Letter CII.621    Placed in 372.

To the citizens of Satala.622    On the appointment of a bishop for that see in the North East of Armenia Minor.

Moved by your importunity and that of all your people, I have undertaken the charge of your Church, and have promised before the Lord that I will be wanting to you in nothing which is within my power.  So I have been compelled, as it is written, to touch as it were the apple of my eye.623    cf. Zech. ii. 8.  Thus the high honour in which I hold you has suffered me to remember neither relationship, nor the intimacy which I have had from my boyhood with the person in question, as making a stronger demand on me than your request.  I have forgotten all the private considerations which made him near and dear to me, making no account of the sighs which will be heaved by all my people on being deprived of his rule, none of the tears of all his kindred; nor have I taken to heart the affliction of his aged mother, who is supported by his aid alone.  All these considerations, great and many as they are, I have put aside, keeping only in view the one object of giving your Church the blessing of the rule of such a man, and of aiding her, now distressed as she is, at being so long without a head, and needing great and powerful support to be enabled to rise again.  So much for what concerns myself.  Now, on the other hand, I ask you not to fall short of the hope which I have entertained and of the promises which I have made him, that I have sent him to close friends.  I ask every one of you to try to surpass the rest in love and affection to him.  I entreat you to show this laudable rivalry, and to comfort his heart by the greatness of your attentions to him, that he may forget his own home, forget his kinsfolk, and forget a people so dependent on his rule, like a child weaned from his mother’s breast.

I have despatched Nicias beforehand to explain everything to your excellencies, and that you may fix a day to keep the feast and give thanks to the Lord, Who has granted the fulfilment of your prayer.624    The relative referred to is Pœmenius.  cf. Letter cxxii.

ΤΟΙΣ ΣΑΤΑΛΕΥΣΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΑΙΣ

[1] Ἐγὼ τάς τε ἰδίας ὑμῶν παρακλήσεις καὶ τὰς τοῦ λαοῦ παντὸς δυσωπηθεὶς καὶ ἐδεξάμην τὴν φροντίδα τῆς καθ' ὑμᾶς Ἐκκλησίας καὶ ὑπεσχόμην ὑμῖν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου μηδὲν ἐλλείψειν τῶν εἰς δύναμιν ἐμὴν ἡκόντων. Διὸ ἠναγκάσθην, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, οἷον τῆς κόρης τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ ἅψασθαι. Οὕτως τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τῆς καθ' ὑμᾶς τιμῆς οὐδενός μοι συνεχώρησεν εἰς μνήμην ἐλθεῖν, οὐ συγγενείας, οὐ τῆς ἐκ παιδὸς συνηθείας τῆς ὑπαρχούσης μοι πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα, πρὸ τῶν παρ' ὑμῶν αἰτηθέντων: ἀλλὰ πάντων μὲν τῶν ἰδίᾳ μοι ὑπαρχόντων πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς οἰκειότητος λόγον ἐπιλαθόμενος, μὴ ὑπολογισάμενος δὲ μηδὲ τοῦ στεναγμοῦ τὸ πλῆθος ὃ καταστενάξει μου ὁ λαὸς ὁ τὴν προστασίαν αὐτοῦ ζημιωθείς, μὴ πάσης αὐτοῦ τῆς συγγενείας τὸ δάκρυον, μὴ μητρὸς αὐτοῦ γηραιᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ μόνῃ τῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ θεραπείᾳ σαλευούσης τὴν θλίψιν εἰς καρδίαν λαβών: πάντων ὁμοῦ τοιούτων ὄντων καὶ τοσούτων ἀλογήσας ἑνὸς ἐγενόμην τοῦ τὴν ὑμετέραν Ἐκκλησίαν κατακοσμῆσαι μὲν τῇ τοῦ τηλικούτου ἀνδρὸς προστασίᾳ, βοηθῆσαι δὲ αὐτῇ ἐκ τῆς χρονίας ἀπροστασίας εἰς γόνυ λοιπὸν κλιθείσῃ καὶ πολλῆς καὶ δυνατῆς χειραγωγίας εἰς τὸ διαναστῆναι δεομένῃ. Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα. Τὰ δὲ παρ' ὑμῶν ἀπαιτοῦμεν λοιπὸν μὴ ἐλάττονα φανῆναι τῆς ἡμετέρας ἐλπίδος καὶ τῶν ὑποσχέσεων ἃς πεποιήμεθα τῷ ἀνδρί, ὅτι πρὸς οἰκείους καὶ φίλους αὐτὸν ἐξεπέμψαμεν, ἑκάστου ὑμῶν ὑπερβαλέσθαι τὸν ἕτερον ἐν τῇ περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα σπουδῇ καὶ ἀγάπῃ προθυμουμένου. Ὅπως οὖν ἐπιδείξησθε τὴν καλὴν ταύτην φιλοτιμίαν καὶ τῷ ὑπερβάλλοντι τῆς θεραπείας παρακαλέσητε αὐτοῦ τὴν καρδίαν, ὥστε λήθην μὲν αὐτῷ ἐγγενέσθαι πατρίδος, λήθην δὲ συγγενῶν, λήθην δὲ λαοῦ τοσοῦτον ἐξηρτημένου τῆς προστασίας αὐτοῦ ὅσον παιδίον νεαρὸν τῆς μητρῴας θηλῆς. Προαπεστείλαμεν δὲ Νικίαν, ὥστε τὰ γενόμενα φανερὰ καταστῆσαι τῇ τιμιότητι ὑμῶν καὶ προλαβόντας ὑμᾶς ἑορτάζειν καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Κυρίῳ τῷ δι' ἡμῶν καταξιώσαντι τὴν εὐχὴν ὑμῶν ἐκπληρωθῆναι.