Letter CCXVI.1087    Placed in 375.

To Meletius, bishop of Antioch.

Many other1088    On this word other the Ben. note grounds the argument that Meletius had proposed a journey which Basil had not undertaken, and hence that the unnamed bishop of Letter ccxiii. is Meletius; and further that the fact of the bishop not being named in ccxiii., and the obscurity of this and of other letters, may indicate the writer’s hesitation to put particulars in his letters which might be more discreetly left to be conveyed by word of mouth. journeys have taken me from home.  I have been as far as Pisidia to settle the matters concerning the brethren in Isauria in concert with the Pisidian bishops.  Thence I journeyed into Pontus, for Eustathius had caused no small disturbance at Dazimon, and had caused there a considerable secession from our church.  I even went as far as the home of my brother Peter,1089    i.e. the settlement on the Iris, where Peter had succeeded Basil as Head. and, as this is not far from Neocæsarea, there was occasion of considerable trouble to the Neocæsareans, and of much rudeness to myself.  Some men fled when no one was in pursuit.  And I was supposed to be intruding uninvited, simply to get compliments from the folk there.  As soon as I got home, after contracting a severe illness from the bad weather and my anxieties, I straightway received a letter from the East to tell me that Paulinus had had certain letters from the West addressed to him, in acknowledgement of a sort of higher claim; and that the Antiochene rebels were vastly elated by them, and were next preparing a form of creed, and offering to make its terms a condition of union with our Church.  Besides all this it was reported to me that they had seduced to their faction that most excellent man Terentius.  I wrote to him at once as forcibly as I could, to induce him to pause; and I tried to point out their disingenuousness.

ΜΕΛΕΤΙῼ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠῼ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΙΑΣ

[1] Πολλαὶ μὲν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἄλλαι ἀποδημίαι τῆς πατρίδος ἀπήγαγον. Καὶ γὰρ μέχρι τῆς Πισιδίας διέβημεν, ὥστε μετὰ τῶν ἐκεῖ ἐπισκόπων τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Ἰσαυρίᾳ ἀδελφοὺς τυπῶσαι. Κἀκεῖθεν ἡ ἐπὶ τὸν Πόντον ἡμᾶς διεδέξατο ἀποδημία, ἱκανῶς τὸν Δαζιμῶνα ταράξαντος τοῦ Εὐσταθίου καὶ πολλοὺς ἀναπείσαντος τῶν ἐκεῖ ἀποσχισθῆναι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡμῶν. Ἐγενόμεθα δὲ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ οἰκιδίου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν, ὃ διὰ τὸ προσεγγίζειν τοῖς κατὰ Νεοκαισάρειαν τόποις πολλῆς μὲν τοῖς ἐκεῖ ταραχῆς παρέσχεν αἰτίαν, πολλῆς δὲ ὕβρεως ἡμῖν ὑπόθεσιν προεξένησεν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔφευγον οὐδενὸς διώκοντος, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐνομιζόμεθα ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπαίνων καὶ ἄκλητοι εἰσωθίζεσθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπανήλθομεν ἐκ τῶν ὄμβρων καὶ τῶν ἀθυμιῶν πολλὴν ἀρρωστίαν συναγαγόντες, εὐθὺς ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς Ἀνατολῆς κατέλαβε γράμματα σημαίνοντα τοῖς περὶ Παυλῖνον ἀπὸ τῆς Δύσεως ἐπιστολάς τινας ὥσπερ τινὸς ἀρχῆς συνθήματα κεκομίσθαι, καὶ μέγα φρονεῖν τοὺς στασιαστὰς τοῦ μέρους ἐκείνου καὶ ἐπαγάλλεσθαι τοῖς γράμμασιν, εἶτα καὶ πίστιν προτείνεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ ἑτοίμως ἔχειν συνάπτεσθαι τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς Ἐκκλησίᾳ. Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις κἀκεῖνο ἡμῖν ἀπηγγέλη ὅτι ὑπηγάγοντο πρὸς τὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν σπουδὴν τὸν πάντα ἄριστον ἄνδρα Τερέντιον, ᾧ ταχέως ἐπέστειλα καθ' ὅσον ἦν μοι δυνατόν, ἐπέχων αὐτὸν τῆς ὁρμῆς καὶ διδάσκων τὴν κατ' αὐτοὺς ἀπάτην.