Letters 92–101

To Valerianus, Bishop of Illyricum

Thanks be to the Lord, Who has permitted me to see in your unstained life the fruit of primitive love.  Far apart as you are in body, you have united yourself to me by writing; you have embraced me with spiritual and holy longing; you have implanted unspeakable affection in my soul.  Now I have realized the force of the proverb, “As cold water is to a thirsty soul so is good news from a far country.”  Honoured brother, I really hunger for affection.  The cause is not far to seek, for iniquity is multiplied and the love of many has grown cold.  For this reason your letter is precious to me, and I am replying by our reverend brother Sabinus.  By him I make myself known to you, and beseech you to be watchful in prayers on our behalf, that God may one day grant calm and quiet to the Church here, and rebuke this wind and sea, that so we may be freed from the storm and agitation in which we are now every moment expecting to be submerged.  But in these our troubles one great boon has God given us in hearing that you are in exact agreement and unity with one another, and that the doctrines of true religion are preached among you without let or hindrance.  For at some time or other, unless the period of this world is not already concluded, and if there yet remain days of human life, it must needs be that by your means the faith must be renewed in the East and that in due season you recompense her for the blessings which she has given you.  The sound part among us here, which preserves the true religion of the Fathers, is sore stricken, and the devil in his wiliness has shattered it by many and various subtle assaults.  But, by the help of the prayers of you who love the Lord, may the wicked and deceitful heresy of the Arian error be quenched; may the good teaching of the Fathers, who met at Nicæa, shine forth; so that the ascription of glory may be rendered to the blessed Trinity in the terms of the baptism of salvation.

To the Italians and Gauls

Letter XCII.

To the Italians and Gauls.

1.  To our right godly and holy brethren who are ministering in Italy and Gaul, bishops of like mind with us, we, Meletius, Eusebius, Basil, Bassus, Gregory, Pelagius, Paul, Anthimus, Theodotus, Bithus, Abraamius, Jobinus, Zeno, Theodoretus, Marcianus, Barachus, Abraamius, Libanius, Thalassius, Joseph, Boethus, Iatrius, Theodotus, Eustathius, Barsumas, John, Chosroes, Iosaces, Narses, Maris, Gregory, and Daphnus, send greeting in the Lord.  Souls in anguish find some consolation in sending sigh after sigh from the bottom of the heart, and even a tear shed breaks the force of affliction.  But sighs and tears give us less consolation than the opportunity of telling our troubles to your love.  We are moreover cheered by the better hope that, peradventure, if we announce our troubles to you, we may move you to give us that succour which we have long hoped you would give the Churches in the East, but which we have not yet received; God, Who in His wisdom arranges all things, must have ordained according to the hidden judgments of His righteousness, that we should be tried for a longer time in these temptations.  The fame of our condition has travelled to the ends of the earth, and you are not ignorant of it; nor are you without sympathy with brethren of like mind with yourselves, for you are disciples of the apostle, who teaches us that love for our neighbour is the fulfilling of the law.  But, as we have said, the just judgment of God, which has ordained that the affliction due to our sins must be fulfilled, has held you back.  But when you have learnt all, specially what has not hitherto reached your ears, from our reverend brother the deacon Sabinus, who will be able to narrate in person what is omitted in our letter, we do beseech you to be roused both to zeal for the truth and sympathy for us.  We implore you to put on bowels of mercy, to lay aside all hesitation, and to undertake the labour of love, without counting length of way, your own occupations, or any other human interests.

2.  It is not only one Church which is in peril, nor yet two or three which have fallen under this terrible storm.  The mischief of this heresy spreads almost from the borders of Illyricum to the Thebaid.  Its bad seeds were first sown by the infamous Arius; they then took deep root through the labours of many who vigorously cultivated the impiety between his time and ours.  Now they have produced their deadly fruit.  The doctrines of true religion are overthrown.  The laws of the Church are in confusion.  The ambition of men, who have no fear of God, rushes into high posts, and exalted office is now publicly known as the prize of impiety.  The result is, that the worse a man blasphemes, the fitter the people think him to be a bishop.  Clerical dignity is a thing of the past.  There is a complete lack of men shepherding the Lord’s flock with knowledge.  Ambitious men are constantly throwing away the provision for the poor on their own enjoyment and the distribution of gifts.  There is no precise knowledge of canons.  There is complete immunity in sinning; for when men have been placed in office by the favour of men, they are obliged to return the favour by continually showing indulgence to offenders.  Just judgment is a thing of the past; and everyone walks according to his heart’s desire.  Vice knows no bounds; the people know no restraint.  Men in authority are afraid to speak, for those who have reached power by human interest are the slaves of those to whom they owe their advancement.  And now the very vindication of orthodoxy is looked upon in some quarters as an opportunity for mutual attack; and men conceal their private ill-will and pretend that their hostility is all for the sake of the truth.  Others, afraid of being convicted of disgraceful crimes, madden the people into fratricidal quarrels, that their own doings may be unnoticed in the general distress.  Hence the war admits of no truce, for the doers of ill deeds are afraid of a peace, as being likely to lift the veil from their secret infamy.  All the while unbelievers laugh; men of weak faith are shaken; faith is uncertain; souls are drenched in ignorance, because adulterators of the word imitate the truth.  The mouths of true believers are dumb, while every blasphemous tongue wags free; holy things are trodden under foot; the better laity shun the churches as schools of impiety; and lift their hands in the deserts with sighs and tears to their Lord in heaven.  Even you must have heard what is going on in most of our cities, how our people with wives and children and even our old men stream out before the walls, and offer their prayers in the open air, putting up with all the inconvenience of the weather with great patience, and waiting for help from the Lord.

3.  What lamentation can match these woes?  What springs of tears are sufficient for them?  While, then, some men do seem to stand, while yet a trace of the old state of things is left, before utter shipwreck comes upon the Churches, hasten to us, hasten to us now, true brothers, we implore you; on our knees we implore you, hold out a helping hand.  May your brotherly bowels be moved toward us; may tears of sympathy flow; do not see, unmoved, half the empire swallowed up by error; do not let the light of the faith be put out in the place where it shone first.

By what action you can then help matters, and how you are to show sympathy for the afflicted, you do not want to be told by us; the Holy Ghost will suggest to you.  But unquestionably, if the survivors are to be saved, there is need of prompt action, and of the arrival of a considerable number of brethren, that those who visit us may complete the number of the synod, in order that they may have weight in effecting a reform, not merely from the dignity of those whose emissaries they are, but also from their own number:  thus they will restore the creed drawn up by our fathers at Nicæa, proscribe the heresy, and, by bringing into agreement all who are of one mind, speak peace to the Churches.  For the saddest thing about it all is that the sound part is divided against itself, and the troubles we are suffering are like those which once befel Jerusalem when Vespasian was besieging it.  The Jews of that time were at once beset by foes without and consumed by the internal sedition of their own people.  In our case, too, in addition to the open attack of the heretics, the Churches are reduced to utter helplessness by the war raging among those who are supposed to be orthodox.  For all these reasons we do indeed desire your help, that, for the future all who confess the apostolic faith may put an end to the schisms which they have unhappily devised, and be reduced for the future to the authority of the Church; that so, once more, the body of Christ may be complete, restored to integrity with all its members.  Thus we shall not only praise the blessings of others, which is all we can do now, but see our own Churches once more restored to their pristine boast of orthodoxy.  For, truly, the boon given you by the Lord is fit subject for the highest congratulation, your power of discernment between the spurious and the genuine and pure, and your preaching the faith of the Fathers without any dissimulation.  That faith we have received; that faith we know is stamped with the marks of the Apostles; to that faith we assent, as well as to all that was canonically and lawfully promulgated in the Synodical Letter.

To the Patrician Cæsaria, concerning Communion

Letter XCIII.

To the Patrician Cæsaria, concerning Communion.

It is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ.  For He distinctly says, “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.”  And who doubts that to share frequently in life, is the same thing as to have manifold life.  I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord’s day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint.  It is needless to point out that for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence, as long custom sanctions this practice from the facts themselves.  All the solitaries in the desert, where there is no priest, take the communion themselves, keeping communion at home.  And at Alexandria and in Egypt, each one of the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion, at his own house, and participates in it when he likes.  For when once the priest has completed the offering, and given it, the recipient, participating in it each time as entire, is bound to believe that he properly takes and receives it from the giver.  And even in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand.  It has the same validity whether one portion or several portions are received from the priest at the same time.

To Elias, Governor of the Province

Letter XCIV.

To Elias, Governor of the Province.

I too have been very anxious to meet your excellency, lest by my failure to do so I might come off worse than my accusers; but bodily sickness has prevented me, attacking me even more seriously than usual, and so I am perforce reduced to address you by letter.  When, not long ago, most excellent sir, I had the pleasure of meeting your excellency, I was anxious to communicate with your wisdom about all my affairs; and I was also anxious to address you on behalf of the Churches, that no ground might be left for future calumnies.  But I restrained myself, thinking it altogether superfluous and importunate to add troubles outside his own necessary business to a man charged with so many responsibilities.  At the same time (for the truth shall be told) I did shrink from being driven to wound your soul by our mutual recriminations, when it ought in pure devotion to God to reap the perfect reward of piety.  For really, if I attract your attention to me, I shall leave you but scant leisure for your public duties; shall act something like a man overloading with additional luggage some boatmen managing a new boat in very rough water, when all the while he ought to lessen the cargo and do his best to lighten the craft.  For this very reason, I think, our great Emperor, after seeing how fully occupied I am, leaves me to manage the Churches by myself.  Now I should like those who are besieging your impartial ears to be asked what harm the government suffers from me?  What depreciation is suffered by any public interests, be they small or great, by my administration of the Churches?  Still, possibly, it might be urged that I have done damage to the government by erecting a magnificently appointed church to God, and round it a dwelling house, one liberally assigned to the bishop, and others underneath, allotted to the officers of the Church in order, the use of both being open to you of the magistracy and your escort.  But to whom do we do any harm by building a place of entertainment for strangers, both for those who are on a journey and for those who require medical treatment on account of sickness, and so establishing a means of giving these men the comfort they want, physicians, doctors, means of conveyance, and escort?  All these men must learn such occupations as are necessary to life and have been found essential to a respectable career; they must also have buildings suitable for their employments, all of which are an honour to the place, and, as their reputation is credited to our governor, confer glory on him.  Not indeed that for this reason you were unwillingly induced to accept the responsibility of ruling us, for you alone are sufficient by your high qualities to restore our ruins, to people deserted districts and turn wildernesses into towns.  Would it be better to harrass and annoy, or to honour and reverence an associate in the discharge of these duties?  Do not think, most excellent sir, that what I say is mere words.  We have already, in the meanwhile, begun providing material.  So much for our defence, before our ruler.  As to what is to be said in answer to the charges of our accusers, to a Christian and to a friend who cares for my opinion, I must now say no more; the subject is too long for a letter, and cannot, besides, be safely committed to writing.  But lest, before we have an opportunity of meeting, you are driven by the inducement of some men’s calumnies to give up any of your good will towards me, do as Alexander did.  The story is, as you remember, that, when one of his friends was being calumniated, he left one ear open to the slanderer, and carefully closed the other with his hand, with the object of showing that he whose duty is to judge ought not to be easily and wholly given over to the first occupants of his attention, but should keep half his hearing open for the defence of the absent.

To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata

Letter XCV.

To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata.

I had written some while since to your reverence about our meeting one another and other subjects, but I was disappointed at my letter not reaching your excellency, for after the blessed deacon Theophrastus had taken charge of the letter, on my setting out on an unavoidable journey, he did not convey it to your reverence, because he was seized by the sickness of which he died.  Hence it happened that I was so late in writing, that, the time being now so exceedingly short, I did not look for there being much use in this letter.  The godly bishop Meletius and Theodotus had strongly urged me to visit them, representing that a meeting would be a proof of affection, and being wishful of remedying the troubles which are at present a cause of anxiety.  They had appointed, as a time for our meeting, the middle of the approaching month of June, and for the place, Phargamus, a spot famous for martyr’s glory and for the large number of people attending the synod there every year.  Directly I returned and heard of the death of the blessed deacon, and that my letter was lying useless at home, I felt that I must not be idle, because thirty-three days were still remaining up to the appointed time, and so I hurriedly sent the letter to the very reverend Eustathius, my fellow minister, with the object of its being sent on by him to your reverence and of getting an answer without delay.  If, then, it is possible and agreeable to you to come, I will come too.  If not, I, God willing, will pay the debt of meeting due from last year:  unless haply some hindrance for my sins comes in the way again, in which case I must put off my meeting with the bishops to another time.

To Sophronius, the master

Letter XCVI.

To Sophronius, the master.

Who ever loved his city, honouring with filial love the place which gave him birth and nurture, as you do; praying for the whole city together, and for every one in it individually, and not merely praying but confirming your prayers by your own means?  For this you are able to effect by God’s help, and long, good man that you are, may you be able so to do.  Nevertheless in your time our city has enjoyed but a brief dream of prosperity, in being committed to the charge of one the like of whom, according to the students of our oldest annals, never sat in the præfectorial chair.  But now the city has suddenly lost his services, through the wickedness of men who have found a ground of attack in his very liberality and impartiality, and, without the knowledge of your excellency, have made up calumnies against him.  There is therefore universal depression among us at the loss of a governor with unique capacity for raising our dejected community, a true guardian of justice, accessible to the wronged, a terror to law breakers, of like behaviour to rich and poor, and, what is most important, one who has restored the interests of Christians to their old place of honour.  That he was, of all men that I know, the most incapable of being bribed, and never did any one an unfair favour, I have passed by as a small point in comparison with his other virtues.  I am indeed testifying to all this too late, like men who sing dirges to console themselves when they can get no practical relief.  Yet, it is not useless that his memory should remain in your generous heart, and that you should be grateful to him as a benefactor of your native place.  Should any of those who feel a grudge against him, for not sacrificing justice to their interests, attack him, it will be well for you to defend and protect him.  Thus you will make it clear to all that you count his interests yours, and think it quite a sufficient reason for this your close association with him that his record should be so unimpeachable, and his administration so remarkable in view of the time.  For what any other man would not be able to affect in many years has been quickly accomplished by him.  It will be a great favour to me, and a comfort under the circumstances, if you will recommend him to the Emperor, and dispel the calumnious charges brought against him.  Believe me that I am speaking here not for myself alone, but for the whole community, and that it is our unanimous prayer that he may reap some benefit from your excellency’s aid.

To the Senate of Tyana

Letter XCVII.

To the Senate of Tyana.

The Lord, Who reveals hidden things, and makes manifest the counsels of men’s hearts, has given even to the lowly knowledge of devices apparently hard to be understood.  Nothing has escaped my notice, nor has any single action been unknown.  Nevertheless I neither see nor hear anything but the peace of God and all that pertains to it.  Others may be great and powerful and self-confident, but I am nothing and worth nothing, and so I could never take upon myself so much as to think myself able to manage matters without support.  I know perfectly well that I stand more in need of the succour of each of the brethren than one hand does of the other.  Truly, from our own bodily constitution, the Lord has taught us the necessity of fellowship.  When I look to these my limbs and see that no out of them is self-sufficient, how can I reckon myself competent to discharge the duties of life?  One foot could not walk securely without the support of the other; one eye could not see well, were it not for the alliance of the other and for its being able to look at objects in conjunction with it.  Hearing is more exact when sound is received through both channels, and the grasp is made firmer by the fellowship of the fingers.  In a word, of all that is done by nature and by the will, I see nothing done without the concord of fellow forces.  Even prayer, when it is not united prayer, loses its natural strength and the Lord has told us that He will be in the midst where two or three call on Him in concord.  The Lord Himself undertook the economy, that by the blood of His cross He might make peace between things in earth and things in heaven.  For all these reasons then, I pray that I may for my remaining days remain in peace; in peace I ask that it may be my lot to fall asleep.  For peace’s sake there is no trouble that I will not undertake, no act, no word of humility, that I will shrink from; I will reckon no length of journey, I will undergo any inconvenience, if only I may be rewarded by being able to make peace.  If I am followed by any one in this direction, it is well, and my prayers are answered; but if the result is different I shall not recede from my determination.  Every one will receive the fruit of his own works in the day of retribution.

To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata

Letter XCVIII.

To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata.

1.  After receiving the letter of your holiness, in which you said you would not come, I was most anxious to set out for Nicopolis, but I have grown weaker in my wish and have remembered all my infirmity.  I bethought me, too, of the lack of seriousness in the conduct of those who invited me.  They gave me a casual invitation by the hands of our reverend brother Hellenius, the surveyor of customs at Nazianzus, but they never took the trouble to send a messenger to remind me, or any one to escort me.  As, for my sins, I was an object of suspicion to them, I shrank from sullying the brightness of their meeting by my presence.  In company with your excellency I do not shrink from stripping for even serious trials of strength; but apart from you I feel myself hardly equal even to looking at every day troubles.  Since, then, my meeting with them was intended to be about Church affairs, I let the time of the festival go by, and put off the meeting to a period of rest and freedom from distraction, and have decided to go to Nicopolis to discuss the needs of the Churches with the godly bishop Meletius, in case he should decline to go to Samosata.  If he agrees, I shall hasten to meet him, provided this is made clear to me by both of you, by him in reply to me (for I have written), and by your reverence.

2.  We were to have met the bishops of Cappadocia Secunda, who, directly they were ranked under another prefecture, suddenly got the idea that they were made foreigners and strangers to me.  They ignored me, as though they had never been under my jurisdiction, and had nothing to do with me.  I was expecting too a second meeting with the reverend bishop Eustathius, which actually took place.  For on account of the cry raised by many against him that he was injuring the faith, I met him, and found, by God’s grace, that he was heartily following all orthodoxy.  By the fault of the very men who ought to have conveyed my letter, that of the bishop was not transmitted to your excellency, and, harassed as I was by a multitude of cares, it escaped my memory.

I, too, was anxious that our brother Gregory should have the government of a Church commensurate with his abilities; and that would have been the whole Church under the sun gathered into one place.  But, as this is impossible, let him be a bishop, not deriving dignity from his see, but conferring dignity on his see by himself.  For it is the part of a really great man not only to be sufficient for great things, but by his own influence to make small things great.

But what is to be done to Palmatius, who, after so many exhortations of the brethren, still helps Maximus in his persecutions?  Even now they do not hesitate to write to him.  They are prevented from coming themselves by bodily weakness and their own occupations.  Believe me, very godly Father, our own affairs are much in need of your presence, and yet once more you must put your honourable old age in motion, that you may give your support to Cappadocia, which is now tottering and in danger of falling.

To Count Terentius

Letter XCIX.

To Count Terentius.

I have had every desire and have really done my best to obey, if only in part, the imperial order and the friendly letter of your excellency.  I am sure that your every word and every thought are full of good intentions and right sentiments.  But I have not been permitted to show my ready concurrence by practical action.  The truest cause is my sins, which always rise before me and always hamper my steps.  Then, again, there is the alienation of the bishop who had been appointed to cooperate with me, why, I know not; but my right reverend brother Theodotus, who promised from the beginning to act with me, had cordially invited me from Getasa to Nicopolis.  When however he saw me in the town, he was so shocked at me, and so afraid of my sins, that he could not bear to take me either to morning or evening prayer.  In this he acted quite justly so far as my deserts go, and quite as befits my course of life, but not in a manner likely to promote the interests of the Churches.  His alleged reason was that I had admitted the very reverend brother Eustathius to communion.  What I have done is as follows.  When invited to a meeting held by our brother Theodotus, and wishful, for love’s sake, to obey the summons, that I might not make the gathering fruitless and vain, I was anxious to hold communication with the aforementioned brother Eustathius. I put before him the accusations concerning the faith, advanced against him by our brother Theodotus, and I asked him, if he followed the right faith, to make it plain to me, that I might communicate with him; if he were of another mind he must know plainly that I should be separated from him.  We had much conversation on the subject, and all that day was spent in its examination; when evening came on we separated without arriving at any definite conclusion.  On the morrow, we had another sitting in the morning and discussed the same points, with the addition of our brother Pœmenius, the presbyter of Sebasteia, who vehemently pressed the argument against me.  Point by point I cleared up the questions on which he seemed to be accusing me, and brought them to agree to my propositions.  The result was, that, by the grace of the Lord, we were found to be in mutual agreement, even on the most minute particulars.  So about the ninth hour, after thanking God for granting us to think and say the same thing, we rose up to go to prayer.  In addition to this I ought to have got some written statement from him, so that his assent might be made known to his opponents and the proof of his opinion might be sufficient for the rest.  But I was myself anxious, with the desire for great exactitude, to meet my brother Theodotus, to get a written statement of the faith from him, and to propose it to Eustathius; that so both objects might be obtained at once, the confession of the right faith by Eustathius and the complete satisfaction of Theodotus and his friends, and they would have no ground for objection after the acceptance of their own propositions.  But Theodotus, before learning why we were met and what had been the result of our intercourse, decided not to allow us to take part in the meeting.  So midway on our journey we set out back again, disappointed that our efforts for the peace of the Churches had been counteracted.

3.  After this, when I was compelled to undertake a journey into Armenia, knowing the man’s character, and with the view both of making my own defence before a competent witness, for what had taken place and of satisfying him, I travelled to Getasa, into the territory of the very godly bishop Meletius, the aforementioned Theodotus being with me; and while there, on being accused by him of my communication with Eustathius, I told him that the result of our intercourse was my finding Eustathius to be in all things in agreement with myself.  Then he persisted that Eustathius, after leaving me, had denied this and asseverated to his own disciples that he had never come to any agreement with me about the faith.  I, therefore, combated this statement; and see, O most excellent man, if the answer I made was not most fair and most complete.  I am convinced, I said, judging from the character of Eustathius, that he cannot thus lightly be turning from one direction to another, now confessing now denying what he said; that a man, shunning a lie, even in any little matter, as an awful sin, is not likely to choose to run counter to the truth in matters of such vast importance and so generally notorious:  but if what is reported among you turns out to be true, he must be confronted with a written statement containing the complete exposition of the right faith; then, if I find him ready to agree in writing, I shall continue in communion with him; but, if I find that he shrinks from the test, I shall renounce all intercourse with him.  The bishop Meletius agreed to these arguments, and the brother Diodorus the presbyter, who was present, and then the right reverend brother Theodotus, assented, and invited me to go to Nicopolis, both to visit the Church there, and to keep him company as far as Satala.  But he left me at Getasa, and, when I reached Nicopolis, forgetting all that he heard from me, and the agreement he had made with me, dismissed me, disgraced by the insults and dishonours which I have mentioned.

4.  How, then, right honourable sir, was it possible for me to perform any of the injunctions laid on me, and to provide bishops for Armenia?  How could I act, when the sharer of my responsibilities was thus disposed towards me,—the very man by whose aid I was expecting to be able to find suitable persons, because of his having in his district reverend and learned men, skilled in speech, and acquainted with the other peculiarities of the nation?  I know their names, but I shall refrain from mentioning them, lest there arise any hindrance to the interests of Armenia being served at some future time.

Now, after getting as far as Satala in such a state of health, I seemed to settle the rest by the grace of God.  I made peace between the Armenian bishops, and made them a suitable address, urging them to put away their customary indifference, and resume their ancient zeal in the Lord’s cause.  Moreover, I delivered them rules as to how it behoved them to give heed to iniquities generally practised in Armenia.  I further accepted a decision of the Church of Satala, asking that a bishop might be given them through me.  I was also careful to inquire into the calumnies promulgated against our brother Cyril, the Armenian bishop, and by God’s grace I have found them to be started by the lying slanders of his enemies.  This they confessed to me.  And I seemed to some extent to reconcile the people to him, so that they avoid communion with him no more.  Small achievements these, maybe, and not worth much, but in consequence of the mutual discord caused by the wiles of the devil, it was impossible for me to effect more.  Even this much I ought not to have said, so as not to seem to be publishing my own disgrace.  But as I could not plead my cause before your excellency in any other way, I was under the necessity of telling you the entire truth.

To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata

Letter C.

 To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata.

When I saw your affectionate letter, in the country bordering on Armenia, it was like a lighted torch held up at a distance to mariners at sea, especially if the sea happen to be agitated by the wind.  Your reverence’s letter was of itself a pleasant one, and full of comfort; but its natural charm was very much enhanced by the time of its arrival, a time so painful to me, that I hardly know how to describe it, after once making up my mind to forget its troubles.  However, my deacon will give you a full account.  My bodily strength completely failed me, so that I was not even able to bear the slightest movement without pain.  Nevertheless I do pray that, by the aid of your prayers, my own longing may be fulfilled; although my journey has caused me great difficulties, in consequence of the affairs of my own Church having been neglected through its occupying such a long time.  But if, while I yet live, God grants me to see your reverence in my Church, then truly I shall have good hope, even for the future, that I am not wholly excluded from the gifts of God.  If it be possible, I beg that this meeting between us may take place at the Synod which we hold every year, in memory of the blessed martyr Eupsychius, now about to be held on the 7th of September.  I am compassed with anxieties which demand your help and sympathy, both in the matter of the appointment of bishops and in the consideration of the trouble caused me by the simplicity of Gregory of Nyssa, who is summoning a Synod at Ancyra and leaving nothing undone to counteract me.