Letter CXXX.694    Placed in 373.

To Theodotus bishop of Nicopolis.

1.  You have very rightly and properly blamed me, right honourable and well beloved brother, in that ever since I departed from your reverence, conveying to Eustathius those propositions about the faith, I have told you neither much nor little about his business.  This neglect is really not due to any contempt on my part for the way in which he has treated me, but simply to the fact that the story is now published abroad in all men’s ears, and nobody needs any instructions from me in order to learn what his intentions are.  For this he has had good heed, as though he were really afraid that he would have few witnesses of his opinion, and has sent to the ends of the earth the letter which he has written against me.  He has therefore severed himself from communion with me.  He did not consent to meet me at the appointed spot, and did not bring his disciples, as he had promised.  On the contrary, he publicly stigmatized me in the public synods, with the Cilician Theophilus,695    Bishop of Castabala, whither he was translated from Eleutheropolis.  cf. Letters ccxliv. and ccxlv. by the open and undisguised slander of sowing in the souls of the people doctrines at variance with his own teaching.  This was quite enough to break up all union between us.  Afterwards he came to Cilicia, and, on meeting with a certain Gelasius, showed him the creed which only an Arian, or a thorough disciple of Arius, could subscribe.  Then, indeed, I was yet more confirmed in my alienation from him.  I felt that the Ethiopian will never change his skin, nor the leopard his spots,696    cf. Jer. xiii. 23. nor a man nurtured in doctrines of perversity ever be able to rub off the stain of his heresy.

2.  In addition to all this he has had the impudence to write against me, or rather to compose long discourses full of all kinds of abuse and calumny.  To these, up to this time, I have answered nothing, taught as we are by the Apostle, not to avenge ourselves, but to give place unto wrath.697    Rom. xii. 19.  Moreover, at the thought of the depth of the hypocrisy with which he has all along approached me, I have, in a way, become speechless with amazement.  But, if all this had never happened, who would not feel horror and detestation of the fellow at this fresh piece of audacity?  Now, as I hear, if the report is really true and not a slanderous invention, he has ventured to re-ordain certain men; a proceeding on which so far no heretic has ventured.  How then can I quietly endure such treatment?  How can I look upon the errors of the man as curable?  Beware, then, of being led away by lies; do not be moved by the suspicions of men who are prone to look at everything in a bad light, as though I were making little of such things.  For, be sure, my very dear and honourable friend, that I have never at any time been so grieved as I am now, on hearing of this confusion of the laws of the Church.  Pray only that the Lord grant me to take no step in anger, but to maintain charity, which behaveth itself not unseemly and is not puffed up.698    1 Cor. xiii. 5 and 4.  Only look how men without charity have been lifted up beyond all human bounds and conduct themselves in an unseemly manner, daring deeds which have no precedent in all the past.699    There is no other mention in Basil’s letters of Eustathius being guilty of re-ordination.  The Ben. note, however, states that Basil is not accurate in saying that there was no heretical precedent for such proceedings.  The Arians are charged with it in the Book of Prayers of Faustus and Marcellinus, Bib. Patr.v. 655.  cf. also the letter of Constantius to the Ethiopians against Frumentius.  Athan., Apol. ad Const. § 31.

ΘΕΟΔΟΤῼ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠῼ ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ

[1] Καλῶς καὶ προσηκόντως ἡμῶν καθήψω, τιμιώτατε ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ ποθεινότατε ἀδελφέ, ὅτι, ἐξ οὗ ἀνεχωρήσαμεν τότε τῆς σῆς εὐλαβείας τὰς περὶ τῆς πίστεως ἐκείνας προτάσεις τῷ Εὐσταθίῳ φέροντες, οὐδέν σοι οὔτε μικρὸν οὔτε μεῖζον τῶν κατ' αὐτὸν ἐδηλώσαμεν. Ἐγὼ δὲ οὐχ ὡς εὐκαταφρονήτων τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γενομένων εἰς ἡμᾶς ὑπερεῖδον, ἀλλ' ὡς εἰς πάντας λοιπὸν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διαβοηθείσης τῆς φήμης καὶ οὐδενὸς τῆς παρ' ἡμῶν διδασκαλίας εἰς τὸ τὴν προαίρεσιν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διδαχθῆναι προσδεομένου. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπενόησεν, ὥσπερ φοβούμενος μὴ ὀλίγους σχῇ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γνώμης μάρτυρας εἰς πᾶσαν ἐσχατιὰν τὰς ἐπιστολὰς ἃς καθ' ἡμῶν συνέγραψε διαπεμψάμενος. Τῆς μὲν οὖν κοινωνίας ἡμῶν αὐτὸς ἀπέρρηξεν ἑαυτὸν μήτε κατὰ τὸν ὡρισμένον τόπον συνδραμεῖν ἡμῖν ἀνασχόμενος μήτε τοὺς μαθητὰς ἑαυτοῦ παραγαγών, ὅπερ ὑπέσχετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμᾶς στηλιτεύων ἐν πανδήμοις συνόδοις μετὰ τοῦ Κίλικος Θεοφίλου γυμνῇ καὶ ἀπαρακαλύπτῳ τῇ βλασφημίᾳ ὡς ἀλλότρια τῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας ταῖς ψυχαῖς τοῦ λαοῦ ἐνσπείραντας δόγματα. Ἱκανὰ μὲν οὖν ἦν καὶ ταῦτα πᾶσαν ἡμῶν συνάφειαν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν διαλῦσαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ εἰς Κιλικίαν ἐλθὼν καὶ συντυχὼν Γελασίῳ τινὶ πίστιν αὐτῷ ἐξέθετο ἣν μόνου ἦν Ἀρείου συγγράψαι καὶ εἴ τις αὐτοῦ γνήσιος μαθητής, τότε δὴ καὶ πλέον πρὸς τὸν χωρισμὸν ἐβεβαιώθημεν, λογισάμενοι ὅτι οὔτε Αἰθίοψ ἀλλάξει ποτὲ τὸ δέρμα αὐτοῦ οὔτε πάρδαλις τὰ ποικίλματα αὐτῆς οὔτε ὁ ἐν διαστρόφοις δόγμασι συντραφεὶς ἀποτρίψασθαι δύναται τὸ κακὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως.

[2] Ἐπενεανιεύσατο δὲ τούτοις καὶ γράψας καθ' ἡμῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ συγγράψας λόγους μακροὺς πάσης λοιδορίας καὶ συκοφαντίας γέμοντας, ὑπὲρ ὧν οὐδὲν ἀπεκρινάμεθα τέως, διὰ τὸ διδαχθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικεῖν, ἀλλὰ διδόναι τόπον τῇ ὀργῇ, καὶ ἅμα ἐννοήσαντες τὸ βάθος τῆς ὑποκρίσεως μεθ' ἧς πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἡμῖν προσηνέχθη ἀφασίᾳ τινὶ ὑπ' ἐκπλήξεως κατεσχέθημεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ μηδὲν ἦν ἐκείνων, τὸ ὑπόγυον τοῦτο τολμηθὲν αὐτῷ τίνι οὐκ ἂν φρίκην καὶ ἀποστροφὴν παντελῆ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐνεποίησεν; Ὅς γε, ὡς ἀκούω (εἴγε ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος καὶ μὴ πλάσμα ἐστὶν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ συντεθέν), ὅτι καὶ ἀναχειροτονῆσαί τινας ἐτόλμησεν, ὃ μέχρι σήμερον οὐδεὶς τῶν αἱρετικῶν ποιήσας φαίνεται. Πῶς οὖν δυνατὸν πράως φέρειν ἡμᾶς τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ ἰάσιμα εἶναι νομίζειν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὰ ἁμαρτήματα; Μὴ τοίνυν ψευδέσι λόγοις παράγεσθε μηδὲ ὑπονοίαις ἀνδρῶν πάντα εὐκόλως πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ἐκλαμβανόντων πείθεσθε, ὡς ἄρα ἡμεῖς ἀδιάφορα τιθέμεθα τὰ τοιαῦτα. Γίνωσκε γάρ, ποθεινότατε ἡμῖν καὶ τιμιώτατε, ὅτι οὔπω οἶδα τοσοῦτον πένθος ἄλλοτε τῇ ψυχῇ μου παραδεξάμενος ὅσον νῦν, ὅτε ἤκουσα τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν θεσμῶν τὴν σύγχυσιν. Ἀλλὰ μόνον εὔχου, ἵνα δώῃ ἡμῖν ὁ Κύριος μηδὲν κατὰ θυμὸν ἐνεργεῖν, ἀλλ' ἔχειν τὴν ἀγάπην, ἥτις οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ, οὐ φυσιοῦται. Ὅρα γὰρ ὅπως οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ταύτην ἐπήρθησαν μὲν ὑπὲρ τὰ μέτρα τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, ἐνασχημονοῦσι δὲ τῷ βίῳ κατατολμῶντες πράξεων ὧν ὁ παρελθὼν χρόνος οὐκ ἔχει τὰ ὑποδείγματα.