Letter CLII.767    Placed in 373.

To Victor, the Commander.768    cf. Greg. Naz., Letters cxxxiii. and cxxxiv. and Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. iv. 30. and Amm. Marc. xxxi. 7.

If I were to fail to write to any one else I might possibly with justice incur the charge of carelessness or forgetfulness.  But it is not possible to forget you, when your name is in all men’s mouths.  But I cannot be careless about one who is perhaps more distinguished than any one else in the empire.  The cause of my silence is evident.  I am afraid of troubling so great a man.  If, however, to all your other virtues you add that of not only receiving what I send, but of actually asking after what is missing, lo! here I am writing to you with joyous heart, and I shall go on writing for the future, with prayers to God that you may be requited for the honour you pay me.  For the Church, you have anticipated my supplications, by doing everything which I should have asked.  And you act to please not man but God, Who has honoured you; Who has given you some good things in this life, and will give you others in the life to come, because you have walked with truth in His way, and, from the beginning to the end, have kept your heart fixed in the right faith.

ΟΥΙΚΤΟΡΙ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΛΑΤῌ

[1] Ἄλλῳ μέν τινι μὴ ἐπιστέλλων, τάχα ἂν δεξαίμην δικαίως ἔγκλημα ῥᾳθυμίας ἢ λήθης. Σοῦ δὲ πῶς ἔστιν ἐπιλαθέσθαι, οὗ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα; Πῶς δὲ καταρρᾳθυμῆσαι, ὃς πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην τῷ ὕψει τῶν ἀξιωμάτων ὑπερανέστηκας; Ἀλλὰ δήλη ἡμῶν ἡ αἰτία τῆς σιωπῆς. Ὀκνοῦμεν δι' ὄχλου γενέσθαι ἀνδρὶ τοσούτῳ. Εἰ δὲ πρὸς τῇ λοιπῇ σου ἀρετῇ καὶ τοῦτο κατεδέξω οὐ μόνον πεμπόμενα παρ' ἡμῶν δέχεσθαι γράμματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλλειφθέντα ἐπιζητεῖν, ἰδοὺ καὶ γράφομεν νῦν τεθαρρηκότως καὶ γράψομέν γε πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς εὐχόμενοι τῷ ἁγίῳ Θεῷ δοθῆναί σοι τὴν ἀμοιβὴν τῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς τιμῆς. Ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας προέλαβες ἡμῶν τὰς παρακλήσεις πάντα ποιήσας ὅσα ἂν ἡμεῖς ἐπεζητήσαμεν. Ποιεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἀνθρώποις χαριζόμενος, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ τῷ τιμήσαντί σε, ὃς τὰ μὲν ἔδωκεν ἐν τῇ νῦν ζωῇ ἀγαθά, τὰ δὲ δώσει ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, ἀνθ' ὧν μετὰ ἀληθείας ἐπορεύθης τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, ἀκλινῆ τὴν καρδίαν ἐν τῇ ὀρθότητι τῆς πίστεως ἀπ' ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος διασωσάμενος.