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that Christ be awakened, that the church be at peace, that I be saved, though all-wretched, yet loving you greatly. 322 {1Βασιλείῳ μονάζοντι}1 When I learned that you also, having been arrested by the lawless, contended for Christ, holy Basil and descendant of Basil the Great, I was gladdened, I glorified, I praised, I gave thanks to the Lord, who called you into the fellowship of his sufferings through the blows you bore on your back and your present imprisonment. It was necessary then, it was necessary for one so fond of learning and loving God that you not be seen unrewarded with the God-given glory of the confessors, but to share with the others and become renowned and be set as a light for those in darkness. Stand firm, therefore, O noble one, also for the things to come, fearing nothing; for Christ is with you, who conquers in us and conquered the strong one and gave him to us as a footstool. 323 {1Μεγαλῷ καὶ Μαρίᾳ μοναζούσαισ}1 Your letter is precious and your address wise; but the news, what shall I say, is it painful or joy-bringing? My father has departed, the confessor of Christ, a second Job, the ornament of monks, the creator of love, the man loved by all, the man of God, the tearful eye, the mind fond of learning, the one enriched with divine knowledge, who was great in humility and one of many in understanding, who was distinguished before taking the habit and superior after the monastic perfection, who was bound in the love of God and from there hated the world and gave all as a gift to Christ, a most wealthy substance, then was separated from a very glorious spouse and from family and friends and acquaintances; who left behind earthly rank, house, city, country, and these things in the prime of life, with beauty of face and height of stature, with strength of body and dexterity in ways both intelligible and visible. And if one were to say more than these things, he would come short of the man's virtue. This man is gone, he has ascended to the Lord. Where and how? Carried on a litter from the flock because of an unbearable illness, imprisoned in the city for two more years, then exiled to an island and there finished his confessor's course for Christ. Therefore his suffering is not painful to me, but exceedingly joyous; he has not died, but has passed over into eternal life, the earth has not covered him, but heaven has received him. The choir of confessors has received him, the company of ascetics, where the true light is, where the blessed rests are, in return for the toils and labors he chose in the flesh both as an ascetic and as a confessor. Now for me is a festival, a feast, gladness, and indeed also for all the orthodox, who have sent forth a protector to God, running together with the martyrs who have gone before now. Let the church rejoice because it still acquires pillars, let the sacred company be glad because luminaries are rising again in the world, signaling to those in the darkness of heresy. O, o, father, father, how beautiful is your course, how holy your memorial, how blessed your memory; you are wholly bright, wholly gracious. Who, seeing you, has not loved you, and who, meeting you, has not been sweetened? Your company is desirable, your virtue recognizable. What remains? Remember your flock and me your son, though I am least and cast out. You know your longing that is in me, as I also know yours that is in you for me. Cry out on behalf of the whole church to the Lord, pray also for me, the wretched one, to come quickly to you, in the way in which you were perfected. These are my words to our common father. But I exhort you not to betray the faith, to live holily as being his, one in one way, the other in another, the one his spouse, the other the blood-relative of his spouse, so that with him you may enjoy eternal glory. 324 {1Γενναδίῳ τέκνῳ}1 What you have written, child, I have understood, and what you have written are tokens of confidence and great longing; but we are not as you think and say, but sinners and in need of light. Nevertheless, may your faith save you wherever you may be, on the one hand from the soul-slaying heresy, and on the other from every sinful activity. You rightly desire to be delivered from the corrupting world, and deliverance is the flight from sin, whose practice is eternal death and the

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διυπνισθῆναι Χριστόν, εἰρηνευθῆναι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, σωθῆναί με, τὸν πανάθλιον μέν, φιλοῦντα δέ σε λίαν. 322 {1Βασιλείῳ μονάζοντι}1 Ὡς ἔμαθον ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς συλληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνόμων ἐνήθλησας ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, ἱερὲ Βασίλειε καὶ τοῦ Μεγάλου ἀπόγονε Βασιλείου, ἥσθην, ἐδόξασα, ᾔνεσα, ηὐχαρίστησα τῷ Κυρίῳ, τῷ καλέσαντί σε εἰς κοινωνίαν τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ δι' ὧν ἤνεγκας πληγῶν ἐν τῷ νώτῳ καὶ τῆς παρούσης φυλακῆς. ἔδει τοίνυν, ἔδει οὕτω φιλομαθῆ ὄντα καὶ φιλόθεον μὴ ἀγέραστον ὀφθῆναί σε τῆς τῶν ὁμολογούντων θεοδοξίας, ἀλλὰ συμμετασχεῖν τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ὀνομαστὸν γενέσθαι καὶ τεθῆναι εἰς φῶς τῶν ἐν σκότει. Στῆθι οὖν, ὦ γενναῖε, καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα, μὴ δεδοικώς τι· Χριστὸς γὰρ μετὰ σοῦ, ὁ νικῶν ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ νικήσας τὸν ἰσχυρὸν καὶ δοὺς ἡμῖν αὐτὸν ὑποπάτιον. 323 {1Μεγαλῷ καὶ Μαρίᾳ μοναζούσαισ}1 Τὸ γράμμα ὑμῶν τίμιον καὶ ἡ προσηγορία συνετή· ἡ δὲ ἀγγελία, τί εἴπω, ὀδυνηρὰ ἢ χαροποιός; ὁ ἐμὸς πατὴρ ἐξεδήμησεν, ὁ ὁμολογητὴς Χριστοῦ, ὁ δεύτερος Ἰώβ, τὸ ἐγκαλλώπισμα τῶν μοναστῶν, ὁ τῆς ἀγάπης δημιουργός, ὁ παντοφίλητος ἀνήρ, ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, ὁ πολύδακρυς ὀφθαλμός, ὁ φιλομαθὴς νοῦς, ὁ θείᾳ γνώσει πεπλουτισμένος, ὁ πολὺς ἐν ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ πολλοστὸς ἐν συνέσει, ὁ περιφανὴς πρὸ σχήματος καὶ μετὰ τὴν μοναχικὴν τελείωσιν ὑπέρτερος, ὁ δεθεὶς ἐν ἀγάπῃ θεοῦ κἀντεῦθεν μισήσας κόσμον δούς τε προῖκα πάντα Χριστῷ, πολύολβον οὐσίαν, εἶτα διαζευχθεὶς περιδόξου ὁμοζύγου γένους τε καὶ φίλων καὶ συνήθων· ὁ καταλελοιπὼς περίγειον ἀξίωμα, οἶκον, πόλιν, πατρίδα, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἀκμαζούσῃ ἡλικίᾳ εὐπρεπείᾳ τε προσώπου καὶ ὕψει ἡλικίας, εὐσθενείᾳ τε σώματος καὶ ἀμφοτεροδεξιότητι τρόπων νοητῶν τε καὶ ὁρατῶν. καὶ πλέον τούτων ἄν τις εἰπὼν ἐλάττω ἔλθοι τῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀρετῆς. οὗτος ᾤχετο, ἀνῆλθεν πρὸς Κύριον. ποῦ καὶ πῶς; ἀρθεὶς φόρτῳ ἐκ τῆς ποίμνης διὰ τὴν δύσοιστον νόσον, φυλακισθεὶς ἐν ἄστει ἄλλοις δύο ἔτεσι καὶ πρός, ἔπειτα ἐξορισθεὶς ἐν νήσῳ τινὶ κἀκεῖσε τελειώσας τὸν ὁμολογητικὸν δρόμον ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ. Οὐκ ὀδυνηρόν μοι οὖν τὸ πάθος, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν περιχαρές· οὐ τέθνηκεν, ἀλλὰ μετέστη εἰς αἰώνιον ζωήν, οὐ γῆ αὐτὸν ἐκάλυψεν, ἀλλ' οὐρανὸς ὑπεδέξατο. ὑπέλαβεν αὐτὸν ἡ ὁμολογητῶν χορεία, ἡ ἀσκητῶν ὁμοσκηνία, ὅπου τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ἔνθα αἱ μακαρίαι ἀναπαύσεις, ἀνθ' ὧν εἵλετο κόπων καὶ πόνων ἐν σαρκὶ ἀσκητικῶς τε καὶ ὁμολογητικῶς. νῦν μοι πανήγυρις, ἑορτή, θυμηδία, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ πᾶσιν ὀρθοδόξοις, προστάτην εἰς θεὸν παραπέμψασιν σύνδρομον τῶν προδραμόντων μαρτύρων τανῦν. ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ ἐκκλησία ὅτι στύλους ἔτι κτᾶται, εὐφραινέσθω ὁ ἱερὸς θίασος ὅτι φωστῆρες ἐν κόσμῳ πάλιν ἀνίσχουσι, φρυκτωροῦντες τοὺς ἐν σκότει τῆς αἱρέσεως. ὤ, ὤ, πάτερ, πάτερ, ὡς καλός σου ὁ δρόμος, ὡς ὅσιον τὸ μνημόσυνόν σου, ὡς μακάριον τὸ ὑπόμνημά σου· ὅλος σὺ φαιδρός, ὅλος χαρίεις. τίς σε ἰδὼν οὐκ ἠγάπηκεν, τίς δὲ συντυχὼν οὐ γεγλύκανται; ἡ συνουσία σου ἐφετή, ἡ ἀρετὴ γνωριστική. τί τὸ λοιπόν; μέμνησο ὡς τῆς ποίμνης σου κἀμοῦ τοῦ σοῦ υἱοῦ, κἂν ἐλαχίστου καὶ ἐρριμμένου. οἶδας τὸν πόθον σου τὸν ἐν ἐμοὶ ὡς κἀγὼ τὸν ἐν σοὶ ἐμοῦ. βόησον ὑπὲρ πάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας πρὸς Κύριον, δεήθητι καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῦ οἰκτροῦ τάχει ἐλθεῖν πρὸς σέ, ἐν ᾧ τρόπῳ τετελείωσαι. Αὗται μέν μοι αἱ φωναὶ πρὸς τὸν κοινὸν πατέρα. ὑμᾶς δὲ παρακαλῶ μὴ προδοῦναι τὴν πίστιν, ὁσίως βιοῦν ὡς ἐκείνου ὄντες θατέρα θατέρως, ἡ μὲν ὁμόζυγος, ἡ δὲ τῆς ὁμοζύγου ὁμαίμων, ὡς ἂν σὺν ἐκείνῳ δόξης τῆς ἀιδίου ἀπολαύσοιτε. 324 {1Γενναδίῳ τέκνῳ}1 Ἃ μὲν γέγραφας, τέκνον, ἔγνων, καὶ ἃ γέγραφας πεποιθήσεως καὶ περιποθήσεως δείγματα· ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὐχ ὡς νομίζεις καὶ λέγεις, ἁμαρτωλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἐνδεεῖς φωτός. πλὴν ἡ πίστις σου σωσάτω σε ὅπουπερ ἂν ᾖς, τοῦτο μὲν ἐκ τῆς φονοκτονούσης αἱρέσεως, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐκ πάσης ἁμαρτητικῆς ἐνεργείας. καλῶς ἐπιθυμεῖς ῥυσθῆναι τοῦ φθοροποιοῦ κόσμου, λύτρωσις δέ ἐστιν ἡ φυγὴ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἧς ἡ πρᾶξις θάνατος αἰώνιος καὶ ἡ