεῖλαι τοὺς εὐλα βεστάτους τῶν ἀδελφῶν, ὥστε ὑπὸ ταῖς σαῖς ὄψεσι προ σαχθῆναι αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν, εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀδύνατον, μετὰ γραμμάτων αὐτὸν προπέμψαι καὶ συστῆσαι τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν καταξίωσον.

32.τ ΣΩΦΡΟΝΙΩ ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡΩ

32.1 Ἀπολαύει τοῦ καιροῦ καὶ ὁ θεοφιλέστατος ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν Γρηγόριος ὁ

ἐπίσκοπος. Ὀδυνᾶται γὰρ μετὰ πάντων καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπηρείαις ἐπαλλήλοις, ὥσπερ τισὶ πληγαῖς ἀπροσδοκήτοις, τυπτόμενος. Ἄνθρωποι γὰρ μὴ φοβούμενοι τὸν Θεόν, τάχα που καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν κακῶν βιαζόμενοι, ἐπηρεάζουσιν αὐτῷ ὡς χρήματα Καισαρίου παρ' αὐτῶν εἰληφότος. Καὶ οὐ τὸ τῆς ζημίας βαρύ· πάλαι γὰρ ἔμαθε χρημάτων ὑπερορᾶν, ἀλλ' ὅτι, μικρὰ παντελῶς δεξάμενοι τῶν ἐκείνου, διὰ τὸ ἐπὶ οἰκέταις αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι τὸν βίον καὶ ἀνθρώποις οὐδὲν οἰκετῶν αἱρε τωτέροις τὸν τρόπον, οἵ, κατὰ πολλὴν ἄδειαν τὰ πλείστου ἄξια διανειμάμενοι, ἐλάχιστα παντελῶς ἀπέσωσαν τούτοις· ἃ νομίζοντες μηδενὶ ὑποκεῖσθαι, εὐθὺς ἀνάλω σαν εἰς τοὺς δεομένους, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν προαίρεσιν καὶ διὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ κατοιχομένου. Λέγεται γὰρ τοῦτο εἰπεῖν ἀποθνήσκων, ὅτι τὰ ἐμὰ πάντα βούλομαι γενέσθαι τῶν πτωχῶν. Ὡς οὖν διάκονοι τῆς ἐντολῆς τοῦ κυρίου εὐθὺς αὐτὰ ᾠκονόμησαν συμφερόντως, καὶ νῦν περιέστηκε πενία μὲν χριστιανοῦ, πολυπραγμοσύνη δὲ τῶν ἀγοραίων ἑνός. ∆ιὸ ἐπῆλθε πάντα τῇ ἐπαινετῇ σου καλοκἀγαθίᾳ δηλῶσαι, ἵνα, καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα τιμῶν ὃν ἐκ παλαιοῦ γνωρίζεις, καὶ τὸν Κύριον δοξάζων τὸν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναδεχό μενον τὰ τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ γινόμενα, καὶ ἡμᾶς τιμῶν τοὺς ἐξαιρέτους σεαυτοῦ· καὶ διαλεχθῇς τῷ Κόμητι τῶν θησαυρῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ εἰκότα, καὶ τρόπον ἐπινοήσῃς τῇ μεγάλῃ σαυτοῦ συνέσει ἀπαλλαγῆς τῶν ἐφυβρίστων τούτων καὶ ἀφορήτων ὀχλήσεων. 32.2 Πάντως δὲ οὐδεὶς οὕτως ἀγνοεῖ τὸν ἄνδρα ὥστε περὶ αὐτοῦ τι τῶν ἀπρεπῶν ὑπολαβεῖν, ὡς ἄρα τῶν χρημάτων περιεχόμενος σχηματίζεται τὰ τοιαῦτα. Ἐγγύθεν γὰρ τῆς ἐλευθεριότητος αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀπόδειξις. Ἡδέως ἐξίσταται τῶν λειψάνων τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ τῷ ταμιείῳ, ὥστε ὑποδεχθῆναι μὲν αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν, τὸν δὲ συνήγορον τοῦ ταμιείου λέγοντα πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιφυομένους καὶ ἀπαιτεῖν τὰς ἀπο δείξεις, διὰ τὸ ἡμέτερον πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀνεπιτήδειον. Ἔξεστι γὰρ μαθεῖν τῇ τελειότητί σου ὅτι, ἕως ἐξῆν, οὐδεὶς ἀπῆλθεν ἀποτυχὼν ὧν ἐβούλετο, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐπιζητού μενον ἀπονητὶ ἕκαστος ἐκομίσατο, ὥστε καὶ μεταμέλειν τοῖς πολλοῖς διότι μὴ πλέον ᾔτησαν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς· ὃ καὶ μάλιστα πολλοὺς ἐποίησε τοὺς ἐπηρεαστάς. Πρὸς γὰρ τὸ τῶν προλαβόντων ὑπόδειγμα ἀφορῶντες, ἄλλος ἄλλον διαδέχε ται συκοφαντῶν. Πρὸς οὖν πάντα ταῦτα τὴν σὴν σεμνό τητα παρακαλοῦμεν στῆναι καὶ ὥσπερ τι ῥεῦμα ἐπισχεῖν, καὶ διακόψαι τῶν κακῶν τὴν συνέχειαν Οἶδας δὲ ὅπως βοηθήσῃς τῷ πράγματι, ὥστε μὴ ἀναμένειν παρ' ἡμῶν διδαχθῆναι τὸν τρόπον, οἵ, δι' ἀπειρίαν τῶν τοῦ βίου πραγ μάτων, καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἀγνοοῦμεν, πῶς ἂν γένοιτο ἡμῖν τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς τυχεῖν. Καὶ σύμβουλος οὖν καὶ προστάτης αὐτὸς γενοῦ, τὸ εἶδος τῆς βοηθείας διὰ τῆς μεγάλης σεαυ τοῦ φρονήσεως ἐξευρίσκων.

33.τ ΑΒΟΥΡΓΙΩ

33.1 Καὶ τίς οὕτω παλαιὰν ἑταιρείαν οἶδε τιμᾶν καὶ ἀρετὴν αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ

κάμνουσι συναλγεῖν, ὡς αὐτὸς σύ; Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸν θεοφιλέστατον ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν,