Letter CCLXIV.1459    Placed in 377.

To Barses, bishop of Edessa, in exile.1460    See Soz., H.E. vi. 34, who says that Barses, with Eulogius, was not consecrated to any definite see.  cf. also Theodoret H.E. iv. 16, where it is stated that his bed was preserved at Aradus.

To Barses the bishop, truly God-beloved and worthy of all reverence and honour, Basil sends greeting in the Lord.  As my dear brother Domninus1461    Domninus was a not uncommon name, and there are several mentioned about the same time, e.g. Nilus, Epp. iii. 43 and 144. is setting out to you, I gladly seize the opportunity of writing, and I greet you by him, praying the holy God that we may be so long preserved in this life as to be permitted to see you, and to enjoy the good gifts which you possess.  Only pray, I beseech you, that the Lord may not deliver us for aye to the enemies of the Cross of Christ, but that He will keep His Churches, until the time of that peace which the just Judge Himself knows when He will bestow.  For He will bestow it.  He will not always abandon us.  As He limited seventy years1462    Jer. xxv. 12. for the period of captivity for the Israelites in punishment for their sins, so peradventure the Mighty One, after giving us up for some appointed time, will recall us once again, and will restore us to the peace of the beginning—unless indeed the apostasy is now nigh at hand, and the events that have lately happened are the beginnings of the approach of Antichrist.  If this be so, pray that the good Lord will either take away our afflictions, or preserve us through our afflictions unvanquished.  Through you I greet all those who have been thought worthy to be associated with you.  All who are with me salute your reverence.  May you, by the grace of the Holy One, be preserved to the Church of God in good health, trusting in the Lord, and praying for me.

ΒΑΡΣῌ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠῼ ΕΔΕΣΣΗΣ ΕΝ ΕΞΟΡΙᾼ ΟΝΤΙ

[1] Τῷ ὡς ἀληθῶς θεοφιλεστάτῳ καὶ πάσης αἰδοῦς καὶ τιμῆς ἀξίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Βάρσῃ Βασίλειος ἐν Κυρίῳ χαίρειν. Ἐρχομένων τῶν γνησιωτάτων ἀδελφῶν τῶν περὶ Δομνῖνον πρὸς τὴν εὐλάβειάν σου, ἡδέως τὴν ἀφορμὴν τῶν γραμμάτων ἐδεξάμεθα καὶ προσαγορεύομέν σε δι' αὐτῶν εὐχόμενοι τῷ ἁγίῳ Θεῷ μέχρι τοσούτου φυλαχθῆναι τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ, μέχρις οὗ καταξιωθῶμεν ἰδεῖν σε καὶ ἀπολαῦσαι τῶν ἐν σοὶ χαρισμάτων. Μόνον εὔχου, παρακαλῶ, ἵνα ὁ Κύριος μὴ παραδῷ ἡμᾶς εἰς τέλος τοῖς ἐχθροῖς τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλὰ φυλάξῃ τὰς ἑαυτοῦ Ἐκκλησίας μέχρι τοῦ καιροῦ τῆς εἰρήνης ἣν αὐτὸς οἶδεν ὁ δίκαιος Κριτὴς πότε ἀποδώσει. Ἀποδώσει γὰρ καὶ οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸ παντελές. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις τὴν ἑβδομηκονταετίαν ὥρισεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων εἰς τὴν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας καταδίκην, οὕτω τάχα καὶ ἡμᾶς ὁ Δυνατὸς χρόνῳ τινὶ ὡρισμένῳ παραδοὺς ἀνακαλέσεταί ποτε καὶ ἀποκαταστήσει εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰρήνην, εἰ μὴ ἄρα ἐγγύς πού ἐστιν ἡ ἀποστασία καὶ τὰ νῦν γινόμενα προοίμιά ἐστι τῆς εἰσόδου τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου. Ὅπερ δὲ ἐὰν ᾖ, προσεύχου ἵνα ἢ τὰς θλίψεις παρενέγκῃ ἢ ἡμᾶς ἀπταίστους διὰ τῶν θλίψεων ὁ Ἀγαθὸς διασώσηται. Πᾶσαν τὴν συνοδίαν τὴν καταξιωθεῖσαν συνεῖναι τῇ εὐλαβείᾳ σου ἀσπαζόμεθα διὰ σοῦ. Τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν οἱ σὺν ἡμῖν πάντες προσαγορεύουσιν. Ἐρρωμένος καὶ εὔθυμος ἐν Κυρίῳ, ὑπερευχόμενός μου διαφυλαχθείης τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ χάριτι τοῦ Ἁγίου.