Basil of Caesarea, Letters

36. UNTITLED, FOR ASSISTANCE 36.1 The presbyter of this village, I think, has long been known to your nobility as being my foster-brother. What else, then, must I say to entreat your goodness to look upon him as one of your own and to help him in his affairs? For if you love me, as indeed you do, it is clear that you will also choose with all your might to relieve those whom I have in my place. What is it, then, that I ask? That the old assessment be preserved for him. For he also labors not a little, serving us for our livelihood, because we, as you yourself know, possess nothing of our own, but are content with what comes from our friends and relatives. As my own house, then, or rather as your own, so regard the house of this brother, and in return for your kindness to him, God will grant to you and to your house and to all your family His accustomed favor. But know that I am very concerned that the man not be harmed even by the equalization.

37. UNTITLED, ON BEHALF OF A FOSTER-BROTHER

37.1 I am now wary of the multitude of my letters. Indeed, I am compelled, under duress and unable to bear the burden of those who make demands on us, to cry out. But I write nevertheless, being able to devise no other way of getting rid of them than by giving them the letters they are always asking from us. I fear, therefore, that since many are bringing letters, this brother so-and-so might also be considered one of the many. For I confess that I have many friends and relatives in my homeland, and that I myself have been placed in a paternal rank because of this habit into which the Lord has placed us. But I have this one son of her who nourished me as a foster-brother, and I pray that the house in which I was raised may remain in the same condition, so that the visit of your decorum, which benefits all, may not become an occasion of grief for the man. But since even now I am supported from the same house, having nothing of my own, but being content with the things of my beloved ones, I ask you to spare the house in which I was brought up as you would be preserving the provision of my own nourishment. And may God deem you worthy of eternal rest in return for these things. Indeed, I want your decorum to know this as the truest of all things, that most of the slaves were to him from us as payment for our upbringing, our parents having provided them. But the payment is not an outright gift, but a use for life. So that, if anything burdensome should happen concerning them, it is possible for him to send them away to us, and we will be responsible for taxes and tax-collectors again in another way.

38. TO GREGORY THE BROTHER, CONCERNING THE DIFFERENCE OF OUSIA AND HYPOSTASIS

38.1 Since many, in the matter of the mystical doctrines, do not distinguish the commonality of ousia from the definition of the hypostases, they fall into the same misconceptions, and think that it makes no difference to say ousia or hypostasis (whence it has also pleased some of those who accept such things without examination, just as they say one ousia, so also to say one hypostasis, and conversely those who accept the three hypostases think they must also dogmatize from this confession a division of ousiai according to the same number), for this reason, so that you might not suffer the same things, I have made for you a brief memorandum on this subject. The meaning of the terms, then, to put it briefly, is as follows. 38.2 Of all names, some, which are predicated of a plurality of things differing in number, have a more general

36.τ ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ ΕΠΙ ΕΠΙΚΟΥΡΙΑ 36.1 Ὁ πρεσβύτερος τοῦ χωρίου τοῦδε οἶμαι ὅτι πάλαι ἔγνωσται τῇ εὐγενείᾳ

σου ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐμοὶ σύντροφος. Τί οὖν ἄλλο δεῖ με εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὸ δυσωπῆσαί σου τὴν χρηστότητα οἰκείως αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν καὶ βοηθῆσαι αὐτῷ εἰς τὰ πράγματα; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐμὲ ἀγαπᾷς, ὥσπερ οὖν ἀγαπᾷς, δηλονότι καὶ οὓς ἀντ' ἐμαυτοῦ ἔχω ἀναπαῦσαι πάσῃ δυνά μει προαιρῇ. Τί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ παρακαλῶ; Φυλαχθῆναι αὐτῷ τὴν παλαιὰν ἀπογραφήν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ κάμνει οὐ μετρίως ἡμῖν ὑπηρετῶν πρὸς τὸν βίον, διὰ τὸ ἡμᾶς, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐπίστασαι, μηδὲν κεκτῆσθαι ἴδιον, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τῶν φίλων καὶ συγγενῶν ἀρκεῖσθαι. Ὡς οὖν ἐμὸν οἶκον, μᾶλλον δὲ ὡς ἑαυτοῦ, οὕτω θέασαι τὸν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦδε, καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐποιίας παρέξει Θεὸς καὶ σοὶ καὶ οἴκῳ καὶ γένει παντί σου τὴν συνήθειαν. Γίνωσκε δέ μοι πάνυ ἐπιμελὲς εἶναι μηδὲ ἐκ τῆς ἐξισώσεως ἐπηρεασθῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον.

37.τ ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ ΥΠΕΡ ΣΥΝΤΡΟΦΟΥ

37.1 Ὑφορῶμαι λοιπὸν τῶν ἐπιστολῶν τὸ πλῆθος. Βιαίως μὲν καὶ μὴ φέρων

τὴν ἐπάχθειαν τῶν ἀπαιτούντων ἡμᾶς ἐκφωνεῖν ἀναγκάζομαι. Γράφω δ' οὖν ὅμως, ἄλλον ἀπαλ λαγῆς τρόπον ἐπινοεῖν οὐκ ἔχων ἢ διδοὺς αὐτοῖς τὰς ἐπιστολὰς ἃς αἰτοῦσιν ἑκάστοτε παρ' ἡμῶν. Φοβοῦμαι τοίνυν μή, ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ προσκομίζουσι γράμματα, εἷς τῶν πολλῶν νομισθῇ καὶ ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ δεῖνα. Ἐγὼ γὰρ πολλοὺς φίλους καὶ συγγενεῖς ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῆς πατρίδος ὁμολογῶ, καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν πατρικὴν τάξιν τετάχθαι διὰ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦτο εἰς ὃ ἔταξεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Κύριος. Σύντροφον δὲ τῆς θρεψαμένης με υἱὸν τοῦτον ἔχω ἕνα, καὶ εὔχομαι τὸν οἶκον ἐν ᾧ ἀνετράφην ἐπὶ τῆς ὁμοίας καταστάσεως διαμεῖναι, ἵνα μή τι ἡ πάντας εὐεργετοῦσα ἐπιδημία τῆς σῆς κοσμιότητος ἀφορμὴ πρὸς λύπην τῷ ἀνδρὶ γένηται. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ διατρέφομαι οἴκου, οὐδὲν ἔχων τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ, ἀρκούμενος δὲ τοῖς τῶν ἀγα πητῶν, παρακαλῶ οὕτω φείσασθαι τῆς οἰκίας ᾗ ἐνετράφην ὡς ἐμοὶ τῆς τροφῆς τὴν χορηγίαν διασώζοντα. Καί σε ὁ Θεὸς ἀντὶ τούτων τῆς αἰωνίου ἀναπαύσεως ἀξιώσειεν. Ἐκεῖνό γε μὴν πάντων ἀληθέστατον γινώσκειν σου τὴν κοσμιότητα βούλομαι, ὅτι τῶν ἀνδραπόδων τὰ πλεῖστα παρ' ἡ μῶν ὑπῆρξεν αὐτῷ μισθὸς τῆς τροφῆς ἡμῶν, τῶν γονέων ἡμῶν παρασχομένων. Ὁ δὲ μισθὸς οὐ παντελής ἐστι δωρεά, ἀλλὰ χρῆσις διὰ βίου. Ὥστε, ἐάν τι βαρὺ περὶ αὐτὰ γένηται, ἔξεστιν αὐτῷ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀποπέμψαι, καὶ ἐσόμεθα ἡμεῖς δι' ἑτέρας ὁδοῦ ὑπεύθυνοι τελέσμασι καὶ ἀπαιτηταῖς πάλιν γινόμενοι.

38.τ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΩ Α∆ΕΛΦΩ ΠΕΡΙ ∆ΙΑΦΟΡΑΣ ΟΥΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΥΠΟΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ

38.1 Ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς οὐσίας ἐπὶ τῶν μυστικῶν δογμάτων μὴ

διακρίνοντες ἀπὸ τοῦ τῶν ὑποστάσεων λόγου ταῖς αὐταῖς συνεμπίπτουσιν ὑπονοίαις, καὶ οἴονται διαφέ ρειν μηδὲν οὐσίαν ἢ ὑπόστασιν λέγειν (ὅθεν καὶ ἤρεσέ τισι τῶν ἀνεξετάστως τὰ τοιαῦτα προσδεχομένων, ὥσπερ μίαν οὐσίαν, οὕτω καὶ μίαν ὑπόστασιν λέγειν, καὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν οἱ τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις παραδεχόμενοι καὶ τὴν τῶν οὐσιῶν διαίρεσιν κατὰ τὸν ἴσον ἀριθμὸν ἐκ τῆς ὁμολογίας ταύτης δογματίζειν οἴονται δεῖν), διὰ τοῦτο, ὡς ἂν μὴ καὶ σὺ τὰ ὅμοια πάθοις, ὑπόμνημά σοι διὰ βραχέων τὸν περὶ τούτου λόγον ἐποιησάμην. Ἔστι τοίνυν, ὡς ἐν ὀλίγῳ παραστῆσαι, τοιαύτη τῶν λεγομένων ἡ ἔννοια. 38.2 Πάντων τῶν ὀνομάτων τὰ μὲν ἐπὶ πλειόνων καὶ τῷ ἀριθμῷ διαφερόντων λεγόμενα πραγμάτων καθολικωτέραν