Basil of Caesarea, Letters

Letter CCVII.1018 Placed in 375.

To the clergy of Neocæsarea.

You all concur in hating me. To a man you have followed the leader of the war against me.1019 i.e. Atarbius of Neocæsarea. I was therefore minded to say not a word to any one. I determined that I would write no friendly letter; that I would start no communication, but keep my sorrow in silence to myself. Yet it is wrong to keep silence in the face of calumny; not that by contradiction we may vindicate ourselves, but that we may not allow a lie to travel further and its victims to be harmed. I have therefore thought it necessary to put this matter also before you all, and to write a letter to you, although, when I recently wrote to all the presbyterate in common, you did not do me the honour to send me a reply. Do not, my brethren, gratify the vanity of those who are filling your minds with pernicious opinions. Do not consent to look lightly on, when, to your knowledge, God’s people are being subverted by impious teaching. None but Sabellius the Libyan1020 Basil is described as the earliest authority for making Sabellius an African by birth. (D.C.B. iv. 569) There is no contemporary authority for the statement. and Marcellus the Galatian1021 i.e. of Ancyra. have dared to teach and write what the leaders of your people are attempting to bring forward among you as their own private discovery. They are making a great talk about it, but they are perfectly powerless to give their sophisms and fallacies even any colour of truth. In their harangues against me they shrink from no wickedness, and persistently refuse to meet me. Why? Is it not because they are afraid of being convicted for their own wicked opinions? Yes; and in their attacks upon me they have become so lost to all sense of shame as to invent certain dreams to my discredit while they falsely accuse my teaching of being pernicious. Let them take upon their own heads all the visions of the autumn months; they can fix no blasphemy on me, for in every Church there are many to testify to the truth.

2. When they are asked the reason for this furious and truceless war, they allege psalms and a kind of music varying from the custom which has obtained among you, and similar pretexts of which they ought to be ashamed. We are, moreover, accused because we maintain men in the practice of true religion who have renounced the world and all those cares of this life, which the Lord likens to thorns that do not allow the word to bring forth fruit. Men of this kind carry about in the body the deadness of Jesus; they have taken up their own cross, and are followers of God. I would gladly give my life if these really were my faults, and if I had men with me owning me as teacher who had chosen this ascetic life. I hear that virtue of this kind is to be found now in Egypt, and there are, peradventure, some men in Palestine whose conversation follows the precepts of the Gospel. I am told too that some perfect and blessed men are to be found in Mesopotamia. We, in comparison with the perfect, are children. But if women also have chosen to live the Gospel life, preferring virginity to wedlock, leading captive the lust of the flesh, and living in the mourning which is called blessed, they are blessed in their profession wherever they are to be found. We, however, have few instances of this to show, for with us people are still in an elementary stage and are being gradually brought. to piety. If any charges of disorder are brought against the life of our women I do not undertake to defend them. One thing, however, I do say and that is, that these bold hearts, these unbridled mouths are ever fearlessly uttering what Satan, the father of lies, has hitherto been unable to say. I wish you to know that we rejoice to have assemblies of both men and women, whose conversation is in heaven and who have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof; they take no thought for food and raiment, but remain undisturbed beside their Lord, continuing night and day in prayer. Their lips speak not of the deeds of men: they sing hymns to God continually, working with their own hands that they may have to distribute to them that need.

3. Now as to the charge relating to the singing of psalms, whereby my calumniators specially scare the simpler folk, my reply is this. The customs which now obtain are agreeable to those of all the Churches of God. Among us the people go at night to the house of prayer, and, in distress, affliction, and continual tears, making confession to God, at last rise from their prayers and begin to sing psalms. And now, divided into two parts, they sing antiphonally with one another, thus at once confirming their study of the Gospels,1022 τῶν λογίων. cf. note on Theodoret, p. 155. and at the same time producing for themselves a heedful temper and a heart free from distraction. Afterwards they again commit the prelude of the strain to one, and the rest take it up; and so after passing the night in various psalmody, praying at intervals as the day begins to dawn, all together, as with one voice and one heart, raise the psalm of confession to the Lord, each forming for himself his own expressions of penitence. If it is for these reasons that you renounce me, you will renounce the Egyptians; you will renounce both Libyans, Thebans, Palestinians, Arabians, Phœnicians, Syrians, the dwellers by the Euphrates; in a word all those among whom vigils, prayers, and common psalmody have been held in honour.

4. But, it is alleged, these practices were not observed in the time of the great Gregory. My rejoinder is that even the Litanies1023 The Ben. note observes that in this passage Litanies do not mean processions or supplications, but penitential prayers. The intercessory prayers which occur in the liturgy of St. Basil, as in the introductory part of other Greek liturgies, are not confined to quotations from Scripture. which you now use were not used in his time. I do not say this to find fault with you; for my prayer would be that every one of you should live in tears and continual penitence. We, for our part, are always offering supplication for our sins, but we propitiate our God not as you do, in the words of mere man, but in the oracles of the Spirit. And what evidence have you that this custom was not followed in the time of the great Gregory? You have kept none of his customs up to the present time.1024 This reproach appears to be in contradiction with the statement in De Spiritu Sancto, § 74 (page 47), that the Church of Neocæsarea had rigidly preserved the traditions of Gregory. The Ben. note would remove the discrepancy by confining the rigid conservatism to matters of importance. In these the Neocæsareans would tolerate no change, and allowed no monasteries and no enrichment of their liturgies with new rites. “Litanies,” however, are regarded as comparatively unimportant innovations. The note concludes: Neque enim secum ipse pugnat Basilius, cum Neocæsarienses laudat in libro De Spiritu Sancto, quod Gregorii instituta arctissime teneant. hic autem vituperat quod ea omnino reliquerint. Illic enim respicit ad exteriora instituta, hic autem ad virtutum exemplar, convicii et iracundiæ fugam, odium juris jurandi et mendacii. Gregory did not cover his head at prayer. How could he? He was a true disciple of the Apostle who says, “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.”1025 1 Cor. xi. 4. And “a man indeed ought not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image of God.”1026 1 Cor. xi. 7. Oaths were shunned by Gregory, that pure soul, worthy of the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, content with yea and nay, in accordance with the commandment of the Lord Who said, “I say unto you swear not at all.”1027 Matt. v. 34. Gregory could not bear to call his brother a fool,1028 cf. Matt. v. 22. for he stood in awe of the threat of the Lord. Passion, wrath, and bitterness never proceeded out of his mouth. Railing he hated, because it leads not to the kingdom of heaven. Envy and arrogance had been shut out of that guiltless soul. He would never have stood at the altar before being reconciled to his brother. A lie, or any word designed to slander any one, he abominated, as one who knew that lies come from the devil, and that the Lord will destroy all that utter a lie.1029 Ps. v. 6, LXX. If you have none of these things, and are clear of all, then are you verily disciples of the disciple of the Lord; if not, beware lest, in your disputes about the mode of singing psalms, you are straining at the gnat and setting at naught the greatest of the commandments.

I have been driven to use these expressions by the urgency of my defence, that you may be taught to cast the beam out of your own eyes before you try to remove other men’s motes. Nevertheless, I am conceding all, although there is nothing that is not searched into before God. Only let great matters prevail, and do not allow innovations in the faith to make themselves heard. Do not disregard the hypostases. Do not deny the name of Christ. Do not put a wrong meaning on the words of Gregory. If you do so, as long as I breathe and have the power of utterance, I cannot keep silence, when I see souls being thus destroyed.

ΤΟΙΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΝΕΟΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑΝ ΚΛΗΡΙΚΟΙΣ

[1] Ἡ μὲν συμφωνία τοῦ καθ' ἡμῶν μίσους καὶ τὸ μέχρις ἑνὸς πάντας ἀκολουθῆσαι τῷ προεστῶτι τοῦ καθ' ἡμῶν πολέμου ἔπειθέ με ὁμοίως ἀποσιωπᾶν πρὸς ἅπαντας, καὶ μήτε γράμματος φιλικοῦ μήτε τινὸς ὁμιλίας κατάρχειν, ἀλλ' ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ πέσσειν τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ λύπην. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ χρὴ μήτε πρὸς τὰς διαβολὰς ἀποσιωπᾶν, οὐχ ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἀντιλογίας ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐκδικῶμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ συγχωρήσωμεν εὐοδωθῆναι τῷ ψεύδει καὶ τοὺς ἠπατημένους μὴ ἐναφῶμεν τῇ βλάβῃ, ἀναγκαῖον ἐφάνη μοι καὶ τοῦτο προσθεῖναι τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ ἐπιστεῖλαι ὑμῶν τῇ συνέσει, εἰ καὶ ὅτι πρῴην κοινῇ παντὶ τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ γράψαντες οὐδεμιᾶς παρ' ὑμῶν ἀποκρίσεως ἠξιώθημεν. Μὴ κολακεύετε, ἀδελφοί, τοὺς τὰ πονηρὰ δόγματα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν ἐπάγοντας, μηδὲ καταδέξησθε περιορᾶν ἐν γνώσει ὑμετέρᾳ τὸν λαὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν διδαγμάτων καταστρεφόμενον. Σαβέλλιος ὁ Λίβυς καὶ Μάρκελλος ὁ Γαλάτης μόνοι ἐκ πάντων ἐτόλμησαν καὶ διδάξαι ταῦτα καὶ γράψαι ἅπερ νῦν παρ' ὑμῖν, ὡς ἴδια ἑαυτῶν εὑρήματα, ἐπιχειροῦσι προφέρειν οἱ καθηγούμενοι τοῦ λαοῦ βαμβαίνοντες τῇ γλώσσῃ καὶ οὐδὲ εἰς πιθανὴν κατασκευὴν ἀγαγεῖν τὰ σοφίσματα ταῦτα καὶ τοὺς παραλογισμοὺς ἐξαρκοῦντες. Οὗτοι ῥητὰ καὶ ἄρρητα καθ' ἡμῶν δημηγοροῦσι καὶ πάντα τρόπον τὰς συντυχίας ἡμῶν ἐκκλίνουσι. Τίνος ἕνεκεν; Οὐχὶ τὸν ἐν τοῖς πονηροῖς ἑαυτῶν διδάγμασιν ἔλεγχον ὑφορώμενοι; Οἵ γε ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἡμῶν κατηναισχύντησαν ὥστε καὶ ὀνείρους τινὰς ἐφ' ἡμᾶς συμπλάσαι διαβάλλοντες ἡμῶν τὰς διδασκαλίας ὡς βλαβεράς: οἵ, κἂν πάντα τὰ τῶν φυλλοχόων μηνῶν φαντάσματα ταῖς ἑαυτῶν κεφαλαῖς ὑποδέξωνται, οὐδεμίαν ἡμῖν βλασφημίαν δυνήσονται προστρίψασθαι, πολλῶν ὄντων ἐφ' ἑκάστης Ἐκκλησίας μαρτυρούντων τῇ ἀληθείᾳ.

[2] Κἂν τὴν αἰτίαν ἐρωτηθῶσι τοῦ ἀκηρύκτου τούτου καὶ ἀσπόνδου πολέμου, ψαλμοὺς λέγουσι καὶ τρόπον μελῳδίας τῆς παρ' ὑμῖν κεκρατηκυίας συνηθείας παρηλλαγμένον, καὶ τοιαῦτά τινα ἐφ' οἷς ἐχρῆν αὐτοὺς ἐγκαλύπτεσθαι. Ἐγκαλούμεθα δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἔχομεν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀσκητάς, ἀποταξαμένους τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ πάσαις ταῖς βιωτικαῖς μερίμναις ἃς ἀκάνθαις παρεικάζει ὁ Κύριος, εἰς καρποφορίαν ἐλθεῖν τὸν λόγον μὴ συγχωρούσαις. Οἱ τοιοῦτοι τὴν νεκρότητα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέρουσι καὶ ἄραντες τὸν ἑαυτῶν σταυρὸν ἕπονται τῷ Θεῷ. Ἐγὼ δὲ παντὸς ἂν τιμησαίμην τοῦ ἐμαυτοῦ βίου ἐμὰ εἶναι τὰ ἀδικήματα ταῦτα καὶ ἔχειν ἄνδρας παρ' ἐμαυτῷ, ὑπ' ἐμοὶ διδασκάλῳ, τὴν ἄσκησιν ταύτην προελομένους Νῦν δὲ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ μὲν ἀκούω τοιαύτην εἶναι ἀνδρῶν ἀρετήν, καὶ τάχα τινὲς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς Παλαιστίνης τὴν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον πολιτείαν κατορθοῦσιν. Ἀκούω δέ τινας καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς Μέσης τῶν ποταμῶν τελείους καὶ μακαρίους ἄνδρας. Ἡμεῖς δὲ παῖδές ἐσμεν πρός γε τὴν τῶν τελείων σύγκρισιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες εὐαγγελικῶς ζῆν προελόμεναι παρθενίαν μὲν γάμου προτιμῶσαι, δουλαγωγοῦσαι δὲ τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἐν πένθει ζῶσαι τῷ μακαριζομένῳ, μακάριαι τῆς προαιρέσεως, ὅπου ἂν ὦσι τῆς γῆς. Παρὰ δὲ ἡμῶν μικρὰ ταῦτα στοιχειουμένων ἔτι καὶ εἰσαγομένων πρὸς τὴν εὐσέβειαν. Εἰ δέ τινα ἀκοσμίαν τῷ βίῳ τῶν γυναικῶν ἐπιφέρουσιν, ἀπολογεῖσθαι μὲν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν οὐ καταδέχομαι. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ ὑμῖν διαμαρτύρομαι, ὅτι, ἃ μέχρι νῦν ὁ Σατανᾶς ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ ψεύδους εἰπεῖν οὐ κατεδέξατο, ταῦτα αἱ ἄφοβοι καρδίαι καὶ τὰ ἀχαλίνωτα στόματα φθέγγεται ἀδεῶς. Γινώσκειν δὲ ὑμᾶς βούλομαι ὅτι ἡμεῖς εὐχόμεθα καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν συντάγματα ἔχειν, ὧν τὸ πολίτευμά ἐστιν ἐν οὐρανοῖς, τῶν τὴν σάρκα σταυρωσάντων σὺν τοῖς παθήμασι καὶ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, οἳ οὐ μεριμνῶσι περὶ βρωμάτων καὶ ἐνδυμάτων, ἀλλ' ἀπερίσπαστοι ὄντες καὶ εὐπάρεδροι τῷ Κυρίῳ νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας προσμένουσι ταῖς δεήσεσιν. Ὧν τὸ στόμα οὐ λαλεῖ τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ ψάλλουσιν ὕμνους τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν διηνεκῶς, ἐργαζόμενοι ταῖς ἑαυτῶν χερσίν, ἵνα ἔχωσι μεταδιδόναι τοῖς χρείαν ἔχουσι.

[3] Πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἐπὶ ταῖς ψαλμῳδίαις ἔγκλημα, ᾧ μάλιστα τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους φοβοῦσιν οἱ διαβάλλοντες ἡμᾶς, ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν ἔχω, ὅτι τὰ νῦν κεκρατηκότα ἔθη πάσαις ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίαις συνῳδά ἐστι καὶ σύμφωνα. Ἐκ νυκτὸς γὰρ ὀρθρίζει παρ' ἡμῖν ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τῆς προσευχῆς, καὶ ἐν πόνῳ καὶ ἐν θλίψει καὶ συνοχῇ δακρύων ἐξομολογούμενοι τῷ Θεῷ, τελευταῖον ἐξαναστάντες τῶν προσευχῶν εἰς τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν καθίστανται. Καὶ νῦν μὲν διχῆ διανεμηθέντες ἀντιψάλλουσιν ἀλλήλοις, ὁμοῦ μὲν τὴν μελέτην τῶν Λογίων ἐντεῦθεν κρατύνοντες, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ τὴν προσοχὴν καὶ τὸ ἀμετεώριστον τῶν καρδιῶν ἑαυτοῖς διοικούμενοι. Ἔπειτα πάλιν ἐπιτρέψαντες ἑνὶ κατάρχειν τοῦ μέλους οἱ λοιποὶ ὑπηχοῦσι: καὶ οὕτως ἐν τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας τὴν νύκτα διενεγκόντες μεταξὺ προσευχόμενοι, ἡμέρας ἤδη ὑπολαμπούσης πάντες κοινῇ, ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος καὶ μιᾶς καρδίας, τὸν τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως ψαλμὸν ἀναφέρουσι τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἴδια ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστος τὰ ῥήματα τῆς μετανοίας ποιούμενοι. Ἐπὶ τούτοις εἰ ἡμᾶς ἀποφεύγετε, φεύξεσθε μὲν Αἰγυπτίους, φεύξεσθε δὲ Λιβύας ἀμφοτέρους, Θηβαίους, Παλαιστίνους, Ἄραβας, Φοίνικας, Σύρους καὶ τοὺς πρὸς τῷ Εὐφράτῃ κατῳκισμένους, καὶ πάντας ἁπαξαπλῶς παρ' οἷς ἀγρυπνίαι καὶ προσευχαὶ καὶ αἱ κοιναὶ ψαλμῳδίαι τετίμηνται.

[4] Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦν, φησί, ταῦτα ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αἱ λιτανεῖαι ἃς ὑμεῖς νῦν ἐπιτηδεύετε. Καὶ οὐ κατηγορῶν ὑμῶν λέγω: ηὐχόμην γὰρ πάντας ὑμᾶς ἐν δάκρυσι ζῆν καὶ μετανοίᾳ διηνεκεῖ, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ λιτανεύομεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, πλὴν ὅσον οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνοις ῥήμασιν, ὥσπερ ὑμεῖς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς λογίοις τοῦ Πνεύματος τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῶν ἐξιλεούμεθα. Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἦν ταῦτα ἐπὶ τοῦ θαυμαστοῦ Γρηγορίου τίνας ἔχετε μαρτυρίας; Οἵ γε οὐδὲν τῶν ἐκείνου μέχρι νῦν διεσώσασθε. Γρηγόριος οὐ κατεκαλύπτετο ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν. Πῶς γάρ; Ὅ γε τοῦ Ἀποστόλου μαθητὴς γνήσιος τοῦ εἰπόντος: «Πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ», καὶ «Ἀνὴρ μὲν οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων». Ἔφευγε τοὺς ὅρκους ἡ καθαρὰ ἐκείνη ψυχὴ καὶ ἀξία τῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος κοινωνίας, ἀρκουμένη τῷ ναὶ καὶ τῷ οὒ διὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος: «Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν μὴ ὀμόσαι ὅλως». Οὐκ ἠνείχετο εἰπεῖν τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἑαυτοῦ μωρὸν ἐκεῖνος: ἐφοβεῖτο γὰρ τὴν ἀπειλὴν τοῦ Κυρίου. Θυμὸς καὶ ὀργὴ καὶ πικρία ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ἐκείνου οὐκ ἐξεπορεύετο. Λοιδορίαν ἐμίσει ὡς εἰς βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν οὐκ εἰσάγουσαν. Φθόνος καὶ ὑπερηφανία τῆς ἀδόλου ψυχῆς ἐκείνης ἀπελήλατο. Οὐκ ἂν παρέστη τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ πρὶν καταλλαγῆναι τῷ ἀδελφῷ. Ψευδῆ λόγον καὶ τεχνικὸν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τινων μεμηχανημένον οὕτως ἐβδελύσσετο ὡς εἰδὼς ὅτι τὸ ψεῦδος ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέννηται καὶ ὅτι Κύριος ἀπολεῖ πάντας τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ ψεῦδος. Τούτων εἰ μηδέν ἐστιν ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀλλὰ καθαρεύετε πάντων: τῷ ὄντι ἐστὲ μαθηταὶ τοῦ μαθητοῦ τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου. Εἰ δὲ μή, σκοπεῖτε μὴ τὸν κώνωπα διυλίζετε, περὶ μὲν ἤχου φωνῆς τοῦ κατὰ τὰς ψαλμῳδίας ἀκριβολογούμενοι, τὰς δὲ μεγίστας τῶν ἐντολῶν παραλύοντες. Εἰς τούτους με τοὺς λόγους ἤγαγεν ἡ ἀνάγκη τῆς ἀπολογίας, ἵνα διδαχθῆτε ἐκβάλλειν τὴν δοκὸν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὑμῶν καὶ τότε ἐξαίρειν τὰ ἀλλότρια κάρφη. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ πάντα συγχωροῦμεν, εἰ καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀνεξέταστον παρὰ Θεῷ. Μόνον ἐρρώσθω τὰ προηγούμενα καὶ τὰς περὶ τὴν πίστιν καινοτομίας κατασιγάσατε. Τὰς ὑποστάσεις μὴ ἀθετεῖτε. Τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ μὴ ἀπαρνεῖσθε. Τὰς Γρηγορίου φωνὰς μὴ παρεξηγεῖσθε. Εἰ δὲ μή, ἕως ἂν ἐμπνέωμεν καὶ δυνώμεθα φθέγγεσθαι, ἀμήχανον ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τοσαύτῃ λύμῃ ψυχῶν σιωπᾶν.