Ep. VIII.

(Written to S. Basil shortly after his Ordination as Priest, probably toward the end of a.d. 362.)

I approve the beginning of your letter; but what is there of yours that I do not approve?  And you are convicted of having written just like me;4    The Editors render “And you were captured just as I also was circumscribed,” etc., but the Greek hardly bears this rendering. for I, too, was forced into the rank of the Priesthood, for indeed I never was eager for it.  We are to one another, if ever any men were, trustworthy witnesses of our love for a humble and lowly philosophy.  But perhaps it would have been better that this had not happened, or I know not what to say, as long as I am in ignorance of the purpose of the Holy Ghost.  But since it has come about, we must bear it, at least so it seems clear to me; and especially when we take the times into consideration, which are bringing in upon us so many heretical tongues, and must not put to shame either the hopes of those who have trusted us thus, or our own lives.

[8] ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΙ

Ἐπαινῶ σου τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τὸ προοίμιον. Τί δὲ τῶν σῶν οὐκ ἐπαινετόν; Καὶ σὺ ἑάλως ὥσπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς γεγραφότες, ἐπειδή γε εἰς τὸν πρεσβυτέρου βαθμὸν ἐβιάσθημεν. Καίτοι γε οὐ τοῦτο ἡμῖν ἐσπουδάζετο: ἀλλήλοις γάρ ἐσμεν, εἴπερ ἄλλοι τινές, ἀξιόπιστοι μάρτυρες τοῦ τὴν πεζὴν στέργειν φιλοσοφίαν καὶ κάτω μένουσαν. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὴ γενέσθαι μὲν ἴσως ἄμεινον ἦν: ἢ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι καὶ φῶ, ἕως ἂν ἀγνοῶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐγένετο, φέρειν ἀνάγκη, ὡς γοῦν ἐμοὶ καταφαίνεται, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὸν καιρὸν πολλὰς ἡμῖν αἱρετικῶν ἐπεισάγοντα γλώσσας καὶ μὴ καταισχύνειν μήτε τὸν ἡμέτερον βίον μήτε τὰς τῶν πεπιστευκότων ἐλπίδας.