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are the boasts of our fatherland. For like a flourishing branch sprung from a noble root, you have filled the foreign land with spiritual fruits. So that our fatherland rightly exults in its own offspring. And when you were contending in the struggles for the faith, it glorified God, hearing that the good inheritance of the Fathers was being preserved in you. And what of your present deeds? For a martyr newly blossomed in the neighboring barbarian land you honored the land that bore him, like some grateful farmer sending the first-fruits of his crops to those who provided the seeds. Truly the gifts are fitting for an athlete of Christ; a martyr of the truth just now crowned with the crown of righteousness, whom we also received with joy and glorified God who has now fulfilled the Gospel of His Christ in all the nations. But be entreated to remember us who love you in your prayers and to pray earnestly to the Lord for our souls, that we too may someday be deemed worthy to begin to serve God, according to the way of His commandments which He gave us for salvation.

166. To EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF SAMOSATA

166.1 Being in all things honorable to us and among our genuine friends, our most revered brother Eupraxius has appeared more honorable and more genuine from his disposition towards you; who indeed now rushed to your God-fearing person (that I might say the words of David) as a deer, quenching a great and unbearable thirst at a drinkable and pure spring. And blessed is he who has been deemed worthy to approach you. And more blessed is he who has placed such a crown upon his sufferings for Christ and his toils for the truth, a crown which few of those who fear God have obtained. For you did not display your virtue untested, nor did you only sail aright and pilot the souls of others in time of fair weather, but in the difficulties of temptations you were revealed and you have become higher than your persecutors by nobly departing from your native land. And others have their ancestral land, but we have the city above, and others perhaps have our throne, but we have Christ. O the transaction! What things we have despised, to gain what we have received! We have passed through fire and water, but I believe that we shall also come out into a place of refreshment. For God will not abandon us to the end nor will He overlook the true faith being persecuted, but according to the multitude of our pains His consolations will gladden us. This, therefore, we both believe and pray. But you, I beseech you, pray for our lowliness, and, as often as opportunity occurs, do not hesitate to bless us through letters and to make us more cheerful by revealing your circumstances, as you have deigned to do now.

167. To EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF SAMOSATA

167.1 Both by writing and by remembering you gladden us, and, what is greater than this, by blessing us in your letters. But we, if we are worthy of your sufferings and of your contest for Christ, pray to see your God-fearing person and to receive a model of endurance in sufferings. But since we happen to be unworthy of this, being occupied by many afflictions and cares, we do what is second best, we greet your perfection and ask that you not grow weary in remembering us. For not only is it a benefit for us to be deemed worthy of your letters, but also a boast before the many and an adornment, that we are held in esteem by a man so great in virtue and so much

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πατρίδος ἡμῶν ἐστι σεμνο λογήματα. Οἷον γὰρ εὐθαλής τις κλάδος ῥίζης γενναίας ἀφορμηθεὶς τῶν πνευματικῶν καρπῶν τὴν ὑπερορίαν ἐνέπλησας. Ὥστε εἰκότως ἡ πατρὶς ἡμῶν τοῖς οἰκείοις βλαστήμασιν ἐπαγάλλεται. Καὶ ἡνίκα τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως ἀγῶνας διήθλεις, ἐδόξαζε τὸν Θεὸν ἀκούουσα τὴν τῶν Πατέρων ἀγαθὴν κληρονομίαν διαφυλαττομένην ἐν σοί. Οἷα δέ σου καὶ τὰ παρόντα; Μάρτυρι νέον ἀνθήσαντι ἐπὶ τῆς γείτονος ὑμῖν βαρβάρου τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσαν ἐτίμησας, οἷόν τις εὐγνώμων γεωργὸς τοῖς παρασχομένοις τὰ σπέρματα τὰς ἀπαρχὰς τῶν καρπῶν ἀποπέμπων. Ὄντως πρέποντα ἀθλητῇ Χριστοῦ τὰ δῶρα· μάρτυς τῆς ἀληθείας ἄρτι τὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀναδησάμενος στέφα νον, ὃν καὶ ὑπεδεξάμεθα χαίροντες καὶ ἐδοξάσαμεν τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι πληρώσαντα λοιπὸν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ. Παρακέκλησο δὲ καὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀγαπώντων σε μεμνῆσθαι ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς καὶ σπουδαίως ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν προσεύχεσθαι τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἵνα καταξιωθῶμέν ποτε ἄρξασθαι καὶ αὐτοὶ δου λεύειν τῷ Θεῷ, κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ ἃς ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν εἰς σωτηρίαν.

166.τ ΕΥΣΕΒΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΣΑΜΟΣΑΤΩΝ

166.1 Τὰ πάντα τίμιος ὢν ἡμῖν καὶ τῶν φίλων ἐν τοῖς γνησίοις ὁ

αἰδεσιμώτατος ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν Εὐπράξιος τιμιώτερος ὤφθη καὶ γνησιώτερος ἐκ τῆς περὶ σὲ διαθέσεως· ὅς γε καὶ νῦν οὕτως ὥρμησε πρὸς τὴν σὴν θεοσέβειαν (ἵν' εἴπω τὸ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ) ὡς ἔλαφος πολὺ δίψος καὶ οὐ φορητὸν ποτίμῳ καὶ καθαρᾷ πηγῇ καταψύχουσα. Καὶ μακάριος ὅ σοι πλησιάζειν ἠξιωμένος. Καὶ μακαριώτερος δὲ ὁ τοῖς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ παθήμασι καὶ τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἱδρῶσι τοιαύτην ἐπιθεὶς κορωνίδα ἧς ὀλίγοι τῶν φοβουμένων τὸν Θεὸν τετυχήκασιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀβασάνιστον ἐπεδείξω τὴν ἀρετὴν οὐδὲ ἐν εὐδίας καιρῷ μόνον ὀρθῶς ἔπλευσας καὶ τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ψυχὰς ἐκυβέρνησας, ἀλλ' ἐν ταῖς δυσχε ρείαις τῶν πειρασμῶν ἀνεφάνης καὶ τῶν διωκόντων γέγο νας ὑψηλότερος τῷ γενναίως μεταστῆναι τῆς ἐνεγκούσης. Καὶ ἄλλοι μὲν τὸ πατρῷον ἔδαφος ἔχουσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἄνω πόλιν, καὶ ἄλλοι τὸν ἡμέτερον ἴσως θρόνον, ἡμεῖς δὲ Χριστόν. Ὢ τῆς πραγματείας! Οἵων ὑπεριδόντες, οἷα κεκομίσμεθα! ∆ιήλθομεν διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος, πιστεύω δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἐξελευσόμεθα εἰς ἀναψυχήν. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς τέλος ἐγκαταλείψει ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς οὐδὲ περιόψεται τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον δεδιωγμένον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὀδυνῶν ἡμῶν αἱ παρακλήσεις αὐτοῦ εὐφρανοῦσιν ἡμᾶς. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν καὶ πιστεύομεν καὶ εὐχόμεθα. Σὺ δέ, παρακαλῶ, ὑπερεύχου τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, καί, ὁσάκις ἂν ἐμπίπτῃ καιρός, εὐλογεῖν ἡμᾶς διὰ γραμμάτων μὴ κατόκνει καὶ εὐθυμοτέρους ποιεῖν τὰ κατὰ σαυτὸν δηλῶν, ὃ ποιῆσαι νῦν κατηξίωσας.

167.τ ΕΥΣΕΒΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΣΑΜΟΣΑΤΩΝ

167.1 Καὶ γράφων καὶ μεμνημένος εὐφραίνεις ἡμᾶς, καί, τὸ τούτου μεῖζον,

εὐλογῶν ἡμᾶς ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν. Ἡμεῖς δέ, εἰ μὲν ἄξιοι τῶν σῶν παθημάτων καὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἀθλήσεως, εὐχόμεθα ἰδεῖν τὴν σὴν θεοσέβειαν καὶ τύπον λαβεῖν τῆς ἐν τοῖς παθήμασι καρτερίας. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀνάξιοι τούτου τυγχάνομεν πολλαῖς θλίψεσι καὶ ἀσχολίαις ἐνεχό μενοι, ὃ δεύτερόν ἐστι ποιοῦμεν, προσαγορεύομεν τὴν σὴν τελειότητα καὶ ἀξιοῦμεν μὴ κάμνειν σε μεμνημένον ἡμῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ὠφέλεια μόνον ἡμῖν τῶν σῶν καταξιοῦσθαι γραμ μάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ καύχημα πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ καλλώ πισμα, ὅτι λόγος ἡμῶν ἐστι παρὰ ἀνδρὶ τοσούτῳ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τοσαύτην