Letter CCLXVII.1477    Placed in 377, or in the beginning of 378.

To Barses, bishop of Edessa, in exile.

For the sake of the affection which I entertain for you, I long to be with you, to embrace you, my dear friend, in person, and to glorify the Lord Who is magnified in you, and has made your honourable old age renowned among all them that fear Him throughout the world.  But severe sickness afflicts me, and to a greater degree than I can express in words, I am weighed down by the care of the Churches.  I am not my own master, to go whither I will, and to visit whom I will.  Therefore I am trying to satisfy the longing I have for the good gifts in you by writing to you, and I beseech your reverence to pray for me and for the Church, that the Lord may grant to me to pass the remaining days or hours of my sojourn here without offence.  May He permit me to see the peace of His Churches.  Of your fellow-ministers and fellow-athletes may I hear all that I pray for, and of yourself that you are granted such a lot as the people under you seek for by day and by night from the Lord of righteousness.  I have not written often, not even so often as I ought, but I have written to your reverence.  Possibly the brethren to whom I committed my greetings were not able to preserve them.  But now that I have found some of my brethren travelling to your excellency, I have readily entrusted my letter to them, and I have sent some messages which I beg you to receive from my humility without disdain, and to bless me after the manner of the patriarch Isaac.1478    Gen. xxvii. 27.  I have been much occupied, and have had my mind drowned in a multiplicity of cares.  So it may well be that I have omitted something which I ought to have said.  If so, do not reckon it against me; and do not be grieved.  Act in all things up to your own high character, that I, like every one else, may enjoy the fruit of your virtue.  May you be granted to me and to the Church, in good health, rejoicing in the Lord, praying for me.

ΒΑΡΣῌ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠῼ ΕΔΕΣΣΗΣ ΕΝ ΕΞΟΡΙᾼ ΟΝΤΙ

[1] Ἐγὼ τῆς διαθέσεως μὲν ἕνεκεν ἧς ἔχω περὶ τὴν σὴν θεοσέβειαν ἐπεθύμουν αὐτὸς παραγενέσθαι καὶ δι' ἐμαυτοῦ περιπτύξασθαί σου τὴν ἀληθινὴν ἀγάπην καὶ δοξάσαι τὸν Κύριον τὸν ἐν σοὶ μεγαλυνθέντα καὶ τὸ τίμιόν σου γῆρας περιφανὲς καταστήσαντα πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ φοβουμένοις αὐτόν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἀσθένεια τοῦ σώματος βαρεῖα καταπονεῖ με καὶ φροντὶς Ἐκκλησιῶν ἐπίκειταί μοι ἀμύθητος καὶ οὔκ εἰμι ἐμαυτοῦ κύριος πρὸς τὸ ἀποδημεῖν ὅπου βούλομαι καὶ συντυγχάνειν οἷς ἐπιθυμῶ, διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ἀναπαύω τὸν πόθον ὃν ἔχω ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπολαύσει τῶν ἐν σοὶ καλῶν καὶ παρακαλῶ τὴν ἀνυπέρβλητόν σου εὐλάβειαν εὔχεσθαι ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἵνα ὁ Κύριος δῷ ἡμῖν ἀπροσκόπως παρελθεῖν τὰς λειπομένας ἡμέρας ἢ ὥρας τῆς παρεπιδημίας ἡμῶν: παράσχοι δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ ἰδεῖν τὴν εἰρήνην τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκοῦσαι περί τε τῶν λοιπῶν συλλειτουργῶν σου καὶ τῶν συναθλητῶν ἃ εὐχόμεθα καὶ περὶ σοῦ αὐτοῦ ἃ νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας οἱ ὑπὸ σὲ λαοὶ ζητοῦσι παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης. Γίνωσκε δὲ ὅτι πολλάκις μὲν οὐκ ἐπεστείλαμεν οὐδὲ ὁσάκις ὀφειλόμενον ἦν, ἐπεστείλαμεν δὲ ὅμως τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ σου. Καὶ τάχα οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν διασῶσαι τὰς προσηγορίας ἡμῶν οἱ πιστευθέντες τὴν διακονίαν τῶν γραμμάτων ἀδελφοί. Ἀλλὰ νῦν, ἐπειδὴ ἐπετύχομεν ἡμετέρων τῶν ὁδοιπορούντων πρὸς τὴν σὴν τιμιότητα, καὶ τὰ γράμματα αὐτοῖς ἐνεχειρίσαμεν προθύμως καὶ ἐστείλαμέν τινα ἃ καταξίωσον ὑποδέξασθαι παρὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας ταπεινώσεως ἀνυπερηφάνως καὶ εὐλογῆσαι ἡμᾶς κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἰσαάκ. Εἰ δέ τι, καὶ ὡς ἀσχολούμενοι καὶ ὑπὸ πλήθους φροντίδων τὸν νοῦν βεβαπτισμένον ἔχοντες, παρείδομεν τῶν πρεπόντων, μὴ λογίσῃ ἡμῖν μηδὲ λυπηθῇς, ἀλλὰ μίμησαι τὴν σεαυτοῦ ἐν πᾶσι τελειότητα, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπολαύσωμέν σου τῆς ἀρετῆς ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες. Ἐρρωμένος, εὔθυμος ἐν Κυρίῳ, ὑπερευχόμενός μου, χαρισθείης μοι καὶ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ.