Ep. L.  To Basil.

How hotly and like a colt you skip in your letters.  Nor do I wonder that when you have just become the property of glory you should wish to shew me what you find glory to be, so that you may make yourself more majestic, like those painters who picture the seasons.  But, to explain the whole matter about the Bishops, and the letter by which you were annoyed; what was my starting point, and how far I went, and where I stopped, appears to me to be too long a matter for a letter, and to be a subject not so much for an apology as for a history.  To explain it to you concisely:—the most noble Anthimus came to us with certain Bishops, whether to visit my Father (this at least was the pretext), or to act as he did act.  He sounded me in many ways and on many subjects; dioceses, the marshes of Sasima, my ordination,…flattering, questioning, threatening, pleading, blaming, praising, drawing circles round himself, as though I ought only to look at him and his new Metropolis, as being the greater.  Why, I said, do you draw your line to include our city, for we too deem our Church to be really a Mother of Churches, and that too from ancient times?  In the end he went away without having gained his object, much out of breath, and reproaching me with Basilism, as if it were a kind of Philipism.  Do you think I did you wrong in this?  And now look at the letter from me, who, you say, insulted you.  They fashioned a Synodal summons to me; and when I declined it and said that the thing was an insult, they then asked as an alternative that through me you should be invited to deliberate upon these matters.  This I promised, in order to prevent their first plan being carried out; placing the whole matter in your hands, if you choose to call them together, and where and when.  And if I have not injured you in this, tell me where there is room for injury.  If you have to learn this from me, I will read you the letter which Anthimus sent me, after invading the marshes, notwithstanding my prohibitions and threats, insulting and reviling me, and as it were singing a song of triumph over my defeat.  And what reason is there that I should offend him for your sake and at the same time displease you, as though I were currying favour with him?  You ought to have learnt this first, my dear friend; and even if it had been so, you should not have insulted me,—if only because I am a Priest.  But if you are very much disposed to ostentation and quarrelsomeness, and speak as my Superior—as the Metropolitan to an insignificant Suffragan, or even as to a Bishop without a See—I too have a little pride to set against yours.  That is very easy to anybody, and is perhaps the most suitable course.

[50] ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ

Ὡς θερμὸν ἐξάλλῃ καὶ πωλικὸν ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι: καὶ θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν ἄρτι σε δόξης γευόμενον ἡμῖν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι βούλεσθαι ἥντινα δόξαν εὑρίσκεις, ἵν' οὕτω σεαυτὸν μᾶλλον σεμνοποιῇς, ὥσπερ τῶν γραφέων οἱ τὰς ὥρας γράφοντες. Ἐμοὶ δὲ τὸ μὲν πάντα ἐκδιηγεῖσθαι, τὰ τῶν ἐπισκόπων καὶ τὰ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, ἐφ' ᾗ σὺ δυσχεραίνεις, ὅθεν τ' ἠρξάμεθα καὶ ὅπη προέβημεν καὶ εἰς ὃ κατελήξαμεν, μακρότερον ἢ κατ' ἐπιστολὴν εἶναι φαίνεται καὶ οὐκ ἀπολογίας μᾶλλον ἔργον ἢ ἱστορίας. Ὡς δὲ συντόμως δηλῶσαι, ἧκεν ὁ γενναιότατος Ἄνθιμος μετά τινων ἐπισκόπων, εἴτε ὡς τὸν πατέρα ἐπισκεψόμενος τὸν ἐμὸν (καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ ἔδοξεν), εἴτε σπουδάζων ἅπερ ἐσπούδασε. Πολλὴν δὲ καὶ περὶ πολλῶν πεῖραν καθείς, τῶν παροικιῶν, Σασίμων, Λιμνῶν, τῆς ἡμετέρας χειροτονίας, χαρισάμενος, αἰτήσας, ἀπειλήσας, δικαιολογησάμενος, ψέξας, ἐγκωμιάσας, κύκλους ἑαυτῷ περιγράψας, ὡς δέον πρὸς αὐτὸν μόνον ὁρᾶν ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν νέαν μητρόπολιν, μείζονα οὖσαν. «Τί περιγράφεις εἴσω τὴν ἡμετέραν πόλιν, ἡμῶν ποιουμένων καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ὡς ὄντως Ἐκκλησιῶν μητέρα καὶ ἄνωθεν;» Τέλος, ἀπῆλθεν ἄπρακτος, πολλὰ περιπνεύσας, καὶ βασιλισμὸν ἡμῖν, ὡς φιλιππισμόν, ἐγκαλέσας. Μὴ τοῦτο ἀδικεῖν σοι δοκοῦμεν; Οὐκ οἶμαι. Σκόπει δὲ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, ὅπως ἔσχε παρὰ τῶν ὑβριστῶν ἡμῶν. Κλῆσιν συνοδικὴν ἐτύπωσαν πρὸς ἡμᾶς: ἐμοῦ δ' ἀντιλέγοντος καὶ ὕβριν φάσκοντος, ἀλλὰ τό γε δεύτερον ἠξίουν δι' ἐμοῦ παρακληθῆναι ὑμᾶς περὶ τούτων βουλευσομένους. Τοῦτο ὑπέστην, ἵνα μὴ τὸ πρότερον γένηται, τὸ πᾶν ἐφ' ὑμῖν ποιούμενος, εἰ βούλεσθε συναγαγεῖν αὐτούς, καὶ ὅπου, καὶ πηνίκα: ὅπερ τιμῶντος ἦν, οὐχ ὑβρίζοντος. Ἐπειδὴ δ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἀδικοῦμεν, εἰπὲ τὸ λειπόμενον. Εἰ δὲ δεῖ παρ' ἐμοῦ τοῦτο μαθεῖν ὑμᾶς, αὐτὴν ὑμῖν ἀναγνώσομαι τὴν Ἀνθίμου ἐπιστολήν, ἥν, ὅτε κατέσχε Λίμνας, ἡμῶν ἀπαγορευόντων καὶ ἀπειλούντων, ἐπέσταλκε πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὑβρίζων καὶ ὀνειδίζων καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπινίκιόν τινα καθ' ἡμῶν ᾄδων ὡς ἡττημένων. Καίτοι τίνα ἔχει λόγον, ἐκείνῳ μὲν προσκρούειν δι' ὑμᾶς, ὑμῖν δ' ἀπαρέσκειν, ὡς ἐκείνῳ χαριζομένους; Ταῦτα δὲ ἔδει πρότερον μαθεῖν, ὦ θαυμάσιε, καὶ μὴ τότε ὑβρίζειν, εἰ μή τι ἄλλο, ὡς πρεσβυτέρους. Εἰ δὲ λίαν ἐπιδεικτικῶς ἔχεις καὶ φιλοτίμως, καὶ ἐξ ὑπερδεξίων ἡμῖν διαλέγῃ, ὡς μητροπολίτης μικροπολίταις, ἢ καὶ ἀπόλισιν, ἔστι καὶ ἡμῖν ὀφρὺς ἣν ἀνθέξομεν. Ῥᾷστον γὰρ τοῦτο παντί, καὶ ἴσως εὐλογώτερον.