Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

To Athanasius, bishop of Ancyra. 1987
Letter XXV. 1986
1. I have received intelligence from those who come to me from Ancyra, and they are
many and more than I can count, but they all agree in what they say, that you, a man very
dear to me, (how can I speak so as to give no offence?) do not mention me in very pleasant
terms, nor yet in such as your character would lead me to expect. I, however, learned long
ago the weakness of human nature, and its readiness to turn from one extreme to another;
and so, be well assured, nothing connected with it can astonish me, nor does any change
come quite unexpected. Therefore that my lot should have changed for the worse, and that
reproaches and insults should have arisen in the place of former respect, I do not make
much ado. But one thing does really strike me as astonishing and monstrous, and that is
that it should be you who have this mind about me, and go so far as to feel anger and indignation
against me, and, if the report of your hearers is to be believed, have already proceeded
to such extremities as to utter threats. At these threats, I will not deny, I really have laughed.
Truly I should have been but a boy to be frightened at such bugbears. But it does seem to
me alarming and distressing that you, who, as I have trusted, are preserved for the comfort
of the churches, a buttress of the truth where many fall away, and a seed of the ancient and
true love, should so far fall in with the present course of events as to be more influenced by
the calumny of the first man you come across than by your long knowledge of me, and,
without any proof, should be seduced into suspecting absurdities.
2. But, as I said, for the present I postpone the case. Would it have been too hard a
task, my dear sir, to discuss in a short letter, as between friend and friend, points which you
wish to raise; or, if you objected to entrusting such things to writing, to get me to come to
you? But if you could not help speaking out, and your uncontrollable anger allowed no
time for delay, at least you might have employed one of those about you who are naturally
adapted for dealing with confidential matters, as a means of communication with me. But
now, of all those who for one reason or another approach you, into whose ears has it not
been dinned that I am a writer and composer of certain “pests”? For this is the word which
those, who quote you word for word, say that you have used. The more I bring my mind
to bear upon the matter the more hopeless is my puzzle. This idea has struck me. Can any
heretic have grieved your orthodoxy, and driven you to the utterance of that word by
1986 Placed, like the former, before the episcopate.
1987 This Athanasius was appointed to the see of Ancyra (Angora) by the influence of Acacius the one-eyed,
bp. of Cæsarea, the inveterate opponent of Cyril of Jerusalem, and leader of the Homœans. He therefore started
his episcopate under unfavorable auspices, but acquired a reputation for orthodoxy. cf. Greg. Nyss., Contra
Eunom. I. ii. 292. On Basil’s high opinion of him, cf. Letter xxix.
To Athanasius, bishop of Ancyra.
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