Resultados25 letters/passages
basil_caesarea · c. 371 · score 0.02
I will not describe them one by one, lest the weakness of my account make the evidence of our catastrophe less convincing. Here is the sum of it: congregations have been driven from their houses of worship and are gathering in the open wilderness. It is a terrible sight -- women, children, the elderly, and the infirm e …
basil_caesarea · c. 371 · score 0.02
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. 361 · score 0.02
I remember well, from what our fathers told us and from documents we still have, that the great bishop Dionysius [Bishop of Rome, c. 259–268], distinguished in your see for both sound faith and every other virtue, wrote letters to my church in Caesarea [capital of Cappadocia, in modern central Turkey], encouraged our f …
basil_caesarea · c. 362 · score 0.02
To our fellow bishops in Italy and Gaul, from Meletius, Eusebius, Basil, and the undersigned bishops of the East — greetings in the Lord. **1.** When you're suffering, even a deep sigh brings some relief. Even tears help lighten the weight. But what helps us more than sighs or tears is the chance to tell you what we're …
basil_caesarea · c. 362 · score 0.02
To the bishops of the Western Church: Brothers, Even in the middle of everything we're suffering here, God has given me real comfort. Bishop Athanasius [the great champion of Nicene orthodoxy, then bishop of Alexandria] forwarded your letters to me, and they were exactly what I needed to read. Your faith is solid. You …
basil_caesarea · c. 371 · score 0.02
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. 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
I'm writing to revive the ancient bonds of love between our churches and restore that heavenly gift of Christ — peace among the faithful — which has withered over time. This work is necessary and worthwhile for me, and I'm sure it will seem so to you as well, given your devotion to Christ. What could be more wonderful …
basil_caesarea · c. 372 · score 0.01
May the Lord God, in whom we have placed our trust, give each of you grace proportionate to the joy you have given me -- both by the letter you sent through our beloved presbyters, and by the compassion you have shown for my distress. You are men who have "put on hearts of mercy," as the presbyters themselves described …
basil_caesarea · c. 361 · score 0.01
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 myself to describe the situation to you and the other o …
basil_caesarea · c. 371 · score 0.01
God has promised a good outcome from every trial to those who trust in Him. And so, though we have been lost in an ocean of troubles, tossed by great waves raised against us by the forces of evil, we hold fast in Christ who strengthens us. We have not weakened in our zeal for the churches. Even as the storm surges over …
basil_caesarea · c. 357 · score 0.01
To Candidianus 1. When I picked up your letter, I had an experience worth telling. I looked at it with the kind of awe you would give an official government dispatch, and as I was breaking the seal, I felt a dread greater than any guilty Spartan ever felt at the sight of a coded military message. Once I opened it and r …
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. 372 · score 0.01
You have rightly rebuked me, and in a manner befitting a spiritual brother taught by the Lord to love genuinely. I should be keeping you better informed of everything happening here, since you have every right to be concerned about my affairs, and I have every obligation to share them. But I must tell you, dear brother …
basil_caesarea · c. 360 · score 0.01
We have barely managed to find a letter-carrier to your Piety, since our people here have been so cowed by the winter that they cannot bear to poke even their noses out of doors. For we have been buried under such a quantity of snow that for two months now we have been entombed in our houses, hibernating in our burrows …
basil_caesarea · c. 362 · score 0.01
Faithful bishops have been driven into exile, and wolves have been installed in their places, tearing apart Christ's flock. The churches stand empty; the wilderness is full of weeping congregations [under Emperor Valens, pro-Arian policies led to the exile of Nicene bishops and the suppression of orthodox worship acros …
basil_caesarea · c. 372 · score 0.01
I have received your letter concerning the circumstances in which you find yourselves, and I thank the Lord that you have shared your concerns with me. But I was deeply disturbed to hear that on top of all the disruption caused to the churches by the Arians -- and the confusion they have sown in the definition of the f …
basil_caesarea · c. 361 · score 0.01
To Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria [the most prominent defender of Nicene orthodoxy in the 4th century, exiled five times for his beliefs]: No one, I'm sure, is more troubled by the current state of the Churches than you. You've seen what they were and what they've become. You know that if this rapid decline isn't sto …
basil_caesarea · c. 364 · score 0.01
Thanks to these men, no way of life here is more suspected of hypocrisy than monasticism. I trust you to see what needs to be done about that. As for the charges Sophronius has assembled against me — far from bringing us together, they're driving us apart. If this continues, even my own capacity for love will wear thin …
basil_caesarea · c. 359 · score 0.01
His generosity speaks for 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 tur …
basil_caesarea · c. 363 · score 0.01
To the presbyters of Tarsus [a major city in Cilicia, southern modern Turkey — birthplace of the Apostle Paul]. When I met this man, I thanked God from my heart. His visit was a comfort to me in the middle of so many troubles, and through him I could see clearly how much all of you care about the truth. His character a …
basil_caesarea · c. 371 · score 0.01
I wrote to you through the vicar of Thrace, and I sent other letters by way of a treasury officer from Philippopolis who was heading into Thrace. But the vicar never received my letter -- he arrived in town in the evening while I was away visiting my diocese and left early the next morning before the church staff even …
basil_caesarea · c. 364 · score 0.01
To Atarbius, I came to Nicopolis [a city in the Armenian province of Cappadocia] with two goals: to settle the disturbances that had broken out and to correct, as best I could, the irregular actions taken in violation of church law. I was deeply disappointed not to find you there. I learned you had left in a hurry — wa …
basil_caesarea · c. 367 · score 0.01
My dear Gregory, You have taken on a generous and charitable task in rounding up the runaway flock of the insufferable Glycerius (I must call him that for now) and, as far as you could, covering up our shared embarrassment. It is only right that you should know the full facts before trying to undo the damage. This grav …
basil_caesarea · c. 365 · score 0.01
Finally, I was hit with this illness myself. I'd been planning to get myself out of range of the ecclesiastical artillery — I'm simply not equipped right now to fend off my opponents' attacks. [Basil faced fierce opposition from Arian-leaning bishops and imperial officials throughout this period.] May God's powerful ha …