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we have, since we do not even find where you happen to be staying. But I did search in the land of the Cappadocians, since those who met you in Pontus reported that you had promised to return sooner, but I did not find you where I had hoped. But now, having heard that you are still living in the same region, I immediately entrusted the letter to the messenger. Having received it, do not refrain from writing back, as if this too were traveling away with you. Know that in the meantime there has been a visit of bishops from Egypt and letters were circulated in agreement with the ancient writings, both the divine scriptures themselves and those written in accordance with the divine scriptures at Nicaea. And a restatement of the same things with explanation was necessary, because of the unsound misinterpretation of the established texts which was introduced by those who long ago openly contradicted them, but now have contrived their contradiction in the guise of an explanation; wherein was the malicious abolition of the *homoousios*, as though it ought not to be understood according to any Hellenic denial; and the substitution for the *homoousios* of 'like in substance', which was artfully named in a vulgar way and maliciously conceived, since likeness is of things in a substance, not of substantial things, so that in this way a substance made like another might be conceived, such as a statue in relation to an emperor. In response to which it was written by those who know and wish to be pious, that the *homoousios* indicates not 'like God', but 'God', as a genuine offspring and of the same substance as the one who begot him. And the teaching about the Spirit was also introduced, that it was placed by the Fathers in the same faith with God and the Son, that he is in the same divinity. Who then was it fitting to pursue this embassy of piety as the most zealous one, together with my master Gregory, who himself does not write from anywhere nor give any sign at all? Farewell, most longed-for master.

365. BASIL TO THE GREAT EMPEROR THEODOSIUS

365.1 A calamity has befallen our region, not from a bodily misadventure, but from an inundation of waters. And whence this came I shall declare. There has been a great fall of snow in our lake. And before it had frozen into ice, a warm wind came upon it and a southern rain fell upon it. So, with the melting occurring all at once, unimaginable currents were set in motion, mingling with the ever-flowing river, which, being in the bed of the Halys, surpassed what tongue can tell and eye can see. This is the river that is our neighbor; gushing forth from the land of the Armenians, and emptying into the most sacred lake of the Sebastenes, into which the forty namesake and noble soldiers of Christ were frozen when a terrible north wind blew upon them. And from there (accept that I speak the truth, most excellent one) this river which surrounds us like a hostile nation of terrible things terrifies us not a little. For since it cannot yet be crossed on foot in any way or at any time, it does not permit the necessary goods to be transported to our necessary and beneficial home regions. I speak of those of the Galatians and Paphlagonians and Helenopontians, through whom and from whom our necessities come to us, especially the abundance of bread, since the surrounding land is frosty, and bound fast by the enveloping air, by the wrath that tames with lightning, thunder, hail, and torrents. And the towering height of Argaeus threatens no small grief to our fatherland. Therefore you, most excellent one, being entreated, be pleased to show honor to your tributary land, so that by thus fitting it out with an abundance of bridges to be crossed, you might show it to be a new traversable Red Sea. For the Lord, taking pity on the much-lamenting life of the Jews, was pleased for them to walk with unwet feet as through dry land in the Red Sea, having given to them Moses as a guide. The behavior of the river was extreme for us; for men it has become a destruction, and with it flooding upstream and pressing out every green-bearing land and from the mud

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ἔχομεν, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ οὗ τυγχάνεις διατρίβων εὑρίσκομεν. Ἀλλ' ἐζή τησα μὲν ἐν τῇ Καππαδοκῶν, ἐπεὶ καὶ οὕτως ἤγγελλον οἱ ἐν Πόντῳ σοι περιτυχόντες ἐπηγγέλθαι σε θᾶττον ἐπανήξειν, οὐχ εὗρον δὲ ἔνθα ἤλπιζον. Νῦν δὲ ἔτι σε κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν διάγοντα χώραν ἀκούσας εὐθὺς τῷ μηνυτῇ καὶ τὸ γράμμα ἐνεχείρισα. Ὅπερ δεξάμενος μὴ καὶ τοῦ ἀντιγράφειν ἀπό σχῃ ὡς καὶ τούτου συναποδημοῦντος. Ἴσθι δὲ ὡς ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ γέγονεν ἐπισκόπων ἐπιδημία τῶν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου καὶ γράμματα διεδόθη σύμφωνα παλαιοῖς γράμμασιν τοῖς τε θείοις αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς καθ' ὁμοφωνίαν τῶν θείων ἐν Νικαίᾳ γραφεῖσιν. Ἀναγκαία δὲ ἦν ἡ μετ' ἐξηγήσεως τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπανάληψις, διὰ τὴν οὐχ ὑγιῆ τῶν κειμένων παρεξήγησιν ἣν εἰσῆγον οἱ πάλαι μὲν ἄντικρυς ἀντιλέγοντες, νῦν δὲ τὴν ἀντιλογίαν ἐξηγήσεως σχήματι μεθοδεύσαντες· ἔνθα ἦν ἡ τοῦ ὁμοουσίου κακοῦργος ἀναίρεσις ὡς οὐκ ὀφείλοντος νοεῖ σθαι κατ' οὐδεμίαν ἄρνησιν Ἑλληνικήν· ἀντεισαγωγὴ δὲ τοῦ ὁμοουσίου τὸ ὅμοιον κατ' οὐσίαν, ὅπερ ἐπετηδεύθη χυδαίως ὀνομασθὲν καὶ κακοήθως νοηθέν, ἐπειδὴ ἡ ὁμοιότης τῶν ἐν οὐσίᾳ ἐστίν, οὐ τῶν οὐσιωδῶν, ἵνα δὴ οὕτως ὡμοιωμένη οὐσία νοῆται, οἷος ἂν εἴη καὶ ἀνδριὰς πρὸς Βασιλέα. Πρὸς ἅπερ ἀντεγράφη τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν εὐσεβεῖν εἰδότων καὶ βουλο μένων, ὅτι οὐχ ὅμοιον Θεῷ, ἀλλὰ Θεὸν δηλοῖ τὸ ὁμοούσιον, ὡς ἂν γέννημα γνήσιον καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας τῷ γεγεννη κότι. Συνεισήγετο δὲ καὶ τὸ περὶ Πνεύματος ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν Πατέρων ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ πίστει τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ κειμένου, ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ θεότητι. Τὴν οὖν τῆς εὐσεβείας ταύ της πρεσβείαν τίνα εἰκὸς ἦν οὕτω μετεῖναι ὡς τὸν σπου δαιότατον ἅμα τῷ δεσπότῃ μου Γρηγορίῳ, ὃς οὐδ' αὐτὸς οὐδαμόθεν γράφει οὐδὲ σημαίνει καθάπαξ οὐδέν; Ἔρρωσο, δέσποτα ποθεινότατε.

365.τ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΣ ΤΩ ΜΕΓΑΛΩ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙ ΘΕΟ∆ΟΣΙΩ

365.1 Πάθος ἀπήντησε τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς χώρᾳ οὐκ ἐκ σωματικῆς περιπετείας,

ἀλλ' ἐξ ὑδάτων ἐπιρρύσεως. Πόθεν δὲ τοῦτο δηλώσω. Γέγονε καταβολὴ χιόνος πολλὴ τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς λίμνῃ. Μήπω δὲ αὐτῆς κρυστάλλῳ παγείσης ἐπιγίνεται πνεῦμα θερμὸν καὶ ὄμβρος νότιος συμπίπτει αὐτῇ. Ἀθρόας οὖν γενομένης τῆς τήξεως ἀνείκαστα ἐκινήθη ῥεύματα ἀενάῳ ποταμῷ συνεπιμιγνύμενα, τῷ ἅλυι ἐναύλῳ τε ὄντι ὑπερβάλλοντα γλώσσῃ καὶ ὀφθαλμῷ. Οὗτος ὁ λαχὼν ἡμῖν γείτων ποταμός· ἐκβλύζων μὲν ἐκ τῆς τῶν Ἀρμενίων, ἐμβιβαζόμενος δὲ ἐν τῇ ἱερωτάτῃ λίμνῃ τῶν Σεβαστηνῶν, εἰς ἣν οἱ φερώνυμοι καὶ γενναῖοι τεσσαράκοντα τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρατιῶται βορέου δεινοῦ ἐπιπνεύσαντος ἐνεπάρησαν. Κἀκεῖθεν (δέξαι με τὸ ἀληθὲς λέγοντα, κράτιστε) οὗτος ὁ περικυκλῶν ἡμᾶς ὥσπερ ἔθνος πολέμιον τῶν φοβερῶν οὐ μικρῶς ἡμᾶς ἐκφοβεῖ. Ποσὶ γὰρ μηδέπω περώμενος κατά τινα τρόπον ἢ χρόνον τὰς ἀναγκαίας ἡμῖν καὶ λυσιτελεῖς πατρίδας οὐ συγχωρεῖ διακομίζειν τὰ ἐμπορευόμενα ἐπιτήδεια. Λέγω δὴ τῶν Γαλατῶν καὶ Παφλαγόνων καὶ Ἑλληνοποντίων, δι' ὧν καὶ ἐξ ὧν τὰ ἀναγκαῖα ἡμῖν πρόσεστι, μάλιστα ἡ τοῦ ἄρτου δαψίλεια, κρυμώδους οὔσης τῆς περικύκλῳ γῆς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀέρος, ἐκ τῆς ἀστραποβροντοχαλαζορειθροδαμάστου ὀργῆς δεσμουμένης. Οὐ μικρῶς δὲ ἀπειλεῖ καὶ ἡ τοῦ πατρίου ἄλγους Ἀργέου ὑπεροψία. Σὺ οὖν ἐκδυσωπηθείς, κράτιστε, φιλοτιμεῖσθαι θέλησον τὴν ὑπόφορόν σου γῆν, ἵν' οὕτω τούτῳ ἐν ἀφθονίᾳ γεφύρας περαιοῦσθαι ἐφαρμοσάμενος δείξῃς αὐτὸν νέαν Ἐρυθρὰν ὁδοιπόριστον. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν πολυστένακτον βίον τῶν Ἰουδαίων σπλαγχνισθεὶς ὁ Κύριος τούτους ἀβρόχοις ποσὶ βαδίζειν εὐδόκησεν ὡς διὰ ξηρᾶς ἐν τῇ Ἐρυθρᾷ δεδωκὼς αὐτοῖς προηγήτορα τὸν Μωσέα. Πολὺς ἦν ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τρόπος· ἀνθρώποις μὲν γέγονεν ὄλεθρος, ἄνω δὲ πελαγίζοντος αὐτοῦ καὶ πᾶσαν χλοηφόρον γῆν ἐκθλίβοντος καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἰλύος