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so that some who were not received into communion, nor had accepted the laying on of their hands, after peace was made, should force themselves to be numbered among the priestly body. All the clergy, both in the city and in the parish, with all the people who fear the Lord, we greet through you.

241.t TO EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF SAMOSATA

241.1 It is not so as to make our despondencies more numerous that we often do not refrain from mentioning difficulties in our letters to your Honour, but so as to give ourselves some comfort through our groans, which are naturally wont somehow to disperse the deep-seated pain when they are uttered, and to stir up your magnanimity to more earnest prayer for the Churches. For even Moses, of course, always prayed for the people, but when the contest with Amalek was upon him, he did not let down his hands from morning until evening, but the stretching out of the hands of the holy man coincided with the end of the battle.

242.t TO THE WESTERNS

242.1 Since the holy God has promised a way out of every affliction to those who hope in him, although we have been caught in the midst of a sea of troubles and are tormented by the raging waves stirred up against us by the spirits of wickedness, nevertheless we hold fast in Christ who strengthens us and we have not relaxed the intensity of our zeal for the Churches, nor, as in a storm when the surge is overwhelming, do we despair of our salvation and await our dissolution, but we still hold to the zeal that is possible for us, knowing that even he who was swallowed by the sea-monster, because he did not despair of himself but cried out to the Lord, was deemed worthy of salvation. So also we, having come to the last extremity of evils, do not let go of our hope in God, but from all sides we look for his help. Therefore we have now looked to you, our most honored brothers, whom we have often expected to appear to us in the time of our afflictions; but falling from our hope, we also have said to ourselves, “I looked for one to grieve with me, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” For such are our sufferings that they have reached the ends of the world as we know it, and, if when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, it was surely fitting for your compassion to be moved for us who have toiled for a long time. For it is not nearness of place, but fellowship in the spirit that is wont to produce the intimacy which we have trusted exists for us toward your love. 242.2 Why then has there been no letter of comfort, no visit of brethren, nothing else of what is owed to us by the ordinance of love? For it is the thirteenth year since the heretical war rose up against us, in which there have been more afflictions for the Churches than are remembered since the Gospel of Christ has been proclaimed. We forbear to relate the details of these to you, lest perchance the weakness of our speech should diminish the vividness of the evils; and at the same time we do not think you need to be taught, having long ago been taught the truth of the matter by rumor. But the sum of the evil is this: the people, having left the houses of prayer, assemble in the deserts. A pitiful sight: women and children and old men and others who are weak in torrential rains and snows and winds and the frost of winter, and likewise in summer under the flame of the sun, suffering in the open air. And they suffer these things because

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ὡς μὴ προσληφθῆναί τινας εἰς κοινωνίαν μηδὲ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν ἐπιβολὴν δεξαμένους, μετὰ ταῦτα εἰρήνης γενομένης, βιάζεσθαι ἑαυτοὺς ἐναριθ μεῖν τῷ ἱερατικῷ πληρώματι. Πάντα τὸν κλῆρον τόν τε κατὰ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς παροικίας, μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ φοβουμένου τὸν Κύριον, ἀσπαζόμεθα διὰ σοῦ.

241.τ ΕΥΣΕΒΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΣΑΜΟΣΑΤΩΝ

241.1 Οὐχ ὥστε πλείους ποιῆσαι τὰς ἀθυμίας, τῶν δυσχερῶν πολλάκις ἐν τοῖς

πρὸς τὴν τιμιότητά σου γράμμασιν οὐ φειδόμεθα, ἀλλ' ὥστε ἑαυτοῖς τέ τινα παραμυθίαν δοῦναι διὰ τῶν στεναγμῶν, οἳ πεφύκασί πως τὸ ἐν τῷ βάθει ἀλγεινὸν διαφορεῖν, ὅταν γίνωνται, καὶ τὴν σὴν μεγαλόνοιαν πρὸς ἐκτενεστέραν τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν εὐχὴν παρορ μῆσαι. Ἐπεὶ καὶ Μωσῆς ηὔχετο μὲν ἀεὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ δηλονότι, ὅτε μέντοι πρὸς τὸν Ἀμαλὴκ ἀγὼν αὐτῷ συνεισ τήκει, οὐ καθῆκε τὰς χεῖρας ἐξ ἕω μέχρις ἑσπέρας, ἀλλ' ἡ ἔκτασις τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ ἁγίου τῷ τέλει τῆς μάχης συναπηρ τίζετο.

242.τ ΤΟΙΣ ∆ΥΤΙΚΟΙΣ

242.1 Θεοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου τὴν ἐκ πάσης θλίψεως διέξοδον τοῖς ἐλπίζουσιν ἐπ'

αὐτὸν ὑποσχομένου, εἰ καὶ ἐν μέσῳ πελάγει κακῶν ἀπελήφθημεν καὶ τρικυμίαις ταῖς παρὰ τῶν πνευ μάτων τῆς πονηρίας ἐγειρομέναις ἡμῖν βασανιζόμεθα, ὅμως ἀντέχομεν ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντι ἡμᾶς Χριστῷ καὶ οὐ παρελύ σαμεν τὸν τόνον τῆς ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν σπουδῆς, οὐδὲ ὥσπερ ἐν χειμῶνι τοῦ κλύδωνος ὑπερέχοντος ἀπογνόντες τῆς σωτηρίας τὴν διάλυσιν ἀναμένομεν, ἀλλ' ἔτι ἐχόμεθα τῆς ἐνδεχομένης ἡμῖν σπουδῆς, εἰδότες ὅτι καὶ ὁ καταπο θεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ κήτους, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀπογνῶναι ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλὰ βοῆσαι πρὸς Κύριον, τῆς σωτηρίας κατηξιώθη. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ πρὸς ἔσχατον ἥκοντες τῶν κακῶν τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἐλπίδος οὐκ ἀφιέμεθα, ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν αὐτοῦ περισκο πούμεθα τὴν βοήθειαν. Ὅθεν καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀπεβλέψαμεν νῦν, τιμιώτατοι ἡμῖν ἀδελφοί, οὓς πολλάκις μὲν ἐν καιρῷ τῶν θλίψεων ἐπιφανήσεσθαι ἡμῖν προσεδοκήσαμεν· ἀποπε σόντες δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος εἴπομεν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἡμεῖς ὅτι «Ὑπέμεινα συλλυπούμενον, καὶ οὐχ ὑπῆρχεν, καὶ παρακα λοῦντας, καὶ οὐχ εὗρον». Τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἡμῶν τὰ παθήματα ὡς καὶ τῶν περάτων ἐφικέσθαι τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης, καί, εἴπερ πάσχοντος μέλους ἑνὸς συμπάσχει πάντα τὰ μέλη, ἔπρεπε δήπου καὶ ἡμῖν ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ πεπονηκόσι συνδιατεθῆναι τὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν ὑμῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ τῶν τόπων ἐγγύτης, ἀλλ' ἡ κατὰ πνεῦμα συνάφεια ἐμποιεῖν πέ φυκε τὴν οἰκείωσιν ἣν ἡμῖν εἶναι πρὸς τὴν ἀγάπην ὑμῶν πεπιστεύκαμεν. 242.2 Τί δήποτε οὖν οὐ γράμμα παρακλήσεως, οὐκ ἀδελφῶν ἐπίσκεψις, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν ὀφειλομένων ἡμῖν παρὰ τοῦ θεσμοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης γεγένηται; Τρισκαιδέκατον γὰρ ἔτος ἐστὶν ἀφ' οὗ ὁ αἱρετικὸς ἡμῖν πόλεμος ἐπανέστη, ἐν ᾧ πλείους γεγόνασι ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις αἱ θλίψεις τῶν μνημο νευομένων ἀφ' οὗ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ καταγγέλλεται. Ὧν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον διηγεῖσθαι ὑμῖν παραιτούμεθα, μή ποτε τὸ τοῦ λόγου ἡμῶν ἀσθενὲς τὴν ἐνάργειαν τῶν κακῶν ὑπεκλύσῃ· καὶ ἅμα οὐδὲ ἡγούμεθα ὑμᾶς διδασκαλίας προσ δεῖσθαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν πραγμάτων πάλαι τῇ φήμῃ δεδι δαγμένους. Κεφάλαιον δὲ τοῦ κακοῦ· οἱ λαοὶ τοὺς τῶν προσευχῶν καταλιπόντες οἴκους ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις συνάγον ται. Θέαμα ἐλεεινόν· γυναῖκες καὶ παιδία καὶ γέροντες καὶ οἱ ἄλλως ἀσθενεῖς ἐν ὄμβροις λαβροτάτοις καὶ νιφετοῖς καὶ ἀνέμοις καὶ παγετῷ τοῦ χειμῶνος, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐν θέρει ὑπὸ τὴν φλόγα τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου, ἐν τῷ ὑπαίθρῳ ταλαιπω ροῦντες. Καὶ ταῦτα πάσχουσι διὰ τὸ