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of the bishop and our common uncle, deceiving me, I do not know for what reason. I received it as having been brought from the bishop through you. For why should I not have? I showed it to many of my friends out of excessive joy; I gave thanks to God. The forgery was exposed, when the bishop himself denied it with his own voice. We were disgraced because of it; we prayed for the earth to open up for us, being clothed with the reproach of villainy and falsehood and deceit. They gave me a second one again, as having been sent to me from the bishop himself through your servant Asterius. Not even that one was genuine; the bishop himself testified in the presence of the most reverend brother Anthimus, as he himself reported to us. A third one again Adamantius came bringing to us. How was I to accept things sent through you and yours? I would have prayed to have a heart of stone, so as neither to remember the past, nor to be aware of the present, in order to bear every blow bowed to the ground like the cattle. But what am I to do about my own reason, which after a first and second experience is able to accept nothing without examination? I have written these things touching upon your simplicity, which, though otherwise fitting for Christians, I see is not suitable for the present time, so that at least for the future you may both guard yourself and spare me, since—for I must speak to you with frankness—you are an untrustworthy minister of such things. Nevertheless, whoever they were who sent it, we answered them what was fitting. Therefore, whether you sent the letter to me again as a test, or whether you really received it from the bishops and sent it, you have the answers. But it were fitting for you at the present time to be concerned about other things, being a brother and not yet having forgotten nature, nor seeing us in the position of an enemy; since we have entered upon a life that crushes our body and also afflicts our soul by exceeding our strength. But nevertheless, since you have become so hostile, for this reason you should have been present now and shared in our affairs. For "Let brothers," it says, "be useful in necessities." But if the most reverend bishops really accept a meeting with us, let them both make known to us a set place and time and let them summon us through their own men. For just as I do not myself refuse to meet with my own uncle, so, if the summons does not occur with the proper formality, I will not tolerate it.

59.t TO GREGORY THE UNCLE

59.1 I have been silent. Shall I always be silent, and shall I endure any longer to ratify against myself the most unbearable penalty of silence, neither writing myself nor hearing from you when you address me? For I indeed, having persevered until now in this gloomy resolve, think it is fitting for me also to say the words of the prophet, that "I have been patient like a woman in labor," always desiring either a meeting or a word, but always failing on account of my own sins. For I have no other cause to imagine for what is happening, except indeed to be persuaded that I am paying the penalty for old sins in the separation from your love, if indeed it is holy to name a separation in the case of you and any random person, let alone of us, to whom from the beginning you have been in the place of a father. But my sin now, like some deep cloud covering over, has produced ignorance of all those things. For when I see that nothing else is accomplished by what is happening except that it brings me grief, how do I not reasonably attribute the present circumstances to my own evils? But whether sins are the causes of what has happened, let this be for me an end of difficulties; or if something was being managed by providence, what was intended has certainly been fulfilled. For the time of the loss is not short. Therefore, no longer holding back, I was the first to break the silence, exhorting you to be mindful of both ourselves and of yourself, who more than

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ἐπισκόπου καὶ κοινοῦ θείου ἡμῶν, ἀπατῶν με, οὐκ οἶδα ἀνθ' ὅτου. Ἐδεξάμην ὡς παρὰ ἐπισκόπου διὰ σοῦ κομισθεῖσαν. Τί γὰρ οὐκ ἔμελλον; Ἐπέδειξα πολλοῖς τῶν φίλων ὑπὸ περιχαρείας, ηὐχαρί στησα τῷ Θεῷ. Ἠλέγχθη τὸ πλάσμα, αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου διὰ τῆς ἰδίας φωνῆς ἀρνησαμένου. Κατῃσχύνθημεν ἐπ' ἐκείνῃ· ηὐξάμεθα ἡμῖν διαστῆναι τὴν γῆν, ῥᾳδιουργίας καὶ ψεύδους καὶ ἀπάτης ὀνείδει περιβληθέντες. ∆ευτέραν πάλιν ἀπέδωκάν μοι, ὡς διὰ τοῦ οἰκέτου σου Ἀστερίου παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου μοι ἀποσταλεῖσαν. Οὐδὲ ἐκείνη ἀληθής· αὐτὸς ὁ ἐπίσκοπος διεμαρτύρατο ἐπὶ τοῦ αἰδεσι μωτάτου ἀδελφοῦ Ἀνθίμου, ὡς αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ἀπήγγειλε. Τρίτην πάλιν Ἀδαμάντιος ἧκε πρὸς ἡμᾶς κομίζων. Πῶς ἔδει δέξασθαι τὰ διὰ σοῦ καὶ τῶν σῶν πεμπόμενα; Ηὐξά μην ἂν λίθου καρδίαν ἔχειν, ὥστε μήτε τῶν παρελθόντων μεμνῆσθαι, μήτε τῶν παρόντων αἰσθάνεσθαι, ὑπὲρ τοῦ πᾶσαν πληγὴν εἰς γῆν κεκυφὼς φέρειν ὡς τὰ βοσκήματα. Ἀλλὰ τί πάθω πρὸς τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ λογισμόν, μετὰ μίαν καὶ δευτέραν πεῖραν οὐδὲν δυνάμενον ἀνεξετάστως προσίεσθαι; Ταῦτα τῆς σῆς ἁπλότητος καθαπτόμενος ἔγραψα, ἣν ἄλλως πρέπουσαν χριστιανοῖς, τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ ὁρῶ μὴ ἁρμόζουσαν, ἵνα πρὸς γοῦν τὸ ἐφεξῆς ἑαυτόν τε φυλάτ τοις κἀμοῦ φείδῃ, ἐπειδή, δεῖ γάρ με πρὸς σὲ μετὰ παρ ρησίας εἰπεῖν, ἀναξιόπιστος εἶ τῶν τοιούτων διάκονος. Πλὴν οἵτινες ἂν ὦσιν οἱ ἐπεσταλκότες, ἀπεκρινάμεθα αὐτοῖς τὰ εἰκότα. Εἴτε οὖν αὖ πεῖράν μοι καθιείς, εἴτε τῷ ὄντι παρὰ τῶν ἐπισκόπων λαβὼν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἔπεμψας, ἔχεις τὰς ἀποκρίσεις. Σὲ δὲ ἄλλα εἰκὸς ἦν ἐν τῷ παρόντι φροντίζειν, ἀδελφόν τε ὄντα καὶ μήπω τῆς φύσεως ἐπιλε λησμένον, μηδὲ ἐν ἐχθροῦ μοίρᾳ ἡμᾶς ὁρῶντα· ἐπειδὴ εἰς βίον παρήλθομεν συντρίβοντα μὲν ἡμῶν τὸ σῶμα, κακοῦντα δὲ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ ὑπερβαίνειν τὴν ἡμετέραν δύναμιν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως, ἐπειδὴ οὕτως ἐκπεπολέμωσαι, τούτου ἕνεκεν παρεῖναι ἔδει νῦν καὶ κοινωνεῖν τῶν πραγμάτων. Ἀδελφοὶ γάρ, φησίν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις χρήσιμοι ἔστωσαν. Εἰ δὲ τῷ ὄντι συντυχίαν ἡμετέραν καταδέχονται οἱ αἰδεσιμώτατοι ἐπίσκοποι, καὶ τόπον ἡμῖν ὡρισμένον καὶ καιρὸν γνωρισά τωσαν καὶ δι' ἰδίων ἡμᾶς ἀνθρώπων μεταστειλάσθωσαν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ἀπαντῆσαι αὐτὸς πρὸς τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ θεῖον οὐκ ἀπαξιῶ, οὕτως, ἐὰν μὴ μετὰ τοῦ πρέποντος σχήματος ἡ κλῆσις γένηται, οὐκ ἀνέξομαι.

59.τ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΩ ΘΕΙΩ

59.1 Ἐσιώπησα. Μὴ καὶ ἀεὶ σιωπήσομαι, καὶ ἀνέξομαι ἐπὶ πλεῖον τὴν

δυσφορωτάτην ζημίαν τῆς σιωπῆς κυρῶσαι κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ, μήτε αὐτὸς ἐπιστέλλων μήτ' ἀκούων προσ φθεγγομένου; Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος ἐγκαρ τερήσας τῷ σκυθρωπῷ τούτῳ δόγματι, ἡγοῦμαι πρέπειν κἀμοὶ τὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγειν, ὅτι «Ἐκαρτέρησα ὡς ἡ τίκτουσα», ἀεὶ μὲν ἐπιθυμῶν ἢ συντυχίαν ἢ λόγου, ἀεὶ δὲ ἀποτυγχάνων διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας τὰς ἐμαυτοῦ. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἄλλην τινὰ αἰτίαν ἔχω τοῖς γινομένοις ἐπινοεῖν, πλήν γε δὴ τοῦ πεπεῖσθαι παλαιῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκτίνειν δίκας ἐν τῷ χωρισμῷ τῆς ἀγάπης σου, εἰ δὴ καὶ ὀνομάζειν χωρι σμὸν ὅσιον ἐπὶ σοῦ καὶ οὑτινοσοῦν τῶν τυχόντων, μὴ ὅτι γε ἡμῶν, οἷς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐν πατρὸς γέγονας χώρᾳ. Ἀλλ' ἡ ἁμαρτία μου νῦν, οἷα νεφέλη βαθεῖά τις ἐπισχοῦσα, πάν των ἐκείνων ἄγνοιαν ἐνεποίησεν. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀπίδω πλὴν τοῦ ἐμοὶ λύπην τὸ γινόμενον φέρειν μηδὲν ἕτερον ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατορθούμενον, πῶς οὐχὶ εἰκότως ταῖς ἐμαυτοῦ κακίαις ἀνατίθημι τὰ παρόντα; Ἀλλ' εἴτε ἁμαρτίαι τῶν συμβάντων αἰτίαι, τοῦτό μοι πέρας ἔστω τῶν δυσχερῶν· εἴτε τι τὸ οἰκονομούμενον ἦν, ἐξεπληρώθη πάντως τὸ σπουδαζό μενον. Οὐ γὰρ ὀλίγος ὁ τῆς ζημίας χρόνος. ∆ιὸ μηκέτι στέγων πρῶτος ἔρρηξα φωνήν, παρακαλῶν ἡμῶν τε αὐτῶν ἀναμνησθῆναι καὶ σεαυτοῦ, ὃς πλέον ἢ