Letter CCXIV.1073    Placed in 375.

To Count Terentius.1074    cf. Letters xcix. and cv.

1. When I heard that your excellency had again been compelled to take part in public affairs, I was straightway distressed (for the truth must be told) at the thought of how contrary to your mind it must be that you after once giving up the anxieties of official life, and allowing yourself leisure for the care of your soul, should again be forced back into your old career.  But then I bethought me that peradventure the Lord has ordained that your lordship should again appear in public from this wish to grant the boon of one alleviation for the countless pains which now beset the Church in our part of the world.  I am, moreover, cheered by the thought that I am about to meet your excellency once again before I depart this life.

2.  But a further rumour has reached me that you are in Antioch, and are transacting the business in hand with the chief authorities.  And, besides this, I have heard that the brethren who are of the party of Paulinus are entering on some discussion with your excellency on the subject of union with us; and by “us” I mean those who are supporters of the blessed man of God, Meletius.1075    On the divisions of Antioch, cf. Theod., H.E. iii. 2.  Basil was no doubt taking the wise course in supporting Meletius, whose personal orthodoxy was unimpeachable.  But the irreconcilable Eustathians could not forgive him his Arian nomination.  I hear, moreover, that the Paulinians are carrying about a letter of the Westerns,1076    This description might apply to either of the two letters written by Damasus to Paulinus on the subject of the admission to communion of Vitalius, bishop of the Apollinarian schism at Antioch.  (Labbe. Conc. ii. 864 and 900, and Theod. H.E. v. ii.)  The dates may necessitate its being referred to the former. assigning to them the episcopate of the Church in Antioch, but speaking under a false impression of Meletius, the admirable bishop of the true Church of God.  I am not astonished at this.  They1077    i.e. the Westerns. are totally ignorant of what is going on here; the others, though they might be supposed to know, give an account to them in which party is put before truth; and it is only what one might expect that they should either be ignorant of the truth, or should even endeavour to conceal the reasons which led the blessed Bishop Athanasius to write to Paulinus.  But your excellency has on the spot those who are able to tell you accurately what passed between the bishops in the reign of Jovian, and from them I beseech you to get information.1078    cf. Letter cclviii. and the Prolegomena to Athanasius in this edition, p. lxi.  The events referred to took place in the winter of 363, when Athanasius was at Antioch, and in the early part of 364 on his return to Alexandria.  I accuse no one; I pray that I may have love to all, and “especially unto them who are of the household of faith;”1079    Gal. vi. 10. and therefore I congratulate those who have received the letter from Rome.  And, although it is a grand testimony in their favour, I only hope it is true and confirmed by facts.  But I shall never be able to persuade myself on these grounds to ignore Meletius, or to forget the Church which is under him, or to treat as small, and of little importance to the true religion, the questions which originated the division.  I shall never consent to give in, merely because somebody is very much elated at receiving a letter from men.1080    St. Basil seems quite unaware of any paramount authority in a letter from Rome.  cf. Prolegomena.  Even if it had come down from heaven itself, but he does not agree with the sound doctrine of the faith, I cannot look upon him as in communion with the saints.

3.  Consider well, my excellent friend, that the falsifiers of the truth, who have introduced the Arian schism as an innovation on the sound faith of the Fathers, advance no other reason for refusing to accept the pious opinion of the Fathers than the meaning of the homoousion which they hold in their wickedness, and to the slander of the whole faith, alleging our contention to be that the Son is consubstantial in hypostasis.  If we give them any opportunity by our being carried away by men who propound these sentiments and their like, rather from simplicity than from malevolence, there is nothing to prevent our giving them an unanswerable ground of argument against ourselves and confirming the heresy of those whose one end is in all their utterances about the Church, not so much to establish their own position as to calumniate mine.  What more serious calumny could there be?  What better calculated to disturb the faith of the majority than that some of us could be shewn to assert that there is one hypostasis of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?  We distinctly lay down that there is a difference of Persons; but this statement was anticipated by Sabellius, who affirms that God is one by hypostasis, but is described by Scripture in different Persons, according to the requirements of each individual case; sometimes under the name of Father, when there is occasion for this Person; sometimes under the name of Son when there is a descent to human interests or any of the operations of the œconomy;1081    Vide notes, pp. 7 and 12.  On Sabellius, cf. note on Letter ccxxxvi. and sometimes under the Person of Spirit when the occasion demands such phraseology.  If, then, any among us are shewn to assert that Father, Son and Holy Ghost are one in substance,1082    τὸ ὑποκείμενον. while we maintain the three perfect Persons, how shall we escape giving clear and incontrovertible proof of the truth of what is being asserted about us?

4.  The non-identity of hypostasis and ousia is, I take it, suggested even by our western brethren, where, from a suspicion of the inadequacy of their own language, they have given the word ousia in the Greek, to the end that any possible difference of meaning might be preserved in the clear and unconfounded distinction of terms.  If you ask me to state shortly my own view, I shall state that ousia has the same relation to hypostasis as the common has to the particular.  Every one of us both shares in existence by the common term of essence (ousia) and by his own properties is such an one and such an one.  In the same manner, in the matter in question, the term ousia is common, like goodness, or Godhead, or any similar attribute; while hypostasis is contemplated in the special property of Fatherhood, Sonship, or the power to sanctify.  If then they describe the Persons as being without hypostasis,1083    ἀνυπόστατα the statement is per se absurd; but if they concede that the Persons exist in real hypostasis, as they acknowledge, let them so reckon them that the principle of the homoousion may be preserved in the unity of the Godhead, and that the doctrine preached may be the recognition of true religion, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the perfect and complete hypostasis of each of the Persons named.  Nevertheless, there is one point which I should like to have pressed on your excellency, that you and all who like you care for the truth, and honour the combatant in the cause of true religion, ought to wait for the lead to be taken in bringing about this union and peace by the foremost authorities in the Church, whom I count as pillars and foundations of the truth and of the Church, and reverence all the more because they have been sent away for punishment, and have been exiled far from home.  Keep yourself, I implore you, clear of prejudice, that in you, whom God has given me as a staff and support in all things, I may be able to find rest.1084    On the point treated of in this letter, cf. note on p. 5 and Letter xxxviii. p. 137.  But in the De S.S. cap. 38 (p. 23) St. Basil himself repudiates the assertion of three “original hypostases,” when he is apparently using ὑπόστασις in the Nicene sense.

ΠΡΟΣ ΤΕΡΕΝΤΙΟΝ ΚΟΜΗΤΑ

[1] Ὅτε ἠκούσαμεν τὴν σεμνότητά σου πάλιν ἐκβεβιάσθαι πρὸς τὴν τῶν κοινῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, εὐθὺς μὲν διεταράχθημεν (εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθές) λογιζόμενοι ὅπως σοι παρὰ γνώμην ἐστὶν ἅπαξ ἀφεθέντι τῶν δημοσίων φροντίδων καὶ σχολάσαντι τῇ ἐπιμελείᾳ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς πάλιν ἀναγκάζεσθαι πρὸς τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπιστρέφειν. Ἔπειτα εἰς ἔννοιαν ἐλθόντες ὅτι τάχα ὁ Κύριος βουλόμενος τῶν μυρίων ὀδυνῶν, αἳ νῦν τὰς καθ' ἡμᾶς Ἐκκλησίας συνέχουσι, μίαν ταύτην χαρίσασθαι παραμυθίαν, τὴν σὴν σεμνοπρέπειαν πάλιν ᾠκονόμησεν ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων φανῆναι, καὶ δὴ καὶ εὐθυμότεροι ἦμεν ὡς μέλλοντες ἔτι γοῦν ἅπαξ, πρὶν ἀπιέναι τῆς ζωῆς ταύτης, συντεύξεσθαι τῇ τιμιότητί σου.

[2] Ἀλλὰ πάλιν ἡμᾶς ἑτέρα φήμη κατέσχεν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀντιοχείας διάγοντος καὶ τὰ ἐν χερσὶ πράγματα ταῖς μεγάλαις ἀρχαῖς συνδιέποντος. Πρὸς δὲ τῇ φήμῃ ταύτῃ κατέλαβεν ἡμᾶς ἀκοὴ ὅτι καὶ οἱ τῆς κατὰ Παυλῖνον συντάξεως ἀδελφοὶ διαλέγονται τῇ ὀρθότητί σου περὶ τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἑνώσεως, ἡμᾶς δὲ λέγω τοὺς τῆς μερίδος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ, Μελετίου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου. Οὓς καὶ γράμματα ἀκούω νῦν τῶν Δυτικῶν περιφέρειν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν τῆς κατὰ Ἀντιόχειαν Ἐκκλησίας ἐπιτρέποντα, παραλογιζόμενα δὲ τὸν θαυμασιώτατον ἐπίσκοπον τῆς ἀληθινῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίας Μελέτιον. Καὶ οὐ θαυμάζω τοῦτο. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀγνοοῦσι παντελῶς τὰ ἐνταῦθα, οἱ δὲ καὶ δοκοῦντες εἰδέναι φιλονεικότερον μᾶλλον ἢ ἀληθέστερον αὐτοῖς ἐξηγοῦνται. Πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐκείνους μὲν οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς ἀγνοεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἢ καὶ ἀποκρύπτεσθαι τὴν αἰτίαν δι' ἣν εἰς τὸ γράφειν Παυλίνῳ ἦλθεν ὁ μακαριώτατος ἐπίσκοπος Ἀθανάσιος. Τὴν δὲ σὴν τελειότητα αὐτοῦ ἔχουσαν τοὺς δυναμένους τὰ μεταξὺ τῶν ἐπισκόπων γενόμενα ἐπὶ τῆς Ἰοβιανοῦ βασιλείας ἀκριβῶς διηγήσασθαι παρακαλοῦμεν ὑπ' αὐτῶν διδαχθῆναι. Πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐδενὸς κατηγοροῦμεν, πρὸς πάντας δὲ ἔχειν εὐχόμεθα τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους τῆς πίστεως, συγχαίρομεν τοῖς κομισαμένοις τὰ ἀπὸ Ῥώμης γράμματα. Κἄν τινα σεμνὴν καὶ μεγάλην ἔχῃ αὐτοῖς μαρτυρίαν, εὐχόμεθα ἀληθεύειν αὐτὴν δι' αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων βεβαιουμένην. Οὐ μέντοι τούτου γε ἕνεκεν δυνάμεθα ἑαυτοὺς πεῖσαί ποτε ἢ Μελέτιον ἀγνοῆσαι ἢ τῆς ὑπ' αὐτὸν Ἐκκλησίας ἐπιλαθέσθαι ἢ τὰ ζητήματα ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡ διάστασις γέγονε, μικρὰ ἡγήσασθαι καὶ ὀλίγην ἔχειν νομίσαι διαφορὰν πρὸς τὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας σκοπόν. Ἐγὼ γάρ, οὐχ ὅπως εἰ ἐπιστολήν τις ἀνθρώπων δεξάμενος ἐπ' αὐτῇ μέγα φρονεῖ, τούτου ἕνεκεν ὑποσταλῆναί ποτε καταδέξομαι, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἥκῃ τῶν οὐρανῶν, μὴ στοιχῇ δὲ τῷ ὑγιαίνοντι λόγῳ τῆς πίστεως, δύναμαι αὐτὸν κοινωνὸν ἡγήσασθαι τῶν ἁγίων.

[3] Ἐνθυμήθητι γάρ, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ὅτι οἱ παραχαράκται τῆς ἀληθείας, οἱ τὸ Ἀρειανὸν σχίσμα τῇ ὑγιεῖ τῶν Πατέρων ἐπεισάγοντες πίστει, οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην αἰτίαν προβάλλονται τοῦ μὴ παραδέχεσθαι τὸ εὐσεβὲς τῶν Πατέρων δόγμα ἢ τὴν τοῦ ὁμοουσίου διάνοιαν, ἣν αὐτοὶ πονηρῶς καὶ ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τῆς πίστεως ἐξηγοῦνται λέγοντες τὸν Υἱὸν κατὰ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ὁμοούσιον λέγεσθαι παρ' ἡμῶν. Οἷς ἐάν τινα δῶμεν ἀφορμὴν ἐκ τοῦ περιφέρεσθαι τοῖς δι' ἁπλότητα μᾶλλον ἢ διὰ κακίαν ταῦτα ἢ τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια λέγουσιν, οὐδὲν κωλύει καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀναντιρρήτους μὲν δοῦναι καθ' ἑαυτῶν τὰς λαβάς, ἰσχυρὰν δὲ ἐκείνοις κατασκευάσαι τὴν αἵρεσιν, οἷς μία μελέτη ἐστὶν ἐν τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας λόγοις οὐ τὰ ἑαυτῶν κατασκευάζειν, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἡμέτερα διαβάλλειν. Τίς δ' ἂν γένοιτο τῆς διαβολῆς ταύτης χαλεπωτέρα καὶ μᾶλλον δυναμένη τοὺς πολλοὺς διασαλεῦσαι, ἢ εἰ φανείησάν τινες ἐξ ἡμῶν Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος μίαν ὑπόστασιν λέγοντες, οἳ κἂν πάνυ τὸ τῶν προσώπων διάφορον ἐναργῶς δογματίζωσιν, ἀλλ' οὖν τῷ παρὰ τοῦ Σαβελλίου προειλῆφθαι τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο λέγοντος: ἕνα μὲν εἶναι τῇ ὑποστάσει τὸν Θεόν, προσωποποιεῖσθαι δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς διαφόρως κατὰ τὸ ἰδίωμα τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἑκάστοτε χρείας, καὶ νῦν μὲν τὰς πατρικὰς ἑαυτῷ περιτιθέναι φωνάς, ὅταν τούτου καιρὸς ᾖ τοῦ προσώπου, νῦν δὲ τὰς Υἱῷ πρεπούσας, ὅταν πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐπιμέλειαν ἢ πρὸς ἄλλας τινὰς οἰκονομικὰς ἐνεργείας ὑποβαίνῃ, νῦν δὲ τὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὑποδύεσθαι πρόσωπον, ὅταν ὁ καιρὸς τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ τοιούτου προσώπου φωνὰς ἀπαιτῇ: ἐὰν οὖν καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν φανῶσί τινες ἓν τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα λέγοντες, τρία δὲ πρόσωπα τέλεια ὁμολογοῦντες, πῶς οὐχὶ σαφῆ καὶ ἀναντίρρητον δόξουσι παρέχεσθαι τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ ἀληθῆ εἶναι τὰ λεγόμενα περὶ ἡμῶν;

[4] Περὶ δὲ τοῦ ὅτι ὑπόστασις καὶ οὐσία οὐ ταὐτόν ἐστι, καὶ αὐτοί, ὡς νομίζω, ὑπεσημήναντο οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Δύσεως ἀδελφοὶ ἐν οἷς τὸ στενὸν τῆς ἑαυτῶν γλώττης ὑφορώμενοι τὸ τῆς οὐσίας ὄνομα τῇ Ἑλλάδι φωνῇ παραδεδώκασιν, ἵνα, εἴ τις εἴη διαφορὰ τῆς ἐννοίας, σώζοιτο αὕτη ἐν τῇ εὐκρινεῖ καὶ ἀσυγχύτῳ διαστάσει τῶν ὀνομάτων. Εἰ δὲ δεῖ καὶ ἡμᾶς τὸ δοκοῦν ἡμῖν ἐν βραχεῖ εἰπεῖν, ἐκεῖνο ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ὃν ἔχει λόγον τὸ κοινὸν πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον, τοῦτον ἔχει ἡ οὐσία πρὸς τὴν ὑπόστασιν. Ἕκαστος γὰρ ἡμῶν καὶ τῷ κοινῷ τῆς οὐσίας λόγῳ τοῦ εἶναι μετέχει καὶ τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν ἰδιώμασιν ὁ δεῖνά ἐστι καὶ ὁ δεῖνα. Οὕτω κἀκεῖ ὁ μὲν τῆς οὐσίας λόγος κοινός, οἷον ἡ ἀγαθότης, ἡ θεότης, ἢ εἴ τι ἄλλο νοοῖτο: ἡ δὲ ὑπόστασις ἐν τῷ ἰδιώματι τῆς πατρότητος ἢ τῆς υἱότητος ἢ τῆς ἁγιαστικῆς δυνάμεως θεωρεῖται. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀνυπόστατα λέγουσι τὰ πρόσωπα, αὐτόθεν ἔχει ὁ λόγος τὴν ἀτοπίαν: εἰ δὲ ἐν ὑποστάσει αὐτὰ εἶναι ἀληθινῇ συγχωροῦσιν, ὃ ὁμολογοῦσι, καὶ ἀριθμείτωσαν, ἵνα καὶ ὁ τοῦ ὁμοουσίου λόγος διαφυλαχθῇ ἐν τῇ ἑνότητι τῆς θεότητος καὶ ἡ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐπίγνωσις Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐν τῇ ἀπηρτισμένῃ καὶ ὁλοτελεῖ ἑκάστου τῶν ὀνομαζομένων ὑποστάσει κηρύσσηται. Ὅμως δὲ ἐκεῖνο βούλομαι πεπεῖσθαι τὴν σεμνότητά σου, ὅτι καὶ σὲ καὶ πάντα τὸν παραπλησίως σοι τῆς ἀληθείας φροντίζοντα καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγωνιζομένους μὴ ἀτιμάζοντα ἀναμένειν δεῖ καθηγήσασθαι τῆς συναφείας ταύτης καὶ τῆς εἰρήνης τοὺς προστάτας τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, οὓς ἐγὼ στύλους καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας τίθεμαι, καὶ τοσούτῳ πλέον αὐτοὺς αἰδοῦμαι ὅσῳ ἂν μακρότερον ἐξοικισθῶσιν ἀντὶ τιμωρίας αὐτοῖς ἐπαγομένου τοῦ χωρισμοῦ. Παρακαλῶ οὖν, φύλαξον ἡμῖν σεαυτὸν ἀπρόληπτον, ἵν' ἔχωμέν σοι ἐπαναπαύεσθαι ὃν ἐν πᾶσιν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς βακτηρίαν καὶ ἔρεισμα ἐχαρίσατο.