Letter CXXXII.703    Placed in 373.

To Abramius, bishop of Batnæ.704    cf. Letter xcii.  He was present at the Council of Constantinople.

Ever since the autumn I have been quite ignorant of the whereabouts of your reverence; for I kept hearing uncertain rumours, some saying that you were stopping at Samosata, and some in the country, while others maintained that they had seen you at Batnæ.  This is the reason of my not writing frequently.  Now, on hearing that you are staying at Antioch, in the house of the honourable Count Saturninus, I have been glad to give this letter to our beloved and reverend brother Sanctissimus, our fellow presbyter, by whom I salute you, and exhort you, whereever you be, to remember firstly God, and secondly myself, whom you determined from the beginning to love and to reckon among your most intimate friends.

ΑΒΡΑΜΙῼ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠῼ ΒΑΤΝΩΝ

[1] Πάντα τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ μετοπώρου χρόνον ἠγνόησα περὶ τῆς εὐλαβείας σου ὅπου διάγεις. Καὶ γὰρ πεπλανημένας τὰς φήμας εὕρισκον, τῶν μὲν ἀπαγγελλόντων ἐν Σαμοσάτοις διατρίβειν σου τὴν εὐλάβειαν, τῶν δὲ ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ, ἄλλων δὲ περὶ τὰς Βάτνας αὐτὰς διαβεβαιουμένων ἑωρακέναι: διὸ οὐδὲ συνεχῶς ἐπέστειλα. Νῦν δὲ μαθὼν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ διάγειν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ αἰδεσιμωτάτου Σατορνίνου τοῦ κόμητος ἔδωκα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν προθύμως τῷ ποθεινοτάτῳ καὶ εὐλαβεστάτῳ ἀδελφῷ Σαγκτησίμῳ τῷ συμπρεσβυτέρῳ, δι' οὗ προσφθέγγομαί σου τὴν ἀγάπην παρακαλῶν ὅπουπερ ἂν ᾖς μεμνῆσθαι μάλιστα μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἶτα καὶ ἡμῶν οὓς ἀγαπᾶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προείλου καὶ ἔχειν ἐν τοῖς οἰκειοτάτοις ἀριθμουμένους.