Ep. CXXXV.

(About the middle of a.d. 382 Theodosius, on the recommendation of S. Damasus, summoned a new Synod of Eastern Bishops to meet at Constantinople, to try and heal the schism which had been embittered by the election of Flavian at Antioch.  As soon as Gregory heard of the convocation of this Synod he wrote to several of his influential friends at Court, to beg them to do their utmost for the promotion of peace.)

I am philosophizing at leisure.  That is the injury my enemies have done me, and I should be glad if they would do more of the same sort, that I might look upon them still more as benefactors.  For it often happens that those who are wronged get a benefit, while they, whom we would treat well, suffer injury.  That is the state of my affairs.  But if I cannot make every one believe this, I am very anxious, that at all events you, for them all, to whom I most willingly give an account of my affairs, should know, or rather I feel certain that you do know it, and can persuade those who do not.  You, however, I beg to give all diligence, now at any rate, if you have not done so before, to bring together to one voice and mind the sections of the world that are so unhappily divided; and above all if you should perceive, as I have observed, that they are divided not on account of the Faith, but by petty private interests.  To succeed in doing this would earn you a reward; and my retirement would have less to grieve over if I could see that I did not grasp at it to no purpose, but was like a Jonas, willingly casting myself into the sea, that the storm might cease and the sailors be saved.  If, however, they are still as storm-tost as ever, I at all events have done what I could.

[135] ΣΩΦΡΟΝΙΩΙ

Φιλοσοφοῦμεν ἐφ' ἡσυχίας: τοῦτο οἱ μισοῦντες ἡμᾶς ἠδικήκασιν, ὡς εἴθε τι καὶ ἄλλο τοιοῦτον, ἵνα μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς εὐεργέτας γινώσκωμεν. Πολλὰ γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀδικουμένους εὖ πάσχειν, καὶ καλῶς πάσχοντας ἀδικεῖσθαι. Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα. Καὶ εἰ μὴ τοὺς ἄλλους πείθομεν, αὐτόν γέ σε ἀντὶ πάντων εἰδέναι βουλόμεθα, ᾧ λόγον ὑπέχομεν ἡδέως τῶν ἡμετέρων, μᾶλλον δὲ εἰδέναι πεπείσμεθα καὶ πείθειν τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας. Ὑμῖν δέ, παρακαλῶ, πᾶσα σπουδὴ γενέσθω νῦν γοῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον, συμφρονῆσαι καὶ εἰς ἓν ἐλθεῖν τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης τμήματα κακῶς διεστῶτα, καὶ μάλιστα εἰ λάβοιτε αὐτοὺς οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων μικροψυχιῶν διεστῶτας, ὅπερ ἐγὼ τετήρηκα. Οὕτω καὶ ὑμῖν ἔμμισθον ἂν εἴη τὸ δύνασθαι: καὶ ἡμῖν ἡ ἀναχώρησις ἀλυποτέρα, εἰ φανείημεν μὴ κενῶς ταύτην ἁρπάσαντες, ἀλλ' ἑκοντὶ ῥίψαντες ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς κατὰ πελάγους, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰωνᾶς ἐκεῖνος, ἵν' ὁ κλύδων παύσηται καὶ σωθῶσιν ἀσφαλῶς οἱ ἐμπλέοντες. Εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον χειμάζονται, τό γε ἡμέτερον εἰσενήνεκται.