151

We suppose that your affairs are also of such a kind—I do not mean in respect to illness, God forbid; for may the Lord grant to your body lasting health for the service of His commandments—but that the care of the Churches throws you also into the same distraction. And now I was about to send someone for this very reason, to let us know about your condition. But since our most beloved son Meletius, while escorting the new recruits, reminded us that we should greet you through him, we gladly accepted the opportunity for a letter and hastened to the bearer of the epistles, a man sufficient to be a letter in himself, both because of the truthfulness of his character and because he is ignorant of none of our affairs. Through whom we ask your Reverence first of all to pray for us, that the Lord may grant to me a release from this burdensome body, and to His Churches peace, and to you quiet and freedom, so that when you have arranged the affairs of Lycaonia in an apostolic manner as you have begun, you may visit the affairs here also, whether we are present in the flesh or have already been ordered to depart to the Lord, so that you yourself, as for your own (which indeed they are), may take charge of our places and strengthen the weak, rouse the sluggish, and reorder all things by the grace of the Spirit that is in you to be well-pleasing to the Lord. And our most honorable sons Meletius and Melitius, whom you have known for a long time and consider your own, hold in trust, praying for them. For this is sufficient for them for all security. Therefore, deign to greet from us both those who are with your Holiness and all the clergy and the people shepherded by you, and our most God-beloved brothers and fellow ministers. Remember the memory of the most blessed martyr Eupsychius, and do not wait for a second reminder, nor hasten to make the meeting at a set time, but anticipate it and gladden us, if we are still upon the earth. Until then, being strong in the Lord, praying for us, may you be preserved for us and for the Churches of God by the grace of the Holy One.

201. TO AMPHILOCHIUS, BISHOP OF ICONIUM

201.1 For many reasons I desire to meet with you, that I may also use you as a counselor concerning the matters at hand, and in general that, having seen you after a long time, I may have some consolation for the separation. But since the same things have detained us both, both the illness that has befallen you and our older sickness which has not yet left, let us both grant pardon to each other, if you wish, so that we may both release one another from the blame.

202. TO AMPHILOCHIUS, BISHOP OF ICONIUM

202.1 In other respects, meeting with your Reverence is of great value to me, but now especially so, when the matter bringing us together is of such a kind. But since the remnants of my illness are such as to not allow me even the slightest movement—seeing that, in order to travel by carriage the road to the martyr shrines, I nearly relapsed into the same sickness—it is necessary to receive pardon from you. If it is possible for the matter to be postponed for a few days later, I will both be with you by the grace of God and share in the cares. But if the business is urgent, do what is at hand with the cooperation of God, and count me among yourselves as being present and taking part in the good things being done. Farewell and

151

Εἰκάζομεν δὲ καὶ τὰ σὰ τοιαῦτα ἕτερα εἶναι, οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἀρρωστίαν λέγω, μὴ γένοιτο· παράσχοι γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ὑγείαν τῷ σώματί σου διαρκῆ πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ ἀλλ' ὅτι ἡ μέριμνα τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ σοὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐμβάλλει περισπασμόν. Καὶ νῦν ἔμελλόν τινα ἀποστέλλειν αὐτοῦ τούτου ἕνεκεν, ὥστε γνωρίσαι ἡμῖν τὰ περὶ τῆς διαθέσεώς σου. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ ποθεινότατος υἱὸς Μελέτιος παραπέμπων τοὺς νεολέκτους ὑπέμνησεν ἡμᾶς ὅτι εἴη σε δι' αὐτοῦ προσειπεῖν, ἐδεξά μεθα τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τῶν γραμμάτων ἄσμενοι καὶ τῷ διακόνῳ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ἐπεδράμομεν, ἀνδρὶ ἐξαρκοῦντι καὶ ἀντ' ἐπιστολῆς εἶναι διά τε τὸ τοῦ τρόπου φιλάληθες καὶ διὰ τὸ μηδὲν ἀγνοεῖν τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς. ∆ι' οὗ παρακαλοῦμεν τὴν εὐλάβειάν σου προηγουμένως εὔχεσθαι ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἵνα δῷ ὁ Κύριος ἐμοὶ μὲν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ φορτικοῦ τούτου σώμα τος, ταῖς δὲ Ἐκκλησίαις αὐτοῦ τὴν εἰρήνην, σοὶ δὲ ἡσυχίαν καὶ ἄδειαν τοῦ, ἐπειδὰν διαθῇς τὰ κατὰ τὴν Λυκαονίαν ἀποστολικῶς ὡς ἐνήρξω, ἐπισκέπτεσθαι καὶ τὰ ὧδε, κἄν τε ἐνδημῶμεν τῇ σαρκὶ κἂν ἀποδημῆσαι ἤδη πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ἐπιταχθῶμεν, ἵνα αὐτὸς ὡς ἰδίων, ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἐστίν, ἀντέχῃ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς τόπων καὶ στηρίζῃς μὲν τὰ σαθρά, ἐπεγείρῃς δὲ τὰ νωθρά, πάντα δὲ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ ὄντος ἐν σοὶ μετακοσμήσῃς πρὸς τὸ εὐά ρεστον τῷ Κυρίῳ. Τοὺς δὲ τιμιωτάτους υἱοὺς ἡμῶν Μελέ τιον καὶ Μελίτιον, οὓς πόρρωθεν οἶδας καὶ ἑαυτοῦ κρίνεις, ἔχε ἐν παρακαταθήκῃ εὐχόμενος ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. Αὔταρκες γὰρ αὐτοῖς τοῦτο πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀσφάλειαν. Ὥστε καὶ τοὺς συνόντας τῇ ὁσιότητί σου καὶ πάντα τὸν κλῆρον καὶ τὸν λαὸν τὸν ὑπὸ σοῦ ποιμαινόμενον καὶ τοὺς θεοφιλεστάτους ἀδελφοὺς ἡμῶν καὶ συλλειτουργοὺς προσειπεῖν παρ' ἡμῶν καταξίωσον. Τῆς μνήμης τοῦ μακαριωτάτου μάρτυρος Εὐψυχίου μέμνησο καὶ μὴ ἀναμείνῃς δευτέραν ὑπόμνησιν, μηδὲ ἐμπρόθεσμον σπουδάσῃς ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἀπάντησιν, ἀλλὰ προλαβεῖν καὶ εὐφρᾶναι ἡμᾶς, ἐὰν ἄρα ἔτι ὦμεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Ἕως τότε ἐρρωμένος ἐν Κυρίῳ, ὑπερευχόμενος ἡμῶν, διαφυλαχθείης ἡμῖν καὶ ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίαις χάριτι τοῦ Ἁγίου.

201.τ ΑΜΦΙΛΟΧΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΙΚΟΝΙΟΥ

201.1 Πολλῶν ἕνεκεν ἐπιθυμῶ συντυχεῖν σοι, ἵνα καὶ συμ βούλῳ χρήσωμαι

περὶ τῶν ἐν χερσὶ πραγμάτων, καὶ ὅλως ἵνα διὰ μακροῦ θεασάμενός σε ἔχω τινὰ παραμυθίαν τῆς ἀπολείψεως. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀμφοτέρους ἐπέσχεν, ἥ τε ὑμῖν συμβᾶσα ἀσθένεια καὶ ἡ παλαιοτέρα ἡμῶν ἀρρωστία μήπω ἀπολείψασα, ἀμφοτέροις δῶμεν συγγνώμην, εἰ βούλει, ἀμφότεροι, ὥστε δι' ἑαυτῶν ἀλλήλους ἀφεῖναι τοῦ ἐγκλήματος.

202.τ ΑΜΦΙΛΟΧΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΙΚΟΝΙΟΥ

202.1 Καὶ ἄλλως μέν μοι πολλοῦ ἄξιον τὸ συντυγχάνειν τῇ σεμνότητί σου,

νῦν δὲ καὶ μάλιστα, ὅτε τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ συνάγον ἡμᾶς πρᾶγμα. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὰ λείψανα τῆς ἀρρωστίας μου τοιαῦτα ὡς μηδὲ τὴν βραχυτάτην μοι κίνησιν συγχωρεῖν, ὅς γε, ἵνα τὴν μέχρι τῶν μαρτυρίων ὁδὸν ὀχήματι πορευθῶ, πάλιν μικροῦ πρὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπέστρεψα νόσον, ἀνάγκη συγγνώμης τυχεῖν παρ' ὑμῶν. Κἂν μὲν ᾖ δυνατὸν ὑπερτεθῆναι τὸ πρᾶγμα ὀλίγαις ὕστερον ἡμέραις, καὶ συνέσομαι ὑμῖν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι καὶ κοι νωνήσω τῶν φροντίδων. Ἐὰν δὲ ἐπείγῃ τὰ σπουδαζόμενα, πράξατε μὲν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ συνεργίᾳ τὰ ἐν χερσί, συνα ριθμήσατε δέ με ἑαυτοῖς ὡς παρόντα καὶ τῶν καλῶς γινομένων συνεφαπτόμενον. Ἐρρωμένος καὶ