Resultados25 letters/passages
basil_caesarea · c. 359 · score 0.02
… itself. He's happy to hand over whatever remains of Caesarius's property to the imperial Treasury — let the Treasurer deal with the claimants and make them prove their cases. We're not cut out for that kind of business. You should know that as long as there was anything to give, no one was turned away. Everyone got wha …
basil_caesarea · c. 370 · score 0.02
I am always grateful to God and to the emperor when I see the government of our region placed in the hands of a man who is not only a Christian but who lives uprightly and carefully guards the laws by which our society is ordered. I have had special reason for this gratitude on the occasion of your arrival among us. I …
basil_caesarea · c. 373 · score 0.02
This man is impossible to deal with. I barely know how to handle so slippery and -- to judge by the evidence -- so desperate a character. When summoned to court, he fails to appear. When he does attend, he is gifted with such a torrent of words and oaths that I count myself lucky to be rid of him quickly. I have often …
basil_caesarea · c. 361 · score 0.02
Don't turn away from our country as she falls to her knees. Go to the Imperial Court yourself, and with that boldness only you possess, make them understand: they don't own two provinces instead of one [Emperor Valens had recently split Cappadocia into two provinces, reducing Caesarea's importance]. They have …
basil_caesarea · c. 358 · score 0.02
The citizens of our capital city have actually done me the bigger favor here — they've given me a reason to write to Your Excellency. The goodwill they're hoping this letter will secure was already guaranteed, even before I wrote, simply by your well-known and natural generosity to everyone. Still, I consider it a real …
basil_caesarea · c. 361 · score 0.02
To Sophronius, [a senior imperial official — "Master" (magister) was a high-ranking title in the Roman bureaucracy] The disasters that have struck Caesarea [capital of Cappadocia, in modern central Turkey] are severe enough that I considered traveling to the court …
basil_caesarea · c. 362 · score 0.01
… e same. Now, my actual request. There's a poor old man in our community whom an imperial decree [a formal order from the Emperor] already exempted from all public service — though honestly, old age had already retired him before any decree did. You yourself honored that exemption, both out of respect for his frailty an …
basil_caesarea · c. 363 · score 0.01
We've forgotten most of them. The ones we remember are those who chose mercy. Croesus [king of Lydia, legendary for his wealth] set aside his rage against the man who killed his son when that man surrendered himself for punishment. Cyrus the Great [founder of the Persian Empire] treated that same Croesus with friendshi …
basil_caesarea · c. 369 · score 0.01
… stewards. Know also this: I am expecting to be summoned by the heretics to the imperial court, in the name of peace. I have also learned that a bishop has written urging me to hurry to Mesopotamia, assemble like-minded supporters, and travel with them to see the emperor. But my health may not allow me to undertake suc …
basil_caesarea · c. 371 · score 0.01
No respect is shown to gray hair, to a lifetime of practical godliness, to a life lived according to the Gospel from youth to old age. No criminal is condemned without evidence, but bishops are being convicted on slander alone. Some have been banished without even the pretense of a trial. Others have been carried off t …
basil_caesarea · c. 362 · score 0.01
The worse a man blasphemes, the more qualified people think he is to lead. Clerical integrity has vanished. There is a complete shortage of shepherds who actually know how to tend the Lord's flock. Ambitious men waste charitable funds on their own luxuries and on buying influence. Canon law is ignored. Sin goes unpunis …
basil_caesarea · c. 361 · score 0.01
Please — ignore them. Let me convince you to come here and help me, especially in my struggle against this person who's attacking me now. Just showing up would stop him. The moment these troublemakers see that you're standing with me, by God's blessing, their conspiracy falls apart. Every unjust mouth speaking against …
basil_caesarea · c. 361 · score 0.01
… faith. Here's where things stand: I've been under serious pressure from senior imperial officials — the prefect and the chief chamberlain [high-ranking officials in the emperor's court] have both been advocating for the other side. But so far, by God's mercy and the strength of the Spirit, I've held firm through every …
basil_caesarea · c. 362 · score 0.01
To Sophronius [a high-ranking imperial official], No one loves their hometown the way you do. You honor the place that raised you, you pray for the whole city and for each person in it, and — more than that — you back up those prayers with your own resources. God willin …
basil_caesarea · c. 361 · score 0.01
To Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria The longer I know you, the more my respect for you grows — and events keep proving me right. Most bishops focus on their own diocese and call it a day. Not you. You care for every church as deeply as your own in Alexandria [the most important Christian see in Egypt, and one of the gr …
basil_caesarea · c. 359 · score 0.01
Basil to Julian. 1. The heroic deeds of your present position I leave to those better able to celebrate them. For my part, I pray that God may direct your government to the welfare of the commonwealth. As for me — what do I now possess that could make me worth a great man's friendship? I have nothing but a thin and was …
basil_caesarea · c. 368 · score 0.01
Your interest in the affairs of the Isaurian church is exactly what I would expect from the zeal and good judgment that continually earn my admiration. Even the most casual observer can see that it is in every way better for responsibility and oversight to be divided among several bishops. You have noticed this yoursel …
basil_caesarea · c. 367 · score 0.01
Glycerius, How far will your madness go? How long will you plot mischief against yourself? How long will you keep provoking my anger and bringing shame on the entire community of monks and solitaries? Come back. Put your trust in God, and in me -- I who imitate God's mercy. I rebuked you as a father; as a father I will …
basil_caesarea · c. 360 · score 0.01
To the Chorepiscopi. 1. My soul is deeply pained by the reports reaching me of irregularities in the ordination of men to the ministry. You have been admitting people to holy orders carelessly — men whose character has not been tested, whose lives have not been examined, whose fitness for the sacred ministry is, to put …
basil_caesarea · c. 357 · score 0.01
I do not want to be regarded as the ultimate target for anyone who feels like attacking me. So please, show me now that same practical support you have always shown in my affairs. My peace of mind depends entirely on knowing that your energy is on my side. From my point of view, it would be punishment enough if the man …
basil_caesarea · c. 362 · score 0.01
To Elias, Governor of the Province I've been eager to meet with you in person, so my accusers don't get to tell their side without me there to answer. But I've been seriously ill — worse than usual — so a letter will have to do. When we last met, I wanted to discuss both my own situation and the state of the Churches, …
basil_caesarea · c. 371 · score 0.01
To his brothers, truly beloved of God, his dear friends and fellow ministers of one mind -- the bishops of Gaul and Italy -- Basil, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has called the universal Church His body and made us individually members of one another, has granted us all to live in close a …
basil_caesarea · c. 363 · score 0.01
I wish I could have come to see you in person instead of writing this letter. My health won't allow winter travel, and I have two reasons for wanting to make the trip. First, I owe you a visit — I promised to come to Sebastia [a city in the Armenian highlands, modern Sivas in Turkey] and meet with you. I did come, but …
basil_caesarea · c. 360 · score 0.01
Let her be among virgins, and let you be served by men, so that the name of God may not be blasphemed on your account. As long as you do these things, the countless arguments you compose in your letters will profit you nothing; you will end your life idle and will give account to the Lord for your idleness. But if you …
basil_caesarea · c. 368 · score 0.01
… herdsman and raised him up as a prophet, and who now has called forth from the imperial capital -- from a man entrusted with governing a whole nation, exalted in character, in family, in rank, in eloquence, in all that this world admires -- a shepherd for Christ's flock. This same man has thrown away every worldly adv …