Letter C.615    Placed in 372.

 To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata.

When I saw your affectionate letter, in the country bordering on Armenia, it was like a lighted torch held up at a distance to mariners at sea, especially if the sea happen to be agitated by the wind.  Your reverence’s letter was of itself a pleasant one, and full of comfort; but its natural charm was very much enhanced by the time of its arrival, a time so painful to me, that I hardly know how to describe it, after once making up my mind to forget its troubles.  However, my deacon will give you a full account.  My bodily strength completely failed me, so that I was not even able to bear the slightest movement without pain.  Nevertheless I do pray that, by the aid of your prayers, my own longing may be fulfilled; although my journey has caused me great difficulties, in consequence of the affairs of my own Church having been neglected through its occupying such a long time.  But if, while I yet live, God grants me to see your reverence in my Church, then truly I shall have good hope, even for the future, that I am not wholly excluded from the gifts of God.  If it be possible, I beg that this meeting between us may take place at the Synod which we hold every year, in memory of the blessed martyr Eupsychius,616    cf. Letters clxxvi. and cclii.  Eupsychius suffered for the part he took in demolishing the Temple of Fortune at Cæsarea.  cf. Sozomen, Ecc. Hist. v. 11.  An Eupsychius appears in the Bollandist acts under April 9th.  Vide Prolegomena. now about to be held on the 7th of September.  I am compassed with anxieties which demand your help and sympathy, both in the matter of the appointment of bishops and in the consideration of the trouble caused me by the simplicity of Gregory of Nyssa,617    The Ben. note, in answer to the suggested unlikelihood of Basil’s being plotted against by his brother, calls attention to the fact that this opposition was due not to want of affection but to want of tact, and compares Letter lviii. on Gregory’s foolish falsehood about their uncle. who is summoning a Synod at Ancyra and leaving nothing undone to counteract me.

ΕΥΣΕΒΙῼ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠῼ ΣΑΜΟΣΑΤΩΝ

[1] Οὕτως εἶδον τὰ γράμματά σου τῆς ἀγάπης ἐν τῇ γείτονι χώρᾳ τῆς Ἀρμενίων ὡς ἂν ἴδοιεν οἱ θαλαττεύοντες πυρσὸν ἐν πελάγει πόρρωθεν φρυκτωρούμενον, ἄλλως τε κἂν ἀγριαίνουσά πως τύχῃ ὑπ' ἀνέμων ἡ θάλασσα. Καὶ γὰρ φύσει μὲν ἡδὺ καὶ παρηγορίαν ἔχον πολλὴν τὸ τῆς σῆς σεμνότητος γράμμα, τότε δὲ τὴν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ χάριν ὁ καιρὸς συνηύξησεν, ὃν ὁποῖος ἦν καὶ ὅπως ἡμᾶς λυπήσας ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι, κρίνας ἅπαξ ἐπιλαθέσθαι τῶν λυπηρῶν: ὁ μέντοι συνδιάκονος ἡμῶν διηγήσεταί σου τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ. Ἐμὲ δὲ ἐπέλειπε παντελῶς τὸ σῶμα, ὡς μηδὲ τὰς σμικροτάτας κινήσεις δύνασθαι ἀλύπως φέρειν. Πλὴν ἀλλ' εὔχομαι δυνηθῆναί μοι τὴν παλαιὰν ἐπιθυμίαν νῦν γοῦν διὰ τῆς βοηθείας τῶν σῶν προσευχῶν ἐκπληρωθῆναι, εἰ καὶ ὅτι πολλήν μοι πεποίηκε τὴν δυσκολίαν ἡ ἀποδημία αὕτη, τοσούτῳ χρόνῳ ἀμεληθέντων τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν Ἐκκλησίαν πραγμάτων. Ἐὰν δὲ ὁ Θεός, ἕως ἐσμὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς, καταξιώσῃ ἡμᾶς ἰδεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡμῶν τὴν σὴν θεοσέβειαν ὄντως ἀγαθὰς ἐλπίδας καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς μέλλουσιν ἕξομεν ὡς οὐ πάντῃ ἀπόβλητοι τῶν δωρεῶν γενησόμεθα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τοῦτο γοῦν, ἐὰν ᾖ δυνατόν, παρακαλοῦμεν ἐπὶ τῆς συνόδου γενέσθαι ἣν δι' ἔτους ἄγομεν ἐπὶ τῇ μνήμῃ τοῦ μακαριωτάτου μάρτυρος Εὐψυχίου ἐγγιζούσῃ λοιπὸν κατὰ τὴν ἑβδόμην τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου μηνὸς ἡμέραν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ φροντίδος ἄξια ἡμῖν περίκειται πράγματα τῆς παρὰ σοῦ δεόμενα συνεργίας, εἴς τε κατάστασιν ἐπισκόπων καὶ εἰς βουλὴν καὶ σκέψιν τῶν μελετωμένων καθ' ἡμῶν παρὰ τῆς χρηστότητος Γρηγορίου τοῦ Νυσσαέως, ὃς συνόδους συγκροτεῖ κατὰ τὴν Ἀγκύραν καὶ οὐδένα τρόπον ἐπιβουλεύων ἡμῖν ἀφίησιν.